《After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World》 Chapter 1 PROLOGUE [Unknown Land] In an alien land filled with gloom, death, and¡ªparadoxically¡ªthe prosperity of natural resources, there was a place called Grave of Villages. It was located right at the heart of the human territory, in the geographical center of this world. The number of villages destroyed in the area through the millennia was insurmountable, and so were the villages continuously built in the place due to the available resources. It was also one of the good hunting grounds for lower-mid level professionals because the monsters were not too weak, but not too strong for people above villager level. In the terminology from their hometown, it was a perfect ''grinding spot''. This was where a small group of foreigners¡ªmen from another realm¡ªwas staying to train in the most efficient way available to them. "This place is really creepy," One person said as he chewed on his barbeque, some of the sauce falling on his shoes. The man was not bad-looking, he had been known to be a bit metrosexual back home, but his blonde hair had turned almost brown from all the grime from their endless adventures lately. All his previous cleanliness had long gone down the drain. "I mean, seriously..." he mumbled, looking around. Even if it was dark, they had enhanced vision and the two moons were enough illumination for them. What crept him out was that this place had great resources, but the monster mobs were consistent at certain times. It was as if the resources were attracting food for the mobs¡­ He shivered. No wonder villages, which only had professionals around level 10 or so, would almost always give way after a while. The consumption really couldn''t keep up with the gathering of strength. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The others didn''t say anything, though they understood his sentiment. It was just that they weren''t here to stay, only to train, and so that was what they ought to focus on. "Where''s the captain?" A young man with quiffed hair asked, chewing on a yellow fruit in his hand. The dark-skinned man beside him looked at a nearby hill, nodding in that direction. "I saw him go over there." "Surveying?" "It''s our third day here?" "Just focus on your own food, Turbo." A voice next to them sneered, before taking away the remaining barbecue stick. "Hey!" The blonde frowned and glared at the newcomer, who was crossing his arms as he stood above them, arrogantly holding someone else''s food. Jake was a man with spiky hair that he had managed to mysteriously maintain despite their lack of resources. He ate the food he ''borrowed'' in a few bites, making the other gasp in aghast. Jake met Turbo''s eyes and began to reprimand them. He even pointed at him using the now-empty stick. "Don''t talk behind the Captain''s back! Don''t you know he has eyes everywhere?" The others were prepared to beat him up a bit but then he looked in a direction, shoulders slightly slumped. "He probably just wanted to be alone for now." He''d have looked cool and introspective... had he cleaned up the remainder of the sauce on his mouth. So he still received that small beating regardless. ¡­ At this time, the aforementioned Captain was standing still, illuminated by two moons. With a straight posture, he was standing on a hill, overlooking the land, his sharp eyes surveying the surroundings. His handsome silhouette formed a contrast to the otherwise desolate view. His body was tense and alert, ready for whatever major changes would occur in a while. However, after confirming that the night would be quiet for a bit longer, he allowed himself a moment of respite, because he wouldn''t be able to rest for a long time after the fight started. He took out a phone from his space, his sharp eyes immediately becoming soft as the screen lit up to show him images of his beloved. A small smile crept up his lips, making his features even more prominent. He was a strikingly handsome man, with chiseled features and a well-toned physique, wide shoulders, and lean muscular build. His hair was trimmed, as neatly as their condition allowed, with his short ebony hair framing his chiseled features. What was most notable was his undeniable aura of masculinity and strength. He was the type of person who demanded attention wherever he went. At the moment, however, he was alone, somber, looking intently at the photos on his palm, showing a rare vulnerability visible to only one person. Unfortunately, that person wasn''t there with him. But unlike the others, he refused to believe he wouldn''t be able to go back to her. He would be able to get back to her; He felt it in his bones. Even if he didn''t, he would do whatever he had to make it possible. As he stared at her image, his striking blue eyes shone like sapphires even in the night. They not only reflected the light of the two moons, but they also shined with the light of determination and longing, and it was unbreakable and firm. "My wife¡­" He said, tone filled with tenderness. "Wait for me¡­" But the screen turned black and he frowned, his face turning pale when he saw that his phone battery had gone. In this world where there was no electricity, would this be¡ªas long as he remained in this hell¡ªthe last time he could see her image? His jaw hardened at the thought and the softness in his eyes changed to one of annoyance and bitterness. If any one of his teammates were there, they would fear for their lives. And this happened to be the sight that one of his subordinates, his right-hand man, ended up seeing. The newcomer was also quite dashing, with prominent features, lean muscles, and shoulder-length hair flowing with the wind. He had pale skin unfitting for a soldier, which turned a bit paler as he felt the atmosphere surrounding the captain. However, he quickly gathered himself and walked to the man he respected the most in this world. "Captain Garan," He said, greeting the man, doing away with the standard salute as ordered. "Gill." "They''re here." At his words, the remaining vulnerability in the captain''s eyes was replaced by his characteristic sternness. His well-defined jaw tightened in seriousness. "Let''s go," The ebony-haired man said, his deep resonant voice echoing the eerie hill. He joined a group of a few dozen soldiers from their homeland, an air of gravitas that demanded everyone''s respect oozing off of him. They stood in a formation, waiting for the black wave of monsters to reach their line of sight. Soon, they would be facing a mob of monsters that they had thought they''d only see in horror movies. But here they were¡­ The Captain, however, was unmoved, and his stability affected his people. He did not say anything to them, as he had already told them everything he could in their hundreds of battles together. Instead, he walked forward, posture erect, with his every movement exuding strength and discipline. He walked toward the approaching mob and grotesque forms soon came to view. Within a few blinks, a monster faster than the others quickly reached a few meters away from him. He raised his arms and the air around him changed, colder, and a small patch of land under him turned to ice, extending to capture the monster''s feet, debilitating it. He quickly took out a weapon from his space, beheading the monster, using the same movement to defend against a new monster that reached him. His team had also sprinted to the mob, different elements illuminating the dark skies. The man still believed in his people, they could still handle a low-level mob like this. With this thought, he quickly moved deeper into the mob to kill more of these beasts. His eyes were shining with determination in every swing of his sword. It was time for them to fight and become stronger. Only in this way could they have the ability to return home. And he would definitely go back to her. Whatever it took. Chapter 2 The Sun Is Dying [Terran Star, Modern Era Year 2212] "Home, hmn?" A soft velvety voice uttered as she listened to the sound of newscasters reporting news after news of criminal cases, scandals, and natural disasters. Dainty hands raised the electronic tablet and, after a finger pressed the screen, the display on the screen changed with a click. [BREAKING NEWS: The Terran Cosmic Research Center reports an unprecedented drop in the Sun''s hydrogen level. Scientists at the TCRC warn that humanity''s window for preparation has been dramatically shrunk to a few decades at best.] [This is a major departure from the previously accepted knowledge of at least a thousand years.] [In response to this urgent situation, 47 countries, including our own Eden Country, have publicly announced the acceleration of spaceship development.] [These cutting-edge spaceships are meticulously designed to carry the over 10 billion Terran inhabitants, along with genetic material of all known species.] [In a bid to preserve the planet''s already dwindling biodiversity, the ships will also carry live specimens of the most vital animal and plant species carefully chosen to sustain an effective ecosystem during the migration¡ª The sound and lights were abruptly cut by another click, followed by a soft sigh. The owner of the voice was sitting lazily on her chaise lounge, her relaxed posture revealing confident poise, and her well-manicured hands absent-mindedly patting her big belly. She now sat alone inside a classically decorated room, her long dark hair gracefully cascading down her back, and its deep brown hue reflected hints of copper under the light of the morning sun. Slowly, her striking green orbs, framed by her long feathering lashes, opened. However, as she recalled the contents of the report, her eyes narrowed slightly, heart felt heavy. She had an intuition: They don''t have enough time. Unless there was a miracle, they would all die. Just a pity for her children who may not even get the chance to experience the world, even if it was just for a while. "You shouldn''t watch such depressing news so early in the morning, missy." A pleasant-looking woman sounded from the kitchen. On her hands was a silver tray with a warm cup of milk. The woman carefully placed the items on the side table and stood professionally a few meters away, ready to be called. "Thank you, nanny." The young woman said, her feathery voice landed on the nanny''s ears, causing her to smile unconsciously. The pregnant woman did not sit properly but only lifted her upper body so she could get a sip of her warm milk. The nanny stared at the girl she watched grow up, from a thin orphan to the present beauty of infinite charm. The woman''s luscious hair framed her oval face, accentuating her beautiful features. Her unique emerald eyes were further emphasized by the beauty mark under her right eye. The girl''s pregnancy added a soft femininity that made her more attractive. She couldn''t help but recall how she was only a few years prior; This girl had been a bit of a tomboy for as far as she could remember. Motherhood could change anyone¡­ and this stubborn girl, Althea, it seemed, was no exception. "Well, I was hoping they would get news of that guy, but they showed me the galaxy''s potential death instead." She said jokingly, but the nanny did not smile with her. "Missy..." She raised her hand to stop the topic. She knew she was the one to open the topic, and she regretted it the moment she said it. She knew the pain she felt when she found out her husband went missing months ago. Nearly half a year ago, her husband was called for a top-secret mission by their government. It was normal to be out of contact for a month or so, however, after two months, they had no news at all. A sense of dread stabbed her every day until she finally couldn''t handle it anymore and started calling the higher-ups. Fortunately, she had some connections and power in the government thanks to her contributions so she didn''t get dismissed on the first call. However, they delayed the meeting continuously until a brave media reporter¡ªan old friend of theirs¡ªrevealed the results of his investigation. Apparently, hundreds of soldiers went missing less than a month after their mission started. Worse: They had already been presumed dead. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It felt like she was submerged in cold water, and she immediately went to the Headquarters and demanded an answer. She almost had a miscarriage at the time and could be said to be the worst day of her life so far. She did not even know she was pregnant. Fortunately, her brother was next to her and she was taken to hospital in time for treatment, otherwise, she''d have followed her family to the grave. After recovering, she and her brother spent most of their business profits finding out the news, tapping several illegal channels by the way. Eventually, their reporter friend hinted at some clues. However, it was extremely difficult to get news without risking life. Her brother helped her control public opinion, slowly revealing the clues they had and eventually, the government gave in to public pressure. The answer was frankly not something any one of them had expected. An odd fluctuation in space was discovered months ago, and weird animalistic monsters came out in droves. There were a total of 300 soldiers from 10 countries that went on that mission. But not a single one returned. Not even a piece of the dozen tanks and bombers they sent were seen. No one still knew what happened. Shortly afterward, the sun''s problem was confirmed, and it got more difficult to get an answer from the government. She and the other families funded their own searches but to no avail. Now, the sun''s problem exploded¡ªno pun intended¡ªand this problem had been completely set aside. Just like that: Other than their families and friends, no one remembered those missing soldiers anymore. "I''m sure the master is fine." Nanny said, "He will definitely come back to you." And she said so with certainty. Although the madam''s husband was often away, her experienced eyes could see how much that man loved his wife. He was the type of man who could jump off a cliff if she wanted a flower hanging dangerously on the side. It would break the madam if the husband was confirmed to be gone. Right now, she and the girl just firmly believed that he was fine somewhere. "Hmm." Althea hummed. And although her tone seems non-committal, her bright eyes expressed her firm belief. Then, she turned her head to the older woman. "I''m glad you''re here, nanny." Althea said so sincerely. This woman had basically raised the three of them because their parents were often busy with their careers. Now that their parents were dead, her husband was also missing, and her brother would inevitably have his own life¡­, she didn''t know what would happen if Nanny wasn''t here. The older woman smiled warmly. It was at this time that they heard the digital lock sound from the main door, they simultaneously turned their heads to meet the handsome smiling face of the newcomer. "Sister." Her expression softened as she smiled at the newcomer. "Ansel, you''re back." She uttered, finally putting down her small feet to give the newcomer space to sit next to her. Ansel stared at her for a few more seconds before walking closer and naturally sitting down next to her. He smiled and handed her the small box of snacks he brought with him. Althea''s eyes warmed at the sight of her brother. The childish little brat had grown his dark curly hair a little beyond the ear. A few buttons were also left open to show off his collar, and his overall temperament emitted a playboy charm. Of course, this was for outsiders, in front of her he just looked like an innocent little boy at the beginning of adolescence, dependent on his older sister. "Good morning sister." He grinned, showing his perfect teeth. "Long time no see~" Chapter 3 Beginning of the End Althea laughed at him. "You were here two days ago." "Forty-eight hours, to be exact." He said childishly, squeezing his voice a bit. Althea just shook her head helplessly and looked at the cute snacks he brought with him. It was a box of varied fruit pastries that she liked. It happened that it went well with milk. She hurriedly ate one and took another to familiarly put it in Ansel''s mouth. He naturally opened his mouth to take it, looking like that cute little hamster that he was when he was a kid. Ansel might be her adoptive brother, growing up with him since she was around 9 years old, but they were closer to being real siblings than other blood relatives. After all, they¡ªincluding her now-husband who had been adopted with her¡ªhad been through precarious situations together as children. It was this event that made Ansel imprint on her a bit, and he often acted like a child around her (to her husband''s great disdain). Looking at him opening his mouth again for another snack, it was obvious that growing up so big didn''t do much with his maturity. It was much like how former high school classmates, even after decades, would act like teenagers again when they were together at a reunion. Ansel would act like a kid often when he was around her. It didn''t matter if he was ten or twenty years old. She looked at the next cute pastry that she got her hands on. It was a cute little smiling cartoon dog. She couldn''t help but chuckle. "A store opened so early?" She asked as she placed it in her mouth. She took a quick glance at the floating digital clock above the television. It wasn''t even 8 a.m. yet. "Well, the owner is an ex." He said, shrugging. Althea rolled her eyes. This guy changed girlfriends every few weeks. His exes could literally line up along the neighborhood. More than once she and her husband saw him making out with a different girl around the house. Nanny (who was now rolling her eyes) had nagged him about it every day. Of course, depending on the vulgarity, sometimes her husband would drag him off to ''train'' in the backyard afterward. She tried to remember what ''independence-strengthening'' activity she threw him to before this started but she couldn''t figure out why he turned out to be such a player. Fortunately, all his exes were mysteriously still his (platonic) friends, otherwise she''d have beaten him up herself. Sensing her judgemental stare, Ansel shrugged. "I can''t help it; I''m too charming." Instead of dignifying him with a response, Althea just wore an exaggerated disgusted expression and looked down at her stomach. "Don''t look down on your uncle too much," She told her innocent children, "He just lacks attention." Ansel fake-gasped and held his heart as if in pain. He leaned over to whisper to the bulging stomach. "Your uncle is too charming, he can''t help it. Here, let me bless you with my amazingness. "My little nephew and my little niece. Are you behaving well today? "Uncle already bought you toys¡­" "Uncle¡­" Ansel continued on his soliloquy and Althea rolled her eyes. "Stop teaching them bad things. Prenatal education is too important. You know, Mom once said¡ª" Her voice was cut off as a thought came to mind: It would be so good if their parents were here. She felt a little emotional to the point that she teared up a little. Damned pregnancy. Making her think of weird tangents. Again. But alas, the hormones couldn''t be controlled and she was sobbing a bit. "Mom... Mom used to say that my birth parents must have given me the best prenatal care for me, since I turned out so well." Ansel frowned, his goofy expression morphing into a serious one. Althea was sad, but Ansel''s heart was torn to pieces. Those were his biological parents after all. The three of them, along with Nanny, didn''t speak for a while... letting a moment of silence pass by in remembrance of the loved ones that they lost. ... Ansel''s parents were both very kind people. Mom was a professor of History at university, while Dad worked in a pharmaceutical company as a top researcher. They gave all three of them the best they could provide, even when they were so busy with work, whether it was material things or love. They were one of the people who perished during the weird radiation wave that was like a worldwide EMP attack, taking down the plane they were in. It was one of the planes of ten thousand that were flying at that moment. It was also the first sign that the sun was dying quicker than expected, although it wasn''t announced to the public at the time. Althea had always felt that her husband''s top-secret mission was also related to this event. After some time, Althea calmed down and wiped her eyes, feeling guilty for reopening the wound. She pursed her lips and looked at her brother, looking at him and his formal attire. "The deal is today?" Ansel paused for a bit before nodding with a weak smile, though overall taking the change of topic in a stride. They were very used to Althea''s mood changes. At first, it made him panic when she suddenly sobbed, but at some point, he just learned to live with it and not let the stress kill him. "Yes, and they even increased their order," he said. Althea nodded. She and Ansel started their own company two years prior, with her as the source of technology and formulas and him as the management helm. She always had a special affinity for plants since she was a child. She not only liked growing them but she was also fascinated by their effects and combinations. She often poisoned herself by accident because of this and was frequently at the hospital. If she wasn''t so young (and cute, according to her husband), the headmistress would''ve kicked her out for all the excess spending¡­ Anyway, one day (during her probably 37th time at the hospital due to poisoning) a visiting doctor happened to see her by chance. He was very amused when he found out about the cause and effect and gave her a huge encyclopedia of Terran plants, their effects, and their effective combinations. She later found out that the old man¡ªmay he rest in peace¡ªwas one of the few pioneers reviving a branch focusing on botanical medicine, and he was at the hospital for a check-up when they first met. Had Ansel''s incident not happened when it did, it was estimated the old doctor would have adopted her instead. Still, they had been in contact until his death a few years back. Althea showed great talent in the field and entered the Biology and Botany specialization as soon as she entered college at the age of 17. Now, she took her thesis project, along with a few other formulas, and formulated beauty formulas and health products. In the past two years, she had come up with formulas to treat acne scars, improve stamina, improve eyesight, and improve the smoothness of the skin. Their parents were supportive and used their life savings to invest. Except for the villa they were living in¡ªwhich was an inheritance from her mother''s family¡ªthey had pretty much sold everything else. Fortunately, the products took off months before their death so they were at least rest assured that they would be able to do well when they were gone. She knew her parents very well: even in their deaths, they would definitely be thinking about the three of them siblings. Just a pity they wouldn''t be able to see their grandchildren. They have been looking forward to it even before she got married. "This would make us a lot of money," Ansel added, smug, and her lips twitched. The deal Ansel was referring to was a deal with a country south called Delo Country. It was a closed country that refused businesses abroad. This was their second big client next to the military, a deal that had given the company quite a bit of prestige. It was not illegal in their Eden country to deal with these people, so she had no qualms about this deal. If anything, because it was a bit secretive on the other party''s side, they were willing to pay twice the market price for it. "I''ll definitely get even better deals," Ansel said with confidence. She nodded, also rest assured. "When is your flight?" "In a few hours¡­" He said, tentatively looking at the time. He then turned his head back to look at Althea, opening his arm for a hug. "Anyway, time for me to go now~" She naturally entered his arms. "Be careful." The man smiled, hugging her a little tighter. "Of course." He said, "I love my life very much." ¡­ That afternoon, after receiving a call from Ansel about his safe arrival, pregnancy lethargy attacked. "You should take a proper rest in your bedroom," Nanny said, gently patting her awake. She blinked, realizing she had snoozed a bit on the sofa. "Hmm... I should," she said, lazily sitting up and stretching her arms. The movement made her hair all messed up and Nanny fondly combed it down with her wrinkling hand. "Hm, I''ll prepare you dinner so you can eat when you wake up." "Okay, thank you. Goodnight, Nanny." She said sweetly, and the old woman chuckled. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Goodnight, Miss." Althea went to bed to take a long nap, and it was fine for a while. She even dreamt about her childhood with her husband. She was running after him in their game of tag. However, just before she caught up to him, she was abruptly woken by a mysterious force that she couldn''t describe. It was like there was an earthquake, but only the air shook. She sat up so quickly that she felt dizzy. Closing her eyes to calm her nerves, she looked around to see what woke her up. Confused, she opened her phone to look at the time¡ª8:34pm¡ªand quickly realized that there was no signal. Then, she heard toe-curling screams outside¡ªfrom different directions. An odd feeling of foreboding crept up her spine. She ran to the only other person in the house, hand unconsciously on her stomach as she moved. "Auntie? Are you all right?" She asked, gently knocking on the door. As she did so, she could hear weird scraping sounds followed by a low growl. Her instinct told her something dangerous was in there. She looked around to see a broom, decisively grabbing the shaft and taking off the brush. With a deep breath, she placed her soft hand on the handle and turned the knob to open the door¡ª Only to see a weird but familiar-looking creature standing in an odd posture, body parts bending at a weird angle, and skin festering with pus. It heard her arrival and turned, and her green eyes met with its lifeless ones. Bile rose up her stomach but she pushed it down because it was at this moment that she realized who it was. Her heart dropped and her soul shook. Tears started forming in her eyes and her body shivered in trepidation. "Nanny.." Chapter 4 24 hours Nanny''s neck turned at an indescribable angle the moment she opened the door, the eyes that used to look at her with love and warmth now didn''t have anything. No emotions, no anger, no love, no life. This wasn''t her nanny anymore. Althea was in a daze for a while, her tears flowing. Even when she saw the creature walk towards her in unnatural staggered steps, she couldn''t move at all. It was only until the creature was only an arm''s length away that she finally got back to her senses and her body moved by instinct, hitting the creature with the metallic broomstick. Bang! The body fell, its neck turning 180 degrees. She watched as the body twitched weakly, and she almost wanted to go to check up on her. But the head turned back at a creepy angle and the familiar-unfamiliar lifeless eyes stared at her hungrily. Without bothering to bend back its legs, it dragged itself in her direction, opening its mouth in hopes of getting her meat. She didn''t even have the time to mourn the loss of another loved one. Her body moved on its own and she gripped the metal shaft on her hand. She hit the head of the monster with all her strength, to stop her Nanny''s body from being soiled any further. [+5 experience, +5 copper coins] [Ding!] She flinched at the sudden sound, looking around for its source. [Congratulations, Terran, for activating the Universe Assistance System] She could not even give a response. [Your planet XZ8912, locally known as Terran, is the only planet in the G239 and U834 galaxies to have intelligent civilizations. It was therefore judged to be an important endangered planet by the Universe.] [Galaxies G239 and U834 will be deemed uninhabitable in less than 24 hours due to the current condition of its central star.] [In less than 24 hours, to preserve remaining life, all surviving indigenous creatures will be immigrated to the Great Continent of Xeno.] [Please note that items in the system-provided backpack can be taken with you.] To be honest, Althea and her big brain failed to understand what the mechanical voice was saying. "What is Xeno?" She asked, but there was no response. "Hello?" No answer. "What are you talking about? Migration? What do you mean the planet will perish?" Still no answer. She frowned, eyes ending up on the woman who had just made her favorite dessert a few hours prior. She took a deep breath in an attempt to stop her tears, to keep her words coherent. "Tell me, please: Why did she become like this?" None. Well, this was obviously one of those one-way no-reply messages¡­ She shook her head and stared at the body, for a while not knowing what to do. She looked at the screen that appeared in front of her, following wherever she was looking, like that holographic screen that had just launched a few months ago. On the bottom left, there was a logo of a backpack, an icon of a head, and a logo of a sword. On the top right, there is a moving counter currently showing [23:45:03]. She remembered that in 24 hours, a so-called migration would happen, and surmised the counter was about that. She then looked at the backpack icon and clicked on it. A virtual box appeared in front of her, floating. It was around 1 cubic meter in size. "All items in the ''backpack'' will be taken with you." She repeated the voice''s words, absentmindedly looking at the phone and the shaft, and wondering how she could test this backpack space. She placed a hand on each item and visualized their location in the space. She blinked and looked at the backpack and, sure enough, the items were indeed arranged properly in the floating box in front of her. Normally, she''d be very interested in this but her sights inevitably landed on the body next to her. She heaved out a sigh and straightened up her spine¡ªas if it could give her the confidence to face whatever chaos was about to come¡ªand walked in front of the corpse. While she couldn''t give her a burial¡ªa useless practice for a planet that was about to perish¡ªshe decided to place the body on the bed in the end. At the very least, it would be a more respectable way to go than carelessly sprawled on the floor. Properly arranging the body and closing her eyes, Althea made it appear that she was just sleeping. Althea bowed her head, silently thanking the older woman for all the care she had given. "May you do well and find a good family in your next life, Nanny," she said, pausing. "I love you." ... [23:25:32] She left the room and ended up in the living room. She grabbed the remote to see the news, but unfortunately, all the channels were black. Althea, still a little shaken, slowly walked towards her favorite chaise lounge, lied down, and stared at the ceiling. She allowed herself a moment of respite before thinking about her next step. She took a deep breath and looked at the other logos on her ''screen''. She clicked on the logo of a person and another set of texts appeared about a meter in front of her. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 0 (5/50) Life: 100/100 Spirit: 100/100 (-5%) Physical: 20 (-5%) Agility: 17 (-20%) Defense: 9 Mana: 100 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Well, that explained all the minus signs¡­ Her sights shifted to the last icon, the icon of the sword. After clicking it, a virtual doll version of herself appeared in front of her. [EQUIPMENT LIST Head: None Ears: None Body: Basic night dress +0 Defense Arms: None Legs: None Hands: None Feet: Cotton Slippers +0 Defense, +0 Agility ] This was like a game. Although she wasn''t much of a gamer, her brother was. They often asked her to play with them when they were young. This sight was not unfamiliar to her. But her sight couldn''t help but stay on the stats. Only then did she start feeling her body and realized that she felt energized despite all the shock. Not to mention, her strength and speed were not like that at all. She totally blew nanny''s head with a hit, right? Although she had practiced self-defense techniques, she was sure she was neither that quick nor that strong. She was not sure if this was adrenaline¡­ or was her body was somewhat improved? Temporarily putting that aside, she proceeded to explore the rest of the system. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She stared at the final icon: the wallet. [Wealth: 0 gold, 0 silver, 5 copper] "..." It seemed that her millions of digital money were useless. She sat back up, trying to make an effective procurement plan. She had 24 hours to take what she needed. First of all, she had no idea where they were going to get transferred to, nor did they know of the resources that they would have access to. Hence, she needed to prepare well and make sure she had everything to maximize her chances of survival in that small space of 1 cubic meter. And what is that 0 gold, 0 silver, 5 copper in her stats? Money? Money used in that other world? Althea gently patted her stomach, as if they needed to be calmed down, because calming them down would calm her down. It was just that... as she patted her stomach, her whole body froze. Is her stomach larger? Chapter 5 Beginning of a Money Making Journey No¡­nononono¡­ Her children¡­ didn''t turn to monsters, right? However, just before she could enter her pregnancy-mood-swings-panic-dread, a gentle kick hit the walls of her stomach. This made her pause and instinctively place her palms on her bulging stomach. The next kicks then turned much gentler and soothing. It was as if her babies were telling her not to overreact. For the first time since all this started, she finally smiled. Everyone may be gone, but at least her children were still with her. She had to be well-prepared, at least for them. The first thing she did was go to the kitchen and heat herself some food. She was not a good cook, but she was surrounded by them: her father, auntie, and her husband were all fabulous cooks. Auntie¡ªgod bless her soul¡ªstored a few plates of ready-to-eat food in case she woke up in the middle of the night from hunger. She also took all the food in stock and in the pantry in her space backpack, filling up a few square centimeters of space. It was just that other than rice and a few canned foods, most of these foods were perishable. What actually bothered her the most was the money. The fact that these values appeared here meant that it was possible to obtain such currencies while they were still in their home planet. Obviously, digital money¡ªwhich was most people''s assets nowadays¡ªwas useless, so she could only check if paper money or any other valuables would suffice. She also needed to check what happened to her children, as well as some medicines so she should at least pass by a hospital. However, she wondered, if the physique changed, would those medicines have any use? She stopped herself from thinking too much and accomplishing nothing. After a beat, she formulated her next point of action and stood up, heading to her room. She walked to her room''s safety deposit box to see if cash could be converted to the system currency. Her delicate fingers pressed a few buttons and the box opened, revealing a few stacks of cash she put away in case of emergencies. She held the paper in the palm of her hand. But she paused, unsure what to do. She just tried whatever and transferred it to the space. Nothing happened. She looked at the jewelry, took a handful of silver and gold jewelry¡ªmost of which were gifts from clients and friends¡ªand placed it in the space. At first, it just stored there, but after a thought, she placed them back out. She repeated the same process but with the intent to ''sell''. [Ding! A total of 230 grams of silver, 100 grams of gold. Would you like to convert it to coins? YES | NO ] She clicked YES. [Received: +1 gold coin ,+2 silver coin, +30 copper coins] She stared at the remaining precious stones. Except for the jewelry her husband and family gave her¡ªwhich was secure in the backpack¡ªthe rest was converted to System currency. [Ding! 121 carats of Class E precious gems, 8 carats of Class A gems. Would you like to convert it to coins? YES | NO ] She pressed NO. Separating each type of gem, she transformed the colorful ones first and only got a total of 51 silver coins. The few carats of diamonds, on the other hand, earned her a whopping 5 gold coins. It seemed that gems high up on the Mohs scale had a much higher value in that other world. Then her sights fell on the safety deposit box itself¨C [Ding! 50kg of Non-aether Class C Precious metal detected. Would you like to convert it to coins? YES | NO ] She clicked yes. [Received: +69 silver coins] An eyebrow rose in interest as she perused the room and looked at the few antiques in the family collection. She stared at them for a moment and it felt like they were staring back at her, scrutinizing. She apologized to the ancestors and tried to get the antiques converted as well. Unfortunately, like paper money, they were judged to have no value. She regretfully took out all the useless stuff from the backpack¡ª(she never would have thought she''d say this about money)¡ªfrom the backpack to save space. She took a look at her wallet again. [WEALTH: 6 gold coins, 122 silver coins, 30 copper coins] This was the first time she regretted being so ''modern''. She should''ve stocked herself some hard currency had she known this would happen¡­ In any case, she didn''t know how far this little wealth could get her, but she was not going to take any chances. Not to mention, she had to fill up the entire 1 cubic meter to feel comfortable. Stretching her body, she turned her head to look at the floating clock on the top of her head. [22:54:03] At the sight of the numbers, she stood up and looked out the window, to the dark scenery outside. In her neighborhood, this was a time that should''ve been filled with stillness, silence, and peace. Instead, it echoed with horrendous screams and yells for help. However, she knew in her gut that no one would have the energy to help others right now. She could only help herself. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She went towards the door, taking out the handy broom shaft from the space. She rested long enough. Chapter 6 Leaving the House As she stepped out of the threshold, she mentally reviewed what she knew of her milieu. The neighborhood she lived in was an upper-class neighborhood. It was located in the suburbs very near downtown, with residential composition ranging from nouveau riche, politicians, and stars. Each lot cut was around 300 sqm each, which was already very large considering this was still basically within the scope of the city. It could be said that a square meter of land here was worth a ton of gold. It wasn''t that her adoptive family was so rich, however. They managed to own such a house because it was bought early by her mother''s grandparents when it was still valued low. When her mother was young, a developer wanted to buy the lot for a questionable price but they refused. Thankfully, at the time, mother already made a name for herself in the academe and had developed a good network, so the developer could only compromise and let them join the development for a fair price. When they passed, the will named the three of them for a joint ownership. Althea was incredibly touched by the gesture. Not by the money, but the thought that in their heart she and her husband were truly family. It was just that her brother was often on business trips, and her husband was often on missions, so when their parents left, the house was often empty. There were a total of 47 houses in this villa area, a couple of which took two or three cuts, all of them were undoubtedly well-off and should have at least a bit of wealth at home. Such a pity for their hard-earned digital assets though¡­ Such a pity¡­ In any case, she set her eyes on the house to her left, simply because the house on the right still had screaming women in it. She was not about to rob people who were still alive, nor would she risk her life to save others who may just want to depend on her¡­ Forgive her for being unfeeling, but she couldn''t do thankless things. She spent years in an orphanage and¡ªeven with the deliberate protection of her now-husband¡ªshe had been exposed to the dark side of society fairly early. She was never the innocent little girl who wanted to save the world. More importantly, the people from that house were all snobbish nouveau riche whose daughters had more than once ogled her husband inappropriately like hungry hyenas looking at delicious meat. She ignored the ear-piercing screams that also attracted a lot of zombies and turned towards her gate. As she neared the gate, she went to check if there were many monsters outside. After all, the disaster happened at the height of nightlife. She slowly opened the gate and closed it just as quickly. A second later, five zombies were trying to stretch their claws in. She stepped back, a bit scared, but she remembered the experience and the bit of money she could receive. So she gathered her wits and courage and, using the sharp edge of the shaft, she poked the zombies in the eyes. It was easier than before because their arms were trapped in the gate. Elated by the discovery, she quickly poked the head of the others that were trapped. [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] To be honest, if it wasn''t for the rancid smell that entered her nose and killed her brain, this could have been quite addicting. It was like playing the ancient-themed arcade game of whack-a-mole. Then the stench interrupted her thoughts again and she felt like vomiting for real. She ran to the house to drink some water, because it would be a waste to use the bottled water in her backpack. While inside the house, she took a package of face masks and wore one. She would be exploring the neighborhood after all, the smell would only get worse. If she didn''t do anything, maybe her nose would lose its function. . . . She paused at a thought, an idea brewing in her mind. Smell. ¡­. Ten Minutes Later. Althea stared at the bodies stuck on the gate with a complicated expression, seriously re-considering this experiment. Was it worth it? However, she looked at the time again and swore to be more decisive. She held her breath and with bated breath, she cut off the arms of the zombies within her property line. She then wrapped herself with blood and even wrapped an arm like a belt, just over her big belly. She felt like vomiting again. At this point, she wondered: Would she give birth prematurely due to disgust? But only time will tell and she had no choice but to learn the answer to that for real. She closed her eyes for a moment to gather herself. She also wanted to heave a deep breath, but she remembered the mind-melting smell and stopped herself just in time. She slowly opened up one of the gates, carefully hiding behind its panel. She let a few monsters enter, and then quickly locked the gate again. Another three monsters entered within those few seconds, and another half dozen were trying to enter like the previous batch, albeit they were stopped in their tracks by the sturdy metallic fences. She couldn''t help but stare at the dozens of zombies in her area, very concerned. There were already so many monsters in their sparsely-populated neighborhood. She could not imagine what it would be like in the city¡­ All these thoughts passed by her head, but her whole being was watching the monsters on full alert. She watched as they walked aimlessly around her garden, and she stood still to see what they would do. They walked around without a target and Althea stood still until one of them started dragging its feet to her direction. Her grip on the shaft tightened and she could swear she could hear her own heartbeat. Grrrrr... The monster made some guttural noises as she... it... explored the area in front of her, seemingly not seeing Althea there. It gave her a moment to study the monster. The monster looked young, in her teens, and it seemed like the other zombies that entered were also in the same age group. They were probably neighborhood teens going to a party when the transformation happened. As the monster trudged across the lawn, closer and closer to where she was, Althea could see the puss and decaying skin on her face, the fluid coming out from the orifices, and the heavily pregnant Althea just wanted to puke again. The monster was turning around when it suddenly twisted its deformed head to face her and she felt her heart drop to where her children were. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But it only paused for a few seconds before it finally looked away. Althea heaved a deep breath and raised her rod, attacking it on an orifice while it was looking away. [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] The noise attracted the other three and they ran to where the body fell, but they stopped when the noise did the same. From her observation, the main organ working for these monsters was the ear. They were blind, which was a relief. As for the sense of smell¡­, they should have it, but it was probably not much different from how it was when they were human¡ªas seen by how an arm hanging around her could cover her own smell. This made sense because hearing tended to retain its functions longer than the other two senses even during aging. Not to mention, in accidents, the eyes and nose statistically lost functions faster than the ears that underwent the same trauma. Taking note of her new discovery, she quickly killed the remaining ones inside. [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [Ding! Congratulations for leveling up to Level 1!] With this announcement, she felt that some sort of aura exploded from her body, making the monsters outside crazier. As if suddenly injected with a stimulant, about a dozen more zombies started attacking the gate. Fortunately, the gate was strong enough, otherwise, they''d have broken it with sheer numbers alone. Regardless of the zombies outside, Althea was in a better mood. She really felt that her body had improved: Her body felt lighter, she felt more energetic, and her senses a little bit sharper. Of course, this also meant the rancid smell kicked differently. Disregarding this, she looked at the dozens of monsters trying to destroy her gate. With a bit more confidence, she headed towards these monsters, starting to see them as targets to hunt. Chapter 7 Exploring the Neighborhood - Part 1 [22:06:08] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 1 (145/1000) Life: 190/200 Spirit: 121/200 (-5%) Physical: 30 (-5%) Agility: 27 (-20%) Attack: 8 Defense: 15 Mana: 100 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Her eyes paused at ''spirit'' and judged it must have something to do with stamina. As for what would happen if these got too low, she''d rather not find out for herself. She went back to the house to take a little rest. Killing those dozens of zombies had not been easy, especially in her current state. It was really fortunate that the gate was able to handle the weight, and the zombies she had to deal with were only a few at a time. First, she had killed the ones accessible through the gaps of the gates and then killed the overflowing ones climbing up the corpses. Although they could not smell her, she made a lot of noise so she managed to attract the zombies until there were none in her street. She was actually surprised by the number of people here. After all, the 40 or so households wouldn''t have more than 10 people on average, including the servants. Although this was a high-end villa area, this was still in the city''s scope. How large could single detached houses get? In her street alone, there shouldn''t be so many zombies ambling about outside. What she didn''t know yet was that the neighbors held some sort of reunion. It just so happened that many of the guests were hanging around in the gardens and outside. Amusingly, they had the ''old age'' theme so the zombies were all wearing old-school party clothes. She was relieved to notice that her spirit had risen to 150 after half an hour of rest. Now that she had an idea of the rate of Spirit increase, she could resume her adventure outside. She could feel that she was stronger and she could jump a few meters. If she wasn''t pregnant, of course. Now that she was carrying two kids, she couldn''t be so presumptuous. So she took out the ladder and placed it on the adjoining wall with the neighbor. Standing on the wall, she took the foldable ladder to the other side so she could effortlessly cross to the neighbor''s lawn. This neighbor was a former politician, with very classy young wives¡­ er¡­ wife and sister-in-law. It was very likely they weren''t home at this time, considering their very active nightlife. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their house was a classically designed home of three floors. It had intricate patterns, cornices, and others. Even the gutters had curves. Checking the surroundings for monsters, she slowly walked towards the direction of the house. Her steps were lithe and light, and her handy weapon was ready to be used at any time. It didn''t take long for her to hear rustling and growling. Her feet paused, waiting for the rustles to get closer, likely to be attracted by her arrival. But when she stopped moving, the zombies no longer had a way to determine her location, and the two servant zombies ended up zoning around. Her Armor of Zombie Goo was still useful, so they didn''t actively attack her even as she approached them. She took them down quite easily. [+5 copper, +5 experience] [+5 copper, +5 experience] [+5 copper, +5 experience] Hey, practice made perfect. It had been a while since she practiced fencing, but she felt that she was getting pretty good. She reached the door of the house and deliberately called for people in case the owner was still in the house. She was not so desperate as to rob a house with the owner still in the house. "Hello? Anyone there?" No answer. She asked again, "Hello?" Still, no answer. Seeing that there was no one home, she opened the door by destroying the handle. It happened very suddenly. She had not even stepped past the threshold when she heard a sudden gust of wind whip in her direction, something lunging at her from the shadows. In a swift motion, she barely blocked the sharp teeth of the toy dog with the shaft. Clang! Her heart stopped for a moment as she gaped at the ferocious fangs snap shut mere inches away from her face. The creature''s horrid breath, combined with the smell of its decaying body, attacked her sense of smell. It was so rancid that she almost blacked out. But she kept the bile down and kept defending herself, swinging the shaft to where her instincts told her to, eventually connecting to the skull of the creature. She kicked it away and struck another direction, directly hitting the ribcage of the other one. The shadows were thrown a few steps back in similar directions and Althea held her makeshift weapon, a little shaken from the shock. There were indeed creatures that approached her but they were not zombies, but zombie dogs. Their eyes were vacant and glazed, but their growls told her they were hungry for her meat. A moment later, the two dogs lunged at her with speed that those previous zombies could not compare. Fortunately, she was no longer taken by surprise and managed to avoid being mauled by their sharp fangs. The dog she hit on the head already had an open skull. Its movements were slower and much easier to deal with. Adrenaline flowing through her veins, Althea lifted the rod and, while avoiding the other dog''s attack, threw down a powerful stroke that finally ended one of the dogs. Not taking an extra breath, she turned her weapon to block a deadly bite, and she could see the metal handle slowly bending. She shivered at how sharp the bites were and she immediately whipped the rod with the dog attached to it. It refused to budge. If anything, it was just bending her weapon. Seeing that she may even lose control of her only weapon, she fought for the rod with all her strength, and they eventually ended up inside the house. However, the dog''s grip was too strong. Instead, she hit the rod with the dog towards the art feature with sharp edges. The dog''s body splattered with blood and finally let go of her weapon. She hit it over and over until a familiar ding echoed in her head, and she finally heaved a sigh of relief. [+10 copper, + 10 experience] She dragged her feet to the door and closed it, for fear of new monsters being attracted by the noise. At this time, she allowed herself a short moment of respite. So animals turned to those monsters, too? And because of their physiques, they were also innately harder to deal with. Most importantly, they could smell her underneath all this gruel¡­ She instinctively cradled her belly, feeling a little shaken. It seemed that she still thought things too lightly. Chapter 8 Exploring the Neighborhood - Part 2 After recovering some of her wits, Althea looked at her status bar and saw a full 20 points of spirit were deducted. However, she dared not rest for too long and she began to peruse around the luxurious living room after a couple minutes of breather. If the outside details were showy, the house''s interiors were just gaudy. There was a mishmash of expensive displays and antiques. The upholstery had patterns and even the cornices had intricate designs. It was visually exhausting. It was like the owner was a peacock. Maybe he was. Anyway, she immediately held the items in an attempt to sell them. She was surprised to find that, basically, every display had value. [+2 gold] [+4 gold] [+23 silver] [+12 silver] [+3 gold] Elated, she happily continued exploring the rooms of the house, killing a few more servant zombies along the way. She earned quite a bit of money from the first floor alone. As she walked, her eyes were attracted to a wall-mounted rack not too far away, and her green eyes brightened. "A golf club set!" She uttered, her strides taking her in front of it. It was a complete set, made of cutting-edge materials like a titanium head. She looked at it in excitement and determined the best weapon would be the golf driver or the Wood-1, which remained in her hand while she kept the rest inside her space. She then went to the kitchen and took all bottled water and food with a long shelf life. Satisfied, Althea went to the next floor and ended up in the mistress''s¡­ er... sister-in-law''s room. She knew whose room it was because this woman loved pink to the point that it was pathological. Every time she ambled and jogged around the neighborhood, anyone could see her figure by virtue of her bright-colored clothes alone. Anyway, after shuffling through the woman''s items, she found the jewelry and exchanged it for a few hundred silver. Althea then went to the master''s bedroom and took in a few high-quality coats and leather attires for men and women. She found all the valuables, watches, and the like and got hundreds of silver and dozens of gold coins in exchange. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It took her a while to find the safety deposit box though. After a lot of effort, she eventually found it in the study, under the carpet floor. She didn''t bother to open it and exchanged it directly, surprised to find that her balance increased by scores of gold coins. Politicians were really rich. In hard currency, too. She exited the house to the east wall and repeated the old trick. It was just that the garden of this neighbor was full of rockery, so she didn''t dare jump down carelessly. She did the same thing with this one and proceeded to a few more abodes. After four more houses, she had already gained quite a bit. She thanked the heavens that she had the foundation for self-defense. Since her husband learned, she and Ansel learned too. Especially when he became a soldier, in which case their repertoire of fighting knowledge expanded tremendously in turn. How many stalkers she handled with the techniques she learned, she didn''t even know. What surprised her the most was the lack of animals though, at first she was fully prepared for encountering zombie pets because of the trouble the mutts caused her. But¡­ after so many houses, she had yet to encounter another one. Then she saw the untransformed body of the guard dogs, and then rats, and cats. She realized that whatever it was that affected people''s genes and turned them into zombies, it was too much for most animals. She felt sad for the animals, but at least they didn''t have to suffer through this hell. She shook her head of the thoughts. She had no time to feel sorry for others right now. With that thought, she continued her ''trip'' after another short break. Using her ''armor'' bug, she breezed through a full seven more houses and finally checked on her status during a short break. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 1 (585/1000) Life: 200/200 Spirit: 102/200 (-5%) Physical: 30 (-5%) Agility: 27 (-20%) Attack: 11 (+1) Defense: 16 (+3) Mana: 100 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [EQUIPMENT LIST Head: Face mask +0 Defense Ears: None Body: Leather jacket +1 Defense, Cotton Shirt +0 Defense Arms: None Legs: Leather pants +1 Defense Hands: Metal Rod +1 Attack Feet: Rubber boots +1 Defense, +0 Agility ] [WEALTH: 89 gold coins, 1522 silver coins, 2330 copper coins] Her biggest gain though was the baby products. Although it was only an opened can of powdered milk and diapers, it reminded her that she needed to stock up on these as well. Sigh, she almost forgot her babies'' food. Another thing she learned was about the survival rates of human beings. In all of the houses, there were no other survivors. At all. This survival rate was not even 5%... She felt heavy at this realization. Her husband, wherever he was, did they have to go through this as well? What about her friends? What about her brother? Did he turn to one of these things? If he didn''t, he was probably surrounded by them now, right? Alas¡­ he was hundreds of kilometers away from her. She could not do anything about it with her current abilities. Worrying would be for naught and wouldn''t help him at all. In the end, she decided to just prepare as much as she could, and maybe they would meet in that Other World and she could support them. It was just that as smooth as she had gone through the first part of the neighborhood, she encountered quite a bit of a challenge in the next house. Chapter 9 Ansel - Part 1 Aberdeen City, 16 years ago 7-year-old Ansel just felt ringing in his ears, his vision darkening, and his entire body shook in fear. He didn''t know what happened. One time he was playing alone in the sandbox, next it was all dark and cold, and scary. "When will they send the money?" Little Ansel turned his head to the door, hearing an unfamiliar voice. He was answered by another strange voice, one with an annoying screech to it, and the sound alone made the sensitive Ansel frown deeper. "The woman said to give them an hour." "As expected of famous literaties and scientist, gathering funds everywhere isn''t a problem." A disgusting cackle sounded afterward, joined by hoots and celebratory yells. Ansel still didn''t fully understand his situation, but he knew he was in trouble. Was he going to die? Like those rabbits in Animal Planet? However, before he dwelled on this thought, he felt a tap on his shoulders and he flinched by instinct. He almost yelled out when a small hand blocked his mouth. His eyes widened as he saw the most beautiful eyes staring back at him. "Shhhhhh!" She mumbled cutely, placing her free index finger on her lips. She then turned her head to behind the barrel. She waved her hand at him, telling him to follow. It was a small hole hidden behind the barrels, he watched as she crawled inside and her butt even got stuck in the hole. After struggling she managed to squeeze in, and the sight made even the most timid kid, him, chuckle. But when she disappeared, little Ansel couldn''t help but just stare at the passage, not really knowing what to do. But then her small head appeared again and she stared at him with a frown. ''What are you doing?'' She mouthed. ''Come on!'' His body moved on its own to follow. He was smaller than she was so he didn''t struggle to enter at all. It was just that his arms touched sticky substances that made his skin crawl. However, before he could even look at her with tears in his eyes, she was already crawling meters away from him, totally unaffected by the dirt. Seeing that there was no one to comfort him, he pursed his lips and followed. Following her lead, he crawled with her on the dirty floor covered with disgusting muck and sludge. It was still dark, cold, and damp¡ª But he didn''t feel as scared as he had been. ____ [20:34:23] Ansel ran to the door, closing it, using his whole weight to block the door. Heaving a deep breath, he used much of his strength to quickly pull the side table, blocking the door from the feral creature pushing on the other side. The door continued to knock but fortunately, the metallic door was stable enough. Unless the zombies found out that they could pull the double swing door to open it, he was fine for now. Finally getting a bit of respite, his legs gave out and he found himself lying on the floor. His hair was akin to a chicken nest, body was covered in blood and gore, totally unlike his usual suave self. This moment of calm after so many hours allowed him some sort of respite, long enough for him to finally absorb what was happening. The world had gone crazy. One moment he was having a decent dinner with rich clients after a successful deal, the next moment they all froze, twitched, and started salivating at the sight of him. Since then, he had been in the restaurant switching hiding places from room to room. He was also a bit lucky that another more active survivor was running around and attracting the aggro. Because of this, he simply had to estimate where they would be running towards and try to avoid as many zombies as he could, using the silent gun he got from the client''s guards to kill those that came in his way. He pulled out his phone, and frowned at the fact that there was still no signal. How was Althea? He couldn''t help but imagine a very pregnant Althea running from these blasted things in aghast. However, thinking how she had always been headstrong, combined with her skills and wit, she was probably doing better than he was. Not to mention, she was staying in the suburbs. There should be fewer zombies, right? He looked at his last gun, on its last few bullets. They were all taken from the client''s bodyguards, and he had already scrapped a few in the past few hours. It could be said that he was still a bit lucky. If the deal had happened in any other place in Eden country, the guards wouldn''t have been able to smuggle guns in. He shivered at the thought of having no decent weapon in the midst of these ugly smelly monsters. He''d rather self-destruct than turn into one of those horrid pieces of existence! Speaking of, he needed to find a new weapon lest he joined this army of zombies. He opened up his phone and looked at the saved map, planning his route back to Aberdeen City. Maybe he could also find a good place to get a new weapon. A normal drive would take at least half a day, let alone now that cars were parked in the middle of the road, making it virtually impossible to breeze through the streets as they could''ve. His shoulder slumped in disappointment. When will he see Althea again? Then he remembered a new train line opened from the neighboring city to Bruno City, which was not far from home. This train was fully AI-automated, maybe it was still operational? The phone and radio signals might be lost, but seeing as there was still electricity it seemed that it hadn''t been interrupted. Hey, either way, he really didn''t have a choice. No matter what, he had to be within her vicinity. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Only that way would he ever have peace. Chapter 10 Ansel - Part 2 Calming himself, he took time to take a look at his Stats. [STATS: Name: Ansel Witt Age: 23 Level: 1 (15/1000) Life: 150/200 Spirit: 92/200 Physical: 42 Agility: 35 Attack: 21 Defense: 17 Mana: 100 Physical Potential: S Mental potential: A+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Fire Titles: None Overall rank: A Current Status: Weakened. ] [EQUIPMENT LIST Head: None Ears: None Body: Wool Suit, Cotton Polo +0 Defense Arms: None Legs: Wool Pants +0 Defense Hands: Gun +Attack indeterminate Feet: leather shoes +1 Defense, +0 Agility ] [WEALTH: 43 gold, 0 silver, 130 copper] As a gamer, he naturally had an idea of what those stats meant. Although, he was a bit disappointed that many gold bars only got him a few scores of gold. The client paid in gold and he had not had the time to gather other things. For one thing, other than the gun he stole, he didn''t have anything else after so many hours of hiding. The so-called space backpack only contained a couple of mint candies he got from a countertop. He sighed in self-pity and looked around, but froze when he finally realized where he was. His sexy peach blossom eyes brightened at the sight. He was in the kitchen, an empty one at that¡ª the zombies must have gotten out a long time ago¡ªleaving this oasis of normalcy for him to find. His sights landed on kitchen knives as well as those huge scissors used to cut meat on table grills. He took them all into his space. He took everything that could be used as a weapon, including the chopping board. He scurried to the fridge and filled the backpack with all the food and water that could fit. Mostly filling food like rice and flour were given priority. A bit of meat and fruits were added, and the rest was potable water. After looking around for a bit to see if he missed anything, he went to find the back door of the kitchen to exit from there¡ª Only to see about a dozen zombies turning their heads to him simultaneously. His scalp numbed at the sight, each hair on his body rising in fear. He quickly closed the door and dragged another table to bar it. On cue, the door started banging and it felt like his heart rose to his throat. He tried to gulp the nerves down but to no avail. Damned city, even back alleys have so many people!! Fortunately, after several minutes, he was certain that the obstacle worked. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He eventually got used to the banging and scratching on the door, finally letting his heart get back into place. He made a quick calculation and decided that handling the zombies inside was still easier than those outside. He looked at the ceilings. This city was one of the older cities that hadn''t been developed much, so many of the cities here had relatively older systems. He watched an old movie that ventilation in the olden days could fit people. He looked up the walls and saw the vents, his ears could hear some rumbling sounds from within. He hoped that there weren''t meat-grinding fans that would turn him into a minced-Ansel. His sister..., he didn''t know if she would laugh or cry at him at that time. As for Garan... he would probably sneer. ''Shame,'' he''d say, ''All that training for nothing.'' Anyway, he tried to make a mental map of the building, trying to find his way to the parking lot. After heaving a sigh, he dragged a table to the area underneath the vent, trying to open it. Because it wasn''t a common sight in his generation, he struggled for a bit, until he realized he needed something thin to pull it out. He stepped down and looked for something that could do the job and settled with a small knife. It was not easy because he didn''t have the right tool and he was starting to get impatient. He almost dropped the knife many times, and when the lid finally loosened he almost cheered like a little brat. It was just that the moment he entered, his eyes twitched. "Fuuuuudge!" Spiderwebs. Dust. Grime. Everywhere. On every freaking surface! Whoever filmed those movies was liars! Obviously, these things were clean in the movies! He should sue!! However, it was still better than rotting meat trying to eat him, so he sucked it up and just covered his mouth and nostrils with a handkerchief to avoid getting lung disease or something. As he crawled, arm by arm, leg by leg, he couldn''t help but enter a melancholic mood. He was reminded of that time he escaped from kidnappers¡­ only Althea wasn''t here with him. He did not dwell in self-pity for too long, primarily because the place was uncomfortable to sulk in, and he steeled himself, crawling forward. It took him a full hour to get somewhere downstairs without a damned zombie. Ignoring his inevitable sneezing and the cringe from all the dust that stuck to him because of the grime¡ªhell, he felt like puking¡ªhe trudged on, like a brave warrior. He would eventually be able to find the relevant intersections. Fortunately, he had a decent memory and knew which hallway he had passed by. After carefully opening the lid from inside, he jumped down with the knife in his hand, ready to attack whatever glomped at him. Two zombies were nearby and they heard the noise, running towards him. Fortunately, zombies were a bit slower than normal people due to rigor mortis. Not to mention, he was not without martial arts training. This was because he didn''t want to lose to the nominal brother who took all the admiration of his sister and parents. So... dealing with two zombies was no problem at all. He gained confidence as headed towards the elevator only to hear scratching noises and growls quickly approaching. It was also a zombie, but it was a familiar one. It was that survivor who had been kindly distracting the restaurant zombies a few hours back. He felt a little sad. That guy didn''t make it, after all. However, his lax attitude quickly disappeared when he saw how the damned thing moved. It was at least thrice as fast as a normal zombie, okay? A bit panicked, he could barely block the zombie''s attacks with his kitchen knife. He basically could only defend himself for several rounds until he started to be more proactive in attacking. Only¡­ the damned thing was really fast. A few minutes later, the zombie still couldn''t be taken down. He feared the noise would attract more zombies. He was losing. And he was not reconciled. At this time, an idea popped out his head and he quickly took out a random piece of meat from the backpack space. Sure enough, the zombie was momentarily distracted but this one second was enough for Ansel to stab through its head. [+15 copper, +15 experience] Respecting the holy principle of No Waste, he took back the bait-meat. However even if the zombie didn''t touch it, he wouldn''t be eating it after landing on the floor with who-knew-what kind of zombie goo. He marked the meat and thought that if he ever found a fishing rod this would be its bait. After letting himself breathe for a few seconds, he dragged himself to the elevator. He closed his eyes and let himself rest for a few seconds of travel time. After all, he knew that he still had a loooong way to go before getting back home. Chapter 11 Going Home Ding! The elevator door opened, and another dozen or so zombies turned their heads to him. With a bit more confidence this time, he threw the meat to the face of the nearest zombie. The zombies rushed towards the fresh bloody meat and he took advantage to run towards his car. He took most of the meat he had in stock, throwing them at opportune times until he reached his precious baby. His car was actually a bulky-awesome-manly SUV model Monster 931. Most people would think he''d own sexy sports cars like the Leopard. In reality, he was a bit of a macho and he liked larger cars, unlike his pretty boy image. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. By the time the meat was gone, he was already inside the car. "Whew¡­" he gasped, resting on the very comfortable upholstered chair of his car with its ergonomic design and breathable fabric made of special synthetic materials. He looked at the unchanged interior of his baby with a smile. "Forever reliable, yes you are¡­" he said, wiping the headboard, the backseats, and the wheels. And finally, after taking a short breather, he turned on the engine. He reversed the car and stepped on the gas¡ª Thump! [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] "Oh?" It quickly dawned on him about what he just hit and his eyes brightened. After that, he headed to his target location, running over zombies and gained experience and copper by the way. [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] [+5 Copper, +5 Experience.. While he couldn''t take the lives of all zombies he ran over, he still made a decent amount of experience overall. The road had been much smoother ever since. ... "Ah, my baby is the best~" He smiled, driving through the zombies, while avoiding major obstacles to the best of his ability. This car, hereby referred to as Barbara, was a top-of-the-line monster he bought with most of his dividends from the company. Not only did it run fast and smooth, it had a strong bodice and quiet engine. It also had superior high-ground clearance, off-road capabilities, and a powerful engine that allowed it to just run over zombie corpses without the carcasses affecting its run. It was like he bought this car for the apocalypse. Well, almost. Scratches were still inevitable, unfortunately. This wasn''t a monster truck that could crush other cars after all. When the car''s metallic armor screeched as it scrapped other cars, Ansel teared up a bit. "I''m so sorry Barbara, but we have to trudge through this!" It was painful, almost like he was being scratched himself, but he had no choice but to press on the gas, even when he knew his Barbara would get dented. Ah, the torture. Anyway, except when there were road blockages that he had to crash towards, he was basically unimpeded and unaffected by the chasing zombies for a good hour (gaining some experience as he went) until he finally neared the border of the city. He looked at the back mirror and saw that there were still scores of zombies running after him. He took out the bell counter he stole from the hotel reception and threw it out of the car. The small sound was enough to distract the remaining zombies for a few seconds. It was enough for him to maneuver an escape. Well, sort of. After all, there were still plenty of zombies in the suburbs. Fortunately, it was much calmer, and even with the new zombies running after him, he felt very calm. He found zombies a little cute now. But then he remembered the dents and scratches on Barbara and his hits became personal again. [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] Sure enough, only huge cars were real cars. Anyway, he continued to happily run over zombies. After running past the suburbs, he arrived at a relatively abandoned highway. Even if there were zombies, they were few and sparse. Even if they got to him, they would be run over by the car. After driving for a bit, he found a place to park his car for a bit of rest. As he sat, he looked at his stats. [STATS: Name: Ansel Witt Age: 23 Level: 1 (165/1000) Life: 165/200 Spirit: 45/200 Physical: 42 Agility: 35 Attack: 21 Defense: 17 Mana: 100 Physical Potential: S Mental potential: A+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Fire Titles: None Overall rank: A Current Status: Weakened. ] [EQUIPMENT LIST Head:None Ears: None Body: Wool Suit, Cotton Polo +0 Defense Arms: None Legs: Wool Pants +0 Defense Hands: Gun +Attack indeterminate Feet: leather shoes +1 Defense, +0 Agility ] [WEALTH: 43 gold, 0 silver, 410 copper] He wondered what would happen if his Spirit turned 0? Would his soul fly out of his body? Well, he decided not to know by experience. So, he closed his eyes and took a well-deserved rest, even if just for a while. [19:44:53] He was woken up by the sound of gunshots not far from him. At first, he was annoyed, but soon his eyes showed a tinge of interest. After all, such noisy guns were really old school, discontinued all the way to before he was born. Did someone use antiques to defend himself? Then again, old guns were better than no guns, so this dude was definitely better off than others. Curiously, he looked over at their direction and eventually found the action. He also saw a huge middle-aged man apparently losing bullets and was now using it as a hammer instead. Although he was not naive enough to save a person because of kindness¡ªhe was someone who was kidnapped once¡ªthis dude had been the only survivor he''d seen after so long. Not to mention such a brave real man like this one. He decided to help out by pressing the horn to distract the zombies, attracting about half of the zombies to him. Then, he proceeded to drive away. Sadly a few minutes later there was a huge blockage in front of him. It was a deciduous tree felled by a truck. Just as he stared at the obstruction and pondered on what to do, Ansel heard a breathless shout behind him. "I''ll help you if you help me!" His eyebrows rose as he looked at the rearview mirror. It was that gun-hammer guy from before. "PLEASE!" He yelled as he swung his hoe (where did that come from?) to the head of the zombie. Knowing there was little choice, Ansel just sighed and made a backing, crushing a lot of the zombies, earning him a bit of experience again. (At this rate, it wouldn''t be long until he reached level 2.) The man didn''t wait for the surviving zombies to stand up, he quickly killed them and jumped in the car. "Please make a backing. There''s an alley on the right. I''ve been there and the road is clear!" Ansel nodded and followed instructions. Now that he noticed, the man had a mellow voice and he was also very soft-spoken, totally incongruent with his muscular body. After a while, they did find a clear road. He accelerated past the zombies, running over a few again, before the reached the high way with relatively few cars and zombies. Several minutes of silence passed before either of them spoke up. "Thank you." The older man said, taking out a few bolts of silver. "This is half of my earnings so far. Please take it." Ansel was not polite and took the few bits of silver. Of course, his willingness to pay definitely added favorability to his direction. [Received! +12 silver] The man didn''t speak for a while and just gathered his breath. Some moments of silence passed by them, and Ansel just drove as if he were alone. "My name is Tom. I live a few blocks from here," the man finally spoke after a while. "Ansel." He just answered. "Where do you get off?" He asked, just a bit curious. The man paused in thought. "Where are you heading?" "Z city." The answer seemed to have excited the man. "Can I go with you? My brother''s family is in Mocci Town." Mocci was a town under the jurisdiction of Z city. "I will pay you with all the copper I have. I have 100 so far." Ansel did not agree immediately. Instead, he looked back at the man''s performance from before. "You''re already level 1 as well?" "Yes." He nodded. "Okay, but I won''t protect you, and you better not hold me back." "Of course, of course!" Ansel smirked and focused on driving again, dark green eyes fixed on the relatively clear roads ahead. Ignoring the sparse zombie population, it was as if he could see the person he wanted to see at the end of the road. ''Wait for me, Althea.'' he mused, ''I''ll find you, definitely.'' Chapter 12 Upgraded Zombies In the 9th house, she couldn''t help but look a bit more carefully at the surroundings. Like her own home, it had relatively old designs, telling her the original owners were like her nominal grandparents, obtaining the property very early on. It had a classic design, simple patterns, with warm color tones, and very homely. When there was no one who answered her knock, she entered the house with her now-practiced unlocking skills, which was easier because she was familiar with the lock designs. She passed the foyer and the anteroom, weapon out and ready to strike. In this house lived a family of five: The two parents, a pair of twin children, and a surviving grandfather. She could find this out from the various photos displayed on the walls. The largest one was a large picture frame over 1 meter in height, except there was also a grandmother in the photo. But it could be seen that in the more recent photos (as seen by the growth of the children), the grandmother had already passed away. They looked like a really happy family, and somehow Althea hoped that she would find survivors here more than others. She decided to start with the upper floors going down, going from room to room to find valuables. There wasn''t much though, even in the main bedroom, and it was obvious that the family lived a relatively simple life despite their being well-off. It was a little endearing. Too bad their house was several blocks away and they didn''t have any interactions before this tragedy... Shaking the thoughts off, Althea passed a few more rooms and eventually ended up in one of the last rooms on that floor. She frowned when she noticed that there were traces of blood in the area. It was like someone bloodied was dragged hurriedly across the floor and heading towards the final room. She didn''t follow this trace for now and focused on the door at hand. Tentatively raising her hand, she knocked on it a bit, a little hopeful at the sound. But when she heard it was the familiar scratching and growls, she immediately raised her weapon and opened the door. "ROAR!" Her body moved by instinct to hit the most vulnerable part she could access at this angle: The neck. She took it down with one hit and saw that it was the zombie father who greeted her. Inside, she met the mom and the grandfather and quickly handled them as well. She looked around and saw it was a study. The three adults were probably having a meeting of sorts when it happened. There were still teas and teacups on the floor, the carpet drenched with it. There was a plethora of awards on the wall¡ªfrom the father to the grandchildren. As well as a small bookshelf. Very old-fashioned, as most people read e-books now. If she had more space, she would''ve wanted to bring these treasures with her. Sigh. Shaking her head in regret, Althea looked more carefully around the study. She pondered whether there were hidden compartments and safety deposit boxes but to no avail. Eventually, she gave up and resumed her trip to the rest of the house. This time, she decided to follow the blood and her feet stopped at a sound. Her eyes brightened a bit and she felt a little hopeful. She raised her delicate hands and gently knocked on the door. Knock knock, knock knock She also heard a rustle inside as if responding to her noise. It wasn''t like the slow scratching sounds made by the zombies. It was more like people dropping things because they were startled. It couldn''t have been made by a zombie, she thought. Since the three adults were gone, then it must''ve been the children. The children survived! Unconsciously, her pace hastened a little and she hurried to open the door. Two swift figures immediately lunged at her, with speeds comparable to the mutt she encountered earlier. This was worse because there were two of them, and they were bigger. It was the girl-boy twin of the couple. They were about 13 years old, but the savagery in their eyes and form could scare the soul out of anyone. She followed her body''s instinct to hit wherever she felt like there would be an attack. Simultaneous attacks from two sides rendered her unable to follow the movement with her mind, so she just let her body''s instinct do the work. How many times she almost got scratched, she could no longer count. She had no choice but to leave the house and jump through the railing of the second floor. Luckily she was flexible and while enough so she managed to use the patterned wall as a landing to cushion her fall. But the movement was too wild for a pregnant woman like her, regardless of her strengthened physique. She felt bile rise up her stomach and she could not stop it. It was at this moment that the zombies rushed to her and she accidentally threw up on one of them. The other twin smelled the vomit on his sister and attacked her, instead. "Well, that''s one way of putting waste into use." She mused, quite proud, but not before sprinting as far as she could. Soon the twins realized that the fresh meat was gone and ran after her. She quickly used another elevation change to make them lose their balance. One of the twin teenagers followed and jumped carelessly, falling down on her face. Althea immediately raised her club to repeatedly crush the zombie''s head. The force bent the golf club and she threw it away and pulled out another club, continuing the hitting until the body stopped twitching. [+15 copper, +15 experience] She blocked the teeth of the other twin that ran over, kicking it with all her strength, and putting her whole weight to the hit. [+15 copper, +15 experience] She looked around for any more signs of danger, her heart felt like it rose up to her brain, her erratic heartbeat echoing inside her head. Her feet gave way as soon as she was sure it was safe, sliding down against the wall, and eventually ending up on the floor. It was only now that she realized the amount of red blood in both of the children. Zombies did not bleed, just excreted disgusting fluid and pus. This meant that the children didn''t turn to monsters the first time. Rather, they turned into zombies by being bitten by their family members. It was a heartbreaking image to imagine. Was that why they were so strong? This meant that those who had survived the initial transformation would turn to much stronger zombies. And when she thought things couldn''t get any worse¡ªit would. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For a long time after that, her body shivered from all the adrenaline it had to release. Shakily, her body bent down to hug herself and her belly. And she broke into a sob. Chapter 13 New Weapon Althea didn''t dwell too much after letting out the sobs. But¡­ she couldn''t help but look at the dead zombie twins and her heart constricted again, imagining what they could''ve gone through. How scared the children must''ve been to see the adults turn into monsters. How heartbroken they probably were to be attacked by the adults they trusted, filled with intent to kill. And... how hopeless they must''ve felt when they turned to monsters themselves. She couldn''t help but sob again. It took her a good five minutes before she gathered herself, blaming the darned hormones for her outbursts. When she stood up though, her emerald eyes couldn''t help but look at the kids. It felt uncomfortable just leaving their corpses lying there. So after a moment of thought, she decided to cremate them. Just as she was looking for some gasoline in the house, she noticed that one of the wall displays had dropped from the scuffle. From the marks, it should have been just out of her eye level. From the mess on the floor, her sights fixated on an intricate metallic scabbard just lying there. She walked to it and pulled out the handle, and a sharp thin blade revealed itself, making her eyes shine. Good weapon! She almost missed this!! Excited, she took it for a few swings, cutting the wood furniture like tofu. However, just as she was getting carried away, she felt a sharp discomfort in her lower back. "Ugh," She sniffed, "Pregnancy is so inconvenient." She forgot that she was pregnant, and that her Spirit was too close to the 50% mark. Gathering herself, she resumed her quest to find gasoline, which she really did find in such a traditional household. She poured gasoline inside the house and burned it. Hoping to give the family a cremation, letting them join the soil sooner than wait to rot like all the others. As she stood tens of meters away, her eyes reflecting the large blaze, she started to analyze what she had encountered so far. At least 95% of the population had turned into zombies from the initial transformation, while most animals died from the get-go. As for the few that survived, they turned to zombies that retained their physical advantages while they were still alive. As for the remaining 5% (at most) of the human population¡­ they seemed to have survived. It was just that if they transformed into zombies midway, they would end up becoming upgraded versions of these monsters. These monsters were at least thrice as strong and thrice as quick as the normal zombies. Their sense of smell was also stronger, so her little technique of covering her scent with zombie goo wouldn''t work. She realized that the smoothness of her journey until now made her feel complacent (again) and realized she had a tendency to do so. She heaved a sigh, thinking it was time to rest and regroup. She took a peek at her stats, studying it. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 1 (655/1000) Life: 200/200 Spirit: 102/200 (-5%) Physical: 30 (-5%) Agility: 27 (-20%) Attack: 11 (+1) Defense: 16 (+2) Mana: 100 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] As she headed back home, she didn''t dare to jump above fences anymore. She went out the gates and used the normal route and naturally encountered more zombies. With her now-skillful swinging of her katana, she quickly killed those in the way. Fortunately, there were no upgraded zombies. It was just that the quantity still took a small toll on her spirit. The decrease was small, a mere two points, but it triggered a chain reaction. Like thunder, a lot of pregnancy symptoms attacked her simultaneously. Her back suddenly burst in pain, her legs weakened, and her stomach begging to puke. Imbalanced, she could only lean on the wall to support herself, hoping no upgraded zombies would find her. She looked at her stats and saw her spirit at 99, less than half. So many symptoms of pregnancy appeared only now after so long, she reckoned it had to do with the spirit being less than half. Dragging herself back home, house after house, she finally arrived within her walls and went directly to the bathroom to vomit. She gasped and ended up on the cold tile floor. It took her several minutes before she could catch her breath. Spirit, spirit, she needed more spirit. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, instead of just sleeping it off, she decided to take a shower. She was no clean-freak but she couldn''t handle all the grime and blood¡ªfrom those twin children¡ªon her any longer. She checked on the water in the shower to see if it was heated. When it entered the right temperature she stepped in the shower and finally heaved out a refreshing breath. Not only this but she also opened the tub so she could soak a little in one of her herbal medicine solutions. It was fortunate that civilization has long graduated from its dependence on fossil fuels. Otherwise, she''d have no electricity, maybe even water, within a day of this calamity. She couldn''t imagine being covered with zombie goo the whole day. After doing a basic rinse in the shower, she took the bucket to gather water to place in the space. Water was too important, the most important resource for survival, and she set a quarter of her space for water. She sat down in her bathtub, letting out a moan of relief as she felt the soothing water cover her body. She rested for a while before standing up, drying her hair and body before dropping on her comfortable bed. After waking up, she finally had the energy to study her current situation. [WEALTH: 153 gold coins, 1822 silver coins, 4330 copper coins] She was very curious about what she could buy with this and frankly, she had a little over-compulsive urge to convert everything to gold. However, while she had the option of converting 100 copper to 1 silver, and 100 silver to 1 gold, it was for a price of 1% for each conversion, so she just left it as was. She took out a notebook and listed down what else she needed to gather. From the houses, she actually got some items as well. Like that hundred-thousand-worth pair of hiking backpacks, for one. Speaking of which, she was curious. The system said that items inside the space would be taken upon immigration. She wondered if other attached items could also be taken? After all, they wouldn''t get there naked without clothes, right? Probably? Maybe? Still, she dutifully added a few more changes of clothing for all seasons in her space. Just in case. Chapter 14 Level 2 [16:34:23] S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea woke up from her alarm after sleeping for a few hours, eyes meeting the weak light of dawn. After cleaning herself up and eating breakfast, she decided to take an inventory of her space. A lot had been added as she ventured around her neighborhood. For organization purposes, she divided the space into six areas. She arranged for a part purely for drinkable water. Another two parts were filled with bags of rice and flour, as well as several cubic centimeters of canned and dried foods, fruits, and meats. She also made sure she had complete sets of seasonings, a lot of them. She was not a good cook, but she (allegedly) could do some basic meals. Seasoning was essential for her to make a palatable meal. However, as someone who mixed herbs for a living, she was not without talent. It was just that there had always been someone better at her at this so she let them cook instead. Now that she didn''t have a choice, she made sure recipes were downloaded to her external drive for the sake of her sanity. In retrospect, she had never ever cooked for her husband before¡­ it had always been the other way around. She swore that when they found each other after this, she would cook him a meal not inferior to what he fed her. She didn''t bother put perishable food though. After seeing some of the cooked food lose freshness, she confirmed that the time in the backpack space was not static, hence she did not bother wasting space for easily perishable food. She went to her laboratory and took her handy custom-made lab equipment. This was custom-made equipment she had done because she was often outside, often in the mountains, gathering specimens. It was basically a carry-on lab and also very expensive. Half of her earnings last year went to this, how could she be willing to waste it? She even named it Tori, because she really loved it quite a bit. She also took her portable external memory which was only as big as a toenail, as well as her state-of-the-art tablet. It contained terabytes of knowledge automatically downloaded by her AI assistant. Because of her field in science, she had always had the habit of downloading a lot of information that may or may not be useful. She didn''t think she knew everything and she had only skimmed through a small part of this knowledge so far. Not to mention, she often needed to read references, especially in places without signal when she had to explore and camp. Most importantly, these external drives also contained soft copies of thousands of photos taken through the years. They were all of her family, friends, and her husband. There were also a few printed pictures in her space. She also had a small box containing the seeds of the herbs she had, and she also took the herbs in her greenhouse and handled them. Of course, how could she forget her portable solar panel chargers? Overall the entire tech collection occupied two parts of the floor space. She placed the clothing, living essentials, and the baby products on top to save space. There were also camping items like flashlights, lighters, tents, and bags. With this, she still had over one-sixths of the space left. For now she filled up the remaining space with food and snacks that she could eat on the way. She also took in some raw meat she could maybe use as a decoy. Although zombie''s sense of smell was normal, she thought that maybe they''d be a bit more sensitive to raw meat. Ideally, other than some space left for emergencies, the rest should be filled up with legitimate weapons. Weapons. If she was to get to even the nearest baby products store, she really couldn''t handle so many zombies by herself. Not to mention there were definitely upgraded zombies and maybe zombie creatures roaming around there. She must have a good weapon before taking a risk. Not just any weapon, but hot weapons. She searched her memory and, after a while, finally remembered a rumor amusedly told to her by Nanny. They¡­ seemed to have a drug lord for a neighbor? It was just a rumor, yes, but it was worth a try. Who knows... maybe she''d have some unexpected finds. ... The drug lord''s house was right at the end of the villa area, so she decided to also pass by the villas she hadn''t been to by the way. There were about 12 houses between the two. The first two houses were relatively smooth, earning another bunch of gold and silver coins. Actually, for the most part, there were thousands of silver coins and only a handful of gold. But there was a very interesting house among them. In one of the houses, there was a sculpture made of gold. It didn''t fit the backpack space so she had thought she may not be able to cash it in. However, she just needed to touch it and will it to cash it in. [Received! +32 gold] Smooth. She did notice her spirit lost 5 points, however, so she definitely had to watch her consumption even closer. However, what she didn''t know was that if level 0 survivors tried this, it wouldn''t have worked. It could be said that Althea was still a little lucky with her timing. _____ She jumped over the fence of the third house (okay, using the ladder), but she wasn''t even able to take a few steps inside. She immediately backed away by instinct, narrowly avoiding the sharp bite of a dog. Then by instinct, she ran in another direction and rolled over, avoiding another one. Two!!! Although it seemed like a Doberman, its fur had a different texture, definitely a mixed breed. The other one was definitely a mutt, not owned by the villa owner. Even as she was escaping from their sharp teeth, she couldn''t help but think of how dogs with mixed genes were so much stronger than inbred dogs. Speaking of which, what about the animals outside¡­? How many mutts, stray cats, and others would be out there? She shuddered at the thought of zombie rats¡­ Of course, this was with the assumption that they survived the initial transformational forces, which wasn''t very likely seeing that most house pets didn''t survive. Roar! She flinched and forced herself to concentrate on the fight, holding her katana tightly. The two dogs charged and she hit one dog while kicking the other one. A second later it was the other mutt that was hit. This went on for a long time and she could feel her spirit reducing at a palpable rate. When she finally immobilized one zombie mutt, her pregnancy symptoms had begun acting up again. "This can''t go on." She looked around if there was anything else she could use. Ignoring the body pains, she ran to the shed. Waiting for the dog to enter, she quickly ran out and closed the door. She ran back to the immobilized mutt to finish him off, turning around to hit the other dog. [+10 copper, +10 experience] [+10 copper, +10 experience] [Congratulations on entering Level 2!] She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that another 100 points of spirit were added when she leveled up. In turn, the horrible pregnancy symptoms subsided a little so that she could finally walk properly. Like before, there were no material rewards for leveling up, but her health boosted up again and she felt like she could jump from roof to roof now even with her two babies. She could also see clearly dozens of meters away and could hear noises from afar. Unfortunately, her sense of smell also sharpened and she immediately felt a little dizzy. Couldn''t she choose which sense to sharpen?! Chapter 15 Survivors [13:34:33] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 2 (250/3000) Life: 250/300 Spirit: 230/300 (-5%) Physical: 50 (-5%) Agility: 47 (-20%) Defense: 40 Mana: 200 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [WEALTH: 164 gold coins, 2122 silver coins, 4330 copper coins] Now that her health had recovered, she decided to hit the other houses all the way to the so-called drug lord. She was amazed by how clearly she could now see the details of the other houses. If she made a noise, she could basically hear even the slightest of the reactive noises nearby, as long as they were outside the house. She thought that with a few more levels, she should be able to hear inside houses with insulation. The next house averaged about 7 zombies each and, fortunately, there were no animals or upgraded zombies. Unfortunately, the loot was also average. The katana was also still the best weapon so far. There were actually fencing swords but she thought it was flimsy and may not handle the skull of an upgraded zombie. She was still worrying about her future weapon when she arrived at the next house, just before the alleged drug lord''s. In this house, she noticed something a bit different. In the other houses, any noise she made attracted zombies not just outside the fence, but also inside it. For instance, she should be attracting zombies just by opening the gate. But the gate was already wide open and, even when she made a bit of noise, the yard was still quiet. At first, she just thought the zombies were all inside the house. She habitually knocked on the door, asking if there was someone there. She was actually a bit noncommittal because she had been to so many houses and no one answered with anything other than a growl. "Who?" An awkward croak from a male. She flinched. Surprisingly, there really was someone. She cleared her throat, a little excited. "Hi, this is Althea Witt from #2 Holmes Street." She paused, pondering. "I''m walking around houses to see if there are survivors." There was silence on the other end for a while. Althea sighed and gestured to go when she heard a sound from the door. A small square on the eye-level surface of the door slid to reveal transparent glass. This was actually a common design in front doors back in the day. This was in contrast to that of her house which had a small peeping hole that small people could barely reach. From the small opening, she could see an old face filled with wrinkles, his eyes full of vicissitudes, and was looking at her warily. Althea good-naturedly kept her smile and patiently stood in place, not making any sudden movements. The old man stared at her, as if figuring out her purpose, and he soon realized she was a pregnant woman and he seemed to relax, but only a little bit. "What do you want?" He asked, voice small and weak. "We can... share a bit of food but not too much, and only once." After all, they didn''t know how long this tragedy would last. "Oh, no I don''t need food. It''s just that I''ve been to several houses and you were the first survivor I''ve seen." The man''s eyes widened, a hint of disbelief in his expression. "...How many houses?" "...almost all the other houses in the subdivision." "..." After a beat, the old man finally spoke. "How did you deal with those¡­ those monsters?" He then looked closely at her whole body to realize it was full of black blood. Seeing his dawn of understanding, she nodded. "Well, normal zombies tend to ignore me like this. However, it is useless to Zombie animals and upgraded zombies." The door finally opened and the man invited her in. "Please¡­ please tell me more." Althea nodded and entered. She walked gracefully, and one would admire her temperament had she not been covered in zombie innards¡­ The old man led her to the interior of the house, which was filled with rustic color tones and comfortable furniture. As she looked around, her lively eyes landed on a little girl half-hiding behind a partition. Only her head was visible, guarded but curious, and ready to hide the moment their eyes met. She looked about 6 or 7 years old. Very cute. Althea looked very happy to finally see a survivor, especially a child. She then turned to the old man who politely asked her to sit down. She did do so, but her sights couldn''t help but return to the little girl who was revealing her head again, checking her out. Althea laughed, in a very good mood. Because, these two¡­ no matter what, they represented something to her: They represented the hope that she was really not alone in this new, horrible, world. Chapter 16 Harold and Maya The old man raised his hand to call the little girl. Slowly, the little girl emerged from her hiding place, her curious eyes not leaving the beautiful stranger that entered their house. "This is Maya," the old man said with a small smile. "My daughter." "My name is Harold, by the way." Althea was a bit surprised at the fact that Maya was his daughter. She thought she would be his granddaughter. The man, seemingly aware of her stare, was apparently used to this reaction. He gave her a kind smile, in response. "My wife gave birth very late. Maya is a miracle." They had been trying to have a child for twenty or so years after their marriage. He was already in his fifties and his wife in her late forties when they found out that they had finally gotten pregnant. His wife also died of dystocia because of this. No matter how advanced science was, it could not always cheat death. "My condolences¡­" "Thank you," the old man said, "But, to be honest, I''m just happy we both survived." She nodded. What were the chances, right? She hadn''t found survivors after so long, but suddenly there were two. Althea smiled, "Well, we are blessed," she said before pausing, looking at the two of them in observance. "What do you know about what''s happening?" Harold did not speak immediately, composing his words for fear of sounding too ridiculous. "Well, we know those monsters appeared a few hours ago outside the gate. They wanted to reach out to me but I just hid here." Althea was a bit surprised. "Only you two are in the house?" Otherwise, they wouldn''t have so little experience with zombies. The man nodded. "I am the housekeeper here, and my master allowed my daughter to stay with me as a work benefit. My master generally lives abroad with his family, this is just an inheritance from his parents so he didn''t want to sell it." Althea thought for a while before speaking. "Well, I suggest you kill a few. Take a long tool and poke their heads through the gates." She paused and looked at the little girl. "She should do it too." "What?" The man looked at her in disbelief, suddenly regretting letting her in. Did he bring in a psycho? Althea knew no amount of words could make them understand the weirdness that had been happening in the world. Instead, she took out two of the three remaining golf clubs from the backpack space. Two things appearing out of thin air was definitely a shocking sight. Harold gasped and Maya even yelled. The little girl suddenly stood up to look at the clubs closely, losing her shyness. "Magic! So cool!" Althea smiled, handing the putter to the girl and the wood to Harold. "It''s a system backpack, you can have it too if you kill those monsters." Harold looked at her warily, but also with curiosity. After some internal monologue, he decided to listen to her more in the end. "Can you tell us why?" He asked, "Why all these things¡­." Why are these things happening to us? "You should''ve heard the news that the sun is dying, right?" She asked and Harold nodded after a thought. "My theory is that the monsters outside had to do with some weird force field that the sun released, mutating the genes of living things. "Of course, this is only my own supposition." She couldn''t help but add. "A force called ''Universe System'', or something, will apparently send us somewhere else before the planet becomes completely uninhabitable¡ªwhich is less than 24 hours." She let this idea sit for a while. She knew it sounded ridiculous. But¡­ wasn''t everything that had been happening the past few hours no less insane? "It''s just that this system should only get triggered when you kill one of those monsters." She continued, calmly explaining. "If you activate it, you will also level up and improve your physique. The more you kill, the stronger you will be. You will also get money. I''m assuming the currency in the system is the currency of the new world." As for how she knew¡­ she didn''t. Not for certain. But it was the only hypothesis she had that made sense. Anyway, regardless of whether or not they activated the system, they would have to fight those things sooner rather than later. She stood up and patted the non-existent dust on her pants. "Well, it''s time for me to go now. Very good to meet you." The other two were taken aback. She was obviously sitting comfortably just now? "Where are you going?" "Exploring. Preparing myself for what''s to come." She only said, not explaining any more. They wouldn''t be able to imagine it, anyway. "For now I suggest you deal with those monsters outside the gate." As she walked to the door, she turned her head to look at the dumbfounded pair. "Be careful." "Y-You, too.." Harold uttered as he finally realized she was really leaving. It was Maya who stood up and went closer. "Bye-bye, pretty sister!" She said and Althea unconsciously smiled. Looking at the girl''s cute large circular eyes, Althea couldn''t help but give a few more tips. She turned to look at Harold. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Try to hit the openings of their bodies like the eyes and the mouth," She told him, her soft palm touching the putter on the girl''s hands. "Their brains must be destroyed. Better if you can decapitate their heads." "...thank you " was all old Harold could say. To be honest, his small brain still hadn''t wrapped around everything she said, but his instincts told him to listen nevertheless. He had no idea he''d be thanking this pregnant girl a lot more in the future. ¡­. Next stop: Drug Lord''s Lair ...was what she wanted to say. There was no way, the Pregnancy Snooze was a real need. She couldn''t speak for other survivors, but she, for one, really needed her rest. Althea had a hunch that it would be troublesome in the last house. Her eyelids were getting heavy, anyway. While the improved body of her level gave her unprecedented strength, she still needed to relax for a bit first. So she climbed up a clean bed of the next villa and... took a well-deserved rest. Chapter 17 The Largest House [10:29:09] At the very last corner of the villa area sat the largest house, which encompassed three full lots. The fence was over two meters high, and this did not include the electrified mesh wires above it. No wonder people thought the owner was a criminal. Regardless of whether or not it was true, this was a totally suspicious set-up, right? Anyway, with her Coat of Zombie Gunk, she sauntered to the gate and habitually pressed the doorbell. She pressed it again and only saw zombies ambling near her due to the noise. She also heard scratches and roars inside the house. She decided to take it as a sign that there weren''t any survivors. With the katana in her hand, she skilfully swiped the heads of the zombies. She was surprised by the number of them, though. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She was only at the entrance and she had already dealt with twenty zombies. Was he having a party or something? But all these zombies were wearing boring suits... Regardless of whether these zombies were partying or were minions, Althea vowed to kill all that blocked her path. The more she did it, the more adept she got, and soon the dozen zombies that followed were really no problem at all. After some time, she managed to enter the house and ended up in the grand hall of the house. Here, she was met with shining riches. For example, a meter-tall golden statue, and it sold for much more than what the politician''s house contained. Excited, she quickly swept the house and earned +120 gold easily from the displays alone. It was amazing. Hyped up, she continued to explore the large house, taking some expensive wine from the cellar. Anyway, it could also be used for wounds. She also met an upgraded zombie but with experience and her current level it was no longer a problem. She eventually landed in the study. Obviously, there were plenty of secret documents she couldn''t be bothered with. Instead, she looked carefully around the room, using her improved eyesight to get clues on his safety deposit box. How did she know there was something valuable here? Because there were a lot of zombies, including an upgraded one, in the area. Sure enough, she saw an area that seemed a bit cleaner but also more worn out than other areas on the bookshelf. With a creak, the rows of books were suddenly adjustable and could be pulled out. A bit excited, she pulled the book, and soon the shiniest safety deposit box she had ever seen was revealed. She dutifully took it in her space, [Received! +323 gold, +4432 silver] She basically skipped along the hallway in glee afterward. Then, she realized there were still more zombies! She swung her katana with increasing skill but she soon noticed that it was getting harder and harder. Her eyebrows furrowed. She was encountering more and more advanced zombies. She looked at the direction they seemed to be coming from and wondered if she should go there. If she did, maybe she would be like those horror movie characters going to places they should be veering away from instead. Anyway, after dealing with every zombie that approached her, she heaved a sigh and sat down on a pretty upholstery to gather back some of the spirits she lost during the sprint. She allowed herself a quarter of an hour of respite... before following the traces of the zombies. But rather than a sight for horror movies (zombies not included), she ended up on a dead end at the end of a hallway. It was covered with a massive painting extending from the ceiling soffit to the ground. It was a weird abstract painting of geometric humans and animals seeming to have a party of sorts. However, thanks to her observation skills and improved eyesight, she soon discovered that there was something unusual about the painting. She looked closer and felt the texture of every surface she could reach and found a little indention at the side of the frame. She saw that in the background there was a piece of grape a little shinier than the others. She pressed it but there was no reaction, and for a moment she thought she might have been too many Illinois James movies. But then she thought, would there be so many advanced zombies on a dead end? She walked back to get a more holistic view of the painting. She took a flashlight from the space to get more lighting and soon realized that one of the tarot cards, placed just below eye level, had a different material. She stared at it for a bit and realized it looked like a glass of sorts. She wondered if it card scanner or something. Anyway, the curious Althea went back to the entrance of the corridor and looked for the card among the bodies lying down, eventually finding one. She unceremoniously used the card to open the elevator and, with a ping, the painting opened up to reveal a super luxurious elevator with a small chandelier on top. She thought that if the elevator would ever fall, the chandelier would kill whoever was inside first. Shaking her head, she entered the elevator anyway. There was only one button, and she pressed it after scanning the card. As she felt the elevator descend, she held her trusted katana in front, ready for the enemies she would face. The door opened and revealed a massive underground warehouse, about as large as the entire lot and as deep as 2 floors. There were long tables with huge amounts of equipment, cash, and mysterious powder. Good Lord, really a drug lord. At this moment, three upgraded zombies wearing uniforms rushed to her. She didn''t underestimate these guys and threw raw bloody meat at one of them, dealing with three during their moment of distraction. If Ansel was here he would be very proud and say: "That''s my sister alright!" However, what Althea focused on were the beautiful gorgeous marvelous things hanging on their zombie waists¡­ GUNS!! She excitedly dealt with the remaining zombies. After making sure there were no more, she made a quick inventory. There were a total of 32 guns. There was even a plasma gun!! It was illegal to own weapons in their Eden country, so it was estimated this might be her only chance to get a hold of these babies. What was better was that guns nowadays barely made sounds, not to mention this legendary plasma gun which was a true silent killer. In this situation, this was a treasure equivalent to all the other guns combined. Although technology had greatly improved, normal guns still used consumables like bullets. On the other hand, plasma guns used consumables like energy cores filled with the required ionized gas, which were insanely expensive. After all, the tech was still too young. However from what she had read about it and knew this should still be enough to protect her, at least a few days in the new world. Excitedly, she tried putting the precious plasma gun in her space. [No weapons of mass destruction allowed] "..." A bit flinchy, she tried placing the other weapons in her space. Machine guns, grenades, and similar items were also prohibited. [No weapons of mass destruction allowed] [No weapons of mass destruction allowed] [No weapons of mass destruction allowed] [No weapons of mass destruction allowed] "..." A little discouraged, she placed the most basic guns in the backpack and fortunately¡ªthey were allowed. However, there was not enough space to take in everything so she chose some good models that had a lot of bullets in stock. She was fortunate that she forced her husband to take her to the military shooting range for fun/date night. And because she did business with the military, this didn''t become an issue. So, although normal guns weren''t as intuitive as plasma guns, she should still be able to use them. More or less. Walking back up, she couldn''t help but take a short rest again when she saw the luxurious sofas in the living rooms. As she lied down, she checked her account again. [WEALTH: 1482 gold, 23342 silver, 3341 copper coins] She still had over nine hours left. Thinking of all the things she lacked, she decided to go downtown. Anyway, she already took away the valuables at home. With her guns, she had this confidence. Maybe she could even squeeze in an ultrasound session to see why her stomach grew so big. Chapter 18 Meeting an Old Friend [09:02:22] Althea walked out of the elevator in a happy mood, the plasma gun secured on her back. Then, she needed to find herself a good ride. As such, after a little thought, she decided to go to the drug lord''s garage and see what she could get. When she got there though, she realized that the drug lord''s garage was a warehouse of cars! When she entered, the lights automatically turned on, revealing a huge array of cars for her to choose from. It ranged from the best local sedans, to the foreign ones, to the SUVs, AUVs, and then there were luxury RVs and even helicopters. There was even a small plane¡­ However, she was going to the city. There would definitely be too many cars blocking the road, and even if there was a monster truck here she probably wouldn''t use it due to all the noise it would make. She walked deeper to look for more suitable choices and eventually found the two-wheeled vehicles and her eyes brightened. The Jazzer series! The top of the line of this type of motorcycles. She normally wouldn''t know, but who told her brother to gush about it. In the end, she chose a high-performing motorcycle with the least noise rate and the sturdiest specifications. The model was excellent, it was very fast and famous for its strong engine that didn''t produce any noise at all. Most importantly, it was comfortable. Even her very pregnant self could sit properly and safely. When she went out the gate, she took a minute to check the status of the father and daughter from before. She could see the father and daughter poking at the gate from her side of the street. Unlike her house, their house has wide gaps in their metallic fence. They can do this technique along the entire perimeter of the property. And from their expressions, they seemed¡­ to be enjoying it? Like a parent-child pair bonding in an arcade¡­ She shook her head in amusement before picking up the helmet and climbing up the motorcycle, heading to the exit of the villa area. However, as she exited the main gate she saw a swift figure coming at her. She instinctively maneuvered the bike to the side and raised her plasma gun, aiming at the attacking critter. Just that¡­ it wasn''t really attacking? Arf! Arf! "Dog?" What greeted her was a dog, one that fortunately didn''t attack her. It was a dog about a meter in height. In appearance, it was a combination of various breeds, exhibiting the beautiful gestures of each one: it had amazing smooth fluff, long drooping ears, large eyes, a pointed but rounded nose, and a perennial smiley face. It was also an old friend. "Fufi?!" she exclaimed, albeit in a whispering tone in hopes of not attracting zombies. She quickly parked the motorcycle and climbed down, walking closer to the dog. She stared at it closely and, looking at its stupid look, she knew for sure this wasn''t a zombie dog. She leaned down with a bit of a challenge due to her large stomach, and the dog ambled closer in response. Seeing his cute look, she couldn''t help but smother his face and patted his head like she always did. "How are you okay?!" Indeed, it not only survived the weird force, but it also didn''t turn into a zombie. Her heart felt very happy to see him okay. Fufi was a beautiful mutt dog she had been feeding for over a year now. He was obviously a mixed breed but very beautiful, his Labrador blood obviously a little more dominant in the gene pool. She named it Fufi because he always looked like he was laughing. He was so cute and she had wanted to take it home the first time she saw it. Unfortunately, Auntie was allergic so it couldn''t be adopted. However, she did feed, pet, and play with it whenever she had the chance¨Cmostly before and after going to work. Speaking of which, this thing was amazing. Loose animals weren''t allowed in the villa area, but after so long this dog was still around. However, as she coddled the little cutie, her hands paused. Could she take it with her in that Other World? If she couldn''t, wouldn''t she be setting herself up for heartbreak? Fufi tilted his head, probably wondering why she stopped petting him. Althea abruptly stood up and clapped her hand to get the attention of the surrounding zombies. She took out her katana and beheaded a few. As for the last one, she cut off its legs and arms, kicking it to land right in front of Fufi. She watched it groan and growl, but unable to move, no matter how hard it tried. Althea looked at the dog and instructed him seriously. "You kill one too." A few more zombies arrived soon after, cutting off their limbs, and then crushing their heads as an example. "Do it." In fact, she wasn''t really expecting the dog to actually do it. What could a dog understand? Unexpectedly, Splat Fufi really did it. And judging by how the dog actually made a huge dent on the skull, he did it quite beautifully. "Good boyyy~" She goaded and took out a piece of beef jerky. Then after watching the dog eat its treat, she eagerly looked at him. "How is it? Do you see weird screens? "Nod your head if you do." She said with a smile, nodding her own head. The stupid dog just stared at her. "..." She sighed, covered the dog with zombie goo to his despair (though in fairness to him, he seemed to not be too disgusted with her at the moment), and she carried the dog to the back seat of the motorcycle. Well, at least she had company. It was at this time that a few more zombies appeared. She casually took out a slice of raw meat to distract them, but suddenly Fufi opened his mouth and gobbled on it instead. "Ouch!! You¡ª" Fufi seemed to have nicked her finger a bit and a few drops of blood flowed. [Would you like to enter a battle pet contract with Fufi? Yes | No] "..." Although I bit startled, she pressed Yes anyway. When she did, a small flat of light formed underneath them, which also disappeared into shimmering dust a moment later. Then... nothing. She blinked and opened her stats, seeing a new icon on the bottom right with a cartoonized version of this smiling dog. [PET STATS: Name: Fufi S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Age: 2 Level: 0 (5/100) Life: 150/150 Spirit: 150/150 Physical: 31 Agility: 26 Defense: 14 Mana: 100 Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Earth Titles: None Overall rank: A ] "..." What¡­ was this? Also, the experience requirement for pets seemed to be twice as hers? However, the base stats were higher. But she had no time to study this for now. She had to shoot down the approaching zombies first. She missed a few, but the plasma gun was awesome and didn''t have recoil or reload time so she killed them all fairly quickly anyway. Then, when she finally put down the gun, Fufi''s cute paws landed gently on her thigh. She turned her head to meet his eyes. She looked at the forever-smiling canine in front of her as if wanting to express something. Unfortunately, she could not suddenly hear the dog''s voice in her head. It was not as if the dog suddenly learned her language like those fantasy novels Ansel liked to read. However, she now had an intuitive understanding of what he was trying to express. She looked at him again, trying to decipher his meaning, and he barked happily in response. Kill! Kill! Kill!! "..." Chapter 19 Downtown Althea arrived at her destination some time later, and now she was looking at the tall modern building in front of her in relief. The villa area was technically within the scope of the city. On a good day, they could get to the downtown area within 20 minutes, even with a bit of traffic. However, with all the cars and zombies blocking the way, the trip took over an hour. She sighed as she looked at the time. [07:41:02] Tsk, what a waste. Her first stop was, of course, the mall supermarket. She entered with her handy plasma gun in tow, with a goo-covered Fufi leisurely following her steps. The moment she entered, zombies were immediately attracted by the sound, and she immediately hit them all with the plasma gun. Anyway, she couldn''t take it with her. She might as well maximize its use while she could. [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [...] After clearing out the floor with the handy plasma gun, she proceeded to do some leisure shopping. Her first stop was Baby Products. She took several cans of milk, a few sets of bottles, several packs of diapers, pacifiers, several sets of clothes until the age of three, and others. She also took two smaller toys to fit in the small space. But she saw more cute clothes and was heartbroken not to be able to take more. She pursed her lips in thought and a sparkle of an idea hit her head almost immediately. She ran to the staff-only area and rummaged a bit. It took her a while but she did find what she was looking for: A Vacuum sealer! With this treasure, she packed up a lot more clothes than she had originally planned. Her babies would have Terran clothes until the age of 5 no problem. She then went to the feminine items next to get some napkins and tampons. Although she didn''t have her menses now, she would have it in a few months. She took a lot more of the space-saving tampons. She didn''t vacuum them at all because she heard they wouldn''t return to their original forms afterward. Heading back to the food section, she took some raw meat as they lost a few as bait on the way. She took non-perishables like rice, flour, instant noodles, jerkies, and the like. She also took all the seeds on display. Ah seeds, she should get more... Next was the adult''s clothing on another floor. First, she passed by the men''s sections taking a few sets of clothing and underwear for both her husband and her brother. She also took some comfortable shoes for both of them. Finally, she moved on to her own garments. She went to the clothing and sports stores to get equipped, choosing the best she could find and taking away what she could (vacuum packed, of course). [EQUIPMENT: Head: Motorcycle helmet +3 Defense Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Plasma Gun +Attack indeterminate Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Leather Boots +2 Defense, +0 Agility ] Decisively ignoring the ugly biking helmet she could''ve taken, she then proceeded to the next floor to get to the mountaineering shop. At this point, not much space was left in the Space Backpack, so she had to choose much more carefully on what to place. In the end, she went to the mountaineering section to get tools and supplies that she didn''t have at home, as well as some outdoor-grade backpacks and duffle bags. She wanted to test if the only things she could bring were only inside the backpack, or if anything she carried could be carried with her. She filled both bags with the basics of everything: a bit of ready-to-eat food, a few bottles of water, and change of clothes for females. In this way, it would be great if she could carry them but fine if she couldn''t. As she moved, she continued to deal with the zombies using the plasma gun. Since she couldn''t take it or even the energy core with her, she decided to use it wantonly. [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [...] Fufi was also fighting his heart out, turning out to be quite the sadistic dog. She low-key watched as Fufi got more and more familiar with jumping twice his height and using his cute paw pads to smash zombie heads. It was gruesomely amusing to watch. Anyway, the number of upgraded zombies was understandably many times more than what she had encountered before. After all, the number of people here was naturally several times more than her own villa area. Fortunately, the plasma gun was really easy to use. It was strong and there was barely any rebound at all. With her improved physique, she could barely feel it at all. Of course, she also let Fufi kill a few for training. He soon reached level 1, earning some very good stats. Eventually, she got to the elevator to go to the luxury area. After clearing out the zombies, she swept through the jewelry and watch stores. She took everything she could. Even the stores'' warehouses didn''t escape her claws, either. [WEALTH: 1992 gold, 32087 silver, 4452 copper] Looking at her wallet made her happy. Ah, how nice... Should she rob a bank? "..." . . . She paused her steps at the thought. Well, should she? . . Unfortunately, mall branches were unlikely to have gold so she didn''t bother with the banks there. Instead, she set her sights on the largest bank downtown, a few blocks from her current location. Because of the time limit, she really couldn''t be inefficient at all. Thinking she should get as much money as she could, she chose the most time-efficient bank to go to. Who knew if other people thought of the same, wouldn''t she feel so much regret? She would later find out that she was actually thinking too much regarding resource rivalry at this time. After all, almost all creatures on the planet were either dead or had turned into zombies. In the dense cities, the survivors of the first wave were now either dead or hiding away. Who else could think of getting out at this time, especially knowing they would be ''taken'' somewhere¨C-likely safer¨C-after 24 hours? Even if they did go out to get supplies, they would most likely just get food and drinks, rather than rob a bank¡­ S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But Althea didn''t know this, so she was bent on being as productive as she could in the shortest amount of time. They continued on their killing spree and soon more and more zombies found them, especially with the leadership of the upgraded zombies. The disaster happened at the peak of night activities, after all, and each floor had hundreds of zombies. However, with their current level and weapons, as long as they were not swarmed by all of these, they''d be fine. She and Fufi kill a few hundred more, and she could see her experience bar soaring. She had become more and more proficient with the gun. Partnered with improved vision, she could now hit at least 95% of her shots. [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [...] Heaving a sigh, she went to the furniture store to sit down and rest. As she and Fufi rested, she looked at her stats. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 2 (2840/3000) Life: 250/300 Spirit: 130/300 (-5%) Physical: 50 (-5%) Agility: 47 (-20%) Defense: 40 Mana: 200 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] She smiled, it wouldn''t take long before her upgrade. Her hands unconsciously patted her stomach, and they gave her a gentle kick in response. She laughed. She hoped to be as strong as possible before migration. The Unknown was the scariest thing, only with enough strength would she escape the fate of living in fear. At the very least, she would do whatever it took to give her children a stable place to grow up in. Chapter 20 Twin Dorks Althea watched as the head of the upgraded zombie exploded. [Congratulations on entering Level 3!] Grrrr She looked down and saw Fufi growling defensively around them. Althea was a bit puzzled to see him like this when she saw the remaining zombies within a dozen meters turn their heads at her, looking at her hungrily. She frowned. None of these zombies were upgraded, why were they suddenly stimulated? Not having the time to think too deeply, she quickly followed Fufi¡ªwho was already breaking skulls¡ªand she raised her gun to take them down. [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [...] Seeing the room without any more movements, Althea smiled and patted the dog''s head. Fufi habitually placed his head next to her stomach as if to hug her and the babies. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 3 (105/5000) Life: 400/500 Spirit: 340/500 (-5%) Physical: 80 (-5%) Agility: 77 (-20%) Defense: 64 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [WEALTH: 2023 gold, 35487 silver, 7952 copper] With a massive smile, she exited the mall and headed towards the central bank. It just so happened that the pharmacy and the herb shop she frequented weren''t far from there. She got on her trusted motorcycle, with Fufi jumping on the back on his own. With a whoosh, they headed toward their destination. It was a peaceful few seconds on the way there, ignoring the zombies attracted by the noise they made bumping into an occasional obstacle. BAM! SQUELCH! She flinched and stopped her motorcycle, cleanly shooting down the zombies still going after her until then. She looked at the direction of the noise¡ªspecifically, it was the noise created by dropping heavy objects followed by a disgusting sound of squishing innards. She stood in place for a moment when she realized the noise was heading in her direction. It did not take long for her to see the excitement. It was happening about a hundred meters away or so on a perpendicular street. There were two survivors, they had slightly different body shapes, but she could see that they were obviously twins. Did twins have higher survival rates, she wondered. Interestingly, they had been using the backspace space as a temporary storage of heavy debris (like heavy chunks of metal) and used it to crush the zombie heads. Heh, how creative. And because of this operation, a lot of the zombie innards and gray matter splattered their clothes, accidentally covering themselves with zombie goo. Although not as much as she had, it was enough to keep them from being swarmed by all the zombies several meters away. She watched them with interest as they took on zombies, heading in a direction. From what she gathered, they were probably heading to the supermarket she just left. She watched as they got closer and closer until they reached the correct street. Unfortunately, their momentum didn''t last long because from the corner of her eyes she could see an upgraded zombie rushing in. It was quite fast and it already raised its claws before one of the twins could turn his head. Obviously, the bulkier twin had better reflexes as he used a broken locker door as a shield to guard against the attack of the upgraded zombies. "It''s one of those stronger zombies!" He whispered urgently, but Althea''s hearing had already sharpened to the point she could hear it clearly. "Brother, go!! I''ll be fine! Just go!!" The bulkier of the brothers tried to push the other in the direction of the supermarket. "Mom is waiting for us!" Althea frowned. She had been to the supermarket. Although she didn''t go to all the places, she somehow didn''t feel like there were still survivors there at all¡­ At this point, another upgraded zombie found the twins and was trying its best to take a bite. Althea sighed, already making her decision. She found that she quite wanted these two teenagers to survive. From what she had seen so far, they seemed to be good enough kids. However, helping was helping. She did not want to show the plasma gun, so she took out her katana instead. She let Fufi wait on the motorcycle with the bags before sprinting to the twins. The two struggled to deal with the two upgraded zombies, and the smaller twin saw that his brother was about to get attacked, he hurried to shield him with his own body. Althea saw all of this in her approach and her interest intensified. With a wave of her hand the upgraded zombie''s head fell down with a flop, and several zombie heads followed. The two gaped at her in awe. "T¡­thank you¡­" The bulkier one swallowed hard, eyes shining. "Goddess!" Althea smiled and took out the remaining golf clubs. "For you.." she said, her euphonious voice calming their nerves, and she swung her katana again to kill the zombies that ran over because of his yell. The admiration in the eyes of the twins overflowed. But before they attract more zombies with their loud compliments, she raised a hand to silence them. "Cover yourselves with more blood and innards from zombies, ordinary zombies won''t bother you." She said with a low voice, and the two flinched in response. "T-thank you¡­" They whispered, holding on to their golf clubs as if they were treasures. She nodded with a warm smile, absolutely shining with a halo in the eyes of the twins. They did not even notice how much gruel of zombie blood she was covered with or even the fact that she was pregnant. It was like their eyes activated the strongest filter. But Althea didn''t know this nor did she care. She simply waved her hand as goodbye before running back to the motorcycle. It was the smaller one who gathered his wits first, poking at his brother to get going. "O-Oh!" The two then happily headed towards the supermarket to meet their mum¡ªso that they could happily tell her all about this encounter. Chapter 21 Robbing a Bank Unknown to them, their goddess actually stopped midway to take one more look at them. Althea watched the twins from the corner of her eyes as they entered the building, her heart a bit heavy. She hoped that this time, her intuition was wrong and the boys would find their relative alive and well. Speaking of relatives, all survivors she encountered so far also seemed to have a relative that survived? Then again¡­ thinking about it made sense. Whatever it was that transformed the creatures of Terran, it transformed them on the genetic level. It was indeed likely for one survivor to have one or two relatives that also survived. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was also mercy in its own way, those who lived would have had hope of reuniting, while those who died perished together with their loved ones. Sigh. Too bad she didn''t know who her blood relatives were. ___ She arrived in front of the target building ten minutes later, without another hair out of place. At level 3, armed with a plasma gun and accompanied by a beast dog, she could basically walk sideways in a zombie-infested city now. After so long, her spirit was still high. This was something she didn''t expect at all. She almost kissed the plasma gun and raised it to the sky to honor it. She didn''t forget to give another jerky to Fufi, of course. "Silly dog," She said, smiling when Fufi smiled at her, asking for more treats. She didn''t though, as it was a finite resource and she shouldn''t be treating them as treats in the first place. She turned her attention back to the 40-floor tall building in front of her. The whole building was owned by this bank and her husband once told her this building had one of the deepest and most well-guarded basements in the city. The ground floor had a high ceiling covered with the latest improved tempered glass. She didn''t try to force it open either, not only would there be noise if the glass broke (though she read somewhere this type of glass wouldn''t even budge with grenades) but would also trigger the alarm of the building. She was not afraid of the zombie wave, but it was too troublesome and may take her forever to finish them. She also didn''t have the skills to hack into the system and let the door open itself for her. Had she known she would rob a bank someday, she''d have forced her husband to teach her the related tech. As she mused, she couldn''t help but look at the timer in the corner of her eyes. [06:34:33] She didn''t dare think she had too much time. Should she just go to the hospital first? No, it was too far away. It was best to finish her tasks in this area before going to the hospital. She left the motorcycle in an alley nearby and took Fufi to the back door. It was made of special metal firmly attached to the walls with special systems. She looked around her surroundings and found a crashed car not far away, she forcefully took a loose surface and brought it with her as a shield. Yes, she was inspired by the bulkier twin. Anyway, at level 3, she could now effortlessly carry weights she wouldn''t even be able to lift before. Standing in front of the door again, she wondered if she could sell things firmly attached to a heavy surface. With that thought, she raised her hand and let her palm touch the cold metal surface, willing it to be sold to the system. [0.7T of Non-aether Grade B metal alloy detected, would you like to sell? YES | NO] The moment she clicked yes, a blaring alarm sounded throughout the building, attracting the zombies in droves. She quickly entered the door and used the metal shield to cover it. She pulled whatever desk was nearby to fix it in place. However, she knew it wouldn''t hold a horde so she ran deeper into the room to get heavier objects to stabilize it, with Fufi killing zombies attracted by the noise along the way. She groaned as she pushed the large metallic desk with all her strength, and she felt lucky she didn''t push hard enough to give birth then and there. Bang! Bang! Bang! The horde lunged towards the barrier using their bodies, banging continuously as they hit it, over and over. She held her weapon high as she stood a few meters away, with Fufi guarding next to her. The metallic thuds continued, but they soon became muffled as more zombies piled up to the point they could no longer move. Thud... thud... thud... Seeing that the metal sheet had indeed managed to keep the zombies at bay, Althea let out a sigh of relief. As for the other areas, she wasn''t particularly concerned. Even with this alarm, the zombies would just lurk around the building crazily. Walls and glass that could withstand grenades shouldn''t be afraid of zombies attacking it. Of course, the zombies inside weren''t very few either. Fortunately, there were not that many, because the office hours had already finished hours prior to the disaster. It was just that a lot of back-of-the-house employees were working overtime. However, the Level 3 Althea with her plasma gun and dog sidekick was like a tsunami passing by cottages, dominating the floor within a few minutes. [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [...] It felt very good to be unstoppable, and honestly, she was getting a bit greedy. Hey, she now knew that she had the potential to be power-hungry. It was just so¡­ sad that she couldn''t take the plasma gun with her. She took over the ground floor and only found computers and cash. She was not disappointed though, as she was already expecting this. She looked around and saw the zombie with the best uniform and took her access card. Althea then searched for the elevator to the basement and confirmed the access card could be used on all the floors. She decided to go from the top basement floor to the bottom, in the unlikely case that the electricity would be cut off, it would be less laborious to go down the stairs than upwards. She took all the metals, jewelry, and safety deposit boxes she could find. Even the door of the massive safes couldn''t escape her greedy claws. She was still amazed that she could do this at all. Later she would find out this was only possible because she was already at level 3, her mental capacity was enough to cover the connection between the heavy objects and the fixed surfaces. At that time, she couldn''t help but praise the skies for her luck. [05:14:23] Althea symbolically patted her pocket in satisfaction. [WEALTH: 9,697 gold and 72267 silver, 10233 copper] She didn''t know what this could purchase in that other world, but it didn''t stop her from feeling like a little rich woman again! Chapter 22 Malicious Men [04:43:23] Althea looked at the Pharmacy cabinets filled with medicine, and for a moment, was very tempted to take as much as the space allowed. After all, who did not get sick? However, she did not do so in the end, all because of an inkling: That these medicines would not have much effect on their improved bodies. Of course, it was still a pity not to take anything while she was here. She cleared out a little box the size of a lunchbox, took some basic medicine, a bit of everything else, and filled it to the brim. She then went to the herb shop in an alley not far away. This time she took all the seeds and the processed herbs with her. Although she didn''t know if the end products would have an effect on their bodies, nor if the herbs planted would even grow in that Other World, this was her specialty after all. She, at least, had to try her best. ______ Looking inside her space backpack, she saw that it only had a few centimeters of space left for emergencies. She finally decided to put an end to her limited-hoarding session, and she looked around to call Fufi, only to see him munching on chocolate left on the ground. "Don''t eat that," she said, patting the Fufi''s fluffy head and opening his mouth. Wasn''t chocolate poisonous to dogs? She looked at the stupid dog''s smiling face in worry. "You''re not going to die, are you?" Woof! Delicious! She quickly looked at the dog''s status. [PET STATS: Name: Fufi Age: 2 Level: 1 (505/2000) Life: 310/400 Spirit: 320/400 Physical: 31 Agility: 26 Defense: 14 Mana: 100 Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Earth Titles: None Overall rank: A ] Her furrowed eyebrows loosened after seeing there was no negative state, but she checked on the dog again if he felt anything odd. But she saw that there was really no problem, and she finally sighed in relief. Their improved bodies were one of the few good things that came out of all this. After several minutes of delay, she and Fufi finally went back on the motorcycle to head to the hospital. The next few minutes were uneventful and she traversed the car-filled roads with ease. In fact, if she wasn''t pregnant, she''d have gone much faster. But, suddenly, she felt a subtle change in the air. Something wheezed in her direction and she quickly avoided it by making a drift. She cursed as she struggled to keep her balance, feeling the rubber of the tires screech against the asphalt road. She eventually regained control, her heart beating crazily, and she turned her head to look coldly at the source. "Heh, not bad," A slurring voice sounded. Someone even clapped his hand carelessly, and another shot the zombies attracted by the sound. It was three men with similar features: huge bodies, ugly beards, unsightly faces, and disgusting grins. They arrogantly approached her with guns pointed menacingly in her direction. Like her, they were also covered in zombie goo. "Oh my, beautiful lady!" They all stared at her openly, lewdness seeping through their gaze, making evocative expressions that made her want to vomit more than zombie innards did. "Why are you running around all alone in this dangerous place?" The oldest one smirked, showing off his silver canines, but unlike the other two, his focus was something on her back. "You have a nice thing on your back there." He said, pointing at the huge plasma gun behind her. He obviously thought she would give it to him without any questions. Althea scoffed and did not bother to give them a response. Instead, she pressed on the horns of the bike, attracting more zombies to them. Although they did not actively attack those who were covered in zombie goo, it was enough of a distraction. Seeing the men turn their attention to the zombies, Althea quickly stepped on the gas and went in the older one''s direction. After all, a wise man once said: Kill the General first. She turned her head to avoid a bullet, flexibly turning with the inertia, she pressed the plasma to the man''s head. [+50 experience] It took a moment for the other two to realize what had happened. It was only after they saw the man on the ground bleeding from a hole in his head that they managed to absorb it. They saw red. "BROTHER!!!" "UNCLE!!" "YOU BITTCCHHHHHHH!!!!!" The younger one screamed and waved his gun around, pointing at wherever she was at. Guns nowadays barely produced any sound at all, so it was not easy to avoid stray bullets. Fortunately, there was a huge amount of meat shields surrounding her and Fufi, keeping them from injury. Not to mention, the men were cursing her loudly, as if they wanted her (and the zombies) to pinpoint where they were. She pressed the gas to the max to get as far as possible, aiming the plasma gun at the two roaring men, expertly aiming her gun, and exploding their heads moments later. [+30 experience] [+30 experience] She did not put down her gun though as the noise unfortunately attracted a dozen upgraded zombies, and she quickly shot continuously until the zombies nearby were wiped out, Fufi covering her rear for leaks. A city was a city, and the upgraded zombies attracted by these jerks were several times the total she''d encountered so far. After nearly half an hour of massacre, the zombies nearby were finally cleared. Panting, she looked down at the plasma gun, which had now lost its luster. . . Gone. . . She sighed regretfully and placed the now-useless gun on a surface. She parted it with a very pitiful expression on her face. "You lived well, my friend." Even Fufi looked amusingly solemn. Althea held back a smile as she turned back to the bodies not far from her. She wanted to ignore the new zombies that wandered, but the blood of the men flowed and it was about to attract them to eat the dead bodies. Killing the new zombies that drifted by with normal guns from her space, she went nearer the men''s bodies to check for resources and found out the guns didn''t have bullets anymore. She looked around and there was no loot. It seemed that while killing other survivors provided a higher experience than zombies, it gave nothing else. The contents of their space disappeared, and neither were there monetary rewards. This may seem unfortunate at first, but this was actually a good thing. Otherwise, survivors would end up killing each other before the real enemies did. Shrugging, she waved at Fufi, signaling that it was time for them to go. The dog followed her and jumped back on the motorcycle and the duo continued to their destination: The Hospital. Chapter 23 Hospital [03:21:22] Althea looked at the hospital with a complicated expression. It seemed like it was only a few days ago that she was here, also for an ultrasound. At that time, both Auntie and her brother came with her. They admired the growth of the children together, gushing about how beautiful the kids were were how they were growing so we''ll. Now she didn''t have either of those two people beside her and the environment was no longer the bustling city she was used to. Instead, it was filled with the rotting scent of death and the gloom of despair. Althea took a step forward with a depressed mood. They walked closer and closer to the hospital, trying to be as quiet as they could. But it didn''t take long before Fufi suddenly stopped midway, warily staring in a direction, growling. Her eyes followed the direction he was looking at and she immediately held up her katana and took on a posture, ready to attack. Soon she saw fast-moving figures from afar, getting closer and closer. It was those upgraded zombies again. However, she didn''t have a plasma gun anymore and she was not planning on using the guns she saved for that Other World. The upgraded zombies soon zoomed in on them, running quickly for their meal. But she noticed as a few ran in their direction, there were even more running behind them¡­ S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Soon a small horde of fast-approaching figures appeared in her eyes. The noise they made also alerted the normal zombies, forming a small wave, directed right at them. Her heart stopped a little. There seemed to be over a score¡­ Why were there so many?! What she didn''t know was that many survivors in the area gathered together after the first few hours. They banded together, hoping to get through the ordeal together as countrymen. They did fairly well for themselves at first, even rescuing a few others. Unfortunately, they met the gangster trio and their guns, forcing themselves to be the ''leaders''. But these men took advantage and harassed the women, igniting the rebellious spirit of the people. However, no matter how brave, the weak would be the weak. The fight unsurprisingly caused a lot of deaths, which in turn triggered the zombie wave. It was during this battle that the trio found out about the concealing effect of zombie goo, which was at the cost of a dozen lives. Had she known, Althea would''ve stabbed their dead corpse even dead-er. In any case, those survivors were now upgraded zombies and were now her headache. She killed zombies after zombies, endlessly, while slowly approaching the hospital doors. Fufi really shined at this point, killing zombie after zombie, and quickly reached the peak of his level. She charged forward with a swift strike, her katana slicing through the air, beheading one. She then leaned down to avoid an attack, parrying her katana to a direction, stabbing another, and quickly slashing the weapon to take off its head. She turned her center of gravity to avoid a claw. However, it nicked a bit of her cloth... on her stomach. It was too close to her babies that she felt her heart drop. In her distraction, Fufi leaped from behind her to paw another upgraded zombie''s head. He wasn''t strong enough to one-hit an upgraded zombie yet, but the impact was enough to push it back and give Althea enough time to gather herself. Althea quickly pulled herself together and sprinted towards the monsters, beheading them at the fastest speed, lest they attract even more zombies to the vicinity. By the time they cleared the zombies, her spirit was already halved and she started to feel pregnancy symptoms: dizziness, leg cramps, which could literally kill her at this time. Even if there were only ordinary zombies moving slowly, because of their quantity and her current state, she couldn''t help but feel the impending sense of doom. The duo dragged their legs to the hospital and closed the door, attracting the ordinary zombies inside. Althea didn''t want to move anymore. Fortunately, Fufi wasn''t pregnant and his energy and low spirits didn''t affect him much. The dog killed them all, eventually reaching level 2. Again, the zombies turned to them turning wilder and Fufi killed them easily. She felt this was an important point, but she was too lethargic to think about anything at the moment. [02:23:11] Althea and Fufi went to the elevator to climb to the Ob-Gyn department on the fourth floor. She opened the door and they ignored the ordinary zombies as they ignored them in turn. They eventually reached the department and opened the nearest door. She didn''t even say anything and Fufi ran past her to deal with the two zombies in the room, one of which was in a doctor''s coat and the other was a woman with a big belly. To her surprise, not only did Fufi crush the heads of the two zombies, but also the woman''s stomach. She belatedly realized that the child could very well be a zombie as well. The thought of a small zombie with a baby''s face crawling made her spinal cord crawl. She praised Fufi sincerely, and gave him a snack, and a big petting. However, she really couldn''t stay up for too long and eyed the nearest soft surface that she could see. She crawled on the hospital bed, which still had some blood on it and laid down. Her eyelids were heavy and her body felt like lead. It didn''t take long for her to fall into slumber, with Fufi pattering next to her, guarding her with his life. Chapter 24 Ultrasound [02:05:17] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 3 (925/5000) Life: 330/500 Spirit: 270/500 (-5%) Physical: 80 (-5%) Agility: 77 (-20%) Defense: 64 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] She swore never to let her spirit get lower so much ever again. Althea opened her eyes after 15 minutes of rest before turning her head to the machine beside her. It was just that she was too late to realize that was full of blood and heavily damaged. She took out her katana to check out the next room. They dealt with all the zombies in the hallway that approached them, and they soon reached the other ultrasound room. However, before they entered, the door of the adjacent storage room tentatively opened, creaking up to a small angle, just enough to see a round eye looking out warily. Althea''s eyebrows rose, meeting the gaze directly. When the owner of the eye realized they weren''t zombies, she visibly brightened and opened the door. But she seemed to realize something and immediately closed it again. A moment later, the door opened again a little, revealing a cute head of a girl with a shoulder-length haircut, who then looked side to side at both ends of the hallway, checking if there were monsters around. When she saw that every enemy was dealt with, she turned her head to the girl standing alone in the hallway, and opened the door completely. The girl was wearing a nurse uniform and looked at her like she was Buddha. "I.." "I need to check my children''s ultrasound. Can you help me?" The girl looked like she was in a daze, as if wondering if Althea was talking to her. She looked flattered when she finally realized. "Y-Yes, of course!" And she followed Althea to the ultrasound room. The nurse kept stealing glances at her as she opened the door. Althea''s eyebrows rose. "What is it?" The girl looked a bit apprehensive, before gathering her courage to ask. "You killed all these zombies?" She nodded, and the girl stared at her in amazement and also disbelief, as she inevitably looked at the abnormally big stomach. It was really big, bigger than the ones she''d seen. Then she saw a flash and a head rolled down to her feet. She screamed at the top of her lungs. Althea quickly covered her mouth and dragged her inside. "How did you survive for so long?" She asked. Not to be rude, but it was really hard to imagine. The nurse blushed and her head tilted down in shame. Could she say that she was locked in by a bullying fellow nurse? "I''m sorry." Althea just sighed and sat down on the bed. They were wordless until the nurse had set up the machine and placed the gel on the transducer. Seeing the other girl nervous, Althea smiled and decided to lighten up the mood. "My name is Althea, by the way. What''s yours?" The girl''s big eyes blinked in surprise, just before letting out a kind smile. To be honest, it reminded Althea of Nanny. "Sheila. My name is Sheila." "Okay, Sheila. Can we see the children now?" Shiela, now much more relaxed, placed the transducer on the bulge and she stared at the screen. Her expression was one of amazement. "Twins! No wonder it''s so big." Althea looked warmly at her children on the screen, floating around, looking so peaceful and small and cute. She was so incredibly looking forward to when she could hold them in her arms. "This is already eight months old," Sheila mumbled, tone mixed with admiration and admonishment. "I can''t believe you''re massacring zombies at eight months pregnant¡­" Althea, though, flinched at her words, "What?!" Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sheila was startled. "Y-Yes." Althea''s eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. "Are you sure?" "Y-Y-Yes." Althea stared her down, making her even more nervous. Soon, the brunette realized that the nurse was really not lying and she could only rub her throbbing head. She then took out another ultrasound image and showed it to the other girl. Sheila stared at it blankly, not knowing what to say. Althea sighed and pointed at a text in the upper right corner. "Look at the date." Sheila passively followed her instructions and her eyes immediately widened at the sight. "T-This¨C" Two reports, a few days apart, extremely different results What''s¡­ going on? Sheila then looked at the stomach a little warily, wondering if some weird creature would be born. But she shook her head in the end. She saw the ultrasound herself and she should know what a human looks like. Probably. Maybe? Althea watched the changes in her expression with amusement. "I reckon the force that messed up with people''s genes strengthened the survivors. In the case of my children, they grew up faster." Sheila nodded cutely, while Fufi kept staring at the screen, wagging his tail excitedly. Friends! Friends! Friends! Althea smiled and patted his furry head. After a while, she stood up and walked out. Noticing that Sheila was staring, unsure what to do, Althea held her forehead with a sigh. Really a mystery why this girl chose a stressful job like nursing when she was such an air-head. "Do you know anything about childbirth?" "Y..yes I have assisted in natural and cesarean births before." Althea nodded and continued to walk, pausing her steps and giving the nurse a sideward glance. "Aren''t you coming with me?" "Me?!" She gasped, looking at Althea again to see if she just made a cruel joke. "Can I?" "Don''t want to?" "N-NO, I want to!!" She squeaked, hastening her pace to meet hers. "Let''s go get cleaned up." Althea said and paused, looking at the darkness outside the window. "I want to greet the New World well." Chapter 25 Fight Aberdeen City, five years prior Under the cloudy skies amongst the urbanscape, two young men¡ªone twenty-five, one eighteen¡ªwere duking it out. It was Ansel and his nominal brother, Garan. For the past half an hour, the two had been sparring, though it was mostly Ansel trying to land a hit, albeit to no avail. At this point, the eighteen-year-old Ansel was extremely sweaty and uncomfortable, his fiery red hair sticking to his smooth skin. Suddenly, the dark-haired Garan grabbed the redhead''s arm, throwing him over his shoulder, throwing him straight to the ground. Oof! Ansel groaned in pain, eyes squinting from the brightness of the white clouds. He struggled to get out of the damned ground, handsome face covered with mud from the soil below and his sweat. He felt extremely uncomfortable. He tilted his head to glare at the other person, who was as stern as always, muscular arms crossed and looking down at him. Also, to Ansel''s chagrin, very handsome. Garan Witt was extremely good-looking. He had ebony-black hair described to be as black as the universe by his admirers. This, along with his cerulean eyes deep as the ocean, as well as his masculine and chiseled features, made countless women swoon. Not to mention, his well-toned body and imposing aura was the goal of all men. This same man was looking at him like a weakling. Although he didn''t show anything on his indifferent face, Ansel couldn''t help but feel that he was mocking him. Damnit! "Stand up. Be a man." He said, his masculine voice full of imposing aura. And it gritted on Ansel''s ears. "Althea will be heartbroken to see my bruises!" He couldn''t help but quip back, knowing it was a sore spot for the man. Sure enough, the stoic expression on the overly handsome man''s face cracked a bit. His well-formed eyebrows furrowed and crossed his arms, looking badly at him. "She knows I do this for your own good." He uttered out, his low baritone voice making him look more mature. Mature? PFFT! Lies! Absolute lies! Ansel immediately opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, but the jerk beat him to it. "Ah, I see." He paused, "You wish to be saved by a little girl again." Jerk!! He mocked him for his baby-acts, but who didn''t know he often purposely fascinated Althea with that handsome face of his! Ptooey! He could still remember this ice-block acting spoiled when he was with Althea! Barf! The sight burned his eyes! Literally! The anger injected adrenaline in his veins and he immediately stood up ready to resume the fight. He sprinted towards the man who didn''t even bother adopting a defensive stance and a vein of annoyance grew in his head. Ansel immediately threw a jab at him, which was easily avoided. Immediately, Ansel turned his body to give him a side kick. Also easily avoided. Ansel continued attacking Garan, punch after punch, jab after jab, and then sent him occasional-supposedly-well-timed kicks. Not a single one connected. He couldn''t even touch the fabric of his clothes. What made everything worse was that the guy wasn''t breaking a sweat at all. The jerk still had the energy to send out the occasional critique with that deadpan voice of his. "Your center of balance is too shaky. This is what you get for not training your body well." "You lose your cool too easily." "Keep a clear head, and you''ll be able to find openings." He paused, avoiding another one of his attacks. "If you''re against normal enemies, that is." F*ck you! "Language." He didn''t even say it out loud! Grrr¡ª In their scuffle, they got nearer and nearer to a wall. A flash of idea entered his mind and he continued his usual attacks, with imminent misses, but it didn''t matter at all. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If anything, his hits were more inspired and a little quicker than usual. One time his punch almost¡ªalmost¡ªnicked the side of his shirt. Suddenly, Ansel darted to the wall, using it as a thrust, and he flew above Garan. He clenched his fist, aiming to hit the square jawline of the other man. Garan managed to block it with his arms, but Ansel felt elated regardless. Finally connected! It didn''t do any damage, but it connected nevertheless. Progress was progress, no matter what! To his surprise, the man actually smiled a little, giving him an approving nod. "Very good." He said, and Ansel''s eyes dilated a little. "You''ve improved." Ansel honestly felt happier than winning a contest. _______ City Z, Present Ansel leaped up using the brick wall of the adjacent building, making use of his weight to behead the upgraded zombie with his new machete. With another breath, he sprinted to a direction, slashing another, before turning his body to finally behead the damned thing. "You''re amazing¡­" Tom said holding his axe and had just barely managed to deal with his own upgraded zombie opponent. He cleared his throat, embarrassed. "I¡­er¡­ had a rough childhood." He said, continuously defending himself from the onslaught of zombies that came their way. They now had to leave his baby Barbara behind because there were too many cars on the road, some were still leaking gasoline. The duo had no choice but to go forward on foot. It was not easy, but somehow they managed to get out of the mobs alive. However, as they dealt with zombie after zombie and got out of it alive and well, he couldn''t help but look back at Garan''s upbringing. Although he felt extremely tired and dirty, it was inevitable to feel a little melancholic at the suffering he went through under that man''s fists. Because the number of times the knowledge he learned saved his life was uncountable. He still felt a little thankful to that jerk, after all. Chapter 26 More Survivors City Z. In a deserted street filled with abandoned cars and debris, a pair of acquaintances fought their way through the city. It was not easy navigating through the darkness¡ªbarely lit with dim damaged lamps and the depressing moon¡ªbut thankfully their improved physiques managed to make it doable somehow. Ansel had been to this city many times for business trips. But the once-thriving street now lay in ruins, consumed by the darkness that was the apocalypse. However, neither he nor Tom had the energy to mourn for humanity''s losses, as they were too busy trying to avoid getting bitten. Ansel and Tom moved forward together, guarding each other''s backs as they ran. Somewhere along the way, they found out that covering themselves with zombie innards could hide them from the monsters'' sense of smell. Only for regular zombies though, because they discovered almost as soon as they celebrated their new discovery, a pair of upgraded zombies sprinted towards them. One could imagine the feeling of falling from hell just as they stepped into heaven. Anyway, back to the present, the zombies let out eerie groans as they attacked them, also gathering the attention of the ordinary zombies. Ansel darted forward, slashing through the horde with his machete. His movements were both lethal and graceful, and the brute Tom couldn''t help but admire him even in this situation. However, while they were making decent progress. Exhaustion had long begun to creep in. Dirty sweat dripped down their skin, their breathing became labored, and their movements became slower. Their spirits were already a third down. "Watch out!" Ansel yelled, kicking a nearby bin under his feet to an upgraded zombie about to attack Tom. "Thanks!" The older man uttered and took advantage of the zombies'' distraction due to the noise the bin made. Afterward, he ran to stand closer to Ansel, guarding his back again. As they fought, they actively ran to their destination. While they should be looking to rest now, there were only less than 2 hours left and they had to get closer to their loved ones as soon as they could. The two sprinted and ran over the crashed cars. It was really a challenge to jump from one car to another, especially since they were different heights and different textures. Some cars even had their front glasses destroyed. There were also some that were turned to the side. "Ah!" Tom had a misstep and his leg fell on one of the openings on an upturned car without a whole side door. Fortunately, Ansel managed to hold his arm and he didn''t completely lose balance. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The redhead managed to get him moving and they jumped to the next car, barely avoiding the claw that came to them. Their change of elevation was sudden, but he somehow managed to keep himself and Tom on his feet. Ansel was very proud of his balanced center. The damned training regime popped to mind again. Damn it! He did NOT miss Garan! He frowned, annoyed, and whipped his head at Tom, venting at the poor guy. "What are you doing staring?! Let''s go!" Tom-who-had-been-waiting for him to move: "..." In any case, the duo continued to run and go over cars and they soon realized that the zombies became fewer and fewer. As they ran, they turned their heads to look and saw that the obstacle that hindered them worked even better with the zombies. They watched as the zombie fell down the broken car by itself, head first, unable to move further. "For creatures that are said to eat brains, they sure are stupid." Ansel looked at the zombies with various parts bitten off. "You don''t see them choosing which body parts to eat, right?" "Maybe this one eats more poop." Tom cackled, remembering plenty of upgraded zombies whose stomachs were open and had their innards following them around. It was absolutely disgusting. However, their path seemed to become a landmine of sorts for the zombies. For ordinary zombies, they were blocked outright, while upgraded zombies could jump and skip, but not avoid the ''traps''. Eventually, they did manage to escape, finding a small building to lock themselves in for a short breather and snack. There were about a dozen zombies inside that turned their heads simultaneously to the newcomers. Sighing, the duo quickly took care of all the zombies. Fortunately, they were all ordinary zombies, so they were dealt with with little effort. It was a convenience store and they also took away what they could, filling up the remaining free area in their respective spaces. There was no way, their spirits were getting way too low. What they didn''t expect to hear was the soft thump near them. They turned to see it came from the door of the freezer. The two men blinked and looked at each other, slowly approaching the door. After all, zombies couldn''t turn knobs. This meant one thing: There could be survivors here. This made their hearts rise, but in a good way. A few steps in and the twisting of metal sounded. The metallic door fully opened the next moment, revealing a small group of five people, shivering from the cold. The group of five was really diverse. The one who opened was a relatively aged man. Closely following behind him was a middle-aged man with a balding head, a pretty girl in her twenties, a horizontally-blessed woman, and a dark-skinned man around his 30s. Tom and Ansel''s eyes widened and they looked at each other. Really survivors! Since meeting, they hadn''t met other people at all! It was getting very depressing! Finally, there were others..., and there were still five of them! Chapter 27 The Train Home The group looked around, eyes hopeful, and searched whether the zombies had indeed been taken care of. Once confirmed, they almost cried in relief. They also saw that the two men handled so many zombies with completed limbs, and hope filled them. Especially the girl, who had been hopeless and found capable men nearby. How could she not jump at him? Especially¡­ how handsome the red-haired man was! "Thank you for coming here for us." She mumbled, blinking her eyes cutely. And she was indeed a bit good-looking, despite her chapped lips and ruined makeup. "We literally just passed by." Ansel said bluntly, "We didn''t even know anyone else was alive. "..." How Ansel scored so many women with his bluntness was a mystery to many men. Was doing anything with a good face considered handsome? The others weren''t so cool however, and they immediately approached the two of them when they realized they were somewhat amicable. "Heroes! Please help us!" the middle-aged woman said, and she was followed by the dark-skinned man. "Please take me to City A! I will pay you whatever!" Afraid that the two men would take his offer, the middle-aged man immediately made a counter-bid. "We need to go to City S. Please! It''s on the way." The old man was the only one who stood still, observing, but without hope in his eyes. Ansel and Tom looked at each other with complicated expressions. "We have our own families to go to, sorry." The other survivors frowned, but they refused to give up. Not reconciled, the pretty girl shifted targets instead. The girl even held Tom''s arm, knowing he had the softer heart of the two based on his very guilty expression. "Mine is so close, please!" Tom looked very conflicted and Ansel patted his shoulder. They couldn''t stay here. They didn''t have the time or energy to help others. "Let''s go." He said, gesturing at the door. The duo then went to the door, followed by a few. Of course, not before taking some food from the convenience store to their spaces, as they consumed most inside the freezer. Ansel didn''t mind being followed. He was still human, but he needed them to manage their expectations. "You can come with us to where we are heading. But we won''t get out of our way to protect you." This naturally stopped a lot of them from following to the door. Instead, some even looked at them indignantly. "How could you leave us like this?!" the middle-aged man yelled. Ansel rolled his eyes. "It''s not our duty to save you." He said, "You can only depend on yourself in this world." He then pulled Tom and they went out together, not caring whether they were followed or not. Fortunately, none did. What they didn''t expect was that as they left, the jerks inside threw some canned goods in their direction, making noise. As if choreographed, the zombies turned their heads simultaneously in their direction. This made their hearts drop. "Damn it!" Ansel and Tom cursed, gesturing to dart ahead. Those jerks! But what else could they do? They could only curse, and head to their target destinations regardless. ¡­ . . Half an hour later. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After some time of struggle, the duo eventually managed to reach their planned intersection in the middle of the city. It was called Rosewood Intersection. This was the intersection separating the path walk to Mocci town and the train station. The two men looked at each other, feeling a little melancholic. Although it had only been a few hours, the two still felt a bit sad at their separation. They found a relatively hidden place to chat and say their goodbyes. "Well, goodbye. It was good to meet you," Tom said, extending his hand for a firm handshake. "I hope you survive," Ansel said as he took it. Tom let out a light laugh. "Likewise." And so, Tom turned around (though not before giving him another look and a nostalgic nod) and went on his way. Ansel then heaved a sigh, pulling his eyes away from his new friend, and heading to a very different direction towards the train station. Now, alone, he was extra careful in getting the attention of the upgraded zombies. Fortunately, the concourse was mostly clear and had few things to hit. [01:45:34] He eventually found the north-bound train heading to Aberdeen City. His goo-covered shoulders slumped in relief to see the train was working. Except for hundreds of normal zombies walking about, everything seemed to be in place. Even the train seemed to be following the set schedule. While waiting for his train to come, which was set to arrive in 5 minutes, two upgraded zombies managed to find him. With his level though, he could deal with them by himself. After killing the damn things, he climbed up the vending machine nearest the train tracks. Five minutes felt like forever to arrive, and when it did, he immediately threw a can just outside the door to attract the zombies inside the train outside. He watched as they swarmed out of the car and he jumped above surfaces, getting closer and closer to the open door. Roar! He flinched but did not halt, darting to the open door. He entered the AI-operated train with a quick beating heart. Bump! The door closed, and the hand of the closest advanced zombie that went after him was stuck at the door, twitching creepily as it tried to reach him. The train surged forward with a gentle lurch a moment later. This was followed by a squelching sound and the twitching hand dropped down to the floor, no longer moving. Ugh. Ansel couldn''t move for a while, still waiting for his wildly beating heart to calm. But as he felt the train move under him at a constant pace, his whole body started to relax a bit, and he entered a state of temporary peace. He dragged his body to a nearby seat, using a rail to support himself as he flopped down the vinyl-covered seat. His head turned and watched outside the window as it moved. Dimly lit tunnels flashed by in a blur of darkness. The occasional flickering lights lining the walls of the tunnel illuminated the dark outside, reminding him of the light that still existed. He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh, resting the back of his head against the window. He knew that he had done all that he could. Even if he didn''t make it, it was fine. He just needed to be as close as possible. Chapter 28 Final Hour [01:39:02] In sharp contrast to, well, everybody else, Althea and her group settled down in the nearest luxury hotel. It took them quite a fight with a few more upgraded zombies, but they got out of it unharmed. Althea also used this time to train both Fufi and Sheila, so except for the most troublesome upgraded zombies, all the others were dealt with by the two. At first, the nurse was very scared. She also didn''t have very good body coordination either, so she missed too many shots and got almost-bitten too many times. So even when she was covered with goo, it was still not easy for her to deal with normal zombies, let alone fight an upgraded one. However, hearing Althea''s voice beside her let her gather some courage to take that brave step. Sheila did not realize her timid personality was slowly undergoing a subtle change. And the further they stepped closer to the hotel, the more stable this change became. The hotel was called Niana Hotel, a five-star hotel very popular in the city. It was a very expensive and luxurious building, and it gave prestige to those who used it. It was the type that was fully booked until at least a week later. They chose this place not only because of the estimated quality of the products but also due to its exclusivity. There should be a lot fewer zombies inside than others. Sure enough, when they entered, they realized they had a much easier time inside the hotel. After dealing with the zombies, they decided to go to the hotel''s back-of-house and fill up the remaining spaces and the hand-carry bags they had. They went to the housekeeping and laundry facilities and took cleaning equipment, sewing kits, linens, duvets, and towers. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, they also gathered more hygiene products. Mostly for Sheila, some stocks, and the bags though, because Althea had her favorite brand¡ªher own WittBeauty¡ªpacked in her own space. They also went to the storage and receiving rooms where food and beverages were stored. Luxury hotels often stockpile non-perishable food items in their storage areas. They managed to find a mountain of canned goods, dried food, snacks, bottled water, and others. They chose the ones they liked most due to their limited space. They took a set of hybrid-powered radio equipment used by the staff as well, just in case. There were also first-aid kits and medical supplies. However, their space was limited so they could only get a bit of bandages, antiseptics, and basic medications. Besides, Sheila also agreed that these things may no longer work well for their changed bodies. After this round, the girls finally filled up all the empty space they had on hand. The two girls and a dog went to the elevator after taking a card from the reception desk, choosing the largest suite room on the penthouse floor, just because. Who knows what kind of place that Other World was? They ought to enjoy these luxuries while they could. The suite welcomed guests with a shared intricately-designed living area and kitchenette. Overall, the shared space was no less than 100 square meters in area. There were doors to the two deluxe rooms with their own premium bathrooms and lounge. What''s more, each room was complete with its own entertainment facilities, jacuzzi, and the like. Sheila couldn''t help but feel emotional. She had dreamed of staying in this type of room after seeing an internet influencer brag about it, but she didn''t think she''d experience it in this circumstance. Althea''s thoughts, on the other hand, were going in a very different direction. Her eyes couldn''t help but stay on the time counter floating in front of her. As they reached the final hour, she couldn''t help but recall the number of those zombies, and the number of survivors still alive. She knew the initial transformation had to do with genes, and not too much on physical fitness. After all, she saw bodybuilding ordinary zombies, but the meek Sheila as a survivor. Still, she wondered how many really survived in the end? The planet had 16 Billion people. Her city was small but it still had at least a million population. How many people had she encountered so far? How were her family and friends? Did they survive the first wave? What about now? She shook her head, not thinking about it anymore. The final hour was for relaxation. They didn''t know what would happen in that Other World, they ought to get some proper rest. "Use that room and clean yourself up," She said, giving Sheila the duffel bag that had been in the motorcycle the whole time. It had two sets of clothing change for each gender as well as some other basic supplies. Not to mention, the hotel had its own supplies so they were sure to be able to clean up well. Althea and Fufi went into one of the rooms. She cleaned Fufi up well first, then they showered together for a basic rinse, making sure that the disgusting goo had been washed off their bodies. Then, using the advanced hairdryer, she quickly fixed him up, happily pushing him out of the bathroom afterward for her own moment of respite. Fufi: ??? Now alone and without a dog, Althea pampered herself well. She took a long bubble bath and scrubbed herself in every nook and cranny of her smelly body. Who knew when would be the next time she would get such rest? As she sighed in happiness, patting her stomach in relaxation, she finally took time to study her own status. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 3 (1125/5000) Life: 280/500 Spirit: 280/500 (-5%) Physical: 80 (-5%) Agility: 77 (-20%) Defense: 64 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [WEALTH: 9,711 gold and 79267 silver, 14233 copper] She didn''t know these would all fare in that Other World, but she had already done her best considering the time and resources she had access to. If it wasn''t enough, she couldn''t blame herself. Chapter 29 Migration Seven months ago. "We have unfortunate news for you, Mr and Mrs. Witt." The white-uniformed officer said, with a somber expression. He was a pale-skinned man wearing a white uniform, making him look even paler. He and his partner, a middle-aged woman with copper skin, were standing still just within the threshold of their home. They did not come into the house, simply because there were too many houses they had to go to. The three of them happened to be in the house at that time, a rare occurrence considering their busy schedules. Nanny had even gone to the market to gather ingredients for a small feast. It was supposed to be an interesting and fun day, with the three of them having a rare time catching up with each other. Who would have thought¡ª "There have been 1032 planes that went down early this morning at 06:34." He paused, heaving a deep sigh, trying not to show the exhaustion creeping in, "There were no survivors. "We are sorry to inform you that Mr. Howard Witt and Mrs. Alicia Murong-Witt¡­ have unfortunately passed away." In that instant, their living room which had once been a place of warmth, suddenly got freezing cold. It was so cold that she was shaking, and her vision became blurry. If her husband''s large hand hadn''t been holding her, she might have fainted then and there. "What happened?" Althea heard the baritone voice of her husband ask beside her. She looked up to listen to their answer, trying to keep down the ringing in her ears. "We are still investigating the cause of this tragedy and we request your utmost patience." Althea managed to find her voice to ask, "They¡­ where are they?" "Their bodies have been collected and moved to the South Montague Morgue." The woman answered as gently as possible. Then, she paused, not sure what tone to use in his next statement, "They¡­ are in relatively good condition due to their position in the plane." "I¡­ I see¡­" The officers looked at each other and sighed, faces tired. There was no doubt they''d been through several houses before theirs. "We are sorry for your loss. The country had lost great scholars." The man told them, very sincerely. "If there''s anything we can do to assist you, please contact our team any time." They finally said without further ado, handing over their business card. They then bowed and excused themselves, leaving the grieving family their much-needed space. They were probably heading to give the bad news to the next house that opted for personal visits from officials. The moment the door closed, Althea lost all her strength, her legs giving way, her entire body suddenly devoid of energy. "Althea!" Her husband''s deep voice sounded in her ears. And she soon felt his strong arms support her weight. She habitually searched for his warmth, his pinewood scent, and buried her head in his wide shoulder. She felt herself being carried to the living room and to the comfort of the sofa. He gently placed her on his thigh, his warm large hand patting her waist. It took a while to gather herself and get enough energy to utter a syllable, but Garan was patient and did not speak, only making sure she felt his presence next to her. "They''re¡­really gone?" She asked, voice cracking, tears lining up her eyes. It was so pitiful and broke Garan''s heart. He simply embraced her deeper and patted her back. "They wouldn''t want you to feel too sad¡­" He said, "I''m sure they''re watching over us right now, feeling very sorry for leaving all of a sudden. Do you want them to feel even worse?" Tears pooled in her eyes and she sniffed. Garan, always the boy scout, took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears and then her snot. The gesture also reminded her of how her mother did the same and she just hugged him tighter. However, as she buried her head and wiped snot all over her husband''s shoulder, her peripheral vision caught a red-headed figure nearby. Her eyes stopped. It was Ansel, who was shaking in a corner, returning to his old ways of hiding and suffering quietly. But she was really sad right now, she couldn''t stand up to comfort the boy who lost his biological parents at the same time. "How¡­ how could this happen?" She asked her husband, voice weak to the point of whispering. Thousands of planes went down at the same time. Most were still much worse than their parents. Should she be thankful they got their parents'' bodies in one piece, at least? "I will find out," Garan said, placing a comforting kiss on her cheek. "Leave it to me." She nodded and couldn''t help but look worriedly at the corner. Garan followed her line of sight and sighed. The man gently placed his wife on the sofa, placing a light peck on her forehead, before striding down the particularly depressing corner. "Leave me alone!" Ansel yelled without looking up, voice squeaking, snot dripping down. It was really pitiful. However, in contrast with his gentle handling of Althea, he was more straightforward with this brother of his. Out of nowhere, Garan grabbed Ansel''s neck collar, lifting him to his knees. "What¡ª" Without speaking, Garan pulled him up, dragging him to the yard, very likely to the training ground. It may look harsh, but Althea knew her husband intended on giving Ansel some tough love, to help him go through the tragedy. If Ansel entered that lonely world of his again, it would be difficult to bring him back. In fact, Ansel''s shift from being mildly autistic to his confident, extroverted, self had less to do with her¡­ but had a lot to do with her husband''s training. It seemed that learning to defend himself injected confidence in their brother. Too much, if you asked her. Neither of them would have ever anticipated he''d turn into a playboy, but¡­ it was better than him being trapped in his own world like he was as a child, before meeting the two of them. Thankfully, her husband always knew what to do, and she didn''t have to worry about Ansel anymore. Althea watched the two men go outside the house, her mood slightly better, because it reminded her of what she still had. Yes. At the very least, they still had each other. ¡­ What she didn''t expect was that he would be sent on a confidential mission a week later. She looked at him in a daze as she sat next to him on the couch. His deep cerulean eyes also gazed at her, orbs filled with apology, his large calloused fingers gently rubbing her hands. Eventually, her eyes cleared and she looked at him with certainty. "Our parents'' accidents had to do with your mission right?" She said, looking straight at his deep cerulean eyes. "You know I can''t tell you, love." He told her, very gently. He legally couldn''t say anything, even if he wanted to. "I''m sorry I had to leave at this time." He uttered, placing his big palms on the side of her face. She closed her eyes and felt her husband''s warmth. She knew it would be a while until she could do so again, so she didn''t make any issue at all. When she opened her eyes, her emerald eyes had a renewed light. "I understand," She said, "Please find out what happened." "Of course, my wife," He said, placing a chaste kiss on the side of her face, before moving to her lips. Soon, he became a bit greedy, trying to maximize the few minutes of time they had left. He licked her luscious lips, and they easily granted him entry. Even after years, the electricity in their touches never faded, and the warmth the other provided only became more comforting, more integral, and more intuitive. His large hands moved from the side of her face to her curvaceous back, pulling her to him so he could feel as much of her as he could, given their current circumstance. He changed the angle of their kiss to gain more access, to express more of his reluctance, and she wrapped her delicate arms around his neck, responding with equal passion. His phone rang several times before he was willing to part with his soft wife. His azure eyes caught the silver viscous string that connected their lips, calling them back together, and he leaned down again. All his senses were trying to imprint his wife, trying to convey his love, and his ears pointedly ignoring the incessant calls. He breathed in his wife''s scent, savored her taste, and felt her warmth. After some time, they slowly parted and he placed their foreheads together, incredibly reluctant. She was still mourning, how could he leave? Althea could see the worry in his eyes, and she didn''t want him thinking so much when he was on a dangerous mission. "I''m very strong. What I want now is to find out what happened." "I will, don''t worry," He said, baritone voice lower than usual, filled with reluctance. Althea gave him a comforting smile and gave him one last peck on the lips before gently nudging him out the door. "Be careful," She said and he nodded, leaning down for one last¡ªreally¡ªlittle kiss. "Remember: Even when we are apart, remember your husband will always be with you." He said, and he embraced her one last time before leaving¡­ ¡­not to be seen again. At least, not in Terran. ____ Present. Opening her eyes, Althea stared at the ceiling for some time. Heaving a deep breath, she stood up and got dressed. She wrapped up the washed clothing and equipment (that still had a bit of stench) and used her new ones instead. Forgive her for being queasy. Even if they were now cleaned up, they were still covered with zombie goo the entire day. She just took a bath, how could she stomach wearing such a thing? Of course, she kept it in space to be a spare. Giving herself one last look before rest, she also took time to see her equipment. [EQUIPMENT: S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: none Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Leather Boots +2 Defense, +0 Agility ] She had already given her helmet to Sheila, who needed it more. It was too uncomfortable, her pregnancy made her very queasy. Anyway, she looked at the time once more and determined she could still get a shut-eye. [00:26:12] She laid down on the soft bed, setting up a timer for a 20-minute power nap. Fortunately, she was indeed really tired so she fell asleep as soon as her head met the pillow. She woke up from her alarm after a while, stretching her body and marveling at not only the physique of a level 3 but also at the effectiveness of a power nap. Her spirit had almost been filled up. [00:05:01] She met up with Sheila and Fufi in the living room, settling comfortably on the largest sofa. Sheila couldn''t help but stare at her, wide wide eyes and slightly flushed face. Althea stared back in puzzlement. "What is it?" Sheila gulped, still amazed at how pretty the other was when not covered in zombie goo. "You''re very beautiful. Your husband is a lucky man." Althea blinked, not expecting it, and laughed. "Well, thank you. And yes, yes he is, wherever he is. "You are also very cute and charming. How old are you anyway?" Sheila literally looked like an adorable minor now that she was all cleaned up. "I am twenty-seven now." Althea coughed a little in surprise. "Well.. you look much younger." Looking at her now, Althea couldn''t help but recall the questions that had been running in her head. "I''m curious, why did you want to become a nurse? Not to be rude or anything¨C" "No, it''s fine," Sheila said with a smile. "I was actually asked by my parents to do so, so they have a proper caretaker when they get old." Althea''s beautiful eyebrows rose. "Then what do you want to do?" Sheila stared at her, unsure, feeling ashamed "I .. I don''t know." she mumbled. In fact, she really wasn''t sure what path to pick, so she just went with the flow and followed her parents'' wishes without question. Althea scooted over and patted her head to comfort her like a child. Who told her to look so young? "Well, this disaster can also be seen as a new beginning." She paused, emerald eyes looking out the window, to the sky filled with doom. "Maybe you can find your calling¡­ there." Sheila nodded, feeling hopeful. However, after several beats of silence, she couldn''t help but give Althea a furtive glance. Althea raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" "Your husband¡­ I mean, if you don''t mind me asking." Althea smiled and shook her head. "He''s a soldier. He went missing months ago." "Oh." Sheila paled. Because Althea was so strong and beautiful, she unconsciously just assumed everything was¡­ good. "I''m sorry." "It''s fine." She shrugged. "He''s still alive, somewhere. I have an intuition that I''ll meet him soon." She paused, looking out the window to the waning moon with a complex expression. "My intuition has always been very strong." [00:00:32] Althea told them to hold as many important items as they could to see if they could be brought with them. Sheila held on to the duffel bag tightly, even taking a lot of the hotel supplies with her. Another bag was placed on Fufi''s back, but she added more meat snacks for him. In contrast, Althea freed her hands. Her hands would be holding on the two of them, to see if they could be transferred together. [00:00:01] The air changed subtly as if a force came down from the heavens. Then, a circular pattern of light appeared on their feet, and Althea''s expression turned a little dark, nervous. But she quickly shook her head off the thoughts, strengthening her will. It could be said that she had done her best to prepare, and there was no use being scared. At this thought, her emerald shined a sharper, more determined light. ''Whatever comes, come!'' Chapter 30 Welcome to the Xeno Continent! [Congratulations to the 114,876,877.00 Terranian who survived the migration!] . . [Welcome to the Grand Continent of Xeno.] . . [Protection Period of 1 Xenoan Month is activated.] . . Althea stared at the new announcement blankly, feeling a bit shaken the moment her brain made the calculations. The number may seem a lot, but this was not even 1% of the almost 17 Billion people who survived until the migration. This was a depressing number. One for every one hundred people. What were the chances her friends and family survived? And¡­ what was the protection period? However, she could not even take the time for deeper thought as all her stats appeared in front of her without her prompt, distracting her thoughts. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 3 (1125/5000) Life: 490/500 Spirit: 470/500 (-5%) Physical: 80 (-5%) Agility: 77 (-20%) Defense: 64 +12 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [WEALTH: 9,711 gold and 79267 silver, 14233 copper] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: None Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Leather Boots +2 Defense, +0 Agility ] . . . [You have been assessed to have over 1000 gold and overall potential above B. You are confirmed eligible to hold a Lord''s Token. [The Lord''s Token: Enchanted magical accessory that grants its owner the right to establish ownership over a designated safe and optionally fortified location of his/her choice. [Note: The Lord Token will be integrated with the Territory Lord upon activation. [Would you like to take it? [YES | NO] Her eyebrows rose, the distraction shaking away some of the depression and worry that plagued her. Lord Token? The key to a safe place? She chose YES, of course. [Would you like to use it now? YES | NO] NO. She still knew that one shouldn''t build villages anywhere. Giving her surroundings a cursory glance, she judged that this was literally the middle of nowhere. [Establishment of Territory is put on hold. Please use the token within 7 days.] However, before becoming too relieved, she had come to the question: Why would a ''safe'' place be necessary in the first place??? "What is it?" Sheila asked, pulling her back to the present. Sheila was not used to seeing the other woman look in a daze. Was there something odd in the stats that popped up? At this, she couldn''t help but take a second look at her stats. Other than the so-called ''Elemental Affinity'' the others were intuitive, and she found no major anomaly. On the other hand, Althea did not answer immediately. No one could receive her absolute unconditional trust except for her husband. Even her parents and brother, although she loved them very much, couldn''t receive this, let alone a new friend. So, at Sheila''s question, she only shook her head in the end. "It''s nothing." Neither woman spoke for a while, absorbing the new place, feeling its difference. She smiled when she saw Fufi safe and sound and still smiling. Then, she looked at the new counter on the top right. [195:59:57] This must be the counter for the deadline of the Lord Token activation. Obviously, the unit of time here was a little different than in Terran. Making a quick calculation, she had a rough estimate to have an idea. So¡­, a day here was 28 hours? Fortunately, the smaller units of measurement were the same, or else she would have been very confused. Of course, it could also be that the system simply converted it to units they could understand. Her emerald eyes couldn''t help but stay on the new icon on her screen. It was an image of a palace and was dimly lit. It had a subtle feel of majesty to it and she immediately knew that pressing it would probably activate the token. Speaking of the Lord Token, she pondered more about the qualifications needed to receive it. Assuming B was the average potential, it would mean that almost everyone who managed to get over 1000 gold coins before migration could get a Lord Token. She wondered, just how many territories would there be? And...if people who got 1000 gold could get the accessory, she really wondered if it was a good thing. She had taken out all the physical riches and safety deposit box items in her upper-class neighborhood and only got a little over 1000 gold coins because she robbed a drug lord. And, after robbing a bank, she managed to save over 9000 gold coins during those 24 hours. How many people managed to get similar achievements? Considering the few survivors she met, she mused that most people would probably gather less than 10 gold simply because cash and digital money turned to waste. Except for the old generation, most people opted to place their wealth in banks and other digital wallets for convenience. So...what kind of people could get 1000 gold coins within 24 hours? Gangsters? Drug lords? Ultra-rich people with dirty money? Normal people wouldn''t think of robbing banks like she did. If most territories had leaders like that¡ªshe shivered just by thinking about it. Would those places still be considered a ''safe'' place? Then again, those who could get this amount could be considered capable and this was a plus in its own way. Developing a territory in any world was a capital-intensive endeavor and the powerful Lord token might just be wasted on others. She just sighed and put the matter aside for now. Anyway, that was the problem for other territories, not hers. At least not for a while. Whatever the case, she definitely wouldn''t take the task of creating a territory lightly. Chances were, this new ''home'' would be her permanent one. This meant this would be the place her children would grow up in. She was determined to make it the best, at least for the children. Chapter 31 Wake-up Call Returning back to the present, Althea turned her head to the other girl. "What''s your overall assessment?" "B." Sheila said, "Yours?" "Mine is above B." Althea answered vaguely, then looked at Fufi who was forever wagging his tail happily. "What''s yours?" The stupid dog just smiled at her with his tongue out. Sigh In the end, she was just happy this fluffy canine managed to come with her. She couldn''t help but smother his head with pets. After visually checking her two companions for any injuries, Althea then turned to look at a strange woman shivering crazily a few meters away from them. Sheila followed her line of sight and flinched, very surprised there was somebody else there. "You¨C" "I¡­ H-Hello." The woman mumbled, shivering. She was a young woman wearing revealing clothes made of silk, and she looked like a beautiful but sad puppy. The scratches and blood exposed more of her skin, making her look both dirty and pitiful. From the dress, she was probably at a party when the disaster started. The woman seemed both happy and scared that she ended up with two women. Happy because at least she didn''t have to deal with lechers, and scared because these women probably wouldn''t be able to protect her at all. And why were they so¡­ clean? They even had helmets on? However, they did not even have any time to chat when she heard rustling of leaves quickly approaching, followed by spine-tingling low growls. Suddenly, two monsters of similar appearance popped out of the bushes with a roar. They were over a meter tall and extremely menacing, their eyes filled with aggression and greed. Greed for their meat. Just looking at those sharp saber teeth, one could see that it could impale anyone with a snap. Althea''s heart stopped and she looked at her companions. "Run!" She yelled, and was already a few meters farther. She decisively took out one of the guns she stocked up from the drug lord''s house and rained the monsters with bullets. Bang! Bang! Bang! Some of the bullets did connect and made it bleed, but otherwise it didn''t hinder its movement at all. On the contrary, it only made the monsters angry. Althea''s heart dropped. Beyond all expectations, the gun wasn''t helpful at all!!! In the meantime, the other monster had menacingly approached the other two women. Sheila was distracted with Althea''s fight, wondering how she could help, and the other woman quickly ran behind her. She saw the monster coming at them and, in fear, unconsciously pushed Sheila forward. Sheila screamed, unable to control her fall. Her head was protected by her helmet, which allowed her to escape a concussion, but her hands was not the same. She didn''t even feel her hands bleeding after hitting the rocky ground, because she hear a terrifying snarl next to her ears, and she could see the sharp teeth of the monster a few inches away from her head. Her heart stopped, the events of her young uneventful life passing through her mind. Was she really going to die now? Was she really going to die like this? So unknowingly? Fortunately, the bullet entered the monster''s eyes and through its brain, splattering Sheila''s face with the monster''s blood instead of her own. [Successfully killed a Level 3 Saber Tiger] [+70 copper, +70 experience] Althea had no time to even ready this as she heard a mewl behind her and saw Fufi thrown against the tree, not knowing if he was dead or alive. She glared at the tiger-like giant which then changed its target to the other woman, who had happened to run near its direction in a vain attempt to avoid another. Without ceremony, it opened its mouth¡ªcrunch!¡ª and ate the woman''s head. It was like biting a cookie instead of a human head. While it was distracted from chewing, Althea immediately aimed at its eyes and made a shot. [Successfully killed a Level 3 Saber Tiger] [+70 copper, + 70 experience] With heavy breaths, she aimed the gun at the forest, at different directions, ready to shoot should more monsters pop out. Only when she was certain that there was nothing else popping out of the bushes, her legs finally gave way in weakness. She could hear her own heart and she could no longer hold on to the gun due to her shaking hands. These monsters were far, far, stronger than upgraded zombies. Upgraded zombies had killed countless survivors, and these things were even more deadly. Another thing was that, even if they were of the same level, the bodies of these monsters were very different from humans. The guns did not do much on their skins, and only caused damage at very specific and tiny weak spots. On the contrary, she, a human being of the same level, could still be killed. She ran to Fufi as soon as she had enough strength and was relieved to find that the injuries were relatively minor. Similarly, Sheila only had a scratch due to being pushed down. Althea quickly took out the first aid kit in her space and let Sheila help herself as well as Fufi. As she watched the nurse apply disinfectant to the dog, her mind couldn''t help racing. What about the so-called ''protection period''? Or¡­ were these monsters already really, relatively, weak? A sense of dread washed over her, and she realized she seemed to have been complacent again. If she didn''t have guns, she had no doubt she''d be dead now. This attitude would get her killed someday if she didn''t change it. It was fine if it was just her, but¡­ Her palm unconsciously touched her stomach. She was not alone. Her hands stopped and she looked at her stomach, her large eyes shined with renewed determination. Growing up, her husband had taught her a lot of things, a lot of which were to defend herself. It was just that life had been peaceful the past few years, and she had lost the alertness she once had. She wondered if her husband, wherever he was, would be disappointed. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her husband''s handsome face flashed through her mind, a hint of longing occupied her heart. She shook her head in the end. She''d just have to remind herself of the things she should know, so that when she met her husband again, he would be relieved and proud. Chapter 32 Promise Aberdeen City, 15 years prior In the midst of the greenery of a single-detached villa, a small gazebo sheltered two children training, creating a cute and picturesque scenery that adults would love to watch. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You can''t move, Althea." A handsome young teen gently patted the young girl''s head. The teen had very striking features, and anyone with eyes would be able to tell he''d grow up to be an extremely dashing man. Similarly, the little girl he was talking to was very cute. She had springy dark-brown hair tied in two adorable pigtails combed to the side of her head. She had sparkling green eyes that seemed to reflect all that it saw. At this time, these emerald eyes were sparkling with both innocence and defiance. . "But Garannnn, it''s so boooring!" She said, staring up at the older boy. The young girl was doing (or attempting to) do a stable horse stance, and she hated every minute of it. The boy''s deep cerulean eyes looked down at the ten-year-old girl, who was looking at him and was pouting cutely, her chubby cheeks flushed from sweat. It was melting the teenager''s heart. "Ansel is so lucky to have an appointment." She mumbled, crossing her small arms. Gatan sighed, how could he say it was an appointment with a psychologist, specializing in potential PTSD victims? He leaned down and gently patted her head, wiping her cheeks with a clean handkerchief. "I can''t be by your side all the time." He said, "You have to be able to protect yourself." Garan, although he was just a junior recruit, had seen how demanding the occupation of a soldier was. But it was his best bet for strength, and thought a little sacrifice of bonding time would be worth it in the future. ¡­right? Little Althea''s cute eyebrows furrowed, looking at him in incomprehension. "Why?" "So we can grow up well and go on more adventures." He told her, knowing of Althea''s love for exploring. "You know there''s a height limit for doing certain things right?" "No, I mean, why can''t we be together forever?" Garan stared at the little girl, innocent and pure, and he couldn''t help but laugh. The young lad embraced the little girl. "We will, of course. It''s just that we have to grow up first." She wrapped her arms around him. "Really? Then I want to grow up well!" Garan''s ocean eyes warmed as he looked at the little girl. "My Althea will definitely grow up well." He said with a certainty. As they grew older, the days before they entered the orphanage became more and more blurred. Now, all he could remember was carrying the baby Althea and holding her tightly, running away from¡­something. Whether it was the dangers in this world or something else, Garan always had the firm and sometimes inexplicable determination to become stronger. "Of course, it would help you stop eating strange plants." He couldn''t help but add. The girl''s obsession with plants was extremely disconcerting. The number of times he got in trouble in his part-time jobs as a kid after abandoning work to run to the hospital couldn''t be counted in two hands anymore. Little Althea pursed her lips, doubting if she could keep this promise. How could Garan, who basically watched her grow from an infant, not know what she was thinking? He gently pinched her cute cheeks. "Some plants would make you stop growing. Do you want to be a midget forever?" This made her freeze, shiver, and hyped up. "NO!" "Then be careful, and do your training." This seemed to finally convince her and she scooted out of his embrace and went back to the boring horse stance. "Then if I get stronger, I will protect you!" She declared. "Maybe I could be like a Sailor Star!" He laughed, but his expression turned a little serious. She was so young, what if she tried to jump at big bullies by herself like that Sailor Star, a cartoon magic heroine? "You can only protect others if you are sure you can protect yourself." "Hmm¡­" she mumbled, shrugging. At this point, she didn''t really understand the implications of his warning. "I still think Sailor Star is cool, though." Garan smiled helplessly. "If you train, you''ll be more awesome than her." Little Althea looked at him like he''s an idiot. "Impossible!" Garan grinned, chuckling. "Want to bet?" Then, his smile faltered and his expression turned a bit grim. Althea blinked, a bit confused. Garan realized his gaffe and gently poked her cute nose. "But in the end¡­ I will be happy as long as Althea is safe and sound." He then held her chubby cheeks so she would focus on him, expression extremely serious. "Promise me that whatever happens, you will take care of yourself." ___ Xeno Continent, Present Althea took a deep breath to calm her nerves before walking to Fufi and gently lifting him up. She turned to Sheila, who was still pale from shock, and shaking from the near-death experience. "Let''s go." She said, "We can''t be near all this blood. More monsters will come." They were silent for several minutes, absorbing the experience they were inexplicably thrown into. Sheila, who was still shaking, lost her footing many times, significantly slowing down their pace. "I''m sorry." Althea sighed and helped her up, feeling that she was still shaking. While she felt pity for her, she really couldn''t deal with such a burden. She had taken her in because she needed someone to help with her pregnancy, and she had thought this place could be relatively safer than their zombie-infested planet. She was wrong, very wrong. So¡­ what could she, a pregnant woman with perennially negative stats, do with another burden? Afraid that similar things would happen in the future, Althea decided to vaccinate the girl in advance. "Sheila," she said with a somber tone. "This is our reality now. I know it''s scary, but don''t expect me to protect you every time." She patted her stomach. "You should know what my priorities are." At this time, that promise she gave him rang the strongest. Because now, not only did she have to take care of herself well, but more importantly¡ªtheir children. Chapter 33 Growth Althea turned to continue her way, with Fufi following with his naturally bouncy gait. Whether or not Sheila would gather herself and follow her would no longer be of her concern. Watching her tall back, Sheila''s eyes widened with tears in her eyes. However, the feeling of disappointment was soon pushed away by reason. Although she never thought of Althea protecting her¡­ subconsciously, wasn''t it what she really thought? Otherwise, why would she be disappointed? Shame. Shame enveloped her whole being and she felt like crying. It overflowed in her veins to the point of covering up the fear and terror that occupied her emotions a moment prior. Sheila couldn''t help but remember the heart-stopping moment where she was sure she was dead. How helpless she was. "T¡­Thank you for the reminder." She said, sincerely. "And thank you for saving my life, again." S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea nodded, relieved, before turning to continue walking to the opposite direction the monsters were from. On the other hand, Sheila took out the ax in space with a huff. It was her weapon and they stole it from the hospital emergency supplies¡ªthe type used to break glass during emergencies. Although it was heavy, with Althea''s help, she had at least reached level 1 before they settled down in the hotel. She could now wave this ax as a weapon, something which she couldn''t have been able to lift at all before. They dragged themselves through the lush forests. The smallest trees were several meters high, the taller ones they couldn''t even see the top of. The roots were protruding making it difficult to walk, fortunately their balance had also improved along with their physiques. The leaves free falling, covering the ground with a blanket of leaves and humus, so each of their steps made some noise, and they were in constant fear that something would pop out without warning, so quickly that even their enhanced hearing wouldn''t be able to adapt. Because her eyes were sharp and she kept looking for any anomaly around, it was only at this time that Althea realized the difference of the forest they landed in. She looked around her carefully and her eyes brightened. As someone who dealt with plants, she could say that very, very, few of these plants were similar to Terran. Of course in terms of survival this wasn''t very good, but as someone who hadn''t seen a new species for years, this was akin to heaven. However, it was obviously not the time to explore. They continued on their trek until they finally reached a small clearing. However, they had not even reached the area yet when a group of ugly green deer-like creatures with sharp horns appeared on their left. It looked smaller and less dangerous, but she dared not underestimate any creatures from this place. She knew they were technically the invaders and her humanity didn''t allow her to attack because of defensive threats. However, the monsters soon showed signs of aggression, greed, and hunger. The moment they gestured to attack, she immediately took out the gun, which signaled the beginning of a fight. [Successfully killed a Level 2 Hellion Moose] [+50 copper, + 50 experience] [Successfully killed a Level 2 Hellion Moose] [+50 copper, + 50 experience] However, her hits weren''t so accurate and there were plenty of misses. They lost a few equipments along the way. For instance, the helmet she gave to Sheila literally saved her life from what would''ve been a devastating grip from the monster. They watched as it chewed the helment to pieces and Sheila had the vision of it being her head. Cringe. The split second was enough for Althea to fire a shot and finish it off, pulling Sheila back to the present when its blood splattered all over her. [Successfully killed a Level 2 Hellion Moose] [+50 copper, + 50 experience] Sheila shakily stood back up and slapped herself. Althea nodded, focusing on her own fight. From this point though, they had found their tempo, and managed to deal with the rest of the monsters with relative ease. [Successfully killed a Level 1 Hellion Moose] [+30 copper, + 30 experience] She was relieved to know that the guns worked well with these monsters, causing high damage even if she missed its approximate weak spots. Fortunately, they didn''t encounter any more level 3s, or else things would''ve been extremely troublesome. It seemed like they were just very, very, unlucky earlier. She watched as Fufi take down a level one, and was currently fighting with a Level 2. Because Fufi was injured he struggled very much. Althea decided to assist him by blowing his opponent''s leg. [Congratulations to Fufi for leveling up to Level 2!] After the level up, his wound and spirit made visible improvement. Althea smiled in relief before turning her head to the other one. She watched the remaining fight between Sheila and the level 1 moose. Sheila kept looking at her and her eyes brightened when she realized she had already finished her fight. "I won''t help you." She said which made the other girl flinch, and she narrowly escaped an attack. Seeing the girl panicking, Althea didn''t falter. "You know now that you can''t depend on me forever. Only with personal strength will you gain confidence to live in this place." Althea shot a leg again to assist but didn''t do anything else. However, this was enough for Shiela to adjust her mentality. She seemed to be once again reminded that Althea was a pregnant woman younger than she was. "Yes." Her hold of the ax relaxed and her whole body found newfound strength. Lifting the ax, Sheila began swinging harder and with more precision. Unfortunately, even with the broken leg, it was not as easy a skirmish as the fight of Althea who had a gun, or Fufi who had the physical advantage of a beast. Many times, Sheila had almost been bitten. It was only because Fufi had distracted the monster occasionally that she managed to escape. After several minutes, she finally saw improvement and she began to cause damage to the monster, making it bleed. "Focus on its weak spot. We don''t had unlimited time or energy." "Y-Yes." And she did. As a nurse, she naturally had an idea where possible weak spots were. Dozens of slashes later and the monster was finally weak enough for her to gain confidence. She wiped the weapon decisively along its neck, finally taking its life. Looking at the corpse of her first kill, the tension seemed to have left her body and she fell on her knees. "I¡­ I did it." Althea walked closer and patted her head. "You did it." She said with a smile. "The next battle will be easier." Sheila''s smile brightened like never before. ¡­ Because of all the blood that soaked the ground, the trio didn''t dare to stay in the clearing either. They continued their way until they found a cave made from natural outcropping. Confirming this wasn''t some base of some other creature, Althea decided to let this be their temporary camp. She looked at the plants nearby and, without exception, she didn''t seem to know any of them! She admired the plethora of new plants¡ªno, the plethora of worlds¡ªwaiting to be studied and had an inkling she would discover many, many, interesting things. Chapter 34 Tinkering with the Indigenous Plants National University Library, Special Section, Fifteen Years Ago The young Althea looked at the vast array of books in fascination. Because of the advent of technology, there weren''t many of these things anymore, but she liked them very much. Learning while touching physical paper had always felt a bit sublime to her. Althea continued to peruse the selection of books, staying in a section for a longer amount of time. In this section, there were plenty of books about flora and fauna. There were tons of illustrations of plants, their parts, and uses. The young Althea had always loved plants and had her own notebook studying their uses. It was her first time seeing things so detailed. She learned that even the unassuming useless-looking parts of the plants could be used for the most unexpected thing. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Amazziinggg¡­" Little Althea mumbled, big emerald eyes looking at the book, filled with admiration. "Amazing, right?" The old man smugly said, eating his walnuts. Althea wasn''t stingy with her compliments. "It''s the most amazing thing I''ve seen so far." "It''s still more than that. For example," he showed her the leftover case of the walnut he had been eating." "After processing this¡­" he then took a bottle of the ink to his table. "Could become this." "Amazing!" "Indeed." The old man laughed and patted her head, leaving some crumbs on her ponytailed head. His old wise eyes looked at his collection. "Plants are amazing things, and you''ll learn whole new worlds from studying them." ____ Xeno Continent, Present Althea and the rest studied their surroundings, just to be sure. They decided to check a hundred meters radius, and what she had seen just made Althea itchy to explore. Upon double checking that there were no more creatures around waiting to maim them, Althea was finally able to leave the two in place. This surprised Sheila a bit, not because she was scared of being alone (well, a little), but she was mostly taken aback by the fact a pregnant woman''s out adventuring. "I''m fine, at level 3 I don''t feel pregnant at all." She said, shrugging. "I won''t be ten meters away from you guys." Anyway, all the plants around were basically unfamiliar, she really didn''t need to go far. Althea walked by several meters before leaning down, careful with her stomach, and sat on an overgrown root. Althea, who seemed to have forgotten the dangers, took out her portable laboratory a.k.a. Tori , and focused on the nearest plant. An interesting thing about space was that although time wasn''t static, the ''space'' was. That was to say, even if she pulled out the lab underneath so many things, the other things just stayed there, floating. It was quite fun. In any case, she watched excitedly as she pulled out plants and their different parts to place on the testing component. Her beautiful emerald eyes watched in anticipation as the various formulas and elements appeared on the small screen. Although this was a different world, the building blocks were still the same. She took something that was probably a type of fruit. In terms of appearance, it looked like a yellow cherry tomato. Ping! She stared at the screen and, as expected, saw that it had Flavonoids which gave the fruit its color and has antioxidant properties. She also stared at its chemical composition and concluded that this thing was edible and quite healthy. The amount of ethylene was also high, so it was probably already ripe. Wiping it with a clean handkerchief she placed it in her mouth and her face scrunched. Sour! She decisively ignored this fruit. Of course, she still took out her notebook, drew and described the plant and made a basic drawing. At the bottom of the page there was a note: Sucks to eat. It made even her, a pregnant woman who didn''t mind sour food at the moment, cringe. She turned her head to an upright plant with a thickened rhizome. Using a stick, she dug around it and found a tuber. It was a weird pinkish color and only the size of a palm. Seeing the test results, the plant, like the Tuber that she knew, was filled with dioscorin. Although different in appearance from yam, the composition was just about the same. She wrote down the possible uses, marking those that specially need more testing. She took a few bunches to the space both for experiment and food. She took note of four or five more plants, none of which were edible, or were particularly interesting, before her sights ended up on a vine crawling on another tree. It was a very thick vine the size of a baby''s arm, with purple flowers growing long and swaying with the wind as if seducing her to come to it. Unable to help herself, Althea took out several leaves and flowers from the plant to check. She smelled and she was reminded of grapes, her favorite fruit. She almost swallowed it. Almost. Fortunately, she still had the wits not to directly ingest the unknown plant. She stopped herself in time and simply placed it on Tori. She watched with excitement as she waited for the analysis to come out. However¡­ as she stared at the screen and waited, her vision started to blur... She felt weak on her knees and tried to lift herself up, only to realize that her hands couldn''t even form a grip, and her whole body fell on the ground. She struggled to turn her head to the screen and stared, finding out that the flower contained heavy amounts of phytotoxins. Poisoned. She was poisoned. There were also three types of hallucinogens in there¡­ "My love, I told you not to eat weird things¡­" the familiar heartbroken voice of her husband rang in her ears. She blinked and tears lined up her eyes as soon as she recognized the voice. She struggled to turn her head to his image. It was definitely a hallucination, but she still wanted to see. He was as handsome as always, with his dark hair like the night sky and striking features. His eyes were deep as the ocean, looking at her with eyes filled with extreme warmth and love, like he always had. Of course at the moment, there were heavy traces of worry and a tinge of reprimand. Althea gasped as struggled to turn her body to the sky for air, but she was unable to do anything else. Ah, how long has it been? As someone who had been poisoned by her own carelessness for a few¡­dozen¡­times, she already had an idea what to do. Her eyes not leaving the image of her husband, she remembered the many things he taught her. Unfortunately, she could barely even move, how could she do those signals for help? "Hey! Someone?" She said¨Cwell, croaked¡ªas loudly as her weakened throat allowed. However, she quickly lost energy. So she couldn''t call anymore after that nor could do anything else but wait for rescue, so she just closed her eyes to rest a bit. A minute later, rustles of leaves approached her direction. When she opened her eyes, what met her eyes was the worried face of Sheila, with Fufi running around her corpse¡ªer¡­ weak body, in distress. "Oh my goodness! Althea!!" "I''m fine¡­" She said, stopping the useless chatter. Sheila, a nurse, managed to do some first aid on her. At the very least, she could now move a hand, albeit with a lot of struggle. She weakly pointed in a direction near the grape-like vine with her hand. "Take .. sap¡­ from that plant¡­ no¡­ the other one¡­ not that¡­ there." The voice was a little apathetic, but every movement she made was shaky. Sheila ran to her and held the plants near her, waiting for further instructions. "Take 2mg of this, weigh it here." She said pointing at an elevated surface on Tori. "Mix it with this Lola." She took out a petal of one of the previous uninteresting flowers from the space. Sheila quickly mixed the two and put it in Althea''s mouth. It took several minutes before Althea''s pale face returned to its rosy complexion. Fufi let out a little woof, while Sheila stared at her with deep concern. "How are you?" "Don''t worry I''m used to it." She shrugged, "Just accidentally touched a bit of poison." Her tone was indifferent, but this seemed to have triggered a nearly non-existent button in Sheila. Just like that, out of nowhere, the little rabbit turned into a dragon. "ARE YOU AN IDIOT??!" The nurse shrieked, making Althea flinch away and rub her ears. Althea gaped at her, not knowing that she had it in her. "Have you forgotten you''re PREGNANT?!!" Althea paused at this, frowned, and turned her head down to her very heavy stomach. She pursed her lips, feeling very guilty. Her obsession with plants could indeed get a bit pathological. Her best friend once said she''d die of plants someday. She gently patted her stomach, a bit of a coaxing tone in her voice. "I''m sorry my babies, I was not careful enough." She took note of this damned plant, as well as the antidote. [Successfully gained New Skill: Elementary Appraisal (D)] [Elementary Appraisal (D): Ability to determine all known uses of all things below level 5. Ability to determine nomenclature of all things Level 6-10. Cost: 10 Mana] New skill¡­? Appraisal? She didn''t have to touch a plant and she would immediately have an idea on what it was for?! There could be such a good thing?! If eyes could glow, Althea''s eyes would''ve become the sun. Chapter 35 Appraisal Skill Sheila''s thin eyebrows furrowed at the woman''s unrepenting look. Was she smiling? After being reprimanded? "Look here, Althea, I know I am overreaching but¡ª" "I learned new skills." Althea said, cutting off her imminent soliloquy. "...what?" The other two stared at her. "I can now look at an object and, if they are not too high a level, I can know their names and their known uses." Sheila could still remember how Althea could mix antidotes from plants she had obviously just encountered. With this skill, she didn''t have to touch and smell those plants just to check them. This was what relieved her the most. "I reckon learning and doing things well here will let us permanently learn new skills." Sheila couldn''t help but cross her arms. "Should I eat that?" She pointed at the hallucinogenic flower, and made a rare joke, implying getting poisoned would gain her skills. Althea rolled her eyes. "You can try." Sheila giggled. Anyway, Althea was very, very, excited to use her abilities. Sadly, she could only use the appraisal skill not too many times due to the mana consumption. She wondered if it recovered as quickly as the Spirit. Thinking of this, she checked how many times she could use a skill. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 3 (1990/5000) Life: 390/500 Spirit: 400/500 (-5%) Physical: 80 (-5%) Agility: 77 (-20%) Defense: 64 + 12 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Looking at her now-useful Mana stat, she couldn''t help but feel it was really lacking. This meant that she could only use it 30 times at a time. Next, she would need to figure out the speed of recovery, but it probably wouldn''t be as fast as she would like, considering her usual pace of study. She went to a different area from yesterday and used the skill, determined to use it at least five times. Squatting down, she looked at a seed-like plant that had succulent leaves that reminded her of aloe vera. It was similarly chubby and glossy, only the shape and color was a bit different. She wanted to slice it to check if it also had that gel inside, but she didn''t dare touch anything anymore, even if she had gloves. She immediately spent 10 Mana to use her new skill. There was nothing special, no special effects or anything. A text simply appeared above the plant. There was not even a ding! sound. Although, in the long run, if people had more skills, continuous dings in their head would''ve been distracting. Returning to the item at hand, Althea proceeded on reading the texts, which was written in Terran lingua franca. [Guigorgon (Lv2): Main ingredient for hemostatic potions, partial ingredient for insect repellent.] Her eyes brightened. What a good plant! She quickly tested it with Tori and confirmed that it had bioactive compounds like tannins. As for its other known function, judging by the results from Tori, it didn''t seem to have insect repellent quality on its own, so it was probably used as a binder or something. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And finally, as something with bioactive compounds, this should also be very good with food. As for the taste¡­, she couldn''t tell yet. She took note to experiment on this. Speaking of which, she decided to study more about cooking so she can have a more intuitive understanding of the everyday use of these plants. More importantly, she had vowed to make food for her husband when they reunite. Oh, and also for her brother. She turned to her next plant: a tall coniferous tree with fruit similar to pine, only it was round and colorful. [Waul Tree (Lv3): Fruits used as toys by children.] It was a bit boring, but she believed every plant was good. First, she tested the fruit with Tori. It was hard and could indeed be used as ball toys by children. She scraped a bit of its shell and saw the chemical composition, with some unfamiliar combinations appearing. As such, she took out her tablet and made a short search in her knowledge database. This fruit, although very different in appearance, apparently had a 60% likeness to pine cones. From what she knew, pine could be used as oil, albeit only essential oils. Other uses of pine cone had to do with byproducts of advanced processing that couldn''t be done with her current conditions. However her search let her find something important: Pine cones could make resin acids. Resin acids = Rosins! Probably! After checking that this Waul fruit could indeed make rosins, albeit with a higher concentration requirement, she almost jumped up in joy. Rosins could be used for soap! It also had other uses, obviously, but she didn''t care for those at the moment, just taking note that this can be used to obtain rosin. Only the universe knew how sticky she was feeling right now. Not to mention the damned pregnancy fluids making everything worse! Next, she put her attention to the wood. She used a knife to take a bit of skin and viscous liquid seeped through. She made sure to wear gloves this time, took a sniff, and studied its consistency. "This tree sap is very familiar." She mumbled as she placed a sample in her lab. It took a few seconds more than usual, and her beautiful emerald eyes stayed on the results. A natural polymer. Specifically, a polymer that could make rubber. This thing had elastomeric polymers, a high concentration of it. She took out a bottle with little water left and drank all its remaining content. She wounded the tree and used one of its hard leaves to funnel the sap to the bottle. Her eyes shone as she watched the viscous fluid enter the bottle, drop by drop. All her cells were excited at the discoveries. How long had it been and she already got a rubber-like substance in this strange new world? Oh, how fun! Chapter 36 Obsessed As Althea stared at the process with a little obsession, she also mused about the other uses of the compound. This sap could also be used as adhesives. As for what type, she still needed to do some experiments. As for the wood.. rubber wood, she read, was very good as furniture. But it had to be treated with harsh conditions which was not something that could be done with her current conditions. As she took a look at her notebook filled with notes, she felt the purest sense of accomplishment. She continued to peruse through her tablet for more information, though at the back of her mind she really missed reading paperback books, soon finding out a bit more information about the items. She closed the tablet and placed it back to the space. At this point, she could basically confirm that, if a higher level appraisal skill would just be able to give information on higher level plants, the appraisal would only show all ''known'' uses. That was to say, the display might not contain everything. She didn''t know the technological advancement of this place, but her methods should still be able to harvest more knowledge than the existing conventional methods here. What would happen when she found out more about plants than the people of this world? What if she discovered more uses that they did? How curious. At this point, she could care less about monsters or leveling up. She just wanted to study as many plants as she could, like the Beautiful Mad Scientist she was often called behind her back. She had already forgotten she had a territory to build. "I want to settle here for today. It seems safe here. Let''s rest for a while. You go do your own thing." She said, very quickly, leaving no room for discussion. Sheila and Fufi: "..." Anyway, even if they left, she would really not notice. Sheila sighed and just took out some food and outdoor equipment to start cooking a basic meal. This had nothing to do with Althea, who was once again perusing around to see what plants she could test. She then found another one of those sour fruits. She hesitated to use her precious mana on something so unpalatable, but curiosity got the better of her in the end. [Sour Pur (Lv1): Relieves hunger, main ingredient for coloring, condiment] Althea''s eyebrows rose. Condiment? Like, vinegar? Hey, if she was a cook she''d have thought of this sooner. She took out a few more and placed them in the space with the others. She looked at the other berry adjacent. If she had more space, she''d definitely collect boxes of these. [Yu Berry (Lv3): can be eaten raw, ingredient for Gogu medicine, ingredient for gourdsoup, ingredient for South crossfish cuisine] She nodded. As an aspiring chef (well, eventually) she took a few handfuls of this fruit and also placed them in the space. Stepping back, she took a look around and wondered if there were particularly interesting-looking plants. It didn''t take long for her to see a very colorful tree with its leaves either pink or purple. The leaves were plump and pretty, as if you could eat them raw. She gently looked at the plant and used her skill. [Louj (Lv4): with poisonous tree bark and fruit. An ingredient for the Herren Poison.] "..." Ah, almost got poisoned again. She took note of this damned scammer and didn''t dare bring it to space. She also called the other two to where she was. Sheila was still holding her wooden soup ladle, and Fufi was eating something. "This thing is poisonous, don''t be stupid and fall victim to its deceptive appearance." "I''m not." She said with the tone of ''I''m not like you''. "Woof!" Fufi barked, making some of the stuff he was chewing disgustingly fly to her legs. "What are you eating?" Althea looked at the dog guardedly. Sheila smiled. "He tried out my cooking. He said it''s delicious." (Do you think everyone is like you? She thought.) Althea had no idea what was going on in the other girl''s head. Instead, she was interested in finally ingesting decent food. "Oh?" Now that they mentioned food, she finally felt a little hungry. She patted her stomach in guilt. She was starting to feel like a bad mother¡­ (If Sheila were to know what she was thinking, she''d agree very strongly.) Althea looked at the dense soup in front of her and gulped, blowing it a bit to let it cool down, before finally eating it. Sheila was not a very good cook either. Fortunately, it wasn''t so bad that the ingredients were turned to waste. "This isn''t bad." Althea said, and Sheila blushed at her rare compliment. "Thanks." Sheila said, clearing her throat. "But I had to use quite a bit of condiments¡­" Although she didn''t cool much, she knew most people wouldn''t use half of what she had. "Oh?" "I''m afraid the remaining won''t last another week or two¡­" Sheila felt a bit guilty. There was no way, the food she made didn''t taste anything without the condiments¡­ Althea blinked and remembered the new plants she had been studying. "No worries, we''ll figure something out." Sheila nodded, relieved, and picked up her bowl again. Althea smiled and also continued with her consumption. They entered a companionable silence, appreciating the food. As such, the trio would happily have their ample meal, especially compared to their peers who were, at the moment, still running for their lives. . . . However, Althea only got a few mouthfuls when she started hearing the familiar ominous rustles of leaves followed by low spine-chilling growls. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The two girls'' eyes met and they immediately packed up, placing their tools back to the safety of their space. They took out their weapons, preparing for a fight. And Althea belatedly realized¡ªthanks to her dampened sense of smell, a temporary side effect of the poison from before¡ªthat the food they were eating probably smelled. The whiff of scent likely attracted nearby mobs to their direction. As strange beast heads slowly began appearing amongst the shrubs and the trees, Althea bitterly tightened her hold at her katana. Tsk. She couldn''t even eat in peace. It was also only at this time she remembered she had a territory to build. Chapter 37 New Skills The trio stood back-to-back, defensive, eyes looking guardedly at the new creatures that appeared. It wasn''t a single group this time. One group was composed of about 7 animals, they were as huge as a bear but with the head of a long-nosed lion. The other group was even larger in number, about 15 or so, and they looked like green giant rats with short tails. "I didn''t know your cooking would be so popular with the monsters." Althea mumbled and Sheila gulped in nervousness. "I¡­ I really didn''t mean to¡­" In fact, they''d gladly share the food if it meant they didn''t have to fight. Sheila would even feel a little like a princess who befriended animals, momentarily dreaming of taming animals with her food. It was just that the monsters here seemed to be bloodthirsty by nature and even if they were attracted by the soup, their eyes filled with aggressiveness and hunger were directed at them. Also, her soup really wasn''t anything special. Althea took out her gun and, as before, didn''t give Sheila one. After all, the resource was finite and she didn''t want to waste a bullet. Besides, when the bullets were gone and could not be reproduced, learning this skill would be useless. She took out her katana, placing it parallel to her gun. After the first near-death experience, she wasn''t naive enough to think no monster would be able to get close to her even if she was holding the gun. In any case, the moment an aggressive monster took a step forward, she would aim and shoot. Without further ado, several monsters sprinted towards them at the same time and Althea no longer hesitated to defend herself. Bang! Bang! In the few seconds that followed, she took down three. They were very quick, even with her improved aim, she still wasted twice the number of bullets. [Killed Gnomos (Lv2): +50 copper, +50 experience] [Killed Gnomos (Lv1):+30 copper, +30 experience] [Killed Stormdoer (Lv1):+30 copper, +30 experience] Especially that level two, which took 3 shots straight in the eyes before finally dying. Using the katana already out, she quickly defended herself to monsters she missed, slashing with relative skill. Althea charged forward a few steps and she quickly parried the sword to an apparent weak spot of its large mouth. [Killed Gnomos (Lv1):+30 copper, +30 experience] "Kya!" She turned to see Sheila barely avoiding an attack, and she quickly shot its leg. At this point, Sheila was already full of wounds, and so was Fufi. Going through the motions, she also assisted Fufi by hitting a few legs by the way. From her peripheral vision, she could see Fufi darting skilfully between the trees, using its smaller size to his advantage. She signaled for the two to move to a denser area. They turned to avoid another attack, using the tree to guard their backs. Her sharp eyes caught an opening and aimed her gun for another shot. [Killed Stormdoer (Lv1):+30 copper, +30 experience] She didn''t get a chance for a breather as another monster, much quicker than most, lunged at her. She managed to avoid its killing move, but it nicked her arm. Her eyes twitched but she didn''t let it hinder her movements. She slashed her katana at the monster with precise swings, aiming at its vulnerable spots. But it was strong, its movements were wild and unpredictable. The katana managed to nick it, and it let out a growl. The wounded monster retaliated, slashing at Althea with its razor-sharp claws. This was obviously level 3 monster, but still a bit faster than the ones they first encountered. Coupled with the quantity of monsters around and their swiftly draining spirits, she had a lot more trouble with this one. Fortunately, she eventually got used to its attack and pacing, managing to injure it more and more with precise cuts. The moment it slowed down she took out her gun, aimed, and shot. Bang! It let out a guttural cry, before finally dropping dead. [Killed Stormdoer (Lv3): +70 copper, +70 experience] [Congratulations for upgrading to Level 4] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 4 (30/10000) Life: 590/700 Spirit: 610/700 (-5%) Physical: 105 (-5%) Agility: 107 (-20%) Defense: 74 Mana: 500 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Similarly, the other two also leveled up at some point so their Life and Spirit have all been increased. Not maxed, but it was enough for them not to be so weak that the others had to drag them. The fighting seemed to have gotten wilder and wilder the moment she leveled up and, as the person who gathered most aggro, she was surrounded. She skillfully waved her katana as she shot those who happened to be in the path of the bullet. More than a few times she also had to take extra shots to save the lives of her companions. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This went on for half an hour until she heard a familiar ding in her brain. [Successfully gained a skill: Perfect Aim] [Perfect Aim (D) Level 1: 100% hit rate for targets less than 10 meters, lasts 10 minutes. Consumption: 10 mana] [Successfully gained a skill: Quick Shot] [Quick Shot (D) Level 1: Increase the frequency of shots by two times for 1 minute. Consumption: 5 Mana] It seemed that other than skill grades, there were also levels. It would be great if someone were to explain, sadly the system didn''t come with an FAQ program. In any case, she found that the number was no longer increasing. She continued to give assistance to the other two, who were already full of wounds. She had no choice but to ignore the pregnancy symptoms that were starting to surface. After about an hour, the monsters finally stopped coming, and Althea immediately found a rock to rest. She watched as the other two dealt with the remaining level one monsters, just wanting to increase her spirit to stop the pain. "I got a skill!!" Sheila squealed as she hit the last monster. As she said this, she jumped in glee, but her legs were unexpectedly weak and she fell down with a flop. Althea, whose spirit only rose a few points, flinched at the sound. She quickly aimed the gun at the monsters nearby and killed them, finally leaving the two the time to rest. "H-Hey!" She quickly checked her wounds and although they were not shallow they weren''t enough to kill a level 2. "Spirit¡­ only 9 left¡­" The nurse said, whispering, her face draining color even faster when she was getting attacked by monsters. She quickly took out chocolate bars to feed Sheila. She didn''t know if it worked but seeing the girl kept chewing she knew it wasn''t useless. Althea''s heart dropped when she saw it only slowed down the loss of blood. Brain running at lightspeed, Althea then took out Tori and 2 herbs she found: Guigorgon and Yu Berry to create a mix that had a hemostatic and energizing effect. She added a bit of sour fruit to stimulate the reactions, hopefully, to increase efficacy. She paused with a thought and added a familiar herb known as Googleberry from Terran, which was known for its binding effects, since she couldn''t find a local plant that would fit the role. [Created New Concoction! Please name] "Bandade" [Bandade, confirmed] [Congratulations for contributing to World Knowledge. +Gift Pack (C)] Althea was a bit surprised, but she put this aside for now, staring at Sheila. She made her eat the concoction and also applied it externally. This was something that would heal the Life status, but spirit also had to do with Life. How could you feel energetic when you''re bleeding to death? So while she had yet to figure out how to quickly restore Spirit, healing through Life felt like a decent alternative for now. It took about half an hour before Sheila opened her eyes. The first person she saw was Althea and tears couldn''t help but fall as she hugged the other woman. "Woo¡­woo¡­. I thought I-I was gonna dieeee.." Althea held back her smile as she patted the nurse''s shaking back. "You know what they say, what doesn''t kill you makes you stronger. Look at your strength now, could the ''you'' two days ago imagine it?" Sheila sniffed and shook her head. She really couldn''t. Seeing that the girl had stopped sobbing, Althea smiled. "So tell me about your new skill." Sheila smiled proudly at this. [Slash (E): Adds 1% power to an attack. Cost: 3 Mana] "This is a good skill." Althea said, and the other girl nodded in agreement. "Eventually I will be able to fight beside you without you having to look back." Sheila said, determined not to hold Althea back. Althea smiled, and her dimples showed. It was so beautiful Sheila couldn''t help but stare in admiration. Althea shook her head at the state of her companion, simply patting the girl''s shoulder before struggling to get up on her own. "Well, I look forward to it." Chapter 38 Another Group of Survivors [183:34:56] After walking for hours, Althea, Sheila, and Fufi finally found another cave to rest. Even if moving was torturous, they had no choice but to change places. The cave they found was a small cave with an entrance just big enough for them to enter while leaning down. She opened her solar-powered flashlight to ensure there were no surprises before formally setting up camp. Sheila immediately set up their cooking tools and made a fire to cook another meal, but this time they covered the cave opening with mats. They also chose food with a mild smell to be safe. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fufi laid down next to the pot, while Althea sat down against the wall thinking of their way there. The system had actually given them a map for reference, but the only places available were places that the person himself had stepped on. She had taken note of the features she had seen from afar and made some calculations about their distances, placing digital notes on the map for recording. Along the way, she tried to look for signs of a decent water source, but she didn''t have much luck regarding it. A good territory should have a good stable water source, preferably one that could be used for other things like trade. However, any source of fresh water was acceptable to her. Her trance was interrupted some time later, when Sheila called for her. "The food is ready!" Sheila said, making sure the solar lamp was stable next to them as they ate. After finally getting to eat their fill, the trio took out their sleeping bags and prepared to sleep. Althea was thoughtful and placed some manual alarm system in front of the cave. The mouth of the cave was very narrow, and it was very easy to place one so that no one needed to stay up in vigil. It was actually not that dark yet, but they were used to the 24-hour-a-day cycle and they needed time to adjust. Not to mention they had fought so much, it was no wonder they felt heavy as lead. They slept so soundly that they barely even noticed it had started raining. They had starkly different conditions than the other people who came with them¡­ ____ Ansel and Tom shivered in the cold and in fear as they squeezed themselves in a hollow tree trunk. The two of them were in incredibly sorry states. Fortunately, the rain covered up their scents so that the monsters didn''t go after them. "What do you think happened to the others?" Tom asked with that demure voice of his. When they were teleported here, there were over thirty people in the vicinity. Unfortunately, so many people attracted a large group of monsters. Those monsters were really strong, the weakest ones were more difficult to deal with than a number of upgraded zombies attacking together. They didn''t even get a chance to adjust from the transport and they were quickly reduced by half. "Most of them are dead, probably." Ansel shrugged. But anyone who survived that long in the city would have some sort of skill. He still remembered among the ten people, two people were policemen, one was in a gang, and another was mysterious but he could tell he was pretty strong. He smelled like a soldier, probably a veteran. In the end, he was still more worried about a certain pregnant woman. A lot of things happened during his travel to Z city and he only made it to a few stations before he was teleported out. His eyes twitched when he recalled the huge amount of zombies and upgraded zombies that flowed in the train car when it stopped at those damned stations. However, seeing that Tom was with him the first time they transferred, although he was not sure how the survivors were distributed, it could mean that the distance between places could''ve been compressed. This meant that perhaps, Althea was closer to him than he originally thought. This made him feel energized that his spirit actually increased by a point. In contrast to Ansel''s relatively better mood, Tom was very depressed. He was clearly almost in his brother''s house, but there was no sign of him among the thirty people they transferred with. "What¡­ What is this place?" Tom asked, pale as a ghost. Not only was he shivering from being wet in the rain, the image of people being eaten alive was still fresh in his memory. It was horrifying. It was even worse than the horror movies his nieces forced him to watch. When they found out they were getting taken away from the world filled with zombies, he had a faint hope in his heart. At the time they naively thought: Would they finally escape the hell Terran had become? Would they finally find peace again? Who''d have known they would face bigger opponents, instead? "Was the protection period a lie?" He couldn''t help but voice out, still shivering from the cold. "Probably not." Ansel responded almost immediately. The system probably wouldn''t bother to lie about such a little thing. "It means that in their standard, this is indeed the protection period." Tom''s bushy face turned grimmer. "Such an environment...How many of us Terranians would be left in the end?" At this, Ansel didn''t have any answer. Terran was a peaceful planet. The period of wars had long passed and most people didn''t have access to brutality outside movies. Such people, how many will survive this world of strong-eat-weak? Tom felt like crying. The sight of his friends and family turning into zombies wasn''t enough, now he had to watch those few people who survived die in the mouths of weird monsters. They couldn''t even have the luxury to die in their homeland. Becoming a zombie would''ve been a better option for those people. Ansel was also a bit emotional, but he was more bothered by the fact that he was squeezed in this tree with a smelly man. He couldn''t help but push his face away in disgust. "Your damned beard is poking me." "Ah. Sorry." Ansel wanted to go out and fight monsters rather than stay in this awkward position. At least he''d get experience. He could feel his Spirit dwindling at the moment when he was not even fighting. Awkwardness abounded for a few hours until the rain finally ended. They both heaved out such a heavy sigh that it would look like they didn''t take a breath inside at all. They took out their weapons as they squeezed out of the tree. Ansel''s weapon was a bolo while Tom''s was an axe. They obtained cold weapons on the way to the station, they swept many of the weapons there. It was just that the previous attack destroyed most of their weapons and now they only had a handful left on-hand. They traveled to the direction where their previous companions ran to, soon encountering some monsters who attacked at the smell of them. Because they no longer had guns, it took them longer to take out the monsters. However, it was notable that they had become used to the speed and strength of the monsters and didn''t struggle as before. At worst, they would get nicked and get a few wounds, but their lives were intact, and that alone was something to appreciate. Back-to-back, the duo used their familiar dynamic from dealing with zombies to these new monsters. One-hit kills were no longer possible, but they could deal with them with a few attacks. "Distract it for me." Ansel said, and Tom nodded. Tom moved back a bit to have an alternative backing, swinging his axe around, trying to hit the monsters with his erratic movement. Using this, Ansel zoomed in on the monster''s weaknesses and used his weight to deal with fatal wounds on them. [Killed Lv1 Hui Mouse: +30 Copper, +30 Experience] For those who didn''t die immediately, he simply repeated the actions, yelling as he put all his strength in each attack. [Killed Lv1 Hui Mouse: +30 Copper, +30 Experience] [Killed Lv1 Hui Mouse: +30 Copper, +30 Experience] He heard an ugly squeak next to him and saw Tom managed to kill one and injure another. Seeing that he was struggling, Ansel immediately came to help. [Killed Lv1 Hui Mouse: +30 Copper, +30 Experience] They continued to encounter monsters for hours afterwards. Fortunately, they did not come in droves and could be handled by the two of them. However, the quantity was still there and they had a harder time as time went on. They could almost feel their spirits dwindling at a palpable rate. However, all was not lost, because after about half an hour, as Ansel finished off a a monster, the familiar ding sounded in his ears. [Congratulations on upgrading to Level 3!] Thank you! Ansel almost prayed to the skies. His Life and Spirit had already reached the very ominous less than 10%! He was almost dead! [Learned! Stab (E) : Adds 1% power to an attack. Cost: 2 Mana] . . Hmn? Skill? Ansel gaped at the unfamiliar new notification. His heavy heart lit up by something. Although it didn''t look as cool as he would''ve liked his skills ought to look like, it didn''t matter. This meant that even if the opponents were strong, they would also be given more chances to get even stronger. They wouldn''t be so hopeless, after all! Chapter 39 The First Territory [STATS: Name: Ansel Witt Age: 23 Level: 3 (30/5000) Life: 265/500 Spirit: 225/500 Physical: 72 Agility: 65 Defense: 47 +1 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: S Mental potential: A+ Skills: Active: Stab (E) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Fire Titles: None Overall rank: A Current Status: Normal ] He looked at his stats in satisfaction. Something beautiful was finally listed. Although leveling up didn''t fill up the stats to the brim, thevalues added during the progression were added. It was more than enough. Soon, Tom also reached level 3, and eventually dealing with the monsters became a bit lighter. He also got a skill, with very similar specs to his own. [Slash (E) : Adds 1% power to an attack. Cost: 2 Mana] Now they were finally being given a way to survive, which was somewhat of a relief. The two continued on their way, fighting an occasional mob, following the traces human beings made. Although these traces were a bit gruesome¡ªmostly blood¡ªthey were traces nevertheless. Things went relatively smoothly until they saw an arm appearing to reach out to them from behind the bushes. Tom flinched in surprise and was quick to give a helping hand. He used a good part of his strength to pull up the person¡­ Only he lost balance as he pulled, almost falling to his back. Thankfully he had good reflexes, and his eyes focused on the arm he pulled, wondering if he used too much force and how come the person was so light. But his eyes followed the hand to the arm and further up¡ª "Ahhh!" He yelled, letting go of the arm. Because¡­ it was really just an arm. Ansel got goosebumps while Tom paled, as if he had lost all blood on his face. From his peripheral vision, Ansel saw Tom gag in his direction. The big man almost barfed at him. Jerk. Ansel looked at the older man in disgust. "It''s like you didn''t see zombie heads flying around¡ª" "That''s different!" Tom argued. After all, the people he knew who died turned into zombies. Because he knew them, he knew clearly that the bodies were no longer ''them''. After a short time, Tom had understood the fact that zombies were no longer humans. More than anything, killing them was liberation to his friends and family. Joking aside, Ansel''s guard went up several notches at the sight of the severed arm. It didn''t take long for them to see more and more body parts, likely from different people. There was even a small foot, clearly belonging to a small child. The two silently continued to walk until they finally saw the huge body of a monster. But its attention was on the body it was mauling. The poor person was a woman. Or, it was. Not counting the severed arms, half-bitten face, and overflowing innards. Looking closer they realized that it was an acquaintance; it was one of the people who teleported with them. This time Tom really puked. Fortunately, it was in the bushes. The smell seemed to have alerted the monster and it turned its ugly head in their direction. Growling, it quickly sprinted and opened its mouth to eat the fresh meat. [Used Stab (D), -2 Mana!] [Used Stab (D), -2 Mana!] [Used Stab (D), -2 Mana!] [Killed Sabermouth (Lv1): +30 Experience, +30 copper] Tom was pulled to the present when he saw the body of the monster fall in front of him. He realized his gaffe and quickly wiped his mouth with his shirt before apologizing. "...sorry." Ansel ignored him and walked closer to the dismembered woman. "Help her out." He said, asking Tom to do the dirty work. He called it ''training''. They quickly buried the body next to where she was found and added a stick to mark her grave, placing the bracelet on the separated arm on top. They bowed a little, giving the respect they could give to someone they hadn''t even talked to, but a fellowman nevertheless. They continued to walk forward, heading to where the woman was headed, hoping to meet up with other survivors. Eventually, they heard the familiar sound of a scuffle and roars. They walked over to see the familiar movement of using the empty gun as a hammer. Ansel couldn''t help but give Tom a sideways look. Tom only had a questioning look on his face in response. It was the two policemen and a little girl, who they knew was the daughter of the older policeman. Obviously, like them, the bullets have already run out. The two policemen were already full of wounds and drenched in blood and sweat. The little girl was only a bit better, but it was obvious that she had been protected very well. Tom and Ansel looked at each other for a moment, nodding, knowing what to do next without speaking. The two of them ran out to help and dealt with the remaining monsters. "Thank you!" the younger one said. He was called Artie, and he had just entered the force a month prior. "You really saved us. My Life is less than 20% now¡­" "No problem. We''re brothers after all!" Tom said, friendly as always. The older policeman, Bruce, also nodded in gratitude before kneeling down to comfort his daughter. Artie smiled and looked at the gun in his hand. "Such a pity." They do have a few batons stocked, but that was it. Not to mention these guns protected their lives and let them come so far. "You can sell it to the system as special metal. It''s not much but it''s something." Ansel said. They were surprised this could be done. "Just take it out and put it in the space again, but with the will to sell. He watched as the two men followed instructions, and they looked at him in gratitude again. "Thanks." "It''s getting really dark." They didn''t have any lighting apparatus other than their phones. Who knew what monsters were like at this time? The man looked at his shivering daughter in heartbreak. "We need to find a safe haven." He said, feeling heavy and incredibly sorry for his poor daughter. Everyone agreed, albeit it was mostly pity for their own skins. The group then continued their way, hoping to find a trekking path to follow. Although they didn''t actually find one, they did see¡­ a stone fence? Everyone looked at each other with bright eyes and followed the fence. After several minutes of running, panting heavily, they eventually reached the gate. [You have entered the territory of Bright Village. Please pay entry fees within fifteen minutes. [10 copper coins for daily visitor pass, 500 copper for temporary residence (valid for 1 month), and 10 gold for permanent residency.] "Bright Village?" "A safe haven!" Their eyes were bright as they entered, meeting the eyes of the imposing guards. The guards only nodded at them and focused on the task at hand, ignoring them. Ansel couldn''t help but take a second look at the men. They had an ominous aura around them; it was obvious they had seen a lot of blood, likely even before the disaster happened. Their arrival seemed to have alarmed the people inside. Walking a bit deeper, they soon encountered more people. The group of people in proud postures went to greet them. A fat one with a greasy face stepped forward. "Welcome to our Bright Territory. My name is Ghoo, and this is the Lord of this area, Sir Micheal." He said and stared at them, and frowned when they only greeted with a polite nod. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was as if he was expecting them to prostrate themselves. They naturally did not, and it turned the fat guy''s face darker. "You¨C" "It''s fine." It was a young man in his late twenties. He had a clean inviolable aura around him that made people let down their guards. "My name is Micheal Berti." He said, "I am the Lord of this territory." Lord? Someone actually owned a territory? How?? Despite the many questions in their heads, the group of them nodded out of politeness. The policemen even looked awed, and the young man smiled in response. "I am one of the few people who luckily received something called a Lord Token, that allows us to build our own territory." He said, calmly introducing his situation to them. Although Ansel had a little dislike towards the guy, he had to laud him for being patient enough to explain, considering his ''status''. "I am also the first Terran to create his own territory. I received rewards that would definitely let us be in an advantageous position." Ansel''s eyebrows rose in interest. First, there would be safe havens that could be created by Terrans, and now there seemed to be a reward system? On the other hand, the policemen were more vocal in their interest. "What reward? If you can tell, of course." Micheal smiled. "No problem. I was awarded level 2 fences which will definitely be difficult to obtain normally." The group looked at each other in relief. This was indeed good. After all, this man saved up huge amounts of gold which could be used to improve the lives of those inside. The two policemen looked at each other with a smile. Ansel looked at the man, "Can you tell the conditions of becoming Lord?" Ansel asked, casually. He just treated him his age. Ansel really didn''t like him much; he could feel what a fake smile looked like when he saw one. The question earned him a few guarded stares from the guy''s cronies, but Micheal didn''t seem to have taken any offense. "A lot of gold." He just said vaguely. Ansel whistled. "You must be rich then," he said, crossing his arms. Ghoo looked absolutely offended at his casualness. "How come I never heard of you before?" "I lived in the Western continent, but some business transaction brought me to Aberdeen city." Ansel flinched. "What?" Michael''s eyes sharpened a little and repeated what he said. Ansel''s devil-may-care attitude took a 180-degree turn as he faced the man, ready to bombard him with questions. Soon he found out that this lord, along with a lot of his people, were in Aberdeen City before the disaster. Aberdeen city was hundreds of kilometers away from where he was when the Migration happened. That meant¡­ could Althea be here? Chapter 40 Directions [176:54:26] Inside a damp cave, a beautiful woman stirred from her slumber, her tousled hair cascaded to the stone floor. Althea woke up from a satisfying sleep, stretching her whole body to shake away the lethargy. She habitually placed her hand on her stomach. "Good morning, babies." She said with a gentle smile. She felt light bumps on her palm, as if the children were greeting her in response. She laughed beautifully, her eyes were warm as she tenderly patted her stomach. Too bad no one could see the beautiful view. She looked at the area around her and saw that everyone else had already gotten up. Seeing that she was alone, Althea decided to chat with her children, like she always did before all hell broke lose. She talked about the plans she had for the day, as if they could contribute to her excursions. "My babies, yesterday was a bit haggard right?" "You must have been shaken a lot, right? Thank you for not trying to get out of mommy''s tummy¡­" She could hear the slight echo of her voice within the cave. "Mommy is determined to build you a good home, so next mommy will definitely find a good place to set up camp, so you must wait until then, okay?" Her adoptive mother told her that it was good for the development of children for a parent to chat with them as early as the gestation period. More than making them more receptive of the language after being born, she was aiming for the supposed sense of comfort the act could give the babies. The world they would be born in was a strange and dangerous place; she wanted them to feel some sort of familiarity beforehand. Too bad they still couldn''t hear their father''s voice. He had a velvety deep voice the children would''ve loved. Sigh. Anyway, she continued to chat with her children for a couple more minutes, looking at her surroundings. Now that it was daylight without monsters running after them, Althea couldn''t help but appreciate the stone walls that temporarily shielded them. The cave was cleaner than what she''d expect, probably because there were no bats. There were only some stalactites, molding walls, and a small puddle of water somewhere. Because of this, the cave was a little humid, but the temperature was not bad, so it wasn''t too uncomfortable. Eventually, she stood up and walked near the mouth of the cave where everyone was at. At this time, the sky had already risen and the light seeped through their makeshift vine curtain. Sheila was preparing food and Fufi dutifully drooling after every movement, tail doing a twirling motion to show his excitement. She shook her head in amusement and, after checking up on the two, leisurely walked out of the cave. She was greeted by the beautiful and quaint view of the forest. When there were no monsters, the forest seemed to be very different. There was a hushed tranquility in the combination of the earthy scent of the soil and sight of the shafts of golden sunlight filtering through the lush foliage. Very relaxing. It reminded her of why she often camped out back in Terran. Of course, it wouldn''t be the same here. After all, here, there were monsters everywhere. As she appreciated her surroundings, and wondered if she could maintain this peace, and what she had to do. No matter which direction of thought, she knew a territory was the best bet for this. She reminded herself to prioritize this task. The plants weren''t going anywhere, but her Lord Token had an expiration date. Before going anywhere, she took the time to study her status. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 4 (730/10000) Life: 350/700 Spirit: 320/700 (-5%) Physical: 105 (-5%) Agility: 107 (-20%) Defense: 74 Mana: 500 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] She looked at the time and had a rough idea about the daytime and nighttime cycles. They had 14 hours of daylight and 14 hours at night. She took out her solar chargers to fill the battery and charged her phone and flashlights. They got lucky last night and had a resting place when it got dark. It wouldn''t necessarily be the case next time. In any case, a territory should be able to fix this. Obviously, it would be one of those safe zones. However, she did not want to be perfunctory in choosing a location. After all, she had no idea what the token could do and entail. She must find a good spot as soon as possible. To save time, she tied the solar panels on her backpack so she could charge while she explored. After eating breakfast, she told Sheila of her plans to explore. "I''m going to check out the forest a bit. Stay here." "What?!" Sheila exclaimed, staring at her big stomach. Studying plants not too far from them is fine, but exploring so far? "No, this won''t do. I''m coming with you." Althea rolled her eyes. "You''ll only slow me down." "..." Then, seeing her decisiveness, Sheila had no choice but to sigh. "Fine, but please take Fufi with you. I''ll stay here, I won''t be in danger." Althea nodded and headed outside, with Fufi close by. After studying the terrain, Althea more or less had an idea of her route. She climbed up the top of the cave to a higher altitude, and then chose the highest tree to climb. She looked up on the group of coniferous trees with snowflake-shaped leaves and held back the urge to study it. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Well, no, she decided to check it out. [Snow Pine: Source of wood] Although the description was boring, she had a feeling there should be more to this than obvious. After taking several handfuls to her space, she resumed her previous activity, willing herself to focus. With skill, she used the trunk of one tree to climb up the next one, until she got to the highest point, easily 20 meters above the ground. Fufi was having fun chasing after her on the ground, jumping over the extensive roots and shrubs. He also took care of mobs, which were mostly level one. Their quantity was small, so although it was a bit troublesome for him, he really could handle them by himself. It was a group of rat-like critters, but much uglier. They were attracted by Fufi''s careless and noisy passthrough of shrubs. There were about seven of them, about to attack at the same time. Afraid Fufi might get injured, Althea decided to help him out a bit. From the tree, she took aim to kill the leader and half of the cronies, and let Fufi deal with the rest. [Killed Hui Rat (Lv2): +50 experience, +50 copper] [Killed Hui Rat (Lv1): +30 experience, +30 copper] [Killed Hui Rat (Lv1): +30 experience, +30 copper] After dealing with the monsters, she didn''t encounter them anymore after that. After she expressly told Fufi to learn to move with ''a bit more stealth damnit'', she resumed traveling from tree to tree. She was called Little Monkey by her husband when they were children, developed by her love for fruits and leaves. Fortunately, she had yet to encounter a monster that lived or moved among the trees. For now, anyway. Now, with the added physical bonus of leveling up, she could now jump from branch to branch effortlessly even with her big stomach. Standing on the highest point she could access, she looked at the massive forests that surrounded them, and frowned at what she was seeing. It was basically trees as far as the horizon and she was a little discouraged. Should she really just build a territory here? She really didn''t want to. She needed to at least find a water source. If there was no lake or river as far as she could see, she should at least look for mountain springs. After all, in Terran, at least half of the planet''s freshwater came from the mountains. Taking out her telescope she carefully looked at the horizon. She could only get the small handy ones as the larger ones didn''t fit in her space. However, after perusing a bit she did see a mountain range. She took out an ancient compass she had in her space. She felt fortunate she passed by that camping shop, it contained all the offline necessities of camping. The technology had advanced quite a bit, most people didn''t use these anymore, so not every outdoors store sold these antiques. She remembered the cardinal directions by heart and did some estimates in the distance. A hundred kilometers was a conservative estimate, which would take them about a day or two of trekking. Now that she had a general direction in mind, she felt a bit more stable. She gestured to finally return to camp (before taking a couple more of the cute snowflake-shaped leaves, of course). But when she was just about to climb down, her peripheral vision caught sight of something interesting: Smoke. She observed for a while and confirmed its mass was consistent. This meant one thing: There were other survivors nearby. Chapter 41 Fellowmen "I got news." was the first thing she said as she re-entered the cave. Sheila stared, waiting for her to continue. "I found other survivors." Althea said, and Sheila''s eyes brightened immediately. "Really?" She asked. "There''s finally more people!" Then she realized her naivety, she cleared her throat and looked at the younger girl in embarrassment. "Are we.. going to see?" Althea smiled, glad that this white rabbit was finally growing up. "Yes." Of course, they would take a look first before making contact. Anyway, the smoke was in the way of the mountains, so she might as well check it out. "I''ll make sure not to be too friendly." Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea nodded. "And don''t be too showy of our supplies." Althea reminded her, and after a pause Sheila nodded in understanding. Indeed, it''s only been a day; everyone more or less still had supplies that could last a few days. Maybe it could last weeks if they managed to hoard enough. What about after? Althea probably worried that when the time came she''d be softhearted. But Sheila thought Althea worried too much. How could she possibly forget that woman that she tried to save, but pushed her to the mouth of the monster instead. One experience was enough, a second one would just be foolish. The trio then finished up eating and packed up. Althea looked at their backpacks and wondered what to do with them. Unfortunately, there was no space in the backpack-space anymore, so they could only carry the bags by hand, as usual. They also tried to arrange themselves, even with the blood in their clothes, before heading to see the other people. As they trekked, Althea noticed a relatively recurring plant. It was a few bunches of grass with somewhat upright tillers. It was dark brown, and its stems were diagonal. This was a common plant in this area, so she decided to keep some, some of them with roots, for future study. They followed the smoke and eventually heard some murmurs and sobs, and she was surprised to see more than twenty people huddled together in a small clearing of little more than 10 square meters and making do with a small fire in the middle. The people were also covered in blood and grime, although less than two of them fought in the middle of monsters for many hours, but the temperaments of the rest were weak and hopeless. They turned to her and they were startled. Some looked guardedly, some looked with a greedy leer, and some were apathetic¡ªas if they could no longer see anything but that small speck of fire. Althea took this all in. Then, a voice from the crowd sounded. She turned to see a familiar pair of father and daughter from the corner of the small crowd. "Miss!" "Sister!" Her eyebrows rose, realizing the people who called her were Harold and Maya. They were very dirty and bloody and haggard, but their limbs were complete and they looked at her like seeing a lost relative. Althea nodded with a smile, glad to see decent acquaintances. "Oh, it''s you." When someone recognized the newcomers, the guarded ones obviously loosened their guards, while a few people retained their greed. It could be because they were young women (and a walking dog meat), and it could also be because of the bags on their backs. After all, the fact that they had backpacks could mean their space was still full! But Althea noticed that there was still a stare in the crowd that had obvious hostility, although Althea couldn''t see who it was yet. She could determine that there were two of them. "I''m glad you''re fine, cool sister." Little Maya ran to her and gave her a hug, her head landing above her thighs, not minding the dry blood on her. "I am glad you''re fine as well." Althea gently patted the girl''s little head and then turned to her companions. "This is Sheila, I met her¡­ outside the villa area. Fufi also." Maya brightened at the sight of the dog. They lived in the same villa area, it wasn''t the first time she saw him. The two brats hit it off very easily. Watching the child and the dog talk and play, the adults smiled warmly. It took Harold several minutes to remember he was greeting someone. "Hello, Miss." Harold grinned as he approached her. The wrinkles on his face were made more prominent by his wide smile, genuinely glad to see an old friend. Indeed, although they only exchanged a few words, meeting fellowmen in this terrifying strange new land¡ªand seeing each other alive and well in this circumstance¡ªdid give her a feeling of reuniting with lost friends. She nodded and he looked around, wanting to chat, but was uncomfortable with chatting under all these stares. The group opted to relocate and chose to sit under a tree a few meters away. "Tell me what happened to you after coming here." She said, "And that group." "There are thirty or so people now. But when we arrived here, we came with over a hundred people." Harold told them, "We landed on a young forest with clearings. The view of the mountain was close and nice." "It was quite beautiful and we thought that we really escaped that hellhole filled with zombies." He paused, but there was sarcasm in his tone. "At the time, we really thought we were taken out of hell and were brought to a paradise." Althea and Sheila listened with interest, with the former more interested in this ''paradise-like'' land. "And why did you call it so?" "There were meadows and colorful flowers. The trees were many but not too dense. It looked peaceful at first sight, but¡ª "Some of those plants alone poisoned a handful of us within ten minutes of arrival." He said. Now Althea was even more interested. Not necessarily because of the poison flowers, but the description of the meadow and immature forests. Althea''s gorgeous emerald eyes sparkled in interest. Meadows, relatively loose foliage, and a mountain range close by¡­ She had an intuition. They were finally getting closer to their ''new home''! Chapter 42 Speechless "Where was this?" She asked. Although she had a rough direction, it was better to be accurate the first time. Harold blinked, curious as to why she was so interested, but just pointed in an approximate direction as requested. "It was near a mountain, we walked in the opposite direction of the mountain." After all, their common sense told them cities were generally built on flat lands not near the mountains with beasts. They relied on this modern ''common sense'' and hoped they could get to a town or a village at least. Indeed, she remembered after about a few dozen kilometers the forest was much younger than the one they were in now. It was one of the points that made her determine that direction to go to. When a forest was too old, there were more dangers, and also a lot more difficult to clear and make houses. It wasn''t that she hadn''t considered tree houses, but she was unclear about the climate here and other conditions. A stable house with foundation was still the best bet. "We were fine for a few hours of aimless walking¡­but suddenly we heard growls and a lot of them. We were reminded of zombie waves, and thought they were so." S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Some of us were ready to defend, while there were still a few who cowered in fear." Harold mumbled bitterly. "I don''t know how those people survived so long. "Unexpectedly, it wasn''t zombies¡ªbut much, much worse. They were monsters as big as us, sharp teeth, and quick movements. It was still a dozen of them." "A level 2 managed to kill one and said it was a level one monster called Hether Rabbit and a few caught some courage to fight harder." "We were all level one and there were over a hundred of us, even if one of these things was stronger than an upgraded zombie, we could in fact make up with numbers. "But who''d have thought a few bastards didn''t fight but only run." Harold said with gritted teeth. "I saw those cowards use someone as a shield, a few even pushed the people next to them to the mouths of monsters." "We cleared them in the end, and everyone who damaged the monsters got a bit of experience, but nearly half of us perished in that battle. Only two level 2s survived." Harold sniffed a little. It was obvious he had befriended some of those people that perished. "As we continued to travel we encountered more and more monsters, but¡­" Harold''s voice cracked. "How could we, a bunch of level ones, handle it?" "On the way most of us had lost much of the things in our space to distract the monsters. Not only were people terrified, they are now also hungry and thirsty. "A lot of us didn''t even have decent weapons anymore." He paused, looking at the direction of the hopeless crowd. Their eyes were dead; it was like they became zombies themselves. "People had lost hope." Shiela heaved a sigh of pity, while Althea stared at the crowd. Although there were obvious bad seeds, they were all Terrans after all. She couldn''t leave them defenseless. After a few thoughts, she turned her head to Harold. "Call a few able-bodied men and you come with me somewhere." "What?" A few exclamations from the crowd sounded. Obviously many people in the crowd were eavesdropping. "Where are you taking our men?!" "Don''t think you''re beautiful that our people will just follow you!!" A woman yelled and Althea realized it was the source of that hostile stare. Althea felt she was a little familiar. She just massaged her temple. "If you don''t want to get weapons that''s fine with me." Then she shrugged, as if she didn''t care anymore. It was Harold who came to smoothen the situation. "Please help us, miss!" He said, and a few other stared at her, hoping she changed her mind and helped them again. Most of the others looked at her with mixed emotions, while there were still a few who genuinely hoped she''d change her mind, and appeared thankful for the offer. Althea sighed in the end, letting things go just this once. Everyone was on edge, after all. She didn''t want to make the few good seeds suffer unnecessarily with the leeches. In line with this, she pointed her dainty hand in a direction. "I saw trees similar to bamboo on the way here. We can turn them into weapons." "Those who want to get some, must come with me and take one for themselves. As for the others, it''s up to you." And she walked to the direction, with Sheila, Fufi, and the Lees'' following closely behind. The atmosphere was stagnant for a moment, until a few men began walking over, and soon more followed. About a dozen men followed her in the end. The others, scared of being alone, came with them. Eventually, they reached the so-called bamboo forest. They indeed looked like bamboos, only they had bluish hued and had thorns on every segment of the Bamboo culms. "Don''t cut the culms to the roots so it can regrow." The men nodded and began choosing their own areas to harvest. However, before they could cut down a tree, a multitude of scuffles echoed around them. They could see the upright blue-bamboos shaking, followed by creepy squeaky noises that brought goosebumps to their skins. Instinctively, their own bodies shook in fear. Some even cried even before the monsters appeared. Glowing eyes appeared one by one and soon their bodies were revealed from the shadows of the grass. They were like bamboo rats, except uglier, with twice as many eyes, and were about ten times larger. The people looked in fear as the few bamboo rats increased to over a dozen, and then to a score. The creepy things saw them and immediately approached aggressively. The hostile woman pointed at Althea with malice, as she stepped back in fear. "It''s you! You brought us here to die!!!" At her signal, there were not a few who stared at her accusingly. Harold, Shiela, and even little Maya stepped in to stop them, but Althea raised her hand to keep them from making a move. Instead of responding, she just indifferently walked to meet the attacking rats. She gracefully waved her hand and a katana slowly appeared in her movement. With each swing, she took down one or two. It was both a beautiful and terrifying sight. [Killed Tanto Rat (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience] [Killed Tanto Rat (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience] [Killed Tanto Rat (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience] It took less than a minute to kill the dozens of rats that appeared. Silently, she took note that all the monsters in this area were level 1. Still a relatively weaker sort than the other level 1s she faced. However, none of this showed in her face. She only looked coldly at the then-accusing crowd that had now turned pale. Her deep eyes stared them down, her katana looked particularly sharp and bloody. "Anything else?" "..." Chapter 43 Hostile Aberdeen City, 3 years prior The sound of clashing blades echoed around the home dojo, and the scene of a couple fencing unfolded. Their footwork was precise, and movements calculated. From a spectator''s point of view, it was almost like they were dancing. The woman thrusted her weapon, and the man used his blade to deflect it. With a swift unpredictable movement, he changed the blade''s direction, pointing at the woman''s neck. "Tsk," she mumbled, stance softened as she drew down her weapon. "Good parry." He said, his cerulean eyes looking deeply at the frowning woman in front of him. "Is there something bothering you?" "Hmm¡­" she mumbled, lips pursed. However, instead of answering immediately, she lifted up her foil. Garan''s lips twitched with a smile and stepped back, similarly raising his blade. The story was definitely irksome, seeing that his fianc¨¦e wanted to stab someone just thinking about it. "There was this woman at work¡­" she mumbled. Althea had just started working, to gather experience before delving to business herself and work on her pet projects. "I refused to let her get credit for my work." "She wanted me to give way and let her use my work because she was older." She lunged forward, with quick and aggressive thrusts, while Garan had quick reactions, skillfully deflecting her strikes. He did a circular parry, followed by evasion techniques. "I refused and she made a scene. Something about young people being so disrespectful." She said, increasing her pace, which Garan deflected in turn. The clashing of their blades harmonizing with their dialogue, the two continued on with the current dynamic for several minutes. A flurry of attacking and defensive moves followed, and it ended up with a point on her stomach. She pouted and huffed in the end. Although it may look dissatisfied, Garan knew that this indicated that she was now in a more relaxed state after ''ranting''. "Just stick to what is fair and reasonable, and that is enough." Garan said, approaching her. He then took out a clean handkerchief and wiped the sweat dripping down her forehead. "Fencing is about precision and control. Much like the dilemmas we face, don''t we?" ____ Present. Althea cleanly killed the remaining rats, making it look so effortless that those who were watching started questioning whether the monsters were actually so weak. After all, a pregnant woman killed them so easily. Have they been running for their lives in vain? Althea could naturally see these questioning looks and answered their unspoken inquiries. "If you are brave enough, you can indeed deal with these weaklings. But¡­" She paused, "If you cannot even gather the courage, then you better end your life and save yourself some suffering." It was harsh and naturally a lot of people frowned, very much against her tone. Fortunately, there were some who were ashamed and inspired to change instead. Except, these people were the minority. Whatever they thought didn''t matter to Althea, and no one would dare speak against her at this time. So when she asked them to clean up the corpses and start harvesting their own bamboo, no one dared to complain. It was Harold who first went to her with two bamboos. She took out a machete from her space and cleanly shaped the bamboo into a spear. Seeing Harold unharmed from asking a favor from this pregnant god of death, the people started to hand over their bamboo to her for processing. As for why Althea didn''t let them just do it on their own, it was because she would rather not hand over her machete. Who knew if they''d return it easily? Not to mention, she was not planning on raising this ungrateful group of people. The fact that she was helping them defend themselves was human enough. She reckoned that if her husband wasn''t a righteous soldier, maybe she''d have ignored them altogether. As she created weapons for them, most of the people talked to her ingratiatingly, trying to make a good impression. Or, more accurately, trying to latch on to her. She turned a blind eye to this and instead took advantage to find out about their situation. After a while of inquiry, she found the conversations to be quite fruitful. For instance, the people here came from several cities, some hundreds of kilometers away¨Csomeone was even from Z City. Althea wondered how people were distributed and grouped together. However, this was a good thing. The chances of her meeting her brother would increase. As for her husband, wherever he was, she had a strange intuition that they too would meet eventually. "Here." She handed the bamboo weapon to the person, who was gently bumped aside by the next in line. The next person was a young man¡ªRonald, or Ron, for short he said¡ªwho stared at her obsessively. While a bit annoying, he didn''t have any malicious intent so she ignored this all-too-familiar type of stare. He sat down next to her and watched her work, chattering about his potential. He proudly told her his C potential, because almost everyone else only had D-level potential. From their group of people, he knew only three people had C potential, and one of them had already died. Obviously, he wanted her to see his value. Althea raised her beautiful eyebrows and gave Sheila a sideways glance. Hey, who''d have thought Sheila''s Class-B was actually way above average? ¡­ Then, after a few more weapons, finally came the woman who led the accusations. Sheila, who was watching closely and prepared to help Althea when asked, scoffed at the newcomer''s face. "You''re quite thick-skinned." Althea''s lips twitched, but she took the bamboo anyway. Anyway, as long as she didn''t attempt to kill her, she wouldn''t take the initiative to ''take care'' of the other party. The woman blushed in shame but just glared at her and to Althea as if they owed her a million. Althea stopped what she was doing, the sound of bamboo dropping startled everyone nearby. "I changed my mind. I''m too lazy to deal with this." She stood up and started walking away. "You! How could you do this?!" The woman screeched so loudly that it made the hairs on her body rise. Althea rubbed her temples."I don''t seem to have offended you? Who are you anyway?" "Who?" The woman seemed incredibly offended that she didn''t recognize her. "You¡ª" Althea sighed and just walked towards her party. The woman couldn''t take it and she tried to grab her arm. Althea moved to the side and let her fall on the ground. The woman raised her dust-covered head¡ªher teeth gap dripping with soil¡ªlooking incredibly unsightly, both in appearance and expression. She glared at her filled with malice, raising her arm to point. "She! She has a lot of supplies!" As if afraid people won''t believe her. "It''s true! I saw her going from house to house massacring the zombies!" It was at this moment that Althea finally realized who she was, making her eyebrows rise in surprise. It was one of the women next door, the one that kept screaming and gathering zombies to her house. She actually survived. She looked so disgruntled and different from her peacock persona that Althea really didn''t recognize her. "You!! I saw you jumping around from house to house! If you had come to mine I¡ª" I wouldn''t have had to push my mother! S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It wasn''t that she didn''t notice Althea''s technique of covering herself with zombie innards. It was just that she never mustered the courage to follow her lead. "I indeed have a lot of supplies." Althea just cut off her useless rant. "So what?" "We haven''t eaten for a day!" "So?" "As a human being, isn''t it just right to share your supplies?" She asked with a dignified tone. She looked at a few others and they, especially the few men she had been flirting with, who then nodded in agreement. "Those rats are edible. Cook them yourselves." "What?" The girl paled as she looked at the corpses. "You expect me to cook for you, too?" Althea sneered. "Are you my mom? Although you look old enough to be my mom, she''s not so ugly." "Youuu!!" Her screech hurt her ears and she took out her katana and pointed it on her neck, getting her so frightened that she lost her footing. "I will say this only once." She said, directing it to everyone. "I have no obligation to feed and protect you. I''m not a public servant and even if I am, I don''t have the obligation to feed you or use my own body to protect you. "Are you not ashamed to ask this from a pregnant woman? What are you, trash?" She paused, deep eyes looking at everyone and making them shiver. "Anyone who tries to use moral kidnapping on me again, I will cut off his head." This must be the longest sentence she had uttered since she teleported here. After a moment of silence, the people staggeringly moved toward the corpses to clean them up. Sheila took two, called Harold to also take two, and no one dared complain. Harold cleaned up the corpse and Sheila familiarly set up their portable stove. Maya went to help Sheila with the vegetables and Fufi, as always, watched while drooling. Althea watched as people handled their food and looked at their surroundings, walking around the vicinity to check for monsters. Will monsters come after their food again? But this time, she had a faint expectation. Chapter 44 Nannys Daughter As they ate, Althea noticed that the girl beside her was a little antsy. Sheila indeed couldn''t help but feel a bit uncomfortable, and she was looking around the bushes and behind the trees every 3 minutes. It got to the point where Althea had to point it out. "What is it?" Althea asked, and Sheila looked at her worriedly. She scooted over and whispered. "Won''t monsters get attracted again?" "Probably." she shrugged, making Sheila flinch. "EH?" Althea only smiled mysteriously. She had dared let them cook because¡­ she had a theory. She thought that, perhaps, the system put the weak ones together in large numbers and placed them in relatively safer places. That was to say she, who was at level 3 at the time, was thrown to that pair of level 3 monsters. The other woman must have been nearby in the same hotel and became an unfortunate cannon fodder. So¡­ Althea had a feeling that they wouldn''t be encountering level 3 monsters for a while. Even if the food attracted monsters, she''d just let them be whetstones for Sheila and the others. After a while, the delicious aroma of grilled food floated and people stared at Sheila''s direction. However, the group ignored them and they sat in a circle waiting for Althea to come and sit down. Sheila gave Althea and the others some disposable/degradable utensils they gathered before. They all started eating the moment Althea took a bite. The meat was chewy and flavorful. Not to mention the meat itself was delicious, but the combination of condiments was also very good. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea looked at Sheila, very impressed, since she remembered the monster meat they had so far was all hard and even a little tangy. Sheila just blushed embarrassedly and turned her head to Harold. "Harold cooked this time." "Oh? Very good." Althea smiled, remembering he was a rich man''s housekeeper. Maybe he did have some skills. "Can you teach the two of us?" "Of course, of course! Though I did use a solar-powered pressure cooker¡­" Harold said embarrassedly. The meat here was really hard to eat. The comment made Althea blink. Someone actually brought a pressure cooker? As expected of a true chef! Althea''s eyes shone in admiration making Harold''s old face blush, but he was also relieved. He had been wondering what to do for the two girls so they could take him and his daughter with them. He was very happy to be of use. It was pretty harmonious for a while until footsteps were heard. It was a tall, curvaceous, woman with a pretty face. Following closely were two men with stances similar to bodyguards. "Althea." She said with a gentle smile, eyes moist as if she was genuinely happy to see her. Althea knew these were thick-skinned people that expected to get food from them. Don''t look at the other woman being so friendly, but she was definitely the source of the other hostile stare. This one also looked a bit familiar. Although she had a good memory, unimportant faces still tended to blur after a while. "Who are you?" This one at least had the decency to not show offense on her face. "It''s me, Sandra." The woman said with a gentle tone. "I''m Theresa Jones'' daughter." She said, tentatively sitting down next to the pot. However, her eyes were all on Althea, gentle and looking like she was sincerely glad to see her. Althea looked at her with unknown emotions. Nanny''s daughter, eh? Didn''t she run away with her father, Nanny''s scum husband, a decade back? Ansel even had a lot of gossip about it. Apparently, Nanny''s scum husband cheated with a rich widowed woman. This daughter, who was only seventeen at the time, threatened to take her with him, or else she would go to the woman''s house and tell all his good deeds. Seeing her all graceful now without a hint of her uncouth origins, it was obvious that she worked very hard to change herself. Normally, Althea wouldn''t mind this. If she didn''t know Nanny, and didn''t know they weren''t really poor, Althea may even admire such a strong woman who knew what she wanted and did what she had to do to get it. It was just that¡ª "Normal people would ask how their mother is." "..." The woman paled, as if frightened. Even if she looked a bit less attractive than the peacock neighbor woman. She had a soft and gentle temperament, making the men want to protect her. These people would not imagine that she used to threaten her own father. The type that said ''bring me with you, or we die together''. It seemed that this woman had really learned a lot in the past ten years. If she didn''t know Nanny, she wouldn''t judge her too much. After all, her life could have been so miserable that she could only latch to whatever twig of hope she could get to. But Althea did know Nanny and she also knew their living conditions weren''t bad at all. Nanny''s salary was actually very good compared to her peers, and this girl could still afford to go to mid-level private schools. However, no one dared to tell Althea off. "How.. how is she?" "Dead." Sandra''s face looked heartbroken, softly sobbing as if she was holding back her tears. Althea sighed. She actually preferred dealing with the peacock woman than duplicitous women like this one. She could at least punch the former in the face. "So¡­ what are you doing here? I don''t remember us having a friendship. I recall you abandoned your mother for riches." The woman sobbed harder and her suitors finally couldn''t help but speak up. "That''s too much. She''s obviously just trying to talk to an old acquaintance." Sheila finally couldn''t take it anymore.. "Oh? Not after our food right?" Sandra was silent, her body freezing a bit. Althea saw this and sneered. "Well, we''ve caught up now. You can go now." Sandra was silent, looking at her with a pleading expression. "What? You don''t have your own hands to get your own food?" Sheila asked, really not wanting the pregnant Althea to deal with scum. Althea''s lips lifted a bit and couldn''t help but add, "Wanna ask for a pregnant woman''s rations?" She was getting quite fond of using her pregnancy to counter moral kidnappings. At this point, Sandra couldn''t muster face to stay anymore and she ran to another area with her suitor. Althea and her group ate happily, and no one else dared to place their face for slapping. Sandra bitterly looked at the relaxed group, well-manicured hands¡ªwhich now had traces of scratches and imperfections¡ªgripping the fabric of her skirt. She had always felt the world was unfair whenever she saw Althea. Obviously just an orphan, but was so beautiful, talented, and loved by everyone. While she¡ªshe had to try so hard and sacrificed so much to get a little love and comfort. Her eyes flashed a determined light. In Terran, she could not get ahead of her no matter what.. even if Althea was strong now, she was just a pregnant woman. More men were bound to be stronger than she was. She would find those men. Better: She would find a man even better than that perfect husband of hers!! She would step on her someday, Sandra told herself. Definitely! ____ Half an hour later, everyone had managed to eat, and they all stood up staring at each other, and then staring at Althea''s group, which were still lounging about. No one dared to talk to them. Silently taking in the task of asking, Sandra went to them again with a kind-but-frightened face as if she was mustering the courage to face monsters for the greater good. "Where are you heading to?" Sheila didn''t want this woman to taint Althea''s eyes. "Why should we tell you?" "The more people the greater the strength." Sheila looked at her up and down. "You?" The blunt humiliation stopped the others who had wanted to sell themselves as companions. Althea smiled in amusement. The little white rabbit really turned into a rabid one, though Althea thought it was just as cute. "I won''t tell you where I''m heading. We will move after you leave." Realizing that they really weren''t planning on telling them, the remaining level two¨Cnamed Spike¨Cinitiated a brainstorming session. A few smarter ones noticed the pattern. It was the young man with C potential that spoke up. "The farther we went to the starting point, the stronger the monsters we faced! I think it''s best to go back!" Althea very much agreed to it. They were relieved to be going the same direction. Of course Peacock-lady didn''t forget to mumble ''hypocrisy'' under her breath. Althea almost scoffed and just turned to Sheila and told her and Harold to walk far from the crowd, lest they get pushed to be meat shields when they get attacked. Peacock didn''t want to hear any of it. "Aren''t you going to use us to test if there are monsters?" Sheila sneered and lifted her sleeves as if ready to hit this woman. Althea, half-amused, grabbed her collar to keep her back. Sheila pouted and turned to her, meeting her beautiful green eyes that were as calm as the verdant forest. Unconsciously, Sheila''s aggressive stance softened and Althea finally let go of her hold. "We''ll go first then," Althea said and lifted Maya up. Nodding at Sheila, the other girl nodded in understanding. Sheila then patted Harold''s shoulder. "Keep up." "Hmn, what?" And the girls sprinted in a direction, and Harold was a second lagging in response. "E-Ei! Wait for me!!" He quickly ran after them, leaving a group of dumbfounded people behind. Chapter 45 Night Fight The crowd gaped in disbelief as Althea and the others disappeared from sight. "What!!" "Hey!!" "Are we running after them?" Sandra''s soft voice gritted in another girl''s ears. "Pff! Who needs them!" Peacock-woman, with the given name of Ramona, said using that high-pitched voice of hers that she believed to be cute. She then turned to look at Sandra condescendingly, "If we follow them won''t their heads float up the sky?!" At this time the suitors of the two only women in the group agreed, so half of the group voted not to follow. To further make their point, they decidedly chose a slightly different direction just to prove they weren''t following them on purpose. After several minutes, about a kilometer away, Althea stopped running and they waited for Harold to catch up. When he finally caught up with the girls, he gasped to take in oxygen. "Are we¡­ not running anymore?" "No, it''s fine now. If they catch up, it''s their ability." Besides, they probably wouldn''t follow for the sake of face. Now that they realized the pattern that monsters here were weaker and sparser, they should gain more confidence to deal with them by themselves. Althea didn''t want parasites in her team, anyway. She handed over some insect-repellant to Harold and Maya so they could go unbothered by these things like Sheila and them. Then she looked at Harold, looking at him all out of breath from that little sprint. "You should train more. You''re still level one?" Harold blushed in shame, but nodded anyway. He looked furtively at Sheila. It seemed even the meek (occasionally rabid) woman was already Level 2? Sheila felt somewhat guilty for inexplicably emasculating someone''s dad. "Don''t worry, I only got to level 2 so quickly because Althea assisted me in kills. I would have died a long time ago." Harold paused and looked at Althea with a bit of hope, then felt ashamed again for asking for help from a pregnant woman. He did not expect, however, that he would open the topic on her own. "If you teach us culinary arts well, I can help you and little Maya level up." "You will help us¡­?" Harold repeated, unsure if he had heard correctly. "Really?" Little Maya jumped up, her little head bobbling like those old wobbly heads placed in front of cars. "Me too?! I will also be a cool woman like my sister?!" Althea giggled. "Yes, Maya, you will also be strong." Sheila also found the little girl very cute and told her the story of how she met Althea and how she was trained. The little girl looked at the two women in admiration, cutely nodding her head from time to time. The peaceful atmosphere didn''t last long, however. Before any sound came out, Fufi and Althea suddenly adopted their defensive stances, looking in a single direction full of guard. She quickly took out her katana, and the others instinctively followed her lead. ''Grrrrrr'' Althea and the others soon heard rustle of leaves and low growls. It was as if they wanted to be their whetstone. The group placed their backs against each other, ready to fight anytime. Harold and Sheila, though shaking a bit due to nervousness, tried to push down their fears. Maya, on the other hand, was just excited. After all, in her mind, she was fighting to be as strong as cool sister. Soon, the growling echoed all around them, glowing eyes appearing like ominous light that lit up one by one. Both Althea and Sheila put on pinned lighting on their lapels for vision. Because of the two moons, fighting at night with this bit of lighting wasn''t a big problem for Althea, a particularly strong level 4. But a little lighting was still necessary for the others. With the additional lighting, the image of the enemy became clearer for everyone. ''Croak¨C'' ''Croak¨C'' ''Croak¨C'' They were blue frog-like creatures as tall as their waists and had weird skin filled with warts that would give people with trypophobia a nightmare. However, they weren''t actually as scary as they looked. With her ability, Althea detected that the monsters were all on level one. She relaxed her stance and decided to train the other three instead. For Maya, she cut a few legs to make it easier for her to kill. The rest were all verbal assistance. "Harold, you have to commit to an attack. You''re leaving yourself defenseless, even if it is just one moment. It''s enough to kill you." "Yes!" "Be careful of the pus! It''s definitely poisonous¡­" "A-ah, understood!" Harold said, shivering at the sight of the pus that landed a few inches from his feet. "Sheila, skills consume mana, try to hit two-in-one." She said, "You have to be able to get your timing correctly. "That cannot be rushed, just practice often." "Maya, strength comes from the diaphragm, not the arms¡ªyou''ll tire yourself out like that." "Focus more on agility than strength. Sharpen your observation skills and determine weaknesses." She said, directed to everyone. "We have limited life and spirit; Be more efficient." "Fufi, that''s disgusting. Don''t eat that." In any case, the trio went on with their killing sprees, getting the occassional life-saving assistance from Althea and from Fufi. [Killed Juju Toad (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Killed Juju Toad (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Killed Juju Toad (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] By the time the score of toads were killed, Maya was in the middle of level one and Harold had reached level 2. Fufi expressed it won''t be long until he was also halfway to level 3 though it would still take a while, since pets had twice the experience requirement to level up.. Harold would not have thought he''d level up so quickly and safely and he looked at Althea with deep gratitude. Teaching him to fight and letting him be stronger in its own right was akin to saving his life hundreds of times. He didn''t have any ability other than household chores, so he swore to do this very well to pay off their debts. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As the three rested, Althea looked down at her compass. It seemed they got a bit off course due to the fight. Because of this, they had no choice but to look for a decent place to camp. They eventually found a small clearing about a few hundred meters from where they were. They lit up the fire and Harold handled the cooking set-up. Harold also showed his value and was very detailed in teaching the three girls some know-how and basic knowledge about cooking. After eating, they put away the tools to relax. Althea put out a rattan basket they made a few hours prior and laid out a few fruits in their own containers. The trio looked curiously and one even wanted to try eating, hand was promptly slapped by Althea. "These are all edible plants I found." She brought over a dozen varieties. In fact, she noticed that after the initial discovery stage, she noticed the biodiversity wasn''t actually large. It was even a little worse than Terran, whose majority of species had already died out. She reckoned it had to do with the monsters and whatever environment this place had. This was bad news, actually, because this meant that the environment wasn''t very friendly. However, she didn''t dwell on it for now, simply because she was powerless to do so. Instead, she focused on things she could control. For example, her lifestyle. "I want to explore the formulation of condiments from local plants." She said, "These condiments we have won''t last a few months." "Most plants that are genetically similar to the ones on Terran are mostly trees. Most of the fruits, herbs, and others were new species to me." She put out multicolored plants and flowers, putting it out for the adults to taste. "Taste this." She said, "Tell me if you can think of a way to process them." As they took something each, she added to reassure them, "I''ve already tested all these. They are fine, even when eaten together." Harold tentatively ate the most attractive yellow fruit and froze. Maya was curious and also placed one in her mouth. The little girl''s face crumpled, almost fainted. "So sour!" Althea chuckled and just looked at Harold. "If we add something sweet with this, ferment it¡­ we can create vinegar and other derivatives." Althea smiled. "You really know a lot." Harold scratched his cheek embarrassedly. "I used to be a chef. I was hired by the master because he loved my food. Then time passed and I eventually got promoted." Althea then proceeded on telling them, especially Harold, of what she knew as well as which Terran plant had similar properties. Harold then told them some of the basic common processes of condiments, sauces, and spices. From this, they brainstormed and determined some foods to be made and experimented on. For example, some beans could be used to make an alternative to soy. There were also berries similar to what they knew, and there were dozens of ways to handle those. In half a day, they also determined some possible uses of some herbs. They wouldn''t be the same, of course, and they had a lot of trial and error to go through, but preliminary plans had been made. Of course, Althea could look at her tablet for this, but learning by example and practical experience was still the best. Through this, she could already have a preliminary plan regarding the production of these essential products. Of course, much of this would be for later. At the moment, they still had a home to build, before they could really think about filling up their non-existent kitchen. In any case, she thought smilingly, her husband would be so surprised to see her cooking. Chapter 46 Royal Territory I [155:24:26] Through the alarm on Althea''s phone, the group woke up several hours later. But when they opened their eyes and only saw darkness, with the light of the two moons the only illumination they had, they thought they must''ve imagined the alarm. But it ran, and Althea lifted it to check the time. She felt a little headache, disoriented. What was this? Jetlag?? Well, thinking about it, it wasn''t surprising. After all, they were used to sleeping 5 to 6 hours a day at most back in Terran, and suddenly the nights were a lot longer. Of course, the team had a peaceful sleep because the last leg of the night was Althea''s watch. She was strong enough to silently and efficiently deal with the monsters that not even Fufi woke up from snoring. Speaking of the dog snoring, "What are you, a pug? Snoring so loudly when you''re a dog¡­" Althea mumbled, booping the dog''s nose with her finger. While she teased the dogs, the others began packing away their sleeping bags (Harold and Maya''s were the thin duvet that Sheila took from the hotel). Within a couple of minutes, the group set out for the next part of their journey. Although it was a bit disorienting to have complete sleep and still see nothing, the group prepared for another long journey nevertheless. Because of the fight last night and the subsequent quest for a resting place, they were displaced a bit from their desired direction. With Harold''s approximate guidance, they also avoided the location where the other group would go. After all, they were likely to go in the opposite direction from the mountains, while Althea and her group were headed towards it. Eventually, the sky brightened and although they were still a distance away from the mountain, the area did feel more peaceful. The monsters they encountered were a lot less, and if they did encounter them most of the beasts were level 1, level 2s were already the leader-monsters of their group. Because the level difference was a bit far, most of the monsters avoided them. For those that wanted to attack regardless, they eventually became training items for the weaker ones in the party. They were also sources of good meat. Speaking of which, Harold was really not bad. His cooking could be on par with her husband''s, which was saying something. Anyway, he was leagues better than both her and Sheila combined. Althea was very glad she took him in. They walked for several more hours and the mountain finally appeared near enough to appear like it could be touched. They continued to walk in its direction for some time until they went past a dense patch of bushes and trees, suddenly seeing a different scenery. They seemed to see¡­ a fence? It was a meter-high wooden fence. They looked at each other in bafflement, and for a moment they thought they were imagining things. They looked around again and confirmed they were still in the middle of dense forest, and then back to the fence in front of them extending kilometers to either direction. . Harold touched it and confirmed it wasn''t an illusion, and soon Maya and Sheila followed suit. Althea, on the other hand, did not, as she had an idea on what it was. "Let''s follow it. Maybe we will be able to find a gate." She said and the others gladly followed her lead. It took them about half an hour of leisure walking until they reached the gate. It was guarded by two guards with a wooden sword and a spear, respectively. They both had lazy postures and haughty expressions. Except for ogling at the two girls, they didn''t do much and let them enter the territory. [You have entered the Royal Territory. Please pay your entry fee within fifteen minutes.] [Please pay 100 copper coins for a visitors entry fee, 1 gold for temporary residence (valid for 1 month), and 10 gold for permanent residence.] They all stared at each other and were relieved. It really was a safe haven. Although this area was relatively peaceful, who would want to keep sleeping in the wild? Not to mention they had to keep watch when they should have been resting. The guards saw that they paid the entrance fee without batting an eyelid and looked at each other with sly smiles. "Wait!" "What is it?" "Other than the visitors fee, there is also a guide fee." He said, extending his hand. "It''s not expensive just 100 copper per person." Then the man looked at Sheila and Althea with perverted grins. "Or you can stay with us. Your choice." Harold frowned, while Sheila almost slapped him. Althea stopped them both. "I''ll pay for us." She said, and paid for the four of them. However, as she handed the copper to the guard, she grabbed the man''s hand, gripping it tightly. "I suggest you stop taking advantage of people." She said, smiling, but aura menacing. "Or else it would bite you right back." Then she let go, and guided the others to the territory. Sheila''s eyebrows furrowed and looked at Althea, feeling wronged for her spending. "They obviously¡ª" "There is a power here. You don''t want to get kicked out, do you?" It was only a little copper anyway. Disregarding the wealth they earned in Terran, the loot from the monsters they hunted was not small. They couldn''t risk their precious chance to rest properly for a few scum. The group soon entered the vicinity and saw that other than the fence, there were a couple of buildings, beginning from about a few meters away from the gate. The road was a dirt road, and it connected the buildings as well as the gate to each other. However, the area occupied by all these together paled in comparison to the area of makeshift houses and tents near the edge of the fences, starting about a hundred meters away from the main dirt road. Even from their location, they could see that the ''slum area'' consisted of a much bigger space than the village proper. It was around this time that they heard a small commotion not far from them. "It''s too expensive!" A dark-skinned man argued with a woman, trying to convince her of something. "Come on, I''ll pay for you, it''s almost fifteen minutes!" A softer voice muttered, trying to convince him. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "The money is not the point! Staying here means we have to risk our lives many times just to stay for a day!" The man argued bitterly, combing back his dark coily hair in depression. "A hundred copper¡ªthat''s two or three monsters a day! How many people died not even earning that amount!" He looked at the empty underside of his pants in bitterness, feeling the makeshift rod he used to carry his body weight under his incomplete thigh. "But, Eugene, we¡ª we can''t go anywhere else." The girl tried to reason with him, tears lining up her face as she stared at the metallic stick where a leg should have been. "Your prosthetic leg is gone. We need to build a new one¨C" "Then what about tomorrow? Or the day after? We can''t afford this amount every day¨C" Althea''s eyebrows furrowed as she watched this scene. Althea''s emerald eyes began observing the citizens. Although no one spoke, based on expression alone she could see a lot of people actually agreed with the man. This made her worried. A territory¡­ didn''t seem to be so friendly, after all? Chapter 47 Royal Territory II As if hearing her worry, someone had to come and exacerbate it. It came in the form of a plump mephitic man pompously strutting to the center. "Then don''t stay!" He said with an arrogant smirk, looking down at the dark-skinned man missing a leg. "We don''t want poor waste like you here in my Royal Village!" The people dutifully gave way to him, creating a clear path. The crowd had various expressions, some were respectful, some were fearful, and some were disgusted. No, looking closer¡­ it was mostly disgusted. Althea couldn''t help but wonder what this man did in these few days that got him so hated? "Why? You think you can find any other fenced territory nearby?" Eugene tilted his head down and he clenched his fist. "But 100 copper coins is too expensive!" "Hmph! That''s your problem." Then he zoned in on the woman next to him. "Hello beautiful lady. My name is Bobby King, I am the Lord of this village. Yes, it means I own the village and have absolute power here." He looked at her deeply and enticingly, and if he didn''t look so oily and plump maybe it could be considered a little handsome. The woman who had been looking at him in distaste didn''t shut him out anymore, and Bobby took it as her softening her attitude towards him. "This guy couldn''t even afford the daily entry fee, how could he protect you? Meanwhile I own this place and I still own hundreds of gold. Why don''t you come with me and be my wife?" The disabled man sneered and wanted to say he''s dreaming but he saw that his girlfriend didn''t immediately reject this guy¡ª He paled, obviously not expecting her to consider it at all! "Mina¡ª" However, he didn''t even get to finish his sentence when he was pulled strongly by an invisible force and disappeared. "Hey, fifteen minutes is up." Bobby King laughed, then he turned to look at the woman flirtatiously. "So¡­ are you going to follow that loser or are you coming home with me?" The woman''s pretty eyebrows furrowed, looking complicated, but it made Bobby King fascinated. He couldn''t help but add more benefits. "I promise to protect your life the best I can. I can give all the basic needs, and more. What do you say?" This made the woman pause and, after a few moments, she nodded in the end. Althea watched as the girl followed the greasy man and sighed. While distasteful, she couldn''t blame the girl either. She only wanted to survive. "The lord has done it again." A silvery voice sounded beside them. They turn to see pretty pregnant woman, who sighed deeply as she held her son. As she turned, she also saw Althea and Sheila. She flinched a little, startled. Looking back at the lord and at them, she leaned down to whisper. "You should stay away from him, he is very fond of beautiful women." The two girls nodded, and Althea looked at the fellow pregnant woman in interest. She was a good-looking woman with coffee-colored skin, jet-black hair, and dark brown eyes. She also had sharp features, quite pretty. "How long has this village been here?" Althea asked, looking around. "It''s just the second day." The woman paused, face scrunched in disgust. "The second day and he''s already recruited his seventh wife. Can you believe it? He''s building a huge harem, it''s disgusting." Althea looked at the woman in amusement. "Well, I will take note." The woman grinned and stared at her stomach in wonder. "How far along are you? It''s so big¡­" "I''m¡­ technically past 8 months. They''re twins." Up until now Althea couldn''t completely wrap her head around the sudden growth of her children. But her instincts were telling her it wasn''t hurting her children, so she had been calm about it until now. Shaking herself off the thoughts, she turned to the dark-skinned woman. "You?" Then focused on the cute little boy staring at her. He was adorable with his brown beany eyes and curly auburn hair. His cheek was plump and red that one would just watch to shower it with kisses. Althea''s eyes warmed, heart softened by his innocent stare. "What''s his name?" "I am going on seven months. My name Priya, by the way." She said and raised her son a bit. "This is my son, Theodore, and he just turned three when¡­ you know." "Well, it''s a blessing we are still together in the end." Priya nodded, her eyebrows furrowing at certain memories. "I''ve seen whole families turn to zombies. Worse, some were killed by their own relatives." Althea agreed, quite strongly. Indeed, the fact that the change was based on genes was indeed a blessing. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Most people, if they didn''t survive, died with their family. In the same way, if they did survive there was a high chance they had a relative who also survived somewhere. If more people realized this, then more people will have the will to keep on fighting. "We are new here. Can you tell us more about this village?" Althea paused, and leaned down to whisper. "We''ll pay you ten silver. How about it?" "R-Really?!" She exclaimed, but quickly quieted down when she realized the noise she made. Although she managed to get a lot of silver, what to do the consumption here was too high, her little money wouldn''t last them a few months here. "Of course." Althea assured, low-key handing her a couple of silver she materialized from her wallet the moment the woman appeared. Priya''s eyes brightened and quickly placed it in her Wallet, confirming its authenticity. "What do you need to know?" "As much as you know, and as much as you can find out." Now that she was near the mountain, she decided she could stay here for a few days. They could use this place as a temporary base, while she explored the terrain and, hopefully, find a good place to set up her own territory. And maybe she''d learn a thing or two¡­ of what to avoid. Yes, looking at a territory with that kind of lord, Althea had an inkling this territory would serve as her negative learning material. Althea was determined to build an exemplary home for herself and her children. So¡­ it naturally had to be the best. Chapter 48 Territory Buildings I [148:24:26] The group leisurely followed Priya past the Shanty area and towards the other ''main buildings'' of the territory. There seemed to be more than a dozen buildings altogether, although only a few building types could be seen. These so-called Main Buildings were structures created through the system by the lord. The residences they''ve been seeing were the most predominant of these. They were located near the central area with the premium houses located in relatively bigger spaces adjacent to the road. Compared to Terran, they were densely packed together, but it was still much less crowded than the tents or shanty areas not far away. Unlike the ''downtown area'', the Shanty area had no personal space whatsoever with a person or two for every square meter. One could imagine the horrendous smell of body odor and human waste one had to endure every single day. It had only been a few days so it probably wasn''t that bad yet, but considering that the population should continue to increase, it would definitely get worse. Similarly, they were also squeezed far from the central area, as if they were an embarrassment to show. However, this wasn''t where they were going at the moment. Priya was taking them along the ''main'' pebble road. Adjacent to these roads was the system one-storey detached houses made of plain wood construction. By visual estimate, the area should be about 50 square meters. It was worth noting that about a dozen such houses, and only about half seemed to be occupied. Another thing to note was that the occupied houses seemed to have at least five people inside. Thinking about it, it made sense, because people could just divide the cost of renting a house. Althea turned to Priya to ask."Do you have an idea how many people are in the territory now?" Priya paused and rummaged through her memory. "I was transferred here with about a hundred people. I was with the Lord, unfortunately. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "And there have always been a few groups coming here every now and then, so I''m guessing we should be at least a few hundred by now." Althea nodded. This should be a fairly normal number, if not on the lower side, considering there were millions of Terran around. She truly doubted that a lot of territories were erected just based on the stringent requirements. An average territory should be able to handle thousands, if not tens of thousands, at the very least. "What the¡ªthey charge so much rent!" Her thoughts were interrupted by an exclamation next to them They turned to look at Harold, who had yelled for some reason. He had opened one of the house''s doors and was looking at the air with a complicated expression. They looked at him in interest, and he cleared his throat to regain his bearing, "To use a house, you need to pay 500 copper coins a day." He couldn''t help but remember the poor less-abled guy from earlier. "At this rate you really need to risk your life to live comfortably in this place!" Althea followed and looked inside. It was basically just an empty fifty square meter covered bungalow. Except for a tiny private room with a hole lined with wood, there were no other amenities at all. Althea frowned and she turned her head to Priya, who was also looking around. It was her first time inside a house here, but Althea didn''t know so she asked, "Where is the bathroom?" Priya told her that she hadn''t been in one before, "But I did meet a group of people who rented a house before." She took them to one of the doors, leading to a small room with a 1 meter by 1 meter dimension. It had a hole in the middle, lined with a slab of stone. "They said they had to do their business in that hole. Of course, they had to wash it every now and then to keep it from being too dirty." The group looked at the hole in disgust, but Althea sighed in the end, knowing they didn''t have much choice. "We need a place to stay for a few days, let''s rent it together." She said, "Of course, everyone will share the rent." Althea was not short of money, but she didn''t want her possibly-temporary companions to feel she could take care of everything for them. "You''re not staying here?" Priya asked and Althea shook her head. "It would depend. To be honest, I don''t think that lord was particularly reliable." As she said so, she clicked on the rent option on her screen. The other two also sent her their share, with Harold paying for Maya''s share as well. Althea didn''t want people to know she had a lord token. She was planning to build the Territory in a low-key way. The president''s wife was a major client of her beauty products, she had more than once very emotionally ranted about the pressure of the job. She said it was often a thankless task. With democracy, there wasn''t even enough power. It was a little glory if you do right, all criticism if you did even the slightest mistake. She said she''d rather her husband be a normal man with a normal job. Similarly, Althea would not want such a thankless task to land on herself. Priya saw that they were serious and she looked at the group with a complex expression, but she didn''t say what was in her heart. They only just met after all, and how many villages were there outside? What''s more: She was pregnant and had a three-year-old son. No matter how unreliable Bobby King was, he still owned this huge fenced village. She could not gamble about their safety. But internally, she couldn''t help but doubt a little. What kind of future would she and her children have in a territory with a lord like that? But¡­ do they truly have any other choice? Chapter 49 Territory Buildings II Shaking herself of the risky thoughts, Priya took them to the largest building in the village, located at the end of the ''main road''. It was a castle-like structure, totally out-of-place from the rest of the village wh ich was characterized by gross simplicity. In contrast with the crude wooden structures lining up in its approach, the castle was made purely of sturdy stone. It had about four high-ceiling floors totaling to over 15 meters in height, not including the small towers about a floor higher. There was also a stone wall around it two meters in height, much sturdier than the flimsy-looking 1.5-meter tall wooden fence outside. Priya waited for them to appreciate the building before speaking, "This is the lord''s house." They stood relatively far, but they could see the guards surrounding the four storey house. They also guarded some open spaces that surrounded the castle. "The large empty spaces on the left there on purpose. They said the lord''s planning on building a garden." Priya said, her tone oozing with mockery. She lived in the shanties, where most people who had ran out (or were robbed) of supplies had to settle. They all made do with the local fruits and tangy monster meat¡ªfood that lacked much of the required nutrition a human needed. As the population grew, so did the unrest and the chaos. There were no rules prohibiting violence or theft, so one could just imagine what was happening in there. And yet¡­ their lord was busy building small castles and gardens¡­ The group was silent as they continued to walk to the left and saw another building one-storey high. It was another simply designed structure, basically looking like a plain wooden bungalow found in a mountain village. Then again¡­ technically speaking, they really were in a mountain village. Priya took them to enter the building. It was actually much larger when inside, about 200 square meters in size. There were about a dozen tables or so and even fewer customers. There was a huge counter area in front that took up a third of the space. Plates of flat-looking white bread and plain gruel were displayed in this area, the presentation not very appetizing. The group went to the counter to see the food. [Would you like to buy a piece of White Bread for 50 copper? Yes | No ] [Would you like to buy a piece of Plain Porridge for 30 copper? Yes | No ] "It doesn''t taste like anything, but a piece of bread can fill you for half a day." It was ex-housekeeper Harold that automatically made calculations. "The cost of living here is really high. "Even if ten people shared a house, the daily expenditure will still be at least 200 copper coins. That''s two silver coins a day¡­" Most people seemed to have only saved a few gold coins from their time in Terran, and worse, some poor people only managed to take away dozens of silver. A few gold coins were only a few hundred silver. How long could a person last without having to fight for his life outside? Not everyone could have a companion like Althea who not only had great strength herself but also helped them get stronger. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In fact, he could dare say there was no one else in the vicinity at all. At least in this village. Priya agreed with the problem with the cost of living. "Indeed. It''s fine now because we still have savings and even a few supplies in space, but what would happen after a few weeks? "Of course¡­, not everyone had to fight monsters. Bobby King collects wood, stone, and certain plants and buys a sack for a few copper coins. "It''s just that a full day''s work may not be enough to buy you bread. Most people end up sharing a piece." The fact that a plant was actively getting collected interested Althea very much. There was no way a guy like Bobby would just find it interesting. It probably had to do with the system, itself. "What does the plant look like?" She asked, eyes sparkling a bit. Priya just thought she was interested in the gathering job and did not think too much. "I have some in my tent, I''m planning on selling them when I collect enough." This time it was Sheila who asked. "You just leave it in your tent?" "People won''t dare steal from me." People don''t dare blatantly steal from beautiful women, because they could ask for justice from Bobby King. He quite liked the feeling of being the hero saving a damsel in distress. Of course, this came with a price, but she made people think she was not unwilling. Harold still bought a few pieces of bread as convenient rations. Sheila did the same. Meanwhile, Althea just watched as the displayed food magically refreshed. Her eyebrows raised in interest. "Is there a chef?" "I''m not sure, it''s just that it refreshes every time the food on the plates is gone." They also watched as those who finished eating placed their plates on an open wall and it disappeared there. Althea was really interested. This was obviously a building that could be built with the territory. There was no need for a cook and it also washed its own dishes. Very convenient. She also bought a piece of bread to taste and she almost threw it away the moment it touched her tongue. The others were amused to see her rare silly appearance. "So bad?" Sheila asked and Althea wordlessly put the bread on her mouth. If Sheila wasn''t afraid of wasting food, she''d have to spit it out. It was fine if it was just tasteless, but the texture was horrible, like eating sandpaper. Harold saw this and regretted buying so much.. he seemed to have trusted the system too much. Maybe he could throw it to the monsters and make them eat it. Maybe their esophagus would rupture and they''d bleed to death. Chapter 50 Wheat [147:54:16] Priya was very amused by their interactions, and also a little guilty for her oversight. It was just that she didn''t tell them about the bread because she thought they wouldn''t have much of a choice anyway. After all¡­ if you''re hungry, you wouldn''t be choosy. But it seemed she still underestimated this group. They soon left the ''scam restaurant'' (as Harold called it) and Priya walked them to the other side to a similar building about a hundred meters away. It was a little plainer in design outside, but inside was a bit more lively. There were cabinets filled with wooden weapons like wood sword, wood spear, as well as bow and arrow. Harold walked over to the nearest display that attracted him. [Would you like to buy a wooden spear for 10 silver? Yes | No] Harold stared at the screen guardedly, as if seeing himself getting scammed again. "Can''t we see the specs?" "You have to buy it first," Priya said, but this time was kind enough to remind them of what she heard. This was 10 silver after all. "However, most people think it''s worth it." Harold was a bit apprehensive, but he bought one anyway. [Wooden Spear (E) Attack +5 Special Effects: None Durability: 100/100] "Is it worth it?" Sheila asked as she stared at the long piece of wood, just a bit sturdier-looking than Althea''s makeshift bamboo spear. "Well, if you''re level one or two it is a decent addition to your total attack. For Level Three¡­ well, it''s better than nothing." The two girls looked at each other and mused what to buy; The two girls bought a set of bows and arrows in the end. Although Althea still had guns and bullets, she didn''t plan on taking them out unless it was an emergency. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She knew that she could still use guns against level 3 monsters. Using it well as a secret weapon against monsters at that level was still the best choice. And, if need be, against human beings as well. However, the fact that it was a bit cumbersome even for guns to do damage to monsters¡ªespecially if the bullet hit the skin¡ªmeant that it wouldn''t be useful forever. It was better to use up the guns early lest they really just become useless pieces of metals. [Wooden Bow (E) Attack +5 Special Effects: None Durability: 100/100] They bought a few quivers of arrows at the cost of 10 copper per arrow. A few hundred arrows were stored in the space while a quiver filled with arrows were carried with their backpacks. Seeing that the group had already chosen their own weapons, Priya smiled and looked at them. "I''ll show you the plant now." "Thank you." "Why are you so interested anyway?" "I could be said to have dealt with plants all my life back in Terran, the unfamiliar species here fascinates me very much." Althea tended to talk much more when it was related to plants, and her friends were happy to watch her drone on. "What about you, what did you do back there?" Priya blushed a bit. "I''m a housewife..." "Housewives are the noblest profession." Althea said very sincerely. As an orphan, Althea would always have special fondness for parents who spend their days with their children. Priya was a little stunned and looked at her again, as if to see if she was just being polite. When she saw that the other woman was sincere, Priya scratched her cheek in embarrassment, shy and a little bit happy. "Well.. thanks¡­ I am also very happy." The group smiled and they walked harmoniously to their destination. As they headed back to the shanty area through the main road, Althea couldn''t help but turn her head to look at the buildings along the road. She recalled what Bobby King said before: that he still had hundreds of gold left. Althea, who owned a lord token, instead heard the implications of his words¡ª ''only had hundreds of gold left'' ¡ªloud and clear. It could be seen that these few buildings and the fence cost hundreds of gold. Territories were indeed money-burning endeavors. But, at the same time, if done well, it would be a goose that laid huge golden eggs. She was faintly looking forward to the appearance of her territory. "Mina! Mina! it''s me!!" They turned their heads in the direction of the commotion. It was the guy from before. Looking at it now, he obviously paid for 100 copper and looked for his girlfriend. When he found out she came home with Bobby, he went to the largest house to make a scene. And he was unsurprisingly met with harsh beatings. Althea watched as the woman, Mina, did her best to stop herself from running to her former man. "Go now. Leave me alone. We¡ªI need to survive too, Eugene." "No, Mina, I¡ª" The poor man tried to crawl to the woman with his hands, but he was kicked by Bobby back to his minions, who then continued to wantonly punch and kick him. The girl finally couldn''t take it anymore. However, Althea noticed her hand was subconsciously trying to protect her stomach. She had a faint guess in her heart but she didn''t do anything. It was none of her business. "P-Please! I... I will do that th-thing you asked for." She whispered, almost sobbing. "I¡­ we grew up together. I can''t watch him die, please understand." Bobby looked at the tear-filled face of a beautiful woman sighed. Who told him to be such a gentleman? "Fine." He said, "But he cannot stay here." Mina paused and her eyes subconsciously landed on her former lover. Bobby smirked when she nodded in agreement. He waved his hand and Eugene teleported out the territory again, like how he was kicked out for not paying the fee in time. "I blacklisted him this time." "T-Thank you." Mina mumbled and her hand gripped her skirt, her eyes were glazed, not knowing what she was thinking. ¡­ Priya''s tent was a blue backpacking tent located at the edge with the other tents. Of course, there were only a handful of them. After all, most people would choose to stock up on food and other basic consumables. Hence, out of the several scores of people here, only a handful had tents. As for the others, they either slept around the camp fire, or asked someone capable to build them a basic shed that could protect them from the elements. It could barely protect anyone even in temperate climates, but it was better than nothing. Still, this was rare knowledge in their time with advanced technology, and the builders had made a bit of money from it. Sheila and the others waited next to the tent, while Althea went inside with Priya. Theodore was notably very comfortable in Sheila''s arms. While Priya was rummaging, Althea noticed the simple pearl bracelet Priya was wearing. It looked quite simple and should be relatively expensive, but the sheen made it obvious it was well taken care of. Priya seemed to have sensed her stare. "This was my husband''s first expensive gift. It took a month''s salary." The woman said fondly, then tears lined up her eyes. "He was on a business trip when the disaster happened." She shook her head, and handed her a sheaf of the plant. Althea knew this plant, she had a few in her space. It was a relatively common plant that could be found every few meters or so. Looking closely at the beard and the kennel, she realized it had some similarities to wheat. Althea excitedly took a few kernels and leaves and placed them in her portable lab. Priya stared blankly at the contraption that took a good portion of her floor space. People actually brought machines in their space?! Althea was unaware of the gaping stare beside her. She found out the plant had similar characteristics to wheat, only it was closer to the ancient wheat which had a much lower yield but higher in fiber and vitamins than modern wheat. More importantly, she couldn''t get seeds of rice, barley, or wheat back in Terran, this thing was heaven-sent! "It''s wheat." From this, it could be seen that the territory''s buildings required such resources to start producing. Looking at the selling rate and the buying rate of raw materials, it was obvious this lord was making a hefty profit. However, more than the profit, seeing a plant similar to wheat fired up her obsession again. When she went out of the tent, the first thing she told her teammates. "Stay here, I''m going outside for a bit." "Can I come with you?" Sheila asked and Althea almost immediately shook her head. "I''m going to study plants again." And also look for a good place for a territory by the way. Seeing that Althea didn''t want to bring her burden, Sheila only sighed. "At least take Fufi." Althea shrugged and went on her way, very excited. Fufi''s tail was wagging very quickly, excited for a new adventure. Harold and Sheila sighed as they stared at the back of this leader of theirs. What could they do? They could only support her from behind. The two looked at each other, with a silent agreement in their hearts. They will just prepare dinner well, to welcome her well when she went back home. Chapter 51 Surveying Althea planned out her route before heading too far into the mountain. After a couple of minutes, she decided to take a look at the western side of the mountain range first. This was because the highest peak was there and she could see the surroundings better. The west side of the mountain range was also the most accessible in terms of straight line distance, wherein she could go back and forth within the day. At the very least, she could get to the apex during daylight, with enough time for excursions to spare. As she climbed up the mountain, she looked around to remember the plants she had encountered. Even if she didn''t have time to check each and every unfamiliar plant at the moment, she could at least remember where she found them. However, after all this time, she had also basically confirmed the biodiversity here was really low, because at least half of the local plants here she had already uncovered. As for the others, most of them were really different from Terran plants. They were just waiting to be discovered and studied, and she took note of each of them. Interestingly, one or two of these ''new encounters'' seemed to have a very similar composition to Terran plants. For instance, there was blueberry. Upon checking it had a 90% likeness to the species that she knew. There were also herbs (whose roots she took with her), a lot of which could be mixed with the ones she discovered so far. While she studied, Fufi ambled about, taking care of the disturbing monsters without bothering Althea. Althea took a look at one of the unusual plants she found. It was a vine, but its thorn arrangement was new and it seemed very succulent in texture. [Jordana vine (Lv2). Known for its fever-reducing quality when crushed and applied to the forehead.] Like always, she also tested the plants at different temperatures to ensure they were consumable and not poisonous after cooking. As she studied plant section after plant section with Tori, there was a sudden ding in her brain. She blinked. [Your Pet gained a new skill: Investigator (D)] [Investigator (D): Detect items level C and below in an area of 50 square meter radius. Consumption: 10 Mana] "Oh?" However, before anything, she looked at Fufi suspiciously. She could indeed see Fufi''s stats panel but she didn''t know he could learn skills as well. It was here that she realized there was a big ugly-looking fruit in front of her. For a moment she almost thought it appeared out of nowhere. She looked at him in suspicion. "You don''t have space as well, do you?" The stupid dog stared at her with that smiley face of his before barking a little, raising his adorable paw pad, and under it appeared a very familiar backpack. "..." It was the backpack she put on him before migration! She thought it was lost in the process! "Why didn''t you tell me?" The dog just looked at her stupidly. She just shook her head and turned her attention to the so-called C-level item. [Haozen Berry (Lv15)] That was it. Her ability could only detect the known use of level 10, so she would have to depend on her own method. It was a disgusting-looking fruit and, if a person had trypophobia, it could directly give people trauma. However¡­ it had a strange attraction that called her to investigate. Level 15 creatures actually equated to D level in terms of items. But for some reason, this Level 15 was classified as a C-type item. This meant it had some special function to it. Of course, she wasn''t stupid enough to eat it directly. Instead, she tested it. It had a huge amount of tyrosine, as well as some mysterious elements that could not be detected by her technology. These elements could induce dopamine in the person, among others. She couldn''t stop herself, and the ugly thing ended up inside her mouth. Her hand moved on its own. Really. Fortunately, she did not get poisoned this time. On the contrary, she felt empowered and energetic, as if she didn''t just spend half a day trekking. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her eyebrows rose in interest and she quickly looked at her stats to see that her spirit recovered by a lot! Her eyes brightened and quickly set up the lab. "Fufi, take me to where you got it." She said and she followed the dog to the place it got the plant. The plant was a shrub, but it looked like a tree, with the ugly fruit hanging sparsely among its lower branches. Althea observed it for a while, drawing it in her notebook and writing down notes. She also took out her newly-charged phone to take pictures, then checked to see if the photo was clear¡ª Her eyes stopped at the home screen of her phone, a picture of her and her husband. Her eyes faltered at the smiling face of the man, but she quickly compartmentalized and resumed the task on hand. She took the rest of the fruit and left the raw ones alone, for sustainability. When she set up her territory she would definitely transplant it. "If there was a way to save my current location¡­" She mumbled, looking at the holographic map in front of her, and clicking on her location. [Would you like to place a tag in place (0/10 slots available). Yes | No] "...!!!" Yes! How convenient¡ª Even if this place seemed backward, there were many things that were superior to Terran. She couldn''t help but be more and more curious about this place. She also took the plants nearby as they would likely have better compatibility with it. First, she went to a juicy-looking berry that grew less than a meter from the ground. [Juli (Lv3). Good for indigestion, helps with constipation] She placed it in Tori to find out if the juice could be used as the solute as well. She shifted her attention to the plants below it, similar to seaweed, but located in mountains. Mountainweed? She used her skill to get the local name for it. [Youna (Lv5). No known uses.] To be honest these plants with no known uses were more interesting to Althea. She simply calibrated Tori and studied the item. Sure enough, she analyzed its gelatinous self and found it could be used as a stabilizer similar to agar. Rubbing her hands together like an idiot, she changed Tori from her testing mode to experimental mode. Using some of the plants she had collected this far, after a lot of time and trial and error¡­ ¡­and a few more errors and a couple more hours¡­ She eventually found the right mix. [Detected! New Formulation Level B. What would you like to name it?] "Spirit Pill" [Spirit Pill name already exists please choose another one] "..." "Spirit medicine" [Spirit Medicine name already exists please choose another one] Wow. She tried several more names, apparently with no ''originality''. Then she gave a random name, out of annoyance. "Sprite." [Sprite name is available. Would you like to confirm? Yes | No] "..." "Yes." Whatever. [Detected to have added Fifty points of knowledge to the World Knowledge Database. Reward: +Equipment card (A)] Her smile brightened as she opened the box. [Obtained: Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit] Very nice. Speaking of which¡­ she seemed to have obtained a Gift Package (B) for Bandade before? How could she forget?! They said brain cells die when you''re pregnant. It seemed to be true. [Would you like to Gift Package (B)? Yes | No] Yes, yes, of course. [Obtained: Bellagio Bow (B) +40 ATK, 5% Chance of Poisoning; +5 damage every minute] . Suddenly, she thought this world was so beautiful. ¡­ After a while she put on her new undergarments and stared at her new arrow, she soon realized that the sky had turned red. "Fufi!" She called and they ran to the apex together. However, she did feel a bit of contractions, but she persisted in climbing even more. She was obviously giving birth in a few weeks¡­ She needed to build a home soon! Regardless of whether they find surface fresh water, she had decided on this area. At worst, they''d just have to find a way to dig up wells. Or better, perhaps the Lord token would let her have the option to build a well. It was risky as the Royal Territory did not have such an important amenity, but it could also be that the lord there was too stupid. She laboriously climbed up the tallest coniferous tree, took out her scope, and surveyed the area. Although she could only go back to the territory after this, she was determined to find the next area of exploration. It was mostly just an endless forest, and for a moment she felt disappointed. But her eyes eventually stopped as she faced the east side where the mountains ended. The area there was a bit flatter, and if she guessed correctly there should be a valley near that area. Continuing her survey, her eyes soon saw a bit of sparkle and blue and her own eyes brightened at the sight. She had to take another look because she may have just been imagining things. Narrowing her eyes, she still couldn''t see it. Then, she used her Perfect Aim skill. [Used! Perfect Aim! -10 Mana!] She grinned¡ªshe surprisingly did get a slightly better view! Thus, she confirmed that she didn''t imagine it! There really was a river!! Chapter 52 Food Situation [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 4 (1430/10000) Life: 300/700 Spirit: 290/700 (-5%) Physical: 105 (-5%) +40 Agility: 107 (-20%) +10 Defense: 74 +91 Mana: 500 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [WEALTH: 9,711 gold and 79267 silver, 15287 copper] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Leather Boots +2 Defense, +0 Agility ] Althea took a good look at her beautiful stats, before returning to the present, to the hopeful sight of the river, even if it was a little far away. She made a mental note of the location and, considering the terrain, she mused it would take another day to get there. Also considering that they had already paid for the daily entrance fee to the Royal territory, she decided to defer the trip to the next day. She was rich, but she was not about to waste that precious silver. She patted the dust and leaves that hang on her body. She climbed back down the trees, and headed back to her team¡­ ¡­with eyes brighter than ever. ___ Royal Territory. In contrast with Althea''s lax attitude, her companions were very, very, edgy. It had been four hours after dusk and there was no sign of Althea, leaving her team frantically walking to and fro in worry. They knew her strength very well, the low-level monsters in this area were no match to her. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was just that¡­ "What if she got poisoned again?" They all froze and went pale at the thought. The three of them couldn''t relax and ended up waiting outside the door. Sheila even awakened her unhygienic old bad habit of biting on her fingernails. Fortunately, after another hour, a familiar silhouette finally came to view. When they saw her walking towards them as clean and beautiful as always, they all heaved a sigh of relief. Maya quickly ran to hug Althea, which earned her a gentle pat on the head. It was just that mother-hen Sheila couldn''t help but nag a bit. "What took you so long?" "Found some interesting things¡­" Althea just said vaguely as she patted her stomach. "Hungry." She said, and there were no more words of nagging that followed. She and Fufi ate a burger on the way down, but this pregnant woman needed to eat for three people, so she didn''t say it just to shut people up. Sheila and Harold looked at each other helplessly before walking with her back home. They heated up the food prepared for her and gave her the utensils, making sure she could eat as quickly as she could. They also did not forget to check her state, making sure she has no injuries. And they even tried to be subtle about it. Seeing her team genuinely concerned for her, Althea''s heart warmed. ___ The next day, she told the team that she would be going somewhere for a few days. Everyone frowned. They still remembered the stressful hours the night before. "We will go with you!" They said and Althea looked at them in distaste. "Too slow." She shook her head. "I can''t concentrate on my experiments if there are other people around either." "But¡­" "I''ll be fine." "How long would you take?" "At least a whole day." "..." "..." "...we''ll see you off." Sheila''s shoulder slumped as she said so, giving up in trying to convince the other woman. But¡­ this was technically the first time she would be away from Althea for so long since they met. How could she not be uneasy? Harold, Sheila, and the kids joined in the fun, low-key asking where she was headed. Althea knew they asked so that in case she didn''t go back on time, they could go find her. She didn''t lie to them, of course. They deserved this bit of honestly. As they walked, they saw Priya with many others squatting down and collecting. She saw that Priya collected a lot of ''wheat'' which she later found out to be locally named Flute (Lv1). "Don''t you run out of things to pick up?" Sheila asked curiously. Priya shook her head. "Actually, we discovered that the growth rate in this continent is amazing. Some very simple, very small plants tend to refresh every few days, while larger ones¡ªthough unconfirmed as they''re still growing¡ªshould take a week or less." She said, pointing at a plant with its root stable in place. "In theory, as long as the roots are still there. If cut or destroyed, I heard, the plant will no longer refresh." Althea nodded, she had indeed noticed this phenomenon as well. But one thing was a mystery to her. Strictly speaking, as long as the people didn''t cut out roots, there would never be a food shortage here. So¡­ why was the food in the restaurant so horrible? Speaking of which, she saw a couple of people who just came from the restaurant wearing a frown. "I can''t get used to the food here." The man nodded, disgust evident on his face. "I agree." Althea''s sharp eyes observed the other customers and, unsurprisingly, none of them were satisfied. Soon, another set of friends came out, sighing. "Well, at least we''re full right?" "Just add Gouji fruit to your gruel, and it tastes a whole lot better." One said, "If we could find a way to process it, even better." "That makes sense. But then the cost of eating will now double." Althea eavesdropped in interest. Sure enough, someone would find a way to improve the food somehow. Terran was divided into 4 continents: North, South, East, West. Her continent, East, was famous for its gourmet culture. She looked around and saw that dislike of the people. Her people would really have a hard time adjusting in this place. If they didn''t innovate, that was. However, looking at the people around, actively trying not only to survive¡­ but also try to make their lives better¡ª She had a feeling that, as long as people were given a safe enough environment, this wouldn''t be much of a problem at all. In a place where they no longer needed to worry about their basic needs, their lives, their safeties¡­ she believed that the creativity of her people would lead them to create a good life for themselves and, maybe, for others. She wondered, to what degree her territory would be able to encourage this, and she felt quite excited. Another goal: Added. Chapter 53 Small Help "What if we add other fruits?" Another diner wondered out loud, and his companion shook his head. "Then the cost is even more expensive. Gouji fruit is still the most practical." The Gouji Fruit (Lv1) was the most common fruit in the area. Basically, at least 50% of all fruit trees were Gouji Fruit. It tasted quite decent, like a small less-sweetened pear without the core. Eating a few would be fine for a few days and a person wouldn''t starve to death. Of course, just this was not enough to meet half of the lifestyle requirements they used to have. In the end, she shook her head, placing the problem for another day. Today she was determined to find a place to set up her territory, so she had made ample preparations. For one, Fufis'' space was filled with cooked food. It wasn''t that she asked for it. It was just that when Harold and the others found out Fufi had his own space, they were determined to give her all the comfort she could get from such travel. However, before they could reach the gate, someone with a megaphone announced some news, requiring everyone to go to the Square (which was basically an open space of rocky path located in front of the Lord''s Castle). Everyone must attend, it claimed, or they would be blacklisted. Because the others still had to stay in the village for a while longer, Althea and her party had no choice but to follow the crowd. They took an inconspicuous position almost hidden by the buildings next to the square, just watching the commotion in the square with detached interest. "I have received a mission from the system!" Bobby King said with a tone mimicking a certain politician. Althea could tell that what he was going to say next was utter bull. "One is to collect a thousand units of wood and stone. And the other is to increase residents! "That is, everyone must register as a resident! Temporary or not, or else they will be kicked out." Murmurs exploded all around, even Althea found herself frowning. The cost of temporary residency was 1 gold, with a month of validity. It was nothing to her, but it was at least half of the savings of many others. What was this guy up to this time? Naturally, complaints from the crowd exploded, some were furtive while some were blunt, and each decibel heard irked Bobby to no end. "Don''t think you''ll find another territory before monsters maul you to death!" This quieted down the cowardly crowd. Bobby smirked, satisfied with the effect and went to throw in the carrot. "If we do as the system instructed, we will have stronger walls!" "From then on, the territory will be better and better. And what does this mean? Each and everyone resident will also be better!" He stared down every resident for impact, as if he was looking at each of them as a person, daring them to disagree. This was a ''power move'' taught by his favorite TV personality. He thought he was quite dashing when he applied it. However, his stare soon ended up on Sheila, making his eyes brighten. And then he saw Althea, and his eyes shined. He excitedly went down the podium and passed the wave of people who cleared the way for his fat self. "Ladies!" He said in a tone he believed was suave and charming. He stared leeringly at Althea, pointedly ignoring her very big belly "You can be permanent residents immediately. You just have to follow me home, how about it?" And without waiting for her response, he turned to look at Harold with an unfriendly expression. "You''re so old. Surely you''re not the husband of any one of these ladies?" Harold shivered in fear at the mere thought. "No¡­ I was a housekeeper." This answer satisfied Bobby, and his stare directed at Althea turned even hotter. She had the temperament of a young lady, and he misunderstood Harold to be her servant. "No, thank you, we''re not planning on staying here." She said, with relative politeness considering her annoyance. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, her tact was not appreciated by the people as she immediately heard a number of aghast gasps in the crowd as soon as she finished speaking. Bobby was also taken aback and his mild lascivious expression twisted to one of annoyance. "I like hard-to-get plays occasionally, but sometimes I don''t." He paused, breathing heavily. "This is one of those times." Bobby couldn''t help but look at the crowd watching and he gritted his teeth. ''How dare this woman disagree with me? And in public!'' Althea could see what he was thinking. This guy was obviously a rich kid spoiled rotten and turned into an adult man-waste. She did not hate this type specifically, but she hated it when they got in her way. She just looked at her people and signaled for them to go. Anyway, they always brought their things in their space, there was nothing left in the rented house, and they could just leave when they had to. But this lord was very arrogant and was set to making her be his woman. How could he let her get away? "Pregnant woman wants to be arrogant with me?!" He yelled, extending his grubby hands to grab her. However, before he could reach her, an arm quickly touched his flabby arms. "My Lord, it is not good to hit the weak. Don''t put yourself at their level." The soft voice said, and Bobby visibly calmed down with it. The owner of the voice was Mina, and it seemed whatever she promised Bobby to ''do'' last night satisfied him very much. Mina went to them and looked them in the eye. "Lord Bobby was kind enough to give you shelter, but you dare disrespect him like this. "For the sake of you being women, we will not punish you heavily, but you must leave this territory." They were a bit surprised by the unexpected help, but nodded cooperatively anyway. Mina looked at them for a moment before she raised her arm and handed them some silver. The sight of the money made Bobby''s face darken, and he grabbed her arm. "What are you doing? That''s the allowance I gave you!" "My Lord, it is not good to be too harsh in punishment especially to women. They didn''t do you any harm did they?" She calmly explained, slipping away from him. "She carried the progeny of our Terran race. How many of us died in that disaster and how many continue to die after we went here. Killing a child is a sin. I don''t want that burden on you, my Lord." Bobby paused for a moment and his shoulders slumped in relaxation. Obviously, he was very much pacified by her words. He turned to Althea and her group and just waved his hand to let them leave in peace, looking like the most benevolent ruler. "Be thankful I''m a gentleman." He said, "But if you beg me later, I can still take you in." As they left, Althea turned her head and her eyes met Mina''s. Before their sights separated, the other girl mouthed a short request: Help him Chapter 54 Leaving Royal Village The group were leaving camp through the gate, ignoring the menacing-looking guards standing in front of the gate. It happened that it was the guards on shift when they entered, and they looked at their group very smugly. "Hmph! Undesirables, ptooey!" The girls rolled their eyes and ignored the hoots, heading straight past the gate. "Hey, ladies! If you marry me, I can maybe convince the Lord to let you in again! What do you say?" "Hey, don''t ignore us! We promise you won''t regret it!" "Yes, yes, we are very good in be¡ª BANG! Sheila and Harold froze, as they were also getting ready to beat the monsters. "AHHHH! Get it off!!! Ahhh" One man yelled, trying to get Fufi''s bite off of him. He pulled out his Class E wood sword and tried to stab but Fufi quickly let go and avoided, biting his other leg. "ARGHHH!" The dog then let him go and clawed the other one. In fact, there wasn''t even that much blood, and the injuries weren''t serious with their improved physiques. He didn''t debilitate them, as Althea didn''t want to leave the gates unguarded. But they still cried like babies in the end. The group shrugged and ignored the people who came to watch the show. The group leisurely continued on their way out, and people knew they were not planning on coming back at all¡ªnot after the scene they just made. The moment they exited though, they found a surprising sight. It was that guy missing a leg and lost a girlfriend. He seemed to have set up a small camp near the gate. He built a simple shed roof anchored between two trees. He also used hay and dried leaves as flooring. Impressive for a day''s work for someone missing a leg. Some people would probably sneer at a less-abled man doing so much even after being humiliated. For instance, those guards who mockingly watched the man every time he made a move. They would look down on him. Calling himself a licking dog, a coward. Because no matter how humiliating, life triumphed over everything else. Where else could he go, at least there were guards near the gate, right? But to be honest, Althea felt that it was more likely he just wanted to be closer to his ex. Regardless of his circumstance, she felt an undeniable pride in him. After watching the man, she sighed and started walking in a direction. To the surprise of her companions, Althea actually approached the guy. The man flinched and looked at them guardedly. But when he confirmed they meant no harm, his hostility disappeared and he gave them a puzzled, but polite, nod. "Your girlfriend asked me to help you." She said, raising her hand and revealing several pieces of silver. It was all the silver that the girl handed her earlier. The man was silent, but he obviously understood. Althea stared at him for a moment. "If she wants you to go, it may really be for the best." He smiled bitterly. "How can I? I can''t live without her." He pursed his lips and looked at the pregnant woman in front of her. For some reason, he wanted to tell his story to a stranger. Then again, there were things easier to tell a stranger than a friend. "We grew up together and have been relying on each other for as long as I can remember." He paused, closing his eyes as if surrounded by bittersweet memories. "Although we grew up purely as friends, our transition was very natural. After the layer of paper was pierced, we fell head over heels." "Even when I had lost my leg after being discharged from the army, she never showed any dissatisfaction. "She would take care of me and my needs, not asking for anything. "She was so patient and loving, I cannot imagine why¡ª" He closed his eyes, frowning deeply in pain. He opened his eyes and stared at Althea, eyes desperate, as if trying to convince her of something. As if convincing a stranger of his beliefs would somehow make it true. "I don''t know why she would leave me, but it must be for a good reason¡ª" But Althea did not agree, and she raised her hand to stop him. "Does it matter?" Did it matter if there was a reason? The output was the same. Eugene was silent, his eyes glazed in pain. Indeed. No matter what, she still left him. And that was the fact. ¡­ Eugene didn''t come with them in the end. Of course, that didn''t hinder anything for their group. She already did her part, and it didn''t matter whether he followed them. The girl saved her some trouble, and she served as a courier for her one time. On the other hand, Sheila couldn''t help but look back. "Won''t we say goodbye to Priya and little Theo? Maybe they''d want to come with us?" Althea shook her head. "They''re in a safe territory now, we''re venturing out into the wild, not conducive to a pregnant woman and a three-year-old child." Harold sighed and couldn''t help but add, "Besides, it was such a public event, she definitely saw what happened." Althea nodded, similarly feeling a little complicated at the premature parting. But as a woman with children, she understood Priya''s decision. "They already made a choice," was all she said in the end. Sheila was silent for a while before reluctantly nodding. She really liked Priya and Theo¡­ It wasn''t that Althea wasn''t reluctant, but she really couldn''t guarantee the mother-and-son''s safety and comfort. Maybe, perhaps, they''d meet again after she built her territory. She would offer them a safe haven then. Althea led the team to the mountains and no one questioned her. However, just as they started their ascent a couple of hours later, she saw a bright light from the direction they came from. It was some aura change that was similar to that of a level upgrade. It seemed to have exploded from the same spot as an epicenter. No one else noticed this and she merely took note, not giving it too much thought. They traveled for a while, killed a couple of aggressive mobs, and eventually reached a decent clearing to have their lunch. They ate happily as always. Furthermore, this time they had begun using local ingredients and they were very satisfied with the result. Althea had also learned some basic soup-making, she had already used several types of berries with varying success. Harold told them a couple of cooking techniques and the outcome was acceptable. She was very proud. Mentally, she already added this to the menu of ''what to feed your husband''. They also ate monster meat marinated with sauce from crushed Jordana vine. One of the components that turned it into an effective fever reducer, parthenolide, could be synthesized for other functions. Using this material, they could now make the rest of its flesh into a sort of powder to create an effective solution used to soften up any meat (that they had encountered so far). Added with some sour fruit and other seasonings, the end product was quite delicious. The barbecue sauce was easy and just depended on a mixture of tastes from various fruits and plants they encountered. Of course, she tested it with Tori first to ensure there were no poisonous substances that formed with the mixture of different edible substances. It could be said that this was a fully local meal and didn''t use a single ingredient, including condiments, from Terran. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was a very good sign, showing their potential for self-sufficiency. It was just that, as they ate, Fufi suddenly stood up and all the furs on his body were raised, growling in no direction in particular. Althea frowned and looked down, noticing that the soup was forming ripples. Her eyebrows furrowed deeper as she saw the ripples getting larger and larger. "Earthquake?" She voiced out and everyone instinctively put their items in the space. They looked around and realized their clearing was the safest in earthquakes already, but they dare not feel complacent. "No," Althea mumbled, eyes on Fufi''s reaction. "This is not a normal earthquake." Without saying any more, she suddenly stood up. Her companions watched in surprise as she sprinted in a direction, climbing up a tree again for a better vision. They would never get used to the sight of a pregnant woman climbing trees so skilfully, jumping from branch to branch. Fufi followed not too far behind her, and they managed to keep track of her because of this. Fufi suddenly stopped and they almost continued forward due to momentum. Thankfully Harold was strong enough and they didn''t fall in the steep slope below. They watched blankly as a piece of pebble that was just in front of their feet fall down hundreds of meters below. "..." Was this always here? Anyway, they quickly gathered themselves and looked around. They saw both Fufi and Althea staring at a distance below the slope. Puzzled, they followed their line of sights and noticed a dark-colored wave approaching below them¡­ Why would there be a wave on land? However some minutes later the wave got close enough for them to hear loud roars... It was now that they finally realized: This was no water wave, it was a wave completely composed of monsters. They looked at the dense mob, the cacophony of growling and roars sent shivers down their spines. Dense rows of teeth and red eyes, everything screaming hunger, fell into their sights. Their scalp numbed from sight, and instinctively stepped back further as if the monsters below would notice them all the way up here. Althea sacrificed a bit of mana to get an idea of the strength of this mob. There was no level 3, but there were plenty of level 2. Even if she was level 4, she would have a very hard time without good weapons. Fortunately, the monsters didn''t seem to notice them at all. The monsters seemed to have a target location and all of them focused on heading there. Althea''s eyes narrowed as some memories resurfaced. Every time she or anyone else leveled up, nearby monsters seemed to be injected by some sort of stimulant. Then she remembered the light she saw during their ascent¡­ Her heart dropped as she realized the direction the monsters were heading. Her head whipped to a direction where the extremely aggressive mob was heading, turning extremely pale. Because the mob was barreling towards the Royal Territory. Chapter 55 Beast Tide Althea hesitated for a moment before jumping down, using the adjacent tree trunks, to face her teammates. She didn''t speak for a few moments, as if something was stuck in her throat. However, she soon gathered herself to tell them her theory. "The mob¡­ it is going to attack a place¡­ and I''m pretty sure it''s going to the Royal Territory." The others paled, looking at each other, and then at her. "What do you guys think we should do?" She asked them and they didn''t answer immediately. Sheila and Harold also looked conflicted, very understandable, considering everything. After all¡­ their upbringing and humanity told them to go and help, but was it worth risking their and their friends'' lives to do so? For a group of strangers, no less? The two were silent for a while, while Fufi and Maya stayed still and silent, sensing the tense atmosphere among the adults. "They''re going to be in grave danger," Sheila mumbled after a while, speaking out loud without really answering. Althea nodded. "About a quarter of those monsters are level 2," she told them. "Even I would not be able to get out unscathed if I handled them head-on¡­" This seemed to have further solidified the seriousness of the danger in their hearts. "Really?" Sheila couldn''t help but ask again, just in case. Althea nodded. "So¡­ what do you suggest?" Althea looked at the two, asking once more. After a while, the silence was broken by Harold. "Although I am reluctant to fight so many monsters, I feel like I won''t be able to sleep properly if I don''t do anything." Sheila looked at them and dipped her chin, also in agreement. As she looked at Althea, she answered in a small voice. "Me too¡­ but we shouldn''t put ourselves in danger either." She was shaking a little as she cast her vote. This was truly a difficult decision, and she was a bit heartbroken as she said this. After all, this was equivalent to sentencing a lot of people to death, which may or may not include Priya and her children. Althea looked at the two and saw they were being sincere. She was relieved to find that no one in her current team had a hero complex. "I agree. We will help, but only within the scope of our abilities." She paused, sharp eyes looking in the direction of the monster mob. "I suggest taking them out from the rear, lightening up the load up front." In this way, there would be a window of surprise. Albeit short, it was better than being the ones taken by surprise. As for whether the lord and his cronies could handle the battle up front, that was no longer their business. ¡­. Before heading out, Althea and the team gathered some necessary herbs and plants to create the healing potions, mostly the ones focusing on healing and spirit restoration. She had to use almost all the plants she had in stock. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea rushed to create at least one for each of them, making sure she had enough material for a few more in case of emergencies. Then, ensuring their weapons were all ample and ready, the group soon followed the mob of monsters. They caught up with the tail of the mob about an hour later, with Althea initiating the attack with her arrows. This was followed by Sheila and the three close-range fighters guarded them from the front. Sheila took out her bow and arrow. Harold took out his wooden spear, Maya her Class-E sword, while Fufi symbolically sharpened his teeth and claws. Althea took out her B-Class weapon as well, very much intent on testing its limits. She had a feeling that she wouldn''t be able to maximize the weapon, for now, but she was bent on making the best out of it to the best of her abilities. The Bellagio bow was a beautiful weapon¡ªwith rainbow-like sheen and glass-like texture¡ªbut she also knew it was one of destruction and practicality. It was powerful and didn''t need arrows, but every few shots consumed mana, so she readied her guns and wooden bows, in case she ran out of steam. Soon, more and more monsters noticed their existence and dozens came at them every time. Those nearby turned their ugly heads to them at the same time, letting out guttural roars. Althea initiated the attacks, focusing on level 2s for efficiency. Unlike before, thanks to her new weapon, as long as she aimed well, she could really take them down with one shot. [Stormdoer (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Tanto Rat (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] This was the signal for the others to attack, making sure their backs weren''t vulnerable by using a group defense position. Because of the sheer density of the monsters, Sheila had to use her axe (now with a third left in its durability) before using long-ranged weapons. Harold and Maya slashed at the monsters nearby, with Maya being guarded by both her father and Fufi (as ordered). She cooperated with them and made sure things didn''t get too difficult for them, using her arrows to hit particularly difficult enemies. They killed one when they came, killed two, a dozen, a score. [Gnomos (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Stormdoer (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Hui Mouse (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Tanto rat (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Juju Toad (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Hui Mouse (Lv2): +50 copper, +50 experience] [...] It had to be noted that humans and monsters of the same level were definitely not of the same strength. They could only handle so much because Althea had a Class-B weapon, but that would be useless if her mana ran out. Not to mention, she felt the weapon could only be used in a way fit to her level. That was to say, stronger attacks must require more mana, which would have been impractical to use. The amazingness of Class B defense equipment was also displayed at this point. Still, the fight was definitely dangerous. Being surrounded by monsters for so long, how could she only have scratches? The fight lasted for hours, seemingly endless, and Althea got to the point of using up all the arrows and half her remaining bullets. The others had at least two weapons scrapped, and Sheila was on her second to the last weapon. Everyone''s medicine had long ran out. At some point, everyone''s spirits were reduced to less than twenty percent. It was incredibly tense. Fortunately, the others had managed to level up, increasing their stats and health, allowing them to last for so long. The pregnancy symptoms long started affecting her, but she willed herself to get through it. She uncoiled herself from the tail of the level 2 Hui mouse, darting in the opposite direction and hitting it and its neighbors in the eyes. From her peripheral vision, she saw Harold wallop several level ones that attacked, protecting Maya who was also handling a level 1 Tanto rat with Fufi''s assistance and protection. She flitted through the crowd and directly targeted the level 2s to lighten up everyone''s load in the long run. It wasn''t difficult to aim at these monsters. Even without her accuracy ability, the size of a level 2 compared to lower levels of the same species was quite different. For instance, Fufi, who had just been taller than her knee before, was now nearly as tall as her waist. Although they had faster speeds, the current density of monsters also limited their mobilities, making them easier to hit. She checked her mana and saw she could only make a few shots. Adrenaline flowed through her veins and her vision and instincts sharpened sharply. Avoiding the attacks of small fries, she vaulted up using their bodies, aiming her arrows, and hitting the several level 2s remaining in the vicinity. [Stormdoer (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Hui Mouse (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Stormdoer (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Juju Toad (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Juju Toad (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] With the leaders gone, the mob soon started showing signs of disorganization, making it easier to deal with them. She no longer dared to spend the tiny mana she had left and took out her katana. In this last leg, they had no choice but to go beyond their limits. Even when their joints were hurting they continued to slash, parry, and hit like no tomorrow. Because, well, if they really failed to fight, there really won''t be one in the future anymore. Another hour later, the mobs on their side had finally lightened up. They looked at the sky to realize it happened at dawn. It was as if the sky cleared of the darkness, and welcomed the light. It felt extra meaningful to finish a fight to see this sight. [Congratulations! You have reached level 5!] [You have been assessed for occupation: Pharmacist] [You have been assessed for occupation: Archer] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 5 (200/15000) Life: 120/800 Spirit: 143/800 (-5%) +50 Physical: 145 (-5%) +40 Agility: 147 (-20%) +10 Defense: 94 +94 Mana: 800 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Althea naturally saw the unusual notices and the new line in her stats. However, she did not have the time to study this. At the thought that they¡ªa group with the weakest level 2¡ªhad such a hard time, they couldn''t imagine how a group of level 1s¡ªeven if there were hundreds of them¡ªcould handle this tribulation. The group did not even allow themselves another moment of respite, and they rushed to the territory, hoping to rescue a few more lives. Chapter 56 Carnage TRIGGER WARNING: Gore ... ____ The group arrived in the vicinity of Royal Territory a few hours later. Their hearts were heavy on the way as they passed through a forest that was basically flattened by the waves of monsters. As they approached, the scene slowly unfolded in front of them, and immediately they were surrounded by an atmosphere of despair and depression. Amongst a chilling silence, their senses were engulfed in the smell of rust and their eyes soon meet with the desolate landscape inside what used to be the fence. What met them was the gruesome scene of dismembered bodies lying around, their corpses laid haphazardly on the ground. Some bodies were torn apart and dismembered, while some were twisted and contorted as if more than one monster took turns to consume them. The putrid odor that oozed out of the ground hit their very souls. Grotesque remnants of life surrounded them. Bodies and limbs were torn apart, and insides haphazardly thrown on the ground. Inside these torn bodies, one could see the bones and sinew, and the blood-soaked the soil red. The faces on the corpses were frozen in a terrified expression, telling them of the horror and hopelessness the people felt when all this was happening. Sheila and Maya sobbed, Fufi howled a painful tune, and even Harold covered his eyes as he cried. Their hearts were heavy with sorrow, the image of the carnage stamped in their minds. Althea stood still and did not sob like the others. She could not. Whether she liked it or not, she was their pillar. Even if she wanted to break down, for the sake of the group she had to hold herself back. In the end, Althea sighed and looked around, trying to compartmentalize and study the scene as much as she could. Half the buildings have been completely demolished, and none were undamaged. Only the main structures of the larger buildings like the castle were unscathed, but the walls were still taken down by the mob. Hiding inside the buildings would have been useless. At this time, while the mob had mostly cleared up, there were still dozens of monsters eating up the remaining bodies. The group quickly pulled out their weapons and killed all the monsters in the vicinity. "What happened? Wasn''t this area a low-level safe area?" Harold looked around in aghast. Counting the corpses¡­ there should be very few, if any, who managed to escape. "Don''t assume anything, it could kill you." Althea said. She actually had an idea what happened, it was just that its confirmation required her to build her territory first. The team walked around to look for survivors, and gathered the corpses together to be buried. "Someone''s here!" Harold yelled near the former Lord castle. The group ran to them and they saw a familiar man with chocolate-colored skin on the ground. It was Eugene, covering his blood-covered ex, obviously in an attempt to protect her. Sheila sighed in melancholy. "This is true love." Unfortunately, only Eugene had a pulse left and Sheila was quick to perform the necessary first aid. A veteran was a veteran, even with his legs like this, the vitality was still strong. The man''s huge hand covered Sheila''s, grasping a lifeline. "S-Save h-her¡­ my .. child¡­" he gasped out. "Don''t talk," Sheila assured but she dared not tell him the girl, who was apparently pregnant, was already gone. He would lose the will to live and then he would be 100% hopeless. "We''ll do our best." Eugene stared at her for a moment before finally losing consciousness. Althea handed her some medicines which stopped the bleeding and added life and spirit. On the other hand, they moved the girl''s body amongst the corpses. Sheila couldn''t help but shed a few more tears. "So¡­ she was pregnant." The nurse whispered. "It must be why she attached herself to Bobby." Althea nodded. "She had to choose between her man and her child." A moment of silence passed by their group, before they started to wordlessly do their own tasks. They put the issue aside for now, as they continued rummaging the ruins and looking for any signs of life. Althea somehow ended up in the house they rented. One of the walls had given way, but it was not load-bearing so the rest of the house was fine. She felt something inside and her senses sharpened. She was level 5 now and her senses have improved several folds since her time in Terran. Her feet stopped when she thought she heard something, raising her hand to stop Sheila¡ªwho was perusing with her¡ªfrom making any noise. She closed her eyes to concentrate and, indeed, there was a soft sound. It was the sound of breathing. It was very weak, yes, but it was definitely there. She turned to the direction she heard it from and opened the bathroom door. Instead of a rescue, however, she was met with a putrid odor and a pool of blood. Immediately, she saw a half-eaten Priya lying down on the floor of the toilet, her corpse''s eyes wide open in terror. The part that was eaten was her stomach, the one with the child. It was a horrifying scene, and they could even see a small leg hanging out of Priya''s stomach, left out by the monster that killed it. Perhaps the monster was already full and didn''t eat her entirety. Sheila, who had just entered beside her, let out a cry. It was so loud that Harold and Maya came running. Althea on the other hand was also sad, but she was focused more on the sound of breathing. There was no way it came from Priya. She carefully put Priya''s corpse aside and the breathing was heard more clearly. Her eyes widened and she quickly looked inside the gap. It was Sheila who moved first and looked inside the hole. "Theodore!" She cried and took the child out of the makeshift cloth that carried his whole weight from falling. The child was so weak it couldn''t even cry. Althea took out one of her baby bottles and added diluted solutions of her medicines inside. She also added a sleeping solution, so he didn''t have to see his mother''s mauled corpse. Sheila quickly coaxed the child to drink and finally breathed a sigh of relief as he drank. They watched the child closely, making sure he was healthy, before returning their attention back to Priya''s body. Harold took a deep breath before lifting Priya''s corpse. They didn''t have any cloth to wrap her with and they could only incinerate her along with the others. As Harold carried the body outside to join the other corpses, Priya''s hands fell and something fell down. Althea walked to it and bent down, to realize it was the bracelet her husband gave her. Althea paused, taking it in her hand with a depressed heart. In the end, she kept it in her space, hoping to give it back to Theo someday, as a keepsake. ¡­ An hour later, the group finally collected most of the bodies they could get and placed them in one area for incineration. Eugene had already woken up at this point and saw his lover''s body. His eyes were wide, as if absorbing what he was seeing, but it didn''t take long for the scene to dawn on him, and he let out a spine-chilling cry. He wanted to drag himself to the fire, as if to join his dead family. Harold could only hold him back, his own heavy heart weighing him down. But Theo¡ªbless his young soul¡ªwalked beside him and embraced the man, as if sensing the despair and instinctively went to comfort him. Eugene froze in shock before breaking down, hugging the child to his bloodied body. He cried his heart out, but the child didn''t make a sound. The sight heavily affected her psyche, and Althea''s hands were gripped tightly, her eyebrows uncharacteristically furrowed for hours that followed. Her spirit had already been drained because of the fight, and now this sight made her feel so heavy that she was too tired to even bother with the pregnancy symptoms nearly debilitating her. It could be said that this was the worst mood Althea had been in since the migration. Turning her head away from the fire and the cries, she went to the so-called fence. She stood still a few meters away from the fence, studying, trying to distract herself. Her eyes stayed at the completely demolished fence and realized it was more of a demarcation line than a protection. She thought there''d be more functions or even a repelling function. This meant it only provided minimal defense and was completely useless against a monster mob. It was only as strong as it looked. Her whole body felt heavy. It seemed that owning a territory didn''t necessarily mean you could be safe¡­ Will she be able to protect anyone or even herself and her child? How fragile hundreds of lives were¡­ Even deep into that night, hours after the ordeal, it was the question that echoed in her head. She wrapped her arms around herself in the duvet blanket as she laid, her entire body trembling in sorrow. Her eyes rested on the broken wood window of the lord''s castle, emerald eyes fixed on one of the dual moons visible from her side. It was these moments she especially missed her husband. She couldn''t help but remember his warm touch, protective shoulders, and reassuring voice. No matter how strong a person was, they needed to have an anchor that allowed them to just let go. Her husband was that one existence. "My love¡­," she mumbled as she hugged herself to sleep, the light of the two moons illuminating her sad figure and tears lining up her eyes. "Where are you?" S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 57 The Husband - Part 1 Gorgon Ridge, 12 kilometers from Twinwave Town "Captain! Watch out!!" A voice yelled, pulling a strikingly handsome man out of his reverie. Flinching, Garan barely dodged the sharp canine of the sabertooth Hyena, his ebony-colored hair singed slightly by the attack. His sharp eyebrows furrowed as his eyes focused on the enemy ahead. Instinctively, he raised his lean muscular arms and a huge spear made of ice appeared, stabbing the monster''s eye. The monster roared in pain, but otherwise, the damage was minimal. At best, it only got angrier. With the cone stuck in its eye, the monster jumped in his direction, its large palm creating a small crater where he stood. The man temporarily shook away his distraction from earlier, using a lot of mana to reinforce the ice spear, making it strong enough to handle his next wave of attacks. He made swift movements both to attack and defend, his sculpted muscles flexed beneath his taut skin, showcasing strength and agility in each movement. In the midst of the attacks, the man''s chiseled face clenched as he surveyed his opponent. He judged its life to still be a quarter-full, and its movements only slowed by a bit from its peak. His sharp cerulean eyes zoned in on more potential weaknesses he could exploit. Similarly, the monster''s menacing eyes were also observing him, ready to maul him at another moment of distraction. Garan looked at his mana which was already less than half, limiting his reservoir of skills to use by a third. After a moment of consideration, he chose a skill to use. [Used Iced Ground (D), -15 Mana] Ice condensed from his feet, immediately crawling from his area toward the monster. Because it wasn''t able to avoid it, the skill successfully hindered its movements. It only lasted a few seconds before the Monster lifted its paws again, but it was enough for Garan to climb up its back in its distraction, using another skill to skewer a weak spot¡ªthe small pinch of soft skin behind its neck¡ªto finally kill the damned thing. [Used Stalagmite (D), -25 Mana] When the monster escaped the bind, it didn''t even look up at the large block of ice his size appeared above his head. Garan jumped over the ice, adding his weight, and then let gravity do its work. SPLACK! [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv14): + 400 copper, +400 experience] He did not have any respite as the surrounding monsters roared at the same time at the loss of their leader, and immediately went berserk. It was only then they knew what they''d been fighting wasn''t that bad yet. Using the spear he blocked the attack that vaulted towards him. He swung the translucent rod around to deal with the predominantly level 12-13 mob surrounding him. Now that the leader was dead, it was much easier to deal with the rest of the mob, even if they were in the dozens. Two of his teammates took out the preliminary version of their crossbow, adding long range support to those fighting in close range. The struggled to kill each one, but not too much. With teamwork and synergy, they soon entered a zone where they could kill a monster together in a short span of time. [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv13): + 370 copper, +370 experience] [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv13): + 370 copper, +370 experience] [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv12): + 350 copper, +350 experience] Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv13): + 370 copper, +370 experience] [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv12): + 350 copper, +350 experience] [...] Seeing that his teammates didn''t need help, Garan continued to focus on his fight at hand. He killed a few more level 12s and 13s, consuming his manifested elemental ability. When the ice disappeared, Garan carefully looked at his remaining mana and the surviving monsters, making a quick calculation. Soon, stainless steel knives appeared around him, hitting the weak spots of the handful of monsters that surrounded him with skill and precision. Finally, using the physical skills he learned early on, which consumed a lot less mana, he finished off the ones still moving. As for the rest of the team, they also killed off the mob they were against. There were plenty of injuries and a lot of blood but none were fatal, thankfully. It was at this moment of respite that an exclamation on the side sounded. "AH!" It was a loud yell, making everyone raise their guards again, only to find out it was one of them celebrating. "I''m finally level ten!!" A pale-skinned soldier, Luis, yelled in glee. His team, after heaving sighs of relief, both congratulated and mocked him. "You realize you''re the last one right?" Luis ignored them and placed his hands together looking as if he was squeezing something, as if he was constipated. His teammates wanted to tease him, to tell some bad joke about poop, but sparks appeared in between his hands. It was tiny and would have the damage of 0, but it was enough to make the youngest soldier ecstatic. "I did it!" This was followed by a few soldiers rubbing his head to congratulate him (which he didn''t appreciate) followed by mocking hoots at how an ancient match was better. Garan smiled a bit at the sight of his soldiers. They worked very hard on this mission, and he thought he ought to reward them. Especially, they didn''t suffer any loss this time. "Then let''s celebrate with a barbeque!" They all cheered. Garan froze the bodies of meat to sell and left a couple for a barbeque party. He had always been a great cook, years of training done purely to satisfy his wife. After discovering some by-products from various plants (thanks to his wife''s obsession, he had learned a bit of fur), he had made his own set of condiments. He gave the rights to distribute to the Rolan Mercenary team. He was also pretty well-off now, and they weren''t dirt poor as before. He could still remember their penniless state during the first few weeks of arriving. At the time, they relied on findings in the wild to survive, as the living conditions in the town they landed near to was too high. Of course, even with the dividends, they weren''t rich either. After all, finding information all over the continent to find a way home was in no way inexpensive. "Your team is really good!" Bart, the horizontally-blessed head of the Rolan mercenary regiment, said with a large smile, visible on his bushy face. The Rolan Mercenary Team was the group they partnered up with for this mission. Bart approached Garan, who was undressing to take care of his wound. He sincerely praised them. When he first met them a few months back, the average level was three¡ªthe level of children. Now the weakest was level ten. Of course, this was nothing compared to his team, but the rate of promotion was very impressive. Further, they were all incredibly strong for their level. The captain, Garan, could defeat a monster only two levels lower than him alone, and still standing. In his many years as a mercenary, this was not possible at all. This was particularly true with monsters above level ten that have improved bodies that required at least 5 skilled mercenaries of the same level to deal with. This showed how much skill this team had, and that they would definitely be able to take on most human opponents with higher levels with relative ease. And finally, the most important factor of his friendliness was one fact: They were all elemental masters. Elemental masters. Not even 1 out of 10 strongmen were blessed with this. This was why he and his team, actually condescended to partner with the then-weaklings. And it paid off. And the rate of return was amazing. Garan nodded, giving credit to where it was due. They were actually transported 3 months earlier, during the top-secret mission the World Union sent them to. It was to deal with odd alien monster that appeared in what appeared to be a black hole. However, as they fought against these monsters, the space around them suddenly ripped apart. They watched as the tanks and other big weapons disintegrated and felt their own souls being pulled out of their bodies. When they mysteriously arrived at a forest filled with unfamiliar vegetation, two-thirds of their people were already lifeless corpses, as if their souls were taken from their bodies. And after various adventures three months later, the original one hundred survivors was reduced to a little over a score. The enemies here... were too strong, especially when the first arrived. They were not prepared for it at all. The guns that managed to ''pass through'' with them were only useful for monsters below level 5. It couldn''t even scratch the skin of stronger monsters. However, it was also because of the weapons they had on hand that they survived long enough to gather strength to kill monsters on their own. He was now level 16 and the lowest among the others was level 10, Luis, who got delayed because he was severely injured for more than a month on a mission. In fact if it wasn''t for their rigorous training, they would have died having such low levels when they entered. At this level at least, they could now barely be considered a low-level mercenary team. This was actually an impressive feat. After all, they''ve been here only for three months. The average level of combat-type professionals in their 30s was level 15. It was gravely lacking compared to other established mercenary teams, but it wasn''t a bad accomplishment. It was just that no one felt it was enough, no one felt they were fast enough, no matter how much the indigenous people complimented them. They were rushing¡ªrushing to be stronger, because only if they were stronger would they get access to more resources and better networks. It was only this way that they could finally find a way home. ¡ªThe image of his beautiful wife appeared in front of his mind, a sharp pain of longing gripping his heart¡ª It was the only way he could be with his wife again. Chapter 58 The Husband - Part 2 "Hey, Brandon! Help me out with the meat!" A dark-skinned man called a handsome blonde. He had a large build and his once-bald head was now filled with curly hair. The blonde, Brandon, then threw wind blades and cut the meat in relatively equal sizes. On another side, a pale-skinned bald soldier grabbed the collar of a narrow-eyed man." Mao, stop eating that! That''s still raw!" The man looked heartbroken when the meat was taken away and thrown back to the fire. "But¡ª" Several lively scenes happened simultaneously around the campfire. The group ate happily, not saving on the Captain''s signature sauce, and the indigenous mercenary team benefited from the good food. Bart sat beside Garan, chewing the delicious Hyena thigh in his hand. "What''s that weapon?" He asked, head pointing at Jake and Brandon, the people who used the crossbow. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan paused, and looked at the man, before finally speaking. "It''s something we''re developing. We will sell it to you once we perfect it." Those two had just triggered the Weapons Maker Occupation, allowing them to create weapons that could actually damage these monsters. Even if it was just crossbows for now, they had more pronounced effects on these monsters than their guns ever did. Bart brightened at this and cheered with his mug. "That''s a deal, then." They ate harmoniously for a while, with the injured ones handling their wounds, including Garan. It was just that, Garan would soon find out he wouldn''t even be able to handle his own wound in peace. "Captain, are you okay?" A soft voice appeared near them and Bart¡ªstill chewing¡ªgave him a teasing glance. Vanessa looked at the man, trying to be subtle in her fascination. Garan was not only the most capable man around, he was also the most charming man she had ever encountered. He was extremely handsome with his ebony hair that was as dark as the night sky, still smooth after everything, and she was extremely curious what it would be like to bury her fingers there. Then there were his gorgeous blue eyes as deep as the sea, magnified by his chiseled features and strong jaw, so charming as if a woman could stare at it all day and not feel bored. Women would love to be protected by those wide shoulders and lean muscles. Being embraced by it would feel like a dream. How amazing he was in every fight; Every and each one of his movements were lithe and purposeful, and they were incredibly sexy. However, none of these thoughts showed on her face, keeping her graceful bearing. Garan frowned and looked badly at the woman, who seemed unaware of his annoyance. The woman smiled at the sight of his stare. "I''ll help you¨C" "No need." He said, as civilized as he could. But the woman still refused to hear the message, and she ''bravely'' stepped a meter towards him. He frowned even deeper; One meter was considered his personal space. Garan eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. How many women who tried entering his personal space were kicked out by him? He did not do so this time, because among her suitors were a number of his men. More importantly, her father, the general, was one of his mentors. This face, unfortunately, still had to be given. He called Turbo, someone with the most training in first aid. "You do it." The spiky-haired man flinched a little, looking at the two people in alteration, before standing up to help out the boss. Although he still hadn''t figured out how to use his element¡ªwater¡ªto heal, he had a good background in medicine as well. The woman frowned, but her face remained patient. "I''m the only military doctor here. It is my job." She said, with a tone as if she was gently convincing him. "You think my men can''t handle such a small wound?" The woman paled, causing some of the men to look at Garan with a bit of disapproval. Bart watched it all in interest. He knew this woman, the only surviving woman in this team. She was a very beautiful woman with her reddish-brown hair and green eyes. She also had a curvaceous body that most men would love to touch. With these features, combined with her noble temperament and rare medical ability, she had fascinated a lot of men. He knew at least third of the men here, including some from his team, were her suitors. From what he heard, this was the reason why she got to level ten in the first place. The men weakened the monsters and even demobilized them, and she would get the final kill. But¡­, as fun of a show this woman could give, he had an instinctive dislike for such a woman. "I only hope to do my job¡­" she mumbled softly, rousing the pity of a lot of the men. She took another step closer, looking like the concerned maiden who only wanted to help. Garan raised his hand to stop her. "I don''t like women other than my wife getting close to me." He said, and he said so with finality. He wasn''t even exaggerating. As a good-looking orphan, there were no few old women who wanted to pervert him. Sometimes¡­ these women were even maternal figures he respected. He bit flesh out of their hands, scratched their faces, and many other things that got him severely punished. It was only when an accident happened to Althea when he was trapped in isolation that he started behaving himself like a normal civilized person around these disgusting women. This was also why he felt extremely uncomfortable around the opposite sex. Worse, if they showed even the most subtle intentions towards him, he would directly feel like vomiting. Like at this moment. Fortunately, he had the decency not to show it. It was only when he was with Althea¡ªthe beautiful angel he more or less raised himself¡ªthat he didn''t feel that way. She had always been, and always will be, the only exception. "You don''t have to be so defensive¡ª" At this time Gill, his right hand man, sneered. Vanessa turned her head to the other handsome soldier. Gill was also a very charismatic man with sharp features and his skin smooth and white, very much unlike a soldier. If she were to compare, she would associate him more to the male leads of those saucy stories her roommate used to gush on. He was more akin to a vampire, especially with how he bit people with sarcastic remarks all the time. "Don''t think of us as fools, Vanessa. Captain doesn''t like you, period, please stop being delusional." He said frankly, biting off a piece of meat in his hand and Vanessa felt he just bit off her dignity. "No matter how beautiful, no woman is even worth a finger of sister Althea." This guy was famous for his mercurial character, and was known to only be friendly to people he acknowledged. At least the boss still gave her a bit of a face, Gill would not. Vanessa didn''t dare provoke anymore, lest she wanted to be humiliated in public. At this point young Luis, who was practicing his fire technique, exclaimed. "I did it! It lasted more than ten seconds!" The people stared at him and after a while Turbo, who had been dutifully preparing the gauze and medicine, sneered at him and yelled in a joking tone: "Ancient matches last even longer." Luis looked aghast. "You!" Then he proceeded to show off and tried to throw his fire¡­speck¡­at the man. Turbo sneered and his fingers made a gun gesture and a tiny line of water went out of the tip. Needless to say, the speck was easily killed. Luis looked at his drenched palm, and he felt like crying. "No fair!" This made everyone around laugh at him. This little interlude successfully dissipated the awkward air created by Vanessa, and soon the group resumed eating happily and started chattering about random things again, until it was time to rest. ¡­ Garan took first watch, and he was set in the middle of the crowd, while the others took post in the surroundings. He stared at the bonfire, the silence let him enter a state of deep melancholy. He couldn''t help but remember the sharp pain in his chest when he was fighting. Was it his wife? Was his wife crying? He thought to himself but no one would be able to answer his question. He took out a worn-out photo of his beautiful wife. It was a photo of her before their wedding, during their prenuptial photo shoot. It was set in one of her favorite Botanical gardens, the one with the largest variety, and a famous tourist spot. She was wearing a beautiful moss-green dress that matched her deep emerald eyes very well. The various flowers in the background were mere foils to her brightness. He had chosen this dress, himself. She was smiling widely, looking at the person behind the camera¡ªhim¡ªand he recalled that she called him at that time. He remembered when she held his hand and gave him a kiss, telling him how excited she was to tell him of her vows. His finger unconsciously rubbed the sheet harder and it took part of the photo paper with it. He frowned at the damage in the same place, thinking of how to keep it from falling apart. It had always been kept safely in space, but his unconscious rubbing the past months wore it out. If only he could charge his phone, he could stare at her with thousands of photos in there. He heaved a sigh, pushing down the uncontrollable emotions because they wouldn''t bring him anywhere near her. It was not easy, however, it never was. Garan yearned for his wife and was worried about her health. He was gone for so long, maybe he was already declared dead. Which bastard was trying to ''console'' her this time? It wasn''t the first time he was thought dead. Especially that bastard Ansel by virtue of his status as a younger brother-in-name, took advantage all the time. Thinking of this, the sense of urgency to find his wife was raised at an all-time high. He abruptly stood up and couldn''t help but stare at the two moons, as if she could see it, as if they were looking at the same moom. Wait for me, Althea. Chapter 59 Eugene Althea was in a daze, it felt like she had a very good dream, as if a familiar voice and warmth lulled her to sleep. She didn''t know what it was but she felt comfortable and safe, as if she just had the most comfortable rest she had in a while. But before she could dwell on it, the ground started shaking again, completely shaking off all signs of lethargy from her body. Her heart jumped and her eyebrows furrowed as she quickly packed up and ran to the others. Everyone else was also woken up by an earthquake and was similarly packing up. They gathered what they could in space and grabbed the others, running to the nearest exit. Fortunately, it wasn''t too big of an earthquake and none of them lost their balance as they rushed out. They quickly got up and ran out of the building, with Harold carrying Eugene and Sheila with Theodore. "Another mob?!" Harold exclaimed, his gray eyebrows furrowed in worry. They couldn''t handle that much by themselves! The others couldn''t answer him as they proceeded to run for their lives. But¡ª They soon realized the earthquake stopped the moment they got out of the building. The ground was still and they almost lost their balance, disoriented. Harold even tripped and barely managed to keep himself from falling, especially since he had a dead weight on his back. The group couldn''t help but look at each other in puzzlement. They stared around them to see and found that it was only the buildings that were shaking. And they were shaking by themselves. "What¡­ is going on?" Harold mumbled out loud and Sheila cluelessly shook her head. All the commotion also woke up the other two. Eugene groaned and his eyebrows crunched when he saw buildings shake. He blinked and for a while thought he was dizzy, until he saw that the others were just as confused. He awkwardly got out of Harold''s back, using the stick in his space as support. Eventually, the vibrations stopped. For a moment, the air was still and they were extremely puzzled as to what was happening. However, a change soon happened, and it was as magical as it was depressing. From the top of the buildings, each building block slowly turned to powder. Slowly, but surely, the ones below suffered the same fate. Little by little, it was as if the buildings turned to ashes, carried away by the wind. The group watched as the buildings disintegrated into dust, with a heavy mood. "How come?" Sheila uttered, looking at her companions in confusion. Althea stared blankly at the floating dust, feeling melancholic."Perhaps the buildings would fall when the territory did." "Just now?" Althea nodded, voicing out her guess. "It could also mean that Bobby King just died." Everyone was silent, and Althea couldn''t help but think more deeply. That was to say, if her supposition was correct, when the Lord of a territory died, the entire territory would die with him or her. Well, at least no citizen of hers would try to attack her if they found out about her status. Perhaps. The air was stagnant for a while, with everyone absorbing what had just happened. But soon they heard an incongruent sound right next to them. "¡ªhehe¡­.hehehehehe" They turned to injured Eugene who was giggling like a lunatic. He was laughing so hard that he lost support and fell on the dirt. Theo wanted to run to him, but Harold carried the child, afraid the less-abled man had gone insane. "He finally died." Abruptly stopping and suddenly tears lined up his eyes. "That bastard¡­" he mumbled, voice speaking as he sobbed. "He threw Mina as a Shield." When the fence was destroyed the ban for him was also lifted, it was pure luck that there were other people that interested the monsters than the incomplete him. Perhaps it was also because he smelled a lot like metal, as he had been wearing special bionic legs for years that made him unattractive to the monsters. Because of this, he was still able to see Mina one last time. He could still remember what occurred like it was still happening. That bastard¡­ that bastard threw his Mina out to block an attack. He could still remember Mina''s expression of terror, how she tried to keep to herself holding her stomach, and how useless it was. He ran and ran to her only to see an arm bit off the moment she was thrown, and then her entire lower body a second later. He rushed as fast as he could to her, but he couldn''t help but see Bobby''s expression at the time, and it was etched in his head forever. Instead of guilt, the man''s eyes were filled with disgust written all over his face. "A broken woman with another man''s child!" He yelled and ran away, not caring for Mina''s life and death. It felt like he was struck by thunder at the time and he could only yell as he saw Mina fall, using his last strength to cover her body. He knew he was too late but he still covered her, determined to be with her in the last moments. He did not even notice that after biting off his leg, the monster spit it out in disgust. He was in too much pain emotionally and physically he didn''t even realize his remaining leg was gone. It was even wasted. He just thought that Mina''s abandonment made sense. They lost their parents in the same accident when they were young. They had been close friends since then and fell in love as a man and a woman only a few years back. They have been lovers only for a few years, but it felt like they spent a lifetime together. They both had a special fondness for children and had thought of adopting a lot of orphans when they got married. If he found out she was pregnant, he would no doubt do his best to give them the best¡ªeven in exchange for his life. After all, what could he, a disabled waste, do? He felt his soul dwelling deeper and deeper into depression, and will soon be unable to lift himself up anymore. But then he felt a warm hand on his arm, pulling him out of the bog. It was little angel Theodore, who had noticed the wild emotions, had gotten out of Harold''s hold and ran to him for a hug. Eugene froze for a little, unused to the warmth. But he soon felt his remaining limbs and he embraced the little boy into his arms, wanting to feel more of the pure, innocent, warmth he hadn''t encountered for a long, long, time. ¡­. The group gathered themselves well before continuing on to their journey East. Theodore was very sticky with Sheila who had taken care of him, as well as with Eugene who needed him to survive. They didn''t know how the child was so mature, he did not ask for his mother. He only looked listless from time to time but he never gave them trouble. To be honest, it was more heartbreaking the better behaved he was. Althea couldn''t help but pat her own stomach, heart hurt when she thought of the situation where they wouldn''t have their parents around them. Eugene, on the other hand, seemed to have imprinted on Theodore, probably projecting on him the unborn child that died. While not sustainable, it was a good alternative for a man who had lost his will to live. They allowed him a moment of respite to gather himself. He held the little boy''s hand, gently patting, his dark eyes soon showing a flicker of life. And, to a degree, he did recover. To the point that he took out some tools from his space and manufactured himself a flexible stick leg, like the one he had on before it was detached due to all the commotion. Although they were sticks and he had trouble balancing himself, he did eventually stand up by himself. It was obviously an intricate construction, and he did it with ease. It was quite impressive. Suddenly, Eugene became more than just a pitiful less-abled guy who was dumped by his pregnant girlfriend. Harold, in particular, became more enthusiastic. He approached Eugene and patted his shoulders amicably (because patting his metallic legs was weird, no matter how curious he was). As if interviewing an idol, the old man asked the younger man a lot of questions. After this bit of obsessive questioning by Harold, they soon found out more about Eugene. Eugene Sparks, 31 years old, was a practicing technician. He graduated in mechanical engineering, but a few years ago every man above 18 and below 50 years old was required to serve in the military for 3 years. Everyone looked at him in admiration making him feel awkward, while Althea''s eyes brightened for a different reason altogether. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A mechanical engineer?! Expert! Recruit! She couldn''t help but study the group''s coincidental composition. Somehow, she managed to gather experts in their own fields, and maybe they could let their talents shine in her territory, helping it as well in turn. They now had a food expert, a medical expert, a plant and resource expert (her), three cute mascots, and finally¡­ an engineer. Althea thought that the population of her (currently non-existent) territory was small, but it was really high quality. She was really looking forward to how it''d look in the end. She refused to believe that what she had seen in Royal Territory was all there could be! Chapter 60 Lord Token "If the military enlistment was required earlier, maybe more people would have survived." Harold said, imagining the scenario of a population filled with strongmen who knew what to do in a disaster. Although he didn''t want to experience it himself, having the skills would''ve definitely made him less dependent on the girls. Although he was old, he still cared about his masculinity! To some degree, anyway. What they didn''t know yet was that a lot of Edenian men survived after the transfer, relative to other demographics, primarily because of this mandatory enlistment requirement. In terms of survivability, it could be said that Edenian citizens, especially young men, made up for a large bulk of the population. "Well, our world had entered a time of utter peace and integration," Eugene told them. "Even as a soldier, the number of fights I encountered wasn''t much, not compared to our predecessors." Eugene entered the military a few years prior after his contract with a company expired, with the unfortunate accident happening in his final year of mandatory service. Ironically, what got his hand was a machine malfunction he was tasked to fix. He wasn''t able to move his hand for a while after the accident, and it was only a month back that he started to be able to move his hand freely. Ironically, he was only able to start building things just before the damned migration, and he was not yet able to earn money from them. He wasn''t able to make up to his lover at all, he was never able to give her a good life. It had been about a year since the incident and his Mina had only been supportive of him. He had always felt guilty for holding her back, so he would never resent her for leaving him to survive. He owed her too much for that. ¡­ The group allowed themselves enough respite as they went further at their own pace. They walked according to Eugene''s pace, who was still getting used to walking without two legs. Fortunately, his thighs were intact so he could still control the direction of his ''legs''. He couldn''t help but look at the beautiful pregnant woman, recalling the medicine she asked him to take. Eugene still couldn''t believe how his wound stopped bleeding. It was incredible. The slow pace allowed them to chat with each other, easily dealing with the few aggressive mobs that came their way. The monsters were all level one, and they served as effective whetstones for the others. Just like this, a group of ''friends'', diverse in age and abilities, embarked on an adventurous trek to an unknown land. They navigated through both rocky terrains and dense outgrowing plants, easily dealing with weak mobs to strengthen themselves along the way. Everyone just followed Althea, not questioning where she was headed, believing that she really had a place in mind. As they traveled, the group also found out more about each other. For example, Harold was deadly afraid of snakes. Fortunately, they had yet to encounter a slithering critter or else he may have perished then and there. Maya once said that her father was almost run over by a car trying to escape one. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It was this small!" she said, waving her hand to show how small the snake was. It looked to be around 10 inches¡­ "Pffftt¨C" Sheila laughed out loud, while the other two chuckled reservedly. "What would you do if you encounter a snake-like monster then?" Harold shivered at the thought. For a moment, he already saw death. But then he saw his cute daughter and knew he couldn''t hide. "Well, I''d have to face it sooner or later¡­" "Or you''ll just find a cabinet to hide. Maybe rescue will come on time." Sheila said, smiling. Althea looked at her and had an idea about what she was talking about. "Like what you did?" It was around this time that they found out that Sheila was actually locked in the cabinet by a coworker, just before the zombie apocalypse came. This coworker was one of the first nurses Althea beheaded when they got together. "It was the most satisfying gruesome thing I have ever seen¡­" Sheila mumbled, thinking no one heard her. Harold chuckled, imagining a nurse''s bully unintentionally saving her life. "Not everyone is lucky to meet Althea." He added, and Sheila shrugged. "But I was. We all were." "Stop," Althea said as she walked, hands patting her stomach. "You''re making me embarrassed." The group laughed as they went, very leisurely, incomparable to how they were when they first arrived. Maya saw the adults had told their stories and proceeded to tell hers. She was very cute and was a lively storyteller. She shared a lot about herself, mostly it was about her elementary school friends and playmates, and they all felt melancholy at how unlikely things could return that way. They wondered if they would ever see children happily playing without care anymore. Except for Althea, of course, because she was an actionist, and she was bent on creating a peaceful happy home for her children. ¡­ About an hour of leisure walking later, Sheila looked at Althea curiously, because she could see Althea had a specific direction she was heading in, and she was very curious about where they were going. "Where are we going next, Althea?" Sheila asked, though she had no doubt they would follow her wherever she decided to go, even if Althea wasn''t sure of the direction. Fortunately for them, Althea already had a rough location in mind. Althea''s feet paused momentarily and turned to look at the people she''s been traveling with thus far. She pursed her lips, feeling a bit complicated, pondering what to tell them. She didn''t know what kind of event or effect activating the token would show. Should she separate from them now and just return once it was activated? Should she tell them she was going on an exploration mission with Fufi again? But...was it so necessary to hide it from them? From what she saw, they would be her travel companions for a long time. They already proved their characters and they had experienced many things together. She closed her eyes to analyze the pros and cons, and ended up following her feelings and her gut instead. "Actually¡­," She said, "I have something to tell you." . . . The group, except Maya who just ogled at her like she was her goddess, still hadn''t recovered until they neared the location a few hours later. They reached a low peak and stared at the beautiful half-valley below. It was a relatively wide area, so the slope wasn''t steep, only gently rolling. On the northwest side, there were rolling hills and mountains from as far as they could see. Interwoven with these hills was a forest, not as eerie or dense as the ones they had been to, but just right¡ªample in resources, but with manageable dangers hiding underneath. As they went deeper, more of the forest revealed itself. There was sparse undergrowth, allowing dappled sunlight to filter through, casting ethereal beams to the soil. There were a lot of delicate wildflowers, in several shades, adding a touch of beauty to the place. There was ample vegetation but not too much, there were a lot of grasslands and bushes. The mountain range opened up southwards and southeast to relatively flatter lands. In the corner of the valley, there seemed to be a reservoir of spring water seeping down to form the stream and eventually converging to the small river she saw before, about a kilometer away. She clicked on the logo of the castle and a map of the area appeared in front of her. There was also a circle and a small scale indicating that the circle had a radius of one kilometer. She moved the circle to enclose both the valley and the river, and pressed OK. [Would you like to use the Lord''s Token? Yes | No] With a bit of anticipation, Althea directly chose yes. All of a sudden, gravity on where she stood seemed to have increased a little, with the children directly falling down, the trees shaking and the air getting heavier. A circle lit up faintly underneath her feet, suddenly expanding to beyond what they could see, likely to the border she had chosen prior. A few moments later, the air returned to normal, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. [Congratulations! You have successfully created a territory. Rewarded +5000 units of wood and +3000 units of stone. What would you like to name your territory?] Althea stared at the screen for a while, interested. A name, eh? She had been so busy that it failed to enter her mind that she''d had to name the territory. Althea thought for a while and decidedly refused to depend on her own polarizing naming sense. Instead, she dug within her own memory, to the happy times back in Terran so that she would associate her territory with it. Back when they were children, her now-husband had always taken time to tell her bedtime stories. There was a particular name that stood out, because it rhymed with her name, so she liked it very much. It was an adventure storybook for children, she recalled, and its hero (male) was named Altera. It meant Proud, Powerful, and Superb. And because it sounded a lot like her name, both her husband and brother called her so when she was being domineering. She chuckled lightly at the memories, deciding on a name in her heart. Similarly, it could also be passed as just ''Higher Terran''. Ah, so convenient. With a smile, she opened her mouth to answer. "Altera." Chapter 61 Altera Village [Confirmed! Altera Village (Lv1) has been constructed. Please check the status of your territory in the territory panel.] [Please set the entrance requirements and taxation standards (changeable): Entry: Visitor pass (1-day validity): 10 copper Temporary Residency (1 month validity): 300 copper Permanent Residency: 10 gold Taxation: 10%] Good guy, that bastard Bobby raised the prices by 10 times. "Tsk, tsk." She, on the other hand, knew that the prosperity of a place was in the quantity and quality of its people, so she decided to lower some requirements. [Confirm: Entry: Visitor pass (1 day validity): 5 copper Temporary Residency: 100 copper Permanent Residency: 10 gold Taxation: 10% Yes | No] She set the entrance/temporary residence fee to at least half the default. This would not only increase her population but it would also allow the people to save more money to spend on more useful things¡ªThings that, in the long run, would eventually strengthen themselves and, by extension, the territory. However, she retained the default 10 gold for permanent residency simply because she had the confidence in the territory that she would build. If the population became saturated, she might even increase this. Wise men said that the more difficult it was to obtain, the more it would be appreciated. She hoped that at least the permanent residents would be extremely loyal to the territory. The difficulty would also add prestige to the status. And with prestige, its intangible value would increase. Of course, she''d be adding alternative ways to earn this. This was something for later. Lastly, investing so much would also make people reluctant to leave. People''s goal¡ªeven outsiders¡ªwould soon be to become permanent residents in her territory. She wanted the first thing people to think of when thinking of Altera was the good life it provided. Althea was planning on building a great territory and she believed that her land would definitely live up to its name: It would be so Proud that it would never be bullied, so Powerful that it could protect all that it should, and so Superb that it would lead the development and prosperity of those it sheltered. This was her goal. [Sheila Smith hopes to join your village as a permanent resident.] She directly clicked Yes and she looked at the men. Sheila had money because they took away valuables and safety deposit boxes in the hotel. What about the others? Harold and Eugene looked at her embarrassedly. "Well, we could only afford the temporary residency for now." Althea chuckled, she wasn''t planning on making them pay at all. However, in retrospect, they probably wouldn''t feel very comfortable with taking advantage of her like that. In the end, she found a decent alternative for them. "As the Lord''s party, I can give you an exception and take the permanent residency as credit." She said and the others brightened. A few pieces of gold appeared in her hand and handed to each one. The men brightened at this, while Maya just sparkled at the sparkly gold in her hand. "We will definitely pay you back!" Harold said, and Eugene nodded. [Harold Lee hopes to join your village as a permanent resident.] [Maya Lee hopes to join your village as a permanent resident.] [Eugene Sparks hopes to join your village as a permanent resident.] Eugene guided Theodore to do the same, which was a bit of a challenge. [Theodore Pena hopes to join your village as a permanent resident.] Althea smiled, seeing everyone now had permanent residency. "Actually I have a job for each one of you, but I''ll study the territory first." She turned her head to Sheila. "As the first permanent resident I will give you a house when I finally create one." Thinking of the house she saw in Royal Territory she frowned in distaste. Surely there were other options? Sheila almost hugged her and laughed. "Actually I hope to live with you! Just waive my rental." This made Althea smile at her fondly. Sheila grinned happily, very different from her former timid self. "Well, we''ll prepare lunch while you study. Just tell us what you need us to do, boss!" On their way here, in order to stop them from calling her Lord or her Highness, she finally agreed with them calling her Boss. It was cringey, but it was the best alternative they could think of. Althea nodded in dismissal and she turned her head to look at the now-colored logo of a castle on her bottom left. Upon clicking the icon, five tabs would appear at the right side, namely: Territory, Buildings, People, Missions, and a greyed-out Tab indicating ''Other Territories''. She opened the first tab. [TERRITORY STATS Name: Altera Village Status: Village Level 1 Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 7 Total Population: 7 Base Resources: Wood: 5000/5000 Stone: 3000/3000 Money: 9711 gold, 79267 silver, 15287 copper Reputation: 0 Buildings: None Building Slots: 0/5] Hey, her money was the territory''s money. She looked curiously at the base resource and mused how Bobby was trying to collect as much wood and stone as he could. Just how much did the buildings cost? Don''t look at one unit of stone or wood, a single unit had a mass of about 1 cubic meter. Fortunately, a territory seemed to have its own space, with the limit being the stone and wood resources cap that she could see in the stats. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Otherwise, she''d have to deal with where to place those massive cubes of resources. That aside, she quickly went to the next tab. She looked at the residences tab and was grossly disappointed. While the commoner houses Bobby chose were in the lower tier, the higher ones still weren''t worth it. The most expensive was the Lord''s Castle at 1500 wood, 800 stone, and 300 gold. No wonder the rest of the construction was so shabby. To be honest, she could not stomach consuming a building slot for any of these. She frowned, looking deeply at the panel. She would definitely not settle for anything uncomfortable. This would be their future home, after all. What was the use of a Lord token if the Lord couldn''t do what she wanted? No, no. She refused to believe this was the only option! So, she didn''t choose a house in the end. Instead, she studied the panel deeply and thoroughly trying to find a good alternative. And, indeed, she would find a very good alternative shortly after. It would still become one of the more innovative features of Altera¡ªto be known throughout the entire Xeno continent. Chapter 62 Choosing Buildings Directly skipping the disappointing Residential Tab, she began to peruse the Shops tag. Looking at the holographic images, prices, and interface theme with earthy tones, Althea thought that this felt like e-commerce on a whole different level. The restaurant required 100 wood, 50 stone, and 50 gold to produce. The other similar shops like bakery, BBQ store, and the soup store required the same. She did not even consider these, however. After tasting the restaurant, she didn''t believe the others were any better. Like the residential tab, this part would also be (temporarily) skipped. She went to the other parts of the Building Tab and saw the Weapons store and armory. These required twice the resources and gold than that of restaurants. But she mused she would definitely take this for the automatic production of weapons and armours alone. Not to mention, upgrading the buildings would also allow more powerful equipment to be available. Without anyone who could consistently create weapons, these would be essential buildings added to her list of ''to build, possibly''. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Other buildings were grayed out, indicating her level was not high enough. The third tab was marked Production. Only a 600 sqm farm was available for purchase. It increased the production of plants by 20%. Considering the fast refresh of the resources here, this 20% was immeasurable. It was just that while there was no requirement on wood or stone, the gold requirement was huge at 10 gold per 600-square-meter field. She could imagine how the other lords with only 1000 gold would fare. Would they even purchase this? Especially when there were so many resources outside? She doubted it. The fourth tab was Administration. Here, only two buildings were available, but both made her eyes brighten. The first was the Village Center. With the village center, the Lord could post missions and recruitment. She could also buy supplies in the name of the territory. She could set the buying price and quantity and people simply had to go there to sell their items for money. The Lord would also obtain the ability to send messages not only to all residents in real time, but also allied territories. It was just that the last function had a level requirement, but it wasn''t like she had allied territories anyway. Of course, being extremely useful, the price was also very beautiful. It required 200 wood, 100 stone, and 300 gold. The other administrative building was the Warehouse. The lowest level cost only 100 wood and 200 gold, but the size was 200 sqm with a 3 meter height. From the introduction, it seemed that she could also see the contents from her Lord panel next to the resource space tab. She could also take items as needed, as long as she was within the territory. It had a fresh keeping function which increased the shelf life by at least twice the time, and it would increase as the building was upgraded. Next one was Infrastructure, though for now only dirt and simple stone pathwalks were provided. Fortunately, these were very inexpensive so she didn''t have to be stingy. These also didn''t consume a building slot. Second to the last tab was Defense, and she immediately went to the Wall section. Here, she saw that a wooden fence 1 meter in height cost 0.1 wood and 5 silver per meter section. Very affordable. However, level 2 stone walls made a markedly huge price difference. 2 meter high stone walls cost 0.1 wood, 0.1 stone, and 10 silver per meter. If she chose to cover the entire territory the cost would be sky high. The perimeter of her territory was nearly 6.3 kilometers. For a level 2 fence, the per meter cost would be over 600 wood and stone each, and over 600 gold. Level 3 was even more insane, with total costs of 1000 wood and stone each, and over 1500 gold. But¡ª [Do you want to build a Wall (Lv3) for 1000 wood, 1000 stone, 1500 gold? The construction is permanent and cannot be moved, only demolished for a cost. Yes | No ] [-1000 wood, -1000 stone, - 1500 gold] Althea looked at her wealth being eaten by a bulk with a complicted expression. There was no other way: What happened to the Royal Territory really traumatized her. Although level 3 was expensive, its durability was 10 times that of the previous level, and hundreds of times better than the wooden fence. She had the money so she directly placed the wall around the entire territory. In fact, if she had enough stone and wood, she''d have built the Lv4 wall directly. One had to note that the existing walls couldn''t be moved. Even if they were upgradable, the rectification cost would not be cheap and it would still be more cost-effective to build a level 4 wall directly. It was just that the wood and stone requirements were huge and beyond her resource cap, if she were to construct other buildings as well. She''d need to level up first before getting access to the level 4 wall. She watched as a long elongated pit around the territory formed like magic, and from the bottom construction started. Althea could tell that the wall itself would also erect itself in a similar manner. Everyone ran to the area and marveled at the sight. "So cool!" "This is amazing¡­" "How much does this cost?" "This is unscientific!" "Everything is unscientific." "Oh, you''re right." Althea chuckled at their antics and resumed studying the territory tab. Finally, she came to the last tab and had no text. It was an image of gears. She opened it and as she read, her eyes became brighter and brighter. Before this, she had wondered if she had to build things on her own. But, while not impossible, this wasn''t practical. With the current situation, the manual methods she could only use were the older traditional construction methodologies. These often took months, or weeks at best. With the four of them? A good stone building could even take a year¡­ She had not forgotten that the so-called protection period will end in a few weeks¡­ at most. After all, she still wasn''t certain how long a ''month'' was in this blasted place! But now that was not a problem: Because she could, apparently, customize buildings! Chapter 63 Custom Residence (Part 1) [28 days of Protection Period] That lunch, Althea couldn''t concentrate on eating because of everyone''s heated gaze. She put down her utensils and stared them down. "Can we resume to normal please? Also, I don''t want people to know I''m the Lord here¡­" "Understood, boss!" Sheila yelled with a salute. "But I''m so curious. What does the lord''s control panel look like?" S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea sighed and gave them a rough idea, rousing a few oohs and ahhs from time to time. "That sounds amazing¡­" Harold said, and Maya bobbed her head cutely. "Does it look like a game panel?" Eugene couldn''t help but ask. He was once a normal boy who had had his share of games, after all. "It''s similar, but the theme looks¡­ medieval?" Althea mumbled after a bit of thought. The technology was really futuristic, but the entire thing felt a bit¡­ old. It was very weird. "A medieval game?" "Maybe." "But this¡­ is the real world, right?" Harold asked, and he couldn''t help but remember some old science fiction movies he had watched when he was still a young lad. "Our consciousness didn''t get taken and thrown to some game right¡­?" The girls rolled their eyes at this, while Eugene looked at him a little pale, seriously considering. The two then began on discussing some conspiracy theories, as well as what they could do. Ignoring the men''s overactive imaginations, Sheila just turned back to the boss, asking more about the very interesting Lord panel. Sheila couldn''t help but think of their accommodations tonight, and her face scrunched at the recollection of the houses in Royal Territory. "What about the residences?" She asked, a worried expression on her face. "They''re not all like¡­ that, right?" If they had a choice, they would naturally want to live comfortably. They could be a bit choosy. Their boss was the lord here, after all! Althea nodded at this and gently put down her spoon. "This is what I actually want to talk about." She said, turning to Eugene, who was discussing something about ''quests to find the mastermind'' with Harold. "Eugene." "Ah! Yes¡­" "All the residential options aren''t ideal, so I plan on customizing myself. Although we could only customize one, for now, I think it''s worth using this slot on this." Being pregnant was uncomfortable enough. She really didn''t want to wrong herself, not when she clearly had the power to avoid it. The 300 square meter limit for the custom house was more than enough. As long as the building was used as a permanent residence, it could be used to do whatever they wanted. She handed her portable tablet to Eugene. "Can you by some chance design a water supply and waste system for a self-sustaining house? Here''s the folder of past knowledge about this issue." Eugene gaped at the tablet, scrolling and scrolling and his eyes turned brighter and brighter the more he saw. Eugene''s eyes absolutely sparkled at the plethora of information in his hand, not expecting the Boss to save up detailed knowledge. "Can I copy?" He asked, lifting his head up with a bright face¡ªvery unlike his somber disposition a few days prior. He then shyly revealed his own tablet from space, amusing everyone. Good guy, he also had his own tablet. But then he realized the battery was gone and his shoulders slumped in disappointment. They inexplicably found this a little cute. "I have a charger here." Althea chuckled and released the smaller solar charger. "And yes, you may copy whatever data that you need." "Thanks, boss!" Eugene said, immediately transferring the data he wanted. Afterwards Althea and Eugene took advantage of the light, and made a digital blueprint using their tablets, using the built in programs to assist them in their calculations, drawings, and the like. The others on the other hand, after finding out the importance of wood and stone, ventured to areas within the territory to gather the resources. Over half a day later the designing duo whipped out a satisfactory modular model that could be used in more than one way. However, before they checked, they were pulled by Sheila somewhere, to stand in front of small hills of both wood and stone.. They apparently gathered resources, as a contribution to the team. Althea smiled and naturally gave them the compliments they deserved. Her smile made their day. Althea stood in front of the hills and raised her hand, using willpower to try to place the items in the inventory. [Would you like to place 16 units of wood and 7 units of stone in the Territory space? Yes | No] She gladly took it and turned her head to the others. "How long do you think a level 1 person would take to gather 1 unit of wood and 1 unit of stone?" She asked them, thinking of the buying price she''d be setting. "I would take about half a day to gather 5 units of each." Sheila said. "Low level people will probably be able to do about 3 to 5 units of wood a day or 2 to 3 of stone." She nodded, taking note. "How much did Bobby buy it for?" Housekeeper-Harold reported this time. "If I remember correctly one unit of stone is bought for 10 copper, and wood is 5." "This seems okay." Althea said, mentally setting up the buying price for resources. Even if the buying was the same with Bobby''s, the cost of living was poles apart. Bobby charged a huge amount for that trashy food, she would not. It was unforgivable. In the Royal Territory, ten copper coins wouldn''t get you anywhere. In Altera, on the other hand, ten copper coins could get you a lot of things. Her goal was to provide people with their basic needs, as long as they were not lazy and were willing to do fair work for fair rewards. Even if they just gathered resources for most of the day, she hoped they would be able to afford decent meals and have a roof over their heads. In her vision, everyone had the basics, at the bare minimum. It was only when people had the basics could they have the consciousness to truly want to contribute to the whole¡ªto contribute to the territory. Their territory. Not just hers. Chapter 64 Custom Residence (Part 2) After settling the resources, the group soon gathered around to see the draft of the house to study it. The maximum built area allowed by the system for a level 1 Custom building was 300 square meters. It had no other limitations on the floor area. She and Eugene had initially considered doing 3 floors with 100 sqm each floor, but later decided against it when they found their systems¡ªand the available materials¡ªcould only fight so much gravity. They had to recalculate a lot of things because they found out the gravity was nearly twice that of Terran! Their bodies were just strengthened, combined with the stressful situation from the get-go, that they didn''t feel the difference! S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In the end, they opted for a house module of 2-storeys, with each floor about 120 sqm in size. It had two bedrooms per floor, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. For single detached houses, each house had its own septic tank that processed the waste to fertilize the front and backyards by the newly studied waste stabilization techniques from Terran. The sitting toilet was made of carved stone, which was a bit uncomfortable for those who grew up with porcelain toilets, but it was enough for now. They didn''t even have the most basic ceramics, how could they have porcelain? The pipes were fine because they could choose system materials¡ªwhich wasn''t a huge collection¡ªand they could find a decent waterproof stone alternative. Speaking of, the pipes were all internal within the property. For now, people would still have to get their water from the river or the spring. She simply didn''t have the capability to create the utility infrastructure as of yet. Each floor would also have its own water tanks, with pipes to the kitchen and bathroom. The waste water from the sink will also be maximized. After combing through her notes, she had found a plant with similar properties to corn cob, which can be used to purify gray water. In this way, no water would be wasted at all. Very sustainable. And she was quite proud of that. They also made the early low-tech versions of a biogas digester for gas. The cooking gas it could produce was limited, but it would be enough for a small team to use every day. Further, the stones they found were less porous and could be used in this relatively simple construction. They didn''t want that thing to smell after all. There were also double walls, high ceilings, and other techniques like provisions for heated floorings and good ventilation. This was in case of extreme weather changes, whichever direction it was. They added insulation sheets under the roofs, made from local materials, of course. During the half day drawing of the blueprint, Althea also tested a lot of the plants she hoarded on the way. One of which was hemp and other plants they could obtain straw from. There were also metamorphic rocks they found that would be a good fire retardant, so they didn''t have to worry about the insulating materials catching fire. It was similar to asbestos, except the carcinogens were non-existent. Even if there were carcinogens, she doubted it would cause damage due to their improved physiques. The final floor to use the remaining 60 square meters was the basement or cellar, about 2 meters in depth. As for how the residents sharing the house would divide its use, it would be up to them. Sadly they couldn''t give electricity for now, mostly because of the unavailability of the raw materials. However, electricity was something she added among the top of her must-figure out list. For now, they used a lamp made of alternative materials to contain a torch or a lamp lights. But the most attractive feature of custom buildings was that, after finalization of the main structure and functions, the shell itself was highly changeable on a per-building basis (for a cost, of course). For instance, if they decided to build duplex houses, they could. If they wanted to combine two units seamlessly into one, they also could. If they wanted to combine two rooms, they could. And so on. Basically, as long as the main structures were untouched, one could pretty much customize. Or course, for a few silvers. She planned on eventually making themed communities to add color to her territory. They took another look at their creation in admiration. It was so good. Considering the resources that they had, anyway. Unfortunately, its cost was insane, and a part of her wondered if it was worth it. Most people probably wouldn''t choose to activate the Custom Building option because the one-time cost of a blueprint implementation alone was a whooping 500 gold coin, at the minimum. In her case, she checked, and the cost was over 1000 gold coins¡­ However, the cost per building should still be fair. Generally, the residential buildings (except for luxury houses like the Lord''s castle) were much more affordable than other functional buildings. A small standard bungalow house in the market was about 150 silver, the two storey houses were about 300 silver or so. She didn''t know yet the final cost of her custom house as she hadn''t confirmed the production yet, and she was a little worried. She looked at the fascinated people beside her, looking at the design, probably wondering what it was like to use it. "What about you guys? If you were to design your home, what would you change?" They were surprisingly vocal about this. "A bigger kitchen with an island counter would be good." "I would have a big anteroom. The living room is a bit private for me¡­" Sheila said. "A slide, a slide!" Maya helpfully added. Theodore also nodded in agreement. The suggestions lasted for several minutes afterwards. This got Althea thinking, what if she provided a custom design service? There would be an exclusive community for these people, and she could reap even more profit! Of course, the first step was to actually get people to the territory. After all... She really placed her territory in the middle of nowhere. And she was very far from where majority of the population landed. Chapter 65 The Berti Family (Part 1) Bright Territory Ansel and Tom stood nearby the gates of the territory, right next to the dirt road to see the new batch of refugees as closely as possible. They watched each new person enter the territory with sharp, but concerned eyes. They scanned each new face, hoping to see familiar faces. They were not alone, in fact, as there were about a dozen others trying to see if there were people they knew among the crowd. The air was heavy with anticipation. One by one, they watched as the weary refugees emerged from the gates and to their sights. As it was in the previous batches, they saw more and more unfamiliar faces, each had tattered clothes, bloodied bodies, and tired eyes. Without exemption, their statues exuded physical and emotional exhaustion. As the different strange faces passed by, both their moods turned more and more dour, until finally the last person entered and they only felt disappointment. Once again, unfortunately, there was no Althea. In Tom''s case, there were no traces of his brother or his family either. The past few days they settled here, there had been more than ten batches of survivors that entered. They saw that this batch was worse than the one before, and it was expected that the succeeding batches would be even more miserable. Tom sighed in melancholy. "It''s only been four days since we arrived in this world, but when I recall those peaceful times, it feels like a lifetime ago." "Because it was a lifetime ago." Ansel just said with a frown, before sighing and went on to approach the dazed newcomers with a family photo he kept in his wallet in his hand. "Excuse me." He asked the person nearest to him, rousing the attention of all the others. Some stared at him guardedly, while a few girls inappropriately ogled. However, without exception, except for some amazement at the appearances on the photos, none of them had seen Althea (or Garan). "Still no luck?" Tom found that he had to ask again, just to be sure. Ansel shook his head. At this, he and Tom finally headed back to their rented houses, hearts filled with disappointment. On their way, he looked around the territory. Because of the savings of the free wall, the lord of this territory had enough funds to build a lot of houses and facilities. So far the hundreds of people already here had a dwelling, although a bit expensive for those who only had a few silver on hand. However, the lord here set up a guard team that could accompany citizens to go out¡ªfor a price, of course. While it was a bit expensive, the citizens could not only grow but also gather some materials to sell. As long as the citizen was not lazy and had some capability, the trade was not a loss. Speaking of, he heard that the territory was preparing for an upgrade and needed more residents. With more residents, the military might had to be increased. As such, just this morning, the management of the territory made a notice through the village center: Those who passed the interviews for guard positions would have temporary residency taken care of for 3 months. This was a very good offer and both the police officers in their party had gone to apply to the guard team. Speaking of the guard team¡­ Ansel''s eyes couldn''t help but look around and fix on these so-called Guards. Many of these guards were cronies of the lord here, patrol around their small territory. Most of them were connected after migration, but there were also a few people who knew the Lord back in Terran. These people all had a menacing aura about them, completely incompatible with the gentle image the lord had been letting on. And they also had guns. A lot of them. Ansel, although young, had an eye for people especially after entering the business. That Micheal Berti definitely wasn''t as gentle as he looked. However, he felt that the guy was still a bit sincere about providing a safe haven for their people, so Ansel would not judge him too much. That afternoon, they lined up in the restaurant to eat (privately, they called it The Pig Food Factory). As they queued, he noticed that a lot of people around him flinched and stood in a daze, looking in the air in front of them. At the same time, the air changed. Because he was standing still, it wasn''t so obvious, but there was definitely some movement on the ground. It was like a Magnitude 2 earthquake that lasted a second just happened. However, it was really subtle so he didn''t place much attention to it. Instead, he looked at the others, including Tom, curiously. Ansel knew there was an announcement, visible only to the residents. "The territory upgraded to level 2." Tom said with a smile, a bit hopeful for the future. The dry food they were now enduring seemed particularly decent for that one meal. After eating, the duo exited, planning on passing by the gate again in case new refugees come. However, on their way there, they noticed that there was a little gathering in the 100 sqm public square in front of the restaurant. After squeezing into the crowd, they realized it was the lord and two guards making an announcement. "As you have seen, the territory has been upgraded." He paused, his harmless face plastered with a reassuring smile. "The upgrade conditions have been met: 100 residents, permanent or temporary, and a population of 300 for 3 days." "This is a good thing, but I don''t know if it will have any effect outside. So I hope you don''t go out for the time being. I will also announce it through the village center and call people back before we upgrade." The use of ''we'' was really inclusive. This guy had a pretty good EQ. Speaking of which, he had been here for a few days but he had never exchanged a word with this guy after the entrance, wherein he made an obvious invitation for him to join his guard team. Ansel didn''t show anything at the time but he was recruited with such certainty. As if he was sure he''d somehow be of help to him. At the time, Ansel couldn''t help but think: Could this guy see his stats? Because of this, Ansel naturally rejected him because he didn''t have much of a good impression of this plaster-face. Still tactful, the lord didn''t contact him again. But¡­ seeing as he had no progress with finding his sister even after so many days¡­ it looked like he''d have no choice but to interact with him again. Sigh. How unfortunate. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 66 The Berti Family (Part 2) After so many days without a clue of Althea, Ansel had unfortunately come to a conclusion that it was time to thicken his face and ask this guy for information Anyway, the more annoying pompous fatty-slash-spokesperson wasn''t here to bloviate on the lord''s greatness. No one would be mocking him for asking for help. Ansel patiently waited for Micheal to finish his speech before coming to find him. Ansel stood at the path of his exit, trying not to appear as pompous as he usually did. "How may I help you?" Micheal asked, as friendly as always, while his cronies didn''t look at him very well. This was understandable, he rejected their lord after all. Ansel took out the family photo on his wallet. "I''m looking for my family. Especially¡­ my siblings." Micheal nodded and gracefully took the photo. The man''s blue eyes stayed on the picture for a moment longer than others. "Your sister is very beautiful." He finally said after a pause. "And your brother looks¡­ very powerful." He tacitly didn''t ask about the others and just assumed everyone else had passed. Ansel was taken aback by the comment. "You could tell?" "Hmm¡­" "Then?" The enigmatic man looked at his cronies and showed the photo, and they shook their heads in response. "Sadly, none of us here are familiar with either of them." He said, "May I know their names? Lords could see the names of anyone in the territory." Ansel was surprised that he was so generous in telling him this, and his impression of this guy increased a step. In the end though, after Ansel told of their names, Micheal still shook his head apologetically. Ansel sighed, shoulders slumped. "Well, thank you anyway." At the very least, now that he was certain Althea wasn''t here, nor had she had any intersection with anyone in this place, there was no point in staying¡­ He needed to go somewhere else. Ideally, another territory. He voiced it out as soon as they got back to the dwelling after eating. The others looked at him in surprise. "Are you really leaving?" Tom looked at Ansel who was really ready to go. "Now?" "Isn''t it good to just wait for news here?" Artie asked with a puzzled frown. Ansel shook his head. "She''s in her third trimester. No matter how capable, she is in a weakened state. What if she''s waiting to be saved somewhere?" The team were surprised to find the state of his sister, and they even mused about the chances a pregnant woman had in surviving. The odds weren''t very good, but they didn''t voice it out. "I can only ask you to make her stay if you encounter her here. If I don''t find her in the next territory, or even get a clue, I will come back to see." Tom and the others looked at each other, wondering how they''d make him stay. However, even if they had only been together a few days, the experiences they had together made for deeper bonds than a lot of friendships back in Terran. So¡­ they knew there was no talking things out with him. Tom sighed and they patted his shoulder to express his blessings. "Be careful. Stay alive." The other two did the same, expressing their well-wishes. Little Lily even went to give him a sweet hug. "I will come to you when I grow up. You must marry me!" Except for her father, whose worried expression turned to a murderous one, everyone else laughed at her cuteness. Ansel also said his goodbye and stood up, with the team following to see him off. However, as they headed to the gate, he saw another batch of refugees lining up. They couldn''t help but take a look together, hoping for some luck. Anyway, regardless of whether there were familiar people, the state of the new arrivals were as they had guessed: The new batch was indeed much more miserable than the previous one. Not only covered with blood, but there was no piece of clothing undamaged. He even saw someone who lost an arm¡­ Ansel, feeling that feeling that he was stared at, turned his head to look at the crowd. His eyes met with a woman''s¡ªwell, two of them, to be exact. He didn''t think she was familiar, but he saw strong recognition in the other person''s eyes. He frowned and after thinking, he stepped forward, wanting to go and ask about Althea. He saw the two women flinch a little and straighten their backs, and eyes looking at him in anticipation. One was blatant in her stare, while the other one was reserved, but both were equally disgusting. He was not talking about their current state of blood and mud¡ªbut it was more of a problem of temperament, of the soul. Although he''s had a lot of women, he was still choosy. They had to be beautiful, strong, and of good character. Like Althea, of course. He pushed the bile back down and continued his approach. Who knew¡­ maybe they would really know where Althea was. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, not even a few steps were taken when a piercing yell came soon after, distracting him from the thought. "RUNNNN!!" A piercing yell screamed, hitting everyone''s ears as well as their hearts. "BEASTS!!!!!!" ______ . . . . _______ CHARACTER INTERACTION CORNER~ Ansel: Hi there, Angels and Dudes! It is I, Ansel Witt, and I''ve been tasked to spearhead this new corner Author-san decided to add! After all, you are all so awesome and we want to hear more from you! I know the timing''s off, but we don''t want to get too serious right? This is a light-hearted story damnit! Written and read for relaxation only! Oh, and you can ask me anything spoiler-free~! For example, what''s my favourite food? What time do I wake up in the morning? What''s my favourite brand of toothpaste? What about you? What are you liking about the story so far? Naw. Never mind. You don''t have to answer that. I know it''s me. Chapter 67 Run? Aberdeen City, 16 years ago Little Ansel heaved out a deep breath as they finally got out of the small tunnel. It took him a while to get his bearings, and was only brought back when he felt something warm and equally dirty on his gunk-covered hand. It was a little hand, covered with black-green stuff that looked so mushy and disgusting. Still, he did not pull back his hand. In fact, if he hadn''t been so scared before he''d also realize that the hand she covered his mouth with was this very hand. Little Althea, nicknamed Little Monkey, didn''t seem to notice her handprint on the other boy''s face. She just pulled the boy and gestured for them to go. "Let''s go!" She told him, her little voice a bit milkier due to all the whispering. Ansel looked at her small hand on his, and nodded blankly. "So, kid, where do you live?" She asked as they moved, looking down on him from time to time. Nine year-old girls were generally more than a bit bigger than boys a year younger than they were. The two of them were no exception. Little Ansel also had a timid personality and didn''t eat a lot. So it was not surprising when the boy couldn''t answer her question, and only stared at her. "..." The little girl mused that she had never heard him speak after hanging out with him for so long. Couldn''t he talk? Like that cleaning auntie from the orphanage? But before she could ask, they heard heavy footsteps not far behind them. "There!!" The man yelled, sprinting. Even if they ran as fast as they could, their little feet were no match for the massive long legs of a grown man. The man gestured to grab them but one more dose of adrenaline allowed them to avoid the grasp. However, there were uneven rocks on the ground and they lost their balance anyway. "You dare escape!" The man yelled and gestured to kick the little boy. But the little girl quickly grabbed his feet. "Watch out kid!" She yelled, grabbing the fat leg with her whole body. Ansel saw everything and the quiet boy finally spoke up. "You¡ª!" "Run! I can handle it!" She said, flexibly letting go of the leg before getting kicked, avoiding the other man''s hand and getting a few stones on her hand. The timid boy could only do as he was told and ran past the trees and the bushes, sobbing, not knowing what to do. _____ [28 days of Protection Period] Bright Territory Roaarrrrr!! Hundreds of wild beasts approached the gates and the walls with massive force. However, before the group of beasts could touch the wall, hundreds of wooden swords, and arrows met them head on. They were standing on the wall, with just enough room for them, practicing their balance as well. A few minutes earlier they had received notice to ask all citizens to help to deal with the beast tide. In exchange, for every 100 monsters they dealt with, they would be receiving a certain amount of silver. Ansel looked around as he killed a beast. No one seemed to be counting. How were they so sure about the number of kills? Like seeing their stats, could lords have other omniscient capabilities in their territories? Tsk. How annoying. He vented his annoyance on the monsters, quickly getting in the zone and his rate of hitting critical shots skyrocketed. [Used Stab (E). -3 Mana!] [Used Stab (E). -3 Mana!] [Used Stab (E). -3 Mana!] [Killed! Gnomos (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience!] [Killed! Gnomos (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience!] [Killed! Hui Mouse (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience!] [Killed! Gnomos (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience!] [Used Stab (E). -3 Mana!] [Used Stab (E). -3 Mana!] [Killed! Gnomos (Lv2): +50 Copper, +50 Experience!] The strongest mobs were at level 2, but fortunately the humans made up for it in number. Not to mention, the lord himself was at level 3, so they could manage. Speaking of, that Micheal was really capable of wielding his sword. As long as the monster was level 1, he was sure to kill it in one or two attacks. However, there seemed to be no end in sight, and eventually people started falling. More or more people got injured or died and the morale was slowly dwindling. Midway, the lord''s group bravely went deeper into the fight and killed as many as they could. Fortunately for them, the lord was also a good marksman, and he saved a lot of lives with his shots, earning him plenty of grateful stares. With the lord and his cronies leading the way, newfound courage increased the morale of the whole territory. Anyway, if they didn''t fight now, the territory would fall, and they''d die anyway. Ansel nodded in approval of his actions. He could at least acknowledge that the lord here wasn''t so useless. He threw away the sword with only 1 durability left and took out another. He also jumped down the wall, joining in the bloody ''fun''. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Tom and Artie joined them down, but Bruce understandably did not. He had a daughter to care for after all, he would naturally choose to kill from the safety of the wall, not risking anything for the sake of his Lily. As they slashed through the mobs, gaining hundreds of copper and experience, they somehow found themselves near the lord''s party. Micheal and Ansel, at some point, even fought back-to-back. "We work quite well together." Micheal said, slashing on a monster''s eye. Ansel didn''t answer and jumped up, using his skills to push away the snap of the monster''s teeth, and immediately making a sharp parry. "Your brother taught you well, it seemed." The other man said. But it was so subtle, combined with the cacophony of the chaos around them, Ansel wasn''t sure what he heard. This momentary distraction almost got him eaten though, so he forgot all about this. Ansel immediately focused on the scores of enemies trying to eat a body part of his. As he fought desperately, he could feel himself getting more and more skilled and he was energized. No matter what, he ought to be strong enough to protect Althea when he found her. He wouldn''t be running away ever again. Chapter 68 Found You Aberdeen City, 16 years ago The young Ansel rushed past the shrubs and trees, ignoring the cuts he was suffering along the way. However, he accidentally stepped on overgrown roots and tripped. "...ouch¡­" He mumbled, little tears forming in his eyes. His feet hurt, his arm hurt, and his leg was bleeding. He tried to drag himself but he couldn''t go even a few centimeters. Little Ansel couldn''t help but sob. He was so useless, he couldn''t even walk¡­ And what about that girl? She was only an inch bigger than he was, and she was a girl¡­ Shame enveloped his young body, and yet he couldn''t do anything about it. He could only cry like he always had, sniffing, rubbing his snot with his dirty hands, making his face even dirtier and more pitiful. Then, he heard rustles from the bushes, and his fear was exacerbated. He stopped breathing and covered his mouth with his small hands to be sure, closing his eyes in fear. As if he couldn''t see, he couldn''t be seen either. But after the rustles there was a pause, and Ansel mustered his courage to squint his eyes open just a little bit to see. He saw those brilliant emerald eyes again, staring straight at him, bright as always. Even if there were drops of blood dripping in her eyelashes, it was still so beautiful. Seeing him all in one piece, a happy smile graced her pretty face. "Found you!" _____ [28 Days of Protection Period] After a few hours, the mob had finally lightened up, eventually running away. Seeing the scene, many people cheered, but most of them just lost their footing from tiredness, still couldn''t get back up from exhaustion. In the midst of this, Ansel was approached by a certain lord, that same smile plastered on his face. "You did a good job." He told her, "It''s a pity you''re unwilling to be my right hand man¡­" Micheal who, despite the blood on his shirt, stood straight and unaffected, unlike everyone else who were all gasping for breath. The tone creeped Ansel out and unconsciously gave him a bad stare, eyes looking around for the pompous sidekick he had. "Where''s the other one?" The man''s face darkened a little. "If you''re talking about Pho, I never said he was my right-hand man." Then, he smiled again. "You can certainly be." "Err¡­, no, thank you." The people around saw the lord''s favor on him and looked at him heatedly. Some in annoyance while some in greed. Ansel reckoned that someone would definitely try attaching to him after seeing the importance the lord placed on him. Tsk. Annoying. To his surprise, someone actually approached him almost as soon as things calmed down. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was the two girls, looking very dirty with their ripped attires, but still as well-kept as they could be, all things considered. The first girl approached him with a confident attitude that reminded him of an annoying peacock, except that peacocks were male and were actually endearing. This one just irked him. Like the cringey sound metal made when rubbed against another metal. There was also another girl a step behind her, meek and graceful, a bit better kept, making a contrast with the other girl. But he didn''t like either of them. He belatedly remembered them as the two women who had recognized him earlier, and Ansel decided to patiently wait for what they had to say. "Ansel." Peacock girl said with a nod. It was also with such certainty as if she was sure Ansel would recognize her. Instead, Ansel crossed his arms and gave her a look-over. "Who are you?" "..." Her ''poised'' stature cracked as she looked offended and aghast at his ''ignorance''. "We''ve been neighbors for years!" He looked blank, but he disliked noisy self-absorbed shrews the most. "I''m sorry, I''m not familiar with aunties." There was a burst of laughter in the crowd and the girl''s face looked as red as a baboon''s butt. In humiliation, tears lined up her eyes as she glared at him. "You are just like your sister¨C" Ansel''s pompous look changed immediately. "You''ve seen her." He said a statement, walking over and grabbing her shoulder. He shook it, sexy eyes filled with anticipation. "Where?" Ramona looked very reluctant to speak, while blushing at his warm touch. Next to her, Sandra looked at Ansel obsessively, remembering his gallant fight and the succeeding appreciation of the lord here. She had seen him before in Terran, albeit from afar, along with that husband of Althea''s. That orphan was surrounded by excellent men since she was a child. What about her? She had to betray her body for scumbags. She took a step forward at this time. "We don''t know where she is now, we were separated days ago¡­" A part of her wanted to throw some shade, but she had heard about this guy''s ''my sister is always right'' attitude, and didn''t want to take any risks. Ansel''s eyebrows furrowed as he tried placing the new girl, letting go of his hold of Ramona (to the latter''s annoyance). Fortunately for Sandra, she had several physical features that were quite similar to Nanny that he eventually recognized her. "Ah! You''re Nanny''s daughter." He said and the girl brightened at being recognized. Then she recalled Althea''s reaction and she paled, immediately letting tears run, breaking her surviving suitors'' hearts. "My mother¡­ she said she had passed away." She paused, "Althea told me she killed her, herself..." Ansel''s heart dropped and his throat felt like it was blocked by something. Nanny¡­ And Althea. She had to kill Nanny with her own hands. How sad was she? He closed his eyes to push down the depression. It was not the time to mourn, not yet. When he opened his eyes, he had regained some clarity. After a beat, he looked at Sandra. As someone who had been with at least a few dozen women and even more suitors, how could he not know of Sandra''s crocodile tears? But Ansel''s poison didn''t spread to her simply because she had news of his sister. "What direction did she come from?" Sandra genuinely wondered whether to tell him. She didn''t want Althea''s life to be even easier than it already was. But Ansel saw her reluctance and added: "I''ll owe you a favor." Deal. But Sandra maintained her meekness and did not show the brightness in her eyes. "They were heading to the mountains in the east." She said softly. "She was with another woman, an old man, a little girl, and a dog." "Thanks." He said, nodding politely. He even took out a can of dried fruit he saved up. "Here." And after politely bidding farewell to his acquaintances, he ran out the gate, quickly disappearing from view. Although he had been a bit tired from the fight, this news energized him so much that he felt he could run for a few more hours. Althea¡­ I finally found you. Chapter 69 Start of Construction! Altera Village. Althea stared at the holographic map of her territory, and made a rough plan of what to build. To be honest¡­ she was really looking forward to this. Before anything though, she needed to budget. Although she was rich, if she splurged, it wouldn''t stay that way. Territory building was a money-burning endeavor. If she didn''t make sure she was on positive at the end of the day, the minus could compound, leaving her poor. She absolutely didn''t want to be poor. As such, she had to do some urban planning first. She opened the holographic map with cute earthly tones and stared at it for a while, making plans in her head and also on her tablet. The entire territory was about 3 square kilometers or over 300 hectares in size, with the mountainous areas of the half-valley already occupying around 40 hectares. She was not planning on wasting these areas, of course, and she did have a preliminary plan on what to do with these difficult terrains. But for now, she would be focusing on relatively flat lands and the areas near the river. The section of the 50-meter-wide river in the territory was located on the southeast part of the village, forming a chord of almost 2 kilometers in that length. The head of the valley was more or less in the northwest side of the territory. Interestingly, at the spot where the curvatures met, there was a small stream that would eventually end to the river. This area was quite critical. Rivers and streams were connected in a naturally-occuring system called a watershed. While watersheds were good for the world, if not handled well it could also mean a bit of trouble for the territory. For instance, when rain came, it could cause problems like flooding or water surges. So she designated the areas prone to flooding into public parks. It would be even better if she found some mangroves or similar vegetation, but this was an issue for later. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As she observed her surroundings further, a familiar ding ran inside her head. [Construction of Lv3 Walls, Completed!] [Gates and Sentry towers now available for purchase. Construction is considered part of the walls and will not consume a building slot.] Her pretty eyebrows rose in interest. Level 3 walls could apparently have a Sentry attachment available, which was extremely pleasing news. The best part was that it would not consume a slot. She immediately went to study the new construction. [Sentry Towers Available with Level 3 walls and above Capable of automatically attacking hostile forces 100 meters away. Rate: 1 shot per 3 seconds. Consumption: 0.001 wood per shot Cost: 20 wood, 10 stone, 5 gold ] She nodded and mused that, although expensive, these things would probably be worth it. She looked at the walls and studied it a bit more, first deciding to locate the gates. In her zoning plan, she had designated the eastern and southwest parts of the territories as high-traffic areas. Althea placed the gates in these directions, primarily in locations where foot traffic would likely go. For example, relatively flatter lands. The gates themselves were relatively cheap as long as the wall was already there, so it wasn''t too painful to buy. [-100 wood, -100 stone, -10 gold] [-100 wood, -100 stone, -10 gold] It was the sentry towers that made a pinch in her wallet. Placing sentry towers every few hundred meters, she ended up building quite a few... [-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold] [-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold] [-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold] [-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold] [-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold] [...] Two gates and sixty-three sentry towers were built, just like that. The density of sentry towers could be said to be overkill, but it was the only way she''d feel comfortable. Anyway, those towers would automatically shoot arrows at all hostile forces within its range. Althea thought that one tower was worth a dozen troops. Just like this, her wood stock was nearly halved. It was very painful. However, it was still enough to build the necessary buildings and a small community. It was just that she would definitely be lacking resources until they found more people to gather them. Hey, she could imagine how people would react. How high their expectations would get as they go inside the strong wall¡­ only to see a few buildings? However, because of this ''premium'', this would also give her the capital to charge exuberantly. Which she wouldn''t do. Probably. It would depend on the situation. ¡­ After pondering, she decided on the other four buildings: Custom House, Village Center, Weaponry shop, and a farm. The house was obvious. She could even make the lower floor open plan for a custom multi-purpose building with commercial functions. Of course, the building type limitation would limit the second floor to a residential space, no exceptions, but this was already a great alternative to what was available in the system. She''d cover the main roads with these¡­ Not too much for now, she was lacking in resources. As for the cost of building her custom two-storey house, she thought it was fair at 500 silver per unit. However, by virtue of assisting the poor and milking the rich, she set its selling price at 50 gold coins but rented it out for only 100 copper per floor a day. To encourage a longer stay, the rent was further reduced to a more cost-effective 20 silver (or 2000 copper) per month. Based on the choices in the system, she could estimate the length of a month to be around 32 days here, so it was a very good deal for both parties. As for houses with open spaces, each house would get 50 sqm yards. In these small lots, they could do whatever they wanted, particularly if they had bought the space. They could plant their own small garden, make a small gym, a playground, or a leisure spot. It was all quite flexible. For a duplex set-up, where each floor would be owned by different parties, she divided the front and backyard equally with 25 sqm yards each. Satisfied with her classifications, she moved on to the next concerns. After the residential and commercial spaces were the public amenities. The most important of which, to her, was the Village center. If nothing else, the communications function alone was worth the price. When she reached a certain level, she could even communicate with allied territories, whenever it may be. Weaponry shop was also self-evident. However, the armory shops could come later, because for now she thought farm would be more appropriate. The very expensive wall would provide them with defense, and the people inside (and the sentries) could shower the enemy with arrows. The Farm, on the other hand, was necessary for protracted battles. She had no idea how often or how strong beast waves were, but she had to make sure the stable source of food for the territory. Even if the resources of this world refreshed quickly, if the population was big, it would not be enough. Not to mention, the variety was sorely lacking. She convinced herself of this and made a preliminary plan. For now, she only had enough money to develop one side. However, since she could not move these buildings after their erection, she still had to place them carefully. So she decided to develop the southwest gate first, the direction they came from. She rubbed her hands together, bright emerald eyes staring at the various structures she''d be building, feeling very elated and extremely excited. Finally! She''d finally be building their new home! ___ ADVERTISEMENT BREAK~ I will be mass releasing (around 15 chapters) On September! It''ll be on a privilege tier tho I have also drafted around 150 chapters now, and I am in need of a refresher story lol. A refresher story is a story that will help my brain keep ''fresh'' and proofread better than if I''m just stuck on a single story. Here are my WIPs that have a remote possibility of being published this year~! 1. Interstellar Rebirth: Back to the Apocalypse -BLURB: A princess from the interstellar times fails to escape from misfortune, inadvertently perishing in a blackhole. Her soul is then pulled back to the end of the 21st century¡ªwhich marked one of the greatest changes for all of humanity: The Apocalypse. -Will have 3 volumes: Childhood arc, Pre-apocalypse, and Apocalypse. 2. Woke up in the Intersteller: Got Amnesia, Married, and then Turned My Planet Into a Game Map BLURB: A female magician had to stay in hibernation to keep her life. Little did she know¡­ she''d wake up 20,000 years later. Oh, and her home planet''s about to get destroyed! -Will have two arcs: Interstellar and Planet-building. I''m considering heavier and earlier romances in both of them. I do want your opinion on this since I know this story has a lot of dude readers. Also, would you mind legitimate love triangles? Not like on this one, where the ML and FL are absolutely single-minded and pretty much no drama on the romantic side. So¡­ there! Which one would you more likely to check out when it''s out? What would you like to see? What don''t you want to see? Chapter 70 Build, Build, Build Aberdeen City, several months prior "I have a surprise for you." Her husband''s low velvety voice graced her ears as his warm hand wrapped around her waist, bringing her to the study table. "Happy birthday." He said and she opened her eyes to see a large piece of paper splayed out the table. She blinked and quickly approached it, seeing it for what it was. Drawings. Of a villa. Her beautiful green eyes widened and met his blue ones. She looked at its size, its address, and overall magnitude. She knew that this must''ve cost a fortune. She wrapped her arms around his neck to give him a smooch on the cheek and he wrapped his arms around her in response. But before he could dip his head for a more intimate kiss, Althea couldn''t help but want to tease him. Her lips twitched and she pinched his cheek before he could kiss her, faking a pout. "And there I thought you handed all your paycheck to me¡­" Ha blinked and paused, before bursting to a laugh. "I do give you all of my paychecks" He said, "But I keep my bonuses." Then he escaped her claws on his face by grabbing them and he dipped down his head to meet her lips, soon changing the angle of his head for more access. He tasted his wife for a while before (very reluctantly) parting with her. As he did so, he placed their foreheads together to maintain contact. "Otherwise, how could I buy gifts for my beautiful wife?" She giggled and gently pushed him away so she could take a look at the initial plans. Garan smiled as he wrapped his arms around her stomach, resting his chiseled chin on her soft hair. Together, they looked and studied the drawings.. "We''ll put your laboratory here." Garan said, pointing at the plan where the best rooms at the ground floor should be. He also allocated quite a big chunk of area here. "I will find the best experts in laboratory constructions, so every safety measures would be taken." She smiled, touched, and gave him another peck before resuming on studying the plans. They then planned and improved on his kitchen and gym, as well as her greenhouse and home gardens. There was also an old school library with hardbound books. And, of course, there was also the rooms of their future children, their play areas, their study rooms. It took them hours to finalize and perfect it. The couple stared at the construction plans, excited about building their own home, which would signify the next phase of their lives. However, they wouldn''t be moving to this house at all, nor would it even complete its construction. Because Garan would go missing soon after, not to be heard of again. _____ [28 Days of Protection Period] Althea heaved a sigh as unasked for memories came to mind. She shook her head of the thoughts and resumed staring at the lord panel and the map of the territory it showed to her. First she built the Village Center (Lv1) so she could have a pivot point of activity. This was basically the center of a territory, so she planned to give it enough prestige, in time. Not to mention, unlike the wall, every building could only be built as Lv1. This meant that eventually, she would be upgrading these buildings and she also had to leave enough provision for expansion. As such, she allowed a huge easement of 50 meters at front and back, and 100 meters at the sides. Even if the upgrade wouldn''t require so much space, she could just add parks and other facilities in these areas. She placed this setup roughly in the center of the territory. She also built about half a hectare of semi-paved space in front of the Village center to serve as the public square. She then turned to the infrastructure tab and directly built a road¡ªno, an avenue¡ªfrom the village center to the Southwest gate. She planned for future development. Considering the number of Terrans that transferred and the few number of lord tokens based on the requirements, each territory would definitely have thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people in the future. Construction, even system buildings, could no longer be moved once placed. Would they have to endure the traffic should the population grow by the thousands? She didn''t want to destroy buildings just so she could give way to road widening. The main road had a 6-lane or 18 meters wide carriageway, each lane about three meters wide with three lanes per direction. These avenues would be separated by middle islands, and two meters of sidewalk on each of the two sides. Except for the larger walkways (were there even cars here? She didn''t know, but there should be carriages at least), she also followed modern design and left space every meter for some bonzai. It was worth noting that for every place she built, the trees and rocks superseded by built buildings automatically turned into resources. These were full-grown trees and boulders, which had somewhat lightened up her resource problem. Of course, as someone with a brain, she tried to retain as much greenery as she could. Returning to the actual buildings, the architectural style she set was a mixture of the rich eastern flare and the sophisticated west. There were the intricate designs of the eastern cultures, but there were the extra stability associated with the western ones. Quite exciting to look at, in her opinion. It was such a good thing that she could also customize the system buildings, albeit it was limited to the facade and was more expensive. She had always believed that beauty was needed for the spiritual health, and she wanted everything in her turf to be beautiful, even if it was a bit costly. The next thing she did was build a group of houses. The distance from the center to the edge was a kilometer and she obviously could not fill this space up. So, she just built around 10 multi purpose residential-commercial buildings along each side of the main (and only) road, and added the 150sqm house-and-lots on the smaller 6-meter streets behind them. The houses were varied. She set about 10 houses for a family unit for a selling price of 50 gold. If they wished to rent, because they had all two floors for themselves, they had to shoulder the whole 200 copper per day. Although the return for rental was 8 months, it would be very friendly to citizens. For the sake of the people, she could heroically give up (some of) the convenience of fast ROI for the houses. After all, 300 square meters was huge. How many people of a team could fit and share the costs? Of course, the best thing was that they still purchased it. The best profit was there. At least in the short term. And she needed a lot of money during the developmental phase of the territory. The next housing type was the duplexes, where each floor will have different families or teams. The selling price was set to 30 gold, with the rental of 100 copper per day. A floor could comfortably accommodate 10 people, so people could share the space. A person would only need to pay 10 copper a day to have a decent roof above his head, and this could be said to still be quite fair. However, she decided to set a limit that houses could only be rented by residents (temporary or permanent), while visitors could only go to inns (coming soon) or rent a bedspace (owned by the house owners). In the future, this could be an additional source of income for everyone. Finally, she set up a dorm type building a few streets away from the main street. She took down most of the side walls and placed 5 modules together. They had shared bathrooms and kitchens. These bedspaces could be rented at a very friendly price of 1 copper per day. People could stay here indefinitely, though she thought few would because they would witness the others¡ªpossibly their roomates¡ªmoving out and improving their lives. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Next, she placed the weapons store next to the square. System and other main shops would also be placed around this area. If she were to someday build important public buildings, it was estimated this would be their location as well. She watched in satisfaction as the foundation works of the buildings began. All the buildings should be completed by the end of the day. The magic of it all still amazed her to no end. As for the farm, she had to move to the area in the northeast of the river and where the main road to the East Gate would be. It was relatively flat and even if it wasn''t it was not a problem at all. She mused if she placed the farm on the mountains it would produce a terraced field instead. For now, she had to check her stats to see how much resources she still had. [TERRITORY STATS Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 7 (7 permanent, 0 temporary) Total Population: 7 Base Resources: Wood: 120/5000 Stone: 50/3000 Money: 7276 Gold, 91367 Silver, 15287 copper Reputation: 0 Buildings: Village Center (Lv1), Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 3/5 (+1)] She still had two building slots left? Clearly she only had space for a farm? Immediately, the answer dawned on her. "!!!" No wonder the custom building could only be used once and was so expensive! It bought her a precious building slot! Chapter 71 The Last Building Slot The last building slot set her up for a bad case of analysis paralysis. She was deciding between the Armory (Lv1) and the Warehouse (Lv1). Both options had their pros and cons, and she was a little confused as to which one she should build. She turned around to look at the people who had been following her around as she set up the buildings, staring around in childlike wonder. This was understandable, as seeing edifices slowly materialize¡ªspeck by speck¡ªfrom the ground up within a day was indeed a miraculous sight. She reckoned if there was popcorn, they would''ve consumed several buckets by now. "I need your opinion on something." She asked after clearing her throat, catching their attention. "Yes boss, anything!" They said, obviously very excited about anything territory-related. "I have one more building slot to fill up and I''m ambivalent between two options." She told them, "I''m torn between Armory (Lv1) and Warehouse (Lv1)." She said, and then she directly stated some of the pros and cons of each one. The others were also confused and conflicted. For better or for worse, only armor makers could create defense equipment effective against monsters. Their leather clothing from Terran, created by advanced science, could not compare. Althea mused it must have to do with some local elements they didn''t know. Similar to how a set of bows and arrows could be more effective than a gun. In any case, this was basically a choice between additional defense for an individual and something that would bring great convenience and advantages to the territory administration. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sheila shut her eyes and pursed her lips, thinking. Defense was good, but the warehouse was also good. Harold, as a housekeeper, and thus had a bit of bias towards the warehouse. However, he was also very aware of the merits of the armory instead. Knowing he wouldn''t be able to provide a smart argument, he opted not to speak for now. It was Eugene who said his piece first. "The armory is good, but it only produces Level E equipment for now." They were all relatively high level compared to the monsters here, not to mention the huge wall that protected them. "The convenience of the warehouse, on the other hand, is very high. "Not only would Boss have additional ''space'' with a fresh-keeping function, but Boss could also use this in attacking and defending." Althea agreed. Leaving aside the huge space, there were plenty of other functions that could have if used well. For instance, making a piece of slab appear in front as a shield. For instance, storing a boulder and throwing it over a person''s head. She had long wanted to do so, as early as when she was just dealing with zombies. Sadly, the space wasn''t big enough at the time. In the end, she just needed a second opinion, because people''s instinctive choice was to fully equip themselves before any convenience. The other two saw his point and nodded in agreement. Althea opened her lord panel again and decided to choose to build a Warehouse (Lv1). She felt a sense of satisfaction in finally utilizing the system to her level. Perhaps even beyond it. In fact, there was also another consideration on her part in choosing the warehouse. That was, to use the warehouse to store stones and wood that was larger than her cap. The fact that level 4 walls weren''t locked when its full-use requirement exceeded the level cap, gave her an idea. Don''t say people would simply not build around the entire territory, Althea just thought there must be a way around it. As for the existing vegetation, she decided to keep as much as possible, to take advantage of the resource refresh. Since she could not move the trees or buildings, she could only maximize their existence as they were. As for the resources, except for the loose stone and twigs, the rest would be charged, but only very little¡ªjust enough for people not to think they could take the resources for granted. For now, she was planning to set a very negligible price of 1 copper per half a kilogram of edible food/plant, but with limited qty (? kg) per person per day. When the population grew, this price would also increase a bit, but this was an issue for later. Anyway, this would ensure people would have enough food, but at the same time safeguarding the interests of the other citizens and, of course, the territory itself. Similarly, water could also be taken from the lake or the stream for 5 copper per bucket. At the very least, the system gave her the convenience of setting up ''charge points'' so she didn''t have to watch every resource point. It would watch itself. To sum, in her territory, a person would be able to decently meet their basic needs with 30 coppers per day. She then turned her attention to Harold, which made the old man straighten up his back. "I need you to open a restaurant for me." She said, pointing at one of the mixed-used buildings along the road. "You will provide relatively affordable food to the masses. It doesn''t have to be too fancy, but definitely offers much better food than the system restaurant." "No problem, boss!" Harold said, confident. Even when the ingredients were limited, the ''rival establishment'' in comparison was a really low standard to beat. "I will give you 10% of the profit and, when you finish paying your debt, I''ll give you 50%." Harold stared at her, as if confirming she had actually said so. When she repeated her words, a bit slower, the old man''s expression brightened and he nodded successively. This type of business fitted his heart and passion very well. He would definitely do well! Althea smiled at the simmering-in-joy old man and turned to the dark-skinned Eugene, who was watching on in interest. "I''ll need you for personal use. We have a lot to do." Eugene nodded, honored by her trust. Since working with the boss on the custom house, he had gained a new sort of admiration for her¡ªprofessional worship. "Yes, boss!" She smiled and, finally, turned to Sheila. "Would you temporarily be able to handle a clinic? I''ll supply the medicines." "I''d be glad to!" "Temporarily until we find a good person to watch the shop. I''m hoping to have you as a correspondent for health concerns in the territory." Sheila was touched by her trust. "I''ll do my best! And I will also look for good doctors to assist us as well." Althea smiled. It was really great to have reliable partners. Alas, she just missed her husband again¡­ Chapter 72 Farm Villas None of them noticed the very subtle mood of wistfulness that passed by their boss'' eyes, hyperfocused on their new tasks at hand. Sheila grinned, then scooted closer to her. Looking around the themed houses near them with shining eyes. "So¡­where are we going to live?" "..." This made her pause. She hadn''t really thought about it yet in the sense that she was just ''copy and pasting'' the module as she saw fit. She looked at the custom houses that were definitely hundreds of times better than those in Royal Territory, and wondered the answer to the nurse''s question. Each module had good bedrooms (though no beds yet), bathrooms, toilets, and a private yard on both sides. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was just that she wanted a much larger yard so she could have her private gardens and experimental fields close to home. This was pretty much a basic requirement for her house, which all her family members were very kind to always provide her with. But obviously, since she wanted to hide her status, she couldn''t live too differently. But at the same time she didn''t want to wrong herself in the slightest. Thinking for a bit, she opened the map again and looked at the rough image of the territory. Her eyes zoned in on the other side of the territory and her feet moved towards it. Without saying anything, they walked several minutes to the other half of the territory, near the northeast side where the farms would be zoned. She stared at the area for a while and mused that she, a botanist, was very fond of plants. A few square meters of land really would not be able to handle her requirements. Hence, in addition to the farms, she decided to make villas with large lots she could use to farm: A farmvilla, so to speak. She then set up the avenue heading towards the East gate, with the same specifications as the Southeast avenue, knowing full well this part would be no less developed than that one. She then set up minor roads that would lead to the Farmvilla area. This farm-villa area would be located on a parallel street to the main eastern road. On the other side, they would be separated to the actual farms by orchards (coming soon). She looked at the map and finalized the preliminary locations of the agricultural zoned, as well as the industrial zone, which would be further eastward near the new gate. She might be thinking too far ahead of herself, but placing the factories near the gates would also facilitate trade, should she be partnering with other territories. For farmhouse villas she directly put two modules together and took down the partition walls. She also added verandahs, balconies, and other features. She then added a Level 2 wall around its perimeter. She made two more of the exact same sets next to hers. All these three houses would have system farms on them so the cost was quite high. Of course, the selling and rental fees would also be very beautiful. The total cost of the whole thing was several hundred silver coins, about 8 gold. As for the price, she decided to sell it for 100. For rent, it was a bit more expensive than the other building types, but it would be a self-sustaining property that would be quite profitable if used correctly. She added about 10 more farmlands in the Agricultural zone to either be rented out privately, or leased by tenant farmers. She was planning on occupying one or two for her experimental crops. While she did so, the others gathered resources on the way, adding to her quickly dwindling resources, even if only a little. Satisfied with what she had done, the group finally went on to a well-deserved break. They set up a picnic table under one of the trees near her future home, chatting and eating snacks. A few hours later, successive dings sounded inside her head. [Ding! Congratulations Weaponry store (Lv1) has been completed!] [Ding! Congratulations Custom building #8 has been completed!] [Ding! Congratulations Custom building #9 has been completed!] [Congratulations Warehouse (Lv1) has been completed!] [Congratulations Village Center (Lv1) has been completed!] [Ding! Congratulations Custom building #10 has been completed!] [Ding! Congratulations Custom building #11 has been completed!] [Ding! Congratulations Custom building #12 has been completed!] [...] About an hour later, the farmvilla they chose was finally erected, and they settled in before the sun set. It was dark and they only had their solar-powered flashlight for decent illumination, and they decided to sleep in the living area for now. There weren''t any furniture, anyway. Turning off the light, they laid down their heads, and an unprecedented sense of peace came over them. After all, they finally settled down; They finally have a home. They arranged their sleeping bags side by side, looking at the ceiling above, and¡ªafter turning off the lights¡ªeverything was now solely illuminated by the two moons of contrasting colors. Incredibly peaceful, the atmosphere calling for someone to open up emotional wounds. "Thank you¡­" Eugene said out of nowhere, and everyone tilted their heads to his direction. "I would not be alive if it weren''t for you." He said, and with his passion for creating reignited, he finally had a new reason to live. "So, thank you." The others smiled. Sheila couldn''t help but look outside the translucent window. It would be great if there were more people. "Now, all these buildings are done but¡­ there''s only seven of us." "The gold isn''t a problem yet, but the resources are really lacking. We need more manpower." Althea said, and she supported herself up with an arm. "Any ideas on how to immediately attract new people?" She asked. "After all, not many people would go into the mountains rather than look for flat lands¡­" There was silence for a while, each one thinking of a way to attract people efficiently and safely and without revealing they had The Lord in the group. . . . After a few minutes of silence, Eugene spoke up. "I may have an idea." Chapter 73 Fireworks (Part 1) Several kilometers from the territory, a bloody scuffle was ongoing and reaching its peak. "Don''t go there, damnit!" A pudgy and dirty man yelled at his companion, who in his panic ended up running to the mouth of a monster instead of running away from it. The man blinked and turned his head, and it was the last time he''d be able to do so. Splack! It was night and only the two moons partially covered by the dense foliage and a dimming flashlight were their only sources of illumination. They couldn''t see what happened, but the gruesome sound of biting and chewing made everyone shake in fear. Baron and the others were pale, but didn''t have the time to mourn the loss of yet another companion. "Distract it!" He ordered his cousin, a buff woman named Bianca, as he looked at the monster they have been handling together. They needed to end this one urgently because there was another monster was without an enemy, and it meant someone would deal with two. Bianca nodded and she ran in another direction hitting the monster as she moved. The monster¡ªa 1-meter tall monster with three ugly eyes, saber tooth, and three legs¡ªchanged its target and faced her. Baron quickly took his remaining iron stick and with all his strength stabbed the monster on its few vulnerabilities¡ªthe skin right under its 5th rib, something that they had discovered after the same monster killed their 6th companion. [Killed! Tripiel (Lv2). +50 experience, +50 copper coins!] They worked together beyond their capacity to deal with the remaining monsters. Some kicked, some hit, and some even used their own bodies to bump into it in desperation. Sometimes it worked, most of the times it didn''t, because it was as dark and they were weak and these damned monsters had very thick skins! After a few more losses, they were finally left with one, but in exchange everyone was nearly emptied and incredibly weak. With a wave of its strong arms, the remaining monster hit two of their surviving companions, throwing them high in the air¡ªBANG!¡ªand making them hit a tree and a rock, respectively. These companions lost consciousness the moment they touched the surfaces, leaving the two cousins behind to deal with it. Fortunately, it was already sufficiently weakened and although they lost a few pints of blood, they still managed to hit its weak spots constantly, bleeding it to death. This time, he let Bianca have the final shot. [Killed! Tripiel (Lv2). +50 experience, +50 copper coins!] When they saw it fall down, dead, their legs lost strength and they both fell down to the ground, unable to move anymore. Baron tried to raise his flabby arms but it was too heavy. With a huff, he looked at the corpses of monsters and humans around them. He saw that Bianca was sobbing, and the other surviving companions that had their consciousness were lifelessly just staring at the trees. Baron knew one thing: If more monsters were to be attracted by all this blood¡­, then it would be their end. As if sensing his fears, they soon heard rustles of leaves and they were getting closer. It was followed by low growls that they could only associate with death. Baron paled, as if he lost all the remaining blood he had on him. Were they going to die here? How hard they fought for their lives back in Terran! In the end, would their lives end in this damned foreign land?! NO. They fought so hard, wasn''t it just to survive?! "Wake up! STAND UP! DAMNIT" He yelled. He recalled when his company was having a year-end party and he had to make a speech with a broken mic. His vocal chords had never been so abused as it was now. Only a few companions managed to stand up, the rest either losing hope and giving up, while some simply couldn''t wake up in time. But thankfully, most of his cousins and friends were among the ones who stood up¡ªwith the other ones lost very early on. While sad for the others who got transferred with them, he was already satisfied with this. They took out their weapons to deal with the new monsters. They were only as small as their knees, but there were a few, and their sharp teeth were definitely no joke. The damned things ran to their other surviving companions that couldn''t stand anymore, and they tore apart their skins without effort. The constant sound of skin tearing off like paper torn off a book echoed in their ears, and they could only defend themselves to the best of their means. They were almost at the end of the line, losing hope, when a loud noise came above them. It wasn''t only noise, but also a bright flash of light, sending hope to their souls. They couldn''t believe what they were seeing. "Is that a firework?" The noise was enough to keep the monster''s attention away from the meat at hand, even for a second, but his quick thinking partner, Jules, quickly dragged everyone to run away, pushing them to go towards the fireworks. They ran, even when they felt their legs were so painful it felt like they were falling off their torsos¡­ they ran. "My spirit¡­ it''s less than 50!" "Ah! My flashlight!" That was their last one! "Hurry up!" Baron was a bit blessed in the horizontal direction and was a bit slower. A monster opened its huge mouth to glomp on him and he missed it by a hair''s breath. He felt his soul leave his body right then and there. The added adrenaline went to his legs and allowed him to zoom forward, successfully adding distance between him and the man-eating rat behind. He even manifested some silver and gold, throwing it at the damned things, but it was either ignored or didn''t do any sort of damage at all. "Damnit, what use are all these gold when I''m gonna die anyway!" He screamed, darting forward to the best of his limited ability. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I should''ve hoarded bazookas!" Chapter 74 Fireworks (Part 2) Cassie, wearing a miner''s hat, lit up the way as she cleared a path for her grandmother. She was holding a wooden sword on one hand and her grandmother was gripping on her trusted cooking pan. "Grandma, come on!" She yelled, and instinctively raised the sword and it met the sharp teeth of a monster. Grandma quickly hit the monster with her pan, and Cassie took advantage and shifted the angle so that the broken sword would enter its mouth and she pushed her body forward to reach its brain. Thankfully, it was only a level one monster and, Cassie, who was already at level 2, managed to deal with it, though barely because one wooden sword was usually done after one or two monsters. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Killed Gnomos (Lv1), +30 copper, +30 experience] She was an olympic champion in kendo back in her youth, and she loved it so much she never stopped doing it even when she didn''t participate in contests anymore. She was extremely thankful for her perseverance, otherwise, she and her grandmother wouldn''t have lived so long. She took out yet another wooden sword and heaved a sigh. She had relied on her dozens and dozens of swords to survive with her grandma until now. However, the monsters here had very thick skins and it was getting more and more difficult to deal with them. She was on her last wooden sword. If it broke, what would she do? Get some twigs? It was here that she heard a noise from a direction and her eyes brightened at the sight. Grandma narrowed her bad eyes, thinking she must have been seeing things. "Are those¡­?" "It''s fireworks!" Cassie exclaimed, grabbing the older woman''s hand. "Let''s go!" ¡­ "Follow it!" A group of young men and women shakily used the last batteries of their final flashlight to light up their way. They were filled with blood and grime, and they laborously dragged their feet to follow the light. They have been in this hellhole for a few days now, and they had never thought they''d ever go through such suffering in their whole lives. They were in so much pain with all the wounds that covered their bodies, and it felt like all their appendages were about to fall off in tiredness. They were also parched and hungry and weak, and it was just so horrible. They had long lost the food and water that they had on them. Although there was food in the forest, they didn''t know which one was poisonous and could kill them the next second. They lost exactly two and a half companions from poison, the person counted as half because in his half-dead state, he was desperate and ate the nearest most delicious-looking food beside him. At least in Terran, even if there were zombies, there was still a lot of food. Not to mention, zombies tended to lose their heads if they swung an axe with their supposedly increased physique, not like the monsters here where the same axe would be bitten to pieces. Zombies had become adorable and worthy of their longing. Troy scrunched his flat nose in regret. "If I knew we''d get thrown here, I''d have ran home to get my collection!" Troy was an ancient weapons enthusiast. Hot weapons couldn''t be owned privately, but his collection was just the right amount of coolness and the right amount of legal. Unfortunately, they were far from home when the disaster happened. Of course, their distance from civilization also allowed their group (who didn''t turn to zombies) to all survive in those twenty-four hours. It was just that they easily lost a third the moment they got migrated. They were a group of childhood friends and cousins gathered together for a wildlife bonfire party. It was supposed to be a super fun activity but, who knew, how it would end up halfway through. They were, ironically, telling horror stories when they suddenly fainted and half of them suddenly started moving creepily, and biting at their seat mates. They witnessed a girlfriend eating her boyfriend, and a brother mauling his sister. They saw them eating their insides, chewing on intestines. All of them vomitted out what they ate that night, and days later¡ªwhen they already consumed all their food¡ªthey felt so hungry that they regretted not being able to control their bile. What a waste! Anyway, they were still lucky enough to have camping gears when the disaster happened, but it had been so many days and they were in their last resources. Even the last bit of lighting they had was this flashlight and it was already flickering. However, that firework still managed up their way, telling them a direction to target, even if it only lasted for a second. In fact, it was not much of a firework, it was very small and didn''t even last more than a second. But that little spark lit up hope in them like a raging fire. There were many such groups around the area, following the light with renewed strength to defend themselves from the mobs that they encountered. The group of youngsters ran in the direction where the light was last seen, with renewed energy. Fred, who had been holding the compass, led the way, his freckled face covered with grime and sweat, but eyes filled with brightness as bright as his orange hair. Roar! "Shit!" "Just run! Run for your lives!" "Your lives literally depends on it, damnit!" They ran and they ran, until Fred saw a glimpse of stone amidst the forests. "Almost there, guys! Gooooo!!!" And they darted, with energy they didn''t know they still had. Unfortunately--- Flop! A sound of a body falling down and made their hearts drop. "Brother!" "Lulu!!" Troy quickly went about-face to run back to his cousin, but it was too late, the monster was too close. Tears began to form as he tried to go to her anyway. But before it could take a bite at his cousin, a fast arrow flashed, hitting the monster right on the head, killing it. It wasn''t the only one, more mobs arrived and¡ªas long as they were within a certain area¡ªarrows would fly by themselves, attacking the monsters. Troy''s eyes widened and he whipped his head to the direction of arrows. They were towers, placed roughly every hundred meters. "Sentries!" He yelled, and he grabbed his fallen cousin and held her up. The small group of youngsters quickly ran to the gate, but no longer panicked, knowing in their hearts that they were being protected. They felt like they breathed in a new life when a notification appeared. [Welcome to Altera Village!] Chapter 75 Rescue Altera. Althea and the others watched as the small fireworks lit up the sky with mixed emotions. It really wasn''t much, as she didn''t have much waste guns and gunpowder, but it was enough to alert the survivors. "It was really short though, I hope a lot of people saw it." Sheila mumbled, looking at the now dark sky with worry. "There should be." Eugene said, "Considering that other than the moon, there are no other sources of light at this time. The contrast would be enough for at least a few groups to see." "There will also be monsters, however," Eugene added, looking at Althea with apprehension. She looked at them, nonchalant about this issue. As for the monsters that it would attract, the expensive sentry towers should be able to deal with them. "Let''s trust my very expensive defense system." Was all she said, very vaguely. "I also want to see the sentry towers at work..." Sheila mumbled, looking very curious. Althea blinked, looking at them. "Then why don''t you take advantage of them and train?" The trio simultaneously turned to look at her, suddenly enlightened. As such, everyone (along with Maya and Fufi) actually decided to go out and train a bit. Maybe they could even rescue a few people on the way. As for Althea, pregnancy lethargy already attacked so she was already in bed (in a bedroom this time, because it was weird to sleep alone in the living room). As she laid down her duvet, she began chatting leisurely with her babies, just before drifting to sleep. ¡­ 500 meters from the Walls "Are you sure this is the right way?!" Baron asked, panting, his flabby belly bouncing as he darted forward with all his might. He pressed his chest and his kidney, to ease the discomfort. They were getting painful from all the excess running. "Didn''t I tell you? I was awarded the¡ª" Bianca breathed in, lacking air. "¡ªBest Girlscout for three years straight!" Bianca said so with a lot of pride, even as she was gasping for breath, offended that she was being questioned. Baron rolled his eyes. Yes, of course, he remembered, her mother never stopped bragging about it to his mother. But he couldn''t even make a snide response because he was too tired and his legs were heavy as lead. He couldn''t help but look behind as he ran, and his heart dropped at how close the small mob was! They even increased in number! Damnit! Their small group went beyond their limits to escape, hoping to finally reach a safe place. But they were humans and no matter what, their bodies would reach their absolute maximum limit in the end. Baron could feel he was nearing his. But someone yelled words that made him go even farther. "I see it! There''s a wall!" "A wall?!" The group sprinted in the direction, no longer caring if they lost their legs in the process. However, a monster suddenly sprinted and extended its arms. His cousin was nicked by a claw directly at her back. "Ah!" "Bianca!!" "I''m fine! Just run!" Bianca gritted her teeth and pushed on. It was as if she wasn''t bleeding heavily at all. However, there was an undergrowth that Baron was unable to avoid, and he lost his balance, precisely 120 meters from the wall. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He felt like he lost all remaining blood in despair. Nonononono He tried to crawl, no longer able to feel his legs. His companions had sprinted forward with their entire beings, not noticing someone was left behind. He could hear the monster closing in, its mouth, its breath, and Baron thought it was his end. But a moment later he heard a swish sound and a figure running to him. It was dark and wasn''t clear but he knew it was approaching him at super speed and it had sharp teeth, saliva illuminated by the moonlight. It was definitely a monster! And they were coming at him from both directions! Baron cried and sobbed, snot dripping nonstop, hopeless. He was so close¡ª "I don''t want to die¡­" He sobbed, expecting to be mauled a moment later. But the new ''beast'' suddenly leaped past him, jumping over his plump body and using it as a springboard¡ª"Oof!!" he uttered out¡ªand he quickly heard a scuffle behind him. Then there was the swish sound of metal and more noise. "Hey! Stand up!" Someone yelled and he blinked, tilting his head to see an old man waving an axe around with a dog right next to him. It was only now did he realized that the new figure was no monster¡ªbut a furry friend. "A dog?!" "Are you just going to lie there or not?!" Another voice, a woman''s, sounded. She was a bit far from them, and she was holding a bow and arrow. He saw an angel right there. And the angel glared at him in annoyance, making him flinch. "A-ah, yes!" But there was no way, his legs didn''t have strength and he just fell down again. He heard an exasperated sigh next to him and the next thing he knew he was being carried. From his side, he could see the woman shooting arrows as they ran. She wasn''t very good, but he thought it was the most beautiful thing. He looked back to see the dog grappling with another monster, finally killing it by biting its neck. It then lost its scary face and returned to a normal-looking dog (if you ignore the blood dripping from his mouth; and is that a piece of flesh), following closely behind them. He could only gape as he was carried nearer the wall, where his companions were. They were worried but safe, and they obviously wanted to get back to him. They were being stopped by someone¡ªa man with stick legs obviously sticking out of his pants? And a little girl?¡ª from going to him and they stood over an invisible demarcating line. "Cousin!" "Hurry!" He saw the stick-leg man was also holding a bow and arrow, but was markedly more skilled than the girl. Two people had bows and arrows, hitting monsters that were getting too close to them. And when they went past some sort of threshold, a few sharp wheezes passed by over their heads, and the next thing they knew all the monsters following them dropped dead. He then felt weightless and he hit the ground soon after. Harold huffed. "You''re very heavy." He said after dropping him, and walking to the little girl, and patting her head. Of course, Baron was not insulted. Instead, he dragged himself to face the rescuers. "Thank you, thank you!" He said, bowing to them. If he could feel his legs, he''d kowtow to them. His companions also bowed, sobbing, barely standing themselves. The girl, now looking calmer than before, smiled at them. "It wasn''t so much. It was the sentries that did most work." They looked at the dignified-looking wall and sentry towers. Their hearts filled with relief and joy. "But still, thank you." This time, it was Bianca. To his surprise, she was no longer bleeding. "We owe you our lives." "It''s really nothing. Just continue walking this way," she said, pointing at the eleven o''clock direction. "You will be able to find the gate." Seeing that the woman really didn''t want to deal with them anymore, they only bowed once more and finally headed to the direction. "Thank you so much!" They yelled, sincerely, with all their hearts. Sheila and the others were embarrassed, and only smiled. They would end up rescuing a dozen people before going to bed, very proud of themselves. Chapter 76 People Tab On the other hand, while the citizens slept soundly, the lord was not. She was shifting in her sleep, drenched with sweat. Abruptly, she opened her eyes and sat up, a few tears lining up her eyes. She dreamed of her husband. She dreamed of him fighting for his life and protecting his team. She dreamed of him looking out the two moons, hoping to see her again, desperately fighting to get back home¡ªto her. Only to find that the home they knew was no more. When she opened her eyes, her eyes were wet with tears. She sighed as she sat up, subconsciously patting her stomach, an instinctive act when she longed for comfort. He didn''t even know he had children yet, didn''t he? Although he didn''t seem to like children (or most people, in general), she could still recall him meticulously taking care of her even at the age where boys simply wanted to go out and play. He also took care of Ansel a lot, training him and making sure he wouldn''t get bullied. Althea thought, he would definitely be a great father. She shook her heads of the thought. There was nothing she could do for Garan, except build him a new home¡ªsomething that they, as orphans, had an integral need for. With this thought, she smiled and looked down at her protruding stomach. "Good morning." She said, "Let''s take a look at the changes in the territory, okay? I bet they''re good¡­" [TERRITORY STATS Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 31 (10 permanent, 21 temporary) Total Population:53 Base Resources: Wood: 020/5000 Stone: 50/3000 Money: 7676 Gold, 91767 Silver, 27987 copper Reputation: 3 Buildings: Village Center (Lv1), Weaponry Shop (Lv1) , Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv1), Farm (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 5/5 (+1)] She looked at the increase of reputation in interest. How did it get calculated? However, because she didn''t know what it was for yet, her interest dwindled quickly. Instead, what caught her attention was her severely lacking resources. Even if she had plenty of gold, it seemed she wouldn''t be able to do much more at this point. However, with more people, more people would gather resources for her, so she wasn''t very worried. What surprised her was the fact that she had 3 new permanent residents. Her fee for this type of residency was not cheap. She was already planning out the alternative methods for her future residents to pay for it because the price was prohibitive. For instance, merit. For instance, contributions. But look, one night and she had 3. She then opened her territory window and chose the never before touched tab: People. Soon a list of 53 names appeared on her screen. Next to their names was their loyalty to the territory. In her own party except for Eugene who had 95%, the rest had 100%. This was not surprising. What surprised her was the rest of the people. Outside of their team had pretty good loyalties as well, at least 60%, there were even as high as 80%. Was such loyalty the default? How was Althea to know that these people had lost hope the previous night, and the light of guidance the territory released saved them all. How could they not have even a bit of goodwill? The next column was their level, then their professions, citizenship, elemental affinity, and overall potential. She could even see their net worth. Althea paused. What an intrusive access panel¡­ She shrugged in the end though, as she wouldn''t abuse this feature too much, at least not to the detriment of the individual. With this comforting thought, she resumed in exploring this function of the Lord Panel. She began to take a look at the professions. She was the only one who had something listed there. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Pharmacist, Archer. She had totally forgotten about this. She ignored this for now, and shifted back to the list. She realized that the list could be arranged in decreasing or increasing order of the category needed for convenience. As she perused the list, Althea found some interesting figures. For example, arranging by potential, Sheila''s B level was really above average. In the 53 people, there were a few Bs and even an A, the rest were Cs or Ds. For example, someone actually had 624 gold in hand. A bit more and he could''ve had his own territory. For example, this same person bought the other two villas next to her! That was, what, 200 gold from the get-go? A little more and this guy really could''ve had his own Lord token. Then she looked at his C potential and corrected herself. After all, only people at B-level could get a token. Anyway, if she could change the names and add nicknames, she would put ''golden goose'' on this guy. It was also worth noting that everyone had the so-called ''elemental affinity'', whatever it meant. So far there was no indication of what this was but it definitely meant something. She really hoped there was an FAQ section somewhere¡­ Another thing she noticed about this particular attribute was that everyone else only had one element. Sheila had water, Harold and Maya had Earth, and Eugene had the rare Metal affinity, wherein he was one of the 2 people among the 53 to have it. The most common one, so far, was earth and fire, comprising more than half of the population together. For now, she knew there was at least 6 elements: Wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and metal. As for the others, there may be some out there, but they hadn''t reached her land just yet. Thinking about it, if asked, she decided to just say she had wood affinity. Three was really too much, she hoped to see someone with at least dual elements¡­ Though she had no idea what it was for yet. Putting this aside for now, she continued to look at the winnings from last night. Seeing that there were 53 people, it meant that she must have attracted a lot of mobs. The sentry towers were reliable enough that a few intermittent groups of low level monsters were no threat at all. The best thing was that the loot (no experience, unfortunately) of sentry towers automatically went right into her pocket, evident in the thousands of copper coins added to her wallet. Although she lost a bit of wood, the resources that she made in her sleep are satisfying! Better only a bit of damage was done to the walls, that it didn''t even register as 1%. Sentry towers were too worth it!! She stretched and stood up, looking forward to meeting her new citizens. Chapter 77 Housewarming (Part 1) Aberdeen City, 16 years prior Little Althea looked around her new room in awe. It was very cute, even bigger than the dormitory room she shared with four other girls. It had pink walls, a large bed, a table so she could draw and study, and a play space with toys! So many toys!! She counted and there were fourteen stuffed toys. Fourteen! And ''mom'' and ''dad'', when they showed it to her earlier, told her she had it all for herself! She turned her little head to look up at the young Garan, who had been watching her reaction. She grinned and her feet pattered in his direction, opening her arms to his arms. "Is it our new home?" She asked Garan, who embraced her back, who was feeling sad that it took her so long to find one. "Hmm¡­" he said after a while, "Yes. You can now eat all the delicious food you want until you''re full." He paused, apprehensive she''d eat too much and hurt herself. "As long as it''s healthy." He said, touching her tummy without baby fat, not like the other kids, and his heart broke, "Or else you''d have a tummy ache." "Okay!" She said, as she hugged him. She couldn''t help but notice how her feet felt the boards warm, unlike the cold tiles of the orphanage. "So warm¡­" Garan smiled. It was now in the middle of fall, and the weather had long gotten colder. They were just too used to the cold and adapted, that she didn''t realize the warmth sooner. "It''ll be warm, even in winter?" She lifted her head to look at him in awe, "We won''t get cold in winter anymore?" He smiled, a little heartbroken, and nodded. "Hmmm~" she mumbled, burying her little head in his arms. "How nice¡­" _____ Altera Village, present. As soon as they woke up, the residents of the house except Althea (who was still sleeping rather deeply) had been walking around their new house to see more of their new home. After all, it was already dark when they settled and they could barely appreciate a thing. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The total floor area of each floor (combining the floor space of 2 modules) was about 240 square meters, not including the added verandahs and balconies strategically added outside certain fenestrations. Eugene explained that it was to maximize natural ventilation and shade. He even went on to the details (something like temperature siphoning et cetera) which more or less passed by their heads. However, he did look like he was really enjoying leading them on this little tour around the house. The coffee-skinned man was very much unlike his depressed self a few days prior, and it could be seen he really liked what he''s been doing for the territory. "I thought you were a mechanical engineer¡­" "I wanted to be an architect too, but I couldn''t draw very well¡­" Although they could use programs to draw now, there was something special about drawing free hand. In that aspect, Althea was far superior. He had seen her notebook of plants, and it was admirable. Harold just smiled and continued asking questions about the house, which Eugene gladly answered. The group tacitly decided to live together, though it was mostly because they hoped to take care of Althea. Their pregnant boss would be due soon after all, as constantly reminded by Sheila. If she didn''t remind them, everyone¡ªincluding the pregnant woman herself¡ªwould all forget. Anyway, the house was huge with several rooms per floor. They would just make sure to work well to help her out with whatever she needed so they wouldn''t feel like freeloaders. The interior of the house was mostly wood, though different types of it, adding liveliness to the design. The surface and open plan arrangement was pretty, quaint, and had a relaxing quality to it. They liked it very much. They left most of the first floor to Althea. She would have her own bedroom, a study, and another room as her workshop. One of the last rooms would temporarily be Eugene''s workshop while the remaining one was a storage space for their materials and inventions. The basement, on the other hand, would be the cellar where their food stocks were placed. As for the second floor, they decided to combine two rooms to create two dormitory rooms instead. Althea was so charming, who knew how many minions would willingly follow her. Sure, they could buy more houses, but people would definitely want to live as close as they could. Anyway, 4-bedroom dormitories with ample spaces wasn''t bad at all. Unlike the Boss, they were poor, weak-hearted people who wouldn''t want to live alone in a room after living in nightmare-ish worlds in succession. Who knew if they''d have nightmares in their sleep and never wake up? Having other people in the bedroom provided some comfort. Not to mention, this was a large dormitory and they had plenty of space for their own study, wardrobe, et cetera. Then they furtively walked outside and they saw the entirety of the house. The facade was mostly wood, and the fenestrations were also wooden slats, but there was notably a slab of translucent material attached. It was peach in color, and it allowed light to naturally come in while properly protecting privacy. "Capiz?" Harold mumbled, finding the material a bit familiar, as he had worked at an island restaurant before. Eugene nodded. "Not exactly, but very similar. However, it''s good enough for now since we don''t have glass" he said, "We also added it around some torches, to replace glass to some degree, even inside the house." They then moved forward to see more details around the structure. The columns were clad with darker-colored wood to accent the lines, making the structure appear even more stable. Another notable feature was the entire ground floor was made of stone walls. It was non-homogenous and had different visible aggregates of the stones used, adding quaintness to the entire thing. This was basically a wood-stone house, and it combined the warmth of wood with the sturdiness of stone. They found it to be very charming. Eugene explained that it was to deal with the currently unknown climate systems in this world. After all, they were completely unfamiliar with this world and its weather, so he and Althea designed for everything they could think of and research about. It was quite costly and complicated, but it was better safe than sorry. There was also the peace-of-mind it provided, which made all this already worth it. And indeed¡­, this early consideration would eventually save a lot of lives. Chapter 78 Housewarming (Part 2) "Very stable." Harold said and Eugene proudly added, "This stone wall would not only add stability, but also insulation." He said, "In addition, the wooden upper floors are light in case of earthquakes, in which case heavier upper floors may be much more dangerous than their alternatives." As for how they connected the two floors, various techniques were used like supporting posts and beams, corbelling, wall tie-ins, and the like. There were even flexible joints that would allow the structure to accommodate movements, even if it was just due to change in temperature and humidity. They shouldn''t relax because the current climate was temperate, they didn''t know what seasons there were in here. Generally stone was stronger, but it wasn''t ideal for earthquake-prone areas. Although The structural members were made with similar material to concrete, they didn''t want to risk it. There was also the variable of stronger gravity. For the concrete-like item, they replaced the rebars with a tensile fiber called Flou which was a byproduct from the Louj, the poisonous plant Boss found during one of her adventures. The boss was very talkative when it came to plants, and she rambled on and on about how she accidentally figured it out when she got poisoned before and almost got poisoned again with her experiments. Of course, this byproduct was no longer poisonous nor will it have any hazardous effect on the inhabitants. It was not like the concrete they knew, but it was close enough, for now. If they could find a stable source of lime, then naturally they would use it. The amount of things they could accomplish with legitimate concrete was immeasurable. Anyway, they had a river nearby, so it shouldn''t be too far in the future. On the other hand, for the windows, they used something called the Youli stone. It was amusingly dug up by Fufi when he was digging a hole to bury a bone. It was a stone that could be used like Capiz, which was a decent alternative to glass in their current situation. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For now, it could be used instead of glass walls and windows adding translucency inside the house while retaining the necessary privacy of a home. It was also fire-resistant, allowing torches to be placed inside a house safely. Fortunately, Boss already had a rough concept in her mind, and studied materials, otherwise they wouldn''t have taken just half a day to design such a module. He and the boss had a long discussion and even had low-key arguments about them. These windows and other aspects of the house could also be covered appropriately in case winter came, though otherwise it worked better for tropical hot climates. The house had a harmonious blend of elegance and stability¡ªwith the solid structure on the ground anchoring everything to the ground, while the upper level seemed to float gracefully above it. The roofing also had large eaves to provide better protection for the ones below, and its corners a little curved to make it look lighter. The roofs were also made of tile-like things, which was amazing because there was no kiln. It was nothing like they''ve seen before, not in their century. It was quite lovely. Eugene actually underestimated the effect. Beauty and versatility were the primary reasons why their buildings would definitely have a unique look amongst other territories. This architectural style¡­ would be one of Altera''s defining features in the future. ¡­ Althea walked out her room and saw that the others (except for the children, who were still sleeping) had already set up the pot. Even if they had a house with a kitchen, because there wasn''t furniture they still had to eat as if they were in the wilderness, albeit much more comfortable. It was Sheila who felt pity for the beauty who had to sit on the floor. It was blasphemy to make their boss-fairy sit on the floor inside a perfectly good house! "If only there were a furniture store!" Harold nodded. They could pretty much handle themselves, but furnishings were really a must. "The kitchen is nice, but there''s no cooking tool." They still had to use the portable pots and grills in the end. "I would love some duvet, pillow, and the likes as well." Eugene mumbled beside them. Because he had no muscles below¡­ or legs, in general, the forces on his thigh could really strain him. Looking at her companions sighing at the same time, Althea also remembered that she only slept well because her sleeping bag was high quality. No matter what, it was weird to use a sleeping bag in your own bedroom. Thinking of this she decided to look into her Lord Tab to see if she could remotely control the village center and its other functions. Sure enough, upon clicking the logo a plethora of options lit up her screen. She clicked on the Village Center and a screen floated up in front of her, showing several buttons. One was an inquiry window, a purchase window, a missions window, and the announcement window. Clicking the announcement window, she saw a text box, as well as some options for ''voice'' and font. There was also the option of announcing only to residents, permanent and/or temporary, as well as an announcement to everyone in the territory. The latter, unsurprisingly, with added costs. Directly choosing ''robotic'' and the most standard font, she began to type out her first announcement. A minute later, every resident in the territory heard a ding in their ears. [Welcome to all residents! [In order to immediately revitalize the lifestyle and economy of the territory, the system has decided to place 3-month discounts to a set number of residents who wish to rent a commercial space. [Preferred stores are: food, beverages, furniture, tools, medicine stores. Please head to the Village Center for more information.] The others around the circle flinched, looked at each other, and then stared at Althea who they realized was probably behind the announcement. "Harold and Sheila, for cover, it''s best for you to appear in the Village center in the guise of applying to ''rent'' a commercial space." They nodded in understanding. Though they couldn''t help but ask, "System?" "Yes, I thought I can communicate with the citizens this way. It''s very convenient." "Can we hide that there''s a lord in the territory with this?" "Maybe. Everyone''s a newbie in this world. Who''s to say there aren''t ownerless territories?" They nodded in understanding, and looked forward to the new shops that would pop out of this, what new items would finally be available to them. How many restaurants, tool shops, would come out? But whatever it was, everyone looked at each other with glint in their eyes. They would carve out this home for themselves. Definitely. Chapter 79 First House Visit As they were eating their amply-seasoned breakfast noodles deliciously, they heard the scuffles upstairs and soon saw the little heads peeking down from upstairs. They looked adorable with their half-dazed eyes, poking their heads down, and trying to see what the adults were up to. Both Harold and Eugene stood up to take the children and guided them in the circle for breakfast. It was just that Theodore was a little big man and didn''t want to get carried anymore. After all, sister Maya was just a teeny bit older but she didn''t get carried around. Seeing him struggle, Eugene then let him down as soon as they got to the lowest step of the stairs. He immediately ran to where the center of ''activity'' was (food), and his feet pitter-pattered on his way there. It was just that as he ran to the pot he missed a step and tripped. Thud! "Oh, no, Theo!" Sheila exclaimed, and the adults quickly stood up to assist him. It was Eugene who got to him first, gently patting non-existent dust on his little pants, and patting his head to comfort him. There were tears lined up in his cute big eyes, but even if a few bits of tears fell, he did not make a sound. The sight itself was heartbreaking. Althea quickly lifted the little ball to her lap, gently wiping his tears. "You are so well-behaved. You don''t even cry." The mocha-colored child still hadn''t spoken after all this time. They mused that he may have been traumatized by his mother''s death to the point that he became a mute. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She felt pity for the little boy, and her motherly heart softened to mush. It was around here that her own little balls got active and started kicking. Theodore felt it and he gaped at her stomach, tentatively touching the protruding stomach, which promptly moved again. His little mouth made a little ''o'' of wonder, and his sadness was quickly swept away. His big eyes filled with curiosity and glee as he stared at her stomach. It was adorable. "That''s your little sister and your little brother." She said, gently rubbing his copper-colored chubby cheeks. "They will come out to play with you very soon." Theodore opened his mouth as if wanting to say something, but he closed his mouth again just as quickly. Althea''s eyebrows rose, interested, but before she could ask there was a knock on the door. Everyone looked at each other in wonder. They had been alone for so long, it seemed like a door knocking felt¡­ strange?? They¡­ seemed to have a visitor? ¡­ When Harold opened the gate, what met him was the ingratiating smile of a plump man. It was still an acquanitance they just met the night prior. He seemed to be in his early thirties, and he was very much cleaned up, very different from what he looked like the night before (wherein he was grimy, slimy, haggard, and with a face full of snot and tears). Anyway, the man''s current smile was so wide that Harold was taken aback. "Hello. We have just mov¡ª" Then the man saw him and gaped. "BENEFACTOR!!" "Uh, hi?" "Good morning! I didn''t know you lived here, what a wonderful coincidence! I was just about to look for you!" "Ok¡­" "I was one of the people you rescued last night." He continued to baller, "Now that I see you, I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of the team." He then very graciously manifested 50 gold. Harold gaped, but he raised his hand in surrender, afraid that the gold would be handed over to him. "Uh¡­ this is too much. We really didn''t do much¡ª" "I insist¡ª" Baron smiled, grabbed his raised hand, and handed the money to him anyway. He tentatively looked behind Harold, hoping to see another face. "I also hope to give some to the woman who rescued me with you." "You mean Sheila?" Ah, Sheila, he mused dreamily. What a beautiful name. He didn''t know he was making a creepy face and Harold could not say anything without being rude, so the old man simply stayed silent. Some of his teammates behind him ''kindly'' poked his back to pull him back to the present. He turned to glare at them, but they pointed at the house owners in front instead. It was only here that Baron finally realized that he scared the other man and he extended his hand to introduce himself. He cleared his throat and gathered himself, like a gentleman. "My name is Baron Smith. I bought the house next door." "This is my cousins Angelo Smith and Jesse Pyue." He said, introducing the two young men beside him. "While we were walking along the¡­ neighborhood, to try and find you guys, in fact, we couldn''t help but be attracted by a fabulous scent." He said, with special emphasis on the word ''fabulous''. "I know it could be too much to ask, but can we perhaps buy a few bowls from you? I am willing to pay." He said and took out yet a couple more gold. Harold blinked but did not agree immediately. "I''ll ask my boss." He said, and ran inside after gently closing the gate. "Excuse me." Althea''s eyebrows raised at this. This was the guy who had the most gold next to her. While they really wouldn''t charge that much, it definitely wouldn''t be cheap. And yet, this guy was willing to buy a few bowls of noodles for so much gold? Golden Goose indeed. ¡­ Outside the fence, the trio waited for the response, eyes staying on the now-closed gate. They looked patient but their stomachs were already rumbling. In fact, it wasn''t that Baron was the stupid rich type. He himself was a businessman, and he was known to be a bit of a shrewd one. It was just that people who could eat well after so long and rent (or buy) a villa so soon must have abilities and was worth befriending. Not to mention that they lived next to each other, so their interactions was inevitable. And, of course¡ªmost importantly¡ªthey were also his team''s benefactors. Hence, a good relationship was a must. Also, perhaps they''ve been here longer than they did? They didn''t have the time to explore the previous night. Maybe this group had information they needed. Anyway, just as he had an intuition to purchase the two remaining farm villas, he had the intuition to befriend this neighbor of his. And he was very correct at this. In the future, he couldn''t help but worship the ''him'' at this moment! He was a genius! Chapter 80 New Neighbor A few minutes passed by and Baron and the others could only study the surroundings while they waited. "Those are¡­ vines, right?" Angelo said, pointing at the stone fence. They turned to look at the two-meter high stone fence and the little sprouts that were already crawling up. It had already reached about half a meter up the fence. "They definitely got here a lot longer than we did, at least a full day." Jesse analyzed, "We could get information from them." Baron scoffed, puffing his chest. "Of course we can! But, as goodwill, we must also give gifts!" Their chatter was cut when the man from before got out of the house and opened the gate. "Come in." He said, "But we won''t charge so much, don''t worry. "My name is Harold, by the way." He said, chatting as they walked along the paved road to the main door. "Nice to meet you, Harold." Baron said a bit absent-mindedly. He looked at the paved road and the obvious provision for a future garden. He could confirm this team was here more than a bit earlier than they were. The fact that they could also prepare for designing the house also said a lot about their personalities and abilities. After all, it showed an amazing mental fortitude to already be thinking about lifestyle after everything that had happened. "Did you also arrive yesterday?" "Yes. We were attracted by the fireworks." Harold told him without any flaws. "But we were fortunate that we were very near the source. It took less than an hour to find the wall." "So lucky!" Baron said, "Did you encounter many people?" "Well." Harold nodded. Although they moved primarilt along the East gate, he knew there were a lot more people on the Southwestern side, so he could still say this with confidence. "There are denser housing arrangements from the other gate we went into." "Oh?" "Yes. Dormitories, I believe." Baron looked at his companions with raised eyebrows. "Interesting," He said, no doubt planning to visit these aforementioned dormitories very soon. It was at this time they reached the door and they entered the house. They saw a group of good-looking people surrounding an electric pot, which was currently exuding the most wonderful smell. The boys'' eyes stayed on the pot, while Baron''s gravitated immediately to the lovely Sheila, who was feeding an adorable little boy with mocha skin. Then he zoned in on another child¡ªa little girl¡ªand there also seemed to be a pregnant woman, too. He wasn''t able to see immediately as she was facing away from the door. This composition¡­ surprised him so much. This team was really something else to be able to protect such people conventionally believed to be ''dead weight''. More than anything, this required heavy skill and resources. No wonder they had the energy to rescue them. "Hello, Miss Sheila!" He exclaimed sitting next to the woman, who was taken aback by his booming voice. He cleared his throat and tried to be gentle, making his two companions choke on their own saliva. He sent them a glare before his annoyed face morphed to gentleness, facing the woman of his dreams. "I would like to give my rescuers a little gift." He said, manifesting another 50 gold. The girl stared at him but didn''t take it. "Please. This is what my whole team pooled together. We had to express our gratitude in some way. You saved our lives." He looked very sincere (he was!) and Sheila had no choice but to take his gratitude. "Well, okay, I''ll use this for the team." She said and Harold nodded. "Same with me." S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Having the tact not to discuss last night again in a short while, they sat down to the free space given to them around the pot. They gaped as Harold took out a few more packs of noodles from his space. "It''s amazing! You still have so much?" Jesse exclaimed, eyes sparkling with hunger. Harold instinctively leaned back to maintain his personal space. "It''s all right. When we got here we mostly ate local materials." Baron, despite the constant enamoured looks he sent to Sheila, was still sharp enough to hear important information. "Local materials? Like ,onster meat and plants?" "Yes." Jesse made a face, seeming to remember something in the recent past, "Monster meats are so hard and tangy!" "I have a pressure cooker." Harold said with a shrug, and couldn''t help adding: "It''s solar powered." "Fuuudge¨C what? Why?" Who would bring a pressure cooker during the apocalypse?! "I''m fond of cooking." Harold said, as a matter of factly. The group looked at him strangely. Was this the legendary hardcore cooks are hardcore? And more importantly¡ª "And how''d you know which plant is poisonous?" Baron asked. How many of their initial companions fell because of eating something questionable, he couldn''t count. Harold smiled proudly and turned his head in a direction. "Boss here specializes in plants." The men followed his sights and froze, gaping at the beauty. Althea had been facing away from them so they couldn''t see her clearly. Looking at them staring stupidly, Harold frowned. "How rude." The men were pulled out of their trance and stared at both Harold and Althea with eager stares. "Can¡­ you teach us?" Baron paused. "To determine which plants could be eaten, that is." How many people they saw died of eating the wrong thing, and how they starved because they didn''t dare eat randomly¡­ Althea looked at them in interest. In fact, within the territory, no intrinsically poisonous item remained. Magically, when the territory was built all these plants were moved outside the territory (which also meant there would be more poisonous plant per square meter right outside the territory than it was before). Althea smiled, patting her stomach, she nodded in agreement. "Well, within the territory I can show you which ones are edible. I will show you when I have the time." Anyway, the residents would be allowed to take a set amount of resources per person, enough for them to survive. This made their eyes brighten and they looked at her like a goddess. They didn''t take away their sight until the irresistible sight and aroma of the food went directly under their noses. Harold didn''t want Boss Althea to feel uncomfortable with the stares of strangers, so he hurriedly handed the bowls of instant noodles to the three newcomers. Looking at the delicacy, their stomachs churned in greed. "AHHHH! FINALLY!" No one spoke again after this, and they all ate to their heart''s content. She earned a full 30 gold coins from this meal alone. Althea chuckled. Golden goose, indeed. Chapter 81 Village Center (Part 1) Baron stared at the now-empty pot with regret, and it was only now that he had the mind to return to the previous topic. "You''ve been to the other side of this place." He asked, "Then do you know where the Village center is?" The others looked at him with interest, Baron continued speaking. "Other than looking for you guys, we were also walking around, determining where it is after we saw the announcement. "My cousin is an engineer, but she didn''t really practice much. "Her hobby was mostly carpentry, she auctioned off a number of special resin tables and carved furniture." Baron sold his cousin proudly like it was all his achievements. "She''s living in the other house though, she was injured a bit during our final run before arrows from the towers killed the monsters chasing us..." Sheila, Harold, and the others nodded. They remembered this person. She was very strong, standing tall even when her body was gushing with blood. Fortunately, Sheila was a nurse and always had homeostatic medicine in her space, so she survived. "I''m a businessman. I pretty much loved money my whole life. "Since we are here, I hope to see the opportunities here and still live well with my loved ones." Harold looked at Althea, who nodded in response. As such, the old man continued to be the spokesperson of the team. "We were actually thinking of renting a few stores ourselves." Baron''s eyes brightened, eyes zoning on Sheila, who cringed. "Shall we go together then?" He asked with a weird smile. More time to bond with his angel! ¡­ As they walked along the large pathway, they couldn''t help but admire the surroundings. Because of the lack of development and population, there was little difference outside and inside the wall. For the most part, it was all forests. However, the main difference was that there were large carriageways and sidewalks with trees in between them. This pathwalk, framed by the tree canopies and plants, actually made for a visual treat. Speaking of beauty, the young men couldn''t help but steal a glance at a certain pregnant woman. To their surprise, they saw Althea was clicking on the air. They couldn''t help but ask, "What are you doing?" "I''m arranging my space." Althea lied without blinking, and the two men shrugged, believing her. What Althea was actually doing was setting up the Village Center before they got there. Ignoring other people''s gazes, she continued to manipulate the window as she walked. The Village Center window had a total of a number of five tabs available for use. First was the Inquiry Window, where people could gather some information for a price. Next, a Purchase Window, where people could sell certain items to the territory. Then, there was the Missions window, where missions set by the territory or others could be seen and set. There was the Announcement window, which would serve as her bulletin board to list down announcements that she had made. This was followed by a Properties window, probably related to the rental and purchase of different buildings. And finally, for the Inquiry window, it would serve as the FAQ page on web pages. This would be blank for now, and she will be publicizing several rules she set before at the same time. People could also post their own inquiries to be answered by the public. She set the price for 1 silver coin. She was also planning on taking advantage of a loophole and allowing people to sell information here as well. The Purchase window was the most important to her at the moment. At Level 1, she could only set purchases for 3 items: wood, stone, and a free slot for something else. Based on the approximate productivity of weaker people, as well as the valuation of buildings that used the resources, she had decided on buying 1 unit of stone for 10 copper coins, and wood for 5. As for the final slot for purchase, she decided to make it vague to try a loophole and decided on ''plant items''. She smiled when it got approved and set it for 1 handful or a piece of plant for 0.1 to 1 copper coin. Because the plants within the territory were protected, this meant that the people had to go outside for this. She fairly placed a much higher price per volume compared to the other two because of this. Adding up, the buying price for this would be a bit bigger than the others, which wasn''t a bad deal for people who had no idea what the use of the plants was. There would also be lucky purchases, in which case she would really earn money. Her stomach was simply too big now with the occasional contractions, she really couldn''t bear to squat down for long periods of time anymore. As for the final Property tabs, she simply inputted the previous pricing she had decided. That was: 1 detached house (1/10) set rented for 200 copper a day, purchased for 50 gold. Duplex Houses (2/10) rented at 100 copper per day, and sold for 30 gold. The dorm type bed spaces (32/240) was 1 copper per day. Farm villas (3/3) would be rented for 5 silver or 500 copper a day and bought for 100 gold. For commercial (0/10), the cost was only a bit higher than the detached houses for rent, because the only difference was the additional customization. The mixed-use buildings were rented or bought on a per-unit basis. That was to say, if they hoped to own the commercial spot, they''d also have to buy the unit above. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As a benefit of contributing to the economy, she set the rental price at almost the same price as a detached house. She nodded. This was fair. She got her gold in various multiples of investment and the buyers¡­ would be buying a comfortable life. Very fair, indeed. As for purchasing the commercial unit though, because they were prime spaces, she couldn''t bear to set the same price. So she set it to quite a bit more residential units, at 80 gold. She believed in her territory. Anyone who invested in real estate in her land¡­ would definitely profit from it. This was her promise. Chapter 82 Village Center (Part 2) The custom building used for commercial purposes was especially interesting, primarily because of the inherent flexibility she could use it with. Except for the requirement that a unit must have at least one room to be used as a residence (a limitation to her custom building), everything else would be entirely up to them. They could choose whether to use a floor, or the whole building, or even just a room, for business. In fact, she had already seen something like this, where they chose to designate a single room adjacent to the street. People would just go to this ''take out window'' and go on their way. Everything was all done very easily too. One option was for the citizens to just go to the building they hoped to use (assuming it was unowned) and the window for rental or purchase will appear. The advantage of settling in the village center was the distribution map was visible, as well as the option to do minor customizations (for a small cost, of course). Anyway, none of these considerations were heard by the other people. They were chattering about their experiences before reaching the territory. It took about half an hour of leisure walking, until they finally reached the center of the village. The Village Center was about 5 meters in height and had similar style to the residential buildings. It was surrounded by a large open space with sparse trees. Behind it was a simpler building, and similarly large in area. They saw there were also a few more people heading inside, and the group followed them in. Unlike the houses that had a homely feel to it, the design of the Village Center was a bit more sophisticated. There were cornices and accent walls, there were moldings that lined the edges and corners. It had an open plan and high ceilings, and there was a huge chandelier-like feature in the middle, made of Youli stone and some other shiny/reflective stones they managed to get in small quantities. There was no electricity but there was a ''skylight'' above that transmitted lighting¡ªwhether it was the sun or the two moons¡ªto the fixture, making it glow. At night, a torch could be safely lit in these areas, as the youli stone was fire retardant and would not get burned. If she could find good oil, she could also extend the lighting hours of these torches, which would allow for some degree of nightlife in the territory. But all these were things for the future, not today. Back to the Village Center, the group continued to study the new building type. On the floor there was no counter, only elevated marble surfaces that occupied a third of the space. As well as panels about the size of a door lined up facing opposite each other. The marble surfaces were 1 meter diameter white surfaces at the height of cocktail tables equidistant to each other. While the panels were of the same material but were standing upright. A few of the surfaces were already occupied by people. "There''re updates! New windows had opened! They buy 1 unit of wood for 5 copper!" One of the people from before yelled as he stood in front of one of the tables. "How much could we earn a day?" "Let''s try it out then!" "What if we cut trees? How much wood would that give?" This made Althea frown, forgetting about this issue. Althea then made a mental note to publicize one of her rules: cutting trees in her territory is forbidden unless expressly allowed by the territory. Also, when cutting trees outside, they shall also plant at least 3 seedlings in replacement. Although Terran had somewhat recovered a bit from the destruction of nature of their predecessors, the damage had been done and too much had been lost. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As a plant enthusiast, she was determined for sustainable development. More people sold some twigs and plants and others. Some were accepted, some were not. Someone even tried to sell a random item from the space, it was a wrapper. His stance was hopeful, but his shoulder slumped a moment later. "Aw, not accepted. Only a sufficient amount of wood, stone, and plants were accepted." Someone tried to sell a random fruit peel and fruit cores. "Got accepted! I only earned 0.3 copper." "Why do you have that?" "I was afraid the smell of what I ate would attract monsters or something." Althea actually allowed ''trash'' like this to be sold, because as a plant expert she knew every part of a plant had its use. She may even get unexpected seeds from this. While she''d be throwing many of these to compost pits in the end, it would be a pity to miss a few good ones that might actually appear. "Well you earned from recycling." The friends laughed and amused many of the people around. Soon, the people started occupying the free panels. Seeing this activity, their party was eager to join in. They separated and went to separate surfaces, some in front of the marble, while she and a few others on the upright panels. [Welcome to the Village Center! Announcements Inquiries Properties Rentals Purchasing Missions ] Althea watched as the people used the panels on their own, without the system bothering her at all. She nodded in relief. It seemed that this building could function on its own, as long as she set it up properly. She studied the panel and mused about some improvements. At the same time, she also received various notifications. [Received! 100 copper!] [Received! 1 copper!] [Received! 1 copper!] [Received! 200 copper!] While nice at first, she couldn''t imagine what it would be like when there were more people, or if she heard these dings inside her head all day long. Fortunately, even notification settings could be personalized. She decided to place a threshold for notifications, a minimum of 10 gold transactions, and delay notifications at night. [Received! 30 gold!] [Received! 50 gold!] [Received! 50 gold!] Althea smiled brightly. People had definitely started purchasing properties. Sure enough, Real Estate was the Best. Chapter 83 Newcomers More and more people dealt with real estate, and Baron was rushing to get hands on it. "Got it!" He yelled as he bought another property. "Why is there a purchase limit for the commercial areas though?" Angelo looked over his panel and pointed at a text. "Didn''t you see the number? There''s only ten at most per building type." "Eyyy¡­" Baron mumbled, disappointed. However, this wasn''t bad, as he shouldn''t be putting all his eggs in one basket, anyway. "Anyway, 3 months is waived, I will start my business now!" More and more people arrived at the Village Center and more and more pings and cha-chings sounded in her ears. She frowned, as much as she liked the sound, it was much too distracting. She changed the notifications and now allowed for money-related things 50 gold or above. As she perused the panel, she saw that Sheila and Harold had bought one commercial building each using Baron''s payment. This was because she had insisted for them to keep the reward, as they deserved it, and she would just receive the profit sharing she deserved. In less than 10 minutes, all ten commercial spaces have either been bought or rented out. She pondered whether to build a few more but stopped herself, recalling the pitiful state of her stocked resource. As a hoarder, she could not stomach emptying her stocks. Her rule of thumb was that at least a third of the maximum capacity was maintained. So she decided to replenish her resources first before anything else. Anyway, the accommodation was just enough to serve hundreds of people. Speaking of which¡­, when were the other people coming? ¡­ A few kilometers away from Altera. The ones who ran after the fireworks the previous night were actually the minority. Most people who had seen the fireworks the previous night simply couldn''t go out because of the darkness. After all, how many people managed to bring flashlights or similar tools to their space? However, they made sure to take note of the direction and headed there at daybreak. Mathilda''s party was among these people. Mathilda habitually placed her palms over each other, hovering just above her stomach. Her sharp black eyes looked at her companions, studying if there was more to prepare. There were two dozen of them remaining from the original hundred, and they came from three different cities in Terran. When everyone had packed up and prepared, they looked at Mathilda, waiting for her instructions. "Go." As such, the group began moving towards a direction. Even if she was one of the oldest and weakest in the group, as a retired-but-acclaimed politician, everyone still respected her. Not to mention she had saved a lot of lives with her planning and strategies. This gave her a lot of leverage and respect. The group trekked for several minutes, makeshift weapons out and ready to fight. They knew that there had never been an hour wherein their big group hadn''t encountered a few monsters. Sure enough, about half an hour later, a small mob of about 20 monsters appeared, attracted by their scents. But they were a relatively solid group and, while they were still afraid and chilled, no one broke formation and panicked. They had faith in their leaders. The person who lead the team''s forces and fights was a man called Drake, a young man with well-toned shape, dashing aura, and relatively good looks. He was also another reason why Mathilda held the position of power: Drake, as her bodyguard, followed her orders to the tee. "Fight!" He yelled as soon as one monster made a move. He led the team to fight, swinging his machete cleanly and accurately. Similarly, the others quickly mobilized at the sound, forming their predetermined teams to deal with the monsters. Drake used a tree as catapult, propelling his body towards the obvious leader of the mob. He used a skill learned¡ªParry (Lv1)---to hit its neck, making it angry. With this attack, a lot of the aggressiveness was directed to Drake, as they planned. The monster the size of his chest roared and its heavy feet moved towards him, creating small vibrations on the ground nearby. He used his skills repeatedly to deal with the monster, his accuracy for its weak spots increasing with every hit. Eventually, it fell and the rest of the mobs were markedly easier to deal with. It was very thrilling and there were many injuries but there were no casualties. In fact, half of the monsters were dealt with by one person, with him rescuing people as needed. In terms of protection, it could be said that Drake was the anchor of the group. And as someone he followed, Mathilda was the owner of this anchor. Drake was in the middle of level 4 now, way ahead of the others. He was a veteran who was unfortunately injured and was disqualified from service. Of course, his former special forces team fought for benefits and they won it for him. Unfortunately, Drake was not only taken away from the job he liked, he could longer take normal jobs as well. It was just that the improved physiques after the apocalypse helped him ignore his shortcomings. They rested for a while, treating their wounds, and consuming little food that they had left. Fortunately, they had already determined a couple of edible plants in the vicinity so no one starved to death. There was also a botany student who had some idea of how to determine which was poisonous. He wasn''t always accurate, but he definitely saved a few lives. They had also managed to find water in a creek a day prior, thanks to Drake''s mountaineering experience, though they had to disinfect it several times to be safe. After resting, the group continued on their way across the difficult terrain, crossing the hills and dense undergrowth. It was very tedious, taking them hours to reach a place that could be walked for less than an hour on foot, on flat land. The next leg of the journey to the fireworks was relatively uneventful, except for the monster hoards that attack them every so often. But with Drake''s leadership, no one was sacrificed. When they finally saw the walls their legs almost gave out in relief. They almost ran to find the closest gate and, seeing it was open, immediately ran in. [You have arrived at Altera Village, welcome!] They almost cried at the notifications, and they looked eagerly at the announcements that followed. "The entry is only 5 copper." One said, paying without thinking, and everyone else did the same. Excited, they entered the gate filled with hope, to finally see civilization, finally eat well, maybe even bathe¡­ sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Maybe they could even see brethren, maybe see their families and friends. It was just that, inside the majestic walls were¡­ endless forests? Chapter 84 Mathilda Well, not exactly. After getting over the sight, they realized there was a really wide paved road in front of them. There were about 6 lanes divided in half by trees and landscaping. There were even a few meters of elevated sidewalks on the sides, also lined with trees. Although there were no cars, they walked out of the carriageway and started walking along the colored sidewalk. It was odd to see such wide avenues in the middle of the forest, but it was a human construction and it was enough. After all, a pathwalk must lead to somewhere, right? ¡­Right? Anyway, it took them about ten minutes of hopeful walking before they could finally see buildings. And they finally felt their hearts get in place. ¡­ At this time, Althea was looking at the screen as she saw something interesting. She saw a new person in the population page, with the former job indicating politician in green font. Mathilda Kruz. Among the scores of people in the territory, except for her, only 2 people had the green font. One of whom was Eugene, and the other was a forty-year-old man named Cooke with the talent for cooking. This man had been one of the people who bought a commercial space, likely to be used as a restaurant. It could be said that people with green fonts represent the Pinnacle of their professions. Thinking of it this way, poor Eugene really lived miserably for someone with such achievements. More importantly, she also knew this person. The retired minister of foreign affairs. Famous for her feat in the Yuta Country next to their Eden country. Due to centuries of exploitation the planet''s natural resources had been used up. When a mineral resource was found between the borders, war almost broke out. Mathilda went and stopped it, even winning their country very good terms. She also knew Mathilda personally. She could be loosely considered a familial elder of hers. They had met through her youngest son, Gill, her husband''s right-hand man, and they had met several times in events and official parties. They had only gotten close from there. It was very amusing how a tactless guy with such poisonous mouth came out of a famous diplomat''s stomach. She added two more farm villas, and 4 more duplex residential units, to comfortably accommodate the newcomers. "I heard there are newcomers? Shall we take a look?" Sheila said, looking gossipy. Althea nodded and followed the girl out of the village center, with Harold and Eugene following closely behind them. They stood at the square and watched the scores of newcomers appear in their sights with various emotions, especially when they saw people with aura among them. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "That firework was a very good idea, Eugene." Althea said to Eugene, who sheepishly rubbed his curly hair in embarassment. "I would love to make contributions, boss." Seeing him shy, Sheila couldn''t help but giggle at him. She looked at Althea, "Boss, if your compliments could be currency." This made Althea think. Contributions, eh¡­ "Althea?" A woman from the crowd called, breaking their conversation. At this voice, Althea wordlessly walked forward to meet them. Althea smiled as she approached, her poise calm and collected, but the brightness in her eyes betrayed her excitement. "Auntie." She paused and looked beside her. "Drake." The man blushed in embarrassment and Mathilda looked at them in amusement, knowing the usually brave young man''s weakness towards women. She then stepped forward and held her hand. She then turned to her companions, "Get settled first. I will find you." The people looked at each other and then to Drake, who looked at the younger girl in embarrassment. Althea smiled pointing at the village center''s door. "Just go inside, you''ll be able to rent or purchase a place of stay." "Thank you¡­" he said, and the others followed her, though not before stealing glances of the beautiful Althea. "I''m sorry for the impoliteness," Mathilda said as her sharp eyes watched her team enter the building. "Would you like to stay with me temporarily? We have a lot to talk about." "We sure do." She paused, giving her a vague look. "Altera... Althea .." she voiced out to no one in particular, Althea only smiled as if it had nothing to do with her. "Well, I seem to have a destiny with this territory." Mathilda just smiled and nodded. Althea looked at the older woman with a similar smile. If there were others watching them, they''d just be very confused. Hey, just like old times. ¡­ Although there was no furniture, it was still much more comfortable than in the open sun. There were also hotel pillows to sit on. Behind closed doors, Mathilda let go of her intimidating aura, finally relaxing. She held Althea''s hand as soon as she sat next to her. Her strict unapproachable aura softened considerably, turning to a mother hen. "How are you, child?" She asked, and looked at her protruding belly. Her eyebrows furrowed and she frowned, looking heartbroken, "How wronged you are... "You must''ve suffered greatly the past few days." Althea shook her head and smiled, comforting. "I''m fine auntie. I was in the villa area when it happened¡­I''m very well now. The territory is fine." Speaking of the territory, Mathilda''s worry eased and she looked at her with a smile. "Hmm, I agree¡­ you built it well." "..." Althea touched her nose, a bit shy. "Don''t worry your secret is safe with me." The old woman just said, looking melancholic. "It''s good to hide this power, people tend to blame those in power when they''re accessible. Then, as if recalling painful memories, Mathilda heaved a sigh. "If only Garan and Gill were here¡­" the old woman''s voice cracked when she mentioned her son''s name. "You wouldn''t have had to take this burden in your condition." This time it was Althea who held the other''s hand. Mathilda had been the strongest voice in finding the soldiers, the reason she retired was because she couldn''t handle the pain of losing her son. Althea thought for a while before saying anything, and decided to tell her her intuition regardless. "I feel they should be here." She told her., "My gut tells me he is closer to me than the past few months." Since she got here, she had occasional dreams. She never remembered any of them, but the feeling after she woke up was similar to the feeling of comfort when she was with her husband. Mathilda''s furrowed eyebrows stretched to one of surprise, and she looked at Althea hopefully. The younger woman just wrapped her arms around the older woman. "Gill will be fine; They both will." Mathilda embraced the young woman. "I believe so, too." Chapter 85 Inquiries Rolan Mercenaries Headquarters, Twinwave Town In the midst of a mountain range, rolling hills, and dense forests, laid a prosperous large town. It was a town that took advantage of its position in rough terrain and its proximity to various cities and towns. It had direct economic connections to nine villages, three towns, and a city, because one had to pass through this town to get to anywhere of these territories. It had relatively wide roads of about 5 meters each lane, with people and carriages abound chatting and creating a cacophony of noises that characterized a lively population. Walking along these streets, one would appreciate the overall appearance of the town. The buildings were in the continent''s usual construction of wood, of typical post-and-beam construction, but each one had differences hand-customized by the residents, showing signs of life and differing personalities. The largest building was the five story Town center and the rest of the buildings leading to it were two-storey houses, serving as its willing foil. There were, of course, a few sets of buildings larger in size than the others, and these were all purchases by large organizations. At the moment, a certain Terran was completing a deal inside one. "Here, 340 gold." Bart handed the bag to Garan with a smile. Garan took the gold with a light attitude. "Thanks." He paused, separating a third of the amount, and handed them back. "If you have any more missions, or information about that matter¡­" Bart smiled and took the bribe. "Yes, we''re contacting our teams that came back from more distant territories, perhaps they have news." "Thank you." Garan stood up and left, leaving the mercenary team''s headquarters to meet his team at the inn. He temporarily placed the money in his space, planning on how much they needed to keep. This amount of gold could actually let the entire team live well for a month or two in a small town. However, the cost of travel and payment of informants weren''t cheap¨Cone channel, Bart, already took a bulk of two week''s income¡ªso even after earning good money, they had to live very frugally. Of course, except for a few, no one complained. After all, they all want to go home. However, an occasional treat was still okay. He called the team to eat out, surprising them to no end. Garan and the team went to the town''s advanced restaurant nearby. It offered one of the rare decent meals this place offered¡ªGrilled Masdeer, some sort of mutton that was marinated in a secret sauce. It was nothing special compared to their Terran dishes, but it was one of the edible offerings this place had. He also chose two other dishes to complement. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His team brightened up at the sight of food delivered. "Thanks boss!!" The youngest, Luis, expressed in glee as he stared at the sumptuous meals in front of him. How long did he have three plates to choose from? Gill rolled his eyes but gracefully ate the food. Tsk, couldn''t compare to the Captain''s or any of Terran dishes at all¡­ but the boss was rarely generous so he shall enjoy it nevertheless. Garan nodded and ate his meal, also appreciating the rare treat. His wife always told him to balance things, not only focused on work but also add a bit of break and graciousness. Not only for him, but also for the morale of the team. Looking at the team lively around the table, Garan smiled to himself. As always, his wife was always right. ¡­ About an hour later, the satisfied team went back to the temporary home base. This temporary house was a dwelling they rented a few weeks prior. After settling down, Garan called them so they could start planning on the budgeting of the items again, like a proper democracy. "We keep 200 gold as living expenses this month." A small town typically needed 10 gold per person a month to somehow live like a human being. They just required this amount for themselves. The twenty of them were sharing a 100 sqm room, with the only girl living with other aboriginal girls next door. The remaining would be sent, as always, to the Mercenary Union for information. A few foreign soldiers frowned a bit displeased about the amount they''d be keeping. No one complained. After all, everyone wanted to go home. And there was also the fact that they personally earn just enough for themselves. The money invested for information was mostly the Captain''s money, and they were just freeloading. However, everyone did make a point to share those moments when they started making money and sharing it with a colleague.. ¡­ The next day, Garan and Gill went to the Mercenary Union. It was a three storey building made of stone, and it had a large door about 3 meters. They walked to the counter to see a bulky man with a bushy beard. "Jones. Any news on odd phenomenons the past few months?" Gill asked, "Like, say, space distortions?" Jones took the money. "Well, there''s no space distortions but there really was something odd." He paused, and stopped talking. Garan, on cue, added a few more gold. "A beast tide occurred a few days back and several unconnected territories were hit." The man said, and stopped indifferently. "That''s all we know for now. They have just finished dealing with most of the swarm, and now several forces are still investigating the cause of it at the moment." Garan and Gill shared a look, wondering if this was truly all the could get from this trip. However, from his peripheral vision, Garan couldn''t help but notice the old slave wiping the floor vigorously a few meters away. If he remembered correctly, this person was twice as far from him a few seconds prior. The man lifted his head, meeting his eyes. The two shared a flash of communication making Garan pause, understanding this man wanted to tell him something. Although the man''s eyes were lifeless and devoid of hope, there was still a hint of confidence. . . It was as if he really had something to offer. And Garan always trusted his guts. Chapter 86 Clue to Althea Garan did not call him out immediately, however, simply because¡ªjudging by the special mineral cuff on his neck¡ªGaran knew this person was a slave. It wasn''t that he wanted to discriminate¡ªthat was something very rare to see in his time back in Terran. It was just that the slaves in this world had a really low position. They had such a low status; they were barely even considered humans. It was the type made to eat pig food and sleep on grass on a daily basis. Interacting excessively with a slave you didn''t own could get them noticed. And not in a good way. After hesitating for a moment, he turned his head to Jones. Pointing at the cleaner, he said, "He looks very good at cleaning. There''re a lot of shoes at home that are in need of major care." Garan looked indifferently at the man behind the counter, furtively giving a handful of silver, but seeming like he wouldn''t really care if he couldn''t borrow the slave. The man stared at him for a second and took the money without looking at it. "Get him back before closing time." "Got it." He said and took the man¡ªwho they now realized lacked an arm¡ªback to the rented house. ¡­. "Tell me what you want to say," Garan asked as he sat in their small living area. At this time, most of the team were out for tasks, and only a few people other than Gill were in the house with him. This included the youngest Luis as well as the narrow-eyed Mao. As the slave sat still, Garan couldn''t help but notice something different. For instance, the locals were inherently taller but the proportions were the same, unlike with this man. This man was definitely human, but there were slight variations. For example, he had very pudgy fingers for his body type, he had an abnormally long neck. He also seemed to have a larger and bulkier upper body, to the point of disproportion. The most noticeable feature was probably the slightly blue tint to him, though it could also be he was just very pale and lacked melanin. These differences weren''t big, but they were there. If noticed, however, most people would just assume he had a very odd body type. Similarly, the aborigines also came in different skin tones and body builds, otherwise his team''s variety of color would''ve gathered excessive attention. In terms of appearance, except for the size, they were basically identical to the indigenous humans here. The man was silent for a while before looking at each of them one by one, similarly observing. No one spoke for a moment until the slave spoke out, "You''re not from this continent." It was a statement. Everyone''s backs straightened and they looked at him warily. A few even had a weapon at arm''s length. "How''d you know?" They asked, guarded. Although most aborigines knew they weren''t from anywhere nearby, it was never assumed that they were not ''of this world'' at all. This made them look at this man with a little hostility, and a boat-loads of guardedness. The man, however, did not flinch under their stares. He simply paused and closed his eyes, as if recalling thousands of painful memories. "I know because you weren''t the only ones." He said, "Because 20 years ago, I had been asking the same things you are." . . . "What?" It was Gill who talked this time. The man''s eyebrows furrowed and clenched his fists, obviously images of a distant, painful, past passed by his head. "I mean this wasn''t the first time people from other places got transferred here. "There was a whole civilization that was transferred twenty years ago, and there was one probably a hundred years prior." Garan couldn''t help but lean closer. "Is there a way back?" The man shook his head. "Even if there was, you would find nothing." A horrible foreboding filled up their souls. Garan closed his eyes to calm himself, heaving a sigh, he looked at the old man. However, by habit, he couldn''t help question the authenticity of everything first. "How come only you could tell us about it?" The old man looked at him deeply. "There are a lot of people who know. It''s just that they''re either slaves or way up high the ladder." Gill and Garan looked at each other with deeply tense stances. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Can you tell us what happened to these¡­ civilizations?" He said, baritone voice shaking imperceptibly. "Tell me about how you got here." The slave said, and Gill told him about their story. "The very reason odd space fluctuations occurred was because a galaxy was about to end." He said, "In my planet, these space fluctuations made a mess of the planet''s terrain, making the already ongoing disasters even worse." "Our planet suffered a catastrophe, supposedly got lucky, and survivors were transferred here to get a last chance of life." The man uttered out the last sentence in sarcasm. "Of course, they were brought somewhere that still killed them off, regardless." He paused and looked Garan in the eye. "I wouldn''t be surprised if it just happened again." He told them, almost with certainty. Garan was silent, trying to keep himself calm, his hands clenching each other. Gill heaved a sigh and turned to the man, wanting to ask more, "You mean our people¡­" "The people from your home¡ªif they survived, that is¡ªthey are most likely already here." ____ CHARACTER INTERACTION CORNER: Garan: *Stares* Where''s my wife? Author: She''s fine. Just answer their questions! Garan: What questions? Author: *Sigh* Uhmm¡­ What''s your favorite color? Why? Garan: Emerald. They remind me of my wife''s eyes. Author: Okayyy¡­ what''s your hobby? Garan: Cooking, so I can cook good food for my wife. Author: Err¡­ what''s your favorite part of the day? Garan: Bedtime, so my wife and I can¡ª Author: Stop! This story is rated PG! Garan: ¡ªcuddle and chat about our day. Author: ¡­ *Stares awkwardly at the audience* Wellll¡­. You can just ask him what you want. Can''t guarantee he''ll answer well tho! Chapter 87 Realization "The people from your home¡ªif they survived, that is¡ª are most likely already here." If this was true¡­ Garan and the rest couldn''t help but recall what they experienced when they first arrived. Being surrounded strong monsters they couldn''t do anything about¡ªmonsters they could only run from¡ªaffected their psyche quite early on. The dangers and horrors they had to go through broke a lot of tough soldiers. How many people had died and how many people lost a part of themselves, they could no longer quantify. And these were all soldiers who had undergone strict trainings and had seen a lot of blood. None of them could imagine what their families had to suffer if they really were transferred here. Garan''s blood turned cold just thinking of those damned monsters chasing his wife. Strong fire blazed inside of him and he wanted to jump outside and kill all those damned monsters that could threaten her safety. "That is all I could tell you." The old man said, pulling them all out of their daze, and he just stayed seated in place. Garan heaved a sigh, forcing himself to calm, and looked at him with deep eyes. "You know more." He said, a statement. "What do you need?" "Buy me." "What?" "Let me join your group." The old man repeated, his eyes unlike the lifeless ones he adorned while mopping the floor. His eyes were absolutely determined. ¡­ An hour later, they brought the old man back to their dwelling with a sigh. They lost 50 gold, just like that. Garan massaged his temple as they walked back to their cramped living room. The man did not sit down, as always, by habit, as a normal slave did. Garan did not ask him to be casual either. He simply raised his hand and gestured for the older man to speak. "Continue." The man nodded and unconsciously patted his empty sleeve. "My name is Gaudi. My planet is¡ªwas¡ªcalled Nova. It was water planet consisting of 90% water, back when it still existed." Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This made Garan and his team pause, and they realized the previous transfer apparently had involved him on a deeper level than they expected. It also explained, to some degree, his odd body structure. Garan mused he must have very strong lungs to be around water his whole life. "Before everything, our planet was already facing extinction-level catastrophes for a decade until only a fraction of the population was left." He could still remember the events like it was yesterday. He was still a young lad at the time, but the terror and hopelessness he experienced was ingrained in his bones. There were various natural disasters that happened every single day, not one day was missed. Sometimes, it was tremors that destroyed mountains. Sometimes, it was volcano eruptions that spewed poisonous ashes everywhere. It could also be tsunamis that destroyed everything in its path. Every day, humans kept being reminded of how small they were in the grand scheme of things. "After a few years, things even got worse¡ªas I mention, we later found out to be the space distortions¡ªand we lost half of the remaining population within a course of a week." "Then, we all got these sounds inside our heads, each and every one of us. It informed us of an imminent transfer to a ''new world''." He remembered how people celebrated this news. Anything was better compared to the perilous world they lived in. "A few hours later, we found ourselves here, being mobbed by a new set of monsters." "Our people lived predominantly in waters, with our planet made of islands that slowly sank down as the catastrophes happened." He said, "We were already inferior in strength and we were taken to a deeper disadvantage due to the terrain." "About half of the survivors died in a single day, and it was still in the so-called ''Protection Period''." This captured the soldiers'' apt attention. "Protection Period?" Gaudi nodded. "Every transfer there is a protection period, and will be open to the rest of the world after this time." "That was when the real tragedy started." He closed his eyes, sighing deeply, body shaking a little at the memories, surprisingly still so vivid in his mind. "Not only were the monsters suddenly so much stronger, but we were faced with a new unexpected enemy: Humans. "I remembered the first aborigine we encountered. "We somehow knew the language spoken, as if a translator was installed in our heads." He said, and the others nodded. They, too, had a similar ''skill'' of immediately understanding spoken language. "We were apprehensive, of course, but more hopeful." Gaudi continued, "In our world where nature itself was the enemy, there was barely any serious infighting. To survive, everyone had to unite. "In our naive, foolish, minds¡­ people with similar appearances were allies¡­" He shook his head, as if remembering their silly appearances. "Very soon, we understood this was not the case. Many times, people were even harsher enemies than monsters." "We quickly found out how lowly they thought of us ''weaklings'', and they made sure to let us feel our shortcomings. "They also blamed us for the beast tide that attacked the surrounding territories because of our appearance." Gaudi had begun to sob at this point, hand covering his eyes, but the rest could see the possible parallelism of his history to theirs. "The people of my planet did not last a year. Thousands of territories perished months after the protection period ended." "Now, we are either dead or slaves. For twenty years I have not heard of an exception." "The irony was our existence had been so small that probably a few territories nearby where we appeared had an impression of us." "I was one of the last survivors and I had gathered some information before our territory fell. "I''ve heard that, including the one from a hundred years ago, a lot of the low level existences here were descendants from us foreigners, at least had the blood of them." That was to say, newcomers would not live a good life, even if they did they''d have gone through hell to get there, and even their descendants were no exeption. This was seen for a hundred years, and it was unlikely to change¡­ unless the newcomers grew strong enough very, very, quickly. Garan felt complicated. He hoped she was here, avoiding the supposed catastrophe in Terran, but at the same time he didn''t want her to face all of these. But it did not take long for Garan to get himself together and clear his mind. He didn''t have to make things so complicated. As long as they were together, no matter what, he''d just have to protect her. Chapter 88 Weird Fog The atmosphere was tense and heavy, and no one in the room spoke until the door was opened. It was Jake, who still miraculously had spiky hair. "Boss, Bart got news¡ª" He paused and looked at the somber people who weren''t speaking at all. "What¡­ happened?" Garan rubbed his temple. "What is it?" Jake flinched, straightening up his back. "Bart...he''s asking to see you." The heavy atmosphere in the room did not dissipate, but it did put a pause in their useless overthinking and worries. Garan took a moment to gather himself psychologically before standing up and following after Jake. "I was just getting back from my short mission when one of the Rolans pulled me over." Garan nodded without speaking and allowed Jake to lead him to the Rolans'' mercenary headquarters. They walked to one of their gathering rooms and saw that Bart was waiting with two men. One was very tall and thin, and Jake imagined him to be like a human mantis. Beside him was a chubby man with balding hair. And Bart, in his usual flabby self, looked a little serious this time. He pointed at the tall man first, and then to the man beside him. "This here is Hoye and his right hand man Web. His team is based in Farrol Town, near the border." He paused, looking at Garan with an uncharacteristic grim expression. "There''s something that happened there the past few days that might interest you." He said, and then turned to look at the man beside him. Hoye began speaking to Garan. "You must''ve heard of the beast tide that happened in different territories, right?" Garan nodded, and Hoye continued speaking. "The investigators traced that all the beast originated from one area." He said, "And there seems to be some kind of changes in there that caused a great disturbance to the mobs around." The Terrans looked at them in interest, waiting eagerly for the next information. This time it was Bart that spoke up. "We''re heading there to see. Are you going?" They didn''t even need to consider. Of course they would go. Immediately, Garan turned to Jake and Gill, who straightened their spines by habit at his impending order. "Call the rest of the team. All of them." "Yes!" They would all want to come. After all, this was the closest they had been to home. ¡­ They arrived at the Ferrol Town a day later after rushing and without rest. This was the one of the few clues they got after so much searching and living at the minimum, no one could stomach staying in one place for so long. After a short rest and restocking in the Town, they headed further inland. At first, it was just an endless forest and an occasional mob¡ªnothing special¡ªuntil they eventually saw the curtain of clouds that seemed to extend from ground to the sky. "What a weird fog." Bart mumbled, and they eventually got close to a small makeshift camp not far away. It was composed of various mercenary teams trying to study this thing. There was also several military camps around this fog. Everyone was trying to figure out how much danger it could pose to them. Hoye walked to a group, which was apparently members of his mercenary team, "What did you discover so far? Has anyone gone inside?" The men shook his head. "None of us could enter. Well, technically we can, it''s just that we exit the same way a few seconds later. There had been no exceptions." Garan frowned and looked up. It so happened that there were a few birds entering the cloud. He waited for the so-called exit, but he quickly realized the birds did not get out. "But animals can enter?" He voiced out, everyone turned to him. "What?" "I saw that the birds were unhindered." This made everyone pause and think. "Perhaps, there are rules¡­" Gill mumbled with narrowed eyes. Bart nodded and looked at his teammates as well as Hoye. "Let''s try it out." For the remainder of the day, the group experimented on the entry conditions. Garan had entered himself, and it was indeed a bit evil. He entered, but a few steps and he was out back where he was. His teammates did as well, but there was no change. "Let''s try some other creatures." Bart said, and he ordered a couple of his people to gather creatures and animals for testing. As they waited, Garan''s sharp cerulean eyes stared at the ground, and he turned his head to Gill. "Ask them to dig." Gill blinked and, realizing what the captain might be trying to see, immediately moved and mobilized a few men to dig below the cloud. All earth elementalists were mobilized and soon a trench 20 meters deep was created. But, without change, there was this cloud extending below it, as if liquid that was intent on blocking whatever passage they could think of. Soon batches of different animal types and levels were carted in by the various mercenary teams. While this was going on, Garan brought Gaudi somewhere to ask. "Was this familiar?" Gaudi shook his head. "I cannot say. I have been so focused on surviving that these details went past us." He was not lying. He knew there was a Protection Period because of the announcement and the fact that their surviving population halved as soon as it was over. But he never knew how this ''protection'' was implemented at all. Garan sighed and continued watching as the investigation progressed. Eventually, they found the rule. "Only levels 3 and above are blocked." Bart looked around and pondered if there was someone who was level 3. No luck, unsurprisingly. Generally, level 3 would be kids on average. They couldn''t send children to the unknown, right? Hearing the blockage, the team (except Garan who just rubbed his forehead) looked at each other in dismay. This was the first time the soldiers got depressed for leveling up. It was Gill who was actually the most rational. "This is a good thing, idiots." They glared at him and he rolled his eyes, continuing his explanation. "If Terrans are really there, it means they won''t be facing enemies above level 3." Oh. This calmed down everyone''s moods. After all, they could all have loved ones in there. Garan didn''t say anything for a while before heaving out a sigh. After thinking a while, he placed another order. "We will set up base in Ferrol Town." "Yes!" Knowing there was no use to stay here, everyone packed up, preparing to go back to a territory. As they walked away, Garan couldn''t help but pause and turn back to take another look. He stared deeply at the mysterious fog. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea, are you there? Chapter 89 Furnitures! [26 days of Protection Period] Althea turned her head in a direction as if in a daze. Her pretty eyebrows furrowed and her green eyes¡ªreminiscent of the vibrant forest she was facing¡ªfocused blankly in space, as if looking for something that could not be seen. Harold, who was asking the workers to move the sofa a little to the left, noticed Althea''s blank stare outside the window. He blinked and turned to see what she was looking at: Nothing. "Boss?" Althea flinched and turned her head back to their Chef, and to the interior of the house. "It''s nothing." She just said, looking at the status of the fit-out works, turning her attention back to the rooms that were slowly being refurbished. A lot of the smaller furniture was already built off-site (Baron''s Residential workshop) and we''re just moved by some manpower. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For example the side tables, the dining chairs,and the coffee table were already in place. There were also baby and child related furniture like the stair fence, the cribs, and the high chairs. On the other hand, the few varieties that could not fit through the door were assembled on site, like the sofas, her queen size bed, and the bunk beds. There were also rocking chairs, just because. What was interesting was the amount of detail they placed. Each furniture had an overarching theme, which made everything fit together visually. In their home, Baron placed the cloud and plants motifs. Each leg and siding would have these carvings, and they were quite detailed. It was amazing because it had only been a few days. Anyway, because they were his benefactors and neighbours who paid well, Baron placed them on the priority list of production. Still with customization bonuses like the motifs. Baron had already mobilized his whole team and hired a lot of hands to quickly meet their requirements. Of course, he never failed to visit every few hours to personally check on the progress¡­ without missing a short chat with Sheila, of course. Speaking of, he seemed to have entered before Althea entered a daze. She turned to see that he was still there, low-key flirting with Sheila, who was obviously been very oblivious to his advances. For instance, Baron would say, "They say that the sunset here is particularly beautiful because of the two moons. How lovely would it be to watch with someone." "Oh, that''s nice." Sheila would say, eyes on the furniture, making sure there was no mistake. "You are very beautiful." "Eh? Oh, thanks." Althea smiled and shook her head as she resumed watching the people working. At this rate, the sofa and the beds would be completed by noon. If they worked overtime, they could even finish some other furniture. She extended her dainty arms to touch the surface of the upholsteries. Baron''s team had somehow managed to get an expert tanner to handle monster hide and turn it into leather and cloth. As for the innards of the cushions, they used feathers and furs of avian monsters. Each of the beds, sofas, and chairs would have these and it could be said to be very comfortable, at least compared to how they have been sleeping before. Cotton was unfortunately out of their league for now, but Althea felt she should be able to find a way. The thought of a well-furnished home excited her very much. If they managed to turn the multitude of hemp-like plants inside and outside the territory, they should also be able to produce cloth as well. There was plenty of work to be done, but she wasn''t panicking. She could tell everything was on track. Anyway, before Baron left (depressed due to being unable to secure a date), he promised to complete the job the next day. He still had a lot of jobs with them alone, after all. For instance, next in line to the house would be her Grocery store, then Sheila''s clinic, and finally Harold''s restaurant. Although there was a green-tagged chef Cooke as a competitor, the market was huge and she had the advantage of knowing local ingredients. Not to mention, the said chef had yet to develop his commercial unit, despite being able to afford it. Why? Obviously because of the lack of materials and ingredients. Raw ingredients and material fabrication was the major market she hoped to develop the most. No matter what specialization, these would be the first line of requirements, and was a very good way to make stable money. Walking to the verandah, Althea looked at the farm. They had also ordered a ton of fences to separate the plants, trellises for the crawling plants, and there was even a cute swing for the children. Even at this early stage, one could already see the future loveliness of their villa. Taking back her line of thought to the plants, she decided that for now, she would be testing the plants (local and Terran) within her walls. There was only the problem of labor, however. She turned her head and looked at Harold, who was still nitpicking about the furniture. Other than being a supervisor, he seemed to be a little idle now that his restaurant wasn''t opened yet. "Harold." She called, just as he discussed to the foreman what he wanted for his restaurant. "Yes, boss!" "You realize you can''t serve anything in your restaurant without ingredients right?" "..." Harold was silent, not sure about the sudden question, but nodded in the end. Althea then smiled and took out several plants and seeds. They were all nearly arranged and marked accordingly. There were even color codes to determine which was indigenous versus which one were Terran. Harold admired the boss'' over compulsiveness, but otherwise he had no idea what to do. "Okay, boss?" He asked, waiting for instructions. Althea smiled, very beautifully. "Plant this for me." _______ CHARACTER INTERACTION CORNER Harold: I remember when I was a kid¡­ I used to like picking plants a lot. I used to turn them into beards or moustaches, making me feel manly and stuff. Althea: That''s perfect! *hands over seeds* Harold: ¡­ Chapter 90 Farming After a while of detailed instruction-giving, Harold finally began planting the different plants according to the directions Althea gave. Althea asked him to do two approaches: One was with a nursery, while the other was to directly plant the seeds on the system soil. In fact, the past few days (other than doing a few hours of training every day), Althea had already began with her nursery, but it was focused on a couple of local plants, and she decided it was time to try more varieties. Althea assisted with this task, where he only had to gather soil in a specific spot in the system farm and place them on makeshift containers carved out from soft porous rocks (which would temporarily be their pots until they found a better alternative). The boss did the rest of the planting and recording. After being dismissed, he then went on to work on the second phase of the experiment. The farm itself was around 600 square meters and he held a rough plan of how the plants would be zoned. There were also basic instructions on how to garden. For example, since there were no weeds or grass in the system farm, he only needed to loosen the soil with a makeshift tiller they made from twigs. He also added some compost to certain areas, but not everything, because the boss wanted to know the effect of fertilizers on system farms. After tilling and loosening the soil, it was time for him to dig and start planting. It was around this that he heard his daughter''s immature voice. Maya jumped out, squatting beside him trying to get the shovel from him. "Let me help Daddy!" She said, taking the shovel and helping him dig. She must have thought he still had his old back problems, which was now non-existent thanks to their upgraded physiques. "My Maya is so sensible.." he smiled and didn''t reject her kindness. The world had changed now, he couldn''t baby her like he used to. Letting her help with things like this was doing her a favor. The boss told him specific instructions on how to handle each seed and plant, and he made sure to follow it to the tee. There were also plenty of ''experimental'' conditions, and he knew it was integral to the territory that he did it correctly. So, he did all the planting by himself. Of course, the others could be given to his hyper daughter. "Can I be in charge of watering?" Maya grew up the daughter of a servant, she had always been willing to serve, not to mention she was just doing her part. Maya was a very good girl. Althea smiled as the two bonded over farming, and turned her attention to the crops in the nursery. The nursery basically consisted of sensitive plants that she had to monitor herself, a lot of which were indigenous plants. As for the ones in the farm, there were also the same plants as the ones in the nursery, but also plants she judged to be resilient. This was also to test whether soil taken out of system farms was still any good. In any case, the 600 sqm was divided into 12 lots. Eight out of twelve will be given to the yam-like and wheat-like plants. However, there were differences in their conditions, like different spacing, water, depth, etc. To determine which conditions these plants grew best. The rest would be other edible plants, herbs, vegetables, and fruits. For example, berries. One was the blueberries similar to Terran blueberries. The other was the Yu Berry, and another ultra sweet berry they found on the way here. There was what she called warmmelon. It looked a lot like watermelon, only yellow, and had an effect of warming up the insides like turmeric tea. Speaking of tea, she had also taken a few bushes of tea-potential plants, but she planted them near the fences. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As for herbs, mostly she took in herbs that could be used as spices and condiments. They also have their own medicinal properties, of course, much of which was still ongoing experiments. This was a particularly sensitive area, and would require most of her attention¡ªsomething she could not yet give at the moment, unfortunately. She also kept half of her nursery for Terran seeds. Of course, she did not dare use all of the seeds lest she lose them all. She just planted a few experimental products for now. Satisfied with the planting plan, she gave every crop a one-over. With the insane refresh of this world added with the 20% field bonus, the plants should all be ready within a few days. By that time, she and Eugene would have perfected some basic processing tools so they could sell the processed food at the Grocery store. In addition to these, she would sell condiments and other things in the future. She made a rough calculation and knew that her little farm would not be enough to sustain the potential population the territory could absorb. She decided to invest in 100 more farms, building them side-by-side in the agricultural zones. She ''rented'' the nearest 10 fields for herself. For the farms, she wasn''t planning on selling them, only rent them out. They were too important to the territory to give to others. She turned to Sheila, who was arranging some dried herbs as per her request. "Sheila, can you do me a favour and post a job notice in the village center?" The announcements tab was not limited to the Lord. Citizens could also post, but for a price of 1 silver for every 100 words. "Let''s hire some farming hands. Those with experience in farming, gardening, and agriculture are welcome. The salary will be 50 copper a day." "Let''s add those to help us in the grocery store. You can also attach manpower you need in your respective stores.." She said, enumerating the various types of labor they would need. "Got it!" She said, properly putting away the plants. Speaking of which, judging by the number of people coming by the day, production would eventually be required. She looked at the map, and mused she should at least add an industrial area. The quantity of the processing of different fields would definitely need this space. Even after all of these, she still had so much to do. But¡­ she was feeling quite excited. Chapter 91 Livelihoods (Part 1) At this time, all over the territory, dozens of people were gathering wood and stone to exchange for some copper. Of course, a lot of them still go outside a couple hours every day to hunt, knowing full well they couldn''t be too complacent even when they''re in such good territory. It also helped that a team with an old man, a little girl, and a pregnant woman always went out to train early before dawn, going back well into the morning. This had been happening every day, without exception. Of course, going out to fight monsters wasn''t for everyone. For these people, the alternatives for decent livelihood within the walls was something they treasured. Although it was a bit of hardwork and manual labor, pretty much everyone had small smiles on their faces. It was really a breath of fresh air. They had not only rested well and bathed well, but they could also earn their keep peacefully without having to risk their lives. As such, even if they worked under the hot sun, no one complained. On the contrary, they had relaxed expressions. However, one young woman had a worried look plastered on her face the entire morning. As she gathered the resources, along with some edible fruits, she couldn''t help but give subtle glances at the old woman doing the same, albeit at an evidently much slower pace. When the old woman paused for a moment, the lady dropped what she was holding and ran to her. "Are you alright grandma? How''s your back?" Cassie asked the older woman worriedly, holding her arms to assist her. "Don''t you worry, child." The old woman laughed, not expecting a little pause to induce a panic attack. She gently patted her granddaughter''s hand off of her arm. "I hadn''t felt back pain for days now. This little thing is nothing." Thankfully, the evolution had indeed helped her physique a lot. She felt alive and, now, safe, and she definitely wouldn''t be able to stay still in the house while her granddaughter worked under the hot sun. Although they were not rich before or after the transfer, they still lived well back then and she hoped it would be the same here. For now, it seemed very promising. They could now sleep on beds, drink water when needed, and eat decent food. Unlike before, where they could only sleep amongst soil and rocks. It was very scary because there were not only beasts, but there were also so many aggressive bugs and birds in the forest. Some of the people that came with them were killed off by bug poison. Cassie cringed at the memory of her companion''s painful death by bug bite¡­ As for the other basic needs, they also struggled very much upon arrival in this new land. They could only drink dew water¡ªwhich Cassie learned to collect in what she called a ''camping camp''. And even that wasn''t easy to collect either because they lost a lot of dew if monsters appeared unexpectedly. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The only thing they didn''t struggle as much was the food because not only was she able to collect a lot back in Terran, her grandmother had the wisdom of the old and had very good intuition of what was edible. It was around this time they heard rustles coming nearby them and they flinched by instinct. But they quickly remembered that they were in a safe place¡ªonly harmless critters remained within the walls¡ªand their panic calmed down, though they kept their guards up just in case. They saw a small group of various ages with makeshift baskets on their backs. It was filled with produce. "Amazing. You gathered all of these?" Cassie whistled, impressed. "You sure maximized our foraging limit." She was referring to the limit some hoarders experienced first. Understandably, the territory limited the amount of resources a person could forage. "Well, actually, we were approached by rich neighbors to collect stuff for them." "You could do that?" "Yeah, but we consume our own limits." "Oh¡­ rich people problems, right?" The teen laughed. "You don''t know, just this morning someone was already making plans to furnish their house." His friend couldn''t help but supplement. "They were talking about the budget¡­" The youngins cackled, and proceeded in talking about some rich people and their funny stories. The old woman, Cathia, smiled as she watched the lively interaction of the younger generation. Just a day ago, they were all filled with weakness and tiredness. Now they could talk about random things with strangers they just met. Looking at the tall territory walls and then the people around laughing and filled with hope¡­, she believed they would continue to do so. ¡­ Deeper into the territory, was Baron''s busy workshop. He set up his workshops in both of his farmvillas. They used about two-thirds of the fields as a workshop, adding makeshift sheds to protect the workers from the sun. While a little wasteful to use over half of the system fields for a workshop, they really didn''t have much of a choice. No other place was big enough. Anyway, Baron''s sharp business sense was telling him where to invest, and he found his calling in these industries. And he was right. It had only been more than a day and his team had been flooded with work. For one, the customized special fit out projects, all with Ms. Althea''s team, already took all of his highest skilled workers. Other than these, Baron also had a separate production team for less specialized items which required considerably less skill. Of course, the number of workers in his hand, which was nearly a score of people, was really no joke. Especially, he had only been in the territory for two days. As for how he managed to find so many carpenters and workers, it was mostly down to his boundless charm (which Ms. Sheila seemed to be blind to, for now) and also luck. Okay, there was also the fact that there were less than 200 people in the entire territory, concentrated in very few living zones. Everyone was bound to know everybody else. Because of this, it was fairly easy for him to get hires and form partnerships by being a little friendly. One of the survivor team happened to be in a construction site. There was even an architect with them, though he refused to work for him. Anyway, this less-specialized team of fabricators focused on the most basic furniture, mostly beds, chairs, and tables. So far, the line was enough for them to work overtime for the following week. As the Greats had said: The businessman who takes the first step, takes the most profit. He could almost smell the profit coming in. He estimated he would have the return on his huge investment within a week. His business in Terran had never been so good! Chapter 92 Livelihood (Part 2) Baron nodded in satisfaction as he stared at the marvelous status of his workshop #1. Humming happily, he then walked out of the gate and went to his second workshop. As he entered, he was met with sharp eyes that almost made him run for his life. Until he remembered who it was and he stopped his tracks. Clearing his throat and slowly turning around, he faced the ''greeting'' person head on. It was a woman in her late 60s, but she was scarier than the gangsters he''d seen. It was Sassy the Tanner, the old expert of an obsolete art he managed to convince to work with him, for a good share of the profit of course. It was amazing someone still knew how to do it, since back in Terran hunting had been mostly illegal and people opted for synthetic leather already. He flinched a little at the old woman''s stoic stare. She was looking him down, arms crossed, and very intimidating. He put up an awkward smile. "Good afternoon, Sassy!" The woman grunted at him, not caring for any nonsense. He cleared his throat, getting on topic. "Are we on schedule?" He asked, looking at the various soon-to-be leather that were drying in the yard. The whole yard smelled pungent with a mix of earthiness and astringency. There were dozens of workers absorbed in activities, with various tools made of animal bones lying around. There were makeshift bone knives, hammers, and some other tools he couldn''t name. A number of workers were standing over a wooden trough filled with water mixed with other stuff, their sleeves rolled up, and mixing the bubbling concoction. This concoction was made by Sassy herself. Apparently, she got a skill called appraisal which helped her figure out the various alternatives to her old plants. It was amazing. He''d have complimented her if she hadn''t been so scary. Anyway, he looked at the hides that were stretched taut on wooden frames, some of them were being brought to the concoction. "Looks like we are on schedule." He said, answering his own question. The old woman nodded. "We''ll need to refill the raw materials." Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "The stocks should be coming any time now." Baron said. Speaking of raw materials, other than buying hides from the fighters, there were also ''loggers'' who sold their wood to him. After all, the territory expressly prohibited cutting trees within it and replacing the cut trees with seedlings for the trees within a kilometer outside. He could even foresee ''jobs'' specializing in re-planting. Of course, these loggers would need protection so they often went out with groups of fighters, the most popular was one lead by a dude named Drake. In any case, Baron''s business mind could already see the potential of these models. Without a doubt, a lot of these collectors would soon form the first rudimentary market in the territory. And Baron was dead set on occupying a good place in it. ¡­ While there were some already planning on how to get rich inside the territory, there were also some who wished to get stronger, aiming to fight not for the hide or their meat, but mostly for the experience. "Aren''t you baiting too many?!" A man with fluffy red hair yelled at his brunette friend. Their party of seven were now running from a mob of thirty. They had similar features to mole rats, only they were green and slimy. Troy rolled his eyes, pulling on a wooden sword he bought from the territory. How was he supposed to know they nested underground!? "It''s fine! Just run towards the walls if we can''t take it anymore!" One of the two girls in the group yelled. She was cute and petite, but she was tough as nails. Fred swooned."My Lulu is so Smart!" "Of course!" She said proudly, aiming an arrow at a monster, though the arrow head stuck on its scale. "And who''s your Lulu!" "My Lulu, don''t be rude! Don''t take after your cousin!" "Fight!" Another yelled, pulling their attentions back to the enemies aiming to freaking eat them, all while shooting some arrows behind him as they fled. But after running for a while, they realized there was something wrong. "We should be at the wall by now!" Fred yelled, looking around. He turned to his companions. "Who led the team?" "It was Troy!" "Damnit! It''s like you don''t know he had a nonexistent sense of direction!" Troy gasped, offended. "Hey!" How rude! "Anyway," Lulu screamed. These idiots! "Focus!" Thankfully, they reached the wall on time, and the sentries attacked right on schedule: One shot every three seconds. Heaving a breath of relief, the backs further inwards and attacking the monsters get past the sentries. "Stab!" Troy called out a skill he got, like a dweeb. "Stab! Stab!" Fred rolled his eyes, but otherwise did not have the time to mock him. He was busy defending his own appendages! Fred and the others slashed and slashed, making sure not to accidentally enter the sentry''s shooting path. There may not have been any innocent Sentry victims as of yet, and they certainly didn''t want to be the first ones! "Just attract them all within the sentries'' scopes! They''re bound to get hit eventually!" The group started baiting mobs to the circlement. The sentry towers didn''t shoot subsequently as there was a few seconds to cool down each shot, but this was enough for them to safely mob a few monsters at a time and help each other level up. Of course, some rivalries was unavoidable with certain manchildren, trying to one-up the other. It got to the point where they very nearly got into an accident. "Watch out!" Fred paled as Troy accidentally changed positions just after the sentry shot an arrow¡ªand he went directly at its path! Will troy be the first innocent victim of the sentry tower? Luckily, Troy was a bit clumsy and lost footing and he fell back first on the ground, the sharp arrow narrowly missing his nose. "Fuucckkk that was too close!" Fred cackled, though it was mostly in relief (not that he''d ever admit it). "HAHAHAHA! You''re lucky your nose is so flat! HAHHAHAHAHA¡ª" "Shut uppp!" Lulu''s temper finally exploded. "SHUT UP! Don''t you see you''re still weaklings? How could you be so careless?!" She yelled, "Joke around when you can one-shot these damned monsters!!" The two man-children finally behaved, focusing on the task at hand. They did this all day long, levelling up under the protection of Altera, gathering strength. All this in the hopes of eventually joining the ranks of the strong of their territory, and carving a good life for themselves with their own fists. Chapter 93 For the Economy While various citizens were doing what they could to gather stable income, their lord was also thinking about how to get the economy running as quickly and efficiently. She was chewing something sweet again, a lollipop she was reserving for her babies. Unfortunately, her cravings seem to be on the sweet side and her self-restraint cracked at the need for sugar. It had been less than a week and she had consumed a good part of the sweets she hoarded. Fruits were fine but their variety was so small, she got sick of them fairly quickly. This was very bad news. Distressing, even. When would they find sugar? How could her children live without it? It wasn''t that she hadn''t tried extracting sugar from the fruits, but the process was extremely cumbersome and the sugar in the local fruits really wasn''t much. Not to mention, fruits required to gather sugar (even if it was a high-sugar fruit, which they weren''t) would still be a lot more in quantity than, say, from other sources like sugar cane. Sigh. What a tragedy. Anyway, she pulled herself back to the topic at hand and took a look at her stats. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 1 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 64 (13 permanent, 51 temporary) Total Population: 313 Base Resources: Wood: 920/5000 Stone: 650/3000 Money: 7302 Gold, 91467 Silver, 37007 copper Reputation: 20 Buildings: Village Center, Weaponry Shop, Defensive Wall, Warehouse, Farms Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 5/5 (+1)] She wanted to build industrial areas where the lush resources would be processed to finished products. However, she didn''t have a building slot anymore. Even if she did, she would not waste it on this function. Too bad the custom building couldn''t be used. One was the column spacing was impractical and second, the custom building had to have some residential use. Even the commercial modules she built had to have residences somewhere, usually on the second floor. Not to mention, there was also the utilities infrastructure that she should be planning while the territory was still young. Thinking about it for a while, she opened up the Lord panel. She opened the announcement tab and made a post in the name of the System. [Announcement: The territory is hiring as many strongmen in construction to further develop the territory. Requirement: Experience in construction work. Wages: 50 copper/day labor 80 copper/day foremen 150 copper/day technical talents (architects and engineers) Please submit your resume at the Village center. ] She made similar announcements for Territory-hires for consistency. [Announcement: The territory is hiring people to maintain cleanliness in the territory. Requirement: Working body Wages: 40 copper/day labor Please submit your resume at the Village center. ] Althea saw this as an opportunity to further liven up the economy. Including those that she and Baron would hire, pretty much the majority of the population would be able to get comfortable salaries. The construction in and of itself would also contribute, as there would be more industries that would pop up when there were more building types available. Speaking of the constitution team, she had seen that there were actually a few former construction workers and an architect in the 300+ people currently in the territory. If she would get a civil engineer or two, she could have a complete team. She turned at Eugene who had been playing with Theodore during his breaktime. "Eugene, you will temporarily lead the production of blueprints after we finalize the tools." She paused. They weren''t producing paper now and it would be a pity to use paper too much, as only Eugene actually stocked up on a few rims. Speaking of which, when paper was mass produced, she decided to sell a plant guide so the resources could be gathered by the people as well. This way, the ready resources around¡ªinside and outside the territory¡ªwould be maximized. "A sheet is fine." Eugene smiled at her stingy appearance. "It''s not a priority, but since we''re doing conventional construction, it may take a while so the sooner we start the better." "I''ll make an inventory of the materials, to start." Eugene said, before gesturing to go. He still remembered the plethora of materials he briefly learned about when they were designing the custom house. "Thanks." She said, "We''re counting on you." ¡­ Outside of their villa, the moment the announcements were made, the territory boiled. "JOBS!" "The salary is so good!" "I was a mason before!" "I can totally clean well! I''m a proud over compulsive!" Someone said, referring to the second job offering. The second job naturally wasn''t popular to the young people. Even those who were poor in Terran. This was their chance to start over, and not let their poor education hinder their living well. How could they take such a job? However, many old people who didn''t have much options, as well as young kids, found this to be very much in line with their current capabilities. In any case, there weren''t any residents that weren''t talking about the job openings, with the tourists listening in and asking for news. One such person was Nina, who was a visitor simply because she couldn''t afford any other residency options. Who told her to be an utter ''modern kid'' with all their savings in digital form? Hearing that there were job openings that were paying well, still in her field of study, she naturally got excited. "I''m an architecture student!" The person beside her who had been gathering resources, looked at her very impressed and a bit of envy. "Really? That''s great! You should try it!" Things had not yet calmed down when, not long after that, the citizen-made announcement made by Sheila also resounded across the territory. If the territory hiring came as a pleasant surprise, the citizen-made announcement made them dumfounded. There were so many openings! Everyone would have jobs at this point, right? There were requirements for farmers, labor, seamstress, medical professionals, cooks, waiters, craftsmen, artists, and many more. What about those who would gather resources? Who''d do those hard jobs? Then they remembered there were still millions of Terrans around. Let the newcomers take those jobs instead. "More jobs!" "We can make announcements as well? That''s so cool! Who is Sheila and how do I post?" "I worked in a botanical park before!" "I lived in the countryside until a year ago! I know a lot of crops." Another person looked at the dazed person beside him. "Didn''t you come from a pottery family?" This was a scene that happened all over the small population. In any case, the fact that the territory was hiring, whether or not they even applied, was enough to stabilize their hearts. After all, this meant that the territory had plans and that their lives could only get better from here. That, in and of itself, was reassuring enough. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 94 Drake Althea smiled at the energized atmosphere althroughout the territory. However, she knew that the splurge of announcements wasn''t over yet. Following the economy, it was time to improve the territory''s military might. The reason why economy came first was that the sentries and the wall had been providing them with enough protection. She had decided to improve people''s spirts first. She also preferred thinking about money than military affairs any day. Sigh. If her husband was here, she could throw this problem to him and not care about it anymore. But he wasn''t, so she could only adjust. As she relaxed, she mused as to how to handle this issue when she didn''t know anything. At this thought, a familiar face appeared in her head: Drake. Her husband was not here, but there was someone who knew no less about these issues. It was still someone they could trust. With a smile, she stood up and went to knock on the opposite door. She knocked a few times before the gate opened, revealing a middle-aged woman with a bun hairstyle. She remembered that she came with Mathilda''s team back then. Her name was Belinda, and back in Terran she used to be an antique appraiser, which was an unfortunately useless job to have at this time. For now, anyway. Althea, for one, never thought any skill was useless. Althea smiled at her. "May I see auntie?" "Of course." The other woman said, letting her in. "She''s in the verandah." "Thank you," Althea said, entering with a smile. Because the layout of farm villas were similar, Althea didn''t need guidance to get to the older woman. When she entered, she saw Mathilda was sitting on the verandah on her rocking chair (Baron got quite a lot of talented people in a day), staring blankly into space. Althea stopped herself from making any more noise. She didn''t say anything for a while, wondering how she''d give the woman some pasttime to distract her from worrying excessively for her children. At the moment, Mathilda''s livelihood was a landlord, in which she rented out rooms to her former companions. This meant she had too much time in her hands, and therefore too much time to fret about how her children were. After a while, Althea finally decided to knock on the already-opened door, to catch the woman''s attention. "Good afternoon, auntie." The older woman''s face warmed from her previous blank expression. "Come, sit." She said, pointing at the opposite rocking chair. Althea nodded and relaxed, and the two were silent for a while after that, simply appreciating the peace and each other''s silent company. After a while, Mathilda finally spoke, turning her head a little to Althea''s direction. "Is there anything you need, child?" "Hmm¡­" She mumbled, eyes closed as she rocked back and forth in the chair. She then stilled and opened her eyes, looking at the elder. "Auntie. May I borrow Drake?" Mathilda''s eyebrows rose in interest, and Althea went on to explain. "I''m planning to form a guard team, but most people only had the mandatory military training at school. I hope to hire him as an instructor." Mathilda paused, looking at her in surprise. But not even a moment later, she nodded in approval. Althea blinked. So easy? Mathilda saw her daze and chuckled. "If he''s willing, he can do whatever he wants. He''s done enough for me." Mathilda paused, "I had already told him this as early as when we entered the territory. "It''s a good way to force him around young beautiful women. He ought to fix that excessive selective shyness of his or he would never get a wife!" The two women laughed at the man''s expense, sharing stories they had heard about his embarassments. Poor Drake. ¡­ Ha-choo! About a few hundred meters from the wall, a certain woman-shy man sneezed. It wasn''t that he was afraid of women in general, but only young beautiful ones. He vaguely remembered as a kid, he was adorable and didn''t speak much, and he happened to come upon a rowdy group of young girls who pinched him and patted his head. They were smiling as they surrounded him, blowing compliments endless compliments with their high-pitched voices., It terrified him. Anyway, this issue had never hindered his work before so he never really got his way around it. But now¡­ "Drake¡­ am I doing this correctly?" One woman, a ginger named Jona, waved her sword in the air, trying to show him a technique he showed the group before. He froze, nodding blankly. Then there was a black-haired woman with sun-kissed skin, Yen, who appeared right beside the Jona. She showed her own sword skills, much flashier than Jona, who rolled her eyes in response. "It''s like this right? Drake?" She said, smiling brightly with heavy blush on her face. Drake gulped, freezing, not knowing what to do. To be honest, he''d rather face a mob of monsters than these two women. "Drake, help!" Someone from his team called, as he was being attacked by three monsters, and Drake was improperly relieved of the news. He sprinted there and he worked together with his team and dealt with the monsters, gaining some of the experience, occasionally giving some deserving people the last hit. Soon it stabilized enough that he only weakened the monsters, and the others dealt with the rest. He watched by for a couple of minutes until he heard a familiar ding inside his head. [Ding! The village system detected that you are suitable for military instructor. Do you accept? Yes | No] [Job: Military Instructor Wages: 3 silver/day Benefits: 1 basic weapon every month 10% off to all system items Free residency during the hired period] Drake paused in his movements, but his peripheral view saw a Level 3 monster incoming. He temporarily put this issue aside and resumed his killings. Later, he ran to the other side of the field to rescue another one. Looking at the grateful looks of his temporary party, he just nodded with a blank expression. When the situation finally settled down, with them reaching the scope of the sentries, he finally had the time to study the new notifications. He wiped the sweat running down his cheek, low-key avoiding the women trying to do it for him. He opened his panel again and many thoughts were running inside his head. There was even a voice echoing. It was Mathilda''s, and he recalled their conversation just a few hours after they settled down. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ''Drake, this is no longer the old world. You are no longer my employee, but a partner.'' ''Your small disability should''ve been improved by your upgrades right? Don''t you want to focus on that?'' ''You loved being a soldier, didn''t you?'' He looked at the floating question asking him if he wanted the job. With eyes filled with renewed determination, he clicked Yes. [Announcement: the village system has determined that Drake Lesley is eligible to be the temporary trainer of the guards.] [Announcement: The territory is hiring people to guard the territory and clear out monsters in the vicinity. Requirement: Men and women aged 18-50. Physical: 30 or above Overall potential: C or above. Wages: 100 copper/day . Benefits: 1 basic weapon every month Free residency during the hired period Limitations: 0/30 people Please submit your resume at the Village center. ] "That''s amazing Drake!" Yen said, smiling, with Jona closely beside her. "Congratulations!" They yelled together, trying to one-up the other with their soft voices. Drake froze, nodding. "Hmm." And he scurried away. Poor Drake. ¡­ With that announcement, people once again flooded the Village center, making their CVs beautiful so they could get the job. Along the way, the citizens also sold their forages, increasing the average number of transactions in the village center by another bulk. Sitting peacefully next to Mathilda, Althea suddenly got a notification. [Triggered: Village Center upgrade tasks: [?] 1000 successful transactions [¡Á] 1000 gold transactions (760/1000)] Althea''s eyebrows raised in interest. Oh¡­? She wondered what would happen when she upgraded? She had a feeling it was going to be very good. Chapter 95 Rice!! Althea looked at the announcement with interest. Obviously, the gold transactions here referred to both purchase and selling. After all, it had only been a few days. In any case, she estimated that she''d be able to upgrade the Village Center in a day or two. But, Althea had a feeling. She had a feeling that the Protection Period was an integral time to gain strength. She simply could not wait around for a day. Who knew, what if she made a miscalculation and found out that month was actually shorter than in Terran? What would she do then? Who knew what kind of alien time system this place had in place. She would never, ever, place her new home and family at risk for such carelessness again. Thinking for a bit, she decided to fast track it a little. How to increase the number of transactions? Trade, of course! The Village hall could buy and sell using platforms by making announcements, and this wasn''t limited to the Lord. As such, in order to increase the transactions, she sent out gathering missions with-root/undamaged plants at a higher price under her own name. Another advantage of doing this was the fact that the village center had a similar function to her Assessment skill. That was: When a trade was made through the little tables in the building, stats and uses would appear, allowing people to be able to study the trades better. She reckoned the building''s assessment skill would not be limited by the level of the item like it did hers, which was why she thought the building was better. In this way, both parties could estimate the value and allow the transactions to be more clearcut. It was worth noting that this was only applicable for the trade function, and not the ''selling'' function, where the plants went straight to the warehouse. Of course, the territory not only enjoyed 10% tax on all transactions, but the trade itself had a small fee of 1 silver to 10, depending on the mass of the items traded. In a sense, sending out trading announcements would get her rebates. Satisfied with the set-up, she went home to finally get her rest. That night, in her new bed (using the washed duvet they took from the hotel), she lied down comfortably and looked at her warehouse. It was a new habit of hers that was both cumbersome and very, very, fun. It was like unboxing a delivery she didn''t know the components of. She was perusing through the space with her mind, counting that a good part of the floor had already been occupied by various plants. Fortunately the stone and wood automatically entered the resource space which counted as her usable resource during construction, otherwise they would definitely occupy her territory space, without leaving her enough area for everything else. She roughly arranged the items with her mind, a very useful feature of the warehouse. It was fortunate she could do so, otherwise she might give birth due to overexertion. Just like this, several plants magically floated around and landed on their designated piles. The dried plants on one place, the seeds on another one, and replantable plants on yet another. Hopefully, the cabinets she ordered from Baron''s team arrived soon so she could better organize the warehouse. She also ordered some wide-threaded ladders so she could easily access the top shelves without straining herself. Don''t look at her climbing fences and jumping tree to tree a few days prior, but she was really feeling the heaviness now. After she levelled up, in fact, which was weird because she should''ve gotten stronger instead. She was making a note of each plant. Most of which were already familiar to her, an unsurprising fact because of the lack of diversity in this place. However, there were one or two that seemed new, or at least a variant of other plants, and she put those aside for study. She also put aside the ones that could still be planted, deciding to take them out tomorrow. Anyway, the warehouse had an improved fresh keeping function, so her new plants would not die immediately even if they were out of the soil for a day. But just before she pulled her mind back, her peripheral saw a long sheef of bluish-green plants. She didn''t see them before because they were pushed to the corner of the room. But now that it was relatively clear, the plants attracted her eyes and she curiously moved her attention towards them. She walked to the sheaf and stared at it for so long that she suddenly felt a shift and she looked around, wondering what changed. She walked closer and heard footsteps. She stopped and the sound also stopped. You know, because she entered with her mind, there should be no sound at all¡­ She blinked at a thought but restrained her excitement. She lifted up an item to see if her physical body was really here and, to her surprise, it really was. This meant she could teleport to the warehouse! How magical! This building was too worth it!! Clearing her throat to calm herself down, she finally took a closer look at the plant she was holding. It had vibrant blue green leaves that gently swayed with her movements. The most intriguing feature had to be the tear-shaped panicles themselves¡ªthey were elongated and gracefully drooping, bearing clusters of grains, unlike the Terran with components on top of the stem. It also smelled a little nutty, unlike the earthly aroma of their Terran crop. She took out her portable lab from her space, studying its composition, making sure her theory was correct. Soon, the line of data appeared and the more data showed up on the screen, the brighter her eyes got. She still hadn''t recovered from her discovery with the warehouse, and another pleasant surprise came. It was a good day. She should make it a holiday. She raised the sheaf up, looking at it with obsession. Rice! S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She finally found it!! Chapter 96 The Farmers [25 days of Protection Period] The first day of various job openings started, and a lot were quite unsure of what to expect. There were some who were already quite shocked almost as soon as they timed in. The hired farmers couldn''t help but stare at the beautiful pregnant woman in front of them, a stupid-looking dog with a perennial smiley face right beside her. She was the boss of their farmers? Where was the stereotypical burly farming boss with a booming voice that they expected? Althea only smiled at their dazed looks and began to explain the scope of their work. "These ten farms would be dealing with local plants necessary for human consumption. "You should be familiar with this plant," she said, raising a sheaf very common in the area. "This is locally known as the Flute plant. On Terran, it should be close to wheat." The ten people looked at each other in surprise. It was a common plant and they sold everything to the village center! "We will be planting these, and also breed it in a way that would improve its quality and output." "That''s amazing¡­" "I didn''t know that was how it was used for¡­" Althea allowed them to chat a bit as she released another sheaf and held it up on her left hand. They stared at it very curiously. If the previous one was equivalent to wheat, this one¡­ "This is a plant similar to another essential crop." Her ability didn''t name it so this was one of the undiscovered plants. "We''ll just call it¡­ rice." The 10 people brightened at this, "Rice?!" "Yes, but it''s still an experimental crop because we don''t really know exactly how this strain differs from what we know. "Also, don''t ask me where I found them. A teammate got lost and brought it back, but it''s probably within the territory. I analyzed it and determined it had a strong likeliness with wild rice." She didn''t speak for a while after that, letting the farmers absorb the information with bright expressions. Wheat and rice, both very very important crops which they didn''t think they''d even encounter in this place, let alone propagate themselves. She observed them all and her eyes zoned in on one man advanced in age, who had the brightest eyes of them all. This man''s name was Gru Gilbert, and she knew of him from his hundred of theses. Gru was an agricultural expert, who was teaching agriculture in the top university in an adjacent country. He was near them because he was in Eden doing a seminar when the disaster happened. She first knew of him from science magazines. He was also a green-tagged talent who probably just arrived. To think he''d end up a farmer¡­ "Your name is Gru, yes?" "Yes, boss." "I know you. You''re an agricultural expert. Known best for the doubling of the production of the Vivi Plant." Viv¨ª Plant was a rare plant required in cancer treatment. Not many people outside the field were interested in this though. Gru knew this and looked at her deeply. "May I know your name boss?" Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Althea Witt." The man gaped, disbelieving, but shook his head in the end. His old face brightened and extended his hand. "It''s an honor to meet you Ms. Witt, I have long heard of your name." "Likewise." She said with a smile, "It would be a waste of your talent to just farm. "Ah nonono. I''m happy with living like a human being again." She smiled at the humble old man; she liked him already. "You will be in charge of this, increase your salary by 20 copper." The old man gaped at her and she continued to speak with a smile. "You can plant these seeds with different conditions. Report to me what is the most productive." "T-Thank you, boss!" "This is actually wronging you. Your skillset could be much more useful somewhere else¡­" "It''s my honor to study this, Ms. Althea. It has been a while since I''ve been excited!" While the other farmers looked at him in envy, someone had a more farsighted brain and looked at Althea. Hesitating for a moment, he gathered his courage to ask. "Boss, if you don''t mind us asking, how much were the fields?" "You can''t really buy the standalone fields. It''s just rented out, only at 50 silver per month and 10% tax is automatically deducted." The farmers looked hopeful, only 10 people were hired this time so their teammates could still get some, but they hesitated on reacting. After all, wasn''t this just thinking of doing your own competing business after leaving your boss? Althea laughed at their expressions. "Don''t worry, you or your respective teams can rent your own farmlands. As long as you produce efficiently and don''t take my stuff, I don''t mind." Gru couldn''t help but admire Althea. Only less than two days and she had already figured out so much about the territory. Gru was very thick-skinned and didn''t hide his thoughts at all. "As expected of Ms. Althea¡­ always so amazing." His teammate Dennis, a farmer he met on the way here, rolled his eyes and couldn''t take this prideful guy''s grovelling appearance. He stepped forward and looked at Althea eagerly. "Then, can we buy seeds from you, boss?" Althea blinked for a moment, and smiled. "After the first harvest, sure." Everyone were relieved and very very happy. "Thanks, boss!" They exclaimed, very inspired, and they worked even harder farming than they ever thought they would. For the next half day, Althea watched the ten people passionately fill up a couple of fields with the wheat and rice seeds according to her requirements. There were some differences in their methodologies like their spacing, the depth of the seeds, etc. However, with the blessing of the system farms, she was confident most of them would grow well. She could already imagine the beautiful upright sheafs following the wind, signifying the promise of a great lifestyle ahead. How nice! Chapter 97 Prelude to Upgrades "Boss Sister, boss sisterrr~" Althea turned to look at two dumplings running towards her with their little legs, propelling them forward with their boundless energy. Fufi had already bolted some time ago and was now running alongside them. Maya was ambling towards her with Theo in hand. They had bright smiles on their chubby cheeks and the adults (the farmers and their helpers) who saw them couldn''t help but watch them fondly. With the current situation and the tragedy everyone went through, even if the kids stood motionless for an hour, there would be someone to dote on them. Even if it was visualizing the children they lost on them, there would definitely be someone tearing up in the vicinity. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were also animal lovers, with the survival rate of domestic animals even worse than children. There was definitely no lack of people spoiling Fufi. He had gained a lot of weight and she swore to get someone to train him soon so he didn''t get too unhealthy. Althea looked beyond them and saw there wasn''t anyone behind the children. Seeing that they were alone running around the territory, Althea knew that the adults had already started working on their respective tasks. Fortunately, the territory was very safe, and any damage or danger to residents would actually alert the ''authorities'', i.e. currently, just the lord or Drake, whom she assigned as such. All dangerous flaura, fauna, and insects were also expelled in the area when she created her territory. She found this out when Sheila no longer applied her insect repellant and asked permission to sell only to people going outside, instead. "Children." She said, patting their little heads as they entered her arm''s length. "Do you want to watch them farm?" She asked, head pointing at the hardworking men (and women) who were occasionally looking in their direction. "Are they farming now?" Maya looked on with interest. "Like what me and Papa did in the house!" "Yes," she smiled. "It is indeed very similar to what you did yesterday." "What are we planting?" "Rice and wheat. The beef rice meal you like so much couldn''t happen without these." "Ooooohh." Maya said, fascinated. Theo also had his mouth with an o-shape, showing off his shaky front tooth, also expressing his feelings. It was adorable. The group of four walked around the fields with interest, and she introduced the kids to the friendly farmers. Of course kids will be kids, so they did eventually get bored. Seeing this, Althea smiled and looked to a direction, to the undeveloped area of the territory. "Shall we walk around the forests?" And of course, the kids agreed with glee, and they (including Fufi) bounced about as they followed Althea to the nearby forests. The perks of under developed territory was that resources were everywhere, and it was safe. For now, while the population was still small, she didn''t limit the harvesting of resources within the walls too much. At least for now. The refresh rate was amazing anyway. She''d just add the rule of prohibiting taking the roots. Although it was difficult for her to lean down, the two children were very good and helped her. She taught them some basic knowledge on how to handle the digging, and how to make sure every harvest was sustainable, in the process. Surprisingly, Theo''s pick up was even better than Maya. Too bad he couldn''t speak, otherwise he''d have been asking a lot of questions now. "Can you get me that, Maya?" She asked, as she distracted the kids to handle a safe plant. This was because next to them she saw an unknown pink plant attached to a tree like a fig. She was afraid the children would touch it accidentally. She had already analyzed with her skill it and saw its use. [Soft Vine (Lv2): Muscle relaxant] Not only could this be used in medicine, but there was also a more important use (for her, anyway). But touching it could have a few side effects¡­ She took out her gloves and took some samples, for use as well as to replant and propagate back home. The moment they got back home, she went to the kitchen and walking to Harold who was preparing some ingredients for their next meal. "Boss?" She handed a basket of pinkish plants and placed them on the counter. "Try to soften monster meat with this, we can''t be dependent on your pressure cooker forever." Especially, it wouldn''t be able to handle the amount of orders when the restaurant opened. As she pointed at the plants, she looked at him with a mysterious smile. "Try not to handle too much bare-handed though, lest your muscles soften too much." "What?" "Mix it when you marinate, but don''t soak your hands on it." "Oh, okay." Harold said, blinking, the use of the thing slowly dawning on him. When it did, his shoulders immediately tensed in excitement. "Let''s try it for dinner." Harold said, excitedly handling the meat and marinated it with the new plant. Of course, because it was new he also experimented in the concentration with varying success. When the meat was served that dinner, everyone pretty much drooled. Today''s meat dish was Stormdoer meat stew. There was a combination of vegetables and herbs (vouched safe by Althea) with a scent that permeated the air. The meat was tender morsels that oozed of fragrance, begging to be chewed. When it entered their mouths, the meat melted, and their eyes shut as they appreciated the taste. Indeed, the meat served was even better than before! It had a special floral aroma to it that fit well with the traditional taste of meat. She also tested the dish and there weren''t any volatile reactions at all. If anything, it blended really well with the other ingredients. Dinner was sumptuous and that night''s rest was estimated to be particularly nice. And it was made even happier¡­ because Althea finally received her long-awaited notification. [Detected! Conditions for upgrading Village Center had been met! Would you like to upgrade?] Chapter 98 UPGRADED! The team had been lounging in their new living room after that sumptuous meal when a ding sounded in Althea''s ears. [1000 gold transactions confirmed!] Althea was not surprised. After all, the farms had been rented now, a lot of stone and wood resources had been exchanged, and including the order she made under her name, there were plenty of transactions that happened in one day. [?] 1000 successful transactions Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [?] 1000 gold transactions (1003/1000)] [Detected! Conditions for upgrading Village Center had been met.] [Would you like to upgrade for 500 wood, 300 stone, and 800 gold?] "..." Good lord, this upgrade was thrice as expensive than building one from scratch? Looking painfully at her rapidly disappearing resources, she pressed YES. She decided that luxury purchases like custom houses would require not only gold, but also wood and stone resources. Milk the rich people well! She opened the window and except for the 2 more purchase slots and a new Rules and Regulations tab, there seemed to have no change. One must know that they could make some simple prohibitions even at level one, for a price. For example, no fight, no theft, etc. If it occured, an alert her or whoever she assigned to implement the rules (like Derek), and they would handle it from there. So what was the difference with the new tab? A bit disappointed, she decided to see the building for herself, making the others stare at follow her movements. "Where are you going, boss?" "Village Center is updated." She just said, but it was enough for everyone to stand up and leave whatever they had been doing. They arrived at the updated building a few minutes later, and they could hear the charter around. "I saw a building grow on its own!" "It was like magic." "Can buildings just get taller by themselves??" "Maybe! Like those infrastructure games I used to play." Walking past the crowd, they finally got closer. It was now twice as large, and twice as imposing. Inside, the area was enlarged with more platforms and surfaces. There was also an additional marble counter in the other end, with no platforms on the way from the door towards it. There was also a staircase on both sides of this empty concierge. They saw a few people climbing up excitedly to see what was inside. Unfortunately, they seemed to be stopped by an invisible wall. "It''s forbidden." Someone mumbled in disappointment, swiping around like a mime. "Nope. If there''s an opening, I can''t find it." Another one stepped in next to him, doing different movements, looking no less idiotic. Disappointed, the man''s shoulder slumped, "Me neither." Another sigh. "Let''s just go." Althea, who had been watching their exchange, frowned. If she wanted to hide her identity, did it mean she had to watch out for people before going to the second floor every time? "Is anything the matter?" Sheila asked and she shook her head. "I''ll tell you later." She whispered and the team went back to their base with a lot of questions. Althea though, was distracted the whole way. ''If only I could teleport¡­'' she mused. For a while, the issue dampened her mood. But then she remembered: She could indeed ''teleport''. Albeit it was teleport to the warehouse. Well, good enough. ¡­. Later that night, Althea excitedly went to the warehouse. There had been a lot of changes since the last time, there were now rows and rows of cabinets from Baron. The warehouse now looked similar to the supermarkets back in Terran. She walked past these and went to the end where the warehouse connected to the village center. She opened her Lord window and went to the Building Tabs. Paying a couple of gold, she added a mezzanine and a staircase. This way, she also not only gets access, but she also maximized the space. Building a door on the connecting wall, she turned the knob with a bit of anticipation in her heart. What could be on the other side of the door that only the Lord could get in? But, on the second floor there was¡­ nothing. "..." Her lips pursed and she entered, looking around more carefully. Then she looked down on her feet and her peripheral view saw a pattern nearby. She studied the floor and saw a faint, but pretty, circular pattern in the center of the room. It was made of a complex symbol that exuded some sort of power. There were concentric circles and curves, with these complex curves creating an intricate pattern connecting these circles. Her pretty eyebrows furrowed as she slowly walked over the aforementioned pattern, walking above it. Ding! [Would you like to spend a one-time fee of 100 gold to open the portal for specially hired work? Note: 1. Monthly salaries are paid separately. 2. At Level 2 Village Rank, a maximum of one person a day can be hired. 3. The summoned person reserves the right to agree to the hiring process. 4. Three attempts are allowed daily. 5. Hired individuals are duty-bound to complete the scope of their tasks, according to their job descriptions. 6. Hired Individuals are not slaves and will not endanger their lives for the territory. They are only required to do what is within their ability and are allowed to flee as needed. 7. Territories cannot force a Hired Individual to commit acts they are not willing to do. 8. Hired Individuals may also choose to apply extension of their tenure. 9. Lords can terminate a hiring deal, but the initial hiring payment for that month would not be refunded. Note: Hired Individuals are contract-locked to never be able to do any harm to the territory. Even upon the end of their tenure, Hired Individuals will not be able to disclose anything related to the territory.] She blinked. Hired Individuals? Do they appear above the circle? Like a game of sort? Then she paused at a realization, eyes bright in curiosity. Could this be the legendary NPC? Chapter 99 First NPC As interested as she was though, she didn''t say Yes immediately. Even with all these odd alien elements, she still knew that this wasn''t a game at all, where people had many lives and NPCs were guaranteed to be harmless. Even if there was an explicit note saying they couldn''t do any harm to the territory, there was no mention of protection of the individual. She might be much stronger than other Terrans, but who knew what would come out of this teleportation circle. Her brain couldn''t help but imagine a couple of scenarios that she really didn''t like. She cringed at the thought of zombies appearing all of a sudden, asking them to hire her with those creepy groans of theirs. Ugh. She shook her head and stared at the circle again in ponder. Her lips were pursed, before finally approaching it again. While risky, a lot of good things tended to come from risk. Not to mention, thinking about how the Universe system had always been objective and helpful¡­ it would be such a pity to pass on this opportunity because she was afraid. In the end, she decided to take a small leap of faith, and throw down a whooping 100 gold. There was an option on not hiring anyway, she might as well study the options first. [Yes] [-100 Gold] She watched as lighting from the pattern glowed and followed the lines outwards, remaining lit up indefinitely. [Would you like to open the portal for 1 silver (1/3)] Yes. [-1 Silver] Soon a holographic image of a man appeared, looking dazedly at the screen. Althea could help but appreciate the magical technology before anything. The closest thing she could describe it was, like the game panel, a holographic image of sorts (which, by the way, was still being perfected in Terran). At the same time however, it was not quite a hologram. It had a more ''airy'' and translucent feel to it. More like the air itself was condensing to produce a colored image. It was very magical. It was only at this time that she finally took a moment to look closely at the person. He was quite tall. He was plain looking but had soft features. He also had a semi-bald head, that was more pronounced on the side. He also had an apprehensive expression on his face, which was a little amusing. Anyway, Althea moved on and shifted to look at his stats. [Name: Madon Loo Level: E Abilities: Production of low level weapons Wage: 10 gold per month Confirm? Yes | No (1/ 3)] Production of low level weapons? Her eyes brightened. Did it mean this person could produce weapons that damaged the monsters here? The wooden swords, bows and arrows, etc. that could do similar damage with their Terran guns? However¡ª She pressed NO in the end. She already had a weapons shop, there was no need for this. She could only hire one a day, what if there were better options at the back? However, this overlap between building and person did make her curious. If she hired an NPC, would they be able to replace the use of a building? Then she looked at the ''hologram'' again, deep in thought. She wondered how would she start see the next option? First she tried to swipe the image to the left, though the image only broke to pretty dust-like particles that recondensed to form the image. She thought for a moment and uttered "next," and the image broke down. [Would you like to open the portal for 1 silver (2/3)] Yes. The image of a 6 feet tall old man appeared. It seemed that everyone that appeared would be around or taller than this height? Even a crunched old man was taller than the typical Terran man. [Name: Crutch Bendon Level: D Abilities: Production of low to mid level armors Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Wage: 15 gold per month, food twice a day inclusive Confirm? (2/3)] This time she said Yes. Somehow, she doubted the next one would have a higher level. Judging by the logic of the system, it was likely that the better quality NPCs would be available upon levelling up. Naturally, she wanted the best for her territory. Of course, their monthly costs also increased. When she made her choice, the light from the circle projected upwards, creating a light curtain. When the light dimmed, the same old man appeared within the magic circle. Teleportation?? Oh my goodness. While she didn''t know what to expect exactly, this was a bit¡­ shocking to witness. However startled she was though, Althea didn''t show anything on her face. The old man, on the other hand, was stunned when he saw her. It was only for a moment and he quickly caught himself and kneeled down. "My Lord." "Get up." Althea hurrieldy said. "Just call me Althea." The old man gaped, looking aghast. "That¡­ isn''t customary my Lord¡­?" "People here don''t know I''m the Lord, so please treat me like the others." Crutch looked at her in incomprehension, not understanding why she did so. Althea sighed and opened up her game panel, deciding where to place him at. It just so happened that one of the new shops along the main commercial area hadn''t been rented yet. She took down its availability. "There''s a house on this address. The ground floor is for commerical, the upper floor could be your sleeping quarters." The man stared at her, confused. "Not an armory, my Lord?" "Is there a difference? I mean with what you would produce than what a building could." Crutch seemed to be at a loss, as if he didn''t think about this issue at all. "Not much, but our existence doubles the productivity of a building, at the minimum. That''s all I know. I apologize my Lord." Althea was relieved, it meant she wasn''t wrong. A pity for the productivity, but who told her building slots to be filled up. Anyway to sum, NPCs could, indeed, replace buildings. "It''s fine you helped me a lot." She said and the old man looked so honored Althea thought he''d have bowed if she didn''t stop him. At the same time, she thought of how other Terrans would choose in her position. They would probably opt to buy buildings instead of hiring NPCs. The one-time cost of a typical commercial building was only 50 to 100 gold, and you could produce unlimited amounts as long as one gave the raw materials. This was in contrast to the NPCs, which were paid 10 gold a month, at the cheapest, and their productivity would definitely not be ''unlimited''. She couldn''t tell which would upgrade faster, either, so her choice actually had a number of risks. But, well, each to their own. She still believed in her intuition. Chapter 100 Second NPC "Milord?" Clutch looked at her warily, and Althea crossed her arms as she stared at him. He was shaking a bit, obviously intimidated. Her eyebrows furrowed. "Am I scary?" "I¡­ no, yes¡­" S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What?" "Whatever my Lord says is correct." "Just treat me casually. I''ll be angry if people find out about me because of your attitude." She said so with faux-sternness. What she didn''t expect was that he would look like he was about to cry the moment she said it. Her eyes twitched, not dwelling on it anymore. Obviously, the status of the Lord in this world was relatively high, which was mostly a relief. Another interesting thing was that NPCs seemed to be speaking another language? However, she could understand it clearly, as if there was an automatic translation in her head. Of course their way of speaking was a little different, but her brain could just translate it in a way they would easily understand. She looked at the man who was still looking down, not meeting her eyes. "Can I ask, my words¡­are they in your language?" She knew the question was weird, but she didn''t know how to ask ''Do you understand the language I''m using'' when he obviously could. Surprisingly, the old man really understood. He shook his head. "No, your language is strange. Your territory must be far from mine¡­" "I see, thank you." She said after a pause, "You go to the place I told you about. Good night." "T-Thank you, milord." He said, bowed, and walked out the door, gently shutting it. Althea couldn''t help but stare at the door, recalling the man''s reaction to the question. So¡­ everyone¡ªincluding aborigines ¡ªhad an automatic translator in their heads? She shrugged and yawned, sleepy. She''d think about that later on. ¡­ The mid-morning of the following day, Althea went back to the 2nd floor to summon another NPC. The only difference was that there was an additional set of couches and coffee tables on the corner, rush ordered from Baron''s team, making them the first citizens to enter the second floor (though not before signing an NDA, just because). She took out some snacks and milk prepared by Harold. Yesterday, she wanted to have a chat with the old guy. But she was very pregnant and tired so she passed. This time she made sure of her comfort. She opened the portals again and took a look at her options. Unfortunately, she didn''t take the first two. One of which was a level E armor maker and another one didn''t have a skill that¡­ she''d want in her territory. The woman''s ability was to ''serve'', and judging by her revealing dress and the constant winking and sexy poses of her holographic avatar, it was probably ''that'' type of ''serving''. The last one was also a woman, but she had a stronger aura and short hair. [Name: Brenda Walker Level: D Abilities: Production of low to mid level weapons Wage: 15 gold per month, food twice a day inclusive Confirm? (3/3)] Finally seeing a decent option, she heaved a sigh of relief and clicked ''Yes''. A familiar burst of light lit up the room, soon revealing the live-version of the image. It was a pretty woman with a strong but curvaceous figure. It was just that there was a huge burn scar on the lower side of her face, disfiguring her otherwise pretty face. The woman bowed, not daring to look at her. "My Lord." She repeated her instructions with Crutch, and the woman looked at her with a similarly baffled expression. Althea didn''t bother with her reaction anymore and went straight to the point. "You will be assigned to my weaponry shop." She told her, "It''s just that it''s only level one. It won''t affect your level of production, will it?" The woman raised her head, as if surprised to hear her voice. "N..No, mil¡ªmiss. But working in a weapons shop will increase my productivity." "Do you know why?" She asked, curious. Perhaps she could figure out an alternative to these buildings. "Weaponry stores have production rooms accessible only to the workers and the Lord. "This working room includes all the tools we need to work well. We also get a special increase in these rooms, increasing our rate of success and efficiency, depending on the level of the building." Althea nodded, taking note. It seemed that she would still need to consider adding an armory in the future, though it would really depend on the situation. "Weaponry stores also have accommodations?" "Yes, a level 1 store can accommodate up to 2 employees." "Do these building buffs apply only NPCs¡ªI mean, people hired like you are?" The woman seemed a little confused with her question, and Althea realized that this seemed to be a common sense question. "We lived in a secluded area before; we are unaware of the situation of the continent." She cleared her throat. "The term Buffs are used to refer to quality or productivity increase awarded by, say, a building." Brenda nodded in understanding. "As long as the Lord hires someone, regardless of in person or through the village center, they can enjoy the same¡­ buffs." She nodded, relieved. "Where are you from? Do you have family?" "I live with my father in Glaston Town." "Where''s that?" "It''s a hundred kilometers from the centre of the human Territory." She said, a bit proud. After all, the closer to the center, the less likely they will be noticed by surrounding races, and thus safer and better developed. Althea was very interested to hear about the ''outside world''. "Oh? You seem very proud of your home." Brenda touched her nose in embarrassment. "Well it''s more on the development of the territory.'''' She mentioned the relative safety from the enemy races. "Our home really did well, and a lot of it had to do with positioning. "If it was a human territory attacking during the Territory Wars, our territory would likely handle it well." This one sentence poured cold water all over Althea''s curious good mood. Her back straightened, eyebrows meeting in befuddlement. Territorial Wars? Humans attacking? What was this? What was it this time?! Chapter 101 Territorial Wars (Part 1) G Tourist City, 18 months prior Inside a deluxe hotel room, a newly-wed couple watched the worrying news on the television in the comfort of their bed. [The tension between Eden and the Yuta country is at an all time high.] The reporter said, and an image of thousands of soldiers marching was shown. They looked very disciplined and regal, meant to show the country''s population that they, the Military, could handle whatever results would come out of the discussions. The newscaster continued to speak. [The Edenian Military is preparing in case it develops negatively. However, our Foreign Affairs Minister Mathilda Ross will be flying to personally handle the talks.] "Are you allowed to be here?" Althea asked, turning her fluffy unruly head to the man she was lying on. "It is my week off." He told her succinctly, but his eyes were warm on the woman in his arms. His large hand slid down to her soft unclothed waist, slowly caressing her supple skin. He had been looking forward to this for months. How could he forget that their honeymoon a few months prior was cut short because of a mission! Althea pouted and held his naughty hand in place. "But¨C" "There are plenty of capable people in the military." He said, voice raspy and sexy, as he changed their positions and placed her underneath his hovering large body. Not forgetting to turn off the damned television, of course. He dipped his head so his lips touched the side of her face, slowly going down her neck, sampling her supple skin there. His warm hand moved, caressing her thigh, feeling her softness. Althea was frowning with a flushed face. She pursed her lips as he went lower, and she quickly placed her hand on his warm lips, stopping him from doing more. "Will Auntie be okay?" She asked, a bit breathless. How could she be in the mood when people she knew were in danger? "Gill led the team to protect her himself. They''ll be okay." He said, kissing her palm. He couldn''t tell her any more details because it was confidential, and he just assured things would be okay. However, his deep azure eyes met her lovely emerald ones and he understood she was really not in the mood (for now). Sighing, he simply returned them to their previous position, with his wife snuggling comfortably on him. After confirming that he wasn''t going to ''take advantage'' (so cute, Garan thought), her shoulders slumped in relaxation. She buried her head on his wide shoulder, wrapping her arms around him, feeling his soothing warmth. "If only there were no wars." He looked at her gently and his large hands caressed her back. He leaned down to kiss her head. "Only in an ideal world, my love." He said, wrapping his strong arms around her, sending her warmth. "But no matter what¡­," he told her, "You have this husband of yours to protect you." ____ [24 Days of Protection Period] Althea rubbed her temple and walked to the lounge area and sat there. Her body felt very heavy, like lead was resting on her. It wasn''t even because she was pregnant. Brenda for a while just stood there looking down and waited for instructions. After a moment, Althea drank her tea habitually to calm her nerves. Not only did they have to deal with monsters, now they had to deal with other humans, too? Wait, no, there seemed to be other¡­ creatures? It was only after her cup was half empty that she noticed the other woman standing dutifully not far from the circle. Althea sighed and waved at the other seat. "Take your seat, and have a snack. It''s cookies and tea." Brenda hesitated and looked at a loss. Althea''s eyebrows rose, puzzled. "What''s wrong?" "It''s improper to be so¡­ informal with the Lord." S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Well, my territory is different." Brenda saw that she was not testing her and was sincere in the invite. Brenda couldn''t help but be extremely honored to the point that even if she was fed poison she may really take a sip. "T-Thank you.." She was actually being polite and thought that she didn''t have the guts to eat and drink too much. It was just that the moment a bite touched her tongue she couldn''t help but eat and drink a bit more. It tasted amazing. The aroma of the ''cookies'' and the fragrance of the tea enveloped her senses, carrying her to an unfamiliar world she would love to explore. When her teeth bit into the cookie''s crunchy but chewy exterior, a burst of flavors erupted on her tongue, making her want to moan. Then she took a sip of the tea, each drop sending warmth to her body. She immersed herself in the earthy essences of each sip, closing her eyes as her palette exploded with floral undertones, mixed with some natural sweetness of fruit she could taste. She had heard of teas. Weren''t they supposed to be bitter? Unconsciously, she raised her head to ask the nearby person¡ª When she saw the lord''s beautiful emerald eyes looking at her in amusement, Brenda shivered¡ªGoodness Elves, how could she forget that the LORD was right next to her!¡ªand she abruptly stood up, and bowed at a 90 degree angle. "I-I-I''m sorry my Lord!" She exclaimed, shaking a bit. She wouldn''t get fired as soon as she was hired? Ironically, her eyes ended on the plate, and felt reluctant to part with it the most. Althea saw all this and held back a chuckle. "I told you to just call me Althea." "H-How could I?" "Calm down. It''s fine, I placed it there to be eaten." "B-But¡ª" Althea rubbed her forehead. Obviously, there was a heavy cultural gap between them and it was useless to teach too much. "Do you want to eat the rest or not?" She said, "If you don''t sit back down I''ll take them back." "..." "..." The woman furtively sat back down. Althea waved at the food and as if ''doing her duty'' the woman resumed her chewing. She did not even notice she was humming a bit, but Althea didn''t point it out lest she went into a panic attack. Anyway, from her reaction, she could tell that the NPC loved the food, and this was still using the simplest available ingredients¡­ Anyway, instead of dwelling, she started changing the topic. "You mentioned some sort of war earlier¡­" She paused, deep eyes darkening. "Tell me more about this¡­ territory war." Chapter 102 Territorial Wars (Part 2) "Tell me more about this¡­ territory war." Althea paused, "And, has this always been the case?" Brenda looked at the lord''s face and saw that she was really not angry, she composed the answer in her head and responded. "Territory wars are inter-territory fights that have been happening for millennia. "My father had taught me that wars had been going on since the time of our ancestors. It was the natural way of life back then. "Plundering, murder, and theft were common practices and were considered common sense at the time¡ªregardless of the race. "But the wars had gotten so bad that over half the population died. This was some thousands of years ago, I believe." "Led by the elves, the Concordium began and limited the waging of wars to a maximum of twelve times a year, or once a month. There was also a day required to warn the territory being attacked, so no there are no real surprise attacks. "To some extent, this really allowed respite time for everyone to recover." "Concordium?" Althea said, "What do they do? Where are they now?" Brenda shook her head. "I don''t think they still exist, but the rules set applied to everyone who entered the land." "I don''t know much about it, we were only commoners after all." Althea didn''t bother with this Concordium as she felt it was far from her. On the other hand, she was still very worried about the wars. "Won''t strong territories just target weaker ones?" At this point, Brenda now fully understood that the lord truly had no idea what was going on in their place. Of course, while it was a mystery how the Lord''s people had yet to experience Territory Wars, it was none of her business. Brenda simply answered as carefully as she could, trying to be as helpful as possible. "Territories were only allowed to attack territories of the same level. However, if a territory wants, it can challenge any stronger opponent." Althea nodded. Indeed, if wars could be waged without limit, it would only be endless bloodshed. Wars could be said to be an inevitability for a planet with so many different intelligent creatures. Even in Terran, where only humans were the only intelligent beings, wars had been an unavoidable part of history, let alone when there were so many races. Speaking of other intelligent creatures, she''d have to ask this in detail later on. "Then what''re the winnings?" Brenda swallowed another piece of cookie. She couldn''t help it, it called to her. "Regardless of whether the territory was challenged or was challenged, the loser will give up the current half of its assets to the winner. "This includes gold, resources, buildings, people, and others." Then she paused, looked at Althea with a bit of reluctance, but still voiced out her thoughts. "...Unless the Lord themselves are killed and their tokens taken, in which case the territory can be merged with the winning territory." "What?" But¡­how? The Lord token was integrated into her. It was not a physical item after use nor was it in space. From her understanding, a used lord token would not appear until the holder died. And when they did, as what happened with that other guy from Royal Territory, their land will disintegrate with them. "I hadn''t encountered it personally, but a mercenary I once knew had once been hired to fight for an attacking territory." She looked a bit bitter at the mention of the ''mercenary she once knew'', and Althea saw some history. But Althea was never one to pry. "They won, and they managed to get the entire territory. "According to him, during the 28 hours of war, the Lord token will temporarily be disassociated with the body¡ªunable to be integrated and placed in the space." "It wasn''t common knowledge, but it so happened the lord that hired him knew of it and specifically investigated and targeted the enemy lord." "Hence during the time of wars, even if the Lord died the territory would not. Whoever could take the token would get the territory as well." Althea thanked the heavens for her decision to be low-key. Otherwise, in wars, if she didn''t trust the people around her, she would not only be afraid of attacks from the outside but also greedy people who wished to occupy her land. Brenda also realized the advantages of the lord hiding the lord identity. It was just that she had never known anyone who could let go of the prestige of being hailed, respected, and worshipped that came with the status of a lord. After all, even lords with small villages had a higher status than low nobles in towns. Not to mention, the lord obviously didn''t know about the Territorial Wars before and yet she made this decision. She was obviously a very wise lord. Brenda was relieved to be under her for the time being. Then Althea looked at the woman. "28 hours is a day, correct? How many days a month?" Brenda blinked suddenly questioning the wise Lord image in her head for a moment. But then she remembered they were complete foreigners. "32 cycles my lord." This confirmed her previous supposition and was relieved it was really longer than Terran months. It meant she still had 24 days to go. Althea was still absorbing all the information, but it felt like her brain wasn''t working very well. Instead, she just asked another issue she had been concerned with. "What other creatures are there? Other than humans?" "Orcs, dwarves, goblins, zergs, the undead¡­ there seem to be smaller ethnicities but I''m not very familiar with them¡­ " She looked very distressed as she said so. "I''m sorry my Lord." S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sigh¡­ Althea couldn''t even be bothered to comfort her right now. If those fantasy novels and movies were accurate, then these so-called Orcs, goblins, dwarves, zergs, and the undead¡ªand there were also elves, it seemed¡ªwould definitely not be easy opponents. Even the NPC wasn''t clear about it, how could she prepare for it? Althea rubbed her temples, trying to soothe an incoming headache. What the heck... was this place? Chapter 103 A Moment of Respite [24 days of Protection Period] Now that she knew what they would face after the protection period, she suddenly felt a deeper sense of crisis. She still hadn''t gotten over her little trauma from the last beast tide, now they had to go through wars?! And at least once every month at that! It was only now that she noticed Brenda looking at her worriedly. Althea sighed, unconsciously patting her stomach to calm herself. Her babies were responsive and gently kicked from inside, making their presence known, as always. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. With renewed strength, she opened her alluring emerald eyes that had now regained its calm. She then looked at the woman, who flinched a bit. She started giving instructions, her tone as stable as it could be. "Go to the Weapon Store, and focus on creating mid-level weapons." She said. In this way, not only would they have Level E weapons, but they could have improved Level E and even Level D weapons. Of course, the latter was preferred, so she ought to give a bigger incentive. "You will receive 1% of the profits for each weapon you make. You will also get more if you innovate." She paused, looking at the other woman who was already gaping at her in confusion. Althea assumed she needed more explanation, "It means that for every weapon you produce, you would get a residual. Further, you will receive a higher share per weapon if you innovate on a weapon yourself. I hope you do so." "My Lord?" Brenda couldn''t help but ask again, doubting if she heard it correctly. Althea stared at her and repeated what she said, and how could Brenda dare make her repeat again? Brenda still couldn''t believe it. She had never heard of lords giving more to the hired personnel beyond the conditions of the contract. But when she saw the seriousness in Althea''s tone she could only bow her head in gratitude. "Yes, my lord." This was such a great honor it would take her the rest of the day to absorb it. Before Brenda left, Althea couldn''t help but emphasize: "Remember: People don''t know of my status as the lord." "Yes, milord." Brenda left the room and walked down the flight of stairs, flinching at the heads whipping to her direction. She cleared her throat and continued walking down, heading to the Weapons store as ordered, inevitably causing a disturbance to the people using the ground floor. ¡­ On the other hand, Althea, through the warehouse, teleported back to her room. Her shoulders slumped as she stepped into her room, heaving a sigh, and went to the bathroom to take her bath. She looked at the new earthenware tub, now filled with water from the tap, connected to the tank above. She lit up the fire pit below the tub to warm the water. She really needed a very relaxing bath right now. She was partially in a daze as she prepared her bath, waving her hand along the water as she waited for it to warm, unsure of how to handle all the pressure. A couple of minutes later, she judged that it was warm enough and headed to the counter. She took out an earthenware bottle on the surface, gesturing to put a couple of drops into the bath water. The moment she uncapped the bottle, a gentle fragrance wafted out, lingering in the air. The room was filled with a mix of gentle aromas, carrying promises of relaxation and serenity. Walking towards the tub, she tilted the bottle, and droplets of the scented oil fell from its lip, merging with the clear water below. What she added was her latest floral essence extracted from wildflowers and mixed with a system-unnamed plant that smelled like Jasmine (and was thus named as such). A contented smile graced her lips as she dipped her hand into the water. The soothing warmth and fragrance of the water was lovely. She shed off her clothes, stepping on the slippery surface of the tub, and sank into the water''s warm embrace. As she laid inside the wooden bathtub with her eyes closed, a soft sigh escaped her lips, not wanting to think about the beasts and the wars. Her worries were temporarily carried away by the relaxing aroma and the gentle caress of the water. As her mind drifted, she couldn''t help thinking of how the NPCs revered her by virtue of her being the Lord said a lot about the hierarchy here. A society with a sharp hierarchy meant that there was a contrasting concentration of wealth, something she could take advantage of. Althea had always been confident in her products. Her products had always been top par and her luxury items sold for exuberant amounts. Even in this other world, she believed she would still do well. Thinking of the wealth she could milk out of the nobles here, the feeling of dread about the inevitable end of the Protection Period softened a bit. A bit biased, she contributed her change of mood to her product, naming it with the apt ''Calming Spring''. ¡­ "Boss is so beautiful¡­" Sheila couldn''t help but whisper as the pregnant woman gracefully walked out of her room and joined them on the just-set table. "You smell very nice." "It''s a new product. I''ll give you one." Sheila brightened. Which woman doesn''t love beauty in their core? Old Harold, who was quite dull when it came to all things beautiful, just continued to chew his food, much more interested in the gossip he caught. "Someone came down from the second floor! They say it''s a woman as tall as a big man. Very strong, too, and she went straight to the armory!" He paused, finishing a few more bites "Boss, do you know who it is?" "Hmmm. An NPC, who will be in charge of the weapon shop." The men perked their ears in interest, while the children just enjoyed their flavored mashed potatoes. "NPC?" Harold asked, not sure if he heard correctly. Eugene very helpfully explained to him. "It''s called a non-Player Character. Basically a non-Terran." "Yes, it''s an aborigine hired through the village center." Althea paused and looked at them strangely, "Also, she wasn''t the first NPC." "Eh?" "There was also one last night, an armor maker. Everyone''s probably already asleep at the time so no one saw him, or at least noticed he wasn''t from Terran." "I placed him in one of the shops near the center." Anyway, they only had torches and the two moons at night. Who would stay up late? At this time, the vibrant nightlife was something exclusively from a ''past life''. For now, anyway. In any case, Eugene brightened at the knowledge of such experts entering their territory. "That''s great to hear. So it could make more weapons and armor now right?" Housekeeper-Harold, as always, focused on certain things first and foremost. "How much do they cost to hire?" Althea shrugged and told them, getting them to nearly choke. "15 gold a month?! Each?! So expensive?!" The much-sought-after permanent residency was 10 gold, and so was the downpayment (just determined) for the most basic housing unit! "I''ll just make sure they''re worth it," Althea said apathetically. "I have the choice to rehire them after a month, anyway." The topic shifted to the other NPC, and also thought perhaps an armory would also be good. It was Eugene who spoke of differing opinions. "Shouldn''t we just improve his working area?" Althea paused and then looked at Eugene with a little admiration. "Very good idea." She said, this way she didn''t have to use a building slot¡ªthat she didn''t have, by the way¡ªon the building. Of course, the gossip didn''t end there. This time it was Sheila who shared the news. She leaned over, looking quite gossipy, very unlike the timid self she first met her with. "There were a hundred people who entered the territory this morning." But her face scrunched to a depressed expression, remembering their states and the stories that came with them. And she looked at Althea with a very worried expression. "They all looked horrible, it seems that their territory also got attacked by a beast tide¡­" She couldn''t help but shudder at the memories of how Royal Territory was before. "Will they attack us too?" Althea nodded and told them the truth, "Oh, definitely." All their hearts skipped a beat, and they gaped at her. "Boss? So sure?" "If my theory is correct, the attack would happen within a few hours of upgrading." "Are we going to upgrade, boss?" Althea nodded. "Very soon." She did not reveal what she found about territory wars, for now, as they already had enough on their emotional plates at the moment. The table was silent for a while and the children finally noticed the weird atmosphere and blinked their cute little eyes. "But ours is better!" Maya said, eyes expressing how certain she was. They all broke into smiles. Harold chuckled and he patted her head. "Well, our territory is definitely better than that guy''s." Althea nodded. "That''s why we need to strengthen the guards team." Eugene, who was in the military, nodded. "The citizens themselves should have a certain discipline as well. We don''t want them abandoning the territory in the middle of the crisis, add chaos, and maybe make things worse¡­" Althea smiled. In fact, seeing there were more and more people coming in, she decided to publicize the rules she had set prior. It was said that civilization was born from the delicate mix of freedom and order. Althea completely agreed, and she would definitely make sure her territory was as great as it could be. Chapter 104 Rules and Regulations Althea stared at her Lord panel for a while, wondering if there was a function that could help her. The new function of the Villages Center¡ªRules and Regulations¡ªshould be more than just another announcement function, otherwise it wouldn''t get its own tab. Before, even at level one, they could add clauses like no fighting, etc. for a cost, but the end effect would simply alert the authorities (mostly her, and whoever she assigned to the task). What was different after levelling up? A little curious, she raised her dainty arms to activate the tab, and the screen shifted to form another set of tables. To be honest, she hadn''t gotten tired of watching this screen shift, which looked like microscope air particles floating around, forming different images after a ''click''. It was quite fascinating. Soon, an image in front of her revealed two columns of differing colors. There were ''Rules'' on the left side and ''Punishments'' on the right, in their own language. Although the system didn''t help them translate the local written language, it was kind enough to do so with their ''screens''. Her emerald eyes skimmed through the texts, studying them, and saw that there was also a row below indicating the amount needed for implementation. Heh, everything was paid. Then again, if she had the convenience of automatically punishing those that wronged the territory, she felt that it would be worth it. "Now that we''re in this topic, help me formalize some rules." She told the team, who in turn looked at her curiously. However, looking at all of them without professional knowledge on politics and social science, she paused a bit. Fortunately, there was someone who spent her whole life in the field, and she was conveniently right next door. She looked at Harold. "Can you call auntie here as well, she''d definitely be able to help." Harold nodded and went to the neighbors, calling the former politician in. When Mathilda arrived, the adults all sat down the dining table to discuss on the rules and regulations to be implemented in the territory. They brainstormed on what to write, and even decided on the sequence. After all, they couldn''t scare everyone from the get go, right? Most importantly, they also took advantage of this time to announce the other rules that would affect every day life. They reread, revised, and revised again until they finally decided on the initial Rules and Regulations within the territory. The payment was based not only on word count, but on the details. For example, adding a no-fighting clause added much more than simply ''no killing'' because fighting had a wide breadth and variation. Even the degree of punishment cost differently. She paid a whooping 500 gold for implementation of the initial Rules and Regulations. Soon, another announcement appeared in front of everyone in the territory, visitors and citizens alike. [Welcome to the Proud, Strong, and Prosperous Altera Village! We aim to create the idyllic sanctuary where all those who stayed can sleep and live well, whilst maintaining the necessary abilities to survive in the outside world. In order to maintain the peace and order within our great territory, everyone within its walls must abide by the Rules and Regulations as follows: 1. Fighting outside territory designated areas is strictly not allowed. Punishable by yellow card, unless damage to others and/or the territory was done, in which case see item (2) and (3). 2. Damaging public property is punishable by repair of the item and 1 yellow card. 3. Damaging other''s property is punishable by paying three times the original objective value of the item. 4. Littering is not allowed in public spaces of the territory. Punishable by 10 copper per cubic centimeter of trash. 5. Noise in residential areas are not allowed after dusk. Punishable by 10 copper per person disturbed. 6. Loose stones and loose wood resources can be taken without limits. 7. Temporary Residents are entitled for 1 kg of free plant (public domain forests) resource every day. 8. Permanent Residents are entitled for 2 kg of free plant (public domain forests) resource every day. 9. For ten copper coins: 1 kilogram of plants, fruits, and resources can be foraged per visitor per day. 5 kilograms for Temporary residents. 10 kilograms for permanent residents. Gathering more will trigger a payment method of ten times the normal value of the plants. 10. Temporary Residents are entitled for 10 L of free after resource (river or spring) every day. 11. Permanent Residents are entitled for 30 L of free after resource (river or spring) every day. 12. For ten copper coins: Visitors can get 50L of water per person per day in any of the water sources. Temporary residents may get 100L, and permanent residents may obtain 150L. Gathering more will trigger payment requests of 1 copper coin per liter. 13. Uprooting any plants is prohibited, unless expressly allowed by the territory. Punishable by 1 yellow card. 14. Trees within the territory cannot be cut without consent. Punishable by 1 yellow card and planting 100 tree seeds. 15. Creating chaos and confusion within the territory is punishable by yellow card for minor transgressions, and red for major transgressions. 16. Theft is punishable by paying 10 times the cost of the item, the return of the stolen item, and a yellow card. 17. Anything done under questionable morals or at the cost of damaging other people''s property, rights, and health, will be punishable on a case to case basis. 18. Due to the current lack of a prison, mild crime punishments are community service. I.e.Unpaid gathering of resources, cleaning duty, etc. Refusal would earn transgressor a yellow card. 19. During attacks on the territory, even under the protection of the walls and sentries, protected citizens shall do their parts. For every 1% loss in the health of the walls, 1 copper coin will be automatically deducted to anyone protected within the territory. 20. All employed personnel shall be required to spend 28 hours per week outside the walls with the intention of training. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. 21. Standard working hours shall be 10 working hours, including 1.5 hour break, at the discretion of the employer. Overtime pay and night differentials must be practiced. 22. During attacks on the territory, anyone who adds chaos will be punishable by at least 2 yellow cards. 23. Citizens and visitors may report suspicious activities of others in the Village center via the Information Tab. Rewards upon verification will be in units of contribution points. 24. Anyone proven to have intentionally compromised the safety of the territory is punishable by red card. 25. During attacks on the territory, everyone who defends the territory will obtain contribution points equivalent in number to the copper coins awarded by the system. 26. Contribution points can also be obtained by any acts, behavior, and knowledge contribution befitting and adding to the positive growth of the territory. Note: ''Cards'' are non-physical entities attached to the transgressor''s systems. Non-transferrable. Contribution points cannot be traded, sold, or transferred in any way or form. Three yellow cards are equivalent to one red card, punishable by expulsion and blacklisting. Permanent residents may have one yellow card waived by paying 100 gold at the Village center. Can be done only once per person per month. Remember: Staying within the territory will subject everyone under its protection with its rules. There will be no exceptions.] The entire territory froze for a good few minutes as everyone read and absorbed the content of the announcements. There were naturally various voices that exploded, a lot of which were negative. One person frowned and murmured. "Attacks on the territory?" "We have to guard the territory as well? What are the guards for then?" However, there were many more people who agreed, especially those who had experienced other territories and suffered from it. It was them who were first to speak up for the rules. "The previous territories charged many times more than this one and it only had a wooden fence and a small guard team." "The large walls and sentries must be expensive to build and maintain, but they''re definitely much safer than others." "Yes, yes." A few nodded in agreement. "It is estimated this one percent actually takes a while to happen." "I''ve been to other territories, the entrance alone is several times that of here. You enjoy this benefit, how can you not follow this little thing?" "I think it''s fair." "I think it benefits us all! Who would want leeches in their team?" "Right! Those who disagreed must want to be parasites!!" "I think so, too! They probably just want to hide away!" "Damn! I had transferred with people like that! They pushed a lot of people as shields!" "Same!" Soon there was a change in the direction of the discussion, a lot of which due to the fact that those who disagreed would delegated as someone who only wanted to take advantage. They would be seen as someone who did not want to do any work, while taking the fruits of the labor of others. Which was, indeed, actually the case. These few bad seeds had to keep their thoughts to themselves, while the rest discussed the new rules positively. "Hey look, we don''t even need a labor union anymore." "Haha. The territory does love us!" "What''s contribution?" "I don''t know, must be a good thing." Then there were also teasing comments. One man looked at the friend beside him, "Hey, they said no littering." he laughed, "What if they back-charge? Won''t you get negative copper now? HAHA" And some were more curious of the new terms, "Hasn''t anyone noticed the advantages of being residents?" "Yes, I can''t afford permanent residency, but temporary residency here is very very cheap." "We are entitled to some free food and water! What value for money!" "Ah I feel so stable! I felt like this when I bought a house back in Terran!" In this way, the number of residents skyrocketed¡­ ¡­to the point that another upgrade was triggered. This time, for the territory itself. Althea blinked at the new screen that suddenly popped in front of her eyes. [Upgrade requirement for the Territory to Level 2 has been met! [?] 100 Residents (temporary or permanent) [?] 300 consistent population for 3 days. Do you want to upgrade for 100 gold?] [Yes | No] Chapter 105 Guía Village (Part 1) Aberdeen City, 22 years prior "Upgrade, upgrade!" A sweet milky voice chanted, excited, putting a small smile at the faces of the people around her. They were currently in a small but colorful snack store. It was quite popular, as shown by the occupied tables even in the dead hours of early afternoon. At this time, the young cashier chuckled at the hyper adorable little girl below the counter, waiting for her grande order of ice cream. Although she and her brother were dressed a bit shabbily, they both had clean temperaments and good looks that people would think they were child actors wearing costumes. Anyway, the clerk just felt she was adorable, and added a few more fries into her order. "Thank you for your patronage." "Yay! Thank you Mister~" The tray was dutifully taken by an older boy, very handsome, and the girl tottered to follow him to their seats. "Thank youuu Wanwan~" Garan smiled as he placed the tray on the table, leaning down a bit. On cue, the little girl gave the older boy a slimy peck on the cheek which only made him happy. He patted her head and served her her food, placing them neatly in front of her and easy to reach, leaving just a bit for himself. The young Althea noticed this and frowned, placing more food on his plate "Wanwan is much bigger than Althea. Wanwan must eat more." She said with finality and the young Garan couldn''t help but pinch her plump cheeks. He did not reject her kindness. His angel had always been very kind. "Ok, okay. Thank you Althea." He said, picking up a bite to eat under her stare. Satisfied with his obedience, Althea cutely nodded in approval before eating her own food, happily chewing this rare treat. Her already chubby cheeks puffed as she chewed and her bright eyes lit up brighter every bite. Garan already felt full watching her satisfied. If he could afford treating her more, he would, sadly he was a kid and there was a limit to how much he could earn. In any case, he thought cleaning up the mess hall everyday to get a few more bucks was too worth it. ¡­. _____ Guia Village, subsidiary village of Ferrol Town, Present Garan looked through the scope, one of the few surviving tools during the transfer, and stared at the direction of the fog, trying to see if there were any changes whatsoever. Seeing that there was none, his strong jawline tightened and his eyebrows furrowed deeply. Garan frankly didn''t know what to feel. He couldn''t eat well since he found out she could be in this place, perhaps getting chased by monsters, suffering from hunger. The image itself made his heart hurt so much that he massacred an attacking mob of monsters by himself. They were currently staying in a village called Guia Village, which was much closer to the fog along with others. They chose this place because they could watch the fog through the scope any time they wished. It was also the only village so close to it that survived the massive beast tide. One reason for this was because of its relatively higher altitude and easy to defend state. The other was because it was built as a mining village subsidiary to Ferrol Town. Because it was a mining town, it was also very tightly-protected. It therefore had much stronger manpower than the adjacent villages. They were only allowed to rest for a few days thanks to Bart''s connections, as non-residents were generally not allowed to stay in the place for long. They''d have to find another way to monitor the fog soon, as they hoped to stay indefinitely. Gill saw his boss sigh, and he understood very well how he felt. He, too, couldn''t help but look at the fog every few hours, as if he could see his mother and his sister in there. "That fog must be the protection. If we''re correct, it should disappear in less than a month." A month in this world was 32 days. Judging the explosion of the beast tide as the beginning of the countdown, they had already taken 7 days. This meant they didn''t have to be so near the entire time, they only had to get the timing right. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. While uncomfortable, Garan knew he was right. He could at least make use of this time to strengthen himself and study this world even deeper, so he could protect Althea when they reunite. "Boss, breakfast is ready." Another voice cut through their melancholic moods. They turned their heads to him. It was a man with fair skin and aquiline features, aptly named Eagle. He was also the only surviving person from the logistics team. These months they had gotten into the habit of discussing some investigations during meal times, because they were often up and about, busy, every other time. Everyone was reporting their own tasks. They reported on various areas and aspects of their respective scope. After all, they chose to investigate themselves rather than listen about everything rather than relying on the word of mouth from the locals, even from Gaudi whom they had just met. For example, the time and distance to the next surviving territory. In which case, was tens of kilometers away. For example, the level of monsters in the vicinity. Which was the average for villages, which was levels 5-10. For example, how many territories around actually fell and what happened to them. Which, so far, based on the refugees outside, rose to about as high as 85%. This damage was really big. "I''m afraid people would blame the territories inside." Luis mumbled, not forgetting Gaudi''s tragic story. "Perhaps." Garan said, especially if someone deliberately targeted a territory, in which case that territory would have no choice but to face wars twice a month. "This is why we have to be as strong as we could be, and this starts with understanding this world more." The others nodded, and they continued their discussions, with a serious aim to prepare for whatever they may encounter. After all, they had an entire civilization to protect. Chapter 106 Guía Village (Part 2) The reporting continued on for another half an hour. Gaudi, as someone who had been in this place for over twenty years, was also quite helpful, adding details in their reports that they otherwise wouldn''t have noticed. Although he was a slave for most of his stay in Xeno, he still heard a lot of news especially in his stay at the mercenary hall. Hearing the detailed reports from the soldiers jogged his memories and some observations he didn''t put to heart at the time. In particular, just when the soldiers were trying to figure out a way to get information inside the fog¡ªfor instance, using low-level birds and hanging warning messages on their legs, hoping it dropped over ''destined people''. Although papyrus was very expensive and it was a long shot any information would actually reach Terran hands, it was all they could do. "The people inside the fog may not be entirely clueless about what goes on outside." The others turned their heads to him, a bit hopeful. "My territory before was one of the better ones amongst Nova territories. "We managed to upgrade our village center just before the protection period was lifted. Our territory hired some aborigines through it. Although it cost us a lot of gold to get information, we did get them. "We were also certain of their truthfulness because they were contract bound not to cause disadvantage to the hiring Territory." "That is hopeful." Gill nodded, and the others agreed. "Terrans should be richer, right? Nova had undergone extreme disasters, how much cash could they hold?" Luis mumbled, turning to Gaudi. "No offense." "It is fine. I also hope your people do well." Gaudi said, sincere. He looked at the variables in front of him, strong people aiming to protect¡ªsomething his own people didn''t have. "Perhaps it would be different this time." ¡­ Soon it was Vanessa''s turn. Her tasks had to do with medicine, and she¡ªwith her head held high¡ªspoke next. Her task was to study the treatment methods and their costs. Especally, she was embarassed when they just transferred here, because a lot of her knowledge no longer applied in this place. However, after months of hard work, she really managed to adapt and do well in her field. This was her pride. "The cost of treatment here is very expensive." "Although there were no healers here (and if there were, they would likely charge exuberant amounts) there was a pointed lack of medicine." She smiled. "I have also found a herb that had hemostatic effects." While speaking, her pair of dark-colored eyes always landed on Garan. She had heard his wife was known for her knowledge in plants. If she were to remind him of that woman, he should at least soften his attitude, right? She never thought she''d put herself so low and start vying to be a substitute, but she couldn''t help herself. Vanessa really couldn''t sit still anymore. She had begged her father to send her on the same mission as Garan. It had been so long and she hadn''t gotten an inch closer. Her wish of gaining even a bit of attention was doomed to fail, however, as the man only nodded and turned to the last person to report. Finally, it was Eagle''s turn, whose investigation direction had to do with logistics. "They had tamed a few flying monsters to transfer the ores." He said, looking a bit wishy-washy, which looked stupid on his slightly angular face. "How nice it would be to have a tamer¡­" "There is a fifty percent chance of the beasts biting back¡­" Gaudi couldn''t help but add. "..." I didn''t ask you. Eagle selectively ignored this, especially when he recalled something he eavesdropped. His back straightened up, recalling the wistful longing of one of the tamers: ''If only I had a space stone, we wouldn''t have to go back and forth in this weather!'' He was lost in his memory, which triggered a bit of impatience in his companions. "Say it!" Luis mumbled, annoyed. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Eagle cleared his throat. "I heard a particular interesting piece of knowledge." He paused. He paused a bit too long, so he earned a rather hard ''pat in the back'' from Jake to get him speaking.. "Apparently," he began, as he massaged his beat-up shoulder and sending a glare to the culprit. "People need not be limited to 1 cubic meter of space." Everyone''s back straightened like his. Their eyes focused as they stared at him, waiting for him to continue. Don''t look at them appearing professional, their bright eyes betrayed their excitement. "There seems to be a special mineral called Space Stone. It is very rare but it could be used to either make accessories, or merge in our own space. I hear it doubles it, at least!" "Really?" Luis even stood up and stared at the ceiling, as if a diety was there to thank. "That''s great! Our space is too small!" "I want one!" "Me too!" Looking at their excited expressions, Gill sneered. "If it''s so easy to get, we''d have heard of this months ago." "..." "..." They simultaneously turned their head and looked at Gaudi to see what he could add regarding this piece of super-interesting information. The older man looked a little embarassed at the passionate attention and cleared his throat. "I have indeed heard of this. But I have never met anyone who had one, at least no one announced it." He paused, thinking, recalling all the limited information he had on this item. "The only circulating description is that it''s a ''stone that contains the stars''¡ªthe most beautiful gem in the universe." "That''s all?" Luis asked. "Damn. Makes me itchy with curiosity¡­" Jake couldn''t help but add. "What I do know is that they''re very difficult to find, and even more difficult to harvest." he told them, "I have encountered countless of missions looking for it, but in my decades of stay I have only heard it succeed once or twice before." "From what I gathered these precious stones could only be found, and mined, by Goblins. He paused, looking at these new set of masters he had. "And only by Goblins." Chapter 107 Other Races Goblins, eh? As a mining village, Guia Town naturally had a lot of goblin slaves. It was just that they were all concentrated in prohibited areas and they had yet to see one up close. Similarly, in other territories, most goblins were also confined in well-protected mining spots. Normal people wouldn''t be able to see them at all. In fact, if Guia town didn''t just have the most common iron-like metal, their team wouldn''t even have the right to stay overnight, no matter how well-connected Bart was. Guia village was divided into two areas: One was the village center where the accommodations of majority of the population¡ªmostly miners'', the guards'', their families, as well as guests like them¡ªwere located. This was very restrictive in itself. Because guests like them could only get visitors pass and had to pay 10 silver per day. This was not including the inn fees that rivaled those of large towns. They heard a lot of refugees from the adjacent villages that were destroyed came here, but were eventually kicked out due to not being able to pay the visitor''s fee. They could imagine the tragic sight of desperate people simply trying to find a safe haven, only to be denied because of people''s greed. The other area was the actual mining area, which took up over half of the territory''s land. This was strictly prohibited to outsiders. It was heavily guarded and monitored, taking up nearly half of the guard team. This was also where all the goblin slaves were. They turned to look at Gaudi, the ''veteran'' who had been here for nearly three decades. "What do you know about the other races and how do us humans fare amongst the forces in this world?" Gill asked the old man. They also tried to find out, but this type of knowledge would take years if they didn''t have the right channels. Bart was fine, but they feared things would change if he found out they weren''t from this world at all by asking too much, so for this they could only ask a fellow outsider. The older man nodded, as a slave of the mercenary union, he had indeed overheard a lot of news through the years. "As far as I know, there has never been a hegemonic force among intelligent beings, even among humans. "It''s sad, but amongst the human territories, there was always in-fighting." "As for the other races¡­" He paused, recalling his limited knowledge on the matter. "Other than goblins, I have heard of various races like dwarves, mermaids, the undead, trolls, ogres, and elves." "The Goblins, as you may already know, are small and weak. While rare, you can still see goblin slaves from nobles and central territories. They comprise the most population next to humans in the human territory. "They specialize in detecting minerals and ores. Amongst all intelligent beings, no one can compare to them in terms of detecting such things. "They said even a goblin child was better than a human expert that studied stones for decades." "What? That''s amazing. There must be something to their physiques, then¡­" Luis mumbled, chewing on something. Gaudi nodded. "Goblins also had the strongest fertility, so even if they''re the weakest, they could make up for it in numbers. I heard of a small mercenary group from a border village had an unfortunate skirmish with a rare aggressive goblin group. "There are still horror stories about the status of their corpses even until now, many years later." S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gaudi paused, rummaging his memory, before speaking again. "They''re also extremely skilled at digging; I heard their abodes are generally dungeons and caves they created themselves. Next to the orcs, they were the other race who often attacked human territories, especially those with goblin slaves¡­" "Ferrol Town and Guia village happened to both be territories near the borders of the Goblin and Dwarf territories." This made them pause. "So dangerous?" "I¡­ haven''t actually heard a lot of dwarves attacking human territories so far. At least not on this side. "Dwarves are known for their ingenious weapons and tools, but they have been enslaved by humans until about a hundred years ago, and have gone into hiding since regaining their freedom. "They are a small and reclusive race, and I have only heard about a handful of encounters after all these years. "Elves were the smallest population, less than a hundred per generation, yet the most powerful. "They have been extinct for thousands of years, but they were recorded as heroes. Xeno seemed to have also encountered catastrophic events, similar to our planets'', and the elves saved the whole continent. "My personal theory was that perhaps the reason why several civilizations could be sent here to survive was because of this lasting magic of the elves. But that''s just my guess. "The Undead¡­ I have no idea except they were disgusting creatures that eat live meat. They were pushed toward the barren lands in the northwest, but I hear occasional sightings and fights. "With no exception, it was always accompanied by massive losses on our side against this race." "That''s like zombies right?" "Seriously?" "Mermaids had their own kingdom on the Western and Eastern seas, though I have no idea how the two kingdoms differed." Luis couldn''t help but look wistful. And he wasn''t alone. "Are they pretty?" "What?" "The mermaids." Gaudi looked at him weirdly. "I¡­ from what I heard they had sharp fangs, white eyes, and aggressive temperaments¡­" "..." Gill rolled his eyes at the fools and just looked at Gaudi who was being weirded out by their questions. "Ignore them and continue." "A-Ah, yes." The old man said, "Trolls are also called Stone men, basically made of stone, and they live next to ogres known for their green skin and grotesque appearance. The former were peaceful and timid, while the ogres were more aggressive, but somehow the two races worked well together." "Because they live in the same areas, they often cross-marry. I had the fortune to see a crossbreed being dragged as a slave. The nobleman who bought this slave paid enough money to build an entirely new village." "As for the others¡­" He shook his head, "I don''t know anything." Gaudi stopped and no one said anything, absorbing the new information. It had to be said that in the past three months, they had focused too deeply on the way home, that a lot of knowledge had been bypassed. It was around this time that they heard a bit of commotion outside. They looked at each other and went out, to see a line of well-equipped soldiers dragging a long line of goblins. In the past few months they had only seen a few goblin slaves from afar, this was the first time they actually saw them up close. It was just that, as low-key as they wanted to be in a foreign territory, what they saw made their blood boil. Chapter 108 Goblin Slaves The Goblins were quite small, the largest one was only as tall as their thighs. They had green skins, long noses, and pointed ears. When they looked closer, they could also see that they had pointed fingers, narrow eyes, and rough skins. But what struck the soldiers the most was their state of being: they were ossified from hunger, with countless scars everywhere on their skin, their green flesh further covered by fresh and dried blood. The creatures were currently being dragged by their cruel captors, blood stamping their steps, and marks of heavy abuse visible in their emaciated bodies. Some were hopeless and soulless creatures, while there were few who had bright eyes and fighting spirit. Whatever it was, how could the sight sit well with the soldiers? "They''re goblin slaves bought from other territories." They overheard someone near them mention to his companion. "I heard they were bought for a very high price." "What''s up with the sudden purchase though? Did the demand for iron increase?" "Who knows¡­" They couldn''t help but look at the goblin getting dragged, marks of blood following their footsteps. Garan frowned, his gut was telling him something troublesome was about to happen. His attention was brought back to the sorry sights when a tottering old goblin met with a harsh whip from the guard. "Get moving!!" He yelled, throwing his whip again, not just hitting the one goblin but every one around it. The goblins screamed in pain but they dragged their bodies regardless. Garan and the others clenched their fists in anger. More expressive ones like Luis had their faces contorted in lividity and indignance. Although they were soldiers, they had lived in a fair, peaceful world. Their special teams were basically the only soldiers who still encountered real danger every few months, and it was only due to rare insurgents and criminal gangs. It was a very rare sight, even for them, to see an intelligent being abusing another to such a degree, so openly, and without remorse. But they did not move, still knowing their place. But holding back definitely hurt their bodies, their livers, their heads. Sam even felt like he would have an aneurysm if this went on. A sudden yell sounded then, pulling them away from drowning in helpless self-pity. "Hey! Come back here!!" One of the slave drivers yelled at the top of his lungs, pudgy arms pointing at their direction. Soon they realized that one goblin seemed to have escaped. It was going to their side. "Stop him!" The slave driver yelled pointing at their group. But none of Garan did anything and they pretended as if they didn''t hear anything. Eagle even blocked the way a little as if by accident. "What are you doing?" The slave driver asked with a menacing look on his face. "Oh, what happened? I was just standing here peacefully¡­" Eagle answered, nonchalant. Veins popped in the slave driver''s head but he didn''t have the time to argue. He simply pushed him to the side, but Eagle was not moved. The slave driver narrowed his eyes but knew this wasn''t the time for this skirmish. Instead, he stepped away, cursing, promising himself he''d deal with this bastard after he got that damned goblin! But when he moved, Eagle did too. "YOU!" Eagle looked absolutely confused. "You told me to move." The escaped goblin was baffled as he sat, but he quickly got up and continued to run. The slave drivers glared at them and seeing they were standing still, he raised his hand to hit him with his weapon. "This will teach y¨C" Slap! A handsome pair of hands gripped on the whip, a bit of blood dripping from the point of contact. "I apologize, my friend''s ears are not very good." Garan said with a very diplomatic tone of voice, but his hand gripped his whip tightly. "Bastards!!!" He yelled, pulling with all his strength, and fell down when Garan suddenly let go. "You told me to let go¡­" "YOUUUU!!" The man turned red and speechless in anger. His posture changed and was about to attack when another voice from the crowd echoed, making the soldiers frown. "Caught him!" The person yelled, proud. "I caught the rat!!" Unfortunately, even if their group didn''t do anything to help evil, someone else did. The goblin was still caught in the end. It wasn''t that they didn''t think it would be caught, but it was caught too quickly. Did the people here have no pity for the little guy? The slave driver in front of them sneered as he stood up, sending the two sharp glares. Eagle and Garan were unfazed, however, as if they really didn''t have any idea on what just happened. He paid the captor some silver and dragged the poor goblin back to the line, the slave driver''s eyes on Garan, sending daggers with his sight. The man then threw the little guy to the goblin crowd, raising his whip to the highest his arm could reach, and hitting it with all his strength. They watched as the goblin was whipped several times until he was half-dead. Every Terran had their fists clenched, holding back. These¡­ were obviously intelligent creatures with their own feelings and thoughts!!! Among them, Eagle had already gestured to run to stop the whipping, but was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Eagle chose logistics even when he had good force value. This was because despite his menacing features, he had a very soft heart. He wouldn''t be able to kill an enemy at all. Fortunately, the monsters here were only rabid creatures who aimed to kill, otherwise he''d still be level 3 after so many months. Eagle looked at the hand and then to its owner. It was the captain. Of course, it was. The man shook his head, stopping him from doing any more. "It''s none of our business. We already did what we can." "But¡­ this is wrong." "Yes, I know. But we don''t have the power to critique other people''s worldviews." Garan said with a frown. No matter what, their safety came first. How could they risk meeting their families for strangers? Especially those from other races. There was silence in the group, but everyone agreed in their hearts, no matter how unwilling. But then¡­ they heard the familiar ping of the system sound inside their heads. Everyone, even those near them, flinched at the same time. [Guia Village (Human) is set to be attacked by Hoko Village (Goblin). You have 14 hours to prepare.] [13:59:59] Their eyes widened as they looked at each other, startled. An attack!!! They couldn''t be so unlucky, could they? Chapter 109 Before the War (Part 1) Aberdeen City, 20 years prior The nine year old Garan looked bitterly at the locked door of the isolation room, heart filled with anger and indignance. Unfair! Ptooey! He spit out the remaining blood of that hag out, spitting out again as he tasted the disgusting rusty taste. It tasted as dirty as she was. It landed on the isolation room''s dusty cement flooring, just next to the dirty cot he would be sleeping in the next couple of days. It was his third time here this year, and it was only the second month of the year. He just couldn''t stop himself. Those women were disgusting. They always watched him with dirty eyes and wanted to touch him. First he just threw a vase at a visiting rich woman, the second time he punched the volunteer in the face, and now he bit off the flesh of the vice principal. The vice principal angered him the most. She was supposed to be their mother! How could she think of him that way, and try to sell him off to others! It was too disgusting! He didn''t even feel the hurting stomach due to the kick and neither could he feel the bruise on his shoulder. He just needed them in pain. He didn''t care about his hunger and thirst either. He had no regrets. They deserved it. He was just a little worried that Althea would cry again while looking for him. But he had already told his friend to take good care of her and reassure her. Recalling Althea''s cute face filled with bean shaped tears looking so heartbreakingly pitiful¡­ he¡­. he started to regret his impulse a little, after all. But what could he do? He could only hope that his friend would be able to keep her from trouble. He suffered like this in the isolation room for a few more days, receiving just enough food and water not to rot there and die. However, when he finally came out, he ignored his weakened self from hunger and he immediately ran to the dormitories to check on his angel. On his way there, he encountered Beanie, a good friend of theirs, and the person he asked to take care of his angel. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But without speaking the flabby brat ran to him and shook his shoulders. Annoyed, he pushed him off. "What?" But when he saw the rare seriousness in Beany''s eyes, he felt his stomach drop. "What happened?" He asked, looking around, praying it wasn''t as he thought. "Where''s my Althea?" Beanie looked at him and gritted his teeth, flushed from shame. "I''m sorry, I¡­ I swore I looked away for just a few seconds¡ª" "JUST GET TO THE POINT!" He yelled, the last thread of patience snapping. "Althea''s gone!!" Beanie yelled back in fear, crying in guilt. "It''s been half a day!" It felt like he fell from a building and splattered all over the ground. ¡­ Present. Garan cooly looked at his subordinates, gesture exuding calmness and strength. His sharp eyes watched in apathy as the chaos all around him exploded due to the imminent war. After all, like them, a lot of these people weren''t citizens here at all. Eagle frowned and looked at the tense surroundings. "What do we do, boss! We''re not allowed to leave!" He said, not believing their bad luck. The village had just entered a martial law where no one was allowed to leave the territory. They had been here for three months, but they had only really been around Twinwinds, a very strong town. Not only did it rarely get attacked, but when it was attacked, it always won. They had never participated in the wars in this place, not in the real sense. But look: They just stayed here for a day, and they were already getting dragged into one. "Get out of the way! There''s obviously still time!!" A commotion particularly louder than other caught their attention. It was two mercenary teams trying to get out the door. However, rather than look scared they looked annoyed. More likely, it wasn''t that they were scared of whatever was attacking, but that wars were too troublesome and it was not worth the trouble. The mercenary team consisted of about twenty or so members, all of whom were large in stature, and had sneering angry expressions on their faces. Similarly, the guards had several builds, looking very annoyed at these bastards making their jobs harder. "If you leave you will be blacklisted!" Another guard added, "If you really want to leave, one person pays 100 gold!" "What?! Are you insane?!" A mercenary roared. The defensive stance of the guards were forced to be more aggressive as more moves were exchanged. The guards were naturally arrogant in their own way, looking down at the damned men causing the headaches. "Cowards!" He said, "Afraid of rats!" At this sneer, someone finally snapped and threw a fireball. This was the catalyst of the skirmish of elements that ensued. Bursts of elements exploded, hitting one another. An earth spike flew to hit a guard, which was blocked by an earth wall. Then another mercenary threw fireballs, hit by guards with their waterwhips. Similarly, most men¡ªthe non-elementals¡ªalso joined in the fight, but they had a separate fight altogether. Those that were gifted with the elements used their abilities to attack, either missing or deflected, destroying the facade of the buildings. If system buildings didn''t have inherently strong structures, the houses would have been taken down by now. This was an exchange that consisted of scores of men, creating a morbid but beautiful sight. While most of the others panicked, trying to avoid becoming collateral damage, those from Terran were fascinated. Why? Because it was very rare for them to see so many other elementalists in action!! Unless you were a family or clan member, or an apprentice, the chances of learning knowledge and technique from an expert was almost nil. But in front of them is a tutorial! Chapter 110 Before the War (Part 2) After trying to study on their own, they finally found a live tutorial! Still most of the elements were available for show. One must know that these Mercenaries and special guards averaged at level 20s. The powerful mercenaries were here because they were purchasing iron in bulk orders to be used by their large mercenary regiments. The guards were strong because most of them grew up in towns¡ªprimarily, Ferrol town, the master territory of this village. Naturally, their average level was in the 15s and 20s. Such a fight was really too rare in a village. Anyone who was anyone in the industry were Elementalists, but this was still not a big percentage. They didn''t know their group, which had 100% elementals, was so rare before. Fortunately, it wasn''t too rare that their existence was suspicious. It just seemed to add a strong background for them. In any case, it was fortunate for them to develop this ability. It had saved them countless times. Without their elements, they wouldn''t have lasted for so long. However, regardless of talent, they had only practised these skills for a month or two. The passage of knowledge in this world was incredibly closed. As mentioned, unless a family or clan member, or an apprentice, the chances of learning knowledge and technique from an expert was almost nil. Everything they knew, they learned by themselves and¡ªif they were lucky¡ªthey could watch other elementalists such as ones from the Rolan Mercenary team fight and maybe learn a thing or two by watching. But now¡­ they could watch fighters in level 20s duke it out, very closely, and still as spectators. It could be said to be the best learning experience they had thus far. They watched as flames danced around the fire elementalists, and the gust of winds swirl around the wind elementalists. They admired as the earth elementalist''s feet merged with the ground, and whistled at the seemingly endless water dripping from the hands of the water elementalists. They watched as one of the fire elementalists let flames burst in his hands as he lunged forward, sending fiery projectiles towards the guards. They watched as a wind elementalist guard, with a swift motion of his hands and arms, formed a wind shield, deflecting the attack to some degree. The earth elementalist guard stomped the ground, causing a couple of rocks to jut out, killing the fireballs that passed the wind shield. This was followed by a counter attack from the guards, also defended against by the mercenary, and so on. This went on for many minutes, and the Terrans couldn''t help but make commentaries on the side. "You can really fly with the wind element!" Sammy, the dark skinned soldier from the south, patted whoever was beside him excitedly. Jake, the one being beaten, pushed him back, but the smile on eyes while watching the fight was bright. "Turning the ground to quicksand! That''s cool." Similar never-seen-the-world expressions echoed in their group. It was a little embarrassing, but who told them to have no choice but study their abilities on their own. Actually, they thought too much. After all, most people weren''t elementalists at all, so it wasn''t actually too childish. If anything, people would admire them for understanding what was going on. "He delayed the ignition of the fireball!!" "You can add spikes to vines, eh? How?" Turbo, a water elemental, was inspired when he saw the waterwhip trouble a wind element. Everything it hits the face, although the power was weak, it was distracting enough. He thought what if he could control it to stay on an opponent''s face? Wouldn''t that cut off someone else''s oxygen supply? The fight continued on for a few more minutes when the ground suddeny shook. It was at this time that two huge walls blocking the two sides, somehow stopping a brunt of the attacks. It was Barton, the lord of Guia village, and a level 30 powerhouse. He looked about mid-30s despite his much older age. He only had a small streak of white hair that may betray his age, wearing an expensive attire from one of the Cloth cities. He stood between the two forces, standing tall and intimidating. "Hoko village is a goblin village. You think we''ll lose to a mere goblin village?!" He bellowed, causing everyone to pause. "Although they have great numbers, they''re the weakest race in the continent!" He continued, looking each of them in the eye, intimidating them. This included the spectators, and not just the mercenaries or his guards. "Not to mention, wars can only be fought at the same level. How can Guia village compare to other villages?" This made the people who were worried relax a little. Indeed, even powerful villages generally have talents no more than level 15. Where can you see another village with a level 30 Lord? Seeing that the crowd calmed down a little, Barton''s sharp eyes turned to one of the leading Mercenaries attacking his guards. "Lowell of the Mighty Bears Mercenaries?" "That''s me." The man answered, pompous. Even if the man is several levels higher than he was, he refused to show weakness. Fortunately, Barton didn''t seem like he called him out to find fault. "I believe your home base, Georgian Town, was also attacked by Goblins, yes?" The man paused and frowned, not liking the information revealed. However, Barton sent him an amicable smile. "Can you tell us in detail about their style of warfare? We will reward you generously." Lowell looked at the older man warily. But realizing that he was serious, along with the very real attack coming soon, he eventually gave in. "Goblins are known to be great diggers." Barton paused, his tone grave and filled with distaste. "They built a lot of tunnels and traps, and they could do it very quickly and subtly." He looked away, a little ashamed. "We almost lost because of this particular ability of these rats." Everyone listened closely, startled. A small town was threatened, what about them, a village? Everyone looked at him in apt attention, dedicated to listening to what he had to say. They dared not underestimate the goblins anymore. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 111 Soldiers Aberdeen City, Twenty-one years prior Garan crossed his arms and watched in beffudlement as his little angel walked around, dragging several ducklings with a rope. She was adorable, but he also felt a little pity for the ducklings being dragged. "What¡­are you doing Althea?" He asked, leaning down so they were in eye level. "Are you sure you''re not hurting them?" "No, no, Garan." Althea corrected him ''patiently'', looking like a cute little adult. "This rope is used to guide them!" "You don''t know. They''re so stupid." Her cute eyebrows furrowed and her chubby cheeks puffed as she spoke. "They would jump out to the road if I didn''t do it!" She then looked at him with all the seriousness she could muster. "I save them, like a hero!" Garan held back his smile, patting her head. "Yes, yes, ropes saved their lives." He chuckled, "My Althea is amazing." _____ Guia Village, Present Garan watched as the lord of the territory gathered information about their imminent enemy with seriousness. Before Bart left to go back to Twinwave, he told them a bit about the Lord of this village. Garan could still remember that they were a bit surprised to find out that the lord, Barton, was already in his 70s. He looked to be only in his 30s. After thinking it through, it made sense. People here had an average life span of 100 years. Stronger people of levels higher than 20 can reach 150 years, not to mention level 30. Goblins'' fecundity was strong, but their lifespans were much worse than humans, with an average lifespan of 40 years. Of course, these were for slaves, free goblins never subject to slavery were estimated to be able to live a decade or two longer. Of course no matter how long the life span, it didn''t matter if you couldn''t keep your head. Barton and his assistant listed down Lowell''s advice on how to handle goblin attacks. They discussed it among themselves for a while. There were plenty of arguments between the underlings, most of which was the assignment of the vanguards, to the point of a fight almost breaking out. But Barton shut them up by assigning which guards and soldiers would be the vanguard. He had a very strong presence and no one dared argue with him at all. Soon after, the entire territory mobilized everyone for a fee. Garan and his team also helped. Although they didn''t know how they''d handle the actual goblins, they could at least help reinforce the defense of their side against them. They did not agree on how humans dealt with goblins, but they definitely wouldn''t betray their humanity for them, either. Lowell stepped forward to further detail his experiences with goblin wars, looking as if he was disgusted by the idea of Goblins themselves. "These things are the worst bugs you could imagine. They could dig as quickly as they could crawl." "Once the war starts, they would definitely start digging somewhere inwards. In a short span of time they could create a complex network of tunnels and traps, taking away our advantages in size and skill." To deal with this, everyone was asked to dig deep ditches, relatively deep about 2 meters in. The rare elementalists did a lot of the work in this and thus gained a lot of money than the others. Stakes were placed inside these, so the enemy diggers would be stopped at a certain distance from the wall, ideally to be handled before they got too close. Similarly, deep and sharp stakes were stuck in the ground to serve as underground gates. They added deeper spikes that would vibrate and warn those above ground if there were suspicious movements underground. Other than these, there were plenty of other ground traps that goblins, with their limited vertical size and strengths, would have difficulty coping with. Barton looked satisfied with what was happening to the village and soon excused himself and left the rest to his men. The Terrans watched as the entire village and visiting mercenary teams mobilize with full-force to defend against the goblins. Garan and the others felt complicated. The goblins would face a helpless massacre, wouldn''t they? ¡­ The group felt heavy at the thought of the oncoming massacre. It wasn''t that they even considered betrayal. After all, they were ultimately on the human side. It was just that no matter where, no matter who, useless killing was something that bogged them down. They were soldiers. And because of this, they were particularly caring of life, despite being willing to sacrifice one''s own, if needed. Were they really just going to watch this massacre happen helplessly? It was here that Garan noticed a soldier hailing their tamed mounts to a different position, held by ropes. The creatures were a little unwilling but had no choice but to follow. His cerulean eyes fixed on the ropes, and an idea dawned on to him, recalling that short but lovely memory of his Althea and her ducklings. "Hear my orders:" He said with that baritone voice of his, and his subordinates instinctively straightened their bodies to listen in response. "Gather as much rope as you can." He told them, "I have an idea." ¡­ The rule of territory wars was that the winner would receive 50% of the territory assets, and this included all resources: Including humans. However, this only referred to those within their enemy''s home territory. That was to say, if one side could keep the attackers and their assets, the winning side could get a lot more than 50%. In the same way, individuals participating in the wars could get a chance to receive the loot from the losers. This was what Garan and the others were targeting. However, asking for loot was one thing. Asking for the very expensive goblins was a whole other thing. At the very least, even Gaudi had never heard of it being done before. A few hours before the attack was set to begin, Garan approached Barton, who was then surrounded by a few mercenary leaders and their henchmen. "Lord Barton." Garan said, making the standard salute¡ªplacing their dominant hand on their chests. As long as they didn''t have to bow or kowtow, this little thing to show standard respect didn''t matter to them. "You are... Garan, yes?" He said, remembering this person was introduced by Bart himself. Despite his level, he caught the attention of Bart and the others, which said a lot about this person''s ability. "Yes, milord." "What''s the matter?" "I have a bit of a request." He paused. "Lord Barton said before we can keep the loot of the creatures we killed, in addition to 10 silver for every goblin killed, yes?" "That is correct." He said, and the others were also looking at him curiously, wanting to see what he wanted to ask for. "We would like the exchange these for the right to sell all the goblins we capture alive." An awkward silence passed by the space. Barton was a bit surprised, and he looked at this young man deeply. However the young man said it out loud, and a lot of the others were waiting for his answer. Before he could speak, Garan continued with his soliloquy. "They are considered dead the moment they attacked your good territory. Instead of the gold, I would appreciate it if the lord would be so kind as to allow me to make a bit of a living out of this." Garan had grown up well past the prideful arrogance from the past. He had evolved to be someone who could bend and stretch. Even if he didn''t look up at the nobles here, he could give them the minimum respect they expected to receive. He knew that lives were more important than his arrogance. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Barton was silent for a while. This was highly unusual. Because generally, if people were spared in wars, they were automatic properties of the lord. More importantly, goblins who had begun fighting would never stop doing so. They would never be slaves as they would definitely take their own lives if they were captured. In his long years, no goblins with fighting spirit had been caught. Almost always, they died before they could get dragged into human territory. He sighed. "Fine." He said, looking nonchalant. Then he walked away, not giving the chance to the others to ask for similar requests. Garan knew he made things awkward for this lord, so he excused himself to focus on their next tasks. He did not notice the same lord pausing his steps and looking back, sharp eyes sticking on him. ¡­ "Boss our spaces, except for some emergency supplies, are now filled with tools for captivity." Logistics Officer Eagle reported, a little excited. It had been a while since they''d done something worthy of their status as soldiers. Pity the space was too small, or else they could''ve bought more. Garan looked at each of the soldiers, obviously looking forward to this rescue mission. He could understand their mood. All this time they had no choice but to focus on themselves and on their survival. Because of their weak strength, they had no choice but to simply watch the incredible amount of injustice around them. They could only watch when weaker people got abused and beaten up in front of them, commoners got exploited by nobles, and experienced the overall injustice that was the common practice in this world. But they couldn''t do anything, because they knew prying would mean certain death. It was logical and understandable, and very necessary for survival, but¡­ it shamed them to death. It was a feeling oftentimes even worse than death. But now they could actually do something worthy of their title! They could finally stand upright and say proudly, with all their might: They are Soldiers!! Chapter 112 Capture (Part 1) [00:00:00] [Attention to Guia Village! The territory war has begun and will end in 27:59:59 hours.] Right on time¡ªa loud horn reverberated across every inch of the territory, and every person within the walls immediately got as tense and ready as they could be. The light of the temporary teleportation array lit up a hundred meters away from the walls. To the locals, it was not unfamiliar as they had been attacked every few months or so, but the Terrans¡ªwho had been staring outside some time before the timer stopped¡ªwatched in awe. They had never encountered teleportation arrays before. There seemed to be some patterns appearing about a hundred meters away from the walls before the counter stopped, and then the patterns abruptly lit up when it did. It was like shining water suddenly flowing on engraved surfaces on the ground. This was followed by a bright light that projected upwards from these patterns, appearing as if they were curtains that extended to the clouds. The blinding light lasted for a few seconds and, as soon as it dimmed, the forms of the creatures transported were revealed. The little things were dense and plenty, surrounding the walls with aggressive faces and their weapons raised up high. Those who had been standing gallantly over the walls paled at the sight of endless waves of goblins. They were more than they anticipated. They were like ants, ready to eat them whole. There were thousands and thousands of goblins that showed up at their doorsteps, forming a large formation outside the gates. Most villages could have a maximum capacity of 20,000. Did they send the whole population to attack? "They must be receiving help from a larger territory!" Someone yelled, getting a little nervous. Another one answered him, eyes staying on the approaching killer wave. "Outside assistance during wars is limited. At most, only a thousand or so goblins." Other than a level cap, only 10% of the average comprehensive strength of the territory since its establishment was allowed to assist in wars. "Yes, but we are only a few thousand humans in here!" Not to mention, because the goblin slaves still counted as Population, the humans in the territory were only half of the attacking goblins. "It doesn''t matter if they are 50,000 or 100,000." Barton said with his low voice as he noticed the momentum wavering. "They are weak and small and they cannot connect with the elements. "It is a well-known fact that a normal-level human could deal with a handful of goblins without a problem. More importantly, we have prepared well for their attacks. "There is simply no need to be intimidated." At the rational voice of their lord, the people once again calmed down. "Right! The lord is wise." "The lord is wise!" They once again reminded themselves that humans were much stronger than these rats, not to mention they were in their home territory. And the lord was very right¡ªthey were very well-prepared to go against them! Their pride was already hit by all this effort they had to spend! It was shameful to still be afraid in this junction! With more confidence, the people watched closely as at least half of the goblins disappeared into the ground, hopefully approaching their traps and falling to their deaths. They watched as the flags vibrated, which signaled the start of their fight. "Attack!!!!!" One of the captains said and the assigned fighters jumped down. They were quick to stab designated areas with their long iron spears. Squelch! Stab! Squelch! Judging by the fresh blood that coated their weapons, they definitely succeeded in killing a wave of goblins. However, there were too many green rats and eventually some started to pass through, to the gates. The commotion also eroded a lot of soil, letting these soldiers fall down the pit. "AHHH!!!!" "HELP!!!" They would not be able to utter more than a few words, as they were immediately swarmed by the green creatures, stabbed and killed almost as soon as they landed. The swarm soon went past the first obstacle, both under and above ground, leaving a trail filled with blood of humans and goblins. The wave reached the wall, using their picks and weapons to try and erode it little by little. Of course, level 3 walls, the archery teams, and the sentries every few hundred meters weren''t decorations either. While the wall lost a few percentage of life, another wave of goblibs was killed. As expected, although the goblins were fighting bravely, it seemed that they were still no match for the strength and preparations done by the humans. Garan and his team took up an area of ''battle''. They made sure not to interfere with other people''s ''good'' deeds as well. The soldiers were trained with various martial arts, even support roles like Vanessa and Eagle, and they could indeed handle the weaker goblins with relative ease. Except from when they formed a damned wave, in which case elemental techniques were indispensable. Earth users used earth walls to confine the goblins, forming walls above two meters with coordination to each other. After making sure the walls were stable enough, the soldiers would then throw in things like sleeping powder or paralysis powder (bought from Bart, quite expensive) inside the boxes. They would simply need to wait until the goblins lose consciousness and they would get scores of goblins. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fire users use their fires to direct the goblins to their traps, or let them faint in mild heat stroke. And water users¡ªexcited to try out their new skills¡ªused water to temporarily cut off oxygen supply and made them faint. In fact, the damage to the goblins had been so minimized that they themselves¡ªthe soldiers¡ªhad more wounds instead. Some of the goblins noticed this, then they shifted their attacks to the mercenaries and locals of Guia Village. Who wanted to be humiliated like that by those humans! They''d rather die for their pride! The soldiers-trying-to-save-them: "..." Don''t jump into your deaths, damnit! Chapter 113 Capture (Part 2) This went on for hours on end. There were piles and piles of corpses on the ground, adding layer after layer as time went on. Especially the goblins who, if no longer moving, would most definitely be dead. Although some teams did try capturing goblins, the little things went insane when they realized their plans. The goblins'' suicidal attacks went wilder, resolute to die than be captured. Who could blame them? Living as a slave was indeed a life worse than death. But¡­ the Terrans couldn''t exactly announce they were there to save them, right? It was this point, along with the stark contrast amongst human corpses, that alerted Garan. Some only had a lethal wound or two, while the others were completely unrecognizable¡ªbutchered, skinned, or anything similarly gruesome. It was one thing to succumb (well, relatively) when caught, but the attack style seemed a bit different. He noticed that goblins killed most people quickly when they could. But there were certain people who were particularly miserable. For example, there were people like the slave drivers who died a very gruesome death. Their eyes were poked and their bodies stabbed thousands of times. From their faces plastered with expressions of agony, he could tell they suffered a lot while breathing before finally given the luxury of dying. For instance, the man who whipped the old goblin and went after the escapee was particularly horrid-looking. His body was dismembered, the bones and sinew visible from their angle. Luis vomited, some splatter landed on Gill''s shoes. "Shame." Gill frowned in disgust, resuming the task at hand. They also noticed that the goblins didn''t seem to have much aggressiveness for them, bypassing them directly increasingly often. This did not affect their progress though, if anything it accelerated their progress. It could be said a good part of the attackers were caught by them. It was just that their ropes and medicine were running out, and it was estimated they would have to stop soon, lest they lost everything instead. Not long after they heard a wave of screams coming inside in territory. Many of the humans around looked at each other in puzzlement. "What''s going on?!" The yells got louder and more pronounced and many people outside who weren''t dealing with goblins ran to the gate to see what the heck was going on. As if hearing their questions, the screams became louder and more lucid, and they soon had an idea what was going on inside the walls. "GOBLINS!" "The slaves! They''ve escaped!!!" Curious, a couple of wind users lifted themselves up to the battlement, seeing the chaos within. Apparently, the newly-caught hundreds of goblin slaves inside had somehow escaped from imprisonment. They were now fighting with the main force within the walls, increasing the chaos, taking another set of human lives. Over half of the forces had now gone outside the walls. No one expected an attack from the inside. "KILL THEM!!" "Don''t let them deeper into the territory!" If these green rats managed to get to the mines and set the thousands of goblin slaves inside free, then they would really be in trouble. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Could things get any worse? As if hearing their question, the ground near the gates suddenly shook, and so did their hearts. BOOM! BOOMM!! While the interior of the village was in chaos, the people from outside suddenly started yelling in shock and despair. "The goblins had a dwarven weapon!" "What?!" "What the heck is going on?!" "Why are they so crazy?!" They hadn''t fully absorbed what they were hearing yet when another earthquake shook the area. A lot of people near the walls lost their footing, some even fell from the battlements. The people turned their heads to the direction of the explosion to see that the gate was destroyed! The people ran to where the major damage was, weapons up, only to see a ten-meter large weapon rolling, crushing everything in its path. It was a heavy weapon that had a tube attached to it. Large rocks came out of it, like the catapults from the cities, but more powerful and quicker to recharge. Soon it reached the wall, hitting it incessantly, eventually cracking it. The weapon dealt massive damage to the territory, hitting dozens and dozens of humans, crushing them to death with the rocks as large as a person. It did not take long for that section of the level 3 wall to fall down. People''s hearts dropped to the bottom. One must know that during Territory Wars, territories could not do any sort of construction at all! They could only watch helplessly as the thousands of bloodthirsty suicidal goblins entered the territory, consuming every human being in their path. While this was ongoing, a group of goblins¡ªthe slaves from before¡ªhappened to cross paths with them. There were only a handful of them left, but they all had that fighting spirit in their eyes. The soldiers looked at each other. And they nodded at the same time. While there was chaos and the sound of killing around them, the Terran elementalists summoned their powers to deal with the goblins¡ªan overkill, but it was because they wanted this done quickly without hurting anyone (or any goblin, for that matter). They happened to have one last batch of capture weapons remaining. Just right. ¡­ Soon, the machine rolled inside to shoot at other bulks of people, crushing more people. A lot of people tried to deal with it, only to be crushed by its stone wheels. However, when the people nearby were losing hope, their lord appeared like the powerful hero he was in his mind. Barton appeared, jumping from manifested rock to another, and with a large boulder directly killed a group of goblins. It also blocked the attacking mechanism of the weapon, allowing the people to deal with it. "It''s gone! It was a consumable! That was their last hit! Kill them all!!" He yelled, and he did his best to counter attack, really not expecting he had to make a move himself. As such, as valiant as the goblins were, and how well they fought this time, it took only an hour for the tide to completely shift to the humans. The goblins, more and more, could only wait to be slaughtered. But they did not give up, they continued to fight, without showing an inch of fear. However, what was crazy was that even if they were losing¡­ there was no sign of them trying to escape at all. It was as if they were determined to die there, and the Terrans could only sigh in pity. There was only so much they could do, and they had already reached their limits. Garan''s deep blue eyes followed the massacre that came after, heart heavy. He could only hope¡­ that their future wars wouldn''t be so bloody. Chapter 114 Suspicions Thousands of goblin corpses and humans covered the soil. Whether it was outside or inside the walls, blood and body parts of two very different races littered the ground. Ironic how the only way these two races could be seen ''together'' was if there was blood involved. The sight of corpses¡ªhumans or goblins¡ªsplayed out so miserably made their eyes burn. It was not just a troubling sight, but a depressing one. The Terrans always felt it was an unnecessary fight. The locals were even more indignant. Although not unusual in territory wars, the fact that they had fought and lost so much to an ''inferior race'' was extremely humiliating for them. Hence, even after several hours after the war, some people kicked the goblins'' bodies out of anger. In Garan''s team, only a handful were left in the village, the rest staying with the captives somewhere else. They feared they''d all be mobbed and stabbed to death by the bitter citizens who had lost too much in this battle. From what they''ve been hearing, they had never lost before, let alone lost so badly. The Terran soldiers looked at each other and sighed. Wars between nations in their time had long been over. They may be soldiers, and their hands covered with blood, but those were all criminals and terrorists¡ªThe world was better without them. What about this? There was even a young girl that died due to the explosion of the door. There was an old man who got burned by a missed fireball. There was also a pregnant woman who was crushed by the so-called dwarven weapon. This was a real war, where innocent lives splayed the ground everywhere¡­ While looking at the battlefield in melancholy, they saw a mighty group of people approach them. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was the lord Barton and about a dozen cohorts. The man looked at their group and frowned when he saw there were only a few of them. They looked quite imposing and only Barton didn''t look at them with sharpness, at least on the surface. "Where are the goblins?" He asked. A little alarm bell rang in their ears, making their bodies a little stiff and guarded. However, Garan didn''t express any of it on his face. Instead, he looked at the lord unfazed and answered in a calm tone. "We secured them outside, as we are afraid of any revenge attacks from the survivors. What''s wrong Milord?" Barton paused, narrowing his eyes, trying to figure out if he was making excuses. It was not that he often didn''t follow his own words. But there was no way, he heard this group actually managed to catch a lot of goblins¡ªan unprecedented feat! He had just received the ''wins'' from the war, and he only received a hundred gold! That was a chump change! Especially considering the damage these rats made! How could he be reconciled? "I want them. I''ll pay you more than the market price." He said, introducing the compromise. In his words, he wanted to make money out of these captured goblins, so he was technically not going back on his words. However, Garan and the others frowned. They knew the reason this Lord agreed with his request was because he didn''t believe they''d be able to capture goblins alive. They looked at the aggressive-looking cohorts and knew they reported their moves to this lord. Naturally, Garan would not give the goblins up at this juncture. "I''m afraid that''s not possible." The locals looked at him in disbelief. Barton frowned deeply, while his cohort yelled out. "What??" "Our team had already left. They were worried some escaped goblins will run after us, so we ran even faster." The other were silent. "Really?" One man sneered, "It seemed to me like you were friendly with the goblins." "It seemed like you helped them out just yesterday, right?" Garan frowned at his reaction. For a moment, he thought they were being suspected as traitors. However, from what he gathered the past few hours, there was no need to be suspicious of any of them. But¡­ they didn''t want them to think they were out of trouble! Garan stood there, staring at him, as if he would say another truth if he stared harder. "We helped them because we were planning on buying the slaves, but the war happened. "Our researchers found that being good to the slaves significantly increases their productivity." Lord Barton''s shoulder relaxed a little and he looked at him in interest. "Oh? Mind telling me more?" Garan nodded, doing the standard salute to nobles. "Studies showed that giving even the slightest bit of better treatment could increase productivity and loyalty of these creatures by a significant amount. "For instance, allowing for a break 10 minutes longer, giving a few spoonfuls more of their food, among others." "I see," was all he said. But then he looked at the group deeply, trying to figure out the truth of this. "They cannot be called back?" "Yes, I apologize." "Very well." He said, tone unchanging, and even Garan did not know what he meant. In the end he just turned away, ignoring his existence. Garan and his team watched the other group leave, staring back at some of the cronies who were looking back, looking at them menacingly. When the other group left, so did Garan''s, heading towards the meet-up spot. As such¡ªat least for now¡ªthey left safely with hundreds of goblins in the guise of selling them. But a few people, including some from Barton''s party, were not reconciled. Garan could tell their small-mindedness from miles away. Of course, unless they had killing intent, they wouldn''t try to fight to the death either. After all, they were still on the side of humans. There may come a time they would have to give up the goblins. If it really came to that, there was no need to feel guilty, they had done enough for them. But this was the worst case scenario. They would still want save as many lives as they could. Chapter 115 Karma The group found the rest of the team about an hour later. At this time, the soldiers were dining in a clearing, some distance away from the captives. They were talking about where to release the little things. "Where do we leave them?" After all, living them here in the human territory would be no different than leaving them back in Guia. "Er¡­ do Goblins even have their own safe territory?" "There should, right? How else would they wage war with other villages?" "Oh, that makes sense. Do you know where this place is, then?" They looked at each other and turned to Gaudi, who also shook his head. He had never been out of a couple of human settlements, how could he get out of the human territory? Garan thought for a while and sighed, "I think we should just leave them in a more difficult terrain to find. At the very least, they have good digging capabilities so we can give them a good chance to survive and escape." The team nodded. They''d already done more than enough for the creatures. They weren''t even expecting any thanks! Before they could finalize their plans, however, everyone whipped their heads in a direction, bodies tense and guarded. "Trouble! Trouble!!" A yell quickly approached them. It felt like a breeze arrived and a figure appeared when it died out. It was Loki, a soldier with mutated wind abilities that allowed him to spy on people several levels higher. He was pale and had a grave expression on his face. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "They want to kill us! An order from the lord!" He said with greeted teeth, and the rest looked alarmed at the news. The others'' backs straightened and they frowned, indignant. "What? How come? We got them fair and square." Garan raised his hand. "Calm down. We should''ve known it would be like this." He paused. "We just take advantage of¡­ the terrain." Indeed¡­, they were no goblins, but they also had some skills. ¡­ A few hours later, the group watched as the enemies fell into the trap, now with cloth on their faces. Don''t look at them so much weaker than these guys in level, but the breadth of survival and fighting knowledge imbued in their heads was enough to deal with stronger opponents if used well. They didn''t kill the cronies, but they did hang them upside down. They didn''t tie them too tightly either, in case of monsters getting near. They didn''t worry beyond this, as these people were quite strong in level. They should be able to handle village-level monsters with relative ease. Satisfied with the state of the men, the group turned back to the group of captives. They just sat there and peacefully ate their soup. Garan was surprised that they were so well-behaved. After all, this was the very same group of creatures who were crazily attacking like rabid dogs not too long ago. Garan observed them a bit more, wondering if they were acting. Interestingly, it seemed that amongst some of the goblins they saved, that little guy who ran away back then seemed to have a relatively high position among the goblins. Garan knew this because the goblin was being surrounded by goblins with humble body language. They also seemed to be enjoying the barbeque doused with his special sauce very much. Garan walked to this group of higher-ups. "You seem to be fine like this?" He asked, good-natured, but was ready for a surprise attack any time. The goblins remained in their place. The goblins seemed to still not want to talk to them (which was funny because they had sauce on their lips), but at least there wasn''t any life-or-death aggressiveness. It was something he was very curious about. It was an old goblin next who spoke, explaining to him. "Goblins have a special ability, and it is not limited to stones. It just so happened that it was the most practical application of the ability." The old green creature paused and looked at Garan, who was trying to figure out what he meant. "Another facet of this ability is to detect the breath of our brethren, and also the type of breath. "Breath? Type of breath?" "Yes, either suffering, pain, or¡­ something else." Garan immediately understood, recalling how they were pretty much undamaged while the slave drivers went through hell before their deaths. Before he could ask to confirm though, he noticed that the old goblin and the few others beside him looked at him in a complicated expression. "What is it?" He asked. The goblins looked at each other and then to him, asking a simple question: "Why?" Why save us? The black-haired man did not answer immediately, but when he did, he answered succinctly. "We come from a place where there are no slaves." He just said¡ªquite vague¡ªbefore turning back to his teammates. But it was enough to explain everything. ¡­ That night, the soldiers, after seeing the result of their final knockout drug on the soup, took out all the ropes and other constricting tools. Seeing that everyone was free, their group walked out to leave them be. Vanessa whispered to her suitor. "Why didn''t we keep a few? We won''t treat them as slaves, we can hire them to look for ores for us." This suitor, Rey, was a bit brainless when it came to Vanessa, but this time he did not agree. "The little trust the goblin gave would disappear. It''s not the time yet, nor are we strong enough to hold whatever they could find." Vanessa frowned, feeling annoyed for not being gratified this time. Since they rescued the goblins, it seems her suitors were a little less passionate about her than before? What Vanessa didn''t know that something had changed in her suitors after the rescue mission. They had, after all, finally reignited their life meaning. They no longer had to hold on to something as abstract as romantic affection to feel sane. Brain cells simply started working when not blinded by love. But, again, Vanessa didn''t know this yet. ¡­ A few hours later, Garan, Eagle, and Gill walked back to this former camp to check on the goblins. The camp was clean and there were no more goblins. From the neatness of the place, the goblins had obviously left peacefully. Well, except for a jar of his sauce¡­ that was nowhere in sight. There was also a jar of his special condiment¡­ His lips twitched. As he turned to leave, his peripheral vision saw something sparkle in the grass next to the stone where the old man used to sit. He walked to the area, followed closely by the other two. There were about three stones on the ground, the size of toenails. They were quite beautiful, as if the stars were condensed and placed inside a gemstone. It was an ethereal stone, not like anything they had ever seen. A thought hit the trio''s mind at the same time. They whipped their heads to look at each other. Their sights met and their eyes widened in disbelief. ¡ªA stone that contains the stars¡ª Space stones! The goblins actually left them space stones! Chapter 116 Space Stones Aberdeen City, 5 years ago "That is 32,000 Eden dollars, sir." The friendly saleswoman said as she handed over the velvet-covered jewelry box. She couldn''t help but stare at the handsome man in admiration, though the latter only had his sexy cerulean eyes on the box and nothing else. "Thank you," He said with that velvety baritone voice that softened the knees of all the women around. It was just that the cold atmosphere around him stopped anyone¡ªeven the most forward women¡ªfrom approaching. Helpless, the women could only swoon as he walked away, wondering who the lucky woman was to receive such heartfelt gift. The clerk was especially aware of the sincerity of this gift because she knew that the payment was just for the chain¡ªmade of iridium, mind you. According to her boss, the man obtained the diamond himself. Ah, how romantic~! As he entered his car, Garan couldn''t help but take another look at the bespoke pink bracelet on his palm. It had a very delicate chain with intricate designs, the diamonds lined the strap every few millimeters, but not equidistant, adding a natural quaintness to its appearance. He was already thinking how it''d look on her slender and graceful wrist. He held the paper bag with a bit of anticipation in his otherwise apathetic eyes. He felt it was a great coming-home gift after nearly a month of absence. Garan''s job was incredibly risky and difficult, but the price was fair. Whenever they took down criminal gangs, they actually received a lot of shares from the wealth they confiscated. It was just that Althea had an independent personality and didn''t want his money, especially since they were not married (yet). So Garan could only save up for their married life and spend the rest just buying her gifts. If he could find rare seeds and plants, that was the best, but unfortunately that best friend of hers had better access in that area than he did. In any case, due to the unfortunate nature of his job, he was often away from home. Him covering her up with (ideally wearable) gifts from him was his way of making her remember him everywhere. And also, they would serve as a declaration to other men. His soldiers told him women liked jewellery. And through the years, he had given her almost all of the the rare varieties. This one was particularly special as this was a rare pink diamond he found on a target mine, and there was nothing like it. Combined with the very rare platinum-metal iridium ore, this was his best one yet. Hopefully, this particular accessory would fit her well. His Althea was so wonderful, so beautiful, so smart, and so kind. It was very difficult to find a worthy gemstone for her. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But alas, when he finally gave it to her in a special dinner he arranged, he noticed that the pink gem paled when she wore it. He frowned. Pity. "Thank you." Althea said with an amused tilt to her voice, kissing his chin. "Why the long face?" "Too expensive?" He shook his head, retaining a serious expression on his face, eyes on the bracelet on her pretty arm. "Nothing is too expensive for you, my love." Instead of saying any more, he just wrapped his arms around her, feeling her warmth. To be honest, even this rare gem didn''t do her justice. _____________________ 10 Kilometers from Guia Village The trio looked at the three stones blankly. Wordlessly, Garan took it and handed the other two each one. Eagle looked bright while Gill was surprised. The former didn''t think much and he just excitedly placed the beautiful stone inside his space. [Level 3 Space Stone detected! Would you like to merge with your space? Note: Capacity will halve upon merging. Yes| No] The capacity of the stone halves when merged with the personal space, but it was more secure. As a fighter, Eagle naturally chose the latter. The moment he clicked ''yes'', a change happened on the smoky holographic image in front of him. The image of floating box, the pitiful 1 cubic meter that was his space, appeared in front of him. Then, a larger transparent box floated and superimposed against the image of the old box. This transparent box had manoeuvrable arrows on each dimension. This meant that he could decide whether to enlarge the space horizontally, vertically, or both. After a bit of manipulation, he saw that his space expanded from a pitiful 1 cubic meter to over 25, with dimensions of a bit over 3 meters by 4 meters, and a height of 2 meters, making it look like the size of a normal bedroom. He grinned and looked at his two companions who, to his surprise, were just staring at the stones. He was a bit confused. "Boss, you''re not merging?" He paused, concluding an answer himself, "Oh, you''re not planning to merge." This was understandable. After all, unmerged level 3 stones should give about 50 cubic meters of space. "It''s not for me." Garan just said in that baritone voice of his. Eagle, on the other hand, looked at him wondering who it was and if the captain would consider telling him. Seeing this, Gill shook his head. Don''t look at this guy''s mature menacing face, he was more innocent than Luis. Instead of enlightening this guy, Gill just gave his space stone the captain. "Take it. I didn''t do anything more than the others. It would be unfair to the team." Unlike Eagle, who had been the primary force of this rescue, he really didn''t do more than the rest of them. Having such a precious item on him would definitely rouse a bit of jealousy to some of the others. Garan raised an eyebrow and looked at him. Gill sighed, and forcefully placed the stone on the other man''s palm. "How many times you saved my life, boss, I couldn''t count anymore. Please take it, it will keep me from feeling useless." Garan looked at the two stones at hand, feeling complicated, but he accepted the kindness in the end. His eyes brightened at the two stones in his hand. Had he finally found it? He wondered. ''The perfect gift.'' Chapter 117 The Perfect Gift The two watched as various emotions seemed to have passed by their captain''s head. Eventually, the captain did gather himself and looked at the two of them. "Thank you." He just said, "I owe you one." Gill felt very awkward with such a display of gratitude, "Boss, please¡ª" "This is very valuable, I saved your life because it was my duty and you are my friend." Garan told him, "If you can truly let this go, I can promise to send you something of similar value when I can." "Boss, you don''t need¡ª" he paused, seeing Garan''s serious expression. "Sure." For a moment, they thought that the captain would merge this second gem. It was just that¡­. Garan still didn''t use it. This baffled the two men. "One for her absorption and the other one for wearing," Garan said, clearing their doubts. Eagle looked at him blankly, finally realizing what this was about. The moment it dawned on him, he slapped his forehead, regretting absorbing the stone so quickly. He knew how much the captain loved his wife, and he wasn''t surprised he was giving her everything. He was often away, and the captain used to compensate with everything else when he could. Every person in the team knew of this because they witnessed his obsession themselves. For instance, there was once a mission in a submarine. The boss dived to a dangerous depth just to get her a huge pearl. He also attacked the base of a terrorist group that had been smuggling rare platinum ores¡ªa job he didn''t have to do, but so happened to be nearby. Eagle thought that he also owed a lot to the captain. How could he enjoy a better space when the boss didn''t? Garan saw his pitiful expression and had an idea of what was going on in his head. "Don''t worry, I just don''t need so much space." He said, very reassuring. "But Althea is different, she not only had to bring a lot of equipment, she also collected various plants during her experiments. He looked in a random direction with warm eyes as if seeing her image in front of his eyes. "I am in pain whenever I see her laboriously bringing so many things to the mountains. "Her having this would let my heart rest a bit more." He told them, "Looking at it this way, this is also for myself." He could still remember that one time when he went back without telling her as a surprise, only to find out she was camping somewhere. He found that she refused accompaniment this time (which he later found out to just be her thick-faced suitors) so she was basically alone in the mountains. With a tense heart, he tracked her down and followed her. After hours of trekking, his heart finally rested as he saw her well and about. But his heart constricted again when he saw her carrying a large backpack half her size, arms filled with various items, and her pretty face drenched in sweat. She accidentally dropped a plant¡ªa delicate one¡ªand her expression of heartbreak, when she saw it was broken, hit his heart. Garan closed his eyes with a sigh, returning to the present. He patted the man''s shoulder, just before finally standing up. "Don''t think too much. This is simply a part of who I am now." He said, "And I wouldn''t change it for the world." ¡­ That night, Garan manifested tools for jewelry making like pliers, wire cutters, scissors, carving tools, and knives. He also used the bespoke Swiss knife that Althea gave him for their 1st anniversary. At this time, the team had moved a little and had set up camp in a cave between Guia village and Ferrol Town. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although there were occasional strong monsters around, the team always went out to clean the surroundings in groups of five. Now it was his turn to watch camp and he planned to use this time to carve something for his Althea. However, knowing it would take him a while to finish, he told his soldiers to keep sharper watch. He had always wanted to do this, but he didn''t have the skills at the time. Transferring here, he inexplicably awakened metal as his secondary element. It took him several hours to complete the intricate design that had been on his mind for years. All the while, he had a determined yet tender expression on his face, hands moving with precision and care, each etching filled with love and thoughtfulness. A soft smile graced his handsome face as he thought of the wearer and he looked carefully at all the details, making sure there weren''t any imperfections. The bespoke metal bracelet exuded an air of elegance and craftsmanship, yet felt very intimate, down-to-earth, and obviously crafted with emotion. Like every other accessory, it was also intricate but not too gaudy, so that she could wear it every day. The foundation of the bracelet was meticulously crafted and polished to perfection. Engraved on it were subtle hints of wings. Because she was, after all, his angel. He also added hints of her favorite flower¡ªdaisies¡ªthe flower symbolizing peace and happiness, her life goal. Also, the flower''s resiliency as a wildflower added to its charm, and it fit Althea very well. Finally, he carved their initials together inside, forming a thread tied tightly together. The stone was held firmly by the most secure bezel setting. It also had a special design that would hide the appearance of the space stone, only visible whenever she wanted to, for safety. He admired it for a while and smiled. He raised the stone against the night sky and he watched how the brightness from the fire refracted inside, making the stars appear shinier. If she moved it along a certain direction and looked at certain angles, the sparkles inside would appear like they were moving¡ªas if there were meteors inside. It was absolutely fascinating. Whenever he bought Althea jewellery, no matter what kind of gemstone, he didn''t think they gave her beauty any justice at all. Now he knew why. It was because they didn''t know about Space Stones yet. Chapter 118 Rowan and Oslo [22 days of Protection Period] [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 1 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 154 (25 permanent, 129 temporary) Total Population: 384 Base Resources: Wood: 2320/5000 Stone: 1250/3000 Money: 7412 Gold, 96667 Silver, 39407 copper Reputation: 50 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2), Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv1), Farms (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 5/5 (+1)] It had been a few days since she got the notification for the upgrade and¡­ Althea actually decided to delay the upgrade in the end. She had considered it deeply and decided to build her foundation well. After thinking long and hard, she realized that there wasn''t much of an advantage to upgrading as soon as she got the chance. It would only bring her a wave of beast¡­ While there was no express limit on the population in the territory, the land size, resources, and buildings had a lot to do to cap it. Not to mention, there would definitely be useful new buildings after every upgrade. It was why many lords upgraded when they could because it was necessary to properly support the growing population. They also hoped to unlock amenities and functions necessary for human survival. But her territory, which could create 2-floor mixed-use buildings and dense dormitories, did not have a problem with sheltering the population. Altera was also a territory built on land of good resources like rivers and springs. Hence, these issues weren''t a problem for her at all. In terms of the wars, not upgrading immediately was also not a bad choice. It was advantageous, even. Because generally, only territories of the same level could attack her. To feel safe, she just had to make herself invincible among her own level to at least a level higher. She couldn''t help but be thankful to the NPCs, especially Brenda, for letting her know of the territory wars in advance. Otherwise, she may have chosen to upgrade every time she could. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Maybe by the time the protection period ended, max-level villages would attack her as soon as she got out. What a pinch that would be¡­ Brenda, who felt the Lord''s rather appreciative stare, couldn''t help but blush. "I¡­ It''s an honor to be of help, Milord." She smiled and looked at her, as well as the other NPCs. Althea and the NPCs were now on the exclusive second floor of the village center, but the difference within these few days was great. The lounge had been expanded to all four sides. There were now complete furnishings and decorations, intricately designed as commissioned from Baron. There were even rugs (albeit made of monster fur, so people occasionally get shocked by the menacing head of a Stormdoer). There was even a little pantry complete with snacks, coffee, tea, and others, to give the NPCs a shining new impression. This aimed to not only welcome them but also to improve their sense of belonging to the territory. Speaking of NPCs, she had received two in the past three days. One day was null as there were no useful ones, while the other two days took a few tries to show a good one. Althea felt that it was getting increasingly more difficult to get decent NPCs. She wondered why¡­ Anyway, one of the new NPCs she got was a level D soldier who could assist Drake. From what she gathered the past few days, the review (care of Drake) was stellar. The latest one, who just been hired two days before, was a level D architect. They were both ''Elemetalists'', so their base salaries were twice that of the same class. The soldier, Rowan, was a red-haired Fire Elementalist. While Oslo, a handsome blonde, had a dual earth and metal element. It was only when she met them that she knew the meaning of their affinities. They could literally create fire, earth, and metal out of thin air. It was magical. And it made her really want to reach level 10, the level this could be tapped, as soon as possible. Also, she found someone with two elements now, and she didn''t feel so out of place. Of course, she still didn''t disclose her affinities, just in case. In any case, the salary of these two was a whooping 30 gold per month each but, it had only been a few days, and she was already sure it was worth it. For instance, with Rowan''s help, Drake''s workload had decreased exponentially. He could now have the time to come up with the guards'' training plans. This was essential in building a foundation for their fighters, as fighting was much more than just brute strength. Oslo, the Architect, was even better. Although it was not cheating enough that she could build a system-level structure that could get her a building slot (for now), he was a great help to the construction team being formed. The population had risen again in the past few days, increasing the pressure to build more. Furthermore, while she could build residential and commercial homes as needed, there were still many infrastructure projects that needed to be handled. These buildings would take time to produce, unlike system buildings, so they had to be planned in advance. This was where Oslo, said architect, came into play. He not only had the knowledge of local building materials they so lacked, he also gave them ideas on buildings on other territories, as well as some construction techniques they could use. Oslo had babbled several materials and techniques and the Terran engineers and architects that followed him had their notebooks out. Of course, a lot of these technologies were inferior to what they knew, but most of them were still quite useful. For example, they found that a common rock¡ªhe called it prud¡ªcould be used as a sort of adhesive for wood construction. This was a great help because there was no nails yet, and they could only use jointery techniques to secure wood-to-wood construction. All this help was well after Oslo gushed about the modular houses though, as beforehand he was very uninterested in interacting with anyone (except for a couple of beautiful women whom he flirted with from the get-go). Her lips twitched when she heard of this gossip. Thinking that these aborigines were really so interesting. Chapter 119 Foundation Althea couldn''t help but recall the gossip of her team when they arrived back for dinner the day she hired Oslo. Oslo was very handsome with his long golden hair, clear blue eyes, tall lean muscular structure, and very prominent facial features. This naturally caught a lot of attention, much like how it was for stars, and this included the people from her own team. "Oh that guy was sooo handsome, right?" Harold said, looking like an old lady excited for some gossip. Sheila nodded very vehemently. "More handsome than the stars I''ve seen!" Eugene chuckled at his team''s fangirling. "You don''t know. He looked indifferent at first, but then I saw him crack a bit when he saw our buildings." "Ohh?" Sheila and Harold leaned in, listening. "Tell us more!" "He paused for a long time in front of our building, his dull bored eyes gradually gaining light the more he stared." "In the end he looked around the house, studying, until he looked enamored like staring at a beautiful woman." "I wish he would stare at me like that¡­" Sheila mumbled, dreamy, and Harold amusingly nodded as well. Althea smiled as she watched her team gossip about a handsome man as if they were still in the peaceful times back in Terran. Speaking of Oslo, her first impression of him was a very handsome stag who didn''t want to work¡ªin sharp contrast with the strict and upright red-haired Rowan¡ªbecause the holographic image was just standing lazily, uninterested in the world. This was very different compared with the others, who either had professional looks and stature or had welcoming smiles on their faces. The blonde back then even had a deep frown, and his overall body language reeked of leisure and laziness. She felt like he didn''t want to be hired by a little village like theirs. And perhaps, this was indeed the case before. However, it seemed that the past two days, the territory had quickly grown into him and he showed some promise. This was the case to not only him, in fact. Because the population was relatively small, it was tightly-knit, and the newcomers were more or less actively welcomed. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Terrans were open-minded people, as seen by the lack of discrimination in their population¡ªno matter what size, shape, finances, or color¡­ they were all Terrans in the end. This was unlike their people from hundreds of years prior, where people even discriminated for something shallow like the color of their skin. Looking back at that part of history, she couldn''t help but shake her head in distaste. In any case, befriending these NPCs wasn''t a challenge at all. She reckoned that even if they looked odd, as long as they contributed to the territory, they would be welcomed by the people with open arms. Even, some people were even more fascinated with them because they loved hanging out with these exotic people. Oslo, a charming man, already had a couple of girls following him around. Safe to say, the NPCs integrated quite well. She could see it in their eyes. Back to the present¡ª "If I may ask, at what point do you plan to upgrade Milord?" Oslo asked as he sipped his tea (for the nth time that morning), bringing Althea back to the present. "I plan to gather more resources first. At least enough to rebuild the walls even if they reached 1% remaining health twice over." "That is wise." "I do hope so¡­" She said, turning her head to look at Rowan, and the red-head straightened up his spine as he listened. "While I handle the defensive amenities of our territories, the manpower would be up to you and Drake." He nodded. "The training of the guard team will be enhanced." "I hope to get your assistance on this." "Yes, my Lord." He said with certainty and she nodded, relieved at this new help. In the wars, at worst, a territory at the peak of her level could attack her. Then¡­ didn''t she just have to make sure her strength, facilities, and infrastructure were better than those a level higher? She had helpful NPCs and she could ask of this. At this, Brenda couldn''t help but look at the lord admiringly. This was obviously a good safe method, but why hadn''t she heard others do it? How many people could truly stop themselves from upgrading when they had the chance? Then she thought the upgrade was equivalent to more power, more wealth, more prestige¡­ How many could put that aside? Apparently her Lord. Brenda stood up and did a full bow as if wanting to reiterate her loyalty. "Whatever help you need, Milord, I will do it." "Just focus on Class D weapons. If you need resources to level up, tell me, and I''ll try what I can do to help you." "My Lord, I¡ª" "You deserve it." She said and added when she saw the woman was about to cry with emotions. "Just make good weapons, that''s plenty helpful to me." "Y-Yes, milord," Brenda said, furtively wiping her tears, before finally excusing herself. "It is the same with you, Clutch, although I understand having no armory is¨C" "No, my Lord, Master Eugene, and the others had been extremely helpful in providing me with a good workspace. I¡­. I cannot ask for more." It was true. To be placed with such importance was such an honor to him as a professional and as a person. He could only promise to prepare the armors for the territory to the best of his abilities. Then she looked at the handsome Oslo who was both leisurely and poised. She could tell he was well-bred, and she was a little curious about how he ended up in their little village. The blonde smiled at her warmly, "The first phase of factories must be completed within the next few days, Milord. Rest assured we are monitoring their progress very closely." Althea smiled, and his eyes flickered a little as he looked at her. "The harvest of the crops will be very soon. They must be processed at the soonest." "Understood, my Lord. We will be able to make it." She nodded and dismissed the NPCs. "Meeting adjourned," She said, though her green eyes followed as they stood up at the same time. "Thank you for your hard work." This made the NPCs pause their movements. Their eyes widened and they flushed, very flattered and embarrassed. Not everyone could receive gratitude from their lord. Althea flinched when she saw a few of them about to cry again. Awkwardly, she repeated that the meeting was adjourned and they ought to go back to their jobs. As they were sent away and went on their way to handle their assignments, they vowed to not disappoint her by even the littlest bit. Althea, on the other hand, after finally seeing the passionate NPCs off, looked at the rough plan of her territory with her mind. She already began adjusting and making plans to prepare for the upcoming beast tides and Territorial Wars. She habitually patted her stomach, feeling the presence of her children, and her thoughts becoming firmer than ever. She was determined to make her territory worthy of its name: The Strong, the Beautiful, and the Proud¡­ Altera. Chapter 120 Harvest (Part 1) Aberdeen City, 20 years prior "Hungwy¡­" Four-and-a-half-year-old Althea mumbled, her huge emerald eyes looking around to see if there were any changes in her surroundings. She was in a big, big, concrete room with no one around. There were windows, but they were so high up, as high as three Garans standing on top of each other. The reddish sunlight was filtering through these high and broken windows, casting soft beams of light into her dusty surroundings, and into her tearing eyes. The air was thick with echoes and creepy reverberations where the only sounds she could hear were her own footsteps and calls. It was¡­. scary. She didn''t like scary things. Her tiny arms were clutched on the small puppy stuffed toy Garan bought for her a few days prior, her little heart asking for comfort. She had been here since forever, but there was no sign of Garan. "Obviously, sister Sasha said he was here¡­. Gawan¡­ Gawan¡­.?" She called out with her small milky voice, trying to open the door but it wouldn''t open. She didn''t know how long she had been here in the big abandoned building, but she had been walking and walking and she couldn''t find Garan at all. She looked at the sky darkening. She was obviously here just after the darkness went away¡­ "Hungwy¡­" she mumbled again, looking around for something to eat. She hadn''t eaten for a long time. She had never been so hungry before. She continued walking around the abandoned warehouse, her stomach grippling in pain. She looked around carefully for something to eat, looking everywhere, looking at every nook and corner, until she saw a small vine of green plants growing near the window, crawling low enough for her to reach. It looked a little juicy with its oval leaves and had a small rod-shaped flowers attached to it, nearby there were also black balls that looked a lot like berries. They looked very delicious. Enticed, she took a few, ate it, and chewed. Her face scrunched in the bitter taste of the green, then the honey taste of the flower. Then she ate the black berries which tasted very very weird but edible. In any case, her hunger disappeared immediately, and she looked at the juice vine in amazement. "You''re as amazing as Gawan." She mumbled, because Garan would always feed her, making sure she was eating well. She then sat back down, staring, not really knowing what to do next. Soon, her eyelids got heavier and heavier and she fell asleep. BANG! She was woken up a few hours later, by the loud thump of the door being opened abruptly. And it opened with such a strong force that the panel hit the wall and threw dust all over the air. Emerging from the wide dusty opening was a handsome young boy, appearing all haggard, pale, and filled with bruises. "Althea!" He yelled and the next thing she knew she was carried up, checked for injuries. "Are you alright?!" "Gawan!" She yelled, hugging his big head. She blinked, realizing he was shaking. He also had a lot of weird painful-looking marks, all over his body. "Wis it pwainful???" Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "No¡­ no¡­ It''s fine." Garan said, a bit weak on the knees and he kneeled down, gently placing her on the ground. He then saw a black thing in front of his face. "Weat it! Delicious!" She said, and she said so while she was chewing on it herself. Instead of eating though, he forcefully took it away and checked on it. It was an unfamiliar plant. Eyebrows furrowed he opened her mouth to try and take the thing away. Unfortunately, she had already swallowed it. Garan paled. "What are you eating?!" "Dewicious¡­." She answered, grabbing another thing from her pockets, and raising her hand to show him a piece of green. Too bad there was no more. Garan really didn''t know what to say. That was also the first time Althea got poisoned from eating plants. Oddly enough, rather than becoming scared of plants, Althea grew obsessed with them instead. _____ [21 Days of Protection Period] Althea, Harold, and the others went to the farmlands together to watch the harvesting of the most important staple foods: wheat and rice! There were only a few thousand square meters of wheat and rice ready to be harvested, but it created a beautiful sea of various colors that excited the hearts and souls of all who saw it. The rice here was a bit greyish with spots of blue, while the wheat had a reddish tint with dabbles of green¡ªeach sheaf moving gracefully along with the wind, creating a wondrous melody that they associated with full stomachs. Their appearance was unlike the farmlands they had seen on the internet, for sure, but it was no less gorgeous. No matter what color, it filled people''s hearts with hope. "Woowww!!" Maya yelled and she ran to the fields to play with her friends Theo and Fufi. Harold sniffed in emotion. Their last rice was consumed just a day prior. "It''s only been a few days and we can already harvest it. We will never go hungry." He said, as if he got hungry after joining Althea. Sheila rolled her eyes. "Then you shouldn''t have eaten so much yesterday. It looked like you''re the pregnant woman." Harold touched his nose in embarrassment. When he found out the rice and wheat could be harvested today, he couldn''t help but make the team a whole feast to celebrate (which, in effect, consumed much of their stocks in turn). He spent kilograms of their stocked rice and a lot of meat to create several viands. He even made ovenless bread, which was extremely popular. He made so much that the neighbor celebrity diplomat and the guard trainor had their share. "Well, it was to make the boss'' mood better." Harold said, making Sheila pause and purse her lips. During their previous day''s training, there was a decided lack of level 2 monsters they encountered. After all, the boss was heavily pregnant and they couldn''t go too far. So, instead of giving them the level 1 monsters, she started killing them herself. And what happened when she did? No experience nor copper came out. Not one. They never noticed this before. Understandably, the boss was very depressed. According to the NPCs, monsters lower than 5 levels would no longer harvest anything. Although the boss was only level five and, theoretically, should still be able to get experience at that level, the fact was that rule would make leveling after level 5 extremely difficult. Sheila looked at him and sighed. Indeed, the boss always let them have the last hit of level 1s since they started traveling together. The fact that it took so long to realize actually made them feel guilty, and a lot more appreciative of her efforts to strengthen them as well. "Well, be sure to make a lot of good food for her." She paused, remembering the woman''s cravings. "With a lot of sweet fruits." "That''s natural!" Harold said, crossing his arms smugly. Of course, to cook well, more ingredients¡ªwhether they be sauces, condiments, or others¡ªmust be made available. Whether they liked it or not, they had already almost used up the ones from Terran. However, it didn''t matter. Because Althea and the others were very much prepared for that as well. The citizens would be so surprised at their selection! Chapter 121 Harvest (Part 2) Far earlier in their trip, almost as soon as they transferred, Althea and the rest already had the improvement and sustainability (of their lifestyles) in mind. There was not a day where Althea and Harold had some discussion about the food and ingredients in this world, and since the creation of the territory, they had not forgotten this goal. To date, Harold and his team¡ªsigned a confidentiality agreement at the village center¡ªhad already done half of the spices and condiments they formulated beforehand. These were already being mass-produced to be sold in earthenware bottles of about 100 and 250mL, to be made available in the grocery store tomorrow. The other options were still being finished, with his team working overtime. They still had a lot to do. At this thought, Harold excused himself and quickly left the farm areas. He went straight to the second floor of the restaurant, to the temporary production area, and started to monitor the progress like a hawk. Eugene, on the other hand, was looking brightly at the plants for a different reason: The machines they worked so hard to make could finally be put to use! sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He and his team (also signed with virtual confidentiality contracts provided by the village center) had worked day and night for the farming tools and machinery. Fortunately, there were old designs available on their tablets and they could surmise the process after a bit of adjustment. In the past few days, they had developed the most basic type of threshers, rollers, and other farming tools. Even if hundreds more fields were filled with rice and wheat, they could handle it. Speaking of which, he had to rush the construction team to finish the processing factory¡­ they still had a lot of raw materials to handle! Like this, he also left excitedly. At this point, the two children and Fufi had long run far away, their laughter bringing joy to all the adults in the vicinity. "Ah, they''re all gone. I feel pressured." Sheila said worriedly, though there was a fond smile on her face. In the end, the nurse also decided to check the production of her scope of work¡ªAlthea''s formulated medicines. Althea''s emerald eyes captured all of these and giggled. Who''d have thought that a little over a week ago, Harold was a poor old man who was scared for the future, Sheila was a timid nurse who couldn''t look people in the eyes, and Eugene was a love-hurt disabled veteran who was convinced he was a waste. Seeing people regain hope like this made Althea more determined to build a good home. ¡­ In the Farmlands The farmers happily harvested the crops with a custom sickle Brenda made. It was much better than the sickle recorded on her tablet, and it had additional efficiency bonuses. "This is so amazing!" Their eyes were bright at the sight and couldn''t help but look forward to the harvests of their families. "In a few days, my team''s farm will also look like this!" "Mine will take longer, but it''s better than nothing!" Althea had allowed her farmers to pass on the knowledge they got from her and also allowed them to buy seeds from her at a fair price. This made them even more loyal to her to the point of worship. Althea really didn''t mind, because the more farms and farm hands, the less worry she had to worry about the food situation within the territory walls. In fact, this wasn''t the first harvest. Several vegetables and plants with shorter cycles were already harvested and processed to be sold in her grocery store. There were also the Terran plants she planted, and although they grew much slower than the indigenous plants, they grew well nevertheless. There were tomatoes (called red fruit by the system), peppers, sour fruit, and other alternatives used for condiments. Various vegetables and berries were also picked up. The rich harvest inspired many others to plant. To meet the demands, she built a few more fields¡ªeach of which were taken up almost as soon as they were created. These buyers naturally bought the seeds from the expert¡ªHer. Althea had quite earned a bit of money from the seed purchase alone. Of course, the seeds used for special condiments were kept to herself. She dared not underestimate the cooking skills of her brethren. She also needed a lot of money. She had a territory to build, okay? Anyway, her target in the long term was to be a stable source of raw materials, and not just seeds. She aimed to create a more thorough win-win situation for the people, her, and the territory itself. She also kept the medicinal plants to herself, though mostly because the people here didn''t have her skills. Who knew if they''d poison themselves. Cough. In any case, plants that took a month to grow from a seed generally took less than a fraction of the time here. Coupled with the buff of the farming land and her special fertilizers, it was expedited even more. Putting aside the safety-monsters-everywhere issue, this place was really amazing. It was basically impossible to starve to death here, right? You could be eaten whole by monsters, but at least you wouldn''t suffer the extreme pain of hunger. She was no stranger to that pain as an orphaned child, and she wouldn''t want it on anyone. Of course, her memory wasn''t that clear, nor did she think Garan would actually let her starve for so many days¡­ so this memory was really vague to her, but she remembered the feeling like it was yesterday. "This is great. I can imagine the food situation in the territory would improve like a vertical line." Gru said, pulling her back to the present. "Have you isolated the best samples and seeds?" "Yes, boss!" As the farming went on, she and Gru were careful and isolated the better strains. This was in order to breed better and better generations of plants every batch of harvest. With the short growth cycle, she wouldn''t take long to develop strains with much better productivity. Eventually, she''d be able to develop better tasting and healthier strains. This point alone fired up her passion for plants, making her glow even more, to the amusement of everyone around her. At the very least, in this place, even if there were wars everywhere, at least they would not lack food, water, and a roof over their heads. And with the basic needs stable, people will start looking for spiritual satisfaction, luxuries, and better lifestyles. And she, the Lord, will naturally give it to them. Chapter 122 Grocery Store Opening Aberdeen City, 3 years ago "What are you laughing at?" A velvety deep voice sounded beside her, gently asking. Althea turned her head to see the handsome face of her fiance, his deep blue eyes looking at her as if she was the only existence in his world. Her heart thumped and she grinned, showing him her ultra thin tablet. "Look!" She showed a photo of two famous celebrities. "The actor here is called Fable, and the other party of his scandal is called Juni." "Their couple name is FaNi." She giggled, and then shrugged. "I just thought it was funny." Garan smiled dozingly, patting the tip of her delicate nose with his callused finger. "It is very funny. My Althea is the funniest." She stared at his handsome features for a while, to the point that the serious man''s ears turned red. Garan cleared his throat. "What is it?" "Our couple name, I''m wondering what it is." He chuckled, "What do you think?* "Well, what about¡­ Garalthea? Ganea? Garantha? Altharan? Algara? Garalth? Galthea? Gaea?" She paused, thought for a while before silently deciding on which one sounded best. A second later, she nodded in agreement with herself and turned around to hug the man''s strong waist. "Gaea'' sounds very cool and auspicious." Garan chuckled, hands sliding naturally around her. "Whatever my wife says is right." He said, leaning in to give her a peck on the lips. It was just that such a simple peck would no longer be enough and he gestured to deepen the kiss, hugging her tighter¡ª "AH! My eyes!" They turned their head to the jerk that had been lying down on the chaise lounge. "Please¡­ please stop kissing out of nowhere!" Did they forget he was right here?! JERKS!! "No one''s asking you to watch~" Althea retorted, sticking out her tongue. Ansel looked absolutely offended and he stood up and stomped to the door. "I''m leaving! Damnit! Not having the decency to get themselves room¡ª "Also ''Gaea'' is a very stupid name." He said and closed the door with a bang. "Don''t listen to him." Garan said with a smile, though internally he had already wondered when to ''train'' that brat. "It is a wonderful name." Althea grinned in agreement, burying her head on his wide shoulder. As always, her Garan had good vision. _____________ [20 days of Protection Period] That day the commercial street was particularly lively. Nearly all of the population had gathered in one spot, the look of excitement visible on their faces. Why? Because the second store in the street (after the furniture store) was finally opened! Better? It was a precious Grocery Store! They had long eaten up their supplies from Terran, and had to make do with the harvests of nature. While there were creative brethren who could make decent meals with the current conditions, it would still get tiring after so long. If every food available in the makeshift market was either fruit you could just get yourself or barbeque with a single type of sauce, people would naturally feel sick of it after so many days. They had grown up in a world with an explosion of flavors available for choosing, a plethora of tastes that colored their lives obtained at a point of a finger. Less than two weeks prior, they had dozens of barbeque flavors to choose from! After their basic needs had been met, it was inevitable to long for what had been. Who could blame them from being choosy? Anyway, back to the future grocery store, when would it open? They were very hungry! They had heard that rice, flour, and other things would be sold here. It seemed they would finally be able to satisfy their taste buds! They looked at the tall tower in the park in front of the village center. It was a giant sundial-like sculpture, designed by the new NPC architect in conjunction with a few Terrans, and it served as the clock. There were a lot of calculations that went on in there, but that was beyond their understanding so all they knew was that it was cool. They saw that there were only a few minutes left before opening. The crowd was big and occupied the carriageway, extending all the way to the sidewalk on the other side of the road. Fortunately, there were no carts yet so the huge roads were all used by pedestrians. Looking around, anyone could see the density of the crowd. "At least two-thirds of the population are here, right?" Fred said, gulping in excitement. Troy nodded, he couldn''t help but flinch around, unable to calm down. Lulu sighed and took a step farther from the immature men, though her eyes stayed on the store whose doors had yet to open. They waited patiently for the minutes to pass and soon, a beautiful pregnant woman and an old man appeared in front of the store. They naturally knew them, especially the beautiful Ms. Althea, who was primarily responsible for the richness of their farmlands and livelihoods. They clapped at her arrival and she smiled at them beautifully, fascinating a lot of men. The newcomers went in front of the shop, standing tall, in front of the so-called ''ribbon'' made of rattan painted in red pigment. They needed to simulate ribbon cutting, after all. Amusingly, the scissors to be used were a sickle. Althea stood in front of the crowd in a graceful posture, attracting everyone''s apt attention. Holding the ''ribbon cutter'' in her hand, she began to open her mouth to speak to her people, "Thank you for being here today, in what we believe would be a major turning point for our new home. "Amidst the chaos and uncertainty we have been thrown into¡ªtwice¡ªall of us here showed our resilience and will to live. "We all knew what we have been through, and how far we''ve come." She said, pausing, emerald eyes looking at the crowd and grasping their attention tightly. "Let this grocery store be one of the symbols of our indomitable will. "Let each product tell the story of the true perseverance of the farmers, the skills and hard work of the workers, and the hope of the people who consume them¡ª "Today will be the day the Grocery Store will finally be open! The store where we could obtain what we need, to make various types of food, condiments, and tools to improve our lives. She paused and waited for the applause to die off before resuming. "We will open up the avenue of enjoyment and happiness back to our lives. As individuals and as a community¡ªwe will not only survive, we will thrive." More and more cheers echoed in the territory, everyone''s souls hyped up for the opening of a shop. Indeed, it was more than just a shop, it was a symbol that their lives would get better!! "For today, 30% off of all purchases! Available until today''s stocks last!" She said and looked at her team, who lined up next to her. Together, they welcomed their guests. "Welcome to Gaea Grocery Store!" Claps and cheers were heard, even a few rambunctious roars as they watched the scisso¡­the sickles¡­ cut through the red rattan. They looked in excitement at the unveiling of the wooden sign, a special order carving from the furniture store. With neat strokes carved into the flat piece of wood, the store''s name was finally exposed to the masses: Gaea Grocery Store. Interestingly, it was not written in just the Terran Lingua Franca, but there was also the local letters¡ªthat no one understood yet¡ªwith the help of the NPCs. Anyway, everyone felt high at the sight and more at the removal of the ''ribbon'' that blocked their way! The cheers did not stop even as the people began to enter with the guidance of the guards. On the 10th person though, he was blocked and couldn''t enter anymore. He looked at Althea with a look of puzzlement and despair. Althea chuckled in amusement. "The store is small and can only accommodate so many people at once. "Don''t worry, there''s a purchase limit so no one will be able to hoard our products, at least until the factories are done. The waiting crowd was attracted by this word. "Factory? "The huge construction team seems to be building a few warehouse-like structures?" "Indeed. A few people and I had requested the building and it was approved by the system. We already reserved a few." Everyone brightened at this. More factories not only meant more supplies but also more job openings! They had heard of this woman''s team hiring a lot of people. The wages were enough for them to live well without having to risk their lives outside! Of course, the priority of these jobs was the women and the old people but, with these factories, more chances for them will be provided! Seeing it this way, the Gaea grocery not only provided food but it also gave them livelihood. To the population, the grocery store had become much more than just a place of purchase. It had become a place of hope, a pinnacle of human survival. Under heated stares at the door, the first batch of people soon emerged, carrying baskets filled with items. Looking at their satisfied happy grins, the people outside couldn''t help but feel itchy. What was that? So many vegetables and fruits! So colorful! There was rice and wheat! They could see it with their razor-sharp eyes! They also seemed to see a few potteries. What was inside? And... when did they have pottery? Everyone was seriously impressed. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. How many days had it been?? They''ve already done so much! This team was really hidden! Chapter 123 Professional Cook Cooke was tapping his chubby feet in impatience, his arms were crossed and his eyebrows furrowed, feeling incredibly irked. He looked at the long line with a frown, the frown on his wrinkled face getting more profound as he saw the weaved baskets filled with various items in the arms of the shoppers. When will it be his turn? Would there be enough stuff remaining by the time he entered? He was so itchy. He wanted to go in there now! His livelihood depended on it! Literally! Cooke really didn''t know what came over him buying a commercial unit with all his wealth with the current conditions. He couldn''t do anything with it at all, except sleep on the second floor, maybe! He was a professional cook, yes, and he was also judged by the system to be in the profession. But so what? He couldnt do anything! Who told him there were no ingredients! He really didn''t consider it! It seemed that when the system alerted him that he was eligible for an occupation when he used a special but cumbersome ancestral technique to treat the monster meat to make it delicious, the pride went over his head? Fortunately, the commercial unit was mixed-use, so he could use the second floor as his house, otherwise, he''d be sleeping on the streets. He could also make a living doing barbeque, but the meat softening was too troublesome and the spices on hand were limited. Although his customers were satisfied, his soul was dissatisfied. And now he heard a grocery store was opening?! A customer of his, who happened to be one of the hired hands of this new grocery store owner, low-key mentioned to him that seasonings would be available soon. He was then invited to the opening of the store. So here he was. After all, how could he miss this?! After many long torturous minutes of waiting¡­ Finally, eventually, it was finally his turn. Unsure of what to expect, he entered the door with mixed emotions. And what greeted him was heaven. . . . He went straight to the condiment and spices section. There were a few bowls of pottery in front of small vats, a text carved on wood stating their taste. There were also saucers in front of these vats which they could lift and let drop on their fingers, so they could have a taste. In front of these different vats, there were also various notes indicating things like ''a bit sweeter than regular vinegar'', ''less hot than sriracha and a bit sweet'', and ''a bit saltier than usual soy sauce'' which let them know what to expect before tasting. Anyway, Cooke excitedly tasted each one and his eyes brightened like the stars ate the sun. This was it! Although they were a little different than what he knew and a little less tasty, he did not mind it at all. He was a chef after all, he could make it work. Probably. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He whipped his head at the clerk, who was by now used to the sparkling passionate stares of the buyer. "I would like a bottle of each please." "That is 10 copper for a small bottle of soy sauce each, 5 if you have your own container." He said, showing the size of a 100mL earthenware bottle. "The price is the same for hot sauce, salty gel, and mild sweetener." "The sour fruit sauce costs 10 copper coins, 5 if you have your own container." "Sure." It was not cheap, but it was worth it and definitely value for money. "Would you also like to buy a basket to hold everything?" The clerk asked, as if none of them had space. "..." He ended up buying in the end though. It wouldn''t go to waste, anyway. After looking at the bottles in satisfaction, he finally had the time to look at the rest of the store. The whole store had a convenience store vibe. Amusingly, on the wall, there was a warning sign. Instead of ''CCTV is watching'' he had seen in Terran, there was ''System is watching'' carved on a wooden sign. Anyway, he continued perusing the shop and looked around. The floor area was about 200 square meters, divided into two parts. Two-thirds for food, the rest for non-food items. The food consists of rice, flour, seasonings, and condiments. There were also pickled vegetables and processed meats. Non-food items included several earthenware potteries and utensils, and weaved items like baskets, slippers, and backpacks. It was amazing how much one team could produce! It seemed like it had only been a week when they started hiring people? So efficient? How did they do it? Well, however they did it, he bought a bit of everything with the remaining savings he earned from barbeque. He had witnessed the purchasing power of the people here, he believed he would be able to make profit very quickly. It would be better if he got a better deal thought. The things were not cheap. Of course, they weren''t too expensive on their own, but he was building a restaurant. A few bottles of seasoning were relatively inexpensive, but boxes of them would be heavy on the pocket. It was at this moment that a soft voice that reverberated, like the cello sounded next to him. "Are you a cook?" The man gaped at the newcomer, blinking, but also a little dazed at the beauty that appeared in front of him. Althea smiled in response, waiting patiently for him to respond. "A-Ah, yes." Althea had had her attention on this guy: Cooke Ferrell. Other than her, he was the only one who had an ''occupation''. She had always been curious what the difference between the professional cook from Terran (Harold) and the professional cook from Terran that was also sealed by the system (Cooke). Thinking of this, her smile towards the old man turned a bit warmer. "I have heard of your work, Mr. Ferrol." "Ah, yes, thank you." He paused and realized this was Ms. Althea, the owner and developer of pretty much whatever he was seeing. His usual arrogant posture immediately became more respectful. "No need to be too polite." She said, "I''m here to offer you¡­ a deal." Chapter 124 Food with Special Effects Cooke Ferrell looked at the gorgeous pregnant woman. He was a shut-in in the kitchen and, even at his age, he couldn''t really deal with beautiful women very well. His half-brother handled all the business aspects of his restaurant back then, so he was never forced into much social interaction at all. He could just focus on his craft. He shook his head and calmed himself down, "A deal?" He asked, "What kind of deal?" Althea watched his reaction with an awkward smile, a bit surprised that she had to spell everything out to an old man. "As you know I own this place. You know¡­ this place with all the ingredients?" "Perhaps, if you''d let me taste a meal you cooked, I may be able to give you better prices." "I¡­ I can, of course!" "That''s great." She smiled and he couldn''t help but gape. Althea continued with her offer, "Perhaps¡­ we can come up with a satisfactory supply deal?" Althea added, and Cooke¡ªfinally realizing what this was all about¡ªbrightened like the sun. Oh my! What an angel!! It was just as he needed it! ¡­ Half an hour later, Althea found herself sitting on the table on the 2nd floor of his commercial space. Obviously, Ferrel was using the entire 2nd floor as a dwelling while the now-empty ground floor would be the restaurant. Using many of the ingredients that he had just bought, he served her two dishes: one meat viand with rice, and a vegetable side dish using local greeneries. He looked nervous as a lot of the seasonings used this time were new and had never been used before. However, he had tasted it and thought it was divine, and he could only hope this Big Boss felt the same. Althea looked at the simple meal with bright eyes. It looked unassuming, but the subtle aroma wafted to her nose really teased her stomach and the babies inside. She felt them twist around in there. Her lips twitched; It was like they were asking why she still wasn''t eating. Anyway, she gulped at the plate and¡ªusing the wooden utensils¡ªimmediately began eating. She was unsure what to expect from a system-acknowledged cook but, to be honest, she was a bit excited. The food finally entered her mouth after a graceful movement, but she awkwardly froze a bit as the combination of meat and sauce melted on her taste buds, taking her to a surprising gastronomic experience. The taste was¡­ sublime, to say the least. It was like the seasoning embedded itself in every molecule in the food, so she could taste the unique flavor with every bite. It was as if there was a cacophony of flavors dancing in her tongue, and she tasted a delicate balance between the simplicity of the available materials and the refinement of how each of them was handled. Furthermore, her sharp senses felt something different in her body¡ªwas she more energetic?¡ª and she immediately used her appraisal ability to check on the food''s stats. [Steamed Glorglemeat with Red Fruit : +20 health, +10 spirit] !!! "What is it?" Cooke asked a bit worriedly when he saw her staring blankly at the food. Did she hate it? Didn''t it work? Was he going to sleep on the streets???? Althea looked at him for a moment and sent him a sly grin. "Have I told you about my skill?" ¡­ Half an hour later, Althea got out of the pseudo-restaurant in a very good mood. Holding 40% of the shares, she only had to supply a fixed amount of material and seasonings every week. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She would also be teaching him about the various ingredients available locally and every local material she encountered hereafter. In any case, considering the quality of the food, she would be really making money from this deal! There was also the very important fact that Cooke would be taking the high-end private restaurant route. Not only will the profits be huge for a little material, but it also wouldn''t conflict with Harold''s relatively more¡­ commoner-friendly prices. Speaking of stores, she passed by the pharmacy, currently being decorated. A few days back, she had already asked Sheila to get a few workers and, after signing the confidentiality contract in the village center, proceeded to teach them handling methods for the herbs and making basic medicine like hemostatic gels. Judging by the stories she heard, bug repellant would also be very popular, particularly to those going outside the territory. While their product wouldn''t be as good as her, a Pharmacist, the effect wouldn''t be too bad. For instance, when Sheila tried to make one based on her formulation, the effect was 30% as effective. This 30% was actually pretty good; it was actually more than enough for the use. According to the NPCs, the efficacy of the formula itself was superior, and low-key mentioned the effect would be several times stronger if done by a Pharmacist. She had yet to tell them she had awakened the occupation, and she wondered what else they could tell her about it. Speaking of her own products, she decided that she would occasionally sell her own creations here¡ªto be tagged ''Premium Grade''¡ªat an exorbitant price and in limited quantities. Of course, she would only do so after she finally understood and publicized her ''occupation'' as a pharmacist, so she''d have a reliable ''brand''. Putting this issue aside, she continued to look at the other stores as she walked along the greened streets. She saw that a few were already being furnished, while the others had just been bought with the advent of farming. These new stores would also sell food or derivatives of them. She almost hummed as she walked along the street. It was estimated that within a few days, this street would be very lively. And when the factories were completed, she would build a few more commercial spaces, expanding this liveliness all over her land. Now that the economy was planned, all she had to do was wait for some construction to be completed before creating any more changes. As for the other aspects, they were also on track. With the guard team completed and training very hard, the military might of the territory was also reassuring. Anyway, with all these settled, she finally had the time to explore the inexplicable new stat. [Occupation: Archer, Pharmacist ] Okay, just the Pharmacist stat for now. Chapter 125 Professional Knowledge The past few days she had been so busy with the planning of various aspects of her territory¡ªand the unfortunate mandatory training¡ªthat she had neglected her favourite task: Plants. The pottery making alone took a few days. First, they had to make the temporary kiln (located in a shed in their backyard), then they had to do some designs. Similarly, they also had to plan for the ''big kiln'' ongoing in the industrial area. It was fortunate there was someone who knew how to do earthenware, a family practice that would''ve ended with him, a childless man, should he have perished in the many disasters that he went through. It was just that he didn''t really enter that field and was an office worker when the end happened. He had to do some practice before he could recall the techniques he used. Hey, if there wasn''t some information downloaded on her tablet, it was estimated he''d have taken months of trial and error first before creating something decent. In fact, there was also someone who knew how to do ceramics, porcelain, and other stoneware. But the creation of such would take too long and the temperature requirement would need a bit more research. However, they had already contacted the person expressing their willingness to invest. Hopefully, they would find someone who could expedite the processes as well. She had not explored the forest for a few days, and the only experiments and mixtures she had done were seasonings. She had yet to understand this profession at all. However, when she saw the additional effect of a system-tagged Chef''s food, her interest was reignited. Although she had produced potions in the past, they added less than 10 points. Not to mention she could only handle low-level plants, for now. But food made by a ''Cook'' could add even more stats, how could she not be interested? How much could she improve as a pharmacist? She was quite looking forward to it. ¡­ [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 5 (3350/15000) Life: 800/800 Spirit: 800/800 (-5%) +50 Physical: 145 (-5%) +40 Agility: 147 (-20%) +10 Defense: 94 +94 Mana: 800 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera Village Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Thinking about it for a moment, she concluded that the most practical thing to do was just ask the people who knew about these things. As such, Althea decisively called all four NPCs to the second floor living room of the village center for tea, which made people in the village center very curious at the ''reunion'' of the NPCs. But this was not Althea''s concern. Instead, she just looked at the NPCs as she sipped her tea, offering the others the same. "How are you guys faring in the territory?" "Very good, Milord!" It was forever passionate Brenda who spoke first, a top student as always. "I encountered a citizen with great interest in what he called ''ancient weapons''. Together we are producing a ''crossbow''. I promised to give him a share of my commissions boss, should we be able to patent it successfully." Her NPCs had benefits, that excluded their fixed wages, they enjoyed 1% of profit for everything they did, with an additional 10%-30% if it was something they developed and improved on their own. Althea nodded and sent her well-deserved words of praise that made the other woman''s day. Then she cried, Althea was taken aback. "What''s wrong?" "I didn''t think a woman like me would be praised so often by the Lord. I just feel like dreaming." It was only now that Althea realized, when together, the NPC men had different looks at Brenda, looking at her with a bit of incomprehension and surprise. In retrospect, except for Brenda, all the other options on female NPCs seem to be ''that'' type of helper? The status of women in this world was so low? She couldn''t help but voice it out. After staying in the territory for so long, Brenda had some understanding of the lord''s and her people''s ''common sense''. "Except for very beautiful, noble, ladies and strong women like me¡­ others basically serve as playthings." How surprised she was when she saw the women here could talk and work alongside men without receiving weird looks. It had been so many days and she was still surprised. The male NPCs seem to have realized their gaffe. "We.. we''re just not used to it, milord. Please don''t take it personally." "It''s fine, all you did was give weird looks. At least you''re self-aware." Althea said with a smile, shifting back to the topic at hand. "What about you guys, how are the tasks?" Next to speak was Crutch. "We are also doing well, my lord. Although working in a makeshift armory was a bit of a challenge. I am still making good amounts of armors. "Basically, only the guards and a few others venture far out, my armour output, for now, is alright." S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This also meant if there were more people, it would not be enough. "I''m reluctant to spend a building slot on armory in the future. Do you have better alternatives to improve your output?" Clutch paused, before nodding. "Well, we can get other armormakers to help, and I can improve on my craft." Althea nodded, "I''ll leave it up to you then." She said, shifting to Rowan for the military concerns. The redhead straightened his back again, dutifully reporting. "Drake and the others were very good, they have techniques I am not familiar with, and I can teach them my knowledge. We improve our skills together." It was Oslo who spoke last. He leaned forward with a suave smile. "The modular house was ingenious milord! "Did you decide on it? It''s amazing I can''t stop thinking about it that I even improved a bit on my professional knowledge just studying it." Improve professional knowledge? "You can ask Eugene for more information in his free time." She said, "I designed it with him by my side." Oslo was a little disappointed their chat couldn''t continue, but nodded in the end. Althea didn''t notice this however, and she just looked at the NPCs with a bit of inquiry. "Now that we''re on the topic of professional knowledge, I actually called you here in relation to this." They all looked at her simultaneously, curious as to what she would be asking. "Can you tell me more about this subject?" She asked, "Just what is it, really?" Chapter 126 Pharmacist "Just what is a Professional, truly?" She asked, "How does it differ to people who have knowledge of the field, still experts at it?" The NPCs looked at each other, pondering who would be able to answer best. In the end, it was Oslo who spoke out. "Occupations can be triggered when a person is detected to have sufficient knowledge and talent regarding a field." "Not all ''experts'' could trigger it as talent is unfortunately a requirement. Unless, the person worked so incredibly hard for years that this barrier was broken." Rowan nodded. "This is quite rare, less than a third of the people I know have occupations. I don''t think even one-of-ten of these people broke the ''talent barrier'' on their own." Crutch looked at him. "That''s already quite high. You must be from a town." He said, and turned to Althea. "In my small village, not even a hundred were professionals. We have a few thousand people there." Her eyebrows rose a bit at this. "Can non-specialist do similar work?" She asked. After all, she could make quite a number of special medicines even before she triggered this occupation. "Specialization increases chances of activating occupation-based skills. Non-specialists are also limited to D level skills and products." "Getting a job qualification isn''t related to levels, but to skill. However, certain skills need certain levels." Althea paused, before nodding. "What are the advantages of receiving it?" "Once detected, you will have a high chance of receiving knowledge." "Oh?" Althea mused, very curious. "Where from?" Rowan shook his head, not clear on the issue either. Most of the others were the same. The knowledge simply appeared in their minds, ready for them to practice and put into use. Of course, knowledge and practical applications were still different, and they had to sacrifice a lot of raw materials to be able to actually create the product. For Rowan and Oslo, they had to practice countless hours to master a single point of knowledge. Althea looked at the blonde, who had the deepest background. Oslo noticed her look and held back a smile. Calmly, he spoke up. "The records say that there is a so-called World Knowledge, interlacing the world together, compiling all knowledge that intelligent beings have created." He said, "It existed for thousands of years, but they had become accessible for everyone a thousand years ago. It was one of the things the elves left behind before they perished." "It ''sends'' knowledge'' to professionals'' heads?" She asked. "It sends appropriate techniques and knowledge according to various factors, most quantifiable of which is the level." "Everyone starts at level 1 of their professions, but the growth and the quality of knowledge varies from person to person." Althea''s eyebrows furrowed. "I didn''t see any progress¡­" At this point, the NPCs finally figured out that the lord must have awakened a profession. They were very curious what it was. "No one knows how to really improve on it with numbers. It was more intuitive. From my knowledge, practicing continuously and learning new knowledge was the way to go." He then smiled at her. "It is why I''m so thankful to you, my lord, for exposing me to your wonderful buildings." Althea shook her head and looked at him very seriously, "These details are nothing if you don''t have the skills to see them." Oslo blushed a bit, scratching his nose in embarrassment. Then, in an attempt to compose himself, he added some information he suddenly remembered. "My lord. I heard that different people of the same profession receive different sets of knowledge." Brenda couldn''t help add, eager to share. "I know this as well! For us weapon makers, at a certain level, we could imbue elements in our weapons. The set of techniques, elements, and abilities will differ per person." "Indeed," Oslo nodded, "The knowledge sent is different for every person. It depends on the experience, knowledge bases, race, etc., but mostly it depends on aptitude and talent. The prevailing theory was this was done in order to maximize the use of the skills passed down." Althea blinked, eyes bright. Then this must be the so-called World Knowledge that awarded her with such good things as her bow and defense suits. If this World Knowledge truly collected the knowledge of intelligent beings, then it was estimated the knowledge she contributed may also be sent to some pharmacists out there. How curious. "Do they receive some knowledge as soon as they are tagged for the occupation?" "To my knowledge, yes milord." Tsk. She obviously contributed first, when will this World Knowledge send her some formulas back? The others noticed the difference in her expression, and finally couldn''t stop themselves from asking. "Did you trigger a profession, Milord?" She nodded, and the four looked excited, urging her to continue. If their old selves from a few days ago could see them now, they''d bump their heads together¡ªhow could you be so casual with the Lord? There was no way, the Lord herself didn''t act the pompous majesty of other nobles. On the contrary, she was so friendly and welcoming. She even invited them for delicious tea and snacks every day. Their lord had such an attractive aura that made her approachable despite the quiet strength and confidence she exuded, it was inevitable for them to be charmed. Althea was a little embarrassed by their obsessive stares. "I''m a pharmacist now, apparently." Silence ensued in the room for a while, with the NPCs'' eyes wide, someone even almost¡ªalmost¡ªspilled tea. "You''re a pharmacist, my lord?! That''s amazing." Oslo said, blue eyes brighter than ever. All the others looked at her like she was a god. Althea was even more embarrassed. "W-What is it?" "That''s very amazing, my Lord!" Brenda gushed. "In my town, there was only one pharmacist, and his status was just after the Lord!" "Indeed, my Lord. The threshold for Pharmacy is very, very, high. Deep knowledge of plants is needed, a very good head, and a sharp intuition for its effects." "In most cities, there are only a handful of pharmacists, let alone smaller territories. I heard they create the most miraculous things." S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea''s slight shyness was swept away when she heard of this. "What skills have you heard of?" "I heard they could make concoctions to increase levels," Rowan said, Clutch nodded. "I heard of a pharmacist that could make an exploding potion. It seemed that a level 10 Mooselion was no match for it " "I know pharmacists that could create all-poison immunity potions." And finally Oslo, "The pharmacist from my hometown could make potions that could grow limbs¡­" Althea''s back straightened, feeling very excited. Even if she didn''t learn everything, just a few of these are already amazing, right? Anyway, the economic and military development were now on track. She could finally focus on what she did best! . . . . Later that night. Althea was locked in her laboratory after eating dinner late at night, using her solar-powered lights to light up her laboratory. She was extremely focused on her craft. Dealing with and mixing various plants and chemicals, she was unperturbed, entirely fixed on the task at hand. But¡­ sometime later, a familiar ding suddenly rang in her head. [It has been detected that Altera Village has been qualified for Upgrade for 100 hours. Please prepare for a mandatory upgrade within 28 hours.] Althea who was just about to mix an experimental bomb: "..." Darn it! Chapter 127 Brothers Aberdeen City, 16 years prior "Found you!" The little girl giggled as she looked at Ansel, her bright emerald eyes shining in glee, her chubby cheek red from panting and from excitement. She then extended her hand to him and he, subconsciously, went out to take it. She pulled him up and guided him to move. They ran deeper into the forest and farther from the eerie abandoned warehouse where he escaped from. He could only watch as she dragged him through the bushes, with her jumping over protruding roots with ease. Of course, because he wasn''t as skilled as she was, and what met him were occasional leaves and branches slapping him. However, running through the forest like this felt a little¡­ fun. But, these moments of peace did not last long as the familiarly terrifying bellows soon sounded in their ears. "There they are!!" "I SEE THEM!" The girl pursed her lips as she ran, "Whoops," she uttered, just before changing her direction at an obtuse angle, almost twisting his arms with her dragging him. Fortunately, she was only a weak little girl at the moment and he managed to keep his arm intact. They continued to run for a couple more minutes until they found a forest with few large trees. She pulled him to an empty trunk. "Wait here." She ordered, taking a random twig below and threw it in a random direction far from them. She had a very far throw for someone with such small arms¡­ Rustles indeed followed the noise and for a moment they were relieved. However, a couple of steps later a large hand grabbed the little girl''s collar and lifted her up. The man looked at her with interest, showing off his ugly smile. "Oh my, what a cute kid." The man grinned, revealing his golden tooth. "I bet you sell a hefty sum." The little girl struggled, waving her chubby arms to hit the man. Unfortunately, it didn''t even reach a speck of skin. Ansel, shaking inside his hiding place, was very scared. He was pale, sweating, and terrified. He wanted to speak out, but no voice came out. Coward, coward He cried helplessly as he watched the girl lifted even higher for ''appreciation''. "Let mwe gow!!" She screamed, pulling Ansel out of his own depressed mind. "Little brat! You dare scratch me??!!!" The man yelled, throwing the girl down to the ground with a loud flop. Ansel''s large eyes reflected the strong legs that raised to kick the small girl now on the ground. Ansel didn''t want to think anymore. He ran on out and grabbed the man''s towering foot, using all his tiny strength in an attempt to redirect the attack. The gold-teeth man grinned. "There you are¡­" he said, grabbing his collar. It was at this point that the other two big men arrived, looking more menacing than the other. "You made a friend when we were looking away? Don''t worry¡­ if your parents don''t pay up, you will be together for a looooonngg time." He cackled and the other two laughed with him. "Boss! This little girl''s so cute. Can I play with her before selling?" "Not before I do!!" Neither Ansel nor Althea, at this point, knew what they meant. However, the newly-arrived teenage boy drenched in sweat, and panting, happened to hear this exchange. His vision turned red. "Althea!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, immediately darting in their direction. Using one man''s leg as a thrust block, he jumped and used his entire body weight to kick the golden teeth out of the man''s face. It was so sudden and strong that the man''s grip loosened and the inertia kept the two captives in place and ready to fall. The newcomer managed to catch Althea, not even seeing the other little boy with her. "Garan¡­" The little girl mumbled, tears lining up her eyes. She wrapped her arms around him, looking at him with dependence. The teen''s anger subsided a little and his heart softened. "I''ll be back." He said, gently placing her in a relatively large tree root far from the hustle. The 13-year-old looked at the men with great malice. Just imagining them thinking of his Althea like that made his blood boil. He sprinted towards the two surprised men. They managed to catch themselves before he attacked, but it was too late. Garan feinted an attack but shifted his kick to the other. Using the inertia of the kick, he flipped over to hit the other man''s head. This was all done with precision and both men were dizzy with just 1 kick. Garan did not give them a moment of respite. He jabbed a person''s face, and the others stomach. He kept attacking them, and kicking the golden teeth man in the process. However, they were all big adult men after all. How could they be so easy to take down? One of the men managed to grab his hostile leg and threw him down, and the other immediately landed kicks on his body. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bang! Pack! Thump! "Garan!!" Althea cried, standing up, but was stopped by Garan''s shout. "DON''T COME HERE!" He yelled back, standing up. He immediately darted in a direction, not giving the men another chance to attack. More hits were exchanged, with Garan receiving quite a bit of damage in the process. However, despite receiving punches and kicks from the big men, Garan remained unfazed, his expression as stern as ever, and it didn''t take long for him to make a comeback. He grabbed the feet aiming at his head and used his strong upper core and hands to lift the enemy''s weight. Arms gripping the leg, he twisted his body and landed on his feet. Using his entire weight he lifted the man and dropped him with a bang. "OI!" "WHAT THE¡ª" A second later he already darted to the others¡ªstill shocked¡ªjumping up and using his thigh to kick a face. He was a bit imbalanced when the man suddenly moved to the side but managed to land sideways on a tree. Using the momentum, he kicked the trunk and jumped from tree to tree, using the unexpected angles to finally take them down. They finally unable to regain their balance, and Garan was quick to take advantage¡ªhitting them in the head and the crotch. They screamed in pain, crying, no longer able to stand up. And the young Ansel captured all of this with shining eyes. ''So¡­ cool¡­'' ¡­.. [20 days of Protection Period] Ansel raised his spear, finally stabbing the damned monster to death. [Killed Gnomos (Lv1): +30 Experience, +30 copper] He immediately turned and waived his wooden spear to block another attack, but its large teeth broke the low-durability weapon apart. He cursed and took out another weapon. It was already his last one. [Stab! -3 Mana] [Stab! -3 Mana] He used the dense forest to provide some temporary hiding spots, though most of the trees were damaged by the monster instead. Finally, after using up the rest of his mana, he finally weakened it enough to give the final blow. [Hui Mouse (Lv2): +50 experience, +50 copper] He finally managed to breathe as he looked at the monster fall down, almost losing his footing. After taking off some good meat from his enemies, he pushed himself to a safer place without blood to set up camp. He dragged his feet to go farther away, hoping to find some shelter¡ªan overhang¡ªand built a fire. Fortunately, he was dragged by Garan in wildlife training since he was a child so he could handle this little thing. That jerk said it was for him to protect himself, especially if he got kidnapped again, but sometimes he thought Garan just wanted to torture him. That guy seemed particularly proud when he saw his gossamer hair all messed up like chicken nests. So much for brotherhood¡­ As he sat in front of the bonfire, he sighed and wondered when he''d see Althea. It had been so many days and he met quite a few survivors and he had not met one who was familiar with her. Well, it wasn''t that no one claimed it. But a few wanted to take advantage to milk some money out of him. Naturally, he gave in, like a natural victim. It was just that when he found out they lied, he beat them up until they were half dead. The mountain range was too large, and its connecting area was too wide. He admitted his sense of direction wasn''t the best, but surely he shouldn''t be too far off the mark¡­? As he stared into the small fire and the disgusting meat he had to make do with. He couldn''t help but recall the halcyon days where he could get Garan to cook for him. Sigh¡­ (If Garan knew what he was thinking, he would roll his eyes. It was obviously cooked for his wife, okay?) Soon, the meat was ready. Or at least as much as it could be. However, just as he was about to eat it, he heard rustles of leaves less than a hundred meters away. He quickly killed the fire with loose soil, climbing up the tree with practiced skill. Soon, the newcomers arrived and Ansel got a closer look at them. It was two men with torn bloodied clothes. They are with similar hair, but a bit different temperaments and body mass. But when they turned their heads to his direction, he saw that they had exactly the same face. Ansel''s eyebrows rose in interest. Twins? Chapter 128 Teamwork The twins, Luke and Leo, looked at the abandoned camp with observant eyes. "Brother, it seems like it hasn''t been too long since the person left," Leo asked his brother as he observed the bonfire with a barbeque stick still smoking. Luke, straightened his back, sniffing, and looked around with narrow eyes. "Maybe they hadn''t left yet." Leo flinched at this and looked around as well. He realized that his brother was likely accurate for once, and he quickly changed his approach. He looked around for some signs and indeed saw some footprints heading towards a direction. He did not approach the forest, but only faced it, plastering on a friendly smile on his face. "Hello!" He uttered out, though not too loud as to catch the attention of the monsters, especially those they just escaped from. "We''re sorry for ruining your dinner." He said, looking back to once again make sure there was no enemy that followed them. "Do you mind if we rest here a bit?" He continued, hovering over the makeshift stone chairs surrounding the bonfire. "I promise that we are not bad people!" Ansel stared at the teenagers, not answering immediately. However, after watching them for a while longer, patient, and didn''t take his meat on a stick, his shoulders relaxed a little. He still had the intuition regarding people''s characters. These kids looked a little stupid, but they were not bad people. After another thought, he jumped down the tree to meet the twins eye to eye. It was Leo, the self-proclaimed to have higher EQ than his brother, who spoke. He raised his hand in greeting. "Hi! My name is Leo and this is my brother Luke¡ª S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Roar!!!! They turned to the sound not too far away, and rustles of leaves soon near them. Ansel sneered and whipped his head in their direction. "Monsters followed you?!" "We''re so sorry!!!" They yelled. They could''ve sworn they really lost the monsters ages ago. Otherwise, would they dare stay here and chat? Ansel heard that monsters were coming from all directions. Having no other choice, he just gritted his teeth and took out his weapon. Some were familiar monsters while others weren''t. He recognized a few as the Hui mouse and the Gnomos. There was a new type that was as huge as a bear but with the head of a long-nosed lion. There were about a dozen monsters that sprinted towards them and they no longer had the energy to chat or care about each other. With his injuries, Ansel barely managed to defend himself against a few, while the other two had a harder time coping. However, he only had two hands and two feet, and eventually, one got past his defense and bit his legs with its tiny but sharp teeth. "Ah!" He yelled and quickly rotated his sword, stabbing it down. Over and over. [Stab, -3 Mana!] [Stab, -3 Mana!] [Stab, -3 Mana!] "Whoa, is that magic?" Luke mumbled, seeing a small flash of light when he attacked. Then he saw the bite and his eyes twitched. Unfortunately, he had too much on his plate and was injured as well. Ansel ignored him and continued his attack. Eventually, under his onslaught, the biting monster let go of its bite like a leech, eventually losing its life. [Killed Hui Mouse (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience!] He saw his leg bleeding, but he gritted his teeth and he didn''t allow it to hinder his movements. All this took a few seconds. Any longer and he''d have had two more bites on his body. He ignored the pain in his leg and hit the nearest monster. It was fortunate these were mostly just level ones, otherwise, none of them would be able to handle this mob. Ansel continuously hit monster after monster. He was gasping and could see that his already-dripping spirit was getting even lower. His ears flinched at a sound and he instinctively moved his body to the right to avoid the attack. Unfortunately, his bad leg carried the brunt of his weight, and was unable to support it. He lost his balance and saw the monster open his mouth to eat him. It was at this moment that another spear appeared hit the monster''s eyes and went straight to its brain. He turned his head to the source. It was Luke, and he sent him a nod of appreciation. He used his spear as a cane to bring himself up, taking out the sword to handle the monsters that came his way. "Watch out!" "Thanks" Like them, he used his spear to block the attacks on the twins, assisting them in their subsequent kills. Somehow, the formation changed and the two of them sword users began attacking behind Luke''s strong defense. During this time, Ansel noticed that their teamwork was surprisingly smooth. Did he inexplicably become a member of triplets? It took half an hour for them to deal with a small mob. Without another word, they once again dragged their bodies to a different area, finding a damp cave. Hopefully no monsters lived here. Even if there was, they didn''t have much of a choice at the moment. Without another word, Leo took out a first aid kit and leaned in front of where Ansel sat. Ansel was surprised, but he didn''t reject the kindness. He needed it, anyway. "Thanks." Leo scratched his head embarrassedly. "Well, we kinda brought you the trouble in the first place." Ansel was non-committal and shrugged, looking around as he was being treated. He looked at the molding rocks, dried stalagmites, and the very rough walls. His sights finally ended up on their familiar class E wooden weapons. "Which territory were you from?" "It was called Bonnie Village." Was? "A beast tide destroyed it, just yesterday," Leo said, knowing what he was thinking. He frowned, "Where?" "Flatlands up north." Leo said, "We came here looking for springs." Ansel nodded. "There is indeed one kilometer from here." He said, pointing in a direction. But before the twins could thank him, his pointer changed to another direction. Then¡­ changed it again. "..." The twins stared at him in confusion. Ansel turned beet red. "I don''t have a particularly good sense of direction." The brothers sighed but didn''t push it. After all, they brought the poor guy trouble. The topic died down and they settled themselves in the cave for a bit of rest, with the twins handling everything as he was more injured than they were. Ansel took this time of respite to observe the twins. It seemed that the older one, Luke, was the muscle of the pair. He was the one who carried the logs and stones in. While Leo, the younger one was, well, everything else. So far, Leo was the medic, the cook, the navigator, the brains of the pair. As Leo prepared the tangy meat for barbeque, Ansel sat down in the nearby chair, curious about their former territory. "Have you seen someone by the name of Althea in your territory?" He asked, not knowing which answer he would want to hear. "There''s an Athena." Leo mumbled, "The lord''s girlfriend." "Then it is definitely not her." Leo continued to ponder. "There was also an Alnea. But she''s a kid¡ªvery cute. How old is the person you''re looking for?" "Twenties. But she looked younger. Very beautiful." "Do you have a photo?" Luke asked, interested when he heard the adjective, and Leo also scooted closer to peek. Ansel nodded as he took out his wallet from the space. He really wasn''t expecting much, and he definitely wasn''t expecting their eyes to widen so much at the sight of her. "It''s her!!!" They yelled, simultaneously, and Ansel''s heart stopped. He faced them and grabbed a shoulder, shaking it a little. He couldn''t help but grip a shoulder in urgency. "You know her?" Now he was just worried. What if something happened to her in the beast tide?! Leo saw his pale face and hurriedly corrected his words. He patted back his shoulder, comforting. "We didn''t meet here, we met at Terran." "What?" "How''d you know her?" Leo asked back, very interested, eyes shining with glee. This enthusiasm made Ansel flinch a bit. "She''s¡­ my sister." "Sister??" They yelled, in sync, and Ansel couldn''t help but rub his ears at the noise. "Do you want to attract monsters here again?!" The two quickly realized their gaffe and covered their mouths, but the brightness in their eyes remained. Luke and Leo exchanged happy smiles and looked at him. "Do you want us to tell you a story?" . . . Half an hour of very passionate story telling later, Ansel still couldn''t calm down. Althea was roaming around the city? On a motorcycle? With that huge belly of hers? (Though it seemed the twins didn''t notice she was pregnant¡­ ) Althea was taking a walk around zombie-infested streets? Careless and cool? As if nothing bothered her? Althea flying across buildings to rescue them? Okay, he knew that last one wasn''t true. It was definitely an idol filter at work. But¡­ looking at the shining gazes of the two boys, idolizing and admiring, at least Ansel could be sure that she was doing well. That was all that mattered. Chapter 129 Prepare for War (Part 1) [19 days of Protection Period] Nineteen days before the end of the Protection Period, a new announcement echoed through the territory, waking everyone up. [Announcement: The territory is hiring people to guard the territory and clear out monsters in the vicinity. Requirement: Men or women aged 18-50. Physical: 30 or above Overall potential: C or above. Wages: 100 copper/day. Benefits: 1 basic weapon every month Free residency during the hiring period Limitations: 0/70 people Please submit your resume at the Village Center. ] "They''re hiring Guards again!" One man said, shaking his partner, who was holding their breakfast. This partner was also staring at the announcement and didn''t have the energy to nag him. "So many?" He asked and looked at his friend, "Are you going to join?" "Of course! The lives of guards are the best now. They also have the best benefits." However, there were still, understandably, quite a few cynical people. "That''s because the monsters are low-level. Who knows what happens after the protection period." There were also a few voices mumbling that there would come a time when the enemies would become too much for them. By that time, wouldn''t the guards be cannon fodder? However, these were a great minority of the population. The life in the territory was really good, especially after going through so much suffering. Most people couldn''t help but be optimistic. "I''ll cross that bridge when I get there!" Life was so precarious now. They ought to enjoy the benefits they could get now, rather than worry so much! There were also more who analyzed the advantages further. For example, a group of young people gathered for breakfast, discussing their next step. "Rather than the risk, the opportunities are much higher." One said, and another one added, "At the very least, those who join the guards have obviously risen in level. Whatever happens in the future, if you''re strong, you can depend on yourself if you have the strength." His friend nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you can think of it as training with guards." Similar conversations echoed across the territory and several were already lining up at the Village Center, as if being first meant their chances were higher. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Lining up, Lee asked his friend Joe, "Why do you think they''re hiring so many guards?" Joe shrugged. "Maybe because there''s more people in the territory?" "Hmmm makes sense." Lee said, "After all, some bad apples are bound to mix in." "There already are," Joe said, leaning down and whispering, very gossipy. "There was a family who wanted to just leech off a kid, right? I think his name was Amos or somethin''." "They''ll definitely sign him up without his consent." "There''s really a lot of slots this time!" Lee said. After all, there were so few of them in the territory. This was basically half of the population right? Joe paused for a moment and blinked, continuing to ponder. "Maybe there''s a beast tide coming soon¡­" Those who heard all whipped their heads at him. "Take it back!" "Stop!" "No one asked you!" "What if you have a crow''s mouth you jerk!" "..." _______ Althea looked down at the people lining up on the first floor with her arms crossed. Fufi was running around her legs, looking as if he was asking to play. She smiled, leaning down to pat the dog''s furry head. Fufi squinted his eyes as if enjoying her ministrations and she couldn''t help but giggle. She also heard a soft chuckle next to her and she shifted her head to look at him. It was Rowan, and he was there to make some reports regarding the hiring. "How''s the training so far?" She asked Rowan, who immediately straightened his back as he answered. "The upgraded training you requested has been in full swing. Drake has been using your hometown''s training of the body and mind and I think it is quite effective. "Especially if people don''t develop elements in the end, the soldiers should still do well." Althea didn''t ask about the elements yet, because she heard she had to be level 10 to even feel its presence. She had too much on her plate now to be curious about a not-so-near future. "What''s Drake''s level now?" "He had stabilized at the peak of level 4. If he keeps it up, he should hit level 5 within a few days." Althea nodded. "What about you?" She asked. Rowan was a level D NPC. For fighter-type NPC level D NPCs generally ranged from level 15 to 30. "I''m at level 16, milord." Althea nodded, thinking of her own level. In fact, she did not dare train herself and kept herself in the middle of level 5, because she didn''t know if the level 2 monsters during the tide were because the Territory was upgrading to level 2, or because the lord was level 2. And also, she was too far along in her pregnancy. Premature birth in this place was much too risky. But¡­ she needed to be ready for an attack of level 5 monsters, just in case. In their guard team, except for Rowan and Drake, the rest were level 2s or 3s. There were also a number of citizens in their level 3s. More. She needed to do more. Woof! Woof! I can help! I can help! She took a closer look at this pet she had been ignoring. Fortunately, the kids were there and they loved to play with him otherwise she''d be very guilty. [PET STATS: Name: Fufi Age: 2 Level: 3 (6650/10000) Life: 1310/1500 Spirit: 1320/1500 Physical: 111 Agility: 126 Defense: 94 Mana: 300 Skills: Active: Investigation (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Earth Titles: None Overall rank: A ] Fufi had been stuck at level 3 for a while now. Part of it was because none of the team had been coming to train and hunt much the past week, and the other was that pets seemed to have a markedly higher experience requirement for the upgrade. However, their base stats became a lot higher as they leveled up. She smiled and booped the dog''s nose, and turned her head to look at Rowan again. "I have a favor to ask of you." Chapter 130 Prepare for War (Part 2) Rowan''s red eyes blinked a bit, before he nodded passionately. "Anything, my Lord." "I''m sure you''ve seen Fufi." Althea said, pointing at the smiling dog with a wildly wagging tail next to her. Unconsciously, Rowan smiled at the creature. "Yes, I have indeed seen Fufi, Milord." He said, "He often runs around the territory and follows us when we''re doing rounds." He had never encountered such a cute little battle pet before, though it seemed the lord was treating him as the children''s playmate instead... "I need you to take him during your rounds. You can also ask Drake to help you out on this." She told him, "His level had gone stagnant the past few days, and I feel sorry for him." "Yes, milord." He said, really feeling an honor to watch over the lord''s pet. Also, looking at the "good boy''s" smiling face, Rowan looked a little forward to it. Pets were different from Beasts, as they had some intelligence and empathy. They were also very, very, rare. They were bred from animals that hadn''t changed hundreds of years prior. These animals were divided into domesticated meat as food sources or Pets. And although the pet was weak, he had never seen a pet so smart. As expected of the Lord, even the pet was amazing¡­ ¡­. Alone on the second floor of the village center, Althea took the time to peruse through the list of applicants for the guards, which had been pouring nonstop since the announcement was made. After about half an hour, Althea chose the next 140 people to be on the shortlist for guards. Except for two people, all level 3s had officially joined the guard team. She would forward this list to both Rowan and Drake, to determine through interview which ones to keep. After all, she was no soldier and it would be a pity to lose talents by pretending to know the field. After the manpower, the next point of concern was the equipment. Ideally, they''d find a way to go way beyond the standard level E weapons and armor. Even if death was unavoidable in wars, she wanted to do her best to keep it to the minimum that it could get. She opened her tab and sent a message to Brenda and Clutch, asking them to come to the second floor. As they entered, their atmosphere was a little grim, no doubt knowing the implications of her mass hiring of new guards. Everyone looked at each other with serious expressions. "You may have noticed something." She said, and the other two nodded. "We''re upgrading soon." Clutch said, and Brenda nodded looking at the lord with a worried expression. Brenda knew of the lord''s plan and, looking at her face, this seemed to be forced? "Mandatory upgrade is required 100 hours after the qualification." She sighed, answering Brenda''s question. "And I had wanted to dominate the level 1 villages¡­" she mumbled in regret. Pity¡­ Of course, this was also a fair rule, keeping cheating territories like hers from taking advantage of loopholes. "Now we can only prepare." "You don''t have to stress yourself too much, my Lord," Brenda said, comforting. "Only level 2 mobs should attack our territory. The walls and sentries are strong enough." Hearing this, Althea''s shoulders slumped a little in relaxation. However, it didn''t last long. The reason why hoarders were hoarders was because of their instinct to take everything needed in case of a rainy day. Similarly, she''d rather be super overprepared than be underprepared. "How''s the upgraded weapons going?" "We''re in our finalization stage. He should be finished with the missing detail drawings "You should hire him as an apprentice." Brenda nodded with a bright smile, happy to have the same thought process as the Lord. "Indeed, that is what I did. He had just accepted, in fact, so he''s working really hard in the workshop." Clutch looked at her with envy. She not only had a weaponry store but also a reliable helper! Would the Lord dislike him for his lack of productivity? He ought to look for apprentices as well. "Clutch." The Lord''s voice instantaneously brought him back to the present. Then he saw her hand over two earthenware bottles. He opened them to smell the contents. Plants? "This is plant extract taken from Amerie and Glutose. Try experimenting with different rations and mix them with your shields." "Plants, milord?" Clutch had never heard of this done before¡­ Althea nodded and continued with her explanation. "One plant could help harden any surface, while the other makes it more flexible and could have a reflective function." It was unfortunate she only had the time to rummage through the warehouse the day prior, otherwise, he''d have more time to prepare. Hearing this, Clutch couldn''t help but feel agitated. Plants could do so much? Indeed¡ªwhat if he could combine it successfully with his armors? More importantly, Clutch looked extremely honoured to be partnering with the Lord for a project. Although he had no idea how to combine plants with his work¡­ At this thought, he felt nervous. What if he failed? "Ask Eugene for advice, he should be able to guide you." "T-Thank you, my Lord." Althea nodded, her eyes sparkling a little, looking forward to their products. "I''ll leave it up to you!" The two stood up and bowed. "Yes, Milord!" ¡­ That night, Althea was drinking her tea, the relaxing type, because she really couldn''t rest at all. She patted her large belly, and they were not moving. Very peaceful. She smiled. At least her babies were sleeping well¡­ She was smiling and imagining how her babies would look in the future, when the countdown for the mandatory upgrade finally turned 0. The air changed a little, a milder version of how it was when she activated the lord token. Because most people were sleeping, they did not notice the change in the atmosphere, but she and the NPCs definitely did. [Congratulations for reaching Level 2! Rewards +5000 wood, +3000 stone, +3000 gold, +2 building slots] S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her pretty eyebrows rose in surprise. Hey, no wonder others were so hyped to level up. Chapter 131 Level Up [19 days of Protection Period] Althea''s emerald eyes stared at the many notifications that appeared in front of her. Her fingers paused when the final message appeared. [Would you like to expand your wall to the edge? Yes | No] She blinked and thought for a while as she calculated the costs. Her dainty fingers moved and pressed the negative. [NO] It seemed that not every built edifice was unmovable. It was just that the gold requirement was not much lower than if she simply built from scratch. However, the resources needed were also pointedly lower. But this didn''t matter now. Either way, she chose to defer any changes until the beast tide ended. After all, she not need such a large area. And more importantly: a smaller territory was an easier to defend territory. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 159 (27 permanent, 131 temporary) Total Population: 404 Base Resources: Wood: 7820/10000 Stone: 4750/8000 Money: 11522 Gold, 98663 Silver, 46407 copper Reputation: 50 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2), Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv1), Farm (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 5/7 (+1)] Hm, it was beautiful. She looked at the resources'' with satisfaction, although it had a long way to go, if she wasn''t building anything, it should be enough. During beast tides, she could refill the ''health'' of the walls as she saw fit, and she wanted to make sure she had more than enough resources to fill it up even if it was on the verge of destruction. She called on an advanced NPC meeting again, treating the NPCs as consultants prior to choosing anything that consumed a building slot. She observed the NPCs as they entered one by one. She suddenly called them in the middle of the night but there was no sign of complaints. "Milord." They bowed as she entered the lounge, and her green eyes observed the set-up of the meeting area. There was already food in front, prepared by Harold and Sheila. She knew very well the appeal of their food to the NPCs and she was willing to give this benefit. Of course, if she had coffee, she''d prefer it at this time for everyone else, and hot cocoa for herself. Ah, she really missed those hot beverages¡­ When she arrived, everyone had been waiting there and were now relatively casual. They could now eat the snacks and sip their tea without being worried of being thrown in the blacklist for impertinence. Through this, she would also get clearer ideas on what would sell well with the aborigines. It was hitting many birds with one small act of kindness. "We had just upgraded," She told them, "I temporarily delayed the expansion until after the Tide, but I will need your help to choose buildings." As she said so, she already opened the Buildings Tab. It was just that her peripheral vision couldn''t help but catch Clutch''s eager gaze and she felt a little guilty. Althea had indeed considered an armory, but deferred again in case there were better options among the new buildings. She looked at the available buildings that were no longer greyed out. In the Residential Tab there were two new housing types, but they were really just a bit bigger than the previous. Very uncreative. Did the locals not pay attention to where they were living, or was the system hyping up the ultra expensive options by low comparison? For Commercial buildings, only new food stores were lit up: one store selling fruits, another store selling dried foods, and one fruit juice shop that served both hot and cold drinks. The last one seemed interesting, but she naturally didn''t choose it. She had already seen a couple of stores who probably made better drinks than this. There were no potion houses or any medical related facilities available at her level. There were also no new buildings regarding equipment either, and the armory remained unchosen. But¡­ there was a new building tab named Luxuries. Inside, two new buildings were available for purchase. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One was called the Lighthouse, defined to be tall tower lit up to guide people as well as serve as supporting lighting for a territory. It was set to light up at night and lit up an area with 100 meter radius, for a certain amount of wood every day. Althea was very curious: What kind of light was used there? It was Oslo who answered her inquiry. "It is perennial fire, my Lord, and it simply consumes a bit of wood every day to maintain." She nodded, understanding the charm of this. The nights here was quite dark, it was only because they had two moons that there was still a bit of visibility. She could see the advantage of this in terms of population as well, especially for a territory like hers set up in the middle of nowhere. And¡­ it would also look good, and the function was practical, but it was something that could be done on their own for a much, much, lower cost. The other luxury building was a Bath House, with the function similar to an ancient civilization back in Terran. It also came with automatic heating and cooling functions. [Luxury Bathhouse (Lv1)- automatically redirects water and produces various temperature pools: extreme hot, very hot, lukewarm, cool, cold, freezing. Must be placed near a water source with 200 tons of water a year. Automatic cleaning and reuse function. Note: Water is not potable. Cost: 300 wood, 500 stone, 500 gold. ] She stared at the special note, though, that the water here was non-potable. Perhaps the energy needed to heat or cool the water will somehow turn the water non potable? Anyway, a few tons of water a year wasn''t much for her who had mountain springs and rivers in the territory. But¡­ more than the light house¡­ she actually considered this more. She had not forgotten about the once-every-year-or-two climate disaster that could last weeks, if not a month. At that time, wouldn''t a good bath in hot/cold water actually start saving lives? Chapter 132 Level 2 Village Buildings Regardless of potability, she seriously considered the Bathhouse. Automatic heating and cooling was not just a luxury, but in times of extreme weather conditions, it could save lives. The NPCs mentioned that once a year or two there will be a major climate change¡ªand there had never been an exception thus far. Sometimes, it was extreme heat, which had such soldering heat that could kill people if they stayed out for too long. Sometimes, it was the extreme cold, where people could lose a finger after staying outside for half an hour. Even if the construction team was about to complete the basic utilities, wherein they could redirect water from the sources, other changes were not practical at this time. Changing temperatures would be an energy-consuming endeavor and they might not be able to do it fast enough to rescue lives. She silently tagged this as a building for consideration. Next was the Production tabs which contained four new buildings: lumber house, quarry, ice house, and something called Gugu Bird House. The first two just increased harvest and efficiency of transforming resources into usable products. The ice house was another one for serious consideration. It would have been better if water from the bathhouse was potable, then she wouldn''t even need to consider this. However, if the freezing water from the bathhouse was cold enough, perhaps it would be enough to create ice from another source. It would be even better if they found saltpeter. The last one, based on the description, was basically a chicken coop. It increased the fertility of Gugu birds by 20%. Sounded good... if she knew what Gugu Birds were¡­ This time it was Brenda who spoke up. "It''s a relatively common bird, especially in the Eastern and Southern regions. I am not sure where the territory is, but based on the temperature, there should be some nearby. "It is recognized as the best source of bird meat because of the amount of meat in each one and their strong fecundity." Brenda wrinkled her nose. "In retrospect, the meat was tasteless, but it is very filling." Clutch added, "They''re level cap is also level 3, though most of them are in level 2s, and were thus easier to domesticate than others." Althea nodded in understanding. She decided that after the tide, she would send out missions to capture these things alive. If it was really common, a few people should have encountered it before. After a thought, she dismissed all the buildings in this tab, already formulating ways they could build them on their own. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For the Infrastructure Tab, there was one addition, but it was very essential, especially for others. [Well (Lv1)- Produces a fixed amount of 5 tons of water per day. Can be built continuously. Cost: 100 wood, 100 stone, 50 gold per well. ] This could be a bit costly. In Terran, the optimal water consumption per person was 100 liters a day¡ªthat was, the comfortable amount¡ªwith 2 to 3 liters a day needed to barely survive. If people didn''t save much, the well could only serve a few scores of people every day. That was to say, for a single well to serve an entire territory¡ªwhich had thousands and thousands of residents¡ªpeople would have to make do with a liter or two a day, at best (assuming only a few wells would be built). However, this was not her concern, as she had plenty of water sources already integrated into the territory. In the Defense tab, there were two buildings that caught her attention. [Barracks (Lv1) - Trains soldiers to positions according to their aptitudes (vanguard, infantry, cavalry, etc.) Cost: 100 wood, 200 stone, 100 gold] [Training Hall - Allows users to simulate fights with archived monsters, races, and other entities with maximum realism. 20-50% of experience from counterparts could be earned. Level 1: Max Level manifested is level 5. Cost: 100 wood, 200 stone, 500 gold] This was Good. Really, really good. Considering the hassle of going out to kill and only finding level 1s¡ªwhich didn''t give her any experience anymore, which was unfair¡ªshe''d rather train within the comforts of the territory. Well, it seemed like she would have to sacrifice a few good buildings. Oh, the armory as well. At this thought, she looked at Clutch. "The armory is no longer possible, Clutch, I''m sorry." This alarmed Clutch and the others so much that they bowed by instinct. "Don''t apologize milrod! It''s just a matter of convenience." After all, the mixture the Lord gave him with so much inspiration, and additional efficiency bonus was only something very convenient for him. To think he made the Lord apologize for this¡ªshame!!! Looking at the NPC who was about to cry, she raised both hands in surrender. "Sure, okay, whatever you say." She then told them the buildings that she chose, as well as the reason why, and she received their admiring gazes. Looking at them like this, what do the aborigine lords do with their building slots? Why were these people''s standards so low?? In any case, after adjourning the meeting, she finally went home to build the two buildings: The Training Hall and the Bathhouse, quite excited as to how they would add to the territory. ¡­ In the middle of the night, a series of announcements rang in everyone''s ears waking them up from slumber. [The territory has been upgraded. All weapons and armours sold at 10% discount! [All weapons and armours can be bought using contribution points at half the value!] [A beast tide is estimated to arrive in a few hours. Please defend the territory together! The contribution point system has now been activated.] [Contribution Points: As Territory-based currency: Can be used to buy or rent property, at a discounted price. Can be used to purchase rights to use special buildings. As Merit: In the future, certain contribution points will be required in addition to other qualifications for high level jobs.] Everyone could only stare blankly at the announcements. ¡­What¡­is going on?? Chapter 133 The Alarm is Ringing! To be honest, most of the people still hadn''t entirely absorbed the announcements until the bell rang. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And it rang loudly, for a long time. This new bell was a percussion instrument located inside the sundial-clock tower. It was made by Oslo, a metal elementalist, to the admiration of everyone in there. From the NPCs, they knew materializing metal that would stay materialized was extremely difficult, and it took Oslo several days just to complete the tiny bell half a meter in height. However, thanks to Eugene''s ingenious design and shape, a small bell could still be heard a kilometer away, and perhaps even further. It was announced to ring twice a day, at 07:00:00 during dawn, and at 21:00:00 at dusk. Except for emergencies. In particular, attacks on the territory. "Seriously?!" A man sat up from his bed, waking up his dozen roommates in the territory from their daze. "I told you! They hired guards for a reason!" He said, another one sobbed out of nowhere. "Oh my god! Am I going to be a refugee again?!" Lee rolled his eyes. "Don''t compare the old territory to Altera. Whether or not it has a lord or it is system-made, it''s many times more reassuring than the old one, okay?" "What do we do?" "Fight, of course! Didn''t you see? Contributions! We basically get twice the amount of coins!" "There are discounts for the equipment as well!" "If we buy with contribution points, the discount is even larger!" "The guards are strong! The weakest one is level 2!" "Don''t you remember how the sentry towers saved our lives so easily? How could you be afraid?" "Our territory is awesome! Not like those weak chickens! The beast tide is nothing!!" "Let''s go, let''s go!" ¡­ Similar conversations were heard across the territory. There were some voices of fear and worry, but no one was blind: they had seen how steadily the Territory developed. A territory that could give a sense of security inevitably gave people a sense of belonging. In the end, more and more people went out and bought weapons and armor, surprising the NPCs. "The people here¡­ are very optimistic." Clutch said with a smile, that he had followed the Lord''s advice to hire someone to handle the sales. Brenda did the same. "Fortunately, I have been working overtime with my apprentice." "Did you finish that special weapon of yours?" "Yes! The best is that he is testing it with his friends. He is very eager to make contributions." She said, not realizing how big and shy her smile was. Clutch''s seasoned eyes saw it though, but he didn''t say anything. They should go with the flow. He then looked at the food shops and stalls that popped up since the grocery store opened. They were now open again in the middle of the night, ready to provide food for the defenders¡­ and make some money along the way. Unsurprisingly, they saw Oslo ambling about and eating something on a stick. "So fast?" "I love the food here, it''s really nothing like I''ve seen before." As a Level D Architect with his background, he could be said to have seen a lot. But this place never failed to impress him¡ªwhether it was the beautiful, admirable, and unique Lord, the talents that worked for her, the ideas they came up with, and the food¡ªthey were all so new that he had sworn to do his best so the lord would keep hiring him. Brenda and Clutch saw his wistful expression and turned their heads to look at each other. They smiled. Because they were thinking of the same thing. ¡­ On the other side of the territory, a group of young adults encircled a weapon, faces flushed from excitement. "This is itt!!" "The crossbow!" "Cool!" A group of young men and women surrounded several weapons laid out on the table. There were two types of weapons, one was familiar from dramas, and the other not too much. "And what''s that?" One said, pointing at the weapon as large as his hip. That looked super cumbersome to carry. "That''s a Polybolo! Very awesome." Troy said, proceeding to show his friends the cylinder drum and mechanism. He developed the crossbow first, but someone apparently went ahead of him. Fortunately, he still remembered the polybolo, also a pretty good ancient weapon. It had a quicker firing rate than the crossbow. But¡­ it was heavier and less powerful. So there was that¡­ Whatever, they still did make crossbows, but it was no longer in his name so they had to give up some share of the proceeds. His frenemy, Fred, scoffed at this. "I heard you patented it in the village center? Aren''t you guilty?" Patenting through the Village Center, they said, was patenting it all over the world. "That''s why I''m using half of my future proceeds to charity." He scoffed back. "You think this is still Terran? What charity?" Their mutual friend, Lulu, rolled her eyes at these two man-children. Instead, she smiled at this cousin of hers with a bit of appreciation. "But I didn''t think you''d really learn how to make weapons so quickly." In Terran, this hobby of his was useless and had worried their parents very much. "My master taught me well." Troy mumbled, cheeks tinted a beet red. Fred gaped at him, before breaking to a loud cackle. "Oh my, are you blushing?!" He said, "You''re like a kid!!" "I''m not!! You shut up!" The brunette yelled at his red-head frenemy. Fred''s mocking laughter did not stop as he recalled childhood memories. "You were EXACTLY like this with that freckle girl from fourth grade!" "It''s not the same!" "Hey, although you look like you''re the same age, you''re soo immature and she''s like that hot secretary with a secret agent side job, right?" Totally subject to house-men''s fantasies, even with her scar. "Isn''t she an NPC?" Another person asked, but the question offended Troy. "So what? She''s a real person!" Fred, as always, couldn''t help but utter a snide remark. "Women like that like steady men, right? Not a man-child who has pictures of old weapons all over his bedroom wall?" "..." A pause. "Really?" Lulu massaged her temples, and just took a crossbow and walked to the walls. She didn''t have time for this nonsense; She had contributions to make! Chapter 134 The Beast Tide is Here! While everyone was rushing to make contributions, some NPCs had already done their part and were walking around to observe. They also wanted to see where they could help further. The three NPCs walked along the commercial street, though mostly along stalls because most of the shops were still being renovated. They paused when they saw Sheila talking to someone¡ªa young woman with dark blonde hair¡ªin front of the building. The NPCs looked at each other. This was the lord''s person, after all, and they wondered if they could greet her? Would it bring trouble to the lord if they did so? The three walked their original path and soon overheard some of their exchange. "Lily¡­ the clinic will be opened now," Sheila said, "Be prepared for emergencies." "But I''m¡ª" "It''s okay, we know you were just in your first year of residency when things happened, but you''re the best we have. Don''t worry, we don''t expect you to do things beyond your abilities." The young woman''s shoulders slumped, knowing she didn''t have much of a choice in this. "Okay, Ms. Sheila¡­" She said, "But please tell me what I need to improve as soon as you notice them!" Sheila nodded encouragingly, but sighed internally. Like Harold, she had also hired a few people, but for the clinic itself, she only managed to find a student. Unfortunately, no legitimate doctors were in the territory now, and their student-nurse pair will have to do. It was around this time that they were approached by the ''Golden god'' (coined by his new fanbase in the territory), his shoulder-length golden hair shining even at night, his bright blue eyes charming their hearts out. "I can''t help but overhear your dilemmas, beautiful ladies," Oslo said with that shining smile of his. The two women blushed under his attention. "Uhm, it''s no problem. We''re just a little nervous. It''s our first war, after all." Oslo nodded in understanding, turning to look inside the store. "May I see?" Lily was a little reluctant but Sheila knew where this man''s loyalty was, so she nodded, leading him inside. As Oslo entered the door he was met with a long counter. And behind it were rows and rows of cabinets filled with different types of medicines. He was impressed. With his sharp eyes, he saw the few specially marked bottles in a position above the counter. They had a different bottle than the others. "What are those?" "They''re special potions made by my boss." The Lord? A Pharmacist? No doubt they''re good. He really wanted to see their effects. He then turned to the bottles below it. "What about these?" "Our people, made according to my boss'' formula. Not as good as the boss'' but better than most." Brenda and Clutch had already stood beside Oslo at this time. "The lo¡ªyour boss is amazing." Oslo studied the bottles and gave out his assessment, particularly those produced by other people. "In fact, these potions are generally OK." He told them, very patient. "You can just increase your production, do some first aid, and things will be fine." The two girls nodded, taking it to heart. Lily, especially, who would brag to her roommates that the Golden god talked to her! ¡­ At this time, the guard team had already lined up along the inside walls. The 100 guards lined up in clusters of five, facing the gates. Although they still had no uniforms, their formation was enough to show they''d received some training. In front of them were two handsome men and a fluffy dog with a perennially smiling face. There were also about a dozen strong men on the side, some were scared, while some were looking forward to it. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The walls were fully lit up with torches. Usually, only every 20 meters or so were lit, but today there was twice the number making the walls look even more majestic under the two moons. The leader, Drake, stared at his shoulders with his sharp eyes. A lot of the new recruits were shaking. They had only been able to train with them for a day, it was no wonder they were a bit scared. Drake walked in front of the most obvious recruit, a 20 year old lad with a level A potential. He was shaking and his eyes shifty, as if looking for an escape. However, he saw the boy''s determined eyes and knew he may have misunderstood. His name was Amos, a dark-skinned lad with a medium build but very high potential. "You are shaking too much, are you scared?" He asked, "Do you regret joining the guard team?" "No, sir, no! These are shivers of excitement, SIR!!!" Drake''s eyebrows rose and his lips twitched, but he didn''t show any other changes on his face. Instead, he simply made a nod of agreement. "Then keep that energy! We''ll be going out the gates when the beast wave arrives!" "What?" The others also couldn''t help but look at him in shock, and he shook his head. "Don''t worry, we have already set up a meter high temporary barrier a few metres from the walls. It will allow us to kill monsters with better efficacy. Looking at many still-anxious faces around him, he frowned. "Don''t you believe in the strength of the territory?" Drake paused and looked at everyone, and the soldiers felt he was looking at each one of them. Slowly, as they remembered the their backing¡ªtheir Altera Village¡ªthe terror subsided somehow. "Remember, you are guards of this territory. Even if you are scared you must face it. If you falter, what about the people behind?" A lot of them still had relatives inside the territory. At least for them, they could not falter. Not to mention, half of these guards had come from fallen territories. They appreciated what they had a lot more and thus wanted to protect it with more intensity than others. "Are you going to man up and be steady, soldiers?" "SIR YES SIR!!" Satisfied with the renewed atmosphere, Drake and Rowan turned to the gate. "Let''s go!" ¡­ They went out and saw a temporary wall about two or three meters parallel from the main wall. The walls enclosed after dozens of meters on both sides, giving them at least a hundred meters of work space. The dozen men who were with them were in charge of maintaining the temporary walls. It was a dangerous job, and none of them were below level 2. They were also among the shortlist in the previous interviews. If they did well here, they would be promoted to guards, themselves. There was also a temporary barracks located next to the interior wall. The five groups will be divided into two, taking 1-hour shifts, and the guards would also be divided to two. The guards were settling in position when Fufi''s forever-wagging tail stopped wagging, tensed, and he started growling in a direction . They looked at each other when they noticed, but they didn''t have to time to ask as they soon felt the ground shake. Whipping their heads to the horizon, they soon saw a foreboding wave of darkness entering their line of sights. The gulped, a mixture of nerves and excitement filling their veins. They''re here!! Chapter 135 Defenders The soldiers and citizens stood above the territory''s formidable walls, gazing out. Everyone could feel the trembling of the ground becoming more and more intense. Their narrowed eyes watched closely as the shadows of the creatures began to take form. The wave surrounded the territory, but somehow they always knew the location of the openings, focusing much of their forces there. The beast came and attacked all around the territory, but most of the force focused around the gates. According to the NPCs, it had always been like this. At least 80% of monsters were likely to attack the area by the gate, because they were the more vulnerable parts of the walls. As such, the strategy was to focus their forces on the gates. As for the rest of the areas, the sentry towers could theoretically handle the rest. Of course, the territory also encouraged the citizens to take a look at these areas as well, just in case. Anyway, the number of enemies here was few and controlled, and¡ªwith the sentries'' assistance¡ªshould be easily managed by civilians. Back to the Southwest Gate, the Archers formed a line of defense and raised their bows, ready to rain arrows down the monsters below. In order to avoid accidentally hitting allies, archers were instructed to let it rain only at certain distances. The citizens who wanted to fight also joined in. Some bravely stood outside with the guards, while those who preferred long-range attacks stood on the wall. Troy and his friends were one of these people. Not only did they have crossbows, but also his polybolo, and they were sure to contribute the most in the long-range fights. The trembling of the ground intensified, heralding a hoard of monstrously ugly creatures, aiming to massacre all those behind the wall. From the depth of the darkness, the formation of terrifying figures emerged, grotesque forms and hungry eyes bringing terror to most people''s hearts. They watched with both fear and anticipation as the black wave got close enough to see their forms. There were various types of monsters, different sizes, colors, and appearance¡ªbut all ferocious and extremely stimulated. Not too long ago, the same people standing may have trembled in fear if they saw this sight, some may even cry, but not anymore. For the people of Altera, these monsters presented new possibilities, not only death and injury. The first wave of monsters surged forward, the tide threatening to consume the outer walls and those that defended it. Drake waited for the monsters to reach the zone of the sentries. "Ready!" He yelled, as the close-combat warriors stood, ready to fight those that got past the sentries and reached the temporary outer wall where they stood. "FIGHT!" He yelled a resounding battlecry, and the warriors charged on the monsters, using the temporary fence as support. Clash of iron, wood, and flesh soon resounded on the battlefield. The warriors struck down the creatures they drew near and spearmen thrusted, keeping the monsters at bay. A level 2 fence wasn''t much if left undefended, but when it was, it would still last a while. They killed hundreds of monsters this way and everyone was cheering. Of course, it was only a temporary wall, and there weren''t too many defenders. The sheer quantity of monsters was too big and monsters would inevitably pass through. At the sight of the monsters slowly trickling inside to the main wall, Drake raised his hand. "Fire!!" The archers drew their bows, and volleys of arrows soared through the sky. It rained down on the monsters. Although their skins were tough, the sheer quantity of arrows was enough to cause them significant damage. The best of which was Tony''s party, with their more powerful weapons, and they harvested low-level monsters with relative ease. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was really amazing. After all, they heard even guns had limited effects on monsters level 3 and above, so even if the mob was level 2, they didn''t think the effect would be so big. From this, one could see the magic of the Weapons Maker occupation. Troy''s eyes glistened, wanting to trigger it as well! "Good shot!" Lulu yelled at her cousin who managed to hit a monster straight to the eye, killing it immediately. Troy grinned smugly, but his face transformed to one of annoyance a second later. He glared at a direction, "Don''t waste the arrows, damn you!" He yelled at Fred, who used five crossbow arrows but only hit their tough skins. Lulu''s eyes twitched. "Shut up!" She yelled, making the two flinch in terror. In fact, since these two men hit 25 years old, they had indeed matured¡­ except when they were with each other. It was as if when meeting up with childhood friends, one inevitably returned to how they were at that point in time. "Focus on the fight, damnit!" "YES MA''AM!" And the two worked out their ''differences'' and began to shoot at the monsters again. Fortunately, the polybolos were also powerful enough to actually cause damage, and they did kill the monsters in the end. Volleys and volleys of arrows rained down on the monsters right below the wall, with the short-range fighters fighting it from the rear, as well as defending against those up front. There were thousands of monsters. Monsters were hit, a few fell, but not enough to take most of them down. The creatures lunged relentlessly against the wall, arrows sticking in their bodies, unstoppable and wild regardless of how many arrows were embedded into their bodies. It was as if they were unable to feel pain. Perhaps, in their brainless minds, they truly did not feel pain. However, the number of monsters were large compared to the hundred people in the area. Even if they had a lot of weapons and defensive tactics, it was inevitable for the fight to take a toll. Fortunately, the pharmacy opened in the nick of time, and most of them had handy medicines in their space. They fought for many minutes on end. Eventually, fatigue threatened to wear them down, but they didn''t yield. Warriors stood their ground against these beasts. Especially the close-range fighters, who took the most tiring task. Together, the long-ranged and close-ranged fighters fought valiantly, and they were not losing despite the large discrepancy in numbers. This was a feat, because people generally couldn''t handle monsters one-to-one. It could be said that the territory truly prepared well for this battle. Unfortunately, the holes in the defense still became bigger and bigger in the end, until openings were formed. "Ah, Lee! Watch out!!" Joe yelled at his narrow-eyed friend, trying to get to him. He stabbed the monster with all his strength but it seemed he wasn''t going to make it. Tears formed in his eyes as he could see losing another one of his friends. However, the gruesome scene he envisioned did not happen as a tall fire wall appeared, saving the man''s life and burning the enemy. The monsters nearby roared in pain as they tried to kill the fire that stuck to them. At the same time, they were brainless monsters, and a lot still tried to go through, burning themselves. It was a gruesome scene. To the eyes of the Terrans though, the sight of the fire and the burning enemies brightened their eyes. Amazing!! Chapter 136 NPCs in Action The Lord specifically told them to let the people experience the dangers of the mobs first before making a move. While it was difficult, the people nevertheless didn''t fail to impress them. "Are you alright?" Rowan asked, and the soldiers stood up amazed but quickly gathered themselves. "T-Thanks¡­" he said and jumped back to battle. The people on the wall though, were not so calm. "Ooh my god! Is that a firewall?" "So cool!" "I heard when you reach level 10, there''s a 10% chance you could awaken an element." "Just ten? Then it is not guaranteed even if you have the affinity in the stats bar?" "...I don''t know." However, the discussion was cut short by Rowan''s valiant display of abilities. He let out a fire whip, dealing with a handful of monsters almost immediately, and the warriors only needed to hit them once and they''d die. He made sure not to kill them, leaving them to the others. The lord told them this was an event to strengthen the people. Besides, he didn''t get any experience or copper from these weaklings at all because people could not get anything from monsters lower than 5 levels from their own. This happened several times and the soldiers below received a lot of experience from getting the last kills. "Goodness, so cool!" "I wish they made a move sooner!" "Focus! Are you here to watch or to help?!" "Oh, right right right." They continued shooting their arrows, with the logistics team ensuring they never ran out of them. However, sometime later, quite a few archers couldn''t help but freeze midway, watching the battle below. A gasp. "Metal spikes!" "Oslo? The architect??" "So handsome!" A girl swooned, but not before firing her shots with decent accuracy, of course. "I want to reach level 10!!" "Then you better kill more monsters!" Monsters fell one by one, cries of fury, twisted forms loitering the ground This display of the two elementals inspired everyone''s fighting spirit to the maximum. Seeing the killing spree of the two NPCs, they even started to worry that nothing would be left for them to kill! ¡­ Baron Smith was throwing heavy stones from his space to the monsters that were scratching the walls. He and his team had brought in a number of boulders to assist. After all, no matter how rich, you sometimes couldn''t buy talent. Baron was one of the types with no body coordination no matter how much he practiced. He looked at his cousins Angelo and Jesse. Angelo was already in the guard team, killing several monsters every few minutes, while Jesse was shooting with a very good hit rate. Cassie and her grandma on the other hand were working overtime in their kitchen, making easy-to-eat foods and snacks to sell at cost price to the people in the front line. Mathilda was assisting Sheila and her new assistant, Lily, in preparing everything they could to assist the wounded. At this time there was a new face that joined them. It was a graceful woman looking to be in her 20s. They didn''t have any idea who she was and what she was doing there until she introduced herself. "I''m an¡­ NPC that has just been hired a few moments ago. My name is Betty, and I''m a D-level Healer." A Healer?! The women brightened at this and grinned at each other, quickly running to both sides of the new NPC, startling her, and then quickly dragging her to help. Overall, everyone did what they could for the territory, even those far within the walls. Gru was one of these people. He walked to his backyard to check on the yam he was breeding. It was all he knew how to do and, with his age, it was all he could do. At the very least,he could help provide the food that would give everyone the strength they needed to fight the enemies. He looked at the grafted plants and saw they were doing well. He added a few more experiments, doing what he could. What he didn''t expect was the sudden ding in his head. [Congratulations! Occupation confirmed: Farmer] ¡­. While major activities was happening in the Southwest gate, the Eastern gate was minimally guarded in contrast. Althea stood on the walls of the Eastern Gate. She had given the order that she would handle the gate herself, with them following after settling the other gate, much to the aghast of the others. She had checked the map and she saw that at least 70% of the monsters were heading to the Southwest gate, a little over 10% to the Eastern gate, and the rest attacking the rest of the walls. To assist her, the Eastern gate had extra two sentry towers right by the gates for extra force. There was also a temporary construction outside this gate, albeit much smaller and condensed, made by Oslo with his earth ability. Instead of a wall, there were platforms of different heights but accessible to each other. She could jump over to them from the gate as she needed, jumping to and fro to capture as much as she could. These were all temporary though, as a limitation of Oslo''s ability, but she reckoned the fight shouldn''t last longer than a day. Althea had stopped herself from leveling up before, and she was now hungry for experience. As for her pregnancy, she had asked the new NPC healer to add a small buff in her body for protection, and she also prepared a lot of medicines just in case. Anyway, one of the two NPCs will be joining her after increasing the momentum on the other gate. More importantly, it was very rare to encounter so many level 2s and 3s. She needed them to finally level up, and thus focused on them, ignoring the others [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 5 (3900/15000) Life: 800/800 Spirit: 800/800 (-5%) +50 Physical: 145 (-5%) +40 Agility: 147 (-20%) +10 Defense: 94 +94 Mana: 800 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera Village Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Leather Boots +2 Defense, +0 Agility ] Using her precise skill and strong weapon, she hit every critical shot, killing many monsters in a minute. Anyway, it was very rare to encounter so many level 2s and 3s, so she was bent on focusing on them. [+50 Experience, +50 Copper] [+70 Experience, +70 Copper] [+50 Experience, +50 Copper] [+50 Experience, +50 Copper] Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If people were to see the sight, they would admire her not only for her strength but also for her beauty that seemed untinctured by the mess. And, indeed, it was what caught two mysterious pairs of eyes. Chapter 137 The Battle at the Eastern Gate [19 days of Protection Period] The pair of eyes belonged similar-looking men with tanned skin and light-colored hair. Quite handsome with their large builds and chiseled features. At the moment though, the men''s eyes were fixed upward, eyes locked on the gorgeous woman jumping from platform to platform. She was pulling her arrows, hitting the targets with grace and accuracy. They couldn''t help but admire how effortless she was moving across the small plateaus. As she shifted, her striking eyes were focused on the targets at hand, with her hands drawing a slender bow with a unique sheen. With practiced movements, she notched an arrow and released it¡ªsending it straight to the head of a level 2 monster, killing it with one shot. It was a fascinating sight. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And then they realize¡ªvery belatedly¡ªthat the woman was PREGNANT! Very, very, pregnant. "Are you seeing this, uncle?" Helios, the younger one with slightly longer and wavy hair, whipped his head to his uncle, whose eyes never left the woman at all. The duo had gone to this gate because they had wanted to assist the territory in a low-key way, away from most of the bustle at the other gate. The two of them had entered the territory through the Eastern gate a few days prior. They were one of the few who had understood its existence, as most of the others didn''t even know they had an Eastern gate. They didn''t expect that there was someone else so far in front of them. Even if they did, it was definitely not what they had expected to see when they got here. "Hmn," Hugo, the taller man with a slightly larger build and crew-cut hair, nodded, eyes widening a little when the woman slipped a little but managed to regain her balance a second later. "Very skilled." He said very succinctly, and his nephew nodded in agreement. Hugo''s parents had him very late in life, and instead of his brother, his nephew who was five years younger was more like his sibling. Hugo had hit level 4 just before entering the territory and Helios was at the latter part of level 3. They considered themselves pretty strong, and that they should be able to assist in the handling of the mob here with the help of the sentries, but they found out they could not compare to a pregnant woman. It was both emasculating and amazing. However, they weren''t stupid enough to think the woman was invincible and did not need help. Hugo nudged his nephew forward as he himself sauntered to the battlefield. "Miss! Do you need help?" Helios asked and he couldn''t help but gape at the beautiful woman when she turned her head to them, meeting her deep emerald eyes. Hugo felt embarrassed and patted his shoulder. "Don''t you see she''s busy? Just do it." The two of them took out their arrows, hitting the monsters with precision not much inferior to hers. When their arrows were gone, they shifted to their close-range weapons. With Helios waving his wooden sword and Hugo with his spear. They jumped to the mob of level 1s, as Althea had been taking care specifically of level 2s alone. They were valiant and skilled, obviously practiced. Althea''s eyebrows raised as she spared the two a look. She remembered them, as she had asked Harold to find out the owners of a couple of names that interested her. These two were the strongest people other than herself, the NPCs, and Drake. She had hoped they would join the guards and was a bit disappointed when she didn''t see their applications. If they didn''t want to join the guards, she had wondered how to keep them to serve the territory¡­ especially now when she saw them taking on a mob by themselves. In any case, Althea assisted the duo with her shots¡ªeven if the monsters no longer gave her any experience¡ªearning their appreciative nods many times. This went on for about an hour and they soon felt their spirits reaching the red line. Even if the monsters were just level 2 at the worst, the three of them dealt with several hundreds of monsters after all. Even with their level, it was extremely cumbersome. Not to mention, all the medicine they stocked up was now gone. Althea noticed this as they had already begun getting relatively serious injuries without making any attempts to heal them. She took out two personalized bottles from the space. "Here! Take it!" She said, throwing it to their palms with accuracy. "T-Thanks!" Helios said, surprised, while Hugo looked at her deeply, before looking down at the bottle. They didn''t think any further as they were still surrounded, breaking the lid and consuming all the bottles'' contents. Almost immediately, their bleeding stopped and they could feel a good portion of their health and spirit had recovered. "What¡ª" The pair were amazed by the effects of the medicine. This was better than what they got from the new pharmacy, and they couldn''t help but give the woman another look as they slashed away. However, they were being mobbed by monsters and didn''t have the time to dwell on her mysteries even for another second. Another hour passed and the effects of the medicine had soon been used up. Fortunately, one of the NPCs¡ªthe architect¡ªarrived and spikes of metals appeared, skewering the monsters around them. The handsome blonde''s eyes never left the woman on the elevated platform, eyes filled with worry. Judging by his sweat, he definitely rushed to get here. "Milor¡ªMs. Althea, you''re a pregnant woman, you should take a rest." He said, while sending out spikes to deal with the monsters nearby. Althea, who was really starting to feel the pregnancy symptoms, nodded in agreement. She jumped to the safety of the walls and watched Oslo deal with much of the remaining mobs. From the corner of her eye she watched as Oslo dealt with the majority of the monsters. At the same time, giving the two other men the final kill, inspiring them to keep attacking even when their health and spirit had entered dangerous levels. One of them, the younger one, even leveled up to level 4. And Althea felt a little jealous. When would she be able to upgrade? Chapter 138 LEVEL SIX Althea felt she was very, very close to upgrading. With the level of the mobs outside the Beast Tide, it may take her a while to upgrade if she let this chance pass. After all, for some reason, she couldn''t get experience from level 1s anymore when she was only level 5. This was a mystery even to the NPCs, as she should still be able to get some experience until she was level 6. When else would she be able to see so many level 2s together? Not for a long time, right? Not when she couldn''t travel too far away due to her pregnancy anymore¡­ With this thought, she looked at her stats. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 5 (13960/15000) Life: 120/800 Spirit: 143/800 (-5%) +50 Physical: 145 (-5%) +40 Agility: 147 (-20%) +10 Defense: 94 +94 Mana: 800 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera Village, Elder in Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Seeing there were only a few monsters away from an upgrade, she couldn''t help but frown. It would be such a pity not to take advantage of this. So, how could she not? Althea rested on the battlement for a moment as she wiped off the grime and sweat off her face and neck. At the very least, she gave herself a moment of respite as she took all the remaining medicines she had and ate all the special-effects food from Cooke. As she rested, her green eyes watched the battle below with great interest. At the back of her head though, she was closely watching the recovery of her health and mana, eager to join the fight. A few minutes later, she stood up again. ''Just a bit more'', she mused. She decided to push herself a little further. With a huff and a little prayer, she went to the edge of the battlement, taking out the Bellagio again. [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [...] "Ms. Althea?" Oslo exclaimed, worried, and he immediately ran to her, ready to defend. But Althea herself was very high level compared to the mob, combined with her powerful weapon and recovered mana, she went on a killing spree. [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] One final shot passed through a monster''s brain and her eyes sparkled. Finally¡ª [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [Congratulations for upgrading to Level 6!] Yes! However, before she could feel happy, she suddenly felt a sharp, sharp, pain in her stomach. It felt like she was being torn apart. "Ahhhh!!" Her legs lost their strength and she lost balance. "Milord!?" Oslo yelled, sprinting to catch her. She landed safely in his arms, and he paled as he saw her in extreme pain. What was happening? He was about to run inside when he heard a scream beside him. "Helios!" The man behind yelled, running to his nephew. Oslo frowned and saw the two men were also at their limits. It wouldn''t do to leave suddenly, as the Lord would feel sad if a citizen died. With sharp eyes, he looked at the two men. "Take her to the infirmary!" he yelled at them. "I can handle these things myself!" The two nodded and ran at the woman with worried expressions. It was Hugo who was faster and quickly brought her up to his arms. The two ran frantically to the temporary infirmary near the Southwest gate. The nurses and medical professionals took them in like any other, until they saw who it was and everyone became flustered. When Sheila and the others saw who was in her arms their hearts dropped. "Boss!!" Immediately they placed Althea in the bed. Sheila immediately took her, trying to figure out what happened. Her head whipped to the two haggard men with a deep frown. "Speak! What happened?!" Neither Hugo nor Helios could answer well. "She had gone on a killing spree, but she didn''t show any signs of loosing health or spirit at all." It was Betty who spoke, trying to calm the situation. "She has no serious injury but¡­ her water broke." "What?" "She''s not even nine months pregnant!" Sheila said, confused. "Although technically, she should only be about seven months in¡­" "What?" Hugo asked, his eyes following the flurry of activity in front of him, "What does that mean??" "The Change¡­ it accelerated the growth of the children." She shook her head, knowing this was not the time to discuss this. "What happened this time?!" sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was Eugene who cut the atmosphere, dark-colored eyes looking at Althea. "She upgraded." He told them. As someone with very high observation skills, he noticed some changes in her aura. "She upgraded six levels since then?" Betty asked as she quickly used her ability to stabilize her, giving Lily and Sheila time to prepare the tools. Betty didn''t know how to deal with the mystery either, but she knew how to handle the emergency at hand. She immediately asked the nurses to prepare a room, who ran immediately to prepare for the suffering woman on the bed. Even Sheila, whose body was automatically working in a flurry, was sobbing a little as she did so. While these was all being prepared, Althea¡ªcovered in sweat and pale in bloodlessness¡ªfinally couldn''t hold back the intense pain anymore. Body feeling like it was being pulled on all directions, she let out a toe-knurling scream¡ªpiercing everyone''s hearts. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Thousands of miles away, Garan whipped his head to a direction, feeling an unprecedented sense of dread. His heart clenched and his blood turned cold. Without thinking, his feet moved as he sprinted to the direction of the Fog. He ignored the surprised yells of his subordinates and just ran there, using all his strength. Faster, faster! As he ran closer, the horrid feeling intensified and he couldn''t help but let out a heart-wrenching roar. "ALTHEAAA!!!" Chapter 139 Children City G, seven months ago A sunny mid-morning in one of the country''s most premier tourist cities, a very eye-catching couple held hands as they walked along the beautifully greened street. The weather that morning was excellent, the temperature was cool and the breeze was refreshing. Most importantly, they finally got to spend some time with each other. It has been a while since they''ve gone out for the sake of a walk. Garan''s deep azure eyes turned to his wife. Her hands entwined with his, her attention was fixed on looking around the new city. She was the embodiment of an avid sightseer. Her emerald eyes dilated occassionally, mouth parting a little when she saw something of interest. Very curious, and very cute. Garan felt guilty of not being able to give her this as often as he''d like. Althea always liked to explore and go to new places, and yet he couldn''t give it to her. He raised their hands and kissed her palm, cerulean eyes looking at her gorgeous emerald ones with apology and love. He always told himself it was for a stable future for their family, but a huge part of him felt he kept missing important things. If only he could divide himself, he would. She blinked under his hot stare and mouthed ''what?''. But instead of answering, he just smiled and shook his head. He simply raised her hand and placed the back of her hand against his lips. Althea''s eyebrows rose, curious, and her free hand found his stomach, knowing he had a ticklish spot there. He flinched as his lips twitched. This made her giggle and continue to ''attack'' him, thinking she could get him to tell her of his thoughts. (In fact, Garan did not have a ticklist spot at all, at least not after puberty, as his body was trained very thoroughly to not have many weaknesses. However, he was sure to play along with his wife every time.) Garan pretended to flinch so he could pull his wife flush on to him, making her gasp. His eyes darkened and he leaned down, ready to capture her lips. Before the two could go on an all-out PDA, however, the laughter of children approaching caught their attention. They were five children, very cute, and they were playing and laughing, oblivious to the world outside their own. They were so adorable that the very sight of them placed a smile on her face. But as one ran in their direction, trying to escape the ''it'' in their game of tag. He did not notice that there was a tile slightly ajar. Althea saw it though, and she immediately looked worried at the sight. "Oh no, watch out!" She uttered out. It was too late and the child fell down near them. Althea quickly got out of Garan''s grasp and she leaned down to help him up. His playmates also arrived next to them standing up next to the fallen child. The children gaped at her as she patted the dust off their cartoon jumpsuits. "Are you okay?" She asked, voice very gentle and soothing. "Yes. Thank you beautiful sister~" one child said. "Thank you beautiful sister~" The others repeated. She giggled and they blushed, scurrying off with their small feet after saying another milky thanks. Althea didn''t notice how her eyes warmed. "What lovely children¡­" "Hmmm," A voice sounded beside her, "You will make a good mother." He said as he placed his huge hand behind her waist. She chuckled as she returned to his embrace, also returning the compliment. "And you will make a good father." At this, he looked unsure, showing a rare silly expression on his face, making Althea''s lips twitch in both amusement and a little melancholic. "Oh, stop doubting. You''ll make a great father." She repeated, "You forget how you were when Ansel and I were growing up." She touched his chiseled chin with her soft hands, "Not many big brothers can be so patient." Garan still looked unsure. He didn''t have a father figure growing up as he was already grown up when he was adopted, joining the cadets shortly after. He really wasn''t confident that he would be a good father. "If they look like you¡­" he mumbled, after some thought. Althea rolled her eyes, but Garan''s eyes brightened as imagery of his words popped inside his head. Garan immediately began to see them with children. It was a lovely sight and his heart warmed just thinking about it. It wasn''t that he hadn''t imagined it before¡ªhe had already had an image of their family the moment he realized his feelings for her weren''t platonic. However, the images had never been so concrete, likely because subconsciously he had been afraid that they wouldn''t come true. But when the happy image passed by¡ªhe was carrying adorable daughters that looked exactly like his precious wife¡ªa breath of warm air in the cold winds surrounded his body. "Then, shall we try?" He asked, bringing her to him. How lovely would it be to create life with their own bodies? Further, with a child to accompany her, she would also have more pieces of him when he''s away. She giggled. "Hmmm." Garan''s eyes brightened at her agreement, and he almost carried her back to their hotel. And they did create a life that night, still two of them. ¡­____¡­____¡­____¡­ Altera Village, Present They immediately transferred Althea to the clinic with as much speed and care as they could give her. At this time, they already had wheeled hospital beds and Sheila pushed the bed to the operation area. Although the clinic had not yet opened officially, everything was already installed, cleaned, and settled. The clinic occupied four units and was large enough to serve twice the current population. For ease of movement, the emergency area was entirely on the ground floor, and they gently placed Althea in the outermost room. "Hnmmnn¡­." Althea groaned out as she gritted her teeth. Her whole body was drenched with sweat. Her eyebrows were furrowed deeply, her face red from pain, and her eyes threatening to pour out tears. She had not made another noise after that one heartbreaking scream. And the sight of her silent endurance was even more heartbreaking¡ªespecially for her team. Although pregnant, Althea had always been their anchor. Now that she appeared so vulnerable and was suffering like this, they all felt unbalanced and in pain. Lily came back after disinfecting everything. Disinfectants were something not yet developed with local materials, although it was an ongoing study by Althea herself. Lily happened to have alcohol in her space, and it was the last bottle. They had asked Oslo to make some tools with his ability. Although metal abilities were limited to black iron and could only last a few hours, it was better than nothing. Anyway, they wouldn''t insert the tools inside the wounds. Ideally, Althea will give birth naturally. Their current conditions just couldn''t support a caesarian section. If it was a caesarian section¡­ then there was really no guarantee. The news placed a heavy weight in everyone''s heart, terrified of what could happen to the bright, intelligent, beautiful woman that they knew. Sheila and the others closed their eyes and held their hands, praying for her to be okay. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 140 Birth The medical women stayed in the room to guide Althea through her birth, while the rest waited in the lobby restlessly. Oslo was walking back and forth outside of the room, Harold''s feet were continuously tapping, while Eugene was scratching his scalp too often¡­ It was hard to watch. With a sigh, Mathilda spoke up. "Althea is a strong woman. She''ll be fine." "Will she be really okay?" "Premature birth at this place¡ª" Everyone paled at the unspoken thoughts and they all looked at the locked door with eyes filled with concern. Although they were outsiders, Helios couldn''t help but add. "A few days ago, I was on the verge of dying. My wounds were bleeding nonstop, some of my innards could be seen." They stared at him, as if wanting to see his point. "I upgraded, and now I''m fine." The team stared at him, wondering what he was blabbering on about. Mathilda¡ªwho had known Althea for many years and had an instinct for her abilities¡ªwas relatively calmer and helped him out, "It meant the upgrade alone could guarantee her life." This made them relax a little, but their worried expressions didn''t subside. In the end, Harold sighed, "No one noticed?" He asked, feeling incredibly guilty. They lived together but none of them saw it. Were they too busy that they ignored such details? What kind of teammates were they?? Mathilda shook her head, stopping such negative thoughts from permeating. "The stomach doesn''t change much after the 8th month. Don''t blame yourself." Silence echoed along the waiting room, the only sound they could hear were the murmurs and hums inside the room. They would also occasionally hear Sheila''s reassuring voice, followed by Althea''s pained groans. It took many hours of silent tension before they heard Althea''s desperate cries again. Each tone gritted in their hearts, and the women felt teary. Palpable unease occupied the air and they could only pray as they listened to the intense suffering going on inside. Fortunately, it didn''t last long because they could soon hear a baby''s cry. Then¡­, came another. But they still did not breathe. It was only when Sheila came out of the room very sweaty and bloody, but with a relieved smile on her face. "Both mother and children are okay!" A wave of relief and happiness flowed in the room and they simultaneously heaved the breath they had been unconsciously holding back. Finally! ¡­ Althea was taken out of the ''operating room'' a few minutes later, to one of the private rooms. The people immediately converged to see but when they saw Althea was asleep, they did not bother her. However, they couldn''t help but take a look at the babies. The two babies were wrapped in the comfortable baby clothes Althea took a while back. They had prepared it for this day, they just didn''t think it would be so early. They were gorgeous babies, plump and white. Their eyes were large and wise, and their smiles were infectious. They didn''t have the usual wrinkled face of newborns, and looked incredibly beautiful from the get-go. It was as if they had been completely nourished in the womb. Betty said they might be able to see already. "Pretty!" Maya said and little Theo nodded in agreement. Harold had only brought the two children in the past hour or so, not wanting them to suffer too long with them. "Daddy, Daddy, are they my new brothers and sisters?" Harold patted the children''s head with a smile. The two children grinned and ran back to the bed, watching the babies'' every movement with apt fascination. One baby¡ªthe boy¡ªblowed a saliva bubble and it popped a few seconds than it normally would. This was enough to impress the children. "Wowwww." Maya said, awed, then she turned to the other baby who was giving her a toothless smile. "Hey, she laughed at me!" "Wooowwwssoooocuteee." The innocence of the children let them let out a breath of relief, and they looked at each other. After so long, they finally found smiles on their faces. ¡­ Sometime later, after seeing the situation stabilize, neither uncle nor nephew could stay. They politely said goodbye to the others. "Are you sure you won''t stay? I''m cooking a celebratory dinner tonight." Harold said as he accompanied them out the door. The pair looked at each other and smiled, but shook their heads in the end. They were not so thick-skinned as to join such a tight-knit party on such an intimate occasion. "Well, thank you. We owe you." "We didn''t do much. We only took her in because she and Oslo saved our lives and did our jobs." Harold nodded, "Well, if you need anything, just knock on our doors." "Thanks." On the other side, Althea was moved to one of the two private rooms of the clinic. Seeing her peacefully asleep, the team took turns holding the children. They just couldn''t stop staring. How could children be so beautiful like angels the moment they were born? As she carried one of the children, Sheila couldn''t help but recall the mysteries from earlier. Now that she had regained some calm, she had finally remembered these issues. She turned to the NPCs, especially Betty. "Does this happen all the time? I mean pregnant women''s gestation period shortening due to upgrades." Betty was taken aback at the question and shook her head, "Of course not. Although not unheard of, it''s quite rare. In the town I lived in, I only heard of it happening once. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "In my knowledge, it wasn''t to this¡­ degree either. At most, just one or two months advanced." Betty told them, "There were rumors that they simply got pregnant before marriage." The Terrans looked at Betty in curiosity. "Then can you tell us more?" "Yes, because it was such a rare case, it was studied by experts." she said, carefully remembering what she knew, "It was found that certain children growing up during upgrades could absorb energy¡ªaether." "How does it affect Althea?" "Had Althea not been pregnant, her upgrade would be even more pronounced. Not in terms of level, because experience gained from monsters is constant, but in attributes." "Her physical improvement could''ve been stronger?" Sheila voiced out a bit shocked. You must know that although Althea never told them of the attribute she got, the fact that she was so much stronger than them meant that she was getting higher attributes for the same level. "Are there conditions when this happens?" "The cases are too few to make a conclusion. However, there is a hypothesis. "The case from my old town was the case of the lord''s daughter, who was a rare talented woman. She got married to one of the princes of Holt City, a known genius in his generation. "They were quite famous as top talents of their generation." She said, "So it could be related to this." "Hence, the consensus was that this probably happens when both parents have excellent genes." She paused, looking at their lord''s first companions before her eyes shifted to two of the most angelic little babies she had ever seen. She was very curious. "May I ask?" She began, "Who''s the father?" Chapter 141 An Inch Closer Aberdeen City, 19 years ago He had just gone back from work when the 11-year-old Garan was met with a chubby brown-haired boy. In his hand was a pink paper bag, and inside it was a stuffed toy to accompany that small dog stuffed toy of hers. Plushies should be big enough to be hugged, he thought, and she ought to have a much larger one than the old one that could fit in her small pocket. Because of the gift, he took overtime work and took even more time to buy it, so he was a few hours late in getting back than usual. He ran home excitedly afterward, looking forward to his Angel''s smiling face. "Garan! Garan! Big news!!" The boy ran to him with his usual energy, but this time he was frowning and looked a little sad. "Garan! Althea is gone!" The little chubby boy¡ªBeany¡ªsaid, looking at him with pity. But his pitiful look soon turned to fear. "What? What do you mean??" Garan grabbed Bean''s shoulder, unconsciously pressing to the bone. The younger boy''s eyes flinched in pain, squeaking, "She¡­ she got adopted, just today!" "WHAT?!" The younger boy flinched, startled. "Well, actually the parents seemed decent¡ª" Garan''s dark face did not subside. Poor little Bean didn''t know how to escape safely from this guy''s claws. Garan''s breath was heavy, unsure how to absorb this sudden fact. He whipped his head and glared at the innocent Bean. "What happened?!" Scared, poor Bean''s young mind just told him to tell everything he had seen. "Althea was crying, looking for you everywhere." He gulped and almost screamed when he saw Garan''s face getting darker and darker. "The principal tried to pull her somewhere else, but she was crying so miserably that the visiting couple saw her." "They found her lovely and it broke their hearts to see her crying. It happened that the couple was looking for someone to adopt." Garan looked at him, and he continued telling him what he knew. Pitiful Little Bean gulped again in nervousness. "They promised her t-that if she behaved well, you would come see her. That''s all I know." Bean took a deep breath after finishing and tried to reassure this wild beast of a friend. "They looked very sincere." Garan frowned and clenched his fist. It wasn''t that he didn''t want her to find a good family, but he was angry he wasn''t there when she found one. He wasn''t even able to say goodbye to her? He still had so much candy saved up to give her little by little for fear she''d ruin her teeth¡­ He turned to Bean. "Did you get their address?" "Not, exactly, but the headmistress should have it." Garan frowned and turned, his feet automatically taking him to the headmistress. Then, suddenly, he felt extreme pain in his body¡ªso extreme that his legs gave way, and he fell strongly face-first on the floor. He didn''t even feel the pain from the fall; the sudden grip on his heart felt so much more painful. "Oi! Garan! What''s wrong with you?!" . . . A few minutes later, every news outlet would report that a terrorist attack happened in a certain children''s mall, killing hundreds of people, most of whom were children. _____ Present. Garan glared at the fog in front of him, thinking that it was the obstacles that had kept her from Althea back then. He finally reached the fog and entered again, but came back out where he entered a moment later. He frowned but continued doing so anyway, over and over again. For the nth time, he stepped out exactly where he came in. His fists clench, heart heavy and depressed. He wouldn''t be so helpless again, would he? In fact, he hadn''t found that terrorist group yet, even after all these years¡ª That group of bastards took joy in forcing terror into people''s hearts, destroying worlds, ruining people''s lives. He almost lost his world back then, and he could still remember the despair that he felt. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea was said to be the only one to survive in that area, and miraculously only a part of her back received some burns. It was just that even if it was relatively lucky, a wound was a wound, pain was pain, and it broke his heart regardless. He could still remember her pale bloodied face when he saw her at the hospital even at this moment. Althea still had that damned scar on her back. It was a large scar that extended from her lower back to her hip. Every time he saw it, his determination to get rid of all scum strengthened. At the same time, he was reminded that he had to be so strong no one could stop him from seeing her again. He would protect her from any sort of harm, he had vowed back then. And he had indeed protected her well, especially after she couldn''t get adopted afterward. This was because both the adoptive parents died in the accident, and she was tagged unlucky because of it. She was called a jinx, turned into an outcast, and was bullied when he was at work. He tried bringing her to work, but it didn''t always work, and he often lost his job because of it. This was primarily because working at his young age was illegal, and bringing her to work highlighted that fact. Other than him and Beany, she didn''t have any friends. She focused much of her affection on plants, obsessed, to the point of poisoning herself trying to explore their world. So no matter how beautiful a child she was, no one dared to adopt her until many years later. While it was a good thing for him in the end, he couldn''t help but feel unfair to her. His Althea was so good..., no one had the right to reject her, it could only be the other way around. And now¡­, Garan held his chest where his constricting heart was. He could feel that something happened to her again, and this time nothing could stop him. His sharp cerulean eyes glared at the mysterious cloud in front of him. He would not lose; Not this time. ¡­. For the nth time, he tried entering the ominous cloud again, to no avail. "Boss? What''s going on?" It was Gill, and a few others. They were tasked to follow the boss and help him with whatever he suddenly had to deal with. One could imagine their shock to see their usual cool and composed captain suddenly turning pale and terrified, darting in the direction of the cloud. But when he suddenly yelled sister-in-law''s name, things suddenly made sense. Only Althea could break all the walls around the captain, making him forget everything else. Garan, drenched in sweat, just stared at them for a moment before shaking his head. "Go away." He said. "This has nothing to do with you." "But captain¨C" Vanessa stepped forward, looking gentle. "Captain, please have some water, we¡ª Garan raised his right hand and a spear of ice appeared. He quickly threw it into the fog, but a second later it turned back to him. Swish! He avoided it, but there was now a line of blood on his cheek. "Boss! Are you okay?" Garan unceremoniously wiped the blood and looked at his soldiers seriously. "You can see that the cloud is returning my attacks right? Still want to stand there?" "..." Seeing them unmoving, Garan sighed. "I''m just trying to get inside in advance. It''s my personal effort and has nothing to do with the team. You being here won''t help me." He paused, "There''s no need to waste your time here. I am enough." He didn''t know if more people would affect his work negatively and he''d rather not risk it. Gill and the others looked at each other, reluctantly nodded, and stood several meters away to safety. Garan saw that they were far enough and this time raised his hand to produce metal. He tried sending spikes but this time he avoided them with ease, then he produced much smaller metals, like pellets. His metal element, unlike the black iron of others, was closer to steel. It could also last longer. If it was small enough and he used all his strength, he could even conjure a small piece of metal that wouldn''t disintegrate afterwards. It was what he used to make Althea''s space stone accessory. It was very strong, superior to the stainless steel found in Terran. Similarly, these pellets were such things. He threw them inside the fog, but unfortunately, they all came back to attack him in turn. He frowned, trying a few more things until he determined continuing to do so was pointless. Giving up on using his ability, he just went in the fog over and over and over again. Over and over. And over and over until the bright sky revealed the two moons. "Boss, boss!" "What is it? I won''t stop." He said but Gill''s eyes were bright. "That''s not what I meant, boss!" He raised an eyebrow. Gill grinned. "We counted. After hundreds of tries, you last a little longer inside than before!" It was only a few seconds, but after so many times they could finally notice it to count. Garan''s blue eyes brightened and he whipped his head to the cloud. He smiled at this realization and a bit of hope, his plummeting spirit rising a bit. Immediately, he darted back in. And again, and again. It didn''t matter how small it was, as long as he was getting closer. Every tenth of an inch taken was still a tenth of an inch closer. ''I''m coming, Althea. Please be alright.'' Chapter 142 Recovery Aberdeen City, 2 years ago. "That BASTARD!" The beautiful Althea uncharacteristically cursed out loud, voice cracking from crying, talking to no one in particular. That JERK ran out during their honeymoon and he came back all broken? And she couldn''t even hit him!! All kinds of violent thoughts ran through Althea''s brain, all while both of her hands were busy wiping her tears and snot. The middle-aged woman beside her smiled and patted her head, not calling her out for her duplicity. "Dear child, he''s going to be alright¡­" Althea''s red eyes stared at the older woman, filled with sadness. "Mother¡­ he¡ª" Not knowing what to say, she just buried her head to the older woman''s shoulder. "Why¡­ why does he do this to himself? Isn''t it nice to just play peacefully here? With me?" "Dear child, you know very well what kind of person Garan is." She said, continuing to comfort the young woman. She gently patted the girl''s head, not minding how wet her shirt was becoming. "However, I know for certain that you mean the most to him," she told Althea, "And he wouldn''t want you to be so sad¡­" Althea lifted hear head and looked at her bitterly. "He should stop getting himself killed, then!" She swore: She wouldn''t talk to him until he swore never to get hurt again! ¡­ When they were called to the ICU because the patient was awake, only Alicia came in. Althea stepped back and just watched his damned pitiful self in the bed. Mother and Garan exchanged a few words for a little while, and Althea whipped her head to look away when the two looked over the door in her direction. Soon, the older woman left the room to give space to the couple. Seeing that Althea was not taking a step into the threshold, Alicia smiled and gently pushed her in, to the latter''s chagrin. Althea did not meet the man''s smiling eyes. She refused to. "Still angry?" He asked gently, a smile on his face. Jerk. Still had the heart to smile, seeing me like this, eh? Jerk jerk jerk "Don''t be angry, I''ll be in pain you see¡­ouch.." Then he flinched looking in pain. Althea also flinched, but with clenched fists she did not turn her head to him, trying very hard not to budge. Garan smiled, finding it cute. He watched with fond eyes as she just sat on the chair with arms crossed, not looking at him at all. He could stare at her pout all day long. However, he worried that the anger would affect her health, so he did not do so in the end. "I''m sorry, wife." He said, very sincerely. "You''ve been wronged." She whipped her head to glare at him. "You''re obviously the one in pain!" Garan struggled to extend his hand. It looked laborious to do but he did not put it down until she took it. Althea really couldn''t bear his struggle so she succumbed and did as he wanted. He tightened his grip on her, at least as tight as his current strength allowed. "I know. But my pain saddens you so." "I had promised not to hurt you when I asked you to marry me. Now I''m making you cry¡­" He whispered, his deep baritone voice now with a hint of coarseness. "I''m sorry." "Hmph! You''re indeed a liar." She said, trying to keep the tears at bay. Her eyes ended up on his bandaged upper torso. She didn''t see it herself because the initial treatments wasn''t in this hospital, but she heard it was so bad that his innards were exposed. "You were injured so badly, I¡ª" "Your husband has a very strong body. You should know." Garan had wanted to soften the atmosphere with an innuendo. He even chuckled at the sight of her snot. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Don''t laugh!" She scolded, "Why do you keep treating this as a joke?" She felt extremely annoyed, "See if I get injured like you instead¡ª" Unexpectedly, his eyes turned red as she uttered these words, looking absolutely livid. "STOP! Don''t say it!!" He bellowed, shocking her soul out. Althea froze, not expecting such a strong reaction. "Garan?" She choked, startled by his violent reaction. She saw him struggling with something, as if shaking in fear. Althea was too young at the time and didn''t remember most of the events. How could she know the impact of those words? Alarm from the machine blared and her eyes widened. She quickly pressed the emergency button. "Nurse! Nurse!" A group of doctors and nurses rushed into the room, and she was led out of the room. She watched as they pulled him out of the ICU and to the operating room. Althea shivered as she stood blankly in front of the operating room, showing signs of hyperventilation. Alicia ran to her, embracing her as soon as she was in arm''s reach. "What happened?" "I¡­I''m not sure¡­" It was around this time that another person stepped next to them. It was Gill, and he had been moping around in silence all this time. "Sister-in-law¡­ It was my fault. I was careless and he saved me. Don''t get mad at him." "It''s¡­ it''s not your fault, Gill." She said weakly, still confused. "It was me who seemed to have said s-something¡­. something that stimulated him." At the memory, she soon entered another flurry of panic. Her breathing became irregular and the tears started to flow up even more. Alicia held her tighter and patted her back, trying to calm her down. "What did you say?" Althea looked passively and just told her their last conversation. Mother just patted her hand, unaware of the reason for the strong stimulation, but surprisingly it was Gill who spoke regarding it. "I may know this." He said, making the two women turn their heads to him. "When we were drinking, he told me about a terrorist group he''d been tracking for years." He paused, looking at Althea. "What is this group? What does it have to do with¡­ this." Gill pursed his lips. "It seemed that you got into a life-threatening accident as a child because of them. It was an open scar and¡­ I feel that one of his major motivations as a soldier was to get rid of this particular scum." Althea pursed her lips, her long eyelashes feathered over her green eyes, trying to hold back a new set of tears. For hours after that, she only looked at the Operating room door with a blank face. Even with the turbulent emotions brewing inside her, none of it showed in her face anymore, and no one disturbed her thoughts. Her deep emerald eyes looked at the red light of the operating room with deep determination. That day, she swore¡­ She swore that he would never see her hurt, ever. ________________________ [17 days of Protection Period] Althea opened her eyes to see an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. Her body felt like it was hit by a log and proceeded to be rolled on by it. "Uhhh¡­" she mumbled, her hand habitually creeping to her stomach to feel her babies. But she froze as she did so. Why was it flat?! Her eyes widened immediately, and sat up by instinct. But the movement was so sudden that she felt dizzy, her back falling on the bed again. It took a moment of staring blankly into the wooden ceiling, but eventually the reality of everything that happened finally dawned on her. It was about this time that the door slid open, revealing a young-looking woman with dark blonde hair entering with a wooden tray, likely containing her medicine. The woman¡ªwhom she recognized as the newest NPC Betty¡ªplaced the tray on the table, before turning to look at her. She blinked, startled, at seeing her awake, before she broke into a relieved smile. "You''re awake, my lord." she said, turning to the medicine to hand it over to her. "Betty." Althea uttered weakly, looking around the room. Where were her babies? Betty saw this and explained. "The others should be coming back soon." She said, "They often stay here after working hours." Betty said. After so many days, Betty still couldn''t help but marvel at the concept of ''working hours'' and she felt a bit amused when she used it herself. "As for the children¡­" she paused, smiling, and stood up. She went out of the room without saying another word and a moment later, she and Lily came in carrying two children. Even just seeing them from afar, Althea was filled with warmth and love. The closer they got, it felt as she was swimming in hot springs. They were tiny little balls of cuteness, wrapped in differing colors of silk cloth she managed to hoard back in Terran. So soft and adorable to look at, and she couldn''t wait but hold them in her arms. The baby boy had her emerald orbs, and the little girl inherited her father''s cerulean eyes. Both were equally very beautiful. The babies raised their heads at the same time and her green eyes met the largest and loveliest eyes in the universe. They gave her simultaneous toothless grin and giggles and her heart felt like it melted into a puddle. Just like that, she felt her whole body and her soul recovered. Chapter 143 Little Meatball and Little Pepper Althea cradled her babies in her arms, her eyes filled with warmth and love. She watched all their movements closely, every twitch of their fingers, every toothless grin they made, every sound they uttered¡­ all imprinted into memory. She felt so very happy and so blessed at the moment. However, she soon realized the differences in her babies. She had seen newborns before, but her babies seemed like they were a few months old already? They not only looked much fuller than newborns, they were already able to move more, and express themselves a little more. ¡­should she be worried? However, while a little concerned, she told herself that as long as they were healthy, that was all that mattered in the end. "My lovely babies." She said softly, leaning down and smooching their soft chubby cheeks. The baby boy squirmed in her arms and suddenly giggled. His tiny hand raised to grab the empty air above him. His laughter filled the room with infectious joy. The little boy gurgled all of a sudden, and so much saliva flowed out of his mouth. She couldn''t help but giggle. "You''re not going to be a little troublemaker, are you?" She asked. She would never admit it, but if he was then he''d have inherited it from her. In contrast, the little girl lied still in her arms, her big blue eyes focused on her mother''s face. Her expression was alert and curious, as if already exploring the world around her. "My, what a smart baby." She said, kissing the baby''s little forehead. Feeling her attention on another, the little boy continued to wiggle in her arms letting out a series of adorable baby noises. "So silly¡­" She giggled, kissing the boy on the cheek. At the side, the young-looking Betty watched with warmth and envy. She was already in her 40s, and she was starting to long for her own children. Too bad she couldn''t find someone to settle with. At the same time, she felt relieved. Such a loving Lord¡­ who wouldn''t want one? ¡­ Later that afternoon, the NPCs, along with Sheila, Harold, and the kids came to visit together. They all had some fruits and other easy-to-digest food with them. (As for Fufi, he was apparently still outside the territory with the guards team, killing his heart out.) Their eyes brightened at the sight of her awake and looking well despite looking a bit pale. "How are you boss?" Sheila asked as soon as their eyes met, with the nurse sitting on the side of the bed. Althea smiled. "I''m fine now, it just came as a bit of a shock," she said, playing with her babies. Sheila''s eyes brightened at the sight of the cute babies. "Oh hello babies~~" She goaded, followed by the others. The infants blinked cutely and turned their heads to the ''noise''. They babbled in response, as if trying to reply to them. They were so adorable that all the adults turned into mush. Oslo couldn''t help but step forward and want to lift her up, but the little girl turned her head making some weird sound, her chubby cheek a bit puffier than usual. "A feisty little one, eh?" Oslo mumbled, before turning to the pale beautiful woman on the bed. "What''re their names, Milord?" Unexpectedly, Sheila and the others whipped their heads to him with questioning glares, making him flinch. Oslo was very confused at their reaction. Did he say something wrong? He obviously had a point?? Harold, Sheila, and Eugene looked at Althea guardedly as she mused of names. She seemed in a daze in thought. Realizing everyone was staring at her, she cleared her throat. "I¡­ I want to wait for my husband." This made Sheila and the other''s shoulder slump in relief. The poor things definitely dodged embarrassing names with this! "What about nicknames my lord?" The oh-so-dense Oslo continued to ask, making them glare at him. But then they thought it was only nicknames so it could be silly. With that thought, they decided to loosen up, and looked at Althea in curiosity, wondering what nicknames she''d end up giving the babies. "Nicknames, eh?" She looked at her first-born first, the pudgy little boy staring at the ceiling. He was a little twitchy with his little butt moving all the time. If he could roll, it was estimated he''d be rolling until he felt tired. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her lips twitched, deciding on a nickname. "Little Meatball." The others cackled. So cute. And true to their expectations, the nicknames were silly. And had a lot to do with food¡­ "As for my baby girl¡­" Althea paused, seriously thinking, using her big brain to come up with a magnificent nickname for her child. And the child, as if sensing her stare, the little girl tilted her head up to meet her eyes. Emerald eyes met azure ones, and Althea''s heart melted into puddle (for the nth time that day). She concluded that the little one was very brave and quite feisty, and she quickly thought of a fitting name for her. "Little Pepper." She said,gently tapping the girl''s cute nose. "My little Pepper." Sheila and the others giggled at this. "Ah~ It kinda suits them!" She said. For nicknames, the boss'' naming sense wasn''t too bad after all. What a relief. Althea smiled, a little proud of her naming sense not being judged this time. She looked at the babies and placed them in her laps, tickling them and enticing some milky giggles. "Did you like it?" She asked them, and they gave her a toothless grin in response. She thought her husband would also like the nickname. He had good taste, always liking what she came up with. At the thought of her husband though, her smile subsided a bit. With a bit of heartache, she hugged the children, letting their softness heal her heart. ''Ah, my love.'' She mused, looking out the translucent window in melancholy. ''I wish you could see this.'' Chapter 144 Status of the Territory The atmosphere was very soft and cuddly for a while, until Althea turned her head to look at the NPCs. She knew they not only came here to check on her, but also to make reports. If she had really been out for a few days, then a lot of things must''ve happened in between. "How''s the territory?" The NPCs looked at each other before nodding. It was Oslo, who oversaw the construction, that spoke first. "The constructions you planned are all on schedule." He said. "There were many requests for stalls after the farms, including the rented farms, have been harvested of their crops." Oslo couldn''t help but marvel at the sheer variety of crops in the territory. Each one still had specific sets of processing methods, with a lot of the end products and food items he had never seen before. Harold saw Oslo had entered a daze and smiled, continuing the story. "People also understood which plants were edible. Combined with our raw materials, sauces, and condiments, basically, food culture has begun to revive. "The territory had no lack of meat either, as at least a third of our citizens as well as the guards always manage to fill up their spaces with animal carcasses. They had a whole market for themselves, and had their own area where people would go to get their meat. "Anyway, plenty of stalls have already begun to pop up around the territory. We temporarily placed them on the roads before the commercial streets with an affordable fee of 5 copper a day. We also allowed some stalls to be built on specific places in the main square, though at a more expensive 10 copper per day." S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the mention of the stalls, Betty couldn''t help but comment a bit excitedly. "Ah, yes, I''ve been there. The variety of products was incredibly fascinating," She couldn''t help but gush as they talked about it, as she really truly, enjoyed her walk amongst the stalls. She had never done so much shopping in a village before. "The food was delicious, my Lord. Much of the food I haven''t seen before. Your people are amazing." "That''s good to hear." She said, although she was a bit surprised. How many days had it been since the grocery store opened? So many people opened businesses already? To the point of legitimate and complete marketplaces popping up? "The factories, inns, and utilities are on track. They should be put to use within a few days." Oslo said, still reeling in fascination at the functions of these buildings. Truly, every day in here felt like he was somehow getting closer to a professional upgrade. Althea heard their updates and was greatly relieved. "That''s great, thank you." "How about the strength of the citizens?" "Well, the people had been going beyond the required hours of hunting. This was after they saw the strength of mobs and how we could damage them with our own strengths." Even those who had been hiding away were inspired. They defeated such a strong mob¡ªmuch, much, bigger than the ones they encountered before¡ªand yet they came out alive and stronger. It just gave people hope. "Also, a lot of people are still talking about the elementalists. It was very cool." Oslo and Rowan couldn''t help but feel a bit embarrassed. "The Training Hall also worked well." Sheila added, "Harold and I mastered our skills and gained quite a bit of experience the past few days." As she said so, she leaned down a bit, gently poking a baby''s adorable belly. "It''s so useful, people will flock to it if it''s known. I suggest increasing the price to 10 contributions per hour." "Okay," Althea said with a smile, very open to suggestions. "Anything else?" "A few more refugees have arrived." It was Rowan who spoke this time, "A few hundred was counted in a single batch." Harold recalled seeing this group, and he couldn''t help but gossip a bit. "Their story was quite tragic, there were thousands of them in the territory, but less than half survived." "Not only this but¡­ I heard a lot of atrocities happened, even amongst Terrans. It was disgusting." He had heard of territories that had already taken advantage of the power differences, making brethren suffer no less than the monsters outside the fence. "The more people, the more bad apples." Sheila pursed her lips, "Our territory only has a few hundred people right? I can''t imagine thousands." "It''s normal for other territories to have more people." Eugene said after a little analysis. "When this territory was established it had already been days after the transfer. Most people would choose to build a safe space as soon as they had the token in their hands." "By the time Altera was built, a lot of people had already settled in other territories." Althea continued, "There is also location, there should be no one that got teleported here. This could be seen that after the first batch, everyone else were refugees from other fallen territories." Harold looked at them and sighed, "One percent of Terrans survived the initial disaster. Why are there so many people still dying? "I can''t imagine what happens when the protection period is over." He said, "I hope more people survive this ordeal." A moment of silence passed by. Before becoming part of Altera, the NPCs wouldn''t have cared much about the ''poor people outside''. The culture they grew up with was the survival of the fittest, to focus on one''s own survival. How things changed in a few weeks¡­ "Well. We''ll just have to make a territory that could welcome them well." Althea said, breaking the silence. She hugged her children closer to her, feeling their warmth a bit more. "Wherever they come from, as long as they have the heart to contribute, they are welcome." She couldn''t help but look at her giggling children with a smile. It was as if all these tragedies didn''t happen. In their minds, it really hadn''t. "No matter how injured and broken¡ª "My wish is that our territory¡­will give them a place to recover. Anyone. Without judgment." She turned to look at the babies who turned their heads to her. "Aren''t I right?" And they smiled, and she knew she was doing the right thing. Chapter 145 Cynicism (Part 1) A few kilometers away from Altera another group of refugees had formed, heading towards its direction. It was a group of about a hundred or so people, all covered in blood and grime, with their clothes mostly torn, making them look extremely pitiful. As they dragged their legs forward, their backs were slumped, movement lethargic. After going through such long struggle, their overall disposition had become depressing. Some of these people''s eyes were already dead, just walking along with the crowd. Some could still fight the mobs that they encountered, while most would just stand by as the monsters came. If it weren''t for a new group of ''guards'' guiding them to a new territory, half of them would''ve already perished ages ago. So now they were following these guards, but with very low expectations. Jun and his family were one of these people. The were amongst the few that had just escaped the disaster of their territory. While they were thankful for being saved, they were a little unimpressed by the newcomers¡ªeven if they were indeed guarding their safeties. Don''t get them wrong¡ªthey were incredibly thankful for them saving their group, but they couldn''t help but think these guards were just guiding them to their territory in order to milk them for their remaining money. After all, it wasn''t the first time it had happened. The previous territory did so, and when they got to the territory they charged exorbitant amounts for ''guarding fees''. But that territory had been destroyed by the beast tide and he witnessed hundreds of deaths in a single night. However, he was also one of the rare few who had kept their entire family of three and, for that alone, he was thankful enough. After all, they had gone through two territories already¡ªand both gave him a lasting negative impression of these supposed ''safe havens''. But what could they do? They were only small humans¡ªtheir existences were so small; they could only make do with what they could find. The first one was breached the day they arrived, a few hours after they bought the residency. It was like the beast tide just waited for them to arrive. In retrospect, perhaps it did. From supposition, it seemed upgrading a territory had to do with population growth. Similarly, an upgrade could also mean an attack to the territory. He learned this the hard way, because he witnessed the fall of two territories, each time losing bulks of their already small wealth. In the first territory, they lost nearly all their money. In that village, the monthly payment and food for housing alone was 1 gold per person, to be paid upfront. At the time, 3 gold and a few silver was all they had. However, thinking that it was for the survival of their family of three, they naturally paid for it. However, that same night, it was attacked by hordes of monsters. It failed to defend and fell relatively quickly. Their money, gone in a few hours. However, they had their lives and all their limbs, which was still infinitely better than others. So they gritted their teeth and did their best to escape. They saw how many people died, but they pushed through with their wits and luck, eventually finding another territory soon after. He could still remember the feeling of relief when they found a new territory after the tragedy of their first one. But it was not without sadness and despair, because the entire family was broke. But, again, they still had each other. They thought this one must not be worse than the first, right? The second one they managed to stay for several days, long enough to meet the lord there. It was indeed a lot better, but they still struggled, especially since they only had a few silver and copper left in their pockets. There were restaurants, weapons stores, armory stores, and houses. It was fine, much better than living in the wild. It was just that there were thousands of people there, and most could not afford the few built houses in the territory. They had no choice but to just build flimsy straw and wooden houses themselves, joining a slum area formed at the edges of the village. It was so dense that they barely had a square meter of space for themselves. Worse: because of the density, the cacophony of noise was stressful and the mixture of body odor could kill. This was especially made worse by the fact that¡ªunderneath all the blood and grime accummulated since the Transfer¡ªmost of them still had the zombie grime from back in Terran. He felt their brains died from the smell alone. The people didn''t have access to the standard utilities either, every inch of soil had trash and human waste. It was disgusting and he stepped on feces more than once a day, but it was their life, and the family still had each other. How dare they complain? The food was also expensive and even if they worked the whole day cleaning the territory they could only afford a tasteless meal for one at the restaurant. One meal, for the three of them. The restaurant gruel was also the only source of water there. Fortunately, many of the plants and fruits were edible so the three of them managed to live. It was just that they had to go outside to gather, because gathering resources inside had a huge cost¡­ However, compared to living in the woods ready to be mauled by those monsters any time, they really had no complaints. They were a very optimistic family. It was just that that one got breached too and their little hope for a decent life was crushed to ashes. This last territory was breached by a large beast tide filled with level 2 monsters. There were only a dozen level 3s in the territory, most of whom guarded the lord alone. The people were left defenseless as soon as the walls fell, which frankly didn''t last long at all. Several hundreds of people were slaughtered, just like that. He and his family escaped because it was already their second territory. A similar light happened just before the beast tide that destroyed their first territory, and his instincts rang alarm bells inside him and he forced his family to be prepared to leave at any time. At the time, he and his wife spent almost all of their remaining wealth to stock up on food and weapons¡­ which wasn''t much, but it was better than nothing. And now¡­ they were heading to their third territory. He no longer had any expectations. The tragic experiences he had with territories were fresh in his mind, to the point of cynicism. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was the same with everyone else in their group. And who could blame them? Life here just really, really, sucked. Chapter 146 Cynicism (Part 2) They were a group of a hundred-plus people, some familiar, and some unfamiliar. The past few days were incredibly dangerous, and they encountered many small mobs along the way. Fortunately, most who had survived for so long had already killed one or two monsters, and their survival rate was higher than when they just arrived here. It was that time that they met this group of so-called guards and no one died anymore. They traversed the forest with relative peace, as the guards dealt with the mobs they attracted with relative ease. As they walked, he couldn''t help but notice a little boy¡ªa somber and quiet child¡ªwordlessly following at the back of group. After a while of observation, he realized the boy was alone. And¡­ Jun was quite certain he wasn''t with the original group. Did he join them halfway? He patted his wife''s shoulder to tell her he was going somewhere, pointing in a direction. She looked at the boy curiously but didn''t follow, simply holding their daughter''s hand as they continued to trek. Jun walked slower than others, soon ending up near the little boy not older than his own daughter. "Hello there," He said with a smile. But the boy''s frown seemed frozen on his face. He blinked and walked in front of the boy, and the boy stopped just before hitting him. He smiled, slightly bending to the little boy''s level. He gently asked, "Are you with anyone?" The boy shook his head. "Want to come with us?" He shook his head again. The guards of their potential third territory saw the exchange and approached them. Jun watched them as they walked closer. Despite the clumsiness of a few guards, the others seemed quite well-trained and very confident. However, while their bearing somewhat impressed him, he still did not have much of an expectation for this new territory. "The territory is building an orphanage," the guard said, "We can handle him if there''s no one to take him in." An orphanage? Really? He was a little surprised and apprehensive. People bothered with orphanages? In this situation? The guard saw his cynicism but didn''t call it out. "You''ll see," was all he said, and the topic was killed as such. Another hour passed by and he saw the guards looking around. Jun followed their sights and saw markings. "We''re almost there." One of the guards told them with a reassuring smile, as if noticing their tension. He felt a little dazed, as most of the guards from the previous territories were haughty and didn''t take moneyless people like them in their eyes, especially now that they didn''t have one clean spot in their bodies. Their group of one hundred people huddled together as they walked closer and closer to the new territory. "What do you think this one will be like?" Billy asked him. Jun looked at the middle-aged man with a sigh. Billy, along with a few others, had traveled with him all the way from the first territory. While they had lost a lot of people along the way, they also followed him for an early escape. Strictly speaking, they''ve been through three territories together and naturally had the same reservations. There was no way. They suffered too much. Not to mention, they really weren''t strong enough to be able to live well with just their strengths. While some of them reached level 2s after escaping, most of the others were still level 1. It wasn''t that there were no brave adventurous souls that aimed to strengthen themselves by training. But the monsters here were really¡­ abnormal, to say the least. Dealing with them without proper guidance and expertise would pretty much mean certain death. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. They couldn''t help but wonder if they''d still be occupying the bottom of the pyramid in this place? However, they soon forgot about their worries when the guards stopped in their tracks. They didn''t absorb it at first until they caught sight of the fence. No, not a fence. A wall. As they looked up at the more than three-meter tall wall in front of them, as if impenetrable. There were also menacing towers every hundred meters, ready to attack enemy landing within their range. The refugees couldn''t help but look at each other, eyes wide with disbelief. It felt a bit¡­safe? ¡­ [You have entered Altera Village (Lv2)! Please pay the entrance fee of 5 copper.] "Only five copper?" Everyone was surprised. The previous entrance fees alone were at least 10, the last one even asked for 50¡­ After paying immediately, as if afraid it would suddenly change, the group soon stepped into the gate. Beyond the gate wasn''t something they expected to see. It was still a vast forest, but the road was very wide. There was even a delineation of carriageways and sidewalks and even greening in-between. The greening was still planned well using permeable pavements and soil around the tree in consideration of its growth. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was no urban planner, but his uncle was. This was definitely a sign of forward-thinking. "What about residency? Can you tell us more?" Jun asked the guard politely, peeking out of his guarded shell that had been afraid of expecting anything. "I mean, how much and how does it work?" He added. Though he didn''t have much money yet¡ªonly a few silver and a few hundred copper now¡ªit was best to know early. "Residency is now done in the Village Center. Temporary residency is only 1 silver and it is valid for 1 month." The guard said. "Permanent residency is a bit expensive though, at 10 gold. But I hear you can waive this fee if you exchange a certain amount of contribution points. "Renting and buying housing will also be done in the village center. Don''t worry I''ll take you there." The guard said very naturally, as if it was no big deal, but the people gaped at him in response. The amounts alone echoed in their ears. So cheap!! Although permanent residency was indeed expensive, it was still cheaper than others. Not to mention there was an alternate way to pay. "What''s a contribution point?" He asked as he followed the group along the wide carriage way. To be honest such a large road surrounded by lush trees looked oddly beautiful, like a stairway to heaven. "If you do tasks for the territory, say killing beast waves during the beast tide, you can earn it. You keep the experience and the copper from the kill, so basically you double your earnings." "A lot of people got rich during the last beast tide," He paused with a chuckle, recalling a couple of memories. "I hear some people wishing it would happen more often." The refugees looked at him as if he was an alien. What they''ve been hearing so far tugged some strings in their hearts. But their now-cynical natures prevented them from being too excited. However, soon they started hearing chatters and noises and a lively crowd greeted them¡­ along with sumptuous aromas that absolutely killed their stomachs. Wait, sumptuous aromas? No¡­ right? They asked all these in disbelief, but their legs were moving much faster than before, hoping to find the sources of the chatter and aroma. And what they saw next made them believe they were dreaming. The pinched themselves and pinched each other. Someone even pinched too hard and earned himself a knuckle on the head. Whatever it was the pain ensured them they were very much awake, and yet they still couldn''t believe what they were seeing in the end. This is¡­ impossible, right??? Chapter 147 Hope Emerging from the frame of the serene forest, the scene opened up to a lively market place, set within the wide sidewalks. There were stalls, dozens of them, surrounded by many patrons, showing off various goods¡ªmany of which they never thought they''d see again. There were scores and scores of people shopping around. Each one, without exception, looked neat and clean, and all of them with wide smiles on their faces. To be honest, it was such a stark contrast to what they''ve gone through the past few days that they half-thought it was an illusion. The guard saw them staring and explained, very patiently. "The Marketplace is still under construction, so the stalls are basically set up along the road. We don''t have cars here yet anyway." Their eyes twitched. That was not the point of why they were in a daze, okay?! Food!!!! Legitimate food!!!!!! No way, their feet moved on their own and they all found a random stall to stand in front of. Jun and his family ended up at the nearest stall with a healthy old man guarding it, something they never thought they''d see. "New guys? Welcome!" The friendly old man then took out a brown plate to show them small chunks of food. "Try out my sticky rice. If you like it, buy a bundle! Only 10 copper! 3 copper per piece!" Just ten copper? They bought it. They looked at the soft goodness wrapped in leaves. They put it in their mouths and they were met with fabulous softness they didn''t think they''d ever taste after that horrible restaurant food. "Is this really rice??" He said at the familiar taste. The color and texture was a bit different so he wasn''t sure before. "Of course. The experts in our territory are amazing. Not only rice, but also wheat and plenty of other plants are being processed!" They nodded and stopped themselves from buying another batch, because there were too many stalls. What would they do if they saw something they wanted and had no more money? Fall in Despair? Beg? "We will return tomorrow." He said, and the old man smiled in understanding. "I will be here!" The family, along with the others, continued perusing different stalls. They ended up in a stall with large earthenware vats being displayed. "Hello little girl? Do you want lemonade? Only 2 copper a cup!" He said, "Add two copper if you don''t have your own cup!" They also bought it. With three cups, to be exact. The rationale was they were going to use it at home anyway. The family stopped by a corner, staring at the cups in their hands. Gulping, they drank it together. It was a new drink. Similar to lemonade but with a bit less tang. And it was still very refreshing. They continued for several stalls until all six hands were full. His wife paused, looking at him worriedly. "Do we still have enough money?" Jun paused and took a moment to calculate. He was also quite worried. In the end, he grinned because, even after buying so much, they really still had some money left! Amazing! How much had they bought?! "Yes! We still have money!" He said, eyes sparkling. Not long ago, it felt like they couldn''t afford anything no matter how hard they worked. But now¡­ now¡ªfor the first time since they came¡ªthey could actually fill their stomachs! His daughter, Mimi, giggled as she ate, and his wife hummed happily. Seeing his family like this, Jun''s eyes warmed, the somberness slowly ebbing away. Slowly, but surely, the darkness in his heart was being wiped away. ¡­ Billy and the others also went to different stalls, gaping and staring like idiots. Partly, they were having the dreaded analysis paralysis. And partly, they were just overstimulated. There were at least a score of stalls, selling different food like barbeque, crisps, dried fruit, pickled foods, juices, and non-food stuff like weaved baskets and blankets. How many days had it been since they were transferred? Why were some people so¡­ well-adjusted? And¡­there were so many stalls, how could a day be enough? However, before indulging, they soon remembered that most of their wealth was lost with the last two territories. They reluctantly chose one or two stalls to buy from, promising themselves for a self-treat when they earned a bit of money. Chewing on his rice crisp, Billy couldn''t help but gulp in worry, causing him to cough. But afraid of wasting a speck of food he quickly drank his Dodo fruit shake to push it down. "You okay?" "A-Ah yes, alright." He cleared his throat while appreciating the cleansing aftertaste of the juice. Delicious. To think he had only drunk tasteless gruel¡ªat best¡ªfor more than a week. He had really wronged himself, who used to drink juice or soda every day in Terran. But not anymore. Hopefully. "I¡­ I was wondering how to earn money with my rate of spending." He said, and the stall owner was taken aback for a moment. After a while, the bearded stall owner laughed. "Well, you''re in luck!" He said, "The village is hiring more construction workers, even the lowest wages are very good!" Billy brightened at this. "Oh?! I was a mason back in Terran! How do I apply?" "Just go to the village center. Basically everything is programmed there." "I see, I see, thank you!" He said, buying a few more rice crisps along the way. But, he paused his steps, and turned to see a kid. They met him on the way, he looked like a wild child. "Want some?" But the kid flinched, running away. Billy shrugged. The kid wasn''t a baby, especially not after what he experienced here. Surely, someone who liked kids would take care of him. In the end, Billy just ate his crispies until he reunited with the group. After all, for days, if he didn''t eat what he gathered, he''d be enduring the horrid food from the restaurant. So although the tastes were different and a little inferior to what he used to eat in Terran, it didn''t matter. He felt he was already in heaven. ¡­. The team reluctantly met up together, then they felt embarrassed when they saw the guards actually waited for them. "Sorry for this¡­" "It''s fine, you''re adding GDP to the territory after all." "..." "By the way sir, I hear you also find jobs at the village center?" Billy asked, hoping to find a job. Many others were interested and they listened aptly. Actually, the fact that the village center had so much activity baffled them. The previous territories also had a village center, but it seemed like it didn''t have much use except for selling wood? The soldier nodded proudly. "Yes. After registering and putting your information, you will be able to see available jobs, properties, etc in the village center. "A lot of jobs are open now, and a lot of which may fit you. If you also have suggestions for jobs not on the list, you can also place it on the forum. Who knows, maybe the system will see it." "System? What about the lord?" Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The soldier paused and mused. He awkwardly scratched his cheek. "I''m¡­ actually not sure, I don''t think this territory has a lord." No? They looked at each other, taken aback. But¡­ they shrugged in the end. Because it didn''t matter. As long as they lived well, who cared if there was someone behind the scenes or not? As long as they could get a glimmer of a decent life, they wouldn''t be choosy. "Do you know what jobs we have the best chance of getting to sir?" Jun asked. "Of course! I heard they''re building dozens of warehouses and factories, so they''re hiring construction workers." Another young man from the group walked a bit faster to walk nearer the guards. "What about the guard team? Are you hiring?" The guards smiled a bit proudly. "The territory just hired a lot a few days ago, but I''m sure there would be openings soon." From behind, they could hear whispers about the guard team. "The guards team seem to be the best though. With the sentries, the job isn''t as dangerous as it is in other territories." As the guards spoke, some of the better investigators in their party remembered some important knowledge. The locals were very detailed in their storytelling, obviously still high from the previous battle. "I hear legit soldiers and aborigines actually train the team!" one person said, and a few others gathered the same. "I heard that too! The aborigine could even cast fire walls and fire balls!" "What? Magic?" "Does it have something to do with elemental affinity?" "I have fire, too, does it mean I can do that as well?!" "Yes! If you get to level 10, they said!" "Whoa! I need to start training!" They laughed, totally unlike the depressed group of people less than an hour prior. The people in front of the line smiled. "Well, I feel there will be something for everyone." Jun said. Even an old man could live healthy and lively, how could they¡ªa group of young and strong adults¡ªnot have a way for a good life? "Yes, I''ve seen the prices of the goods. I believe we''ll still have savings after a day of work!" The group that had been apprehensive and quiet a few minutes ago had completely changed faces, chattering excitedly, filled with anticipation for the next day. Jun and his wife looked at each other with smiles on their faces. They finally found it: Hope. Chapter 148 Peace Aberdeen City, 2 years ago The sun had just risen, and its opening light slowly draped the city with a new day. Althea, gently woken up by the early sun''s greeting, groaned and turned her head nestled in her arms. She seemed to have fallen asleep on the side of her husband''s hospital bed some hours prior. She knew this judging by how stiff her shoulders were. She rubbed the lethargy away from her eyes and stretched it away with big movements, freezing when she saw her husband staring at her the whole time! "Husband!" She yelled, immediately scooting to the side of his bed, and looking at him apologetically. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry for scaring him but when her eyes met his warm azure ones, her tear ducts, uncontrollably, broke again. "I''m sorry¡­" Althea sobbed as she stared at the man who had just woken up. Althea was not a crybaby, at least not for a long time, but when it came to Garan she felt like it was still as it was when they were children: Her tear ducts just did not know control at all. Garan smiled, weakly wiping her tears. "Why are you apologizing, my love?" "I shouldn''t have said¨C" "That was not your fault, it is my own weakness." Althea paused and only stared at the man, not knowing what to say. She sniffed pitifully. But before she could get her own tissue the patient was already wiping it for her. She hurriedly took the tissue and glared at him in embarrassment. "Please act like a patient." Garan grinned. "Don''t be shy, wife." She frowned, "Stop treating me like you have to care for me all the time! I''m not a baby!" He continued to wipe her snot despite her glaring, and he gave out a fond smile. "I''ll always take care of you. It brings me joy." She froze, and then flushed, making him chuckle. Seriously. If he wasn''t injured she''d have punched him for all his teasing! ________________________ [17 days of Protection Period] Althea watched the two children snore in their new custom cribs, eyes filled with warmth and love. Their babies were so beautiful and lovely and blessed. She wasn''t being biased when she said they were little angels brought down to the world to bring people warmth, light, and love. She stared at them without any traces of boredom all the way until she heard them hum. It was said that babies'' cried differently according to their needs. Althea was very interested in this theory and specifically looked at her omniscient tablet for it. For example, low-pitched short cries likely meant the child was hungry and, because the baby''s tongue sticks to its palete, the sound that comes out was similar to ''neh''. In contrast, choppy cries likely meant they were upset. Probably had to do with the baby being emotional or something. Then, repeated ''Eh'' sounds¡ªwith the air coming out was brief and jerky¡ªusually meant that the babies needed to burp. It was all very interesting and Althea remembered reading the downloaded article with apt attention, repeatedly. Another type of sound was when the babies would cry outwards, with cries sounding like ''heh''. This likely meant that they felt uncomfortable¡ªit was as if they were pushing the discomfort through their cries. And then¡­ when the sound was prolonged, elongated, hoarse, and contracted, then the babies were in pain, likely from gases and were in need to relieve themselves. Finally, the babies were likely to be sleepy if their cries started with a yawn and their mouth opening wide, and would then recede almost immediately, forming ''aoh'' cries. Althea had read all these with gusto. Although it may not be applicable to some cases, it did have some research backing and Althea would definitely keep record of its accuracy to her children. She watched closely as they opened their adorable eyes and cried. Sheila seemed to be ready and knocked closely after their cries. "Let me help you." She said and Althea didn''t stop her. "They are probably hungry." Althea said, unbuttoning her blouse to feed them. Sheila helped her place them comfortably in her arms. Unsurprisingly, both babies really sucked in hunger. Sheila blinked, looking at Althea in admiration, "A mother knows best after all." Althea grinned knowingly, "Actually there''s something I''m testing out." She said and handed the tablet over to Sheila. Sheila, like her, was very interested in the concept of baby language and was determined to test it. Soon the children needed to change their diapers and this time, Sheila volunteered to do the dirty work for her. Althea watched as the woman washed and changed the children. "You are very familiar with this." "I had a baby brother more than ten years younger than I am." She smiled, but quickly subsided at the fact that she didn''t know his fate. "He was in our hometown with our parents. I don''t know how they are¡­" Althea patted her shoulder just before carrying one of the children. "You are fine and it is likely some of your relatives are, too." Sheila nodded, hopeful. Althea had told them about her hypothesis and they believed it with all their hearts. It kept the fire of hope that they''d be able see relatives alive, and that was very important. Then, the moment of melancholy passed, and they stared at the next problem: The problem of diapers and waste. She''d have to ask the NPCs how their old territories dealt with trash, though it shouldn''t be too urgent. Most of the materials used were local and sustainable. How many people like her brought trash from Terran material? As for the diapers¡­, She did gather a lot back in Terran, but how many baby products could a part of a cubic meter store? The diapers that could fit in her space wouldn''t last a month, leaving her with a very important problem: What to do when they ran out. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. How''d the ancients do it? Well, she''d leave that for later. Right now she decided to just enjoy the peace brought by her children. She took the tablet to take photos and videos of her little ones to show to G¡ª Her thoughts stopped at the image of her husband passing by her head, and she felt the sharp pang of longing in her chest. She sighed, her hold on the tablet unconsciously slacking, suddenly in a sour and heavy mood. If only Garan was here to watch with her¡­ He would probably love taking care of the babies with her right? Chapter 149 Preparations Outside the cloud. Garan''s sharp eyes watched his team handle the mob, prepared to make a move should he be needed. "Wind users, start!" He uttered. On cue, the wind users surrounded the mobs roughly corralled by the team. Their arms extended, making waving motions as they manipulated the wind around the mob, solidifying the corral. The fire users ignited their arms, throwing their attacks into the wind, burning many of the monsters inside. A cacophony of growls of different monsters echoed, and they decided not to prolong the monsters'' sufferings. "Now!" Garan ordered. On signal, a dozen elementalists bombarded the monsters, taking a life every few shots, leaving the last kill to whoever by luck. Soon, another team came in, with another small wild mob following behind them. The team continued to train, almost desperately, and slowly they grew stronger day by day. As he watched his soldiers train and fight harder than before, Garan couldn''t help but look at the cloud again, heart filled with longing for his beloved. Garan couldn''t help but recall the events a few days prior, many hours after his desperate attempts to get inside. . . . ¡ªA few days ago¡ª. Garan did not know how many times he tried. Until, finally, he stayed for more than a minute. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After going back and forth, he had felt that the cloud was truly something that protected what was inside. During that time, the sense of urgency that hit him had already subsided. ''Was Althea alright now?'' Garan remembered thinking, hope slowly replacing the despair. Since they were children, he and his wife had had a nearly telepathic connection. At the time, he had a feeling that she was truly out of danger. It was also at that point that he also understood that what he was doing was pointless. He felt that there was something else he should be doing¡ªor rather, preparing. Memories of their first arrival came to mind. The suffering, the deaths, and the losses. Then the knowledge of the strength discrepancy between territories¡­ how powerless they were when they first arrived in a town, how they could only clench their fist after being bullied and looked down on. He could still remember he was spat on by a mercenary, just because the man''s girlfriend looked at him. They were fortunate that senseless bullying of people far inferior in level was looked down on here. This was likely caused by the rules of the territory wars and the 5-level gap effect¡ªas well as pride in strength¡ªotherwise, there would have been far fewer survivors than the score of them. The number of times he''d have been killed simply because women looked at him in admiration would''ve been countless. In any case: Strength was always the answer. His cerulean eyes stayed on the cloud, looking at it deeply. If it truly was the manifestation of the so-called Protection Period, then it would be a double-edged sword. While having low-level monsters was relatively safe, there was also a downside: The surviving people inside would be much, much, weaker than those outside. It could even be said that things may be worse for them after a while, because their expectations of what was truly dangerous had been heavily discounted. Undoubtedly, a lot of people would die after the so-called Protection Period was lifted. Other than for Althea, they also had a duty to protect human beings in their own way. It wouldn''t be as before, but they would definitely do what they could. His team finally realized that his mood had changed, and approached him warily. In the past few hours, the rest of the team had arrived in worry. He did not have the mind to pay attention to them at the time. When he had sufficiently calmed down, he had looked at them deeply, pausing a bit at his gaffe. He had no regrets however, because if the feeling of dread did not subside, he had no doubt he''d have forced his way in regardless of the cost. He had closed his eyes and heaved a sigh, taking a moment to gather himself. He has opened his deep blue orbs with a determined light in his eyes. That time, he turned and looked at the people still waiting for him. "Soldiers." He had said, calm, his stance filled with his characteristic gravitas, and the soldiers couldn''t help but be taken aback. If they hadn''t been here for hours, they''d have thought they had imagined his desperate appearance a couple of minutes prior. "Hear my orders," his baritone voice was full of command. At his voice, they instinctively strengthened their spines, waiting for the order. "I have come to the realization that there are plenty more ways we can do while we wait for our loved ones." He had told them, his baritone voice reverberating amongst the open space. "You were all with me, we know what it felt like to have no power in this world, how difficult the life was." The soldiers had nodded in response, fists clenched in emotion as they recalled the tragic memories, though their eyes on him all throughout. "Assist me to build up our forces on this side, strengthen yourselves¡­ "¡­So we can properly protect our loved ones once this cloud no longer do so." A renewed goal lit up the fire in them. They raised their hands to salute. "YES, CAPTAIN!" . . And now, at present, Garan looked at his team desperately training¡ªeven more than before¡ªbecause now they had true and palpable hope of reuniting with their loved ones. "Boom!" "Yes! Finally leveled up!!!" Luis yelled, letting several embers spark around him. He had finally gotten past level 10. "Me too!" The men laughed at each other, feeling their growths, excited to meet with their families and possibly show off. A small smile graced his lips, and he walked away heading to another place to train. "Don''t worry Althea," he mused, tone now much calmer than it was. "I will protect you well this time." Chapter 150 Build-Up [17 days of Protection Period] Althea''s chin rested on the base of her palms as she fondly watched her children¡­ well, exist. Listening to her children giggling with their new customized toys, the gentle smile on Althea''s face grew wider. They particularly seemed to like the rotating cartoonized Terran animals hanging above their heads. Very cuddly. Speaking of wooden children''s toys, Althea had to say Baron''s business mind was something else. It had only been a few days but he and his team¡ªa very well-balanced team with both fighters and artisans¡ªhad already bought 3 commercial modules. These modules were all quite important and have become household names within the territory: One module was for furniture, another one was for toys and other paraphernalia, and the last one (still under construction) was for leather products including but not limited to, leather clothing and shoes. Of course, most of them were still ongoing development but one could see the potential from a mile away. It was also because of this group that she placed a maximum of 5 real estate properties (of any form) per person. After all, she knew her commercial spaces would be in very high demand. It wouldn''t do for someone to monopolize them. Speaking of wood products, when would paper appear? She took out her tablet to study the methodology of paper making, eyebrows raising as she did so. Compared to what they have been doing so far, paper was actually relatively simple to create. She decided to partner with Baron''s woodmakers for this. Putting this note aside, she went to take a peek at the status of her territory. [TERRITORY STATS S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 431 (81 permanent, 350 temporary) Total Population: 964 Base Resources: Wood: 9300/10000 Stone: 7100/8000 Money: 12582 Gold, 99263 Silver, 174497 copper Reputation: 50 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2) , Weaponry Shop, Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse, Farm (Lv1), Bathhouse (Lv1), Training Hall (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] "Hm¡­" Because she was out cold the past few days, the resources had pretty much caught up. This meant she could finally start building comfortably again. She looked at the deferred item. If she chose to expand this time, the perimeter would be more than 12.5 kilometers long. [Would you like to expand your wall to the edge? Movement Cost: 1110 wood, 1110 stones, 3500 Gold Building Cost: 2010 wood, 2010 stones, 3140 Gold] It seemed that moving the walls was actually more expensive than creating a new level 3 wall in terms of gold but, at the same time, it would be using half the resources. This made sense because they could recycle old resources, but the ''labor cost'' of demolition, transfer, and construction was more. In the end, she decided to keep the old wall and defer the placement of the wall to the new border. Anyway, there was still plenty of space and¡ªfor better or for worse¡ªnot too big of a population. Not to mention, the upgrade to level 3 should only need 1,000 residents at most, and her current size and speed of construction would be able to handle this little number. It was the upgrade after that that would be a challenge, as the aborigines mentioned they had not encountered a town with less than 20,000 population (so far). In any case, her (planned) dormitories alone could swallow a thousand with no problem, not to mention she would still provide many housing types for people''s choosing. She decided to place a level 5 wall directly when she expanded a second time, to create an inner city and then simply expand outwards during the succeeding upgrades. According to the NPCs, Level 5 Walls were already above-average defense even in towns, which was just right if she wanted to retain her advantages every tier she climbed up to. It must also be very expensive. So, for now, it was better to invest the reward money in money-making buildings instead. Looking at the map, she first set the construction time to 27:00:00 in the evening. She kind of wanted to surprise people when they woke up. First, she dealt with the residential buildings. She set up several more dormitory communities with designated small parks in the middle, located deep in the residential zone. This area alone would be enough to accommodate a thousand people. The more populous Southwest Avenue would finally be lined with commercial buildings. Of course, the roads would maintain the greenery, keeping the beautiful approach to the main areas. There would be several new communities with hundreds of houses. Mostly of duplex communities, the best-selling housing type she had so far. She also made sure to add enough open spaces every few blocks. Her goal was that if one walked around Altera, one would find a path or two covered with trees at all times. This was healthy, practical, and very atmospheric. There would also be a bigger commercial street perpendicular to the main roads, ending in cul-de-sacs. These streets would be pedestrian-only streets, filled with park walkways, benches, and the occasional small park and playgrounds. Then she placed public toilets adjacent to the larger parks. There would be payment per use to avoid their degradation, but definitely very affordable. Marketplaces for stalls and commercial events would also be placed along this area. It would eat about a thousand square meters, with set locations for stalls, on each side. After a thought, she decided to place a small Events place in the middle, should someone want to sponsor it. For example, if a stall owner hoped to bring more customers, he could use this area to promote his/her products, for a small cost. When the area wasn''t rented, benches and other rest areas would be placed there. Going back to the pedestrian-only streets. She planned the ends of these streets, the cul-de-sacs, would have malls and other large-scale commercial spaces. Some mid-level inns were included in this. These buildings would be erected manually because the current modules would not be able to support them. The limitation of the custom modules was not only in area but also in its use and allocation. She could catch the ''residential use only'' loophole in the storefronts simply because people could use the upper floors as residential. Similarly, her supermarket¡ªan enlarged version of the grocery store¡ªwould also need to be built manually. She already reserved the building on one of the cul-de-sacs. As for the current grocery store, it would remain operational even after the opening of the supermarket, though it would shift focus to serve more as a convenience store instead. Inns and village clinics also had to be built manually. The advantage of this was that they would have more leeway in designing, so they weren''t limited to two floors. For the clinics, they opted for three floors, and for the inns, they decided on four. That said, other buildings that used dormitories like schools could be made from modules, but it didn''t feel very organized to do so. She didn''t want it too horizontal either, feeling that it was a waste of space, so having higher floors for the school was also ideal. Speaking of building heights, she should add merit to Oslo and his knowledge, otherwise, they wouldn''t dare build high in this gravity. Although aborigines didn''t build high it was because they didn''t have the concept of reinforcements like they did. The material, combined with the reinforcing fibers they discovered, allowed them to build manually until the fourth floor. Anyway, her construction team was huge and efficient so it wasn''t much work to build manually. They needed to build their bodies as much as risk their skins outside to get stronger anyway, so she didn''t worry too much about the construction workers'' training. Smaller clinics could also be made, but that would be work for other people. That was to say, if there were medical professionals who hoped to own their businesses in the industry, she''d support them with open arms. She was a very good lord, she proudly told herself. She could easily give preferential treatment to professionals needed by the territory, leading to a win-win situation, and also retaining herself good talent. Now that the commercial and residential zones were completed, her emerald eyes shifted to the rest of the territory¡ªto the so-called source of life of a Civilized Society. The Agricultural and Industrial zones. Chapter 151 Agricultural and Industrial zones For the East area of the Territory, she planned to take the industrial and production route. She built ten more farm villas in their ''neighborhood'', as well as 200 more fields. Althea immediately ''rented'' 50 farms for her own use. He-he. There was no need for the ''territory'' to own fields because the taxes alone were enough to keep her warehouse stocked. It was so stocked that the upgrade condition¡ª90% occupancy, ? of the same item¡ªwas met quite easily. [Would you like to upgrade Warehouse (Lv1) to Warehouse (Lv2)? Area: 500 square meter, 6 meters height New Functions: Automatic inventory function and automatic sorting. 100 copper per sorting Cost: 300 wood, 200 stone, 500 gold] She sighed. She clearly remembered the gold and wood required before was only 100 each, and no stone requirement. It seemed that upgrading any building time was universally much more expensive than buying its most basic version. Regardless¡ªNaturally, ''Yes'' was clicked. What was best about the upgrade was not the doubled floor size or the increased ceiling height. It was the fact that there was now an automatic inventory function and automatic sorting! Of course, the latter had a small charge of 100 copper per cubic meter of sorting. However, she valued her time to be much higher, so she thought it''d be worth it. Leaving the warehouse behind, she went back to planning the Eastern part of the territory. More factories were zoned in this area. Each lot would have a thousand square meters with a building footprint of around 600 square meters in size and five meters in height. Like farm villas, there was also a level 2 fence surrounding each one. So far, three factories have been made, two of which were hers and one was Baron''s wood factory. There were seven more currently being built. These were also not for sale but leased for a minimum of 5 years. When she really expanded, perhaps (unlikely, but perhaps) she''d put more land for sale, but she was taking a bit of a condensed route now, so she decided to hold most of the land in her hands. Anyway, the harder it was to own land in her territory, the more prestige would be attached to it. As for the military, she left a huge part of the land for it not far from the village center, near the industrial and farming areas. Here, they would build barracks on their own, jointly planned by soldiers from both worlds. Although system barracks may be more efficient and may have better output, she couldn''t let go of her bathhouse. What if extreme weather changes happened tomorrow? What would they do? Anyway, she was really looking forward to what the construction team, Drake, and Rowan would come up with. Whatever it was, it definitely wouldn''t be bad. She had also placed the Training Hall in this area before. She was planning on giving guards a cumulative 50 hours per month to use it for free. On the other hand, everyone else needed to pay 100 copper and 100 contributions an hour to use it. Using it often would not only give an advantage in terms of strength, but it could be seen as a sign of prestige. Speaking of prestige, there would be two luxury areas. She set aside a part of the mountain covered by future expansion for mountain villas, and another one was located south, on the other side of the river, which was already under development. The main feature of this area was, of course, the Bathhouse. While she bought it mainly as an additional card during extreme weather conditions, it would happen a few weeks a year at most. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When not in those harsh times, the bathhouse treatment would be what it deserved: a Luxury. Anyway, in non-emergencies, bathing in hot springs was really unnecessary for survival. Eventually, she would also develop the area into an up-end leisure spot with get-aways, spas, and the like. The bathhouse luxury area would requiring 1 silver an hour and 10 contribution points to enter (not including the added services inside). The Bathhouse would thereby be tagged as another one of the ''special buildings'' requiring contribution points. Speaking of, her farm villa was actually located pretty near the river, just past the parks. It would take less than ten minutes of leisure walking to get to the bathhouse. "Do you want to take a bath at the pool with mom? When you get a little older, of course." She said playfully, teasing her children and making them roll over. The children laughed and her heart melted, and she couldn''t help but smooch the both of their faces. After dozens of kisses, she finally turned her attention back to the task at hand, adding the finishing touches. Her eyes stared at the bird''s eye view of the territory, people will definitely be surprised by the changes when they wake up tomorrow. Very big¡­ and ready for the entry of hundreds of new residents. She paused at this thought, her face twitching a bit at the thought of how much work all these facilities and the territory''s future population would require. She wouldn''t be able to handle it herself. She didn''t want to. If she did, she might as well forget about doing her precious experiments and, of course, spending enough quality time with her children. In any case, the territory was getting larger and she''d soon need administrative functions. Her goal was to be a hands-off shopkeeper, only making the major decisions and reaping profits, while spending the rest of her time in whatever way she wanted. What a lovely thought¡­ She quickly tried thinking of how to apply it in reality. The first consideration, of course, was what she couldn''t do with the system she already had. Although the Village Center was extremely convenient and made many things ''automated'' there was still plenty of work that needed the human touch. Even when Terran was advanced, the budding AI and robotics technology still didn''t take over several service-oriented industries. She was not planning to change it now. She thought that perhaps she could find an NPC to assist her. Of course, ideally the core positions were still Terrans, not because of anything else, but because NPCs were just hired people in the end. Even if they grew to love the territory, most of them had their own homes. For Terrans, there was no other place. She rummaged several faces in her head to determine who she could place in certain positions, pausing at a particular face. Didn''t she have the perfect person right next door? Chapter 152 A World for Children [17 days of Protection Period] It just so happened that she received a twin-stroller as a gift earlier that morning, perfect to use on a morning walk to the neighbors'' this afternoon. She walked towards the wooden contraption and couldn''t help but smile, remembering the touching event from earlier. The morning was tranquil and the sun felt nice and she had just returned from her morning walk with the children¡ªboth lying happily in their simple stroller¡ªwhen a familiar neighbor happily blocked their way. "Baron?" "Yes, Ms. Althea, it is I!" he said, putting his chest out proudly though it just made his stomach bigger. "This is Bianca by the way, our top artisan." He said with that amicable face of his, pointing at the gallant-looking woman beside him. But the woman looked shy and had to be pulled closer by Baron. Seeing his usually-gregarious cousin was not talking, Baron decided to be her spokesperson. "To congratulate you on your birth, she carved up a bespoke twin stroller¡ªamong other things¡ªfor your children~!" Althea was surprised and looked at the woman again¡ªwho was trying not to blush¡ªand then shifted her gaze to the covered push cart sort of item she had in front her. "These look wonderful! Thank you. Please come in." She said and, after a bit of push and pull, the group entered the house with smiles. Althea prepared tea for them as they unpacked the gifts and even Althea was surprised at its quality. Of course, first was the stroller. It was light, smooth, and delicately carved. Baron''s cousin, who had already hired dozens of woodworkers, seemed to have carved it herself. It was made of rich, polished wood, and it exuded the aura of both elegance and comfort. There were even cute carvings alluding to the children''s nicknames¡ªLittle Pepper''s had a condiment shaker with a smiley face and Little Meatball''s had, well, meatballs rolling happily. Very cute. The cloth of cushion was made of repurposed cotton, which was likely from their own stocks, as the cotton factory had yet to produce anything. However, it was sewed with precision and care. Inside were other toys and accessories used by babies. There were four wooden teething toys with different shapes of Terran animals. Carved in each were their nicknames, and they got two of each. Very thoughtfully, Bianca gave a dove and a puppy to Little Pepper, and a lion and a dragon to little Meatball. Very, very, cute. There were also four wooden baby rattles, carved to look like seasoning bottles (for Little Pepper) and little meatballs on a stick (for little Meatball) Adorable. And finally, there were wooden stacking toys that the children would be able to use in a couple of months, no less intricately carved than the others. "This is amazing¡­" she mumbled. This cousin of Baron was really a talent. The talent meant she had a lot of work, but chose to make such a detailed tool for her children. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One could see in the work whether or not the artist placed their heart and soul into it. Althea was quite touched; Bianca must really like children. She vaguely had an idea why the woman was being a bit awkward around her. After all, when one truly cared for an opinion, one tended to be more nervous than usual. Althea''s emerald eyes landed on the woman, who was trying not to ogle at the children. "Would you like to hold them?" Althea offered with a smile, pushing the old stroller near her. Bianca brightened visibly, but dared not be rash. "Can I?" "Of course." "T-Thank you¡­" She said, and took a baby up¡ªwhich happened to be Little Pepper. "Wooo¡­" Little Meatball mumbled, drooling, and his little eyebrows furrowed. He was pouting so much his fat cheek looked even bubblier. It melted everyone''s hearts. At this time, Althea was already holding the toys for additional washing. She was smiling and looked at Baron, who had literal hearts in his eyes. "Please give attention to my son. He gets jealous easily." She said, and Baron gladly complied. "Yay! Yay!" Baron lifted the baby boy, and dropped him just as quickly, enticing adorable giggles. "Hmnhnggg!" Little Pepper blinked, raising her small arms, also wanting a ride. As such, the cousins played with the babies happily, and she could tell their family back in Terran should have a lot of children. "Hmn. Our parents comprised of 7 siblings." Baron said, giggling as Little Meatball drooled on him. Althea remembered that the boys that went with him during the visit were also cousins? Anyway, from this, Althea knew the children would have another pair of uncle and aunt that would spoil them thoroughly. Later, she would find out that Bianca was unable to have children due to an accident years prior. Although she was a strong independent woman, she really would have loved to have a child of her own. Baron, on the other hand, loved children because of his personality. Unconsciously, having children felt like having new friends and playmates. Regardless, it just reminded Althea that she needed to make the territory safe enough that people would not need to worry about having children. Of course, she would also create a territory where the children would feel safe, happy, yet grow strong enough to handle whatever the world would throw at them. For this, she''d need a lot of help. ¡­ That afternoon, Althea prepared the children for their first neighbor visit. She dressed them up in one of the few sets of baby clothes she had (she took baby clothes of different ages, hence couldn''t hoard too much of one size), and smooched on their soft cheeks because she felt like it. She went down with the children and placed them in their lovely new stroller, looking around the house to see if anyone went home. They should''ve already been done with training/hunting by this time so it was likely that everyone was busy with their own businesses. The development of the territory was now at its peak, and her team had been made aware of the large territorial changes that would be visible later in the night. To maximize profit, they naturally had to rush everything. For example, Harold was running a restaurant, which was showing great promise. He was also finalizing some of the condiments and sauces they''d be using. Sheila was running the pharmacy, also showing a lot of profit. The factory was working over time (paid very well) to produce more products. After the last beast tide, everyone had found an integral need to stock up on medicine. In particular, there was a purchase limit of only a few bottles a day. During a real fight, how could they rest assured with such little stock? Hence, most people opted to buy a bit everyday, regardless of need, ensuring their own supplies. And then there was Eugene, who was still tweaking and studying the machines and tools for the territory, occasionally walking around for ''inspiration''. Well, Fufi was an exception. Since the children were born, unless she would explicitly order him to go train (which was the current case), he would be no farther than a few meters from the children. After double checking everything, she pushed the stroller to the next door. She really hoped that the trip would be productive. After all, she was only so idle because she had just given birth. So she really hoped everything could be settled, so she would always have more time to bond like this with the children. Chapter 153 Administrative Team Mathilda opened the door to see a beautiful woman and extremely adorable children staring at her. She couldn''t help but give out a large smile. "What are you doing here?" The older woman asked, pleasantly surprised. Matilda then leaned down to take a closer look at the babies. "Did you miss grandma?" She asked, kissing them. She often visited Althea and the babies in their house, of course, but she was excited to see them at her own house. "Come in, come in." Mathilda smiled, leading them inside. The farmvilla Matilda was living in was occupied by her team of 12. Most of them were young people, like Drake, who had found either employment or business in the territory¡ªa lot of whom were in the hunting/meat supply business. Only two old women with Mathilda stayed at home to care for the garden and do the housework. At this time, they seemed to be planting Fuyu, a vegetable similar to cabbage. "Old Yana was well known for her pickled vegetables." Matilda, seeing where she was looking, said with a smile. "Although we''ve sold one batch so far, they sold out quickly." The two old women noticed them and didn''t care much, until they saw the babies and their eyes sparkled. As they approached, their eyes shone with bright light and¡ªafter asking permission¡ª they washed their hands and carried the babies with them to the lush garden. They absolutely adored the children with the third woman, Lola, lifting up Little Meatball as if she didn''t have back problems, and the other Yana, was talking to Little Pepper and cooed every syllable as if the baby could understand. "Don''t worry about them." Mathilda said, knowing full well Althea, who had an extremely busy schedule, wouldn''t be here just for a visit. She then led the young woman to her veranda, which had the required set for tea. Mathilda turned her head to the younger girl and led the way. "Shall we?" ¡­ The two women sat around a circular table in the verandah. A few earthenware tea cups were there, and Mathilda made her a simple cup of tea. "Is there anything I can help you with?" Althea nodded. "Actually, the territory is getting bigger. Other than administrative staff, the territory will also need a¡­ face." This was another function of the administrative team. From what she gathered from the gossip about refugees and NPCs, contact with other territories was inevitable. The village center was limited to within the territory. She could not make announcements in the name of the system somewhere else, at least not in her current level. This would cause a lag of communication between territories. "May I assign you as the territory spokesperson? I will announce it in the name of the territory system." Mathilda was a bit surprised. "Is this alright?" Althea nodded. She definitely didn''t want to be released as Lord for now. After all, how could she charge so much if people had a face they could haggle with? Besides, Mathilda wouldn''t be in danger of being mistaken as the Lord during territory wars because she was with many people when the territory was established. It was not possible that she built the territory under their noses. As soon as Mathilda nodded, the familiar magical screen appeared in front of her. [Altera Village System determined you are eligible for the job of ''Elder for Internal and External DIplomacy'' Wage: 500 copper/day, free residency, 100 contribution/day Do you accept? YES | NO] "Oh?" Mathilda''s eyebrows rose in interest. "What''s my job description?" "Basically you represent the territory outside. Inside, when there are conflicts, I hope you can settle them. Anyway, Drake follows your orders a lot. Just right." She mused for a moment. "I should add the job description in the hiring notice." She told herself. She couldn''t be there to explain the jobs to the others too, right? "Won''t people misunderstand me as the Lord? I don''t want such a burden." Mathilda said, eyebrows furrowed. Different from Althea, she had actually been to a position of power, above millions, and the pressure and intrigue wasn''t something an old woman like her wanted to experience again. "Most people know you and it is just right to be tagged with a good job by the system. There should also be other ''Elders''. "If they refuse to let go of doubts, have a gamble with them. The Village center has a contract system after all. You can make a bet: If you swear you''re not lord and the system agrees, then they will pay you 100 gold¡­ or something." Mathilda nodded, a little amazed. The Village Center was really convenient. It could help them bypass so many problems¡­ This would also change the dynamics of the justice system. After all, people wouldn''t be able to commit perjury like before. "Anyway, as I''ve mentioned: I''ve been thinking of making a few more ''System Hires'' so that yours wouldn''t be too eye-catching." Althea said with a smile. "That said, can you help me determine what jobs need people?" Of course, Mathilda agreed very quickly. "I assume you have a way to confirm people''s jobs and aptitude?" Althea nodded. Mathilda thought for a while. "Someone needs to be incharge of the service aspect, such as welcoming newcomers and guiding their placements. The Village center is convenient, but there are a lot of hits and misses when people look for a place on their own. "Speaking of, are the contents of the village center automated, or¨C" "No, I program them myself." Mathilda looked at her with both admiration and pity. Although they weren''t so close to know all of each other''s habits, she knew where this girl''s passion laid. Other than spending her time with children, she would''ve liked to spend the rest of her day tinkering with her plants. She probably didn''t have time to spend in her lab right? "Then you can hire someone to study and document the needs of the village, submit it to the ''village system''¡ª that is, you¡ª and you just have to input it to the system for implementation." Althea brightened. Indeed, why didn''t she think of it? Sure enough, an experienced mind was the wisest. She looked at her list and her good brain quickly zoned in on a few people with administrative jobs back in Terran. Although the system couldn''t really determine the People''s old jobs, it had a lie detector embedded so only the true inputs of the citizens during registration were retained. Prosecutor? Jun Suarez. She made a mental note to send him a hiring notice later, after she finalized his job description. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Drake can be a good trainor, but he is no leader. Perhaps you can assign someone to head military affairs? That NPC of yours, perhaps? If it''s safe and he''s trustworthy." It was tempting, but Althea shook her head. "I hope to reserve this job for my husband. But I will put Rowan as an officer to temporarily lead this aspect. I plan to develop him and Drake into one of Garan''s deputies, next to Gill of course." Mathilda saw that she had the confidence that her husband would find her, and she felt more reassured about the safety of her own son. The two continued to chat as Althea continued to peruse through the list of names. "What about other fields?" "I plan to limit the positions to green-tagged individuals." She said, "But other experts could become officers." "That said, Eugene would definitely be spear-heading the Research and Development Department." Mathilda nodded, interested. "Are there other green-tagged professionals we could use for public office." Althea was scanning names when the older wman asked this. Suddenly, she paused at a name. It was an acquaintance¡ªand he had actually gained an occupation. Gru, the agriculture professor, unsurprisingly awakened the Farmer profession. Oh, how exciting. Chapter 154 Elder of Agriculture Eden National University, a month ago Gru Beanman stood tall in front of the dais, his white hair combed back neatly, wearing a formal attire that exuded authority. His fatherly eyes looked amongst the crowd composed of students and teachers, who had been listening aptly the past hour. With a gentle but dignified smile, he opened his mouth to continue his speech, heading to its conclusion. "Before I end this session, I would like to take time to express to everyone that it is an honor and privilege to stand before you, the next generation of thinkers. "As I enter the last leg of my career, I feel extremely¡­ happy to see and meet you¡ªthe hope of our field." He paused, not for effect, but because of the various memories that passed by his aging head. He could still remember when he was in their position as a student with great ideals. He was lucky because, unlike many others, he had actually achieved his dreams to some degree. "Let us work together to restore the species that had once flourished in our soil." He uttered out after a deep breath. "Let us not forget the mistakes of our ancestors, and of the biodiversity that we lost, so that we do not commit the same mistakes." He paused, "I will repeat this for the nth time today: Agriculture is the bedrock of civilization. We are one of the main proponents of our planet''s rejuvenation. "We aim to fill up the gaps left by the species unfortunately lost in time and tragedy. "Students of this noble discipline, you will stand in the forefront of change, tasked to heal the scars inflicted on our planet. Do not forget. "Let us do our part in restoring the beauty of our planet and shape a future of hope." "Thank you." Applause echoed in the hall and he smiled, heart filled with hope, looking forward to the future. Sadly, he never did get to see the planet''s plant life rejuvenation. After all, a disaster still destroyed everything in the end. ____________________ Altera Village, Present Amongst the sea of lush crops that would make anyone drool, a certain Old man was gaping at thin air, looking very stupid. "Old man, what are you staring at?" A farmer asked, wiping his own sweat with his old towel. Gru barely heard the question as he stared at the screen in front of him. [Altera Village System determined you are eligible for the job of ''Elder for Agricultural Development''. Job Description: 1. Lead and oversee the research for crop improvements 2. Develop and implement strategic plans for agricultural growth and diversification 3. Lead the study and introduction of agricultural techniques, machinery, and technologies to improve crop yields. 4. Provide guidance and recommendations to renters of land on what to plant 5. Determine the overall crop needs of the territory 6. Oversee the responsible use of resources such as water and soil to ensure sustainability. 7. Manage crop rotations, pest control (if applicable), and irrigation systems to optimize yields. 8. Establish disaster procedures and insurance for the agricultural sector. 9. Make detailed daily reports of accomplishments and send them to the Village Center 10. Take charge of the agricultural education of the territory Wage: 500 copper/day, free residency 100 contribution points/day Do you accept? YES | NO] A good pie just suddenly fell down? Just like that? sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. 5 silver a DAY? Doing the things he loved all his life?! "YES!" He exclaimed, startling everyone around him. Dennis, one of the farmers for the wheat farm, couldn''t help but ask curiously. "What''s going on?" Gru, who was still immersed in joy, was pulled back to the present. "I¡­ the village system hired me for a job! The wage is very¡ªvery¡ªgood and there are contribution points every day!" "Whoa!" "Envy!" Gru suddenly found himself surrounded by all the farmers in the field. They ran really fast. "How?" Gru was a bit shy, but also thinking of an answer. "Well, I assume it was because last night I got the occupation of Farmer." "And?" "Not sure yet, all I know is that I have the ability to determine the Health of the crops. For rice and wheat, there''s a notification if the plant is lacking anything." "That''s amazing!" "How do you trigger it? Aren''t we all farming?" "Yes, yes, we even started at the same time!" "Envy!!" Gru paused, genuinely wondering about this. Thinking in retrospect, it likely had to do with his expertise and the effort to study. "I''ve been trying to, well, improve some crops in my backyard. It seemed successful." A lot of them were enlightened. "It makes sense. Weren''t you a famous agriculture professor before?" Gru was even shyer. "Oh please, I wasn''t THAT famous." Chatters of excitement followed after that, with a couple of offers here and there. "Can I apply to be your assistant?" "Yes, yes." A few more nodded. It was then that someone remembered something. "What about your current job?" Cold water seemed to be thrown at his face. Gru remembered his current job and he felt guilty. This job was highly sought after, with great benefits, and the boss had been kind to them. What to do?? What was an old man to do????? So¡­. when Althea got back home, she saw a very guilty-looking Gru outside her gate. She led him to their now well-furnished living room, looked at his depressed and ashamed self, and patiently waited for him to speak. She didn''t speak even after a while of silence, knowing what he was here for. She simply let him drink tea, hopefully, to calm his nerves. It took him a while but he did speak out after a while. "Boss¡­I¡­ you are very good to us, and I am extremely, extremely, thankful for the opportunity you have provided me. "Despite my age, I have also been learning a lot. From the job, from you, and for this I am forever thankful to you¡­" Then he stopped, unable to say anything more. Althea kept back her smile. "Just get to the point." "I¡­," he coughed, "I received a job offer from the Territory. It¡­ it wants me to be an elder¡ª" He gulped, "I may have to regretfully leave my current job." Althea almost laughed at his apologetic confession. "It''s fine. Just don''t forget to leak me some helpful information. I''m sure the system won''t mind." Gru was surprised at how easily this went. As expected of the famous Althea Witt. "Ah, yes, thank you!" Althea grinned and stood up. "Since you''ve taken over the handling of crops¡­ Come, let me show you something interesting." She said, gesturing for him to follow her to the back. Gru was a little puzzled, but he wordlessly followed her out anyway. They ended up in the verandah, heading towards the private gardens. He didn''t know what to expect, but as soon as he exited the balcony and saw the garden, his eyes widened and his throat was blocked, shocked by what he was seeing. The old man''s footsteps crunched gently on the gravel path below him, leading deeper into the unbelievably beautiful garden¡ªan oasis of greenery and blossoms. Rows upon rows of plants and flowers greeted his sights and greeted all his senses. The air was filled with a wonderful blend of scent and freshness, his skin greeted by the gentle breeze that felt nicer than it was outside. Then as he entered a new section of the garden, his mouth was wide open in shock. He whipped his head to Althea, who was following close behind with an enigmatic smile. He shakily pointed at the special plot of land. "This!!!" Terran plants! Over half of the field was with familiar plants! He turned his head to the garden again, leaning down, looking carefully and touching so very gently. Gru almost shed tears; It was as if he landed back home. Chapter 155 Terran Plants Althea smiled and let the old man bond with the plants. She knew his reputation, and she knew he was the perfect person for this job¡ªwhether it was for his ability or his sincerity. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She walked over after a while, gently explaining some things to him. "I had managed to procure a number of seeds before the transfer." She said, leading him over to a plot of land. The whole time, the old man''s eyes were dilated in joy, and if she wasn''t there he may really have wept. "Here are the root vegetables like potatoes, carrots and radishes. Unsurprisingly, they''re the most versatile and were quick to adapt to the local ''regeneration'' rates." Speaking of regeneration rates, they found that taking soil from the system fields forgoes the +20% growth bonus. So, they just built a small shed as a nursery above the system Farm. She then took him from plot to plot, to the bean varieties like beans, lentils, and even chickpeas. There was a dedicated plot for herbs and spices garden like basil, oregano, and rosemary. Some herbs could be used in a few days, while most would still need weeks at least, but they were all very beautiful regardless. And then there were the oil producing crops (ready for harvest in a few more days) like sunflower, soybean, and olive. There were local alternatives but if she were to be picky, she didn''t like the aftertastes very much. There was also not much oil from meat here, so producing good-tasting vegetable oil would be so lovely. Moving forward, they went to the section of the trees. The Fruit-bearing plants (which were now a meter high baby trees). There was a good variety comprising apples, peaches, and citrus, and then the nut trees like almonds, cashews, and walnuts. And finally, there were also her favorite tea plants, coffee plants, and cocoa. "I didn''t plant much for fear of wasting seeds. Now that I see them growing well, I will be transplanting most of them to a field per type." "Yes, yes." Gru nodded in agreement, full of support. "It''s just that the growth rate was understandably slower than the local ones, Fortunately, it was still faster than in Terran." For plants that still had no local alternatives like coffee and cocoa, these seeds were real treasures. Thinking about bringing back coffee and chocolate was making her drool¡­ Not to mention, there were still many recipes and food that required the old plants, so she decided to use several fields to plant them. Even those that did have local alternatives were still explored. After all, the strains they had had undergone thousands of years of improvement. If there was no need to start from scratch, why would they? Of course, the price would also be much more expensive than the local seeds. There was also an area with herbs for personal use, as well as for the pharmacy. These would take far longer to grow, but very worth it. As for the greenhouse, it was still ongoing planning. They needed enough Youli stone or similar material first, as well as insulating material that would fit well with its use. Anyway, seeing Gru almost crying as he stared at the fields, Althea pursed her lips in amusement. "When I get some surplus seeds, I will sell some in my grocery store." She said and Gru looked at her as if she was a god. "Can you reserve some for me?" He asked, looking like a child instead of an old man in his 70s. In fact, if he had a tail, it''d probably be wagging. He was extremely excited about this, especially the Terran variants of vegetables and fruits. This way they could get the productivity of the plants here and the quality of the Terran plants. He was so hyped up just thinking about it that he swore he got 10 years younger. "Sure." "Thank you, thank you! You''re a really amazing person, boss!" She smiled. Even when he''s already an Elder, he was still as easygoing as before. "It would be great if you''re an elder too. For research?" Gru mumbled off-handedly, half-dreaming about what he''d do in the farms today. This offhand comment though, made Althea''s eyebrows rise. Elder in Plant Research? That was an interesting idea. Right? There would definitely be times where she''d want to show prestige without showing she''s the Lord. Wasn''t this just right? Althea cleared her throat and lied with her eyes open. "Actually, I already am." Gru froze and clapped. Of course! How could Ms. Althea not be an elder when he had the honor? "That''s very good to hear." Gru said with a happy smile. "It so happened that our two fields are connected." He raised his hand for a handshake, resuming his old practice, finally looking professional. Althea smiled and took his hand. "Looking forward to working with you." "An honor." He said with that toothy old man smile. "I wonder who else got the opportunity?" "Auntie Mathilda''s also an Elder." "Oh?" He asked, interested. "Must have to do with diplomacy?" "Internal and External Affairs." Gru''s face showed a level of understanding, before they shifted back to their favorite topic: Plants. The two of them spoke for a while longer, laying out the plans for the crops. Which would be planted for this rotation, how many fields would be allocated, et cetera. For instance, the coffee and cocoa would get their own fields, same with other fruit requiring an orchard. And also, pretty much every other crop. When the study of the greenhouse was completed, they would also apply it to the territory farms. But this discussion was centered in Althea''s farms alone. Naturally, she needed to make territory-owned fields now, as it would cast a suspicious light on her otherwise. Speaking of territory farms, all farms have been rented out. Althea advised him helpfully that he could request fields from the territory, and if the rationale was there¡ªit would likely get approved. Gru didn''t even wait another moment and planned the request for some ''territory-owned'' farms to do his own experiments on. He was also given access to her own fields. Although it was her ''private'' property, she gave the right to Gru to study it, and give some back to the territory by sharing the result. It took them nearly three hours to iron everything out, and Gru politely refused to eat a meal in her home. Interestingly, when Gru left, he went straight to the neighbors house, which really amused Althea. Making house calls already? Perhaps she should include the elders in the meetings with the NPCs? At least once a week? Other than elders, she skimmed through the data in her Lord panel, arranged the list according to loyalty, and looked at the attributes, talents, former occupations, as well as specialties. With a few press of her fingers, she sent successive announcements to several people, startling quite a few areas, at the same time lighting several fires in people''s hearts. Chapter 156 Territorial Offices Althea stared at the invitation with satisfaction. For these people, she only needed to wait if they accepted it or not. Hopefully, it was the former. Anyway, the terms she gave were very fair. In the future, she would also be assigning elders for the offices without one. It was just that the said Terran ''super experts'' had not yet arrived in her territory, so she could only assign officers for now. The Offices she decided to build were the basic ones needed to manage a town-level territory (in Terran, anyway, as aboriginal territories seemed to have different governing structures). One was the Office of Construction and Public Works which would not only be handling the ''manual'' construction within the territory, but also the maintenance of infrastructure, parks, and utilities. For now, the head officer position would be held by Oslo, as well as the other architects and engineers¡ªmany of whom he took in as apprentices. Next was the Office of Public Safety would be in charge of the territory''s military might. They would be maintaining law and order inside the territory. They would also serve as the main components of guarding the land from exterior threats. Rowan and Drake would be the primary officers for this. In the future, she would also be developing its functions in emergencies such as fires and disasters. In fact, Rowan was already telling them about the historical climate disasters that they could be facing and were already making some preparations for it. She was relieved to know the design of the buildings should be able to handle the extreme temperatures, provided people didn''t leave the houses much. They would have to spend a lot of wood to maintain the warming (for cold temperatures) for each building though. On the flip side, in case of hot weather, they would have to develop ways to fan and distribute cold air should it get too hot. They had done as much as they could to provide enough passive ventilation and air circulation in each building. They used various established techniques like thermal siphoning, air tunnels, and others. But they would need to do more if they didn''t want to suffer too much. They also added provisions for wind catchers around the territory, which could be added if the temperature got too hot. (These would be in the scope of the Public Works group to judge and maintain). For now, she wasn''t making an Office for Urban Planning, because she was doing this easily on her own with the help of the system. She''d establish one when she expanded a bit more, probably when the territory upgraded to town. There would also be the Office of Finance and Economic Development, which would handle financial management like budgeting and taxation. However, thanks to the system, the data was presented to her directly in a straightforward manner. For this Office, they would focus more on determining the proper pricing, determining the market trends, determining good investment opportunities, and so on. Ansel had a knack for this, and she hoped to reserve the position for him. Anyway, with her current population, she could handle these matters by herself. The Office of Health and Human Services focused on the health and social welfare of the territory. The Offices would be held by Lily, Betty, and Sheila. On paper, this department would have a partnership with her company, wherein the officers would determine which medicine would need to be stocked. The Office of Education would in the future be managing the schools and other educational facilities in the territory. For now, because there were no children, the focus would be on adult classes such as basic survival. She also planned to launch an indigenous lingua franca class, wherein the Terrans would be exposed to the Xeno language. After all, although they could understand spoken language, written language was out of their range. What if the indigenous had good books that could be helpful to them? The officer assigned here was a woman named Rosalind, a dean in one of Eden''s prestigious universities. As for why she didn''t title Rosalind an Elder despite her very obvious experience, it was because she wasn''t green-tagged. As discussed with Elder Mathilda, Althea made the requirement for the Elder either green-named or of a certain occupation (sealed by the system), without exceptions. It wasn''t like non-green experts couldn''t develop the title and/or the occupation with time. At worst, it would give inspiration for the Officers to work harder in their trades. Perhaps this requirement would inspire the people to work more integrally, attempting to trigger occupation for their own promotions. Moving on, she shifted to the Office of Agriculture and Production, with Elder Gru, which would be handling the agricultural and agricultural products aspect of the territory. Finally, there was the Office of Internal and External Affairs, also known as the Office of Communications and Public Relations. It would be the platform for people to voice their concerns as well as handle their social needs. Because of the system, plenty of the tedious work in all the department was forgone, so she could assign more jobs to them. For this department, judiciary work was also included. Their function would just be as Mathilda mentioned before. These people would also double as officers under the Justice Department. Anyway, she could use the territory system to kick out unsightly individuals. This was very cool and she kind of wanted to use it¡­ Anyway, the function of the so-called justice department would just be to investigate and determine inside stories for more gray-area disputes. For the actual more stringent Justice System, she decided to leave it entirely to the ''system''. This was because in many cases, it was better to have no face to complain or beg for mercy with. Of course, even if this was the case, the function of the justice department was no less important than the others, because humans were complicated creatures. And¡­ she had never believed in automation of everything. What''s the point of a society without a huge dabble of the Human touch? She looked at her initial list with satisfaction. When her village became a town, then the Elders would become Ministers and the Offices would turn into Departments. All her staff would enjoy very good benefits as well, adding pride and prestige to the job. All these people would help the territory improve in various facets and help create a wonderful land together with their own hands. Let them help in the building of the territory with their own hands and in this way, they would love it even more. This was something to aim for. After all, a land loved by the people was the richest of them all. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 157 Officer Jun A society was made of people and must therefore be handled by them. Although there would be plenty of inefficiencies and perhaps there would also be errors, at least compared to relying completely on the system, Althea didn''t mind. Only when there was room for growth would people actually do so. She would never allow her people to become stagnant and be left behind by the times. Back to the justice system, she mused that there would definitely be more gray-area conflicts in the future than any other. She wanted the territory to have an objective system, which the Universe system assisted with, but at the same time she didn''t want this ''organism'' to be a callous robot. The delicate balance must still be reached somehow, and this was how Mathilda''s team would come into play. Silently, her eyes zoned in on one particular name, one of the officers she had just invited. Jun Suarez. ¡­ "Go clean that up¡­" a beautiful dark-skinned woman pointed at a corner, then gave her husband a pointed look. Jun looked at the kitchen area of the house and, carrying the broom made of dried plants, nodded. "Okay¡­" After cleaning out the small amount of dusts (not much, the house was just a few days old, after all), they took out the old clothes as a wet mop. These clothes were some of the many clothes that got destroyed as they traveled in this world. His daughter Mimi had already moistened hers and was wiping the wooden sofa (newly installed!) while the two of them husband and wife focused on the larger surfaces. Anyway, today was their first day in their new home! They had finally moved on from the dormitory and it felt so, incredibly, happy. They rented one floor of a duplex unit for a month, with an ambitious goal of paying for the downpayment of its ownership within the next few months. They had calculated, as long as the two adults worked hard, owning property was not a pipe dream. Of course, they had to be permanent residents first but the contributions required were actually fair¡ªonly 5000, valuing half if paid for in currency¡ªand achievable as long as one worked for the territory long enough. This, in itself, was amazing. After all, in Terran, after decades of working, they had yet to pay off their loans and mortgages. But here? Although it would take a while, the possibility of it was there, more concrete, and it wouldn''t take them decades to accomplish either. The couple had just arrived a few days ago, and they already felt unprecedented peace. Of course, it would be better if they had a stable source of income. For now, they had been gathering wood and stone to sell, but after seeing the improving lives of the existing residents, they couldn''t help but feel a bit of ambition. They, too, want to live, not just survive. So they took a risk and spent nearly all of their money for rent, leaving just enough for basic necessities, believing everything would be okay.. As he joined his wife in arranging their new home, he couldn''t help but recall his life a few weeks ago. The day started out like any other. He¡ªan overworked public official¡ªwent out of the house early in the morning, eating the breakfast his wife prepared for him before dawn, and then went to work, expecting he would get back home all tired after dusk. He usually had to work overtime, and that day should not have been an exception, but¡ªfor some reason¡ªhe had a foreboding feeling that made him go home earlier. At the time, when he saw his wife was safely cooking at home and his daughter was doing homework on the dining table beside her, the sense of relief that came over him was surprising. For an hour or two of peace after that, he had thought that he was just overworked and was thinking too much. Except¡­ a disaster really happened and he couldn''t be more thankful he had gone home. Had he maintained his habit of going home late¡ª Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Joana paused, sensing him just staring at her and no longer working. She laughed and pinched his cheek. "Are you not used to working now?" She said, "You don''t have to help me." Jun blushed a bit, and it made him both touched and guilty because he knew he had indeed been neglecting his family the past few weeks before all hell went loose. Looking at his wife who was now smiling as she had been, Jun heaved out a relieved sigh. Although the disaster was horrifying and sad, at least the family was together, right? In any case, the family happily arranged their new abode, moving the furniture as needed. Looking at their simple but complete home, he couldn''t help but admire the territory again. They really didn''t have much silver anymore, and yet they could have a house like this. Even if it was just for a month, it was really amazing. Calculating their current resources, they still had money for food for the next few days. He was not worried. Here, as long as every member of the family worked hard, they definitely wouldn''t go hungry. They didn''t even attempt to be heroic and try strengthening themselves outside. With their strength, if they didn''t have guards with them (as those employees training had), they''d just be jumping to their deaths. The fact that so many people still died under these monsters'' jaws after so long was testament to how strong the monsters were. His refugee story wasn''t unique, anyone who had been entering the past few days had similar tragedies. They had a daughter. Such a risk wasn''t an option, not when there were safer alternatives. Anyway, they now had hope for a good life, and they ought to celebrate their first meal in their new home! "Shall we go shopping for ingredients?" His wife asked. "We don''t have food for lunch and dinner anymore." "Yes," he smiled, happy to accompany his wife, holding hands throughout. Their daughter, on the other hand, happily followed them with her pigtails bouncing as she skipped about. She declared today was her ''day off'' from ''working'' (gathering resources) and it was time for her to ''take care of the elderly''. This amused the couple greatly. The family happily shopped along the stalls, their baskets filling up with their needs for the next few days. While their savings were gone, they just thought to live for the moment. They had gone through so much after the disaster, they ought to reward themselves! However, just as they reached one of their final stalls, they heard a little noise not far from them. Chapter 158 A Small Scuffle When they arrived they saw two middle-aged men¡ªone caucasian and one copper-skinned¡ªglaring at each other with red eyes. "Why are you so rude?" "Why are YOU so rude?" "I didn''t do anything!" The dark-skinned man said, frowned, and looked around. "I was just buying things from this stall, and he suddenly scoffed at me and mumbled rude things." "You were laughing first! I worked hard for this!" The caucasian said, raising his voice, and the dark-skinned man looked at him indignantly. "What? I didn''t laugh¡ª" "You saw my items and you laughed at it!" the stall owner, the blonde man in his late 40s, yelled. "I didn''t force you to buy it!" The dark-skinned man frowned, but his fist clenched, thinking there was no explaining to this guy. The fact that he was on the receiving end of nagging-with-saliva splatter was making him red in annoyance. Maybe he should just punch him in the face???? However, he had just clenched his fist and was about to raise his arm when a new person suddenly appeared between them. He was a bit tall with tanned skin. He had an average face, but his stature was authoritative. "Excuse me," Jun said with a neutral smile. "I know it''s not my place to intervene, but from what I''ve been hearing there seems to be a misunderstanding." "Who are you?" They spat, glaring at him simultaneously. Any other would have been intimidated, but Jun remained unfazed. "My name is Jun. I''m new here¡­ I also worked in the legislative sector back in Terran." He said, "I may be able to give an outsider''s perspective. His brown eyes landed on the clenched fist. "There''s no need to go physical with this argument. Please remember that fighting isn''t allowed in the territory. We don''t want to be blacklisted, right?" This made the two men pause, shoulders slumping a little. "May I know what happened?" He said, standing straight, looking even taller. Although he was prying, his stance was firm and poised, and unconsciously the two men saw him as an authoritative figure. "He laughed at my craft." "I didn''t! I swear. I even admired it a bit! It''s just that I remembered some things¡­" Jun smiled. "It seemed that there really was a misunderstanding." The angry man flushed a bit, not just of embarrassment but also of some memories. "I''m sorry, it''s just that my daughter¡ª" the blonde man paused. "It''s my daughter''s technique. My daughter taught me this." The other man''s stance softened and just patted the other man''s shoulder. "I also have a daughter, but I don''t know where she is now." he said, "The memory I remembered¡­ "My reaction wasn''t a sneer¡­ I remembered my daughter was also fond of this¡­ it was a generational thing, I suppose." The other man couldn''t help but smile a little, "The things they get obsessed by at that age¡­" And the two actually started talking about the habits of their daughters'' generation. There was even a bit of laughter at the end. And the conflict was over, just like that. As the couple walked home, he noticed his wife had been silent the whole time, but also giving him furtive glances here and there. Jun raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" "I''m thinking¡­ maybe we could recommend a legal team?" His wife asked him, "The guard had said the system was open for suggestions. It may even award contribution points if it was worth it." Jun was taken aback, but was also very interested. "That¡­ might work." Joanna smiled and proudly lifted her head. "I''m looking for a job with Gaea Restaurant. Mr. Harold said I was a good cook and have a lot of potential. I''m already on the final interview!" Jun was surprised. He didn''t know this. "Wow! Congratulations!" he said, grabbing his wife''s hand with pride. "Me too, me too!" His ten-year-old daughter raised her hand. "I made 20 whole copper coins yesterday!" She said, the little girl could fit anywhere and could get a lot of resources within the territory to sell. The couple looked at each other and laughed. ¡­ The family went home and his wife began preparing dinner, while he drafted his proposal in the room. He concentrated and did his best to think of all the issues and concerns that could occur, and he only realized the time when his wife had called him for lunch. He spent a few more hours after the meal before he finally finished. He finished just before dinner was done. "Let''s talk about it after dinner," Joana said, patting his shoulders, expressing good luck. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He smiled and embraced his wife, feeling extremely lucky to have her in his life. Gathering courage, he headed to the Village Center to submit his advice to the territory to open a legal team. But¡­ before he even left for the village center, a ding rang inside his head. [Altera Village System determined you are eligible for the job of ''Officer for Internal Affairs Job Description: 1. Organize the settlement of newcomers 2. Recommend jobs and job placements 3. Research citizen needs and solutions 4. Assist the elder of diplomacy with internal relations 5. Make detailed daily reports of accomplishments and send to the Village Center Wage: 300 copper/day, free residency 50 contribution/day Do you accept? YES | NO] "What is it?" Joana asked, puzzled, looking at her husband who was staring blankly at the wall. "Ah, well¡­ I got an offer. A job offer from the territory." "What?" Joana exclaimed, pleasantly surprised. He was as well, but he dared not accept it thoughtlessly. As a former lawyer, he was not the type to bite off pies from the skies as soon as they fell. So, he went to the village center and made inquiries. [I have received a job as an Officer. What will happen if I don''t do well? Will I be punished?] [What would happen if one day I hope to quit my job? Will I be kicked out?] Althea received the message (Officer questions and reports were set to be sent directly to her) and she was quite amused. When people asked the stone tablet so earnestly, somehow she got the feeling that her citizens were praying to her to get some answers? She shook her head in amusement, before sending out the answer. [Quitting a job is done in the territory center. However, a period of 15 days of turnover is required.] [If the territory assessed that you are no longer fit for the job, you will simply lose the qualifications. Of course, this will enter your record and receiving territory jobs would be more difficult thereafter.] Jun read the replies over and over and was relieved. With a deep breath, he finally pressed [Yes] and ran back home to tell the family the good news. Chapter 159 Public Servants G Tourist City, 18 months ago "Wow, she really did it! Auntie is amazing." Althea exclaimed as her emerald eyes watched the news aptly. She had been worried for a whole day. Fortunately, the news coverage was real-time so they didn''t have to suffer too much. [Eden country has officially received majority development rights of the Yuckan Valley. Forming a partnership with Yuta Country, they will begin sustainable extraction within the year.] [The Yuckan Valley is one of the few valleys with a biodiversity index of Moderate¡ªnow very rare in our contemporary world.] [Eden country will now be safeguarding this place, and our Scientists will be at the forefront of sustainable research in the area.] It could be said that the mission to Yuta country was a resounding success. "Not just her, Gill as well." Her husband''s low velvety voice sounded beside her as his warm hand wrapped around her clothed stomach. She turned to look at him curiously, soft hand on his chest. "You can tell me now, right?" After seeing him not worried at all about the deal, she had a feeling this guy knew a lot! It was probably top-secret before, but maybe she could hear about it now. Oh, how curious. Garan looked dotingly at his wife who had sparkling eyes. His naughty hand caressed her curvaceous waist. Since she was no longer worried, perhaps they could finally be lovey-dovey again? "It depends." He said, teasingly. "I''ve been suffering for a whole day, you know¡­". Without further ado, she abruptly sat on him and wrapped her arms around him, meeting his lips. His eyes widened a little and he sat still as she parted from him and placed many pecks on his face, his nose, and his lips. Over and over. "Husband¡­ husband~ Please tell me?" She asked coquettishly, resuming her pecks. This adorableness, combined with the feeling of her softness, made him snap like a mouse trap. ¡­ Althea only got the answer to her questions several hours later. Apparently, the deal wasn''t meant to be so one-sided. However, about a year ago, an insurgent group rose up and caused chaos around the whole Yuta country. The military couldn''t defeat these scum. A special ops team¡ªled by Gill¡ªwent to Yuta country to fix this internal conflict. It wasn''t that the mission wasn''t dangerous but they managed to get information about the group about the insurgent group''s internal workings. And this was, amusingly, all due to the online activity of the leader''s son. "What makes it more interesting is that the leader of the insurgents was an illegitimate child of their monarch." Althea chuckled a bit. Not only was the younger generation the accidental source of a detrimental leak, but the insurgent leader himself believed the throne should''ve been his by virtue of his being the eldest (Illegitimate) son. Althea rested her head on her husband''s wide shoulder, a little amused. "What a drama¡­" "Tsk tsk. That''s why you should always hire on merit." She mumbled, "Otherwise who knew what they''d do accidentally." Garan nodded, just staring at his beautiful wife lounging on him. "However, it definitely wouldn''t have gone so smoothly without Auntie Mathilda in the front line." He said, "After all, it could''ve just gone the other way¡ªwe may have been able to receive backlash for prying into other people''s property and business. "Yes. I can''t imagine anyone but Auntie actually pulling it off." "Indeed¡­" He said, and Althea didn''t notice his eyes darkening until she was already flipped over. "Now, I have told you everything." He said, "It''s time for my reward¡­" Her eyes widened, gently pushing his face away from hers, trying to escape his massive body hovering over her. "But you already¡ª" But her meek questioning was shut by his lips on hers. She succumbed in the end, of course, she did. Anyway, she really ought to reward him well indeed. ____________ Altera. Present. Now that the basic structures of the Offices have been planned, Althea decided to organize the hiring process of their staff. After all, they alone would have a bit of a challenge with the current population, let alone when their number surged. However, a lot of these fields were not her specialty. Even with her helpful and omniscient tablet, she didn''t dare hire based on her own knowledge. She hoped the positions would be based on merit eventually. Like having exams, and the like. In the end, she decided to include an initial screening process with the help of the system. A basic exam with an ideally massive pool of questions they would be answering. Basics like the person''s character and proper expertise would also be determined at this point. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She sent the notification to all officers (and elders) to create their own questions and answers. When there were more supervisors hired, she''d ask them as well. She wasn''t afraid of leaks, because each employee who accepted the recruitment was to sign a virtual contract. Some of the main pillars of this were integrity, loyalty to the territory, and the avoidance of purposely doing anything that could put the territory at any sort or degree of disadvantage. After this initial screening, the applicants would then go to a face-to-face interview with their respective future bosses. Their sincerity, resourcefulness, and skill would be the primary characteristics to be determined here. Eventually, she would have a full office of government officials who would be sincere to the territory. Speaking of office, she also had to tell Oslo to build a building near the Village center, but not too close to hinder its potential expansion. It was a four-story building, which was the maximum they could build until legitimate concrete was available. Each office would at least have half a floor to themselves. As for the interior, it would be modeled after the typical offices, but with more interior decoration, interior plants, and just an overall less plain and boring design. She smiled. Now that a lot of the experts were in place, she could finally rest her mind on some distracting territory problems. She could finally start doing what she really liked¡ªresearching! After all, she was the Elder of Plant Research now, was she not? She ought to start doing her job! She couldn''t upgrade with the mobs outside anyway. Tsk. Might as well do what she did best. Chapter 160 Mysterious Kid Althea was very excited to go to her lab (children dutifully deposited in the neighbor auntie''s house) to finally develop the products she had in her head. However, before she even settled in her lab, Sheila burst in, with wide red eyes, looking quite panicked. "Boss!" Althea was a bit startled, "What is it?" "Please help us! Someone has been poisoned, we are not sure how to handle it¡­" she mumbled, looking very worried. Without another word, Althea gently placed down her experimental tools and followed the other woman to the clinic. After rushing, the two women got to their destination within a couple of minutes, with Sheila bringing her into one of the ward beds. When they arrived, they saw Betty was already there, and she was using her Healer ability to keep the patient''s vitality. Walking closer, Althea realized it was a child. It was only a little boy, probably five or six years old, with chestnut hair and freckled skin. It was just that this unique skin was now covered with bluish spots as if he had bruises all over his body. "Oh my, what did you eat?" She mumbled but quickly saw the symptoms, realizing it was the same poison she fell victim to. In fact, Sheila had also found it a little familiar, but she didn''t remember the formula so she had to call Althea. Not to mention, she wasn''t entirely sure it was the same poison either, as the symptoms were much more pronounced than Althea''s. Some foragers gathering resources outside the territory found him in the forests. Because all intrinsically poisonous plants were displaced, there were really a lot of poisonous plants just outside the territory. However, Althea had made a point for Sheila and Lily to teach people about these poisonous plants, at least to some degree, which significantly lowered the damage the plants brought to her citizens. The child must be a newcomer. Anyway, the boy was found very very late, so Betty''s ability could only maintain so much vitality in the poor child. "I couldn''t keep it for long," Betty said with furrowed eyebrows, her pretty blonde hair wet with sweat. Betty was a healer, but she couldn''t handle serious poisons, not when it already reached the bones. Althea immediately took out Tori and handled the solution, using the same materials as she had before, but with differing concentration. Before administering, she made sure to check for its approximate effects twice, in consideration of the boy''s light weight and degree of poisoning. Althea eventually judged the solution to be as safe and effective as it could be, considering the time. They immediately got the little boy to drink it. However, it was not easy as the boy was unconscious and looked in so much pain. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He didn''t cry out though, his little eyebrows were just furrowed, and he was shaking in evident pain. It broke the hearts of those who saw it, especially Sheila who had a brother not much older than this one, and Althea who had a young son. Soon, the medicine started working a bit and he could utter words in his dazed state. "Sister¡­ sister¡­" The boy mumbled, voice stuttering and longing. Sheila couldn''t help but hold the boy''s hand, acting like the sister he was looking for, and the boy immediately called, grabbing her hand for dear life. After a while, the boy''s bluish complexion turned pinkish and he began to recover some of the complexion a little boy should have. Seeing this, the women finally breathed out a sigh of relief. "Who''s he?" Althea asked, looking around, belatedly realizing there was no one around who resembled a guardian. "He came with the latest batch of refugees," Sheila said, wiping her sweat. "Doesn''t he have an adult?" "No, no one knows him," Sheila said, and Betty couldn''t help but add. "I believe he was staying in the orphanage. The first orphan, so to speak." Speaking of, the concept of an orphanage was a rare thing to Betty. She only ever saw something somewhat similar in a few cities, but it was here in a small village and still with an arguably better setup. In a few cities, there was an establishment just called ''Shelter'' for these children, and basically it was a place where parent-less children were thrown, giving them just enough food to survive until they were twelve¡ªthe age people tended to start fighting monsters. Here, the orphanage would take care of the child''s entire well-being, and all the way until the age of 18. Then again, Altera Village seemed to be forward in so many things. Althea looked at the boy as she heard that the boy had no adult with him, feeling heavy. With this, she knew that the child was probably alone for the past weeks. How terrible. The unfortunate fact was that defenseless children were likely to lose their lives first in the two tragedies that they simultaneously had to go through. Surviving children, like Maya, tended to have their protectors with them. So far, there were only a handful of children in the territory, and only this one was without a guardian. "It''s amazing he got this far on his own¡­" she whispered, and the others nodded in agreement. Sheila looked warmly at the boy, gently patting his head, and wiping his forehead. "He''s a very good kid." She said, heart suddenly longing for her own family. She wondered where they were¡­ ¡­ Meanwhile, the little boy, with the given name of Horus, was having a horrible dream. He dreamed of life back in Terran, when he and his sister struggled through the slums, barely managing to eat. His sister worked very hard, but even in his young age, he knew his sister''s work wasn''t good, because many people frowned at her, pointing with mean faces whenever she was there. They also called her names, which he didn''t understand, but a child like him could still feel whether it was malicious or not. He tried to help her many times, he tried looking for a job, but what could his small body do? Eventually, he discovered that he had a talent. It was the talent to take people''s things without them knowing. And he was amazing at it. With this skill, he bought his sister food and new clothes and told her people gave it to them. Although she was questioning, she took it, playfully pinching his cheek, thinking that her brother was so cute, so people naturally wanted to help him. This went on for weeks on end, and his final victim seemed like any other, but only much richer. It was a big man in a suit with a bulging wallet as bloated as his stomach. He had an ugly beard on his face and cigars on his hand, his other hand holding the waist of the lady next to him. He was very distracted, laughing loudly with his friends and teasing the ladies in his arms. He was so distracted and not minding his wallet hanging out of his pocket at all. It was as if he was asking him to take it. Horus'' confident mind was already thinking of how to buy that pretty hair tie for his sister. He thought that, like every other time, he would be able to get away with it. Until, of course, he got caught. Chapter 161 Little Horus "Well, well, what do we have here? Such a small little thief?!" The man grinned evilly, grabbing his small arms. The men threw him down with a bang, hitting the table leg. The man raised his feet to give him a kick. It wasn''t too heavy that he''d break bones or die, but every kick hurt very much and it probably wouldn''t have felt much different from it. The man''s cohorts chuckled while the people around could only close their eyes and frown, with no one stepping over to help. Luckily, there was still someone who was willing to take a small step. Someone around knew of him, and the person immediately called his sister who was working her 2nd job nearby. "What are you doing?!" She yelled as soon as she arrived, to see a man kicking his brother for the nth time. "Please stop!!" She screamed, running and covering her brother''s body. "He tried stealing from me!" The man said, but paused when he saw the girl more closely. "What?" "And he''s pretty good at it. He must''ve been doing it for a while, yeah?" Horus could still remember the despair in his sister''s eyes when she realized what he had been doing. She sobbed but covered him with her body regardless. "That''s enough!" She remained firm, "He didn''t get to steal anything did he?!" The man didn''t answer and just leered at his sister. Horus didn''t like his stare and he tried to sit up to protect her. But he was too small and weak and powerless. He didn''t really know what happened after that. All he knew was that they were taken to a cheap motel room and he was asked to wait outside. He didn''t know what his sister did inside the room, but the man didn''t beat him anymore after. He even threw them some money. He was confused, but he hated the feeling of helplessness very much. He grabbed the money and threw it back to him. The piece of crumpled money hit the man''s leg, and a moment later he fell down. For a moment he thought his throw was super strong and he grinned. But then the man''s body started to twist in odd shapes, then he began growling, and then crawling to his direction like a monster. His sister got out of the room and screamed, grabbing a random thing¡ªa vase¡ªand hitting him with it. The vase broke but the monster continued to move, unbothered. He felt himself being pulled back, behind her sister, as she took a piece of the vase and stabbed the man. It continued to move, and his sister stabbed it over and over, until it finally stopped moving. He saw his sister shaking and crying and held his hand. "We need to run." She said, shaking, but as they opened the door, they only saw more monsters. They were everywhere. But they closed the door and saw the monster of the man was still twitching. His sister frowned and kicked the piece of vase stuck in its head, and it finally, truly, it stopped moving. "Is it really dead now?" He asked, but when no one answered he lifted his head to see his sister staring into thin air. His sister paused. "System?" She voiced out, confused. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Sister?" She looked at him with her red eyes still tearing up, but after a while she told him to hold a weapon. He didn''t really understand and he watched his sister take another piece of the vase, a bigger piece, and made him hold it. "Sister?" With another piece in hand, his sister opened the door again. Horus was very confused and extremely terrified. "Sister??" But he watched as she led one zombie in, closing the door again, and stabbing it over and over until it could hardly move. "Kill it." His sister said, holding his hand and motions for it to hit the skull. Horus shook, feeling the hard skull against the vase. "But¡­" His sister sighed and held his cheek. "Don''t you trust your sister?" He shook his head. Of course, he trusted his sister. So, with some guidance and a lot of snot and tears, little Horus managed to finally stab through the piece of porcelain into the zombie''s brain. [Welcome Terran Survivor 045 to the universe assistance system!] "Do you see it?" "It''s a screen¡­" he said, extending his hand and saw his hand go through the screen. It was very pretty, like gazillions of super tiny luminescent powder forming an image in front of him. "It''s really there? Okay¡­ okay¡­." His sister said, stuttering, before she dragged him back to the inner room and they locked the door. They stayed there for hours, embracing each other in their shaken states. Fortunately, there was food in the small refrigerator of the hotel room so they did not go hungry. Hiding inside his sister''s arms, he looked up at her, "What''s going on sister??" "I don''t know either¡­" she said, voice still stuttering. "It seems we''re going to get taken to a new world¡­" "No monsters??" "No monsters." She said, but he felt she wasn''t very certain. They stayed like that for a few more hours, resting a bit, waiting for the counter to stop. But a few hours in, and amongst the creepy scratching of the doors, he could see the changes in his sister. "This won''t do¡­" she said, "We can''t waste time here..." "Sister?" "We need to fill up our space." She said, "We ought to live better there, right?" He looked at his sister, nodding, and they opened the door with weapons in hand. They went out to take valuables within the motel, and they fought off the zombies together one by one using whatever they had on hand. Fortunately, the motel was locked and the number of zombies outside their rooms was limited, giving them some time to adjust. His sister took the emergency axe and he was given the longest knife in the kitchen. They took away the people''s wallets and went straight to the back room and took in as much food and supplies there as they could, especially food with long shelf lives like grains and uncooked pasta. There was also some jewelry and little gold from the customers, though not much, as no one in the motel was very rich. The most expensive they got was a wedding ring on a man''s hand, and the man''s alone, as the woman didn''t have any rings on her. It was not easy, but just as they finally got used to it and managed to scour much of the small motel, a circle of light lit up under them, bringing them to another strange, and even more dangerous, world. Chapter 162 More Territories When they transferred, they transferred with hundreds of others. The true nightmare began at that time because monsters far stronger than what they encountered surrounded them. There were so many, tens and tens of them, and their ugly appearance made a lot freeze in fear, becoming easy targets to eat. The way the people were mauled was a thing of nightmares, striking terror in more people''s hearts, and in turn making them easy victims. It was a horrible cycle. Soon, the fight began and some people managed to snap out of the shock and defend themselves. Even if the monsters were strong, they were far more in number. That was what some of them thought at first, but they quickly realized that the monsters were nothing like the zombies back in Terran! They were much, much, stronger and even a group of big men couldn''t beat a monster without someone losing an arm, a leg, and his life. He and his sister struggled to kill one together, along with a few others, eventually learning to help out and defend themselves. His little body did its best to help, and when he managed to slash a wound on its feet, he brightened and celebrated, not realizing that it only made the monster go berserk, and it lifted its sharp claws to his direction. "Horus!!" Slash! "Sister!!" He yelled, watching the monster''s claw slice his sister''s face. ROAR!!!!! He yelled back, "ROARRR!" He screamed with his little voice, running to it. He used their last weapon to hit it, but it didn''t hurt much. Instead, it lifted its paws to smash him. But Horus'' unknown skill¡ªtriggered by extreme anger and adrenaline¡ªhelped him avoid its attack. Over and over. To the point that it was even superior to the adults. [Evasion (E): Avoid detection of all monsters level 10 and below for 10 seconds. Consumption: 5 Mana] It wasn''t clear what it meant, but he instinctively knew it was helpful. He willed the ability to apply and it did, and he ran to the monster. He immediately jumped to the weakened monster, stabbing its eyes repeatedly. It shook wildly as if he was a fly that would let go with a shake. But energy coursed through his small body and he gripped the monster with his small arms, stabbing again and again every time he could. Finally, he dug enough of its eye to finally reach its brain. Stab! Stab! Stab!!! ROARRRRRR!!!! He stabbed until it fell down and no longer moved. [Killed Stormdoer (Lv1): +30 experience, +30 copper!] He didn''t even notice this as he sprinted to his bleeding sister, sobbing with snot, yelling for help. But who could pay attention to him when there were still a dozen monsters slashing about. He could only drag his sister to a safe place, trying to stop the bleeding on her face with a clean cloth they got from the motel. Sniff. "I''m sorry¡­" Sniff. His sister weakly took out a handkerchief and wiped it on his tanned face. "I won''t die." She said, "Don''t cry. You''re a big boy now, aren''t ya?" The group of them, after losing a good portion, did end the small mob. But his sister earned a scar. More than once, she was told she was ugly many times, and little Horus would attack them every time. By the second day, there were only about 50 of them left alive, most of whom were very injured, and no one bothered with this little thing anymore. Their group of hundreds struggled through the first few days, dwindling quickly in numbers, and becoming more and more miserable as they traveled. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Soon, they encountered an enclosure¡ªa fence¡ªand they ran with their remaining energy to look for a gate. [Welcome to Vismont Village!] He and his sister looked at each other with bright eyes. Happily, his sister wrapped her arms around him. "We''re finally safe!" How could they know it was the beginning of another, more tragic, experience? ¡­. In the village, they found out that the paper money they took was useless. Fortunately, there was some jewelry and a little gold they got from the motel, but it was very little. Together, they had scraped up only a few silver currency they could use. This wasn''t enough for them to live with a decent stomach for a week. They worked hard to gather what they needed to survive. They were doing honest work, and he wasn''t stealing anymore, as his sister had asked him. Except for the fights because someone would insult his sister, the two of them had gotten used to one legitimate meal every 2 days and living in a shed made with leaves. They had also gotten used to the horrid and sticky smell of feces and body odor. But then¡­ that man came. He said he had fallen in love with his sister, her strength and hard work. He also needed a good wife and wondered if they could consider living with him. His sister was naturally reluctant, but that man was charming and eloquent. He also promised she could leave if they couldn''t make it work. He was charming and capable and promised them a good life in their territory. At first, he did. He let them live with him in a residential unit, and let them eat at the restaurant every day. But¡­ a few days later, after he went back home from gathering wood, he found his beautiful sister bloodied, naked, and without a breath. There, in that damned place, he brutally lost his sister. What was his punishment? He was just banished from the territory!! The man was strong. A cockroach. He wouldn''t die. How could he be reconciled?? So he escaped from the village and he ran after his sister''s murderer. He ventured to the wild by himself. A six-year-old who could barely handle a level 1, using his ability to the most of his ability, went on a mission to hunt. But he lost his target in the end. He followed his sister''s murderer to this direction but didn''t find him yet. He swore to kill him, and stab him dozens of times more than what he did to his sister. So he looked and looked, traveled, barely avoiding countless near-death hits. Other than his new magic skill, he used his flexibility to climb up trees and jump between them. For days, he managed to escape monsters time and time again¡­ ¡­trying to find the most hideous monster there was. ¡­ Altera village, present Horus woke up with red eyes and saw the most beautiful older sister he had ever seen. But his dark heart could not appreciate it as the hate in his heart was revived by his dreams. "What are you thinking?" Althea asked, noticing the little boy''s dark mood. "Stabbing someone twenty-five times." Her eyebrows rose. A potential little villain, eh? But Althea''s face didn''t change. Instead, she sat on the side of his bed, patiently. "It must be a villain, then." She said, nodding at him. The child froze and looked at her with wide eyes. "Hmm .." he said, voice cracking. "He killed my sister." "Do you know where he is?" The child shook his head. "If you did, how would you beat him?" The boy''s lips pursed, not knowing what to answer. "What are you doing outside the walls on your own?" "I¡­ I wanted to be stronger¡­" he said. He had seen so many people going out near the walls, using the sentries to assist their fights and getting stronger and stronger. He wanted that. But in the end, he fainted after touching a plant. He flushed red, embarrassed. Althea hid a smile and patted his little curly head. "Why don''t you stay with us and gather strength?" The cute little boy with pale freckled skin, curly chestnut hair, and large round eyes looked at her, wondering if she was telling the truth. Then he remembered that man was no less kind. He was also charming. And suddenly the boy''s body adopted a defensive stance. Althea blinked. "Oh my. Am I scary??" She asked, touching her heart as if she was surprised and a little hurt. This made the boy flinch and he shook his head immediately, then blushed again. This time, Althea and the other women couldn''t help but laugh. "Don''t worry," she said, "The territory is fair, you should know by now right?" "You wouldn''t suffer injustice here." She told him, patting his head, her melodious voice reaching his heart and calming it. "Not anymore." Chapter 163 Vismont Village [Welcome to Vismont Village (Lv2)! Please pay a visitor''s fee of 10 copper within 5 minutes of entering. [To become a temporary citizen please pay 10 silver (valid for 1 month), and 15 gold for permanent residency.] Ansel and the twins looked at each other as they entered. The twins looked a bit impressed. "Quite affordable. At least half of the previous one. I wonder how they tax¡­" Ansel raised an eyebrow. "My previous one''s about the same. They should have a default value or something they adjust." "What??" The twins looked at each other, indignant "Our previous territory ripped us off then." Luke mumbled, gritting his teeth. After all, they were focused on looking for their mother during the 24 hours pre-migration. How much money could they take? Leo sighed, also remembering their poverty, "Well, the lord''s dead now. He has no one to blame but himself. Just a pity for the innocent." The trio was silent after that, going further inside the threshold to realize it was all forests. There wasn''t even an actual pathway. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Luke couldn''t help but double take and look back, confirming there really was a gate. Fortunately, there was still a rough trekking path that they could follow to wherever they ought to be heading. "This territory should have just been upgraded." Ansel said as they walked forward, sharp eyes studying his surroundings. He remembered back in Bright, he saw additional walls getting erected far from where the old one was. And a few hours later? A Beast Tide arrived. While Luke continued to look around as he walked, Leo nodded. "Then they should have just experienced a beast tide." Luke was startled. "Really? So sure?" "Ansel told us before that his previous territory was upgraded right before the beast tide. You were too busy eating at the time." "Oh." "Didn''t you see the trees felled outside the walls?" "Oh I thought people were gathering resources or something." Luke shrugged and continued on his way. Ansel was amused, "It seems that all the brain went to you and the brawn went to him." Leo coughed and chuckled. "Well, in our current situation, he''d likely survive better." The trio continued walking, following the makeshift pathway they found. After a couple of minutes, they eventually saw a change of scenery. They encountered more and more people. They were setting camps in the forests, some were using the tree canopies as roots, while some were completely cutting them off. However, considering the density of the forest, although many of the trees were cut, there was still a lot to cover the remaining scenery. It was just that judging by the noise of chatter and the horrid smell that reached their brains, they could estimate that the people in this area would at least be in the several hundreds, if not thousands. Soon, the group arrived to see the crowd and saw the people and their living conditions. Most of them were living in makeshift sheds supported by the forests, covered with blood, and very listless. It seemed that the beast tide really did a number on this place, Ansel thought, and he looked around the people to see who he could approach. Soon, they walked to a harmless-looking group and Ansel took out a few bales of edible fruit. "Hello there, can you tell me more about this territory? What happened?" The people looked hungrily at the food in his hand but they didn''t take it immediately. "It''s edible, I promise." And he sent out his signature playboy smile. The women on the team blushed immediately. The women were the first to be won over. How could such a handsome lad lower himself to give them poison? "The territory just got attacked by a beast tide." Another girl took a few pieces. "A lot of people died. Even the wall almost fell." "Who''d have thought? We were so happy when another wall¡ªa taller one¡ªappeared but there were monsters everywhere, and many places were left unguarded." Then a middle-aged woman added, with a hint of wistfulness. "But we have a very good lord." She said, "During the time of crisis he was fighting with us¡­" Everyone seemed to agree with this, admiration consistent in their expressions. "He had held us together at that time, he asked everyone to gather resources to reinforce the walls, and now we survived. "The loss was heavy, but some of us had been to other territories¡­ This was nothing at all. "The lord said, if we lived well and protected the territory, the sacrifices of those people were not in vain." Ansel and the other two were a bit interested in this lord, so admired by his people. Leo and Ansel, in particular, were intrigued. How many days had it been? Someone already bought so much of his people''s hearts? They continued chatting with the women who happily accommodated them and they, at some point, formed a little gossip circle. After a while though, the little gossip circle would be bothered by the sound of a little commotion from the other side of the slums. "What''s that?" Luke asked, chewing on some fruit "It''s them again." The person next to him (straight male, joined at some point) complained, frowning bitterly. "Who?" "The Tiger Gang." He said, "They often come here to get protection fees." "Oh? Your Lord doesn''t protect you?" The man gave him a bad look, offended. "What do you know! It''s just that everyone else is weak here." "These guys were the main defense after most of the others died. It wasn''t that the Lord didn''t want to kick them out, he had no choice!" Ansel raised his hands in surrender, blinking in surprise. "Yes, yes, you''re absolutely right." It was here that a menacing group of bulky men finally reached their area. They were giving intimidating stares at each person and waiting for them to give a copper. Leo looked at the dozens of gangsters with raised eyebrows. He tilted his body a little to Ansel, whispering. "So many of them survived?" "I heard it was a bunch of gangs put together after the Migration." Ansel watched in interest, adopting the attitude of a detached bystander. However, it didn''t stay that way as the gangsters eventually reached their circle. They looked menacing and slimy, a different type of disgusting altogether, The men paused at the sight of them, grinned, and began looking at the three of them up and down. "Handsome young men?" Ansel''s eyes twitched, having the feeling that trouble was about to come. Couldn''t he just look for his sister in peace?? Chapter 164 Lord of Vismont Village Aberdeen City, a year ago Ansel looked at the beautiful ebony-haired woman in front of him with his charming peach blossom eyes. He lifted the hand entangled with his own and placed it against his mouth, making the woman blush. Hana, however, tried to push down her smile. After all, she was currently in the midst of questioning him. She couldn''t help but remember the beautiful curvaceous blonde and her mood dipped again. "Who was that?" Seeing that she couldn''t get distracted, Ansel sighed, tightening his hold of her hand as he guided her towards a bench. Ansel was having a great date with this girlfriend of his when annoyingly encountered Winona, Althea''s BFF, being harassed by someone in the same park. It was one of her rich suitors¡ªthe type that couldn''t take no for an answer¡ªand he was pretty much dragging her to go on a date with him. Although the two of them didn''t get along well¡ªbordering on hostility, actually¡ªhe couldn''t let her be, right? So, he swooped in and dealt with the guy (no blood, just a couple of faux-passes that made him lose balance and humiliate himself). However, it made his current girlfriend, a pretty exchange student from Yuta country, to look at him questioningly. "She''s my sister''s best friend." He said, explaining patiently. "We''re not close." "Not close?" Hana asked, narrowing her eyes as if she could see if he was lying if he did so. He nodded very decisively. "Not close." Hana didn''t say anything for a while and just looked at him deeply, trying to determine if he wasn''t just making excuses. Ansel leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips, "I wouldn''t lie to anyone about this." He already had a reputation at this point, and the women knew what they were getting into. Hana pursed her lips and sighed, succumbing, and they went on with their date. The couple continued their walk along the park, buying ice cream as they leisurely chatted, and it was really nice for a while. They stopped when they heard a cacophony of female screams nearby. "What''s that?" Ansel asked, and they went closer to see what the commotion was about. Who knew, maybe it was a singer they liked. Like, Fable perhaps. Soon flyers and banners were seen on the ground and on banners, and they found out that it was actually a political campaign of a small politician. "Why does it seem like an idol is here?" Ansel asked, eyebrows furrowed. He turned to see his girlfriend staring at the life-size Sintra board model of the man. "That man is quite handsome." She said and Ansel looked at Hana in interest. "More handsome than your boyfriend?" Hana chuckled and tiptoed to kiss him on the cheek. "Of course not~" ____________________ Vismont Village, Present The gangsters leered at them in a way that their stomach tumbled in disgust. "You''re new here aren''t ya?" One said, extending his hand. "Just right. Let me tell you, to remain here you have to pay some cash!" It was unsurprisingly, Luke who stepped forward, between his brother and greeted the man. "You haven''t protected us yet, why should we pay you?" Luke immediately answered, with a deep frown on his face. One of the man''s cohorts sneered and clenched his fist threateningly. "Pay or not?" Luke, their own goon, sneered back. "You? Are you worth it?" Without warning, the man threw a punch, with Luke preparing to fight back. Ansel had gestured to stop them, not wanting Luke to get kicked out. But the punch actually connected and Luke immediately countered back, pushing the other back a few steps. Ansel''s eyebrows raised. ''Fighting here isn''t prohibited?'' He thought. Ansel knew very well the lord had the power to impose this. In Bright, there were once two people who exchanged hits and they were automatically teleported out of the territory. Hmn. Territories seemed to have more differences than he thought¡­ The gangsters'' auras changed from smug to angry, and they gestured to attack them, not caring about the bystanders they hit on the way. How ever did the lord here gather such a fanbase with these scum running about? Anyway, Ansel quickly cut some of the people who wanted to gang up on Luke, using skills Garan wholeheartedly ''taught'' him. In contrast, although Leo could handle one on his own, he struggled a lot. Basically for the remaining half dozen men, Ansel and Luke took care of them together. The past few days of traveling and fighting monsters together did wonders for their teamwork. They dealt with them quickly and efficiently, with Luke serving as an aggressive ''tank'' and Ansel as the main attacker. By the end, he¡ªwithout using a weapon¡ªalso used his skill, shocking the men. [Stab! -3 mana] A flash of light passed and a huge piece of skin was taken away. "AHHH!" "What¡ª" "Fuck! What did you do!" The gangster said as he felt blood drop from his arms. ''What happened?'' He thought, disbelieving. ''The brat didn''t have weapons on him, right?!'' Ansel felt a few admiring gazes cast in their direction, but he received hateful glares from the men on the ground. "Bastard¡ª" They took out their weapons, and naturally, the trio did as well. Luke took out his wooden spear and shield, while the other two took their swords. The gangsters did not care who they hit and a lot of citizens became collateral damage. Luke was a real source of brute force, while Ansel received harsh training since he was a child, so they really managed to handle the men even when they were outnumbered. However, just as they were about to gain the upper hand, about a dozen men appeared, heroically taking down the gangsters. The actions were swift, especially since the gangsters were weakened, and this was followed by a soft but commanding voice emerging from the crowd. "How many times have I told you that you can''t hurt the citizens?! Have you forgotten the prohibition to kill? Even if it was an accident you will not be exempt." The low stern voice echoed across the crowd and the people''s faces brightened instantaneously at the recognition of its owner. "My Lord!" The people exclaimed, looking at him admiringly as if he saved their lives. Ansel looked on with interest. This timing¡­ was interesting. He bet 10 gold this guy had been watching for a while. Why, though? The owner of the voice was a very handsome young man. When everyone was dirty and haggard he gave off a clean and charming feeling, at the same time exhibiting mature masculine charm. No wonder those women looked dreamy at the mention of him. He was even wearing well-made long sleeves with a turtleneck in this weather. Was he trying to pass himself up as a monk? More interestingly, Ansel also happened to know this guy from Terran. He had seen him campaign when he was on one of his dates. He remembered him because of the screaming girls and ladies, as if he was a pop star. Matthew White. Apparently, the lord here was a small politician. One of his major taglines was that he was supposedly a ''clean'' politician from a commoner background. He heard before that people with 1000 gold upon Migration were required to even get a chance for a Lord token. How''d this guy get 1000 gold in 24 hours? Very shady. Still, Ansel watched as the man was surrounded by his thankful citizens with narrowed eyes, and sneered. If he really wanted to help these people, he could''ve kicked those men. At least, he could''ve stopped the gangsters from harassing the people long-term. He had seen Bright''s plaster-face deal with troublesome people who entered his territory. The power of those with the Lord title, at least inside their jurisdictions, was not to be underestimated. Ansel narrowed his eyes as he looked at this man. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was either this lord was too weak¡­ or he didn''t really want to help at all. Chapter 165 Wells Ansel watched in interest as the gangsters were taken in for prison. Though, looking at their still-confident and menacing expressions, he reckoned this was counted as a childish ''timeout'' instead. Ansel''s sights followed them as they were hauled out and his eyes inevitably met with the lead gangster''s, who was sending him a warning glare. In response, Ansel crossed his arms and smirked, sending him the middle finger, which made the latter explode and sprint to him. He easily did so, too, and it was either he was super strong¡­, or the ties were just for show. Ansel had a feeling it was the latter. "Looks like you don''t want to escape from a beating, eh?" Ansel smirked, his hands raised and entering a ready-to-kick-butt posture. However, before Ansel could beat him to a half-dead state, the other of the Lord''s guards surrounded the man and took him down, tying him up more snugly. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After securing them all, the guards continued their way with the gangsters in tow. A lot of whom not forgetting to send glares in their direction, threatening. "See how I handle you later!" He yelled, looking at them as if they were already dead meat he''d skewer in a barbeque later. Ansel and Leo looked at each other with raised eyebrows. They were so confident? Were they going to get released later after their ''time-out''? However, neither of them pointed it out, knowing they were in another person''s territory. When the crowd regained peace, Matthew¡ªwho had appeared unaffected all throughout¡ªraised his hand and everyone became quiet. "I have actually come here because of a purpose. I have been going from community to community in order to personally congratulate everyone for protecting the territory well. Thank you." "Nonono, we wouldn''t have been able to do it without you!" "Yes, my Lord, we never would''ve had the courage if it wasn''t for you!" "Well, the credit is to all of us," he said with a smile. "I have come with good news, as well. When we upgraded, new buildings became available to us." "A lot of which are useful new structures, such as the Wells." He paused for effect, looking at the audience whose eyes were becoming brighter and brighter full of hope. "That''s right, the water source. We no longer have to make do with the restaurant gruel as our only source of water. "We can now bathe again and drink our fills¡­ our territory will get better and better!" Then he paused, eyes softening and looking a bit distraught. "Unfortunately, the building cost of each one is a bit costly, and there will be a small cost per use afterward. "So now I request we work together for our home! Would you like to help me? Those who share will get higher limits than the others¡­" He scratched the back of his head and looked down, as if embarrassed. "Each one costs about 100 gold each and a lot of resources. After repairing the wall, I do not have any left¡­" "Yes Lord! Water! Everyone needs water!" "I''m willing to share!" One person said, manifesting a few pieces of silver. "Me too!" "Don''t be embarrassed Lord, you''ve done so much already!" "I will share 10 silver!" "I will share 50!" Matthew smiled brightly at them, looking grateful. "Thank you, everyone, I will not forget your contribution!!" Everyone cheered. They will finally have water! Luke nodded in admiration. "He looks like a pretty good guy!" Both Ansel and Leo rolled their eyes. Ansel turned his head to Leo, asking with his eyes: Did this guy get scammed a lot? Leo nodded, ''Yes, always.'' "He almost joined a cult once¡­" Leo whispered, making Ansel cackle a bit. Luke seemed to have felt the ridicule, and turned his head to them, puzzled. "Huh, what?" "Nothing." The two shrugged and resumed watching the show. This speech of Matthew not only managed to solicit 100 gold and hundreds of resources, but this investment and his constant use of inclusive language would influence people to deeply feel for the territory, increasing loyalty. It was a bit smart if he really didn''t have the money. But¡­ Ansel had a feeling the cost of that well was definitely lower than 100. And he did mention before that he had been going from community to community. He wondered how many ''wells'' he was able to fund using this method. Also, he could''ve also promised the people who shared that they could get the equivalent amount of water for free, instead of just buying a higher limit cap. His train of thought was interrupted when he saw Luke shake hands with Matthew. His hand slapped his forehead and Leo shook his head. Then the idiot turned his head to them and called them over. "You guys, come here! Come here!" The two had no choice but to introduce themselves. "Ah yes, Ansel Witt." He said with a mysterious smile. "And Luke and Leonard Hugh." "I''ve seen your performances. You are very strong." Ansel frowned at his knowing look. Although he hadn''t confirmed it, he could feel the lords could invade his privacy somehow. Like they could read information about him he didn''t want others to see. It was intrusive and he didn''t like it at all. "Do know we especially welcome those who can contribute to the safety of the territory." Matthew said with a smile, "The conditions are very good. Just say them and we will do what we can." For a moment, Ansel was tempted to ask him what it was, just out of curiosity. In the end, though, he shook his head. "We''re trying to find people. We probably won''t be staying for long." Matthew stared at them for a moment longer than proper, before sending them that winning smile. "Well, come to me if you change your mind." He said and politely excused himself, heading back deeper into the territory. For a while, they thought that was that. However, hours after parting, Ansel felt a weird feeling of stickiness in his back making him frown for a long time. Their group¡­ was definitely being watched. Chapter 166 Charisma Aberdeen City, a year ago "Really?" He asked, confirming Hana''s answer. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Hana giggled. "In my eyes, no one can be more charming and handsome than you." He smiled, "Good answer." Hand-in-hand, the two of them moved forward with the crowd to watch the person on the platform. The man was already having his speech. "Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for gathering here today in this small open area in a park we all love. "It is an honor and privilege to stand before you as a candidate for City Council. My journey has been a humble one, as you may know, but I believe this brings a unique perspective to the table. "We have faced a fair share of challenges, but these obstacles have taught me the true value of resilience and persistence. I know the difficulties ordinary people face because I have lived them myself. "In this journey, I carry with me not only my own experiences but the collected dreams and aspirations of our class¡ªof the workers having two shifts, of the fathers providing for their families, of the mothers just hoping to give better lives for the children, or the typical youngin'' just entering the world of adulthood. "I promise unwavering commitment to listen and work tirelessly on your behalf. "Together, we share a vision of a brighter future for our city, one where opportunities will not be limited by circumstances, and every voice is heard, as it was¡ªfortunately¡ªbeen with mine. "I hope to share this voice with all of you, let us all make our lives better. "Thank you and may we journey towards progress together!" This was followed by raging cheers in the small crowd, as well as a lot of screaming from the young women. He looked around in interest, and then at the man with a gentle smiling face, and he just knew it was a mask. ______________________ Vismont Village, Present Leaving the slum areas, the trio went to the village center to rent a house, and also to find out more about the territory. The village center was a one-story building located near the center of the territory. As with Bright, there were trade surfaces and information platforms placed equidistantly on the floor area. He saw the inquiry tabs and set another mission (after paying 50 damned silver) for information about a woman called Althea Witt. The reward ranged from 5 silver to 5 gold. Of course, the truth must be confirmed by the system first. When he was done with his errand, he saw the twins had already rented a house, which was tagged in the purchaser''s¡ªLeo''s¡ªmap. One would be able to rent a room and share a common area with others or rent the whole house for a price of 10 silver a day. To save money, they rented a room to share. "There is basically only one housing type, a two-story building." The smaller twin said as they traversed the lively streets lined with stall owners sitting on the ground and selling various things. They were mostly things they had from Terran, while a few managed to get monster parts from the beast tide and sold them for meat. They soon arrived at the assigned house and went in, immediately seeing that there were no furnishings. It was basically just a roof above their heads, but it was really better than most. Luke had even gone straight to the bathroom and came out refreshed and amazed. Fanboy Luke went to stand in front of them, telling them in glee, "The bathroom here is way better than our old one. The toilet here actually has a seat." Leo nodded. It was indeed better than the previous one. Ansel didn''t bother, because Bright territory also chose the same type of house. After resting for a bit, the trio went out to get something to eat. They lined up at the restaurant and endured another horrid meal, eating edible fruit they found to put down the horrid taste. They ate slowly so they could stay longer. Keeping their ears sharp, they tried to be subtle while catching as much gossip as they could. Restaurants were one of the places to gather Intel. Even if they couldn''t openly investigate the happenings in the territory, they could eavesdrop. It so happened that the table next to them was composed of old and new residents, with the former giving news to the latter. "So you can''t kill here?" "It was amazing. One of the gang members killed someone before and when the Lord found not only did he kick this person out, but he worked hard to build a prohibition. Since then, no one dared to kill." "That''s great. I have been wondering in the wild the past few days! I finally found a safe place!" The old resident nodded proudly. "You don''t know. Our Lord had to pay a lot of gold to set this prohibition. He really thinks of us everywhere¡­" While many of the conversations were about their daily lives, if it rounded to the Lord of the territory, it would be filled with amazement, gratitude, and awe. Even Ansel was amazed by the guy''s charm. Anyway, eventually, the topic turned to rants about their sufferings and the trio was no longer interested, leaving for the other facilities within the territory. Other than the restaurant, there was also the weapon shop and armory in the main commercial area. They went in to check out if there was any difference with the weapons and realized it was all the same. They still bought a few of each because of the durability limitations of level E weapons. As they went out, they saw a commotion not too far away from them. Bored, the three of them decided to watch the show. Several meters away, they immediately found out what the ruckus was about. "They''re building a well!" Came a yell within the crowd. "The people who shared will get priority!" "The lord is fair!" "The well! The Lord is building the well!" More people followed the crowd and Luke had long joined in. The other two simply looked at each other and sighed, finding a nearby tree to climb and get a better, but comfortable, view of all the commotion. They settled down on a tree each and they looked at the center of the crowd. It was Matthew, of course, in front of an open space near the village center. There was a clear area of radius of about 5 meters surrounding him, and he seemed concentrating deeply on the task at hand. Heh. Sure enough, a showman was a showman. Soon, the land in front of him shook. From there, it seemed like a force suddenly pushed down the soil and created a hole. Slowly, the people watched as the well materialized speck by speck, and then brick by brick. It was a magical sight that was never boring to watch. Ansel looked around to see the expressions of the people. It was a miraculous thing and, in the eyes of the people, so was Matthew himself. Chapter 167 Hypocrisy "Hypocrite." A whispered sneer sounded below them, catching Ansel''s and Leo''s attention. It was a dark-haired young man with huge eyebags, seemingly with a perennially somber expression. The two people beside him¡ªa short haired girl with golden hair and the short man with a semi-bald hairstyle¡ª nodded in agreement. "I bet you 10 gold that a bucket of water would be insanely expensive." The girl said. "I bet you 10 gold he''s going to ask for more money right after this." The shorter boy whispered. Both Ansel and Leo found this conversation far more interesting than the show in front. It was just that they didn''t make those snide side remarks anymore until the well was built and celebrated. They didn''t wait to see the results of the bet. Ansel and Leo watched as the three men and women walked away from the crowd, but didn''t do anything more. While a bit curious about what they knew, it was none of their business after all. They would only care about all this drama if they suddenly decided to stay here for good. Which they wouldn''t. The next day, Ansel and the others went back to the village center to see if there were replies to their inquiries and news of their loved ones. To their surprise though, a particularly large crowd was there so they couldn''t enter easily. As they waved through the crowd, they soon saw what the commotion was about. Matthew and his cronies were there, apparently making an announcement. "We are now a Level 2 Village and would need to increase our military. "We are hiring guards and we encourage strong men and youths to apply." Ansel knew lords could make announcements via the system. This guy was really patient to always want to appear in front of people every single time¡­ Uninterested in the so-called announcement, Ansel and Leo continued on deeper into the village center and each found a platform for their transactions. Unfortunately, none of their inquiries had been answered. After adjourning the gathering, Matthew approached their direction. He had seen their indifference and went to them with an amicable smile. "You seem to be very troubled. Can I do anything to help?" Luke nodded, looking pitiful. "Yes, lord. We sent out inquiries about our loved ones, unfortunately there''s no news." Matthew smiled, "Ah, yes, I saw that." Ansel approached the man and asked, "You have a list of citizens don''t you? Can you tell us if there''s anyone with the name of Althea Witt (25) and Kathy Hugh (48) in your list?" Matthew frowned and did not answer immediately. He sent subtle glances at his surroundings, looking around the people who were surprised to know that he had a list. They looked at him, wondering what else he could see. Matthew stared at Ansel for a moment. When he saw only saw his genuine concern to find his loved ones, his guard loosened a little. "The system does indeed send me a list of names," he said, "Along with their age and potential. Like an automatic registration of sorts." The crowd nodded, thinking their lord really was powerful. Matthew seemed to be staring at a screen but, a few minutes later, he shook his head apologetically. "I''m sorry there was no one who matched their names at all. There was a Kathy Hugh, but she is only 12 years old." The three men''s shoulders slumped a bit. "Well, I assume my territory is located in a good place, as a lot of refugees from all directions find me." He offered, "Why don''t you settle here and wait for their arrival? "If you enter a fair employment contract with me, I can give you and your families preferential treatment in buying property. "I not only sell houses, but also land." Ansel had seen this advertisement in the tab. Matthew was selling property for a lot of gold. The downpayment alone would cost most of his remaining gold. This guy was really bent on winning them over. However, Ansel still had some EQ and didn''t reject this lord in front of his people. He decided to defer instead, "Thank you for the offer, Lord Matthew." He said, "We will discuss it." Matthew nodded in agreement and excused himself, "Well I''m looking forward to your good news." He said, sauntering back to the crowd of admiring citizens. ¡­ "We''re really settling?" Luke asked, a bit looking forward to finally finding a place to stay. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Of course not." The other two answered him simultaneously. The big guy''s shoulder slumped. "No way I''m gonna spend more money here." Ansel said and Luke blinked at him. "Well, he is also very poor. Each building must be very expensive. It''s a pity we can''t use it¡­" he apparently thought that Matthews'' offer earlier was good. "He''s probably not as poor as he claims. Everyone who got a Lord token should have at least 1000 gold to be qualified." This caught the attention of the twins. "What? They need 1000 gold to own a territory?" "I owned 5 silver when I got here¡­" Luke said, downcast. Leo looked at Ansel curiously. "How''d you know?" "The lord of the previous territory had a very noisy follower." he said, shrugging, "It''s very likely the public knowledge of building costs is false, as well." This made the twins think a bit, but only shook their heads. It was none of their business anyway. Besides, the lord had absolute rights in their territories, they could charge what they wanted. As such, the trio just continued to walk around the small village, gathering news along the way. They found that along with the cities they were familiar with like Z City and Aberdeen, there were three other cities, some a hundred kilometers away from each other. It could be said for certain that the Migration definitely condensed their distances apart. This likely meant they could see people they knew soon. "Or¡­" Leo mused, "Everyone was distributed uniformly and people from the same city could''ve been sent farther away." Their shoulders slumped at this, and their investigation became a bit more frantic. Ansel had also taken out Althea''s photo when he saw some decent-looking people, newcomers in particular. Except for some compliments about their appearances, there was no one who had seen either Althea at all. Ansel sighed, frowning, but didn''t lose hope. He felt it, he was getting closer and closer to Althea. And that they would meet very soon. Chapter 168 New Friends As the trio left the building, a bit downcast, they found themselves walking around the few stone paths in the territory. Eventually, they passed by a relatively low-traffic alley. It wasn''t an issue at first but they started hearing some thumps, and scratches, followed by aghast voices. "S-Stop it!" A female voice yelled, sobbing. "Yow¡­ we can indeed stop¡­ just serve us, eh?" "Bastard!" The three looked at each other with a frown, quickly following the noise to see half a dozen big men beating up two men, with a man holding on lewdly to the girl. It happened to be the dudes from the Tiger Gang. "Out already?" Ansel asked with a sneer, "And already making chaos." Without further ado, the trio immediately darted into the alley, stopping the attack. They didn''t even explain themselves and started beating the men up. "What are you¡ª" "OI¡ª!" Bang! Smack! Crack! Anyway, according to territory rules, as long as they didn''t kill anyone, they''d be fine. A few minutes later, the men were lying down half-dead, groaning in pain, and the twins went and picked up the woman''s friends on the ground. Ansel went to the blonde lady, and checked up on her. And then looked at her companions, who were also familiar. He realized it was the snarky trio from before. The girl blushed a bit at the handsome sight of her rescuer, "T-Thank you¡­ but¡­" Her brown eyes passed by the gangsters on the ground. Their rescuers had made sure the gangster couldn''t get up and wake up for a while, but they would wake up eventually wouldn''t they? What would happen then? "T-Thank you¡­" The shorter one said as he was assisted to stand by Leo. "Can¡­ can we trouble you.. to carry us home?" He mumbled, volume lowering in shame. "It''s just in the next block¡­" The trio looked at each other and shrugged. Since they began to help, might as well go all the way. They arrived at the house a few minutes later, and they encountered a lot of neighbors who definitely saw the poor state of the teenagers. However, many of those people scoffed at them rather than show some concern, while the others just ignored them altogether. Ansel''s pretty eyebrows rose. The trio''s reputation definitely wasn''t very good. The shorter man smiled wryly, the pale man remained indifferent, while the girl bit her lips in bitterness. They entered the house in silence and the three could only drag themselves to give the few bits of fruit they managed to collect. "You really don''t need to bother," Leo said for the 3rd time since they entered. "We simply had the ability to help, so we did." "No, you''ve done so much." The pale and somber young man said, motioning to the girl and then to the other lad. "My name is Crow, this is Sunny, and that guy lying over there is Dog." sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We''re sorry we got you involved. Those groups will definitely trouble you next." They all looked guilty but they couldn''t give them anything in return except for their heartfelt thanks. Leo, however, noticed their wording, "You were targeted?" After a sigh, they nodded. "They said that they heard us badmouth the Lord." Dog sneered. "How dare us. You saw how those people looked at us." Sunny scoffed bitterly, "Hmph. Do we look stupid to badmouth that guy in front of his fans?" "We never did, at least not in public. But everyone I knew that didn''t like the lord was targeted by those gangs, without exception." Ansel raised an eyebrow. Lords probably had a way to see the, what, loyalties of the people? At least it could show their¡­ affection level? Hey, then his score must be very low. Before he could dwell on this thought though, he was addressed by one of the three. "I know you. That Matthew really wanted to win you over. You must be strong." The pale man looked at the three of them, realizing who they were. They were quite famous, beating up the gangsters and receiving the Lord''s ''favor'' and all¡­ Fanboy Luke sensed the sarcasm and was a bit puzzled. "You make it sound like a bad thing?" "Relatively strong people not under the Lord¡­ well they tend to be the vanguard during attacks." "Some even mysteriously¡­ disappear." "You know that circulating story where this lord spent money and effort to implement a no-kill zone in the territory?" "Well, my aunt was a victim, one of many, and he did more than just murder." Crow sneered. "The lord didn''t even punish him, he just kicked him out. Who knows if he''s wreaking havoc somewhere else." The trio looked at each other in silence. They could imagine what that guy had done based on Crow''s tone. They felt heavy because in time more and more such situations were bound to happen if things remained as it was. Case in point: Didn''t they just rescue these three from a similar situation? It was here that they heard the door open abruptly, a deep voice immediately bellowing. "Are you guys alright?!" Dog scratched his poor ears. "Cousin. We''re fine thanks to these guys." "Thanks¡ª" but he saw just how badly the young men and women were beaten and a fire of anger exploded. Dog managed to drag his pained body to stop him. "Calm down if you don''t want to run to your 4th territory." The man closed his eyes and calmed down. It took him quite some time and he tilted his head upwards and faced the ceiling while huffing heavily. Ansel was reminded of chimneys blowing smoke. After he sufficiently calmed down, the newcomer turned to face them with a smile. "Hello, my name is Bull, 25. I''m sort of the guardian of these kids." He did a light bow to express his thanks. Ansel and the others were a little ashamed. "It wasn''t much." "Not if you know how much trouble helping them could bring you." Bull sighed and looked at them, figuring out a way to express his gratitude. As he stared at them, his very good head immediately placed them in a memory. He happened to be in the Village center not too long ago. "You were looking for someone, aren''t you? I''ve been to three territories since the Migration and I boast very good facial memory." This was also why he did well as a guard in the Royal Territory. Ansel and the twins looked at each other and nodded, trying out their luck. Ansel took the photo from his space and handed it over. The twins didn''t have photos of their mother, and could only eagerly wait for Ansel''s good news. Bull''s thick eyebrows rose all the way to his forehead the moment he saw the photo. "It''s that beautiful pregnant woman." . . "What?" Ansel flinched, basically teleporting in front of Bull, scaring the soul out of the poor guy. "Where have you seen her?" He asked, grabbing the larger man''s shoulders, and it took a few moments before the latter could utter a word. Bull paused and tried to make a mental map. It wasn''t difficult because the system kept maps of everything they passed through. "I''ll send you my map." He said, after all, they couldn''t show their own ''screens'' to others, so it wasn''t conventionally straightforward to see each other''s maps. "Hmn?" In his travels, Bull found a special function of the system maps. That was: they could transfer maps to others. For a price, of course. Anyway, he gladly took over the cost and sent it to Ansel. "It was there." He gave him a verbal description of the area where they met¡ªthe former location of Royal Territory. "I remember she went eastward and managed to avoid the beast tide." He couldn''t help but look at this handsome man, that woman''s brother. Even if their intersection was short, she was very beautiful and had a special aura about her. He was understandably curious about this relative of hers. He patted the man''s shoulder with an interested expression. "You don''t know. When she was kicked out, the woman wasn''t lost¡ªlike she had a direction. "That''s all I know." Ansel stared at the transferred map with bright eyes, and they could swear there were little tears lining up. They stayed silent, waiting for Ansel to gather himself. The man sniffed and sneaked a little wipe under the eye, before resuming his cool image. "Thanks." He said, "I''ll go there immediately." He said and looked at the twins. They nodded even without him asking. "Of course, we''ll come with you!" "I also want to see the Goddess again!" Bull looked at the three as they stood up with a complex expression. Before the trio could utter their farewells, Bull cut them off. "We''ll go with you, as well." Everyone turned to look at him. "What?" "We can''t stay here anymore." Bull said, rudely pointing at the three teenagers. "These kids would lose their lives, eventually." The three looked aghast and offended, flushed in shame. But they couldn''t say anything against it. After all, there was a very real chance that it would happen. And so¡­ Ansel''s team grew even more. Chapter 169 Pharmacy Skills Aberdeen City, a few years prior Inside the custom laboratory inside their own home, a certain plant enthusiast had submerged herself in her creations. Alicia sighed and just placed the food on a clean surface (which was much smaller than before) before heading outside. After all these years, they knew it was counterproductive to distract her when she was in her own zone. If there wasn''t an explosion, then the experiment could fail altogether and she definitely wouldn''t eat until she recreated the destroyed progress. All they could hope was that her stomach rumbled enough to distract her and she smelled the food on the tray. Looking back at her nominal daughter, she reluctantly left the room, trying not to make too much noise. Hours later, Althea finally emerged from the zone and lifted a small beaker with pinkish liquid. It was her special moisturizer, designed to greatly improve the smoothness of skin regardless of skin type! "I did it! This will definitely be a gold mine~" She said, a little smug. Next up would be other beauty products. Then, when she gained more knowledge, she would start creating medicinal solutions as well. Hopefully, these medicines would help out her husband and help keep him safe. Anyway, with more resources and money, she could travel more and procure more and rarer materials. She couldn''t depend on her husband, parents, and Winona all the time, right? She stretched, satisfied with today''s achievements. But as she did so, her stomach rumbled. "Hungry¡­" she mumbled, and she turned her head, her emerald eyes ending on the tray with a smile. Food after success was just so much more delicious! _______________________ [15 days of Protection Period] Altera Village, Present. Inside her laboratory filled with powder and different parts of plants, a certain auburn-haired woman stared at an invisible screen with bright eyes. Some of these had actually appeared before, but she didn''t have much time to appreciate them much because she was in the zone. She definitely did apply them as soon as she could, though. [Congratulations on upgrading to Pharmacist (D)] [Congratulations for creating Alien Crop Fertilizer (B).] [Alien Crop Fertilizer (B+): Special Fertilizer that could increase the growth rate of alien Crop by 5 times and increase the survival rate by 100%] [Detected contribution to World Knowledge. Receive B Gift Pack] [Learned! Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1): Determine the mixture of basic liquids (Level E-D) with 100% accuracy. Consumption: 10 Mana] After spending the past few days inside her lab, she finally got it! And the rewards were satisfying! It was worth noting that skills she received after becoming a pharmacist seemed to be growth-type skills. From the NPCs, Growth-type skills improved the more it was practiced effectively. She liked this setup very much. She then looked at the skill she also received a day ago. [Growth Skill Advance Identification (Lv1): Assess basic combinations (Level E-D), descriptions, and functions. Consumption: 10 Mana] The description might seem basic, but this skill alone had been immensely helpful the past couple of days. Her progress could be said to have doubled because of it. Anyway, she looked at her products with bright eyes. Not only did she improve the fertilizer for local crops, but she also managed to mix one for Terranian plants!! She could see it, self-sufficiency for all kinds of crops would finally come! They would be able to taste the old food again! The ingredients here were not bad and they were abundant, but the variety was poor and the flavor of the Terran crops was still superior. Of course, it could also be because they had only occupied a small place in this world. There were probably more ingredients out there waiting to be explored. This was also something to look forward to in the future. She heard pharmacists could get major discounts in medicine stores in cities and towns. That alone was major news that made her very happy. Another perk of being a pharmacist was that this skill could increase the effect of whatever she made, even using the same prescription as others. It was either increased production or increased effect, hence the (+) signs. Anyway, now that she had the formula, she could produce it in the new factory. Although the effect of non-pharmacists was less than half of hers, it was still extremely valuable and would be a great source of funds. She stretched her arms out to squeeze away the tiredness and sore back, before she remembered the gift pack she had just received. Before going out of her laboratory, she opened her new gift pack. A small circle appeared floating above her hand, soon revealing the content of the gift. It was a pretty pair of brown boots. They looked too big, but she put it on and they conveniently adjusted to her size. After walking around the lab to check on its comfort, she took a look at its stats. [Eagle Boots (C): +35 Agility, +10% weight reduction] Very good! This would allow her to explore the mountains near her territory more efficiently. After all, she really neglected this aspect of her profession. Now that she had already given birth, the time for her exploration would come soon. Not to mention, the practicality would allow her to go home earlier, giving her time with her babies! [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (C): +35 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] She looked at her equipment list with satisfaction, finally going out of the room for things other than food and a short nap. She stopped at a table and saw a lot of food prepared. With a smile, she washed her hands and extended them to get a bite. She ate very quickly though¡­, after all, she had not played with her babies for days! Chapter 170 Color When she went out of her lab, she headed straight to the living room where she knew the team would be hanging out in, if they were there. Her eyes zoned immediately on the two babies on the cot, and her world exploded with color. "Hmmhgggh!" Her babies brightened up and extended their little chubby hands at the sight of her. Her heart warmed and she took them from the cushion and into her arms. "I really neglected you¡­" she sighed with a bit of regret, before placing wet smooches on their smooth faces. They giggled and everyone in the room smiled. "Well, they will understand. You did it so they don''t miss out on the wonderful tastes we grew up with." Sheila said, "The next generation would surely love you for it." Althea chuckled at this, "Shall I put my name in the history books, then?" Sheila laughed. "Of course! It would definitely be easier to teach kids since they''d love sweets!" Speaking of the next generation, the children¡ªMaya, Theo, and now Horus ¡ªwere watching the adults with interest as they played building blocks, creating quite the tall structure. The adults soon started to discuss grown-up stuff, boring the kids, and they ran outside and went back to the playground. The playgrounds¡ªconsisting of slides, swings, monkey bars, etc.¡ªwere gifted by Baron''s team. They were placed in the gardens by the flowers, and the children loved them. Even Horus, who tried to maintain a serious I''m-an-adult face, tried the slide many times. Of course, all with an unchanging face, even on his way down the slide. It was cute in its own way. Anyway, the success of the playground prompted Althea to order a few larger sets, to be placed on several parks around the territory. There weren''t many children now, but she would like to think there would be in the future. She believed that the territory would eventually be filled with the laughter of children¡ªadding another dab of color to the territory. While the energetic kids went out, her babies, on the other hand, were laid on the soft blanket on the floor. As soon as they landed, they immediately tried rolling. Althea giggled and helped them out, and she wondered who would be able to roll on their own first. "So¡­ what did you dish up this time boss?" Harold asked, and Althea lifted her head to him at the question. Althea smiled proudly. "We will be able to increase production of Terranian plants, to the degree of the refresh rate here." She said, "Things would only get better." Harold was very happy. Although the seasonings they made using local ingredients were good, how could it defeat the formulations that had undergone thousands of years of the perfection process? "I rented another factory to create fertilizers this time. I''m planning on mixing it with compost to see the effect." This meant they couldn''t handle this in the same factory as the existing herbal mixture factory. Sheila nodded, immediately knowing what to do. "I will also send hiring notices." A lot more people would be very happy about the new openings. Although there were plenty of people going outside, there were even more who could be used more within the walls¡ªespecially those who simply couldn''t handle the monsters without eventually losing a limb. Of course, they''d have to be upfront about the product being handled. "Add 20% to their wage, compared to employees of the same level," Althea said after a thought. Sheila agreed. "Got it!" Althea smiled, happy that she had such reliable teammates. Because of this, she could now focus on her kids who in their own way were vying for her attention. For instance, Little Meatball drooled all over himself trying to call her, while Little Pepper''s little arms were extended in her direction, cute tiny hands opening and closing repeatedly. As she laughed and hugged the kids, feeling their warmth and softness. They stayed just like that for a while With the babies in her arms, she took a look at her territory stats. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 965 (121 permanent, 844 temporary) Total Population: 1524 Base Resources: Wood: 9200/10000 Stone: 6100/8000 Money: 14282 Gold, 109963 Silver, 389497 copper Reputation: 70 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2) , Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv1) , Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] The territory now had close to a thousand people, over half of which were citizens. It shouldn''t take long for the next upgrade. Anyway, whether she wanted to upgrade or not, she''d have no choice but to face it anyway. Well, at least she''d open up new buildings. Judging from the options upon leveling up, they should be pretty good. She didn''t think that she''d be inferior to level 2 villages even if she had just upgraded. Based on what the NPCs told her, she was doing very, very well, considering they''ve only been in existence for less than a month. They didn''t think it was possible, actually. In fact, rather than fear of hostile villages, she was more looking forward to encountering other territories now¡ªas long as they were friendly¡ªbecause the market would be wider, and they could add an even higher profit margin. If done well, it would only improve their already thriving economy. An improved economy meant a better life and more resources for the creation of superior defense systems! And because the defense system was so good, it would give way to the improvement of everything else inside its scope¡ªnot just the economy and lifestyle. Even when they were currently closed off to the world, the economy of the territory was already very healthy¡ªa good part was due to her and Baron, who hired a good bulk of the population, increasing overall spending power. It was just that the money from other territories must be much bigger. Not to mention, most of the plant seeds she bought didn''t exist here¡ªat least not in the area. She was looking forward to seeing more varieties in the future. Althea placed the children back in the stroller, ready to take them out for an afternoon walk. After a moment of consideration, she decided to head to the factory area, to check on their progress. "Aren''t you tired boss?" He asked. After all, she had been stuck in her lab for a day! "No. I''m plenty energized right now." She said with a smile, "I''ll just rest earlier when I feel tired." "Oh¡­" Harold said and looked conflicted. He decided to just join her in the end and show her the status of the factories under him by the way. As they walked, the two chatted about the innovations and revivals that would follow. "You seem to already have ideas on what to add to our sauce and condiment selection¡­" Harold smiled, his old face had already visibly looked younger, very happy and content. "I feel proud when I see all the stalls and stores using our products, and I feel proud of seeing the happy faces brought by our flavor." He said, "I feel young again, and with such a heavy purpose in life." Althea looked at the grandpa figure in amusement. But her eyes also brightened at the prospects that they would be bringing the territory. It was said that food was the symphony of flavor that united a society, while spices were the notes that harmonized a culture. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. With a wider variety of raw materials, the wider the creations the people could create, and the more colorful the people''s lives could be. She was going to give a safe haven to the people, and she also wanted to give them a platform to show off what they could do. The territory would only get better and better, never stagnant. Just as it should be. Chapter 171 Morning Walk It was a bright but cloudy day in the territory, the atmosphere was comfortably temperate, and almost everyone was outside. The sun''s embrace was warm, but not too hot. The sky stretched expansively, with the soft breeze greeting everyone good morning. At this time, there were already plenty of people hunting outside the territory, and many more heading out, weapons out, ready to accompany the guards in clearing out the surroundings of enemies. They were mostly guards, but there were also plenty of citizens, a lot of whom hope to get the job during the next openings. Being a guard was still the best, not only would you get stronger, you''d be rewarded in and of itself. Also, the guards were very cool. There were also the people who were hired by the territory to get the carcasses of the monsters killed by the sentries, provided there weren''t maggots, of course. One feature of this place was, as the resources refreshed at a miraculous rate, so did the decomposition of dead things on the soil. This included food. One could imagine thinking a barbeque would be perfectly fine after not eating it after resting a couple of hours¡­ only to wake up with it filled with maggots! Interestingly, this only happened outside of the territory, so biscuits and noodles were especially popular even if the trip outside only lasted a day. The maggots here were very scary and very, very, ugly. Although they didn''t actively attack people like in those scary apocalypse movies, accidentally touching them would be painful and could lose someone major amounts of spirit. Anyway, their jobs were to check whether the meat had maggots or not. They were instructed to ignore those meats with maggots and double-checking those that did not for further processing. The territory was increasing and almost everyone was used to eating meat every meal, back to how it was, which surprised even the rich aborigines. Further, after improving their physiques¡­ their food requirement increased as well. The System restaurant probably provided food that better considered the changed physiques, but they still wouldn''t exchange it for the food they had now. The difference wasn''t much anyway, and they only had to eat a little more meat. Overall, one could imagine the meat consumption. This also meant that the mobs hunted outside weren''t enough anymore. For now, anyway. Of course, the meat was studied thoroughly for consumption before being sold at the discount markets, and the other parts were sold to leather manufacturers like Sassy the Tanner. Bones were also sold to Baron''s group as they could create various tools, even needles, from it. As for the rest of the carcasses, they were asked to be sent to the composting pit, to be made into fertilizers. The inside the territory on the other hand was no less lively. There was a bustle of activity in pretty much every corner of the village. Regardless of activity, laughter and chatter flowed freely in the village, as neighbors caught up with news and gossip as they prepared for their day. First, there were already a lot of people perusing the interior forests at that time, cleaning out loose wood and stones to sell and find plants to eat. Then, there was the marketplace that was already bustling with life. The stall owners laid out their products and wares to sell, wearing welcoming smiles on their faces, imagining the day''s sales. On these stalls, there were also various colorful fruits on display, herbs, handicrafts, and the like. Some people also started selling Terran items for novelty, still for high prices, selling them as if they were antiques. For example plastic ware, jewelry that wasn''t converted to Xeno currency, and even things like story books, toys, and the like. Interestingly, these people had hoarded these things not on their own, but mostly bought from others early in the Migration. This reminded her of the stories of people hoarding antiques back in Terran during the Great Famine, and getting rich when they regained their values. The industrial factories were not yet open, but the makeshift armory and weapons stores were. The expert''s hammers and tools had rhythmically prepared for the start of production, and one could already imagine the goodness that would be created. Other than these, the aroma of freshly cooked goods and baked bread bathed the air, relaxing everyone''s souls. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Overall, there were very few people idle in the territory and people seemed to have somewhat recovered from the disasters of the previous week. Of course, it would take a long time, if ever, for people to truly go back to the peaceful life in Terran¡ªback when people''s biggest problems were breakups and not being able to afford luxury bags. But people were resilient and the territory provided them with enough stability and peace they so needed. The people''s relaxed faces, in contrast to the despaired look of when they had just entered, was something Althea appreciated with relish as she walked to the industrial park. "Pretty miss! Come buy some of my fruits!" "No, no, buy mine!" "Buy juice, miss!" "You look beautiful, this jam would make you even more so!" While the marketplace was still under construction, a lot of stalls, even towards the East gate, had popped up. Most of them though sold fruits and vegetables harvested in the Territory. After all, a good part of the territory had been making good money relative to the low cost of living. They now had more than enough purchasing power to just spend money on local fruits instead of picking them up themselves. Hence, although she placed a limit on the amount of cheap fruit and plants the citizens could take within the territory, this business was still booming because the scavengers could still make some money even if they paid for the extra things they picked. "Old man, feed your daughter well! She''s so beautiful!" "My fruits are very healthy! Your dad and babies would love it!" "Oh my, there are babies?!" It seemed that, subconsciously, people didn''t associate strollers with babies here. After all, adults died easily in this place, what more of children? They probably thought she was pushing a small shopping cart or something. However, Althea was in a good mood and allowed the many bystanders to admire her children. Of course, she limited the number so the babies didn''t get smothered. They looked at the toothless smiles of the children and their hearts softened into puddles. "How old are they?" "A few days old." She said and some people looked at her, thinking how could they not remember there was such a beautiful pregnant woman walking around. Althea was not surprised. After all, she rarely went out of the house except when going to the farm. Most people had really not seen her at all. However, someone did actually recognize her. The person gasped, looking at her as if looking at a star. "You''re the pretty pregnant woman who''s hiring so many people!" He said. "My roommate is one of your farmers." He said, eyes beaming with joy, "Congratulations on giving birth!" She smiled and said thanks, until she realized the looks others were giving her. The looks on her sizzled even more, probably due to her ''CEO'' status, making her feel awkward. Who could blame them though? Everyone who were updated with current affairs knew that those who worked for her team were living very well, much better than others. They heard that there were also bonuses from their restaurant or grocery if you worked well. These bonuses were in the form of food and ingredients, some of which were not yet available to the public! The people looked at them hungrily and Harold''s cowardly side showed as he hid behind the boss and the strollers. Althea''s eyes twitched. Why did she suddenly feel like a golden goose hunted by everyone? Chapter 172 Factories Althea cleared her throat. "Thank you for your blessings." She said, "Now if you''ll excu¡ª" "Would you start hiring again soon?" "Well, while my hiring of farm hands is already closed. My team and I are also developing other industries. "There are also many people developing businesses, I''m sure more job opportunities will be open. "We''re currently heading to the factories just built. If you''d excuse us¡­." The people sparkled but they dared not harass her, lest they give her a bad impression. And finally, they were free. Of course, some yells like ''my name is (so-and-so) and I''m a very good worker!'' were thrown here and there. There were also "My name is (so-and-so) and I can handle anything!" "Please choose me! Remember my name is (so-and-so)!" Harold and Althea looked at each other with amused faces, their pace increasing to escape the passionate crowd. She and Harold got to the Industrial park after several minutes of walking, heaving a sigh of relief. The industrial part was a gated area also with level 2 walls to prevent non-workers from entering. The road was a wide 6-meter wide carriageway in consideration of future population and productivity. To date, there were already 10 factories completed in the industrial park. Five of which she ''rented'' in her name, though one of them was in another zone and was ongoing construction. One was the sauce and seasoning factory, with about a score of workers bound by contract. They were all capable of cooking and they even set up a system where the workers could suggest formulas. In this system, her company would pay for the materials and apply to work within working hours, but if done well they would get a share of the proceeds. Depending on the potential and uniqueness of the formula, the share of the worker ranged from 10 to 30%. Two sauces had been produced this way, albeit they were still under production and were not yet available in the market. One was the sour sauce made by an old woman named Loa. The taste was delicious, like a special type of vinegar. Another was called the Floo powder by old chef Koko. It was a powder of questionable color that added a slight umami taste. Although it was not nearly as strong as what the MSG they were used to, it was the next best thing available. She had also tested the formula, and it was still healthier than their conventional MSG. And these were developed only after a week since they started the program. She was looking forward to what else could be developed given more time and resources. They had a walkthrough of the factories, taking note of areas of improvement. They also spoke with the workers if they had suggestions. "Hello, boss!" They greeted them with respect and admiration. They also couldn''t help but peek at the cuties in the stroller. So cute!! "Good work," Althea said, looking at each one of them. The workers were extremely flattered. "Well, we are thankful for the opportunity." "We were discussing about what we can improve, or perhaps products we can aim for. Do you have any suggestions?" It was Koko who stepped forward, "Boss. I have received some requests and we were wondering when and if we have mustards?" She blinked. She had not yet encountered a mustard plant so far but it was noted. "Noted." The old man brightened at being heard and a few others said their piece. Someone even asked for a banana ketchup which was an odd choice but he said his town liked it a lot, and some dishes would do well with it. In any case, she noted all of their concerns, promising to see what she could do before moving on to the next factory. Harold did not come with her this time, as he stayed here to plan the other selection of sauce, as well as the determination of the most effective production lines. The next factory was the plant mixing factory, where the medicine from the pharmacy (now predominantly handled by Lily) was being made. There were only ten women for now because the consumption of medicine in the territory wasn''t that large yet. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, it didn''t mean the profit here was smaller than the others. On the contrary, because the formulas were so special, the profit margin was quite large. Especially her patented Bandade and Sprite. For her specially made formulations, they added the Brand Premium, making for even larger profits, ranging from thirty times the cost to a hundred. The third was the processing plant for wheat, rice, and other future similar crops. Other than the rice and flour, they have also developed starch and yeast. As well as rice wine and sake. The fourth was food processing for some of the finished food products they took on such as pickled vegetables or dried meat. There was also a large kiln for baking bread and biscuits, as well as frying food like instant noodles. For the last factory, they chose one in another zone. The industrial area was zoned into two: one half for edible items and the other for not. Their waste management and delivery were also zoned and handled accordingly. Her last factory was in the latter zone. Five per type of factory had already been built and she only took one in the other zone. It was a factory reserved for her fertilizers. When she got the chance to gather more Waul wood, she would also assign a factory for its products, like rubber, glue, and other derivatives of resins. Speaking of which, more and more products would soon be available and her little grocery store wouldn''t fit the variety of items anymore. She made a silent note to order the construction team to prioritize the supermarket next. In the name of the territory, of course. Mentally taking notes of these things, she leisurely pushed the stroller along the paved road of the industrial park. After a few minutes, her green eyes caught sight of a group of people standing in a circle not too far away from her. They had wide smiles on their faces, chatting about some interesting things. As she went closer, she recognized who they were. A few of them were still acquaintances. It was the team who rented the three factories in this area for their wood, leather, and other products¡ªthe team with the largest industry. Next to hers, of course. Her emerald eyes zoned in on the person talking the most, looking very animated. Baron Smith. Her Biggest Tax Payer. Chapter 173 The Biggest Tax Payer Baron Smith. Her Biggest Tax Payer. As hyperactive and horizontally blessed as always, he chatted excitedly with his team members about some developments in the territory. Speaking of this guy, his furniture/wood/toy store not only sold a lot of products, he also bought and rented a lot of properties. In total, this guy had hired almost a hundred people on his own. This increased the spending power of the people by leaps and bounds. Next to her, he contributed the most to the current economy. A very good taxpayer, indeed. As they approached, she could hear them discussing excitedly. "Did you see the latest mission?" "The one for capturing Gugu birds?" "It wasn''t a territory mission, was it?" "No it was the Altheans." Altheans? Althea''s eyebrows furrowed. And her eyes twitched, realizing what team they were referring to. Nononono¡ª They didn''t name their team after her, did they? Oh g¡ª Baron whipped his head to see her there, and he visibly brightened. He raised his hand to greet her. "Speaking of which, here''s the boss!" Althea rubbed her temples. Baron didn''t seem to notice how her face turned a beet green. Instead, he raised his hand and greeted very loudly, "Hi boss of Altheans! Woodworkers here!" Do they make team names now? And why did they all sound so stupid? She sighed and plastered a smile on her face as she walked forward. "Hello, good morning." "Good morning Ms. Althea~ We were just talking about your team. We''re so curious about the mission Ms. Sheila sent out through the village center¡ªthe Gugu thingy one. Could it be what I thought?" "Hmmm." Althea nodded. "It''s basically local chickens. Beasts that were relatively weak but with high fecundity." "OH?!" He exclaimed and everyone looked at her with bright eyes, wanting to know more. "How''s the taste." "It is edible. Its meat was also softer than beasts and could be used as livestock. We heard it from Oslo." Among the NPCs, it could be said Oslo was the most approachable, so she used his name without thinking. Anyway, she knew he wouldn''t mind. That guy was so approachable that a lot of Terrans called him ''Brother Oslo''. Rumor said that he already made a girlfriend¡­ or two. And they still cooperated very well. Anyway, the news of potential livestock in the territory energized everyone. "Chickens!! We''re going to have chickens!!" "Well, it shouldn''t taste exactly the same." "It doesn''t matter!" Baron said, looking at her like a sycophant. "Sell some to me, okay? I''m willing to buy twice the value!" Although he could send out a mission under his name, it would feel a bit low. Not to mention, he had no idea about the characteristics of the bird. It was still more cost-effective to go through Althea instead. Besides, he and Oslo¡­ they really didn''t get along well. You see¡­ when he realized that Sheila didn''t have any idea for him at all, he moved on from this 76th crush. He thought, it was the 77th, perhaps he''d have better luck? But this crush got obsessed with Oslo, instead. He could still remember the beautiful Thessy, wavy brown hair and bright brown eyes, so lovely when she bought so many of his products. Thessy was really pretty and poised, like a lady. It so happened that he had just been depressed from being friendzoned by Sheila, and he fell in love at first sight! He naturally chased after her, giving her discounts and stuff, and then giving her gifts. She accepted them all with a smile and hope ignited in him. The reason he was so obsessed with money was because he had watched a show once where the person was super ugly, but because he was rich, he could get all the girls he wanted. And yet he had NEVER had a girlfriend despite having money. NEVER! Such a mystery! But he was aiming to end this streak on his lucky 77th! Anyway, he had planned his proposal (for courtship) very well. He had already commissioned his team to make her pretty hairpins that would suit her sooo well! Fancy his surprise when he saw the poised Thessy following Oslo around like a mindless fangirl! (He didn''t have anything against fangirls, but it was depressing to see one''s crush going after another man!) However, he managed to suck it up and just categorize the admiration as idolizing a star, like Fable. But then he actually saw her lock lips with the man and his heart broke. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And because he was given hope, his reaction was quite¡­ strong, to say the least. It involved a lot of shouting and snot and saliva from yelling being splurted around. Looking at him all bitter, Althea held back a smile. The altercation between those two was no secret. Sheila and Harold gossiped about it for a whole dinner. "Sure. You can also rent a farm and raise your own livestock farm. "That''s¡­ a good idea." He said, "But I have too much on my plate now. Maybe we''d just raise them for the team." "Congratulations on your expansion by the way." She said, "I heard you have nearly a hundred people working for you." Baron scratched his cheek shyly. "Well, so many people came here, and there was no furniture. Furniture is a very time-consuming job and the demand is very good." Speaking of which, the dormitories now had full double-deck rooms, saving space for the users. There were also tables and chairs. It had to be noted that all this furniture was commissioned at the cost of the occupants themselves, which would be donated to the building when they left the dormitories. So even if they saved up to move out, they left the furniture in the room for the next person. It was a culture of ''passing forward'' that started somehow the past week or so. It was all very convenient. Not to mention, because the makers were the same group, the beds had a uniform appearance, making it look all organized and nice. Baron couldn''t take all the credit. "I was lucky to get to know talents." He said, embarrassed, "Besides, you don''t hire any less. You even contribute more variety. "Also, you yourself are the technical talent. I think you are amazing!" "Thank you," she said, "Well, it''s all so we could live well, right?" Baron smiled, his head turning to his team with happy smiles. As he stared, he couldn''t help but remember the people they lost before they found this safe haven they now called ''home''. "Indeed." He repeated, eyes warming. "Everything is just so we could live well." Chapter 174 More Plans Baron turned his attention back to Althea, seeming to be reminded of something. "How''s old Eugene?" "Still working on your project." She said. She knew that he was partnering with Eugene to create bicycles. Oslo created metal for them, but producing permanent metal was so much work, and only a few grams a day had been produced. It had been several days, but there was still no movement. But from what she heard at home, it seemed that Eugene had made some progress. Something about minimizing the need for metal lugs. Eugene also got the largest share of this project, and he promised her (the boss) some shares as well. It seemed like she''d take about 10% of the profits without having to do anything at all. It was very nice of him. In fact, even if Eugene wasn''t a teammate, such a share was very smart to give to the Lord, as it would ensure the proper support for its development. In this topic, she also heard Baron''s woodworking factory was working on wooden wheels and axles. Even if it wasn''t bikes, rickshaws, and maybe carriages (if someone could tame beasts) would arrive in the territory soon. For now, they produced rickshaws because no one knew how to tame animals to carry people. Anyways, whichever mode of transportation would be introduced, Althea would welcome them with open arms. There were a lot of people in the territory who were looking for safe jobs with minimal skills. They had a minimum requirement for training so she didn''t worry too much about their strengths stagnating. There were also quite a few people¡ªa lot of whom used to be strong men¡ªwho had lost arms and hands before reaching her territory. They were thus unable to do most of the jobs needed in the territory. This job would suit them just fine. In any case, although the development for transportation would not be seen within these few days, she could already see her bustling territory with its own transportation. She was looking forward to it. And¡­ she really wanted to reward those who were making these things a reality. Althea silently took note of adding a good amount of contribution to the people who would make this happen. Reward those who deserved it: This was the way to keep innovations going. "I''ve already applied to rent another factory," Baron told her. "Focusing on these wheeled contraptions." She nodded, congratulating him. With this, Baron was now renting 4 factories. One for household furniture, one for other wood shenanigans, one for tanning works, and the currently being built factory for the aforementioned wheeled contraptions. Because factories were only for rent, the 5 owned real estate limit didn''t apply. Similarly, when Althea ''rented'' tens and tens of farmland, no one questioned her. "Well, I''m sure you''ll succeed." She said pointing at the stroller. "I can personally attest to the quality of your products." Bianca and Joe, who were the main technical talents of Baron''s company, blushed at the compliments. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Especially Bianca, who had worked very hard for the babies'' accessories. At the mention of the children, Barons, and his companions'' eyes had instantaneously landed in the covered crib. But they¡ªat least those other than Bianca and Baron¡ªweren''t close enough to Althea to handle the babies with ease. Now that Althea herself opened the topic they were happy to jump in. They really, really, liked these kids very much. Not only because they were supremely adorable, but also because they were their unwitting muses. It was Althea''s requests for toys and playgrounds that actually inspired them to create the product line in the first place. Even without seeing the babies, they were already considered their muses. But seeing them now and their cute chubby cheeks and large colorful eyes, their position as forever muses of the product line was cemented into stone. So¡­ cuttteeee!! "Are they awake?" Bianca asked, eyes so eager no one could refuse. "May I hold them?" Althea was just gesturing to nod and Bianca was already holding a baby. "..." The group doted on the children very happily, making the kids laugh in glee. They already started discussing a toy line for children and giving the children several copies for free. They also began to explore more playground features. They seemed very passionate about this. "When the wheels are made, we could make those seesaws, spinners, and merry-go-rounds." "Eventually, when we get the technology, we could make things like carousels!" "Very cool, but we must use Terran animals as seat models. If we use the local beasts, maybe the kids would think they''re friendly and try to pet them!" He gasped at the image. "Can you imagine? A child running towards a monster, thinking it was their friend¡ªgasp!" "You realize they''re babies." One said, rolling their eyes. "They won''t even go outside." "But we have a few children. They won''t be unused!" "Yesyesyes. Our territory is amazing and safe, soon children will be running around for sure!" "Ah~ how lovely that would be. Children running around, going to school, giggling and making our hearts happy¡­." "Yesyesyes!" "Someone better develop paper already! How are we going to have books for school?!" "A team''s perfecting it already!" "Can I write an autobiography? Do you think it will sell??" Another one thought out loud, "No, even better, novels! I should get my wife to write novels again." "You idiot. People would be interested in knowledge first!" "No, you''re the idiot! I remember you read e-novels instead of studying when you were a little brat! So of course novels would sell!!" "You don''t know. People have their basic needs now, what better way to meet spiritual needs than a good book?!" This went on for a while, and Althea watched fondly. She looked warmly at the group of people doing their part to improve lives. When people were working hard for the territory, she, as the Lord, felt both proud and energized to continue doing what she had been doing. Everyone was sincerely working for the territory. Whether it was for themselves or their families, it was a great thing for the solidarity of the land. A community with one mind could always perform miracles. Althea had a feeling they were already starting. Chapter 175 Elder-Aborigine Meeting When Althea came back to the house, she was finally able to ask the others about the issue that had been bugging her the whole day. "Altheans, really?" Althea asked, crossing her arms, watching as they plated the food for dinner. And she thought she had a bad naming sense. "Well, teams have been forming and it''s so weird not to have a name," Sheila told her with a sheepish smile. Harold was quick to nod. "Yes, yes, mostly people who came together often named teams and lived together. Aren''t we just like that?" Althea sighed but understood their need for an ''entity''. After all, they handled businesses together. It was odd to just refer to the group as just ''the team''. But still¡­ "Why Althean?" "I think it sounds cool. Very fitting of your great self." Sheila said slyly, making Althea roll her eyes. "Also, it sounds like the territory name, so we mused it was quite fitting." Althea''s eyes twitched. Seeing that no one intended to change the address, she tried to think of an alternative instead. "What about Eden?" "Dennis'' teams already got that name." "What about Terran Team?" Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Mathilda''s team took it." "Eh? Didn''t Jim''s team also call themselves that?" "Really?" "Wouldn''t that be confusing, then?" "..." "..." "It would be great to build a system for guilds or teams." Sheila thought out loud, though she felt she was just being wistful. However, this made Althea, the lord, pause. "Why not?" She asked and everyone stared at her, eyes brightening when it dawned on them. "Let me ask the NPCs." She said, opening her Lord panel. "Perhaps there''s an existing registration system already." She then sent invitations to the pertinent individuals. Due to the business of everyone''s schedule, the number of meetings was reduced to about twice a week, one of which was set to be with elders, unless there were emergencies. That night happened to be this meeting day. After dinner, the group convened with the Elders to hold the first meeting together. Gru, Mathilda, and Eugene were quite nervous. This was the first time they were going to the second floor after all. Even Mathilda and Eugene, who had the advantage of knowing the lord, felt a little tingly. Especially Old Gru, who didn''t, was particularly antsy. If he was to be honest, he was actually a little scared. There were plenty of legends about this floor, rooted in its mystery and the fact that no one but the NPCs knew what was inside. The people who did the fit-out work signed an NDA so they couldn''t squeeze anything out of them, making the place appear even more mysterious. It was said that in the room there was sand, and from this sand, NPCs were formed to become humanoid creatures. There was also a legend that there were test tubes there, with one getting activated whenever the territory ''summoned'' an NPC. Anyway, it was all very silly, but still made him quite nervous. It didn''t help that they became a spectacle the moment they took a step up the stairs. Under the interested eyes of several people who were using the lower floors, the three Elders climbed up the stairs and were able to turn the knob at the top of the flight, unlike the others who could not even move it by an inch. Althea¡ªhaving happily entered the second floor without having to sneak around¡ªand the aborigines had arrived a bit earlier, was now lounging as they waited for the others. Of course, Althea reminded them of how to address her when there were others. Speaking of the NPCs, their quantities were the same as before, without additional members. The past few days, there had not been a new NPC that interested Althea. So she deferred today''s summoning after the meeting. Perhaps she''d gain some luck. In any case, Althea and the NPCs had already discussed some issues in the territory and now very few concerns were left. Most of the issues remaining required other people''s expertise, which was just right. The format of the meeting was basically reporting any updates that had happened in the territory the past week. She ''reported'' the status of her plants, especially the Terran plants, and also the possible uses she found of local ones, which really intrigued the aborigines very much. For example, the lord spoke of a plant¡ªcocoa¡ªthat could produce the most wonderful dessert. Based on what many of the Elders'' reactions were¡ªdreamy, drooling a bit¡ªthen it must be very delicious. Too bad it would still take a couple of months to grow. There were also interesting uses for the plants they grew up with. For instance, the omnipresent Flute plant was no longer just for food, but it could also be used to make what the Lord called ''ethanol biofuel'' or something. It was apparently helpful for the clinic and to prevent infections, killing tiny creatures called ''bacteria'' that could cause infections. "Of course, whether it could truly kill Xeno bacteria was still up for study." The lord couldn''t help but add. Eugene reported the status of the creations, which were the bicycle and a machine that made something they called ''paper''. Similarly, the others also reported on their respective scopes. One of the last to present was Mathilda, who proposed a simple justice system to deal with small altercations that didn''t need the system''s interference. "I have already gathered people from related fields. Now I only need to put them for vetting." They nodded in agreement. "Better if the guard team is involved." "Yes, I''ve already coordinated with Rowan and Drake." Gru, on the other hand, reported the successful crossing of two breeds of wheat, improving the yield. Not only this, but he was also crossbreeding several vegetables. If combined properly with Terran yield, this could get even better. For instance, he combined the gouji berries with their grapes, creating a quaint taste that was absolutely fabulous. For instance, he also combined the local warmmelon with the Terran watermelon. The end product was sweet watermelon with a strong aftertaste. Not everyone would like its taste, but he found it interesting anyway so he went ahead with the experiments. Althea was particularly interested in this. "I''ll lend you some of my fertilizer. It was formulated for Terran plants." "Good, good!" Gru was extremely excited. This meant he could experiment even more! Gru was actually one of the people who had grown to love this place. After all, plants grew so much, and so quickly, and he could really see the evolution and changes in his experiments with his own eyes. It could be said that Gru was still one of the most optimistic people in the territory, and he was a pleasure to work with. Chapter 176 Mercenary Teams The discussions continued for about half an hour before it was done. The attendees chatted as they waited to be dismissed, but Althea turned her head to the aborigines. "I''m curious about something." "Ask ahead, Ms. Althea." "As you may have noticed, a lot of our people have formed their own teams." She began, "Do we have a team system available outside?" The aborigines looked at each other before answering. They kept forgetting the lord and everyone else did not have the common sense they grew up with. As always, it was the erudite Oslo who explained. "Well, there is nothing that could stop a group of people from forming teams." He said, pausing, "However, while forming teams is technically arbitrary, forming official teams is not." "Official teams?" Gru asked, also interested in this topic. "Official teams are basically teams from one territory who could deal or do business with other territories. Like an individual requiring a legitimate identity before doing any business at all." Hearing ''other territories'' excited the two old people quite a bit. They had heard about the other territories and did hope to know more. Both of them traveled intensively back in Terran. With their age, they had already been exposed to most cultures in existence. They were particularly looking forward to seeing new ones. Oslo looked at them and continued to speak. "After all, territories must protect themselves. Speaking of this¡­ "If a group of people exceeded a hundred people, forming an official group would be mandatory. Most territories would choose to disband this group themselves otherwise." Althea nodded in understanding. This was probably to prevent the creation of a power outside the lord''s control. That said, she had a hunch that a new tab in her Lord Panel would show information about the Teams when they were available. "Similarly, once made official, the registered team will have the sole right to their name. Anyone purposely making unapproved deals in the name of another team would be punishable by law." That was to say, the law from the system. As for how the system punished people, she heard it ranged from automatic deduction of items of the space, or banning of certain skills, to the reduction of important stats among others... "There are a lot of types of Official Teams, the most common of which are the Trade Teams and Mercenary Teams. "In either case, the registration must pass through the village center." "We can do this now?" Oslo shook his head. "From what I know, the requirement is a Level 3 Village. It would also be through the village/town/city center that the updated lists of teams and their territories are listed. Of course, there''s a small fee to pay." Gru was very curious about everything, especially the aborigines'' territory. Could he buy new seeds from these teams in the future? "How much?" "It depends on the Lord." Clutch nodded. "I once had to hire a mercenary team to gather some materials for me. The initial payment for access to the list of names costs about a silver. The hiring costs were a bit more expensive." Speaking of this, Oslo then remembered a few more points. "Ah, territories also reserve the right to determine the rights and limitations of teams. "Though I think the base fee of 100 gold for creating a Team is fixed, everything else could be manipulated. "For example, a maximum membership of 100 people, maximum number of Elementalists, among others. "There was also a certain amount of tax per month to be paid to the territory they were operating in, which would depend on the Lord. In cities, it was typically about 10% on top of the usual taxes." Harold pursed his lips. It sounded troublesome. "What are the other advantages of building a team?" "Big teams could also build their own places within a territory, if the lord allows. They can also hire people through the town centers, but they will pay twice as much as the lord does." This meant that Official Teams, in a way, was a certain entity in and of itself. Many forces would become teams just for the feeling of power. "You really know a lot," Brenda commented. The last few points even they didn''t know. Oslo looked proud, combing back his golden hair, and sent them a winning smile. "Well, the cousin of an ex is a lord of a town," he said, "I learned a lot from them." _________ Ferrol Town That same day, thousands of kilometers away, Garan and the others stood in the Town Center with deep frowns. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Geez, 100 gold registration fee is really expensive," Gill mumbled, looking at the tablet. "And there''s an additional 10 gold for every ten members. What a scam." "I told you, I can lend you some money." A foxy woman sauntered next to Gill, flirtatiously wiping her well-manicured finger on his chest. Gill shivered but didn''t do anything, and he even had to hold back his poisonous tongue. Who told this woman to be the cousin of the Lord here? She was a gorgeous woman with purple hair and eyes. Even after months in this place, it still took a while to get used to all these odd hair and eye colors. Garan''s lips twitched in amusement and the others held back their laughter at his constipated face. Gill glared at them and lightly pushed her hand away. Cassandra pouted. However, she was a decent woman who still had some boundaries. She took a step back and let her future lover''s teammates join him in front of the tablet. "What do we name the team, boss?" Garan was silent. He had wanted to name it Althean or any of the cute couple names she came up with. Unfortunately, he was simply leading this team and did not think he owned it. In the end, he chose something they all related to. Garan paused for a moment, opening his mouth and his low baritone voice sounded across the halls. "Terran Mercenary Team." Chapter 177 Clothing Problem (Part 1) After walking out with the other elders and going home, she teleported back to the second floor of the warehouse to go back to the village center, precisely to where she stood ten minutes earlier. Ah, the lengths she had to go through to hide her identity¡­ She stood in front of the summoning circle, heaving a sigh. Hopefully, this time she would be able to summon a decent NPC. Well, ideally. For some reason, it was getting pointedly more difficult each day to encounter a good NPC. More often than not, she just wasted her silver trying to get a good option. Perhaps, this was the point. Maybe the first ''good stock'' was there to entice them to keep trying. Who knows¡­ "Wish me luck." She said to the aborigines that had remained there. Althea then walked to the summoning circle without another word. "Good luck, milord." The aborigines uttered, also looking forward to it. They wondered if they would finally get another companion to share the good things with. To be honest, it was quite fun to watch fellow aborigines'' surprised faces when they encountered things from this territory. It made them quite proud. It also showed that, subconsciously or not, they already felt great sense of belonging to the Territory. Althea did not know about the going-ons in their heads, however. She simply stood on the circle, paid a silver as required, hoping to actually get a decent one this time. Unfortunately, the first one was just a Level E armor maker. While she considered it seriously to give Clutch an assistant, she paid another silver for the next slot anyway. The second slot was a gardener without any occupation at all. According to his description, he was very experienced in maintaining plants of the lord''s castle. Sigh. With pursed lips, she clicked on her final chance for the day, hoping not to waste another silver. [Name: Lenny Po Level: D Abilities: Production of low to mid-level clothing Wage: 15 gold per month, food twice a day inclusive Confirm? (3/3)] . . Clothing?? She seemed to have¡­ forgotten all about this? It was fortunate that Terrans had been given space early on and some time to prepare. Pretty much everyone who survived had several changes of clothing. However, after the initial suffering, a lot of clothes should''ve been destroyed. In time, they would really have no clothes left!! She herself and her children had ample of clothing, enough change of clothing that could rotate a week, so she really didn''t feel the problem before. Immediately, she hired the NPC and a bright light illuminated the room, revealing a middle-aged woman with a simple, but comfortable, dress. However, it was notable that her eye bags were big, her eyes were dull, and her whole person had a somber feel to it. The woman was a bit surprised when she saw Althea, but quickly caught herself and saluted. "Milord." "Call me Althea, elder, or Miss Althea. My identity is a secret here." "...yes, Elder Althea." Well, good enough, Althea mused before she continued speaking. "May I know how your profession differs from non-professionals?" "The clothing I create has defensive properties." Similar to armor makers, though armor makers could produce other accessories like gloves, knee guards, and shields. Althea nodded and quickly assigned her a job. "Okay, I will assign you a place. How many pieces of clothing can you make?" The woman stared for a moment, blinking. "What cloths do we have available in the territory, milord?" "..." Darn. She was happy too soon. ¡­ "So¡­ how do you guys get your clothing?" Althea asked after a pause, looking around and facing the other NPCs as well. The NPCs looked at each other. They also forgot about this problem. Although on their part, while they were impressed with the fabric the Lord and the others had, they saw that the clothes did not provide any defense attribute at all. Hence, they didn''t ask for fear of offending people. "Nobles tend to call on seamstresses and clothes makers to their houses to create bespoke attires. "Most territories have clothing stores where commoners could buy their attires. For villages, there''s usually just one, while town level and above would have at least 1 store carrying products from one or two of the Cloth Cities." "Cloth cities?" Oslo nodded. "Well, the art of cloth-making is dominated by three cities: Cloth City, Kilpo City, and Makita City. All fabric known to humans have all basically come from there." "Oh? Tell me more. And what are the differences in their products?" "Cloth City is known for its extremely smooth fabrics with natural sheen. This is the favourite of nobles." "Kilpo City specializes in highly insulating cloth suitable for cold climates. However, they also supply simpler clothing commoners used." "Makita City fabrics were better known for its fabrics with soft pile that could create rich texture. Nobles also like this, but they''re a bit uncomfortable and only worn during formal occasions. "They also provide what we call Makita cloth, which was a type of cloth that was more accessible to commoners, albeit much more expensive than Kilpo''s." Althea listened carefully. If she were to take on similarities based on the description, it seemed Cloth city specialized in something like Silk, Kilpo with something like wool, while Makita was something like¡­. Velvet, perhaps? Similarly, cheaper cloth was also available from Kilpo and Makita. "Mine is from Kilpo," Clutch said, lifting his sleeves up. "It is a bit rougher compared to what I see your people use, milord." She looked closer and it looked a bit like hemp cloth. "My clothes are from Makita," Brenda said, and the others (sans Oslo and Betty) said theirs were the same. Looking closer, it was very similar to linen that she also wanted to produce. "Any idea what their raw materials are?" Oslo and the others all shook their heads. "We apologize milord. It is a closely guarded secret by these cities." "Indeed." Lenny said, "To my knowledge, the recipes had been exclusive to them for centuries." Oslo''s dark blue eyes suddenly turned sharp. He abruptly stood up and stared at the Althea. "Milord, are you planning on producing yourself? I''m afraid¡ª" He was afraid that the territory would be targeted. Don''t think the level difference was so large that they wouldn''t touch Altera. There was a limit of ten attacks per year if you were an attacker. But there was not as stringent a limit in receiving one. A territory could actually be attacked every 16 days. That was to say, the village could get attacked twice a month if the territory was particularly attractive. If a territory was targeted by an allied force, then they may have to experience wheel battles once or twice a month. As very rich cities, these three cities had a lot of subsidiary territories allied to them. "We''ll cross that bridge when we get there," Althea said, taking note of his caveat. "Besides, they may not pay attention to us. "Didn''t you notice our clothing doesn''t have any attributes at all?" The NPCs nodded, and Althea continued. "Even with Lenny, the attributed clothing may have to do with raw materials." With this, the NPCs'' shoulders slumped in relief. Her lips twitched. However, she thought, if it did come to the point she''d be targeted for producing products that would break the monopolies of powerful entities¡­ Althea did not panic. She knew she just needed to make sure she was invincible at least to a territory a level above her. She wasn''t planning on tucking away their resources for fear of others. After all¡­ ''Altera'' was meant to be ''Proud''. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 178 Clothing Problem (Part 2) Putting these things for far in the future aside (for now), her emerald eyes landed again on the clothing of the NPCs. From here, she could tell Oslo and Betty were well off, using silk-like fabrics in their clothing. She was especially concerned with the commoner clothes though, which they needed the most. It was just that she didn''t know if there were flax plants or similar plants here. In Terran, those were found predominantly in areas with sandy loam and temperate climates. The weather system alone in this place was very different, who knew where those plants were? However, she did seem to see plants similar to hemp nearby, so she could at least have someplace to start. And although hemp was made for coarser fabric, it was a very good alternative. It was also more environmentally friendly, sustainable, and could be planted very densely¡ªallowing for huge output per field. Still, she would still be looking for flax or its alternatives, simply because of its practicality and comfort. Cotton, on the other hand, was also difficult. Cotton seeds weren''t sold in supermarkets so she didn''t have any on hand. But¡­ while she did not have cotton seeds on hand, the hotel duvets might have some¡­ She immediately made plans to ask Eugene to put the bicycle project on hold in favor of weaving tools, whichever raw material they would end up using. In fact, the old tools for hemp or flax were relatively simple and didn''t need a lot of mechanisms, it was cotton that was a bit difficult. Cotton was also a good type of cloth, especially for uses aiming for comfort like underwear and everyday shirts. It also had better moisture resistance than the others. This would be needed if their only other alternative was cloth made from hemp. So if she really found cotton seeds, Eugene could only succumb and find a way for a cotton-weaving machine. Hence, Althea not only built a few more farms dedicated to the crops, but she also reserved another factory to make cloth. This factory would be focusing on making rolls, and rolls alone. She wasn''t planning on making her own clothing store. It was enough to provide raw materials. She believed in the skills and creativity of their Terrans. Let them handle the fashion industry by themselves. In this way, she could focus on the creation of different types of fabric, different qualities, and a wider variety of colors. She turned to Lenny. "While waiting can you write down all you know about cloth, the popular styles, and the like?" Lenny nodded. Then she looked around. "May I borrow some parchment?" "..." She forgot the paper was still under development. She looked at the NPCs. "Where do you get parchments?" "I think a new store should be made available upon upgrade. It''s a shop called, ''Bookstore''." Althea leaned in a bit, interested. "Oh? What else is available?" "There are different types of parchment. Like the cheaper papyrus, to the more expensive animal skins. Ink and pens are also sold here." "And?" "That''s all¡­" She looked at the NPCs with a weird expression. "There are weaponry stores, armory stores, and now even a bookstore. But there''s no clothing store?" "..." They didn''t know either. Althea couldn''t help remembering the Three Cloth Cities. Could big territories dictate available building types? Anyway, unless there was something magic about the parchments, she would definitely not waste a building slot on it. Paper only needed investment and a bit of technical knowledge. She and Eugene had partnered with Baron''s team for this and they had been working on it for a while now. Hopefully, they will get the finished products within a few days. It was the Ink and graphite that would be the challenge. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She''d need to check the warehouse if some materials were sold to the territory. As all these things passed by her head, she couldn''t help but pause with a frown. She still had so much lined up in her lab, so much land to explore! But how could she start anything in her precious field with all these issues popping out? There was so much to do! If there was only someone to handle these things with her¡­ ¡­ Nispedana Mountain Range, 22 Kilometers away "Ansel, behind you!" Leo yelled, stabbing a monster that almost mauled him. Fortunately, Ansel''s body coordination was very good and he managed to avoid the claw behind him. However, it did nick a good part of his shirt and pants. While the bleeding wasn''t bad, it definitely destroyed his shirt! Damn! That was his last decent clothing! Well at least he had it, everyone else had holes everywhere and were almost looking like jungle people. He shook his head of the thoughts and focused on the mob at hand. [Used! Stab (D). -2 Mana] [Killed Gnomos (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Used! Stab (D). -2 Mana] [Used! Stab (D). -2 Mana] [Killed Tanto Rat (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] They fought and stabbed until the last monster fell. During this time, their team work had improved leaps and bound, and a small mob like this was no longer life-threatening. After the battle, they dragged their legs in the direction without resting. One was to avoid monsters attracted by the blood, and the second was that Ansel couldn''t bear to rest. The group soon got used to Ansel''s pacing and managed to continue on. The redhead looked back at the huge man next to him. "This is the direction right?" Bull nodded. "Their team definitely went in this direction." As he confirmed this for the nth time, Ansel found himself more and more energized, his feet hastening its movements even more. He was so unstoppable that he ignored another piece of cloth falling off him, showing off his good abs and chest, and making the girls blush. Ansel did not even bother with this. He was in too much of a good mood. He had an intuition: He would see Althea very soon. Chapter 179 Construction (Part 1) [13 days of Protection Period] Days breezed by in the territory and a lot of changes were witnessed during this time. There were more and more people joining their territory, adding life to an already lively place. They were haggard and devoid of hope when they entered, but without exemption, they would quickly regain vitality¡ªand it was a sight that brought joy to those who watched it. More and more people also grew stronger even if they weren''t fighters, joining the guards in their hunting outside the walls, protecting the territory in their own way. With every step toward strength they took, the belief in protecting their home was ingrained deeper and deeper into their hearts. More and more buildings were erected, promising stability. More and more shops were established, enhancing vitality. Streets became more and more lively as time went on, reassuring people''s hearts despite the uncertain future. Each of these changes added a layer of happiness, pride, and satisfaction to each of its citizens. Slowly but surely¡ªeven with the advent of the protection period looming over them¡ªeveryone felt stable, taking one step at a time with a smile. . . That morning, Althea was prepared to take a walk around the territory with her children to give them their much-needed vitamins and exposure to the outside world. According to her research, healthy exposure to sunlight would also allow the children to have a healthy circadian rhythm and would have better sleep patterns. Exposing them outside also exposed their senses to various stimuli, sounds, and sights¡­ which would be good for their cognitive development. She brought them out wearing enough shade¡ªhats and covers weaved by people in the market¡ªand finally entered the world outside. Like yesterday, it was only the three of them, which was just right and relaxed. As for where the rest of the team was, the adults were busy with a lot of assignments, and polishing the systems of the industries assigned to them. Even the children had their own busy schedules. Maya insisted on being independent and gathering resources. As one of the few children in the territory, Horus similarly refused to be a dead weight as well, helping out his new big sister. On the other hand, Fufi was officially the Mascot of the guard team, while Theodore had found a liking just watching Eugene tinker with his tools like a good baby boy. [PET STATS: Name: Fufi Age: 2 Level: 4 (15680/20000) Life: 1310/2000 Spirit: 1320/2000 S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Physical: 171 Agility: 176 Defense: 144 Mana: 500 Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Earth Titles: None Overall rank: A ] Althea smiled, knowing Fufi was not being lax with his training. She pushed the pretty stroller forward and was met with a couple of admiring words from people around. After they left the more crowded spaces, the family stayed in one of the parks for a while, with the children cooing excitedly. Althea stretched her arms and let the babies have their breath of nature for a while, before taking them to Auntie Mathilda''s older lady friends for babysitting. "Mngmamahh¡­" Little Pepper mumbled seeing that she was heading off. And Little Meatball was not to lose. "Googooogleglrgh¡­" Lola and Yana laughed, shaking the babies'' bespoke rattles in front of them. Althea also smiled and gave her babies another set of wet smooches. She looked at the old women who looked at the babies lovingly. "Thank you for this." She said, and the two women shook their heads. "Thank you for trusting us," Lola said, and Yana couldn''t help but add. "Trust us when we tell you this is our favorite part of the day." Althea smiled and thanked them again, giving a few seeds from her space as a reward as she knew about their hobbies. After settling the children, she went to take a look at the status of construction in the territory. After huge amounts of investment, it was finally the last leg of this construction phase (for this level, anyway). The 10 new factories were done. And now, the construction team was focusing on building the perpendicular commercial street, thereby named Market Street. Market Street was a kilometer-long street about six meters wide, designed only for pedestrian access. It was lined with small trees and benches in the middle, dividing it into two wide lanes. The shops here were set to sell and/or rent for about 30% more expensive than the commercial street along the main avenues because of the inevitably higher foot traffic. This was especially true for the shops on the intersection, set to be twice as expensive as the original stores. Obviously, these shops would be empty for a while but it wouldn''t take long. She had long heard of the demand for stores. These would definitely be swept off within the day, though the renovation should last a little longer. She also bought off one corner shop. She was not sure what she''d use it for, but it was too good a location not to use herself. At the two ends of this street were small parks, complete with various trees and flowers, as well as a playground set made by the Woodworkers. Adjacent to the parks would be large buildings ten times the size of the usual unit in floor area. Three were set per end, and she reserved two on one side for her supermarket. These were all quite large developments and were not for sale. They could only be leased every year. There was also a territory-owned inn on each end, aiming to target the middle-class market. As for the super luxurious hotels¡­ that was a thing for later. Having the current development was luxury enough. Other things could wait for when rich aborigines like Oslo arrived, whenever that might be. She arrived at the end and watched the construction ongoing. She had already built the streets with modular units, and now only a few buildings that were being manually constructed were left. Her supermarket was already in the finishing phase, while the adjacent ones were already topping off. Overall, this was technically overdevelopment, but she didn''t want the area to look empty when it already had a designation. More importantly, she believed in her territory. It wouldn''t take long for the development to catch up. It was both intuition and her pride. Chapter 180 Construction (Part 2) As for how so much construction was done in such a short time, a lot of it had to do with manpower. If Baron and her team hired about a combined fifth of the total population, then the construction team hired by the territory took another. Over half of the abled men and women in the territory worked in the construction team. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Basically, except for the guards who was always hunting outside for at least half a day, everyone had a ''day job'' and were otherwise training in their free time (which was required for hired hands anyway). This was fortunate because she really didn''t think too deeply about this aspect. There was no way, other than the required hunting time and the overall levels, she really didn''t think much about the strength of the people and left it all to Drake and Rowan. As long as the walls were ready to defend whatever happened, she put this issue to the back of her mind. It wasn''t her specialty and to be frank she didn''t have much interest in it. She was extremely lucky to have sincere people in the field working for her. Of course, her ideal was still her husband taking the helm. In that case, then she''d really have nothing to worry about. Anyway, a lot of these people chose construction because it also trained their physiques. It was also because of this that the territory changed so much in just a few days. Of course, this was not without the help of magic, and a lot of funds from her own pocket. "Brother Oslo that''s soo cool!!!" Speak of the devil¡ªshe turned her head to see Oslo using his earth magic to lift the stones on the ground, serving as a crane to take materials up. Oslo was a rare dual elementalist. Back then, when she saw the NPCs so shocked, she was a bit startled because she didn''t know it was that rare. "You are a dual elementalist?!" The usually-cool Rowan exclaimed. He happened to be there because he was making rounds. "Is it so rare?" Althea asked, walking next to him. "Mil¨C" Rowan stopped himself, "Yes, Ms. Althea! Not even 1 out of 100 elementalists have dual elements." Althea looked awkwardly at her three elements in her Stats. She decided not to tell what her stats were until she knew more about it. In any case, the Elementalists had definitely assisted in the fast development of the territory, and they proved themselves to be quite the value-for-money. She hoped there would be more elementalist popping up in her options, but she somehow doubted it. If they were really as rare as Rowan said, they were unlikely to show up in her little village. It could be said she struck gold to have encountered Oslo and Rowan. And so early, too. She watched the construction of the supermarket in a daze because of this, only to be pulled to the present some time later by a familiar voice. She turned her head to meet the chubby face with the name of Baron. "You got the building before me again¡­" He said. "You came in a close second." She said with a smile. "You are really updated." Indeed, she was really surprised by this guy''s news channel. She was the lord so, obviously, she got first pick. But this guy was already waiting in the village center just as she posted the opening. Baron was a bit smug, "A businessman''s intuition," was all he said. "Well, fortunately, my building will be finished tomorrow. The lease for that is no joke." Althea smiled. He was referring to the building on the other end of Market Street, directly opposite to her supermarket. He took the entire corner. "I''m sure it''d be a good investment." "Yep, that''s for sure~" The two chatted for a while¡ªmostly business-related¡ªbefore Althea excused herself, aiming to take a look at the other projects. She walked to the other side where the streets were still under construction. The utility systems had been embedded underground, and soon small lakes and Wells (dug so quickly thanks to Oslo) would be easily accessible to every block. The utilities were almost completely developed along the roads, under the green islands. She had built some aqueducts as well, for areas near the mountains to gather water from the springs easily. The NPCs had never stopped marveling about the concept of bringing water straight to the houses. Although technically, it hadn''t been done yet, it was such common sense to all the Terrans that they couldn''t help but believe its doability as well. Of course, they added some controlling mechanisms that maintained the previous pricing for utilities. They didn''t increase the rates though, which was something celebrated by the people. Similarly, waste management was also settled. Except for system food-based buildings, other buildings didn''t have self-cleaning functions. Because she didn''t purchase any food buildings, this meant every building had to have its own waste management. Fortunately, the materials here were mostly natural, so the waste management wasn''t a particularly big headache to deal with. This was also a new thing to the NPCs. The world here, apparently, was very much like the medieval period in their world, where there was no such thing as waste management. In slums, people even directly defacated on the streets. She cringed. For the next phase, she was pondering whether to build police stations, fire stations, and other necessary public buildings. As the population grew, these would be essential. At least in their minds, as they grew up with these benefits. As the wise men said, it was easy to shift from poverty to luxury, but not the other way around. The school and library would be deferred not only because of the paper issue but also because there were less than a dozen minors in the territory, most of whom were over ten and were already helping out their families. She also built a few more fields and factories. One was a permanent kiln, which would be necessary with the increasing population and needs. They had already figured out a way to handle the temperature needed by ceramic and porcelain. When these were done more efficiently, she expected most houses to regain their porcelain water closets and tubs. Of course, she didn''t forget about the cloth factory. Although linen was a long shot, they really found cotton seeds. Interestingly, it wasn''t in the hotel duvet that they found it. After all, five-star hotel duvets had undergone a lot of quality checks. Instead, they found the seeds inside the cotton down jackets from the supermarket back in Terran, which happened to be stored in Fufi''s space. Hey, a little hero indeed. Unfortunately, they weren''t much, so she had to do a lot of treatment to speed up its growth and development. Fortunately, she had Gru, who was familiar with the growing conditions of the plant, helping her out this time. It had been a few days, but sprouts had already formed and they would eventually be looking forward at the shrubs. The other factory of hers would be dealing with the long-awaited Waul tree products like rosin and (hopefully) rubber. Of course, she''d need to transplant several of said trees back into the territory. Oh, and she also needed to bring home those Haozen berry shrubs and Juli trees and plants, which were essential for her Sprite solution! She smiled at the list of ''assignments''. Why? Because she finally had the excuse to go out again! Chapter 181 Out of the Territory When Drake and the others saw Althea outside the Southwest gate alone¡ªin full gear, no less¡ªthey were taken back. What was this beautiful woman who had just given birth doing outside the walls? Fufi, on the other hand, was just happy and running around her in excitement. Adventure! Adventure!! Althea chuckled and patted the good boy''s head as she sensed his thoughts. "Wanna come with me?" Fufi''s smiling head bobbed, telling her of his approval. It just made her laugh. Not far, the team of guards couldn''t help but watch the beautiful scenery that she made for a while. Drake was the first to approach the woman, blushing a bit. He still hadn''t overcome his fear of beautiful women, but thanks to the patient perseverance of his many suitors, he was getting better. "Ms. Althea! Where are you going?" "Exploring for some plants," She said with a smile. Drake turned to the deep forest beyond and frowned. "You can just tell us and we¡ª" "Nono, I need to do it myself. You probably don''t know this but I have appraisal skills. if it were others, they may just die of poison." "But¡ª" "This is an order from a village elder." Drake stared at her in conflict, before sighing. "Well, then at least let a few of us escort you." He said, looking back at his team who naturally had no complaints. Drake nodded in approval before turning to Althea with a smile. "After all, what kind of guard team are we if we can''t even protect an Elder." ¡­ In the end, fifteen people were tasked to accompany her, while the rest kept the guard duty in their area. This included Drake, Fufi, and the Hugo uncle-and-nephew duo. "I''m surprised you actually entered the guards'' team." She said and the duo gave a shy smile. "We had wanted to form our own force at first and be our own boss, but¡­" The handsome Hugo chuckled and finished the sentences for his nephew. "The territory charmed us." Indeed. The territory was so good. How could they not love it? And also¡­ how could they say they were also heavily inspired by the beautiful image of a lone pregnant woman defending a gate by herself? After all, such a good territory was guarded so tightly by so many people who had only stayed there for a few days¡ªand this was including a pregnant woman¡­ Inexplicably, they wanted to join them, too. With a good atmosphere, the small group headed in a specific direction. The guards looked curiously at the compass in her hand. One of the guards was a little older and looked nostalgic. "It''s been a while since I''ve seen an old compass." He said, using that old man''s tone of his. "My father used to take me to the mountains near our village. "Then you must be rich to have a forest near your home." Another one said. Half of their Terran planet was dead due to the overuse of the previous generations. Unlike before, in their generation, ''living near the forest'' actually meant a luxury trip. The man rolled his eyes. "I''m telling a story here, alright?" The friend laughed. "Alright, continue." Similar conversations echoed around the group. Obviously, even when they were guards and trained, Drake and Rowan adopted a relatively lighthearted handling where the soldiers could freely chat as they wanted. Of course, this was in the condition that they remained vigilant at all times. They could chat, but their attention and senses must always be directed outwards. This half-listening attitude also caused some tangents in the conversations which was also amusing to listen to. For example, a guard would ask his friend what he ate for breakfast and in response, the friend would answer he woke up early to exercise. There was also a case where someone was singing, but someone sincerely thought there was a monster croaking. It was quite funny. Anyway, as they walked, Althea occasionally taught them which plants would be useful to them, as well as their emergency handling, while gathering some for her own use. For example, she taught them which herb could hasten blood clotting. For example, which plants would be filling when eaten even with the most basic preparation methods. And, for example, she also taught them which plants were poisonous. In the same vein, she taught them which partner plant was needed as an antidote. Of course, all this knowledge was all basic and couldn''t be compared to the professionals handling them, but the knowledge could definitely save lives. The guards knew this and they listened thoroughly, admiring this beautiful woman even more in their hearts. They watched as she found a particularly interesting plant and asked them to rest. Hugo looked at her smiling face filled with passion. It was obviously a topic she liked very much. "An admirable genius." He said could not help adding to himself. "Her husband¡­ is a lucky man." sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "He is," Drake answered beside him, surprising both Hugo and Helios. "You know him?" "We were soldiers together," Drake said but didn''t elaborate. Hugo wanted to ask more until they heard a small flop nearby them. To their surprise, it was made by the woman as she took out a machine from her space. "This is my portable lab, Tori." She said with a happy face, taking some specimens and tinkering with it. There was also a notebook and pen on hand ready to record the changes. She was very eager and like a little girl, very much unlike the goddess of war in his first impression. Hugo, in particular, found it extremely cute. Drake also smiled, though for a very different reason. Years ago, more than once, he remembered Garan''s monologue about occasionally feeling jealous of a ''Tori''. Their indifferent captain, when a little drunk, droned on about how his wife sometimes only had Tori in her eyes, how Tori took all her time¡­ He had always thought it was a pet or something. Only now did he know what it was. He shook his head in amusement at the memory, before regaining his serious face and ordered the soldiers to set up a temporary camp for lunch. Hence, while Althea did her experiments, the soldiers set up a campfire for a barbeque. Using the special barbeque sauce from her Gaea grocery store, of course. As they prepared the meal, their stomachs started growling. Sadly, until after they ate the beautiful elder was still immersed with her notes. "Should we tell her?" One soldier asked. "Wouldn''t that be very rude?" Another soldier added worriedly. Drake, on the other hand, had heard about Althea''s bouts. If they didn''t disturb her now, they might as well prepare for dinner. However, before he could say anything. Althea had already straightened her back and ran to them, raising an elongated tubelike leaf in front of his face. "We have it now!" She exclaimed, bright like a child. "Salt!!" Chapter 182 Unexpected Rescue Hearing her words, Drake''s eyes sparkled a bit, but his expression did not betray. Everyone''s rapt attention was on them while Rowan was just a bit puzzled, but also quite curious about what they were talking about. But as Drake looked closer, he saw that it was just a plant, the flute plant, which was the local equivalent of wheat. He looked at Althea in puzzlement, and she put it closer to his eyes. "Not the plant, look closer! The powder!" "I traced a huge amount of salt here. She said, taking it away before Drake could actually see the alleged powder. "There must be a source nearby!" Without listening to other people''s opinions, she began to go in a direction as soon as she cleared up. Along the way she pulled out random plants for testing, checking if they any had traces of salt. It took a while but they patiently followed the traces and really seemed to be finding something. At least according to the Elder''s increasingly excited expressions. Soon, the green forest opened up to a clearing with a cave filled with multicolored satin stones, and they couldn''t believe their eyes. It was a glistening wonder of different shades sculpted through centuries, making their eyes shine. And then there was the faint scent of minerals whiffing through their noses, exciting their bodies. It was definitely a salt mine. And it was huge. "Oh gosh." The soldiers brightened and Althea clapped her hands. Althea immediately went there to test the items with her gloves. When she confirmed that it was, indeed, salt, everyone cheered like they just won the lottery. So far they''ve been using fruit and other plants to deal with their needs for salt, but it was really not enough. Their river was a freshwater source so they couldn''t get salt there at all. Now it was here! In such an unexpected place!! Althea quickly taught them how to gather the items. Although most of them didn''t carry chisels and hammers, their weapons were good enough alternatives, especially since they wouldn''t be able to harvest everything anyway. Everyone took as much as their spaces and backpacks could carry, with Althea warning them that the rock salts had to be purified first before consumption. Althea looked wistfully at the amount of rock salts in front of her that she couldn''t take. If only they had more space¡­ Regretfully, she could only mark this place. In any case, they finished eating lunch on-site and continued on their way to the actual target of the excursion. After walking a couple of hours, they eventually reached an area of predominantly tall trees, mostly coniferous. She took out her tools to harvest some fruit and sap again, placing some in her space, and some to her backpack. "Let me carry it for you, Ms. Althea." Hugo offered and she accepted his kindness with a smile. She then placed a tag on the location of the Waul tree area, to post uprooting missions through the Village Center. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Tagging was another function of the map, and the transfer of data was taught to them by the NPCs. With tagging, people could mark places on their maps. They could send these coordinates for whatever function they needed, and whoever received this tag would have an additional area on their maps, even if they hadn''t been there yet. Of course, like everything, this came at the cost of a couple of silvers-per-transfer. "It''s done." She said with a smile. "Let''s go! "I''ll treat you to our Gaea restaurant when we get home." She added and the guards cheered, sycophantically adding ''The Elder is good, the elder is great'' making her laugh out loud. On their way home, they used a slightly different pathway to maximize their trip. Because of this, Althea had managed to harvest a few more plants and the guards learned more before the trip was over. However, during one of their stops, Fufi suddenly stopped and growled, facing a direction. Althea frowned and her ears moved, sharpening her hearing. They stood up to follow the distant noise and soon the sounds became clearer and clearer, and their frowns getting deeper and deeper in response. A few hundred meters away, some sort of scuffle was ongoing, an ominous combination of growls and screams echoing to their ears. They looked at each other, and they quickly ran in the direction. ¡­. "Pay attention!" Ansel yelled, killing the small mob of monsters, saving Luke from death. Since Leo was gravely injured, Luke had gone berserk. "Get yourself together!" He yelled before attacking another level 2 monster. He looked back to see a few people getting mauled but he couldn''t care for them now, as he was too busy protecting himself. In addition to their small group before, they now totaled to a hundred people. They encountered another group of people¡ªover a hundred of them¡ªthat had settled in a complicated cave system they encountered by chance. They''ve been here for a few days, escaping from another village that was just taken down by a beast tide. It was fine at first¡ªeven a little happy to find more brethren¡ªbut they realized the beast tide wasn''t actually over yet and¡­ it was still clearing in their direction. Even if Ansel was already at the peak of level 3, facing a sea of monsters had taken a toll. To be blunt and exact, he was on the verge of dying. "GYAAAHHH!" Someone beside him yelled as his arm was bitten off. Right next to him was a woman, and she was dragged by a smaller monster deeper into the mob. "HELP ME!!!" She yelled, and those were the last words she would utter as she drowned in the sea of beasts, each body part ripped apart for consumption of different monsters. This was happening all around him. He watched as the hundreds of people lost a portion with a heavy heart but he gritted his teeth and fought on. He also watched his life and spirit starting to drain¡­ and yet there was no end in sight in the sea of beasts. Worse, somewhere along the way, he tripped over a corpse and slightly lost balance. He managed to stop himself from falling head-on, but the moment he lifted his head, he saw a massive mouth with sharp teeth aiming to glomp at his face. His heart dropped to the ground as he saw his impending death in front of him. Ansel was not reconciled. He hadn''t even seen Althea (and Garan) yet¡ª Whoosh His eyes saw an accurate arrow enter the monster''s mouth, and exited through its skull. He wasn''t even able to absorb what happened when ten more monsters around him were taken down in a similar manner, creating a vacuum of safety around him. He stiffly turned his head in the direction of the shooter, and his eyes met her beautiful emerald ones. Ansel immediately burst into tears. Chapter 183 Sibling Reunion (Part 1) Aberdeen city, 16 years prior Ansel felt his head spinning as he was carried away like a dirty potato sack by the teenage boy who rescued them. On the other hand, the little girl was comfortably carried on his arm, her arms intimately wrapped around the older boy''s neck. She was safe, protected, and very comfortable with one of the teen''s hands making sure she didn''t get hit by stray twigs. Ansel in contrast was very different. There was even an occasional branch that hit his face. The distinction was very stark. "Garan¡­" he could hear the girl sob. "Are you okay?" She asked, a milky voice filled with worry. Ansel couldn''t see the teen''s reaction though as his line of sight was on the ground the whole time. As they ran, the boy responded with a simple "Hmm." And then they enter the denser forest and his pace quickened so they could get away from the kidnappers as soon as possible. Ansel was already feeling nauseous from the previous pace, but now he got even dizzier as the boy ran quickly across the woods. Blop, blop, blop The surroundings were shaking so much, it was like his brain was jiggling. Blop, blop, blop Eventually, he couldn''t handle it anymore and¡­ he lost consciousness. . . When he woke up, he saw the worried faces of his parents. Immediately, all the wrongs of the world popped like a balloon. "Mom¡­ dad¡­" he squeaked, a pool of tears quickly lining up his eyes. All the tension and suffering seemed to overflow with his tears and he started sobbing. Mother looked heartbroken and immediately approached him, placing him in her warm embrace. He was not good with words and he didn''t like using them, so he expressed his sadness with sobs. It took him a while to calm down and he finally looked around, little eyebrows furrowing when he wasn''t able to see what he was expecting to see. Mother held back a smile. "Are you looking for your new friends?" He nodded cutely. Mother suppressed a smile and turned to Father. His father gave a knowing smile in return and went out the door. Several minutes later, he re-entered with two beautiful children on each side. There was the girl from before even cuter all cleaned up and with her hair tied in twin pigtails. Just looking at her comforted him very much. The teen was even scarier (and cooler) although he was covered with a lot of bandages all over his body. He couldn''t tell at all he was injured by how he carried both of them. Inexplicably, he looked cooler in Ansel''s eyes. Anyway, the little redhead''s eyes were wide as he stared at them, feeling extremely elated to see them. He felt his mother pat his small head."This is your new sister and brother." She said, smiling, and Ansel''s green eyes went wide in shock. Mother laughed and gently pinched his cheek, guiding him off the bed and pulling him closer to the two older kids. "Don''t you want to greet them?" _______ Present. "ALTHEAAA!!!" He yelled but, unfortunately, there were too many monsters between them. It was those ugly blue frogs as tall as his waist that were in the dozens, the metaphorical gorges between him and Althea. With renewed energy, he went ahead and swung his sword, using his skills as much as he could. [Killed Juju Frog (Lvl 2): +50 Experience, +50 Copper!] [Killed Juju Frog (Lvl 1): +30 Experience, +30 Copper!] [Killed Juju Frog (Lvl 1): +30 Experience, +30 Copper!] [Killed Juju Frog (Lvl 2): +50 Experience, +50 Copper!] [Killed Juju Frog (Lvl 1): +30 Experience, +30 Copper!] As he killed he could see himself getting closer and closer to her, and he had all but ignored his spirit. He started another bout of killing spree, gathering enough experience and finally upgrading. [Congratulations on reaching Level 4!] [Learned! Piercing Strike (E). Consumes -5 Mana!] [STATS: Name: Ansel Witt Age: 23 Level: 4 (230/10000) Life: 265/600 Spirit: 185/600 Physical: 89 Agility: 75 Defense: 54 +1 Mana: 400 Physical Potential: S Mental potential: A+ Skills: Active: Stab (E), Piercing Strike (E) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Fire Titles: None Overall rank: A Current Status: Normal ] This upgrade increased his efficiency effectively and he slowly killed his way to get closer to Althea, the team he was with closely following the path he made, similarly killing their way through. Soon they were only a couple of meters away and he noticed that the people Althea brought with her were extremely strong. Each one seemed to be at least his level before upgrading. Those who were focused on close-ranged fights were fast and valiant, while those with arrows were quite accurate in the hits. They were also protected by swords and spearmen and they could hit away without worry. There were several hundreds of monsters they had to work with, but this team didn''t look like they would ever be in danger. It was amazing and his heart couldn''t help but lift up in awe and relief. He was particularly impressed with those two tanned men with similar looks. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One had a spear and the other had a sword. Their teamwork was impeccable. They didn''t even have to turn around to see how the other dealt with the enemy, yet they could somehow add to the attack effectively. For instance, one would slash a few Level 1 Gnomos along his feet, and the other would stab the ones behind with his spear. Like this, they created a vacuum of safety around them. They were very handsome and cool, moving with smooth movements, though their techniques seemed different from those of the veterans he had seen. Speaking of Veterans, he couldn''t help but look at the dashing short-haired man similarly waving his sword. Unlike most though, he had a wooden shield with him, which he used to push enemies just before beheading them. Some old buried memory as a young teen being thrown in obstacle course after obstacle course came to mind and, unconsciously, his eye twitched. "Drake?!" Chapter 184 Sibling Reunion (Part 2) "Drake?!" Ansel yelled, seeing a familiar figure also valiantly dealing with the mob. When Garan ''smuggled'' him into the special forces training grounds, Drake was one of the people he was thrown to. The guy''s training was very harsh and his entire body would be dead tired by nighttime. Later, Ansel found it was because he looked too feminine and Drake happened to have a great (emphasis: great) weakness against ''beautiful women''. Ansel was offended at first, but then he learned to take advantage of that by acting like a sissy, and Drake couldn''t wait to escape from him¡ªsuccessfully lightening up his load. Hehe. He was a genius even at that age. It had already been a few years though, he heard that Drake had already retired. The man raised an eyebrow looking him up and down as he slashed, giving him a nod in the end. This was all done as he got rid of several monsters using his weapon. Was that a nod of approval? Did he finally look masculine? Ansel also noticed a couple of people around Althea, protecting her. Some of which were in-charge of long-range attacks. There were not only close-range fighters, but there were also archers with a special bow. "Are those crossbows?" He asked no one in particular. Was this available in any weapons store he had been to? Didn''t seem like it? He also couldn''t help but notice their states. Everyone looked so¡­ stable. It was in stark contrast with the haggardness and panic on their side¡­ which was the normal bearing through all the territories they''d been to so far. Why did it feel¡­ so different from what he''d encountered? Then, a wall of fire appeared in front killing a handful of monsters in one go. "What the heck!!" "Magic?!" "Whoa! Awesome!" Despite being grossly outnumbered, the fights became increasingly easy from this point. Anyway, seeing the newcomers deal with the monsters so well¡ªsomeone could even make a fire whip!¡ª injected stimulants to their side. Their group of nearly a hundred people fought hard for their lives, hope revitalising their lackluster energies, and there were no more deaths after that. Eventually, the mob thinned, and the miserable group noticed there were no more monsters attacking. "We did it!!" "Yes!" They cheered, while some groveled on the ground, some due to extreme joy and some due to sadness for those they lost. "If only you got here sooner, my daughter¡ª" she sobbed, hitting the nearby guard. However, the guard did not do anything and let her vent. Of course, most people were just thankful and gave the guards a hug. On the other side, Ansel was finally within a few meters of Althea. The woman smiled and opened her arms, welcoming him. His feet moved on their own and he went to her without another thought. When he entered her embrace and felt her warmth, his tear ducts that had been pouring since he saw her seemed to have a renewed water source and snot also came out. Althea was not disgusted. Instead, she laughed and good-naturedly rubbed his back. "Still a kid. Crying so miserably." The people who had been used to Ansel''s cool and collected image were taken aback by the sight. Althea raised her head and finally noticed this group, and then she saw their miserable appearance. She patted Ansel''s back. "Let''s deal with your friends'' wounds first." S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel finally remembered he was with a party and quickly swiped his snot with his back to them. When he turned around, he was all cool again. If they couldn''t see his reddish eyes and nose, they''d have thought everything was a hallucination. Ansel watched as Althea dealt with the injured using copious amounts of potions and herbs. As his eyes followed her body, his heart was full. He knew he had somewhat ambiguous emotions towards Althea. It was no longer platonic but at the same time not entirely sexual. The process of this realization had hit his worldview very deeply, to the point that he started dating around to see the difference. However, he never acted on it. He knew the dynamics of their relationships would be ruined if he did so. Althea being awkward with him would''ve been the greatest torture. Ansel always knew that there were plenty of things where one choice changed everything. Just like when they were children, had he not gotten out of hiding when Althea was in danger, they wouldn''t even be acquaintances now. In any case, Ansel had felt an unprecedented sense of peace with Althea now only a few meters away from him. He barely noticed his injuries until Althea went to treat them. "Here, drink this." She said and he looked at the ceramic bottle (did she take this from Terran?) in interest, before drinking its contents. Just like this, his spirit improved fully. "This is amazing!" He exclaimed and Althea smiled, but she then went to treat his friends so he couldn''t ask any more questions. Half an hour later, everyone was administered first aid, including Leo who was rescued from certain future disability. It was amazing, how quickly his blood clotted. There was no medicine building in their past territories, but it seemed that Althea''s had, and the effect was very good. Even certain disability was dealt with ease. Disability¡­ It was only now that he remembered: wasn''t she pregnant? What was she doing with a flat stomach?! His heart dropped. Ansel immediately walked to Althea and held her shoulders, eyes staying worriedly at her stomach. Althea blinked, startled, but soon realized what this was about and gently patted his hand. "They''re fine. They are at home." "Premature birth?" He voiced out, heartbroken. How much had she suffered when he was away? Althea shook her head. "It''s a long story." She just said, "I''ll tell you when we get home." And so, the group of over a dozen expanded to hundreds. What''s more, the battles were easy and a lot of people relaxed enough to chat. One of these was Ansel and the duo, primarily because Althea was busy discussing with the cool Fire Magic guy what to do with so many of them. "You could really fight! What style is that?" "It''s a family legacy," Helios said with a grin, looking at the other man next to him. "I still have a lot to learn compared to my uncle." Ansel realized what he meant and gaped, "You''re actually uncle and nephews? I thought you were brothers!" "Well, the age gap between my dad and uncle was huge." He said, "Dad practically raised us both side by side." Ansel nodded, very interested, but his head brewing some other¡ªunimportant¡ªthoughts. The older one was about Garan''s age, and the younger one was closer to him. He smirked. Hey, he thought maliciously, should he start calling Garan ''uncle''? Chapter 185 Preparing the Base ''Uncle'' Garan was irritated for some reason. He frowned, narrowing his eyes as he stared in a particular direction. "It feels like someone is scheming against me." Gill raised an eyebrow and looked around, puzzled. But¡­ they haven''t done anything yet? Gill shrugged in the end and handed Garan a piece of parchment from his space. "It''s here." Garan''s azure eyes stayed on the piece of parchment before extending his hand. His rough fingers traced the symbols on the surface, and his sharp eyes studying every detail as if it was already built. It was a plan for their training ground, commissioned for a very very high price from a Class-D Architect in the town. As of this morning, it was already halfway through construction. Gill was asking him to check before finalization, because any addition to the construction must be instructed now. Garan studied the drawing well in case they missed anything. He did make some minor improvements, but they didn''t change the structure itself too much. The entire property was surrounded by stone walls, akin to level 2 walls from the territories. It was divided into a few sections with varying sizes. First, there was a central courtyard for main activities, obstacles courses, and drills. This area occupied nearly half of the entire lot. Next to these, was an archery range, a wooded area for combat training, and some amenities. In fact, a lot of this would have costly amenities. For instance, they added verandas, gazebos, and gardens. There were a lot of new plants in this place. His wife said that beauty improved people''s spirituality. Garan believed she was correct so he invested in this as well. More importantly, he wanted his wife to live well here when he found her. If she had a stable environment, Althea would definitely swim like a fish in the ocean in this place with new species to study. She would also love to have her own gardens to transplant these species so she could study them more closely. That said, he needed to prepare a greenhouse for her as well, in case the weather turned dour and her plants could get destroyed. Seeing her sad would break his heart, so he ought to be proactive. "After everything, ask if there''s someone who can make greenhouses as well." He said, checking his budget and nodded when he confirmed he should still have enough. Garan had used another sauce formula to make a deal with Jonathan, the lord of Ferrol Town to ensure the finances of the team. In exchange for 95% of the shares, they also got themselves a small lot of about an acre near the edge of the territory. They also got a lump sum amount of 300 gold, along with the remaining 2% share of the future proceeds for selling the formula. Garan looked at the plans again and nodded in satisfaction. With the help of Gill and Eagle, he didn''t have to worry too much about this. The two assisted in the design of the land dedicated to Military training to match their old headquarters and training hall, though with larger practice spaces because of their more destructive elements. Most of the land was assigned for training. There were tracks, obstacle courses, and sparring rings. The remaining buildings, except for the amenities he built for his wife, were huddled together on three-storey buildings¡ªthe maximum height that could be built with non-aether buildings. "When will it be completed?" "I paid the construction company at a premium cost. And with Jonathan''s help, the building is expedited. They estimated the remaining work would be completed within two days. "The main residence is ready for occupancy now, by the way." Garan nodded and followed Gill to the newly built edifice. He looked at the residences, making sure they were made very well. Although he was usually a bit stingy, the facilities they added were complete. It would have large canteens with greening, nicely sized rooms for members in supervisory positions and above, as well as comfortable dormitories for others. These would also have decent bathrooms, at least the best that they could get considering the current technology. The entire residential area was overall the best they had seen since they traveled here. And this was actually made with their families in mind. After all, if the life inside the fog was horrible and the territories weren''t good, their families may very well live here with them. This way, the moment they were found, they could immediately provide them with better living conditions. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They also planned to hire decent men and women to enter the team, to expand their influence and power. Good living conditions were imperative to keeping talents. All this required a continuous flow of money, but Garan and the others were lucky to have landed in Ferrol. Ferrol Town was known for its production of Houlibeef. The sauce Garan made after a lot of study was perfect for this type of meat, the perfect combination of various plants and fruits. When he got the Life Occupation of Chef about a month prior, he had received a D-level identification skill along with it. It was thanks to this skill that he managed to make the two formulas without poisoning anyone. Anyway, through the partnership, not only Garan but also Ferrol Town made a lot of money. And it had only been a few days. It could be said that in such a short time, they earned a lord of a territory as backing. This was still considering their tense relationship with Guia Village, one of Ferrol Town''s many subsidiary villages. Now that they didn''t have to spend money to buy information, the group finally had a surplus. Most of the team still saved money though, in an attempt to help out their probably-dirt-poor families inside the fog. Garan himself maintained the simple lifestyle from before, saving up money to ensure his wife''s lifestyle. Oh, also Ansel''s, maybe. He frowned and went against it. Ansel was a grown man now, he ought to handle himself well enough by now. As such, all consideration for the little brother was scrapped, and he just double-checked the plans to make sure it was perfect not only for his team but also for his wife. Chapter 186 Terran Mercenary Team Garan had already made a mental list of the things to buy for his wife. Because he couldn''t do anything productive to get closer to her, doing all these over-compulsive preparations made his soul calm down, giving him the necessary stability to function decently despite the impatience. He heard the cloth from Cloth City was the best. It was the most beautiful and the most colorful. He made a mental note to order several bolts of different colors. He also decided to buy cloth from the two other cities, especially one from Kilpo, in case the so-called extreme weather veered towards the extreme cold. He would also buy a lot of commoner cloth from Makita City, which seemed closer to linen than any others and would be good to make Althea''s everyday clothing. He also needed to find good seamstresses to make the clothing for her. Anyway, Garan was very aware of her size. He made a mental note to ask for different sizes though, as he didn''t know if Althea had lost or gained weight during their time apart¡ªhopefully the latter. Fabric¡ªor the creation of actual clothing¡ªwas in no way inexpensive. On average, decent clothing costs a couple of gold per set. However, Garan knew both services were not easily accessible to villages. Althea would definitely have trouble finding a change of clothing from wherever she was. (At the back of his head, he also wondered where to hire someone to wash clothes for her.) Other than clothing, there were shoes. The products of the best tanner in town was also quite expensive, but he still made a note to order her enough boots and shoes. He would also ask the tanner to make different types of bags, so Althea had a lot of choices depending on her plans and her mood. He also noted to buy tons of parchment and ink for her from the bookstore. She liked to draw her plants and write detailed notes very much. His wife had a good memory, but she found a bit of extra happiness in recording everything in tangible ways. How torturous it must be to see so many alien plants but not be able to record them? There were also no hygienic products here, only water and a plant called Papra which had a minty aftertaste. The practice was to use these to wash, well, everything. Since there were no other options, he decided to buy a few bags of these as well. His wife was a bit of a clean freak like he was. His poor wife must be suffering and uncomfortable, his heart hurt just thinking about it. Sigh. He couldn''t do much for her now but, in a few days, he would get her himself, and give her the best life possible. Then came her other needs which were, to her, sometimes even more important: Her plants. Hence, how could he forget to buy an important thing: Seeds and potions? As big of a variety for both as he could get. At least this time, he wasn''t one-upped by that girl Winona when it came to procuring exotic seeds and materials to gift his own wife. Garan reviewed his personal sources of income. So far he had released one sauce and one condiment, to Ferrol and to Bart, respectively. A conservative amount of about 200-250 gold a month could be received from dividends alone. He would dedicate about a hundred to the team and its operations. The remaining would be for his personal use. This amount was comforting, and he knew he''d be able to provide a luxurious life for his wife when they met. Furthermore, the team also hunted for a lot of meat, and they had long been able to pay for their own basic expenses. They could exchange the body parts of the monsters for vegetables and fruits they couldn''t get themselves. Most interestingly, Jake and Brandon were receiving royalties for their crossbows, meaning somewhere out there¡­ the designs were being reproduced. They couldn''t help but think¡ªor hope, rather¡ªthat the people using it were Terrans, as well. Unfortunately, during the weekly payout only ''Troy Prud'' and ''Brenda Smith'' showed up, which didn''t give them a lot of clues. In any case, the current model of the team was relatively self-sufficient and could take on a few more members. "Send a hiring notice in the town center. We accept members and soldiers even if they''re not elementalists. If they get accepted, not only will they get a monthly allowance of 5 gold, at the least, but their accommodation and food will be taken care of." Gill, who knew this plan nodded in excitement. [Terran Mercenary Team is hiring fighting force and life occupation professionals. Wage: 5 gold/mo, free meals (3) and accommodation Requirements: Level 10 or above. Pass for 2 rounds of interviews.] This notice created a wave within the territory and within a couple of minutes it was all most people were talking about. "So generous?" Was often asked in disbelief. After all, the average cost of living in towns was about 10 gold per month, and this was mostly for food and shelter. To give 5 whole gold inclusive of food and shelter was very, very, generous. "With this, we can basically save up a few golds every month!" One exclaimed as if he already got the job. There were also many others who were very cynical about the unheard-of name making the announcement. "What is this Terran Team anyway?" S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It''s a new team, I think." "I know them. They look professional and their auras are strong, but¡­" he sneered, "There was no one above level 20." Almost everyone who heard made a derisive sound. There were also a lot of questioning voices all around the territory. After all, what could a group of people less than level 20 do? On the contrary, such a weak group¡­ had so many resources. A pitiful group of level 15s could have so much money, get their own land, and live so comfortably while they¡ªseveral levels higher¡ªstill needed to watch their spending! Tsk Such a comfortable life¡ª Do they deserve it? The answer was a resounding NO. This made a lot of sly brains calculate what they could get out of them, already planning how to get some leaks. Unknowingly, in whatever way or form, the Terran Mercenary Team had made a name for itself just a few days after its establishment. As for whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, this was something to be decided with time. In any case, the team was working full-time, trying to prepare as best as they could¡ªin hopes of welcoming their loved ones well. Chapter 187 Interviews (Part 1) While certain men were inspired and hyped up, a certain tall, plain-looking Aborigine was the opposite. He had a semi-bald head that made his entire face look even more elongated, which was further emphasized by his deep frown. He dragged his feet along the town''s stone pathways, head filled with thoughts of uncertainties. His name was Madon Loo, and he was very depressed. He was now unsure what to do with his life, and he was feeling even a little panicked. A few days ago, he had just been rejected at his final chance in the Chancery of Appointments. He paid a whooping 5 gold for a few slots but no territory took him in. He could understand this in towns because hiring them was not cheap. Further, there were better and more experienced options at that level. He wasn''t even choosy. For his last run, he was even reduced to accepting villages¡­ but¡­ for some mysterious reason he didn''t understand, he was still rejected by the said village! Was that lord blind? Althea-the-blind-lord: "..." He grabbed his very short black hair in stress but heaved a sigh to calm himself. Now that he had to wait another month before he could enter the Chancery of Appointments again, he just trudged his feet to go to the Town Center, hoping there was a job. He didn''t understand. Was it so obvious that he just got the qualifications to be a weapons maker? Obviously, life occupations weren''t very common right? This was the thought that had baffled him for some time as he blankly looked at the announcement board in a daze. It was a board that occupied nearly an entire wall. It was filled with parchment sheets overlapping with parchment sheets. Some were faded, and some were brand new. The most prominent one was a bounty for a man named Zokuro. His eyes twitched just at the sight of his drawing like his eyes were burned. Legend was that he was so ugly because he was part ogre. No one could confirm this, however, as anyone who got close enough to him was all very dead. Then there were also hiring notices for Elementalists¡ªespecially wood Elementalists¡ªwhich had nothing to do with him. Moving further to the better-kept part of the board, he saw an announcement about a rich lady looking for her lost family heirloom. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was allegedly a space stone necklace. Madon shook his head, doubting she''d ever get it back if it really was a space stone, which wasn''t very likely in the first place. There was also a post announcing the location of the Tournament of Valor¡ªa once-a-century event that all cities participate in¡ªwhich was scheduled to be held in five years in the City of Makita. This¡­ also had nothing to do with him. Cities were too far away from him; he couldn''t even get hired by a damned village, he thought bitterly. Then, he saw the announcement of job openings in a mercenary team. It looked like it was just posted and he looked at it curiously, not expecting much. But his dazed eyes grew big when he absorbed the contents. 5 gold a month? With free food and shelter?! There was such a good thing? One must know that they could only get this amount in the Chancery of Appointments! The organization took a commission of 5 gold every month, so pitiful Level Es like him could only get the remaining half of the amount. Madon looked closely at the owner of the announcement, not knowing what to expect. Terran Mercenary Team? He stared at the announcement for a while longer, nodding to himself, remembering their address by heart. What did he have to lose by trying? ¡­ Later that day, an understandably long line was found in front of the makeshift tent in their new territory. The construction was temporarily stopped so people could only see one completed building, a full fence, and a few edifices under construction. It was quite bustling and very interesting. Amusingly, there were also a number of women, albeit not as interviewees, but as audiences. Who told this group to be so temperamental? Similarly, there were also many men who ogled at Vanessa, who was in charge of note-taking. She enjoyed the stares very much. Too bad the one she wanted to look at her was blind and never even gave her a glance. Garan did not notice the bitter stare at all as he watched over the interview process. Right now, there were only about a handful of candidates that interested him. Although there were a lot with strengths past level 15, it was either their attitudes were too haughty or they were too complacent. Garan did not blame them, however. He was the strongest in this group and he was not even level 20 yet. In a town, this was not enough to lead a mercenary team, especially not one making such noise. But he didn''t feel inferior. Most people here took at least a decade to get to level 20. It took them a few months to get close. With hard work and smarts, Garan believed that his team would catch up with the indigenous people here. With this reassuring thought, his attention returned to the ongoing evaluation. At this time, one of the more interesting applicants was being interviewed, and pretty much every soldier around listened to him with apt attention. "My name is Madon Loo. I am a professional weapons maker." He said, and Brandon, a soldier from the Western continent as well as Jake, straightened up their spines. These two men''s specialty happened to be weapon-making, which was why despite their different nationalities, they were as thick as thieves almost as soon as they landed here. Together, they even patented a crossbow technology and got a C-class shield¡ªsomething now used by Brandon, the Shield wind Elementalist. The two of them also triggered the occupation during its development¡ªgaining great insights into weapons production and having preliminary knowledge about this world''s driving force¡ªAether¡ªand how it was integrated with the weapons they created. Although Madon didn''t notice, the soldiers all brightened at the sight of him. Another Weapons Maker on the team, still an aborigine one which had more worldly common sense than they had, would definitely be a great addition to the team. The two whipped their heads simultaneously to the captain, eyes begging him to give the guy a ticket in. Garan''s lips twitched at the blond and the red-headed quiff-haired men looking at him like they were children. After a pause, he nodded, and the two almost jumped in joy. If Madon knew he was being so appreciated¡­ he would cry. Chapter 188 Interviews (Part 2) In any case, a weapons maker was definitely a Go for them, and when Garan nodded the two in-house weapon experts relaxed their tense shoulders, looking forward to what they could be learning from this new member of theirs. Other than triggering the occupation, Brandon and Jake already had plenty of designs running around in their heads. It was only lately when they had ready access to parchment did they start drawing. They have been trying to create them, and there had been some success. The weapons maker had a special skill that helped in understanding the connections between components, as well as integrating the life force Aether into their weapons so they could cause decent damage to monsters outside. This was how a simple bow and arrow from a store could cause the same damage as their top-of-the-line Terran gun. But according to Gaudi, different people likely received different knowledge. Both Brandon and Jake had yet to receive another inheritance and they were definitely eager to peek at one. Maybe, having this guy could help them out! S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, having another weapons maker on the team would definitely take the weapons team to another level, not to mention those two could learn more and maybe even receive an inheritance. If they had a special confidentiality contract with this guy, he might even be able to assist in the creation of the bespoke weapons Brandon and Jake designed. "I work very hard and although I have only been promoted to a proper Weaponsmith, I was told by my master that I have the talent to become a B-class weaponsmith someday." The soldiers nodded, internally adding another OK note on this guy''s head. They went through hundreds of applicants and finally settled with 15 people, 4 women and 11 men. The women were in logistics to assist Eagle, some for the canteen and some for the sewing of uniforms and other clothing. They weren''t being sexist, there really were no female warriors at all. The women even received some frowns from many indigenous men because they were getting jobs outside the house. The men, on the other hand, ranged from level 14 to level 21. Garan took in Kleid, the level 21, because he felt the seriousness in him. He did not see haughtiness in him at all, despite his higher level. Satisfied with their list, the group began to pack up, thanking everyone for their participation. "What? You didn''t choose me?" A bulky man yelled, pointing at one of the soldiers, tone acerbic. "I wasn''t chosen either! What a scam!" "You weaklings didn''t hire me because you thought I''d defeat all of you, right?!" The group frowned. It seemed there would always be officious people doing unnecessary things for a sense of existence. "We chose them because they would contribute to the team, rather than make it chaotic." It was Garan who stepped out, his low baritone voice echoed across the vicinity. "You are proving our decision was right." The men flinched a bit, intimidated by his aura. Then he remembered his level, which was a couple of levels lower than theirs, and they regained confidence. "Pfff¡ªsays the weakling. If you''re so amazing, why don''t you¡ª" He was not able to finish his sentence and he saw a large palm over his head. He felt his body losing footing and he was pulled down to the ground, the back of his head hitting the ground with a bang. Ferrol Town was one of those towns that did not prohibit fighting, as long as there would be no damage to other people''s property and killing, fights not exceeding five minutes were allowed. The two men were shocked by the sudden attack and Garan quickly turned his center of gravity. He twisted his strong upper body and kicked the other one in the direction of the third. The impact was strong enough to push the third man and lose his footing. He walked towards the imbalanced men, raised his leg, and sent them an ax kick, throwing them face down the dirty soil on his feet. This all happened in the span of ten seconds. . . "What¡ª" "F¡­ what happened?" One asked, twitching as he felt his stomach crunch in pain. The trio eventually gathered their senses and went on the defensive, but they realized that the enemy team had already surrounded them, making them pause any further movements. They looked at them in disbelief, "This... this doesn''t make any sense!" He yelled. How could he be beaten by someone 3 levels lower than him!? The other soldiers continued to block their sight, staring down at them, waiting for them to make a move. None of them did. Even if they were taken by surprise, they were still taken down by a man a few levels lower. All three of them. How could they deal with the remaining dozen? The men frowned and looked at each other bitterly, red in embarrassment and anger. However, still feeling the pain in their bodies, they didn''t have the face to stay. They went away and soon left the sights of the crowd. There was silence in the crowd, who were absorbing what they had just seen. Garan saw this and nodded, standing upright in front of the crowd. "As you can see, with us, you can grow stronger beyond your level." His words echoed in the hearts of many, especially those who were already taken in. Strength: The key to survival in this chaotic world. And this team was not only paying them a generous salary, they were also willing to teach them how to get stronger. Was that really possible? A little too good to be true, right? No matter what they thought, Garan remained still and poised, looking at the audience in the eyes. "In the next few days, after our small complex is completed, we will also start hiring again. Please look forward to it." He said, before turning away without another word. However, these words were enough to spark deeper curiosity among the indigenous people. Lord Jonathan, who was watching in interest not too far away, couldn''t help but chuckle a bit. Good guy, he even used the commotion as an advertisement. Chapter 189 Aborigine Fangirls Ferrol Town. Garan, Gill, and the others went in, leaving the members assigned with public relations (i.e. social butterflies) like Luis and Sammy to answer the questions. Anyway, now that the scary men were gone, a lot of people came closer to satisfy their curiosity. Most prominently, people asked when the next batch of interviews would be. There was no way. Not only were the conditions and benefits extremely attractive, but they could also learn to be stronger than others! Maybe they''d even be able to beat people beyond their level! How amazing was that? It used to be something inconceivable¡ªbut they just saw it with their own eyes! Still one-against-three!! "Would you really teach us your techniques? How much would you charge us?!" An eager middle-aged man and Luis smiled amicably in response. "There would be no charges, but the skills taught would depend on specialty and position." He said, "Of course you''ll have to sign a bond with us in the Town Center, tying you to us for a couple of years." The people nodded, as this was common practice amongst commercial and mercenary teams investing in their people. And because they would be invested in, they also asked, "Do we get equipment?" "Yes, but the level would depend on your contribution and potential." He said, "If you make enough contributions, you may even get exclusive equipment not available in the Weapons store!" He wasn''t lying. Their own weapons makers were both very innovative and hardworking. Then there was a young lad looking at him curiously. They seemed to be around the same age. "This was the first time I''ve heard of you though, how come?" "We''re new, just established a few days ago," This time, it was Sammy who answered. What he received were quite a few disbelieving stares. "What?" Sammy was unfazed though. "The lord of the territory became our business partner and we got some land in return." "Really? That''s impressive¡­" "Well, our boss is amazing." He said, "You may not know this but our boss is the Inventor of ''Ferrol Beef Sauce'' and ''Rolan Magic Sauce''! If you join our team, then your food will have it!" This incited a lot of excited murmurs, and you could see the remaining inkling of doubts swept away. "Wow¡­" "Wow¡­" Sure enough, good food fixed everything. Similar questions popped up and Luis and the others patiently answered them all. "Do you have Elementalists?" One asked, breaking the plethora of inquiries asked at once. Silence ensued and they stared at Luis, waiting for his answer. Although they didn''t think he''d answer the affirmative, they were curious if this group would surprise them again. Luis almost said the truth but didn''t in the end, primarily because it was too unbelievable. People might just think that he was lying. So, instead of answering, he simply raised a palm and willed the fire elements around him. Soon a small fireball formed floating an inch above his finger, its light making the people''s eyes bright. It was only as big as a tennis ball, but at least it wasn''t the tiny spark from before. This was enough to impress everyone though, and they looked at him in awe¡ªmaking him feel a bit smug. In a particularly good mood, he smiled at them. "Do you believe me when I say that we do?" "Yes, sir, thank you for answering!" They got an Elementalist answering questions! What an honor! In any case, the crowd wouldn''t clear up until many minutes later, appearing quite interested in what they had to offer. It could be said that the ''advertisement'' was very successful, and their name resounded throughout the territory, just as they wanted. ¡­ That night, under the illumination of the torches, the commotion finally died down, and the team underwent their usual night training inside the fence. It was supposed to be as per their usual routine of training, with them focusing at least two hours before sleeping honing their physiques. However, tonight, other than the team members, there were also some audiences that were unfortunately allowed to watch. It was all thanks to her very close connection with the lord, that they had the ''honor'' of having his cousin here as an audience. Cassandra looked at the man running uniformly with his men, purple eyes warm and loving. "So charming¡­" She said, her eyes wondering from Gill''s handsome face to the well-built body that the long-sleeved shirt could not contain. It didn''t help that the sweat allowed his lines to show. Cassandra was almost drooling. Fortunately, she was raised as a lady, and all this happened in her head. "Well, he''s definitely better than that oily ex of yours." Her friend Veronica, who had shamelessly tagged along on this trip, commented beside her. Cassandra rolled her pretty purple eyes. "Oslo is not counted!" She shivered just by thinking of their kiss. They should''ve just stayed friends! S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Gill is definitely my first love!" "Yes, yes, whatever." The other girl said, her eyes landing on the handsome man with golden hair and blue eyes who was running with a different team from Gill. "Brandon is also very good." She said, eyes softening. "How handsome¡­" In fact, Garan was the first one to catch her attention¡ªas would be the case with anyone¡ªbut she hadn''t even entered within two meters of him and she could already feel the entire vicinity freeze. It was very scary. Although she loved beautiful men, she loved her life even more. And at the moment of ''life-and-death'', Brandon appeared like the light in the darkness, the sweetness amongst the bitterness. Veronica fell in love at first sight. Although it happened often with her, she had a feeling this one would last a long, long, time¡­ "Oh my, how charming!" Veronica was pulled back to the present when Cassie pulled her skin. "Ouch!" She said, glaring at the other girl, but her peripheral vision caught sight of her future-husband and she forgot to argue. They were sparring now, and it happened that Gill was sparring with Brandon. They just fell in love even more. Chapter 190 Sparring At this time, the handsome long-haired man and the muscular blonde were facing off in the field, competitive spirit exchanged between them. Their shirts had long been taken off and they were exchanging weird-but-charismatic moves that seemed very deadly. Gill seemed to have more focus on kicking attacks, while Brandon was focused more on his fists and punches. It was quite interesting to watch, though they were often distracted by how their muscles flexed and hardened in each hit. It made them forget their upbringing. In any case, they tried to focus on the match itself. Veronica watched Brandon closely, burning all his small movements in her eyes. He always had his arms bent up with his hands clenched. His elbows were also stuck out in a defensive stance, ready to attack and defend at the same time. Gill also had his hands up, but his hands were loose, and much of his attacks were from his lower body. Brandon moved forward and jabbed skilfully, while Gill let out continuous kicks to push him off. Gill immediately countered with a quick spinning kick and Brandon ducked and countered with a fast jab, immediately followed by a hook. Gill immediately backed away, his tall nose barely avoiding the attack. He then unleashed a rapid succession of kicks, one of which managed to hit Brandon''s side. Brandon pushed through and pressed forward, however, closing the distance between them. He delivered a series of body shots, aiming at an opening from the other''s kicking stance, and Gill had no choice but to abandon his flurry of attacks in favor of defending. This led to a momentary standstill and respite, where the two just faced off a couple of meters apart, staring each other down. Gill and Brandon were obviously using different techniques, but each one wasn''t any less intimidating. Of course, they weren''t limited in stance, and they were obviously adopting the other''s ''style'', but they had obvious preferences. They were also going so fast that they had to squint their eyes to see properly. Not to mention, neither of the men was using weapons, but the girls were under the impression their attacks would be no less deadly. It was all so very handsome that the two women forgot they were ladies and openly cheered for their ''men''. Of course, compared to the modern fangirls of Terran, they were still quite tame¡ªat most, they only uttered out the men''s names louder than they usually did. It was just that people had the comparison point of how they were some days prior. "Gill!!" Cassandra uttered, clapping her hands prettily. The pink-haired Veronica was no less dreamy. "Brandon~!" On the other side, the soldiers looked at the two fighting men with laughing grins. "I thought this place was like the ancient period where women were demure. I was wrong." "Oh they were pretty demure, it''s just that our Gill and our Brandon had too much charm." "HAHAHAHHA!" Gill and Brandon ignored the banters and the women cheering for them. This was especially true for Gill who, unlike Brandon¡ªwho looked more clueless than indifferent¡ªactually had a slightly dark expression on his face. Gill raised his feet to hit the other''s stomach, using his arms to balance his weight. Immediately, Brandon bent sideways to avoid it, his arms gesturing to hit his face. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill twisted his body to avoid the jab and he shifted his center of gravity to give Brandon a high kick. Brandon then shifted to jiu-jitsu and grabbed his feet, trying to grapple him, but Gill was extremely flexible and managed to escape a potential hold. He took advantage of the opponent''s imbalance to kick his ankle, pushing him down with the palm of his hands. This made the cheering on the side a little louder. "Gill, wins!" Luis, the referee, energetically announced with raised arms. This was followed by cheers and hoots, a good part of which from aborigine women. A certain purple-haired woman, in particular, had her heart beating so loudly. Although Gill did not look in their direction, her purple eyes were full of him. Her Gill was really amazing, she thought, she must get him! "You''re amazing Gill!" The beautiful purple-haired woman clapped her hands vigorously, very unlike the lady they first met. A few days ago, she was all demure and lady-like. Look at her now. What he didn''t know was that she had ''bribed'' Mao and Luis with food a while back, asking them what Gill wanted. They honestly just told her that because he valued honesty (i.e. with him being so tactless and brutally honest at times), then he must like women who expressed their feelings well. Regardless of whether he knew, Gill pursed his lips as his peripheral vision was inexplicably filled with purple. Gill didn''t have much of a good impression about relationships. He himself had been broken up with, though for the understandable reason that he was never present. Not everyone was as good and as understanding as sister-in-law Althea. Still, his eyes couldn''t help but stop in the purple-head''s direction from time to time. His dark eyes met her colorful ones, expressing so much blunt admiration for him that it was uncomfortable. After a pause, he looked away, decidedly not minding her anymore. "Tsk. So noisy." He said, before walking away. From aside, the soldiers watched the drama with interest, looking back and forth the aloof Gill and the beautiful and cute Cassandra. Luis chewed on whatever fruit he had in space, making a commentary with gusto. "Hey, Gill looks like that bad boy male lead in those dramas my sister likes to watch." "Ah! Yeah, my favori¡ªI mean, my mother''s favorite was ''I Made a Deal with the School Bad Boy''." Mao said, nodding. Luis looked at him and nodded. "Oh, I know that! The one with my goddess Juni!" "Yes! She was so pretty¡ªI mean, my mother is a fan." The brunette Johnny looked at them and nodded. He was also a fan. Gian, who was beside him, cackled, knowing his friend''s hobbies. There was one mission where Johnny almost died, and he made him swear to bury him with his collection of his goddess Juni. Said it was a good sign, since their names sounded so alike. Whatever that meant. Anyway, the soldiers continued with their fun, a bit oblivious that the town''s lord¡ªthe female lead''s cousin¡ªhad arrived and was listening to their commentary with a complicated expression. Chapter 191 Cassandra and Veronica A dozen kilometers away from Ferrol Town. A week prior "Ah~ We''re finally almost there!" The beautiful pink-haired woman looked at her friend in puzzlement, "The travel to this place is so troublesome. Why do you even bother?" Cassandra didn''t answer her immediately. They were currently headed (i.e. running away towards) her cousin''s territory. This wasn''t a bad idea on its own because, after all, a relative''s territory was generally safe. The problem was: the town was many days away from her own. But¡­ Cassandra knew she really didn''t have a choice. She couldn''t stay there anymore. "Aren''t you tired of staying in the same place?" She asked Veronica, "I know your territory had already upgraded to town, but it''ll take a while for the scenery to change, right? "Wouldn''t it be more fun to go home after a while and wait to be surprised by the changes?" Veronica, of course, knew that this had nothing to do with her. But she knew that her friend was going through something so she didn''t call her out (for now). Fortunately, after a long time, the torturous days of travel were finally reduced to a couple of hours so her mood was no longer so dour. Some time of traveling later though, Veronica couldn''t stop herself from just asking directly. "Come on, Cassy. I''m your best friend. Tell me what''s going on?" At her question, Cassandra stared for a while before sighing in defeat. She combed back her luscious purple hair, looking out the curtains of the carriage. "Do you think thirty is old?" "No, why?" Vanessa asked, looking up and down at her friend. "Are you talking about our age?" Cassandra nodded. "Thirty? We''re practically adolescents!" "Then does it make sense my parents are pushing me to get married already?" Veronica pursed her lips at this question, wondering what to say. In the end, she answered truthfully. "Well, you''re the only child and a woman, so¡­" Cassandra sighed at her misfortune. In fact, she wasn''t really an only child. Her father had plenty of mistresses, but her mother''s family was too strong and there was no way her father would let an illegitimate son take over. That left one option: A grandson. That meant: Her giving birth, as soon as possible. Cassandra frowned, rubbing her temple. She knew this, of course, but she didn''t want to believe her whole life was planned so strictly that she didn''t even have a choice on who to wed and when to do so. That was the rest of her whole life! She was so young! However, she didn''t have the time to mope for too long as the whole carriage soon shook wildly before abruptly stopping. Not far away, they heard one of the guards yell out. "A mob!" "What?" Veronica yelled and her maid opened the curtain for her. There were scores and scores of mobs around them and their guards dutifully guarded their carriage. Unsurprisingly, the beasts that pulled their carriages stayed still, neither helping nor joining the mob¡ªas always. Veronica paled a bit but then she looked closer at the fight outside. "They''re not even level 10." She said, but Cassandra shook her head. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You forget we only brought a few guards with us," She said, "Even they would get in trouble with such a large mob. And, although unlikely, what if the mob managed to trigger our mount¡ª" Before she even finished her sentence though, the beast carriage shook wildly and it lurched forward so quickly that the four girls inside fell down down their chairs. Flop! "Kyaa~!" "Misses!" The guards yelled, but they were being mobbed by dozens of monsters each. Although they were ten levels stronger, it was difficult for them to fight such a large mob. Cassandra, Veronica, and their maids struggled to get back at their seats and hold on to them for dear life. One of the maids yelled at the driver, but no answer came. He was probably dead, and their hearts dropped at the thought. Anyway, one of the risks of a beast carriage was that the monster could get confused by the mob. Although unlikely to attack its owners, their orders may fall on deaf ears¡ªas was the current case. They continued on forward, moving wildly, and they could feel the carriage hitting tree after tree. Her maid covered her mouth and tried to stop herself from vomiting, and everyone else was extremely dizzy they wouldn''t be far from puking themselves. Then a splatter outside was heard, and the carriage stopped abruptly. The momentum was so sudden that the carriage went off balance. Unexpectedly, the door opened and the four of them were pulled out. Her head hit a hard chest and she looked up, meeting one of the most handsome faces she had encountered. "T-Thank you¡­" "Hm." was all he said, letting her go and focusing on the mob at hand. He actually let her fall down to the ground, but she didn''t mind. Her eyes unconsciously just followed his movements. He was extremely dashing and she watched in awe as he manipulated two elements¡ªfire and earth¡ªskillfully combining them into one attack, which melted every monster that it touched. He was obviously lower in level than her and the guards, but he looked so much stronger. She watched him fight, purple eyes ingraining his image, and deeper and deeper in her heart. "Thank you," She said, demurely approaching him and exuding all the grace she learned growing up. He only stared at her for a second before nodding without any emotion. He then turned to the head guard. "Can we get a few carcasses? It''s lunchtime." "A-Ah, of course." The guard said and the handsome man gave a curt thanks before taking a few monsters with his team. Not once did he look in her direction again. This was the first time she was saved so gallantly, by a man who had no lust for her, her wealth, or her position. Inexplicably, her heart beat faster. Chapter 192 Exordium A week prior. After the monsters had been cleared up, Cassandra''s group decided to rest near their rescuers, who were then very skilfully making a campfire. Veronica couldn''t help but look at the handsome leader of the group. She heard that Garan was his name. She combed her beautiful pink hair and approached the man, who was then observing how his team handled their meat. But she hadn''t even felt close when her body shivered, both in coldness and fear. Unconsciously, she lost her balance and fell on her buttocks smack on the ground. She made so much noise that everyone turned their head to her. Her face blushed¡ªas pink as her hair¡ªas she sensed the many stares directed in her direction. Most of the soldiers lacked the usual empathy for a woman, and her guards were relatively far so she had to endure several grueling seconds of humiliation sitting on the ground until they got to her. Or so she thought¡ª "Are you alright?" A gentle voice asked and she tilted her head to be met with gorgeous blue eyes and blonde locks that shone with the sun. "A-Ah, yes¡­" She mumbled, though her eyes had metaphorical hearts in them by now. She took his hand and he helped her out, though he let go immediately and joined his friends to eat their barbeque. It was like there was no interaction at all just a few seconds prior. "..." On the other hand, Cassandra wasn''t getting much luck with her own attempts for a connection either. She approached Gill, who was cleaning up his weapon. She stopped just a meter away from him and he lifted his head to look at her with an eyebrow raised in puzzlement. "May I know how we could thank this sir?" She asked, "I mean, you did save our lives." Gill looked at her weirdly. "We killed them for the meat." "..." The man no longer bothered with her and also joined the campfire, completely ignoring her. The two women looked at each other with weird expressions as they just watched the men and their maids fix their carriage and recapture the beast. Fortunately, they had spare whistles so they managed to regain control of the things. The two groups no longer had any further interactions until a delicious whiff reached their side and they couldn''t help but turn to the source. They saw the group eating the meat hungrily, looking very satisfied, and they couldn''t help but drool. "Can you buy some from them?" Veronica asked, though she dared not approach for now, for fear of embarrassing herself again. They then asked their guards to buy as much as they could, not minding the amount they charged. In the end, they bought a couple of sticks for about a dozen gold. A bit expensive, but the aroma was killing their stomachs. Then they took a bite and they felt they''d been brought to Elvendell. No wonder they were so ignored. If it was for food so delicious, they could ignore everything too. At this thought, the women found themselves feeling better. They were so engrossed that they didn''t notice that the other group had already packed up and went ahead. It was too late to notice and they were already several meters away when it dawned on them. The girls couldn''t help but look in their direction wistfully. "Where do you think they are heading?" Cassandra asked her guard, who analyzed the direction the group was moving towards. "It''s in the direction of our destination, Miss." The man said, smiling occasionally as he chewed on the barbeque. Cassandra''s purple eyes brightened at his answer. So they were going to Ferrol Town, then? Goodness Elves! It must be destiny, then! Later, she would meet members of their team and she would treat them a meal, gaining information that Gill was likely to like honest and forward women. It was hard and shameful at first, but then she found a different sort of freedom from just expressing herself as she wanted. She was far from her parents anyway. She never returned to how she was and, indirectly or not, a lot of this feeling of liberation was associated with Gill and her affection for him. It just made her like him more. _________________ Ferrol Town, Present Cassandra was used to Gill ignoring her, so she didn''t mind him not answering her question. Who would have thought she''d be willing to be so humble? Back in her town, she was basically a princess, no one would dare to do this. Similarly, no one would look beyond her beauty and status¡ªand just see ''her''. She didn''t know why, but she felt Gill would. All her actions though were being observed by two people not too far away. Jonathan sighed, not knowing what he was thinking, while Bart looked at everything the Terrans built with a complicated expression. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bart was also one of the visiting personnel at this time. He just happened to have business in the area and decided to check up on this quickly-growing partner of his. He was quite surprised by what they achieved in the time they were apart. First, not every team could get a piece of land for themselves. Sure, the sauce made a lot of money, but Jonathan was not someone who would give a piece of his territory to others just because of it. Not to mention, it was to a team who seemed to have a subtle conflict with their own subsidiary village. Then he saw how close the princesses of Jeronia and Hubble Towns were to the team. It was even to the point that they let go of much of their expected lady-like restraints to openly cheer for men. In his heart, it just ended up solidifying the team''s background even more. He turned to Jonathan who was also intensely watching the soldiers train. "You seem to see a lot of potential with this team." Jonathan raised his sharp eyebrows. "Aren''t you the same?" he said. "A team filled with Elementalist, rising over several levels within a few months¡­ there must be something special about this team." Bart didn''t speak and continued to observe the spar. It was true, of course. And their decision to make friends proved wise every day. They really got a lot of money! Clearing his throat, he decided to observe this new base of theirs. His black eyes shifted to look around this new ''territory'' they had been building with such grandeur. It was large with a number of buildings. He also didn''t expect such attention to the greeneries either. Not far from the sparring area, there were also a lot of contraptions the team called ''obstacle courses'' and other unknown mechanisms he didn''t understand. To be honest, Bart was a little shocked at the novel training methods. But from what he was seeing, these things and methods worked. After all, he could see its effects on them. He could remember this team who was obviously much lower in level than his, but the killing rate was not much inferior. Could this be their secret? He had always been surprised at the rate of growth of these guys. It was just that their sudden increase in enthusiasm to fight and hunt was beyond him. He didn''t even know people could be more passionate than how they already were. After all, as far as he knew, if people leveled up, their physiques also improved. No one really bothered with this type of training. Not only did they go out of their way to hunt for mobs for most of the day, but when they went back to the base they would still do some training. He heard from their staff that this was done every single day without fail. He thought that they had been working hard enough before, but after that fog¡­ they began to train beyond their limits. Why''d they suddenly become so¡­ aggressive? It was as if they were chasing a certain high goal and failure was absolutely not an option¡ªthat if they didn''t reach a certain threshold of strength, they would die. He recalled the change that happened after that fog, coupled with some of the rumors he had been hearing lately, and he couldn''t help but look deeper at Garan and the others even more deeply than before. Bart had an inexplicable feeling: That this was the exordium of something big. Chapter 193 Newcomers [12 days of Protection Period] Altera Village. After much ado, the mighty team of 131 people, led by Drake, finally arrived at the vicinity of Altera village. Because most of the people were injured, the pace of travel was very slow. It was already daybreak the next day when Althea and the team returned. The newcomers stared blankly at the tall walls of stone and sentries. Intimidating from the outside, but stability-inducing from the inside. "Are level two villages so powerful?" "I don''t know. But it should be very expensive." "Yes, the previous Lord asked us to give shares to build a wooden fence. At the time, he looked like he was planning on scraping everyone''s wallets." "The people here must be seriously rich, then¡­" As the people chatted, some guards had already excused themselves according to Althea''s instructions, for them to get people to help with the injured as soon as possible. Soon, the large group went past the territory line. [Welcome to Altera Village (Lv2)! Please pay 5 copper coins as entry fee.] [To become a resident, kindly stop by the Village center for a free registration.] [Please read the Rules and Regulations below: ¡­ Ansel''s eyebrows rose. He abruptly turned his head to look at Althea, eyes sparkling with inquiry. Altera? Althea saw this and gave him a mysterious smile instead of answering. They''ve been family for so many years. How could he not know what this meant? Their exchange was subtle and went unnoticed. Althea even shrugged it off and shifted her attention on the refugees a moment later. Ansel, on the other hand, was gaping at her the whole time, trying to keep himself from exploding. Altera was definitely ''that'' Altera! He was related to the Lord! How awesome was that? ¡­ While Ansel was immersed in the wonderful idea of being directly related to the lord, the other people were discussing a different part of the welcoming sentence. They looked at each other, shocked. "5 copper? So cheap?" One asked, eyebrows raised all the way up, wondering if he just wasn''t seeing another zero in the end. "So good?" One asked, a little cynical. "Maybe the purchase inside would be sky high! "Goodness, I hope not." "We could get resources to eat for such a low amount! This amount is almost free, right??" Another one exclaimed, already reading the rules and regulations. Even if it was limited, the amount was more than enough for a person. In their previous territory, everything was charged high. The only things they could gather for free were loose stones and twigs, to be sold to the territory at low prices. Of course, they didn''t think it was unfair because at least they could gather resources within the safety of the walls, but¡­ no comparison, no harm. "There''s water?" Another one voiced out, disbelieving. "So cheap!" Could they finally take a bath? They couldn''t use the water from the restaurant gruel as bath water right? Then someone brought out a concern, "We are also required to fight?" He asked, shaking, still remembering the terror of the previous beast tide. The air was stagnant and they looked at the guards, who were unfazed. "Well, if you want a contribution point, you can fight. Don''t worry, the territory has a lot of people vying for it. Everyone could contribute in their own way during wars, not just fighting." "What''s a contribution point?" Another one asked, recalling that he had indeed read it in the rules. Followed by another question, and another. The guards who were with them answered patiently, but inside they were feeling extremely proud of their territory. Even without comparison they knew their territory was amazing. But with all these refugees telling them the situation outside, their liking and loyalty to the territory had long formed to love and obsessive pride. "CPs¡ªer, Contribution Points¡ªare points you''d get if you contribute to the territory one way or another. The best way was to contribute to the territory fights, but people with jobs judged by the territory to help its growth would also get contribution points." "I hear private business owners could also apply to pay their people these points, in lieu of copper." There were dozens of chatters around the crowd, it seemed that the rules alone were plenty enough to talk about for hours. They entered the massive gates with bated breath, inevitably even more excited than before. Inside, they found themselves on a peculiar but beautiful wide road in the middle of a rich forest. The forest was majestic. Which was weird because, obviously, the forest outside was the same as that inside. The power of contrast, perhaps? There were also trees in the middle of the avenue and along the sidewalks, indicating the lord here had foresight and was set to follow his or her plans. And these plans made them even more optimistic. "The Lord here is very good." The guards paused and looked at each other. "Actually, the territory doesn''t seem to have a lord¡­" Those nearby turned and waited for the rest of the story. The guard had no choice but to say. "Everything here is done through the Village Centre, saying it is the Village System." There were murmurs around, but they were mostly puzzled. "Do you believe it?" "Well, it doesn''t matter which one it is, as long as we live well¡­" "That''s true¡­" Basically, everyone was left to their own thoughts and wander, with the guards answering endless questions as they traversed the wide avenue. It was around this time that they heard the sound of rolling. It was a little loud so when it got close there was a bit of a vibration. Their hearts turned cold, partly thinking they were monsters. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, their worries were soon put to rest because soon several human-pulled carts and rickshaws appeared. "What¡ª" "Seriously?" There were a few people on the carts who stepped out and went to them, directly to the heavily injured ones. These carts immediately took them in, prepared to go somewhere else, likely for treatment. Seeing all these, the newcomers'' hearts couldn''t help but beat loudly. Obviously, they all arrived here together, why was the developmental difference so stark?! Chapter 194 Shocked Althea allowed them to absorb the new sight for a few moments before speaking, "We are on the trial version now, only these few are available at the moment. We called them so the injured people could go ahead." S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The people looked at her in awe. Drake walked to Althea and made the standard salute, rightfully given to an elder, that also solidified Althea''s elevated status amongst the newcomers. "We will go ahead to take the injured people to the clinic, located near the main square." He turned to the others. "It is near the village center, you can follow if you want." He turned his concerned gaze back to Althea. "Are you sure you''re not coming with us?" He asked, referring to riding the carriages with the heavily injured people. Althea nodded under the people''s stares. "I''m planning to introduce some of the territory as we walk." She said. There were too many injured people, she didn''t want to take their comfortable space. As such, the most heavily injured people were placed in the carts, with their friends and family walking closely following. Luke said a temporary goodbye to Ansel and his goddess, before leaving to follow the cart where his brother was. Ansel looked at their backs in worry and Althea couldn''t help but pat his shoulder. "He''ll be fine. We have a healer here." "Healer?" Althea saw him surprised and realized most of the other territories couldn''t have upgraded their village centers to level 2, simply because of its cost. It was the Lord''s prerogative to upgrade and she wouldn''t be surprised if they ignored it. Speaking of cost, upgrading territories themselves required huge amounts of gold. Which made her wonder what happened if the 100 hours leeway was over, but the territory didn''t have enough money to upgrade¡­ would it be in debt? At this point, Althea wasn''t wrong. Such territories would indeed fall in debt, and the interest rate was staggering. "Where did healers come from?" Ansel asked. "They''re¡­ aborigines hired by the territory by special means." Althea answered very vaguely, "From what I heard, it had to do with an upgraded village center." Was all she said, before walking forward with her brother. Many people looked curiously for her to speak more, but no one dared ask. Who told them to have such a high image of Althea after she rescued them so grandly, and with the guards following her orders so respectfully? Ansel was also very curious, but he didn''t ask. They''d have plenty of time to chat later on. The group continued, walking along the avenue with a bit of wonder and extreme curiosity, following its path and not noticing the time. Before they knew it, they were starting to hear some buzzing and they understood they were getting closer to people. But, it''s just daybreak, right? "The day is just starting. People wake up early to prepare their shops and some need to buy breakfast before going to hunt or to work." One of the guards explained, a bit proud. "Shops? People prepare shops?" The woman asked, "The restaurant and other stores are always open, aren''t they?" Another guard butted in with a smug smile. "They are shops owned by the citizens here." The group was taken aback. "What? What could people sell?" They knew of stalls, as they were available everywhere, but the term used was ''shops''. This time, none of the locals spoke. Instead they gave out sly smiles. "You''ll find out soon." The crowd was still chattering at this point, but then they all stopped. Because they started smelling the amazing aroma food. Their stomachs churned. Ordering them to follow the smell or else they''d eat themselves! The pace of walking had visibly hastened and the newcomers soon arrived at the active commercial streets. Although it wasn''t as lively as it was when the stalls were here, it was energetic enough even at this time so early in the morning. A lot of people had to eat breakfast before running to their respective jobs or going outside to hunt monsters, after all. "Food!" The guards, already used to this, decided to part with them when they reached a large intersection. It was the handsome Helios who gave the instructions. "We will leave you here to explore on your own. "Basically this avenue contains the most important facilities." He then pointed at his left and right. "This is a new street, called Market street, which only takes in foot traffic. "If you''re on a budget, there are Marketplaces at the end of each street, where various stalls are located. As far as I know, the food sold there is much cheaper and simpler than those in the big stores." The marketplace where the stalls (which could be rented on a per-day and per-week basis) were placed right in front of the garden squares of Market Street. This was also to ensure that the majority of traffic would reach the supermarket. He sneaked a peek at Althea, who smiled and nodded. "There is also a supermarket on the end of this street." He pointed along the northeast side. "I heard it''s opening later in the day. "And finally," He pointed further to the avenue they were walking in. "If you wish to become residents, find a place to live, find a job, etc. do register in the village center at the end of this avenue." He then faced the refugees with a friendly smile, absolutely charming the women. "That''s it: Welcome to Altera!" . . With this, the guards were done with their jobs and headed to the barracks to report. Of course, the guards all greeted Althea before segregating from the group, offering to escort if she needed. Althea shook her head, and told them she''d be spending the morning with her brother. Crow and the others knew Ansel had found his sister, so they didn''t stick with him. They simply thanked everyone for their rescue and promised to treat them to food when they earned money. Seeing everyone go their own ways, Althea grabbed Ansel''s arm, dazzling him a bit. "So¡­shall we go see the children, Uncle Ansel?" Chapter 195 Niece and Nephew "Altera, eh?" He asked her with an amused tilt in his voice as soon as the others left. "Didn''t anyone question how much it sounded like your name?" Althea only blinked at his question, adorably innocent. "I know, what a lovely coincidence. Interestingly, it could also mean (higher) Alt + Terra(n)." She said with a sly smile, obviously using this reason before. Ansel shook his head. She obviously felt quite proud of this explanation, so he just went along with it in the end. The two of them continued to chat as they walked to their destination. It was breezy and fun and it was like they had never been apart. After passing through the lively greened streets and parks¡ªwhich still hadn''t stopped amazing Ansel¡ªthe two siblings finally arrived outside the villa. "We''re here." She said, looking back at him with a proud smile. He chuckled and turned to look at the tall fence in interest, his eyes brightening up the more he saw. In classic Althea fashion, the entire house was aesthetic and had a lot of plant elements. Although the house itself was a little far from the fences, one could already appreciate the detail to greenery of those who lived behind the walls. The fence was slowly being covered with colorful vines. It effectively lined up the perimeter of her house and set up its approach. He could also see the small trees near the fence and he bet they would be deciduous trees with wide canopies. If so, then when all these vines and colorful canopies grew, this house would definitely be a head turner. If such a house was found in Terran, maybe people would be taking pictures outside of it, turning it to a small picture spot. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea smiled and opened the gate, and Ansel couldn''t help but gape as he stepped into it. It was even more beautiful inside. The path was lined with shrubs and trees, swaying with the wind, the gentle breeze carried the delicate scent of flowers. The flowers were arranged into meticulously designed flower beds. The sight of budding shades of crimson, peach, green, and others blended beautifully, and just the view could make any one feel better. There also were, interestingly, plenty of garden decorations and details. There were ponds and carved arches. There were also play spaces for children, as well as some leisure spots people could hang out in. It was akin to a paradise, especially compared to what they had been seeing since landing here. Along the edges of the gardens was a wooden fence. Crawling on them were not only colorful vines, but also fruit-bearing grapes! Looking beyond the grape fence, he could also see the rest of the property, as the other side was still visible at this point. Ansel could see a lush garden-farm on the other side, and even the preliminary sight amazed him. There were a variety, many familiar and mostly unfamiliar. But whatever it was, they were fascinating as they were baffling. In a daze, he began to doubt his memories. Was this the same world? Everyone arrived here at the same time, right? A few weeks ago? Why were other people''s lifestyles so¡­ different? Others were struggling to keep full and most people were worried about encountering monsters. But then there were people like Althea who placed so much effort in lifestyle probably as soon as they arrived. Nevertheless, he was more happy to know that Althea had been living well. Seeing this definitely made it feel like a weight on his back was lifted by helium balloons, and that was all that mattered. They entered the house and the people eating breakfast raised their heads, smiling brightly at the sight of her. "Althea! You''re back!" Sheila said, while Harold immediately stood up to prepare more food. "Have you eaten breakfast?" Althea shook her head and walked to her children in the crib next to the dining table. They were already babbling and extending their cute little hands. Fufi was also very excited to see them and was wagging his tail and staring at them from the other side of the crib. Harold paused when he noticed someone else was with her. The others followed his line of sight and flinched, startled. The boss brought a man home? And it was an extremely handsome young man. Was he a star, they wondered. Harold was the first to assume a welcoming stance and looked at the young man. "Have you eaten?" Ansel, who was still staring at the complete furniture, politely shook his head. Harold nodded. "Then I will prepare for you, too." He said, earning Ansel''s thanks. Ansel then followed Althea to the crib, charming eyes meeting the beautiful eyes of the children. They looked back at him with wonder and innocence, and he felt as if their smiles could wipe away all of his worries. He couldn''t help but gape and admire, his heart warming and softened to a puddle. "They''re your children alright." He said and Althea laughed in response. "Garan is also very handsome." Ansel shrugged noncommittally, and he just smiled at the children and made funny faces to make them laugh. Althea sent them flying kisses. Although the babies didn''t look like it, they were newborns after all. She was afraid they were sensitive to the dirt. Similarly, Ansel followed her lead and admired them from afar. "What are their names?" "I had yet to give them one. I was waiting for Garan." "Then what should I call them?" She pointed at the adorable baby boy with bright eyes, continuously splattering babbles. "We call him Meatball because he likes rolling around so much. Then she gestured for the charming baby girl, who was staring at them in curiosity with an adorable toothless smile. "And this one is Little Pepper. She''s both cute and feisty, you see." Ansel couldn''t help but laugh out loud. "Hey, why do I feel they fit them so well?" He cackled, and the children felt his energy and laughed with him. Ah, his heart melted again. It was around this time that Harold yelled from the kitchen. "Time to eat." He said, catching the two newcomers'' attention. After sending more flying kisses to her babies, Althea guided Ansel to a seat. She placed him right next to her, and he couldn''t help but look at the rest of the table. The others were already seated, staring at him curiously and nodding at him in welcome. He gulped, feeling a little shy, before nodding back, and introducing himself. "I''m Ansel. I''m Althea''s brother. Nice to meet you." "Hi~ I''m Sheila." "Hello, I''m Eugene." A man said, then pointed at the kids at the table. "That''s Theo, Maya, and Horus." "Hello, Big Brother Ansel~" The kids (sans the mute Theo) yelled in response. Ansel''s lips twitched. So many children and a man with sticks for legs? His sister was really something else. "Harold''s the one in the kitchen," Eugene added, and on cue, the man came with trays and Sheila quickly stood up to help him out. Ansel''s eyes couldn''t help but look to the kitchen. It was only now that Ansel realized that Harold cooked with gas. Gas¡­? How?! But he quickly forgot about the issue when his eyes focused on the food being served, slowly entering his sight plate by plate, and making his stomach growl like it hadn''t eaten in a decade. The breakfast was a chicken viand, a vegetable side dish, and a cup of rice. This was a normal breakfast back in Terran, but now it felt like he was in heaven. Ansel looked at the food in front of him and was once again in a daze. Althea smiled and patted his shoulder. "Let''s eat?" "A-Ah, yes." He said and when the food entered his mouth he almost cried, recalling the ''torture'' restaurant food brought them. It was delicious! F*ck. HOW?! But outwardly, he just ate in silence, graceful and poised, even if the food in front of him was disappearing within a few blinks. Harold and the others chuckled at this. Safe to say: The new guy really liked the food. Chapter 196 The Team The group introduced themselves to each other more thoroughly as they ate, and Ansel took note of their words seriously. After all, he would be part of their team as well. Harold, the old man, was the chef. Cute little Maya was his daughter, who he had late in life. He was also in charge of the overall operations of their restaurant and grocery store. Gaea grocery store, Gaea supermarket. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan. Althea. Tsk. Stupid names. Ansea sounded much better, he thought. Anyway, back to the rest of the team, he looked at the other girl, who blushed a bit under his stare. The other girl, Sheila, was a nurse and watched over the pharmacy and the production of medicine according to Althea''s formulas. Only now had he realized that the miracle medicines they gave before were her own creation! Because they were so magical, he always thought they were system products. After all, in Terran, no matter how high the efficacy of a medicine was, there was no truly ''instant'' effectivity. However, he was quick to regain his calm. This was Althea they were talking about after all. Even if it was at the unfortunate cost of poisoning herself, she always managed to discover something amazing and beyond her time. Wait a minute¡ª He whipped his head to Althea, looking at her worriedly, "You didn''t poison yourself when you arrived here, did you?" Althea looked at the ceiling while the others cackled. Ansel''s eyes twitched in response. Seriously? "So? I''m fine." She said, "I have a bit of immunity because of my¡­ experience." "That''s not something to be proud of!" Althea shrugged. Anyway, moving on, Sheila was also apparently helping around the clinic as well. Althea mentioned that she was attempting to learn from the Healer NPC as well, in hopes of triggering the profession, ideally, as soon as she reached level 10. He had a lot to ask about those professions. It was the first time he heard of it. However, he stopped himself so he could learn more about the others first. Especially that Eugene, the guy without a leg. He was apparently in charge of technological innovations. The dark-skinned man worked with a lot of people including a few NPCs and engineers, especially an industrial engineer, to bring a lot of ''modernity'' to life in just a few days. Next to Althea, this guy also had the bulkiest pockets in the team, because he owned the largest shares for his inventions. Amongst the new teammates, Ansel liked this guy the most. He heard he was currently researching bikes and cotton-weaving machines with the help of Althea''s database. Most importantly, a few days ago, Eugene had triggered the life occupation of Creator, assisting him in the swift understanding of the machines. This meant that he would only create more in the future. As such, there were already prototypes of bikes and Ansel was planning on coaxing this guy to let him try. The cotton gin and weaving machine, with the help of Brenda, the weapons maker NPC, was already done as well. This knowledge made him breathe fresh air. There should be some bolts of cotton cloth available for mass selling soon. The fact that he didn''t have to worry about his change of clothes made him want to cry. Internally, of course. And finally, the children and Fufi were in charge of being cute. And they were truly bundles of joy. They brought smiles wherever they went, and people forgot all the sufferings they had been going through, even if it was only for a moment. Of course, little Maya and Horus contributed with resources they picked up themselves (as they reminded the adults constantly), and Fufi was technically a member of the guard team. They chatted like this for a while, eventually leading to the topic of accommodation. "He will stay with us in our room, then," Eugene said and Ansel nodded. Althea, however, was the type to spoil her brother and she thought he should really have his own room. She also knew his history, how could he take girls home without his own room? "I''m building another set of farmvillas." She said, "I''ll take the one right behind us and expand the whole lot. "Will that be okay?" Sheila asked. She knew Althea was not short of money even after all the construction going on, but they set a purchase limit in the name of the territory before¡­ "Publicly, I only ''own'' this one farm villa and the commercial space at the intersection." She said with a shrug, "I know for sure Baron, on paper, owned more properties than I do." "Ohhhh. Now that you mention it¡­" Sheila said, nodding, and then they proceeded to plan on the new distribution of rooms. In the end, only Althea, Ansel, and the children would remain in the original house. The rest would transfer to the other house. There would still be dormitories for future core members of their ''Althean team'', but at least the ''originals'' (them) would now get their own rooms. Eugene was particularly happy with the future bigger laboratory that could rival Althea''s in size. "How nice¡­" The handsome Ansel told them, very sincerely. "You guys are amazing." They all blushed and said nononono it is your sister that is amazing. "How did you two find each other?" Harold asked, finding out that hadn''t asked this yet. "An unexpected rescue. We literally just chanced upon them." Althea said with a smile, and Sheila clapped her hands. "Well, rest assured your life will only get better from here!" Ansel smiled. "Yes, I agree." Speaking of life improvement, Althea remembered something."Is the Opening on track?" She asked, and Sheila flinched, brightening at the recollection. "Oh right! I''m glad you came back on time. You can see the supermarket opening yourself!" Althea agreed. She had given the instructions before leaving for the date of opening, regardless of her presence. But now that she was here, of course, she''d watch it. After breakfast and cleaning up the dishes, Sheila and Harold excused themselves. The opening of the Supermarket was today, so the adults were definitely going to get very busy with the preparations. The very responsible little Maya was in charge of watching the children so that everyone could do what they had to do on this momentous day. On the other hand, Althea and Ansel set out to clean themselves so they could finally hug the children. They were too cute! How could they not see them extending their little arms for hugs?! "Mangmmama¡­" Little Pepper mumbled seeing that their mother''s attention was finally back on them. "Googwoomngmama¡­" Little Meatballs was not to lose, and some saliva popped as he called on to her. Ansel chuckled, "They even have different calls¡­" Althea smiled and fondly watched the uncle-nephew-niece together in one frame. She sighed. It would be perfect if her husband was here as well, then their family would be complete. Anyway¡­ at least there was improvement, she thought optimistically. One down, one more to go. Chapter 197 Respite (Part 1) Ansel heaved out a relaxed sigh as he laid on his bathtub filled with warm water. As he submerged his body, it was like all the tiredness and stress of the past few weeks seemed to flow out of his body. "Ah, this is the life!" He said, closing his eyes, and leaning deeper down until his entire body was covered. His senses were refreshed and all his tense muscles relaxed. Groaning in relaxation, he simmered in the lovely warmth of the water. His body also felt soft; it was as if all the tense muscles were being massaged on their own. Ansel had no doubt that the special Jasmine Fragrance Althea gave him to mix with the water had a lot to do with this. She had always had a talent for making concoctions like this. For a while he laid there, just feeling the warm water surrounding his body. It was so soothing that he mused that this must be what it was like to return back to the womb of mothers. He emerged a couple of seconds later literally feeling like a newborn. As he chilled out, he began to observe the bathroom of his new room. It was a ten-square-meter bathroom with the tub he was on at the far edge. It was next to a small capiz-like fenestration that allowed natural lighting in. If he wanted, he could open this window and observe the garden outside as he bathed. Ah, how lovely. He then turned his attention to the tub itself. The bathtub was made of ceramics and intricately designed wood. There were carvings, but the most important feature was their anthropological design. Any body size would be able to lay down and relax their hearts out. It could be said that whoever Althea commissioned items for her house¡ªwhether it was wood or earthenware¡ªshe took particular care with its quality and design. Of course, due credit shall also be given to the masters who managed to follow her whims. It must not have been easy. Ansel couldn''t help chuckling at the image. He was obviously going insane with worry for her, but she was living the life in her new home. He cleaned himself up very thoroughly and he even fell asleep in the bathtub a few minutes later. Fortunately, the shape of the tub was to prevent people from drowning even while snoozing, so he was still alive and well after the fifteen-minute power nap. He dipped once more before standing up to get out of the bathtub. His well-built body¡ªfurther improved by the level upgrades¡ªwas completely exposed to the air. He stepped out of the tub and he was soon covered by the cotton towel accessible by an extension of the arm. Drying himself with a towel¡ªdefinitely from a Terran hotel¡ªhe went out of the bathroom and looked around his new room. Immediately, he saw new sets of clothes folded neatly on the bed. It was a polo and pants set made of comfortable linen. He tried it on to find out it was just his size. It was still his favorite brand of comfort clothes. Althea must have gotten these from the ''downtown trip'' she took, the one he heard about from the twins. Even if he knew Garan even had more sets of clothing, Ansel felt warm in his heart. After all, even in that situation where zombies were chasing, Althea could still think of them, remembering even the small details. With a smile, he looked at the other things prepared for him. He saw a small jar with a note, saying it was a gel alternative and his eyes sparkled. How long has it been since he had his lovely gossamer hair? He could live without these chicken nests, thank you very much. Ansel got dressed and arranged his hair with a smile, knowing he looked good by instinct (there was no mirror in his room yet), before finally leaving the room. He went down and found her having tea in the verandah, relaxed in her seat with a leg folded under another, sipping her cup gracefully. She looked as beautiful as ever, having the plants and sun behind her as her background, serving as a willing foil to her beauty. Beside her was a soft mat of beast fur where the four children were playing (Horus was out ''working'') with various wooden toys. Of course, the babies were rolling around¡­. not at all looking like newborns¡ª Now that he thought about it¡­ "Are newborn children supposed to be rolling around?" And¡­ they don''t look like newborn premature babies at all! Althea smiled and motioned for him to join her, pouring him tea from the quaint earthenware tea set she commissioned. "It''s really a long story." She said, "I want to hear what happened to you first." "Oh." Ansel took a sip of the tea and was not surprised to find it delicious. It was a lovely mix, having the sweetness of fruit but the refreshing hint of something minty. Although Althea didn''t cook, she could really mix fantastic teas. "Well, the Transformation happened while I was having dinner with my clients." He began speaking, telling her about his adventures and how he managed to survive. He did not hide anything. Althea was heartbroken and she patted his hand, and seeing her worried look at him Ansel gave himself a nod. If Garan were to see his pity-act, Ansel had no doubt he''d be thrown in the wilds for training. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He soon got to his arrival at Bright territory and Althea looked at him curiously. "Bright had nothing on what you have here, but it''s better than the others. It was horrible living there, Althea! You probably can''t imagine!" "I have an idea," Althea corrected him, "I didn''t build the territory from the get-go and I happened to have encountered one before getting here." She said, her eyes darkening at the memory of the friend they lost. Ansel didn''t have the time to ask for details because she lifted her head with clear eyes, obviously putting the topic aside and putting back her attention to his situation. "Tell me more about this Bright and Vismont villages and their lords." Ansel paused before nodding, telling her his impression of the guy. "In fairness to him, although I don''t like Lord Plaster-face, he is still much better than that other lord." He saw Althea pondering about something, but she shook her head when he asked. "It''s just a preliminary idea for now." She said, "I''ll tell you more after I flesh it out more." Instead, she looked at him with interest. "You seem to really dislike the Vismont village lord." Ansel mumbled about what he knew and experienced. Then he turned to Althea. "Tell me honestly, what do you see about us?" "What?" "What are lords able to see about the people in their territory?" Althea blinked, before smiling mysteriously. After a while, she still didn''t speak, completely whetting Ansel''s appetite. "I promise not to tell anyone else!" Althea did not speak, just raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Please, sister?" He asked, acting cutely. If Leo and the others were here, they would probably vomit. And if Garan was here¡­, he''d definitely have thrown Ansel into the barracks for a very, very, harsh training regime. Chapter 198 Respite (Part 2) Althea, on the other hand, was used to him acting like a baby. So she just laughed in amusement instead. She looked at him, face morphing to one of seriousness. Ansel leaned over to listen well. "What I can''t see are the specialties and occupations the people had back in Terran. For this, I rely on the registration system." Ansel nodded. And then? What about what you can see? He asked with his eyes. Althea''s lips held back a smile. "We can see the basic information like level, occupation, elements, wealth, and¡­" She paused mysteriously. "Even loyalty." He gasped. "What! What an intrusive system!!" "That''s what I thought as well, but it''s been very helpful to me so far so I have no complaints." "Do note that there are still limitations," she told him, "From what the NPCs said, Loyalty values cannot display a negative value, so you can''t use it to determine someone aiming to do harm." Ansel was still simmering that so much of him was bare for those two jerks to see. "TSK. No wonder I felt creepy when those two stared at me!" Then he paused and looked at her like the sycophant he could be. "Of course, this doesn''t apply to you, my kind beautiful sister." It was here that they heard a bit of mumbling from the children''s side as if alerted by Ansel''s noise. They saw one of the babies had rolled out of the mat. Meatball really did his nickname justice. Althea then stood up to take the baby boy, who was babbling with drool all over his face. She gently rocked Little Meatball in her arms, cleaning up his slobbered face with a clean cloth. "Ggoogrgurgleggg¡­" he mumbled seeming to thank her for her service. She couldn''t help but giggle at his cuteness. "Silly baby," she said, leaning down to give him a huge peck on his chubby cheeks. He giggled adorably in response. Little Pepper saw this and she extended her chubby arms to her direction. Ansel saw her hands full and took the baby instead. It was just that Little Pepper being Little Pepper, she refused to behave in the arms of a strange dude. (Garan would be so proud). "Mwammwah!" Althea smiled but didn''t take her, wanting her to be closer to her relatives. "Aww, baby¡­" she said and her heart broke when the little girl''s eyes lined with tears. "This is your uncle Ansel. He is family." She said, kissing the girl on the cheek. "Don''t cry, okay?" Ansel looked at the interaction with a smile, deciding to be proactive and gently lulling the baby girl. She didn''t look very comfortable at first, but she soon adjusted as she saw her mother nod with a smile as she behaved. Althea grinned warmly as she saw Little Pepper finally snuggle into her uncle''s warmth. "You should talk to her." She told him, "They don''t understand what we''re talking about, but hearing our voice gives them a sense of security." "Oh?" He asked, then turned to the baby girl and lifted her in front of him. "So, little princess, what do you want to talk about?" The baby stared, seemingly pursing her lips, before she began to babble nonsensical syllables. "Hey, I wonder what she said¡­" "She probably said you''re a silly uncle." It wasn''t far off. Anyway, the two adults laughed and Ansel stood up with the baby girl in his arms, heading towards the table. Althea did the same with Meatball. The two then took the babies back to the table and sat down, cooing them as they chatted. On the other hand, Maya continued to play with little Theodore, also looking very cute with their own little makeshift world. "What about you?" Ansel asked, and then looked around at the beautiful house¡ªsomething he really didn''t think possible with the current conditions. "A lot must have happened, right?" Althea chuckled because there was too much that had happened. She started with her adventures within the villa areas, as well as the meeting of Harold and Maya. Ansel couldn''t help but tap the table when he heard about the drug lord. "I knew it! I knew that guy was a drug lord! He reeked of it!!" Althea raised an eyebrow. "You know him?" Ansel nodded as he remembered a memory, looking very dignified as he did so. "You don''t know. When I went home late one time, I got a bit¡­ lost and ended up on his street. You know what I saw?" He paused for effect, "Mysterious garbage bags being hauled out of the house, guarded tightly by those men in black with guns¡­" Althea was a bit amused by his gossipy side. "Oh, don''t speak too badly of him." She joked, "He shares some of the credit on how I was able to make this place so well." This made Ansel pause. "You really did build this place very well. You''re as meticulous as always, especially when I recall how those other territories are." Even if others had money, he strongly doubted those other lords would be able to create a territory with such detail and convenience as Altera. Not even close. Then he looked at her with a puzzled face. "But these should be extremely expensive, right? How did you¡­" get so much money? Then he remembered her mention of the drug lord''s contribution. His eyes widened. "I robbed the neighbors¡­ and the bank." She said with a shrug. Ansel looked at Althea in awe. This sister was even more badass than he remembered! ____________________ CHARACTER INTERACTION CORNER~! ((What if the kids were a little older and could make a commentary?)) Author: So kids, this happened many years ago when you were babies. You probably don''t remember, but what do you think of your uncle back then? Little Pepper: So he was still an idiot even back then. Auntie Winona wasn''t lying! Little Meatball: *nods* Yes, an idiot. Uncle Ansel: ¡­ Author: ¡­ S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­That wasn''t as enlightening as I thought it would be¡­ Chapter 199 Supermarket Opening The two of Althea and Ansel left for the soon-to-open Gaea Supermarket each with a baby on hand. As they walked, Ansel''s free hand pushed the empty stroller, in case their arms got tired. Maya and Theodore, of course, also happily joined in the fun. Althea smiled at the two children giggling, patting Maya''s little head with her free hand. "Hold on to Theodore''s hand tightly okay big sister Maya? We don''t want him getting lost in the crowd." Maya bobbled her head cutely, grabbing Theo''s hand like the best big sister. Althea chuckled and continued to give them more precautions. There would definitely be a crowd there. She then turned to Horus, who had just appeared after a morning of ''work'', gathering resources to pay his ''rent'', joining them in their excursion. He was a very diligent little kid. "As the oldest boy in your group, you will guard your siblings well, okay?" The little boy adorably straightened up his spine, looking dedicated. "Okay!" Horus then took the empty stroller to push, eyes not leaving the other two kids. Satisfied with the arrangement, Althea and Ansel carried the babies by hand and continued on their way. Because Harold and the others were already in the supermarket, the group was composed of two adults and five children. This alone caught a lot of attention. Fortunately, no one was too impolite and stared too long. They simply smiled warmly as they sent subtle stares. "Hmnamma." Ansel felt the soft pudgy Little Pepper shift in his arms and his heart softened into a puddle. She was extending her small hands in Althea''s direction, mumbling continuously. Seeing the little girl call on his mom, they decided to exchange babies to carry. Little Meatball was startled to suddenly leave the soft arms of his mother to this new guy, staring at him blankly at first as if he didn''t know why it happened. It was super adorable. Little Meatball seemed to have noticed his ''mocking'' eyes and he stared accusingly, tears lining up his big eyes. Ansel flinched. ''Oh, dear me¡ª'' Ansel was afraid of being framed as a mean boy bullying the weaker kid¡ªsomething he had done more than once with Garan back when they were children. So, he quickly cooed at the little boy, praying he didn''t make a scene and ruin his image. He tried gently swinging the boy, then when it wasn''t working, hastened his pace, and it just made the little guy''s eyes even redder. F¡ª Seeing that it was useless, he changed his approach and playfully threw him up in the air for a throw-and-catch game. Fortunately, Little Meatball wasn''t sent by a mysterious force to take revenge on him for his father, and the kid actually started giggling. Althea smiled and the other people around also laughed, complimenting him for being a good father. This made him pause. They must look like a family of four, er, no, a family of seven and a dog. Tsk. He should''ve brought a camera. And then he''d show them to Garan when they finally met¡ªwhenever that may be. Since Althea was confident he was here, then Ansel subconsciously believed the same. Now that he thought about it, he didn''t even know he had children, did he? "Hey, what are you thinking?" Althea asked, looking back at him and seeing him in a creepy daze. "Let''s go!" "A-Ah," he said, though internally he was cackling. Finally got to one-up that jerk! ¡­ S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The opening of the supermarket would be as grand an event as a Terran store opening would. Well, relatively. After all, there was a decisive lack of the usual party items. There was no more gunpowder so how could they get fireworks? There was no paper (yet) so how could they have confettis? A lot of the other party items were also based on paper. There was also a pointed lack of pigment variety as well, so how many colors could they paint the makeshift banners? All that Harold and Sheila could organize was some manifested gongs by Oslo. They hired some people from the construction team to hit the gong when the opening time came. Speaking of Oslo, that guy was seriously overworked lately. Althea made a mental note to add some special bonuses to particularly contributing NPCs. Should she make an MVP NPC of the month or something? There was also Brenda who had worked overtime for a few nights with Eugene with the machines for cotton. Rumor had it that her dating life took a toll because of it. At this, her emerald eyes looked among the crowd and saw Brenda with her love life (Troy) next to each other and all shy. They were blushing and giving each other subtle glances, and when their eyes met they would look away with shy smiles on their faces. Fortunately, whether or not the rumor was true, they seemed fine and happy now. The seven of them settled somewhere near the stage, waving through the crowd which politely opened to them like a sea parting to make way. After all, who dared block the big boss and her cute babies? There were hundreds of people in the area so it was understandably very crowded and a bit chaotic. There were guards around that kept the peace though, so nothing too serious happened. Anyway, Harold and the others obviously did a good job in marketing. They even saw a number of the newcomers who came with Ansel, though most of them had obviously cleaned up, though their clothing had a lot of holes (like at least half of the population). In particular, there was the trio and their older guardian, who were all chewing on something as they waited excitedly for whatever may come their way. Like them, there were many others who, instead of resting after such a long trip, joined the fun instead. Althea smiled, recalling how they were when she met them. In less than a day, they were already in the mood to join a random event. She shook her head in amusement and turned back her attention to the stage. As an opening program, Harold and the others organized a short show in the park square in front of the supermarket. Even Althea didn''t know about the program they prepared, and she was quite excited. She had a feeling it would be quite... fun. Chapter 200 Fable While waiting for it to start, the people bought street foods from the marketplace next door. Combined with the food from people who sold things on foot, everyone had more or less something on their hands to chew before the program even began. Soon, the gong ended and old Harold went out looking like the amicable old man that he was. "Thank you for coming, everyone!" He said, extending his arms in welcome. "Our Gaea Food Stores has now officially opened a Supermarket! "We welcome you to our very own Gaea Supermarket!!" S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Harold smiled and waited for the applause to stop. "This is inseparable from your patronage, so thank you everyone! "We promise to offer you a wider variety of products, many of which will surely please you. Perhaps, our products may even improve¡­ everyone''s lives. How, you ask? You will see very soon¡­" Harold smiled as everyone cheered and clapped their hands again. There were also some hoots and playful boos, asking him to stop being mysterious already. In response though, with a mysterious smile, he raised his hand, asking for their silence. "Before we enter though, we would like to give you a little¡­ surprise." He said, stepping down the temporary stage without another word, and everyone just looked at each other in bafflement. For a while, there was silence, until¡ª Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Didi! Bangbangbang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Several men with beat boxes came out, and they artistically (with shaking hips) hit beat after beat to create a background song of sorts. The young women and the girls could feel their hearts thumping at the familiar beat. They used to listen to it back in Terran and used to dance with it wildly in clubs or in the privacy of their rooms. "Could it be¡­?" Sure enough, a handsome man with clear eyes and great shape jumped out and stood in the middle of the beat-boxers. The women went absolutely insane. "Fableeee!!!!" "Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" "Look here, Fable!! AhhhhhhhHHH!" The singing star happened to be Fable, one of the more famous singers in Eden. As for how he hadn''t been drowned by fans after being in the territory after so many days of staying, it was a long story. Fable entered the territory a few days prior but, because he looked absolutely unsightly when he entered, no one recognized him at all. He didn''t bother to arrange himself either because, in his last territory, he was almost raped by the female lord. There was also the fact he entered the Eastern gate, which had very very few people at the time, so he thought no one actually saw him. Anyway, after entering the safety of the walls, he wasn''t able to last long. He fell unconscious somewhere there in hunger. He was found by the soft-hearted Gru, who had been making rounds in the farmlands. Through him, Fable found a place to stay. Through Gru, Fable eventually met Harold. Gru and Harold had become good friends due to their similar interests and age group, and he somehow managed to join in the circle as if he were their grandson. A few days ago, Harold mentioned his problem with the opening program. Fable, who was extremely grateful to Gru and liked Harold as an elder, volunteered to help them out. He organized the entire program. Anyway, after spending the past few days in the territory, he had come to understand the atmosphere here. Here, he believed he could finally be himself, and he decided to announce his return in the grandest way possible¡ªlike the star that he was. He lifted his head and his bangs flew to the back of his head, eyes staring intimately at the crowd, making a couple of hearts stop. /I am here, I am here, I am here¡­/ He started singing, moving his body and hips along the beat. He performed his characteristic choreography and there were even background dancers behind him. Even Althea had to admit this guy was really talented. He had no conventional musical instruments, but he had the crowd at the palm of his hands. /Finally! Yeah! I have you with me, so dance with me¡ªoh! Oh, Dance with me./ Not far away the group of NPCs had also joined in the fun. At first, they were flabbergasted by the wild screams, but then the handsome young man started singing and dancing and they couldn''t help but be pulled into the atmosphere. "This song is amazing! I don''t understand the words, but I feel my body just following the rhythm on its own." Clutch was hilariously moving along with the beat with his stiff body. "What novel movements," Brenda added, nodding to the music. Troy who was beside him smiled and low-key taught her the moves. "One hip left, arm up, then lift your feet¡­ yeah, like that." "It''s so interesting¡­" Betty said, looking at the stage with stars in her eyes. "It is very attractive." Lenny nodded quietly, looking stiff, but internally she was already making clothes for the young man with uncharacteristically sparkling eyes. At the end of his opening songs, Fable''s movements went faster and quicker, raising the energy to an all-time high. He moved so quickly, movements in sync with his background dancers, belting it out at the same time. He even backflipped at the end, earning him boisterous applause and even the NPCs had joined in. Even Clutch had his hand raised with a lot of the fans, as if waving his hand for Fable to notice him. It was quite funny to look at. Ansel caught all this in his eyes. Since Althea told him of the NPCs and where they were, he had occasionally found his sights on them. He watched their interest and eventual fascination, and then their blending in with the crowd''s love for the person performing. His beautifully shaped eyebrows rose in interest, a certain money-making idea brewing inside his head. Should he develop the entertainment industry? Well...? He knew that it would definitely be a hit with the Terrans, but it looked like he could make a killing with the aborgines too. His eyes sparkled; he could already see the gold raking in. Chapter 201 Inside the Supermarket (Part 1) The performance continued for another quarter of an hour, without losing energy at all. May it be the performers or the audience, no one felt tired despite sweating from all the dancing under the heat from the midmorning sun. The performance finally ended with a classic Fable triple flip and the audience applauded wildly, forming a little treble on the ground, almost like a small monster mob came. Everyone was at a high. They never thought they''d be able to feel this again. And Fable¡ªbreathless but bright¡ªfelt happy from the bottom of his heart. It was like he was brought back to when he was just starting in the industry¡ªwhen the joy of performing in front of an audience was at its purest. At the time, even if it was just one audience, if he improved that person''s day with his art, then it''d have made his week. He was happier today than he had been in the entire previous year, when he was at the height of fame. Anyway, Fable closed his eyes as he surrounded himself with the sound of applause and hoots, as if it could recover his spirit somehow. Nearby, the aborgines also followed the show of appreciation of the crowd and clapped their hands, also screaming. It was a novel experience and they felt they''d remember it for a long time to come. The excited chatters and cheers continued until the large doors of the supermarket opened and began to let people pour in. Guards stood in front of the door and asked the people to line up, and they did so without any grumbling. Anyway, the show provided them with a lot of topics to chat about while they waited. "That was soooo much fun!" "Kya! Fable is so handsome!" "I knowwwww. I wonder since when did he get here?" A gasp. "I think I saw him! He was unsightly but he looked familiar at the time. I just thought I was hallucinating!" "Oh my! Such a pity!" sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Such a pity!" Inside the building, the chatters were no less than those outside. But they were still organized despite the excitement, especially thanks to the private guards hired for this event. They would also be in charge of the security within the premises. Of course, this wasn''t entirely needed because of the rule she set: Theft was prohibited. However, Althea felt a few guards were still needed to maintain order. She even added more sales clerks to guide the customers. With similar thoughts as to why she was maintaining the service and hospitality industries, she just thought adding Human touch added meaning to mundane things. She hired one clerk per section, with a section having three working in shifts. This was just right considering the number of people allowed to enter at one time. Like the Grocery store, the maximum number of people that could simultaneously enter the edifice was limited. This time, the limit was increased to 200 people at a time, so the people outside wouldn''t need to wait too long. With their current population, anyway. As for what could happen when the number of people spiked, she''d deal with that later. Back to the exterior of the structure, the line moved very slowly, with the slots for 200 people decreasing at a fast rate. Soon the person was blocked and while sad, he just chatted with the person next in line and patiently waited for his turn. The stall owners also mobilized and were wearing those small wooden platforms that were supported by their necks. On the platform were their respective products¡ªit could be fruits, it could be processed meat, or it could be juice. This way, the people could also chew a few things to pass the time. There were even young kids offering massages, performances, and the like. A little boy even tried mimicking Fables dances, though he failed miserably at cartwheel, and it made people laugh and gave him a few tips (though not without warning from older people to be careful with his neck, of course). Anyway, even waiting in line is so much fun now. The aborigines were very enlightened. Soon, more and more people entered the interior of the supermarket, and this batch included the aborgines. The arrangement of the supermarket was very similar to the Terran versions. It had a large span and high ceilings, with an open plan filled with rows and rows of shelves the height of a person. Between these shelves were wide walkways that could easily fit three people walking side-by-side. Very airy and comfortable. Clutch and the other NPCs looked at the novel arrangement in interest, their peripheral view ending at the large weaved baskets by the entrance. They didn''t know what it was for, but they saw that it was something the people in front of them were taking before moving forward. It was a basket made of treated wood, the size that could fit a small child. It also had wooden push handles extending upwards by about a foot, and with small wooden wheels below. "Pushcart!" Another person said, and took a piece to enter the supermarket. Very naturally, a couple other people took their so-called push carts and entered the store. The NPCs looked at each other and followed what the Terrans were doing. "You push it like this?" Clutch asked, doing the motion. Brenda looked at the other people in front of them. "You put things there, it seems." Troy smiled, thinking Brenda was cute. "Yes. You place things you want to buy and pay for them in the exit." "Ohhh¡­" the NPCs said simultaneously, amusing those around them. Anyway, they entered and began their first supermarket shopping experience. The first floor was basically a larger version of the previous grocery store. Right in front of the counter were various earthenware like pots, pans, plates, bottles, and bowls. When earthenware was paid for, a special paint will be added to signify its own status. After all, some people would use these to contain the foodstuff they would buy later on. This was another difference with Terran grocery stores. The packaging either had to be bought inside or one had to bring their own. It was convenient, and just right considering there was an omnipotent ''system'' watching theft that could happen. Well, at least outside Territory Wars, in which all regulations would be halted. But that was an issue for later. There were more varieties and sizes now, and there were special versions of more intricate designs. Beyond the earthenware stores were the rice and wheat area. They were bought in kilograms. Next to it was processed food like pickled vegetables and jerkies. The variety of flavors had increased significantly. After all, a lot of seasonings had been formulated in the past week or so. There were also new additions that made the Terrans'' eyes brighten like the sun. Instant noodles and biscuits. "Whoa!" "It''s here!" A gasp. "I can''t believe they already made this!" "This team is amaziinnnggg!" "I''ll take spicy flavor!" "Wow, what is this? Gui berry flavor? That''s new." "There is also Gouji fruit flavor." "We have to adapt to local materials. Anyway, I believe in the products of this team!" "Yes, yes!" Another smiled, looking at the biscuits, promptly taking several bolts. He would buy several jams and his breakfast would be fast and heavenly! People bought everything they could, maximizing their purchase limits, even if it meant siphoning their savings. Anyway, they knew the territory was stable and they could comfortably earn it back. They were more scared the stocks would disappear when they needed them! Chapter 202 Inside the Supermarket (Part 2) The people had gotten to the point that they were more terrified of losing the opportunity to obtain these things than losing their savings. This was especially true for the store owners who had signed deals with the grocery store, so they luckily had much higher purchase limits. Seeing the Terrans so excited about the new additions, the leisurely NPCs couldn''t help but ask. Gru, who was next to them, patted their shoulders. "This is a special dish from our home." He said, "They''re not only delicious, easy to prepare, and easier to carry, they also have a very long shelf life." Everyone knew the system space didn''t have a fresh-keeping function. As such, these food could really save lives during travels. "They would be great for people on the go. You can eat delicious food even in the wild!" Troy made a thumbs up. "You NPCs will love it!" Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although Brenda and the others didn''t know why they were called NPCs, they had long gotten used to the title. So, they nodded, and followed the ''experts'' in their shopping, observing the various ''flavors'' available for purchase. Like them, the aborigines also placed several instant noodles inside. Anyway, they wouldn''t go to waste. Even if they didn''t like a particular flavor, someone else was bound to love it. Sadly, like before, their purchase limits were like everyone else''s so they couldn''t take too much. The group continued on to other products, adding more and more to their carts that were already filled. Troy took two more, for him and Brenda. As they shopped, the aborigines watched the people around gush about the products and couldn''t help but feel amused and curious. As they did so, none of them lost in buying a bit of everything. And oddly enough, they also felt pride. These were all made by their Lord. All these things were only available in their territory¡­ "How interesting¡­ I''m really looking forward to what appears after this¡­" Brenda mumbled, as she looked around the avid shoppers with a smile. Troy, who had been watching her reactions, grinned in turn. He happened to have a team mate who worked in the factory. He signed an NDA, but he could still guess quite a few things! "If you think the food we made so far is delicious, then I can tell you you haven''t seen anything yet!" Sure enough, they soon headed to the seasoning section. Here, there were new selections that made people cheer. Not only were there the previous varieties of sauces and spices, but there were also familiar ones from back home! "Soy sauce?!" "Vinegar?" "Chili!!!" "READY MIXES!!" This was mostly the credit of the factory people and Althea''s handy tablet. This also made the restaurant and food stall owners look like they were having orgasm. As for the salt, she just discovered it and was ongoing processing. She planned to release it after a few days. It would be great if there was sugar, too. But for now they could only settle with glucose from fruits. She watched the people excitedly buy as much as allowable, especially those shop and stall owners. There were also other cooking essentials like vegetable oils, so now they no longer had to settle with the subpar oil from monster meats! Speaking of meats, raw meat in the supermarket was unavailable until refrigeration could be done. Anyway, there was no shortage of monsters outside. This would also be another avenue for the residents to earn money. In another section of the supermarket, people were also cheering at the sight of familiar Terran Fruits and vegetables. "Tomatoes?" "Peanuts?" "S-strawberries??" "How?!" "It''s amazing!" To think they''d find Terran produce! It was like they never left!!! Everyone had excited smiles on their faces as they shopped galore, filling their cart up with what they could. Meanwhile, on the second floor, there were only two offerings at this time, as the others were still under development. However, they were no less loved than the products below. One half offered the various products by Baron''s team like wood products, leather products, and others. Of course, they were sold at slightly higher prices than their own store, but people still bought it. After all, who would want to walk a kilometer when you have everything else here? And the other one made some mothers cry. "Fabric!" Hemp and Cotton cloth, though mostly hemp, with cotton costing ten times due to its current lack of raw materials. There were a number of colors to choose from. First, the natural colors of dirty white for cotton, and peach for hemps. Then there was the ochre color which varied with the shade of yellow and red, depending on the iron content of the material. Finally, there was carbon black, traditionally produced by burning organic material, but the team was looking for alternatives. As for the other colors, aside from assigning a team dedicated to it, Althea was also planning on creating exploration teams needed to find mineral deposits and the like. But for now, these were more than enough. And this was evident at the tearing eyes of many citizens. It had been over almost twenty days since the Migration. Their clothings had long been damaged by attacks and the environment. It got to the point that having a few holes in their clothing was fashionable! Now that they could finally get a few new ones¡­ how could they not feel a bit teary? ¡­although they don''t really know how to make clothes. But they believed in other people''s skills! However, someone still voiced this concern after a while. "Are there no ready-made clothes?" At this, the assigned Clerk smiled and explained. "Our company had already partnered with a number of cloth makers, who would be producing the end product for the territory. "There will be a clothings stores along the main avenue. They will open once the production of fabric stabilizes." Everyone''s hearts lifted. They didn''t know how it was in other territories, but they knew for sure they''re living the good life now. Not only could they eat well, they could also sleep well. They could do what they wanted without fearing for their lives every day. They could willingly go outside to get stronger, and yet without fearing death every time they step out the gates. And now¡­, they could also dress well. Their spirits couldn''t help but get lifted even more at an exciting thought. Who knew what things would be available next! The sense of dread towards the unknown slowly ebbed down, even for those who had just arrived. They couldn''t help but look forward for the next day. Chapter 203 Celebratory Dinner (Part 1) That night, Althea called the NPCs and her inner circle to the second floor for a little behind-the-scenes celebration. She knew how hard these people worked to get the supermarket going within a few days. After all, every single one of the products was produced from its raw materials. Just the processing itself was no simple task. This was all done with limited technology and in such a short period of time. Even in Terran, this could be said to be a miraculous feat. She wanted her people to know that she appreciated their hard work and celebrate the end product with them. Of course, this dinner was not just to celebrate the opening of the supermarket. It was the fact that the completion of the supermarket in and of itself was a sign of the development of the entire territory. How many industries, how many more shops, how many jobs would be generated after this? How much wider would the product selections be? How many more food types would people be able to choose from? How nice would it be for the people hunting outside and the people guarding the territory to go back home and eat their hearts out? Wouldn''t they work even harder? More passionate about protecting their good lifestyles? The building of the supermarket could be said to be the cementation of a promising future. This ought to be celebrated, no? Hence, later after the sunset, Althea smuggled Ansel and the others to the second floor through the warehouse door. "Wow¡­ you do this every time you summon an NPC??" Sheila couldn''t help but ask. She also asked this in a whispery voice by instinct, looking very shifty, as if people could still find them so near the warehouse. Except for Ansel, it was everyone''s first time sneaking around like this, so they were naturally¡­ not very cool. Anyway, it was quite a fun experience. The children were even giggling and poking at each other. It was as if they were playing hide-and-seek with the entire territory. "Well, I can teleport directly to the warehouse, so it''s not as troublesome." "Oh, right." Sheila nodded, relieved. She then turned to the children happily covering their mouths as if no one would hear their bubbly giggles. She shook her head with a smile on her own face. In contrast with their sneaking around, the NPCs went directly via the village center. Many people were curious but shrugged in the end. They heard the NPCs had an exclusive hangout there. They were quite curious, but it had nothing to do with them. As for the Aborigines climbing up the steps, they really didn''t know what to expect. It was just that they found themselves a bit excited nevertheless. Soon the aborigines and the gang entered the second floor, and they were surprised by the changes. Althea had commissioned Bianca and a few interior designers (temporarily allowed access and hired by the ''territory'', with accompanying signed NDAs) to improve the furnishing of the second floor from sleek to gorgeous, and much more complete. There were now a few more couches¡ªvery plush and comfortable to look at¡ªand a matching coffee table in front of it. There were also meeting and dining tables, drawers, and bookshelves (though empty, for now) located in strategic places. The walls were adorned with a tasteful combination of vintage artwork (done by an artist via charcoal medium¡ªthe literal kind) and figurines (sculpted by Bianca and her team of artisans), creating a sense of nostalgia and curiosity. The partitions, made of a combination of wood and painted hemp fabric, delineated each area without enclosing them completely. The furniture themselves were intricately carved and very anthropomorphic, and the fabrics of the furniture and the carpets were made of soft monster fur. Someone went over to touch it. It was extremely comfortable. And the furniture¡­ they weren''t sure if it was just their imagination, but just looking at them relaxed them. In fact, they weren''t wrong. There were actually two people who had awakened the life occupation of Woodcarver during this time, both of whom were in Baron''s team, and they did the special room justice. Not only were the products of these two gorgeous, but they also had the sublime effect of slowly increasing spirit the longer people stayed inside. There was also a set of plush armchairs and a side table next to the window, where the users could look down and see the bustle of the public square and parks below. The entire room was quaint, inviting, and warm. It offered a cozy and serene atmosphere that invited those who saw to relax and appreciate the surroundings. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the moment though, the most distracting part of the room was the largest circular table filled with a wide array of food. Each and every one attacked all their senses, making them want to sit down. It was adorned with a feast of mouthwatering delights, and everyone''s stomach bugs were successfully stimulated. Especially, Harold, who knew most about food, and he immediately made a commentary. "A bruschetta for the appetizer! It uses Terran tomatoes, a local alternative for basil, and rich olive oil that had just been extracted! He then looked at the plate next to it, "Then there are the Cucumber and Meat rolls, with sweet and sour sauce¡ªassembled with elegance, offering a refreshing touch." Moving further along were varieties of salads and viands. Each bite looked very colorful and flavorful. Harold made sure to narrate in a very, very, detailed manner so it was like the food was asking them to sit down already and eat them up. They gulped. The main dishes were gugu birds with golden skin, succulent and gorgeous, as well as Stormdoer tenderloin, cooked to perfection and adorned with a savory crust of local herbs. They gulped again. Finally, there was the dessert dazzling with decadence. Because there was no sugar yet, and Terran fruits had yet to bloom, every dessert was made with local fruits. However, they were handled with such delicacy one would think it was made of fruits from the gods. For example, the Gouji fruit one could see everywhere was carved into interesting shapes like apples and an unfamiliar bird species (which Harold would call a swan later on). The fruits were arranged with different fruits, creating an interesting palette of colors, and creating a work of art. The food was prepared by the private chef Cooke, with every food an absolute treat and had an effect of increasing life and spirit. The aborigines couldn''t help but look at each other with complex emotions. Did the Lord prepare this¡­ for them? Chapter 204 Celebratory Dinner (Part 2) "Whoa¡­" Ansel commented, breaking the NPCs daze. "This is pretty impressive!" Althea watched everyone''s reaction with a smile. Safe to say, they quite liked her surprise. "Sit down," She told them, going to the table herself. On her signal, everyone quickly went to their seats, trying to stop themselves from drilling openly. Althea also took out the few jugs of wine from her space, placing them on the table. She uncorked it and let the aroma whiff out, making all adults drool. She had prepared these a few days back and buried them under the garden (as system fields also had the added effect of hastening fermentation). Now was the perfect time to finally taste it! "Yes! I finally get to taste your wine again!" Ansel said, rubbing his palms together and looking like a deprived alcoholic. He extended his claws to the jars and it earned him a soft knuckle on the head instead. "Ouch!" "Behave." "Yes, sister." Everyone chuckled at the interaction, though their eyes quickly gravitated back to the sumptuous plates in front of them. The people tried to control their drooling, though to minimal effect, and for a moment Althea didn''t want to make her speech. What if they didn''t listen to her and stared at the food instead? In the end, with a bit of worry in her head, she still stood up on the small elevated platform at the corner of the room. Fortunately, they had the tact to focus their attention on her and not on the table. Heaving a deep breath, she began to speak. "First of all, I would like to thank and congratulate everyone for a job well done," She smiled at them, very gently, to the point they blushed. "Tonight we celebrate, not only the successful opening of the supermarket, but also to celebrate what it represents: A better territory. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This could not have been achieved¡ªespecially not so quickly¡ªwithout you guys. So, thank you." The small crowd shook their heads, feeling very shy. This was especially true for the aborigines who were unused to getting compliments from nobles. The status of the Lord had always been so high, they were just doing their job, how dare they accept such deep compliments without tact? "Today I''m awarding each of you with 5000 contribution points." She said, "It may not have much impact to you now, as you are either already residents or hired individuals, but eventually we will be opening shops specifically circulating only contribution points. "Contribution points could also be used to purchase what money could, but with larger values. By that time, it would be helpful to you." "T-there is no need to explain my Lord, we are already very honored," Lenny said, very embarrassed. She had only helped with the dyeing of the cloth, not nearly as important as the contribution of the others. Rowan and Betty also spoke out. They barely helped. "We wouldn''t have been able to develop our thoughts so carefree without the help of the guards and the clinic. "How could people work on these luxuries if we still struggled with our safety and health? Don''t underestimate your value. "Credit must be given where it''s due." She paused, eyes staying on certain people in particular. "In line with this, I would like to call out Brenda, Eugene, and Oslo for their especially huge contribution to the many successes not only in the supermarket, but also in the territory." Speaking of, these three barely had any sleep the past week, their eye bags were as large as their eyes themselves. It was Oslo who spoke this time. "Your supplements were of much help milord." He said, and he wasn''t even being a boot-licker. He was still amazed at the potions that came out of the Lord''s hands. It was even more amazing than the mixtures he was used to. Coming from him, as someone who was born and raised in a city, this was a very big feat. "No, your works have been indispensable to the current beauty of Altera." She said, looking at them with a large smile. "Thank you." Rowan and the others felt a little teary, hearts filled with accomplishment and warmth. They had never been so¡­ acknowledged before. Most nobles they knew were extremely entitled. Everything that went well must have something to do with their existence. They would never take a second look at them, the mere servants. "The three of you, Eugene, Oslo, and Brenda have especially worked hard. I will give you another 2000 contribution points and a bonus of 100 gold." She manifested the gold, placed in intricate boxes, and handed them to each of the three. Oslo actually grew up with a golden spoon, never lacking money, but these 100 gold felt extremely beautiful at the moment. "You don''t have to, my Lord," Brenda spoke up. "I¡­ my professional level which had been stagnant moved." She said, feeling guilty for taking such an advantage. If anything, she should be paying the lord instead! "It is the same with me," Clutch said, and the others nodded in agreement. It was really difficult to accept this with an open heart! They felt like they owed the lord way too much! Althea''s eyebrows rose, interested in the so-called improvements. Instead of claiming credit, she thought of what else they could do for the territory and was looking forward to their surprises. "Well, then, I''m looking forward to what more you can offer Altera." They stared at her for a while, absorbing, and when they understood what she meant their hearts that had been filled up to the brim, overflowed. Renewed strength and inspiration filled their hearts, and they stood up, bowing at an angle, showing the greatest respect. "Yes, milord!" Such a kind Lord and her people, along with their novel ideas and beliefs had unknowingly crept up their hearts and affected their very being. It had not even been a month but, truly, their previous lives felt like a lifetime away. Thinking about it now, they had no doubts: Accepting the job offer from this territory was the best decision they ever made. Chapter 205 The Summoning Circle The celebratory dinner ended a bit over an hour later. Only Ansel and Althea remained on the floor, with Sheila and the others sneaking through the warehouse''s back door. They still had plenty of things to discuss after all. Now alone in the beautifully designed lounge, the two siblings sat relaxedly by the coffee table. They were having tea to help them digest the marvelous meal they just had. Today they were Ginger-sagada tea, the local alternative to ginger mint tea, which was a soothing blend and was great to drink for a hungover. The tea was a steaming and fragrant infusion of the two plants and a few more flowers, and it permeated the room with pleasing warmth. "Ah, this is the life~~" Ansel said, lounging about the large sofa in the room. He just had the most wonderful wine he had in a while, and now he was chilling with minty tea. There wasn''t much actually, regrettably not enough to get him drunk, but he could take what he could get. Speaking of the drink, he couldn''t help but recall the faces of the Aborigines when they took a sip of Althea''s special wine. He could''ve sworn their souls left their bodies for a moment. "The Aborigines are really quite interesting.." He said, "Very amusing to watch, especially when they''re exposed to our things in Terran." "Well, they are indeed quite fun," She said, "And surprisingly quite sincere." Ansel couldn''t help but recall how they were during the party, and how they were near tears with so little, exacerbated by the wonderful alcohol they were having. "They definitely fell in love with the territory, Althea. You''re amazing." Ansel said, pausing, looking out the window, and staring at one of the strange moons of this world. "I have a hunch they''d be of great help with our assimilation with¡­ the outside world." Althea nodded, agreeing. The outside world, from the aborigines'' words alone, was obviously a large and dangerous place, much more than what they had encountered so far. However, the unknown also presented a lot of opportunities, so Althea was bent on making her territory benefit from the opening or transition from the Protective Period, rather than fear its disappearance. One of the ways to do this with the least risk was to have good NPCs, especially with the system assurance that they could not do any harm to the territory, even if they wanted to, and even if they were no longer associated with it. "I hope I get a good one today." She said with a hint of prayer. She would be taking Ansel to the NPC summoning today, hoping to get a decent hire. The past few days there had been regrettably no decent NPC options to choose from, and it was such a pity, whichever one it was that she had hired, they were all so helpful. She had no doubt that the territory and its people wouldn''t have grown to such a degree so quickly if they weren''t there to guide them. With a bit of hope, Althea climbed to the summoning platform and paid the required silver for summoning. Unfortunately, her luck still wasn''t very good. One was a book boy (though he looked like in his thirties. Should it be called a bookman instead?). His job description was literally just to carry books and other basic personal assistant tasks like cleaning up after their master. His tagline was ''I clean up all the messes of my boss, no matter how dirty'' Another was yet another woman with a questionable job description. This one was still wearing revealing clothing¡ªwhich was actually not that common even with women of the same job¡ªand she could see over half the woman''s breasts. She gave Ansel a furtive glance, curious about his reaction, and he was offended she was watching his reaction at all! "I don''t play with those things!" "Okay, sure." "Hey!" Althea shrugged and ignored him, activating her final slot for the day. It was a cleaner. Specifically, a feces cleaner, because most territories didn''t really do hygiene facilities at all. "Still none today, it seemed¡­" she sighed with regret. Ansel, a born businessman, thought a bit differently. "Well, it probably meant that most professionals don''t choose to get hired this way. At least not to our small villages." Althea paused. Then after thinking about it, she nodded. It made sense. The NPCs had told her professionals were rare. They were most likely in demand in territories much better than mere villages. Then¡­ why would Oslo and the others choose to get hired in her little village? S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea couldn''t help but think more of the NPCs that were in the territory. To accept getting hired in a village¡ªand she was still a Level 1 village at the time¡ªthere must have been other reasons for them to end up here, rather than them just looking for a job. As she mused the intricacies of it all, she couldn''t help but overhear Ansel''s mumbling. She ended up watching him enter a soliloquy. Ansel at this time was walking around the summoning circle, fascinated, droning on about the magic and how cool it was. "This is a real magical technology. Summoning people from somewhere to here¡­" He paused, seriously pondering. "I wonder who''s¡­ in charge of all this?" This statement made Althea pause. A part of her probably thought subconsciously, due to the game elements, that this was a bit like a game. It was why most of them referred to the aborigines as NPCs¡ªsubconsciously lightening up all these tragedies by likening them to games. She forgot that every function probably had a force behind it. These magical buildings and their functions¡­ who developed them? Was there some organization that controlled them? Were all these¡ªwhether it was NPC hiring or the building of structures¡ªbeing overseen and managed by a certain force? Or maybe multiple? Perhaps, they even had different departments. How¡­ interesting, she thought, but she did not dwell on it. She''d just ask Oslo in case he knew, and if he didn''t¡­ well, it didn''t matter. She had too many things on her plate at the moment, anyway. She would just do her best with what she had and, hopefully, that would be enough. Chapter 206 NPCs Meanwhile, as the siblings were making sense of the world, the aborigines were heading back to their respective abodes with warm hearts and large smiles on their faces. Clutch went back to his home with a full stomach, entering his home''s threshold with a smile on his face. "Something good happened today, I see." A voice sounded and he looked up to see his neighbors, new guards Joe and Lee standing by the stairs to their unit, observing him with curious smiles. Clutch grinned, "Well, the l¡ªthe territory sent us rewards and bonuses. So I am quite happy." "Oh? Tell us!" The two said, arriving next to him, like the gossipy men that they were. The three chatted for several minutes before he was finally released to get back to his precious unit. His unit was located among the first communities to be built. It was something that the lord called ''employee benefit'' and each of them was allowed to use a full floor to themselves. The Lord said, if they contributed well for a year, their respective units would be theirs, even if they didn''t become permanent residents. This was a very very attractive offer to anyone, especially for him. He had never lived amply. His whole life, he had hovered over the line of barely getting through to outright poverty. But after years of hard work, things finally got better for him. This was because when he was in his late 40s, he finally triggered the life occupation. Of course, because he was late to exhibit, it meant that his talent was barely passable. Towns were more likely to pass him over in favor of younger talent with greater potential. He didn''t even try to apply to towns. He chose to apply to villages directly. However, professional or not, working in a village would never have gotten him rich. He didn''t think he''d own such a house in his lifetime. And it was such a good house, too. To be honest, even when he was serving those nobles back when he was a servant boy, he had never seen such a nice house. Sure, the houses of nobles were large and magnificent, but did they have comfortable bathrooms? Could they cook without wood? Anyway, Clutch went to bed very comfortably, using the new pillow he bought from the supermarket. ''Ah, so nice'', he mused, easily lulled to sleep by the comfort, soon to have very good dreams. ¡­ sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oslo was lying on his bed, now adorned with the so-called cotton materials, looking at the ceiling. In his hand was still the gold he received from the lord. This was technically the first gold he had ever earned. Oslo was born with a golden spoon and was sent far from the family to hone him. After all, he was already in his late 30s (still a young lad, in his opinion, with his lifespan and all) but he had yet to reach level 30. Moreover, his professional level was stuck at D for a decade. By the standards of his family, this was extremely inferior. Who told him to be so fun-loving? There were so many interesting things and people in the world, how could he have the time to study? So...he was sent to the Chancery of Appointments to find him a harsh job for training. They also set his option to villages only. The problem was, most villages couldn''t afford the rate of D-level Elemental employees. So it took him a while to get hired. He dated three girlfriends while he was waiting. Eventually, to his chagrin, he did get hired. He didn''t have any good expectations about a little village and thought he''d just charm his way from doing anything that was a hassle. Who''d have known he''d be so surprised? He thought he would never help beyond his job description, but their marvel ideas and lovable personalities reached his heart. He felt that the amount of ''overtime'' he had done the past week was more than the total time he spent working before coming here. It was tiring, but he''d do it all over again if he had to. More importantly, he had learned more in a few weeks than he could after years in other places. It was amazing. He learned that certain materials could be combined, he learned that certain rooms could have multiple functions, he learned that simple could also mean beautiful, and so much more. And the lord here¡ªOslo paused as her smiling face flashed inside his head¡ªwas incredibly lovely. He really liked it here. ¡­ Rowan was practicing his sword in the backyard. Under the light of the two moons, he diligently honed the slashes, parries, and techniques he learned as a professional. He then recalled the new moves he learned during his stay, combining them with what he learned, and even combining them with the innovations on his elements. If there were others watching him, they would''ve enjoyed the view. As a level D swordsman in his late twenties, he was still considered a talent in his town and was quite popular back then. It was also because of this that someone had purged all his means to bind him in an application exclusive to villages. But he had been training with Drake and the others the past few weeks. Although his level naturally remained stagnant as he couldn''t gain experiences from such weak monsters, he had felt a great improvement in his knowledge nevertheless. Even his elements showed improvements due to their suggestions. This was amazing because no one in the village had awakened their own elements yet. He didn''t know certain types of oil could increase his power so much. He didn''t know that certain types of "fuels" could prolong it. There were even some techniques and combinations of chemicals that turned his red fire into a stronger blue one. How did they know so much when they obviously didn''t know about the elements? In any case, he knew it wouldn''t take long for him to upgrade to C. Those people must not have expected it! He smirked, looking forward to the day he would see the look on their faces when they saw his growth. Chapter 207 The Women of Xeno (Part 1) [12 days of Protection Period] Weapons Shop. "What do you think of this, master?" Troy asked, shyly showing her a detailed drawing of a small weapon. It was similar to a crossbow, but hidden inside one''s sleeves. It was perfect for assassination. Her eyes brightened at the design, "Amazing, Troy!" "It''s nothing, I just take some knowledge from my hometown." "Well it''s nothing if you can''t translate it, so don''t underestimate your goodness." She told him, but too shy to look him in the eye. "I heard you bought a house?" Troy received a lot of contribution points for his crossbows and polybolos. Although someone out there owned the patent rights and he had to give up some of his shares, he still earned the majority of the earnings of his own production. He was now one of the few people with the much sought-after permanent residency. "Well, yes. I''m paying for the downpayment." Troy mumbled, scratching his chin in embarrassment and a little smugness. In his culture, owning a house equated to stability, making him very marriage-worthy. He couldn''t help but send the girl in front of him a furtive glance, before joining her in work-related chatters. They talked for a while before finally working on the draft. Brenda was a weapons maker and she had the skill that could immediately understand the inner workings and mechanics of simple weapons. Although he didn''t know why indigenous people here didn''t already make these weapons with these skills, he was happy to contribute. Anyway, this allowed Brenda to give constructive inputs in the design, making the blind-hit processes Troy was committing a lot more efficient. Troy gaped and was not stingy with his compliments, turning Brenda red. Her heart couldn''t stop beating at the sight of his sincerely admiring face. There was always something special about this bubbly man. He was always so¡­ happy and smiling. His eyes also never lingered on the small scar on the side of her face. This had never happened before. In Xeno, to become a desirable but respected woman, you must either be very beautiful with a high noble status, or a beautiful woman with great strength or skill. Because she was a woman with a man''s occupation, coupled with her scar, she was deemed an undesirable woman by everyone. Her previous lover ended their relationship right after she had this scar. More importantly, Troy truly admired her for her skills. And this meant more than anything else. Looking at how things were going for her, Brenda couldn''t help but think fate was really mysterious. Back then, when she got to the Chancery of Appointments, she did not even bother filling up requirements higher than a village. Who knew¡­ the village that''d pick her would be so good? ¡­ Clinic. The beautiful Betty sauntered from patient to patient, checking on their status. The morning light hit her beautiful face and golden hair, mesmerizing a lot of men. She changed the cover of the wounded that her busy assistants hadn''t done yet, admiring the material as she did so. It was now using a special plant-based gauze the lord created and applied herself. This was in contrast to the type they had been using more often, which were gauzes made by the factory. The formulation was also by the lord, but they were naturally less effective than the ones made by the lord herself. However, the lord did give them a couple of rolls of gauze she made herself for emergencies but, otherwise, they use the ones made by the factory. Do not underestimate the quality of the latter though, it was still much better than what she encountered in the city. This gauze could not only protect wounds but also had the effect of hastening wound healing. It was amazing and she, as a healer for many years, had never seen it before. It was just that she had heard that this particular patient was a close friend of the Lord (or rather, her brother''s), and hence had the honor of experiencing the special product. It was also quite expensive so she was not stingy with her charging. Fortunately, the people could choose to pay on credit, which was in turn monitored by the system. This time, she was taking off the gauze on the wound of the handsome young patient. When she took it off, the wound had been completely healed. "Sister, you''re amazing!" The patient''s twin said, eyes filled with admiration. "My brother was healed so quickly!" Betty smiled. "Well, much of it was due to this special gauze." "The expensive gauze you mentioned before," Luke mumbled. He heard a small bolt cost a dozen silver. Fortunately, Ansel passed by and gave him a bolt otherwise they''d be in debt like many others. "Well, it is said that cheaper gauze, with lesser effect, will be made commercially available soon." Betty paused and smiled, "Of course, I hope you never have to use it." Luke was mesmerized by her smile, staring at her with eyes filled with admiration. She was just his type: pretty and gentle, fit for his strong self. "You''re so pretty. Are you single?" Betty blinked, taken aback by the question, but she let out a chime-like laugh in response. "How old are you?" "I''m 19!" Betty smiled and, looking at the other men eavesdropping in curiosity, chose to tell them some facts. Because she had a decent level, she was also in her level 20 in her late 30s, she looked much younger. Nineteen¡­ was half her age. "Well, I''m 38." Silence ensued in the clinic. "I couldn''t tell!!" Luke exclaimed, his simple mind allowed him to react quickly. She was the same age as his mother. Suddenly, he remembered his still missing mother and felt sad. "Oh my, what''s wrong?" Betty asked worriedly. Did she somehow break him? "You are the same age as my mother." He said shoulders slumped, looking like a sad puppy. "We couldn''t find her yet¡­ "You just look so young¡­" Betty''s heart softened. "I''m sure she''s fine. Having two strong sons like you two, she is probably a strong woman herself." Luke nodded, while Leo watched on with interest, though also feeling worried for their mum. Soon, optimistic simple-minded Luke recovered and stared at Betty with admiration. "You really look young though, sister!" "Well, I entered level 20 in my 20s, so I aged slower at that point." "You''re level 20?!" He gasped, as did everyone else who was listening in. He was level 4, and he had been so proud of it, too! And also¡­ "You age slower?" Betty knew the Lord and her people seemed to lack some common sense here. "The average lifespan of professionals level 10 and below is unlikely to exceed 100. "But when one reaches 20, people could receive 50 to 100 more years." The twins looked at each other and then looked at their pitiful level 4. They thought they were already above average because they were nearing the peak of the level soon. Who knew even the most unassuming woman they met here was at level 20!! She wasn''t even a combat type right? Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They really must get stronger! So embarrassing!! Chapter 208 The Women of Xeno (Part 2) After a long time of small talk, the twins finally got checked out and said goodbye to her, as well as the people they knew still in the clinic. Betty watched the twins leave with a bit of melancholy. When she was in the city, she was also quite popular. She also reached a rare level 20 for a woman and was also a rare healer. She had suitors lining up. While she thought it was fine at first, in retrospect it was really suffocating. Every move was watched, every move was gossiped about, and nearly all her movements were limited. Not to mention, even if she was skilled, she was still a woman in the end. The men had taken for granted that she would at least accept some of their advances. It was incredibly discouraging. Why did she work so hard if she still had to pander after others, even to weaker men? It was probably why when one of her rivals¡ªpartnering with a man she rejected¡ªpulled some strings to enter her into a bad job placement contract, she didn''t fight too hard. It had been a few years since she started in these smaller places, and the previous ones were not much better than cities in terms of politics. However, she was safe, sound, and highly respected because of her level and skills, so no one dared to slight her. However, she never stayed in a place for more than three months. There were many reasons for this. Some of the small towns and villages she''d been to had been breached or lost in wars, while some she volunteered to leave because of politics, others were simply not worth her stay. But now¡­ She walked back to her patients with a smile. No regrets. ¡­ Lenny stared at the new factory and machines in front of her with amazement in her usually dull eyes. About a dozen machines her height formed a line, and all around her she could hear the rhythmic hum of diligent workers working to and fro to produce the fabric she loved. Teams of artisans and laborers seamlessly moved about, creating lovely end products soon to be turned into works of art. No, Lenny thought, this process itself was an art. The air thick with a sweeter scent¡ªit was cotton, they said¡ªgreeted her nostrils. There were rivers of white clouds on one side. Bunch by bunch, they were processed by specialized artisans, soon transforming into comfortable cloth that people could wear. It was fascinating. From what she gathered, the people here somehow redirected part of the river to make use of so-called water wheels that helped with many of the contraptions. Speaking of contraptions¡ªin the heart of the factory stood massive looms, domineering but also reassuring. She gently watched as their shuttles darted through warp and weft, weaving the threads together with precision. There was also a group of people in charge of dyeing or coloring, their heads often looking over cauldrons of color to check on their quality and consistency. She had seen the end products in the supermarket and it never failed to amaze her even if it wasn''t the first time she watched them. It was not the first time she had been here¡ªshe had been here every day since she was hired¡ªbut the carding and spinning of the fibers, the meticulous weaving and dyeing of the cloth, and the entire process never failed to amaze her. Lost in the beauty of the process, her mind churned with ideas, envisioning garments that even nobles would love. She slowly walked around the factory, eyes perusing the machines, trying to absorb their greatness with interest. She still remembered the day when the newly hired workers arrived. There were about a dozen women and a few men. That sight alone was rare for Lenny. Even in her field, it was usually dominated by men like everything else was. But here there was no difference. People just did what they did well. They greeted her enthusiastically. Because it was known she was an NPC¡ªwhatever it meant¡ªwho was working for the territory in a unique setup. Through the system, the territory announced that the public statement was that she would be her own entity and create a business in her own name and in a partnership with Ms. Althea. The difference was that the private individual would only have to pay a certain amount of tax in exchange. This made the people especially curious about her. Anyway, greeting them with newfound friendliness, Lenny continued on her way around the factory. The building was divided into four production lines. The first two processed the raw materials (cotton and hemp, they called them). The third one was the weaving into cloth, which fascinated her very much. While she waited for enough batches of cloth, she went to the fourth production line¡ªactual sewing¡ªwhich was her absolute love. The leader of this team was a woman named Jona, a kind woman who generously taught her team and her how to use the tools and several types of techniques, many of which were unfamiliar to her. This came as a big surprise. How many people had to work sweat and blood before learning specialized knowledge from someone? However, she saw that no one was as shocked as she had been, so she didn''t speak out. Lenny simply took this gratitude to heart and swore to help the other woman out in some other way. As they learned, they chatted, and she learned about the wonderful place these people had called home. Slowly, the life that had its vitality stolen when her son died, gradually healed. When her son died, she needed a place to escape, far away from the city she lived in. Villages were the farthest from cities, so she set her ideal destination as such. For years, she went from village to village, eventually numbing the pain. She thought it would be like this until she finally stopped breathing. And on her son''s tenth year of death, she was hired by a unique place. She did not even notice the time as they worked, they had already completed hundreds of bolts. Then she heard a bell and saw people stopped working. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Where¡­ are you going?" "Work hours are over~" "What?" People knew she was not from Terran and had an idea of the work culture in this place through the NPCs. Apparently, the aborigines often had to work until late at night, but the sun had barely even left the sky now, so they could understand the confusion. "We have a standard 10-hour work hours here, including break time. Any more will be as needed and we will get additional pay." Lenny''s dazed self was pulled out of the production line and out to the paved road outside. There, she saw the woodworking factory people and they greeted them amicably. "We''re going to the marketplace!" "There''s an event~" "Come, come with us~" "There''s an event in the marketplace! Fable would be performing later tonight. "Let''s eat our hearts out!!" Bianca said with a sunny smile, pulling her hand. She was a little startled, but she¡­ she didn''t pull it back. Soon, they encountered another group on the road. Lenny''s usually-dull eyes met with Brenda and Betty''s. No words needed to be said and the women smiled at each other, knowing what the others were thinking. They found it¡­ A place they could be themselves. Chapter 209 Inter-territory Connection (Part 1) That night. While most people had gone to the nightlife event¡ªsomething suggested by Ansel¡ªAlthea was at home bonding with her children. She had never been fond of the nightlife, especially not now that she had children. On the other hand, Sheila, Harold, and even Eugene were pulled in by their work teams. Althea had asked them to take some profit from the shops and treat the staff, as a belated celebration for the opening of many of her shops. The children were already in their bedrooms at this time, and though Maya had tried very hard to come with the adults, a little bedtime story got her snoring within a few minutes. Her babies though, were still full of energy because they had a good nap earlier in the day. But it was fine. She wanted to spend more time with them, anyway. She watched smilingly as her son rolled around the cot while her daughter tried endlessly to reach for the ceiling. "Silly babies¡­" she said with a chuckle. "I wonder where they got it from." A new voice sounded behind her, and she turned her head to see a warmly smiling Ansel, who rested his weight against the door jamb. It had probably been a while since he started watching them. "You''re already here?" Althea asked, surprised. He was the one who was organizing the event after all. "It''s all set up," Ansel said with a shrug, sitting down next to her on the carpeted floor. "I found I''ve grown out of that phase." He said, shrugging. Though he really had his fun and women, nothing beats a relaxing night at home with family. He had already lost too many loved ones, and he had long left that phase of his life. He turned to look at the utterly adorable babies on the cot, and he couldn''t help but poke the nearby Meatball''s chubby cheeks. "Mngwwaa" Little Meatball babbled, drooling, his cute eyebrows furrowed a bit. "Yes, I think you''re handsome too." Althea laughed. "Well, it''s good that you thought of a party though. Everyone needed a good place to just¡­ let it go. Safely and in a fun way." "Well, citizen happiness is also important in those infrastructure games I used to play." He said, winking, and Althea giggled again. Ansel smiled as he turned his attention back to the babies, and they played who rolled better and other tiring (dizzying) games until they fell asleep. Very proud of ''lulling'' the children to sleep, he turned to look at Althea, who was looking outside the window, deep in thought. The light of the two moons¨Cone reddish, one bluish¡ªcombined to give her face a different sort of illumination. Althea was as beautiful as always. With deep eyes, Ansel settled the babies before standing up and sitting closely beside her. "What''s the matter?" Althea didn''t speak for a while before sighing. "I just got a report from Rowan that the monsters outside are no more than level 3¡ªwhich were relatively uncommon to encounter in the first place. "Even Drake has stagnated to level 5." Next to her, Drake was the strongest Terran. The fact that he stagnated meant that everyone else probably would as well. "I''m worried. I''m worried that the monsters outside would be shockingly strong. What level would the monsters outside be? What level of mobs do we have to face after the protection period?" Ansel couldn''t help but recall the horrors of their first arrival. The lifting of the protection likely meant they would experience that again, maybe even worse. It made his heart drop to his stomach. "The NPCs¡­ they''re all at least level 15, and they had no haughtiness in them at all. Like, it was a normal level at their age." Ansel frowned. This was, indeed, worrisome. "I am wondering how to further increase our level before the Protection Period ends." Although the guards have been hunting around, she received reports that most of the mobs were level 1s and 2s. "Such weak mobs are not conducive to their level-up. A lot of people have stagnated." She, herself, didn''t even bother going out anymore. She would just tire herself for a little experience. Ansel looked at her in amusement. She was worrying about this issue so much. While correct and valid, he knew other territories were still worrying about how to deal with the current mobs. If other territories heard her concerns, they would definitely band together and hate on her. He sighed and stretched his hands in the air, placing them behind his back. "Even if the highest level is level 3, I wonder if there''s a way to call a mob of them." At least, they could upgrade by quantity. It was better than nothing. . . However, just as he said this, the light of idea simultaneously passed through their heads. They paused and looked at each other. It seemed¡­ that there really was a way to get these beasts to attack her? A Beast Tide. The one that came with an upgrade. Althea paused. It seemed she still had to aim to level up, after all. She opened her Lord tab and looked closely at the territory Stats. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 1002 (188 permanent, 814 temporary) Total Population: 1997 Base Resources: Wood: 9500/10000 Stone: 8200/8000 Money: 15591 Gold, 112963 Silver, 469497 copper Reputation: 110 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2) , Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv1) , Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] There was no indicator of what population needed to upgrade. However, based on some stories from the NPCs as well as the requirements of the previous upgrade, she could surmise that it was probably 1000 residents and around 3000 fixed population for 3 consecutive days. If so, then although the number of residents had met the standard, the population itself still lacked a thousand. "The problem is that our location is quite far from others. We were also established quite late, most people had already settled in the nearest territories by the time we were built." Althea then looked at Ansel and finally spoke about an issue she had been ruminating about for a while. "I have something I want to try, but I''ll need your assistance on this." Ansel straightened up. Will he finally be able to help? She nodded. Ansel was among the first group of newcomers who were not really refugees, but rather immigrants from other territories. This inspired her on what she could do next. Anyway, from what she heard, a lot of these territories weren''t very good. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Tell me!" Ansel said, a little antsy, and she smiled slyly at him. "Since people have already settled down¡­," She paused, "Then we''ll just have to attract them here, won''t we?" Chapter 210 Inter-territory Connection (Part 2) The siblings discussed for a long time, scheming¡ªer, planning¡ªon increasing the population by a thousand within the next few days. To facilitate the planning, Althea taught Ansel the Tagging technology of this continent, which amazed the latter very much. "So convenient," He said, awed, eyes staying on the various points on his map. Although Bull taught him how to exchange maps before, he didn''t know he could ''save coordinates'' and send it to others. In contrast with just the maps, the tagging system could assist directionally as well. This was actually more helpful to him, someone who didn''t have a stellar sense of direction, than just melding maps he may or may not understand. In a game, it was like that arrow that showed up on front of the character and you just had to follow where it was pointing at. "It''s amazing¡ªsome of the things that appeared here." "Indeed." Althea said with some emotion. "While some returned to the ancients, some became more convenient in a way that we couldn''t have had imagined. Very magical." Anyway, the two of them studied the expanded maps with the other territories Ansel had been to, namely: Vismont in the West and Bright in the Southwest. She saw that the straight line distances between both Bright and Vismont actually weren''t far. Vismont was less than 50 km while Bright was a little over this. Considering the terrain, the one-way trip to each one should take no more than a day. Ansel looked at the map with a complicated expression. Judging by the map, he pretty much missed Altera many times during his travels! Like, he took one or two wrong turns and he ended up in the wrong territory! "To think I took weeks to get here," he said, regretful he hadn''t arrived sooner. Maybe he could''ve been there when she was giving birth. Althea smiled at him comfortingly. "Well, if you had, we may have a lot of trouble meeting the requirements, right? "Nothing that happened needed be wasted," Althea said, sounding like an old woman. "Everything had its uses, and everything could be taken advantage of." Ansel stared at her deeply before nodding, patting his chest. "Let me lead this mission, Althea. Well, maybe you can lend me Rowan." Althea nodded, it was her plan anyway. Not only did Ansel know a lot about these territories and their lords, he was also a pretty good representative. Of course, she would still get Mathilda to send some of her officers to handle the diplomacy. However, Althea had always been a forward thinker. She didn''t want the surge of population to be so dependent on an exodus which, especially after the Protection Period, would definitely be more dangerous than it was now. "Other than attracting citizens, I have another task for you." She said, looking at him seriously. Ansel leaned over, very interested in contributing. "Tell me: What do we need to do?" He paused, "I mean other than attracting citizens." Althea traced over some path in her own territorial map¡ªwhich of course Ansel could not see. As Ansel mentioned, although the straight line distance wasn''t that far, the terrain definitely made it impossible to just traverse it so directly. So¡­other than attracting people, she wanted to send out another task. It was to create passive guidance towards the territory. That was: Pathways. Building stone paths would be too much work, for now, with the construction within the territory at full blast. However, clearing a simple trekking path and adding signs would be good enough. She told him of her plans and he nodded in agreement. "In this way, even when we''re not on a mission, more people could get here much easier!" He said, and he couldn''t help but remember his own struggles. If there was a path, he definitely would have taken less than half the time to find this place! Ansel was very excited about this change, as if improving it would make up for the failures of the previous days. "When will we start?" "Soon," She said, opening her Lord Panel. Before doing anything, she filled up the existing lands with housing depending on their zoning. She added more and more dormitories and commercial units. Since the supermarket, every commercial unit had been rented out. This was understandable because the supermarket provided raw materials for various industries to finally start working. There were thousands of people in the territory, each one had their own sets of knowledge to contribute to their Altera. Not to mention, any one with the slightest business sense knew that the sooner they started, the more money they''d make. The demand for stores would also rise up with the imminent surge of population. Hence, she would be building more of the type in the future. She planned to place a grocery store branch in the Western Avenue as well as the luxury areas. As for another supermarket, another building would wait for the next upgrade. The rest of the land was filled with farms and provisions for a few more factories. Satisfied with the maximization of the remaining space, Althea judged that they were now ready. She raised her hand, scheduling several announcements for the next day. ¡­ [11 days of Protection Period] The next day, other than the fact that the land had suddenly ''filled up'', a new announcement made the territory boil. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Territory Mission (A): Clear the Way to Neighbors Completion: Make a simple path to an existing territory Village (Level 2 and above). Minimum Requirement: A team with 70% Level 3 and above. Rewards: 5000 contribution points per team of ten people] [Side Tasks: Bring more people to the territory! Reward: 300 contributions per person for direct recruitment. 10-100 points for Indirect recruitment] Most people were still wiping the goo off their eyes when they saw the announcement. Without exception, their backs all straightened up, rereading the contents at least twice before reacting. After doing so, it could be said that all lethargy had been blown away. Oh my goodness! What a way to wake them up! The territory made another big move! Chapter 211 Preparations (Part 1) It was no exaggeration to say that the announcement got everyone out of their beds. For instance, in the dormitories, a few minutes after daybreak, all public/living areas were filled with teams meeting up. "What do you think?" Crow asked his teammates, eyes fixed on the new announcement. "Shall we join in?" He paused, looking at his teammates, "To Vismont?" At his question, Sunny and Dog nodded passionately. "I want to! I want to take meat from that guy!!" Sunny exclaimed, still remembering the humiliation they went through just before leaving. Dog''s fist clenched and raised up as if punching an imaginary Vismont Lord there. "We''ll make them bleed!" The trio looked at each other with sly excited smiles. Who couldn''t tell that the territory was trying to poach people? sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They would also be saving people with this, so they were technically doing good deeds too! "Let''s buy breakfast while we plan," Crow said, feeling his stomach grumbling a little. Before the announcement was made, they were planning to go shopping for breakfast in the marketplace just before going out of the territory to hunt and level up. It could be said that their stomachs adjusted to Altera''s standards very quickly. Crow still remembered that a few days ago, he could bear a day of hunger without any problems. Now, he was hungry at least thrice a day. He was getting spoiled, he thought. They probably wouldn''t survive in other territories after seeing the goodness of Altera. Hearing the plan for eating, the other two immediately nodded in agreement. And so, the trio headed to the Marketplace in a happy mood, quite looking forward to what they could do to those bastards! As they left the building, however, their feet paused as did the others. They looked around, realizing that the scenery had changed more than a little bit. Sunny tilted her head in wonder, "There seems¡­ to be a few more dormitory buildings????" "Wooowwww¡­" Dog mumbled as his rounded eyes looked and made a mental count. He couldn''t help but laugh as he counted, turning his head to his friends. "The territory''s really targeting a lot of people this time." Crow looked around in a relaxed mood and nodded. "Indeed. And, obviously, the territory will welcome them well." Sunny giggled and clapped her hands, "Now let''s make contributions and help the territory achieve it!" ¡­ The trio went to a random stall (there were so many choices) and waited patiently for their order as they chatted. "Will it be alright though? Is it safe?" Sunny couldn''t help but ask, slightly reconsidering after a bit more thought. "We naturally will be teaming up with the guards for safety reasons. Those Vismont pests don''t have a chance against our guards!" Dog smiled, and then huffed, crossing his arms. "Let''s see how that lord would iron this one out!" Crow nodded, looking forward to it. Then, a wisp of aroma went straight to their noses and to their hearts, completely halting the ongoing conversation. "Here''s your order!" The young girl said with a smile. "Three orders of Yui fruit bread and six orders of Gugu Bird dumplings!" The delicious smell of food wiped away the aggressiveness in them. Suddenly, Sunny was reluctant to leave. "But I want to relax more!" They''ve only been here a few days. Can''t they enjoy it more before heading out to battle again? Dog, who was no less aggressive a second prior, nodded in agreement. Crow looked at these two unstable idiots and rubbed his throbbing temple. "We can do that after we become permanent residents!" The contribution points would allow them several steps closer to this goal. They didn''t even have their own houses and could only live in dorms at the moment. Sure, the dorms were much, much, more comfortable than their lodgings in Vismont, but how could they be satisfied when they watched others steadily improving their lifestyles? How envious they were every time they saw a person or a family ''moving out'' of the dormitories to rent, or maybe even purchase, their own home! The two looked at him pitifully and he rolled his eyes. His sights ended up on the food on their hands, tasty, affordable¡­ ¡­and completely unavailable anywhere else. A flash of inspiration hit his head, and he let out a rare smirk that somewhat scared the other two. "E-ei. You alright bro?" "Crow??" Crow ignored their concerned looks and smiled at them, creeping them out even more. "Actually¡­ won''t we be able to attract more people if they gain a more intuitive understanding of the territory?" He asked them, "That is: We let them know about the resources and lifestyle the territory offers." The two gaped at him, a bit slow, and Crow decided to get to the point. "We could buy some things to sell there, and we would definitely be able to sell for a high price there." The two were in a daze for a while and brightened when they finally absorbed the implications. Genius! In this way, not only would they become permanent residents by virtue of their contribution points, but they could directly buy a house with the money they earned by reselling! Dog patted his back in glee. "I knew behind that dark exterior of yours is a very enlightened brain!" Crow''s mouth twitched. And so, for the rest of that morning, they borrowed money from Bull and started to source food with long shelf lives like rice, wheat, jerky, noodles, and the like. Calculating their overall money, they should be able to buy kilograms of each to sell. It was unfortunate they had a purchase limit¡­ even if their space was full, they could bring some bags with them right? If there were more than a handful of rickshaws available, maybe they''d rent them out too. Regardless, they really wanted to buy a lot more than this! Then again¡­, it seemed Bull already gave them a bulk of his money. Where else would they get another ''investor''? This wouldn''t do. They needed better deals. At this, Crow''s brain started churning ideas again, until it really landed on one. Crow paused and whipped his head towards his companions. "Isn''t boss Ansel related to the owner of the Supermarket?" The other two gasped, this time quickly understanding what he meant. Crow was really a genius! Chapter 212 Preparations (Part 2) In fact, the Vismont Trio were not the only group who had thought about this. The other teams heading to the other two territories had similar schemes brewing in their minds. While most people were heading to the West and South, some partnered with others to go to a new territory East. Basically, there were a lot of teams that were very interested in this mission. All of them had one or two people who were sly enough to see the business opportunities in this mission almost as soon as it was sent out. For instance, Luke and Leo (or more accurately, just Leo), also thought of the same thing as Crow and the others. This was the one variable that could get them a hell of a lot better deals: Ansel! So¡­ very early that day, Althea had to deal with someone''s cheesy pandering. "Althea~ Sister ~ Sister Althea~" This guy had almost always called her by name. When he called her ''sister~'' then he must have a favor to ask. "I have a favor to ask, I promise it''s win-win~" He said. "Continue." "It''s about the supermarket¡­" He paused, and Althea couldn''t help but look at her own accounting. She looked at the sources of income and saw how the Supermarket was doing. The turnover of the supermarket had always been very strong, it wasn''t until Ansel came with a sycophant smile on his face that Althea realized the sales were faster than usual. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea was actually quite interested. She crossed her arms and looked at him, "What do you want?" Ansel grinned. . . . An hour later, the supermarket posted an announcement through the Village Center. [Gaea Supermarket: In light of the new Level A mission sent by the territory, Gaea Supermarket will temporarily waive the purchase limits. This will be applicable only to teams registered for the inter-territory connection mission sent by the territory. There will also be a 20% discount for all temporary and permanent residents! Let''s help the village together!] . . This announcement made everyone absolutely thrilled. Those who had been hesitating due to the potential dangers were outright injected with courage. Why? Because they also thought what those teams thought: Business! Money! So many people rushed to the stores and not just the wood factory. If there were rickshaws available for sale or rent it was estimated all of them would also be swept out by now. Unfortunately, the wood factory refused because the rickshaws, without rubber, would definitely just give way in the current terrain. Anyway, regardless of whether there were rickshaws, the travel time was only one day and much of the food available easily lasted longer than that. For a while, all shops in the territory flourished even more. Fortunately, the latest batch of crops were just harvested and, with overtime work, the shops could meet the large demands of the market. Each factory was thus inundated with orders. It came to the point where Sheila and Harold hadn''t even sat down to rest for several hours straight. Althea, however, reminded them that the quality must not be compromised, and they followed this to the best of their abilities. Of course, not everyone was excited about just the money. Among the people joining the mission, there were also plenty who thought more deeply than the profit. Dennis was one of these people. "This is also a chance to find loved ones safely!" He said. He had a stable job as a farmer now. He could definitely provide for them well after he found them. Speaking of jobs, he really found the best. Ms. Althea was a goddess (like always) and announced anyone who joined the mission would get paid leave. Paid leave! "Right, right, right! My sister hasn''t been found yet! But I was too scared to go find her alone." "Yes, now teams will be led with level 3s or above it is safer!" "But I''m only level 2! Considering the competition for the slots, we wouldn''t be able to come then!" "Ugh! We must train harder so we can join the next Exodus!" "I hear half of the guards will also be joining." More and more people came to the village center to register to join in. The line to use the platforms reached past the square, and it was still growing. Of course, many of them knew it was a long shot to be approved. Even if 30% of the slots were for people below level 3, would they really choose non-fighters to come with them? Then, while someone was chatting with a friend as they waited, his peripheral vision caught sight of someone climbing down the second floor. "A new NPC!" He yelled and everyone on the ground floor turned their heads to the stairs simultaneously. The man was taken aback. What''s an NPC? Who? Him? Someone couldn''t help it and walked to him. "Welcome to Altera, Mr. NPC! Can we know what shop you''re building?" There were many words the new NPC did not understand, but he answered what he could. "I¡­ I am a Woodworker¡­ NPC. "I was asked by the lo¡­ the territory to find a man named Baron and cooperate with him." This made everyone pause and look at each other. This could be done? Then again, Ms. Althea seemed to have this privilege also? What an honor! Envy! The woodworker could only stare at the people in a daze, wondering what they were on about. It was indeed true that the lord asked him to work for Baron, in exchange for some tax. This way, she would not be the only ''individual'' to hire NPCs. She could also do this for future aborigine hired. After all, she wanted them maximized and placed where they could shine the most. The new NPC seemed a bit overwhelmed by the stares and quickly left as soon as he found out where this Baron guy was. This episode soon ended and their attention resumed to the upcoming mass Exodus. Everyone couldn''t help but imagine the gains of this trip, and they couldn''t help but chatter and cheer energetically at what was to come. Oh, how exciting! Chapter 213 Upgraded Farmlands [10 days of Protection Period] On the twenty-second day after the migration, nearly 80% of the territory''s population was wide awake well before daybreak. Althea watched as a hundred or so residents flowed out to explore almost as soon as the day began, before heading out of the house herself. She decided to perfect the current circle before the new wave of people came. Then, after the upgrade, she would use the expansion rights for two levels and use the best available walls. The current territory was big enough for her, but after the upgrade, it would quadruple its size. The high-level walls would also be very expensive. But she believed in the income of the territory. Even if it wasn''t, she would definitely find a way to build the strongest wall that could be purchased at her level. After everything, Althea was still heavily biased in defense. In any case, all these were problems for later. She went back to sleep and woke up when the light of the sun shone through and prepared herself and her babies for their morning walk. A couple of minutes later, Althea headed out and went to the farms with the strollers. In her current stage, the farms had the heaviest role in her economy. She had to pay special attention to it. Since she had added hundreds more farmlands last night, the farm area had now been maximized with more than 700 fields. Some of which were in the mountains, mostly orchards for cocoa and coffee. Out of the 700 fields, about half of which were still being planted, as most were just ''reclaimed'' yesterday. As for the older fields, a lot of the rest with short-cycle plants were already harvested. One of the more important harvests was cotton, which was the crop''s first main harvest. This also meant their supply could increase by leaps and bounds, and the clothing stores lined up would finally open. With the help of her pharmacist-grade fertilizers and the farms, as well as some hired assistance from Farming elder Gru, the few dozen of the fields dedicated to the plant had flourished. For her personal garden fields back home, she focused on more sensitive plants (local or Terran) as well as breeding new Terran plants and creating seeds. When the quantity of seeds was enough and sustainable, she would also open a seed store for both local and Terran plants. However, because of their special status, only permanent residents would be allowed to purchase seeds, and still in a limited quantity. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Other territories could also go into a partnership with her, but she''d definitely give a high price. Back to her garden, she went to one section she dedicated to Terran flowers like roses, orchids, and the like. It was a sea of color and an immersion in fragrance. It was an incredibly beautiful sight. The kids babbled happily at the lovely surroundings that occupied their senses. Anyway, she had long confirmed that they didn''t have allergens so she didn''t worry too much about the babies'' exposure. After a relaxed walk, she soon ended up in the greenhouse under construction. With the help of Eugene and Oslo, a small greenhouse was about to be built and tested. For now, it was made of Youli stone and insulating materials and theoretically workable and duplicable. Time would tell how effective it was, but it was still a step in the right direction. Overall, the agricultural aspect of the territory was on track and that alone let her heave a huge sigh of relief. Like defense, food sustainability was her main focus for the territory. "What a relief¡­" she said, looking over at her babies, "You don''t have to suffer growing up." "Mmhhammmngama~" "Googlrhhgh" She giggled and played with the babies for a while, until the familiar ding sounded in her mind. [It has been detected that a total of 100,000 kilograms of plants have been harvested in the farmlands. [The Farmlands are now eligible for Upgrade! [Plants in Lv 2 farms will be granted 30% increase in productivity and 100% increase in survivability. [Would you like to upgrade all existing farmlands for 723 gold?] She flinched in shock as she stared at the notification. An upgraded farm? Survivability?! YES. Yes, of course. She had always worried about what would happen to her plants when one of those annual extreme weather changes happened. They all worked so hard in these fields. Not only would she feel sad, but it was estimated the entire territory would be depressed. This upgrade was just what she needed. Of course, the greenhouse would still be retained. Survivability was increased by 100%, but this was very misleading. After all, what was the actual value of survivability that was doubled in the first place? 10%? 5%? Maybe even less? Maybe the change was even negligible? However, Althea thought that any improvement in this field was a welcome one. She was sure the others would, too. She didn''t lack that amount of gold, anyway. However, as someone who didn''t take losses, she also made an announcement to the territory. [Farmlands have now been upgraded to Level 2. The rental fees after 1 plant cycle will be increased by three times. [Level 2 farmlands have increased production of 30%, 100% increase in survivability, 50% resistance to extreme weather changes] [Those who hope to rent Level 1 farmlands shall request for new fields in the Village Center] She nodded. This was fair. Anyway, there were a remaining ten or so hectares in the agricultural area, dedicated to raising free-range breeding of Gugu birds and, in the future, other livestock. They didn''t need too much space for now. She could give some space to people who hoped to retain the level 1 farmland and build them there. Of course, this was only in the unlikely case that someone would rather have the cheaper default option. It was also worth noting that the very expensive upgrade was probably not really based on the additional 10% productivity, but on survivability. Hopefully, the citizens understood this well enough. After all, some time ago, she had made sure everyone was aware of the imminent weather changes, at least to a certain degree. She had announced the news she got from the NPCs through the information tab. She even pinned it so it wouldn''t get buried in the plethora of information coming in every day. By this time, most people should be aware of the unusual weather patterns of this world. No matter what, she wanted everyone to be prepared for whatever they might encounter. To the best of their capabilities, anyway. Chapter 214 Other Resources Anyway, whatever would happen, her beautiful fields were here at present and she ought to appreciate them. She looked down at the two babies, who she realized had been staring at her in curiosity all this while. She giggled, leaning down to give them a few kisses. She lifted them out of the stroller and walked around the flower fields with them, telling them their names and uses. The babies didn''t understand anything, of course, but they loved hearing their mother''s gentle voice, and they were giggling the whole time. Some minutes later, she walked back to the stroller and settled the twins back there. She took out her phone¡ªnewly charged by solar batteries¡ªfrom the Space and took photos of the beautiful scenery. With a smile, her video turned to the cuties inside the stroller. The two children smiled and laughed as if they knew what she was doing. They were both very photogenic. She then raised her arm to take a selfie of the three of them. With the screen also facing the babies, she showed them the picture they took together. Althea smiled at how cute they were, her finger robotically hovering on the send button, unconsciously about to send the photo to her husband. "..." Sigh. Pushing back the pang of longing, she just leaned down the stroller and smacked her babies'' cheeks with kisses. Her husband wasn''t here, but she could love the children for him as well. Her mood turned a bit dour regardless. With a sigh, she decided to open the panel to distract herself and then turned to look at the overall status of the territory. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 1015 (188 permanent, 827 temporary) Total Population: 2124 Base Resources: Wood: 9660/10000 Stone: 8310/8000 Money: 15611 Gold, 113263 Silver, 478197 copper Reputation: 110 sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Buildings: Village Center (Lv2) , Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] They hung out there for a while until she decided to walk back home. She started pushing the stroller forward and the children, who were cooing adorably in place, laughed at the sudden jolt. Her heart softened and filled with fluff at the sight of them, but in the back of her mind she thought of how her husband was and how he might be suffering so far from them. She reached the main avenue in a melancholic mood. As she walked, she saw a couple of acquaintances hanging around in one of the breakfast shops on the East avenue. It was Gru, and he was happily bonding with Harold and Clutch. From what she could see from where she was, they were laughing boisterously in an old-man sort of way, and she couldn''t help but smile a bit. The friendship of old men was a joy to watch and she liked listening to them sharing stories. So today, she decided to join them. "Boss!" "Ms.Althea!" "Milor¡ªMs. Althea." She smiled. "Good morning." And the men greeted her, clearing up a space for her to sit comfortably. Like Harold, who already ate breakfast at home, she only ordered some finger foods. Working hours didn''t start until an hour later, and these guys loved spending time as soon as the day started. Gru seemed to have read the notice and was very very happy. "Have you read the news? It''s amazing!" Althea nodded and smiled. "Our road to self-sufficiency will only get richer." The old man nodded repeatedly and hummed. Althea paused as she saw Clutch, she decided to ask some doubts about it. "You mentioned there will be extreme weather changes once a year or two, right?" He nodded, and Gru looked focused. The territory had said something about this, but not enough information was provided to do much about it. "How are the plants affected by it? The ones already planted as well as the plants to be planted." "I only know that existing plants old enough in good farmland have a chance of survival. Otherwise, the plants would just go to waste. Further, new plants would not grow." Gru gaped at them and his eyebrows furrowed in worry. "The upgraded farmland will definitely increase survivability but I doubt it would be high. We need to figure out other ways." Althea nodded. The extreme weather lasted for half a month to a month, she just needed to ensure the stock lasted. Even better was to create a condition where plants could grow even in the harshest of weathers¡­ Giant greenhouses? The sort that spanned acres? Making a small greenhouse in her backyard was no problem, but creating large structures was a different problem altogether. Did she have the technology for it? No, unfortunately not. Anyway, there was no use worrying about it too much for now¡ªalbeit research for it would definitely continue and be expedited. She still had so many things to improve that were within her control, but no less important. For example, salt. A necessity for long-term health and survival. Fortunately, the rock salt mission was very popular. Although it was a bit far, the pay was very good and they were promised a certain amount of processed salt. As for the processing, although not many people knew how to process salt, there would still be a handful of people who did. She hired them all. What she worried about was the eventual thinning of the rock salt. By her estimate, it could still last a few years, but this world was too unpredictable. Who knew, maybe there''d be an earthquake and all the rocksalt would disappear? She shivered. Scary. She made a mental note to prioritize looking for other sources of salt as well, though from what she heard their approximate location might be too far off the sea. Another mission that had been going on was the uprooting of young Waul Trees. The past few days she had already filled half a field with them. Soon they would have a ready source of resin and the like, which would push their technology another step forward. Finally, the Gugu Bird missions were also very productive. There were also people who rented fields and used some of them to raise the chickens. In this way, there would also be plenty of other channels of production, there would be richer products, richer pockets, and a richer treasury. In any case, whatever happened with all these uncertainties, she was happy to see the territory was on track. No matter what, she would prepare what was to come the best she could. And she knew her citizens would do the same. They were all Alterans, after all. Chapter 215 Pathways Meanwhile, outside the territory, the people on the pathfinding mission were already past the first leg. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For the first leg of the trip, the people heading Southwest and West traveled together. There were plenty of reasons for this. First, it would reduce the cost of the formation of the pathways, as there would be shared paths. This would also increase the chances of convergence between parties, increasing safety against enemies. Third, according to the consolidated maps they had gathered, they found that even if there were flatter lands southwards, the land after it was rough terrain. It was simply not practical to segregate early on. For those going to Bright village, this was choosing a relatively harder terrain at first then going a smoother trip. Over all, it was a more practical, safer, and faster path for them to join the Vismont team at first. And finally, and most importantly: The more, the merrier. "Finally almost halfway there!" Ansel said, stretching his arms as they walked forward. He looked at his team in front that was clearing up the path. The teams going South to Bright Village were Ansel, Derek, a handful of guards, and several scores of citizens. On the other hand, the team going West to Vismont were Rowan, the twins, the Crow trio, a score of guards, and about a few scores of citizens. The contrast was because Vismont was tagged as a potentially aggressive territory while Bright, although with a Lord of questionable origin, had more sincere consideration for the citizens. "Are you excited to see other villages?" Sunny asked her new friend, Cassie who, like her, was a rare level 3 among the girls. The other girl nodded. "I hope to find my little brother. He was playing with his friends when it happened." She had heard that most people who survived the first transformation would have a relative or two who also survived. She and her grandmother had been anchoring on this as they made a life for themselves in Altera. Her grandmother, a former seamstress, had gotten a job with the new seamstress NPC who was planning on renting her own store in the territory. The pay was very good and safe and Cassie really had no worries with leaving for a few days. This was especially true since after entering level 2, her grandmother''s knees had really gotten better. Now, she just hoped to find her teenage brother and their family would be complete. Sunny, on the other hand, was very envious. Unlike most people here with relatives within the country, hers weren''t. She was actually a foreigner in Eden, she lived most of her life in the Western country of Aubros. She simply got into an international exchange program that was scheduled to end the month the disaster happened. Fortunately, a lot of her good friends survived, and they were getting through it together. Similar conversations echoed within the group, and they chatted about their lives and dreams (of course, they tried to do so without losing focus on the surroundings). Along the way, the group followed the Territory instruction of clearing a trekking path and placing signages in visible areas. The trekking paths were created by moving loose stones to keep the plants from growing too quickly. If often used, it could stop the growth of plants in those pathways. As for the signages, each team was provided with a hundred, secured by the guard team. These signages were provided by Baron''s company, and bought by the system for contribution points. One had to note that these weren''t normal signages. This was created by the new Level E Woodworker NPC that was hired by Baron for a whooping 20 gold a month. Speaking of Baron, he was very shocked when he found an NPC outside his door, and even more shocked at the asking price. Baron always felt that the territory itself had commission for this hire, but he had no proof! But still, he hired the guy, one was for goodwill, but more importantly, his sharp business eyes really could see potential in this aborigine. No matter what, he still believed the territory wouldn''t force its citizens in a disadvantageous position. And he was very glad he followed this instinct because the product this guy made was really magical! For instance, the signage bought in bulk by the ''travelers'' was not the normal wooden sign. These signages were not only good to look at, it even had a passive effect of attracting attention, literally! It could attract the attention of any intelligent creature within 5 meters of its location. What could this mean? This meant magic ads, damnit! Further, and perhaps more importantly, the direction could be set permanently. That was to say that if the signage was accidentally misplaced, it would always point to the direction set when it was first installed. This naturally created huge demands. Not only for those on this mission, but for the many shop owners in the territory! The woodworker''s schedule was filled for the next couple of days, with the orders amounting to hundreds. It could be said this business boomed. But if anyone was surprised at how well the products were doing, it was the creating NPC himself. Houser, a mere level E woodworker, didn''t have a good life even after awakening the occupation. This was because he received only skills related to these traditionally labeled ''useless'' things. He thought that he''d spend his life making unpopular works so he could only last a decent territory for a month or two before being let go. Who knew he''d be commissioned to create hundreds of his works almost as soon as he got hired? The poor old man almost cried. However, this fact cemented yet another loyal-borderline-obsessed aborigine to Altera. ¡­ The journey of the two combined groups was smoother than anticipated. They had encountered several mobs along the way but they were just level 1s and very few level 2s. The minimum requirement for joining the mission was level 3, so it was basically a breeze. This came as a relief to all of them. But, of course, the guards didn''t stop reminding them to keep their vigilance. How embarrassing would it be to get injured on advantageous plains? In any case, the two parties were set to separate a few kilometers from Altera, in a small valley at the end of the mountain range. It was a predetermined intersection decided when Derek, Rowan, and Ansel were studying the topography. This place might not be exactly equidistant from the two territories, but it was a location highly visible even if people came from different directions. The terrain also allowed it to be better protected against the open air and winds. At the same time, its altitude was not so low that it would easily fall victim to flash floods. Soon they arrived at the place and set up camp. A relatively large stone platform was formed at this time, about ten square meters. They also added grout-like substances, stone chairs, and others. They were careful not to damage the soft surfaces until they were cured. They also set up rough easy-to-build sheds around this circle, as sturdy as it could be considering the limited time and materials it was made of. In the middle of the stone circle was a small soiled area with stones stacked up, and some wood and leaves as fuel in the center. Above it was a huge metal pot, which was something Oslo manifested with all his power that day because of its permanence. This would allow passersby to cook a meal well, to add energy to their journey that would still take a couple of hours. Of course, they made sure to tie it to the ground to keep unscrupulous people from taking it away. Rowan watched as the team did as the territory asked with enthusiasm. He was curious, as this was not rewarded at all, so he asked the one nearest to him why they were being so detailed. The man looked at him in surprise, but then his expression became melancholic. "I just think¡­ It would be good if my children could find this path. I thought it would be good for them to find such a good place to rest..." Rowan''s eyes faltered and he nodded, finally understanding what the Lord meant before they left. Before leaving, the Lord instructed them to make sure the paths would be built well. Build them with comfort and hope in mind. He knew that the Lord planned to make this into a rest area. The Lord said that if they could get more people with Builder Occupation, she would build sturdier rest houses in these intersections. The Lord was really so kind, so considerate. And the people¡­ Rowan looked around at the people enthusiastically doing more than ordered for people they didn''t even know they''d see again. Some people even placed some non-perishable foods on makeshift stone trunks and boxes. Some even left covered earthenware for ''destined people'' to find. These were all without rewards and at no prompt of the guards at all. Rowan couldn''t help but be touched by the camaraderie and sense of a bigger self these people had. He hoped that the people would find the path the Lord and her citizens built for them. He didn''t know them and yet¡­ he inexplicably found himself praying for them. Chapter 216 Trouble at the Entrance It was late in the afternoon when the west-bound group arrived in the vicinity of Vismont Village. The familiar wall was there, and it was as ugly as ever. Among the group of nearly a hundred or so people, a certain trio couldn''t help but huddle together for a discussion. "Afraid?" Crow uttered, dark eyes staring at the level 2 fence in front of him. They knew very well what they were set here to do would rouse ire from the higher-ups of this territory. It was difficult to believe that a few days ago, they were being bullied so harshly simply for speaking out. But now? They came back to bully it in turn. This was the power of having a backer. Dog pompously scoffed at his question, but his shaking knees gave him away. "We have Rowan here." Sunny looked a little worried. "What if that guy hires NPCs too?" "Last time the village center was only one floor¡­" Dog said, but his voice was a bit quieter than before. "...he probably¡­ can''t¡­?" "How long ago was that? So much could happen." The group chatted as they approached the gate. Their eyes were soon met with the sight of quiescent guards lounging about. They were lazy in their stance, uninspired with their jobs, and someone was even carelessly sitting down and eating fruit while slowly falling asleep. However, the arrival of their group made enough noise that it woke up every one of the guards. Their group was not too big compared to the refugees who immigrated from fallen villages, but they were not small either. Seeing Crow, Dog, and Sunny, the eyes of a few guards narrowed. "You look a bit familiar." They did not deliberately hide their identities, one was for pride, and the other was they had no way: Fabric was still expensive and they couldn''t make mystery robes. "Well, we lived here before." The guards sneered, looking at them smugly. "Oh? You like living in the wild, then?" This guy obviously looked up to this territory so much that he didn''t think there''d be any better situation outside of it. He did not even notice their clean skin and clothes. Neither did he see their healthy complexions. However, he did see the items they were carrying. "What''re in the bags?" "Resources we''re trying to sell," Crow said blandly, implying it was just wood and stone as anyone else would think. After all, bluntly lying to this ''customs officer'' and getting discovered would definitely get them in a lot more trouble than it was worth. Most of the guards scoffed in distaste and were about to let them pass. However, someone had a very good nose and got a whiff of the supposedly scentless food inside. It put Dog''s name to shame. "Wait!" He said, trudging in front of them. He had a large belly, an amazing thing considering the state of food when they left. He sniffed at Sunny''s backpack, sending goosebumps. Dog frowned and pulled her closer to him. The guard did not notice this exchange, his attention was completely on the bags. "Oh? Smells good. Let me see." He looked curious, extending his grubby hands to the nearest bag, his tone non-negotiable. They frowned but had no choice but to show. Sunny reluctantly opened the backpack, revealing a lightbox containing the lightest food that was most practical to carry: Biscuits. They didn''t look very special by Terran standards, but it was enough to make the guards widen their eyes and drool. "Yoooo¡ª" "Bloody hail!" "B-Biscuits?!" When they saw everyone was carrying a flimsy cotton backpack, their eyes sparkled. They didn''t even think of asking where it came from but just looked at them greedily. So many days of that horrendous food must have gotten to their brains. The Alterans frowned at the sight of their greedy faces. This was not the type of ''hype'' they had hoped to receive. The guards cheered as they looked at the bags of the other people. It was as if it was already theirs. "Wow! Jerky!" "Shit, is this instant noodles?! Why do you have so many?" "Soft bread!" "This is rice cakes! Holy cow!" Then the leader, a bulky man who went by the name of Brong, couldn''t help narrowing his eyes at the odd group. "They must have more in their space." This made everyone frown even deeper. A few were even prepared to start fighting. Then, letting the tense air ferment, Brungo grinned, showing his ugly golden teeth. "But we are not corrupt people. Things in people''s space stay in people''s space." However, before their team could heave a sigh, Brungo smiled and looked at them, tone as if he was giving them alms. "We are good guards, and we will only require what you hold right now." His subordinates grinned, arrogantly stepping forward to near their harvest. "You''ll need to leave this here to enter." He said with an unquestionable tone. Dog, Sunny, and more immediately went to mother hen mode to protect their stuff. But the more composed ones managed to calm them down. It was Crow who stepped forward to talk it over. He addressed Brungo, being the leader and all. "We can indeed give them to you," Crow started, earning the shocked gazes of his friends. He raised his hand to stop them from speaking. "But we don''t have to pay the temporary fees and accommodation for a week. And you will still have to give us a few gold up front. That is their value." A guard sneered. "Are you stupi¡ª" "Are you willing? Or do we make a scene, calling the Lord for hiring gangsters as guards?" Crow cut him off with a threat, trying to keep his stance confident. He wasn''t even lying. These bastards really were gangsters. The gangster guards were triggered and glared. Some were indeed worried, while others were just aggressive. These people stepped forward to grab Crow but a pair of hands appeared in front of them, holding the two men down. The two were a little startled, not yet absorbing how effortlessly they were both stopped by a hand and glared at its owner. "Who are you?" The bigger one asked, and was a little startled at the man''s look: He was a lot taller than they were, more muscular, and he had unusual crimson-colored hair and eyes. "We don''t want trouble," The mysterious red-haired man said. "Then pay up!" The guards said, saliva splattering on their faces. Rowan''s face darkened, and even his subordinates shivered. Fortunately for the Vismont guards, Rowan had a calm personality despite his turbulent element. "We did mention our terms." Calmly, Rowan simply repeated their conditions. "If you cannot pay for it, then do not ask for it." This naturally angered the guards, who yelled at him in turn. "You don''t tell me what to do¡ªOUCH!" Rowan placed the appropriate amount of force to restrict them and make them feel a little pain. Primarily, it was to stop them from speaking and splatter saliva all over him. The two men paled when they realized they couldn''t move an inch. They raised their eyes to meet the terrifying odd-colored eyes of the man. Who still wore contact lenses at this juncture? Still red ones? More importantly, why was he so strong? As guards, many of them were level 3 already, but they had no chance against this guy! "Are you letting us pass or not?" Rowan asked with a calm tone, but the pressure of his grip was gradually getting stronger. "Fine, fine!!" The men squeaked like slaughtered Gugu birds. "We''ll let you go, let you go!" Rowan scoffed and released his grip. The sudden loss of holding force and the pain drove the two aggressive guards to their knees. Rowan then motioned for the group to step towards the interior of the territory. Seeing that the guards were not moving, he nodded and also turned away. However, certain guards were not reconciled. Together, they sprinted towards his back, aiming to destroy his spinal cord. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They gave evil smirks as their feet approached the redhead''s back, but suddenly he disappeared in front of them. Things happened quickly. The next thing they knew huge hands landed on their faces and pushed them down back first on the ground. Bang! "What??" They couldn''t even fathom what just happened when they realized things didn''t even end there. A moment later they felt their skin heating up, and they soon realized that their faces felt like it was burning. "AHGGHHHH!!!!" "WHAT THE HECK AHHHHH!!!" Rowan took off his hand, leaving pinkish handprints on their faces. He abruptly lunged at Brungo, hitting him on the leg, forcing the man to kneel down in front of him. Rowan''s instincts told him the two were ordered, and he would not let this man go without a warning. "You should control your own people," he told them, voice deep and heavy. "Because you will also get blamed for the troubles they cause." "You!!" The man gasped, pale from the pain. He gritted his teeth and glared, but fear was evident in his eyes. Rowan looked down at the kneeling figure, sneering. "No wonder they were so weak, their leader is disgusting. "Be thankful I just heated up their faces. "Next time¡­" He paused, red eyes even more menacing than before. "It will really¡­ burn." Chapter 217 Vismont Village Again No more incidents at the entrance happened after that, primarily because no one was around. The group entered the territory without further ado, the guards'' eyes sending daggers on their backs. "Won''t they make trouble?" Sunny asked worriedly. "Oh, they will." Crow sneered, "But we''ll handle it." As he said this, Crow paused and looked back, his dark eyes glazing over the guards twitching in pain on the ground. "Maybe we can use this chance to enlighten more people about this lord they adore." ¡­ [Welcome to Vismont Village (Lv2)! Please pay 10 copper coins for an entry pass. [If you have to avail residency please pay 20 silver for temporary residence and 20 gold for permanent.] Looking at the new rates, the old residents couldn''t help but look at each other. "Except for the Visitors pass, did he increase the price?" Dog frowned and Bull sneered. "Why am I not surprised." He said, "I bet he told everyone to be thankful he managed to keep the visitors pass the same." Unfortunately, it just so happened that there were citizens gathering wood and stone that overheard this sarcasm. "Of course the Lord increases the price! The territory is level 2 now!" The old man said, and a middle aged woman next to him nodded. "The territory protects us, gives us shelter and food! What is working a little harder? Besides, those who can only pay daily fees aren''t affected at all!" "Yes, yes." "Our Lord is very kind." The rainbow fart session was obviously going to last for a while. They couldn''t help but roll their eyes (furtively, of course), and they politely excused themselves. The more tactful members of the group apologized, and some were amicable in chatting with them. At least, the people here weren''t ungrateful. At this point, they had to give it to Matthew. He was very good at brainwashing people. They walked along the forest path. It was narrow and rough, just as one would expect in untouched forests. They passed through a worn path made by frequent traffic passing through, heading to where more people were. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Footsteps muffled by the leaves and twigs, the group continued to walk for a few more minutes. Soon, the scenery changed and the path grew wider and more pronounced. They began to hear the familiar bustle of crowds. They were then hit with the strong smell of people that hadn''t taken a bath gathered together, combined with the sticking scent of human waste. "Ugh¡­" Dog groaned, pinching his nose. Everyone else had scrunched up faces. But¡­ they pushed through and went further into the territory, eventually reaching the community that lived there. There were several flimsy huts leaning against each other. There were even some outright sheds made of twigs and leaves and they looked so unstable that a small wind could topple it all. There were also tents¡ªmakeshift mostly, but a few were Terran camping tents. They were grouped together, forming a certain circle on their own, and surrounding a bonfire that seemed to serve the entire community of thousands. Wherever they looked, it was more or less the same. Everywhere, the crowd was dense and disorganized, and frankly very, very, gross. However, it was worth taking notice that they had encountered the slums much earlier than the last time, indicating the population boom the territory experienced. By visual judgment, the population lost during the last beast tide had been recovered by new sets of refugees. They wouldn''t be surprised if they found out there were over 10,000 people in here. No wonder the territory sent them out. Compared to others, their population growth was really very slow. After all, the location of the territory was really hidden. Most people wouldn''t think of climbing mountains to find civilization, right? Putting these thoughts aside, they went straight to the slum neighborhood, which was becoming more and more derelict as the days passed. Although there were obvious attempts to hygiene, the sheer density of people made the smell unable to mask. They frowned at the increasingly obvious horrendous smell of human waste in the area. Of course, they also knew that the impact was so strong because they were used to the beautiful and clean atmosphere in Altera, and they were even more thankful to the territory for providing such a home. Squelch Someone paused their steps, and slowly looked down to see what caused the sound and the sensation, praying that whatever he was imagining was incorrect. Unfortunately, his prayers weren''t heard, and he paled at the disgusting sight that was now his shoe. "Fuuuuuuddgeee¡ªI stepped on shit!" "Gross!" Even Rowan, who had grown up seeing this dirt, was creeped out. He was now completely an Alteran. Anyway, a lot of the people had maintained their sensitivities. They had been used to the cleanliness of Terran before and now, in Altera. It made them extremely queasy compared to their peers. "Eww!" "Geez¡ª" The women outright squeaked and some even screamed. "What the heck!" One man yelled, stepping away, only to step on another one. "FUUUDGEEE!!!" The locals rolled their eyes. Where did these spoiled brats come from? "Go away!" One said, "I don''t know where you''ve been but everyone''s barely surviving right? Did you just get transferred?" In their annoyance, a lot of people missed the newcomer''s new clothes and temperaments. They were struggling so much and their brains were wired to find food, water, and their required nutrients. How could they notice these details? The Alteran group blushed a little, ashamed, but still feeling very very grossed out. A few took an earthenware bottle out and the other a bamboo bottle, and poured water on their feet. The locals looked at them like they were murderers. "WATER!" "Why would you waste that!!" A cacophony of yells reached their ears, partnered by angry faces. Fearing that they''d be mobbed, the Alteran group could only escape to a less dense place before making any more plans. They definitely did NOT plan for this! Chapter 218 Setting Up Shop Before heading to this place, they had imagined being mobbed by a crowd¡ªbut only because they loved their products so much. They were looking forward to being ''hot-pancakes'' for a while. They would never have imagined being mobbed because they washed poop with water¡­ Fortunately, Rowan and the others were very scary so everyone managed to get out unscatched. Though not without stepping on a number of shit on the way there. Ugh. However, no matter how torturous, they valiantly trudged through, ending up in less populous places that didn''t know who they were. This time they were careful and went to the forests to wash up. They settled in another slum with a new start, now very very careful at where they stepped on. Anyway, regardless of the horrible first impression, they still decided to start their movements with the ''poor population'' first. They had considered selling their goods near the village center as they would definitely buy for a much higher price at first, but decided not to in the end. After all, the money-making was not the main goal of this trip. The pirating¡ªerr, rescue and recruitment¡ªmission was. It also gave the most rewards, if done well. This was why they were focusing on the slums, at least at the start, because they would be the easiest to convince by promising a better life. This was in stark contrast with the people near the village center. Basically, those who lived near the center already invested much of their wealth in the territory. No matter how dreamlike a territory they portrayed Altera to be, they might not be willing to leave. It was a natural thing. After all, who would want to waste their wealth and just jump a leap of faith? Besides, they weren''t missionaries. Who was to say they would be able to ''convert'' these people? Of course, some of them who brought in the ''luxuries'' like cloth and wooden products could sell them to these people with a huge mark-up. These ''rich'' people would be much more likely to be willing to spend money on comfort, as they had already met their basic needs. In this way, they could earn a contribution for recruiting ''the unfortunate'' and earn good money from the rich. It was a great strategy and the team felt very proud of it. With renewed energy, the group went past the dense crowd and continued walking, settling in the small buffer forest between the slum area and the built area where the horrendous stench was the least. The trio couldn''t help but look around as they did so, making a mental map of the territory in their minds. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The built area was located where the slums had been the last time they were here. At the very least, the construction of residential buildings had not been lax. The team took out some sheets to sit comfortably in and set up some of the food items they planned on selling. There were biscuits, breads, jerkies, dried fruits and others, and each one made the bystanders'' eyes widen like saucers. In fact the moment they wastefully took out cloth to sit on, people already took notice of them. Then they started displaying food items and people rushed in. Although they couldn''t really tell what were displayed¡ªor rather, they couldn''t believe it¡ªthey couldn''t help but feel excited at the sight of new things. Fortunately the Alteran guards were there to intimidate and the people dared not to rashly approach any further. With the guards blocking, the crowd was frozen a meter or so away from where the team was setting up. Their sights were fixed on the shop being set up, eyes following every movement of the ''stall owners''. Slowly, it dawned on them that they were indeed seeing what they were seeing. "Is that¡­ what I think it is?" "Rice!?" A yell. "That is rice, right? Although it''s blue?" He wasn''t sure because he might just be colorblind due to excessive hunger. "Biscuits?" A gasp beside him sounded. "Bread!" came a scream. It did not end there as a lot of others started taking out their stocks as well. If the people''s eyes were wide before, now they had turned as round as saucers. "Noodles?" "Jerky!" "Strawberry jam!!!" The exclamation in front attracted more and more people, very curious as to what the commotion was about. One of these people was Okuri, a narrow-eyed girl with short hair. She looked at the commotion with raised eyebrows, turning her head to look at her boyfriend Ronny. "What are they doing?" She asked, frowning, "Why are they chanting food?" She asked the man beside her, continuing her mumbling, "Are they playing a game or something? "Did that shitty gruel finally climb up their brains?" She continued to ask. Ronny only shook his head as his eyes stayed on the crowd, also very very curious. Okuri naturally saw how her boyfriend''s eyes stuck to a direction and she sighed. "Shall we take a look?" She asked and Ronny''s eyes brightened. He grabbed her hand and dragged her there, amusing Okuri. If this man could speak, maybe he''d start chanting random foods himself soon. Anyway, whether it was curiosity or fun, more and more people gathered, making the place a little more chaotic than usual. "Line up properly!" A voice inside the crowd yelled, and surprisingly those upfront followed religiously, making those behind even more curious. Their people were so obedient with people other than the Lord and his cronies? In any case, because the crowd in front cleared up, the things displayed soon became visible to those behind. Okuri''s narrow eyes widened (as much as it physically could), and she was one among many others. They finally realized that the earlier crowd weren''t chanting anything¡ªthey were yelling out what they saw! The Vismont people watched in awe. Their brains couldn''t believe it, but the drools dripping said their stomachs believed it. This glorious array of food they never thought they''d see again was blinding their eyes! How¡­ how was this possible!? Chapter 219 Prying Corners (Part 1) In order for the guards to not drown in the crowd, the team decided to keep the selling area in a small spot for ease of guarding, with the people divided into three batches of sellers. The first batch was Crow''s group, the former residents of Vismont. Crow''s team was relatively poor, and they could only afford the more affordable food like biscuits, the cheapest bread, and processed Gouji fruit like Gouji jams and dried Gouji. This was a small variety to them but, to the eyes of the Vismont citizens, they opened up a cornucopia. Their eyes stuck in the products as if afraid they would disappear if they blinked. The paper was still under development, so the fragile biscuits were packaged in a large box made of very light local wood, and sold in the wood store. When this box opened, it was like gold was revealed. The people in line immediately began asking as soon as they said they were ready (they were very disciplined and their guards looked very strong). "How much for a box of biscuits?" "100 copper for a small box," Sunny said, raising a small box the size of a palm. The customer gulped, stomach worms causing chaos in his stomach. But then he recalled his assets and thought he ought to haggle a bit. "100 copper for a small box?" He said, "That''s not cheap!" Dog''s smile was unfazed. "But it''s definitely worth it!" They actually decided on the market price of ten times the cost bought in Altera. Although it was not cheap, it wasn''t too expensive compared to the horrid food from restaurants, so it was too worth it. Next to him, another sale was happening. "How much is this piece of bread?" "Just 50 copper!" Crow said, "Very affordable." This one didn''t even bother haggling. He was afraid someone would preempt him so he bought a bit of everything, even if it was a little costly. A man looked at the blue-ish rice, which was explained thoroughly by the salesperson. "I want a bag of rice please!" One man said and Sunny shook her head. "We can only sell half per person." "I can only buy half a kilogram?" The customer frowned, repeating, hoping he heard if wrong. Sunny nodded. "That is correct, good customer. You know we can''t bring too much, right? So we can only set a purchase limit. Give chance to others, right?" Like in Altera, they naturally had to place a purchase limit here. However, the majority of the reason was to avoid creating a stampede. The man pursed his lips, not reconciled. His wife and daughter were currently gathering resources in another area and not with him. This little amount wouldn''t last the three of them very long. However, he knew if he tried to change this rule, he''d probably get ganged up on, so he had no choice but to nod and just buy what he could. Sunny smiled in understanding and handed him his items, "Don''t worry sir! We will definitely come back and sell stuff often." She said, and her words comforted all those who heard. "Really?" Sunny grinned, "Yes, really." Next in line, an old acquaintance of theirs appeared, still looking very gentle. "Sunny¡­" he said, really hoping to get a back door or something from acquaintances. This uncle was one of their neighbors before. They weren''t friendly, but he was one of few who did not bother them. "Sorry uncle, if you need more, you can just buy from others." Then she looked at him slyly, "Or just buy in the territory. The purchase limit is two kilograms per person a day!" S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Jimmy blinked and leaned forward, interested. "Really?" "Much more affordable as well." At this, the man''s eyes brightened, and he sat next to her to chat while she did her job. Sunny was friendly and let him do so. Anyway, their chatter also attracted a lot of curious people asking about Altera. Sunny was quite confident she was gonna get loads of contribution points! There were similar conversations next to hers, this time it was from Bull, who had a lot more money than she did. "There are strawberries here?" It was a middle-aged woman, looking weathered by the winds. Her son, who had been working very hard gathering resources, liked this fruit the most. Bull saw it was a potential ''victim'', he quickly put on a bright smile. "Some people from our territory brought seeds from Terran. So we not only have strawberries, we have soy, peanuts, watermelons, and others." "Your territory? You''re not from here?" This time it was Okuri, who was next in line, asking. She looked closely at the people. In retrospect, they should''ve noticed it earlier. This group of people was completely different from what she had seen since they got to this hell. These people had clean demeanors, with bright and confident smiles, like this chaos didn''t bother them at all. "No. We were sent by the Territory to sell surplus from the territory." "Surplus?!" "That''s unbelievable!" People looked at each other in disbelief. While some only gaped, impressed. "If true, then how amazing is that..." The words of amazement, disbelief, and inquiry echoed in the area for well over an hour, and the three groups'' items for this area had already been sold out. Those at the back of the line that were told the cut-off turned pale. "Already gone?!" "When will you come back?!" Soon, the crowd got rowdier, and some were outright mad at being unable to purchase. In fact, the guards had already told them earlier where the line ought to be cut off, but no one really left. They were probably hoping there were hidden stocks. But when no more products were taken out to be sold, the people became more and more discomfited. However, before all hell broke loose, a resounding voice, amplified by a makeshift cone amplifier, sounded. "Please calm down, we may not have any more to sell right now, but we assure you our production lines have been working very hard. It was a woman named Silvia who spoke. She was quite beautiful, and curvaceous, with short auburn hair. She was a person in Mathilda''s Department and was assigned to this group to handle interpersonal concerns they encountered. "Hello! We are from Altera Village, about half a day''s walk away from here. "We have created a path to go there, and we will welcome customers very much." They couldn''t bluntly recruit, right? Anyway, when they visited the territory, Silvia was confident about how it would affect all their visitors. She knew that when they got there¡­, they probably wouldn''t want to leave. Chapter 220 Prying Corners (Part 2) After she spoke, another crowd surrounded Silvia and asked various questions at the same time. Fortunately, Silvia, a well-established real estate salesperson back in Terran, was unfazed by all the questions. She did not miss one question and she did it all with a smile. "It''s about half a day''s walk." She said, answering the person who asked how far it was. Then, she turned to the concerned person who asked about safety. "No, it''s very safe if you have level 3s with you. During the protection period, our experts determined there should be no monsters stronger than level 3." "Are you sure?" "Yes, our guards have been hunting kilometers away from our walls, they have yet to encounter anything stronger the past few weeks." Someone from the side asked about their water concerns. "Water? Our territory is built on a water basin with a mountain spring and river. The territory built wells." "How much? Only a few coppers per gallon I believe." "What?" "Impossible!" "What about food, then?" Another voice asked from behind her. Silvia ignored the expressions of disbelief surrounding her and answered the other questions patiently. "Food, yes, our territory has a lot of farms. Terran plants occupy about a quarter of them." Then another person asked about the visitor''s rate, and Silvia happily answered it. "5 copper is the visitors rate." She said with a smile, and the people looked at her a little cynical in response. "Five?? How is that possible?" "Now, you''re just lying. Lady, there''s no need¡ª" Silvia was unfazed by the questions becoming rude. "Our territory believes in wealth with population." She said, "Similarly, the territory requires only 3 silver for temporary residency." "Seriously?" "What about permanent residency then?" "The Permanent Residency? It is 10 gold. We can also exchange with contribution points for half the price." "Contribution points??" "Yes, it''s a merit system of sorts. As long as you help with the growth of the territory, it is likely you''ll earn some in addition to the money." "Then why would people want to get permanent residency then? Since the other options are so cheap?" "The only people who could purchase property are permanent residents. There are also added benefits such as certain amount of free resources, water, healthcare, etc." "That''s amazing¡­ too amazing." One said, with a tone of questioning by the end. "It is," Silvia admitted, "But you''ll see the truth behind it yourself if you visit the territory." A few were questioning, and disbelieving, but there were also plenty who had been softened up. "What about the houses, then?" he asked, so what if the entries were cheap, maybe¡ªbecause the entrance was so affordable¡ªthey would have to live in even worse shanty areas there! "We do not have shanty areas," Silvia said, "For those who lack money, we offer bedspaces, placed in our dormitory buildings. It is priced at a very friendly 1 copper a day." Basically: Whatever came out of her mouth was a topic for passionate discussion. Surrounding her with questions and chatter, the people continued to bombard her with their concerns, certain thoughts cementing in their hearts the more they heard. It was quite lively. This was what Matthew and his cronies found after being alerted by the guards of the commotion. "They were very arrogant, my Lord." The other nodded. "They act like they own the place." "I don''t know where they get their things, but it was probably nowhere good." "It''s better for us to take it from them." If Crow and the others would hear them they would sneer. Typical gangsters. Matthew nodded perfunctorily, but his feet were not slow. He thought if these people could really produce all those things¡ª They looked at the crowd gathering around, looking all bright and excited. It was at this time that they heard more than one people say: "Can we go back with you?" The guards paled and cursed, catching the attention of a few people nearby. Someone saw the Lord and felt a little guilty. "My Lord! They meant to go there to buy things, don''t misunderstand." "Hmm¡­" he said, expression calm and unchanging, not knowing what he was thinking. Because of the noise, the people in the main crowd still did not take note of their existence. The guards felt appalled and offended, and they quickly shouted for attention. "Ungrateful! A little food and you all grovel like dogs!" The people''s eyes widened and their heads tilt down unconsciously, either feeling guilty for the Lord or afraid of the guards. "No, no, my Lord you''ve misunderstood! We plan to buy from this territory to bring to ours!" "Yes, my Lord. Now that these delicious things are available, we can finally eat better!" Matthew nodded at them and smiled. "Of course I understand." He said, "I came here to start a trading deal with these people¡­" Hearing this, the terrified looks on their faces morphed to one of amazement. "The Lord is wise, as always!" "Our Lord will always have great foresight!" Matthew gave out a seemingly embarrassed smile, turning his head to the foreigners. Matthews'' eyes landed on the woman in the middle of the crowd, then on the hint of crimson among the people. He was very visible because he was very tall and had very striking colors. Matthew''s eyebrows rose when he saw the person and his¡­ crimson hair and pupils? Someone could still wear contact lenses in this situation? He approached the tall man, who was obviously the leader of his group. "Can I ask where you are from?" Rowan was standing still with arms crossed, ready to take action in the slightest sign of chaos. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He didn''t appreciate the interruption to his job. But he realized it was the Lord of the territory and, by instinct, he became a little more respectful. "We are from a village called Altera, a territory half a day''s walk east of here." Was all he said, before turning his head away, doing his job. The guards beside him glared but didn''t do anything. Fortunately, Silvia was sharp and had seen the interaction. Silvia stepped in at this time, with a smile on her face. "We have come here to broker deals with various individuals in hopes of livening our economy." She said, cannot help but look at the handsome man and his long-sleeved turtle neck. Silvia could see that his current wear was made from an older shirt, too, like it was refitted to appear so. He seemed to wear this type of outfit all the time, was he not hot? "We have various production lines and, while citizens have purchase limits set for individuals, our territory can make separate discussions with larger entities like territories." "Well, who can I talk to about this deal?" Silvia nodded. "It''s me." Matthew signaled for her to chat in a different area. Before they separated for a more private chat, he couldn''t help but look at the flaming red hair of the person near them, a person whom his guards seemed to be terrified of. This must be the guy who crushed the guards at the entrance. He stopped walking when they went past the man and asked. "Which place is this sir from? I mean in Terran." He thought he''d have a better idea about him if he found this out. "I''m not from Terran, Lord," Rowan said, stoic, but habitually quite respectful. "What?" Rowan looked at him with raised eyebrows, repeating. "I''m not from Terran, Lord." Matthew''s eyes widened a little. Not from Terran? Then, where would he be from? This place? An aborigine?! Chapter 221 Unbelievable Bright Village At this time, the Southbound group had also arrived and was setting up their area. It took them a while to get there because of a monster mob, which amounted to about a hundred, delaying their arrival. They were a relatively big group, but the territory had been seeing influx after influx of refugees so they, except for their handsomeness, didn''t capture much attention when they arrived. Ansel and his team eventually got to their target location, finding a place in the makeshift Marketplace in front of the village center shortly after. "Where do we go to meet the lord?" Jun asked Ansel, the former visitor of this territory. Unlike Vismont Village which they didn''t really care for, Bright was a much more decent village somewhat worthy of partnership. Ansel smirked. "Just sell as planned. If he has any brains he''ll come to us himself." Jun was silent for a moment then thought it made sense. Hence, he just asked the team to settle down in an area, with the few guards surrounding the place. The grand positioning made the people around¡ªwho were selling either fruits or meat¡ªstare at them. "So much spazz?" One said, biting off a nearly overripe fruit he couldn''t sell. Anyway, dinner shopping would begin soon. People here had developed a habit of consuming fruit with the horrid gruel or bread to make it more palatable. "Heh, they''re so confident," he said, "They must have foraged something new." The person who spoke was a stall owner in the store next to him. It also happened to be the popular store¡ªthe barbeque stall. Although the meat he prepared couldn''t compare with what they were used to, he still managed to soften it and add a good combination of fruits to make it relatively edible. "Well, they carry big bags. Means it doesn''t fit in their space anymore right?" The others shrugged, not really expecting much. It was just that a minute later, their eyes almost fell. They watched as the small group unpacked their things from boxes. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Rice, flour, jars, and others were revealed and those who saw had their feet moving on their own. They couldn''t believe what they were seeing. It was only after staring, and then asking, then staring again did they finally believed it. They didn''t know how all these things got here, some even assuming someone brought them from Terran, so they knew the price would naturally not be cheap. Someone finally stepped forward and asked someone who had been arranging his stall. "Are you¡­ by some chance¡­ selling these?" As soon as the person nodded, the surroundings basically exploded with a cacophony of noises. "I want all this rice!" The person said, opening his arms wide to make his point. The people around glared at him, ready to fight as soon as he uttered his words. The salespersons'' lips twitched. "We only sell half a kilo per person, sorry." "Fine! Sell me everything I can buy!" He said, waving around his silver, and eventually getting some. He pointed at the other things in the shall as well. "Get me this loaf of bread and jam." "Me, don''t forget me! I want instant noodles!" Another one said, buying several things he could afford. "I want this bolt of jerky!" A newcomer yelled, "And also some rice!" "Hey! Don''t push!" "I''m not!" "Instant noodles please!" "Wow! So many flavors! I wonder how it tastes?" "Anything is better than restaurant food!" A voice from beside him said, and the people around couldn''t help but nod in agreement. "That''s true!" "As a certified Foodie, I can tell these are legit!" The quick ones managed to get a bit of everything and they handled it as if they were treasure, immediately placing it in the space for protection. It was very busy and a bit haggard, but every Alteran had a smile on their faces. The group of them made over ten times their investment. Ansel himself, who got the best deal, made scores and scores of gold within the first hour. If it wasn''t for the contribution, most people would have loved to just make money this way. But who told the territory to need more people? Soon, only a bit of food was left. Ansel saw that there were still hundreds of people behind who looked anxiously at them. If the guards weren''t intimidating¡ªespecially with Drake and Hugo who were at level 5¡ªthere would have been a stampede by now. "We only have a bit left of food, sorry!" Jun said and looked at their pale disappointed faces with a faux-guilty smile. "We can just go back every few days to trade you some. Or just buy it from our territory, we can definitely accommodate your needs." A lot of people looked at him with hopeful looks but, as it always was, some people were not reconciled and immediately started imposing what they wanted. "But this food is something I must have!" He said, "I''m willing to pay twice these people!" A regal man, a dozen people behind the line, yelled to them. Jun''s eyebrows rose and looked at the man. Although he didn''t look very clean, he was still better put out than most people. With his lead, more people started bidding. Jun shook his head at the other Alterans, stopping them from accepting immediately. However, it wasn''t that he was against it. He knew that even if they insisted on selling their market price to the next guy, these people would just offer to bid with the people who managed to get the product. Unlike the Alterans, however, these people might even get a little hurt since they didn''t have any guards. Jun paused in thought. He didn''t want chaos, but he didn''t want to inflate the value too much. It would go against his personal creed as a former public servant to do so. In the end, he decided to just set the price a little higher. "We will not auction these off, as they are just commodities in our territory. We will only temporarily increase the price by two and if those in line are still willing to buy, then we will sell." As if afraid to be preempted, the people in front of the line quickly answered. "Yes, yes, I am willing!" "Me too, me too!" Seeing that those in front took the deal with no exceptions, the relatively richer people at the back frowned. Some of their relatively entitled attitudes still existed. They obviously had money, why couldn''t they get the things they used to take for granted? They need these things! How do they get it? Chapter 222 Get Rich Quick Jun naturally saw the depression nearby, pausing in thought. In order not to make a bigger commotion, he asked another person to separate and make another stall. This person happened to be Ansel, who got the best deals by virtue of being the relative of the owner, accompanied by a few better-off fellows. But Ansel enjoyed the crowd more so he got an assistant to sell his stuff for him. Opening their spaces, he transferred some of the items to the other''s space without revealing anything to the outside world. Of course, such ''remote'' transfers also cost some money, but they were really a hassle to carry. Seeing that the goods were settled, Jun turned to look at the rich crowd simmering in impatience. "We may no longer have a lot of food products available, but we do have items for luxury, still expensive even in our territory because the production isn''t mature yet. For those who have currency in gold, please come with me." The hopeless people at the back brightened and followed. There were surprisingly more than a hundred people who still had a lot of surplus gold coins. This stall was much more peaceful and only needed a few guards, and the crowd was only because there were still a lot of curious bystanders. The privilege made the rich customers stick out their chest, a little proud. But then the items to be sold were revealed. They flinched and someone even coughed violently when they saw the new items being offered, and they immediately lost their bearing. Bolts of fabric in several colors, as well as sewing kits, were taken out, and it made these people''s eyes widen. You must know that while they were much better off than others, they were almost the same in terms of how unsightly their clothes were. At best, they could only wash it more than others. Leather could be done, but it was too hot and uncomfortable! But now they see bolts of cloth!!! "We are selling a bolt of cotton, 1 meter width and 3 meters in length, for a lump sum of 5 gold each." The salesman said with a smile. "Hemp cloth as well, albeit a lump only costs 80 silver per bolt." Then he showed a wooden box opening to show a few spools of threads and needles. "For now, we offer two thread weights for each available color and different needle sizes and types." "We will soon offer threads and needles for crocheting, quilting, and the like." "This particular sewing kit cost 10 silver." Metal was still difficult, so the needles for now were made of beast bones, delicately carved by their artisans. These people did not even hesitate and paid immediately, afraid that they''d lose stocks again. Those who bought handled the cotton and saw the quality was not bad. One of the customers, advanced in age, was particularly more noticeable because the way he checked fabric reeked of expertise. Jun''s eyes couldn''t help but follow the man as he got out of the crowd to go somewhere less dense. He gently unrolled the two bolts (one was allowed for cotton and two for hemp). The man''s fingers traced its texture feeling for any irregularities. He looked closely for any imperfections, and he checked for the consistency of the weave. He also lifted it to check its weight and density, and pretty much stuck his eyes on the fabric to see the selvage and the edges. With an unchanged expression, he waved them to see how fabric draped and fell. He nodded, seeming satisfied with how the fabric held its shape. Finally, he held it against the light to see its translucency. The man''s eyebrows rose, he combed back his white hair, and gaped at the items. Naturally, the quality could not compare to Terran''s, but he didn''t even expect to see anything of the type so soon. His name was Andrei, and he used to be a well-known fashion designer back in Terran. He naturally knew about this stuff. But more importantly¡ª "You mentioned that¡­ you produce these?!" He darted back to the crowd and asked the sales person in disbelief. "Yes, when we left, the first batch of cotton had just matured and the machines had only been completed. So we bought this for a relatively high price." Andrei found this a bit unbelievable. Their side was still obviously struggling with the basics, but someone else was already producing luxuries. As someone who had been a refugee, he had thought Bright was already very good. But alas, there was no harm without comparison. Anyway, he bought the maximum allowed purchase of three bolts and a set of sewing paraphernalia. The others bought one or two, especially after finding out the price would be lowered when the technology developed. After these were done, the next set of items was revealed, causing wild chattering of the spectators. The group revealed items like larger jars of condiments and earthenware, also sold in gold. Because the team sold condiments and sauces in larger containers to save space, the condiments and sauces were sold in jars. "Soy sauce?" "Chili!!" "Is that¡­ ready mix?" "Curry flavor? Sour soup flavor?" Ansel smiled and looked at his companions. Together, they took small earthenware saucers, and took a bit of each, handing them to their customers to let them have a taste. The people looked at each other, gaping. Oh my gosh! These are legit! HOW?! What could this mean? It meant they could start cooking delicacies again! This naturally led to a bidding war¡ªwhich Jun allowed this time. What was more, he actually decided to sell a vat of each in a set! After all, taking this amount was enough to make a business out of it! If the people who managed to buy could actually cook, they could get a return of investment within a few days! As he watched the bidding war going, Old fabulous Andrei couldn''t help but gape. "This is amazing¡­" Andrei mumbled, and those beside him nodded very passionately. As they appreciated the goods, they couldn''t help but take second look at the sellers¡ªwhich they belatedly realized to be so much cleaner and happier than anyone else. But¡­ what they were more curious about was the territory that could produce all these and make these people so satisfied with their lives. Such a territory, within a few weeks, managed to revive cultures they thought they''d lose forever, preserving technology they thought they had lost. So¡­ they were just very, very, curious. What kind of territory was this¡­ Altera? S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 223 Meet Old Friends Back in the food area, Ansel was selling jerky with a smile on his face, making the girl buying blush as red as a tomato. He smiled, chuckling, which just made the girl flush even deeper. This was a very good customer who purchased everything to the purchase limit so Ansel was obviously very kind. "Here you go," he said, handing her the hemp bag with a winning smile, and the girl looked at him in a daze. "A-Ah, yes¡­ Uhm¡­" "Be sure to check out our territory, okay? It''s lovely there, almost as lovely as you." "I-I¡­ okay¡­" Jun¡ªwho had just returned to this side¡ªalmost rolled his eyes and just smiled at the person next in line, who had been getting annoyed by the delays up front. "Hello, dear customer," Jun said to the person, pulling the girl out of her daze. Realizing her gaffe, she flinched and quickly excused herself to leave. Of course, this was not without looking back wistfully in Ansel''s direction. Ansel did not see this, however, as he had already shifted his focus to the next customer, "How may we help you today?" The person nodded and also bought to the maximum allowable purchase. "A little of everything please, to the maximum we could get. "Okay. Please note that all items are at twice the original selling price." The man nodded, manifesting several golds. "No problem." Jun smiled cordially and organized the items they would be selling. There were no more biscuits and bread, but there was still a bit of the others like rice and condiments. This purchase made those behind very tense. The sale continued until they reached the last batches, with some items getting looted faster than others. "There''s no more strawberry jam?" A familiar soft-but-manly voice sounded in his ears and Ansel turned his head to its source. It was Tom, looking very disappointed, staring at the empty blanket on another one of their makeshift ''stalls'' in despair. Because Ansel was on the other side of the ''store'', covered by other vendors (and there was also the fact that the older man''s attention had always been fixed on the items below), Tom didn''t notice him there at all. Ansel smirked and stood up, asking his neighbor to sell the remaining bits for him, and walked beside the older man. Because he was wallowing in grief, Tom did not notice his approach until he felt a pat on his shoulder. Absent-mindedly, Tom turned his head to be met with familiar peach-blossom eyes. Tom gasped in surprise at the sight of the handsome lad that he didn''t think he''d see again so soon. Ansel rolled his eyes at his daze. "Come with me." He said, and it was just then that Tom was pulled back to reality. "Ansel?! You''re back!!!" But before he could celebrate, Tom''s shoulder slumped, looking at him filled with pity. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel''s eyes twitched. What was this guy thinking, this time? Tom''s initial thought was that Ansel didn''t find his sister and suffered a bit outside. Unable to hold up, he came back. In despair, he followed the crowd, and thus their fates reconnected. Tom was already thinking about how to feed him. He then patted the man''s shoulders. "It''ll be fine. I''ll support you." Ansel''s eyes twitched realizing what was going on in this guy''s head. "Look closer, big guy," Ansel said and Tom blinked, finally doing so. Very quickly, he realized that he thought too much. Tom took a second look at his old friend and sized him up, surprised at what he was seeing. He was obviously much more filled up, whiter, and cleaner than when he left, right? "You!" Was all he could say, puzzled by how this could be. How long has it been? Why was he so different? He couldn''t help but look at the well-fitting garments with leather clothing on his body. Tom had been with him for most of the time back in Terran, he did not have time to get these clothes. Ansel smirked proudly. "My sister gave it to me~" He also looked so smug that if Tom wasn''t such a mild-mannered guy, he''d want to punch him. But¡­ how nice. He was happy for him. "Well, it''s good that you found your sister," was all he said, very polite, but he was also very envious. He wondered where his brother''s family was¡­ Shaking his head of the thoughts, he pulled himself back with a smile. There was no use worrying now, he could only do his best to strengthen himself so he could support and protect them when they found each other. The duo weaved through the crowd and, looking back, Tom couldn''t help but feel emotional again. "It''s a pity I wasn''t able to buy those things¡­" His strawberry¡­ Ansel rolled his eyes. This idiot. "Didn''t you see what direction I came from?" Tom stared at him, puzzled, and Ansel pointed his thumb back to the store not far away. It took a moment but it did dawn on him, and the middle-aged man gaped as soon as it did so. "You came with them?!" Tom paused and gulped at a realization. "Then, you¡ª" Ansel nodded. "I''m making a private sale." "Y¡­You mean¡­?" Ansel looked up in exasperation. "Do you want to buy my products or not?" Tom almost cried. His favorite strawberry jam was in reach! ¡­ CHARACTER INTERACTION CORNER (ANSEL EDITION) Ansel: We meet up with old friends! We will also meet more next chapter! They''re not friends though. Author: Time for the interview! Ansel: Oh, yes, Ms. Author. Shoot away! Author: ¡­what is the best seller? Ansel: Everything sells well! But if I were to point out what the resource-scarce people bought, it''s mostly the bread and biscuits. Author: hmm. Makes sense if they didn''t have their own kitchen to cook. Ansel: Some also buy condiments so the meat they have on hand tastes better. Author: If you''re in their position. What would you buy? Ansel: Hair gel! Author: ¡­ Seriously? Ansel: The resources could come later. I look very good. Author: *looks at Althea* Look at this thing you raised. Althea: My baby brother is adorable whatever he does. Chapter 224 More Acquaintances The duo had finally gotten out of the crowd a few minutes of struggle later, with Tom stopping himself from asking any details, lest they be overheard and cause Ansel trouble. However, they didn''t get far before another voice called out to Ansel, with a very familiar tone of voice. Ansel''s eyes twitched, he didn''t seem to have female friends and/or exes with such a high-pitched tone of voice, right? "Ansel¡­" the voice called again when she saw that they didn''t pay attention. The two men turned their heads to see two women approaching them with big, relieved smiles on their faces. If others saw, they''d think they were old friends or something that finally found each other after suffering great wrongs. Ansel recognized them as Nanny''s daughter and the showy woman who called herself their neighbor. Looking at the two women, Ansel could see that the environment obviously took a toll on them. Their faces had lost their previous smoothness, their clothing was well-kept but poor quality due to circumstance, and their skins had gotten rough and dark. Despite all these changes, their core was the same: one was as haughty as ever, while the other one stood a step behind her as if willingly serving as foil. Of course, Ansel''s experienced eyes told him she was doing the exact opposite. He could even sense some low-key goading of the other woman to encourage the other to act like a spoiled brat. It didn''t help that the Peacock woman a.k.a. Ramona really was really a spoiled brat that magically still hadn''t been fixed by the apocalypse AND the migration. She did not hide the greed in her eyes when she saw him, which crept Ansel (and Tom, who wasn''t even the target) very much. "Ansel¡­" she repeated when he didn''t answer, assuming he simply didn''t hear, eyes ogling him maniacally. Ansel was still as handsome as ever, Ramona thought greedily, and he was even cleaner than when they last saw him. Not to mention, compared to the sorry state of everyone right now, Ansel was a massive light in the darkness! Her gossipy nature also informed her that Ansel was among the people who brought all these goods here. Not only did they bring food and condiments, but they also brought fabric! She definitely can''t miss him! She thought strongly, thinking of various ways to get Ansel to take her with him. Ramona, at this time, was getting desperate. Since they got here, she had been trying to attach herself to Micheal. At least, get attached to any one of his confidants. Unfortunately, she had no luck for a while and had no choice but to settle with the lowest ranked people amongst the Lord''s party¡ªa plain-looking muscle-head named Paulie. She couldn''t help but send a furtive sideways glance at the woman beside her. She did not have any luck, but¡ªfor some mysterious reason¡ªthis woman did. Ramona didn''t know how she did it, but she managed to snag someone from the lord''s inner circle¡ªa man named Gingo, who was in charge of the lord''s Treasury. He was not very handsome, and a little older than they were, but the lord''s decisions on where to place his money had a lot to do with this guy. It was not an exaggeration to say he held the most power next to the lord himself. But looking at the lively stalls, Ramona sneered. So what if you had money? What was money if you couldn''t even eat a decent meal? She had had enough of all those bland food! At this thought, her stare at Ansel got even hotter. "You''re back?" She asked with a smile she thought was sexy. Ansel only nodded and gestured to walk away when Sandra beside her spoke. "Althea¡­ she¡­ how is she?" She asked, appearing truly concerned. "Hmn," Ansel responded and turned to her. He was still polite to Sandra. After all, it was her direction that led him to Althea. "I found her, " He said, "Thanks to you." He then handed her a small basket with a little of everything¡ªone of his offerings, the food set. Sandra blushed and was very flattered by the gift, while Ramona frowned in jealousy. "This basket is actually a product from her industry. She''s doing very well." He said, "You know her field. She''s like a fish thrown into the water now." Ansel took a deep look at the woman, pretending not to see her stiffened stance. "She was among the first citizens there and it was the first territory she settled in. She barely suffered." Sandra gripped the basket when he heard how Althea was. It was even her first territory! She didn''t suffer at all! Most importantly, she was the one behind these items? How? Why?! She must still be so beautiful right?! Ansel sneered when he saw the reaction she thought she was hiding well, politely excused himself, and led Tom to go on their way. Ansel and Tom didn''t get far, when he stopped walking. Tom was a little puzzled until the redhead turned to a direction with an unreadable smile. Ansel stared back at another familiar face staring at him. It was none other than the territory lord, Micheal, as well-put as always. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was standing still and poised with a few of his guards and cronies beside him. Interestingly, some of these guards were familiar. It was Bruce and Artie, now guards, who were also pleasantly surprised at the sight of him. They didn''t break character and run to him of course, but the brightness in their eyes was welcoming enough, Ansel smiled back, happy for them. He also saw how hard they worked for this back then, and was glad they''d gotten the opportunity. Micheal looked at him, and then to the Alteran team not far away. The man then sent a deep unfathomable look, but that same smile was plastered on his face. Micheal walked over to him, stopping just over a meter away. "Shall we talk?" Ansel gave him a knowing look and smirked. "Gladly." Chapter 225 Discussions The group settled down in a meeting hall built beside the village center. It was a little crude with thatch as roofing, unlike tiled ones in Altera, but it was a good enough enclosure, considering the length of time they''ve been here and the resources they had. The room also had some simple furniture like chairs, tables, and the like¡ª which was actually quite impressive, especially if one hadn''t stepped into Altera yet. The entire space had about two hundred square meters in floor area. There was a large centerpiece table smack in the middle, surrounded by a dozen chairs arrayed at equal distances. There were also some chairs set flush along the walls, probably for audiences like their assistants. It was an obvious meeting room, flexible to add audiences as needed, and it looked like a crude, small, but usable plenary hall. Ansel nodded. Compared to other territories, Bright was definitely one of the better ones. He mused that there should also be a construction team here, as well as someone who had some knowledge of politics. "Sit down, please," Micheal said, gesturing towards chairs. He politely didn''t sit down until the guests did so. There were two groups in this meeting: Local and Alterans. The Alterans were only him, Jun, and Drake, with the others closing up the business outside. The locals, on the other hand, naturally had a lot more people. There were about ten of them, including the two women. The two women Ramona and Sandra managed to come in in view of their men. Well, Sandra did. Ramona''s man wasn''t even there. She got in holding Sandra. As everyone was settling down, Michael opened some small talk. "Have you found your siblings?" Ansel nodded. "Partially. I found my sister, thank you for asking." Ansel responded with similar politeness. "She''s living with me in the territory now." "Oh, how well?" Micheal asked and when he realized the question was a little inappropriate, he added, "I overheard what you told them." He nodded his head to the two women, who were listening eagerly to his question. Ansel smiled, quite proud of his sisters'' achievements. "Well, she''s living in her own villa there and is eating well every day." Micheal nodded. "That''s great to hear. I heard that the thriving food industry in your territory had a lot to do with her, as well." "My sister is very good with plants. She found some indigenous plants and studied their use." Ansel paused, "She and her team found a way to make some of the familiar products from indigenous items like what you saw today, and rented farms for mass production." Micheal and the others couldn''t help but remember, with some longing, the products circulating. They also bought out a lot of citizens for a very high price. It was Gingo who spoke next. "It''s unfortunate we cannot purchase farms." He said. The territory bought a village center, a weapons store, an armory, the walls, and the residences. After leveling up, they purchased the well and the warehouse. This wasn''t a bad decision at all because the resources were lush in this place. Although the food wasn''t enjoyable, no one would starve. "However, it doesn''t mean we cannot farm on our own," Micheal said, comforting. "We could build edifices, why not till the land for agriculture?" The people on his side nodded, enlightened, and were relieved. Then it was Bruno who spoke out his concerns. Bruno was Micheal''s primary person in the military and security aspects of the territory. "My lord, would they tell us information about the plants? A few of his cronies nodded, having the same concern. "The people we lost due to poisoning are not few." After all, there were so many of them. The resources within the walls were sometimes not enough. A lot of people, especially those with not much money, would tend to venture outside to forage. Micheal heard their questions and turned to Ansel, silently asking for his response. The redhead crossed his arms with a smile. "Everyone in our territory is aware of which plants nearby are poisonous and which ones are usable." He said, "I''m no botanist so it can''t come from me. You''d just have to visit our place, our people would likely share knowledge with you." The citizens of Bright looked a little surprised, but not too much. After all, they were all from one place, and sharing this knowledge wouldn''t hurt Altera at all, so they were only thankful. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The NPC guard Juno, on the other hand, looked at them with cynicism, because he grew up thinking very differently. Juno was a tall handsome man with unusual dark-green hair, cut very short. In his culture, people had to go through fire first before getting such important knowledge from another person. So, most of him would be guarded. He was even thinking that this could be a trap to lure the Lord out of his territory. But, looking at the Lord having a sincere discussion about this, he dared not speak out. Regardless, he would just have to increase his vigilance and just do his job and protect the lord here. As his mind listened to the discussion, his honey-colored eyes couldn''t help but give the lord a furtive glance. For better or for worse, this was a lord he was starting to sincerely admire. He was unique, unlike the other lords he served. He was strong, but he was also kind. He didn''t have the pompousness of nobles at all. Micheal felt his stare and turned his head, making the NPC flinch a little. He nodded as if to reassure him and the NPC couldn''t help but blush a bit in embarrassment. Micheal did not see this. Instead, he returned his attention to the red-head in front of him. Thinking of plants and crops, as well as what they had been producing so far, Micheal couldn''t help but voice out his admiration. "It is amazing. It''s great that she also found plants similar to Terran¡­" Ansel shook his head. "While there are indeed some similar plants, a lot of the familiar plants you saw really were from Terran." He said, making the others stare at him. His lips rose upwards, and he looked a bit smug. "You see¡­ she also brought in seeds from our planet." Everyone else at the table flinched. "What?" Their eyes twitched. Everyone only had a cubic meter of space. There was so much they had to pack¡ªfood, water, and clothing would''ve filled the space in no time. No one would think of going out of their way to get seeds, right? Well, apparently not this guy''s sister. And looking at his smug (punchable) face, the decision served them very well. He still looked a bit spoiled by her. Envy! Chapter 226 First Inter-territory Partnership Micheal cleared his throat, repeating his words as if to confirm, "She¡­ she brought in Terran plants?" "Yes. She already rented several farms dedicated to them." There was silence for a while before the lord broke it, with his back resting on his chair, losing a little of his composure. "Your sister is amazing. Most people¡­ really won''t think of this direction." Even he, who had a lot of resources at his disposal, thought to fill his space with weapons and basic supplies. "Well, she''s a bit¡­ obsessed," Ansel said with an awkward but fond smile. Anything his sister did was cute and logical. If it wasn''t, the world was wrong. "Well, it improved the lives of the people in your territory." Micheal told him, "This alone makes her a hero." "Of course!" He agreed very strongly. Not only in the territory, other people would also enjoy the benefits very soon. Micheal was extremely interested and excited, although he maintained a cool facade. He leaned down and placed his elbow on the table, placing his hands together. "So¡­ if we hope to make a deal, what would your sister say?" sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel mirrored his body language, smiling. "She gave me full power on this." "Okay, good." ¡­ [2 Hours Later] "You¡­ are very good," Micheal said, extending his hand for a handshake. However, if one knew him well enough, one would see his expression was a bit darker than usual. Ansel was very smug. Even though he was young, he was told by everyone he was a very skilled businessman. Micheal was not easy either and there were times that he felt an invisible dagger threaten him. But who told him to have all the cards? So, Micheal had to succumb, buying a fixed amount for 100% more than the Alteran market price. They also had to pick up the goods themselves. Althea had said that non-residents would have to buy goods in the territory for at least thrice the price, even more for the luxury items. So this was not a bad deal at all. What actually irked Micheal was the fact that he had to let go of 5 construction talents for every month the deal was in effect. Then he would let them work in Altera for free for that month. That was, he''d be paying these talents'' salaries. Micheal was dark just thinking about it, his calm but sharp stare targeting the redhead whose face was so happy and proud that everyone on his side wanted to punch him. Ansel naturally felt it, but he was feeling too accomplished to care. He got them more construction talents~ Althea had told him that after the territory was upgraded again, the land would be four times as large, maybe even larger. They would really need these talents. Anyway, they didn''t have to worry about corporate spies or anything because the contracts in the village center were very strict. "Your sister is very kind to give her territory this convenience when it is her items being sold," Micheal said, looking at the other man with unknown thoughts. Ansel''s lips twitched. "Of course!" He said, "She''s one of the designated ''Elders'' there. This is basically the head of a department." "Oh?" Gingo asked, very curious. They, too, had built a little government, but they called them department heads. "Who assigned that if there was no ''lord''?" "The system," Ansel said, shrugging. "Notifications just appeared in front of them or something." The other party continued to ask questions, obviously trying to find out more about Altera. Similarly, during those two hours of discussion, Ansel also found quite a bit of things about the other party. For example, like Altera, the Bright territory was also widely invested in construction, using money to buy resources to build houses, restaurants, and wells. Micheal could tell that Altera was even more adamant in this and he was very curious about what they had built so far (as Ansel was being vague, obviously telling him to see it for himself). Another piece of information he got was that Bright''s village center was also upgraded a few days back. It happened that the first talent Micheal took fancy to was a Builder. In Bright, the manual construction in the territory focused the types outside the system. For example, the government office that they were now in. Although they were simple buildings, they met certain needs of the territory and were already much better than most territories on the same level. Better, just yesterday, Micheal got the news that someone triggered the life occupation of Builder. This was really good news as he was in dire need of talents and occupations. His population was several thousands of people, but not many had triggered the skills. Even the Village center wasn''t particularly reliable regarding this. On the second day of leveling up the village center, he won a level E guard¡ªthe green-haired Juno next to him¡ªbut there were no special hires after that. After many days, he finally settled with a no-rank cook yesterday. There had been no useful ones since then, and sometimes he felt the hiring function whetted the appetite with good talents only at the beginning. Then¡­ after making the lords curious and spending silver every day, the hiring function would leave them hanging. Micheal sighed, feeling it to be a pity, before he returned to the present. His eyes met the arrogant Ansel''s and he couldn''t help but think a bit deeper. Among many other things, Micheal was also very curious about the kind of territory the great Althea Witt, Mathilda Cruz, and Professor Gru Beanman were so dedicated to. "It seems like I have to visit your territory soon," He said. "You should. You would definitely¡­ be enlightened." "You are very confident." "Always." Without any more words, the two headed to the village center some time later. Under the witness of their cohorts and many citizens of Bright, the two went to a platform and opened a contract. They raised their hands, as if registering their fingerprints, and a small light enveloped the two of them, immediately bursting like a bubble a second later. This marked the beginning of Altera Village''s first Successful inter-territory partnership. Chapter 227 Military Might Back to Altera, Althea was going around handling her industries, preparing as much as she could before the hundreds, if not thousands, of people arrived. She had already planned for the expansion of the factories, as well as scheduled the hiring of more labor force. She also scheduled a lot more factories for the various new needs of the territory. For instance, there would come a time when Lenny''s workshop could no longer fit in the fabric factory. This would be especially true when the commercial space she got for her was opened. As such, a factory would be dedicated to Lenny. They would be focusing on more common clothing and undergarments, and the rest of that market would be left to the citizens. In terms of residences, the current dormitories and residences would be able to swallow the newcomers. However, she did have to prepare well for the inevitable future expansion of the residential areas. Anyway, the land after the upgrade would increase by folds, but she didn''t know exactly how it would change after that. The NPCs mentioned that the expansion of the territory sometimes was not straightforwardly radiant, some were elongated, so she didn''t stress on the premature planning because of this. There were also other aspects that needed to be perfected, like policies that would be applicable to tens of thousands of population. For instance, traffic. Another, security. The more people there were, the more bad apples there would be. This was an inevitable fact she needed to address. Speaking of this, she decided to look at the loyalties of her citizens, in case she already had a bad apple around. She looked at the Citizens tab for the first time since the monster mob. She found the lowest loyalties for now was 50%. "Hm. Not bad." She said, and this meant she was still relatively problem-free in this area. For now, anyway. She looked at the other stats as well and, to her surprise, she found that there were also more and more people who triggered Life Occupations. There were more woodworkers, farmers, and builders. Dozens of them. It could be said that the peacefulness and prosperity of the territory inspired and gave time to a lot of people, allowing them to trigger these occupations that otherwise would have taken much longer. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, this would allow her territory to be built faster, a necessity for her Territory that wished to develop as much as possible before they faced the dangerous world outside. Above all of these, of course, she knew that one of the first things she had developed well was the military force. Fortunately, even with her lack of talent in the area, the people assigned to this aspect were all very responsible, knowledgeable, and passionate about their job. There were also more Fighting Occupations like swordsmen, shieldsmen, spearmen, and archers. People with these occupations had received some skills, a few more than others. For example, Helios and Hugo received three skills each as soon as they activated their professions, while some only had one. Regardless of whether it was one or three skills, however, she had no doubt that the training hall had a great contribution to this. After all, the monsters outside had become relatively weaker to them, triggering fighting occupations that needed life-and-death experiences. The Training Hall somewhat managed to fill up this gap, to a certain degree. The countdown to the end of the protection period had begun, and what were all these riches and conveniences if they couldn''t protect it? On the contrary, it would become a favorite target of more powerful territories instead. Although she would only be against village-level territories, the indigenous villages of this world had average levels of about 10 or so. This was twice what their own level forecast was! Now that their level started to stagnate at an average level of 5, Althea had no choice but to develop weaponry and defense even more. Although Drake and Rowan weren''t here at this time, they had made sure everything was in order. So, their policies were strictly followed by the more than 100 of the remaining guards. She watched as the barracks used a mixture of training methods from Xeno and from Terran, each of which complemented the other. Speaking of methodology and technique, Drake and Rowan were also surprisingly compatible with each other. Drake trained the guards'' physical and reaction times, while Rowan trained a more subtle quality¡ªsomething he called spirituality¡ªthat was supposed to solidify the foundation of Elementalists. It was a very subtle technique that was incredibly difficult to understand if one hadn''t awakened yet, but not entirely impossible to practice. It was like meditation, but more yearning for an outside force. Althea had tried it and although she hadn''t awakened yet, her instinct told her the exercise was useful. She and the others in her team made it a point to turn this spirituality training into a habit, done at least an hour every day. Perhaps, this would solidify their foundation, and make it easier for them to practice the elements when the time came. Returning to the present, she walked down to the training ground, joining the hardworking men. "How are you?" "Miss Altea!" The guards greeted the ''elder'' warmly. Their looks were with traces of affection and with massive amounts of admiration. This was a strong woman who was responsible for why their stomachs were always filled and satisfied¡ªthe woman who had affected their current lifestyles the most. Nobody said it out loud, but everyone who knew her achievements knew she was pivotal in the development of this territory. It was Reno, Drake''s right-hand man, who stood forward to answer her question. "The lowest level of the guards is level 3, Ms. Althea, and most of them are already level 4. With the help of the training hall, the average should be at level 5 by the time the protection period ends." This was one of the main items for reporting to the higher-ups every few days. It was obvious how seriously they took it. He heard the elders jointly requested to increase the free benefit time of the training hall to their guard team for this purpose. "What about combat capability?" "A level 3 can now take on a level 3 monster, one on one, without sustaining damage, miss Althea!" She nodded, pretty eyes following the movements of the hardworking guards. Although the level was low compared to those villages outside, how many fighters could fight against the same leveled monsters one-on-one? She doubted there was a lot. "Announce it to your guards," she said, emerald eyes not leaving her persevering guards. She ought to inspire them a bit more and pushed them a few more steps forward. "For every upgrade to level 5, a guard is entitled to 10 kilograms of rice, a big packet of instant noodles, a big packet of biscuits, a 1-liter jar of processed meat, and 3 small jars of any condiment of their choice." The guards who were low-key eavesdropping nearby widened their eyes, hyped, and lost their subtlety. They stopped whatever they were doing and stared, making sure what she said would really be implemented. This was big! That amount of food was more than enough to feed a big person for a month! The beautiful elder was so generous! "I''m expecting more level 5s soon." She said with a smile, and the guards almost saluted. "Yes, miss! Thank you!" If there was something that measured her personal prestige, her already high value would''ve skyrocketed even more. Chapter 228 New Mission Dragon Team Barracks, A few years prior It was night time and the military barracks laid in peaceful silence, now relatively empty as most soldiers were already preparing to rest. One area, though, remained filled with activity. Continuous gunshots echoed across the semi-open air shooting range, particularly audible amongst the quiet fields surrounded by dense forests. The one holding the gun had soft delicate hands, and she was supported from the recoil by strong arms flushed behind her. These same strong arms held up her supple arms, keeping them stable and in position. After shooting, she narrowed her eyes at the target brought back by the carrier. Her hit rates ranged from 6 to 8 points and she frowned. She had been here for so long, why was her accuracy so low? She pouted and looked at the man behind her. "So bad?" Garan chuckled and leaned down to kiss her head. "You are already doing very well, my love." "Really?" "Really." Althea''s mood turned up and she looked at the gun in her hand again. It felt really powerful, no wonder men loved it so much. "Well, I hope you''d never have to use it." He said, leaning down to peck at her lips. Althea smiled, closing her eyes to receive his chaste kiss. "Hmmm. I know," she told him, "That''s why you do your best at your job. So that I can study my plants with a peace of mind." Garan chuckled, wrapping his strong arms around her and she relished in his warmth. "Well, my wife is amazing." She pinched his cheeks. "We''re not married yet." Gatan smiled kissing her naughty hand on his face. "Not for long." ________________ Altera Village, present. After a short chat with the soldiers, Althea then proceeded to go to the newly minted weapons and armory factory, refurbished from one of the newly built buildings in the industrial area. On paper, this factory was ''expropriated'' by the ''territory'' to be used as a weapons factory. It was located next to the Kiln and had better security compared to the others. This area was where the weapons and armor would be mass-produced. After so long, Brenda and the others determined that, except for the productivity buff, they could do everything else in the factory, considering they had relatively advanced machines (for Xeno, anyway). It functioned like a combined armory and weapons store, albeit focusing only on production. All artisans and creators also had their own large workspaces, and they also added water wheels for their machines, as needed. It could be said that the Territory invested a lot in this. As an elder, she was one of the people with access to this area. The bike project was once again deferred, this time because Eugene had to help Brenda and Troy make some more weapons. The Creator job was so rare because they could also function as weapons makers, armor makers, etc. The catch was that there wouldn''t be any skills given to them by the World Knowledge, just the basic passive skill of understanding underlying mechanisms, which meant that they had to study every skill by themselves. Basically, unless one was really an inventor by profession, the job of Creator would not be available to them.. Fortunately, Eugene had long transferred the contents of Althea''s tablet to his and he had all the reference that he needed. Another passive that Eugene had recently developed was ''faster hands'' in which his hand speed could do twice as much without reducing accuracy. It was very cool to watch. Further, Troy had also awakened the Weapons Master''s occupation, and everyone knew it (he threw a party, making quite an announcement). He was very smug at the fact that he could now make ''magic'' crossbows that could do more damage against the monsters here than Terran guns. She watched as the three tirelessly tinkered with various components splayed out on the table, and Eugene''s hand was moving so fast that the Her before the apocalypse may have a hard time following his movements. "We have created smaller crossbows that could be activated by a finger. Although its force is weak, it is lethal if accuracy is good." "Very assassin-like," Althea said and Troy brightened at being ''acknowledged''. "Indeed! Very cool! The enemies won''t know what hit them!" The group smiled and proceeded to discuss the other weapons developed during this time. "Another one is the double-end axe. We used stone for the ends though¡­" The dark-skinned Eugene said, wiping sweat off his face with his new cotton towel. "It''s a good weapon for a Level E with stronger durability and higher damage." "We also developed a similar spear," Brenda said, "if you press this button, it will extend by a meter. It was amazing. "There are limitations, however." Eugene said, "The durability was compromised because of this feature. It would work well if it''s iron.." "It would be great if we have some black stone¡­ I mean, iron ores." Brenda said, "I feel my level is increasing, I may be able to handle black stone¡­ er, iron tools soon." Brenda had been stuck at level D for many years. She stayed here for less than a month and she already felt this barrier loosening. "Too bad the chances are so small, but goblins are too difficult to find in our situation." "Well, let''s just do what we can." Althea said, "I''ll¡­ recommend to send missions to find ores." The other two brightened. Why didn''t they think of it? "Can we do it?" Troy asked, not wanting to be rude, but the territory was really accommodating right? Althea nodded. "As long as the rationale is there, if it is good for the village, chances are it will be approved." Troy brightened, looking very admiring. "How nice is our territory!" Althea smiled, and so did the others. "I''m sure the territory would be glad to know your thoughts." Later that day, she went to her room and opened the Lord panel, setting an announcement similar to the mass exodus from before. It was just that there was something a bit different this time. Althea looked at the follow-up question on the floating screen in front of her. [It has been detected that there are citizens outside the territory at this time. Would you like to send the mission to them for 14 gold?] This damned money-grubber, charging 10 silver per person¡­ still rounded up. But what can she do? She didn''t have the luxury of time on her hands. Besides, a little gold was not much with her current net worth. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Yes] . . That day, yet another mission calling for another Exodus sounded across the territory [Territory Mission (A) Find resource points for the territory! I.e. Metal ores, special plants, etc. Requirements: None Limits: Must contain resources for at least 100 people. Rewards: 2000-10000 contribution points per team depending on scale and importance] And like so, everyone in the territory gaped at each other, and the scores of people outside the territory flinched at the same time, looking in a direction with wide eyes. It''s only been a day! The territory''s doing big things again! Chapter 229 Training Hall (Part 1) Althea stood in front of the very popular Training Hall, just before dusk. To her surprise, she saw the long line waiting to use the facility, with people waiting patiently for their turn as they chatted. At this time, some stall owners had already brought their portable shops and were selling some snacks and drinks to the line. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ah, people could never let an opportunity to earn money pass by. Whatever it was, Althea was just very happy to know that even when the day was ending, even after people had just gone home from a long day of work, people were still dedicated to self-improvement. From this line, it could be seen that a lot of people chose to spend their contribution points strengthening themselves first before anything else. She had worried people would choose to spend it on comfort first, but it seemed she thought too much. This was a wise choice for them, and it somehow made her feel proud of them like a mother. She also looked forward to using it herself. She was strongly prohibited (by her team and Mathilda) from using this facility during the past few days. Naturally, this was because she had just given birth and the training hall was known for the physical and mental exhaustion it pushed a person to. There was news of ordinary people buying time with contribution points, but they came out half-dead. Of course, the gains were also not small. These ordinary citizens gained a level and were recruited into the guards shortly afterward. This was what she was after. She had remained stagnant in the beginning of level 6, not having been able to go out much after giving birth. And even if she did, for some reason level 1s¡ªthe predominant mobs¡ªno longer gave her any experience. Now she had to make up for it. With a deep breath, she walked forward and lined up like everybody else. It was just that her presence had always been strong and she was quickly noticed by the people lining up. "Ms. Althea!" One said and everyone paused whatever they were doing and whipped their heads in her direction. She smiled awkwardly, a bit taken aback. She could only watch as the people lining up smiled at her panderingly. "It''s Ms. Althea!" One paused, "Please go ahead!" "Yes, Ms. Althea! Please go here¡­" one said, pointing at the space in front of him. Even without her contribution to the food industry, her striking beauty, or her position in the territory¡­ Her hiring rate alone was enough for people to want to suck up to her. Seeing that the people thought it would be an honor to give up their position in line for her, she was not polite. Simply thanked them with a smile. "No problem, miss!" "We''re glad to save you time!" "Everyone knows your time is super precious! Equivalent to the food of our village!" They looked so funny, she thought, and she laughed with them. "Well, I''ll make sure we release some more products soon." She said just before entering the hall, and when it closed she could hear them cheer. ¡­ Althea looked closely at the training hall as she entered. It was a two-storey building with around 500 square meters of footprint. There were about 10 rooms altogether per floor, with five doors facing each other on a one-meter-wide hallway. At the end of the hallway, there was a parchment with words written in strong strokes. Althea, who had been learning the local language, could make out the words ''Strength First, Happiness Later'', which was quite amusing. She stood outside one of the available doors, determined by the fact that it was partially open, unlike the others that were closed shut. It had a very crude and simple in design. Althea went in and looked around the room, observing before doing anything. It was a room composed of stone all around, walls to floor, without any embellishments. It was more like a more refined quadrilateral cave than anything else. Disregarding the aesthetics, she then proceeded to the function. At level 1, the Training Hall could only manifest a maximum level monster of level 5. However, it was still much better than the puny level 3s outside. A familiar ding rang in her head as soon as she closed the door. [Welcome to the Training Hall! Please choose the level of training you wish to experience! Level 1 Cost: 50 contribution/hour Level 2 Cost: 100 contribution/hour Level 3 Cost: 200 contribution/hour Level 4 Cost: 300 contribution/hour Level 5 Cost: 500 contribution/hour] In the back room, this contribution point was automatically converted to its equivalent copper. From what she understood, 90% of this money went back to her pockets, while the rest went to ''somewhere else'', likely going to the mysterious ''developer'' of the building. This amount per hour was understandably not cheap, and she mused it was probably because manifesting monsters took up a lot of energy. This also showed the territory''s willingness to invest in the guards by providing them with a few hours of training for free, regardless of level, which increased the prestige of both the job and the territory even more. Before doing anything though, she took time to check on her stats. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 6 (100/20000) Life: 900/900 Spirit: 900/900 +50 Physical: 175 +40 Agility: 177 +10 Defense: 114 +94 Mana: 900 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1), Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] Satisfied, she turned her attention to the holographic screen dedicated to the facility. After paying the money for a level 5 monster, a hologram-like thing appeared in front of her. It was a bigger, scarier, version of the Gnomos, one of the first monsters she encountered here. It was still similar to an ugly rat, but its green hue was darker and more menacing, its short tail was now longer and sharper, and its teeth looked like it could kill twice as easily as the Gnomos they had known. And so a woman and a monster stared each other down, with the latter''s eye glinting with malice. Althea couldn''t help but gape for a moment, looking at how there seemed to be saliva also dropping, how its fur was raised at the sight of her. It was so realistic. The aura of a stronger monster was intimidating, and it sent goosebumps up her spine. But more of her¡­ was excited. She''ll finally get a good fight! Chapter 230 Training Hall (Part 2) Althea looked at the monster in the eye, staring it down. Don''t look at it being a level lower than her, monsters'' physique was something fragile humans could not compare with. Not to mention, for physiques, level 5 was a threshold for monsters. Unlike before where every level up would have a bit of an increase in stats, every five levels would have a somewhat higher increase. Since this applied more to monsters, it spelled more trouble for them. Without warning, the creature lunged forward at incredible speed, its claw clashing through the air. She shifted her weight and avoided it and the creature emitted a low growl, dissatisfied with its miss. She took out a normal Level E bow and arrow, ready to strike. She did not want to be dependent on overpowered weapons to fight, especially since she couldn''t maximize it with her low level. Personal skill was still the best bet. Not to mention, even if she wanted to use her overpowered weapons, she wouldn''t be able to, This was because there was also a limitation of allowed weapons inside. For level 1 Training Halls, up to D-class weapons were permitted. She immediately activated her skills to increase her chances. [Perfect aim! -10 Mana!] [Quick Shot! -5 Mana] The monster quickly turned and lunged towards her, showing great flexibility. She deftly maneuvered behind the creature, sending a flurry of quick strikes at its weak spots. She jumped back as it lunged forward, kiting it, and she used her skills many times to cause heavy damage. She couldn''t help but recall her first days with her gun. A level E bow and arrow was on par with it in terms of damage, and she could only marvel at the magic of this world. At the same time, she wondered, if their Weapons Makers could somehow produce guns¡­ how powerful would they be? Anyway, she wasn''t able to dwell on this as the monster roared from the bottom of its stomach, and she felt a little vibration in the room. Enraged, the monster thrashed around, very quick and very strong. Althea barely avoided its strong jaws, but she didn''t avoid its paws and she was thrown meters away. The giant rat jumped to maul her, and she rolled over to avoid it. She did manage to, thankfully, avoid a bulk of its attack, but its tail suddenly turned and struck her, causing her to lose her balance just as she regained it. The monster naturally went to take advantage of her imbalance but she was quick to get in an attacking position even while lying down. Down on the ground, she quickly shot several arrows in a row, hitting its mouth and even its uvula. Rooarrrr!!! Its body shook in pain, trying to take out the few arrows that got stuck in its mouth. Taking advantage of its distraction, Althea quickly jumped on her feet, avoiding its heavy paws wildly flailing about, and began continuously shooting again. She jumped sideways to avoid the monster''s massive teeth, somersaulting to regain her balance and using her legs to zoom back to the monster. At this time, she took out her improved katana¡ªcourtesy of Eugene and Brenda, now capable of damaging a level 5¡ªfor a change of pace, mostly for her own more balanced training. The two fought for several rounds, most of which were close calls. There was one time that she almost got ''bitten'' but she used her legs to hit the side of its face, redirecting its bite. Such a strong and fast opponent was intrinsically superior in close combat. She naturally sustained some damage. She looked at her stats and saw that her life and spirit were reduced by a third. "Tsk." Sure enough, the level wasn''t everything In the training hall, one''s life and spirit were duplicated, even if you lost either, you would not die. However, she heard in the end the real body will still lose spirit, and depending on the damage, the remaining points may just be enough to keep one''s life. Soon, her ten minutes were up and she had to reactivate her skills. [Perfect aim! -10 Mana] S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In a blur of motion, the monster darted toward her, its claws and fangs poised to strike once more. Her lithe movements eventually adjusted, breaking its former stiffness and matching with the creature''s speed. With calculated precision, she slashed her katana, narrowly missing its agile form. Quickly, she transitioned and placed the katana back in her space. She swiftly strung her bow, eyes fixed on her fast-moving target. With as much focus as she could muster, she quickly released the arrow. Then again, and again. She hit its weaknesses like the eyes and the neck, giving it some damage. She eventually found the pattern of its movements, but unfortunately, her reaction time wasn''t fast enough yet, causing her to receive a bit of damage. But, in time, her expertise and timing neared perfection, and she started causing more and more damage as time went on. Splack! The monster roared in pain after an arrow buried in his eyes, right at its iris. It was at this moment she suddenly heard a familiar ding in her head. [Congratulations! Perfect Aim skill (Lv1) has leveled up.] Her eyebrows rose. Some skills were upgradeable the more they were used. It seemed like this skill was one. [Perfect Aim (D) Level 2: 100% hit rate for targets less than 20 meters, lasts 15 minutes. Consumption: 10 mana] In this short time of daze, the monster had finally recovered from its agitation, and their eyes met. Immediately, the damned thing lunged back in her direction. The two of them continued their previous fights, though Althea was notably no longer being pushed around. It still wasn''t easy though, as she wasn''t able to avoid its tail grabbing her legs, and pulling her down to her back. Bang!! She took out her katana, swiping the tail continuously as she used the blade to block his teeth. Eventually, she had to use her own legs to push down its glomping as she stabbed its tail. With a roar, it finally let go and her feet barely avoided being ''mauled''. She quickly recovered and shot several more arrows using her upgraded skill. She unleashed a barrage of attacks on the monster, each shot connecting with its mark. The creature finally stumbled and, using her katana, she finally drained its health bit by bit. She soon ended its life with several slashes. At less than thirty percent of life left, she watched it finally fall down. She watched its image disappear, much like the ashes of the buildings in Royal Territory before. When everything was gone, her legs gave way and she also found herself on the ground, gasping. Medicine and other healing agents were not allowed to be used in the training hall, aiming to push the individual to the limit. Oh, she was being pushed alright. [You still have 00:24:14 left, would you like to continue?] She stared at her little digital life left and narrowed her eyes. After a short breather, she raised her graceful finger. [Yes] Yes, of course. This wasn''t enough. This was something she realized with sharp enlightenment after this fight. She was still too weak. Chapter 231 Clues (Part 1) Vismont. Later that day, the sale continued in Vismont Village, but this time they set up a stall near the village center, with the richer population as the target market. They had decided on the location, with the agreement of the so-called lord, based on efficiency. More importantly, the lord was right next to them, and this alone immediately gathered the attention of everyone around as soon as he was noticed. The group settled down, setting up under the illumination of the torches, and they were quite crowded even before everything was set up. They took out 1L jars of various condiments to wholesale, bags of flour, bolts of cloth, and sewing tools, all sold in gold. People started their endless inquiries as soon as they appeared. One of the first things to notice was the bluish-green fine powder that was sold in kilogram bags. "Matcha?" The first in line asked, and the seller smilingly shook his head. "No, it''s flour." "Flour?" Other people focused on the other things, recognizing it. "Rice!" One asked, "Why is it blue?" "Both flour and rice are local materials. They naturally look different. "Rest assured our experts have determined they are healthy and safe." He cleared his throat and taught them some trivia that they got from the grocery store clerks. "The wheat here developed chlorophyll pigments making them packed with more vitamins and minerals. It also has more antioxidant properties. "Rice is blue because it has loads of iron, magnesium, and zinc coming from the rich soil. Very good for immunity and bone strength! "In any case: Our territory has been consuming it for a while, and it has been only good for us!" "Wow! How does it taste?" More and more people asked and the Alterans, ready for such questions, took out free taste samples of everything: Be it the sauces, the condiments, the cooked rice, or the baked bread. Without exception, those who tasted had bright eyes, their little doubt washed away by the taste. "Wow! It''s almost the same!" "Delicious!" "This is amazing!!!" "If we add this sauce to the restaurant gruel it would improve its taste 100x!" "I, on the other hand, wouldn''t eat that joke of a gruel with rice and wheat now available!" This marketing naturally got the trust of the people desperately wanting to believe they were real. The crowd got bigger and bigger and the Alteran guards started imposing the organized lines because the people here were pushing each other. Fortunately, the crowd in this area was much smaller than that of the shanty areas and were thus much easier to manage. The lines soon organized and the people reluctantly lined up, hoping there were a lot of stocks for them. "What are you going to buy? I can only choose one¡­ who told me to be so poor." "My brother lent me some money so I can buy a bit of everything for the house." "Wow, how lucky!" Micheal watched the commotion with a blank face, eyes looking at the lively faces of the crowd, with a mysterious expression on his face. They were standing not far from this crowd, along with his confidants. Next to them were Sylvia and the red-headed Aborigine. "Seeing the crowd, I wish I could buy more¡­" he told them, eyes staying on Silvia, who just smiled. Prior to their setup, he had already purchased a bit of all the products. While he tried to gain more for cheaper, he was only given a 10% discount on everything. The gangsters naturally ''spoke for him'' and demanded more, and the atmosphere got tense because of it. Micheal barely managed to diffuse the situation and he had no choice but to take the small discount offered. Soon questions about the stocks and availability popped up. "Are these really the last batch?" "Do you really have no more stocks left?" Micheal shifted his eyes to focus on the crowd, wondering how the shop owners would respond. At this question, the shop owners actually looked particularly excited, answering with ''subtle'' enthusiasm. "This is indeed the last batch." One said, voice calm and a bit low, but his bright eyes betrayed the excitement he was feeling. "However, you could get some in our territory, or wait for the next caravan to arrive." Micheal''s lips twitched. This line¡­ who was deaf to hear its low-key goal of poaching? No, it couldn''t even be considered low-key anymore. He sighed and just looked at Silvia, who was giggling a bit. "Do you produce them yourself?" "Yes, we had a famous plant expert in our territory. She not only studied the local plants, she also bought seeds from Terran." she paused, "It is her team who was also responsible for processing the crops into what you see now." This made Matthew pause, a little shocked, while the others gaped shamelessly. He cleared his throat, returning to his composed self. "I see¡­ the person who made this is really amazing. Do you know them personally?" This lord looked really amicable, but anyone with brains could notice the interrogative undercurrents. When Silvia shook her head, he turned to look at the other less busy individual in the store. Crow and Leo answered with similar vagueness (because everyone else lacked the EQ to deal with Matthew). Eventually, the lord finally excused himself to do some official work and got his people to warmly see him off. Sunny and Dog didn''t even bother hiding their eye-roll. Anyway, now that the creepy lord was gone, the atmosphere in the group lightened up visibly, and the joy of making money more pronounced. The selling continued and the people, especially the twins (who had gotten very good deals thanks to their friendship with Ansel), had large smiles on their faces. Rich! They''re really rich!! A few more rounds of selling and they would probably be able to buy their own house!!! After all, even if there was a deal between the two territories, their purchasing price would still be lower. They could create caravans and still sell these items for a very good price! No, there were downpayment programs. With this money, they might be able to pay for the down payment as soon as they get back! At the latest, just one more round! ''It is amazing. They''re amazing. The territory is amazing.'' Even with their parents there, their house in Terran was a rental. How proud mom would be when they see them own a house! "Should we buy a duplex or a single detached house?" Leo asked dreamily and Luke answered almost immediately. "Mom loooves gardening. A small one-side yard may not be enough¡­" They looked at each other, eyes bright, and thought of their choice simultaneously. "Single detached it is, then!" The twins continued to excitedly chatter about their new house while selling for a while, interrupted when they felt an apprehensive stare directed at them. Leo turned his head abruptly with narrowed eyes and saw a familiar woman. But Leo was unsure because she was quick to turn around and leave. "That''s¡ª" Luke uttered. Leo knew that his brother had a better vision than he did, confirming that the woman was indeed who he thought she was. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their eyes met each other, and they stood up, gesturing to follow the woman. After all this time, they finally had a clue! Chapter 232 Clues (Part 2) Before leaving, the twins asked their new friends and stall neighbors Sunny and Cassie to watch their stuff for them. After orienting the girls, they headed in the direction the woman ran to. The twins quickly weaved through the crowd in the direction of the woman. They ran purposely, expressions a mix of determination and urgency. They passed through crowd after crowd, alley to alley, house after house, trying to catch up to the woman. Unfortunately even with Luke''s superior eyesight¡­ they still lost her. "Damn it!" Luke yelled with gritted teeth, while Leo frowned, his fists forming into fists. "Why did she run?" Luke said, mumbling bitterly, while Leo didn''t speak. Yes, why would she run? There was no other reason unless¡­ He shook his head, not wanting to think too much. "Are you looking for someone, lads?" An old man manning a clothing repair stall asked. The man looked at their clothes and nodded. "Those must be made here, in this continent, yes?" "Ah¡­ yes." To promote their products, the main parties traveling were encouraged to wear new clothes from the newly produced cotton cloths. "You could tell?" "Yes, most clothes from Terran are automated. There are differences in the stitches." "I see¡­" He said and felt very good about this kind-looking old man, temporarily putting aside the issue of the woman. Besides, he could''ve seen something. "You fix clothes for a living?" The old man paused and chuckled. "You can say so, yes. "Since we don''t have access to cloth, the people here could only make do with what they have. I happened to have fixed a lot of clothes in my youth¡­" He paused, smiling. "This is all thanks to the lord that a useless old man like me could get a job." Luke was good friends with Sunny''s group, so he naturally had some more knowledge about the ruling class here. He couldn''t bear to let this kind old man be brainwashed so deeply. "From what I heard, the lord here is a bit.. shady? A politician who could get so much hard money, and all¡­" The man paused, only staring at them for a moment, and Luke felt a little guilty for trying to break other people''s worldviews. "Perhaps." The old man said after a moment, face adorned with a wise smile. "But we don''t deny that much of the reason we could live peacefully is because of him." Luke shrugged and just thought he was a lost cause. Leo on the other hand just paused with his words and didn''t say anything else. "Have you seen the woman we were chasing? She had a braided bun on her head." Leo asked, "She''s our mum''s friend. She was with her when the disaster happened." The old man looked at them with wise eyes, as if determining if they were telling the truth. He closed his eyes and finally spoke. "She lives with others a block from here." He said, pointing in a direction. The twins thanked the old man before heading their way. But as they walked away, they heard the old man say behind them: "A reminder: Things may not be as they seem." Leo''s steps paused for a moment but he shook his head. He had much more urgent matters to deal with. ¡­ They sprinted with all their strength and reached a relatively sparse neighborhood outside the center. They were looking around and saw the woman about to reach a door. Lucky for them, the woman tried to mislead them by going in a different direction before heading home, saving them a lot of trouble instead. Luke used much of his strength to dart after the woman and finally caught up. He grabbed her arms, pulling her to an alley. "KYA!" She yelled, but her mouth was quickly covered by Luke''s large hand. They pulled her to a quiet location, and Leo stared at the woman with narrowed eyes. "Promise you won''t scream or run and we will not bind you." The woman was breathing heavily, wide eyes looking at them in fear. Leo''s jaws clenched, while Luke was just annoyed. "Are you going to help us or not? The shivering woman was silent, as if considering, and it took a while for her to nod. This hesitation alone made Leo''s frown deepen. Luke, as promised, let her go. The woman gasped as she lost the feeling in her leg and almost dropped, only to be supported on each hand with separate arms. Luke immediately began his interrogation. "Auntie! Why did you run? Where''s mum?" "I¡ª" Leo tried to be as gentle as he could, in contrast to Luke. "Auntie, we just want to ask where mum is." Leo watched the middle-aged woman pale even more at the question, shaking in fear. The more she didn''t speak, the more their hearts dropped. Luke''s eyes were turning red in impatience and annoyance, while Leo tried his best to stay collected. He stopped himself from panicking, big brain thinking of the many possible explanations. Maybe¡­ maybe they parted early on. Maybe¡­ they canceled their plans at the last minute. Maybe¡­ they didn''t go to the supermarket in the first place¡­ "Where''s mom?" "I¡ª" she uttered but shut her mouth, looking at anywhere else but the two of them. Seeing her like this, their hearts stopped. "Where is she?!" Luke couldn''t help but shake her, already a tiny bit of patience wearing thin. She shook her head crazily, and Luke''s vision started going red. "WHERE IS MY MOTHER?!!" His bellow seemed to have made the woman snap. "I didn''t mean it! I didn''t mean it!!" She yelled, completely losing her footing, covering her own ears as if she wasn''t the one currently yelling. "She tried pushing me first!" This made them freeze like they were thrown into iced water. "LIAR!!!!" Luke roared. "I''m not, I swear." She sobbed, her arms covering her whole body as if she was in pain. Leo looked at the ground with a dark face, his hands freezing to fists then loosened then gripped again, awkward, not knowing what to think. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Things are not what it seems, the old man had said. Perhaps it was implying that this woman was also a victim. But¡­ He just didn''t want to believe it. Chapter 233 Another Altercation (Part 1) Vismont. Nights in Xeno were quite dark, and nights in the small Vismont village were no exception. Here, only the main road was lit with torches and still very sparsely at a hundred meters apart. If it weren''t for the two moons, people would basically be blind at night. On the side near the main plaza, the best-lit place in the territory, a certain group of top sellers were already packing up, but there were not a few people still lurking around, hoping they magically released more products. Anyway, the Alteran products have sold out and everyone was very happy with the earnings. Rowan nodded and walked to Silvia, the main proponent of inter-territory relationships in the team. "What do you think?" He asked, referring to their next point of action. They weren''t given the order to partner with Vismont. And although it wasn''t prohibited, their party definitely wouldn''t take the initiative for cooperation. He hoped to know the stance of the territory in case of accidents. "If they approach us with very advantageous deals while we''re here, we may consider. Of course, if they''re doing anything inhumane, then naturally there would be no partnership regardless of profit." Rowan nodded and he looked around to find the people who had been here before, for more referencing. But as he did a headcount, he noticed two people missing. "Where''re the twins?" He asked and it was the girls Sunny and Cassie who stepped forward to answer him. "They seemed to have seen someone they know." They said, "They looked to be quite in a hurry¡­" Rowan frowned and looked in the direction. He was a bit worried. After all, this territory was not nearly as safe as Altera, and the ruling class were forceful people who only sought to take advantage. This was actually the standard in most territories he knew and knew of, but after a month in Altera, it was obvious how his view had changed. "I will look for them." He finally said, before turning to the Alteran crowd. "I have already rented a few houses in community C. Gather your bearings and rest well. We will travel back on daybreak tomorrow." "Yes!" ¡­ Rowan found the twins an hour later after following a couple of clues. The two of them had dark expressions on their faces, looking uncharacteristically somber. This was unusual because these twins had been some of the most energetic people he had ever encountered. However, he did not ask, they weren''t close enough for him to pry, and it seemed like they encountered a very personal issue. "I have been looking for you." He said and the two looked apologetic. "We''re sorry," they said and he didn''t nag them. Without anyone speaking, Rowan led them to one of the residences he rented for the team. It was the usual unit available, except that they had brought blankets from Altera to keep themselves somewhat comfortable. This was in contrast to the others who probably only had a roof over their heads. They had seen how it was for most¡ªthey would be already better off than most if they brought a tent. The others barely had a shed built above their heads. While there were indeed carpenters in the territory, they were sadly not accessible to most. Anyway, their abode might be really bare and basic but this was already a luxury for nearly everyone else in this village. He remembered when he and the other Alterans saw the accommodation and frowned in distaste. This was until they belatedly realized that it was how the better-off people had been living. It was very impolite of them to complain so much. Some people were outwardly ashamed of how queasy they had become..., but then became proud because their home was just so much better than others, spoiling them in turn. However, the twins didn''t seem to notice the living arrangements at all, obviously dwelling in their own worlds with low moods. Before leaving the two to their own devices, Rowan gave them both a pat on their shoulders. "Just call if you need something." He said and left without waiting for a response. Leo and Luke''s eyes met, and they sighed, lying down on their respective blankets, directly on the hard cold floor below. But they were so numb, they didn''t even feel it. ¡­ Crow, Dog, and Sunny had a small house to themselves. Lighting up the protected torch in the rooms, they formed a circle in the middle of the room and sat. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What do you think he''ll do?" Dog asked his friends, "Do you think he''ll target us and our goods?" "He probably will. Be careful of his guards. They may find fault soon." "But they can''t hold a candle to Rowan, could they?" "Who knows? Those people have such dark minds, don''t underestimate them." The group nodded in solemn moods, their heads wondering how to defend themselves from possible attacks from the snakes. At this time, there was a sudden knock on the door, startling them for a moment. When they didn''t respond immediately, the knocking turned a little more urgent, followed by a familiar voice. "Sunny? Dog?" "That voice¡­" They quickly open the door to see their neighbor auntie from when they lived here. She was very kind to them, one of the few people who didn''t snarl at their group. Occasionally, she would even send them some fruits her son harvested. Their faces brightened at the sight of a friend. "Good that you came, auntie. We actually kept some stock of our products¡ª" but Dog''s soliloquy was stopped when the middle-aged woman gripped his arm with teary eyes, shaking in fear. "P-Please come with me¡­ my son has fainted, and I¡­ I don''t know who to call¡ª" They frowned and immediately went with her to see. Bull scoffed. "As expected of a hypocritical lord and his ruling class. People don''t even look for them when there''s trouble." The young men and woman looked at each other and nodded, coming after the woman to help her out. They had completely forgotten the defense strategies they had been discussing literally 1 minute prior. Chapter 234 Another Altercation (Part 2) The group of four ran to a familiar slum area and to a small makeshift hut to see their old friend. To be honest, there was an element of smugness here because they kind of wanted to show off how well-off they were now, despite being so pitiful just a few days prior. However, what they got into was not the scene they expected. The son was indeed without consciousness, but on his back was a large foot owned by a huge man with a mocking smile. Beside him were eight more people. They recognized a few as the guards from the entrance. Worse, they brought more ''manpower'' with them. Their hearts paused. "The boss wants your products," Brong said, chewing an Alteran jerky he had. He closed his eyes and savored its taste, and when his eyes opened he just looked even greedier. Dog scoffed, glaring, even when his legs were a little shaky, "Heh, that lord finally lost his patience eh?" Crow furrowed his eyebrows. His ego and success had flooded his head! So much for being a genius! And they¡­ they really should''ve known better! They turned their heads to the auntie who was sobbing, not daring to look at them. And they were more certain in their hearts that this was a trap. Hey, of course, it was a trap. Were they still in denial? Damn them for being stupid!! Rowan was not with them now, and they were in the slums. In this place, no one went against these bastards at all! They don''t know what happened with the first thousands of settlers of this territory but they seemed to have fear of these gangsters ingrained in their hearts. Obviously, if everyone banded together, they''d be able to fight these people off right?! "Well, get out all the items you had in stock. As well as the gold you earned from our people." The three''s hairs rose in anger, "Dream!!!!!" They yelled and the big man cracked his knuckles in response. Without any warning, he sent the same knuckle into Dog''s face. The young lad was thrown back, gasping with a bloodied nose. "Dog!!" The others couldn''t react immediately and could only run to him, lifting his head up. Brong and the others laughed at them, "Still not giving it to us?" Sunny, whose eyes were tearing a little, held on to Dog, looking heartbroken before whipping her head to glare at Brong. "It seems you forgot you have no chance against our soldiers!" This made the gangster pause, but only for a bit. Instead of backing away, they only laughed at her. "Pfft! How many are you, how many are we? This is our territory! Didn''t you know that the dragon still had to give way to the snake in its own home?!" The trio paled. Indeed, the lord of a territory was extremely protected in their scope. They weren''t sure if Rowan and the others could handle it! Even if they could, what if the lord kicked out Rowan and the other strong men? What would they¡ªwho could be left behind for free beating¡ªdo?? The remaining goons quickly held back the three youngins, pulling them apart, and hitting different parts of their bodies. However, they were not like before¡ªthey were much stronger and braver now, and they managed to turn it into a fight. Crow avoided a punch and kicked someone''s shin, and Dog made a quick follow-up by headbutting the person. "GYA!" They took advantage of the momentum to damage another gangster. Of course, even if they improved their strengths and had a lot more fights in them, they were still no match for hard-skinned gangsters who fought for a living. "I see you got some fight in you," Brong said, but then more people stood up and it became one-to-three. Very soon, all they could do was defend themselves and curl up like turtles. Some men also pulled Sunny away. She squealed and cried, with Dog and Crow yelling for her but was pushed back violently by a flurry of kicks and punches. She wanted to vomit at the grubby hands touching her body, trying to get into her clothing. "No!!" She cried, but the hands only groped more hurriedly, and she looked around for help, only to see the others being beaten up helplessly. She was beginning to lose hope. She sobbed. "Someone, please¡ª" "Hehe. No one would dare save you, silly girl!" A man yelled, grabbed her face with his grubby hand. Sunny could only cry desperately as the man''s hand crept down her shirt. However, before the disgusting hands could do anything else, the door abruptly opened, followed by a loud bellow. "STOP IT!" Their eyes brightened at the new voice, but she was not expecting its source at all. It was Matthew, as clean and well-put as always in those seemingly unlimited supply of long-sleeved high-neck polos of his. "Let them go." Brungo paused and looked at him, wondering if he was serious. Matthew looked back at him and sent him a warning stare, "I will kick you out if you do any more." Brungo''s eyebrows rose in disbelief and he gritted his teeth, glaring. "You¡ª" "Are you listening or not?" Brong thought for a while and frowned. He sneered, before sending Mathew a glare, not forgetting to give them one last kick before leaving the hut. The two lads groaned, but not without laboriously turning their heads to look at the newcomer, eyes filled with befuddlement. Matthew paused to look at them, not speaking for a while, "I want them out safely in a minute." He said, before leaving again. The door shut and the air was still¡ªit was as if he wasn''t there. Except for aunties'' sobs, the air of silence remained in the room. The trio looked at each other. Matthew? He saved them? After sending goons after them? Crow naturally hated the man who was part of his beautiful aunt''s brutal murder. Did he have to set up such a show to get their approval? What the hell is he up to? sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 235 Matthew White (Part 1) Bang! Huge fists filled with sharp metallic rings connected to Matthew''s stomach, quickly making him lose his footing. His dark-ash blonde hair was uncharacteristically all over his face, sticking as he sweated in pain. He didn''t speak and just gripped his stomach, coughing in pain, but he didn''t show any hint of fear, despair, or hate¡ªas always. "Tsk¡ª" the large man sneered, spitting on him. "Did you think you''d escape easily from a punch?" He said, kicking him several times until he couldn''t move anymore. The larger man''s eyes traced over him, seeming to revel in his pitiful state. "You think just because you''re the Lord here you can do whatever you want right?!" Lying down and eating dirt, Matthew forced himself to utter out words, "Brother-in-law¡­" "So you STILL remember I''m your brother-in-law!" The man roared as he kicked again, still with more strength. "Do you want your sister''s medicine to be thrown into the mouths of monsters?" This finally made his impassive look change and he paled further. "No, I¡ª" The man seemed happy to finally see fear in his eyes, but it naturally did not calm his aggressiveness, and the man habitually kicked a bit more. "Then why did you stop my men, HUH?!" He yelled, sending him yet another kick, this time on his leg. Matthew gasped and tried to lift himself up to explain. "I¡­ I thought f-for you." Cough. "It w-was for you to get more." Interested, the man finally stopped kicking. "Continue." It took a moment for Matthew to gather himself, but he spoke even before he could. He knew how impatient this man was, after all. "For producers¡­ it''s better to gain access by cooperation." Matthew used this moment of respite to sit up and wipe the blood from his mouth. "Their territory could produce the items they sell. Our village does not have this capability." "Then make it so!" "It''s not that easy!" Cough! "The technical talents are in their territory! Do you think they''d allow us to steal these talents when we beat them up off the bat?" The man paused, rubbing his bushy beard in thought. "Then what do you plan to do?" Matthew''s hand gripped the soil beside him, eyes flashing with bitterness. "...gain their trust and gain access to their talents." He paused, and Higson looked at him in interest. "And? Continue." Matthew pursed his lips, his eyes darkening. "I will use my¡­ assets to get them back to the territory." S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The man stared at him and grabbed his face. He looked at Matthew''s handsome face¡ªthe only part of him without bruises. He cackled, very amused. "Heh, as expected for the brother of a slut." Matthew wanted to bow his head to hide the uncharacteristic hideous expression on his face, sadly the man held his face firmly and he couldn''t move away at all. It was unknown whether Higson knew what he was thinking, but he spat out again as if expressing his disgust. "Be thankful you have a useful face." He said as he gripped Matthew''s white face and sneered, "Otherwise I''d love to see it as colored as every other part of you." ¡­ That night, Matthew sat on the cold wooden floor of his bedroom, groaning in pain. Using the dwindling first aid kit in his space, he dabbed some medicine on his bruises. It was at this time the door opened to reveal an emaciated but beautiful woman who had very similar features to him. She gasped as she kneeled beside him, looking at his body with no good skin left. "Oh, Matthew¡­" As she handled his wound, tears continuously fell from her eyes, eyes turning darker. "I''m sorry, if I weren''t here, you¡ª" If she was gone¡­. Matthew was very familiar with this somber look. "Don''t say that!!" He roared and the woman shut her mouth, just helping him deal with his wound without saying anything. Matthew watched her with a frown, heart constricting in fear of what she could do. The most recent time she tried to kill herself was not even that long ago. It was when she threw herself at a monster during the beast tide, intent on getting mauled. It was lucky that he was nearby, or else he''d have lost his only relative. He looked at this woman who was both his sister and mother. She was only five years older than him, but it felt like she took on the burden of generations. She was so good. He could still remember when they were children and had parents, she always brought home so many awards¡­ Look at her now¡­ ''She''s like this because of me,'' he couldn''t help but muse, every time he saw her pitiful state. When their parents died, she had to drop out of college to support him. There were teachers who tried to convince her, but she refused every time. Even if she got scholarships, how could the meager allowance support them both? Then she found out she had Trialphas, a disease requiring expensive maintenance for daily life, and then all hope of returning to school was lost. His upbringing and her disease rendered her unable to have any other choice but to put away her talents. Inadvertently, she was pulled into a dirty industry because of her beauty, to her now-husband''s most lucrative business. He tried to pull her out of it, but what could a teenager do? So he chose a path of power¡ªpolitics, and he was talented at it. He was even hailed as the most promising young politician of the decade. Unfortunately, before he could garner any power, she had already gotten pregnant and tied the knot with the bastard, and now he held her life in one hand. There was a time that they had managed to escape from him though¡ªthe Disaster known as the Apocalypse. To others, it was hell. But to the two siblings, it was an unexpected Hope. It was finally their chance for a decent life. Chapter 236 Matthew White (Part 2) To others, the Apocalypse brought only horror, pain, and losses. To the two of them, it meant freedom. It started when he found out his sister suffered a miscarriage after receiving a beating from Higson. Matthew only saw red the moment he heard the news from someone he bought from inside. She was still in their home! He didn''t even bother taking her to the hospital! He went mad and disregarded the politician image he had been trying to maintain, driving like a speed racer to confront the man. However, despite his rage, he was not entirely irrational. Before heading to the imminent ''battle'', he sent all the results of his investigations to his friends, telling them to call the police should he not contact them within 24 hours. He had been waiting for the perfect time to release the documents, but he needed them divorced first before he could do so. Otherwise, his sister could be dragged in the legality of everything as his wife. He had been planning on showing all those evidence to his sister later that week. As he drove, he kept thinking, had he moved just a few days earlier, had he been more decisive¡ª Anyway, today, he was determined to get them divorced that day, no matter what. "Matthew, please wait!" A familiar voice sounded and he turned in a direction, and he saw his pale sister hurriedly getting out of a cab. His sister knew him too well, it seemed. "Sister!" He yelled, catching her when she lost her footing due to weakness. "Don''t do it!" "Nothing can stop this, sister." Melissa paused and looked at him. "I''m coming with you." "NO!" Matthew growled, yelling at his sister for the first time in his life. Melissa did not falter, gripping his arm, with her eyes particularly filled with fight¡ªsomething he had not seen in many years. Seeing this, his stance softened a bit and he heaved a sigh to calm himself. "You can''t do anything. You''ll only make me worry when you come.: "How would we divorce if I hadn''t signed the papers yet? I must be there!" "No, you don''t." But she blocked his way with her whole being, threatening to hang herself if he didn''t return in half a day. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The thing was, Matthew wasn''t sure if he could return in half a day. In the end, he could only succumb to her demands. "If he shoots you," she had told him at the time, her eyes filled with determined light, "Then he shoots us together." The two of them looked at each other, nodding, and mightily ran to the man''s base. However, on his way up the elevator, his vision darkened and he woke up and everybody else was ''asleep''. He shook his sister who fortunately woke up and they dragged themselves over the figures on the ground, heading to their destination regardless. Then the bodies started flinching, getting up, and moving so stiffly that he could hear their bones cracking. The bodies darted to them without warning, trying to eat them. But he was quick to take one of the guns lying on the floor, barely managing to save their lives. Weird game-like notifications appeared, but he was in no mood to read any of them. He didn''t know what happened but he wanted to take advantage to finally end the bastard. He went to the most guarded area in his base, but Higson wasn''t there. He only saw his piles and piles of gold and jewelry instead. His eyebrows furrowed and they approached the treasure trove. "How many lives did this cost?" He asked, touching the nearest gold bar with a heavy heart. A floating notification appeared in front of him, but he was in no mood to absorb any of it. The next thing he knew a ding sounded inside his head, followed by a glaring text. [Gained! +1002 Gold] And then he realized none of the gold and jewelry remained. He turned his head to his sister, who looked just as mystified. "They just¡­ disappeared." She told him, but his heart pounded like no tomorrow. At the time, he had no idea what it implied, he was just terrified that the money Higson worked so hard for disappeared from his watch. The high of courage from before diffused, and he was determined to just take his sister away from it all. He escaped with his sister to reach the migration period, hiding in the nearby residential area and filling up their space with what they could. Then, they arrived in this world. He built up a territory using the money he stole from him. They even named it Vismont, which meant the Land of Rebirth in the old language of their mother tongue. Unfortunately, it didn''t last long as his gang and his guns eventually found his territory and he had to sacrifice too much to keep everyone''s lives. If the Lord''s token hadn''t been infused to him, there was no doubt he''d have lost it, along with his life. Back to the present, Melissa looked at his brother with a broken heart. Her brother was so good and so kind, but associating with that bastard would only denigrate his achievements¡ªhis great self crimped by Higson''s control. Even if he was doing the best he could for the people, considering everything, it meant nothing because Higson and his cronies were there, making everyone suffer. If it wasn''t for her disease, her brother would have dealt with those bastards as soon as they appeared. How could she bear it? Melissa couldn''t help but sob. "Sister. Don''t worry." He said, thinking of the mysterious group of people who had already done so many miracles in such a short period of time. It wasn''t that there were no doctors in his territory¡ªon the contrary, there were plenty. But what could doctors do without medicine? But more than the resources they had, he cared more about something else: They were strong. Very strong. He held his sister''s hand firmly, this time with renewed hope in his eyes. "I may have found us a way out." Chapter 237 Unwelcome Guests Vismont Village, many weeks prior Inside one of the many identical houses in the village, Matthew was happily planning for their small village''s development. He was using some excess paper he managed to hoard back in Terran. He had already made a preliminary zoning plan of the village, and he felt joy whenever he thought of its imminent execution. He might have started politics for his sister, but he quickly fell in love with public service. Now, he had all the power, and there was no need for the cumbersome red tapes and pandering to arrogant old men to implement his vision. Despite the monsters outside, he optimistically thought that he was really living¡­ a dream. His daydream, however, was quickly broken by a desperate knock pounded on his door. It was a young man with curly red hair. It was one of his few guards, Oliver, and he was incredibly pale and scared. Matthew put down everything and stood up, looking at him worriedly. "What''s going on?" Oliver immediately turned around and asked him to follow, saying many people would die if they were late. "What?!" He exclaimed, but he ran out of his own home without another word. The air was tense and a palpable unease lingered in his village, his heart felt like it was gripped tightly by something. This was a bad premonition. Did a mob attack their village again, Matthew asked himself, over and over, until he ran to where Oliver was leading him. But¡­ if it was a beast tide¡­ why was everything so¡­quiet? He only heard some whimpers, at most. He would soon find that it was not a beast tide, however. It was worse. "Well, well," A pause, "Nice place you have here!" Matthew''s heart dropped as he heard Higson''s voice, and his eyes met the other one''s. It was filled with malice, glaring at him with undisguised hostility. Around him were about a hundred men, each one with a gun on hand, pointing at a different citizen who were all pale and shivering, eyes wide with fear as they looked at him filled with hope. Matthew wanted to kick these gangsters out, but everyone had guns, and they could shoot people even before he could do anything. At this time, he had not yet discovered the automatic execution of regulations. Even if he did, he might not necessarily have the money to purchase it on his own, especially not when the person was only threatening and had yet to do actual damage. Matthew very well knew what Higson''s arrival meant, which made his heart heavier the more the metaphorical clock ticked by. He established this village for about a few days now, and they had been building it together. His group of less than a thousand people had worked hard to build this, to fight the monsters that came their way. Was it all going to be for naught? "This should all cost a lot, right?" Higson asked, looking at him in suspicion. "I wonder how you did it." "And you built all these in a couple of days¡­ how?" Matthew didn''t speak. Higson sneered and he turned to a direction. As if on cue, a gun touched the forehead of a random woman next to them. She sobbed and looked at Matthew imploringly. "H-Help¡­ me¡­ my lord¡­" She sobbed and she immediately shut her mouth when the gun was harshly pushed against her head. "TELL ME!!" Higson yelled, making everyone flinch. Matthew shut his eyes and clenched his fist, but he had no choice but to answer, "I¡­I received a Lord''s token¡­ it allowed me to build all these." "How come it''s just you? Where''s mine? Where is it?" He said and narrowed his eyes, "The treasure I lost a while back¡­" "It''s integrated into my body." Matthew immediately said before they attacked him for the ''token''. Thinking of this, he couldn''t help but feel relieved and he ended up looking at his brother-in-law with chin high¡ªfor once. "It''s integrated in my body," he repeated. "I don''t know what happens if I die." Higson paused and looked at him, laughing. It happened very quickly. Higson made a slight nod and¡ª BANG! A bullet went through the woman''s head. "You!!" Matthew growled, about to kick them out and risking a few losses, lest they make any more damage. But then several of his goons held on to more people, with their hands on the trigger, guaranteeing death for them. Matthew''s ears rang, a bit panicked, but he managed to keep his wits enough to try to find a way out. But then¡­ it got worse, and all his cool dissipated into thin air. "Cain!" Higson yelled and a relatively decent-looking man emerged. He was very clean, unlike the others. The newcomer sauntered to the center, and Matthew''s eyes constricted at the sight of who he was holding. "SISTER!" He yelled but he could only freeze as she was dragged closer to Higson, who grabbed her face. He sneered when he saw the beautiful woman was still pale and sickly, "Eh, considering how you ran, I had thought her disease had magically healed." He then heard the sound of guns clinging, and the soft clicking sounds of the trigger nearly being pressed, and his heart dropped. Fortunately, the triggers weren''t pressed but their hearts remained high, as if ready to fall down. "Kneel." Melissa was pushed down on her knees. Matthew wanted to run to her but a gun pointed at her head, ready to press it at a moment''s notice. Matthew was prepared to bend his knees when his sister screamed. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Don''t do it!!" Melissa yelled with all her might and emotions, shivering at the memories of so many horrors triggered by the sight of her husband. "D-Don''t¡­ don''t give in, please! Or it will never end!" She said so, looking valiant, but the adrenaline and emotions were too much for her body. She felt her vision blur and a wave of dizziness washed over her, falling down head first. "SISTER!" Matthew yelled but a gun pointed at him and his sister, and he could only watch as she tried to move, uncoordinated, and her speech slurred. His heart froze at the familiar sight, some harsh memories washing over him and making him shake in fear. His sister assured him she had brought medicine¡­ was it already gone?! To have such symptoms, she must''ve ran out for days! Then Higson lifted a vial and his eyes constricted. "Heh... when I found out my treasure was gone, I made sure to take all of this I could gather. Seems like my instincts still serve me well." The other man grinned, arrogantly looking down at him. "Are you kneeling or not?" Chapter 238 Catalyst of Change "Are you kneeling or not?" His head was ringing, knowing full well his sister would feel even worse if he did so. If he could get the medicine some other way¡ª BANG! His eyes widened as a young lad¡ªa teenager no more than 13 years old¡ªhad his head blown during his moment of doubt. "YOU!!!" he yelled but his knees had long been weakened. With this catalyst, it completely gave way and he flopped down to kneel on the floor. "Let them go. Please." He said, gritting his teeth in anger, humiliation, and worry for his sister and his people. Unexpectedly, Higson laughed. "Nyahahah! Why would I?" He said, "Do you think I''m so stupid? Do you think I didn''t see you were planning on doing something earlier? What? Kick me out?" Matthew paled, and Higson''s eyes turned red at his reaction confirming his theory. "I¡­" "You will follow all my orders, understood? Like you always did." he grinned and Matthew''s fist clenched. He looked down, covering the sharp light in his eyes. But then he thought, he just needed the right timing. He could get rid of them¡ª But his hopes were quickly dashed as Higson continued speaking. "We''ve been studying this place, and a person of mine¡ªCain, smart guy¡ªfound that¡­" He paused, looking in the direction of the aforementioned man amongst his people¡ªthe one who pulled in his sister. "We found that you can sign contracts and stuff¡ªthe kind that can''t be taken back." Matthew''s jaw clenched, his heart tightening. "What do you want?" "Swear loyalty to me. Follow my orders." He said, "Both of you." "Only if you¡ªand your people¡ªpromise not to kill anyone anymore." He said. "Sure, I promise that we will not kill anymore. Otherwise, if you find out, you are free to punish the person as you like." Higson grinned as he said so, waving his sister''s medicine in front of his face. He was holding it so carelessly as if he could drop it any time. The man''s golden teeth glinted as he stared down at him, the metal reflecting light that blinded him in many senses of the word. How could he not hear the loopholes in his side of the deal? But¡­ what choice did he have?? Matthew felt his world was darker again. Would they really see no end?? ________________________ [9 days of Protection Period] Vismont Village, Present Matthew opened his eyes as he blinked away the remaining lethargy in his body. He shifted his body to get out of the bed, but the sharp aches of his injuries attacked and he groaned in pain. "Damn it!" He yelled against his pillow, not bothering to get up. Anyway, it was still dark, he ought to rest more. Maybe this pain would be better by then. Unfortunately, even getting back to sleep was difficult, because now he felt pain even while he was breathing. Realizing he really wouldn''t be able to get back to sleep, he decided to do something productive, ideally to distract himself. He got up and laboriously dressed into one of his long-sleeved turtlenecks. It was a pain to wear (literally), but he had no choice unless he wanted to showcase all of his bruises. He trudged to his office¡ªa refurbished residential unit¡ªnext to the village center. Heaving a sigh, he closed his eyes to feel the silence around him, his only light was the sparse torches and the two moons. It took him a while to gather himself and he sat straight up again, arms on his desk. As he sat on his crude chair, he then looked at the state of his territory. [TERRITORY STATS Name: Vismont Villages Status: Level 2 Village Area: 12,566,371 square meters Residents: 907 (67 permanent, 840 temporary) Total Population: 10524 Base Resources: Wood: 6700/10000 Stone: 5500/8000 Money: 91 Gold, 12743 Silver, 86097 copper Reputation: 30 Buildings: Village Center (Lv1), Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv2), Restaurant (Lv1), Residence Type 1, Well*2 (Lv1), Mansion Building Slots: 7/7] He sighed even deeper at his near-empty pockets. Don''t look at the taxes and donations he managed to solicit, not even half of it remained in his pockets. Not even the increase in the payment for residency helped, and that took a toll on everyone. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He had worked very hard to convince Higsons to keep the Visitors fee as it was, and it earned him a very hard beating in response. The doctor said had he not reached level 4 when it happened, he''d have died from the beatings. On the other hand, the money he had gained went to building houses, restaurants, and wells. The rest¡­ it went to Higson''s party. What did the bastard use so much money for, one would wonder? It was to feed himself, his cronies, and his dozens of women until they vomited. At some point, Matthew just thought to himself that this was paying back the gold he ''borrowed'' back then. He had to do this small brainwashing, so he didn''t die of bitterness and anger. A pity for all the functions he could''ve added for the territory had he retained all that money. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to upgrade the Village Hall, but he really didn''t have funds. He didn''t know what happened after the upgrade, but the high cost probably meant it had good additional functions. What was worse was that he also wasted a building slot to buy the mansion, located in a prohibited area in the territory. The basic armory was forgone because of it. This special residential estate took about a quarter of the whole territory, and it was all given to Higson as his private estate where he could do whatever he wanted without regard for him, any law, or any moral rules whatsoever. It was a quarter of the territory, but over half of the crimes committed in Vismont happened here. In less than a month, a lot of people disappeared within these forests. They did not even bother burying them, and he had seen plenty of bodies just lying around when he went there. It was a disgusting place that ought to be burned to the ground. However, he never lied to himself and gave himself an excuse. Whatever happened there, he was complicit as the Lord of this place. But¡­ no matter how disgusted he was, he couldn''t do anything. It was either justice for others or his sister''s life. Not to mention he swore to serve, or he and his sister would die. Not to mention, he had a feeling the territory would fall if he died, in which case that was thousands more lives at stake. There was no choice at all. Not until ''those people'' arrived. Higson''s chaos had to end, lest he lose his sanity and the people lose their homes. And now, with these new visitors, he finally got a chance. He didn''t know if he''d be entering a deal with the devil with them, but it would definitely be a lesser evil than Higson. At least¡­ that was what he was praying for. Anyway, this Altera¡­ whether good or bad, was a catalyst for change, and he was determined to make use of it. Chapter 239 Help Me Matthew recalled the rants of the guards yesterday. At first, he had difficulty in believing them, thinking they were exaggerating to make him move. This couldn''t be blamed on him. After all, they had claimed that two level-three guards couldn''t even make the enemy guard¡ªwho was now known to be an aborigine¡ªlift a finger. But as he watched the ''Alterans'' the past day, he realized that these people were much more powerful than he imagined. Even his fellow Terrans were stronger than they were on average. As a level 4 individual, he could tell the weakest among them were level 3. This was very amazing. There were over ten thousand people in his territory, not even a hundred were at level 3. This alone sent signals that this ''Altera'' was not a simple territory, and he could feel that it was much, much, more powerful than his own. He also saw the temperament of his guests. They were energetic, lively, and filled with hope. All of them were like that, even his former citizens who had only been gone for a couple of days. And most importantly: They could also produce so many items that he had deemed impossible to see in the short term. Amazingly, they could even produce to the point of having a surplus. What if they had the medicine they needed as well? After all, Trialphas wasn''t an uncommon disease! As he mused deeply about his next point of action, an urgent knock sounded, pulling him out of his trance. "My Lord¡­" "Come in." The door opened to reveal a kind-looking old man with half-squinted eyes. Micheal''s tense stance softened at the sight of the other person, who immediately stood in front of his table with a little urgency. If the twins were here, they''d realize this man was the old clothes repairer they encountered just the day prior. "Old Yao, what is it? So early?" This was old Yao, one of his confidants. In his free time, he fixed other people''s clothes for a fee. This time though, his usual calm face betrayed a bit of worry. Matthew''s eyebrows rose. His heart dropped automatically because emergencies in this place usually made him suffer a lot. "What''s the matter?" He asked, a bit afraid of the answer. Hopefully, it was nothing life-or-death. "Those people are already preparing to leave," the old man said, making Matthew abruptly stand up. "What?" But he didn''t ask anymore, he simply walked out and went straight to the house the group rented. Indeed, some of the Alterans were already waiting outside for the rest of the group, very ready to leave. Matthew frowned, looked at the dark sky, and saw that it wasn''t even dawn yet? He stood still for a while before asking the nearest person for the leader. For this team, there seemed to be two: the aborigine and the woman. Among the leaders, it was the woman who soon came out to meet him. She didn''t look particularly surprised to see him. And there was no sign of dislike, which was a good thing for him. "How can we help this lord?" She asked. "You are in such a rush to leave?" S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Well, the territory sent another mission. We would like to try doing it for points." "What?" "We were asked to look for resource points." "Just lately?" "Yes, we just received the notification last night." Matthew flinched. That could be done? Why was he so behind the news? Anyway, this was not the topic he came here to discuss. Heaving a deep breath, he looked at the woman, the atmosphere quickly turning solemn. "I would like to speak to the decision-maker in private." Silvia looked at him for a moment before nodding, guiding him inside their temporary abode. The moment they entered the house though, he was met with hostile stares. At this time a few people stepped in and looked at him guardedly. Since they were already leaving, he reckoned they didn''t want to bother being polite with him, someone they disliked. "What do you want, lord?" The taller boy asked, crossing his arms. He knew these kids and had an idea why they were biased against him. Understandably so. Especially the boy with a somber disposition, Crow Higgins. His aunt had been a victim of Higson''s party, one of the more direct ones. Crow''s aunt was one of the women Higson took fancy to, but refused. The man then got one of his gangsters to defile her and kill her. This gangster¡ªCain¡ªwas very unassuming, and he didn''t think he was so vile with his neat appearance. It was only after Higgins'' aunt passed that he also found out this gangster killed even more. Micheal truly wanted to massacre him and give him a brutal death penalty like in the medieval ages. But he had to lower his punishment because Higson was the man''s friend. He let that guy go out of the territory as punishment, at the order of Higson. To others, this could be considered a punishment indeed, but Matthew always felt that that man was a cockroach and would still be alive to this date. In any case, for the victim''s family, he had no excuse. He didn''t even explain himself, because none of it would be enough. Regardless of all the complications, however, he knew he didn''t have much time. He bowed his head, tone sincere. "Let me talk to you." he said, "Please." This humble gesture surprised everyone, and after looking at each other. This alerted everyone of the seriousness. Most of the people outside the leadership circle, though curious, went out on their own. The ones that remained in the room other than Silvia and Rowan were the other four, claiming they knew him the best, and they ought to be there. There was no furniture so they stood inside the room, waiting for the lord to speak up. "As the lord of this territory, I would like to request a deal." "Don''t trust him, Rowan! He definitely isn''t as clean as he looks!" Dog whispered, trying to be tactful by not yelling. But Matthew was a level 4 individual, how could he not hear it? Rowan did not speak for a while, but only stared at Matthew, who had let go of his prideful image and was in a humble stance the whole time. Rowan''s red eyes stared him down, and Matthew felt a little hairy. After a beat, Rowan finally spoke."It would depend on the deal." Matthew paused as he looked down, his hand gripping his leg. When he raised his head, a renewed light could be seen. "I am willing to do anything," he said with certainty, "As long as you clear the territory of those scum!" Chapter 240 Attack! If Higson had plenty of loopholes in their deal¡ªthat was: they could kill as long as he didn''t see it directly and could even decide on the punishment because of their leverage¡ªhe, too, placed one for himself. He simply couldn''t betray him or his party directly. If he didn''t give explicit assistance to whoever would deal with Higson, then he was safe. Higson either didn''t notice or didn''t care because he was too confident in himself, his men, and his guns. Anyway, because Vismont didn''t prohibit fighting, dealing with Higson''s group of men was surprisingly simple. What''s more, there was someone who triumphed over everyone in level. It could be said that Higson''s order to allow for violence¡ªand with so many loopholes¡ªhad backfired on him horrendously. Of course, per the lord Althea''s order never to coddle her citizens, except for dealing with the few people with guns, Rowan didn''t make a move. There was also the fact that he didn''t want to accidentally start a formal war. It was uncertain to what degree he could fight, but he feared a Territory War would be triggered prematurely. From what he heard, triggering a war without warning caused some consequences to the attacking territory. After all, there was conventionally a 28 hour warning before an attack, what would be its use if people could attack as they wanted? At this point, Rowan was thinking too much. Even if they did exceed the force requirement to qualify as waging war (which they didn''t), the Lord of the defending territory¡ªwho will be alerted the moment it was triggered¡ª must formalize it first. Of course, if that was indeed to happen and Matthew decided not to trigger a war, then his life could be forfeited due to his deal with Higson. But all of these were ''what ifs''. Things happened to go in the Alteran''s and Matthew''s favor, primarily due to Higson''s arrogance. In any case, to be safe, while Rowan didn''t attack, he did defend. And his defense was explosive. For instance, at the moment, Rowan was surrounded by a snake made of fire, which attacked people as he ordered, burning near them, destroying their guns, distracting them enough so that the Alterans could deal with them easily. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this, Matthew couldn''t help but be in awe of Rowan, his dull eyes beginning to shine a bit of light. Fire! He could control fire!! As the aborigine stared at the fire whip in marvel, Matthew seemed to have been brought back to his missing childhood. None of this showed in his face, however, and he continued to watch the fight from afar, looking quite professional. Soon, he came to understand that the rest of the guards, and even some of their normal citizens, could fight really well. Especially those twins, who were particularly fierce¡­ It was so¡­ safe¡­ that Rowan still had the time to send some critiques, especially to the normal citizens. "Leo, don''t put too much force on your attacks. Take advantage of the other''s momentum instead." "Very good Cassie, you just need to commit more to your attacks." "What are you doing Dog? Do you want to destroy your teeth?" The group also all had a plethora of weapons and techniques. And medicine! Matthew''s eyes shone at the sight of medicine that stopped the bleeding so quickly. This made his eyes brighten more than the magic. Sure enough, there was medicine in their territory! "How are you guys so powerful?" He asked out loud and Silvia, who happened to be standing next to him, was the one to answer. The woman''s eyes never left the fight, and she smiled at this question. She, too, had a crossbow in her hand, shooting away in leisure. She smiled at him, eyes filled with pride. "Our territory is so good¡­ all of us simply wanted to do our part in protecting it." ¡­ They beat their way through the huge estate, dealing with the remaining gangsters. Although they were only a few dozen people, the lowest of them was level 3, the other party had no chance. Not to mention that backup Rowan was right behind them, to protect them from major injuries, mostly by shooting accurate fireballs when he needed to. Eventually, they reached a large castle-like house in the middle of the forest. There were still about a dozen men with their bows and arrows and a few remaining guns. They were behind a level 2 wall, and there were high risks of casualties if they attacked recklessly. Rowan''s power wasn''t enough to deal with the level 2 fence straightforwardly either. After all, he wasn''t a beast with iron skin. Those so-called guns could still damage a human of his level. Even if it wouldn''t be much, successive shots would definitely injure him. If he was injured, others from his side would probably be as well. Fortunately, the lord gave them a secret weapon to deal with similar situations. He took a palm-sized ball from his space, lit it up with his ability, and threw it behind the walls. Foosh!! Nothing happened for a moment and Rowan thought he must''ve done something wrong. He frowned, feeling guilty of wasting the lord''s efforts. However, before he could think of an apology, a dense fluff of violet smoke exploded from this tiny ball, and soon the people behind fell down one by one. He blinked in surprise. He didn''t know what it did¡ªthe lord only told him when and how to use it¡ªbut Rowan was truly amazed. How did that much force fit inside such a tiny ball the size of his finger? "Gas bomb?!!" Someone yelled and they turned to Rowan with burning eyes. "It''s Ms. Althea''s doing." He looked at the sparkling eyes of the men. "There''s only one." Their shoulders slumped visibly but they quickly recovered when they thought of the bomb eventually becoming available to them. It wasn''t like the destructive bomb anyway. It was just a¡­ very potent gas bomb, hence there was a very high chance of it becoming commercially available in the future. In any case, they effortlessly entered the gate after letting the wind pass. Of course, they did not put down their guards, unsure of what they would see inside. They walked through the gate and walked along the dense forests, weapons raised high in case of an attack and traps. They dared not relax even if they got this far fairly easily and without injuries. After all, they were in the enemy territory now! Crack! "Ah!" Dog yelled when he felt imbalanced. Everyone raised their weapons while Crow was ready to rescue him, thinking it was a trap. It wasn''t. "A bone!" Dog yelled, throwing a human bone that he accidentally took on hand. Because it hadn''t been long since they transferred, these bones still had a lot of skin, making it even more disgusting. The women screamed and the men yelled, realizing there was more than one. "Shit!!" "What the heck!" A lot of people puked and some couldn''t even bear to look. There were even carcasses, some were only a few days old. And worse¡­ "Jimmy!!!" It was Sunny who yelled and Crow and Dog immediately ran. It was Jimmy, the one who chatted with her deeply when she was selling stuff. He bought a lot of things and expressed interest in seeing the territory. They were just talking yesterday!!! The atmosphere was extremely heavy. Matthew''s head was lowered in shame, fists clenched, avoiding the several glances that came his way. No one spoke again after that and they just continued forward. The difference was that before, it was just an attack based on interests. Now¡­ it was personal. They soon saw a structure in the middle of the forest. It was a small castle hidden in the woods. It was one of the premier buildings available, but everyone just found it vile. This must end! Now! Chapter 241 Vengeance They frowned and entered the gate, with Rowan leading the way. At his level, although he could get injured, these people''s guns would not kill him. And because the estate was so huge and there were no shots fired in the fence, the people were completely unaware of their arrival, making the trip relatively easier than anticipated at least at first. However, as they entered further, a disgusting stench attacked their nostrils. It smelled dirty and pungent. It made their eyes twitch. Suddenly, Rowan pulled back the person next to him. "Watch out!" He yelled, throwing a fireball at a direction, followed by a toe-curling scream. The man screamed as he was burned alive. When the killing prohibition was implemented, it was only applied to areas outside the estate, as ordered by Higson in exchange for a week''s worth of medicine. It was the reason why there were so many corpses. It was just that¡­ he never would''ve imagined that there would be so much. He knew Higson was shady, but this¡­ was not human. It was just something beyond his imagination. Whether or not he knew, his citizens outside did not know about this exemption. How many of his citizens hoped that the people inside were still alive, somehow? His heart clenched at the inevitable despair many of them would feel when they found so many people still died. He felt ashamed, too ashamed. The scream attracted a few people on the ground floor, easily dealt with by their team. As they finished off the trash, the redhead put out the fire on the burning corpse in case it spread and they continued on. Walking past the dead bodies, the group moved forward and went to the upper floors. Now experienced, they handled the guards on the floor well and silently, and they soon heard different types of noises as they went deeper into the mansion. They could hear laughter and screams and odd noises around the house. It was so loud it probably masked the screams from earlier. Walking forward, they did not immediately go to where the activity seemed to be. They decided to clear out the floor to minimize the enemies coming from behind. With Rowan in front, they opened a room nearby, only to see a bunch of naked women filled with scars and bruises, eyes staring blankly in random directions. They could obviously see, but there was no change in their expressions at all. Even if they heard them they did not turn their heads, no doubt thinking of them as anybody else who had been here. These women probably just thought they were the same type of people as those who came before them. And they just stayed there¡­ like lifeless dolls. Anger flowed into each of their veins at the sight. Scum! Total scum!!! Crow was silent, looking at the bruises, and realized it was familiar with what was found with his aunt! Angry, the team went from room to room, taking down the lewd activities going on. They took down aggressive individuals and tied down the rest for later handling. They soon found Higson having his way with two women, one was unbound, but the other was tied all around. They were so engrossed in their activity that they didn''t notice the commotion outside. Or, perhaps, he did. And if that was the case, then it was actually more disgusting because it meant that he heard the same noise often, but in totally different contexts! The images of the women filled with bruises flashed by their heads, and they recalled the corpses outside, and their sights turned even redder. Matthew went blind with rage and he quickly ran and attacked Higson. He vented all his anger, not only for what he had witnessed but for the years of suffering and humiliation he and his sister went through because of him. Caught off guard, Higson endured several punches and kicks before he could counter. They had the same level, but Higson had more experience in this, and it didn''t take long for him to make a comeback. Unfortunately for him, Matthews was not alone and other people quickly held Higson. They were not gentle and Higson screamed like a pig. Crow, having an idea of what happened, kicked him with all his strength. Matthew walked over and pulled back his oily hair. "Give me the medicine and you will keep your life." S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Higson gave a bloody grin. "You want to save your sister?! Dream!" "You!" Matthew darkened and he kicked Higson like he used to kick him. On the other hand, as they watched, Crow and the others looked complicated. They¡­ seemed to have misjudged a poor person? However, a lot of the wrongs in the territory had his approval. He was not innocent in all of these. The corpses outside and the women here. Did the citizens know what was going on? Would they still respect him as much as they used to? Matthew continued to beat Higson up, only to receive his annoying grin. It took dozens more of attacks until the man took out a small box of vials. "This is all that''s left." He said, and Matthew didn''t even have the time to worry about what happened when it was gone. At least they could delay the problem. He heaved out a sigh, stopping his attacks, and stretched his hands to get the item. But Higson threw it away. "Noooooooo!!!" He yelled, immediately running to catch it. Taking advantage of the distraction, Higson took out his remaining gun from the space and pointed at Matthew, whose entire attention was to catch the medicine. The moment it landed and broke was when Matthew saw the nozzle pointed at him. "Bang!" ¡­ . . ¡­ Matthew watched as Higson''s body turned to flames, screaming at the top of his lungs as he was burned alive. Matthew watched every second of it. "Thank you for saving my life." He told Rowan when the fire died down, but his eyes had shifted to the broken glass and liquid that was absorbed by the floor, not knowing what he was thinking. Melissa, who sneaked into the battlefield, arrived shortly after. She saw Higson being burned alive, and the seeping medicine in front of her brother. Melissa had a rough image of what happened and frowned. Not because of the lost medicine, but because of the despair her little brother must have been feeling. She slowly walked to her brother and wrapped her skeleton-thin arms around him. "My baby brother¡­ you''ve done your best." Her tone was extremely gentle, and comforting, and it broke his heart even more. "There''s no need to struggle anymore." She told him, voice so soothing, like it always was, and Matthew couldn''t help but break into sobs. "You already worked hard enough." She told him, "Thank you for everything." Chapter 242 Settling Down "Thank you for everything." The soft voice of his sister sounded in his ears, pulling him out of his daze. His hands clenched as she wrapped her bony arms around him. Matthew was not reconciled. Why? Why was the world so unfair to them? His sister was the only family he had left! The world was so cruel to them¡ªit seemed like it wanted to take his only family left, even after everything? She was his sister, his mother, and his anchor. If he didn''t have her¡­ would he be able to deal with anything that came after? But if he did follow her to the grave, what about the citizens? If he didn''t, what about him? Melissa''s eyes lined with tears at the manic look in her brother''s eyes, wrapping her thin arms around him even tighter. "No, no, you''re going to be fine." "You''re so young¡­" she sobbed, "I''ve held you back long enough." The calm Lord that they knew broke down crying, and his sister couldn''t help but do the same. They watched the sad scene of the siblings'' despair with complicated eyes. It could be seen that the lives of these two were quite tragic. They really couldn''t tell Matthew''s life experience was so colorful, they thought he was born with a silver spoon. His current disposition was very unlike the image he had as a magnificent lord. It was the softhearted Dog who couldn''t watch it anymore. He walked closer to the siblings and cleared his throat. "Uhm¡­It''s not¡­ entirely hopeless." The siblings paused and turned to look at him with very similar looks of confusion, eyes still a little red from sadness. Dog stared for a bit before he could utter a word. "It''s not hopeless because your disease isn''t unfixable with the current situation... There were a number of people in our territory that had Trialphas." "What?" Melissa voiced out, while Matthew held on to Dog''s shoulders directly. "And then? Do they have a lot of medicine?" Dog shook his head and the siblings visibly paled. Dog flinched, not expecting a short pause would bring so much emotional damage. He was clearly not yet finished speaking, okay?! "They don''t have a lot of medicine because they don''t need them anymore!" The two didn''t speak and just stared at him, eagerly waiting for him to continue. Dog felt a little shy and cleared his throat again. "The Trialphas patients in our territory only had to watch their food intake when they reached level 2." "Basically, Miss just had to level up to heal." They could see the woman was only level 1 after so long, the type that barely even managed to get to the level. This could mean that after all this time, she was very protected or¡­ trapped. "One of our guards even had stage 1 cancer." Dog paused, pointing his chin to one of the men kicking the unruly tied-up gangsters to make them behave. His lips twitched. Dog coughed before turning his head to the siblings. "As you can see, he''s quite healthy." Sunny stood beside him and nodded. "Besides, even if there''s something lacking, maybe Ms. Althea can help?" Dog''s eyes widened at the realization. "Yes, right! Ms. Althea''s medicines are very good, especially those that she makes herself¡ªthat''s just miracle medicine, man." The two watched as the conversation turned to a new individual, with such a gushing tone too. Matthew looked at the two and spoke after their spiel. "Ms. Althea? The one that makes the medicine you guys took before?" "Well, her company''s. It would be such a waste to use Ms. Althea''s medicine for such small wounds." His eyebrows rose, from what he saw, the wounds were not small wounds. "Yes, Ms. Althea''s amazing." Dog and the guards showed expressions of admiration that Matthew was even more curious. In any case, Matthew walked back to his sister and took time to absorb this information. Slowly, the new information dawned on them, finally understanding the new hope that was being presented. The siblings held each other''s hand with long-lost genuine smiles slowly returning to their faces. ¡­ The fall of the gangsters had echoed across the territory. While there were plenty of worries in their defense now that most of the strong people had gone, it was mostly hopeful. "So what if they''re strong? They had only made us suffer!" "Yes, sometimes¡­ it is so much more painful to suffer under your own kind!" The Alterans would be very surprised to know that very few citizens had any rebellious thoughts against their lord, despite knowing what was going on behind the scenes. Of course, this was granted they didn''t know exactly what went on behind the scenes¡ªi.e. believing the no-killing prohibition was applicable to the entire territory. It was inevitable that a lot of hearts would shift, disappointed, and even angry. For now, they were fairly forgiving. A lot of them were with the Lord when the territory was just established. If his sister died¡­ he would too. Then what would happen to the rest of the territory? Similar situations echoed in the territory, with people just being inspired to become stronger. They had seen the Alterans. Even normal citizens could fight! The gleeful atmosphere was exactly the opposite inside the formerly forbidden area. Unlike those who were celebrating, a lot of people directly entered the forbidden area, trying to find their loved ones. The citizens who went in to find relatives watched blankly as rows and rows of corpses were lined up. It was for identification. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were also plenty of girls sitting aside, blank expressions on their faces akin to the zombies they thought they left in Terran. They were finding it hard to absorb the sight, and they stutteringly looked at the Lord standing blankly. The man turned to them, red eyes, with his sister right next to him. The two of them looked wan and dark, tears flowing down their faces. "These are the people we lost to Higson," He said. "I have failed you." The citizens couldn''t truly absorb his words until their feet took them to the corpses. One by one, bawls of despair and sadness exploded. Some lost their family, and some their friend, but there was no one who had a dry eye in the area. The siblings felt their hearts clench at the sight and they looked at each other. Holding a hand they stood closer to the corpses, the victims, and their families and friends. The knees bent, landing on the stony soil below with a flop, and they kowtowed. If they could bury themselves under the soil to express their apologies, they would''ve. Matthew, sobbing, bellowed strongly as he prayed. "As a Lord, I feel ashamed for not being able to protect my citizens. The weight of this transgression is mine to bear," he said, shaking his head when his sister wanted to intervene. "I will not make excuses. I will not ask for leniency as I know very well that I deserve a fate worse than death. "However, I hope that I can be given the chance to fix¡ªeven a little¡ªof my wrongs by improving the lives of thousands more than who we lost. "May their deaths be a reminder of what we cannot become¡ªweak and cowardly. May we be strong enough to protect ourselves!" His dull eyes soon gained a bit of light. "I¡ªMatthew White¡ªswear never to make the same mistake again. And I will do my part to prepare each and every one of you¡ªmy citizens¡ªfor a better life." His forehead met the ground, showing maximum humility. "Please give me this chance!" Chapter 243 Another Ally Similarly, in another area with a stagnant atmosphere, a certain set of twins stood in front of a woman. Luke and Leo met the woman as they were waiting at the gates, preparing to leave. She had been watching them the whole time, though it took her a while to approach them. The two followed her to some distance away from the crowd. Arms crossed, they looked at her, waiting for her to speak. "I know whatever comes out of my mouth won''t make you feel any better¡­" she said, "But now that you''re leaving, I hope you don''t keep the hate in your hearts¡­ "And I am in no illusion that you will forgive me. My only wish is that you two do not live in hate. My death would not do that. "You are good kids. You know what is right or wrong." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "What I can do is assure you that I won''t be getting any decent sleep from now on. "As long as I live, I will suffer the consequences of my actions." She told them, "This is my guarantee." Luke and Leo sighed and looked at each other, simply walking away. As they walked, their shoulders straightened, expressions loosening. Because she was right. They didn''t need to suffer for her. ¡­ Hope could change a lot of things even when nothing had yet to happen. In Vismont, there had been an obvious increase in chatter and activity, gossiping at the new shift in power, smiles filled with longing. Anyway, the group rested for a few more hours in the unit, before the lord came to visit them again. He arrived with an old man this time. And he was still wearing his turtleneck, covering his bruises, but his disposition was a lot lighter than before. "Thank you!" He said, "I don''t know how to thank you more." At his smile, the trio who knew him best among their team couldn''t help but take a second look at him. It was very unlike the lord they''d seen. He seemed to become more¡­ human, now. Rowan nodded with that deadpan face of his. "Just do your side of the deal." Matthew blinked and smiled. "Ah, yes. Of course." The reason why every member of the team bothered to dip their toes into this mess was because of his side of the deal, otherwise, who would bother? Silvia and Rowan naturally got themselves quite a good deal. The deal was for Matthew to willingly let go of at least five talents for each person who participated in the purge, as long as the citizens agreed, of course. Matthew also promised to give incentives, which was also a low-key way of earning another territory''s money, but Matthew didn''t mind. He owed too much to these people, and he owed too much to his citizens. Even when he was the Lord, he knew which territory could give them a better life. How dare he take away this chance from them? Soon, an announcement echoed across Vismont Village¡ª [Mission: Solidify the Cooperation between two territories. [Content: Become a resident of an allied territory, Altera Village (Lv2) [Requirements and Rewards: [No minimum requirement, settlement fee of 5 silver will be given. [Bonus of +5 silver for people with Occupations] For a while the people were confused. "Altera?" One asked, and it was a lively young man who answered him. "It''s the one with all the products! Remember? They said their territory produces those things." "Great! I was planning to check it out before now I have more incentive!" In another area, a small group of people had bright eyes. "Oh yes! My friends and I have been planning on starting a caravan!" "I hear the first batch is leaving today! We should go with them! It''s safer!" Okuri looked at her boyfriend. "What do you think?" The silent man nodded with a smile. He pointed at her and then at him, and then placed his hands together. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She smiled, understanding what he meant, "Together." Basically, across the territory, there would be similar conversations about migrating to another village. Some were happy and some were sad. "I understand the lord''s dilemmas but¡­ I can''t stay here anymore." One said. He had just finished burying a cousin. "Me too¡­ I¡­ my sister suffered too much, maybe going to a different territory¡­" another uttered, holding his sister''s hand. His lively sister¡­ so beautiful and gregarious¡­ now refusing to speak. Then there were also angrier ones, "I honestly can''t look at the lord without wanting to spit at him now." "Yeah!" And there were more than a few echoes of agreement. Although they rationally understood the lord''s predicament, it didn''t mean their hearts were willing to forgive. It could be said that it would take a long time for Matthew to be absolved by these people, and he understood it. He couldn''t have asked for more, in fact. He wished them the best in Altera. ¡­ Of course, while many were already planning on their move, there were many others who were just watching the show. After all, most of the people who had already invested their wealth in Vismont would be unwilling to move. However, they were very willing to take a look and explore. One of them was Old Yao. In his old age, he was rarely excited about a trip, but here he was. In any case, whether it was the old man or others, they were more than willing to see and do some shopping! No matter what, the Alteran products were definitely the real deal! ¡­ A few hours after the announcement, the various members of the Altera team looked at the crowd of hundreds of people in glee. It was a noisy crowd, all with mixed emotions and expressions, but they all had something in common: They were all coming to Altera! There were so many!!! Of course, a lot of these people had the mentality of just going to look, but they were confident in their territory. A lot of them would definitely stay. Calculating the contribution points, the Alterans couldn''t help but want to dance. They could finally be permanent residents! What''s more, the businesses of their teams would thrive, making their pockets even heavier! Allied territories are awesome! Chapter 244 Convergence Vismont. In a good mood, the Alteran party exited Vismont and headed back home with great fanfare. Someone even waved back to the watching crowd. "We shall returnnn!!!" Prepare your funds well~" He said, already calculating how much to invest on the next trip. Silvia and the others laughed. "What an idiot," a man said, but he was grinning widely as he said so. He, too, was already making plans for the next caravan. Other than the Alterans, hundreds of people followed Rowan and his team outside. While many were joining for the ''exchange program'', a good part of the crowd were visitors who simply aimed to see the source of goods, hoping to create some money in reselling. Of course, there were also some who simply wanted to go and see this new territory because of curiosity and some other purpose. Matthew and Melissa were included in this group, with Matthew hoping to learn more about the management and Melissa to see the sources of medicine. Although it was established that she didn''t need medicine, she still wanted to see what was available to them. Matthew looked back to his level 2 walls now that he was on the other side, feeling melancholic. This was the first time he would leave the territory for so long and despite all the chaos, he had really grown to love it. Of course, before going out, he left the territory to capable hands. Although a lot of the guards were under Higson, Matthew had made sure some of them were on his side. These guards had been low-key during Higson''s reign, and now they could finally do their jobs. He could still believe them and leave the territory for a day or two with ease. "Are you sure you want to come?" Matthew asked his sister for the nth time that hour, worried. After all, he had already asked his trusted guards to help his sister level up in some spots near the territory walls. His sister knew of this arrangement. However, his sister looked at him with a determined expression on her face. "Getting stronger is literally my only way to survive, little brother. Stop coddling me." "..." Anyway, seeing that there was no changing his sister''s mind, he just vowed to be by her side and help her level up as soon as they could. They moved forward with a large group comprising of hundreds of people, which naturally attracted hordes of mobs. The groups came in scores at the least and hundreds at most, and during the latter many people from Vismont couldn''t help but notice they weren''t being protected. A man''s eyes widened as a large set of teeth was about to maul him, barely dealt with by a group from Vismont. A number of them sustained a bit of injury in the process. They frowned, looking at the Alteran guards dealing with monsters far away from them. "Hey! I was almost bitten!" The guards turned to look at him but didn''t leave their posts, as ordered. "You!!" The Vismont visitors yelled, indignant at this ''service''. Obviously, they were guests, right? No, they were very wrong. Soon after their exclamation the tall redhead aborigine faced them and they all shut their mouths. "Don''t expect us to go out of our way to protect you," Rowan told several people from Vismont still shaking under his stare. "Your own life still depends on you." "You¡ª" a person said, turning to their Lord for justice, only to see him fighting alongside the Alterans. They were a little annoyed at first (especially with the scandal and all) but then they saw their lord skilfully kill a monster, and then guide his sister to kill another one he had weakened, they couldn''t find enough shamelessness to ask him for help. Then they couldn''t help but notice that every Alteran was fighting valiantly, no matter who it was. They even had bright, excited, expressions on their faces. It was in stark contrast to theirs, which was filled only with fear and apprehension. Was that why everyone was so strong? The man pursed his lips and took out his weapon, finally joining the fight. Fortunately, the few people from Altera¡ªguards or not¡ªwere strong enough to deal with low-level mobs, not to mention so many of them from Vismont. Along the way, Matthew continued to help Melissa in her fights, aiming to get her to level 2 before reaching Altera. After several hours of travel, they started seeing more and more people. They realized that these people were settled down and making camp. The Vismont people were very surprised to see people out of nowhere. After all, they knew they still had a couple more hours to go before reaching Altera. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The others saw their arrival and blinked, some nodding a bit, and some smiling. They were all quite friendly, and very unlike forest encounters before which were characterized by yelling for help and despairing sobs. As they walked they saw the stone paths and the sheds, and the Vismont group quickly realized that this was obviously a temporary camp. "You''re here!" A voice sounded from beside him and they saw Dog and the others walk forward to greet some of the people from the other party. "How many did you get?" "103." The other person said proudly. "Plus about a hundred visitors." "We got 254." Dog said, "And that''s just the residents. We have more visitors." The other gasped in shock. "Wow!!! How''d you do it?" The Alterans that went to Vismont grinned, grabbed their friend''s shoulder, and told him of their ''adventures'' in his territory. At this point, if Matthew still didn''t know what was going on then he''s stupid. He was mostly amazed though. The few of their territories were so busy with their own jurisdiction but another one was extending hands everywhere. Just how many resources did this place have? The two groups eventually merged together and the mumblings and chatters intensified, forming an area akin to a marketplace. The guards soon formed a loose perimeter outside, to deal with the mobs as they came. Fortunately, they weren''t too big mobs and could be handled with relative ease. In any case, the crowds merged happily, resting in their own pace, chattering. However, several minutes in, new types of yells started to pop up in different areas. "Husband?" A voice sounded from Vismont side, the man from Bright froze at the voice and tears lined up his eyes as he turned. Surprisingly, there were several people who knew each other¡ªand most of them were not from Altera. "Wife!" He yelled when their eyes met, and the two ran towards each other as they waved across the crowd. The woman threw herself at her husband, sobbing, and the man couldn''t help but shed tears as well. This seemed to trigger a whole set of reactions and a few more found their relative, friend, or colleague. Sobs of joy from different directions soon echoed and everyone started feeling antsy, hoping to experience the same luck. Very quickly, the temporary camp became even livelier, with people running about hoping to meet family. "Does anyone know a¡­" a few people yelled, telling their own names in case someone recognized. Some people were enumerating the names of their loved ones and friends. Without exception, these people all went across the crowd, which would¡ªconsidering their number¡ªpotentially lead to a stampede. The guards had to step up to keep the order. "Halt! Everyone''s going to the same destination. Please start your search after we enter the safety of the walls!" Drake yelled, and the others echoed. It was inevitably a little chaotic, but they did follow in the end. What if they injured themselves and a mob came? What did that achieve? It took a while for everyone to settle down¡ªwho could blame them? The possibility of finding family in the crowd right in front of them could make anyone''s blood boil. Of course, most people weren''t so lucky to find someone, but just the possibility alone made this trip worth it. And the fact that they could travel to and fro three territories without having to fear for their lives gave them enough hope for the future. And that was already something to celebrate together. Chapter 245 Two Lords The Bright team decided to wait for the Vismont side for another hour or two to let them rest, helping out the guards handle the mobs as they did so. It was very clustered due to their numbers, but it was all people so they didn''t mind. It was actually quite fun, like a sleepover in daylight and without the sleeping-in-peace part. In the midst of this, the handsome blonde Micheal, surrounded by his cronies and had plenty of airspace, was approached by a similarly handsome man with wavy ash-blonde hair and a gentle expression. Micheal saw and recognized it as the Lord of the other territory Altera extended their hands towards. He also heard this guy was especially unfortunate. Micheal''s blue eyes passed over the other man and then to his sister who had an 80% likeness to him. "Matthew White," Matthew said, extending his hand to the other man. "Lord of Vismont." "Micheal Berti." The blonde said, taking the handshake. "Lord of Bright." The two sat next to each other by the campfire while the people from Altera began to cook for them. Even if there were hundreds of people in the crowd, the temporary camping site could more-or-less accommodate them all. It was in no way comfortable nor did it smell good, but it was better than the shanty areas they got used to. There were also a score of cooking areas, albeit only one had a big metal pot, but it was enough for them to properly rest for a while. Of course, other than the two lords, the Alterans wouldn''t cook for anyone else, but many of the visitors and migrants who came had bought their products and had their spaces filled with them. They peacefully (with Rowan glaring and all) lined up along the cooking areas within the camping site. When it was their turn, they would start cooking the food by themselves. After this, they would form groups and eat according to their contributions to the meal. There were naturally a few conflicts, but it was joyful overall. They had smiles on their faces and were eating their food deliciously, their eyes were bright and excited for what was to come. The two men watched their people so lively when they hadn''t arrived at their destination, making them feel complicated in comparison. Obviously their own people, but others were doing a better job than them everywhere. "Altera has a very meticulous¡­ management," Matthew commented as he looked around the temporary camp. Not only were there relatively sturdy shelters, but several cooking areas and campfires were also provided. There were also makeshift fences and stone pathways. As long as you didn''t settle down for good, this was really a good place to camp. "Hmm¡­" Micheal said, observing every bit of the temporary camp. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You really believe them when they say the territory has no lord?" Micheal asked his perennially smiley face and narrowed eyes showing interest. Matthew shook his head. "But the other party doesn''t want people to know, so we can only accept it." They were lords themselves. Although there were plenty of things that were still a mystery to them, they had some idea of how a person could hide so well. The two of them talked like this as they observed the others, looking quite handsome together. The two of them side by side naturally attracted quite a few curious glances. After all, two excellent men with such high status inevitably caught attention. People heard the system chose lords based on the money and potential that they had. Looking at the two, did handsomeness, composure, and youth also factor in? What they didn''t know was that they were already two of the handful of other young Terran men gifted with the Lord token¡ªone of which had already perished. Most of the others were old men and middle-aged men. At the beginning, there were also quite a few women¡ªas they were more likely to have hard wealth like jewelry on hand. Some were even old ladies who liked to hoard jewelry and gold. But this was far from their consideration at the moment and they simply joined their people for a well-deserved rest. When the resting time ended, the people were asked by the Alterans to clean up after themselves. There was a designated spot/hole for trash (which happened to be all-biodegradable materials) and the people obediently threw the items in the proper place. This compost would be used to fertilize some plants they wanted to keep in the temporary camp. The visitors couldn''t help but sigh. It seemed that the people from Altera were too comfortable right? To be considering sustainability and recycling so thoroughly? As they walked forward, Micheal and Matthew noticed that a couple of groups had begun to separate from the main crowd. In fact, a good part had already entered the forest outside the designated paths. "Where are they going?" Micheal asked Rowan beside him, who nodded to answer. "We received a mission from the territory yesterday." He said, "They wanted to take advantage and use unexplored routes back." Micheal paused. It seemed that Ansel mentioned this vaguely before he separated from them in the camping site. However, the redhead had decided to spite him by being mysterious so he didn''t have any idea about what it was about at all. Silvia spoke to explain further. "While some of us had long separated to look for resources, most of us will just take an alternative route to the same destination." "Don''t worry, they won''t be too far away, we''ll still be heading to the same destination." She said, and they watched as about a few dozen people from Altera left the group. The two lords looked at each other. It was Micheal, who hadn''t heard of this Exodus, who asked. "You can send an announcement to people outside?" "It must not be free," Matthew said, and Micheal nodded. "That''s true." As lords, they knew just how pretty much everything related to the territory costs some money. Too bad the Lord of Altera wanted to hide himself. They could really learn a lot of things from him. However, they still had an inkling that they''d learn plenty without him. And so, along with hundreds of their citizens, the two lords set out, heading in a direction, and hearts filled with anticipation. Interestingly, the last leg of the trip was quite peaceful, and it was estimated that the groups that took the other paths dealt with mobs heading their way. They arrived at the vicinity of Altera Village a couple of hours later. It didn''t take long for them to see a stone wall from their distance, which was easily still a few hundred meters away. Soon, they got nearer and they realized it was too different from what they were used to. It must be a level three wall, over three meters in height. It was also worth noting the dense amount of sentries it had along its perimeters. As they stared at the wall, the newcomers couldn''t help but question themselves. This was especially true for the two lords who looked at each other with complicated expressions. They all had the same starting point, didn''t they? Why was everything so¡­ different?? Chapter 246 Belluga Village As smooth as the explorations to the South and the West were going, the trip to the East was currently a bit turbulent. At this moment, the group of 30 Alterans was being followed by a few scores of people, but it was not necessary to go to the territory with them. To be more accurate, they were being chased. A little bit rabidly, in fact. Fable, who had very clearly disguised himself, was still exposed in the end. But even if he was exposed¡­ how was he to know that even under the circumstances of others barely having basic needs, he still had to deal with crazy fans following him?! At the very least, he had thought that even his former fans would be so preoccupied with survival that they wouldn''t spend energy on him, even if they did notice!! If his fans were to hear his question, they would answer very simply. It was because their life was so bland with the bland food and lackluster houses and unstable environment that they had more intense spiritual needs than before! To a lot of these girls, finding something¡ªor someone, for that matter¡ªthat they could so clearly associate with their more stable and abundant pasts was akin to finding water in the desert. And they were very, very, thirsty. Fable shook his head as he ran, wondering if he had made the right decision by coming here. As someone who had been to another territory before and as someone enticed by the fabulous rewards offered by Altera, he naturally volunteered to come and try his luck. He really wanted to be a permanent resident as soon as possible. He had a feeling, the price for becoming a permanent resident would rise as the territory did. He didn''t want to miss this chance!!! Of course, after being salivated by the Lord here, he made pertinent suggestions and caveats to the team who''d be going on the dangerous mission with him: 1. Ideally, no handsome men would come, if it was unavoidable then they must make themselves as unattractive as possible. And¡­ 2. If they were to sell goods like the others, it''s best for the harmless-looking women to do it. Because it was safer. For the men. In the end, a team of about thirty people was formed. Ten of these thirty were guards level 3 or above. It was just that¡­ the guards chosen this time did not know whether they should be glad or offended. Anyway, right now, the day they were supposed to head back to Altera, he unexpectedly encountered a little¡­ glitch. "Here! Hide here!!!" A guard yelled, and they turned a corner into an alley. They were fortunate that, like most territories, the arrangements of the buildings here were on a per-need basis. This meant they were mostly placed haphazardly and were easy to get lost in. And for the Alterans, it gave them plenty of hiding places. Their hearts were beating loudly as they hid, though some guards couldn''t help but like the feeling of being chased by girls. Made them feel handsome. Fable saw their expression and wanted to strangle them. "If you like getting chased so much, why don''t you go distract them?!" The guards paled, quickly shaking their heads. Those fangirls were really rabid! If they showed up instead of their idols, they knew they might get a beating! "Oh no handsome mister Fable, don''t say something so scary!" "Yes, we are NOT enjoying this!" "TSK." Fable tutted and he wanted to call them out when they heard scuttling sounds quickly reaching their area. "There they are!!" "Damnit!!" As they ran for their lives, Fable couldn''t help but recall the feeling of accomplishment he had early in on the trip. They arrived at the territory about half a day after leaving Altera. It started out just as planned with the selling starting out relatively peacefully, and they had earned a lot of money. Fable had even guided the team on where to sell and how to sell them, maximizing their profits. With his sweet tongue (using a slightly modified voice), he had even managed to sell for much more than ten times their cost! He was quite smug about this. They stayed until the night in happy moods counting money and resting well. The next day, they happily prepared to leave after some advertisements regarding the sources of the goods. Oh, and also, that they could come with them if they wanted. It was a bit of a long shot because this territory was actually decent compared to most. It had few shanty areas as there were plenty of two-story houses built, and the basics like a restaurant, wells, and the others were there. There was also a Level 3 wall with a few sentry towers to protect them, so the price they set was very acceptable to the citizens. The only questionable choice was the bathhouse, but then their own Altera also had it so they couldn''t judge. It had been nearly a month since they transferred here as well, how many still had the liquidity to move their base? sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, although they may not be able to take people back directly, they still knew to attract more people. There was still a little contribution point for the first batch of people attracted by the trip, even if it was indirectly. So, theoretically, this should''ve been an OK trip that earned them a lot of money and indirect points. It was just that the Lord and her cronies were a little¡­ eccentric. Even the citizens were a little crazy, as they were personally experiencing at this time. Who would think he''d be discovered because an extremely sharp-eyed fan saw a small tattoo under his palm? It was very small, the size of a bug, but apparently, it was enough to identify him. "Why don''t we just run all the way to the territory with these women?" Someone asked, whispering lest they be discovered in their very temporary hiding spot. "I mean, it makes sense, right?" Fable rolled his eyes. The jerks even had the energy to joke. "That''s kidnapping? Who knows if they have relatives!" "Then make them follow us too!" "..." The Alterans looked at each other in thought, not saying anything for a while. Well, should they?? Chapter 247 The Fangirl Lord It was half an hour later that they managed to hide behind some alleys again (safer this time, hopefully!) Of course, they had to separate to be able to hide better, perhaps do some distraction tactics (i.e. Fable pushing them cuz they''re obviously enjoying the attention anyway) to give him some more time. Instead of getting beat up though, the girls didn''t really bother with them at all. This was both relieving and sad. Getting beat up at least meant they got surrounded by women, right? Depressed! Anyway¡­ Fable, who was very experienced in hiding, and the remaining ''survivors'' from his group were able to hide well. Unfortunately, he didn''t know if it was the skill of the lord here as a person, or a skill of a lord of a territory, but he was still found in the end. The woman appeared with her high heels which was different from what she wore before (did she stock up on it?). Closely beside her was a small harem of handsome men. She was a bit chubby, but curvaceous, and she had a fairly decent face. By most standards, she was even pretty. But Fable paled in terror at the sight of her. It''s her! The Lord! ¡­ Kimmy brightened at the sight of the handsome man with sandy hair, looking at her with wide eyes filled with admiration (note: Terror). Kimmy Smith was a very rich spoiled 29-year-old girl who had rooms filled with jewelery, gold, and other shiny things. During the apocalypse, she sold most of these things, along with the family treasury, and this allowed her to earn thousands before the Migration. It felt amazing to finally lead and create her own territory. Most importantly, she could do whatever she wanted! As for her parents, wherever they were, she could only pray for their souls. After all, when the disaster happened they were in other countries with their respective lovers. As someone who had been neglected by her parents for as far as she could remember, her greatest joy in life was watching actors or idols, collectively called Husbands. Back in Terran, she had watched every concert of her husbands, took the best spots, had backstage passes, bought all merchandise, and funded their fanbases. She had almost taken one¡ªher favorite¡ªto hug in her house some days ago but he regretfully disappeared. Who knew, he would actually come back. Was it fate?! She sauntered to him, and seductively¡ªwell at least she thought so¡ªwiped his chest with her manicured fingers. "Shall we continue where we left?" Fable almost squeaked in terror. "No, no! No, thank you! I''m not even handsome!" "Don''t underestimate yourself!" She said, "You''re one of the most handsome men I ever laid eyes on!" He was so creeped out that his brain seemed to have died for a moment. "No, no, in my territory there were plenty of more handsome men!" "Really?" He did not even have the time to regret what he said because his brain died again when the finger climbed up his chin. "Yes, yes, really." "Okay! I see you were about to leave? How interesting! Maybe I''ll go there soon!" His stomach dropped. Wouldn''t bringing this woman to Altera be a disaster for all the handsome men in the territory?! He didn''t have the time to backtrack as she already wrapped her arms around his, and basically dragged him out to the streets. As they walked, Fable felt like his legs were as heavy as lead. Raine, Kimmy''s current favorite, saw this and chuckled. He walked closer to him, just close enough to whisper. "Don''t worry, she never really forced anyone¡­ well, except you. You were a very good entertainer." "Er¡­ thank you?" S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Kimmy wrapped her arms tighter around his well-toned arms and Fable tried his best not to push the woman away. She was completely unaware of his tension, thinking he was just shy. "What are you waiting for, Silly Fableboi?" "Err¡­ what?" Fable asked as they walked along the streets. Fableboi? The endearment used by his fans was clearly Fablecious, right? Ah, wait, that would''ve been creepier coming from Kimmy. "Oh, you silly goose~" She giggled, rubbing his nose like he was the most adorable idiot. "To your territory! Let''s gooo!" "A-Already? Right now?!" Fable gasped, startled by how quickly things were happening. "Altera is half a day away! Y-You''re the lord, aren''t you?" She shrugged. "My husbands can handle it." She said, pulling him forward. "Let''s go now!" "..." Eventually, they met up with the rest of the team by the gate, as agreed upon before they separated from all the running. They decided to meet up there within an hour, and together they would escape and head back to Altera. It was a decent plan. Too bad Fable had a massive baggage. The team gave him weird, weird, looks when they saw who he was with. Fable wanted to cover his face. How embarrassing! Could he say he really didn''t have a choice?! The people who got ''captured'' with him were holding back their laughs. No doubt they will spread all that they witnessed to the whole of Altera when they could! Jerks! As they walked to the gate, Kimmy saw the people in his party, looked them up and down, and couldn''t help but ask again, a little questioning. "Are they really handsome?" She asked, looking at him as if he was lying. "This is what you call handsome?" The others: "..." The laughs were cut short like that. But these complicated emotions of his companions had nothing to do with Fable. To him, this was an opportunity. Could this be his chance of backtracking? He didn''t take it in the end though, his gut was telling him he may be trapped here if he lied. Self-preservation still prevailed. I''m so sorry handsome men of Altera¡­ "Yes. Some even had odd hair colors like bright gold and crimson red ¡­" "That''s amazing!" Kimmy brightened, "I look forward to meeting them~" Fable gulped at her obsessive expression and shivered. He prayed for Oslo, Rowan, and even Drake never to know of this conversation. Chapter 248 Entering Altera Village Altera. The group of hundreds couldn''t help but stare at the 3-meter tall wall, nearly double the size of theirs, and so very reassuring to see for those who stayed inside. Then they looked at the extremely dense sentry towers¡ªpowerful-looking, menacing, and protective. "Are those sentry towers?" Matthew asked in a quiet voice, eyes fixed on the towers. Micheal nodded. "It''s only available for higher level walls," he said. He knew this because Juno commented on it when he expressed his worries. It was just that only high level villages with rich background or low level towns tended to have this due to the expenses. To see it in a fellow Level 2 village¡­ was both depressing and inspiring at the same time. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Micheal and Matthew followed the locals and led their respective teams into the gate. Other than the inexpensive fees, what surprised them was the quaint but vivacious surroundings that greeted them. The entire area was developed¡ªno, bustling¡ªfrom the get-go. The streets were wide and there were two-storey structures on both sides, with a small amount of people moving to and fro, some of which gave them curious glances. However, they were quick to lose interest and proceeded on where they were headed: the shops. Shops? "Did you have a commercial building?" Matthew asked Micheal. He believed he was one of the poorest lords out there, so he wouldn''t be surprised if he missed out on a bit. "No." "No?" Matthew uttered, surprised. And there was also another very obvious detail they noticed. The architectural styles of these buildings were unfamiliar to them. Was it not the same for everyone? The two lords looked at each other and compared notes, soon realizing they had the exact same options. "What do you think?" "I''m not sure¡­" Matthew uttered and he wanted to ask. This issue was something for later, however, and they decided to focus on the issue at hand, i.e. the current development of this territory. "Did the lord here develop the entire territory?" He asked, and the blonde next to him looked back at the walls, narrowing his eyes. After a beat, Micheal spoke, "The lord here didn''t choose to expand¡­" "What?" Matthew looked around. Although it wasn''t visible normally, he noticed the curve of this wall was indeed more pronounced, meaning the circle was smaller than theirs. They couldn''t help but recall the empty space that opened up in their own territories when they upgraded and then looked at the wide prosperous streets in front of them. They felt a little ashamed. Subconsciously or not, they chose the choice with more power¡ªsomething associated with a larger jurisdiction. Of course, it wasn''t exactly an erroneous decision on their part. From what they''ve gathered, their population was several times more than that of Altera, so it was still a factor in their expansion. They had to expand even if just for the added resources they could get inside the safety of the walls. The provision of a safe place to forage without the worry of poisonous plants and insects alone was a direct effect of their expansion. However, they did still envy how well-planned this place was. It seemed like even if they didn''t expand, no area was wasted, but at the same time it didn''t feel claustrophobic. They continued to walk and observe, taking note of the features of the village even near the gate. There was traffic so far from the center, and with the rate the territory was going, this area will definitely be prime shops in the future. They also saw a lot of stores that weren''t occupied yet, and those that were seemed to still be under renovation. With their business senses, both of them felt tempted. Especially, at the rate this village was going out and extending its claws everywhere, this road would not just be filled by locals, it would soon be filled with ''tourists'' like them. This was definitely prime real estate right here. "Can a non-resident own a shop here?" Micheal asked, turning to the woman beside them. She seemed to have been watching them in amusement which made them feel a bit embarrassed. Silvia didn''t comment on it though and answered their question. "The commercial areas can only be rented by residents. It is also a little more expensive than the permanent residents. "This is the same as the houses. Only permanent residents have the right to purchase their own property. Residential status (temporary or permanent) would also be needed to rent it." The two nodded, thinking that it made sense. If they had a lot of funds, they''d have considered this in their own territories, but not at the moment. After all, they still needed the gold that was roused from selling land and property. Sighing at his own poverty, Matthew turned to look at a building. "Do we just go in?" "Well, generally, everything can be done in the village center to avoid conflicts and people entering other people''s territories¡­ but you can go directly to shops you hope to rent. You won''t be able to enter if it''s owned." The two nodded, it was how residences worked in their territories as well. It was around this time that a guard went to Silvia and said some stuff, sending looks at the immigrants. Silvia nodded and then turned to them, smiling apologetically. "Excuse us, we will take the immigrants to the village center to register." She said, "They will also pay for their residency there." This puzzled the two lords. "People had to go to the village center?" "Yes, there is still a lot of information missing that the territory hopes to learn. People register under system oath." You could swear an oath under the system? A few minutes in and they already learned so much. Anyway, the new residents followed the guards to the village center for the so-called registration. Meanwhile, the two Lords also instructed their fellow tourists that they would meet here in the afternoon of the next day. This was, of course, assuming they''d want to go back. To be honest, they thought that someone would stay to guide them around. Even if they were poor, they were still lords, right? However, they quickly realized why they were left so carelessly. Before Silvia and the others had completely gone out-of-sight, they were surrounded by many local people. And, considering this timing, they were definitely waiting for Rowan and the others to leave. They all had amicable smiles on their faces, stopping just outside their personal space. "Welcome to Altera Village~" They said, very friendly. The visitors flinched, taken aback by the passionate welcome. One of them was a redhead with orange-ish hair and a freckled face. He had a confident stance as he looked at them. "Welcome to Altera¨C!" He said, opening his arms, "My name is Fred, the head of the Glorious Hospitality Team. "If you wish to have a tour of the territory, you may hire any one of our guides for a very affordable 30 copper per hour, for a maximum number of 10 people per group." The visitors looked at each other. Would going around a small territory still need a guide? Chapter 249 Guided Tours While doing a guided tour for such a small village was weird, they were aware that they only had a little over a day here and naturally hoped to know (and gain) as much as they could. After a moment, the two lords decided to hire a guide and the others also followed their leads and hired their own. Because the two of them had different targets from the others, they asked the rest to form separate tour groups, including their confidants. This was actually what the people wanted (though they tried not to show it). After all, how could this ''field trip'' be fun with the ''bosses'' around? Anyway, the groupings were completed after some time. Interestingly, most groups had a mix of people from the two territories. Obviously, a lot of people bonded on the way here. Each group was soon approached by a designated guide and, for the lords'' ''group'', it was a lively girl. She approached the two lords with a blushing face and bright eyes and¡ªfrom how the other girls glared at her¡ªthis assignment was hard won. "Hello! My name is Lulu! I am in charge of your customized tour today! May I know who will be the members of your team?" "It is just the two of us," Matthew said with that gentle smile of his, hitting the hearts of the girls around. "I see, I see~ What kind of tour do you want to take? We have food tours, luxury tours, etc. We can also customize~!" "Custom, please," Matthew said, meeting his blonde companion''s eyes. "We may have more targeted requirements than the others." Lulu nodded amicably, ready to listen to them and meet their needs. "Okay, this is noted! May I know what exactly you wish to know?" Matthew smiled and proceeded to explain. "Well, we are Lords of our respective territories. We would like to get a more detailed description of the features of the territory, is this okay?" "L-Lords???" The girl paused, paling, and excused herself. She turned her back and scuttled somewhere. When she got back a minute later, she was already pulling that guy Fred from before. "Hello, distinguished guests! This is my boss Fred, and he knows most about the territory than any other guide. The Lords definitely deserve the best~" Lulu said, blushing, and ran away to shyly hide beside the other girls and soon to get new less-intimidating guests. Back to the two lords, although a little startled, they didn''t mind the change. As long as much of the information they wanted would be known, then they''d consider the guide worth it. Fred grinned as his eyes stayed on the two lords. Rich guests tended to tip a lot! Of course, this batch of people was technically their first guest, so he had yet to confirm this personally. Anyway, his grin did not diminish as he walked closer to the two lords. "May I know how many people would be in the lords'' group?" He asked. "Just the two of us," Matthew said. Even his sister joined another group, focused on going to the pharmacy and health center first. Anyway, now that she had already leveled up, he wasn''t too worried about her. It must''ve been a while since she had free reign¡­ "Okay, then! Follow me, please~" Fred said and began walking along the avenue, describing what he knew about the territory (that was allowed to be released in public, especially to outsiders, of course). "This is one of the two main avenues in the village: the Southwest Avenue. There is another one called the East Avenue. The two avenues are very wide with a nearly 20-meter-wide carriageway, not including the provisions for sidewalks and the lane in the middle." He did not mention the middle was a bike lane. It still hadn''t been publicly sold and he didn''t want to jinx it. He really, really, wanted a bike. "The greening is very well maintained," Micheal mentioned, blue eyes looking at the street islands with warm eyes. "Yes, the greening here is very rich, even in areas filled with buildings. They are maintained by people hired by the system, but I heard there is a new NPC specializing in taking care of plants." "NPCs?" Matthew whispered, unaware of the term. Micheal saw that he was really confused. "They''re the aborigines hired through level 2 Village centers¡­" he said, "You haven''t upgraded your village center, have you?" "What?" Matthew felt endless regret. So that was where the Aborigines came from. He couldn''t bring himself to ask before, thinking it was a private matter. Matthew also had a very hard life and had no idea about game terminologies, so he wasn''t aware of what NPCs meant as much as the NPCs themselves. Matthew shook his head and looked at Fred and Micheal again as they moved forward. "Tell me more," he said, "I mean the process and requirements." Fred didn''t know much about the actual process but the fellow Lord, Micheal, did. "When you upgrade your Village Center to level 2, it will become a two-story edifice. On the second floor, you could ''summon'' aborigines to hire." Not just Matthew, but even Fred listened in. Although he knew some of these from his friendship with the aborigines, he hadn''t heard of it from the point of view of a fellow Alteran. "Is it expensive?" "Very. The cost of hiring and their maintenance isn''t cheap either." "..." Matthew sighed. "They should be worth the money though?" Micheal didn''t answer immediately. "The first batch is decent, the next ones are usually letdowns. Good NPCs come days in between." Micheal said very succinctly. There really were too few decent NPCs to the point he couldn''t take any of them with him on his trip, lest mobs attack the territory. He then turned to Fred, who he saw was also listening to him in interest. "Can you tell me more about this territory''s NPCs, if possible?" Fred flinched under his stare and cleared his throat. "Well, I don''t claim to know all of them. But I do know of most," he began, "We have a seamstress, a healer, an armor maker, a weapon maker, and others. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "There is someone who specializes in building and could control earth and metal. His name is Oslo, very handsome and he even has his own fan group that may be able to rival Fable''s soon." "Fable? The idol?" "Yes, that Fable," Fred grinned. "Then there is Rowan¡ªwho was with you¡ªan essential NPC to the guard team and could control fire. The others can''t control elements, but they also serve their purpose." "So not all NPCs can control elements, then¡­" Matthew said, and Micheal nodded. "None of my NPCs can. Seeing Rowan use fire is my first time seeing this." "Really?" "Yes." Fred let them chat for a bit before continuing his info dump. "There were also NPCs hired by individuals. One was hired by Baron to join his woodworking factory, while Ms. Althea partnered with a seamstress NPC. "I hear they just hired them for some gold, and according to my source from Baron''s side, they were very very worth the money." At this point, the two lords could only look at each other. People could do this? The two were silent for a while. They seemed to have¡­ not seen the world??? Chapter 250 Narrow Vision The tour continued forward and they eventually reached the more developed part of the territory. The two lords quickly realized they hadn''t seen anything yet as they moved deeper into the territory, and it was even livelier than they expected. They soon saw more and more people, chatting and laughing, most of whom had baskets or bags in their hands. They also had more and more activities going about¡ªwhether it was staff delivering raw materials, people taking down signage covers, or salespeople hanging out in the streets, hoping to sell something. "Guests!! Buy two and get one free!" Someone yelled, holding a wooden sign outside a store. "Promo available on opening week only!" Not too far was another shop with a promoter as well, but he was carrying a wooden plank with cubes of sweets. "Free taste! Free taste!" Reverberating with his voice was another salesman right next to him. "Opening Week Promo! Buy one shirt, get a handkerchief for free!! "You will not only be comfortable, but also handsome!" Then somehow he zoned in on the two of them (as if his eyes were magnets attracted to the two of them) and he pretty much teleported in front of them. "Handsome men! Want to shine more with clean, new, comfortable clothes?" Handsome-men-with-dirty-clothing, "..." In fairness, before encountering Alterans, the two of them were really well-put in comparison to everyone else. Their lips twitched, and they ended up entering the store. Whether it was curiosity or shame, they refused to dwell on it. It was a simple store with wooden mannequins and hung clothing. It was low-end compared to what they had seen in Terran, but in the middle of the mountains in a new world, this was amazing to see. There was also a complete set of underwear. The colors were plain and limited, but it made the two of them sigh in relief. Anyway, both of them ended up buying a few sets. As soon as they went out, the food salesman appeared right next to them, also smiling with teeth exposed (he had surprisingly white teeth; can they ask him how he did it?) Anyway, this salesman was apparently polite enough to wait for their transaction to be over, and now that they were out he seemed to have imprinted on them. "Free taste!" He said and they couldn''t help but take a second look at the samples. They were a bit¡­ unsavory-looking and odd-colored. But the man seemed to not see this, as he proudly presented his craft. "A-Ah, Thank you." The men said, awkwardly taking the ugly-looking cubes. Under the eager stare of the man, the two of them had no choice but to taste. When the snack melted in their mouths, the two of them couldn''t help but blink and look at each other. "It''s rice snacks," Micheal said, "It tastes nice." Obviously, the materials available were still different¡ªfor one, they didn''t have the conventional sugar¡ªbut it felt delicious anyway. It also explained the odd color, as the rice here wasn''t white. Anyway, they also bought a few boxes. Of course, not every store had staff outside, with some only having signage to show what they offered. However, every shop had people coming in, and the entire streetscape was bustling with activity. Some were alone, while often they were with someone. Many people had baskets in their hands, going from shop to shop, with the basket getting filled up bit by bit every few steps. The two lords were shocked by the vibrancy¡ªpeople chatting, shopping, selling¡ªwith undeniable smiles on their faces. Life. Peace. Prosperity. It almost felt like the end of the world didn''t happen. "It''s amazing¡­" Matthew whispered to no one in particular, but Micheal nodded in agreement. They looked at the shops they passed by. Even from the outside, they had an idea of how business was booming. They were also surprised at the sheer variety of foods and products. They thought they''d seen miracles with the food the team brought to their territories, but it turned out to be the tip of the iceberg! There were noodle shops offering a variety of noodle dishes, there were bakeries boasting many options, and there were canteens offering different viands every day. This was just a few of many. Other than food, there were also various stores focusing on wood products, earthenware, leather, and many others. The two turned their heads to ask Fred how this was done, only to see him watching their reactions in interest. The two stiffened a bit in embarrassment straightening their spines to appear more formal. Matthew cleared his throat. "Where do they get the raw materials?" Fred smiled, "The Gaea Grocery Store, of course!" They remembered the stories they gathered on the way here. "This is the property of one of your elders, Ms. Althea?" "Precisely! She''s the Elder for Plant Research." He said. "Almost every food you see has her handwriting on it. "Not only did she bring in the common plants from Terran, but she also raised local plants to fit consumption." "Very admirable," Matthew said, thinking it was an old grandma. Micheal, on the other hand, smiled mysteriously. "It would be lovely to meet her¡­" He just said, his velvety voice entering the ears of women around, fascinating them. Fred cleared his throat, "From what I heard, she was usually in her laboratory, so she''s rarely seen at this time." Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I see¡­" They nodded in understanding as they continued walking. As they observed the surroundings, the lords couldn''t help but put forward some of the other points of doubts they encountered so far. "I''m curious, in our panel, we have set buildings. The two of us compared and saw the options to be the same. Are all these buildings manually constructed?" Fred paused, actually not sure about this. But thinking about how these buildings just appeared overnight, he found an answer in his heart. "Most of the commercial buildings should be system buildings since they literally appeared overnight. The bigger ones, like the supermarket, were built by the construction team." Fred paused in front of a two-storey building. "Like this one," He said, "This is one of the buildings that were built manually." "It''s one of the two inns along this avenue, the more affordable one. It is also one of four in the whole territory. The other two are at the ends of Market Street; I''ll show you later." The two looked at the building closer to study it. It was a two-storey building that had a simple but good-looking facade, but its architectural style followed every other building around, making for a visually pleasing continuity. There was also a garden along the easement with colorful local plants, and beside them were small pathways to allow guests to admire the greeneries. Michael''s sharp eyes observed the differences. The facades between the conventional shops and the inn were different, while the commercial and some residential units had the same skeletal layout. As a lord, he naturally knew they could do some customization of system buildings for a price. That was to say, the base building of the commercial and residential units was the same. He then remembered there was a custom building option. Very likely, it was this neglected function. He had been tempted before, of course, it was just that he couldn''t afford it. He also had no idea if it was flexible enough, thinking it could consume an important building slot. At the time, he simply opted not to use it. But seeing the advantages and potential now, he made up his mind to put it on his priority list. Sigh. It seemed his vision was still too narrow. Chapter 251 Enlightening "What are you thinking?" Matthew asked as he looked at this new friend of his, just staring deeply at the inn. Micheal shook his head. "I''ll tell you later." He said, as there were still plenty of things they had to explore before studying them deeply. The trio proceeded to walk along the beautiful pathway, coming across another small park along the way. "The territory seems to be very conscious about greening." Fred nodded. "At least 20% of the built areas were green, and this is not even including the farm areas and the pure forests near the edges." The ginger sighed dreamily as he said so, "This was lovely, back in Terran very few cities could do it, I always dreamed of living in those places. Now here I am!" The two nodded, agreeing. In Terran, because of the damage to the environment, less than 10% of the forests were left in the end. In terms of area, that was less than 0.1% of the entire planet. The trend of richer cities was to create ''green cities'' but the initial and maintenance costs were exuberant, most people couldn''t afford to even rent a small unit in these cities. (It had to be said that Garan and Althea were still pretty lucky to live in an orphanage not far from a forest. This was only possible due to conservatory laws, so it could be said that the two still lived an ironically ''luxurious'' life as orphans, even if they were often hungry.) In any case, it was a pretty novel experience for all Terrans to be transferred in this world made predominantly of rich forests. But the dangers quickly slapped reality onto their faces and their focus shifted purely to survival. They didn''t even think about the issue of sustainably and just built where they could. They just thought to keep some patches of forests inside for the resources, just enough for the current population, and that was it. "Are the farms open for visit?" "In a sense, yes, but only at the edges." Fred said, "More accurately, only to a viewing deck. Only owners of farms and their personnel are allowed inside that zone." "Can you bring us?" "Of course! Come with me." They walked along the avenue to the center, seeing more and more stores and people. They also saw a lot of their own people shopping around, hands already filled with food only half an hour into the tour. Passing through here, they went northeast to see a winding path climbing up the mountain. "We''re going up the Mountain?" "Yes. I''ve mentioned we can only go to a viewing deck¡­" The two lords looked at each other and shrugged, following their patient guide along the path. It was a well-maintained trekking path, designed for hikers. It was designed according to easy trekking paths back in Terran. There were wooden benches every hundred meters or so, and they saw about three gazebos so far. Internally, the two lords sighed in self-pity. Really, they were still struggling, but someone was on the way to make a mountain resort¡­ They took about half an hour to reach a certain height to a small building with a large deck. It was surrounded by various plants, and there were even some Terran flowers like lavender. "Most of the farms are private land, but the territory built this small view deck for those who wish to gain a better view of the territory. It is also near the farmlands, so I decided to take you here." The two reached the view deck¡ªlined with cut stone and balusters¡ªand headed towards the railings to look over the edge. They had yet to study the entire sight, but their hearts were shocked to the core almost instantaneously. The entire city was extremely well-developed, themed, and organized. The roads and streets took an organic but relatively gridiron form, with the greenery plenty and uniform. And the farms¡­ It was shocking. Dozens and dozens of hectares of crop-filled land shook their souls. There were rice, wheat, orchards, tubers, herbs, and others¡ªplenty of them. This was a scale they wouldn''t even be able to imagine to achieve in less than a month. It was not that they didn''t consider farming, but the local plants and their methods of growing were unfamiliar. Not to mention, the refresh rate of the forests made this issue a non-priority. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Well, obviously they thought too little. It took them a while to shake themselves off the mental blow, enough to observe the rest of the territory. From their location, they could see the large warehouse-like buildings some hundred meters away. Matthew pointed at them and asked, and Fred answered happily. "Those are factories: Some were rented by Baron''s party, many by Ms. Althea''s, and a few occasional teams are also reserving the ones being constructed." "Factories?" "Yes, there are woodworking factories, herbal medicine factories, food processing factories, ceramics-making factories, fabric-making factories, and many others." "..." "..." They were shocked by the scale of farming and industry in this territory. They should have taken up nearly half of the current land, right? Wasn''t that too generous? However, it could be seen that it worked. Whoever the Lord was, he knew very well how to use the talents of his citizens and maximize them to the degree they didn''t know they could emulate. Of course, the condition for such development of talent was that people would feel safe enough. After all, they first needed to feel safe enough not to worry about the basics, and safe enough to be able to explore a higher sense of existence. The two looked at the tall walls, sentry towers, and the level 2 Village center, knowing in their hearts that this condition was met, and more. What an enlightening trip¡­ The two really can''t help but admire the wisdom of the lord here. Ideally, they would have wanted to learn more from the sage himself, but for now (since the lord here obviously didn''t want to be disturbed) they''d have to settle with studying his product. But they excused themselves, they were only inexperienced young men after all. The Lord here must be a seasoned old man. Althea-the-old-man: "..." Chapter 252 Fascinated (Part 1) Back in the ''downtown area'' of the village, the hundreds of citizens that came with the two lords perused and looked around, amazed. They were absolutely fascinated with what they were witnessing. Those who were tasked to settle down were completely relieved, feeling that they had made the most correct bet ever. They even had a few silver for settlement fees! Other than these lucky souls, there were also about a hundred people who just came to visit, similarly shopping their hearts out. It was just that most of them didn''t want to go back anymore. But, alas! Who told their teams and their wealth to be in another territory. Of course, there were also those who had built some power and reputation in their own territories, so were especially reluctant to leave it all behind. Such were Artie and Bruce, Lord Micheal''s close guards, though they were definitely shaken and very very tempted by what they had been seeing. Fortunately, Altera was so near, and they could often go visit. For Artie and Bruce, they could ''volunteer'' to guard the caravans and stuff, which was hitting two birds with one stone. Anyway, Artie, Bruce, and little Lily walked with their new friends from Vismont and formed a tour group on their own. They were a group of ten, three from Bright and the rest was a team from the other village. They chatted happily about various things, including their time in Terran, while at the same time marveling at the beautiful pedestrian-only street they were currently passing through. It was wide, at least five meters including the nice island between with trees and benches. This island made for a narrow, elongated, park that spanned the entire street. Most of the stores here were still under renovation, but there was still a lot of foot traffic. According to their guide, Nina, these people were all going and/or coming from the cul-de-sac area where the marketplace and the supermarket were. As they walked, the pretty guide pointed at some stores that were near completion. "This is one of the clothing stores to open! I hear it focuses more on undergarments and night dresses." The group naturally went in and bought what they needed. They only bought what was necessary, knowing that there was still much of the territory to be explored. Their spaces were so small and they could hand-hold only so much baggage, what if they just wasted their money? There weren''t even beggars here they could give their ''overweight baggage'' to. Some half hour later, they walked out with smiles and passed by another opened store. "This one focuses more on everyday clothes," Nina said and Artie couldn''t help but ask (a bit shyly) as they entered the shop. "Who owns these?" "Different teams own these stores. From what I hear, Ms. Althea has a share in a few, in exchange for much lower prices for the raw materials." She said, proud of the gossip she managed to get. They walked forward for a couple more minutes, passing by a couple more stores, before finally ending up in a dead end that expanded to a small park. Looking closer at the park locations from certain sides, one could see that there was a real possibility of adding roads there. When this development was completed, it would make this area into a hub for two more streets as well. Abutting these streets were large buildings and the marketplace, and everywhere they looked was so lively and fun and they just wanted to run around. "We''re here! The Gaea Supermarket~" Nina said, her long adorable pigtails following her movements. Artie couldn''t help but stare. Guide Nina didn''t seem to notice this as she led them to the queue to enter the supermarket. "There''s a maximum number of people inside. Since it''s been so long since the opening, people don''t usually have to line up anymore. But you guys came in droves of hundreds, so¡­ "Anyway! There''s a purchase limit so people don''t take too long inside." She shrugged and they settled down in the queue. It was around this time that some cute teenagers and old people approached them, carrying boards with snacks and juices. "Sale, for sale~ Sour fruit bites!" "Buy two bags, get one free! Potato chips!" "Fautle Juice! Just 10 copper for half a liter!" The offerings were all very alluring and the visitors were all ''buy, buy, buy!'' ¡­And by the time they entered the supermarket half an hour later, they were already bursting in fullness. "This place is heaven!" Pip, a dude from Vismont, yelled out in satisfaction. The others couldn''t help but agree. Their tastebuds had never been treated so well since the zombies attacked! Anyway, the group entered the building and were met with a large open plan that overwhelmed them¡ªtheir eyes blinded by the dazzling array of products. Their eyes sparkled and took a cute pushcart each and went to do their shopping. They felt elated and they were having such fun! How funny that such mundane activity back in Terran felt like going to the amusement parks now. Then they approached the displays and saw the prices. Compared with the market price back home, at least¡ªhow little they had to pay! So affordable! Nina furtively took a peek. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "That''s actually thrice the amount locals have to pay¡­" Nina told them. After all, even if indirectly, she''d also get a little contribution if she took part in a successful ''brainwashing''. They gaped at her and were really tempted. It was just that, for now at least, their assets, resources, and power were all in their respective territories¡­. Anyway, while the price was thrice that of locals, it was still much cheaper than their purchase in their own territory. They would still make a killing even at this price. The travel time wasn''t that long either, the trouble was totally worth the profits they could get for one trip. They could already hear the cha-ching cha-ching in their heads! Oh¡­ how exciting! Chapter 253 Fascinated (Part 2) They bought as much as they could, not minding even if it was taking a significant portion of their wealth. Fortunately, there were hide bags and baskets now available for sale, which they could carry with them since their space definitely wouldn''t be enough. They also bought bags of rice and flour, jars of various sauces and condiments, some essentials, and others. Their excited hearts could not stop thumping. What made them even more ecstatic was the bulletin board, mentioning the products ''under mass development'' like soap, shampoos, and paper!!!! "Wait, there''s more!" Salt! It was fortunate the fruits and plants here had (trace amounts of) salt content otherwise everyone would have died from hyponatremia. But legit salt was still needed. This was equivalent to saving people''s lives! It could even be treated as currency in and of itself! Their hearts were still beating fast as they lined up at the checkout counter. "This territory¡­ is really something else," Artie said, eyes still sparkling from the goodness. The others nodded. To be honest, they never thought they''d see much of these things again after living in the forest for so many days. Before the Alterans popped out the way they did, they were quite fully prepared to live on beast meat, a small variety of fruit, and disgusting gruel for the rest of their lives. At this rate, they may be able to revive the lifestyles they had back in Terran! (Except they had a lot more trees, which was the best of both worlds!) "It''d be best if there were no monsters though¡­" A man shrugged, "For now, we only encountered levels 2 and 3 at most. Soon enough we''ll be stronger than they are!" "Yes, yes, it''s quite hopeful!" "I''m almost level 3 myself!" Pip sighed, "You forget we''re at the protective period." The man tutted, "We''re obviously having fun, why are you throwing truth bombs!" "..." "Here are your items!" The cashier said with a smile, breaking their chat. The owner of the items took the items and¡ªall while chattering nonstop¡ª he was promptly followed by the person next in line. Soon, the last one in the group packed up. They placed the more fragile products like ceramics in the space and the other items were placed in the animal hide backpacks and duffle bags they just bought. They held onto these bags like treasures. Artie wanted to speak more with Ms. Nina, so (with a blushing face) he approached her. "Ms. Nina¡­, hm¡­, how do they know who the residents are or not?" Nina smiled proudly and told them to look at the person being served after them. Pip couldn''t help but look back at the next person in line. It was a middle-aged woman with a scholarly feel around her. She bought a cart filled with items, and a lot were expensive items like clothes and special sauces. They watched the person behind them show a small wooden card to the shopkeeper, and the cashier uttered a surprising number. The person bought items of similar value, but she obviously paid a lot less. It seemed the shopkeepers could indeed determine the residency of a person. "Cool! How does it work?" The older woman who just got out of the counter smiled. Nina greeted her amicably. "Ms. Rosalind!" "Nina," she said, "I see you''re entertaining your guests well." S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Hehe." The older woman turned to the visitors. "It was made by the woodworker aborigine hired by Baron, but he signed an anti-counterfeit contract with the system, guaranteeing the legitimacy of each card. "If there were rascals who tried to cheat, then they would automatically get blacklisted in the territory." She sounded very much like the teacher that she was, and the youngins couldn''t help but nod like respectful students. Rosalind was in charge of the Education Office of the territory. While there were no schools yet, she was in charge of releasing pertinent information to the people. If there was a media outlet, then she''d be the chief editor. At least until there were schools, of course. In any case, Rosalind had put her heart into her tasks, hoping to trigger some occupation. She had heard all the Elders had occupations and surmised it must be a requirement. After all, she currently had the highest position in the department, and had sufficient experience in Terran, but was not titled an elder. She still had some ambitions at her age, and she naturally hoped to have better positioning in this new world. Pip seemed to understand this was a person with some power and was particularly respectful. "Thank you for your information. Uhm, my team and I will be forming a caravan here. Was there a way to make deals with the owner?" "From what I heard, your territories opened a deal with the lords to purchase at twice the local market price and at much larger purchase limits." She smiled, "You should coordinate with your respective Lords first." This information made everyone brighten and they nodded in understanding. "Do you think we''d get approved?" One person asked, "What if that deal was for personal use only?" Who would want to help potential competitors? Pip smiled and shook his head. "The purchase limit may be larger, but it still exists. With the number of people back in our territory, do you think what the Lord could buy is enough?" "But¡­" "Think about it: Altera was so close. If they monopolized the items and increased the price too much, then it''s more likely people would just go directly to Altera!" "Oh!" "You''re right!" The others calmed down at this. Their lords were young, but they were wiser than their peers. They had a feeling their requests would get approved. "Also¡­ tax!" He said, "You forget I''m an economics major!" "Bringing these in will revitalize the economy! The tax and the satisfaction of the people they could get from this is much more than what they could get from a monopoly!" And this was true. As such, the imminent deals with the two lords would mark the beginning of the two territories'' progress. And all these would center in one place: Altera. Just as Althea wanted. Chapter 254 Gaea Restaurant Various guided tours abounded the territory, one of which was the Dining Experience tour, taken by Sandra and Ramona. They formed a group of ten with some strangers and the guide led them through a trip focusing on the territory''s currently-accessible food culture. The two girls were accompanied by old acquaintances Spike and Ron, at the request of their men who had to stay in the territory. There were plenty of differences, however. Ron had lost his boyishness and had now adopted a slightly more serious temperament. He was no longer so smug with the C potential he had (as there were many others now) and his styled hair had now turned into a chicken nest. Spike was also very different from when Althea and the others had seen him. However, there was a stronger aspect to him despite losing an arm. The four of them were transferred together from Terran and could be said to be the only survivors remaining in that group of people. Of course, this was not including Harold and Maya who separated from them early, hopefully (to Sandra and Ramona) already very dead. This was not much of a chance though because they came with Althea, who reportedly was doing very well. Maybe they''d even have an (unfortunate) encounter in this territory soon. "When are we getting there?" Ramona asked the guide impatiently, tone as arrogant as ever. Spike and Ron looked at the women in disgust, as they had always done since they reached Bright. In that party, the two of them were the remaining fighters, and only the four of them survived until the end. Scores of people. Four were left. If these women hadn''t been so scheming, there would be way more than the few of them that survived in that group. Both of them had lost precious friends because of these two women, Spike even lost his woman. For Ron, it was an old friend who migrated with him. He happened to have fallen for Sandra and did his best to protect the woman. It happened to cost him his life. Spike''s woman, on the other hand, was lost a bit more directly. At the time, the strong men defended the group with the women and weaker people fighting behind them. While Spike was guarding valiantly, his women fell into the mouths of monsters. No one saw what happened, but they had an inkling Ramona pushed her based on her distance. Now, ironically, they had no choice but to guard the two women. They didn''t have much choice either as they had already invested their remaining wealth in Bright, working under Gringo to maintain their lifestyles. Doing their job as meticulously as they could did not mean they liked it, of course. They hated every bit of it and they had to use all their tolerance not to just punch the woman in the face. Ron couldn''t help but remember that beautiful woman who took the old guy and the little girl away. Unlike these two dodders, she was so strong and beautiful¡ªa veritable goddess. How good would it be to follow her instead of these two! "We''re almost there~ Don''t worry it will definitely be worth it!" The guide patiently said and Ramona scoffed. The others were much better though and they followed while looking around the streets in fascination. They were soon guided along the so-called Eastern Market Street, soon reaching the food stores, and the bitter men completely forgot about the two women. "Sweet and spicy noodles!" "Monster meat rice rolls!" "Fried Gugu Bird!" "Stormdoer burger¡ªwith fries!" Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Glutinous Gouji fruit cakes!" The group ordered as much as they could and placed them in the space. When they reached the stalls, their movements were even wilder. Although the space didn''t freeze time like in those novels, it did have some sort of preservation side effect because of the static space itself. It was not much, but rotting due to outside air, moisture, bacteria, and the like were greatly diminished. At the very least, when they get back home the day after tomorrow, they should still be able to eat and sell these things. With full stomachs, they continued to explore the rest of that corner place and saw the largest building next to an inn¡ªthe Woodworkers'' shop. This pretty much specialized in furniture and other household paraphernalia, and they couldn''t help but sigh. "The people here have it so good¡­" They thought. This thought remained even as they headed back to the intersection and began walking along the main avenue, heading toward the center. Along the way, they saw more and more shops, restaurants, and essential stores like utensil stores, clothing stores, bag stores, and stores that sold secondary processed foods like jerkies, pickles, jams, and the like. There were even shops selling ''luxury goods'' like processed monster furs and hides, ready to be bought to be made into clothing, upholstery, rugs, and the like. It could be said that the people here could make a full play of their talents. People could make good money here without having to risk their lives outside. Very comfortable. They felt more than a bit jealous. Anyway, they bought what they needed from the stores and felt their wallets rapidly dwindling. However, it was not painful when they thought of the money they''d make in return and the improved lifestyles that came after. They paid the guide for a few more hours and he guided them through various facilities and parks, and eventually reached the central area. There, they saw a store occupying two units, with a very long line at its door. "That is the Gaea restaurant. It''s the most popular restaurant in the territory, and the most cost-effective!" The guide said as they moved forward the line. "Is it the most delicious?" "It''s the second most delicious." "Oh?" Ron asked, curious. "The title of the best tasting restaurant was taken by Master Cooke, a cook by Occupation. I mean occupation tagged by the system. Like, a game job." Ron and Spike nodded. In Bright, there were a few who activated jobs like carpenters and some battle-focused jobs like swordsmen. They had yet to have a cook though. "What''s the difference with the food he makes?" "The food there has special Effects so it''s worth it even if it was really expensive." He said, "It''s also very exclusive, so I don''t suggest trying to go there without a booking." "On the other hand, the Gaea Restaurant has the most variety of food. I hear the team that owns the Supermarket owns this one, so you can see how they could price fairly even if they had such a variety." "That''s amazing¡­" "Very." The guide said, proudly, as if he was part of the team. In any case, they lined up for a bit, with Ramona expressing her impatience here and there. "No one''s forcing you to line with us," Spike said with a frown. This irked Ramona very much. "You¡ª" But Spike just looked away and ignored her and Ramona almost had a tantrum. Almost. At the very least, she had the tact not to act like a little brat in a woman''s body. Fortunately, although the line was long, the service was quick. It didn''t take too long for them to be able to enter. Like the restaurants in Terran, there was a dais, a host podium, and a host behind it. Today it was a hostess, a pretty one, and she welcomed them very cheerfully to the restaurant. They stated the number of seats they needed and the girl checked her wooden board with makeshift black chalk. "There is an opening in a private room that can fit you. It''s just that there''s a minimum order amount. Would you like to take it?" Ramona looked at a man with a smile and he raised his chest proudly in response, "Of course." The hostess called a waiter to guide them to their room and they entered the intricately carved double door to the interior of the restaurant. They were greeted with the sumptuous aroma of food, and the visual impact of the interior design overwhelmed their senses for a while. They couldn''t help but be surprised at the decorations. Each table and chair had matching etches and carvings. There were also detailed cornices, monster fur rugs, and turning tables. This may not have been anything special back in Terran, but this was an apocalyptic world in the wilderness!! It was unbelievable that a few weeks ago, this land was all forests!!! The visitors couldn''t help but look at each other. Are they really still in Xeno? Chapter 255 Unfair! Aberdeen City, Years ago Inside a dimly-lit atmospheric bathroom, an exclusive scent lingered in the air. It was the women''s powder room in a prestigious restaurant, with intricate metallic linings and baseboards, and exclusive marbles as expensive as a normal house. Sandra looked at herself in front of the mirror, a triumphant gleam of victory filled her eyes as she stared at her reflection. She felt¡­ beautiful. And that she deserved the best. Her long black hair was styled by an expensive stylist, cascading down in graceful waves. Her dress was made of red silk and lace that accentuated her curves, revealing just enough skin. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She did not want it to be so revealing that her gentle image would be compromised. However, it was still very sexy, showing just enough skin to entice but keep the mystery alive. "I''m finally here." She whispered with a smile as she added a bit more color to her lips. She had finally nabbed her ideal man¡ªa man near her age and relatively handsome, not like her previous men who only had money going for them! It didn''t matter that his eyes always lingered on other women, nor did it matter that he had many women out there. The fact was that she was his favorite and that she was likely to be the one to receive his proposal was all that mattered. His marriage proposal! She would marry him and she would be the madame, and then her life would reach its peak! The fact that she was invited in this exclusive restaurant¡ªone where he would never take a woman to unless he was serious¡ªwas already a huge step forward. She sauntered back out and joined him, imagining the most wonderful night. "I''m having such fun, thank you for taking me here." "Hmm." "Did you taste this shrimp? It''s amazing, I wonder how they did this." "Hmm." "I bought a new lingerie tonight, do you want to see?" "Hmm." If she didn''t know that he was being absent-minded, then she was being stupid. However, she kept her smile and raised her head to ask him if he was having some trouble. After all, she was a good wife, and she wanted him to know he could confide in her¡ªdespite knowing full well he wasn''t having any problems. But as she looked at him, she realized that he was ogling shamelessly at another table¡ªright when she was in front of him. She frowned and pursed her lips. This was much more humiliating than just finding out he had been sleeping around even when he was dating her. However, she didn''t desperately study the high class for nothing. She remained calm and poised, though her eyes furtively turned to look around. She soon saw that many other tables, men, and women, were staring in a particular direction. They weren''t as blatant as her date, but one could see sincere admiration in their eyes. Her eyebrows rose in curiosity and she followed their sights. But when her sights landed on what they were looking at, she almost dropped her spoon. It was Althea and Garan, beautiful and handsome as if shining in their own light. She was wearing a simple but pretty light green off-shoulder dress, while he donned a bespoke suit with a matching undershirt. What was most notable was their appearance, form, and temperament. It was simply not something wearing good clothes and make-up could emulate. No matter how much she hated the sight, even Sandra could only admit they were a beautiful couple. As if wanting to torture herself, Sandra couldn''t help but look at them closer¡ªespecially that handsome man. At this time, Garan was looking at Althea so dozingly. It was so obvious that Althea was the only person in his eyes. She suspected that even if a beautiful woman danced naked near him, his sights wouldn''t leave Althea at all. Then¡­ Sandra turned and looked at the man she had been chasing the past year, giving her all, forgetting all of her pride just so he''d notice her above his other women. Worse, he was also ogling obsessively at Althea! Her eyes were glazed with darkness as she gripped on the soft fabric of her dress. Unfair! __________________ Altera Village, Present The group seated on the largest table on the second floor. It was a carved round table that could easily seat 12 or 13 people. They sat according to their favorite friend, and they continued to chat even as they ordered. "Here''s the menu," The waiter said and handed them thin wooden planks with charcoal handwriting, locked with varnish. The group was given three such menus and everyone looked at the menu nearest to them. They gulped at the familiar and unfamiliar names of food, and then froze at the price. So affordable! The restaurant back home cost them about 20 copper for bread and 15 for gruel. This was already affordable compared to the fallen territories many refugees have been to, but it was nothing next to what they were seeing! The food here¡­ one could get a full meal with meat with that money! With drinks! One of the men¡ªthe chubbiest man¡ªbrightened and looked at the women. "It''s my treat!" He said, and the three women clapped their hands, giggling. Especially Ramona. "Amazing¡­" Ramona said, smiling. "It''s admirable that you can treat us like this!" "It''s fine." He said, smug. "I have plenty of money, and I can easily make the money I lose in half the time." Ramona looked awed and admiring and the guy looked even more smug. They ordered pretty much everything to taste, and they felt like all their stomach worms were already dancing in their stomachs. "Hurry up please!" They told the waiter, who smiled amicably and said he''d do his best. As they waited for their order, the small group and guide naturally got acquainted with each other. "You''re planning on creating a caravan?" Ramona asked the chubby man, blinking more frequently than usual. Sandra remained poised as she drank the tea, which was wonderful to taste. Her movements were also closely watched by a few men and received the rolled eyes of another Vismont woman. "Yes, I used to be a businessman and I had managed to get some capital back in Terran." The Vismont man said with a seductive grin. Ramona seemed interested and leaned a bit closer. Sandra on the other hand was much less interested. After all, she had already snagged one of the more powerful men in the territory, how could she be interested in these small fries? However, this didn''t stop her gentle smiles and demure placing of her hair behind her ears. Seeing the two women flirting with the strangers, Spike and Ron frowned. They were hired by the men of these two women, what were they supposed to do here? It was around this time the waiters served them their food and the four viand meals, side, and soup almost made them drool. Each meal was all plated very creatively, each with a unique aroma that seduced their stomachs. When they placed a bite onto their tongues, it felt even more sublime. No one spoke as they ate and just focused on eating their food. It was the best meal they ever had¡­ No wonder the line was so long. The caravan guy ordered more food and paid the bill, for takeaway. They headed out of the room with full stomachs and satisfied souls. They were in a very good mood. Especially Ramona and Sandra, who not only got to eat their fill for free but were also doted on by many men. However, their good mood dropped a bit when they saw a familiar figure as they headed downstairs. The old man was speaking amicably with the people from the other table. The two women froze while the two men beside them brightened. Ron smiled and walked to the old acquaintance. "Harold!" "Ron." The old man smiled, and shook hands with him and Spike. "How are you?" "Fine. I work well here, I handle the food here." "Stop being a humble old man." The guide smiled. And then he turned to look at them. "He''s a part owner." Harold coughed and shook his hand. He was quite shy, "No, no, Ms. Althea was just kind enough to give me part ownership." The guide, Harold, Ron, and Spike laughed, chatting a bit about this and that. However, the sentence about ownership echoed in the heads of two particular women, and it took them a while to react. "They own this place?!" Ramona exclaimed while Sandra frowned perceptively. Harold blinked at the explosion, shaking his head humbly. "The majority owner is Ms. Althea, she did all the investment." Ron and Spike sparkled in admiration, recalling the cool pregnant woman who pretty much saved their lives. "Ms. Althea is really amazing¡­" "Yes, yes." Harold said, "She''s the best." Even the guide beside them gushed, "A goddess, that''s what she is." Every word of gushing gritted on the women''s bones. Not to mention¡­ they saw the popularity and the number of people. Calculating all these dishes bought, they could only imagine how much money could the restaurant made every day! And they called Althea their boss?! How could the world be so unfair?! Chapter 256 Salt and Sugar (Part 1) Aberdeen City, Twenty-one years ago The young Garan and little Bean stared at their stock of essential condiments with a bit of pride. Winter was coming and it meant major rationing in the orphanage would happen. When they were smaller, they had no choice but to eat what was available and when it was available. This often meant very painful stomachs and heavy shivering from the cold. But nine-year-old Garan and his BFF Little Bean were already big kids and they were determined not to suffer so badly anymore. So they worked very hard during the errands and part-time jobs to stock up long-lasting food. They also bought salt and, because the shopkeeper admired their independence (i.e. she thought they were adorable), she gave them a few pieces of candy. "What is this? What are you doin''? Has it snowed already?" Little Althea asked as she saw the two boys putting salt on their meat. Bean cackled at her stupidity while Garan smiled fondly, using the base of his hand (because his fingers had salt) to rub her small head. "This is called salt, This would make our food last longer." He said. "It''s so we won''t go hungry when the snow falls." Although Garan did his best to feed Althea well, to the point that he himself went hungry, she still did experience it. Now that she found out that they wouldn''t be hungry again, Althea looked at Garan with admiration. This made him very proud. She then decided to help them with their task, which Garan naturally allowed her to do. She cutely mimicked the actions of the older boys, taking a bit of salt and rubbing it on the raw meat. For some time, they could only hear the soft flap of meat being turned and the soft rubbing sound of salt. It was peaceful for a while until the little girl exclaimed, "Iiichhh! Salty! Pyew! Pyew!" The boys turned to look at the four-year-old with a scrunched-up face, her chubby cheeks looking even more pinchable. Bean laughed out loud. "Who told you to eat it! That''s why it''s called salt, idiiooottttt." He said, which earned him a little bump from Garan. "Hey!" In fact, Garan also wanted to chuckle at her cute scrunched-up face, but held back because he knew she''d cry. Instead, he smiled at the little girl and told her about the powder. "It is very salty, but all our food tastes good because of it." "Weally?" "Yes, every delicious thing you have ever eaten probably has a pinch. Just a pinch for a load of meat." "Oh¡­" He chuckled and, after wiping the salt off his hands, took out a piece of candy he got from the shopkeeper lady. He unwrapped it and gently put it in her mouth. "Don''t swallow it whole, okay? Just chew." "What wis thwis?" She mumbled, but the moment the little thing touched her taste buds and melted there, a new unfamiliar sensation exploded her mind. Little Althea felt like she climbed up the clouds. It was her first taste of real sugar. Garan looked at her reaction and smiled. "It''s candy. Sugar. Do you like it?" She bobbed her head passionately. Her emerald eyes met the azure ones that looked at her so fondly, and she felt even sweeter. Sugar. So sweet and lovely and melty in her mouth. And it was a taste she had never forgotten. _________________ Altera Village, Present While waiting for her new citizens to settle down, Althea¡ªas always¡ªwas in her laboratory. This time her babies were being watched over by Harold and Maya in the living area so she could rest assured. She had been reading about the purification of salt the previous night and was now putting it into practice. She had started out preparing early in the morning so that she''d take a shorter time with any trial and error that may happen. She had too many things to do and could no longer afford to spend days on end stuck in her laboratory as often as she used to. Going back to the task at hand, she looked at the translucent rock and the tools in front of her, determined to complete this task today. She must create consumable salt! Doing a bit of pep talk, she soon immersed herself in her experiments. Salt could be purified in two ways: Filtration and Evaporation. There were plenty of ways to do these, but the most effective ones were modern and required a lot of tools. Fortunately, she bought Tori with her so her basic set of glassware like beakers, test tubes, etc, was in her hands. It was her only set, however, so she was very, very careful with it. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Speaking of glassware, she would have to put the production of glass in her to-do list once the situation had stabilized. For now, she''d have to settle with a set. Anyway, she just needed it to get the correct formulas, especially since the salt here was different from Terran salt. After determining the proper ratio and methods, she and her factories would then be able to use the salt purification techniques by the ancients. For the first filtration method, she took out the densest fabrics she could find. And since paper was still being perfected by Baron''s team, she could only use the cloth available. She crushed the rock salt as instructed on her tablet and started to filter. She overlaid fabric on different orientations to get better filtering. She then placed the filtrate on her only remaining evaporation disc, very careful with the heat so as to not break it. If that happened, she would be so very heartbroken. She tried many times, tried several concentrations, and tried different heats and timing. Each one resulted in different products, and every batch¡­had unhealthy amounts of impurities. But she refused to give up. She had already gotten reports that some low-level people getting had already begun feeling sick due to the lack of sodium. High-level people wouldn''t be immune to it either, but they fortunately required less salt to function well. But the fact was: Most of them were low-level people at this time. Salt¡ªit was much too important to Altera and its citizens! It was only nausea and fatigue now, but soon it would be seizures and cramps and maybe even comas. How ironic would it be to improve their lifestyles so much, only to suffer because of the lack of salt¡ªa resource they had taken for granted their whole lives? Althea''s eyes flashed with determined light. In Altera, she was determined that it would never happen! Chapter 257 Salt and Sugar (Part 2) Purifying Xenoan rock salts was far more difficult than she had anticipated. According to her database, Terran rock salt should''ve been finished by now. She had to study a lot of the composition and the differences with Terran salt and had to do some more trial and error for quite some time after that. It took her a few more hours to finally end up with a powder that had few enough impurities that it wouldn''t cause any damage to even the weakest human (i.e. her babies) long-term. She looked at the bowl of beautiful edible crystal that had finally formed. It was even more glistening than she remembered, and it had hints of pink at certain angles. Quite pretty. She placed her pinky on the bowl and closed her eyes to focus on the taste. As the powder melted in her mouth, her eyes brightened at the taste of the perfect saltiness. "Hm~" She mumbled in satisfaction, though her face scrunched a little at the saltiness. She opened her emerald eyes and admired her work again, tilting it to different angles. She tried testing its consistency and it was almost like snow. Snow¡­ Suddenly, an image of a beautiful leaf appeared in her head. She couldn''t help but remember those beautiful snowflake-shaped leaves that now gathered at the corner of her space from as early as their arrival in Xeno. She completely forgot about it. No way, so much had happened since then¡­ Curiously, she rummaged the space to a small box and revealed the snowflake-shaped leaves that had already dried up a bit. After all, it had already been a few weeks. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If she remembered correctly, she didn''t even have the Appraisal skill back then. She looked at the leaf and used her skill. [Estancia (Lv1): Relieves hunger, adds trace amounts of energy.] "Oh?" She mumbled and immediately handled it so she could test it on Tori. She didn''t expect much, probably some additive to a medicine or something. She was staring at her precious salt while waiting for the results to come out. Ping! Tori called and she turned her head to check on it. When she finally saw the summary of its composition, she gaped. Her eyes widened the more she read, but she dared not make any assumptions. After all, there were some plants with similar composition but they couldn''t extract ''that'' at all. She immediately scuttled to her testing area for more detailed examinations. She dissolved the plant in water. Using ceramic mortar and pestle, she ground the plant to a fine paste, later dried to a powder. It went refractory test and also a density test, putting some powder in a test tube solution, making it cloudy. The density of the solution changed, as it should if it became sweet because of the presence of¡­ sugar compound. She gulped but decided to make an extract to test its taste. Using a makeshift distillation process, she soon created a concentrated liquid. A little shakily, she placed her pinky to the solution, tentatively putting in her tongue. When she tasted the sweetness she hoped for, she almost cried. So much time wasted!!! Sugar! Sugar was with her all along!!!! Her pregnancy cravings wouldn''t be so horrendous if she had this! She wouldn''t have had to eat the sweets she reserved for her babies! Regret! Much regrets! The uncharacteristic exclamation made Harold and Sheila (who were trying to sneak the babies in to get her to rest) run to her. "What''s wrong?!" "What happened!" She looked at them with pitiful eyes and the two gaped, really not used to it. For a moment, they thought some sort of tragedy happened without them knowing. The babies also started mumbling sadly, as if beginning to cry as well. Eh, no, they really started tearing up. But then Althea suddenly showed them browning leaves with complex shapes. "Sugar! I found sugar!" Their tense shoulders slumped immediately, and the children cooed and they extended their hands to reach their mother. Althea''s eyes softened and she took them both, handing over the ''leaf'' to Sheila. "Sugar? A leaf?" Sheila looked at the beautiful leaf for a while, not seeing the sugar. Harold looked at the leaf carefully, and nodded, looking at Sheila. "Silly, haven''t you heard of Stevia?" Harold said and then turned to look at Althea with sparkling eyes filled with anticipation. "May I?" He asked, extending his palm. Sheila handed him a leaf and he put a nail to take a bit to taste. It was a bit bitter, but he had tasted unprocessed stevia before. This was similar. Althea nodded. "This looks different, and the processing was probably a bit more cumbersome, but this is definitely a source of sugar¡­" And Harold was right: It had a lot of similarities to Stevia. Not only did it contain less calories than conventional sugar, it was also much sweeter. A pinch could do with what other types would need a teaspoon of. This was a natural sweetener of her dreams. Better, she saw how dense those trees'' leaves were, and she knew the source would be no problem at all! "Try this as well." Althea smiled, pushing the bowl of salt to the two. They placed their pinkies for a taste and their eyes brightened. "Salt!! You succeeded!" The two of them stood up in excitement, blood boiling. How much this could change!! How much more they could develop from this? The purification of the rock salt had been completed and now they also had sugar. Harold felt he had never been so happy since landing on this wretched planet. As they said, a bit of salt and sugar went a long, long way! Now they had both!!! How happy! Althea also chuckled, very happy. However, more than the taste, to Althea, the taste of salt and sugar meant a bit differently. She couldn''t help but recall some fond memories from her childhood, and she looked down at the children in her arms. Feeling their mother''s loving stare, their large eyes gaped at her and she smiled, kissing their cheeks. She didn''t have to worry about the little ones missing these important tastes anymore. Salty and Sweet: The taste of home. Chapter 258 Medical Tour Melissa''s side, on the other hand, was having quite a lot of fun as everyone else. Her brother gave her a lot of gold as pocket money. However, she was not careless about it. After all, even if Matthew said it was ''pocket money'', she knew it was a good portion of his savings. Her custom tour joined with some other groups at first, and she ended up eating quite a bit from the stalls. She had also talked a lot with different people, chatting about the most mundane things. It had been a long time since she engaged in small talk with strangers. They passed through several parks, especially the spot old people frequented to exercise together. It was both amusing and heart-warming: the way old people could still live normally in this situation. Her guided tour, however, soon segregated from the others because she took a personalized medicinal tour, which would end up in two places: the clinic and the pharmacy. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They soon reached the clinic and Melissa couldn''t help but study its structure for a bit. Melissa looked up and saw the large carved signage both in Terran with in an unfamiliar language as a subtitle. She also noted that the clinic had a similar architectural style as the others. The difference was there were more windows and its facade was relatively wider than the other buildings as it occupied a few more lots. It was also bustling with activity. Of course, a clinic having so many people was not a good thing, but the patients themselves seemed to be laughing at themselves and she couldn''t help but smile as she watched. "So¡­ did you get Betty to agree on a date with you?" A man asked his friend as they exited the building. The other blushed. "No. I want to at least be her level first!" "Well, courageous!" His friend said, patting his shoulders. "To the Training Hall!!" "To the Training Hall!!" And so they went in a direction, presumably to this so-called Training Hall, even with their bandages. The guide watched the exchange with her with a similar smile, before turning to look at Melissa to explain. "Our healer is¡­ very beautiful." "Hmm, I understand." Melissa''s current target was Betty, the NPC healer who was supposedly in here at the moment. And now she just learned that this healer was also very beautiful. Not knowing what to expect, she entered the health center and was a little startled at the flurry of activities. However, despite the fast-paced actions, Melissa still felt that it was organized and reminded her of modern efficiencies. There seemed to have been a little accident, and this caused the staff to be particularly busy. As such, the two of them had to walk near the walls to avoid disrupting the activities. At the same time, the two of them discussed its interior. "It seems a bit small, especially now that our population is growing. However, I heard another clinic would be built soon. It''s expected to be opened within a week or so," the guide explained. "It''s to be located near the Southwest gate. It was apparently to deal with the injuries of Beast tides and wars." "That''s amazing¡­" Melissa couldn''t help but say, and the guide looked flattered as if she was praising her directly. "Yes, yes it is." She said. If the girl had a tail, Melissa mused it would be wagging now. It was amusing how the citizens identified so much and so deeply with their territory even only after a couple of weeks. It really took care of them, it seemed. "Well, I''ll stay here and go around on my own." She said, standing in front of the clinic. "You can go now, thank you." She then handed him some silver. "Keep the change." The girl blushed and stuttered a little. "A-Are you sure? You paid for my day." Melissa smiled beautifully, her white skin glimmering under the youli stone-filtered sun. "It''s fine, you''ve done more than enough. Thank you very much." Seeing that she was serious, the female guide succumbed and just thanked her repeatedly before leaving. The health center was about 300 square meters large, and it was separated into different areas that handled different urgencies. It was really like a small clinic in Terran, but with a bit more energy. It was a curious sight. Although a facility like this was normal in Terran, most territories would not have this facility at their level, let alone to this degree. Melissa felt it was amazing. This territory was amazing. Settling in a corner seat like a wallflower, Melissa continued to observe everything with great interest. There were about a handful of doctors and nurses ambling about and shifting from bed to bed. On the beds were a combination of civilians and a few guards. She knew they were guards because she saw some with the same uniform making rounds. She just assumed the guards that came with them wanted to be low-key. (Although Melissa wasn''t wrong, what she didn''t know was that the uniform was a new thing. With the advent of Lenny, the guards now enjoyed leather uniforms with special effects as a special benefit. Also included were cotton undergarments with special effects. This was just released the day prior so the guards that went outside didn''t get to wear them yet.) Anyway, while Melissa had taken the stance of an observer, she couldn''t help but still worry a bit at the state of the people. Although there wasn''t much blood, they really seemed to be in pain. There was an amicable woman next to her, seeing her concerned look, told her what happened without her asking. "I heard a party accidentally chanced upon a nest of Fire Ants. "The guards managed to rescue them, but they also sustained damage." She shook her head. "Children. They think because they''re not so old like us that they could just amble about anywhere." The old woman sighed, "Fortunately, the ants were all level 0s, and there were no casualties, but I heard the bites hurt like hell." Melissa''s lips twitch upward a little. How long has it been since she had been spoken to so casually, so randomly, by a stranger she literally just met? "Well, it would teach them a lesson." The old woman laughed. She turned her body to face Melissa. "You''re very sensible." She said, "My name is Mathilda, by the way." Melissa was very busy with her job after dropping out and became a shut-in after marrying Higson, so she didn''t know much about current affairs. She had no idea the woman in front of her used to be a regular on the news. "Melissa White," She said with a smile, "I''m here to see the Healer NPC." "Oh same as me." The older woman smiled, "Are you new here?" "Ah, yes, visitor." This interested Mathilda a lot. Most visitors wouldn''t hang around the health center. However, she didn''t pry, instead, she asked about the territory. "Well, what do you think of it so far?" Recalling what she had seen so far, a gentle smile graced Melissa''s pale face. "It''s an amazing place," She said, "It''s a place that could allow people to be what they can be." Melissa paused, looking at everything with a smile. "And that is such a wonderful thing." Chapter 259 Finding Family Mathilda smiled at her warmly, "Well, I''m happy to hear that." The two chatted for a while until the nurses finally had the time to entertain them. She gently called for the attention of one of the nurses. The nurse saw Mathilda first and let out a wide smile. "Elder Mathilda! Are you here for your weekly session with Betty?" Mathilda nodded and then also nodded goodbye to Melissa, before standing up to follow the nurse to the other side of the room. After the nurse settled Mathilda, she came back to Melisa with a smile. "Sorry to keep you waiting. How may I help you?" "I would like to get checked on by the NPC." "I see. Well, you''d have to wait for about an hour." The nurse said, "The treatment for elder Mathilda will take half an hour, and Ms. Betty needs to recharge afterward¡­" "It''s okay, I can wait." She said, pausing, "Is the pharmacy near here?" To her surprise, the nurse blinked and smiled, "I happen to manage the pharmacy¡­" This confused Melissa a bit. Sheila noticed this and understood. "Oh, I just apprenticed here in hopes of triggering an occupation." Althea had sent her to study with Betty in hopes of triggering the occupation. Healers were water elementalists. It so happened that Sheila had a water affinity. "Occupation?" This inspired Melissa. There were a lot of people in Vismont, and there were a few people who had triggered an occupation. The skills they inherited basically pulled them out of the quagmire. She, too, wanted to learn. Anyway, deciding to pass by the pharmacy first, the two women left the clinic and walked a block to their destination. Melissa looked around the quaint building. It was a 100-square-meter room with a large counter in the middle. There were about 7 other people in the store. There were various well-made cabinets lined up. Inside them were various bottles made of ceramic glazed in different colors. The displays also had some descriptions in front of them carved in thin wooden planks. While Sheila walked to the shopkeeper, Melissa looked at the medicines. Most of which were grade D or E medicines for various inflictions, especially wounds. There were even potions to help stabilize your level. There were also potions that could instantaneously heal. It was fascinating. She didn''t even know there were medicines for that. "Ms. Melissa," A voice pulled her from her trance. She turned to see the newcomers who seemed to have just entered the Pharmacy. She recognized them as people next to the Lord of Bright Village. She smiled, and she patted the little girl''s head while talking to the adults, "You also hope to buy medicine?" Artie nodded. "Yes, the medicine the Alterans used was miraculous. We hope to stock up for ourselves." They then excused themselves and went to buy what they needed. The trio bought a lot of different types of medicine, pretty much sucking up the remaining savings they had pooled together. "Well, life before money." Artie sighed. Bruce nodded. "Hmm. Life before money." As they turned, they saw the little girl already befriending the woman in charge. "Your name is Lily as well? Well, you have a beautiful name." The woman said, and the little girl giggled. "Hehe. You also have a pretty name." This greatly amused the woman behind the counter, who took something from the table behind her. "Here, dried Guoji berry, have some." She said, gently handing a handful of fruit in her hand. "Thank you pretty sister with a pretty name~" Older Lily laughed and the little Lily giggled. The others smiled at the interaction, and it was all very peaceful until a familiar ding rang inside everyone''s ears, effectively stealing their attention. [George Yu: Looking for Jane Yu and Koo Yu. Please meet me at the East main park within the day if you are here] [Honey Guevarra: Looking for son Chucky. Please meet me at the east gate within the day if you are here. I''m waiting for you!] [Danny Higgins: Looking for Joshua and Kate. Please meet me here at the Village Center!] [...] Similar announcements were made and they realized there was a new trend. It also inspired a lot of people hoping to find relatives. This triggered a lot of chatter around the territory. "How much is the announcement?" "A couple of silver I think." "I think we should make announcements. If the territory gets annoyed with the spam, maybe the price will rise!" They were right about this. It could be said that even without knowing their lord, they had managed to grasp her money-grubbing pattern. Althea had indeed decided to increase the price the next day. She''d give them this for now. Even with the increase, of course, it would still be cost-efficient. Anyway, people could just share an announcement slot as it allowed for 500 words max. This went on for hours, and more than dozens of people really found relatives! The word of mouth spread and more and more people gathered around the plaza. Melissa went to join the fun and decided to do so after she saw the healer. Betty was indeed quite pretty. With her height, she''d have easily swept the Terran modeling industry by storm. At the moment though, the blonde was concentrating on using her ability on her. Mellisa''s eyes shut. The magic working on her body felt so relaxing. It was akin to bathing in warm soft jelly. It was like she was being cleansed. When the light went out, her entire body felt lighter. She met Betty''s eyes, who had been watching her expressions. "How is it?" She asked, and Mellisa grabbed her hand in gratitude. "I feel so much better. Thank you. I owe you!" Betty shook her head, "A lot of it was thanks to your own leveling up and hard work." Melissa smiled, proud. "Well, I have a good family." Betty chuckled, though eyes hiding a bit of envy. "I bet you do." ¡­ About half an hour later, she excitedly walked along the avenue to watch the show. She was with Sheila, little Lily, and the others at this point, they all had anticipation in their eyes. They settled down in one of the restaurants along the square, eating while watching relatives and friends reuniting, feeling second-hand warmth as if they found their loved ones as well. Melissa smiled as she watched a pair of siblings hugging, and crying. And then, her eyes shifted to a father-son pair on the other side. How nice¡­ However¡­ she didn''t expect to see a familiar figure with chocolate-colored skin walking along the avenue. He was limping a little, but she could still remember his figure after all these years. "Senior brother¡­" . . . Eugene blinked when he heard his name being called by a familiar voice but mused it was a coincidence in the end. He shook his head and the little tingle in his chest. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But she felt a soft hand touch his arms, making him freeze. His eyes widened a bit, startled, before softening a moment later. Eugene let out a gentle heartfelt smile, "Melissa¡­" Chapter 260 Eugene and Melissa The two old friends were speechless for a while, not knowing how to begin. "I¡­" "I¡­" "How have you been?" They asked at the same time, and they paused, chuckling. Sheila blinked curiously at the interaction and the very palpable chemistry between them. She wanted to ask desperately, but they were in their own bubble at the moment. She gave up gossiping in the end, swearing to make Eugene spill the beans when he got back home. She cleared her throat, and the two turned their heads to her simultaneously. "I¡­ er¡­ have stuff to do back in the pharmacy. Uhm. Eugene? I''ll leave Melissa to you?" Eugene blinked and then turned to Melissa, who was shyly looking down at her shoes. "I¡­ well, yes, okay." "Okay~" Sheila smiled and said her farewells to the two, saving herself from being a third wheel. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Melissa and Eugene were silent for a while, genuinely unsure where to start. Melissa couldn''t help but look at his legs. Although it was covered with pants, it was obvious that he had been amputated. He was limping because his left leg still had thighs, while the other one had lost that high. Eugene caught her stare and massaged his shoulder in embarrassment, looking away a bit. However, thanks to his accomplishments lately, he had gained enough confidence not to feel too self-conscious about it. Fortunately, Melissa didn''t seem to mind much. However, she did look like she was about to cry for him. "Ummm¡­ is there any place you want to see?" He asked, trying to distract her. "I will guide you." Melissa blinked prettily, looking at him. "I¡­ can you take me to your favorite place?" "Other than my lab?" He asked. That place was really messy there at the moment. She blinked at this, startled. But then some memories resurfaced and she couldn''t help but chuckle. "Okay, other than your lab." ¡­ Eugene led her to the riverside parks, with the waters now shimmering in golden hues beside them. It was built quite meticulously. With the stone path walk lined with shrubs and plants parallel to the river, it was easily one of the most beautiful places in the territory. The trees here were well-maintained and, because the Boss chose a young forest to build on, none of the trees were intimidatingly big with invasive roots, allowing for peaceful forest walks for nature lovers. The Boss also commissioned Baron''s team, in the name of the territory, to make plenty of benches and picnic tables. Hence, every thirty meters or so, one would be able to see a group of picnic areas available for use at any time. Some existing trees along this area were uprooted and replanted somewhere else. Instead, colorful trees were lined along the main pathwalks. This was a very specialized job as it was not easy for uprooted trees to survive. The boss'' formulations had a lot to do with the high survival rates of these plants. The cost was not low, but it was worth it. Not only was the atmosphere around the place more open and airy, but the canopies of these colorful trees made beautiful arches. It created a sort of arched pathway, and people who walked through it would think they entered some sort of fairyland. This pathway, which was called Path to Heaven by residents, extended beyond the river to one of the luxury zones. They walked in companionable silence, with Melissa''s light footsteps combining with Eugene''s slightly metallic sound. After a while, the two reached their destination. Eugene furtively looked at Melissa who was silently marvelling at the sight. He smiled. "There''s a gazebo area over there." He said, leading her out of the main pathwalks and to the soil roads, passing through forests and gardens, and ending up on a hill area with gazebos and picnic areas. This was one of the places Boss added farms in, but with flowers planted instead of crops. Not only was it beautiful, but they could also be harvested for use nearly every day. On paper, the boss ''buys'' the harvest to use as raw materials for her own beauty line (coming soon), adding to the public funds used by the territory. The beautiful flower arrangements surrounded the gazebos, framing the entire area, and appearing otherworldly. It was a gorgeous sight and Melissa gasped, walking faster to admire the roses and orchids and other flowers. Eugene smiled and chose a gazebo slightly along the hill''s higher area, with a view of the clear river dividing the territory. After paying the rental fee to the territory system, the pair sat down on the beautifully carved bench in relaxation. Melissa sighed dreamily. "This is so beautiful, I wish I could live here." "Can''t you?" Eugene asked, looking at her deeply. "My brother¡­" She paused and looked at this old friend. "We''ll see¡­" was all she said and stared at the man. They couldn''t bear to taint this moment with their dark pasts. Instead, they started a conversation about the happy times. Mostly, it was during their school years, and they ended up chuckling at the various memories. "You were so stupid back in physics class. How could you switch the charges?" "You weren''t very good with tools. I remember you almost losing a dainty finger of yours¡­" "We used to do projects together often, we really liked to stay in the library. Mina, she¡ª" The two paused, looking at each other at the mention of the name. In fact, there was nothing to be guilty about, because Eugene and Mina only became ''more than friends'' from their sibling-like childhood friendship long after Melissa left. Not to mention, they were never really together. They had sparks¡ªbig ones¡ªbut she had to drop out and he was conscripted, and they thought their fates ended there. But still¡­ Almost immediately, the warm atmosphere between them was doused with something a little bit depressing. They didn''t speak for a few beats, and Eugene cleared his throat to get her attention. "In fact¡­ this is just a small park compared to the main garden parks in the territory. Do you want to go?" Melissa, not wanting the conversation to turn to that depressing direction, nodded hurriedly. And so, the two of them stood up with awkward smiles, heading to these so-called territory gardens. They barely talked after that, all the way until they reached the gorgeous bridge around eight meters wide, connecting them to the other side of the river tens of meters away. It was a fascinating piece of construction, and it distracted Melissa away from any of the earlier awkwardness that filled the air between them. Eugene smiled. As always, Altera never failed to amaze. Chapter 261 Altera Gardens Melissa''s feet moved on its own, her eyes fixed on the details of the bridge. The bridge was wide and spacious, with its railings made from carved wood and stone. The sides weren''t boringly straight either. There were some overhangs with seating, so people could take a rest, relax, and look over the river without disrupting traffic. Melissa couldn''t help but sit on one of these seats. It was a bit curved and comfortable to sit on despite it being stone and wood. She looked behind her to see the lovely river, along with the forests and buildings that abutted it, as if serving as its frame. What was most impressive was how long the bridge was. After all, the river was not just a few meters wide! "This is amazing, did you guys build this in a few days?" "Well, a hundred people worked on this, one of which was an earth-metal elementalist, so it wasn''t impossible. The pay and contribution were very generous." "Amazing¡­" They soon reached their destination, and he took her to the still-closed Altera Gardens, which was set to be a tourist spot in the territory. It was planned to open within a few days but, as one of the Elders, he was allowed to go in without problems. "My boss requested for a lot of fields to be built here, and she planted different flowers and plants instead like the gardens before, but much more detailed. She got a lot of contribution points for helping the territory build this." He told Melissa of some experiences and challenges they encountered as they walked and appreciated the features as they did so. There were various earthenware sculptures and plant arrangements, beautiful gazebos, benches, and picnic places. Eugene just knew this would be a popular destination for everyone. In fact, this was still far from what Boss had planned for this area. In her plans, there were fountains, artificial waterfalls, greenhouses, arcades, topiaries, and the like, which were scheduled after the level-up. Eugene remembered asking Althea why she chose to develop areas like this when there was still so much to be built. ''Spirit''. She had told him back then, ''People need to feed their spirits, too.'' Looking at Melissa''s pretty eyes and looking around happily, he now understood what she meant. The Boss also said that when the area of the territory expanded, as well as local rubber finally finishing development, courts would soon be added to several parks in the territory. In this way, people of all types could really enjoy the space. They walked around the luxury area first, and they went past the bathhouse towards the special villa areas. The villas here were also very beautiful. Functionally, it had a similar concept to farmvillas, but there were two villas to share a farm. A house also had more intricate decorations and with flowers planted inside. It was a dream house to all. Melissa silently took note of the area and placed it in her heart. This was so she could visualize living there someday. Of course, this could just be a dream, but it didn''t matter. After all, she hadn''t had a dream for a long, long, time. ¡­ The two found a place to sit on the turf near the mouth of the river. They stared at the clean water flowing endlessly, perhaps towards an even bigger world they had yet to explore. In this line of thought¡­ "I wonder where these waters have passed? How wide¡­ is the world out there?" Melissa mumbled absent-mindedly, and Eugene couldn''t help but look at her deeply. They were surrounded by the vitality of plants and nature. Suddenly they felt... that they didn''t have to be so afraid. They were so little compared to the big world, why did they have to act like they carried all its weight? Melissa couldn''t help but look at his metallic leg, manually bent to a sitting position by hand. "You must''ve gone through a lot," She said, eyes incredibly soft as she looked at him. The last news she had of him was that he entered the mandatory military service, and she thought he''d do great and come out with lots of medals. Who would''ve thought¡­ "Yes." Eugene looked at the beautiful woman whose skin had turned yellow and whose flesh had become bones. She used to have a very healthy complexion. He felt heartbroken at what she had become. "You, too." They were silent for a while as if wondering whether to tell the other about what they had gone through. It was just that the beautiful surroundings relaxed their souls, making them want to lay bare and open up to the other. And they did. By the time they already told their experiences since their life paths separated, the two were already teary-eyed. Melissa wiped her tears with her hands. "In fact, staying in Vismont feels¡­ burdensome." She told him, "I knew how much suffering Higson had done, and it could''ve been avoided if my Brother didn''t have to think of me every time¡­" Eugene sighed, his hand pausing as it hovered an inch above her shoulder. Eugene could not touch Melissa now¡ªeven in comfort¡ªwithout feeling heavy at Mina''s and his lost child''s memories. However, he still wanted to tell her it would be okay. "Who''s to say things wouldn''t have been worse without you? At least you have family." Eugene said, looking into her eyes with a warm smile, "No matter what, everything is fine now." She paused and met his eyes, and her heart filled a bit. "Yes," she said, "The future is bright." It would be such a pity to waste it, wallowing in sadness as she had been doing for so long. Her soft eyes hardened a bit as a thought came over her. . . . Half an hour later. "Are you sure about this?" Eugene asked Melissa, who was looking at the two-story village center with determination. For the first time in her life, Melissa just wanted to be a little impulsive. She wanted to buy a house here, no matter what. She gripped the scores of gold coins her brother gave her¡ªno longer pocket money, but already half of his personal savings. She couldn''t afford the house, but she could afford its downpayment. The terms were fair and doable and she didn''t want to miss it. Anyway, although she had made a series of bad decisions in her youth, she was still counted as a smart girl back in the day. She still knew what a good investment was when she saw one. She wouldn''t regret it. She would pay her brother back in the future, she swore. She was not an invalid. She could take care of herself. She stood in front of the platform with a strongly beating heart, feeling as if she''d done something rebellious. She had never done anything rebellious. Not to mention, the ''authority figure'' happened to be her little brother. She heaved a sigh and looked at the screen. [Would you like to purchase Permanent Residency for 10 gold?] Yes. [Permanent Residency, Received! -10 Gold] Then she clicked around to look at the residences. Her dainty fingers hovered over it for a while, before she hardened her resolve again, and pressed ''Yes'' to the purchase. [Downpayment Paid! -20 Gold [Please pay 8 Gold every month for 12 months. [Penalty: Compounding Interest 2% per month delay] With this, Melissa successfully became the 10000th transaction in the Village Center¡ªtriggering its upgrade. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 262 Best Friend (Part 1) Althea was blissfully chewing on something sweet¡ªa sticky candy Harold made from her new sugary discovery¡ªwhen the familiar ding sounded in her head. [Congratulations! Your Village Center has met the requirements for upgrade!] [?] 10,000 gold [?] 10,000 total transactions [Would you like to upgrade for 1500 wood, 1000 stone, and 1500 Gold?] Her candy almost fell on the floor¡ªalmost, as her body didn''t want to waste a single bit of sugar. "Upgrade?" And¡­ goodness. This was way higher than the previous time. Normal villages wouldn''t be able to afford this, right? She wasn''t wrong. Most territories with level 3 Territory Centers were already Towns, in which case they would already be called Town Centers. Of course, this did not mean that NPCs she could hire were still no longer limited to village level. However, that didn''t matter to Althea, as she would always upgrade these buildings when she could. She had seen the advantages of the level 2 Territory Center, she didn''t want to miss whatever an upgrade had to offer. She naturally said Yes to the upgrade, of course. However, she knew that it was in the middle of the day and the building was being used by a lot of people. So, she decided to defer the upgrade by a few hours, scheduling an announcement of its upgrade as well. Now that the Village Center was set to upgrade, she looked at the lord''s panel to see when the territory itself would experience the same. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 1115 (261 permanent, 854 temporary) Total Population: 3024 Base Resources: Wood: 6790/10000 Stone: 5989/8000 Money: 19911 Gold, 133269 Silver, 768199 copper Reputation: 150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv2), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] Althea looked at the population requirement that was finally exceeded. Now, she only had to maintain this for three days and she would be able to upgrade the village to level three. She nodded and¡ªafter finishing up her candy break¡ªresumed her experiments. Today''s experiments comprised mainly of powders. She was now working on a bomb, inspired by the pharmacist potion bomb Oslo mentioned before. She didn''t know if she''d trigger a Pharmacist inheritance someday, but she always liked to rely on herself first. She commissioned the construction team to build her a comfortable shed on the opposite side of the houses in the two conjoined villa lots. This was her alternative laboratory for things with a bit of¡­ risky nature (not that Ansel and the others knew of course¡ªshe just told them it could get¡­smelly). This was, after all, inspired by fertilizer bombs so there would be a time she might be using some¡­ unsavory elements. She wouldn''t be using much feces, fortunately. After all, a third of her fertilizer formulas didn''t need excrement, though these were naturally much costlier. However, if she figured out the formula for this, the formula for lower-cost excrement-using bombs would be easier to handle and mass produce. But that would be left for others to do. She wasn''t going to touch that. Anyway, she still had confidence in her skills. She could formulate great fertilizers with a combination of various plants. She could naturally make an alternative for fertilizer bombs. And she was making good progress. With the rate she was going, she should be able to complete this before the protection period ended. She had a lot to thank her Pharmacist skills for this, otherwise, she''d take at least a year. Tinkering with a few more formulations, using her skills, she looked at the data of the current formula and she judged her progress to be roughly 40%. [Looking for¡­ [It''s me! I''m here¡­. [My love, it is I¡­. I''m here in Altera!] Her eyes twitched. More and more announcements flowed in, distracting her very serious experiments. The overflow must have a lot to do with her announcement of the Center closing for the upgrade, but still¡­ Why wasn''t there a ''mute'' button for site-wide announcements? It was so annoying¡ª So¡­ she set the payment for a public announcement at 20 silver per 500 words, for every 1000 people in the territory. She nodded. Thinking of announcements as Ads, this would still be a fair price. The announcements soon became scarcer and her screen turned back to its peaceful status. But then a new announcement came shortly after, breaking her reverie again. However, instead of being annoyed, she was just surprised. Why? Because this announcement actually had her name. [Winona Armani: Looking for my BFF Althea Witt! I just arrived from Vismont, where are you? [No, never mind, I know where you are. Who told you to be famous even in here. I''m knocking on your door soon. You better prepare a sumptuous lunch for me! Well, no not you, you can''t cook, find a chef! Xoxoxo] Althea blinked, reading the message again for good measure. After reading twice, she rolled her eyes, as if she was annoyed. It was just that there was a smile on her lips that betrayed her happy mood. She put down her experiments and went back to the main living area and saw that the food was already being prepared. "Hnngmaamaaa¡­" "Mnhghhhnnm¡­" She turned to look at her babies, who were extending their hands, calling for her. They were currently lounging about on the carpet with their stuffed toys (a new addition to Baron''s Toy factory, using some extra and waste cotton bought from the factory). Theo and Maya were there, playing with them both. Especially Theo, who was always close to little Pepper, ready to give her what she wanted at a wave of her small hands. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For instance, the giraffe stuffed toy, was very quickly placed on Little Pepper''s cute palms, just as she wanted. This earned Theo a cute giggle, which made the boy brighten very adorably. Althea''s lips twitched at the interactions and walked to them. She patted little Theo and Maya''s heads while smacking wet kisses on her babies'' chubby cheeks. "Hnngmaamaaa~" "Mnhghhhnamamaaa~" Her heart softened at their cuteness and couldn''t stop herself from showering them with kisses. They giggled and waved their hands and small little stuffed toys around, looking very happy to finally see their mother. This was what Harold, who had just come back from the cellar, saw. He had taken additional ingredients for a rich meal, as he felt dinner today ought to be special. "It was your best friend?" He asked, just to confirm. Althea smiled, her eyes warm. "Well, you can say so." Harold''s eyebrows rose at the answer. Even if the answer seemed noncommittal, he knew that Ms. Winona was definitely as she claimed. He was quite looking forward to a person their boss acknowledged and even decided to prepare a few more dishes. "Well, then," He said, turning to the kitchen. "Let us welcome her well." Chapter 263 Best Friend (Part 2) Althea was helping the babies roll around when the expected knock came. "I''ll get it," She said, and Harold nodded to take the babies in her arms. Harold shook his head with a smile, cooing at the babies who were startled by the sudden separation from their soft and fragrant mother. "Aww, c''mon kids, let your mother meet her friend." he gently said, and after a few moments, the babies did stop squirming. The old man smiled, wrinkles forming on the side of his eyes, and he lifted his head to look in the direction of the door. The boss may not look so excited outwardly, but anyone who knew her could see her eyes brightened at the sound and her steps were faster than usual. Outside, Althea opened the gates with a bit of urgency. Immediately, she saw the beautiful woman with long golden curls and a curvaceous body. Even if she was a little dirty due to the current situation, she was still very attractive. Terran had undergone major globalization a hundred years prior, so every country on the planet was of mixed races. However, among all her acquaintances, Winona was one of the more exotic-looking ones with her silvery-gold hair and silvery-blue eyes. The moment the gate fully opened, revealing her, the girl''s image flashed by and Althea was wrapped in a huge hug a second later. "Ohh! Altheaaaa!!" The blonde sobbed, and Althea''s eyes twitched as she felt snot on her neck. "I missed y¨C" The girl''s words stopped at the realization of something. She abruptly parted with Althea, placing her hands on her shoulder. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The woman looked at her up and down with a pale face, eyes staying on her stomach. "The babies¡ª" Althea smiled, gently patting the girl''s shaking hand on her shoulder. "They''re fine." She said with a soothing voice, but the fact they were ''premature'' didn''t ease the other woman''s worries. "Let me show you." Althea just said, putting her hand on the other girl''s and pulling her in the house. "Rest assured, they''re both very healthy." "Well, if you say so¡­" Winona mumbled, but it did put her heart to rest somewhat. Althea was brutally honest with her and wouldn''t sugarcoat these things. Anyway, it was only now that Winona managed to appreciate the house and the yard. Despite her remaining worries, Winona couldn''t help but whistle at the masterpiece-of-a-house she was looking at. "Damn. You really know how to live wherever you''re thrown in, huh?" This was true. There were plenty of times they had to camp due to work, and somehow Althea managed to live comfortably every time. Whether it was multifunctional tents, pre-prepared hot foods, ultra-effective mosquito repellants, or whatever, Althea would always look like she was on a leisure outing. At this point, Winona couldn''t help but make a joke. "Girrrll. To be honest, I always doubted that zombies or monsters could kill you. I just thought the plants here could." Althea''s steps paused a bit. Could she say it really almost happened? Fortunately, they were already at the door and Winona saw the children as soon as she came in, distracting her from this line of questioning. She squealed at the sight of the babies and their chubby cheeks and rounded eyes. "Oh my, are these the twins?! They''re SO CUTE I''M GONNA DIEEEE." The blonde gasped at the cute-attack and wanted to run to them but was held back by Althea by the collar. "You''re dirty. Take a bath." "Oh, whoops!" She looked at her embarrassing state, a far cry from her usual high-end and always well-put image. She cleared her throat and looked at Althea embarrassedly. Althea chuckled and pulled out a small box from the space. Winona didn''t know what to expect but then she saw that inside it were shampoos and soap that Althea got from Terran. The other girl sparkled, looking at the hygiene products as if they were bars of gold. Then¡­ tears lined up her blue eyes, making the adults flinch. The beautiful woman didn''t bother with her image though. She just sniffed, very touched by the gesture, and proceeded to glomp at Althea, hugging her tightly before sobbing again. "I LOVE YOU!!" As always, Althea is the best! . . . Winona came out of the bathroom an hour later. "Sorry, I just haven''t had a good bath for so loonngg!" She said with a smile, not much of an apologetic expression on her face. "Your house is amazziinng, you have a water tank of your own! In Vismont, we had to get water from the well on our own for a price." She said going straight to her and the children. She flopped down the mat and then cooed the babies in Althea''s arm and took one of them. Her heart softened into a puddle at the baby girl''s softness, kissing her cheeks, before continuing with her rant. "Well, at least Vismont had a well. The first territory sucked big time!" Althea chuckled at her lively storytelling and stood up, guiding her friend to the dining room. "You seem to have been through a lot." This excited the gregarious Winona, setting herself for another long story. "I can''t tell you quick enough, it was sooo unbelievable. When grandma and I migrated, we¡ª" Her chatter abruptly came to a halt when she saw the food on the table. She had been around the territory for a few hours so she naturally knew the food culture here was unbelievable. If she didn''t overhear Althea''s name as she shopped around, it was estimated she would still be eating at a random stall. "Okay let''s talk later." She said, sitting down to eat. Althea chuckled at this and turned to Harold. "This is Harold, he''s in charge of our food. There are two others currently outside. The other kids are Theo and Harold''s daughter Maya." Winona was always particularly polite to people who cooked her meals. She smiled and greeted the old man, as well as the children. This house was filled with children¡ªsuch cute ones, too. So Happy. She always liked children. Too bad she was an only child. Then she paused and looked at Althea with a rare mood. Although she was living the life now, Winona knew it must not have been easy for a pregnant woman alone in the apocalypse. When the disaster happened, if her grandmother wasn''t with her, she may have run straight to Althea, her pregnant best friend with a missing husband. She also knew ''that guy'' was also on a business trip, leaving Althea alone, which made her even more flustered and guilty. All this time, even when she and her grandma were suffering, her mind often dazed off in worry for this pregnant best friend. Still, they found each other in the end, didn''t they? "I''m glad you''re okay." She said as she gripped the other girl''s hand, "Truly." Althea smiled. "You too." There were so many detours, but the two of them were together again, and that meant so, so, much to them both. Chapter 264 Winona (Part 1) The trio ate happily, with Winona praising Harold''s food to the heavens, making the old man blush in embarrassment. "If you live with me, you can have meals like this every day," Althea said with a smile, and Winona''s spoon paused midway as she whipped her head to look at her. Some tears lined up the blonde''s eyes, making the other two flinch. Bitterly, she threw back a rhetorical question. "You think I don''t want to??" "..." Althea sheepishly rubbed her nose, knowing this was a prelude to a rant. Absent-mindedly, Althea took a bite at the last viand, not noticing Harold''s nervous stare. "I would''ve run to you when things happened! It was just that¡ª" Winona paused, looking at Althea who was gaping as she ate a dish. She waved her hand in front of the auburn-haired woman. "Hey, Althea. What''s wrong?" Althea ignored her and continued to chew, taking another bite to confirm there really was a difference to the other dishes. She paused and used her ability to analyze it. [Harold''s Pie (E): +1 Health every 3 seconds, lasts for 1 minute] She blinked and raised her head to look at Harold, who was smiling in response. "You¡­" "I just triggered the Occupation, just today in fact." Althea''s eyes brightened. She had always wondered when he''d trigger it¡ªafter all, he had been cooking so much and using a variety of novel ingredients. Before, when she asked the NPCs why this was so, they said triggering an occupation was half-dependent on talent. Harold not activating despite all the resources and innovation likely had to do with lesser talent. In the same vein, the fact that Harold triggered it now meant that he had worked very, very, hard. She felt quite proud. She was also very curious. "What skill did you get?" "The active skill is a similar identifying skill to your first skill. I can identify up to level 10 for some mana. "I also activated a passive skill. With it, there is a 20% chance of making food with special effects, like this one." Althea nodded. It was not as good as Cooke who had a much larger passive and could offer the special-effect food in restaurants, but it was more than enough for a small team. "Congratulations," She said, eyes warm. "I''m proud of you." "Thank you." Harold smiled, genuinely happy for this growth of his skills. This was primarily because it felt like his importance to the team increased. Winona looked at their interaction with complex emotions. She could see Harold was sincerely trying to serve Althea as some sort of housekeeper, and Althea in turn genuinely liked the old man and treated him as a confidante. To create rapport in a month meant they probably went through life and death together. To be honest, she was a little jealous. Before, other than her family, only she was close to Althea like this. Winona''s family was very rich¡ªthe largest Energy company in the continent, in fact. It was why she was thrown into a major she didn''t like and grew up with too many restrictions. Then¡­ she met Althea. She was two whole years younger than her, but she was so beautiful, sassy, and passionate in what she did. She was also the only person around her age who didn''t feel intimidated nor did she ever ingratiate herself to her. At the time, her gut had told her it would do her good to befriend this woman. So she did. Or, at least she tried. The thing was, even if Althea looked gentle and mild-mannered, she was notoriously difficult to open up. It took her months of shameless pestering and bribes (using exotic plants and seeds) to get the other girl''s heart. It took even longer to be publicly acknowledged as her ''best friend''. She remembered how happy she was when Althea didn''t deny the relationship when some random stranger assumed. At the time, Winona felt like she finally earned herself a true friend. Similarly, there was no one else who was truly close to Althea outside her home. Being the only person close to her other than her family had been a point of pride. But now she saw a group of people getting closer to her heart, just because they happened to have migrated near her. Althea seemed to have sensed her friend''s change of mood. She didn''t know what it was about, but her hand held the other''s automatically anyway. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Shall we move to the living area?" She asked, pulling the latter back to the present. "Hmm¡­" Winona smiled and followed her friend to the sofa. They sat on the comfortable rugs with their backs resting on the sofa''s apron. They gently placed the kids on their designated rug delineated by stuffed toys. The two babies laughed happily as they were placed in a familiar place, resuming the game of ''who-rolled-better''. The two women chuckled, with Winona still assisting little Pepper to win (Girl Power, she said). "They''re only a week old right? I didn''t know they could roll at this age." She said, giggling when Meatball rolled on his stomach showing off his cute wiggling butt. "Normal babies don''t." "What?" "It''s¡­ we''re not sure either," Althea said, helping up the baby to get on his side. He blinked wondering why the view suddenly changed. From what she got from the NPCs, it just had to do with a little jackpot of good genes. Instead of dwelling on mysteries, she turned her head to Winona, who was now gently poking the soft flab of the two children. She just couldn''t take her hands off the flabby little ones. "What happened to you?" At the question, Winona sighed exaggeratedly, body softening in ''weakness''. She then hugged Althea, asking for comfort. "Oh gosh, I don''t know where to begin! She said so, but she ranted on anyway. "It''s a looongg story! I tell you, it was so horrible!" She began and her words that must''ve been 200 words per minute. And Althea just quietly listened in¡ªjust like she always did. Chapter 265 Winona (Part 2) This had always been the dynamic between them. Althea was the introspective, somewhat introverted one, while Winona was the super extrovert who could talk for hours. Of course, even if she was gregarious, it didn''t mean that she truly liked talking to the person. It was just how she was raised¡ªto network. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was only with Althea that she could truly talk for hours on end, and still be filled with energy afterwards. "The day started like normal. I was exercising in my home gym while watching Keeping Up with The Bazoomas, as always, when the doorbell rang." "It was my grandma." She sneered a bit at the memory. "Yes, that grandma." Althea nodded, understanding that this was obviously the paternal grandmother Winona didn''t like. "You can imagine the torture of living with a snobbish old woman in the forest, then on a lackluster territory, then on another slightly better territory¡­" She shivered just by remembering. "Anyway, I jumped too soon. I''ll start from when we were in Terran." She cleared her throat and sat in a more comfortable position. "So, she was nagging me about my fiance at the time. She went on and on about me getting old and it was time for me to give birth." The blonde''s eyes twitched at the recollection and shook her head, turning to Althea looking as if she had been violated. "She kept saying I no longer had the excuse to keep delaying the marriage blah blah¡­" "Then we lost consciousness. For a moment I thought I had a little aneurysm with all the nagging. Turned out the world went haywire." It was particularly unfortunate that, except for a couple of jewelry, all of her own wealth was digital. She had a little silver when she transferred here. Fortunately, her grandmother had a habit of hoarding and a lot of her old jewellery was sold. "We hid ourselves in our house. But most of the servants became monsters and we almost died twice inside our own house!" Fortunately, they were both raised in ultra-rich families. Ultra-rich families required some sort of self-defense knowledge of the progenies, so they weren''t completely helpless. Even grandma could defend herself from the zombies, unless they were upgraded like some of the servants who unfortunately didn''t make it with them. Those Winona had to fight herself, almost dying many times. In any case, they spent the rest of those 24 hours in the house, filling up their spaces and cleaning up the zombies they encountered. It was only when they transferred that they met life-threatening situations again. They survived thanks to wits and some strength, but it was definitely far from easy. Although Althea was living a good life now, Winona couldn''t imagine how it was when she just entered with that large stomach of hers. "What about you?" She asked. "What have you been through? And how did you guys get to this place?" Winona was amazed by what Althea had built here, though she wasn''t that surprised because Althea had always been super resourceful. Anyway, she was very glad Althea found such a good territory. She couldn''t imagine being out there with the little ones. She shivered at the thought and couldn''t help but kiss both the children''s chubby cheeks to comfort herself. Ah, so happy~ Althea smiled, telling her much of what had happened. She told her almost everything. Almost. Because there was no compelling reason, Althea didn''t take the initiative to tell her about her being the Lord. But, if she found out on her own, it wouldn''t have mattered. By the end, she got to her reunion with her brother. "Ansel should be back in a few days." At the mention of Ansel''s name, that guy''s smug face appeared in her head. Winona sneered in response, mentally swiping the image away. "Well, I''m glad you found your brother. Even if he is an embarrassment to all good men, he still makes for a relatively decent sibling." Seeing the other woman''s gnashing teeth, Althea couldn''t help but recall all their antics. It seemed like even before, Winona was still annoyed just at the thought of Ansel. The story was¡­ a few years back, Winona sneaked into Althea''s house once to surprise her, accidentally getting in Ansel''s room. She then saw him making out with a girl who was definitely not the girl he was with the week prior. Since then, Winona never hid her disgust for Ansel and Ansel was never polite and talked back all the time. Their interactions were fraught with sarcasm and double meanings. They were, of course, very decent with each other. After all, they had to retain a certain amount of civility because Althea was in the middle. They had a very complicated relationship. Then Winona paused and narrowed her eyes, looking at Althea with a bit of worry. "He didn''t do anything¡­ inappropriate, right?" To you? "Inappropriate?" "Nothing." Althea had been used to the way Winona''s mind went on tangents, so she took it upon herself to bring the conversation back to a more sensible topic. "So what''s your plan? You can live here with us." Althea said. She knew Winona had always liked sleepovers, at least sleepovers in her house. Surprisingly, Winona shook her head with reluctance. "I have to pick up my grandma first," She said, "I don''t want to put you through the ordeal I call my grandma, we''ll rent another house. I researched and the prices here are quite fair, especially if it was just a rental." Althea shook her head, patting the other woman''s hand, "I already have a well-paying job for you when you get back." Winona actually specialized in Materials Chemistry, and she was quite good at it. In addition, her family was the leader in the energy industry back in their continent (although¡­ Winona had wanted nothing to do with it, but Althea thought the blonde should still know some things). Whether or not she did, however, Winona would be very helpful to the laboratory team she and Eugene were forming. There were already plans for a huge research center, and they needed all the help they could get. "Okay! I''ll take you up on that offer!" Winona said, earning herself a big smile from Althea. "That''s great, there are plenty of things I need your help with," Althea said with a weird smile. ''Yes, very much.'' "..." Winona looked at Althea''s smiling face, feeling a little weird. Her best friend was obviously smiling at her, why did she feel like a sheep in front of a tiger? She must be imagining things¡­? Chapter 266 Level 3 Village Center (Part 1) "Why¡­ are you looking at me like that?" Winona asked, with eyes looking a bit scared. Althea blinked, confused. "Looking at you like what?" "Never mind," Convinced that it was her imagination, Winona shifted her attention back to the cute babies on the cot. It so happened that Little Pepper was closer to her, and Little Meatball was trying to roll to his mother. Different shades of blue eyes met, and Winona couldn''t help but gently pinch Little Pepper''s cheeks. She was very gentle of course, but it didn''t stop her from poking multiple times. "Hmnnnhh!!" The baby girl pouted, her cute little eyebrows meeting as if expressing her annoyance. Of course, this pout just made her chubby cheek even chubbier, and it made her look cuter. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Ohmy, a feisty little one, eh? I wonder who you inherited it from?" Winona giggled, poking her tummy. "Hmnggnmmm!!" Little Pepper mumbled, annoyed, and Winona raised her hand in faux surrender. "Yes, princess! I will stop now." Little Meatball, who was uncharacteristically behaved because he was chilling in the arms of his soft and fragrant mother, seemed to have noticed that some ''fun'' was happening elsewhere. Althea noticed her baby boy squirming a bit and saw where he was looking. With a smile, she placed him beside Little Pepper in front of Winona, so they could both be teased by the blonde instead. Althea was watching them fondly, giggling occasionally when a familiar alert sounded in her head. [Ding! The Village Center (Lv2) will now upgrade to Village Center (Lv3)] Althea paused. Oh, she forgot about that¡­ ¡­ When the Village Center was upgraded, everyone inside was kicked out. Out of nowhere, they appeared outside the halls, some directly landing on other people. They were all dizzy and disoriented. Someone even vomited on a poor passerby. "HEY!!" "I''m sorry, it''s just¡ª" However, his apology was cut when he saw the passerby look behind him in a daze, forgetting the puke on his shirt. Blinking, he turned to look and his eyes widened¡ªalong with everyone else in that area. They watched in amazement as the former two-floor building magically increased in height and added a floor. It was incredible to watch and definitely difficult to believe if they hadn''t witnessed it themselves. Obviously, there was an announcement of the upgrade, but it was still an unexpectedly magical sight. Althea, far away and in the comfort of her house, also checked the new status of the Village center. The new village center now had three floors, with the upper floors having a ceiling height of about 3 meters, while the ground floor was still higher at around 4. Other than this, there really weren''t a lot of new functions. This may have been because level 3 Territory Centers were often found in Towns, which in and of itself presented a lot of upgrades. Anyway, no harm was done by being too early and she decided to make the most of what they could do with it now. On her screen, there was a translucent image of the three floors. They were empty except for the pre-existing furniture in the lounge, and the rest were up to her arrangements. She set the top floor to remain as the NPC floor and executive lounge. She would be able to place more sophisticated lounges and partitions, also adding some dining tables and the like. She would also be placing a small library, whenever books would be available. The second floor would be meeting rooms and offices for the different departments. Although she was building a larger ''government hall'' of sorts, it was not a priority, and the current size of the officials could still fit on the second floor. And finally, the ground floor would retain its previous use. She also made a more comfortable counter area for the host. She actually forgot to hire one before. Now that there was a comfortable place for them, she could place them there as an information desk. [Territory Announcements: Hiring: Information Desk Clerk Requirement: Good memory, good attitude, pleasing appearance. Slots: 3 (3 shifts of 10 hours each) Wage: 90 copper/day] Although there was a FAQ section in her marble panels, it couldn''t have everything. Of course, as to not overwork the ladies and gents, the information wouldn''t be free. The people would still pay a certain amount based on the importance of the information. Similarly, people could also sell information, though it must be vetted by the system oath. As for the other functions, there seemed to be some improvements in the NPC hiring system. She teleported to the warehouse again and entered the village center through it. She had been forewarned that there would be no change in the quality of NPCs, as there were only three ''contract types'': Villages, Towns, and Cities. Until Altera became a Town, she would only receive applicants who chose villages, most of which weren''t really worth the gold. From what she understood, it just so happened that she had activated the level 2 village center very early, still with a lot of gold at hand, so she managed to snag the ''good stock''. According to the NPCs, even Aborigine villages had difficulty funding the upgrade of a village center to level 2. However, while the ''quality'' is the same, the number that could be ''browsed'' and could be hired was increased. From the previous 3 choices, she could now look at 5, and hire up to 2 people a day. She activated the summoning circle again, hoping for a good harvest. At the very least, she had two more extra shots to get them. Unfortunately¡ªand unsurprisingly¡ªthe first four options were no good, none of which had elements or even occupations. It was only after paying her fifth silver for the day, that she finally found someone interesting. [Name: Clout Stone Description: Level E Construction expert Wage: 10 gold/mo] Althea''s back straightened at this, looking at the image of a serious-looking bushy-bearded middle-aged man in front of her. Just in time for the imminent upgrade! Chapter 267 Level 3 Village Center (Part 2) When she got back home, she received the heated gazes of everyone. Althea flinched. "What is it?" She asked, and it was the newly-arrived Sheila who spoke. "We saw the village center was upgraded!" At this time, Winona was snacking on something while holding a baby, looking at them curiously. When she asked where Althea went, they said she went to check on an upgrade. She felt there was more to this than they let on, and she felt if she observed a bit more she''d come to a conclusion herself. "And?" Althea asked. She didn''t remember what was all the fuss, but Harold spoke with enthusiasm. "This means we can formally form an official team boss." Althea''s pretty face turned a little weird. "I really don''t want it to be named Althea team." The others looked disappointed, and Winona''s chewing got faster as she watched them. They looked at each other, wondering about what other name they could use. "Shall we head to the village center to register?" Sheila said, "Thinking if a name is useless if it''s already taken¡­" "What''s this official team?" Winona couldn''t help but ask, while one of her hands was gently poking Meatball''s cheek. "Basically just an identification for a Group." Althea shrugged. Of course, now that the topic had been breached they would have to make the group. Although they had no plans of forming a caravan, as they planned to just be manufacturers, they still had to make deals with other territories as suppliers. Ansel''s deal with Bright was not exactly formal because of this. It was more of an oath of sorts, done because both parties trusted each other. However, aborigine territories were said to generally require Official Teams before talking about any deals. "Can anyone join?" Winona asked, and Althea''s eyebrows rose. "Want to?" Winona nodded vigorously, and Althea naturally accepted with a smile. And so, the group mightily ran out and went to the village center after dinner. As they walked, Winona admired the equidistant torches that lit up the territory. Although it was not as bright as typical towns back in Terran, it was definitely a nightlife capital compared to the surrounding territories. Anyway, since the Migration, she had never seen anything so bright at night. "These must cost a lot¡­" she mumbled and Althea was busy with Little Pepper, who was burping a lot, and just answered without thinking. "We probably don''t spend more wood than any other territories¡­" S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh?" "I found a pretty good oil." "My Althea''s awesome as always." Winona smiled and continued looking around. "Your product seems to be widely used in the territory." She paused walking and narrowed her eyes at Althea. She abruptly turned her face to face Althea, stepping forward to get closer. She leaned in and whispered. "You know the Lord don''t you?" Althea blinked but nodded in the end. "Hmn." Winona gasped, gossipy eyes sparkled. "Are you very close? Are you finally moving on from that cold-faced-always-away husband of yours?" "Winona!!" "Oh, whoops sorry bad joke." Winona put out her tongue. "Seriously though, are you close?" Althea paused and looked at her, before smiling and nodding mysteriously. "It''s not just me who''s close¡ª "You are, too." . . Several minutes later, even until they were in front of the marble panel, Winona was still in a daze. Harold and the others, however, had their shoulders slumped in disappointment. The names of Terran, Eden, and most variants of the name were already taken. There was no option to add numbers like Terran007 or anything like that, which was a bummer. Sheila lifted the baby in her hand saying jokingly, "What about Meatball and Pepper?" "..." Althea nodded. "Sounds good!" Harold sweat-dropped and glared at Sheila who also paled. Harold was quick to save, "Then what about Gaea Chamber of Commerce? Since we named the supermarket like that anyway." Althea looked at them and shrugged. As long as it wasn''t just her name. Seeing her agree, Sheila and Harold breathed a sigh of relief. Harold led the registration lest Althea regret it. They finalized the registration a few minutes later, including their own names as its members. When it finally came to the still-dazed Winona''s turn, Althea sighed and waved her palm in front of her. "You still sane?" It took a while until Winona''s head turned robotically to her, then her blank face quickly morphed into one of excitement. "YOU''RE TOO AMAZING!!!" Althea covered her mouth. "Only the team knows." Winona nodded wildly, raising a hand to show her surrender. When Althea let go of her mouth, Winona gasped to calm herself down. Before registering her name, she couldn''t help but turn her eyes to Althea again¡­ with eyes that had always idolized Althea sparkling even more. Obviously, she came from an ultra-rich family, right? Why does she feel prouder being associated with the Lord of a village? Anyway, she shrugged with a smile in the end. Just happy everything was finally going well. Until a smug face appeared in her head. In her head, he told her with an arrogant stance: "What are you so proud of, idiot? You''re just a friend, I''m her brother!" Her eyes twitched. Would be great not to see that redhead''s face though, cuz that would ruin her day. ¡­ Later that night, Althea tucked her children into her bed. Suddenly curious about the teams, she opened her Territory Tab. She wanted to see what interface related to Teams appeared. As the Lord, she naturally didn''t have to access this window all the way from the village center. Althea saw there was indeed a new Team tab and by choosing it, a list of teams to check theirs appeared. There was information about the number of members. She couldn''t access their home bases, among many other information, as that was only possible with Mercenary Halls. She arranged from the newest one, her emerald eyes perusing mindlessly while patting her children to sleep. Then, her hands paused, eyes fixed on a name about a dozen names further in. This meant that this team had been created far earlier than any of the teams in Altera. "Terran Mercenary Team?" She uttered, unsure why it sounded a bit special when it shouldn''t. After a while of staring, she told herself that she really shouldn''t think too much of it. After all, at this point, some of the surviving territories could''ve reached level 3. But her eyes stayed there, and her finger couldn''t help but touch the holographic name¡­ How mysterious¡­ Obviously, there were plenty of names she could associate with like the Country of Eden, Aberdeen Team, or TerranFolk¡­ And yet¡­ she felt a weird connection to this one. She wondered why¡­ Chapter 268 Dangerous Enemies (Part 1) Hundreds of kilometers away from Altera, a team of well-built men (and a woman) traversed the rough nature''s terrain. The team walked through the dense forests, their swords, machetes, and the like clearing the path as they made their way to their destination. When the ground beneath their boots changed from hard ground to a softer, yielding, texture they stopped, and the person in front immediately went to check. Garan looked at the scout who was leaning down to study the soil for clues, meticulously surveying the terrain. "It should be here¡­" The scout, Chris Felton, a.k.a Three-Eyes, told them as he squinted his eyes to a direction. He got the inheritance of Scout skills, very in line with his specialty back in Terran. Vanessa, intent on contributing, chimed in. "From my research, the target plant thrives in dark and humid places." She said next to them, looking at the plants that she knew to be more adapted to moisture. "I''m guessing there should be caves in that area." Garan nodded, pondering on the next point of action. In the end, they concluded that it was not practical to go there with the entire party. It was still best for scouts to check out the area before they went there. "I''ll check it out," Chris said but paused just before he disappeared. He cleared his throat and looked at the others. "I''ll need someone with combat skills though." Chris had the wind element but, even if he was technically a swordsman, he had very little attack power. His skills and specialties focused more on control. For instance, he could place the element on his feet, making him run extremely quickly. He could also send light items like leaves to send them to serve as a signal, saving on resources. However, even if he wanted to, he wouldn''t be able to use it to assassinate people, let alone the monsters here. Perhaps he could use it to assist, but never to directly kill. Garan pondered who to send with him when a man with reddish-brown hair stepped forward. It was Johnny, looking at Garan with determined eyes. "I can go with him, Captain," he said, "I have enough attack and defense capabilities, and I also have speed-up skills to do the job." Garan thought for a moment and looked at the earth elementalist, before agreeing. "Go with him. Send the signal when it''s time for us to follow." The two nodded at the instruction, with Johnny sending a subtle glance at Vanessa. The woman caught his glimpse and smiled, making Johnny happy he volunteered. Chris pulled him back to the task at hand with a pat on the shoulder and pointed in a direction. "Ah, right," Johnny said and the two sprinted to a direction to see the so-called cave. Chris, assisted by his level C speed boots, quickly disappeared from sight, followed closely by Johnny with his ability¡ªInstant Starting Blocks, where he used earth to serve as racing blocks. While waiting, the others took advantage of this time to finally get some rest. They were currently finishing up a mission as a Mercenary team, which was important in their standing on this continent. Using the Mercenary Hall in Ferrol Town, they took plenty of jobs during this time. So far, they''ve done at least a dozen level D missions. This was their first level C mission. Objectively speaking, Level C missions were a bit of an overreach considering their average levels, but not impossible because they could fight beyond it. This was not to mention the strict training regimes they went through both in Terran and here. Level C Missions generally required people to be in their level 20s. Garan had just reached level 19, while the others ranged from level 14 through 17. They had already made a name for themselves in the Class-D cluster, and it would soon be time to move on to Class-C. Taking on Level-C missions would reduce the process by months. This mission was to obtain a C-level plant called Harana Orchid. Although it was only C level, it was rare and difficult to trace. It was primarily used to formulate some special medicine by those rich pharmacists. Because of this, the mission rewards were also very good. Not only would they get a few hundred gold, but they''d also receive several pharmacist-grade potions, which was what they were really after. While Ferrol town had a decent Pharmacy offering products that could help them gain some health and mana¡ªespecially those below level 20¡ªPharmacist-made solutions, they heard, were particularly special. The normal mana and health potions already cost a lot. Pharmacist-grade solutions cost about a hundred times more, making this mission extremely worth it. Overall, despite the risks, it was a great opening mission for a new league. Minutes trickled by as they waited for the scouts to come back. While some waited for the two, the others were tasked to guard the perimeter in case monsters appeared. The mobs in the area ranged from level 12 through level 14, which was indeed a challenge, and a lot of them got injured getting here. Despite the injuries they gathered, they persevered, and they went on with their mission regardless. Fortunately, no one was lost and they were finally on the last leg of the journey. Now, they just had to wait for the scouts to return, hopefully with good news. It was just that the atmosphere shifted dramatically less than half an hour later, when they felt a fast wind approaching, rousing all their guards. It was the panic-stricken Chris filled with blood who appeared with an unconscious and very bloody Johnny on his back. "HELP!" He yelled and placed Johnny on the floor in front of Vanessa. They saw Johnny had a huge hole in his stomach, bleeding profusely. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was a horrendous gush, and they could see cut innards from where they stood. "JOHNNY!!!" Several soldiers leaned down, trying to stop his bleeding. Vanessa was shocked but, fortunately, she still had the wits and quickly tried to stop his bleeding. It was just that even after doing the basic treatments, they quickly realized that it was too big. "What happened?" Garan asked with a frown, but he didn''t wait for an answer as he stared in a direction with deep eyes. "Ready for battle." Immediately, everyone else''s stance went on high alert, whipping their heads to the direction the two came from. "Johny! No¡­ hang on, man!" Gian, Johnny''s best friend, yelled beside Vanessa, doing his best to assist. He even tried to cauterize but the hole was way too large. The others tried not to get distracted as they listened to his sobs, their attention kept in the direction Garan was facing. Judging by the Captain''s deep frown, they could feel the severity of the situation. It seemed that they were up against very formidable opponents this time. Chapter 269 Dangerous Enemies (Part 2) Everyone''s defensive stance changed to one ready to attack. With no exemptions, their elements were ready to call at a moment''s notice. Suddenly, a fast wind came and was about to attack Chris. Garan quickly manifested ice picks and threw them in a seemingly aimless direction. Suddenly, a human quickly backed away, narrowly avoiding the sharp edge. It was a man with a wan body frame, tall, and a pale face, but he looked rather than sickly he looked more like a thin vampire that fed on blood. "Tsk," he said, wiping the small line of blood on his cheek. The speedster then swiftly moved back¡ªalmost teleported¡ªto a direction, where he stood. At the same time, his new position revealed his companions¡ªno less intimidating than him. There were three people beside him, each with their own characteristics. "Shame," A feminine voice uttered, making the speedster tut in annoyance. It was a woman with a strong figure and reddish-brown hair. Next to her was a muscular old man with a bald head and a short beard. He had his arms crossed, just staring at them with no emotions. The last one had a bulky and domineering build. He had a huge body frame twice that of a normal man. The others had impassive expressions on their faces, while this man reeked of malice. The team saw the dripping blood on one of his hands, its mark extending all the way to his arm. It was obvious that it was the arm that passed through Johnny. They glared at him, livid, and he just sent them a toothy smile in response. He even licked the blood on his hand. Garan''s eyes narrowed, brain already churning for what they could do. Because Elementalists were so rare, indigenous people also evolved to develop other ''elements'' focused on their physical abilities. This included super strength and super speed. This was the first time they encountered this type, let alone both. The bulky man looked at each of them up and down, and he sneered at their low levels. "Tsk. The team that stole our mission was so weak?" He turned slightly to the direction behind them, "Captain, I''m offended." After his words ended, a new figure emerged from the shadows, entering their line of sight. Suddenly, the air stagnated at his entrance. It was a handsome man with striking features appearing in confident strides. He had long locks with a unique fusion of red and black. It cascaded leisurely down his back, beautiful¡ªbut akin to snakes. They didn''t know if it was their imagination, but they could almost see some sparks surrounding him. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His piercing red eyes looked at each of them. There was a confident smirk placed upon his lips, and it felt so self-assured that it was insolent. He moved with predatory grace, exuding an air of supremacy, and normal people would not dare look at him in the eye. Everyone, especially the only woman, Vanessa, stared at the man exuding magnetic charm, despite the undeniable threat he showed. The man was well aware of his effect on women, but he didn''t take a second look and focused on the leading figure instead. "Ice? That''s rare." He said, an evil arrogant smile pasted on his face. Garan''s azure eyes narrowed, body tense in guardedness, meeting the newcomer''s red ones. At this time, all his guard was up and was ready to give it his all in a moment''s notice. This man¡­ was definitely a force to be reckoned with. ¡­ The atmosphere turned incredibly tense¡ªwith their side brewing in a mix of guardedness and aggression. While Vanessa tried to handle Jhonny again¡ªbelatedly, as she was distracted by the newcomer. Everyone else created a wall around them in guarding formation. The newcomers did not attack and only watched, which made everything even more tense. Soon, Vanessa shook her head. A few people gasped as they saw Johnny''s pale face, while the rest glared at the enemies in front of them. They didn''t have the time to mourn the loss of another companion, but they could definitely spend this energy to avenge him. The Terrans stared at the five people, simmering in aggression. It was as if they were ready to eat up prey and, at the same time, looking at them like ants. It was extremely humiliating. The man the enemies called captain only stared and looked at them, as if not noticing their piercing glares. As he spoke, his penetrating eyes observed them like a tiger surveying his target. "You are very brave to take on a level C mission at your level." He said, words admiring but his tone mocking. "It would''ve been fine if you didn''t attack my people for no reason," Garan said with his low voice. He was still thinking of whether to fight. The loss of Johnny was heavy, but losing more for revenge was impractical. He could tell all these people were several levels higher than him. If an all-out fight were to happen, it was estimated half of them would be lost. "If you give us the flower, then we will let you go." He said. Everyone glared, and Garan didn''t refuse immediately. Abandoning a mission would ban them from the cluster for at least a month. There would also be a lot of long-term effects, and their few weeks'' effort would be for naught. But would he risk any more lives for it? Of course not. Seeing the boss considering, Gian reacted immediately in aghast. "They killed Johnny!" Garan looked at the enemy leader. Although the flower or the mission was nothing compared to their lives, it would really feel like Johnny''s death was null if they lost it as well. Failing would also disallow them from taking any more missions for a time. The time and resources lost would also mean they would find their loved ones later. And he couldn''t guarantee that these people¡­ wouldn''t go on a killing spree either. While honorable strongmen (or those who wished to be seen as such) would not unnecessarily kill people with much lower levels than theirs, this was not a universal rule at all. Garan tried to think of a compromise, "The two groups fighting will cause losses for both parties. I feel that there should be another option. " He said. The huge man scoffed, obviously thinking of them as ants. Ants had no right to negotiate. Garan was unmoved. "What about I fight one of you to determine who owns the flower? No matter who wins, there would be no killing in either group." The enemy team smirked at his words, and the huge man laughed out loud. "Weaklings sure have the guts!" Garan did not falter, and Gian was held back by Gill, stopping him from doing anything stupid. "What would beating a group of weaklings do?" He asked. The captain looked at him deeply, crossing his arms. A moment later, he opened his mouth and his velvety voice uttered out, "Well, it is more interesting to see a hopeful struggle." The man said, shrugging. "But, to change things, if you lose, you will be beaten by my men without question." Garan''s jaw clenched, opening his palm, revealing an expensive gift from Jonathan¡ªa seal of oath. "Yes, as long as no life is lost." Chapter 270 Dangerous Battles (Part 1) "Oh? Using a magic tool to ensure your life, eh?" Silas looked at his companion and his bloody arms. "Well, I can''t say I blame you." The big man knew the captain was considering and sneered, patting his large chest. "I want to do it, then." He said, "I''ll make it as bloody as possible. "They have to know they''re just puny ants not even worth negotiating with!" He said, looking at the seal. "We don''t even have to kill them to show that." The woman and the old man didn''t have any reactions and just watched from the side. However, if one looked closer at their eyes and their lips tilting up, one could see they were quite interested in the upcoming ''show''. The thin man¡ªone of the more gregarious members of the group¡ª outright whistled. "Yo, Sin! Beat him up quickly! I can''t wait to do some exercise~!" "Sure sure," Sin yelled back, grinning, as he stepped forward and stared down at Garan, who also took a step forward. Sin punched down several trees in his path and kicking their trunks out of the way, leaving them with some clear space for movements. Everyone stepped back and left them around a hundred square meters of fighting space. In the middle of the new ''clearing'', the two stared each other down, and the man arrogantly gestured for Garan to attack. Garan darted to his direction, appearing in front of the other in an instant, surprising the larger man. Garan raised his feet and Sin immediately raised his hand to take on his kick. Although it didn''t do any damage to him, it still tingled a bit, showing the strength of the attack. Sin''s eyes narrowed as Garan shifted his body. Abruptly, Garan placed the force on his other leg, hitting the man''s stomach, a relatively weaker part of the body. "Oof!" "You!" Sin gritted his teeth. He raised his arm to wallop him, but Garan quickly avoided it. The punch was so strong that it created a wind that destabilized him a bit, but he managed to catch himself. Garan saw the hole in the ground made by the missed punch, and quickly had a rough estimate of this man''s force value. Garan manifested ice with his secondary element¡ªmetal¡ªand he quickly charged. On the side, Silas'' eyes narrowed as he watched. His frown deepened a bit as his eyes followed Garan''s movements. At this time, Garan had already slashed against Sin with his two swords in expert movements. He did this continuously and with amazing speed, eventually landing shallow wounds on the other man''s body, enraging him. "GRRR!!!" The man yelled, attacking continuously. Although he was physically stronger, Garan was much more nimble and agile and he avoided most of his attacks. It was just that Sin created a few craters in his attacks and Garan unfortunately landed on one. The millisecond of imbalance it caused was enough for Sin''s jab to finally connect. THUD! Fortunately, Garan managed to block himself with metal, softening the blow. He spat out blood as the force hit his internal organs. He ignored the yells of his teammates, azure eyes focused on the enemy in front of him. Heaving a deep breath, Garan returned to a defensive position, still relatively stable in his footing. Sin frowned seeing him still moving smoothly. Even with that block, most people''s bodies wouldn''t have been able to handle that impact¡ªespecially not at his level. He had even fought Orcs hand to hand before! The fight went on for several more minutes, both landing shots on each other, dripping a lot of blood on the makeshift field. Garan heaved a sigh as he looked at his near-empty life, spirit, and mana, barely supporting his body weight against a tree. He knew that there should still be half in the other man''s stats. Although the low-level magic tool could only be effective for one formal agreement¡ªwhich was the no-killing agreement¡ªthey still agreed that they wouldn''t be allowed to use any tool, potion, or equipment in the duration of the fight. Garan knew very well that the other team probably had superior resources, and he didn''t want to widen the strength gap. And because of this, he couldn''t drink any healing potions either. Anyway, Garan knew this could not continue. Although the enemy team would not kill them, if they left them disabled in the forest then they would be as good as dead. He couldn''t lose. He closed his eyes to gather himself for one second. When he opened his eyes there was a renewed light and even Sin taking advantage of his weakness and lunging at him did not make him flinch. His body was now pumping with adrenaline, filled with strength, and mind calculating to the max. He immediately jumped back and instantaneously created ice picks as large as an arm. These icepicks floated around them, immediately congregating around the man. But instead of attacking directly, Garan used a tree to vault himself up, using a lot of mana to form large spears of ice and metal. He targeted the man''s body at an angle, targeting standard human weaknesses at the same time. Bang! A piece connected and hit his arm. "Ah!" And Garan quickly maneuvered himself to kick it deeper into his skin, using his own weight to do so. "ARGHHH!!" Garan quickly manifested more ice and metal with much of the remaining mana, intent on hurting him more. He was not planning on killing him, which was obvious, but to debilitate him enough. However, before it could hit the enemy again, Garan''s body moved and used the spear to block a side attack instead. The unexpected fire hit him and his weapon, creating such a force that he was thrown to the other side, hitting a tree. Bang! Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan coughed out blood and heard oncoming steps, he struggled to lift himself up to face him, only to be kicked back down. He looked up to see the other Team''s captain, eyes dark with killing intent. "I don''t like it when my men are hurt." He said, smiling evilly. "As payment, we will do the same to yours." Chapter 271 Dangerous Battles (Part 2) The low-level magic tool only allowed for 1 idea of agreement. For this case, it was for no deaths to happen and for the winner to retain the plant. Nothing else could be done, and Garan couldn''t stop either team member from interfering. It was just that the other team¡ªnever in their imagination¡ªwould they think they would have to interfere. Silas kicked Garan again with a force that lifted him up a meter. He coughed up blood, grabbing his chest in pain. "Captain!" His team yelled and immediately they went to attack. The other team smirked at this movement, as if it was a signal for them to finally start fighting without looking desperate for a fight. All this time, they had been itching to beat people up¡ªhow dare they hurt Sin so much¡ªand were ready to receive them. "Come! Show us what you''ve got!!" Foo said with that droning voice of his. He leaned forward, disappearing in a flash. Immediately, the Terrans quickly lifted their weapons. Garan sat back up as quickly, trying to gain his footing, but he was kicked back down by Silas again. He shivered as a strong current passed by his body and his eyes widened, looking up at the other man. However, despite the pain, he moved and managed to grab the man''s leg. "You promised not to kill." Silas smirked evilly, kicking him back down. "Captain!!!" The Terrans yelled, immediately running to attack their enemies and rescue their captain. It was Gill who led the charge spear crackling with fiery energy. Followed closely by the others. Gill went directly to the Captain, waving his smoldering spear but was blocked by the woman. Luis slashed his sword, also with fire, his sand-blonde hair glinting in the heat, and the others showing off the elements from the get-go, not daring to hold back against these people. This was the first time they encountered true fighters. Although they¡ªthe Terrans¡ªwere low in level, their fighting prowess allowed them to fight those with a few levels above them. This had a lot to do with how either enemy elementalists relied too much on their elements¡ªwhich was useless if mana ran out¡ªor it was against non-elementalist who didn''t have access to fighting inheritance and were thus unable to deal with their plethora of techniques. But they had a feeling¡­ this time definitely wouldn''t be as easy. They didn''t even consider going one-on-one. Gill went head to head with the woman who had used large curved double swords, blocking his attack. Her weapons seemed thin, but it effortlessly took on his attacks. Gill''s eyes narrowed as he saw some barrier of fire appearing at the point of contact, and he knew the woman was also a fire user. Behind him, Loki used his wind ability to quickly climb a tree, hiding in the shadows. He leaned on a stable branch, his ponytailed black hair floating with the wind, and his bowstring taut and ready to shoot in assistance to his team. Eagle, with the power of wind in his command, swept through the battlefield like a whirlwind. His short ash-blonde hair flew wildly in the wind as he met with the Speedster''s attack. Next to him, Turbo manifested a water whip to hit the momentarily stopped Silas. The man didn''t even flinch as the old man appeared in front of him, manifesting an earth wall to easily block all attacks. The old man''s legs parted and he stomped his feet and clenched his fist, and the wall broke to many pieces, attacking Turbo in turn. "Shit!" Fortunately, he was quick and managed to avoid the bulk of the attack, but was hit regardless. Foo quickly went to him and Turbo bent backward by instinct, avoiding a sharp edge that cut his spiky hair, giving him a very bad haircut. "Darnit!" Turbo yelled, manifesting more water attempting to trap Foo, who was now causing damage behind, particularly to Chris, who had barely managed to block with his sword. Turbo, distracted, failed to see the large boulder heading towards him. Jake quickly leaned down and placed his hands on the ground. The earth shook along with his quiff hair. Instantly, a massive shield appeared and blocked the hit. He frowned when the rock decimated his shield, however. "Tsk. Didn''t even last a shot." Soon dozens of similar rocks floated and headed towards them. "F*CK!" Jake yelled, manifesting many shield walls. "Guys! Watch out!" Brandon similarly protected his companion with his windshield, similar to a barrier, though for now it could only slow down the rock''s pace enough so his companions could deal with them. Ryo, the shy water spear wielder, fought with determination dealing with the projectiles, protecting those behind him. And then there was Gian, an impulsive fire user, angrily deflecting the stone attacks with his sword, slashing excessively as if they were the heads of the enemies. By the time he dealt with the rocks near him, his short dark brown hair glistened with sweat and several embers of flame were surrounding him. Then his eyes met with Sin''s who had now gotten up, drank some recovery potions, and very much wanted to pummel someone. Gian had been desperate for revenge for a while now. It wasn''t a surprise that he went to Sin. Using his fire swordsman skill, he immediately lit up his sword with his elemental fire. Similarly, many other elements joined in, catching the enemies a bit off guard. The other team was startled by the plethora of elements that surrounded them. "Who are these people?" Foo, the speedster, asked. He was sweating a bit found his way back to his side and asked his companions. However, unlike most, he didn''t feel particularly intimidated. It wasn''t the first time they encountered a team filled with Elementalists. It was never quite so large a group, but it wasn''t too far off. Percy, the old earth Elementalist, narrowed his eyes, though the hard stones floating around him were as menacing as ever. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Hmm. I do wonder which city owns them." He looked at their captain, a bit concerned. "Does it matter? Strength is the last word." The muscular woman, Valeria, said. "Hmn. Just do away with them. Anyway, we agreed not to kill them." Silas said without a care, looking down at their leader who was standing up. This meant whatever happened, no matter what these guys'' background was, it didn''t matter. "But we are sure to give them a taste of what a bloody lesson truly is." Garan''s eyes sharpened as his fist clenched in both pain and anger. It was indeed a bloody lesson, but they would definitely not go down so easily! Chapter 272 Bloody Lesson (Part 1) Aberdeen City, two years prior The early morning sun filtered through the window, seeping to a certain couple inside their bedroom. However, unlike the usual atmosphere, the air at this time was heavy with the scent of medicine and antiseptic. Althea carefully unwrapped the soiled bandage, the sight inside slowly revealing itself. She frowned when she saw his jagged wound, it was reddish and bluish and painful-looking. Her heart ached at the gash, but continued to care for him, gently cleaning his wound. Garan looked warmly as his wife carefully handled his wounds. One good thing that came out from that accident was that he got to spend many days straight with his wife, and she was still caring only for him. His gaze was blatantly hot and Althea couldn''t help but blush. But then she saw his wound again and felt very angry in response. She glared at him, though it looked adorable in his eyes. "Having fun?" She asked bitterly, and he didn''t dare nod. However, she could see it in his dozing gaze and she pinched his cheek in response. "Well, it''s annoying! Don''t smile!" She ordered, and Garan immediately schooled his expression to his usual stoic one. Althea then proceeded on her task, completely ignoring him. However, as she did so, her sights ended not only on the red wounds but those that were healed by time. She couldn''t help but trace her hands on his many scars. "You have so many scars¡­ do they still hurt?" She asked, voice soft. Obviously, her anger couldn''t last when she knew he was in pain. Althea knew that sometimes scars were still painful even after years. Garan''s body was filled with them. If all these scars hurt, then¡­ Garan''s eyebrows furrowed and he flinched at the sight of his wife''s eyes slowly getting filled with tears. "Wife, don''t cry¡­" "They don''t hurt anymore," He said, "In fact they are important." Althea blinked and stared at him, and he couldn''t help but kiss her cheek. "Each scar is a testament to what we have been through," He told her, tone very gentle as he patted her smooth face. "For us soldiers, scars are testament to our story of survival and valiance. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Even if the lesson was bloody, it was a lesson nevertheless." _____ Present. Garan took advantage of the distraction to consume healing potions that he had in the space. However, he was kicked back down as soon as he did so. "Calm down, let''s watch what your people can do." Silas said, turning his attention back to the various fights the surrounded them. He was completely unperturbed at the misfired shots or stray rocks. The closest fight was Sammy''s, though he was without his characteristic grin, and on his face was signs of tension. The soldier fired his wind arrows with uncanny accuracy, all the while moving and avoiding the shots directed at him. He was particularly prominent in appearance with his semi bald hairdo and dark skin. Unlike Loki, who threw arrows from the dark, he shot away as he moved. Gill was also very, very, impressive. He waved his spear with skill, as if it was a part of his body, and he was going head-to-head with Valeria, only receiving the occasional assistance from his teammates. While other fights were entering their peaks, Sin and Gian''s fight, on the other hand, was at its decline. Gian and Sin faced each other. Sin was standing arrogantly while Gian was sweating profusely and could no longer stand upright. In fairness, Gian did relatively well in his attacks, but Sin was just much stronger than he was. It didn''t take long for Gian to sustain a lot of damage, only able to stand up because he was being played with. And they also received instructions not to kill, sadly, so there was that. Anyway, Sin was definitely having fun torturing him, which was more humiliating than just getting beat up! Gian was not reconciled. Obviously, he was almost beat by the captain! And he was already weakened! However, his anger didn''t do much to his strength and soon Sin got tired and wanted to deal with the other ''flies''. Without noticing, a large hand formed into knuckles and was about to connect with his head. "Oi, Gian!" Mao''s earth elements surrounded himself with earth, using his body shield the defenseless Gian. CRACK! The heavy punch connected with the earth armor, but compared to the ground Sin had created craters on, the shield wasn''t much harder. BANG! CRACK! The narrow-eyed soldier was thrown away by Sin''s punch, bloody and his shield had all crumbled to pieces. He was breathing, fortunately, but this was only because the enemy captain agreed not to kill them during the fight. "Mao!!" Gian yelled and he whipped his head to his enemy, his anger only making his attacks on Sin wilder. Vanessa, who had just dealt with a man''s injury, was quick to rush to the Mao''s aid. Fortunately, they stocked some expensive healing concoctions in their spaces so their soldiers weren''t left a step too close to death. Returning to Sin and Gian''s fight, Gian was now gasping for air, and Sin watched him take his last mana potion. Sin chuckled, walking forward, and crackled his knuckles. He was getting bored and wanted to deal with the spear-weilding Magma dude. However, before he could make another shot, he suddenly felt an arrow barrelling towards him. He immediately used his best Body Hardening technique. As for why Sin wasn''t able to use this technique with Garan, it was because he needed to be still for more than 1 minute. Only Gian was able to give him this breathing time. However, even if he managed to activate the skill, the arrow came with high accuracy and swiftness¡ªwhich was just enough to scratch him. The small bit of blood made his eyes turn red. Their Captain injuring him so much was one thing, but these people were even lower leveled than that guy! Annoying! He growled and grabbed Gian''s head, and it felt like an iron grip on the soldier''s face. Gian hit his strong arm with his elbow, but to no avail. With a huff, Sin lifted his weight and threw his entire body in a direction¡ªto the tree where the arrow came from. Bang! "Oi, Loki!" Sammy and the others yelled, throwing various attacks on Sin. Sammy sent Sin continuous arrows, most of which using mana-consuming skills. But at this time, Sin''s body hardening technique was in full effect. None of his shots caused him any damage. "Shit!" So far¡­ they had yet to get the upper hand, even with their numbers. It would only be a matter of time until they would get taken down one by one! ____ Important Announcement! [11.22.23] Hi guys! Big news! We''re getting an e-bookkkk!! Thank you guys soooo much! Wouldn''t have been chosen if you weren''t there supporting me from wherever you are~ I have 5 days to change anything in the first 50 chapters before it gets published for KDP. I already diminished the info dump in the first three chaps (spoiler: still an info dump). If there''s anything else you want changed, tell meee! You can also comment on the chaps themselves if you want! Thanks again Alterans! Chapter 273 Bloody Lesson (Part 2) As Sammy held the front line against Sin, the atmosphere crackled with tension. However, Sammy didn''t feel too scared as there were others supporting him from behind. Minko, the water archer, also shot from behind. He used his inherited skill called Aqua Burst. It was a very good skill using pressurized water that burst on impact. However, Sin''s body skill was still in effect and it only annoyed the man, throwing some destroyed stones to poor Minko. Brandon was quick to shield him, fortunately, and even threw back the stone. Still to no avail, of course. But when he noticed there was no effect, Minko shifted his shots to the woman who was currently being dealt with by Gill. "Tsk!" the woman yelled as he felt his hits burn a bit. It successfully distracted the woman and¡ªwith Gill sending a flurry of well-timed attacks¡ªwas forced to step back to Plaridel''s firewall. Whether or not it had an effect, Minko didn''t notice because the same rock thrown before was thrown at them again. Chris and the curly-haired Ben was facing the relentless attacks of the speedster. While Ben continuously sent his sharp waterblocks, Chris was not idle with his own attacks. Using his wind-infused sword, he extended its sharpness in unexpected times, almost hitting the man. His attacks were inherently not very strong, but he had excellent control, and soon the quantity of scratches got many enough to actually hurt. When Foo realized this, his eyes turned red and his attacks went wilder. Leo used his wood elements to distract him while he slashed his sword. Using his element, he skillfully danced around his foes. Meanwhile, Plaridel set firewalls behind them to burn when the enemies were being pushed back. "Bastards!" Foo furious yell reverberated as he swung his weapon wildly at the soldiers. He was very quick and Leo only narrowly avoided a major blow when Reuben¡ªthe water swordsman with a bald head¡ªsuccessfully intercepted the attack. He waved his weapon with grace, pushing him back. It gave time for Leo and the others to gather themselves and he immediatley returned to his own fight with the earth elementalist old man. At this time, the old man¡ªan earth swordsman¡ªgrappled with the formidable old man. The others with him were struggling to get up, and he was soon at the end of the line himself. Percy turned his body and quickly pushed himself back farther with his ability as a new spear came his way. Sharp thorns emerged from the spear, attacking him, but he manifested earth around him, blocking all attacks. "Tsk," Leo mumbled, taking a shot while his own enemy was distracted. At this time Ryan, the fire shieldsman, joined Ben and Chris. Specifically, Chris, who was being targeted by the enemy Flash. However, the enemies this time were not normal. Not only were they true fighters, they also had inheritances from their clans and masters. Valeria, after all this time, was barely damaged¡ªall of the damage on her was by Gill, who was now running out of mana. Gill pushed her further back to Plaridel''s shield. Unlike the damage to Foo, however, a shield made of fire exploded and surrounded her, eating up Plaridel''s in the process. It was like a little campfire went against a flamethrower. However, while surprised, the soldiers quickly gathered themselves. Instead, they were fired up and their attacks leveled up, actually pushing the aborigines a bit. For instance, more and more attacks managed to graze Foo, and Gill had gotten used to her movements and was damaging her further. However, the momentum didn''t last long because large earth walls guarded the two¡ªand it wasn''t just an earth wall. It was Percy''s earth upgraded skill, that could temporarily harden his stone to bedrock. "This is my clan''s secret technique: Supreme Harden." "Damn it!" The Terrans yelled, but they didn''t stop their attacks, improving even in the harshest conditions. However, the gap was there and the three enemies were successful in managing to defend against the nearly twenty soldiers from Terran. Soon, half were rendered unconscious. Vanessa, defended by Santos, another earth sword warrior, also showed her archery skills with grace, supporting from behind when she wasn''t doing first aid. However, despite her busy schedule, her eyes couldn''t help but stare at the handsome man who had his feet on the captain. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her heart broke for the captain but, at the same time, she couldn''t help but admire the other man as well. At this time, Silas narrowed his eyes at the ongoing scuffle as he stood on the side, easily deflecting attacks that came their way with his electricity. "Your team isn''t bad." He said, looking down at the man under his feet. His eyebrows rose when he saw the man already calm and collected, abruptly turning his body and facing the floor. The man''s strong arm then lifted his whole weight, kicking Silas off of him in the process. Using his elbow, the man suddenly turned his body to swipe a kick in Silas'' direction. A sharp glint on his legs indicated a scythe-like blade connected to his feet, extending his reach. Silas managed to avoid the kick with a small nick and the hem of his clothing ripped apart. Granted, he only used level C clothing now because he didn''t think he''d need to dirty his higher-level equipment, but still¡­ Anyway, Silas looked at the man, now standing upright. Silas watched in interest as Garan manifested a metallic rod beside him. It was not big, basically only a small spike that did nothing. But to his surprise, Garan just left it around him. The ebony-haired man manifested ice again. They were just as usual, which was a bit of a disappointment. Silas avoided them easily, throwing some electric sparks in response. To his surprise, his attack was directed to the metal, as if naturally attracted to it. Silas'' eyebrows rose. He didn''t know metal could be used against him like this. He frowned, but was also a bit intrigued. The demeaning look in his eyes slightly paled, and he looked at his opponent with increasing interest. A snake made of electricity surrounded him, and it combined with light-colored fire. Garan''s jaw tensed and he stood guardedly, though without any showy display of his elements. Silas almost chuckled at this, knowing the other man''s mana had to be rationed very well. "It''s our turn now," he said, his elements crackling around him, increasing the tension in the air. Garan, stoic as always, only adopted a defensive position, raising his arm and ready to attack in an instant. "Come." Chapter 274 Bloody Lesson (Part 3) Garan drank another bottle of mana potion as he conjured razor-sharp blades of ice around him. Silas, with a charismatic smirk, manifested dancing flames that flickered with the intensity of his prowess. Garan propelled a barrage of icy shards towards Silas. The redhead however weaved between projecties, electric sparks dancing along his skin. He then sent an electric shock directed to Garan, but it was once again attracted by the metal rod in the ground. It wasn''t that Silas had never fought against metal users before. It was just that they never used it so skillfully to affect his attacks at all. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One of the reasons for this is that metal users could only manifest pure iron, which had too many impurities to be effective conductors. Garan''s was a combination of steel and some aluminum, which was a great conductor of electricity. Taking advantage of the enemy''s pause, Garan lowered the temperature around him, and the ground slowly turned to ice in an attempt to destabilize the enemy. Silas immediately conjured flames that melted the ice, sizzling steam bathing the two dashing men. Garan donned an icy armor and lunged at Silas¡ªat an impressive speed¡ªbut Silas wreathed in electric flames countered with a surge of raw power. The collision sent shockwaves in all directions, distracting the other fights as well. For a while, a symphony of ice and metal meeting fire and electricity abounded. It created wave after wave of impact and the fights around paused for a bit to watch them. Foo and the others stared in disbelief. While they knew the captain wasn''t giving it his all, it was still very rare to see him get so into a fight. Soon, Garan ran out of mana and he started to depend on his techniques and physiques to fight him. To his team''s surprise, Silas also dispersed his elements, joining him in a hand-on-hand fight. Silas'' red eyes sharpened at his techniques, unseen and unheard of even by someone of his background. He avoided most of them, but he couldn''t help but feel impressed at the intricacies of it all. He took down Garan many times by virtue of raw strength, but the ebony-haired man stood up every single time. Silas also noticed the man''s hit rates were increasing, and he could feel a few bruises had formed on his body. During this time, the other fights had also resumed, courtesy of some Terran soldiers who wanted to take advantage of the enemy distraction to hit a few more shots. Suddenly, Garan attacked at a weird angle and Silas wanted to mock him only to realize it hit Sin behind him, who was about to attack another one of his teammates. This was interesting because Sin had his technique activated, and yet the attack stuck. One must know that Sin had fought an orc before, and this guy did just about the same amount of damage. Even if the orc was lower in level, who didn''t know they had much stronger physiques than humans and were comparable to beasts? As he continued to fight Garan, Sin couldn''t help but observe them more, albeit only half of them remained standing. He saw them protecting each other when they were in danger themselves. Another quarter of an hour later, only Garan (and the woman, who was well protected by quite a few men) was standing upright, and his people were all injured in various degrees. Silas smiled and his arms raised and Garan shivered a bit at the aura that surrounded him. "I learned a lot from you today. So let me show you one of my family''s secret skills." It was very quick and Garan had no time to dodge. Bang! The next thing he knew he was already thrown against the tree, unable to get up for a short time. His body was still shivering, as if instinctively afraid, and it felt incredibly bad. No matter how difficult the opponent, he had never been a coward. But now his legs refused to cooperate and he couldn''t even stand up. He tried to get up while his eyes stayed on the enemy that stood still a few meters in front of him. But then the man turned towards the others. Garan frowned and wanted to follow, thinking he was going to attack one of his teammates. However, he was still shaking¡ªweak¡ªand he couldn''t even lift his feet to stand. "Damnit!" He yelled, punching the ground. To his surprise though, Silas went and held Foo''s arm, who was just about to critically injure Chris¡ªhis favorite target. "That''s enough," Silas said, and he looked at his teammates who were all very injured. Foo and Sin were understandably very angry, as they themselves could barely stand. Normally, he''d be angry at how his team was injured, but he was mysteriously calmed down after a good fight. He hadn''t felt satisfied in a long time¡­ Anyway, despite the sorry state of this team, Silas was still very impressed by what they accomplished. "Let''s go." he said, and the others followed him, walking over the ''bodies'' lying on the ground. As he walked away, a woman appeared in his way. Her hands were held together above her chest as if in prayer and she was looking at Silas with eyes filled with gratitude. "T-Thank you¡­" She said, making the others¡ªespecially Valeria¡ªsneer. Silas ignored her and continued on his way, which happened to be near where Garan was kneeling. "As agreed, you can keep the flower." He said. He then threw a potion into the air that dispersed magically to the air around them. "You have successfully¡­ entertained us." He said, completely turning back. "May we meet again." ¡­ The air was stagnant for a long time afterward. No one spoke as they absorbed the fact that they really stood no chance. Although they managed to hurt the enemies through various counter-attacks, they were all worse than half-dead when the enemy left. The small field was covered with a mixture of their blood. They stayed there for hours after the fight, trying to recover their strength and spirit, using their remaining strength to barely deal with the monster attracted by the blood. However, the monsters weren''t many and they only arrived hours after the enemies left. It was easy to conclude that the potion that had been dispersed was a beast-repelling potion. How nice of him. (Partial sarcasm) Anyway, some time later, Garan recovered enough to stand. He looked at his companions. Then his eyes shifted to the mauled corpse of Johnny, who they weren''t able to protect against the mob. After finally gaining some power the past few weeks, it was the first time they lost someone. And most of them nearly died. It seemed they had been complacent. It was truly a wake-up call¡ªa bloody one. Chapter 275 Aftermath Aberdeen City, 16 years ago The fourteen-year-old Garan just came back from training, and his body hurt like hell. "You''re finally back?" Howard, who had been having a late-night tea time with his wife, greeted him. Garan nodded politely at his nominal parents. Alicia looked at him with a gentle smile. "Have you eaten?" "Yes, mother," Garan said, looking around. "Is Althea still awake?" "She should be in bed," Mother said, "But you should see. It''s been a month since you returned, she missed you very much." The teenage Garan nodded and said goodnight to his parents, his feet immediately bringing him to Althea''s room. When he opened the door, he saw her soft peaceful figure on her large bed, softly snoring, like a little angel. Then he could see from the corner of his eyes an eyesore sleeping on the floor mattress. This brat seemed to have attached himself to his angel. It was to the point he cried when Althea was too far. In distress, the parents had no choice but to allow him to be so clingy until he was a bit older. Fortunately, they didn''t allow him to sleep on her bed or Garan would definitely beat him up. He rudely stepped over the boy''s sleeping body and sat on the bed to look closer at Althea. She was still so cute and soft and all his tiredness was swept away at the sight of her. When her eyebrows furrowed he hurriedly let go, but soon realized it wasn''t because of him. She was frowning deeply and humming as if in pain. He frowned and gently tapped her shoulders to wake her up. Her eyes slowly opened, her long eyelashes fluttering. For a while, they were still narrowed from the lethargy, but the sleepiness was wiped away when their eyes met. "Garan?" Her small voice sounded, melting his heart. "You''re home?" The nine-year-old girl habitually scooted to wrap her arms around him and he laid down beside her, making her feel comfortable. Thankfully, he took a good bath before leaving the training camp, otherwise, her cute face would be scrunched up in the smell. He patted her back and she snuggled closer to him. "Tell me a bedtime story¡­" she said and he smiled, agreeing. Before he could start though, he heard a rustle near them. Garan knew that Ansel should have also woken up. "Story¡­" she said, as if reminding him, and he couldn''t help but chuckle. Garan rummaged his head for said bedtime story, and recalled the children''s book he read when he was working in a small bookstore years ago. "Well, let me tell you a story¡­" He said, combing her hair back. "About an ancient hero named Altera." He remembered the story because the cover was so colorful, and its palette just to Althea''s liking. He had saved up money to buy it for her. Unfortunately, it was sold out by the time he had enough. The story started with how the country was plagued by wars and the suffering of the people. A commoner man rose up to the challenge, used his strength and charisma to affect the hearts of the people, and used strength to stop the wars. It took him five decades, but it set off an era of peace that lasted for centuries. "Altera was the hero of his people." He told her, "The name came to signify beauty, pride, and strength in their country." "He''s amazing," she mumbled, already half asleep. "That''s a beautiful name¡­ "Hmm¡­" he told her with a smile. His voice was already in the lower timbers, and it comforted Althea very much. Soon, she dozed off. After a while, all he could hear was soft snoring (Ansel''s included), making him smile even more. Garan also closed his eyes, soul listening to her soft breathing. As he lay, he felt peace that he had not felt for weeks, falling into slumber shortly after. He was finally home. _____ Ferrol Town, Present Just over a day after the bloody incident, all the soldiers had recovered significantly. Most of them were already resuming their training regimes. If anything, they worked even harder. It was hard not to¡ªnot after feeling their weaknesses so starkly. For one, the Mercenary team''s training field was filled with people, and even their own captain was sparring with someone. Garan held the attacker''s arm and twisted it, making him fall on his back. Bang! Followed by a cough, and Garan stopped attacking, waiting for his sparring partner to get up by himself. Sadly, he wasn''t getting up and just stayed like that for some time. Garan looked at Gian who was sobbing bitterly, looking very ugly. The snot coming out of his nose solidified the dust from the ground he was thrown to, making it even more unsightly. The younger man could only punch the ground, probably thinking it was his face, and sobbed loudly. "Why!" He yelled, filled with resentment because he didn''t kill the big guy. "If you had aimed to kill from the start, if you''d aimed at his head, he''d have been killed!" "Maybe." He said and Gian just glared at him. Garan sighed but did not beat him up anymore. "But that also meant a lot of lives in exchange." Gian gritted his teeth at this, yet no intelligible answer came. "If you want revenge, then be strong enough to deal with the consequences. Even Luis, who had been out for a month, is catching up to you." He said, and Gian stared at him, eyes filled with sadness and bitterness. "But Johnny¡ªHe died for nothing!" "I know. But the world is not fair¡ªespecially not this one. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Remember: Revenge begets revenge. If you want to get back at them, be strong enough to be able to protect those you hold important." What was the point of revenge if you''d just lose more and more in the process? He sighed, looking at the sky. "Doing otherwise is¡­ simply foolish." They still had a home to get back to, after all. Chapter 276 Closer Garan heaved a sigh as he walked away from the fields, taking the towel Gill handed over to him. "Don''t worry boss, he''ll calm down eventually." The long-haired man said, comforting the captain. He couldn''t help but look at the pitiful Gian on the floor, who was now helped up by Chris. Turbo even bathed him with water using his ability and Eagle dried him up with his. The two continued to walk to the fence, "Are we going to see new missions?" "Hmm." Garan said, and the two proceeded to the Mercenary Hall to complete the task. Fortunately, those strongmen still kept their word of letting them have the plant, so their mission could still be completed. They were a step closer to becoming a level C Mercenary Team. This was unprecedented to their average level of members. They also received five of the promised class D healing medicines. One had been used for Chris, who was heavily targeted in the last attack, and another was used for Gian, who was very much treated like a rag. Which was regretful because he challenged Garan as soon as he could stand. Eagle, the logistics officer, would have two, while the last one was snug in Garan''s space. Maybe he could get it to his wife. She would definitely love to study it. The two arrived at the Mercenary Hall, receiving quite a few glances. It could be said that they had received quite the attention for completing a level C mission, and a lot more people asked when they would hire again. For now though, there was no need for hiring. Not to mention, when they upgraded they could start to summon other mercenaries. The higher the level, the higher the prestige. Upon upgrade, when needed, they would be able to call on lower-level or maybe similar level mercenary teams for help. For a price, of course. This could even be done through the mercenary center''s teleportation array at a discounted cost. It could be said that their completion of that mission opened up a lot of doors, even when they had yet to upgrade. If they hadn''t settled in Ferrol Town, it was estimated they''d be receiving a lot of proposals to switch bases. Historically, most territories would pay a lot of money to get high-level mercenary teams to set up bases or businesses in their territory. This was because a good mercenary team not only increased the overall power of the territory, but they could also boost the economy through taxes and trade. However, high-level mercenary teams cost a huge amount. So it was more cost-effective to buy out a weaker team with high potential before they upgraded. The Terran Mercenary Team happened to be such good stock. However, Jonathan was quick to show off their closeness by sending a few more medicines to their base, with quite the ceremony of using his right-hand man to deliver. Anyway, the name Terran Mercenary Team once again resounded in the territory. Except¡­ they were much less smug than they could''ve. After all, this win was partnered with some major humbling costs. But that was in the past now, and they could only barrel forward. Standing in front of the panel, Garan looked at the status of the Mercenary team. [Official Team Status Level: D (5498/10000) Prestige: 67 Territory Ranking (D): 12 Overall Ranking (D): 431 Members: 37 ] Although they had much fewer members than those of the same rank, Garan would like to think their team was more quality than quantity. He dared think that they could handle any other mercenary teams of the same class and levels with ease. "What mission should I choose?" "Choose a Level D one, for now," Garan said. After all, the end of the protection period was approaching, they couldn''t take too many risks as before. "Take several and we''ll just divide into two or three teams." "Got it," Gill said and went to perused the potential tasks to take. Meanwhile, Garan went to look at the other teams. It was a habit of his even in Terran: Know thy enemy, so to speak. Unlike the list in the Territory Center, the list of teams in the mercenary hall was more complete¡ªit indicated the level, number of members, ranking, place of establishment, and length of establishment. This meant that he''d have an idea of the areas with the highest level of competition, as well as a rough idea of the strength and resources of these teams. He arranged it from the newest to the oldest, simply because the new ones were more likely to compete with them in level. However, as he perused the list, his heart stopped. "Captain? What''s wrong?" Gill rarely saw the captain so flustered. Basically, he was only like this when it had something to do with sister-in-law. He followed the captain''s line of sight. "Gaea Chamber of Commerce?" Could it be? But it could also be a coincidence. After all, Gaea could mean many things. But seeing the boss like this¡ª Gill had been close to the couple for many years now. He knew of the cheesy couple names they came up with. Most of them were catchy and cringe-y at the same time. He could still remember Algaran and Garhea. Ugh. What was that? One sounded like a prison and the other sounded like diarrhea. However, at this time the Captain''s eyes were zoned in on something. Garan''s eyes were fixed not only on the name but also on the Territory it was made in. Altera¨C Garan''s heart beat wildly. One of the two could''ve been a coincidence, but both? "Captain?" "I¡­ the territory is Altera." S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill blinked. And? "Altera means something to us." He said, roughly explaining the origin of the connection. Even Gill was surprised. After a pause, Gill had a semblance of a smile on his face. "It means they have a level 3 village center now. They should already be in a level 3 village by now, at least." Gill''s shoulders slumped in relief as he said so. Moreover, if the Captain was right, and the people behind this team¡ªor perhaps, the territory itself¡ªwere who they thought, then this was a very very good thing. "Looks like Terrans aren''t doing too badly." Gill still couldn''t help but shake his head he leaned closer to the captain, whispering. "Doesn''t it mean that sister-in-law could be¡­ a Lord herself?" Wow, just wow. But Garan barely registered this detail, his mind filled with the fact that he just received another clue to his wife. Garan was silent for a while. He was so still that no one would know he was shaking. Without another word, he strode to the information desk and paid a handful of silver. "Is there a way for territories to communicate?" The man behind the desk smiled amicably, taking the silver without blinking an eye. "Yes, but only towns with Mercenary Halls or Halls of Commerce could start communicating through the aether. Oh, and they have to have level 3 Territory Centers, of course. "The price is very high though, and the target recipient must also register in the service for a fee¡­" Garan nodded, his brain already thinking of what to tell her. His blood was boiling, knowing for sure he was correct. Althea really was here!! Chapter 277 New Finds Unfortunately, Altera was still a level 2 Village at this time and could not do any communication via aether at all. They would very quickly realize this as they knew how difficult it was for a territory to grow. They then only assumed that the system gave some exceptions to the newcomers of this world. Anyway, the little commotion hundreds of kilometers away had nothing to do with the rest of Altera, which was as lively as always. However, at this time, some people''s faces¡ªspecifically, the visitors from Bright and Vismont¡ªlooked a bit dark and sad. This was because today was the last day they could stay. They were already happy that the exodus was moved a couple hours further because their lords had a meeting to attend to, but it just wasn''t enough! "I''m going to the bathhouse again today. Totally worth it." Pip said, standing up after eating an early breakfast. "I totally deserve such a good bath." His companions nodded and followed him to the luxury area. They also bought some stall snacks to eat on a picnic on the way back. There was another group that went straight to the marketplaces, and another group went to the premier restaurant which they spent a lot of extra money on to get some seats for. The two lords, who had met by coincidence in the hallway, looked down at the happy residents from the mezzanine balcony. They could only marvel at the territory''s charm and hope they could mimic it to some success when they get back home. Speaking of which, even this ''typical'' inn was quite impressive. This was especially true with the public spaces, which was arranged in a way that the lounge was still grand and spacious with relatively intricate decorations. The rooms were also very comfortable, much better than the ones they were used to since coming here. There were also special torches, oil lamps, and protected fire pits to light up rooms at night. There were no candles yet, but this was a great alternative despite the limitations. In retrospect, it was also safer. There was natural ventilation that allowed the building to cool off. And there were provisions for ceiling fans, powered by the winds outside or manually (if there were no winds). Together they went down the stairs, observing more, trying to absorb as much as they could during their stay. They nodded to the people who greeted them and went outside, hoping to explore a bit more before leaving. Looking at how well the manual construction was done, they also marveled at the custom buildings nearby. From what they had studied so far, the custom houses were not only comfortable, but they were also self-sustainable¡ªthey had passive cooling, efficient heating, had their own water tank, and one could even use waste to make cooking gas. To be honest, when their people were excitedly telling them these features, they really couldn''t absorb how it was done. "The houses are also so much better than buildings in my place." "It is the same with me¡­" Although they had yet to try how custom buildings worked, they knew there would be a huge amount of technical talent to design it. "I feel a bit complicated." Matthew sighed. While glad that the Terrans retained such technical talents, he felt a little sad being left so far in the dust. "I wonder if there''s a way to get the blueprints for the custom houses. I only have a few hundred golds left, but I can spend a lot on it." "The actual application of the blueprint should also cost a lot." Micheal helpfully added. "..." Matthew didn''t know what to say. Micheal smiled, "However, I do agree with the purchase. Let''s open the topic later, maybe the Elders know about it." The perennially-smiling Micheal then paused as he said so, a look of introspection appearing on his face. "If the deals today work out, life in our territories will definitely improve." "Hmn, I agree." "..." "..." Suddenly, a new unasked question emerged: Which one of them would be able to do it better? The two looked at each other awkwardly, and Matthew cleared his throat in an attempt to diffuse it. "Did Silvia and the others mention the meeting time?" "Yes. Brunch time at the restaurant¡­ I believe the name is Terran Gastronomique Haven." Micheal said, lips twitching at the name. "Then¡­ Let''s meet there. I''m going around for a while." "I''ll do the same." And so, the two handsome lords separated ways, looking forward to what new things they would learn. Hopefully, ahead of the other. One Altera ahead of them was enough, how could they let the other easily do the same! ¡­ Meanwhile, Althea left the territory very early for her much-needed walk outside in search of new resources. To the eyes of others, she was just trying to train like everyone else. If they asked this in front of Althea, she would look at them bitterly. It would be great if she could actually get experience from the monsters outside, which were predominantly level 1s. Why was she the only one who couldn''t get experience points from the majority of the monsters outside? Another assumption for her frequent trips was that she was exploring the terrain for contribution points, which in a sense wasn''t false. Speaking of, two confirmed resource points have been discovered since the announcement. One was the Jathro, a potential source of improved burning oil, which reminded her of the tropical Jatropha plant back in Terran. In addition to the biogas oil that could rise from their processing, they could use it for cooking and lights. It was very sustainable as well. There was also a field of Tutu berry, a group similar to grapes. Although their Terran grapes were more delicious, the grapes here were larger and gave a different sort of crunch. The health benefits were also higher. It also had richer tannin content, making it potentially more delicious when it turned to wine! The two people who discovered these resources each received 5000 points. With them as an example, it just roused the enthusiasm for resource hunting to a whole new level. Althea herself continued to search, passing through already familiar plants. After perusing for a while, she eventually did end up finding new species. It was olive green in color and had elongated serrated leaves. She was very happy. Because of the lack of biodiversity in this place, it had been a long time since she encountered a new species. Unable to help herself, she immediately studied it. [Sagada Plant (Lv4). Effect of oral cleansing. Triggers cooling sensations.] "Oh?" she uttered, curious, touching it for study when she was sure there was no poison. It had a pleasing aroma to it, and it was soft and slightly fuzzy to the touch. Using Tori, she also determined a lot of its contents. It apparently contained a lot of Menthol, which not only gave off a cooling sensation when consumed, but it also had certain cleaning and disinfecting properties. The NPCs mentioned a plant that had a refreshing taste¡ªPapra, they called it¡ªthat could make the tongue feel cooling sensations. It was used to clean people''s mouths to a certain degree. She wasn''t sure how this one would fare against that plant, but she was happy to find something to enhance their hygiene products! She couldn''t celebrate for long though, as the heating rays reminded her that the sky had already changed. She looked at her watch¡ªa glorified sundial that only worked if you knew your cardinal directions¡ªand saw it was time to go back. After all, she still had a meeting with the two lords. However, on her way back, she heard rustles not far away from where she stood. Curious, she sprinted in the direction of the noise, and a new scene was revealed when she reached a clearing not far away. It was a group of people, surrounded by dozens of level 1s, about a handful of level 2s, and one level 3 king. Although they were superior in number, monsters tended to be stronger than humans a level or two higher than them. One could imagine the struggle. After watching a bit, she realized that half of them were still familiar. The Alterans who went East. Hey, she wondered how their trip went. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 278 The Third Territory Lord The most prominent among those fighting was Fable, who was stabbing a monster repeatedly, trying to get it to fall down already. He looked very haggard, very uncharacteristic of him after revealing his presence in Altera. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The group fought monsters together, with the level 3 monster taking on 10 people at a time. She didn''t take action immediately. She wanted to see how her own people fared against such mobs and she also hoped to gauge the strength of the newcomers. Soon, Althea judged that even a star like Fable had adjusted well and had lost much of the classic Terran squeamishness, while the approximate level of the newcomers was more or less the same as Bright. Althea finally decided to help by taking out the Bellagio Bow. She wordlessly killed the level 3 king with a single shot¡ªa shot straight through the eyes¡ªmaking it easier for the people to kill the rest of the mobs. Then she killed most of the level 2s as well. There was no way she would let the rare experience-giving mob go at all! She also killed several monsters that were about to succeed in their attacks, saving a few lives by the way. [Juju Toad (Lv3), +70 copper +70 experience] [Juju Toad (Lv2), +50 copper +50 experience] [Juju Toad (Lv2), +50 copper +50 experience] As she shot, the people quickly realized that the burden had lightened. They didn''t immediately trace the direction as the arrows flew by too fast, however, they did eventually catch her image. They looked at the shapely woman wearing comfortable leather pants and jacket. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, and she was looking down at them like an immortal. At the sight of her, the men''s eyes were particularly lit up. Kimmy did not notice how the others reacted because she, too, was gaping. ''So cool¡­'' she whispered. Fable almost cried when he saw her. "Ms. Althea!" He yelled, swinging his sword and wanting to get closer to the heroic woman. Althea saw this and nodded, killing more monsters on their side regardless of the experience given. She looked at her people with concern. "Is everyone alright?" The Alterans looked touched at her heart and ended up reassuring her instead. "Yes, Ms. Althea! Thanks to you we only sustained minor injuries!" "It''s rare to encounter such a big group¡­" "It was an accident¡­ we came upon two mobs fighting, and ended up trapped in between¡­" Althea smiled and listened patiently to all their stories. It was only when she saw particularly bloodied visitors that she cut off their soliloquy. "Well, we''re close to the territory. Let''s get you guys treated." She said, and the others immediately nodded, scuttling after her. As she turned, another girl appeared right in front of her face. It was a woman with sun-kissed skin and a slightly plump but curvaceous figure. The woman had a good face, though it was discounted as she stared at Althea fanatically, looking a bit creepy. Fable saw this and cringed. He couldn''t¡­ he couldn''t have brought a disaster to Ms. Althea herself, right?! How he had sinned! Althea, on the other hand, could see not only Kimmy, but some of the men beside her looking at her obsessively. She sighed and decisively ignored them. She just looked at the woman who, based on how she was being protected, was probably someone of high importance. "My name is Kimmy. I''m the Lord of Belluga Village! Nice to meet you." Althea''s eyebrows rose a little and shook the other''s hand. "My name is Althea. I''m an elder in Altera village." "Elder?" Kimmy repeated. There were also elders in her territory (suggested by one of her husbands) but they were either really old or really famous back in Terran. Althea nodded and smiled at the female Lord (which fascinated them even more), "It so happens that the other elders and I will hold a meeting with two other visiting Lords." She said, "Would you like to join us?" "What?" "Other lords??" Kimmy and the others were shocked by the fact that other territories were already in contact. "Yes, two territories came to visit us, hoping to strike deals." The Bellugans looked at each other, interested. Combined with the products Alterans offered, the people of Belluga couldn''t help but feel itchy with curiosity. In any case, with various emotions, the team continued to travel towards Altera territory. ¡­ The group wasn''t as big as the others, with Fable''s group being just a little less than 100 people, a third of which were Alterans. However, this number was plenty attractive to nearby mobs. However, Althea dealt with all monsters above level 2. One was that she needed every bit of experience she could get, and the second was that she had a meeting to rush to. Anyway, the more the group walked, the more amazing they found Althea was. This greatly increased the momentum in everyone, especially the proud Alterans. As they walked back to the territory, Fable sighed and with some effort tried to walk along Althea''s swift and effortless pacing. Wiping a little sweat, he apologized to the woman. "I''m sorry, Ms. Althea." Her eyebrows rose. "What for?" He sent a furtive look at the woman who was low-key flirting with her man, finally noticing he was a bit injured. However, she never failed to look at their direction, sending a supposed ''seductive'' wink. He cringed. Althea had no idea what he was on about and simply asked what she was curious about. "How was the trip?" "Ah... well, it''s a commercial success." "Oh? What about the other aspect?" "Well¡­" he scratched his cheek, embarrassed. Fable mentioned that these people weren''t even planning on settling down at all, just curious about the products offered. He then turned to ask Althea. "How did the other teams go?" Fable could surmise that they went well though, considering two lords were there to strike deals¡­ "Very well, they each got hundreds of new residents." "Whoa!" Fable exclaimed, weakened a bit in shame. Not only did he do so much worse than the others, he might have even brought a plague-named-Kimmy to the territory! Althea saw his guilt and smiled. "You still brought the Lord didn''t you?" She said, "According to the others, it seemed like bringing in the lords would give much more points. "Further, bringing business because of partnership with other territories has an even bigger contribution." Fable lightened up again, but he remembered what Kimmy was actually in Altera for and he felt guilty. "Actually, this Lord could get a bit¡­ troublesome¡­" "Oh?" Fable was too ashamed to speak which actually just amused Althea. She then recalled the stories and ''popular science'' Fable had mentioned when they were making the groupings. Her eyebrows rose and she turned to the other woman, who was flirting with her injured lover at the moment. "I''m sure our men can handle her perfectly well." She told him, "Besides, she would be on our turf, remember? How many regulations do we have implemented?" "Oh!" The star exclaimed and his eyes brightened. Fable''s guilt was swept away like this and he smiled at Althea beautifully. Kimmy, who had been watching from afar, felt a little miffed that the two beautiful people hadn''t paid attention to her. She left her man and increased her pace to walk with them. She walked between the two and beamed at Althea, "How is it your territory?" "Very good. A lot of business opportunities." "Business? I am very interested!" "Well, our territory is about to close a few deals with two other territories." "Those other Lords are distributing the products?" "Yes." In the end, even if Kimmy was a lovebrain, she still came from a business family after all. This meant she knew when an opportunity to make money arose. "I''ll join in!" "Very well." Althea nodded, "I''m sure we''d close very advantageous deals for both sides." Then she paused, looking at their visitors very sincerely. "Our territory is also very beautiful, we welcome visitors very much." "Beautiful?" Kimmy asked, very interested. Althea smiled. "You must like beauty very much." Kimmy flushed. "Yes! Very much." "Then¡­ you would definitely love Altera." Without further ado, the group rushed to Altera, the newcomers heavily wondering what sights they would see. Chapter 279 Terran Gastronomique Haven (Part 1) When the small group arrived at the gates of Altera an hour later, the newcomers gaped everywhere. "Amazing¡­" Kimmy mumbled, eyes wide as she stared at the wide organized avenues and streets, abutted by lovely shops selling SO MANY THINGS! Kyaaa. Her shopaholic nature: Activated! "You can shop around after the meeting, milord," Raine whispered, pulling her out of her reverie. "We can stay here for a long time afterwards, the other two lords will not." "Oh¡­ right, right, right¡­" she said, (temporarily) bringing her sights to the road ahead, and Raine was just glad his reminder was heard. Anyway, Kimmy had no choice but to hold back, and she¡ªalong with every one of her companions¡ªstared at the stores with rumbling stomachs and wildly beating hearts. They went past the pedestrian-only street and were continually amazed by everything. Kimmy had to be pulled by Raine in order to stop her from going to the clothing stores. They weren''t even fashionista stores, just basic clothing, but she brightened at the sight of them. She had brought loads of clothes and shoes from Terran, but they were quickly dwindling and were dirty now. After all, how well could they wash clothes with limited water and no soap?? After so many weeks, she was really beginning to be stinky! She swore she''d buy dozens of new clothes today! After the meeting, of course. Eventually, they reached the end of the street and saw a large corner park. It was surrounded by buildings and there was even an open-air roofed market on one side filled with stalls. Even from afar, they could see the stalls selling a dazzling amount of food and crafts! Especially foods! They felt dizzy just thinking of what to choose when they could finally look around. In any case¡ªhow could a market be so developed? It''s only been a couple of weeks, hasn''t it? sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Time ran fast and they weren''t given enough time to appreciate as they arrived at their destination. They stopped in front of one of the three three-story buildings there. It was the premier restaurant of Altera: the Terran Gastronomique Haven. It was one of the large commercial buildings on the eastern end of Market Street. The restaurant was located near the Woodmasters Gallery, except it had a better location. It was not only next to the open area, currently a small park but it was also adjacent to a new street provision. Not to mention, the Eastern Market Street happened to be closer to the luxury areas near the river as well. With more than half of the villas there already occupied by rich people, it was already the perfect location for his high-end restaurant. In the future, when the new street opens, then this restaurant will also be a corner building in two pedestrian-only streets like the Supermarket. He''d also get more access to the richer crowd. The location was the primest of the prime. Cooke begged Althea to have it. Or rather, implored her to ''kindly ask the system'' for some priority in the rentals. These large commercial buildings could only be rented and Cooke also needed her ''connections'' to get the premier building. On paper, she was not the Lord, but everyone knew the Elders could make suggestions to the system. No one was surprised with the approval of the request and the subsequent procurement of this lot for rental. Although Cooke had bought a standard mixed-use building a while back, since becoming close with a few NPCs he had seen how much potential his business could have. This was especially true when the Protection Period ended when the territory would be open to more locals. So he decided to take a risk even before he got a return on all his initial investments and upgrade. He had a backer and a funder (i.e. Althea), anyway. As for what Cooke did with the first unit he bought along the main avenue, he was converting it into a high-end bakery instead, being manned by his not-yet-a-system-chef apprentice who arrived with Jun back then. "This is amazing¡­" Kimmy said and Althea''s attention was pulled back to the present. She turned to see the newcomers were currently admiring the buildings and their facades. In front of every large commercial building in the cul-de-sac, there was about two meters of easement. These were patches of open space that could be used in any way by the adjoining structure. Baron''s wood products gallery had a lot of wood sculptures and carved items to show their expertise. It was basically an area to showcase their usable outdoor furniture. For the restaurant, this easement was adorned with a small fountain with circulating water and flower gardens. "So beautiful! I didn''t know they had these flowers here." Kimmy said, softly touching a lavender flower, "Amazing¡­ how did you get water all the way here? Do you have pumps?" She asked, referring to the small fountain. It was a cascading fountain under the entrance canopy and right outside the door, welcoming all those who entered. Althea looked at the intricately formed fountain with a smile. Other than the restaurant, there were also various other and bigger fountains. They placed various types: there were birdbaths, cascading, freestanding, and spewing fountains. The most challenging, naturally, were the spewing fountains, and there were only three in the entire territory. One was in the main square in front of the village center, another in the luxury area, and another in her soon-to-open garden park. Althea looked at the other girl to answer her question. "We used the siphon system." "Siphon system?" Althea tried to explain, but it went over Kimmy''s head. Raine watched all of this and sighed, looking around the massive developments, even just around this park. He couldn''t imagine how so much could be built within a few weeks. Beluga had its share of refugees and he naturally knew how it was in most territories. Frankly, he was quite proud of what they had accomplished before. But now¡­ His fist clenched, the ambition in his eyes sparkling a bit. He swore that his Belluga Village wouldn''t be left behind for long. Chapter 280 Terran Gastronomique Haven (Part 2) "I didn''t understand a word you said but it''s amazing¡­" Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea chuckled and shook her head, just leading them inside the restaurant. However, before taking a step she paused. "I will only be taking the lord and one confidant." The group of ''confidants'' froze but low-key stared at Kimmy eagerly. This was with the exception of Raine, who was quiet and looking stable as a rock. "Raine will come with me." Kimmy said and Raine smiled in response. "Thank you for the opportunity, my Lord." Kimmy nodded, trying to look cool and prestigious as always. She then turned and went to follow Althea''s tail. Before they parted though, Raine gave several dozen of silver for each of the ''rejected'' companions. "Use it to shop around," He said, "It''s not too bad, sitting in a meeting isn''t very fun, is it?" The people brightened. "Thanks, Master Raine!" They said and the man smiled, following their Lord through the door, met with the scenery inside. It was definitely high-end and even the door was so intricately carved. Their beams also had decorations, and there were even finials. The tables were hand-carved, and polished to a smooth luster that mirrored the ceiling above. Varnish had now been developed in small quantities. They had extracted only a bit of resin from the waul trees, but relatively simple things like this could be done for now. All the stone walls also had ornaments. They were ornate with wooden frames and carvings, adding to the overall atmosphere of the space. There were not many people here, but without exemption each one coming out had huge smiles on their faces, glowing with satisfaction. As they walked deeper, they couldn''t help but catch sight of the food being served. Gulp. The plates were a symphony of colors and texture attacking the eyes, and there was a wonderful aroma attacking their stomachs. Their stomach rumbled just thinking about it. Althea led them to the stairs and they climbed to the private rooms on the second floor. "This is the most prestigious restaurant in the territory, owned by a Michelin chef who triggered a high-level chef occupation. Almost every meal that comes out has special effects." "Occupation?" Kimmy looked confused while Raine frowned. Althea was a bit surprised. The other two lords were obviously familiar with it, why not this one? Although this girl looked sincere, there seemed to be a lot of details she missed. "Some people triggered inheritances. The NPCs¡ªaborigines¡ªsaid if the person had shown enough talent and innovation in this land, they could trigger it." "Aborigines?!" Althea sighed. "Just ask the other two lords, I don''t know much about this." Kimmy turned to meet Raine''s eyes, and they looked at each other with complicated expressions. Before coming, they had thought that their territory was not bad. But¡ªnot even considering the advancement and the products¡ªthey were so behind others, even in information? This was incredibly unsettling. At the same time they felt thankful that they followed her whimsy, letting them discover their shortcomings before it was too late. The two''s atmosphere turned somber and they just followed Althea to the room. They had a feeling that this meeting would be much, much, more meaningful than they thought. ¡­ "An honor to finally meet the great Althea Witt." Micheal smiled, and beside him was Matthew, who was staring at her for longer than proper. "You flatter me." She said, turning to also shake hands with Matthew. "Ah, hello," he said, meeting her hands. He flushed when he realized he was a bit sweaty on his palm. "Well, your name resounds in the botanical industry at such a young age." Micheal said, "The women in the family were great plant enthusiasts." "You knew me back in Terran?" "I know of your family." "Oh?" Micheal smiled mysteriously and didn''t say anything. Althea blinked but shrugged in response. She was a little curious, but she knew that this plaster-face (Ansel drilled the term in her head) definitely wasn''t planning on telling her anything. So she didn''t dwell on it and just invited everyone to take a seat. The different groups sat around the large circular table, facing each other with their own thoughts. On Altera''s side, there was Mathilda, Gru, and Rowan. On Bright''s, there was Micheal and the only confidant that came with him this time, his bodyguard Dig. On Vismont''s, it was Matthew and a wise old man Leo and Luke would recognize as the cloth repairer guy, Old Yao. And finally, to represent Belluga Village, there was Kimmy and her husband Raine. Before officially starting the meeting, Cooke personally led the service staff to deliver the food, much like how he''d deal with VIPs in the five-star restaurant he co-owned back then. The difference was that he was much more attentive this time. After all, in this new place, your backing was not just related to your money, but also your life. Of course, it so happened he really loved Altera Village and admired the Elder, so he naturally wanted the best deal for them. Thinking of this, he introduced the meals with gusto. "This is the grilled Gugu meat with soy-garlic sauce. The effect was to increase spirit regeneration by 10% for one minute." "This is a vegetable salad with tomato and the local warmmelon for crunch, a wonderful combination of Terran and local plants, put together by my special sauce made from various berries. The effect is to increase mana recovery by 10% for one minute." "Don''t think this is useless because you''re not going to fight outside any time soon, but the NPCs said that prolonged consumption of food with special effects has a chance of slightly improving permanent stats! "Anyway, this viand is ... He introduced the others and the visitors had to put effort not to drool. Not to mention, they were also amazed by the special effects. How great would it be to have a chef in your team, especially when you''re traveling? How do they get one? When Cooke left them with a smile and they started to dig in, it took a while for them to actually start talking. For some time, it looked like they were all angry at each other as they were too busy eating. In any case, the meal was fabulous and was even better than what they ate back in Terran. They chatted as they ate. A combination of good atmosphere and good food¡ªit inevitably formed a good setting for the meeting. And this was a very good thing. After all, this was a meeting that would affect four territories. Chapter 281 Meeting Between Four Territories After half an hour of amicable eating, Althea had a preliminary impression of the three Lords. Micheal and Matthew had their own similarities¡ªwearing smiling masks and giving off a pleasant first impression to most people. However, Matthew''s was a bit milder, like a mask he wore all the time¡ªwhich wasn''t a surprise for a politician. On the other hand, Michael''s smile was akin to a snake, ready to strike. The third lord, Kimmy, was a spoiled brat but without a bad heart. She simply loved beauty and was open to what she wanted. She had a lot to learn, but might still be able to do well with experience. As they ate the fruit platter, Micheal began with his inquiries, "Do you know of custom buildings? We hope to buy the blueprint." Althea looked at him in interest. In fact, the only way that a custom building design could be copied had to be directly created by the Lord. For maximum effect, some necessary details had to be included. A lord with technical knowledge would have massive advantages over lords who didn''t have it, even if they had talents who could create drawings they could base on. It was akin to sculpting, say, a car. Someone who knew its inner workings would definitely create a much more holistic structure than, say, someone who carved the image based on another''s ideas. However, there was a decent alternative. It was just that if the other lords lacked technical talents, they might not be able to capture some of the intricacies. Regardless, Althea, a mere Elder, should not know these things. So, she did not say anything. "I''m not certain. Perhaps Oslo, an aborigine Architect, may be able to shed light on some of your concerns." Micheal looked at her deeply before nodding, "I see¡­ thank you." Matthew was listening closely and said the same. "So those are custom buildings¡­" Kimmy mumbled and turned to Raine. "We already used it for my house though¡­" "Well, we can still manipulate some basic features so they become more useful." "Hm, you''re right." The dessert was served shortly after this. They were fruit platters and fruit tarts, using various vegetation, mostly local. Sugar still hadn''t been used commercially, however, so the sweetness was still limited by current conditions. Even so, the desserts were lovely and the guests loved them very much. They didn''t even have to pretend to be polite and not mention the main topics for a while. They genuinely forgot about their troubles as they ate. Althea could only imagine what Cooke could do if he got hold of actual sugar. She almost drooled at the thought. Anyway, after a short period of small talk, they did shift back to the main topic of this meetup. That was: The Deals. After cleaning up their plates, Matthew and Micheal looked at each other and then at Althea and the other Elders. "About the items we want and the purchase limits¡­ "We would like to gain purchase limits that would suffice our current populations¡­" "That''s not possible," Althea said, "If you''d notice, the entirety of our population is just a fraction of each of yours." The lords nodded, knowing their request was a long shot. In the end, they (using some old Terran paper various cronies gathered separately) gave her a compilation of their requests, based on what had been offered before in their territories, as well as new products they had seen when they got here. The discussion then continued from what the territory was willing to offer and how much they were willing to pay. The end discussion was similar to what Ansel and Micheal had discussed before, but much more detailed and comprised of wider array of products. Micheal looked at her. "Can we also have seeds?" "Sure, but only a limited amount and variety. For now, I''m selling only staples like rice and wheat." Even if she was so limiting, the others were as bright as the sun. "That''s good enough! Thank you!" "I can also sell planting guides for these two crops. For a price, of course." The three looked at her, touched. She really didn''t need to do this, but she did. It could be said that even if Ms. Althea was a bit of a money-grubber, she was a kind and fair one! As such, it was finalized that Altera would be selling them seeds owned by the territory, as well as finished products from Althea''s team like flour, rice, cloth, and others. While it was still twice as much as that of the locals, they could definitely sell these things for a much higher price, so none of them minded. "The territory seems to give you a lot of preferential treatment." Micheal smiled, looking at the product list 80% of which is owned by Althea. Obviously, even if she paid taxes, she was the biggest winner in all of this. Althea only smiled with a nonchalant shrug. "I am the top taxpayer after all. I ought to have some perks." Micheal just nodded mysteriously and Matthew, who had been predominantly quiet for a politician finally spoke out. "It''s really amazing, how much you''ve built in a few weeks." Matthew couldn''t help but mention, that his tone of voice was unconsciously gentler than usual. This made Yao, the grandfather figure beside him, look at him in interest. "Thank you," she said, "I have always had an obsession with plants and experiments. I am happy that it had some use even in this world." "I hope you discover more." Matthew said, eyes softening, "Our Vismont will gladly buy it." Althea smiled and nodded. "Thank you." she said, "I''m actually here to mention something about this to you." She paused and looked at the three lords in alteration. "There should also be resource points in your respective territories. We have already explored our surrounding areas, but I''m sure there are other species around yours. "If you were to send me some samples of unfamiliar vegetation, I can study it for you. Of course, you must provide me with a good bulk as my share." The three Lords and their confidantes brightened at this. A woman who could elevate the agriculture and food culture of an entire territory in less than a month was definitely not bluffing. This was giving them money! Mathilda looked at the solidifying deals and nodded. "There are also some concerns. Will you be allowing caravans from your territories to buy as well?" S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The three lords looked at each other, and then to their confidants, in thought. In the end, the lords jointly decided to allow their people to make deals with the Supermarket. Anyway, the buying price and purchase limits were still lower than theirs. More importantly: It would drive the economy of their territory and improve people''s lives, how could they reject them? This would also increase the room for innovation in their respective territories. In such a short time, they could already see the development of their territories skyrocket, as well as the subsequent improvement of their citizens'', and their own, lives. They couldn''t help but look at the smiling Althea in deep thought. No wonder people here call her a ''hero''! Chapter 282 Four-way Alliance "So this is what a level 3 Village center looks like..." Kimmy said, looking at the three-story building in front of them. They entered and were met with a lot of people doing their own transactions. Seeing them, a lot of them stopped what they were doing and turned, looking at them curiously. Kimmy looked fascinatedly at the decorations, and then to the chandelier and the sconce lights. They looked very good, almost like they had electricity. She turned to look at the two other lords with fluttering eyelashes, blushing a little. "Do your village centers look the same?" The two men cringed a bit, unconsciously stepping back. "No. We saw it when it was level two, and there are still differences." For one, theirs were much plainer. It could be said that the Lord here tapped every chance of customization. It was really, very, very rich. Anyway, they weren''t exactly left to appreciate in peace as people noticed Althea, who had entered a bit later than they did. "It''s Ms. Althea!" A yell from the crowd greeted amicably. This was a catalyst for the cacophony of greetings that followed. "Hello, Ms. Althea! Fancy seeing you here." "Wow, good afternoon Miss!" "Still as beautiful as always, Miss Althea!" "How are the babies?" Many people approached them, genuinely adoring the woman. Althea smiled and responded to what she could, temporarily leaving the visitors some meters away for their own comfort. "She''s really popular and loved," Yao said, smiling. This made Micheal smile beside him. "Well, not only is she charming, she basically holds the economic lifeline of the territory." "Do you think the Lord here will¡­" Matthew couldn''t help but look at the woman worriedly. Historically, the kings didn''t like other people adoring others. "I don''t think so," Micheal said, "Besides, if the Lord here is that type of person, he wouldn''t have hidden his identity in the first place." "Ah, that makes sense," Matthew said, shoulders slumping in relief. Similarly, the other two elders were also quite popular, chatting with the citizens casually and having fun, yet receiving the respect they ought to have at the same time. It was quite envious. Micheal''s rule, while fair, also had a tinge of force and fear in it. Matthew''s depended on charisma and the concept of ''unity against a common enemy'', though after Higson''s killings were revealed it had already been discounted. As for Kimmy''s¡­, she wasn''t entirely sure how her territory was so well-managed. Speaking of Kimmy, it was here that she walked near the two men. "Where does that go? Why isn''t anyone going up?" She asked, pointing at the seemingly unused stairs. "The NPCs go down from there." Althea, who had just gotten back to them, answered. She then led them to a free platform to seal their contract. Matthew stared, "Why are they called NPCs anyway?" She shrugged, "Gamifying when we can lighten up the pressure. We''ll ease out of the term eventually." "Does the choices of NPCs get better?" Micheal asked as he stepped forward to follow her lead. Althea shook her head. "Our NPCs said quality would improve after we became a town." "Hmn.. makes sense." "So this is where NPCs appear?" Kimmy mumbled, ranting at Raine beside her. "I should''ve spent on it instead of the bathhouse! You should''ve warned me!" Raine froze a bit, and nodded passively. "I apologize, my Lord." She had forgotten this had been the latter''s advice all along. She just didn''t listen, saying something about needing a good bath after drowning in this hell hole for so long. Althea took a moment to watch the three lords again, wondering whether she should inform them more of what she knew. She''d rather their territories improve along with her than get buried in the next beast tides. Other than the fact that they were all humans and they should help each other out, there was an economic reason for it as well. As they said, in terms of territories, rich neighbors could bring richer gains. The characters of these three weren''t bad. They were also young and open to innovation. She could also see the sincere desire to improve their territories and the lives of the people. After some thought, she came to a conclusion and looked at them with sincere invitation. "After the signing," She paused, "Can I meet privately with the three Lords at noon, before you go?" She said, "I''d like to invite you to a light after-lunch snack in my place." The people looked at her a little surprised, but seeing she was serious, they couldn''t help but be touched. "It''ll be an honor," Micheal said with an enigmatic smile, patting down his bodyguard Dig, who was about to speak. This man always thought of worst-case scenarios. This was naturally a good quality for his job, but Micheal wasn''t having it today. He could already imagine what he was about to say: They were outside their turf, anything could happen. However, he still had an idea about the character of this woman. She could be trusted. The groups settled around the panel. After Althea typed in some things, a glittery holographic screen appeared in front of all of them. It summarised all that they had talked about earlier, including some punishments for breaching it (mostly in gold, though heavier transgressions could mean losing a building slot). [Would you like to finalize this deal with Gaea Chamber of Commerce?] Matthew and Kimmy were new and read carefully. Micheal had signed a contract with Ansel before, and this was just a further stamp to the deal. At the same time, the three lords pressed enter, and an instantaneous light surrounded them all, catching even more attention on them. Soon, an announcement echoed across the territory¡ªto everyone, including the visitors. [Gaea Chamber of Commerce: Our company has now secured partnerships with Terran Territories: Bright Villages, Vismont Village, and Belluga Village.] This way, everyone would be aware of the new deals that had been happening, so they could plan their own trades accordingly. This would also signal other commercial teams like the Woodmasters to follow her lead and create partnerships with other territories as well. Althea looked at the announcement in thought, thinking whether she should tighten the relationship. Allied territories are different from subsidiary territories where the latter would give some tax to the leading territory. However, allied territories were usually between territories of equal strengths or at least of equal advantages towards the other. As it stood, she really didn''t have much advantage in allying with them. However, humanitarian desires aside, she didn''t believe it would be useless in the objective sense. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She could just look at these four territories as an extension of her market. And a larger market meant money. Formalizing the alliance would allow a smoother flow of people and resources, which would bring her quite a bit of gold in tourism. Anyway, she''d be telling them a lot of what she knew already. She might as well formalize it. [Territory Announcement: It has been detected that major commercial partnerships have been concluded with three territories. [Elder Mathilda will be representing Altera Village. The territory system allows for the formation of allied territories at the judgment of the three existing Elders.] Gru flinched and looked at the other two in surprise. Althea shrugged saying she was just as surprised, and Mathilda only chuckled. "Well, better make friends than enemies, right?" The other three lords watched their interaction with mixed moods. While excited, they were also apprehensive. They were still self-aware. They didn''t seem to have anything to offer to warrant an alliance. It felt like they''d be taking all the advantages. "I¡­ is this alright?" They asked and Mathilda nodded. "The Village System had spoken. I''m just here to represent." The other visitors gulped and looked at each other, a bit disbelieving at this good thing that dropped on their heads. Anyway, at this announcement, people from all territories gathered to watch this momentous occasion. The village center was packed but proper, with everyone watching closely as the lords and elders stood in a circle around the platform, no doubt seeing magic screens in front of them. [A four-way alliance between Altera Village (Lv2), Bright Village (Lv2), Viamont Village (Lv2), and Belluga Village (Lv2) is being established, effective immediately] [Each territory will now be able to communicate via Territory Centers (Lv3). [Allied territories cannot go to war, but they can participate in allied wars of the same level.] [Please confirm. [Yes | No] The four people¡ªMathilda, Micheal, Matthew, and Kimmy¡ªselected their answers at the same time, and patterned circles appeared under their feet the instant they did so. It was much brighter and larger than typical commercial deals, signifying its effect and importance. No one spoke and waited for it to pass. When the light of alliance ebbed, everyone cheered. Even those who didn''t know each other from different territories patted each other''s backs. Regardless of where they were from, they now had more allies¡ªand this was a marvelous thing! Chapter 283 Caveats A few minutes later they arrived at the Eastern area where the farmvillas were. The other lords had already asked their confidants and other citizens to prepare for departure in a few hours. The farmvilla area was very cozy with wide roads and larger parks. And because of the large lots, the entire community felt much more open and quaint. The two men had only seen the area from afar and it felt more comfortable up close. Soon, they arrived outside her house, a large private villa with a tall fence. They could see plants like bougainvillea from outside, one could tell the gardens inside were well taken care of. "Let''s go in." She said with a smile, opening the door to welcome her new allies. What greeted them was a beautiful garden of various colors and decor. The wonderful mix of scents surrounded them, already immersing them in a better mood. There were even hanging flower gardens, ponds, and swings. Kimmy couldn''t help but exclaim. "Now, this is living!" It was like entering a mini fairyland. "How do you maintain this?" "Hired a gardener," She responded vaguely, "One of the NPCs hired by the territory to be exact." She added, "He also takes care of my private tourist spots." "It was mentioned by one of you that private individuals can hire NPCs." Matthew asked, "How was that arranged?" "People that hire NPCs pay about 20 gold a month to Level E professionals, and 30 to Level D." The two lords nodded. Doubling the hiring fee seemed fair and a new way for the Lords to make money. This note was added to their mental checklists. Kimmy gaped at them though. "A month? So expensive?" "Well, if you choose well, they''re usually worth the price." "Oh.." The group walked slowly, appreciating the scenery, eventually reaching the house. Micheal could see the module, but everything else was very different. It was the gregarious Kimmy who spoke up. "This is still a custom house?" Althea pretended to be unsure. "I''m not sure¡­ all of the houses and the shops looked alike when they appeared." This may seem vague, but this was enough of a hint. In particular, the sharp Micheal and Matthew had indeed taken the hint and were already trying to design. If they knew who the Lord was, they would beg for the blueprints even for a high price! They hoped their cronies would fulfill their mission to look for this Oslo! They reached the threshold of the house and entered after taking off their shoes. There was an ante-sala right after the door and they walked deeper to reach the living room proper. Here, they saw a large animal fur cot with children and babies. There were three babies playing on the ground to be exact, and they were happily nannied by little Maya and (very rarely) little Horus. "This is Maya, Harold''s daughter. And this is little Horus, adopted into our team." The little boy turned his head to them with a smile, but then he saw Matthew and frowned deeply, almost hissing like a wild child. Althea walked forward and patted the little boy''s head. "He''s¡­ from Vismont before." "I¡­ see¡­" Matthew said, and suddenly he couldn''t look straight into the boy''s eyes. Beauty-lover-Kimmy sparkled. "They''re so beautifuuullll. Especially the infants! Are they¡­ twins?!" She exclaimed, successfully diffusing the tense atmosphere. Althea smiled. "The twins are mine." She said placing smooches on the children''s faces. It was a beautiful sight. Kimmy exclaimed. "No wonder they''re so cuteeee!" Matthew froze, looking a bit pale, while Micheal''s eyebrows rose, and his curiosity towards the children rose to a new height. ''Their children? How would they be like?'' He mused. Althea didn''t notice these reactions. She simply led them to the verandah and took some ready-made biscuits, cakes, and tea to serve. As they settled down on the comfortable seats, Althea took a sip of tea before speaking. "You may be wondering why I called you here." They nodded, all while taking a bite of the snack and a sip of the wonderful tea. "The elders and I found quite a few things from the NPCs." She paused. "Perhaps because there was no one who claimed lordship, if there was any, the relationship between Alterans and NPCs has always been particularly close." The men nodded. They have heard from their people that NPCs always joined in with the locals during the many festivities and were rarely absent during nightlife activities. Amazingly, they had become true members of the territory, something the other territories had yet to have. It was amazing, let alone to Matthew and Kimmy who didn''t even have NPCs at all. "I''m starting with the so-called Protection Period. What do you know about it so far?" It was Micheal who spoke, "It protects us from much stronger enemies. Giving us some time to grow. " He said, and Althea nodded. "The Protection Period¡­ is indeed important in guarding us during our growth period. "But¡­ what meets us outside is much, much, worse than you could probably imagine." The three froze and looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. No matter how triggered though, they waited for her to continue. Well, mostly. Kimmy did not have patience in her vocabulary. "What do you mean? Please tell us!" She first told them about the level differences. "What are the average levels in your territory?" "Two," Kimmy said, Matthew nodded. "Mine also." "It is three in ours," Micheal said, earning admiring gazes from the other two. "It is four in Altera." The trio stared at her, eyes wide, especially Kimmy. "That''s amazing!" Althea shook her head. "This is nothing. This level is just about the average level of Aborigines in their early adolescence. "The weakest NPC I had was level 14, and he''s a gardener." "What?" "Level 7 or 8 is probably the minimum level of fighters for aboriginal villages." She told them, "Once the protection period ends¡­ more people at this level will get to us. "We have to be prepared." Kimmy looked particularly worried. "Would they attack us immediately?" Althea shook her head. "This is the other thing I hope to mention to you. "In this Continent, it was expressly forbidden to attack a territory arbitrarily and without warning." She raised her hand to prevent them from misunderstanding. "But it doesn''t mean there won''t be any attacks." "First, a small force could do damage without triggering it." She said and looked at Matthew. "Which was what happened in Vismont before, where only a few scores of Alternans fought, with Rowan guarding their safeties." Matthew nodded. "They basically overthrew a shadow regime without triggering it." The others didn''t even have the time to admire Altera''s strength when Althea began to speak again. "There is a culture here. Something called Territory Wars¡­" "What?" Kimmy uttered out. That didn''t sound very good. No, that sounded terrifying. "From what I heard, territories can issue formal attacks to territories of the same levels. A maximum of twelve times a year was allowed." Silence. She didn''t speak for a while, allowing this information to be absorbed, at least to a certain degree. "We not only have to deal with mobs¡ªwhich will also be stronger¡ªbut also fellow human beings¡­" Micheal said, rubbing his temple. "Had the NPCs said anything about the monsters?" Although he had NPCs, they really didn''t care to tell him much, for now. "Yes. In villages, level 5 mobs are normal." "What?" S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Shit!" Kimmy yelled, rubbing her head. "Level 2 mobs are already a big problem to us!" "There''s also another important thing I''m telling you alone and not your confidants." The three gulped, instinctively knowing the gravitas of what she was about to say. "In Territory Wars, the Lord token separates from the body. Whoever holds the token until the war ends, should they want to, will be the new Lord." There was silence in the room, trying to absorb this information and its various implications. The three Lords were silent, feeling heavy in their hearts. They thought they could finally begin to build a stable life¡­ but it seemed that they thought too much. Just¡­ what kind of world is this? Chapter 284 Leaving (Part 1) Soon came the time to finally leave, and Althea saw them off to the gates. Kimmy hugged her goodbye, while Micheal shook her hand. Matthew also extended his hand to shake her hand, though his eyes were fixed on her occupied ring finger. "Where''s¡­ your husband?" He asked but paused immediately, regaining some of his lost tact. "I mean if you don''t mind me asking." "We were not together when the migration happened," She politely responded, "But he will come for me." Althea said so with confidence. Don''t ask her why she knew, it was her intuition. Matthew stiffly nodded, pushing down the sadness, and politely said goodbye. He then turned his body to join the other two. The three Lords once again thanked her profusely before heading away, minds still bugged by the plethora of worries they''d have to face, among many other things. As they walked far, nearing the center, they agreed to separate and meet with their respective teams. Of course, not without a tad of flirting, courtesy of Kimmy. "If you ever want to have fun, call me~" She said, winking, already figuring out how to upgrade the Village Center to do so. The two men nodded stiffly, and Kimmy¡ªseeing as neither man wanted to speak with her (for now)¡ªreluctantly went away. Watching Kimmy leave, Matthew finally couldn''t help but ask Micheal. "I have a question." "Ask away." The other man said with a cool smile as they walked. "You said before that you know of her family." "Did I?" Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Did you know her husband?" "Maybe." "How is he? I mean¡­" "I know what you''re trying to ask," Micheal said with an unchanging voice and Matthew flushed in embarrassment of being seen. "No one is better, unfortunately." He made a rare sneer. "Even in his job, he could be said to be the best." Matthew paused, blinking. This guy looked so impassive but he really felt very palpable annoyance coming out from him at this moment. Hey, could it be...Michael had a beef with Althea''s husband?! "You¡­ have an animosity with him?" Micheal shrugged. "Well, in our previous life. But not much of that matters now, right?" Matthew sighed, nodding, though he couldn''t help but feel a bit curious about the details. The two then reached the inn and separated with their own thoughts, putting other things aside. No matter what, they had already built their home. Now they had to do everything to protect it. ¡­. Some time later, on the side of the inn where the Bellugans stayed in, Raine greeted the Lord when he received news of her return. "Was the harvest good? Did we get a lot of information?" He paused and thought of the topic that interested their lord the most. "Did you get close to any of the two lords, milord?" Kimmy''s shoulder slumped but it was only because she remembered all of Althea''s warnings. Raine saw her sad and was not surprised, assuming her flirtations didn''t click. Those were powerful men, after all, so he just assumed Kimmy was rejected and hurried to comfort her. Raine patted her hair and spoke, "Well, Fable did mention a lot of handsome men here. I have indeed seen someone with different hair colors¡ª" "We have no time for that." Kimmy cut him off. Raine was quite startled by Kimmy''s rare seriousness and was even more surprised when she started giving rational orders one after another. "Buy all the resources you can, we''ll go back to the territory today." She said, in stark contrast to her plans to stay for a long time and shop her heart out. Although Raine was a bit confused, he nodded and followed her orders to a tee. Something serious must''ve happened during that meeting. ¡­ On Matthews'' side, he met up with his sister at the inn. She was looking at him sheepishly and he was frankly a little scared. "What is it?" What he didn''t expect was that Melissa would pull him for a guilty surprise. She brought him to the luxury area. It was the first time he saw it up close, and he found it difficult to believe other people had luxury areas when his people were just meeting their basic needs. They passed by the gorgeous gardens with plenty of families and lovers having fun and knew this must be the garden Althea was talking about. Such a beautiful woman creating such beautiful things¡­ While it wasn''t to the point that he never had a girlfriend or two, his experience disallowed him to put too much into relationships. It was just that he was not innocent and he knew that he was very attracted to the woman. Too bad she was already married. And with children. "We''re here." They stopped in front of a villa with a garden, which reminded him of Althea''s house a bit. "I bought it, I paid for the downpayment with the money you gave me." . . . "WHAT?!" Melissa flinched and hurriedly put her hands together. "Don''t be mad! I''ll pay you back I promise, and I won''t bother you with the monthly payments. I already partnered with Eugene ¡ª" "Who?" He raised his hand to stop her and breathed in, trying to understand. He already suffered huge amounts of information overload today, he had to take time to absorb this new thing. As far as he knew, one could not own real estate in Altera unless they were permanent residents! "First off¡­ you decided to immigrate without telling me?" He asked, trying to sound calm, but his voice croaked a bit regardless. Melissa held his arm to comfort him. "No, no. Rather than immigration, think of it as Vismont opening a¡­ branch in Altera. "I''m planning on making it into a homestead of sorts, renting out the other rooms for an expensive fee. Not everyone can buy these villas after all, and a lot of people would want to experience it. "Besides, wouldn''t you want to live in such a nice place when you visit? You''ll come often for business won''t you?" Matthew looked at his sister who''s eyes were wide in apprehension. It calmed his heart a bit, feeling a bit guilty for making his sister¡ªwho was five years older than him¡ªso fretful. It would be a lie to say he wasn''t shocked and a little betrayed, but he had seen how Altera was. His sister would live here well and safely. Not to mention the things he heard this morning; Altera was definitely the best Territory to be in after the Protection Period. But¡­ who''s Eugene? "He''s¡­. My new colleague." She mumbled, unconsciously twirling her hair. "He used to be my senior brother (though we are about the same age)¡­ he is also one of the most important people in the territory!" "Oh?" He asked, arms crossed. How could he not see his sister''s flustered state? But he didn''t point it out. She was obviously still very shy about it. Unexpectedly, her shoulders slumped more, and began to feel teary. His eyebrows furrowed, but he patiently waited for her to speak. Then, she told him the true reason she decided to stay. "I¡­ I feel too ashamed to face the people of Vismont." Ah. For a while, the two of them just stood still, one absorbing the surprise and the other thinking of ways to calm him. In the end, Matthew just sighed. He looked up at the sky as he calmed himself down. A few moments later, he held his sister''s hand like he always did. "You did the right thing." He told her after a long pause. "As long as you''re happy." Chapter 285 Leaving (Part 2) Meanwhile, on Bright''s side, Micheal found a new person waiting for him. His eyebrows rose as he saw the handsome man with shimmering golden hair, leisurely drinking tea in the lounge. A lot of women were also staring at him, gesturing to want to talk, but did not carelessly approach as they would''ve, say, been watching Fable instead. It probably had to do with the man''s power and position. Not to mention, the man reeked of class. He was definitely well-bred. Eventually, though, the women did gather courage to chat him up but before they could approach, the man''s eyes lifted and met his. Micheal''s eyebrows rose and he immediately walked to him. "Mr. Oslo." Oslo nodded, relaxing his back against the upholstery. "Ms. Althea told me you were looking for me." "Yes," Micheal said, walking over and sitting to the seat in front of the aborigine. As he sat, he heard the man utter, "Where''s the other one?" "He went out with his sister." He said, "Are you here for the blueprint?" "Yes." He paused, "Well, you can tell him he (as an Allied territory) can now buy the blueprint in the village center. The price is 100 gold upfront and 5% of the subsequent profits will go to Altera. "However, the drawings could only be so detailed, due to the lack of papyru¡­ paper. How much you could copy would still depend on you." "...thank you," Micheal said and lifted his head when he saw the man leave. "Wait." Oslo paused, meeting the other man''s eyes. "Tell your Lord of our utmost gratitude." The blonde smiled, and he just walked away. ¡­ At this time, another set of goodbyes was happening in the aforementioned lord''s home. After receiving the order of their imminent departure, Winona ran to Althea to say goodbye. "I will come back." She said, burying her blonde head on her friend''s shoulder. "With my grandma, unfortunately." "I''ll reserve a villa for you. I''ll add furniture." Althea said and the other woman lifted her head and looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. Winona wanted to reject it, but she wouldn''t hear the end of it if grandma found out. In the end, she accepted Althea''s kindness. "I''ll make sure to pay you." Althea chuckled, patting the other girl''s head. "Just take it as advanced payment for being an excellent employee." "Awwww." The two chatted for a few more minutes, with Althea saying all the precautions, and was teased by Winona for becoming an old mother. "Remember," Althea finally said, "You must take care of yourself." The two hugged and Winona finally had to leave. "Wait," Althea said, taking out a few small boxes from her space. First, she showed the largest box. It was a custom organizer with sections, about 100 millimeters in each dimension. "Do you still have space?" Althea asked. Winona blinked and nodded. "Here are some products not yet made available to the public due to the limitations of raw materials," She said, gently placing the box on the nearest surface to show its contents. Inside, there were jars of salt and sugar, and other seasonings, some of which were not yet available in the supermarket. Winona gulped as she looked at the bottles with careful notes telling her what it was and how to use them. There was also a smaller box on the side. "These are cookies that Harold baked. They had the effect of slowly increasing health. On the other hand, this biscuit has the effect of recovering mana." "These little balls here are gas bombs. You can throw it on monster mobs to distract them a bit. They have limited effects though, as some monsters have stronger lungs, so please don''t rely on it too much. I can only give you three pieces, unfortunately." And finally, Althea pointed at another box. "Finally I have several bars of soap of differing scents, jars of shampoo, preliminary versions of toothpaste, sanitary napkins, and my perfume. It''s Sweetened Rose." Winona had already been tearing up a bit when Althea out the items. But now she was sobbing. There was even Althea''s perfume! Sweetened Rose! Her favorite!! Instead of saying anything, she just glomped at Althea again, so very touched. "I looooveeee youuuuuu this is the best gift everrrrrr!!" ¡­ Eventually, the call time had come, and it was the moment for all the visitors to leave if they wanted to arrive at their respective territories within the day. Seeing their allies (and some even made friends) go, a lot of Alterans grouped and saw them off, which kind of made the people leaving want to both blush and cry. They watched Vismont and Belluga leave the territory one by one, everyone carrying at least two bags. Some people even managed to buy the few saleable rickshaws available to hold onto items. Of course, because there was no rubber yet, they would have to prepare to replace the wheels midway. They also bought a lot of spare tires. In fact, if there were more production of rickshaws, it was estimated there would be a lot more. "Ah, they''ve only been here a day, but I feel quite sad," Harold mumbled beside her, and Sheila nodded as he watched them go. Althea and her team joined the territory for the send-off. They stared at the thinning crowd with complex expressions. Probably because they were all allies now, the parting felt particularly sad. It could also be because this place was too unstable and dangerous. Who knew how many people leaving now would ever be able to come back here? S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Only Bright Territory was left, and Micheal turned to look at his team as they said their final goodbyes. Like with the other two territories, he saw that the members coming back were a bit fewer than when they came. This wasn''t a surprise as most people if they had a choice, would naturally decide to choose Altera instead of any of their territories. One of the people who stayed was Ramona, and she was currently saying goodbye to her ''best friend''. Sandra hugged the girl goodbye. "I will tell him your decision. I''m sure he''ll understand." Sandra said, really like a good sister. Ramona nodded and hugged her again. "Just tell him I''m protected now and I''m living a decent life." Ramona said, and Sandra parted with her with great ''sisterly reluctance'' before joining the team. As she exited the tall walls with the others, Sandra could not help looking back and felt regretful. If she had better options like Ramona (though anyone here was better than what Ramona had back in Bright), she''d have stayed as well. But her man was one of the more powerful figures in the territory. As they said, it was better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. If she found a young handsome capable man then she would jump at the chance. Unfortunately, she didn''t. She didn''t even consider the aborigines like Oslo and Rowan. Their level was too high that they could make her kneel with their auras alone. Ansel''s handsome face flashed through her head. It would be great if she were to capture him¡­ But¡­ she didn''t even know where Ansel disappeared to. Chapter 286 Iron Bog (Part 1) At this time, Ansel was currently a couple of kilometers away, in a place where the air was thick and humidity was intense. All they could hear was their sticky footsteps and the occasional gurgle of bubbling muck. They were currently halfway through the mission, heading to what would¡ªhopefully¡ªbe an iron bog. When the announcement was sent to all of them, he was approached by a shy man¡ªa refugee who arrived with Jun back then. Even before leaving Bright, they immediately mapped (okay, it wasn''t him) the approximate direction of the bog and they decided to take the risk. The trip was set to take at least a full day, and the output wasn''t even certain. However, although the trip could go to waste, iron was just too important to the entire territory not to take a look. Ansel stopped and looked at the sky, wondering if they''d be able to get back to the territory by sunlight. He looked at the person beside him and asked, "What time is it?" The man raised his sundial-like watch to check the time, "It is a few hours before noon." "Thanks," he said, his sights returning to the rough untravelled path in front. Ansel would also want to be able to tell the time. Sadly, the sundial watch didn''t work well with someone as directionally-challenged as he was. Alas! No one was perfect, not even him. Putting these thoughts aside, his small party continued to trudge through the humid forests. Soon the ground changed and got muddier and muddier, soon arriving in front of a swamp. Ansel''s dark green eyes stared at the disgusting viscous pond. His eyes twitched every time the bubbles spit some liquid on his leather boots. He looked around and saw the trees here were quite unique, with moss and lichen adorning their branches and trunks, blending in the greenish hues of the bog. Their forms were twisted and bare, their barks were weathered and textured, and their leaves were dark and leathery. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This wasn''t a surprise because, after all, these poor trees grew in iron-rich water and acidic soil. There was also the occasional fruit, though they smelled bitter and sour. He didn''t even try to taste it. He simply took a bit of fruit and trees for Althea to study. Later, Althea would indeed study these thoroughly. The usefulness of the fruits wasn''t much, but the wood could be used, even just the branches, for sustainability. After that, deep red and purple dyes would be introduced to the territory, belatedly adding another batch of contributions to their group. Further, these trees were also rich in tanning compounds, which could be sold to Baron for his tanning business. Of course, for now, he didn''t know these things because his eyes were attracted by the stones half submerged in the muck, which created a (very small) pathway to the other side. It was inviting people to step, and one wrong step and one could be sucked. So they didn''t cross. Instead, Ansel took a random big rock that could fit in his space and then released it on top of the bog. Flop! They watched as the stone dropped on the disgusting fluid, forming a ripple that was quickly absorbed by the viscosity. Nothing happened for a moment and Ansel almost thought he was being overly paranoid. But then¡ªas if the viscous liquid responded to his ''attack''¡ªmore and more bubbles began to form. These bubbles got larger than the bubbles before them, popping disgustingly and hitting not just their boots but also their pants. It was here that extremely disgusting grotesque forms emerged from the muck, one by one, making weird noises between growls and howls. The creatures'' skins were pallid and slick and their red eyes were gleaning with predatory hunger, and plenty of big men in their team shivered. They were like aliens from old sci-fi movies. It was super gross. Anyway, everyone''s weapons were all long ready, and just waiting for orders. "Watch my back!" Ansel yelled at his team as he raised his weapon, a sword he got customized from Brenda with some material donations from Oslo. He was among the first to trigger the Swordsman occupation in Altera, and he was bent on practicing it. "Yes!" Amos, the young guard with high potential that Drake had his eyes on, was with him at the moment along with a few others. Together, they met the monsters as soon as they got off the swamp, swiping and stabbing with increasing skill. Together, they chipped away at the monsters. This went on for a while as the swamp aliens weren''t weak, and the fact that they felt squeamish didn''t help at all. Another was the fact that they had been fighting for what was probably a whole day. Amos was going on his second weapon now, the previous one losing durability even before they got to the swamp. This was the same with almost everyone else. Ansel''s was a bit better. His was a bespoke weapon and thus had much higher durability than others. Anyway, they slashed away, trying to be technical with his slashes, for efficiency. Nearby, Amos poked his spear and killed the other, and the other guards took care of the last ones, gaining points. [Ghasa (Lv2), +50 copper, +50 experience] Ansel took advantage of an opening and lifted his leg to kick a monster to another. Then, using their imbalance, he ran over them and stabbed them, finally impaling the damned things. With increasing skill, he stabbed and slashed, the metal of his sword screeching against the metallic skin of the monster. To be honest, it made his teeth hurt. However, he had long lost (most of) his squeamishness and he stabbed away as if he wasn''t affected. At some point, he even felt his body becoming one with the sword¡ªa sensation that occurred when he activated the Swordsman Occupation. [Ghasa (Lv3), +70 copper, +70 experience] [Sword Slash (D). Swordsman Skill. 50% chance of doubling damage. Lasts 1 minute. Mana -10] Ansel''s eyes brightened. Finally!! His first Swordsman Skill! Chapter 287 Iron Bog (Part 2) [Used Sword Slash (D). -10 Mana] He slashed expertly at the monster, his stabs becoming faster and faster and more accurate. His hits were sharper, like a special sharp aura of sorts surrounded his attacks. He really felt it¡ªthe difference, though primarily because his teeth didn''t hurt as much, as there was less screeching and more successful stabbing through the skin. The new skill added another bout of passion in Ansel''s attacks, letting him take care of another monster, saving Amos from injury. Their noise naturally attracted more monsters, however, and they had to fight those as well. His eyes twitched as he saw the monster effortlessly get up from the muck. Their lower bodies were sharper, and their legs were sharp, similar to arachnids. This allowed them to move easily across viscous fluid as if they were swimming in clean pools. Well, whatever, it was all just super gross. Also, because of Eugene''s story, he thought that maybe monsters disliked the smell of metal. What was this now?! Of course, it could only mean this wasn''t an iron bog at all, so how could there be the smell of metal? However, he couldn''t think too deeply about, as he was preoccupied by not getting eaten by such disgusting monsters. The fight went on for some time later until there was no more emerging from the damned mulch. Fortunately, these monsters were solitary and had low fecundity, so they managed to clear out the entire place relatively quickly. Not to mention, the protection period expelled any monsters above level 3, which further reduced the enemies they had to face. [Ghasa (Lv1), +30 copper, +30 experience] [Ghasa (Lv1), +30 copper, +30 experience] Ansel nodded and heaved a sigh. Congratulating the others and ordering them to get some samples of the monsters for study, a habit of his when he found his sister found joy in discovering new things even in this place. Ansel wordlessly walked towards a collection of large rocks far from the action. He stopped in front of the largest one that had a flatter rock on top of it. Ansel then lifted it up, revealing a man squeezed inside. He looked at the shaking bespectacled man underneath and pulled him up by the collar. He then dropped the man to stand on his own and he looked at them in embarrassment after he was able to do so. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His name was Kimura Johnson, a man with balding black hair, pale skin, and single eyelids. He also had spectacles on though it was filled with scratches. "S-Sorry about this¡­" he said, genuinely guilty. He also wanted to fight with them, but he froze all the time. This was one of the newcomers who came with Jun''s batch, and he was some sort of a metal expert. Ansel sighed, rubbing his temple. "I don''t know how you survived so long." Kimura''s lips pursed. He also didn''t know. In fact, how he survived for so long was more or less due to luck. It was just that he froze too much to absorb what was happening around him. In Terran, he happened to be in the lab with one person, who turned into a zombie. But they were working on a lot of sharp objects and with an accidental push from him, it basically skewered itself. He just ended its suffering, and at the same time the kill was counted on his head, activating the ''system''. And when they migrated here¡­ he was still very lucky. There were plenty of times he was almost eaten, of course. It was just that, when he was beside someone else, for some reason, the monster would definitely target the other person. He actually mumbled this to Ansel, whose eyebrows rose. "Oh?" He asked, interested. He recalled Eugene''s story. Apparently, his leg was indeed mauled by a monster back in the Royal Territory. However, it was eaten with¡­ distaste and was thus vomited out afterward. Eugene could now joke about it, saying it was such a waste of a perfectly good leg. It seemed like these people worked so closely with metal smelled like it. And he knew his earlier theory seemed to have some merit, after all. In fact, he wasn''t wrong at all. Most beasts really did dislike the smell. It didn''t mean they were afraid, however, only mostly disgusted. It was just that this particular monster, which lived in the iron-filled muck, was an exception. Anyway, after a short rest, the group proceeded on their trip to a very important (potential) resource point. Kimura narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at the terrain as they moved, expert eyes watching for some landmarks like weird-shaped stones and terrain change. When he was a refugee, they came across a large swamp with surface discoloration in stagnant areas. He wasn''t able to confirm it because, well, life. He even forgot about it for a while. However, an announcement of resource hunting was sent and he was reminded of what he could find. Even if he was weak, he also wanted a better life for himself, which was why despite his cowardice he took a leap of faith and joined the ''mass pirating'' activity the territory launched. When the new missions were announced, he also took another step forward. He partnered with a higher-up, hoping to get good resources. So¡­ here he was. He walked deeper into the muck, surrounded by guards on both sides in case of monsters suddenly appearing. Fortunately, all the monsters nearby had been dealt with, so he was able to finally focus on studying the terrain for clues. A few minutes later, his feet stopped at a spot. Kimura looked at the telltale sign of deep red and orange hues in the bog¡ªindicating rich iron content on a spot a couple of meters away. He dared not approach though. "Over there," He said, pointing at an area. Knowing the guy''s cowardly nature, Ansel gestured to walk over. "Are you sure?" He asked Kimura, just for good measure. He nodded. "Yes, iron bogs should be below." Ansel nodded and walked over to the more colorful waters, feeling the mushy ground below starting to get firmer. However, before they could do anything else, they heard rustles of leaves, and the next thing they knew a new mob had been attracted. Ansel looked at the others and sighed. He walked towards the rustles, ready to defend the spot with the others The feeling of the gooey greenish-black liquid creeping upwards on his leg was extremely disgusting, but they could only push through. Because they knew how important this place was! Chapter 288 Iron Harvests Ansel lunged forward, his bespoke blade slicing through the damp air. He hit the creature''s metallic skin. After so long, they naturally already determined the weak spots of the creature, one of which was an orifice located at its neck. He really liked the sound of metal to meat the slashes there made, in contrast to the clashing sound of screeching metal that annoyed the hell out of him. Amos and the other spearmen jabbed at another approaching creatures, keeping some at bay to be more manageable. Ansel deftly blocked the countered the disgusting critter''s attack, sparks flying as its shiny skin hit his weapon. They spun their weapons in wide arcs to guard the injured ones and Kimura. Soon, more and more monsters fell and a lot of them were left with one-on-one fights. Amos thrust his weapon into the bog''s mire. Using it as leverage to get above a monster, he landed on one head and raised his spear to stab another with great precision. [Ghasa (Lv2), +50 copper, +50 experience] [Congratulations! You have activated a Profession: Spearman!] Amos'' eyes widened. "YES!" He yelled, unaware of the new monster that appeared behind him. "Hey!" Ansel yelled and threw the sword as if it was a javelin. He wasn''t an athlete though and his accuracy sucked, and the throw was just enough to distract the thing for a second. Fortunately, it was enough for Amos to gather himself and turned his body with his spear, stabbing repeatedly until it died. [Ghasa (Lv1), +30 copper, +30 experience] "Tsk," Ansel tutted as he walked to his sword which was now filled with bog grime. "Ugh." Amos looked very guilty. "Sorry." Ansel sighed and couldn''t bring himself to reprimand the hardworking kid too much. "It''s fine. You''re assigned digging duty though." Amos, who was nervous, immediately brightened at the ''light'' punishment. "Yes, sir!" ¡­ When all the monsters fell, the group didn''t rest. They immediately went to get their resources lest more monsters get attracted! The team was divided into two groups: One to dig the pit, one to both guard them and arrange to put them aside, to dryer grounds. They dug out as much from the alleged iron bog as they could, ignoring the smell and stickiness of the water. The colorful rocks varied in size, from a rock as small as a pebble to one as large as a small boulder. They had rough and textured surfaces with unnatural intricate patterns. Kimura took one, fascinated, and took out his tool from the space¡ªjoining the ''exclusive'' group of experts who took priority over bringing their tools over the basics (like food). He called it¡­ Chipper. He happily chipped the outer skin of the ore. It was not easy, but he couldn''t give it to others lest they damage it. After a while of working, a metallic luster revealed underneath, and his expert eyes confirmed the legitimacy of this resource. His eyes were bright and he lifted his head to look at Ansel, who had been watching closely. When he nodded, Ansel and the others almost jumped up in glee. "That''s it!!" Ansel said, relieved, finally forgetting about the stickiness of the body. "Let''s go! They still had to process those back home!" They didn''t stay the night and rushed to the territory. They arrived right before dusk and each one of their small team received lovely notifications! The members of their small team received different amounts according to contribution, and it was even more than they expected. [Congratulations! You have received +3000 contribution points!] He smiled. Although as the Lord''s brother, he didn''t need these points, it still felt very nice. This was of course especially true for the others, many of whom were trying to save up money and points for a better life. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Kimura obtained the most at 7000 points. The pale-skinned man smiled as he cried. He could be a permanent resident now! He, who had just been waiting for death not too long ago, could actually live a stable life in this chaotic world! Ansel looked at everyone''s happy faces. That was way more than the promised 10000 contributions for the team. Althea was understandably very generous this time. "Well, after reporting, everyone should get a well-deserved rest." He said, and the others nodded, thanking each other for their hard work. After saying goodbye to the team, he ran back home to see Althea and the children. But when he saw how dirty he was compared to the clean streets of Altera, he stopped. He didn''t want to appear so dirty, so he rented a room at the inn to take a bath before finally going back to the house. He got back home about half an hour later, and Althea was there waiting for him. She stood up when she saw him, naturally giving him a familial hug. "You did a very good job!" Ansel hugged her back as he shyly scratched his cheek. "It was all that Kimura. Also, there wasn''t much, aren''t you going to purify it?" "Yes, it''s still a long process, but it''s a huge step in the right direction." She said with a smile, "As long as a few weapons are made, that''s another safety net added." There were now over 200 guards in the territory. The target was to equip them all with iron weapons and armor. The amount gathered was indeed far from enough. "We''ll need a lot more help to get all of those resources back home." There were only a little over 2 days before the upgrade. She needed to mobilize everyone to gather as much as possible. She opened her tablet to research how much unpurified iron would be needed so she could get an idea of how much reward she could offer and how much to charge. Apparently, ancient long swords would require half to over one kilogram of purified iron. Iron, by default, was a Level D weapon at the lowest, which would sell for at least 50 silver. Making rough calculations, she set up some prices and¡­ went on to mobilize the entire territory again. [Territory Mission (B) [Task: Mining Ores. (Tagged location will be provided to those who accept the task.) [Duration: 28 hours [Rewards: 100 copper per 100 grams of ore] People around the territory were surprised at the news. "Iron?" Someone slapped his thigh both depressed and amazed, "Here I am still searching for resource points, someone discovered Iron." And then there were a few laughs and claps. "It means the territory will only get stronger!" "Are my improved farming tools finally at bay?!" Someone whispered wistfully, gaining a couple of eye rolls. Regardless of whatever they wanted to get developed after this discovery, everyone had a unifying thought: Their territory was amazing! Chapter 289 Working with Iron The announcements of the territory further deepened the aborigines'' sense of place and lit up fires in several hearts. Brenda and Crutch, in particular, were in an unbelievable mood. They were ecstatic, but at the same time, it sounded too good to be true. They happened to be next to each other in the workshop¡ªanother factory building¡ªworking on something with Eugene when the announcement resounded across the territory. At first, they really couldn''t believe it, especially Clutch. At first, they mused the lord and the others thought that Iron¡ªlocally known as black metal¡ªwas something else. They hadn''t even seen goblins before, how could they find the materials? However, a part of him still hoped for a miracle. The territory truly needed all the improvements it could gather to protect itself well. Further, the threshold for Level D Weaponmakers and Armorers to Level C was working with iron. Just thinking of getting a hold of the material¡ª Brenda, who was there when the quest for iron was sent, was a lot less cynical. From what she had seen, the lord and the others seemed to be familiar with the material. But she did understand how Clutch thought. First off, not everyone could capture and enslave goblins, the only race who could efficiently find such resources. Second, even if they did manage to somehow get their hands on the goblins and the black metal the effective method of processing wasn''t common knowledge, either. For many territories, the effort and cost of handling iron was much higher than simply purchasing them from the established channels. This had always been a secret of big families, something that had historically caused a lot of lives to maintain the secret. "If it is really black metal, then what if the lord expects us to be able to handle it?" Brenda''s comforting smile disappeared. Oh no¡­ Clutch was right. What would they do if they disappointed the lord? The thought of the woman frowning at them, disappointed, made her want to cry. It was at this time a notice visible only to the NPCs appeared in their heads not long after that. [Notice: All NPCs shall meet at the third-floor meeting hall. Target: Finalized action plans for the Iron] "Hey, what''s wrong?" Troy, who had seen their daze, waved his hand in front of both their faces. "Did you get so excited about the iron as well??" Clutch and Brenda looked at each other awkwardly. "We were called for a meeting," she said. "We''ll have to go early today." "Ah, yes! Gogoggooo!" "A-ah¡­, yes." When the other workers cheered them up, very excited about the next steps in handling iron, they could only nod awkwardly and hope for the best. When they arrived the Lord and the young master Ansel were already there. The others also arrived right after them and they went inside, wondering how the meeting would go later on. Althea, Ansel, and the NPCs sat around the table. Althea sat at the head, looking at everyone with a serious expression. "We only have a few days left before the opening of the barrier and an even shorter time for the next beast tide. I hope to expedite the processing of this, the target is to equip all guards with at least one iron weapon." Both Brenda and Clutch looked at each other and bowed their heads in shame. "We don''t know how to handle this material¡­ I apologize, my Lord." Clutch said, followed by Brenda. "It is the same with me." She said so with a shaky voice and a bit of a push and she''d definitely cry. Althea smiled at them in reassurance, "Don''t worry, I have a few people in mind." The two whipped their heads up and stared at her, their expression complicated. She couldn''t help but chuckle. "But you will be joining this person in creating equipment. Hopefully, you can learn from him as well." The two''s eyes looked at her in disbelief and worship, but they knew her well enough not to question her anymore. Even if the material they claimed could be wrong, their hearts still felt full. Althea only smiled at their tearing eyes, and she turned to Oslo and Clout, "Please assist Eugene in creating a smithing factory as soon as possible." "Yes, milord." And finally, she turned to Rowan, "Please organize the protection of the people who will gather the bog iron." "Yes, milord." The redhead uttered, saluting. Although he was silent and he didn''t have much expression on his face, his heart was hot. He could imagine the new items that would soon be available to them, how Altera''s strength would be taken to yet another level. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Meeting adjourned." And everyone soon left, one by one, feeling each of their steps becoming particularly meaningful. ¡­ After the meeting ended, Althea opened the territory panel for the essential next step. In the Lord panel, she looked at the list of citizens, narrowing on a name and his so-called expertise. With a smile, she raised her hand to the powdery screen, pressing a few buttons. A moment later, a very special invitation was sent, one that was set to change a person''s life. . . . At this time, Hardy was picking up stones and loose twigs and branches when a ding sounded in his head. [The territory has discovered Iron. You have been detected to be able to handle the material. You are invited to become a territory-hired blacksmith.] [Wage: 200 copper/day, 1% sales commission for all products innovated] Whatever was in Hardy''s hands fell on the ground. 2 silver a day!!! Plus commissions!?! He just arrived earlier from Bright territory. He didn''t think he''d get a chance so soon!!! ¡­ Everything was expedited. The near-finished factory reserved for Baron was temporarily delayed and expropriated. In exchange, he would get a 20% discount on rent for the 6 months. Within that day, Eugene and Oslo had set up a working station in accordance with Hardy''s specifications. Oslo was pale afterward, but he knew the importance of this to the territory, and he was willing to take the extra mile. Far away, Rowan and many guards and civilians were already fighting in the swamps and clearing it up from all monsters. Brenda and Clutch, on the other hand, started to create their equipment. It was a learning curve at first, but Old Hardy was a great teacher. Not to mention, it was really the material that they thought! And the lord and the others really knew how to process it! Althea watched the process closely, watching them handle the metal, their hammers hitting it to shape. To Althea, each hit made her feel a bit more stable. War was coming, and they must be prepared. Chapter 290 Gearing Up (Part 1) [7 days of Protection Period] [The Beast Tide will happen in less than four days. It is recommended everyone prepare enough weapons and resources to minimize losses.] [Contribution will be equal to the copper coins received from a monster.] [Do not underestimate the monsters! The system predicts monster mobs to be much stronger than the previous one.] [The top residents with the most contributions earned during the upcoming beast tide will receive the following: S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Top 1: Permanent residency for 1 person + Duplex unit house Top 2: Permanent Residency for 1 person + 50 gold worth of items from Gaea grocery store Top 3: Permanent Residency for 1 person + 30 gold worth of items from Gaea grocery store [Top 4-10: Permanent Residency for One person ] [Purchase price of stone and wood will be increased by 50% 2 days before and after the beast tide.] At first, the topic that exploded was the beast tide. "It''s a beast tide!" The sound of despair, particularly coming from newcomers. After all, they all had horrendous experiences associated with the beast tide. Its sound alone was enough to terrify them to freezing point. They had heard it had to do with upgrades. Now that the territory was already level 2, that meant the monsters would be much stronger this time right??! However, they soon came to realize¡­ that they were alone in panicking. Looking around, everyone else seemed¡­ excited??? A lot of people around them were even celebrating, already discussing with their friends what they''d do. "Finally! I had felt I was stagnating for so long! I already consumed my contribution to use the training hall!" "Same! Now, not only can we recharge on loot, we can also recharge on contribution while we get stronger!" Another group was rubbing their hands. "Time to get rich!" The newcomers were very confused. What the fudge??? In Altera, thanks to the walls, sentries, and guards, there were basically no deaths in the previous beast tide. Instead, a lot of people were able to afford permanent residency. For them, the Beast Tide was a source of money and contribution points. A source for the Good Life. Eventually, the self-absorbed old residents noticed the baffled states of the newcomers and patted their backs in amusement. "Don''t worry, the territory prepares well. Don''t you see all these announcements?" "Just do our part!" "Don''t be lazy! The territory takes 1 copper coin from everyone whenever the wall loses 1% of its durability." "What?!" "It''s not much. We only lost a few coppers last time." "As long as no one''s lazy¡ª" one added, "Basically, everyone must take part in protecting the territory! Isn''t it just fair?" "Yes, yes, yes." This type of explanation echoed across the territory. Some conversations, on the other hand, turned to profits. "My crackers should sell especially well at that time!" "Someone request to Ms. Althea to increase the purchase limits!" "Oh, yesyesyes." "I will be able to afford permanent residency for my daughter and I!" "You sound like you''re going to kill most monsters." "No, I''m going to earn it by selling hundreds¡ªnonono thousands¡ªof my snacks!" Anyway, it was both a baffling and¡­ reassuring sight to the newcomers, and they found their nerves inexplicably calming down. It seemed that the beast tide¡­ wasn''t so scary after all? ¡­ Inside the villa, the team also convened for a meeting. Contrary to many of the people''s relaxed states, the management teams were much more tense. Althea even worried that because there were no human losses during the previous fight, the people might get¡­ complacent. She needed to put out appropriate warnings out there very soon. She got news from the NPCs that the monster mobs might not necessarily be level 3. They could apparently go up to level 4, depending on the energy the territory produced. This ''energy'' they called aether was produced by vitality and life. She wasn''t being arrogant, but they would definitely get a strong mob. This was both reassuring and worrying if it happened. Reassuring because it would mean she was doing the right thing and worrying because Level Four was the average level in her territory. Not only would they be outnumbered, but the fact that monsters could take on several humans in the same level was a bigger problem. They needed to create other ways to reduce the casualties as much as possible. The way about this was to increase the defense, much of which would come with the upgrade and weapons. The weapon and armor shops never stopped producing and innovating. She was perfecting her small secret weapons, as well. "Sadly, I can''t maximize this weapon," she said, taking out her bow. Her Bellagio Bow was a level B weapon. It could theoretically be handled by levels above 30 level no problem. However, at her level, she would not be able to use it so efficiently. Not to mention, the stronger the power used, the larger the mana it consumed. This was her main concern. Looking at the bow, Eugene''s eyes widened. "What is it?" She asked, puzzled. Obviously, it wasn''t the first time he saw this was he? "I seem to have forgotten something important." He said with an embarrassed face. Before they could ask, the man then pulled out two familiar boxes: a level C and one level D gift pack! Now that they recalled, Eugene had also built a lot of unknown things in this world, right? Eugene remembered he received two gifts from world knowledge. One was for the loom, and the other was for the iron furnace. "The notification happened when I was in the middle of perfecting my craft." He said with a deadpan face. "Then¡­ I forgot." Harold and Sheila gaped at him in disbelief while Althea nodded in understanding. Indeed. She totally understood. So, she wasn''t alone in being stupid like this. Harold and Sheila looked at their genius teammates and shook their heads. Ironically, the people likely to receive gifts were the types not to remember them. In any case, this new development was reassuring. They could really use all the advanced equipment that they could get! Chapter 291 Gearing Up (Part 2) Anyway, the group leaned closer to Eugene, interested in what he got. Eugene then opened the gift boxes¡ªone blue and one indigo¡ªreleasing two very good items with special shimmer around them. One was a large, but thin, shield the size of a table. It had a slight golden and copper glimmer to it. The other was a thick blue coat with a bit of sparkle. It was a little feminine, to be honest, but conservatively considered unisex. "Ohhh~" Harold said, looking at the items with sparkling eyes. "Tell us what they do." Eugene nodded and excitedly checked the item''s stats. One must know that even if he forgot about the boxes, now that the equipment was on hand, his old gamer habits tingled. He was also quite giddy about this. [Shield of Honor (D): +20 Defense, 50% chance of 10% reflection] [Coat of Hew (C): +40 Defense, decreased presence by 10%] "Oh!" "Very nice!" "Just as you need!" Eugene was a veteran and his attack wasn''t bad but, due to his disability, his agility was near zero. These defensive items would be perfect for him. After all, he still needed to fight in some form. Although he was a Creator, leveling up was still essential for survival. Not to mention, certain occupations would be blocked by level as well. No matter how hard he created, he would encounter a bottleneck sooner or later if his level didn''t follow. This was why even healers like Betty still aimed to reach level 20, at least. Of course, if he was to get good long-range weapons, that would''ve been even better. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Harold looked at the equipment in admiration. "I heard from Gru that Troy also received Level E equipment for the mini crossbow. He had bragged about it for days." Sheila nodded, she had heard of it too. Then she remembered another rumor that Troy was openly regretful about, "The conventional crossbow didn''t receive one though, probably because it already existed." "Pity, indeed. I wonder which territory made it first." "They just got names of 2 blokes by the names of Brandon and Jake." "Oh? That sounds Terran, right?" "Well, Altera can''t be the only one with weapons experts, right?" "Hmn, you''re right." Anyway, Althea was just glad that the spirit of innovation was high on her turf. She looked at Harold. "Since you''re a chef now if you could create a unique recipe with unique effects, you may also receive gifts." The man blinked, but he nodded after a pause. "I''ll do my best." He looked at the nice equipment of his teammates and he imagined the spirit of innovation running through his veins. He wanted one, as well! ¡­ With the announcements as the catalyst, the whole territory was injected with a stimulant. Every aspect of the ''gear'' worked harder than ever to prepare for the upcoming fights. The guards increased their training, each one aiming to be as strong as they could be within a short time. Of course, it was still to a reasonable degree so as to not tire them out too much. As for the production aspects of the territory, the industry with the most movement was iron production. Not only were there scores and scores of people going out to gather iron, but a lot of labor was hired to process them. Overtime making of iron weapons was required to meet their needs. It got to the point where the Weapons store got an upgrade without her noticing¡­ Not only this, but the logistics took a step up. While the development of self-manned vehicles was once again deferred, the wheeled carts and others were well into mass production to assist in the logistics of the iron bogs. For the existing production lines, they would be working a few hours longer. There was fair overtime pay and there was even night differential pay, which was something that shocked the NPCs very much. Althea also announced the temporary doubling of the purchase limits in both the supermarket and the grocery store, so the businesses would be able to prepare enough. To further encourage the mass production of usable products, a 10% discount was even added. This led to the mass hiring of temporary workers even for private enterprises, so even the newcomers all had jobs¡ªgreatly increasing her tax as well as the lifestyle of all inside her territory. There were also others who worked hard to gather stone and wood resources, instead, also increasing her resources. She would soon reach the limit of the territory space and would have to store some in the warehouse again. No, in fact, it didn''t necessarily have to be stored at all. She decided to set aside a piece of land near the village center¡ªsince it had plenty of open space around for future expansion and parks¡ªand just place them over there. And finally, there were also many others who chose to go outside and train more than the rest. This was especially useful to those below Level 3, as fighting outside for one more day could mean a level upgrade. One level difference could mean life and death. Whichever preparation a citizen chose, it was all the same to her as they would all strengthen the territory''s preparation in its own way. After a beat, she opened her Lord tab to see how the village was going overall. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 1315 (321 permanent, 994 temporary) Total Population: 3224 Base Resources: Wood: 9990/10000 Stone: 7989/8000 Money: 20611 Gold, 143269 Silver, 778199 Copper Reputation: 150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv2), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] Looking at her ample and increasing wealth, money, and resources, she was finally able to sigh a breath of relief. There was still a lot of work to do, but they were definitely on the right track, and they deserve a pat on the back for that. Chapter 292 Potions and Bombs The next few days were incredibly fast-paced. Everyone was busy and set to work particularly hard, hoping to prepare the territory and themselves the best they could. Naturally, as the Lord, Althea was no different. Now that the infrastructure and military concerns were settled and on track, Althea decided to lock herself up in the lab again, munching on a sweet cookie (or lollipop, chewy candy, or whatever her dainty claws got from space) as she did so. The first half of the day was dedicated to her small bombs. She had given all the bombs she had to Winona before she left, so now she had to make more to help her deal with the mobs. Among the many types of small bombs on her lists, the easier-to-do ones were the paralysis bombs and poison bombs. This was because she had plenty of paralyzing and poisonous plants, so the main affecting components were done fairly easily. Her main challenge was the triggers or ignition mechanism. After all, there was no gunpowder, only some rough similar powder she managed to squeeze out of available materials. How many people had literal fire-on-hand like Rowan? So she had to do some alchemy first and create a solution that reacted upon exposure to air. She took various plant parts in her collection, trying to see the effects. This alone took many hours. It would''ve taken longer had she not recorded her findings on plants as she found them, very thoroughly in her notebook and the tablet. After a while of searching, she came across the stalk of the Amerie plant, found in the forests East, which belatedly sparked a bit after being burnt. Inspired by the progress, she studied and tinkered at will and she got very, very, immersed in the activity. She ate only when she noticed her stomach gurgled¡ªwhich was once the entire day. Harold and Sheila could only bite their nails. After all, Althea warned them of what she was doing and made strict instructions not to disturb her lest something exploded. "Do you think I packed enough?" Harold mumbled looking at the shed in worry. "Well, we did give her something to eat for a good 10 meals¡­ my worry is if she''d actually eat them." "Sigh¡­" "Sigh¡­" Anyway, while the people outside were worried to death, the person inside lived in her own world. After yet another half day of experimentation, Althea finally managed to come up with the finished products. One was blue and the other was violet. They were even smaller than the bombs she gave away, and a bit more potent. [Improved Paralysis Bomb (D): incapacitate enemies below level 10 for 10 seconds] [Improved Poison Bomb (D): Decrease the life of enemies below level 10 by 1 every second for 5 minutes] Ah, beautiful. Both ''inventions'' did not trigger the World Knowledge notification though. This meant that somewhere out there, someone also had this. This also meant she''d have to share some of her proceeds with this person. Tsk. She made a few more batches, taking a few more hours of her day. Anyway, now that she had the improved formulas for these, it was time to move on to the true damage bombs. One example was the fertilizer bomb¡ªa true explosive. This was very difficult. What she could do at this time definitely wouldn''t compare to the bombs she knew, but it should be enough to damage a small mob of level 4s. A passive of Pharmacist, like weapons makers, armors, and other creator occupations, was to infuse aether into their work, increasing their efficiency and effectiveness in this world. This was precisely why medicine from Terran would not work for people beyond level 2, why Terran guns were worse than a local bow-and-arrow, and how a flimsy wooden shield could handle more damage than a slab of Terran metal. It was a fascinating concept that ought to be studied more deeply when she finds the time. It was also around this time that her stomach finally told her to eat, so she dropped her work to eat. She blinked at the plethora of options on the table. There was bread and jam, rice and viand, and some hard-to-perish fruits. Seeing the feast prepared for her, her eyes couldn''t help but warm. ¡­ The true bomb experiment was more difficult because it was more dangerous and this meant she had less leeway in her trials and errors. This didn''t make her falter though. She knew very well that this could save a lot of people''s lives. As such, in a room lit with special torches protected with youli stone, a beautiful girl with long dark brown hair and emerald eyes looked over at her intricate workspace. Her movements were deliberate and precise, honed from years of obsessive practice, trying to balance the potency and safety of her creation. This was not easy and she almost blew herself many times. She also had to limit the more dangerous parts of this experiment during the day, lest she ignited the torches and blew herself up. Hours of trial and error later, she used her Pharmacist ability and Tori to study the composition of the item. A little adjustment later¡ª S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [You have successfully created a unique explosive. Received Gift Pack (B)!] Her eyebrows rose. Wasn''t there a pharmacist who invented something similar before? Perhaps the formulation and effects were too different that it counted as an original? Anyway, Althea excitedly opened it to see it was a beautiful robe. It was plain in color, but the fabric looked like superior silk, and it had a different sheen to it. [Medina Robe (C): +40 Defence, lowers presence by 20%] Putting it on, Althea''s attention quickly returned to her experiments. But her eyelids eventually turned heavier as the minutes trickled by, as if her body was already aware that she had finished the most important tasks and it was finally time to rest. Soon, she had no choice but to go to bed. She was a bit regretful her momentum was broken, but then she saw her babies and all her tiredness went away, letting her sleep peacefully, the energy completely renewed for yet another bout of obsessive experimentation the next day. Chapter 293 Mana Problems [5 days of Protection Period] Althea created several pieces of all her bombs before feeling satisfied enough to move on to the next, perhaps more important, concern. Mana potions. The Bellagio Bow could indeed deal with enemies until much, much later down the road, but it could only be used if her own level and mana could keep up with it. She had been killing monsters way below her so the mana per shot was tolerable, but it needed a disconcerting 1 to 3 mana per shot. This wasn''t including the Perfect Shot skill and the others. She could only imagine the mana required for stronger opponents. Mana potions were essential. She had been trying to study it, little by little, primarily from the NPCs, but without much luck. Mana was based on a person''s capacity to channel a force called Aether. In Xeno, it was the basic unit of life and magic. She theorized that people who didn''t have the capability to handle aether wouldn''t have survived the transfer. Or, in their case, the first wave of transformation during zombie apocalypse. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Elementalists could channel this in the form of elements and those physical transformations like super speed and super strength channeled it through their blood and muscles. People who gained skills were also able to master a ''formula'' of a channel. Similarly, using a skill successfully required Aether. To be able to refill a person''s capacity to channel Aether, one must find ingredients that could do the same. At least, there was no such plant she knew so far that could use this. She had asked the NPCs and it was apparently another one of those ''secret formulas'' of certain pharmacists. They and the occupation guild-owned Pharmacy Building (available in Towns, apparently) had full monopoly of the item and their ingredients. However, her territory was not a town (yet) nor did she want to be so dependent on other people''s works. She thought for a while and teleported to her warehouse. She rummaged through her warehouse for the plants sold by the citizens, to see if she could get lucky. Unfortunately, other than the ones she already studied, the new ones¡ªwhile interesting¡ªcouldn''t assist her, for now. However, it wasn''t a complete waste of effort because she did find materials she''d find use for after everything was settled. For example, she found a plant called Jacoba. The assessment ability indicated that it was used as an ingredient for mosquito repellants. Tori showed that it was similar to Citronella but more potent. Another one was a purple grass called Hoisen. A leaf of this poisonous plant that could paralyze a 100-kilogram monster, if ingested, at the drop of a hat. It was a perfect ingredient for one of her bombs. And then there was a stone called Blackstone in Xeno. In Terran, it was similar to Graphite. Once developed, they would have pencils and ink, which was an integral part of the territory''s next phase of development. She needed to find the person who sold this first, of course. In any case, she returned to her experiments in a somber mood, wondering when she''d be able to create her own Mana potions. ¡­ She ate her sandwich for lunch and decided to try out the version of the potion again. She struggled for hours until a knock on the door pulled her out to the present. It was Harold. "Boss. Would you like to have a snack?" Normally she''d tell him to leave, but she was stuck in a rut and wanted a bit of respite. More importantly, she also missed her children. When she went out, she was met with two of the loveliest eyes in the entire universe. "Mhmmmamma¡­" "Guwggwgwgw¡­" Her heart softened and all her tiredness was swept away, taking them both into her arms, placing dozens of pecks on their chubby cheeks. She went to their play area and bonded with her babies for half an hour, finally noticing the new snacks that Harold showed her. "You''re still here?" "I want to see how it tastes." Her eyebrows rose a bit and she looked at the food plated delicately on the plate. These were a sweet treat made from various fruits and sugar. Other than the newly-discovered sugar, there was a taste of Terran strawberries, and the taste of the local Guia berry, a fruit that was a known ingredient for energizers. She also felt that it had special effects. When she could, she taught both Harold and Sheila the effects of the plants they had on hand, and they had studied it very seriously. Harold also seemed to have learned it by heart. She curiously used her ability to assess its effects. [Magic Tart (E): Adds 1% Mana to consumer every 5 seconds for 2 minutes. [Applicable for level 1-10 consumers. [Eating a portion will have corresponding reduction effects] She froze and her head whipped to Harold. Of course! Mana was also life, it was Aether. What better source than food?! Not to mention, the increase in percentage instead of an amount would be extremely useful. The increase in mana, in numbers, didn''t seem much compared to the amount of mana required to fight higher-level monsters. This was especially true when fighting against strong opponents which could easily suck out a person''s mana very quickly. It was just that mana recovered in percentage, so it was still practicable as long as one held on. And now this snack could increase this % recovery! "Harold, you''re a genius!" She exclaimed and Harold looked very proud. Althea looked at him curiously, "What did you get?" A little smug, the old man took a beautiful blue-silver kitchen knife from his space. [Chefs Knife (D): Increases chances of special effect dishes by 30%] Speaking of, the NPCs said it was basically impossible for chefs below level A to get a 100% special effect rate. She reckoned that guy Cooke also received rewards for him to get such a percentage of success. Althea thought a lot of the Terran professionals would probably obtain, if they hadn''t already, a gift pack in a year. Very nice. If the NPCs knew how many accumulated gift packs the territory had received after a month, they would be shocked. Even towns established for years would not have this amount! But Althea and Harold did not know this. But even if she knew, Althea would only smile, never complacent. Instead, they were still planning on how Harold could make as many magic tarts as he could without killing himself. She needed as much as he could make to even feel a semblance of calmness. She would never dare underestimate this damned world. Chapter 294 Prepared Enough? Aberdeen City, many years prior Garan looked at his Althea excitedly buying her camping gear. She looked almost as excited as when she entered her first seed store many years ago. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She had just entered college years earlier than her peers and he still felt she wasn''t ready to go on this excursion. This was the first time she''d ever be so far from him and the family. When he was gone, he at least knew the family was there and she was safe. What was this now? However, Garan knew he wouldn''t be able to stop her. Mostly, he couldn''t bear break her heart by stopping her from doing what she loved simply because he felt uncomfortable. "What about this? You may think that you know more than others because you were often in the forests when we were in the orphanage, but I''m telling you now that there are many more dangers in forests than you think¡ªespecially the one you''re going to." The orphanage was located in one of the few green cities, Aberdeen City, but there was no way they would be able to occupy such prime real estate (as all areas near forests and greeneries were). So the young Althea always had to walk kilometers to get to the forests every day and forage. He couldn''t help but remember that time she got kidnapped with Ansel. He felt his heart beating so loudly in nervousness that it felt like it was escaping his rib cage. In any case, despite her ''experience'' in going to forests, it was not enough for him to feel reassured. The forest was too near the city, it wasn''t very big and was actually relatively urbanized. This meant that wildlife wasn''t as dangerous as it could be. This was very different from the place she was heading towards. They''ll be heading to a legitimate jungle jointly protected by the three countries that abutted it. She looked at him, her large emerald eyes staring, and he could only heave a sigh of defeat. "I will take you camping this weekend and I will teach you all that you need to know." "WOW! Thank you, Garan!" She yelled embracing him. He flushed but managed to gather himself and smiled as he felt her warmth, patting her head. His eyes heated up a bit but he knew she was too young. He dared not move forward right now. Instead, he could only serve as her big brother, guarding her in any way he could. He separated the two of them and he held her shoulders so they could meet eye to eye. "Preparation is key to minimizing losses. Whether it is resources, time, or¡­ life. "No matter what: You must always prepare well." ___________________ Altera Village, Present [3 days of Protection Period] After days of work, it was finally the morning of the upgrade. All she had to do was wait for the notification to be triggered, which would likely be exactly 3 days since the new citizens from Bright and Vismont people officially settled in the territory. After all, the population count was apparently counting the same group of people, not just visitors that passed by. This was fine, as it gave them more time to prepare. Instead of waiting for another hour or two, however, she decided to summon the NPCs in the lounge again, for some final ironing out of the details. "My Lord," They said, nodding as she went to her seat. "We will be upgrading soon," she told them, tone a bit heavy. "Tell me if there are still major problems and I will defer it." The last time, she was allowed to defer for 100 hours, it was likely to be the same this time. The NPCs shook their heads. It was Rowan who spoke this time. "They are only small issues, milord. Deferring would mean we will face the mob along with the lifting of the protection period." She nodded and smiled. It was fortunate that they were here. She wouldn''t know what to do if she were as clueless as she had been going in this strange new world. "Well, then I will upgrade as soon as I receive the notice. Everyone will assume the tide will appear within a couple of hours." "Yes, milord!" They said simultaneously, and she nodded. "Now, tell me the progress of our territory so far." She said, looking at Brenda and Clutch, who seemed like ansty children itching to tell her something. Rowan''s procurement team had been extremely effective. They had already returned with tons of iron, the people in the smithing said they could finally provide weapons to all the guards. In terms of raw materials, anyway. "Speak." The two grinned. "Just last night, old Clutch and I upgraded to level C." Both were a bit teary and were bowing a bit. "This is all thanks to you and your people milord." This surprised the other NPCs, as upgrading was extremely difficult for those with an Occupation. How long had they been here? But this territory was so magical, so in the end they weren''t that surprised after all. "This is due to your hard work," Althea smiled. "Then join Hardy in creating iron tools now," She said, knowing that they had only been helping out and learning the past few days. "The surplus can be sold in your shops." This meant that the people, not just the guards, would have access to the iron weapons. "Yes, milord!" "Is there progress with our other assignment, Clutch?" This made the smile on the old man''s face freeze, and he bowed a bit in shame. "No, milord, so far I haven''t been able to integrate the effects of the plants. I apologize." "It''s fine. It''s a long shot, anyway. Keep working on it in your free time." Clutch''s shoulders slumped in relief and guilt. "Yes milord, I will do my best." Speaking of raw materials, she turned to look at the redheaded soldier. "Rowan," She said, "I hope you have already called everyone back by now." "Yes, milord. As of this morning, no Alteran civilians are outside the territory." As for visitors, since the announcement of an imminent beast tide a couple of days prior, almost no one traveled to the territory. They had also sent messengers to the three Lords (since none of them had upgraded their centers to level 3) to stop anyone who wished to visit at this time. Of course, there were still a few brave souls who still went. These people had studied the territory as thoroughly as they could, determining it was actually the best time to move in. It would be such a pity to miss this chance to gain strength, money, and contribution! The Protection Period was ending soon and even they, the small citizens, had to prepare for their future. Chapter 295 The Notification is Here Back to the meeting, next to the report was the beautiful Betty, who mentioned the state of their medicines. "We have enough in stock for at least 1000 active fighters in the territory even if they fought for an entire day," She said, "For now, we should be able to last even if the mob lasts a few days." S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. On paper, these were bought from Gaea Chamber of Commerce at cost price, in exchange for some contribution. Althea nodded, "That''s good, but we can''t slow down production until the last minute." Betty agreed, "Yes, milord. There would also be temporary workers contracted to work in shifts so the basic handling of the raw materials wouldn''t stop." She had learned of this method from Lily. She marveled at the efficiency of everything in this territory and was shocked by how much quality medicine had been produced in such a short time. Seeing that the medicines and potions were on track, she turned to Oslo, who sat next to her. Knowing her question, he looked at her with a deep smile. "We already built modular sheds to serve as infirmaries on both gates," he said, "They are about 196 square yards, and can be erected and dismantled all within the span of a few hours." Althea nodded. 196 square yards was more than 100 square meters, which was just enough for its functions. Like Betty (and the other NPCs for that matter), Oslo couldn''t help but be amazed by their ideas. These retractable houses could be built and collapsed easily as needed. If he had a large space stone, maybe he could bring one with him and he could camp carelessly outside. Anyway, the concept wasn''t too complicated but not many could think of it at all. "Very good. Thank you so much for this." "Just doing what I ought to," Oslo said, staring deeply. Althea didn''t notice this however and she turned to the other NPCs for their respective reports. Since they were on the topic of amenities near the gates, she turned to Gauis and Rowan, reminded of something. "How''s that grass?" "Transplanted around the gates, milord." They were referring to the iron grass transplanted from the bogs. It didn''t really contain much iron, but it had its smell¡ªthe type monsters seemed to dislike. Perhaps, it would make them think of weapons in that area, which they didn''t want to go to unless there was fresh meat to eat. Ansel mentioned his theory and she felt it made sense, so she decided to plant them around the gates. It wasn''t much, but it should have some effect of repelling some monsters. At the very least, it might be able to defer their attacks and be dealt with before they cause any damage to the walls. And finally, she turned to the perenially-silent Lenny. Technically, she was her own employer and wasn''t under the territory. But what she created still had heavy impact so she was called in regardless. "All the clothing stores have been opened and I have created enough undergarments for the guard team. The next few days will be for surplus, so normal citizens could purchase." Because she was the only official Cloth maker who could make clothing with effects (i.e. more than +3 or +5 defense), she naturally wouldn''t be able to do much if she focused on creating full sets of clothing. Instead, they opted for her to specialize in undergarments, which could serve as the last line of defense for most. Fortunately, she was already a level D Seamstress when she got here, otherwise, she''d have drowned from the orders. After all, not everything she did would successfully gain an effect. The NPCs and Althea looked at each other in silence, sighing, and wondering if any of them had forgotten anything. After all, even the smallest mistake could mean a life. Even the NPCs felt particularly responsible. Although they had grown up with the concept of death since they were children, after being in Altera¡ªa place where life was given such priority¡ªthey naturally wanted to keep protecting it. It was around this time that the familiar ding resounded in Althea''s head, and they knew this seeing the way she flinched and then looked at all of them with wide eyes. [Congratulations you have met the conditions of upgrade! [?] 1000 Residents [?] 3000 fixed population for 3 consecutive days [?] 100 Prestige [Would you like to upgrade for 1000 gold? [Yes | No] Prestige? Still 100? She remembered she seemed to have gotten this number when hundreds of people came to visit the Territory. Sadly, the NPCs knowledge of lord-specific stats was limited and they didn''t know exactly how it was calculated. It wasn''t that they couldn''t find out back then, but it was a useless knowledge to have, for them, before getting hired in Altera. She shook her head and studied the other requirements met. Residents were a given, but 1000 gold¡­ did every upgrade mean a zero was added to the required gold? This meant it was not so easy to level up after level 2, being much more restrictive than any of them anticipated. A part of her was concerned for the other villages but dismissed her worry in the end. She didn''t have the ability to rescue them, she had her own hands full. There was no use worrying about it at all. She shook her head and returned her attention to the floating screen of shimmering powder in front of her. [Yes] As always, energy came from the ground and slightly shook them. It was this energy that attracted the mobs, and it was stronger than she expected. She wondered how strong the enemies would be this time. Her eyes were sharp, her hands unconsciously gripping the handle of her chair, as if she could see the mobs far away congregating in their direction. Her stomach felt a bit queasy from dread and nerves, but she pushed it all down, knowing that the lord could not be shaken. Whatever it was, she believed that they would be able to fight it head-on! Chapter 296 Level Three Village (Part 1) [Congratulations on upgrading to Village Level 3!] [Received +5000 wood, +3000 stone, +5000 Gold, +2 building slots] [Collected resources detected outside Resource Space. Merge? Yes | No] [Detected deferred expansion, would you like to expand now?] Althea stared at the magical screen floating in front of her, her emerald eyes following the floating luminescent particles in thought. She pondered whether to defer the expansion again. After all, a smaller area to defend was more practical. In the end, though, she wasn''t comfortable not having level 5 fences and she found that just changing the current fence to level 5 was too wasteful. So, she decided to expand in the end. Anyway, she had so much preparation, it should be fine as long as no one was careless. She looked at the map and saw a semi-transparent shape overlapping the current 1-kilometer radius circle. Her delicate hand rose and she touched it and she soon realized that it was moldable. This meant that she was able to choose which area to expand towards. Outside the scope of the current territory, the available map to her as a Lord was the available map to her as a person, this meant that lords that didn''t explore would be expanding blindly. Fortunately, she had consolidated maps of other people, mostly by buying the information via the Village center, so she was very aware of the surrounding areas tens of kilometers away. To summarize the surrounding terrain: South and West were mostly hilly forest. East, northeast and Southeast had flatter terrain. North and a portion of the Northwest were mostly mountainous and rocky areas. Contrary to most people, who would only choose to expand East, she actually chose to enclose a lot of area towards the northern mountains. This was not only to expand on her luxury areas there but also her attempt to secure the natural water source from the mountain. All poison was expelled during the creation of the territory, but no one knew for sure what happened after. What if the purifying function was a one-off? Anyway, she had heard stories from the NPCs where warring territories poisoned their enemies'' water sources. While it could''ve been poisoned from the inside, there was still the possibility of the poison being added upstream. While she was figuring out a way to safeguard her rivers, the safest bet she had was to secure a water source in the first place. In her case, it was the mountain springs, which created tributaries towards the river. Despite consuming a good bulk of the mountains though, she still had plenty of expansion area because of her previous deferral. After the mountain, she then expanded towards the east and noutheast with relatively more flat lands, conducive for construction and planting, and a bit more towards the forests. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 1315 (323 permanent, 992 temporary) Total Population: 3224 Base Resources: Wood: 18700/20000 Stone: 14200/15000 Money: 26711 Gold, 143669 Silver, 798199 copper Reputation: 150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv2), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/9 (+1)] In terms of area, it seems like a Level 3 village would have a maximum scope of 2 kilometer radius. She looked at her stats, relieved, and immediately started the major construction works. Of course, beginning with the best wall available at her level¡ªthe level 5 Walls. It was about 6 meter in height and required 0.5 wood and 0.3 stone per meter, in addition to 75 silver per meter. Her eyes twitched at the potential costs. After all, her perimeter increased from over 6 thousand meters to over 12 thousand meters. By calculation, the wall should be finished in a few hours. Even if there were mobs that would get to them so early, it shouldn''t be much of a problem with the old wall (temporarily) still up. She built a new wall directly at level 5, however not to the edge as to give an allowance for a secondary wall. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Built Wall (Lv5): -6284 Wood, -3770 Stone, -9425 Gold] She closed her eyes, refusing to look at the numbers as if she could physically feel the pain. She even had to massage the back of her neck because it felt stiff. Next were the Gates (Lv5) which was basically as tall as the wall and hopefully even stronger. [-300 Wood, -300 Stone, -50 Gold] [-300 Wood, -300 Stone, -50 Gold] When the new wall was set, she took down the old wall and recycled over half of the resources that were used to make the old wall. [Wall (Lv3) Recycled] [Received! +500 wood, +500 stone!] [Sentry and Gates (Lv3) Recycled] [Received! +730 Wood, +415 Stone] In the zone of mass shopping, she also added sentries at the optimal distances of 100 meters apart, allowing two sentries to guard an area as before. She also directly chose level 5 sentries which could deal with level 20 monsters with relative ease. [Sentries (Lv5) capable of hitting enemies 100 meters away. Strength Rating (C) [Rate: 1 shot per 1 second [Wood consumption: 0.01 wood per shot [Construction: 100 wood, 50 stone, 15 gold per sentry [Would you like to build 125 Sentries (Lv5)? [Yes| No] It was unfortunate they still had a cooling down period so she still had to mobilize the whole territory to defend, but it was now thrice as effective with ? Cool down period and much stronger hits. Naturally, she wouldn''t be stingy. [Yes] [-12500 Wood, -6250 Stone, -2500 Gold] [Construction failed. Insufficient Resources.] Oh. My. Goodness. Her head rang. She seemed to have been so used to being rich that it didn''t occur to her she''d be lacking?? However, she calmed down and calculated. She saw that the resources needed weren''t much, so she immediately sent an announcement, buying out resources for twice the cost, valid for 3 hours. The teacup in front of her refilled and she lifted her eyes to look at Oslo, who was gently smiling my lord. "Is there anything the matter, Milord?" She looked at the room and saw the Aborigines looking at her in concern. She must''ve looked so distraught for them to look so worried. "I was surprised I lacked resources. That''s all." The NPCs were surprised. Although they didn''t know for sure how much money the lord had, she should still be extremely rich. "What did you build, my lord?" "A level 5 wall althroughout. I wanted to build sentries every 100 meters, but I lacked the resources." Brenda, who was chewing on a cookie, coughed wildly, shocked, and Betty had to use her ability to quickly comfort her. "Oh my elves." Otherwise, silence ensued before the aborigines finally had the energy to utter something. Clutch cleared his throat and stared at the lord. "Level 5 walls and sentries?" "Those are only found in mid-tier Towns," Betty mumbled, still patting the still-coughing Brenda. Althea looked at them. "Well, I guess it''s a good thing then because a lot of my money has been sucked out." And she looked so very dissatisfied with this. The aborigine''s lips twitched. That was a LOT of gold, right? My goodness. They want to tell her, she didn''t have to set the standards so impossibly high! Chapter 297 Level Three Village (Part 2) Unlike the others who were looking at the lord with a mix of worship and incomprehension, Oslo smiled and handed her some cookies instead. The others soon calmed down and adopted a similar stance. After all, they ought to stop being so surprised. Althea didn''t know what was going on in her NPCs'' heads as she was focused on the map of the territory that had become too large. Fortunately, the map had a zoom feature. As always, while the terminology was modern Terran, the actual interface was a lot more magical looking that it sounded. When she zoomed in, it was more like billions of tiny fireflies floated around to build her the image. It was very amazing. She studied the map closer and went to the edges. She did not build to the edge of the allowable building area, at least by the avenues. She turned to look at Oslo. "You said that the building function cannot work during territorial wars?" "Yes, milord." "What about during beast tides?" "..." "?" "I¡­ haven''t thought about it, milord." Oslo blushed a bit, embarrassed. Althea pursed her lips in amusement. "I was just curious. Don''t think too much." In any case, she had left about 50 meters away from the main walls on the side of the gates. Horizontally, it would extend about 100 meters from either side of the gates, leaving an open space of about a hectare. The NPCs said that the building options were blocked during Territory wars, but she mused it was not necessarily the case during beast tides. During the last beast tide, she was too busy in the East gate to remember to try it out. These secondary gates would have plenty of uses. For one, refugees and visitors that happened to arrive during wars would be able to hide there temporarily, should the gates be closed. It was a little costly, but she planned to add a level 3 fence all around as a barricade to give a chance for relatively safe close combat. She also added level 3 sentries there for extra measure. Theoretically, this meant that at least four sentries would be attacking monsters in certain areas, primarily where most of the fight was happening. Before clicking though, she paused and looked at the NPCs watching her graceful movements in fascination (despite not seeing her ''screen'' at all). "Has there been a case where the sentries attacked a citizen?" Oslo, who had been embarrassed for not answering her earlier question, jumped to answer this one. "No, milord. When it''s not during a territory war, unless the person happened to move in the way, the sentries generally did not hit citizens. "Anyone registered as a visitor or citizen in a territory will not be attacked by it unless expressly set by the lord." Althea''s eyebrows rose at this, "We can add directions to sentries?" "I''ve seen it done in cities, but I do not know of the requirements." She looked at her panel and saw no additional instructions for level 3 sentries, but there was indeed an additional box for level 5. There was a one-time payable amount per instruction per sentry, however. There were options on who it would attack. In fact, when Oslo said that visitors would not be attacked, she was both relieved and worried. Now, she had an answer to these. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After all¡­ what if someone paid the visitors'' fee and caused chaos inside the territory? The automatic blacklisting took a few seconds to work. And what about during the wars, where the automatic blacklisting was temporarily disabled? What if there was an enemy who registered as a visitor first and then attacked from the inside? Don''t tell her she was being paranoid, the whole inside job method had been done historically a lot of times even in Terran. Anyway, she definitely appreciated this feature, very much. Other than the defense structures, she also extended the avenues accordingly but did not build anything else for now. She would study the available buildings when she had the time, but a preliminary look told her there was no building essential for the upcoming war. Fortunately, the necessary resources soon arrived at her fingertips, so she could start building the sentries as well. "My people are so efficient," she said with a smile, and the NPCs couldn''t help but smile with her. [-12566 Wood, -7540 Stone, -2514 Gold] Outside the building, the walls and sentries were slowly erected to the amazement of the citizens¡ªwho immediately ran to the border to watch the show. Hey, who told the entertainment program to be delayed due to all these wars? They could only rely on these things for fun. A few hours later, the walls and the sentries finally stood straight. The walls were five meters high and its battlements were over a meter thick. The sentries were even taller than this at over six meters in height. Everyone who looked at it would inevitably feel a sense of security. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 1315 (323 permanent, 992 temporary) Total Population: 3224 Base Resources: Wood: 700/20000 Stone: 200/15000 Money: 11531 Gold, 143669 Silver, 798199 copper Reputation: 150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv2), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/9 (+1)] She watched her glorious wealth halve with a snap. Not to mention the wood and stone resources, which were reduced to three digits¡­ However, she looked at the overbearing defense she had created and knew in her heart it was worth it. Althea opened her Lord Panel, making an important announcement. [The Beast Tide will appear in less than 6 hours. Everyone outside the territory must return immediately, no one is allowed to leave the territory during this period.] [There is a high chance that level 4 monsters will appear. Please prepare accordingly.] She heaved a sigh and her back rested at the upholstery. The NPCs frowned, hearts hurt by how stressed she was. "You''ve done well, milord," Oslo said and the others nodded. His blue eyes looked at her deeply and added. "Too well, in fact." The Aborigines couldn''t help but look at each other and then at their lord who was doing her best to protect everyone in her turf. They, too, would protect the territory with their lives. They swore on it. Chapter 298 Gears All departments were working non-stop for hours to maximize the time before the beast tide came. The citizens also increased their gathering of resources. This wasn''t only because of the increase in buying prices of the resources, but also because they had seen the massive constructions that had happened. They wanted to do their part to replenish the territory. No one was lax. Cassie helped her grandmother out. Although she had made a lot of money selling products to other territories, before the fight this was all they could do for the territory. She also hoped to gain more contribution points from the mob. Now that her grandmother was stable, she planned to apply for the guards during the next recruitment. On the woodworking side, Baron, Bianca, Houser, and Joe worked overtime to create spikes apparently to be placed outside the gates, a request of the territory in exchange for contribution points. Although he had money, the bathhouse and training hall still required contribution points! Also, he was also an Alteran! He ought to do more! Hence, he, the boss, joined in as a labor force. After production, Houser used his skill on the stakes, making it have the passive of attracting monsters to it. Although they weren''t strong enough to kill a monster, the fact that monsters would get attracted and ideally stab themselves¡ªeven if only a bit¡ªwould be plenty of help to the front-liners. It was a production line of wooden stakes basically, and for a while, only the sound of wood thumping, sawing, and processing (and Houser chanting skills) was heard. It was broken when they heard footsteps from upstairs. It was Angelo and Jesse, who were stretching their bodies to shake away the lethargy. "You should still be sleeping," Bianca said, temporarily pausing her work. A few hours ago, they were ordered to get ample rest at this time. After all, it was estimated people would have sleepless nights fighting against the mobs. Angelo shrugged. "We did. But who could sleep so much at this time." "Hmm I''d rather hone my techniques," Jesse added and turned to his cousin. "Shall we go to the barracks?" Angelo nodded and the two prepared to go out again. Seeing them working so hard, Baron couldn''t help but want to reward them a bit. Baron threw them some money. "Go treat yourself at TGH." "TGH?" "The Terran Gastronomique Haven!" "Seriously?!" The two''s eyes widened, unused to his non-stinginess. "You''ve changed!" Angelo looked at him suspiciously. "You don''t think we''re gonna die, do you?" Jesse gasped, aghast, and looked at Baron with teary eyes. "And you want to give us a last meal!" Baron''s eyes twitched and he lifted his feet, trying to kick them (to no avail, of course) "Go! Go away!!" He yelled, pushing the two youngins. However, when they turned, he added, "Give me back that money!" "Ehh~" the two pouted and they ran out the door, hugging the money to their chests. Seeing them like this, Bianca ended up laughing out loud. Silly cousins. . . Mathilda''s team was in charge of the internal order. Her main task was to make sure nothing went wrong inside the walls. There was too much trouble outside, their people ought to have peace of mind that their home and backer were unperturbed. She turned her head to speak to Jun and Silvia, her closest confidants in the department. "Only ten guards are allocated to maintain the internal order and the rest would be outside, it is our job to ensure that nothing will add to the chaos." "Make sure all the rules are set and without loopholes. "And make sure our team is easily accessible at all times during this time." The two''s backs straightened, "Yes!" She nodded and opened her personal tab, activating her skill. During this time, Mathilda had gained the skill of creating announcements using only mana. To make it more efficient, she set the recipients to be everyone in her department. These announcements also had the weak and subtle influence of bias. It was quite a powerful technique and Althea was glad it was on Mathilda and no one else. [With your full sincerity, protect the territory well!] Mathilda heaved a sigh, unable to keep her worries for the many variables that could happen at this time. [We must make it in a way where the brave guards and citizens fighting upfront will have no worries!] sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. . . . Gru''s team of farmers were working as they were with the fields. They aimed to make sure nothing could go wrong with their essential crops. Daniel shivered a bit as he handled the crops. "I''m getting a bit nervous." Then he looked at the young man beside him, uncharacteristically quiet. "So nervous that you can''t speak?" Dennis asked, the boy shook his head. "I actually want to fight. My level is stagnant." "Aren''t you level four?" He asked, wondering whether this brat was low-key bragging. Another man who was still holding a hoe, interrupted. "I once drank with Clutch. The average level of villages is around level 8 to 10. And this was the average level of their young men!!" There was a moment of silence. Indeed, no matter how peaceful the territory was, strength was still the last word. Even if they weren''t fighters, they couldn''t be too useless! "Fight!" The young lad said after a while. "I think we should definitely join in!" Another one nodded. "Why do you think there was a minimum of 21 hours of mandatory training every week?" In the territory, employees were given 2 days off. Here, all able-bodied employees below 50 were required to commit 21 hours a week to either go to the training hall or go outside to fight. Well, this only applied to the companies, territory-owned or privately owned companies as a requirement to their employees. Freelancers and other non-employees may choose not to go out at all. Of course, this would be to their detriment. "I also want more contribution points!" He said, "I want to do more for the territory!!" They then turned their heads to the elder, asking him for instructions. Gru smiled in understanding. "You actually didn''t have to ask me. I got an alert from the territory. "Those who fight will have paid leave on that day." The men looked at each other with smiles and cheered. "...as long as there is enough manpower for the crops ready for harvest." Gru added, "Well every man aged above 50 will remain with me. The others will be joining the fight!" "Yeah!!" "Be careful though. You still have other responsibilities inside the territory!" They smiled. "Of course, Elder!!" Gru smiled, feeling reassured. If the ''younger generation'' was like this, there was nothing to worry about. This was what has been happening all over the territory. Even the people who had ''office'' jobs. After all, Althea through Rosalind had never lacked reminding everyone what they could be facing after the Protection Period ended. Their level, as it was, was akin to children outside. How could they accept that? No matter how cowardly they were, they couldn''t be weak like ants!! Chapter 299 The Mobs are here! Hours later. In the health center, the ''territory'''' bought off all the medicine in the pharmacy, with the medicine factory continuously working to create more stocks. During the next day, all stocks would go straight to the health center. In the meantime, Lily, the Pharmacy shopkeeper was set to practice her undergrad knowledge with Betty. She and Sheila would be her right-hand women, one of which would be assigned to the East gate. Betty double-checked the medicines. There were various medicines, the most important of which were the hemostatic medicines, the ''Bandade'', and ''Sprite'', all of which were inventions of the Lord. These were all amazing, and it could be said that one was equivalent to a life saved. Betty couldn''t help but gently rub the ceramic bottles, heart filled with emotions. Of all the territories she had been to, she had never seen such an excellent woman. Let alone one that cared so much for the people underneath her. Betty knew for sure that this territory would not fall. . . . In the Barracks, all the guards began to congregate, with a mix of emotions in their eyes. Drake and Rowan formed two teams. The ''territory'' set the distribution to 80% in the Southwest gate, which was estimated to attract most of the monsters, and the remaining at the East gate. The other areas would have very sparse attacks and would be guarded by the dense sentries. Helios walked to ask Rowan. "Will Ms. Althea be joining?" "Yes, of course." "Which gate would she take? Will she still choose the East gate like last time?" "Yes." "Then, can we request to be assigned there? The last time we fought well together, and her style inspired my uncle¡­ and I." He changed his words when he realized his words were a bit ambiguous. "Oh?" "...yes." "Very well." Rowan said, "You must guard her well." "Yes, sir!" Rowan nodded and he and Drake stood in front. Rowan and Drake looked at each other, with the former nodding to the latter. Drake cleared his throat and stood in front of the crowd. "We are now about to face a formidable enemy. Do not underestimate them as they will be much stronger than what we have faced before. "Some of us may be lost in this battle, but no one''s sacrifice is in vain. Each of us has hundreds of lives on our backs, and we save hundreds when we bravely wield our swords toward our enemies. "Know that in every slice and every attack we do, we are protecting our home. Never falter. Our home is right behind us. "Do you understand?" "Sir, yes, sir!" "We will now distribute your weapons and equipment." At this, everyone''s back straightened, their eyes following excitedly as box after box arrived in front. They were as big as an adult man''s arms, while some were longer. Counting the boxes they realized it was a box for each one! sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Line up!" Rowan called and they obediently did so. Those who received went to the side to open the boxes immediately and they all brightened at the contents of each one. Each one of them received three sets. Each set consisted of weapons and equipment like iron swords or spears, shields, and uniforms made by Lenny. They have been distributed to all guards. They also had several copies of all relevant medicines. The cost of each set was definitely no joke, and they had three. Each. The guards couldn''t help but be touched by the territory''s attempts to protect their lives. Who wouldn''t want to protect it with all they had? . . . Finally, there were the people just outside the gates. They were helping set up the spikes and other traps just delivered from the woodworking shop. "The last beast tide was scary¡­" Sunny mumbled as she held the spike so Dog could hammer it down. After all, they almost died in Vismont, almost helpless against such large hordes. It was a traumatizing experience. "Look around you," Crow said, and the two of them followed. They looked around and watched the people doing the same territory task as they were. Without exception, everyone was just working hard. No one looked scared, just serious about what they were doing. "They also guarded their territory during the last beast tide but they don''t seem afraid at all. They even look¡­ excited." Sunny mouth formed an ''o'' in realization. Satisfied that he fixed his companion''s fears, he began to look around. "Hey, where''s Bull?" . . . Bull was currently watching the spat between Troy and Fred in amusement. He was bringing food to his new girlfriend, Lulu, who was helping out with the logistics of installing the stakes outside the exterior fence. "A level E? Still bragging about it after so many days?! I heard others got a level D equipment! Weak!" "At least I got a gift pack! Unlike you¡ª" he paused, sneering. "If I''m weak, what are you? Scum??" Lulu rolled her eyes and just held her boyfriend''s arm. When the boss was next to this best frenemy, they both turned into little boys. Troy then proceeded to swing his special level E Machete (special effect of burst strength with a CD of 1 minute). With a swing, he easily cut a tree, showing off his newfound strength. Fred sneered, and was about to make a snide comment about how only men with half-sized sticks needed to show off, but his eyes landed on a black wave far away. His face paled and for a moment Troy almost thought he finally got to scare the guy with his prowess. Troy smirked and puffed his chest proudly, but soon he realized that the guy was looking past him. Then he watched as Fred''s face turned paler and he whipped his head back to the direction of the territory. His pupils shrunk in fear and then he yelled from the top of his lungs, squeaking like a little boy. "THE MOBS ARE HEEEEERE!!!!!" . . . The bell ran continuously, and everyone changed their tasks, ready to defend. A low-magnitude earthquake shook the territory, resonating with the wild swinging of the bell. Althea and the others were quick to run outside. She looked at the Lord map which could show enemy forces during wars and beast tides. She flinched. Tens of thousands. She frowned and ran to the southwest gate first to see the bulk of the forces, using her ability to check on the largest monsters. Level 5. This was even stronger than they feared¡­ And considering the number, this would definitely last longer than expected. It was also very likely that this beast tide could overlap with the lifting of the protection period. She couldn''t help but rub her temple to ease the upcoming headache. She may have¡­ grossly miscalculated. Chapter 300 Attacks [Alert! For every 1% decrease in the health of the walls, 10 copper will automatically be deducted from the accounts of everyone inside it. [Let us defend our home together!] That was to say, the guards and fighters didn''t have to pay. Anyway, the first citizens did not complain even with the increase in the penalty costs. They weren''t blind; they knew the walls and sentries must have been insanely expensive. The newcomers, on the other hand, mumbled but did not dare speak out when seeing the established members not complaining at all. Who wanted to be an outcast? The teams then went to their respective positions with Althea, Ansel, Hugo, and Helios¡ªalong with a score of guards¡ªheading to the eastern gate. The remaining guards and all the fighting citizens guarded the southwest gate. Althea paused before she went up the battlement, looking at the other people sideways. "I will focus only on the level 4s and 5s alone, which will consume too much of my mana. The rest is up to you. "Be careful. I will definitely not be able to watch your back the whole time in this situation." "Yes!" Hugo watched Althea''s lithe back as she climbed the stairs to the top of the wall, with deep eyes. "Uncle." His nephew called him, pulling him back to the present. "Let''s get in position." Hugo flinched a little and nodded, following him. Ansel, who had been watching the whole thing, sneered. However, when he turned to face his sister, the sneer had become a gentle smile. "You! Don''t go overexerting yourself!" He said, but saw that the mob was closing in so he could only follow the others to the main battle area. The ground shook wildly and some people almost lost their balance as they ran. The magnitude got stronger and stronger until the monsters became visible even on the Eastern gate. They opened the gates on the exterior wall set to allow inside some monsters that got past the sentries. They stood in what they now called the gap¡ªthe fifty-meter area between the level 3 and level 5 walls around the gates, ready to handle these enemies. The guards took out their new iron swords and shields. They were all level E, as Brenda and the others were still learning, but they were superior level E weapons, breaking into the quality of level D''s. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, even if it didn''t, the new weapons¡ªweapons that the territory prepared for them¡ªgave them added courage to deal with the imminent danger rushing in their direction. The vanguard monsters were generally level 3s and an occasional level 4. The guards were quick to take these on, using skills as needed. Because of the spikes installed outside the fence, there were plenty of monsters distracted, making them a bit easier to handle. Hugo and the others stabbed the monsters on the other side of the fence. Hugo even jumped up on top to get more access to the monsters. While risky, this could get him more kills as well as reduce the damage on the fence. From the corner of his eyes, he could see several arrows occasionally flying and Hugo couldn''t help but steal glances at the woman above the wall. Swish! A beautiful hit. Swish! A one-shot kill. But then, suddenly, she pointed the arrow at him¡­ and shot. His heart dropped until he saw a level 5 monster falling beside him. "Focus." "Thanks." Althea didn''t really blame him too much. He had just risen to level 6, and level 5 monsters still easily could''ve taken him in a moment of carelessness. Ansel, who was nearby, scoffed. This guy! He was totally eyeing Althea!! How could he even compare to Gar¡ª Ptoeey! He stopped himself. He absolutely refused to praise that guy!! To vent, Ansel quickly raised his iron swords, battering the monster near him. [Killed! Stormdoer (Lv3). +70 Experience, +70 Copper] He quickly moved to the other one, taking note of where the sentries were lest he accidentally get shot. Anyway, everyone had some sort of orientation about them, hoping to avoid unnecessary damage. He jumped up above one monster''s head, precisely at where a sentry arrow hit, using his weight to embed it deeper. He then used its skin to propel himself somewhere else, hitting another monster near Hugo, showing off the skills he learned from that guy. "That was very good," Hugo said, quite friendly, as he defended against an attack. Ansel sneered. "Hmmph!" Before jumping about and killing a monster just damaged by a sentry. "..." Althea was not aware of all this drama and she quickly moved to target the more powerful monsters, especially those aiming to destroy the level 3 fence. The level 3 fence was relatively affordable since it was only a few hundred meters, at least compared to the higher-level stone walls. Even if she didn''t refill the resources for repair, she could just build another one altogether in its place. However, she was a stingy person and she hated unnecessary costs. She saw an unfamiliar pair of monsters¡ªthe first time this had happened in many days¡ªand aimed at them. They were dark blue and had three small horns on their heads. They also had large saberteeth and bubbling skin, particularly ugly. What''s more, from their size she knew that they were at least level 4 and level 5, respectively. [Used Perfect Aim. -10 Mana!] [Killed! Boggart (Lv4) +100 experience, +100 Copper!] [Killed! Boggart (Lv5) +150 experience, +150 Copper!] She heaved a sigh, and looked for more monsters of the same level, eating a mana biscuit to begin slowly replenishing her lost mana as she did so. For hours this went on, and there were still no signs of stopping. She made sure to target only the stronger monsters, resting when necessary, knowing she could not be missing at this time. When she had sufficiently rested, she once again took out the Bellagio, killing the next high-level monsters she saw. [Killed! Boggart (Lv4) +100 experience, +100 Copper!] [Killed! Boggart (Lv4) +100 experience, +100 Copper!] She also saw how effective the sentries were. To be honest, she really worried they might hit citizens, but she thought too much. It seemed that as long as one was aware of the location of the sentries, it was fairly safe to be around them. Her sharp eyes shifted and focused on her brother, killing anything nearby that could distract him too much. She watched Ansel as he skilfully used the walls as a propelling force, damaging two monsters which were both killed off by the sentry a moment later. Except one was alive and he used his weight to finally skewer it through its head. The wall move? Using external forces to kill? Using gravity to the max? Hey, her husband would be proud. Chapter 301 Willing Guardians Meanwhile, at the Southwest gate, Rowan jumped to the middle of the mob and used his abilities to kill a wave. He was very strong. Although he was sweating due to the sheer quantity, Rowan was still as strong as ever. Althea was very relieved with the other gate because the strong Aborigines were there. She was also relieved not just for herself but for other Terran territories. Hopefully, they also managed to hire decent NPCs. With them, any mobs inside the protection field were manageable. So¡­ even if more than 80% of the monsters were attacking that area, she just needed to focus on her own scope. As for the Terrans, because of the policy requiring employees to train outside several hours a week, even the ''office-people'' maintained basic fighting skills. Everyone who went out was at least level 3, and they were leveling up quickly because the monsters were greatly weakened by the Aborigines. Overall, she was really quite assured with the southwest side and just rebuilt the secondary wall there as needed. However, it couldn''t be as ''perfect'' as before. The mob was too big, it was inevitable to have a few sacrifices. Rowan threw another fire whip when a metal spike appeared to kill the adjacent monster. His red eyes stared at the lifeless body that he was too late to save, and it was pulled back by a teammate to the side, trying to make sure his body wasn''t disrespected even during the fight. In anger, even when his mana was already draining, he shot another large firewhip in the direction of the monster, killing it along with a few others. "My turn," Oslo said, returning to his side, killing a few monsters on the way. As the strongest forces, at least one of them had to be present at all times to minimize the deaths. Oslo had been resting inside for about two hours, as they had decided to alternate. Rowan did not immediately leave, however, because the numbers were still in the thousands and they hoped to further lessen the load. Seeing this, Oslo sighed and just handed some mana potion he had in his space. "You should replenish now." "Ah, thanks," he said, quickly downing the shimmering blue liquid. He blinked when he saw it was the more expensive sort but Oslo was already in the middle of the fight before he could thank him. In fact, only Rowan as a soldier was duty-bound to defend the territory, but who told Oslo and the others to like this place so much? However, Rowan understood the other man''s thoughts, so after mass killing and consuming the regenerated mana again. The man followed instructions and went to replenish some energy. When Rowan left, Oslo threw massive amounts of metal and earth Spikes, assisting the guards in gathering a bulk of experience and copper. "Thanks, Oslo!!" "You''re awesome!" "I leveled up!" Another yelled, "Just what I needed!" Although there were a lot of monsters, the level was low, so it wasn''t a problem as long as they got ample rest. Not to mention the guards and citizens were hungry to get the ''last hit''. Soon, even the other aborigines like Clout and the Gardener joined in, significantly lightening up the load. They may not be fighters, but they were still level 15. This was pretty impressive as non-fighting hired individuals generally didn''t participate willingly in such fights. But Oslo smiled, knowing how they felt very clearly. A few hours later, Rowan returned and patted the sweating Oslo''s shoulder. "My turn," he said and the blonde nodded. However, he wasn''t going back inside to rest. "I''m going to check on the lord." Rowan blinked, a little startled, and then looked at the hardworking guards and citizens around him. A small smile graced his usually stoic face, killing a few attacking monsters along the way. He had been sent to assist level 2 villages against the upgrade beast tide more than once before. These territories had much higher levels of fighters than in Altera, but the momentum was never, ever, so big. It was paradoxically both a mystery and an understandable fact. In those territories, there were a lot of casualties even in groups of level 7 guards fighting against huge mobs of level 3 monsters. But in Altera, groups of level 3s and 4s handled the monsters through cooperation and strategies. Even if they went against level 5s, they could handle it long enough for him or any other of the aborigines to arrive. It was difficult and they had casualties and deaths, but it was amazing what they could do with their current strengths. And, perhaps most importantly, there was the territory itself. It served as their supportive backing, as their anchor, and place to rest and be treated for their wounds. It was always there, never allowing the fighters to feel hopeless. He was curious about what would happen when their levels caught up with theirs. He looked at Oslo, who was staring at him, thinking he had instructions to send. "Hmm." He shook his head, "Tell the Lord that we¡ªand her people¡ªare handling this gate well." ¡­ Heading to the other gate, Oslo couldn''t help but observe the activity inside the walls. While the fight was difficult and they had already started to witness some deaths, it wasn''t enough to scare most of the locals who had already seen much worse before they became members of the territory. In the past month, death had become a part of their lives, and they were already thankful they were still alive after so long. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A lot of stalls were even set up near the infirmary just inside the stone wall, accessible to fighters whenever they needed sustenance. "Hello Mr. Oslo, you should rest over there!" George Yu was one of the first batch. He was a newcomer that just entered. He set up¡­ a massage stall. There were indeed a few fighters asking him to massage their shoulders and tired arms. It was George''s brother who was doing the job, and he seemed to be quite enjoying it. It was an odd practice for Oslo, but the soldiers did look like they were being treated and reenergized after¡­ Oslo shook his head at the offer in the end. "I''m going to the other side to check." George nodded in understanding. "Okay, good luck!" George followed the back of the aborigine with deep admiration, though he also didn''t want to lose in terms of loyalty to the territory, especially not to someone not even Terran. Since he found his autistic brother here and living well, he wanted to do more for the territory. Also, he needed contribution points to give his brother a better life. His brother was one of the people who were lucky to have been rescued by the guards when they were making rounds. One of the first batch of rescues, and it could be said his brother suffered less than he did. How relieved he was when they found each other via the announcement system, and how happy he was when he saw his brother all smiley and safe. And now he, too, was living quite well. You must know that even in Terran, his brother didn''t have such a smile on his face. George just owed a lot to the territory, so he joined in the fight, occasionally joining his brother here when he was resting. "Brother. Drink." Koo handed him a bottle of juice he bought earlier. George smiled and took it, looking at his brother who had not gone to rest at all since the war began. However, he didn''t force him to go home either and just let him spend his time on the stall. Although his brother couldn''t express himself well, he knew he cared too much for him to be able to rest comfortably. It was also his own way of helping the territory. "It''s time for me to go now," George said with a huff, standing up and facing the large gate. "Be careful brother! We''re going to Gaea restaurant after, okay?" George laughed, "Yes, of course! We''ll order your favorite fried Gugu Bird." Koo Yu gave a toothy grin, waving his hand as his brother walked away. As George walked towards the gate, he took out a porcelain bottle from the space. He wanted to take the medicine so he was in top shape before the fight. As he drank, his rough fingers couldn''t help but rub the bottle a bit. The supply of medicine was free for the first ten bottles per person. This was a huge cost, and it showed how the territory never lacked in trying to keep them alive. It showed how much importance it placed on their lives, compared to material things like money. To many who had experienced the horridness of this place, this alone¡­ was enough to lay down their lives. Unfortunately, though he didn''t know it yet, George Yu will indeed do so. Chapter 302 Level Seven Oslo continued on his sprint to the other gate, hoping that their lord wasn''t too tired. Along the way, he could see that everyone was up and about, despite it being in the middle of the night. Some were preparing to fight themselves, some were setting up stalls, and some were handling logistics. There were even people who were gathering resources, making sure the territory was never stretched too thin of resources. He then turned to see the people being rushed to the infirmary and those who have sadly passed. It was sad, very, but everyone knew that death was unavoidable no matter how well-prepared they were. So no one was lax and allowed themselves to mourn for too long, at least while the mobs were here. They compartmentalized and immediately went back to the battlefield¡ªor whatever task they chose to do¡ªas soon as they were able. Oslo''s heart heated up a bit, feeling proud and awed by the sense of community in Altera¡ªsomething he had never seen before. So, even if there were sacrifices, he knew that Altera¡ªwithout a doubt¡ª would emerge from this stronger. ¡­ Back to Althea''s side, they were also doing similar wheel battles as that of the other gate. Hugo, Helios, and the others continued fighting. The strategy was for ? of the fighters to eventually rest in the temporary infirmary shed for a couple of hours. This was completely based on need. A person strong enough and wanting more contribution points would definitely rest less than others. Harold, Eugene, and the others had also joined in after settling the logistics behind the walls. In Harold''s case, it was to prepare a space-full of Mana food for the boss. "Sorry, we''re late boss! Here''s your order!" He said. Althea smiled and took what could fit in her space, and the rest on the balustrade next to her. She started eating while the others went down to fight. Except for Eugene, who was temporarily joining her shooting from the battlement. Like most, they dealt with the weaker monsters while Althea took on level 3s and above. Althea didn''t bother with anything that couldn''t get her experience points anymore. Anyway, other people needed it more than she did. She sighed and just continued shooting. The one good thing about this mob was that it ought to help them level up a few times! Oslo came to the new Eastern gate several minutes later. He saw her as stable as always, continuously hitting her arrows, and sweating so much. She was also a bit pale from tiredness. It broke his heart. He went next to her and took out a cotton fabric to wipe her sweat. She was a bit startled but smiled and thanked him. "How''s the other gate?" Ansel, who was now resting on top of the walls with Althea, sneered again. Here comes another one. Oslo, whose attention was all on Althea, didn''t notice the derisive sneer. "Well. The people are working very hard. Most of the medical personnel were also there¡­ are you sure you don''t need help here?" "The other side needs it more. Besides, how can I know my limits if I don''t push it?" She asked, punctually sending another arrow towards two level 5s that were trying to gang up on Hugo. [Congratulations on reaching Level 7!] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 7 (100/25000) Life: 980/1200 Spirit: 850/1200 +50 Physical: 230 +40 Agility: 229 +10 Defense: 176 +134 Mana: 1200 Physical Potential: A sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1), Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Medina Robe (C): +40 Defence Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] She was a little startled at the increase in stats. Before it ranged at about 30-35 points. Now it directly increased by 50 or more. Her health and mana also increased by 300, compared to the standard 100. Was it always like this? Or was it because she had already given birth? Whatever it was, she was glad and the renewed energy made her attacks fuller, more concrete. Meanwhile, the battle on the ground was more intense. Sheila swung the axe against a level 1, killing it after a few skills. She then moved to a level 2 weakened by the sentry, killing it as well. She was so engrossed she didn''t notice a level 3 monster sneaking up behind her. "Sheila!" Harold yelled, swinging his own iron axe to get near her. Unfortunately, another monster blocked his way, though it was dealt with by the sentry. He paled and looked in the nurse''s direction, but a swift gust of air passed by and sharp canine teeth pretty much beheaded the attacking monster. Sheila shook a little as blood splattered all over her face. "Thanks Fufi!" Fufi at this time had already reached level 5 and was just below her waist on all fours, and about two meters tall on his hind legs. He already had his own dog house in the farm villa, adjustable according to his size. Above the battlement, both Althea and Eugene were about to shoot the monster when Fufi dealt with it. They quickly redirected to other monsters, relieved in their hearts. After shooting a few more times, Eugene let down his bow, "It''s time for me to go down now." Althea''s eyebrows furrowed as she let go of another shot. "You don''t really have to.." "Don''t worry boss, I not only used to be a soldier, my equipment for defence is really top notch." "Be careful." Eugene nodded, leaving her alone on the battlement. After a while, Althea had to take a break to replenish with potions and mana cookies. As she did so, her emerald eyes stayed on the endless wave that extended to the horizon. She looked at the mob that still saw no end and sighed. Still a long way to go! Fortunately, she still had her three little secret weapons. Chapter 303 Bombs in Action Aberdeen City, thirteen years prior "Bomb it!" Twelve-year-old Althea told her teammate, Ansel, who happily obliged by throwing the bomb to their virtual enemies. Their enemies naturally all died, and Althea looked very happy. "Wow¡­" Garan, who happened to be watching them play, felt complicated. Did she love bombs so much because she was almost¡ª He glared at the brat who introduced her to such unhealthy games. Ansel: ¡­ Anyway, after their game, the teenage Garan couldn''t help but pull Althea somewhere to talk (though not without sending a small glare at Ansel, who shivered for his life). "What is it?" She asked, and Garan wondered how to tell her without sounding overbearing. "..." "Garan?" Garan couldn''t speak immediately. He just had a nightmare the night before, where Althea¡ªwho had now entered her teenage years, the supposedly rebellious stage¡ªlooked at him in distaste. "Stop being sooo boriinggg!" Dream-Althea had told him. She was wearing that adorable pout of hers, but she just kept saying hurtful things. He paled. "Garan? Are you alright?" Garan blinked and looked down at the girl in front of him. When he saw only kindness and concern in her pretty emerald eyes, he heaved a sigh of relief. Alas, he thought too much. How could he compare his angel with the brats of the world? "I just want you to know, that hurting people isn''t a good practice. You just have to protect yourself." "Unless it''s the bad guy," she corrected him. His lips twitched and he nodded in agreement. "Yes, unless they''re the bad guy." At this, Althea looked at him proudly. "Didn''t you see? Those ninjas tried to attack my turf!" She told him, eyes filled with certainty. "Of course, I''m gonna protect it!" ______________ Altera, Present. Helios and Hugo heaved a gasp as they killed a level 4 monster together. It took them a while, and they knew their movements had begun to lag. "We just rested an hour ago." The battle has been going on for more than a day now, their rest times naturally had to be extended. "There''s still so many." "Well," Now that their bodies were as heavy as lead and had begun to lose a few more people, the momentum had begun to slow down. Everyone also had heavy injuries on their bodies, only kept standing by the medicines¡ªwhich were quickly dwindling¡ªand by sheer willpower. The tension had risen, and it could be said no one expected this degree of strength they had to face. It was fortunate they had reliable Aborigines, or else they''d have lost a lot more people. Ansel parried the sword against the monster, slicing its eyes immediately after. He stepped back to avoid its claws, and the sentry hit it directly in the back. He deftly avoided another attack from behind, but his legs had gotten a bit weak and he miscalculated, losing his balance. The monster quickly took advantage. Roar! "Shit!" he yelled, placing a shield in front of him to give him time to recover. However, the shield was saved as a spear appeared. It was quick to pass through the monster''s neck, splattering blood all over Ansel''s face. He turned to see Hugo, who had just pulled back his spear. "Thanks," he said, standing up and ready to fight again. Although he didn''t like the bloke, gratitude due shall be given. "I got the experience." The other man said, redirecting another attack with his spear. He angled in a way that the monster moved in a direction and was promptly shot by the sentry for him. It roared and he took advantage to hit it on its weak point, finally killing it. A second later, Helios kicked another monster to their side, with Hugo¡ªwithout any more prompts¡ªstabbing it with his spear mid-fall. Ansel then jumped above yet another weird thing, kicking it with all his strength, just before stabbing its eye with his sword. Immediately, Hugo stabbed its mouth with his weapon, using his whole body weight (and more) to pull it in the direction of a sentry. Helios also took a shot at it. Combined with the sentry''s arrow, the monster met its quick demise. The three''s teamwork had improved by leaps and bounds during this time. Soon, the uncle and nephew''s life had gotten critically low and they had to go rest. Then Ansel would shift to Luke and Leo''s fight, who had just arrived from their short break. It could be said Ansel was quite the team player. They continued to fight. This time, Oslo stayed a bit to lighten up the load further. Anyway, Rowan had Clout and the others to assist him on the other side. But even if Oslo was strong, eventually his mana and physique would still take a beating like everyone else, especially when he was up against hundreds. He was so preoccupied and he wasn''t able to help out Ansel, who got nicked in the arm, even if he was nearby. Althea happened to see this and frowned, increasing her shooting. She also saw the strain on the walls. She used her ability to lock in on another set of stronger monsters who were doing the most damage to the walls, killing them, and it ended up consuming the bulk of her remaining mana in the process. Looking at her soldiers in dire need of rest, she studied her stats and judged this was the time that she used her consumables. She went to the intersection of the two walls a few dozen meters from where she was. She stood at the intersection of the T, where the height difference was two meters. She easily jumped down and walked along the outer wall. "Althea!" Ansel gasped, looking up, "What are you doing??" She stood at the edge of the level 3 wall on the verge of collapse from the mob. This time, she didn''t repair it and just allowed for a new opening. Then on the monsters right outside the outer wall, she threw the paralysis and poison bombs. Boom! Bang!! "What!" Althea looked at the people gaping at the other side of the wall, seeing the strong flash of light and purple powder that was visible through the broken wall. "Kill!" She ordered, jumping down to deal with them. "Althea!" "Boss!!" People ran through the gates and the opening to help her out, though they didn''t expect to see the monsters were now just lying around like sitting ducks to kill!! "Amazing!" "They''re sitting ducks!" "Don''t be too complacent! I only have a few!" She yelled, "And it only lasts so long!" "Ah, yes!" The group killed as much as they could. After so long, they have managed to master the weak points of these monsters. They had killed about a hundred or so before the effect loosened. Althea''s sharp eyes saw the moment the monsters were about to wake up. "Get back up!" She yelled, and they jumped up the walls again, resuming the stabbing while above it. Then after a while, Althea would throw her bombs again, and they would repeat the same thing. Because the monsters were sitting ducks during this time, they didn''t have to waste too much mana and energy, increasing productivity by several folds. About an hour later, someone sobbed. "I can finally see the end!" The people looked forward and looked for the edge. It was into the end of the horizon, which was still a few hundred at best, but at least it was finally in sight. She looked into her space to see her final set of bombs¡ªthe actual explosives. She only had a few and she had to time it well for momentum. She believed this was a good time. Her emerald eyes watched the crowd and the mobs, holding on to small spheres smaller than her palm. She took away the ignition, throwing it as far as she could. Immediately, she did the same to different parts of the mob. A second later the air shook and three different areas of the mob exploded, throwing a bit of meat to their location. BANG! BANG! BANG!! [Congratulations! You have upgraded to Level 8!] The fighters looked at the monster corpses where the bomb landed. Each one killing at least a few dozen monsters! Only level 5s survived but they were easily killed by the sentries. They turned their heads and gaped at Althea. Oh my gosh! S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel sparkled, wondering if he could get one. Many others looked the same. She looked at them with embarrassment. "That''s all I had though." Awwwww~ Pity. But it doesn''t matter, because they knew that this was a major step to finally finishing this damned mob! Chapter 304 Death Count [17 hours of Protection Period] S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When the beast tide ended a day later, everyone who couldn''t walk was carried to the infirmary tent to rest. On the other hand, the team from logistics took the bodies and the loot in the fields, to be distributed equally according to contribution. As they walked back, Oslo looked at her complicatedly. Those exploding balls were quite powerful. He remembered telling her about a pharmacist who built something similar, but he was fairly certain it wasn''t so strong. From what he knew, the stories of its effect were even exaggerated. However, it was still hailed because of its uniqueness. What''s more, that particular pharmacist worked on the formulation for half his life. How old was their lord? How long had she been working with the materials here? Althea wasn''t privy to the multitude of thoughts running through Oslo''s head. She was just sleepy and she wanted to see her children already. Althea sighed and ate the last snack she had in her space. She trudged through her tiredness and looked at her stats. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 8 (8320/30000) Life: 480/1500 Spirit: 250/1500 +50 Physical: 310 +40 Agility: 319 +10 Defense: 306 +134 Mana: 1600 Physical Potential: A Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Medina Robe (C): +40 Defence Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] She saw that her experience bar was well into level 8 and Fufi was in the middle of level 6. She couldn''t help but smile. Also, those stats¡­ would she be able to lift a level 3 monster now and pull it apart? Oslo noticed her smile. "Good news?" "Hmm," she said, telling her of their levels. "Also, the average level rose from 4 to 6!" Because of this, she felt their sore bodies were worth it. She sat down on the infirmary chair and refused treatment. Other people needed it, she only needed to rest. "Are you alright?" Hugo asked her, looking concerned. Althea stared at him and nodded with a smile. At this, Oslo appeared beside them out of nowhere. "You should take a nap, Ms. Althea. You deserve it." She looked at him but didn''t follow. After a pause, she asked, "What do you think will happen after the protection period ends?" The sudden question startled him a bit, but he recovered quickly. "The mobs would be stronger, but they shouldn''t be so many," Oslo said, reassuring. "Like I said, you should rest." He then looked at her, eyes filled with warmth. "Shall I send you home?" Hugo''s handsome face turned a bit dark. "It is best if a Terran takes care of fellow Terrans, don''t you think?" The two men stared at each other, an undercurrent only men understood was between them. Althea was too tired to notice. Ansel though could see everything. He crossed his arms and looked at them, both annoyed and amused (in a superior sort of way). He knew with his entire being that Althea would never look at them in that way. He found it entertaining to find men throwing themselves into a pitfall. It would be even more fun to see how they''d deal with THAT guy¡­ ¡­ However, as much as people wanted to celebrate, something inevitable soon dawned on them: The Deaths. The Southwest gate finished up about half an hour after the Eastern one and now Drake and Rowan stood in front of her to report. Next to her were the other elders, Mathilda and Gru, who came to check up on her as soon as things were settled. "How many did we lose?" "Fourteen guards and twenty citizens, Ms. Althea," Rowan said. To be honest, Rowan was amazed by how few this amount actually was. In other territories, casualties often exceeded several hundred, at least. And this was still with smaller level differences between people and monsters. However, looking at the somber faces of the Lord and the others, he chose not to speak out. Hearing the numbers, Althea felt extremely heavy. She seriously considered giving a lot of gold to the bereaved but went against it after a thought. It was not sustainable¡ªthey would only be facing stronger enemies and, therefore, more losses, in the future. Not to mention, in territorial wars, Oslo wouldn''t be able to join in. If Rowan leveled up a few more times, it was the same with him. If there were fighter NPCs available, even lower-leveled ones, she''d gladly take them. Unfortunately, there was no such luck the past few days. In any case, the potential for deaths in Territorial wars was no less than now, maybe even more because there were so many variables. "In addition to the contribution points the victim had earned during their lifetime, the territory will also give 5000 contribution points to the person''s bereaved." Gold and space items are gone after death, which was why a lot left some of their money to trusted people, but contribution points were not. As early as during the registration, everyone was asked to input the name of the person to whom they wanted to give their property, in case of death during a battle for the territory. They were collectively referred to as the Bereaved. She then looked at Oslo. "Set up a cemetery in the mountain area southwest. "We shall hold ceremonies for their passing. Pass on the announcement. We will begin in an hour." The Terrans nodded without question, while the Aborigines were a little surprised. They felt¡­ touched. No Lord had ever cared enough for deaths and the bereaved like this. Most of the time, even acknowledgment was absent. ¡­ Mathilda stood in front of a temporary stage in the main square, where the dead were laid down in white cloth, looking peaceful despite their bloodied states. "We stand before you today to honor our brethren who sacrificed their lives. This time we will remember them and their lives, and how they affected and saved ours." Oslo couldn''t help but turn to the sobbing man not far from him. Koo Yu. His blonde eyebrows furrowed and he whipped his head towards the bodies. Soon, he saw the familiar face of the boy''s brother, George. Mathilda continued to speak, "And we will bury our brethren''s ashes into the soil of this world: One with it, as we will also do, eventually." "In their memory, we will live well in this world," Mathilda paused, heaving a deep breath¡ªheavy, heartfelt. "Let us take a moment to remember their sacrifices, remembering how they took part in our inevitable freedom and success." Rowan then stepped forward, hands igniting in flames. Embers floated towards the pile of corpses, very quickly spreading and consuming them all. The bell rang continuously, as if the territory itself mourned for the loss. Mathilda looked at the burning corpses sincerely, bending for a bow, and everyone¡ªincluding the aborigines¡ªfollowed. "Thank you for your sacrifice." Chapter 305 End of Protection Period After the ceremony, she, the elders, and the aborigines went directly to a meeting, aiming to polish what they could before a well-needed rest. When it was all over, everyone congratulated each other, before going out of the room to go their separate ways. They went down the stairs and Althea stretched her arms, but her yawn paused midway when she saw who was waiting at the bottom steps of the stairs. It was Sheila and Harold, each holding her children, arrived to pick her up. "Mwmammaaaa~!" "Ghghmoghamgga~" They looked very cute and very very happy to see her fine. Althea immediately brightened and wanted to kiss her babies, but stopped herself due to all the grime and blood. In a hurry home, she said her polite goodbyes to the men, with Ansel striding along with her. However, before going anywhere, she looked at the Aborigines who had been watching everything with warm eyes. Althea paused, turning to the (former) Terrans. "We should also stop calling them NPCs." She told them, "I know that gamifying this world lessens the load, but our protection will soon disappear." She paused, finally looking away, sights looking past everything in the territory. "For better or for worse, we are now part of this world." ¡­ Althea and the group went home and she quickly took a bath. After that, she hurriedly went out to hug her babies, giving them many, many, smooches on their cute cheeks. She carried them both to the bed, embracing them with her warmth, feeling their softness. "I missed you soooo much¡­" she mumbled, and the two children giggled cutely, and she couldn''t help but place another set of pecks on their pudding-like cheeks. Then little Meatball yawned adorably, followed by Little Pepper, and then Althea herself. She felt her eyelids become heavier and heavier. As she laid down with her babies in her arms, she used her remaining strength to make an announcement: One asking everyone to get a good rest. Let them rest for several hours. The bell would ring when it was time to wake up¡ªto signify that it was time to start preparing for yet another battle. ¡­ Ferrol Town "The mobs have been particularly antsy." Bart''s right-hand man, Eloi, mumbled as they walked towards the Terran Mercenary camp. He mentioned this because a monster managed to nick his shirt and now he had to buy a new one. He was a middle-aged man with big eyes and a very high hairline. Like Bart, he also had a large waistline, though it increased lately and he blamed the Terran mercenary team for it. They had just arrived from their base in Twinwave and noticed the mobs on the way were quite irritated. Fortunately, the mobs around weren''t too high, and it didn''t cause them too much trouble. They passed by Ferrol, though mostly to meet Garan and the others. It was because they happened to be going to Cape Rushless, which was not too far away from here and they wanted to see if there was some new stuff to see (and get some exclusive food by the way). But when they got to the Terran Mercenary Team''s camp, they saw them packing up, as if preparing to go somewhere far. Bart also noticed there were several people who were not there. And also¡­, they were all covered up in bandages? "What happened to you?" Reuben shrugged, "Encountered some hard stubble." Another¡ªthe pale-skinned Minko¡ªnodded. "Very hard stubble." "..." However, they basically ignored him and were busy packing up. He noticed somewhat of a flurry in their movements. Bart watched patiently as they finished up, with those who completed their tasks earlier looking in the direction of the fog. They looked both worried and excited and it made Bart very curious. He walked over to Eagle, who seemed relatively freer now than the others, but he was obviously a bit antsy. "Level 5 Mobs were found entering the fog a day before," Eagle told him, face pale. "Captain and the others hand already gone to take a look." Bart flinched a bit, narrowing his eyes. He knew these people had something to do with the fog, and it seemed their connection was deeper than they thought. According to what the rumors he heard a few days ago¡­ he kind of worried for this team. "All of you are going?" He shook his head. "Only those with relatives there," he said. That was to say, all Aborigines would remain to watch their properties. Bart thought for a while before nodding. Curious, he offered to come with them in the end, and Eagle and the others gladly agreed. Maybe they''d get more information along the way. ¡­ They arrived at the border of the cloud several hours later, which would have taken longer had Bart and the others not come. After all, there were really a lot of aggressive monsters around. Such a strong group really helped them breeze through it. Bart received the team''s gratitude (in the form of good snacks) with a smile, and he turned his head to look for the advanced team. Soon, he saw Garan and the rest in full gear, eyes never leaving the cloud in front of them. It was obvious they would be traveling, for a long time. "There were changes?" Bart asked, approaching the serious man while taking a bite of the heavenly snack they gave him. Garan nodded. "It seems like a month has passed." "What are you planning?" He asked him as well as Gill, who was standing still next to him. "We will find our relatives, of course." Bart nodded, having such an idea. "Well, then, I hope you succeed." Bart paused. "And don''t forget our business!" S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan nodded. "Of course." He needed to feed his wife well, after all. However, before going, Bart couldn''t help but give them a bit of warning. Bart walked over and said with a lowered voice, "I heard¡­ a few forces are mobilizing in this direction." This made the Terrans whip their heads to him with furrowed eyebrows. Attention from aborigines of this kind of world¡­ was definitely not a good thing. Bart raised his hand. "That''s all I know." Garan sighed and nodded, "Thanks for the warning." Bart sighed and just wished them good luck before bidding his farewell. The man continued on to his destination, leaving the Terrans behind to watch the changes, thinking deeply about what could happen. They set up camp right next to the cloud, lighting fires, and cooking meals. Except for a couple of monster groups, the wait was relatively peaceful. But soon they noticed their barbeque sticks started moving, and the charcoal started rolling. Gill sighed. "It''s another mob," he said. Everyone else took out their weapons and prepared for the monsters they''d be facing. But they noticed this mob seemed a bit larger than others so they packed up and found a higher ground so as to not be surrounded. It was a mob of Suide, predominantly level 8 and 9, probably attracted by the smell of their food. They dealt with them with relative ease, with no injuries whatsoever. It was just that the wind users'' abilities accidentally wisped away the smell, some of the escaping mob went in the direction of the fog by chance. The team went nearer the fog and planned to kill the monsters when they came out of the fog. But, who knew¡­ After several minutes, the mob still hadn''t come out yet! "What? Are they inside??" "Huh?" "The fog is clearing!!!" Someone yelled and they looked up to see that it was true. Their eyes widened as they looked closer, watching the cloud slowly ebb. However, instead of relief, they only felt heavy with worry. They had hoped the return of relatively higher monsters would take a while to get here, but apparently not. No matter how amazing, the Terrans definitely wouldn''t reach level 8 or 9 within a month. Garan''s heart beat frantically, terrified of what his wife might have to face next. "Let''s go!!!" He yelled, and everyone rushed into the fog¡ªhearts all calling for their own loved ones. Please be alright, wife! Chapter 306 Duties Duties Eden Military Training Camp, 14 years ago Bang! "That''s all you got, cadet?!" A well-built middle-aged man bellowed, punching a young man to the ground for the nth time that morning. The sixteen-year-old Garan groaned and pushed himself up once more, his muscles hardening as he prepared for another attack. The older man narrowed his eyes as he watched the young boy''s movements. "You cannot be a proper soldier if you''re not strong enough!" The huge man snapped into position again. "Come!" He yelled and the boy flinched, similarly entering an aggressive stance. Determination burning in his azure eyes, the young lad lunged forward. His strikes were swift and precise for his age, but it was lacking in the eyes of the older man, who was grooming him to be the best there was. Bang! Another takedown, with the lad immediately jumping back up to stability, darting towards the older man without a beat of delay. The boy''s movement was impressive, but the older man easily deflected his hits, and soon started to counterattack. First, the boy was hit in the stomach, then to the chest. The lad struggled to defend, albeit with increasing frequency of a decent block. However, the soldier''s seasoned movements contrasted greatly with the teen''s imperfect techniques, and he failed as soon as the old man changed his tempo a bit. The older man''s movements were precise and impactful, and the boy blocked the blows with gritted teeth. The impact pushed him down everywhere, but he stood up every time. He was beaten up again for another half an hour, but without fail, Garan stood up. The huge man looked at him deeply and relaxed his stance. Still, Garan did not dare lose his guard. The boy''s eyes sharpened and his body shifted. Using his excellent reflexes, he jumped up and changed his position, indicating it was a fake. He launched a quick strike hitting the man''s side and the man, taken by surprise, let out a muffled grunt. The boy immediately jumped back in a defensive, ready should he attack him again. However, instead of attacking, the man''s posture relaxed, making the boy''s eyebrows furrow. The man smiled and patted his shoulders, with no signs of a new attack. Garan''s tense body relaxed a bit, but still guarded enough in case of a fake-out. "Good," the man said after a while and the boy blinked, lips twitching upward. "...thank you." The old man looked at him with deep eyes and Garan unconsciously straightened his back more. "Listen well, soldier. We are the shield in front of our country, and thus, the shield in front of our loved ones." Garan couldn''t help but think of that huge scar he saw on the young Althea''s back when they were swimming. She didn''t mind it, but he felt like crying. As he remembered this, his eyes sharpened, and the man saw it and nodded in approval. "That is the duty of a soldier." He said, "And you have the eyes and soul of one." ___ Xeno Continent, present Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "They''re headed over there." Chris motioned in a direction, showing the scratches amongst trees. Garan''s team had been following the traces of the mobs for a while now, following closely behind them. Not only were they aiming to lighten the load of their brethren, but it was also a well-known fact that mobs were known to detect sources of aether¡ªthat was, other living things, especially intelligent beings¡ªand attempt to eat them. Hence, to find other humans at a time when they had no direction, they must follow this mob. Not too close to attract them, but not too far to be too late for rescue. However, before the mobs found their targets, they heard a group of terrified screams getting closer to them from the side. They frowned. If they could hear the noise, so could the mob up front. Sure enough, the mob quickly turned to the noise and instantly changed targets. "Go!!" Garan yelled to his team, and they sprinted after the monsters, hoping to get to the humans before the monsters did. They ran as fast as they could but when they arrived the monsters were already mauling a few corpses. Cursing, Garan immediately summoned his ice spears, sending them directly to the monsters. The ice picks embedded on their skin and through their necks, finally killing them. His teammates, similarly, used their skills to kill the monsters as quickly as possible to minimize the deaths. However even if these monsters had lower levels than they did, they were still around level eight and could not be killed in one shot by most if the weak points weren''t hit. Regardless, it was an amazing sight¡ªhow terrifying monsters that could kill a person with a small bite seemed so powerless against humans¡ªhumans that were so similar to them. Brethren. The refugees gaped in amazement as elements floated around, menacing, and killing the beasts that had terrorized them a moment prior. Not only were they extremely skilled in weapons, they also magically released fireballs, waterballs, and other elements. It was a magical sight and many survivors thought they already died and went to heaven. In their distraction, they failed to notice a small but agile monster that darted to their direction. "AH!" A person yelled when he caught sight of it, and his heart dropped¡ªbelieving it was finally his time to get eaten. But a wall of earth appeared in front of them, protecting them from the monster. Then, from behind the wall, another person seemed to have¡­ flown. Carried by the wind, he raised his sword as he jumped over the wall and straight to the monster. Splash! The sword was buried into its skull, and it fell down to the earth with a thud. "This¡­ is a miracle¡­" a rare surviving old man uttered, tears slowly forming in his eyes. "I¡­ how¡­" "Are¡­ are they l-like¡­ us?" These people are amazing¡­ The people who had been pale, scared, and soulless stopped moving. Their dull eyes watched as the soldiers cleared out the mob that attacked them, dead eyes slowly gaining a bit of life. Hope had been lit. And that was the first step to everything. Chapter 307 Tracing Scum If they¡ªthe refugees¡ªstill had the strength, no doubt quite a few would be approaching actively instead of running to hide like they usually did. After seeing the direct threats to the people had been dealt with, Garan ordered everyone not to waste too much mana anymore. Hence, except for when the monsters got too close, the soldiers all used their weapons instead. Anyway, none of them received any experience or copper because the monsters were over 5 levels below them, so it would be a pity to lose a lot of mana from it, not when their journey was probably still long. They soon took down the dozen or so monsters left, with a few people kicking the monsters for good measure. Silence passed by this part of the forest, with the two groups awkwardly staring at each other. When the survivors saw that it was safe, they looked at the soldiers longingly, before dragging their weak feet to them. Soon after, the soldiers were surrounded by about a hundred people, most eyes now filled with admiration and relief. The soldiers naturally looked around for family, though to no avail, and they looked at each other in disappointment. Of course, it would be impolite to show it so openly, so the more friendly soldiers like Luis, Jake, and Sam started to chat with the refugees. However, as they did so, they couldn''t help but notice the extremely poor conditions the refugees were in. None of them had a complete dress¡ªthere were men who only had pants filled with holes and nothing else. And, without exception, each one was covered in mud, blood, and grime. They were also extremely thin, their complexion extremely wan and unhealthy. Garan''s heart dropped. What about the others? What about Althea?! ¡­. While he was in a daze, in a dark mood, and with a very intimidating aura, the survivors were already approaching the others with various emotions. "Thank you so much!" One sobbed, and another bowed. Another kowtowed, partly because he lost the feeling in his legs, as well as to express his gratitude. The soldiers were embarrassed, and they couldn''t help but wave it off. "We''re just doing what we can as fellow Terrans." It was just that the confirmation that they were there as allies made a lot of tense shoulders slump in relief, and also even more passionate in interacting with them. There was also a teenager who looked at them in awe. "Are you soldiers!?" He continued to chatter even before they even answered. "I knew you were going to save us! And what is that magic you did?" The topic seemed to have triggered a flood of curious questions. "Oh, yes, that''s amazing!" "Did you get superpowers?" "Yes, how?" However, before they could answer, the happy atmosphere was broken by a heart-wrenching wail. "My son!!! My sooonnnnnn!!!" It was a middle-aged woman hugging the corpse, letting out guttural cries of despair. Judging by her bloodied but unharmed arms, she had obviously just found his son after rummaging among several corpses. Looking closer, they could see that it was the corpse of a teenager. They recognized him as the boy who had just been killed when they arrived. The woman knew this and her head whipped in their direction, red eyes sending accusing glares. "Why did you arrive so late?! "He didn''t have to die!!! "What kind of soldiers are youuu!!!!!" She screamed, but her hold on her son remained and she only buried her head on his face¨Cthe only remaining body part intact. The soldiers¡ªexcept Garan, who was still in his own world¡ªlooked down, ashamed. If it were others, they wouldn''t feel as guilty. But they were soldiers living with a creed. They couldn''t help blaming themselves. Had they been faster. Some people couldn''t take it anymore and just patted the woman''s back in an attempt to calm her. "Come now, you know it''s not their fault¡­" "Yes¡­ we''re sorry for your loss. Let''s bury Junior together, okay?" Of course, they also knew that if it was their relative who died like that, they would feel the same, so they couldn''t condemn the grieving woman for it either. Anyway, a few others went to comfort the woman, who only wailed in pain, still blaming the soldiers. The refugees looked at the soldiers embarrassedly. Luis shook his head, silently gesturing that they didn''t mind. He told them to let her vent, they would kill the monsters that would be attracted by the noise. Some more tactful people stepped forward to change the topic. "Uhmm¡­ you are really soldiers, right?" A person, one who had been quiet all along, asked. They didn''t wear any uniforms. They just assumed because of their temperament unique to soldiers. "Well, yes." "That''s great!" He paused, hesitated, but pushed through with his request. "My cousin. I have family left in my territory¡­" This seemed to have triggered the memory of everyone. After all, they had been too focused on their own survival, how would they even consider others? Most of these people had formed acquaintances and friendships in the past month. "Yes, yes! Can you help our territory?! We just escaped but it hasn''t fallen yet!" "Please!" "There are thousands of people in the territory! They should still be holding on!" "Yes, we just happened to be gathering resources on the other side of the territory when they broke in! We could only run as far as we can!" The soldiers blinked and didn''t answer, only shifting their heads to the captain who, at some point, returned to the present. Garan was silent and didn''t agree immediately. But he did not refuse either. One was because of the military creed and the more important one was that their relatives could be there. After a pause, he looked at the most composed person next to him, a middle-aged old man with a balding head. "Is your village''s name Altera?" He asked. The man flinched as if thinking of a response, but was scared by Garan''s sharp eyes. He didn''t dare to lie. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "No, I''m sorry." But he quickly added, "But¡­ I''m sure someone in the territory knows! Our Lord is very powerful! Usually! The monsters that suddenly attacked were abnormal!! Garan sighed. Regardless of whether it was of duty or one of selfishness, going to their territory was the most practical first step. He prayed for some good news. ¡­ On the way to the aforementioned territory, the team effortlessly killed the mobs that attacked them. It was his team who made all the moves this time, often just using iron swords, but sometimes using elemental skills, all of which earned admiring gazes. Althea would also be fascinated with those tricks. He was told he was very dashing when using his skills, and he looked forward to her admiring face. Then, he couldn''t help but continue worrying for his wife. When he got news of huge amounts of level 5 monsters entering, he immediately checked the mercenary union for the status of her team. Fortunately, it was as stable as it had been. His wife was so amazing, he believed that she would be fine... As they walked, he couldn''t help but ask the person next to him. "What''s the name of your village?" "Fargo Village." Garan''s feet stopped. Fargo¡­?? His movement naturally made everyone stop as well. The soldiers put up their guards and the refugees shivered. Garan noticed his gaffe and shook his head. "No, I just remembered something," he said with that impassive voice of his and just continued walking forward. Everyone was puzzled, but no one dared to question him. Garan didn''t care about the stares as his mind churned like crazy at the familiar name. The criminal group he had been hunting¡ªthe people responsible for Althea''s scar¡ªhappened to be named the Fargo Group. ''If it''s the same group¡­'' His eyes sharpened. If it was the same people¡­ Then they must be killed! Chapter 308 Village in a Valley In the end, in consideration of various factors, Garan and the team decided to follow the refugees to their village. However, the travel was not straightforward as the survivors did not have a compass nor did they have the time to mark their path. However, the so-called Fargo village was located in a particularly prominent landform¡ªa valley¡ªso they only had to go where the small mountains were. Further, the soldiers also asked the refugees to help them tag the location on their maps¡ªsomething that amazed the refugees to no end¡ªso a few of them could even go ahead to the location. Five people: Turbo, Jake, and three others, were sent ahead to check on the situation. "The goal is to minimize the losses of the people." Garan told the five, "But be sure to keep your safety as the top priority." This had been their mantra since coming here. While they would still help people, they would no longer sacrifice their lives for them. After all, only if they were alive would they be able to save even more people. More importantly, saving their own lives ensured they could protect their own loved ones well. "Be careful," he finally said and the five nodded. "Yes, sir!" They said, and it took a few seconds for them to disappear from their sight. The more optimistic young people couldn''t help but be in awe. "Amazing¡­" they said, "I wish I were that strong." Eagle, the soft-hearted one, smiled at them. "You will be. Just be brave and aim for self-improvement." The young lad looked at Eagle in admiration. To be honest, the man had a bit of a scary face due to his sharp features, and he was the last person the lad expected to give any sort of pep talk. Eagle sensed his stare and looked back with an eyebrow raised. "Did I say anything wrong?" The boy, Kyle, was both embarrassed and touched by his words. "Er¡­ thanks¡­" Those who watched the interactions couldn''t help but smile. Anyway, soon all the refugees could stand and walk one way or another, and Garan started walking forward, with everyone else following his steps. Their steps were relatively slow as almost all the refugees were injured, but thankfully the soldiers were patient and protected them well. It wasn''t peaceful for long, however, as they quickly heard rustles approaching them, and the soldiers immediately separated and headed in the direction of the sounds, fully prepared for what was to come. Quickly, they took them down with their weapons, leaving the refugees absolutely in awe (again). As soon as the mobs were settled, the group started moving again. And when more mobs arrived, the soldiers would do the same. Over and over. In the remainder of their travels, they encountered several more groups of monsters. These monsters were no longer limited to the usual levels 1 or 2 the refugees were used to. On the contrary, a lot of the new mobs ranged from level 6 to level 8. Such levels were the minority in numbers, but it was enough to shake the refugees to the core. "Why are the monsters suddenly so strong?!" Someone cried. "Stronger? That was still weak." Gill tactlessly mumbled as they ran. "What?!" "You haven''t seen anything yet." Eagle rubbed his temple as they trekked. "Stop scaring them." "Don''t coddle them," Gill said, ignoring the pale faces of the refugees. "The average level of monsters here would remain at this level. They should get used to it." sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Some people cried and some even lost strength in their legs from the shock. Gill''s eyes twitched and decided to soften up his tone a bit. "Don''t worry," He told them, "The monsters shouldn''t exceed level 10 around villages." At the very least, villages didn''t need to worry about a level 20 monster attacking them. There was a rather accurate observation about these monsters: The stronger the territory, the stronger the monsters. This was because of the energy, or aether, a territory innately had. This was what attracted monsters, and it varied from territory to territory. This was why during Upgrade Beast tides of villages, the level was generally lower than level 5. For the low-level villages, he heard it was only level 3 mobs that attacked. This side of the human territory did have generally weaker mobs. In turn, the weaker territories settled here for survival and also because they didn''t have much of a choice. This was why no true strong professional stayed in villages, despite the potential for hegemony due to strength. After all, people would not receive any rewards for killing monsters 5 levels below them. More importantly: who wanted to stay stagnant? As if in a vicious cycle, weak territories would also turn away any strong individual who could change the status quo. However, the average monster level was about level 7 or 8 and was already very lethal to the current Terrans. This was their new reality, and they had to adjust if they hoped to survive. "There," Gill said, very kindly. The Refugees: "..." That did NOT make them feel better! Gill ignored them, already feeling very kind in his attempt to ''comfort'' them. Garan sighed and just continued his trek, hoping the advance party had mitigated the trouble up front. As he walked, he couldn''t help but think a lot about what Gill was telling them. This low-level mob around villages was not even permanent. It would change if powerful towns and cities appeared in the vicinity. As such, more powerful mobs would be attracted by the aether produced by the vitality of a stronger community. Because of the attraction of stronger territories to stronger monsters, there were cases of neighbors attacking neighbors, just to stop them from bringing in stronger monsters and implicating everyone. But this was what weak cowardly lords chose to do, and he didn''t think there was a Lord from Terran who was like this. At least, he hoped so. He hoped that there would never be a war between Terrans. It was already them against the world and there was no need to add each other in the list of enemies. To be able to thrive in this world, they had to work together. Except with scum like Fargo, of course. ¡­ About half an hour later, they finally neared the vicinity of Fargo village. It was located in a lush valley with relatively comfortable side slopes. The soldiers observed the terrain by habit and saw the other side of the mountain. It was steep and difficult to traverse. This was a natural barrier on two sides, hard to attack and easily defendable. It could be said that the Lord here had quite the foresight. Garan frowned, knowing the enemy could be a bit troublesome even in this new world. However, as they went closer, they quickly heard loud growls and horrific screams and their pace turned panicked. Soon they saw many corpses of humans and monsters, as well as the broken walls not too far from them. "The monsters have traces of elements in them," Gill said as their pace hastened towards the broken part of the wall. Obviously, the people who came ahead had just finished off the monsters attacking the walls. It was just that a lot of monsters had already gotten into the territory. The level 2 fence had long been breached. The gate was wide open and people were trying to get as far from it as they could. Obviously, the refugees said the walls should''ve been able to last longer. They said that they had strong enough guards to hold on for at least half an hour. What happened now? Running against the crowd, Garan''s team weaved through to enter the opening to see the bloody scene inside. There were maimed corpses everywhere, blood was splattered all over the floor and there were more people getting killed every step they took. There were hundreds of corpses littered on the ground, stacked over each other, each with missing body parts. There were monsters that were feasting with these piles, while some found more desire to hunt live prey. The soldiers watched all this with a heavy heart. It seemed they had miscalculated. Chapter 309 Fargo Village The large village was now shrouded in chaos and blood, the air thick with tension, and the ground trembling nonstop from the weight of hundreds of monsters inside the walls. Their hearts fell at the sight, and their feet immediately darted to the nearest monster to deal with it. Desperate cries echoed through the territory, helpless against the onslaught of powerful monsters. The soldiers immediately activated their elements so they could deal with them as quickly as they could, joining the advance team in their fights. Turbo and the others were focusing on the most populous areas, trying to save as many people as they could. It was just that, with the number of people running about, and how many people a single monster could take down in a second, they simply weren''t rescuing people fast enough. It didn''t help that they were all going in a direction and were thus actively hunted down. While dealing with the nearest monsters, their sights followed the direction where they were running towards. From a distance, they could see another level 3 wall deeper inside, likely built over the original wall. A lot of people were running desperately to its gates, thumping it, albeit to no avail. Fortunately, there were a few sentries there, so even if people couldn''t get inside its closed gates, they had some hope of survival through the sentries. That was not within their concern at the moment, however, and everyone turned their attention to the monsters at hand. There were about a dozen or so level 6 and 7 monsters roaming around and playing with their meals. The others were dealt with by their soldiers and some were handled by two locals. The two were definitely aborigines. A few weaker monsters were also handled by dozens of guards and cannon fodders. Unfortunately, they were too far and weren''t able to save a lad from being mauled. But they did arrive soon enough to save everyone else. Anyway, while Garan and the fighters handled the monsters, the rest tried to rescue who they could. At this point, Vanessa and Turbo, the medical personnel, took the lead. Followed by Chris and Sammy, who joined in the logistics of rescuing people directly from the mouths of monsters. There were hundreds, no, thousands of people to rescue, and only a few of them. It was naturally not easy. There were points where Chris, carrying two grown men in his arms, was surrounded by monsters and almost had to let go of his rescues. Fortunately, Gill sprinted in their direction, manifesting a fireball on his hand. He also used his earth abilities to create walls and created chokepoints, to ensure the monster wouldn''t go anywhere else. "Thanks!" Chris yelled, disappearing to safety again. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. On another side, one of the village''s aborigines, yelled in pain as he felt a sharp tooth nick his arm. Mogi''s eyes narrowed when he was finally injured a bit by one of the monsters. Although they were several levels below him, he¡ªa mere level 12¡ªwas handling at least three of them. It was common knowledge that someone needed to be a few levels above a monster to defeat it one-on-one, but he was surrounded by them! Who told this village to be filled with people weaker than his twelve-year-old niece!! And who told him to be bound to protect the Hiring village as much as he could, at least until he was certain of death? It was only at this time that hired people like them could refuse. It was even worse for Rona, a fifty-year-old chef, who was not even a fighter but happened to have a higher level than the residents. She was only level 9 at her age, and it was enough indication that she couldn''t handle these things well. They didn''t know why the guard team mobilized so late¡ªalready well after the monsters killed so many citizens¡ªbut they were contract-bound to do what they could within their abilities. "AH!" Rona yelled beside him and he turned, looking at her shoulder already gushing. Instead of crying and looking scared, Rona looked a bit relieved. She judged that it was time for her to run, already meeting the minimum requirement she was expected to meet. "I did my part." She told Mogi, who nodded in understanding. Unfortunately, he couldn''t do the same. He applied and was hired to be a Guard. This meant that unless his health and life were below 30%, he could not run away. However, as Rona turned to flee to safety, a monster who had already eaten the people nearby lunged toward her. "ROAR!" It was so loud and sudden that Rona lost her balance and fell down. It opened its mouth to glomp at her, and she peed her pants in shock. "Rona!" Mogi yelled, barely dodging sharp teeth to the heart due to the distraction. Rona''s life passed by her head. She knew this village would kill her the moment she saw the average levels! What made everything worse was that she only had a few days of contract left! But an inch before being mauled, a spike of earth appeared in front of her. It ended up right under the monster''s chin and impaled it. And then, from the same direction, three more earth spikes appeared, killing the barely-damaged monsters Mogi had been dealing with. The two didn''t even absorb what was happening until the monsters took their last breath. An Elementalist! What''s more, to be able to one-shot a monster, an Elementalist had to be either five levels above the monster or have an extremely powerful weapon on hand. The two aborigines looked around to see the other monsters were already dealt with, each with traces of element manifestation. Not too far away, they saw a strange lad fighting a level 7 monster by himself. His sword was completely engulfed by flames and with a wave, he divided the monster in half. That was a Swordsman''s classic skill: Floating Slash! Then a water whip splashed not too far, also dividing another monster into a few pieces. Goodness Elves! So many elementalists!!! Why were they in such a small place? Chapter 310 Assistance To be honest, since spending so much time with these weak Gugu birds, Rona and Mogi had forgotten what it was like to be around the true strongmen. There were dozens of strong monsters that plagued the territory, but it only took about half an hour for the team to deal with the monsters, including the weaker monsters attracted later on. Further, sometime when they were dealing with the monsters, the outer walls had also been repaired by the lord (wherever he was), so, fortunately, no more losses happened after that. Soon, the sound of monsters disappeared, and people realized they only heard sobs and cries. They¡ªwho had been terrified to look up to see the sights¡ªfinally lifted their heads. When they saw that all the monsters had been dealt with and their protective walls had finally been fixed, the people couldn''t help but kneel down in relief. There were also plenty of people who were near the saviors and were determined to express their gratitude in one way or another. "Thank you, thank you!" The cries of a person echoed, amongst many others, holding a team member in tears. "Er¡­ it''s not much, really¡­" It was an embarrassed Luis, who was carrying said crying person. They were currently heading to one of the residential buildings refurbished as an infirmary by Vanessa and Turbo. Jake, who was walking next to him, cackled at his embarrassment until a teenage girl suddenly threw herself at him. "Mister¡­ mister soldier¡­" she mumbled looking soft and sweet, but the spiky-haired soldier couldn''t help but cringe. She didn''t seem to notice this though and was intent on expressing her love, er, gratitude. "Thank you for saving me¡­" His eyes twitched. "It was nothing, I''d do it even if it was anyone else." "Don''t say that sir! Don''t be shy!" Jake cringed. He was not a pedo, okay? Even if he was only around 5 years older than this girl, he liked curvaceous mature women!! And he didn''t want them so clingy! His steps unconsciously hastened, and this time it was Luis who was cackling. The little girl following Jake was called Yiyi, a nineteen-year-old high school student. She was an orphan since as far as she could remember, and this was the first time she expressed herself like this. Even at a young age, she was one who managed to support herself through hard work and she had never known how to depend on someone else. When the zombie apocalypse began, she was in cram school, trying to study for the unified college entrance exams in an attempt to change the course of her life. She worked very, very, hard. Even if she was a little late in starting compared with her peers, she managed to get to that step, how could she fail? She had worked so hard, to the point of nosebleed. Who knew these very same nosebleeds would almost get her killed, by her own classmates who turned to zombies! In her panic, she accidentally killed her zombie deskmate by pushing her out the open window. She inexplicably activated the ''system'' with space, which was awesome, but there were too many zombies and she was surrounded. She couldn''t put it into use at all. She hid in the classroom cabinet for the whole twenty-four hours, relying on a bottle of water to feed herself until the supposed salvation¡ªthe Migration¡ªcame to take them away. She transferred with a group of over 200 people of different ages and sizes, and for a moment she felt like everything was finally going to be okay. However, in less than 5 minutes after they landed, they heard ominous rustles of leaves and growls around them. A score of monsters attacked them that time and they immediately lost half of their number. Right in front of her, she saw a kid beheaded with a bite and an old woman dragged into the mob. She couldn''t help but puke out the contents of her stomach¡ªwhich was miserably mostly water¡ªa lot of which ended up on her own shirt. Anyway, the mob was settled after a great many deaths and injuries, and Yiyi happened to be among the lucky ones. It was just that the dangers were never-ending. Not just from monsters, but from each other as well. Among the survivors after that mob were a lot of men. Unluckily, half of these men found the new world to really be their salvation¡ªa place where they could do whatever the hell they wanted. Fortunately for her, she was not only unsightly all the way back in Terran due to her nosebleed and zombie goo (and now, the vomit), but when monsters attacked she was thrown to the ground a lot making her look like a dirty-but-tall kid. This also had a lot to do with her non-existent breasts. Anyway, she managed to follow this group from the edges and used her intuition to survive all the way to this territory. She could not afford any of the dwellings or the standard food, but it was already very good. She was an orphan and was used to taking care of herself. Even when she had nothing, as long as there was forageable food, she could survive. She strutted along the edges of the territory, keeping herself away from any people of power. She kept herself alive by picking up stones, wood, and plants. This went on for many weeks until¡ª [Occupation obtained! Forager.] [Gather (E): Obtain 10% more of resources when skill is used. Passive skill.] It made her entire week. Anyway, this new skill let her earn a bit more every day and, after some time, she stepped into a little improvement in her lifestyle. She was also very stingy with herself. She built her own shed and dug her own toilets, and she only bought food from the restaurant once every three days. With this skill, she managed to save up a bit to be able to buy water from the well to get a good bath. She had kept her used PE uniform tucked in space as a change of clothes back in Terran and now she would finally get to wear it again. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She wanted to meet the new month with a refreshed look. Anyway, with her thin body, she doubted anyone would be interested in her. So, she did clean up herself, and she felt refreshed, like a clean woman. She proudly went to the village center, planning to treat herself in the restaurant that day. This time, no one would look at her with such disgusted eyes. It was just that on her way to the restaurant, a commotion exploded. Apparently, after a month of struggling, the safe zone was attacked and she could only count herself (very) unlucky. Chapter 311 Yike (Yiyi + Jake) The memory of how it all started was extremely clear in Yiyi''s head. It started out as a day like any other¡ªpeople foraging everywhere, people going out to hunt, and the Lord''s cronies walking around like they owned the place. The only difference was that she was excitedly lining up at the well to get some bathing water¡ªthough very early, lest someone mean took interest in her precious bucket. She was smiling widely as she took her bucket to her shed. She cleaned herself up the best she could, though she used some leaf that smelled like mint and tasted like toothpaste as soap to clean herself up. It wasn''t the best treatment by Terran standards, but she felt like she had experienced the world''s best spa. Not that she''d know what it was really like, of course, as she only knew spas through television. She had wanted to work part-time there, but she wasn''t attractive enough for the front desk and she was too young for other jobs. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In any case, she wore her relatively clean PE uniform and she suddenly felt like the cleanest she had ever been¡ªby virtue of the stark comparisons. She happily went to walk to the village center to get to the restaurant, like a normal citizen, which happened to be the first time she did so as she always stayed in the peripheries. However, even this simple happiness was destined to be cut short. In the middle of her walk, a group of people filled with blood, gravely injured, entered the territory in panic. "MONSTERS!!!!" They yelled and as if waiting for the signal, the territory was shaken by strong earthquakes and banging sounds. The people quickly realized strong monsters were attacking their walls. The monsters banged and banged against the walls, and they could see dust and some loose stones falling down. The citizens inside could only panic and hide, wondering when the guards would arrive to deal with the beasts. There were also some people who already ran towards the inner walls, hoping to call on the Lord. But, to their aghast, it only took an hour for a good portion of the wall to fall, revealing monsters much larger and more menacing than they were used to. "KYAAA!!!" "Oh my goodness!" "HELP!!" A monster entered the gap and easily killed several people with a wave of its paws, beheading another with its bite. It went deeper and soon, more and more beasts entered through the gap, feasting on whoever they found in their paths. Yiyi naturally ran to where the people were to get the protection of the guards. Unexpectedly, some desperadoes felt they were going to die and instead of preparing for a fight, they decided to enjoy their last leg of life. She was pulled into an alley and the next thing she knew she was thrown on the ground, different pairs of grimy hands touching her everywhere. "What!!" A sense of dread worse than what the monster triggered roused up her throat. "Stop¡ªwhat¡ª" But her struggles only excited the men and hopelessness soon dawned on her. She sobbed and yelled, but no one came for her. After all, everyone was busy trying to save their own lives, who would care for her? She understood this, definitely, but just this one time in all her years of living that asked for help¡ªwould there be no one who could hear her?! Was it too much to ask? The creepy laughs and cackles of the men crawled down her spine, and she could only sob and yell to the top of her lungs, not caring how painful her throat was. But then the movements stopped, followed by a loud yell and she opened her shut eyes to see what happened. Splat! She watched as a snake-like critter appeared out of nowhere, eating the heads of the men, and splattering blood all over her. She was covered with their blood and could only shake as the monster finally noticed her and opened its mouth to eat her as well. She truly thought she was finally going to die when an iron shield suddenly flew in front of her and embedded itself on the rock, and an earth shield appeared, as if enhancing it. A handsome man with quiffed hair appeared above this shield, jumping down and dealing with the monster in a couple of strokes. "Good job, Jake!" Someone from the side yelled, though she didn''t look at him as her eyes fixed on her own savior. Jake, wonderful name. When she was saved by Jake from the monster, she saw an angel. Her brain automatically created a couple name for them. Yike. Ah, beautiful. This was the first time she had been moved after living for so long. She didn''t know how to handle the feeling very well. The little bump in this newfound love life was that she didn''t have friends due to her busy schedule, nor did she have true elders to guide her. Consequently, her EQ was relatively undeveloped, causing her to be a little tactless in her pursuit. But Jake didn''t know about any of this. He simply wanted to run away from this overly forward woman. The two continued with this dynamic, the man doing his job carrying patients and supplies, with a girl following behind and even carrying what she could. Jake couldn''t even kick her out like this! Fortunately, the team wasn''t tactless enough to hoot at them, but they didn''t hide their smug smirks at all! Jerks! ¡­ Basically, the rescue continued for a while after that. This was all led by the Terran Mercenary Team, but none of the local guards seemed to bother helping them at all. While this was bothersome, none of the soldiers complained. They simply did their best to help as many brethren as they could. Eagle was in charge of the supplies, aiming to provide goods and water to the victims. Of course, they didn''t use their own money. Rather, they pooled money from those who wished to eat and they would buy the restaurant food for them. Anyway, the prices were about the same as the prices in aboriginal territories, and although they''d be stretched at their current strength, no one should die of hunger, not in Xeno. The main problem was the medicine, as there was no shop selling it in the village yet and Turbo and Vanessa could only do so much. However, most people were still thankful, even the Aborigines, who had been gaping at them in admiration. In any case, they did what they could, exploring their first Terran territory by the way. Garan looked at the just-repaired gates with a frown. He turned his head to a middle-aged man beside him who had volunteered to help along with his team. "Where is your Lord?" The man was silent and unconsciously put down his head, evidently uncomfortable. The people around were silent, shivering. Garan observed the people''s body language and almost sneered. The group didn''t even bother hiding their brutal ways, it seemed. Being in this place where power was everything must''ve seemed like heaven. Still, did the people here know who their lord was? Probably not. That guy was very hidden, he only had a glimpse of his profile after hunting for so long. Even if they did know, what could they do? They needed him to survive. Anyway, as the mercenary team helped those they could, the two people they sent for a more in-depth study of the territory came back with intel. It was Chris, as always, who had scouted the territory to gather information with Loki, who specialized in spying. "How was it?" "The location was good and they had wells early on, so it''s actually a little better than the poor villages we''ve been to." "It''s just that¡­ the people here¡­ are really terrified of the Lord''s party. They couldn''t even elaborate on it." "Do you know the Lord''s name?" Loki nodded, looking at the Captain''s expression. "The Lord''s name¡­Amon Fargo." Garan''s eyes shone a murderous light. It really was him. Chapter 312 The Lord of Fargo Village Where was this lord when his territory was being destroyed, his citizens being eaten? He was drinking tea in his room, very leisurely, far in the center of the territory further enclosed by a level 3 stone wall with a decent amount of sentries. The handsome middle-aged man with sharp features looked out the window of his room, overlooking the people running around, trying to fix themselves with odd satisfaction. He oozed with a mature man''s charm. However, his expression was odd. He seemed leisurely and happy as he sat there but¡­ he was looking at a tragic sight. More accurately, he couldn''t see what was happening outside the inner walls, but the screams echoed and the smoke and dust told him chaos had ensued. Amon Fargo always loved¡ªrelished in¡ªthis sight: a bit of chaos, a swipe of passion, and a dollop of despair. Anyway, he knew the Aborigines would be able to handle the monsters, it would just take a while. Hopefully, the population outside would be reduced by a decent amount by then. His precious territory was already so overpopulated; It was time to reduce it. His territory was so good, he didn''t like how dirty it was becoming with so many poor people running around, begging. The fortunate thing was that he kept the original wall, improving to level 3 with sentries, keeping the ''bad crop'' outside. Of course, he still built a level 2 wall around the new land, which was already very kind. As he relaxed in his seat, he made a mental note of the current situation of the territory again. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 3915 (903 permanent, 3012 temporary) Total Population: 13824 Base Resources: Wood: 13300/20000 Stone: 11100/15000 Money: 331 Gold, 45699 Silver, 2098699 copper Reputation: 108 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2) , Armory (Lv3), Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv2), Barracks (Lv2) Bonus Building: Custom Building x 1 Building Slots: 9/9 (+1)] He frowned. They only lost about a thousand people. Were those Aborigines so strong? Amon put the issue aside for a while, admiring his handiwork to determine his starting point in this new world¡ªafter the Protection Period. Overall, from what he gathered from refugees, his territory was undoubtedly the best. Not only were his forces strong, and his wealth ample, but the resources were also better than others. He had managed to find natural springs and harvest it through a refugee who had arrived. Pity he had already purchased the well some time prior, consuming a building slot, but no matter. With the current population, they needed as much as they could get. There was also his main advantage over others: Fargo was the first to reach level three among the Terran territories. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As a reward, he obtained the customized building for free, which was just right as he realized that the original custom building option he had pushed aside was no longer available to him. There was also a new custom building available, but it was too expensive and he didn''t think he needed it, for now. In any case, when he was arranging it, he didn''t think much except that they could create a less boring and disgusting building type. When it was being finalized, however, he realized he had underestimated this building. He¡ªor a Terran architect he managed to collect¡ªwas able to mimic basic amenities from Terran, and this was more than enough compared to the trash buildings aborigines called residences. He built a mansion out of four modules with it. He was also planning on building several communities using the module to sell it for a hundred times the price. The problem was that the population was saturated and every meter of land was occupied¡ªhe had nearly 15,000 people¡ªand those that could not afford a house squeezed together to make those unsightly shanty zones. Where would he place these custom residences? The poor people took up all the space! He didn''t even have to think much before he decided to make the shanty zones the location of the new exclusive communities. He already had the site development plans on hand and he was getting impatient to implement them. This was why when the gate was breached, he ordered his guards to stay put for an hour before doing anything, in the name of trapping the monster for the two aborigines to handle. Anyway, they probably should be able to, and even if they didn''t, level 3 sentries could handle level 10 monsters without a problem. He had hoped that half of the shanty towns be cleared out, but he seemed to have underestimated the aborigines. Speaking of Aborigines, other than those two, there was still another one. He put down his cup and turned his head to the young man standing not far away from him. Only the ''young man'' was already in his late 40s. Amon couldn''t help but be fascinated by this world, even if it was just for the extension of life alone. What made it all the more enticing was the beautiful promise of a new type of power. "Belize," he paused, putting down the cup. "You people are so strong? The population drop had significantly lowered. Perhaps I should''ve repaired the outer walls a bit later¡­" The aborigine seemed a bit surprised, similarly confused. "They shouldn''t be¡­" The aborigine wasn''t very tall compared to the others, but he had a special aura about him despite having an unsightly mouse-like face. He stood still and straight, like a well-trained butler. Belize was also the only truly impressive hire he managed to nab¡ªthe only elementalist he had ever encountered, who had the element of wind. "I will go investigate later." "Hm," Amon said with a shrug. At the very least, it meant Mogi made for a decent guard. This made him quite hopeful, and he hoped to get more good hires. He needed to find a few more Aborigines to improve his strength. After all, the Protection Period was already finished, and he was bent on stepping above others to reach the top¡ªlike he always was. "You mentioned before¡­" he turned the spoon around his personalized teacup, something he brought from Terran. "That if I attack a territory, I could obtain at least half of their resources, correct?" "Yes, milord." "This resource includes people right? Talents?" "Yes, milord, you have the option to turn your captures into slaves." Amon nodded, liking this arrangement very much. "What kind of territory should I target?" "Most people choose a weaker territory, but that goes with the risk of wasting one war slot of that month." "What''s your suggestion?" "The most successful wars are, of course, against stronger ones. Not only are the resources extremely good, but there are also prestige bonuses." "Your old master did this?" "Every time." "Can you tell me more about this?" "We are aether-bound not to be able to say anything when hired through the system. These things I tell you simply weren''t obtained that way." "You seem to tell me a lot." "I am very good at choosing masters." He said, smiling mysteriously. Indeed, his former master was very good. He was so good that he attracted all sorts of talent to him. It was too bad there was someone better who managed to kick him to the curb, leaving him without a choice but to stay in the villages. Amon smiled and, to anyone who knew him well saw it, they would think that someone would die a gruesome death. "Well, then¡­ as for the strategies of defeating stronger territories. It should be destroying it from within, yes?" Belize smirked looking at the sleek man, appearing so clean yet reeking of blood. "As expected of the master I chose to serve." Chapter 313 Belize It was not that he hadn''t seen anyone do evil¡ªhe had partnered with plenty in his lifetime¡ªbut this one had special wisdom that he hadn''t encountered. Sometimes, he wondered how their brains were made. For one, it was his first time to hear of something like the exploitation of societal divide. He made groups fight against other groups without them knowing, orchestrating fights and misunderstandings, making sure there would be no unity amongst the lower class. What was even better? He and his cronies could use their power to do whatever they wanted¡ªand they definitely did do what they wanted¡ªand the Lord''s means made the people unable to rebel regardless. Even if he killed someone in front of a crowd¡ªeven in front of a relative¡ªpeople would not dare to rebut him. They would not even dare to look at him, fearing for their lives. He was extremely intelligent and gave those who followed him lush lives. As long as one didn''t go against him, one could live decently. Even those penniless people stuck in the shanties felt their lives were better than those outside. As long as you didn''t go against him, of course. He was amazed. Even his former master couldn''t control his subjects like that, and he still had to pretend to be a good lord, having to hide his dirty secrets despite supposedly being the most powerful entity in his own territory. After all, there were plenty of wars and other territories who could take their population instead. What if they didn''t fight in the wars and willingly became slaves of another instead? Historically, through the years, this had happened a few times. It was very rare because few people would actively choose to be slaves, but it did happen. Belize had also watched Amon torture his detractors, and in methods unimaginable to him, who had claimed to have seen a lot. His evil ways were not uncouth, even classy, and had noble air, but in reality, he was no better than the gangsters who gang-raped children. It really captured this servant''s heart. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. All these thoughts of his servant didn''t seem to bother Amon, who just turned to look outside again, realizing that things had calmed down. His eyebrows rose. "Already?" "Milord?" "The chaos has stopped." Amon opened the Population tab to see if how many people were left in the outer circle. Except for about a score of people, there were no more deaths since he checked. "Hmn, interesting," he said, tapping the wooden table rhythmically. He still had so much population. Soon, it would combine with more people, more refugees, and eventually some Aborigines. Perhaps, there would even be spies from other territories, attempting to do what he was planning on doing. At this thought, he turned to Belize before clicking the tab. "The Lord could see the loyalties of the people. Wouldn''t there be an indicator if someone wanted to harm the territory?" "The lowest loyalty was 0, even if the person was hostile," Belize said, "However, there is a special magic equipment available in towns that could increase loyalties by 50." Amon nodded, eyes turning to look at the People panel. He was indifferent at first, but his eyes quickly sharpened and his spine straightened just a bit. His eyes narrowed in interest but with a bit of a threatening atmosphere. Belize saw all these changes and looked curiously. Soon, the Lord gave out an eery chuckle and looked at him. "It seems you''re no longer the only elementalist in the territory." Belize frowned immediately at this. The others couldn''t have gotten here so quickly. "They''re not your people." He said, judging by their names. He would later confirm by seeing their demeanor, but he had a feeling they were brethren. Terrans were a little smaller than the average aborigine¡ª Belize was just particularly small¡ªcombined with names and demeanor, it was fairly easy to determine who were Terrans and who were not. "They''re Terrans." "Pardon?" Belize couldn''t help but exclaim. This was even more strange. People from the same place as the Lord have already awakened? How was that possible? His dark eyes looked at the mysterious expression on the Lord''s face. Would he just let these people be? Belize thought to himself, knowing how the lord handled threats. Indeed, Amon didn''t like unexpected things¡­ Especially those who could shake his position. His brothers and cousins would know this very well. He stood up gracefully, going down in his sleek dark suit and black leather shoes¡ªone of the twelve sets he took from Terran¡ªto greet the newcomers. They headed towards the gates of the inner circle, a lot of their cronies seeing and following them. When they finally passed through it, they saw a lot less chaos than they expected to see. He and Belize watched as these mysterious men organized the entire population to handle the disaster. People followed their movements, admiration in their eyes. Amon''s eyes narrowed but otherwise showed nothing indicative of his mood. "Hello." He said, exuding the mature masculine charm, not like someone in his late 40s at all. However, to the eyes of Garan and many of his team who knew him, it was the devil''s incarnate. This was one of the most evil men on Terran. A world-famous terrorist, though his face was never shown. Garan knew his look from a drone after years of hunting. This was a man who could send drone strikes to kindergartens and hospitals, simply because he wanted to. They couldn''t find him in Terran but chanced upon him now? Must be fate. "I would like to invite you to my abode, to express my gratitude." "No need." Garan said, trying not to be obvious with his hostility. At the very least, he had hidden his hunting very well and his information web shouldn''t have captured his existence by the time of the disaster. Most importantly, Amon Fargo was also arrogant. Even knowing he was hunted down, he didn''t bother looking at the ''ants'' that looked for him. For a time, he had hoped that he could finally rid the world of this scum. Unfortunately, as he feared, this man really ended up being the lord here. This made the situation become far more complicated. This world might not have laws like in Terran, but since the enemy was a lord, he unfortunately could not be killed immediately. After spending so long in Xeno, Garan knew the consequence of killing the Lord: Killing the Lord outside the territory wars would destroy the entire territory¡ªnot even leaving dust in its wake. Most of these people were innocent and they were their brethren, he could not destroy their home so simply. This meant one thing: They could only wait until the territory war. Of course, Garan would not be able to wait for so long. He needed to find his wife as soon as possible. So¡­ what could he do? Chapter 314 Interaction Amon narrowed his eyes at the newcomer, feeling a bit of hostility. He couldn''t help but observe them a bit more closely. Looking at their straight postures and stern auras, Amon''s eyebrows rose a little. Soldiers. A natural hostility between opposing forces, perhaps? Perhaps they''d heard of his¡­ management methods and had a dislike for him. Who knew. Maybe there was even someone here who had actively hunted him in Terran, though thanks to the vast network left by the previous generations, he was never threatened by this nor had he ever cared. But that didn''t matter to him, those people never succeeded back in Terran, they wouldn''t be able to touch him here. Amon believed in self-interest triumphed over everything, first and foremost. In fact, not a few of his current cronies were once soldiers-turned-mercenaries. "Are you sure?" He asked, maintaining his smile, "I took precious tea from Terran. I reserve its enjoyment with valuable guests." Garan''s stoic face was unmoved, his baritone voice reverberating in the surroundings. "We are just passing by. We''re looking for our respective families." "As a Lord, I could see the names of visitors and residents. I could help you if you need to find the names of your loved ones if you want." This made Garan pause. However, no matter how desperate, he would never let him even mention his Althea''s name. However, declining strongly might give them away. He looked at his team, knowing that it would be unfair to stop them from looking for family. Most of them didn''t have personal vendettas against this man. "I am fine," He paused, "As for the others, it''s up to them." A lot of his men''s shoulders slumped in relief. On cue, a couple of footsteps approached. "Can I, captain?" There were two soldiers, Reuben and Minko, both of whom were not from Eden. "Of course." Reuben awkwardly held his bald head as he approached. "Rina Connery. She is my sister. She is nineteen." "And Mine." Minko said, "Klara Solovic, my wife. She is thirty now." Amon nodded at them and appeared to look at his panel. After a few moments, he shook his head. "There are no such people in the territory, unfortunately." The two men''s shoulders slumped, disappointed. However, with their example, a handful of others also tried their luck. Each one told of names of family members, hoping to find at least one of them. There were a few similar names, but the ages didn''t match. Garan looked at his soldiers'' disappointed faces and sighed. "We will investigate on our own and we will no longer bother your lordship," Garan said, not wanting to have further interaction with the man. "I see. Well, you can come to me if you need anything," he said, raising the guard of several cronies. This group had already caught their attention and alarm even before the lord showed such promise, but now he was being so hospitable! Fortunately, the new guys were stupid and didn''t appreciate the lord''s gestures and excused themselves, leaving the lord with his cronies. As they left, Amon''s eyes followed their movements, dark eyes stewing with unknown thoughts. He looked at Belize right beside him, presence extremely low as always. "Didn''t you say the ice element is extremely rare?" He had asked because it was the element he wanted, not the earth he had gotten. Belize''s eyebrows rose, turning his head in the direction of the soldiers. "Indeed. I have only met a handful in my 50 years of living." S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Hm. Well, that man had ice¡­ and metal." Belize flinched. "What?" A dual elementalist? And of rare types, as well. Looking at him like this, Amon knew he did not have the strength to go against this group. For now, it was best not to intersect paths. He didn''t even push them back. If he were to kick them out, who was to say they wouldn''t partner with adjacent territories to attack him? "Well, as long as they don''t¡­ damage the current status quo, we will not have problems." He said with a smile, but his tone was heavy. "Or else¡­ well. We''d have a very different talk." ¡­ Their group of 23 ended up renting two houses in the outer circle, with Gaudi and Eagle in charge of the arrangements. Gaudi looked wistfully outside the wooden swing window, thousands of people interacting, and he felt envious. Even when it was mostly a tragedy and depression, especially after the attack, at least they were together. He remembered the time he used to see a lot of his brethren as well. It was very difficult, but it was miles ahead of being alone. Being the only one of your kind within a territory was depressing in more than a few ways. He just sighed and arranged the furniture they bought from a shop owned by a citizen. In fact, there were a number of shops owned by the citizens, which was proof that life was still decent here, at least on the surface. Sammy helped him out with carrying the items while Eagle went off to gather supplies, recharging their group''s supply and filling up his space. The group had signed a contract to keep Eagle''s space stone a secret, this included Gaudi and the rest of the aborigine members of the team. To be honest, Gaudi (and the rest of them, for that matter) still couldn''t believe this group''s luck. They were such a small (and relatively weak) group, yet they managed to get a hold of such precious stone. Well, as the wise elders from home had said: Great things happen to great men. It was apparently quite accurate. While the logistics handled their supplies, the rest of the team was in charge of gathering information. Whether it was about the territory or about their family members, or the overall situation of their brethren, they researched and studied everything they could gather. Later that day, everyone came back to the temporary ''home base'' and seemed very productive. Whether it was replenishing their items or of information, they managed to gather a lot. "A lot of people are thankful to us for saving them, so gathering information is much easier than expected," Sammy said, sitting beside Chris who nodded. "It was just that this is under the condition that the questions had nothing to do with the Lord or his party." Gill looked at them. "What did you find out?" "Most of the people here were from Eden. In terms of statistics, about 60% are Edenians. We noted most refugees seemed to have come from the East and Southeast direction. "This is followed by a mix of people from the three adjacent countries." This particularly interested the few members who were from one of these countries. "What?" "How many?" Most of the soldiers asked their teammates, eager to find out more. Of course, there were some people who were dejected, knowing their families were probably far away because they were nowhere close to Eden on the Terran world map. They could only wonder if they were okay, and if it was still possible to meet them. However, it was not with little hope, because among these people who got concrete news were soldiers from countries far away. Orz Lopez raised his hands. "My countrymen are here." Ben and Minko, his countrymen, nodded, apparently finding out the same. Sean beside him flinched and looked at them in anticipation. "Mine aren''t, but my country is next to Orz''s." Ryan was silent as he stared but he was already deep in thought. "Perhaps, mine is also nearby¡­" The rest of the group looked at them in surprise. These five people were all from another continent altogether. "How do you know?" Because of globalization, it was basically impossible to determine a person''s country by their skin color, eye, or hair color. It was difficult even if one studied habits or cultures. It got to the point that people stopped judging anything around them. But looking at Orz and the others looking so certain, the others couldn''t help but stare. Did the Transfer compress everyone together so much? Chapter 315 More Friends Aberdeen City, Eighteen Years prior "Awww, little one, you don''t have to miss me." The teary Althea pouted, making the chubby tanned boy grin. However, if one were to take note of his runny nose and red eyes, any adult could see he had been crying. A moment later though, his pretentiousness cracked like a normal little boy. "Wuuu¡ª" He then began to sob, hugging his two friends and rubbing snot all over both of them. "I''ll definitely miss you guys though!" He then parted with them eyes filled with tears, before reluctantly parting with them for real. Before going, he grasped arms with his best friend, Garan. "Be happy." And then he patted little Althea''s head. "Don''t get fatter!" She said. Obviously, he ate just as much as they did, but he was so chubby! The boy grinned. "I will get fatter, for your information!" He got fat with eating minimal, he could only imagine how it would be when he could eat normally. It was both an exciting and worrying image! After a while longer of farewells, Beany joined his new parents in their car, not forgetting to open the window and wave until they were no longer in sight. The two of them watched the car disappear from view, and Althea sighed like a little adult. "There''s just the two of us now." Garan''s heart broke. If only she had more friends¡­ He leaned down and patted her head. "And we will always have each other." ___________________ Fargo Village, Present. The group looked at the five in question, wondering, "How could you tell?" At this, Orz and Ben''s shoulders slumped, as if ashamed, their eyes narrowed in pain. "We met Tagashi Sister-in-law¡­" Orz paused, before clarifying. "We met Jiro''s wife." Silence occupied the room. Before losing Johnny, the previous one they had lost was a man named Jiro, the last person in logistics other than Eagle. He was a kind, soft-spoken man liked by everyone, and his death was particularly painful for a lot of people. He died on the way to Twinwave inside a large mob that killed a dozen of them. Eagle looked at the men with furrowed eyebrows. Among them, even if they were from different countries, he spent most time with Jiro as a fellow logistics soldier. "How¡­ did she handle it?" It was Minko, the pale archer, who spoke up. "Not very good," he said, looking at the silent companions next to him. "She was hysterical, actually." Then Ben, scratched his now-curly hair (he used to don a half-bald look), before dragging the topic to the information asked of them. "They were refugees from another territory." They said, "The territories further West and northwest were mostly from our country." No one spoke, because they knew of the implications: S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their next stop would then be towards the West, while those of Eden and the nearby countries would be heading East. After a long moment of silence, the five awkwardly looked at each other before turning to the captain, donning complicated expressions. They were happy to finally find some clues, but they knew they wouldn''t have gotten so far without the captain. "Captain, we¡ª" How could Garan not know of their internal conflicts? "You will always be members of the Terran Mercenary Team," Garan said with a small smile. "We could contact each other through the mercenary union, can''t we?" The five choked up a bit, touched, and their tears fell when Garan then took out dozens of gold and handed a handful to each one. "You would definitely want to leave as soon as possible," he told them with that characteristic baritone voice of his. "The sun is still high, it is safer to go now." "Captain¡­" the soldiers uttered, sniffing. How lucky they were! ¡­ The rest of the team returned with similar news, quickly noticing the atmosphere. There were a few people packing up! "What happened?" With complex expressions, a couple of companions told them of the major news that just happened. "What?" "That''s lucky¡­" Luis sighed, being ever-so optimistic. "This also means Terran has been compressed within this area. Everyone should be able to meet someone from their hometown." Indeed. The compression gave them more hope of encountering people they knew sooner than expected. It was just that the parting from life and death companions dampened the mood regardless. Soon, the time to say farewell arrived and they walked the five people to the gate, giving them some food and items to take along the way. "See you again, soldiers!" The five stopped some meters away, standing up straight, and saluted them. Their eyes were lined with tears, hearts mixed with hope to find their loved ones, and reluctance to part with their life-and-death friends. "Thank you for everything!" They just said, just before finally turning and heading towards West¡ªhopefully to their families. May they meet again! ¡­ The team was now reduced to five more people. They were now only 17, excluding Gaudi. Garan sighed, feeling a little heavy. They walked to the rented villa in silence. He looked around. "Gill is still not here?" He asked and the soldiers looked at each other with similar questioning expressions. Looking around, they realized that it was only Gill who was still outside. They did not have to look for him, however, as Gill arrived a couple of minutes later still with some more big news. When Gill knocked on the door, he had a rather happy expression on his face. "There''s someone who wants to meet you." He then stepped aside to reveal the person behind him, revealing himself to Garan''s cerulean eyes. The newcomer was, like everyone, unclean and unkempt, but his rounded eyes were brighter than anyone in this territory. He was also a lot thinner than when Garan saw him a few months back. But it was definitely him. "Beany?" Garan immediately stood up and raised his hand to give the newcomer a one-handed hug. Beany looked annoyed and gave him a light push. "That is Jeremiah to you!" He said with a little annoyance. "I''ve been telling you for two decades!" Garan couldn''t help but let out a low chuckle, a very very rare sight for the others. Beany then looked around to see his companions. It was just a year ago that he and Garan reconnected after a decade of estrangement. They had not seen each other for years after getting adopted. When he went abroad, they didn''t even get to attend his wedding, nor was he able to attend theirs. Did they even know he was married? Who knows¡­ Speaking of wives¡ª "How is¡­ Althea?" He asked, concerned. The last time they talked was when he was investigating Garan''s disappearance. Who''d have thought he''d meet him here, of all places? Anyway, he didn''t have updated news of Althea because he was forced in isolation soon after and he wondered if the couple had met during that time. Hopefully, they did, because that meant she was safe at least. Garan sighed, "She''s not with me." He paused, looking at his old friend, remembering his specialty. "She should be nearby in a Territory called Altera Village. Have you heard of it?" "No, unfortunately. Except for the first territory I''ve been to¡ªwhich fell on the third day, by the way¡ªI''ve only been here." He paused as if recalling a memory, but he shook his head. Instead, he turned to Garan with a gossipy tone. "General Price is here." This made Garan flinch and caused Vanessa, who had been watching all of Garan''s reactions carefully, to abruptly stand up. "Dad?" She asked and Garan also looked at Beany, very concerned. The woman then walked over to them. "How is he?" She asked as she held his arm, heart beating faster in excitement. But it was doused with cold water with the chubby man''s next words. Beany sighed, looking at them both. "He''s¡­ not so good." Chapter 316 Mentor Aberdeen City, 10 years prior The twenty-year-old Garan aimed the new plasma gun at the target, destroying it with a perfect hit. "Not bad handling a new weapon." Henry nodded, impressed, patting Garan''s shoulder. In stark contrast to his sternness when he was still a new recruit. "Thank you, General." He said and he looked around, a bit puzzled the general was here in the shooting range. "Come with me." Garan nodded and dutifully followed his superior deep into the military building. Soon, they ended up inside a meeting room over 200 square meters in size. The walls were lined with various large screens, each one showing differing live images around the country. There were even images from abroad, as well as satellite images. As a centrepiece, there was an interactive screen integrated into the large 1-meter radius table. Garan''s eyebrows rose. This was the strategy room. Anyone who could come here was someone of power. "I''m bringing you here because I need you to lead a team to rescue a very important group of students." The old man showed him folders and folders of files about teenagers. "This is a school bus from Caytan Academy." Caytan Academy was one of the country''s premier schools for the very, very, privileged. It was estimated every child in that school bus had at least one parent in power. Then, Henry sighed and a folder stayed on his hand, almost crumpling it. "My daughter is included here," he said, "So I was judged as unqualified to lead the team. The same goes for the two other people who could do the same. "Parents would die for their children, as people die for their beliefs." "Do you remember what I told you when I recruited you?" Garan was recruited to the military because he was noticed for his valiant rescue of two children¡ªthat was, Althea and Ansel. Henry happened to be monitoring the updates because he knew the Witts personally. He was impressed by Garan''s prowess and recruited him to enter a special program in the military. "Being in this position is to protect your country. And more importantly, your loved ones." A heavy hand patted and stayed on his shoulder. "I can only depend on you for this." _________________ Fargo Village, present The group followed Beany to another house on the other side of the village. They saw that this place had also been devastated by a few monsters. Most walls had been demolished, and marks of blood were still fresh everywhere. Beany said that it was the General''s small team that handled the monster. "Soldiers are soldiers." He said with melancholy, "Even when the country is no more." The team of level 4s and 5s tried to fight with the monsters but it wasn''t easy. Their team of twenty was reduced by a third before they finally took down the one. While they managed to deal with the other monster that plagued the area, in the end, they were left with twelve. Garan''s pace hastened as he listened, and Vanessa closely followed behind him. They reached a standard housing, dilapidated by the fight. Fortunately, the houses built by the system were structurally sound. As long as the Lord didn''t die, of course. They did not even knock and went into the house, causing the mobile soldiers¡ªbarely bandaged by old cloth¡ª to flinch and take on a defensive stance. One of these people was still familiar, especially to Vanessa, whose eyes quickly turned red as she ran into the man''s arms. "Brother!" "V-Vanessa?!" The dirty, bloody, but dashing man exclaimed, thinking he must''ve been seeing things. However, when he felt her warmth, he realized he was not dreaming. He quickly opened his arms to take her deeper into his embrace. Vincent smiled in relief as he patted his sister''s back. He felt a little teary, not expecting to encounter his sister, who had been presumed dead for nearly half a year. After gathering himself, he lifted his head to look behind her. He was a bit surprised to see so many others standing there. His eyes soon met with Garan''s and gave each other a mutual nod. Garan stepped forward, head pointing to the people lying on hemp mattresses on the other side of the room, covered with blood. "How are they?" It was here that the others'' attention focused on the other end of the room. They were all covered in makeshift bandages, and it was difficult to determine who was who. "There are twelve of us left but, four of us¡­" then he remembered something and shook his sister. "Sis, you''re a doctor! Take a look at them, quickly!" He said and Vanessa remembered her strong father could be one of those people. Vincent stood to the man in the middle, covered in blood, and Vanessa sobbingly kneeled down to treat him. She was a bit shaky, however. "Dad! Oh no¡­ wu¡­" Garan saw that it would take her a while to treat his mentor and turned to look at Turbo, who nodded back and immediately followed Vanessa''s lead. Turbo took out his kit and handled the injured people as efficiently as he could, starting with the general. Vanessa saw this and finally calmed down a bit, helping him out with relative efficiency. The four people were in really bad shape. However, the bleeding was stopped and no internal organs were displaced so they could still be saved. The soldiers who got fatal injuries had already long perished. This was still very impressive, however. One must know taking down monsters of the same level generally required three to five humans. They had to handle stronger monsters. Fortunately, all of them should survive with time. Seeing the wounds being handled properly, everyone''s shoulders slumped in relief. While there was still plenty to fix, at least the most critical period has passed. Garan stood next to Vincent, who could be said to be an old acquaintance. "How are you?" "Fine. More or less, just how we look." The brunette smiled with a shrug, but his eyes showed the tiredness and tragedy they encountered at this time. Vincent saw Garan looking at him, waiting for him to say more details, and he sighed, doing so. "We migrated together, a group of about fifty soldiers, along with a score of civilians," He said, "The mob was predominantly level 2 which could not compare to the zombies at all. We lost a third of our people, even with the guns." In fact, had it not been for the civilians, half of the sacrifices wouldn''t have had to be made, but soldiers had an understanding of this and would never utter it out loud. "For about a week or two we managed to survive in the wilderness, built our own sheds and the like." Then his expression darkened even more, his fist clenched in bitterness. "But a beast tide ran in and we could only run away, somehow in the direction the mob was going towards¡ªto the newly upgraded Fargo Village. We entered and joined the territory, relieved to finally find a safe haven of sorts. It''s just that¡ª" Vincent paused, heaving a deep breath, unable to speak anymore. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan looked at his heavy expression and knew they must have had some conflicts with the Lord here. A slyer part of him couldn''t help but think: Perhaps, he could get their help in dealing with this scum. Chapter 317 Stimulus "Did Fargo give you a hard time?" He asked, making the other man flinch a bit. Vincent didn''t speak for a while, heaving a sigh. "You remember Paolo?" "Paolo Cruz?" Garan asked. He was in his team hunting for Fargo. He had lost his daughter in one of Fargo''s attacks in a children''s hospital. The little girl was just testing for a simple cough with her mother. Vincent nodded. Garan immediately knew what happened. "You can imagine how insane he went when he saw Fargo strutting around like he owned the place¡ªwhich he did, we found out too late," Vincent said with a monotonous voice, but one could see how angry he was with how his jaw tightened. "He was killed brutally in front of a crowd as an example." His jaw clenched and his hands formed a fist. "The bastard¡­ the bastard had the audacity to display our comrade''s body by the gate!!" Those who heard him felt their heart constrict in anger. What a bastard! What made it worse was that he was finally in front of them, yet they couldn''t do anything about him! Vincent heaved a deep breath before speaking. "The terror brought on the territory was very real. It was the beginning of tyranny. "They killed and plundered as they wanted, and we also lost a lot of people trying to protect the citizens." Terrans were used to freedom, they naturally didn''t take such brutality lying down¡­ at least at first. "Unsurprisingly, people ran to us for help," he said, "It went well at first, with us forming a small force as subtly as we could." "However, one day, one of our men goes missing and the very next day a family yells at us to bring their daughter back." "Our reputation fell, but a lot of people still believe in us. His men started to limit their brutalities¡­ and started to attack our supporters." Vincent heaved a deep breath and raised his head, letting it rest on the wall behind him. "No one dared ask for help after that." "It didn''t help that life had indeed gotten better. People could eat and drink every day, and they were protected very well from the monsters outside, especially when the territory started hiring aborigines." "These aborigines were much stronger than all of us combined, who would want to side with us after that? Fargo''s men do take women as they want, but they don''t kill them. Unless the people went against the lord and his party, they would keep their lives." "This became the status quo. It was disgusting, but we couldn''t risk our lives for a hopeless fight." "It was just that the next week after that, another two men were taken subtly for ''punishment''¡ªafter trying to save a woman¡ªand were never seen again. "Before we could organize a rescue¡­" he paused and looked around. "This happened." The others listened in a dour mood, and Vincent rubbed his temple, not meaning to sound so emotional. "But right now I just want my father to be okay." Garan and the others sighed in worry, shifting their attention as the patients were being treated. Fortunately, both Vanessa and Turbo had become proficient in using the medicines available. Using a diluted potion they won from the mercenary mission, they managed to improve a number of wounds. Although it was diluted, it was still effective. Vincent and the others were amazed. He looked at Garan with wide eyes. "What is that medicine?" "It''s a special medicine we got from a mission. It is made by a pharmacist." "What?" Vincent''s eyebrows furrowed. "But I haven''t seen such quick effects." It was Gill who spoke this time, "An Aborigine pharmacist." He explained, "They have a certain¡­ magical skill set." Vincent and the others were a little confused. "What mission are you talking about, exactly?" "One from a mercenary hall. They''re available in towns." Vincent and the other soldiers looked at them in shock. Especially Vincent. It didn''t really occur to them until now¡ªGaran and the others had probably been here since they were missing!! "Where is this town?" He asked, "How¡­ how long have you been here?" He didn''t even wait for them to speak, already knowing in his heart what the answer was. His back straightened and looked at Garan, Gill, and the others. "Tell me more about this world." ¡­ They stayed for about an hour before the general opened his eyes to see¡­. the daughter he never thought he''d see again! "Daughter?!" He exclaimed, so shocked that he ended up coughing. "Dad¡­" she sobbed, hugging the man to keep himself from moving. "Don''t get up, it''ll open your wound¡­" The man froze, feeling his daughter''s warmth, and knew for certain he wasn''t dreaming nor was he dead. His eyes pooled tears and Vanessa''s heart broke seeing her stern father like this. "Dad¡­" The old man gripped her hand, though it wasn''t very strong as he was still weak, but it expressed his emotions clearly. "You are fine¡­ you are fine¡­" "Hmn, yes Dad, we are." She said, sobbing, and the father-daughter pair just held onto each other for a while before they could gather themselves. At this time, Vincent had also parted from Gill and the others to sit down next to his sister. Seeing his two children together, alive and with complete limbs, Henry couldn''t help but be even more emotional. "Son, daughter." As he held his children''s hands in relief, his peripheral vision finally saw the other group squeezing in their small house. He flinched and had to be held down again to keep himself from doing any abrupt movements. "Garan? Is that you?" At the sound of his name, Garan stepped forward, nodding respectfully. "Yes, General." The old man smiled and looked at the people around. He then looked alternatively at Vanessa and Garan. "Did you arrive together?" "Everyone who disappeared at that time was sent here." He said, "Although only a score of us remained¡­" "It''s fine. As long as you''re fine¡­" The old man then looked at his daughter who was stealing glances at the man with a red face and his eyes brightened a little. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan had a bad feeling and stood up. "Let''s leave the family alone." He said and politely excused himself. The others from his team followed his lead and put some distance. As they walked away to give the family some space, Gill sighed looking at the father-daughter pair. "For a moment there I thought the General would leave his daughter in your care." He told Garan as soon as they were out of earshot. Garan sneered. Even if it happened, he would only give minimum protection. He would never let any... thing that his wife could misunderstand close to him. Although they fully trusted each other, no one appreciated flies irking them. "Have you forgotten her brother is right there?" "Ah yeah. Sorry. I watched too many of my ex''s soap operas." Gill said with pursed lips, shrugging. Unfortunately, for many years, he had been dragged to watch a lot of his ex''s dramas. It even became a habit until it became a stress reliever for him even when he was in the barracks. Even his snide remarks would occasionally contain cheesy lines from famous face-slapping scenes¡­ However, they hadn''t gotten far when Vincent went after them, calling them back. "No, Garan, come back please." "We have plenty of time to speak together." He said, "It''s you¡­ you wouldn''t be staying here for long right?" The general frowned and looked at Garan. "You wouldn''t stay?" The ebony-haired man nodded. "Yes, we found the territory my wife is in. I will look for her. Of course, I will not stop anyone else from going to the Territories they believe their families are in." This implied Vanessa could definitely stay here without worrying about their team. The general''s eyebrows furrowed. "It is not safe here, not exactly." But they could not travel either, especially when the direction was still unclear. "But we cannot leave." "The lord is too powerful in his own territory." He said, "But I feel uncomfortable leaving that beast running around doing what they wanted." "Yes, my conscience will kill me eventually," Another soldier nodded in agreement. "But what can we do?" He said, "He definitely won''t go out with us." They assumed that getting the lord outside would diminish his power. It would, of course, however, they hadn''t considered something very important. "You can''t kill the lord outside of the wars," Garan intervened, "The entire territory would disintegrate." "What?" And¡­ wars? Garan was silent, before looking deeply at Vincent and the General. He could tell, they truly hated Fargo. "However, there is another way," His eyes sharpened and he stared at the other two men, eyes stern and tempting. "What if I told you there''s a way to take the token away from him?" Chapter 318 Lurking Garan and Gill did not leave the General''s house until late at night, after a long while of discussing strategies. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As for whether Fargo was watching their movements, they couldn''t do anything about that. They could only prepare to be attacked. There was no way, a lord was simply too powerful within his own territory. "Lords can really see loyalty?" "Wouldn''t we be discovered soon?" Gill shook his head. "No, the minimum is zero, never negative. Zero isn''t conclusive evidence of betrayal. I''m sure a lot of people here have this number." Vincent and the others heaved a sigh of relief. Their values were definitely zeroes, but they were sure that at least a third of the territory was the same. Soon, the group started to discuss the timing of their attacks. After all, because there was no war yet, they couldn''t deal with Fargo or else the territory would disintegrate. They also could attack during the territory wars, in which case that was just damaging to oneself. "We can''t risk anyone else." The general said. Henry was a very upright old man, it was just that he married a snobbish socialite and spoiled his only daughter. "Of course," Garan said, "We can only bide our time, strengthen ourselves." In the end, they decided to subtly strengthen their force here. In which case, a few of their team will stay. But not too many as that would raise Amon''s vigilance. Before adjourning, Garan looked at his small team. "At least two people will remain. Your task will be to help raise the level of others." He said, looking at his soldiers and telling them of their mission. "Raise their levels to a point Fargo wouldn''t be able to do anything to them." "Yes, captain!" Similarly, they would be able to safeguard themselves during the imminent territory war, whenever that could be. The problem was, if Amon noticed their level increase and made an issue out of it. And also¡­ "Fargo already had strong aborigines with him, right?" "That is troublesome." "Isn''t there a way to hide levels from the omniscient eyes of a territory Lord?" They asked Gauis, who they let join. Anyway, slaves were contract-bound never to betray their masters, similar to how hired individuals could not utter anything sensitive related to the hiring territories. At this, Gauis looked down, very guilty. "I apologize. But I have not heard of such." Silence reigned in the room again, and some were even wondering if it was really safe to stay here. However, they would be reminded of all the people who would have to suffer under the man''s reign and their consciences attacked them again. At the very least, with them here, Fargo and their forces would control the intensity of their killings. If they were gone¡­ maybe Fargo''s men wouldn''t care anymore because there would be no one the people could turn to anymore if things got bad enough to risk their lives. "Just lay low," Garan said after a while. "Perhaps¡­ he would be too busy dealing with other enemies now that the Protection Period is over." ¡­ Garan''s group prepared to leave first thing the next day. Among Garan''s team, only Vanessa and two others (Leo and Santos) remained with the General. Oh¡­ and Gian also belatedly decided to stay. Obviously it was because he was still bitter with the captain and didn''t want to have anything to do with him for now. Anyway, after saying their farewells, they headed towards the East gate where most Edenian refugees seemed to be from, which was where most of them needed to go. Because of Garan, most of the protected people during their weakest were naturally Edenians. Not to mention, different nationalities naturally didn''t get along too well in the beginning. Spats, bad decision-making, bad luck, and many others slowly lessened their numbers unnecessarily bit by bit. Edenians had the highest survival rate not only because Garan was a capable leader, but also because of the unity of the Edenian soldiers. Among the remaining 14 people, 10 were from Eden. As for the rest, they''ve no clue where to start so it was better to move with the team. Vanessa, though, wanted to go with them, but there was no valid reason that wouldn''t make her look desperate. She wanted to at least say a sweet goodbye to Garan, but their eyes didn''t even meet. Unreconciled, she stepped forward to get closer to him. "Be careful." She said, and he only nodded politely before turning away with the team. As the group headed towards the gate, a feminine voice echoed across the whole entrance, making everyone turn their heads simultaneously at the source. "Wait, Jakey!" The aforementioned man flinched in terror. Oh good lord, ''Jakey''?! Jake tried to hide his embarrassed blush with a palm on his face. It did not help that the people beside him were mimicking her tone of voice. "Oh, Jakey, wait~" "Jakey~~~" "Oh, Jakey-honey!" He glared at the cackling people he used to call friends, and then glared at the woman who was causing him the embarrassment. Yiyi ran to them, carrying a woven basket on her arm. She looked at him admiringly but hesitated on speaking. "What is it?" "Can I come with you?" Jake crossed his arms. "Want us to bring another deadweight?" "But¡ª" she paused and her head dropped down. "Okay¡­" But... she wasn''t too disappointed. She didn''t expect he''d really take her within him anyway. She then passed him the basket she worked on last night. "Here. I made these jerkies and dried fruit for you." She had worked part-time in a food processing shop before, and she was actually very good at this. As for why she didn''t use the jerky, fruit, and baskets to make more money before, it was because she witnessed someone doing business get bullied. There were too many gangsters and bad guys in the territory, every area pretty much had some asking for ''protection fees'' and more. They couldn''t even keep the money they worked for. In this world, money without a bit of power wasn''t wealth, it was trouble. Jake''s sharp eyes stared at the basket and saw the splinter marks on her hands that were holding it. His stance softened a bit in response as he took the basket. "Just go work for Vanessa. You said you''re a good cook, right?" "Yes! I worked a total of 34 part-time jobs, 17 of which were related to cooking!" She said proudly. During their ''bonding time'' together during the rescue efforts, she had also told him that she had taken jobs in laundry, cleaning, and babysitting and that she would make a great wife. His ex-friends didn''t forget to encourage the girl. "Don''t worry Yiyi! We''ll watch over him for you!" "Yes, yes, keep him away from those vixens!" "Yes, yes, I bet those vixens can''t cook as well as our Yiyi!" It so happened that Yiyi made them some barbeque before, so they knew the girl did have talent. Yiyi blushed profusely and looked at the group with shining eyes. "Yes, please! I''ll be sure to make you a lot of food the next time we meet!" "We''ll take you up on that! Haha!" The soldiers laughed and made more promises, while Jake just covered his face, not knowing whether it was due to humiliation or embarrassment. Too bad Yiyi wouldn''t be the same the next time they get there. Chapter 319 Leaving Fargo Village Soon, the group finally went ahead to go out. Other than their group of 14 (including Gaudi), they had Beany with them. He pretty much appeared all-packed up the morning they were set to leave. Something about the dictatorship had no freedom of speech; Poor reporters like him could only suffer extrajudicial killings. And, of course, he too had a family to find! Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In any case, the group¡ªmostly comprised of soldiers level 15 and above¡ªtraversed forest after forest, hill after hill, with relative ease. They dealt with the mobs so easily, with Beany gushing with every element manifested near him. His reporter stats quickly revealed itself. "How do you handle the elements?" "What was it like when you first transferred?" He was there when Vincent asked Garan for more details about this strange world, but that was mostly about the world. The more emotional aspect of the story was left out and he wanted to know more. "We transferred here about four months ago. All 300. A hundred survived the initial transfer." Garan said, "Then we inexplicably found out we have a system and a space." "Three months? You guys got really strong. I''m only level 2 after a month¡­" "There was no protection period, then." Beany blinked, the implications dawning on him and he paled. He looked at Garan and the others with a mix of pity and even more respect. "It must''ve been terrifying," he said, squeaking. "Well, it could''ve been worse." Silence occupied the group as they walked, in their heads they couldn''t help but reminisce about what they went through coming here. "Althea would be happy to find out you''re alright," Beany said with a smile and Garan''s feet stopped. "You have met her?" They had lost contact with Beany because he was adopted by foreigners. Their contact resumed separately many years later, though never as a couple. The chubby man nodded, "Had a lot to do with you, in fact." Garan took a deep breath as he started walking again to Beany''s pace. "Tell me." "Long story." Beany said in his typical gregarious fashion, "It started out when I was chasing a scoop¡­" "Straight to Althea," Garan said impatiently, knowing the other''s propensity to go on tangents. He reckoned he''d do quite well in creative writing instead. Beany tutted as he walked, annoyed by being interrupted. He wanted to tease him out of spite but shivered under his stare. So, in fear of his life, he told him the story. "Ahem, when you guys disappeared¡­ well, the government tried to keep it under wraps for as long as they could." "But over a month passed and there was no news of you. She tried to get information from the government, but no one gave her a direct answer. He frowned, "No one bothered to tell her?" He asked. His wife, of all people, had the right to know what happened to him! What happened? In retrospect, he should''ve asked the general. "I happened to be covering the same story. She was with a redhead and the Diplomat Mathilda, trying to get more information. I saw her during one of my stakeouts¡ª" "How was she?" "What do you think?" Garan''s jaw tensed and his hands formed fists as they walked. The atmosphere around him turned cold¡ªliterally¡ªand Beany could only rub his shoulders with his hand to keep himself warm. Althea¡­ she must''ve been heartbroken¡­ She had just lost their parents at the time, how much pain did she have to endure alone? Ansel could be there, sure, but he wasn''t very reliable, especially as he was also mourning. Garan knew that Althea was only truly vulnerable and emotionally dependent on him alone, and no one else. Losing him¡­ would have hit incredibly hard. The other soldiers nearby were also somber, especially Gill who heard about his mother, who had worked with Althea to find them. After yet another hour of sadness with the soldiers venting on small mobs they encountered, Beany remembered something to lighten up the mood, even for a bit. "She got a bit chubby," he told him, and Garan was startled before his shoulders slumped in relief. "Chubby? Well, that''s good." At the time, Althea was only a few months in and her stomach wasn''t obvious. Even Beany didn''t have an idea that Althea was pregnant at all. "She must''ve been stress eating." Beany thought out loud, earning him a glare. "...er¡­ eating to distract herself." He said. Beany shut his mouth, afraid to offend this big demon. It was just that after a couple of mobs he just really couldn''t do it. He ended up asking questions here and there, chattering about endlessly. "It''s amazing¡­ how much mana would that take?" "Did you learn that technique on your own?" Sometime later, he turned to Garan. "Do you train like those old movies we used to watch?" When they were children, they came across some very old movies¡ªit was all they could afford¡ªusing antique playing machines they managed to scavenge in the bins of rich people. They were mostly martial arts movies and Beany was more than a bit obsessed. "You can join us train when we settle down," Garan said, wordlessly killing a monster with a sword. Beany''s face scrunched at the exercise, "Ehhh¡­" "It''s to protect your family." Beany paused and nodded. "Fine." He said, "They would definitely think I look very cool." As they walked further East, the forest began to look a lot less dense than before, and it looked a bit similar to the forests they had access to as kids. Garan and Beany couldn''t help but be a little nostalgic. They used to play in the forest a lot, which was far from the orphanage so they spent an hour in the morning traveling concrete to get there. They also had Althea along with them, though her focus was more on plants. "I see a lot of unfamiliar plants here¡­" Beany couldn''t help but mumble. "I wonder if Althea would eat a random plant again and get poisoned¡­" Garan''s feet paused at this, puzzling everyone. Beany turned to him in confusion, only to see his pale face. He gulped, realizing that what he said frightened the iceberg. "I was joking! Joking!!!! How could she still be like a four-year-old?! Right?" Garan nodded, with a determined look on his face. "Right. My Althea is so smart. She would absolutely not be poisoned by plants, even if they are unfamiliar." He said, his stoic expression returning, and continued to lead the team forward. If Althea was here, she''d look up at the sky and pretend not to hear anything. Chapter 320 Ones Own Families "Geez, you really haven''t changed!" Beanie told him, mocking. He then elbowed Garan, his expression turning sly, "Hey, tell me. How''d you two¡­ you know, transition to lovers?" Garan didn''t answer him, though his pace hastened forward, to the point that Beany struggled to follow. "Hey!" Beanie yelled, cackling when he saw Garan''s ears a bit red. "Stop running away!" The team watched their interactions with complicated expressions. Other than in relation to his wife, their captain had never been so uncharacteristically¡­ human. It seemed that the captain placed a high importance on the reporter, as well. Moving on from the topic, the old friends changed to Beany''s family. "What about your wife? Do you have any idea where she is?" Garan asked, shifting the topic off him. The two of them reunited when they accidentally met on a mission related to Fargo. Garan actually knew he had been married by virtue of his wedding ring, but he never met his wife. Beanie was also a wife slave and was successfully distracted from teasing his friend. "I was too weak alone and couldn''t go out to find my family." He said and with a smile looked at their team in admiration. "Now I can find them safely, preferably with all limbs intact." "Well, we''ll help you train. Most of the monsters here wouldn''t add any experience to us, anyway, not even the copper." "Really? I owe you!!" "We owed you first," Garan said as they moved forward. Before they could go far though, the stoic man couldn''t help but ask again. "Was that all you know about her?" Beany nodded apologetically. "Yeah, I was in isolation for a while after that. I wasn''t able to contact her at all until all this happened." He said, as he was imprisoned for months after revealing government ''secrets'' about their disappearance. "I was only able to call my wife, but I was too far to reach them in time." Fortunately, Beany was freed for about a week before the disaster, or else he''d have been guilty for life. "I''m sorry for you." "No, I did a lot for myself." He said, "It''s very hard to get a good scoop. I''ve been stagnant for so long, I wanted to make my wife proud." Beanie''s face because soft in remembrance of his beautiful wife. "When I married her, I promised heaven and earth you know. How else would I win such a beautiful woman??" It was not entirely for Garan or Althea, but to get a big scoop to bring pride to his beautiful wife. He had always pictured her proud smile, telling him that she was glad she chose him. "You must be thinking of your wife," Garan said after a while, making Beanie raise a brow. "How''d you know?" "You look stupid." "Heh, you should see how you look when you talk about Althea." Garan shrugged¡­ and then proceeded to look stupid indeed. Beanie could only cackle. ¡­ Hours passed as they traveled East and the team was now fighting another mob. It was a relatively strong mob with a few level 9 monsters and a number of level 8 minions. Luis, Plaridel, and Sammy, the lower leveled ones, dealt with rare monsters level 9 and above because it could still give them experience. Fortunately, there weren''t many of this level or the refugees nearby could only wait for death. Sammy took out a level E bow he bought months ago. It would be too much of a waste to use his level D equipment¡ªwhich generally handled monsters level 11 and above¡ªon such weak monsters. "Wind arrow," He called, and the poor damage of a level E attack increased by a notch, killing the monster in a couple of shots. A moment later, using the same techniques, the dark-skinned man took down another one. There were four level 9 monsters in that mob, with the remaining lower-level mob killed early on. Luis and Plaridel went directly against the four monsters, while the long-range attacker Sammy was protected by a wall of fire made by Plaridel. It was thin, as Plaridel needed to manage energy use, but it was enough to redirect the monsters'' attack for Sammy to make his shot and Luis to use his fire sword to deal with the other one. "Fire Barrier," Plaridel chanted, forming another wall of fire around the remaining monsters to keep them in place. The monsters roared as they were burned and Luis quickly slashed his weapon to deal with another one which had been greatly damaged by Sammy''s arrows. "Fire Slash!" He yelled, with unnecessary gusto, swiping his fiery blade at the beast. BANG! They watched it go down, finally reducing the four monsters to three. One reason they chanted their attacks was not to look silly (the two of them would even argue it sounded cool), but uttering the names of the skills made them easier to manifest and solidify. Aether was such an abstract thing, that using it to create complex attacks was a laborious task. Not everyone had brains like the Captain or Gill. Plaridel watched as the remaining monsters reached his firewall, and he immediately changed its form to trap them. "ROAR!" The monsters roared in response, using their bodies in an attempt to get out. They didn''t care if they were burnt. Unfortunately for the monsters, they couldn''t even cross the wall of fire. This Fire Barrier was a type of firewall, but it was different from the firewall of a mere fire Elementalist. If it was by others, the monster could indeed cross and it would only cause damage to the monster. The Fire Barrier had combined with his Shieldsman occupation, and those trapped inside would not only be damaged but also legitimately trapped. This was a painful lesson he, and other Fire Sheildsmen, learned from those strong aborigines they fought against. Sammy continued to shoot the Wind Arrow continuously, with most of them hitting good spots. Luis, on the other hand, waved his flame-covered sword. He relentlessly slashed and parried, the element doubling his attack power as well as its reach. Beany watched all this in HD, unconsciously walking closer to the fight that he lost an eyebrow. Had he not been pulled back by the collar by Eagle, he''d have lost both. Regardless of the eyebrow hair that remained, he was so very engrossed in what he was watching that he didn''t take note of it at all. "So¡­ cool." He mumbled turning to the soldier next to him. "Level ten right? Level ten and I''ll be able to use elements right?" He asked, eyes bright with excitement. He had wind affinity. With this thought, he vowed to work even harder. Soon, they encountered a small mob of monsters, disabled by the team, and killed by Beany. By the time the sky darkened and they had to rest for the night a few hours later, Beany was promoted from the base of level 3 to the middle of level 4. "YES! I''ll definitely make it up to you guys!" He yelled, calming down a bit as he helped the team set up camp. The soldiers shrugged, not really minding the trouble at all. After all, a friend of the captain was also their friend. Beanie refused to not be able to show his gratitude, however, and insisted on giving rewards. After a thought, he just promised them one of the best rewards he, personally, received. "I''ll get my beautiful wife to make you her signature dishes!" Sammy couldn''t help but stare at the former chubby reporter in inquiry. He was really not attractive, how beautiful could his wife be? So¡­ in classic Sammy fashion, he asked. "Tsk! You don''t know. I prayed to different gods when I was pursuing her!" He showed a printed photo of their family of four. "Here," He said, proudly presenting the photo. "I will also bless your eyes with my beautiful baby boy." Sammy''s eyebrows rose. It was indeed a beautiful woman and a cute child. He looked up at Beany, and then the picture again. "Did you take a DNA test?" He couldn''t help but joke. "Youuuuuu!!!" Beany gasped in great offense, grabbing the other man''s shoulder to headbutt him. Unfortunately for him, Sammy was a soldier 10 levels stronger than he was and effortlessly avoided his attack. However, Beany did not give up and he continued to run after the man to issue his revenge. It was quite silly and quite a few people laughed. "You¡­ gasp¡­ jerk¡­ gasp." Beany mumbled bitterly, rubbing the sweat on his face. Sammy''s lips twitched. "Yes, yes, I was just joking," He said, handing the photo back to Beany. "The little boy has your inquisitive eyes." All of Beany''s annoyance was wiped away by the comment and he brightened up immediately as he hugged the photo. "Well, you got good eyes." He said, before sitting down next to the campfire Luis made. Beany made sure to secure the photo in the space, of course. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was just that¡­ if Althea and the others were here, they''d recognize the woman and child in the photo. One of them was even a team member now. Priya and Theo. Chapter 321 Training Beany The team woke up before dawn, starting their travel further east even before the sun rose. If the monsters were level 7 and above, the team dealt with it fairly quickly, not wanting to delay their travels too much. But when they encountered a mob of levels 3 through 4 they would kill most while retaining the weaker ones, whilst heavily injuring them. Beanie blinked as he watched this. He flinched when Sammy walked next to him. "Didn''t you say you want to reach level 10 quickly?" He said as he wrapped his dark arms around the portly man, before pushing him forward, basically throwing him into the monsters'' mouths. The poor man squealed. Luckily for him, the monsters were mostly discounted and fell down before they reached him. "Hey! That was pathetic! I wish I had my camera to show your wife!" Beanie gasped, but smiled smugly, "My wife happens to love me no matter what!" ROAR! He squealed again. "Hey! We don''t have the whole day!" Beanie shook his head and stood up immediately. Right! Everyone had family to look for, it was already very kind to give him these few minutes to level up! And he was determined to work hard! . . . A few minutes later. It was really not easy! He was sweaty and gasping and he barely did any damage to the monster! "You need to try harder than that, Beany!" Sammy yelled when he saw Beany rolling around trying to avoid the monster''s attack. Even Sammy''s teasing didn''t get to him. Primarily because the dude was also a wind element and may or may not be his master in the future. Gill got impatient though and burned the monsters'' remaining legs with magma. It roared and fluttered about, which gave Beany enough time to gather his bearing. "Kill it!" "Oh, yes, yes!" He said, seeing the heavily weakened level 4 monster in front of him. Although Garan and the others helped carry his level, they tried not to coddle. There was always some life left on the monsters, albeit they were greatly weakened and had a disability of sorts. At this time, the enemy was a monster called Kooi with sharp horns and flat face. Two of its legs were barely usable. It was humiliating to ask for more cheats! Beany gathered himself and fought with it bravely, slash, parry, and pakpakpak! Eventually, he did earn a couple of nick. "Don''t focus too much strength on your arms. You''ll get tired easily." Garan told him with that monotonous voice of his. It was a good enough tip for Beany though, who changed things up a bit. "O-Oh!" He had a preference for the axe (it looked cool) and swung it with all his might (i.e. all his weight). sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His pacing improved and was soon able to make the killing shot. [Killed Kooi (Lv4). +100 experience, +100 copper!] The group continued to travel swiftly across the mountains, giving Beanie the occasional monster every few hours or so. By the time he was on his 3rd mob many hours later and kilometers away from their camping site, he was at the peak of level 4. Of course, if they weren''t in such a rush, Beanie would definitely be at least level 5 now. It was just that by this time, he only had enough spirit and health to keep walking, so the succeeding monsters regardless of level had been dealt with by the soldiers. They pretty much bulldozed their way East, and Beanie could only shake his head in wonder. "These monsters seem really weak in front of you guys," he said, and Garan gave him a pointed look. "Weaker monsters are around weaker territories." "I''m trying to say you are strong, not that they''re weak!" Beany gasped. He couldn''t let him have a moment of complacency? Garan shrugged. It was Gill who couldn''t help but express another snide remark. "Outside, these monsters are relatively weak. Level 4s like you are still playing at home with their mummies." And Sammy, this jerk, laughed out loud. "You''ll see, if I get stron¡ª" Beany was ready to argue when he saw the soldiers halted and the light atmosphere changed somehow. Everybody''s steps paused as the scenery in front of them changed. "It''s a wall?" "No, not anymore¡­" Several pairs of eyes looked at the sight in front of them in disbelief. It was a low-level village, as shown by the level two walls and buildings. Except¡­ there was no sign life. There were only mountains of corpses, none of whom had complete body parts, with visible muscles and sinews attached. The beasts had a feast here not too long ago, they could tell. Looking at how things were, there were thousands of bodies lying there, waiting to be consumed by maggots and buried in time. The buildings had already begun to disintegrate as well, bit by bit, they disappeared into nothingness. Each dust the wind carried was a hit on their hearts. The territories of Terran were still so vulnerable. "What¡­" Beany squeaked, almost falling down from the shock. The soldiers, used to the sight of death, quickly gathered themselves, although one could tell with the shaking hands and pale faces that they were no less shocked. Garan heaved a deep breath. "Help them," he ordered and everyone immediately went to the various corpses and arranged them together into a single place. At the same time, they hoped not to see anyone familiar among the dead. Each corpse carried to the center made everyone look in both apprehension and pain, praying that there was no one familiar to them. Fortunately, except for Luis'' classmate who he wasn''t very close with, and Sammy with a neighbor he didn''t like, no one else found anyone they knew. Still, seeing someone you once knew alive and well dead in such a horrific manner made them feel depressed regardless. "Let''s¡­ send them off," Garan said, voice in a lower, heavier register than usual. On cue, all the fire users surrounded the corpses in the middle, using the ability to light them on fire. They watched in silence as the corpses burned, returning to the ground. It was a pity they had to stay in this foreign place forever, not even having the luxury of dying in their own land. Chapter 322 More Survivors About an hour later, the corpses had completely turned to ashes, and there was nothing left but them mourning. Garan looked at his team that entered a gloomy mood and sighed. "Let''s go," He just said, and the team prepared to go on their way. Beanie sniffed, feeling very heavy. To be honest, he had been compartmentalizing in order to retain some cohesiveness. Although he had also seen a lot of deaths in his previous two territories, he knew his family wasn''t there nor were they nearby. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But now, they were so near other Eden territories, and this was what he kept on seeing¡­ He shook his head, refusing to think about it anymore. Rather than be crippled with worry, he''d rather move forward to get to as many territories as he could to find his family. The team soon went their way further east, though no one spoke a word anymore. It was just that they hadn''t gone far when they heard rustles, a lot of them, approaching relatively quickly. The soldiers immediately raised their guards ready for whatever would come. The distant sounds were quickly followed by yells and screams. The soldiers looked at each other, but otherwise stood still as they listened to the many rushed footsteps that came their way. A crowd of hundreds appeared, batch by batch, from the dense forests. Each one looked absolutely horrid, covered with blood and dirt, and their expressions filled with terror and hopelessness. They were running for their lives. Only, deep in their hearts, they didn''t think they''d have much hope of succeeding at all. But it didn''t mean they would stop trying. "Run! Run!!" They yelled, seeing people blocking their way. The team stood still and watched as scores and scores of fleeing people rushed in and went past them in a flurry. The people didn''t have time to wonder why they were unmoving and just continued to run as far as they could. They rushed in like ants suddenly escaping from the nest, avoiding the obstacles that were them, and they were such in a rush that most didn''t even bother to avoid them. It was just that as a few people bumped into them, they were thrown back by the force instead. "What?" they asked, but flinched when they saw the soldiers¡ªstanding still as if another man his size didn''t just barrel onto him¡ªlook down at them with an impassive expression. Too scared to make an issue out of it, they just ignored the soldiers and continued to escape. Of course, some had the mind to warn them. For instance, a middle-aged bald man wearing only a dirty white shirt stopped next to them, yelling. "What are you doing? Run!!" The man tried to drag one with him but the person shook his head. Gill looked at the man who was pulling his arm, actually stopping to pull him despite looking incredibly terrified by what was behind. Instead of speaking though, Gill looked at the incoming monster without emotion. Ignoring the man''s curse, he easily escaped the man''s hold and summoned fire in one hand, and earth in the other. The man didn''t absorb what was happening until Gill was several steps away, baffling him. "What¡ª" He wasn''t so stressed out that blood crept up his brain, did it? Gill coolly met the monster''s sprint and jumped up. He clapped his hands together while in the air, forming magma between his hands. He then raised his hand above his head and pounded the monster''s head with his palms burning with magma. "Magma Melt" He uttered under his breath, watching as his technique burned a hole into the monster''s skin. Whatever the magma touched, it melted like it was a gruesome ice cream. This was just the first of the miraculous sights the refugees saw. They soon saw the whole team light up in different colors as different elements manifested around them. Every and each one (including Beany and Gaudi) fought the monsters, each one looking valiant in the eyes of the refugees. Especially the elementalists, who looked so divine in their movements¡ªno matter which element they commanded. More and more people stopped running, watching the lights and magical sights with all their hearts, sending a flicker of hope into their dying hearts. Each ember lit a fire, each rock added stability, each gust adding excitement¡ªadding a breadth of life¡ªand the crowd watched in amazement as the monster mob that tortured them so much was dealt with so easily by fellow humans. In fact, the people who didn''t have elements were also impressive and even more inspiring¡ªbecause they represented what they could do themselves, rather than the miracles (the soldiers) that happened to come their way. "Awesome¡­ Axe!" Beanie exclaimed, naming his own technique for coolness. Although it wasn''t a skill and didn''t consume Mana, he felt it was stronger by virtue of its name. Fortunately, the monster he was up against was another level 4 weakened by Luis, so he managed to kill it unscathed. Gaudi, a level 14, was not an elementalist but he could also handle himself very well. He was a spear-user and he swung his weapon around expertly. Although he had gotten rusty after years of not fighting, he was still quite impressive. It had to be said that Gaudi was among the people who survived among his kind for a reason. When someone asked why he remained a cleaner slave despite having the ability to do decently in villages and even low-level towns, he said it was because slaves who could fight were sent to the front lines with no support but themselves. In their Terran terms, they would be called ''cannon fodders'' or meat shields. In contrast, cleaning up the mercenary hall was just much more attractive. Eventually, the battle ended and the team stood still, while the atmosphere around them brewed with various emotions. The refugees looked at each other with wide eyes, some were disbelieving, while some just sobbed. They''re alive. They''re safe! It''s a miracle! Chapter 323 Another Terran Territory At the sight of saviors and survivors, the heavy atmosphere from both parties immediately lit up. Instead of speaking, Garan simply led the bigger team to continue on as if nothing happened. They could catch up eventually, but their loved ones couldn''t wait any more. Not to mention, more mobs could be attracted by all this blood. There were so many refugees and only over a dozen of them¡ªthey wouldn''t be able to protect all of these people even if they had an overwhelming strength advantage against the monsters they encountered. So this was why the team didn''t stop to chat. Rather the two groups simply converged into a line. The refugees understood and followed, and behaved, while unable to stop giving admiring gazes at the soldiers but were afraid to act too closely. Although they had good impressions of soldiers, the corrupt guards of their former territories unconsciously made them afraid of people in power. Especially¡­ such powerful people. They''re probably very arrogant, right? It didn''t help that when they encountered a mob, they were dealt with in a few blinks. Such strong monsters with thick skinned were killed so easily. If they offended these people, would they get pulverized? So the group of three hundred people walked in silence for hours until it was time for dinner. They camped in a relatively large clearing they found after clearing out the mobs they encountered, using them as meat by the way. The more gregarious soldiers like Luis started talking to the refugees as the others prepared the food¡ªwith the help of tens of refugees, of course. "So¡­ what happened to you guys?" The people near him flinched a bit, but saw he was a young lad with a friendly smile, their shoulders slumped in relief. "Our territory fell as well. We were allies with Porta¡ªthe territory where we met¡ªbut¡­ "Well, at least we survived." Luis nodded, "Is this all of you? From your old territory." "Well, everyone panicked and ran to different directions." "I see, I see¡­ then did you happen to encounter someone with the name¡­" Luis began to enumerate various names, though no information about them was found. Similarly, the other soldiers saw this and followed his lead. However, even with this, no one got news that they wanted. "Well, no news is good news," Sammy said with an awkward smile, trying to convince himself more than anyone else. "It would be better than hearing they perished, right?" With that, the sad topic was temporarily put aside, and the teams focused on filling their stomachs for another day of fighting ahead. For dinner, they had barbeque using the meat of the monsters they just killed. The refugees were the ones who cleaned up the meat, while the soldiers handled it with a diluted version of the Captain''s signature sauce. Adding a bit of their seasoning to improve the taste, the aroma that wafted to everyone''s noses automatically made their stomachs churn. The soldiers asked them to line up properly, and they were for the most part behaved, no matter how impatient they were. They left the meat in the center, and anyone could take it. Fortunately, there wasn''t anyone expecting to be served and filed properly, only taking one per person. What they didn''t know was that there were indeed people who had planned on using moral kidnapping. But the coldness of the captain scared them to death. Soon, the first batch of refugees managed to get a hold of a stick, immediately bringing them to their mouths, and they almost cried. "Amazing¡­" they said, even if they burned their tongues a bit for being too hasty. Some people even outright sobbed, happy to finally taste something decent. More than the luxury of flavor, it was more an excitement to the soul. Gill looked around and found someone. He was lined up near the end. Gill approached him, ignoring the ogles of the others, especially the women. "You." He called the bald man from earlier. "Me?" "What''s your name?" "Rodney.." "You''re not bad." He said, and handed him a seasoned meat. And some cotton pants¡­ His eyes sparkled but he was a little puzzled by the special treatment, so he was reluctant to take it immediately. Gill sighed and just left the items in his hand before returning to the group, leaving a dumbfounded Rodney standing. ¡­ Garan''s team started eating their own food, while the others set up their own fires and stoves. Some were creative and added some familiar fruits and herbs, while some really knew how to handle the tangy monster meats. The soldiers were also eating quite happily when a soft sultry voice sounded next to them. "May I also have?" Luis and Sammy gaped at the beautiful woman who approached them. Luis abruptly stood up, recognizing her immediately. She was wearing plain clothing and was a little dirty, but the pretty face of Terran''s biggest female star was still recognizable. She was also of normal weight¡ªstill quite sexy¡ªunlike many of her companions who were emaciated. "Miss Juni! Wow, I''m a fan!" Juni was a starlet that debuted just a few years prior, but was shot up to stardom by talent and some well-chosen movies and dramas. By the time the Migration happened, she was already one of the biggest stars. In fact, she had just won Eden''s most prestigious Best Actress award before the Migration happened. Luis had followed her since her debut and was very excited to interact with her. He looked around. "Is Fable here? He''s my idol!" Juni smiled awkwardly, "Don''t listen to rumors. We were barely even friends." Luis nodded even if a bit disappointed. However, he soon snapped out of it as he thought she was hungry so he happily gave her a stick of meat. "Thank you," she said, releasing a gorgeous smile. Fanboy-Luis was taken to the stars by her smile. What he didn''t expect was the woman''s eyes turned to give furtive glances in a direction. It wasn''t obvious at first, but he caught her doing so more than once as she ate. Luis blinked curiously and followed her line of sight, ending on their deputy. Why would Juni be looking at Deputy Captain Gill? Juni frowned when she looked at Gill, not even turning to her direction, even when they were only a meter apart. But Juni didn''t say anything, she just ate her piece and thanked the group for the hospitality, paying a piece of silver before going. Luis naturally tried to reject it but she shook her head. "Please, it is for my own comfort." She said, and Luis reluctantly accepted the money. While mysterious, no one really thought too deeply about it and the group soon went on their way, with torches on hand lit by the fire users in the team. This was a novel experience for the people, to travel so long at night time with so much light. A few hours later, the line stopped and the crowd curiously looked at what caused it in front. Some even walked closer to see and everyone looked at what was in front of them in awe. A stone wall. A 3-meter-high one at that! And a level 3 wall meant there were sentries. This was a territory! A strong one! sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The people cheered and they immediately went to the gates, entering with anticipation of some well-deserved rest. And when the familiar ding resounded inside their heads, everyone smiled. ''Finally!'' they mused and immediately looked at the name of the territory to remember it by. [Welcome to Bright Village!] Chapter 324 A Good Territory! [Welcome to Bright Village!] [Please pay 5 copper coins as Visitor''s fee.] Everyone looked at each other, surprised, half wondering if they were imagining things. "Am I seeing it correctly? 5 copper???" "So cheap?!" "I''ve never encountered a territory charging so little!" Similar chatter resounded among their group of 300+, but their feet never stopped moving, eager to know more about this curious territory. As such, the mighty group of refugees and soldiers entered the territory with a bit of anticipation. They went past the gate and were immediately met with a 6-meter wide road. They walked along it curiously as, during the first leg of about a few hundred meters, the view was pure forest. However, after passing this, the road immediately became lively. The roads were abutted by a few two-story buildings similar to some villages they''d been to. There were other familiar buildings like the restaurant, weapons shop, and armor shop. Despite these, there were also plenty of unique elements. For instance, there were five commercial buildings with two floors, looking quite different from the rest. It was interestingly unique in appearance with a stone ground floor and wooden upper floors. They weren''t able to appreciate it too much though¡ªthey weren''t even able to see what they sell¡ªbecause the liveliest aspect of the roads took all their attention. The stalls! And they were shocked by the fact that they were selling food they didn''t think they''d encounter again!! "Are those¡­ FRENCH FRIES?!" Mao, the foodie, was the first to exclaim. His narrow eyes widened like he had double eyelids. "Rice cake!" Luis beside him gulped as he stared at the stall next to it. Sammy, on the other hand, focused on the commercial buildings. He even entered one and quickly sent news. "They sell clothes here! It''s cotton and hemp I think, and they are cheap!" In fact, cloth was still a luxury product in the territory. It was just that decent clothing was very expensive in Xeno. This was not even a fraction of the price outside. The newcomers, especially the refugees, had sparkling eyes. In fact, the soldiers were still held back. The refugees, after absorbing they were really not dreaming, all spread out like a group of kids set free in a candy aisle. Each one went to a specific stall of choice, vocally admiring it as if it were a museum piece. "Amazing!!" "Gosh, is this jam?" "Noodles!!!" One yelled, threw money without checking for change, and sipped. He moaned out. "I''m in heaven!" "How did they do it??" "This is amazing!!" The citizens of Bright could hear the discussions of the newcomers and smiled with pride. "Of course. Our Lord is very good. He''s even gathered very good seeds for us and set up farms so we could be self-sufficient." "The first harvest will be in another week or so, I think." He said. "The prices would be even cheaper then." The team couldn''t help but look at each other with relieved smiles in their eyes as they heard this. At least they knew some Terrans were doing well, and this meant their families could also be in such territories as well. In any case, they had a very good impression of the Lord of this place. "He must be a good guy," Luis said with an admiring nod, and everyone, even if they didn''t speak, agreed. Then they proceeded to walk along the street, stomach grumbling. Seeing his team wanting to attack each stall they passed by, Garan shook his head. "Let''s find a place to stay first." He said, pulling everyone back to the present. Indeed, they came with hundreds of people, what if there was no accommodation left for their team? Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan, Gill, and a few proceeded to ask the locals where they could find places to rent, while the rest said goodbye to the refugees. "Thank you! Thank you so much for saving us!" Several people said, many of whom bowed in gratitude before parting with them. "Have this please!" Rodney stepped forward, handing over a basket of food he just bought. With his lead, a lot of people followed. "This too!" "Please, have this!" The soldiers were a bit surprised and touched, but they didn''t reject the kindness of the refugees. It was good to know that they were not taken for granted. The team separated from the refugees, receiving their heartfelt thanks once more. Of course, as always, there were still some dissatisfied with their lack of help in settling them down. However, they had seen their strengths and didn''t dare to speak out. The team proceeded to look for available housing. Most of the houses had already been occupied. It was a recent thing, apparently, as a lot of people apparently made a lot of money from selling products. They eventually found one of the two-story houses a bit farther from the main road. According to locals, it was a new community, with the lord using a new housing module from the system. It had a similar appearance to the new commercial areas near the gates: two stories, relatively steep roofing with corners slightly curving up, and with a quaint combination of wood and stone, giving the impression of both stability and flexibility. There were only five units in total and the rent was very expensive. However, they had no choice but to take it as it was the only available one after leaving the cheaper rentals to the refugees. After confirming the rent, the mercenary team members filed in, not really expecting anything too special. However, when they went inside, they were amazed by how clean and organized it was. There were proper flooring and partitions and the room arrangements were similar to open plans back in Terran. The furniture was also very complete, and there was complete upholstery. There were even rugs made of beast fur. The more sensitive ones even closed their eyes and felt another difference: The temperature. It was Chris who spoke out. "This is very interesting," he said, "It is hot outside, but the inside is much cooler." He opened his eyes and studied the house further, realizing that this was done by maximizing wind and air temperature. They also saw some unfamiliar translucent materials used as windows and lamps. "This is so interesting." "Probably a custom house, right?" "The designer must be very knowledgeable about this." "Amazing. They hadn''t been here for a month, right?" "It''s official: the Lord here is my idol!" Excited to explore, the younger members ran to the rooms. And they scuttled out, looking at the rest of the team in awe. "The house here has toilets!" Luis yelled, and Sammy immediately flinched. "Fudge. Seriously??" The two men immediately went to check on the toilets together, admiring it. After all, it had been so long since they saw a legitimate water closet! This place was like the medieval period of their Terran Planet. It was already a luxury to have a hole to shit on. Most commoners would use chamber pots¡ªstill the ultra-cheap kind because metal wasn''t readily accessible to most! Anyway, it was super gross. "A legit kitchen counter, too," Eagle said with a smile. He remembered the raw materials he saw on the market. Can he finally prepare a legitimate meal? It seemed the price for this house was worth it after all? Compared to anywhere they''ve lived in since coming, this was a real luxury. Not to mention Gaudi, who had lived in extreme poverty for decades. This was akin to living in the palace. Seeing the house, the group had completely been won over by the territory. "When I find my family, I might just settle here¡­" "Me, too." Garan nodded. If Altera wasn''t good enough (assuming it wasn''t hers as they suspected), and if she didn''t like indigenous towns like Ferrol, they could indeed settle here instead. After all, even if a Town was more convenient and bigger, it was still different to be surrounded by brethren. Well, whatever his wife preferred. As such, the team excitedly headed back out to finally eat their fill to appreciate this unique territory even more. This could possibly be their new home, after all! Chapter 325 Questions The group happily went to the market and ordered everything they could get their hands on. They ate french fries, rice cakes, rice with monster meat, etc. It had to be noted that the offerings were mostly rice and potato-based food, which was just what they needed! It didn''t bother them that they were green or blue or red. Even if it was rainbow-colored, they''d eat it! "They''re building a kiln, and soon we''ll offer bread as well!" The vendor couldn''t help but announce proudly. "That''s amazing!" Some time later, they then went to the barbeque stall next to it. They had thought that it probably wasn''t anything too special, considering they already had the boss'' sauce. But then they saw the array of available sauces and they couldn''t help but gape. "Soy sauce?" Mao uttered, and Luis echoed beside him. "Vinegar?" The soldiers looked at each other, shocked at the choices, then they were fired up, decidedly buying a bit of everything. The group also ordered various meats and vegetables on skewers to gobble. They were all consuming quite well for a while, their abbed stomachs slowly bubbling out of shape. Of course, they really wouldn''t care about ''shape'' right now, they cared more about how much more it could take before they couldn''t eat anymore! It was a peaceful time for a shopping spree for a while. It was just that some time as they were walking along the street and enjoying various street foods, Gill''s hand with the skewer paused. He sighed and, to his team''s puzzlement, he turned his head to a direction. "How long will you keep watching?" He asked and Luis and the others blinked, not sure who he was talking to. And then their mouths opened in shock when they saw a familiar gorgeous woman emerging from the crowd. "Juni???!" The young soldiers and citizens gaped and looked on in admiration. Juni only smiled at them, but her attention quickly focused on the sexy man who was looking at her impassively. "You were eating so happily..." She said with a smile, "Can we talk?" "Ehhhh, why??" Luis and Sammy couldn''t help but mumble. "Why would she want to talk to you?" "I mean you''re handsome but you really can''t speak well!" Gill massaged his throbbing temple in annoyance, swearing to train these brats hard so they didn''t sound so stupid every time they opened their mouths. "...we used to date." "Whaaatttt?" "Holy Gouji Berry¡ª" "What? You?!" "What about Miss Cassandra?" Mao, as someone ''bribed'' by Cassandra with food to hint at some of Gill''s personal details, blurted out with a frown. He froze when he realized his gaffe and raised his hand in surrender when Gill sent him a warning glance. The handsome soldier then turned to look at the beautiful woman for a few moments, before finally nodding. Juni''s tense shoulder relaxed a little and she led him to one of the restaurants at a corner shop. The group looked at the back of the former couple with complicated expressions. Even Garan didn''t know about Gill''s love life. When Gill said that he watched too many of his ex''s dramas, Garan didn''t think he meant it like that. Then he couldn''t help but recall the much better condition of the woman compared to the others. Although he didn''t have an interest in anything other than Althea and his job, he had still heard some things about the deep water of the entertainment industry. It was not hard to assume what she could''ve been doing all this time and was a bit worried for Gill. Of course, he knew that this thought was extremely judgemental and unfair. Not to mention, this was none of his business. At least, until it started to affect the functions of the team. Putting the thought aside, he turned his attention back to the bustling market street as well as the people''s happy faces. Whatever the case, it was really, truly, good to know that there were still Terran territories that were doing well¡­ ''I pray Althea''s living well.'' Garan entered a short daze at that time, warmly thinking about his wife. Sandra was shopping when she saw his frozen figure. Her heart skipped a beat the moment she realized who it was. This man was still as handsome as ever. However, she also knew of his temperament, and approaching him now would just set herself up for embarrassment. Not to mention, her lover had been watching her moves lately. It didn''t help that Ron and Spike told him about her alleged ''flirting'' with other men back in Altera. Even if she had managed to pass the blame to Ramona, the seeds of doubt had been planted, and it was getting increasingly difficult to satisfy him. She frowned at the thought of Ron and Spike. She swore she''d deal with them someday¡­ But whatever dark thought was brewing in her mind though, her eyes never left Garan. She stood there, watching, and when she saw that they moved to another stall, she also followed as subtly as she could. She gulped, her heart beating wildly, her eyes filled with the dashing may with deep azure eyes. Maybe¡­ just maybe¡­ she''d finally find a chance to climb up! ¡­ Sandra did not have to wait long to see a chance to approach. "Make way! Make way!!" A group of injured people carried three men who were dripping with blood. They watched as the severely injured people were carried to one of the commercial buildings. The sideboard indicated it was a pharmacy-slash-clinic. The soldiers were curious. How was the medicinal capacity of this territory, they wondered. After all, it was still a village and it didn''t have a system pharmacy yet. Without a word, they followed the crowd to observe. Soon a pitiful group of bloodied people were either carried or guided inside the building. They looked very much in pain and very worried. However, it was worth noting that did not appear hopeless, which was very different to the refugees they had seen so far. In contrast to those people''s dull eyes, these people were hopeful that their teammates getting treated well. The difference between territories could be seen even from this. "Please save them!" They exclaimed and a doctor knelt down to take a look at the wounded as his assistants stopped the bleeding for the others. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After a moment, he turned to the ambulatory members with an apologetic frown. "We do have basic medicine for everyone, but we only have two bottles left of Bandade and Sprite¡­ "In their case, it can''t be diluted unless we get the premium grade." The team''s shoulders slumped, but they still chose the more critical people to use the remaining bottles. The soldiers watched as the group paid tons of gold and the shop owner brought out a box of bottles, as well as other things. It seemed that with that bunch of gold, the party not only bought the medicine but also other solutions and some so-called special gauze. Garan and the others watched as the medicine was applied, and were surprised to see that it immediately stopped bleeding. It even closed up a bit. "This¡­" Turbo''s eyes widened, surprised, but there was no one to answer his questions. The medical personnel continued to treat the wounded guards for half an hour before they finally heaved a sigh of relief. Someone checked their inventory and sighed even deeper, looking at his workmates. "I wonder when the martial law will be lifted. We need to stock up on supplies from Altera." The word immediately sent alerts to a lot of the soldiers. Garan immediately appeared next to the nearest nurse, who happened to be a meek female. He was a meter away but his presence was overbearing. It didn''t help that he was very, very, handsome, and it had the tendency to destroy a shy girl''s heart. "All these things came from Altera?!" he asked, his baritone voice was handsome but extremely scary. The nurses and doctors were frightened. Sandra who was nearby saw this as her opportunity. She began to approach, her eyes on him. Sandra was determined to replace the poor female nurse who was both adoring and scared as she looked at his face. "Y-Yes." The nurse said, and she couldn''t help blushing at the focus of the deep azure eyes anyone could drown in. Garan frowned and, seeing as this one couldn''t give him the answer he needed, he turned his head to another medical professional¡ªa male this time. "Tell me. Please." Sandra''s pace hastened as she finally reached a few meters from the dashing soldier. Similarly, the male nurse had already opened his mouth to answer when a ding sounded in his head. Or rather, an announcement popped up above every person''s head, including the visitors. [No one is allowed to reveal anything about Altera other than the Lord. Leak at your own risk.] The male nurse: "..." Sandra, who had wanted to offer her help: "..." The atmosphere stagnated. And, for some reason, it made Garan''s eyelids twitch. He¡­ he had a bad feeling about this. Chapter 326 Deals Half an hour prior. Micheal was drinking a precious tea blend inside his study, overlooking the territory he created in a complex mood. He had done his best, but the world outside was too dangerous not to worry. Sip. Ah, good tea. He bought this tea from Althea for a very high price and, as he savored the warm drink, he could feel his stress and worry diminishing at a palpable rate. As expected of the woman who could handle that man with ease. In any case, he was perusing the population list in this better mood when a group of people appeared and shot up the top of the list, which made it stagnate again. He was curious and a little apprehensive at first, but then he saw the name at the very top. Immediately, he stiffened and his jaw tensed, his eyes turning darker at the sight of it. Garan Witt. The man that caused them huge amounts of losses just because of his ''intervention''. One could imagine how his blood boiled when he saw him finally landing in his territory. Micheal''s eyes blue eyes narrowed, a dark smirk gracing his lips. He would finally be able to deal with this guy. As for why he didn''t deal with either Ansel or Althea, it was against his principles to drag innocents into battles. Also, he''d lose a lot if he went against them, especially for something they didn''t even have a hand in. Anyway, this bastard cost him a lot of money, and he was determined to get it back. Maybe even get interest¡­ He stood up and walked outside, attempting to see the bastard for himself. Although he knew the man had gotten much stronger for reasons unknown, he still hoped to see him bloodied and desperate. However, as he went on the streets, he saw another batch of his own guards bloodied by the strong monsters outside. He sighed. The protection period was indeed the newbie period. The current challenges of the monsters were incomparable. If he had more resources, he''d have bought more of the premium weapons from Altera. Sadly, he was also very poor. He also had to buy the custom houses because he found out that it would disappear if unclaimed after 32 days. He had seen the advantages and had already purchased the blueprint from Oslo, and he couldn''t bear to put that all to waste. And so, he jumped in despite the huge costs¡ªwhich were, truly, beyond his means. He should''ve known each module cost a lot more than the standard buildings! Furthermore, after that warning from Althea, he naturally had to go above and beyond his capabilities to protect the territory. That handful of customized houses, upgraded fences, and sentries (though very sparsely placed every few hundred meters¡ªthey really cost too much) had siphoned out all his funds. He even had to borrow from his subordinates, as well as solicit from citizens in exchange for some added ''status''. That was, these people would have priority in his new amenities, et cetera. Fortunately, everyone was cooperative. Anyway, they easily saw where the money went. Not to mention, he knew that the investments on custom houses would return to him in a short while and he''d have some funds again. He still needed more, however, and it was a worrying thought. ¡­then he remembered he''d have another source of income, one that was coming to his own doorstep very soon. With a smile, he sent an announcement to all his residents, walking to the meeting hall to wait for his next pot of gold. ¡­ Garan found his location several minutes later, with two of his men. Micheal also had Dig and the only fighter aborigine he had, Juno. Juno was a level E soldier at level 15. Not bad compared to his people, but not impressive compared to Altera''s aborigine, who was also an elemental. Sigh. He really ought to stop comparing to Altera. That place was in its own league. Speaking of Aborigines, he had a vague inkling: that Altera really took most of the good hires available at their level. After all, Altera upgraded much earlier than they did¡ªprimarily because of its ample funds and foresight. It was very likely that it had managed to get most of the decent options. Pity, but it could''ve been worse. At the very least, Altera was an ally and wasn''t a territory he had to worry about. A couple of minutes later, three soldiers including Garan entered the meeting hall looking all intimidating, as always, but Micheal''s aura when negotiating wasn''t much less. "Lord of Bright." Garan started, that apathetic low voice of his bland as always. "My name is Garan Witt, and these are my men Gill and Eagle." They greeted him politely and he stood up with a smile. He walked over and extended his hand. "My name is Micheal Berti." Garan imperceptibly flinched, and his azure eyes sharpened as he looked at the blonde. This man¡­ Berti was an infamous mafia family spanning five generations. It was just that the current generation cleaned up the family, no longer selling drugs. They sold only weapons to security companies and some other private non-terrorist groups. This itself was not too illegal so when he caught up with them they got out by paying an (ample) amount of money. This amount of money happened to be a good bulk of the liquid funds he had. "You seem to recognize me," Micheal said, donning a mysterious smile, extending his hand to meet his handshake. Garan''s face showed no change when he answered. "Your surname is quite well-known." "Of course." He said, his grip tightening a bit. "Too bad we still lost to a twenty-plus-year-old soldier¡­" Garan sighed, finally knowing for sure what the announcement was about. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. With their history, it would be questionable if this lord didn''t make it hard on him. In fact, the ban on the information was definitely on purpose just to annoy him. "There is news that I want." "Yes, I know. I definitely have the information you want," he said enticingly, smirking. "It''s not cheap." "It depends on the information." Micheal smiled handsomely, but it only brought creeps down their spines. "I can tell you exactly how to get to Altera¡­" he said and watched as Garan''s back straightened in anticipation. "As well as information about your wife and brother." Garan''s eyes widened and he raised his head. The two men beside Micheal immediately went on defensive under his strong aura, but Micheal only flinched a bit, not showing any weaknesses. Instead, he leaned over with his chin on the back of his hands, smiling. "The price¡­ will definitely not be low." Chapter 327 Deal Closed Aberdeen City, Many Years ago One weekend in the early summer, the family was gathered in the kitchen by Althea. They were well-behaved and waited patiently as to what this was all about, and they soon saw Althea bringing in a colorful array of jars. These jars were filled with vibrant tea leaves, fragrant herbs, and delicate flower petals. The school was off the week, with Ansel and the two professors were relaxing at home. There was also Garan, a special Military soldier, who was also on a rare day off. The parents looked at her curiously looked at her, her boyfriend¡ªas always¡ªwas just watching her dotingly, while her little brother had a teasing smile on his face. "I have been studying and testing these for a long time." "How many times did you get poisoned?" Ansel asked, and Althea answered with a bit of smugness. "None!" "Not because you''re immune now, right?" "..." Alicia laughed and gently tapped the boy''s head. "Let Althea have her moment." "Che," Ansel tutted and crossed his arms, though his eyes quickly gravitated back to the curious table in front of him. Althea cleared her throat, entering a small zone she entered during her experiment, albeit a milder version. She smiled as she delicately scooped a blend of loose leaves into each teapot, adding different herbs and flowers to each one. Soon aroma wafted into her audience''s noses, making her audience unconsciously lean down the table for a bit more of a sniff. For a while, only the sound of porcelain and metal clashing, combined with rustles of tiny leaves, was heard in the room. Finally, she ended the ritual with pouring hot water on the cups, placing a different blend in front of each them. The looked brightly at the beautiful blend in front of them, sniffing the nice aromas that whiffed up their noses. Althea smiled and started to introduce her work. "For dad, I''ve chosen an exquisite blend of dried rose petals and camilla tea leaves. Smart and Bold, fitting dad''s scholarly pursuits." Howard laughed in his characteristic deep and hearty laugh, taking the cup for a sip. His eyebrows rose as the aroma and taste enveloped him. It was as if transported to a distant rose garden in full bloom. Althea judged it to be a success and turned to her mother. "For Mom, it is a blend of green tea, lavender and chamomile. A fragrant bouquet that was calming as it is rejuvenating, much like what she is to me." Alicia giggled. "Aww~ Thanks love. I''ll try it out now." She inhaled the soothing aroma of the concoction as she sniffed, and it felt like she was strolling through a serene lavender field. Very relaxing. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Ansel''s is a fruit-infused herbal tea with hints of apple, hibiscus, and orange peel. It''s a playful medley of flavors, a fitting drink for our youngest." The red head immediately took his cup, a bit excited, and was met with the tasty fruity explosion in his mouth. "Hmm! Delicious~" They all chuckled at his reaction, and soon Althea turned to her handsome boyfriend, who made her blush a bit under his deep stare. "For Garan, it shall be a robust blend of black tea, mint leaves, and a touch of lemongrass. It is bold and invigorating, much like you." "Thank you, Althea." He smiled and took a sip, met with a refreshing burst of mint that invigorated his senses, though his eyes never left her face. "Is it tasty?" She asked, blushing a bit, before turning to everyone else. Everyone nodded, praising her for her talents. In any case, the kitchen that day was particularly fragrant, filled with warmth and happiness¡­ ¡­and the contentment of a complete family. __________________ Bright Village, Present Garan stood up in shock and looked at him murderously. Even his two guards who tried to defend couldn''t move, startled by the man''s aura. Micheal coolly raised both hands. "We''re business partners. Ansel is even my friend, how can I hurt them?" The suffocating atmosphere dispersed a little and Garan just looked at him guardedly. However, there was anticipation in his eyes which were what Micheal needed for this deal. He turned to Dig and pointed at the cabinet with his head. "Come, drink." He asked, and naturally they didn''t dare to risk getting poisoned. "Why would I bother poisoning you in my own territory?" "Because you cannot kill us otherwise." "..." Well, they''re not wrong¡­ Micheal sighed and took the cup handed to Garan, drinking from it himself. "Hm.. Delicious. It''s your loss. Such good tea from Ms. Althea." Sure enough, Garan flinched and after a thought, he took the teapot and sipped on its contents. Silence passed by as Garan simmered in its taste, no doubt recalling certain memories. Soon, his stance softened and he looked at Micheal with less hostile eyes. "Fine. How much?" "2000 gold." "What?!" Logistics-Officer-Eagle gasped. Gill glared. Garan frowned. "That''s too much." He said, "You did not pay that much of a penalty." Micheal did not say anything in response. Two thousand gold in Xeno was indeed an over-quote. However, his family lost much more than money. For example, reputation. For example, his mental health. Garan looked at the smiling man''s unchanging expression. The atmosphere stagnated for a while, before Garan finally heaved a sigh. Did he have a choice? He couldn''t coerce people outside for information. Especially, they obviously lived well here, how could they betray their lord? Garan rubbed his temple. "I only have 600 in my hands." He told him. This was true, the next dividend from Bart''s mercenary team would arrive in a few weeks. Micheal was actually surprised he had that much (it irked him a bit). But, anyway, there was more than one part in this deal. "Then...for the balance, I''ll take 500 from Althea, and for the rest just help us clean up 1000 monsters above level 5 around our territory and we''ll call it even." He said. "The final kill will be my guards''." Garan''s handsome eyebrows furrowed. Discomfort in making his wife pay for something he owed aside, killing 1000 monster would take a while since there was no large mob, let alone they had to give the last hit to others which would easily triple the time requirement. How could Garan stay longer when he already knew where his wife is? No matter what, he couldn''t do it. What if she was hurt while he was ambling about? She must be missing him so much, how could he bear let her suffer more¡ª "Don''t worry about your wife." Micheal said, knowing his concerns. "She''s doing very well." Garan looked at him to see if he''d say anything else but he was still just as cryptic. Manipulative bastard. As if unaware of his glare, Micheal retained his smile and continued with his vague clues. "Altera is extremely strong. Bright territory cannot compare." Gill and Eagle''s eyes widened, while Garan remained stoic, but the way his eyes dilated was very telling. "We got a lot of our resources from there. What you see here? The food, the prosperity? Altera''s is much more advanced. "Even the design of the custom house had been bought from there." Gill and Eagle looked at each other with their eyebrows arched, a bit in disbelief. They were really curious about this place! Before, it was just because of sister-in-law, but now they also want to see it for what it was. Gill even thought deeper. From the way the captain recognized the territory name, perhaps sister-in-law had a lot to do with it! That meant one major thing: That she was definitely doing well! Micheal let his words brew for a while, before continuing to speak. "Your wife holds a huge pie in there. How could she not live well?" He smiled again, quite confident that he had placed his cards and would get an even better deal. But when Micheal thought Garan would try to get more information, he just saw him nodding with a stupid look on his face. He looked quite smug, as if saying ''yes, my wife is the best''. Tsk. Micheal looked at the guy''s dreamy expression and sneered at his old self for losing to this boring-lovesick-idiot. Heh. It seemed like he didn''t want to know he had children, then. After a moment of dazedness, Garan turned serious. "500 gold now, 500 gold I will pay in the future, and 500 monsters." He hoped to see her status in person as soon as possible. He also needed money to make sure he could give her some gifts when they met. Micheal thought for a while and thought it was indeed fair. But¡­ he had the upper hand here. "500 gold, 500 gold owed, 600 monsters, one third of which must be level 7 or above." Garan paused, thinking. After a moment, he nodded. "Deal," he said, a bit helpless. As he was led to the village center for a contract, he could only sigh, looking out longingly to a direction. ''I''m sorry wife, you''ll have to wait a little longer.'' Chapter 328 New Guard Hiring Altera Village. Altera stared at the clear skies with a complex expression, her pretty finger rhymically tapping on the varnished wooden table. The protection period was already over for more than a day and¡­ nothing happened. It wasn''t that she was complaining. After all, at the very least, they managed to get their much needed respite, and the resources have been recovered to a certain degree. Actually, it had recovered much faster than anticipated. This was because when people woke up, the first thing most did was start the production of everything needed in wars. This included gathering resources, making sure that the territory didn''t lack it when in need. She had also managed to make a few more bombs by this time, which was a miracle because she slept for nearly a whole day. That mob really took a toll on her health and spirit. So, she was thankful that they had some rest. It was just that the unknown was just intrinsically uncomfortable. There were times that the wait was no less torturous than the actual problem, and this was one of those times. What she didn''t know was that the site she chose to place Altera was in an area in a particularly difficult terrain to access. It was also amidst many other Terran territories that was much more accessible to mobs and were therefore attacked first. However, whether or not they knew, they would definitely prepare enough for it. She shook her head, studying the status of the base. When the territory was upgraded, not only were there new building types available (which she''d be deferring until the first enemy arrived) but also the conditions for upgrading the buildings were made visible. When the Weapon store was upgraded to two, it could create more varieties of E weapons. At level 3, it would be able to create level D weapons. Particularly, the sword, the spear, the axe, and the bow and arrow. The cost though was ten times as much as it was at level 2. She still upgraded it, of course. Although Brenda had also become a level C weapon maker, she was busy with innovations and didn''t have time to supply the whole territory. Not to mention, she also had to create Level C weapons, something that a Level 3 Weapons store could not make at this time. There was also the fact that her own factories could make Level E and D weapons for a much lower cost and better quality. But, if she had the money, who would say no to the automatic production of standard weapons? This was especially true for normal citizens who couldn''t get a hold of the higher-quality factory-made ones. As for the warehouse, it was indeed nearly filled, but it should still have several more days before she met the requirements for its upgrade. Judging by its constant production by virtue of basically unlimited resources care of her citizens, the warehouse should upgrade very soon. On the other hand, the upgrade condition for the Training Hall was for the successful completion of 1000 fights against the strongest level 5 monster. She needed to upgrade this one because she''d be hiring guards soon. The current ten rooms wouldn''t be enough for everyone. Unfortunately, this upgrade would take longer than others. Very few people, including her, had actually dealt with this. They were definitely far from 1000 fights against a level 5, not to mention the added requirement of actually having to win the fight. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. By estimate, they probably had less than a hundred wins after all this time. However, she believed that after the previous mob, more people would have gotten much stronger and would thus be able to win against the strongest monster. She looked at the Population List on her Lord Panel, and she made a rough count on the high-level Terrans in the territory. Level 8: 1 Level 6: 12 Level 5: 280 Level 4: 778 She reckoned this was a pretty good ratio. If everyone level 5 and above could fight (and win) a few times, then she''d meet the conditions. She ruminated for a bit, composing another announcement in her head. And so, after a while, a series of announcements echoed across the territory. . . [The Protection Period is Over! The average level of monsters outside has tripled! [It is forbidden to leave the territory with teams of less than 10 people. The minimum level of leaving the walls is level 4 unless the average level of the entire party is level 8.] . . [Territory Announcement: Now Hiring! Guards [Requirements: Minimum level 4, with cumulative contribution points of 500 on record. Good moral character. [Wage: 100 copper/day, 50 contribution points, 3 meals and accommodation included. [Available Slots: 0/200] . . [Training Hall is 50% off for three days!] . . [Territory Announcements: All guards that defeat the current highest level monster ten times in the Training Hall will become a captain, without exception. [Validity: Indefinite] . . [Contribution Point Rankings: Will show the Top 100 Residents in terms of contribution points. Can be set anonymous. [Note: Will now be visible via the Village Center, in the same tab as personal contribution points] "Minimum level was level 4, darn it!" "They''re hiring 200!!" "There''s still 1 more day! I''m at the peak of level 3! I can do this!" "People who can beat the level 5 monster in the training hall ten times will automatically be captains!" "I heard their salaries are 2 silver a day!!" "Ppffff you say so like you could beat the level 3 one¡­" "You shut up!" The man yelled, "Don''t jinx me!!!" The other just laughed, though he, too, would definitely try out as well. ¡­ There were also milder but no less meaningful reactions to the announcements. For instance, Cassie''s. Cassie was still with her grandma, though they were not gathering resources as they usually would at this time. They were both sewing hems on face towels with many other women under Letty''s store. During the last war, these sold out quickly. Not only were they used as face towels, but also for other things like cleaning wounds and stopping bleeding. After all, the number of medical gauze and medicines were limited, especially with their growing population. Her grandmother smiled. "Well, they''re hiring again." Cassie nodded, "It''s a good thing I reached level 4 during the last beast tide¡­" The women turned to her, looking at her in interest. "You''re trying out, Cassie?" One woman said, and another nodded. "Oh yes, I heard you joined the Olympics before?" "You must be very good." "We need more women fighting out there!" One said, and another nodded very excitedly. "I''ll make you good handkerchiefs and towels to use comfortably!" Cassie blushed at the burst of attention and smiled shyly. "Thank you for your support!" She said, her heart lit up a bit more with the fervent support of her friends. Her grip on the cloth tightened a bit, before she resumed her job. The guardship could come later, the other jobs were no less important. Chapter 329 Aspirations On another side of the territory¡ª "Finally they''re hiring again!" Another person exclaimed, looking up at the sky with a bright smile. Crow and the others were currently gathering resources because they didn''t want to risk going outside at this time, as they had heard of the dangers. The three of them happened to have landed level 4 during the beast tide. It was an amazing feeling. Too bad the monsters got so much stronger and none of them were able to revel in his newfound strength¡­ because it was nothing in front of their new enemies. "Happy, brother?" An innocent voice asked beside them, and the trio looked at their new group member and dormmate, Koo Yu. He was a few years older than they were, but his mind stayed at a child''s age. No matter, this new brother of theirs was adorable no matter what. Especially Crow who pretty much owed his life to him. Or rather, his late brother. During the mob, he was surrounded by monsters, so many that the sentries weren''t able to deal with some of them. At the time, both Dog and Sunny were taken somewhere else as they fought. He remembered the brave George joining him in the fight and the two of them fought back to back. Crow was touched. They seemed to only share a dormitory at most. They barely even talked before. The two lads defended bravely and they rode on the momentum to kill one with the help of the sentries. Unfortunately, an accident happened. While they were distracted by a monster, a smaller one appeared next to them. It happened that George was nearer, basically covering him by virtue of his position. The man was pulled by a monster to be mauled. The only thing Crow could''ve done for him was try to recover his corpse as intact as it could be. George definitely saved his life. Sadly, it was at the expense of his. As he picked resources, his fist tightly clenched what he was holding in the memory. "Brother Crow¡­ don''t hurt yourself¡­" His dark eyes softened and he let out a rare non-creepy smile. He ought to make it up to this brother, who lost his only relative because of him. "Of course we are happy," Crow said, answering his first question. "Because we''ll have a chance to become stronger." "Like Rowan?" Koo asked, particularly fascinated by fire. It was not a surprise for his simple mind to like the showy element. Fortunately, his affinity was fire, otherwise, his young mind would''ve been very disappointed. Crow''s lips twitched. His element was wind. "Maybe." "Can you make fire go pew pew?" He asked, voice habitually nasal. Before he could answer though, a boisterous laugh behind him sounded. "Aww, Little Koo, he''ll have to train a lot harder to be THAT cool," Hubert said in amusement, his blonde hair filled with leaves. He then suavely (or at least he thought so) shook his head, the leaves gracefully falling down his head and shoulders. Hubert was another life-and-death friend they made during yesterday''s battle. He had pulled Dog to the side because he accidentally went to the path of a sentry arrow already released. If Hubert wasn''t there, Dog would''ve been skewered to death. Anyway, Koo looked at the blonde in puzzlement, "Really?" "Yes, but your brother will be joking with the guards soon. When he''s become friends with the actual cool guys, maybe he can ask them to make fire for you." "Really? That''s awesome!" Crow rolled his eyes. Hubert was actually in the exact situation as he was. He had no doubt that this guy would throw a legitimate party if he was accepted for the job. "Well, I''d definitely join in!" Dog said with a shrug. "Yeah, but are our contribution points enough to try?" "It should be! We killed a lot during the beast tide!" Sunny said, giggling, "Let''s check the village center for our status later." Hubert nodded, adding some resources to his basket for selling. Since they were going to the center anyway, might as well maximize the trip. As he did so, he couldn''t help but wonder who got the most contribution points among them. "I wonder who won the rewards?" he asked, making a mental note to check the rankings to feed his curiosity. The question though made everyone pause, thinking. In the end, a few faces appeared in all their heads. The people who actually got the most kills were actually just Althea, Oslo, and Rowan. In order to encourage the people though, she rewarded the top 2 non-aborigine that came after them, who were Drake and Hugo. Both of them were already permanent residents and they decided to sell their winnings for some gold, instead. The list was not announced, simply because the winner received a question whether to remain anonymous or to announce in the territory, which all of them refused. It was around here that an old man gathering stones nearby scooted over, eyes filled with gossipy light. "Not counting the Aborigines, then Ms. Althea must have won!" "Oh?" "Yes, I heard she pretty much killed most of the level 4 and level 5 monsters attacking the East Gate!" "Wow! How? Her level is high, but not THAT high, right?" "She got good equipment." "Oh, yes, I heard she got a good weapon! From the system gift pack!" "Well, she did invent a lot of things¡­" Hubert sighed dreamily. "Beautiful and capable. Goddess is a goddess," He said, hands on his chest as if keeping his heart there. Poetically, if he didn''t, he thought it''d fly to Althea every time he thought of her. He was one of the people with Ansel at the time they were rescued by Althea. The image could be said to have been imprinted, like on many others. The old man nodded, smiling proudly at the information he got from a teammate (who happened to be dating a guard). "You may not know¡­ but I heard Ms. Althea threw bombs!!!" Gasp! "What?!" "Seriously?" No citizen was assigned in the East gate and after the tide they went to rest. This was immediately followed by a busy preparation for the lifting of the protection, so a lot of things hadn''t spread widely yet. "Do you think she''ll sell it?" "Where? The Supermarket?" The other two rolled their eyes. "Maybe she''d build a new shop??" "I heard she also had paralysis and poison bombs! Explosive bombs may not be sold, but those two could be!" "Someone ask her!" "Too shy!" Then a lot of men couldn''t help but remember her beauty and were hyped to have an excuse to talk to her. "I volunteer!" He was nudged by an arm. "No, I will represent our group. It won''t do to spam her!" Hubert said with a confident smirk. "Why does it have to be you then?" Hubert grinned, combing back his lustrous blonde hair not too inferior to Oslo''s. "Because I''m the most handsome!" He was then beaten up by his team. Fortunately, the territory only banned legitimate fighting in the territory (outside the fighting arenas), which was characterized by a motive to hurt and reduced health. Otherwise, the whole gang would''ve received a yellow card then and there. ¡­ On the other hand, there were people who had been preparing to go out when the ban was announced. They froze when they read the contents, as they were really ready to meet the monsters head-on. They really made a lot of money from the last beast tide. They came a few days before the beast tide and were inspired by the locals to do more work. Under the protection of sentries and aborigines, they really did earn a lot¡ªstrength and monetary-wise. "Wait! There''s an instruction that people below level 5 must come with the guard team! "I heard the level of monsters outside would spike up after the protection period!" It was a dark-skinned man with very curly hair, trying to convince his white friend not to be rash. The man who was looking forward to hunting outside looked around sarcastically. "Monsters? Really? Where?" "Shhh!! Don''t ask for it, are you an idiot?!" The man rolled his eyes and was about to mock his companion for being a coward when the ground vibrated. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Somewhere above the wall, a guard shouted. "Attack!!!" He bellowed, "It''s a monster attack!!!!" The dark-skinned man glared at the other man. "You damned crow mouth!!" "..." Can he say sorry? Chapter 330 Level 9 Monster At this time, Althea was lounging in her living room, bonding with the children. "You grow up so quickly¡­" Althea mumbled as she rolled her babies on the cot. Clearly only a month old, but they were already on the verge of crawling. (Well, if dragging one''s little butt to move counted as crawling). "Hnghbgmm¡­" Little Pepper mumbled, her clear blue eyes looking at her, while Little Meatball drooled all over. "Ghamnnngh¡­" Meatball drooled so much some started to flow to where Pepper was. Little Pepper felt the wetness and her face scrunched, rolled over, dragging her body¡ªalmost crawling¡ªstomach down. Althea giggled. She leaned down to place kisses on the two babies and pondered whether to guide them on their crawling journey or let nature take its turn. Before she did so however, a blaring alarm sounded around the whole territory, followed by vibration of the walls getting hit. Althea frowned, her spine straightened in tension, whipping her head to face a direction¡ª They''re here!! ¡­ "I''m counting on you¡­" she told Lola, who took her babies into her arms. Yana was already preparing the place they would place the kids. It was located in the living room, but with a clean new cot added. It was filled with toys they bought a day prior, just for babysitting duties. At this time, Mathilda had already gone out to her team, handling their scope, leaving the two old women there wanting to contribute somehow. Fortunately, Althea knocked on their door, asking them for help, allowing them to do a bit more for the territory. Or, to be more accurate, one of the people carrying it on her back. "No problem," Lola said, but she couldn''t help but look at Althea worriedly. She heard from Mathilda before she left that the monsters outside were far stronger than what they had encountered so far. No one was certain how they would truly fare against these monsters. "Be careful out there," Lola said, and Yana¡ªwho just returned from setting up the play place¡ªnodded in agreement. She also took one baby in her arm, and Lola did the same. "Please try not to get hurt." S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Of course." Althea said with a smile, "Thank you for always being available to care for the kids. I can only fight with little worry for them because of this." "We love the children don''t worry," Lola shook her head, feeling that they didn''t deserve so much praise. She then looked at the babies and let them face their mother. "We are all waiting for you to get back safe and sound. Aren''t we, little kids?" She said, and the two old women held the babies'' hands to help them wave at their mum. The babies had long been teary, as if sensing that their mother was risking her life. "Mmmahmanggg¡­" "Googmmmgmmm¡­" Althea smiled and wiped the babies'' tears. They were so well-behaved to not be making a scene despite wanting to. "Mommy will come back very soon~" She said, kissing them many times before reluctantly walking away, this time without turning back. The two old women listened as the little babies whimpered, but were otherwise well-behaved. It was amazing and it also broke their hearts. The old women sighed as they watched Althea''s back¡ªso lithe and brave¡ªgo farther and farther until she was no longer in sight. "Such a wonderful woman," Lola said, heaving a deep breath and lulling the baby in her arms to relax and not be too sad. Yana also lifted a baby up and gestured to take him to the play place, hoping to distract them a bit. It was just that as the twins lay there, seeming to have none of their characteristic energies, the two old women could only look at each other and sigh in depression. "Poor things..." "She shouldn''t be forced to risk her life like this, especially when she has such small little ones waiting for her to come home¡­" "Alas," Yana sighed, "Such is the world now. We can only adjust." ¡­ Althea watched as the newly arrived monsters attacked her territory from the walls, her emerald eyes looking at them deeply, studying them. Thanks to the sentries, there were only about a dozen monsters left at this time, but they were large, about 2 meters high. They had large upper bodies, three massive fangs, and bluish scale-like skins. At this time, a lot of guards were in this part of the battlement and they had continuously tried shooting at the monsters but they didn''t so much. Fortunately, the sentries were reliable and the main walls had barely taken damage, keeping the monsters at bay and killing a few. Studying the set-up more, Althea realized that they destroyed the outer fence, seemingly like stepping on a cake. Jerks. Annoyed, she used her ability to determine their levels. She flinched a bit when she saw them to be 8s and a level 9. She frowned. This was far from what they were used to. Althea immediately aimed her arrow at the bastard who did the most damage. Although her Bellagio Bow could be used against much stronger monsters, that was in the hands of much stronger archers. As she was currently, she could only deal with a few shots against such a level of monsters before her mana ran out. She tried shooting at a level 8, using Perfect aim to hit its weak spot. [Killed! Sansha (Lv8)! +220 Experience! +220 Copper!] One shot, and it fell down. Unfortunately¡­ Althea looked at her stats and saw that that one attack took nearly half her mana¡­ Tsk. She did not continue what she had been doing and let the sentries fire continuously to weaken them. She didn''t want to use any of the few bombs she made, either. They were so few, who knew when they''d really need the bombs instead? Besides, the monsters now were troublesome, but still manageable. They were the perfect whetstones for her and her people. Of course, the premise of something being classified as ''practice'' was that they wouldn''t die for it. The monsters continued trying to hit the wall for a while longer, and her eyes caught a monster that was continuously protected from damage, shielded from the sentries by hiding behind the body of its companion. She narrowed her eyes, feeling something different here. Was it because it was a level higher than the others? It was at this time that Rowan, Oslo, and Drake joined her on the wall battlement, watching the monsters hit the walls continuously without regard for the sentry arrows shooting them. Level 5 sentries could easily take on level 10 without taking much damage, with slightly discounted attacking damage with stronger monsters. This damage further decreased until the monster was level 30. The dozen or so monsters were reduced to about seven. It was around this time that a smarter monster¡ªthe monster from before¡ªseemed to have noticed the futility of their attacks and roared loudly. The next moment, the weakened, but surviving monsters ran just out of the sentries'' reach. Althea''s eyebrows rose. So smart? Chapter 331 Intellectual Monster A few monsters followed it and they stood menacingly in the safety outside the walls. There was a total of seven monsters there, six level 8 and the one level 9 intellectual one. However, that was quite a smart move, in contrast to the mindless blood thirst of weaker monsters. "Are they supposed to be smart?" She asked Rowan, who had found his way next to her. "No, Ms. Althea." He said, "But there are indeed very, very, few cases where some leading monsters gained a bit of intellect." S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea looked at him curiously, waiting for more information. "There have been sightings, especially in cities. I didn''t think I''d see one in a village." "What are the implications?" She asked, emerald eyes staring at the distant monsters. "Highly troublesome. If 5 was usually needed to take a monster of the same level, such type may need more¡ªsometimes twice of that." Althea paused, looking at the thing. "Has anyone tried¡­ to tame them?" Oslo blinked, surprised. However, he nodded in the end. "Yes, there were people, especially beast tamers, who tried. After all, intellectual monsters ought to be easier to take and more useful to keep, however¡­" "Without exemption they all failed. Almost each attempt caused the deaths of the beast masters." Althea nodded and turned back to the monsters standing still not too far from the walls. "What caused this?" Oslo thought for a while. "The current observation was that other than strength and talent, these monsters also consumed massive amounts of aether." Althea''s eyes sharpened, continuing his words. "It means they killed much more than the others." Well, whatever these monsters were, there was no way she''d let one roaming around the territory. Wouldn''t that just trap people inside? Her emerald eyes looked at the monster and then turned to the other two next to him. "Rowan, Oslo." She said, "Can you weaken them enough for the others?" Anyway, they couldn''t gain any experience from them, might as well carry the guards to level up like rockets. The two men looked at each other in understanding, while Drake felt complicated. He also wanted to fight, but he could only be carried. As a former soldier, could it be comfortable? But¡­ getting stronger was still the priority. The two aborigines quickly jumped down the nearly six-meter-tall wall, without fear and very gracefully. Rowan softened his fall by using a strong flamethrower blazing out both hands, like a human rocket. Oslo, on the other hand, built platforms halfway through, albeit stemming from the ground. Apparently, the wall could not grow any soil, metal, or any other solids made by Elementalists. This was a little inconvenient now, but this was generally actually a good thing for those inside. After all, who''d want Earth users to build access above the walls during wars? This was apparently a quality of system buildings¡ªor more accurately, Aether Buildings¡ªin general. This was why Oslo could only ever help with manual construction and never with buildings made by the ''system'', like the custom houses. Anyway, moving back to the battle, the two aborigines sprinted towards the monsters who immediately lunged at them as soon as they went beyond the sentry range. Oslo immediately made metallic spikes while Rowan made a flame wall. However, when the level 9 noticed this, it moved farther. It didn''t run, but just waited at a distance, far enough from the men so much stronger than he was. Seeing most of the monsters being dealt with, Drake called all the guards level 6 to join the fight. All level 6 personnel in the territory except Ansel were all guards, so all 12 people went down to join the fight. There were four level 8 monsters to be dealt with, excluding the level 9 that was looming nearby. When Drake and the rest got closer, the two aborigines hit the monsters'' knees to discount their movements. They then stood between them and the level 9, lest it decided to attack in unexpected times. The guards fought against the weakened monsters, with Rowan and Oslo stepping in only when the attack was judged life-threatening and could not be avoided. Each of the four weakened level 8 had three level 6s Alterans to fight them. In all accounts, this still was extremely dangerous, even when the monsters were greatly weakened. However, the Alterans still fought well, strategizing, and maximizing each others'' strengths. They had grouped themselves in a way that could maximize their chances: I.e. with one main attacker, one long-ranged attacker (archer or spearman), and one with the best defense (ideally a sheildsman). In one team, there was no shieldsman, so Hugo extended his spear to stop a monster, defending his teammates, with Helios was dealing with the same monster as the main attacker. The other three monsters were handled similarly, though for a while it was mostly just them avoiding deadly attacks from the strong beasts. Nearby, Drake took out his shield to protect a team member. "Sheild Reinforcement," he chanted, and for that moment his barely-a-Level D shield improved its performance, easily taking in two attacks from the monster, allowing his teammate¡ªAmos¡ªto attack it from the side while it was distracted. Amos poked his spear repeatedly at the monster, trying to damage it the best he could. Thanks to Drake''s distraction, his blade was fortunately able to stab to a narrow gill-like thing on the monster''s rib area¡ªlikely his ears. Splurch! "ROAR!!" It yelled, flailing wildly. Amos barely managed to avoid it by jumping back, but its pained movements were quick and sudden and not everyone was able to avoid its body. It happened that its hit connected with Drake¡ªwhose shield had returned to normal¡ªand he was pushed several meters away, deeper into the forests. It was at this moment that the level 9 intellectual monster decided to lunge forward. The two aborigines cursed and were about to go to his rescue when¡ª "I''ll take it!" Swoosh! An arrow flew, redirecting the monster''s attack, saving Drake''s life. Althea rushed past the aborigines and into the monster''s attacking range. They didn''t expect Ms. Althea to jump down to attack the level 9 monster on her own! Chapter 332 Alteran Battles Against Beasts At this point, the level 9 monster had only been partially weakened by Oslo before it escaped farther away. Three of its legs were still working, and its health should still be mostly-filled. Althea was only level 8, and going against it was extremely dangerous. "Ms. Althea!" They couldn''t help but exclaim. How could they bear watch such a delicate, beautiful woman, who just gave birth, deal with the strongest monster? Althea had long been chewing on a mana cookie and, after waiting for a while of watching the others fight, her lost mana had recovered by a bit. She had her Bellagio out and hit the monster lunging at Drake, reducing its remaining life by half. It also drained much of her mana, so she took more cookies while she changed her weapon to the Katana upgrade to D-class by the weaponmaker Brenda. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The weapon was made of Terran steel with no special effects. The system classified it as a weapon with a level D material but gave it an overall rank of upgraded level E. Of course, to deal any decent damage to monsters, it had to be heavily improved by Brenda, the new C-class weapons maker. Ironically, this showed how Xeno iron was more effective than Terran Steel in this world despite the latter being a superior material. She had actually studied this and judged the composition of iron to still be weaker than her steel. She can only attribute it to the fact that Weapon Makers could input the Xeno-exclusive force called aether to the weapons, making them more effective. It was a magical thing and she hoped to study this mysterious force someday. Anyway, for now, like any other level E weapon, the katana could now be used up to level 10, but its effectiveness heavily depended on the user. With a bit more confidence, she started to parry her sword while avoiding the monster''s sharp claws. It was really, really, fast. And it damaged her outer clothing a bit. However, she had Rainbow Silk undergarments so she wasn''t worried about showing anything. As for the Medina Robe, she didn''t wear it for now, as it could be used to pull her instead. At the moment, it was being worked on and modified by Letty to allow its use during closed-range fights. She was hyperfocused and got used to the monster''s speed. She naturally didn''t think she could deal with it easily. After all, not only was it a level higher than her but also the fact that it was a beast that could take on ten people of the same level. However, considering everything, she was doing very well. She hadn''t given damage after the Bellagio shot, but she hadn''t been injured either. She had not formally trained in using the katana, but she had been depending on it for life for so many days. Partnered with her fencing knowledge, she developed a more innate understanding of it and was able to use it with increasing skill with every battle she fought. Although struggling, she had managed to defend herself in plenty of dangerous attacks, which was much more than what the guards had been doing. The people watching were in awe. They just thought Althea was awesome with her super bow, but they never saw her in close combat. "FOCUS!" Rowan yelled, saving one from being eaten due to the moment''s distraction. "A-Ah! Sorry!" The man yelled, and most of the others flinched and fully focused on their own fights. However, Ansel couldn''t help but still be distracted, and the aborigines couldn''t blame him. Oslo and Rowan''s eyes met and they nodded, with Rowan staying to watch over the others while Oslo would guard Althea''s safety. Back to Althea''s fight, she still couldn''t see a way to deal damage until she recovered enough mana to use the bow again. But she didn''t want to be too dependent on it. She tried thinking of ways but it didn''t help that, from her peripheral vision, she could see a lot of people staring in her direction with worried faces. Ansel was even nicked because of his distraction. "Focus on your own fights!" She yelled, and slashed the sword to guard from another maul. "You''re distracting me!" Rowan glared at the few who still wouldn''t listen. "Didn''t you hear her? You''re not helping! It''s like you forgot we are here!" Ah, right. Seeing her fine, the others reluctantly turned away and fought the other monsters together. They knew the aborigines wouldn''t let her get too hurt, anyway. The guards then turned and fully focused on their own fights. Their momentum increased, knowing a brave woman was in a direr situation than they were. Drake awakened a Sheildsman occupation, Ansel and Helios had awakened the Swordsman occupation, while Hugo was a spearman. During the previous beast tide, a lot of people awakened new skills. Now, they decided to use their skills to improve their damage and to practice the skills, as well. Hugo used a skill called "Cyclone Guard", where a small attack field would be produced as he circled the spear around him. It was also a fitting name for a wind user. It was estimated that he could incorporate the element well into this when he awakened. It also looked quite impressive. It was just that it took a good bulk of his mana. Helios learned a skill called "Aetherwave slash" where a wave of aether attack was formed with a swing, extending his reach and damage. And then there was Ansel, who learned a variation called "Resonance Strike" wherein the force took place after a slash on the body¡ªa belated reaction of sorts and could be harder to guard against if used well. On the other hand, Drake used his sword to Parry. And then, using his Clutch-customized iron shield, he activated his new Sheildsman skill "Small Reflect", which could reflect 1% of attacks, lasting for a minute. He reflected the damage that was heading to Ansel, before joining the redhead in his attacks. The two aborigines stayed not far away from them, watching their moves with complicated expressions. They couldn''t help but marvel at these people''s growth. Although people could indeed trigger fighting occupations easier than life occupations as long as level 5 was reached, it was not too easy. At least, to their knowledge, less than 40% of people who specialized in a weapon ended up triggering the respective occupation. This was an important distinction as they would be able to inherit skills Class C and above. The majority just settled with the low-level skills they could get by practicing the weapon for years, calling themselves swordsmen, shieldsmen, etc, despite not being stamped by the system as such. But Alterans¡­ as long as they reached level 5, they will more or less trigger a fighting occupation. Some of them weren''t even formally trained in their weapons. They just learned as they fought! Just¡­ what kind of minds do the Lord and her people have? Chapter 333 Althea vs Level 9 Beast Althea''s solo fight with the intelligent level 9 monster naturally wasn''t as smooth. Although the aborigines helped and discounted another one of the monsters'' legs, it was a level stronger than the Lord. But what could they do, the Lord asked them to stay put unless real and lasting damage to any of them was about to happen. The two of them could only watch the fights with bated breath. Meanwhile, Althea chewed on her mana cookies as she swung her sword to weaken the thing. Eventually, her mana managed to recover enough to use a skill. It was called Triple Shot, and she got it from one of her grinding sessions in the Training Hall. [Triple Shot (D), -10 Mana!] The Bellagio Bow let out an odd sheen, releasing three shots at the same time, congregating on a single sensitive shot. It was so strong that the monster was pushed back a by a feet or two. ROAAARRR!!! It roared in anger, lunging at Althea in rage. She avoided it with a smile, knowing the attack had successfully taken away a good portion of the monster''s life. Meanwhile, the two aborigines gaped. Oslo couldn''t stop himself and manifested a large earth wall between them so they could ask. "W-Was that the triple shot, my Lord?" It was Rowan who threw the question, and Oslo nodded as he looked at her. "You''re an archer as well?" "Yes?" She seems to have been using the bow and arrow since the beginning, right? "And put down this wall." What she didn''t know was that, even if the skill was a level D skill, it was an archer-exclusive one. That was to say, normal archers would never be able to use it. "But¡­ aren''t you a pharmacist?" "Yes, and¡­?" She asked, "And like I said, put down the wall." How could she have known that, for some reason, indigenous people generally only have one. Anyway, Oslo did eventually take down the wall and Althea avoided the monster''s maul by shifting her center of gravity, using the inertia to turn. She managed to hit the monster''s eye. It did a minimal damage due to her lack of mana, but it was accurate enough to cause some damange, making it even angrier. The two of them went to and fro like this and, although the monster''s life had been greatly discounted at this time, Althea still didn''t feel the momentum shifting completely to her direction either. In fact, she felt the damage to her side was increasing. As time passed, her clothes got more and more torne and bloodied. It was fortunate that her defense equipment was fabulous (especially with her Class A Underwear), otherwise she''d have teared up her layers of clothing¡ªa sight that would make Garan want to stab the eyes of all men there. Anyway, she still underestimated a monster a few levels higher than she was. Not to mention one with a bit of brain, so it always managed to get out of a pinch whenever she felt like she could get a good shot. Unlike the others that attacked head on despite falling into disadvantage, this one knew when to back off and bide its time. For instance, because half of its legs were painful, it wouldn''t attack when she was on his weak sides. It would just guard, ready to bite her head of if she dared to attack. It had to be noted that, even with its legs in pain, it wasn''t slow and its bite was still just as strong. The fight became stagnant and they just continued to send attacks and defend, attack and defend, and so on. This went on until she lost her balance due to its strength and was almost mauled. The monster''s feet were sucked into the ground before it could reach her, with her back supported by strong arms. It was Oslo, looking at her with a very worried look on his face. "Are you alright?" He asked. "Hmn, thanks," she said she got out of his grasp and jumped back to the fight. Oslo could only sigh and watch as closely as he could, hopefully to help her avoid any more injuries. The monster soon broke through the ground and the two stared off for a while. She looked at its three menacing fangs jutted from its massive upper body, angry, while her sword was high and ready to strike at an instant''s notice. In a swift motion, the monster lunged forward and its fangs directed to eat her midsection. She dodged to the side, the monster''s momentum carried it past her and she quickly turned. Using it''s blind side, she took advantage of its distraction to stab the nearest weakspot: Its butthole. Hehe And also, ew. It screamed and jumped in pain. She ran father and it rushed to her with a painful limp. Unfortunately she too wasn''t any less bloodied, but she gritted her teeth and tried to outrun the damned thing. The berserk monster pretty much teleported to her, mouth open to eat her whole. She jumped back to increase the distance between them, even at the expense of hurting her back a bit. With a deep breath, she took out the Bellagio for a final shot, and she felt time slow down a bit due to the extreme adrenaline. At this moment, she took the shot. Swish! But she saw its angle was skewed and knew for sure that she aimed incorrectly. Her heart skipped a beat and it felt like she was floating in mid-air at that moment. She could see Oslo run to catch her from her peripheral vision but her eyes were fixed on the arrow that was about to pass the monster. It felt like time ran so slow that the short distance the arrow travelled felt extremely long. Then¡­ the arrow''s path suddenly curved a little and hit it straight through the monster''s mouth and to its brain. [Killed! Sansha (Lv9): +250 Experience, +250 Copper!] [Learned! Curved Shot (C): Shoot with variance of up to 1.5m radius, +20% attack. Mana: 30 Mana] [Learned! Mana Reduction (C),Passive skill, reduce mana consumption by half for a period of 1 minute. CD: 50 minutes.] 2 skills? And both C-class!! "Are you alright, milord?" Oslo whispered rashly, holding her with shaking arms, only belatedly realizing she had been caught from falling to the ground. But her legs gave way and so Oslo completely held her weight. "Thank you," she said, realizing she could barely move. She checked on her stats and realized how low her life and spirit was. She quickly took her medicine and sighed, watching so many of the guards team up against each one. Although they were finishing up, it could be seen by how they were struggling to hold their weapons that it was an extremely hard fight. "So much work for such a small mob¡­" She mumbled, standing up after feeling some energy return to her. Oslo''s azure eyes traced over his arm that had held her warmth, before shifting to look at her. He heaved a sigh and walked over, leaning down a bit so their eyes were leveled. He looked at her warmly. "You shouldn''t feel too much pressure," he told her, "The levelling within the territory is already very fast. To be honest, I have never seen anything like it." Althea blinked and looked at him, slightly apprehensive and obviously wondering if he was just trying to comfort her. "Really?" "Hmn," he nodded, "Don''t put too much pressure on yourself, milord. You''re already doing marvellously." She smiled, "Thank you for saying so, Oslo," she said, with a particularly bright smile made even more colorful by her relief. Oslo looked on in a daze, even when she had already walked past him. Ansel, who had also ran to her saw the whole thing and sighed. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Now he just pitied this dude. Chapter 334 Altheas Caveats The group took the monsters back¡ªtheir carcasses contained a lot of usable materials¡ªinside the gates. "Are you sure you''re alright?" Ansel asked his sister, now covered with a coat of sorts. He was supporting her shoulders and she was leaning on him. He was heartbroken but he knew having to fight like that was a necessary evil. "Yeah," Althea said, "Now I just want to see my babies." Ansel smiled in understanding also looking dazed at the recollection of his cute neice and nephew and just led the woman through the gate. But when they entered they were a little startled by the crowd that had been waiting for them, immediately cheering as the gates closed. "Amazing!" "Bravo!!" "I was terrified to see such large monsters, especially when I heard of their level, but looks like we can still handle it!" "Nothing to be scared of!" "We don''t need the protection period anymore!" The crowd had been watching the fights from the safety of the walls. However, even if they did want to help, their skills and levels would just designate them as burdens instead. At the same time, people from the health clinic arrived with all the tools needed to perform first aid, bringing the heavily injured guards back for more intensive care. The crowd looked at the group¡ªespecially Althea¡ªwith fanatic admiration. She had spearheaded the economic and agricultural development of the territory, and now she joined the guards to vanguard against the strongest monsters they had ever encountered so far. And then they realized that she was the strongest non-aborigine!! It was unbelievable! Just¡­ what can''t she do? With these thoughts, they couldn''t help but want to express admiration in one form or another. There were plenty of words of encouragement and affirmation, and there were also a lot of people who gave their stock medicines to those who fought, and none of them were rejected. Of course, not everyone was amazed. For example, Ramona who was gritting her teeth in the crowd. During the fight, in contrast with the aghast gasps and worried prayers when Althea got wounded, Ramona was holding back smiles. Ramona frowned, glaring at Althea''s bloodied figure. Even all bloodied, she was so beautiful, so admired. And why was she still so strong?! She was the strongest other than the Aborigines!!! Ramona simmered on the side with a dark expression. "What''s wrong, wife?" A plain-looking man asked her in concern. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She had, of course, found a new man who did most of the work in their ''household''. One who made all of the money with her in charge of ''taking care of the household'' i.e. buying whatever she wanted. He was even working as a staff of the Glorious Hospitality Company and was making quite a bit in commissions. She had been living amply, much much better than how it was in Bright. However, more than once she passed by outside Althea''s house and she could see the wonderful colors inside even from outside the fences. She could often hear laughter inside (though mostly by the children playing) and she could imagine the fabulous life she still had. In comparison, her own life paled¡­ again. How could Ramona be satisfied? ¡­ Althea looked at the surrounding crowd, who were in a celebratory mood. She didn''t want to put a damper on it but she felt that she had to. She shook her head and looked at them, waiting for them to calm down. Under her stare, they did. "The new average of the monsters outside is level 7. I hope everyone¡ªfighters or not¡ªwill try to gain strength on their own." She said, her emerald orbs filled with seriousness. "We only won because the aborigines are here. What if they aren''t? What if they couldn''t?" Territory wars had level limits¡ªthey knew this, she had to remind them of this. The reminder, indeed, successfully put a damper in the celebration. Silence reigned the area for a while. "It is still best to strengthen ourselves, without relying on anyone." She said, heaving a sigh, "I''m sure the territory will help decrease the risks as it could, but of course, it wouldn''t be unavoidable. "I hope everyone braves through it. Because¡­ the monsters would only get stronger." She looked at the others and they gestured to continue back to their homes. Before leaving the crowd, Althea couldn''t help but add her last advice to them. "Be stronger. It will be the only way to keep what we have now." ¡­ Later that day, after a good bath, rest, and bonding with the babies, the siblings met again in the study room. Althea and Ansel looked at the territory map, which was now much larger than it was before. Paper now had preliminary products, though not enough to sell. For now, it was basically used only by her and the departments. Oslo''s Architecture and Engineering Team would definitely be consuming the bulk of it. Graphite had also been discovered near a marble deposit by one of the adventurers just before the protection period ended. With graphite, they could also formulate ink and create pencils. However, because the missions to safe harvest were limited, ink and pencils were also in limited supply, mostly exclusive to the territorial departments. In any case, in front of them was a hand-drawn map of the territory. Drawn by Althea herself, primarily because she was currently the only one who knew the bird''s eye view of this place. Ansel''s eyes dilated at the sight of the map, extremely impressed. "Wow¡­ huge area." He said, eyes tracing over the large expanse of land. "Hmm¡­ I want to maximize every inch. I''m thinking of increasing the greening to 40%." She said. This was very ambitious, but their goal had always been to build vertically. For Altera, this was not a pipe dream. She wanted a higher percentage of this because this also included the natural forest resource points that had to be maintained. Not only would they be safer for the citizens to harvest, but they lacked the dangerous poison plants and insects that were abundant in the forests outside. Don''t think of it as too much, these were all providers of quick-refresh resources. All in all, while it seemed like an overkill, she believed it wouldn''t be a stupid decision to do so. Her intuition told her so. And eventually, she would be proven wise. Chapter 335 Resuming Development Althea had also decided to continue with the old plans, before adding the system buildings so as to not be too dependent on them. The land has expanded, but she was able to decide on the direction of its expansion. Rather than a circle, the land was more like a very irregular rectangle, mostly extending to occupy more river and flat lands, as well as the mountains north. She also decided to add another consideration with this expansion: Underground Construction. It wasn''t that they didn''t consider before, but the tree roots were too dense and they didn''t want to risk weakening the foundation of buildings. Now was the perfect time to do so. The mountain areas northward was also a bit enlarged, other than safeguarding the springs, this was also to occupy a resource point for hemp, which was currently being developed to make fabric and paper. She still hoped to find something like flax though, as linen was smoother and didn''t need to be ironed. There were several clothing types more suited to it. It was also highly absorbent, more comfortable than hemp, and it was also more durable and breathable than cotton. Anyway, having the three types of cloth in addition to animal hides would provide the territory with enough necessary variety. Next was the arrangement of the roads. Following her new greening rule in the urbanized areas, she maintained the planted sidewalks, road islands, and parks. The farmlands were expanded twice its current size and she invested in more fields. The earlier it was bought, the better, as it raked in more profits. The industrial park also planned to build several more factories for rent. Speaking of factories, because it was public knowledge that Althea ''requested'' factories to be built and Gru''s public domain farmlands had been approved by the ''Village System'', there had been a number of other building requests. Some of which were actually pretty good, and were thus slated to be added in the territory. One was to create a small fishing port along the river. Although people could fish here (conditionally), comfort would be nice since they''d stay for hours. Some transportation routes would also be added here, though mostly with small boats and canoes. The person who suggested was a man named Bull, who she heard was someone from Vismont before. He was asking to make a business out of it, not only would he transport goods or people along this long river chord, he also proposed scenic routes. Althea, naturally, approved of this. Similarly, there were also proposals to add artificial river routes heading deeper into the luxury areas and form a small lake. The person who suggested it was from Silvia and her brother Reno''s team. Reno was one of Drake''s men in the guard team, while Silvia was an official under Mathilda, so the business would be primarily handled by their teammates. The leading team member, Honey Guevara, happened to discover a relatively non-porous material that could be used like geomats to keep water in a certain place without leaking into the soil. As for why the use of the material was limited to this (rather than other applications) was because it was strong only when it was in contact with water. Further, it could only be placed in fragile thin layers. From Sheila''s gossip, Honey was collecting weird materials to try to get them approved as resources when she accidentally fell into the river in her excitement. Unexpectedly, she touched an unusual surface very different from the rocky texture she was expecting, and spent days investigating until she and her team figured it out. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She called it WaterBlocker. Because land could not be privately owned, however, Althea simply awarded the woman with huge contribution points (a whooping 5000) and priority to rent commercial land adjacent to the lake. Her story did inspire a lot of people and it was partly because of her that they found a lot of resources just before the protection period ended. Of course, while she approved of this, as someone with a better grasp of the terrain she changed the location of the artificial lake to more natural basins. This was to let it double as water collector during strong rainfalls to prevent flooding. After this was settled, the siblings focused on the other side of the river. Althea and Ansel also made some plans for these areas. The river bent slightly north, so the last section of the river that was still within the territory connected closely with the farmlands. At this, Althea paused thinking of another improvement. She added another river branch. She read somewhere about a technique of integrating fish ponds into fields, forming a sustainable ecosystem on its own: Rice-fish culture. This was a farming system that integrated the cultivation of rice and fish in the same field. Fish benefited from the rice, using them as shelter and food. The rice plant, in turn, benefits from the fish by having them control pests and provide nutrients through their waste. Better, what if the fish grew better because they lived on system fields? "Definitely worth the try," Ansel said. Althea nodded and added it to the agenda. After all, they still needed to figure out if the rice could survive such an arrangement. Next, there was also someone who requested daycare so their children could have some place to socialize and learn. Adults were too busy to care too much, after all. This was especially true now that most of them had to hunt outside a few hours a week. There were now over three thousand people in her territory, about a score of which were children under 7 years old. It was more than before, and she made a mental note to send a task to Rosalind later. As for the others, the modules and factories were extremely flexible and could be modified as needed. For instance, a more popular baker in the territory requested larger kilns, as the current demands could no longer be met. This could be rectified by the person buying bigger units and placing larger kilns. The luxury areas also increased a little, while the areas between the center and the southwest gate increased the most. She got a lot of rich citizens since the last visit of the three territories. She also added narrower streets perpendicular to the avenues every two blocks or so, adding a few more pedestrian-only streets by the way. She assigned more areas for stalls. Now that the basic raw materials were basically completed, a lot of industries were expected to rise. There were already different shops for clothing, shoes, bags, etc. booming. Different types of foods, different types of furnishings, and different services were already flourishing. When rubber became commercially available, even more industries would rise. Of course, there was still a lot of study of local resin to be done. She really wished Winona was here already. Anyway, there should be more demand on the commercial side and she should be filling up the main avenues again. Except for the areas along avenues, she basically didn''t build much anymore. For now, the residences were enough and she just needed to add another dormitory. There was plenty of construction left and she didn''t want to expand to the next level up. The level 5 walls were very expensive, and she didn''t need such a large area anyway. Her next goal was to find a way to safely build high-rise buildings. They might have limestone deposits as they were near water sources, but she searched to find out it was a long shot. Concrete was still integral if they wanted to build even taller. Her target was at least 10 floors. Unfortunately, it would be hard to find limestones as the river was freshwater, rather than seawater. However, it wasn''t impossible, but just very hard. At worst, she''d have to find another alternative somewhere. The one she used in the module was basically just for grout, not structural concrete. It would be better if the curing time of concrete was reduced. She read in her tablet that a batch could take days, so a building would take months or even years to finish. Her theory about the latest Aborigine hire reducing time was still a theory after all, and she couldn''t take it as fact already. She didn''t have that time, and neither did the territory. And then there was steel, which would only work if they could find more iron sources. That, too, would take time. Fortunately, she saw the new buildings and there was a good alternative she could use while this aspect was being studied. Anyway, she didn''t build any more buildings for now. Instead... she turned to look at the system buildings that came with the upgrade. I''ve ignored you long enough, she mused. Chapter 336 New System Buildings Ansel watched as the beautiful Althea gracefully press on her screens. He found it fascinating even if he couldn''t see what she was seeing. Also, judging by her movements, her ''screen''¡­ seemed to be at least twice as theirs! He was very very curious about the lord panel, so he ended up asking a lot of questions like ''how big is it?'', ''what could you see?'', or ''is it also sparkly?'' Partnered with his large wistful eyes, Althea just thought her little brother was so pitiful that she hoped she could show it to him. She thought for a moment and nodded to herself, looking at her baby brother with seriousness. "Or we attack back whoever attacks our territory. I''ll give you the Lord Token." She said, very blunt. "..." Ansel was genuinely touched, but he just laughed and shook his head. "I''m a businessman and not a leader. I''d rather make money here with you than take on that responsibility." Althea smiled and Ansel cheekily served her another cup of tea and snacks. As he did so his eyes stayed on the large map and his brain turned. Their territory¡­ was becoming really, really, good. People ought to pay more. "I think it''s time to adjust the prices. There''s no need to have the equivalence of contribution points anymore." "Oh?" "People could afford it now. Besides, the luxuries Altera provided is no longer the same as before." "Housing prices ought to increase as well." He said, placing a cookie in his mouth. "Of course, we will be improving the terms of payment to make it accessible to normal people. I wonder if we can develop a bank or loan system as well?" There was already an IOU system in the clinic, why not apply to anywhere else? Althea nodded, thinking that it made sense. "Yes, Elder of Finance and Economics." Ansel grinned. The two discussed the new prices and rationale, as well as the adjustment in the value of contribution points. After their chat, Althea looked at the screen in thought, "Since price raise was inevitable¡­, then let''s make this price increase 100% unquestionable." She looked at the updated tabs in the Lord panel to see the New buildings available to them as a newly-minted Level 3 Village. To be honest, when she saw the buildings before the mob, she thought that they were neither disappointing nor exciting, so she ignored them for a bit and focused on the preparation for the upcoming fight. There were still new residential houses, new food stores, and drink stores. There were now clothing stores and shoe stores, too, albeit it was indicated that the clothing store was the lowest level using coarse cloth, and would probably only provide the better fabric upon leveling up. This was a new addition though, as the aborigines mentioned before that there was no such thing. This was very interesting as, apparently, additions in ''options'' didn''t occur often, at most once every few years. She later found from Oslo that there really was a way for people or organizations to create ''building types'', wherein they would get a lot of money when it was built and used regardless of how far the purchasing territory was. In Terran terms, it was basically franchising, only much more convenient and magical. Oslo didn''t know the details, however, though he mentioned he''d try to find out during his ''day off''. Although his family didn''t have the Lord Token, they had some relations to their City Lord. The bookstore was also now available and it was not charming at all. As mentioned before, it only sold plain papyrus and ink for a hefty price. Not everything was a waste, however. The improvement among the options was that there were now Fish ponds, taverns, parks, and prisons. These were all basic buildings that many territories would love but were not so special in Altera, which could build all these by itself. In fact, she just used the options as an alert of what she could add, in case she missed anything. For instance, the prison. The Aether Priosn was very strong and could hold prisoners up to level 50. It also took slowly took aether of people inside the cells. It was very miniscule every day, but deadly in the long term. In Xeno, this was akin to taking people''s lifespans. While intrigued, she didn''t buy it in the end. Not only was it expensive, she had no need for such an inhumane building. As for the others, she literally had them all in the territory already. The difference was the convenience of magic of course. For instance, System fish ponds increased the size, fecundity, and nutrition of fish by 20% at level one. System Taverns had automatic refilled cups as long as Gouji fruit raw materials were often provided. In the end, she just opted to save her two new building slots. There should be more powerful buildings available when the territory was upgraded to a Town. Shifting tabs, she went to the infrastructure section to see there was also an addition. There was a new stone road called Redstone. In the information, it said it could withstand a mob of level 30 monsters for ten days. Her eyes brightened at this. Someday a lot of carriages would go through here. Although she heard from the aborigines that only rich towns and cities had this, because the services of beast tamers were so expensive and so rare, it didn''t make her falter at all. Even if they didn''t get beasts, they could someday¡ªeven if it would take decades¡ªbuild cars, instead. Or maybe both. She was a bit ambitious in this regard. She overlaid it with the existing carriageway and more than half of the resources used in the old roads were automatically recycled. Outside, she could hear the oohs and aahs of the people admiring the beauty of the red stones. She and Ansel looked at each other with raised eyebrows, standing up to look out to see the sight. It was more pink than red, but it blended well with the peach-colored sidewalk, the calming green of the forest, and the erratically colored stone walls and wood of the custom buildings. Very colorful. She loved it. And lastly, she turned her attention to the last tab and her precious alternative to the creation of taller buildings. Her new custom building! S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 337 New Custom Building The new custom building slot was quite magnificent. It was more than thrice the size of the original one and¡­ five times as expensive. The new custom building had a maximum total floor area of 1000 sqm, which meant she could do a lot more than before. Just a pity that it came with a maximum height of 10 meters, so she couldn''t go to the ideal eight or so floors. With this, only three floors could be made. Maybe four, at best, which was just the same height as the manually created inns. However, the system buildings were built for the weather or conditions here. That was to say, even if she built slightly taller, she didn''t have to worry about the gravity here or earthquakes. This was a major plus, even if it was costlier. Of course, she now had civil engineers in the territory so they could make the necessary calculations regarding this, just having to remind them of the new gravity quotient they had to deal with. She told Ansel about this and he threw out his opinion, "I suggest four. The original custom building should still be a luxury. We can make these four floors smaller with smaller areas per room, and at a much more affordable rate." Although the design rate was expensive, the per unit costs should still be fair so they didn''t need to charge too much. Althea thought it made sense. She studying a bit and making some preliminary plans. When she and Ansel decided on the final ceiling heights and ''unit cuts'', she sent a private mission to Eugene and Oslo''s teams to help her iron out the details and technicalities. When the team arrived, they were a bit surprised to see them, although they just quickly assumed the Village System just sent her the same mission as it did to them. Anyway, without further ado, they went to work to create a preliminary design including planning of utilities and other considerations. Because of its height, the water tower had to be above the roofdeck. As for how they put water up the tanks, they used not only siphoning but something called hydraulic ramp pump. The challenge was that they needed some good metallurgy work to make pathways that could withstand the water pressure. As for the other systems, similar ones from before were retained and fitted for the new arrangement. For example, waste treatment was common for the entire building. This meant that the resulting biogas was shared in the building and would therefore be bought per usage, with the funds earned used to help maintain the building. It also had features for natural ventilation like atriums, naturally ventilated hallways, and sky gardens. There were also provisions to cover these openings with youli stone slabs in case of exceptionally cold winters. A whole community was built using this module and it was estimated a lot of people from the dormitories would jump in queue. As such, the middle-class studio units and one-bedroom small condominiums were born. There were actually plenty of buildings she hoped to build and Althea had specifically left a lot of space for these buildings. Although she could manually build them like always, not only would it take time, but it would need a lot more resources and also waste potential. This world had allowed people to create miracles through buildings. How could she not tap it? Speaking of magic buildings¡­ She turned to stare at Oslo, who was startled by her stare. "When are you going to level up to C?" "Soon." He said. He wasn''t lying. The level that had been stuck for so many years was finally showing progress inside this unique village and under its unique Lord. You must know, because of the incredible rarity of their pertinent materials¡ªmaterials needed to create aether buildings¡ªArchitects had a much more difficult time to upgrade than others. Most architects, in fact, remained stagnant at Class D for their lifetimes, which was very poor compared to most other professions who could reach their peaks at Class C. And now¡­ he was going beyond that at the young age of 30. His eyes met the lord''s and smiled. This was all thanks to her and her people. Althea was just relieved to know he was upgrading soon. "Good," She said and handed him the tablet. She opened up all the architecture-related books for reference. "I''ll lend this to you, you can study it within the village center library." Growing up with a holographic screen in his head, the tablet naturally wasn''t too magical. But its contents were. And¡­ it was still in the language he grew up with! Thanks to the aborigines, Althea and many others had already learned the local alphabet system. When books were popularized, others would learn of them too. With that knowledge, she had transcribed it to her high-functional tablet, allowing it to automatically translate the books so Aborigines would understand. "I¡­ thank you," Oslo said, a bit shaky. He knew it must not have been easy to collect all this knowledge and make it available to him. Although Aborigines could not betray hiring territories even if they wanted to, this level of trust was unprecedented. He was actually only required to stay hired for a month by the family, but now he just wanted to stay to watch its development indefinitely. He then excused himself to settle on the top floor of the village center. And he wouldn''t be coming out for many, many days. Of course, his food delivery would still be exclusively from Cooke''s or Harold''s. But that was a story for later. At the moment, Althea was looking at her building tabs to study the Upgrade conditions for various buildings. During the height of the beast tide, she had received several notifications. It was just that she was too busy to care for them. Then she forgot about it while preparing for the lift. The condition of the upgrade for the Bathhouse (Lv1) was accumulated use of 10,000 hours. Considering how many days it had been built¡­ how many people actually used it every day? She didn''t count anymore. All she knew was that it was raking in profit. The Training Hall was still a bit far from an upgrade, but the progress was very good. The hall witnessed a natural surge after her announcement. She estimated it would be upgraded within the next few days. The warehouse though, was finally eligible for an upgrade at this time. It was ten times more expensive than the previous one, but she still bought it. With her mind''s eye, she looked at the changes in the warehouse and was pleasantly surprised. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Warehouse (Lv3) was larger with 1000 square meters and five meters in height. What was amazing was that the area outside was unchanged, as if the space within the warehouse could expand indefinitely without affecting the building outside! This was basically a type of space folding right? She wanted to know more about that! It also had an automatic sorting function. The categories were vague but it was enough. For instance, she could separate rocks, wood, plants, and others, which would make her occasional rummaging for treasure much easier. In a good mood, Althea took another look at the basic improvements of the territory with a smile. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 1415 (373 permanent, 1042 temporary) Total Population: 3524 Base Resources: Wood: 700/20000 Stone: 200/15000 Money: 10711 Gold, 14699 Silver, 898699 copper Reputation: 150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lvq) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx2 Building Slots: 7/9 (+2)] The village was upgrading, and so were its people. And that was good enough. Chapter 338 SOS (Part 1) Eden University, Five Years Prior Inside a school''s laboratory, bathed in the soft sunlight peering through the curtained windows, the beautiful Althea Witt stood in front of a stainless steel table, engrossed in her work. There was a plethora of tools and plants occupying her space. Completely absorbed in her experiments, her emerald eyes focused only on the task at hand. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her ponytailed auburn hair cascaded down her shoulders, her focused expression highlighting the delicate features of her face. When a beaker reacted, she was quick to write down notes on her notebook¡ªfilled with formulas and various equations only she could decipher. Here, she added complex notations with bright eyes. Nimble fingers carefully adjusted the glassware in front of her with deliberate and practiced movements, and she handled the instruments with gentle confidence. Occasionally, she would brush stray strands of her hair to the back of her ears. The men around her gaped, watching, wanting to do it for her. But the door of the laboratory abruptly opened and the admiring men quickly turned their attention back to their respective tasks, blush creeping all the way up her ears, as if they''d been caught staring. "Altheaaaa! SOS! Help meeee!!" Althea blinked, carefully turning off the fire. She turned to look at the beautiful blonde woman who was making such a desperate face. "My project!" Sobs! "The one I''ve been working on since the beginning of the semester! It won''t integrate!" "And?" "It''s based on organic materials so¡­ well¡­" Althea sighed and turned off her own experiments, taking away all her items in the laptop bag. She was then dragged to another lab, helping out her crying best friend. ¡­ They got out of the lab some twelve hours later, and the two women stretched their arms, with Winona''s shifting to wrap around Althea''s dainty shoulders. Winona happily rubbed her face against her friend''s. "Thank you soooo muchhh! You''re the best! I would definitely get those rare plants from the Desert country for you!" Althea''s eyes brightened but she modestly shook her head. "You don''t have to.." "Well, I want to." She grinned, and Althea chuckled. Not too far from them, Ansel was standing, waiting patiently for his sister to get out of the damned laboratory. He frowned as he looked at Winona''s arms occupying so much of Althea''s personal space. Winona noticed this stare and stared back, lifting her chin proudly. Althea saw her friend''s attention somewhere else and followed her line of sight. She blinked, "Ansel?" Ansel''s dark expression immediately morphed into a gentle one. Raising a nice-looking box in his hand, he approached them. "I thought you''d be hungry." Winona looked at him guardedly. This jerk was acting like a boyfriend while the real boyfriend was abroad likely fighting for his life! Althea was unaware of the electricity exchanged between the two and she just smiled, taking the box, before looking at him again. "Thank you. Don''t you have class?" "Yes, in five minutes." He smiled, "I happen to pass by." "Well, thanks again." "Hm, anything for my sister," He said just before he sauntered away, attracting the stares of all the women he passed. "He''s not normal Althea," Winona couldn''t help but whisper with a tone of heavy warning. Who couldn''t tell his feelings, only Althea right? Also, he looked all wishy-washy around Althea, and then he proceeded to create a string of exes. It was disgusting! Instead, she earned a tap on the forehead. "Don''t be silly. He''s just attached, like a chick to his mother." ''Only you would think that!!'' Winona wanted to yell but didn''t do so. But Winona just pursed her lips, knowing Althea wouldn''t believe her. Then¡­ she had no choice but to just watch that redheaded playboy like a hawk!! ________________ Altera Village, Present While Althea was discussing the plans with Ansel, there was a sudden knocking on the gates outside. They looked at each other and were about to stand up to take a look. However, they quickly realized that Harold had already let the newcomer in, seeing the guest''s flustered state. It was Jesse, one of Baron''s cousins and a guard. The moment he saw Althea, he immediately approached. "Ms. Althea!" He exclaimed and Ansel rubbed his ears in surprise. "Hey! Speak louder, will you? It''s not like we''re deaf or anything." Ansel mumbled sarcastically. The guard realized his gaffe and blushed. Seeing this, Althea just sighed. "What is it, Jesse?" "Your friend! She¡­ she''s injured. Ms. Lily said to call you immediately." "Friend?" She voiced out, though she had already stood up and was heading to the door. "It''s the blonde one from Vismont." "What?" Althea''s pace quickened, heart tightening in anxiety. She was already sweating a bit when she arrived at the health center. Similarly, Ansel was also rushing right beside her, eyes filled with complex emotions. She rushed in, asking where the girl was. The nurse wasn''t used to seeing the beautiful Ms. Althea flustered and she could only hurry and bring her to the patient''s bed. Althea''s tense shoulders slumped as she saw Winona all in one piece and being treated as an outpatient. At the very least, it meant her condition was not too critical. As she approached the woman''s bed, she saw her current pitiful state, and her heart broke a bit. The girl''s body was riddled with bandages, her face was pale, her lips caffed, and her nails broken. Althea sighed. This girl loved beauty the most. She had perfectly manicured fingers, styled hair, well-chosen clothing, and used the most advanced Beauty products (before completely converting to her WittBeauty Products, of course). Althea could only hope that nothing scarred, or the girl would definitely feel sad. Of course, even if it did, then Althea would just have to formulate scar removal creams for her. Althea held the blonde''s cold hand, which was unconsciously shaking even when she was asleep. It broke Althea''s heart. "I''m here." She said, eyes on her best friend''s pitiful figure. "You''re safe again." Chapter 339 SOS (Part 2) Althea looked around the room. There were about five others in Winona''s team according to the attending nurses. And, unlike Winona, they were receiving the most urgent care due to their horrible states. Among them, there was an old woman with white hair hyperventilating. She was wrinkled and a bit unsightly, but one could tell from her features that she was very beautiful in her youth. Althea knew that it must be Winona''s grandmother. Other than their first residents, this was the first time she had met an old person. Winona really protected her well, despite all the badmouthing the girl did behind her back. The others were bloodied and someone even lost an arm. Lily, Sheila, and Betty were working extra hard to save them. Fortunately, the group stabilized and, except for the one who died on arrival, the other five should survive. "They''re fine," Betty said, obviously overdrawn from using too much ability. Althea kindly gave her her exclusive top-quality Sprite to help her spirit. Betty blinked as she held on to the well-made porcelain bottle. This was only accessible to Althea''s friends, no one else. Betty was extremely touched. "Thank you," She said. Even at her level, the lord''s potion had a very good effect. This was just as she needed. She did not dare mention to pay, however, because value couldn''t be attached. Instead¡­, Betty just swore to continue to work hard for the lord. ¡­ The siblings sat in the waiting room for a while, chatting as they waited for Winona to finally regain consciousness. Soon, the figure on the bed shifted and she slowly opened her eyes. Althea''s worried face morphed into a relieved smile. "Hey," she said, sitting on the mattress. "How are you feeling?" Winona gaped, startled, and smiled weakly when she realized it was Althea. "Could''ve felt better." Winona was just about to start acting like a baby when her peripheral view caught sight of Ansel, who had been watching their interactions with crossed arms. Winona stiffened a little and she inexplicably blushed in shame. Althea flinched at her expression and she couldn''t help but feel worried, "What''s wrong? Is it painful?" Winona looked at Althea pitifully, and the latter immediately scooted near her and gently patted her head. "Your grandma and most of your teammates are okay. They''re recovering." The blonde blinked and looked at her, making Althea smile. "I arranged your home for you, you can move in as soon as you''re discharged." "Thank you," Winona said, wrapping her arms around the woman, and resting her chin on the other''s stomach. From her position, she could see the redhead behind, frowning, and Winona couldn''t help but send an arrogant smirk in Ansel''s direction. But then she also caught sight of her companions in adjacent beds and she suddenly remembered she had a mission. She parted from Althea, face uncharacteristically somber. "But¡­ there''s something else I need to talk to you about." Althea''s eyebrows rose in curiosity, but she patted the other girl, telling her to relax. Stress was not good for recovery. Winona shook her head, knowing that the issue was too urgent. "Vismont is asking for help from Altera. Matthew said they''re willing to be a subsidiary to Altera if they were rescued." "What?" "His NPC told him of this option and it was the only way he could see for the territory to survive." Matthew started hiring Aborigines late. He didn''t have any good ones left to hire. So when the monsters attacked, he could barely hold on. They were lucky the mobs were on the weaker part of the spectrum¡ªonly at level 5¡ªwhich could be handled by level 2 walls and aborigines to some degree. Otherwise, else they''d have perished even before Winona could reach the gate. In fact, if Althea hadn''t given her those weapons she wouldn''t have survived. Her grandmother was with her when they fled. When Matthew found out they were going to Altera, he didn''t stop them, instead he asked them to send the message and asked ten guards to guide them. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was just that only a handful were left. Betty, who had been watching from the side, was very surprised by the proposal. Based on her knowledge, subsidiary territories were at least 2 levels lower, more a whole rank different. Territories generally only accepted subsidiaries when they were at Town Level, because no territories below would be willing to be under them otherwise. This was a big commitment because this meant their territory would be constrained to pay Altera 10% net income tax every month¡ªno matter what. And why would a territory be willing to be under another? It was in exchange for a little protection or backing. And this ''help'' was manoeuvrable. The superior territory could just send 10 people before the territory war (still within the level cap) and that was it, the contract wouldn''t be breached. Those people might even just watch in the sidelines if they wanted to. This was a somewhat unfair trade that usually happened when one territory really needed the protection of the other and couldn''t find a better alternative. Althea also seriously considered this. Although Vismont could not compare to her, all territories generate a lot of money. The variance was the economic wealth, infrastructure, and satisfaction of the common people. At least, she knew Matthew took care of his people, despite all of his shortcomings. He was worthy to save. "I submitted the request to the territory and received an immediate response," Althea said, playing the role of the elder-not-the-lord role quite well. "It agreed, unsurprisingly. "I''ll do it. We''ll go right now." She said, standing up, and everyone ebside her flinched. "Why are you coming?" Ansel asked and Winona nodded, but was still weak to sit up. "You don''t have to come." Winona said. "If it''s troublesome you don''t even have to¡ª" Althea shook her head to stop her. Althea wasn''t being impulsive. Seeing her unchanging state, Winona tried to convince her more. "What about the territory?" "It''ll be fine without me," She said, confident. The aborigines mentioned the average level of monsters around villages was level 7 or 8. With Oslo, Drake, and Hugo along with the sentries in the territory, she didn''t worry too much. At worst, some low-level secondary fence would be sacrificed again. "I want to train more," she told them, "And I¡­ haven''t explored any other territory since coming to Altera. "Shouldn''t we take a look at the new subsidiary?" Chapter 340 Finally Leaving Bright Village Bright Territory Not far away, a battle was just concluding, with a territory Lord gracefully finishing off a monster. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His sharpened wooden sword stabbed at the eye of an ugly, slimy beast with a flat face, made easier to hit as it was held in place by ice covering its entire leg. [Killed! Kooi (Lv5)! +150 Experience, +150 copper!] "That is the 700th monster." Garan said, looking at Micheal who had just pulled away his sword. He had now entered the peak level 7 and he really wanted to find a way to keep them here and let him upgrade a level. But he looked at the man''s cloudy azure eyes and he knew he couldn''t ask for this without expecting a beating. In the end, life was more important. Anyway, he had an aborigine to help him out as well. "Fine," he said, "I''ll open up a purchasing mission to Altera. You can go with them. Anyway, I''m sure many people are looking forward to going back there." Micheal sighed as he said so, feeling complicated. It was both a good and bad thing to be near such a good territory, but he would probably be losing another bulk of citizens after this. Sigh. "You''re already doing very well, milord." Juno kindly said beside him, as if sensing his thoughts. The blonde smiled at the aborigine, appreciating the gesture. "Thanks," he said before turning away and opening his lord tab to write the much-awaited announcement. Micheal also set the minimum level to 4. Making a rough estimate, there should be a total of about fifty people qualified to go on this mission. He gave a furtive glance at Garan and the others, wondering how many they could protect with ease. Anyway, a familiar ping soon sounded in everyone''s heads. [Caravan Mission to Altera, now open!] "Won''t it be too slow?" Garan said right beside him. He looked very antsy and the aura around him was getting extremely cold. Michela sighed. He should''ve known. Taking so many people with them¡­ they''d be lucky if this guy didn''t leave them behind midway. He looked at Ron and Spike, who were watching their interaction with interest. "Join Garan and the others for the advanced party." Ron and Spike were really looking forward to seeing that magical territory again, so they were very happy at this order. "Yes, Lord!" ¡­ As expected, the mission was indeed very popular. Most especially because they found out that the ultra strong Terran soldiers were going there, so they felt the trip would be especially safe. Juno, their own aborigine guard, was also coming with them this time, to ensure minimal losses on the way back. However, because of the pacing requirements, Beany and Gaudi volunteered to leave with a caravan at Bright and meet up with them in Altera later the next day. Five soldiers would also be accompanying them for safety. While this was ongoing, Garan and the others were already ready to leave. They had long prepared to travel, buying more stocks from the stalls. They also took a quick bath as they didn''t know when the next one would be. They haven''t slept yet so that they would be able to finish their part of the deal within a day. The luxury rental house was basically unused. At the very least, they could use it to freshen up. Especially Garan, who was a bit of a neatfreak. He also knew his wife was the same. He had not only cleaned up, but he had also shaved. He had also eaten ample amounts of papra, the peppermint alternative he brought a lot of. How could he wrong her by hugging her with all the grime, dust, and blood? Anyway, the team hadn''t taken a shut eye before heading out again. Fortunately, with their level, they could really go without a few days of sleep. The soldiers were a bit tired, but they couldn''t ask the captain to wait for them right? Not when he was missing his wife so much that he was borderline murderous! Fortunately, Eagle leaked what they talked about with the other lord. The territory they were heading towards was apparently even better than Bright, so they didn''t have to feel so sad about leaving this wonderful place too soon. "Actually, aborigines houses weren''t that bad considering they seemed similar to the Terran dark ages." Ryo, the group nerd, couldn''t help but say. "I read that there were basically no toilets at the time, you could have chamber pots if you''re rich. "Others just threw their feces anywhere, even on the street." He paused, looking at them seriously, "One theory is that this was the reason why heels were invented. It was so that the nobles who wear it don''t directly step on all the shite." "Eww!" "Gross!" "Why did you have to say that?!" "Nobody asked for this information!" Ryo shrugged. Garan just shook his head and ignored them, walking quickly to their destination. Their pace increased, though not to the point that it would quickly consume their energy. It was just at the right, but fast, pace so that they didn''t need to take a lot of breaks. A few hours later, they reached the resting spot between the three territories and they couldn''t help but admire the territory that set it up. "This¡­ is so thoughtful." Luis said as he opened up a rough stone box. It was as tall as his knee and covered with a stone slab. Opening the lid, he realized that it hid some non-perishable food inside. Mao, the one with the sharpest nose, immediately appeared over his shoulders. "Instant noodles!" "Seriously?" Eagle went to them and saw the dozen or so servings of instant noodles wrapped in thin wood. "I heard someone in Bright sells it too! But they didn''t have stock anymore. Now look at this!" Mao unapologetically took it out and raised it high above his head. "Cheers!!" He yelled, scooting away to prepare it for consumption. Eagle ignored him and looked at what else was in the box. Other than the noodles, there was also a complete set of condiments and even rice. They really didn''t expect it. Anyway, they had a comfortable lunch and a short rest. After eating, they began packing up and cleaning up their trash according to the resting place''s rules (literally written in stone). They also put the remaining condiment back into the box, with Mao taking out expensive parchment paper A3 paper in size and doodling a few words of thanks on the first line. He left the paper down as well as an ink and its accompanying writing quill. His companions stared at him, impressed. "You''re being quite generous." Mao blushed a bit and cleared his throat. "Well, people share their food. I don''t have much else they''d be interested in." The others nodded, adding a bit of their own small items in the chest as well. They were nothing too luxurious¡ªthere were some clothes, some basic medicine, and the like¡ªbut it was all with the heart of helping others and giving back. If Rowan would see this, he''d be amazed. It seemed everyone was like this? Chapter 341 Reaching Althea They shut the box closed, not knowing the piece of parchment would be a tool for at least a dozen people to find their loved ones. It also saved even more lives by virtue of giving hope. The group soon finished cleaning up the resting place, making sure that it was as near as to how it was when they got there. However, they had not finished packing up when they heard running footsteps coming in their direction. There were no yells or screams though, and their pace indicated they were simply in a rush and not being chased. So, although the soldiers were guarded, it was not so tense. A group of about fifty people were running to their location and they flinched when they saw it occupied. "We''re just using a small part." One said from the get-go upon seeing their physiques. The soldiers didn''t mind of course, but they were a bit surprised at the naturalness people arrived here with, despite their apparent tension. It seemed that this place had been used a lot, and people had an unspoken agreement on how to handle it. It was just that someone from Bright frowned and walked towards the new group. "Aren''t you from Vismont?" Ron asked, he was on the tour with him back in Altera. The tense man relaxed when he recognized Ron. He lightened up like seeing an old friend. "Ah, yes, we escaped. Barely." He paused, "It was so scary. So many monster groups of levels four and five kept attacking the wall. "If the lord hadn''t chosen to upgrade the wall again after everyone''s help, we''d have fallen an hour in." "How is it now?" Ron asked. It wasn''t that he really cared about another territory. He cared more about the fact that it could easily happen to Bright as well. "When we escaped through the other gate, the wall was still going strong." He said, "We also encountered monsters on the way, but thankfully we were rescued on time." Another skinny man nodded, eyes filled with admiration. "Thank goodness we encountered the people of Altera." Everyone in the mercenary team froze. "Altera?" The man obviously did not notice what was wrong. "Yes, our lord requested their help and they came. That fireball was so.. magical." "Ms. Althea is as beautiful as always." "Althea?!" S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The skinny man squealed like a girl as his thin shoulders were held by a strange man''s iron grip. "You mean she''s there?!" The man asked, low voice reverberating, and the thin man nodded wildly in terror. "Where?" The man shakily pointed at the path he was on. "A-about a few h-hour r-run from here¡­" "I''ll go ahead," was all Garan said, eyes fixed in a direction. The next moment, he instantaneously disappeared everyone''s from sight. ¡­ When he arrived at Vismont about half an hour later, the battle was almost over, with the initial batch of level 5s long dealt with and now a new more powerful batch was being killed. They were level 7s and 8s and Matthew was thankful they only arrived when the Alterans were already there, otherwise his new level 3 wall¡ªwith extremely sparse sentries due to the lack of funds even after so much solicitation¡ªwould definitely have given way early on. At this time, there were only about a dozen monsters left being dealt with by more than a hundred people. This was what Garan and the others saw when they arrived. It wasn''t difficult to see where his wife was. She was standing gallantly over the battlement, proficiently using her bow and arrow. She was still so beautiful, like an angel, continuously firing arrows and accurately hitting monster after monster, saving a lot of people by the way. Although her level wasn''t enough to kill them in one shot, it caused considerable damage. With her cooperation with the guards, they managed to deal with various level 7 and level 8 monsters. But more than anything, he observed her carefully and made sure she was truly healthy and safe. "Wife." He whispered breathlessly, his cerulean eyes fixed on her figure, following her every move. His eyes stung as he did so, his cold empty heart filling up again. ¡­ Althea heaved a sigh as she watched the final monster fall down with a flop. Finally over. She had brought twenty guards with her, including Rowan, to deal with the monsters. The levels were just perfect to train with. Rowan helped the Vismont guards deal with half of the monsters, and then she and her twenty guards worked together to deal with the remaining ones. This time she was in charge of the long-range support and backup, as she was not allowed by Rowan and the guards to do close combat. ''They wanted to train''. they said. Then the stronger batch came and she brightened. She took out the three level 8s by herself despite consuming all the mana food she had in stock. She watched with a smile as the citizens cheered when they saw the last monster taken down. After confirming there were no more attacks, she finally relaxed her stance. Now that it was calm, Althea finally felt the heated stare that had been directed in her direction. Puzzled, she turned her head and froze. Her heart stopped as she saw the face that she had been dreaming of for months. His skin had become a bit darker and coarse but he was still so handsome, charming, and reliable as he always was. "Husband?" She whispered, her ears ringing from shock, but she soon remembered where she was¡ªsoon realizing that she was not dreaming! Her tear ducts broke instantaneously at the realization. "Husband!" She yelled again, voice cracking, and she skillfully jumped down the wall and sprinted to him with open arms. Garan, who had been holding back tears, also succumbed and opened his arms to meet her. When they were only a meter apart, he quickly lifted her up so he could embrace her tightly. In response, she hung on him like a koala. Garan expertly angled his face to meet hers for a heated kiss, which Althea met with similar enthusiasm. Everyone blushed and either looked away or covered their faces, understanding that these two had completely forgotten where they were. Only Ansel would ever have the guts to tell them off. He glared at the two most inconsiderate people ever! "Get a room, damnit!!" Chapter 342 Husband and Wife Holidays, holidays, so busy!I was only upload one chap for today, I''m sorry! if things weren''t so haggard I would''ve pushed for one more, especially since I got a supergift! Speaking of supergift, I would like to mention LotusLin for giving my first castle~ Thanks for letting it get exposed to more readers! Got 500 collections from that castle! *Hugs* She is also a writer guys, if you wanna read fantasy stories based on Chang-e, her bunny, and their men, check out her book! ___ Aberdeen City, two years ago On top of a rolling set of hills, hundreds of kilometers away from the bustle of the city stood a quaint church, dipped in a warm glow by the setting sun. In contrast to its usual lulled atmosphere however, the church was now bustling with activity as guests of all types arrived one by one to what would be one of the most important events in a young couple''s life. It was no surprise that the bride was looking very worried as she stared at herself in the mirror. She was currently inside the softly lit bridal suite deep inside the church, alone with her mother and her own swirling thoughts. "He''ll be fine," Alicia¡ªdressed in a beautiful chiffon gown¡ªsaid next to her. The woman smiled, embracing her. "He always is." A mother''s touch always had something magical, and a lot of her tension dissipated. When she softened, Alicia let go a bit so she could stare at her daughter''s glimmering emerald eyes. "He wouldn''t miss this for the world," she said, gently patting the girl''s cheek. Alicia couldn''t help but admire the beautiful young woman with teary eyes. Her Althea was really so beautiful, like an angel, especially now in preparation to the special occasion that marked the next phase of her life. Althea''s features had always been very delicate, but now they were further emphasized by the color of her makeup, framed beautifully by her shining auburn hair arranged in a complex arrangement of curls and braids. The young woman''s wedding gown naturally wasn''t inferior either. It was a gorgeous masterpiece of silk, satin, and lace. It had an off-shoulder design with its bodice hugging her figure perfectly, extending downwards to create a long trail of silk adorned with intricate floral patterns. It was absolutely the most beautiful gown Alicia had ever seen, fitting her daughter¡ªwho also happened to be the most beautiful bride ever. This was a bespoke wedding dress commissioned from the world-famous fashion designer Andrei by Winona. "Mother¡­" Althea sniffed, pretty eyebrows still crunched in worry, and Alicia couldn''t help but smile at her. "You know how strong he is more than anyone." "But¡­" Althea mumbled but said nothing else. She forced herself from saying anything unlucky. She just pursed her red lips and tried not to think anymore. Althea sighed at the timing of everything. Garan had actually asked for a long leave in preparation for and after their wedding. Sadly, a couple of days ago, he was called on a mission against an infamous terrorist group. She knew it was dangerous. His safety weighed heavily in her heart, and she worried for him so. But¡­ mother was right. Garan was so strong and he always came out safe. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Alicia saw her daughter''s mood calm and smiled, adjusting the veil and handing her the gorgeous bouquet of flowers on the side table. It was a pretty arrangement of fresh lilies, roses, and her favorite wild daisies. And Althea held on to it tightly, as if it would help her stabilize her mood. Sigh. And now¡­ all they had to do was wait. . . . The clock ticked slowly and torturously, but Althea just hoped her fiance was okay. Fortunately, Winona¡ªwho had planned the wedding (grudgingly) with Ansel¡ªran to her room a few minutes later. Her eyes were bright, and Althea''s heart lifted¡ªknowing it was the good news she had been waiting for. "He''s here!!" Hearing this, Althea gave the most genuine smile she wore in days. ¡­. "This is really happening," Howard said, sniffing, looking at his daughter warmly and with pride. Also a bit teary, which made Alicia laugh out loud. "Come on now, it''s time." Howard made a face. "Garan would have her all to himself. Surely he can wait a few minutes." The two women laughed and the remaining tension Althea was feeling was blown away. A few minutes later, they finally stepped in front of the entrance. With two men opening the large doors, they entered the massive hall. They had been here before, of course, but somehow it felt bigger now, more¡­ sacred. The church had a high vaulted ceiling, intricately carved with complex patterns and shapes. The sight was enhanced by the lights from the orange sun outside, and the reddish rays lit up the aisle as if leading her to her future husband. Satin ribbons of their wedding colors adorned each pew. Each row had similar flower arrangements to what the bride had on her hands, and it rounded everything visually. Their footsteps echoed softly on the stone floor and the entire church seemed to hold its breath at her appearance. The walk felt long but also short, she passed pew after pew with a complex combination of nerves and excitement, and she could hear her own heartbeat beating against her chest. The regal altar in front soon appeared closer, its arch shape framing her husband-to-be and the golden light from the resting sun lit up his figure as if emphasizing that he was heaven-sent to her. Her eyes never left him and she stamped his image into her heart. He was wearing the most formal military uniform for the occasion. It was cut to fit his good shape, successfully showing off his figure of regality. It also had a midnight blue coat adorned with shimmering epaulets. His chest wore a row of medals and insignia¡ªa testament to his achievements and bravery¡ªand she couldn''t help but be proud of him at the sight of it. His raven black hair was neatly combed, but his strong jawline was tense as he stood. She knew he was just as nervous as she was. Althea soon got close enough so they were only an arm''s length away and, when their eyes met, she couldn''t stop her eyes from watering. Similarly, Garan''s eyes which were filled with longing met hers, and she could see his breath becoming irregular as he looked at her. Time stopped at that moment. This was it, they thought with pounding hearts. They were going to embark on a new chapter of their lives. Garan extended his hand to her as their father let her go. She smiled, taking his hand. "I''m glad you''re safe, my love." But she paused a bit at a realization that his hand was cold and a bit sweaty¡ªabnormally so. She blinked and raised her head, looking at him in concern. However, nothing showed in Garan''s face as he simply stared at her warmly, only having her in his eyes. He raised their entwined palms and placed the back of her soft hands against his lips. "I wouldn''t miss this even if the world ended." ______________________ A few kilometers from Altera village, present The couple was so sticky that it hurt everyone''s eyes. Garan even said his wife was tired and insisted on carrying her bridal style the whole way. The shamelessness was beyond them. What was even more amazing was that because of their sprint, the travel that should''ve taken at least an hour was reduced to a fraction. As for how Garan moved across the forest so smoothly at this speed, not falling even with him staring at the woman in his arms 80% of the time, they didn''t even know. Throughout this time, the couple was just staring at each other while steadily traversing the forest, with the captain occasionally leaning down to give her a peck on the face, on the cheek, or on the lips. Althea''s face was flushed as she stared at her handsome lover. It seemed the blood crept all the way to her brain, that she had lost all thought and just wanted to look at her husband. She stared. She... seemed to have forgotten something? But then Garan leaned down again as he jumped over an overgrown root, giving her a soft peck on the lips. Ah, nevermind. Anyway, the others were so blinded and tired by the cheesy sight that they weren''t able to appreciate Altera until they entered the bustling streets inside. Their feet stopped as they absorbed the sight in a bit of disbelief, then saw what was being sold, and what the so-called guides were selling them¡­ The soldiers were quickly attracted by, well, everything and were completely separated from the lovey-dovey couple. After tasting the food, they were very happy. Sanity: Restored! ¡­ Not far from the entrance, Ansel looked at the blonde man who was staring blankly at the direction the sticky couple had just disappeared to. It was Oslo, who had gone out of his ''cultivation session'' to welcome her back. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of said woman being sweet and loving with another man. Ansel saw everything. Seeing the poor guy so pale that he seemed to have lost all blood, Ansel couldn''t help but sigh. The redhead walked over and patted the guy''s shoulder, taking out a big jar of alcohol he got from Althea. "Drink?" Oslo stared at him blankly, before nodding. "Okay," he said, following Ansel''s lead, his eyes darkening a bit as he looked at the pathway under his feet. "Thank you." ¡­ Althea, who had her arms wrapped around her husband''s neck, gave instructions on where to go. They entered the villa''s gate and she added her husband to the access list. "Our room is on the right side of the house after entering the door." She said, feeling her husband''s heat and knowing what he needed immediately. She, too, was eager to feel his warmth¡ªhis entirety. "Hmm," he said with a hoarse voice, the pace of his powerwalk doubling. They were so engrossed with each other that they breezed through the living room, not noticing Harold and the two children in the room at all. Harold and the kids had been playing on the carpet floor and they froze at the realization that someone had just zoomed by. Harold: "..." Little Meatball: "..." Little Pepper: "..." Chapter 343 Meet Your Children Aberdeen Hotel, Two years ago Inside their honeymoon suite, the atmosphere between a certain newly wed couple was far from expected. Althea glared, but at the same time she looked heartbroken at his bandaged chest. It was huge and covered his entire chest. She could also see dabbles of blood and it was obvious it wasn''t even near getting healed. Her petite hands landed on the taut skin just outside the white bandage. "No wonder you were so cold!" Then the heartbreak expression turned to one of determination. This man must be taken to the hospital! Their honeymoon can wait! "This won''t do, we have to¡ª" She gestured to stand up to go to the phone, when she was pulled down by strong arms. Any more words were stopped by his mouth on hers. Her eyes widened and she gasped, with him taking advantage of the opening and entering with his tongue. He immediately began consuming her sanity. Her back rested on the bed as he kissed her, her hands creeping up to wrap around his wide shoulders, making her slowly forget about her worries. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Nothing can stop this." He told her, gasping, burying his head on her neck. Althea''s eyebrows furrowed, touching him tentatively. "Your wound¡­" "No. I''ve been looking forward to this for years." He said, his serious face filled with determination. If one didn''t know what he was referring to, people might have thought it had something to do with saving a country. Under his deep stare, Althea''s face flushed in embarrassment and she couldn''t help but send him a glare. In Garan''s eyes, however, it just lit up the beast inside even more. A bit morbidly, it wouldn''t be just her virgin blood on the cot that night. __________________ Altera Village, present As soon as the door closed, their lips met again with an explosion of repressed passion. Garan quickly brought her to her comfortable mattress, hovering over her with his whole mass. He placed some of his weight on her, just enough for her to feel his¡­ everything. His free hand wandered from her legs to her waist, continuing north to her plump chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck as his warm tongue entered her mouth, exploring her long-missed taste. He soon parted from her to kiss her cheek, her temple, her ears, and her neck, leaving as many traces as he could. He was rewarded with her soft mewl and it drove him crazy. His movements became more frantic and Althea''s moans became more and more pronounced, until¡ª The sound of children''s heartbreaking cries exploded outside the door. Althea''s eyes widened and her mouth shut. Meanwhile, Garan was too engrossed in her softness to mind anything else. "Wait!" Althea yelled, patting his shoulders repeatedly to stop him from devouring her. He seemed to have taken the patting as encouragement and she almost gasped with what he did next. With a flushed face, she bit her lips to stop a moan and grabbed his hair to stop him. But he was level 20 and she was only level 8. What could she do against such a wide gap but pull repeatedly, hoping for the best? Garan''s eyebrows rose in puzzlement and he stared at his wife''s face, eyes asking if there was something else she wanted him to do or somewhere else she wanted him to kiss. "I''m serious," she mumbled, face flushed, "Stop it." It took a while for Garan to realize she really wasn''t being coquettish. He gave her neck one final peck before lifting most of his weight from her. Suddenly, Althea stood up and went to the door, puzzling Garan to no end. It was only now that he heard the cries of children outside. He frowned, deep azure eyes staring in the direction of the sobs, eyes filled with puzzlement. He had never been affected by children crying, but why was this so heartbreaking? ¡­ On the other end of the door, Harold was at a loss of what to do. The white hair that had disappeared since upgrading metaphorically came back within the last couple of minutes. "Oh no¡­ babies, hush¡­" he uttered trying to lull them both, each snug in his arms. It was no use, however, as the poor little things continued to sob. At this time, Maya and Horus were playing with their new friends outside and Theo was with Eugene, so there were no other presences other than the three of them. This made the couple''s arrival¡ªand ignorance¡ªmuch more noticeable. Hence, it wasn''t so surprising that the babies were now crying desperately after being ignored so blatantly by their mother. Obviously, whenever their mother came to where they were, her attention was all on them! Why did she walk straight past them?! Old Harold really, really, didn''t know what to do! First, he was still in a state of disbelief that the boss suddenly brought a man home and they went straight to her room. And now, he was in dilemma of whether to disturb the boss'' good deeds. Fortunately¡ªthank goodness, gracious Lord, bless the universe¡ªthe door soon opened revealing a very red Althea with a guilty face. Without another word, she took both babies and took them in her arms. She felt their softness and smiled. They quickly stopped crying, snuggling closer to their mother''s warmth and scent. Garan watched as her wife approached an old man with two babies and brought them to her arms in order to stop them from crying. He watched as she calmly lulled the two children¡ªso naturally¡ªand he honestly had no idea what to make of it. Did she adopt babies while he was away? Maybe? After all, his Althea had always been very kind. When the babies completely calmed, Althea''s head turned to his direction and froze, as if just remembering him there. She cleared her throat and walked to him, smiling awkwardly. "I¡­ forgot to tell you." She said, extending her arms a bit so he could see the two extremely beautiful children closer. The two infants set their huge eyes on him, babbling and drooling, confused and curious. He felt his heart was hit. But it didn''t compare to the shock that Althea''s next words gave him. "Meet your children." "..." Chapter 344 Children At this time, Althea and Garan were not the only ones dealing with children. Currently Eugene was on leave and comforting Melissa in her home with Theodore, whom she also fell in love with. Little Theodore simply had a special calming effect, a natural talent to comfort broken adults. "I''m sure your brother will be fine, boss and Rowan alone could deal with those monsters easily." He said as he patted her shoulder as she leaned against him. Although was still in pain from the death of his lover, he couldn''t bring himself to avoid his first love. She only nodded and sighed, picking up little Theo who was finally finished playing with his toys and was asking for hugs. Or knowing him, rather than asking for hugs, he was giving it to those in need. It was Eugene before, and now it was Melissa. She embraced the child''s warmth and patted his soft little head. She slightly turned her head to look up at Eugene. "Can I adopt him?" Eugene''s eyebrows rose. Well, could she? As he pondered, Melissa placed a soft kiss on the baby''s cheek. She was heartbroken to learn of the child''s story. He must''ve been traumatized that he could no longer speak. However, she believed with care and love, they''d be able to heal the child, as he was healing them. ¡­ In another area, a mother and son pair also met, their eyes brimming with tears. "My son¡­" Mathilda voiced out, not expecting to see her son as soon as she finished a meeting. "Mother¡­" Gill uttered with a warm smile, embracing her. When he saw Ansel who told him about his mother, he immediately rushed to her office. The two excused themselves and Mathilda led him to her villa, with her holding his arm tightly the whole way. On the veranda with cookies and tea, they talked about what they had gone through. Gill smiled and much of the weight in his heart let go when he saw his mother living well. There was only one worry left. "If only Gwen was here¡­" his mother said, echoing his thoughts. He sighed, holding his mother''s hand tightly. "She''s a strong girl," he told her reassuringly. She not only learned self-defence from him, she also inherited their mother''s EQ (which he reckoned was all their mother could pass down, seeing as he barely had any). "She''ll be fine," he said, "I believe so." ¡­ And finally, back in the Gaea Team''s villa, the air was still. There was only the family there at this time, with Harold excusing himself long ago with the excuse of checking the restaurant (note: Run to get help from Sheila). Garan''s azure eyes fixed on the two children, who were looking back at him, their pretty colored eyes filled with wonder. His heart felt like it was about to explode and he wouldn''t even mind it. "My¡­ children?" He asked again, just in case. Althea held back a giggle. "Yes, your children." Garan had no idea how to react. He was obviously just happy he finally found his wife, and he suddenly found she had given birth for him? Still two? However, the first thought that managed to enter his mind was how Althea must have suffered. How a pregnant Althea survived those 24 hours in Terran, how she suffered in this unknown world¡­ His free hand that had never left her waist tightened his hold, the other one wrapping them inside. He leaned down and buried his head in the crook of her neck, enclosing his whole family inside his warm embrace. He was careful not to smother the babies and he could hear their puzzled coos in his arms. "I''m sorry I''m late." He whispered, voice cracking a bit. Althea chuckled and shook her head. "We''re fine now and we''re all doing well." On the contrary, she felt he had probably suffered more. Garan had indeed suffered more. More than the endless wounds from his fights, he felt emotional and physical pain every night from missing his wife. It was like he had missing limbs¡ªlike his heart was taken away, unknown when it would return. At least Althea had her children, which anchored her sanity. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In any case, it took Garan a while to absorb the news and he only held the three of them in silence. When he finally rose from his daze, he lifted his head, his deep eyes staring straight to hers. "Tell me everything." He said, taking one of the babies in his arms¡ªthe little girl that shared his eyes. The child didn''t make a scene and cutely buried her head into his strong arms, very comfortable. It effectively turned his heart into mush. Althea watched this and chuckled. "Well, she probably understands who you are." She said, "She usually makes a small scene when being held by strangers. Look at her now, actively making herself comfortable in your arms." Garan smiled and kissed the baby''s forehead. "Well, my daughter is of course very smart." He then turned to the other child¡ªthe beautiful boy who inherited his wife''s eyes¡ªand kissed his cheek. In response, the child blew saliva bubbles in response and laughed, splashing saliva all over his face. "My son though¡­" he said with a stern voice, but his eyes were warm. "...Needs a bit of training." This earned him a pinch on the cheek. "Oh, stop it. He''s a baby!" "He''s a boy. Boys ought to protect the women in his life well." His own words struck a chord in him and he stared at his wife filled with guilt. If only he was with them, maybe he could have protected them all from harm and pain. But there were no what-ifs in this life, only reality. The fact was things already occurred and he was determined to do better from this point on. "Tell me what happened," he said, voice gentle. "From when I left, please." Althea paused and stared back at him, feeling his emotions. She nodded with a smile in the end. "You, too." She said, and each holding a baby they told each other what had happened the past few months, intent on understanding what the other had to go through. Chapter 345 Catching Up She spoke of when he left and went missing very mildly, and Garan¡ªwho had heard the actual story from Beany¡ªdid not call her out. He only listened, gently patting her back or her waist as she spoke out. But she got to the disaster, Garan flinched¡ªstartled by the fact that she was all alone. "What?!" He exclaimed, not considering Ansel wasn''t with her until recently. What was that brat doing?! "I wasn''t alone," she told him, "I had Sheila and the others. More importantly, I had these two." On cue, the babies babbled cutely and the anger in Garan''s heart dissipated like smoke. "It''s your turn," she said, smiling at him. His eyes softened even more and nodded. "Hmm." He started in their transfer and he also glazed over all the tragedies and hardships, skipping over to their property in Ferrol. Like Garan, Althea¡ªwho could imagine the horrors he faced¡ªdid not call him out. She only kissed his cheek. "My husband is amazing," she said, earning herself his handsome smile. They spoke for hours without noticing and it was only interrupted by the babies'' soft cries. "Oh no, they''re hungry." She said, while telling him the type of cry babies do when they''re hungry for educational purposes. Garan nodded dutifully, taking note. Then¡­ he watched as his wife took down the upper hem of her shirt to let the babies get their milk. His azure eyes widened a little, laser focused on the sight. He wondered¡­ would he be able to taste it later? Althea blinked when she felt a heated stare beside her. She turned to see her husband watching the babies feeding very deeply. Too deeply. She knew him her whole life and had been married for years, how could she not know what he''s thinking? Unfortunately both hands were occupied so she couldn''t turn his head away. "Don''t look." She said, regretting not making him leave out of habit. "Hmn?" He asked absentmindedly, eyes still fixed on the same place. This pervert was even gulping unconsciously!! At this point, her face just burned red like a baboon''s butt, a mix of anger and embarrassment filled her head. "GET OUT!!!" ¡­ A kicked-out Garan went out of the room with a sheepish expression. His shy wife was so cute. ''No matter; She''d face it tonight,'' he mused with a determined light. He then saw the old man from before with another woman waiting outside the door. Garan''s borderline-perverted expression quickly disappeared and the duo only saw the cool, serious, and intimidating soldier everybody else knew of. "You must be Harold and Sheila," he said, "My wife has said many good things about you." Harold was embarrassed and a bit scared, while Sheila, who ran over as soon as she heard Althea was carried to the house, only smiled in relief. She ran over because she had thought Althea could be injured, now it looked like they were just a passionate couple. "Thank you for taking care of my wife," he told them, knowing that in his place, they had been taking care of her needs. He slightly bowed his head to show his gratitude, and the two flinched like startled cats. "No! No need!" The two panicked immediately. "Boss helped us way more than we helped her!!" "Yes, yes, we''d have died a long time ago if it wasn''t for her!" They started blabbering how Althea saved their lives and Garan was just glad Althea found loyal companions. Harold then led him to the living room and served him tea, earning him a compliment from the ''master'' and it totally made his day. "This is really good, what ingredients did you use? Does my wife like it?" "Yes, Ms. Althea''s sweet tooth was working overtime when she was pregnant." He said, and proceeded in telling him the ingredients. Garan''s eyes sharpened a bit and he got scared. "Tell me more about the dishes she particularly liked traveling here." "A-Ah, yes sir!" ¡­ Althea soon got out of the room, a beet red, and Garan smilingly took the children to help her out. Then he felt their adorable softness and his heart melted into a puddle. He then turned to his beautiful wife that was pointedly ignoring him. He chuckled and just placed a peck on her head. "I''m sorry." Her shoulders slumped and she stared at him, looking a bit pouty. His eyes sharpened, feeling hot, but didn''t show it lest he made her angry again. The group went back to the living room and placed the children on their play-carpet. They watched their children play, and Garan saw that they developed a bit faster. Not even one month old and they were already starting to crawl. Althea said that she could only hope that they didn''t age in advance or she''d worry they''d look like small kids when they were only toddlers. To Garan though, this was a good thing. This was because it meant that the children would be able to handle themselves earlier. Speaking of handling themselves, Garan paled a bit at a memory. He had heard from married comrades that the wives paid much more attention to the children and were much less attentive to their husbands, especially when they were young. At this thought, he looked at his wife playing with the children. Althea shivered a little at his heated gaze. "W-What is it?" "The children wouldn''t stay with us tonight, will they?" "Is that all that''s in your head?" He shook his head. "I''m thinking of the children too." He said with all seriousness. "You''re very loud, what if they wake up?" Althea rolled her eyes¡ªPDA completely natural to her¡ªwhile both Harold and Sheila wanted to cover their ears. Sheila coughed to clear the awkwardness, and just went on to reassure them. "Don''t worry, I''ll take care of the children tonight." Garan looked at her appreciatively. Sure enough, his wife could choose smart companions. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea, on the other hand, just couldn''t help but worry for her poor waist. Chapter 346 Honeymoon Aberdeen City, 2 years prior Inside a messy hotel room, Althea and Garan, a couple of newly-weds, snuggled and delved into each other''s warmth. Garan looked down at the fluffy head of his wife, soft and all tangled from all the activities of the previous night. She raised her head and he admired her beauty shining in her afterglow. "Wife¡­." he uttered, looking at her with deep eyes and couldn''t help but place loving kisses all over her skin. "Husband¡­" The woman''s soft voice rang in his ears, igniting fire. He placed her under him, placing some of his weight, allowing their bodies to flush against each other. He leaned down and kissed her, his tongue parting her lips to explore her mouth. His hands touched her soft skin all over, sending electricity down her spine. Her mouth parted as she moaned, triggering deeper kisses that took them both to another world. He felt the heat in his body reach the boiling point and he opened her legs wide, placing himself in between. However, before they could do anything further¡­ his phone rang. He wanted to ignore it and was about to enter but the ringing was blaring and his phone was¡ªby law¡ªnot allowed to be set on silent unless on a stealth mission. He heaved a deep breath and reluctantly parted from his wife, taking out the phone in the discarded coat''s pocket. He placed the headpiece against his head and a loud announcement rang in his ears. Code 1837! Code 1837! Calling to all personnel: A magnitude 8.1 earthquake had hit the west coast. Calling all personnel. Assist to rescue. He froze, head facing his wife who was watching his every move. He truly didn''t want to leave this warmth, but his principles wouldn''t let him rest either. Althea saw his reluctance and made the decision for him. She stood up in all her glory but Garan felt too sad to get aroused. "Go¡­ I''ll be alright." She said, her soft hand patting his chiseled jaw. Garan frowned and took her in his arms, burying his large head on her delicate shoulder. After a moment, he lifted his head and looked at her apologetically. "It''s our honeymoon and I¡ª" "Your heart wouldn''t be able to rest." She said, "I understand. You were already a soldier way before we started dating, you know. I know what I''m getting into." It would be a lie to say she wasn''t a bit sad, but she wasn''t lying when she said she understood. Garan paused for a while, wondering if there was a way to stay. There wasn''t. But looking at the understanding smile on his wife''s face, his heart was hot. Garan leaned down to give her a deep kiss. "I love you. So much." He unwillingly parted from her and got dressed, his eyes sharpening as he closed the door. Someday, he''ll find a way so that they would never, ever, have to be apart from her ever again. _________________ Altera Village, Present "I have you all to myself tonight." He whispered, warm breath blowing on her ears. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their arrangement had been that he and Althea would have the entire house to themselves. Now that the husband was there, everyone settled in the second house, even Ansel. Of course, at the husband''s request, the children also stayed with them for tonight. Garan took a quick bath to clean himself up, because Althea refused to sleep with him if he didn''t. She had already taken a bath before he did, with her refusing to let him join in. She told him sternly that the bathtub was not like in Terran; who knew if he¡ªa level 20¡ªdestroyed it by accident. She was dressed in a conservative nightdress when she came out with that after-bath glow and he wanted to throw himself at her. This was when she demanded he take a bath before touching her and he made sure he was clean efficiently and quickly. When he got out wearing only a flimsy cotton towel, his full muscles were exposed for the person in the room to see. Althea, who had never been shy in showing affection, indeed appreciated him openly. Garan liked her stare very much. He, too, sent her a heated gaze, looking at her body. She was covered only by the thin nude-colored silk nightdress¡ªsomething he knew she had in Terran. It was short and showed just enough skin, but its form followed her curves very tightly, making people desperately want to touch. Extremely sexy. He had bought this for her¡­ and it was probably one of the few she had left. So¡­ he took note not to rip it apart like he usually did. ¡­ The next day, Althea woke up very late. Fortunately, they designed the modules with very, very, good insulation supposedly against the harsh weather¡­ or else a lot of people would''ve suffered last night. It was also fortunate that their furniture had a woodworker professional (stamped by the system) working on it otherwise the legs had given way early into the night. (Baron had the foresight to create a line of premium beds, which they bought for a high price since they had no lack of money anyway). In any case, Althea woke up when the sky was high in the sky. She rolled around the sheets, stretching her arms to push away the lethargy. "Morning." Garan said as he entered the room, his azure eyes tracing the gorgeous woman splayed naked on the messy sheets. On his hands was a wooden tray filled with her favorite breakfast: hashbrown with his special omelet, waffles, and fruit. He always did this when he was home and Althea had unconsciously taken it for granted. But after being apart for so many months, she couldn''t help but kiss his side face and say, "Thank you." Garan gave a wide happy grin. "Anything for my wife." Looking at her husband''s stupid look, her heart softened. She touched his face and gave him another smack on the other cheek. "I''ll cook lunch later, okay?" Garan''s eyes widened a little, quite startled. "Really?" Garan was very surprised at her proposal, but he was extremely happy. His wife was making him food, after all! No matter how it tasted, he''d definitely love it. "Yes, really." She smiled, and her heart felt guilty by how happy he was. She was really not a very good wife. If Garan knew her thoughts, he would vehemently disagree, but this wasn''t something they talk about out loud. Well, anyway, Garan was so happy that, after Althea finished eating, he immediately jumped back into the sheets again. They would not get up until many hours later. Chapter 347 Sweet Lunch Lunch time. The two of them were apparently alone in the house that day. The empty house made her look at Garan, who¡ªdespite his stoic face¡ªactually looked smug. "Your teammates are very smart. I ought to reward them." There was apparently a silent agreement to leave the couple alone for a full day, to enjoy a honeymoon even for just one day. Althea rolled her eyes. Garan smiled and pulled her to sit on his thigh. "Let me show you some things I bought back in Ferrol," he said and she brightened, quickly forgetting her annoyance. She wanted to see what a town offered. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan held down a smile as he seriously introduced her to his gifts. First, he showed her the tanner products from hides. There were bags and shoes, all fitted for her. "Wow, I love this! Thank you!" She said, kissing his cheek. He stopped himself from capturing her lips again and willed himself to focus on the gift-giving. From his space, he took some cloth he bought for a high price. It was very smooth and soft, and her delicate hands grabbed it to study. "It''s really silk!" She used her ability and whipped her head to him in awe, "And it had a bit of defensive properties! "This must''ve been expensive." Garan shook his head and just handed her the final box. They were seeds. "Kyaaa!" And she smacked his face with kisses. He smiled as he looked at her so happy. He wondered how she''d react when he gave her ''that'' gift in a few days? Anyway, his attention was pulled by her kisses and he quickly captured her lips to take them as his own. She drowned in his warmth, and she wrapped her delicate arms around him as she accepted his plunder. The atmosphere quickly heated up again. Then¡­ her stomach gurgled. "..." ¡­ The preparation for lunch came a little later. Fortunately, her body at level 8 was very strong, otherwise Garan would have had to carry her to the kitchen. Not that he hadn''t offered, of course. Garan watched lovingly as his wife prepared all the ingredients¡ªrefusing his help. His wife was cooking for him, His wife was cooking for him, His wife was cooking for him. What to do¡­ he wanted to do her on the countertop.. If there was a way for them to be conjoined forever¡­ As if feeling his thoughts, Althea threw an vegetable peel on his face. It did not wipe the smile on his face though and he just continued to watch all her movements with hyperfocus. He didn''t even notice all the errors she was making, he was too happy. Althea, who was experiencing the brunt of his heated stare, tried very hard to focus on the task at hand. She wanted to throw noodles at his face, but that would be food waste and she''d have sinned, so she stopped herself. Fortunately, she did manage to finish the dish and she proudly brought it to the table. She made him a simple noodle dish, which was barely within her trained capability at the moment, but Garan ate it like it was the tastiest thing. It was indeed what Garan thought. The dish didn''t use the most sophisticated techniques or materials, but Garan thought it was the best meal he had ever eaten. If he hadn''t been out so much.. perhaps he''d have tasted this earlier. If he hadn''t been out too much, maybe the children would be all grown up and capable of taking care of themselves by now, rather than Althea carrying them on her own for a year. (If Althea heard his thoughts she''d look at him weirdly. They had only been married for 2 years right? Did he expect one year olds to defend themselves??) Anyway, Garan couldn''t help but recall the tortuous pain in his heart a while back. It was probably when she gave birth, right? Didn''t that mean she almost died? The very thought placed his heart and mind into extreme turmoil. "Don''t like it? Was it too salty?" Althea asked, seeing his distraction. Garan shook his head, pulling himself together. He put the thoughts aside for now and they began feeding each other like they usually did. After they ate, however, he silently carried her back to their room and he buried his face on her neck. However, instead of doing something perverted, he just laid there unmoving. Then she felt¡­ liquid? "Are you crying?" Althea flinched a bit, but Garan only tightened his hold on her and buried himself deeper. During their time apart, he had a lot of thoughts. He regretted missing so much time because of his obsession. The other duties of a soldier was one thing¡ª but there were plenty of missions he volunteered for, particularly those related to Fargo and his regime. "I''m sorry." "Why?" "I wish I spent more time with you." He did not regret becoming a soldier. But he regretted how much time with her that he lost. "Our time together has always been more on quality rather than quantity." She told him. This was especially true after he became a soldier. His jaw clenched and looked at her in the eye. "I found Fargo," he said. "I''ll end him soon." Althea sighed. "I know part of it is for me, but you didn''t have to be so obsessed. I don''t even remember what happened." Garans large hand slid to her back, tracing the scars from that year. "It is also mostly selfish," he told her, "Because as long as he existed he reminded me that I almost lost you. "I did it mostly for myself." "I understand my obsession made us miss out on a lot." After all, she was just unlucky to be there, she wasn''t being targeted in particular. In exchange, a lot of time together were sacrificed. He had always been guilty about this. "I took for granted you would always be home, waiting for me." But he had almost lost her again. The belief he''d find her again was the only thing that kept him going. He leaned down and met her lips, tasting every inch of it, and engraving the taste into his soul. Never again. Chapter 348 Heartbreak A/N: Thanks again Lin-chan | LotusLin for another castle!!! *Hugssss* So awesomeeeee huhu Back to the story~ ____ While the couple was having fun in their own world, the others'' world continued on. The streets were as lively as ever, the industries were working in full gear, and everyone was working for themselves and for the territory. Even the river had activities now, and there was an unexpected duo bonding there. It was Ansel and Oslo, sitting back to back in a small rowing boat, in what they would call ''Reel Relax'' sessions. They were fishing in the newly built fishing port, now complete with rentable boats care of Bull''s new company ''Altera River Voyage''. After the drinking session the previous night, Oslo and Ansel became best friends. In moments of drunken stupor, they even called each other twins from another world. Since then, when Oslo wasn''t studying the materials for his upgrade, he''d definitely be hanging out with Ansel. This healed the bit of heartbreak and made it a little bit more bearable. This fishing thing was also very new to Oslo, who was used to philandering or getting drunk whenever he felt sad. The river was very slow moving, nearly still, and was quite suitable for boat fishing. Of course, it still had a stone anchor, just in case. Anyway, when Ansel told him of the activity, Oslo thought he''d be bored. Oddly, he felt very relaxed instead. There was also a very good sense of accomplishment every time they got a catch. "See? Fun right??" Ansel asked, placing another live catch into the earthenware jar filled with water next to him. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Like in land, the resources in the water were rich and an hour of fishing would definitely be enough for a meal or two, three for sissies who didn''t eat much. "Hmn, it is," Oslo said with a smile, his blue eyes fixed on the unmoving fishing line. Ansel nodded, relieved. Ansel had been used to seeing Althea with another for years, so he adjusted quickly. Although there were tingles of pain, he never dwelled on it anymore. Not to mention, although his feelings for Althea were not entirely platonic, he never dared to have wet dreams about her, ever. Oslo was completely different. Although he had countless lovers, this had been the first time his heart was moved. All his swag and suaveness disappeared in front of her. And Oslo didn''t hate it one bit. "Emotions are a transient thing¡­" Ansel mumbled like an old man, breaking Oslo''s reverie. "Says the guy who''s been pining for over a decade¡­" "This is pining? Tsk. You should''ve seen me when I was a teenager." "Share?" "No," Ansel said dismissively, focused on the line that just shook. Unfortunately, it was Oslo who managed to get one first. "Oh, caught another one." Ansel sneered. "Plenty of fishes in your sea, I see." "Don''t underestimate my love!" Oslo said, narrowing his eyes. "I heard you didn''t have a few fishes in your pond." "I kiss them at most. Not like you¡­ how many illegitimate children do you have?" "I have no such thing!" He stood up abruptly that the boat rocked a bit. Then¡­ there was silence again. The two stared at each other, settling back down, and sighed at the same time. "Drink again later?" Oslo asked. As he said this, he gulped as if relishing in its aftertaste. He didn''t know if the alcohol the Lord made was amazing or if it was because the lord made it. "It''s both," Ansel said. He was apparently thinking out loud. "But it can''t be that drink. That has been my weekly ration, you know." He said, "Wasn''t I so kind to share it with you?" This was not even a lie. Althea was afraid he''d become an alcoholic and limited his supply of the drinks she made. One must know after drinking Althea''s wine, others would only be so-so, definitely impossible to get addicted to. So this move of Althea definitely worked, because most other alcohol became basic to him and was mostly drunk in moderation, exclusively in social settings. Oslo, who had supposedly drunk the best alcohol Xeno could offer, agreed with him. "Yes. Very gracious." His shoulders slumped a bit though. When would he be able to taste it again? "Don''t be so sad. A tavern owned by a vineyard owner would open soon. Although it definitely wouldn''t be as awesome as Althea''s, it would still be better than what you''re used to." "When?" "Either today or tomorrow, I didn''t monitor too closely." All he knew was that Baron''s fit-out team had been in the finishing stages the past few days, so the store should be opening any day now. "Shall we see?" "Hm," Ansel agreed and they finished up the fishing trip with a grand total of six fishes (3 each). The two of them bonded along market street after that, earning a lot of stares from the ladies. Oslo, by habit, winked at them and they squealed. Ansel rolled his eyes. The blonde met the redhead''s eyes and froze. Ansel sneered, "Cheap." Oslo looked offended and was about to explain himself when Ansel''s steps paused and he stared at a surprising view in front of him. "Hey, we came just in time!" Ansel was surprised. He was going here to ask when it would be opened but lo and behold¡ªit was opening! When they got there, they saw a crowd in front of it, with beat boxes, and dancing stars-wannabee performing. Since the supermarket''s opening program, such performances or other types of opening gimmicks became customary. There was a little show pretty much every day because of this. Then the owner went up to make his speech. Something about a place to relax was essential to people''s spirits¡ª "That''s why we call alcohol ''spirits''!" He said with open arms and background drums, receiving boisterous cheers from the middle-aged men acting like fangirls. Ansel wanted to correct him that not all alcohol could be referred to as ''spirits''¡ªcertainly not wine or beer, which were his primary products¡ªbut¡­ whatever. Anyway, that afternoon, just before dusk, the new tavern officially opened¡ªplacing itself as another feature of Altera. Ansel''s lips twitched when the owner uncovered the sign. ''Heartbroken Tavern'' was its name. Oslo couldn''t read their alphabet yet so Ansel kindly explained it to him. Oslo''s wide blue eyes stared at the sign in amazement. "It''s uncanny. As if they know our needs." Ansel almost cackled. Chapter 349 New Arrivals At this time, just at the entrance of the territory, Beanie and Gaudi gaped at the sights. "Is this still a village?" Gaudi asked, looking around in awe. Beanie gulped as he stared at the wide well-organized streets, the lively abutting shops, and couldn''t help but marvel at the overall vitality of the place. Most prominently, he couldn''t help but focus on the happy smiles of the citizens. They were lively and filled with energy, in their hands were baskets filled with produce from the market. Even from afar, he could tell the variety was amazing. There were fruits and vegetables¡ªsome familiar, some unfamiliar. There were even¡­ fish?! Why would there be fish in the middle of the mountains?! What else was here?! Micheal definitely wasn''t lying when he said Altera was much better than Bright. He was fascinated. Must explore! Anyway, he had an agreement with Garan and the others to meet up at the Altera village center within three days of separating. That was to say, he still had time to explore by himself for the rest of the day, so he already planned to separate from the group later to check out the place on his own. After he announced his family''s name in the Village Center, of course. Gaudi, on the other hand, was feeling an odd mixture of utter fascination and heartbreak. The old man couldn''t help but compare it to when he and his people were just taken in this place. How much did they suffer every day? However, none of them complained because, at least during the protection period, life was indeed better than their home planet. In Xeno, they didn''t go hungry. But comparing to how these people seemed to have handled this new world with ease, he couldn''t help but feel envious and sad. "Old man, old man! Come take a taste of my new product!" A teenage child smiled bright as he approached him. Hanging on his neck was a small board laid horizontally, and on this board were bite-sized slices of hard bread with a bit of jelly fluid on top. The boy seemed to have noticed his daze and explained, "I know they may not look it, but these are tarts! I have strawberry tart, Gouji fruit tart etc. Try one for free!" For free? Gaudi gaped, unsure if he heard correctly. On the contrary, the soldiers turned their heads to them and brightened. "Oh, oh! Free taste!" Some of the masters went to where he was and took one bit each. "Hmmm!" "This is nice!" "Delicious!!" They then asked the boy where to buy some and pointed at a store a few meters away. They scuttled to buy a few, leaving a befuddled Gaudi in front of the boy. There happened to be just one sample left. Gaudi, curious, took one and gingerly placed it in his mouth. His eyes widened as it melted in his mouth and healed his soul. "O-oi. Why are you crying??" Another vendor who was lining up to sell to the group exclaimed. "I¡­ I didn''t do anything!" The boy yelled when he got weird looks. Gaudi shook his head. "It''s nothing," he said, but he was shaking in pity and longing. He wiped his tears and smiled, looking at the other sellers. "May I see?" he asked, and the puzzled salespeople brightened, offering him their products. Then a few more hawkers approached, trying to get him to taste and he met with their bright, hopeful, eyes. A thought emerged in his mind then. When his own people transferred, how nice would it be to have such a home? ¡­ Beanie, Gaudi, and the others separated after checking in one of the inns. They were amazed by the facilities and the affordable prices, and they couldn''t help but explore it intimately. "It''s amazing¡­. this place is amazing!" Sam yelled as he admired the now-ceramic toilet bowl while Ryo rolled his eyes at his uncoolness. However, it was notable that his slitted eyes were just as bright as he looked at their accommodation. They rented a few of the largest dormitory room types with six beds. The beds were made of wood and the mattress was comfortable and cushy. There were also complete sets of pillows and blankets. So cozy! "Hey, check this out!" Turbo yelled, catching everyone''s attentions. He looked up at the ceiling and on cue the ceiling fan began to move. "Wait, what?" Sam blinked and Brandon immediately went to study it. "You can use a pulley system to operate on it manually, or¡­" he paused, following a couple of mechanisms he could see from outside. "Use windcatchers." His eyes brightened, "I did see to see some on the roof." Turbo took a deep breath. "They don''t have electricity, but they managed to do all these ingenious things for comfort." "Less than a month. All of these." Plaridel whispered in disbelief as he laid on a bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. The others nodded. "I wonder who the Lord is¡­" Luis mumbled as he chewed, sitting on a bed. Turbo saw his food crumbles on the blanket and frowned. "That''s your bed." Luis grinned. They had just been fighting for this window position. His crudeness actually got him what he wanted for once. Ah, the little happiness. Turbo''s eyes twitched and ignored him, walking over to the window. He looked and touched the translucent material that covered the fenestration. He pushed and found out it was an awning window. "Cool," he said and his sights fixed on the lively streetscape below them. There was a lot they have yet to see. This much was obvious. At this thought, Turbo combed his spiky blonde hair, and faced his teammates. "I''m¡­ gonna explore." "Me too." "I''ll come with you!" "I''m gonna go check out the market!" "I heard there''s a bathhouse¡­" "I wanna see the farms! My ancestors were farmers, you know!" Anyway, the entire team decided to go out and explore, very excitedly doing their own thing. Of course, this was not without everyone going to the Village Center first and announcing their names and their relatives'' in hopes of finding their loved ones there. A lot of people from the caravan went there as well, in case new people came to Altera while they were away. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Beanie, after announcing his wife''s name in hopes of finding her, also hurried out to explore. It was just that he used her full name, Priyankakesh and his own name¡ªJeremiah¡ªin the announcement. Those who could place their names didn''t exactly put two-and-two together after hearing the announcement. And¡­, for better or for worse, his mind never allowed itself to dwell into the worst possibility there could be. It just refused to. It was as if the thought would never come true if he didn''t think of it. Chapter 350 Father and Son Beanie perused the territory alone with bright eyes, though his attention was half waiting for an announcement to come or someone to call his name¡ªideally his wife. Of course, now that he was here, he wouldn''t miss trying to look for them himself. So, while he was looking around, he was also showing off the photo of his wife and child. Quite a few paused on Theo''s image. It was just that the photo was taken over a year prior and Theo looked very different now with a small growth spurt, a small scar, and longer hair, so no one recognized him. But he didn''t let it put him down. Instead, his eyes were just wide open as he explored this new territory. Especially now that he was basically studying his family''s future ''home''. As a reporter, he was a natural explorer. He had a fascination with discovering new things and information, particularly about people and events. Although a guided tour was good, immersion was the most enjoyable for him, so he didn''t choose to get one. Sometimes, he followed where the crowd went, sometimes he went the opposite. He admired the various parks and amenities. There was even a public restroom one could use for a few coppers. The greening was really well-planned. It provided shade to pedestrians, while also providing resources. Because degeneration of dropped fruits was apparently slower within the territory, there were specific jobs to pick these up, used for fertilizers, seeds, and the like. "Such a wonderful place~" he said, "Priya and Theo would love it here." Those two liked to garden, he mused with a smile, continuing on his perusal of the territory greenbelt. But his feet stopped as he heard a familiar bell-like laugh of a child. His feet moved on their own, taking him to the playground in one of the parks. It was quite quaint until his peripheral vision saw something small zoom near him. He followed the movement and he froze when he saw the child. The little boy was running and playing in the wooden playground, a happy smile adorning his cute face. There was a small scar there now though, and it felt like his heart was stabbed. Beanie thought he was hallucinating at first, but as time passed no disillusionment occurred. It was really just one boy, clearly his baby Theo. Immediately, Beanie''s feet moved, increasing pace, and the next moment he was already rushing towards the boy''s direction. However, before he could get close, a man stood guardedly between. Beanie frowned at the intruder, but his annoyance softened a bit when he saw through the pant shape. He realized that the man''s lower legs seemed to be made of sticks. "What is it?" He asked with relative politeness, all things considered. Though as he asked, his eyes was fixed on the little boy taking the slide with a happy smile. The dark-skinned man followed his eyes and looked at him guardedly, and his next words raised all of Beanie''s hackles. "Why are you running towards my son?" "YOUR son?!" Beanie was naturally triggered by his words. "Theo is MY son!" He yelled, now looking at the other man as an eyesore. "What? You are¡­ Theo''s father?" The man asked, surprised that he knew the boy''s name. It was at this point that a woman came and stood beside the man. Beanie watched the man''s stance soften as the woman held his arm. The man smiled sadly, and just patted her hand before turning back to him. "Do you have proof?" Beanie paused, thinking about how to prove something like this? "He has a moon-shaped mole on his left hip." Melissa looked at Eugene hopefully but he shook his head. "I didn''t take a close look." He said. That''d have been creepy. Melissa also realized this and looked at Theodore who was now playing in the sandbox. "We''ll check later when he''s done," she said, "He¡­ we don''t want to disturb him in the rare cases he acts like a child." Her words calmed Beanie a bit, and now that the hostility passed a bit, Beanie looked around, wondering where Priya was. He shifted his head to look at the couple, his worry deepening. "Wasn''t there an adult with him?" Eugene looked at him, jaw tense, and the dread in Beanie''s stomach intensified. "What about¡­ my wife? Where''s my Priya??" He asked again, hoping to be proven wrong in his thoughts. His business trip was actually tracking down the terrorist group of Fargo. Because of Garan, he had gotten clues about this group, and he chanced upon a clue. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He took a risk partly for the memory of his missing friend, but also for himself. After all, tracking the terrorist group had been a real big break for him. He could finally give his wife the fabulous life she deserved. Then the damned tragedy happened. He hadn''t seen his wife for months, never would he imagine that it could''ve been the last time¡ª Seeing him like this, Eugene could only shake his head. "I''m sorry. Your wife¡­ is gone." Beanie felt like he was submerged in the arctic. Priya¡­ is dead? His brain refused to accept it, thoroughly in denial. It was here a soft voice rang, catching all the adults'' attention. "Papa!" The little boy yelled and he zoomed to their direction, directly to his father''s¡ªwho was, at this time, frozen in a daze. Because he was still, the boy could only hug the man''s leg. This surprised the other two and approached the little boy. "Theo can talk, after all!" The two leaned down to the boy''s level. While they were sad because their destiny with Theo as family was truly cut short, they were relieved for him. Not many people could find their relatives in this place, after all. "Our little Theo can speak after all!" Melissa smiled at the baby boy, "Why didn''t you speak all this time?" The boy blinked at the question, before answering her honestly. "Mama says I can''t talk or the monsters will eat me." Beanie shook at his words¡ªthe image of his wife in despair vivid in his mind¡ªand his legs gave out in horror. Eugene was quick to pull Theo back and they watched as Beanie fall down the grass, arms hitting the soil, and his whole body trembling. "Papa! Papa!" Theo yelled, struggling to get out of Eugene''s hold. Because of the little one''s struggle, Eugene had to let him go. Theo immediately ran to hug his father. Shaking, Beanie lifted his head¡ªrevealing a pitiful expression¡ªand embraced his son tightly as soon as he came in contact. And only at this time, did Beany sob his heart out. Chapter 351 Theo and Beanie It took a while for Beanie to stop crying, not caring if he was being stared at by people in the park. Eugene and Melissa looked at each other and sighed, extremely uncomfortable. He gently patted the larger man''s shaking shoulders. "Uhm¡­ can we talk in my house? I''m sure you have a lot of questions." Beanie sniffed, "A-Ah, yes." He said, standing up, though without letting go of baby Theo at all. When Eugene brought Beanie to the secondary house, he was shaking and not letting go of Theo. Theo was obviously uncomfortable with his hold, but the little angel just sat still on his father''s arms as if he was. It was evening and almost everyone was already home and it so happened that Harold was there. Seeing Eugene coming with an unfamiliar man holding Theo, he had an idea what it was about and he immediately recalled the announcement from earlier. Harold felt heavy and sighed, just going to the kitchen and doing what he could do. They served him some comfort food and extra dessert for the children. Althea, coming from the main house, heard that Theo''s father was there and hurried out of their honeymoon phase, to her husband''s gruntlement. But then they saw who it was and their hearts dropped, especially Althea''s. Then Priya and the baby¡ª She froze at the threshold, not knowing what to do next. She hadn''t been paying attention to the announcements earlier, so she was completely unprepared for this news. It was around this time that Sheila got home and saw the boss blocking the doorway. "Hey boss, what are you doing here?" Althea didn''t answer and just stared in front of her. Sheila followed her sight and blinked. "Oh? We have visito¡ª" The nurse stopped when she finally noticed the somber atmosphere. She belatedly noticed that even their boss, who had a blank face, was visibly pale and was being supported by her husband. Instead of asking, she just pursed her lips and did not ask any questions. She simply went to the kitchen to help Harold out. She certainly wouldn''t be able to handle this awkward atmosphere if she stayed. The atmosphere was depressing even after dinner came, and no one spoke much, each drowning in their own thoughts. Althea didn''t speak much either and Garan looked at his best friend in concern, before turning to his wife again. Garan held her hand, azure eyes asking her if she was alright. She shook her head, expressing she would tell him later. Eugene wanted to take Theo so they could eat and Beanie reluctantly let go, but only if the boy was seated right next to him. As he ate, Beanie''s tears and snot flowed nonstop. "It was a daughter." He mumbled out of nowhere, sniffing. "We named her Thalia, after my wife''s late mother¡­" He started sobbing and food went to his air pipe, making him cough. He tried to face away from the table by habit but he lost his balance and fell down his chair instead. Harold and Garan, who were nearest, stood up to help him, but the man remained unmoving as his face touched the floor. "Hey," Garan uttered, patting Beanie''s shoulder. Instead of lifting his head, Beanie''s shoulders shuddered, followed by heavy breathing and cries. His chest heaved in erratic gasps as his tears flowed, and he soon struggled to catch his breath. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Priya¡­ my Priya¡­" "I should''ve been there¡­." "I''m a bad husband, a bad father, I deserved to die¡­" he said, bumping his head on the floor with such force that he started bleeding. Garan sighed and held his shoulders to stop him from killing himself, but Beanie just sobbed even louder, as if Garan had wronged him by stopping him from doing what he wanted. Garan did not bulge, eyes shifting to the little boy held back by Eugene. "Do you want the boy to lose another parent?" This made Beanie freeze, and he looked at the boy being held by another man¡ªsomeone who would be a better father, no doubt. The thought just made him cry even harder. "Papa¡­" The little boy called, and Beanie looked at him in a daze. Except for his lighter skin, Theo looked so much like his mother. And it only broke Beanie''s heart into pieces even more. "I¡­ I don''t deserve to be," Sniff, "A father!" "But the fact is that you are his father. That''s something you cannot change," Garan said, deadpan voice as direct as ever. "What you can change is how you''ll accompany your child after this." As he said so, Garan couldn''t help but turn his head towards his family¡ªto his beautiful wife and lovely children. "As long as you''re alive, there''s a chance to make up to them, don''t you think so?" ¡­ Garan took Beanie to the verandah for a drink. The poor man was grovelling in his seat for a while, just sniffling, unmoving. Garan was patient and just placed a glass next to him. "You''re a father now. You have to be strong. After this, you can''t be breaking down again¡­" Beanie tried wiping his snot with his shirt, but it was flowing non stop. Garan frowned and just took some cloth from the space and threw it at him. "I wasn''t even able to give her the fabulous life she deserved," Beanie told him. "She was born rich you know, but she was disowned for falling in love with me." "I¡­ I wanted to give her the life she was born with¡­" "And my daughter¡­ my baby daughter¡­" "I wish I could''ve called her name¡­" This time, instead of trying to get himself killed, he just drowned himself in alcohol. Garan sighed, allowing the man to have this this moment to let go. Instead, he also downed a shot, joining him. "I''ll straighten you up tomorrow." ¡­ That night, upon Garan''s request, Althea spent one more night with just him alone. Althea agreed because her mood was a little lour and she needed the comfort of her husband. "How¡­ How is he?" She asked, ignoring the overwhelming smell of alcohol. "He''s sleeping in the other villa with Theo and Eugene," he said, gently caressing her smooth cheek, a little drunk. "He''s in pain, but he shouldn''t do anything regrettable. His son is right there¡­" "I had a choice to bring Priya with me. I should''ve forced her," she mumbled, burying her head in her husband''s generous arms. She had told him about Theo''s mother before, but now she had a new identity¡ªhis best friend''s wife. And, to Althea, this made her feel so much guiltier than she already was. Garan quickly tightened his hold, placing her head against the crook of his neck, making sure no part of her was untouched my his warmth. "No one would have foreseen the beast tide, and you couldn''t guarantee their safety either. You were a pregnant woman yourself!" He held her tighter, his heart constricting every time he thought of how she must''ve suffered when he wasn''t by her side. "I would''ve been the first one to disagree with them coming if I knew and wasn''t there with you." He held both of her cheeks. "None of it is your fault," he said, "You simply took the best decision you could take, considering everything." He leaned down giving her a soft peck on the lips. "And I am thankful for that." He told her, his mind refusing to think of the possibility of his losing her like Beanie lost his wife. "Thank you for coming back to me, Althea." He said, eyes dark with heavy emotions. ''Because I would''ve destroyed the world otherwise.'' Chapter 352 Comfort Althea rubbed her head on his strong chest. "Don''t say that." Althea closed her eyes and just felt her husband''s warmth for a while, before tilting her head up to look at him. "Do you think he''ll hate me if he finds out?" The thought broke her heart a little. Although they drifted apart, Beanie was still a good childhood friend of hers¡ªan important part of her happy memories. Garan sneered, looking at the direction of the adjacent house where Beanie stayed. "He dares!" He said, firm, and then he looked down at his precious wife with a comforting smile. "Although a lot has changed these years, Beanie''s core is the same. He may feel a little resentful at first, but he''ll get over it." He didn''t want to lie to her and simply comforted her, placing his huge palm on her head. "Don''t worry about him." Althea pursed her lips, wondering if he was just saying that to make her feel better. "You''re not saying this to comfort me right? If you were in his position¡ª" She stopped herself immediately, recalling the extreme reaction he had when she said something similar before. She paled and looked at her husband, who had a dark expression on his face. His eyes were reddish in anger and his jaw was clenched. She shifted and supported her weight on him with her arms, looking down at him with wide eyes. She placed her soft palm on his clenched jaw, comforting. "I didn''t mean it that way¡ª" sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan was indeed very angry, but he saw how her doe eyes were wide in apprehension and his heart was struck, realizing how bad this was. His own wife shouldn''t be scared of him or his reactions. She shouldn''t be walking on eggshells. So, he just heaved a deep breath, gently pulling her back to rest against him. "Hmm, I know." He said, voice croaking a bit, but his hold on her went a bit tighter. He had been refusing to think in that direction, but his wife wasn''t helping. It didn''t help that he was a bit drunk. Garan''s eyes darkened and he rolled them over, with him hovering over her. He leaned down and captured her lips, intent on feeling her physically with his whole being. His hand moved from the side of her face, to her curvaceous spine, and creeping down and stopping at that soft mountain climb just above her buttocks. His head slid down to meet her dainty neck, placing chaste kisses to her ears, before capturing her lips again for a heated kiss. He needed to feel her heat while she needed his comfort. Even if it was just a kiss, it meant the world as long as they were beside each other. Their lips parted after sufficiently releasing some tension, with Garan resting his forehead on hers. The two of them stayed peacefully like this for a while, letting the moon be their only source of light. However, Garan was a virile young man with the love of his life in his arms. How could he not push it? But Garan still knew it was best to go slow and make her relax. His eyes opened and saw hers closed, relaxing, simply feeling his presence above her. It was not easy not to do anything. He couldn''t. Not after suffering for all those months. So Garan began to sample her again. Even, pushing his luck a bit more, he lifted her shirt up above her head so she was left in her underwear. His eyes darkened as he dipped his head, tasting her supple skin. Her arms wrapped around his shoulder as he did so, humming in comfort as she unconsciously rubbed against him, sending electricity down his groin. She moaned as she felt his hot tongue leave wet traces on her skin, focusing on her erogenous zones. It was slow and sensual and he didn''t do anything more, just as Althea needed at this time. "I just feel¡­ so bad for him. His wife and his daughter¡­ gone, just like that," she said, massaging his head in encouragement. He lifted his head to speak to her. "We''ll handle him together," he said, looking at her with glazed eyes. "As husband and wife." She nodded, guiding his face back to where it was and Garan happily cooperated. "Husband¡­" she mumbled softly as she tilted her head to give him better access of her neck, one or her favorite areas. "The babies still didn''t have names." . . . Garan paused and raised his head, giving her a weird look. ''You''re bringing this up now?'' Althea''s lips twitched and placed her hand on the side of his handsome face, caressing it. "I was actually late in bringing this up, you know." This was brought up out of nowhere because she couldn''t stop thinking about Beanie''s unborn child. "Don''t the children already have names?" He asked her. They had been calling them Meatball and Pepper so far. Garan clearly didn''t have a naming sense either for him to think those were serious names. Anyway, as long as it was a name given by his wife, he thought it sounded good. "Those are nicknames!" She said, pinching his cheek. Oops, he''s growing stubbles again. Garan smiled fondly in understanding. "Did you want to wait for me?" She nodded cutely. "I wanted to wait for you." "The names they already have are really good though," he said, about to lean back in. She stopped him by holding his forehead with her palm, and it stretched his face a bit. He looked quite funny like this. She held back her smile and looked at him seriously. "Don''t you know names reflect the parents'' wish? Do you seriously want them to think we named them after food?" Garan blinked, realizing the importance. So he gave her a small smile. "Okay," he said, "Let''s give our children formal names." He smiled. "We have a lot of hope for them, after all." Chapter 353 Names Althea smiled and pulled out her tablet from the space. She had really missed this tablet of hers, which had been borrowed by various experts¡ªmost especially by the Engineering team. Fortunately, Oslo¡ªwith the help of other architects and engineers¡ªhad basically transcribed most of the e-books they found important to keep a copy of. So, the tablet had just been returned to her hands. This was another group that became die-hard fans of Althea. Without her, these references would''ve been lost. Even if it was their specialty, who remembered every detail? A small library was then built in their office containing these transcribed books, among others, and they called it ''Althea''s Nook''. Anyway, as one of Althea''s hands was buried in Garan''s hair, she took out her tablet from the space and started to choose baby names. It was a weird position, but it relaxed her a lot. "What do you think we should name our¡ª" It was just that she felt Garan''s movements turning hotter, his tongue reaching her bra and she gasped when he pulled it up for better access to her breasts. She gasped and frowned, tapping his head. "Focus!" Garan nodded, but how could he think straight when his fragrant wife was so tempting? However, he also knew his wife just wanted his warmth and not to do anything else. For now, anyway. He was about to reluctantly let her go when he saw her blushing, her pupils dilated, and her pretty face in a daze. Even her hold of the tablet was already loosened. He held back a smirk. His large warm hand slid under her skirt, and she could feel each and she could feel every one of his calluses against her skin. "H-hey!" She exclaimed, lightly slapping his hand to behave. "The children are a month old! They don''t even have proper names yet!!" "Their names are already very good." He said, lips tracing kisses along her shoulders, his other hand trailing somewhere more¡­ private. "Meatball and Pepper? We talked about this! That''s not¡ªHusband¡­!" Followed by a moan. And the figurative curtain fell, covering another round of spring happening behind it. ¡­. The next morning, they finally decided on the name. But not after a very intimate wake-up call. She glared at her husband. He was so annoying! She even almost forgot to take her medicine. She did not want to get pregnant again! Not now. Ignoring him for the rest of that morning, she took out her tablet to search for names. "What do you want to name them?" "If I knew, I wouldn''t be searching, would I?" Garan was not annoyed with the rude quip. Instead, he smiled and placed kisses on her cheek¡ªwhich she tried to avoid, though to no avail. She wanted to nag him but he started to (finally) speak on-topic, "I want the children''s name to remind them of what we want for them¡ªto be safe, to be happy, and to be strong." She paused, meeting his deep azure eyes, and nodded. "Hmn." ¡­ They had a shortlist and, after an hour of choosing (extended because of Garan''s annoying hands), they finally decided on the kid''s names. Little Meatball was Alphonse Witt, meaning ''one of Noble Birth''. Although the little rolling ball of meat didn''t have the temperament yet, he would probably grow up to be one. Hopefully. It also meant ''prepared'', the state they always wanted him to be in¡ªthey wanted him to be able to handle whatever may come, protect what was important to him, and protect himself. They would not raise him in excessive safety, as that would be detrimental to him. It would be hard, but they needed him to stand on his own much earlier than his peers. And Little Pepper was named Nathalia Witt, in honor of Beanie''s dead daughter. It also meant the day of birth, a happy event. They want their baby girl to be happy, to bring other people happiness, and making herself happy¡ªno matter what circumstance, and this could be achieved, in this place, only if one had the ability. Satisfied with their choices, the couple looked at each other with a smile. "Done?" Althea nodded cutely. "Done." Garan smiled brightly, and he pulled her under the blanket. They decided they''d announce the names at lunch time, anyway. *** ___________________________ !IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! Dec. 31.2023 Dear Alterans, First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS! Thank you for supporting the story the past few months! Half a year of daily updates have passed and I would first like to say THANK YOU for accompanying me in this long journey. The past six months (ave. 2 chapters/day!) had been a challenge and it required a lot of hard work, especially since I still have a day job. But¡­ it was worth it because I had you guys. Anyway, the point of this is that, after bursting chapters every day I¡­ have finally lost much of my stockpile. *SOBS* FEAR NOT! I still have some, but I definitely have to slow down for the next few months to ''regenerate''. As such, I will TEMPORARILY reduce my update rate to one a day, maybe two if I can but don''t count on it for a while. What I can promise you though is that when I do resume the 2 chaps-ave -a-day upload rates, it means that I have already polished the rest of the story and I WON''T EVER HAVE TO GO TO A SLOW-DOWN until the story ends! Finally, to be fair to my lovely beloved PATRONS, I will temporarily reduce the prices for Privilege by about 30% to 40%. Please continue supporting the story during these hard times. Silver Patron (10 adv chaps) 199 coins ¡ú 149 coins Gold Patron (25 adv chaps) 799 coins ¡ú 499 coins Ruby Patron (40 adv chaps) 1299 coins ¡ú 999 coins Diamond Patron (50 adv chaps) 1599 coins ¡ú 1199 coins Again, thank you for your unending support! Don''t forget about us okay? Please continue supporting the storyyyyyy! We love youuu! Don''t break up with us! xDD Once an Altera, always an Alteran! >:D S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 354 PDA Aberdeen City, a few years ago Along the beautiful, well-maintained cobblestone path, a gorgeous couple could be seen walking along it. They were all smiles looking at each other with googly eyes, their contrasting hands intertwined as if it was meant to be. It was her soft, dainty hands with his large calloused ones, except the couple only felt each other''s warmth. They were framed by the trees and the scrubs as they ambled. Most people around would end up sighing in admiration at the sight of them. Of course, the world would never lack dissatisfied people, and it so happened that there was one nearby. "TSK!" A grumpy voice entered the leisurely couple''s ears, "Kids nowadays have no shame!!!" Althea blinked, unconsciously loosening her hold on her boyfriend''s hand. However, Garan immediately tightened his grip and he gently pulled her as they continued to walk. "No, don''t listen to them," Garan said, guiding her forward, back to their leisure walk in the few public green parks in the country. "We have such limited time together now. How can we care about others?" She blinked, thought about it, and nodded a moment later. "Hmm, you''re right." Garan grinned, leaning down to kiss her hair. His (future) wife is so cute. "But¡­ I don''t want them watching our kisses though." She told him, very seriously, and he chuckled in response. "Of course not. We don''t want to be spectacles right?" He then gently pinched her nose. "Our kisses are left behind closed doors." _____________ Present. The couple didn''t announce the children''s name in the end, as they decided to hold the babies'' one-month celebration instead. It was within a few days anyway, which was just in time. As they sat down at the table for the midday meal, they couldn''t help but look at Beanie. The man had made considerable improvement from yesterday, as seen by how stably he held onto his son and not sobbing his heart out. For lunch, they had several dishes a la carte. There were various meat and vegetable dishes, plated nicely by the talented team chef. They also had a number of fish dishes, the catches courtesy of Ansel. He was quite smug about this. He said he stayed long hours under the sun to catch this meal for them and they ought be thankful. It was just that his smug monogue was cut abruptly when he caught sight of Garan who was staring blankly at him. He didn''t even say anything, but Ansel bitterly shut up. Unexpectedly¡ª "Good job," Garan said, voice deep as always, "A fish could feed two people." Ansel''s eyes brightened like the sun. He immediately schooled his expression though, pretending to be nonchalant. Except¡­ it was too late because Althea and the others already saw the exchange. They had to stop themselves from chuckling and embarrassing the poor lad. Back to the food, this ''special'' dish was delivered in grilled fish form, tender and perfectly seasoned. It was also glazed with the local citrus fruit (as their own lemons were still flowering). Next to it was the bluish nutritious mound of steamed local rice. It was fluffy and fragrant. It was also shaped into a half globe, as if promising their stomachs would be this shape after a while. This was topped by scrambled Gugu bird eggs, mixed with Terran tomatoes and mushrooms, adding a delightful contrast to the fish. And finally, there was a vegetable mix stir-fry to add a burst of freshness. It looked very sumptuous. More prominently, Harold had successfully made half the dishes to have special effects for the spirit, which was very fitting for everyone. "This looks really good, Harold," Althea said and Harold smiled widely. "Thank you. I''m just doing my part," he said, and the group began to start eating. Garan carefully deboned the fish and placed it on the rice, allowing it to absorb more flavor. He then scooped it up with the ceramic spoon with a wooden handle. But instead of going into his own mouth, he placed it in front of Althea''s. Althea blinked, but otherwise naturally took it into her mouth. The others stared at the ceiling, wondering when they''d get used to all this PDA. Althea then wiped the milk on the children''s faces as she chewed, promptly refilled by Garan as she swallowed. "You eat as well." She told him, unable to reciprocate because she was taking care of the babies who were drinking from the baby bottles she got from Terran. Garan regretfully went to serve his own food and was about to eat a spoonful when Harold leaned forward and mentioned village gossip. "Have you heard? A group of powerful people gathered and were waiting around the village center for the past few days." He said. "They all look very powerful, like soldiers. Garan, who just remembered he had people with him, froze a little and his spoon hung in the air for a second before he awkwardly finished the move. Althea, who was also reminded, turned to look at Garan. "I''ll go see," she said, and Garan cleared his throat. "I''m coming with you," he added, his baritone voice as monotonous as ever. The couple then rushed to eat their food and excused themselves, standing up to prepare for an excursion. They placed the two babies on the stroller and Garan naturally pushed them out. The others were puzzled, but Ansel saw all this and cackled. He really liked it when Garan was the Idiot. ¡­ It could be said that a beautiful couple casually walking together with a stroller was an unusual sight in itself, catching attention everywhere, let alone half of the pair was the well-known Miss Althea. "Who is that?" They asked, eyes shifting to the extremely dashing and tall man pushing the specially designed stroller of the twins. The ladies couldn''t help but gasp. "So handsome!" "It must be the mysterious husband!" "Wow¡­" "Maybe it''s not her husband. She''s so beautiful, she can have whoever!" "Ssshhh! What if people hear?! You don''t know how scary that man is!" "You know him?" "Yeah," the man nodded. He had just moved from Bright, but he had made plenty of friends here beforehand. However, he happened to be one of the people who ''trained'' with the guards of Bright as part of the deal, and he saw the stark difference in strength. "Very strong. No less than Rowan." "Whoa¡­" "What??" A pause, "How is that possible?" "Eh, not only is it possible, but he''s not the only one," Gossipmonger #1 said, "Do you know those soldiers hanging around the square? Those are his men." "Ohhhh~" "You mean they''re settling right?" "Oh my~!" Then another voice came, quite smug. "I tell you he is indeed her husband. I saw her being carried home!" A stall owner helpfully said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. This made a small crowd gather around him, wanting him to tell them more. "Well, there was a friend of a friend who was one of the people sent to Vismont," Gossipmonger #2 said, "He said that Ms. Althea was being cool and beautiful as always, beating the monster that was destroying the village when time seemed to stop. "It was quite dramatic like imaginary cherry blossoms floated around or something. "My friend described the turn as something in slow-mo. Ms. Althea apparently felt a heated stare from a direction, her beautiful emerald eyes widening at an unexpected sight. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "She saw her husband there, and the two ran into each other''s arms without care for others! "It was said it was more romantic than Juni''s top romcom ''I Will Always Love You''!" "Wow, I cried in that movie!" The customer swooned. "They found each other! How romantic!" Gossipmonger #2 was not yet done with his story. "I heard¡­ he carried her all the way to her villa!" "Oh my~" "Kyaa~" Someone even whistled. Then, Gossipmonger #1 looked at he couple again, narrowing his eyes, and paused. "Are those¡­ kiss marks?" "What?" As if a signal, everyone''s heads turned in a particular direction. Gossippy citizens level 2 and above had naturally good eyes. Even several meters away, they could see the woman''s skin. They all looked closely and their eyes widened to saucers. Ohmyy. Those were definitely kiss marks! Big news! It seemed that Ms. Althea didn''t even bother to cover her multiple hickeys!! They knew Ms. Althea didn''t care for others'' opinions, but they didn''t think she''d be this¡­ inconsiderate! If Althea could hear this gossip, she''d pout in annoyance. Skin-safe powder required special soft minerals currently unavailable to her. How was she going to cover them? Not to mention: she wore a comfortable high-neck cotton shirt today. But who told Garan to mark so high when she saw he saw her shirt? She could only send sideways glares at her husband, the true inconsiderate one. She was really¡­ misunderstood! He then looked and met her eyes, blinking as if innocent. Her lips twitched, but it wasn''t because she was smiling. This man definitely did it on purpose! Chapter 355 Still PDA Garan''s lips twitched under his wife''s very cute glare. He did it on purpose, of course, he did. He knew how many eyes followed his wife''s movements everywhere. He didn''t blame them¡ªwho wouldn''t find his wife beautiful¡ªbut how could he not show his position? He pretended not to see his wife''s adorable stare and just held her hand a bit more tightly. He then nonchalantly pushed the stroller along the wide sidewalk with his other hand. Like before, they walked along the tree-lined avenues, garnering attention wherever they went, though this time¡­ they had their little babies with them. "Mwhamammm¡­" Little Pepper cooed, and Little Meatball gurgled. "Googghmmnghwgh¡­" Althea chuckled as she looked down at the stroller. She saw her children''s eyes wide with wonder, taking in their surroundings. They went on walks every day, but they have yet to lose interest in the same scenery even after so many days. It was very cute and it honestly felt hopeful. She lifted her eyes and met Garan''s who were staring at her and the children warmly. They stared at each other for a while, their minds recalling the adventures they had to go through before finally arriving in this¡­ peace. It took a while, but their family was finally complete. At this thought, they smiled brightly at each other, hearts full. ¡­ While the couple was walking leisurely, forgetting why they rushed out of breakfast in the first place, the Terran Mercenary team was waiting around in the restaurants abutting the central plaza. As they waited, a few team members took turns watching the people coming to the Village Center across the street. It wasn''t that they didn''t know where the captain was, but they dared not disturb him. Not to mention¡­ this place was heaven! They were totally in vacation-mode the past few days! Sammy lied lazily on the chair of the restaurant, sipping his lemonade with a noisy gurgle. "Ahhhh, this is the lifeeee!" Of course, it would''ve been best if they found family like the Captain, Gill, and even Ryo (all of whom were currently with their families). Luis nodded as he ate cookies one after another like a hamster. "I think the captain forgot all about us." "With a wife like sister-in-law, anyone would forget everything else¡­" Sammy mumbled dreamily, making the others'' heads turn to him. Except for a few who happened to be near when she visited the barracks, the others had never met Althea. The Captain''s wife, the woman he loved more than the world. The mysterious woman who could actually tame such a man. But more than being the Captain''s wife, they were also very curious about the Miss Althea in the citizens'' mouths. They had heard the Lord of Bright say sister-in-law held a high position in Altera, but they couldn''t have imagined that it was to the degree that she was revered by everyone. Regardless of which Althea they were more curious about, those who didn''t know her surrounded Sammy for some gossip. They surrounded him so quickly that some of his lime juice leaked and he glared at the men in abhorrence. "Shame!" "Ah, no, sorry," Luis asked, leaning over, though he didn''t look particularly guilty at all. "How is she? Is she really so beautiful?" The image of the woman in memory deflated Sammy''s anger and he became a little dazed. "Hnmm~ Like a fairy, an angel, an elf, a goddess," Sammy said dreamily, hearts in his eyes. The captain took sister-in-law to the shooting range for date night, he happened to be there. Maybe because they were so immersed with each other, or because he had dark skin that he blended in the night¡ªmaybe both¡ªthey did not notice him in their flirting. In all fairness, they did not do anything improper and were really learning to shoot. But the sweet atmosphere between them was palpable. And sister-in-law¡­ was so beautiful and charming. When she smiled, the whole room lit up, her every movement let your eyes follow her. People might wonder how such a woman would fall for such an ice block like their captain, but the captain was a completely different person in front of his lover. He almost believed the man was not their captain, he just wore his skin. "The captain really lucked out!" Luis could still remember how scary the captain was, especially with women who had designs on him. He could still remember the many, many times the women-averse captain made women cry with his harsh words. Even beauties like Vanessa were no exception. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was a mystery how such a woman didn''t get scared off! In fact, Garan was an Idiot as early as Vismont. It was just that he sprinted to Altera too quickly no one really saw his expression. Sammy looked at their disbelieving expressions and cackled. "You''ll see," he said, "You''ll find out later." ... The team continued chilling in a restaurant for a couple more minutes, ordering yet another batch of food. This time, they were eating desserts. Some ordered fruit platters, some ordered pastries, and some a mix of both. It seemed they did nothing but eat the past few days? Mao noted he seemed to have gained a few kilograms! They also did a lot of shopping. They had bought a bit of everything, to be honest. Their space had been filled the day they even stepped in this place, let alone now after so many days. Even Eagle''s large space had almost been filled. They also saw the parks! They were so well-made and well-maintained. They had never seen a territory that had incorporated nature so much and so well. Even the bathhouse was so special! Everything was customized! They weren''t close enough with Jonathan to know how much things cost, but they knew any modification wouldn''t be cheap at all! There were also medicines from a Pharmacist¡ªwho was apparently sister-in-law! Although its effect would be limited when they reached level 20, for now, it was still very amazing okay? It was unbelievable. Was it really done by Terrans in a month? Too amazing right? The lifestyle here was clearly better than the towns outside! "We''ll definitely settle down here, right?" Luis mumbled after a pause, feeling a bit apprehensive. "Yes yes yes yes. Definitely." "What about the base in Ferrol?" Plaridel mumbled. He also wanted to stay, but they really worked hard for that property. "I''m sure the captain will figure something out." Mao shrugged, absentmindedly looking in the direction of the village center by habit. This time though, he flinched. "Hey, look! I see the captain!" Mao yelled, running to the balcony facing the village center. Sammy stood up and followed his line of sight. "It''s my sister-in-law!" He yelled, looking dreamily, and every other man took a peek. They practically piled together on the window, with someone almost falling. The poor guy though, couldn''t express his annoyance when he saw sister-in-law, and he gasped with everyone else. "Beautiful!" Luis said, elbowing Sammy. "She''s really an angel! Such a pretty smile¡­" Some had sharper eyes and looked at what the captain was pushing. "Is that a stroller?" "What?" Someone pulled out a scope from his space, getting a glimpse of what was inside. His mouth made a wide ''o'' in shock. "Babies!? Human babies?" Chris, who had been the major investigator, seemed to have remembered something during one of his trips. "I seem to have heard Ms. Althea gave birth? I didn''t absorb it though since I was busy eating. I thought I was just imagining things." They gasped. If this was true¡ª "Captain not only found his wife, but also his children!" "..." "..." The group couldn''t absorb things for a while and they just stared at each other until someone told them to go down to greet them. "A-Ah, right!" "I wanna see sister-in-law closer!" "I wanna see the captain''s smile! Is it creepy? I couldn''t see clearly¡­" "I wanna see the baby!" Chris stood up and corrected them, "Babies," he said, walking ahead to the stairs. Shaking off the shock, this seemed to signal everyone and they all filed down the stairs. Their feet were quick. They were not running but they reached the square very quickly. It was just that their approach was halted by an unexpected sight. The sight of the captain''s massive grin as if teasing sister-in-law about something. It was a blinding sight. "Is that really our captain?" Luis asked, narrowing his eyes. Sammy chuckled. "You should see them (when they think) they''re alone," he said, although he''d argue that the couple were partially forgetting they were in a public space already. Then they saw sister-in-law pouting as she stared at the captain, but their perennially-cold captain just grinned brightly and said something that made sister-in-law blush so, so, beautifully! He then took the woman''s hand he was holding and lifted it up. He placed it against his lips, kissing it, and then he leaned down and placed a wet kiss on her cheek. In public. The soldiers almost fell down. "...!!!!" Then again, they made out when they met back in Vismont, right? They really ought to stop being so surprised! Chapter 356 Settlement Their female-allergic Captain actually kissed one in public! It was just a peck, but still!!!! Ohmygosh! Will they encounter another apocalypse?! Sure, they made out (and even cried!) when they reunited, but they pegged that as the couple forgetting the place due to extreme happiness of finding each other again. This was different! They were just strolling around a place with so many passerbys! The soldiers watched dumbfounded as their usually ice-cold captain performed PDA without any sense of shame. Even the locals couldn''t help but sneak peeks. If their identities weren''t so revered, it was estimated the people started hooting. Anyway, the captain lifted his head, as if unaware of the looks around them. The soldiers watched as the Captain grinned looking at his wife, eyes filled with love, before turning to face them. They watched the captain''s sunny expression change almost instantaneously when he looked at them. He now looked like the captain they knew, but darker because they now had a comparison point. They shivered in fear. "Gather!" Their bodies automatically reacted and they stood in an organised line in front of the couple. They did not dare stare at the wife and the kids anymore. The citizens around watched in interest as well-organized soldiers made a formation in the park. To be honest, just the sight of them¡ªeven if they were busy filling their mouths until just a few moments prior¡ªmade the territory feel even safer. It was like they had additional sentries, only alive and silly. Garan stood tall and looked at his men, aura heavy with gravitas as it always was. "I''m sure you have taken your time to get to know Altera Village¡ªwhich will be our new home." The soldier''s eyes sparkled at his words, relieved, and they listened excitedly to what he would be saying next. "We will be purchasing permanent residencies here. I will be buying a villa for our team, with the open space used for training." Of course, at least half of the farm would still be used for planting for self-sufficiency. The soldiers happily agreed. Although they had land in Ferrol, this place was really too good!! They were not only surrounded by their own people, they were surrounded by a good environment and, most importantly, good food! Garan let his men absorb the news for a few seconds before continuing with his announcement. "We will be shifting our main power here, and will be maintaining the other place as a branch instead." They paused, nodding. Indeed, this makes sense. Why would they waste good land in a town? In fact, a few business people watching from afar (note: eavesdropping) were already calculating a few things. What would it be like¡­ to sell in a town? Would they make even more money than what they did in the other three villages? "How exactly the branch will be handled would be up for discussion in the future," Garan said, "In the meantime, I hope you continue working hard to get stronger¡ªto protect all these. After all, you know more than a lot of the people here how¡­ attractive Altera is." The final line made the soldiers tense, and immediately serious. Indeed, the territory was so good. Too good. It would definitely be coveted!! Immediately, their lax expressions immediately hardened, standing even more stable than before, as if ready to attack at a moment''s notice. Garan looked at his soldiers in satisfaction, "I know the monsters around aren''t strong enough, so you will be divided into two teams. "One team will stay here and the other will station in Ferrol town to train with stronger monsters. The travel time will be included in the time of the Ferrol team." "Rotation is every two weeks," he said. It would take more than an entire day to get to Ferrol, and this was without any breaks. He considered the travel time as synonymous with training time. After all, they would definitely be encountering mobs. "The people who stay will apply as guards. Although there are no openings yet, there should be soon," he said, and he said so with certainty, making more than a few look at him curiously. "Your daily task would be to strengthen the territory, including its guards and its people. "I will also allow you to take trips in the allied territories of Bright, Belluga, and Vismont, but you must never halt in training." The soldiers brightened at this, knowing what the Captain meant by this instruction. This was giving them the chance to look for their loved ones in these allied territories! (Speaking of which, they were still amazed that the territory got 3 allies in less than a month!) Garan paused as he stared at them. Knowing the men had already absorbed his words, he nodded and ended his instructions. "Except for working hours, the rest of the time is yours," he said and some soldier''s faces cracked in joy. "For now, settle down and your jobs will begin early tomorrow morning." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan did not call them out and just nodded at everyone. "Dismissed!" "Sir, yes, sir!" They said and they waited for the captain to leave before letting loose again. Garan turned to his family, immediately showing warmth, as if the serious face from before was a mere illusion. He casually took his wife''s hand and placed his free hand on the stroller. They then went somewhere to continue their date again. The soldiers looked at the sky. They would seriously, never, ever get used to this. ¡­ The Terran Mercenary Team members in Altera all became permanent residents that same hour. They went to their new home, the pace of their walk betraying their excited moods. After a couple of minutes of a power walk, they reached the Farmvilla area, looking for their house number. "Here it is, FarmVilla #31." The house given to them was among the new farm villas built just the day prior. It was also built with the team in mind so the rooms were already combined to make for comfortable dormitories. That same day the soldiers settled down their new home, absolutely proud of their new abode, much more than gaining their own land back in Ferrol. Even if it was smaller¡­ it felt more like home than Ferrol, which was more like their own safe base. After all, that base was their own attempt to make something as close to home as they could. Now that they were here, they were so relieved, and they truly felt like they had finally reached home. Of course, not everyone stayed in the villa. Gill was pretty well-off and could afford a single-detached house. He bought one for himself. It was just instinct for men his age to buy a house when a value-for-money opportunity presented itself. Ryo''s family here was amazingly comprised of an old man and a middle-aged woman. They had already begun paying for their own house, even before Ryo arrived. Apparently, the old man was a hoarder and kept all his money in the form of non-diminishing items. It was due to a bad experience in his youth, during some economic upheaval in his home country, where paper money became useless in the blink of an eye. This was very lucky as they were able to afford permanent residency from the get-go, with their stalls in the market¡ªone of which sold his special sticky rice¡ªwas letting them sustain payment terms for the unit. Both Gill and Ryo were still the subject of envy until now. They not only found their families, but they were also doing well! Everyone wondered where their families were, and they could only pray they were holding on until now and living at least like decent human beings. But a lot of them would be peeking in Bright, Beluga, and Vismont soon enough. Maybe someone would really find family and friends! At this thought, all of the soldiers exchanged information about family and friends they wanted to find. This was especially true for those heading to Ferrol who, unfortunately, wouldn''t be able to see other Terran territories any time soon. They would also ask the elders to send some guards in advance to give the list of their loved ones to the allied territories, so they could at least focus on their jobs for a while. Anyway, back to the new villa, the rest of the soldiers studied their new home and looked at its every nook and cranny. The younger ones immediately went to explore, admiring, and in awe. It was said that the Lord of Bright bought the template from Altera. It seemed that it was true and still better! Not only was it bigger, but there was also a verandah. They also heard there was a level 2 system farm in here. Even if they didn''t buy food outside, maybe they''d get to plant and harvest their own food! As for the interior, it was naturally void of anything. Although there was no furniture yet, there was no lack of shops selling furniture, decorations, rugs, and others so there was no problem making the house their own. "I want a large sofa¡­" "What do you need such a large sofa for? It''s not like we''re hanging out often here." "Yes, there are no televisions¡­" "For meetings!" "You don''t need something so space consuming¡­" Anyway, the soldiers discussed the bespoke furniture that they would buy. Although there were standard sets, they had a lot more savings than the people here. Anyway, after three months of suffering outside, they deserved some luxury! Chapter 357 Team A and Team B They couldn''t help but remember the suffering they encountered in the past three months. Sure, they did well getting a base in Ferrol, but it was like a perennial and ultra-dangerous mission for a few straight months. At the time, what made everything worse was that they didn''t know if their families were okay! Now that things had somewhat settled down and their messages had been sent to other territories, it was time for them to finally get a breather. While doing their respective tasks and jobs, they still deserved some luxury! They also wanted to taste more food, sleep a bit more, use the bathhouse some more, and also earn Contribution Points! They also wanted to try out the bathhouse again (which needed a lot of money if one didn''t have Contribution Points yet), and they also wanted to check out the Training Hall as well. There were so many places they had yet to explore! Anyway, they gathered together and made plans, soon separating to do their respective tasks. They were intent to make this their home in all senses of the word as soon as possible! This would start with having their own bed to sleep on! Eagle and Gaudi were in charge of purchasing the furniture and food stock, while the others were assigned to build their training yard as well as the planting area. Mao patted his chest as he volunteered to be assigned in the farming team. "My ancestors are farmers. I can do this!" He looked stupid as he tried though but, live and learn. The next issue to tackle was who was going back to the other base¡ªthat was, on who would be returning to Ferrol. No one naturally wanted to be in the first batch. After much in-depth discussion and calculations, they¡­ decided to draw lots. "But we just got here¡­" Luis pouted, glaring at the sticks, mentally threatening it not to choose him. "Oh please, you''re fine, but many of us won''t get any experience killing monsters here anymore." "Still sad though." "Right?" "I haven''t explored everything yet¡­" "I want to be here if news of our relatives gets back¡­" "Who doesn''t?" "But I heard the allied territories are much better now thanks to Altera, we don''t have much to worry about." Overall, it was a bit sad but not too much, because staying in Ferrol meant that there were stronger monsters, and their levels would definitely get higher than those who stayed. They would definitely stock up on food with long shelf lives, of course. Anyway, now came the draw lots for the 6 unlucky souls to be sent to Ferrol. This team would be led by Gill, who was automatically assigned to be in the team. Most of the soldiers prayed to their respective gods not to be chosen. Anyway, they would still go in two weeks, which was plenty of time to explore the territory. Naturally, half of the prayers would not be heard as six short sticks were picked. Someone even lost his footing and kneeled in depression (e.g. Luis). To sum, the ones who had to go back¡ªhereby referred to Team A¡ªwere Gill, Eagle, Luis, Sammy, Chris, Plaridel, and Mao. "Ahh¡­" In contrast, those who stayed like Turbo, Jake, Loki, Brandon, and Ryo¡ªhereby referred to as Team B¡ª heaved out a sigh of relief, and they were already thinking of how to hoard CPs (Contribution Points). Especially Ryo, who wanted to spend more time with his grandpa and aunt¡ªthe only family he had left. The atmosphere really varied in that room for a while, but Team A fortunately did not stay down for too long. In fact, not long after realizing they were getting assigned to the ''branch'' far away from their home, team A already had made various plans in mind. While a bit regretful, they understood they needed to continue getting stronger. Eagle, who had a huge space, already had a money-making plan which would soon be discussed with the captain. It was also a plan that would inevitably place Althea in a lot of people''s maps. ¡­ Seeing Team A scuttle out to stock up, Team B stayed and stared at each other. They started pondering when the guard team would start hiring again, lest they be left behind by those going back to Ferrol. No matter what, they could not remain stagnant! They also want to go see the other territories to look for their loved ones! But they did not have to wonder for too long, because a familiar ding soon sounded inside their heads. [Special admission! Every member of the Terran Mercenary Team had been approved to join the guard team as special members. [Special members: Can retain the double identities of territory guards and mercenaries. [Wages: 10 silver/day [Tasks: Protect the territory, rescue Terrans, and become the main force against strong enemies.] "Whooaaa!" "It must be sister-in-law''s doing! Isn''t she an elder?" Luis said and the others nodded, thinking it made sense. Except for Gill, no one else was privy to the fact that the territory could be connected to Althea that intimately. Regardless, the soldiers just admired her deeply. "This is amazing!" "We''re allowed so much flexibility!" "Our salaries are also much larger than others," Loki said with a smile, having investigated deeply. "Well, we are much stronger, so¡­" "Hehe, anyway¡­ nice, nice!" This was amazing because, although guards were mostly associated with teams (for example Jesse and Angelo to the Woodworkers), they generally could only do their job¡ªthat was, to guard. Giving this flexibility meant they still had their freedom as mercenaries. No matter what, this was too kind and preferential to them. They could only be given this much trust by the ''territory'', no doubt, because of the Captain''s nepotism. "Suspicious though¡­" A person said. Another nodded, "Even if Ms. Althea was an elder, she shouldn''t have been given so much power. We''re not weak, you know, most people who don''t know us would be guarded." "The Lord probably fell in love with her," someone said out of nowhere. It was Jake. He said so with a nod, as if certain of his theory. This made everyone pause, thinking it really made sense. Turbo though, just have him a pointed look. "A love triangle?" he scoffed, "You should write a novel." "Well, we can think of it as you practicing romance skills for Yiyi," Sammy added with a deep chuckle. This was followed by a few hoots that caused Jake''s face to flush red. "YOU!" But Turbo chuckled as he chewed on his chips. "Who knows, maybe he fell in love with the captain!" They laughed. "Idiot! Impossible!" The captain may be handsome, but he was too scary! But it didn''t matter. All they knew was that they finally were officially hired! ¡­. At this time, scary-Garan was smiling softly at his family. Similarly, the lord-that-couldn''t-have-fallen-for-him was staring back with a warm smile. They were each holding a baby in hand, with Althea carrying baby Alphonse and Garan carrying baby Nathalia. Garan''s heart was warm as he imprinted the image of his wife and children in his heart for the nth time. If Garan''s brain was a hard drive, there''d have been hundreds of thousands of new images saved by now. They were currently having a family outing in the view deck area, overlooking the wonderful territory his wife created. It was an incredibly beautiful sight, even better than those tourist spots back in Terran. The buildings were themed and congruent, the roads were wide and comfortable, and the greenbelts meshed everything together into a holistic piece. From an overlooking point of view, one would feel that it was not a mere village, but an organism. "My wife is amazing," he said smugly, carrying little Pepper closer to the railing, pulling Althea with his free hand. Althea chuckled and kissed Little Meatball, who was also squirming, wanting to get a view. "It''s amazing alright." Garan looked at her and then the territory. Indeed, it was a territory so amazing that people would definitely covet it. The mere image of Althea and the territory she worked hard for in danger made his mood turn dark, his grip on her soft shoulder getting a bit tighter. [Congratulations! The territory has determined you are qualified to become Altera Village''s Elder in Military affairs. [Wage: 5 gold/day [Would you like to accept? [Yes | No] He turned to look at the smug face of his wife and his dark mood was easily swept away. He couldn''t help but lean down again. "So, accept or not to accept?" She said and he grinned, placing another peck on her luscious mouth. Of course, he accepted. This was the happiest arrangement. What''s more, there was no conflict between family and ''country'', because they were more than just citizens, his wife owned the whole thing. "Don''t worry about this," he told her, stupid face gradually turned solemn, his deep eyes looking at her full of promise. "I''ll make the territory so strong¡­ "...that no one would be able to shake it." S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 358 Bank Later that night. Now that much of the worries in the territory could be passed on to her husband, brother, team, and the Departments, she could finally focus on the things she liked! Research! Product Development! Speaking of, three major manual constructions have been completed in the past few days: Her research building, the school, and the government office. Her research building and the school were located in the Education zone, a new area formed after expansion, just north of the Southeast luxury areas. As for the office located near the village center¡­ She turned to Ansel, who was eating his after-dinner snacks on the couch. "Have you been to the new office? How''s the fit-out works?" Ansel swallowed the food and answered, "Should be done by tomorrow," he said. "The departments can move to the new building the day after that." Then he changed to a pandering face again, scooting closer to Althea. "Hey, sister~" but stopped at a distance when he met Garan''s scary eyes. "We can hear you well from where you were," Garan said, bringing Althea¡ªwho was sitting beside him and lulling the children in her arms¡ª closer to him. "Tsk," Ansel tutted, before looking at Althea again with a gentle smile, "Do you have any plans for the second floor?" Althea blinked, "Not in particular." Before, she just wanted to make it into an extra meeting room of sorts, just to make use of it. But if Ansel could find a better use¡­ "Then¡­ can I have it?" The couple looked at him curiously, "What''re you planning?" "It''s time for us to make a bank!" The two''s backs straightened, eyes bright. Indeed! It wasn''t that she hadn''t asked the Aborigines if there was this institution, but they were all puzzled by the concept, even Oslo. She had to explain very thoroughly, and she could tell they hadn''t truly absorbed the concept. This was probably because the system and the existence of space were so convenient that there was no need to ''hide'' your money and valuables somewhere else. This world was also so unstable. Who would place their wealth in a place that could get destroyed at any time? And finally, the wealth disparity was large. Very large. Commoners generally didn''t have excess money to think big. "One of the major blockages before was that there was no paper so we couldn''t make ledgers and¡­ well, I needed someone who actually knew these things." "So you found one?" "I found two!" Ansel said, looking quite proud of his accomplishments. When he was trudging through the boooring day filled with interviews, this pair of brothers definitely lit up his day. The men''s names were Ramil and Raj, siblings, Ramil being older than Raj by about three years. They were people who used to work in a bank, albeit different ones with different scopes of work. What none of them knew at this time was that the forty-year-old Raj was one of the managers in the bank Althea robbed back in Terran. He was hiding in a storage room for a long time. Her clearing up the place gave him enough respite and a better chance at life. He even managed to find a few more things Althea didn''t bother with, allowing him to have a decent amount of gold when the Migration came. Anyway, seeing the brothers reminded Ansel of this institution, and how it could be used despite the existence of the convenient and omnipresent system. However, Althea couldn''t help but be a bit worried. "They are siblings?" Placing family members or people in close relationships in sensitive positions could get a bit risky. Ansel though had already thought this through. "Yes. They already signed a contract with the system, so we don''t have to worry about betrayals of the sort." Ansel said, "It''s really convenient, the system." "They should have clear tasks then, to avoid any conflicts." "Yep, considered! I''m responsible for the major decisions while Ramil is the Chief Financial officer responsible for the bank finances, overseeing loans, investments, and financial records. "Raj is assigned to Risk Management, which is in charge of the evaluation of credits (which shouldn''t be difficult with the oath system). He would also handle the Legal Compliances of the deals. Finally, he will spearhead the record-keeping department. "We will also be hiring other officers in charge of client relations and Security and the like." Althea and Garan looked at him, impressed, and Ansel saw this clearly. In fact, if Ansel had a tail like Fufi, it would be wagging very much. "Well, it seems like you''ve got it planned," Althea said, amused at his proudness. "Do you have a proposal?" Ansel grinned smugly, taking a rim of paper from the space. "Done!" Althea and Garan looked at the proposal, turning pages with apt attention. This was a very important institution and, judging by the contents, the three had thought about it decently enough. Basically, the proposal could be summarized as the following: Subject: Proposal for the Establishment of Territory Bank, a vital institution to promote economic growth, stability, and prosperity of the territory Dear Elders and Esteemed Village System, In response to the growing needs of the residents and businesses in Altera Village, we propose the establishment of the ALTERA BANK, a modern and comprehensive banking institution. The absence of such an institution presents an opportunity to provide essential financial services, fostering economic growth, and financial stability within our beloved community. Further, as the territory engaged in new endeavors and trade, the need for the institution will soon become apparent. Mission Statement: ALTERA BANK is committed to providing accessible, secure, and innovative financial services to the residents of Altera VIllage. Our mission is to contribute to the economic development of the region. After all, the Bank is the cornerstone of economic stability, and we hope to be able to provide this foundation. OBJECTIVES: 1. Wealth Preservation - provide a safe and secure environment for the storage of wealth against theft. While this may seem particularly unattractive with the available system space, this could be promoted by promising high-interest rates. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. 2. Trade Facilitation - we can act as a central Marketplace for merchants to deposit, exchange, and withdraw currencies. We can charge lower conversion rates than the system. 3. Business Support and Economic Growth - offer loans and investments that support the growth of local businesses, entrepreneurs, and artisans. We will also support local businesses through financial education programs and workshops. 4. Community Development- invest in community projects, infrastructure, and charitable initiatives to contribute to the overall well-being of Altera Village. This will also promote the sense of belonging of the citizens, as they could contribute to the territory''s development in another way. 5. Employment Opportunities - Create job opportunities for the residents of the village. 6. Provide Financial Projections - Provide detailed financial projections for the years of the territory, outlining anticipated revenues, operating expenses, and profitability. This will not be limited to the banks, but also financial projections to the entire territory based on information made available to us through the institution. CONCLUSION: The establishment of the Altera Bank represents a significant step forward in promoting the territory''s financial stability, growth, and citizen welfare. We humbly request the system for the approval of the pivotal institution, which will play a vital role in the territory''s bright and prosperous future. Sincerely, -Ansel Witt, Elder of Economic and Finance -Ramil Kuthra, Finance Officer -Raj Kuthra, Officer for Risk and Legal Management. ¡­ Althea nodded, impressed. "This, indeed, looks promising." She turned her head to her husband, "Right?" Garan nodded. "It will definitely help those who weren''t able to bring money but had so much to offer the territory." Ansel nodded. "Loans will also allow buying property possible even when you increase the prices¡ªsomething natural with every upgrade." Ansel paused and leaned back, suddenly looking a bit serious. "Actually, the citizens need this now more than before." The couple looked at him in interest and he continued to speak. "Except for the new people from allied territories, almost every one of the newcomers is a legitimate refugee," he said. "This means that they had likely lost everything when their territory was destroyed." Althea nodded. "These people¡­ they had to start from scratch." She then turned to her brother, feeling a bit proud. "Okay, good. I will send this to the elders as well to see if they have anything to add, but I don''t see any reason they would not recommend its implementation," she said, "Expect to receive your rewards tonight." Ansel brightened, heart filled with pride. "Yes!" ¡­ That night, both Ansel, Ramil, and Raj received the same notification. [For proposing the Bank system thoroughly, the system rewards you with 5000 contribution points each] [Congratulations. The Territory expects a lot from you. May you lead the territory''s financial literacy well.] Ramil and Raj sat up in shock. They were living in the dormitory at this time, and they immediately went to face the other at the announcement that rang in their ears. "Did you receive a note?" Ramil asked, though he limited the volume lest they wake up their roommates. His brother nodded and after a long pause of staring at each other, they grinned. It was finally their time to shine! Chapter 359 Research Items Later that night, Althea and Garan settled the babies in the crib next to the bed. The two of them looked at the adorable soft pumpkins in the breathing softly without a care in the world. They admired their children for a while, with Garan wrapping his strong arms around her stomach and placing his chin on her head as they did so. The back of her head naturally rested on his generous shoulder, feeling relaxed and protected. It was just that Garan''s hands started to move under her night dress¡­ Althea frowned and turned her head to glare at the man. "The babies are here!" But he chuckled instead, leaning down and lapping her sensitive ears. "I can keep quiet¡­" he whispered, "Are you not confident?" She blushed. "You¡ª" But she stayed strong. Pushing his lips away from her ears, she looked at him sternly. "No, I need to plan my research building. It''ll be available for use in a few days." Garan blinked and stared at her, wondering to what degree he needed to flirt to change her mind. However, he saw her emerald eyes looking quite stern despite her blushing cheeks, so he knew that Althea was really planning on finishing her tasks as soon as possible. As a good husband who respected his wife''s wishes, he didn''t push it. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Okay," he said with that baritone voice of his, placing a gentle peck on her forehead. "How may I help?" Althea narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously and Garan just found her adorable. "I may be able to input some ideas," he told her. "Even if I don''t, uttering them out could help you organize your thoughts." Hm, made sense. Seeing that her husband wasn''t thinking of perverted stuff anymore, her guard lowered and they moved to the room''s sitting area. Garan couldn''t help but take a few advantages and make her sit flush with him, though fortunately he didn''t do anything else. "I want to finalize my research team," she said, "What we lack in sheer power¡ªwhich we will still aim for, of course¡ªand I want to overcome this lack with everything else. "The fastest way to safely integrate was through the aborigines. Not only are they strong, they are also loyal while they''re associated with the territory," she said, "But this had its limits, especially when we aren''t at Town level yet. In the meantime, other level 3 villages have guards with average levels of 8 to 10." Garan nodded. "Okay," he said, "What particular items do you wish to see?" "There''s a lot." "Such as?" "Well for one, improved Metallurgy. We also want to do techniques like tempering and quenching. My goal is to create metals like steel or any other stronger metals than just iron." Garan brightened at this. "Indeed. That would take our military might and the industries to another level." As everyone knew, even the most impure iron sword here could give more damage than a steel sword from Terran. They could only imagine the damage that could be made by weapons made of aether-infused steel. Definitely superior. Just the thought made military man Garan look quite excited¡ªat least as excited as his cold-by-default face could get. Of course, this also meant the processing might also change, as it could be different from what was done in Terran. Althea nodded and listed that down. She opened the tablet to search for what to watch out for when making steel and alloys. They didn''t have a lot of Iron to experiment on after all, they had to plan ahead as thoroughly as they could. One of the main differences to watch out for was the atmosphere in Xeno. Handling aether was one thing, but even the air here was different. It was likely there would be some modification in the refining and reduction process recorded in her tablet. There would also be differences in the crystal structure of the steel atoms, which could result in enhanced (or subpar) physical properties, in addition to whatever aether itself could change. They could use wind and water to generate power now as well, and these would be helpful to use in bigger processes like steel production. As Althea wrote down all she could, Garan thought for a while and wondered what he could suggest. "We will need more for innovations of long-ranged weapons." Althea nodded. "Gunpowder, according to my tablet anyway, requires three primary components: Saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur." The first two were no problem at all and they could even produce them themselves. Saltpeter could be taken from decomposing organic matter¡ªsomething they had been doing all this time for biogas and fertilizers (and bombs). They had been planning on saltpeter for a long time, determining the exact methodology applicable in Xeno to create ice, but that was something that needed a bit of trial and error first. This was one of the first assignments given to her Research Team. Charcoal was easiest in such a wood-rich place as well, and they only had to process it. This also needed a bit of trial and error due to the differing atmospheric conditions of this place, but it should still be easier than creating saltpeter. Sulfur was the actual challenge and they had yet to find some. There didn''t seem to be a lot of volcanoes in this place (which was usually a plus, except for cases like this), so they''d have to find a place to mine it. At least, they had to find an alternative somehow and somewhere. She had already long sent a mission for thisbut there was no luck so far. "You also don''t have to limit yourself with gunpowder," Garan said, "I heard of a power source found in cities called Aether Crystals." This made Althea pause and look at her man. He looked at her curious expression and smiled. "From what I gathered, they are rare and are used to form teleportation arrays, barriers, and the like. I also heard it was used to destroy half a village infested with monsters before." This was one of the things he found out during his months of looking for a way home. It was too far and unimportant to him at the time, but now¡­ "Indeed, if we could harness it, not only would we have another power source, but maybe something like a plasma gun could be made." Her emerald eyes sparkled so much that Garan couldn''t help but kiss the eyelids over them. Althea smiled and accepted the show of affection before continuing her soliloquy. "I also want to develop electricity. So we need energy sources and ways to convert them to energy," she said, "If we could get this crystal, maybe we could use it as well." Garan nodded, "I''ll find a way," he said, "And we should also ask Oslo. He should be from amongst upper tier in a city." "You could tell?" "Hmn," he said, patting her head. "What else?" "Communication. Although I can send messages to everyone, no one else can do this except for announcements¡ªwhich are also very expensive if used too often. This isn''t including Matilda''s special skill, of course." "What about private messaging? We don''t have that yet." In fact, Oslo mentioned something called aether letters before. He promised to bring some back when he went home for a break. "Transportation is already ongoing but I do want to see some cars. Hopefully sustainable ones¡­" And hopefully, the types that could traverse the rough terrains of this world. If they could develop flying ones, then they''d be welcome. It was just that something simple like hot air balloons was risky, as they heard that there were high-level flying monsters that existed, especially around towns and cities. Hot air balloons¡­ were basically sitting ducks against these monsters. No one would commercialize on this unless they wanted to be ready food for flying monsters. Putting this issue aside, Althea proceeded to the next item on her list. "I want to develop glass-making mostly for my greenhouse and experiments," She said, "A lot of the materials have been found. All we have to do now is find the right process." Like what happened with the salt before, she doubted that the processing of glass here would be exactly like in Terran. She expected to have a lot of trial and error in this¡ªexpensive ones. Most raw materials like silica and soda ash were easy because of their location, but limestone was a bit harder to harvest because of the distance. Limestone had yet to be found after many many days of adventuring, and she had promised 10000 contribution points for the discovery of a good stock. Of course, until they develop the logistics, the cost of transportation would not be low. Not to mention, generating that amount of heat was no joke, so the research for that had to be done in parallel to save time. Garan nodded, "When you do, please develop optics and telescopes as well." There were also other things like glass ballistic shields, glass-ceramic armor, and the like. Glass could also be used to create solar-powered glass structures, though that needed to wait until they found the correct power sources. "Got it~" She said, smiling. Hm. The world was so big, they''d need all the tools they could get. There were plenty of things to do, but the fact that they were possible and implementable¡ªwas a source of hope in and of itself. It was quite exciting, and she was looking forward to what Altera would look like after all these were implemented! Chapter 360 Research Team (Part 1) Garan looked at her still-long list and rubbed her soft cheek. "Tell me more," he said and she happily continued with her chatter. "I also want to do printing for mass production of books now that we have paper." With the printing press, the education system would flourish, and with it countless other unquantifiable things. "We also need to fast track the handling of resin¡ªsomething that could''ve been available ages ago, if there weren''t so many wars¡­" For a start, she wanted to develop resin products such as rubber which could be made into tires, gaskets, seals, and other components. Rubber had been one of the essential material developments during the industrial revolution due to its importance in machinery. Other products like wax, waterproofing, footwear, improved bowstrings, and adhesives could also stem from this. She also wanted some improvement of ink, as the current one was really low quality with so many blots it was killing the over-compulsive her every time she wrote. There was also too much wastage as it was now, making ink still very expensive to make and more expensive to buy, should they be made commercially available in its current state. "There are also calculation devices other than the abacus, for everyone''s convenience." There were already plenty of abacus being sold in the wood-workers shop. It was fine now, but the territory population would increase. The territory lands would get bigger and bigger. The ancient methods would soon be obsolete. One of the calculating tools that could be done without electricity was the Analytical Machine, the precursor of modern computers that needed electricity. This was entirely a mechanical device and would theoretically (if done correctly) be able to do automated calculations and general-purpose computing. And when they figure out how to incorporate electricity, they would need this to create the electric prototypes of computers as well. This was really getting ahead of herself, but there was not much to lose. "When the basics are done, I also want to develop astronomy and navigation including accurate time keeping¡­" "I also want to develop weather prediction and meteorology. I want to know the changes of weather in advance¡ªI don''t want to depend on luck and wait in stress." She didn''t believe that the weather was completely unpredictable as the aborigines believed. According to the Aborigines, there were a few elders in certain cities who could determine an approximate timeline of the extreme weather changes, but it was up to their mood and how much a territory was willing to pay before they even gave a hint. How could Althea allow herself to be dependent on other people¡ªpossibly quacks? For a start, they needed to create non-electric tools to help the future meteorology department. For instance, there was the barometer, hopefully, a sensitive one, so they could immediately get alerted if storms arrived. They had already done wind vanes and anemometers a long time ago, but there were too many tools needed to be able to predict weather with some accuracy. For example, they would need thermometers, hygrometers, rain gauges, sunshine recorders, ceilometers, et cetera. The sad part was that a lot of these needed glass¡­ so that would definitely take a while. Further, when electricity became available, there were dozens of other tools to increase accuracy as well. "And then¡­ after all these are done, I also want to develop more everyday and lifestyle items like hygiene products, other types of cloth, even musical instruments." Lifestyle items were essential for the psyche, especially for those who had just arrived in this new place. Since they could do it, why not do it? Garan blinked at her long, definitely still-ongoing, list. His wife really had a lot of plans. He felt bad that she had been delayed for so long. Well, no matter. He was here to handle things she didn''t want to deal with. "That''s¡­ indeed a lot." He just said, kissing her cheek. Althea nodded very seriously. "Right?" "Well, know that you''re not alone," He said, "Do you already have people to work in the new research center?" She pursed her lips. She had forgotten about it. Fortunately, the research center had just been finished, otherwise, she''d feel very irresponsible. Garan chuckled, making her pout. Obviously, this was partially his fault for being so distracting right? The man naturally noticed her cute blaming eyes and smiled, distracting her (again). "Then why not make a general hiring notice, then?" "Ah! Yesyesyes." She opened her lord''s tab to send out an announcement to everyone. She included the visitors even if there was a bit of cost. As Ansel mentioned, most refugees at this point didn''t have much money in their pockets anymore. Receiving this notice would be more life-saving than it would be for others. And so, a couple of minutes later, a new notification would arrive on everyone''s screens. [Hiring! Seeking talented and driven individuals with technical knowledge in any field to explore, study, and contribute to the development of the territory. [Including but not limited to the following fields: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Medicine, Materials Engineering, Industrial Engineering, et cetera. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Wage: 300 copper/day, plus 1-20% profit share on individual invention, dependent on contribution] Satisfied, she then shifted the luminous powdery screen and ended up on the population list. Her emerald eyes stayed on a couple of names as well as their skill sets. Her dainty arms raised, she sent direct invitations to a couple of people. These people would be parachuted to leading positions: supervisory at the lowest, and team leads at best. That night, Alterans would be staring at their screen with hearts filled with excitement. As expected, the new announcement sent another shockwave in the territory. Not only to those who were qualified, but also to the citizens who would have nothing to do with the research center. This was because they knew that the territory was improving again. In time, this meant their lives would be even better! Another day, another proof that their territory is the best! Chapter 361 Research Team (Part 2) Althea would hire a few dozen people per team, with the leads receiving 1 gold per month salary. The leads would also have their own offices and laboratories. Eugene, the elder of Research and Development, would have the largest one for sure. All elders now received 5 gold a month like Garan did. This was actually a lot considering the cost of living in Altera and the benefits of ''employees'', but she didn''t want her elders receiving lower amounts than those hired through the Chancery of Appointments¡ªregardless of whether they could take home a smaller gross amount. Back to the team leads, the first to be invited was, unsurprisingly, Winona. She was set to spearhead the materials study team. As someone who knew materials the best, Winona would definitely help her out the most with maximizing the local materials. She would also be one to push for a great lifestyle in the territory¡ªat least the basic ones expected of Terrans¡ªso Winona was definitely one to depend on about those research items. Then there was Melissa. Melissa was Eugene''s coursemate back then. Although she dropped out after only after a year in university, Eugene told her that the woman was objectively talented and would be worthy of training. Melissa had a lot to learn, but she was booksmart and would really be able to help put theory to reality, at least some time in the future. The woman would be Eugene''s apprentice and assistant, hopefully triggering a similar job as soon as possible, even if it wasn''t the rare Creator job. Althea also sent an invitation to someone from Mathilda''s team: Belinda the antique appraiser, albeit on an on-call job. In a sense, they were also a type of scientist themselves, and they could definitely find projects to do with their own expertise. For now, her most likely use would be the study of local instruments. While they had the Aborgines, having another set of eyes¡ªone with an entirely different background¡ªcould help. Oslo promised to take back various tools and equipment¡ªeven if they seemed useless at first glance¡ªto bring back to Altera for study. The other aborigines, especially those from towns, also promised to bring back what they could when they decided to take a vacation and go back to their hometowns. The next one to be invited was Yen, one of Drake''s suitors. She was actually an electrical engineer who worked for Winona''s family, still in a supervisory position. Winona herself asked her to recruit the girl. Despite her questionable off-work habits (partying a lot, and having different boyfriends every few weeks), she had good professionalism while on the job, and it left Winona impressed. Winona said that she was lucky to get this one in her territory so early, so the study for electricity could start immediately. In fact, the invitation was a formality, as the girl had already submitted a proposal on what would be needed to get electricity. At this thought, Althea fished out the proposal from her space and looked at it again, sighing. For a start, they would definitely have to maximize their location¡ªwith the availability of strong winds and a natural river to create windmills and watermills. Then the tricky part¡ªthe actual conversion to electricity¡ªcame into play. In Terran, this was done with electromagnetic induction. They would need copper and magnets for this¡­ which were also raw materials they had yet to find. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They found their iron on bogs after all. Magnetite didn''t exist there at all. Sigh. Seeing his wife like this, Garan frowned, absentmindedly patting her head. If he had taken goblins with him, would they have been able to help with their raw material problems? He should''ve kidnapped them and tied them up real good to stop them from killing themselves¡­ How regretful¡­ Althea had no idea what morbid thoughts were going on in his head and just continued to run through her list. After electricity, there were plenty of other considerations prior to implementing it. They had to do load calculations, infrastructure planning, transmission and distribution planning, and many more. Next were the medical aspects. She sent an invitation to a young man named Gus. He was a pharmacist student who came with Drake''s team. Characterized by his freckles and brown hair, he was actually quite well-known as the dude who ''saved people from plants like Ms. Althea did.'' He had applied for Lily''s assistant position before but Althea saw his potential for the research center instead. Lily was also training her replacement, as she would be assigned to an actual health center when it was built. He would be helping Gru, who would have an office there as well. They would naturally focus on agriculture and plant research like she would. They would also help Clutch out with the combining plants and weapons/armor project. Clutch really wouldn''t be able to do it on his own, he''d need a bit of help from her and from others. And finally, for the weapons research, there would be quite a few people. For the Aborigines, there was Brenda and Troy. For Terrans, there were Jake and Brandon. The four of them would be spearheading this department, each with their own special teams to handle. The difference was that they would still be working in the factory. The area dedicated to them in the Research Center would mostly be for testing and optimization of the weapons they created. Sigh. She had a lot to do. Fortunately, she had a team with her. Anyway, the Research Center was large enough for all these projects studied together. It might take a while for most of them, but it was a step to progress, and that was what mattered. Garan smiled when he saw his wife finally take back her list to the space. He leaned down and kissed her, lifting her up back to the bed. "Now, it''s time to relax," he said as he hovered over her, using that low voice of his that seemed to make her heart beat faster every time she heard it. This time, she didn''t fight him. Chapter 362 Mass Level Up The next day. The Terran Mercenary Team villa was completely renovated the day after settling in. At this time, the farms were also tilled and the training ground was fully set up. It was amazing what they finished in less than a day. They were even linked to a part-time farmer to care for their future rations. Of course, they would pay for the fees themselves. As for the house itself, it was also basically completed. With Althea''s help, the team managed to hire the Interior Design firm under Baron''s company and the villa was quickly set up. It was set as a priority project by Baron as a favor to the new Elder, though it was also in exchange for a bit of training for his team. Of course, Eagle and the others gladly agreed. The house was also designed to maximize space, designed to fit everyone. The rooms were all dormitories with double-deckers, capable of comfortably accommodating all of them thrice over. They also had their own cabinets and storage areas, fixed for their personal use even if they were rotating to Ferrol. Even if the rest of the Mercenary Team¡ªTerran or not¡ªarrived here at the same time, they could easily be accommodated. The Captain also said he reserved the lot behind them, in case they needed to expand. As for the rest of the public spaces, they left just enough space in the remaining area to be a multipurpose room. This main sala would function as a dining room, a living room, and a meeting room adjustable according to needs. (More accurately, it was a large control room of sorts that could also be used to eat and relax after a meeting). What was also notable was the quality of the furniture¡­ Terrans had great adaptability, especially when they weren''t being hunted by monsters, so the quality of the products¡ªwhether it was wood, clothing, hides, earthwares¡ªwas improving at a straight line. For their purpose, they even made custom furniture for their unique needs. Even the Aborigines who had lived in cities were amazed by the increasing variety and quality of products. The soldiers were quite proud, someone was even a little teary. Sniff. "At least I was able to see the house completed before I left," Luis mumbled. It was also the day that Team A was set to depart for Ferrol. It was necessary, but they felt super reluctant. "I agree¡­" "Well, we have the advantage of earning more¡­" Eagle said, sighing. And it did make the others feel somewhat better. The previous day, they filled up their backpacks¡ªspace or not¡ªwith a lot of everything. They even took advantage of nepotism to get access to products not yet available in the Terran Market. They even purchased rickshaws. Some rubber products and shock absorbers had already been installed, and they were quite honored to be the first to use them. Eagle was also with them, but because of his space, he was flexible for both teams. After settling in Ferrol back them, the team signed a contract to keep the existence of the space stone and never to speak of it. This included Gaudi and everyone on the team, so he could use it within team premises without worry. Of course, because there were so many of them, the ''admin fee'' charged by the system was also quite large. Speaking of space stones, Eagle wondered if the captain had already given it to his wife. He looked at the Captain who was seeing them off and telling them some last-minute reminders, but he didn''t bring it up in the end. Garan watched Team A seriously, "I hope this trip is fruitful. Of course, your safety is Priority. Always." "Yes, sir!" "Good luck," he said, "Earn as much as you can." The soldiers nodded, eyes sparkling at the prospect of funds. They planned to sell the items for ten times the price, or even more, to make sure that the team had ample funds to operate. Each individual could also sell their own items, similarly to enhance their own¡ªand their families''¡ªlives. This was true even for Garan. He couldn''t financially depend on his wife right? What if some bastard who made good money swooped in and tried to shame him? It wouldn''t be the first time that happened. Back in Terran, when they were just dating, Althea had an obnoxious suitor coming from a big family. How many times that bastard referenced his being a poor soldier as a reason for his unworthiness of Althea, he couldn''t even count. Since then, he hadn''t refused the huge rewards reaped when they dealt with criminal gangs and terrorist groups. He had made quite a fortune, enough to give Althea the occasional jewelry that she liked. Before he left, he even constructed a villa in Aberdeen¡ªa low-level Green City. Too bad he wasn''t able to take any of this wealth. He was brought back to the present when Gill went forward¡ªafter saying a heartfelt farewell to his mother¡ªto greet him and Althea. "It''s time for us to go now," He said, "I will also try to get in contact with Bart and the others, as well as investigate that warning." This was to investigate more about what Bart mentioned before they entered the fog: Forces were congregating in this area. They also needed to know who was already nearby, so they could prepare. They saw the seven people off. Not only with filled space but also with filled backpacks and a couple of rickshaws they bought. There were plenty of goodbyes between the soldiers. After all, they were basically together every day, surviving life-and-death situations. OCD Ryo also mentioned to his friends for good measure, "I will make sure to clean out your beds once in a while." There were also a few hugs and Garan sighed at how dramatic big men were. They were only parting for less than two weeks¡­ But he didn''t say anything. After all, this world was too unpredictable. Although they were strong and careful, they could still lose their lives in unexpected situations. Anyway, Team A soon disappeared from their sights and he turned to the remaining soldiers: Turbo, Jake, Loki, Brandon, Ryo, and Reuben. For Team B, they were scheduled to integrate with the guard team later that day. Garan and Althea distributed them into four teams, referring to four shifts, with 8 hours each leg. One shift rested, while one shift stayed in the territory to guard it. The remaining two hunted outside to train. Once in a while, the shift would increase because they''d be going to other territories for visits as well. Other than that, they''d be taking weaker guards and training them, helping them level up. The territory now had over 300 well-fed and well-trained guards, but this was only in comparison to other Terran territories. Guards from aborigine villages averaged at around level 9 or more. Hence, along with Rowan, the remaining 7 soldiers were distributed to assist in the leveling up of the other guards. They would only take the last hit if the monster could give them experience points. While it seemed unfair to the mercenary team, they were promised contribution points so none of them grumbled at all. Of course, it wasn''t blindly giving the last shot, the mercenary team and aborigines made sure the guards also fought to the best of their capabilities. They would only weaken the monsters to the manageable level of the person and do nothing else except for when life was threatened. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The following week the guards were set on training desperately, and everyone was working hard. For the two shifts of hunting outside, all sixteen hours were used, and they tried to minimize travel time by running far from the wall, making noise, and eating well during camping breaks. After this shift, they would be either resting or stationed in the territory as respite, and the people originally assigned to these tasks would shift and go hunt outside. This led to the guards increasing several levels within a few days. The upgrading was understandable to the aborigines, considering the kills and assistance, but every guard had also awakened a fighting occupation which baffled them to no end. To their knowledge, people could only awaken one occupation at most and not everyone could awaken it. There was their Lord who got the archer occupation and the rare pharmacist occupation, but it seemed like she wasn''t alone. No one noticed the aborigines'' bafflement though because everyone¡ªincluding the citizens¡ªwas inspired to level up. This was especially because they saw fellow Terrans being so incredibly strong¡ªsome even stronger than the Aborgines they admired! Even if they were soldiers, they were still Terran humans in the end. Like they were! This meant that they could definitely catch up to the Aborigines if they worked hard enough! Most importantly: They could do magic! This prospect inspired the guards and citizens without limit. A lot of citizens also joined in and followed them. This triggered an unprecedented mass level up¡ªguards and normal citizens alike¡ªbringing the territory''s strength to a whole new level. Chapter 363 Level 9 During this time, the admiration and gratitude received by the soldiers and the aborigines who helped others level up was absolutely massive. Every day, some citizen or guard would be treating them to a meal, giving out supplies, and sending groceries. They saved a lot of money with all the treats. The citizens also loved feeding the soldiers. Most of the time, they also asked them about the elements, what their experiences were, and requested for some tips. It was as if they already activated their elements by their questions. The aborigines couldn''t bear to tell them that less than 10% of people could awaken elements. They could only smile awkwardly and make subtle hints along the way, trying to be as gentle as possible. For example: "You''re working hard, occupations should be within reach. It doesn''t matter if you become an Elementalist." This was Gauis speaking. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Yes, having an occupation is already amazing. Elementalists are overrated sometimes because of the mana issue¡­" However, many citizens had bright eyes and optimistic faces, quickly shutting them down. "No, no. I already have names of my techniques: Wind blade, Tornado Lift, and Breeze Distraction." "..." On the other hand, the soldiers had an inkling that everyone who survived to get here probably had the potential to be Elementalists, though they never said so out loud. Anyway, this went on for a few more days, with each soldier gaining their own fanbases like the aborigines did (known as the Golden Girls for Oslo and the Fiery Squad for Rowan). The Alterans watched in awe as fellow Terrans produced fireballs in their hands, throwing them into quick projectiles. They were accurate, hitting the monsters in critical places. They whistled as fellow Terrans produced water whips that floated gracefully around them. Amazingly, they used such a gentle element to create serious damage to monsters who could eat their heads in a single bite. They clapped as another soldier stomped his feet and tens of earth spikes emerged from the ground, skewering monsters in one shot, debilitating them for the others to kill. And they gasped in awe as fellow Terrans swiped their hands and created small tornadoes. Someone even flew for a few seconds. Anyway, it was all very inspiring. After all, this meant there was a possibility they could do it as well when they reached level 10! Many of these citizens and guards were victims of the stronger waves of monsters, each one lost a friend or loved one in these beasts'' jaws. Memory could get blurry, but the emotions of the moment were clear: They felt scared, hopeless, and extremely weak at the time. To see them being handled so easily by brethren who arrived not too long before them¡ªhow could they not be fired up? How could they not want to take revenge by themselves?! The very thought fired everyone up and the training got even more intense. Day after day people trained. The average level of the territory shot up to level 5 that week. For soldiers, it was level 7. Even Althea, who received solo assistance from her husband, became level 9 before the week ended. She was currently going against a level 8 monster with reptilian skin and sharp claws. She was visibly much more relaxed now than when she handled a monster a lower level before. This showed her exemplary growth at this time. Garan had barely weakened the monster beforehand. Of course, he did send ice walls to guard her as needed, but in terms of damage to the monster, it was basically all Althea. Althea narrowly avoided the monster''s sharp claws, rolling on the ground, and quickly regained her balance. She took advantage of its lagging movements due to its injuries and pulled out her improved katana, slicing the area under its neck¡ªits weakness. [Killed! Madara (Lv8): +220 Experience, +220 Copper] Althea heaved a deep breath but remained alert and standing. Garan walked over, congratulating his wife for another clean kill¡ªher tenth so far for the day¡ªbut her body was still tense, looking around for more enemies. The man looked at her, "It''s time to rest." "No, one more," she said, and there was no room for discussion. Garan sighed, heartbroken. But what could he do? He could only follow his wife''s wishes. ¡­ They stood on a mountain apex within the territory line after the training that day, setting up a picnic cloth while watching the sunset. They prepared a lot of fruit, sandwiches, and the like. They sat down, seemingly relaxed, and it was worth noting that Althea did not have a pint of blood on her even when they went straight from training. It could be seen that Garan protected her well. Of course this didn''t mean that it wasn''t much of a training. On the contrary, it was quite effective. The main focus of today''s training was how to handle the monsters directly¡ªideally maximizing their weak spots. Althea actually did more damage than just the last shot, which meant she also got more actual experience than most of the other guards. The only reason she didn''t have bloody injuries was because Garan covered her with his ability when she was hit by monster attacks. It was estimated she still had a number of bruises from the impact. So now they decided to have a picnic to reward her for a job well done. They set up at the apex of the still-undeveloped luxury community #2. The homeowners would have access to a branch of the mountain spring. She''d find a way to create an outdoor hot spring, and turn this into a resort area. They were having their picnic on a small plateau in this area. It was cleared of invasive trees (transferred somewhere else), leaving just enough cover for those relaxing, and the whole area was framed by beautiful canopy trees on the side. This area was planned to be a luxury view deck in the future. Well, someday. Its altitude was also high and the view of the territory was even better than the existing view deck. Coupled with the reddish hue given by the resting sun, the view was absolutely gorgeous. "Ouch!" She yelled as Garan gently wiped an ointment on one of the more visible bruises. She almost spat out the sandwich she was eating. "Bwe gentle!" Garan chuckled at her childish look and took a second look. As she grew up, she naturally showed less of this. But in front of him, he could still see glimpses. Of course, he was even gentler with his massages and he shifted to the bruise at the back of her arm. "Take off your jacket," he said and she maneuvered herself so he could help her take her jacket with minimal pain. Her eyelids twitched a bit but she didn''t say anything. She didn''t want to suddenly start acting like a baby as soon as her male lead appeared. A few moments later, the gentle Garan successfully took off the leather cover leaving her wearing only a sleeveless top. He frowned when he saw the large bruise¡ªas large as his palm¡ªat the back of her arm. The contrast between the bluish-green mark against her white skin hurt his eyes and pained his heart. Of course, while painful, he never stopped her from wanting to get stronger. It was for her own good, after all. His hand was as gentle as it could be, massaging the bruises skillfully that Althea moaned a little. The associations of the sound sent heat to his body and his eyes darkened a bit. If she wasn''t so full of bruises, it was estimated Garan had already touched her with perverted thoughts. But the comfort of his wife was always above his own so he pushed back the desire. All these tangents did not affect the gentleness of his massage at all. Althea closed her eyes in relaxation, reviewing the fights of the day by habit. However, she couldn''t help but think about how it was for her husband and his team back then. They didn''t have the luxury of the protection period, and they must''ve been thrown at such strong monsters from the get-go. How much had he suffered? She suddenly turned her body to face her husband, which surprised him. But he was shocked when he saw a line of tears in her eyes. "Oh no¡­ did I hurt you?" Garan said, obvious panic on his face. Althea''s heart warmed and she just sat on his leg and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her chin on his wide shoulder. Garan, though puzzled, hugged her back, trying not to touch anything lest he hit a bruise. "It must''ve been very dangerous, when you were thrown to this place all of a sudden." Garan finally knew what she was crying for and was relieved she wasn''t hurt. He gently wrapped his arms around her, though without any pressure, and placed his chin on the top of her soft head. "The thought of returning to you kept me going," he said and smiled. In response, Althea hugged him a little tighter to further feel his presence. It was a wholesome moment that lasted for a while. It was just that the warm atmosphere was broken when Althea moved a little and¡­ felt something hard poking at her leg. "..." "..." Chapter 364 Team As Side Ferrol Town, a few days ago For the first day or two after arriving in Ferrol Town, the team had been predominantly training, and using the rest of the time to study the market and investigate some news. So far, it seemed that no unusual territories have gathered their forces in Ferrol yet¡ªat least not suspiciously en masse, and there was no one who only stepped on Ferrol right before or after the Protection Period ended. As for the activities of other territories, it was difficult to say for sure if they were doing anything suspicious. After all, there was an event in Ferrol and it welcomed various territories and visitors at this time. It was not wise to investigate these territories too closely either, as they were not arrogant and thought they wouldn''t be found out. They would definitely be found if they weren''t careful¡ªand if they attracted hostility to Altera because of this, then they would have sinned. This didn''t mean they dropped their guards, of course. They always kept a sharp eye and ear about what was happening around them, assigning most of their members in spying tasks (rotating) while the rest made money for the group. Other than these, they were also asked to further solidify their knowledge of the indigenous market and analyze whether it was worth being put on their radar with their strength. After all, selling Alteran products would naturally put the village on the map of the aborigines. Not to mention: They were planning to debut at Ferrol''s annual market festival¡ªwhich was a conglomeration of various territories. In Terran terms, this was like a massive multi-territorial Expo, and they would definitely get exposed to all kinds of people. This was both a risk and an opportunity. As people who had stayed in Xeno for months, they had a better idea of how charming Altera was to the aborigines. They knew how innovative Altera''s products were. Even fellow Terrans were amazed by how quickly things were made¡ªlet alone the aborigines who were completely clueless about what they were at first. But sister-in-law said there should be more gain. She was confident they could beat territories around the same level anyway. There was also a level limit in wars to prevent strong territories from sending ultra-strong professionals to wars of subsidiaries. This was a very kind rule, as it minimized heartless massacres of entire territories. Although the current generation of Aborigines wasn''t born yet before the wars were established, they had heard plenty of stories passed down from their families. It was truly a horrid time back then, and there was no one who could truly sleep in peace. At the time, it was said that even with long lifespans, no one really lived beyond 100 because they''d have either been killed in a war or killed because of the injuries accumulated after battling their whole lives. The exemptions to this rule were extremely protected individuals¡ªoftentimes at the expense of other people''s. When the Territory War limitations were implemented, everything changed. This relative peace, followed by the appearance of the System, allowed most territories time to grow. It was just that war, selfishness, and one-upmanship were still the main instinct against each other and against other territories, so even if resources were ample, growth remained slow. In any case, the Territory War Limitation was only positive, and they were thankful for it. Interestingly, there was no formal ''document'' on what the rules were. People just¡­ found out through time and experience¡ªreceiving warnings and punishments every time they did something wrong. Eventually, an unwritten summary of rules was formed and it was passed from generation to generation. This became quite long, with differing details. What was interesting was the fact that knowledge about these ''rules'' had some variances from person to person. For instance, Oslo (unsurprisingly) knew more rules than everybody else. This added a lot of dynamics in wars because there could be rules and loopholes that certain territories kept to themselves. Anyway, the major rule that everyone agreed on was the level limitations that took into effect during wars. This was the level of the citizens allowed to actively participate in wars¡ªthat was, to attack and kill. For villages, a maximum level of 15 was allowed. This meant that even a lot of the members of the mercenary team would be unable to join in. At best, they would only be able to defend within the territory line, and nothing beyond that. For towns, the maximum level was 30 and, for cities, there was none. The point was, even if Altera got exposed, they didn''t have to worry. The territory was strong enough with all these limits in place. The bigger pity would be to hide and miss this opportunity when they''d be found out sooner or later anyway. It was better to show oneself to as many people as possible from the get-go, showcasing what Altera could offer them¡ªthis way, attacking Altera might risk offending others, because people''s interests would be affected. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was definitely easier to become a helpless victim when there was only the assailant who knew about your existence. Anyway, after a few days of training during ''work hours'' and studying the market during their rest times, the soldiers finally had a rough idea of the situation. In particular, they had an idea of the initial markets they would be exposed to (which were predominantly towns and villages) as well as the market prices of similar items¡ªwhich were much more inferior in appearance, quality, and function. Eagle estimated they could even charge much more than 15 times the buying price back in Altera. This was very good news because it meant that they''d be rich! And the Mercenary Team will be rich! Better, the captain would never be thought of as ''eating soft rice''! After all, sister-in-law was really too rich in comparison to everyone else! Then again¡­, as the original source of these items, their selling of the products would also make Ms. Althea richer! Ah, so complicated! Chapter 365 The Rest of the Terran Mercenary Team Inside the Terran Mercenary Team Ferrol Branch "What do you think is going on?" Essed, the bald-headed spear-user, asked the others as he looked curiously at the masters. They had just gone back from a day of training and investigation, immediately going to the storage and taking out the large baggages they brought before. Madon followed their movements as well and offered to help, only to be rejected. They couldn''t help but remember that not even a week ago, the masters were extremely antsy and panicked. Look at them now, all smiles and very giddy¡­ "The somber atmosphere from before the masters left turned lively." Madon paused, "I''m very curious about what happened." More and more staff arrived to watch the fun, and they nodded at Madon''s words. It wasn''t that they hadn''t asked. It was just that when they did, all they received were sly smiles. "Well, it was definitely a good trip. They all looked so serious and worried before they left¡­" Essed said and smiled, watching as Luis cackled by himself. The young man was looking at the covered rickshaw as if it was his beautiful wife¡­ Speaking of rickshaws, the aborigines had been pondering about them for a while, though they couldn''t be used by them yet as the tools were stored along with the other things. Those rickshaws were really high quality. Their towns and cities had this, but they had never seen one done so well. They had seen it move when it got here, it ran so smoothly. Somehow, even on bumpy roads, they saw the items inside received much less shock than they should. It must be quite comfortable to use. There were quite a few people outside who knocked on their gates, asking who made them¡­ But¡­ the masters were being so mysterious and they were often outside, and they could only say that the masters got it from another territory. The aborigines continued to chat a bit before going back to their posts, only they didn''t have to as the deputy had already called on everyone. "Meet up!" Gill yelled and his sharp eyes watched as they filed the hallway one by one, looking at each of them. Other than the Terrans, a total of 21 aborigines were hired. There were 8 in logistics and 13 were fighters. The eight people on the logistics team were Pipa and Sasa, who were regular seamstresses; Roana and Yoyo, the regular cooks; Koli regular tanner; Jessi, a regular gardener, and; Furong and Semi, regular carpenters. None of the logistics officers received system occupations, so their skills were extremely limited. However, this was fine for the simple Mercenary team and they never believed in limiting people so strictly. They even had hope that maybe their people would upgrade if they worked hard enough. Perhaps they could even go study in Altera to get inspired. As for the fighters, there were plenty, most of whom were just normal people who had experience in fighting and without occupation. The most notable of which were four men: Kleid, Klaus, Knauff, and Thorance. Klaus and Knauff were one of the first fighters hired by the Mercenary team. They were both level 14 and were left in charge of the team of level 12s-13s. There was also the level 21 Kleid who had taken the helm while they were gone. All of the masters left and left them such a big place to care for. This level of trust was unprecedented, even with the contracts. Leading a team was something they never thought that they could receive in a big town at their levels. They naturally worked hard and so far they had not disappointed the core people. The next one, Thorance, was a newcomer. He was hired just before the soldiers left for the fog. He was also a bit good-looking with lustrous chestnut hair, pale skin, and lazy eyes that seemed as if he didn''t care for the world. He was also the only elementalist outside the core people. After all, Elementalist were rare and important, they generally went to strong forces instead of small budding ones like the Terran Mercenary Team. Let alone, he was a wood Elementalist. It was not the rarest element, but it was surprisingly on the less populated spectrum. As for why Thorance, a rare wood elementalist, joined the Terran Mercenary team was a long story that was not to be discussed in detail. To summarize, the wife of a lord fell in love with him and he suffered hell because of it. It got to the point that he had to relocate to the nearest town. He was scared to enter larger groups lest he be targeted so he chose an unknown entity to make that lord feel like he really fell from grace, finally leaving him be. However, seeing the light-hearted interactions between the group, a small smile graced his lips. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It seemed like he landed in a very good place. ¡­ Next to him was the semi-bad Madon who was also very, very, curious and was just itching to ask for more information. Also¡­ where was Jake and Brandon?! WHERE ARE THEY? Madon had been steadily improving his craft. Although he was still far from upgrading, his pace was much much better than before¡ªwhich could have been said to be hopelessly stagnant. However, in the past weeks, he had experienced unprecedented growth! A lot of this was due to Jake and Brandon and he still had a lot of questions! So¡­ where were they?! While Madon was being confused, the logistics and back-of-room people like Pipa and the others were eager to prepare food and others for the masters. Especially the women, who were shamed for working at first, but then they gave their families their first partial paycheck and their position in the household was suddenly elevated. It was amazing. It was like money made the world go round. Anyway, the aborigines whose paths had been limited were given new roads by the Mercenary team, tightening the hold on their hearts and loyalties. And¡­ each one of them was looking forward to its growth. Chapter 366 Stepping into the Map Gill stood in front of the twenty people standing side by side with the rest of Team A. From this, one could see the slight differences in physiques. The aborgines were generally larger than they were, with most of the males at least a head taller than the average Terran. "You may be wondering what we''ve been up to the past day or two," he said, and the aborigines couldn''t help but nod. "Well, we went to a place to look for our people¡­ and we found them." He paused and their aborigines wondered what this implied. "It means that we have found our homes and had already set a base there. Half of us had already stayed." This made them flinch and looked around. They were leaving? What would happen to this place? They had grown to like this place and were quite proud to say they lived here when they were asked. In their families, it was a point of pride for them to say their team ''owned'' land in a town, which was indeed a great feat. "This will be a branch of the mercenary team," he said, "Our place there is actually a bit smaller, but we were given access to the territory''s barracks and other amenities like training halls. "Like I said: The rest of the team stayed there, and they (probably except the captain) will switch up with us after two weeks." Gill let that sit for a while, and it took a couple of minutes before anyone started asking questions. "Can we ask where this is?" Thorance asked. "Altera Village." "A village, sir?" Thorance asked, startled, and everyone was just as baffled. Why would would shift from a stable and large place like a town to go to an unknown village? Not to mention, they had the rare honor of owning their own place, and having close partnerships with the lord! How many Mercenary teams had this advantage? Gill and the others understood their unvoiced questions, and they couldn''t blame them. They could see their visible pride when they saw the base being built, and how they were a member of it. Of course, they would be worried. It was Luis, the friendliest one, who spoke up. "It''s not just a village." He said, looking quite smug and dreamy. "You may not believe it, but people''s lifestyle there is much better than here." He told them, "You''ll see. Some of you will come with us there." Eagle then stepped forward. "The reason we called you here is for a different reason, however." He then turned to the secured items and nodded. With his signal, the flimsy fabric covering the bags and rickshaws fell, revealing its contents. It was a variety of odd items and produce, most of which unfamiliar to them. Eagle pointed at the items and turned to the aborigines with a smile adorning his aquiline face. "We will be joining the bazaar!" Aborigines: "...???" So¡­ the core people came back from hard training and called everyone in to announce that¡­ they would not only move base, but they''d also start¡­ selling in the market? "????" The soldiers looked at each other with grins. It was Sammy, the part-time salesman, who walked forward and fished out a piece of flatbread in one of the pretty jars. He also took another ceramic plate (which was also pretty) and placed the flat hard-looking brown bread there. The dark-skinned man then turned to them with a smile. "These are pseudo-cookies. Sweet, crunchy, and heavenly. Well, compared to what you guys must''ve had." He grinned, lifting up a piece and breaking it to bite sized pieces¡­and then he divided it once more. In the end, there were tens of small pieces on the plate. By ''small'', it meant the pieces were as small as a child''s fingernails. No way they could give them a sample each. A piece of this could be sold for a lot of money¡­ The puzzled aborigines took the tiny-sized brownbread, looking at it closely in puzzlement. They lifted it up near their eyes even and saw a lot of crumbs. They stared at it for a long time, and Sammy''s eyes twitched a bit in impatience. "Eat it," Sammy had to order and the aborigines reluctantly placed the pieces in the mouths, not really knowing what to expect. But the instant it touched their tastebuds, they froze. What is this¡­? They found themselves drooling for more, numming, trying to taste if there were still uneaten crumbs left in their mouths. There was none. And they felt their hearts fall. "Would be great if there''s chocolate," Luis¡ªwho had been watching enviously from the side¡ªsaid, gulping as he imagined it. "Milk, too," Chris said and Plaridel nodded. "I heard the chocolate and coffee trees would flower in about a few more months or so!" Mao flinched, whipping his head to them. "Seriously?! We had those trees? I want to go back!" "I said it''ll take a few months!" "But I want to see them!" Mao said with such determination in his eyes. It was as if he was being taken away from his babies. Plaridel just crossed his arms and whistled in his usual suave way. "I''m just amazed people could still make cookie-like food with limited ingredients..." They nodded, with more than a few enumerating some ''dream products'' they hope to see in the future, as if visualizing would make them come true. Anyway, while the soldiers were dreaming, the aborigines were in a daze. It took some time before their souls returned to their bodies and they looked hungrily at the rest of the items. The soldiers were amused. "They aren''t all food," he said, "Some are ingredients, some are tools." One by one, they called the logistics team, and they began to introduce the items to them little by little. Mao looked at a middle-aged woman. "Roana, Yoyo." He gestured for them to come as he stood next to large jars of earthenware. "Come here." "Yes sir." He waved at the jars with exaggerated motions as if they were magical things. "These are culinary treasures," he said, "Eagle will teach you how to use them later. Mao then opened them one by one, revealing different colored liquids with different scents. Because of the nice surprise the so-called cookie gave, she was just excited to explore this new thing. Mao opened the jar to show it off. Yoyo was a huge guy and was afraid to hit a jar by squeezing in, so he let Rona study it first. She looked closely, even sniffing. Some were nice while some were too strong. She twitched, almost coughing. What was this horrid thing? Mao¡ªwho was prepared to cover the jars with his body in case she really coughed or sneezed¡ªbreathed out in relief that the precious babies were safe. He couldn''t help but appear unusually reprimanding though, and Rona and Yoyo immediately straightened their spines. "These are treasures, you know! Contaminating them would cause succhh a loss to humanity! Each of these seasonings and sauces is not inferior to what captain made, y''know!" The words ''captain''s sauce'' made everyone flinch and look at him in disbelief, before whipping their heads to look at the vats, eyes bright with renewed light. What? Sauces like the Captain''s?! They are definitely treasures then! After all, the food added with the Captain''s special sauce was heavenly! The lot of them walked closer, trying to get a closer look, and Mao had to warn them many times not to squeeze or else they could damage the jars. Upon closer inspection, they realized that there were weird writings on the brown jars. Quite correctly, they assumed the texts referred to the names of the sauces. Terran universally adopted a phonetic system of the alphabet, and it was unfamiliar to locals, for now, so it was up to them to translate it a bit. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Especially eager to learn were their cooks. Neither Ramona nor Yoyo awakened the cooking profession, but they showed some talent in the dishes they described. This was why they were hired. After all, the only ones who could cook among them were the Captain and Eagle. How dare they ask for food often? Maybe they''d get those dry bread from the restaurant shoved down their throats instead! Anyway, the two cooks naturally knew the potential of these new ingredients and could foresee a whole new world in their cooking. Maybe they''d get to awaken a profession! ¡­ In another part of the room, Luis also went to other items to introduce them to the pertinent aborigine. Pipa, an old woman of nearly 70 years of age, looked at the bolts of cloth in front of her, shaking. Since she was let go from the clothing factory due to her age, she had not touched another bolt of new cloth. She only repaired old ones. "We will have a lot of supplies of this?" The pale and thin asked, unsure but eyes filled with anticipation. Then she looked at them worriedly. "Will it be too expensive?" "Of course not," Luis said, with a proud grin on his face. "We got the dealer''s price!" Pipa didn''t know what ''Dealers price'' was, but it seemed to be a good thing so she nodded with a smile. Sasa was also beside them, her curly hair covering much of her face and as quiet as always. However, if one looked closely, one could see her eyes were also bright. These were just a few of the many introductions that occurred at that time. There were a lot of other things in that pile: wood utensils, wood toys, food like jerkies, and instant noodles, and each of them heavily piqued the curiosity of those who had never encountered them in their lifetimes. The soldiers looked at the aborigines'' reactions with sharp eyes and amused smiles, gauging how the outside market would take the items. Needless to say, even if no one said anything, they knew that any of these would definitely be a hit! "Gah! So excited!" Luis yelled and a few were already making calculations in their heads. Others had already started planning the booth, and others planning the marketing. No matter what kind of preparation they were doing, one this was for certain. For Altera''s debut to the world outside was inevitable, and it deserved to go with a bang! Chapter 367 Fair Booth Preparations! The Town of Ferrol was especially lively at this time of year, with every inch of its land filled with chatter and activities. It was the annual Ferrol Market Fair, after all. At this time of the year, the town was characterized by bustling activities and the sound of transactions as people from various territories and places merged together at the prospect of money. The stalls were lined up relatively neatly, leaving a pathway of about two meters wide in between blocks. Each one was occupied and each one was filled with products and people trying to attract customers traversing along the street adjacent to them. "Basset Town products available here!" "Poli Village meat here! Please buy!" "Seafood from the famous Masusa Port City!!" "Kilpo City time-limited fabric available here! You can''t find these colors anywhere else!" "Special spices from Holt City! Add a bit and you''re taken to Elvendell with every bite!" Watching the lively market from a distance, from inside the large Lord''s Mansion located smack in the middle of the town, was Lord Jonathan. He was looking down from his room above eye level, and he nodded when he saw the event was as usual before turning his head back to his guests in the sitting room. They seemed antsy as they sat, unable to sit properly¡ªlacking the dignity that lords ought to have. Jonathan sighed and walked to them, with the two bowing a bit in greeting. He sat down and looked at them. He didn''t say anything and for a while, he just tapped his fingers on the wooden armrest. He sat unmoving as he looked at the two old men who finally gathered the courage to look back at him. It was just that they were pale, embarrassed, and very guilty. "How is your village?" Jonathan asked Gen, the Lord of Poli Village. He had a rounded physique, almost as rounded as his curls, and he looked down at his hands, feeling guilty. "We didn''t find the fifth son of the Golds. He must''ve been hired somewhere else." He said. Jonathan sighed, and turned his head to the tall pale skinned man next to Gen. The man''s name was Kona, the Lord of Kona Village. Kona in turn shook his head and apologized. "It is the same with my, my lord." Jonathan sighed. Pity. When he heard the fifth son of the Golds Family was sent to the Chancery of Appointments for training, he, who had always wanted to hug this thigh, quickly contacted all his affiliated villages to hire anyone with golden hair and blue eyes. As for the Lord of Guia village, he didn''t bother to invite him. He was just an affiliate of Ferrol Town in name anyway. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He then excused the two lords and slumped down on his chair, a bit disappointed. In the end, he decided to do some shopping outside in hopes of feeling a bit better. Before he could relax though, Cassandra and her friend strutted into the room and sat naturally on the sofa. Cassandra, Veronica, and Jonathan had been extremely close since they were children. Cassandra could let go of her lady-like upbringing around with him in private. "I saw the old men." "And?" "I heard what you called them here for." "So?" "You don''t seriously want to hire that guy? He''s useless!" Cassandra asked, looking very disappointed in her cousin''s brain. Jonathan massaged his temple. "He may be somewhat of a prodigal, but his blood isn''t. Don''t forget: he''s the Gold''s favorite son." "Favorite son to spoil." "Loved nevertheless. And aren''t they trying to straighten him up?" He said and looked at her. This time it was him looking at her with disappointment. "You should''ve introduced me before you broke up." Cassandra rolled her eyes and Veronica laughed. Jonathan sighed and decided to change the topic. He looked at her in puzzlement, "Anyway, when did you come back?" "Just today," Cassandra said as she pushed back her volumic purple hair. "I really don''t like staying home. All they do is nag. I think they already found me a fiance." Jonathan''s eyebrows rose, curious. "Who?" "Some only son of some town lord," Cassandra said, shaking her head. "Anyway, imagine my reaction when I saw those lords and found out what you called them all the way here for." "Of course, that wasn''t the only reason," Jonathan corrected her. "It''s my annual trade fair, don''t you remember? I have a share in their stalls." Cassandra didn''t bother responding. Of course she knew! She was here at this time every year. Looking at his cousin''s mocking stare, Jonathan smirked, knowing full well what could wipe that arrogant look off her face. "Gill is also back." Cassandra''s back immediately straightened at the mention of Gill''s name. A few days ago, Jonathan sent her a letter that Gill left, so when she rushed here she thought she''d have to wait for him, pining helplessly until he returned. Fortunately, she didn''t have to suffer for so long. "Really?" She mumbled softly, unconsciously showing shyness and lady-like glee. "Excuse me." She strutted away with poise like usual, though those who knew her would know that she was walking much faster than usual. Veronica also brightened and gestured to stand up and follow. Seeing this, Jonathan couldn''t help but send out, "Brandon isn''t though." "Eh? Why???" Veronica looked pitiful, as if she was betrayed, but Jonathan rolled his eyes, completely unaffected. Jonathan shrugged, "Go ask them." Then he stood up, joining the two women in the end. "Nevermind. I also want to know where Garan is." Since the great success of their previous deal, he kind of wanted to do more projects together! ¡­ Ferrol Market Ferrol Market was a hectare-large open space in the western part of the territory. This place had always been kept open for different events. There would be an event held there every few months and, without exemption, each one improved the town economy a few days before and after the event. For example, three months prior there was a fighters'' tournament with rich rewards. Plenty of towns did this particular event, with Ferrol being one of the favorites. ''Professional'' fighters¡ªthat was, men who fight in public for money¡ªtravel from town to town in an attempt to win prizes. The street fights were the wildest during this period, but these fighters paid well so few people bothered with them. The ongoing Market Fair was set three-fourths into the year. It was also the biggest annual event, primarily because only Ferrol had this honor in the area. It was to the point that guests rented out houses so they had a place to stay. It lasted for an entire week. The next and final event of the year was set in two months. This was called Beast Tamers Plaza, where certain beast tamers would auction off their beasts for high prices. As a town, it was good to be able to host these events usually only found in cities. The Lord Jonathan was obviously quite capable. Back to the market, the Terran Mercenary team''s stall was located at a relatively good location not too far from the center. The team rented out three stores, and each one of them gathered quite a bit of attention. The group worked together to prepare the booths, completing it just in time for the event''s opening. One of the first things people would see here was the signage. Eagle and the others commissioned their signages with Houser, the woodworking aborigine that Baron hired. It had the special effect of attracting bystanders who stared at it for more than 5 seconds. It was like a medieval neon light, except it wasn''t lighting up. Of course, to ensure people actually stared at it that long though, there naturally had to be something interesting in the signage from the start. For this purpose, with text artistically carved in Xeno universal language, they made the lettering of their store name intricate and eye-catching. They even added more imagery to the lettering. For instance, one character was like a miniature person standing up, welcoming customers in. Speaking of alphabets, the Xenoan alphabet was composed of logograms which was a little difficult to learn in the beginning, but intuitive once the basics were mastered. Altera in Xenoan language was composed of two characters, with the highly literate aborigines helping them out (primarily Oslo). The first character was an elongated character that looked like a rectangular tower with a few crisscrossing lines inside and a little dot on top. In Xenoan, it meant either mighty, tall, or prideful. The second was more horizontal with a large semi-enclosed box surrounding the character. There were also two commas inside, connected at the bottom, forming a sort of dual-leaf shape. It signified peace and prosperity. It was a very fitting choice for what they wanted Altera to be. And now, the name became an inevitability they recorded on stone. Or, in this case, wood. It was also the name that would eventually resound across the world. Chapter 368 Ferrol Annual Market Fair They remembered when they first saw it. They thought that the sign was very good and admired it a lot, unconsciously engraving it in their hearts. It wasn''t even because of the signage''s effect. The Terrans watched as people would stop to stare for a second, stare some more, and then feel some subconscious attraction to check it out, to come closer and view it more closely. Without knowing, these people already took a step closer to their signage, before finally realizing what happened. It was an amazing skill and, if used by enemies, a little scary. However, the people here seemed to be more focused on fist and brute strength. Auxiliary skills like this, except for those related to healing, tended to be ignored. Well, it was their loss. A lot of potential customers soon approached, realizing they had plenty of novelties that also demanded attention. From this, one could see that the purchase of the signage was definitely cost-effective. Of course, Baron claimed to have given them a discount, in the face of sister-in-law, which was an added bonus. Anyway, from their judgment, the positive branding of Altera was a sure bet. The group divided the stall they rented into three: Food and seasonings, Cloth and other Household Items, and Toys and other paraphernalia. They asked Baron''s woodshop to customize several slanted shelves for these items, as well as counters and seats. Each section had their own shelves, with enough emphasis¡ªi.e. larger spaces¡ªon the featured items. The arrangement alone attracted attention before, more so when they finally put up the signs, and now their stall was slowly being filled by curious citizens. "What is this?" "How interesting¡­" "It looks clean and nice¡­" Another said, comparing their arrangement with other stall''s haphazard ones. Soon, more and more people gathered in their shops. Fortunately, everyone was mobilized so on the whole the sales were organized. Luis, Sammy, and the other thick-skinned Terrans had trained the aborigines on what to say the previous night. Some were a bit shy and aghast at first, but the brainwashing was strong and they managed to gather some courage in the end. Not to mention, they were truly amazed by the products themselves! Wise business people often say: The best salespeople are the ones who believe in the products they sell! As such, the aborigines, who were better aware of the needs of their fellowmen, actually sold with more passion. "Try this! It will take you to Elvendell!" Yoyo said, pointing at an area of sweet crackers. "This is not something you''ve tasted before, I guarantee! We will refund you if you don''t like the taste!" His passionate guarantee gathered a lot of people to buy despite not being able to taste it. It was expensive, but they took the risk due to his promise. When they got it, they immediately tasted it out of curiosity. There was also the factor of being able to refund quickly, should they dislike the taste. However, the instant they took a bite, they didn''t speak much, just munched and munched until the snacks were no more. Safe to say that there was no refund that had to be given that day. There were also other food the aborigines were assigned in and sold with gusto. Most of the items they sold here were those with longer shelf lives, as they pretty much ate things like rice cakes on the way to Ferrol. Knauf was selling minty snacks. "I am a fighter, and although there are no special effects, I felt reenergized when I ate it!" He said, "My breath also smelled very good! Like papra!" A lot of women hit on him when during his tavern trip after work hours. Of course, women who were open enough were naturally of a certain industry. Women like Cassandra and Veronica, who could be forward without being misconstrued as women of that industry, were quite rare. The aborigines were shocked and a bit distasteful at first though, a natural reaction for people who grew up with certain worldviews about feminine behaviors. Kleid was assigned to the food section, and he was selling crispy rice snacks, and the display had already been bought off. Of course, the Terrans were not to lose in marketing, "You should taste this! It is enough to pull my soul out because of happiness." Mao said, pointing at the cookie. Just pointed though. They were too stingy to give out free tastes. The reaction by the buyers was quite strong and someone moaned as he chewed. It was also bought off quickly, despite being much more expensive than most of the other snacks. Another area had a small cooking stove, where Roana invited people to help them cook their own meat and other food with the seasonings for a few copper coins. This would allow them to avoid the hassle of having to store perishable meat and deal with its smell, and also increase the turnover rates because only the grilling part was left. They were even luckier that there were a couple of stalls selling meat around them. All they had to do was yell, "Do you want to cook that to perfection?" or "Do you want to eat normal meat in a special way?" This was a never-before- seen model so there were a lot of doubts at first. But once one or two were attracted, the good feedback snowballed. "Oh my goodness!" "So juicy, so tender!" "Ah, I''m in Elvendell!" As such, the cookies and other snacks basically sold out after a couple of minutes. The seasonings took a while because of the packaging problem, but then after tasting, people just bought the whole vat. There was also the fact that most cooked with it first in Roana''s BBQ area. Similarly, these customers also bought vats if they could afford them, Next, with the reputation made, jerkies, instant noodles, and biscuits were introduced. "These are food with very long shelf lives! Leave them in a dry place for a year and they''d be good as new! More importantly, they''re delicious!!" Mao introduced with gusto, making a demo of how to eat the instant noodles. "You simply put these seasonings here and then add hot water to the line of the mug. See this?" He asked, showing the process, and his audience nodded in understanding. "Then you cover it like this be wait for two minutes!" Two minutes was the optimal time for noodles in Xeno, according to various experimentations. It probably had to do with new materials, as well as the new atmospheric conditions. Either way¡­, it was delicious! And a shorter waiting time yay! While waiting for the two minutes, Luis also introduced the various flavors. "This is Sagada flavor, very refreshing! Best in hot weather!" "This is spicy! To liven up your lives." "This is the aromatic Gui, for relaxed eating." And so on¡­ Anyway, Mao had a flare for show and he even made small diamond-shaped stones float around him as he spoke, catching everyone''s attention. He then lifted the cover and placed the chopsticks in the bowl, showing the delicious soft noodles. There were plenty of gulps heard. "I will choose three lucky audiences to take a taste!" He said, revealing three smaller cups, and distributing the sample noodle in equal parts. When he was dividing the soup, they heard a couple more gulps. The crowd almost lunged at them, except there were guards in front who kept it all in order. The crowd stopped at the invisible delineation and pretty much volunteered as if their lives depended on it. "Me! Meemmememeee!" "No, choose me!" "I will tell you good reviews I promise! Choose me!" "I am a very good eater! Let me taste!" Mao grinned. Instead, he announced. "To avoid any trouble, I will first ask the people in front." He then looked at the first row of about ten people. "The first three people to show me a handful of things bought from the other areas of our Altera store will taste!" Pretty much everyone in the front row had bought something, but there were people faster than others, and the others could only sob, and promise themselves they would buy to the maximum they could buy. The three chosen ones then went forward with a bit of anticipation, gulping when the enticing whiff of aroma entered their noses. They took the fork¡ªas chopsticks weren''t a thing here yet¡ªand took the noodles. They also drank the soup as they ate, as per the advice of the seller. Without exception, the three men''s eyes widened and they went into a daze, before someone nudged them awake. Immediately, praises flew. "Delicious!" "I''ve never tasted something so good!" One immediately manifested gold, almost throwing it at Mao''s face. "More! Let me buy all of these!!" It triggered wild reactions from everyone nearby. "WHAT!" "NO!" "Don''t sell all of them!" It could be said that chaos ensued. If they lacked just a little planning, things would definitely go insane. Fortunately, they did plan so with the help of the stronger aborigines like Kleid, they managed to continue keeping the people in line. Anyway, in order to reach more people, they also imposed the dreaded purchase limit. This calmed a lot of them down. Other than these, more and more products were introduced. There were also cooked items like corn dogs and finger foods, which was also incredibly popular and novel. Without exception, they were pretty much swept away as soon as they were introduced. No free taste was even needed anymore! Cha-ching, Cha-ching sounded in their heads. They sold these things for tens of times the cost! Rich! Definitely rich! Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 369 Other Products! (Part 1) Meanwhile, the cloths and wood utensils were not as hot, but the sales for these were also very good. After all, the cost was higher for the cloths products, and the wood utensils, while convenient, were not exactly a necessity. However, thanks to Plaridel''s demo of how to use the utensils, the popularity also increased. A female customer held a triangular-shaped thing with a hook on top. "This is called a hanger? How convenient, I can hang different articles of clothing." He said, remembering the demo of placing coats and handkerchiefs from earlier. She then couldn''t help but blink her eyes at tanned Plaridel who, while smaller than her, had charisma to attract females. He wasn''t even that handsome, but he had a confident poise that women loved. Next to the Captain, Gill, and Brandon, he was the most popular person in their team. Plaridel only smiled politely at the coquettish woman, used to it. She was a middle-aged woman though and it was a bit creepy, especially considering the lifespan here. A middle-aged woman, even if it was a commoner, was probably even older than she looked. Fortunately, she could only buy so much with the money she had and had to reluctantly go away. She did promise to return soon, though. Internally, Plaridel said: No, thank you. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Nearby, there were also other customers admiring other tools like wooden spoons, bowls, stands, and the like. "Chopsticks? Can it also be used as a hair tie?" It was another woman who asked (because the men generally just bought what interested them without a lot of questions) Plaridel smiled and thanked heavens this one was a bit younger. "How?" She asked, obviously asking to demo on her. Goodness, he thought women here were demure? Why so many forward women? Eh, he couldn''t be blamed for his own charm, right? But he realized she was shy and that it probably took much of her courage to ask of this. It inexplicably softened his heart and nodded, making her brown eyes brighten a bit. It helped a lot that she was smaller than other aborigine women, so he didn''t have to look up to her. It made her look even cuter. Plaridel cleared his throat as he raised his hand, holding a chopstick. "Well, excuse me," he said, walking behind the woman to tie her hair. It was an odd shade of brownish-red, albeit leaning towards the red side. It was smooth and silky, which was really good considering the lack of maintenance products in this world. His fingers were gentle as he gathered her hair into a loose ponytail. His touch was surprisingly skilful, and deliberate. If one looked at the girl who was looking down shyly, one could see how much she was blushing. Plaridel couldn''t help but smile a bit and decided to lessen the tension. "My name is Plaridel, by the way," he said. She flinched a bit turning her head a bit, and he realized she had cute freckles on her face. "Nida." He nodded with a small smile, continuing his skilled hair-tying, also garnering other women''s admiring looks in the end. While there were a few judgy looks (both for the borderline-public flirting and the fact that a male was doing something so feminine), the two didn''t seem to mind them. While romantic bubbles happened on this side, old-man energy permeated another. "Back scratcher! How nice! It''s always difficult to reach my back¡­" an old man said with a happy smile, holding the new contraption. Semi smiled and pointed at the middle of the handle, where there was a little textured wheel that rolled as needed. "You can also use this part to massage. See?" "Oh?" The old man said with many others watching in interest. He tried it out and his eyes widened. "Amazing! Let me buy two! Another one for my wife!" "Good sir, you''ll get a discount for buying a pair!" The aborigines in the stall with him were the two carpenters: Furong and Semi. Although they weren''t system carpenters, they were quite skilled and they already studied how to do much of these products. It was estimated that they would be able to recreate it, especially since there was no special effect required. They already set aside a woodworking area in the base for them, refurbishing a few bedrooms, since the main base was moved anyway. Of course, because Baron was sly, he had managed to get patent even in these simple items, so they had to share some proceeds with him automatically. When the soldiers found out, they were so bitter. They were here three months earlier! Such a horrible miss of money! Anyway, the massage scratcher among many others was also swept away, mostly by aging men. The cloth was also very popular. Pipa and Sasa really knew their materials well and enumerated the pros and cons of each item. "This is cotton, a new material. You can see it is much much softer and breathable than what we use," she said, letting the customers¡ªmostly housewives¡ªtouch it. Next to them, Sasa smiled, also selling another type of cloth. "We also have very affordable hemp cloth, not inferior to Kilpo commoner cloth!" "This is rougher." "Yes, and the cost is much lower." Pipa piped in, "They both have their own advantages and could be used in different articles of clothing. For instance, our hemp could be made for outerwear, while cotton for interior and housewear." She also showed some ready-made, convenient clothing. They chose some general and simple clothing to sell this time, as they were mass-produced. For example plain t-shirt and hemp pants. The masters also introduced something called denim, a derivative made from cotton, though it might need a bit more marketing as it was relatively uncomfortable at first, it was much, much, more durable than just cotton pants. For more designer items, they couldn''t be brought. For these, they''d have to go to Altera themselves. There were also belts with unusual patterns but both men and women loved. There were already belts that existed and of various materials, but they were always just tied together, not adjustable like the those with belt buckles that were seen now. And the buckles were so delicate! Some of carved wood and some of iron! The higher costs were worth it! It also looked good and sleek, like they''ll be more handsome when they wear it. (Something the salespeople implied many times). There were also small Bento boxes, which were a novel type of plate. They taught the customers how to use it, especially for trips, and it was well-received. If they had space, they''d also be selling Barrels and Tubs, chests and trunks, and furniture, but alas! Anyway, they were making enough of a killing now and they all had smiles on their faces. Chapter 370 Other Products! (Part 2) And finally, the smallest¡ªbut most intimate¡ªsection of their stall was the toy and paraphernalia store led by Luis. Most of the clients, naturally, were kids. Although levels of aborigines were higher, especially in cities, people generally started to ''fight outside the walls'' after the age of 12. So the children they saw now were all in their level 1s or, at most, 2s, a consistent level among children unless they came from those big families. This meant that the laughter and smiles were genuinely from children. What was even lovelier was that there were children who had trained early, but they were pulled back to what acting genuinely like a child by their products. It gave this stall much more meaning. Furthermore, everything looked so fun that a lot of grown men and women acted like they were children as well. Anyway, this booth could be said to be the most unique. In normal terms, they would also be seen as useless, but Luis and the others were very good salespeople. "Don''t you know? Wise men¡ªlike our Elves¡ªsaid that relaxation is part of productivity! Not getting rest and fun will just make you weak!" "Really?" "Really." And then they proceeded to introduce the products, which really did entice the interest of anyone around. Baron''s company was composed of many many interesting people. There was someone who worked in a toy store back in Terran, and there was also someone who was a retired toy designer. They had a whole department (in Baron''s company) for themselves. They recreated games like Jenga, chess, snakes-and-ladders (aptly named kongworms-and-stumps for Xeno locals), and spinning tops. They were decorative and entertaining and when demoed, it amazed many children¡­ and grown adults (though they tried to hide it). There were also toys like swing horses for smaller kids, and the sweet mothers asked their husbands to buy them for the children. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For the little girls, there were wooden dolls with jointed limbs, stuffed toys, and even marionettes. Although girls had lower status in this world, children were loved universally, especially before they came of age, and were expected to perform their roles. For instance, there were plenty of little girls looking at their fathers and mothers, begging to buy them a toy or two, which a lot did get in the end. "Wow! So fluffy!" A little girl yelled grabbing a stuffed toy and fondly touched its mane. Her heart felt comfort just hugging it. She loved it so much! The girl''s mother also found it very cute and turned to ask Luis. "What animal is this?" "That''s called a lion." Luis said with a smile, "It''s a¡­ fantasy creature." He added. "We don''t want the kids approaching monsters outside thinking they''re friends!" "Oh right, very true!" There were also little boys fascinated with the wooden toys. There was a miniature warrior and they manipulated it to swing his sword. They even mumbled out sound effects, like Terran boys would with their action figures. Very cute. Toy swords and shields were also sold. It wasn''t that they weren''t being made already by Aborigine businessmen, but they were never done with intricacies. "It will train your little kids for the world outside! While having fun!" "We will also have a custom service for toy swords as well!" Safe to say that even the more common toy weapons also sold out. ¡­ On another side of the stall, other types of toys were being sold. "Oh? What is this?" A teen asked, pointed at weird-shaped pieces of flat wood, and there were carving and a bit of color on them. "It''s called a puzzle! You just assemble them like this, and you will see the final picture when it''s complete!" "This is so amazing¡­" "How novel¡­" Other than these, there were puzzle boxes that fascinated teens and young adults, and there were whistles and flutes that fascinated everyone. "Wow, what''s that noise!" "It sounds lovely though?" "Hmm¡­ you just blow?" "Oh, I know this! I''ve seen this in cities!" "Good for you for seeing cities." "Hehe," one visitor said, "Anyway, these are really expensive in there!" What was more, these were much more elaborate and had fuller sounds. Then he saw the price of the offerings here and flinched. So cheap! But as a businessman, he would naturally not show it on his face. He cleared his throat and looked at Thorance, who was manning the booth with Luis. "I''ll buy ten!" Then he''ll sell in cities! "We can only sell 1 per person, sorry." "Eh?" "It''s so more people could buy it." The man frowned but he hadn''t even opened his mouth when people nearby poked at him. "We want one too! Don''t hoard it!" "Yeah! Stop being selfish!" The man''s eyes twitched and had no choice but to succumb. Anyway, regardless of which section, the place was extremely lively, especially with children''s (and children-at-heart''s) laughters. The interactiveness of the booth was very popular and it just attracted more and more people to all three booths. It was still full of activity when the other two areas had closed due to stocks running out. Luis'' booth stayed because it took a while for people to buy, as they loved the space too much to move out. Regardless of which booth though, it was estimated that the people who managed to buy would be trendsetters. All in all, the profits today were massive. While the Terrans were grinning, the customers were also very happy with their new buy. As they walked out though, they couldn''t help but turn back, not only to look at the booth and the people, but also¡­ at the sign. They couldn''t help but give the large signage a second look¡ªwanting to remember the shop name for next time. "Altera?" Someone voiced out and Sammy, who happened to be nearby, twinkled as if he had been waiting for someone to ask (note: he was). It was just that the people had been so immersed with the novelty and awesomeness that they forgot to ask. The soldiers were also so busy with all the activities that they, too, forgot to introduce themselves. Fortunately, someone did ask in the end, otherwise they''d be scratching their heads of stupidity when they remembered the issue later in the night. Sammy looked at the very curious faces of their customers and grinned. "Yes! It''s our territory!" He said with his chest puffed out. "Altera: Proud, Prosperous, and Strong!" This was the first of the many waves that the name would cause, and later¡ªin retrospect¡ªthey would be proud to be a part of it. Chapter 371 Gills Messy Lovelife? (Part 1) The unknown name made every customer look at them, very intrigued. "Wow, Altera sounds like an interesting place! Is it a new city?" Another one nodded, thinking of towns that could''ve upgraded, "Although I''ve never heard of a town before, I assume it''s just somewhere a bit far¡­" The soldiers couldn''t help but look at each other before correcting their customers. "It''s still a village. A very good one!" Luis answered the woman, who gaped in response. "Really?" "Yes~" She turned to her husband. "How curious¡­" While they were dubious as to how ''good'' a village could be, they were intrigued enough by the materials they offered. The man nodded, "Maybe I''ll visit it someday." Luis looked at the couple curiously. Only him? Not even thinking of bringing his wife? And the woman only seemed a bit disappointed, but otherwise accepting. Then they left and he noticed the woman was always a step behind, like about 90% of other couples around. Because they were so preoccupied before, he admitted that he had never taken notice of such an obvious thing. In contrast, there was also another couple nearby, who seemed to be shopping for stuffed toys for their child back home. They were very giggly and unusually sweet in Xeno local standards. The couple left lovingly holding hands. Luis and Mao couldn''t help but look dreamily, "How nice¡­ didn''t know there were still such couples among aborigines." Mao nodded, chewing on something, "Well, even when culture is a problem, some ways to show love is the same." Gill, who was standing nearby, couldn''t help but go deep in thought about various memories. One of which was in the outskirts of Ferrol Town, over a week prior¡ª Two lumbering creatures with sharp scales and claws stared at him with ravenous malice. Gill tightened the hold of his spear, watching for any sudden movements. There are only a few days until the Protection Period is over, he must get stronger! The silence snapped as one of the monsters lunged forward, taking down a couple of trees in his trail. Gill jumped to avoid an attack, but it suddenly shifted its attack and opened its mouth. Gill immediately raised his spear to block it, the strong momentum pushing him back a bit. He manipulated the earth below him to keep him stable, and he couldn''t help but look at his sole ''audience'' a couple meters away. "What are you doing here?" Gill asked, tone a bit annoyed, as he dealt laboriously with the level 15 monsters three levels below him. Damned monsters and their hard skins. In his momentary distraction, he was almost bitten by the monster''s partner that suddenly attacked from the side. He used his spear to stop each of them. He sent a glare in a direction. He was not in the mood for her right now. Cassandra ignored him and waved her sword, gesturing to assist him and taking on the other monster. It was just that Gill stopped her, telling her she was a burden. She looked absolutely offended by this. "Don''t forget: My level is higher than yours~" "Tsk. Not for long," Gill snapped back. He never really took these levels as seriously as aborigines. What was level if one didn''t have the combat ability? This place had way too many fighting balloons. He placed his attention back to the fight. In a swift motion, Gill jumped back and pulled his spear from the two monsters. He immediately thrust his spear into the ground, sending a shockwave through the earth, and then pulled it diagonally, sending earth spikes in the direction of the monsters. One monster was successfully put off balance for a few seconds while the other lunged at him, blocked by his poor spear. He struggled to push the damned thing, stopping its big mouth from eating half of him. He had to endure seeing its disgusting mouth, saliva, and breath that reeked of sulfur. Cassandra saw that she was being ignored (again), and decided to take matters into her own hands¡ªthat was, join him in the fight. "I''ll show you techniques passed down in my family~" She said confidently, strutting to the monster. "Don''t be too mesmerized." Gill sneered at her, acerbic as always, and just focused on the monster on hand. As he dealt with the monster, barely avoiding its bite, his peripheral couldn''t help but notice the girl gracefully swinging the sword. The monster was around her height even on all-fours, but she didn''t show much fear. He watched as she evaded the attacks, lunging at the creature with fluid motions, trying to hit the weak spots as best she could. But he frowned and focused on the task at hand¡ªwhich he was almost got distracted from¡ªand his hit was even stronger due to venting. He swung the spear with expert movements and various angles, the soil below keeping him balanced as needed. It even lifted him up instantaneously, allowing him to avoid an attack and at the same time allowing him to get a better angle of his enemy''s weak spot: Its eyes. Now! [Used Burning Spear (C). -50 Mana] He yelled internally as he raised his spear and surrounded it with fire, stabbing the weapon at the monster''s vulnerability. He let fire surround his spear to form a fiery weapon of doom. Immediately, he let his magma flow in and melt its brain, finally taking its life. [Killed Orgroi (Lv15), +420 experience, +420 copper] Heaving a sigh, he turned his head to look at the other, still ongoing fight. He was planning to kill the thing but his feet paused as his eyes fixed on the movements. She was very graceful and¡­ valiant? To be honest, his impression of her was just an entitled lady. Very pretty, but nothing special. But now, he couldn''t help but watch her closely. It was like she was dancing, her violet hair flowing with her movements, her curvaceous body unbelievably flexible. That instant, he wondered what it''d be like to trace his hands over them. The moment he realized a scowling expression appeared on his face. At this moment, weaker mobs of about level 10 appeared and he was actually glad for the destruction. Slash! Bang! Pack! S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As he massacred the mob though, his eyes more often than not ended up in her direction. It got to the point he was almost¡ªalmost¡ªbeaten and he just burned them all in his lava to get it over with. He heaved a sigh as he made sure there were no more mobs, his attention once again fixed on the ongoing fight beside him. Cassandra was fighting valiantly as before, even when she now had plenty of small wounds, her body now filled with sweat and grime. She struggled a lot and fell down a lot, with a lot of almost misses that made his heart skip a beat. But she stood up every time, with her movements improving as time went on. It was, indeed, better than expected. Of course, his expectations weren''t very high at all, but her technique was impressive compared to what he had seen locals perform before. Even the local men at her level had slower and less effective moves, it was embarrassing. She was able to avoid the monster''s attacks using her flexibility, hitting it at difficult places. If he didn''t know she wasn''t an Elementalist, he''d have thought she had a wind affinity. His dark eyes looked at her deeply. He knew the status of women here. It must not have been easy for a woman to learn such a technique so deeply. When she finally gave the monster a lethal blow, it fell down on the ground with a flop. She was filled with sweat and grime, her hair was all tangled up from the fight, but she whipped her head proudly to his direction, violet eyes incredibly bright. Gill couldn''t help but stare in a daze. "How was it? Was I very good??" She grinned, approaching him with her usual grace, trying not to show her shaky legs. She also had dirt on her face and her hair was like a Gugu bird nest. Gill''s lips twitched. If she knew what she looked like now he wondered if she''d cry and run away? However, as his eyes followed her approach, he saw the monster behind her twitch. "Watch out!'' He yelled, instinctively pulling her to him. He immobilized it by softening the earth around its feet, and he raised his weapon to give it a finishing blow. [Used Burning Spear (C). -50 Mana] [Killed Orgroi (Lv14), +420 experience, +420 copper] He heaved a sigh and then turned to the woman in his arms, belatedly feeling her softness. She was very soft and felt good to touch. Her body against his felt¡­ right, and at the back of his mind he thought it would be good to stay like this for a while. His jaw tensed and pushed back the thought. He was about to push her away by instinct, but then his eyes met her large purple orbs¡ªfilled with love and admiration. His hard heart beat erratically then. Chapter 372 Gills Messy Lovelife? (Part 2) Bright Territory, a few days ago Gill followed Juni to a place, observing the territory further. They ignored the many heads turned along the way, the two of them silent and seemingly focused on the destination ahead. A few minutes later, the former couple sat inside the only tea shop in the territory. Of course, the tea offered by Bright Village was only two relatively bitter varieties of indigenous edible leaves. They were also consumed in small cups because potable water was quite costly. They sat there silent for a while, looking at the wooden table in front of them. Gill looked at the crude workmanship but still felt a bit proud a Terran territory could achieve all this in a few weeks. He knew it must not have been easy. Several minutes of silence later, Juni finally broke the silence. And she was very direct to the point. "Can we try again?" "What?" He asked. Gill genuinely thought he was hearing things. The beautiful woman took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. "These subsequent tragedies¡­ they changed a lot of people. All the other things were rendered useless in a blink of an eye, and I am reminded I only truly loved one thing." She raised her head, her beautiful brown eyes meeting his dark ones. "I want to try¡­ to mend my relationship with you." Meeting the actress'' familiar brown eyes, his mind turned to another set of orbs. Purple ones. If the others knew what he was going through, they''d want to beat him up. Gill didn''t know this, however, nor would he care. He frowned and looked at the woman, arrogantly crossing his arms. "Why?" "Why not?" Gill massaged his forehead. Their breakup was somewhat amicable, but it was not painless. Seeing her being gossiped about on the news with different men still brought him stings until they were transferred here. After all, they basically grew up together, and they were each other''s firsts in pretty much everything. She was his first love, his first kiss, and she took his first time. She had been patient with him, loving him purely even despite all his flaws. He had been acerbic since he was young and he had hurt her many times with his words and his frequent absences. It was why he never blamed her when she broke up with him. But things changed when their relationship ended and she became a completely different person from the sweet innocent girl that he knew. She even took some racy projects, modeled in skimpy outfits, and the like. It was like he was the one who broke her heart. Heh¡­ Also¡­ he didn''t want to judge her, but staying in that industry with her background. How could she be clean? It wasn''t that he was judging her blindly either, he had called her once in a drunken stupor a week after the breakup, only for the phone to be answered by a man¡ªwith her soft and seductive voice in the background. He mused he must''ve completely given up on her then. The thought of the innocent girl he knew serving men for profit made his stomach churn and it served as a reminder of how stupid he''d be if he fell for it again. "If you think I''ll happily agree with your proposal then you''re sorely mistaken," he said and stood up, knowing he didn''t want to continue this conversation "Gill," Juni uttered, calling out to him. She saw his indifference and bit her lips, looking at him with a complicated expression. "Things weren''t that simple." "Regardless. Those things have passed." He remembered saying at the time, sounding extremely cold. "Move on." But as he walked away, a deep hidden wound reopened, and it ironically closed his heart even tighter. ___________________ Ferrol Town. Present. When Cassandra arrived, she saw how popular the Terran Mercenary Team''s stall got. The line was long and everyone was chatting excitedly, many of whom were holding products they just bought. In fact, everyone who got products had relieved smiles on their faces. Considering the shop''s popularity, they could''ve missed it after all! Luis even organized a small puppet show. The puppets were modeled after Althea and Garan, and he was showing their reunion. "Oh my¡­ what a touching story!" A woman exclaimed, unable to hold back tears. "Are they really back together?" A wistful teen asked, very seriously. Luis grinned. "Yes! They''re living happily with their two babies." "Amazing!" S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Amazing!" Not far away, Gill watched the booming business with satisfaction, until he saw a couple holding hands and tasting the corndog together. An image of a young him and a young Juni flashed by his head, doing the very same thing. He frowned and he massaged his forehead as if it would wipe off the annoying picture. He lifted his head in a bad mood, but the beautiful face of a violet-haired woman occupied his entire sight. "Amazing! Where did you get all these things?" She asked as she approached. Without him noticing, his darkening face softened a bit. "Altera," he said with his usual deadpan tone of voice. Cassandra was used to this though, and she knew he was generally like this. She turned and looked at the sign and her balmed mouth made an ''o'' shape as she studied the symbols. "Good meaning," she said and he nodded with a shrug. "It must be an interesting place¡­" she mumbled and then turned back her attention on him, her purple eyes reflecting all of him. "Are you back for good?" Gill shook his head, not bothering to explain more. Cassandra pouted and crossed her arms, but she didn''t move away from him. Instead, she just watched the activity in their stall and, while curious, her upbringing told her not to squeeze in the crowd, so she simply stood by and watched like a lady that she was. ((Her upbringing also told her not to be too forward with men, but she had a selective memory.)) It was quite fun and even if she didn''t join in, she found a smile on her face. Her eyes couldn''t help but be attracted to the toy section the most, surrounded by many happy little kids. She had always wanted siblings, but her mother didn''t like her getting close to any of her dad''s illegitimate children. She was actually quite fond of kids. "Our children would be just as adorable," she voiced out without thinking, making them both flinch as soon as they uttered it. Gill couldn''t help but think about what his mother told him before leaving. "Garan is a year younger than you but he already has twins!" She had said, "You better get me grandchildren soon or I will die with regrets!" His pale face was now red as a monkey''s butt. "W-What are you talking about!!" He could vaguely feel he was a little different from this woman after he saw her wield the sword with skill. Unfortunately for her, his defense mechanism¡ªafter the previous failed relationship¡ªwas high and very, very, reactive. "Stop with the nonsense, it''s annoying." Cassandra frowned at his words. She knew she was being improper, but it shouldn''t attract such mean words from him, not after the last time she showed off her ''skills''. Because she was the only legitimate child, she was the only one allowed to learn the techniques, probably in hopes for her to teach her future ''son''. She had practiced it vehemently to gain the approval of her parents, though she never got it. When she realized this she gave it up, though she found it again after falling in love with Gill. She had practiced her sword skills again to impress him. She practiced so hard that the soft hands she took care of got calloused! Before he left she felt that he had finally softened up a bit, but what was this now? "You obviously have a good impression on me!" "I won''t like showy women like you!" He said, ignoring his own acting like a brat. "It''s like you can''t live without a man!" He blurted out without thinking and frowned when he realized what came out of his mouth. He raised his head and wondered whether or not to apologize. But he saw her reddish eyes, holding back tears, and his voice died. Inexplicably, his heart hurt a bit. He refused to admit he had been moved by Cassandra. "Fine! Who wants to make babies with you anyway!!" She said and ran away. Gill didn''t know how to react, so he just didn''t. He turned to see the disapproving gazes of his team. "Can''t believe boss Gill had such a messy love life!" "Wasn''t my goddess Juni his ex? She specifically looked for him!" "I thought they were back together?" "Anyway! Boss Gill''s love life is definitely colorful!" "One violet and one blonde?" "Complementary colors?" "Now that you mention it¡ª" "Anyway, they''re both angels sent from above." "They''re supreme beauties, too!" All the noise made his head hurt. "Buzz off!" He yelled, making everyone flinch in shock, and walked away. But¡­ unconsciously, his phoenix eyes gravitated to the direction a certain girl left crying. Chapter 373 Making a Killing The next day, nighttime. The Altera shop was already packing up while the others were still hawking. They closed much earlier than others because they easily sold out the stocks they had within 2 days, several days faster than others. During the first day, they already sold a bulk of their stuff. With word of mouth, they became even more popular and it bordered on chaos. All the Aborigine guards had to be utilized to guard and keep order rather than help them organize and sell stuff, which was a hassle. A wonderful, fun, and satisfying type of hassle though. Anyway, the early sell-out was a very good thing because that would mean they had more time to train and investigate instead. It still felt pitiful to waste good market space they rented for the event. So they decided to increase the stock in whatever way they could. For now, they could only get the carpenters Semi and Furong to do what they could (like bowls, chopsticks, hangers, and the like). As for the other things, they had to come from Altera. They also promised their avid customers that they would set up a permanent shop in the territory so they could have ready access to these resources whenever. Speaking of this, they took down a number of fences in their property, turning them into small buildings to use as roadside shops. Of course, it was still undergoing construction but they were in no rush. The next stocks would arrive in a couple of weeks anyway. "Ah, so much gold¡­" Sammy mumbled, his dark skin reflecting the goldish shimmer of their wins. They really made a killing in those sales and Eagle was writing on the logbook with a very happy smile¡ªwhich was so scary that it actually made a few of them flinch. Eagle was a softie, but his aquiline features made him look like a villain. Gill looked at the team who were gathered around, also with smiles, they were eager to know how much they made. "Now we shall proceed to part 3 of our mission here," he said, and immediately the others'' backs straightened up as if they were about to hear orders. The mission this time was actually a four-part mission. Part 1 was to keep their training, Part 2 was to gather information, and Part 3 was to sell out for good prices to regenerate the team treasury as well as their own pockets. For the final part, they were tasked to maximize this annual event and get exposed to the products of other territories, making sure to take note of the characteristic product(s) of each one. Of course, this also meant to purchase what they needed. They were also instructed to buy necessary resources back to Altera, if there were any. Hence, on the third day of the event, the group was set to be buyers. The captain specifically told them that if they found any useful resources in whatever form, they could buy it with the earnings from the sale. The team was divided into three in order to maximize the event. The first group was Gill, Knauf, Kleid, and a few other aborigines. The second group was led by Eagle, Chris, Mao, Roana, and others. And the last group had Sammy, Luis, Pipa, Plaridel, Madon, and the rest. Eagle''s team walked along the eastern side of the market, though not really seeing anything remarkable for a while. It was mostly food, and who among them would want the indigenous food? Altera spoiled people''s taste buds to an unprecedented degree. However, they soon came across a huge booth about two to three hundred square meters large. It was selling domesticated animals like Gugu birds and another creature called Broat, at a lower cost than the former. Eagle observed it and saw that it was a little taller than the Gugu bird. However, it was a bit thinner and had less meat. It looked similar to a wild goat, but a little larger, and instead of horns they had small antlers. "Can you say more about this?" He asked Thorance. Salespeople weren''t a common practice here because service wasn''t a thing. Not to mention, territories tended to have anti-theft alerts within their walls, so theft wasn''t an issue. Hence, as long as the creatures didn''t get out of their corralled, the person watching wouldn''t care much, especially if the item didn''t need much selling. "This is called a Broat, raised by some territories as source of meat. But because it had lesser amount of meat than Gugu bird, along with its hard-to-chew meat no different from the violent monsters, their costs is much lower." Eagle nodded pondering, whether to buy it or not. Anyway, they could handle the tangy monster meats, Broat meat wouldn''t be a problem. However as he walked around the animals, he couldn''t help but notice the obvious females among them. He realized that they had a large udder and teats! His eyes widened and his feet moved to it. These characteristics were something from dairy cows and other milk-producing animals in Terran! Milk! Would they finally have milk after so long?! But¡­ they seemed to not be popular? It was sold only for its little meat! Eagle''s eyes widened and he turned to the person selling. "Does this produce milk?" "Milk?" Mao and the others beside him perked up at this. "The white liquid that comes out of that," Eagle asked the shop owner patiently. "You mean the White Juice!" The person looked at him like he was an idiot, while his Aborigine teammates looked at him worriedly, obviously worrying for his brain. "It''s no good. You''ll get sick." The man just rolled his eyes and went to the other customers already purchasing. Seeing him left alone, Roana stepped forward and explained. "People only drink that thing if there''s no water. Though everyone gets sick afterward." Eagle paused for a bit in thought. Even in Terran, raw milk was indeed risky if consumed untreated. However, another concern was that their bodies were obviously much better than their Terran counterparts. If the improved bodies were affected, then the bacteria from this milk were probably much more potent than what they were used to. Eagle hesitated a bit. What if he bought it and it was useless? If it could still make people''s improved bodies sick, then could it still be consumed? But he calmed down soon after. He still believed in the knowledge and ingenuity of Terrans. They''d find a way to treat it. Even if they didn''t, an alternative source of meat shouldn''t be a loss. He looked at the stocks and at the price. The mercenary team captured nineteen, ten of which were female. As for the cost, a small part of the profit yesterday was more than enough. Of course, how could he not bargain? "Hm¡­ little meat and gives out poison juice¡­ why would you sell it for so high?" He said, taking advantage of the innate intimidating factor of his facial features. The shop owner flinched. "High? That''s not¡ª" "It is," he looked around, "It''s already the third day, how many have you sold?" The man''s shoulder slumped down and Eagle''s eyes sharpened. From his reaction, he knew it probably wasn''t much. The two stared at each other for a while, one frowning, while the other apprehensive. Eagle let the silence brew for a moment before sighing, and then he looked at the man. "How about this, give me half price and I''ll take them all." He said so as if taking pity. The salesman flinched. "What?" "I''ll buy all of them," Eagle repeated. "H-How many?" The shop owner asked, just in case the potential idiot couldn''t count. "Nineteen," Eagle said, manifesting a few gold as he was starting to get impatient. At this, the shop owner''s stance softened and he looked at Eagle very kindly. "Well, but half-price is a bit much¡­" "A third off at least. Otherwise, I''m not interested¡ª" "Ah, yesyesyes, a third off it is!" While all this was happening, the aborigines couldn''t help but stare at Eagle in worry, especially Roana. Mao elbowed Roana when he saw the middle-aged woman pale. "Don''t worry too much, he knows what he''s doing." "Ah, yes, but¡­" "Actually, I know someone who drank that liquid when they found a broat in the wild. There was no water and he had no choice. His stomach hurt not long after and he was almost killed the monsters due to his distraction. She paused, looking at all of them in concern. "He lost an arm." She said so as if they''d lose an arm if they drank the ''white juice''. The Terran''s lips twitched, and Luis smiled comfortingly, "Well, we will take special care. But don''t be so dismissive. There are so many food that just need to be handled correctly to be consumable," he said comfortingly, and many other Terrans nodded. "You''ll see. You won''t be able to imagine the food you could cook with this!" Roana looked at the young man with a complicated expression. She really couldn''t imagine it. She wouldn''t be asked to cook poison, would she? S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 374 More Shopping While one team had already zoned in on a large purchase, Sammy and Luis'' team were still perusing around the southern part of the fair. Most of the items here weren''t very cost-effective, but they did find unfamiliar plants and seeds¡ªwhich sister-in-law would definitely love. She gave them the budget for them anyway. "This is a seed from the far eastern side of the continent!" The seller said, pointing at the various seeds onhand. "This is a rare specimen from the south!" "This is a mystery seed from the orc region!" He showed the party various other seeds of various shapes, sizes, and colors, presenting them as if they were treasures from another world. "So you don''t know what they are," Luis said, a statement. Seller: "..." It was true. These were basically ''trash'' he collected from other people who brought these out for sale. He knew there were a lot of rich people in annual market festivals like this, so he had hoped to make a killing. But he looked at the men looking very unimpressed. "Well, but they are indeed from far away." "Hm, sure, if you say so," Luis said with a shrug, "I wonder who would buy seeds they don''t even know how to grow¡­" "..." Sammy, knowing that it was time to bargain, finally spoke up. "We''ll consider taking them off your hands!" he said, "We like to collect weird stuff. But you can''t charge too much!" When sister-in-law found out they were joining a market festival in a town, she gave all five of them a whooping 110 gold each. That was to say, even if their group didn''t hold much of the profit from the sale¡ªwhich was mostly in Gill and Eagle''s hands¡ªthey would still have some money on hand. After all, the Ferrol Market Fair was done once a year; It would be such a pity not to maximize it. As for what was given to boss Gill and Eagle, they didn''t know, but it was definitely a lot. In their case, 110 gold each was already more than enough. 100 gold was to buy some goods for her and the territory, and the remaining 10 was their commission, provided they used it strictly to strengthen themselves. Their hearts almost fell and they went to heaven. Ten gold coins was a month''s salary for a well-off aborigine in a town¡ªand it was more than enough to buy a very good level D weapon! Although the captain bought them weapons, their durability had been quickly deteriorating due to all the fights. In fact, ten gold coins could even buy an inferior second-hand level C equipment, let alone a D equipment or two! While they had level C armor and weapons makers aborgines in the territory there was still plenty of equipment they couldn''t make, primarily due to how the World Knowledge distributed techniques. A weapon or armor maker usually specialized in a few types of equipment at most, and this was why the aether buildings were so special¡ªas they could automatically mass produce these weapons, and even improve class as they leveled up. Anyway, the way knowledge was distributed really wasn''t very good in terms of looking at the development of civilization. It was understandable how most aborgines treated each inheritance like treasure, oftentimes even more important than lives. They heard some villages even sacrificed people in an attempt to be awarded knowledge. This wasn''t effective to Terrans, as they tended to innovate on their own. The aborgines that ended up in Altera could be said to be very lucky to be able to meet innovative people, otherwise, they''d definitely still be stuck making one or two types of equipment for the rest of their lives. In any case, they bought several bags of each of the seeds they encountered (for very good prices!). They put that didn''t fit in their space into their water-resistant backpacks (available for purchase at Gaea Supermarket). They also made sure they were packed well and protected from the elements. And then they ran to the western side, where most of the equipment was being sold. In terms of arrangements, it was much like their side, but the customer type was very different. This place was heavily occupied by men of all sizes¡ªmostly large ones. This market demographic made sense because, after all, not everyone could be a fighter, and they had only ever seen one woman warrior before¡ªthe fire shield woman with Silas. Each store was also guarded by big men with sharp eyes. Although theft was automatically detected and punishable by the territory, there had been cases where rivals just tried stealing their enemies'' items, just to make trouble. Anyway, they could see various displays of different sorts of weapons. Men being men, just the sight of shimmering chunks of metal made their blood boil¡ªin a good way, of course. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were longswords, broadswords, arming swords, rapiers, lances, pikes, long bows, etc. There were also various shields like rounded shields, kite shields, and even the buckler (which was awesome for mobility). There were also various armor and helmets. There were rare ones made of metal like chain mail¡ªbut those were understandably quite expensive. There were a lot more and they were itching to finally buy their equipment. So without further ado, the gang immediately went to do some shopping for themselves. Sammy was a wind archer and he bought a Class C quiver that added a 2% chance of adding burn to arrows that it cased for longer than 6 hours. Meanwhile, Luis was a fire swordsman, so he chose to buy defensive equipment. He bought a superior class D Gauntlet with reinforced knuckles and fingers which not only provided protection to his hands, it also provided better grip. It was purely made of metal. So when he used his ability, the gauntlet got a burn factor as well. Plaridel took a buckler which he could use on-the-go, adding more defensive properties to him even with its smaller size. He also bought a helmet. Hours later, while they were admiring their new equipment (for the nth time), they couldn''t help but exclaim: Sister-in-law is almighty!! Chapter 375 Auction House Meanwhile, Gill''s team had also completed their purchase, not having to spend much of Althea''s allowance due to the hefty profits from the trade the previous day. Gill was a bit disappointed that there was nothing particularly special sold. Of course, they did still buy a lot of things that could increase the comprehensive strength of the territory. Althea gave him and Eagle 500 gold each, hoping to find unique and helpful products to strengthen the territory. However, except for a few class-C weapons and equipment unavailable in the territory, there wasn''t much gain for their team. What they did do was buy a lot of class D and a few class C equipment for the rest of the territory. These weapons would be primarily used by the guards'' team and also sold in the Contribution Store to be opened in the territory soon. Here, one could buy good weapons and other equipment with contribution points. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They also maximized their purchase limits in shops like the pharmacy. Although sister-in-law''s medicines were great, they didn''t really produce fast enough for everyone to be able to stock up. Not to mention, sister-in-law''s Pharmacy skills had limited effects on people above level 20. It so happened that Ferrol had a level 2 Pharmacy, which could produce medicines for the level. They would not only stock up for their own team, but also stock up supply for the territory. They continued to peruse the stalls, hoping to get more finds. It was just that Gill''s feet paused as he caught a glimpse of familiar violet in his peripheral vision. Inexplicably, he felt a little distracted. "What''s wrong boss Gill?" Kleid asked and he flinched, a bit surprised. After a thought he just looked at them, "Go ahead and do the task," he said, before he disappeared into the crowd to the confusion of the others. Gill didn''t really bother with them though, as his eyes was focused somewhere in the crowd, trying to find that familiar shade of violet again. Fortunately, it wasn''t hard to find her and he soon saw her enter a building. It was a large 3-storey building with grand decorations. There was a banner made of expensive silk with intricate patterns draped at both sides of the massive door. It gave a special feeling of attraction, as if entering would somehow elevate one''s existence and status. The entire facade was like an upgraded, more special, version of Houser''s sign. Gill followed her in with not much thought, a little startled when the familiar ding sounded in his head. [You have entered the Auction House. Entry Fee is 10 silver per person. Minimum Wealth in Space: 100 gold. [Proceed? Yes | No] Gill paused. He had heard of this building, newly built just before they left for Altera. It was apparently a building available for high-level towns. Everyone knew system buildings had special functions, and he wondered what kind of function an auction house available at a Level 2 Town would have. It even had a minimum wealth requirement for entering. Curious, he decided to pay the entrance fee of 10 silver, though his eyes unconsciously looked for that trace of violet as he did so. As he entered, he encountered more and more well-dressed ladies and gentlemen. He also caught a few looks both for his plain clothing and his handsome face, though people were mostly busy shopping to care too much. Regardless of all of these, Gill tried to follow where he thought the trace of violet went. The building seemed to have two levels: A massive lobby on the ground floor¡ªwhich was now lined with expensive-looking booths¡ªand then the auction house proper above. Interestingly, it took him a bit of willpower to pull his sights off the booths. It was odd because he normally wouldn''t care for the items sold¡ªwhich comprised mostly of luxury items like silk, jewelry, special beast horns, et cetera. Thinking about it for a bit, he mused this must have something to do with the building''s special effects. Fortunately, the building''s effect was really just an improved version of Houser''s ability and it wasn''t so invasive as to actually force people to buy. Only a bit of head shaking and self-control was needed to break off from the ''charm'' of buying luxury items. He followed the crowd (most of which had bought a few things from the special stalls) upstairs to the main auction hall. Soon, he ended up in a massive hall with hundreds of seats and a stage, and his eyes started to peruse the seats for that shade of violet. However, his sights¡ªagain¡ªwere attracted to the stage in front, the building''s mysterious force demanding everyone''s attention. The stage was large, around 200 square meters. At this time, there was a line of clean but dull people chained together, with the emcee pointing at them as if they were products to be sold. Immediately, Gill knew that they were selling human slaves. Cassandra herself had been bidding. It seemed that she had already won a few slaves during the time he was looking for her, seeing two relatively good-looking but pitiful young men standing on the aisle next to her. Gill looked in her direction, a bit complicated. Although she was a bit annoying, he had always pegged Cassandra to be straightforward and tomboyish. He didn''t think she''d be buying slaves. However, this was a common practice here and he didn''t judge, just a bit disappointed. Maybe¡­ a little angry. But he frowned, quickly catching himself. How could there be disappointment if there were no expectations? The carapace of protection he surrounded himself with hardened a little at this realization. At this time, there was someone being pulled in front of the auctioneer, and the host''s excited voice once again attracted his sharp eyes back to the stage. His eyebrows rose at the sight of the new ''display''. It was a young man, half-naked and chained and his appearance caused loud excited murmurs around him. Gill pulled himself back to the present and observed the newcomer. He was quite handsome, but it wasn''t what was special about him. His most striking features were¡­ tails and ears. Chapter 376 Half-orc (Part 1) Gill had been here for four months and this was the first time he encountered this¡­ curiosity. Of course, looking at the amazed crowd it seemed he wasn''t the only one. He had heard of orcs before. Next to Goblins, orcs were the race the humans had the most contact with. And by ''contact'', it didn''t mean the friendly sort. Gill''s dark eyes stared at the newcomer on the stage, both curious and apprehensive. The man was a humanoid creature except he had a lot of furs and it gradiated towards the side of his face, like long sideburns. His most particular feature though was his pointed elongated ears with red fur, which twitched involuntarily whenever there was a particularly loud murmur amongst the crowd. Behind him, right below the base of the spine, was a slender bushy tail. It hung low and his shoulders were hunched, as if unconsciously showing submission. It reminded him of foxes. What a peculiar sight¡­ Gill''s eyebrows rose and he walked a bit closer and took a free seat, sitting down to see what happened next. With his sharp eyes, he could see the creature''s¡ªno, the man''s¡ªeyes. He had green irises with an imperceptible ring of gold. The orcish man was looking around with apprehension, though he was obviously trying his best not to show his fear, his weaknesses, though he wasn''t being particularly great at it¡ªnot in his experienced eyes, anyway. The man also had plenty of scars and was a bit dirty. He was pitifully emaciated but Gill could see the rich men and women still admiring him¡ªthough in the sense of looking at a new toy. Of course, no matter how pitiful, it did not touch the hearts of most. If anything, it was too normal and taken for granted. Not caring for the non-human man next to him, the chubby auctioneer raised his hand to flashily introduce the ''item''. "Now, for the finale!!! "This is the half-orc captured in the remote village of Hoskle, on the border between the human and orc kingdom!" The auctioneer said with great enthusiasm. "When the territory was defeated in last month''s territory war, how surprised the victor was when they found not one, not two, but FIVE half-orcs living in the village!" The man dramatically paused, making the audience scoot forward from their seats in anticipation. Then his shoulder slumped, looking disappointed. "Sadly, one of those half-orcs died fighting us, another went missing, and the two women were taken very early on, so¡ªThis is the only one! This is a once-in-a-decade chance to own your own half-orc!" The flabby man yelled, his golden teeth shining on everyone''s faces. "Starting price is 100 gold, increments of 1 gold!" He announced, raising his arm theatrically. "Bidding, begins!" "110!" "115!" "150!" "155!" "160!" "165!" "200!" Silence. "I''m sure my cousin would love this specimen." A familiar voice slurred and Gill realized it was Cassandra. "I''m sure he''d be happy to share the view." She was talking to one of her new slaves. It irked Gill to no end. Also, who didn''t know her cousin was the lord here, let alone her father was a lord of a big town? And¡­ Jonathan was a well-known queer. He may not want to show off his lovers to others. Long story short, no one fought with her for the half-orc. "200 gold! Going once!" The thought of Cassandra winning a handsome fox made him feel a little uncomfortable. More importantly, while he was not sure how strong half-orcs were, he had heard of the impressive strengths of orcs. If he could bring him to Altera¡ª "Going twice!" Gill raised his hand. "210 gold!" Silence reigned in the massive room and all heads turned to him. Their eyebrows raised in curiosity, mostly with faces of watching a good show. Who would go against the lord of a town so openly? Who was he? "215!!" It was Cassandra, and Gill continued to bid. "220!" This went on until it reached 350 gold which was already way out of budget. Cassandra narrowed her eyes, but she reluctantly put down her bidding paddle. She didn''t forget to send a glare in his direction though. The auctioneer looked at them in alteration, interested, before bellowing the announcement. "Going once! Going twice!" Pause. "SOLD to the handsome gentleman over there! He clapped his hands, looking at Gill very carefully. "Congratulations! You now own your own half-orc!" ¡­ When the auction ended, the crowd started to file out of the building, but not without major discussions about what had happened. "I wanted that half-orc!" "Ah, we stood no chance." Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Who won it anyway? He dared to go against Ms. Cassandra¡­" "I''m not sure either." "He probably has a decent background though," one said. There was no other explanation. Maybe he was someone from a similarly large town. Maybe even a city. "I agree," his companion said, "And few people would spend that amount of money for a half-orc. "Sure, they''re rare, but that''s it, right?" "Right," another laughed, "Those things would be great fighters, sure, but they''re belligerent in nature. And judging by how meek that one was, it was probably just waiting to die a violent death, ideally with the owner." "Hm, it wasn''t the first time that happened." There was once a city in the far west that captured a half-orc (as orcs in general couldn''t be tamed, only fought with). They were amazed by how calm it was, and they thought it must''ve retained a lot of its human calmness. It was quite famous and even inspired an active hunting of half-orcs (albeit to no success as they were much rarer at the time). The half-orc was also very beautiful and seduced a lot of powerful men. In the end, the damned thing lead the entire party¡ªa caravan¡ªdown a steep cliff. No one survived. "How did Hoskle do it?" Another one asked. They heard that half-orcs actually lived with humans. "Who knows," the man shrugged, but he wasn''t naive enough to think he could mimic it even if he had the gugu brain to buy the thing. There were similar discussions all around the territory. Other than Altera products, there was now the half-orc, Cassandra, and Gill. And at this time, the two of these major points of discussion were looking at each other. Their paths had crossed as they exited, with Gill holding the chain of the slave¡ªnow kindly covered by him with a robe¡ªand Cassandra being framed by her two new male slaves. They were both frowning as they stared at each other, not speaking. Gill did not expect Cassandra to not pay him any heed. She just pulled her two new slaves away and walked past Gill as if he wasn''t even there. Cassandra held her head high, refusing to look back to see his face. And he didn''t say anything else either. The two didn''t speak all the way until they were far apart, still silent even when the other was no longer in sight. It was just that as they were walking, Cassandra overheard something. Her feet paused a little, her ears perking to listen. "Who was that guy who won the half-orc?" "I don''t know, he wasn''t wearing any emblems!" "But he''s rich!" "Hehe. Just what we like." "Let''s plan this carefully just in case he has¡­ friends." "I know someone who wants that orc, too, he could smuggle him out without anyone noticing!" "Good, good." It was all quite maddening but, still angry, Cassandra did not speak for prick. With a frown, Cassandra just walked away. Hmpf! Who cared about him! ¡­ Returning to the headquarters, everyone was surprised to see Gill holding a chain of a slave. The person was super tall but hooded and they looked at him curiously. Gill gently took off the chains and pulled down the hood to show their new friend. The aborigines were shocked and the Terrans looked amazed. "It''s a half-orc." Kleid said, eyebrows raised in surprise. "What?!" The soldiers yelled, making the poor orc flinch. "Amazing!" They said, knowing how rare it was to encounter other races. "You definitely won this task!" Gill shrugged and walked away, allowing the others to surround the newcomer in curiosity. "This is amazing," Luis exclaimed, making the half-orc''s ears involuntarily twitch¡ªwhich in itself also made the childish soldiers gasp. "That''s so cool!" Sammy tried his best not to touch the man''s tail. "Are you a fox? Are you sly? Do you swipe??" The orc looked at them in fear, unused to this kind of enthusiasm. "Aww don''t be scared." They said and they pulled him to the living room, handing him some cookies. "Eat." The fox looked at the guardedly, but he shakily took the cookies anyway, subconsciously following orders to avoid pain. The two didn''t know this though, but they just thought he was scared of the new people and the strange environment. The knowledgable aborigines were even a bit surprised at his meekness, and someone was guarded because he had also heard the story of the minx orc. But the fox in question didn''t know about the various thoughts about him. He just took a bite and his unique green-yellow eyes brightened, his tail unconsciously swinging back and forth It felt sweet and filled up his empty heart. His eyes softened a bit and he couldn''t help but look at his new masters. Their eyes met and he immediately looked down, knowing slaves weren''t supposed to meet their owner''s eyes so blatantly. Luis looked at him like he was a new pet to be loved and cared for. The young lad pulled out another cookie and handed it to him. "One more. Just one, these are very expensive." The orc couldn''t help but stare. Expensive? But given to him? Inevitably, his eyes still met theirs, and he realized there was a stark absence of what he was used to. He didn''t show derisiveness, disgust, or superiority. All he saw was curiosity and¡­ kindness. What kind of masters bought him? Chapter 377 Half-orc (Part 2) "It''s delicious right?" Luis said with a smile. The orc blinked and nodded. "Well, you can''t have anymore." "..." Gill ignored the fools and turned to the aborigines who were gaping at the new creature. "What do you know about orcs?" He started asking about the creatures from the aborigines, primarily because the orc''s eyes were dead and he didn''t seem to like speaking very much. Although he softened up a bit, he felt it wasn''t the time for a thorough questioning as of yet. He could see the difference between human slaves and slaves from other races. At the very least, even Gaudi wasn''t as pitiful and they could still talk to him. For other races, it could be said they were treated worse than animals. This was true for the goblins, and obviously the same for the orcs. Of course, because the goblins were intrinsically weaker, they were still much more pitiful than everything else. It was Kleid who moved forward and spoke to him. They walked a bit farther from the others, just out of earshot of the creature. "What do you know about orcs, sir?" "Orcs are humanoid creatures that share the features of both humans and certain animals." Interestingly, based on what he saw as well as the descriptions, the animal blood of these orcs seemed closer to Terran species of animals than Xeno''s. For convenience, their animal forms would be referred to as such. He then looked at the new guy, "He seems a bit different from what I imagined. Are half-orcs so different from the pureblood ones?" "Pureblood orcs are creatures known for their physiques not inferior to beasts. They have slightly humanoid shapes like the half-orcs and they also walk on hind legs, but their shapes and skin (i.e. fur, scales, etc) are closer to that of beasts. "They are also stronger than beasts, not only physically but also because they know more than just blood lust." "Mixed-bloods are basically any creature that had orc blood in them," he said, "There had been a handful of cases of human-orc hybrids, but there have also been a few sightings of troll-orc hybrids and ogre-orc hybrids." "Of course, there could be more, but deeper into other races'' territories." Cross-race procreation was incredibly difficult, however. It could be seen that Hoskle was a territory that may have been open to Orcs, otherwise, five half-breeds would not have been created and lived to their age. "It is more likely the half-orcs were also captured by Hoskle, or perhaps they were rescued from Orc territories after their mothers got kidnapped for their fertility and better brains. Kleid paused, eyes twitching at the imagery, "I can''t imagine orcs and humans walking together, let alone them performing intercourse¡­" Orcs were very strong, though their brains weren''t very good. An emerging group thought cross-breeding with humans would improve the minds, which was true in a way. But their method of kidnapping women just exacerbated the conflicts between humans and the orcs to the point of no return. Gill and the others listened to all these aptly. Still, Gill looked at the orc in interest. Kleid saw this and couldn''t help but give out a warning, telling him about the story of the minx orc. Gill''s eyebrows rose and took note. However, he still wanted to think that he spent 350 gold for an ally and not a liability. Otherwise, he wouldn''t know how to face the captain, sister-in-law, and¡­ Cassandra, though for a very different reason. His dark eyes looked at the newcomer, hoping to find out more directly. ¡­. That night, Gill had a hard time sleeping. Although he had a lot of things to ponder, somehow he ended up intermittently dreaming of two very different women. He couldn''t help but recall Cassandra''s violet eyes in annoyance then pain and anger earlier that day. He couldn''t help but remember Juni a bit as well, although the memories traced back all the way to their teens, when they were still so young and innocent. The entire night, his mind involuntarily shifted to the two women¡ªone whom he associated with innocent love in a peaceful world, and the other to an explosive attraction from another realm. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If his teammates learned of this¡­, would they call him Scum? ¡­ The next day, the team went out to go shopping again, hoping to gather good finds for the territory and for their own strengths. The orc stayed on their property safely and they didn''t worry much. Owning or renting a property in the system meant that no unauthorized personnel could enter. As one of the people who held authority in the property, Gill could also control who could exit. Except for the lord, of course, though he didn''t peg Jonathan as someone who would break into their territory for a half-orc. Overall, this place might have very low standards of lifestyle, but there were plenty of magical conveniences. This time, Plaridel managed to find himself another good thing. He was a fire shieldsman and he found a nice Level C coat in the market. It had the effect of increasing his defense when it was damaged. Of course, level C effects were limited, but this was already amazing on its own. "I finally have my own armor!" The man exclaimed raising the coat. He looked at the woman who sold it with his characteristic suave smile, and white teeth contrasting well with his mocha skin. "Thanks pretty lady." The girl blushed and couldn''t look at him. Plaridel might be small even by Terran standards¡ªand was smaller than the women here¡ªbut he never failed to catch a couple of hearts anyway. Luis and Mao cackled, though internally they thought they also wanted to be more charming. The group continued to peruse and buy, often times adding to the goods for selling in the Contribution Store. They also managed to get some cloth from Kilpo and Makita, as well as some spices from Holt City. While most of the spices weren''t very special, there was one that got their attention. It was called Puring sauce, which was slightly viscous and black in color. It was a sauce that gave a special umami taste, much stronger than what they had now. Their territory chefs would love to study it. As they shopped around, Gill''s sharp ears couldn''t help but overhear some whispers, primarily because it was obviously related to them. "That''s them," A man said, looking at them with scrutiny. "Who?" "You don''t know? They''re the people who bought that half-orc." "So rich?" "Yes, I know." "The Goliath Mercenary team wanted to steal the half-orc, but Miss Cassandra got her guards to beat them up." Gill froze when he heard it, his hands clenching into a fist. "Boss?" "Ah, it''s nothing." He said so, but Gill was in a daze for a while after that. He just blankly nodded when a teammate showed him interesting items for potential purchase, his mind inexplicably attracted to the image of a woman instead. Then, his eyes caught sight of violet¡ªin reality, this time¡ªand he turned his head to follow. He saw her strutting around with the two new slaves following her around. She was buying them clothing, and they looked very peachy. It was an annoying sight. "Hey." "Hmn." "Why do you buy slaves? To show off?" He asked, acrid as always. She frowned. "What''s wrong with buying my men clothing?" He didn''t know how to tell off someone with a completely different worldview, but he badly wanted to do so. Also, those words irked him very much. He dragged her to a relatively less populated alley, with the two slaves frantically following. "What are you doing?" she asked forcefully taking her hand away. "They''re humans! You shouldn''t treat them as slaves." Slaves in this world had no rights, their lives were completely within the controlled of their masters. They could be beaten to death on the street and no one would care. "What? Who said they aren''t human?" "It''s not right¡ª" "The slaves¡ª" "They''re not slaves anymore!" she yelled at him, "I set them free, you imbecile!" "What?" "I already hired them as household help!" "They''re not slaves anymore!" "I''m a weirdo!" She paused, blushing. She had always been seen as eccentric. Although she was beautiful, her unconventional thoughts had turned many suitors away. Not that she liked any of them, of course. Gill kind of wanted to apologize, but the words refused to come out of his mouth¡ª Cassandra saw that he didn''t have anything else to say. She turned and gestured to go back to her companions. But she was stopped when her arm was grabbed by a strong grip. She frowned and tried to pull her arms, though to no avail. It was so irritating; He had a lower level than her so why was he so strong? Annoying! "Prig! If you have nothing better to say, leave me alone¡ª" But she didn''t have the chance to tell him off anymore, as Gill''s lips ended up on hers, effectively shutting her up. Chapter 378 Anniversary (Part 1) Aberdeen City, 1 year prior Inside a high-end hotel room penthouse, something of a special occasion was being held. This could be seen in how the dim candlelight lit the room in a soft glow, how the soft sound of classical music hummed in the background, and how well-decorated the room itself was. There were even flower petals splayed all over the floor, on the cushions, and on the bed¡ªtheir scent occupying the senses of the couple in the room. All this, with the beautiful backdrop of the beautiful city below, made for an incredibly intimate ambiance. Other than these, the couple also dressed themselves well, showing the importance of the occasion to them. Althea wore a beautiful emerald evening gown that matched her eyes. It was a beautiful art piece of silk and lace. It was one of her more expensive dresses that her mother bought with her a few weeks back. Her auburn hair was curled today, giving her a different look than usual, and adding a bit more softness to her. She was also wearing some of the shiny jewelry he gave her¡ªone beautiful necklace that framed her swan neck, a set of pretty earrings that made her face shimmer and, of course, their now-one-year-old wedding ring¡ªcombined, making her even more ethereal than usual. Garan, on the other hand, wore a suit with an undershirt with a light shade of lime. He also wore special cufflinks that Althea gave him during an anniversary they had as girlfriend and boyfriend back then. It was very different from the monotonous colors he usually wore and he was an incredibly handsome picture of sophistication. They stared at each other''s eyes, warmth oozing out of their orbs. In between them were several plates of wonderful-looking food. Garan himself cooked the meal using the built-in kitchen in the suite, and they were absolutely a feast for the eyes. He cooked a mix of fancy dishes as well as Althea''s simpler favorites. Among others, there were Caprese salad slices of ripe tomatoes and mozzarella arranged in a beautiful platter, dressed in balsamic reduction. Althea really liked salads, and she liked to eat them in different mixes and sauces. There was also a succulent lobster tail bathed in garlic butter. It paired perfectly with his seared fillet mignon. It was very savory and filling, each flavorful bite satisfying to consume. Along with these, there were many viands accompanied by a medley of roasted vegetables, completing the meal. Of course, everything was wrapped in a carefully chosen bottle of red wine. He bought the sweeter kind, as Althea liked. He also knew the velvety texture of the wine enhanced both the flavor of the food and the atmosphere. "Time to eat~" she said, smiling, and he nodded, smiling back. It was a wonderful dinner and they talked about various good memories. In retrospect, each one of the other''s best memories had the other there. Soon, their dinner wrapped and they started eating their sweets. The dessert was chocolate fondue. Next to it was a platter of fruits dipped in chocolate. They looked very succulent, each bite promising a sweet symphony of taste. Althea loved milk chocolate the most. And although Garan wasn''t particularly fond of sweets, he didn''t mind eating them with Althea. He particularly liked tasting them when he took them straight from her mouth. Tonight naturally was no exception. "Hmm¡­" Some time later, the two found themselves out of the table and onto the sitting area. At this time, Garan was hungrily tasting all that dessert from his wife''s mouth, his tongue passionately exploring the inside of her mouth. Her arms wrapped tightly around him as he rested part of his weight on her, feeling her softness as he plundered her lips. He parted from her lips and kissed her cheeks, moving wet traces on the side of her face, her ears, and down her neck. She arched her body to give him better access to her neck, and he ate her up with more hunger every time he heard her moan. But when she heard the rustles of clothes getting taken off, Althea immediately snapped out of it. She patted her husband''s back to stop him from going lower, and she had to pull his hair a bit when he misunderstood the gesture as asking for more. "Later! I want to give my gift now!" Garan blinked, as if blinking away the lust, and remembered that he too had a gift he was looking forward to giving her. She used this dazed moment to escape from his hold and went to her bag, cutely scooting back to his side with a smile on her face. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Happy anniversary!!" She said, handing him a small box just larger than his hands. Garan smiled and looked at the meticulously wrapped package tied with a satin ribbon. He slowly unraveled it and his eyes brightened in admiration at what was inside. His wife gave him a bespoke Swiss knife, made of platinum, alloyed with a couple of other very valuable metals. It was expertly contoured to fit his hand, very ergonomic. He looked at her curiously, wondering how she did it, then he recalled she made him place a handprint on a plaster of Paris mold, saying it was for a project. He never questioned her, but he should''ve known she was planning something. His lips twitched upwards as he released the razor-sharp blade and stood up, expertly starting to manipulate it so she could admire it (note: him) at a safe distance. The other tools in the toolset included serrated blades for cutting through tough materials and a bottle opener that could be used not only for celebration, but also in opening rations. There was also a small saw for wood crafting and various precision tools, which would prove useful in survival situations. Garan raised the knife and admired it from different angles, marveling at its practicality and elegance, his heart filled by its every sheen. This tool would also save him many times, even in another world that they had yet to find. He smiled and closed it, shifting his eyes to look at her as she watched his reaction. He extended his hand and she took it, before he pulled her flush to him again, embracing her with all his warmth. "Thank you, I love it." He gave her a long kiss on the cheek, and it was ticklish so she ended up giggling. His breath turned heavier but he didn''t jump on her. He lifted her from his thigh and gently placed her back on the sofa, standing up to get her gift. He sat down next to her, placing his warm palm on her waist as he pulled her to him. He handed her a box as well, and she blinked as she looked at its contents. It was an intricately designed package and she opened it to reveal another beautiful gem. It was an ultra-rare emerald diamond much bigger than the pink ones he gave before. He really liked giving her gems, though he said it was mostly because he couldn''t beat Winona for seeds, plants, and formulations. Garan had specifically traced this treasure and found out a foreign syndicate had it. Although the syndicate did nothing to provoke him, he proposed their hunting. Anyway, they were really an evil group. He also almost died, but he thought it was very beautiful and was close to fitting his wife''s beauty. Close. Just close. "Someday I''ll find you something that could match your beauty," he said, baritone voice full of promise. It melted Althea''s heart. "Aww, Garan, you didn''t have to¡­" she said, patting his chiseled chin. She loved whatever he gave her. "I want to," he told her, "I wouldn''t be able to rest well if I don''t give you the most beautiful things." Her emerald eyes met his extremely heated gaze¡ªone that never failed to make her face flush in embarrassment. And without further ado, he lifted her up in the air, carrying her like a princess. The next thing she knew she was gently thrown back first on the soft bed, under a husband intent to continue where they left off. "..." ________ Altera, present "Ha¡­ ah¡­" In another world, familiar sounds of sensuality echoed inside a room. It had lasted for hours on end, and it reached its end when the moon was already halfway in the sky. "Ah¡­ husband¡­!" A coquettish moan sounded, closely followed by a breathless, very masculine, groan. "Wife!" Garan''s eyes squinted in pleasure, large drops of sweat dripping on his wife''s body. Althea gasped as she gripped her husband''s back for dear life, her head arched back as she swallowed the sensations. With a huff, Garan fell down beside her on the bed, and he placed his strong arms above her, enveloping her in a hug. He tightly wrapped his muscular arms around her sweaty waist, feeling her warmth and heartbeat, engraving into his soul. It was something he''d never tire of doing, over and over. Then he felt his wife''s breathing soften, obviously about to fall asleep. Garan looked at the sky and made a rough calculation, deduced that it was exactly midnight. "Wife," he said, gently waking her up with a noisy smooch on the cheek. "Hmmmnnn???" She mumbled, eyes half open. She looked so cute that he smiled and smooched her other cheek. "Whwat ish it?" She gurbled as she buried her head in his wide chest. He chuckled and guided her to a sitting position. He held her shoulder so she didn''t fall down, and it was here Althea finally woke up a bit. She looked at him in confusion but also very patient and his heart melted. He rubbed his palm against her cheek and grinned. "Happy anniversary." "..." Chapter 379 Anniversary (Part 2) Althea stared blankly, absorbing, and Garan waited patiently for her to do so. When it occurred to her, her eyes widened. "What?" He laughed and repeated, "Happy anniversary." He kissed her cheek as he took out a beautiful wooden box, obviously bespoke from Baron''s specialty craftsmen. Althea was startled, she had completely forgotten! She didn''t open the gift immediately, feeling guilty. Although it was always Garan who celebrated it more back when they started dating, she had at least never forgotten about their anniversary. And this was only the second year after marriage! "I''m sorry, I¡ª" Some tears lined up her eyes, feeling heavy, and Garan kissed her eyes to stop it. He truly didn''t mind. "It''s fine, my love. Besides, the dates here are different," He said. Garan had calculated this date according to the Terran years, and they would celebrate their next ones according to the local calendar, which would be in about a couple of weeks. He shifted to sit behind her, placing his protective arms around her and holding her arms, encouraging her to see her gift. "Open your gift." Althea tried to push down the guilt and sadness, knowing it was rude to the gift-giver to show a frown when opening the gift. She sniffed, slowly opening the box to see its contents. Her eyes dilated at the unique gemstones the size of her thumb. It was amazingly beautiful, shimmering and endless. It was like a universe was inside. Immediately, she used her ability to see what it was. [Space Stone (Lv3): A stone that naturally contains compressed space. Gives 50 cubic meters unmerged and 25 cubic meters if merged with existing space] "!!" Her eyes widened into saucers and she whipped her head to look at her husband, who had been watching her reaction with an amused smile. Space stone!! She had heard of these treasures! She thought only Eagle got lucky! And it was just as she needed, too! After all, the warehouse was only accessible within territory grounds. She often had to go outside! She looked at her husband with so much wonder and admiration that Garan''s body had a reaction. It had to be said: Receiving admiring gazes from the woman they love is very, very, useful to men''s ego. Althea gave her husband a sweet peck on the cheeks and a loving hug, before parting with him and looking down at her hands, returning her attention to the stone. [Would you like to merge Space Stone (Lv3) to your current space?] Yes. As she selected the option, the dusty screen exploded and expanded around her. Soon, a faint image of a bigger box overlayed over her existing space. She saw the arrows indicating the axis of expansion. She naturally chose to merge with her integral space. She mused what items she''d be placing to maximize the space and what axis she needed to prioritize more. For instance, there would be times when she''d need to uproot trees and shrubs and it would be lovely to get them in the space. Of course, she knew she couldn''t keep them there for too long before they died. Terran trees could more or less last without light, water, or carbon dioxide for a couple of weeks at most, so she reckoned a day or two in the space would be fine for the local vegetation. In the end, she settled for a floor dimension of 2.5 meters by 5 meters, with a height of over 2.5 meters¡ªwhich was just about enough height for young trees. With this, she could fit in 3 or 4 small trees, and even more smaller plants. As for why she chose the exact dimensions, it was because she wanted to be a nerd and wanted to apply the golden ratio. Anyway, it seemed to be just about what she''d needed anyway. Without further ado, she absorbed the stone and felt a slight force surround her, immediately compressing towards her. Her emerald eyes watched as her small 1 cubic meter space slowly expanded to a 25-cubic-meter one, and it was fascinating. She excitedly looked at a random large item¡ªthe chaise lounge¡ªin the room and placed it in the corner of the new space to test. Her eyes widened in amazement when it settled without any problems and her naked self jumped into her husband''s arms. "My husband is amazing!!!" She yelled, giving him continuous pecks on the lips, which he enjoyed very much. "That''s not all," he said, struggling not to jump at her. He dare not disrupt his own gift-giving. "There''s more in the box," he said with a smile. Althea paused and turned to look at the box and opened it. She saw a beautifully crafted metal ring. Embedded on it was the most beautiful gem in the universe¡ªthe space stone. Another one? !!! "H-Husband, I¡ª" This is too precious. And this detail¡­ she wondered which craftsman he got¡ª But the thought stopped as she recognized this particular type of steel with her appraisal skill. It was her husband''s. Immediately, she knew that he must''ve crafted it himself. Tears lined up her eyes and she immediately felt herself being embraced. "You''re more precious," he said as his chin rested on her head. He then parted from her and she looked up to see his warm smile. He took the ring and placed it on her other ring finger. She buried her head in his arms, incredibly touched. She sat comfortably on his leg as she raised her hand to look at the stone. Her hands were very beautiful and well-sculpted. The gorgeous ring and stone complimented it too well. Garan stared closely and thought in relief that he finally found it: The gem that could complement his wife''s hands. Garan grabbed her hand and placed it against his warm lips. His other arm wrapped around her naked torso, hugging her tightly. "It can be enclosed like this," He said, showing a little contraption to cover the gem. "To guard from coveting eyes." Indeed it was a treasure, it could be dangerous to show it off. With this thought, Althea decided to try to place it in the other space, just in case. [Unmerged Space could not be integrated] Alas. So it was a very good thing that she could hide it as needed. Then, she seemed to have realized something. "Space stone¡­what about yours?" "My space is enough for me. You having it is a relief to me." "But¡­" He chuckled and kissed her lips, "My space is rarely full. It would be a waste on me." Althea looked at him and determined he wasn''t lying. She still felt guilty, though. Althea changed positions so she could straddle her husband and she wrapped her arms around him. She placed a soft kiss on his lips. "I wish I prepared a gift," she mumbled, absentmindedly placing several pecks on his face. "Don''t worry, I will¡ª" Before she could finish, her back was already on the soft bed and she was staring up at her husband. He leaned down and licked her ears. "You are already the greatest gift," he said, voice hoarse from lust. His hands slid to her thighs, opening them up. He didn''t do anything for a while and only looked at her in her most vulnerable form. She covered her face, embarrassed, and unconsciously tried closing her legs. Garan just found it so cute and he chuckled as he bent over to hover over her, supporting his weight with his arms, keeping her legs open with his thigh. He freed a hand to take hers off her face, and he admired her shy beautiful face. They had always been open with their affections and they had made love so many times, but she still showed her occasional shyness like this. He lifted both hands above her head,and leaned down to taste her lips. He took it slow, as if sampling, and they just felt each other''s simple presence like this before allowing things to heat up more and more, until Garan couldn''t take it anymore. "Hnng~" She moaned as she was skewered, and he groaned as he felt his wife''s warm folds take hold of him, sucking out his soul. Garan just thought he could stay here forever. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Wife¡­" he panted, burying his head on her soft shoulders as he drowned in pleasure. Her arms wrapped around his wide shoulders for support, squeezing her softness against his hard chest. She shut her eyes as she felt his length throb inside of her, sending pleasing electricity down her spine. She could only gasp and moan as he started to move his hips in plunder. Very soon, the erotic sounds of groans, moans, and slapping skins would echo across the room¡ªthe symphony made by a beautiful couple performing nature''s most intricate dance. They wouldn''t get out of the room until well after sunrise the next day, with a level 8 Althea''s hips¡ªto her gruntlement¡ªfeeling quite uncomfortable the whole time. In annoyance, she thought: Body upgrading is a scam! Chapter 380 One-month Celebration [44 days after The Migration] The time for the children''s one-Xenoan month birth celebration had finally arrived. It was a relatively big celebration, especially since it was for more than one event. One was to officially welcome the children''s first month into this world, and the other was to celebrate the reunion of family and friends. They invited all their friends, including the elders and the aborigines, to a small but wondrous gathering in their villa. They set it late afternoon when the sun was cool and was about to set. They decorated the place well, very much an intimate but well-prepared celebration. The setting sun bathed the villa with a warm golden glow as the guests walked around and admired the tranquil oasis¡ªfrom the intricately-decorated house to the gardens that framed it. The house on a normal day was already very beautiful, with its front and rear gardens, swings, and ponds. But today, it was especially beautiful with the new colors, flowing colorful fabrics, and decorations added to its facade. In the garden, the plants that hadn''t flowered before were now in full bloom, adding an amazing mix of colors to their sights. Further, their combined scents enveloped the guests in a warm, relaxing, embrace. The empty pond that reflected the orange hues of the sky was now with fishes¡ªcaught by Ansel himself. The fishes glided gracefully under the water''s surface, creating fascinating movements under the water, never failing to attract audiences to just watch them swim. They only came in silver colors, however, even if in different shades. There were plenty of times Ansel jokingly said to paint these dull-colored fishes orange or yellow, to make them more ornamental. There was also a small wooden platform extending above the pond, allowing for a more intimate view of the fishes as well as the young waterlilies¡ªfound in the warehouse as a random resource sold¡ªslowly creating a tiny ecosystem in the pond. Traversing the entire gardens were stone pathways that wound their way through the shrubs, trees, gardens, and meticulously maintained flower beds¡ªdedicating the path to maximize their appreciation. The trees¡ªthe pre-existing ones¡ªwere strategically placed and maintained, providing a comforting canopy to those underneath it. The newer smaller trees, on the other hand, were still growing and each one provided hope for what was to come. It was all so well put that it amazed all the guests, especially the aborgines who weren''t used to such arrangements. Gaudi, who had been to two worlds, was also admiring. It was like they entered another world after passing through the gates. The party was set up within these beautiful gardens. There were flower arrangements and tables integrated with the beautiful sight of plants and flowers. One of the first things to notice upon entering was the elegantly set tables, the pastel-colored cloth that covered them fluttering lightly with the breeze. Keeping the cloth in place were colorful ceramic vases adorned with fresh flowers. Because it was set near dusk, some lighting had been turned on in advance. These were lightings covered in partially translucent youli stone, hanging down from posts, trees, and trellises. They cast a warm enchanting glow to the set-up, adding to the otherworldly feel it was already exuding. Even Oslo, who grew up in the city, had never seen such a thing. Parties also had flowers and plants, of course, but they were never arranged so beautifully. "This is beautiful. Who arranged it?" Oslo asked, his pale hand extending to touch the beautiful pink flower. "I did," Unexpectedly, it was Ansel who spoke up with a smirk. Oslo blinked. This was really unexpected. Other than gardeners, mostly it was only women¡ªspecifically, ladies of noble houses¡ªwho would care for such details. "Ansel should start an events management company." Althea laughed, entering the venue with little Pepper. Garan, who followed closely behind with their son, sneered. It seemed throwing him in the barracks didn''t fix his sissiness. Don''t get him wrong, he didn''t dislike soft men. He disliked Ansel being a soft man, because that meant he would definitely act like a baby when his wife was there! Sure enough, Ansel sauntered towards his wife with a huge smile. "You think so? You''ll sponsor me right, older sister?" He asked, pinching his voice a little and leaning down so his height was near hers. Althea laughed and patted his head. "Of course." Garan''s eyes twitched, but before he could extend his hand to hold his wife''s, Ansel pulled back and put an arm around Oslo''s neck for a brotherly tug instead. The aborigines seemed to have a relatively open culture, so this little touch didn''t offend them. "Friend!" He said, "Let me show you more about this event." Oslo, who had been curious, nodded, and the two lost-brothers went out of their way. Ansel effectively saved himself a few hours of harsh training that day. ¡­ The food was buffet style courtesy of both Harold and Cooke, who had become close friends (and went to morning exercises together with Clutch and Gru). They also learned a lot from each other, with Harold learning more technical techniques, and Cooke getting more understanding of the subtleties of homemade food. Combining their two old heads together, they came up with a menu comprising of eight viands of various meat and fishes, a salad with two dressing options, rice, and tomato pasta. There were also three types of desserts. One was the classic fruit platter, but the other two¡ªtart and pie¡ªused the new sugar that had been discovered and had yet to be readily available in the supermarket. Each dish looked absolutely alluring. Anyway, this buffet was already open and a lot of eyes were fixed in its direction. Althea smiled, "It''s an open buffet," she said, "You can take what you want before going to your seat, and you can come back there at any time. "Sit where you wish, and I hope you enjoy the event!" "Yes, Miss Althea~ Thank you~" They said in near unison, and without further ado, the small crowd gathered in front of the buffet table, trying not to drool on it. The tables were slowly filled up with people and their plates and soon words of praise echoed in the gardens. "Delicious!" "Amazing.." "I need to go back in case they run out!" "Me too!" Safe to say, the reviews for the food were stellar. As the guest ate happily, the family of four went up the makeshift stage. "Family, friends, and partners. Thank you for coming to our little gathering," Althea began to speak with a beautiful smile. Next to her, her handsome husband stood dutifully, like a guard. "Today is my children''s first month since arriving in this tumultuous world, a month since these new symbols of hopes for me, for us, were born." "I would like to thank my friends and husband for helping me raise these angels. Also thank you to Betty, Sheila, Oslo, Helios, and Hugo for bringing me help when I was about to give birth." At the sound of new men''s names, Garan''s eyes faltered and he stared at the aforementioned men. His sharp eyes ended on Hugo, and realized it was one of the many (many) men looking at his wife differently. Their eyes met and they frowned at the same time, but quickly shifted their attention to the woman speaking. "It was not easy," she said and smiled when she felt her husband''s warmth next to her, "But we got through it and it is such a blessing that has to be celebrated many times." "Not only this, but we also celebrate the reunion with families and our brethren lost many months ago. Now, they would build this new home together with us." She said this and she looked at her husband, who smiled with her. The audience clapped in agreement, many of whom smiling with each other, looking forward to their contributions to the territory. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea let the applause calm down before speaking again. "I know this is a bit off-topic, but my husband and I would like to take advantage of this time to introduce the names of my children." She turned to her husband who stepped forward, holding the two little puddings. As if knowing this was all about them, the two children lifted their heads from being buried comfortably in their father''s embrace and stared at the audience. The people admired their cute faces, happily melting as they saw their large rounded eyes. They were also adorable in their matching clothing, except Little Pepper''s was reddish, while Meatball''s was blue. "Little Meatball is Alphonse Witt, in Terran language, meaning One of Noble Temperament," she said as she watched the boy drool all over his father''s arm. "Well, this is what we hope he''d grow to be." The audience giggled. She turned to little Pepper, and Beany was already a little teary. "My firstborn¡ªLittle Pepper will be named Nathalia Witt, in honor of Beany''s daughter who had left us too early." She paused, "In Terran, it means the day of birth, a happy event." "Their names would signify their completely becoming part of this world, and what we hope for them. Thank you for witnessing it with us, and we hope everyone will find the happiness that we found." From the crowd, Beany raised his cup. "Cheers!" Smiling, everyone else raised their glasses, "Cheers!!" Together, everyone gestured to down their glasses. The babies giggled along with the atmosphere, and the couple couldn''t join the cheer immediately because of it. Unexpectedly, the couple saw¡­ that Little Meatball was floating, like a helium balloon. "..." Chapter 381 Together Garan immediately pulled the boy back to his arms, and he behaved there like the baby that he was¡ªinnocently giggling and decidedly not floating. Garan and Althea''s eyes met but saw that no one noticed, likely because Meatball floated only a few inches and that it happened during the drinking. It was even made less obvious by the angle of Garan''s hold. The trio''s eyes met, the baby blinked, little Pepper also blinked innocently, and the moment passed just like that. The couple just smiled awkwardly and pretended nothing happened, waiting for the cheering to die down. The audience continued to clap their hands and the aborigines followed the custom. Ansel saw that it had now become familiar with them after so long. However, he did know it wasn''t like this before. This made him curious, and he turned to Oslo. "How do you show your celebratory mood?" Ansel asked the blonde, who blinked at the question in response. "We don''t," he said, "We just say ''hail!'' if we agree to someone of high status. Otherwise, none." "Oh¡­ (that''s boring)," Ansel said, "Then our clapping and jumping must have shocked you guys." Oslo laughed awkwardly, because it did, especially with the crazy high-pitched screaming. He remembered unconsciously running away when he was the target of said scream. It came from girls (and men) who called themselves ''The Golden Girls''. It was around this time that Harold¡ªthe host¡ªannounced the last leg of the event. It was a performance, done while the audience ate their fill. Most of them were already eating dessert, looking like they were having orgasms. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As always, Fable had been hired, but instead of just his upbeat songs he chose to do his ballads as well. There was even a flute player (using a new makeshift recorder-flute, courtesy of Baron''s Woodworking Shop) as his accompaniment. Even if it was just a single-tone instrument, Fable''s ethereal voice made up for it. He sang two songs first, more upbeat ones, and the audience nodded their heads to the beat. The set was ended with his ballad, a special happy birthday song he wrote for the babies. He looked at the two adorable children snug in their father''s arms, their large eyes staring at him and melting him to puddle. They were the first two Terrans born when they arrived in this place, and that meant too many things. /In a world of dreams and laugher, in a world where magic take flight/ /The children''s heart dances, bathed in birthday light./ /Happy birthday little ones, may your days be painted with various colors of gold./ The audience was silent and barely eating during the performance, engrossed. Oslo asked, pointing at the small tube producing sounds. "Is that a sound tube?" He asked, impressed. "You people really have everything." "You have something similar?" "What I know doesn''t make such a full sound though." "We call it a flute, well kind of." Ansel said, "You guys listen to it during parties?" "Yes, though they''re mostly played by noble girls specializing in such," he said, "It''s often done when girls wanted to attract husbands." This was the first time Ansel heard of anything related to entertainment in this continent. They couldn''t continue with the topic though as Fable also took out his own wind instrument, resonating with his accompaniment. It had its flaws, but it was great considering everything. And looking at the aborigines'' fascinated appearance, Ansel remembered his plan on setting up an entertainment company! No way, everyone''s too busy levelling up lately, how could he still remember this auxillary concern. Well, he''d discuss it with Althea later. If simple recorders could fascinate them, he could imagine what string instruments could do! Would it create a revolution? Wow, very exciting! Anyway, they would definitely welcome aborigines soon, and that meant money! He should really set these things up very soon! ¡­ In the after party, with most of the guests¡ªincluding the aborigines and elders¡ªleaving the core Terrans behind. They moved to the interior of the house, with the set up outside cleaned up by temporary workers they hired for the day. If they did well, then Ansel would definitely hire them to work as labor for his new company. This was low-key implied by Ansel, making the temp workers move with ultra efficiency. Even the flowers would be as it was before the party started. The couple got Sheila and Harold take the babies inside while they saw the guests out. This made them, especially the aborigines who were aware of her status, extremely flattered. They thanked Althea and Garan for the food and fun before going their way. "Oslo, wait," Althea uttered, "Stay behind for a bit." The guests nodded to them again before leaving, so now only Oslo was left within the gates, and they lead him to one of the sitting areas nearby. The couple looked at each other and looked at him, asking if there had been many cases of children exhibiting elemental skills. . "In theory, I suppose children at level 10 can indeed awaken. I haven''t heard of this however, as most people reach level 10 by 15 years old. It''s a little earlier in cities but not too much¡ªthe earliest I heard was someone from Holt City, who reached level 10 at ten years old." Althea looked at Oslo who had a bit of a sneer at the mention of the lad. But she wasn''t in the mood for gossip at this time. "If the children are not level 10?" "Elements can only be used at level 10 because of the development of human physiques," he said, pausing. "Why, is there¡­?" "No¡­ we, will see." She said, "We¡­ could''ve imagined it." In a magical place like Xeno, anything could be possible. "We would appreciate if you also look into it, especially when you go home." Oslo nodded, "Anything for you, milord," then his blue eyes shifted and met another''s. "And your family, of course~" ¡­ While the adults set up the more intimate after-party in the living area, the children were cleaned up and put to bed. For the babies'' case, it was both their parents who lulled them to sleep.Or were trying to. At this time, they were poking Meatball. "Float," Althea said, and Garan even lifted him up, then put him back down and said "Float". He did this three times, saying ''Float'' after each time. Like training a dog. It was just that Little Meatball was not showing any sign of floating again. Was it really just their imagination? The couple looked at each other and sighed, just arranging the children to finally go to sleep. They took each edge with the children giggling between them. They looked quite energetic and they wondered how long it would be to get them to sleep. Garan smiled and looked at his wife, "Why don''t you sing for them?" he asked, making her giggle at old memories between the two of them. She was in no way a singer, but she did have a nice voice, at least in the ears of her loved ones. She really liked Fable''s song, so she sang its continuation, and the children cooed adorably at each note. /As the youli lamps, flickered, and the cake''s sweetness unfolds, my babies, our love and delight, let your joy unfold/ /On this special day of yours, may happiness never grow old. In a symphony of moments, where memories are bold./ The couple watched lovingly as their children eventually drifted to sleep, each kissing both baby''s chubby cheeks. Before leaving the room, however, Althea couldn''t help but turn again and sighed, staring at the small figures on the bed. . "Should¡­ we be worried?" she asked, pretty eyebrows furrowed in anxiety. Garan sighed and kissed her head, "Whatever it is, we''ll handle it together." Althea smiled and buried her hand on his broad shoulders. She really, really, liked the word. "Together." Chapter 382 Beany The core group sat around the living room, some sitting on the couch, some lounging on the carpeted floor. They were in a celebratory mood, with a lot of them drinking a bit of alcohol to further loosen up. What made it better was that they were drinking Althea''s special brew. "Darn! That was good!" Beany said with squinted eyes, downing every drop. After cleaning his pint, he suddenly dropped his wooden mug to the table, catching everyone''s attention. Fortunately, whoozy Beany had a smile, so what he was about to say was likely good news. "What is it?" Garan asked, rubbing his temple. Beany smirked, looking smug. "I had awakened an occupation!" He yelled, raising his glass again to Ansel, who was holding the bottle. "More!" Ansel''s eyebrows rose as he very slowly filled the other man''s cup. Some of it leaked though, because Ansel, too, was whoozy. "So, what is it?" "It''s the life occupation of Newsbringer." Althea looked at her old friend, "Oh? What does it give you?" Beany, a little dizzy from being drunk, explained very smugly, "My senses of sight and hearing doubled those of the same level. "I also gained a skill that basically gives me conditional eidetic memory that lasts for 1 day." This was likely given if he needed to have time to transcribe the news he obtained. It was very fitting for a passionate reporter. They all congratulated him and he blushed to the skies. "Oh, please, it''s just so-so~" he said, and his head was already drooping a bit. But he proceeded on telling stories about how he used the skill¡ªmostly gossip, and they just let him drone on. They just let him speak most of the time, but occasionally he mentioned some familiar names and they couldn''t help but react. "There''s this dude¡ªAlon, I think¡ªwas stalking Lily! The doctor!" "Oh? What happened?" "Got rejected! But he couldn''t take no for an answer, he even said his brother was a captain and she shouldn''t be too arrogant." "Oh?" This made everyone look at him. This was important news¡ªwhat if anyone was already taking advantage of their position? And Alon¡­ Amos'' brother? That boy had very high potential. "Amos already explained," he said, "Though it was obvious he''s very much under his leech family. So you''d have to take note of that when he''s actually promoted." "Speaking of failed lovelives¡ª "Baron got rejected¡­ AGAIN!" Beanie had not been here long, but he had really caught a lot of gossip, including Baron''s long list of rejections. He then continued to mumble on, though no names rang a bell anymore, so they were basically just waiting for him to run out of stories. Meanwhile, for some reason, the discussion sparked an argument between the very drunk Ansel and Winona. They were arguing with faces very close to eact other¡ªjust a little push and they''d be kissing. "At least I have an occupation!" Ansel said, sneering, "Might Swordsman!" "PFF¡ªFighting occupation? Everyone who can defend themselves awaken that!" Winona slurred, arrogantly, not knowing how many bad looks from aborigines she''d have received if they were there. "I, on the other hand¡ª I''ll awaken a pharmacist occupation soon, you''ll see!" Winona said, rubbing her face. "And STOP spitting on my face!" Ansel sneered, not believing he was sprinkling saliva. He crossed his arms and looked at her derisively, heckling all of Winona''s pretty blonde locks. "You! Well, just so you know, Althea believed in me so much she gave me a department even before I activated an occupation!" "They say overconfidence goes side by side with failure." "What kind of brother are you! Your sister is the Lord!" The chubby man beside them blinked, and blinked again, before turning his head to Althea''s direction without changing expressions. Their eyes met and the thought finally sunk in. Beany''s eyes widened, gaping at her, inebriation partially kicked away. "You''re the Lord?!" She shrugged. "It''s a secret though." "Of course!" Wow, wow, as a reporter, he had always dreamed of connections to higher-up people. He got himself linked to the strongest person here! S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ Later that night, people had slowly succumbed to drunkenness. Surprisingly, Beanie, who had looked drunk since the beginning of the party, was one of the few people awake. At this time, he was staring at Althea, a bit teary. "You didn''t have to name her after my dead daughter¡ªI¡­ "I''m really touched by the name choice." Althea looked at him with a complicated expression. Could she tell him this also had a hint of selfishness? In the end, looking at his extremely appreciative stare, she couldn''t bear to hide it from him. "I am also guilty,," she said, and Beany blinked confused. Althea took out the pearl bracelet she has been keeping safe for Theo when he grew old enough to care for it. Beany, a little unstable as he stood, stared at the bracelet for a while, not entirely certain what he was seeing. He narrowed his eyes to focus more, leaning dow na bit to see it better. "It''s Priya''s." "What?!" he yelled, shakily taking the accessory in his hand. Althea pursed her lips as she looked at him. "I¡­ we met Priya even before the beast tide." "What?" "We could be said to have formed a little¡­ friendship." She said, tone mild, and Beany looked at her in a dazed look. "She''s very beautiful, smart, and an amazing woman." "Hmm¡­" Beany mumbled, though his head was slightly bent down, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. She told him more of their encounter, and¡­ how she could''ve saved Priya if she forced her to come. "Maybe¡­ maybe I should''ve dragged her with us, but I didn''t. I couldn''t risk it, not for someone who didn''t want to come. "The thought haunts me to this day. "Do you blame me?" "No, I¡ª yes." Beany mumbled, dizzy, from alcohol and the information. "I''m sorry, I need space." Althea''s face softened and nodded. "I''ll let Theo stay with Eugene tonight." He didn''t answer and turned away, going somewhere far away from her. She stayed there watching the direction when she heard familiar footsteps approach her. Warm arms wrapped around her shoulder and she let her head rest on his broad shoulder. "Will he be okay?" She asked her husband, eyes watching their old friend''s fleeing back. He held his wife''s hand and kissed it comfortingly. "People change, but their cores rarely do." "He''ll be fine," he said softly, kissing her head. "It may take time, but he will be fine." Chapter 383 New NPC Later that night, Althea finally had the time to check her luck for hiring aborgines. Territory-related things were effective distractions from the worry of potentially destroyed friendships. Of course, another distraction (Garan) offered to ''help'', but she put a hold on it for a while. She was determined to do something productive for the territory today. She pecked on his lips as he reluctantly watched her go. She pinched his cheek, "It''s only half an hour." He frowned and his face didn''t change, it didn''t help that he was a bit drunk and was thus a lot more pouty. She found it adorable and placed a few more pecks on his lips. His eyes darkened but he was holding the babies in both hands¡ªto move to the crib, apparently¡ªso he couldn''t pull her to him. She knew this and chuckled, before turning to look at the babies snoozing peacefully in the comfort of their father''s warmth. She giggled and placed soft kisses on their chubby cheeks, before placing another one on her husband''s. "I''ll be back soon," she said, whispering, "You can have me however you want tonight." ¡­ Before Garan could do anything, she teleported to the Village Center''s third floor. She stood in front of the teleportation circle and paid the fees. As always, the activity didn''t start very positively. The first four weren''t useful to hire¡ªone was a mere labor worker, and another was a beast poop cleaner. The other two were women with that occupation again. Why were there so many? She didn''t haven''t much hope for the last one. Since the first batch, decent hires had become rare. She really wanted to become a town, so the options for hiring wouldn''t be so limited. With low expectations, her delicate fingers pressed the generate button once again, and a portly man appeared on her ''screen''. [Name: Tronie Woods Level: D Abilities: Construction Materials Expert Wage: 15 gold/mo] "...!!" Of course, she hired him. She watched with a little excitement as another old man appeared on the circle, surprised to see her (a reaction which now she found to likely be because she was a woman), and bowed down respectfully as soon as he caught himself. She nodded. "Have a seat," she told him as she went up to the cupboards to get some snacks. She was half-expecting no decent options today so she didn''t bother preparing beforehand. Tronie awkwardly followed instructions, body language oozing with tenseness and apprehension. It was like he was waiting for some punishment or something. Althea pursed her lips, wondering what was going on in this aborigine''s head this time, but she shrugged and simply took out a box of cookies and arranged a couple on the plate. She also heated some water via a fire-powered portable stove made of metal and Youli stone Eugene and the others had developed. Interestingly, every sound the utensils and equipment created made the new aborigine flinch. Tronie''s head was indeed running wild. His previous territory had an eccentric lord. He didn''t dare look up to see what was making all that noise. ''Am I going to die? Or tortured, maybe?'' ''Nonono,'' He shook his head, ''Lords aren''t allowed to make us do what we don''t want to do,'' he chanted. It was why he spent so much getting hired through the Chancery of Appointments instead of going through direct channels. How to escape? Is he really going to die? No, right? His wild thoughts were abruptly stopped when a whiff of Elvendell entered his nose, followed by a gentle tap of the food platter. "Here, have some snacks and drinks," the lord said, "Be careful of the tea, it''s a little hot." Tronie couldn''t help but gape at the beautiful and steaming brown cup. He gulped, thinking no matter what he thought, he ought to follow the Lord''s order. So, very tentatively, he raised his hand to get a piece, letting it enter his mouth with dramatically small movements. A bite was all that was needed to remove all his tension. ¡­ A couple of minutes after taking in all the pastries on the plate, the aborigine''s soul finally returned to earth. "Welcome back," Althea said, making the man flinch and almost kneel down to beg when he realized he had spaced out IN FRONT OF THE LORD! Goodness elves! "It''s fine, don''t kneel, calm down." "Y-Yes!" "Calm down," she repeated. "I won''t hurt you." "I never¡ªyes, milord." Althea waited for the man to calm down before speaking, "I saw your job. What are your skills?" "My passive is to decrease construction time by 10-15%," Tronie said and paused. Although, despite all the nerves, his eyes gravitated hungrily towards the empty plate. Althea''s lips rose a bit as she saw this, but she simply continued with her questions. "Hmm, interesting. What else?" "I also have a skill to be able to locate any construction material, milord." Althea brightened at this. "Any material? What if you''ve never heard of it?" "Yes," he said, "It''s a possibility." Althea already had hundreds of ways to use this skill, and not just in construction materials. But he quickly added a caveat, dismissing her thoughts. "But the condition was I must understand the principle behind its use, and know its use as a construction material." Well, never mind. However, this alone was already very good. One of the primary things she hoped to find was enough material to make cement enough to create strong and tall buildings. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They did find some limestones in the river, but it wasn''t enough to build anything beyond a shed. Although without reinforcing steel and their height was limited, there were still too many uses for concrete and she did not want to waste them. She looked at Tronie, curious. "How¡­ how does your passive work? How do you decrease construction time?" After all, there were plenty of ways to hasten this time¡ªbut a lot of it was to compromise on the quality of the building. For example, Clout could also decrease construction time, though she felt the principles behind their skills were different. Clout could automatically determine the best way to fix the available materials to each other, but Tronie here was allegedly a Materials expert. Tronie blinked, a little taken aback by the question, and it took him a few moments to answer her. "When we''re within 150 yards from an ongoing construction, the materials would be in their maximum constructionable state." Very interesting. But¡­ "Isn''t wood your basic material?" She asked. If so, how would his skill affect it? "Yes, wood and stone. For wood, when my passive is activated they become much easier to handle and would become as is after being settled. Stone, on the other hand, would either be lighter or soften up temporarily." How magical. Althea thought for a while and mused that it was likely that, should concrete structures be implemented someday, this construction NPC could hasten the setting of concrete! If they could settle the source of iron, they would eventually get steel. After that, they would be able to build high-rise buildings on their own, saving space. She made a mental note to increase manpower on steel research. This would probably be on Eugene''s team, partnered with Kimura. She looked forward to the time her territory would be filled with high-rise buildings¡ªbecause that would mean they would able to use the space below for a lot more things! In towns, generally, only 3 floors of buildings were seen except for a level 5 town center which would have 5 floors. In cities, according to Oslo, buildings were only up to six floors, 5 floors mostly. The cities also had the max level City center, which could have 7 floors. The third and last custom building, available in cities, apparently wasn''t a building either, so she could only do manual work if she wanted to go higher. She nodded and spoke to him a bit longer, but more of an orientation for his sake, which left him extremely honored and touched. "Basically, as long as you have the heart to contribute, you''ll fit right in," she said with a smile. "As for accommodations, hired people have their own units in Community 2," she said, "You can ask anyone below for its location. You can also ask some locals and guides for other amenities. Our village has a lot. "And also, my being the Lord is a secret. Please don''t tell anyone, and don''t call me such outside." Although Tronie was puzzled, he nodded dutifully. "Yes, milord." "Tomorrow, you will be joining the research team, located east of the Village Center. Look for Kimura and Belinda." Both of them could also learn something. Kimura in relation to materials, especially local ones, while Belinda for assessment of them. Perhaps¡­ they might even trigger a similar occupation. "I''m looking forward to what you can offer us, Tronie," she said, letting out a mysterious smile, "I assure you the territory will not disappoint." The old man nodded, his heart beating in both apprehension and excitement. Whatever he encountered, he had a feeling he would be surprised! Chapter 384 Welcoming Heartbreak Tavern "They should be done talking by now," Oslo said, estimating the time and the others nodded. The lord had alerted them that there was a new hire today, which made them happy as it had been a while. To show this, they decided to celebrate the coming of a new person. The aborgines got inspired by the Terrans to welcome new hires, so when the lord told them of a new arrival, they already started to prepare to greet him well. By this time, wine and beer were already available in Heartbreak Tavern, ready for consumption. In fact, Oslo and Rowan had already taken quite a few drinks during one of their increasingly-often bonding sessions. It was around this time that Mimi arrived, her little feet entering the pub. Children weren''t prohibited from pubs, they were just not served anything alcoholic. Anyway, fights weren''t allowed in the territory so the classic dangers in pubs were more or less easily avoidable in Altera. She scuttled and paused right next to their table. She stopped and looked up, her large eyes meeting theirs. "He''s gone to Community 2!" She said, reporting. Very cute. They asked the children to monitor the aborigines that come out of the Village center for a bit of money. It seemed that Mimi, Jun''s daughter, got this honor today. "Oh thank you," Oslo smiled charmingly, "Can you describe him?" "It''s an old man!" Mimi said, "He was tall and bulky with a bald head." "Very good little newsbringer," Oslo said with a smile, handing her a silver as a reward. The little girl glowed and thanked them, hopping out of the pub with a happy smile. She''s rich! Her parents would be so proud! S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, now that they know the new hire, the latest hire Gauis-the-gardener was tasked to escort the newcomer. "Why me?" "Because you''re the latest hire," Clutch explained, "And also because you''re the oldest." "..." Should he be offended? And why was this guy so rude? The others laughed at him and waved him off, "It''s fine. You''re the one who will probably make him feel most comfortable," Oslo said, "Be sure to bring him in here!" Gauis sighed and followed, heading towards the door of the tavern. Before closing though, he heard Oslo yell in reminder, "You can kidnap him if you have to!" "..." ¡­ Shaking his head, Gauis went out to greet the newcomer, greeted by the wide roads lined with trees and shrubs. He sighed in adoration. He would never get used to this. As he walked to the community, Gauis couldn''t help but admire the roads, as well as the plants strategically placed and the flowers wonderfully added. This was something he had been seeing for days, but it never failed to improve his mood. He saw plenty of people admiring them, or using them somehow like as a backing or a cover. Then they would use them to go to various destinations, and a lot of these pathwalks would lead towards various parks¡ªthe most admirable of which was Altera Gardens. Together, all these created a wonderful ''organism'' that protected them, gave them food, sheltered them from heat and winds, and lifted them up spiritually. He had a part in this. Back then, even if he was given a lot of exotic plants to work on, there had never been a sense of accomplishment like this. It wasn''t that the variety was inferior to what he had now¡ªthose were noble families with a lot of resources¡ªbut the soul of the garden, the people, weren''t there. The gardens he painstakingly arranged could only be enjoyed by a handful, and still so perfunctorily¡­ simply to ''show off''. At the time, he didn''t know any better so he just worked hard as he was asked. He was extremely honored to be hired by nobles, to be trusted of such important tasks as maintaining ''face''. Then one day, when he was arranging a flower bed¡ªunintentionally hidden underneath the bushes¡ªhe saw something scandalous. If he was hired through direct means and was not protected by the rules of the Chancery, he had no doubt that he had already been buried in the same flowerbed he had been working on. Of course, this meant that he was blacklisted everywhere and those people used their connections to keep him from applying to ''good'' cities and cities. At the time he was in despair. Villages and most towns generally don''t need people like him. But, miraculously, he was hired not too long after¡ªby a little village no less. He thought it was the best thing that happened to him. ¡­ On another side, coming from the central village center area, Tronie was walking around in awe. Was this really a village? Then again, didn''t he actively choose villages for their potential? Towns and cities had fixed structures and thoughts. It just so happened he got lucky and got to a village with a very very high potential. He awakened very late and he had to do a lot of unconventional things to learn the skills that he had. Besides, he was also passionate at this and he truly enjoyed exploring new realms in this field. His eyes got brighter and brighter as he looked around, even walking closer to owned buildings like a creep who stared at the stone, wood, etc construction on the streets. Fortunately for him, Altera was a very open-minded community and they only found his idiosyncrasies cute. They even felt a bit proud, because their territory made others crazy for it. Anyway, the old man continued admiring the building and well-planned infrastructure until a pair of feet stopped near him. "?!" He paused, turning to the sound of a familiar voice. He brightened at the sight. "Gauis?!" Birds of the same feather flocked together. They both awakened their professions quite late. They happened to have been hired by the same town and they spent years together as coworkers. When Gauis was kicked out because of some scandal, he was very sad. "You''re here, too?" "Yes," Gauis said and wrapped an arm around his old friend. "Come!" Tronie had no idea what to expect of this and he could only get dragged along, catching a few curious gazes in their direction. They soon arrived at a building with a lot of people, tables filled with wooden and earthenware mugs, mostly of alcohol. He saw different colors and types, and the scent was nothing like he''d encountered. The entire atmosphere promised a night of fun and relaxation for those who entered, and Tronie was captured immediately. It was obviously a tavern, but it seemed more like a warm and inviting haven than somewhere men could be as boisterous as they want. Seeing him in a daze, Gauis dragged him forward. The lunge brought him back to the present, and he soon realized he was being taken somewhere¡ªto a table with smiling faces. As he was dragged to the table, he couldn''t help but look around. He blinked as he looked at the flickering youli lamps that created shadows on the walls, making the space even livelier. The air was thick with the aroma of fruity drinks, and alcohol, as well as the savory scent of freshly-baked bread and grilled meat. There were also some crunchy snacks that seemed to really fit well with alcohol. He gulped, wanting to try them all out. "Hello, newcomer! It''s been a while since we had a new one!" Oslo said as soon as he was near, pointing him to a chair. Tronie couldn''t help but give Oslo a second look. The lad was handsome and graceful and was obviously quite well-off. It intimidated him a bit. Gauis sighed and just dragged his old friend to a chair and the others proceeded to introduce themselves. "My name is Oslo Gold, Class D Architect." "Clutch Fos, Armoury." "Rowan Houz, soldier." "Houser Road, wood artisan." "Clout Stone, Construction!" Trion blinked. A village had so many professionals? Then it was the womens'' turn and he got even more shocked. "Brenda Smith, weapons maker." A beautiful woman smiled, "Betty Ging. I''m a Healer." She said and then nudged the woman who was sipping some ale beside her. "Lenny Miss," she said, "Seamstress." Then they all stared at him and gulped. "I''m Tronie Woods, Construction Materials Expert." They paused for a bit, eyes bright, before nodding. "We understand why the Lord would choose you," Oslo said patting his shoulder. "You''re quite lucky." "Anyway, time to welcome you!" They then handed him a piece of thin wood, carved with writings and drawings. It was quite amusing and he found himself staring a bit. "Choose your drink!" Gauis said, patting his back. Tronie wasn''t entirely sure what was he supposed to do, so he just looked closely at what was handed to him and started reading the contents. Gaudi, excited to see his friend, even introduced it to him. "Here we have Ale with golden hues and frothy top." The old man said, pointing at the top of the list, sliding down. "Then we have Mead for something sweeter. I learned that it''s enjoyed best in small goblets. "This is Cider for a lighter alternative refreshing tang. Then Wine for a touch of refinement and Whiskey for a taste of strong spirit." "So many options!" Tronie mumbled, brown eyes fixed on the list. It was hard to choose! He never liked alcohol, but somehow he was drooling. "You will love this place, as we have!" Gauis said with a grin and Tronie smiled, eyes ending up meeting the group''s amused sight. He felt a little shy, but then their next words couldn''t help but make him a bit teary. "Welcome to Altera!" They said, "Welcome to your new home!" Chapter 385 Sports and Leisure (Part 1) Witt Residence, Three years prior It was a very quiet night in the community and an intense atmosphere permeated a quaint classically-decorated living room. The room crackled with anticipation as the big game was about to begin. //THE ONCE-IN-A-DECADE EPIC BATTLE BETWEEN THE BELOVED THUNDERBEARS AND STALLIONS IS FINALLY UPON US!!// The loud voice of the announcer echoed in the room, transferred to them from miles away using high-end surround sound audio systems. The television screen was also bright, (every other light was off) and the audience was brought very intimately to the scene¡ªalmost as if they were there as well. /Are you ready for this?!/ The announcer asked and two people yelled in unison. "YES!!!" They yelled, though they whipped their heads to look at each other in a frown, not liking to be in sync with the other. Althea, who was sitting behind, sighed. She chewed on some cheese popcorn as her two companions¡ªAnsel and Winona¡ªhad their eyes glued to the unfolding spectacle on the screen. It was the national finals or something and the atmosphere (at least in the small area those two occupied) was electric, to say the least. At this time, the snacks and drinks filled the room. There were bowls of crunchy popcorn, crispy nachos, various-flavored chicken wings, and a cornucopia of cold beverages. The room was adorned with flags and banners from both teams. Even Althea found herself amidst the fervor and was forced to wear merchandise from the two teams. She looked very¡­ eclectic with her current appearance, being forced on a Thunderbears blue jersey by Winona and a Stallions'' red hat by Ansel. She sighed and just ate her food. /The two teams are entering the field!! AHHHHHH!!/ "Ahhhhh!" "Ahhhhh!" She flinched as the two followed the hyper announcer''s yell, and she pouted when she saw some of the popcorn that had been on her hand on the floor. Althea was about to nag them when she saw that they had calmed down and just stared as the two teams met each other on the field. The tension in the room was more and more palpable as the game started, with the two''s eyes never leaving the screen. Then the whistle started and the two¡­ exploded. "Stalliooons!! Yes, Ben, crush him!" "Thunderbears gogogooo! You can do it! AH!!" The two cheered passionately for their respective teams and voices rose in unison against each other. It was as if whoever cheered louder would have their team winning the game. The game went on and Althea swore her ears was already ringing. Soon it was half game and the game was tied. The stakes were at their peak, and it also meant the two''s lungs were also working overtime. The two were also leaning forward and she worried for their eyes. "Ha! Did you see that! Our Stallions soaring high!" "Oh, you mean the donkeys, right?" "My Thunderbears have a secret weapon tonight!" "Oh please, they''ll need a miracle to beat us " Then there was something that happened in the game¡ªAlthea really didn''t understand these things and terminologies¡ªthat made Ansel laugh. "Nice defense, Winona." Ansel said with sarcasm, "''Going hard into the paint'', you say? Hehe." The blonde pouted, her large eyes glaring at him. "It''s called strategy!" Then another scene happened¡ªagain, Althea had no idea what was happening¡ªand this time it was Winona who raised her hand in cheer. "Your donkeys are tired! They''re taking a nap on the court!" Winona yelled with a smug smirk on her face. Althea looked at the screen and saw no one napping. Ansel sneered in response, "They''re just resting for a victory celebration." Then¡­ whatever. Althea just ate and let them duke it out on their own. Actually, Althea just ended up watching the two passionate audiences instead. "If only the Stallions were as great as they trash-talk¡­ "If the Thundercubs played as well as they celebrated too early, maybeee we could actually be in trouble but alas!" She watched the two''s interactions with interest, eating popcorn. Their banter was as much part of the game as the plays themselves. Eventually, the so-called secret weapon¡ªa new player, very tall and quite good-looking¡ªappeared on the courts and the game tilted a bit in their favor. She could tell that it was an intense game, because there were plenty of times that Winona sobbed and Ansel just tapped the floor in despair. It went to and fro, sometimes with Winona celebrating, and other times it was Ansel. It was quite fun to watch. Not the game, but their reactions¡­ Soon a buzzer-beating three-point shot was made, sealing the game. Thunderbears won, apparently. And Althea only knew this because Winona screamed in glee. Winona pumped her fist in victory while Ansel looked like a betrayed housewife. But then he looked bitterly at Winona, "We could''ve gotten that." Winona blinked and pursed her lips. Sadly, that last shot was really based on luck. So she sighed and reluctantly had to give credit where it was due. "Well, you guys fought well. A little." "Che," he said, "In the rematch next quarter, I''m sure you wouldn''t be so lucky." "Hmph!" "Hmph!" "Your ace''s shot wasn''t bad." "Your guard was also very fast." Althea didn''t really know when the conversation turned, but it did. The next thing she knew, the two were shaking hands like the opposing teams on the field. Sports enthusiasts were so mysterious¡­ Anyway, it was a good game (based on the reactions). Althea couldn''t help but look at the crowd live on screen as well. Friends or foe¡­ they were united in the appreciation of that thrilling game. The camera panned closer to the audience, and the scene captured the excitement, camaraderie, and friendly rivalry of the fans of the sport. As the people filed out of the stadium, blue and red mixed. There were sobs and frowns, but they were all united by the same passion: Sports. This was a unity, a community; She saw in this. And this was why she still watched with them even if she didn''t appreciate the sport herself. _________ Altera Village [47 days after The Migration] Ansel visited his sister as she played with the kids on the rug. The kids, surprisingly, could now crawl very well. It was only a matter of time before they sat up on their own. At this moment, the twins were circling around each other. It was snails'' pace, and there were plenty of times their little butts moved them more than their small arms, but it was something. "Good morning~" "Morning," Althea said, taking Little Pepper¡ªwho happened to be closer¡ªon her lap. She then held Pepper''s little hand to make a wave gesture directed at him. "Say hello to your uncle." "Mwahwhywaah," The little girl purred out, opening and closing her palm as if to greet him. His heart melted and he quickly leaned down to give her a smooch, which made her laugh adorably. Little Meatball on the other hand was, as usual, ignoring him. He even crawled away from him so all he could see was the dumpling''s butt. Ansel suspected Garan taught something to this little guy. "Where''s Garan?" He asked, watching Althea also take in Little Meatball¡ªwho had successfully crawled near her¡ªin another arm. "Training," she said as she smooched the baby boy''s cheek. "There''s a lot to do in that aspect¡­" Garan was also developing the barracks, in addition to the personal property of the mercenary team, into the best model in Terran. He had been improving them with Terran, as well as local techniques and technology. Especially¡ªthose who handle elements well. And it should also be big enough to handle non-guards as well. Although it wasn''t confirmed yet, it was very likely every Terran that was transferred were elementalists! Ansel nodded, unsurprised. When he found out that guy became the leader of military affairs, he knew there''d be a revamp. He had already seen him working with Rowan and Drake, and he was a bit excited what they would do. Anyway, hearing about that block of ice wasn''t what he was here for. He sat down on the carpet with the family of three and faced Althea with a sycophantic look on his face. Althea''s eyebrows rose immediately. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What do you want?" Ansel smiled at the question. In order to facilitate his request for setting up an entertainment company and an entertainment facility, Ansel decided to begin with the development of the basic amenities first. After all, having a stage was weird when there weren''t enough playgrounds! Or, at least, some basic leisure areas that were NOT the peaceful garden! "Now that the basics have been considered¡­" He started, referring to the defense and economic aspects of the territory. "I think it''s time to add more on¡­ the spiritual needs." Her eyebrows rose at this. She was pretty sure she added a lot of leisure amenities in her village already. Some people would even say they were already excessive. "I mean¡­ the more active ones," he added, "You know, not everyone can be satisfied with leisurely walks in your garden!" Althea sighed and waved her hand at him. "Fine," she said, "Tell me more." Anyway, she was still a good lord who listened to others! Chapter 386 Sports and Leisure (Part 2) Ansel straightened his back, adopting somewhat of a professional pose (as sitting on the floor with crossed legs could look, anyway). "People have entered habits now: Go to work, train, make money. Risking their lives outside had been normalized. Although we don''t scream or complain much anymore, it didn''t mean people aren''t bottling things up." He told her, scooting over to pander more effectively. "They are starting to need a few more¡­ outlets." "I''m talking more than landscaping," he added. "Gardens are cool and all, but we''re an energetic bunch now¡ªwe had to. "Not to mention, there are more and more reports of spats. Maybe we should build an arena of sorts?" He was not even exaggerating. The more people there were, the more disagreement there would be. Combined with the stressful environment, scuffles were inevitable. The territory automatically sent yellow cards to people who fought to hurt others outside the barracks, so how would these people vent? Althea might never understand this aspect of men. "Why don''t they just express anger on the monsters outside?" "It''s more likely they''ll go out and attack each other there," Ansel said. "A number of manly men were rushed to the health center the past few days because of this, you know?" "Really?" "Of course, I''m thankful you have Mathilda and her team there because I guarantee¡ªthe fights would have been 10 times worse." At the very least, a lot of fights and bitterness had been dispersed by the team. Mathilda also had a very useful skill to calm people a certain distance from her, enough for logical talk. It was an active skill which was good because there were times when Mathilda would want the person talking to lose their cool. For instance, during some negotiations. In fact, he may or may not have sweet-talked the mother figure to tell him this active skill could do the opposite effect¡ªthat was: To agitate the people around. He was very curious when that''d be needed. "But¡­ they could only do so much¡ªyou didn''t notice Mathilda''s hair was regaining some of the white hair she lost during her upgrades, did you? Not to mention, our population is getting bigger." He looked at his sister very seriously, "Have mercy on our peacemakers, they''d lose lifespans in this world where it should''ve been longer." Ansel took his little pudgy ball of niece into his arms to play with. The baby happily made bubbles with saliva. She drooled all over Ansel''s long sleeve shirt (Alteran product) and the man only laughed in cuteness. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "My niece is so cute!" He uttered, poking her chubby cheeks. "Mwajhwama!" "Hmmm¡­ yes, your uncle is indeed the coolest." Althea smiled and just held her baby son, who was busy¡­ slobbering on his toy. "..." Althea''s lips twitched before turning her attention back to Ansel while taking away the toy from the baby''s toothless mouth. "We can make a fighting arena, but there should be better alternatives, like sports." More than venting, sports had historically given way to more unity as well. Although there would be rivalry, there would be a lot less bitterness in the end¡ªwhether it was winners or losers. Although she never truly understood what the excitement was all about, she had seen its effect very closely. Particularly to her own brother and her best friend. Although they were often at each other''s throats, it was during these events that she felt them closer together than ever. "In fact, I think we should focus on the sports, with the arena being an addition." Ansel''s eyes brightened. He nodded wildly at this. It wasn''t that he hadn''t thought of it, but he wanted to go one at a time. At this point, arenas were better to have because people had too much violent energy to vent out. It also had some training aspect to it, too. Fortunately, his sister was awesome as always. He watched as Althea looked at the space in front of her, and Ansel knew it was likely the territory map. Althea was indeed studying the map. Her territory was now much, much, larger than before, not just 4 times. What doubled during upgrades was not the area, but the diameter, which gave her huge amounts of space. However, she always had a bias towards greeneries¡ªwhether it was due to her profession, her passion, her childhood, or whatever else¡ªshe always wanted to increase the ratio of softscape to hardscape even more. For instance, even come the time when the territory would fully develop, she wanted the open spaces and the greens to comprise half of the land. It was why she was so obsessed with building vertically¡ªassumming she could consider everything safely¡ªno matter what nature threw at them. Safety was specially a concern since anything higher than 4 levels would mostly be manual construction. Anyway, back to the open areas, she marked the sports developments to be done by the construction team in the future. For the fighting arena, she decided to place them near the Training Hall and the barracks. She allocated about 3000 square meters in total to the area. She decided to designate 2 small arenas of about 200 square meters each and a bigger one with 1000 square or so in the area. They were arranged in a way the large arena was on one side and the smaller ones were side-by-side at a sufficient distance from it. Surrounding the arenas would be the benches that should be able to seat a few thousand people comfortably, and more if they were jam-packed. It was too large for her current population, but she didn''t want to expand again when the territory became a town, so this was just right. She would also specially outfit the 1000 sqm arena of about 30x30m dimensions to be capable of handling large fights using elements. They would awaken elements and skills, after all, and they also want to accommodate fights between small teams. Small arenas were for basic scuffles. Anyway, if people needed to vent, Fist was still key. Apparently. She would really never understand men. Chapter 387 Sports and Leisure (Part 3) As for the details of the rules, they''d finalize that later on. Those would also be very expensive on her part, as it was extremely specific. For instance, in the sparring area of the barracks, because people were allowed to fight there, she had to pay extra to make specific regulations. However, it was not too much because she simply had to say fighting was allowed in that space. Arenas would definitely be more specific. For instance, she needed to stop fighting before they killed each other before they caused too much damage, etc. When considering the elements, then the costs of special regulations would spike as well. After all, she needed to limit how much of the arena Earth users could use, how much Elementalists could destroy, et cetera. "I will charge more than maintenance cost for this¡­" She mumbled, making Ansel laugh. "Don''t worry about profitability. I''ll handle that." "Hmmn," she said, completely trusting him. "I don''t want people getting too deep into gambling though." Ansel flinched and a couple of imaginary gold in his mind lost a few ingots. "Ah, yesyes, just for fun," he said with an awkward laugh. "I''ll control it well, don''t worry." Althea smiled and shook her head, refocusing her eyes on the map only she could see. In the new parks, she developed space provision for courts to be built by the construction team even before it was completed, now she thought it was finally time to build on them. At first, she thought that people would be too tired running for their lives to think of exercise, but she realized that she had still underestimated her people''s needs¡­ "Non-life-threatening exercise is still a need," Ansel reiterated, and Althea just shrugged. "What sports do you think we should pioneer?" "Soccer''s my favorite." She shook her head, "No, that takes up too much space." "Tennis? Basketball? Badminton?" "Hmn. Okay. Add volleyball and¡­ " She paused, marking at least three of the larger parks to have their own courts. "Two of each should be enough." If a particular sport was more popular than others, it was easy to use the other courts for its purpose, as long as the players weren''t too over-compulsive and were just playing for leisure. "We''ll charge for the maintenance cost though," Ansel said, and Althea agreed. They would also add rules to ensure the areas would be maintained at minimal costs. As for the balls and other equipment, they would sell those in the supermarket, and the players would provide their own items. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Looking at the layout of the sports facilities again, they confirmed that they should be more than enough for the current population. She stared at the bird''s eye view of the territory again, thinking activities could also be done under the shades. "We''ll also add some chess and game boards to the park," she said, They''d also add canopy and root controllers to manage the growth of the plants to make these spaces better suitable for human activities. "Also table tennis." "Oh, yes." "Squash is also intense but only requires small space." "But that''s better for interiors¡­" "Interior¡­" The two looked at each other and immediately came up with an answer: A Building dedicated to indoor games. This building would have indoor sports like table tennis, bowling, billiards, and squash. Although they had only experienced trickles so far, there had apparently been cases of continuous rains. Indoor hang-outs (should they not be fighting outside) should still be provided. Of course, the research needed for the gaming materials still had to start first. They didn''t want billiard balls that didn''t bounce so unpredictably, right? There wasn''t that much pressure, however, as they still needed to build the actual building first than anything else. "How''s the development of rubber?" Ansel asked. He knew that the trees would soon mature and combined with the resin they got from outside, they already had enough raw materials to make a commercial batch of rubber. Other than some reserved for bikes, carts, and rickshaws (so they could finally be used in rougher terrains), they could use the wastage to make balls and other toys. They were very green, okay? Minimal wastage allowed! "Winona is leading the team," Althea said, "The rubber team''s progress steadied and even increased when she started leading it. As expected of her." Ansel nodded, although Winona was grumpy and had a weird temper, even he had to admit she had real talent in this field. Especially, Winona was an avid sports fan too, so he knew she would definitely expedite the process for these things. One of the very, very, few positive aspects of the rabid woman. Summarizing the plan, the two siblings smiled in satisfaction. A lot of people might think they were putting too much effort into leisure. However, she not only ensured that the other aspects were also being developed and perfected, but she didn''t disagree with Ansel''s point. In fact, she saw more than he did. Aborigines. It was a fact that weaker territories¡ªespecially villages¡ªattracted weak people because it was surrounded by monsters that couldn''t give strong individuals a bit of experience and copper. There were also fewer resources available and the convenient building types were limited. One of the ways to attract and keep strong aborigines despite being a small village was to offer unique features that they''d love. Leisure facilities were definitely one of them. This way, they''d have more and more stronger people, upgrade faster, and attract more resources to themselves in turn. It was a good cycle. In Xeno, anyway. As for the other features¡ªmost of them would be a variety of unique building types. At this, Althea looked in the direction of the village center, where Oslo''s department had been drawing the past week or so. After giving them the reservoir of knowledge (care of her tablet) she had, she had given them the mission to determine various ways of creating sturdy tall buildings. They were also tasked to design buildings that would be useful to the territory in their current context. The Engineering department..., she wondered if they''d surprise her with their progress. She hoped they would succeed soon¡­ Chapter 388 A Glimpse of the Engineering Team Bleulle City Bleulle City, the famed City of Blu Powder, was as prosperous as always. Guarded by the tallest eight-meter wall and watched over by intimidating sentries, the city was a testament to the civilization of this world. The largest building¡ªthe City Hall¡ªwas seven-stories high, towering over the rest, as if watching over every citizen. It was a panoptic and omniscient presence in the city, and one way or another, people would always find themselves looking at it at least a few times a day. Seen from above one, could see the various organic roads and the dense buildings. Everywhere¡ªevery street, avenue, or corner¡ªpulsed with life and activity. The markets were lively and the streets flowed continuously with people. Money flowed like water everywhere. There were narrow winding alleyways that led to several charming squares for pedestrians. There were also plenty of avenues several yards wide, allowing for two beast carts to run side by side without bumping into each other. In the middle of blocks and blocks of dense houses were patches of open spaces. At this time, as it was most of the time, these spaces were filled with stalls. In the square, merchants haggled over the prices of various products. Whether it was the spices from Holt City, the salt taken from Sea Cities, or the clothes from the three Cloth Cities¡ªthey could all be found in the marketplace here, more or less all year round. However, while the rest of the city was as lively as always, the atmosphere in one of the city''s largest mansions was quite somber. It was a large mansion in the Blu''s most exclusive neighborhood, its grandeur only next to the city lord''s. Inside it, a good-looking middle-aged couple were gravely discussing their problem with the children. Well, one to be exact. Their youngest son, Oslo. This all stemmed when pretty much every friend''s child his age had started new phases in their lives¡ªwhile only a few got married and even fewer had children, nearly all of them had started massive ventures or businesses. Whatever it was, there was something the parents of these young men and women bragged about! What was their youngest son doing? Philandering! Would be fine if there was a grandchild that popped out somewhere, but there was none! It wasn''t that no one claimed to carry his child, it was just that they were easily discredited upon swearing oath in the City Center. "I just¡­ I don''t know what to do with that boy! It''s my fault! I spoiled him too much!" A beautiful red-headed woman said, fanning herself as if to cool herself down. It was as if the wind could blow the anger away¡ªto no avail, of course. "He''s already thirty and his level is still twenty!" She said, tone a little higher than her usual calm tone. "Do you know what my friends are saying?" The man, a mature handsome man looking about in his late 40s, gently taking the fan and helping her out. "You didn''t spoil him, wife. He''s just a deviant." In this world where women were generally looked down upon, this interaction was considered incredibly rare. The woman pouted, looking at her husband in annoyance. "So what if he''s a dual element! He could barely use anyone well!" "At least he''s an architect," the man said, comforting his finicky wife. "Considering everything, having an occupation is really good enough." "Architects only have value at Class C!" She told him, "When would he get to class C? In 50 years? 80?" "We sent him to a village, where his level is considered top-notch." He told her, as if it was the answer to everything. The woman looked at her husband with cynical eyes. "Would that really help?" At this, the man''s expression turned a bit more serious. "Perhaps," he said. "But it could go two ways: Either he gets lax and starts thinking highly of himself, or¡­ "He''d realize how his able peers actually looked at him, and change." ___________ Altera Inside the second floor of the newly-built Government Center, in one of the rooms dedicated to the construction team, a small group of professionals had been producing drawing after drawing for so many days, creating piles of paper at the side. Fortunately, a few people were over-compulsive and organized these stacks as well as they could, otherwise, it could take hours for them to find whatever sheet they needed when they needed it. It had been a week since Oslo called for a Knowledge Exchange with the Architects and professionals they called Engineers. This was something the Lord suggested, as open forums and discussions were one of the best ways to gather and exchange knowledge. Both knowledge bases¡ªwhether it was Terran or Xenoan¡ªhad their own advantages and disadvantages. The goal was to combine these knowledge sets to build a uniquely amazing and efficient territory. It was quite productive and enlightening for everyone and everyone was inspired to work, even if there were plenty of questions. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this time, Oslo was immersed in drawing like many others, leaning down for hours on the drafting table. It was just that, at some time, he saw that the table was filled and he moved to the side to get a more comfortable position. Flop! "Ack!" he exclaimed as he hit a stack. He thankfully manifested metal in time to keep it from falling. It was here that he noticed the stacks and stacks of paper¡ªsome nearly as high as his waist! Oslo looked at the piles with a bit of guilt. One of the main reasons the paper, ink, and graphite hadn''t been available in public had a lot to do with their team. They¡­ simply consumed too much. One person could make a rim every day or two, and consume a couple of pencils, and bottles of ink. They didn''t even notice how much they used until they had to request for more. The bright side was that this wasn''t papyrus or hide or the same amount of drawings would''ve drowned them inside the room. Speaking of these inventions, Oslo still marveled at them. This so-called paper was not only lighter and more convenient, they was also easier to prepare than papyrus or hide. It was available in larger quantities and less volumic, making them easy to stack and carry around as well. Not to mention graphite that could be erased and redone with something called an eraser. In fact, he had heard of graphite before, albeit it had a different name. Its easy erasure, however, was a very new thing to him. Now, they could make various changes and corrections in a single drawing with a run of a finger. Even their ink was so different from what he was used to. There were nearly no impurities and clumps at all, just smooth lines that made him love it very much. It also made sketching a lot more fun. Anyway, the past week, he and his small team of a dozen people had been recreating buildings from their homes, with specific focus on certain building types like the so-called hospitals, exhibition centers, theaters, and the like. It was very fascinating. He was enlightened about so many considerations that he¡ªor anyone else¡ªhad never cared for. He didn''t even know hospitals¡ªtermed Healing Building in his language¡ªwould need so much thought. For instance, the architects had particular care for the so-called layout workflow. They aimed to optimize the flow of patients and staff as well as to minimize the distances of related departments to enhance efficiency. For instance, the so-called emergency room was pretty much the center of activity with ready access to all the important rooms like operating rooms and the like. And when he asked what operating rooms were, he¡­ was perplexed. People got opened up to get healed? Baffling. Putting these aside, the designers basically considered the distances between each room, and they even had a table¡ªa proximity matrix, they called it¡ªto show how important each connection was. He had seen nothing like this before. To his knowledge, as long as a building could house an activity, then it was good to go. There were also safety measures like slip-resistant flooring, fire exits and paths, and fire stoppers. The latter was a special powder the Lord made and placed into a sphere that fit in a hand. It just needed to throw on the fire and it would die out. It was amazing and he tried it on Rowan. Hehe. There were also ''accessibility'' concerns like ramps for people in wheelchairs. They told him it was something for people who couldn''t walk. This was something that was incomprehensible to him, even now. He grew up in a world that valued strength above everything else. Being an invalid was a shame and people generally didn''t care for them at all. In his world, if one could no longer move on their own, they would more likely kill themselves. Because of this, Eugene was one of his most admired human beings after the lord and his mother. In any case, the fact that disabilities were even considered so holistically¡­ It was confusing and, inexplicably, heartwarming. It just made him love the territory even more. Chapter 389 Importance of Users Oslo looked at another sheet of paper, detailing different aspects of the building. Drawings like these were called section drawings, which was like making a clean cut along a building and then looking at it from that side. From here, one could see how high the ceilings were and how space played according to height. For instance, the ceilings were high for lobbies and common areas, which created a sense of openness. Hospital rooms, on the other hand, had half the ceiling height of the main lobbies. Because they had lower ceilings, they tended to create more sense of intimacy. Ventilation was also controlled per area, both to provide air to the patients and also for ease of control in case of contagious diseases. If necessary, the air flow for certain parts of the buildings could be completely locked. They called the several sections ''isolation facilites''. At first, he thought it was a prison-like section, which didn''t really strike him much because all bigger territories had some. These places were made to handle rabid patients who had good families, which meant they couldn''t easily get rid of them. But he was very wrong. In these so-called isolation facilities, the people who were ill would be separated from the rest, albeit in a way comfortable and humane. They would still have their own bathroom and source of food, designed in a way that no one who sent them food or assistance would catch the disease. For certain harsher cases, walls were built up, to further isolate per individual. He remembered the plagues that happened in his lifetime¡ªespecially the two most famous ones. There was the Fire Plague about ten years ago where people smoked from their mouths, bodies burning from within. Anyone who smelled the smoke would be affected. And then there was another plague that turned the inflicted completely blue. This happened in the sea cities back when he was a child and he heard a third of the population of these places perished. These all happened far from him and none of the people he knew personally were affected. However, even after years, he could still hear of its effects and the damage they made. In retrospect, the many plagues could''ve been contained simply with these facilities. These were just a few of the things considered with the play of space. In his previous knowledge, the floors were all the same height, with very minimal play of space. After all, it was the fastest layout they could think of. Who had the time to think of changes and innovation when there were so many other things to worry about? They not only had to worry about monsters, but living in a society where power was key inevitably made people walk in eggshells. For rare Level C and above architects, this could even be worse. Of course, this didn''t apply to every special professionals, but he knew sufficient enough cases to know that it wasn''t all sunshine and butterflies on the top. Don''t think having special ability automatically granted financial freedom¡ªit didn''t. This was especially true if they get attached to certain powers. Oslo shook his head of the thoughts, resuming his studying of the creative works of art he so luckily had access to. He went back to the associated floor plans, reviewing the new rooms he learned about. One of the previously-unknown functions was the surgery room. One of the architects helpfully described it in full detail, and even after so many times, he still couldn''t wrap his head around it. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He ended up staring at the rooms with a weird expression on his face. Interestingly, the person drawing next to him saw his flabbergasted expression. He cleared his throat and pushed down his embarrassment. "You mentioned people may need to get opened up to get healed." The (Terran) architect''s name was Santos. He was short and had tanned skin. He was a very distant cousin of Plaridel, though they weren''t very close. "Yes, that''s right." "Then how do they avoid the internal organs then?" As someone who lived in this world, Oslo had naturally seen a lot of internal organs as well as their rough locations. Of course, this was mostly the organs being pulled out of the human body by monster teeth. The concept of purposely opening up people to help them was admittedly quite confusing to him. Santos paused in thought and told him what he knew. "They carefully move it out, fix the problem, and then put it back." He said thai a matter-of-factly. "I think a lot of sucking and sewing are involved." If he hadn''t been fighting monsters brutally since young he''d have vomited. He shook his head and moved on to the next observation (this was a daily habit of his because he realized he learned a lot from doing this, especially when he had an ''expert'' next to him to ask questions to). Anyway, other than those functions, the aesthetics for the hospitals was also considered. The building was designed with various light sources including natural light. It helped in mood and, in turn, the mood helped in healing. It was still a wonder to him that mood and health were so intrinsically interrelated. There were also gardens above the ground, which was similar to the sky gardens the lord introduced with the new custom buildings. These were ''healing gardens'' and rooftop terraces. Even until now, it was still a wonder to him how this was done so cleanly. He had heard of hanging gardens before, but most of them were in mountains¡ªusing terraced farms¡ªbut never on actual built construction. The hospital also used soothing colors¡ªthey called them pastel colors. The paint was finally created after various trial-and-error of the paint factory (another marvel). Although the colors were too soft for him, he could understand the rationale. Finally, there was comfortable furnishing all around. Even waiting areas were ''ergonomic'' as they would call it. They said all these had contribution to a healing environment. Even waiting rooms for the families were designed to be soothing. Eventually, Oslo realized the designers were always thinking of the humans¡ªthe users¡ªfirst and foremost. Back then, nobody cared for the users like this. As long as the building was functional, then it was a good building. "Any more questions, Master Gold?" Santos said with a smile, obviously enjoying his many child-like questions. Oslo''s lips twitched and shrugged. "No, I was wondering how you guys decided to focus on the people rather than on the building." This made the tanned man blink a bit, musing. After a moment, he looked at Oslo to answer him. "It''s not really a matter of just ''deciding''," he said, "It''s a necessity. After all¡­ "What is a building if not for the people using it?" Oslo felt like his brain opened up so many avenues, and his level took another step toward growth. Chapter 390 C-Class Architect Santos blinked and shook his hand near the aborigine''s face. Oslo eventually came back and smiled. "Thanks." "No problem," the tanned man shrugged and went back to drawing. Soon, the man entered a zone of sorts and Oslo, who was used to these people entering their own world as soon as they started drawing, only smiled and shook his head. He then proceeded to observe the other finished drawings of this one building type¡ªthere were a lot. The Hospital had a lot more than others since it had more ''intricate requirements''. Of course, with the time they had, they could only create so-called ''schematics'' for certain buildings, which seemed to be considered rough drafts by the Terran architects. However, to Oslo, this was already well thought-out and much more detailed than what he grew up with. It was just that none of the Terran professionals agreed. To draw the target or ''completed drawings'' was to thoroughly part every part of the building¡ªthey still needed to draw every detail, every connection, and every interactions of spaces and elements. For a while, it was all quite mind-boggling. After all, a building would be built anyway, so why bother? Manual buildings in Xeno naturally had to be planned, but because there was already a set knowledge of how to do things, people did it by the ear. They only used ''tried and tested for hundreds of years'' methods, so to speak. He had never encountered a group of people exploring so much. He remembered it took a full day just to determine what kind of foundation was best for their soil. He didn''t even know there was so much difference. He just knew if the soil was soft, then put a deeper and wider foundation, that was all. As for the effectivity¡­ it was live and learn. People here could fight monsters on a daily basis, how could they be afraid of a ceiling falling on them? Anyway, communication between territories regarding this wasn''t very deep or often, so they didn''t really know what was going on in other ''soils''. This was unacceptable to these people. They used papers and papers filled with numbers he didn''t understand (yet), and it highlighted their ''alien'' line of thought. To be honest, he learned more about his field in the past week than the earlier parts of his life combined. He didn''t know how the heads of the Lord and her countrymen, but they never failed to amaze him. Speaking of professionals, he couldn''t help but look around the room to the people working hard for the territory. Someone even reminded the others to exercise their hands to avoid them being over-used. "I dunno how carpal tunnel could attack our ''improved'' hands, but better be safe than sorry!" "Yeah, wouldn''t it be a horror if we have trouble holding our weapons because we drew too much?!" His lips twitched, and he couldn''t help but observe the others. The Engineering team was comprised of a score of people, including him. There were two licensed architects and six engineers of different fields (though Oslo was still unclear about the differentiation) to work with him. There were also a few students. The Vismont trio Crow, Dog, and Sunny were third-year students in Architecture and they also joined in. Of course, like everyone, they made sure to spend time every day keeping up their physiques and strengths so they were also often found outside, right by the sentries. It happened that it was the trio''s day-off today (the day offs aren''t all on the same day, as it would overwhelm the soldiers'' training). Today, they went with the training regime far from the walls, likely hanging out in their favorite spot. There were now new hot-spots for ''kiting'' mobs. These were the corner areas created by the Level 5 and Level 3 walls. During the entire 28 hours of the day, there would be people in this area. Some people even set up stall in the gap between the two walls. Anyway, back to those in the office. Whether it was the professionals or the students, the lord had strong hopes that they would also trigger the occupation someday and, fortunately, she had not been disappointed. Actually, the speed they triggered occupations shocked Oslo very much. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. So far there had already been two people who had triggered it: The first one was the architect, Brianna, who became a Class-E architect a week prior. The other one was just today. After they detailed an operating room at the Hospital drawing, Brianna''s brother Brian, also triggered the occupation. "Why am I an architect?" "In the old times, architects and engineers are all just called Architects." "Oh." Santos was estimated to also trigger the occupation within the next few weeks. It was still a wonder to Oslo and the others how quickly these people triggered occupations but, at the same time, he was not really surprised, because their brains¡ªin their terms¡ªwere ''wired differently''. Oslo also swore to train them to the best of his abilities, as a payback to the territory''s kindness to him. Anyway, as the day continued, the polishing of the plans went on, adding details and often changes that would scrap hours, if not days, of work. But these people didn''t mind¡ªthey wanted perfection. "We should put the gynaecology department on the ground floor." "You forgot we don''t have elevators here." The other did not answer immediately, looking at the speaker with narrowed eyes, "Don''t we, really? Ever?" "..." "..." The two staff turned to the sound of a cluttering chair being pushed back. It was Rocky, the mechanical engineer, who took several rims of paper, stood up from the meeting room, and went to lock himself up in his cubicle. "Safe to say, the possibility is there," one said, and they proceeded to do their tasks. Now, Oslo had no idea what an elevator was, but it should be something very good. In any case, he guided the designers and technicians to building types specified by the Lord. He was currently very very fascinated by the Cinema. Ansel had told him about this, and he wanted to see it happen, so in the past few days he has been studying. He also studied the complicated technology with them, while he didn''t understand much of it, he understood enough to know what the building needed to be. It needed to be large and comfortable. It needed to be able to absorb the sounds, to allow every seat to see the ''screen'' properly and the like. To be honest, only the last point had been conventional knowledge among local Architects. Most of these things he simply had never considered before, nor were they taught to matter at all. Like what happened with the hospital and many others, Oslo''s mind felt so very open and¡­ enlightened. Interestingly, the new learnings in the cinema were the last straw for his imminent ''growth'' He just felt that there was so much more to learn and Oslo thought that the light in his profession had never been so bright. Ding! [Congratulations! You have upgraded to Architect (C)!] [Activated Passive Skill: 10% Chance of successfully creating Aether Blueprints] His gorgeous azure eyes widened in glee. Finally!! Chapter 391 Aether Blueprints Finally a C-Class Architect!! In his surprise, he stood up all of a sudden, the force making his chair fall to the ground. "Ei, golden god, what''s wrong?" The teammate asked, shocked by his abrupt movements. They saw the man''s blue eyes wide in glee, totally uncharacteristic of his usual suave self. "I upgraded!" he said, like a happy idiot. His words, though, made everyone flinch. "What?" "I am going to tell the lo¡ªthe others. Bye." Oslo immediately ran to the Lord''s house to tell the news. He felt elated, like he could finally look at the Lord in the eye. His smile was wide, habitually flirtatious, and effortlessly charismatic. His smooth, beautiful face and golden hair were illuminated by the reddish light of the resting sun, making him appear a bit ethereal. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And his sky blue eyes¡­ they were as bright as the sky itself, one that a person would want to stare and willingly get blinded by. Oslo could be said to be a very, very beautiful man, and the sights of the women he passed by followed all his movements until he disappeared. With very few exemptions, every one of them was swooning. Minutes later, this very shining sight was approaching Althea very happily¡ª ¡ªuntil he felt a sharp warning gaze that could kill directed at him and he quickly stopped, almost falling down. Garan sneered. Oslo cleared his throat and gathered himself, returning to his poised self. He found them on the East Avenue commercial street after asking around, so he could not greet her as he should. "Elder," he just said respectfully, sweating a little under Garan''s sharp stare. "I have good news. May Invite you somewhere more private for a meeting?" Ansel watched his friend sweat in nervousness under Garan''s stare. He felt both pity and amusement. Fortunately for Oslo, friendship weighed more to Ansel than a good show, so the latter decided to save him. The redhead tapped the blonde''s shoulder. "Just in time, we''re having dinner at Cooke''s tonight!" "I¡­" He paused, unsure. "I want to hear this news as soon as possible," Althea said, reassuring him that he wasn''t disturbing anything. Around them, onlookers looked curiously. Also, in fascination. After all, the group of them really was a pretty sight. No one thought anything of an aborigine being so respectful and secretive with Althea at all. Anything Ms. Althea did just made sense to them. Besides, hired aborigines should be respectful to elders by default, anyway. "Let''s go~" Ansel said, dragging his friend''s neck. The small group headed to Cooke''s restaurant¡ªthe Terran Gastronomique Haven¡ªfor a much-awaited lunch. Although the line wasn''t as long as Harold''s due to the much higher prices, it was still fully booked, some of whom were visitors from the other three allied territories (who also paid exuberant protection fees to get to the territory). However, their group did not need to line up as they had a fixed private room in the building. Their room had bespoke furniture with a table that could fit ten to twelve people. On the side, there was a small relaxing lounge by the window, which people could relax in as they chatted and observed the lively streetscapes below. They settled down and a waiter arrived with their menu¡ªa new addition with the addition of paper. What''s more, because paper had not yet been made commercially available, this also added a bit of prestige to the restaurant. Each of them chose an a la carte meal, to be shared at the table, as well as the dessert to be served later. They watched as the waiter left and looked at Oslo, who promptly started to explain what this was all about. First, he started with the progress of the team and then with his upgrade. The more he said, the brighter the others became. "Good!" Ansel smiled. "This is enough reason for us to get another bottle of Althea''s special booze!" Oslo smirked. That was indeed a good reward. Althea rolled her eyes. "The next batch is still fermenting." "...oh." Althea shook her head in amusement, "Congratulations, Oslo." Oslo found himself staring at her before his eyes shifted a bit when he met her husband''s eyes. Tsk. Obviously so many levels lower, but so damned intimidating. In any case, his attitude became more serious and he looked at Althea, bowing his head. "I have now upgraded to C-class thanks to you my Lord." She smiled, waving her hand. "Congratulations. But don''t underestimate your own efforts. "Tell me more about the upgrade," she said. Although she had an idea, she hadn''t explored it too deeply as of yet. Oslo was happy to explain to her, of course. "I now have a chance to create Aether Buildings." Oslo was now a level C architect and could design buildings with effects, albeit only with 8-10% chance of success. As long as he kept working in her territory, this was a good thing for them. Of course, Althea knew that Oslo would stay. His character was one thing, but they signed a contract before she let him learn so much Terran technology and designs: He could not apply them anywhere else, not unless Altera had a share with all of his creations inspired by what he learned from them. Althea nodded. "But¡­?" she asked, urging him to continue. She understood that creating system buildings, locally known as Aether Buildings, was not simple. "Each attempt requires a special papyrus as well as an ink called Blu." "Tell me more." "The special papyrus was made specifically by Papyrus Makers¡ªa system-given occupation. It''s like the typical papyrus, but is incorporated with special arrays, available only through inheritances of that profession." "The Blu is a special mineral that is harvested in very few places¡ªmy hometown happened to be one of the biggest producers of this, fortunately." "They must cost a lot," Althea said after a moment of silence. "Tell me honestly how much it would cost." Oslo thought for a while, thinking about the usual market price. "A set typically costs about 120-160 gold. But with my connections, I can get it to about half of that." "Ten tries means a successful blueprint would cost around 800 gold," Althea said. She had the money but, obviously, the original plan of turning every functional building into aether Buildings wasn''t feasible. Money was one thing, but these materials were also rare. They may not be available at all. There was also another limitation of the blueprint: most blueprints could only be used a few times at most, depending on the quality and the architect''s level. "Only Level A architects could create blueprints that could be used an unlimited number of times." "Like certain system buildings?" She asked, referring to the ones they could build from the Lord Panel. Oslo paused, the thought not really occurring to him before. "Yes, like so." Oslo couldn''t be blamed for this. There were some things that had integrated into people''s whole lives that they were just not thought about any deeper than it appeared. It was like words in a language. Most people simply wouldn''t think of how words were coined. They were just¡­ there. In any case, Aether buildings were still something to aim for for various reasons. If successful, buildings made from the special blueprints would be constructed extremely fast and durable¡ªwithin a few hours, instead of weeks, months, or maybe even years, using manual construction. Furthermore, it would only require basic wood and stone materials to build. Those resources were basically unlimited in Xeno and she only needed to mobilize the population to get what she needed. And, most importantly: Aether Buildings had very, very, convenient special effects. Although what these effects were, they could not guarantee, they''d definitely be able to produce magical effects, not inferior to system-provided aether Buildings. She didn''t forget how fascinated she was with the system buildings and their special effects. System Restaurants, Snack shops, and Juice Bars were buildings that could produce food or beverages as long as they had raw materials. For instance, the System Bakery would only need a certain amount of Flute to work indefinitely. It could also clean itself up afterward. Equipment Stores like Weapons and Armory stores could continuously produce equipment that could damage the monsters here. Note that this was something that ''technologically-advanced'' Terran weapons struggled with. Like others, it only needed a certain amount of stone and wood (Iron, for higher-level buildings) There was the bathhouse that could change the temperature of the running water that flowed through it and the Territory Center which functioned so well as an administrative building for the entire territory. Her current favorite was the Training Hall, a building that could manifest monsters that actually gave experience points in turn. Not to mention, the damage received only targeted certain stats and generally wouldn''t kill people either. She really couldn''t imagine the intricacies of this particular building type, and it fascinated her so. If this was developed¡­, then the limitations of building slots wouldn''t be a problem anymore! It was really curious and she looked forward to what the effects of their first aether building would be. Very exciting! Chapter 392 Bicycle Oslo saw how Althea''s beautiful emerald eyes brightened at the mention of building special effects and he couldn''t help but smile a bit. "I will sponsor the first drawing. It''s the least I can do for you, milord." Feelings aside, the information she shared with him that led to his upgrade was invaluable. To be honest, before knowing Altera, he thought he''d stagnate at Class D¡ªlike pretty much every other Architect out there. The lord''s kindness was immeasurable and he was sure his family would agree for him to spend a bit to repay her. Of course, he''d try to get a lot more, but he didn''t want to raise their hopes up too much. Blu was, after all, an increasingly scarce resource, even for them. At the very least, he''d fight to get twenty sets at least so he could¡ªhopefully¡ªcreate two aether buildings. To be honest, giving away 1600 gold still felt stingy. But¡­ what else could he do? When he came back from his daze, he realized that the others were looking at him, impressed. Even the Lord''s husband was appreciative. He knew this because he felt decidedly not freezing all of a sudden. Oslo held back a smile. This was actually more than enough of a reward. Back home, he never had such a feeling of accomplishment. Although his family loved him, they never expected anything of him. "Are you sure this is alright, though?" "I¡­ this is nothing. I would do more if I could. Again, what Altera had given me is invaluable knowledge, some of which is probably inaccessible to even the most powerful cities." He smiled, deep blue eyes fixed on them. "I want to do this, please don''t be burdened." "Thank you," Althea nodded and didn''t reject his kindness. She knew the transfer of knowledge in Xeno was extremely stringent. This wouldn''t have been an easy decision to implement and it was impolite to question the gifter too much. So, instead, she gave him a beautiful smile. "I''m looking forward to your work." ¡­ Later that day, Oslo already asked for leave, which was usually taken every month, to be renewed at the lord''s prerogative. He also gathered some materials to bring back to his family by the way. So by the time he finished packing up, not only was his space filled, he also had a large backpack. If one didn''t know him, he really looked like someone who was about to run away from home¡ªwith all the furniture he could carry. Seeing this, a certain redhead couldn''t help but feel really reluctant. "You better come back!" Ansel told him; placing an arm behind his neck so they could speak more closely. It was rare to find someone to jive with so much. "The things I told you I''d build? I guarantee you would love them." He was referring to the entertainment industry¡ªsomething Oslo was really curious about. At this statement, the blonde laughed good-naturedly. "Of course. I love it here, how can I not come back?" Ansel nodded, very seriously. "There''s still so much you haven''t seen." Oslo smiled, "Yes! I know that." sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. To be honest, two charming young men so close together made a few women''s imaginations grow wild. Some distance away from Althea and the others, there was a group of women biting handkerchiefs to stop themselves from squealing too loudly. A new pair name emerged that day: Sunset Pair, the glorious combination of red and gold. When paper and pen became commercially available, fanfictions would flood the territory. When Ansel found out about this much, much, later, at first he was aghast (with Winona laughing at his face for a long time) but then he decided to get a great share from whoever was making money using his goodness. None of the core people knew of this, however, and even if they did, they''d probably just laugh it off. At this time, they were busy sending the blonde off to even notice their audience had grown. They looked at Oslo who was so well-equipped and even brought backpacks with him. They looked a bit worried. "Can''t you use the teleportation array in the village center?" Oslo shook his head. "It''s only one way." It was also very expensive, but money wasn''t a problem for Oslo. Anyway, this meant that Oslo had to go back home by himself, and he would also have to return to Altera manually as well. Knowing this, everyone felt a bit of pity and gave a few more things to increase his convenience. Just¡­ a little more to carry, but Oslo didn''t mind it at all. For instance, Althea gave a few bottles of energizers and Harold gave more of his special biscuits. They also gave him a special waterproof cloth using waxed fabric (mass release currently under development) in case of rain. He felt extremely touched and had he not been habitually suave, he''d have shed a couple of tears. He once again expressed his gratitude and successful return and finally turned away. "Wait," Ansel stopped him and took something out of his space. It was relatively big and definitely filled up his small space. Oslo wasn''t exactly certain what contraption Ansel took out at first. It was made of wood, metal, and something else. Ansel pulled one side to reveal its whole form from its contracted state, transforming within a couple of changes. This was the first time Oslo saw such a contraption. He watched as Ansel let the wheels touch the ground and rolled it towards him. "Although I know people of your level can sprint fast, I also know it takes a toll on your energy. "I''ll lend Barbara II to you. Anyway, we already used rubber for this, so it should be fine to use outside." "This is?" And¡­Barbara? II? "Barbara II is a bike. It''s a new Alteran invention. Only a few has been released, though," he said, pointing at the middle of the so-called Bike. "You remember that chain?" Oslo blinked and followed where he pointed. His blue eyes ended on the smallest but most intricate permanent chain he had ever manifested. Not that he manifested a lot of them, of course. "This¡ª" he created this himself, taking him a day''s worth of mana due to its relative complexity. He didn''t know what it was used for. Seeing it now, it seemed to be part of some mechanism in this contraption. But in retrospect, he had heard of the term bike many times before. It was just that in his mind it was a type of carriage. Ansel climbed up and showed him how to use it. "You just sit over here. Swing your leg over this crossbar. Hands on this place. When parked, keep your feet on the ground." He lifted his feet and Oslo almost stepped forward to stop him from falling. Only¡­ it didn''t fall at all and even started moving. "Find your balance and relax. Anyway, you''ve probably ridden a beast monster before and this is much easier because you''re in control." Oslo watched as Ansel pedaled expertly and glided along the path. Oslo was very interested, determined to learn to use this two-wheeled contraption. Ansel stopped and hopped down, gesturing for Oslo to try. "Try it¡ª" Only Oslo was already sitting down. "..." Ansel kindly repeated the instructions, a bit slower, and pointed at each part that worked in each step. "Understood." "Really?" The blonde nodded, immediatly starting to try it out. He lost balance a bit, but he was quick to recover. It was a bit wobbly at first, but he eventually managed to glide for a longer period of time. Soon, he got used to it and became increasingly stable. The slight worry of losing balance was gone and he began to feel the exhilaration of movement. The wind hit his face as he glided, making him feel refreshed. Oslo smiled at the nice feeling. "This¡­ this is amazing!" He yelled as he pedaled farther, gathering more attention than they already were. "It''s a bike!" One said and another nodded. "Our research team is too awesome, right?!" "I bet people outside all struggle by walking, and we¡ªwe will soon have bikes!" The discussion outside did not affect their little group. In fact, there was still a question that had been bothering Althea. "Why can''t it be two-way?" She asked him. Oslo knew her well enough to know she was referring to the teleportation array inside the village center. He knew it would bother her a lot. The lord cared about every one of her people. She naturally was never comfortable with sending them out to danger, even if it was a necessity. Oslo calmed down his childish fascination and climbed down his bike. "Teleportation is very expensive. We actually had to deposit 1 gold before submitting as fee for the one-way teleportation. "This is already shared costs. The normal arrays would cost two to three more times." Althea caught on to his words. "There are other ways to teleport?" "Yes, cities have this building type." Althea and Garan, who were habitually holding hands, looked at each other in surprise. Because Garan had never been in the city, he hadn''t encountered this yet. It''s generally not something discussed in towns either, due to its accessibility. Teleportation arrays¡­ How magical. This unique world lacked the luxuries the Terrans enjoyed, but it also had luxuries they could not have imagined. What were cities here like? She heard of some descriptions, but what did they really look like? What did they offer, what kind of people lived there? Althea was very curious. Garan saw his wife''s eagerness to travel, and felt a bit sad. Except for family trips and that honeymoon cut short¡­ they seem to have never really travelled for leisure before? He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "We''ll go on a trip someday," He told her, very seriously, "I promise." Chapter 393 Intersection "I''ll miss you, bro," Ansel said as they saw Oslo off in the gate. Oslo laughed, copying him and placing his hand on the other''s shoulder. "Likewise," he said with a smile, his sights moving to the rest of the crowd seeing him off. His eyes somehow fixed on the beautiful woman with green eyes. "I will miss all of you." And he turned back with his bike, heart filled with gratitude, looking forward to what he could possibly give them back. As Oslo went out, another group was heading in from the southwest direction. It was Gill''s group, still much larger than the seven people who left Altera a few weeks prior. The group brought a couple of new people with them, all with various emotions, unsure of what to expect of this new territory¡ªa new village. For example, in the Terran Mercenary team, there were the five aborigine team members they brought. They felt complex and were really unsure of what to expect of¡­ a village. After all, growing up, they had known villages as the lowest level existence among territories. The difference between typical villages and towns was as start as the sky and the ground. However, they had seen the products and felt this one was different. How different though, they really couldn''t tell. The soldiers chose members of the logistics team for this batch, including Pipa and Roana, in hopes they learned something from the Alteran locals. The primary goal here was to improve the life of the members staying in Ferrol and perhaps guide them to triggering occupations themselves. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, the Aborgines signed a bond with them, where they''d have to work for the Terran Mercenary team for at least 5 years, depending on the value of knowledge and improvements they received. It would also lessen the inevitable reluctance the people assigned to Ferrol would feel. After all, they would still be able to eat delicious fresh food even when they were far from Altera! Other than their own team, another group was an uninvited one. They literally just caught wind of their leaving and randomly decided to tag along. This group consisted of Cassandra, her friend, their maids, and their guards. The bright side was that Cassandra''s group had rented some beast carriages for them, lessening their travel time, so they didn''t mind the intrusion. One must know that because of the blood-thirsty nature of the beasts, it was technically impossible to tame them. Beast Tamers, a rare occupation, learned a technique to get into beast''s minds and make them believe the tamer was one of them¡ªthat the Tamer was the undisputed leader, and whatever he said was to be followed. Even if the drivers of the carriages were not necessarily beast tamers themselves, they had to have the special whistle bespoke for that monster by the beast tamer. Excluding the exuberant fees of tamers themselves, the whistles were also extremely expensive. This was why carriages, on most occasions, could only be seen in cities or high-level towns. Anyway, during territory wars, special teleportation circles could be activated at a discounted cost. The need to improve transportation wasn''t too critical so it never really developed beyond the rare carriage or slave-pulled rickshaws. Hence despite being so expensive (and risky), it remained to be the most sought-after mode of transportation. But rich-girl Cassandra brought three. Although her town wasn''t a city yet, it was obvious it was not far from upgrading. She bribed their team with the free use of her carriages and they agreed. Anyway, the woman brought a few guards with higher levels than they did, so they didn''t think of her as a burden at all. As such, the men were divided into two carriages, and the two women and their respective maids stayed in one. Speaking of maids, their names were Cicy and Vivi, respectively. They were both in their late twenties, around their age, and they had served the two ladies since they were children. Even with the wide gap between nobles and commonfolk, the two ladies still treated the girls like sisters, at least more than the norm. So while the two ladies chatted, the maids often joined in. The four of them usually chat around a lot while traveling, but this time Cassandra was being unusually quiet. "Did anything happen to your lady?" Vivi asked Cici who shook her head with a similar expression of puzzlement. Veronica pouted, crossing her arms, but patiently waited for the other girl to open up like she usually did. So, uncharacteristically, the women''s carriage was a little more quiet than usual. Thanks to the carts, the few-day travel time was reduced to less than a day, and they were nearing their destination when Veronica couldn''t hold her breath anymore. At this time, Cassandra was still glaring at the carriage in front¡ªsomething she had been doing for hours. It was amazing how her purple eyes were still lubricated with all the staring. Veronica looked at her friend with a lot of eagerness. "Still not going to tell me?" Cassandra blushed. "No!" She said, but her mind inevitably went back to that day of her first ''real'' kiss. They were obviously arguing a few moments prior, but the next thing she knew their lips were locked, electric currents passing between them. It was also very hot and she wondered whether Gill used his ability on her. Cassandra''s breath hitched as she felt his lips grind on hers, and her heart filled with a mixture of surprise and anticipation. She gasped in his lips as he pulled her closer to him, making their bodies flushed, and she relished in his warmth. She closed her eyes as she absorbed all the sensations. ''So this is what a real kiss feels like¡­'' she thought, but her mind was quickly turned to mush as he parted her lips with his tongue, gingerly entering her mouth and tasting every bit of it. Their lips and tongues clashed, expressing what couldn''t be said in words. Her fingers buried in his long hair, mimicking him, taking an active part in the sensual exploration of each other''s mouths They were still in an alley, but they forgot they were still in public. Then they heard chatters nearing and Gill immediately separated from her, walking away without another word. Present¡ª She could still remember his toe-curling kiss that straightened her spine and struck her soul like it just happened. How dare he skitter away without a word after giving her the best kiss she''d had so far! Prick! It was just that her upbringing prevented her from demanding an answer after that. She still had her pride! She was curious about Altera itself this time, and she was not following him at all! Veronica''s eyebrows rose and leaned over, trying to get her to spill, but the other woman was deep in a heated soliloquy with herself. It was just that before Veronica could pinch her to catch her attention, the carriage stopped abruptly. "Halt!" She heard her guard yell. Veronica nodded at her maid who sneaked her head out the curtain. "What''s going on?" She asked, Cassandra was finally pulled out of her trance and looked around. "The carriage up front suddenly stopped," Cassandra mumbled, making Veronica roll her eyes. "Yes, I can see that." Cassandra missed the quip and looked out as well. "Is it another mob?" This made Veronica and the maids worry, "No, right?" Fortunately, they weren''t left steaming in worry for too long. Soon enough, instead of yells and monster growls, they heard discussions and exclamations instead. They soon realized that they were made by the familiar voices of the Terran members. "What is that?" One asked, and they recognized the voice as Luis. Sammy soon answered him after a moment of pause. "Looks familiar¡­" "Is that a bike?" "F-Fudge! Seriously?!" "Cool! They finally finished it! Where do I order?!" A similar discussion about the ''bike'' exploded from the soldiers, while everyone else was just puzzled. The girls were very curious and were about to go out when they heard another yell. "Hey, it''s Oslo!" Cassandra and Veronica paused their movements, eyebrows raised high at the mention of the familiar name. "Our Oslo?" "Probably just the same name?" The two quickly got out of the carriage with their two maids following closely behind. They walked forward to see that it was indeed the handsome blonde, riding a weird contraption with two wheels. "Oslo?" She voiced out, though without the usual tone of annoyance. Although she talked about him behind his back with family, she never actually did so outside. One reason was that they were actually friends and it was just her hobby to mock him (he really, really deserved it anyway). Another reason was that his family was much richer than hers¡ªeven if they weren''t lords themselves. In terms of network and riches, the Golds surpassed her family''s many times. And even if he was useless, the guy was both a dual elementalist and an architect. A waste. The biggest waste of talent Xeno had ever seen¡­ She also knew that he had been sent to villages via the Chancery of Appointments for training. Heh¡­ it must''ve been torture for him to be a hired help at some random village¡ª But her purple eyes looked at his handsome face which was all bright with smiles. Er¡­, probably? He¡­ probably lost it after all the stress, perhaps?? Chapter 394 Exes Meet Oslo was enjoying the bike ride too much¡ªaddicted, really¡ªthat he only noticed a group coming to the territory when he was already in the vicinity. The bike screeched to a halt and was a bit surprised to see familiar faces¡ªmany of which he didn''t expect would ever be together. For one, there was the Terran Mercenary Team (he knew from their stances) with a few unfamiliar faces, definitely Aborigines. There also seemed to be nobles, considering how everyone was riding beast carts. What was this about? He had no idea¡­ Looking past them, he also saw¡­ herds of animals? "Broats?" he uttered, but instead of asking, he just looked at the rest of the crowd. Finally, his blue eyes zoned in on a rare humanoid creature with red ears and tail¡­ ''Is that a half-orc??'' A species that was relatively uncommon to see even in cities was taken home by a group who went out for a couple of weeks? He should really stop getting surprised by the Lord and her people. Before he could ask however, a familiar voice sounded nearby that pulled him back to the present. "Oslo?" They asked, tones filled with inquiry. He turned to see two women with rare shades of violet and pink emerge from the crowd. He almost lost his balance at the sight of them, really not expecting to see them any time soon. "Cassandra? Veronica?" He asked, tone expressing his disbelief. "You guys are here?" The two women nodded as they looked at him up and down. "Where are you going?" "Back to Bleulle, I need to get some stuff," he shrugged and paused. "You?" "We''re curious about a Territory," Cassandra said. Oslo looked at the direction they were heading. He then looked at their guards again¡ªwearing Ferrol Town crests¡ªand an explanation finally dawned on him. "You''re going to Altera?" "You know it?" Oslo smiled, immediately warming up. "Altera Village is very good. You will like it there." It was like a son proudly talking about his great ''father''. It really surprised the two women who knew him well prior to all of this. It was around here that Cassandra realized something and she stepped forward until she was a foot away. "Is that the territory that hired you?" He smiled smugly and she kind of wanted to kick him. Seeing that there were no more words exchanged, the Terrans could no longer hold their curiosity at the contraption they had been staring at for the past few minutes. They quickly surrounded Oslo, looking very excited. "YO¡ªGolden god," Sammy yelled, patting his back in a friendly manner. "Are the bikes finally out? I thought I''d wait longer!" S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oslo smirked. "This is Ansel''s, he just lent it to me." Luis jumped over. "Can I try?" "I suppose?" Soon the Terrans crowded Oslo in a friendly manner, especially as they played with the bike, except for Gill who only watched. He was always like this of course, so no one saw the difference. Gill had never met Oslo, as he had been hiding away studying during his short stay in Altera, but he had heard of him. The territory''s architect. His eyes couldn''t help but shift to Cassandra, walking over with crossed arms. She was standing at the side and watching the men play around in interest. "How''d you know him?" Cassandra scoffed. This must be the first time he took the initiative to talk to her after the kiss. "My ex." The two were silent for a while until Oslo excused himself to finally go on his way. Cassandra gestured to saunter over to him. Gill frowned, grabbing her arm. "Where are you going?" "Seeing him off of course," she paused and stared at him, before giving out a mocking smile. "Kisses are meaningless, right? Then I should give him a goodbye kiss since we''re old flames, anyway." He held her hand, and his face looked struggling uttering a few words. "I''m sorry," he breathed out. "And I never said it was meaningless." Her eyes widened and she gaped at him, but she didn''t buckle easily. "You didn''t have to say it." "I¡­ was just a little confused and shocked at what I did," he said, heaving a deep breath. "Again: I apologize for hurting you." Her eyes shook and she pursed her lips. "I still have to see him off though¡­" Gill saw that she softened up and his shoulders immediately slumped in relief. He nodded. "I''ll go with you." The two approached the golden-haired man as he climbed up his bike, to the utter envy of every man¡ªTerran and aborigine alike. Oslo''s eyebrows rose when he saw the intertwined hands of his ex and the infamous poison vampire. He hadn''t met him before, but his description fit to the tee: wavy black hair, pale skin, and acerbic temperament. Then he looked at Cassandra, who was absolutely blooming. Heh¡­ His stare made the two people feel a bit awkward, but their hands didn''t part. Oslo was very interested, but he really needed to go. He looked at Cassandra. "Got to go," he said, "Maybe I''ll get back and you''re still there." Cassandra blinked, surprised. "You''re coming back?" She thought he''d go back there for good and resume his philandering ways. Oslo just looked at her as if she asked a stupid question. "Of course," he said as if it answered everything. He then said his farewells to everyone again, pedaling away, humming. Cassandra couldn''t help but follow his form with heavy curiosity. Oslo Gold, this prodigal son without fixed interests, said he would return to a village with such certainty¡­ Very curious. "Until when are you going to stare?" A low voice beside her pulled her out of her trance. She blinked and turned to Gill, who was frowning as he stared at her. But¡­ her heart felt giddy. Was he jealous? It made the man''s eyebrows furrow. "What are you smiling about?" She chuckled but didn''t say anything. Who knew if he''d get triggered again? "I''m just really curious¡­about the territory that could make that guy love it so much." Gill nodded and sighed, looking around them and realizing their interaction was being watched with apt interest. His eyes twitched in annoyance. "Not going?" he asked, sending them a deadly glare. They all flinched as if they''d been poked by something sharp. "Yes, sir!" As everyone got back to their respective carriages, Gill kindly walked Cassandra back to hers. It was only a couple of meters away, but she felt happy the entire time. He was also a gentleman and helped her up. Before heading in her carriage though, her feet paused. "Wait a minute¡­" She paused, eyebrows furrowed. She looked at Oslo''s direction again¡ªtowards Ferrol to the West. Wasn''t Bluelle Southeast? ¡­. The group walked for a few hours and reached the stopover. "Let''s rest here," Gill said and everyone settled to set up a small camp. The aborigines looked around the simple but thoughtful arrangements. There were shelters and areas to cook. They even saw the soldiers open a chest to get some¡­ ingredients? So generous? Weren''t they afraid it would just get wasted? Not to mention, because everything was done with simplicity, it was easy to rebuild should a beast tide unfortunately pass through. "Something like this was built in the middle of nowhere?" Veronica asked in wonder. "Yes, Altera made it so the allied villages could travel back with ease," Mao said with pride oozing out of him. "Those supplies¡­" "Everyone leaves something for others after using it. It isn''t required, but it has become a culture of sorts." The aborigines couldn''t help but look at each other. The girls'' eyes were bright, especially curious about the place their ''men'' called home. "Really exciting. I''m glad I tagged along with you," the pink-haired girl told her friend, who just smiled in response. Veronica was also becoming more and more curious about this place. At first, she just wanted to see her Brandon, but now it seemed there was so much to explore. "What''s this entire place for?" "We want people to travel as comfortably as they could, especially our own." "Don''t you worry they''d get stolen?" "Our people probably won''t. That''s enough." The aborigines¡ªespecially the girls, as the others were servants and underlings¡ªshowered the soldiers with their questions. The more they knew, the more it piqued their interest, even if they didn''t quite understand some answers. For example, what was ''trekking for leisure'' and what was a slide? The questions stopped when the aroma of barbeque entered their noses. They sat around the stone chairs to eat, eyes shut when the deliciousness touched their taste buds. The group ate relaxedly as they chatted, knowing the monsters in the area weren''t very strong, completely unaware of the emotions of the Half-orc nearby. ¡­ Gochi watched all these with his green-golden eyes. He was still amazed at how effortless it was for everyone to just get along with each other, and¡­ with him. He remembered his first meal with them. They shared their mouthwatering food so generously, their smiles were wide and their hearts were kind. If he didn''t believe his instincts, he''d have thought he was given poison. It was also the first time Gochi tasted something so delicious. Of course, as an orc slave, he naturally didn''t have much to compare with. As an orc, his instincts toward danger and goodwill were unmatched by humans. The orc radar was next only to Goblins and their weird abilities. These seven people were truly good to him, and he didn''t sense any disgust at all. They even let him get clothed and fed properly, allowed his wounds to be healed and fixed. They treated him like an unfortunate comrade. He looked at the aromatic meat handed to him and felt a little warm. He hadn''t even eaten anything yet. He wondered: what kind of place would people like this call home¡­? Chapter 395 Half-orc Gochi Hoskle Village, a month ago Inside a dilapidated house with leaking roof and whistling walls, a group of oddly-shaped men and women with unusual appearances gathered in a somber atmosphere. The sound of an alarm echoed across the village. A territory war was about to happen within 14 hours. The announcement was followed by another, stating that everyone must prepare either themselves or resources to assist the territory. "Another war?" Baku asked with a frown, his tiger ears perked up, guarded. His large build was tense, his long tail was upright, his mood turbulent at the imminent danger they''d be facing. Gochi, who was kneeling beside him, sighed and looked at the person lying on the cot. In his hand were a couple of leaves known to help with wounds. It was all they could afford. As he applied both the leaf and the crushed plants on his friend''s festering wounds, the man flinched and frowned, while the others couldn''t bear to look. The one on the bed was Kuma, a half-bear orc. He was the oldest and the strongest one of them all. He had brown ears and a massive build. Kuma was still suffering from injury since the last war a few weeks prior, which added to the injuries of the wars before that. Hoskle village was one of those villages that got attacked at least once a month. It could be against either humans or orcs but, fortunately, Hoskel had enough background to supply them with professionals to defend the village. Further, some other allied territories would occasionally send support because Hoskle served as a shield between the human and the orc territory. This also meant¡­ that a lot of citizens died every month. No, not just ''a lot'', as the deaths often came in hundreds. It was fortunate the decomposition of corpses outside the walls was fast, otherwise the smell of rotting corpses would stink for miles. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And¡­ several territories often sold people they didn''t like to Hoskle to keep up with the population, so they never ran out¡­ of shields. Since they were won as spoils in a war ten years ago, this was all they knew what to do: to be shields. In that war, Hoskle''s enemy was an orc territory. This was a notorious neighbouring orc village that had taken down several human settlements and several nearby territories sent assistance to finally get rid of it. After a bloody war, the orc territory perished, and the orcs either died or fled deeper into orc region. They, little half-orcs, were taken in by Hoskle as spoils of war. Less than half managed to be kept in Hoskle, while the others were taken by other territories to sell. They could still remember the greedy faces of the humans as they looked at them. They had been so scared¡ªit was almost as scary as when they were in the Orc territory, threatened by bullies that they''d eat them someday. To be honest, they didn''t really feel too sad after becoming slaves in the human territory. Life wasn''t easy in the orc territory, especially for half-bloods. They had to forage for their own food as soon as they could crawl, they had to endure whatever nature threw at them with bare skin, and¡­ they were never welcome. Not to mention, because they were only half-orcs, it was impossible for them to get the rare orc-exclusive Skill of True Beast Taming. Obviously they were created on purpose, but when they were born they were looked at in disgust. Did the orcs think they''d look exactly like them, just with better brains? But then again, orcs were known to be stupid¡ªmaybe they really thought this way. In any case, from a young age, he and the others had to witness their mothers slowly lose their wills to live there, only their memories of how it was before keeping them alive. Their mothers told them of how much better life was in human territory. After all, even if everyone had the aether screen, orcs weren''t very smart to maximize them. This was when their mothers didn''t look at them in disgust, of course. Except for a few who had kind mothers, everyone else''s treated them like monsters. Unwelcomed by both parents and both clans, the half-orcs could only find solace in each other and themselves. They, innocent children, believed that life would not be worse, and they accepted human slavery without question. Since then, they have been willingly helping out on the front line. By ''helping out'', it meant being the vanguard. They were taught to fight for the territory, using their bodies as shields. After all, they had stronger skins. This didn''t matter because even in the orc territory, the vanguards have been expected to take in injuries, if not die, for the territory. After all, territories were their home and protection¡ªit was only right to protect it at whatever cost, even at the expense of their own lives. The half-orcs didn''t really question this ideology because, unlike their lives in the orc territory, they had enough to eat and a roof above their heads. This was something most uncivilized orcs could not provide because they couldn''t maximize the Lord token in their hands at all. Their lives were like this for years, except slowly their numbers dwindled, until one day another war occurred, a very different one from what they were used to. The original group of half-orcs in Hoskle, after a little over a decade, was now down to just the five of them. "Well, we just try to survive," Kuma sighed, as he stood up preparing to go to the battlefield. He took his wife Nana''s, hand, his large eyes hovering over his wife''s large stomach. "You take care of yourself and our cubs." Nana held back her tears, her long white ears shaking, and the injured Kuma tried very hard to comfort his pregnant wife. Baku looked at this scene in sadness, closing his eyes so he didn''t have to see anymore. Kuma shouldn''t have had to go to war, he thought, but they never had a choice. Maomao sighed and plucked her loose feathers, twirling them absentmindedly in her fingers. Maybe she could blind people with them¡­ What they didn''t expect was that the enemy in this war¡ªa human territory¡ª was strong, very strong. Although there was a limit on the levels of and quantity of fighters, this seemed to have been maximized by the enemy. Not too far into the war, the citizens of Hoskle realized this. After all, more and more people died helplessly, and there was no hope of winning at all. "Aren''t the nearby territories assisting us?" Several people asked, confused at what was happening. Although many people died in wars, they had never been so¡­ hopelessly crushed. After all, if the territory fell, another human territory would replace Hoskel as the shield. "I don''t know," another human slave cried in despair. Still, the slaves fought with whatever as they knew escaping meant something even worse than death. But they couldn''t handle the enemy in the end. It was a tragic fight, a massacre, and pretty much all of the vanguards perished that day. They didn''t know it yet but, apparently, the backer of their territory lost against the backer of the enemy¡­ in a bet. The deal was that the loser could not call on any rescue or assistance during the war. What their lord didn''t expect was that the other party would go all out in the war. Even those behind the walls were affected. By the time the war entered the territory, the only surviving vanguards continuously fighting were the half-orcs. It was just that the half-orcs might be much stronger than humans, but there were only a few of them. Most of them weren''t even fighter orcs. He was a weak fox, Nana was a pregnant rabbit, and Maomao was a little dove who could barely fly. It didn''t take long for them to succumb. Kuma sacrificed himself to save them, while Baku was disabled somewhere on the road to escape. They managed to run for a while, trying to escape with the citizens who didn''t want to become slaves. If a territory fell, it meant a certain amount of people inside would automatically become slaves for the winning territory. In the case of the slaves, even if they were outside the territory, they wouldn''t be able to escape at all. They would either remain slaves in Hoskle or become slaves of the winning territory. But¡­ they wanted to run anyway. It was as if they were hoping for a miracle that would never come. Gochi carried the two women as he ran, his whole body aching. However, they were easily found by guards of the winning territory and, as slaves, they could not do anything to fight back. They could only get hauled back obediently, following them to their territory. The winning territory, Sumar Village, made a lot of money by selling them off to different territories. Nana and Maomao were sold much earlier than he was, since they were women. He was especially worried for Nana, whose due date was very soon. Gochi sighed. He wondered where they are now¡­ ¡­ Present. "Hey! Focus!!" Gochi found himself a bit imbalanced as he was pushed back. He was startled when a firewall went ablaze in front of him all of a sudden. Another guard appeared with an iron sword and attacked the monster that had apparently targetted him, soon taking its life. Gochi gulped and calmed his heart, shaking his head to gather his wits. This was not the first time he was saved by them¡ªin stark contrast to being pushed forward as a meat shield. And he still couldn''t get used to it. Chapter 396 Companion He saw that the humans had resumed the fight and Gochi immediately shook his head of the distracting thoughts. It was shameful to be saved by the masters, and so many times! Immediately, he lunged and attacked a nearby monster. It was around his level, but he was unafraid. He raised his hand and his claws transformed, becoming lethally sharp. [Used Swipe (E)! -2 Mana] [Used Swipe (E)! -2 Mana] He jumped at an odd angle and used his tail to keep his balance. He landed smoothly on the monster''s nose¡ªshowing great control over his body. His hands moved fast as he continuously landed hit after hit. [Used Grab (E), -5 Mana] With a swift slash of his arm, he stabbed its eye to its brain. He then pulled it out, its brains dragged out of its head. [Killed! Orgoi (Lvl 13)! +370 Experience, +370 Copper!] If humans needed 5 trained men to deal with a beast of the same level, orcs could take on one on his own or even two. In terms of physical strength, half-orcs were a bit weaker than pureblood orcs but they had bigger brains, so they might not necessarily be weaker in battle. Heaving a deep breath, Gochi watched as the humans bravely stood against the mob, head-on. He watched as they killed off the monster without even looking at him for help. Before, when there were mobs, there was no lack of humans¡ªmostly nobles and rich citizens as they were ordered to save nobles during battle. In these cases, the nobles and rich humans often yelled for them to come and save them, even if it meant they had to let themselves get slashed on the way there. However, he noticed that while the Alterans often looked to his and the others'' direction, including his direction, it was not to ask for help. In contrast, their stares were inquisitive with traces of concern. It was as if to check¡­ if he was alright. He didn''t know how to absorb the changes so he simply did what he had done best: Fighting. He quickly ran to another monster, raising his arms up high, stabbing the monster at its weak spots. He did this over and over, killing as many as he could, hopefully as fast¡ªif not faster¡ªthan the others. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was determined to be impressive. They treated him more than just a meat shield, so he must show them that they weren''t wrong to do so. ¡­ The fight ended half an hour later, with them panting a bit due to the sheer number of the mob. "That was easily a hundred right?" Even Cassandra''s level 20 guards got tired. To be fair though, that was a mob with leaders over level 10. They might be so much weaker individually, but together they would really be able to take their lives if they weren''t careful. "That was a strong mob, I thought there should only be level 8s around?" Gill asked with furrowed eyebrows. "Well, while it''s rare, it''s not unheard off. It seems that some stronger monsters do occasionally go to the areas of weaker territories, usually if it is a new area as if to check it." The aborigine explained, "This is rare, usually monsters didn''t bother with weak aether." Gill and the others looked at each other worriedly, hoping no such mobs found Altera. Of course, Altera''s strong wall could defend it, but there might still be losses. They sighed, knowing what they could do was just get back and help. Before they proceeded, Gill went to Gochi to acknowledge his large contribution. He patted the man''s shoulders¡ªa few inches above his by the way¡ªand nodded coolly. "Good job." This made the half-orc flinch and look down in shyness. "...thank you, master." Gill shook his head. "I told you. We don''t keep slaves. Just companions," he said, and looking at the glazed look, his lips twitched upwards. "You''ll see." Gill didn''t say anymore and turned away, heading back to the front of the party to lead the movements. Gochi watched the leader''s back, still with the same dazed look. A companion? He had heard this several times now, but he couldn''t wrap his mind around it. It didn''t help that from the corner of his eyes, he could see the guards from Ferrol looking at them weirdly. He bent down his head by instinct. Indeed, that was how people looked at them, at best. This was already very kind. The looks he was used to receiving were either derision or disgust from common folk and perverted looks from the rich people who could afford to buy them. Anyway, the group traveled a few more hours, dealing with mobs that were, fortunately, weaker¡­ and sparser. "We hadn''t encountered a mob for almost an hour now," an aborigine said, and a nearby Alteran soldier answered with a shrug. "Altera probably cleaned up," Mao said, "Poor guys probably had to travel a bit to get mobs now." Cassandra''s guards just blinked and looked at each other. Mao didn''t bother explaining more, as he was already thinking of what food to buy at this time. The group walked further and eventually, they could see a massive wall not too far away. As they approached, the Aborigines couldn''t help but look at the five-meter wall in surprise. "I didn''t know there was such a big town he¡ª [Welcome to Altera Village! Please pay 5 copper coins as Visitors'' fee. [Temporary Residency: 3 silver and 100 Contribution Points. [Permanent Residency: 10 Gold and 1000 contribution points. [Please pay according to your needs. Please don''t forget to register in the Village Center for more information! [Do familiarize yourself with Altera Village''s Rules and Regulations below: ¡­] The Aborigines were shocked. So cheap! Even lower than the villages with level 1 walls! In contrast, the Alterans looked at each other with raised eyebrows. The prices for Residency costs had increased, and there were still contribution points required on both! Many people must''ve been regretting not buying residences as soon as possible! Good thing they registered as soon as they could! Hallelujah! Of course, the territory probably announced it before increasing prices, which meant that the residency probably also spiked in the past few days. This made sense. Altera was too good to charge so cheaply. Anyway, they didn''t change the prices of visitors pass, allowing the true poor to maintain decent living inside. This was the perfect compromise for everyone. ¡­ All newcomers couldn''t help but look at their surroundings in interest. The locals also turned to look at them, greeting the locals, while giving the others not-so-subtle stares. "Welcome back!" "Was the trip successful?" Someone grabbed Luis'' shoulders and gave supposedly subtle stares at the unfamiliar faces. "Is that them? The aborigines?!" Luis placed a hand over his face. "Stop blowing on my ear it''s disgusting! Also, everyone can hear you." "..." He awkwardly waved at the aborigines who were staring at him, "Hello~" The aborigines nodded, and some awkwardly followed his greeting and waved their hands. The man smiled at their cooperation. "Welcome to Altera! You''ll definitely love it here!" With his example, a lot of people surrounded the aborigines. They primarily asked how was their trips (the polite alternative to ''How strong are they?'' and ''Are they from afar?''), and the aborigines answered as they could. The guards and the maids couldn''t help but look at their bosses¡ªnobles who sometimes had a snobbish attitude¡ªbut fortunately, they didn''t seem offended. On the contrary, they seemed to be having fun. Veronica even took advantage and smiled at a man, making him enter a daze. "Do you know a handsome blonde named Brandon? He''s part of the Terran Mercenary Team." There was a second of silence before more and more people converged. They knew there was definitely tea here. "OHHH~" "Brandon''s got a love life!" "KYAAA~" The aborigines were a little surprised, especially the nobles, but they all felt the positive energy and just couldn''t help but chuckle with them. On the other side of the party, Gochi was also surrounded¡­ by children, and he had no idea what to make of it. "..." He looked at the people staring at him in curiosity. He was both intimidated and shy but not¡­ scared. It all felt very new. Although the soldiers were similar, such stares coming from weak humans felt different. As they traversed the avenue, the children loved to follow him around and touch his tail, unlike those children back in Hoskel who were either scared of them or threw stones and wood at them. Well, at least they could sell those resources in the village center... "Are you a dog?" "No, it''s a cat!" A little girl said. "Right, Horus?" "It''s a fox, Maya!" The boy said, "Look at his tail!" "Ooohhh! So cool!" Even the adults were whispering. "I hear he''s a half-orc." "...bestiality?" Someone asked, but he had a weird smile on his face (which promptly earned him a slap on the head). "You pervert!" A lot of girls couldn''t help but look at him dreamily. "He looks so fluffy¡­" They said, "He''s also handsome¡­" "Can I pat him?" No matter what they were talking about, he sensed no hostility. They were even warm and friendly, and it made him truly understand Gill''s words. ''We don''t have slaves, only companions.'' For the first time in a long time, Gochi finally smiled. Chapter 397 First Aborigine Visitors (Part 1) The Aborigines were extremely surprised about too many things. Just seeing just how they dealt with the half-orc was shocking, to be honest. Gill and the others being so friendly and not tying up the orc was already inconceivable to them¡ªespecially after finding out they didn''t register him as a slave¡ªbut now they saw little kids fearlessly approaching the half-orc as if it was an old friend. First of all, instinctive reactions generally didn''t lie, especially not from children. From their interactions with the Half-orc, they were genuinely only curious and friendly. It was far from what they knew about how such creatures interacted in human villages. Because orcs and half-orcs were so much stronger than humans, they were greatly feared in human territories. If they became slaves, then they were hated, abused, and revenged on for acts that had nothing to do with themselves. It was simply not in the aborigine''s concept to see a half-orc walking around leisurely around a human territory. The atmosphere in the territory was quite different, too. They could see these people''s temperaments were happy and even a bit carefree. It disoriented them who were used to gloomy atmospheres¡ªespecially in villages without backing. Gill and the others'' cheerfulness was understandable as they were strong and were Elementalists, but these people¡­ they had the level of children. How do they look so¡­ happy? "What kind of territory is this?" Veronica asked, and Cassandra smiled in response. "A curious one," she said, "To be able to produce so many novel things, their heads must be full of weird ideas as well." The two friends looked at each other in excitement. How long had it been since they''d seen something interesting? She turned her head to Gill, wondering if he could guide her around. The man naturally saw this and blushed a little, clearing his throat. "I promised my mother I''d go to her when I return." ''Can I meet her?'' she wanted to ask, but seeing that he didn''t offer, she kept her mouth shut. However, she did tentatively hold the side of his palm, which he didn''t pull away. The two of them just stared at each other for a while and Gill opened his mouth to say something. Cassandra''s purple eyes dilated and her heart lifted, waiting for his next words. However, almost immediately he retracted and gently shifted to turn away. "Well, I¡­ uh, I''ll go now," he said, turning to the other soldiers. "I''ll leave them to you," he said, scurrying off as if he was being chased. And he left like this, leaving poor Cassandra behind. Eagle sighed. Despite his caustic personality and playboy looks, he knew Gill was not really smooth with women. He was quite awkward and it was both pitiful and amusing to watch. Anyway, the man with aquiline features turned to the guests with a smile, "We have a travel agency here," he said, pointing in a direction. The aborigines followed his fingers to a small building abutting the wide main road. ''Did roads have to be so large?'' The aborigines thought. But¡­ it looked good and was comfortable to walk in, so they didn''t speak out. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Also¡­, what unique buildings. They had never seen such a streetscape before. For one, such a combination of wood and stone was something they had never seen before. The structures looked both stable and light at the same time. The streets were framed by the uniform trees and plants that lined the avenues. There were shrubs and flowers located in equidistant spots, matching well with the colorful passage. The intricacies were fascinating. Eagle smiled and explained the function of the guides. "See that building at the intersection? The one with ''Glorious Hospitality'' written on it." He paused, making sure most knew what he was referring to. "They can give you the sort of guidance around the territory that you like. For a price, of course." On cue, several people emerged from the building, heading towards the entrance to greet them. "Welcome, Guests!!" There was a group of them, moving toward different people in their team. They came in a bit strongly that the guards were just about to put out their weapons in defense. Fortunately, the newcomers stopped about a meter away, just far enough for the Aborigines to feel comfortable. There were people who talked to the girls, the guards, and there was also a group that went straight to the half-orc (note: the animal lovers). "We have various tour packages!" They said to varying ''targets'', "Would you like the food tour, the garden tour, the luxury tour, or the Altera Grand tour?" The novel terms definitely piqued the guests'' interest. "What is the difference? How do we choose?" "Tell us what you want to see and we can help you~" One said and another nodded. "You can even choose more than one! It''s totally up to you!" A cute young lady walked forward and looked at them amicably. The two women stared at the girl who was definitely was no lady, but had the confidence that was so charming to see. "My name is Lulu, and I''m your guide today!" The two looked at each other before looking back at their guide, and introducing themselves. "Let me tell you a little something about the tours: "The Food Tour focuses on taking you to a culinary adventure of our village! We will take you to our various restaurants and food stalls¡ªguaranteed to give different tastes. "Even if our village is small¡ªI assure you: This place could bring your tastebuds to nine heavens!" "The Garden Tour focuses on the beauty of nature in our village. As you can see, our territory takes good priority with trees and plants. We will take you to explore meticulously manicured gardens, lush parks, and vibrant botanical gardens! This is perfect for those who just wish for a serene escape!" "The Luxury Tour, on the other hand, is tailored for those with especially discerning tastes. We will take you to the upper-tier facilities of our village¡ªguaranteed to bring novel experience, even if you are from a town!" "And, of course, there''s Altera Grand Tour, which comprises all of them~" "Wow, that is so interesting!" "It is, it is!" "Actually, there are still a lot of things still being erected, but we have a lot to offer even at this time!" At this, a lot of the guides slumped and looked at each other. "Too bad our hotel is still under construction." Another person sighed. "Would have been great to welcome our first Aborigine guests there. How awesome it would''ve been to greet our first Aborigine guests that way?" "Well, we''re already going fast enough, don''t be too choosy." "That''s true, that''s true." The person beside him also sighed, "Premium Inn is fine," he said, "At least it''s right next to the Master Cooke''s restaurant." "Hmm. Made sense." "Hotel?" Veronica asked, quite curious. "Restaurant?" A restaurant of Gill''s people, she knew, must be quite good. Even simple barbeque was heavenly, what more for properly-prepared food? They couldn''t help but recall Mao''s ''thinking-about-food-out-loud'' sessions. He was very very descriptive and their stomachs often grumbled after his soliloquy. "Yes, we have various restaurants to choose from. Some of them offer various themes, while some specialize in certain regions of our home countries. There are also restaurants that use mostly indigenous products! We have built a partnership with a few and you''re sure to love them!" "Hotels are a more exclusive accommodation for guests," Lulu answered, "It''s difficult to explain for now, but all facilities are upgraded. I''ll be glad to give you a tour when it''s done!" "Sure." Lulu smiled. Secured: Return Client! "So¡­ have you chosen your tour?" "Yes. We choose the Altera Grand Tour." The purple-haired woman said, "Can you tell us more about it?" "Of course, beautiful miss!" The guide smiled, making the other two women smile back, "It''s a tour combining all the packages and would last a couple of hours for three days. "Included in your package is your accommodation (Premium Inn), the lunch starting tomorrow and the next three days, and a guided tour with a personalized guide (me). "The charge is on a per-person basis at 20 gold!" This was, of course, the non-Terran rate. Must milk these rich aborigines well! Sure enough¡ª"It''s not that expensive." Cassandra mumbled and Veronica nodded. "Considering the inclusions¡­" "Please note that because the Territory is still in development and a lot of buildings are still under construction." "When we can offer more buildings, the fee is naturally more expensive." The two girls nodded in understanding. Indeed. No matter what, it was still a small village after all. How many places could it offer? Although they were curious, they both lived in good towns and had even experienced cities, their expectations for a village were not too high. At best, the place had great food and was very beautiful in a quaint way. And they would be proven wrong very, very, quickly. Chapter 398 First Aborigine Visitors (Part 2) While most of the Aborigine guests were left to explore the territory, the Terran Mercenary group went to their base villa with everyone. It was technically smaller than the property in Ferrol, but the details were much richer, the training area denser, and a lot more considerations were made. However, this was not immediately appreciated by the newly-arrived Aborigine members, primarily because they were still reeling at the sights they had seen before heading here. The minds of Pipa, Roana, and the others were still focused on the markets they saw on the way¡ªwhich was so attractive it felt like they were being called. It took them a lot of discipline not to separate from Eagle and the others. Their stomachs were churning the whole time and their own feet were gesturing to go to these shops without their knowledge! What the bosses said was true: What they had seen in Ferrol was not enough! Eagle was naturally aware of the ''tension'' these aborigines were feeling. But he thought it was better to tell them the plan before letting them go wild on their own. He met the antsy aborigines in the living room while everyone else went their own way¡ªsome to report to Garan, some to handle their sales, some to meet friends and family, while some to goof around in general. Whichever case it was, they were subject of envy by the aborigines withheld by Eagle. Eagle''s lips twitched upwards and began speaking. "I''ve arranged for you to learn from certain experts for a month, after signing a confidentiality contract, of course." He turned to the thin and pale seamstress Pipa, and then to Sasa, a curly-haired woman who specialized in making clothes. "You two will be assigned to help with Letty," he told them. "She is a system-stamped seamstress, and we hope you awaken an occupation under her." The word ''awakening'' naturally caught the two women''s minds and their eyes brightened. "Sir?!" Eagle just smiled as he turned to Koli, a large male tanner with only a handful of hair on his head. "You will be going to Sassy," he said, "Her occupation is not system-stamped, but she is definitely an expert. Who knows, right?" Although tanning was a more common practice here, Sassy knew a lot of intricacies that this guy could learn. Of course, they had to pay Baron''s team a set amount of gold for this. For the cooks, he turned to the dark-skinned chubby Roana and the ultra-tall cook with a strong metabolic rate, Yoyo. "You will be joining sister-in-law''s restaurant, under her person named Harold." The two nodded, eyes bright. Not only for the opportunity to learn, but the fact that they''d be doing it under Ms. Althea! They had heard of the ''sister-in-law'' the bosses admired so much. The Captain''s wife! How curious they were to see the only woman who could get close to their ice-cold captain. And also not be scared! Eagle paused and let them remember the instructions. They were naturally chosen because they were the best employees with the greatest potential. Further, they had enough social skills to teach the others back in Ferrol about the craft they had learned. (Of course, this was all after signing NDAs as well to protect Altera''s interests). "We are investing in you, in hopes that our Ferrol base would be sustainable enough not to fully depend on the main branch. "Am I clear?" S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Yes!" Eagle''s stance softened then, and what he said next made the aborigines nearly jump in joy. "You may explore Altera on your own. I will endorse you to your trainers tomorrow. Meet me here tomorrow morning at sunrise." "YES!!!" Finally! ¡­ Inside the Gaea Team''s villa, a certain auburn-haired woman looked at the space in front of her with curious eyes. "Our first aboriginal guests¡­"Althea said as she looked at the population screen. They were now in their lounge area in her room. She had just woken up from a nap, and Garan¡ªafter arranging the day''s training regimen and tasks¡ªwas there to keep her company. She needed some sleep as she had been very focused on her experiments the past few days. They had already completed the first batch of rubber, and now she wanted to mass-produce wheels and shock absorbers to apply to more bikes, rickshaws, and possibly carriages. Things like gaskets, ball bearings, and rubber seals were essential for many machines. Although there would still be a lot of research, these would be used in various machinery like improved waterwheels, windmills, clocks, the printing press, crank mechanisms, improved looms, and even catapults and trebuchets. Especially crank mechanisms used for hand-crank generators, crank-in machines, windows, (eventually) music boxes, manual pumps, and sewing machines. There were also more ''everyday'' items like rubber boots and cloaks. One could see the importance of this, and she (along with Winona and the others) had been lacking a lot of sleep every night because of it. Garan wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her head, before tilting her head a little to give her a sound smooch on the face. She laughed, wiping the saliva off her face. She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, reciprocating, only Garan didn''t wipe it off¡ªhe licked it. "Delicious," he said and dipped down to take her lips. He lifted her up and threw her to the bed. He couldn''t bear to take her the previous night when she was so tired from studying, but now that she was better rested, however¡ª Garan climbed on top of her and dipped his head again, putting some of his weight on her so they could feel each other more intimately. Before they could go further, however, their sharp ears detected knocks on the main door. Garan cursed and Althea laughed, kissing him on the cheeks. Althea scooted away and went outside the door. At this time, only the two of them were in the house. The children were taken to ''work'' by their respective parents except for the twins, who were next door. The women from next door adored them and insisted on voluntary babysitting duty. Speaking of the babies, they were increasingly expressive now, much more than what should be expected for children a few months old. Little Pepper pouted a lot when attention wasn''t on her, her chubby cheeks appearing even chubbier. Little Meatball was showing more of his troublemaking ways. He often tried to get off his high chair. If everyone didn''t have heightened alertness, he''d have fallen down a handful of times already. "I''ll get it," she said and gestured to get up. Garan sighed, standing up to take the door with her. When he opened the door with a dark face, the other man outside naturally flinched. It was Eagle, shocked by his stare¡ªunderstanding he had just interrupted the captain''s ''very good thing''. But¡­ how was he supposed to know they would go at it while the sun was so high up the sky!? This totally wasn''t his fault, right?! He also took a moment to shake away the fear, and when he did he immediately went to report their gain. "You found milking animals?" Althea asked, eyes bright. "Yes, although I heard that the locals find it unhealthy," he said and explained what he had heard so far. Althea, like him, didn''t falter. She gave him an order instead. "Get Winona and the others to its contents. Determine the substance''s reaction to various items and temperatures." "Yes, Ms. Althea." He said, "May we request a grazing area for them as well?" Among the soldiers, both Gill and Eagle were privy to her being the lord. They therefore had the honor of directly requesting for resources. When they found out, the two almost worshipped Althea, but that was a story for some other time. Now, Althea nodded at their request. "I built a few level 1 farms to be used as grazing area, keeping a lot of the trees and berries where we can. She turned to Garan. "Rent it under your name." This was not just to ''disperse'' the wealth in the territory, but also so that the farms could be maximized and managed best. The Grazing farms of Altera were very kind to animals. The animals were allowed to grow free-range in the farms. Not only were they huge, there was also natural vegetation the animals could eat. They will definitely live happy lives before dying. This should make them more delicious when it was their time to be eaten.. Other than this, Althea also assigned one of the factories being constructed to a dairy factory. A dairy factory would soon be up, set to create all dairy products possible in their current situation. Eventually they would have cheese, butter, and others in their daily meals again. Of course, these would all take a bit longer, due to the massive amount of study and experimentation that had to be done. Not to mention, the machines needed to mass produce these end products had yet to be designed. Fortunately, Soy has also been harvested many times, and the first soy milk would be made available in the supermarket to make up for this need. Speaking of, there are plenty of new items lined up to be introduced in various shops like the grocery store and her beauty shop. She looked at the names of the aborigines with a smile. "You came just in time." Chapter 399 Before the Tour For some inexplicable reason, several aborigines felt a shiver run down their spine. They halted their steps somewhere on the inn stairs. They had just come from a wonderful meal in the Inn Canteen as they were too tired from their travels to go outside (they ate different flavors of noodles) and the premier restaurant next door was fully booked. Veronica rubbed her arms as she looked around, "I feel targeted." Cassandra nodded, but thought it was just the cold as she continued climbing up, seeing the hallways with large maneuvrable windows letting air inside. After all, the fresh breeze could enter the building and it was quite refreshing. "Hm, you''re right," Veronica said, following the other girl to their designated room. Cici and Vivi followed promptly, also looking around a bit. "Here''s your room," one of the so-called ''bellhops'' arrived and pointed certain doors. "These two rooms are the premier suite, for the two ladies." As noble ladies, they never shared rooms. "These two rooms are the family rooms. One for the lady servants, and the other for the guards." "Thank you," she said and Lulu, their guide, handed a few copper to the man. "Is that needed?" "No, but we like giving a few coppers for people''s service. It shows our appreciation." "I see," the aborigines nodded, duly noting the practice. Lulu saw that everyone was ready to settle in, she smiled and bid her farewell. "Well, we''ll meet here tomorrow mid-morning," she said, "See you tomorrow!" "Wait, Lulu." It was Casandra. Lulu blinked and waited for her instructions but was instead greeted by shiny currency. Cassandra was a fast learner, and she was handing Lulu some copper. The younger girl immediately flinched, "Oh nonono, at least not until I finish my job!" "I insist¡­" Lulu''s lips twitched and knew it would be difficult to explain the subtleties. "Uhm¡­ I''ll take this as my advance tip. You don''t need to give me anymore!" They nodded and Lulu really said her good nights before scurrying away. Even if it was a bit confusing, everyone took note of this little culture before separating and heading to their own rooms. Cassandra''s room was one the best rooms in the inn, and she couldn''t help but admire the interiors a bit, using a few chairs here and there. The cushions were super soft, the textiles were smooth, and the designs were simple, but the colors were complementary and pleasing to the eyes. Even if it wasn''t gold-plated like those luxury rooms she had been in before, she actually liked this much better. What was a luxury when the person using it wasn''t as comfortable? She was just about to settle down when a knock came. She blinked, expecting it to be Veronica and almost lost her footing when she saw who it was. "Gill?" "Hi¡­" he mumbled, his face a little awkward. Cassandra just found it cute. But she didn''t appear too friendly. She crossed her arms and waited for him to speak. "I¡­ I''m sorry for running out on you like that." "You just realized this now?" Gill rubbed the back of his neck. "I''m¡­ not very good with emotions," he said, "Otherwise I wouldn''t snap at anyone so much." "Well, you''re right about that," she said, "I wonder how any woman dealt with you before." For some miracle, none of his people mentioned Juni in front of Cassandra. However, Gill also didn''t want to hide it from her. "Well, she left me," he said, "I was never there for her, she said." Cassandra was not surprised he had a lover before. After all, in Xeno, many men had many lovers before and after marriage. She was just¡­ uncomfortable, as any woman would be. "Oh?" She asked, trying to appear cool. "And¡­? Why are you saying this now?" Did he want to warn her of what to expect? Because she really didn''t like it. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill shook his head. "I wanted you to know¡­ that I don''t want to make the same mistake again." He looked at her, so beautiful, so fiery, and definitely deserving of much more than what he was giving her so far. He couldn''t help but step forward, "Let''s talk about that some other time¡­" he said, leaning forward. "I''ve been wanting to do this for a while." ¡­ The next day. "Ah~ I had such a wonderful sleep. I wonder what that hotel would be like¡­" Veronica asked, curious. That would be their ''luxury'' accommodation. A beauty-loving girl like her really wanted to see it. "I heard it''ll open in about a month," Cassandra answered her, a little bit absent-mindedly. "They''re using a different construction method so it took some time." Veronica stared at her friend, impressed. "You got all that in one night? Where? At the inn restaurant?" The tour will start well after breakfast. At her question, Cassandra blushed and unconsciously twirled her beautiful purple hair. Could she say Gill visited a bit last night? Then she recalled the wonderful goodnight kiss that took away her soul. Kyaa! Cassandra covered her face in shyness. Fortunately, Veronica was too busy daydreaming to notice her friend''s eccentricity. If she did, she wouldn''t hear an end to the pink-haired girl''s nagging¡ªwho was still bitter because Brandon was not in the territory at this time. Apparently, the blonde was clearing up paths to another territory nearby with some guards he was training. Unfair!! "I want to go to the noodle shop today!" The pink-haired girl said. They were so tired last night they only went to the inn canteen. Now, they could folly about as they want. The tour didn''t start for a couple of hours, anyway. The two girls arrived at a noodle store, though not without buying several finger foods from different stores along the way. They bought something called French Fries, Gugu Bird Tea Eggs, Hash Brown, Friend Vegetables, and the like. By the time they got back to the inn, where their guide was set to pick them up, they were still bloated. The two women felt embarrassed. The tour hadn''t even started yet! Chapter 400 Start of the Tour Two people from the Guide company were waiting in the lobby when they arrived. First was an orange-haired man with curly hair and then there was Lulu approached them with a smile. The man was slightly below average height. The Aborigines were just a few inches taller than average, so a relatively tall woman like Cassandra was physically looking down at him. "Hello, Guests!" The man said, "My name is Fred, the owner of our travel agency. You already know Lulu, your personal guide. "I hope you rested well," he said with a friendly smile, "Your personal tour is a relaxed tour to some of the basic accessible facilities and offerings of the territory. It will consist of a food tour, a shopping tour, and a leisure tour. "We will not only guide you to the right places, we will also tell you a lot about these areas. "If you have any questions, just ask Lulu and she''ll do her best to assist you." He then excused himself and gave them the standard salute he learned from the NPCs. Lulu smiled and gestured for them to go out. "The lunch later would be on the premier restaurant. But seeing that you''re still full, we will move it to later. Anyway, the queue will also be shorter." The trio then walked outside, with Lulu chattering about. Because Lulu could sense the aborigines were tired from the long travel, she didn''t talk too much. Now that they''ve rested, her natural gregariousness exploded. Especially¡­ her first Aborigine guest!! And Lulu was really fascinated by their colors. So unique! "So where are the two pretty ladies from? Your hair is sooo pretty, I haven''t seen anything like it! How is the experience so far??" The two looked at the energetic woman chirping. It seemed they had never seen a girl so talkative. And what was this? Her job? She gets paid for speaking? However, even with all the questions, they didn''t dislike it. Veronica smiled and pushed her pink hair behind her ears. "Well, I''m from Hubble town a couple days from here by beast car." Lulu sparked. A town! "Yes, I have seen those!" Lulu said, referring to their mode of transportation. To handle these carriages, the territory set a Beast Car parking near both gates. Besides these open spaces, the territory built the original modules which had a dormitory-type setting for the drivers and beast carers. The drivers could comfortably stay here for 10 coppers a day, and the cars could park for 5 silver a day, food not included. To guests, this was very affordable and convenient. "I''m from Jeronia Town." Cassandra smiled and Lulu brightened again. Another town! "These are Cicy and Vivi, mine and Veronica''s maids respectively. We are really loving this place so far, I can see myself staying for a while." Lulu was really excited to deal with Aborigines, especially ones from towns! It would help her gauge better the market in this world, and maybe they''d make even more of a killing! "Hello, nice to meet you! And glad to hear that!" Lulu said, super friendly. "You will love living here, I guarantee it!" She¡ªalong with others¡ªdared to guarantee because everyone knew Oslo came from the city, and he loved it here. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It gave them confidence that even in this new world, even if compared to the better territories they could offer, their Altera Village triumphed! Anyway, the tour soon began, and Lulu''s talent for talking shone. They started out with the shopping trip, and they were now heading towards the Market Street they passed by before. "First we start the shopping tour, introducing some of the places caravans would frequent." The two nodded excitedly. Except for a few essentials, they had basically emptied out her space in the inn to make room. While doing such an inconvenient thing, Cassandra mumbled more than a few times that she should''ve borrowed her mother''s space stone! Veronica scoffed at the time. "No matter how favoured you are¡ªwhich you aren''t, by the way¡ªthat thing cost a good tenth of her fortune back then, right?" Though Cassandra''s mother had earned it back, much of that was due to the space stone investment in the first place. This showed that the space stone would definitely never leave the lady''s hands. "Stop dreaming!" Veronica said, making Cassandra roll her eyes. Of course she knew. It was a figure of speech, okay? Anyway, the group walked along the wide sidewalk, admiring the equidistant trees with benches underneath. It not only provided a comfortable cover from the sun, some people used them as resting areas as well. It was all quite cozy. She could even see people with bolts of blood lounging about, obviously coming from the outside to hunt or train early in the day. How nice it was to fight outside, knowing that you would return back to such a home¡­ Cassandra even saw a couple, still in armor, sitting on one of the benches. They were snacking and feeding each other, with the woman blushing but feeding the man anyway. "I did really good out there, right?" The man asked and the woman nodded, "Yes, the weapons are a success, and you were very manly." "Hehe." Anyway, the two were sickeningly sweet. The girls felt envious. The woman even had a scar on her face, but the man looked at her so lovingly. Cassandra, in particular, was especially hit. She recalled how Gill only showed public affection when Oslo was there. He had always kept a distance other times, showing sweetness only when there was only the two of them. Because public displays was frowned upon when she grew up, she didn''t think much of it at first. But now she knew in this place, Altera, it was quite different, and there were plenty of couples who could show affection even in public. She couldn''t help but feel a little greedy. She looked at the couple again with wistful eyes. She wondered if she''d ever get that. Chapter 401 Altera Grand Tour They went past the couple and saw a few more couples, families, and friends roaming around¡ªthough many of whom were filled with monster blood¡ªand frankly they didn''t know what to feel. "I thought people were working?" One asked, referring to those who obviously didn''t hunt but are playing. "It''s the weekend! Most people are off this day." "What?" Lulu knew the concept of work hours the Aborigines had on their own. "Well, we are only required to work a certain amount of hours every day and have 1 to 2 days off every week. Of course, we are expected to strengthen ourselves to some degree during this time." "That''s¡­ interesting. Aren''t the owners disgruntled by this rule?" "Oh no. Studies show people are more productive when they get enough rest!" The aborigines looked at each other, unsure of what to make of things. A lot of things weren''t easy to absorb, in fact, so they decided to just go with the flow. As they walked, they noticed that the largest path was mostly empty except for a few people on the sides. There was an obvious delineated pathway with the main road luxuriously being all red stone and was separated by a line of shrubs and trees. The sidewalk was too crowded in comparison to this much larger avenue.. "Why don''t they use that road?" "The sidewalks are usually wide enough. Although we don''t have cars yet, it''s a habit of our people to stay out of it. Of course, while there are no cars yet they can use it." "Cars?" "Uhhhh, carriages." "Oh¡­" Lulu smiled and then pointed in a direction, "Look, it''s being used right now." S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The aborigines followed where she pointed and saw a group of fast-approaching dots. As they came closer, they soon realized that it was people on those riding contraptions Oslo used when they saw him. The aborigines watched aptly as they passed by and until they disappeared from view. They were going incredibly fast and unhindered, which made the large roads really convenient to ride. "That looks fun¡­" "Hmn." The roads were wide and smooth so the ride was also very fast. It seemed¡­ enjoyable. Lulu couldn''t help but feel smug at their reactions. "They''re called bicycles! They actually have their own lane, which they would have to use if more cars are introduced in the future. "We don''t know if cars will ever be developed though, so bikes will be occupying the roads for now." The bikes were literally just launched that morning (Althea rushed a bit to show off to the Aborigines), and suffice to say it was all sold out even before the morning ended. Eugene and Althea made quite a bit of gold within a few hours¡­ "That looks fun¡­ where can we get one?" Veronica said. In retrospect, she should''ve borrowed it when they encountered Oslo earlier, but she felt shy since all the Alteran soldiers seemed to want a turn themselves. "They can be rented at specific areas in the territory, though only a set number is available, I can''t guarantee you''ll be able to reserve one immediately. The raw materials are still limited, after all." Last night, the guides had a fast-tracked guide on how the whole bike lanes and rentals were going to work out. They happened to all love the bikes and absorbed the rules and regulations very well in that short amount of time. "I can show you where to rent when the tour is over." The two nodded blankly, eyes glued at where they saw the so-called bikes. Soon, they reached a pedestrian-only street. How did they know? That''s because there was a large sign with people and letters saying so. Underneath the text, they could recognize some other weird characters. It was a different language, which they assumed to be the language of their hometown. Cassandra and Veronica were very curious about the place ''their men'' came from, a pity it seemed to have been destroyed. They were also curious about how they got here. They had heard of a few cases of civilizations appearing on the continent, though she wasn''t privy to more information. She didn''t care at the time. After all, she didn''t even know whether she''d encounter the ''aliens'' in her lifetime¡ªlet alone actually fall in love with one. The lively noise pulled her back from her daze. She looked around to see the bustling streets filled with people and smiles. This street, apparently called Market Street, was more intimate and fun than the extremely wide main avenues. Their eyes couldn''t help but be attracted by the shop in the intersection though. It was covered and under construction. "This is Ms. Althea''s store. She''ll be selling some specialty products, I think." "Ms. Althea?" "She''s the Elder for Plant research and the only pharmacist so far!" "Pharmacist!!" The two women exclaimed. An incredibly rare job! Even Cassandra who lived in a high-level town had only interacted with one all these years. And¡­ it was a woman? "When will it be open?" "Oh, actually she already has a pharmacy where you can buy her potions." The two women couldn''t help but recall those potions the Terran Mercenary team used. Could it be from there? "Wait¡­ Eagle said the potions are from their sister-in-law." "Does your Ms. Althea have a husband?" "Yes! Also, an incredibly handsome man, who I reluctantly acknowledge as more handsome than my idol." The two nodded in interest. "Then, if she has a pharmacy, what''s she selling in this prime spot?" "I hear she''s selling beauty products!" She said, excited for the shop herself. "Beauty products?" "Ms. Althea was famous for her WittBeauty products back home." She paused realising the aborigines didn''t know about the famous brand at all. "They''re creams, solutions, etc. That could help smoothen skin, fix blemishes, make people more beautiful in general¡ª Lulu flinched when the two girls abruptly entered her personal space with bright eyes. "When will it open?" "I-It should be¡­ in a few¡­ days? I''m not sure¡ª" "Good enough!" The two girls said, beauty products by a pharmacist?! Unheard of! Must buy! After all, women didn''t have much status in this world¡ªthey didn''t have as much power or as much money. There were not many noble women for pharmacists to really consider this market. There was much more money catering to men and things they needed for wars. Pharmacists were also all men. How would they care about women''s needs? But here¡ª Anyway, with high hearts, they eventually moved on further into the market street. Most stores along the main avenue were food-related, mostly having to do with the raw materials for food being more widely available first than the bolts of cloth, so the market there boomed much earlier. Hence, by coincidence, most of the clothing and article stores were concentrated along the market street. It was an unintended, but convenient, zoning. As the party strolled down the street, the air was filled with the scent of freshly tanned leather and the rustling sounds of fabric. The two girls looked fascinatedly at the stores and found several stores of clothing that interested them. Their guards and servants couldn''t help staring as well. The shops were adorned with various textiles and intricate leather products. There were different types. There was so-called linen cloth, the rougher and cheaper hemp cloth, and then there was the soft comfy cotton. There were similar shops selling end products. Some were all-around, but most focused on a certain thing for efficiency. For example, there were shops focusing on simple dresses, there were some selling pants and other lower body apparel, there was some selling exclusively ''cotton shirts'', and the like. There were also different styles of bags, shoes, and other accessories. There were so-called handbags and pretty boots with appearances they hadn''t encountered, but objectively looked pretty! For example, there was what they called the body bag which was something to go over either shoulders, either directly dropping vertically or across the chest. It was small and could hold their necessities that couldn''t fit in the space anymore, while looking nice at the same time. This was just one among the many ''styles'' introduced to them for the first time. They were novel but comfortable and beautiful! It would be better if they had some defensive properties, but pretty ones with good properties were rare anyway and even they don''t wear it much. There were no shiny gems, but in the eyes of the two women, the products were shining. "These prices are three times less for locals," Lulu couldn''t help but say. But the two women, even the servants, thought the ''three times more expensive'' prices were not expensive at all! Even those non-attributed clothes and plain accessories cost much more in their hometown! Trollhair, even the handkerchiefs there were more expensive than a proper shirt here! Anyway, all these are so beautiful and so affordable. How many could they buy with a bit of money, they really really want to see! The aborigines¡ªespecially the two girls¡ªwere extremely bright. Shopping attribute: Activated! Chapter 402 Encounters (Part 1) Altera Village. The servants went several rounds back to the inn to deposit the things they bought. It got to the point that an entire corner of both rooms was filled with wooden boxes and paper bags (very convenient packaging by the way). The servants wiped their sweat and they looked at the pile, and then to the masters who didn''t seem to be halfway done yet. There was no way, the ladies wanted to buy so many things. (In fact, the guards and maids also wanted to buy more, but they only dared occupy their own magic spaces, which were also nearly filled up as well). "If we continue, the carriage won''t fit the actual target products anymore!" Cassandra said with a frown, crossing her arms. She was glaring at the carriage pile as if it was the carriage''s fault that it all couldn''t fit. Veronica was the same. As someone who especially liked beauty, she bought tons of dresses and shoes. She had already bought several dresses. They were so pretty and unique and easy to wear. She only needed to add her jewelry and she could even wear a few in semi-formal events. She particularly liked the one she bought last. It was very special and there was only one copy of the dress. The person who made the name was Andrei and he was so wonderful that she wanted to kidnap him back! She got Vivi to show it to her again and the fabric draped on her arm, ready for admiration. Although the fabric was nothing special, it felt comfortable, adorned with delicate lacework with thread so fine they didn''t seem real. Her hand traced the gown''s silhouette, admiring the precision of cut and the elegance of its design. The neckline plunged gracefully, exposing a bit of her shoulders, its sleeves billowing like dreamy clouds. It showed a little more skin than usual, but it was nothing too unusual but infinitely gorgeous! Women of her stature had slightly more leniency in what to wear than commoner women and she was determined to maximize it! There were also different types of shoes, boots, heels, doll shoes, etc. so beautiful! "Well, it''s not like you can''t return. I assure you the shops would still be here, with more." Lulu said, forcing a smile. She liked shopping too, but this was too much!! Finally dragging the two women out of the shops¡ªnot forgetting to glare at the playful salespeople who were bright from their imminent commissions¡ªthey finally head to the actual destination in the itinerary: The Supermarket. Due to all that shopping, it took them over 2 hours to get here¡­ Fortunately, the line wasn''t too long and they managed to get inside after a few minutes. All this time, naturally, their group garnered a lot of attention. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After all, aborigines were much taller than the locals, not to mention the were two tall beautiful women with unusual hair color, and of obvious good background which separated them from the rest. The locals were overtly friendly with Pipa, Gochi, and the others primarily because they were part of the Terran Mercenary team, which meant they automatically garnered the ''local'' status. Aborigine noble visitors, however, were a totally different thing. They were still very curious though and it was mostly because of their upbringing that no Alteran had approached and asked about the violet and pink hair color yet. As they headed inside, they came across an older woman who had obviously just finished shopping. She was a woman with clear streaks of white hair, who stood with grace and confidence, not inferior to her noble-born mother. "Elder!" Lulu exclaimed with reverence. The woman paused her steps and looked at her, and then to the aborigines. She nodded at them politely before returning her attention to Lulu. "I see you have your first guests today." "Yes! I''m having fun and learning a lot." The older woman laughed, "Well, that''s good." She said, "Well, I have to go now. I am having lunch with my son." "Well, enjoy your lunch!" "Thank you," she said, before shifting her gaze to the two women who flinched a little. She smiled, "I hope you enjoy your stay." Cassandra''s eyes met hers and the atmosphere stagnated for a moment. "A-Ah, thank you, Elder," the girls said and the older woman smiled and walked away. Cassandra and Veronica watched the woman slowly go farther away from them. "Who is that?" "That''s Mathilda. She''s the Elder for Interpersonal Affairs." "An elder?" Veronica voiced out, meeting Cassandra''s wide eyes. To be honest, when the woman was called Elder, they just thought she was being polite. They actually hired another woman for such an important position. They could somehow understand the case of that Ms. Althea, as she was a pharmacist, and her husband was said to be relatively strong among the villagers. What about this old woman? "Yes, she''s a famous politician back in our home." Lulu also rattled about how awesome the old woman''s skills were, but she fortunately managed to stop oversharing in the nick of time. "The amazing thing is that her son found her! Still a very good soldier. He is also very handsome, almost as handsome as my idol." Lulu said dreamily, thinking of Fable. The arrival of the Terran Mercenary Team was such a blessing to the territory. Not just because the overall strength of Altera rose up by a ton, the eye candy level did as well! Little happiness to make one''s day~ "Oh?" Veronica naturally perked up at this. Although she loved Brandon, she was still the type to look outside a lot. Just look, of course, never touch. "Yes~ he''s handsome, like a vampire, though he has a poisonous tongue. I heard he made a lot of women and men cry the few days he was actually here. "Ah! He is Ms. Althea''s husband''s right-hand man." At this point, several puzzle pieces came to play. The two women blinked and looked at each other in surprise, before confirming their supposition with their guide. "Could Ms. Althea''s husband be named Garan? "Oh yes, you know him? Oh.. he''s very handsome. The handsomest man, but also very scary when the Miss isn''t around." Lulu cringed at a memory, and it naturally piqued the women''s gossipy natures. Or rather, Veronica''s, because Cassandra seemed preoccupied in thought. "Oh?" Veronica mumbled and manifested a silver. "Tell us more." Lulu''s eyes brightened. It wasn''t a secret anyway. Besides, the more people knew, the better. She cleared her throat. "A few days ago, I had the pleasure of witnessing one brave soul trying to fall down on Sir Garan when they were making rounds." This ''brave soul'' was a showy woman she knew to be named Ramona, because she really flirted a lot. She also broke a friend''s heart. It was crazy. She definitely ran after her friend, but after a new rich guy from Belluga moved in, she dumped him in the blink of an eye. Anyway, Ramona somehow found her way in the soldiers'' path, shakily walking as if weak, and then falling down. The man avoided very handsomely and walked forward like nothing happened, with the soldiers following stepping over her like she was a piece of stone. "WAIT!" Ignored. "How could you just leave me like this?!" Ignored again. "The woman''s eyes and face turned visibly red in shame and anger. When Master Garan was several meters away, the woman snapped, screaming." Lulu then proceeded on acting out the part, and quite passionately too. "Don''t be arrogant! You don''t know! How many men has your wife captured when you''re not here, don''t you even know? She yelled." Lulu''s face morphed to one of cuteness again, rounded eyes looking at them. "This made Master Garan''s feet pause and he turned in her direction. With uniformed steps, the dashing soldier walked over to Ramona. Seeing his approach, Ramona straightened her spine, thinking he would speak to her." It was just that he put on leather gloves on his hand as he walked over and he grabbed her neck, easily lifting her up. "''Speak one more word ill of my wife and I will kick you out.'' He said," with Lulu lowering the timbre of her voice, and Veronica just found it cute. "His voice was low, velvety, and incredibly menacing, and dropped the woman to the ground with a flop." Then, Lulu cackled. "The woman peed in fear." Veronica gaped at the story, cringing at her own experiences, and looked at her friend, who was preoccupied with staring at a direction. The violet-haired woman then turned back to them. Or to their guide, to be precise. "Then what''s the name of the lady''s son?" She asked, looking a bit absent-minded. Lulu blinked and answered her question. "I think his name was Gill." Cassandra immediately whipped her head to the direction the older woman was heading. Seeing she was no longer in sight, she sighed in regret. She missed the opportunity to introduce herself. She pursed her lips, a little depressed. That was Gill''s mother! What a missed opportunity! Chapter 403 Encounters (Part 2) For a while, Cassandra was a bit depressed from regret, while Veronica was cringing from the Garan horror story. It was as if, if she was just a bit more entitled, she''d probably have been like that. It had to be said that few Xenoan women actually got spoiled to brattiness because the status of women was low. Veronica couldn''t help but imagine herself as the woman in the story¡ª Cringe. Thank goodness for her angel. Where is that bastard, anyway? Anyway, the two girls were quickly pulled back to the present as more and more people walked past them and took a wheeled contraption by the entrance. "Those are shopping carts," Lulu explained as soon as she noticed their souls finally returning. "People put things they wanted to buy there." Fascinated, the two''s curiosity dampened their depression, and very soon the two once again shopped freely. The prices here were even cheaper than what they got in Ferrol, and with larger varieties! Even containers were bought in excess. There was a new section selling decorative earthenware. Earthenware and baskets were not a new thing, but the artwork for them was not. They also bought so-called ''paper bags''. Who on earth used papyrus to carry items? Apparently, a village did! A lot of them were even so colorful and pretty! "This is new," Lulu said, with similar fascination. "I guess they finally figured out several pigments of paint. Our research team sure is amazing." "Research team?" Veronica voiced out looking at the painting on the vase in fascination. It was an image of a famous park in Terran, which Lulu later explained. "Yes, a lot of our products came from them. It''s led by Ms. Althea and Eugene. Err¡­ Elders Althea and Elder Eugene." Cassandra looked at her friend. She knew before setting her sights on Brandon, this girl had a huge crush on Garan. "You didn''t lose in vain." "I''m after Brandon, okay?" Veronica said, crossing her eyes. But inside she was really impressed and a tad in disbelief. The life of this glorious territory¡­, seems to be in the hands of women? To be honest, they¡­ couldn''t help but feel a bit disoriented. And not in a bad way. ¡­ The group decided to eat lunch at the market today, opting to try out various small snacks in lieu of big meals at restaurants. The premier restaurant was moved to dinner time. "The next and final stop before dinner is the luxury area," Lulu said, then remembered something. "Actually, you can also have dinner inside the Bathhouse. I heard there was an additional feature, just added a few days ago." The two noble women liked the sound of it, even the servants and guards who were trained to be apathetic looked visibly brighter. They went towards the luxury area, passing over the gardens. There were arches and beautiful flower arrangements, topiaries, resting areas, etc. There was also canopy archways that were fascinating to walk under. They had seen grander gardens in big territories, but it was nowhere near as intimate and relaxing as this one. They looked around and saw several couples having dates, having picnics, and holding hands. It was very romantic. Should they invite Gill and Brandon here? It was around this time that the girls caught sight of an unusual couple. Unusual because the girl had the familiar tall statute and the man was a few inches shorter. Cassandra also remembered seeing them before, they seemed to have just finished hunting outside at the time. They were clean now so they didn''t recognize them immediately. They were also wearing nicer clothing with the girl wearing a cute sundress and the boy the so-called jeans and colored shirt. They were swaying their entwined hands as they walked, smiling widely at each other. Lulu saw what they were looking at and smiled. "That''s Brenda, one of our first NPCs¡ªerrr, I mean, hired individuals. "The guy is Troy, a weapons ''specialist''. He is also my cousin." "Oh.." "They''re¡­ very lovely." Lulu giggled, "Yes, they''re soulmates." Soulmates, eh? What a romantic term¡­ Anyway, the women continued to leisurely walk along the beautiful path, just relaxing, temporarily forgetting about their worries. They didn''t know what Elvendell looked like when it still existed, but it shouldn''t be too different from this. Passing through the gates and another garden, they soon arrived at the luxury building: The Bathhouse. It was a beautiful building surrounded by lush pathways and gardens. "A village actually bought a luxury building," Veronica mumbled, impressed. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When they heard Bathhouse, a part of them thought they just used the name and developed on themselves. After all, they were lucky and had a river nearby. It wasn''t the first time a river or lake-based territory used the same gig. "It actually had an excess slot for it," Cassandra added. And they could also note that there was also a lot of customization done in this one. Generally, one of the possibilities why territories could afford bathhouses was because they had a strong backing. This meant that the basic needs from essential buildings had other sources. For instance, Astoria City was a tourist city near the sea. They took advantage of the great location and integrated the water sources. They used boats as main transportation, had a number of unique technologies related to water, and they also had bathhouses larger than the highest level aether bath houses by the system. This naturally attracted hordes of tourists¡ªfrom nearby towns, villages, and cities from far away¡ªmaking it one of the richest cities, ever. Because of this, Astoria City became one of the leading cities next to Holt City and Wrathforge City. it was even superior to Oslo''s hometown: Bluelle City, the land of aether blueprints. The other only reason a village could get a bath house was that they were extremely stupid, exchanging the important building slots for luxury construction rather than those with practicality. It was usually this reason as most villages didn''t have rich cities as backing but, in Altera''s case, they highly doubted it. A territory that had such a superior set-up would naturally fall for that trap. "Let''s go?" Lulu asked, and the aborigines nodded and they headed towards the special building. The approach to the building was so beautiful, and Cassandra and the others couldn''t help but admire it. The building itself gave off a relaxed feel, and focused on breadth rather than height. It also had verandas, ponds, flowers, and crawling vines, and colorful trees surrounding it, framing its goodness, and people felt like they were in the entrance towards Fairyland as they headed toward the door. The building opened up with a wall-less vestibule, lined up with potted plants and a small fountain. The flooring was also flowing, not straight, lined up with pebbles and sand and wood. They have never seen such an arrangement before. [Entering the Bathhouse. Please pay the entrance fee of 10 silver, valid for 3 hours. A fee of 5 silver for every hour extension shall be charged.] "In fact, it is much more affordable with contribution points," Lulu added as they entered. They only had to pay 10 contribution points and 1 silver per hour. The girls nodded, but their eyes never left the surrounding sights at all. The interior of the bathhouse was similar to the one they''d been to, but the furniture was a bit prettier and intricate, there were also displays that attracted the eyes. In the center of the interior was a large tree¡ªa bonsai, they called it¡ª and behind it was an intricately designed counter with doors on each side, which would lead to areas for either sexes. The company got a few curious looks but, otherwise, no one cared about them. Most people who used the bathhouse were either rich or strong, and they had more pride than others. "Good afternoon, guests! Welcome to Altera Spa and Bathhouse~ Please choose a package you wish to have." Apparently, the entrance fee was only the entrance fee, no wonder it was so cheap. They looked at the so-called menu and saw there were three packages. One was Bath Only for 10 silver, valid for three hours. The other was with something called a Spa, with various ''packages'', ranging from 20-30 silver. The most expensive one had one meal included with everything else, at 50 silvers. Any extension was charged per hour, automatically deducted in their wallets. The two girls naturally chose the most expensive one. As for the servants, they allowed them to do what they wanted. Anyway, their salaries would allow them to spend a few hours here without batting an eye. This place was really novel and they would definitely explore their hearts out. And whatever ''Spa'' was, they felt it was a good thing. As they were finalizing their package, they saw the receptionist brighten at someone who just arrived. Curiously, they turned to see that it was a newcomer. She was an incredibly beautiful and shapely woman. She entered with a smile, oozing with confidence and seductiveness. She had flowing light-brown hair, white skin, and auburn eyes. She was also quite tall compared to the other locals, almost as tall as the Aborigine noble ladies like themselves. Anyway, the receptionist smiled and greeted the newcomer. "Miss Juni! We''ve been waiting for you~" Chapter 404 Spa "Miss Juni!" The receptionist greeted with admiring eyes, "We''ve been waiting for you~" The woman chuckled¡ªeffortlessly charming¡ªat the cuteness of the receptionist. "Of course, I wouldn''t miss my weekly sessions here for the world," the beautiful woman said, just as her auburn eyes turned to the other two eye-catching women in front of the counter. She heard that there were beautiful colorful aborigines that arrived with Gill''s party. Juni was quite curious about that other side of the world. "Hello," she said with a smile, "You must be the new visitors." The two nodded, looking at the slightly smaller woman. "Hello, yes, we have just arrived yesterday." The woman looked at them warmly, "My name is Juni, and I often come here, would you like me to guide you?" She had seen Lulu relaxing in the lobby area and knew guided tours would just wait for them outside. The women were a little surprised, but they had seen how welcoming the people here were, so they quickly adjusted. "Yes, that would be nice, thank you." The three women smiled at each other (blinding everyone around, thinking they entered heaven) before taking their specific token. They were handed some sort of wooden bracelet of the same color (as Juni chose the same package as they did), and Juni led them to enter the reddish (note: pinkish shade) arch on the right. As they walked, beauty-loving Vanessa couldn''t help but admire the token. It was intricately designed and she knew other packages had different appearances and it made her want to see all of them to see the differences. Juni saw this and kindly explained. "These are indicators of areas you can access," she said, "Attendants are trained to see them at a glance, especially if they are fake." "Someone had done this before?" "Oh no, not yet. I imagine it would happen eventually though," she said, imagining someone purchasing the most basic package and taking out a fake upgrade in between. Their Terrans could be ingenious, but they sometimes use it for some scandalous things. However, the people behind the bathhouse had foresight and would definitely minimize such loopholes. Anyway, they soon reached the carved door and entered. "This is the locker and changing rooms," Juni said, motioning for them to enter. It was an elongated room with cabinets on both sides. There were three layers of cabinets, with the highest just comfortable enough for an average-height woman to reach. "Welcome!" An attendant greeted them with a smile. She was wearing a green uniform, a two-piece set with a fitted skirt. In every room, there was one attendant wearing a different colored uniform from the staff in front. The attendant here guided them to their designated lockers and handed them some soft cloth they now knew to be called Cotton towels. There was no such feature in the bathhouses they had been to. After all, everyone had a space, and they simply took off their clothing and took a dip in the pools. This was probably an option for those who didn''t bring toiletries in their spaces, or didn''t have the space to do so. Of course, the lockers were completely optional and were given in case they brought or were wearing a lot of things that wouldn''t fit in the space anymore. The women happened to not have such things in their space, as that was in their maid''s space. The maids had not yet arrived and they didn''t want to wait for them, also to give them space to relax without having to care for their masters. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, it was just right for them to use everything the place had to offer for a full experience. The three women took off their clothing and wore the comfy bathrobe, passing by a long corridor with an oddly placed standing place that extended the entire wall of that hallway. Veronica couldn''t help but step into the space, approximating it to be a yard in depth. "What is this area for?" She asked. The hallway was definitely wide enough for two-way foot traffic. Juni recalled the usual layout of spas back in Terran. "I suppose when mirrors are available, they would also place some here." "Mirrors?" "A surface that reflects you, like water." "Hmm, like the copper mirrors that we have." "Oh, yes." Juni was familiar with that they were probably talking about those metallic reflective surfaces that were full of imperfections and gave unclear reflections. However, Juni didn''t know much about the technicalities so she didn''t explain the difference of what she was referring to. "Well, you''ll see when it''s out," she just said, and they continued on their way. Soon they got past the long hallway, entering the main bathhouse through another curtained archway. Like the outside, the interior of the bathhouse was heavily customized. Not only in appearance but also in function. The women, now wearing very comfortable cotton bathrobes with towels in hand, entered an intricately carved stone archway. The surfaces had carvings of flowers and vines, and its sides were adorned with potted plants. It was all very beautiful. They soon entered the vast chamber resplendent with mosaic tile floors, and they were in awe. Looking closely, these mosaics told of stories, some tragic, but most of which were hopeful. "They are stories about heroism Altera saw," she said, pointing at one of the paintings near the entrance. It was quite small, only a palm in width, but very visible if one stood close enough. It showed off a young lad fighting back-to-back with another. It was all pixelated and abstract, but people passed stories around for them to know some of them. "That is the story of George Yu. He saved his roommates and others, before succumbing to his death." Above eye level, there were also fenestrations lined with translucent surfaces. It used a material unfamiliar to them, but they saw everywhere in Altera. In their hometowns, windows were either covered with wooden shutters or treated animal hides which, while allowed for some light, was not nearly as uniform or as translucent as this material. Cities used a special translucent Papyrus that allowed light inside. It was much thinner than the material they used here though, and had to be replaced after storms. Anyway, these translucent surfaces allowed for a lot of natural lighting to enter. Combined with the torches on the side, it added a special quaintness to the entire space. There were also pools of various sizes and shapes. In the bathhouses they had been to, there was only one pool per type. Two for two differing temperatures of hot, two for cold, and one for lukewarm. Here, each ''type'' had several sub-areas. There was a main pool, but there were also alcoves with smaller pools for a more intimate experience. There were also medium-sized pools for small groups, and several unique furnitures in between. The dried spaces integrated seamlessly with the pools, where the women could go out and lounge, chatting about their lives, work, and men. The air was also infused with delicate fragrances, many of which they couldn''t pinpoint but loved anyway. Even before entering the water, their bodies were already relaxed because of this. Overall, the entire space was not only a testament to opulence, but was also a haven of tranquillity and revitalization. And the women loved it very much. Chapter 405 Advice to Women Speaking of opulence, there weren''t many people as, with every territory, this was a luxury. At this, the aborigines couldn''t help looking at the woman who seemed to be a regular here, but did not ask. They proceeded to look around to see a fitting alcove for them to soak. They chose a mid-sized one with warm water in the end. It was located near the corners and had couches and tables on the side of the pool. "Want to bathe together?" Juni nodded and took off her robe to hang in the designated racks, revealing her curvaceous form. The other two did the same and they entered the warm waters, relaxed. The women hummed, sight creating a beautiful picture. If men were here, they would definitely fill a small pool with their nosebleeds. The maids and a few others also entered at this time, but they told them to go play on their own, leaving the three women alone again. "Ah¡­ this is nice¡­" Vanessa said, and Cassandra hummed in response, relaxing in the nice fragrant warmth of the place. "Hmm¡­" Juni smiled and looked at the two. "Soon, some of these pools would have herbs in them. "Oh?" "Yes, very relaxing. They could treat stress, body pains, smoothen skin, and the like." "That sounds amazing!" Veronica said, admiring. Cassandra couldn''t help but send subtle glances at the other woman. Or more specifically: her skin. The other woman''s skin was so white and smooth. There was nearly no blemish. Cassandra thought that her skin could not compare to the other women. Cassandra couldn''t help but admire and envy. She had always been tomboyish and the only reason she was only always well-kept was because of her maid. And this was well-kept compared to other women she knew. It really didn''t compare to the woman in front of her. Normally, she wouldn''t care. But who told her to fall in love? "Your skin is so good. How do you maintain it?" Juni smiled at the beautiful Aborigine woman. She had heard that a group visited their territory and Juni, a proud citizen, was determined to sell it. "Actually, up until I got here, my skin has become extremely rough, and even darker," she said. While it was not much worse than how the noble aborigine''s skins were, she was an actress so her standards were high. Anyway, Juni''s skin had returned to its previous smoothness thanks to Althea, whom she contacted and obtained customized goods for a lot of gold. She had to be beautiful again, there was a man she wanted to attract back to her. "I struck a deal with Ms. Althea¡ªshe makes a lot of beauty products¡ªand I obtained advanced samples of her items. She agreed because I paid to be a guinea pig." "Guinea pig?" They asked, unfamiliar with the term. Juni chuckled as she remembered the cultural differences between them. "A trialist," She kindly explained. Cassandra stared at the other woman. "It''s amazing¡­" Veronica nodded adamantly, eyes shining. "The shop should be open in a few days. You can buy it then." "Hmm." "How does Altera compare to other territories you know?" "Can''t compare. Altera is absolutely superior. At least in terms of lifestyle." "Oh?" "I''ve been to a city and dozens of towns¡­ Although the life there was opulent, it isn''t as comfortable as here." Juni blinked, a bit surprised, and smiled in the end. "That''s a relief¡­" There was a comfortable silence for a while, which was broken when Cassandra asked "What was it like in your place?" "What do you mean?" Juni asked, a little confused. "I mean the place¡­ where you come from.." "Oh?" Juni voiced out, surprised at their curiosity. "People''s outlooks are different," Cassandra said, blushing a bit. "We''re curious what kind of lives you people led before coming here." Veronica nodded, "For one, I''m surprised to see two elders were women¡­" "Even women advanced in age could hold power," Cassandra added. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Cassandra heard from Lulu that Gill''s mother was in charge of all diplomacy work, and this was an incredibly heavy job that was given only to some of the most trusted people of the lord. Juni didn''t answer for a while, trying to word Terran in simpler terms. "Well, in our world, although there were still a lot of inequality and injustices, most have a lot of opportunities to get out and succeed." "Everyone was free and that helps the psyche, even if nothing happened yet." "Of course, there are still some¡­ injustices," she said, eyes darkening a little at a few memories. "But most of us don''t lose hope in getting out of quagmires, and that is enough." "Hm.." Veronica paused, looking at her. "That''s much more than what other women could wish for in their lifetimes." "Well, in our world, women can have great ambitions," Juni began, finding it in herself to guide these poor women out of the harsh patriarchal brainwashing of this world. "Women are just as good as men," Juni said, "Although we use¡­ different approaches sometimes, it doesn''t mean we have less of an impact in the world." The women nodded, slight inspiration twinkling in their eyes, before they sighed and relaxed again. Veronica stretched her arms in thought. "One problem at a time, at this time I can''t even get a hold of my future lover." The girls smiled, knowing the topic was about to shift to the universal favorite topic of women: Men. Veronica then shifted to Cassandra, "At least you got yours¡­" The purple-haired woman flushed and shook her head, "Yes, I am happy. But I see couples here¡­ and I can''t help but envy them." Juni leaned over, "Your lover is Terran?" she asked, intrigued. "I am familiar with Terran men." The two women immediately looked at her as if she were their master, and the two girls immediately went to describe their situation. Because they weren''t so close, for better or for worse, no names were mentioned at all. The descriptions were very vague either, and Juni wouldn''t have imagined the love of her life had already moved on. Juni looked at Veronica first, "Romance isn''t his priority yet. To get him, you''ve got to help him reach his goals somehow." Then to Cassandra. "It could mean that he''s shy, but it''s likely that means he''s not ready to commit yet. That is his issue, not yours." Women here had low status. Unconsciously or not, they usually take on the inferior take in a relationship. Juni, as a feminist, wasn''t going to let it be easily! The women relaxed and chatted, smiles on their faces, and with quite a few things changed in their minds along the way. Chapter 406 Massage Meanwhile, while the sky was high above the sky, some ambiguous sounds echoed inside a villa bedroom. "Uhmn¡­ Yes, wife, like that¡­ "Hmm..." A soft sigh echoed in the room, baritone voice oozing with sexiness. The groan was followed closely by a chuckle. "Who told you not to warm up before a spar?" Althea smiled, continuing to massage her husband''s stiff shoulder. "It''s a bit uncomfortable," he said, looking sadly at his wife. The big man was like a huge dog asking for pity. If his men saw him like this, they would be shocked to the point of aneurysm. The captain they knew would not bat an eyelid when he was covered with blood. Now he was making ambiguous noises for a little stiff arm¡­ However, it worked, because Althea''s heart broke a little and she kissed his cheek to comfort him. She then lifted her head up before he could catch her for a deeper kiss, continuing with the task at hand. Her soft hands caressed his wide shoulder, making him feel hot, but he knew not to take advantage at this time. Althea added a bit more strength, her soft delicate fingers kneading the soft knots that had formed in his muscles. She smiled as the tension in his muscles melted under her touch, and his eyes shut as her skilled fingers did its magic. This magic also sent a lot of heat somewhere else. Garan tilted his head a bit to look at her, obviously concentrating on giving him comfort. He smiled and used his arm to pull her on his lap, immediately meeting her lips with his. "You¡ª" But she wasn''t able to speak anymore as her voice was muffled by his tongue. His large hand rubbed her soft waist and his tongue lapped the inside of her mouth, hungry. Her struggles quickly died down as she surrendered under his onslaught. She was only alerted when she felt his rough hands inside her shirt, creeping up her perk mounds. A breathless Althea glared at her husband. "You¡­" She also held his naughty hands to stop them from moving. "It''s so early in the afternoon!" She stood up before he could do anything. "I need to check the pharmacy! And the kids by the way." She said, and scurried outside the door. Garan chuckled as he stood up, following closely after his shy wife. ¡­ Bath House For the next few hours, the girls passed through the different packages. The first part of the package was the relaxing saunas and steam baths. This was another new feature that was not found in the bathhouses that they had been to. The women were curious and asked the attendant if she had an idea how this was done, and it so happened that she did. Apparently, they used the hot steam from the pool and got it to this room. It was hot, but Juni said it helped soften up the skin. The attendant smiled and continued with her trivia¡ªsomething they were trained to do while being hired. "It is also a good way to detoxify, a way for the body to eliminate toxins. The less dirt, the nicer the skin will be as well," The attendant explained, "The heat also causes blood vessels to dilate, improving blood flow. With improved blood flow, the cells would be more oxygenated and thus promote the delivery of nutrients to the skin." The two girls made a mental note of this. To be honest, even the concept of veins was new to them, let alone whatever ''oxygenation'' was, but they didn''t question it much. What they did know was that this steam was very good for their health and beauty. They also went through a Mud Bath. It was a really novel thing and they genuinely considered whether to go through with it or not. Fortunately for them, there was an assistant who was assigned to them¡ªsomeone sent by the people above, apparently¡ªwho explained the functions to them. "This is not normal mud, miladies, it''s special mud specifically formulated for baths, beauty, and health~ "Mud baths have the functions of skin detoxification, as mud is known to have absorbent properties. When it dries out later, it will take with it excess oils, dried skin cells, and other debris. You will definitely feel refreshed! "It is also great for exfoliation, mineral absorption, skin hydration, and muscle relaxation~!" Anyway, the attendant sold it hard and they were rare adventurous girls so they did try it out in the end. It was a bit gross at first but they really came out refreshed and smoother. "Wow, this is really nice~" Veronica exclaimed as she stretched her arms, feeling like a newborn. Juni chuckled, "There is still a lot to see." "What are we waiting for then?" The girls were guided by the attendant to head somewhere else. They passed the outdoor facilities with gardens for meditation and yoga. "Yoga?" They watched as a few women followed the leading one, stretching in odd ways. "Looks painful." Juni laughed and didn''t force them to try. Yoga¡­ was something that had to be eased into. However, the attendant had a special mission from ''above'': Entice the rich aborigines with everything! Imagine how surprised all the staff were when a system mission appeared on their screens a few hours ago! She cleared her throat, "We can choose the milder exercise, but I suggest you take on yoga~ It''s really good for you! "First of all, the poses will help your body improve flexibility and strength. It will also help with balance and coordination, posture improvement, and joint health. Certain dynamic styles also help with cardiovascular health!" she paused, "For the psyche, yoga had been known to reduce stress and anxiety and overall just worth it!" Who could say no to such a passionate hard-sell? Cassandra was fine due to her skill exercise since young, but Veronica obviously struggled. However, while a bit sore, they really did feel refreshed in the end. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Finally, massage! This is best because you just did yoga, which is a great combination!" The attendant continued to chipper, "It''s been studied to be complementary ways to enhance relaxation, reduce muscle tension, and promote overall well-being!" "Are you fine with massage? Complete strangers will touch your naked body. Female of course." She said, worried the culture here is conservative. The two girls looked at each other, before nodding. So far, everything had been really good! They didn''t think this massage was horrible! The concept was indeed very new and they were intimidated. But it would be such a pity not to experience it. And they were right. Although it was really awkward at first, when the women touched the knots in their bodies, gently squeezing them out, the women couldn''t help but moan. Again, if men were here, they''d create ponds with their nosebleeds. Anyway, the massage successfully melted away the stress, relieved their muscle tension, and left them feeling like new women! It was amazing! Juni giggled and felt a bit proud, "There are also plenty of benefits in massages. They improve circulation, reduce anxiety, and give better sleep." "It''s amazing." "There are also plenty of massages, this is just the basic aromatherapy. You can explore the others on your own." "Hmmm~" Speaking of aroma¡ªthese were really good! They were so intimidated by the new experience that they didn''t notice. Now that they were relaxed enough, they finally noticed the subtle fragrance that surrounded them. They had no doubt their current states had a lot to do with it. "Wow¡­ this smells really good," Veronica said, and she noticed a lot has been coming from her own skin! "It''s essential oil, formulated by Ms. Althea," Juni said, relaxing as the massage woman focused on her shoulder "She had a factory line solely dedicated to these¡­" "Amazing¡­ I hear her name everywhere." Veronica said with a voice filled with awe. Juni nodded, feeling proud that a woman was doing so much for humanity, much more than her male counterparts. "Altera¡ªwouldn''t be the same without her," she said, "In my opinion, she''s the most well-deserved elder." The two turned their heads to Juni as they were being massaged, voices a little muffled as they were facing down. "Are you close with her? You mentioned you were a¡­ trialist? I truly want to meet her." Juni didn''t answer immediately and her eyes glazed a bit in thought. "Well, we''re just acquaintances for now. However, to get to my goal¡­" she began vaguely, "I''ll need her approval." Gill saw her as a respected sister. If she were to gain her approval, Gill would definitely soften his attitude to her. The other two didn''t really understand and they didn''t care anymore when the massage women hit particularly sweet spots. "This feels so good.." "Uh-hmnn¡­" Cassandra gasped, "Ohhh~" "Oh my.. Hnn~" This must be the most relaxed they had ever been. Especially Cassandra who had been going through stressful months¡ªfrom the issue with her family and her ambiguous relationship with Gill. Massages are amazing! Chapter 407 Undercurrents (Part 1) While some women spent the day relaxing and chatting with overall good vibes, another one spent it in tears. "Danny. Please!" The woman sobbed, grabbing the man''s hairy arm. "Please listen to me¡­" "Get out!!" The middle-aged man yelled as he pulled away his arm. He pointed at the door with a livid expression on his face. It was just that his unattractive face and thinning hair made him look a bit funny. Well, except for Ramona who was definitely depending on him for her current lifestyle¡ªone incomparable to the life she had been living since arriving in this hell. Ramona knew this very much, so she kneeled down to his feet, sobbing, and looking very, very, pitiful. She had finally lived comfortably again¡ªshe could be clean, she could buy what she wanted, and she could eat whatever she felt like eating¡ªhow could she let this go?? "No, no, no! I just hated Althea so much! I wanted to irk her! It doesn''t mean anything! I didn''t mean to offend Garan!" She yelled, grabbing his flabby arm, but it only irked him instead. He sneered. "You idiot!! That was an elder! The main helm of the military power! The husband of the richest person in this place!!" He yelled, sprinkling saliva all over her face. "What were you thinking?!" He asked, looking at her as if the answer was that she wasn''t¡ªthat she didn''t have a working brain! At this time, he truly believed so. "I just moved here to live a good life!!" He said, continuing to rant. "How dare you try to ruin it?!" He yelled. If there wasn''t a ban on fighting here, based on how livid he looked, Ramona thought he''d be hitting her by now. "No, please," she sobbed, over and over. She wanted people to hear and pity her, to pressure him to ''let her go''. "I''ll be good! Please! I love you, please don''t kick me out!!" Unfortunately for her, every building, Aether or not, had very good insulation. No one heard her cries at all. Eventually, Ramona did realize this and she just flushed in shame. Instead of blaming herself or the man in front of her, however¡­ the image of the glamorous woman passed by her head instead. ''This is all your fault!!!'' ¡­ At this time, Oslo was resting in Belluga village. Yes, Belluga village. He still couldn''t believe he had taken the wrong way! Apparently, he should''ve taken the East gate! Ansel''s horrible sense of direction definitely rubbed off him! (To be fair, even if the Map showed them where they had been, his home city was too far off, there would be no indication of the connecting path at all.) As for how he found out the way in the end, it was because he finally remembered that many moons ago, his father snuck him a magic tool called the Fixed Compass. It was a compass pointing to their home. It didn''t mention the distance, but it showed the direction of that place. The condition for it to work was that it would only activate one month after he entered the signature teleportation array of the Chancery of Appointments. It was a very special item with added special restrictions. It could be said that his family really invested a lot in his ''training''. So, here he was, heading to the eastern allied village instead. He was too ashamed to go back to Altera to pass through there so he took a slightly longer and rougher terrain instead. ''Ah...Belluga village'', Oslo recalled with a bit of dread. He knew this to be the village with its eccentric Lord¡ªthe man-hungry one. Because of the status of women, it was very very rare to see women in position of power, and it was unheard of to see a woman with so many men. Even if the girl wasn''t bad at heart, Oslo didn''t want to be near her at all. To be safe, he had worn a handkerchief mask¡ªcotton, bought from Altera¡ªon his face. Feeling a little safer with the ''armor'' he went ahead and walked along the small village. Like Bright, Belluga also adopted a lot of rules and products of Altera. Life, he heard, had really improved since the Lord and her party returned from a trip. More and more caravans had been going to and fro Altera, buying many goods that made everyone''s eyes shine. He heard one caravan made over ten times his cost. They had sold food items, cloths, potions, and others, which improved the lives of many people in Belluga, buyer and seller alike. These items were sold locally in high prices, and each time the marketeers sold out within the day. Of course, life in Altera would also be passed through word of mouth. He heard some people had been planning on moving. It just took them a while to move because they invested much of their wealth in Belluga. Most of the caravan members who made money had already started liquidating. Anyway, the comfort was nothing compared to Altera but it wasn''t bad compared to villages in general. The woman also bought the blueprint for the custom building, so he stayed in a decent abode. The food was also better than the food from indigenous villages. Things were good, for sure,at least until the Lord spotted him. She happened to be making rounds then. Even if she was somewhat busy, how was she to turn a blind eye at an obvious catch swimming so blatantly in front of her? It was still a mystery how she found him! Didn''t his disguise work on her? How would Oslo know Kimmy had razor-sharp eyes when it came to handsome men? Fable, who was much better disguised, couldn''t escape, let alone him who only had a piece of cloth on his face! What''s more: He had a good bearing and was much taller than the locals, so he was still pretty visible. This was not to mention his good shape that couldn''t be hidden by robes! She followed him around in his few hours of stay, asking him to join her damned harem. The woman''s audacity baffled him to no end. If he hadn''t been used to the forwardness of his ''fangirls'' back in Altera, it was estimated he''d have grown hives in shock. However, he knew this lord''s acquaintance with his Lord and could only maintain decency. In the end, he was forced to shorten his rest time. "Are you really going?" She asked, looking heartbroken as they saw him off the gate. Oslo sighed, internally saying, ''Yeah, no thanks to you.'' Externally though, he was very polite. "Yes, Lord Kimmy, I have to go back. I have a mission from the elders." "Can you at least tell me what this mission is?" "I will be going to the city to gather some materials," was all Oslo said and it made Kimmy and the others brighten. It was Raine who stepped forward to ask the decent questions, "Then¡­ is it possible to get some as well? We will be paying to pay." "They may be too expensive and may not be of use to you," Oslo said a bit bluntly. "However, I can try to get a few more magic tools to sell your territory. At least, give you priority to sell after Altera." S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Raine smiled and nodded, "That''s good enough for me." However, Kimmy shook her head. "No! It''s not!" She said, pouting at Raine and then whipping her head to stare at Oslo. "You''re going to a city right? How curious! Can I go??" Oslo''s eyes twitched. The Lord had so much time prancing around, it was amazing the territory was still going strong. It probably had a lot to do with her harem. Her favorite, Raine, specifically. From his short stay, he could see how this harem, led by Raine, kept the territory running smoothly. Basically, except for a few elders, almost all of Kimmy''s men held important positions in the territory¡ªand so far they had been performing their jobs well. She had an eye for people, at least, which was in itself a talent. He met Raine''s eyes and they sighed at the same time. Raine then walked forward between them, looking at the female lord with pleading eyes. "We can''t risk your safety Lord," he said, voice soft and gentle. "You are very important to us." His sweet words successfully calmed Kimmy, who held his hand and hugged him, "Awww, so sweet! Okay, I will not leave." Then she ordered him to kiss her, and he dutifully did so. It was a short kiss and they parted, but the atmosphere between them was soft and fluffy anyway, and Oslo was relieved to know he had been forgotten. As such, Oslo could finally sneak out and chose a good time to take out his bike and skittle away, heading toward the first Aborigine village he''d been to in a long while. Chapter 408 Undercurrents (Part 2) Khlack Village Khlack village was a village about 35 miles from Southwest from Belluga. On foot, the trek would take at least 15 hours of travel. If he sprinted, at his level, it would take about 7 or 8 hours but that would be in exchange for a lot of his health which made it a non-option. But with his bike¡­, the travel comfortably took less than ten, and he saw minimal reductions to his stamina. He admired the contraption and praised the ingenious minds of Altera. But he saw that the so-called rubber was already dirty and already showing signs of wear. In the end, he decided not to use it anymore going forward. It was too novel and eye-catching to use outside anyway. He sighed and collapsed it again as per Ansel''s instruction, but much more carefully than necessary, afraid it''d break with one wrong move. Oslo continued to walk a couple more kilometres (killing a small mob by the way) and, eventually got past the dense forest to a level 2 wall. The wall was not in good shape. It was a wall that had holes and parts where the stone was falling down. There were too many areas that hadn''t been repaired. It didn''t look like a reliable wall from the outside. What''s more, he could see the guards napping a bit from where he was. Oslo sighed, walking forward past the threshold. [Welcome to Khlack Village. Please pay 25 copper for the visitor fee.] His eyes twitched as he went past the gate. He still paid the 25 copper, of course. This was actually the standard entry fee for villages, but now he just thought they were ripping people off. He entered the village and to a street just fit for a human-pulled cart. He walked around and looked, seeing the dilapidated houses and unkempt people walking around. Many of the buildings were also in poor condition. Some were due to wear and tear, while others were damaged by the occasional monster that got past the fence. The streets were also incredibly dirty¡ªfilled with dirt, mud, and feces. It was now that he got a whiff of the stench (as the smell was going downwind prior) and he almost vomited. "What!!" He gasped, ignoring the looks of the people around. Some were admiring his noble air, while some just looked at him weirdly. It was only now that he recalled that this was how villages really looked. Oslo pursed his lips in bafflement. How long had he been to Altera? Why did it feel like he was in a different world altogether?? ¡­ "Ah, and I thought my upbringing spoiled me," Oslo said after a while of adjusting. The houses were plain and uncomfortable, the shops were purchased as it was, and the walls were level 2 and unrepaired and would probably only be able to handle a level 5 mob for an hour. Obviously also a village, but he couldn''t help but show distaste¡ªeven more when he had just been ''demoted'' from a city. He couldn''t imagine¡ªhow would it be if he had been hired by a village other than Altera? Granted, villages who could afford to upgrade their Village Center were indeed better off than this, but it was probably not by much. He cringed, not daring to imagine the suffering. In any case, he was really tired after being unable to rest properly in Belluga. After a thought, he (reluctantly) decided to rent a house for a shut-eye. He walked through the narrow stone streets in search of a decent place to rent. He ignored the inquiring gazes of the people. How could he not feel how they looked at him and his ample packages, in particular, with great interest? He decided it was less troublesome to just find out more about the territory by himself, rather than to ask any of these people. However, at least for now, no one stepped forward to bully. Although plenty of people had odd hair color, his bearing made it obvious that he was a natural high-born. He eventually found a small bungalow to rest for a few silver. It was just a square with the only separate room as the standard bathroom. This bathroom was, naturally, the one with a hole on the floor. He already missed his nice porcelain seat where he read a small handbook of architectural notes he had while waiting for his stomach to cleanse itself. He also bought some perfume from the lord as well, so even when he was doing business, the stench wasn''t so bad either. He sighed, realizing he had truly been spoiled. Anyway, Oslo walked to the only furniture there: a bed. It was wooden and could fit just one person comfortably. There was no cushion at all, and it was hard and uncomfortable to even sit on. There were even splinters here and there, making him suffer more. Fortunately, he had some blankets from Altera. While he couldn''t get those comforters (it was very space-consuming), the blankets were enough to cover the particularly uncomfortable surfaces. It was just that he had to cover his nose as he slept, for fear of not waking up due to the horrid smell that occasionally whiffed up to his area. Disgusting! To be fair, even the cities weren''t exempt from these smells, especially the relatively poorer areas. But who told Altera to be so clean! Even Belluga was clean because of the people''s habits, so going to this place was like a massive slap of smell! Anyway, he rested for a few hours and ate his food from the space. After over a month in Altera, he would definitely have difficulty stomaching the food outside, so he prepared some ''adjustment food'' for himself. For this meal, he was eating buns and noodles. It was simple compared to the usual, but it tasted like ''home''. He reluctantly drank the limited tea in a jar, wishing he could take more, primarily because he had a headache from the horrid smell. In the end, he only took a few sips before putting it away. It wasn''t enough to drink of course, and he recalled the juice shop in the village, deciding to buy a few pints there to save up what he stocked. He had limited space and he didn''t take enough water. At the very least, juices in stores were made from natural fruit so they didn''t taste too bad. As he queued, he couldn''t help but overhear a chatting group of burly men approaching the line. There were about four of them, very tall and filled with scars. From this alone, he knew they were mercenaries. They also had menacing auras about them, their tones as they spoke were oozing with annoyance. The people in front of the line of them immediately cleared, and they grinned, proud of their effect on the ants. With smirks on their faces, they sauntered towards the front of the line to order. They continued chatting and it was careless enough that Oslo could hear what they were talking about even when they were several people away from him. Of course, it could also be that Oslo had a much higher level than anyone else and the men probably didn''t think anyone in his distance was strong enough for them to care. "Why did the master ask us to go all the way here?" one person asked his companion. "How many days we had to endure to even travel to this back country." "We need to investigate what''s inside the fog now that it''s lifted," one man said, "Geez, what a hassle!" "Heh. What''s there worth of our Lord''s trouble?" One man asked, genuinely curious, while his companion shrugged. The other one cackled, "Well, they did just say to scout it out right? Then we''ll deal with it later." "Ah, yeah, that''s what he said." The largest one sneered though, "What''s the need to study? Do we need to prepare to deal with these weaklings?" The others chuckled at this, obviously agreeing with him, but not daring to outwardly speak against their lord. Behind them, a certain blonde looked at them with narrowed eyes. These people¡­ weren''t friendly. For a while, he didn''t do anything and just stared, his fist occasionally clenching. He watched as they bought their drinks and walked back to the door, apparently not planning on staying at the tables. This meant he could no longer eavesdrop with ease. Taking a spontaneous decision, he furtively gave a glance and walked towards them, as if heading to one of the tables. He purposely bumped into them, making the person slightly imbalanced. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oof, sorry." Oslo said, his masked face not showing guilt at all. "Watch out!" "I"m sorry," he repeated, manifesting gold. "Here." he said, "I''m in a hurry you see." "It''s all I have," he said, trying to block their mouths from asking for more. After all, even this village had a rule against outright theft and philandering. Oslo then walked away without looking back, making the men look at each other. The man nodded, and followed him. They planned on robbing him as soon as he left the territory. ¡­ Their plan was destined to fail however because, later that night, the two men would have very painful stomachaches. When Oslo bumped into them, he sent some mild poison he bought from Althea (who had a very private and inclusive market for her poisons), hoping to debilitate them. Unfortunately, at their level, this definitely wouldn''t kill them. However, at the very least, these guys would be incapacitated for a few days. A few days in Altera, after all, meant a lot more people had time to level up. And that was already plenty compared to others. Chapter 409 Bathhouse Restaurant Altera Village "Mngmamwa¡­" "Gogrgomamwa¡­" "Stop moving too much, Little Meatball," Althea mumbled, moving her head a bit as Little Meatball moved his hand and splashed soapy bubbles all over. A large hand settled him down the tub. It was Garan, and his sleeves were folded all the way up his arm, showing off his very well-defined forearms. "Behave," Garan said, his low voice was naturally full of gravitas that Little Meatball was a little intimidated by. One word and the baby''s flailings went from level 10 to level 1. The baby boy was pouting a bit, but he was definitely watching his hand splashing, a little sad that it wasn''t creating as big a wave as he wanted. Althea giggled at the adorable sight, all while washing her daughter who was so cute and well-behaved. Garan smiled, but his eyes couldn''t help but end on his wife''s body and her clothing dampened thanks to their hyper-energetic son. His eyes darkened inevitably, but he was holding his son so he naturally couldn''t do anything about it. "We will take a bath together later," he said, mumbling. "I wish the Bathhouse had private rooms¡­" Althea blinked as she looked at him, and then looked at the sun high in the sky. She then flushed and glared at him. This pervert! Anyway, when the Mountain Spring Villas was built with indoor private pools, Garan absolutely had a hand in it. ¡­ Back in the bathhouse, the three women decided to meet up again and have a meal together. They had already asked the servant to inform Lulu that they''d be eating dinner here and she could go for the day. Of course, not without handling a generous tip. The two aborigines followed Juni to the indoor restaurant not knowing what to expect. They went past the intricate wooden door that served as the main entrance. This was obvious due to its large dimensions and the rare translucent panels that it had, which gave them a glimpse of the other side. Like other things, these small panels were made of the same materials used in windows and lamps in the territory. It was quite intriguing. "A table for three please," Juni said, approaching the female host outside the door. "Oh, yes, right away," the woman said, checking their bracelets to see if they''d be paying. Seeing as the meal was included, the host opened the door and guided them to a designated table. The aborigines couldn''t help but look around as they walked, side and above, admiring. It was a large one room hall of brown, green, and some rustic color palette. There was a small waterfall in the center, with water going down like a column. It was surrounded by various flowers, some familiar and mostly unfamiliar. There was ambient lighting on every meter of the wall and above each table, setting up a romantic relaxing mood. The entire room was circular in shape, with the walls with plants and wood, leading up to the very interesting ceiling above. It wasn''t like anything they''ve seen. It was slightly domed in shape, and there were diamond framings, and every few ''diamonds'' there was a translucent panel allowing natural lighting from above to enter. The skylight filtered lighting through the day, creating a stunning play of light and shadows with the frames and vines. At night, it would show the darkness, letting the ambient lighting have a different atmosphere. In fact, if Althea had a choice, she''d have covered the whole roof with the translucent material. The material limitation of Youli stone was that it couldn''t be made into panels larger than a meter in either dimension, or it would be very brittle¡ªno different from crackers that could easily get destroyed with a simple punch. It was also a problem with her larger greenhouses, so she was really hoping glass could be developed. But these things the people didn''t know about, they just found the whole setup incredibly charming. Anyway, as the trio reached their table, they realized that the air was infused with the relaxing scent of flowers. A little different from those in the spa, which promoted relaxation, this scent was a bit stronger. It promoted¡­ exploration. Hunger. "Here''s your table," the waitress said, pointing at a comfortable-looking round table with a curved sofa (as Juni called it) abutting it. They couldn''t help appreciating it too. The table was not only intricately designed with motifs that matched the building, the cushion of the chairs also looked very cozy. The tables were also placed far apart, very comfortable, and they could relax as if they were really the only people in that space. There were also partitions that partially blocked direct eye contact and the traveling of sound for added privacy, which needed more care because everyone had heightened senses now. "This is amazing¡­" Cassandra said as she relaxed on the plush chair, eyes not leaving her surroundings. Veronica, the lover of beauty, was quiet and just gaping at the whole place. Also, how did they make a waterfall there? "Did you build the restaurant around it?" Juni blinked and looked at the centerpiece. It was a meter radius column of waterfall, as if the water fell from the shrubbery above this ornamental column. "I''m not familiar with the technicalities, but it should be using the same principles as the fountains outside, as well as getting water into the rooms." "Amazing¡­" Soon, the waiter arrived with their menu¡ªalso paper now¡ªand they couldn''t help but touch it a few more times. "This is really smooth. I feel like the pen will flow beautifully." "It seems a bit thin though?" Juni watched her new friends fascinated by something they had taken for granted. "It''s paper. Like the papyrus you use, but much lighter and cheaper." "This is very nice¡­ why haven''t I seen it in the shops?" "The production is still a bit low, so only the territory office and a couple of individuals could use it. But, as you can see, it shouldn''t take long." The two nodded, adding this paper as something they would inquire about as soon as they got inside. In the meantime, they decided to look at the so-called menu, which was a list of available food and drinks they could order. Their package included two viands, a salad, a drink, and dessert. They could choose as they wanted and the two girls were very curious as to the offerings of this place. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The menu was also bilingual, with the familiar language of the aborigines as well as the Terran Lingua franca. The offerings here were called ''healthy'' meals¡ªa new concept to two people who just knew ''meals''. "Basically they''re meals that cleanse the body, making it feel lighter, rather than heavier." It was a little unclear, but they got the idea. For their meal, Juni ordered for them. With the waiter ready to take orders, Juni enumerated some food that newcomers would likely love. When the food arrived, the women gulped. "This is the vegetarian delight," the waitress said when Juni asked her to explain some of the choices to the guests. "It''s a salad of mixed greens, little tomatoes, and organic herbs, and then drizzled with lemon-infused Caesar salad." Then the waitress pointed at rounded flat white bread-like things with various colors surrounding them. "This is a Mezze platter with hummus, roasted red pepper dip, and freshly baked pita bread." She then proceeded to an even more colorful plate. "This is Stuffed Bell Peppers with grain, roasted vegetables, and tangy yogurt sauce." "For meat, we''ll have free-range Gugu bird breast with vegetables and herb-infused sauce." "We have Stormdoer beef burger topped with caramelized onions, mushrooms, and cheddar." "For our drinks, we''ll have freshly squeezed juices with herbs." She paused and looked at her companions, "You don''t mind it a bit minty, do you?" The two were a bit startled they''d hear terms like minty in food, but they were open-minded girls, so they shook their heads. "For dessert, as requested, the fruit-based sorbet will be served later upon completion of the meals." She smiled, standing up straight. "Enjoy your meal." The girls nodded and focused on their delicious-looking meals. Juni realized a lot of her terms were unfamiliar so she explained what they were, and if the other two weren''t raised as ladies, they''d have drooled. Whatever the case was, they didn''t know that meals made predominantly of just plants could be so delicious, refreshing, and filling! As they ate, the three women continued chatting amicably, mostly about the territories of this world and how it compared to Altera. For example, they found out that it had been less than two months since they arrived, which meant people here leveled from zero to about the average of level 6 or 7 in the span of two months. This also meant that 2 months ago, this was all just forest like the ones they passed by going here¡­ They built this entire thing in that time frame. They also compared the cost of living and lifestyle. "Altera did a great job at both," Veronica mumbled as she chewed on her salad. She had never thought such a mix of vegetables could be so delicious. What did they call this ''dressing''? Caser? Cousar? "It''s Caesar, sweetie." Juni corrected her. She was apparently thinking out loud. A bad habit of hers that got her into plenty of trouble. "Don''t they sell these in the supermarket?" "Not yet," Juni guessed it had to do with the short shelf life, but she couldn''t confirm it. Regardless, the topics were endless and the three became fast friends. Luckily or unluckily, they seemed to have never landed on the topic of their love lives again and their names, or the discussion could''ve been very different¡­ Chapter 410 Worldviews (Part 1) At this time, the man in the women''s minds was talking to his mother. The mother-son pair was drinking a special tea blend Althea occasionally sent to all her elders, partnered with Lola''s sublime snacks. They were currently sitting on the verandah, looking at the small farm of her team inside the fence. The peacefulness calmed their hearts a bit¡ªsomething much needed considering the heaviness of their current topic. "Any news?" Mathilda asked, eyebrows furrowed in worry, her temple forming more wrinkles than before. The more time passed, the more the aging lost by her upgrade returned. Gill sighed and shook his head. "I already put out a mission in the Ferrol Mercenary Hall as well as those going to the allied territories, but I doubt there''d be news so soon." Unlike Garan and many others who had already stopped buying information¡ªso fortunate¡ªGill had to continue in his ardent search. They still hadn''t found his sister, Gwen. "I''ve already commissioned artists to paint a lot of portraits, as well." Although paper wasn''t commercially available, he''s the boss'' right-hand man and an elder''s son, so he naturally had easier access to new resources than others. There were a number of artists he got for this. He would soon have a handful of her portraits to distribute and assist him in the mission. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He didn''t even need to pay them a lot. The artists just requested rims of paper, pencil, and ink in exchange. He promised them twice the amount of what they used to do the task. As one imagined, they were quite¡­ productive because of it. Mathilda nodded, sighing heavily. That child had been traveling around with her friends when the disaster happened. The two of them had been trying to find news of her as soon as they were capable. Mathilda believed the child was fine. After all, both she and her son didn''t become one of the undead, and there was a high chance her daughter didn''t either. She just hoped the child wasn''t suffering¡­ Gill saw his mother getting depressed and tried comforting her. "She''s fine. I taught her self-defense since she could walk." Mathilda smiled at the memories of the girl destroying their backyard with her ''practices''. The girl was the biggest tomboy in their community, but at this time it was such a fortunate thing¡ªit definitely improved her chances in this volatile new world. Mathilda shook her head at the memories, deciding to move on to a lighter topic. Since she couldn''t do anything about her younger child, she shifted her focus to the one in front of her instead. "I heard of some rumors¡­" Mathilda began, looking at her son with a smile. "How true is it?" "Which one?" "You know what I mean." Gill didn''t answer, feeling a bit embarrassed at being found out. Mathilda looked at her acerbic son''s increasingly red face and felt a little better. "Well, I hope it works well for you this time," was all she said, gently and understanding. Gill was silent, unconsciously rubbing the middle of his palm, before finally uttering a light, "Uhmn." "My advice to you is to learn from your mistakes and give more time to those you hold dear, not just duty," she told him. To be honest, her son¡ªand her, for that matter, as well as every one of the soldiers¡ªsacrificed too much for their nation. They ended up sacrificing their own lives, and their precious time with those they hold dear. She hoped her son allowed for a bit more happiness to himself. "Yes, mother." Of course, as a woman who had seen many things, she also had to give enough caveats to her son. "We don''t know how their culture is like, I hope you keep that in mind." She said, "Only when you accept your partner as a whole would the relationship work long-term." "Yes, mother." Mathilda smiled, taking her son''s hand and patting it. "Be happy this time." ¡­ Gaea Pharmacy. In contrast to the worried family, another one was complete¡ªa mother, a father, and two children¡ªhappily walking around town. The children had just ended their ''daycare'' session with a couple of thanks to the nurses next door, so now they joined their parents in the excursion. At this time, they were currently in the Pharmacy, with the mother doing her job while strolling around with her family. Althea checked on the stocks to determine the production rate of each one, making some calculations on what they would need to focus on. She made a mental note to increase the supply of Bandade and Sprite, as well as to improve the mass production of the inferior versions. After doing this, she said her goodbye to Lily and Don Lee. Don Lee was a trainee and Lily-the-doctor''s replacement as she had been officially reassigned to the other clinic near the East gate. He was a first-year pharmacy student who will also be working part-time at the research center as a learning experience. He came from Belluga Village, primarily attracted to Altera due to Fable, but quickly decided to stay as soon as he landed. Anyway, Althea volunteered to push the babies'' stroller this time, while her husband decided to feed her some snacks they bought on the way there. They exited the building and it happened that Garan decided to feed her a few bites at that moment. So when Althea caught sight of the colorful visitors, she was chewing on the snacks, Gouji Berry Cookies. The two Aborigines, Cassandra and Veronica, happened to be with the former actress Juni. They looked quite cozy with each other. The two aborigine women and Juni¡­? Althea, as the Lord with eyes everywhere, naturally knew these women and the¡­ similarities among them. Especially, the violet woman and Juni who apparently had very similar taste in men. They seemed to have become sincere friends? She wondered what would happen if they found out about the other''s relationship with Gill? Did Gill have an idea what was happening here? Althea couldn''t help but stare, watching the two smile at each other like soul sisters. When they find out about their rivalry, will they fight? Or¡­ will they share? Chapter 411 Worldviews (Part 2) The abrupt thought was so sudden that the food she was chewing entered the wrong pipe, causing her to cough violently. "Wife! Are you alright?!" Garan exclaimed and immediately rubbed her back. He took out an earthenware bottle of water he had in space, carefully guiding her to drink. When she was still coughing he paled and yelled at Betty. "Heal her right now!!!" Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Innocent Betty, who was literally just there to buy some medicine, flinched. "A-Ah, yes!" she uttered, immediately using her ability to help Althea out. Of course, there was really not much damage for a healer to heal, so the action was mostly for Garan''s peace of mind. Soon, the bout of coughing halted, and Althea gently patted her husband''s arm to calm him down. She smiled apologetically at Betty, who was ashamed of the lord''s humbleness to her and wanted to cry. She very quickly excused herself to leave the couple be, and Althea turned her head to the husband whose eyebrows furrowed deeply in worry. "I''m not a porcelain doll, my love," she told him, which made him pout. It was adorable and Althea softened, and she patted his cheek. Garan was about to lean down but Althea covered his mouth, stopping the excessive PDA. Nearby, Veronica and the others were privy to the whole thing. They saw everything from the feeding to the gentle back rub to the almost kiss! So this was the famous Althea! She was indeed beautiful. But¡­ what the heck was that¡­ thing?! Veronica''s eyes twitched seeing the cold murderous guy they knew now pouting like a baby. She cringed. So much. "That''s a twin, right?!" She said, aghast. "That can''t possibly be him, right?!" "..." Cassandra just gaped while Juni giggled. "Well, that man is indeed the paragon of ''wife slave''." Wife slave¡­ sounded too apt, right? However, jokes aside, they¡ªespecially the Aborigine women¡ªhad never seen a man so caring and humble, let alone such an impressive man. They had only seen one get close¡ªOslo''s parents¡ªbut that had a lot to do with Mr. Gold''s extremely timid personality and Mrs. Gold very fiery one. This was Garan, a strong man who could defeat fighters higher leveled than him! There was no way he was meek! However, no one pointed this out nor did they ask. The two parties just nodded at each other in greeting when their eyes met, but no words were exchanged. Who told Garan to act like a baby and then turn scary at the same time! How dare they interrupt the family date with their inquiries? ¡­ When the couple had disappeared from view, the trio safely entered the pharmacy to see what was available for purchase. They saw the person behind the counter talking to a pretty woman with a small stature. She was giving directions to a young lad much taller than she was, obviously in a superior position to this work setting. There was a line of about five people in the queue, but the service was good, the product selection wasn''t too much, and the waiting time wasn''t very long. "Betty!" Juni smiled, greeting a woman about to exit. "Oh, hello, Ms. Juni." Betty then nodded to Cassandra and Veronica, who politely did the same. "This is Ms. Cassandra and Veronica, our latest visitors," she told BEtty, before turning to the other girls. "This is Betty. She''s a healer." Cassandra and Veronica were a bit surprised. A beautiful healer should still have good status even in a city, but she seemed to be settling quite well in a village. After a bit of chatter, Betty excused herself, saying it was time for her to get back in position. A few minutes later, it was finally their turn. They bought what was in stock to the maximum purchase limits. Although they hadn''t tried any of her medicines yet, Ms. Althea wouldn''t be so famous if her products were subpar. "Your orders are noted, thank you," The woman behind the counter said, and looked at the young lad beside her, who was gaping at the beautiful women in front of him. Lily rolled her eyes and elbowed Don Lee. "Aren''t you going to get their orders?" "O-Oh! Right!" He yelled, very loud, making everyone flinch. When he gasped and turned red, just before scurrying to do his job, the women broke into laughter at his expense. Lily shook her head and looked at her gorgeous customers. "Forgive him. He doesn''t see angels very often." Juni laughed while the women smiled. They didn''t know what angels were, but it was obviously a compliment. After a bit of small talk, Juni introduced them to the small woman. "This is Lily, she watches over the pharmacy. She is also a doctor." "Hello." "Hello, nice to meet you." "I''ve been hearing a lot about you two," Lily said, "You have very beautiful hair. Did you get born with it?" The women nodded, and Lily looked absolutely fascinated. Their chat was interrupted by Don Lee finally arriving with the medicine on hand. After a preliminary check, the two women placed the items back in their spaces. They packed up, and it was here that new people entered the pharmacy. They were young people in uniforms¡ªguards¡ªand a third of them were female. At this point, the aborigines thought they should stop being surprised. One of the female girls nudged the man''s head carelessly. "Angelo! I told you, I can beat you!" "Yes yes master Cassie," one of the young men said, nodding passively, making the other teammate¡ªJesse chuckle in amusement. "I haven''t played ball in so long!" he said, "But really Cassie, where''d you learn to shoot hoops like that?" They not only had a ball thanks to their neighbors (the Gaea Team), but they played with other teams to win time to use the court longer. Cassie actually won! Fortunately, it was still a lot of fun. And even if they lost the bet, who said they couldn''t use the courts anyway. Nearby, Cassandra and Veronica looked at each other as they saw the interaction between the guards. They were born well, so they didn''t suffer much, but they were old enough to have an idea of how this world treated women. In Altera, however, it was just¡­ different. Altera was not just unique in its products and buildings. Its entire worldview was unique¡­ Chapter 412 Bird Encounter A/N: Dedicated to Lin-chan, my first castle-giver~! It took a while to find a place where I can squeeze your request but it''s finally here LOL. Thanks for the castle Lin-chan~ (Guys, for LotusLin is also a writer~ If you''re into fantasy stories with gods, check hers out!) Castler Request: "More Ansel and Fufi, please!" Anyway, back to the story~ ¡­ _____ "Eww, Fufi, don''t eat that! Just bite it, BITE it!" Ansel yelled as he pried the dog''s mouth open. When the dog finally did, the head of the gross poisonous-looking reptilian monster rolled down straight to Tom''s feet. The big man turned pale immediately. Fortunately, this time, he didn''t embarrass himself by vomiting the contents of his stomach. Fufi and Ansel were now training near Bright Territory, along with a few others. He was helping out Tom, Artie, and Bruce with their levels. He arrived here with a couple of other soldiers and guards as part of the weekly routine of going to other territories, primarily to check if they had loved ones there. Because Ansel''s family was already complete¡ªthe greatest subject of envy¡ªhe decided to ''give back'' to society, starting with helping out old friends level up. "You''re really nice for doing this," Tom said, taking down a monster only a level lower than he was with a swipe of his large axe. "Well, what are friends for," Ansel said with a smile. Tom was particularly in need of this because he wasn''t a guard like Artie or Bruno, who managed to get a slot with training with Garan''s team and, now, the aborigine hires. He lived with them so he felt a little left out when he saw their levels shoot up while he leveled up very slowly. Ansel offering to help was really heaven-sent. "Thank you, I really owe you a lot." Bruce and Artie tagged along and also thanked him a lot. Although they had the advantage of being guards, Ansel''s help allowed their slots to be given to newer guards who needed the training more. They were quite ''patriotic'' in this way, believing the combined strength of the guards, and not just their own individual strength, mattered the most. Ansel shrugged, "Well, it trains both of us too," he said, pointing at the dog who was now eating something though, fortunately, it looked like it was something from his space. WOOF! "So cute¡­" Tom chuckled and Fufi, who had heard that he was being complimented, felt goodwill to these people. He immediately stood up and ran towards them, making the ground shake a bit in his movements. At this time Fufi was already level 8, and he was almost as tall on all fours as Ansel standing upright. Although it didn''t bother Ansel at all, it made Tom drop a sweat. Who would feel calm when you see a car running straight at you? "Who''s a good boiii!" Ansel cooed, rubbing the large dog''s head. The dog was obviously enjoying it as his tail was wagging fast enough to serve as a fan. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel only rubbed his head and chin even more. "Who''s a goood boii? You areee, you areee!" WOOF! He laughed, taking out a few dried and flavored Gouji berries to place in the dog''s mouth as a treat. (He always had some in his space for Fufi''s treats¡ªFufi really liked it and Ansel liked how scary the dog looked when red juice dripped down his sharp teeth). WOOF! However, while the dog and man were ''flirting'' the dog suddenly froze and stood up, startling the others. He then growled, looking in a direction. The four men naturally increased their guards until Ansel realized the footsteps weren''t monsters. It was human''s. "Hide," he mouthed and immediately the lot of them climbed up the tree. Ansel and the others stopped breathing while they waited for the humans to pass. Soon they heard rustles of leaves and a large group of about ten people passed by, one of whom was even an Aborigine! ba-dump, ba-dump Ansel stopped breathing, afraid to be found. He wasn''t naive enough to think all humans were friends, let alone they were outnumbered and outpowered. What if they were perverts and found him pretty?! He shivered. Clutter, Clutter¡­ The various tangents in his mind were interrupted by the slight sound near his head. Ansel blinked and stiffly turned his face to his side to look at the branch beside him. He almost fell down the branch when he realized that he was face to face with a bird. Small birds like this weren''t actually that uncommon, but they were rarely seen. To survive in this world, they had to be extremely fast and almost invisible. They evolved not to make any sounds as well. In theory, they should communicate via another way. For example, like ultrasonic methods. This was the first time Ansel saw one up close. They really looked a lot like the Terran birds except for some features. They had zoologists in Altera who had just joined the Research Center. The guy''s name was Reddit. He was a foreigner from another continent, but it happened he was in Eden studying the endemic species there, not that there was much biodiversity in their country. One of his favorite features of this land (Xeno) was the birds (other than Fufi, which was the reason why the dog was adventuring more outside lately). As for why he was limited (for now) to the milder species, this was because Reddit still shivered at the mention of the beasts. He was a scientist and had no fighting ability and he had seen death in the mouth of monsters too many times to count, leaving him traumatized. This was a pity because it would be great if he could study the behavior of the beasts. Fortunately, he could still handle the carcasses which was why whole bodies of monsters tended to be brought inside the territory. To the terror of many. Of course, he still forced himself to frequent the training hall so he could meet the territory requirements of fighting. He was still a weak stick though. Anyway, for birds, Reddit had some theories they went along with until they were proven wrong in reality. The creatures theoretically had specially-shaped feathers to dampen the sound of their flight, much like owls back in Terran, though even more pronounced. The texture should be velvety, and their bodies sleek. He looked at the subject in front of him and he had to say that Reddit guy really knew what he was talking about. To be honest, Garan had already mentioned the fact that it would be great to take advantage of birds to send messages, since they were extremely fast and difficult to catch, but so far they hadn''t encountered a way to attract them, let alone train them. The bird looked at him (very creepy without the chirping sound) and he heaved a deep breath. He wasn''t naive to think that he was Snow White who was loved by birds. Birds here were unlikely to be gentle if they were to survive. It tilted its head again and Ansel swore there was a glint of red in there. He realized it was a drop of red as it was eating a red fruit¡ªthe ubiquitous Gouji Berry. The fluid between its beak made the red droop and made it look extra creepy. He wanted badly to go down to the ground, but then the damned group decided to frickin stay there for a bit! There happened to be a small clearing where they were and the group also decided to take a rest there. He was focused on how to not make noise for a while until he began to hear some familiar names from the mouths of the newcomers. "That Vismont place isn''t bad," One man said, "I''m so shocked about the products available!" "The food, custom house, everything is¡­" he whispered, "Even better than back in Fargo¡­" The term made Ansel freeze immediately. Fargo? That horrid territory? They came to Vismont? Ansel knew his sense of direction wasn''t very good but he at least knew that Vismont was somewhere northwest of Altera and Bright. Fargo¡­ according to Garan, was somewhere West. It should have somewhat of an equal distance between Vismont and Bright, much like how Altera was. "What do you think? Are we going to attack it first?" "We should wait until the team who went to Bright finishes up." "Well, I kinda wanted to stay there. The food was really nice." "Well, if we overtake it, we''d have as much as we want!" "My food had been consumed already. Should we just go back to buy more?" One said, "It''s not like it''s far away." "Please, if the level 12 Aborgine isn''t here, you''d be eaten." The two men cursed at each other a bit, obviously having some sort of rivalry going on. Another man sighed, used to their conflict, and decided to shift the topic instead. "Hey, I heard they''re under another village. Named Altera." "Ah, I heard about that too," one said, "Apparently, much of the products came from there." "What? Really?" "Should we go check it out as well, then?" The group looked at each other, greediness glinting in their eyes, and it made Ansel''s blood boil. Altera? So they''re going to Altera now? He was very annoyed, but he kept his body frozen. He was barely even breathing. Unfortunately, luck was never on his side. He felt a bit of wind at the back of his neck. He flinched, turning to see what it was, only to see that there were more creepy birds staring! It was as if waiting for him to mess up! Weren''t birds supposed to be well-hidden? What were they doing watching a good show?! Clutter Clutter "WHO GOES THERE!" Ah, shit¡­ Chapter 413 A Little Skirmish He immediately threw the pitiful gouji berries he had in his hands to the people below. "What!" He jumped down as the birds dived onto the men, they were fast and when they dived in, it caught every one by surprise. "WHAT!" they yelled, surprised by the red bits on them. But then they felt strong pecks they couldn''t see and they couldn''t help but curse and yell. Immediately they waved around their weapons, not even touching a single avian. Even the level 12 aborigine didn''t hit one. Ansel took advantage of this chaos to go behind the trees and meet up with Tom and the others. He found them when Tom loud-whispered in his direction, otherwise he''d have gone elsewhere. They were apparently behind a rock, barely breathing. It was arguably a better hiding place, but who told him to always take the wrong direction? As for Fufi, he wasn''t there. The dog was very fast, he definitely had gone much farther than they did during this time. Ansel wasn''t worried about him at all, and just looked at the three men who were waiting for instructions. "Let''s go!" he yelled, and he led the group in a direction¡ª Which happened to be nearer the Fargo group of men. "There!" "Shit!" Ansel yelled while the others cursed at their own stupidity. They should''ve known better than to let Ansel take the lead! Immediately, they ran back. To their surprise though¡ª BANG! Tom squeaked when he saw a familiar tiny mark smoking on a tree near him. The others saw it too and cursed. "Fuck! They still have guns!" "Damn!" Although Xeno weapons technically dealt more damage to indigenous species, especially monsters, guns were still better for most Terrans because it was much easier to handle. Humans¡ªeven a high-leveled one¡ªdidn''t have the armor-like skins of most monsters here. Guns¡­ still had a lot of damage against humans after a while. The jerks here were the Fargo men for sure, keeping such weapons that would''ve been almost useless to the current level of monsters. Obviously, the weapons were kept specifically for dealing with humans! Scum! They were definitely up to no good! They should die already¡ªit would save a lot of people the pain of having to deal with them! They wanted to do it themselves, but¡­! BANG! BANG! But how could the four of them go against a dozen men¡ªwith guns no less? Although most of these men were not above them in level, they had an Aborigine with them! A level 12 one! "Damnit!" "We can''t handle them¡ªlet''s go to Bright for help," Ansel said, panting. The others agreed, gesturing to escape with their lives. But how could these men¡ªa lot of whom were bleeding, someone even had his eye bleeding after being pecked by a bird¡ªlet them go unscathed!? They all raised their guns, intent on just shooting regardless of wasted bullets! These intruders had to pay! sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. BANG! BANG! BANG! However, a large figure suddenly appeared in front of them, barely bothered by their guns. Without warning, the creature lunged towards the nearest man, eating his head with a snap of his mouth. CRUCH! The people paled as they watched the headless body fall down, and the head getting chewed then¡­ dropped. It was like it was the most disgusting thing. Then the beige critter attacked another one, but with its paws, and threw him straight to the tree without his consciousness. With the angle of his fall, probably without his life either. "WAIT, WHAT IS THAT!?" "A monster!?" "Ah!!" Immediately, they showered the creature with bullets, while the aborigine took out his Level D weapon. However, the creature was fast and avoided his hits. He ignored the others and focused on him. While he did get a bit injured, no bullet went through all the way. He squeaked a bit though, and he was already bleeding a little from the barrage of bullets. It was around this time that another figure¡ªa silvery one¡ªarrived, taking down several men who were barraging Fufi with bullets. "A wolf?" The commotion naturally reached Ansel and the other''s ears, and just when they were about out of earshot, they heard someone yell "That looks like a giant dog! And a wolf! AHHH!" They paused. Dog? This made Ansel and the others pause and turn around, knowing it was Fufi. Fufi was strong, but he wasn''t invincible! They immediately went to help him out, their weapons raised. It was just that when they arrived, Fufi already had the aborigine below him bleeding profusely. When the Aborigines said they needed to be 5 levels higher than a monster to fight them one-on-one, they really weren''t kidding. They then saw the few other Terran there still shooting in panic, though most of them had no bullets anymore. There were also two men using Xeno weapons to deal with the mystery wolf. It was a beautiful wolf but it was only a little bigger than they knew from Terran. It was obviously not that high-level yet, and it was being damaged a lot by the two Fargo men. They also saw how bloody Fufi was and Ansel and the others cursed, immediately running towards the other Terrans to kill them. Because they were distracted, they were beheaded with ease, not even knowing they were dead until they realized their head was detached from their necks. Then they looked at Fufi who was still fighting with the heavily injured aborigine and watched as he opened his mouth to bite the man''s head off. CRUNCH! In classic Fufi fashion, he then dropped it off his mouth and turned it into a ball again, making it roll down Tom''s feet. Tom gagged and ran to a random shrub. The big man then vomited the contents of his stomach, making Ansel roll his eyes. Two months in this place and this dude was still a softie! However, no one had the mind to tease him, because their attention immediately went to the two bleeding animals. Artie almost cried. What brave cute doggos! Chapter 414 Girlies "Hello girl, how are you?" Ansel asked the wolf who was shaking and bleeding in a corner, back against a tree. At this time, they already fed Fufi with Althea''s premium potion and because the bullets didn''t embed too much, he healed fully in no time. When they saw this, they were relieved and shifted their attention to the new creature. The wolf growled at him as he approached and Ansel knew it might lunge at him in self-defense. He felt conflicted. He felt bad, but he certainly didn''t want to be bit by those sharp teeth¡­ Fufi made a small sound beside him and he paused, eyes following as the dog approached the wolf who was still growling. They watched as Fufi took out a bowl of potion from his space and placed it in front of the wolf. Fufi''s ''bottle'' was special for obvious reasons. The potions he had in space were in bowl form, with a cover easy to slide to the side with a boop of his nose. They watched in bated breaths as the wolf just stared at the potion for a while, before it licked it bit by bit, consuming until it was gone. Ansel smiled and wanted to approach but then the wolf suddenly stood up and looked at them guardedly, even at Fufi, though its body language was just a little more submissive. Then¡­ it turned and disappeared, making people wonder how it survived so long in her with its level. ... They arrived to Bright filled with blood about an hour later. It shocked everyone and a lot of gathered around them, Alteran or local, looking at them in worry. "Oi! What''s wrong with you!" A few guards yelled. Turbo ran to them and used his ability, and was relieved to find that none of them were gravely injured. It was other people''s blood. "So, gonna tell us?" Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Eh, just a little skirmish," he said, shrugging. "You should''ve seen the other guy." "And the other party is where?" "Dead," the redhead said with a smug smile, patting Fufi''s head, before sliding to the side of his stomach. Knowing a belly rub was about to come, the dog then laid down on his back, welcoming the much-awaited belly-rub. Fufi was huge so Ansel needed his entire arm to have an effect. He didn''t mind though, because Fufi deserved it. "Fufi ate the strong one." "He''s really like a beast and guns didn''t work on him anymore, which is just as well," Tom said next to him, "It''s really¡­ interesting." Ansel nodded, patting the dog''s betty even more. "Good boyyyy¡­ Who''s the best killing machine out there??" WOOF! WOOF! (Translation: Kill! Kill!) Turbo sighed and just shook his head, while Brandon couldn''t help but chuckle. Micheal, who had just arrived, also heaved a sigh of relief. He could not imagine what could happen to him if Ansel got in trouble in his territory! Anyway, seeing as everyone was okay, Micheal looked around and gave Dig a look. The big man nodded and clapped his hand. "Let them have their space now, nothing to see here." With the lord''s orders, the curious crowd dispersed a bit. Ansel thanked them for their worry and said their goodbyes, heading toward their house of stay so they could get cleaned up. Before going, he realized there were a few teens who were staring at them, following their movements every so often. He smiled, looking at the adorable opportunistic teens who were looking for jobs. "Fine, I want at least 5 pails of water from the well," he said, handing them the pay for water, and a few more bits of copper as extra. "I''ll pay more upon successful delivery." "YAY, Thanks, Mister Ansel!" One said. "As handsome as always!" Another one nodded. "We''ll get them to you with little waste!" The last one said, and the three teens scuttled away to do their ''business'' (though not before greeting their half-amused lord as well). Ansel chuckled and they just headed to their home. As he waited for his and Fufi''s water though, he decided to open the topic to the lord while he was here. It was just that before he could say anything, a knock sounded on the door. It was a young woman. She seemed really shy and her face was red as a baboon''s butt. She was a bit familiar, and it took Ansel a while to remember she was one of his good customers back when they were ''pirating''. "Are you alright, Ansel?" she asked, gentle, and he smiled, blinding the girl with his ''beauty''. She only noticed the lord there and gave him a polite greeting as well. "Yes dear, thank you for asking," he said, looking at the potion the girl was shakily holding. "I already healed thanks," he said, "You can keep it in your space for emergencies." "But, I¡­" then she looked at him again, just to make sure. "It''s true," he said, his beautiful eyes fixing on her, making her heart beat even more erratically. "I''d be more at peace to know you have one with you." The girl almost fainted at his words. Fortunately, she didn''t in the end. She just nodded and obediently put the potion back in her space. Before she went away though, she turned again to him, "Uhm¡­ be careful on your w-way back¡­" "Thank you." "I¡­ I''m moving there soon." "Oh?" Ansel brightened, though it was primarily because he was looking at a new taxpayer to fatten his sister''s wallet. The girl misunderstood though and she blushed even more. Unable to handle her heart, she just quickly said her goodbye and scurried away. Ansel chuckled, used to this reaction from women, before turning to the others who were giving him sly smiles. He shrugged (irking some people) and turned to look at the perenially smiling dog next to him. "Anyway, speaking of pretty ladies¡­," he mumbled, looking at Fufi. "What''s with that pretty wolf, eh? What do you think of her?" "Woof! Woof!" Although Ansel couldn''t quite understand what he was saying as Althea could, he could still have a sense of it. He said something along the lines of ''Pretty! Beautiful! Gorgeous!'' "..." He laughed. "Anyway, let''s go get cleaned up and run back to Altera immediately, eh?" Suddenly, his joking expression morphed, and he turned to Micheal who was just about to leave. The man flinched a little under his stare, unused to the sudden serious expression on his face. "Be careful man," he said, "You''ve got enemies in your midst." Chapter 415 Reporting Altera, a few hours later. When Althea and Garan came home from another training session, the Terran Mercenary team was already there, waiting to report the progress. It so happened that they got back for reporting at approximately the same time, so their villa seemed a little crowded. They waited a while, but they gave the babies some company. For example, sometime before the couple''s arrival, the soldiers playfully passed the kids around, making them laugh althroughout. The soldiers even used their abilities. For instance, the wind users Sammy, Chris, and Brandon made a small breeze that was strong enough to make the babies lift off the ground by a few inches. They giggled and giggled, very much enjoying themselves, and everyone''s hearts turned to puddles. The three happily spent their many making the babies float for a while, making the adults happier in turn. It was just that some time in between, it felt like there was a lag in¡­ gravity? Sammy¡ªthe only one who saw¡ªblinked. He could''ve sworn the baby boy unnaturally stayed a little longer midair, but he shook his head in the end. it must''ve been his imagination. The scene the couple arrived to see was the kids riding a makeshift earth wave made by Mao and Jake. It was like a large piece of slab but was actually segmented every inch or so. It changed heights progressively, like those incremental curves in calculus, mimicking the moving form of a wave. It let the children roll back and forth the edges as if they were on a boat, except their entire body was spinning. It was very cute, and the children rolled happily and was a wonder how they were still not dizzy. Obviously, the kids earned a few godfathers in their team. Garan lowkey wondered when he could throw Alphonse in there. "Ah~ babies are so cute. We need more in the territory!" Mao said, dreamily looking at the babies as if he could get one himself. "I wonder when the twins will have playmates from our side?" Luis mumbled out loud, giving Gill a furtive look. Gill ignored him and went to give the follow-up report for Team A''s Ferrol trip a few days back. "Ferrol Town was filled with visitors, but we made note of territories that would be more of a threat based on observation," Gill said, handing them a list of aggressive territories that were present in the fair. It took them longer because they could only list down the territories back then. A lot of research came from post-research, i.e. information from Oslo, Rowan, and the other aborigines. They took particular note of the territories whose interests Altera may touch based on their products. For example, the Cloth Cities like Makita and Kilpo, as well as the Spice Cities like Holt City. "This is noted, thanks." Next to report was Jake and a few others who went to Belluga. It was quite the good news, too. Apparently, Jake found his young cousin, a twelve-year-old boy named Percy there. Sammy also found Gian''s sister, Samantha. One of the perks of the guards was that up to three direct family members were entitled free stay in the dormitories as well as meal access to the barracks canteen. But, because Gill, Ryo, and Garan''s families had their own homes, it was Percy and Samantha who were the first among the Terran Mercenary Team to have used this benefit. No news about anyone else''s relatives, but as far as they were concerned, no news was not necessarily bad news. The others reported their own findings, like what level of monsters they had encountered in the area and what was the status of the other territories. They were just about to adjourn when the door aburptly opened. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We''re home!" It was Ansel, Turbo, Brandon, and the others. Ansel grinned, smiling at his sister and gesturing to hug her. Garan''s sharp eyes passed by him and he redirected to hug Eagle instead. Eagle: "..." Althea shook her head at him and smiled, "How was Bright?" "The usual," he said, sitting down on the sofa nearby. "Except¡­ Fargo went to Vismont." "What?" Everyone tensed at the mention of the name and they looked intently at Ansel, asking him to continue, "They went to Bright, too, apparently, but we couldn''t tell who they were yet. I did warn Micheal though, and it''s up to him to deal with those buggers." The other soldiers looked at him, "What are they planning?" "They were definitely studying which territory to attack," Ansel said, "I happen to have overheard them before they discovered me." Gill cursed under his breath, while Garan and the others clenched their fists in anger. "It''s just like them to take advantage of this situation." Fargo definitely wouldn''t let it go. They loved chaos, fights, and deaths¡ªwhat better way to maximize this than in wars? What''s more¡­ "Fargo is near the edge, near aborigine territories. It wouldn''t take long until we see Aborgines in the area." "Oh, you''re right." A moment of silence passed. Although they had been preparing for it, Fargo''s appearance was an indicator that things were going faster than they had hoped. They¡­ would probably be going to war very soon. "How long has it been since we transferred here?" Althea asked. "It''s been 48 days¡­" Ansel said, counting. "Why?" "Once the fire of war touches our territory, unless we establish ourselves immediately as superpowers in our ranks, war would be continuous." The flames of war were slowly creeping in their direction, and they were aware of Altera''s attraction. They''d be coveted for sure. After a thought, Althea spoke up, "I just think that 50 days¡­ seem like a milestone." Ansel sat up, absolutely bright. "And enough reason for a celebration! Althea nodded. "We''ll need to ask the other elders about this first though. If approved, it''ll be our last party for the sake of a party." The other ones would be held during major milestones. Ansel was already planning for it, and maybe thinking when the next one would be. For instance, the 100th day (maybe?), the 1st year, and so on. Maybe¡­ every after winning a war? Okay, he admitted it: He just wanted to party. Althea nodded, "Correct." The others didn''t disagree. "They''d need it for sure." Having to fight with brethren wouldn''t be easy¡ªno, it would be painful and disorienting. Some may even meet relatives in the fights. What would happen then? Let this be the calm before the storm¡ªa time of fun and peace for people to look forward to every time they go to war. Chapter 416 50th Day Survival Celebration [50 Days since the Migration] It was the fiftieth day since their transfer here, and the entire territory now was in full gear, excited for an upcoming event. These few days of peace passed by without a hitch¡ªeverything went smoothly and, even if there were injuries during training, no one was lost. Of course, Garan''s team had made sure that no one in their team or any of the guards laxed their training. They knew how strong people were outside. Life was good now, but how long would that last without the necessary strength to protect it? Speaking of, the next batch of guards¡ªand not just the soldiers¡ªwas set to leave for Ferrol in a few days. It was actually delayed by a day or two. One, they were really reluctant to part with the goodness of Altera, and another, they heard the territory would hold an event. An Event: This meant parties and food! How could they miss it?! Look: there were even punch bowls where they could get drinks for for FREE! They just had to bring their own cups! Fortunately, the Captain wasn''t too strict or else they''d feel green with envy! A certain beautiful pink-haired woman was also relieved, because it meant she had more time with Brandon. He was finally back ''home''! How torturous was that wait! So now, she was entering Brandon''s personal space, confusing him with her approach. "Let''s eat together!" She said with a bright smile, her pretty pink hair shimmering under the morning sun. Brandon gave her a weird look. "Why?" "..." The people around them bent over, trying not to laugh out loud. It could be said that despite his handsome and dashing appearance, Brandon only had fighting and weapons in his mind. Nearby, several of his fellow soldiers moved on from his spectacle and started to focus on the food being set up. "Gosh. We could''ve missed this!!" Jake said, judging Turbo who was drooling at the sight of the food getting prepared for the party several meters away. "Naw. Even if the captain disagreed, we just need to beg our sister-in-law to let us stay a few more days." They cackled. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ah, that was true. The wife always got the final say, after all! ¡­ It was the 50th day since the Migration and the Elders jointly agreed to hold the celebratory event. They wanted to make the people celebrate their accomplishments: For surviving so far, for not giving up, and for building a life for themselves. There were also celebrations as the soldiers who came from the other three territories had just returned and had some good news. Other than Jake''s cousin and Gian''s sister, there were in fact a lot more relatives found in other territories. This was because each team brought with them a list of relatives among the Alteran civilians and guards (the former of which had to pay a small amount per name on the list), which in turn was announced in the territory centers of the allied villages. Anyway, back to the celebration itself. The party was organized by Ansel and the twins, with the help of the people from the entertainment industry including Juni and Fable. There was also Danny, a former producer, who volunteered to help¡ªand he was extremely passionate about it. And¡­ more than once he reiterated that he had nothing to do with Ramona and her stupidity. Anyway, within another hour or so, the entire venue was finally completed. They held the event on the large square in front of the village center, setting up a temporary stage lit up by limestone found by Tronie. (They found a bit. Not enough for actual big construction, but fine enough for other uses). The research team made a tube filled with limestone and heated it to a certain temperature. It caused a natural reaction that created some strong lighting produced by the heated calcium oxide. This allowed for some luminescence to light up the stage. They made different tubes. At this time, four ''spotlights'' focused on a single spot on the stage, and one was directed to the person walking towards it. Plenty of awed murmurs echoed throughout the area at this. "So that''s what ''under the limelight'' came about¡­" Leo mumbled, and his twin nodded in agreement. "Learned something new today¡­" Ansel shook his head at the twins, egging them to go listen to the talk. Like that, all those in the backstage watched as the speaker climbed up for her speech. Mathilda stood up on stage, dressed in a beautiful, relatively intricate garb by Andrei, the fashion designer from Bright who had just moved to Altera (and now owned his own store, mind you). "Alterans¡­ thank you for coming to our celebration," she began with a smile. "With a heart filled with gratitude that we are all here, together, we shall celebrate the 50 days of our survival since we have been thrown into this world." Since finding out that most nobles knew about migrations of entire civilizations, they didn''t really bother hiding anything. "I know you have suffered a lot, and everyone has a story. We all had lost people, some even lost a limb or two, but we are alive and well and that is all that matters. Mathilda walked over to another spot on the stage, the lights following her. Her eyes looked into the crowd as if talking to each person individually. "I know everyone has someone they lost. It could be as early as back when we were in Terran, perhaps we lost them here.." "Let us not forget those we lost, their memory lives on¡ªour very lives a reminder of the lives theirs had touched. "However¡­" Mathilda paused, changing her tune, "I know for certain that they are happy to see us finally live stable lives. "In the face of unimaginable uncertainties¡­ we did not just survive, we also thrived. Now we come together as a community, we gather to celebrate this growth. "Let us cherish this moment, savor our camaraderie, and look forward to a future here where we will continue to thrive. "Hence, the territory decided to sponsor this gathering to celebrate life." "Raise your cups to fifty days of survival¡ªto our resilience and indomitable spirits. Raise your cups in memory of those we lost and the past we left behind. And¡ªperhaps most importantly¡ªto that unwavering hope carrying us forward. "Cheers to our future, and whatever it May hold " "CHEERSSS!!" Cheers and a few cries resounded around the stage. Mathilda waited patiently for it to naturally die down. She continued speaking when silence returned. "We are now living life incomparable to how we suffered getting here. "Altera is doing its best to give everyone a stable and comfortable life, all the while doing its best to keep our lives and safeties to the best of its capability." Cheers echoed once again, but this time she raised her hand to stop it. "However¡­ we have to be strong enough to keep it." And, just as quickly as it exploded, the applause paused, leaving the venue in utter silence. She looked at the audience with deep, dark, eyes. "Are you certain? That you, a citizen, an Alteran, would be able to protect our beloved home¡ªwhatever come?" "War is coming soon." She paused. "Is everyone ready?" Chapter 417 Warnings and Celebrations "Don''t think you are already strong, don''t think that what you''re doing is enough¡ªchances are, it wouldn''t be in the long term, especially when we finally upgrade to Town¡ªan inevitable stage in the territory''s development. "With me is our Elder for Military Affairs. As someone who had led the team for three months upon their arrival¡ªwithout the advantage of a Protection Period¡ªto tell you exactly what you will be up against." Althea watched as Mathilda called Garan onto the stage. Garan decided to take this opportunity to bring everyone in the loop about what they could face. While the aborigines undoubtedly answered honestly when asked and the territory was never stingy with information, there were stark differences in their perspectives that their people may not have truly absorbed. There might also be cases where the Aborgines simply didn''t think it needed to be said. For instance, they might think of some dangers as common sense and didn''t think to make a warning. Primarily, aborigine territories. There were things and concepts they had been born with, which their Terrans would struggle to understand by instinct. People generally knew about beast tides by now, and a lot of people had been privy to the existence of territorial wars. However, not enough people understood the implications. For Alterans, the journey had been much smoother than others. For those who arrived early, they''d argue it was too smooth. This was a double-edged sword. Even with all the warnings and training Altera implemented, these people would understandably be a bit complacent in their cores. Garan and the others doubted they truly understood how weak they were against the outside world. Perhaps they ''knew'' they were weaker, but how much did they truly understand? It was still the best to hear from the perspective of fellow Terrans. Especially¡­ they had already welcomed their first Aborigine guests. There would only be more. The ones they had now were friendly, sure, but it was only a matter of time before they welcomed hostile parties. They had not forgotten Bart''s warning at all, and they could only prepare so much against unknown enemies. While her eyes were on her husband, Althea looked at the current status of the territory, determining how much they still had to do in order to prepare for the inevitable conflicts with strong aborigine territories. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Residents: 1915 (503 permanent, 1412 temporary) Total Population: 4324 Base Resources: Wood: 12300/20000 Stone: 9200/15000 Money: 13731 Gold, 19699 Silver, 998699 copper Reputation: 190 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx2 Building Slots: 7/9 (+2)] She also made a mental summary of the top levels in her territory, not including the aborigines. Level 22: 1 Level 19: 4 Level 18: 8 Level 17: 2 Level 15: 1 Level 9: 8 Level 8: 78 Level 7: 315 Level 6: 843 "Just a bit more.." she mused, and their levels wouldn''t be too far from fellow villages. Against towns though, they''d need a bit longer. She ought to determine ways to keep herself from upgrading until they were ready. Her attention was brought back when she heard his familiar voice echo across the area. Garan stood tall, gravitas keeping everyone''s apt attention on him. He was handsome, tall, firm, and very very intimidating. The people were reminded what kind of man led the military strength of the territory. After all, when the public saw him, it was outside the barracks with Ms. Althea. How approachable he was with her, how scary he was when he stood as a soldier. "A lot of you already know my team and I have been struggling in this continent for a few months¡­ and I am here to tell you what we will be facing next. He told them the horrors of territory wars. While the population had been informed about its existence, it was never really detailed. The Aborigines saw it as a way of life already, not seeing much worth to tell. "In wars, we will be going against fellow humans¡ªintelligent creatures with similar features, walking on two feet, two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Unlike beasts, they had brains, strategies, and the accompanying sinister minds. "It could be harsher because you may lose your life under the hands of your own kind¡ªas if the monsters outside was not dangerous enough for them. "They will aim to kill you, if not turn you into slaves. I''m sure you know that the losing territory would give up part of its population, all of whom would automatically be designated as slaves¡ªhumans with no will of their own." "It could be once a month, once every few months if we''re lucky. But¡­ if a territory is attractive it could be as often as twice in a month. "Look around you, brethren, see what you have. Tell me: Is it¡ªour Altera¡ªnot attractive?" Silence. No one could speak for a while, absorbing his words, the implications slowly dawning down on them. Because Altera was, indeed, attractive¡ªincredibly so¡ªand they would definitely be attacked often. "Villages generally had level 10 forces, level 8 at best. For towns, it is twice of this. "If they target our home, would we be able to defend if?" Garan did not speak, and let the listeners absorb this information. After several beats, he finally opened his mouth, a baritone voice echoing across the square. "Do you like Altera?" "YES!" "Then together, we will protect it." Wild cheers echoed in the square. This time, there was no cold water dousing it. Their propaganda inspired all the guards, aspiring-guards, and citizens alike. "We will be hiring another 100 guards and every guard above level 10 will receive more benefits and wages than the others." As he said so, the familiar ding resounded inside everyone''s minds. [Hiring! Guards [Wages: [Level 5-9: 500 copper/day + 100 contribution points Level 10-15: 1000 copper/day + 300 contribution points Level 16 and above: 50 silver/day + 500 contribution points + conditional Permanent residency (after 3 months probation) +Automatic promotion [One set of complete and well-fitting equipment per month is provided for free.] More and more cheers resounded. "In addition, we will also be pioneering a new program for everyone. If you wish to increase your pace of growth, the territory has established teams to assist you." "Some of you may already know. The lifespans of stronger people would be much higher. Level 10s tend to have more than 150 years, as long as they didn''t have an accident, and this will only increase as one leveled up." On cue, another announcement sounded in their minds. [Level-carrying Program Level 1-5: 10 silver for every 8 hours Level 5-10: 1 gold for every 8 hours. ] "This program will let non-guards strengthen themselves as well," he said. After all, the current program focused on the guards. Now that all of the guards had spiked in levels, it was time to distribute their time to the others as well. "We expect everyone to grow stronger¡ªonly when every one is stronger, will our Altera be strong as well." ¡­ Mathilda smiled at the atmosphere, and after allowing some moments of solemnity, decided to lighten it up due to the occasion. She took the amplifying cone again, this time with a smile. "But before we go full force in strengthening our home¡­ let us celebrate it first!" The party went in full-swing the next moment, with different prototype instruments sounding. Although the quality was not nearly as good as they were used to, the effect was enough. The aborigines were absolutely fascinated by the combination of sound, light, and energy. They even started moving a bit, and Troy immediately guided Brenda to dance in a little corner. On another side, exclamations about the food were the ones resounding. "Wow, this food is delicious!" "Amazing!" "I need more!" "HEY! Line up!" The food was of controlled buffet style, with around three starters, six viands, rice, pasta, and two desserts. They didn''t put out a lot of alcohol either, just some juice, afraid people would get too drunk to keep the next day productive. While the party was ongoing, Cassandra unconsciously went to look for a figure to see him watching her as well. Their hearts stopped and they both blushed a bit, looking back to their own groups who were celebrating in their own way. The only difference from a moment ago was that there was a little tilt in their lips now. Gill''s group¡ªthe soldiers¡ªwere mostly eating while the more upbeat ones like Mao, Sammy, and Luis were doing weird dances. Sammy was doing something like the robot (except it was more awkward) while Luis and Mao were doing hip hop (or something of the sort). The new aborigines were much more modest, with the maids and guards nodding with the sounds, while many of the older ones like Clutch had already danced with the Terran locals as soon as the music started to play. Their eyes were wide as they listened to the opening songs, admiring the lights in stark contrast to the night sky. It was fascinating. They wondered if there were people outside the territory that could see it. In towns and larger territories, an infrastructure option of prolonged torches was introduced. These towns could also build towers with fires that only needed wood or gold to maintain, and there was also the optional luxury lighthouse. But their current territory¡ªa village¡ªwas able to build something similar, without having to buy these luxuries. They also had never seen something like a spotlight before, and they were all staring at it with fascination. Ansel and the twins'' smiles widened at their reactions, knowing that their future plans for the Entertainment Industry would rake them some money. Of course, the Terrans were no less amazed. "We could place this on the sky sometimes¡­ like Batman." They heard some people mumble beside them. "It would definitely attract more people to come." "Batmen." "He-he." "I wonder how many people is required to trigger the Town upgrade." "I heard the requirements to become a Town is huge! Fortunately, anyone who''s been to Altera is likely to stay." They didn''t know how things would change when they became a town, but seeing the village celebrate like this¡­ made them feel incredibly hopeful! Chapter 418 Dazed Soon the music turned more and more upbeat and deafening screams resounded, with everyone turning their heads to the stage as they filled their mouths with food. "FABBBLLLLLEEEEEE!! Kyaaaaa!!" "We love youuuu!!!" "Wook hwere Fwabbleee!!" "HEY! Don''t splatter food on me!" "Oh sworry." "Be my husband!!!!! I promise to feed you. Kyaaaaa!!!" "JUNI!!" "Goddess!!" "Juni! Juni! Juni!!" "Fable!" Understandably, it was quite boisterous. The finale among the line of fun shows was a duet of Fable and Juni, some of the biggest stars in Eden before the Apocalypse. It was also interesting how, before performing, they reiterated that they were never a couple, and never will be. "He''s like a brother to me!" Juni said and Fable quipped very quickly. "She''s like a scary snake to me!" Everyone laughed. Their song was a famous piece back in Terran. It won the songwriter¡ªbless his zombiefied soul¡ªa handful of awards. It was a lively song with a soft ballad at the bridge. A lot of people sang the songs and even the Aborigines, who could not understand a word, hummed along. It was quite nice and the atmosphere was amazing. Even Gill was nodding his head a bit. But then the woman on stage set her eyes on him, staying there, before looking at the rest of the crowd. Gill didn''t think too much about it and just watched. "This next song¡­ I want to dedicate to all those who loved and wished to love¡­," she said, and on cue, the music became slower. Fable played the flute in a less-center position on the stage, leaving most of the spotlight on the beautiful auburn-haired woman. The song was a lovely ballad that spoke of a couple''s life together, the endless promises, and the happy family to be built. It was a memorable and familiar song to him, so unconsciously Gill''s eyes softened a bit as he listened. It was an old song most were familiar with as well, so a lot of people sang along. When it ended, applause resounded, and they asked for more. "Encore!" "Yes, Encore!!" "Juni, pleasseee!" "Hmm¡­ well, if you say so," she said with a pretty smile, receiving hoots and cheers from the audience. "This one though, I want to dedicate to a specific person." The woman sang another love song¡ªbut a decidedly sadder one. It started with one of happy memories, to bittersweet ones, to finally the day it ended. /I never meant to cause you pain, but I messed up and I take the blame/ /I know I let you down and I broke your trust, I''ll do what it takes to make it right. Just give me one more chance¡­ and I''ll make it right./ Gill''s eyes narrowed a little at the lyrics, a feeling of dread suddenly occupying his gut. Sure enough, as soon as Juni stopped singing¡ªand before the applause exploded¡ªher sights fixed on him and yelled into the cone amplifier. "I love you Gill! Come back to me!!" There was silence, and then a roar of cheers and hooots. "Whooooo is that lucky bastard my goddess sang to?!" "Wowwww!" "Wait¡­ boss Gill!?" "OHH, wait! A roommate of mine is a guard and he seems to have overheard somewhere that boss Gill was Juni''s ex! I didn''t believe him before! Damn!" "HOLY GOUJI BERRY!" But all these cheers rang muted in his ears as his eyes automatically looked for another woman¡ªa woman of unique purple hair and eyes. His heart dropped when he saw Cassandra, who had gone completely pale, not noticing the woman on stage was the same. ¡­ Shortly after the end of the party, Gill found Cassandra in her room at the inn. She was bitterly packing up her luggage. She did not halt despite the noise he made opening the door entering. It was either she was too engrossed in her task or she was purposely ignoring him. It was definitely the latter. Although the rooms had their safety access requirements, Cassandra had fortunately allowed his access during the duration of her stay. It could''ve only been him or her maids who entered. He heaved a deep breath and walked next to her. He stood an arm''s length away. "It''s been over between us for years." She frowned and packed the cloth in her hand with much more force. "I saw how intensely you watched her sing. She¡ª" "Let me explain¡ª" "Go! Go away!" How she ran after him like a classless woman¡ªhow heartbroken she was now to see him watch a beautiful woman sing to him! If he said it was a force of habit, would it make her feel better? It wouldn''t! His heart broke at her reddish eyes and he just wanted to simply dip his head to capture her mouth instead of explaining. And he did. Slap! "Do you think a kiss would make me forget?" She yelled, "Did you think that because I love you, you can just do whatever and I will not mind?!" Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. To think she learned this from that woman¡ª But it didn''t matter: Because she was right. She didn''t deserve this! "You''re too arrogant!" She spat, pointing at the door with teary eyes. "GET OUT!" ______ The next day, forests East of Altera "Help! OI¡ªHELLPPPP!" Baron yelled, with a monster''s smelly mouth near his face. He squeaked like a pig and it was only now that Gill''s attention was taken back. Gill shook off his distraction and threw a lava ball at the monsters. It roared loudly in pain, soon becoming debilitated enough that the civilian team killed it with relative ease. "Gill, I know your love life''s a bit messy right now, but I don''t want to die!" Baron yelled, unafraid. He was a man who had been doing business for years. Not to mention, next to Althea, he also held a huge pie in the economy of Altera. Most people may be intimidated by Gill, but he wasn''t. Hey, especially when he found out about the interestingly messy love triangle this guy was currently embroiled in. ''He''s no mythical vampire with an acerbic tongue! He''s just like us!'' he had said to his cousins when they found out about this tea-worthy news. Gill was obviously guilty, and Baron definitely hit home with his guess. So instead of a snide remark, Gill actually apologized to him. "Ah, sorry." Baron almost fainted. Ah, he made the acerbic vampire apologize! He would treat his people to some barbeque later. His cousins Bianca and Joe, who were training with him, couldn''t help but poke him with their elbows. "Should you annoy him so much?" Who didn''t know how this dude destroyed people with his words? There was a girl who wanted to date him, and he told her bluntly that she was ugly. That girl cried for days. Baron, however, was unfazed. "It''s fiinneee." He turned to look at the aforementioned man and almost laughed. "Look, look!" He whispered to his cousins, pointing at the handsome Gill staring into nothingness. "He''s in a daze again." ¡­ As soon as there was no danger and there was no fights, Gill''s mind immediately floated to the events of the previous night¡ªreplaying, wondering what he should''ve done differently. He admitted that he was very bad at relationships and he truly liked Cassandra and did not want to end things with her at all. He should''ve held on her shoulder and stayed, no matter how much she yelled at his face to buzz off. He should''ve looked her in the eye and explained. Women tended to overthink things¡ªhe should''ve explained more rather than shut the conversation with a kiss! If anything, that might''ve made it worse! But could he be blamed? If it was the other way around¡ªif he was the one kissed¡ªhe''d have definitely lost a lot of his anger! But¡­ he shouldn''t have thought that way. He shouldn''t have made assumptions about her¡ªnot only was she a woman, she was a woman from another world. He should''ve understood there was still much to learn about her. ¡­he should''ve known what could hurt her, instead of thinking she''d be fine with whatever he gave her. He should''ve told her: the first song Juni performed was my parent''s favorite song. His father often sang that song to his mother when he was still alive. It was always played during their anniversaries and birthdays. He should''ve admitted to her that looking at Juni reminded him of his happy, innocent, youth¡­ which was something he unconsciously gravitated towards after all this chaos. But¡­ that was like watching a show from one''s childhood¡ªa little nostalgia for his past. That meant nothing else. It was like smiling at a childhood show because it reminded you of the carefree times back then, but it didn''t mean he would give up everything he had and achieved to return to those times Most importantly: He should''ve told her¡­ that their lives was still so long¡ªstill a hundred years more at least¡ªthat he wanted to try exploring more of it with her. But it was too late, because Cassandra already ran away to Ferrol. ... ____ Announcement (Feb 22 2024) Hi guyss I dunno if you noticed but, for now, I wouldn''t be doing the update reduction to 5x/week! Why, you ask? Because you angels are too awesome! Despite my lowered update rates from last year''s 14-16 chaps/week to this year''s 8-10chaps/week I''m still getting so much support from you! I still get golden tickets and still achieve some win-win/privilege goals (though the ranks have understandably lowered a few). So... Thank you! Because of this, for as long as I can, even if I have to crawl-type, I will NOT be reducing the updates any less than now. Love you, Alterans! Chapter 419 Team B back to Ferrol [51 Days after The Migration] At this time, a group of guards with about 20 members was heading to the nearby town of Ferrol as per their mission. Ryo swung his water whip against three monsters, tiring them before he released his weapon to finish it off. Similarly, the non-aggressive water wielder Turbo, assisted the others by suffocating monsters with his skills, before using his own weapon for damage-dealing. Jake thanked him and stabbed the monsters in their weak spots, dealing with multiple low-level monsters with ease. After clearing up their area, the men heaved a deep breath, before turning in the direction of a certain aborigine castaway, who was stabbing monsters to her heart''s content. Stab! Stab! Stab! The cringed. "Are you sure you''re coming with us? Alone??" Jake asked, though slowly stepping away from this side even if there were a few more monsters there. "We''re only an hour away, perhaps¡ª" Without answering, Cassandra swung another sword, beheading the level 5 monsters right in front of her. He cringed again. The woman was definitely venting. She wasn''t even gaining any experience or copper from these monsters anymore. Anyway, neither Jake nor Turbo could talk further as more and more monsters approached them. They continued to clear out the monsters except for the weaker ones who were given to the guards and civilians they were with. At this time the Terran Mercenary Team B¡ªconsisting of Turbo, Jake, Brandon, Ryo, Loki, and Reuben¡ªwas heading to Ferrol with about ten guards including the uncle-nephew duo Helios and Hugo, and about a dozen well-chosen civilians. By well-chosen, it naturally meant those who could somewhat defend themselves and would be able to interact well with the aborigines from Towns. One of them was Bull, who was one of the leading businessmen in Altera. He owned one of the water transportation companies and made money with tours as well as transportation of items from each end of the river chord within Altera grounds. At this time, he was also garnering a lot of experience with this mob and he was about to level up¡ªthey hadn''t even reached Ferrol yet! He was so very happy. His Lulu would be so proud of him! Anyway, during the fighting, one or two of the Terran Mercenary Team had more or less tried to convince Cassandra to go back. They happened to have seen the depressed state of boss Gill last night. They ought to help him out, right? This was mostly due to the goodness of their hearts and loyalty to their friend. It has nothing to do with Gill being so annoying at all! (Jake couldn''t help but remember the previous night when everyone was called for a little after-party in the villa, Gill pretty much insulted quite a few people¡ªthat jerk called his hair Gugu bird coop!) "We''re still a few hours away¡ª" Jake added, insisting, but was cut off by Cassandra stabbing a monster with a lot more strength than necessary. She stabbed it again for good measure before turning her head in his direction. "Do you think I''m an idiot?" she asked, the light of her Class C sword particularly sharp. The men cringed. "...no, of course not Miss Cassandra." Jake mumbled as he blocked an attack with his earth spike, "It''s just that boss Gill didn''t sleep at all last night¡­" "Liar!" The violet-haired woman clicked her tongue before turning her head back to the monsters. As they fought though, Cassandra''s mind couldn''t help but float a bit, the words echoing in her mind as she slashed. "Then why do you think he¡ªnevermind. I should know better by now¡ª" She stopped herself and just focused on the fight at hand, her sword swung to another monster that unfortunately came her way. She even turned the creepy things into eunuchs, before ending their suffering. Everyone cringed for their lives. After venting, she heaved a sigh, partially calming down, "Rather than me, Brandon should go back." The blonde flinched. "Huh? Me?" Cassandra gave him a look. She had planned to go early that morning but, by coincidence, she found out that the men would be going to Ferrol. She asked her guards to accompany Veronica, while she joined the Terran''s party. She didn''t want her own guards anyway, she felt freer without them. Anyway, when she saw everyone heading to Ferrol she was startled. Imagine her surprise when she saw Brandon among them! If Veronica found out her Brandon disappeared again, she''d be so depressed! "Veronica!" "What about her?" Cassandra looked at the clueless prat and she wanted to groan in depression! Stupid Men!! ¡­ The group moved on and continued to travel towards Ferrol, encountering more monster mobs along the way. Naturally, the closer they got to the town, the stronger the surrounding monsters were as well. As they traveled, Cassandra showed off that she wasn''t just the demure (and an avid Gill admirer) that they thought she was. Despite being a woman, she really could fight to some degree, definitely miles ahead of most Aborigine non-fighters at this level. At this time, she jumped sideways to avoid an attack, flexibly handling her sword to take down its weak spot, killing it. It was only six levels lower than she was, and it was impressive for a normal woman to kill it with one shot. The soldiers knew this and after dealing with their own enemies, whistled, impressed. The other guards also worked together, and they often expressed their admiration. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Amazing Ms. Cassandra!" "If you don''t want sir Gill, be mine instead!" Cassandra, despite everything, found herself smiling a little, her anger subsiding just a little bit. All these compliments felt good. Not only for venting but also for attention. Before, it was only her beauty and status that attracted men, now it was the skills she worked hard for! It felt so much better receiving them! Of course, her heart was still on Gill (unfortunately), but a woman sometimes needed some validation! Some more experienced soldiers saw this and knew the woman softened a bit. It could be said that this chaos could''ve been avoided. "Wow, Gill really wasn''t able to handle it well, huh? This got so much bigger than it should''ve been." Turbo said and Jake nodded. For some reason, he missed Yiyi a bit. "Well, boss Gill really had low EQ. His default was to say hurtful words." "Elder Mathilda must''ve taken all the EQ in the family." They cackled, taking down a few monsters that came their way. On one side, the uncle-nephew duo were also dealing with their own small mob. They were already at the peak of level 8 and maybe they''d reach level 10 after staying in a town for a bit. Hugo used the "Cyclone Guard" skill and Helios followed it with his "Aetherwave slash" and together they dealt with the small mob with relative ease. At some point, the duo ended up near Cassandra. It so happened that Cassandra''s techniques fit well with Helios'' attack. She would parry and Helios would swing, and the monster would be especially confused and easily dealt with. "Thank you¡­" Helios said and she smiled, and the slight chemistry sent alarm bells to the pro-Gill party. "Ohhh shit!" But alas! They couldn''t go between there at this time, right? Turbo let out a water rope and tied up several monsters at once¡ªeven for just a second¡ªbut it was enough for his companions to behead the monsters only a few levels lower than they were. Brandon threw his shield propelled by his wind element to kill one, Ryo waved his spear, which let out a sharp fountain of water to extend its reach even further, and then the bald Reuben also took down one with a similar technique with his sword. Loki was on a tree shooting any leaks, all the while making sure to be aware of their surroundings, and giving out appropriate warnings as needed. The group continued to fight and clear the mobs they encountered. Sometime later, they heard a rushed voice approaching them, and they naturally went on a defensive stance. However, it was soon revealed to be a friendly party. "Cassandra!!" The familiar voice yelled and everyone''s tense shoulder relaxed. Except for Cassandra''s which got tenser instead. The two of them just stood a few meters apart and stared at each other, completely oblivious to their team that was clearing the surrounding mob, splashing some blood on their shoes. While they stayed in their own universe, they observed every detail of the other. Gill saw that she was still so beautiful and unharmed, and he could tell the blood on her wasn''t hers by her stance. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Similarly, Cassandra stared back. She could see that he was a bit injured as he went to follow them in a rush, and her heart softened into a puddle. Of course, she didn''t say or show this. At least, that was what she tried to show. It was just that Gill saw how her shoulders slumped and how her lips tilted upwards. He smiled and walked over, gently holding her hand. "Come back with me, okay?" She frowned and tried to pull her hand away, something she failed to do. "I''m sorry, I''ll explain everything okay?" Cassandra blinked and looked at him, as if considering. After several tense moments, she finally nodded. The others watched on, hooting. This was totally drama-worthy! Boss Gill was definitely the male lead in his own sappy novela! Chapter 420 Teams to Allied Territories In Vismont, the Terran Mercenary team members were also receiving quite the excitement from the locals of Vismont. After all, they had seen very few Elementalists¡ªonly Rowan¡ªlet alone fellow Terrans! How inspiring that was! It all started when a group of monsters started attacking the walls again. Naturally, Vismont had learned from the past and hired all NPCs they could, regardless of their occupation. After all, even the most useless occupation would have levels higher than theirs. This was how they managed to defend the territory somehow, albeit not as effectively if they hired fighters. Anyway, they were struggling and were running out of wood and stone to repair the walls when a group of about 30 people came and killed the monsters. It was incredibly valiant. It was led by two unfamiliar men¡ªone with auburn hair and gentle eyes and a chubby black-haired man with slit for eyes. However, they could tell that they were Terrans¡ªincredibly strong ones, too! This was Chris and Mao of the Terran Mercenary Team, already out and about after coming from Ferrol. Although Team B had indeed gotten there to get information, there wasn''t much drama at the time and none of them saw their skills. Not to mention, they were very low-key because they were in a rush¡ªthey just wanted to find their relatives and friends. Now, Vismont was being attacked by mobs and their citizens now had the fortune of watching fellow Terrans use their skills. It was the first time the people of Vismont saw Elementalist Terrans! They watched as Chris waved his sword and a slash of wind was created, cutting a level 8 monster in half! Too amazing! Anyway, their assistance naturally increased the momentum of Vismont''s fighters. One of them happened to be an aborigine, a newly hired carpenter named Koli. He was a level 12 and was asked by the lord to fight for some extra gold. He happened to really need money. He was one of the strongest there too so he could really feel the pressure. Now, with more fighters around, he could fight with less worry. Unfortunately, he became complacent too quickly, because soon he found himself surrounded. "AHH!" he yelled, trying to go back but there was already a monster there. He was fortunate that he was still near a sentry so one was killed before it ate him up, but there were soon many more surrounding him. "Oh my gosh! Help him!" Someone from the battlement yelled, trying to fire an arrow but it simply didn''t reach far enough. Koli swore his life passed by his head¡ªhis lackluster life of going village to village, single, with no children¡ªand the many regrets that came after. However, Chris came and created a wind blade before running to the monster and stabbing it in the eye. "WOW! AMAZING!" Unexpectedly, the excitement made the archer lose his damned footing and he fell down the battlement. GYAAAAA!! He heard screams from the other archers near him yelling, "HELP HIM!" Though the wall wasn''t even that tall, he naturally fell down early. Bam! He felt himself hit a surface but not as hard as he expected. He then realized he was sliding down¡ªhead first¡ªto the safety of the ground. He lifted his head and saw an earth slide that seemed to have caught him. "Focus!" Mao yelled, adding another wall to give him enough time to catch himself. He squeaked immediately running to the gates which was fortunately not too far away. This was all seen by the people in the 3-meter tall battlement. "Amazing!!" "This is too awesome!" The non-elementalist guards from Altera were also impressive. Even the relatively new ones like the dark-skinned Joe and the yellowish Lee¡ªClutch''s neighbors¡ªwere impressive. At this time, they were fighting monsters of the same level without gaining substantial damage. It was hard to believe that only a couple of months ago, Joe was an accountant and Lee was a sculptor. Of course, their former fields weren''t wasted. Or rather, the management didn''t let it. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Joe was one of the people in charge of the military''s accounting matters, while Lee was noted to have a part-time job of sculpting once material was available. Most of the civilians who came for the leveling program were also mostly on the brave side. Led by the crow trio, the adults didn''t have the face to act too spoiled. "It''s the Alterans! I know them! Hey! That one immigrated when we visited Altera!" "Everyone is so strong now¡­" "Did you see that? Isn''t that Dog? He''s handling a Level 5 monster by himself!!" "What!" "I was obviously stronger than him before!" "I told you we should''ve moved to Altera!" "But we already bought a house!" Anyway, there was a mix of regret and admiration in the commentary. One thing was a constant thought: Altera is really amazing! ¡­ After the mobs were settled, the Alterans who went to Vismont naturally didn''t miss the chance to earn easy money. They set up stalls in practiced efficiency, and their items were sold out quickly after. They even got more than they asked, because the citizens were so thankful for their rescue. As they packed up, Crow couldn''t help but notice a middle-aged woman walking around in a daze. She had dirty clothes and uncombed hair. But she was holding bread in her hands and nibbling on it as she walked absentmindedly, seemingly dazed the whole time. Crow looked at the woman, thinking she looked quite familiar. "Oi, what are you staring at? You look creepy," Dog said which earned him a pinch in the stomach. "OUCH! You¡ª" But Dog ate his words when he saw Crow''s face was still serious and he pointed at the woman he was staring at in particular. "Don''t you think she''s familiar?" he asked, and it just confused Dog, who really didn''t know the woman. And¡­ looking at her closely, the woman didn''t seem to be in the right mind? "It seems like she''s a bit¡­ you know¡­" Dog mumbled, subtly pointing at his head. Crow rolled his eyes and Sunny kicked him for being insensitive. Anyway, the conversation also caught Sunny''s attention who also came to take a look. "You''re right. I just think I''ve seen her somewhere." Crow immediately grabbed an acquaintance''s arm, pointing at the woman. "Do you know her?" "Her name is Jane Yu, I think. She''s got to family here¡ªyou alright?" Jane Yu¡­ It took a second for it to dawn on the three young adults and they stared at each other with wide eyes. George and Koo''s mother! Chapter 421 Finding More Relatives "Tell us more about what you know!" Dog said, grabbing the friend''s arms. "Alright, alright, fine. Calm down," he said, patting his shoulders, "Ah, it hurts, I might not be able to go hunt today¡­" A few silver pieces manifested in front of him and he took them all with a smile. "I know her because we were refugees together. She was fine and sane, but then Higson''s men took interest in her and tortured her to the point she became like¡­ that." The man mumbled with a sneer. Dog shook his head. "The lord really has a lot to make up for." Sunny looked at their friend, "And then? How has she been living until now?" "She just wonders around, basically. We just feed her occasionally but who can care for her beyond that? Everyone else has their own problems. "That''s all I know," he said, before going away. The trio looked at each other with extremely heavy hearts. She was familiar because she reminded him a lot of Koo. They looked a lot too. They didn''t know Koo or George before so even if they did encounter their mother in the rescue, they wouldn''t have placed her at all. But now¡­ What a tragic family¡­ And Crow¡­ couldn''t help but think that everything would''ve still been a happy ending had George been alive! It was his fault¡ª "Hey man, what are you thinking about again? I could feel your dark atmosphere from a meter away." Dog said, patting his shoulder. Similarly, Sunny also wrapped her arms around him in comfort. "It''s okay," Sunny said, very gentle, knowing that Crow had been fighting depression since George''s death, and he was only still alive thanks to his sense of responsibility with Koo. "There''s us! We''re taking care of Koo, and it''s only right to take in their mother as well!" This indeed shook Crow out of his dark thoughts, some light finding his eyes again. That''s right: it didn''t matter. They would take care of her, too, in place of George. With decided hearts, they approached the woman who was slowly walking around the territory without a particular direction. However, as they approached Sunny immediately stopped her two friends. "Wait!" She said, and they both looked at her in puzzlement. She heaved a deep breath. "You''re strangers! Strange men!" "Ah, right." So, in the end, it was only Sunny who approached, as they knew victims of abuse didn''t do well with interacting with men¡ªespecially strange ones. Sunny increased her pace so she could stand well in front of the woman, as if they just encountered somewhere along the way. "Hello there, Miss!" Sunny said with a smile, but there was no response. "Hello, we''re friends of Koo!" Sunny said, "Would you like to come with us?" There was not much response, but the mention of the name did make her head tilt up a bit. Sunny saw this as a good sign and continued speaking, "Koo is our roommate! We actually already moved to a very good house in our very good territory. We would love it if you joined us! The woman just stared at her, blinking, but she could tell there was a slight light in her eyes. It was heartbreaking to look at. Sunny slowly placed her hand on the older woman''s and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn''t pull back. Sunny smiled and looked at her friends, who had been watching the whole thing from the side. She then brought the woman to them, gently introducing them as Koo''s friends, not daring to mention George at all. The woman looked at them, lips ever-so-slighty tilting upwards. Crow sighed, looking at the woman in pity. If she had landed in another territory, would she have been fine? Would she rightfully shout at him for causing her son''s death instead of smiling at him like this? So many people, including him and the lord here, had wronged this woman. He could only pray she recovered somehow, for the sake of her only son. ¡­ S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Similarly, Billy the Mason also found his brother via the village center. It was a super dramatic reunion. Ben was a newly arrived refugee and was barely making ends meet in the slums. After all, he invested all his money in that other territory. Now, he was dirt poor. He was gathering some wood to sell when his brother''s announcement came. [Billy Kim from Z City Community A Building B is looking for his family and friends. Please come to the Village center. I will stay here for 3 hours] He dropped everything he was holding, and he ran even faster than when he was escaping from monsters. ¡­ Another find was interesting because the relative wasn''t with them at all. They found Chucky, Honey Guevara''s son. The man saw how the newcomers made announcements and found their relatives in Vismont. Chucky felt envious and spent all his remaining money to make the announcement as well, hoping to find a relative¡ªwhether it was in Vismont or in Altera. Of course, since he knew the Alterans didn''t know him at all, he specified his mother''s name instead, hoping the visitors had heard of her. As for why he didn''t just approach them in person, he had a major case of social anxiety and he could barely talk directly to people at all. Fortunately for him, she was indeed familiar with the newcomers. His mother''s name was relatively well known in Altera due to her contributions¡ªand the Alterans were quick to contact him. He had asked very worriedly how his mother was¡ªa very torturous task for someone with his condition. He hoped for the best, but his pessimistic self couldn''t help but imagine his mother''s suffering. He¡ªa big, adult, man¡ªsuffered so much. What more of his mum? Unexpectedly, though¡­ "Your mom¡­ is pretty rich now. Don''t worry about her." "What?" "Eh, it''s hard to explain. Just know she''s doing well." "What do you do?" "My mother and I had a farm back in Terran. I was often tasked with training the cows." Was this someone who could train the broats to pull carts?! The male ones, at least! It wasn''t that no one tried. But the broats¡­ were incredibly stupid!! No one could train them at all! They couldn''t do anything but just stand there and be milked! They even tried to get Gochi, the half-orc, to make it follow (because in movies they thought orcs could handle beasts better). They were apparently racist assumptions because, sadly, the critters ended up running for their lives instead. Obviously, orc blood had a very distinct effect on domesticated animals. Anyway, with this guy, maybe this time they could finally get some luck?? Were they finally gonna get animals of labor? Chapter 422 Teams to Bright Territory At this time, the Terran Mercenary''s Team A-2 was on its way to Bright Territory with 20 guards and civilians for training. Team A-2 consisted of Luis, the pretty boy fire swordman, and Sammy the wind archer. Well, technically, there was also Eagle. But he was somewhere else, having a private training session somewhere East. Anyway, the two of them were enough for today''s purpose, especially as the twenty guards with them weren''t bad, and for the most part they were training hard and gaining a lot. One of the guards with them was Amos, who was a rare A-potential guard, and was a subject for special training. It was estimated he''d have enough merit to climb to captain by the next beast tide, which was saying a lot for such a young lad. Everyone knew this, and his family had already tried to take advantage of it. Thus, the only peeve with bringing him: He brought his family as part of the civilian team! They were oriented very clearly that this was training and not babysitting but, apparently, they didn''t get the memo. "I have a wound!!" A slightly chubby man yelled, lifting his arm that had a small slash with a bit of blood. Considering where they were and how weak he was, this gash was absolutely nothing. His name was Alon, Amos'' step-brother about two years younger than he was. The chubby lad was showing it to Amos with an indignant expression on his face. "Why didn''t you make it weaker?!" "It only had 1 working limb left. If it couldn''t move at all when you deal with it, then you wouldn''t have grown," Amon answered impassively, "I protected you enough." It wasn''t even a lie. The amount of protection and carrying he did could''ve helped a small child. To Alon, however, it sounded like Amos didn''t want to help. "Useless!" "When I join the guards¡ª" he began, but two of the guards immediately appeared next to them, each one on each side and draping an arm around Amos''s neck. They were his two good friends among the guards, the Woodworker Team''s Jesse and Angelo. "We don''t need guards like you," Jesse said and Angelo nodded. "You think the territory would hire useless trash?" "YOU!" Alon yelled and the cousins rubbed their poor ears. They turned their heads to the guy between them. "Dude, you know that even if we opened a formal channel for civilians to join, it didn''t mean we could let useless pigs join in. "Altera is such a good territory, it doesn''t use cannon fodders. So it''s useless to keep this one, yes?" They were saying so as a matter-of-factly and the veins in Alon''s head metaphorically popped one by one in his head. He didn''t dare to fight against the strong guards though, and he glared at his own brother¡ªstrong, sure, but a pushover¡ªinstead. "Are you going to let them talk to me like this??" he asked with an indignant tone of voice, as if he wouldn''t dare answer the affirmative. Amos pursed his lips and his fists clenched. The pause made Alon very angry. "Mother will hear about this!" While Amos was silent, his friends spoke for him. "Mehmehmeh~" Jesse said, mimicking mocking baby voices. "Oh nooo I gotta booboo gotta call mommmyyy!" Angelo ''cried'' with him, "Wuwuwuuwu they''re bullying mere! Wuwuwu!" Alon''s flabby face turned red and he squealed. "YOU!!! Just wait til we get back home!!" He yelled at Amos as he walked away, trying to steal other people''s kills. Idiot. That was one of the best ways to get hated, right?! The two looked at their unfortunate friend and couldn''t help but ask, "He''s useless, and you''re so good. Why is your mother still so biased?" Theoretically, wouldn''t selfish people be kinder to those who served them well? "Mum loved his dad, she hated mine," was all he said and somehow it really explained a lot. Jesse and Angelo came from a very kind and close-knit family. They never understood families like this one. "Oh¡­ what a bad mum," Angelo said, patting the lad''s shoulder. "Have you considered finding a new family?" Amos blinked and looked at the grinning lad, and Jesse couldn''t help but laugh. He rubbed the tanned lad''s head. "Our Woodworkers happen to be open for adoption." Amos'' heart warmed and he smiled. Even if there was no way he would abandon his mother and brother, it still felt good to be wanted as family¡­ even if they weren''t blood relatives. Their warm brotherhood moment though, was disintegrated when a little ember exploded in front of them. "Hey! Stop reneacting a BL Scene here! We got a mob!" Luis yelled, and someone behind them cackled. Luis had a good knack for destroying moments! ¡­ The guards dispersed and went to different zones to protect and guide the civilians. The civilians with them were those who paid for the program. There was a disclaimer in the program of course: their own safety was still dependent on them. The soldiers would only weaken the monsters in an attempt to carry their levels. There were very few civilians like Alon, fortunately, most of the 25 civilians that were taken in this session genuinely worked hard for their own strengths. One of them was Beany, who was also desperately trying to distract himself from all the pain of losing his wife and the urge to snap at Althea. He knew, objectively, that Althea was innocent. She was only doing her best for her own safety and her children''s. It didn''t mean, though, that he could face her head-on at this time. Especially, when he thought that Althea was the Lord and she saved so many lives. Just not his family. If only Priya¡ª "HAAAA!" He yelled, swinging his axe with maximum gusto. Although his accuracy sucked, his repeated attempts did manage to finally kill the monster three levels weaker than he was. [Killed! Kooi (Lv4)! +100 Experience! + 100 Copper!] Finally done! It was just that he was already breathing hard, and didn''t notice another monster behind him until he heard a flop of its corpse dropping on the ground. "Be smart and don''t expend all your energy so early. We''re still a distance from Bright." Sammy said and he nodded reluctantly. Could he say he really, really, needed to vent? Anyway, the team cleared out mobs that they encountered, with the soldiers and guards handling the strong ones. While bloodied and injured, they fortunately had ample stock of medicine so there was no one who got critically injured. They also helped Bright a lot by killing the surrounding mobs, though they didn''t know this at this time. They would just think they were extremely lucky not to have encountered a mob today. About an hour later, they arrived at the territory, paying the standard visitors fee. They went back and went to make announcements in the Village center again, immediately setting up individual stalls afterwards. How could anyone say they were born in a capitalist society without grabbing the chance to make money? Hence, pretty much everyone in the team had their spaces filled with products, and they would be making several folds of their investment for sure. There were some who didn''t set up stalls though, and just walked around in the territory as it was their first time in another territory after settling in Altera. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One was Loa, the creator of sour sauce. She went first to the restaurants and food stalls, and her heart felt proud when she saw her bottle there. She saw how much people from other territories loved her invention, and felt such sense of accomplishment that she had never felt before. Another one was Danny the farmer. His announcement said he would be waiting in front of the center for whoever knew him, not forgetting to say I love you to his wife, wherever she was. While he was waiting, the Alteran-salespeople had settled in the marketplace with a queue already forming. There were also plenty of people coming from the other side of the territory, running over as soon as they caught wind of their arrival. "It''s the Alterans! Did they bring stuff?" "They didn''t bring backpacks! The products shouldn''t be a lot!!" "Damn! Hurry!" Watching all these commotion with impassive faces was a pair of men. They were sitting in the small tea house of the territory. They had an intimidating aura around them. Even in the tables next to them, the people were scooted as far as they could, and only a portion of the table was maximized. Their names were Eli and Eso, siblings working closely under Amon Fargo''s reign. "Those people are from Altera?" One asked. They had heard about them. In fact, it was after a group from there visited that the lord here suddenly started to become a lot stricter. They had to be a lot more low-key in response. It was really annoying, particularly because their progress was seriously slow. For instance, all they knew about this Altera was it was an allied territory, and a lot of the impressive products Bright had were actually imported from there. "Well¡­, I''m interested in the products," Eli said, "We should go check it out so we can give more information." Eso strongly agreed as gulped, imagining all the delicious food he could get. They also saw how the people were excited to see the members of that team and knew that this territory was definitely¡­ interesting. Well, the decision will ultimately be the boss'' but, for now, let them enjoy their investigation! Chapter 423 The Collective [53 Days After the Migration] Grasslands East of Altera. "Are you alright?" The gentle Eagle handed a bottle of water to his companion, whom he was accompanying in training. "Ah, thank you." Sheila smiled at him gently, blushing a bit, feeling both thankful and ashamed. Sheila needed to be level 10 to even have a chance to become a healer, and when the soldiers arrived, she was only a pitiful level 5. Although she worked harder than others, her talent¡­ was just not in the fighting area. So¡­ Althea asked for a favor with the barracks, especially assigning her to the guard team to level up. Since Eagle arrived a few days prior, Sheila had partnered up with him. They had been together every day. Sheila shyly looked at the man who was barbecuing for her and felt incredibly guilty. She didn''t want to be selfish. After all, Eagle was one of the stronger soldiers, training with her like this was such a waste of talent. Eagle, who had been low-key watching her with his peripheral vision, saw her shoulder slumped and immediately went to face her. "Hey, what''s wrong?" "I¡­ I just feel bad," she told him, blushing, "I feel like I''m wasting your talent." "I¡­ you guys should assign another, lower ranked, person to me¡­" "Eh, no," came his immediate reply. The answer was so quick that it took her aback. "?" Eagle blinked and smiled, clearing his throat. "Nono, I mean¡­ I''m best at this," he told her, tooting his own horn and hers by the way. "The investment on you, a potential healer, is worth it." Sheila blushed, "But¡­ it''s not even a guarantee." "That''s how important your potential is," he said, handing her the barbeque." "Stop overthinking your worth and focus on increasing it." Sheila looked at him before finally nodding, opening her mouth to taste. This time their lunch was deliciously cooked Sansha meat and vegetables kebabs. There was also Gouji berry powder with spice every few bits of meat, adding a special tang to it. Eagle¡­ was quite a good cook, she mused, unlike her. "Thank you," she said. She also felt bad for making him cook when he was already training her. She had offered to cook before, but he said she was tired from training. She was embarrassed to cook inferior food anyway, so she agreed. The two sat next to each other on a rock for a bit of rest, knowing that the corpse in front of them would soon attract another mob. Sure enough, a new monster group sauntered in, it was just that they were in the middle of eating so they had no choice but to put some sticks aside. The mobs were ugly feathery green monsters with sharp beaks. He judged them to range from level 6 to 7 by their size. Eagle stood up and partially incapacitated it, the degree of which depended on the level. Sheila also decided to put to use Althea''s sleeping powder, which she sprinkled on them while they were being handled by Eagle. It was just that the wind blew a bit and a good part of it was redirected to the food¡­ "..." "..." Eagle''s eyes twitched. Pity. And he felt ashamed as a wind user, too, for not sensing that just on time. Anyway, the few monsters were only level 6, so only minor injuries were given. The powder did fortunately work on the monsters who inhaled it so Sheila only had to deal with two at a time. Eagle stood aside to give way to Sheila, who was using a bespoke Iron axe the weapon store made for her, swinging according to her past days'' training. [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] She swung and defended herself against two weakened monsters. But they were still fast and she was almost grazed. Before the sharp beak touched, a gust of wind passed and pushed the monster a meter away, allowing her to regain her balance and wave her axe again. [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] She sliced and axed a monster, sidestepping to avoid its claws. Even if it was slowed down, it was still quite quick for her, so her dress was a little nicked. Annoyed at the waste of cloth, her attacks became wilder, with her even yelling every attack. From the side, Eagle watched the petite meek girl yelling as she waved her axe around. He found it adorable. Anyway, fortunately, Sheila did grow as a fighter and beat the monster up in the end by herself. [Killed! Gnomeos (Lv6), +180 Experience, +180 Copper!] Sheila gasped and was breathless, but her eyes were bright. Eagle, seeing as the monster was taken down, stopped pushing away the remaining monster, allowing it to attack Sheila. This time the girl killed it faster. This was not only because the monster got tired from repeatedly being pushed back by Eagle''s gust of winds, but it was also because Sheila was really improving. [Killed! Gnomeos (Lv6), +180 Experience, +180 Copper!] [Congratulations! You have now been upgraded to Level 7!] "KYAAAA~, level 7! I''ve now reached the average level!" She exclaimed, so happy she hugged the warm body next to her. "..." "..." The two awkwardly looked at each other, feeling each other''s warmth for a while before realizing their inappropriate positions. The two''s faces blushed like monkeys'' butts, and Sheila was quick to step back. Eagle cleared his throat, a little regretful when she let go. "Congratulations on your level up." She shook her head and blushed. "Well, it''s all thanks to you." Eagle chuckled and couldn''t help but pat her head. "No, you did it yourself with a bit of help." Sheila blushed and looked at anywhere else but Eagle. Her eyes then ended up on their abandoned barbeques, and she blinked in confusion. Eagle saw this and followed her line of sight, also blinking in shock. There was still their kebabs alright but, a lot of it¡ªespecially the fruits and vegetables¡ªhad already been eaten. Then, surrounding the weakened fire pit were small feathery masses, breathing oh-so-lightly. The two carefully walked over and checked what they were. "Birds??" Sheila mumbled looking at Eagle, who checked very carefully before nodding. They were definitely the legendary Xeno birds, and there were about a dozen of them sleeping¡­ "..." Did they just capture something interesting? ¡­ This upgrade scene (not the hug scene) was seen in various forests and plains around Altera. The days that followed the celebration found an upsurge of people trying to level up, whether it was outside or within the training hall. Even if they weren''t fighters, they didn''t want to be left behind. What''s more, strong levels meant longer lifespans! Who didn''t want to look like in their twenties when they were in their forties?? Who hadn''t seen and admired Betty!? Who didn''t want to live longer? To be honest, this was what inspired them the most. There was also a certain fear of same-aged people who came with them would start looking younger as they as time went on, while only they aged. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Someone even had a nightmare of greeting someone of the same age, but the other called them ''grandpa''! Cringe! How could they allow it to happen?! It had to be said that the peaceful and shallow happiness of Alterans was still there. As such, the new training program allowed citizens to witness massive increases in awakenings and levels the next few days. Similarly, guards level 8 and above had already accompanied the party going to Ferrol. Like Hugo and Helios, among others. They were expected to return with more massive returns in experience. In a span of a few days, Altera, a level 3 Terran Village, which had a population of just above 4000 people, had grown to have an average level of 7¡ªnot much inferior to the aboriginal equivalents. Althea and her husband were naturally happy to see this. The new training program, where the guards could be hired to help carry citizens who wished to become stronger, was intensified, with the guards generously giving fighting tips and guidance at the same time. Not to mention, most of the people who went out to train had awakened some sort of fighting skill. This amazed everyone, especially the Aborigines who absolutely did not have this concept. Rowan had noticed that Terrans leveled up quicker, at least those with a military background, primarily because the techniques they used were efficient and powerful. What''s more, they were willing to teach. Whether it was techniques or skills, the capable weren''t stingy with passing on knowledge to their countrymen. This wasn''t limited to the fighters, they had heard of life professionals sharing knowledge as well. In fact, every Aborgine had experienced Altera and had learned a lot, contributing to the movement in their previously stagnant levels. The aborigines, even if they were born here, didn''t have easy access to skill sets and knowledge. People had to go through the eye of a needle to even get a chance to become an apprentice. By instinct, wouldn''t people want to keep things that kept them at an advantage? But these people¡­, even if they kept their own set of knowledge, shared so much. Sometimes, it was even more than what those stingy teachers passed on to their apprentices. After so long, they could vaguely understand that this was because everyone had such an intense sense of unity that they could be and act as one: A collective. It was an atmosphere that surprised them, but also inspired them. If their world had been like this years ago, how far would human society have gone? Chapter 424 Forest Training Outside the walls, in all directions, there was plenty of activity, with hundreds of Alterans experiencing improvement every single day. However, the magic wasn''t just happening outside the walls, but inside as well. For instance, the Training Hall was occupied all 28 hours of the day. And, without knowing, the Hall finally met the requirements for the upgrade! [Congratulations! The Training Hall (Lv1) could now be upgraded to Training Hall (Lv2)] "Oh?" When this notification arrived, Althea and her husband were kilometers away from the village, deep into the southern mountains, training. They were more or less closer to the aborigine territories now because the monsters were stronger in this area. As for why they would travel so many hours just to do this, she had no choice in the matter. After all, three or more levels below her didn''t win her anything anymore! This was actually worse than before, where she could get experience from monsters 4 levels lower! Obviously, other people could get experience as long as they weren''t five levels weaker than they were. Very unfair! It was apparently the same with Garan, and nobody else. For now, they didn''t know for sure what had caused this. If they had to guess, they''d say it was a balancing act of nature though. For some reason, the stat increase of both of them was much higher than others of the same level. Ansel was very bitter when he found out. In any case, all the monsters around their area were no more than level 6 or 7¡ªand this was when they got lucky¡ªand it simply wasn''t efficient to stay there anymore. At least, not when she wanted to reach level 10 as soon as she could. Anyway, along with leveling up, today they set on fixing her weaknesses: Close combat. Or rather, they hunted for monsters that were so strong that her passable fighting skills from before were no longer of much use. She couldn''t be dependent on her archery either. Even if the bow was powerful (for now), what if the enemy was so quick that she couldn''t even draw her bow? "What is it?" Garan asked, seeing her staring into nothingness as she walked. He extended his hand to push away a branch that was about to nick her. "The Training Hall just upgraded! I''m looking forward to seeing it," she said and turned to him, and he pulled her closer so she didn''t trip on a stone. It had to be said: Althea could get really careless when her husband was around. If her friends were here, they''d shake their heads. ''Letting Down Your Guard'' was one thing, but this was too much, right? It was fortunate they weren''t together when this all started, giving her time to grow in this environment. Otherwise, it was estimated Althea would be spoiled useless! Neither Garan nor Althea saw this as a problem and even if they did they wouldn''t mind. Althea, despite all her flaws, always adjusted accordingly when she needed to step up. Otherwise, her entire group would have long died. Anyway, before Garan could ask the details of this good news, the two of them paused and raised their guards, facing a direction. They stepped back a bit to a more stable cover, eyes and attention on the rustles of leaves approaching them. Soon a group of four monsters appeared. Judging by their size and aura, they could see this was a mob of predominantly level 9s. They were of the avian family with long talons and beaks. They were flightless birds like the emu, only uglier, bigger, and much more lethal. Non-domesticaed Birds of this world (i.e. not Gugu Birds) only went two ways: Retain their small sizes but develop extreme speeds and stealth, or turn to monsters themselves like this one. However, as always, using the principle of respecting life, they never took the first shot. They would always be in the defensive, at least at the start, unless they were absolutely certain that the monster was aggressive and dangerous. However, the thing about monsters here was they really didn''t have sentiment at all. They just have a thirst for blood, no different from the zombies back in Terran. So far, they had yet to discover a non-aggressive monster, not including specially-bred species like the Gugu Bird or the Broat. The group of four immediately attacked, and Garan immediately raised his hand to cause them some damage. Althea stopped him. "Just corralle them except for one," she said, and Garan immediately changed his attack. "Yes, wife," he said dotingly. [Ice Wall (D). -40 Mana] Following his hand movements, a wall made of hard ice appeared, surrounding the other three. He also added a freezing effect to restrict their movements. Caw! Caw! The remaining monster didn''t even notice its companions had been trapped, however. Its red eyes focused solely on Althea, the meat in front of it. The monster sprinted to her, quick with its long legs. Althea managed to dodge a hair''s length. She somersaulted to the side, revealing her renewed katana, courtesy of Garan and the weaponsmiths. There still weren''t new effects, and the rank was the same, but the attack was slightly improved and the durability was brought back to 100. Garan nervously watched the fight but did not move. More than once had his wife been angry at him for prematurely interfering. On his third time ''ruining her good deeds'' he was even kicked out of the bedroom, thrown to the cold and lonely guest room bed! Althea didn''t bother with her husband''s thought process at the moment as she was focused on the battle at hand. The monster''s level was the same as her own, which meant it would be a challenge to beat by herself. Fortunately, she had sharp senses and a brave heart, so she didn''t feel intimidated to the point of freezing when she saw its peck impale the trees behind her every time she dodged. The damned thing was not only strong but was also very fast. For a while, Althea just dodged its attack, albeit with increasing ease. It was just a pity for the poor trees whose trunks were more or less destroyed as collateral damage. Bang! A tree fell backward, a thump echoing in the forest, but it didn''t do anything to deter the two fighting. The weather was nice and temperate, but Garan was sweating. Covering himself with his ice at this point probably wouldn''t help. When she tripped a displaced root, his heart stopped, and his arm and legs automatically moved. "No, don''t help me!" He stopped, gritting his hand and teeth, and reluctantly froze in place. He should trust his wife, that was his duty. Back to the battle, Althea rolled around to avoid its hit, and her sharp emerald eyes saw an opening. Althea swung her sword and hit the skin exposed from its attack¡ªa weakness¡ªtaking advantage to do some serious damage. Slash! The bird screamed, eyes turning redder. Caw!!! Caww!!! She avoided its berserk attack, slashing at opportune times, conserving as much spirit as she could. As she got used to its attack, she soon became more aware of her surroundings and she started moving in accordance to it. In her mind''s eyes, she mapped a virtual image of the surrounding forests, the trees, the rocks, the boulders. She tried to shield herself with these as she could, also using them as distractions. She heard a light crack near her and, while avoiding a beak, flitted to another direction, before suddenly moving to another. When the monster lifted its beak off the wood, half of the tree trunk was taken with it. Althea moved around and led the monster around as she ran, her emerald eyes focusing on the tree barely standing. She timed everything as accurately as she could. When she saw the flimsy trunk move slightly in a direction, she immediately ran to where it would fall, before abruptly moving to another spot. Caw! Caw! She moved and the monster stood where she did. A moment later, the damaged trunk fell down, directly on the unsuspecting monster. Caw!!! The tree could trap it only for a few seconds of course, but it was enough to distract it enough for her to hit its vitals. [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] [Killed! Emalau (Lv9). +250 copper, +250 experience!] Her legs weakened a bit as she received the notification, with Garan immediately walking to her. He wrapped an arm around his wife''s small waist, pulling her to him. Althea was shaking and she flinched at his movements. "Husband?" But he didn''t speak and just lifted her head, dipping his own to catch her lips¡ªimmediately changing the angle to gain access inside. Althea let him do what he wanted; she knew he was scared. She knew he needed to do this¡ªto feel her¡ªto calm down. And she was the same. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. So she just smiled and wrapped her arms around him, with him hugging her even tighter in response. Just like that, all her fears disappeared and she was relaxed again. Chapter 425 Level 10! It took one of the trapped birds to create cracks in the ice walls to get Garan to pull back. He frowned, wanting to end the birds for disturbing their kisses. But then he felt his wife tap his shoulders, pulling back his attention. "I''m ready," she said, and he could only sigh and follow her wishes. The monster that had first gotten out of his coralle was naturally the strongest. It was a level 10 monster and judging from how it got out of its hold¡ªin stark contrast to the other two who were still snugly trapped¡ªshowed how much stronger it was. "I will need to weaken this one a lot," he said and Althea nodded, not arrogant enough to think she knew better than her husband on this. And thus, Garan weakened it a bit more than others. Eh, no, it was so weakened that Garan left a pitiful 20% in its life. Despite this handicap though, it was in no way weak¡ªnot against a human a level lower than it was. It yelled in anger, lunging towards Althea¡ªthe easier target¡ªclearly aiming to get her head. Althea flinched, not expecting this speed, and she only managed to avoid its hit because it was slowed down at the last second by Garan''s ice shackles. She jumped back as she watched the shackles break, allowing it to attack her again. She raised her arms to deflect another attack¡ªBANG!! ¡ªand her peripheral vision saw its damage on the tree next to her. Obliterated. Making a rough estimate, she could tell tha the damage its sharp beak did was twice that of the level 9. She was shaking¡ªphysically from the hit and in intimidation due to the strength disparity¡ªand could only run and avoid. One time she couldn''t run on time and could only defend, the weapon on hand lost a significant amount of durability. She tried to deal with it by herself for a few rounds but she quickly realized this one was out of her league. She looked at Garan, who nodded in understanding. He immediately trapped the bird again to its neck and Althea shakily stood up, beheading it only after several free slashes. She heaved a deep breath at this. Even slashing a monster fixed on the ground was much more difficult than she had anticipated! [Killed! Emalau (Lv10). +300 copper, +300 experience!] "The difference in level is not small," she told him, tone breathless. Garan didn''t answer immediately but instead took out a face towel from his space. Level 8 and Level 9 naturally had differences, but the gap between 9 and 10 was a gorge. She closed her eyes as her husband wiped off her sweat. "Is it just me?" He shook his head as he answered, "After level 10, monsters'' physiques make major improvements. Just as humans can begin controlling elements, if they had the predisposition." She lifted her head at a thought. "Are there monsters that could use the elements?" "I haven''t heard of it yet, but so far only humans, elves, and mermaids are known to be able to control elements." At the mention of these other races, Althea''s eyes sparkled, forgetting the scare she just experienced. To think she''d be talking about elves and mermaids in such a serious context, "This world is so magical¡­" Garan''s cerulean eyes were filled with warmth, and he knew his wife''s sense of wonder was at its height again. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Well, as long as we''re together. We''ll explore it someday." She chuckled, "Hmm¡­" She was very curious. Just¡­ how big was this world? ¡­ Heading back to the battle at hand, Garan reinforced the cages of some monsters, letting go of two more. Garan looked at Fufi, who was ordered to stay put on the side. Like Garan, he struggled very hard not to intervene. Fortunately, the torture was over. "You can join in." WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! The dog bounced up immediately at the order, his tail wagging wildly in excitement. He wore his perennially smiley face, though it was now adorned with palm-long teeth. When he pattered next to Althea, he was looking both scary and amusing at the same time. "Well, let''s work hard," she said with a smile, booping the dog''s nose (which was now almost as large as her palm¡­) Woof! Woof! (Translation: Kill! Kill!) They simultaneously turned their heads toward the remaining monsters trapped in the walls. Judging by the cracking sound of the ice, it was obvious it wouldn''t last very long. "Are you ready?" Garan asked, and the two immediately entered an attacking position. Althea gripped her gleaming sword tightly as the monster got out of the icy fence. Fufi''s happy smile turned ferocious, his hackles raised, ready for battle. The two grotesque emu-like monsters were soon released from the coralle. Their sharp beaks reflected the light and their scaly feathers rustling ominously. With a resolute breath, Althea charged forward, her katana slicing through the air. The monsters responded with screeching, their beaks snapping menacingly as they ran towards Althea. The first monster lunged but Althea sidestepped, avoiding its attack. As she did so, she raised her sword to hit its body, slicing a bit of its feathery hide. Fufi''s teeth were bare and sharp as he handled the other monster a level stronger than him. To keep him from getting too injured, Garan weakened the bird by wounding one of its legs. A ferocious battle ensued between the animals. Canine fangs clashed with razor-sharp talons of the monster, and they could hear the mix of differing growls and howls. On Althea''s side, she was also dealing with a monster on her own, defending as needed, attacking when she could. This was a weaker monster at level 8 and after the previous one, she had gotten much used to its pacing. Her movements were calculated and precise, and even with her drained spirit she managed to stop getting herself injured after a while. ''CAAWWW!'' the monster yelled, sprinting to her abruptly. She instantaneously moved out of its way, so that the monster hit the rock behind her. Using the rock exploded by its beak, she kicked a part of the stone to its mouth. It choked only for a moment but it was enough time for her to raise her sword and cause more damage. In its anger, it completely dismantled the rock on its beak a second later. It ran after her, its beak and talon aiming to strike her down. She deftly avoided its attacks, causing it damage little by little. Sometime in between, her peripheral view looked over to the other ongoing battle. Fufi was a bit bloody now, but otherwise still agile. "Fufi!" She yelled, "Come here!" Woof! The dog barked, heading straight in her direction. Doing a precise calculation, Althea led the monsters to each other, using the beak of one monster to damage the other. BANG!! CAWWWW!! It was really loud. It had to be said: Birds that become monsters were the exact opposites to their smaller counterparts¡ªthey were noisy as hell. Finally, her sword found its mark, piercing the monster''s heart. It let out a guttural screech before falling to the ground. Similarly, Fufi killed the wounded monster by biting its neck, pulling out what seemed to be its esophagus. It was a bloody scene. [Killed! Emalau (Lv8). +220 copper, +220 experience!] [Killed! Emalau (Lv8). +220 copper, +220 experience!] [Fufi upgraded to Level 8!] [Fufi learned Bite Smash (D) : Automatic combo of bite and smash. +10% attack. CD: 20 seconds] Althea heaved a deep breath as her legs weakened, Fufi was quick to help her to a nearby surface and she immediately found the only ''good rock'' remaining in the vicinity and sat there to rest. Her husband handed her a bottle of water, while Fufi had a bowl of food, water, and medicine ready in his own space for his consumption. "Let me check," Garan said, referring to her katana. She unceremoniously handed the weapon to him, taking in all the special food and medicine she had remaining. As they rested, Garan reinforced her weapon again, consuming some mana to increase its durability. "Thank you," Althea said as he handed it back to her, though not without a sweet peck on the lips. It didn''t fail to make Garan''s eyes darken but Althea already stepped back and raised her arms to the corrale, silently asking him to let the final enemies go. With a sigh, Garan took down the final walls, with the duo killing the enemies using similar strategies from before, albeit with much greater ease. Further, both kills were given to Althea, as Fufi had already leveled up. [Killed! Emalau (Lv9). +250 copper, +250 experience!] [Killed! Emalau (Lv8). +220 copper, +220 experience!] The moment the monster fell, the familiar aura of upgrade surrounded her again. This time though, it was much much stronger, to the point that both of them shook a little. An instant later, the force compressed to her and she felt her upgrade complete. Ding! [Congratulations for leveling up to level 10!] Finally! Despite her low spirit, she jumped up and climbed her husband like a koala, placing a smooch on his smiley tanned face. Of course, the massive upgrade naturally attracted a large horde. Unfortunately for them, Althea was in a very high mood for a fight right now. After all¡­she can finally use elements! S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 426 Arrival to Bleulle City At this time, Oslo finally arrived at Bleulle City. The city had a proud level 8 wall nearly thirteen yards in height¡ªrelatively rare as most cities only had level 7 walls, at most. The walls were well-guarded by sentries every few hundred meters or so, with the battlements occupied by many guards and archers, ready to defend as needed. There was a long line of people waiting to come in, and he lined up patiently this time¡ªuncharacteristic of the prodigal who used to wave his family emblem everywhere. He stood along with the others, ignoring the curious stares of many people around. However, his noble bearing intimidated anyone¡ªas any one who lined up were commoners¡ªso no one dared talking to him. As he entered, the message [Welcome back to Bluelle City!] flashed since he was a permanent resident, and therefore didn''t need to make any payments anymore. Going past the gates, he was immediately greeted by the lively streets and the cacophony of sounds. Bluelle City was one of the oldest cities in the area. It had a permanent population of hundreds of thousands of people¡ªnot including the visitors and tourists. He walked past and observed for any changes. While there was none, it was still as beautiful as before. Although Bluelle was much denser and less aesthetic than Altera, it was still home after all. He admired the five-story buildings that abutted the streets, and also the various stores and stalls that announced their presence in hopes of sales. They were also not afraid of the sun at all, because the tall buildings protected the streets by projecting their shadows onto them. He smiled at the painted white buildings predominantly made of stone byproducts after quarrying the city''s main industry¡ªThe Blu. The Blu was a mineral found in the mountains within the territory walls. It was a primary ingredient in creating aether blueprints. It had been supporting the economy of the city since it was discovered. Blu was a renewable resource, but it renewed slowly¡ªincreasingly so. Hence, there would always be a limit to the amount released every year, no matter what. This drove up its already sky-high price further upwards. Of course, the visitor industry¡ªcalled Tourism by Alterans¡ªwas also very good, with the tourists being people who hoped to buy the mineral. During the off-seasons, when the city wasn''t supplying, this naturally died down. There were several problems with this. Although the Blu was renewable¡­ the consumption was still too large. Even if they tried to control it, along with the fact that the refresh of the resource seemed to be getting longer, Oslo felt it would no longer be sustainable¡ªa concept he truly understood only in Altera¡ªto depend on it. Eventually, this production would become too slow, and the other industries depending on it might also die down. Oslo hoped to help his city to develop other industries, so as to not be too dependent on something that could disappear at any time. This thought was also inspired by his stay in Altera. While he was pondering on how to help his hometown with the knowledge he learned (oblivious to the stares he was getting), a bit of a carriage drama exploded nearby, pulling him back to the present. BANG! He blinked his glittery blue eyes (as the girls around would whisper) and walked over to where the commotion was. "Hey! Watch out!" One of the carriagemen yelled when he was almost bumped by a Siloh monster carriage. The other man was driving a Byul monster carriage¡ªmuch bigger¡ªand he was therefore much more arrogant than the other. Unfortunately for him, the driver of the Siloh monster wanted to ignore him and whistled for it to go past it. Unfortunately, this was seen as aggression by the monster and¡ª ROAR!! Oslo (and a few other bystanders) watched in interest as the monsters lunged at each other¡ªnot as uncommon as anyone would want¡ªknowing it would make for a good show. The advantages of getting a strong monster as a mount were that when traveling, not only would the carriage go fast (assuming the carriage was built for the speed and bumps), but monsters of the same level or below wouldn''t bother attacking. The disadvantage, not including the previously mentioned ones, was that similar-level monsters also tended to fight when placed too close to each other. The hold of the whistles loosened when this anger state was activated, especially at first. During this time, more often than not, the skills of Beast Masters would be required. It was why there was a distance requirement between carriages and there had to be several yards distance between converging traffic. In towns, one-way traffic was also a common practice. From what he could tell, the Byul driver wanted to overtake the other in a fork, the monsters got too close, and now they were brewing. Soon, the monsters did attack each other. ROAR! Going berserk enough not to listen to the drivers, the two monsters slapped and lunged and bit at each other, and he could hear the yells of the people in the carriage. It happened that the family crests in the carriages were from families he didn''t like, so he chose to turn a blind eye to the suffering but his apt attention on the good show. However, some stalls were damaged and this naturally triggered the regulations, immediately kicking the monsters (and their drivers) out. This meant that the carriages remained and the momentum let them fall uncontrollably. Oslo blinked at the fact that they were falling over two people. They were two motherly women who were obviously just doing their pre-lunch shopping. Sadly their groceries were now all on the floor, and their wide eyes stared as they saw the carriage the size of a small shed was barelling towards them. Unexpectedly, a large earth wall reinforced by metal appeared in front of them, catching the debris in time before it hit the pedestrians. The people in the carriage gasped, looking horrid with chicken nests for hair, and Oslo finally decided to sneak out of the area. He stepped back and didn''t wait for people to absorb what happened or figure out who created the earth wall. He simply sneaked away and continued to walk ahead. It was just that as he walked along the streets, appreciating the sights, a beast cart suddenly stopped next to him. "Master Oslo?! It''s really you!" He said, "That earth wall was yours, right?" Oslo blinked and watched as the man immediately went down the cart to greet him, revealing his appearance. It was a tall bald bearded man with tanned skin, and he immediately went to Oslo and assisted him with his heavy backpack. It was quite large and the old man paused his steps. The bald man turned and looked at him strangely, ''Doesn''t master Oslo have space, why does he bother to carry so many things?'' he asked in wonder. ''Is it a new fad?'' Sensing the man''s stare, Oslo only smiled. "Thank you," He said, entering the cart. He remembered this person as one of the leading managers of the beast cart business, one of his late grandfather''s¡ªnow his brother''s¡ªbiggest businesses. He entered and the cart started moving again, joining the dozens of carts traversing the road. Unlike Cassandra''s town, Bluelle had a lot more beast cars available. This was a city that obtained a lot of resources by exchanging Blu. His grandfather, decades prior, made a deal with the Lord of Beast City. They have been exchanging resources since. Of course, even if his grandfather did all the work and did all the risk, over half of the proceeds still went to the lord. By his generation, he heard they only retained 10% of the profits, and they were still in charge of every single aspect of its operations. Ms. Althea would never be so greedy. She would support her people with open arms. Heh, before, he really didn''t think much of the Lord here. He even admired him. But there was no way¡ªMs. Althea set the bar very high. "Welcome back, young master," the man said as he closed the door of the beast cart, and Oslo nodded in response. "I''m glad to be back Uncle Liu." The middle-aged man smiled and, using the specialized whistle, ordered the beast under him to start moving. The carriage lunged forward and he opened the curtains to look out the window. He wanted to see the place he was born in, passing by the lively streets lined by its three to five-story buildings, feeling a little melancholic. He recalled the various memories he had here, some happy, some sad, and some banal¡ªbut all of them felt¡­ so long ago. Had it really only been a few months? "How was your trip, young master?" Uncle Liu asked, seeing the young lad looking deeply outside, feeling¡­ different, more mature. "It must''ve been enlightening." Oslo''s light-colored eyebrows rose. "So obvious?" "Well, it wasn''t that it was so obvious," the man said, answering his question, "You seem more¡­ adult." Olso laughed. "Well, thank you?" Indeed, when he left, his attitude about everything was¡­ lax. He reckoned it could be because he got everything so easily¡ªeven women''s hearts. But not long after he stepped into that then-small village, meeting its beautiful Lord and her people, something stirred inside of him. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The fire of challenge; the spark of growth. Ah, what to do, he missed them again. Chapter 427 Oslos Home Oslo felt very melancholic all of a sudden, realizing how that ''spark'' of growth flourished in a village built two months ago. Not only did this spark lack in his personal life, it lacked in his atmosphere here. Bleulle¡­ had been stable for too long that it, too, became lax. Of course, it wasn''t that no one attacked Bleulle. The city also experienced the occasional Territorial War. But very few dared to do so. After all, the rare resources allowed Bleulle to gather a lot of strongmen to work and reside in it. The last most dangerous war was before he was born, when several territories partnered together and supported another top city to attack them, in exchange for a good piece of the pie. Fortunately, the city''s foundation was strong and it won. Gathering allied territories, and defeating those territories in the process. Since then, territories with brains opted to cooperate with Bluelle rather than attack it. Of course, it wasn''t an easy fight¡ªthe battle of giants never was. According to the stories, the lord back then¡ªthe current lord''s grandfather¡ªlost many of his allies, friends, and even family. "You seem to have had a good time outside," the old man said, pulling him back to the present. He seemed to have gotten into a deep topic and he turned to the old man, responding with a smile. "Well, I hope my change looks good." The old man laughed in response. "The Master and Lady would be very happy," he said. No one who knew the Golds didn''t know how their youngest son was¡ªa great talent but one who couldn''t quite push himself to do greater things. It was a pity for his friends and family, and a good show to their enemies. As the young master grew older, the more worried his parents became. But now it seemed like their intervention finally bore fruit. At the thought of his parents, Oslo felt a little excited. "Hmn, I hope I make them proud, too." ___ Some minutes later, the carriage slowed down. Noticing where they were, Oslo opened the curtain to see the gates of their estate open, revealing the home he grew up in. It was one of the largest properties in the city, with two stories and wide floors, located smack in the most sensitive area of the city. It was a custom building like the villas in Altera. He assumed that their lord here used a Level 2 Custom Building to create a two-floor building, maximizing the large floor area into two floors, in contrast to Altera''s two smaller floors and a basement. To his knowledge, the lord only built 20 such houses, occupied by the top 20 families of the time. These top families also changed up, so this also meant that a family would not necessarily stay in their ''mansion''. For instance, if a family lost favor, then they''d be kicked out. This was seen as an extreme humiliation if happened and often led to family conflicts and even deaths. Of course, his family, the Golds, had since the territory''s establishment never lost its place as the #1 family next to the lord''s. This had always been a point of pride. Anyway, the Golds'' mansion was located near the mountains where the Blus were extracted. After extraction, the Blus were then brought to a specialized handling area where it was converted to ink. The family was given charge of not only harvesting the resource, but also handling it. It was an honor, and also signified a lot of their responsibility to this territory. His family happened to be one of the families that was trusted by the Lord to handle this. This, along with the fact that his great-grandfather was one of the first Lord''s supporters, earned them the title of nobility. From when the territory was a village to what it was now, the Golds saw it all. Next to the lord, the Golds also handled the most money and power in the territory. This was amazing, and some people think that the Gold family was even more prominent than lords of low-level cities. Speaking of which, historically, Bleulle City was one of the fastest-growing territories in history because of its unique industry and good location. It took less than fifteen years for it to be transformed into a town, and only five decades to become a city after that. Most cities took twice or thrice that amount of time. The especially slow ones even took a thousand years. Bleulle was hailed as the paragon of fast development. It was just that looking at how Altera was growing, this seemed¡­ slow? "We''re here, young master," Uncle Liu said even though he knew the young master had been looking outside for a while now. He obviously seemed in a daze. He didn''t fall asleep with his eyes open, did he? Oslo blinked, chuckling, before heading back down. "Thanks." Oslo got off the carriage with his luggage. He politely refused uncle Liu''s offer to help, and went through the specialized iron gates. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The moment he entered, lines of servants lined up, greeting him. "Welcome back, fifth young master!" ___ "He''s back?" Gaia looked at the butler with bright eyes. She arranged the headdress on her fiery red locks, lifted the side of her dress, and left the papyrus book she was holding. Her husband, Zaol, was similarly excited and stood up and walked to her, rushing to the salon together. Then the woman paused, looking at her husband worriedly. "Do you think he hates us? For sending him there?" Oslo was used to the lavish lifestyle after all. "I mean¡­ did he suffer?" she paused, pale. "Oh, he must''ve lost a lot of weight!" The blonde man smiled gently. "He wouldn''t have come back here if he was¡­" "Yes, yes, you are correct," she smiled. "I should control this tendency to bloviate." She sighed. "But our youngest makes me so worried." Zaol smiled and gently held his wife''s hands. "Well, let''s believe he has some sort of growth." The servants, who were already used to it, were still a bit taken aback by the doting. After over sixty years of marriage, they were basically unchanged. In Xeno, seeing a man being so humble in front of his wife¡ªand not having a single mistress¡ªwas an unusual occurrence. The dynamic was extremely rare, but it so happened that a strong woman handpicked by the former patriarch happened to truly fall in love with the meek only son. Gaia was the only daughter of the richest merchant in Bleulle. It was a partnership that solidified their family''s power¡ªas the Lord''s right hand¡ªand wealth. Not to mention, Gaia gave birth to many children. This was a rare genetic trait of her family, making them extremely attractive marriage partners. After all, the higher the level of an individual, the more difficult it was to procreate. And yet Gaia gave him five children, which was unprecedented. It wasn''t that there were no third parties wanting to go between them. There were plenty of people vying for both of them. Despite Zaol''s meek personality, he was very handsome and very very rich. On the other hand, Gaia was a bit headstrong, but she was also wealthy and most importantly her fertility was one of the best. In fact, their relationship with a lot of the top families had become strained because of this. At this time, the Golds were alone at the top, with their ''friends'' comprised almost entirely of insincere sycophants. As for why his mother chose his father, she said she saw loyalty and kindness in him absent in every other of her suitors. This was a value she taught to her children, and it was really a miracle that she didn''t throw Oslo away after he showed the first signs of womanizerhood. Anyway, the couple scurried down gracefully and went to meet their spoiled son with a mix of worry, anticipation, and glee. And a lot of apprehension. Did he really lose a lot of weight? ¡­ As soon as he arrived, Oslo stood and placed his items on the salon, instructing the servants not to move them. Except for a few baskets of ingredients he took out, he kept the others mum and hidden for a surprise. He naturally didn''t expect their cook to understand the use of novel ingredients, but he wanted it presented well to his family. He had discovered treasure¡ªAltera¡ªand he naturally wanted to share it well with his family. Due to the length of travel, the food he brought were ones with very long shelf lives. For example, he brought a lot of jerkies, instant noodles, and ready-mixes that could go with anything. He also brought various other items as a surprise, with each family member¡ªand even the in-laws¡ªto be getting a little of Altera for themselves. Anyway, after securing his stuff, he gestured to go greet his parents, but they were already downstairs when he did so. The handsome middle-aged couple looked at him with relief. His mother went to him to hold his hand, while his father patted his other shoulder. Oslo smiled at his father while patting his mother''s hand. "I''m back." Chapter 428 The Gold Family (Part 1) "Oh, my son!" Gaia immediately ran to the handsome Oslo, looking him up and down for any injuries. No matter how big the youngest baby became, a mother would always treat them as a baby. She was also expecting him to have gotten much thinner, so when she touched his arms, she thought she''d confirm her fears. It was just that¡­ as she patted him down, she couldn''t help but pause in puzzlement. Her eyebrows rose in puzzlement, whipping her head to look at him. "You¡­ gained weight!!" Oslo rubbed his nose, a tad embarrassed. Did he get so fat? No, right? "I''ve been eating well," was all he said, before giving a mysterious smile. "I''ve been eating very well." Gaia knew her son well enough to know there was a longer story behind the statement. "Are you going to tell us more?" "Of course." Gaia clapped her hands with a smile, turning to a servant. "Call the other children," she said, "We have a lot to catch up on!" "Yes, mam!" They said and forwarded instructions to various servants, who in turn scurried over to different parts of the massive city to call the other young masters and the young mistress. Fortunately, although they all had their own abodes, all of Oslo''s siblings were currently in the city. This made them more accessible to their parents, more often than not. Gaia had wanted to ask him more questions when she saw him heading towards the kitchen with the cooks. She didn''t notice the chefs had been waiting nearby. Zaol looked at them curiously. "What''s going on, son?" Oslo smiled proudly, "I''m in charge of dinner today," he said, "I guarantee you''d love it!" The old couple (who appeared to be in their early 40s) looked at each other in curiosity. One must know that despite Oslo''s shortcomings, he was well-known for his pickiness. If he said they''d like dinner, then they probably would. "Oh?" Gaia said with a curious smile, "Well, we''re looking forward to it." ¡­ Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A few hours later. The younger generation and their families arrived early that night, very much looking forward to the stories Oslo would tell. Although¡­ knowing them, they''d probably be expecting some sob story of suffering to make their day¡­ The first to arrive was the oldest, Orion, the most responsible one. He was still super tall and had that stoic expression on his face. His pale¡ªalmost white¡ªblonde hair combed back to perfection, as always. He was still as strikingly handsome at 50 years old, barely not aging at all after turning 30. He was the only one that inherited their mother''s reddish-brown eyes. Although he had more of a quiet confidence, he definitely had the most respected place after the parents. Growing up, Oslo was most intimidated by this brother. Because he had been spoiled by his parents, this brother of his was the one who would give him¡ªas Alterans would call it¡ªtough love. Their eyes met and the man nodded. Gulping, Oslo nodded back. There was no doubt Orion had just come from work and might continue some of it here, seeing the amount of papyrus he brought with him. Next to him was his wife Hilda¡ªa mild-mannered brunette with soft curls. She was a quiet demure beauty, the one that looked like she was blooming all the time. Next to the beautiful couple was their eleven-year-old son, Honda. He was somewhat of a meek kid, but he tried to emulate his father''s coolness often. Of course, that was when his dad was in the room. He was much more relaxed with just his aunt and uncles. The two smiled at him, in contrast with his brother who went straight to a seat. Oslo grinned as he greeted them back, "Beautiful as always~" But he flinched when he felt his brother''s stare. It was very similar to how Garan and Ansel interacted, except Oslo wasn''t actually very close with his sister-in-law. Speaking of, Hilda was still pretty. However, because her level was markedly lower than Orion''s, some signs of aging have began to show. It was not much, so it usually didn''t matter, but there was some contrast when she was next to her husband. When next to Orion, Hilda did look a bit older despite being 5 years younger than her husband. This was a source of worry for Hilda and she had quite a bit of obsession with anything that could make her beautiful. Oslo personally thought she didn''t have anything to worry about. Orion was a bit of an ice block anyway, and was never the passionate type who would go after younger girls. "Well, my brother is very lucky to have such a wonderful wife," he said, turning to the adorable boy with large eyes. As for Honda, the blonde hair showed that the trait was definitely strong in their lineage. He did, however, also inherit his own mother''s eyes which were the color of amber stone. They sat around while waiting for the others, and the women started discussing some gossip, particularly about high society in Bleulle. "I heard about what happened in the lord''s party¡­" Gaia said. It was a time she was having those headaches after remembering her troublesome younger son, so she wasn''t able to attend. Oslo, ever the lover of gossip, leaned over to listen. Hilda must''ve been bullied in the gathering again. It was always something difficult to make an issue of¡ªfor example, whispering from a distance, or weird looks. If Hilda did make trouble because of it, they''d just call her oversensitive. Before, Oslo didn''t really think too much¡ªit came with the territory of being married to his brother. But after being in Altera, seeing women have the same position as men, he had slowly morphed this way of thinking. "It''s fine¡­ really," Hilda said, shaking her head. "I know what I was getting into when I married Orion." Hilda was also the Bleulle Lord''s niece, which would make people think the marriage solidified the relations between the two families. But that wasn''t true because Orion was actually being matched with the lord''s daughter, Lady Octavia, instead. Orion though fell for the visiting niece and Orion, being a stern man who inherited marital ideals from his father, couldn''t be talked out of the courtship. His parents believed in true love so they never forced them apart. It caused an additional strain between them and the lord¡ªwho was apparently visiting somewhere with his family at this time, thank goodness¡ªand they had talked a lot less since then. This was the first time this happened since grandfather''s time when someone tried to induce a fight, making it seem like the Golds wanted to usurp or something. They chatted a bit about the party and how boring it was and it was broken when new people finally arrived at the salon. Soon came Otto, the second brother, and his twin Olga. They had just celebrated their 40th birthday before Oslo was sent on an ''excursion''. Of course, due to their levels, they looked even younger than people in their 20s. Otto was with shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes. He had a suave temperament similar to Oslo, except he was really hard working for his field¡ªmoney making. Olga was basically the female version of him and had inherited their mother''s strong personality¡ªa very rare trait in women outside Altera. So, even with her beauty and money, there were plenty of men that had been intimidated away. This was amazing because most would think Olga was also a great ''birth machine'', but she somehow managed to scare away even her bravest suitors. Neither of them was married, and Oslo heard they weren''t planning on marrying either. The twins had their own businesses, inheriting the acumen from the maternal side of the family. Both businesses were also quite successful, though they unfortunately¡ªas with every other business¡ªhad to share half their proceeds with the lord. However, they were still quite well-off. Otto''s business was mostly a middleman of products. He noticed early on that Bleulle had been ignoring other industries, so he had created various caravans to sell various goods in the territory. Rare goods plus rich customers equals a lot of money, and he quickly became one of the leading caravans in the city. Olga initially had to partner with Otto for everything, even the products only she had taken an interest in. This was because she was a woman, and running a business in Xeno as a woman was like asking oneself to be bullied. This was why she was so adamant about making a beauty shop, and so was Hilda, so she could grow somewhat independent. At the very least, the customer base would be fellow women, so they wouldn''t have to tolerate the mean-spirited men as much. The last one was Obi, just two years older than Oslo. He arrived in his guard uniform, showing off as usual. He had very short hair and a larger build than the others. His eyes were dark green, inherited from his grandmother''s side. This guy was also the most villainous sibling to Oslo, bullying him everywhere. How many maggots Oslo found inside his clothes growing up, he couldn''t even count. "Yo, you''re back from banishment!" Obi uttered as soon as he saw him. Oslo rolled his eyes. And so, their family with consistent gold locks, except for his mother, who had fiery red hair characteristic of her family, was finally complete. Obi looked at him up and down, and frowned, before turning to his parents. "Did he already finish crying?" He glared at the servants. "Why didn''t anyone call me earlier?!" Oslo''s eyes twitched. "Sorry to disappoint you but I didn''t cry. "It''s more like a vacation, to be honest." This made everyone''s curious eyes fix on him. His eyes twitched, standing up and headed to the kitchen. "I''ll tell you over dinner." They curiously entered the dining room and were met with a striking aroma that automatically made their stomachs growl. "What¡­ what is this¡­" Otto, the family glutton, asked in a daze. Oslo smirked. "New delicacies I brought back." He paused, "I''ll tell you more if you say please." Otto immediately dropped his ''big brother'' air and held Oslo''s shoulder. "Please!" Chapter 429 The Gold Family (Part 2) Oslo looked at his brother being sincere and hummed in satisfaction. With an imaginary tail of pride wagging, he led the family to the ''delicacies'' one by one. The table was a beautifully arranged masterpiece that attacked the family''s senses and stomachs. They struggled to listen to Oslo''s every word because they felt their tummies were growling too loudly. Didn''t they eat, like, a few hours before? Already so hungry? However, they still had strict upbringing so they still listened and didn''t jump to sit down as they wanted. Oslo started with the center viand, placed on a massive plate. It was luscious-looking beef shimmering with unknown sauce and garnished with colorful vegetables, some of which were unfamiliar. "This is a special seasoned Hog beef. It is the usual meat you eat, but softened and infused with a special sauce that would bring you to the Elves." He then moved to an odd-looking dish at the side. They were like greenish worms on a plate? But they were long and tangled and¡­ chewy-looking. "Next one is special beef noodles. It''s a special pasta found only in the Altera area. It is chewy, sumptuous, and flavorful." It had a special shimmer and aroma to it, but it had to be said that the appearance was definitely unique. They had never seen anything like it. Obi opened his mouth for snide remark like ''Did you start eating worms in the village?'' but he was shut up by Oslo with putting a small hard bread in his mouth. He chewed on it and raised a brow. The texture was similar to what was offered in restaurants. It did have a bit of flavor though. What''s more, because it was crunchy, it shut him up, which was why it was shoved into his mouth in the first place. "It''s crutton," he said, "An addition to the salad." The blonde then moved to colorful greens, coated with an unknown yellow sauce. "This is a salad with special Altera salad dressing, making grass a delicacy." Although Xeno people naturally ate a lot of greens, they never really innovated. This was especially true because there was an abundance of them (for now), which exacerbated the culture. Ms. Althea said it had something to do with complacency. Because there were too many food resources, people simply didn''t find the need to be creative. At the same time, especially in villages and towns, too many things threatened people''s safeties¡ªhow could they have the mind to think beyond what they knew? Anyway, back to his show-off session, he also introduced some other common delicacies in Xeno, but using different ''seasonings'' and ''sauces'' he brought. When he finished, no one asked questions as the family sat in their places and started eating. They moaned as the flavorful meat and soup entered their tongues, bringing them to gastronomic heaven. "This¡­!" "So good!" "My tongue is with the Elves!" Even Gaia, with all her poise, couldn''t help but make an enthusiastic comment. She looked at the plate that should''ve been familiar, but so different. "Is this really my favorite Hog broth?" "Yes, Mother," Oslo said with a smile, "We added several condiments and sauces, I already taught the chef some ratios." His mother''s eyes widened, obviously loving the gift. "It''s delicious, thank you." Seeing the woman like this, his father patted his shoulder with a proud smile. "You brought us good things, son." Oslo smiled graciously, but he was extremely complicated inside. He was extremely loved, yes, but they were never proud of him. He was also aware of the fact that food alone made them so proud. Was the expectations of him so low?? sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was only when the plates were cleared out that they remembered to catch up with each other''s lives. Obviously, the first person to be ''interrogated'' was Oslo. But he shook his head. "I want to hear everyone''s stories first," He told them, "I have been away for too long." Everyone was in a good mood today, especially chewing on something delicious, so they humored him without much question. It started with Orion''s latest achievement¡ªa partnership with the cloth cities. This was actually the reason there was a new building type, the Clothing Store, in the system, when it wasn''t there a month or two prior. Of course, because he was not one to speak long sentences, Hilda spoke for him. He had apparently entered a deal to supply the cities with necessary Blu and Papyrus in order to create the building type¡ªwhich was a lot, because even Level A Architects could not create Level A Blueprints each time. On the contrary, they were quite rare, and most top architects could only make a few top-quality plans every year, even if they drew every single day. Then there was the twins'' latest venture, wherein Otto got special exclusive goods from Holt City and made a killing. Olga opened a beauty shop, partnering with Hilda. By beauty shop, however, it meant selling some plant combinations with very expensive help and commissions from pharmacists, who could only be directly accessed via this channel. This was a new concept and they were confident the noble ladies would love to try it. Oslo knew they''d particularly love to go to Altera after he told them his story. There was also Obi''s latest victory, where he was sent to assist another city in a war, gaining a lot of kills and prestige. Even little Honda had a story to share. He was twelve soon, and he would be going outside the walls to fight monsters. In that reserved way of his trying to mimic his father''s stoicness, he told of his training with low-level monsters and how he was looking forward to fighting stronger ones. People of their class trained their children early, albeit that was just catching weak beasts, taking them to the training grounds, and assisting the children in their kills. The true training, that was, going outside, was set for another month. The little lad was quite excited, thinking he''d be as cool as the guards the moment he stepped out. When it was Oslo''s turn, everyone looked especially interested. Hey, he felt a bit shy. In retrospect, after his silly imagination-filled storytelling as a child, it seemed that he never had particularly interesting stories to tell anymore? But now, everyone was listening so aptly. He felt a certain sense¡­ of pride and relief. He gathered himself and cleared his throat. "Well, it''s a long story," he said, "As you know, I''m a level D professional with dual elements, so hiring me is very expensive. "And then you limited my hiring to villages, so no one could afford me for a while." His parents smiled awkwardly at this, not really considering it until after realizing he was not being hired. However, they were stubborn and refused to pull him out. "So, I did indeed suffer until I got hired." This was true because he was sent to a chancery of a very small and poor town. In every Town and City, there was a Chancery of Appointments. They had to stay in their facility (with them paying additional dormitory fees, of course) so they could be summoned at a moment''s notice. However, in the spirit of banishment, his family sent him to a nearby ultra-poor town to settle in the Chancery there, instead. "Basically, I have only been hired about a month ago. "What?" It was Obi, of course, it was. "What were you doing the months before that?" Then he proceeded to answer his own question, "Philandering, no doubt." Oslo ignored the annoying older brother and faced the more ''mature'' family members instead. "So¡­ this village that could hire someone with my fees... naturally wasn''t like any other." "Still, I didn''t have much expectations¡ªnot really, who would? But then I saw the l¡ªthe territory. How beautiful it was, how strong for its level, and the fact that it was only established for several days when I was summoned was incredible to me." "What?" Obi shook his head, "Is that what they told you?" He asked with a mocking stare. "You''re a Gold, they could just be saying that to impress you." Oslo ignored him (again) and continued with his story, "It had unique buildings, facilities, and food. The citizens were extremely open-minded and free. The culture is unlike we''ve ever seen." "That good?" They said, "What about the military strength?" "Have you ever seen a village with Level 5 walls and sentries even denser than cities?" "Seriously?" Oslo tried to paint as accurate an image of Altera for them. It was just that Altera was so unique it was unlikely it had done it any justice. Fortunately, he had a skillful tongue, especially in sweet talk, so he managed to paint it accurately enough that it riveted the family. Although some were a bit cynical, like Orion and Obi were, they were mostly extremely curious, even fascinated, with the unknown territory. He clapped his hand. "Well, storytelling is over for now. I happened to have brought everyone gifts!" He looked at them, quite proud. "I''m sure you''d love them." Chapter 430 Gifts "I''m sure you''d love them," Oslo said, "My gifts, I mean." "Oh?" Obi asked, crossing his arms, "So certain?" Olga blinked, "Are those the massive boxes and odd bags you placed in the salon?" Oslo nodded, a bit smug. He then asked the servants to bring the gifts closer to them, and one by one the boxes were taken next to Oslo. While this was being done, some other servants were holding trays with finger food like some biscuits and dessert. "Here, have some snacks as I show you guys the gifts." "Oh? How interesting," his mother said, and the women looked particularly intrigued by the snacks. They were very adorable and curious to look at. They wondered if they were even lovelier to eat. Otto-the-foodie naturally went there first, even before the women, and took a bite. His expectations were high because of the amazing dinner, and he was not disappointed with this one! "Holy Elfhair! This is delicious!" So crunchy and so¡­ sweet! Like all of Oslo''s other items, he hadn''t tasted anything like it! It felt his soul was flying though the clouds and these clouds carried sweetness that no Sousa fruit could compare. Seeing his uncle almost sobbing a little, little Honda also stepped in and took a bite. He was followed by his mother, and then everyone else. Without exception, each one showed an expression of bliss. No one spoke anymore, just focusing on eating lest they run out of snacks while they blabbered. They closed their eyes, savouring the creamy chewy goodness in their tongues. Silence echoed in the room and only the sound of crunch and chewing was heard. Oslo chuckled as he watched his family look like they were finally eating good food after being trapped in an ogre mountain for decades. He turned to the boxes. "Now for the gifts," he began and put out several things for sharing. He had brought them a lot of souvenirs. First to receive gifts were the women. Each of them had bolts of fabric, as well as some customized beauty products he bought from the Lord. Olga''s sharp eyes caught a pretty bottle and admired it. It took a moment to figure out how to open the soft-looking lid, and when she did a soft scent permeated their noses. It was a bold and invigorating scent and Olga loved it very much. The women were particularly bright as they surrounded Olga, getting a whiff of the scent. "This is so fragrant!" Olga looked at Oslo, "Is it a perfume?" In cities, such things had been sold for a high price. These were made by apothecaries (or their apprentices) and were sold to nobles as status symbols. It was a fairly new thing, and Olga was just setting up plans to get a partnership! In fact, she was already in talks with one. It was just delayed for so long, despite her excitement for the product, because the pharmacist made the condition that she must marry his son! If the son was a decent human being, maybe she''d seriously consider, but the guy was a fat stallion! Gross! Oslo was unaware of the various thoughts in his sister''s head and just taught her how to use it. "Yes, just put a little on your neck and you''ll smell like so a whole day." The other two women also curiously looked at their own ceramic vials, which were also pretty in their own way by the way. They had never seen bottles so glossy and clean and prettily designed before. "I chose different scents for the three of you," Oslo said with a smile, "Olga''s is a blend of spices, wood, and others. Some I''m not familiar with, and some trade secrets. Sister-in-law''s is more floral, fit for her demure personality, and mother''s is similar to Olga''s, but a bit more mature." Hilda blinked in curiosity and sniffed, her eyes shut as she was surrounded by the lovely scent of of florals and¡­ something sweet. Hilda''s face lit up with a serene contented smile. Similarly, Gaia''s perfume enveloped her senses. It was like timeless elegance and wisdom were made into a scent. The women immediately took out some items from their space (they were already full) and handed them to their servants, placing the bottles securely inside. It was as if Oslo would suddenly decide to take it back¡­ With the good example of the perfume, they shifted their attention to the cloths. "What is his fabric?" Hilda asked, gently touching her own. "It''s very different from ours." Xeno fabrics were either too rough or too smooth (available for nobles). Most of the former types were uncomfortable, even after a long time of use, while the latter was extremely expensive and scarce. Seeing so many bolts of decent cloth fascinated them so. There were also various beautiful patterns on it, which was absolutely unique. Even the simplest clothing would be special using these¡­ "They''re cotton cloth, very comfortable to wear!" The women''s eyes brightened and they already wondered what to do with it when the less mature men had become antsy. "Ours, time for ours!" Obi intervened, impatient, and Oslo rolled his eyes. He turned to the side and nodded his head and the servants opened another one of the boxes. Obi couldn''t wait and was already next to the box by the time it opened. It was a special type of¡­ bow? Obi didn''t know exactly how it worked, but had a special aura and he knew this was a good weapon. It looked to be only a level D or C weapon, but he wasn''t unimpressed with the quality and the sleekness of the design. It was also nothing he had seen, so of course, he was curious! He immediately extended his hand to get it but it was suddenly pulled back. Obi frowned and raised his cerulean eyes to meet Oslo''s, who was grinning smugly. "Say please." Obi''s eyes twitched. Normally this would lead to a fight, but the charm of the weird weapon was too much. "Tsk," Obi tutted, "Please?" Oslo nodded with a smile and gestured to hand it over, only to pull it back again, making Obi''s eyes twitch. "Don''t test it inside," Oslo said, fortunately handing it over afterward (or it would''ve really been a fight). Obi scoffed. "Of course, do I look like an idiot?" "A fighting idiot, yes." "Tsk," but Obi took it as well as the interestingly small quiver outside to try. Next was Otto, and he took out several bottles from the space. "These are the spices I gave to the kitchen. I figured you''d want a set in your own house." Otto brightened and laughed, patting his little brother''s shoulders, "Very good! You know me well!" And finally, it was Orion''s turn and he gave a rim of thin paper and the pen. It was made of carved stone and was designed to retain a lot of ink. Oslo had found this invention incredible, but in Altera everyone seemed to have taken it for granted. Some even said there were much more convenient designs that didn''t need refills after weeks of usage, but they didn''t have the material yet. However, for Oslo and the others, it was already amazing. Orion''s usually stoic eyes showed a rare glint and he took the gifts (not before giving a very succinct thanks) to the nearest table to try it out, writing out his next tasks. The family chuckled when they saw him enter his work zone again. "Where''s mine?" "Of course little Honda," he said, handing over the puzzles and big-kid toys. "Oh? What is this?" Otto asked as if it was given to him, curious. "I''ll show you," he said, opening the puzzle first. "You have to move this red piece, to this place." Honda nodded, trying to slide the longer blocks, but he couldn''t seem to get the red square to the edge. "Aw, this is harder than it looks." sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The gift was for the kid, but it tickled the other''s curiosity. For Honda''s third try, he found his puzzle taken away from him. "Let me try," Otto said, sliding it around. To no avail, of course. Otto looked at Oslo, looking doubtful. "This is a joke right? The red box couldn''t be moved there, right?" Oslo smiled smugly and went over, showing them a few points and techniques he learned, earning a few impressed ''awws''. (He would never tell them he was exactly the same when he found it.) It was around this time that Obi returned, looking energetic. He was waving the crossbow around like he was a kid who was loving his latest toy. "This is amazing!" He yelled as soon as he got back. "The best bow and arrow I''ve seen for its level!" It was only a level D weapon, but it definitely rivaled the C-class weapons he used as a teen! While at his level¡ªlevel 43¡ªthis didn''t do much, he had plenty of guards under him who could use this. The shots were not only lethal, they were swift and needed less time to reload! The Golds looked at each other, impressed. The products they saw were already impressive, but a good weapon meant something different. "This can''t come from a village?" "Well, it won''t be a village for long," Oslo said, "It will be a town very soon. They would need a few resources to prepare them for an inevitable upgrade though." "Ah, how curious~" Olga said, leaning over. "Is it really very good?" "You women would love it too," he said, "Cassandra even stayed there." Gaia brightened at the mention of Cassandra. "I quite liked that girl," she said before giving Oslo a pointed look. "Better than every other woman you philandered with." Oslo felt a bit of pain in his temple. "I did not philander¡ªcan we resume with our previous topic, parents?" "Oh yes, continue." He cleared his throat. "I would need to request at least 30 sets of blueprint materials. I promised the Lord to sponsor 10." "Why would you do that?" It was Gaia who caught the implications in his words first. "You are coming back." "What?" "What?" Unlike the others, Otto shrugged. "Well, if he brings more of this stuff¡­" "..." "..." That was sufficient reason. Most of the relatives calmed down by then, already wondering when the next batch would come. Obi, who was now relaxedly drinking, looked at Oslo weirdly. His request¡­ was not cheap. "What''s the need?" He asked. "It''s not like a village could get a C-class architect¡ª" "It''s me," Oslo said, making everyone turn to him. "What?" Oslo smiled, repeating his words. "I am a C-class architect now." The family gaped at him in disbelief. Even Orion, who had been focused on writing, dropped his pen in shock. Chapter 431 Training Hall Level 2 (Part 1) [55 Days after The Migration] Altera. A new day had begun and the morning sun gently filtered through the curtains. Althea stirred in her cozy bed and, in her half-daze, she heard the soft and melodic giggling of babies that eventually pulled her from the depths of sleep. Slowly, she opened her eyes and stretched her arms to completely remove the slumber out her system. She slightly turned her head to the side, realizing her husband and the babies were on the floor cot, playing. Her husband was wearing a comfortable cotton shirt and pajamas, but his back was straight and he had a stern expression on his face. It was as if he was studying a battle plan while cross-legged on the floor. However, the difference was that even with a stoic face, the warmth in his eyes was overflowing. Near him were the two babies giggling and crawling around him, their tiny hands carrying them everywhere on the cot. They were super adorable and she wanted to pat those butt and poke their chubby cheeks just because. She shifted on the bed to get a better look, but Garan heard it instead. He turned and he immediately stood up when he saw her awake. With his masculine strides, he reached her a second later and sat next to her on the bed. "I''m sorry wife, did we wake you?" He asked, patting her head. She smiled and rubbed her face on his palm. "It''s fine. It''s just the right time to wake up," she said, "What were you doing?" Garan smiled in response, his arms finding their way behind her neck and legs, lifting her up without warning. She habitually wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders. They went to the cot and he settled her on his strong thighs as he sat. Seeing their mother near them, the babies immediately called to her with their baby language, crawling to approach. Their little butts were shaking as they passionately went towards her. "Mwaahhmwahhh¡­" "Googuumghu¡­" Althea giggled as she let go of her hold on her husband, albeit she was still comfortably sitting on him. She excitedly turned to Garan, "Husband! They''re crawling so quickly on their own now!" It was as if they forgot little Meatball actually floated, but that was a matter for the future¡ªespecially when the baby boy never did it again. It got to the point that they thought they both drank too much and imagined the whole thing. Anyway, at her words, Garan nodded with a smile. "When I woke up, I saw them in their crib, on all fours and staring at us," he said, "I decided to help them exercise." Althea''s lips pursed at the image and she watched as the children crawled to her. Slowly, and a bit unstable, but progress was made. They were only a few months old¡­ To be honest, her heart squeezed a bit whenever she saw them behaving in ways too advanced for their age, but no one could answer her doubts. And, again, Little Meatball had actually floated (assuming it was true). But whatever it meant, they loved their children and they''d figure it out together. Garan watched his family warmly and the couple looked at their unstable son, who lost his footing er, no, arm¡­ing? He fell down cheek first on the soft cot, and Althea almost sat up to help him. Strong arms wrapped around her torso though, and her husband''s warm breath blew on her ears. "No, my wife, let him get up on his own." The couple watched the babies crawl to them without any assistance. At some point, Little Pepper had already reached her, her soft tiny hands patting her legs. Althea''s heart melted as she took the baby to her lap and sent multiple smooches on her chubby face. Little Meatball was also crawling towards them, but a lot less stable than his older sister. Garan pursed his lips. "Alphonse Witt, You ought to train your arms more¡­" Althea rolled her eyes and pinched her husband''s cheek. "He''s a few months old!" He looked at her dotingly¡ªbut it was that look he had when he thought she was being silly. "He''s the man of the house after me. He ought to learn how to protect you and his sister." Althea knew there was no talking him out of this. She could only thank the heavens little Meatball couldn''t walk yet, or else who knew what kind of training he''d be thrown to. Speaking of training, they hadn''t been able to go to the training hall yesterday. Garan rubbed his wife''s curvaceous waist when he noticed her in a daze. "What''s wrong, wife?" "I forgot because the fight yesterday was so tiring¡­ but¡­ the Training Hall could finally be upgraded!" She paused and looked at the baby boy struggling to climb her thigh, only to fall back down the cot again. The momentum made him roll like a ball. So cute. She giggled, taking the babies in her arms, and gently squeezing their noses. "After eating, of course." ¡­ After having breakfast with the children and depositing them next door, the couple went to the Training Hall (Lv1). To upgrade a building, for now, she had to access the hall herself. This was in contrast with normal system buildings which could now be done via the map. To appear inconspicuous, the husband and wife simply lined up with everybody else. They also politely refused the offer to cut the line. "Thank you, but we can wait," she said, smiling beautifully and mesmerizing the random man. Garan placed his hand on her hips to pull her to him for a half embrace, which cut the random man''s thoughts and he awkwardly turned back in front and waited in line. Althea gave her husband a small frown. Was it necessary to intimidate a poor passerby? All she got was a smooch on the cheeks making everyone around them blush. Another one in the line coughed, "Are you sure you don''t want to go ahead Ms. Althea? I''m sure you guys can use your time for more¡­ productive things." She almost laughed but shook her head in the end. Although they normally would take up the offer, it would be too suspicious for the building to upgrade as soon as they entered it. "No thank you, my husband and I decided to go through everything by the book today." "Ah, ok!" "Very admirable," another said, earning a couple of nods. The line moved a bit and they stepped forward a couple of steps, fortunately, the upgrade trigger did appear. [Would you like to upgrade the Training Hall (Lv1) to Training Hall (Lv2)?] The price was, unsurprisingly, much more than the cost of building it. However, it was not just the usual three times. This seemed to be almost 5 times the cost of building it! But the Training Hall was far too important, and she really didn''t lack money¡ªespecially when the territory''s safety is on the line. [Yes.] And, like every other upgrade, there was a minuscule change in the air. Interestingly though, not everyone could sense this. So, when the building was upgraded, the people around were just shocked as all those inside suddenly appeared outside. What''s more, the building suddenly couldn''t be accessed. "What?" Someone in front of them yelled, followed by another. "What is going on?!" The people who were kicked out finally got out of their disorientation and were shocked to see the crowd. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What¡­??" "I was about to beat that level 5 Stormdoer damnit!" "What in the¡ª" "I thought I was going to dieee¡­" Anyway, it was all very confusing. They were unable to absorb more of what happened, and just got more confused when several people they were acquainted with grabbed them, asking what they saw inside. "????" Mao happened to be one of these people. He blinked and ran to the captain when he saw him. "Captain!" He exclaimed, sending his standard greeting. Then he looked around in a confused expression, unsure whether to ask his superior for what the heck happened. "Look back," was all the reticent captain said and he did as he was told. In front of their eyes the two-story building slowly increased by twice upwards. Slowly, brick by brick, the building started to change. Mao''s slitted eyes widened a millimeter more and gaped at the sight for a while, before turning his head back. "I¡­ I see." From his reaction, the ones inside during the upgrade¡ªexcept for being kicked out¡ªwere obviously unaffected by the changes outside. "Do you feel anything?" Althea asked and the man flinched, shaking his head to answer. Althea sighed in relief, while Garan nodded and looked at Mao. "Go back to the barracks and report this change." "Yes, sir!" After about half an hour, the ''construction'' stopped, revealing a new four-story building made of stone. At the same time, an announcement pinged in everyone''s heads. [The Territory Training Hall has been upgraded! All guards will be given priority use for a period of 3 days! [All permanent residents shall be given a discount of 50% of the usual rates for the first 10 hours of usage, 30% for temporary residents.] [Let''s increase the territory''s strength even more! Let''s work hard together!!] Chapter 432 Training Hall Level 2 (Part 2) [The Territory Training Hall has been upgraded! All guards will be given priority use for a period of 3 days! All permanent residents shall be given a discount of 50% of the usual rates for the first 10 hours of usage, 30% for temporary residents.] [Let''s increase the territory level even more!] "WHOA." The announcement naturally made a lot eyebrows rise, and those who had applied for the guards but didn''t pass (for now) were particularly envious. So lucky! They wanted to try it too! Of course, while the citizens didn''t get this benefit, they still had the extra discounts, so they weren''t too disappointed. "It upgraded! It really upgraded?!!" yelled many voices around the territory. Most of the people nearby rushed to see the upgraded building. It was done by the time the announcement was made, and the newcomers could only look at those who were already there for more details. "This is the first time I''ve seen a system building being constructed!" One said. "It''s too magical!" Another nodded. "I want to see what''s inside already!" Another one exclaimed. It was Hubert. It was his day off on guard duty, but he was still using it to train. Despite his idiotic personality, the guy worked very hard. Anyway, the ones kicked out during the upgrade were the first to enter, with the rest queuing up with anticipating hearts. After about half an hour, it was finally the couple''s turn to enter the building. They saw that there weren''t many changes at all except for the signage at the entrance. Apparently, the lower rooms remained the same, except monsters up to level 15 were available. This meant the soldiers staying could also improve their levels. Of course, people would still go to Ferrol simply because there wouldn''t be enough rooms in the Training Hall for all of them. There were no monetary rewards for killing a monster either, only experience (and discounted from the real thing). Another shortcoming of the training hall was that it only simulated monsters, not settings, which meant the actual fighting situations, including training to take advantage of the terrain, couldn''t be simulated. However, for the purpose of safe training, this was naturally a very very good thing. His soldiers would really still need to use this occasionally to master a few techniques they were practicing. The couple passed by the ground floor and went straight to the stairs to see the upper facilities. The upper two floors had completely different setups. On these floors were rooms dedicated to duos. The third floor was divided into two rooms for duos and trios, while the highest floor was only 1 room, and was dedicated to team play, with a maximum of 5 players. Garan nodded, thinking such a setup made sense. They paused in front of the room they were taking¡ªa room for duos¡ªand Garan looked at his wife. "I told you before that humans experience massive powerups at level 10 due to the elements while monsters'' bodies undergo major change at this level. He paused and continued. "Their bodies would become so strong and quick, much more so than before breaking that threshold. Generally, aborigines would need 5 strongmen handling a monster of the same level." Althea flinched. "So bad?! Is it always the case?" "For Elementalists, this could be reduced to two or three, which was the main reason we''re so revered here. However, it was still extremely difficult to deal with monsters of the same level, even for us. "Although us soldiers had learned several techniques and required a lot less manpower, it was generally not possible to deal with the same level alone. "This is probably why the training hall has more emphasis on teams after level 2." Althea frowned. This was very bad news. She made a mental note to hire more people to draw and document the monsters and create an even more comprehensive encyclopedia. It would not only show details of monsters, it would also have a list of weaknesses, strengths, and other data. There was already one in the works, but that one only did a basic introduction. She would also increase the remuneration for comprehensive information on monsters level 10 and above. Fortunately, level 10 and above monsters were rare in villages, and prevalent only in Towns. This made her even less inspired to try to upgrade into a town, whatever the requirement for that was. Their life was already very good, it was very reluctant to enter that tier with stronger enemies everywhere¡­ With a bit of a heavy heart, she entered the training room with her husband. Before picking monsters though, Althea checked her stats again. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 10 (1120/40000) Life: 3500/3500 Spirit: 3500/3500 +50 Physical: 600 +40 Agility: 629 +10 Defense: 606 +134 Mana: 4500 Physical Potential: A Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1), Triple Shot (D), Curved Shot (C) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Medina Robe (C): +40 Defence Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] She didn''t miss the massive increase of experience requirement for leveling up. "Would the experience requirement always be so much higher after level 10?" "Yes, it''s definitely much more difficult to level up after level 10. We only leveled up so fast because we were in danger every day, fighting against strong monsters." Althea patted her husband''s cheek as she was reminded of the dangers they faced. It wasn''t Garan''s intention, but he didn''t dislike the attention. Althea gave him a light peck on the lips before turning back to her stats. "Husband¡­" she asked, "Does everyone''s Health and Mana increase so much after level 10?" Garan nodded. "They do. From my observation, people''s Life and Spirit generally increased 100 every level up, and a larger increase of 300-500 during level 10. "I got a bit more than that¡­" "Mine got twice." "Mine¡­" "Thrice?" She nodded. "Then it is likely due to the amount of elements we have affinity." She nodded, but she furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms, looking at her stats again. "I don''t feel stronger¡­" Garan chuckled, "Unless you''re a fighter, you wouldn''t notice the changes until you''re in an actual fight," he said, "Before we summon, let me check on you first." Because Althea lost too much spirit the previous night, Garan didn''t allow her to practice elemental skills, he simply described some of the skills he had seen. He promised to take her to the barracks to watch his soldiers. For now, they would be fighting with monsters below her level, and get a feel of the elements by the way. "Considering the available surroundings you could use only water." People could control the elements, but only if they existed in the surroundings in some amount. In her case, wood could not be used because every surface in the room was rocks. The team had also determined during their training that the earth element couldn''t be used here either. This was unless one brought their own dirt, which was understandable to maintain the integrity of the surfaces. "Elemental skills are upgradable the more you master it. This is my Ice Spear at level 1. It consumes about 30 Mana," he said, manifesting a little spear of about a foot long and an inch wide at the middle, tapering to a sharp edge. He then manifested another spike. "Compared to my Ice Spear, Level 2, it would consume about 40 mana." She looked at it closer as he handed the spike. Not only was it larger¡ªabout half a meter long now¡ªit was more durable and lasted a lot longer. Garan then showed off a bit more and manifested a few more small spears around him. Althea watched as her husband handsomely manifested into ice weapons, looking super dashing. She looked so admiring that Garan really wanted to make out with her. But he didn''t, because he was a very disciplined man. "Feel the elements with your spirit. You should''ve practiced the meditation technique, right?" Althea nodded. She closed her eyes, recalling the exercises they had been practicing for a while. The difference this time was that when she opened her eyes, sparkly particles of different colors were visible. Her eyes widened and she looked at her husband, who had been watching her fondly. "Husband!" She exclaimed, emerald eyes filled with light, "It''s so beautiful!!" Garan smiled and patted her head. "Imagine them as part of your experiments. It would be like handling them, except you do not have other tools other than your power." Althea blinked, absorbing his words. Garan watched his beautiful wife wave her hands, feeling the water elements in the air. It didn''t follow her will at first, but soon the sparkles followed the set path she decided on, soon weaving strands of energy that were visible to the naked eye. Garan nodded. He knew his wife could do it. She had always been very talented. As a scientist, Althea was very aware of the composition of the elements, so it became more intuitive to her. Soon a small ball of water appeared floating between her palms, suspended in mid-air. The ball defied gravity, hovering in front of her, and it looked like it had a life of its own. It was shaky and couldn''t hold the most stable spherical shape, but it was at least a pretty oval. Her beautiful emerald eyes brightened with amazement and pride. She did it! Her first water ball!! Chapter 433 Elemental Skills (Part 1) [Warning! Please begin your training within 00:01:00 or else you will forfeit your turn and be blacklisted for 28 hours] [Countdown begins. 00:00:59] Althea, who was playing around with a water worm: "..." Garan''s lips twitched and he activated the aether screen. Althea, on the other hand, pouted. "How stingy. It hasn''t even been 10 minutes yet." She mumbled. Of course, she knew it was fair. After all, there was a long line outside. If everyone had fun as she would''ve, it was estimated only a few people would be able to use this facility every day. Garan smiled as he patted her cheek. "We''ll practice your elements after," he said, before looking at the screen. Garan then finalized their choice. For now, he chose one level 10 monster with high speeds. This was for Althea to realize the differences in her fight before and after she reached level 10, regardless of the elements. They watched in interest as glowing golden dust compressed, slowly forming a figure that became more and more solid. They had come to learn that this was a form of aether, and it was fascinating. As the monster¡ªan unfamiliar one¡ª completely materialized and began to move, Althea immediately released her weapons, ready to fight. Come! ¡­ Fifteen minutes later. Garan''s sharp eyes watched as his beautiful wife made several attacks against the aether monster. Her ponytailed hair was wet from sweat and she was breathing heavily, all signs that she was struggling a bit. It had been a quarter of an hour since the fight began, and she had yet to make any progress. However, it was miles better than the completely one-sided helpless fight from before. [Use! Perfect Aim (Lv2)! -10 Mana] Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea used her ability, but this didn''t mean her Bellagio could be used¡ªit still couldn''t. She didn''t even use a lower-level bow-and-arrow this time, because Garan wanted her to train her close-ranged skills, which was necessary if she didn''t have a lot of teammates around her. What she found out during this time was that she could use the skill for close-range attacks. There was a little difference in application though, similar to how one had to redirect water in a multi-level canal¡ªthat was, blocking one path to give entry to another. She didn''t know if the aborigines knew this. Even if they did, she never trained like this in front of them so it wouldn''t have occurred to them to inform her either. Her observant husband, however, did. He knew that this was certainly not public knowledge at all. Anyway, with the skill, her slices and jabs became much more accurate. Even with its speed, she managed to time her hits and she hit its eye. Sadly, a level 10 monster''s defense was still top-notch and it barely embedded. Huffing, she cracked her knuckles and tried to reenergize herself. She looked for other spots she could focus on while she avoided its attacks. Eventually, she hit the softer-looking skin under the neck¡ªanother likely weakness. Slash! Rooarrrr! She did it! Finally hit! ROARR! "Oops," she mumbled, barely avoiding a swift attack from the berserk beast. The attack that normally damaged a monster didn''t even scratch this one! She internally cursed, panting heavily and trying to wipe her dripping sweat while she avoided its nonstop attempts to hurt her. Although she had fought a level 10 before (and suffered), now that Garan hadn''t weakened it, she felt the strength gap much more intensely. It seemed like she still grossly underestimated enhanced monsters! Garan watched her movements carefully, ready to move any time she asked him to. It was normal for her to struggle. Perhaps in the whole of Xeno, Garan was one of the handful of people who could take on enhanced monsters by himself and come out with complete limbs. After all, Garan had a deep foundation in fighting, dual access to two aggressive elements, and had higher attribute increases during upgrades. For Althea, she may have triple elements but they were all of a relatively peaceful nature. At best, she could handle an unassisted fight for a while by virtue of her higher stats. Not to mention now, she couldn''t use any of her elements in battle just yet. Back to the fight, Althea once again stared at the monster whose fur had a metallic sheen, trying to look for more weaknesses. It lunged at Althea as it let out a sharp roar, its jugged claws aiming for her throat. Her hands gripped at her sword and, with improved reflexes, she sidestepped and raised her arm, defending herself against its attack. Her sword hit its metallic coat. Her eyes twitched when her katana rubbed against its hard skin, creating that annoying metal-to-metal screech. To her surprise, there were a few sparks lit by the friction. This moment of distraction was enough for the monster to be able to land a hit on her. The monster was too fast so she couldn''t avoid it. She was thrown to the wall by its strong paws. "Althea!" Garan yelled. He was so quick that he basically teleported to the wall, catching her before she hit it. The force was not weak and they slid together due to the momentum, but Garan managed to stop it after a few feet. "Thanks." "I can debilitate it¡ª" "Not yet," she told him, "I want to know how long I can last on my own." Garan frowned but saw the determined look in Althea''s eyes. He sighed. "Be careful," he said, reluctantly letting her go and taking down the ice wall he used to block the monster from her. Althea just continued to use her normal physical attacks, because she didn''t even have the time to use skills. Another half an hour passed and Althea saw her spirit was less than half. Although the monster would disappear if any of them had health less than 10%, she didn''t want to waste this opportunity to learn more. After some scuffle, she finally hit its eye again, this time with more precision. The blade stuck on its eye as it ran after her. She jumped and kicked the katana, hammering it deeper in its eyes. By a few inches anyway. The defense inside its body was unlike what she had encountered so far. Fortunately, it did damage it enough to make it shake its head in confusion for a few seconds. Taking advantage of these few seconds, she took out another blade¡ªa level D one made by Brenda¡ªand sliced the sword at it, creating more of those sparks. To Garan''s surprise, Althea decided to use her ability and drenched her sword, a small pond of water dripping from her hand to the connection. The water successfully conducted the bit of electricity, stinging the monster even for just a milli-second. It wasn''t much, but it was a distraction. She then hammered the arrow that was stuck on it, further stabbing its end, finally reducing its life to half. Garan stepped in at this time, understanding Althea was at her limit. He debilitated the monster by damaging all four limbs, with Althea taking a breather on the side. She approached the weakened monster and slashed repeatedly, finally killing the damned thing. [Killed! Simulated Kronic (Lv10). + 150 experience (reduced).] Seeing her meager earnings, she still smiled, finally losing her footing. This time, her husband was right behind to catch her fall. ____ Garan carried her out the training hall, gathering some worried stares. She had lost the feeling of her legs during the battle and could no longer stand so she could only get carried like this. She didn''t really mind this PDA, but the show of weakness was embarrassing and she buried her head on her husband''s generous chest. It was as if she couldn''t see them, they couldn''t see her either. Garan smiled and only shook his head at the voices of concern, as it would only make her even more shy. As such, the two reached home some minutes later without anyone bothering them. The two went home for Althea to take a nap before lunch time, with Garan preparing her favorite dishes. The children were once again ''kidnapped'' by Betty and the nurses to play as mascots. They said the recovery rate, especially the Spirit, increased when the babies were there. Such cuties would make everything feel better. Anyway, the children were extroverted, and it would be wrong for them to stay at home all the time. Garan stared warmly at his wife snoring in the lounge. She didn''t want to dirty the bed, and she refused to have him bathe her ''so early in the day''. Anyway, he did promise to wake her up for lunch so here he was, even if he was reluctant. "My love," he said, "Time to wake up now." "Hmmmm¡­" her eyebrows furrowed and she made a cute pout. Garan couldn''t help himself and he leaned down to meet her lips. Althea was woken up shortly after, because of the¡­ heat. She glared at him. "You didn''t have to be so¡­ passionate." He just gave her an innocent smile in response, "You made me promise to wake you up." Chapter 434 Elemental Skills (Part 2) Flirting aside, the couple had a satisfying lunch with a bit of dessert squeezed in. They went to the barracks after a short rest¡ªwhich turned to over an hour because of Garan''s incessant flirting. Frankly, it would have lasted longer if Althea wasn''t so vehement in her practice. Anyway, Althea absolutely would not rest until she practiced more so Garan could only give way. The new formal barracks arranged by Garan was a large 3-hectare barracks and military area near the west gate. It was close to the industrial and agricultural areas, so it was much quieter than the rest of the territory. It was too big for the current forces at this time, but it was big enough that even if Altera hired another thousand troops, it could house them comfortably. It also had complete sets of dormitories (using intermediate Custom Building), canteens, and training areas. Because of the completeness of the construction team and experts, this place was far better than the one the soldiers built in Ferrol. When it was completed, it made the soldiers'' blood boil so much that they trained extra hours to ''baptize'' the place. They were quite diligent and she asked Garan to treat them in her restaurant as a reward. This raised Althea''s already-high status even higher in the soldiers'' hearts. The Territory''s first fighting Arenas, ball courts, and other leisure courts were also built here. It would serve as an after-work benefit and more leisure exercise to the soldiers. The couple checked on these facilities and their statuses before heading to the main training grounds. As before, the teams were divided into three rotating teams: Guards training, guards outside the territory, and guards handling safety and security within the territory. The ratio they decided for this was 3:6:1 during peacetime. The system was already extremely convenient that it could handle a lot of the basic transgressions and punishments, making the job particularly light. For the most part, they''d be assisting Mathilda''s team in handling the rest of the problem. Mathilda and her team worked relatively low-key, but when they were gone, it could easily lead to chaos. This would be especially important during wartime, when most regulations would be null. Anyway, this meant that a pretty good ratio of the soldiers was now in the training ground. They occupied various places and training spots, some in the obstacle courses, some in the tracks, others doing the training courses arranged by Drake and Rowan, and others in the fighting arenas for spars. This area was naturally one of the larger places fighting was allowed for sparring. In the barracks alone, there were around five 100-square-meter arenas and three 300-square-meter arenas for Elementalists fights. At this time, the Terran Mercenary soldiers in Altera were Gill''s group, with the other team estimated to get back in another week or two. They weren''t really strict with exactly how long each turn was due to the excessive amount of variables. Anyway, they trusted their people wouldn''t be lax, and would find a way to strengthen themselves wherever they were. At this time, Gill, Sammy, Mao, Eagle, and Luis were in the barracks because Garan asked them to stay for the day. The group met them as soon as they approached and they headed towards the special elemental training hall. In the huge barracks, there was an exclusive warehouse-like reinforced structure with stone statues. Here, the guards could practice their spells without being watched. Civilians could also use this place, albeit they would have to pay some contribution for maintenance fees. Garan called the soldiers here to show the skills they learned so far, especially Mao, who was used Earth¡ªan element she had herself. For water, she would be going to Betty later on, but she didn''t have any luck with the wood Elementalists. Speaking of which, for some reason, wood Elementalists were relatively rare. This was a bit counterintuitive considering the lush vegetation of this world. After all, if an Elementalist had the ability to control the elements around, shouldn''t wood be one of the more common elements? The only ones in Garan''s group before were Leo and Sean, but both were not with them at this time. Leo was among those who stayed in Fargo while Sean was one of the five people who went West. Anyway, because they''d be focusing on her affinities later on, they decided to show her the other elements first. Althea was very smart and could always find something to learn in whatever. They might even learn something themselves. First to show off was the fire elementalist Luis and then the wind elementalist Eagle. Although she didn''t have these affinities, it was good to familiarize herself with them, ideally in relation to her own abilities. She was also very interested in how the other elemental skills worked. "Wife, before anything though," Garan said before anything started, "Note that, as low-level Elementalists, we are limited to one ''type'' of skill per element¡ªsupport or aggressive." This was something they learned during their time in towns. "We think of it as a sort of calibration, where our bodies adjust to the elements. After this was mastered, only then could we proceed to the other type." Except for Vanessa and Turbo, everybody else in their team chose the aggressive aspect of their elements first. This was natural. After all, they were thrust into danger the moment they got there. Althea nodded in understanding, earning Garan''s fond pat on the head. His expression then turned to his usual stern ones as he looked at his soldiers, nodding to proceed. First to deal with the stone dummies was Luis, who had just reached level 13. It was much, much, harder to level up after level 10 so it was understandably more difficult for Luis to catch up with the others, considering he lagged behind for weeks due to injury. However, with the addition of the upgraded Training Hall, he should be able to up his training. Anyway, Luis had been practicing for a long time and could finally control bigger fires so as to not get teased as a walking lighter. First was the fireball. Luis threw it to the statue, damaging its head. He could also make a firewall¡­ or, more accurately, a fire fence, that could last for about a minute. It wasn''t a bad improvement. "Not bad," Garan said, making the young man twinkle with pride. "Thank you, sir!" he said, before looking at Althea. "Do you have any questions, Miss Althea?" He asked politely, with that toothy grin of his. "Or suggestions¡­?" Althea smiled, thinking if she did have anything to say. Everyone knew that fire required three things: Fuel, Oxygen, and Heat. For wind, it also had to do with the air outside. For water, one would just need to find a source for the element. In the absence of obvious sources, they could get water from the air, albeit with much more effort. "I suggest to always bring fuel with you. It doesn''t have to be crude oil, but you can just dry some leaves and have it with you." For better or for worse, the plants here were more difficult to ignite with fire than in Terran. This was mostly a positive to avoid widespread forest fires, but this also meant the effect of fire damage using wood would also be limited. However, this higher fire resistance would be null if the plant was dried. Not only was the moisture in the plant gone, but the magical attribute of the plants themselves had also dissipated at this time! Luis'' eyes widened in enlightenment. "Oh! Makes sense!" Next was Eagle who could throw continuous wind blades and assist his own movements using wind. He taught her how to sense the air and use it to propel himself. Because she wasn''t a wind Elementalists, she couldn''t control the wind at all, but she did understand the concept of controlling air molecules. Learning from a wind elementalist would certainly help with her foundations. Next was Mao, a fellow Earth elementalist. He was naturally the one they would spend most time in. "First off, sister-in-law, we will do the Extract Soil Technique." "Is that how it''s called?" "No, I just named it that way," Mao said with a shit-eating grin. Althea giggled and just watched him do the job. It was relatively straightforward: She just had to feel the earth and the elements embedded inside them. Because they already existed/formed, she only had to control it¡ªwhich was plenty easier than elements like fire which had the formation stage. He also taught her how to make pot holes, primarily to trap enemies, and make a wall. Making a wall was a bit more difficult. She not only had to go so against gravity¡ªwhich was much higher in Xeno¡ªbut she also had to compress and reinforce it enough to serve as proper defense, and not just a wall of sand that would fall down with a poke. Finally, Gill was the only other person other than their family to have more than one elements: Fire and Earth. From him, Althea learned how to combine two elements, to create a new attack. In his case, it was Magma. It wasn''t as easy as it sounded, because you had to feel the differences of the elements and combine them. For instance, he had to be able to control the temperature precisely, otherwise, it would either burn the soil too much and create a crisp charcoal-like thing or he could heat it too little that the soil wouldn''t be flexible enough to move viscously. "Don''t worry, sister-in-law, it took me a couple of weeks to perf¡ª" The earth in front of her turned to mud, then to quicksand. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh, how nice~" she said, while Gill and the others could only gape. "..." Chapter 435 Young Plants After a few hours, the two finally left the barracks. Hand-in-hand, they headed to the clinic to pick up the kids. All throughout the walk, Althea was chattering passionately. She was very excited about the new sea of knowledge she had taken a dip in. The whole time, Garan just listened and looked at her dotingly. "I really liked the drowning people technique. It doesn''t take much power, but is super effective," she said. Although there were no water Elementalists in the barracks at this time, they did mention how Turbo handled his elements and inspired her. Especially, like Vanessa, Turbo was a healer. This meant he chose the support aspect of the water element to master first, but he still figured out ways to find attack techniques using the element. She practiced the theory of it and did get the hang of it after a bit. (Mao had to be the poor soul to determine whether she could really drown people with it) "Earth seemed to be the least consuming power in most cases," she said, "I just open up the earth on the ground and poof! I have a trap." "Pity we don''t have wood Elementalists among the soldiers though." She paused. Wood was also fairly rare, numbering just a bit more than the metal Elementalists. Like Garan, she also thought it was odd. If Elementalists could use the elements in the air, then wood Elementalists ought to be much more common. But this seemed to be something beyond their level at this time, so they could only move on and temporarily put this to the back of her mind. They arrived at the clinic before they knew it, with the children having their own elevated and railed space near the counter for everyone to dote on. It was relatively big¡ªmore than 2 square meters¡ªand occupied a big part of the reception area. It also had a detailed railing about half a meter high, which would''ve been enough to block the babies even when they started to stand up. Well, theoretically. Although it frankly looked too much like a zoo corralle¡ªwith the passersby (they even had some visitors who didn''t need to use the health center) looking like zoo goers¡ªthey seemed to genuinely admire the children anyway so they didn''t mind. Looking at the smiles on the injured and bandaged people, Betty and the others didn''t seem to be exaggerating when they said the children helped with lifting up spirits. At this time, the babies'' ''corralle'' were surrounded by patients and their families (and a few guests) alike. They were all gasping and cooing. They were all talking excitedly but in muted tones, so they weren''t shouting. "They can crawl now! They''re so young!" "Ohmygosh look at their cute butts bonking as they crawled!" "Such small hands and feet! I wanna touch them so much!" "As expected of Miss Althea and Sir Garan''s children!" "Too cute, too cute!!" "Stop yelling! Do you want to damage the babies'' ears?!" "Oh, rightrightright," she mumbled, considerably lowering her volume. "I''m sorry babies, forgive brother, okay?" "C''mon little Pepper, call big sister!" Another one cooed, making Pepper tilt her little head in wonder. She didn''t do anything, but said woman almost fainted from the cuteness attack. "Little Meatball make a saliva bubble for me, PLEASE!" Little Meatball seemed to have understood and made a bubble. Pop! "GAH! Soooo cute!" To be honest, the couple was a little taken aback by the attention when they first saw it, but they eventually got used to it. As long as they didn''t come on to the children too much or give them stuff, it didn''t matter. The babies obviously reveled in the attention, anyway. They would later find out that the children had grown their own fan groups with their own names. For Little Meatball, his fan group was called ''the Munchkins'' and for Baby Pepper, it was ''the Spices''. When more stationary became available, even merchandise would be sold. Of course, Ansel would find a way to monetize it somehow because forbidding it would just create a black market of sorts anyway. Of course, when it was Althea''s turn to get merchandise, Garan stopped that with strength (while keeping a few in his own space, of course). Overall, it was safe to say that the children would grow up surrounded by love. "I hope they don''t get too spoiled¡­" Althea mumbled worriedly. Frankly, she wasn''t confident she wouldn''t spoil the children. "Don''t worry, your husband would straighten Alphonse out." "...what about Pepper?" "She ought to be spoiled," He then turned to Althea, "You turned out quite well." She pouted. Was she spoiled? Was she?? Garan chuckled but didn''t answer. He only took the children, one in each arm. They were greeted happily by the audience but also felt sad that the babies were getting taken away. "Come again soon, babies~" one said, cooing at a safe distance from the scary Garan, but loud enough to catch the babies'' attention. "I promise I''ll be here~" This earned him a knock on the head. "Spend your own medical bills!" "Ah, I''m sorry mother." Anyway, some hilarity continued inside the clinic, even when the family was on their way home. The couple smiled as they left the premises, giving their cute children a few kisses on their soft faces. "My babies are really making so many people happy," she said, "Blessed babies indeed." ¡­ They went back home with the children just before dusk, and Althea after eating dinner went straight to her fenced experimental fields. Except for the flower fields, the rest were now dedicated to the Endemic plants Garan and Team A brought back. A lot of them had begun to bloom and some easier-to-grow ones like some tubers had already been harvested. For now, all she and the plant research team had of the harvested endemic plants were their compositions and some uses known by some of the aborigines. She managed to summarize a few, but she knew there was still so much to explore. Fortunately, she had a research team to back her up and they could gather so much information in such a small amount of time. Of course, if they had complete equipment, they''d have much faster progress. Their assessment skills (a skill almost all of the researchers had awakened) could determine a lot, but not everything. Anyway, the edible ones were sent to Harold to study. The past few days he had been in the kitchen of their villa, passing the helm of the Restaurant to Joana (lawyer Jun''s wife) and the others. The same plants, if there was enough growth, were also sent to Cooke for him to do the same. For example, there was one plant called Plopo which, according to the assessment skill, had a sweet peppery taste and was used to put in food. They had yet to know how it would be processed, however. When they tried traditional processing, the product was just bitter with minimal nutritional benefits. Hopefully, they''ll get more information within the week. Anyway, while there were plants already growing, there were those that had already sprouted but would still take a while to bloom. For example, trees. She had two new kinds, both of which were fruits from other regions of Xeno. One of them, the Bouti, was even a common fruit tree in the orc area. According to Gochi, this was the Gouji fruit equivalent in the orc lands, only much less tasty and nutritious. She continued to try and raise it though, because she wanted to know if there were other uses for it. Another one, now knee tall, had the composition of corn, only of smaller kernels. She didn''t have seeds for corn before, and she hoped that this was an okay alternative. Finally, there was a plant called Goldenroot, which had no use via her appraisal skill, but through her latest study, it had high amounts of polyphenols which could boost energy, reduce fatigue, and vitality. She would try to use it to improve Sprite, especially as it would lose decent effect for people above level 20. Her husband was beyond this threshold. She wasn''t comfortable knowing her medicine wouldn''t be able to help him as much anymore. As for the other plants, most of them were still in the nursery requiring a bit more care and attention. Some plants were also placed in the greenhouse, so they had yet to be analyzed. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Actually, over half of the seeds from Garan and the Ferrol market festival had yet to grow¡ªno, most of them had yet to sprout. Because of the strong refresh rate here¡ªplanted all of them in level 2 farmlands in her villa¡ªshe knew that for many of these plants, she was doing something wrong. If there was only a way to determine their status while they were still seeds, she wistfully mused. . . Then¡­ she remembered: she was a wood Elementalist. She knew that most wood Elementalist tended to choose the aggressive route of the element, primarily due to the dangers of this world. It made sense if one were to think of the fact that they were surrounded by lush forests everywhere. She understood why some would choose the aggressive route of the wood elements¡ªbut with her profession and the various other options for her to cause damage, she naturally chose the auxilary. There was no one to guide her though, so she''d just have to study this on her own. She raised her dainty hand and hovered them over the plants, wondering how much it could do with it. Chapter 436 The Wood Element Althea stared at her hands and concentrated her eyes, activating the meditative techniques she had been practicing for a while to feel the abundant wood energy in the area. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see the amount of wood energy, especially around the farmlands. She narrowed her eyes and walked outside, to observe the densities around the plants. She couldn''t do it inside the farm; it was too bright. Outside the farmlands, the wood energies were much less, but it was unsurprisingly much greater around the plants, especially trees¡ªmore notably, deciduous trees. Then going back to her farmland, the wood energy was so bright that it was almost blinding. This was quite amazing, especially since she doubted most of the other building types made use of elements at all. She wondered how it was done¡­ While she put aside her curiosity for now, she did make a mental note to study it more in the future. There were more pressing objectives of study at this time. Althea mused on how to use it for a while, analyzing, and thinking what should be the first point of experimentation. She then recalled the differences in how to handle various elements, and came up with an experiment. [Used Elementary Appraisal (D)! - 10 Mana!] She activated her skill and saw the information she already knew and had checked before. However, she looked at the floating green glitters floating like dust and willed some of them to gather towards her. Or more specifically, collected them in front of her eyes. Slowly, but purposely, more and more emerald sparkles floated and condensed, creating a sphere in front of her eyes, dying her sights green. Then, she reactivated her skill, as if trying to look through the ''screen'' of the assessment skill to see if she could see something else. Unexpectedly, the familiar ding resounded in her head, instead. [Learned! Eyes of Wood (D), a special ability to analyze wood beings. Wood Elementalists only. Cost: 30 Mana] "Oh?" Her eyebrows rose and, interested, used the skills on the nearby plants. [Used! Eyes of Wood (D), -30 Mana!] She almost jumped for joy at what she was registering. There was no text, not exactly, but it was more of an instinct on what the plants needed. She stood up with bright eyes, going through the ''problem plants'', immediately consuming her mana just studying them. She stared at a plant through the Eyes of Wood and she would just know, as if she felt it herself, what the plant needed and what she needed to do. The results were amazing! For instance, she would know when a plant needed water or if there was too much. For instance, she would know if it was getting too much sunlight, or if it was too damp. She reckoned Gru''s farmer skill must have similar results, but to a much lesser effect. There were two plants¡ªnotably bought from Ferrol¡ªthat required cool, dark, and damp places to grow. At this time, they were in the greenhouse, receiving ample sun. No wonder they didn''t want to sprout! Maybe it would be a plant like horsetail or some ferns, both having some medicinal properties that could prove useful to her. There were also plants that apparently thrived on water which could be used as food and medicine. They were planted to damp soil, but it kept giving her signals of ''more water, more water'', which she naturally complied with. After a few experiments, she realized it didn''t just need to be watered, it needed to be in the water. She thought that perhaps it was a water hyacinth which was known to improve water quality. A part of her also hoped it was something like duckweed and maybe the gugu birds would taste better eating it. Watercress would also be good for its various medicinal properties, and she was looking forward to the plants'' growth so she could study their uses more efficiently. There were also plants that needed open air and had to be hanged. Like the water plants, they were also planted nicely in the soil. They sent her signals of ''Suffocating'', so she naturally let it ''breathe''. It was all so very fascinating. Reinvigorated, she went to return to her Terran plant experimental fields, though not without consuming a lot of mana cookies along the way. Her Terran field was unsurprisingly the most vibrant, with various colors and types and scents abound. It made Gru cry every time he went to visit. Anyway, they were all healthy and properly maintained and a lot of seeds had already been produced and placed to the agriculture team for planting in the fields outside. In fact, a lot of the previous crops had already been transplanted to the fields outside. Just last week, several fields dedicated to specific plants had been fully planted.. Among the flowers, Lavender was the most common. It was perennial and drought-resistant, making it the ideal flower to invest in. It was also great for perfumes and other scents, by itself or mixed with others, so it had the largest plots among the flowers. The herbs had their own plots of land but, because they needed a long time to truly age enough, it would more or less take several more months to be really usable. Barley and Maltose were also transplanted to their own fields. Soon enough, maltose sugar, maltose beer, malt extract, maltose milk, malt syrup, and other products would be made available in the supermarket. Soy and peanuts were already harvested in bulk, and had been sent to their respective factories for processing. It was the trees that still needed some time. Her orchard was fine, because the grapes, strawberries, and the like had short cycles, but the rest would take a while. Roughly, Terran plants took 1/15th to 1/10th of their growth cycle when grown in the level 2 fields, further reduced by her fertilizers and other agricultural techniques. Oranges and Cocoa had a Terran cycle of about 5 years, Coffee and apple trees had three, while mango trees could take 5-8 years. This meant that, planted in Xeno Level 2 fields, she''d still need several months for each of them. It was still a long time, if one asked her. She looked wistfully at the cocoa and coffee trees. More than the fruit trees, she was more looking forward to these. After all, there was no lack of fruit in Xeno, just different types and tastes. Coffee and cocoa, on the other hand, were totally different raw materials. From the timeline, they should be ready in a few more months. She also had a few fields outside dedicated to these plants and only kept a few seeds in her space for safekeeping. Too bad she didn''t have too many seeds (yet) so mass production of chocolate or coffee would still be perhaps a year away... Too long¡­ She wanted to taste it again, even if it was just for her group for now. She pursed her lips and stared, a little idea dawning on her, but it was not quite clear yet. She went to the cocoa tree. She remembered craving for chocolate in her pregnancy. Was it because she wasn''t unsatisfied at the time that she was getting these cravings again? Instinctively, she touched one chocolate tree and closed her eyes. She filtered out the natural wood elements in the fields and focused on the ones in and around the plants. With her mind''s eye, she saw virtual green dots floating. Their density varied, focusing on where the plants were. Among the plants, the herbs had the densest, unsurprisingly, which could be seen in their strong contents and healing abilities. She focused on the cocoa tree, feeling every cell in its body, as well as every ''green spot'' that integrated with its being. With her mind''s eye she could feel and understand how the matter was composed, how it worked. She guided the green sparkles to the tree, combining them with certain growth cells. It didn''t quite succeed immediately. The cells fought a little before the green spots passed through its ''guard'' and integrated. She could feel the cell becoming stronger, and more vibrant. [Learned! Growth Control (C): Increase a plant''s growth rate by 1-2%. Mana: 50] Oh. My. Goodness! sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gulping and very excited, Althea immediately used her skill, over and over. [Used! Growth Control (C)! -50 Mana!] [Used! Growth Control (C)! -50 Mana!] [Used! Growth Control (C)! -50 Mana!] She stopped only when her mana and mana potions ran out. Studying the tree and its current appearance, she noted that she reduced the growth of the tree by a few hours. She smiled. Vaguely, she felt that she could also direct the plant''s direction of growth. "Direction of growth, eh?" She went back to the corn-like plant and zeroed in on two or three crops to experiment on. Of course, this was not before she brought back some more mana cookies from Harold. For this experiment, it was best to choose something not too hard but with obvious differences. So she decided on the corn strain that could make popcorn! But¡­ she had already consumed all her mana cookies before she could succeed. She stood up to goad Harold to bake her a box-full. Unfortunately, it was already dark and she turned to find her husband staring at her. "Husband?" She uttered, a bit startled. His frown remained as he approached her. "You''re working too hard." He told her and then leaned down¡­ to carry her back like a sack. "Hey!" He gently patted her buttocks as if not hearing her, "The children will be staying with their auntie Sheila tonight." She blushed a bit, her eyes ending up on her farm that was getting farther and farther away from her. Her popcorn!! Chapter 437 Mauin Village While in Altera the citizens were worrying about what to eat for dinner, where to train next, or even what the new products in the supermarket would come out, the status of other villages had very stark differences. One example was a small village hundreds of kilometers Southeast of Altera. It was called Mauin Village, after the original lord. Here, there were moldering houses, brackish waters, and an atmosphere seemingly bereft of all good things It was also a Level 3 village, but looking closely at the people and the territory, it was as if they were poorer than the standard Level 2 village! Not only were the buildings in poor condition, the people were even worse. Its people had totally different temperaments from that of Altera¡ªthe opposite, in fact. The people here wore ripped clothing and had dirty faces, barely bothering to care for themselves. They lived in unmaintained houses, abodes no different from abandoned property, but they took no effort in changing it. As if they had no reason to do so. However, it could be seen that they still didn''t want to die considering how they were now scrambling around the dirt roads and grassy squares in a panic, in an attempt to safeguard one of the few things they had left. That was: their lives. This was because, a few moments prior, the too-familiar sound of an alarm¡ªthe alarm for war¡ªresounded across the territory. [Tome Village has attacked your territory. Please prepare for war.] "It''s them again?!" A man yelled, screaming at no one in particular. "How many times will they attack us this year?!" Another screamed, disbelieving. Unkempt women and children sobbed, trying to find a place to hide. They didn''t want to die, not like their sisters, brothers, and friends¡ª How long would this last? Older people asked, while the young people, who had known this sort of life all of their existence, simply sobbed, not knowing any better. It was that damned village again¡ªTome Village, a village built too close, only a few hours away on a leisure walk, persistently hitting them at their weakest. The previous lords were said to be friends, helping each other obtain a lord''s token for their own use. This was the ultimate show of brotherhood. Although obtaining a token a hundred years ago was not as impossible as it was now, it was still not easy. The two Lords could be said to have gone through fire and used up several lifetimes'' worth of luck in order to obtain two. It was just that, for some reason, they broke away from each other and became enemies. Legend said it was because one got too greedy and regretted sharing the token with the other. It had been a fair fight until a few years back, one lost this time, and the next month the other one won. Lose some, gain some back. Further, the battles generally happened every few months, leaving both parties some recovery time. For both parties, this was fair because they saw the other as a source of resources, which naturally had to be given time to recover. The back and forth lasted for decades until the lords passed on the tokens to their respective children¡­ who wanted to end the battles¡­ ¡­by attacking to completely destroy the other, which was not an uncommon ideology in Xeno. At the time, the food provided by nature to their village was nearly unlimited, as the population couldn''t grow too much due to the beast tides and multitude of wars. True wealth had become those obtained through wars. The attacks soon became monthly and things tipped to one side when Tome allied with another village¡ªa wild tribe, a tribe they heard ate people! They found out about this when one of the attackers place tokens of their kills along their belts. Some of them were bones! Someone even used human bone to clean his teeth! What they had done to the captured slaves from their village, they did not want to imagine. It just got worse and worse for Mauin and somehow, during the past few months, the two villages had been maximizing the wars and attacked twice a month. Their poor village had to face these two villages every lunar cycle. Because of this, every month, they lost huge amounts of resources, properties, and people. Every time, the village lost half its current assets, and until now they only had debts and a fraction of the population left. They also lost many strong men to food and a lot of women to the enemy. Their food had to be taken deep in the wild every day, in contrast to being able to stock up a bit due to the ample resources within the walls. Now, it was no longer enough. The resources would always be taken, so everyone had to go outside the safety of the walls to hunt and forage every single day. It was also because of this new practice¡ªwith them being so closely exposed to the outside every single day¡ªthey soon came to notice an anomaly: The regrowth of the plants was getting slower. A few years back they could at least be full even if they didn''t have the restaurant, now¡­ they struggled for a meal. Slowly, it was getting harder and harder to gather fresh fruits and vegetables, and going farther from the usual gathering spots was too dangerous. As for the mobs, the mobs had somehow been manageable because they were relatively weak. Fortunately, their people had been so used to fighting that the occasional mob could be dealt with even in their state. It was also the only reason they hadn''t been completely destroyed yet. But not for long. If this went on¡­ Maoru settled his wife and children in the cellar they dug up. "It''ll be alright," he said, and his wife sobbed and patted his short hair. "Daddy¡­" the little boy, Maumi, wrapped his little arms around his leg. "Scared." He patted the boy''s head, a little teary. He felt heartbroken that the child had never learned of a happy childhood. Although his own was hard, he and his wife still experienced some peaceful times, albeit far and few, and their childhood friends were now mostly dead. "Dad will be back." "Please be alright," his wife said, whispering, unable to speak clearly as she held back her tears. "I will," he told her, comforting. He kissed his wife''s forehead and patted his son''s head before climbing up, his smile immediately morphing to a dire one. He went to the square where his guards were gathering, looking uninspired and scared. The atmosphere was heavy and the momentum was low. This was unsurprising, but this was in no way the correct way to face the most important war they would encounter so far. If they lost this, then¡ª Mauru refused to continue with that thought and he looked at his men, waiting for them to arrange themselves. When he saw that they were still busy arranging their own things in a flurry, he finally bellowed. "You think you have a chance if you''re scared? You would run rather than fight!" He yelled, and a lot of people just looked down in shame. "They eat people! Don''t you think death by fighting is more honorable than being eaten?! Maoru yelled at his guards. "Quickly get ready! "WE WILL FIGHT TO THE DEATH!" "We will win this time!! We will take back what we lost!!" "Yeah!" the people yelled in response. The crowd showed varying levels of enthusiasm but with consistently high levels of stress and fear. He sighed and saw the Lord watching them with an unreadable expression. Maoru''s back straightened up immediately and he approached the man, saluting as soon as he was a couple of yards away. "We are ready, my Lord. As ready as we could be¡­" "No." The lord''s tone was dismissive, but he was silent. Mauru, confused, looked closer at the man¡ªstill young, only fifty years old¡ªand realized that he was shaking. Mauru patiently waited for instructions, because he obviously had something to say. The man closed his eyes, looking as if in pain. After a while, he finally spoke. "Go. Get away." "Milord?" Mauru asked, almost certain he had misheard. "We wouldn''t be able to win this fight¡­" the lord said, voice shaky. "They will defeat us this time." S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "My Lord, we can''t give up! Even if there''s a slightest chance¡ª" "Rather than let everyone die, I''d rather be the Lord who gave you a chance to live." He said with finality, before walking away with his limp, something he had endured for years. He was tired. Very tired. Mauru stared at the Lord''s back, still shocked at the order. He took a deep, deep, breath to stabilize himself. He turned his head and he looked at the people scurrying around with a complicated expression. Go away? Go where? They lived their whole lives here¡­, where else would they go? Where else could be ''home''? Chapter 438 The Fall of Mauin Village (Part 1) "What''s going on??" Juna asked when her husband got back to the cellar with an even heavier expression than before. Her husband has always been optimistic. What was this now? "The Lord asked us to leave, right now. While we still can." Fourteen hours were given as forewarning before an attack. In this period of time, no territory can attack the defending side. It was, indeed, it was the time to flee, should one hope to do so. The reason why so few actually fled during wars was because they didn''t know where else to go. Not to mention, the dangers outside the walls were not to be underestimated. They were a weak group¡ªmost of the strongmen died during wars¡ªand the citizens couldn''t handle mob after mob of monsters on their own. However, did they have a choice? At least they had a bit more hope going outside now, right? So, hurriedly, everyone prepared to leave, albeit with worried faces. As Mauru tried to figure out the direction to go, he counted the people. There really weren''t many fighters left and many of the survivors were children who they managed to hide away in small spaces. There were less than a thousand people left in their territory after all this time. A third were men, a third were women and old people, while the rest were teenagers and children. Less than an hour later, their spaces and baskets were filled up with whatever they could get¡ªthey didn''t own much, but they took whatever resources they could find just in case. As the scurried around, the Lord watched them all. Mauru paused in his tracks, signaling for his wife and son to continue gathering before going to the lord. "My Lord?" He asked, eyebrows furrowed. "Are you not coming with us?" "No, they will hunt you if I did," he said. And at this time, the Lord token was still integrated into his body. He couldn''t give it up even if he wanted to. "But¡­ milord¡­" Mauru uttered, guilty, and so did many others. The lord shook his head with a smile. Despite his uselessness, he was still loved like this, and that was more than enough reason to do what he ought to do. The people made tearful goodbyes to their kind Lord¡ªa very rare type of person, according to what they learned through the years. There were even a few children that went to hug him, and many adults left him a bit of their little resource for him to take. His eyes stung and he hurriedly pushed them away. And they did leave, albeit not without stinging eyes and heavy hearts both from guilt and fear of an unknown future. They stared into the dark forest right outside their flimsy fence. It was even more menacing than usual. With bated breath, one by one, they took a step outside the gate. It was terrifying, but a necessary step. Several people held the torches for the party. Step by step, the group went forward, with more and more people stepping outside following the others. But as they exited, a flash of sharpness passed in a different direction. This was followed by simultaneous flops around them. Three people fell down, each with arrows in their bodies. "WHATT?!" "ARE THE ENEMIES HERE?!" "NOOO!!" Screams were heard and the people immediately ran to the interior of the village. "What''s going on?!" They yelled and, soon, menacing voices echoed from the forests. This was followed by sinister laughter that sent shivers down their spine. One by one, dozens of men emerged from the forest with mocking grins on their faces. They were looking at them arrogantly, particularly proud that their forecast was accurate. "Hehe, I see you''re trying to escape!" One said, and another cackled. "Our lord is so smart to have foreseen it!!" The Mauin citizens'' eyes widened. What they did not expect was that the enemy would attack before the countdown! "How?!" "Hehe. Didn''t you know that Territory Wars are only triggered if more than a tenth of the territory forces are deployed?" He looked at the few scores of able men left in the territory and sneered. "We didn''t even have to go to a formal war to kill you all! So weak!" It was in these cases they had wished they were only a level 2 village. A wide power discrepancy between two territories of the same level easily led to the crushing defeat of the other. Even with all the rules of the territory wars¡ªthey wouldn''t be able to avoid this massacre. Mauru and the others looked at the hundred men surrounding them. "A tenth of our two territories!" one of the men said with a smug smile, and it made their hearts fall. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Tome and Hasa village got together this time, and this meant they would really die. "Tsk, they''re weaker than I thought, I didn''t even enjoy the fun of the hunt¡­" Another man emerged from the shadows. He had tanned skin painted with weird patterns, and his eyes looked rabid. He licked his lips as he looked at them¡ªespecially the women and the children¡ªas if they were delicacies. It made everyone''s stomachs churn. This man was Hemepo, Hasa Village lord. "I told you this would be easy. We spent months weakening them so they could easily be dealt with without wars." "But you still triggered it." "It was fun to watch them scuttle about¡­" Tongo said, and then he gave him a weird look. "And if I didn''t, how would the Token be separated?" "Oh, right." Tongo shook his head, knowing that eating humans must''ve burned this man''s brain even more than it had. Anyway, the two lords went all the way out here, and it showed just how confident they were in taking down Mauin Village. Meanwhile, the citizens of Mauin Village could only cry and sob in place, surrounded by stronger guards. Tongo reveled at the suffering he caused. He even walked over to Mauru''s direction, gripping his chin forcefully. "Next is you, Mauru," he said, "This is what you get for killing my son!" He then raised his sword, intent on finally beheading this bastard! "STOP!" A familiar voice yelled. It was filled with urgency, but it shifted to a more comforting tone right after. "Calm down, crying won''t save you." It was their lord. He was limping and looking weak even by normal standards, but it lifted the hearts of his people anyway. "Milord!" "Ohmy, look what we have here¡­" Hemepo grinned, "You finally showed up." "Ready to die?" Tongo added, showing off his disgusting grin and his rotting teeth. The lord ignored the snide remarks, focusing only on his citizens. "Calm down, my people," he said, "It will be alright." The other two lords were never fond of ''uplifting'' messages, and cut it off. "Any last words?" Hemepo said, "I mean, I''m still polite like this." "Thank you for everything," he said, "My last wish¡­ is for all of you to survive," he said, before turning to the enemies. "The war has not yet started. This means the token is still integrated with me." "I promise not to kill myself now, if you let my people be," he said, "Everyone." "Heh¡­ interesting," Tongo and Hemeppo looked at each other in thought. "Fine." They then grinned at the citizens who were sobbing as they looked at their lord. "Run, as fast as you could," Tome said with a cackle, "Don''t trip!" "Milord¡ª" Mauru said, standing up and walking over to him. The lord frowned and strongly waved him away. "NO! It''s useless! This is the best way," he said, waving, pushing him away. Mauru was pulled by his wife, with them giving slight bows to the lord. While many had already fled, Mauru wasn''t the only one reluctant to leave. There was actually quite a few. The lord could see the people''s conflicts and, for the first time, he yelled to the top of his lungs. "GO! KEEP THE SPIRIT OF MAUIN VILLAGE ALIVE!" Chapter 439 The Fall of Mauin Village (Part 2) They naturally had no choice but to run for their lives. They could only look back as their lord was held up by the enemies, barely avoiding falling in their distraction. Hundreds of people flowed out, some slightly separating in their panic, but otherwise, all heading in a direction.. It was just that, after some time, they heard flops and yells and people falling, in increasing frequency. How could they not realize what was happening? "WE''RE BEING HUNTED!" They yelled, trying to run as fast, knowing they had no chance of battling it out. Of course, there were the guards who tried blocking the attacks and they did manage to take down a few, but it wasn''t enough¡ªthe enemies were too many, and many people were still taken down, attacked like prey to be eaten. Perhaps¡­ they really were. As the citizens of Mauin ran desperately, a loud ominous ding sounded inside their heads. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [The war between your territory Mauin Village (Lv3) and Tome Village (Lv3) had begun!] Then¡­ not even a moment later. [Your territory Mauin Village (Lv3) had lost the war to Tome Village (Lv3)] Everyone''s hearts fell. That was it?! Their home had fallen, just like that? ¡­ The Mauin lord looked on as a level C spear went straight through his heart. It was his Hemeppo''s weapon, rather than Tongo''s. He knew this because he had been showing it off many times. He had apparently bought it in a town¡ªusing the proceeds he got from his village. His life long rival stood beside him and watched on. It was as if iife draining out of him was the most entertaining thing. "Finally ended!" Tongo yelled, just before frowning at the man still holding the spear, "I wanted to be the one to do the honors of killing this guy but¡ªin consideration to your contributions¡ªI guess I could give it to you, for now." Hemeppo grinned and then pulled out his spear. The body fell down on his back, without any signs of life anymore. Laughing, Tongo immediately kneeled down to try and get the token away from him. But he frowned as he realized. The Lord token was gone. "That''s not possible," he said. He couldn''t have hidden the token before meeting them because they saw the separating light of the token the moment the war started. It was weak and would only be visible when one was near, but they saw it for sure. A hint of realization dawned on him. His eyes widened immediately holding his weapon as he whipped his body, intent on attacking the person who just killed his rival. But it was too late as a blade passed through his neck, stabbing. His wide eyes eyes turned red as he looked at Hemepo who was smiling widely. Obviously, they made a pact not to harm each other. What happened? Hemepo laughed at him as he tried to speak, but no voice could come out. He relished at the sight, and he laughed when he saw him pale more and more, until he turned blue. "Idiot. I said I won''t harm you as long as we remain allies," he said, "When did we specify we will remain allies?" At this time, Tongo was already gasping, feeling his life draining. In the back of his mind, he could indeed remember their deal. They would be allies until the Mauin token was in their hands. The heavy regret was what he last felt until he finally succumbed to death. Hemepo looked greedily at Tongo''s corpse, rummaging his disgusting body for his token. It was only after completely undressing him that he found the token in his underwear. Hemepo sneered and spat to the side to express his disgust, but he merged them anyway. Another burst of energy passed and he looked at his one Lord Token, much bigger than what it was. "HAHAHHAHA! Finally!" he said, "I''ll keep my last slot for a town," he said, his ambition suddenly spiking after gaining two tokens. His eyes shifted to the shaking men and women in front of him. These were the citizens recaptured by his people. As for the Tome, they were given a choice: Eat or be Eaten. Naturally, every single one of them chose the latter. "Now¡­ for a feast to celebrate~" ¡­ Mauru shook as he held his wife and child, who were sobbing messes. All throughout, he kept himself straightened himself up¡ªknowing he could not show weakness now, or else it would really be hopeless. They tried to tune out the desperate cries not too far from them. With him, there were almost two hundred other survivors. They were all covered in blood and grime, many of them seriously injured. They had killed all the hunters that came after them, but it was at the cost of half their people. But, at the very least, there were still over a hundred of them who held their lives. His eyes met with the other surviving guards, nodding. They ran as fast as they could, apologizing, but also hoping not to join their fallen comrades too soon. And so began their treacherous journey into the dense and deadly forest. Trees closed in on them, their branches extending as if they were claws. There were also dozens of mobs they had to deal with, losing numbers bit by bit. They struggled with poisoned plants, their hunger getting the best of some. There were also many poisonous bugs that lurked beneath the underbrush, their makeshift repellents long losing their effectiveness. They could only watch as the bugs'' bites and stings sent their fellowmen into fits of agony. In the worst-case scenario, where they had no idea how to heal them, they could only end the person''s suffering with their own hands. Only a few hours had passed and so many of them had already lost. By the time the sun rose, there were just a hundred of them left. The atmosphere became more and more dire, and more and more hope was lost. Mauru noticed this and shook his head, looking at his comrades. "We''ve come this far. Let''s not give up," he said, pushing down his own hopelessness and tears. "I believe¡­ that somewhere out there we would be able to find a home for ourselves." If he believed it, he mused, maybe it would come true. Chapter 440 Fargos Next Step [55 Days After The Migration] Fargo Village At this time, nearly two hundred kilometers west of Altera, stood one of the strongest level 3 villages in the region. It was already dark at this time. The torches around the room were flickering, and the shadows casted an eerie glow amongst the people within. The intimidating man looked at his men. He listened to their reports, looking leisurely and relaxed, but everyone knew he was remembering every detail. The reports this time had one focus: Determining which territory was most efficient to attack. Amon had always been warlike in nature. If he didn''t commit some major violence in a while, he would feel uncomfortable. At the same time, this was an entirely new world and, for now, even he had to follow rules, including only being able to attack one territory a month, so he planned to choose wisely. The first month after the Protection Period had almost ended and he still hadn''t waged a war. But the world was so big and the Terran territories alone took some time to investigate. Now, his village had reached level 3 after raising taxes and receiving refugees all over. He had gained more confidence in the wars. After all, for his ''tier'', he believed was at the top. He wasn''t being overconfident either as Belize, the aborigine, also expressed his admiration. He also doubted other villages would be able to have more force value than he had. He had hundreds of guards, a lot of whom were loyalists, some even from his Terran days. He also had a few strong Aborigine fighters and professionals¡ªsomething those inferior territories didn''t have. Belize also managed to hire some good characters, when some of his henchmen tracked him to Fargo after much time. Although there was a level limit in wars, these people were allowed to defend as long as it was within territory walls. They could also take down people outside the walls, weakening them bit by bit. Not to mention, he still had several guns in stock. Before the Migration, his group had managed to take as many guns as they allowed. A pity for the collection of plasma guns he had, sadly left behind to waste back in Terran. Anyway, the guns they had might be useless to the new monsters, but even level 10 humans could be killed by what they brought. He knew this because he almost killed an annoying aborigine. He was not even a fighter, a mere Class E life professional, and the bastard dared to look down on him because of his low level! Belize stopped him because apparently there was still a certain standard of safety that Lords must guarantee the hired individuals. Lords attacking them himself was absolutely prohibited. It was only because of a non-disclosure pact that this aborigine wouldn''t be able to do anything in return even after being let go that he managed to leave with his life. "There are a total of four villages our people had investigated: Bright Village, Vismont Village, and Diana Village. All of these territories are less than 100 kilometers from our Fargo village. Juno Village was a bit farther away, almost 150 kilometers, but it was near Diana so we checked it out as well." These people who went to investigate were trusted loyalists, so the information could be trusted. "There wasn''t anything special in Juno or Diana Villages, as they both chose standard buildings. "There''s nothing worth occupying there They barely managed to deal with the improved mobs and it would only be a matter of time before one or two of them fell." "What about resources?" "Diana village had dense forests and they had to take down all the trees inside." Uzon and a few others sneered, "Stupid." After all, resources within the walls were practically free, without fear of poisons or bugs. They pretty much took down their own easy food source. "About Juno¡­" He paused and gave the bosses an awkward stare. He was obviously conflicted about what to say. It was Uzon, one of his close confidants, who ordered the man to finish speaking. "What is it?" The man flinched a bit and looked at Fargo. "I did learn that the refresh rate of plants has become a bit slower than when we first came¡­" He found this because Juno village was built in somewhat of a barren land, at least compared to the majority of the territories. Because the plants were scarce, they felt its slower refresh rate even more significantly. Belize paused for a while, his face morphing to a frown. "Indeed. When I was young, the regrowth of resources felt twice as fast as it is now. It had been steadily decreasing since then." Amon turned his head to him, sharp eyes staring deeply at the aborigine. "Why are you only telling me this?" Belize flinched and bowed a little by instinct. Even if his level was more than thrice that of Fargo, his instincts as a servant dominated when faced with someone who had a great sense of presence. "I didn''t really notice before it was pointed out." In his previous city, there were plenty of restaurants and taverns that source out food. Furthermore, he stood at a high place where resources weren''t too scarce, just a bit more expensive. Not to mention, cities generally had subsidiary villages focusing on farms, so there had never been a shortage of food. How could he take note of these problems? Amon habitually tapped his heavy finger on the table, and his men waited patiently for him to speak. "What about the other two territories?" "Vismont chose farms as soon as the slots were made available upon upgrade, while Bright chose to build some manually." "Sadly, the team who stayed in Vismont didn''t return," the man reported, The first batch of scouts had already returned, though their function was more to add territories to the map and send the information to the lord''s party. Half of the scouts per territory would stay in there for a longer time in hopes of getting much more information, should Fargo choose to go to war with them. "They probably got unlucky." "Wasn''t Grok with them?" "Well, there had been sightings of mobs that even he''d find troublesome," he said, "Just a pity for so many of those people." "Are they really dead?" "They are," Amon said, as he could find this out easily to see his population list. Of course, it could also be that they changed their residency status to another, but he doubted they did so. Anyway, Amon didn''t care about the dead and ruminated on the four territories. This news narrowed down the choices. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Tell me more about these two territories," He said, pointing at Bright and Vismont. "Tell me their exact locations." In order to declare war on a territory, they had to know its location first. When the war started, they either had to travel directly with their forces or pay a reasonable discounted fee of 10 silver per person per way. In terms of war, teleportation was the best bet because the factor of meeting mobs in the way was eliminated, as well as the factor of time. However, in order to get the option of teleportation, the place must be found on the lord''s map. To do this, the standard transfer of maps must be done, hence his own people had to land in these places first before he could do anything to them. However, in the Lord Token screen, there was also an ''Other Territories'' tab which would show the locations any permanent citizen had landed on after becoming one. The names and levels would be visible here, though nothing else. But he, at least, had an idea of what territories were in his region. However, Beliza gave him a treasure, a magic tool specifically created for the purpose of knowing more about territories in this panel. It was called Fief Visionstone, which was a small attachment the size of a fingernail that could be integrated into the lord token. It was supposedly a bit rare and very expensive. Although Amon couldn''t confirm this for now, he still decided to show the aborigine some goodwill. So, as a reward, he gave Belize a small plot of land to set base on. He also built him modular buildings in sets, letting him live in his own mansion. It was very much like his own estate, and the man loved it very much. This had become their own base¡ªa large one with completed facilities. It was also a place where he and his men could do whatever they wanted without repercussions. Amon knew this person and his men loved playing with women, and he had allowed him to choose amongst the thousands of women in his territory. Speaking of, he did hear this man had just taken in a dozen women of all shapes and sizes. Of course, it wasn''t just for him, but also for his people and friends. What would be done to these women was obvious and Fargo couldn''t care less. Amon smirked satisfied. He liked men like this. This was because even if they were smart, could easily be dealt with. As long as you give them what they want, of course. Chapter 441 Visionstone His cronies looked interestingly at his token and the special tool. "Can you tell us more information about the territories, Milord?" They asked, eager to know where their next catch would be. To be honest, when they found out about Territory Wars they were¡­ excited. Bombing and mass shootings were fun and all, but there was something more¡­ endearing¡­ about killing with medieval cold weapons. The feeling of slicing people''s skin, seeing them bleed up close, was a different sort of fun. At this time, Amon was looking at his Lord Panel screen, which had additional columns indicating the visionstone''s information. With the Visionstone, as long as the territory was in his panel, he would also find their level and population. He could even see their wealth and resources! It really was useful¡ªtoo useful. It might even be illegal. Which territory would allow such intimate information to be released? He wondered whether Belize got it from legit channels at all. But no matter, it was his now. Other than these, he would also be able to see the mysterious stat: the Prestige. According to Belize, the exact way to measure prestige was still unclear. However, it could be approximated with the number of population, the number of recurring visitors, and the variety of locations the territory attracted. Most of all, the territory''s influence on other territories and their citizen also seemed to have a bearing on this so-called prestige. For example, there were cases where one individual had gained massive fame, and it somehow boosted his hometown''s prestige as well. As a territory with a lot of Aborigines and huge amounts of population within a short period of time, he naturally had a higher-than-average prestige for his tier. Fargo was currently a Level Three village with a population of 14978 with Prestige at 145. Prestige was a requirement to upgrade to become a Town, though the exact amount was still unclear. According to Belize, based on the growth of the territory, he should take only a few more years before he could upgrade. This was already extremely fast according to the aborigines, even superior to the records of this world''s top cities. There were others who were not too far behind him, however. Bright was a Level three village with 11890 population. It had a prestige of 90. This was impressive and truly captured his attention. He also had around 120 gold and ample resources. Next was Vismont, also a Level Two village with 9870 population and a prestige of 52. Gold was at a pitiful 50, and his resources average. The others seemed to be as expected with Juno Village as a Level Two village with 5879 population and 0 Prestige and Diana Village, a Level Two village with 6566 population and 0 prestige. He didn''t even bother with their resources. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. From this alone, one could see how far superior Fargo was to others. However, as he looked at the list, another name appeared. It was an unfamiliar name. Altera Village. Level 3 Village. 2000 Residents¡ª But¡ªas if losing a signal¡ªthere was no more information. He turned his head to Belize and asked why this was so. The aborigine paused and thought for a while before coming to a conclusion, "It likely means that the scout passed before he could stay the required amount of time." This amount of time varied, depending on how far the territory was. Belize couldn''t be certain, simply because such detailed information wasn''t public knowledge even if he had been a lord''s confidante. Not to mention, to his knowledge, it hadn''t happened to his former lord before. This was actually correct. The scout was killed before he was given enough time to ''register'' the data long enough to send it back. But this was a story for another time. As Fargo entered a short daze, the scouts continued to report. He snapped out of it and stared, making the man flinch under his sharp stare. "What other resources are available?" "Juno and Diana Village had the usual vegetation of their area, though the former was with much scarcer numbers. On the other hand, Bright and Vismont was definitely much better. "The lives of the people in these two territories were¡­ good." The man paused, flinching. "But not as good as our Fargo." "Tell us more." "Yes, milord." The person assigned to Bright spoke first. His name was Eli, and they were one of Fargo''s best scouts. "Bright Territory also had level 3 walls and even denser sentries than we have." "What?" "It''s not that different, but I heard that the lord solicited a lot of money to be able to afford it. In exchange, he gave a lot of benefits to the donors." "Some of his power would be distributed with this." "Well, if one''s resources are limited, this is not a bad move," Fargo said, looking at the reporter again, "Continue." "They also have aborigines though not nearly as many as ours. They also had guns and good fighters. From their auras, I''d say they had some background in gangs." The room was silent, knowing this one was a hard stubble. "What about lifestyle?" "Everyone has enough to eat and drink. Many Terran cuisines, and delicious food have also been made available. They can also have new clothes¡­" "What?" Everyone turned their heads at the man. The person from Juno walked forward, asking them to repeat in case they misheard. Belize looked out in thought. Recreating cuisines was one thing, but new cloth was a very monopolized industry. "This is a¡­ very interesting place." They nodded, but their eyes filled with greed for this place and what it offered. "Vismont had similar items, but it is much poorer," another continued. This was Eso, Eli''s brother. He was one of the scouts to check out Vismont but had to return immediately, unlike the others who stayed to investigate deeper. He was a bit bitter at first, but seeing as everyone else was dead, he could only heave a sigh at his luck. "They suffered greatly from mob attacks. They were only rescued by an allied territory named Altera Village." At the mention of Altera, Eli flinched. "It seemed a lot of Bright''s items come from this village¡­" With this information he had to pay a lot of gold. The people of Bright were all moneygrubbers. "Have you been there?" "I already sent some people to take a look," he said, "But I heard it''s also a Level 3 Village." "Altera, eh?" Fargo paused, remembering that scout that probably died too early. "Well, they should have experts in the food or in the botanical industry to be able to produce these." This must be the reason how it reached level 3 with such a small population. It must have made money from selling. As for prestige, he wasn''t able to see it, but it should not be lower than Bright''s seeing as a lot of the products came from there. As for how they obtained the knowledge¡­ he was sure to find out, and obtain it for himself. Anyway, he knew the limits of the wars and he was bent on maximizing the limit. Now that he knew the foraged resources could possibly be reduced in the future, it only added more reason for his wars. "Shall we target Altera then?" Eli asked, gulping at the prospect of food. It seemed easier and with more gains. It was good to use their only attacking slot for the month. It was just that they didn''t have enough information, in contrast to the two. The month was ending and they ought to decide now. Amon did not agree immediately however. He was arrogant, but he still knew that this planet was not his turf. Unlike in Terran, there were too many variables here. "Vismont is the nearest territory to us," another one said, but another shook his head. "Vismont is nearest in terms of straight-line distance, but it isn''t necessarily easier to access due to the terrain. "But aren''t we going to teleport there, anyway?" "Then do we take Bright? Aren''t they a hard stubble?" "Yeah, but we don''t have to battle so directly, right? If we get those guns¡­" "Eso is right." At this time, another one spoke. It was Uzon, also one of the people who had gone to Bright. He was a tall tanned man with plenty of tattoos. "I have a friend with a good position in Bright. He says he can deal with the guns, but he has to lead the satellite territory. "He claimed that they had also begun preparing raw materials as well." Obtaining a lord token would give control to another, a satellite so to speak. Although control is with the lord, how could they see everything from another territory beyond the Lord Panel? Naturally, there was someone assigned to care for it. Anyway, if Vismont was poor and depended on a village with 2000 population, then it might not be good to spend their month''s slot there. Bright, while a little riskier, seemed much more worth it for the guns and farms alone, let alone those products. Amon Fargo also liked a good challenge, anyway. "Bright Village it is, then," he said, "Prepare for the most efficient takedown." "YES, SIR!" Chapter 442 Impending Attacks (Part 1) Another chapter dedicated to Lin-chan! Thank you LotusLin for the castle! *HUG* ... Fargo. The meeting adjourned with the battle plan and Amon sent people to Bright ahead of time. Aborigines would come in different groups from Terrans and they would pretend not to know each other. While technically aborigines beyond the level cap couldn''t directly participate in wars, Amon could think of at least a dozen ways for them to cause damage despite this limit. The next few days would be very busy, and Belize watched as they strategized, and determined the best part of action for occupation. The aborigine couldn''t help but look at this Lord in admiration, then his eyes sharpened. He could already see the territory in their hands. Although it was just a village, he had tasted the products the spies brought back. They were very special. As someone who came from the city, he knew how much money those people were willing to spend for some enjoyment. If they obtained the production method, they would really be able to rake in money. With that, upgrading to Town in less than a few years was really no dream. It was amazing. He had never heard of a territory upgrade so quickly. "You like what you''re seeing," Amon uttered as he stared at Belize, who flinched a bit as he nodded humbly. "I admire the potential of your land, milord. It is unprecedented." Amon obviously liked what he said, as his body language lounged and he nodded at him in approval. "Well, would you like to personally oversee how we''d take over that territory?" Although his level would prohibit him from attacking, he could still be plenty of help. Amon also wanted to show how Terrans, despite their current low levels, were not as weak as they seemed. Belize''s eyes brightened, unaware of his thought process. "Yes, milord." He was looking forward to this trip to Bright Village, curious, feeling that he''d learn something from a war between villages. ¡­ Amon, now alone, looked out the window and saw his citizens acting like decent pieces of his machine. Bright would be his, he was certain. However¡­. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His sharp eyes couldn''t help but stay on the name Altera, with information cut before he could see what he could. Judging by how the data was already in his panel, it meant that there was already his person there, but that person died too quickly. The current information told him that his person died within the territory walls of Altera, otherwise no information would be sent to his panel. So he was either found out¡ªwhich was already worrisome as this was one of his best scouts¡ªor something triggered the suicide mechanism in him. Either way, it put Altera on his list of territories to watch. After Bright, he mused, you are next. ¡­ Altera, a few hours prior. It was a standard day for Alteran guards, with everyone doing their jobs in different parts of the territory. It so happened that today, Plaridel was assigned to the group making rounds. The soldiers were rarely assigned to the territory as they were far more useful outside, but in rare cases they were assigned to the group making rounds. This would become increasingly more often as they start to receive stronger guests. Although no new aborigines had found their way to Altera yet, it was estimated that Team B would have some tagging along. Garan decided to start assigning at least one soldier to this team. Anyway, the guards had been trained properly and could start handling themselves better outside. The ones in charge of internal peace would also be assigned to the Guard Station, in contrast to the Barracks. While a lot of guards from the barracks would have their rounds here, there would be fixed employees in the Guard Station. They would also closely cooperate with Mathilda''s Team. Those making rounds were further divided into pairs. They went around different streets in the territory, keeping an eye out for any disturbances that were troublesome enough but not big enough to trigger regulations. Today, Plaridel was partnered with the territory mascot, Fufi. As always, he greeted a couple of guys and (mostly blushing) girls who greeted him along the way. Fufi was strutting right next to him. He had been endlessly training outside the past weeks, and they thought it was time for him to get a little break. He was now at the start of level 9, and the experience requirement was much higher than before. They were very much looking forward to what he''d be like when he finally upgraded. Anyway, Fufi was basically Altera''s mascot next to the Captain''s twins and his (huge) presence naturally increased happiness in the territory. "Fufi! You''re so cute!" "Kyaaa~ Fufiii~ Catch!" "Woof!" he barked, catching the piece of cooked meat slab thrown at him. Nomnomnomnom "Fufi, catch!" The dog jumped up to catch another piece of meat slab, eating it within a couple of bites. He drooled a lot as he ate, and he ate it deliciously. When it was over, his tail was wagging very wildly as he wore that smiley face of his. Fufi was now bigger than a Terran Lion, but a dog would always be a dog. The passerbys couldn''t help but pet him, some booping him on the nose (i.e. whole palm on his wet nose), while some outright hugged him.. The atmosphere was soft and fluffy for a while. The dog definitely enjoyed being drowned in attention and his tail was wagging strong enough that someone was using it as a fan. To everyone''s surprise though, Fufi''s expression abruptly turned from smiley to dire, and he started growling lowly in a direction. Before they could absorb the change, he suddenly bolted in a direction. It happened so quickly. He basically disappeared in front of their eyes. The next thing they knew, screams abounded where he went. Plaridel rushed in the direction. He didn''t catch up to them immediately, but he did see Fufi running after a person. "WOOF! WOOF!" "Oi, Fufi!" The tanned man yelled, running after the massive dog. It was fine when they were going through wide avenues, but they soon reached the denser pedestrian street and then all the way to the marketplace. They were very fast and Plaridel was only able to catch their tracks because of the chaos they made. He frowned when he realized the person Fufi was chasing used Sprint. Although Sprint was a skill that theoretically any level 10 or above could use, it still required some talent. Who was this person? That person¡­ was definitely suspicious! . . However, Plaridel thought with some amusement, the suspicious person may have been able to escape if it was a human chasing after him, but¡­ He was unlucky he got chased by their monster dog instead! Chapter 443 Impending Attacks (Part 2) Anyway, chaos ensued in one of the Market Places. Squeals of surprise and yells of aghast abounded. It was happening in various places, showing how fast the two were ''playing tag''. "KYAAA!" "What!" "What''s going on?!" More yells echoed as people tried avoiding the fast-moving barrell of weight. Fufi was trained well and avoided the people, but he didn''t care enough for the material properties. CRASH! Several stalls crashed as Fufi went through them, leaving shocked store owners at its wake. Plaridel''s eyes twitched. He wondered who''d be charged with that? It wouldn''t be Fufi¡­ right? Then again, if he had a space maybe Fufi had money too. Hey, with a master like sister-in-law, maybe he''s even richer than most of them. However, his random wonderings were cut off when a pig-like scream screeched at his ears. "YOU! GET HIM OFF!!" Plaridel blinked and realized that Fufi finally caught the man, and they weren''t too far away from him. He weaved through the crowd, saying his polite excuses, finally emerging from the dense weekend-Marketplace-crowd to the sources of the disturbance. Fufi at this time was standing on the man, his large paws as large as the man''s chest keeping him in position. The man struggled to get Fufi off of him, but this wasn''t easy because Fufi was twice the weight of any man, plus he had the strength of a beast. "GET OFF! GET OFF!" Fufi got annoyed with all the struggle and sat on him. "YOU!!!!" The man gasped in pain, losing his breath. He maybe felt a rib or two about to break as well. Guards, including Fufi, would only get warned by the system rules when they got physical. While this could be prone to abuse, Matilda set up a reporting system to avoid this. Anyway, for now, it just meant the suspicious man was being hurt without consequences to Fufi to all. Plaridel took this time to walk over them, "Who are you?" "I''m a guest! Is this how you treat your guests¡ªOH! F¡ª" Prooot¡ª Fufi let out gas¡ªprobably from all the running¡ªas he was sitting on the man. "AHHHH!!!" The man yelled while the surrounding crowd immediately stepped back. A few even escaped altogether, aware of how bad Fufi''s gas could get. "AHHHHHHHH!!!" In his anger, the suspicious man immediately tried to attack Fufi. Plaridel''s hand lit up and he sent a small ember to warn the man not to do anything suspicious. "Fire?!" The man yelled, confused, eyes ending at Plaridel. "YOU! But you''re not an aborigin¡ª" His voice was cut off as the small ember reached him, spreading all over his body. "GYAAAH!" It so happened that he was much weaker than Plaridel, so this little fire spread could really cause him damage. People screamed and walked farther and Plaridel''s lips twitched. He forgot Fufi farted, so the little ember was a bit¡­ explosive. "GAHH!" Plaridel had already asked people to get some buckets to help the guy out, and soon he was doused with water and saved from being burned to ashes. He looked horrible and had third-degree burns all over his body. Instead of thanking them though, he just felt angry and humiliated. He wanted to kill! "BASTARDSSS!!" he yelled, immediately taking out his gun. Instinctively, the people around scurried in panic, afraid to be hit by a stray bullet. It was just that before he could press the trigger, a flash of light came and he disappeared. Whoosh~ "What?" the people froze, realizing they were scurrying for nothing. A lot of people came to the realization, and some rubbed their faces in embarrassment. "What happened?" "The Regulation activated!" "Oh?" one asked, obviously the type not to read the rules. "Where did he go, then?" "The prison, of course!" Altera''s Regulations, unlike many others, actually didn''t automatically kick people out the territory¡ªthe default maximum punishment. This was because simply kicking people out meant letting potential threats escape instead. She''d rather keep them in prison instead of causing damage outside! sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She even placed zones in the prison. The largest ones would be for minor transgressions like scuffles. But there were also zones and cells for highly dangerous criminals, like this one. Althea paid a huge sum to change this up. This one addition to the regulations required a whooping 500 gold fee. Anyway, the marketplace burst into chatters, most of which were excited because something so thrilling and ''dangerous'' happened in the territory! Very exciting! Their friends would definitely beg them for some ''tea''! Althea and Ansel, who were strolling with the babies, were nearby when this commotion happened and they were surprised to see so many things happening. "What happened?" She asked, and the people immediately turned to her with wide eyes, though she got the feeling they just wanted to share gossip. "Miss Althea!" The man nearest them spoke ahead of the others. He told them of what he saw (and how little he knew). Fufi was already next to them then, sitting like a behaved dog, tail wagging and looking at his master. However, one must know that he was almost as tall as Althea sitting like this. "Woof! Woof!" he said, the babies giggled and cooed, as if talking to him. "Woof! Woof!" "Mwamghaammaa¡­" "WOOF!" "Googomawma¡­" "Woof! Woof!" "What did he say?" Ansel asked, curious. Althea looked at him for a bit before returning to stare at the dog, who kept barking with a smile. It was adorable at first, but what Fufi ''said'' later wiped the smile on Althea''s face. In turn, this also alerted Ansel. "What is it? What''d he say?" He asked again, this time with more urgency in his tone. Althea looked at him with a serious expression. "He said that guy had a similar smell to the people who attacked you." Ansel didn''t understand it immediately until he remembered¡ªthe only time he was attacked with Fufi was when they were in Bright! He almost gasped. "The one from Fargo?!" "Yep," she said, making a mental note to discuss the implications of this with her husband. She, of course, didn''t forget the large dog''s contribution. She took a specially cooked meat (by Harold) from her space, which Fufi happily slobbered on. "Good job Fufi," she grinned, "More treats for you tonight!" "WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!" The dog jumped in joy and the babies giggled again, extending their hands as if wanting to touch Fufi. Althea didn''t allow them for now and just headed home. Ansel followed with bright eyes. "So cool," he said, "I wanna have a battle pet." He looked at the dog. "Fufi, haven''t you found a wife yet?" Woof! Not yet! ¡­ Later, while Althea and the family went home, Fufi was asked to stay in prison as a ''witness'' to the crime. "So, any information about that guy?" Garan asked, as he patted good-boy-Fufi''s head. He was looking at the lifeless body on the floor of their makeshift prison. The man arrived lifeless, with foam bubbling in his mouth. He had a massive bite on his thigh and they later found it was Fufi''s. But Fufi didn''t have rabies¡­ nor did he have poison as a skill. Gill looked at the man and observed him more, "He''s been poisoned." "It''s not from the bite," he added, observing the clear skin around the wound. This likely meant that he had a poison in his mouth, activated when he was in distress and tortured. That made the guy even more suspicious. Reuben just scratched his bald head, "Well, at least we stopped one spy from passing information." They nodded. No matter what, this was still a win. Plaridel looked at the massive dog with tail wagging. He was so large that one could position near his tail to get a little wind. "Who''s the good boiiii!" Fufi barked. Woof! Woof! I am! I am! Chapter 444 Golds Trip At this time, Altera''s blonde heartthrob¡ªOslo¡ªwas rushing over to Altera, having left his home city a day prior. Counting down, he still had a day of travel. Fortunately, he got a beast carriage for himself, otherwise the trip back would''ve taken even longer. The Chancery of Appointments teleportation array could only be used once during the hiring. Unless Altera fired and timed his rehiring, which was a tough bet, he wouldn''t be able to come the same way. Of course, there was another way to teleport without a portal. That was: to join an enemy village that would attack Altera. Heh¡­ Maybe he''d get skewered by ice picks first. "Are we there yet?" Obi asked loudly from his own carriage. He asked this question precisely 10 minutes ago. Oslo rolled his eyes. How old was he? Wasn''t he already in his mid-30s? Why was he like a kid? "A bit more!" he yelled back, "And don''t you travel often to assist in territory wars? What are you doing so impatient!?" "..." Obi crossed his arms, realizing the validity of his point (not that he''d admit it). However, he was the youngest next to Oslo and was also relatively spoiled for a while. This attribute was activated often when he was with family. Otto, who was in the carriage behind him, cackled. "So much for being a grand guard!" Obi clicked his tongue, "This place better be worth it!" "No one forced you to come!" A feminine voice from another carriage responded. This was Olga who was, at this time, lounging about in her own car with her maids, eating some dried gouji fruits she bought from a specialty store back in the city. She didn''t seem particularly satisfied. "This used to be your favorite¡­" The long-haired Ogro said, worried for her. The short-haired Oren shook her head and tried getting other snacks from her space, which also didn''t seem particularly appetizing to her anymore. Ogro and Oren were twins who served as her guards and maids since she was a child. They knew her preferences and she did usually like what they brought her. Olga sighed, "Well, the snacks Oslo brought spoiled everything else." At the recollection of those delicious snacks that got consumed too quickly, a lot of her ladylike training went down the drain. "Can''t we just hurry up! I want to get there already!" Oslo sighed, hearing the interaction from his own carriage. Their windows were opened so everyone could talk to everyone else as needed, but Oslo was very tempted to just close everything to get his peace and quiet. Obviously, they were all raised to act with grace and poise, why was everyone so immature when alone together without parental supervision? Obi, Otto, and Olga had insisted on coming with him to Altera. He tried to warn them of the long and tiring trip¡ªas they had never gone to this mountainous area before¡ªbut they were vehement. They were smitten with the products he brought and they refused to wait another month for his return. Of course, he also brought with him some magic tools the Lord would definitely love. He also bought tons of potions for her to study¡ªsome of which available only in cities. For example, there were the Beast Repelling Potions which could let one avoid certain levels of monsters (something doused in their carriages as well) and the Beast Attracting Potion, which had the opposite effect. It was a bit more expensive with absolutely secret ingredients. Sadly, he wasn''t able to get an amputation potion from their city pharmacist because he was locked by the Lord to do stuff. Next time, he mused, he should be able to procure the potion, even if it cost hundreds of gold¡­ This brought an image of her smiling face and he ended up smiling goofily in response. It was just that it was promptly wiped out by the image of her husband''s dark face. Speaking of her husband, Oslo also brought some items for him. They were mostly equipment. For Garan himself, he brought a Class B sword and there were others for his team. These equipment were mostly Class C with the lowest ones at Class D. These were really varied and it would definitely raise the guard team by another level. He also brought some gadgets Ansel would definitely like. For instance, the Magic Sound Amplifier, which could allow a voice to travel farther distances. It was much better than their cone. And, of course, he also brought the children''s toys. He had to admit the Alteran''s toys were really fun and creative, but the special toys he bought¡ªusually available only for city nobles¡ªwere magic tools that used aether! They were also very expensive, but seeing those cute little babes chuckling just made him¡ªand everyone else, for that matter¡ªso happy! Similarly, he asked his siblings to bring items themselves to trade. Although they had money, Altera lacked these magical things, and it was his way to add these novelties in circulation. Considering how innovative people there were, who knew, maybe they''d figure out how to build them. That way even his family could purchase these things from Altera, which would definitely be much more affordable than purchasing them from other territories that charged too much. Inevitably, his mind moved to his happy days there. The nights at the tavern, the shopping, the bonding with the citizens¡­ At the thought of the beautiful days in Altera, he couldn''t help but worry about it. He could still vividly remember his talk with his father before he left and immediately his nostalgic mood turned dour. He remembered being taken to the man''s office for a bit, with the older man looking a little worried. It was not long after the gift-giving when his siblings asked how they could think of so many novel things. At the time, he then mentioned that they were like those territories that were from another world. His father looked at him worriedly, though he didn''t really understand at first until he was asked aside for a serious chat. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Son, you mean it''s one of those territories from another world?" Oslo looked at his father and his somber expression. It was quite unusual for him to look like this. "Yeah?" It wasn''t like this was the first time that happened? He still remembered hearing a lot about it as a child. "You¡­ like this place very much?" Oslo frowned, looking at him weirdly. Was it not obvious yet? "Quite a lot, actually." The man looked at him with a complicated expression and sighed. "Not many people know this, but Lord Tokens are limited in number, fixed." "And?" "While they would form and become available, they are few in number and definitely didn''t make up for the territories that fall due to various reasons. "Through time, fewer and fewer tokens would be available, and wars would have higher and higher stakes. "But when new civilizations appear¡­ new tokens would become available¡ª" Oslo almost stood up, realizing the implications. Everyone knew that when a territory disappeared because the Lord died outside the wars, the token would take a long time to be replaced. Various internal fights, accidents, and inability to defend against beast tides and other tragedies led to decreasing number of territories. This was especially true for budding territories, villages, and it was estimated that more than a few villages fell from beast tides alone every month. Similarly, if the lord token was stolen during the war, the new lord would have the option to merge it with theirs, allowing similar control to territories far away. One Token was already big, even if it was just a village, let alone combined tokens. This amount of power was no joke. However, after so long, how many territories could really crush others of the same level to the point they''d get their Lord Tokens? Very few, right? At most they would just win, weakening the territory bit by bit by taking their resources through the victories, eventually gaining the Token. But this would often take years, especially if one didn''t have backing. But the arrival of ''new people'' meant something different. When new territories¡ªpossibly thousands¡ªappeared, it would equate to hundreds or thousands of lord tokens becoming available. Many lords who had yet to fill up their merge slots would definitely want a piece or two! This fact would undoubtedly cause a sensation. If this was made public¡­ Just the thought of it made Oslo''s stomach churn. Wouldn''t people surge to attack their territory to get the Lord Token? The only bright side was that this secret not a lot of people knew of. Even if there were rumors, this was suppressed by the interested parties. It must not have been publicized by those who knew because they wanted the loot to themselves. Otherwise, millions of people and thousands of new territories appeared 20 or so years prior, how could the common people not even hear rumors? They didn''t even know, nor care, about that civilization''s name. They must have been attacked for their tokens back then, barraged by wars as soon as they were exposed. Silently, the newly-arrived aliens just became slaves, having no control over their lives. Would this time be the same? It was estimated subsidiary villages of the privy people in power would be arriving in their territory soon¡­ Was Altera ready for such a surge? Chapter 445 A Little Stowaway "HEY!" A yell came from a carriage in front, pulling him out of his trance. Then the carriage stopped so abruptly that he dropped from his seat. Oslo patted his shocked bum, peering through the curtain. "What?" "What is going on?!" Olga also yelled from the carriage behind. Instead of an answer, they heard a bit of a scuffle and some panicked and angry voices. He walked out of his carriage and saw Olga and her maids getting out as well. Their eyes met and they turned to look at the front carriage. They looked at Otto and his sole guard, the handsome Silva, who stood protectively next to his master. At this time, Otto was looking at the carriage with a complicated expression. He should''ve stayed in his carriage! But who told him to be a social butterfly and couldn''t live without chattering for a couple of hours? He randomly chose Obi''s and now he regretted it! Would he be collateral damage?! "What''s going on?" Olga asked her twin, who was looking very pale as he watched Obi''s carriage shake a bit in what seemed to be a scuffle. "Should we go help?" Oslo asked, though he partially didn''t mean it. Obi was many levels higher than he was. If he was having trouble with whatever was inside, then it could definitely kill Oslo. Otto shook his head to answer though, "It''s not what you think," he said, and soon the door burst open. Obi stepped out, with a very dark face at that. With a sneer, he extended his hand back to the interior of his carriage, pulling out a small arm¡ª A young boy around ten or eleven years of age headed down, ashamed, and looking a bit scared. His blonde hair was now frizzled and dusty, and his eyes a bit red. This made everyone else gape in shock, their stomach dropping at the implications of the kid''s appearance. "Honda?!" Oslo exclaimed, looking at the boy. "Ah, Orcshit!" S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were so dead. So dead! "He must''ve hidden in one of the chests." Obi sneered, crossing his arms in annoyance. He was even more scared than Oslo was. This brat hid in a chest in his carriage! Would older brother beat him up for not noticing? No, he definitely wouldn''t! However, he would say, "What kind of guard could let a living person into his carriage without knowing?" It wasn''t wrong¡ªtheir brother had always been brutally blunt¡ªand that was what made it more depressing! At this, he couldn''t help but give an annoyed look at the little boy with reddish eyes. "Speak!" "I¡­ I wanted to come¡­ mother won''t let me¡­" "So you decided to sneak out?!" Obi squeaked, before forcing his low and manly voice back and trying to appear more of an authority figure that he was. The twins sighed though, already thinking of the implications. "Now we have to find a territory with a post office," Olga said. After all, aether letters wouldn''t be able to reach so far. Behind them, Oslo looked at the sky. And they said that he was the Headache Child¡­ ____ Basset Town, 180 km East of Altera They arrived at a small level 1 Town named Basset Town north of their city. It was just a few tens of kilometers out of way, but not too far. It had the standard level 3 walls of towns and two to three-storey buildings. The distances of sentries were above average at around 300 meters apart. It was a relatively new town that had just been upgraded a couple of years prior, but the development was somewhat steady. They found the square-shaped Post Office and entered, paying a certain amount of silver to deliver a letter to their city. It was very nerve-wracking and they didn''t dare go too far in case they received a letter back. The group of them stood by the lobby. This was a normal set-up, but Oslo got spoiled in Altera, so he couldn''t help but mumble a couple of complaints here and there. For example, he would say something along the lines of "Tsk. No hospitality at all!" Or, "Adding no character to the building is akin to just putting walls and roofs anywhere." It only made the others impatient, especially the already antsy Obi, who went to ask the clerk if they got a reply every few minutes. The clerk was getting annoyed, but Obi was so handsome and regal that it felt excusable. There was also the fact that the recipient of the letter was from Bleulle City, so he didn''t dare show any dissatisfaction at all. He just checked when asked. He opened his mouth to say the negative, as he had been saying the past few minutes, but his lips shut when he saw that a reply actually went through! Obi flinched, and the others immediately went beside him. "Already?" Was his older brother hanging out in the post office? The Clerk tried to remain calm as he suffered the nervous energy from high-leveled individuals from the City. He cleared his throat and shakily handed them the sealed papyrus. The blondes hurriedly took it from him, huddling in a far corner of the building. Nervously, the siblings stared at the delivery, slightly shaky. They saw that it was two letters based on the seals. One was from their parents and another was from their brother. In order to facilitate their mental health, they decided to open the letters from their parents first. The parents'' letter could be summarized into ''We hope you are well, be safe, keep Honda especially safe, and bring back a lot of things especially those sauces, and perfume, and¡­.'' Et cetera. This made them heave a breath of relief, but only for a moment, because their peripheral view immediately reminded them of their brother''s letter. "So¡­ who''s gonna open it?" Otto asked, looking at the letter in Obi''s hand. "Not me," Obi said, trying to hand it over to anyone else but himself. He tried to shove it at Oslo, who stepped back and raised his arms. "Why are you looking at me? You''re older." "You''re younger. Listen to my orders!" Oslo rolled his eyes. "It wasn''t my carriage he was found in." At this, Obi couldn''t help but send a glare at the little boy, who went to hide behind his aunt. "Why did you choose my carriage anyway?" The boy looked at him with those innocent and large eyes. He pursed his lips before answering, with a very serious expression on his face. "Because it has the strongest beast¡­" He said. It was his favorite Kola Beast. "..." Chapter 446 Letter from Orion [Chapter dedicated to Air_Ace for the castle~! Thank you, lovely girl! BTW guys. She''s a new writer both for FL (Contract Marriage) and ML (Adventure)! If you''re into those tropes, you could check them out~ ] ... Obi looked up at the sky, slapping his forehead, trying very very hard not to explode. In the movement, the letter fell off Obi''s hand, but when he realized this, he made no effort to reach out. Olga sighed, wondering why all her brothers (except Eldest brother, of course) were all idiots before she leaned down to take the sealed parchment in her hands. Oslo''s lips twitched and just looked at the letter in Olga''s hand. "It''s already in your hand, you do it." "What?" "You''re most neutral and wouldn''t get in trouble." Olga was the favorite sibling after all. Olga rolled her eyes and shoved the letter to Obi. "Read it." Obi respected his sister and his mother a lot, so he had no choice but to take it back. If there were other aborigines in his position, even if the female sibling was older, they may actually get slapped for it. The postal office clerk, who was watching them from the distance, certainly expected it to happen. Anyway, no such drama happened, and Obi just slowly unsealed the letter and opened it in front of everyone. As expected, in contrast to their parents'', eldest brother''s letter was much more¡­ detailed, and very passive-aggressive. /Hello Siblings, I trust that this letter has arrived in your hands as soon as I sent it. After all, I assume that you understand the urgency of the matter at hand. Imagine my surprise when my only son, lured by your promise for excitement and adventure, decided to accompany you on your trip. First of all, I would like to express my bewilderment in your trip as you go on completely oblivious to the weight you now carry on your trunks. I say this for your own good, but I suggest increasing your alertness training. What if it was a spy or an enemy who snuck into your carriage? Are you going to lay there like an idiotic Gugu bird? Frankly, I am uncertain whether to congratulate you on your newfound job or throw you a potion bomb for your gross negligence, but I have decided to send a bit of both. Let me be clear, my siblings. You are now completely responsible for the well-being of my child, the only one in his generation of our entire Gold clan. I expect his safety will be your primary concern and I expect nothing less of perfection in this matter. If a single hair on his little blonde head is harmed during this escapade of yours, I promise to unleash a reign of terror that will make your previous nightmares seem as if they''re lovely daydreams. My vengeance will be swift and painful, I can guarantee. Best of luck, and may the odds ever be in your favor. Warmest Regards, Orion Gold./ Obi let go of the letter after reading it. "Well, Orcs'' shit." "Language," Oslo said, picking up the letter to read it himself. "What is it?" Olga said, trying to read the letter herself now. Oslo shrugged. "Fortunately, we were not verbally abused. It''s just some passive-aggressive comments from the eldest brother implying doom should something happen to the child." Obi''s eyes twitched. "The threats were pretty direct." Oslo shrugged, and Obi really wanted to punch him. Instead, he heaved a deep breath and looked at his more reliable older siblings. "What do I do now?" Fortunately for them, Oslo was now the resident ''expert'' in villages, helping them calm down. "Actually, this trip could be good for the child," he said, making everyone''s heads turn to him. In retrospect, he should''ve added it to the letter, but he really didn''t think of it before calming down. "They could treat this as Honda''s training," he said, "The monsters here would be perfect for his age and level, plus he wouldn''t be under the strict protection of his parents, preparing him for the real world." This calmed everyone down. It made sense. Although most children began fighting at 12, his family started a year or two earlier. Honda was no exception and he was now level 5. It wasn''t a bad level as they were just going to villages. On the contrary, it would be the perfect place for him to train. Obi looked enlightened and almost hugged Oslo, to the latter''s chagrin. Obi immediately composed a return letter stating this. The letter specifically mentioned all the pros and whatever good things this would cause for little Honda¡ªincluding but not limited to: Strength, Willpower, Independence, and Self-confidence. It had to be in his handwriting, to buy himself a ticket to absolution. Obi owed Oslo now though, and the latter noted this as something to rub on his face in the future. They then looked at the child, who was holding a cute bunny rabbit stuffed toy he got from Altera (he wasn''t told this was a girl''s thing back in Terran) and just thought Honda would like the toy (he did). Oslo patted the little boy''s head. He was sniffing and looking very pitiful. This side of him was something he only showed when his father wasn''t around. He was obviously well-protected, likely by his meek mother. If his father was there, he''d act like a little adult unperturbed by everything. If he was just with his uncles and aunt however, all his childishness that seemed to be held back release like flood. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oslo''s eyes softened and he kneeled down so he could see eye level to the little boy. "Well, you have to man up now. The journey forward wouldn''t be easy, and no one would be taking care of you but yourself." he said, "This is the start of your adulthood journey!" Of course, while he didn''t want to child to have an absent childhood like his dad, it was still a fact that he was the oldest of this generation and he was next in line for the family patriarch next to Orion. He ought to toughen up, and genuinely, not just when his father was there! Little Honda sniffed, hugging his new stuffed toy tighter, "Yes, uncle!" Chapter 447 Basset Town (Part 1) It was late and they decided to have a rest in Basset Town instead. They would leave early the next morning. While Honda and Olga settled down, the brothers decided to go have a bit of a drink. Not too much, of course, but just enough to push down the headache that they call their nephew. Also, it was a way to study their surroundings by the way. Basset Town was around halfway to Altera. It was just an average town with the standard building types: the weapon shop, armory, restaurants, houses, and the like. It had the post office that they used before, and it also had a tavern. What was special with the tavern here compared to that of most towns was that this tavern was upgraded to the maximum level 3. Level 1 taverns had one floor with about 3 available drinks, its raw materials would vary depending on region, but basically they were all common plants like Flute and Gouji berry. Level 2 Taverns had two floors with 5 varieties. And level 3 had 3 floors with 10. The final levels would often use rarer and more expensive raw materials, so unless a territory had good source of these, most towns wouldn''t bother to upgrade to level 3 taverns except for maybe an added space/ floor which was usually not worth it. Apparently, Basset Town had a decent source of raw materials, which they later found out to be among its subsidiaries. Anyway, the three of them entered the tavern and ordered the best sellers, receiving a few interested stares along the way. After all, it was rare to find three very handsome blondes together like this. Inside, there were plenty of servicewomen who were accompanying the men, and all of them sent them blinking eyes. Obi, like many Terran Soldiers, grew up in a masculine-filled environment. Although he had heard of a lot of talks, they said it so in a way that women didn''t really appeal to him that way. Anyway, It was not surprising he turned out to be the romantic dunce, in stark contrast with most of his siblings. They looked for a spot and found the lower two floors were too rowdy, so they headed to the third floor which had a much more exclusive feel. There were much fewer people here with few tables and chairs further separated by partitions. These partitions also had some insulating properties as well. Although it wasn''t completely sound proof, it would provide enough privacy as long as the adjacent table wasn''t purposely snooping or the guest weren''t being too loud. There was a host by the stairs to both welcome and also delineate the area. They had to pay a few extra silvers each to get an access to the top floor. At the height of drinking time, it was also only half occupied, which was very much to their liking. The women here were also much more high-level and graceful. They declined the offers of course, but they could see all the other tables had a few who were serving them drinks. Among the drinks was the famous Glurgle which was a blue spirit with a cool feel. It was great for slightly warm night air. Then there was the Crimson Horizon, which had a smooth and subtle sweetness. Finally, there was the Golda Drink with a special kick. It was said that if you drink a cup before reaching level 20, you''d likely lose consciousness after a shot. It was also why the Golda Drink was also dubbed the ''strength test'' because those who could handle more than 1 shot were level 20 or above. These were all some of the best drinks this world had to offer, but none of them could compare to the Lord''s which was a totally different level altogether. However, they were still pretty decent so the trio still enjoyed their drink. "So you''re telling me¡­ this is the standard of drinks in Altera?" Oslo nodded, sipping some crimson. "The ones commoners drink are already very good. The special types are even better." Obi gulped, "Interesting." He smiled. He might have given a bottle to his father, but it was just a bottle. He definitely didn''t share with his sons. Mother would''ve guarded it with him, so they would have a drink together. The drinks he gave them were the better quality ones from Heartbreak Tavern. Next month, he''ll try to get some of the lord''s. It wouldn''t be easy though, because even the lord''s family members didn''t get to taste it often. As they consumed their drinks (sparsely of course), they talked about usual boy things. For example, who got the best beast car in Bleulle, who among his peers reached level 40, et cetera. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their chatters were cut when the whole tavern suddenly quieted down. They saw another small group enter and the people bowed a bit, "Milord," they said, and the Golds watched them curiously. It was a middle-aged man with black hair. He was with two other men, obviously close friends and cronies. They happened to sit next to them, so it wasn''t like they eavesdropped on purpose. Of course, when the so-called lord activated an anti-spy tool¡ªsomething called Voice Blocker¡ªso they knew some important topics would probably be discussed. Oslo''s eyebrows rose as he looked at his siblings. It so happened that each one of them had a tool to nullify it. The other party must not have expected someone in their territory to have this tool on-hand, let alone 3. They had no excuses for eavesdropping, but privacy wasn''t a thing in Xeno. People''s lives were always in danger, such luxurious expectations were usually not practiced. Furthermore, if you were weak and the strong wanted to know something, then they could very well do whatever they wanted. Similarly, the happened to have an eavesdropping tool handy, so why not take advantage to listen to some important information? Perhaps they could even be handy someday. Otto smirked and placed the tool under the table, inputting his aura in order to activate it. They wondered what gossip they''d hear. Chapter 448 Basset Town (Part 2) Anyway, the topics varied from their own people, interesting women, and then some news. They talked about some villages fighting. "Is it done?" The lord asked the one on his right, who nodded. "Yes, milord, Hasa had taken down Mauin, with Tome soon after." "Very good," he nodded, a sharp glint in his eyes. The brothers'' eyes met, understanding. the lord here definitely instructed one of his subsidiaries to wage war on other villages, to take their tokens and resources. It was none of their business, and this was normal practice in their world, but it did make for some interesting gossip. One of the men sneered, tapping the table in annoyance. "Milord, I heard Hemeppo seemed to have merged the two territories." The other cronie shook his head. "Heh, I knew that one couldn''t be trusted." Although the disassociation of the Lord token was not common knowledge, the lords, who could see the actual tokens separating from their own bodies during wars, naturally knew of it. It was an open secret among lords and their most trusted confidantes. "What do we do now, milord?" "Let him be, for now." He said. Subsidiary villages weren''t slaves, after all. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We''ll just increase his taxes to 50% or else he''ll face my other subsidiaries." Anyway, subsidiary status lasted a year. He would have no choice but to follow this until the contract expired. The cronies naturally know this as well and they grinned. "This is noted sir, I will forward this to him." At this, their other companion looked at him in mirth, "When you visit, be careful of what they offer you." The man made a face, knowing Hasa Village''s questionable diet. "Those people are insane. Obviously, there was no lack of food, but they still decided to eat people! But then again, as long as they gave money and resources, who cared what other people eat? At this point, the brothers had decided to stop eavesdropping and just go on with their day. However, the topic suddenly shifted to one they cared for, very much. "Have you heard? There are many forces congregating in this area," one said, and the other nodded. "Of course! After all¡ªthere are so many new territories ripe for our picking!" ¡­ The next day. The Golds got up early and continued to travel, hoping to get to Altera by the next sunset. Honda obviously had an uneasy rest after doing his first act of rebellion, Olga looked tired after not sleeping on her soft bed, while Oslo and his brothers had a slight headache due to drinking, but thankfully not too much. They just drank a bit more than planned because they wanted to eavesdrop a bit more. Anyway, the siblings decided to share the carriage for the last leg of the trip. They wanted to hear more about the territory from Oslo so they could better be ''prepared'', whatever that meant. They applied a bit more of their stock of Beast Repelling Potion¡ªwhich worked best in towns or villages due to the level limitations of the potion. This lovely invention allowed them to travel through with ease. Some hours later, however, the carriage halted all of a sudden. "There''s a mob sir." "Does it matter?" Obi asked. After all, there should be no beast stronger than level 20 in the area, and the Beast repelling potion could easily repel until level 15 for a relatively good distance. "No, sir," the driver said, and they decided to ignore the mob which would actively avoid them anyway. But then they heard screams and yells of despair around. Judging by the sound, there should be dozens of people out there begging for help. This time though, the driver didn''t bother asking and just continued on their way. This was a common sight in Xeno and people generally wouldn''t bother with them. It was nothing personal. It was just how it was. Obi, a guard, naturally had a bit more heroism in him, so he looked a bit conflicted though. "Can I see?" He asked, making his siblings look at him. "We should," Oslo answered, making the siblings'' heads whip to him instead. Altera softened him up considerably. He cleared his throat. "It''s not far, let''s go and check anyway." "So kind?" "Well, the Alterans once said ''Helping others is an investment in yourself'', and I personally think it makes sense." The siblings'' eyebrows rose and they looked at each other with mixed emotions of surprise and puzzlement. They shrugged in the end and just let the two youngest brothers go down the carriage and go to where the scuffle was. They found a group of people was being mobbed, and there were easily a hundred humans in there! What was more notable was that there were more women, children, and older people in there than strong men! Everyone was trying to fight, but they could see how the men were still carrying much of the burden¡ªhow they still did their best to protect the families behind them even if it meant they lost flesh. "Help!" "Please help!" They immediately jumped in, touched by the image of sincere protection the men were showing. The mob wasn''t very strong, only level 8 at most, but there were a lot so it was understandable people would suffer. The men surrounded the weaker ones behind them. They were all bloodied and tired. Their eyes were brighter when they saw their rescuers, but no one dropped their guard, afraid of losing someone else at this juncture. With Obi, Oslo, and a few guards leading the way, they cleared out the mobs with relative ease. Both siblings were Elementalists, and the sparkle of various elements also exploded, lighting up hope in the refugees'' hearts. Obi pressed his fists together and a strong ember formed. He waved his hand a a massive flamethrower was fired, and for a while the line of fire seemed endless. When it died, it took about a dozen monsters in its wake. Oslo was not to fall behind. He immediately raised the soil near the refugees, raising it so the monsters were pushed back. His whole body turned and spikes emerged from this small hill, skewering a handful of monsters. He then took out his sword to get rid of the monsters who shifted their attacks to him, and he also easily beheaded each one that approached him. It didn''t take long for them to clear the mobs, with the guards finishing off the ones in the periphery while the brothers took a closer look at the refugees. The people were all injured and blooded and there were plenty who had lost an appendage or two. However, they all had bright eyes as they stared at them as if they were gods. It didn''t matter if they lost an arm or a leg. To the village folk of Mauin, this was already a blessing. After everything they had been through, they just felt extremely blessed to be alive. Chapter 449 Nourishment Days passed and Althea entered another activity into her daily habits: Using her Growth skill on a few important plants (Note: Cocoa Tree). Of course, she still trained, meditated, and the like for several hours every day, she still spent time in the lab and research center and, most importantly, she still spent time with her family. It was really busy but she couldn''t bring herself to slow down at all. It was the same with her husband, who barely slept as he dealt with the various military affairs of the territory. Well, not tired enough to forgo intimacy, but fortunately he stopped after a few times a night, letting them have some semblance of rest. Today though was a little different. She had felt the progress in her farm and she decided to focus her day entirely on it. She went to the farms with the goal of making good progress with the task, so she brought a lot of mana cookies (which Harold already knew to prepare and had stocks of). She went back to the experimental cocoa to use her skills again. It didn''t matter if she could only deal with one plant for a long time¡ªshe just wanted her chocolate! [Used! Growth Control (C), -50 Mana!] [Used! Growth Control (C), -50 Mana!] She used it over and over until her remaining mana for the day was gone. Every day she did this after everything, and she would hasten its growth by a few hours each time. It wasn''t much considering the mana and the mana cookies she spent, but she didn''t really feel bad. After all, doing this would let her have her chocolate days earlier so she still thought it was worth it! Oh, and she could also train the skill more. After caring for her cocoa, she then went to the experimental corn. She had chosen a small plot about 1 square meter in size for this. There were six stalks of corn there, and they would serve as her experiential corn to turn to another strain. She used the Eye and concentrated, focusing on the plants'' make. The strain of corn that could make popcorn had a hard, moisture-resistant hull that surrounded its endosperm. It also had a starchy interior. When the heat was applied, the moisture trapped inside would pop, creating the snacks that generations of Terrans loved. This was also the quality she needed to cultivate. With the Eye, she could determine which plant would have the traits she needed. This would save her at least months of breeding because she didn''t even have to wait for them to grow to determine which subjects she could use. What''s more, with the Growth skill, she could encourage this sort of mutation. Although it wasn''t able to make stark changes (yet), she could enhance these desired qualities. She would use this skill to the plants with the desired properties, making the experiment much more efficient. On the contrary, it was much harder than just speeding up the plants'' growth and aging. This was understandable because speeding up growth was simply pushing the development to its natural path. She was now doing quite the opposite. And she was having quite some fun. Anyway, for much of the day, she just sat there with the corn, doing trial and error to the different stalks, seeing which seemed to fit the strain she wanted more. It got to the point that she no longer had mana cookies left. Sigh. She stood up and went back to the house. At this time, there was already food prepared for her. Harold was in the kitchen, also experimenting with the new plants. So far, he had created two dishes, one of which managed to have an effect (albeit with only 10% success rate) S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her babies were apparently next door, an opportunity won by the ladies against the clinic folks through a dangerous game of volleyball. It was amazing how Lola played. She was apparently a pro back in the day but stopped due to an injury. However, after leveling up, this minor injury was no longer a problem, and she could crush anyone in volleyball. Hey, maybe she could be a human trebuchet someday. In any case, the way people floundered to take care of her children was both amusing and made her feel guilty. Considering how busy she was lately, she mostly only saw her children when they were asleep. Sigh. Well, if they tasted chocolate she hoped they would understand the sacrifice. ¡­ Althea returned to the farms after about an hour more of rest, allowing her mana to heal naturally. She also took several bales of mana cookies, which Harold baked during her break. She was determined to make some big progress today! Eventually, after a few hours, she finally saw the needed hardness of the hull. The sky was already dark and the farm slit up by youli lamps. Harold tried calling her for dinner, but her momentum was high and she couldn''t bear to cut it off. There was still some time to go but she mused that the progress today was very good. In a few days, she would be able to make the type she needed. In another week or so, the corn fields would be ready to harvest. She couldn''t wait to taste popcorn! Best, she already has salt and sugar, which could give the popcorn''s characteristic salt and sweet taste¡ªthe so-called bliss point. Very exciting! However, before she officially clocked out for the day, so couldn''t help but recall an observation that she kept to the back of her head. It was just that it didn''t really become clear. It was probably because she was hungry. "Finally hungry?" A familiar voice said, making her flinch. She turned to look at her husband who had been looming over her. "When did you arrive?" She asked, but Garan didn''t answer her and just kneeled to her level so he could lift her up. "You work too hard," Garan said, patting her bum. She smiled and kissed his chiseled chin. He smiled and carried her all the way to the dining table already set up and just waiting for her. Althea turned to look at the table, and the first she saw were the children in their high chairs drinking milk from their bottles. The moment they saw her, the two let go off their suckles and called to her with their toothless grins. Her heart softened and she went down from Garan''s embrace and walked over to kiss their soft faces. "Aww, I''m sorry my babies," she said, gently touching their chubby cheeks. "Mummy will play with you for a whole day when this is over." The two babies made cute milky sounds as if talking with her, and they all laughed, marking the beginning of a lovely dinner. Chapter 450 Skill from the World Knowledge! Thankyou Foxiidust for the castleee! If you have chapter requests just tell me~ .... _____ Dinner was nice and they chatted about their day and accomplishments. Althea asked them first and she listened well. She had heard stories about the new hires, and the new inventions, as well as some suggestions that could really help with their side''s efficiencies. Soon it was finally her turn to speak, and everyone leaned in to hear. They were all looking forward to knowing her progress. "What about your experiments?" Althea was chewing on her fruit salad when Harold asked this. "Chocolates are in process, but while I managed to hasten their growth by a few days so far, it probably wouldn''t be mass-produced for a long time." "Aww¡­" "But¡­," she paused with a smile, putting her audience at the edge of their seats (literally). "We should still be able to eat some as a group in another 2 months." Sheila clapped a bit and the others grinned. Chocolate! It was finally within reach! But Althea wasn''t done with her story. "Other than that, I can tell you that popcorn is much more possible." "Popcorn!" This obviously excited the others very much, with Sheila''s mind immediately going to those nice times she''d watch movies alone with her large-sized popcorn. Harold beside her also nodded. He immediately made a plan for the inevitable commercialization of popcorn. "I''ll get the Spice-and-sauce factories to come up with different flavor powders." Inexplicably, his mind moved to the various flavors¡ªfrom cheese, to barbeque, to sour cream, and to many other flavors. A moment of silence passed, followed by gulps. They looked at her and curiously asked for her process, which prompted Althea to speak more about her elements and new skills and how the interlaced together as a single concept. She mentioned how she activated skills by combining them both, and how she combined their functions and uses. Althea explained it in a way she thought they''d understand, but geniuses simply didn''t think the same wavelength as the others. However, the others did take note of her methods and mused, perhaps they could do the same when they awaken their respective elements. "It''s amazing," Sheila mumbled. She wondered more about how her water element related to healing primarily because the human body was made mostly of water. As a nurse, she also had a more intimate knowledge of the going ons inside the human body. She reckoned the healing ability was also related to this. "It''s amazing how everything just seemed¡­ connected," she said, Eugene nodded. "Maybe everything that had to do with aether are interrelated somehow." Althea paused a bit as their words echoed. Connected, eh? However, the light of idea didn''t really connect for now, and she didn''t go after it either. Dinner was for family and relaxation, not for work. Anyway, dinner ended soon after and everyone went to their respective abodes. Althea and Garan spent time with each other and the babies in the living room. "Mwamhammma¡­" "Gugumamwghhh¡­" The couple watched fondly as the children crawled from point to point, getting a block there, getting a yellow ball here, and then trying to put them together. The couple also played with the babies, filling that night with simple but warm memories with the children. Eventually, the little things'' eyelids began to feel heavier. This was followed by the babies yawning, showing off their toothless gums. The couple chuckled as they lifted the babies and put them to bed in their crib. She couldn''t help but admire their adorableness for a while longer until she felt warm hands over her stomach. The warm hand naturally crawled to more sensitive areas and she moaned when she felt his tongue tracing the back of her neck. "Husband¡­" His large hand groped her mounds as his mouth traced more of her skin. "The babies¡­" "They wouldn''t hear as long as we''re quiet," he whispered hotly against her skin. She flushed, really worried. If there was some kind of tool that could block the sounds for the babies¡­ It was around here though that Sheila and Eugene''s words finally rang a bell. Everything connected to Aether is connected. She immedaitely gestured to go back to her farm. "No. It''s time to rest," Garan said, almost pouting in bitterness. Althea''s heart softened to goo, but she really couldn''t let this eureka moment pass by. "I want to try a few more things¡­ please, husband?" She asked, her emerald eyes large in plea. It made Garan gulp, but his frown didn''t dissipate at all. She tiptoed and kissed his cheeks repeatedly. "Please, please, please¡­" She mumbled as she kissed his cheek, and Garan''s eyes stayed on her the whole time. Emerald eyes met azure ones and a battle of grit began. "Pleassseee?" She asked again, eyes so large and shiny it reflected him. Garan could only concede defeat. . S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. . For now. ¡­ Back to the farm. There must be something to learn from the system farm itself, she mused. Everything was connected, and this very much included the place where her element was the strongest. One of the things she realized in her success was that the Eye had a lot more uses. She looked at the system farm closer using the eye. With it, she could pinpoint more accurately each of the green spots amongst the bright clusters. She looked closer and saw the green dots congregate on specific paths. It was an unfamiliar pattern, but it reminded her of the teleportation array in the Village Center. Her eyes widened. Of course! An array! It made sense! This meant that the farmland¡­ was just a giant, complicated, array. The arrays were formulated to create these magical effects! Immediately, she used her ability to look at the patterns closer. She traced them, trying to understand. It was difficult and mind-boggling, but even when she didn''t understand, she memorized them, trying to find a pattern of sorts. Everything had some logic in it and these patterns definitely had some rationale, some meaning, and some effect to the world as they interacted with it. As this realization dawned on her, the familiar ding rang in her head. [You have received World Knowledge Magic Tool Creation (C) Level 1: Gain the ability to integrate arrays to create Class E to D magic tools. Mama Requirement: Varies] !!!! Then¡­, she remembered: She didn''t know anything about arrays! Chapter 451 Earth Element The Next Day The entire territory was doused with renewed energy for training after it was popularized that Althea had awakened an element! Before, only the closest ones, particularly the barracks, were aware of it, but such big news naturally couldn''t be contained. The previous night, during one of the nightlife parties in the territory, someone got drunk and mumbled how nice it would be to awaken an element like Ms. Althea. This news was passed on from person to person, naturally injecting another douse of inspiration for everyone to work hard! After all, rather than the talented soldiers who arrived months prior, someone who transferred with them had awakened as well! Who knew? Maybe they could really be next! At this time though, this aforementioned source of inspiration was kilometers away from the territory with her husband. This time Althea took a break from the Training Hall and her experiments, deciding to stay outside the whole day. She couldn''t do anything about her lack of knowledge in arrays except self-studying, but she didn''t think she would be able to get too far on her own. This was very worrying because she knew how stingy local people were with their expertise. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, Althea didn''t wallow in depression for too long, and just decided to focus on the other skills she ought to train more. For example, her elements. She and her husband were currently in a rare clearing they found after some exploration. It was a large space with sparse trees, likely a product of some erosion a long time ago. They chose the least demanding element to train this time¡ªEarth. The element simply needed to control the elements already available and ready to use around them, unlike water which she still had to condense from the air as there were no water sources nearby. They also announced she could use wood and earth, leaving water behind in order not to be too unusual. "Have you chosen which direction you hope to take?" Garan asked and she nodded to tell him her choice. "Aggressive." As mentioned to her many times, Elementalists also tend to focus on a certain type of techniques to activate. For instance, if one chose aggressive techniques, they would most likely only learn such, at least not until the element had been mastered to a certain degree. Similarly, auxiliary techniques would inspire the same. For wood, she had chosen to use the auxiliary aspect of it so she wouldn''t be able to learn the more aggressive techniques for a while. She didn''t need to. As for water, because of her predispositions, she would be more likely to choose auxiliary as well. She''d be learning more from people like Turbo than Ryo, who used water aggressively. Anyway, she was also an archer so she could focus her attacks there. For Earth, there didn''t seem to be a lot of differences between auxiliary and aggressive skills, primarily due to its stable nature. However, she would still focus on attacking skills to balance things out. Garan had learned what he could from Gill and Mao to teach his wife. As for why he didn''t just ask an earth elementalist to go with them, it was naturally so he could bond with his wife. Gill was also very busy. Besides, those other men couldn''t talk straight with Althea and just gape at her. Very annoying. Not to mention, their children stayed with them most nights, and combined with their busy day schedules, their alone time had been greatly discounted. What if his place in his wife''s heart lowered because he hadn''t been satisfying her enough lately? Last night, they only did it thrice! (If Althea could hear his thoughts, she''d glare at him. Although they didn''t do it as often, their sex life was still very active, okay?) Fortunately, Althea had no idea at this time so she was just very eager to learn. "Husband. Teach me!" She said, very excited for what she would be learning. Although she had a short introduction back in the barracks, she still had a long away before actually using them to the degree that they could be used in battle. She couldn''t bear take the guards'' time either. "Let''s start with what Gill and the others call Geokinesis, the art of shaping the terrain," he said, moving behind her to give her a place to practice in front of them. Garan, of course, didn''t forget to take a bit of an advantage and settle nicely behind her. A step back and she''d be resting on him. Althea felt his large hands on her waist as he spoke. "Focus on the earth beneath you." He told her, very close, and she could feel his warmth as he spoke. "Imagine a piece of clay, ready to be molded." Althea closed her eyes and extended her hand towards the earth, channeling energy. It took several minutes to get a decent hold on to the earth elements. "Feel the connection between your energy and the Earth''s all around," Garan said, his hand on her waist caressing ever-so-gently. Garan wasn''t even trying to seduce her now. He was simply trying to keep her still, as the earth seemed to require a lot of stillness from their user as if they were part of the rocks themselves. Althea concentrated harder, and she started to sweat as she tried to manipulate the earth as she imagined. Garan looked concerned and wanted to wipe the sweat off, but was afraid he''d distract her. "Go away. You''re distracting me." "..." It was now he realized his hands had crept just below her breast. He cleared his throat and stepped further away. He waited patiently at a distance as she tried over and over. Many minutes trickled by and the ground beneath her began to change. The surface shifted a little, and the barren soil had become small hills that could trip people. It was very tiny, but it was a change and she immediately went to hug him, a radiant smile gracing her face. She practiced for a few more hours until she made a bigger bump as well as larger potholes. It wasn''t enough to trigger an actual skill, but it was enough for now. "This is amazing! When I master this, I can dig an entire field in a couple of minutes!" She said. Obviously, she didn''t choose auxiliary skills, but she still connected them to her gardening nevertheless. Her smile was so bright that Garan had to his throat, trying to focus on the lesson at hand. But, he wanted to ask. "Do you want to continue? You worked hard, you deserve to rest." "No, more!" He cleared his throat. "Next is the seismic vibration lesson." Althea watched eagerly and her apt attention with tinges of admiration distracted Garan a bit, wanting to do inappropriate things. But Garan had very strong self-restraint (when it was needed) and knew that his wife really wanted to learn some earth techniques. He manifested a fork and made it ting. "Earth users can apparently sense vibrations within the ground used to detect dangers ahead of time." Although she wasn''t manifesting anything, this skill also took some mana. This skill was to attune to the Earth''s subtle movements. Garan hit the fork and Althea tried attuning to it. She closed her eyes and tried to feel the small rhythm of the soil. It was hard and she felt her mana draining. Garan''s help was also limited because he wasn''t an earth elementalist himself, but he did study it well enough that he could try. Fortunately, eventually, Althea did, and it was like a mental x-ray map. [Learned! Earth Mapping (D)! Level 1: Able to feel vibrations at a radius of 2 meters. Lasts for 1 minute. Mana: -10] "I finally got a new skill!" She said with a smile. It was upgradable too and she wondered how far a high level could go. "Congratulations," Garan said, and Althea quickly jumped on him, placing several pecks on his cheek. "It''s all thanks to you!" She said with a smile. At this, Garan''s eyes darkened. "How will you reward me then?" He asked, hand creeping on her curvaceous waist, to somewhere else. She gasped. "We''re outside!" Outside the territory, no less! "Didn''t you always say you were curious?" About making love outside? "I never said that!" He definitely dreamed it! Garan did, indeed. To her surprise, he manifested metal spikes around them creating a fenced area of about fifty square meters. To think he''d use his powers like this! "I know you have a tent in your space." It was a very good tent he commissioned himself. Large and comfortable, bought it since she had the space for it anyway. She pursed her lips. She didn''t have any mana left to practice any more, and the sky was still high up. Garan saw his wife was softening to the idea and leaned down, licking her lips to part them. The atmosphere heated up between the couple, with Garan''s misbehaving hand crawling under her shirt. Althea''s soft hand held them in place before he could go inside. It was still embarrassing in the end though! In her embarrassment, she ran away. A little cheesy game of tag between lovers and Althea unconsciously used what she had learned. For instance, she used the bumps to help propel her forward, over and over because she really didn''t want to be caught by him. Unexpectedly, after some time, a soft ding sounded in her head. [Learned! Earth Spring (D) Level 1: Increases Agility by 4 points, lasts 5 minutes. CD: 5 minutes. Mana: 10] Eh, flirting could give birth to such a good thing? Chapter 452 Encounter with Blondes The two of them flirted a lot before deciding to head home, hand in hand. At the same time, Althea wanted to train a few more times now that her mana had recovered. They decided to run back home. Garan was naturally fast, while Althea made up for it by using the Earth Spring. She wanted it to be so instinctive that she didn''t have to thinking about using it when she had to. After some time, they reached about a few kilometers or so to the territory and Althea was getting a bit tired. "Shall I carry you?" Garan asked, very naturally. She pinched his cheeks and shook her head. Garan wasn''t too disappointed though, as they would still be walking holding hands. It would be like a stroll they took during their dates¡ªthe occassional mob or bugs irregardless. Althea noticed this and sprayed on insect repellents. "I wish we could get Beast Repellant potions too," she mumbled. She had tried using the grass from the bog, but while they annoyed and had some effect, they weren''t enough, at least for now, to create a bona fide Beast Repellent potion. "It seems nice," Garan said, smelling the bug spray. Althea smiled smugly, "Of course, I added a bit of lavender there," she said, but formulating it in a way that the scent wouldn''t attract the insects instead. After this, Garan entwined his hands with hers again, and so resumed their leisurely tour around the supposedly-dangerous forest. Some time along the way though, they heard the familiar vibrations and hooves. Althea immediately used her newly-learned skill¡ªanother habit she was training to form. Although she could only see clearly 2 meters away, she could still get impressions of what was coming. It was big, and there were quite a few of them. To their surprise it was about five carriages with strong beasts. She led her husband to the side to see more closely as they passed. Garan could naturally sense something similar at his level, but he was more than happy to get led around by his wife. The beasts carriages used beasts they hadn''t encountered yet. There was a particularly strong-looking one, which the appraisal skill named ''Kola Beast'' and she saw it was a powerful level 12 monster. One must know that level 15 was the record of the strongest monster tamed. Level 12 was among the elites. Anyway, the couple stood farther away so they wouldn''t disturb the monsters. From what they knew about tamed monsters, as long as there was a bit of distance around them (the ballpark figure was the width of their head), tamed monsters wouldn''t mind their presences. Surprisingly, the caravan stopped midway. "Stop!" The carriages halted and the one in front opened its doors, revealing a familiar handsome blonde. He was wearing noble silk robes that was partially opened as its design, revealing his well-shaped chest. If any of his fangirls were here, they''d definitely have nosebleeds. Oslo had a very bright expression on his face as he looked at her, his azure eyes reflecting all of her. . "Mi¡ªMs. Althea!" He greeted with a smile as he went down to greet her, but immediately froze when he felt literal chills surrounding him.. He paused, giving the other person a polite nod. "Mr. Garan." The couple was very surprised to see him here, and on Beast Carts, too. "Oslo? You''re back?" "Yes, Ms. Althea," he said, looking at the carriage. "Get down here." A few more figures emerged from the carriage he was in. First were two young men with similar golden hair to Oslo''s. One had dark green eyes and one the same shade as Oslo. Then, there was a little boy about 10 years of age. The young lad also blonde but with auburn eyes, and was definitely a handsome embryo not inferior to the other men. Finally, a beautiful blonde with blue eyes came out. She had curvaceous figure and had a strong temperament around her. "These are my siblings Obi, Otto, and Olga," he said, pointing at them. "And this is my nephew, the only one in his generation." The couple looked at the newcomers and they couldn''t help but give each other some furtive glances. Goodness Gracious¡ªOslo even brought family. "Nice to meet you," Althea gave a welcoming smile, and Garan gave a polite nod. They hadn''t particularly invite aborigines to the territory yet, but it didn''t mean they didn''t want them. Organic visitors like this was very welcome. In fact, if people decided to go with Team B back here, they''d be glad to have them. Especially when the people of Ferrol found out Gill and the others were gone, it started quite a bit of commotion in their base. Team B, when they arrived, received quite some welcome. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Helios even got himself laid inexplicably¡­ but that was a story for another time. Back to Althea''s side, the architect also proceeded to introduce the couple to his family. "This is Ms. Althea, an elder in Altera. She is pretty much responsible for a lot of the development in te territory." The siblings couldn''t help but look at the beautiful woman. Other than their own mother, they had only heard of about a handful of women in leading roles in a territory. And such a tiny pretty one¡­ Olga, in particular, looked a bit fascinated, and Garan held Althea''s shoulders to pull him closer to him, as if guarding. Oslo''s lips twitched when he saw this. "This is her husband, Sir Garan Witt, Elder of Military Affairs. He is also the head of the Terran mercenary team, and also a dual elementalist." The siblings'' eyebrows rose again. So amazing? They haven''t even been to the territory but they were already met with such individuals? "Ah, before I forget, we also found some aborigine refugees looking for a home. "I left most of our guards to guide them. They should be able to arrive in the territory within the day or early tomorrow." Althea blinked, a bit surprised, but quite relieved. "Well, thank you," she said, and it made Oslo''s day 100x better. He couldn''t wait to tell her what he got for her! Chapter 453 Magic Tools Oslo looked at the sky already reddish skies and led them to his carriage, which was the car behind the one they were in. He didn''t want the lord to squeeze in with all of them siblings. "Shall we ride on my carriage back home, Ms. Althea?" he asked, and the couple didn''t reject his offer. Unexpectedly, every other sibling except Honda followed them to his carriage instead. Whether it was curiosity or just wanting to gossip, they didn''t know, all they knew was that there were now six adults squeezed into the carriage. Of course, their carriages weren''t small, so they weren''t really uncomfortable. Their private spaces got breached though. Althea''s lips twitched. Oslo looked at the couple apologetically, really wondering where his siblings'' upbringing went, before shifting attention to them. "What are you doing all the way out here? Training your element?" Olga leaned down a little across the aisle, "So you are an Elementalist as well? Me too, I use water!" "I''m training my earth element today," Althea answered with a smile. The official statement of her elements after awakening was wood and earth. "However, I''d love to watch you practice sometimes." "Deal!" The woman said with a big smile. Oslo also brightened at her mention of the earth element. "Miss Althea, if you need some guidance for the earth element¡ª" "She''ll manage, thanks," Garan said, because of course he did. The two''s eyes met, and their blue eyes collided. Oslo''s eyes though, were blue like their skies, while Garan''s eyes were as blue as the deep sea. ¡­which was kind of intimidating. "Ah, of course," Oslo said after a pause before he turned to look out the window. If one looked closer, one could tell he was pouting. Beside him, his siblings stifled chuckles at how cowardly he was being¡ªespecially in front of a man obviously several levels weaker than he was! Their careless brother changed so much! It just made them more curious about this new territory! ¡­ "So was the trip productive?" Althea asked she felt the carriage lunge forward. Oslo nodded, excited to report. "Very, I''ll report to the elders later," he said, knowing the process. "In the meantime, I''d like to give you some of my gifts in advance." He then handed her a small treasure box-like chest around a foot in width. "We managed to get magic tools!" He said, opening the box. "First of all, I would like to show my gifts to the babies," he said, first lifting a toy that resembled a frog, but was bluish and had six legs. "This one is the crawly toy, which the babies could throw to about a meter away and it would always crawl back." He then lifted a ball with various patterns. "This is a float ball, but it''s only useful when they can already walk," he said, putting some aether into it. They watched as the ball floated a few inches above Oslo''s hand and the two were surprised. "Both toys would require some rest time, but I doubt the kids would use it every single hour of the day." "This is amazing. Thank you," Althea said, admiring the tools. Oslo smiled. "I also bought gifts for all of you, but let me focus on the aether tools first." Althea and her husband''s eyes brightened even more at this. First, Oslo put out a few pieces of papyrus. The difference from what they''ve seen from normal papyrus (in Althea''s case, observed from papyrus from the Terran Mercenary team and Oslo''s spaces) was that this one had somewhat of a golden luminescence to it. It was quite similar to the sparkly quality of the system screen. "These are aether letters," he said, "Basically, an aether letter could communicate with a set number of other letters it connected with, even from a distance." "The number of other sheets one could connect with will vary in quality of the letter. The safest assumption is 3." "Another limitation is that they could only work within ten miles of each other." The couple looked fascinated. This meant that they could send letters to each other in a relatively far distance, fixing their problems with communication to some degree. Of course, ten miles (or a little above 15 kilometers) was not far enough if one wanted to communicate with other territories, but this was plenty enough for its convenience and its various uses during wars. "How to use them?" "Every letter will have an assigned symbol, determined or drawn by the owner. In order to link two letters, you''d have to draw the assigned symbol of the other letter in your papyrus, while they were placed on top of each other. If the connection is successful, then the drawn symbol will stay. If not it will fade. "Directing aether to the symbol is to send messages to that letter. Keep in mind that each letter consumes some mana, and that they''re consumable¡ªthey would eventually lose effect after about a thousand uses, depending on the quality." "Amazing," Althea said, making Oslo very proud and happy. Garan was also very impressed that he didn''t remember to glare at the blonde. Instead, he looked at the other man inquisitively, "How many do you have?" "My family''s toolmaker specialized in aether letters so I could provide quite a few, around a hundred, but that''s about it for now." "That''s already really good Oslo, thank you," Althea said and Garan nodded. The siblings couldn''t help but look at the couple who had such an impact on their usually arrogant brother. Aether letters weren''t actually easy to create. Those hundred letters¡­ were the family''s stock for trading for a whole month. However, Otto managed to cut losses by temporarily raising prices for it, which was a huge favor on Oslo''s part. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oslo was obviously very sincere to this territory and this couple. Anyway, Oslo happily rummaged the ''treasure chest'' to explain a few more things. It was like he was a little boy eager to show off. It was quite amusing to watch for his siblings. Oslo pulled out and took a small token about a few inches in diameter. "This is called the loyalty faker." The two''s eyebrows rose. This was what Gingo used to fool Micheal before. Fortunately, it only added 50, at most, with more inferior versions only adding a score. This meant citizens with loyalties above 60 were definitely non-hostile. Not to mention, people with some loyalty would generally not need to buy such questionable equipment. "Interesting," she mumbled. Not for its function to fake loyalty but¡­ for its potential. Could it possible be tinkered to hide/show some other stat? It was a curious thought, one that was still far from her but still hoped to explore. "Magic tools¡­" Althea mumbled, staring at the aether toy in her hand, low-key using the Eye on the toys. Her eyebrows rose as she looked at the arrays there, though interestingly there were only a few on the toys. This was good because this meant she could study arrays with very clear-cut samples, unlike those she had encountered so far. They had so many arrays overlaid that just looking at them hurt her head. She paused raising her head to look at the Golds, followed by a question that surprised them all. "What do you know about arrays?" Chapter 454 A Little about Arrays "What do you know about arrays?" She asked, making the others look at her, startled. The aborigines seemed surprised at the question, as very few people actually know or care about arrays beyond their name. It was just something that was ingrained to them growing up. However, after thinking about it, this was likely because the woman was curious about the teleportation arrays, which they''d encounter during wars as well as in the Village Center. It was Oslo who answered her. "Arrays are special aether paths designed to make certain effects," Oslo said, "Of course, this is a very simplified explanation and it''s much more complex in reality." The others nodded. Although their knowledge of the subject was limited, they still knew much more about it than other non-array masters. "If something has an array, it would definitely have some special feature," Olga said, "This is what we''ve learned from our teachers, but we haven''t exactly received a thorough understanding of it yet." As nobles, they naturally went to special schools with people of their stature. Basic knowledge about various things was taught here, but the specialized knowledge was still tightly held by the experts. Of course, as people of high society, they still had much, much higher chances of getting apprenticeships. "Hm, thank you. I was just curious," Althea said, and raised one of the gifts, "The Toolmakers are they also array masters, correct?" The aborigines were surprised by the insight, nodding. "Yes." "Can you tell me more about the toolmakers and the magic tools themselves?" "It''s a very very special occupation. These people have the ability to control the aether to function as something else entirely." Although there were separate occupations, basically, as long as one mastered a few arrays, they could be considered as array masters. If they were applied to tools, then they''d be Toolmakers. "Magic Tools are highly specialized equipment made from combining several arrays together into a single item." "Are they very rare?" "Most magic tools could be found in cities, with a bit leaking to towns." That was enough to show how high-level this resource was. "Because of the complexity of each tool, basically a Magic Tool Maker is limited to a few types, probably only one. A toolmaker could only create multiple types of tools if the arrays they mastered could be applied to another type of tool." That was to say, knowledge of specific array sets was also limited. She understood this. Even she had trouble with the concept, with most of the arrays causing her headaches. How many can a person master in a lifetime? "Is there a skill that could be activated to read arrays?" At this point, how could the sharp Otto not notice an oddness? However, he didn''t point anything out and simply answered her questions. "Not to my knowledge, there is no such thing. Arrays are a special skill with a language an array master had to learn, one by one." "So array masters would always master just a few, and in turn have a certain specialty when it came to tools and others." Otto looked at her with a serious expression. "There is no such thing as an array inheritance from the World Knowledge." Althea nodded. No wonder she received an inheritance for tool making, but no sign of array mastery at all. Array masters were counted as one of those mysterious occupations that could not be inherited through the system. Even if one mastered the craft, it would not trigger a title, nor would inheritances specific to them be given. This was in stark contrast with the system occupations that triggered as long as there was potential and some knowledge. The world knowledge would also supplement the person with related knowledge, one way or another. What did this imply? She wasn''t sure, but she could surmise it had to do with the array having special functions to this world''s make, and thus couldn''t be integrated so easily with the ''system''. Anyway, Althea listened intently to the information she was getting. This meant that whatever she needed to learn in the field¡ªunless she found herself a master¡ªhad to be completely self-taught. "You mentioned that your family employed one?" She asked. She wondered what she had to pay in order to learn a bit from this person. She hadn''t told her husband yet because she was planning on surprising him. "Well, my family employs one for their business," Oslo said, nodding. "Otto uses them a lot, I heard." They turned to look at the blonde watching their interaction closely. In retrospect, all his siblings were giving him weird looks and he knew his affections had been exposed. Obi did not even bother to stifle his laugh though. Oslo blushed furiously, but he kept a straight face. "Answer the elder''s question!" The couple didn''t seem to take any heed though and were just curious about the information. "Yes, but that old man''s really anti-social. Even we communicate with him through letters," Otto said, tapping down Althea''s hope for learning through that route with one hand. "My dad said that someone talked to him once, and he almost died of hives." She pursed her lips, continuing with her inquiries. "Do you have a way to obtain these knowledge about arrays? Some rough information will do." "Array masters would rather die than reveal it. Most actually don''t keep copies of it lying around, it''s always all inside their heads." "Similarly, even if normal people get ahold of array patterns¡ªwhich I heard wouldn''t be easy to decipher anyway¡ªthey wouldn''t be able to do anything with it." It''s the reason why array masters still hadn''t been kidnapped and forced for information. It was also why they were still so small in number. The couple looked at each other in interest. This was just another one of the many things to explore in this massive world. She could feel it¡ªthere were still so many things to learn! S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She wished she could divide herself, that way she''d have enough time to do everything she wanted! Chapter 455 Golds First Steps The trip was bumpy but fortunately not very long. By the time they arrived, the sky was already a little darker so the torches were already opened. When they lifted the curtains to see, the Golds were a little surprised. Did the village buy the luxury light tower? Why was it so bright? While the aborigines looked outside in curiosity, Althea was in a daze as she stared at the wall, passively allowing her husband to squeeze her soft hands. ''If something has an array, it would definitely have some special feature,'' she remembered them saying before. Juggling that around, it could also mean that everything with special functions might also have an array. With this thought, her emerald eyes fixed on the wall. She activated the Eye, but using the earth element as a filter, and soon the magic on the wall''s surface revealed itself. So many different arrays, with a plethora of patterns and of differing sizes, constantly rotating in various speeds. "What''s wrong?" Her husband asked as he squeezed her hand. She looked down and realized that she had held tightly on his palms. "I''ll tell you later," she said with a smile, turning her head to look at the walls again. They were gorgeous, and even more so as they went closer and closer, and she could see it in more detail. The lines were similar to the luminescent powdery microscopic bits that made their screen, but they continuously ran along a set path of complex lines and shapes, differing densities, and of inconsistent thicknesses. Her eyes brightened. Interesting! ¡­ Since Cassandra''s arrival, the Beast Carriage Parking Lot had further been improved to handle new guests. The place was not only bigger with sturdier amenities, it also had added well-trained staff who didn''t pee at the sight of monsters! It had only been yesterday since the renovation was completed, and the inn owner was extremely surprised to have new customers already! And they''re four huge carriages! Much bigger than Miss Cassandra''s. The carts are also gorgeous! Made of wood material unfamiliar to him! And¡­ the contents are also gorgeous! The Golden god! He brought his family!! Golden gods? Golden Family? Oh, Ms. Althea and Sir Garan were inside! Their lucky stars! "Welcome to our Beast Inn!" The inn-keeper yelled with enthusiasm. His name was Balzy (Real given name on his birth certificate, really!) and he used to own a pet hotel with his veterinarian girlfriend (bless her zombified soul). Other than the cutie Fufi, and the Gugu Birds and Broats, there was no sign of true domesticated animals so he was set for the next best thing: Tamed beasts. He was aware of the dangers though, but when he received the offer from the territory bank¡ªoffering him great terms to start this business¡ªhe didn''t even have second thoughts! He thought, that if he was specifically asked for this, it meant that the territory needed it. Even if he didn''t want to (which, luckily, wasn''t the case), he would still follow it for everyone''s sake. He guided the drivers as they parked the cars, and set each one in their own large shed. Each shed was quite large, and even the biggest Kola Beast was comfortable. Each shed was also designed very well, used with special iron construction that should be able to hold back a monster to some degree should they decide to go berserk. Belzy also had plenty of paralyzing and tranquilizing shots accessible to him everywhere in the inn. One of the reasons Belzy was chosen was not because of his exposure to a pet hotel, but because he was also a veteran who would be able to hold himself well in case of emergencies. Of course, while the beasts were being treated well, the human drivers were also given good rooms. The inn for the drivers was similar to the dormitories but with separate rooms. It was also just a little cheaper than the main inns inside. They also had a canteen there, for drivers who needed to be by their carriages at all times. "What about our items?" Olga asked. She brought a lot of luggage. At this, Balzy guided them to the adjacent building. Next to the Beast parking was the bike rental, and there was also a public transportation route where bikes were designed with passenger cars. The designs for these cars were convenient, letting one person drive a car even if it was filled with a handful of people and their luggage with minimal effort. They climbed up one and watched their stuff be loaded onto another, heading to the Luxury villa areas where Oslo''s house was. As the biker pedaled, everyone looked around in awe. They had never seen so many greens and arranged so beautifully, especially in public spaces and on such a scale. After a while, they arrived at a row of gated houses and they could see some different colored plants creeping above the level 2 walls. It stopped somewhere in the middle of a house with pretty vines with yellow flowers on its walls. "This is my house," he said, proud. Even if their houses in Bleulle City were larger, he loved this the most. Not only was it in Altera, but he loved it because everything he used to buy it was his own hard work. Whether it was his salary, extra rewards from the lord, contribution points, and even royalties, he used them all to buy himself his own abode. "Rest first," he said, opening the gate to reveal a small but quaint front garden with a pretty path leading to the front door. They had been traveling nonstop. "The territory won''t go away." S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Aww¡­." Honda mumbled, earning himself a soft flick on the forehead. "I''ll guide you myself tomorrow," he said, "Right now I got to report to the elders, you know?" "Okay, uncle¡­" "Are you going to sneak around?" "No¡­" Oslo smiled, "Be patient. I promise it''ll be worth the wait." After settling his siblings, Oslo immediately went to the Village Center where all the elders, pertinent construction aborigines, as well as the leads of the Engineering Team were already called in. He would report the amount of blu he had, and they would discuss which Aether Building to focus on developing. With their arrival, the territory had a lot to look forward to. Chapter 456 Milk [60th Day since the Migration] While the undercurrents in different territories were brewing, excitement was boiling in Altera. After all, today was the day looked forward to by the entire territory. Not only would there be new items in the supermarket, there would be a lot more shops would also open! That morning though, a certain soldier was sampling something else. He was still half naked and his muscled body currently hovering over his snoozing wife. Althea¡ªwho had been tired the previous night of frolicking and a bit of theorizing what to do with arrays¡ªwoke up at the sound of gentle sucking and some tingly sensations on her chest. It felt a bit nice and she only laid there for a while, until a spark of pain and pleasure jolted her awake. Her wide emerald eyes opened and she looked down her chest, seeing her husband sampling her milk. She flushed and her hand immediately tried pushing his head away. "You''re going to drink the babies'' food!" It didn''t stop him at all. On the contrary, because she was already awake, he suckled even more. Her breath hitched as she felt the pleasurable tingles, and then she gasped when he groped her free breast. Garan''s eyes shifted to look at her in the eye as he shifted to her other breast. She moaned when the flat of his tongue wiped the milky leaks and gasped when he took it in his mouth to suck. "Y-You!" She gasped, shakily trying to pry him away. "The babies¡ªI''m serious!" This finally made him lift his head a bit, his blue eyes filled with seriousness that felt very different because of the sexy line of liquid that connected his mouth and her breast. "No, I researched. A healthy mother always produces enough to feed the children 8-12 times a day." Althea gave him a blank stare. "So you count yourself as a baby¡ªah!" She was shut up when Garan dipped his head back down again, continuing with his suckling. Althea could only cover her face as she moaned, wondering if it was time for her babies to try the milk alternatives. This man would be in big trouble if they couldn''t. Lucky for Garan, he was right, or Althea would''ve banned him completely. It had to be said that the body of a level 10 was really strong. She still had ample milk despite having to feed three people¡ªerr¡­ two babies, and one grown man. ¡­. The couple came to the dining room and saw everyone there already. Although the insulation was great, it could be seen with how nourished they were that they had a lot of fun the previous night. Althea ignored the stares and went straight to her babies, who were drinking her pumped breast milk. She needed to refill those¡­ sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, she was also exploring the alternatives as soon as they were old enough. In Terran, this was one year old, but in Xeno this should be much earlier. Her alternatives so far was Soy Milk and Broat Milk. Soy milk was tested safe long ago, even for her children after a few more months, but Broat Milk was still undergoing stringent testing to ensure safe consumption for babies. So far, Broat Milk will soon be made commercially available and safe for adult consumption. In fact, it even had a higher amount of calcium and protein. Its structure also allowed it to be consumed by lactose intolerants¡ªassuming there were still such conditions after upgrading. Anyway, she leaned down and placed wet kisses on her babies'' chubby cheeks. They giggled and she did as well, "Did you have fun with Auntie Sheila?" "Did anything weird happen?" She asked, still half-wondering if the floating incident was real. If it was, then everyone had to keep an open eye. Sheila shook her head, "No, why?" "It''s nothing," she said, "Just report any anomalies. I''ll tell you later." "Got it~!" With this, the group ate their meals with gusto, especially when Harold improved on his craft again. Althea watched her children eat lovingly. They were so cute, though they have grown quite a bit and she knew it was definitely not normal. They were not even two months old, but their sizes could rival those twice their age. She had wanted to ask Oslo''s family in case they knew more, but it wasn''t the timing. She wanted to know whether they could be trusted or not. "Mnggmwahmahh¡­" The babies cooed, as if noticing her distraction. Her eyes cleared and she laughed, leaning down to place a few more kisses on both their small faces. Ah, so cute. Similarly, the other children¡ªMaya, Horus, and even Theo¡ªwere also finishing up their food. They were dressed to go out though, and there were backpacks in the living room. "Are you children going on a field trip?" "YES!" Maya cutely looked at her, "We''re gonna watch the shows today!" She said, and Theo nodded cutely, making everyone chuckle. "Shows!" Today was the 60th day since The Migration and Althea had decided to launch several new products today. Similarly, a lot of shops used the ''milestone'' date to open, thus giving a lot of activities around her land. She watched as the third-youngest baby bravely climb down his chair and tottered to her direction. He looked up with those adorable rounded eyes, framed by his curly hair. "Yes, little Theo?" She asked, smiling, also looking forward to hear his voice. Beanie¡­ still couldn''t face her. He was now busy assigning himself going from territory to territory to train, only meeting with his son whenever he was here. "Can Pepper and Meatball come?" She chuckled, "Of course you can." "Yay!" "Who can babysit though?" She asked, and everyone looked at each other. Everyone was busy with preparations for the war now. Even Harold had to be locked in the kitchen to try out the experimental plants and also to find improvements for his health and mana foods, ideally increasing his level and his success rates as well. Ansel looked at everyone. He was just supposed to go hunt today, but he was a bit reluctant to go outside the territory due to the events. Now, with the kids, he had more excuses to slack off! It was just one day! Great people needed rest! "I''ll do it!" he said, "I''ll take care of them all!" As such, Ansel became the baby sitter of quite a few children that day. Chapter 457 Start of Play Dates Later, just around the Village Center Plaza, a group of eye-catching aborigines walked around. They were a very beautiful group that literally sparkled ''gold'' in the eyes of the locals, and more than once had they been pulled to various shops to buy. They had only been out for a couple of minutes, and they were already full. Was there some tool that could increase their stomach capacity? They really needed it. Anyway, the new guests continued to observe and admire, stopping only when they saw various floating bubbles going around, gracefully carried by the wind. It so happened they were downwind and they were soon surrounded by pretty bubbles. Olga and Honda raised their fingers, popping a few with bright eyes. "Seems familiar. I think it''s soap bubbles?" She asked. Back home, she had a large tub, and her servants often made bubble baths for her. They were made from special bathing soaps bought for a very high price. Obi looked at her, "So many? And outside?" Olga sneered at him, "I''m just trying to guess." Oslo shook his head and continued to lead their party to the source. There, they saw various children laughing, and holding some small contraptions. They just blew on it and many bubbles were made. Don''t mention the young Honda, even the adults were fascinated. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oslo watched and realized the kids were familiar. Mimi, Horus, Maya, and even the twins! He then looked at his nephew who was looking at them, curious, but at the same time trying to act cool. They had told him to man up even without his father around, but they didn''t want him to forget his childhood either. Oslo''s lips curled upwards as he patted the boy''s head. "You can join them." "Can I?" "Of course," he said, voicing out one of the things he learned in Altera. "Being serious and successful doesn''t mean you have to be devoid of fun," he said, wishing he knew this compromise early on, though to be fair what he found fun in his youth was very skewed. Anyway, his words made the little boy''s round eyes brighten and he turned his head to look at the children playing. But before he could go to them, he paused, suddenly shy. In Bleulle, there were also many children, but they were no fun. He didn''t like them at all. The things they found fun were cruel and made him uncomfortable. Once, he was taken to a gathering of children his age. There, they made hungry slaves run around for bits of food they threw. They would watch them fight for a tiny amount of food for amusement, and they would make bets with their own or their parents'' money. He was called names when he didn''t play with them, calling him a snob and a know-it-all, saying he wasn''t even as amazing as his father, why was he acting like him? The thought of his few experiences with peers made him metaphorically curl back into his shell. "I know them. Just politely ask them if you could join and they will let you." The little boy nodded, running towards the kids. His pace obviously got slower when they were in their vicinity though, and his steps suddenly filled with doubts. The boy paused and looked back, and Oslo smiled, waving at him to continue walking. Oslo''s shoulder slumped in relief when he finally reached the kids and smiled when they handed him the toy, and happily taught him how to use it. When Honda successfully made his own bubble, the smile on the boy''s face was as bright as the sun. Very cute. "Wow¡­ you''re like a proper uncle," Olga said as she crossed her arms, smirking. Oslo shrugged with a smug smile. They watched fondly as their nephew quickly integrated to the group, being the kid that he was. "So¡­ what do you think of Altera?" "This¡­ is not what I expected¡­" Otto mumbled as he looked at the surroundings. The walls were tall, the buildings were beautiful, people were smiling, and there was so much greenery. They had left the inn early to do a bit of exploring. They had their breakfast in the inn canteen first, eating some simple but even better versions of what Oslo brought back to Bleulle. After that, they went ahead and perused various shops and were pulled in all of them. While most of the purchases were food, they also bought a lot of non-perishables like clothing, bags, and shoes. Other than these, they also noticed the temperaments of the people. Life in villages, to their knowledge, was always very difficult. They had never seen such a universal atmosphere of happiness in a city, let alone a village. There was also an atmosphere of growth. Like, while people were enjoying life, they were also running after¡­ something. This was something they realized when people went outside early to go hunting, with how the Training Hall never ran out of a queue, and how every so often they would have topics of conversations related to fighting techniques. Everyone had a purpose, and that purpose was not only to improve their lives¡ªit also had more or less something to do with contributing to the territory. It was a fascinating case study. Oslo chuckled, feeling a bit smug. This time, they knew their brother was right so they didn''t feel the need to punch him. For once, this playboy little brother of theirs was actually onto something big. It was around this time a new voice sounded, calling him. "Hey, Oslo!" The siblings looked in a direction, seeing a handsome redhead waving his hand at them, Oslo smiled, raising his arm to wave back, before looking at his siblings who were curiously looking on at the interaction. He looked again at Ansel who was walking towards them. "This guy happens to know many of the features of Altera. Maybe we can get him to guide us," he said, grinning at his brothers and sister. "You haven''t seen anything yet." Chapter 458 Reunion of Sunset Pair While the day had just begun for their guests, much of the territory had been awake, a lot of whom had already been hunting outside. In fact, a lot of these hunters had already returned to sell their loot. One of them was the new guard and half-orc Gochi, who was now in the Village Center with his team. "I¡­ do we sell these for the same price?" He asked, looking at the bulk of plants that were placed on the platform. He took out a couple of plants, as if unwilling to sell them for the default price. Angelo, his teammate at this time, nodded, not sure what he was so reluctant about. "That''s what we always do, yes." Gochi frowned, really not wanting to place the plant back on the platform. "But this is more valuable than other plants¡­" Angelo blinked and mused, "Then, if you think it''s worth it, use the appraisal skill¡ªwhich isn''t free by the way¡ªand then sell it to the pharmacy." "We can do that?" "Sure." Althea happened to be nearby at this time. She was not in a very bright mood because there were no good NPCs today. How many questionable women would be suggested to her, anyway? She was walking back when she overheard this conversation. There weren''t many people in the center yet, so their conversation was particularly easy to hear. She walked over and saw the plant. It was the guigorgon, one of the first plants she studied here, and also the main component of her hemostatic medicine. "Hm, Angelo is right," she said, making the two flinch a bit. "My pharmacy does indeed buy this plant." She turned to the half-orc with great interest. "You know a lot of plants?" It wasn''t that they didn''t know people were nearby, they just didn''t think it''d be an elder. They flinched and flushed when they saw it was the beautiful Miss Althea. "I¡­ I tinkered a bit with plants near Hoskle. We don''t have clinics there, so¡­" She nodded. As for why she didn''t know of it, it''s because it didn''t show in his profile. He did not awaken any occupation, after all. At least not yet. As for why no information about that was included in his registered profile, it was because he wasn''t confident enough to declare it as an expertise. However, there was interest, and even if there was minimal talent (which was something to be determined), Althea hoped to hone it anyway. She looked at the young half-orc, who blushed a bit under her stare. "We''re compiling a book of basic information about plants," she said, "I hope you can take a look at it." "I''m sorry Miss but I¡­ " He paused, face completely red in shame. "I can''t read." Oh, right. "No problem. Find Rosalind," she said, "She will help you." It was still an ongoing project and he still had a long way to go to master reading, but it was a step forward. The half-orc looked at her with wide eyes. "I¡­ really? Will learn to read?" And then learn more about plants? "Of course. Everyone can, why not you?" If he showed enough talent, she might even teach him more. Gochi''s heart shook and he held back his tears. "Thank you!" ¡­ Back in the park. "Oslo!" Ansel said as he approached them. He was pushing the twins in their stroller towards them. He was carrying Theo in one hand, and the baby was looking quite comfortable there. The big children continued to play where they were, being adorable. Oslo couldn''t help but look at him in amusement. They actually just met yesterday, but he couldn''t help himself. "I see you''ve fathered a lot of children." The two gorgeous men cackled at the joke, and to the eyes of many girls camping around and watching them aptly¡ªthey were downright sparkling. A lot of them happened to be ''shippers'' of the Sunset Pair, and seeing them together again made them so very happy. Golden god has finally returned (bringing more with him!) and their longing to see this pair of eye candies would finally be sated! Would they hug? Would they kiss? The two halves of a pair were unaware of the fantasies that ran about them, proceeding to just introduce their families to the other. "These are my siblings, Olga, Otto, and Obi," he said, before pointing at the blonde playing with the other children. "That''s my only nephew so far." Ansel greeted the adults and proceeded on introducing ''his'' own children. "That is Maya and Horus, as well as their friend Mimi, one of our lawyer''s daughter," he said, since they were looking at the children anyway, before turning to the ones he was holding. "This is Theo and this is my niece and nephew." Olga''s eyes hadn''t left the children since they approached. Her eyes stayed especially longer on cute babies in the stroller. Then, as if feeling her stare, their eyes met hers and they smiled, and Olga felt her heart was hit. Gah! Too cute! Oslo saw his sister''s fascination and wondered if she would finally agree to get married. He quite liked kids as long as they weren''t his responsibility. It was why he really liked Honda and he assumed he''d like his other nephews and nieces would be adorable as well. (He was wrong, but that was a story for much later.) Speaking of nephews, he turned his head in a direction to watch Honda, who was now blowing bubbles and giggling with the older children. The Golds smiled and felt relieved. That little boy was always very somber back home, trying to emulate his father but had the predispositions of his mother which ended up just making him miserable. Unlike his father who was genuinely unamused with people, Honda actually really liked them but was just very shy. This disconnect would eventually lead to depression, and it wasn''t something they wanted him to go through. "That child really needed to loosen up," Olga said, chuckling, though her hands were already sneakily pinching baby cheeks. "To think he''d need just a day here." "Hmn," Oslo said in agreement, subtly pulling away his sister''s hands on the babies'' cheeks (they could get inflamed if not gentle enough!), "Altera is very special." A magical territory, indeed. ¡­ On the children''s side, innocent meet-cutes really were happening. "This is nice. Are these bubbles?" Honda asked his new friends. He knew this because he once took bubble baths with his family. But they didn''t quite float like this and they weren''t so many. "Yep. We can make bigger ones!" "Ohhh!" At this Horus revealed an even larger plate and circle. "What is that?" "You don''t have to blow, you just move it like this." Horus, although younger and much smaller, took it upon himself to teach the larger boy how to use it. At this time, he just gently waved the bubble wand and a big bubble formed. "You have to be slow though, but not too slow." Honda was sparkling when the toy was handed to him. If one didn''t know what it was, they''d think he was given a real magic sword or something. Anyway, the young blonde tried it and failed a few times, but with Horus and the other kids'' patient guidance, he managed to make it in the end. It was a wonderful big bubble as big as his face, reflecting his happy face. His eyes was bright with pride and the other children clapped their hands in congratulations. "Very good," Mimi said, handing him a milk candy. It was a cute wrapped thing. "Here''s candy." Honda blinked and wondered what it was. But then he saw the other children unwrapping the outer layer to eat their respective candies and did the same. His round brown eyes went wide as the sweet touched his tongue. "Wow, delicious!" He yelled. There were sweets in the city, but they weren''t so delicious and¡­ pure tasting! His chubby cheek puffed though. "Too bad Long Ears couldn''t eat¡­" "Long ears?" Honda took his stuffed toy from his space. Maya and Mimi brightened, "WOW, so cute!" Mimi, in fact, had the exact same model, and she immediately pulled it out from her space, too. "I have similar bunny! My dad won it for me!" To be more accurate, Jun got Tom to do it for him, but he had taught Mimi that convincing people was part of one''s skills, so the credit ultimately went to him. Anyway, the children looked awed at the twin dolls, which were really just bought/won from the same store. "WOW" "WOW!" The simple happiness of the little ones made the adults around them smile. Ansel shook his head and looked at his friend, "You came back just in time! The supermarket are putting out new products! And a few other stores are opening to celebrate our 60th day of survival!" "We''ll be there, thanks." "Come on kids," "Honda will be going with his family to walk around." "Ehhh¡­" Maya pouted. "Can''t he come with us? Or can''t we come with them?" "We can guide them around!" "Yesyesyesyes!" "We know all the best foods!" "Yesyesyesyes!" Ansel''s lips twitched and he looked at the guests, "Well¡­" Oslo laughed, patting his shoulder (enticing squeals from different groups of girls stalking not too far away). "We would love you guys to accompany us!" He said, "We''ll treat all of you with all the snacks you want to eat!" Ansel laughed. "Deal!" ¡­ As they went to the supermarket, they encountered some passerbys, a lot of whom greeted them casually¡ªsomeone even patted Oslo''s shoulder loudly, and he didn''t seem to mind at all. Most of all: he looked really, really, happy. The Golds recalled their time back in Bluelle. Often times they had to watch what they said and did. It was the primary reason why they were always out on business trips. They had never really felt being in such a close-knit community before... And they felt kind of envious. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 459 Golds at the Supermarket Oslo could feel his siblings'' teasing grins. Oslo cleared his throat. "Everyone here is very casual." He said, "Try to be arrogant and you won''t get anywhere." He said, looking pointedly at Obi, who sneered at him. "What are you looking at me for?" Obi asked. He was obviously very polite! Olga shook her head at the idiot little brothers, but she was quickly distracted by the shops abutting the sidewalk. They had been through a few of them, but there were just so many shops she reckoned a week wouldn''t be enough! She looked at Oslo, wondering if the place they were taking the was really all that. "Where are we going again?" She asked. She wondered if maybe¡ªmaybe¡ªthey could go look around these shops first! "The supermarket," he said, "It sells most of what I brought you." This effectively pulled the others'' attention from the shops and their pace quickened to the market street. On their way there, they saw the corner store being prepared for an opening. They knew this because there were beautiful flower arrangements being set up. Also, there was a large sign saying ''Grand Opening'', so there was that. "Oh? This is a nice location," Otto said, admiring the prime piece of real estate. Their pace slowed down a bit as they looked at the preparations, and the babies in the stroller started shifting as reached out in a direction, as if trying to reach out to the shop. "Mwamamama¡­" "Googmamaaa¡­" The babies cooed passionately from the strollers as if calling for someone. Ansel smiled, poking their chubby faces. "So you know your mama is often here, eh? Smart babies~" he paused, "Sadly, she''s not here today." "Ah," Oslo mused, suddenly remembering, "Miss Althea''s beauty shop would open later in the day, right?" "Yep!" Ansel said, before shifting to the only woman in the group. "They sell beauty products¡ªwhether it is for smoother skin, lovely fragrances, you name it¡ªI guarantee you''ll love them!" S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Olga was naturally very interested in the shop and they promised her they''d pass by later during its opening in another hour. Speaking of women-friendly stores, they also had to drag Olga (and Otto) from the fascinating clothing stores on that street. They had released new designs and the twins were hell-bent on having a few copies. Anyway, after many adventures, the group eventually arrived in view of the supermarket, albeit having to stop a bit far because of the queue. New products were out today after all, and everyone wanted to make sure there were some stocks in their houses¡ªwhatever the products were! As always, opportunistic stall owners brought their products near the customers and they happily ate the finger foods while they waited. "Here, here! This is delicious!" Mimi said, putting something in Honda''s mouth. He flushed a bit, but he forgot about his shyness when he tasted a different type of sweetness. "It''s mini gouji fruit tanghulu!" Mimi said with a cute smile. "It''s delicious! "Do you like it?" She asked and the little blonde boy nodded in response. Yes, he did. ¡­ The group entered the building and the newcomers were immediately hit and fascinated by the plethora of products. It was their first time with such an arrangement and they immediately followed what the others were doing, taking their own carts and getting what they wanted. There was a new products display area up front though, so they ended up there first. Otto looked at the sign, which was written in Xenoan Universal Language, but odd alien symbols were right below it. "Soy and Peanut products?" There was someone manning the new products area, and he had a small table with leaf cups in front of him, there were also bite-sized breads with light brown jam on top of them. "Peanut products! Peanut snacks and peanut butter! Free taste~!" People loved free taste, so his yell naturally attracted even more shoppers to congregate where he was. The Golds followed curiously and took a bit. It was a curious taste, the jam was soft, but very addicting, especially when placed on a small piece of bread. The chewy snacks had a similar aftertaste and were a pleasure to eat. It also had a mixture of sweet and salty taste, an interesting combination. They all bought several sets of each. Right next to the peanut butter section was the soy section, which also had a stall for free taste. The queue was long by this time, but they patiently waited. Oslo told them many times their noble status meant nothing here (except maybe they were rich and were more attractive to merchants), so they shouldn''t expect a lot of special treatment. Anyway, they wanted new experiences, so why not do stuff like everybody else? "Soy milk, soy cheese, soy butter!" the salesman yelled and they looked at Oslo, who also shook his head because he had no idea. Ansel chuckled, though he didn''t know how to explain ''milk'' or its different kinds to them. "Just taste it later. It''s delicious and healthy for you." Not far from them, people in the queue also began to chatter. They were especially easy to listen to because most people in the line were ogling at the Golds, Ansel, or the children. They were enjoying themselves for the most part but it was getting a bit awkward since they had to stay in place to line up. The best way to take away their attention was to eavesdrop. "I hear the bloats are also producing every day," someone said. His companion gasped and looked very excited. "Really?" "They only supply Harold''s restaurant for now though¡­" Otto''s eyebrows rose and he looked at Ansel. "Bloats? That animal with barely good meat?" "Hmn," Ansel said, "You''ll see it when it becomes available, but we know how to handle the infamous white juice." "The white juice?" The Golds exclaimed a bit, surprised. Even Oslo looked at him weirdly. Altera was really creative, but was the white juice really edible? Chapter 460 New Products Ansel was unperturbed. "Sure. It''ll be sold soon, and you''ll see what you''ve been missing. The Golds looked at each other a little reluctant but decided to give the benefit of the doubt. After all, from what they''ve seen so far, Altera seemed perfectly capable of exceeding all sorts of expectations. The aborigines really couldn''t be blamed for their reluctance. To them, white juice was akin to drinking tree resin directly from tree trunks. Anyway, this wasn''t discussed anymore as it was finally their turn to taste. "Free taste for cheese! Take a bite to know what our new products are like!" The clerk said, handing them a thin bread¡ªa cracker, they called it¡ªwith a tiny cube of yellow-white thing. The gorgeous thing touched their tastebuds and it melted in their mouths. "Yum!" Honda exclaimed and the adult''s eyes were also wide, impressed. They also tasted the other products and although it wasn''t as special as the so-called cheese, they were also interesting and they bought a few sets as well. "You like that?" Ansel asked, "Well, Broat Milk Cheese is several times creamier!" The imagination alone made them gulp a bit. They also passed by the tea section and took a bit of everything. They didn''t know what some of them were but considering how the locals were sweeping everything, they must be good. Soon, they arrived at the long-awaited condiment areas and saw a dizzying array of sauces and condiments. There were signs in front so they knew what was in the vats. There were vats of salt, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, chilli, and so much more. Otto''s eyes stayed on the salt and sugar in particular. These were very important condiments that could be traded as if they were gold! And here¡­ they were so affordable! Then he remembered the residents would also get huge discounts and his urge to just register here was tickled. Olga though had a different focus. "It would be great to know how to use them all!" She said, looking dreamy. To their surprise, someone shopping (a random person with a cart, really) suddenly turned to look at them. "Hello there! I couldn''t help but overhear¡­ there is actually a way to learn, but for a price." "We''re interested!" "There''s actually there''s a cooking class that opens from 18:00 to 20:00 every day and they teach about how to use these. The price is very cheap! For foreigners, it is only 10 gold per person for a week, 3 lessons of 2 hours each!" Of course, locals could get it a little cheaper, but still expensive. Only basics would be taught. After all, everyone in Terran knew some recipes, so might as well make money off of them. However, while expensive in the Terrans'' perspective, this price was already unbelievable to the Aborigines. After all, everyone kept their knowledge to themselves in Xeno! "Really? So affordable?" "Yes!" The woman said, telling them the address of the class. They made a mental note to take a look. The random passerby then excused herself and continued with her shopping, and the Golds looked interestedly at Ansel. "So generous?" Ansel shrugged, "We don''t mind. Back in our home, most people know the basics, but the business of restaurant owners remained to be strong. The market is huge, we''re not worrying at all." They nodded. In fact, this was really smart. This meant that more food stalls or restaurants could pop up. When Altera received more Aborigines, then it could easily become one of the culinary capitals in the region! The party stayed on the ground floor for a bit longer and, after perusing the food aisles, they went to the upper floors to look at the non-food items. The products here were a bit different from before, though. The cloths were moved to a different fabric shop, which was opened a week prior on the new Market street. The floor was now mainly for the so-called hygiene items, and there was someone introducing the products, albeit it wasn''t needed unless there were aborigines. Either way, the items were just being swept away by Terrans, like everything else. The person brightened at the sight of obvious aborigines, and¡ªfinally with some sense of existence¡ª she friendly walked towards them and explained the products. "Welcome to the hygiene section where everything you need to clean your house, your clothes, and yourself are available!" Her name was Sisa, and she was known for her very tanned skin and perennial smile. Otto stepped forward, "Tell us more," he said with a smile, and Sisa almost melted then and there. However, she was a professional! She gathered herself quickly like re-hardened melted soap and introduced the section she was in charge of. She began by showing them a section of translucent bars of different colors and shapes. For the most part, they were plain shapes like rounded rectangles but with odd curves. "This is soap! It will clean anything! This one though is formulated to be gentle on the body, but also kill bacteria! It also smells nice!" She said, though at the back of her mind, she added ''I don''t mind becoming your soap though~'' "The shape is ergonomic design to stay in your hand and minimize slipping out~!" She then proceeded to elongate ceramic bottles with odd nozzles on top. "Shampoo is like soap, but for hair. It also smells very nice and comes in different scents! It will make your hair smoother, healthier, and smell lovely!" Then she would add in her mind ''May I also become your shampoo who comforts your scalps and tangles with your blonde locks'' "We also have detergents to clean your house, and some to clean your clothes," she said, "We also have fabric softeners to keep your clothing soft and lovely!" "This is a toothpaste, to keep your teeth healthy and white!" She didn''t know what aborigines used though. Magic? Can she ask? How do they clean their teeth? Sisa didn''t ask in the end (she was afraid the illusion of perfection would be pierced) and she just pointed at small pieces of cotton, folded into squares. "There are also sanitary napkins. The one that women wear when bleeding¡­ Very comfortable and convenient!" She didn''t know how much Aborigines bleed, but this was a superior product to Terran because Ms. Althea feared their stronger bodies would also release more. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As the woman babbled, the Gold siblings listened intently, as if trying to memorize everything she said. Oslo laughed at his siblings'' silly appearances. Ah, he didn''t love Altera in vain. He could actually witness his overachieving siblings look stupid! Chapter 461 Brewing Wars (Part 1) Altera wasn''t the only Terran territory receiving Aborigines guests. It was just that, unlike Altera''s guests, these aborigines were not friendly. It was the surviving Terran territories at the border¡ªthat was, the delineation of the Protection Period¡ªthat were the first to experience this. One of these territories was Belluga Village. At this time, a group of 10 people ambled around the streets, looking down on everyone else. In fact, they had been here for a couple of hours, observing, and studying and, without exemption, they were extremely arrogant as they did so. If Oslo was here, he''d recognize these men as people he poisoned. Sadly, their stomach pains only lasted a few days. Bummer. Anyway, the men did nothing to hide their thoughts, just blurting out whatever came to mind. "Wow! So weak! Everyone are like Gugu birds here!" a man said as he looked around, looking at the civilians like ants. "Goodness, middle-aged people look like they''re not even level 10 yet!" Another one sniggered, thinking it was the funniest thing. "How did this become a level 3 village with sentries?" "They probably had money," another chuckled, "What a waste on them!" They weren''t even subtle in their comments and this naturally caused a lot of locals to give them bad looks. However, they were self-aware enough and knew not to humiliate themselves by provoking strong Aborigines either. It wasn''t like it wasn''t true¡­ "But damn¡­ the facilities are pretty impressive for a village," one said, whistling. "Isn''t there a bathhouse too? Even the boss town didn''t have one, right?" One licked his lips, "Not a bad loot." Their tone was like they already had the entire territory in the bag. This finally made several nearby men snap, and they surrounded the aborigines. With that comment, they confirmed that these men were definitely not just arrogant but also hostile. They knew they were no match, but they couldn''t do anything with such an obvious declaration! They could only glare in hopes of intimidating them. "Stop it already!" "Leave!" "We''re not as weak as you think!" Soon, there were at least twice the number of locals there than the guests. It was very intimidating. Well, in theory. In the end, how could a group of men at least 5 levels stronger even be a bit intimidated? It was like being glared at by cute kids, except they weren''t cute. Although their conditions had become much better than before they connected with Altera, they still looked small and even a bit pitiful to the eyes of the large aborigines. Grinning, two of the aborigines grabbed a nearby man and easily raised them up. "WHAT¡ª" The men struggled obviously, but their low levels rendered them useless against the strong enemies. The Bellugan regulations only automatically kicked out people who purposely injured citizens. What''s more¡ªthere was a default threshold in this world as to what counted as a true ''injury''. After all, people couldn''t get kicked out by tripping by accident or people just pushing each other to the ground, right? Anyway, there were a lot of loopholes in the current regulations and these men¡ªscouts for war¡ªknew how to take advantage. Through some minor investigations, the new aborigines figured out many of these loopholes. Belluga was not a small village, and there were plenty of skirmishes abound, especially in the poorer areas. The Aborigines very easily deduced how far they could go before getting kicked out. Not many lords could afford to add restrictions to ''attempts''. For instance, Altera, where a civilian even taking out a weapon would transfer them directly to prison. The two men were played around, dragging the locals on their hands like dolls. They were lifted, dragged, and thrown until they were red from being suffocated. However, they would survive and were not injured so the rules didn''t trigger at all. A lot of the locals had long run to their own abodes, while most remained nearby, watching their movements but far enough into safety¡ªor at least, that''s what they thought. The two men treated like dolls had felt their consciousness slip, and they truly wondered if they would actually be able to wake up. At some point, however, the torture was finally interrupted. "Stop it!" A loud feminine voice resounded, and soon Kimmy, her husbands, and a few guards¡ªa few of whom were also aborigines¡ªarrived in a relatively grand manner. They didn''t show any weakness for now, as they couldn''t, knowing the enemies were very arrogant. Kimmy looked at the aborigines on her side and they stood forward, most of which were a bit shaky. Belluga had also managed to get hired aborigines but, like Vismont, they started hiring late. This meant that their options were mostly less-than-ideal, even after so long. The strongest fighter they got was a level 9, while the rest did jobs like carpentry, cleaners, and cooks (though without the occupations). Instead of getting even the slightest bit intimidated though, the guests brightened at her appearance. The small group grinned and threw the dizzy locals to the side. Bang! Unfortunately, while painful, it still didn''t kick out the men. They must''ve tormented weaker territories like this often for them to have such perfect calibrations. No one could think more deeply about this as the hostile guests'' attentions had focused on their lord. "It''s here! The female lord! You''re prettier than I hear!" One said, another cackled. "A bit on the fat side though." "Well, she has the curves to grope." "I heard she''s experienced. My type!" A few more cackles and every word gritted on the locals'' nerves. Although their lord was often unsatisfactory, letting her be talked about like this was a shame for the entire territory! Kimmy turned red and her fist clenched. She also saw some of her husbands and guards move forward in order to deal with them, but she was still self-aware. She could see the enemy levels: They were no match. Instead, with shaking fingers, she summoned her Lord Panel, intent on kicking them out and blacklisting them. She couldn''t do it directly before because they were in such a hurry and she wanted to try to fix it diplomatically first. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. What if they were just arrogant but suddenly decided to launch a formal war because she kicked them out? Although Raine and the others advised her to do so, as a woman she naturally wanted to avoid war more than men did. Either way though, was useless, because they had already entered the radar of the aborigines simply because of being inside the ''fog''. War was inevitable, and it was only going to get worse. Chapter 462 Brewing Wars (Part 2) Trigger warning: Rape, Violence. Very brutal, and may even be too shocking. You''ve been warned!!! (Summary in the comments) Definitely SKIP SKIP SKIP if you want sunshine and rainbows. This IS the darkest chapter in the story, at least in terms of sexual abuse, so I hope you manage your expectations if you want to get into it. (Explanation in author''s notes) ... ____ "Oops. She''s gonna kick us out!" One said¡ªa man named Patt¡ªand the next thing they knew the man lunged to them. "WHAT!" One had to know that the speed of someone five levels higher was not something weaklings like them who had no formal training could handle. The attack was practically unavoidable. Before they knew it, the lord was pulled and thrown towards the enemies, with the person who lunged placing them all down the ground, before leisurely going back to where they were. All this happened very quickly, much faster than anyone''s reaction times. What''s more: They were in pain, but it was apparently not enough to trigger the automatic blacklisting! They had to watch as the lord was held down by three men, right in the middle of the streets. They saw red at the humiliation and they growled, ready to fight to the best they could. However, Patt took out his sword and pointed at the lord''s neck. Everyone paled, and their hearts dropped for many reasons. Even if most didn''t like the lord, her death could mean everyone else''s! Even if they survived the destruction of their territory, most of their assets were here! They could lose everything! "Stop! What are you doing!" Raine yelled, eyes completely red in anger. The man grinned, swinging the sword over the lord, and split! Her upper clothing was swiped open, revealing her plump skin inside. The men whistled, someone touching her milky skin¡ªat least compared to Aborigine women. This utter humiliation made every Bellugan red in anger. "Milord!" Kimmy screamed, tears lining up her eyes. But her legs were held by large hands, and so were her arms, now fixed above her head. At this time, all she could do was yell. "LET GO OF ME!" "Ah, ah, ah~ We''ve only been here for a while," Patt said, "We''re guests! Powerful ones! Is this how you welcome us?" "NO! LET GO!" But they naturally didn''t listen. The guests groped her everywhere¡ªin public. "LET GO OF HER!!" Raine and the others yelled and gathered themselves, standing up to attack At the very least, even if they get beaten, they could force them to attack and get kicked out! "I wouldn''t do that if I were you~" As soon as he said this, a few knives revealed one over her neck, and another over her heart. "Do you think you''re faster?" Their hearts were cold and they felt helpless. Raine, who was the next in power, heaved a deep breath and tried to cool himself down. "What do you want?!'' He asked, voice cracking, making Patt and the others grin just imagining what they wanted. "I quite like the products you have. Those sauces, those cloths, everything." "We want all of them." he said, making an imaginary cross with his feet on a spot in front of him, "Right here." "Don''t take too long¡­" The sound of more cloth ripping, going further south, made Kimmy squeal to the top of her lungs. "STOP IT!!!" "Don''t take too long or else she''ll be eating many dicks right now." The people immediately scurried to find products. Soon bottle after bottle, bolt of cloths, and other things piled up in front of them. By visual inspection, they were enough to fill the ten men''s spaces. "There," Raine said, panting from the rush, "Let our lord go." "How nice¡­" Patte said, placing some in his space, and so did the others. However, not a moment did the now-naked Kimmy go without a knife on her. "We gave you what you want!" Raine repeated, "Let her go!" "Sure," Patt said with a sly grin, "Let us have our fun first." "WHAT?" Immediately, many of the men surrounded the lord, keeping them away. Some were even tied down in the most humiliating way, and eventually, fewer people tried to get past the human barrier. Another man looked at the crowd and smiled, "We won''t kill her don''t worry," he said, "But we don''t know if the knives miss if you keep distracting us." "So no one yell either," Patt said with a huge grin, showing off his disgusting teeth. "We like only the sound of sex, you know?" Everyone froze, feeling afraid, humiliated, and just hopeless. The citizens, guards, and her own husbands could only watch as Kimmy was raped right in front of them. "Take so many husbands, shameless bitch?" Patt yelled as he opened her legs. Someone was keeping her mouth open to keep her from biting her tongue either, should she decide to do so (it wasn''t the first time a woman bit her tongue when they played with her, after all). "NOOOO! NOOOO!!" Kimmy yelled through the disgusting palm on her mouth. Her eyes lined with tears, begging. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "A woman has no right to get so much power! HAHA!" Another yelled, groping her breasts. "HWELP!! NWOOOO!" Patt looked at the woman with such greed and he entered her without any foreplay. Her body arched in pain of the intrusion, and it only got worse. Patt''s eyes widened in disbelief, paused, and laughed out loud. "ORCSHIT! She''s a virgin!" "WHOA!" Another one¡ªthe man who was holding her arms¡ªexclaimed in awe. "Plot twist!" To think the woman who had many husbands would actually be untouched?! How did that work?! The man who was holding her mouth open was temporarily distracted by the surprising news, and Kimmy immediately yelled for help. "KYAA! HELP MEEE! HELP MEEE!" "Milord!!" The citizens, especially her ''husbands'' yelled. But no one could move, afraid even worse would happen. The men took turns, everyone with perverted smiles as they plundered her with force a man 5 levels higher had no business using. When they were done, they looked satisfied. More than the sex, it was the despair and hopelessness of an entire territory¡ªespecially its lord. Heh, a woman! How dare she overstep! The woman was filled with tears, no longer able to speak after screaming so much. Her citizens could only shut their eyes in despair, seeing the usually bubbly woman like this. "YOU BASTARDS!" Raine yelled as he crawled to Kimmy and took out whatever cloth he could find in his space. He touched her tear-filled face, his own tears lining up his eyes. Kimmy''s other husbands couldn''t even look, some in despair, mostly of guilt. Patt and the others didn''t seem to care about their feelings at all, only laughing at their faces. "Heh.. you should be thanking us. We''re reminding everyone what women should be for¡­" And then they immediately attacked random people, including Raine who was nearby. Patt and the others knew they''d be kicked out anyway, so might as well kick a few people. It would also save them a walk to the gate. The level difference was no joke. A single kick before they get kicked out was enough to leave the victim half-dead. A flash later and every one was outside the walls, staring at it from the inside. "Tsk, blacklisted." They also saw some people looking over the battlements, some even throwing stuff at them. They easily avoided them of course. The men sneered. "HEH! Don''t think you can escape! You better prepare yourselves!" "Let''s go report this!" The locals could only try to throw more things in an attempt to ease their anger. They even tried to lead them towards the sentries. When they saw them moving towards the scope of the sentries, their hearts heated with excitement. SWISH~ "Oof!" The man yelled, and for a moment they thought the sentry hit an enemy! However, the man crouched down lifted his head with a smile, then waving the sentry arrow around like it was nothing. "KIDDING~!" Everyone in the battlement gasped in shock. They beat the sentries! "Hehe, do you think we''re monsters with no brains?" He said, revealing a pretty good equipment underneath his shirt. "Besides, your sentries aren''t very strong! Naive!" "Naive of you to think there''s no problem!" Level 3 sentries could easily deal with level 10 and below, and had decreasing damage as the level increased, especially with some equipment. These men were definitely well above level 10. Even if the sentries did hit, it wouldn''t have been able to kill any of them! The men enjoyed the pale faces of the locals and laughed, waving in a friendly manner. "Well, see you soon~!" Chapter 463 War Declared Another border Territory, at least one that survived the initial burst of stronger mobs, was Fargo Village. However, it had developed a good relationship with a mercenary team, Rongo Mercenary Team, which Belize co-created with a few childhood friends of his since they lived in a small town. Right now, the Rongo Mercenary Team made a home in his territory, occupying a good plot of lot he gifted as their own place. This was also a ticket to safety from Aborigine attacks, at least for a while. As one of the Terran Villages closest to many aborigine villages, Fargo had already received more than one visitor. Each one expressed their interest in doing deals with them as well. Inside the highest room in the Village Center, their lord was having a meeting with his confidantes. He looked at one of his best people¡ªSen, a tall man next to him. The man''s hair was combed and converged to a curved back, and at this time, he was the point person for the imminent takeover of Bright Village. "How''s the mole there?" he asked, and the other responded with a nod. "He has been informed and ready to move, milord." "What about the other things?" "We''re ready," he said. "Our men are now in close coordination with our¡­ partners there and we only need to declare war, milord." Fargo''s lips twitched in satisfaction and opened the Lord Panel. He raised his hand and pressed the interesting magical dust that created the image. [Would you like to declare a territory war on Bright Village (Lv3)?] A sharp glint in his eyes. Yes. ¡­ Bright Village. [Fargo Village (Lv3) has declared war on Bright Territory (Lv3). The war will begin at 13:59:50] Micheal''s jaw clenched as he saw the announcement, immediately sending an announcement to all his trusted confidantes. He sighed, looking at them, and telling them about the news he had just received. They had varying reactions of course, most of which were worry and apprehension. "Should we announce it to the rest of the territory?" Bruno asked, already counting their own guards and formulating plans as the territory''s head of security. Micheal didn''t answer and looked at his military advisers. Not just Bruno, but also his trusted treasurer Gingo and also the aborigine Juno. "What do you think?" The two''s eyebrows furrowed, also conflicted. Micheal sighed, knowing what everyone was considering. If they announced it now¡­ it was more likely the citizens would just run to Altera, instead. This was understandable, but who''d want to give up their own territory? Not when they didn''t even know if this Fargo village was even a true threat? But Micheal thought for a moment, "It''s not right to withhold this information, however, and they will become angry when they find out we released the news late." S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We need preparation though." Micheal mused, "Then I will give you 2 hours. Prepare what you could for two hours, and I will announce it." Bruno nodded. "We also need to think of good incentives so people wouldn''t think of moving away during such an important time." Micheal agreed, thinking about it. He should''ve added another clause with his alliance with the others¡ªthat they could accept refugees, but they shouldn''t accept deserters. But it was too late to open this out now. Dig''s eyebrows furrowed. As Micheal''s bodyguard from childhood, his priority had always been the lord''s safety. "Should we¡­ ask assistance from Altera?" Although it was premature, asking for more forces would only be good for everyone''s safety. This was another issue he had to think about. "It''s not that straightforward," Micheal said. "When the alliance was formed, the Alteran Elders made sure they''d never be in a loss." "To call on to them, we''d have to share half of our winnings," Micheal said with a sigh, "If we lose, we''d still have to pay them a fixed amount of gold, depending on how many forces they sent us." What Altera didn''t mention was that half of the earnings in these types of wars, win or loss, would be divided among the citizens and guards who participated in the rescue. This was why the rescue and assistance missions would all be completely voluntary, so they couldn''t promise a fixed number of forces, and thus could not guarantee that the odds would truly tilt towards them. Anyway, the allied villages couldn''t say no to their conditions. After all, they really had nothing to offer Altera except for a bigger market. Besides that, why would they help them? Why would they risk the lives of their own people without any gains? Of course, there was also a factor of pride, albeit not the major one. How could Micheal feel comfortable asking for help from Garan''s territory? Especially after he had just milked him? "What if the enemy is strong?" Juno asked, this was received with a sneer from Bruno¡ªwho had been plenty threatened by this aborigine since he was hired. "Don''t underestimate us. Not only are we superior to most of our peers, but we also have weapons still deadly to humans much stronger than we are." Juno frowned and the two glared at each other, tension between them rising. It was here that Gingo finally spoke, sighing. "Have you so little confidence in our territory?" He asked, obviously siding with Bruno. "I also checked the treasury, and we really would need more resources. The winnings of this war might just be what we need." Micheal naturally had a bias towards Bruno''s opinion, especially since they were going against a fellow Terran territory. He honestly doubted there was another Altera in their level right now, so the level difference shouldn''t be too wide. With their gun stocks, they could even be stronger. In the end, he agreed with the majority¡ªdeciding to fight this war alone, without asking for rescue that would probably not be needed anyway! It would easily be the worst mistake Micheal would ever make as the lord. Chapter 464 Another Sneak Attack Trigger warning: Rape, Violence. You''ve been warned!!! (I''m sorry, considering how these people are, it''s just not natural not to include these themes. BUT I assure you, they''ll get their punishments) .... ____ In the outskirts of Bright Territory, a group of 10 young adults traveled around along with one of the new Aborigine hires, Badjau, who they commissioned to guard them. They were training to increase their strength and skills, hoping to be as cool as the soldier group. Most young adults tended to prefer this to doing any of those jobs. After all, many youngins'' longed for adventure and a life of thrill. They were still filled with optimism characteristic of people their age, and it was really refreshing to be with for a similar-aged Aborigine like Badjau. Badjau was not very handsome, but he was quite strong. He had very curly hair and very dark skin. He seemed to be younger than others, only in his teens, though was in fact around their age at 23 years old. He was also a bit shorter compared to the other aborigines¡ªonly about average Terran height. He was also a bit disproportional with his short neck, slightly oblong build, and pudgy fingers. And he was also a level 12 spearman who liked going around half-naked. "I''ve always been wondering¡­ Badjau," one of the young men asked, holding out his sword in case of an attack. "Why do you like going around naked?" Wasn''t he concerned about lacking equipment? The man shrugged, "I dunno. It''s just how we are back home." Sera, one of the girls with them, blinked at him. Badjau was not traditionally handsome with his flat nose and not-so-prominent features, but he was a very very good spearman and he happened to have saved Sera many times during this excursion of theirs. "Tell us more about your home." It was an obvious flirtation and Badjau flinched a bit, flushed, and looking around in shyness. However, he forced himself to do his job and observed their surroundings, only speaking when he was sure that there was no enemies. "We live near the sea and we have taken our livelihoods there. Some of our houses are even in stilts." sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This made the young men and women look at him in wonder and nostalgia. "Sea?! I wonder if it''s near here¡­ I miss it so much." Another one rolled his eyes. This was Inigo, one of the more practical lads. "Hey, you think the sea here is as peaceful as Terran? There should be monsters here right?" Badjau nodded at this. "The lowest level sea monster I have encountered is level 10." Cringe. Their looks of admiration didn''t budge though, making the seaman even more shy. No wonder Badjau was so strong despite only being from a village and with his young age. "What about food then?" "Our main source of food is fish," Badjau answered. "I am surprised to see some in the market." "It''s from Altera," Inigo said, eyes with a bit of longing. "Altera?" "Ah, we forgot you''ve just been hired." It was Sera who answered with a smile. "It''s a place where we get a lot of our goods. It''s not actually so far, just a couple of hours away. We should go there someday. There''re a lot of fun things we can try!" "Deal!" "Deal!" Badjau smiled at them. "Yes, I''ll protect you guys." "No, we''ll be strong enough to protect ourselves by then. You.. are going with us as our friend." "There are so many fun things to do there!" Inigo said, "I heard it from Luis and the other citizens when they were visiting. A lot of new facilities got opened!" "How exciting¡­" Another girl couldn''t help but comment. "I wanna see the golden god again¡­" Another girl sighed, "Ah, how handsome¡­" At this, someone at the back cackled, poking a shy-looking girl beside him. "Lani''s saving up so she can move to Altera and see her prince." Everyone laughed at this, most of whom knowing the inside joke. When Altera first showed their presence in the territory, Ansel was there and Lani was one of his great patrons! She pretty much used up her savings to buy a bit of everything! Of course, fortunately, they were all good buys so she didn''t die of her impulsive decisions. She even made money by reselling. Badjau looked at the others with a smile, curious. "Prince?" "Prince Ansel~" "Oh, you know of a prince?" "Well, not a noble prince, but he''s as close as it could go." Badjau was very confused. The jeering continued until the shy Lani couldn''t take it anymore. "He smiled at me!" "Yeah, cuz you bought everything he sold." Laughter erupted again. Badjau couldn''t help but laugh with them. He had never been like this with his other peers. After all, everyone was focused on surviving¡­ It''s nice. However, he stopped as he felt some droplets fall down. He frowned, lifting his hand and catching a droplet on his palm. "It''s raining¡­" he said, voice low. He didn''t know why, but it felt like a bad omen. "What!" Inigo and the others cursed. Some who had money took out their raincoats, while others could only take some big leaf to cover themselves. "Oh, mann!" Immediately, they rushed back to the territory. The aborigines had told them of the effects of rain. Colds and flus were, unsurprisingly, not common here, however, the rain was a part of the cleansing of this world. Everyone''s health gets consumed much faster and recovered much slower during this time. The thinner, more absorbent, the skin, the bigger the effect of rain, and for this they naturally could not compare to beasts. There was no advantage of fighting in the rain, especially against monsters with thick skin! They ran back with Badjau having his weapon out to protect his watches from beasts as they came. It was just that the beasts they encountered this time weren''t something he could handle. BANG! They gasped and screamed and watched as Inigo fall down, blood pouring out of his chest. It took a beat to realize what happened, and the lad''s closest friends yelled at the top of their lungs. "INIGO!" "WHAT THE F¡ª INIGO! OI!" However, they couldn''t approach their friend''s body as more bullets went in their direction. Hitting and grazing a few people. BANG! BANG! "What? It''s really a gun?!" They screamed, immediately scuttling about to find some cover. Some of them ran as far as they could, while most did not dare, knowing if the guns didn''t take them, beasts would. Badjau''s ears still rang as his cheek bled, the bullet just grazing him. He looked around, his watches were now segregated and much harder to protect. However, he did go away from the scene, skillfully hiding in one of the bushes. Fortunately, the gunshots stopped, and soon the footsteps got nearer and nearer. They could also hear their discussions. "Wow, you''re right. This is pretty amazing." One of the men said. Judging by his height and features, he was an aborigine. "There''s more where that came from." They stopped right by Inigo''s bloody body. "So one of those three shots hit someone, eh?" "Hm, as expected of an expert archer. You got the hang of it quite easily." "Anyway, our lord is so smart, to start hunting prey so early. At least if we''re outside the territory, we won''t be triggering any punishments¡­" Inigo gasped and caught the attention of the men. "Still alive, eh?" One of the men took out his spear. "We don''t want to waste bullets," he said, stabbing and finally ending his life. This caused a lot of gasps and screams and the men grinned. It wasn''t that they didn''t know there were people hiding around, but why put so much effort when they could show themselves with a single move? The man immediately pointed his gun in a direction. Badjau''s eyebrows furrowed. "RUN! They''re enemies going to war with us!" He yelled, having experienced a number of wars himself. "War?!" Sera exclaimed. "How come we didn''t¡ª" And, as if on cue¡ª [Your Village Bright Village (Lv3) will go to war with Fargo Village (Lv3) in 11:59:50 hours] BANG! Badjau felt a sharp pain and fell down among the bushes. "No, Badjau!" He could hear their yells, and he felt the pain cloud his senses. "Sorry! We''re so sorry!" He could hear some people tell, running away. They did run for their lives, of course they did, and Badjau didn''t blame them because he''d have done the same. However, it was still too late and they weren''t able to run. In fact, even Sera, who had been one of the people who ran away early, had been caught. They were already dragging the captured young men and women back to the small clearing. A lot of them cried, outwardly sobbing when they saw Inigo''s body. "We got them!" "Kyaaa! Noo!" "Lani?!" "HELP!" "Sera!!" The men were killed one by one, the corpses thrown in with Inigo''s body. The women sobbed harder, losing hope. An aborigine held Lani''s face and his face immediately filled with lust. "Wow, your women are beautiful!" The aborigine exclaimed and the Fargo man laughed in pride. "Of course!" The next thing that was heard were ripped clothes and screams. Badjau, weakening and unable to move, could only listen to the screams of his friends, losing their lives one by one. Even after everything he had been through, he couldn''t do anything at all. And he could only lose consciousness in despair. Chapter 465 Beauty Shop In very, very, stark contrast with the world outside, Altera was doused in a happy atmosphere. Other territories were on the verge of war, and Altera was celebrating the opening of a beauty shop, which was now filled with women of all shapes and sizes. Other women were suffering, while the others were here leisurely enjoying themselves. The women of Altera¡­ were also significantly stronger than the peers who came with them. They had higher average levels and stronger mentalities. The difference was not just luck, but also in strength. This was Althea''s beauty shop¡ªWittBeauty. It finally opened at noon of that day and scores of women poured in. In fact, early that morning, there was already a queue which showed just how much awaited the store opening was. Waves of awe followed as everyone either marvelled at the place itself or the products, or both. The shop was a combination of three modules at 360 square meters per floor. The concourse was wide and well decorated with plenty of chatting spaces. There were also display areas with wide spaces around for maximum observation and¡ªof course¡ªchatter. The beauty shop used the model called ''experiential retail'', an approach that focused on creating an engaging and interactive environment for customers, encouraging them to spend more time in the store, and ultimately make a lot more purchases than they planned. The shop''s interior had an interesting and aesthetic handling of wood, stone, and plants. It was like a mini, more luxurious version, of Altera Village itself. There was also a mix of various indoor plants, Terran and local, and the combination was unlike anything they experienced. There were clusters of vibrant potted plants, hanging vines, and botanical arrangements that created pockets of life and color inside the building. The building was also dotted with a lot of fenestrations covered in transluscent material, allowing a lot of natural lighting inside. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Walking along the concourse, one would also see wooden shelves displaying a dazzling array of beauty products. They weren''t massive as it would take away from the naturalness of the space, but rather at a good height just below eye level. Displayed here were beauty soaps and washes, masks, creams, perfumes, essences, and others. There were also comfortable sofas and cushions girls could chat in. On the second floor, there was also a more exclusive lounge for future VIP customers. Here, they could also order some tea as they chat and snacks. There was also a natural delicate fragrance all around as if embracing them, relaxing anyone who stayed inside. It was sublime. "Wow, this is amazing!" "This is like the spa¡ªno, it promises us to bring home a spa!" "Kyaaa~" The girls naturally went crazy for it, and the shopping spree began. The Terran women who knew which was which and immediately prepared their wallets. The aborigines though still needed some moment to adjust. Cassandra and Veronica were fascinated. No, that was an understatement! There were so many unfamiliar products too. However, since there were so many women and the staff seemed to have their hands full, they decided to just observe for now. Soon, they followed a small crowd to a corner. They saw that there was a wall of reflective surface there, and a lot of women squealed, turning around to look. "Do we finally have mirrors?" They said, another quickly answered after touching the surface. "They''re not, they''re just polished metal." "Good enough!" the woman said, "It''s still better than not seeing how you looked at all!" The girls nodded, and so did Cassandra and the others. They did have something similar as nobles, and they''re incredibly impressed there was such a huge ''mirror'' here, accessible to everyone. Metal, and such large sheet, and such a quality sheen and reflectiveness, was definitely not cheap. "Ladies~" A voice sounded not far from them and there was a uniformed lady holding some hand tools the aborigines weren''t familiar with. "I''m going to introduce our make-up line, who wants to volunteer?" This caused a few squeals as the girls raised their hands. The salesperson flinched, "Please girls, we''re ladies here, I will only choose behaved ladies." The small crowd calmed down and many except the two of them raised their hands. Naturally, they weren''t chosen. The one with the most eager face was. It was an acquaintance, too. It was Lulu, their guide. "Oh my, isn''t this Ms. Lulu?" The salesperson¡ªa thirty-year-old woman named Jenna¡ªsmiled as he led the young woman to the seat. It was a turning seat made of wood, another masterpiece from Baron''s team. Jenna had worked at a family salon before. Although her team had started a formal salon along the Market Street, when she saw the opening in Ms. Althea''s shop, she naturally jumped at it. Anyway, her team was skilled enough and Ms. Althea''s benefits were just too awesome! For instance, she would get a complete set every month! The rationale was that salesladies ought to know how to use the products and what their effects were. Their own appearances must also reflect the goodness of the products. Miss Althea was obviously very confident in her products, and rightfully so! And considering how much these were sold, how much money was that!? It was like a monthly bonus! Anyway, in front of everyone, Jenna did her magic. Of course, as a proper salesperson, she didn''t forget to do a bit of storytelling to entice everyone''s sense of wonder. "First we will use cleanser and hydrating serum!" She said and spoke of the various benefits and instructions of use. This shop had redirected the pipes so there was also a face washing area nearby. "Then, we will dive into the world of color!" Jenna put on the Wiitbeauty special foundation fit for the girl''s skin tone and type¡ªsomething much less sensitive now with their current physiques and Ms. Althea''s prowess¡ªbefore beginning with her painting. When she was done, there were awed gasps all around. Lulu was adorable before, but now she was transformed into a big beauty with red lips and her features made prominent. Well, it was still her, but she became so beautiful! "Ms. Lulu! Your boyfriend might just propose!" The girl blushed, "Then he better find me a good gem!" Everyone laughed. Cassandra and Veronica loved it. So much. They already went ahead and bought a set (okay, a few sets), and Jenna helped them find their specific color. Cassandra had a fairer physique while Veronica''s was pale, so their makeup had differences. Jenna kindly gave some tips and tricks for using their makeup which the girls dutifully noted. After getting a couple more tips, the girls finally moved on to the next section: The Perfumes. Like everywhere else, this was a section of sensory delights. The perfume section was designed as a sort of alcove surrounding one of the columns. There were several tiers of bottles with samplers, and they just needed to ask the saleslady for the actual copy, should they wish to buy one. There was also special ambient lighting around, adding to the atmosphere, and making people think they entered another world. The women looked in admiration, even the shimmering bottles. "Wow, even if it''s just ceramic they made it shimmer like glass." "Our business teams are amazing¡­" Obviously, as this section was surrounded, many women were trying out the samples as well. This infused the air with a variety of lovely blends of floral, citrusy, and woody aromas. Both women chose a random bottle to test, pulling out the large stick from the bottle partially protected by some sort of fabric or material. It happened that a salesperson found herself there, as they had been given instruction to take care of the aborigines¡ªwho were very rich and were bound to bring them a huge market. Also, they didn''t know enough about the products so they ought to be guided very well. Cassandra inhaled hers and was surrounded by a sophisticated scent, and the saleslady immediately explained what it was. "That is our perrywood¡ªan alternative to Sandalwood¡ªand vanilla. It is sophisticated and relaxing." Veronica sniffed hers with her eyes shut. "Ah~ how nice¡­" "It''s a symphony of exotic spices and velvety musk," the sales lady said, and Veronica opened her eyes with a new sparkle. "These are so lovely," she said, "I wonder if Brandon would like this." Then they went to test a few more and Cassandra found one she particularly liked. She didn''t recognize the scent but it was sexy and relaxing. "Gill would love this smell on you!" It was Veronica and her thinking-out-loud attribute. Their eyes met and the pink-haired woman immediately sent a teasing smile. "Imagine, Gill leaning down and smelling¡ª" Cassandra blushed, covering the other woman''s mouth. "Veronica!!" Veronica giggled a bit but froze when she saw someone approach Juni''s other side. Then a voice next to them hummed. "Yes, this is the fragrance that Gill likes¡­" They turn to see a beautiful woman, smiling with an unfathomable expression. Cassandra''s coquettish blush subsided and she nodded at the other politely. "Juni." "Cassandra." All of a sudden, the atmosphere on this side of the shop turned just a bit more¡­ electric. Chapter 466 Rivals in Love "How nice of you to give advice," Cassandra quipped as soon as she gathered herself. Juni''s face didn''t change, "Of course. I want Gill to be happy, you see." Cassandra''s lips pursed. As a tomboy who avoided women drama by running away in parties and hiding someplace filled with peace and quiet, she was not equipped for verbal fights like this. But she pursed her lips and her rare violet orbs meeting the other''s. "Gill is mine to make happy, you don''t have to worry about that." Juni''s face didn''t change, in contrast, she even smiled a bit. She walked over and looked at Cassandra. Cassandra was taller physically but she felt a bit smaller than Juni at this time. "We''re not sure how long he will be happy, right?" She said, "After all, you two came from different worlds. Do you know of a couple who had done well?" Of course not! How many times do transfers happened? But it was enough to cast doubt on Cassandra. Just a little. But Orcshit¡ªshe wouldn''t let it get to her! "Well, it''ll definitely be exciting. There''s a reason Gill chose me, even if we are from different worlds." "..." "..." Veronica watched the two with complicated expressions. She couldn''t help but remember the short but happy times in the spa. Their friendship was real and it was so much fun! She had very, very few friends (only Cassandra) because of her reputation. She was so happy to have found another one here, and was similarly heartbroken when she was lost. She felt sad. She really, really, wanted them to be friends again. Then, her mind churned and her eyes brightened at a bright idea. It was so ''bright'', her pink eyes sparkled in pride as if she was a genius who had just thought of the most ingenious idea! "Hey, you two, listen to me," she said, and the two turned their heads to look at her. She cleared her throat with a smile, "Can''t you two just share?" "WHAT?" The two exclaimed and although they weren''t screams, they were a lot more high-pitched than their usual tone and it shocked Veronica. The pink-haired girl immediately raised her hands in surrender. "I''m sorry." Juni looked at her with crossed arms, "Unlike in this world, we don''t share our men here." Cassandra''s eyes shook and she also crossed her arms. "What made you think I''ll share Gill with you?" Silence and some imaginary electric sparks exchange between the two women. They didn''t even notice the small crowd of onlookers, very happy to be there for the gossip. It was at this moment that the Golds entered the store. They were a little surprised by the atmosphere and their eyes zoned in on unusually colorful hairstyles in an area. The siblings watched the tense atmosphere with interest, particularly when they saw familiar faces. It was Cassandra, staring down at another equally-gorgeous woman. They didn''t know who the other was, but she really matched against the beautiful Cassandra. The atmosphere didn''t last as the other woman soon excused herself, buying the basketful of items she had been holding. Just like that, she left gracefully, as if nothing inside bothered her at all. "Are you going to take it?" Veronica asked Cassandra, seeing that she had been holding onto the special earthenware bottles a bit tightly. A bit more and she could damage it. "No," Cassandra said after a while, putting it back. She turned and their eyes widened at the acquaintances. "Olga?" Olga crossed her arms and looked at the younger woman. Although they were a decade apart in age, and living in different places, they were easily in the same generation with their lifespans. Cassandra''s Town was Bluelle''s subordinate town so she was often in their city growing up. Cassandra''s parents wanted her to hook up with the more esteemed city nobles and while she didn''t put much work into that, fate still brought her to the Golds. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Instead of boys though, she admired the fiery Olga much more. She often followed her around since she was a child. It was how she ended up befriending the profilgate brother Oslo in the first place. The two women were genuinely happy to meet. It took a while but Cassandra did notice the other of the Gold siblings. They raised their hands in greeting and then resumed to observe the surroundings. Unlike the women though, their reaction was milder and even a little scared at the borderline-rabid women who were way too excited when they looked at bottles. And those stuff¡­ weren''t cheap! The women here seemed to be so rich they could throw their money on face paint? They knew for sure Olga would stay here a while and they were already antsy with impatience. Olga saw this and rolled her eyes. "No one''s forcing you to enter!" As an only (legitimate) child, Cassandra had always been envious of those with siblings. Olga was definitely the big sister she yearned for. In retrospect, she probably tried dating Oslo so she could legitimately call Olga her sister. But the encounter from before was still fresh, and she couldn''t mutter her usual enthusiasm. Olga could see the usually-strong woman shaken and she smiled, distracting her. "Guide me?" Cassandra nodded and the two separated from the men. As for the men, though curious about the feminine wiles (well, not really), they were more curious about plenty of other things outside. "Wanna go to the gambling building?" Ansel asked, Oslo nodded, and every other man in their party brightened. Of course, if Garan knew Ansel was bringing the babies into a gambling house, he''d definitely throw him back to the barracks. However, this wasn''t something Ansel thought about at this time. First, he was really excited to guide his new friends. Second, the gambling houses in Altera were naturally not like those of Terran. And so, the men and boy separated from Olga, planning on meeting up with her in the inn, and having their own little adventure. Chapter 467 New VIP Members Veronica also excused herself and left the two alone. Her Brandon''s rounds were around this time so she''ll go see him. She would also be wearing her perfume and maybe even get her makeup done! Anyway, back to the two girls, they continued perusing the shop, smiling at the salespeople and locals who greeted them. It was all very friendly. Olga looked around at the beautifully designed shop. The color choices were soft and wonderful, and their combination was harmonious. She wondered how they got the pigments¡­ In the city, there were naturally a lot of colors, with a few expensive ones like blue and violet. Such soft colors though¡­ except for the pink one, perhaps, wasn''t very common. She had also seen a lot of dresses with the color before, though they were being rushed so she wasn''t able to find out more. "They call them pastel colors," Cassandra said, obviously fascinated with the same thing before. "They''re very pretty and there are various combinations I couldn''t have thought of before." Olga agreed, taking note to find out more about the pigments, or at least procure more variety of fabrics. A uniformed lady¡ªthe uniform was also lovely, by the way¡ªapproached them to be a guide. The duo soon followed her for a more in-depth explanation of each item, their hearts moved by each one. The first was the most basic, the soap. Different from the ''standard soap'' sold in the supermarket, this was not only benign to the female skin, it will also soften it and make it smoother after some time of use. They bought several packs each. There were also skincare items like masks, which the girl taught them how to use. They also bought several packages. There were also the fragrant essential oils and perfumes that softened their legs. Soon, they went to the makeup section and demoed how to use each one. This time they tried it themselves. There were blushes, powders, and lipsticks and they truly enhanced anyone''s stubborn quality. The lissom women looked fascinated as they looked at each other, and then to the reflective surface to see themselves. They looked so beautiful! "Amazing. You two were already so beautiful, but now you are bonafide goddesses!" The makeup artists said, genuinely complimenting them. The two women giggled, blushing a bit in shyness. "This is also amazing," Olga said, touching the surface a bit. She only had a handheld one, as did the other noble ladies. Such a big one was really nice as they would be able to see their entire bodies. It wasn''t that no one tried to do so, but it was difficult to make such a reflective and smooth metal "This is nothing to mirrors¡­" "Mirrors?" "A thing from home," she said, "It is completely reflective and produces a much, much, more accurate image." The women looked at each other, nodding. Another interesting thing, and they had a feeling it would be appearing in Altera within a few years at most. Soon, the duo moved on from that section, passing by all the others, and buying several copies for themselves. They also considered buying a lot to gift and sell, however, they found out it wasn''t that easy. "I heard there''s a limit to the quantity we could buy." "There is a purchase limit, but you can sign a deal with the owners of these shops to get more quantity. The price was the same, however." "Most of the stores had some sort of deal with the manufacturers, though I''m not privy to them." "That''s perfectly fine." Around this time, a different-uniformed salesperson arrived next to them. She had been busy with the rest of the shop¡ªthey couldn''t abandon them just to focus on the aborigines, right?¡ªand now she finally settled everything enough so she could handle the women herself. Too bad the pink one had gone, but oh well. "Hello, Guests!" She said, "We are happy to announce that we have a VIP card open! It''s valid for one year! If you can give out 50 gold you can get a Village-Level Card and 100 gold for a Town-level card!" They thought long and hard about what to name the tiers. There were plenty of local gemstones, but none of them were familiar to Terrans nor could they absorb their value. In the end, they decided to use something everyone could recognize: Territory levels. "This membership fee will allow you to receive specialized sets perfect for your own use every month. Town-level would even allow you to customize your own perfume, and will also receive discounts at the spa!" "If you are interested, please come to the second floor with me," she paused and looked around, knowing a lot of other women were interested and very much eavesdropping on them. "Everyone who is willing to enter the program, please come with me." The women would naturally not disagree. Curious, they followed the woman towards the nice stairs with a pastel-colored rug. If the ground floor was lovely, then the second floor was even more special. The decorations were intricate, the cushions were soft and smooth, and there were live flowers hanging on the walls. She didn''t even know plants could grow vertically without wood elementalists. They ended up on a rest nook with beautiful red flowers, and Olga couldn''t help but touch it. They settled themselves into one of the comfy couches as they waited for the others to climb up. Olga couldn''t help but look at the younger woman. At this time, Cassandra was silent and just staring at the plants, though her palm was touching the cushion softly. Cassandra was reminded of the nice couches in the spa, where the three of them¡ªshe, Veronica, and Juni¡ªhang out for a long time. "Who''s that woman?" "A former friend." "Oh?" "She was the former lover of my man," she said, "And she wants him back." "Oh." "But I won''t lose to her. Not ever." Olga smiled, patting the younger girl''s head. "Yes, I believe you." S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Cassandra blushed. "Geez¡­" she mumbled, then looked at Olga. "I didn''t expect to see you here." "Oslo seduced us with the food." Cassandra laughed and Olga smiled. "How long have you been here?'' "...a few weeks." This surprised Olga a bit. "You stayed here for quite a while. Do you think they''d be worried?" "I''m a grown woman!" she said, "I can stay here for as long as I want!" She really can''t bear to go, not until she secured everything and completely felt her freedom. Also, how could she leave when there''s another woman eyeing her man? As a woman of this world, her expectations of men¡­ were low. She didn''t believe that Gill would remain loyal to her if he was seduced by such a beauty, especially not one he had once held feelings for. At her cuteness, Olga laughed. "Well, I''ll accompany you." Chapter 468 Terran Mercenary Team Ferrol Branch Ferrol Town Jonathan was indeed very worried. How long has it been? If Cassandra didn''t send a servant to bring things back to him, it was estimated he''d hunt for her himself, lest her parents pester him for her location. It would''ve been fine if they were pestering him out of genuine concern, but based on the posts he had been receiving, they were just looking for her to make her do something for them! Because of this, he was in a very bad place, stuck in the middle of two parties. He was a lord, for elves'' sake! The only reason he was even doing this was that he was kind-hearted and he actually liked his cousin. Besides, she sent him a carriage full of good bribes, so his annoyance was somewhat mitigated. He looked to the side of his room filled with boxes and boxes of the bribes and he smiled. They seemed to be products from the Terran Mercenary Team, but there was a lot more variety. He knew very well about the purchase limit of the team (as someone who maximized it every time they sold something), and this was decidedly much larger than that amount. His hand ended on the bolts of cloth and he admired it, rubbing it between his fingers. It naturally couldn''t compare to the luxury cloths he managed to get as a Town Lord, but these seemed practical and comfortable and, from what he heard, very affordable. Unless it was handled by a professional seamstress, the attires made from cheap and expensive fabric were minimally different¡ªat least, the gap was not nearly as wide as their prices. At this time, except for the cheaper varieties, the massive cost of cloth was not proportional to the merits. This would definitely revolutionize the clothing market targeted at commonfolks¡ªwhich comprised much of the market. He then looked at the other products, specifically at the jars after jars of sauces. They even came with instructions, to ensure they''d be used to enhance food effectively. Jonathan turned to the messenger, one of the men who guarded Cassandra during the trip. "Where did you say these things came from?" He asked, perusing the items again. "Altera Village, sir. It is about a day of travel from here by carriage." "How was it there?" The person paused, reluctant to speak, and Jonathan''s eyebrows rose. "You can be honest," he said, leisurely resting his chin on his knuckles. The guard thought for a moment and said, "Very good, milord." "How good?" Jonathan continued to push. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "The best place I''ve been to." He flinched and so did the guard, immediately regretting his slip-up. Jonathan was no dictator¡ªon the contrary, he was very kind¡ªbut which lord would want to hear his subject praise another to the skies? "What?" He asked, "Are we talking about a village here?" The guard nodded slowly. "Stop being scared," Jonathan said directly, "Just tell me more." The guard saw that their lord really didn''t seem to mind, he nodded and told him what he saw. "It is very small, of course, but there are many interesting things. The miss had yet to explore everything until now, and there are also many novel products. They¡­ are fascinating and innovative." Jonathan nodded. He ought to visit that cousin of his to ''check up'' on her, naturally as a concerned cousin. "Does this place have something to do with our Terran Mercenary Team?" The Messenger nodded. "Yes sir, that is their home base." He paused, "The land they have here is bigger though, milord." "However, I did hear they''re treating Ferrol as¡­ their branch." "Ferrol is just a branch to them now?" He chuckled and the Messenger felt a little scared. "I want to visit them now!" ___ Terran Mercenary Team Ferrol Branch At this time, a batch of Terrans had just returned from a hunting session outside. This included the copper-skinned uncle-nephew pair, who couldn''t help but look around at the well-developed base, even if they had been there for over a day. Of course, this had a lot to do with them being dead tired when they arrived, but seeing it now in a leisurely pace felt different. The facilities were relatively complete and the training grounds were amazing. There were even gardens with gazebos, and they had a feeling they knew who it was built for. It had to be said: That couple was really not normal. The Terran Mercenary Team also made a business by converting this branch in Ferrol not just to be a branch of the team, but of the entire Altera territory. They created more dormitories for Alteran citizens who wished to train and/or visit a town. They also had a civilian caravan with them, selling things along with the team. The civilians only needed to be concessionaires in the Terran Mercenary Team shop, for a very affordable price. So far, it looked to be quite profitable for all parties, and they could see this system becoming bigger and bigger in the future. For one, this first batch of merchants had gotten very rich. They had also received a lot of questions about the source, obviously appreciating the products the more they used them. The Alterans were asked to just go with the flow regarding this, so they had always been honest when asked, telling the approximate direction and distance of Altera by the way. This would lead more rich aborigines to their village and maybe invite strong ones to settle. There were also plenty of advantages to Ferrol, despite the risk of competition. If Altera rose and more and more people traveled to it, Ferrol Town, as the nearest town, would also get boosted. In turn, it was estimated that the Ferrol economy would also boost. Combined with the friendly relations between the administrations of both, Ferrol Town could develop into one of their backers. This was something for the future. At this time, a certain uncle-nephew duo was just admiring the amenities. "To think they built something like this in a couple of months all by themselves¡­" Hugo said, absent-mindedly touching a shrub. It was trimmed and maintained. His nephew agreed very much. "They''re really something else, especially Ms. Althea''s husband." "She naturally deserved the best," Hugo said, looking melancholic. Helios pursed his lips, feeling sad for his uncle. "We have a longer life here, uncle, you''ll find your soul mate." Hugo''s eyes twitched. "Stop spouting nonsense." Helios sighed and didn''t hear him, "It''s so sad. You were finally moved after reaching that ripe age of yours, but she turned out to be happily married with cute children." Helios paused at the image of the twins, still wondering if he was more Team Spice or Team Munchkin. Both babies have their special charm, so he decided to be part of both fangroups. "Ah, such cute, angelic, children¡ª" He was unable to continue because his uncle dragged him to the sparring arena for some ''training''. Half an hour later, the younger one was lying on the floor, beat up and panting. However, Helios was naturally not reconciled. He glared at his uncle who was coolly walking away. "Stop venting on me!" He yelled. "At least I got laid!" Hugo''s jaw clenched as he turned to his idiot nephew. "You got raped! That is nothing to be proud of!" "It''s not rape if it''s by a beautiful woman!" he retorted with passion. "Even if her level was higher, I''m still a man with fighting experience! I could''ve fought that if I wanted to!" Hugo shook his head, knowing there was no talking sense with this guy. Helios though stayed on the ground and stared at the clear bright skies, thinking of that fateful night a few days ago. Chapter 469 Helios Adventure into getting Laid They arrived when the Ferrol Annual Market Fair was already over, but there were still plenty of territories that stayed. For the civilians, this meant an even bigger market than expected, for the guards, it meant more parties to investigate. They had been tasked to go on rotation to investigate these territories, as they had higher chances of going after the Terran territories than others. For their team, half would always remain in the town to roam around and investigate and monitor the happenings. When it happened, Helios was making his rounds after dark. Ferrol Town was a rich town. While it didn''t buy a lighthouse, there was still a relatively high number of street lights, especially in the main parts of the town. Because of this, there were areas that had decent activity. Helios was, unfortunately, not assigned to these places. He pulled the short stick and was assigned to the less dense areas with minimal lighting. Fortunately, it was nothing Helios couldn''t handle. Helios and Hugo actually came from a line of modern mercenaries. Unlike most though, they (mostly) worked within the confines of the law. Back then, they were often thrown into the dark forest as training. This was really nothing. He looked around to find any suspicious activities. While the rules forbid him from entering inside the buildings, he could still record who met who, where this and that went, et cetera. Sometime in the middle of the night though, he heard of a subtle commotion. His eyebrows rose as he immediately went in that direction, jumping from roof to roof until he finally got to the source of the noise. There, he saw a woman being dragged, inebriated with something, and his heroic side couldn''t help but want to help. Helios took out one of his knives from space, throwing it to the beast with accuracy, hitting it right in the eye. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ROAR! It roared, jumping up due to the pain of the sting. It didn''t really embed deeply, but it definitely shocked it. Its roar successfully distracted everyone, and the tanned man took full advantage of it. Next, Helios sent another knife to one of the men and he had no choice but to let the girl go. "AH!" "What?" His companion asked, but immediately yelled when he was also stabbed. "AH! WHO?!" They weren''t able to pursue it though because the beast had already gone berserk. It wasn''t even in that much pain, but this reaction was a testament to the quality of the monster and the quality of its taming. Helios took advantage of the dark. Wearing dark-colored clothing every guard had, he jumped down to ground level to carry the woman. He pulled her in, covering her sufficiently in its cover. He sprinted for a few seconds until they were sufficiently far, carrying her to the nearest inn. He paid for the room and carried her upstairs. He was planning to leave her there to let her pass the night on her own. However, when he laid her there, he couldn''t help but stare. He ended up hovering above her, quite inappropriately, though he didn''t really notice this for now as his attention was fixed on the woman underneath him. She was very beautiful. She had a pretty face, and pale skin¡ªvery smooth compared to other Aborigine women¡ªand she had lustrous sand-colored hair that reflected shimmeringly in the little light they had. Her face was completely flushed and she was squirming, her eyebrows were furrowed as if she was in pain. "Hot¡­" she mumbled, pushing out the robe, trying to open up her dress. Helios immediately looked away, knowing the girl was doused with aphrodisiac of sorts. Then he felt mad when he remembered how he found her. His body felt hot in anger when he imagined whatever those men were trying to do to her. Scum! However, he wasn''t able to dwell on his anger as he was pulled down the bed. The next thing he knew, he was lying upwards and staring at the beautiful woman who straddled him on the stomach. Her pale hand touched his face, contrasting with his tanned skin. He gulped and held her cheek. However, he knew she was on something and he couldn''t do anything to her in good conscience. He pursed his lips as she caressed his cheek, her hand slowly crawling to his neck and to his clothed chest. He gulped and held her waist, aiming to get her off of him so he could actually think of a proper way to help her. "No!" She yelled and he realized he couldn''t move at all! "..." He was not even a level 10. This girl had to be at least 5 levels higher than him. However, despite this, it wasn''t impossible for him to push her out if he used enough strength and technique. However, when she rubbed herself on his hardening heat, over and over, Helios found his self-control (and self-respect, for that matter) shattered. She just rubbed on him, her face flushed in lust and need, "hot¡­" she mumbled, "Help me." It was the last straw that broke his control and he immediately pulled her over to meet her lips. He groped her breast and lifted her clothing, taking them off bit by bit while he was taking her to a higher realm with his lips. "Ohh~" She mewled and soon they were both completely naked. Helios was already gasping in tension. His tanned hand groped all over her supple body as she lined her slit against his shaft. Then she sat down without warning, and their bodies arched as they felt each other''s heat. She cried a bit, and he felt a barrier broken, but she kept riding him like no tomorrow. It went wilder when the pain subsided and it had become mostly pleasure. That was just the start of a passion-filled night between strangers, and Helios was finally enlightened about the wanders of sex. Like his uncle, he was very very choosy, and this was also his first time doing the deed all the way. However, he knew that this was easily the best night of his life. Sadly, when he woke up, she was gone, and he wouldn''t see her again for a long time. Chapter 470 Mercenary Co-Op Shop Ferrol Town While some were busy training, and some were busy dreaming about a one-night stand, a lot of the others were basically on vacation mode after earning so much money. It was early in the day but they had sold out already. At this time, they were just counting money! The arrangement was like some sort of Co-op shop located in the Terran Mercenary Team''s commercial area, except the mercenary team has the final say should there be disagreements between the ''members''. This was located on the ground floor rooms abutting the streets. Basically, it was like a shophouse located on their own grounds, but accessible to guests. The whole commercial area was around 300 square meters which could accommodate a few small shops. It was on a first-come-first-serve basis, and they limited the slots for the civilian caravans to avoid conflicts. However, based on the turnover, it seemed they could add a few more citizens on the next trip, so they could sell in batches or when the first batch sold out. The renovation had actually just been completed a few days before their arrival, and they had the honor of being the first ''shop owners''. And it was an ''honor'' indeed! Bull was among these people and he counted his earnings (for the nth time that day) with a smile. Combined with the profits from his boat business back home, he was really rich! He ought to propose soon! His Lulu was so nice and pretty, who knew who would sweep her away if he didn''t tie her down! While he was daydreaming, the others had also begun to pack up, and a few of them were dealing with the bitter aborigines who had missed the last stock. "We will come back for sure. Well, maybe not us, but our brethren!" Nina said with a smile. Her smile faltered when she saw a little boy among them, looking very disappointed. "No more toys?" A little boy mumbled, looking at his dad who was shaking his head. Nina blinked and took a toy house from her space. "Here," she said, handing him a detachable wooden toy from her space. It was a 3D puzzle toy where pieces would slide together to build a simple house with a hip roof and a chimney. She, a first-year architecture student, made the model herself. It was not for sale and something she just made as a hobby, but who knew it''d be useful? "How much is it?" The boy''s father asked. He was wearing typical commoner clothes with rough fabric, and then she looked at the young boy who also had simple clothes, but obviously new ones. She wanted to say it was a gift, but she knew men liked a sense of accomplishment. "It''s an experimental product, so I''m asking 1 silver." "Just 1 silver?" The man and the others looked surprised. They also wanted one, but they knew there was no more. She nodded. "You have to tell me how it is after though. Customer feedback." The man blinked while the young child happily took the toy. He watched as Nina taught the boy how to detach and reattach it, fascinating him. The boy''s eyes were wide and cheeks flushed in happiness. The father''s eyes teared up a bit. "It''s¡­ it''s his birthday today," he said, "We are celebrating for the first time. Thank you for making it a happy memory for him." ¡­ S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For a while, the citizens were busy comforting the future customers. This was especially true for the Terran Mercenary Team members who were acquainted with a few people. Turbo and Jake sighed and looked at each other, elbowing the other to go to the girl who had been looking around shyly. "You go tell her." "No, you do it." Somehow Turbo was the one pushed forward. He approached the Aborigine girl and cleared his throat. "Uh¡­ Plaridel''s not here," he said, watching the girl''s shoulder slump in disappointment before lifting her head to look at him. "Uhm. Can you tell me where he is?" Other than Nida, there were also plenty of Aborigines who had wanted more of the products after they bought them. Sadly, stocks ran out too quickly! They weren''t fast enough! No, they hadn''t been packing enough! Hearing the conversation made them even more curious. "Where did you go?" "Home." "Where is home?" "It''s a village a few days away. You can come if you want." "Village, eh?" Then someone''s mouth made an ''o'' at a realization, recalling the name of their stall. "AH! Altera, right?" "Yes~" They continued to sell the territory, planting seeds after seeds of curiosity in the hearts of the aborigines. Of course, as people who were comfortable in towns, it might take them a while to actually take the step and go out to a small village. However, the idea was brewing and it was only a matter of time before it bloomed. When everything was done and they finally saw the last of their guests off, the Alteran salespeople looked at each other with bright smiles. "Shall we go take a look?" Bull asked, referring to taking a closer look at the territory. The idea excited everyone. "Yes!" "I wanna see how our home fared in towns in this crazy world." A group of a dozen or so then gestured to go out with excited faces. However, their path was blocked by Turbo. "This isn''t Altera. Fighting isn''t prohibited here." "Huh? Why?" "But¡­" "We''re already here! How can we not¡ª" "I''ll come with you," Turbo interrupted him, tone as if giving in, "But you have to sponsor my shopping." "DEAL!" As such, the group went out to study the territory, hoping they could learn more things, and perhaps help Altera integrate better. They looked around interested, hoping to learn more, and they did. To be honest, Altera was still really amazing even compared to a town! Of course, the buildings were smaller and there were plenty of interesting new buildings in towns¡ªbut the lifestyle, the products, and the cost of living were really inferior. Even hygiene! It was a good road compared to the horror stories they heard but there was still an occasional poop, especially when right outside a residential unit! The legends were true! This was really similar to Terran Medieval period! But maybe even more gross because people''s physiques here are different! Or were their noses stronger? Either way, it was all very gross! They happily roamed the town for about an hour, taking note of what they saw, until they encountered their first bump. It was no other than people from the Goliath Mercenary Team! Chapter 471 Tensions Rising "Well, well, well, What do we have here?" A man with orange hair and a smug smile. He was along with four others, looking at them arrogantly as they blocked the road. This was a classic bully line. "What do you want?" "All your earnings today," he said. "Just today''s (maybe). We''re really kind, aren''t we?" When this started, they would be taking more, and they''d have a ready source of income! This naturally triggered the Alterans. "DREAM!" Bull yelled, lifting his fist. He knew his level was nothing compared to these people, but he sure wasn''t going to show it! "Whoa so scared!" The newcomers yelled, laughing. Worse, they looked at the women and licked their lips, making the poor girls shiver. Turbo narrowed his eyes and recognized them. He wasn''t here but he did investigate the town as well as his team''s history with different powers here. This guy happened to have a match. Goliath Mercenary Team. A team who had wanted to steal from Gill, but was blocked by Cassandra. "They had some conflicts regarding that orc back home," he said, informing the others of the history. This made everyone look at him. "Cute Gochi? What?" Gochi was big, but he had an innocent heart. He also saved a lot of asses during hunting sessions and won a lot of favors. "They wanted to steal him and make him a slave." "WHAAAATTT?!" They looked at the mercenary team, their previous apprehension gone and they went straight to trash-talking. "Ugly men! How dare you try to take cutie Gochi!" "Ugh! I dunno why people take slaves. Don''t they have their own hands and feet? Ptooey!" And there were people who just tried shooing them away. "Go away! Don''t bother us!" The Goliath members twitched, shocked by how a bunch of weaklings were so brave to go against them. However, they soon shook it off and grinned. "Well, if they''re so excited to die then we''ll entertain them." The civilians gestured to defend, led by Turbo who already took out his weapon. His eyes looked at the enemies, analyzing them. The other team only had 5 members while Terrans were twice that number. Although the level comparison was the opposite, they didn''t want to run away! The Goliath mercenary team flinched a bit under their stares but laughed a bit when they recalled their levels. Tension rose and both sides prepared to duke it out¡ª S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh, what''s going on?" A new voice next to them appeared, diffusing some of the tension. Everyone calmed when they saw it was no other than the lord of the town. "Milord." "Hmn," he nodded coolly, looking at the two parties on the verge of a match. He didn''t prohibit fighting¡ªas in most other territories¡ªbecause everyone had an instinct of respecting the strong here. In their minds, it was a bit counterintuitive to prohibit the way to show it off. For the first time, he may be reconsidering it, just a bit. He looked at the team of five with a deep frown. "You realize I have business relationships with this team, correct?" He was actually serious about this. Before, when the team had just started and his cousin went with them, he made an announcement that a deal was being discussed. People making trouble with them now was a disrespect to him. The aborigines realized they annoyed the lord and had no choice but to back off. "Tsk." Goliath glared at the Alterans before stomping away. The Alterans looked at him admiringly, making him feel embarrassed. Jonathan cleared his throat. "Am I not going to get invited?" Turbo and the other flinched, before leading him inside. They led the lord and his loyal guards to the living area of the base. Because it was designed for the comfort of them and their families, the shared living area wasn''t small. However, everyone who was hanging around saw Jonathan and politely went out. The leader of this excursion was Turbo, and right next to him were Jake and Brandon. "Where''s your captain?" "Back home with his wife, milord." Jonathan''s eyebrows rose. "Oh? Are they planning on visiting again?" "Perhaps," they said, "But not any time soon. The territory isn''t very stable yet." Jonathan nodded and, for a while, they discussed some light topics. For instance, how their travels were, and if they encountered a lot of trouble in their ''home'' territory. He also asked about his cousin, though he already had some information from his guards. He couldn''t help but recall the many new faces who seemed to sell the items. "The people with you are your citizens?" "Yes, sir. We partnered with some caravans and they could sell their goods in our spot in exchange for a fixed rental fee for the spot." "I noticed that you created a good business model here¡­" he said, analyzing. Even when there were no events, his inns were still occupied. Sure, it could have something to do with those territories that stayed, but he still felt this group had a lot to do about it. "Thank you. We hope to keep doing this," he said, "Perhaps provide Ferrol with more variety in the future." Jonathan smiled, "I know you will." "Speaking of variety." Jake smiled and took a few vats from his space. "The captain wants you to have this." "What is it?" "Sugar and Salt." "Sugar and salt?" This made Jonathan abruptly stand up to check closer. His guard opened the vat and his eyes widened at the contents. These were still under limited production in the territory and were thus only sold in some quantities within the territory. The amount was just enough for the citizens to use personally, how could they have a surplus to sell outside? This was especially true for salt, where raw materials were a rock salt mine¡ªwhich would eventually deplete¡ªand not the endless sea. In fact, foreigners even had smaller purchase limits, and this was why Cassandra didn''t bother sending him some. She told her maids, ''What he didn''t know won''t kill him'' and kept what she could buy for herself. Anyway, Jonathan didn''t know about this. And with this amount, he didn''t care either. He was just blinded by the quality of the condiments. "This¡­" Sugar! That sweetener? And Salt! Especially salt! Salt was expensive! And he had never seen such pure salt! He blinked and looked at the mercenary team members who had small smiles on their faces. He really underestimated them! ___ Jonathan went back to his mansion in a good mood, already planning his trip to that interesting village. However, before he could settled down for the day, his butler knocked on his door. "You have a visitor, sir." Jonathan''s eyebrows rose and he sat down in his chair, "Let him in," he said and soon a familiar large man appeared. The man''s steps were heavy as always, and he had a deep frown. There was no sign of respect for someone who was supposed to be his subsidiary. It was Baltimore, the Lord of Guia village. Jonathan frowned, sitting on the couch. "What are you doing here?" "Passing by," the other man said, sitting unceremoniously on the adjacent seat. For someone who was supposedly a subsidiary of his, he spoke to Jonathan as an equal. "I heard new territories have appeared," he said, "The Lord had asked us to check. What information do you have?" Jonathan gave him a bad look. "I may have allowed to pretend you''re under me, but I am not under them " "I''ve already done enough of a favor by pretending to own Guia. Do you have any idea how many territories have been trying to approach me for good deals with your metal?" "I''m sure the master will compensate you well," he said. "We want information about the new territories. I''m sure you have some with you." There was silence between them and Jonathan frowned. He wasn''t clear about how the city he was associated with and the city he was truly connected to were interacting, but he had low-key received instructions to assist in some capacity. Even if he didn''t like how he was being spoken to, he still had to comply, at least to some degree. He sighed, "Fine," he said, "I only have a bit." Of course, he would only give the bare minimum, but he was sure this man would be able to gather more on his own. Alas, so that was starting again. Chapter 472 Bright in Trouble [61 Days after The Migration] The first rays of the morning light gently filtered through the curtains and entered the room, illuminating its occupants. Instead of the bed, however, a certain couple was currently near a wall, facing it. Garan sat on a sturdy wooden chair, back straight, and a cotton towel draped over his shoulder. Crawling on their crib were the adorable babies who cooed as they saw their parents looking away from them for a long time. The audacity. At this time, Althea was helping her husband get a haircut, and their babies were their reluctant audience. "Mmhmwawa¡­." "Ghmghmn¡­" They continued calling on them making noises until Althea finally couldn''t take the milky voice attacks. She went to the babies to give them smooches on their soft faces. They looked at her with those large eyes and made more noise, as if asking for more. They even cutely pouted their lips to tell her. Her heart melted, smooching their incredibly soft faces a few more times before finally lifting her head. "Behave," she told them before turning back to her husband, who looked at her with a blank stare, though she knew he also wanted a smooch. She rolled her eyes, but she gave him a peck anyway. "You, too," she said, turning his head to make him look in front. "Don''t move." "Yes, wife," he said, being very well-behaved. Their children also watched their parents, making mild baby noises, as if communicating in their own language. If one looked at how their cute expressions changed here and there, they''d think that this was indeed the case. Althea stood behind Garan, and in her hand was a pair of scissors Garan manifested himself. She combed through his hair, gently untying knots, and soon the scissors resumed action. Her emerald eyes looked at the reflection of her husband in the mirror, making sure everything was nice, neat, and symmetrical. The mirror in front of them was something she managed to take away from the hotel back then. For now, it was the only large mirror in the territory, and it was now witnessing a simple but tender moment between a loving couple. She carefully trimmed his hair, fingers moving with precision¡ªpracticed, and she couldn''t help but purse her lips at the amount she was cutting. "I know it had gotten a bit long," she said. She then cut it to the length that suited him best¡ªpractical and aesthetical¡ªwhich was well above the ears. They actually noticed this because she held on to too much of his hair in their lovemaking the previous night, and her fingers actually got tangled there. Even when she wanted to pull out her hand, it got stuck, until she was plundered so wildly that she lost her mind and it just stayed there¡ªtangled in his locks¡ªuntil the next morning. Thus, it led to the current scene. As for the babies, no, they weren''t there last night. They had been deposited back early that morning because Sheila had to go to the clinic early due to a particularly large mob that found them in the middle of the night last night. Anyway, back to the haircutting, because he was never fond of others touching him, Althea really was the one who did his hair. The only exemption was during the three months here in which he had to do himself. Althea felt a little guilty for forgetting about this, while he felt very guilty for making her work because he knew he had been very¡­ hard¡­ on her the previous night and she must be very tired. "It wasn''t that painful my love," he said with a smile, looking at his wife via the mirror. "I like it when you pull my hair." This earned him a shy knock on the head. Blushing, she proceeded to nag him. "Yeah, but your hair is still too long. Didn''t you see Little Meatball grabbing things with his whole being? Want him to pull out your hair?" She snapped a few more locks with passion. "Do you want to go bald?" "Oh no, I know you like pulling hair when making love. Hopefully, I will never get bald." She rolled her eyes and just continued her job, making sure it was perfect. Her husband was so handsome, how did she bear let him cut it himself! For a while, only the sound of scissors snipping and their soft breathing (and the baby mumbles and coos of course) was heard in the room. When it was done, Althea smiled and she looked smugly at their reflection in the mirror. "Hm, very handsome," she whispered, and it made Garan''s eyes darken. He gestured to turn around to pull her to his thighs, but then their sharp ears heard some subtle sounds outside. Althea blinked and walked away (avoiding Garan''s claws by accident) to the Youli window. She opened it to see raindrops falling down. She looked at the people below who had either taken up their umbrellas (made from oiled cloth), put on their hats, or just ran for some shade before closing her windows again. "The past few weeks the weather was really nice. It''s been a while since we saw such a downpour¡­" "A great excuse to stay indoors¡­" Garan chuckled, unable to help himself he pulled her into his lap. He carefully took the scissors and placed them in his space, leaning down as he held her stomach with his large palm. She gasped when she felt his calloused hands creep up her shirt. "The children are here!" This made him pause and he immediately wondered where to deposit them next. However, before Garan could ''donate'' their children elsewhere, a loud ding resounded inside her head. [Ding! Your allied territory, Bright Village (Lv3), is asking for assistance!] ¡­ Bright Territory. BANG! "Cough!" Micheal coughed blood as he was kicked down from the Village Center platform, his entire body sliding down until he hit a panel with his back. He groaned as he opened his eyes, trying to push himself up with his elbow. However, he immediately froze when he saw the headless corpse of Bruno. His jaw clenched and his hands formed a painful fist. Bruno had tried to block the enemies as he sent his message to Altera. It seemed that as he was doing so, he also lost his life. "Heh¡­ did you think they''d still be able to save you at this point?" Gingo asked, crossing his arms and looking down at the lord of the territory. Micheal looked at him without any expression, the former confidant now covered in the blood of his loyal comrades. "Milord!" Immediately, Juno kicked the person he was dealing with and ran to him, going between him and Gingo, protectively holding his weapon. Micheal couldn''t help but look at Juno, who had still been staying with him all this time. Juno was the last confidante around him. They were either dead or¡­ Micheal had prided himself as someone who grew up in the underworld. He never would''ve thought he''d be betrayed so badly. To think that the man he had trusted for years betrayed him, and the man he hired a few months ago was now protecting him. When the announcement that they would be attacked rang, he was a little worried but he didn''t ask for any help. One was for pride, but also because he didn''t think it would be a fight that needed others. Most of his confidantes also went against it, so he went through it with increasing confidence. What he didn''t know was that he would be attacked from the inside even before the war. His infrastructure was sabotaged, the wells were poisoned, and people¡ªmany of whom were his guards¡ªgot sick. And when the war started. In wars, all rules and regulations became null. This was something that hadn''t been publicised, but somehow everyone in the territory found out about it during the war. There were many citizens who caused chaos even before the enemies got past the walls. With the leadership of a few people, the shops were ravaged, houses broken into, and many more. It was chaos in the territory and when he realized something was wrong he went straight to the Village Center to call for help. However, he was stopped by Gingo, who he now knew was one of the people responsible for all the losses. Fargo was a very strong territory, not weaker than Bright at all. They were trained and had guns. What was worse was that there were plenty of powerful Aborigines that didn''t go beyond the level cap. If there was no rule limiting the number of external forces¡ªthat was, it could not exceed a percentage of the hiring territory''s strength¡ªhe''d have been crushed into a pancake a few hours in. No, they really were crushed, because a trusted person hid all the weapons. Not only were his guards poisoned, but his weapons were stolen as well. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They stood no chance at all. He looked at Gingo with dead eyes. Unlike the comrade who grew up with him, one who had been so supportive and always had his back, this man was just a familiar stranger¡ªno, an enemy. What a miscalculation, he mused, eyes looking at the blood¡ªthe blood of his comrades as well as innocent citizens who just happened to be there¡ªthat surrounded him. His heart was unimaginably heavy. This miscalculation cost so many lives. Chapter 473 Flow of Blood (Part 1) His eyebrows furrowed and looked at Gingo, trying to think where exactly it all went wrong. Sure, the enemy was well-prepared, but Bright Village was in no way weak compared to other villages. Even if it was defeated, it shouldn''t have been this¡­ crushing, this helpless. He looked at the man in front of him. Just how much of the chaos that happened before and during the war his doing? Micheal opened his lord panel to see the list of population, his blue eyes scanning the names, as well as the loyalties. The average was still around 60s. And Gingo''s¡­ was as is. This made his blonde brows furrow. "How¡­ your loyalty¡­" "There''s a treasure that was lent to me by my friends, allowing me to add 50 to my loyalties," Gingo kindly supplied, obviously not caring what he heard at this point. Juno frowned at this. He had heard of it, but he had never seen such a tool himself, as it was something mostly found in cities or higher Towns. It simply didn''t occur to him to mention it to the lord, and he blamed himself for it. "My lord, don''t blame yourself. They are too cunning. No one would''ve predicted it," Juno said, weapon out and ready to fight the others as needed. It was also Gingo who was the main voice against calling Altera for. After all, he had been in charge of the Treasury and he had one of the biggest voices regarding what they could afford. How could they have known he was against the call for help because he was planning something so sinister? "On the contrary, I should apologize, my Lord," Juno said, heaving a deep breath. "This information should have come from me." Micheal shook his head. This really couldn''t be blamed on their side at all. "So loyalties in the panel may not be trusted, then," Micheal mumbled, though internally thinking of what to do with the aftermath. His people among the military force were either dead or had turned. What of the people? Perhaps, he should''ve let them run to Altera? However, he shook his head in the end. They had noticed a number of people went missing right before the war. In retrospect, considering how early they made a mess of their infrastructure, they might have been pruning their forces outside the territory early on as well. Micheal only looked at the level 16 Juno before turning to the enemies. Unfortunately, Fargo had for some reason plenty of that level as well. However, the advantage of being the defending territory was that enemies beyond the level cap weren''t allowed to enter the walls. They could cause chaos outside, sure, but inside was a prohibited area. This meant that Juno was the strongest within the walls at this time, and they naturally couldn''t be careless. Of course, it wasn''t that they didn''t try to take him down before the war, primarily through poison. But Juno had always been distrusting in nature and he always took care of his meals on his own, making that plan fail. It would''ve been a hard fight if they fought fairly, and now that there were so many attacks from all directions, Bright couldn''t fight back at all. There were barely any deaths on the other side, while on his side not only Bruno, but also Dig died brutal deaths. Dig even received a bullet from Gingo himself. Micheal heaved a deep breath, looking at Gingo. "Why?" The man looked at him without emotions, "I was promised to lead this place when you''re gone." "Do you really think they''d do that?" sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Sure. Their territory was placed in a really good spot, not inferior to Altera. I heard they even found limestone deposits there. Heh." "Well, now that you got it, now what?" Micheal asked, "Are you going to kill me?" "No, of course not," he said, "First, give us the token." Micheal gripped the token in the middle of his palm, eyes filled with reluctance. "If I give this out, what is your guarantee that you won''t kill us?" Gingo looked at him before laughing. "Heh, funny how you say that. Speaking of which, we also want a lot more than just the token, and we prepared something to ensure we get that." The next thing they knew, he and Juno were being dragged out, all the way to the plaza. The bloodied Micheal looked at the plaza that had been littered by his guards and citizens. There were many citizens who were held at gunpoint. "Look at what you did," Gingo said, "If you had let go of that pride of yours, maybe they''ll safely be in Altera." His words triggered more sobs filled with regret and a few bad looks. Micheal had his reasons and knew that it wouldn''t have been so simple, but what use would it be to explain now? Besides, with the enemies around the territory even before the war was announced, how could they have arrived in Altera safely? Gingo and the other people of Fargo seemed to enjoy the despair in the air, relishing it. But it was broken by screams when a few people were pulled into the open spaces with guns on their heads. "YOU!" Micheal yelled, eyes contracting as an even darker omen gripped his gut. "What do you want?!" "In fact, we want more than just the token." During wars, Gingo learned from Fargo that not only would the token dissociate with the Lord, but the building functions would be greyed out and the execution of all rules and regulations would be temporarily halted. All these had the obvious goal of hastening wars. With the right mind, it could also easily be used by enemies. "We want everything." Even if the Lord token was taken, the money remained with the Lord. They wouldn''t be able to recover whatever gold or inventory a person had when he died. What could he do with zero gold? "You can buy people''s lives with the token and the gold you have," Gingo said with a grin, "What do you say?" Chapter 474 Flow of Blood (Part 2) Micheal stared and then looked at his people who were in despair. Gingo watched as the former calm man''s eyes turned red and he then turned his head in a direction and nodded, signaling for the next move to stab the nail on the head. A second later, a young girl''s screams echoed. "DADDYYYY!" They took a little girl and pulled her to the open space in the middle, pointing a gun right at her head. "LILY! LILYYY! STOP IT!" A bloodied man yelled as he dragged himself to where his daughter was. It was one of his few surviving guards¡ªBruce, a former policeman¡ªand the girl they were taking hostage was his nine-year-old daughter Lily. "PLEASE! LET HER GO!" The man yelled, trying to get to his daughter. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His arm was bloody and unusable at this time though, so he was held back by Artie. The younger lad pulled him back and held out his weapon, ready to fight. "Gingo! Stop it! Lily is just a little girl!" He yelled, trying to reason out with them. "She called you cool uncle! Don''t you remember?" However, Ging just rolled his eyes and raised his gun. "BANG!" Artie fell, shot right in the head. To think just the night prior, they were still drinking together. "ARTIEEE!!" The people gaped in shock as one of them fell to the ground, lifeless. "I''ll give you!" Micheal yelled, tears forming, "Just stop it!" Gingo smiled and Micheal heaved a deep breath, realizing his mistakes. He forced himself to calm down, knowing that losing his cool now would only mess him up even more. Micheal heaved a deep breath. "I''ll give you all my money¡ªbut you must sign a contract not to harm any more people as long as they stay in the territory. As for me, I will leave and you must let me leave." Gingo arrogantly patted the gun on his shoulder. "Now, what makes you think I''ll even negotiate with you?" "Because I will destroy the token otherwise!" Micheal said, a determined light shining in his eyes. He then turned and looked at the camera. It was one of the newer models that could get charged with the sun. Their lord didn''t want to bother going, but he certainly wanted to watch the chaos his men made. "You won''t get anything," he said directly to the lens. He knew it was recorded and not a live feed. He just wanted to get the message across. The token wasn''t indestructible. There was a chance Micheal would destroy it if it meant not giving it to him. With that bastard Juno guarding him so closely, they may not be able to stop him at all. Juno raised his weapon, making his point. Gingo frowned. That damned rule that kept their strong forces outside was seriously inconvenient. However, he wasn''t one to compromise so easily. He rose up so high in the organization because of his ''negotiation'' skills. He then looked next to him and several guns were pointed at several citizens, enticing their screams. Using this time, Micheal lifted a little sphere, refusing to show any more weaknesses than he already had. It was already a mistake that he did, and that put him on the losing end of this deal. "It''s a bomb," he said, "Altera gifted each of us one each, for emergencies." Just a few days back, when her people were roaming around, Ansel went to him. At the time, he did mention Fargo, but they visited Vismont so his efforts investigating weren''t that focused. Ansel left them 1 bomb as a gift, though he specifically told them they wouldn''t sell anymore to outsiders in the future. Micheal was just thankful at the time, even more so right now. Regardless, the word bomb sent alarm bells to everyone. "Is it real?" "If it''s from Altera, it could be." "Damn. I wonder how the others are investigating." Gingo narrowed his eyes and then glared at the bomb, before nodding. They guided Micheal to the Territory village, signing the so-called contract and Gingo looked at the lord token greedily. Unfortunately, Fargo''s man was there and took it from him. "You''re only the housekeeper. Don''t forget it." Gingo sneered, "Of course I do," he said, handing it over, but his eyes couldn''t help but stay on it a bit longer. ¡­ Sandra watched all this chaos from a safe distance, smiling. She felt proud, knowing she had major contributions to this. She was the person who poisoned the wells. They found out from their sources that the well itself may have had a self-cleaning function, but the pails did not, and they had taken advantage of this loophole. It was she who gathered plenty of poisonous plants outside. Or rather, organized it. She had seduced someone who knew about plants to unknowingly help her with her plans. She also hired people to secretly pick them up, though for the most part, she didn''t tell them the plants were poisonous. As for how it affected these pickers, that was not her concern. Anyway, this helped them minimize their losses and she knew she''d definitely be rewarded. Even if they didn''t have the token in their hands, this whole place was basically theirs! That meant that she would become the legitimate queen of this place! Even more than Althea, who was a mere elder! Finally! Her daydreaming was cut short by a yell right below her. "BITCH! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" She turned her head to see a man sobbing over the corpse of his one-armed friend. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO SPIKE?!" Ron yelled, sobbing. "That''s what you get for annoying me so much." "Bitch!" He yelled, bravely looking at her through the nozzle of the gun. The young man, heavily bleeding and in pain, knew very well no one would come to rescue them this time. So he could only look at the woman in the eye, uttering the insult he knew would affect her the most. "You will NEVER compare to her!!" he yelled, intent on having the last word. Bang!! Sandra''s eyes turned red, not satisfied with killing him. She shot him several more times, his body flinching in the small explosions. Her eyes turned red as she looked at the corpse. Liar!! Chapter 475 Rules of War Other than Althea, there were only about ten soldiers below the level cap who accompanied her to Bright. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She wasn''t being stingy, but there was a limitation on how much external help a territory could get¡ªand the precise amount was something they didn''t know yet. Not even the aborigines knew and she was not going to risk her own resources when she could help it. Besides, attacking low-leveled individuals during wars, especially within the walls, was not only punishable by experience or gold... there was a small possibility of losing life, too. She would not risk her people for that. Still, to maximize their trip, she took the soldiers that could fight back during wars, for the most part anyway. In Garan''s group it was only Luis, who was level 14. However, she did bring those above, though they''d be staying outside as reinforcement. This included Mao, who had just upgraded to 19, Rowan who was not far past the limit, and her husband. There was a limit on who could cause chaos within the walls, outside was free reign. One of the things she had learned about this world was that the Lord Token was more than just the right to create and control a territory¡ªit was also the right to be protected by whatever ''system'' enforced. This made sense. How much energy would''ve been needed to apply all those rules everywhere? Having certain focal points¡ªthat was, territories¡ªwas much more logical. Anyway, as Althea and a few soldiers went to Bright, she decided to review the rules a bit in order to avoid any penalties¡ªwhich were apparently not small and certainly not worth all this hassle. As mentioned, the rules of the territory wars were never shown explicitly and were found out after decades of warfare. There were many cases where people would just find out in the middle of the war. Sometimes it caused losses, sometimes it saved lives. This also meant that different people had different depths of understanding of the war, wherein some people could even find certain loopholes to take advantage of. In any case, what she knew about territory wars was as follows: One, territories could only attack territories of the same level or above. This was something everyone knew about. This would minimize the massacres and was a very good rule. There were plenty of territories that had been heavily punished by failing to do this limit, though to be fair a lot of earlier losses were because they didn''t know the level limits yet. She had gotten a couple of stories from the Aborigines. There was once a town that wanted to attack a village. They were punished by paying a thousand gold, which was far more than what they could''ve earned by winning that war. Of course, if the level differences between same-level territories were wide, a massacre was still unavoidable. This was what happened to Mauin Village, whose refugees had just arrived in their territory. They would comprise the first batch of official Aborigine residents¡ªa historical move¡ªand she felt a little sad that she couldn''t welcome them with Mathilda''s team. Similarly, there were also territories that had attacked stronger territories. However, unless the lord was stupid, this move was limited to territories with strong town or city backers. These territories simply had resources that couldn''t be matched by typical villages of the same level. Interestingly, this leap fight had been limited to differing levels of the same ranks. That was to say, villages could only attack villages and towns could only attack towns. After all, the requirements of different ranks were much too high. In her case, she knew for certain that even after she had upgraded to Level 3 village, it would still take a while for her to upgrade to a Town. As for what were the requirements to Towns, none of the aborigines were actually certain. Lords generally didn''t broadcast what they knew, whether it was about the Lord Panel or Territory Wars, though they may mention it to trusted people when they were asked. With the history of withholding information in Xeno, this wasn''t anything surprising. However, Gill did say that he and Cassandra would ask her cousin, the Lord of Ferrol Town, about it when they got back. Another rule was the limitation of forces that could participate in wars. Wars would automatically trigger after a certain percentage attacked a territory. Generally, Village levels could allow a maximum level of 15, towns at 40, and cities without any limits at all. This included allied forces as well. Of course, citizens above this level could defend the territory, but in no way would they be allowed to commit any aggression. If they did, they would also be heavily punished. The punishment varies from gold to experience or even something in their spaces. This was fair for most. For those with stronger forces, they could be used to defend effectively while the others attacked, which wasn''t a bad approach. There was also another limit to outside forces allowed to join the war, with ''outside forces'' defined to be non-residents that were sent from allied territories, ideally within the level limit set by the system. These people must also be residents of the allied territories sending help. "This could be easily circumvented as long as the helpers would buy residency in that territory instead, right?" She asked Oslo, who also joined them. "Yes, Ms. Althea. But while a common practice for stronger territories, it''s not much seen in others," Oslo said, very gently and naturally suave, ignoring the sharp stare of her husband. "This is because the allied territories generally charge a lot more money, about twice the cost of permanent residency, as additional cost." Simply put: It wasn''t worth it. "Are there any other limitations?" She asked. She worried for when they''d have to face an aborigine territory with plenty of allies. "From what we know, in terms of both quantity and quality, a territory could not call on help beyond a certain percentage of the comprehensive strength of the entire territory since its establishment. This includes hiring Mercenary Teams through the Mercenary Hall." They knew that Mercenary Halls would become available once they upgraded to Town. It was a lot like the village center''s hiring function, except the mercenaries could use the teleportation array to be summoned from one territory to another every few days. It was also much more expensive, and hiring many members of Mercenary teams every war was not something many territories could afford. Comprehensive Strength was the slightly mysterious thing for all of them. The comprehensive strength of a territory seemed to include population, resources, and overall military capabilities. This meant that Altera''s comprehensive strength was probably really good for a village. Oslo even said it was not inferior to small towns. This meant that, in the worst-case scenario, she could call on town-level forces, simply because her current forces were around that level. Of course, this also meant she could not be stagnant, or the comprehensive level would just even off eventually. "But as for the exact number, territories have their own ways of calculation, and I don''t think anyone has perfected it yet." It was because they hadn''t quite mastered what ''overall strength'' actually comprised exactly. It was why she didn''t risk bringing too many people with her this time. Should she build a mathematic team, she wondered? Chapter 476 Fall of Bright They sprinted for about another hour when Althea remembered a question. "I''m also concerned with betrayals," she said. "It''s not impossible, but not as common as you think, Miss Althea," Oslo said. "Once the territory lost and the system randomly selected the half that would be slaves, these slaves would not only lose their residencies but also all their money in the ''wallet'' to the Lord of the winning territory." This was the main reason why it was unlikely for people to betray their territories, even if it was bad to them. The only reason for betrayal in this scenario would be if they were promised a way out. It also had to be noted that anyone within the territory walls who didn''t have residencies from stronger territories would receive equal risks of becoming slaves. That was to say, everyone including visitors could become one. The only bright side of this ''slave'' business was that system-stamped slaves would only be ''created'' during wars. There was no known system where people could just kidnap people, take their money, and decide to turn them into slaves. "When turned to slaves, they will still have to travel to get to the winning territory," Oslo added, "Sometimes, they''re taken through the teleportation array at the cost of the territory (because the slaves themselves would no longer have money), but if the territory was near they''d have to traverse the distance themselves." "Speaking of that¡­" There was the issue of transportation. While not exactly a rule, a teleportation array apparently appeared somewhere outside the gates of an attacking territory and randomly on the defending territory. For a price of 1 silver/person for a one-way trip. This was a convenience that was only during the 28-hour war. "This means that should I attack a territory, I can send forces continuously during these 28 hours?" "Yes, Milord," he said, "As long as it was within the 28 hours, even when the war is over." So territories would strive to finish the war even before this time, otherwise they''d have to walk back home. This could also be taken advantage of if one wanted to travel around a bit. Of course, the timing was wrong, but still¡­ "Is this one-way or two-way?" "Two-way, Ms. Althea, but you''d have to pay again." This was why most territories avoid choosing attacking territories too far away. This way they could save on the costs of the return trip. Garan''s eyes sharpened at this. "Can the defending territory use the same array to go to the attacking territory?" Oslo blinked and nodded, "Yes, Sir Garan," he said, pausing, the question opening up his mind for possibilities. It had probably been done before, but it was so rare because defending territories were often busy minimizing the damage to their own territory. After all, the defending territory counted as the winner if the attacking territory failed to breach the walls¡ªthat was for the majority of attackers to get past the main walls¡ª within 28 hours. If they also managed to kill more than half of the attackers (excluding slaves, which didn''t have an ''identity'') they would also win automatically. Similarly, the attacker would win if the majority of the attackers passed the main wall of the territory. This was definitely biased towards defenders. This wasn''t surprising as, after all, the rules of Territory Wars were made to minimize them. One had to admire the intricacies done via the system in order to safeguard lives. As for the winnings, she knew that the winner would receive of assets within the territory. From her husband, she had long heard that the defender could also keep the attacking forces, should they be captured. "Half of assets include people right?" "Yes, they are chosen randomly¡ªamong visitors without residencies and territory residents¡ªand are designated as slaves by default. It is the lord''s prerogative whether to free them, for a price." Though, to be honest, he had only known this happened when the slave was beautiful or had made great contributions. "I''m curious. What do citizens do during wars when they know they''re losing?" She asked. She was afraid the people would just run away, right? "Well, if they''re not contracted to protect the territory, most people would run and go outside the scope of the territory before the counter stopped or the territory surrendered." There were plenty of stories where a territory that still had a chance of winning, but got crushed just because the momentum lowered a little, thereby scaring the citizens. It also had to be said that during wars, all prohibitions in the territory are lifted. Even the smallest ones like anti-thievery. One could imagine the chaos brought about by wars if the citizens decided to be selfish. "However¡­ I don''t think this would be a problem for Altera," he said, with a reassuring smile¡ªbut in no way was he simply comforting. The solidarity of the territory was something he had never encountered. To this day, it fascinated him. Althea smiled, a bit smug, because she knew this was the truth. The men found it cute and Garan squeezed her nose a bit. "Then what about tourists?" She asked, "You mentioned that visitors would be were safe as long as they were citizens in a stronger territory. How was that determined?" "Nothing too complicated, fortunately. As long as the tier was higher or the same level, they''d be safe. "However, most visitors would leave before the war starts. However, some people have special emblems that may exempt visitors and others from becoming slaves even if they were in stronger territories." "Oh?" "They''re very expensive though." Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Of course they are." Then Oslo proceeded to show one. "..." He handed it to Althea for a look. "All of us siblings have one." Ah, yes, of course they did. Even if their City, Bleulle, was a top city, they still had it just in case. Anyway, Althea and the others looked at it curiously as they trekked. Ansel whistled. "It does look expensive." It was a carved gem of sorts with some unusual patterns. She recognized some of them¡ªarrays, though what they meant and what they could do still evaded her understanding. How fascinating. "Would you like to keep it?" "What?" Oslo flinched a bit, realizing the inappropriateness. After all, he had just mentioned it was very expensive. "Well, for study¡­" Althea blinked and thought for a while, before nodding. "Lend it to me for a while," she said, "I''ll return it to you in a couple of weeks or so." Oslo smiled, ignoring the sharp blue eyes on him again, "You can take your time, Miss Althea." She smiled, and they continued on their way in silence. As they walked along the path, Althea couldn''t help but think of ways to do surprise attacks should they need to. Her husband had mentioned their enemy was nearby, she''d rather defeat them with minimal losses. Also, she wanted to know all the loopholes enemies could make. Fargo and his men weren''t normal people. They definitely figured out a lot by now. After all, from what they know of Micheal, he wouldn''t ask for help unless necessary. They had guns and relatively strong forces. How could they have so much trouble? Somewhere along the way, Althea''s feet suddenly stopped, making everyone look at her. "What''s wrong my love?" Althea pursed her lips as she stared at her husband, throat a little dry. [Your allied territory Bright Village (Lv3) has now fallen to Fargo Village (Lv3)] Chapter 477 Observers Altera Some time prior, just after Althea left, its citizens went on with their lives as usual within the safety of Altera''s walls. It was morning and about an hour or so before the standard working hours. Some people were hunting, some people were preparing for their work, and some were on a break for their ''spirits''. This type of lifestyle by the way was something the Golds had only seen in nobles¡ªthere was no such thing as ''balanced lifestyle'' for commoners at all. Of course, people knew of the assistance alarm¡ªthough because it was so rushed and it was the first time, the territory didn''t call out a mission for others to join in. However, they all knew who was going there so they weren''t really worried at all. If anything, they didn''t want to slow down progress because of worry. This was what the Golds observed while they hung around happily. Of course, when Bleulle was also called for assistance, the citizens also handled it similarly. However, this was because Bluelle was already highly established and their guard team was one of the best (as Obi would remind them every so often). Altera was a village. And it was amazing that it could already give such a sense of security to its citizens. At the same time, it made sense because the force and defense level of this place was really town level and it might even be meeting the requirements for upgrade much sooner than anyone thought. Regardless of what the requirements were, this meant that¡ªat least for a while¡ªAltera would be stable. They knew this because Bleulle had been historically one of the fastest Villages to gain Town status, and it gained it only after a couple of years after its establishment. This was because they had a very important resource sought after by everyone: The Blu. This allowed the territory to develop rapidly and gain important backers. But how did Altera do it? With ingenuity, innovation, and unity. Anyway, seeing such trust at the Village level was unprecedented and it was quite novel to witness it. The people were so relaxed that children were still running around. Even Miss Althea''s baby-mascots were being strolled around by two old women as if their parents weren''t going to war somewhere else. Speaking of kids, Olga could be said to have been attached to them, especially the children. When she saw them with Ansel at that time, she often looked for them and actively joined in their morning walks. The past few days, they met Beany, Theo''s father, and the lovely Winona, who was Ms. Althea''s Best friend and one of the leading proponents for the Research Center. The Center was something that fascinated them so, though they didn''t have access to¡ªat least not yet. They did get word that Ms. Althea wanted to talk about partnership with them. It was just that the war cry happened and it was delayed. "I wonder how they''ll handle their first war?" Olga mumbled, drinking something called soy milk. It felt new, refreshing, and filling. Partnered with the softest bread with so-called meat floss, she moaned a bit as she ate. She had just finished a short walk around with her new friend Winona, with her brothers buying some other breakfast somewhere nearby. "They''ll do well," Winona said, drinking juice after her morning run, "They always do." At this time, the group was hanging around in the park with a couple of other families in the park. This park had a couple of standalone concessionaire stalls rented out to business folks. Beanie was getting better psychologically and had joined Theo in the mornings to play and then he got acquainted with Jun and his daughter Mimi. Maya and Horus were also around, running, and socializing everywhere (note: Maya was dragging little Horus around, forcing the introverted child to socialize). The Golds merged in quite nicely, as the Alterans were really great in hospitality. Whether it was pride of their territory or the promise of wealth aborigine tourists gave, there were plenty of reasons for the Golds to get special treatment. The Golds were nobles and were naturally used to special treatment, but this kind without the insincere bootlicking felt very refreshing. They watched as the two old women set up a thick fabric on the grass and then placed some toys. They then took the babies from the stroller and carried them to the fabric to play. They watched as the babies crawled happily¡ªto their toys, to their watchers, and then to their friends¡ªtheir cute milky giggles entering the air and poking their hearts. Olga couldn''t help but go there and join them. "Why are the kids here so cute?" Olga mumbled with hearts in her eyes, gently poking their cheeks and tummies. "Wanna give birth to one?" Obi said from a distance away. This earned him a glare from his sister. "Shut up." "Well, whatever," he said, shrugging, before turning to the other men he had been chatting with. Somehow the three men¡ªObi, Otto, and Beany¡ªstarted to chat around, though low-key trying to get information (and gossip) from the others. Beany was very good though, and they only realized the ''juiciness'' of what they said either after they already said it, or after the chubby man asked a follow-up question. The women''s side was much more carefree. At some point, Winona had lain down with the babies, while Olga watched them fondly. Lola chuckled and extended her hand to reveal a ceramic bowl filled with her cookies. "Want some?" "Oh, thank you," Olga said, nibbling on the delicious snack as she gracefully sat there. "You are so beautiful, I wonder how you''re still single." Lola had a very kind face and gentle voice, it made younger generations like talking to her. Olga awkwardly scratched her nose, "I haven''t found a man who interested me. If they do express their interest in me, all I see is greed for my money and status." In fact, most women would be fine with this¡ªeven flattered¡ªespecially if they were praised for their beauty. It was just that Olga was Gaia''s daughter. They were rare strong women who wanted gentleness and loyalty in their men¡ªthe type who would look only at them. Their conversation was cut when the loud giggles and yells of children resounded nearby. "Oh, oh, it''s Gochi and the others!" There was a guard team making rounds, checking this area in particular at this time because there were a lot of people. The Golds were surprised to see the half-orc right next to the leading guard¡ªwho was quite handsome by the way. At this time Maya and Mimi were playing tag, and Maya miscalculated a small slope and fell down. She happened to have fallen near the guards and the leading man immediately went to her to guide her up. "Be careful," he gently said, patting the dirt off. "Thank you, Drake!" "No problem, Maya." From afar, while chewing on her cookie, Olga couldn''t help but make a thoughtless comment. "He''ll make a great father," she said but froze when she realized what she just said. She flushed when she saw the two old women looking at her with mysterious smiles. "That''s not what I meant!" "That''s Drake, he gets very intimidated by beautiful women, so I suggest easing into it very gently." "That''s not what I meant!" Yana nodded, "Judging by his body proportions, he should have good body strength and strong seeds." "YOU!" Olga was aghast. How could they discuss this so openly?! "Is it Drake or not?" Winona asked, blinking, uttering the right questions. Olga blinked a bit. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In fact, it wasn''t entirely just Drake. She found herself attracted to the manly and stable quality about them. Like true strength that came from within, one that didn''t need to hover their power over others. She pursed her lips and uttered it out, making the gossipy women make ''owh'' faces, nodding in understanding. "I see you have a type." "Well, our guard team have plenty of those. Shall I arrange some blind dates?" Olga''s eyes twitched, though she wasn''t as against the idea as she usually was. Soon the bell rang, signifying the working hours started. Immediately, most of the people stood up and scuttled, heading to work or hunt or to train. The Golds looked at each other and smiled, continuing in their vacation. Otto stretched his arms. "I''m gonna go back to the Casino." Obi immediately stood up, "I''m coming with you!" Olga shook her head and looked at her maids. "We''ll go to the spa later," she said, though she looked at the babies crawling and laughing and the children playing around and making the most of their ''school-free'' time while it lasted. Unbeknownst to many, it was not only the Golds who were observing the uniqueness that was Altera¡­ there were also other men, though they were obviously hostile, looking at everything in amazement and greed. "This is really a great target," One said to his companion, who was observing everything as if they already owned it. "It''s time to go back to Fargo." "Eh, maybe later," the other said, chewing on his barbeque. "I feel that we could still see so much more." Chapter 478 Escape Bright Village. The war was over and, as agreed upon, Micheal and those who wished to leave were allowed to leave the premises¡ªif they wanted to¡ªwith their lives. However, as they signed an agreement, Micheal and the others also had to sign an agreement wherein they would leave all their aggressive weapons in the territory¡ªincluding the bomb. They were also stripped of anything that could defend them outside the territory. This was basically still killing them. So it wasn''t a surprise that not many people came with Micheal in their exile. At least they were much safer within the territory walls, compared to the outside filled with monsters, bugs, poison plants, and a hundred other dangers. It had only been a few months since the Migration. Their experiences when they got transferred were still fresh in their minds. They simply couldn''t find the loyalties to risk their lives like that. This was just human nature and Micheal didn''t blame them at all. What''s more, the ones who stayed just felt lucky enough they weren''t like so many of the other survivors who were taken to the enemy territory to become slaves. Slaves. Slavery was such a distant concept they had only encountered in history books. But now it was so real and so very possible, like a branding iron hovering over them, ready to mark them as such at any time. Their concept was a little abstract, but they had heard of its horrors. They would have to follow whatever was asked of them, to do whatever, to act however their owners wanted to. If they were asked to eat shit, they would, if they were asked to throw themselves in front of sentries, they still would. It felt like they gained a new life by retaining their freedom. How could they risk that? They would rather stay with these men than lose their lives or become slaves. At least these people were strong, and the ''master'' territory was stonger. However, most of them were humans who had friendships with the people ''heading to their deaths''. They felt sadness and guilt as they watched their former lord¡ªwho used to be so handsome and unattainable¡ªdrag himself out of the territory. There was a pitiful number of people who came with him, including Tom and little Lily. The only comfort was Juno was with them, at least. It was amazing that an Aborigine followed the former lord when he was technically not hired by him anymore. The other aborigines either left during the war or stayed behind to continue with their jobs. Anyway, to them, it didn''t matter if the person at the helm changed¡ªthey just needed to continue with their jobs. An Aborigine like Juno was extremely rare, especially in villages where people were ''nothing''. Eventually, the small group of people headed out, towards the dangerous forests without anything to defend themselves with. The crowd of their former allies felt guilty, sad, and regretful¡ª But¡­ they all had to live too right? ¡­ "Be careful, my Lord," The handsome Juno held Micheal''s weak arm as they trudged through the paths. "Thank you¡­" he said, "For everything." Micheal was really touched beyond words for this man''s protection. He didn''t think Juno would gain anything by staying with the current him. Juno was already in his late twenties. He had just turned Level 17 some time ago while defending the village from the strong mobs. It wasn''t a bad level and he could find better jobs in towns, yet he remained loyal to him for some reason. But how could Micheal know that Juno genuinely admired him? In his former territories, the lords were all greedy and selfish, and he had witnessed a lot of evil during his time serving them. He had witnessed lords kill people because they crossed his path and he had met lords taking money from his people¡ªincreasing taxes¡ªjust so one of his mistresses could buy an expensive dress in a city. He had met too many. In fact, his family died in the hands of such a lord. Seeing a lord like Micheal¡ªkind at heart but difficult to bully¡ªwas too rare. Juno stared at him before shaking his head, "It''s my duty to protect you. It is what I signed up for." Micheal stared at him. He knew that he could''ve gone away when they lost, but he didn''t. Juno protected him with his own body¡ªhis high level being the only thing that protected his life. Micheal smiled at this loyal Aborigine, and then looked at the others who were trudging along the dangerous forests with them. They were all very careful, lest they hit or get wounded by a poisonous plant¡ªin which case, there would be no helping them. The group comprised of about two dozen people. These two dozen people, who were among the lucky ones who weren''t pulled back as slaves, went with him not because they were extremely loyal to him. Rather, it was because they would rather die than stay in there. Some of them suffered too much during the war, and a lot of them lost loved ones. They left the safety of the walls due to the stark refusal to have anything to do with people who destroyed their homes and killed their families and friends. Similarly, there were also some who simply refused to live in fear. These people would rather risk everything and head to Altera, even if they had to start from scratch. Speaking of wealth, Micheal looked at his system wallet which had nothing at all. Not even a single silver or copper. The Lord''s wealth was tied to the territory. When they lost, he automatically lost half. Then Gingo threatened to kill his citizens in order to get his remaining money. The oath was very straightforward as well¡ªjust give them all his possessions¡ªand even he couldn''t utter a leeway. Even if they arrived to Altera, they would have to take massive loans in order to survive. No territory, lost allies and friends, and a head deep in debt¡­ S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sigh. Micheal Berti had certainly never been in such a low before. Chapter 479 Badjau Soon, they started to encounter monster mobs after monster mobs. If it weren''t for Juno, they''d definitely be massacred by the monsters. Juno looked at them without speaking, but his actions told them everything. His presence gave them time to adjust to the shock, giving them some time to think of ways to protect themselves. Using whatever branch he could, he managed to defend some of them. Similarly, those who went with the lord were generally much braver than the others. So, following Juno and Micheal, most of these people also took up their weapons¡ªwhatever they were, sharp branches, rocks, and others¡ªto try and fight their way through the monsters. Juno really tried his best, doing much of the work as necessary as twigs really wouldn''t be able to do much, but at least most weren''t burdens and they were able to defend themselves until he arrived to rescue them. He continued to fight against the monsters, using skills as needed, getting a little injured along the way. Luckily, the stronger mobs had been cleared out before the war that the mob was on the weaker side with the strongest being a level 6. Otherwise, they''d have no chance without their weapons at all. As for how it was cleared, a lot of the strong monsters were killed when Garan''s team was with them. They also knew a lot of the hunting teams from Altera (and their own) had been weakening the mobs in the place, making the areas around Altera much safer than anywhere else. After that, they''d only encounter monsters in the weaker spectrum, no stronger than level 6 monsters. If other villages saw this, they would die in envy. Losses were still inevitable without weapons, however, and for the next hour or so, they did lose a few people. However, for now, they could only fight through it, hoping no more would be lost. At this time, they were fighting against a pair of level 7 monsters. Their cloths had been ripped and most of them had a lot of skin exposed. The only clothing intact were the undershirts Micheal, Juno, and Tom were wearing. They bought the clothing from Altera''s clothing maker. Lenny''s products provided good defense and wouldn''t get destroyed by monsters easily, especially not such ''weak'' ones. Nearby, Tom was also fighting hard, making sure Lily was protected. He was swiping a large branch, which really couldn''t handle a level 6 monster at all. All it took was a little swipe and Tom was off fighting it bare-handed again. Although he had a higher level than the monster, its physique was far superior to him. When it swiped at him with its clawed hands and he raised his hand to block it¡ªhe heard his bones crack, adding to his many injuries. "AHHHH!" He felt intense pain in his body and he wanted to run away from this hopeless battle. However, Lily was behind him, hiding in a shrub nearby. He was the only one in the team left to protect her, he would naturally use whatever he could to save her¡ªeven his own body. ROARRR!! The monster opened its mouth, preparing to eat him. Using all his strength, he captured the monster''s mouth with his bare hands, keeping them open for a few seconds. They scuffled for a while and his hand was soon punctured by its sharp teeth. He gritted his teeth as he kept it open to save his life. However, he could not foresee how its tail would move and it immediately tried to imbalance him. Tom saw this and somehow managed to avoid it. However, the following movements were so swift and big that it ended up hitting the area where Lily was hiding. "LILY!" He yelled and seeing the easier target the monster immediately shifted. Tom lunged and held its neck with its body, using all his strength to keep its mouth closed. "RUN, LILY!" The sobbing Lily could only cry, but she did not run. Instead, she carried rocks and threw whatever she could at the monster, trying to hit its weak spots. Despite her age, her father, Artie, and the other uncles tried to train her to defend herself. She still knew to target weak spots, and with great accuracy. Of course, throwing rocks would not do anything against monsters immune to bullets. ROAR! The annoyed monster shook its head wildly, and Tom was unable to hold on, flying against a tree. "OOF!" he yelled as his back rammed onto the tree. However, he didn''t even notice the pain as his wide eyes reflected the monster, opening its wide mouth to eat the little girl. "LILY!" Before the little girl was eaten though, a spear launched and went past the monster''s head. Immediately, a figure went to pull out the spear, taking down another monster after a couple of stabs. He turned to look at the young dark-skinned man who emerged from the bushes. It was one of their newest hires. He looked unsightly, bloody, and barely standing still, but he was alive and strong enough to kill the monster with a few shots. "Badjau!" Tom yelled, dragging his feet to get to Lily, who immediately ran to meet him instead. They watched as the man waved his weapon, assisting the others with the monsters they were facing. As soon as the monsters went down, his legs finally gave way and he fell down. Juno managed to catch him by the shoulder and guided him to rest against a tree. "What happened to you?" The man pursed his lips and tried to keep his tears at bay. "I''m sorry, they¡ª" "Tell us." Badjau pursed his lips, wiping his tears with his arm. His words confirmed that there had indeed been a number of people who had been camping near their territory. It was precisely their doing that so many people missing before the war started! He tried to follow them when he woke up and did find them. Their group was mostly dead, with the women raped to death and the men tortured. It was here that the people realized that even if the former lord didn''t withhold information, it''d have been useless. They''d have met an earlier death just outside the territory. No, they''d have met an even worse death! ¡­ They only allowed a few minutes of respite before they headed out. It happened that there were a few weapons in Badjau''s space, some for emergencies and some were his old weapons kept for storage and hoarding. He handed them to Micheal, Juno, and Tom. A lot of them had low durability and were barely holding on, but it was miles better than going against these monsters barehanded. With this, their chances for survival were much better, and they managed to deal with the next mobs¡ªa small group of around level 5 monsters¡ªwith no more losses. However, it couldn''t always be smooth¡ªit never was. Because then, somewhere along the way, they encountered a group of five level 8 monsters. By this time, their health and spirits had become dangerously low. This fight¡­ would definitely show some losses. But, what choice do they have? sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Micheal, panting, raised his sword and looked at the monster mob with sharp eyes. "FIGHT!!!" Chapter 480 Rescue They fought as valiantly as they could with whatever they had. Those with weapons were naturally the vanguards, and the rest tried to damage the monsters as they could. However, the few weapons they had had very low durability remaining. One by one, they gave way, leaving many vulnerable again. The first to give way was Tom''s. He was fighting a monster when his weapon finally broke. Fortunately, Badjau was right beside him, stabbing the monster before it could eat him. Only Juno''s, which was an unused spare, as well as Badjau''s, were showing no signs of degeneration as of yet. Unfortunately, without proper weapons, it was impossible to cause damage to such monsters and soon a handful of people perished and more became unable to fight. Micheal and the others who had weapons did their best to protect everyone else, regardless of their own wounds. This was especially true for Micheal who still felt guilty. Although intellectually, he knew it was not his fault, his heart clenched at the recollection of all those citizens¡ªpeople who had trusted him as their lord¡ªperished because of his shortcomings. This made his attacks grander and defenses stronger, saving many lives. Until his weapon also lost its remaining durability, that was. He gaped as his sword disintegrated into nothingness. His heart probably stopped then, and he could only stare as the massive mouth of a monster gestured to bite off his head. "Oh no!!!" his teammates yelled, but they were too busy with monsters in front of them to even move elsewhere. They sobbed a bit. They did respect Micheal to some point, and his death would be one of the biggest blows in their already-dwindling momentum! Just as they were about to lose hope though, a massive fire sword appeared like a flash, beheading the level 6 monster with its head dropping on the ground in front of him. Similarly, another monster was about to eat Lily¡ªwho was promptly shielded by Tom with his body¡ªwhen a shield appeared in front of them. It seemed to have a life on its own, pushing the monsters back, and leaving a trail of soil. It pushed the monsters away from the two. After a few meters, the beast was taken care of by the same fire slash that killed Micheal''s. They looked at the fights in amazement. Even Juno, who was an aborigine, was impressed. Tom''s protective arm around the little girl loosened and he raised his head to see the soldiers from Altera. They watched as the newcomers easily took care of the monsters that had been haunting them for so long. To their surprise though, even Althea and Ansel were using elements. Ansel''s was still a very small spark, but he was going against a hairy monster. Added with oil from space, he managed to give it a burning damage while dealing with it. Althea was even more impressive. Under the watchful eye of her husband, she created craters on the ground, destroying the balance and momentum of the monsters. She then used her katana to end the monsters with a couple of slashes. The mob was cleared in no time and the people could finally breathe. Everyone lost the feeling of their legs, finally succumbing to the debilitating exhaustion they had been keeping at bay the past few hours. "What happened to you guys?" Ansel asked with a sigh, ending up in front of Tom and little Lily. The others immediately fed healing potions to the refugees with a breathe, even if it seemed hopeless. Seeing an old friend, all the tears Tom had been holding back exploded. "ANSEL!!!" He sobbed making the man step back for fear of getting saliva and snot on him. The others who knew them also sobbed, "Ms. Althea!" "Sir Garan! Sir Luis!" Among them, only Badjau wasn''t familiar and he could only gape as one of the soldiers¡ªa man they called Sir Luis¡ªhanded him a potion to drink. "Can you drink by yourself?" "I¡­" Luis'' eyebrows rose. "Should I feed you?" Badjau flinched and shook his head, shakily taking the bottle into his hand. He knew this as a ceramic bottle, something he had seen back in Bright, and he knew that they weren''t cheap enough to just hand over to anyone. Badjau looked at it with a complicated expression and looked around, seeing the others received the same. Seeing them drink it, he did the same. He didn''t have much expectations, thinking it was something to help ease the pain or his hunger. But he realized his wounds were healing and how much lighter his body felt. "!!!" He had heard of this potion, but it was always out of stock! They just gave it? How much would he owe? He raised his head to thank the man and ask him how much he needed to pay (maybe even beg for a partial payment for now), but Luis was already feeding someone else. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He blinked, putting the issue aside for now. Instead, he observed his team and the renewed atmosphere around them. All of the tension seemed to have disappeared as if they were certain that everything was going to be alright. His team now looked dependent on these newcomers, like kids finally with their parents. He had often heard of Altera and the various words of admiration to them. He had also looked forward to seeing what such a good territory like Bright couldn''t compare to, but¡ª These people had a lot more impact than he thought. ¡­ On another side, Garan also handed some potion to Micheal, who looked at him with a complicated expression. "Thanks," Micheal said, but he handed it over to Juno instead. This made the man flinch, not daring to take it. "Milord¡­" "Call me Micheal, Juno. I''m no lord anymore." "But¡ª" "You deserve it more," he said, "Just take it." His tone was that of an order and Juno leaned down, trying to hold back tears. "Thank you." Micheal nodded and looked around his party and saw there was only half of them left. He closed his eyes in pain. "You take one, too," Garan said, releasing another potion as if it was nothing. Micheal''s lips twitched. They¡­ really brought a lot of these. He then thought of how they went here on such short notice. He knew a lot of these potions were meant for them in Bright and his heart warmed. "I''m sorry¡­" he said, but there were plenty of unspoken words both men somehow understood. ''I''m sorry for the trouble'' he thought, and ''I''m sorry for being a useless ally.'' Garan sighed, "Some things are unavoidable," he said, shaking his head. "You did your best." Chapter 481 Shame The Alterans and the mobile refugees took a moment to gather the corpses and give them a proper burial. As always, they burned their corpses until they turned to ashes, dedicating moments of silence in prayer for their souls. They solemnly watched the bodies slowly return to the earth, their hearts heavy. Althea held her husband''s hand, resting her head on his shoulder. He held hers, rubbing it comfortingly. Her husband''s warmth never failed to calm her down¡ªto make her feel that things were going to get better soon¡ªthat these problems were temporary. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After some time, Althea felt her shirt being tugged. She looked down and saw a pitiful-looking girl looking up at her, eyes lined with tears. She was biting her lips and looked a little intimidated as if fighting herself whether or not to bother her at this time. It was Lily. "Lily?" she blinked. "What''s wrong?" Her words of concern seemed to have triggered the held-back tears. "Sister¡­ help me¡­ wuuuu¡­" Althea flinched, immediately kneeling to level her eyes with the girl. She immediately wrapped her arms around Lily and the little girl buried her head on Althea''s soft shoulder. She sighed, patting the girl''s head as they embraced, "Oh, my poor Lily¡­" she mumbled and her motherly voice seemed to have opened a few more tear ducts. The girl sobbed for a while until Althea gently held her shoulders. Althea kindly wiped her tears and snot from her face with a clean handkerchief from the space. "Now, how can I help Lily?" Althea said, very gently, afraid the girl would sob again. The girl held her hand tightly, eyes filled with begging. "S-Save my father, please!" "What?" Althea uttered, looking around. Her eyes ended on Tom, who stepped forward to explain. Tom looked at the girl in pity, "Bruce¡­ was one of the people sent to be a slave," he said, and it made everyone''s faces darken. Although they had heard a lot about slavery here, this was the first time they heard their fellow Terrans becoming slaves. What''s more: It was fellow Terrans enslaving fellow Terrans. It made the tragedy feel more concrete and, unfortunately, too near their lives. "I see¡­" Althea patted the girl''s head. "Yes, we can help him." This made the girls'' eyes brighten with hope. Althea''s next words dampened it a bit, but it was still much more than she thought when they were still just escaping. "But we have to prepare," she told her, gently squeezing her nose. "We don''t want any more deaths, do we?" ¡­ After a short rest, the group finally gestured to go back home, eventually reaching the stopover. They camped in the intersection camping grounds, with Luis and the others making dinner for everyone. "It''s sad that us Terrans are fighting amongst ourselves. Worse, it even happened within my own circle." Micheal said, sighing. "What happened?" Garan asked, "The strength difference couldn''t have been so large?" After all, Bright had plenty of Aborigines as well as strong Terrans. What''s more: They had a lot of guns. "Well, they''re very powerful and they also had a lot of Aborigines," Micheal paused. "However, they¡­ they pretty much took away our legs even before they attacked." Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to detail the events. Micheal heaved a sigh to speak. It was him reliving the tragedies, but he knew they ought to get this information. "First, they poisoned our wells, so many people¡ªmost of our guards, even¡ªwere ill when the war happened." "Doesn''t system wells have self-cleaning functions?" "I''m not sure how they did it, but our investigations narrowed the source to the wells." The Alterans looked at each other in worry. This meant that system wells may not have cleaning functions. This was especially true for manually made wells like theirs. "They also made chaos during the war. There were stampedes and fights everywhere, and the remaining guards'' energies were drained as early as the war began." "The fact that all rules and regulations were null during wars was something not a lot of people know about¡ªit was something we hid just for this type of situation. But somehow, they found out and people started committing crimes. Stealing, mostly." Luis sneered as he turned the barbeques. If he wasn''t handling other people''s foods, he''d have spat on the floor to show disgruntlement. "It must be their people, causing chaos before the war." "I thought so too." "Fargo is also very strong. They were trained and had guns and even stronger aborigines." "The Village Center couldn''t have hired so many¡­ right?" Althea asked, wondering if she was just unlucky with her options. "It must''ve been Belize," Garan said, making everyone stare at him. "He''s an aborigine, but a powerful one. I think he is also an elementalist. It''s easy to assume he got his people in after the protection period ended." They could imagine the chaos arrogant aborigines caused¡ªespecially after looking at their low average levels. Micheal nodded. "That''s true. They had many people within the level limit, and the amount of pain those people caused us¡­" He closed his eyes and didn''t speak anymore. Juno beside him wanted to pat his back, but didn''t dare to. Juno, in the end, still believed Micheal was his lord. It was Tom who continued with the story, mentioning how Artie died and how they got Lily as a hostage. Realizing his words made him flinch, and he immediately whipped his head and looked at the girl, who was now shaking in Althea''s embrace. They sighed, feeling very sad for the girl. "They also weakened us by sabotaging people training outside," He added, and they looked at Badjau who looked like he''s in pain from the memory. The young man then detailed what happened to them then, and it just made people''s blood boil. "They even gave Aborigines guns!" "Guns are useless against monsters here," Althea said, "They kept all that gun to deal with humans." "But¡­ even so¡­ Bright wasn''t weak," Garan said and the Alterans nodded. Indeed. They were the defending territory and their sentries were much denser than other villages. Belize and the others couldn''t have mobilized so many forces¡ªespecially not those within the level cap. In theory, it should''ve been a fifty-fifty battle. This¡­ was a crushing defeat. Micheal nodded, his eyes showing some hurt and a lot of people who knew him couldn''t help but feel pity. "Of course, there was the betrayal. My right-hand man, Gingo, had switched sides, willingly sacrificing all the people who saw him as a brother, just to become someone''s steward." "He stole my guns and killed some of my greatest fighters when they weren''t paying attention," he said. "They took advantage of our weakness to cause maximum damage." "Many people died. We couldn''t defend them well." "A lot of women were raped in the open air. It was horrible. Our own people helping those aborigines do their way with our women¡ª" Micheal gritted his teeth so hard that some blood came out. "Wars didn''t have to be so brutal. Yet they made it so! Maybe this happened in Aborigine villages, but this is a Terran territory!!" Micheal also looked at Garan, looking at him complicatedly. "There''s also something you need to know." "What is it?" "One of your people, I think his name was Gian," he said. "He came along with them." "What?" Garan and Luis looked at him in disbelief, and Micheal told them what he had seen. Gian actually stopped a lot of the open-air rapes and torture, but he didn''t do anything else. As a soldier, this was an extreme shame. Garan''s vein popped as he listened. They had so many enemies, but that guy decided to point guns at his own brethren. And Gian¡ª Why would that young man decide to switch sides? To such a horrendous human being? Gian was immature, but he was not evil. What did Fargo do to him? Garan raised his hand and punched the nearest tree. It cracked, soon falling down backwards. Amon Fargo! That bastard!!! Chapter 482 Back to Fargo (Part 1) Fargo Village Inside one of the villas in Fargo Village, an urgent meeting was being held. In the center was the former general Henry, and on each side were his children. The group of them, since Garan left, had fortunately only lost a few. The person they lost, a young man by the name of Jack, died because Gian decided to move to the other side. It was unfathomable to them and they almost died trying to kill him. However, Gian was strong, and those who could take him¡ªLeon and Santos¡ªwere unwilling until they heard of an explanation fro him. Why risk exposing themselves after holding back for so long? It was fortunate that everyone had signed strict oaths of non-betrayal, and Gian wouldn''t be able to leak any plans to Fargo at all. However, just in case, they did decide to shift their plans just in case so even if somehow Gian said anything, they wouldn''t be compromised. This wasn''t impossible primarily because of their new ''players''. During this time, there was also a small group of refugees from the north, led by soldiers. However, after what happened with Gian, they also got the newcomers to sign a non-betrayal oath for security reasons. With this their group even got bigger and, with Leon and Santos'' help, they had only gotten stronger in level. The two slowed down in level due to the weakness of the monsters around, but they were still strong at level 19 and 20, respectively. Obviously, Fargo couldn''t have been blind to the threat they could give. As for how they kept their lives despite this, it was because Fargo mostly depended on them to defend the territory. Fargo''s own guards pretty much just relaxed and did what they wanted. It was difficult, but they had to close their eyes to what was happening. In exchange, Fargo and his men would keep the lives of the people. It wasn''t a formal agreement, but happened through threats and actual murder whenever they showed any signs of rebellion. This was a silent agreement between the two parties, and it was how they kept their lives despite being possible ''threats'' to his reign. Or more accurately, he may not see them as threats at all. At this time, they were discussing the war Fargo started against a fellow Terran territory. "The war is over, I see," Henry, who was sitting at the center, said with a sigh. One of the reporting soldiers, Leon, told what he had gathered so far. "Yes, the teleportation array had just closed. It seemed to have been an easy win, considering the differing state of Fargo''s men compared to the slaves they brought with them." Heavy silence reigned in the room at the term. Slaves. There were Terran slaves now. And this was just in their territory, what else for many others? Not everyone fought against fellow Terrans, did that mean their people had become slaves to Aborigines as well? The thought sent heat to their heads, and more to their heart¡ªespecially due to their current helplessness about it. Victor sighed and looked at Leon, "What else?" He asked, "How¡­ were they treated?" Leon''s hands clenched as he reported. He couldn''t help but recall the poor state of the ''slaves'', saying what he had seen about their condition. First, they arrived bloodied and pitiful, showing signs that they had definitely suffered during the war. He noted the differences between the injuries of the men and the women. The men had their faces beaten up, and their bodies were full of bruises. The women¡­ looked relatively clean, but the way they walked¡ªhow they dragged their bodies¡ªwith some of them bleeding just down their legs, gave them an idea of what happened. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their wounds remained untreated the whole time and their paths traced a line of blood. They were taken directly to the slum area near the other gate. It was a place of makeshift houses with no amenities at all. There were no toilets and their food was placed in troughs¡ªvery much like what would be seen in a pig sty. Further, all of them were obviously exhausted but pushed themselves to not be left behind. Why? Because being left behind would mean they would be whipped by the Aborigines! Worse, they also saw their own Terrans¡ªthough mostly Fargo''s men¡ªdo the same. What the heck! Benny outright punched the ground, while another blonde soldier¡ªa middle-aged man named Ken¡ªjust cursed his heart out. "Those are our people! How dare they allow those Aborigines to treat them like that! And even do the same!" The others cursed as well, regretting how they couldn''t take away the token during the war. The plan was, during the war, they would take advantage of the chaos to take Fargo''s life. A lot of them were fully prepared to sacrifice for it. It was just that not only did Fargo stay in the territory¡ªhe pretty much stayed in his abode with his harem. He also surrounded himself with strong guards. It was basically impossible to get to him even if they killed themselves. Silence reigned the room for a while until they felt a shift in a soldier who was lying down the bed. He shifted, suddenly sitting up with red eyes. "My son! How could they do this!" He yelled. The man''s name was Rasso, one of Victor''s men. When he looked around and saw it was just them, he sobbed outright. He had just woken up from being fainted by one of the others, as he had gone a bit insane when he saw Fargo''s bully his teenage son. The others stopped him of course, even if they were dying to fight alongside him. Attacking the guards now would just get them incarcerated, and incarnation meant uselessness in the overall plans. They had so many things to achieve, so many people to meet again, how could they compromise that? Victor and Henry looked at each other and sighed, feeling heavy. Not only had they missed the opportunity to get rid of Fargo, now they had to watch him enjoy his regime through the suffering of thousands of others. But they gathered themselves quickly¡ªa quality of good soldiers¡ªand looked at the men who went to watch the progress of the war. "Detail what happened." "They defeated a pretty strong territory, it seems. It''s just that they did some underhanded tricks to win so cleanly." Victor nodded, "What are they using all the captives for?" Terrans didn''t use slaves, for the most part, and it just felt¡­ wrong to still be using the word ''slave''. In any case, the ''slaves'' were taken directly to an area near a new gate, and he just knew they were going to be used for something. "They found a lime deposit a few days back," Santos¡ªanother one of Garan''s members, an earth swordsman¡ªreported. "It seems like someone had fallen into a sinkhole, realizing there was a huge network of caves underneath." "There were monsters similar to bats¡ªonly much larger, and poisonous¡ªand a lot of people died. However, one of the survivors happened to have worked with lime before and reported his findings." "After careful study, the experts in the territory determined that it was indeed, limestone." The soldiers didn''t speak for a while. Limestone¡­ was indeed an important resource in the hands of those who could manage it. This was basically a treasure chest if they sold it, and if they decided to use it in the territory, too many things could change. "In their mind¡­ the Slaves¡ªthe captives¡ªcame just in time." "What do we do now, then? Wait another month? And what are the chances we could get to him by that time?" While they bide their time, the enemy was only getting stronger. How could they even rest? The room was tense. What could they do? Chapter 483 Back to Fargo (Part 2) Meanwhile, while his enemies either despaired, sobbed, or worried, Fargo was admiring his new riches and resources. It was just that he looked at his ''wallet'' and was sorely disappointed. "So little gold?" he asked, no one in particular. On his arm was a gorgeous tanned Aborigine woman he hired from the village center and another was a beautiful blonde Terran in her twenties. At his question, the reporting men quickly explained themselves. "The sentries were relatively plenty at around 300 meters apart. They also developed the territory and it could be seen that the lord invested in infrastructure. "Hm¡­" Fargo relaxedly watched the video recorded in his hand. The aborigine woman looked at the ''magic image'' in awe, while the blonde looked curious. The camera was taken from a poor teenager killed early on. This was chargeable with a solar panel they took from another poor bloke that was now similarly part of the soil. He had always liked chaos, but he didn''t like to get dirty. It gave him the feeling of being a god¡ªgiving orders here and there and then seeing the news, the videos, of what his words created. However, seeing this, it was no wonder people liked going to war so much. He made a mental note to watch it in person next time. In any case, although it was a pity he wasn''t able to see it for himself, it was enough to know he held a new token. As he admired the sufferings captured in the videos, he also observed the state of his new territory. "This is impressive. Did they buy custom buildings?" The video also showed farms, shops, and a variety of food products. He really made money. "We got them. They''re richer than I expected." "Those goods," he asked, "Where are they?" The men looked guilty, and Fargo''s eyebrows rose. The food was basically consumed by their men as soon as they got them. There was no way¡ªthey had been enduring horrible food for two months!! Of course, they left enough for the lord (and a few favorite women) to enjoy for about a week. So this was what they presented. It wasn''t that Fargo didn''t notice, but he (and his women) were fascinated by the selection. The men felt guilty and then terrified when they saw the nozzle of guns pointed at their heads. They immediately flopped down to beg. "We apologize, milord! We apologize!" "You stole from me, don''t you know what happens to people who stole from me?" "Milord¡ª" BANG! BANG! Fargo looked coldly at the reporting men. Anyway, there were plenty of people who went to Bright and these two had been underwhelming. They probably fought for a chance to report to him to show off. Turned out to be one of the last decisions they''d ever make. The other people seemed unperturbed by the murder that just happened. Umi, the aborigine pleasure worker he hired, looked very interested as she sauntered towards the items. Her tanned hands took a ceramic bottle. It took a few moments for her to figure out how to open it, but her nose caught a whiff of something sweet as soon as it did. She put her curly hair behind her ears as she looked closer, sniffing. It''s an astringent smell, but she didn''t dislike it. Around this time, another soft hand took it, doing the same. The owner of the hand was a bombshell blonde from Eden named Becky. "This is jam," she said, eyes looking at the other items. Her face brightened in amazement as she found a box of crackers. She took one and placed a few drops of the viscous goodness on the cracker. Umi¡ªa female pleasure worker and therefore had a status just above slaves¡ªcould only watch with envy. She couldn''t be like this presumptuous woman at all! Becky tasted the goods and sexily moaned. "So good!" She exclaimed, genuinely surprised. "This was locally made? Amazing!" Fargo stood up and went to them. Becky smiled and made another one, feeding Fargo himself. After feeding him, she couldn''t help herself and took a few more. He was also impressed, and he looked at his men for more information. "How did they make so much? Do they have a food expert? Where is this person?" They shook their head, which made Fargo frown. Before he said anything though, they hurriedly explained, afraid to find the next bullets in their heads. "The expert is not in Bright." "They''re all from Altera. Bright just got some techniques and seeds from them." "Altera, eh?" Amon uttered, recalling when he first encountered the name. "Has the person who investigated returned?" When he saw the first spy die, they sent a few more. They should have arrived by now. "Not yet, milord," the man said, answering his question. "But he should be getting back here within this week." Amon nodded before sitting back down, taking out Bright''s lord token. The appearance of the lord token was identical to his. He looked at it for a moment before deciding to merge it, willing it to join his own. [Would you like to merge your Lord Token with Bright Village (Lv3) Token?] Yes. The light of the merging appeared in his hand and soon a bigger token with a new crown on the side appeared. He looked at the additional stats and he saw the facilities with a glint. With this, he could also use the custom building he got from Bright. The lifestyle of his upper community would only improve. Of course, how could Fargo be satisfied with this? What he got from Bright was already very good. The goods from the original territory would definitely not be inferior. Maybe¡­ they have even more varieties that couldn''t be sold to others. Just the thought of new finds made his blood boil in excitement. He looked at the Visionstone panel and saw there was still no new information. He knew it''d take time, and he was quite looking forward to what he''d see... simply because it''d be his soon. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Get Ready. Study Altera well," he said and his eyes darkened as he looked at the name. "We''re going to take them next." "Yes, boss!" Chapter 484 Suspicious Smell Altera. That afternoon, while Althea''s group was carefully heading back with the injured, the rest of the territory was doing their usual lunch routine. Those on their lunch break were lining up or exploring around, those who hunted near the territory during mornings were now heading back for a break, and the batch of guards who were preparing to change shifts was about to do their rounds inside the territory. One of the guards was Gochi, the half-orc, who was walking towards the square with his team members. They were laughing and smiling, as if it was the most normal thing, and to be frank Gochi was still not used to it. Speaking of, the fact that he could get a job and make good money with his own job, and have his own choices¡­ this was something unimaginable to him. He wished the others were with him. "Okay, our shift starts now," Their team lead¡ªReno¡ªthen showed them a hand-drawn map of the territory. "Although a lot of the main rule execution is done by the system, I want to remind everyone that our shifts is still important. "For one, we are needed for emergency situations and to handle cases where the system¡ªor the sentries¡ªcouldn''t or didn''t need to be deployed." "This is also a chance to let our people feel the presence of the guards even within the territory." He then assigned a few of them to their own areas. Because there weren''t many of them, they were only assigned in pairs to go around in a specific scope, each with their weapons prepared. Gochi was assigned with Amos this time and they were assigned to go to the Southern Market Street area. Some of the others looked at them in envy, and they only smiled as they headed towards it. The market streets were the best assignments! Of course it also meant a lot more work than others. Especially, because it was lunch break, most of the food stores had queues. There were also a lot of ''mobile stores'' that were carrying some snacks on a board tied to them. "Gugu Sticks for sale! Comes in three flavors!" "Dried Gouji Berry! A great appetizer AND dessert for the whole family!" And so on. Gochi smiled as someone who sold special flavor jerkies approached them. The two bought a handful each to snack to consume while they walked. He didn''t eat immediately though, still relishing in the fact that he just bought delicious food and also bought it with money he earned. "Not gonna eat that?" Amos asked, pointing at his food while chewing on his. It was super delicious and he wondered if their half-orc friend just bought some to be polite. In which case, he would also not be polite and take it off his hands. Gochi flinched but handed it over. Amos saw his facial expression and chuckled, knowing he didn''t want to. "I''m kidding," he said, handing it back to him. "You know, you can tell us No." Gochi stared at him, a little surprised, though he really shouldn''t be after staying here for so long. "A-Ah," he said, though not saying anything else as he ate his food in a partial daze. The two made their rounds, all while watching if any chaos was happening or would happen. It was peaceful of course, because not only were the regulations extremely specific, but people just behaved better in general when there was ''law enforcement'' in the vicinity. However, sometime during their rounds, they passed through a large crowd who were going from the Market street and back to their respective workplaces. Gochi''s steps halted and he abruptly turned his head in a direction. His eyes narrowed somewhere in the crowd which was slowly getting farther from them. "Gochi?" The half-orc didn''t say anything, concentrating, until eyes narrowed at a couple of men, quickly gesturing to follow. "Oi¡ª" Amos tried to call to him, but Gochi turned to him with a serious expression. His eyes had a different lightness to it, too, and somehow he was far more intimidating than before. "They''re a bit suspicious." Amos blinked, following his sights. "Where?" Gochi nodded, certain. A half-orc''s instincts with emotions and intent was next only to goblins. Those two men¡­ were extremely hostile to them. Gochi''s eyes sharpened and shone a sharp light. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He wouldn''t allow anything to pose a threat to his current life. ¡­ Althea and the others soon reached the outskirts of their territory. The entire time, they couldn''t help but wonder about that poisonous territory. They had been allies with Bright for a long time, they inevitably knew a lot of things. They worried if they managed to get information about them from the Bright citizens. Even if not immediately, they''d eventually come across the information. "They must know of us," Ansel said, referring to military strength. Garan shook his head. "Our elements are indeed public knowledge, but we never revealed our levels. "Even if we did, most of us can''t participate anymore." Only Luis could participate in the wars now, actually. The rest could only defend. "Wow. Didn''t know our leveling up so fast worked against us." "Well, the territory is already much stronger than others. While we can''t be complacent, with enough preparation we should be able to manage it." "The target is to minimize the losses as well," Althea added. "It is likely Fargo had already deployed spies in our midst." "That jerk." "We will find them for sure! And torture them to death!" More curses abound and Althea looked on, sighing. "We have to be very careful," Luis said. "Their forces are very strong. I know that they have a lot of level 20s on their side, and even if they didn''t participate directly in the war¡­ they killed a lot of my people outside." Hopefully, she would get more useful hires by then, even if they were relatively low-level. As much as possible, she didn''t want to lose anyone and, with the number of strongmen Fargo had, it was likely they would lose a lot. She looked at Garan who was in an obvious bad mood. It made Althea a little anxious, too. The man noticed Althea''s worried look and his face eased. He held her hand, massaging it in comfort. "Don''t worry, my love," he told her, "It''s nothing we can''t handle." Chapter 485 Following the Spies Althea, Garan, and the others arrived back to the territory, feeling heavy. Althea didn''t even bother fighting when Garan carried her to the bathroom so they could bathe together. The lovemaking was particularly wild in the bathroom and she reckoned it had to do with him being reminded of that accident again. He had been trying to comfort her, but it was no doubt he was a little anxious. It had to be said that Althea knew her husband well. Garan was indeed anxious¡ªreminded of his childhood helplessness¡ªand he wondered if Fargo was as big as he was to the young him. Even if he was big and strong now, a part of him worried if the strength gap was still just as big. Inevitably, he also looked for comfort, and he also wanted to feel Althea''s presence more¡ªcausing a very strong libido. About half an hour later, Garan calmed a bit, gently washing her legs under the water. Relaxed, Althea''s neck rested on his generous chest, and she looked at her panel to see what she could prepare immediately. She looked at her many golds and how much she probably earned from the aborigines alone. With this, the husband and wife planned the max defenses in her next upgrade. There was a limit in the manpower they could mobilize, but she could make the territory and buildings themselves as powerful as they could get¡ªat the very least, as impenetrable to their enemies as possible. She even decided to add level five walls on small spots within the territory. This way she would have sentries in the middle of the territory, acting as watchtowers. But¡­ looking at her husband, hugging her tightly, particularly in heat, she decided to defer it until later. Fortunately, she would remember to put them out before a war. ¡­. At this time, Gochi and Amos were following the mysterious group of people. Amos was actually thinking that Gochi was maybe overreacting at first, but then they followed them long enough to see that it wasn''t the case. One of the notable things about system buildings was that they had much better insulation than others¡ªprobably due to everyone''s improved hearing¡ªand was therefore made it much harder for them to eavesdrop. It was just that Gochi had very sharp hearing and Amos could read lips¡ªa skill he developed growing up in his environment¡ªso they could actually catch parts of what these people were saying. They soon confirmed that these people were hostile, speaking about where the wells were and which parties seemed greediest. They also spoke of when to cause chaos and how to maximize their kills. Then they heard the word Fargo a few times and they knew exactly where these people were from. Speaking of, the two of them had to wear large cloaks bought at the fabric store because they¡ªespecially Gochi¡ªwere just too eye-catching. They listened well, thinking they were very subtle. For a while, they seemed to have succeeded, until¡ª "Gochi! Amos!" The two flinched when they were called. It was Mimi, being energetic as always. "Shhhh!" "Shhhh!" Mimi blinked, mimicking the two men, "Shhh!" She had seen her favorite fox tail below the table, and immediately recognized the two. She liked Gochi very much and, because they were in a restaurant, she thought he was on a break or something. "Quiet," Amos said, quietly, as he covered her mouth before she said anything else. The little girl nodded. Such secrecy excited her very much. "Watcha doin?" She asked, but in a semi-whisper she thought was quiet. Amos tried to hold down an exasperated sigh. "Don''t talk anymore," he said, "I''m trying to catch bad guys." The little girl''s eyes widened at the word, extremely excited. "Bad guys?!" She squealed behind his hand, but then immediately shut her mouth when she realized what she said. They heard a clutter and saw the men had already stood up and left, probably hearing the commotion. The men were very fast, expertly waving through the crowd. They very quickly disappeared from their line of sight and Amos cursed a little. Unfortunately for the suspicious men, Gochi also had a very good sense of smell and the two immediately ran out to follow to the right direction. "Here¡ª" Gochi said, though he just went straight in the direction. Amos immediately ran after him, though struggling to follow. It took Gochi a couple of minutes but he soon found them among the crowd. With a soft growl, Gochi immediately lunged¡ªpretty much teleporting above them. The enemies noticed too late when a shadow already loomed over them. BANG! The next thing they knew, they were already stepped on by a massive ''man''. "WHAT!" "AH!" They tried getting up but they were all punched down, and they felt too dizzy to do anything. Then they felt a massive impact and they realized they were punched dizzy before they could absorb what was happening. BANG! BANG! While the spies were being confused, the move fell under many bypassers'' eyes. "So¡­ cool." "I didn''t know you could beat people up in the territory," said a new arrived person, and he was answered by the stranger next to him. "Guards can, apparently." "Another reason to aim for it." They were not wrong, and Althea paid a hefty sum to add this exception in the rules and regulations tab. Of course, there were plenty of others who were alarmed by the show of violence. "It''s a little scary though?" "Yeah¡­ what if a guard decided to hurt someone?" While the crowd whispered, Amos finally appeared in the scene. Amos'' eyes twitched as he looked at Gochi beating up the men (holding punches, obviously) and he looked at the bystanders who donned different expressions on their faces. He cleared his throat to explain the violence. "They''re spies from Fargo!" he said, "They were planning on poisoning our wells!" "WHAT?" At this, all the doubts were gone and if food wasn''t so precious here, they''d have thrown some to the men''s faces. Someone even wanted to join in hurting the men when he was held back. "You''re not a guard. Wanna go to prison?" "Ah, right." "Let''s get those slots this time!" "Yeah!" In the meantime, while citizens fantasize on beating them up, the men could only passively accept the beating. Gochi was holding back his punches a lot, otherwise they''d be dead by now. At the same time, he also knew how to hurt them most and the men were dizzy in pain. Even when they were hauled up, they could barely absorb anything, and only snapped out of it a bit when they were already being tied. They were specialized ropes (since metal was still too expensive at this time) that were knotted in a way that''d get tighter the more one struggled. "WHAT?!" "LET US GO! PTOOEY!" Another one yelled, then spitting out loose tooth. "WHAT IS THIS?" They lost their voice when the big man from before loomed over them. Then they saw his sharp fangs and tails, his sharp beastly eyes sending shivers down their spine. Not a human! They hadn''t been in Altera long enough to know most of the details. They didn''t know there was an orc here, and seeing such an odd creature naturally shook them. They were pulled towards somewhere in a daze, for some reason unable to move as if paralyzed, except their feet were moving. Some people thought the men were just scared, but they forgot these were terrorists who had blood on their hands. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They could be shaken by Gochi, but scared to utter obedience? Of course not. This was thanks to Gochi''s orc skill¡ªPartial Paralysis. Orcs and half-orcs would gain one Orc-skill after reaching level 10. This was Gochi''s, though it hadn''t been very useful before. It was a skill that had a success chance of 20%, but for some reason, it worked well at this time. He might not be able to decide what would be paralyzed, but since the men were so shocked at his appearance, it was their mouths or their will to fight that had been affected. While they were being hauled somewhere, the men could only watch their own bodies move, unsure what fate would meet them. Chapter 486 Freezing Torture Prison. Gochi''s ability lost its effect when they were already near the prison. When they did, it was only then when Gochi fainted them. As for why he didn''t do it from the get-go, he was surprised to see his ability really working and wanted to see it. That said, he would feel if it lost the effect and therefore he was prepared to off them as needed. The two were thrown like sacks in their cell, with several guards looking at the unconscious men in distaste. "So they''re from Fargo, eh?" Drake said, and the two mentioned what they overheard. "They are definitely suspicious," Luis said, drinking his juice as he was still resting from that run to Bright. "They''re here a month before they could attack us. They''re definitely planning on causing a lot of chaos like they did in Bright." The guards immediately made a face and kicked the damned spies until to vent. They dare try to threaten Altera! Pal! Bang! Pow! The men were eventually jolted awake by the pain, making them pause. "Ah, they''re awake now," he said. The men flinched and tried to bite something, but realized they couldn''t, having sticks in their mouths. The guard team learned quickly after that previous loss. Gochi was a little confused. "What is the stick for?" "Spies sent by Fargo have special poisons hidden in their mouths. They were about to consume it to take their own lives. Gochi was very surprised. He didn''t think of this! He looked guilty. If they had managed to bite while he was taking his time with them, then they''d have lost a lot of information! It was lucky they believed they could escape, otherwise they''d be dealing with corpses now. "I apologize." "No, you already did very well," Reno said, patting his shoulder. "You may go back to your post. We will call you once we need you." "Yes, sir," he said, heading out. The soldiers and guards that remained watched the prisoners struggle to get out. The soldiers looked at each other, a sudden tension dawning on them. "So¡­ who''s gonna call the captain?" One asked, and another looked away. "He carried sister-in-law back home¡­" They paled at his words. "Damn¡­" The tension between them became palpable until someone immediately headed out the door. "I¡­ have something to do," one said, disappearing from the room. "Me too," said another. "Yes, me also." And another. The next thing Luis knew, he was alone with the suspects! Luis''s eyes twitched. Traitors!! _____ While the couple really planned their intimacy to be very short¡ªthere were too many things to handle¡ªthey didn''t expect it to be cut so short. So, when Garan was asked to go to prison, it was not surprising that he was oozing with a dark cold aura. The two spies locked up in the Guard Station shivered for their lives as he approached, cold creeping down their feet. Althea had come with him to the prison though, so he was still much milder than expected. "You don''t have to come here," Garan said, turning to her, his cold expression calming down. He looked a bit worried. "I wanna see," she said with a non-negotiable tone while crossing her arms. "Don''t hold back." Seeing his wife stubborn like this, he had no choice but to torture them in front of her. First, he froze their bodies. He also froze their mouths open as they yelled. All of a sudden, large metal needles as long as a palm appeared, stabbing their cheeks with it. A single move made a good patch of cheek skin fall off. He skillfully avoided much of the splatter as he stepped back, considering the men yelled for their lives and a lot of their saliva splattered. Gill walked over and looked at the displaced skin on the ground, using a stick to study it. "They''re suicide pills." Eagle looked over and shook his head. "To think people are so loyal to Fargo that they''d rather die¡­" Gill shook his head. "Not necessarily. These were surgically placed in them. If they took it out by force, it could''ve been activated." The only way to have it removed was like how the Captain did: taking it away with the flesh. Garan''s azure eyes watched as the encased men who were looking at him with wide eyes. He raised his hand, which emitted some kind of smoke, except it was heavier than air, and crawled down instead. Garan walked over to the men who were shivering both from cold, in pain, and in fear, placing his hand over their heads. And the scream that followed would make it seem like they would vomit out their own intestines. ¡­ When Garan emerged from their temporary prison, the spies were basically half-dead¡ªthey were still shivering from cold and pain, and maybe a little insane¡ªand they got quite a bit of information. Althea watched this in interest. They were lucky that Garan was great a¡­ interrogator, but what if the person was harder to crack? These two were quite difficult already, and if it was done by others they might not have succeeded. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although people could swear in the Territory Center, there would be plenty of cases like this one where it wouldn''t work. Except maybe if they forced the person to speak the exact words they needed, which was pretty much impossible to do for men who were willing to take their own lives to keep a secret. This whole thing inspired her to experiment on another potion¡ªsomething like a Truth Potion of sorts. For example, chemicals like Oxytocin and Serotonin could be tapped, or she could create a formulation that would cause havoc in the prefrontal cortex. Well, she added that to the long list of things to research in the Research Center. Garan looked at the others and gestured for them to follow him to the meeting room in the Barracks area. It had been a couple of hours or so since they arrived, so they ought to have rested enough. Garan''s face immediately morphed into a gentle smile as he walked toward his wife and stood in front of her. "I''m sorry it took so long, they were a bit tough." Althea shook her head and took a clean handkerchief from her space, wiping a bit of blood that splashed on the side of his neck. "You did very well, my love." She also made water balls for him to wash his hands, and they went to the meeting room while holding hands. Garan''s face was calm and happy, and no one would think he was coldly torturing two men an hour prior. Micheal and Juno, after receiving some preliminary treatments, were also called in. Garan stood in front of the room, looking at them with a dire face. "It''s confirmed. Fargo will be attacking us next." "Let''s just kill him," Sammy said, punching the air as if Fargo''s face was there. "At worst, we''ll just take all his citizens." Many others agreed. "Devils like that shouldn''t be walking on the same ground as us." Of course, there were some who were also reluctant with the plan. For instance, Eagle. "That''s more than 10000 people¡­" "Altera could take that easily." "It may not want to," the man said, and Garan nodded at this. As Micheal listened in, he suddenly recalled some talks of Fargo''s men. He was half dazed in pain, but he was fairly certain of it. "I''m not sure if this is the time for it, but I recalled some information about Fargo Village." "What is it?" "I heard they found large limestone deposits," he said. He knew for a fact that Altera had been actively looking for limestone, promising higher contribution points for it. This naturally caught everyone''s attention. "What?" Micheal shut his eyes, hands gripping his arm. "They said that the slaves came just in time." "Damn them!" Luis yelled, and Sammy almost got some hair as he pulled out his own hair in annoyance. "Shit!" "Those bastards! How can they do this?!" Oslo and Rowan looked at their reactions, and then at each other. "This isn''t anything new in this world. Those enemies of yours just fit right in, ensuring their survival." But they flinched when the Terrans whipped their heads to look at them, "Of course we know that! That doesn''t mean we won''t get annoyed." "A-Ah, I apologize." Althea frowned, feeling angry inside as well, but outside she remained impassive. Her continuous tapping on the table eventually echoed through the room, and one by one the arguing men stopped talking. "That just gave another reason for this war," she said, and the others stared at her. Traditionally, wars happened as a fight for resources and, to be honest, Althea never imagined them waging war for it. How funny life was sometimes. She looked at Mathilda and then at Garan, who nodded in agreement. It was Garan who spoke up, finalizing their next move. "We will be attacking Fargo Village, instead." Chapter 487 Plan They all looked at her a little startled, but at the same time not really shocked. "They would definitely target us next," Garan nodded, agreeing. "We should attack them before they could attack." This was not an easy decision on Althea''s part. She never thought she''d actually ever be an attacker¡ªshe had always only wanted to be the defending party as it was much safer for their people¡ªbut their current enemy forced their hand. "They already used their attack slots and, although they didn''t receive much damage, they wouldn''t have guessed they''d be attacked so soon." It so happened that Garan and the others had already landed there and it was already on her map, so it was no problem to attack them as soon as they were ready. "Now that we''re on the attacking side," Garan began to speak, shutting up everyone else. "It complicates a lot of things." "On the defensive side, we only had to maintain our walls and keep most of the enemies out." With strong men on the defense, the sentries, the walls, and all the preparations, their position was basically guaranteed. "As long as we watched the internal workings and prevented them from damaging our people and infrastructure, this would not be too difficult." This was an understatement, of course, but he didn''t want his men to be complacent. "Now that we''re on the attacking side, the planning would be much more thorough. We also have to complete all preparations quickly and catch them completely off-guard. Finally, we need to find a way that wouldn''t unnecessarily risk anyone. "Attacking head-on, especially a territory like Fargo with strong guards, guns, and sentries, would be dangerous. Even if we win, we''d suffer a lot of losses. "Loss of life is rarely worth it." The Terrans nodded¡ªtaking it for granted¡ªwhile the aborigines stared, their hearts pounding. They felt these people weren''t even pretending, they truly didn''t want to sacrifice anyone at all. Even if it would be troublesome and expensive, they would choose the safest path. This made the aborigines'' hearts feel full, Altera showing once again that it was a territory worth fighting for. To the Terrans, though this was common sense, so their discussion had quickly shifted to the modes of attack. "We already have people there, but with the entries of those strong aborigines, I highly doubt they managed to make enough waves." "That''s fine, it''s good to stay low-key, they would be hunted down otherwise." Garan nodded, proceeding to take out a paper and pen to sketch what they knew about the territory. They had always wanted to fight Fargo one way or another so they naturally researched a lot, and so did Henry and Victor. "Fargo is located in a valley, further surrounded by cliffs." "What a good location¡­" Mathilda mumbled, nodding. It was easy to defend and difficult to attack. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Well, fortunately, we have the teleportation array." "Yes, but we won''t be depending on that. As Fargo did with Bright, we''d be placing plenty of people nearby even before the war." Garan said, immediately coming up with a plan. "We can try to weaken their forces one by one. The risk was that Fargo and the others would realize it eventually and get prepared." This excited a lot of people. They also wanted to hunt Fargo''s men. The plans became more and more concrete, some were scrapped in the middle due to the high risks, but with many heads and a passion to kill, they came up with a pretty decent plan to minimize their losses. It was quite expensive, especially for their weapons makers and¡­ Althea''s team. Garan looked at her again, confirming if she could really, really, do it, and she nodded for the nth time, assuring him of her abilities. "We should also send people to get closer to him," Gill finally said. "Who, though?" They put this matter aside for a bit, discussing other areas such as the timeline and the resources required. Their discussion was cut when a knock on the door sounded, revealing one of the guards. "A civilian is here, wanting to talk to anyone in position," he said. "She said it''s regarding Fargo." They looked at each other and nodded. However, when it was the beautiful Juni who entered the room, everyone was surprised. Gill stood up with furrowed eyebrows, "Why are you here?" he asked, a little guarded. "I heard about the spies," she said, her eyes shaking a bit when she saw him. However, she didn''t say anything inappropriate. If anything, she actually looked past him. "I suggest sending spies there as well." "Why do you know that?" Gill asked, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows. She pursed her lips. "I was there when the spies were captured. I¡­ have been following them." She wasn''t sure what she''d do, but she wanted to learn more. She had used her acting skills to lower her presence. She even wore some disguise while following them, and she had indeed heard of some questionable things. The guardedness in Gill''s eyes dissipated a bit¡ªhe was aware that Juni had liked doing detective work back then¡ªand to be frank Juni felt a bit broken-hearted that his suspicions were there in the first place. Mathilda cleared her throat, clearing the awkward atmosphere. She walked over and held Juni''s hand¡ªholding the hand of someone she had once believed would be her daughter-in-law. "We were just talking about that," she said with a gentle smile, "Do you have a proposal on how we''d go about this?" Juni nodded. "Me. I hope to give it a try." She felt Gill''s warm hands on her arm, pulling her closer to him, whispering. "Why?" "I need to get some fresh air." "What??" Gill exclaimed, pausing, trying to calm himself. "You¡­" Behind Gill, someone whispered to the person next to him in a gossipy tone. "She''s not going to betray the entire territory because of Boss Gill, is she?" A woman''s ire knew no bounds, after all. He thought he was whispering, but everyone had better hearing now after all. Even Juni heard the side comment. "I will sign a contract. I want to contribute. I hope to receive a good contribution for this, that''s all." Althea and the others looked at each other, wondering if this was the good way to go. Then, they looked at Gill, who knew the woman best among them. "What do you think, Gill?" Chapter 488 Juni (Part 1) Trigger Warning: Hints of Rape. You''ve been warned! ¡­ ____ Z City, a year prior Inside a posh hotel room reserved only for the elites, signs of passionate activity abound. Upon entering, one would be met with a room oozing in the smell of sex. Inside, one would see the messy sheets, ripped clothes, and signs of blood in different parts of the room. On the bed was the lone figure of a very beautiful woman. Her body was filled with bruises and dried fluids. There was even a loose handcuff on her hand, and reddish marks on the other appendages. Her eyes were red and dull, looking at nothing in particular. It took a long while for her to absorb the reality of everything, realizing that this wasn''t just a nightmare she was so unlucky to have. She ran to the bathroom and opened the shower, drenching herself for a good ten minutes before she shook out of it. Feeling it wasn''t enough, she ran to the sink to open the disposable loofah, scrubbing herself harshly. She rubbed and rubbed until her skin turned red and it stung when the water touched it. "Dirty¡­ dirty¡­" she sobbed, trying to clean herself from the filth she was forced into. "No¡­ so dirty¡­ so dirty¡­" But no matter how hard she scrubbed, it felt useless. In a daze, she went out of the bathroom all wet, looking at the messy room, wondering what to do next. Inexplicably, her eyes ended up on the broken bottle on the floor, right on the side of the bed. It was broken while she tried to escape, desperately yelling for help, but no one came. She struggled for a long time until her cuffed hands bled but, obviously, she wasn''t able to escape in the end. There were three men who vented on her body the entire night, and recalling even a single scene made her skin crawl in disgust¡ªfeeling as if she had ants under it. It dominated her mind, much more than the pain under her crotch or the many bruises she had on her body. It was too much. She just wanted the discomfort to end. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her feet moved on their own, and she soon found herself right above the broken bottle. She flinched a bit as she accidentally stepped on a broken piece, but she moved forward anyway, her feet leaving a trail of blood on the velvety carpet that witnessed all her sufferings. She leaned down, taking the biggest piece on her hand. It nicked her soft hands a bit, but she didn''t mind. On the contrary, she found the pain and blood a little fascinating. However, before she could do anything else with the shrapnel, her phone rang. It was thrown at one of the walls back when she was just pulled into the room, but it happened to be a very quality one Gill got for her. Gill¡­ The ringtone was their couple song, and she immediately knew who was calling. She let go of the sharp object and ran to her phone, shakily holding it up with her bleeding hand. However, she could not bring herself to answer it at all. Her Gill¡­was finally calling after nearly a month of absence. She knew that he must''ve returned from his mission. Normally, she would be jumping for joy, excited to finally hear his voice again. Now¡­, she could only sob in despair. ______ Altera Village, Present "So, what do you think, Gill?" Althea asked, and the man in question turned to Juni. Gill''s sharp eyes met her gentle ones, and for a moment it seemed they were communicating through them. "Can we talk? In private?" She nodded and the two excused themselves to talk in one of the private rooms. Gill sighed as he closed the door, looking at the woman who was standing gracefully on the other side of the room. "Look, there are plenty of ways to handle this." "I want to do this, it''s not just because of you," she said with a seductive smile, walking towards him. "However, if you decide to get back with me, I might change my mind indeed." Gill frowned as he caught her hand which was about to touch his face. She shook her head and took her hand back. Could she blame him? Of course not. At that time, she broke up with him in a hurry after her infidelity. He tried to talk to her, to figure out what happened, but Juni couldn''t face him at all. She did something stupid then¡ªwhen she saw he was calling, and she happened to have been at a party, she seduced a man. She let him hear their flirtations, just so he could give up on her completely. When he hung up, she also left the man alone, just locking her up in her room to cry. But after experiencing so much life and death in the two subsequent disasters, she didn''t want to have any more regrets. She just wanted to be with him again. But that too, was too late now. But she still wanted him to know everything. She didn''t know what would happen in this mission. At the very least, she wanted her story to be known¡ªat least by Gill. "That night we broke up, there was a company party." "What is this about?" he asked, impatient, though Juni just went on and told her story. "It was led by a man named Cain. It started pretty standard, a little flirting that I had to endure, but nothing serious," she told him. Gill''s eyebrows began to furrow as he looked at her, though not interrupting her anymore. "But I started feeling groggy, and I soon lost consciousness. The next thing I knew, I was doused in aphrodisiac and chained to bed." Gill turned pale as Juni looked at him. "I broke up with you because I was molested, chained, and taken advantage of by several men." "What?" Gill exclaimed, eyes straightening as he looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. He looked at her to see if she was joking, and when he figured out she wasn''t¡ªhis eyes turned red in anger. Juni raised her head to look at his red eyes. The wall was of a strong system building so it was undamaged, but she had felt the vibration signifying its strength. She met his eyes directly, looking at the anger¡ªthe anger for her sake. Even if there was no romantic affection in his gaze anymore, at least, as a friend¡ªas a person¡ªhe felt for her. That was enough. "What''re their names? Who were the bastards?" He asked, his voice deep in anger, but he caught himself. "Why¡­ didn''t you tell me?" "Shame," she told him. "I was too ashamed." Gill''s lips pursed, understanding her movements a bit. Silence passed by them for a while until Juni gained enough composure to speak. Juni pushed down her tears and looked at him, stance still filled with poise. "I don''t know where they are, but I''ll deal with them myself." She looked at him, pleading. "I really want to do this. It makes me feel more powerful, more significant. I feel that if I can make those bastards¡ª who had done the same with countless other women¡ªsuffer, I can move on. "Let me do this," she told him, her words gaining some sternness. "I can do this." Chapter 489 Juni (Part 2) Half an hour later. "You don''t have to do this," Gill said with crossed arms, looking at her with a complicated expression, asking for the nth time. Juni looked at him warmly, "Are you caring about me now?" Gill sighed and didn''t bother with her and turned to discuss the plan with the others. She had just gotten approval from the village center and was now being oriented in the barracks. On paper, she was bitterly running away from being dumped. Which she was, in a sense. But more than anything, doing something heroic was definitely a great way to distract yourself from heartbreak. She looked softly at the man who was now giving her some advice for her safety. "Always have these weapons in your space," he said, giving her some handy weapons. Then he showed her Troy''s hidden arrow weapon. "Keep this with you at all times." Her eyes were full of him as he taught her how to use the small weapon. She nodded and listened well, knowing how annoyed he would get if she didn''t. "What if he got so close? What if he notices?" She said with a calm smile, but everyone knew what it implied. Gill''s eyebrows furrowed and looked at her. He pursed his lips. "You don''t need to go¡­ beyond necessary to get information." She looked at him, "Like using my body?" "Juni¡ª" "I know what people think I''ll be doing," she said, "But I can get plenty of information without having to resort to that." Her serious face morphed into a teasing smile. "Don''t you remember? When we were teenagers¡ª" "Here are a few aether letters you can use to contact us." Gill cut her off, clearing his throat, and handed her a huge parchment. "There should be someone nearby to help you out." sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A limitation of the aether letter was the distance limit, but they had planned on staking out a few days before they attacked, so the distance shouldn''t be a problem. Juni''s lips twitched upwards. To think Gill would soon camp out, waiting for her message as if his life depended on it¡­ Thinking of it this way, it sounded quite romantic¡­ "Drake, who Fargo doesn''t know, would be with you along with a couple of others. They wouldn''t enter at the same time as you, but you will figure out a way to contact each other covertly. Since they were new, Fargo wouldn''t be expecting much loyalty from them. However, in the event that they get close to him somehow, they''d need to appear loyal. For this, Oslo lent them a loyalty faker. However, after everything was ready, a certain acerbic man couldn''t help but sigh, "Are you sure you''re going?" Gill asked again, "It''ll be troublesome to get you out of there." This just made Juni smile, knowing he was being harsh on purpose. Regardless of whether he still had romantic feelings for her, he still cared for her very much. "I still remember the self-defense moves you taught me. I practiced them a lot in some roles." She said. Sadly, she wasn''t able to defend herself when she should. She mused she should''ve learned poison-testing from Gill, but when she entered the industry, their already sparse time together was reduced even more. How could they spare the time for such lessons? Gill was unaware of her many thoughts, turned to look at Drake. "When you''re there, find a way to covertly contact the general and the others. Drake nodded, taking note. "The plan is for you guys to be able to safely cause chaos when the war started. You need to prepare a hiding spot, so that Fargo and his men won''t be able to hunt you down when they find out what is happening. Mathilda nodded. "Hopefully, we could end it with the Lord token in our hands and with minimal bloodshed." The meeting finally shifted to the next points of action, some codes in writing¡ªthey knew a lot of situations would be too urgent to write full messages¡ªset several reminders, as well as give some knowledge of Fargo that they already knew of. For one, there was a lot of strong aborigines in there. Second, they had a lot of guns. And third, they could choose to kill a random citizen for a message and were very much willing to pull them as shields. Drake and Juni listened well, with the latter showing unexpected focus for someone they just saw as a star who pined for Gill. They solidified a couple more plans before adjourning. Gill couldn''t help but hold of Juni''s arm as she passed by him, asking her one more time: "Are you sure about this? "It''ll be very dangerous for someone like you¡ª" At this, Althea rolled her eyes, finally couldn''t handle it. "She''s the peak of level 8," she said. "Don''t underestimate her." The woman was way above average, even in their village. While the higher leveled people naturally knew, the lower leveled ones were quite surprised. After all, very few people had reached that level¡ªmostly just guards. Althea had heard of Juni from her gossipy teammates. The woman chose the wee hours to practice, and she practiced hard¡ªharder than any other civilian. She also paid a hefty amount for the carrying service. It was no surprise she got to her current level so much faster than most people. Althea looked at Juni in interest, before staring at her data in the Lord Panel. Her emerald eyes zoned on the other woman''s element. Now that she had thousands of citizens, more and more unusual elements had appeared. There were more metal Elementalists, and there were also the rare ice types like her husband''s and a few electricity wielders. Other than these there were odd elements like a mutated earth element¡ªsand¡ªand a mutated wind elementalist, Oxygen. The one who got the latter was interestingly also an acquaintance¡ªthe dark-skinned man named Hugo. And then¡­ there was Juni. Her element? Mutated Water Element: Acid Chapter 490 Departure of the Spies (Part 1) A/N: For those who read chapters 488-490 yesterday, they got messed up lol. I guess the solar eclipse made a mess in the WN Servers too KEK. There was a bug and it uploaded chapters in advance lol and it also messed the arrangement up in the process. Speaking of which, my vacation got ruined cuz I had to upload more chaps. REWARD THIS POOR AUTHOR WITH VOTES PLS. ¡­ _______________ Georgan City, Ten Years Ago "No, don''t¡ª" "Oh hush love, trust me," Juni said, placing a dainty finger on her boyfriend''s lips. "I can do this." At this time, a certain couple was staring at each other at their table in a high-end restaurant, whispering. It was their anniversary, and the man had reserved a table weeks prior. From other people''s perspective, they were just being sweet, but if they looked closer, they''d see that the man''s eyebrows were furrowed, uncomfortable, at whatever the woman was telling him. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After a while, the woman stood up, and the man could only watch in worry as she approached the target. Gill''s hands formed a fist under the table, before settling very close to the gun he always had in his waist. He was prepared to shoot if needed, consequence be damned. It wasn''t supposed to be like this. They were having a date¡ªincreasingly rare now that he had begun to get deployed in far away places¡ªbut he coincidentally saw someone from a wanted notice not long ago. This wanted notice wasn''t public because the authorities worried he would flee too far to be found. But here they were, eating at the same restaurant. Was he lucky or unlucky? Now his girlfriend was even approaching the criminal and he couldn''t stop her unless they made a scene! He had told her about the dangerous man in their midst. He was trying to warn her and tell her to be careful. She lightly gasped when he told her, and for a moment he thought she was scared. "You gave me a tracking device before," she had said. "We can use this." She had always loved spy movies since they were kids. Years later, after entering the industry, she would also make a ton of them. So when Gill found he could procure a few gadgets in his position¡ªthough they were mostly outdated models they could take home¡ªhe gifted her a few. To think she always brought them with her, and it still helped him out¡­ When she came back to him a few minutes later, her beautiful face was adorned with a smug smile. She then handed him the tracker and smirked. "You''re welcome." ______ Altera Village, Present The group was set to leave by dawn the next day. The spies had already been killed at this time, and they had gathered as much information from them as they could. Gill made sure that she had everything she needed on her trip. He filled her space with medicines, gauze, and other first-aid kits. He also asked sister-in-law for some paralysis bombs. He might not love her that way anymore, but¡ªas someone he had been close to his entire life¡ªshe was an integral part of who he was. He wouldn''t want her in danger in any way. Cassandra was seething somewhere, but she didn''t stop him. First, the women of Xeno were raised to accept whatever their husbands wanted, so she actually had a more accepting attitude toward this. She idolized Olga and her mother and their independence and pride, but men''s promiscuity was an indisputable fact in her world and it was a concept that had been open to her since childhood. When she had walked out on him before because of jealousy¡ªback when Juni confessed to him on stage¡ªit was a very brave move for her and something she didn''t know was in her. But she was just so angry at the time that she forgot the decorum she had been raised with. Altera must''ve already affected her deeply since then. Anyway, although she felt a bit insecure, she at least knew where Gill''s heart was at the moment, and that was more than enough. Along with Juni on this trip was Drake, who was still blushing, and was assigned to lead the team working within the Fargo territory walls. His ginger suitor Jona also came with them. Yen (his other suitor) also wanted to come, but the research her team was assigned to was at its peak at the moment. Finally, there was also the young Amos. Drake was chosen because he was strong among the guards who could participate in the war, especially after awakening his element: electricity, a very aggressive element. Speaking of which¡ªYen, who was working on the electrical works department in the research center¡ªwould never miss a day in reminding him how fit they were to be together. Anyway, Drake was really reluctant to part with Altera but who told him to be a loyal guard. Also, he wanted to see how much his element could be used in battle with humans. Contrary to what people thought, electricity wasn''t actually that powerful. Xeno Monsters had thick skin and a lot of them had insulating properties¡ªprobably to adapt to the extreme weather here¡ªand therefore his ability had limited effects because he was still weak. Similarly, other elements had to be used well in order to cause a lot of damage. Specifically, the still had to find weak spots every time. Against humans though, this was very different. He couldn''t test it out to Alterans, but he definitely didn''t have much to worry about to enemies who wanted to attack their home. Amos, on the other hand, wanted to be away from his bloodsucking family, even for just a bit. Also, he had always wanted to be a soldier. He took this ''mission'' with open arms. And as for how the woman-shy Drake would handle a bombshell like Juni¡ªand Jona at the same time¡ªthat was his problem. Perhaps it was why his suitor insisted on going with them and even the other one, Yen, agreed to it. "It''s guarding him together," Luis commented on the side and he cackled with Mao and the others. This earned them a look from Drake, but knowing his weakness, they found no intimidating power in it at all. However, they all tingled a bit. The level difference was high so it didn''t really hurt as much¡ªit was just like a little static electricity passed through them. However, it did make their hair stand out. Luis, Turbo, and a few other victims looked at Drake, who had long turned away and pretended nothing happened. Darn it! No fair! Chapter 491 Departure of the Spies (Part 2) Before leaving, the spies stood in front of Althea, who was watching in silence at the side with her husband as well as the other elders. It was very low-key, of course, in case they were being watched. They were outside the territory early in the morning, saying their goodbyes and making sure everything was as ready with them as it could be. The four people were honored by the send-off by the elders. At the same time, they also felt pressured to do their jobs perfectly. Other than the elders, the four were also sent off by friends and family. In Amos'' case, it was his guard friends Jesse and Angelo, with no sign of his mother and brother. Of course, he didn''t tell them what the mission was, but he did tell them that he was going to go somewhere on behalf of the territory. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They frowned when he said this, but¡ªunsurprisingly¡ªthere were words of concern, no ''be careful'' or no ''eat well while you''re away'' like everyone else probably received. Instead, they just asked him for a lot of money because he was going to be leaving for a long time. With a clenched jaw, he did give them a lot of silver¡ªmuch of what he had¡ªbecause he was truly unsure when he''d return anyway. Jesse and Angelo saw that no one else had seen him off and just gave him a one-arm hug each. "Well, friend, be sure to come back in one piece eh?" Jesse said with a smile, and Angelo nodded. "Preferably alive." The three young men laughed and Amos'' heart immediately lightened. Obviously¡ªalthough it was not his blood relatives¡ªthere were people who would still be welcoming him back with a sincere heart! And that was good enough for him. ¡­ For Drake and Jona''s, interestingly, it was Yen who saw them off. She expressed her want to just come and she even came with a pretty good excuse, targeted to Althea. "Boss, limestone deposit means there''s a sedimentary rock formation with loads of calcium carbonate. This meanssss that there could be some important metals nearby." Althea paused in thought, looking at the woman with eyes wide as she begged. It made sense, although limestone itself couldn''t produce metal, the geological formation that formed it could. For example, there could be either lead and zinc, copper,or¡ªin some rare cases¡ªiron nearby this place. Regardless of which ones, they would all prove useful to them. She looked at Yen, who brightened under her stare, obviously thinking she would change her mind. How funny a woman older than she was was acting like a baby. "No, the people there are strong. You''re too important to the territory." The compliment naturally made the woman shy, "Aww shucks." Althea looked at her. "Besides, can''t we use copper as the currency?" This was what a team had been studying for a while now, and¡ªwhile there was no way they could produce electricity now¡ªthis was where Yen was assigned. Althea thought she had too much copper. While this was the main currency in circulation, she felt she had an excess. Maybe they could use it for something else? "We have been trying, indeed, but it has mixtures of various metals, some of which have properties we don''t know about yet. "We still couldn''t segregate them, or it could also be our temperature isn''t hot enough." Althea nodded, "So you have a lot to study in the territory, then." "..." "..." "..." A lot of push and pull happened before Yen finally gave up, tearfully saying goodbye to her love and her rival. Seeing as everyone had finally finished their farewells, Althea said the final goodbyes. She then gifted them exclusive medicines that were not available anywhere else. These were all pharmacist-made and were invaluable in the market. She also handed each of them emergency paralysis bombs. . They teared up a bit but only said their heartfelt thanks. Seeing the bombs, Micheal was immediately drowned with guilt. He walked over to the soldiers and mentioned something that passed by his head. "Fargo knows about the bombs, or at least the fact that Altera made one," he said, "It was the only way I could think of so that they didn''t just kill me or the people around me before they could take an oath. I apologize." "It''s fine. They''ll find out on their own." Ansel sighed, "They''re probably sending more right, especially when the spies couldn''t get back." "I wonder if Fufi could still smell them¡­" Turbo asked as he was still combing his hair from Drake''s abuse. Luis was much more ''confident'' with his hairdo and didn''t even bother. "Possible, but they might also have washed up already." "Gochi was really helpful." "Let''s assign him to the anti-espionage department." "We have that?" "Now we do." "..." Jokes aside, it made sense. Gochi was strong and agile, and he had a very sharp intuition and special senses¡ªone simply not present to anywhere else. While the discussion about spies was happening behind her, Althea took out the final bottles she''d be asking them to bring. "Here," she said, handing each one a bottle with a spray nozzle. "One of the new developments in the Research Center." "What does it do, Miss Althea?" Jona curiously asked, raising it a bit to eye level. "It''s Beast Repelling Potion." "What?!" Drake immediately caught the bottle Jona let go off due to the shock. This time, everyone stopped whatever they had been discussing and turned to her. Althea flinched under their stares. "Oslo gave us a copy and we only analyzed it and did something similar," she said, as if it explained everything. Oslo, who was right there with them, was very impressed. How many days has it been since he gave those samples to her? In fact, some of the materials weren''t the same due to their availability, but the research teams found some passable alternatives. A component of the potion was actually from the grass found near the bog. They enhanced whatever quality it had that served as citronella for monsters. Interestingly, it wasn''t limited to the smell of metal at all. There was a component¡ªsomething they temporarily called the Citronella scent¡ªthat they enhanced to create an all-out potion. "Theoretically, it only works for level 10 monsters and below, and it only has about five to six hours of effectiveness," she told them. "It also won''t work on monsters already used to the smell of metal." They nodded, mentally noting it down. Even those not going on the mission did the same. However, even with the caveats, everyone was in awe of what it represented. "This is amazing!" Althea smiled, "Well, thank you. The Research Center is out to make improvements for sure." She then turned to Juni and the others with a smile. "I hope everyone returns to witness them together with us." "Be careful and avoid unnecessary sacrifices. Under most circumstances, I hope you still prioritize your safety," she said this solemnly and sincerely, and the targets of her reminders nodded, looking at her with sparkling eyes. "I wish you well and a safe return." Chapter 492 Slavery (Part 1) A/N: Would like to take this chance to send my love to the Alterans who sent votes, golden tickets (some even sent large bulks, huhuhu thank you), and gifts! The story has been in a decline the past few months, and your support gives me sooo much encouragement. Love you, Alterans! .... ____ The couple went home very late that night, and they decided to have a proper rest with the children that night. The two babies slept peacefully (and adorably) on their father''s chest, and Althea''s head rested on his broad shoulder. Garan felt extremely warm, surrounded by his family like this. The depression of the possible deaths and the upcoming war dissipated a bit. The Elders scheduled the war to happen within 7 days. This was because there would be the element of surprise but, knowing Fargo and the others, a lot of people would be dying in between. The longer they took, the more civilians would suffer. At the same time, they couldn''t risk their people''s lives by rushing, so they gave themselves some time to prepare everyone. As they lay there, the couple''s minds went to various places. Garan thought and analyzed their strategies, thinking of loopholes, while Althea thought about the various rules of war. "How does slavery here work, anyway? I mean, with the added variable of the system." Althea asked, and this made Garan pause. They indeed needed to be clear on this, as they could have some bearing during the war. Garan thought of what he had gathered during this time. The first thing to mind when it was his wife asking was: "I heard that slaves'' wealth would automatically go to the lord''s pocket." Althea''s eyes twitched. So other than half of the lord''s and the territory''s money, they would also get the entire wallet of half the population. No wonder people still waged war despite all the rules. She couldn''t help but think of a situation where they visit a stronger territory and a war began. Wouldn''t they risk becoming slaves if they were unable to get out? She should get more of those exemption tokens from Oslo in case they had to go adventuring someday. Or even better¡ªfigure out how to make them! "Official Slaves are also system-bound to follow whatever their masters wishes, though in case of territory slaves, any citizen could order them around," he said, gently patting her curvaceous waist as she laid on him. "If they were asked to jump, they would be compelled to do so." This only applied to territory slaves though. System slaves could only be ''created'' during wars. The other slaves, like most of the goblins caught in Guia back then, weren''t and so they had to be monitored and ordered around closely. This made Althea flinch and looked at him. "Hadn''t there been cases of slaves fighting back?" S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "There are," he said, "But none have succeeded. Slaves could not hurt people¡ªor citizens, to be more accurate¡ªwithin the territory, not unless ordered by the lord." "If they found a loophole from the orders, they could fight to orders for a while, but I heard the punishment was draining a person''s lifespan." They had asked this of both Gaudi and Gochi before they got freed, though in Gochi''s case, it seemed like it never really occurred to him to try. After all, he grew up in such an environment and it was a difficult thing to break away from. "So pitiful¡­" she mumbled and he sighed, embracing her closer to him. It so happened that the movement made the babies turn in their sleep and they entered deeper into their shared embrace. "Don''t worry," he said, hugging her and their babies tighter. "There will be no such thing in Altera." ¡­ Fargo Deep into the night, an oppressive sight revealed itself. Hundreds of slaves worked to create a crater into the mountains, dig, hit, and dig again, without stopping, no matter how exhausted they were. The cool night winds hit their wounded skins, making them shiver, but they couldn''t even pause to warm themselves no matter how much they wanted to. The slaves continued to work with their makeshift weapons, whether it was axe or swords, as there weren''t enough experts to create a sufficient amount of digging tools like pickaxe and shovels. It didn''t help that they were outside the territory¡ªthat was to say, there could be monsters or poisonous insects abound. In one day, there had been a dozen people who had been made sick by insects and even more bitten by monsters. In both cases, if a slave was injured enough to be unable to work, then they''d be disregarded. By disregarded, it meant that they would be asked to block the way of monsters¡ªto sacrifice themselves for the others, so to speak. Hence, at this time, the number of people bleeding profusely while working was not small, but they had no choice but to continue lest they encountered a worse fate instead. Anyway, the air of the mines was thick with the acrid scent of sweat, dried blood, and the muted sounds of labor. Of course, overwhelming all these sounds were the yells of the so-called slave drivers. "Limestone is awesome, but it wasn''t important enough for us to spend so much manpower on. These slaves¡­ are really useful!" A man said. His arms were crossed and he watched his fellow Terrans¡ªwithout a hint of guilt¡ªslave away despite their tiredness and injuries. "Move it!" one yelled, kicking a slave whose legs had buckled. He dropped his axe and left a bit of work undone. The slave had no choice but to stand up, legs shaky, and he could only push his body to the limit. After a few swings, the emancipated man fell down again. "Stand up! Work!" A guard yelled, and the man had no choice but to do as asked, no matter how many times he fell down. This was all to the amusement of the guards watching. "HAHAHHAHA!" "Wow, this slavery thing is really amazing." "It was like using those electric necklaces, but much more effective." "Heh, I remember you having quite a bit of fun from those," another one said, teasingly. "Ah~ good times! But this place isn''t bad either," they said. They missed the modernity for sure¡ªthey missed the good food, their TVs, and porn, in particular¡ªbut this place was freer. Here, they were truly top of the food chain! They didn''t even need to worry about the police or the soldiers. Here, as long as one had strength, their will was the boss! While the guards were having fun, the slaves could only force their bodies to move and do their jobs. Occasionally, when the ''bosses'' would get bored, they would even make a few slaves do odd things like dance or lick their shoes while smiling. It was as if they were testing the limits of their orders, and so far none of it had failed. The slaves were dying inside as their bodies were giving way on the outside. They couldn''t even kill themselves unless the ''master'' would give permission. It was humiliating! They would really just rather die! Someone¡­ please help them! Chapter 493 Slavery (Part 2) TRIGGER WARNING! Rape, but it will be the LAST ONE from what I gathered. I''m sorry for detailing them so often. I felt it was necessary, but I promise that now that the tone is set, there shouldn''t be any more. The scene is located in the beginning or so. Try not to skip the other parts though, they''re important~ ¡­ ____ The guards continued their shift, playing with one or two slaves at a time. At some point a few people buckled, their bodies pushed beyond the limit. The guards sneered and one of them stood up, kicking the man. "You better stand up now or we''ll throw you to monsters as bait!" He yelled, and the man could only groan under his hits, unable to move an inch. "Please stop it!" The voice of a woman sounded behind them. It was a pretty young woman with short hair. She was holding a small box. She obviously wanted to run to the man, but then she saw the intimidating figures of the guards between them, and her feet paused. The man on the ground flinched. He couldn''t move, but he heard the familiar voice and his already-dying heart fell even more. "No, honey, get back!!" The woman''s eyes lined with tears, but she gathered herself quickly. She looked at the men with poise, trying to hide the fact that she was shivering. "I¡­ I''ve come to bring my husband food, as we agreed upon. "Please, don''t torture him anymore!" The men looked at the woman with smiles on their faces. "How brave. You wanna be a slave too?" One man said, and the other one laughed out loud. "We''re already kind enough to let you feed him!" Of course, this was also at the cost of paying the guards a ton of money for every meal she sneaked in. The woman sniffled and she looked heartbroken as she saw her husband struggling to move his body, no doubt to warn her away. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Knowing she wasn''t doing anything to help, she just stepped forward and handed over the food like what she had done the past few meals as soon as she found her husband. Although he came to her territory as a slave, at least he was alive, and that was what mattered. But she saw how he couldn''t move anymore and pursed her lips, gathering courage. She looked at the men as she manifested a couple of silver in her hands. "Let me feed him, please." The men grinned and took the money, nodding their heads and she immediately ran to her husband, trying to hold back tears. "Go. Please go¡­" he mumbled, voice cracking. "No, let me feed you," she said, "You''d need energy to keep working," she said. For now, it was the only way he could retain his life! The man watched her patiently as she fed her husband, patting his head gently and then wiping away her tears. "I''ll be back tomorrow," She said and her husband sobbed as he looked at her. "Please, just go," he said, and she stood up, leaving the place with a broken heart. Unexpectedly, her arm was grabbed just as she passed the group of guards. "Eh, nevermind," the leader¡ªa man named Peko¡ªsaid, licking his lips. "I already showed enough favoritism to my favorite news anchor! Loved that segment you showed with the spaceship that had never been used!" In fact, the woman had been brave enough to repeatedly ask for favors because of this. However, she still overestimated herself in the end. Peko looked at her, his eyes greedily tracing her body. "Now I wanna taste ya~" "What¡ªNo!!" She yelled and the next thing she knew she was on the ground, surrounded and being groped by various men. "KYAA!" "Honey!!" The man yelled, trying to crawl to them. It looked extremely pitiful and the guards who saw only laughed at him. The other slaves around flinched and shut their eyes, doing their jobs and pretending nothing was happening. There was one man though, who was bleeding from gritting his teeth. The man was Bruce. At this time, he was covered with dried blood, but silently enduring. With gritted teeth, he swung the axe¡ªmodified by himself to serve more like a pickaxe¡ªtrying to ignore the cries around him. Trying to stand up to others could only get them killed¡ªas were many of the now-corpses nearby. He couldn''t die. He still needed to get back to his daughter! Pak! Pak! Pak! "STOP IT! WUUU¡­" The desperate yells echoed across the cave. "HELP ME! HONEY! THOMAS! HELP!!" The man sobbed as he crawled towards where his wife was being violated. "STOP IT! YOU BASTARDS!" The men laughed and continued doing what they had been doing, only with more gusto. They had already destroyed much of her clothing at this point. "Vivian! Vivian!!" The man yelled, repeatedly and to the top of his lungs. It was the only thing he could do with his body refusing to move at all. His yelling annoyed the guards and he immediately received a strong kick¡ªone that pushed him a meter away. "So noisy!" Vivian¡ªnow naked¡ªsaw what was being done to her husband. She temporarily forgot her own pain, begging desperately. "NO DON''T KILL HIM! Wuuu¡ª" The men didn''t actually plan on killing him. They were instructed not to kill slaves at will¡ªafter all, they needed the labor. At least, they had to make them useful as cannon fodder, never kill them uselessly. "Then be quiet!" Vivian pursed her lips and could only shut her eyes as a man positioned himself above her. A guard licked his lips, before glaring at a couple of slaves that had been distracted. "Hey! Aren''t you going back to work?!" The slaves who stopped working in the chaos were yelled at. The slave driver looked at Bruce, who was holding his axe tightly. "Why? You wanna hit me? HUH?" He pointed his finger on his forehead, pushing. "Huh?" Bruce''s fist clenched, trying not to do anything. Of course, as a slave, he wouldn''t be able to, but he sure wanted to try. "Your face is annoying. Go back to work!" Peko yelled. He then kicked the husband to the wall, making him lose consciousness. Peko spat on him, though not before kicking one more time. "Tsk. Too noisy. We should cut your tongue." This comment sent shivers down every slave''s spine and they resumed working, ignoring the yells of the poor woman behind them. On the contrary, they worked even harder¡ªas if in attempts to drown the woman''s cries with the noise of their jobs. As such, amidst Vivian''s cries and sobs, the sound of working mixed in. In the ears of the slave driver, it was the sound of efficiency. Pak! Pak! "Wuuu¡­ wuuu¡­" After what felt like forever, the men finally felt satisfied, releasing with heavy grunts. The woman slowly rose up with a tear-stricken face. She looked in the direction of her husband but immediately looked away, ashamed. She ran away then, unsure if she would ever be able to face her husband again. This didn''t matter at all to the satisfied men who turned back to their slaves, some of whom stopped working again. They could give orders to continue working indefinitely, but apparently, that had the unfortunate limit of the person''s physical strength. So, occasionally, they had to reiterate orders like how you''d tap machines that stopped working properly. "HEY! GET BACK TO WORK!" The mining resumed in ''peace'' where the slave drivers were happily watching them suffer again, all while producing the rocks for them. However, some time later, one miner hit a very hard surface. Ting! The man paused, eyebrows furrowed. With shaky arms, he tried to hit the area again, although at a slightly different spot. Ting! He was confused and it wasn''t helping that he was dead-tired and hungry. "Hey! What are you doing?" Peko yelled when they realized the person hadn''t moved for a while. The man looked at them with a confused face. "It''s too hard," he said, raising his axe and hitting the spot again. Ting! "I¡ª I can''t!" "Bump your head through it, I wanna see how hard it is." One laughed and the others followed. "HAHHAHHAH! You''re so funny!" "Seriously though," Peko said, looking at the pale slave. "Do it." They made him bump himself, over and over, until he was bloodied and his body could no longer take it. His knee buckled and fell down, bleeding on his head. "Tsk, weakling." One of them looked closer at the bloodied wall. "Hey, boss, I think there''s something underneath." Peko''s eyebrows rose as he looked closer. There, they saw streaks of vibrant green and reddish-brown. Someone nearby gasped and he looked at him. It was a relatively old man who had been handling a nearby area. Peko narrowed his eyes. "You!" he said, "Stop that and come here." The old man shivered and looked at the piece of rock again. Seeing recognition in his eyes, Peko immediately shook him. "Say! What is it?" The man shivered. "Reddish brown with green hues¡­ a metallic sheen¡­ it hints at the presence of copper minerals." This made the men flinch. Copper?! Peko immediately looked at the nearby slaves, making them move to this spot. "GO! DIG MORE!" He yelled and the slaves obediently lined up to do as told. Ting! Ting! Ting! It was naturally much harder to get an ore and the slaves worked extremely densely for a while before a piece was extracted. He then showed it to the old man, who was temporarily exempted from digging since they needed his knowledge. They showed him the ore and the men watched him closely. The man did his best to concentrate and, after a while of torturous study, he confirmed that it was, indeed, copper. At this, the men brightened in celebration. "COPPER!" "SHITT! "WE HAVE COPPER!" Although they were not highly educated, they still knew the value of these resources. How lucky! Chapter 494 Before Entering Fargo A little over a day later, Drake, Jona, Amos, and Juni arrived at the outskirts of Fargo. It was already late into the day, but their travel was more or less safe thanks to the Beast Repelling Potion that really worked wonders. Of course, they didn''t abuse it, in case they needed to use it for other emergencies. When they felt too tired but needed to go on, only then would they reapply it. Most of the time, when it lost effect they just let it be. Rather, they would use the few mobs that managed to come as training blocks to help the women level up. By the time they got close enough to the vicinity, Juni had upgraded to level 9, while Jona had landed on level 8. Fortunately, the monsters around were never more than level 10, mostly level 7 or 8, and the new Elementalists Drake and the strong peak-level 9 Amos were able to handle them well enough. Drake had also been practicing his element¡ªthe rare electric element¡ªalong with his shield. He had an iron shield made by their armory, and he naturally used its metallic composition to increase the damage of his element. As before, he still needed to find weaknesses, especially if the monster had great insulation skin, but when he did breach this weakness, then the damage was really significant. It was akin to burning a monster inside. Speaking of his electric ability, many people thought it was very cool and tried to charge their precious devices with his help. Someone was brave and decided to sacrifice his phone as guinea pig. Sadly, Drake lacked control and ended up burning the phone, and that poor person lost the contents of his phone (spoiler: It was Luis). Since then, no one dared to beg for him to charge their phones again. Next to him, Amos also showed his spear-wielding skills. He had only been here for a couple of months and had no formal training before, but his movements were very natural¡ªalmost as if he had been training for years. It could be seen how he had a level-A potential. Since as far as Altera was a level 1 Village, he and Reno had pretty much taken this kid under their wings, and his improvement was indeed very good. Although he was young, Drake really felt reassured by him. Amos felt this a bit and his attacks became more and more passionate, and at some point the girls were clapping their hands. He was very shy though and almost hid behind Drake, who was not much better than he was in dealing with the women. Anyway, after another day of travel, the group stopped at a distance away from Fargo. They would be separating ways here into pairs. Using Drake''s Terran binoculars, they took a closer look at the territory they would be attacking soon. "Wow¡­ they''re really in a valley¡­" Jona said after borrowing it. Juni nodded, looking at the good location. "How nice¡­" "Altera is still so much nicer though," Amos added and everyone else agreed. "If the Altera¡­ system¡­ got this place, it would have been a fairyland by now," Amos mumbled. Nobody still knew if there was a lord or if it was really a system, but whatever the ''being'' was, they only had admiration for it. Drake frowned and looked at them, "You can''t be mentioning Altera here anymore, especially not in such a tone." "A-Ah! Yes." Amos said, lightly slapping his own mouth in embarrassment. It was hard to stop; he really liked Altera so much. Anyway, they didn''t arrange themselves or even take a bath during this time so their refugee status was believable enough. "Let''s separate now," Drake said. At least if one of them was suspected, the other pair could still do their jobs. They had also been given rough instructions on what to do if one of them was caught so that the more critical tasks would still move despite it. "Amos and Juni would be entering first," he said, looking at the two. Amos blushed in shyness. He was really not great at social interactions¡ªnot surprising due to his upbringing¡ªand he really couldn''t handle someone with such a strong sense of presence. Juni looked at the kid. Very cute. "So¡­ what''s our story?" She asked. The kid had been protecting the two of them women, but he had stuck with Drake every other time. Drake wasn''t very good with beautiful women so, except for those times when she and Jona were chattering, one could imagine the awkward silences that pass by the group when there was no monster attacking them. At her question, the boy flushed even more. "I¡­" Juni giggled, deciding to stop teasing the kid. Anyway, as an actor, she had become a bit of a writer as well. "So.. since we know I was running away after being dumped, I encountered a lot of dangers. I was rescued by a young lad of great talent," she said, "The ex-actress was then charmed by him and decided to take him on as a younger brother." She then looked at the young lad who had been admiringly watching her concoct a story. "Call me big sister." "B-Big S¡­" he breathed in, "Sister." Jona laughed at the interaction, while Drake shook his head. However, if one looked close enough, one could see the upward tilt of his lips. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Jona slyly looked at Drake, leaning over. "What''s our story?" The man''s eyes twitched and he scooted a little bit away from the clingy woman. "I''ll think about it," he said. They had time because they couldn''t be arriving too soon after Amos and Juni had. After some lightheartedness though, the four people could only look at each other, atmosphere suddenly doused with heaviness. They knew what came after could get dangerous, after all. Drake sighed and looked at each of them. "Be careful, everyone. Like I said, your life is the priority. As long as you don''t intentionally put the lives of other Alterans at risk, we will understand whatever you decide to do to ensure your lives." They nodded and started to move¡ªstarting one the most important missions of their lives. Chapter 495 Fargo Clinic Inside the walls, a certain beautiful woman walked about, gaining the attention of many men. It was Vanessa¡ªstill beautiful, especially compared to other women. The men greeted her with kindness and she smiled back, and such a smile could make quite a few men''s days. Vanessa and the others had a very good reputation here. After all, they did save many lives back during that massive beast tide. Of course, Victor''s and the other''s reputations had been marred by Fargo''s movements, but it had been softened by the Terran Mercenary''s good movements. At this time, Vanessa was heading to a makeshift clinic she had a major hand in. She created this in partnership with various medical professionals she gathered. They pooled funds and rented out one of the better buildings¡ªa custom building¡ªin a good community. The custom building had two floors with a 150 square meter floor area. They designed it to be similar to the open plan of clinics back in Terran. It really wasn''t much, as none of them were able to bring a lot of hard money at all, but it was better than having none. As such, this venture was ignored by Fargo and his men so far, as long as injuries and requirements of the Team¡ªas well as the Rongo Mercenary Team''s¡ªremained the priority. So¡ªno matter how reluctant¡ªthey had to treat a guard''s tiny stomach ache first before handling someone who was bleeding to death. "Miss Vanessa!" the patients greeted her, followed by one of the doctors nearby. This was Dr. Cynthia, one of the doctors though she specialized in Ob-gyn and pediatrics. Behind her was the de facto leader of the doctors, Dr. Volohov, a white-haired old man who had won many awards back in Terran. Interestingly, Fargo had quite a number of doctors by virtue of a medical conference happening somewhere in Eden. However, despite all the doctorates and masters of these people, their use had become limited to injuries and first aid. After all, Xeno was an entirely different land and their bodies had become very different back then. Not to mention, the raw materials were also different, so they had a similar starting point as most people when it came to knowledge of medicinal plants. Even with their identities back in Terran, they now all look at Vanessa, a young 28-year-old woman who only had some medical experience, for advice simply because she was here earlier than they were. She had also interacted with Aborigines and therefore had a lot more local knowledge. Vanessa quite enjoyed the status quo. "Could you send us some homeostatic medicine?" Dr. Cynthia asked politely, telling the number of patients that needed it, as well as the projections she had for future use. Vanessa nodded, noting to send missions for various plants among her ''contracted'' foragers. Of course, the patients had to pay a good amount for the medicines, and a lot of the profit went to Vanessa''s pocket. Rightfully so, she mused, as the clinic was her idea. It was her brother who protected their people, and they depended on her local knowledge as well. Dr. Lu, a fifty-year-old man specializing in orthopedics, walked to her at this time. "Is it possible for us to write a summary of plant life so far for easy reference?" After all, it was too inconvenient to wait for her to arrive each time. There were too many emergencies. Vanessa frowned, but didn''t reject too quickly. "Well if you can find enough paper and pen, I''ll consider," she said, though her tone was extremely noncommittal. The doctors looked at each other and sighed. As inconvenient as this made this to be, Vanessa wasn''t wrong. Although sometimes¡­ they felt Vanessa was dragging her feet in sharing knowledge. But what could they do? She was their closest way to understanding this world. Further, her family and suitors were the only ones strong enough and willing to help them out when they needed to explore the forests outside to study the plants. Their backing also softened the doctors'' fear of being uselessly bullied by the lord and his men. So, for now, they could only follow the woman. The episode passed quickly, and a few more patients entered. After paying the accountant for the basic consultation fees, they were then guided to either a doctor''s consultation room upstairs or to the emergency room on the ground floor. The day went on as usual, with a patient coming in here and there, some from injuries against mobs or poison from the plants or bugs outside, while some were injuries from the lord''s men. The day was much lighter than usual though, because none of the lord''s party came by and acted important. Sometimes they came with the most minor ailments, and oftentimes some would come in an attempt to flirt with Vanessa. She always managed to get out by virtue of her brother''s strength (not that they were afraid, rather it was not worth the trouble) as well as her expert flirting. It was soon broken when a nurse yelled for an emergency, however. "Doctors! We have a couple of patients coming in!" Vanessa saw that there were patients¡ªa lot of whom were bloody¡ªand she headed to her office on the second floor. As the only healer in the village, she naturally enjoyed a great status. She had her own office and she could charge higher than others. As she headed up, she ignored the newcomers, not caring about them at all. Fortunately for them, plenty of the doctors and nurses were there to assist. First to be handled was the bloody group of teenagers, each handled by trauma experts and the like. It took a while and a group of medical experts to stabilize the three teenagers. When they were taken care of and stabilized, only then did the remaining patients ask for assistance. "Excuse me¡­" a man asked, and the nurse turned¡ªimmediately blushing at the sight of his handsome face. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was a better-off couple and they didn''t seem to have a lot of injuries. In fact, it seemed that it was only the woman who had a problem. At this time, she was being carried by the man. She looked very uncomfortable, continuously rubbing her head on the man''s shoulder. "Please! Help us!" The man said, looking a little pale, and the doctors and nurses nearby looked at the woman who indeed seemed to be very week. "Drakey-honey¡­" the woman groaned wrapping her hand tightly around the man''s neck. He paled in turn, but everyone just assumed it was because he felt heartbroken for his woman. He looked awkwardly at the nurse, eyes filled with a desperate plea. "Please¡­ help us." Chapter 496 Patient (Part 1) The nurses looked at the handsome man pale ''with worry'' and their hearts softened, the younger ones even falling a little in love. "O-Oh yes, of course." One of the doctors said, pointing the newcomer to the bed. He gently placed the woman there and she shifted, looking at the man with a teary face. She was so pitiful. Although the man didn''t show it, he probably felt heartbroken too¡­ right? "Drakey-honey¡­" she mumbled. "I''m in so much pain¡­ hold my hand please." The man flinched and he even shivered, though the doctors assumed it must''ve been from too much heartbreak. The man slowly took the woman''s hand and the female doctors couldn''t help but sigh at the ''young love'' blooming even in this hellhole. At the same time, some more patients had been brought in. They seem to have been injured from hunting, so the more minor cases were moved deeper into the clinic. Before the nurse left though, Drake cleared his throat. "Can we have a female healer with her, please? I heard of a name, Vanessa?" Jona immediately opened her eyes as she realized that Drake knew one of the doctors here. The nurse looked awkward, "Miss Vanessa only takes very important patients," she said, "She''s the only Healer in this village, after all." Jona pursed her lips, recalling the good-looking healer they had, the gorgeous Betty. Even Turbo was quite handsome. The pretty Sheila also seemed to be on her way to trigger it, too! Was this a requirement? How pretty would this Vanessa be? Drake didn''t seem to notice Jona''s discomfort at all and just looked at the nurse with a serious face, making her blush. "We can pay a hefty amount," he said and the nurse nodded. "I¡­ I''ll call her," she said though Jona noticed she was blinking a lot more than before. She extended her hand to hold Drake''s hand tightly and the woman awkwardly cleared her throat. "I''ll be going now." Drake''s eyebrows rose as he looked at their intertwined hands. He pulled it out, "No one''s around anymore." Jona pursed her lips and glared at him, before looking away. Drake flinched, a bit unused by the annoyed look. They sat in silence until Vanessa went down. "I''m here," a pretty voice said, and Jona turned to look at the newcomer. She immediately saw Vanessa and her heart dropped. This woman was so beautiful! But then she guardedly looked at Drake who didn''t look at the woman any differently and she heaved a sigh of relief. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But then she paled: This meant that her position was just the same as this one! Jona''s pale face didn''t bother the two who were catching up. "Drake?" Vanessa exclaimed with wide eyes. "It''s you?" Drake nodded. "We are refugees and our territory just fell from a beast tide," he said. "We are now looking for a new home." "Well, it is a good thing you arrived in this territory," Vanessa said with a gentle smile. "At the very least, there''s a lot of us here." At this, Drake appeared surprised. At least considering how stiff he had been. "How''s your father? Your brother?" "They''re fine," she said. "Both of them are healthy and we''re all together." Hearing everyone seemed fine, Drake smiled a little in relief. Drake, despite all his flaws, was really a bit handsome. Vanessa couldn''t help but look at him a bit deeper. This sent many alarm bells in Jona''s mind and she immediately moaned pitifully, catching the two people''s attention. Vanessa stared at the woman on the bed. She was a little pretty, but not the type she thought would ''enlighten'' Drake at all. "Is she really your girlfriend?" Her tone irked Jona and she whipped her head to Vanessa, grabbing Drake''s hand in the process. "Yes, so?" Vanessa''s eyebrows rose and her feminine sense of challenge was raised. What''s more, Drake was handsome and she naturally appreciated him a bit. So, she smiled as she looked at him, taking a chair next to him. It wasn''t overtly flirtatious, but most men would feel a spark. She kept some distance though, because she knew of Drake''s weakness regarding women. Studying them closer, Vanessa found a few things. Drake was obviously awkward getting held by the clingy woman¡ªas if they weren''t really lovers. At the very least, only the woman thought they were. Vanessa''s eyebrows rose at this realization. Drake did seem to have asked for her specifically. Was there more to this visit than she thought? Either way, she felt that this woman was trying to challenge her and she couldn''t help but want to answer. "You need a healer, right?" She said, gentle, using her ability on Drake''s ''girlfriend''. Soon a gentle blue light surrounded her as well as the other woman. Vanessa had been told she looked ethereal when she used her ability, so she was especially confident with her aesthetics. At this time, Vanessa indeed looked especially beautiful when she used her ability and it sent threats to the ''girlfriend''. Jona looked at Drake who was just staring blankly without much emotion and she heaved a sigh of relief. But then she thought: Would Drake even show any differences if he really got touched?! "There, do you feel better?" Vanessa asked, staring at her, and Jona looked back with a bit of guardedness. She also felt a hint of superiority in the other woman''s look and it irked Jona very much. Jona looked at her, recalling the fact that she was the only one here. She looked around and saw everyone was busy with the bleeding newcomers. Not as good as Betty, she whispered, but it was loud enough for Vanessa to hear. Vanessa frowned and looked at her and Drake. Drake gave Jona a reprimanding look (which was unusual, and she found it sexy). Drake sighed and looked at the healer. "Don''t mind her. She''s just a bit irksome due to the pain. Now that we''re here, I would love to reminsence old times with some old friends." he said in what was probably one of the longest sentences he said the past couple of days. "Can we meet your father and brother after this?" Chapter 497 Patient (Part 2) Back to the main activity in the clinic, the trio of bloodied young men were treated quickly by the doctors there. They didn''t have EMTs and there was no stretcher so when they were transferred there, everyone had to make do with several people carrying the young men to minimize the movements. The worst of them all was Tacky, a curly-haired blonde. His body was now filled with bandages and he looked incredibly pitiful. He also had a cast on his arm made of wood and wrapped with some rough bandage they made from the leaves of some plants doused with some ointments Vanessa sent. It was very inconvenient and had limited effectivity, but it was much better than just covering it up with leftover cloth. Next to him were his very injured friends, Juan, who had very short hair but had a tiny tail-hair behind his head. He mostly had bandages from minor wounds and he also needed a stitch on the side of his head. And there was Baka, a pale-skinned brunette with one hand. Fortunately, his other hand remained attached in this ordeal otherwise it''d be a real tragedy. At first, one would think they were injured from a hunting accident. Judging from their faces it seemed that there was more to this story. They happened to be acquaintances of one of the doctors there¡ªDr. Lu¡ªand he knew this because he was quite familiar with their usual personalities. Dr. Lu looked at his neighbors who looked at their poor states in pity. They were a group of friends who had transferred all the way from Terran. He heard they were a group of 10 when this all started, and there were only 3 of them left now. He had known them as lively young men, and they were very friendly to him as well. Occasionally, they would send him excess from the meat they captured, saying it''d just go bad. However, Dr. Lu still knew there was no lack of a market to sell these things. He never embarrassed them by pointing this out, of course, though he silently swore to help them when he could. So when they arrived here, he led their treatment himself. Another reason he remembered them well was because, despite all the suffering, they always found something to laugh about. For instance, when one of them¡ªBaka, was his name¡ªlost an arm, after the initial mourning, they could make jokes about it. Baka himself would joke and do a one-hand stand, saying he was a tree trunk. He would also say that he''d make a bionic arm one day. Now though, there was little to no sign of that optimism. They were already awake at this time. They had no anesthesia and no one would be able to sleep peacefully with those wounds for a long time. Dr. Lu heaved a sigh as he looked at the boys. "What happened to you?" he asked and the boys'' faces turned even darker at the question. "GRRR¡ªThose bastards!!" Tacky cursed outright. If he could move his arm, he had no doubt loudly hit a surface by now. "How could they!" Seeing as Tacky couldn''t answer properly, it was Baka who did it for him. "We say his sister today." "Sister?" The doctor blinked. He didn''t remember any of the trio had family members in the territory. "She was captured as a slave," Juan added, eyes twitching a bit from the pain of the stitches. "They were using her as bait!" What made everything worse was that the men were stronger than the monsters, they didn''t even need bait! "You see Doc, we were on one of our hunting trips, right? Then somewhere along the way, we encountered some of the guards with slaves. "We saw Tacky''s sister there¡ªbeing one of the many used as baits." They would order them to lead monsters in certain areas to kill. Sadly, most couldn''t run faster than the monsters and, more often than not, they would succumb. The three of them didn''t hesitate to attack the jerks, of course. While it seemed to have saved Tacky''s sister from getting eaten somehow, the guards beat them up good and threw the three of them to the mob, leaving them there to die. "Our levels were decent and the mobs were relatively weak so we survived." sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Tacky cursed again, eyes turning red. "I don''t even know how my sister is doing now!" A doctor sighed, "Calm down. Being more injured isn''t going to help your sister. Is it possible to check up on the slaves?" At the very least, they could check on the remaining slaves and see if the sister was there. "We will probably pay a hefty fine¡ªwe¡­ we can''t afford that now¡­" "I can lend you some money," Dr. Lu said and the boys looked at him as if he was a messiah. "I heard we can send food for a price," Tacky said, "Can we¡ª" "Yes." "THANK YOU DOC!" They said, with Tacky going an extreme mile, "I promise I''ll do errands for you for a month¡ªno, a year!" Dr. Lu laughed awkwardly and shook his head. Their conversation though was loud and there were plenty of other nurses as well as a small audience around who overheard. The topic soon shifted to the slaves and everyone had deep frowns on their faces. "But didn''t you hear? Sometimes they play with people as well." "I think I saw my nephew there¡­" Another one whispered. "I saw a neighbor." "Someone¡­ someone even saw them violating the women¡­" Another said, whispering, but everyone''s hearing was sharper now and they heard it. "Sometimes they would force them to do the most humiliating thing¡ª" And so on. Like the three, a lot of them had seen family and friends among the slaves. After all, there were thousands of them who came in. However, while they didn''t seem to famished, they did seem injured and pitiful. They all looked at each other. Normally, they would be ecstatic to finally see these people alive and breathing. But¡­ what was this now? Chapter 498 Meeting the Other Soldiers With Jona tightly holding Drake''s arm for ''support'', they walked towards the General''s abode. "Is this necessary?" He whispered, and Jona pouted cutely in response. "Honey, if you don''t want to carry me¡­" He sighed awkwardly, moving and following Vanessa to their destination. It didn''t help that Vanessa was talking along his other side, except at about half a meter distance, so Drake''s attention was taken away from Jona again. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When Vanessa wasn''t being obsessed with Garan, she was actually quite nice to talk with and a little charming. Drake appreciated that she kept his distance and kept their chatter on-topic. For instance, she would tell him more about the current state of things like what they had been doing so far (like clearing up the mobs that attacked). She also gave a rough estimate of the current forces owned by the lord. They talked the whole time until they reached their target neighborhood, barely noticing the ''ill'' woman attaching herself to Drake''s arm. Jona bit her lips, but continued to hold on tightly to him. They reached the house after a grueling walk, reaching the ''base'' of Edenian soldiers in Fargo. Drake looked at the custom house that was so unlike Altera''s and entered. At the time there were only two people there and they flinched when they saw Vanessa coming in with guests. She smiled at them, asking to get her father and brother as soon as they could. "An old friend came to see them," she said and the curious soldiers went on their way. About ten minutes later, the door opened again revealing several dashing men. "Drake!" Victor said, smiling. When the soldier found them, he had just gotten back with Santos and Leon, dealing with a small mob outside. Early that morning, the guards had the audacity to barge into their home, ordering them to deal with the mob. He was already level 9 now, and very close to level 10, but he could''ve actually upgraded days ago. He couldn''t rise as quickly as he wanted though, as they could be targeted by Fargo''s men instead of being partially ignored by him. Soon, his father also arrived, and he came with three unfamiliar soldiers. Like Victor, he was also very near level 10, while the other three newcomers were around the peak of level 8. The family, along with Drake and Jona, were left in the room, with the others leaving to give them some privacy. They settled in the living-slash-meeting room. They did a bit of small talk as they settled with the father and son, who in turn also asked how his life was after being forced to retire back then. "Didn''t you work for a politician?" Drake nodded, "Mrs. Mathilda Cruz," he said, "I transferred here with her, sadly we got separated at some point." "Mathilda Cruz¡­" Victor''s back straightened. "Gill''s mother, right? Well, I can''t say I''m surprised." It was natural Gill found a good job for an old friend, and this skilled old friend would also closely guard his mother. He hoped they were alright, and that¡ªin some fortuitous twist of fate¡ªshe reunited with her son. Drake looked at them. "How about you guys? You seemed to be doing fine," he said. "Barely," Victor said, shrugging. "The lord here¡­ isn''t friendly with us. It''s Fargo¡ªthat terrorist that had been top of the International wanted list for a while. "He''s keeping us to deal with the mobs, but the moment we increase our strength, it''s likely he''d start¡­ pruning." "Father and I could actually upgrade but are holding back," he said. "We''re afraid that we would attract Fargo''s attention again." "You don''t have to hold back in your training anymore," Drake said, and everyone lifted their head to look at him. Drake didn''t immediately speak, however, and he looked at the people in the room. He recalled that Henry had come with unknown soldiers before. "The other soldiers from before, can you trust them?" "They''re from another country and they found our Eden soldiers up north. They found our place recently." "Everyone can be trusted. Everyone swore an oath," Victor said. Drake looked at him, his face soon morphing from a friendly to a more serious expression. "An oath didn''t stop us from losing Gian." The mention of the name roused various emotions across the room. It wasn''t that the core members of the mercenary team didn''t take an oath¡ªit was required during the formation of the team. But he didn''t make an oath with Victor and the others¡ªprimarily as it would alarm Fargo¡ªand that was a loophole that lost Victor a good soldier. "It came as a shock. We asked why, but he never explained," Victor said, before turning to look at Drake. "You didn''t come here for a greeting, right?" They should''ve realized that there was more to Drake''s approach than just a reunion or perhaps refuge. Drake nodded. "Garan sent me." They flinched looking at him, their eyes were bright. They should''ve known! Maybe Mathilda had really met up with her son! Henry clapped his thigh. "It''s finally time!" What a relief, he thought. They were already on the edge¡ªthey were already on the verge of moving on their own during the next war, whenever that might be! And with Gian''s betrayal, their trust in Garan''s words had also fallen a lot. At this, the atmosphere around them changed and they leaned over. Victor leaned over, "What''s the plan?" "It''s better not to be aware, but just continue training. Be ready to cause chaos whenever we need to." The soldiers were a bit disappointed, but they understood the decision. Drake looked at Jona and together they revealed much of the contents of their 1 cubic meter space. They couldn''t fit a lot of big weapons, but the soldiers weren''t many in number. "Don''t show these to the others until we start." They showed crossbows, paralyzing and smoke bombs, and others. There were also plenty of healing potions. The family''s eyes widened and brightened as he explained the functions of the resources. "This¡­" "This is from Garan?" Vanessa blushed at the mention of her obsession''s name, but she paled at Drake''s answer instead. "Sister-in-law Althea''s to be precise." "What?" It was a long story and Drake didn''t tell them much anymore. At this Vanessa looked at him, looking a bit wronged, and most other men would soften their hearts at the sight. Jona blocked her line of sight though and her eyes twitched. Jona, as a sharp woman, naturally saw how this woman''s face changed at the mention of Sir Garan. Tsk. Delusional! "Hmm~ Miss Althea''s living very well with Sir Garan now, and they''re responsible for a lot of these things." A more intense electricity passed by the two women, but this time Jona finally had the upper hand. The three men seemed completely unaware, however, and continued finalizing the plan before adjourning. "Well, I can''t stay for so long," Drake said, wanting to be low-key as possible. He hoped that this visit would only appear as a greeting for people outside. "And don''t use these things before the war." Victor and the others nodded, with the former seeing them out. Just as they exited, however, they were met face to face with none other than Amon Fargo himself. The aura around him was still a bit sinister as he had a gentlemanly facade, and he was smiling at them. "I see we have interesting new faces," he said. "Would you like to introduce us?" Chapter 499 Infiltration The atmosphere immediately stagnated. They knew they were being watched, so they already assumed Fargo knew of their guests. However, the press release was that Drake was an old colleague. While it was something worth checking out¡ªespecially with Drake''s stats¡ªwas Frago so free to check on them himself though? Fortunately, all of them did well under pressure, so there was basically not much change. If there was any stiffness, it was understandable considering the history between the two groups. It was Vanessa who smiled and stepped forward, "This is Drake and his lover, Jona." "Yes, he''s an old friend of ours." "So he''s a soldier?" "He was. He was honorably dismissed due to injuries before though." "Hmm.. how pitiful, but I''m sure it has improved with our physiques," he said, looking at Drake up and down. "You have an interesting ability." Drake looked at him. "I''m sure a few others would awaken the same, milord." "Hmn," He then shifted and looked at the beautiful Vanessa, "You should come visit my villa sometimes. We added a pool." Vanessa flinched a little but showed nothing else. Instead, she put up her standard gentle smile, nodding. "I''ll be honored." ¡­ Fargo and Belize walked along the streets, turning several heads, some of admiration, but mostly of fear and apprehension¡ªtheir favorite emotions. Fargo was actually just making rounds when one of his people alerted him of the new guests who seemed close to the soldiers. He had them monitored, just in case, though he never really saw them as much of a threat. How could he? His guards were no weaker than their strongest men, they were far superior in numbers, and¡ªperhaps the starkest difference¡ªwas that the soldiers were still bounded by their uselessly soft hearts. Even if they were planning something, he saw it as useless struggle and perhaps a good show to watch. He believed that as long as the movements happened inside his territory, then they''d just be bugs waiting for him to crush. He hoped they took a while to cause trouble though, as having them there to kill the mobs was extremely convenient. After a bit of walk, they ended up in the new community¡ªone that used to be a shanty area that was destroyed during that beast tide. Instead of a disgusting hodgepodge for poor people, it was now a beautiful area with nice custom houses and gardens. He had moved here, creating a multi-module villa smack in the middle, surrounded by level 3 fences all around. He also added a deep pool he could cool down, using the spring waters from the nearby mountains. He entered the house and went straight to backyard. Inside the pool were his two current favorites, swimming. Because they didn''t have swimsuits, the two just decided to swim naked instead. "Wow, this is amazing! Like a bathhouse but outside~" The dark-skinned woman said as she relaxed at the shallower end. The blonde chuckled as she swam effortlessly from one end to another, looking at the other one as she floated on the other end. "Don''t you have pools?" "I hear some territories do, but I lived in a vllage so¡­" "Ah." Watching the two women swim around, he turned to Sen, who wasn''t looking (because the last time a guard gaped at his current favorite, Fargo shot his eyes). "No news about our spies?" "No, sir. I''m afraid¡­" Fargo frowned, looking at the panel and saw that they had indeed perished. This meant not enough of Altera''s information was sent to him again. He narrowed his eyes. He didn''t believe any other village could get near his level, but it was getting annoying that his plan wasn''t working out. "Send more people to check on Altera¡ªbring some of the Rolan mercenary team with them." He said, baritone voice resounding across the area. "While they''re there, start attacking those citizens of theirs outside the territory walls." By estimate, they should take a few days to arrive to Bright. They could rest there or even stay there as a base while they gradually weaken the other territory. In most territories, those who went out of the territory were the main forces while the citizens hid away in the territory. This meant that cutting down the explorers bit by bit was to cut down on the actual forces of the enemy, which would definitely make things easier for them during the war. There would still be a few weeks before he could attack, but it didn''t mean he couldn''t start terrorizing the other as early as now! The meeting lasted a few hours, determining who would be going to Bright and Altera. They decided to start with 10 people first, five within the level limit, and another five beyond it. They would be increasing it every week or so until the war, and by that time Altera should''ve already been weakened sufficiently for an easy win. When the meeting adjourned, a few guards immediately entered to report to him. Interestingly, one of them was carrying a woman. "Boss! Boss! Look at who we found! It''s Juni!!" "Oh?" He uttered, "The actress?" "Yes! I wanted you to know in case you wanted to taste her first." "Where did you find her?" "We found her fighting with a small mob. She was with a young man." "Oh? How were they faring?'' "Fairly good. The lad was a good fighter. Lad''s name was Amos, but he''s injured and is currently in the infirmary." "I see," he said, opening his Lord Panel, likely about the newcomer. Seeing her name and stats, his eyebrows rose. "We sure have a lot of special newcomers today." There were hundreds of refugees that came to the territory every day, but for some reason, they got electricity and acid on the same day. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Was it his lucky day, he wondered? That Amos kid was also a wood elementalist, which was also quite rare. "How is she?" "She fainted a while back." "Bring her to me." The men excitedly took her there, letting her rest on the sofa. Several men were already undressing her with their eyes. She slowly opened her eyes, her long lashes fluttering and inevitably hitting the men''s hearts. She flinched at the sight of strangers, immediately looking around. Her eyebrows furrowed, looking a bit panicked. "Where''s my brother?" "You have a brother?" She nodded, "He saved my life. He is my brother." "Ah, we''ll send him to the infirmary, don''t worry." Sen said, "What happened to you?" "I am from a village called Vismont Village. A few days ago, I was training. I wanted to be strong, but my lover left me in the middle. I have been traveling ever since." She spoke of her experience and the men looked at her in pity and lust, while Fargo''s expression was unchanged. Through all this, Fargo spoke out. "My rooms are full, take her to the Rongo Mercenary Team''s abode." "Sir¡ª" Juni''s eyes faltered, though just a little. They were oriented before leaving and she had heard of this Rongo Mercenary Team. It was Belize''s¡ªa relatively powerful aborigine''s¡ªteam. According to Micheal, they had a great monopoly in Fargo and were given free rein to do whatever they wanted. However, in this role, she was not supposed to be in the know. Juni''s hands clenched, but she didn''t show anything on her face. A true actress. This was a test, she could feel it. Her eyes lit a sharp light. She looked up, innocent and trusting. But also worried. After all, anyone with a brain would feel apprehensive seeing strange men around her. "Rongos¡­ aren''t bad people are they?" She said, "Why do they look scared? Please don''t send me there!" Interestingly, while Belize claimed to have been from the city, their levels seem to be powerful only in Towns. His claim to be a confidante to a city lord seemed to not fit well with his level. If she could, they asked her to find out more about him as well. Fargo''s large hand found her face. "Whether the Rongo team is good or bad will depend on which side you are," he told her. "What can you do for me, love, to be on our good side?" Juni''s pretty eyes met his sharp ones, and it took Juni a lot more to keep a straight face. In fact, Amon, was quite handsome in a matured sense. However, Juni knew what he had done and tried not to shiver. Fortunately, her control of her body was exemplary. She frowned and pursed her lips. "Will you¡­ promise to give me a home?" "That''s an interesting proposal," he said, droning with the low intimidating voice of his. "But I need you to do something for me." . . . "Swear loyalty to me in the Village Center." Chapter 500 Last Preparations (Part 1) Altera, a few days later "What if one of them were asked to swear an oath?" Althea asked, thinking of it out of nowhere. She was currently playing with the babies¡ªfor the first time in so many days¡ªin the living room. They were just so busy. In her case, she had to improve various formulas and improve the production line of medicines. Every other elder and expert also had their hands full. "It''ll depend on the wording," Garan said, lifting Meatball upwards in a floating motion. He did this a few more times, mouthing ''Fly'' as he did so. Little Meatball: ??? Althea didn''t see this as she gently poked her daughter''s plump tummy, making the baby giggle. She smiled a little, but even her babies'' adorableness wasn''t enough to distract her worry. She sighed. "We didn''t think to orient them on that." "Well, believe in your people," he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek as he held Meatball. "We''re sending an advanced party to map out the area as well. That way, they would be nearby in case something happens." "They also need to be able to determine where Fargo would be during the war. I really hope to get that token." Garan nodded with a determined look on his face. "And you''ll get it." Althea blinked, knowing her husband''s propensity to do some extreme things to give her gifts. "But if there''s too much trouble or risk, just kill Fargo. That''d be fine." At worst, Fargo Village would dissipate and they''d just have to travel farther to get the limestone. It would be a challenge, even if they tap Eagle''s space as well, but it was doable. Days had passed since Juni and the others left and it was finally nearing the time of war declaration. During the past few days, everyone had been preparing, but in a low-key manner. Although Fufi and Gochi were tasked to go around the territory for spies, they were still not a fool-proof way of finding them so they didn''t dare be too open with their movements. For instance, they''d have a difficult time finding spies if they had no real malice against Altera, as in the person was only doing his or her job. They would also have trouble if there was no scent related to Fargo anymore, which could easily be fixed by a good bath. In fact, only core people and guards knew about the upcoming war. At least until the day itself. The rumor going around was that the territory was preparing for a huge beast tide, and thus everyone was preparing for it. During this time, dozens of people had also awakened, with the soldiers focusing on training those on the verge of upgrading. These guards were also given focused training for their elements, pretty much sleeping in the elemental training room in the barracks. Of course, the result was a group of relatively well-versed elementalists superior to others of the same level. As for the civilians, they were also allowed to go out and hunt, but with certain conditions. It wasn''t that they had not considered what happened to Bright before their war. That was: the enemies would attack their people while they were outside the territory. They didn''t want that to happen but, at the same time, they refused to force everyone to hide within the walls out of fear, growing stagnant in the process. So, for civilians, each group needed to be at least 20 in number with an average level of 8. A group was also required to bring a paralysis bomb and a smoke bomb each, just in case (to be returned to the barracks after, with a couple of silver bonds). For weaker ones, they''d have no choice but to use the training hall. Speaking of the hall, the cost was temporarily lowered for low-level individuals so there was a nice spike of strength among all levels. The production of the factories had been increased and, fortunately, the research center had also managed to increase their efficiency by improving the machineries. This way, they didn''t have to hire too many temporary workers, who should''ve been focused on raising their strengths. Now, about three to four days before the set date, several groups of people were set to go to Fargo in advance. They also left in groups at varying days and times to remain low-key. The mission of these teams varied, but were very important to lessen the deaths during the war. Some would be assigned to check on their team, while the others would start weakening the enemies from the outside. Though in contrast to what Fargo¡ªwho targeted citizens¡ªdid, they would be dealing with their legitimate forces. The team leading the ones to sneak inside would be Reno as well as a few other members within the level limit. They would be sneaking in a day or so before the attack and this way, even if their strength gathered attention, there wouldn''t be enough time for the enemies to prepare. They would be cooperating with Drake and Vincent''s teams to create chaos inside, especially during the war. There was no anti-violence implemented in Fargo, which meant they could also hurt back whoever. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Specifying regulations was very expensive, which was a good thing, otherwise Fargo would''ve definitely set things up in a way anyone of his men could inflict pain while others could only watch. At the same time, for most territories, specifying regulations weren''t worth it either. First, during wars, they''d be null anyway so they didn''t really hold value during the most important times. Second, because Fargo''s men would always resort to violence, it would be too cumbersome and expensive to make exemptions for them. That said, it was quite expensive to set up something similar for the guards back in Altera. After all, Altera''s guards could hit people but people who even attempted to hit them back would go straight to prison. The system would also determine which criminal was a high-risk one, sending them to the more advanced and better-built area of their prison. It was definitely an investment, but it certainly served their peace and the citizen trust to Altera very well. Even during the many wars that would come after. Chapter 501 Last Preparations (Part 2) While the majority of the strong soldiers were heading out, a good one-third of the guards would remain in the territory. There were, after all still beasts outside, and the very real possibility of the enemies going to them as well. As such, they would also be guarding the teleportation array very closely, in case of leaks. The team heading to Fargo would be led by Gill. There would be most of the soldiers outside the level cap there with him, including top guards like Rowan. They would be divided into several groups, setting up camp in all directions outside the territory. Some of them would also be looking at the limestone deposits, mapping the area and distance, and determining the threats. Although they hadn''t won yet, it was good to plan ahead so they knew how much of Fargo they could destroy in the process. They were also given some collapsible tents (patented by the research center, of course) for comfort in the days-long camping. These tents would not be much inferior to the ones in Terran (considering they didn''t have synthetic materials yet) and it came with comfortable flooring to allow a good sleep even if the soil was rocky. They also had plenty of food and resources, so even if they stayed a week there, they wouldn''t have any problems. Althea wanted their soldiers to be on top shape at all times after all. All teams also had aether letters for ease of communication. They were thankful Oslo had the foresight to buy bulks, which was fortunately accessible to him. When asked, he mentioned that he heard Terrans whine about ''communication'' every single day. How could he forget it? Anyway, three days before the war, the final group of guards to leave was finally deployed in full-gear and followed the others to Fargo. As they trekked, their hearts were filled with a mix of nerves and excitement. The contribution point out of this was no joke! Besides, this was their first war. They must make Altera''s first war end with a bang! ¡­ Back in the house, Althea couldn''t help but feel worried. "I hope it all goes well," Althea said. Her family looked at her and sensed her mood. The babies gurgled and crawled to her across the play cot, extending their little arms. She smiled and took them both in her arms, giving them a loving smooch each. Garan smiled at the sight and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Deaths in war are unavoidable," Garan said, holding her as she rested her head on his chest. "While we planned the best we could to safeguard everyone''s life, if we do experience losses, promise me you won''t be depressed." "How is that possible?" She asked, burying her head on his generous chest. "Especially, it feels heavier since we''re the ones waging it¡­" Because they weren''t just defending, all the deaths that happened after felt like it had something to do with the person who made the decision¡ªthat was: Her. Garan sighed and patted her back. "We all made that decision," he said. "And we made it to protect even more lives long-term. You did well." Althea pursed her lips and sighed, feeling her family''s warmth. They stayed like that for some time until the doorbell rang. "I''ll get it~" Maya said, running over to the door. She then ran over a minute later. "It''s a guest! He said his name is Raine." The couple looked at each other before looking at the children. Sensing the tense atmosphere, Maya and Horus¡ªwho were in charge of babysitting duty that day¡ªcarried the two babies and went to the playgrounds outside to pass the time. Garan stood up to let the man in while Althea sat properly from the cot to the sofa. Raine arrived, androgynously handsome, followed by two aborigine guards. They didn''t seem very strong¡ªone of whom was even a lower level than Althea was¡ªbut they were enough to deal with the daily-weakened mobs around Altera. Garan sat down next to her as she looked at the young man. She had known he had arrived just the previous night when they were resting. As for why he was there, exactly, she didn''t know nor did she have the time to care. However, the man didn''t even fully enter the living room when he had immediately adopted the humblest attitude. "Miss Althea¡­" he said, immediately kneeling down. "Please help us!" This made the two aborigines flinch. "Sir!" they yelled, and he raised his hand. "We¡­ our Belluga village will need your help." Althea stared. They were busy with their own war, but telling it now would defeat the purpose of being low-key. "Tell me what happened first." Raine''s jaw clenched, angry as he gave an account of what those bastards did to them. He told of how hostile aborigines found Belluga, how they managed to take advantage of all the loopholes, and even take advantage of their lord in front of everyone. Garan frowned at its implications on Altera. It seemed that aborigine territories had found their area, and it was only a matter of time until they encountered more of them. Unlike Garan, Althea didn''t focus on this, however. Instead, she looked at Raine with eyes filled with concern. "Kimmy¡­ how is she?" S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea couldn''t imagine the trauma of that poor girl, especially when she was untouched. Althea was surprised Kimmy had been a virgin, but that wasn''t the point. She had been violated so badly. Her mind¡­ was probably not right at this time, would she be able to handle a territory? "She''s actually an innocent, despite what she showed," he said, sighing heavily, "She¡­ was an avid doll collector. We¡­ were her dolls. She would sleep next to us, but she didn''t bother with more." Althea sighed. "I can''t tell you much¡­," she paused. "But we will also be entering our own war very soon," she said. "It''s against a strong territory, and we needed all the forces we can have." Raine and the others flinched at this news, faces pale. However, it made sense, no matter how unfortunate. Altera couldn''t send a team when Raine wasn''t even sure when they''d be attacked, right? "When our war ended in a good victory and you haven''t started yours, I can give my word that a strong team will be sent to assist you. For a price, of course." Raine heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you." He knew of the price they had to pay asking for help, and this was something they were willing to do. "There are 14 hours of warning. Don''t go outside your territory during this time." However, she couldn''t let them leave empty-handed with a clear conscience. She handed him a smoke bomb as well as a beast-repelling potion, teaching him how to use them. Not only Raine, but also his guards were shocked. "Distract enemies with this and spray yourself with this," she said, giving rough instructions and saying their limitations. "We will send some assistance to you when the time comes, as we agreed upon, but please know if anything becomes too dangerous, then they will pull out. "This is all we can do for you." Raine bit his lips, eyes glistening and looking at her full of admiration. "It is plenty, Miss Althea, thank you. "Belluga Village thanks you." Chapter 502 Watchers "Do you think he''ll be alright?" Althea asked as she watched the Bellugan representatives disappear from view. Garan leaned down and kissed her hair. "He would have to if he wants to survive," he said and he patted his wife''s head as she rested on him again. "Soon enough, aborigines would come for us," she said. Oslo had confirmed what that Bart person had hinted at Garan before. There were many aborigine territories interested in their tokens. They would soon be flooded with war. "It''s like enemies would be coming from all directions¡­" Garan nodded, not lying, but he kissed her cheek in comfort. "We will consider as many things as we can so that, at the very least, we would feel secure in our own home whatever happens." Althea giggled, kissing his cheek. "You''ll be like Altera''s watch tower¡­" she mumbled, then she flinched at the recollection of something. "Speaking of watchtowers¡­" She opened up her panel and Build tab. She then took out her hand-drawn map from her space before turning to her husband, who in turn was curiously looking at her. She handed it to him with a pencil. "Can you help me choose some locations? "Of?" "Watchtowers! In the middle of the village!" She added so many conditions for her sentries at such high costs, so why not maximize their use of them by letting them help out within the territory as well? Garan''s eyes lit up at this and leaned down, kissing her cheek. "My wife is so smart," he said. "Hehe." "Tell me more." The smallest enclosed wall she could create had a diameter of one meter. She planned to build sentries on top of each one. She had studied the current sentries and, theoretically, it should fit. If it didn''t, then she''d have weird walls, but she could just demolish those later. Garan nodded, analyzing the map. Althea was also detailed enough to place a very rough topography of her village, just enough to know where the slopes and depressions were. They didn''t plan to place them too densely¡ªas that would be too ugly, too costly, and impractical¡ªbut they did choose some important locations like plazas. She chose a level 5 wall and sentry, creating a narrow circular floor plan to minimize the ugliness. After a thought though, she decided to spend some more gold. She took her tablet and found some pretty tower patterns that matched the theme of her village aesthetic. She added carvings, embedded benches, and the like. Overall, she could imagine it would be quite pretty. Don''t call her too squeamish, but she could imagine seeing an ugly tower among the pretty stuff and felt quite stressful. "There!" However, before she pressed the build option, she paused. "But what if enemies prepare for them?" She asked her husband. Their effect would be much higher if enemies weren''t aware there could be sentries in the middle of the territory. Although enemies would eventually figure it out once it was used, she wanted to maximize their surprise effect even if it was only during one war. In the end, they decided to defer construction until the war happened. There was still a lot of ongoing construction and she may need to change up the locations of the sentries nearer some buildings anyway, depending on what actually went on in wars here. She was looking forward to seeing them in action though. Nod. Garan chuckled at her cuteness, leaning down to give her a deep kiss. "I will be heading out soon as well," Garan said, caressing her curvaceous waist. When the war started, he would be outside Fargo, ready to support as he could. Althea looked at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, accepting the intimacy. However, before their kisses could turn more passionate, they abruptly parted and shifted their heads to look in a direction at the same time. They felt a sudden new presence there, and immediately raised their guards. Garan already had ice picks floating and Althea had her bow and arrow out. Obviously, no one should be able to enter the house due to the regulations but one couldn''t be too careful. But they saw no one, at least at first, and their eyebrows immediately furrowed. They worried they might be against a strong enemy until they heard milky mumblings just below their line of sights. They looked down and saw their daughter crawling on the floor towards them. "Baby Pepper?" Althea voiced out, immediately putting away the weapon and rushing over to carry the little bun. Garan also approached and patted the girl''s head, but otherwise also confused. The baby giggled as she hugged her mother. Althea leaned over to place a kiss on the baby''s soft face. "My, what are you doing here alone? Where''s Maya?" In response, the Little Pepper just smiled and waved her hand, as if telling her something. The couple just chuckled and nodded as if they understood. "Hmm," Althea uttered as she kissed the baby''s cheeks again, "My baby is indeed very smart." S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Little Peppe giggled and opened her tiny arms, embracing her mother''s face with her entire body. The couple laughed and Garan leaned down to give her¡ªand Althea¡ªa few kisses as well. It was around this time that a frantic little voice, followed by little footsteps, approached them in a hurry. It was Maya, holding Meatball, with Horus holding Theo. "Sister Althea! Sister Althea!" Maya called out, even before she saw them. "What is it?" "Little Pepper, she''s gone! Wuuu¡ªoh, you''re here?" Maya blinked, confused, "How did you get here?" Althea walked over with Baby Pepper comfortable in her hold. She leaned down to look at Maya. "What''s going on, Maya?" She asked and the little girl proceeded on telling the story, with much gusto. "Hmm¡­ we were all playing in the playground for a while, right? It was very fun. Horus, Theo, and I were playing tag, and the babies were rolling on the ground in the field. "We always check on them and we run around them and they always laugh at us, especially when Horus gets tagged!" "But then one day, when I turned around, poof! Pepper is gone! "We looked EVERYWHERE! We were so scared!" From behind, she could see Theo and Horus nodding in agreement. Althea''s lips twitched and just patted the children''s heads. "Well, the old people said never to underestimate babies'' speed¡­" "Ohh¡­" "Ah¡­" They looked adorable, looking as if they had enlightenment. Althea giggled. "Well, you go along now. Let me have Pepper for a bit, she''s tired from super-crawling." "Ohh okay!" Maya and the other kids nodded, gesturing to go. It was just that Meatball whimpered all of a sudden. Seeing his sister hugging his soft mother and being left there, Little Meatball was naturally not reconciled. He raised his little arms, struggling in Maya''s hold. "Gwhgfwhheggmawmaaaa!" Althea smiled and extended her hand to take her son, and soon the two children were rubbing on her comfortably. While she felt her babies'' warmth and softness against her though, her heart felt a bit heavy as she was still figuring out the events. Just¡­ what is going on? ¡­ Althea temporarily put down the worries and looked at the other three children who were watching them, waiting for instructions. "Go ahead kids, have fun," she told them with a smile. "Better enjoy your vacation, school is starting in a few days!" "Yes, sister Althea~" She and Garan watched the kids scuttle away before turning their attention back to the children. There was silence for a while, all the way until they went to the bedroom. She gently placed the babies in their crib while they studied them. The couple stared at the two children in the crib. They mumbled and extended their little paws towards their parents, who were oddly just staring at them. "Mwammwaaahh??" "Goggoomammaa??" However, the couple was still deep in thought and they barely noticed their babies'' pleas. After a while, Atlhea made a bit of an exclamation, making Garan turn to her. "Wait, their data could be in the panel now!" She said, a bit excited. It wasn''t there before they got officially named, and when they registered the children for permanent residency, there was no other information available except for their names. Before, she had asked Oslo how babies were given identities¡ªwhich was apparently automatic as soon as they were named. Similarly, if they were visitors, she wondered how they paid for visitor''s fees. Apparently, the parents had to pay for the children through the centers. The babies were still developing until a certain age so there wasn''t any information there other than their names and age. They didn''t think to look again, because there wouldn''t have been any point. But now¡­ Althea was a bit excited as she opened her panel, but her shoulders slumped when she saw there was no change. "Still none." She couldn''t help but look at both her children, who were looking up at them with adorable innocent toothless smiles as they finally gained back their parents'' attention. They couldn''t be imagining everything, right? Chapter 503 Bruce and Rebi Somewhere on the outskirts of Fargo While the smoke of war was slowly rising, most of the citizens¡ªespecially Fargo''s¡ªremained completely unaware. The citizens were doing their daily activities. Most were hunting and working hard to survive, some¡ªmostly those who had allied with Fargo¡ªwere dilly-dallying, while others were busy bullying their fellowmen. At this time, a good portion of the activity was fixed in the mines. "Work harder!" A man said, kicking another poor slave to ''wake''. He didn''t move anymore though and someone checked his breathing to be extremely weak. "Tsk. Another one broken," Peko sneered, spitting out in disgust. He looked at one of the guards and gestured to get rid of the body. One man carried the near-corpse to the edge of the cave system. It wasn''t exactly a cliff, but the slope wasn''t gentle either. The guard carelessly threw the man there, watching him roll to the bottom, hitting a few trees by the way. He watched until he was satisfied before nodding and turning back to the gossip. Rolling down and hitting rocks and shrubs, Thomas didn''t care anymore. He didn''t even feel the pain of being thrown down. He doubted he''d feel the pain if a monster decided to bite onto his flesh. He just wanted his life to end so Vivian didn''t think about him anymore. How sorry she must feel to him, and how guilty she must feel to be touched like that by those men. But he couldn''t even tell her he didn''t blame her at all, and that he would not be disgusted with her. But it''s alright now. With his death, Vivian would eventually forget about him, moving on with her life. Eventually, the seemingly-endless rough roll downhill ended, and he heard various rustles of shrubs around him. He closed his eyes, feeling his last breath slowly leave him. From the back of his consciousness though, he realized he wasn''t hearing the familiar growls of monsters. Instead, it was voices. "Hey, it''s a corpse!" "No, he''s still alive." Another voice said. "Pull back now. Back to the temporary base!" sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Yes, Boss Gill!" Thomas didn''t know what happened anymore because he completely lost consciousness. *** Anyway, back to the mines, the guards were lounging as they watched the hard-working slaves, completely unaffected by the fact that they threw away yet another one to the monsters. "We found copper, why are we still mining limestone?" One asked, wondering why most of the slave labor still went there. He was a little annoyed as one of the people who ''found'' the copper, because it made his ''contribution'' less cooler. "Idiot, sure copper is awesome, what do we do next?" "Make money?" "Nah, many people tried to take it in their spaces to see if it could be converted to money, but it didn''t work." "Damn!" "At least we have construction experts here, we could at least make concrete!" One said. "That''s a huge thing, okay?" Most of the gangsters weren''t highly educated, so they didn''t know much about concrete except it was a good place to throw people in. However, from the various conversations and actions in the territory, they could surmise limestone was needed to create it. "They tried putting it over a section of the wall to make it stronger." "And?" "It didn''t stick." While the men were chatting, Bruce was working hard nearby. They chatted without care around slaves thinking that they couldn''t reveal anything automatically as long as they were enslaved. They thought wrong this time though. Unless slaves were explicitly ordered not to say anything specific, they had no prohibitions at all. In terms of computer, the residents had to program a command each time, and each command had varying effectivity. However, none of this mattered because there was no one to tell at this time. Clack! Clack! Clack! Bruce diligently worked on his area of the mine, also for the little girl around 10 years old right next to him. After all, if their sector didn''t meet the required productivity, the slave drivers tended to be harsher on that group of people. On the girl''s other side was Rebi, a man his age, with copper-colored skin and a strong body. He was also doing the same thing as he was. The girl reminded him of his daughter, and it was the same with Rebi¡ªwho was taken away from his own daughter by the disaster. Bruce was still much luckier because he knew his Lily had a good chance of survival due to Tom and the others, but Rebi''s daughter got separated from him during the transfer. Bruce had known Rebi arrived at Bright about a day or so before it got attacked. He had used his remaining savings to announce his daughter''s name¡ªFiona¡ªoffering a bit of reward for valid news of her. He was saving up to pay the caravan to do the same in the allied territories, but sadly the war happened and there was no chance anymore. Bruce sighed. He couldn''t imagine waking up in this new world, suddenly not finding your precious daughter. Most people who were together in Terran mostly transferred together. Rebi was very unlucky in this regard. However, his hope was that she was in a nearby territory because that was how it was, and that had been his hope for living all this time. The girl between them was named Lina. She was a ten-year-old orphan who hadn''t lifted a finger until the disasters. Her parents died as early as in Terran, where her father ate her mother right in front of her eyes. By luck, she managed to survive by hiding in their pantry. She was lucky to have been transferred with Micheal and the others¡ªhaving lived in the same rich neighborhood as he did back in Terran. She traded protection and other resources with the food she managed to stock up and she had lived decently in Bright for a few weeks until the war started. At this time, she was absolutely unsightly with blood and grime¡ªRebi covered her up¡ªwhich was the only reasons why she hadn''t been dragged out to become a different kind of slave. Her slow productivity certainly wasn''t helping her out, so the two fathers could only work harder to cover for her. Bruce and Rebi had also made it a point to always work next to her, using their own largeness to cover direct sight of the girl. They thought: what these bastards couldn''t see, they wouldn''t remember, and so far it had worked in their favor. Unfortunately, the men today were particularly deep in heat. "Damn, all the women are either occupied, too boring with their coo-cooness, or dead!" They yelled it with so much disgust it gritted in the slaves'' hearts. Of course that happened. They took advantage of the female slaves too much! The slaves gripped their weapons, gritting teeth, using the stones in front of them to vent. They had to endure more of their dirty talks, talking about this woman or that woman, and what they did, as well as the woman they were now pining for. "Damn, when will the boss get tired of my goddess Juni! I want to have a taste!!" "Eh, she seems special, even the two favorites got kicked out!" "Damn, I also want those two! Just one, just a taste!" "Too late! Boss Uzon already got the blonde and Boss Sen already got the dark-skinned one!" "Ah, pity!" As they chatted, the bored guards walked around, checking the status of their work. But then one stopped right behind Lina. He looked at her profile, looking at her up and down, with his eyebrows rising in a pleasant surprise a moment later. "Eh, hey, we have a girl here." At this, everyone''s blood turned cold. Chapter 504 Unexpected Help The others looked over and were disappointed it was a small girl. "Nah, I like mine voluptuous. I don''t like kids. It''s yours," one said, another one shrugged and continued their rounds. As such, only one of the guards was left, who was glad he didn''t have to share. Bruce moved to block the way but he was easily pushed away. His heart dropped, looking at the other men. "Stop!" He yelled, but his body refused to move and he could only watch as the little girl was pulled away. "NOOO!" Bruno turned extending his hands to grip the girl''s arms. "Please, she''s so young!" He was pushed and kicked down instead. He coughed up blood, already weak from all the tireless work. "Don''t bother me right now," the guard said, grinning and showing off his yellow teeth. Lina''s eyes widened as the man loomed over her. She whipped her head to look at both Bruce and Rebi. Bruce was down, while Rebi was shaking as his back was turned to her while he continued with his work. Lina''s heart fell. Rebi was intending to ignore her now that she was found. Bruce couldn''t blame him. He was also reluctant to do something to risk his life. If he died, what would happen to his own daughter? However, when he had to watch the girl being groped right in front of him¡ªhis eyes turned red. Bruce could see his daughter in the girl, and like hell he''d allow anything to happen to her! He wanted to yell out for them to stop, but his body didn''t listen. He gritted his teeth, trying to move, but the orders were clear: ''Don''t bother me right now.'' Bruce cursed himself for his weakness, but at the same time, he also prayed for the little girl to be alright. "No! Please! No! Not there!" The little girl yelled, trying to push his hands away, making the man laugh in amusement. "Not here, not here?" he said with a grin. "Oh? You''re shy? Aw how cute." "Okay, I''ll take you elsewhere," he said, pulling the girl by the hair. He grinned as he heard her cry. He could''ve easily told her to shut up and she would, but he didn''t, because where was the fun in that? "Noooo! Wuuuu¡ª" "Noo! Pleasee!" Finally, Rebi couldn''t handle it anymore and ran after them, holding his arm. The moment he realized his actions, he shook in fear. But he gathered enough courage to speak. "Please¡­ don''t. You''ll¡­ break her." The man looked at him with dark eyes, and punched him without warning. "A slave dare to touch me, eh?" he yelled, punching him again so he lost his footing. The man kicked him, repeatedly, and he was unable to fight back. "UNCLE REBI!" Lina yelled, sobbing, and could only cry louder when she was pulled away to someplace else. "NOO! PLEASEEE! HELP ME! UNCLE BRUCE! UNCLE BRUCEEE! Wuuuu¡ª" He dragged her further into the forest and Bruce felt that he could move already, meaning the order had expired. The other guards were busy and he took advantage and followed them deeper into the forest, dragging his body. When he arrived, the man was already hovering over the girl and taking off her clothes, and his movements hastened further¡ªnot that it made much of a difference because he was already so weak. The tragedy of slaves was that they really wouldn''t be able to fight or hurt anyone on the ''master''s side'', unless specifically ordered to by someone above in the chain of command. However, he could try to convince them otherwise. "Please don''t," he yelled, voice raspy, making the man turn to him, "She''s so small, her body wouldn''t be able to take it. Why don''t you wait¡ª" This made the man stop his actions and turn to him with a sneer, though his eyes was filled with hostility. "Heh, why are slaves getting so brave lately?" The next thing he knew a huge palm was on his face and he was dragged to the nearby tree, his head pounded there repeatedly. He held onto the man''s hand. "Don''t fight back," he ordered, and his arms fell to his sides as a response. He couldn''t fight back and had no choice but to receive all the attacks raw. BANG! BANG! BANG! He kicked him to another tree, and kicked his face, before kicking his stomach again, over and over, and Bruce felt that it wouldn''t take long until his ribs gave way. Bruce''s eyes filled with tears in pain and hopelessness, his sights ended up on the little girl lying down, looking at him, also sobbing. She was too terrified to speak now, but he could see the hopelessness in her eyes. As he slowly felt his consciousness wane, his daughter''s image superimposed on the other girl. If he perished now, his Lily would be violated. But what could he do? He couldn''t move at all! Not only was his body heavy as led, his status as a slave also held him back. Such a heavy feeling! "My Lily¡­" he mumbled, tears lining up in his eyes. He was expecting more pain to come, and maybe then he''d finally succumb, however¡ª AWOOOOO! They heard a howl nearby, and it was followed by rustles, slashing sounds, and the man''s screeching that reminded him of a pig being slaughtered. "WHAT!? AHHH!!" He could see the man fall down, but he couldn''t move enough to see what was happening. He saw him being dragged him a little farther that he couldn''t see anymore. Soon, he could hear tearing sounds, followed by a squelching sound, and the screams eventually ended. They were at a distance far enough from the caves not to alert too many, but still audible. However, such sounds weren''t uncommon and people just thought a small mob came, which would be dealt with when they came. More often than not, such screams were associated with a lone weak slave thrown to the beasts, so no one bothered to check. This was also what Bruce thought, thinking that the monsters would probably eat him next. But when the man sounds ended and none of his pain followed, he was puzzled. He heard a howl and he struggled to turn to look at what happened, only to see the man was killed¡ªnot eaten¡ªby none other than that wolf from before! The one they encountered near Bright Territory! sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The wolf walked over, having a little limp, before using its nose to move his hand. He raised his hand to pat her nose. "Thank you," he mumbled, tears lining up his eyes. The wolf howled again and left, and for a moment Bruce thought he was imagining things. But then more rustles sounded. Bruce''s heart fell and he crawled in the girl''s direction. He imagined it was probably Fargo''s men checking on the noise. In which case, he in his current state could be tagged as useless and therefore thrown to a mob as bait, and Lina would be unprotected. "It''s here, it''s here," A voice said, pausing as they absorbed what they saw. "Oh wow¡­ how brutal." Bruce turned to look at the men who arrived. They were all dashing and didn''t look like any of Fargo''s guards at all. They looked at Bruce and Lina, both of whom were shaking both in fear and in weakness. The men''s stances softened immediately, and one of them walked over, kneeling down to their level. It was a man with aquiline features that would appear sharp, but his gentle smile softened it a bit. "Hello, my name is Eagle," he said. "Do you want us to help you out?" Chapter 505 Tea Culture While Alterans were quietly preparing for their first war, the aborigines from the city were relaxing their hearts out. They would peruse the interesting territory, buy what they wanted, and get special treatment for their money as ''very rich customers''. Other than this, they were also approached for advice and knowledge, and in exchange, they would also receive some purchasing tips and often a free meal here and there. The past few days, there had been elders or positioned guards who would ask them a couple of questions, some surprisingly acute, while some were just odd but they answered anyway. For instance, a man named Vino¡ªthe owner of Heartbreak Tavern¡ªonce asked them if they, aborigines, were generally fond of alcohol during the night. When they said yes, he then asked if a tavern was available and would it definitely have business at all hours. They answered him with their opinions and he looked like he was taking notes. He left after saying his polite goodbyes to them and leaving them a nice bottle of wine¡ªwhich Otto really, really, liked. Anyway, the Golds were currently in the newly opened tea house along the main East Avenue, right next to that park. The tea house was nestled in the heart of the unique avenues, serving as the sanctuary of tranquility among the lively streets. The exterior of the tea house was adorned by climbing ivy, its emerald leaves created a waterfall-like wall of green. It added a special ''relaxed'' feel, more so than the shops adjacent to it. There was a special hand-carved sign bearing its name: Tea Haven, located right at the top of the building, visible from about a hundred meters away. This shop was composed of two modules, so it had a 250 square meter floor area for each story, which allowed for a spacious area of relaxation. The centerpiece of the ground floor was a massive wood bar adorned with beautiful ceramic teapots and bowls of dried herbs. It was then surrounded by intricately carved tables scattered across the room, topped by plush burgundy cushions. The patrons conversed in hushed tones, dipping from delicate porcelain cups. Steam billowed from them, carrying the scent of fresh leaves and flowers. There was a spiraling wooden staircase to the second floor to the open-air area that blurred the interior and exterior. Its upper floor also had movable walls, designed to create some private rooms as needed. When the floor was fully opened, the entire floor opened to the overarching balcony adorned with potted plants, making it seem like there were no walls at all, as if it was a roofed elevated area to eat in the middle of the bustling activity. There were nicely divided from the outer space by the ivy walls crawling on a specially designed mesh. There were also balustrades looking over the streets and walkways below, providing some privacy and peace, but at the same time having access to the bustle at street level. Here, there were chaise lounges with plump cushions as well as various tables designed for comfortable use at varying chair heights. At this time, the Golds and friends were lounging here, willingly submersed in the gentle fragrance of herbs and flowers. "This is amazing," Olga mumbled, almost moaning as she took a sip on the lovely porcelain cup with even lovelier contents, its flavor dancing in her tongue. The tea was vibrant pale green with hints of color. The flavor was crisp, clean, and with a hint of sweetness. "Of course! These are certified products of Ms. Althea!" The Tea master said, "I am one of the very few people who managed to secure distribution deals." Soa was a teahouse owner with balding hair and a kind smile. He had moved from Vismont during the first wave of immigration, very willingly so as his late wife had been one of the victims of Higson''s men. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was also Loa''s¡ªthe creator of the sour sauce¡ªolder brother. Through him, he managed to borrow capital to manage his own tea house, which was the family business he handled before the planet was destroyed. He cut a deal with Miss Althea to distribute exclusive 3 tea varieties for a very good price. He also got a small discount for teas that wasn''t exclusive as a bonus so he could sell them a bit cheaper than other teahouses. With this, he had become a very good taxpayer¡ªwhich Altera seemed to really like. Anyway, he was in a happy mood in front of very rich customers. Soa smiled widely. "Would you like to know the health effects of this tea?" The Golds looked at him curiously, nodding. "Sure." "We call this Golden Tea. We added various complimenting plants similar to golden root and arctic root, which is an adaptogenic herb. They are known to enhance movement, reduce stress, and improve cognitive functions." He then pointed at another cup that Otto had been drinking, "That is special green tea with L-theanine which indirectly affects dopamine levels by triggering brain patterns that induce relaxation. We also added vanilla extracts." The Golds stared at him as he droned on passionately about the drink. L-theanine? Dopamine? Could those be eaten? The tea owner seemed unaware of the aborigines'' cluelessness and continued to blabber on. Back in Terran, those who asked for details were tea lovers and they understood most of his technicalities. "I see¡­" was all Otto said, pretending to understand. He had wanted to ask about the other variation, but was afraid of the new words that pop up again. However, they had rarely seen so many varieties for sure. Teas were uncommon in lower territories because it was usually bitter. Tea mixes were even rarer because mixing herbs and plants together could sometimes create something poisonous for consumption¡ªeven when the plants mixed weren''t poisonous at all. There were only three tea houses in Bleulle, two of which only specialized in a few teas, and none were so big because¡ªother than the fact that land was insanely expensive in Bleulle¡ªthe patrons were also limited so there was no point building such a large shop. At this time, it was an industry that was still gaining traction and wasn''t particularly popular in places outside the city. However, it so happened that their mother Gaia was a tea-lover and she passed this to all of the siblings, and this was why they were among the few aborigines who would be frequenting this teahouse. They wondered if they could get these back home¡­ how happy would their mother be? Chapter 506 Gossip Over Tea Because of the rareness of quality tea, one could Imagine the siblings'' surprise when they saw such a large tea house with such an array of choices. "You have interesting mixes," Olga said, reading the ''menu''. A lot of the plants were unfamiliar to her until she went to Altera, but some she knew. She just had no idea they could be mixed safely! "These are but a few of the many mixes Ms. Althea offered. It so happened that we are one of the two accredited tea houses who could deal with her!" "Miss Althea again, eh?" Olga mumbled, recalling that beautiful woman with bright green eyes. Obi nodded, also remembering. "She''s everywhere." "She''s really very beautiful and smart. No wonder Oslo fancies her so." Cassandra said, and she was a bit surprised when Olga nodded with a smile. "You''ve seen her?" "Yeah, we encountered them on the way here," she said, "She''s definitely a one-of-a-kind beauty. Her husband was also quite handsome and dashing." "Oh, be careful of him. He''s very rude to other women." Olga gave her a pointed look, "Do I look like that kind of woman." Cassandra raised her hand, "I''m just saying¡­ that guy is very charming, after all. Can''t blame anyone." Obi looked at Cassandra, curious about what she had to say. When he met with Garan, although his level was very very low¡ªalmost half of his¡ªhe still felt intimidated for some reason. It tickled his curiosity as a fighter and it triggered his competitiveness. At the same time, he couldn''t have it in him to challenge someone with a much lower level than his, so one could imagine how the curiosity was eating him up. "He''s definitely the strongest one here," he said. "Though I don''t think he had fought with Oslo, I think people said even he wasn''t confident in taking him on despite the level differences." "Oh?" Otto looked at them, nodding, his mind also remembering the man. "He had a special aura about him¡ªand that Miss Althea¡ªthat is for certain." They had been here less than a year, yet their strengths had caught up to many locals who had been surviving here for decades. Soa was very happy to hear Miss Althea being complimented. It was even better that it was high-level aborigines who were doing it¡ªthis meant that Miss Althea, Sir Garan, and the entirety of Altera, were doing extremely well. "If you want to get good deals it''s definitely through her. She basically owns a third of the economy here," he said. It was also around here that Soa finally excused himself, seeing as more guests had climbed up the lounge. The Golds barely noticed him leaving, and kept to their thoughts for a while. "The woman''s not just married to the strongest person here, she was also a force to reckon with," Olga uttered after a few moments, looking a little wistful as she said so. It was amazing. In fact, a woman having a superior husband was already good enough, but she herself established herself to be a force in such a high-potential territory¡ªand this amazed them the most. Further, Althea herself had become an elementalist only after a few months. And she wasn''t just an elementalist¡ªa rare dual one, as well! Olga, in particular, couldn''t wait to chat with her for a longer time. "I really want to meet her already, but Oslo said we couldn''t bother any of them at this time." Otto nodded, "They said it''s for an upcoming beast tide," Obi scoffed. "Do you believe them?" Otto shook his head. "I doubt it''s the upgrade beast tide as the village should still need a bit more to be qualified as town. I think it''s something else." This made the group look at him. Anyway, most of the other guests were downstairs, and the second floor was a lot more private. Even the partitions had insulating properties. "I think¡­ they''re preparing to attack." They were a bit startled, but then thought it made sense. Of course, they wouldn''t be able to confirm it without Oslo himself. "Where is Oslo?" Olga asked, looking around. "He''s practicing making aether buildings. I heard he already wasted two sets. Tsk." "Well, just two sets after so many days, I think it''s okay?" "You spoil him big sister," Obi said, shaking his head, though not without taking another sweet snack in his mouth. The group relaxed for a while, buying several boxes of tea for their parents along the way. The shop owner was extremely friendly, even adding a can of free tea as bonus. When he realized they were finally purchasing more for takeaway, Soa had appeared next to them again with a very happy smile. "These cups are very beautiful. Mother would live these. Where could we get more?" Olga said and the owner smiled, telling them of the ceramics factory¡ªwhich Miss Althea''s team happened to co-own. The Golds noted this and checked the menu again, afraid to miss something good to buy for home. "I particularly like this flowery tea," Olga complimented the man. "It''s sweet and fragrant, like it relaxes your soul with a sip." "Oh yes, it has extract from flowers Ms. Althea grows herself!" Her again. Olga leaned over and asked, eyes filled with curiosity. "Do you think your Ms. Althea would be open for deals in our territory?" "Of course!" "Not only tea, but plenty of bars and alcohol have entered dealership with her," Soa helpfully added. The richer Ms. Althea got, the better it was for everyone! They hadn''t forgotten that a lot of the people who worked with her during the start were now all rich people themselves! Besides, the bigger her businesses was, the better the territory would be, and everyone''s lives followed. "Okay, thank you," they said, and continued to explore the rest of the territory. "Come back soon!" Soa said, "And enjoy your stay~!" ¡­ For the next few hours, the Golds would indeed be walking around and enjoying their stay. Although Oslo was currently indisposed to guide them, Cassandra and Veronica had been in the place for quite a few days and were able to guide them to a comfortable degree. "What''s that shop?" Olga asked pointing at a shop painted in white. It had similar elements as the other buildings, but for some reason it was painted with very light colors, making it extremely visible. "It''s a clinic," Veronica said. "I heard that certain incentives are given to shop owners offering services the territory needs. "For example, clinics," Cassandra said, recalling what the guides told her when she asked. She tried to remember as much as she could, as she wanted to blend into Gill''s home as quickly as possible. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "They give Preferential treatment like in payments, taxes, et cetera." Otto''s eyebrows rose. He was the one who understood these things best, and he explained it to his siblings when they asked. Although it seemed like a loss, this was a long-term plan of keeping talents. This and a plethora of other regulations spoke loudly about the wisdom of the lord here. Too bad they had no idea who it was. Chapter 507 Gaming Hall After filling their spaces up again with this and that, the group continued to walk along the streets, ending at the last shops. Even when the entire territory was low-key preparing for something and people seemed to work a few more hours over time, they would still have time to rest and play. At this time, a lot of people who had just gotten off work were heading in a direction. Curious, the Golds¡ªwho were winked at several times by the way¡ªfollowed the crowd. Most of these were women, too, and the Golds were very taken aback by the women''s forwardness here. Speaking of forward women, they seemed to have themselves a fan group here. Golden god # 2 was Otto and #3 was Obi¡ªwhich was something he was very bitter about because Oslo was #1. Olga (a.k.a. Golden Goddess) really found this all amusing. She looked at a girl who was openly admiring their ''golden gods'' and asked, "Where are so many people going?" "The Gaming Hall, Miss Olga~!" "A Gaming Hall?" she uttered, feeling it sounded familiar. This place was something Ansel wanted to show the Golds at some point, but suddenly things happened and he just forgot about it. There were also so many things to explore in Altera and they somehow missed this newly-opened entertainment building. The girl wasn''t surprised the Aborigines still hadn''t been there. Altera was not as big as a town for sure, but one simply couldn''t see everything it had to offer within a couple of days. "Yes, it''s a place where people can play games. Usually after working hours, of course!" The Golds looked at each other. Did this seem like a territory going to war and/or Beast Tide? What they didn''t understand at this time was that people played because they knew and felt a big fight was coming. They had already done their work and trained. It was time to relax and balance their psyches! Unlike the Aborigines, the Terrans were well aware of the need for balance. In Terran, there were various studies indicating that working too much had diminishing returns! Breaks were important for an efficient society! Ahem. Anyway, the Golds soon arrived at the building along with a small crowd of people who immediately went in, knowing where they were going. It had three stories with plenty of color and activities for all ages. It was the preliminary development of Ansel''s entertainment plan. It was only one building for now but, eventually, he would expand it further. Maybe it could extend to an entire street, but that needed a bit of begging-the-sister-lord on his part. Back to the Game Hall. First off, there were a couple of indoor activities like that game they called squash, as well as a few fun games like hoop games and darts. The newcomers were amazed by the vibrancy inside. Not only the color, but the energy was wild. There were plenty of cheers and laughter, usually centered around activity spots. "Wow¡­" Honda uttered as he entered the building. His eyes widened at the sight. He didn''t know many of the activities but based on the laughter he was hearing, they seemed quite fun. Little Honda found himself in front of a board where there were two people playing against each other. They were sliding a circle thing with a handle and they would get a point when the smaller flat circle entered the other''s slot. "What is this?" Honda asked no one in particular. Unexpectedly, a cute little girl turned to him and he blushed a little. "It''s you!" "Ah, yes." They were the kids he met with Uncle Ansel before. He had always wondered when he''d encounter them again¡­ but he was too shy to ask uncle where they were. But the little girl¡ªMimi, he remembered her name¡ªas well as her friend Maya saw him and greeted. "Hello~ You''re Uncle Oslo''s nephew! Honda, right?" "H¡­Hello¡­" he said shyly, but internally reprimanding himself for not being more confident, like his dad. The little girls weren''t privy to the various thoughts in his head though and just pulled him closer to their group. He already knew most of them, except for a tall girl around his age. He blinked as he looked at her. She looked very sad and out of place. The younger kids saw where he was looking at and saw Lily, one of the newcomers and someone they were asked to bring. "This is Lily!" Mimi said. "She''s a little worried for her dad right now, but it''ll be okay, and we''re trying to distract her." "I¡­ see¡­" "Anyway, this game is called Table Hockey! You shoot them all and you''ll gain points. Win enough and you can get prizes!" Then, the girl looked at him and smiled, "Wanna play?" As such, little Honda was pulled by the little girls to play with the others. The moment they started, laughs and giggles abounded. Even little-adult Horus chuckled. At some point, Honda had started losing badly. He puffed his cheeks and his other hand blocked the puck from getting to the slot using his palms. Maya gasped. "No! Stupid! You''re not supposed to touch it!" "S-Stupid?" "Silly goose!" "Is that a bad word?" Honda asked, looking at them. "It''s endewment!" Maya said and Mimi, daughter of a lawyer, corrected her. "It''s endearment." "Oh." Anyway, after a few fun games playing table hockey, they traveled from game to game (politely waiting for their turn, of course), and had lots of fun. In fact, a lot of the games for kids were designed to low-key train them. Other than indoor sports like Squash to improve reaction time, there were also mini-games that could improve skills. For instance, there was a mini archery area where they could be introduced to the art of archery. There was also a pressure-matching game where the players (played by kids and kids at heart) would have to guess what element was being used and what to use against it. The games were not free, of course, much like how arcades worked. It was pretty amazing. They didn''t have electricity yet, but with the cooperation of the woodworkers and Houser, they came up with a way for the mechanisms of the games to be blocked after a certain time of use. They had to use special carved coins by Houser to make them work again, and powered by mechanisms (via water or wind) that would match with the patterns in the coins. It worked much like a key. While it could be cheated by creative people after a year or two, hopefully they would have thought of better mechanisms by that time. Regardless, even this ''basic'' thing was extremely novel even to the Golds. Maya showed Honda and Lily how to use the tokens. "You just put this token over here, and it''ll work!" Honda blinked and held the cute little wood token, placing it in a slot of sorts. When he did, he heard some sounds inside the box and it started working! "Amazing." They played a lot and Mimi and Maya were definitely the noisiest. The other kids were just following along with smiles on their faces. Mimi looked at the others, realizing the differences in interactions. Her father had taught her a lot about people. There were extroverts and introverts and then the people in between. She could tell Horus, Honda, and Lily were introverts. She knew that while they were not too fond of people, it didn''t mean they couldn''t enjoy it. Her father told her of something like a social battery. The people who like to talk a lot seem to have an inexhaustible social battery¡ªrather, they were energized by talking and playing¡ªwhile introverts had limited amounts of it. In any case, the two girls were determined to make their quiet friends enjoy this time together! And so, the kids ran around¡ªdragging the shyer friends¡ªand having a blast. The laughter of the children brought smiles to the adults with childish hearts roaming around. Soon enough, the adults would be doing the same. "It looks simple but fun," Otto said with a smile, then turned to Obi who was gaping at the game in front of them with apt attention. Not only was that coin thing impressive, but the games themselves were really interesting. Soon, enough, they tried the games as well. They bought just a handful of coins at first, trying some random games, finding something special in each one. To be honest, it could get quite addicting! S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Would they get in trouble? At this thought, they looked at the various machines and games they had yet to try and they felt a little giddy. This was a unique place with novel machines and games¡ªit was a place where everyone would have the heart to play. This was fun to Terrans who had seen all sorts of entertainment, one could imagine the waves it would cause among aborigines! This was what characterized Altera''s Game Hall, which would eventually be known throughout the region. Further, these games were patented by the Elder of Economy, Ansel Witt, and would thus make a lot more money when people bought rights to them. Hey, he needed his own money, too! Chapter 508 Gambles (Part 1) At some point, the Golds ended up in a game around 2 meters deep and a meter wide. There was a basket target moved around randomly, and they were given a little ''catapult'' which had a button of sorts. They had to time and calculate the angle well if they wanted to shoot the ''rock'' to the basket. "Oh, how creative!" "How do the people here think of these things?" One must know that cities did indeed have catapults¡ªthough for most parts, they were technology taken from when the dwarves were still human slaves. It seemed that Alterans also had this concept! Would it appear in a village, too? It took Obi about ten tries to get closer, but still did not manage to shoot. "UGH!" Obi gritted his teeth, a little annoyed. Otto looked at him. "Be careful of destroying anything. I heard you''ll get transported straight to prison." "Seriously?" "Yep." At some point, Obi and Otto also started watching stranger''s games, and they were even cheering along with the locals. They then played a game called whack-a-trudge-rat where a caricature of said monster¡ªa good digger beast¡ªwould appear in random holes and they had to hit it. The mechanism wasn''t simple. First, it had to be durable enough to handle the strength of strongmen. This was done using a lot of rubber and resin. Of course, they had to place a sign of what power level could be used. For example, for this game, a maximum of level 10 strength was allowed. Further, it had to be much faster than back in Terra due to the people''s improved reflexes here, but also not too fast that it''d take away from the fun. The two aborigines found themselves addicted. At some point, they bought pockets full of wood coins and somehow they halved it with just that one game alone. Olga laughed at their antics. "Stupid." But she did have a large smile on her face. ¡­ Some time later, a man in an official uniform entered, looking around for someone. The person manning the coin exchange booth saw him, and immediately smiled. "Hey! Sir Jun! Looking for Mimi?" The man smiled as he looked around. "Yes." "She''s by the wood coin machine," he said, pointing in a direction, and Jun followed. He went past a couple of games until he found a group of kids huddled around some sort of translucent dome. The material wasn''t youli though, but rather a nearly-transparent mesh supported by wooden frames. The game was like that Coin Pusher game in Terran. As for how the mechanism inside worked, he only knew it used the wind turbines above the building as the mechanism. However it worked, he knew it must be ingenious. Of course, the mechanical games were limited to simple ones like this which only needed one or two main movements. The other games would need electricity first, which meant they were a long time away. Jun stood behind the children, watching his daughter have fun with friends. To be honest, when the disaster happened, he didn''t think they''d have any semblance of normalcy anymore. But look at this now. His daughter was playing arcade games! However, all good things must still come to an end, and he did call on her a few moments later. He gently tapped her little shoulders. "Mimi, time to go home," he said, and the little ones all turned to him with furrowed eyebrows. "Awww¡­." she mumbled and looked at him. "But it''s still so early daddy!" "Five minutes please!" His eyes twitched. "Fine." This made the children''s frown morph to one of relief and they continued to play their little game. "..." Jun shook his head and saw the Golds, who were half-playing and half-watching the others. "Hello," he said, greeting. They nodded at him, doing the same. "Hi. Jun, right?" "Yes, I''m happy you remember me." They smiled at this. Of course they remembered not only the elders, but also the people next to them in their respective departments. For Miss Althea, it was Winona; for Sir Garan it was Gill, Drake, and Reno; for Ansel it was the twins Leo and Luke; for Sir Gru it was a man named Dennis; and for Miss Mathilda it was Jun and a woman named Silvia. Jun also looked at them being friendly with him, feeling a bit flattered and relieved. He naturally knew them all and wanted to give them very good times while also assisting them in ''contributing to Altera''s GDP''. At this, he looked at his daughter who still seemed to be having fun, and then to the Golds. A few minutes of introduction should do fine. "Actually, this is an all-access floor, but there are other floors you may want to check." "Oh?" "On the upper floors, there are games like billiards, mahjong boards, and darts." There was less mechanism (without electricity, the mechanism needed a lot of space and could only be built on the ground floor) and the focus up there was socialization and maybe a bit of friendly gambling. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What''s that?" "Well, you''ll find out soon," he said, gesturing to go to the stairs. Olga looked back at the children. "What about our nephew?" "He''s with my daughter. They''ll be fine." For good measure, he called her in. "MimI!" "Daddy!" "It''s fine, you can stay longer," he said and smiled when the little girl (and her friends) brightened. "But you stay inside the building and on this floor okay?" "Yes, daddy!" "Good girl," he said, handing her a few more silver. "Now, go buy a few more tokens." "YAY! DADDY IS THE BEST!" she said, hugging his leg, before pattering towards her friends (who were already heading to the coin booth). As the group turned and headed to the stairs, they could even hear a few kids mumble. "Wow, your dad is so cool!" "Your dad is the best!" Jun choked, before chuckling. Well, he is indeed very good. ¡­ The group climbed up the stairs, passing by the second floor and heading straight to the third. "What''s this floor for?" Otto asked, looking at the couple of people also playing there. "Those are billiards, darts, and other games. There are also lounge areas there. Most of its for teenagers and young adults to hang out." As he said so, Jun saw that Amos'' brother Alon was also there, no doubt spending away his brother''s hard-earned money. He frowned, thinking of proposing some minimum amount of contribution points for non-tourists to enter the building. They didn''t need to spend the contribution points, but a baseline should be required. He could tell the other people playing there were there to relax after a long day of work. Alon looked like he had been there the whole day. The Golds beside him weren''t privy to his various administrative thoughts. They simply followed him up the stairs, curious about what they could find. Then they would soon arrive on the third floor, and although there was a guard in front, they could see some of the activities behind him. Terrans would recognize this was a casino of sorts. And it would be paying a lot of taxes to Altera in the future. Chapter 509 Gambles (Part 2) Ansel was naturally aware of the negative connotations of a casino, but there were also a lot of positives¡ªprovided that the practice was regulated well. For one, it would definitely add to the tourism and economic growth of the territory, and it would provide huge tax revenues. Ansel swore to donate half of the proceeds to the territory, which was public knowledge. Altera required a lot of capital, and it could use all the sources of funds that it needed. Most importantly: It was the fastest way to milk rich aborigines! War happened to need a lot of funds. While he heard Altera was still very rich, it would be a good feeling to know a war barely put a dent in the treasury. That said, they added strict regulations about this¡ªespecially for non-tourists. For one, minors were absolutely forbidden to enter the third floor. There was also a contribution point requirement for residents (tourists were naturally exempted) as well as a minimum amount in the wallet before entering to ensure that people weren''t spending beyond their means. Of course, the tourists had much less stringent limits. For instance, their spending cap was around 3 times more than the locals. The Golds didn''t know how much more money they''d lose at this time. At this time, Jun was showing them the massive floor space with various tables of differing appearances. Like the Ground floor, this also had a high ceiling of about four to five meters. The Golds entered in curiosity. Obi''s eyebrows rose when he looked at the massive writing on the wall. There were rules and regulations and there¡ªincluding the minimum requirements for entering¡ªand there was a sentence larger than any other. ''Gambling is for fun only and shall not make people poor'' "Heh¡­" There were plenty of tables with different games, and they could see some silver and gold manifested on the table. People seem to be emotional, but mostly having fun. There seemed to be a different atmosphere than below though¡ªit felt to have more stakes, and therefore more thrilling. They were just amazed by the leisurely lifestyle of the people here. They knew they were preparing for a ''beast tide'' and yet they still had some time to relax. In other territories, at least in villages and weaker towns, only the rich could relax like this while everyone else had to work hard or suffer in case of a difficult war coming. "Ah! I lost!" "Hehehhee! 10 gold! I won ten gold! NYAHAHAHAH!" From this, they realized it was a gambling den¡ªsomething that existed in some Cities and a handful of high-level Towns. However, the games seemed different. The games they knew were simple guessing games, and it was usually boring¡ªas Otto knew a lot about them as someone who had participated a few times. More importantly, the regulations here told them that the territory was dedicated to keeping people from falling into bankruptcy. The group walked over to one of the tables. There were only a few open seats per table so they would have to be separated. Jun smiled and gave them a quick lesson before they separated. "This is the roulette. Players will bet on where the ball will land. This is completely randomized." The casino swore never to manipulate games, and this was something they planned to uphold for fairness. The Golds watched as the wheel was spun in one direction, and the ball in the other. Their hearts raised as they chose guesses in their hearts and, as the wheel slowed down, they felt a thrill even when they hadn''t bet anything. "This is Craps," he said. "Players will bet on the outcome of rolls of two dice. Bets can be placed on specific numbers, combinations, or even whether the shooter will win or lose." Jun continued to show them around, showing them the intense but fun atmosphere around, and they soon got into the mood. It didn''t help that the men and women¡ªcalled dealers or croupiers¡ªwere also very passionate¡­and showy. Someone was even juggling the ball before throwing it down to the roulette. "This is the blackjack table. There are a lot of rules and things to learn, so we''ll push that for later. Actually, a lot of these games require our card knowledge." Jun would kindly teach them basics of the cards before heading down, and the Golds separated to play different games. One of the rules in the casino stated that the maximum amount spent shall not exceed 100 gold a month for residents and 300 gold for tourists. And the Golds would later be thankful for this limit, otherwise they would''ve stayed here a lot longer inside than proper. ¡­ ______ At this time, one of the last teams¡ªled by Mao and Chris¡ªheading to Fargo was already nearing their destination. With them were Gaudi and Gauis the gardener. They also had a handful of guards for support, but not many as most of them would be going through the array. They had been chatting for a bit, some discussing some casual things about their lives, all while keeping alert with their surroundings. They were assigned to an area southwest of Fargo, primarily to hunt down Fargo guards they would encounter. It was relatively peaceful for a while. After all, the mobs around were not threatening at all to people of their level. Mao would even whistle a song here and there out of boredom, which would get some wind slaps from Chris telling him to shut up. This leisurely atmosphere stopped when Chris suddenly raised his hand and made a couple of hand gestures. Immediately, all of them climbed up trees, lowering their presence. Soon, a group of people¡ªabout ten in number¡ªpassed by. They seemed a bit strong. The majority was over level 15 and a few of them were even in their level 20s. Lastly, except for maybe one or two of the weaker ones, the rest seemed to be aborigines. The soldiers and guards looked at each other. What would they be doing in a place like this? S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And¡­ they seemed to be heading in the direction they were from! Mao and Chris looked at each other and made a few more hand gestures. Without further ado, Mao sprinted in the direction they were going much faster than they did, so by the time the men encountered him, it seemed like he was sitting alone on a rock, drinking water from an earthenware bottle. The men''s guards rose immediately, looking at him. Mao looked at them and appeared relieved. "Hello, friends. I am a little lost," he said, patting his flabby tummy. "May I know where you''re going?" They looked at him up and down. "You seem strong for someone who''s lost." Chris smiled. "Thank you. I''m glad to hear you think so." The men''s guards didn''t lower at all. Even if the monsters here were weak, mobs of them could still easily kill people of their level, especially if they were alone! The leading person, Impo, stepped forward and looked at him. He was a level 21 Swordsman and his instincts was telling him not to underestimate this man. And as someone who had always liked violence, he immediately lifted his sword to attack him¡ªjust deciding to kill him for peace of mind. However, before he could move close, an arrow went past his cheek. He stepped back, wiping the blood, whipping his head in the direction of the arrow. His eyes widened, realizing this man had a few more people around him. They also saw some, as some were weak, but most of them were similar in level. They dared not underestimate the enemy. In particular, that archer seemed a little foreboding¡ªlike he really wouldn''t miss next time. It''d be fine if he wasn''t the target¡ªas that could mean he could get closer to him in time¡ªbut unfortunately, that wasn''t the case at the moment. He would never risk his life for a mission. Mao kept his smile and stood up, looking at them. "Answer the question. Who knows, maybe we''re heading in the same direction." Impo frowned and stared at him. He did not like the tone, but the chances of losses in this fight were too high. He didn''t care about most of his team, but he didn''t want to get hurt when he wasn''t gaining anything. "We''re not here to fight. We''re just going to Bright Territory." Mao looked startled at his answer. "Bright? The one that just fell?" At this many of the men looked smug, thinking it''d intimidate. "Yes, our territory beat it! With minimal losses on our side." Instead of pandering to them as they expected though, Mao and the others'' eyebrows rose high in interest. Ohhh? Chapter 510 Adding Defense [10 hours before D-Hour (Declaration Hour)] A few more days passed and it was finally the day of the declaration. During this time, the elders tried to rack their brains for whatever could go wrong, adding restrictions and others to increase the safety of their people¡ªregardless of the costs. Team A was divided into five teams, along with the guards and the citizens who would be participating in the war. Team A were the soldiers that remained in Altera, in contrast with Team B who were still on their way back from Ferrol Town. This meant that the group was composed only of a few people, so they naturally had to be divided well for efficiency. The first would have the soldiers that could still participate in the war. Well, rather than a team, the only one who could join in by virtue of his level was Luis. Next to Althea, he would be leading the hundreds of guards and citizens who would be joining in the war. He and the others would remain and train in the territory until the array appeared. They would train the best they could, with the elementalists getting focused training for their skills, but of course asked to make sure they had enough rest for the big fight ahead. How embarrassing would it be to die because one was asleep? Because one had sore legs? The next three teams were comprised of those already in Fargo, with the soldiers going with a couple of strong guards and aborigines to assist. This included Garan, who had already left a day prior. This included Sammy, Chris, Mao, and Gill. Almost everyone beyond the level cap wes in this group, including the aborigines Oslo and Rowan. Their first task was mapping at first, wherein they would determine the rough sketch of the terrain, where the mines were, and if there were places they could sneak into. Through aether letters, the groups¡ªalong with Drake and Amos'' updated information¡ªhad managed to consolidate what they had found, ready to be forwarded to the Ms. Althea''s team as soon as they got near enough¡ªthat was, when they went through the teleportation array. The final group, led by Plaridel, would remain in the territory along with the newest guards to defend it. This was in case of surprise mobs or some enemies sneaking in. They were also in charge of handling the peace during this time, and making sure there were no enemies to cause trouble within the territory walls. They also had to watch refugees¡ªshould they come¡ªlest there were enemies in there that had snuck in. Althea didn''t want to block refugees for the small chance of enemies mixing in. She believed in the territory and its preparation. Even if enemies did manage to sneak in, they shouldn''t pose too much of a threat to them. They also considered the off-chance that the enemy would find the teleportation array and go to Altera, so there were guards monitoring every movement of the array. Of course, the walls and sentries were to do much of the defense work, so they didn''t retain as much manpower there, compared to those going to war. That said, the territory was huge and it wasn''t possible to densely station a guard in all parts of the walls. Hence, there would be a chance that the sentries were activated and the guards wouldn''t be alerted. This could be fine if it was just a beast mob. The activation and subsequent stop just meant that the beasts had been killed. But¡­ what if it was a human? What if it was a human who was strong enough and/or had a lot of defense equipment? A level 5 wall could one-shot a level 20 monster and an even higher-level human, but its effects would be discounted the higher the level. What if there were strongmen who could shield trespassers? sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Wouldn''t that mean they could get past the sentries? After some brainstorming by the couple, Althea ended up adding another function to the sentries¡ªwhich ended up costing her 2000 gold. It was understandably costly due to the detail that had to be put in. This feature? It was to sync the sentries with a rough map of the territory¡ªand the Guard station would be aware of where the sentries were activated. She would have access to it in the Lord Panel, but she had to get creative to give access to others. In the end, the map was drawn in a modified aether letter. It was rough and limited because Althea could only modify the array a little, but it would do¡ªfor now. (Althea was unsatisfied, but the aborigines gaped at her when she showed it to them). Anyway, this would mean that whenever a sentry was activated, it would alert a guard stationed nearby. They would check the threat and throw a different colored flare depending on what type of threat it was¡ªBeast or War enemy. They would double it if the threat was a major one, in which case someone would be ringing the bell to alert everyone of the danger. The Guard Station''s Aether Letter room was also improved, adding a few more people to ensure swift rescue in case Fargo''s people started attacking their own. They had, after all, been expecting that people from Fargo would start attacking them bit by bit on the outside¡ªlike what they did with Bright¡ªbut oddly there was no sign of them at all. It puzzled them at first and some were even thinking that the enemy had some heinous plans for them, but after so many days there were no sign of them at all. Those who were overthinking started to rest their minds, just preparing the best they could without overstressing. Later, they would even laugh about it and joke: ''Hey, maybe they were unlucky and got eaten by a hungry beast or something'', they would say, completely unaware that they weren''t too far from the truth. . . Somewhere a few hundred kilometers away, a certain soldier sneezed. Mao sniffed his nose, looking in a direction. "I feel that someone is complimenting me." Beside him, Chris rolled his eyes, before turning to the bloodied men in front of them. That was: Fargo''s missing men. Chapter 511 Weakening the Enemy 7 hours before D-Hour. Speaking of hungry-beast-Mao¡­ A few hours before the declaration, the teams outside Fargo had entered the next step of the plan: Weakening the enemy. Sure, Fargo had thousands of forces¡ªbut the aborigine members as well as the main fighters didn''t account for a small fraction of that. Taking down even just a few dozen of these men would discount Fargo''s ''main'' forces by a lot. Mao and the others luckily encountered a few of them early on¡ªwhich they later found to be the team sent to ''weaken'' Altera! Bastards! Naturally, they suffered a lot for their answers. "JERK! JERKJERKJERK!" Mao mumbled as he kicked the stomachs of a random enemy, and then proceeding on kicking the balls of another one. "!!!" They coughed wildly, swallowing some of the dirt that was on their face, making them cough even more. For the past few hours, their kidnapped victims also had dust on their faces making it hard for them to breathe without pain. However, other than the fact that they had use for a few of them alive, Mao and the others couldn''t kill everyone yet as it would be too alarming. They had kept a few people, slowly killing them off bit by bit so it wouldn''t alarm Fargo¡ªwho was just likely to think they encountered mobs. They killed most of the weaker ones first, and greatly weakened the stronger ones beyond the level limit. All members of the Rongo mercenary team though, had to be kept alive for now. It would be too odd to lose so many high-level fighters when the monsters around were just village-level. Not to mention: Not only would Fargo be able to see if his citizens died (and who died), but a perk of being in a mercenary team was that when a member died¡ªevery other member would be alerted of it. Included in this alert was the location of death. They didn''t want that type of attention right now. It didn''t mean they weren''t tortured though. And they were tortured very badly. Mao looked at the men tied up and bloodied, with their bodies tied and barely able to move at all. They had set up camp here, and they had made these men suffer very badly. They were dripping with their own blood, saliva, and piss. It was absolutely disgusting. They used a lot of the torture lessons they learned back in the military academy. Mao admitted he was a bit vindictive. When they got into the fight with the ten people, a few of them were in the level 20s. In his team, only he and Chris were at that level so they did sustain a few injuries. They had to use a paralysis bomb in advance! Ptoeey! What a waste! It was their fault he lost 10 gold! (Mao had a bet with Sammy from the other team: Whoever used fewer bombs before they reunited during the war would receive 10 gold from the other). Mao kicked the man, which happened to be the leader, Impo. "Darn you! You owe me 10 gold!" Impo: ???! Anyway, when they could, they definitely made these men suffer lots of pain before most of them would get killed off when the war started. Mao wished they could keep them for their victims to torture and see, but these people weren''t weak enough to let go like that. "I wish I had a video," he said, very regrettably. He was one of the people who tried egging Drake to charge his phone, but fortunately Luis¡ªheh!¡ªbeat him to it, otherwise his precious phone would have been burned by now. Chris sighed and shook his head, looking in Fargo''s direction. He then left Mao venting and went to look for their next target. It so happened that a few of Fargo''s people were training to reach level 10. The moment he found them and predicted their direction, Chris went to get the team. Mao buried the survivors with his abilities, leaving just their noses above ground before leaving to meet their new targets. This group was fortunately far weaker than the previous ones. The next targets were also led by two aborigines, but their levels were just above the level cap. They were menacing and at least a foot taller than the already-tall gangsters. They had obviously been out a while considering their blood-covered clothing and grime-filled faces. "Target training eight people," one¡ªnamed Uko¡ªsaid, "Sigh. So troublesome. Be thankful we''re getting paid for this." The gangsters, obviously Fargo''s men, looked at them with a bit of bootlicking. "We are honored to get the time of the very amazing Rongo Mercenary Team." The sycopant attitude evidently put the aborigines in a better mood. "Good that you are self-aware." Another man¡ªa Terran¡ªlooked at his own screen and grinned. "I''m almost level 10!" He said, waving his fist around. "Heh. Just a bit more and I can handle the earth! The Lord and the others had already awakened, we''re going to be next!" The aborigine sneered, "You people speak like everyone''s going to be an elementalist. Naive!" The lord and his closest confidantes awakening was already unbelievable, did these ants also think they were the same? The Terrans frowned at this; they had a feeling that they were indeed elementalists. However, it was true that this wasn''t confirmed and the people insulting them were so much stronger, so they could only shut their mouths. "Anyway, assuming I do awaken, I will so bury people alive!" Another one of the terrans laughed at his companion, "Well yours is indeed convenient. And fitting. Because you''re always the ''cleaner'' of our messes." The man glared at him, "Obviously, this is my time to shine! I am one of the first Terrans to be elementalist! I don''t have to be reduced to cleaning up corpses!" "But your power¡­" "SHUT UP!" "Mine is water. I can do those water tortures at the flick of a hand!" The aborigines looked at them in interest, obviously liking their attitude, but still disdainful for their wishful thinking. Basically, the conversation shifted to how they''d use their elements to show power and bring terror to other people. Chris and the others looked at each other and nodded. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Next Victims: Confirmed. Chapter 512 Kidnapping The other teams had similar progress. Interestingly, each one had encountered a few members of the Rongo Mercenary team which made dealing with them a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, the soldiers were strong, had elements, and they were blessed by a variety of weapons and defense equipment a village had no business of having so many of. A few paralysis bombs had been used at this time. While a bit of a pity, at least none of them were seriously injured, very much ready for several more battles to come. Rowan and Sammy dragged the unconscious men to a makeshift camp they made. They had sprayed the area with the beast-repelling potion¡ªwhich wasn''t very expensive especially since the main ingredient almost had no value at all and they could take as they take out iron. Their research center was really amazing, churning out these things one after another. It could be said that as soon as Ms. Althea got decent assistance, her productivity spiked at an unbelievable rate. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They couldn''t wait to see these things¡ªas well as many others¡ªbeing commercially available soon! They patted their hands in satisfaction before kicking the damned men for good measure. They were definitely out cold, not just physically but also due to the sleeping potion they put, set to last for a while. Of course, they also tied them up real good with special ropes made from fabric doused with resin (soon to be available at the Gaea Grocery Store) to keep them from escaping even with their improved physiques. Anyway, the group went out again to hunt for new victims and got back about an hour later with five more men. They threw them down without care and kicked them again. They were filled with smiles, quite liking capturing these evil men as if they were prey. Like Mao, they also tortured them a lot beforehand. It was a pity the women they abused couldn''t do it them, but it was the price of strength, safety, and convenience. Maybe they''d get the Terran and weaker aborigine abusers to them to vent their anger after the war. However, as they stared at the men, Sammy couldn''t help but mumble. "This practice is fun and all, but what if our people are targeted?" Mao had sent an aether letter that they caught a group set to do just this. But what if Fargo sent more? What about the next wars? Wouldn''t their next war likely be against aborigines? How worrying is that? Rowan, who was standing beside him, paused. This was indeed a common practice during wars. Although most of the time, the ones hunted in the end were just normal civilians. This was because they were the ones often gathering for goods outside, while guards and lords'' cronies were safe within the walls. However, he still knew that Altera wouldn''t like anyone dying uselessly under their watch. "That is how this world is. We did what we could with the level requirements and the bombs." This was already much, much more than what any other lord bothered to provide to their people. Sammy sighed, but nodded in the end. "Now everyone just has to become stronger." ¡­ Another ''hunting team'' though, encountered quite a bit of conflict. They were not only twice the number in people as the others, but this one had an unexpected member. "Gian!" Gill called, his sharp eyes looking at the man opposite to him while his other teammates dealt with the others. Gian seemed distracted and pale and was about to help them out but Gill blocked his way with an earth wall. They watched as Oslo threw large metallic spikes as big as an arm to Gian''s team, stabbing more than a few people. The rest of the Alterans lunged, taking advantage of the help. As a team with a lot of level 15 and a few level 20 mercenaries, it naturally wasn''t an easy battle. However, with Oslo and the others there, the enemies were taken down, bloodied to pulp. Gian paled. "Stop it! Don''t hurt them!" before lunging towards Gill. The man raised his fist, sending continuous attacks. Gill avoided them all, but he was angry. He could attack him relentlessly but run to the rescue of those men? Gill avoided his attacks and cursed a bit when a part of his long hair was singed by his fire. Gill immediately raised his fist, pebbles congregating and congealing around it. With a snap, it hit Gian directly at the face. BANG! Immediately, Gill lifted his feet to hit Gian''s stomach, sending him straight to the tree. BANGG! "Cough!" Gian groaned, trying to stand up, but Gill arrived above him, kicking him back to the tree again, its leaves falling on them like slow dropping rain. Gill stared down at the man who was shaking, glaring at him, and glaring at his team. Gian''s level wasn''t much lower than his, and the reason he was in the special forces was because of his very high talent. However, his major flaw had always been his impulsiveness. In this case, he was especially reckless to, what, save those terrorists? "What the heck are you doing with those men, huh?" He asked. For shame. How could he ally himself with terrorists?! Unexpectedly, Gian suddenly lifted himself up and swung his feet. He used his momentum to get back up, immediately lunging towards Gill. All his extremities were enflamed and he wasn''t even using his weapons anymore as he sent a barrage of attacks towards Gill. "I''ve had enough of being weak!" He yelled back, "What is strength if we still have to bend?" Gill looked at him strangely, avoiding his attacks, though with increasing challenge. "So you decide to join terrorists?" He narrowed his eyes, "That can''t be it¡­" he said, summoning a whip of fire that Gian relatively nullified. "What will your sister say?" This made Gian''s eyes redder and fire surrounded him as he lunged at his former teammate. "Don''t speak of my sister!" Gill''s eyebrows rose a bit but he wasn''t in the mood to talk. How dare this brat be angrier than he was! He was the one who betrayed them! Gian''s enflamed hands shook as he sent hit after hit at Gill. He had been maintaining this state for a while, and judging by his sweating, it was taking a toll on him. Gian''s jaw clenched and he kicked, his feet enflamed with hostile flame. He sent kick after kick, nullified to some degree by Gill''s stone element. Gill''s eyebrows saw him use the flame''s ignition to jump higher. One of the special things about Elementalists was that their attacks would cause damage to monsters of all levels as long as they gain a certain strength and proficiency. This was unlike weapons which had such obvious limitations¡ªfor example, level E weapons would be completely useless for level 10 monsters and above. Elementalists could actually forgo weapons after a certain level. This was the case with their Captain, who barely used weapons now. Most of them though, still needed the assistance of weapons to channel and control their aggressive powers, and this was a normal thing until level 30, or even 40. Gian had obviously been training this aspect of his skills very thoroughly. Gill could imagine this guy training hard alone in order to deal with the conflicts that serving under Fargo inevitably brought. But¡­ Too bad he''s still an idiot. Chapter 513 Gians Pleas While Gill and Gian''s fight was ongoing, the rest of the team cleaned up the battlefield and tied down their new victims. In fact, there were a lot of people in this team, about 20 fighters being trained by about half a dozen level 15 mercenaries and a few level 20s. If it was another team, they''d definitely have a lot of trouble. But their team had Oslo, who also happened to be a dual-elementalist. He dealt with half of the level 20s and at the same time assisted the others. They also used a few of their weapons here in order to save energy for the main battles, but also to test out their weapons. The enemies definitely did not expect the rain of crossbow arrows they got showered with. The level 15s were not unhurt, let alone the weaker ones who were skewered like those styrofoams poked with hotdog sticks in kids'' parties. While only a few died though due to the enemies'' improved physiques and high levels, it sure made it easy for the Alterans to contain them. Although they were fewer in numbers, there were minimal injuries on their side, which was a miraculous thing. By the time the weaker ones were tied up, Oslo had also stabbed the level 20''s legs until they were basically amputated. They were alive, yes, but they would literally have to be dragged through roots and stones moving forward. It was torture for the men, which was good, but it could also be a bit troublesome for their side as well. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oslo looked a bit guilty. "I overdid it, didn''t I?" "Hmn," Tronie mumbled. "You seem to be in a violent mood today." Tronie came not only to join in the fight (his level was certainly higher than most locals), but he was also sent to look at those new materials the bosses seemed so excited about. Oslo cleared his throat at the answer, a little embarrassed. Could he say he got inspired by the arrows'' skewering that he wanted to join in? "Ahem, well, then we''ll make them pull their disabled comrades. Ahem, time to tie them all up," Oslo said, walking towards their new prisoners with new smaller spikes of metal. Some glared in anger while some shivered in the pain that they knew would come to them. Fargo''s men were utterly shocked at the level of their enemies, and knew they had grossly underestimated Altera. Now, no matter how unreconciled, they could only watch themselves getting brutally tied up because refusing would mean amputation! Their hands were put together by some enemies and the blonde put a stake of metal, passing through their flesh and bones there. "AHH!" One yelled, and the others experienced the same. These people were tied by metal stabbed on their palms and locked with a small plate at both ends. It had similar mechanisms to screws¡ªsomething he learned in Altera. "ARGHH!" "MY HANDS!" "AHH!" Aborigines were basically used to bloody sights here, and most of the Terrans there were soldiers. They didn''t really mind the gruesome sight. "Don''t worry, you won''t need your hands again," Oslo said, stabbing yet another one. It wasn''t permanent metal and would disintegrate with time. After all, permanent manifestations were too time and mana-consuming. But, it would last long enough even after the war started. The leader, Shau, gritted his teeth in the pain, glaring at the useless Gian who was still fighting. "GIAN! Is this what you call help?! You¡ª" Slap! Shau was slapped and a tooth fell out. He whipped his head and looked at Oslo, a man 10 levels above him. "Stop talking. You''re spewing saliva on me," he said, before shifting to tie up a few more, just a few meters away. Shau was a prideful man and even if this was an obvious strongman, the pain he was subjected to made him rebellious. His sharp eyes looked at the blonde who was looking away. "Bastard!" He yelled, leaning down and hoping to headbutt the man. However, as he stepped forward, spikes appeared in front of him and it was too late to stop the momentum. Squelch! "AHHHH!" Shau yelled as he stepped on the sharp spikes that appeared on the ground. Oslo looked back and sighed, but also quite happy at his own improvements. He had learned many many things in Altera, and creating such things with lesser mana was one of them. At some point, they learned that using a little of two elements was far more efficient than doing something with similar effects in one. For instance, this spike was a combination of earth and metal. The same sharpness and damage on either element would''ve cost twice or thrice the amount of mana. Oslo ignored him and continued with his tying, followed by screeching screams of pain. The yells seemed to have affected the only ongoing fight left, however. "Don''t kill them!" Gian yelled as he saw this, making Gill''s eyes twitch. "You are fighting ME," Gill said, sending a massive boulder of lava in his direction. Gian gasped as he tried to push it back with fiery hands to minimize damage, but it wasn''t enough and he gasped as he was directly hit. Cough! "If anyone of us dies, Gian¡ªyou know what will happen!" Shau yelled, still on the ground even after the spikes had disappeared. Gill''s eyebrows rose and his spear came out. Suddenly it enflamed and he slashed at Shau''s leg. "GAHHH!!!" The man yelled like a pig in slaughter. The other attacks were painful enough, but this was amputating him like the others. The added pain of the magma eating away his skin was also making him insane. "Stop it!" Gian yelled, genuinely afraid. "I''ll consider," Gill said, "If you stop being an idiot and tell me what''s going on." "I will save my sister!" Gian yelled, shakily standing up. "You have seen what those men do! I can''t risk angering him¡ª" At this, Gill had an idea of what was going on with this idiot. Gill heaved a deep breath, and a pothole appeared right at his feet, making the hot-headed young man lose his balance and back to the ground. Gill stopped attacking and stared down at Gian, who was trying to get back up. Gill sneered and kicked him again, sending him back to the soil. "Have you seen her yourself?" "I couldn''t risk it!" "She''s in Altera!" This made Gian pause his struggles. "What?" He gulped, looking at him with wide eyes. "I¡­ you''re joking¡ª" "She''s a girl with shoulder-length colored hair, right? She seemed to have colored a few streaks violet, but it had faded a bit now." Gian''s jaw clenched, looking at him, waiting for him to tell him more. "We found her in a neighboring village. She''s working as a saleswoman in the Grocery Store. She''s living perfectly fine while her own brother assisted terrorist and rapist in breaking other women." Gill''s words seemed to have doused water on him, causing all his fire to go out, and his shoulders slumped in confusion. He had tried to minimize the victimizations in his own way, but he knew that was not enough considering he still sided with those men in the end. He even swore an oath not to harm any of them. A wave of shame and regret drowned him, overcoming the relief of the knowledge that his sister was okay. What¡­ had he done? Chapter 514 Convergence The kidnapping went on for a few more hours in different areas around Fargo, and the various teams soon converged as their captain¡ªGaran¡ªhad finally arrived in the area. Through the Aether letters, they had mapped out each others'' locations and determined where to meet up. For safety, every one of their ''victims'' had sacks on their heads (made from cheap hemp cloth¡ªvery rough¡ªwith a quality they usually used as mops in Altera). There were even a lot of dirt and bugs in there, just to make things harder for the bastards. Garan decided to set the meeting in Mao''s camp, which was most mature due to Chris'' OCD and Mao''s convenient earth abilities. Eagle''s was also nice, but they camped very near the mines and, due to the number of people there, there were also more mobs. They cleared some to lower the death count of the slaves, but now that the team had to meet up, it was not practical to be there anymore. Speaking of mines, they looked at the three new rescues they had. One was a poor thin guy named Thomas. Next to him was a former policeman named Bruce and finally a little girl named Lina. They all used to be from Bright, and they naturally had a lot of questions about what happened to them. Anyway, when they got rescued and were treated, they told Eagle and the others about what these men did to their people. While the Alterans couldn''t touch those stationed in the mines (yet) to remain low-key, they certainly vented a lot on the ''kidnapped'' men. Naturally, Eagle forwarded the info to Garan and the rest of them. Considering what they knew, every and each one of these bastards¡ªperhaps except Gian¡ªhad violated other people in that way. Whether it was man or woman, adult or child¡ªthey had done something gruesome to at least one of them. The imagery burned everyone''s stomachs into acid, consequently adding several more bruises to the Fargo men. Sammy, in particular, was very passionate about torturing the bastards more. They would kick, punch, and step on random balls, enticing many many yells around. They would scream and sometimes a bug would enter their mouths and then their souls would die of disgust. The bugs they put weren''t lethally poisonous, but a few of them did have some very painful effects on the men, especially when their immune system was down due to their various injuries. There were plenty of men who asked to be killed because it felt like they were being bitten by ants from the inside. They weren''t, but the tingling paralysis effect of the bugs was something they''d note for future reference. When someone was especially annoying, Mao would get more bugs¡ªthey had learned a lot about these things through Althea¡ªand then placed them in their clothes, before kicking them again, yelling at them to ''stop dancing''. The others watched the show in interest, and Mao looked at the ''slaves'', pointing at the bastards currently being tortured by Sammy. "Would you like to try? It''s very therapeutic." Thomas and Bruce looked hatefully at the men on the floor, but sighed in the end. "Unfortunately, we cannot hurt them even if we wanted to," Thomas said, and Bruce nodded. "But we are happy to see them suffering like this. Thank you, for everything." Sammy smiled, "No problem. We''re kind of indirect old friends, after all," he said and the policeman smiled. Bruce had already heard about Tom and the others from Eagle¡ªit was the first thing he asked when he realized they were from Altera. His baby daughter was doing well in Altera. He heard they had also enrolled her to the school there. He also heard from Sir Garan that she even played in the arcade. Bruno couldn''t imagine what kind of arcade they could build in a place like this, but they said Lily was smiling and that was more than enough for him. Regardless, the largest weight had been lifted already and he could smile so widely despite being a lowly slave because of it. Thomas, on the other hand, looked at the men suffering vindictively. While there was none among them who had taken advantage of his wife, he knew these people had done similar things to others so he still hated them to the core. Seeing them suffering like this made his eyes water a bit. Ah, he wanted to stab them too, but unfortunately he was still a slave. ¡­ Garan and the others soon started a formal meeting, consolidating their maps and their plans, ensuring the ''main force'' participating in the war would be as prepared as possible. As for the kidnapped men, they were handled differently. Overall, the Alterans had taken about a hundred strong men from Fargo, who were stored differently according to their uses. A good fraction of which were aborigines from the so-called Rongo Mercenary Team. Gian was also there, tied and for ''trial''. Most of the ones that they''d keep alive longer than others were buried by the earth users like Mao, Gill, and a few others. Only their nose would be outside to keep them breathing, which also meant they could discuss things as needed because the men wouldn''t be able to hear it. They also added some insect attraction potions in them (Althea thought of many things) and they would be suffering insect bites from the underground insects and be unable to scream well because they''d be underground and doing so would make them swallow dirt with who-knew-what inside. "So Althea and the rest of them should be going through this spot. This area would be the second choice if it was closer to wherever the array would take them," Garan said, pointing at the weak areas in each side of Fargo. They proceeded on analyzing the walls. "The outer wall is easy. It''s large in diameter and is only level 2¡ªeven lower than the buildings inside. The inner wall is the problem." The group continued to chat and strategize. Beside them, Eagle couldn''t help but comment. "Walls were probably very expensive. I can understand why Fargo is pushing concrete." Other than the men''s crimes, they also got some other news from the two ''slaves''. One was that the slaves were divided into two groups. Less than was left in the mines, while the rest were in charge of processing it, turning it to concrete, and the like. "Pity it can''t be used to reinforce walls," Mao mumbled, earning him a soft thump on the head care of Sammy. "Don''t you mean ''luckily''?" After all, adding that could cause a bit more trouble to them as the attacking territory. "What? I believe Altera will get this place! Believe it til'' it''s true." After all, he believed they''d get limestone and be able to mass produce concrete¡ªhe naturally wanted it to be as useful as possible! "Ah, makes sense." "They also found copper," Bruce added beside them. There were so many things they had to discuss before so this particular detail passed by their heads. He didn''t think too much of it because, like Fargo, he didn''t think they''d be able to use it very soon. Unexpectedly, the Alterans whipped their heads to him, almost at the same time. "What?" Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bruce flinched, a little scared of the apt attention. "...What?" "You said they found copper?" "...they did. In the Southern part¡ª" Mao almost jumped at this. "Hey! Isn''t that one of the few materials left before we can get electricity?" This meant he could finally charge his phone! He can finally videotape the evil men they were torturing! "You''re right!" Sammy said, nodding, eyes also bright, mind already wondering what their research center would come up with! As if a signal, a discussion exploded, and for a moment they focused on this particular development. The two slaves gaped at them as they chatted. Were they seriously discussing electricity right now? Chapter 515 Planting Chaos For hours, they hung around like this, preparing, dealing with mobs, and relaxing in their tents while the men suffered underground. As the time for war closed in, however, most of them were then taken out to do what they were set to do. They also killed a couple of people for easier management and gravely injured the rest. They were groaning in pain, definitely in the most pain they had ever been in their lives. The soldiers weren''t psychopaths, but torturing these men was very satisfying. They knew the war was starting soon and this part would end, so they decided to make them suffer for the remaining hours of their lives. And some people enjoyed it more than others. "GAHHH! STOP ITTT! AHHHHH!!" Mao and the others flinched, cringed, and died a little as they watched Gill stab several manhoods to pieces. "I heard you people like to misuse the man''s instruments. As a fellow man, I would like to return some balance to the world," Gill said this with a blank face, as if he was just stating facts. He continued to stab the manhoods of the already-half-dead men that were sprawled in the area. Worse? He did not just stab them. He added magma, and every man there had to watch balls steam as they were burned and melted. "GAHHH!" "AHHHH!!!" Mao¡ªthe most empathic one despite all his flaws¡ªwas so cringed his whole body shook like a slug was added inside his shirt. "S-So uncomfortable!" he yelled. To distract himself, he asked Sammy beside him (whom he really lost 10 gold to, by the way). "What time is it?" "It''s time." "The exact time?" "Does it matter?" Sammy said, crossing his arms. "We base on the sun remember? We don''t have electric watches!" "Ah, right. Anyway, it''s time." At this, a certain part of the group took some of the weaker members and Terrans. Particularly, those who could still move. As they got dragged, their feet felt heavy. Were they finally going to get executed? The thought of death terrified the men and they struggled, only to be met with very painful attacks and very real threats to any of their remaining extremities (or manhood). They were dragged apart from the others who could no longer move. These men were confused but they were in so much pain they couldn''t think too clearly anymore. After walking some distance and reaching a small clearing, the Alterans settled them there. They also may or may not have replaced the special ropes with normal ones, and used relatively loose knots as well. There were more than 30 people there with varying degrees of injuries, a lot of whom had burning crotches. They were pale and bloodless as they were set up by Mao and the others. At some distance, a few other Alterans stood by, watching as the next phase of the plan was settled. "I think Gill overdid it," Chris said, "Would they even be able to go where they should?" "He probably fears his own sister was experiencing something similar," Garan said. "Gwen? Nah." Sammy shrugged, recalling the woman. It was easier to get Chris in a drag queen skirt than to imagine Gwen succumbing to that kind of abuse. Garan thought it made sense and nodded. "Well, a brother''s a brother," he said, "Just imagining it would''ve made him want to kill." Garan couldn''t imagine what he would be like if he had seen these things but was still unaware of where his wife was. The unease would''ve made him crazy, and he''d have definitely done far worse to these men than what they were going through right now. Anyway, the time drew near and Sammy, Mao, and a few others walked over and approached the kidnapped men who were shivering for their lives. Sammy grinned and opened the bottle, sprinkling them all over a couple of enemies. This one had the opposite effect from their favorite Beast Repelling Potion¡ªa low-level Beast Attracting Potion. It was something the aborigine teammates still marveled about. These were things they knew to be sold¡ªat very high prices¡ªin level 3 Pharmacies. Hence, it was usually available in towns, but Altera could just produce them and make them so available that they could douse their enemies with it¡­ Of course, Ms. Althea would definitely put some sort of control over this substance, but still¡­ The men realized they were all drenched and he looked at the soldiers guardedly. "What did you bathe me with?!" "My pee." The man gasped when he realized it did indeed smell a lot like pee! While a lot of them pissed on themselves due to the torture, this liquid smelled much more potent, more acidic, and more disgusting! "WHAT THE FU ARE YOU DOING!?" he yelled in anger, but realized his rope had gotten loose. He stopped moving, trying to appear subtle. The Alterans saw this pause and hid their smiles. "Well it''s because you people are annoying as heck," he said. "I was hoping it would shut you up." They doused a few more and when someone tried to shake it off he was met by a kick and an extra bottle of the ''piss''. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After a while, the Alterans seemed satisfied with the bath and turned, ready to leave them there. "Ah, I''m hungry!" Sammy yelled, turning around. "Let''s eat!" The others nodded and they settled several meters away, just within their vision, but too far away for people who were supposed to be watching over them¡ªleaving their surviving hostages in the open to eat. The hostages, still reeling in pain and disgust, were very confused, but they couldn''t have it in them to think too much. They simply wanted to get away from these psychos as soon as they could! They watched as the Alterans started eating their food some distance away, just leaving them there drenched and disgusting. They flinched when a few people started moving. "What are you¡ª" "We could get out!" One whispered, "Wait until I get ahold of those bastards¡ª" "Come on! Let''s go! Don''t! They''re too strong!" Another said, but he didn''t wait for them. He just wanted to get away! They immediately ran, though in a random direction. When they heard an Alteran''s exclamation, their hearts fell. "Ah darnit! They escaped," Sammy yelled, with very bad acting. "Oh! Wait they''re heading opposite of their territory maybe we can catch them?" Immediately the men turned, running in the other direction. When they were out of sight, the soldiers relaxed immediately, resuming their meals as if nothing happened. Chapter 516 Junis Status Fargo Village At this time of night, it was dark and most citizens were already preparing to go to bed. After all, although they had torches, it was still dark. Fargo quite disliked the lack of productivity at this time. He couldn''t help but feel irked that his citizens, sans the slaves who only got a few hours of rest every day, were not working on something for his territory and just sleeping for at least a third of the day. Should he get a Lighting Tower? With this thought, he opened the Lord Panel for Bright to see if he could get additional funds for a special building. However, he was simply reminded of how poor it was. Even if he did know that they were poor because they invested in infrastructure, it didn''t make them any less disgusting. He continued to peruse and study his new territory. He saw that the population had grown considerably since the last time he checked. He then shifted to the People Panel. "New refugees have found Bright as well." As he perused, his fingers paused. "They just welcomed a group of strong aborigines¡­" "Oh?" He looked at the beautiful Juni, who was sitting on what he called a throne¡ªan elevated portion of his bedroom¡ªsinging. "Don''t stop." The woman continued to sing and he listened to her, his eyes staying on the Bright panel population. Juni looked at him as she sang, and Fargo noticed this. He was in a curious mood so he decided to answer her question. "How do I know? Because they had a group of level 20s to 30s, some even stronger. They also had some unusual names," he said, "And don''t stop singing." Juni continued to sing, as ordered. She sang a few more songs until her voice cracked. This made Fargo pause, lifting his head to look at her. "You don''t want to join the Rongo Hall, right?" She shook her head. Rongo Hall was a special hall where many women resided, much like the king''s harem, and Belize and his men chose whoever to pick there. "Of course not," she said, "I''m reserving myself for you." "So you will be taken tonight?" Juni shook her head, revealing the scar she got from the monster attack getting here. "It could open up," She said, "Please spend more time with your other women please." "And miss out on you?" he said, looking at her darkly. "You''re lucky you swore an oath." Juni''s face didn''t change. She kept her smile. "Of course. I fully believe in my oaths." ''I swear that I, Juniffer Howards, promise not to cause Fargo Territory any harm,'' were her words at the time. This worked because she genuinely believed surrendering it to Altera was good for it. Fargo narrowed his eyes as he gripped her chin. "What if I say I want you now, regardless?" "But I''m afraid you''ll grow bored of me." "Heh, and so?" he said, leaning down. Juni flinched but forced herself not to react in disgust. Before their lips touched, an urgent knocking sounded. "Sir!" It was Sen, and he arrived with a heavy expression on his face. "There''s trouble." Amon looked at the intruder with a blank face. Sen shook a bit, but continued with his reporting. "It seems like the members of the Rongo Mercenary Team that went out hadn''t returned yet. It''s been a day, even longer for some." "What were their tasks outside?" "They''re all out to train our members on the verge of upgraded to level 10, milord," Sen said, "Those people¡­ also hadn''t returned." Fargo''s eyes narrowed and he let go of Juni, who hid a breath of relief. He then opened the population panel, sharp eyes perusing the list. He had too many people, but because he could arrange by level, he could still tell that a lot of level 9s had disappeared from the list. It was either they shifted residencies or¡­ they died. Sen heaved a deep breath. "A few hours ago, the team also sent out people to look. But they¡­ also didn''t return." Amon seemed to look out in thought, before he turned to Juni. "What do you think happened?" Juni pursed her lips and looking away. "Perhaps they encountered an accident somewhere? And isn''t it possible that they simply quit the team to join another?" Fargo looked at her for a beat, and Juni''s heart was tense. She clenched her dress¡ªsubtly, hoping he wouldn''t notice. But Fargo did notice. "Send her to Rongo." "What?" "Whether they quit or died, the remaining members need to be comforted," he said, "It so happened they had been asking me for you." This order made several of the guards drool and they already queued for whoever to take her next. It was indeed like Rongo to be so cheeky to ask when the boss would start sharing his favorite woman. It was likely they got bored of the others they had disposed of. And after the Rongo Mercenary Team, it was their¡ªthe guard''s¡ªturn. Goodness knew how long they had been drooling after their goddess! Juni looked pale as she was carried like a princess by the man. She squealed and struggled. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Don''t¡­ wuu." she turned to look at Fargo who wasn''t even looking at her, "I¡ª" Afraid the lord would change his mind, the guards'' feet hurried so they went out. Under the dim lighting of the street and the moon, he looked at her in greed. "We''ll be very gentle, I promise!" The guards pretty much carried her to the Rongo Base. It was quite dark and they could barely see a thing. The man couldn''t help but her as he carried her, with one of his hands on her breast and his other one sliding nearer her nether regions. She whimpered, asking him to stop, but naturally he was relentless. On the surface, Juni looked helpless and sobbing¡ªa natural for a woman who had been disposed of by their lord. However, if it had been a bit brighter, one would be able to see the sharp light that passed her eyes. Chapter 517 Rongo Mercenary Base At some point though, the guards paused, looking at each other through the sparse lighting around the territory. Their feet halted, eyes showing a bit of greed. "If she gets into the Rongo area¡­ would we really get a taste?" someone asked the question that had been in all the men''s minds. The mercenary team had scores of people in their territory. Juni was so beautiful. Everyone would want to have a taste, and she''d definitely keep them happy for a while. Juni''s eyes narrowed at this and looked around, before she pulled out a needle from her space, inconspicuously poking him with it. "Ouch!" the man yelled, his eyes twitching and cursing in wonder if there was a mosquito that entered. He couldn''t utter a word though because a moment later he lost consciousness, falling down, and shaking as if he had epilepsy. For a territory like Fargo where the leading class relished in violence, adding rules and regulations against it was incredibly impractical and costly. Altera was determined to use it against them. "Ouch!" Juni yelled as they fell down. She moved just enough for the man not to fall on her, but she did still fall down. The other guards put the torch near the other to see closer, and were shocked to see him bubbling on the mouth. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "OI! What''s going on with you?" "He must''ve eaten something weird outside damn." No one suspected her at all. After all, she had ''sworn an oath''. Besides, what could a vase like her do? Instead, she just sniffed, "Take me to my room please," she said, "I''m afraid the team would be angry if we take too long." The guard flinched at this and shook in fear, obviously remembering whatever heinous thing the mercenary did. How dare they want to get a taste at this time? So in the end, one of the guards just dragged the man to the clinic, while the rest took her to the Rongo Hall. They were in a rush so no one carried her anymore, just letting her run with them. The Rongo Mercenary Team base was a relatively large complex in the inner circle. It was surrounded by level 30 walls and composed of dozens of custom houses. It also had a lot more torches than most places and Juni took this time to map out her surroundings. She took particular note of the areas that seemed to be guarded the most, adding it to her mental lists of things to remember. She didn''t even take heed of the various men who looked at her hungrily until a few blocked their way. "That''s the woman right? Is she finally ours?" One asked, looking at Juni up and down while licking his lips. Obviously, he was very satisfied with the ''merchandise''. The guard looked at him guardedly. "Yes, but isn''t your boss Belize the priority?" "Eh, he''s a bit busy now. You know? One of the lord''s old women¡ªthe dark skinned one¡ªseemed to be serving him well." The guard looked at them to see whether they were telling the truth. He shrugged in the end and handed Juni over, not really caring anymore. Juni looked at the men who looked at her hungrily, but she avoided their hold¡ªsurprising them a bit. She kept her head up high and looked at them. It irked them a bit. "Didn''t you see how I was escorted here?" She asked. The men paused and looked at her. She was escorted on foot and at a good pace, not dragged, and she looked proper. "I was sent here by the lord to reward your boss Belize. Not you." The man''s eyes met her defiant ones and twitched. He spat to the side as a bubble of annoyance filled his stomach. "A slut dares to talk back at me?" he asked, raising his hand, intent on teaching her a lesson. His hand was fast and intent to hurt her. Slap! Juni moved her head just enough to avoid the bulk of the force, but enough for the man to feel the hit. She willingly fell down on the floor and didn''t move, but internally took note of the man. The men felt pity for the beauty¡ªwho, in their minds, would become their woman sooner or later¡ªand stepped forward before she got more damaged. "Tako, stop it. She''s so beautiful. What if you destroy her face?" The man named Tako sneered and walked away, while the remaining man dragged her up. She didn''t speak and appeared weak from pain. The man chuckled, seeing her like this. "You should learn to behave well," he said, dragging her to one of the corner villas there. She was taken into the room with the other women. She was pushed inside and the door closed and locked behind her, but her face didn''t change as she studied her new ''room''. It was just a large dormitory hall that housed dozens of small beds each. These beds were small. It was just enough for a small woman to lie in, but a tall woman would have to bend her body to fit. The arrangements were also incredibly dense and there was no private space for each woman. At her entry, some stared at her, but most didn''t even flinch. Some of them were just lying down and staring above them, waiting to be called. Some were scared and shaking, refusing to meet anyone''s eyes. Most of them had blank looks on their faces and some were tied to their beds. Juni also noted that there was a young girl who was hugging her knees on the corner. She seemed very thin and small, and she looked very pitiful. If Jake was here, he''d recognize this girl as his suitor, Yiyi. Juni''s fist clenched but she kept her head low as she approached a free bed. It was unsightly, just a wooden frame bed with a board. Thankfully, she had a blanket in her space so she could sleep in comfort. Some of the girls looked at her in envy, and she knew that if any of these women still had a fight in them, perhaps they''d have tried to bully their way into getting the blanket. Juni would''ve preferred it like that to be honest, but at least she didn''t have to think of how to deal with them. She laid down like a behaved woman and waited for everyone to go to bed. They didn''t have much to do anyway and their senses had nulled, so Juni didn''t encounter much tension in what she was about to do. She looked around and hid under her blanket, taking out a thicker one to cover the dim lighting the aether letter gave off. She pressed the inkless pen on the paper, writing. /They have begun to move./ she said. And the message appeared on the five other sheets, signaling the next phase of their plans. Chapter 518 Suspicions Back in the meeting hall, lit by various torches in the dark night, Fargo''s leading team gathered in a tense atmosphere. Everyone would usually be asleep or in bed at this time, but they had to be called on an emergency meeting¡ªwhich was truly irksome. The huge Uzon sat on the side, arms crossed, and he was facing the twins Eli and Eso on the other side of the table. There was also Belize, who was sitting next to the head, an unreadable expression adorning his face. Finally, on the head of the table was Fargo, whose face was incredibly dark, and they knew saying the wrong thing now could easily get them a bullet in the head. "Report," Fargo said, his finger tapping on the table in thought. "We have 129 men unaccounted for sir, 23 of whom are members of the Mercenary Team." The morbid tapping paused. That was a lot of his guards at the brink of the major upgrade. Not to mention 23 mercenaries were half of the people they stationed in Fargo at the moment. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Let alone Fargo, even Belize also darkened at the value. After all, he went to a village, while the others went to Towns. It was natural the manpower assigned to him was far less than the others. "And why is this reported only now?" Fargo asked, pulling up the Lord Panel to look at the names there. As he perused the names, the reporting men continued speaking. "We apologize, milord. We just thought they got a bit far and ended up camping outside¡ª" "Most of our people are dead," Amon interrupted him, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the panel. "The members of the Rongo mercenary team, however, are all alive." "Sir?" Uzon and the others asked, shocked, before turning to Belize¡ªthe representative of the Mercenary Team. They all looked at him guardedly. They were all suspicious people by nature. They hadn''t trusted this guy despite all the oaths, and seeing something like this exacerbated it. "Explain, Belize. What did you do?" Uzon said, slapping the table in front of him. It shook, but fortunately, it was well-made and kept standing. Belize looked at him and Uzon met his gaze with a glare. Could this be the start of a rebellion? Could they have missed anything in the non-betrayal oath!? Belize heaved a deep breath, rubbing his forehead. "We have no reason to do this. Do you doubt me, my lord? My entire team made various oaths¡­" The others looked at him guardedly and his jaw clenched. "I swear, milord, I nor any of my team members would go out of their way to harm your people." Fargo looked at him. "Can you blame us for thinking negatively?" Belize shook his head. "I was born in a town and had worked in cities," he said, "We have settled comfortably here. We have no reason to ruin things." Uzon looked at him. "Maybe you want the token for yourself?" "I can make an oath specifically to ease you of your worries regarding this." Belize was calm outside, but inside he was still thinking about his teammates. To be honest, he had minimal patience for such questioning. It was only because he had been trained well in the city that he hadn''t snapped yet. He especially had to walk on eggshells because of his low level. In cities, level 30s at his age¡­ were basically commoners. However, despite this, Belize had managed to serve a City Lord. This was because of his element and his skills. When he was kicked out, he was still plenty rich and had managed to take a few things without people knowing. Rather, he did so by framing a few of his enemies. At the same time, his Mercenary team¡ªone he had formed long ago with a couple of friends¡ªhad been tired of being the bottom tier in a city and looked for a good base. They divided into teams to look for various bases, though they had shortlisted a couple of Towns. For his team, he decided to enter the Chancery and chose any territory other than the City, and was surprisingly hired by a village instead. Being able to hire a level 30 elementalist as a village said a lot about it, and he was not disappointed. On the contrary, he saw the great potential in this Village so he remained obedient and helpful. While they didn''t completely dispel the possibility of them taking over, they had seen the power of this village and they lived comfortably. With enough power, his team didn''t see a point in taking over and reducing their numbers even further This was especially true now that a huge bulk of his men had been missing. It''d take a while for the rest of the mercenary team to arrive. He couldn''t harm the lord and his people due to the oaths, but some people weren''t, and he was already formulating an alternative plan in case his relationship with the ruling party here turned dour. Fargo looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Isn''t there a way to determine the last known location?" Fargo asked. Belize shook his head. "In theory, except for some announcements that came with great costs, the lord token only works within the territory." He didn''t know more about the token, nor did he know how merging or controlling other territories worked. After all, to a lord, asking such questions was suspicious. He didn''t even know the token would detach during wars until he saw it by accident. He was almost killed then, and had to swear never to say so to anyone. He, of course, naturally used papyrus to tell his current lord. This was how Fargo knew in advance what he could do and the advantages of war, letting him have a large head start ahead of the others. Belize believed that he had given so much to a lord much weaker than he was, but now he was obviously being doubted. Belize''s dark eyes looked at the men in the room. Was it time to make another plan? Chapter 519 The War Declaration The room was silent, and a lot of it was in doubt of the Rongo Mercenary Team''s movements in the territory. Fargo looked at him, before looking away to enter his own thoughts. Something was obviously going on, and a sense of foreboding occupied him. He narrowed his eyes, his mind calculating what he could do at this time. "Assign teams to go look for them tomorrow morning," he said. "Be fully armed and make sure each team has at least a few powerhouses. Form teams at least twice as large as you used to. "Call in all the slaves, be sure to check for stowaways," It was regretful that such important jobs had to be halted, but something was obviously going on and he wasn''t willing to risk hundreds of working slaves at this time. The cronies nodded. "Yes, milord!" They were about to adjourn when¡ªall of a sudden¡ªBelize stood up. It was so abrupt that his chair fell and it raised an alarm in everyone else''s hearts. At this, everyone¡ªsans Fargo¡ªabruptly stood up as well, taking out their weapons, and pointing them directed at him. They were guarded and prepared for a hard fight. After all, this was a man at least twice their level! They didn''t know what loophole he would take advantage to attack them¡ªif any¡ªbut they weren''t taking any chances! However, instead of a fight, Belize was pale as he stared into blank air¡ªor rather, his panel. Belize''s mind was in a whirl. He was utterly confused at what he was seeing. It was the first time he had seen something like this¡ª Belize gaped at the long line of announcements in front of him. [A Mercenary Team member, Impo, has died. 1.1 miles South.] [A Mercenary Team member, Shaw, has died.1.1 miles South.] [A Mercenary Team member, Uko, has died.1.1 miles South.] [...] There were at least a dozen of them. "What''s going on, Belize?" Fargo asked, his baritone voice shaking the aborigine out of his daze. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Belize''s eyebrows furrowed, voice a little dry. "Milord¡­ they''re dead. A lot of the missing teammates died at the same time!" This made the other men in the room look at him in shock, a few even dropping their weapons. "What?" Uzon asked, followed by the twins. "What do you mean by that?" "Hey, explain more!" Fargo didn''t speak, but he looked at him with deeply furrowed eyebrows. Belize took a deep breath to keep his eloquence. "I have mentioned before that members of a Mercenary Team would always receive notifications when and where a member dies." He took a deep breath, fist clenching. "Almost all of the members who went missing¡ªthey all perished at the same time, and at the same location!" A tense silence passed by the room, and they recognized it what it was: An Attack. "This is a sign¡ªa prelude," Fargo told them. His jaw was clenched as the thought that had been dawning on him finally concretized. There was really an idiot that decided to attack them. No, if they managed to damage them so much¡ªthen it was well planned. However, none of them had the time to think of a counterattack when the mercenary froze again. This time he couldn''t help himself and hit the table, easily disintegrating it. Uzon flinched a bit. This guy had been so submissive that he forgot he was strong! Fargo seemed unfazed by the show of aggression, looking at his hired aborigine. "What happened this time?" Belize didn''t answer immediately and stared at his screen as a new line of deaths appeared in front of him. [A Mercenary Team member, Inuk, has died. 0.9 miles Northeast] [A Mercenary Team member, Penro, has died. 0.9 miles Northeast] He gritted his teeth. "Those assigned in the mines has also perished." Fargo''s frown deepened while the others looked at each other, a bad feeling overcoming everyone''s guts. "What''s going on?" "The mines¡ª" "Shut up." Fargo''s low voice resounded and everyone shut their mouths to let Fargo think in silence. He immediately sent a firm instruction to all the slaves. [Attack all non-residents. Aim to kill. If you can''t, kill yourselves.] He frowned, unsure if it would have any effect at all. But they were too far from them and it was the only way to cause immediate trouble to whoever killed his men. He began to formulate on what to do to smoke out the bastards, but he wasn''t given a lot of time because the system resounded in his head. [Altera Village (Lv3) has officially declared war on Fargo Village (Lv3). The War will begin at 13:59:59.] Fargo''s eyes widened a bit, things falling into place. So it was them! Of course! It was probably Garan himself hunting for his men! Had they grown so strong after a short time? "Milord?" Uzon and the others asked worriedly. At the same time, the ground shook, followed by a couple of distant screams. "What''s going on?" the guards asked, gesturing to head out, not knowing this would be the beginning of a restless night. The group went out to see that many guards were running towards the gate battlement, looking out. Fargo and the others climbed up the walls through the stairs they manually created. From the distance, they saw a small mob banging on the outer wall, and it wouldn''t take long for them to breach it. When it did, the outer circle would fall into chaos, and the inner wall wouldn''t be unaffected, especially with its increased sizes. Fargo narrowed his eyes at the monsters aiming to wreak havoc in his home. Judging by the subsequent trouble, they would be kept up all night long. Including the time needed to prepare for the war proper, it was obvious what the enemy''s strategy was! He had to admit, he was a bit taken aback by the appearance of problem after problem. However, Fargo was never one to back down from a challenge. Fargo''s sharp eyes turned and looked at his men. "Wake everyone up, gather all the forces!" he said. "PREPARE FOR WAR!" Chapter 520 The Mines (Part 1) Limestone Mines, 1 Hour Prior Late at night, the activity at the mines continued without pause. Slaves continued to work overtime, even when their arms were shaking, even when their bodies were exhausted. The slaves of Fargo were divided into two shifts. One part was dedicated to mining, and the others would be handling the harvests, as well as their transfer and processing. At this time, there were only a few hundred slaves outside the territory, and watching there were about two dozen guards. Clack! Clack! Clack! Rebi just relished in the numbing activity as he was left alone among his group of friends. Every friend he made as a slave had passed, and he couldn''t help but want to cry for Bruce and Lina. His heart was heavy every time he remembered them. If he fought harder, would they still be alive? A part of him knew that he wouldn''t have made a difference, but there would always be a ''what if'' that would lurk in his heart as long as he thought of their deaths. Clack! Clack! Clack! Hard labor just happened to be a good way to numb that intangible pain and guilt. He was filled with bruises and dried blood¡ªas most were¡ªand they had been hungry and parched for so long their bodies seemed to be in the state of perennial shock. They were also extremely dirty. They hadn''t had a bath after becoming enslaved. Worse: some people were beaten up until they pissed or shitted on themselves and they had no choice but to live with those hanging on them. They not only had to endure pain, hunger, and thirst, they had to get used to smelling their own feces, too. However, while the slaves struggled to keep standing, the slave drivers struggled to keep awake. The Terran guards didn''t dare sleep during this time, but the aborigine ones¡ªthe members of the mercenary team¡ªwere naturally different. An aborigine guard''s head bobbed up and down, and he flinched awake a moment later. "AH! I''m so sleepy¡­" he mumbled, but then he saw the person next to him was already snoring and he kicked him awake. The man on the ground cursed, glaring at him. "What was that for, Inuk!" "We were asked to make sure not all the slaves die, idiot." "Why do we have to even guard these trashes," The man¡ªPenko¡ªmuttered under his breath as he got back up to his chair. "What''s the use of having guards when we need to keep them alive at this time! I want to get a woman by my side!" "Don''t we have some here?" "Tsk! That little girl was a pity. Too bad!" "You said you didn''t like flat." "But a woman''s a woman, especially now that we had access to so few of them in this place.!" This made the slaves shiver, but they continued to work as if they didn''t hear anything. Penko looked at the Terran guards, giving them a bad look. "If you people weren''t so weak, would we have to suffer like this? We could be hanging around our base right now!" At this time, if he was in the territory, he''d definitely have one or two women from the ''roster'' serving him! They said so as if they were prepared to beat them up, making the Terran guards pale. The Terran guards went over to them, looking respectful. "Sirs¡­er, If you want, we can go look for some," he said. "We still have a few here¡­" "So there''re few?" The guard looked awkward. "Well, not many women survived the subsequent disasters, so we¡­ reserved a few stocks." The good ones were kept by the lord''s party or the Rongos, they naturally had to keep some decent ones ready for themselves. "Oh?" Inuk said, looking at the Terran who shivered under his stare. He gasped when a huge palm found his neck, lightly strangling him. "Next time you dared to hide such a good thing for me, this will be meeting my sword." The guard nodded urgently, face becoming blue, and he gasped as he was let go. He heaved a deep breath and he lifted his head, maintaining his pandering expression. "L-Let me take you there, sirs¡­" he said, and they nodded. Before heading out, the aborigines looked at the other guards. "Better guard this place well or else¡ª" "Yes, sir!" Inuk grinned, satisfied with their obedience, before following the guide deeper into the cave system with Penko. While the limestone mine cave system was not too deep compared to other mines¡ªfor instance, mines handled by goblins¡ªit was naturally not small. After all, thousands of slaves had worked hard on it for many days and, even with the reduced manpower, there were still hundreds of them currently doing the same. The Terran guard led them deeper into the cave and they arrived to their destination after about ten minutes of leisure walking. It was a cavern the size of a room, and it was obviously created after being abandoned or fully harvested¡ªthat was to say, all the resources had been taken away and this had effectively become a ''dead spot''. Well, not exactly, because there were two very beautiful ''resources'' occupying it now. At this, the two men couldn''t help but study them well. One was a cute one with relatively pale skin and bountiful breasts. She had a short hair and a little unsightly, but clean compared to the other slaves. The other one had long dark tresses and darker skin. She had longer legs than the other, and her eyes were rounder but a lot more defiant than the other one. The two women were tied up on a makeshift bed, and there were earthenware pots next to them. Judging by the smell, it was probably their ''bathroom'' during their stay here. The two women saw the newcomers entered and frowned deeply. The terran guard smiled and looked at them. "These are Master Inuk and Penko. They''re from the great Rongo Mercenary team. Serve them well." At the confirmation that the newcomers were, indeed, aborigines, the two women paled even more, shivering. "Aww, are you cold?" He asked, "Don''t worry, the bosses would warm you right up~" He stood up, giving way to the other two men whose eyes never left the women. They were not naked but they were flimsily dressed, as if they were just covered for the sake of covering. It certainly didn''t do much to hide their generous features. The sight made the two aborigines heat up down below. "Not bad, not bad at all!" Penko said, licking his lips. The Terran saw this and smiled in relief. "We reserved two for our own use. One was a slave from Bright Village, while the other one we just kept." "One isn''t a slave?" The guard nodded. "It''s the darker-skinned one," he said. "But don''t worry. She''s weak and signed a contract to work for us." "Okay, okay, leave us be," Penko said, looking at his companion. "Which one do you want?" "The brunette is prettier," Inuk said, and Penko nodded. "Hmn, I like the breasts of the other one." Seeing as there''s no conflict, the two went to their respective women, dragging them to each side of the room to taste. The two women''s eyes met, a little panicked, especially the short-haired girl. After all, she was a slave and she could do nothing but do whatever was asked of her. The dark-skinned woman, on the other hand, was a angry, but otherwise a lot calmer. She glared at the man who was approaching her, gripping on her ropes. Aborigines? She did not plan for this! But¡ªshe has had enough! Inuk just smiled at her glare and approached, immediately taking her lips. At first, she seemed to be reciprocating and Inuk was being taken to Elvendell by her superior kissing skills. However, a few moments later, his instincts as a level 16 tingled and he bent backward, seeing the woman holding a sharp edge to where he just was. His eyes twitched and his smile turned malicious, immediately grabbed her hand. "Yo! I got a really feisty one!" he said, pressing it just a bit, but it was enough to shake her due to the pain. Crack! "AHHH!" She screamed and let the blade go. Inuk listened to its clanging and kneeled to take it, realizing it was one of those good knives a few locals here had. Of course, it didn''t do much damage as it wasn''t infused by aether, but he found it to be a good material anyway. "And I got a bonus," he said, placing the blade in his space. Nearby, Penko shook his head. "Good for you," he said, before touching the slave''s legs. She struggled a bit but unlike the others, he liked them well-behaved. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Don''t move," he ordered. "Open your legs as wide as you can." The short-haired girl sniffed, unwilling, yet her body moved on its own, following the man''s order. Meanwhile, the other woman''s legs were also dragged and opened. She wanted to struggle more but the pain of her strained arms was too much. The women''s eyes turned red as the hopelessness of the situation dawned again, and they could only look at each other in sadness. Was this truly their fate for the rest of their lives? No¡­ right? Chapter 521 The Mines (Part 2) Limestone Caves, 50 Minutes before the Declaration The two women had been here since the mine started its operations. One could imagine the suffering they had to endure during this time at the hands of these men. One of these women was a young artist named Penny. She had short reddish-brown hair with streaks of gold. She wasn''t a beauty, but she was pleasing to look at¡­ at least before the disaster happened. She managed to survive the first few weeks in one territory doing the basic jobs like cleaning up the meat and cooking something palatable. The village still fell though¡ªlike countless others¡ªand she became one of the poor refugees along with thousands of people. They got separated due to various mobs, insects, and the like, and her group of hundreds¡ªafter being reduced to at least half¡ªeventually found their next territory. When she and a few survivors arrived at Bright, they thought they had finally found a home. She was so happy to find a decent home with a proper toilet¡ªto finally have a decent meal after so many weeks. But then the war started a few days later, and she was also ''lucky'' to have become a slave as soon as it ended. As another man approached her, she couldn''t help but feel melancholic. To think she was just hanging around with her roommate when the disaster happened. Had it only been a few months? It literally felt like a lifetime ago. What a pity. She and her roommate, Samantha, had joined an art contest and were set to win awards. Too bad they wouldn''t ever know who won! She had such a bright future. Now she was put aside to become a toy like this in exchange for some food, drinks, and less manual labor, but to be honest she''d rather hit her head on the limestone rocks than endure these men! It wasn''t that she hadn''t tried either, but she was a slave and a mere order would change her tune. "Hello, love," the man said, grinning and showing off his disgusting teeth. "Ready for some fun?" She whimpered and looked away, not wanting to look at him at all. Beside her, the other woman crawled backward, even if just to delay the inevitable. Aditi was a beautiful woman with mocha skin and dark-brown hair. Her situation was very different from Penny. She wasn''t a slave in the system sense, but she was treated no differently. It was her stupidity that got her here. She was naive, growing up overprotected by her parents and her two brothers, and she ended up signing an employment deal that had a lot of loopholes she missed. She thought she signed an employment to be a writer¡ªher job back in Terran. They claimed they had a lot of paper and they needed someone to write the History of the village. She was so tired of hunger, thirst, and running for her life that she jumped at the chance of a ''safe'' employment opportunity. She ended up signing something she belatedly realized was very near slavery. It was disgusting and there were too many times she wanted to end her own life, but what if her family was still alive? How sad would they be to find out she died like this? They were so good to her, she couldn''t do that to them! Someday she''d figure out a way out of here. Someday she''d stab those men in the heart and cut off their dicks! But still, physically, both women couldn''t do anything but fantasize at this time, trying to numb themselves as the men forcefully opened their legs and hovered above them. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But before the men could do anything, they heard screams outside. It was a bit muted because they were so far, but their hearing still managed to catch a bit of it. They were screams of horror but, to the women''s ears, it was the most beautiful sound. "AHHH!" "No! Don''t¡ª" "GYAHHH!" "What''s going on?" Penko¡ªwho had much better hearing than the two women¡ªasked, cursed, and begrudgingly put his pants up. Inuk sighed and also let go to check. "It must be a couple of beasts getting in," he said with a shrug, "Hopefully not too many slaves are lost this time." But as they went out, going back to the main tunnels with their weapons out, they realized that there was the lack of growls and scratches they were used to. Further, after the initial screams, there was nothing else. When they emerged, they immediately saw the guards on the ground, bleeding and flinching, while the slaves were gaping from the side. They were all holding some pieces of hard bread and passing around a bottle of something to drink. There were even three familiar slaves among them! People who were supposed to be dead! In the middle of them all were a few men with various features, and the common thing was that they were strong and were being friendly to the slaves. How could they not understand they were being attacked?! Penko immediately lunged and opened his mouth to yell orders to the slaves. "Attack th¡ª" but before he could yell out orders, he was held back by an arm and thrown to the wall. He then heard cracking sounds and the belated shock of pain made him realize it was his own bones! He gasped at the suddenness of it all, but only muffled sounds came out of his mouth as it was covered with smelly cloth that immediately made him want to vomit. "Whwattt!" he yelled but felt like vomiting as more of the foul smell¡ªand taste¡ªreached his tongue. "Enjoy the smell of soiled clothes, trash." Inuk also went to attack the nearest one, but before he could react, he was immediately kicked on the spinal cord. "GAH!" His knees immediately buckled as his joints were stabbed from behind, and he fell down head first. "Ooof!" Like Penko, Inuk also found fabric stuffed into his mouth. It had a different acerbic taste and no less disgusting. They looked down and realized it was a soiled cloth of slaves who pissed and shit on themselves! They were promptly beaten to a pulp by one or two soldiers, and rendered completely useless after a few minutes of play. They could only passively accept the onslaught of attacks, the pain numbing their brains, making them unable to counter at all! Penko and Inuk were already around level 16, but they were no match against these newcomers!! What in the orcshit is going on?! Chapter 522 The Mines (Part 3) Trigger Warning: Don''t worry, it''s NOT rape. Rather, it''s literal mention of shit (it''s part of the enemy torture). Anyway, it''s gross, so be warned. Try not to skip the chap though cuz'' I wouldn''t be writing a summary in the comments for this one. Just don''t read while you''re eating. LMAO ¡­ _____ Limestone Caves, 40 Minutes before the Declaration "Whwowar you?!" Penko yelled through the fabric, ignoring the piercing pain in his body. However, his yell pushed the fabric deeper in his throat, giving him a more intimate taste of the fabric. He coughed loudly in disgust but it was tied to him and he couldn''t do anything about it¡ªnot when all his appendages were broken. It took several bouts of coughs before he managed to tilt his head to look closer at the attackers. Belatedly, he realized they were familiar faces! It was those men from the what''s-it-called? Terran Mercenary Team! They were strong and were all elementalists! They dared attack them so openly?! Aren''t they afraid to be hunted down by their mercenary team?! Inuk had a similar reaction. Unlike Penko who was more reactive, Inuk had a bit more of a leveled head despite being drowned in pain. He tilted his head to the side and bobbed his head, trying to use the momentum to get rid of the fabric. It was to no avail of course and seeing his efforts another enemy (Mao) even stuffed another one in his mouth so it got as wide as it could be¡ªfilled with disgusting fabric. His eyes were red as he glared at the men, cursing them through muffled yells. This earned him a couple more kicks to the stomach, and the reflex was to gulp and cough so more of the smell and the solid came in. Inuk badly wanted to vomit and his body gurgled puke, filling up his mouth with the disgusting bile. It got so much he choked with a bit leaking out through the fabric. "Eeh, gross," Mao said as he looked at the paling face of the aborigine, proceeding to kick the other one''s stomach. BANG! Gurglegurle¡ª The other one also vomited and Mao cringed, body wiggling as if ice was just placed at the back of his neck. Eagle sighed and shook his head. "Stop playing, it''s almost time." "Ah, yes, yes," Mao said and along with the others they either dragged or kicked the slave drivers in one place for better ''management''. As such, the two dozen or so slave drivers were lined up neatly on the floor, surrounded by the slaves they tortured. There were hundreds of slaves there so they naturally couldn''t fit in one cavern, but they cooperated in a way among themselves¡ªallowing people to look at the poor state of the men in turns. They might not be able to hurt them physically, but after some experimentation they could still exact a bit of petty revenge. Most who passed spit on them. Some even peed and some shit directly on them. "Ah, I held it back for too long it''s black now!" One said, literally shitting on a person''s face. He targeted this Terran a lot, and it was obvious he had been tortured during his stay there. The former slave driver could only scream as¡ª "Too graphic! Too graphic!" Mao yelled, effectively cutting the imagery. Anyway, it was all very disgusting but the Alterans just let them be. They couldn''t imagine how much these people suffered during this time. They must want to do more, but this was all they could do, and they would give it to them. Sammy sighed. "Too bad they couldn''t torture them any other way." "Seeing them eating my shit is good enough," one of the slaves next to him said. The others nearby nodded in agreement. "Thank you so much for rescuing us." "Meh, Bright is our ally, but we won''t go out of our way unless it has advantages for Altera," Eagle humbly said with a smile, looking around them. "Like this place." The slaves smiled lightly, some still chewing on the small pieces of bread given to them¡ªtrying to make them last as long as possible¡ªwhile some sipping the water bit by bit. "There should still be some more inside," Chris said. He knew these two must''ve come from somewhere, but seeing that there were no slaves coming out of that direction, he decided to take a look himself. He was a scout so it wasn''t difficult to trace where they just were. After a few minutes, he found the two half-naked women on the floor. He immediately gave them his remaining blankets to share and untied them. They looked at him like he was their savior and he flinched under the attention. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Can you stand?" He asked. "Come with me," he said without waiting for their answer, afraid to ask him to carry them. He saw that they could stand up on their own and nodded, handing them a few pieces of bread and water as well. The two women gaped at him, looking disbelieving, and he couldn''t help but clear his throat. "I don''t know if you''ve heard of Altera, an allied territory¡ª" "You''re an Alteran!?" Penny yelled and when he nodded, her eyes brightened. Since she had just arrived in Bright before the war happened, she hadn''t really encountered an Alteran before. However, she had heard plenty about them. Just the name itself gave her hope. She immediately took a bite of the bread, tearing up a bit as the taste of flavored bread touched her tastebud and healed her soul. She also drank a gulp of the water given and she immediately felt so cleansed that her tear ducts opened a waterfall. "Wuuuu¡ª" She sobbed, her legs buckling as the intense relief and emotions flooded over her. Rescued! They were being rescued! Aditi heaved a deep breath, also taking a sip of the water and the bread. Hearing her companion sob, her eyes also couldn''t help but feel teary. Chris looked at the women in pity. He handed them both clean handkerchiefs, which shocked them, but they could only say their gratitude in the end. He waited a couple of minutes for them to calm down. "Let''s go join the others," he said, and the two women followed him shakily. Chris slowed his pace to match the women''s and the two women looked at each other as they traversed the small tunnels in the cave. They didn''t want to expect too much from another territory¡ªassuming he was who he claimed¡ªbut this cute guy didn''t seem to be a bad guy? He certainly had the wide shoulders that would make a woman feel protected¡­ Anyway, they arrived at the main area to see the slave drivers lined up, tortured, and in absolutely poor states. The two women''s eyes widened as they walked closer to get a better look. Penny outright sobbed again at the sight of them, heaving, shedding tears of relief and joy, while Aniti chuckled, but otherwise just stared at them. "Tell us what torture you want us to do them in your stead," Chris said kindly, but to his surprise one of the women shook her head. "I''m not a slave," Aniti told them, catching them by surprise. "I.. I can torture them myself!" She said. "Please! Let me!" The Alterans'' eyebrows rose and Chris stared at her, before summoning a knife he had in his space, and handing it to her. The woman pursed her lips and held back her tears before turning to the men. In particular, the men who touched her. The men''s eyes widened as the blade came closer to them. However, they couldn''t move at all as they were tied down to the soil by various abilitilies. In the end, they could only stare as the woman raised her blade, ready to stab them. "AHHHH!!!" The slaves and Alterans watched in morbid fascination as the girl stabbed each one, specifically on their manhoods, over and over. It looked painful to watch and Mao couldn''t bear to look without cringing. She stabbed and stabbed, killing those men who violated her. She then turned to the aborigines, who flinched and wildly shook their heads as they looked at her. Before she could do anything though, she felt a warm calloused hand on her shoulder. She looked to see it was Chris. "Don''t kill the aborigine yet." She nodded, stopping, but then an exclamation sounded behind them. It was Mao, looking at the aether letter. "Hey! It''s time!" At this, Chris'' let go of his hand and said, "Ah, never mind." Aditi''s eyes brightened and she looked at the two men whose eyes were wide in terror. "You should''ve know this would happen to you after all you did to us," he said, stabbing the two in their hearts as well. And so, Inuk and Penko were no more. Chapter 523 Monster Breach (Part 1) Fargo, Present BANG! BANG! BANG! The eerie sound of the monsters banging on the walls and the gate echoed in the territory, waking everyone up even before Fargo could announce the upcoming war. "What''s going on?" The guards yelled, and it so happened that a few dozen men had entered the territory. They were guards, for sure, and they had been looking for them for a while! "Hey!" They come back after going missing for so long, and even bringing along a mob with them! The bastards! But the newcomers¡ªall bloodied and terrified¡ªwere only shaking. "Kill them! Kill them!" They yelled, before pushing themselves up and running in various directions. ROARR!! This seemed to have made the monsters even angrier, banging on several sections of the wall with all their might. At first, the guards around could not be bothered by the newcomers and gathered together to stab down the monsters. The guard captain in the area happened to be Peko, who had just been promoted from guarding the mines. He stared at one of the guards, yelling at them. "Where''s Victor?! Call them!" This had been their default move the past few weeks and it had always served them well. However, some minutes later, the guards returned with pale faces. "Their house is empty!!" "What?!" Peko yelled and the other guards gaped at them. Victor and the others weren''t here? Were they supposed to kill all these monsters¡ªaveraging level 8¡ªall by themselves? They tried to stab down the monsters, but their levels weren''t very high¡ªthose who were level 9 and above were precisely the people who brought these beasts here¡ªand soon more and more guards were pulled down the wall to be mauled by the monsters. What''s worse, they noticed that there were more and more monsters getting attracted and they were starting to feel the wall crumble. "SHIT!!!" Anyway, they didn''t want to risk their lives for the monsters. One by one, the guards either fell to the monsters'' mouths or left the area. They ran away, leaving the wall completely vulnerable! BANG! BANG! CRASH! ROARRR!! As such, it didn''t take long before several sections of the wall gave way, the monsters who had managed to squeeze in immediately ran in specific directions! That was¡ªoddly¡ªtowards the bloodied newcomers they had been following! "WHAT THE¡ª" One yelled as he dragged himself. He was one of the heavily injured ones who had used all his strength to get back to the territory. But, for some reason, even when there were so many houses with so many people, the monster somehow found him! He was thrown up, landing straight to the monster''s mouth. Squelch, squelch, squelch One of his companions saw this and cursed, running in the direction of the smaller houses in hopes of getting it off his tail. "SHIT! SHIT!" He ran as fast as his body allowed. He went through the streets, damaging a few houses, and eventually reached the shanty areas full of unprotected people! The people from the shanties had run away as soon as they realized the walls were breached. They had learned the hard way that their homes would be the first to be destroyed during a breach. "KYAAA!" Screams abound and everyone went away, looking for new places to hide. "HELP ME, PLEASE!" "HELPPP!" "QUEIT!" Vivian yelled, trying to keep her calm as she saw the corner end of the area had monsters running through. "They''re not here yet! Do you want them to go to us?!" This shut the people up and many followed Vivian, who seemed to have kept her head. Vivian was a journalist who went through various things to get a scoop. She naturally had a better reaction than everyone else. As for why she was living in the shanties, Vivian had spent all her money trying to send her husband some food. How could she afford a house? As they ran around as quietly as they could, hoping for the monsters flowing in not to go to their area, to find a place to hide, some doors opened up. "Here!" A young lad said, behind one of the doors. Vivian''s eyes widened and nodded gratefully, and several people entered the house along with her. With his lead, more and more doors opened and the people hid inside with bated breath. Fortunately, most of the people in system houses opened their doors to help them out, one of the few hopeful things to see even in such a situation. Of course, not everyone could be saved, especially when the men were desperate to shake away the monsters. The monsters somehow still found the bloodied guards a lot more interesting and¡ªwhile there was plenty of collateral damage by monsters barrelling towards the people¡ªthey were always after the same men, so the deaths were far less than one would expect. ROARRRR! A monster passed by and they felt the ground shaking. People held back their gasps as a few walls took direct hits, and to be honest it felt like directly hitting on their hearts. "GET OUT YOU BASTARDS!" They would hear the men yell as they passed, but of course, no one did. ROARRR! The monster passed by, intent on following specific people for some reason, but no one dared to feel relieved just yet. When it turned quiet, the roars and screams becoming farther away, several people finally let out their sobs. "Wuu¡­" "Another breach¡­" "How long will this house hold up?" "Not again, not again¡­ wuu¡­" They were reminded of the sufferings during the previous breach. Many people sobbed and prayed, hoping for them to get out of this alive. Anyway, while the chaos from the mobs was going on, they all hid inside the houses. Even the lowest system house was still relatively durable. In another area, the doctors immediately called all their patients inside, locking the openings as well as they could using the commissioned beds. The windows here could swing open outside, which would be difficult to open by the brainless monsters, but it was one of the vulnerable spots that would break first in case of direct monster attacks. "Aren''t Victor and the others around?" Dr. Cynthia asked, patting a young girl shaking in her embrace. Dr. Lu sighed. "I''m not sure, they mentioned they would have to go into hiding because Fargo is killing them off." Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this, several people cursed at Fargo and his men. "Those bastards!" "Are they stupid? Controlling such people and making them guard their territory for them was one thing, but to kill them off?" "They probably got too strong." "Our lord is really cursed!" At this point, everyone was just afraid not to survive the night with this mob, and decided they could let go of all their bitterness. They suffered for so long already, and they could manage to hold on due to various hopes¡ªthe soldiers being one of them! Now, that was gone too! Now, Fargo would have free reign over them again. If so¡ªwhat was the point of living? But they didn''t want to die, so what could they do? They could only curse the lord and his cronies in their hearts, wishing them the worst. This was a sight that happened althroughout the territory. Whether it was people finding places to hide¡ªknowing that no one would be fighting for them anymore¡ªand also some who whispered their bitterness towards the ruling party. This was just like the last beast tide breach. The guards ignored their pleas, locking them out to die outside. Their saviors died one by one, and now it was happening again! [Announcement: Kill the monsters and gain 10 extra silver per monster slayed] An announcement resounded across the territory, but no one went out. Curse them! They would hide to survive as long as they could, but there was no way they''d protect their territory just so those bastards could hide away while they risked their own necks! They''d rather try their luck inside the safety of their homes. Even if the lord offered rewards to fight outside¡ªit was likely they''d just be thrown as meatshields if they went out now! Fargo¡ªfuck you! Chapter 524 Monster Breach (Part 2) Fuck you Fargo, Kill the Mobs yourself Fargo, Go Kill Yourself Fargo¡­ These were the prevalent thoughts in the heads of the citizens as they hid well inside their homes, hoping for things to pass¡ªif it would. It could be seen as just prolonging the agony as monsters would still be able to breach the houses after some time, but they just hoped the monsters would skip their houses by virtue of them being quiet. They would fight it if it reached their location, but the problem with that was that the blood¡ªwhether it was theirs or the monster''s¡ªcould attract even more beasts. Most of them could barely handle one, let alone a handful! However¡ªdespite the apparent carefulness of most¡ªa few people couldn''t help but take a look through the windows and peek outside, opening just enough to see what was going on. "Oi, Baka, come here!" Tacky whispered urgently, trying to pull his friend''s remaining arm. "Do you wanna lose an eye, too?" "Wait, look out," the young man said as he stared at the monsters flowing in, seeming to particularly interested in watching more. "Hell no," Tacky mumbled. He was about to go deeper into the house when the chaos neared and they could hear screeching screams akin to animals being slaughtered. "GAHHH! HELP MEEE!!" "AHHH! GO AWWAY! GO AWAY¡ªGAHHH!" The yells would occasionally be followed by the familiar squelching of body parts and the cracking of bones. "COME OUT OF HERE!" "HELP USSS!" Tacky paused, finding some of the voices familiar. Against basic logic, he opened the gap just a bit more so he could peek, and Juan followed. The other roommates gasped when they saw the three idiots risk their heads for curiosity. They shivered and hid farther into the rooms, deciding to ignore them. These young men were stronger than they were and they knew they couldn''t be pulled back if they didn''t want to, so they could only find better places to hide. They wished they had chests or cabinets here, but alas, most didn''t even have proper beds, what of other furniture? However, there were also a few who stayed with them. They were the ones from the shanty their group let inside. They stayed with the trio to pull them as soon as they had to. Anyway, the trio was focused on peeking to notice they had people ready to drag them back as needed. They just watched the chaos outside as more and more monsters came in. Normally, they would spread out and attack houses, focusing on the easy-to-destroy shanty areas and low-level houses. However, this time, they seemed to just be going after a few people. The night was eerie and they could hear various screams around and a few muted screams farther away, but otherwise everyone knew to keep quiet, and luckily so because the monsters seemed hellbent on these particular men. It so happened that one monster chase seemed to head towards their street. Tacky''s heart dropped, about to close the window. "Shit! Close it!" "Wait!" Juan mumbled, patting his arm. His eyes were fixed towards the man the monster seemed to be hunting. "Don''t you find that man familiar?" The other two looked at each other, before taking a peek. They gaped when they realized that it was one of the people who beat them up back then! "HELP MEEE! GAHH!" He yelled, getting nicked at the back, the heard the ripping sound of fabric and skin, but the man''s adrenaline was on max and he still managed to continue running despite part of his back getting ripped off. He was in intense pain though, his eyes turning red as he saw the silent houses. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSES RIGHT NOW!" He yelled, roughly tapping random doors he passed through in hopes it broke and attracted the monster instead. But it was no use, and the monster soon caught up to him, with one of its teeth embedded on his leg. "GYAAAA!!" The trio''s hearts paused as they watched the man get swung with his legs as pivot, hitting a random wall. He was swung around like this because he got stuck on the teeth, and the monster was trying to take him off to eat him properly. BANG! WHOOSH! BANG! The trio covered their mouths to keep themselves from screaming at the horrendous sight. Eventually, the monster managed to bend his body enough and scratched, eating half of him. Some of his innards fell, staining the floor, but otherwise the monster didn''t miss any part of the meat. However, the momentum of the monster shaking the corpse made the top half fly¡­ ¡­into their direction. Their hearts stopped as they saw the half-body fly towards them. Oh, shiiiiiii¡ª The trio immediately closed the window as they heard the bang of the disgusting half-corpse hit it. They crawled¡ªor rather, were dragged¡ªas far away as they could, looking like idiots, but at this time they didn''t really care. They stopped breathing when they heard some clutter outside and knew the monster went to retrieve the body, eating the rest of it up. The three shivered, trying very hard not to piss. They only let go of their held breaths when the peace returned, apparently, the monster leaving in a direction. They heard more and more monsters enter the territory, and could tell that several areas were in the same situation. Soon, the mobs around their area stopped. However, Juan, who had sensitive ears, determined that they were all heading in a direction. He slowly opened the swing windows and saw that the monsters were either just following certain men or heading straight to the inner walls, ignoring whatever was in their paths. "They''re all heading towards the inner walls!" Juan said and the others soon peeked with him. "Do you know why?" "No idea." But it was a relief. They even felt a bit vindictive. After all, most of their enemies were in the inner walls. Whenever there were monsters, they would be left to defend themselves. It was like those from the inner walls had them as the shield. They would barely help when there was a breach at all. Now, the monsters were going straight at them! "Heh," Tacky said, grinning."Go deal with that problem yourself!" Chapter 525 A Little Chaos (Part 1) At this time, every guard in the interior walls was mobilized to guard the wall and the gates, which were now being mobbed by monsters. The monsters congregated in the area even when they had to step over each other. It was a scary sight, and everyone tried to stab them down, afraid they''d go over the gates on top of trying to destroy it. The wall was 3 meters high and most of the monsters were about a meter smaller on all fours, and some could reach up when they were on twos.If a monster got killed by one of the two sentries that could reach them, then the other monsters would just step over its corpse until it stacked. The sentries worked nonstop, and so did the guards, but there were a lot of monsters, and the walls just received more and more damage. The aborigines would also stab the monsters down along with the guards, but no one would go down the walls to kill them more efficiently. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Don''t look at some of them a few levels higher than the monsters, but they could only one-shot monsters after using skills. Who had that mana? Who could use those skills fast enough before a monster could take them? As for Belize¡ªthe only one over level 20 in the group¡ªhe could indeed handle most of them, but he told the lord he''d need to reserve his strength. Fargo looked at him then, but didn''t question too much. He just noted to figure it out later when the trouble had been handled. In any case, the guards would stab the monsters down, but they would also lose some health every couple of shots due to the density of the monsters. They also had archers, but how many weaknesses could they hit with the monsters clumped so closely together? However, just stabbing the monsters down was a defensive move¡ªthey couldn''t damage the monsters too much like this. To do this, they had to handle the hundreds of monsters directly on ground level. Normally, Fargo and his cronies would push people into the mob, and they would be forced to handle it from there. However, with the upcoming war and Victor''s absence to deal with the mob, they could use all the forces they could get. The more time passed, the more the gates were damaged. While Fargo could rebuild outside of wartime, the original gate had to be destroyed first, and that meant a few monsters would be able to get in. To be honest, the number of monsters wasn''t even that much, considering their levels, the sentries, and the relatively small area that it protected. However, it so happened the monsters were focused on specific places, which were accessible only to one or two sentries. The guards were also squeezed in, reducing their effective areas. "Why are they so focused on the gates?" Fargo asked with narrowed eyes. The monsters, while they would indeed focus on the weakest spots¡ªi.e. the gates¡ªthey would normally still attack other parts as well. Now, for some reason, they were completely focused on it. "We''ll figure it out, milord," Sen said, narrowing his eyes at the monsters, and trying to determine the pattern. Before, they could think more though, some screeching screams finally took their attention. It was a few men who they noticed had been running around the territory with monsters in tow. It wasn''t that they weren''t aware of them, but the people in the interior wall just didn''t care enough. That was until the runners had gone close enough for them to see. "HELPPP! AHHHH!" "PLEASE LET US IN!! HELP US! PLEASE HURRY!" They yelled, screaming to the top of their lungs, which to be honest felt like it was coming out of their mouths after all the running. They couldn''t approach the gates seeing the mob there and they could only continue running around the walls while waiting for rescue. It was horrible and they were tired and in pain, but they knew stopping would cause their deaths¡ªas it did dozens of others. "Is that them?" Uzon asked, narrowing his eyes. It was dark so they didn''t see too clearly before. They thought they were just random citizens that the monsters found attractive. As soon as they got closer, Uzon and the others realized that these were some of their missing members. There were only a few of them now, and these three had survived so long by going around the territory, hoping the dense houses would provide obstacles for the monsters¡ªwhich it did, to some degree¡ªtrying to make the monsters shift to another target. "GAHHHH! PLE¡ªGYAHHHH!" They frowned when another one was eaten, reducing the survivors to two. It took Fargo one look to have an idea of what was going on. "All of them were followed by the monsters here?" "It seems so, milord." Fargo looked at Belize, who nodded, jumping down to rescue the remaining men, using a bit of mana to quickly kill a couple of monsters in the way with his sword. A few were also asked to assist the other guards to help out, but they didn''t jump down, only attacking from a safe distance like everyone else. Meanwhile, the two of the 30 or so men released by the Alterans were currently at the last straws of their strengths. The terror they went through after escaping those psychos, only to find out they would be mobbed and killed one by one was horrendous. When they entered the territory and they still died, they felt their last bit of hope was eaten up as well. They felt their hearts about to jump out of their chests, and they could only push their bodies beyond the limit, trying to last until rescue finally came. But no matter how many houses they passed though, the monsters were still after them. WHY?! "WHY?!" A man yelled as he just passed a shanty area the monster destroyed. He saw some people running around, and yet the monster still chose to target him. He didn''t have time to question his life anymore, however, because the next thing he saw was a monsters'' mouth. "AHHHH!" Another one died, leaving only one. The remaining survivor¡ªa man with only an arm left¡ªsaw his remaining teammate perishing inside the mouth of monsters. He watched as he was shared by two monsters, eaten as if he was delicacy. The man pissed on his pants as he continued to run, going through alleyways to lose the damned thing, only to be found again a couple of seconds later. His body was numb with pain and he was pale, knowing he was already losing too much blood. He gasped, hiding, running, over and over. But he fell down, his knees finally buckling from weakness. He yelled, cursing. Why didn''t the monsters choose these trashes instead!? While having these dark thoughts, he had the audacity to yell for help. "SOMEONEEEE!!! HELP MEEEE!!" ROARR!! He could only stare as the monster approached him, and the image of him being shared among monsters made him shit in his pants. Before it could approach closely though, he felt a sharp force pass by, making a line that divided the monster. SLASH! "Master Belize!" He yelled as he saw the thin man appear, dividing the monster by half with a sword. He seemed pale though, but the man just thought Belize must''ve rushed to rescue him. Sadly, his vision turned dark immediately after that from the loss of blood. And he never woke up again. Chapter 526 A Little Chaos (Part 2) Belize cursed as he realized the man was dying. He carried the man on his back, disgusted by his state, but didn''t use his ability to hasten his speed. He couldn''t risk it¡ªnot when there were bigger fights coming. Before, he told the lord he only needed to keep his strength, when in reality¡­ he discovered that his mana recovered too slowly. He only noticed it recently when he tried taking down the first batch of monsters that attacked the walls. [Mana Recovery: Temporarily Reduced] He had no idea when it happened and the only time he had ever encountered such a thing was when a strong city-level monster poisoned him. His eyes darkened when he thought of anything odd that had happened and couldn''t immediately pinpoint it. When he thought more deeply about anything even slightly a bit atypical in his recent days, the first memory to appear was Juni. At the time, she brought the goods from Vismont, a territory similar to Bright, which happened to be her old territory. She was beautiful and seductive and his mind may have been a bit blurred, but it was delicious and he didn''t feel anything wrong as he consumed them. Could there be something else in it? He remembered her words then. "Master Belize," she said with that velvety tone of hers. "These are special goods I managed to procure. It''s the only one I have. As someone who hadn''t eaten our food before, I''d like to give it to you. Would you like it?" And, like a fool, he took it. In any case, by the time he had dragged the disgusting body to the interior wall, the man had already bled too much and had taken his last breath. "It''s too late, milord," Belize said and Fargo only looked at him before looking at the maimed corpse on the ground. Fargo turned Sen who immediately kneeled in front of the corpse to study him closely, checking for any signs of life. He shook his head in the end. "Call a doctor," Fargo said and a few guards went to get a doctor and set up torches to light up the area. Belize was the one to take a doctor¡ªwho was in the outer wall at the moment¡ªand he also recovered two more corpses by the way. They were all mangled up and filled with blood, but who knew if they could find more clues about what happened to them. The doctor dragged here was Dr. Lu. He shakily inspected the corpses, hoping to find something that''d ease the obvious dark atmosphere around the lord. Dr. Lu studied them for a while, rubbing his fingers when he felt a sticky substance. He smelled and tilted his head. He made a face at the acerbic quality of it and thought it was piss, but not only was it far stronger than humans'' they shouldn''t be present in the hair and shoulders either. "They all have a common substance doused on them," He said, looking a little curious, recalling the mens'' situation not too long ago. "Could these have attracted monsters?" Looking at the doctor, Fargo''s eyes shone with light, and so did everyone else. Not to mention: he wouldn''t be surprised if the gates were doused by the same substance! And who else would be able to douse the gates with so much of this mysterious substance but those people! "Where''s Vanessa? Check the soldiers!" He yelled, "I prepared a torture chamber just for them! Heh, it looks like it''s going to be used soon!" "Yes, milord!" The guards said, immediately scattering to look for more clues. Although she disappeared with Victor and the others, they now had more reason to find them than ask them to be willing cannon fodders! As several guards left the area, Fargo couldn''t help but look up at one of the moons that lit up the night. Was Garan and the others finally coming? But¡­ what could he do at his level? ¡­ At this time, Drake and the others were inside very good hiding spaces. It was located underground, somewhere they wouldn''t be able to find any time soon. They were very lucky that, unlike Altera, Fargo didn''t have a rule against such construction. Altera had a rule of not allowing the building of anything outside the property they owned. This meant what they were doing right now in Fargo was not possible in Altera. Similarly, squatting wasn''t possible there either. Back home, the stalls along the streets or plazas always had the necessary permits. This was proposed and organized by Mathilda''s group, and turned into formal regulation within a day of the proposal. It worked without a hitch in Altera because of the dormitory system and cheap visitor rates. Simply put, there was absolutely no need to squat. Why would people become informal settlers when they could have a better choice, anyway? S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "How fun to create something like this literally under their noses," Santos said with a smile. He was the main person to have created this as the best earth user in the party. He also had some assistance to the newly awakened Benny as well. "Well, people can''t think of everything. Not arrogant men like Fargo and his men who believe they''ve instilled fear into everyone''s hearts." Even if Fargo decided to hunt them down, they would spend too much resources and time¡ªwhich they didn''t have with the mob and the war. If they decided to give up, then good for them. Either way, there was no loss hiding at this time. They only had to hide¡­ for several hours, which was just enough for a good rest. "Fourteen hours of sleeplessness¡­" Jona giggled as she laid down with the others. It was a little cramped, but otherwise comfortable enough considering they were underground. "The elders are geniuses for choosing this time to declare war," Leon said. After all, this meant that the enemies would not have a few hours of rest! "Hmn, the elders are very reliable, indeed." The accepted knowledge about the territory decisions was that the elders made the decisions together. Some even assumed that there was a special panel for them to communicate and make decisions¡ªsomething that the elders neither confirmed nor denied¡ªadding another haze to the profession. Anyway, unlike the people of Fargo above ground, the soldiers (and Jona) were all sleeping very well underground. ¡­ While the Alterans were hiding away safely in enemy territory, the aforementioned enemy territory was fighting off the mobs. It had somehow even gotten bigger (because someone from Altera threw a spray bomb with the potion on a small mob, attracting an even bigger mob). It had to be said: It was easier to attract the devil than to shoo them away. The Beast Attracting Potion could only attract level 10s and below¡ªbut it so happened they were villages, and these were the monsters predominant around them. To think such a good thing had a very special, but accessible, ingredient! This was a secret ingredient only Gochi could provide but fortunately provided in pints. They just had to supply him with loads of juice. Either way, right now, it''s causing Fargo a lot of trouble. And a little chaos¡­ goes a long way. Chapter 527 War Begins (Part 1) Altera. The next morning. In contrast to the people of Fargo''s decided lack of sleep, the citizens of Altera were full of energy. They were woken up early by a gentle bell and everyone assumed that there was a beast tide coming and it was big enough to alert everyone. However, while they were easing awake, a new announcement sounded in their heads. [Altera Village will be attacking Fargo Village in 6 hours. Please prepare well for an important battle!] The citizens: !!!! So, at this time¡ªa little over five hours later¡ªthe territory was bustling with activity, a mix of tension and excitement abound. After a good night''s rest and ample time to prepare, the attacking party was prepared in terms of tools, equipment, and overall energy. Other than the announcement, the contribution points were also announced, enticing more people to join in. In fact, Alterans lived a good enough life to willingly join a war with a smile, even if there was a bit of apprehension. The need to contribute, get contribution points, or explore ''another realm'' were all very common reasons for those who decided to join. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, the level requirement was that they could not be lower than level 6 and must have full equipment and with a ready amount of potions, weapons, and secondary weapons as well. They would also be paying for their own ''fare'' in the teleportation array. This one, no one minded at all. Everyone wanted to try being teleported at least a few times! Who didn''t dream of experiencing that kind of magic before? They were also asked to vow not to betray Altera before they were allowed to join in. Of course, with all these conditions, the contribution points were naturally not low either. At the least, just joining would earn 500 contribution points, reaching the requirement of breaching the main territory would give another 1500. Further, the territory sent ''prizes'' towards relevant enemies, with a party sharing the points if they worked together for the kill. Fargo himself could take a whooping 10,000 contribution points by virtue of the high risks. The aborigines with high levels would get 8000 contribution points, while Fargo''s Terran men would get 2000-5000 points depending on level. Altera also tried its best to prepare not only its guards, but also its citizens. For instance, there was a major sale for equipment, weapons, healing potions, and the like for those who registered to join in. Team leads were also given vials of Beast Repelling Potions, aether letters, and the like. During the past few days, Althea had also managed to hire 3 aborigines. One was a weaponsmith named Kia, who was immediately sent to Brenda and Troy after she signed her conditional bond to Altera. The two were guards, though not elementalists. They came by the name of Tanod and Tambai, a level 13 swordsman and a level 14 spearman, respectively. They were hired a day apart, but interestingly they knew each other. And then there were new-minted guards from their first aborigine group¡ªthe former Mauin Villagers. It was led by a man named Mauru, who was already the peak of Level 13. Compared to the others, they had a lot more experience in wars. They were also the most serious ones. After all, they had nothing when they got here. Getting those contribution points would elevate their and their families'' lives! Finally, the Elders also highlighted the dangers of going, as well as the advantages of doing so. That was to say, while there would be risks, not going was an almost guaranteed way to be left behind in terms of strength and resources. Anyway, the hundreds of people gathered in the plaza, waiting for the fateful announcement with mixed emotions. [The war between Altera Village (Lv3) and Fargo Village (Lv3) has begun! Teleportation array activated and will close on 27:59:59] The bell rang and there was silence for a while as they determined the location of the array. Soon, a battlement guard shouted, "The array is here!" It appeared not too far from the eastern gate. At his announcement, many people¡ª-even those not joining the war¡ªscuttled outside to see the magic sight. And it was indeed a magical sight. Even Althea''s eyes sparkled as she looked at it. The entire array was a giant, more complex, version of the one in the village center. It was around 50 meters in diameter, moving slowly in a clockwise direction. More magically, instead of chalk-like marks, the lines were composed of millions of luminescent powder similar to what their holographic screens were made of. Althea looked at the array in front of her, her emerald eyes tracing over it, trying to imprint it into memory. "Would they be able to determine where the teleportation array would appear?" She asked Brenda, one of the people who would be staying in the territory. If so, would they be able to prepare for their arrival? The thought of teleporting only to be met with a rain of arrows irked her very much. This made Brenda blink, the thought never occurring to her at all. "Not to my knowledge, no." Althea looked on in thought, studying the patterns, the similarities, and the energy flow in whatever capability she had. There was definitely a pattern they could predict here, somewhere. If there was a way to calculate¡ª It was just that, even if it was possible, it would be hard to do by herself. She should really form a Mathematician Team. And maybe get a computer as well¡ª "Miss Althea?" "Oh, yes¡­" Althea mumbled, pushing this curiosity to the back of her mind. She had a war to finish, first! Anyway, the group surrounded the array, waiting for the leaders to enter as instructed. Althea moved forward along with Luis and the others, her emerald eyes observing the people preparing to go to war. Those beyond the level cap weren''t allowed to enter the array, so the high-level people participating¡ªincluding Oslo¡ªhad already left. So on this side of the array, Althea and Luis¡ªalong with Gochi and the new guard aborigines¡ªled the teams as they were the strongest there. There were hundreds of them going, around a quarter of the total population of Altera. "This should be enough," Brenda and Betty nodded. In wars, there was naturally a minimum amount of forces that went through¡ªotherwise, what if it was only a small group of individuals highly skilled in stealth? Would the war be over once they got inside the main walls? Of course not. The requirement was not extremely clear, but the ballpark was the amount that would trigger an automatic war in the first place. Her emerald eyes shifted to the rest of the attackers, specifically the non-Alterans. A lot of these people were from Bright, and understandably so. They had a lot of people who were taken as slaves¡ªsome were friends and even family. However, even those who didn''t have relatives also joined in for the sake of vengeance. Micheal and Juno were even given a team, assigned with their own tasks. She looked back at her own people seeing her off. There was her team, including Winona, and then¡ªof course¡ªher children who were in their strollers. Their eyes were red and their noses were leaking snot and she sighed, walking towards them. She leaned down to give their soft faces a long smooch. "I''ll be back, my babies," she said, giving them a few more kisses for good measure. "Mwamhmmm¡­" "Gogghmmmm¡­" Their eyes were rounded and lined with tears, breaking her heart. She immediately turned back at the sight, however, refusing to turn back again at her babies'' mumblings and sobs. If she did, it was estimated she''d take a long time to go¡ªwhich would be dangerous for the entire territory. She looked at Luis who was the main lead beside her and nodded, heading towards the ethereal pattern floating on the ground. "Let''s go!" Chapter 528 War Begins (Part 2) While Altera was heading to war, Team B was also on their way back home, with a lot of guests. These people were visitors from Ferrol who had grown so attached to their products that they pushed to come with them to visit. In consideration of their guests, the team had taken a rest in Bright Village for a while. They noticed some differences, but they were too looking forward to going back home that they didn''t stay for long. However, the differences were so stark it was impossible for them to miss even if they didn''t bother to investigate at all. For one: The new leader was Gingo¡ªsomeone they recognized as Micheal''s right-hand man¡ªand his woman, Sandra, who didn''t lack the ''subtle'' reminders of who was the highest ranking female there. For instance, when greeting them, Sandra would introduce herself as the Lady of Bright Territory. She would also have plenty of followers, and even more admirers. At this time, she was seeing them off with her followers. She looked quite proud, with her chin tilted high. "Are you sure you''re not staying? We can give you a tour¡­" she asked, gentle, looking at the strong aborigines. Her eyes especially fixed on Jonathan¡ªa handsome middle-aged man¡ªand, more importantly, the lord of a big Town. Unfortunately for her, Jonathan didn''t swing her way, so her subtle flirtations had been ignored the whole time. She was also particularly gentle with the handsome Hugo, who rubbed his temple at her advances. "No, thank you, we will go back to Altera," Hugo said, before turning away. This made Sandra flinch a little, giving him a bad look. Helios looked at the subtle changes on the woman''s face, and decided to soften the atmosphere. "We wanna go home to finally be comfortable, after all." "A-Ah, yes." Helios nodded and he followed the rest of them to Altera. The Town Lord''s party then hopped on their respective carriages, to the awe of many people. They were large and fast. Not to mention, how amazing it was to ride monsters! There were a lot of greedy eyes towards these carriages, but no one made a move. Who told Jonathan''s party to have an average of level 30! Sandra stared at their disappearing silhouettes. Externally, nothing changed, but internally she was cursing. They dared look down at her territory. Just wait until your Altera was destroyed! ¡­ The soldiers chatted as they headed back home, the atmosphere a little tense. "Bright Territory seemed to have lost to Fargo village," Turbo said, and Jake looked dazed at this, recalling a cute childish face. "A lot of things happened in our absence," was all he said in the end, but everyone who knew him understood he was uneasy. The party continued to move forward, with the soldiers and Ferrol guards easily dealing with the mobs. Some of the guards sighed wistfully, "How I miss having to just deal with this level¡­" "Yeah, but they don''t even give us anything." "That''s true." The soldiers nodded at this. It had indeed become difficult to level up around villages, especially considering it was more difficult to level up after level 10. After some time, they reached the intersection where they decided to eat their lunch. The aborigines couldn''t help but look around while the Alterans prepared food for themselves and the guests. "This is made by Altera for the convenience of travelers," Hugo said, handing over a stick to the lord and his noble guests. The guards just took some for themselves after. "Very thoughtful," Jonathan said, eyes brightening as the warm meat touched his taste buds. "This is the kind of territory I want to partner with," he said, kindly looking at the Alterans (a demeanor very rare in lords). "Do you think Altera would be willing to be a subsidiary for Ferrol? We will provide a good backing for its growth." "That''s¡­" The Alterans awkwardly looked at each other, as if they could see the proper reply on other people''s faces. Could they say they wouldn''t take too long to upgrade to town? Baron cleared his throat, squeezing between them. "That''s for the elders to decide milord. What we can decide¡­ is a business deal between us." This softened the slight offense Jonathan''s party felt when they saw the Alteran''s dislike for the offer. Baron knew this and he passionately said more about their products. "Most of our products are too big to fit in space, but they''re amazing." They knew they lost the monopoly of the Ferrol market but it didn''t matter, especially if they got Ferroll as a backing. "Our people even figured out ways to make simple mechanized games!" Jonathan and the others didn''t know what he was talking about, but they listened, feeling it would be interesting to see in real life. "The Lord Jonathan appeared personally, I''m sure the other businesses would give you great deals." Jonathan smiled, "I hope so, too." The atmosphere was soft and full of anticipation by the time Baron was done with his sales talk. The aborigines also had plenty of questions as they continued their way to Altera. They soon arrived at the Southwest gate, entering, and the aborigines looked up the tall wall and wondered whether the so-called Altera Village had already upgraded to town. [Welcome to Altera Village (Lv3)!] Then they looked again at a level 5 wall usually only found in towns. Then they proceeded on going to the so-called Beast Inn where their cars were deposited and their drivers were checked in. This was a novel concept and it made sense, especially for a small village which could not risk a beast going wild at all. Then they entered deeper into the territory, looking at the beautiful wide avenues abutted by interesting buildings with the same theme. The amount of capital and planning that went into this territory was¡­ definitely not normal. More and more, Jonathan was liking this territory even more. While the aborigines admired the sights, several people saw their arrival, several people running to them for greeting. "You''re back!" "Welcome back!" "How''s the trip? Are you rich? Are you going to treat me?" Various questions exploded among the Alterans, with the aborigines a little taken aback and a bit interested in what they were talking about. From here, they could tell that this territory often sent out civilians for trade, and many people had gotten rich through it. However, before more questions could be asked, the bell rang all of a sudden. The returnees looked at each other before turning back to the others. Turbo asked, a bit worried. "What''s with the ringing?" "The bell rings every half-hour during wars!" He said, "Though the number of bells would tell how long it had been going on." "War?!" "Excuse me?! You didn''t think of opening with that?" But then they looked around and everything seemed peaceful. Not to mention, when they arrived here they only encountered small mobs. The newly arrived Alterans were very confused. Jonathan, who was watching everything with interest, was surprised by their cluelessness. "That''s because you''re the attacking territory." Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Turbo and the others turned their heads to him simultaneously, making Jonathan drop a sweat. "Altera¡­ actually attacked?" "That''s¡­ oddly cool." "Shall we join in?" In contrast to the other''s interest, Jake''s eyebrows were furrowed. "What territory did they attack?" he asked the nearest person¡ªwho happened to be Dennis¡ªand the man flinched when he turned pale at his answer. "The territory we attacked is called Fargo¡ªAh, there he goes¡­" His eyebrows furrowed and he looked at Turbo. "???" The soldiers didn''t answer. They simply looked at Jake with complex faces, a bit worried for him. He had already sprinted to the gates at this time, no doubt heading straight to Fargo. As he ran, his heart couldn''t help but beat excessively loudly. Fargo was a territory that didn''t care about the lives of its people. He had deferred checking on her because one, they technically had no relations with each other and, second, he knew she blended very well there. He believed that she would keep herself safe, but it would be very different during wars. Fargo would definitely be able to sacrifice whatever life he could use in order to get what he wanted. During wars, this meant a lot of lives sacrificed! Sure, they didn''t know each other well enough for him to be so fond of her¡ªto go all the way there just to pick her up. But¡­ infinite regret doused over him at this moment, a single thought running through his head: Yiyi, be alright! Chapter 529 Nowhere in Sight (Part 1) Fargo Village In the outer wall gates, all the guards were on high alert, pointing at the ground and ready for whoever attacked. Well, however ready they could be considering how tired they were. They had only managed to deal with the mobs a few hours prior, and then had to prepare for the war afterward. Excluding the forces that fell and hunted down before the wars, Fargo still had over a thousand guards along with the scores of Rongo mercenary team members remaining in the territory. It wasn''t that Fargo didn''t want to require the citizens to fight for him, but Belize said it could make them betray and help Altera instead. After all, becoming a citizen didn''t guarantee loyalty at all¡ªthey would know that by heart. Historically, it had happened plenty of times. So most territories just made the guards fight, as asking everyone to make specific oaths was too expensive. It was why slaves were so important during wars. For attackers, they would become meatshields that could die and not affect the ''numbers'' needed to win, and for defenders, they were unconditional blockages to enemies. However, among this large number of guards, there was only about a few hundred of the Terran guards who were truly experienced in battles like Fargo''s men. The others applied to get the salaries needed, most of whom spent their tenure enjoying the taste of power¡ªsome even abusing their own people. These guards weren''t very efficient either because they were so used to Victor and his team''s clearing of the mobs the past couple of weeks. There was definitely a huge adjustment phase for everyone. During the first part of the mobs, they even lost a few people. It wasn''t even a super mob! But, because they were spread thin and didn''t have much training, a lot of the outlying monsters from the mob still managed to do a lot of damage to their forces. They also lost a lot of slaves during that time. After all, they needed some bait in order to keep the lives of the guards. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, at this time, the majority of the guards were spread around the exterior and interior walls of the territory, guarding the battlements. The area that had to be guarded closely was the inner wall, so most of the remaining forces stayed there. It was also much more cost-efficient to guard a small place. The inner walls occupied the land where Fargo stood back when it was still level 1. That was to say, it was only 1 kilometer radius with an area of 3 square kilometers. On the other hand, the outer wall was erected when they upgraded to a level 3 village. While Fargo didn''t bother covering the entire territory¡ªit was too expensive, also he didn''t care enough as long as he was comfortable in the inner circle¡ªhe still did cover almost 20 square kilometers of area using the sentryless level 2 wall. The difference in area between these two circles was not small, but the guards left on the outer walls were half of the total, so they were spread thin. The outer walls still had to be guarded of course. After all, they needed to be aware of the forces that entered as soon as they could. But they were spread very very thin, and it was inevitable that they would become tired much more easily. Since the declaration, they had been ordered to keep guarding early, even well before the war started, in case some people within the level limit managed to sneak in. Now the war had started, with no one attacking, and they had to still keep guarding¡ªtheir focus as high as they could be for hours on end. It was just that¡­ the war had already started half an hour prior and the Alterans were still nowhere in sight. They waited in tension the whole time, but there was no one suspicious in the outer walls at all. Did people declare war and disappear? Did that mean they would win half a territory''s asset without trying? It had to be said: The Fargo guards'' wishful thinking was top-tier, probably because they were so sleepy they were dreaming half-awake. They had no idea¡­ that there were actually Alterans already within the walls, ready to cause chaos at a moment''s notice. ¡­ Uzon walked around with an assistant, making sure the battlement was well guarded. The outer wall was a sentry-less level 2 wall. Even the battlement shouldn''t be called such because it could only allow one person to stand at a time. Fortunately, there was a little alley next to the walls he could use to peruse. No one dared to build squatters in these spots because it was so near where the guards would be walking. He looked up, checking if all the guards were in position. The outer wall occupied a good portion of the territory with approximately 15 kilometer perimeter which would take hours to jog around. However, Uzon had no choice but to run and do a quick checkup as ordered. Annoyingly, there was a section where the people seemed groggy and there was someone even outright sleeping. He cursed, taking out a gun, and hitting the man at the shoulder. The man yelled and immediately fell down the narrow wall. They fell off head first, definitely fully awake. "What¡­!" The man cursed and gasped when he saw who shot him. The other members of his ''team'' paled, looking down. "B-B-Boss Uzon!" Uzon looked dark. If they didn''t need as many people as they could get, he would''ve killed this trash as soon as he saw him sleeping. "How long have you been asleep?!" "W-We just fell asleep, sir!" No one had gotten sleep yet, and they were very antsy in tension and anger. They couldn''t wait to slash and stab those Alterans!! Uzon''s jaw clenched and he looked at his assistant. "Go and tell the guards to do a blanket search of this side, just in case. Capture any suspicious characters!" "Yes sir!" The forces on the battlement thinned even more to do the carpet search of the large area. It was already quite nice of them to even place guards there as they used to barely guard the outer wall¡ªthey had Victor and the others do that for them. But they were gone and they couldn''t set aside resources to look for them right now. Uzon narrowed his eyes and looked at the houses. People didn''t dare go out at this time. The houses were dense so it wasn''t easy to see things from above, but from ground level it should be easier to see suspicious movements. Uzon joined the search, looking at random houses, and asking if they saw anyone. They immediately shook their heads, swearing that no suspicious activity happened all around them. He went and ran to the clinic to check on the doctors, who were shivering in their respective corners, and he also went again to check Victor''s base, in case they came back, though it was still as empty as before. However, at some point, on clear skies above their heads, smoke started to rise from various areas of the outer walls¡ªspecifically the west and southern areas. "FIRE!!" He could hear, "FIRE!" from these directions. Uzon frowned, about to bellow out an order to handle it. However, before he could do so¡ª BOOM! A muted sound of explosion sounded and he looked around to see where it came from, realizing it was from behind the inner walls. His guards also noticed the same thing and paled. "It came from the inner walls!" Uzon''s eyes darkened as he gritted his teeth. "Are they already inside?!" Chapter 530 Nowhere in Sight (Part 2) The people coming from Altera had, in fact, not yet traversed the level 3 inner walls at this time. However, it didn''t mean that a couple of allies were unable to. At this time, the houses of the main members had caught fire, especially those with a lot of wood. In the interior walls, some fires burned brighter than others. One of the gangsters managed to get out, with some of his teammates putting out the fire. "There''s someone throwing fire inside the houses!" He yelled. "Damn! How do the fires spread so quickly?!" Weren''t system buildings supposed to be more durable? They weren''t even done speaking when an area of another house burst into flames. Worse, when they tried using water it to calm the fire down, it spread instead! Sen, the man in charge of the team guarding the interior wall, paled at the realization. "Oil! They''re using oil!!!" They knew that system buildings were much sturdier than the Terran wood houses, but the fact that these people still managed to burn them meant they were using some very good oil and strong fire. He looked around like his guards, but there were no traces of the arsonists at all! "Where are they?!" ¡­ In another part, Ken and Benny¡ªsome of Victor''s men¡ªpoured some oil around the houses. The houses in Fargo were relatively dense, even in the interior walls. There were plenty of alleys, cartons, and the like to hide in. The civilians here were also so scared of joining the war that they just hid in their homes, missing the chance to ''contribute'' to their Lord Fargo. nyway, as people who could afford to live in the inner walls, they had some sort of entitlement. Those people outside could handle it! They would muse, and proceed on hiding and minding their own business, just hoping for the best. Of course, this was just a generalization and there were a few outliers. For instance, on the second floor of the target''s neighor, there was a young woman blankly looking at them. It made a couple of them flinch when they noticed, and they were expecting a scream to explode. Benny looked up to see a young woman with big eyebags staring down at them. Seeing as she was just watching, he felt a little hopeful. "Shh.." he said, and the woman simply sat back inside as if she didn''t see anything. It had to be said: If Fargo decided to summon every citizen outside, it might not have necessarily helped them out. At least in the interior walls, at this time, they could not only use the ensuing crowd and chaos to hide¡ªthey were all special forces soldiers with spy training¡ªbut the soldiers could even take it to advantage. What happened in the outer walls could be different, but they had their own mission and they trusted the Alterans already had plans in place. "How do they even have so much oil?" Benny asked, amazed, before proceeding on dousing a couple of things. "And it feels much stronger than we''re used to¡­" "Don''t underestimate Terran ingenuity," Ken shrugged, quite enjoying burning the place down. Of course, it wasn''t as easy as it would''ve been in Terran¡ªsystem buildings seem to be extra sturdy¡ªbut the non-custom buildings (which was only available for the top communities) were made of wood, and therefore weren''t immune to a lot of attacks. They wanted to burn whatever they could down. After so long, they naturally had an idea of how many women suffered in these houses. But they had to keep a low profile. It wasn''t even like before when they were against stronger aborigines, so they had no choice but to endure. Fortunately, not anymore! The team moved in small groups, using their stealth skills as soldiers to get past the hundred or so guards congregating in the area. They weren''t invisible though, so it was inevitable some of their movements would be found. For instance, at a narrow street, a small group of guards finally saw them. "Y¡ª" Whoosh! He fell down, paralyzed. Whoosh! Whoosh! One by one, the guards¡ªsome of whom were aborigines¡ªfell down and Benny couldn''t help but gape at his weapon in his hand. "Amazing!" This was a tranquilizer gun that could take down a level 6 monster! Of course, it would be effective to humans which much smaller body weight and metabolism¡ªeven if they had much higher levels! "They fell at different times. I wonder how fast it would usually be¡­" Benny mumbled, envious. He didn''t have to wait too long for his answer, because new groups of guards had arrived to test the tranq gun on! ¡­ On another side of the interior walls, Drake saw that most of the guards had headed to where the smoke was, leaving this area a lot less guarded. "Let''s go." Drake signaled to his team, which also had the proper ''chaos-making tools'' at hand. They ended up in an exclusive-looking area with a level 2 gate and custom houses inside. They knew that this was the complex gifted to the mercenary team by Amon to keep them here. "We''re here, in Rongo." "Has Juni moved everyone?" He asked and from their tiny corner Amos took out the large glittery parchment paper. To be honest this tool was really large. For people who were used to the convenience of phones, this was really hard to use. There wasn''t even a password function. So the messages were always normal talk. However, they did have some internal code in case they would be intercepted somehow or, worse, the letters being stolen from one of them. For example, Amos asked, /We miss you. Still there?/ sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There was no answer for about a minute. It was quite tense for everyone, and they couldn''t help but feel worry for Juni. It was only until the text finally started fading in the large parchment. /No. At the side, playing with the kids./ /Be careful of the fireworks on the right side of the gate. They''re quite dangerous. Fortunately, the houses are customized to handle strong attacks./ /Oh no, I think I left a window open. Can you close it for me?/ Amos checked the aether letter again, nodding. "It''s okay now," he said, pointing at the eastern side of the property. "The weapons are over there." They didn''t underestimate the strength of a customized building¡ªone that could handle the conditions of this world¡ªand only targetted the so-called openings. Big windows wasn''t a common design here so the target was incredibly small from where they were. Fortunately, Drake was a soldier with exemplary accuracy. This naturally meant that it was not a problem to throw a bomb through a window. Clink, Clank, the special bomb made by Althea went over the head of the guards, entering that small opening Juni managed to make¡ªwhich had almost cost her her life by the way. Clank! A few seconds later¡ª BANG! The bomb exploded and the loud sound and the subsequent force ripped through the air. The men nearby¡ªthe guards¡ªlost their footing and found themselves on the floor. The force destroyed the windows, with the roof partially damaged. However, most of the building itself was mostly okay, which was something the Alterans ought to report for future reference. The Fargo guards soon came to consciousness and coughed as they turned back, trying to make sense of what was happening. When they saw how the fenestrations were smoking and how the roof was on the verge of collapse, they immediately paled. "Oi!" They yelled, approaching the building. The smoke hadn''t settled yet but they could see the rubbles and the remnants of their weapons. "DAMN IT!" They couldn''t even mourn when another ball reached them. They stared at the ball, not knowing what it was¡ª BANG! Outside, Amos, Drake, and the others watched in satisfaction as the roofing finally collapsed, taking the guards'' lives in the process. "So two bombs inside to get the roof and windows, though the structure itself seems okay," Drake said, mentally taking note. Anyway, the subsequent noises naturally caught attention of various guards¡ªbut how many could they be. After all, their forces were spread thin and were distracted by the various fires, let alone due to the fact that they were in the middle of a war! Drake nodded at the others, immediately scurrying to hide somewhere with satisfied smiles on their faces. The Bosses asked them to cause chaos, and chaos they shall create! Chapter 531 Fargo-Altera War (Part 1) Uzon immediately bellowed out orders for the guards in the outer circle. Those assigned in the southern areas would look at the fires nearby, and those in the western areas would do the same. But on second thought¡ª "NO. Those in the walls will remain there! Only the guards assigned on rounds will go!" What if it was only a distraction? So, in the end, the few hundred guards immediately mobilized. Uzon ran to where the larger fire was, and he looked back to when they saw smoke in the interior walls as well, closely followed by a small explosion. "Damn it!" ¡­ Fargo looked at the black smokes floating from several areas in his territory. Most of them could be seen from his window. They were all in different areas. It was fine if it was in the outer area, but it was happening even in the interior circle of the territory. He liked chaos, but not in his own backyard. However, he was the type not to fret no matter what. He stood coolly and looking at the guards passing by his street, his mind went to analyze. Altera, according to that Sandra, was said to be the base of strong Terrans. Judging by the descriptions, he was fairly sure she was referring to Garan. They were strong, all elementalists, and overall a threat even if Altera was weaker than they were. When he found out about this, he had indeed been planning on attacking after weakening them a bit. He already planned some action with Belize, a level 30, to especially target the soldiers. It was just that they moved too quickly¡ªattacking within a few days after he got Bright. However, regardless, he still did not fret. At the very least, he knew there were only a handful of soldiers, while he had dozens of level 20s and above. In terms of forces, he believed he was still far superior to them. So, Fargo wondered, attacking them¡ªwere the Alterans brave or just stupid? However, it was a fact that they had taken down a lot of his forces outside the territory. He also assumed that they were also the ones responsible for taking over the mines, so they at least had some plan in facing him. But¡­ losing those people didn''t mean that he lost. Winning a war on the defense side was many times easier than being the attacker. He just had to defend the territory well¡ªin particular, only the inner walls¡ªkeeping more than half of the attackers outside until the war was over. Garan and the others were useless in the in-territory battle, and he was planning to maximize that. Speaking of, why haven''t there been traces of the enemies trying to get inside? Did the Alteran forces get lost after being teleported? Did they just plan to depend on the few people attempting to cause them trouble with a few fires? No, that''s not possible. Whatever happened, he was ready. Even if the outer walls had less dense guards due to its massiveness¡ªit was the inner circle that mattered the most. There were hundreds of guards settled around the inner walls alone, this wasn''t including those who were making rounds. Most of them were equipped with guns to handle any trespassers, and so far there had been no reports. As for the people causing chaos inside, there shouldn''t be too many. Though it''d take time, the guards he assigned should be able to handle them soon. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It wasn''t that he hadn''t thought of making an announcement to everyone to hunt these people down. But he had thousands of people in the inner walls alone. Aside from Belize''s warning, there were plenty of other reasons why forcing them out would be useless. Not only did people not know everyone¡ªwhich could cause them to attack each other¡ªthe tresspassers could also blend in. With the threat of Alterans coming in, he simply could not use so many of his guards to fix the trouble that will happen after. As for the outer walls, it was too large to be able to do carpet searches. Instead, he decided to make use of the remaining slaves. [To All Slaves: Clear the outer walls of all enemies! Attack outsiders on sight, even if it will cost you your lives.] After making various orders, he sat down on his chair again, drinking the delicious tea he obtained (note: forcefully taken) from Juni. He should also make trouble to Vismont soon¡ªthis tea was very good. He relaxed a bit, his mind calmed. However, not even a few moments later, rushed footsteps came to him. "Milord!" the man yelled as if everyone he was talking to was deaf. "Our weapons have been compromised!" His eyes widened, rubbing his head at the headache that attacked his mind. "What?" ¡­ Fargo''s eyes turned red as he saw the weapons stockroom in the Rongo Mercenary Team area. Because only lords had access to warehouses, it was impractical to store most weapons there in case of emergencies. Worse? There was no sign of the perpetrators! What were the guards doing at this time? Sleeping, apparently. His eyes turned red as he looked at the long line of guards¡ªeven mercenaries¡ªwho were sleeping soundly. He kicked one repeatedly but he didn''t wake up, then he shifted to an aborigine, who groaned, rubbing his head of lethargy. He opened his eyes and flinched. "M-M-Milord!" Sen immediately grabbed his collar and lifted him up. The man''s eyes twitched as he looked around, then at the other guys on the ground, soon having an idea of what occurred. "What happened?" "I¡­ we were running after the people who destroyed the weapons. Some were familiar, some were not," he said, "And¡­ the next thing we knew, it was black and we lost consciousness." "They seem to have tranquilizer guns," Sen mumbled as he heard of their descriptions. Next to him, Eli nodded. He had studied the ruins closer and confirmed what caused the damage. "And bombs, milord!" They knew that place had bombs from what they got from Micheal, but because they only had one due to their spies'' failures to return, they couldn''t put them to use. However, when the war declaration happened, they had rush prepare some concave shields in an attempt to ''reflect'' such bombs. It was the reason why there were fewer slaves outside when they got attacked (they were busy rushing the production of a few shields), which was also a sort of luck. Further, if they were really bombs, they also knew making them should be a challenge and that Altera shouldn''t have too many. However, they now knew they still underestimated that place. But... could they be blamed? How long had it been? Three months? How could a territory create so much in a short amount of time? Chapter 532 Fargo-Altera War (Part 2) "Bombs! Altera seems to have a lot of it!" They looked at the damage and knew that it was a powerful enough bomb to cause real damage! Belize was also attracted by these weapons. Hopefully, when they win Altera, the lord would give him several. "Has anyone found the trespassers?" "Not yet milord, we''re looking for them!" The guards said, a little nervous. In fact, they¡­ didn''t have many leads. Not to mention the unconscious people, but even the guards who came later weren''t able to trace a single one of them. There were thousands of people inside the interior walls alone, how easy could they track those bastards? Not to mention, the people who lived in the area were so cowardly they didn''t dare look out their windows during the chaos. That meant they had no witnesses! But Sen knew he couldn''t say so many excuses if he wanted to keep a bullet out of his head. Hence, he simply excused himself to continue tracking the bombers. Fargo''s face remained impassive, but if one looked closer one could see the many veins. He turned to look at Eso, who was among the people in leading the battlement forces. "Hasn''t anyone seen their main forces?" "There''s no news from the outer wall, milord." Belize observed the interactions. "Milord, they hadn''t even gotten past the outer walls, how could they be a threat at this time?" At this, Fargo calmed a little. Indeed, even if they got past the outer wall¡ªwhich they hadn''t¡ªthey would still have to get past the inner walls first with its sentries and denser guards. Fargo''s eyes sharpened, his eyes on the damage they had done. Altera, I will get you! ¡­ Inside the interior wall, there was a group of guards walking parallel to a section of the interior walls. They were making rounds now, primarily looking for those bastards who burned down their weapons. It was all quite banal, but then at some point, they felt¡­ small things were falling down? An exclamation of pain sounded as he was hit with a small thing. He touched his bloodied nose and cursed. "What the heck, is this hail??" he yelled before extending his hand to capture one. "Wait, what¡ª" Not ice? Soil? Bang! Bang! S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. More and more pebble fell down and they immediately scurried about to avoid getting hit too much. They covered their heads with their hands, only looking up when they finally got some cover. They blinked. It was raining¡­ rocks?! . . . Wait. "It''s really raining rocks?!" At his exclamation, everyone looked up, and they immediately gaped in shock. A gorgeous woman was falling down on them along with a few pebbles. One was so mesmerized that he was hit straight at the face by a pebble and he didn''t feel it¡ªhe just felt the nosebleed from a broken nose. Before the woman fell to the ground though, a figure dived much faster, easily catching her. But it wasn''t just an ordinary tall man¡ªhe had¡­. Animal ears and a tail? "What the f¡­" She got off gracefully and stood aside, easily shielded from falling pebbles by her human-animal guard. She then ran towards their direction and for a moment they thought she''d attack, but instead, she waved her hand, creating tall spires of earth plateaus. With another wave, she then created a slide. The men gaped. It was an earth elementalist! And a proficient one! The next thing they knew person after person landed there, easily sliding down, and soon dozens of people had entered the inner walls!! "What are they doing!!" The guards finally caught themselves and went to attack, those with guns even raising it to the beautiful woman. However, before they could pull the trigger, a mass appeared in front of them¡ªthe half-orc¡ªand he raised his claws and beheaded two people in one move. "GYAHHHH!" The remaining team members shifted their guns to him, pulling the trigger repeatedly. But the half-orc, like high-level beasts, were almost immune to Terran guns. He easily received a few bullets before taking the rest of them. Before their vision went black, the last thing they saw was more and more enemies filing in, entering from the sky, and using the earth platforms to safely land on the ground. ¡­ During this time, the gunshots naturally alarmed the nearby guards and they went to their area in droves. Hundreds of guards filed in, some from the battlement and some from the interiors. Those from the battlement naturally blocked the way in, but the Alterans weren''t weak at all. Not to mention, the battlement of a level 3 wall wasn''t wide¡ªless than a meter wide¡ªand this meant pushing a few guards strong enough would mean pushing a few others. There were two strongmen who guarded the enemies. One man who could control hard stones and the other one could control fires. The fire was not just the embers they were used to, but this guy was basically throwing mini-flamethrowers. These were Reno and Luis, respectively. "AHHHH!" Victim #69 yelled as he avoided the flame and ended up falling down the wall along with many others. Hopefully, they fell with broken necks, though it was unlikely considering their new physiques and the fact that the wall was actually just a little over 3 meters tall. Despite this, enough trouble was caused. Using this delay, more and more people managed to enter through the inner walls. From dozens, to scores, to a hundred or so. For the Fargo guards on the ground, they gathered and looked around for the enemies. Due to the arrangement and heights of the houses, it wasn''t straightforward to see where the enemies were entering unless one was in a nearby street. How they zoned in on the location was primarily due to the ''traces'' of battlement guards falling down the wall. They simply ran to the edge and follow where the battlement guards were heading forward. "AHHH!!" "GYAHHH!" This meant they not only had to avoid falling teammates but also deal with the enemies that had managed to enter and separate, intent on causing chaos to the home base! But very soon, the Fargo guards would realize: What''s the use of finding the enemies when they couldn''t find a way to deal with them? Chapter 533 Helpless? [Announcement: Citizens who could kill the enemies would receive 1 to 100 silver per kill depending on their level of difficulty. Applicable to citizens and guards.] This announcement naturally excited a lot of people, especially the guards. Before, there was no such thing¡ªwho would want to risk their necks? But now that there was an extra reward, they would naturally be more determined to make the kills. However, while Fargo had the numbers going for them, there were still plenty of other factors that would cause them trouble. One was the haphazard planning and dense buildings. While it was still better planned than most, the streets were still quite narrow. Even if there were plenty of forces, what was the use if it would have a few clogs here and there? S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Another was that they (Fargo guards) were uncoordinated and did not expect the enemies to enter this way. They had been prepared to guard from the battlements, but they didn''t think the fight would be brought inside so early on. There was no organization, unlike the Alterans who moved in groups and seemed to have a ready formation. This showed the stark contrast to their own haphazard arrangements! Unlike the Fargo teams who just aimed to find and attack, ideally killed, the Alterans moved cohesively even if they were broken down into smaller teams. The teamwork was superb, with people having a clear role or two, and it was obvious that they had battled together at least a few times. For instance, there was a team of 15, led by sheildsmen with large metallic shields. They would be followed by spearmen and swordsmen who would stab enemies that went near, occasionally pulling them into the group to gang up on them. They would also be supported by archers and elementalists who caused long-range damage from behind. The Fargo citizens and guards were very shocked to see that the newcomers were not only strong, but so many of them could actually use elements! In one area, one would see earth stones thrown around, in another, you''d see fireballs. Then there would be people pushing them back without touching them¡ªwhich was definitely a wind skill. "So many elementalist!? HOW!?" "And why do they already know so many skills?!" "This isn''t normal!" The guards were shocked. They already thought they were spearheading this development among Terrans¡ªwith their bosses awakening and about a dozen others in the threshold¡ªbut they thought too much! Anyway, that was beside the point and hundreds of guards that filed in naturally went after the enemies. They formed small teams to deal with the trespassers, entering the narrow roads. This was quite inconvenient when hundreds of guards filed in from different directions. "There!" One of the new arrivals yelled, pointing at a group of people who were taking down a hapless guard still shocked by their appearance. To be more accurate, he was running away from the gruesomeness Gochi created, only to fall into a trap himself. The Fargo guards shivered as they watched as they stabbed the man on the stomach and another hit with his shield. Of course, the team captains were mostly high-ranking members of the Fargo empire back in Terran. They were level-headed enough to calm down and think of the next step to counterattack. The captain immediately took out his gun, pointing at them. Without hesitation, he pressed the trigger repeatedly. BANG! BANG! BANG! But the metallic shield appeared between them. Clank! Clank! The shield blocked the bullets, and the Alterans flinched at the sound, immediately filing out to another street. The Fargo guards frowned. "They''re escaping!" "Don''t let them!!" The captain yelled, and it so happened that there was another enemy team¡ªin another perpendicular street¡ªand he decided to point at them as well. He tried targeting the people as far from the shield as possible. BANG! BANG! Clank! Clank! The sheildsman here had good reflexes and managed to cover for his team, protecting them as they went to another direction. His eyes twitched. At the very least, he knew the wooden Class E shields were still weak against Terran guns! This meant that their shields were of a higher class! The other team members gaped both in annoyance and envy. "Do they all have Level D weapons and shields?!" "That''s not the problem right now!" The captain yelled. "They''re escaping, damnit!" "But which team do we follow?" "BOTH OF THEM!" Their team was large and comprised of a hundred people. The captain divided them into two to follow the two directions the enemies took as soon as possible. One of the streets was going East, and the other was somewhere Southwest. The Captain saw the one heading east had more number and decided to follow that. "Don''t let them find places to hide in!" he yelled and the guards ran to the streets to find the targets. They were a little panicked and hurried as they followed. Most of them were not really fighters and a lot of the true forces had been killed already. Overall, it could be said that hundreds of these Fargo guards weren''t ready to handle a strong enemy like Altera at all. All this time, they relied on the high-level people, on the huge amounts of guns they supposedly had, and they could also count on Victor''s team to clean up the mobs. Now, all of those had been compromised¡ªit was natural they had a lot of adjustments to do! Eventually though, the team southwest caught sight of the enemy tail, increasing their pace. However, at some point, they moved too quickly, causing the street to be blocked. "AHHH!" "Don''t block my way!" Some people accidentally elbowed the others, and some accidentally stepping on people''s feet. They naturally weren''t stupid enough to be held back by this, but this few seconds of pause was enough for the Alterans to do some major damage. Then one of the guards saw a thin earthenware bottle coming at them. "What is that?" Then the next thing they knew an arrow filled with fire hit the bottle, causing it to explode. BOOM! "AHHH!" They yelled as a small explosion caused widespread damage to the ones in the alley. The damage was exacerbated by the fact they were so dense and those who took direct hits were twitching, as good as dead. "What happened?" The captain asked as he looked in the direction of the sound. Everyone else stared as well with furrowed eyebrows, but they didn''t have the time to care for them as they soon caught up with the enemies. The captain¡ªas one of the few people who were allocated guns now that most of them were burned down¡ªimmediately pointed at the targets as his teammates lunged after them. Sadly for him, the Alterans had shifted streets. Not only did his bullets just hit the walls of the buildings, he hit plenty from his own team instead. He yelled for them to suck up the pain and run after the enemies. "Don''t you want your money?" he asked and soon his group moved forward turning into a dead end¡ª ¡ªonly to realize the enemy had been waiting for them! The next thing they knew a lot of people had been pulled in, immediately followed by stabbing sounds and screams. When they left, they would leave either corpses or half-dead people on the floor. The Fargo guards were in a rush to hunt though and had no time to deal with the injured, some even running over them. Anyway, it was complete and utter chaos. Similar sights occurred in various streets against different teams. At some point, those with little observation skills would realize the stark differences between the two sides. Was it normal to be this helpless inside their own territory!? Chapter 534 Entering the Inner Circle Before the war declaration, Oslo created a stable stair over the outer wall. They chose an area that wasn''t particularly guarded due to the terrain, with them thinking it''d be difficult to climb. It was like the enemy totally did not consider the enemy could have high-level earth elementalist in their midst. Of course, they couldn''t be blamed too much for this. The outer wall was too wide and it was impossible to assign a human guard every few meters. The coverage of the outer wall of a typical level 3 village would be tens of kilometers long. This area definitely wouldn''t be a problem if they were battling other villages, but who told them to go against Altera. Further, the guards were already reduced in numbers thanks to the Alteran''s hunting outside. These people were tired due to the mobs and were already spread thin, it was inevitable for them to find loopholes. In such conditions, any lord would focus on guarding the inner wall instead and place most of the guards there. In any case, Oslo''s level was relatively high. He had built and used his ability a lot during his stay in Altera. The staircase along the steep mountains was pretty simple to him. Upon reaching the outer wall, building higher than the wall height was even easier. After all, the outer wall was only level 2¡ªwhich meant it was only two meters tall. That was not even one-story high, considering Fargo chose a residential unit with two floors. The stair Oslo made was a slightly arched shape, ending less than a meter from the wall edge because they weren''t allowed to build on the walls themselves. Other than the fact that walls could not be manually or elementally built upon or modified, another feature of system walls¡ªand buildings, for that matter¡ªwas that they were unscalable and could not be dug underneath. It was why back in the Guia war, even goblins would use their digging skills just to avoid head-on battles outside the walls, but would still have to attack it head-on in the end. One option to get through a system wall was to destroy it by brute force which would not only take a while¡ªeven if the outer wall was only level 2¡ªbut it would also capture the enemy attention too quickly because of the noise. The option was to go over it¡ªwhich was what they opted to do in the end. They quietly entered this wall as soon as the war started, with Althea adding sleeping formula in the area to minimize the chaos. She had dedicated farms for the raw materials of this medicine, so her space had tons of it. They entered as fast as they could so that even if Fargo noticed that the number of high-leveled people in his territory spiked, they had already either found a place to hide in the outer circle and/or found a way to the inner one. Everyone in their hundreds of forces easily managed to sneak in the outer wall, safe and sound, grouping into several teams because they knew they''d be separated by the sheer amount of enemy guards¡ªand possibly citizens¡ªonce they were detected. It was the inner wall that would be a bit more of a challenge since it had denser guards and some sentries (which, fortunately, were still decently far from each other and easily avoidable). S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, they opted to use a similar method with Oslo''s which would be faster in terms of getting the most people inside. The interior wall was only a level 3 wall, so it was just a little above 3 meters tall. The house type Fargo chose was the two-storey one, and the custom building he activated was also built into two floors but with wider floor areas for his villas. Either way, in terms of height, this would mean that the normal houses in were taller than the interior walls, so they simply had to secure an area (mostly by putting the citizens in the adjacent buildings the sleep) to be able to create a comfortable ''stair'' without being too obvious about it. The guard there¡ªwho was falling asleep from sleeplessness¡ªonly noticed an anomaly when it was already at the height of the wall. Before he could yell out an alarm, he was promptly shot down by Althea, right on the neck. As for the fall on the other side, it couldn''t be as simple as just jumping down willy-nilly. First, they couldn''t have people jumping down 3 meter walls and ending up stepping on each other, right? Jumping directly down would be too slow. The streets were narrow and there were hundreds of them, they would have to do so a few at a time. That would be too slow and also cause a lot of noise. So they decided to add a slide of sorts to catch a long and continuous line of people, for efficiency, though they would still be spread out to jump down several adjacent streets if they could. The only earth users in their team were her and Reno¡ªwho had a variation of earth that had adobe-like sturdiness. It was just that neither of them was as strong as Oslo and the wall they made was much flimsier, so a lot of debris fell down on their way across the second wall. It was up to Reno to keep it stable for the others while she created a slide on the other side. It was not easy as her level was still low, but she pulled it off. And it also took the enemy by surprise. While Gochi and those who had managed to enter dealt with the guards attracted by the noise, more and more people filed in. Of course, Fargo wasn''t a normal village and had thousands of guards. Regardless of their skills, the quantity was there and was therefore troublesome. More guards filed in from inside and the battlements. Fortunately for the Alterans, the buildings were built densely and there were plenty of places to hide and shield. It was the battlement guards that simply had to traverse the walls through to eventually zone in on their entry points. At this, Reno and Luis tried to handle the first batch, but they would soon notice from their height that some guards were also approaching their area from the other side. They had to go back down to their teams, and another group went to deal with the battlement guards. It was the Mauin team that settled in the battlement this time, expertly attacking the newcomers with their swords and spears, and guarding themselves with shields. Bang! Bang! "Class D shields!" "Damn it!" The battlement of a level three wall was barely enough for two people at the same time. Mauins were experienced in fighting¡ªthey fought wars every few weeks¡ªand easily swiped the coming guards and made them fall down the ground, letting more and more of their people inside. The few guards with guns also pointed at them, no longer caring whether they hit their own people. The sheildsmen mostly managed to block, while some did get past and slightly injured a few people. One time though, someone was about to land a headshot and his eyes brightened in bloodlust, about to press the trigger¡ª Whoosh! He fell down, an arrow straight through the neck. The person next to him turned in the direction with wide eyes, seeing a gorgeous woman with a shimmering set of bow-and-arrows. That was the last thing he saw before he, too, pummeled to his death. On a roof was Althea, watching people as they filed in, also shooting arrows whenever she had to, protecting lives, and watching over her people as more and more of them entered. So far, there seemed to almost be a quarter of them inside, making them already halfway to winning the war. Her emerald eyes sharpened. Just a bit more! Chapter 535 Chaos in the Inner Walls (Part 1) Anyway, chaos ensued with the battles of hundreds of people through the streets, with some already entering the buildings. The cowardly citizens screamed and hid, with the guards yelling at them to help out, though most didn''t dare after being easily knocked out by the enemy. The Alterans really used the ''terrain'' well, hiding behind sturdy system walls, hiding in houses, and making traps and ambushing them in alleys. These alleys were often places a lot of the guards would drag women in to have ''public'' fun¡ªbut now it would be the places of their deaths. Elements and Class D weapons abounded. They had teamwork and also skills. Even if they were outnumbered, they''d definitely get out of it in one piece! They also had good equipment that Fargo''s level E weapons and their Terran guns had minimal effect on the enemies! The Fargo guards were all very depressed. Why were these people so strong? What''s more, it wasn''t that the Alterans didn''t get injured. With the quantity differences, of course there were! There were plenty of cases where they''d land shots, or stabs, or both! But¡­ they seemed to have so many healing potions! And such good ones, too! The Alterans wouldn''t abandon their teammates either. Those with gravely injured ones would disappear somewhere and they had a feeling they were getting treated! More and more Alterans were entering and joining the ''hunting'' while Fargo''s hundreds guards were slowly being chipped off, bit by bit, and it wouldn''t be long for them to overcome this place! This chaos was what Sen, the leading man within the inner walls, ran into. "How are they filing in so quickly?!" Sen asked, looking around with furrowed eyebrows. It wasn''t easy to find their location with all the chaos. The enemies were filing in and there should be at least a hundred in their area now! His eyes tried to find the pattern and pointed to an area. "Go check it out!" "Yes, sir!" And the rest of them tried to capture and kill whoever they could. However, they were always in teams. Even if they were outnumbered, they were tight and had each others'' backs. If someone was rendered disabled, the teammates would guard, fight, and move together until they found a good hiding spot. The scouts returned with a bloodied head, apparently hit by a stray stone floating. "We found it sir!" he said, taking them through a couple of streets. There!" Sen frowned and followed the location and his eyes widened at the sight. "What!!" There was an arch over the walls where there was no sentry. Sen''s eyes sharpened. System Walls were unscalable, so these bastards decided to go over it?! And it was like a bridge, allowing people to pile inside! "Go! Send more guards to the other side, quickly! We can''t let anymore people enter!" He yelled, pulling out his weapon to try and demolish the damn thing. His men also tried doing the same, but how could the Alterans let them do so? Those who were filing in immediately had their weapons out to defend the slide. Sen had no choice but to stop to defend themselves. When he saw his team struggling with the barrage of attacks, also being taken down bit by bit, he cursed. He yelled at the houses. "PEOPLE! GO ATTACK THE TRESSPASSERS! DO YOU WANT TO BE SLAVES?!" "GET OUT RIGHT NOW OR THE LORD WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS¡ªOOF!" He got hit by a random stone on the face and he cursed, spitting out some blood from a displaced tooth. He gritted his teeth and waved his sword, hitting a few with each swing, but somehow they were still standing. One group of citizens tried to get out with their weapons out, shakily trying to attack the nearby intruder, but an arrow from the enemy went past him, hitting a post right next to his head and they all went inside like cowards. Sen saw this of course and his eyes twitched. "Damnit!" "Cover me!" Sen yelled at his men who immediately surrounded him. He took out a gun¡ªone of the last of this model remaining¡ªand started pointing at people. Bang! Bang! He hit a few at good places, but sadly no headshots because a lot of them had helmets and armors on, and he cursed when they get blocked by shields. After things going smoothly here for so long, he had forgotten their Terran guns had limited effect against things in this place. However, Sen was a pretty good shot¡ªhe was part of a world-class terrorist group, after all. How many people had he assasinated during his 40 years of living? So, after calming down, he settled, his sharp eyes aiming at the openings of the armors¡ªfor example, the eyes and the mouth. He smirked, confident, knowing he would get this shot. Before he pressed the trigger, however, his instincts tinkled and he moved his head. He felt heat and realized a part of his head was singed. He gasped when he realized he just as he barely missed a fireball. Then more attacks flew in his direction, forcing him to use his gun as a shield. Terran guns were weak against Aether attacks and it was half-melted after a couple of attacks. He cursed and let go of the useless piece of metal, also throwing his own fireball in the direction. It was much smaller than the young lad as he had just awakened a day prior. The enemy didn''t know nor care about this, he just looked at him smugly¡ªand it annoyed Sen very much. This lad was Jesse, one of Baron''s many surviving cousins. He had this default smug face that had definitely earned him a lot of punches. Growing up, he had learned to make use of it and his mocking skills had reached a very good height. "What a cute ember! I don''t have a cigar with me though, what a pity!" he said (tho he didn''t really smoke). Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sen''s eyes twitched and lunged with his sword instead, but he was immediately blocked by another sword¡ªit was made of iron and looked to be a Class D weapon¡ª Now that he saw it, why did they have so many iron weapons?! Didn''t a Level 3 Weapon House require iron ores to work? Did they somehow have a mine near them? This must be reported to the lord! The thought was cut as he bent back by instinct as another fire ball barelled to him, and swiftly followed by a blade. It was only due to his experienced that he had avoided such a fast sequence, though he barely avoided the sharp blade. He felt a slight sting on his face and realized that it nicked a part of his already-flat nose. "Yo, don''t be distracted. It can cost you your head," the swordsman said. It was Angelo, Jesse''s other cousin. "Ah, wait, you already lost your non-existent nose." Sen''s eyes twitched. These bastards!! Chapter 536 Chaos in the Inner Walls (Part 2) Sen lunged, raising his hand and feet and the two entered a pretty impressive one-on-one. Well, two-on-one, because Jesse was definitely targeting Sen when he got the chance. The two swords clashed. While Angelo was in no way more talented than Sen¡ªthis was someone who had killed hundreds with his bare hands and massacred thousands with weapons in Terran alone¡ªhe was able to hold on due to Jesse''s assistance, as well as his weapons and equipment. There were plenty of close calls, with Sen almost hitting him at his few openings. The dude was really fast and was a legitimate martial artist, in contrast to him, a civilian before the apocalypse. At some point, Angelo realized he could only defend himself and depend on his equipment to keep alive. In fact, if he wasn''t fully clad with armor and defense clothing from Lenny¡ªa couple of extra equipment he could afford being one of Baron''s cousins¡ªhe probably wouldn''t be able to stand up right now. Further, he had his other cousin Jesse nearby, shooting arrows whenever he could, giving him some breathing time whenever things got too close. He did lose his sword at some point though, but fortunately he still had a few copies in his space (also a rich guy benefit). Sen''s eyes twitched when he saw the man let out yet another Class D weapon. "Annoying!" He yelled, his attacks hastening, and Angelo''s eyes twitched when he felt the durability of the equipment take a lot of hits. Jesse tried to assist him but the man was quick to block his attacks with his sword. Angelo wasn''t fast enough to take advantage of the openings that happened while he did so. However, other than Jesse, there was also another archer in the area helping the fighters there. At some point, they luckily hit Sen''s hand and forced him to let go of the sword. The two archers immediately pointed at the man, but he ran to an alley and off their line of sights. Sen took out his remaining gun¡ªan emergency one left in his space¡ªshooting at the other archer which happened to be easier to target. "AH!" He yelled. Fortunately, only his hands were visible but it was hit and he was rendered useless. "Sorry!" "It''s okay!" Angelo yelled, "Go get treated!" Angelo lunged at Sen to disable him as fast as he could. Sen didn''t want to lose his remaining gun and put it back, focusing on fighting against the young man with his fire. "HYAAA!!" Angelo yelled as he raised his hand and attacked, using his wind element to assist in his movement at inopportune times. Angelo was passionate and used all the skills he learned here. However, it only took a few minutes to be reminded of the gap between the truly skilled and the amateur. Even Jesse''s shots which had slowly focused on their battle weren''t much use, because Sen''s superior instincts would have (increasingly bigger) fire blocking the way. While it couldn''t completely burn the arrows, it was enough to weaken and even deflect them, rendering them useless against Sen. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sen''s fire would grow a little bigger learning from him and Jesse. Soon, his swift movements were unable to be blocked by Angelo''s armors anymore. His armor had taken a lot of hits due to his inability to catch up and defend from the barrage and he started to feel a couple of cracks forming. Class D weapons were far superior to Class E weapons, but elementalists'' damage would still have some effect on it. Done enough times, it could still cause major damage. Sen had entered a groove of beating him up and the poor former-civilian could only depend on his equipment to survive. Sen had started using him as a shield, so the archers couldn''t target them anymore without hitting Angelo. The next thing he knew, Angelo was already thrown to the floor. "OOFFF!" And, before he could sit up, a strong force pushed him down, and he was kicked repeatedly. BANG! BANG! Angelo felt dizzy, soon losing power. He was continuously kicked to walls, hitting a few people¡ªAlteran or from Fargo¡ªbut Sen focused on him. He grabbed his neck and dragged him around like a sack, throwing and kicking him, and Angelo''s eyes started to darken from the pain. Sen grabbed his neck and raised his arms, flame surrounding it. "Lighter, eh?" Sen grinned evilly, grabbing his face with it. "AHHHH!" The others wanted to help but they were either too far away or were surrounded, and they could only call on him to wake him up. "I''m getting bored of playing," he said, intent on finally ending this brat for real. However, at that moment, his trained sense of danger alarmed again and his palm left the lad''s face, catching an arrow just before it hit him. He caught Jesse''s arrow. He glared in the direction it came from and saw that one of the archers had already gone down from the safety of the second floor to help the brat out. Sadly for him, there were plenty of ongoing battles and it wouldn''t be easy to get to them. Meeting the other fire-user''s eyes, Sen smirked. Jesse''s heart turned cold. They were too confident! "Eh, thanks for the weapon," Sen raised his hand with the sharp tip of the arrow, intent on stabbing Angelo''s eyes with it. Jesse and the others nearby gasped, calling out to Angelo, hoping for a miracle. "ANGELOO!!" However, before the young man was stabbed, Sen stepped back, avoiding another blade and letting Angelo''s twitching body to the ground. He stepped back several steps as he saw a massive man came between them, holding up his sword in a defensive position. No, there were two, and from their features and height, he could tell they weren''t Terrans. "An aborigine, tsk. Two," Sen said, using the time to pick up Angelo''s Class D sword with brighter eyes. Good weapon! On the other side, one of the two men turned to Angelo, whose eyes were wide in surprise. "Are you alright?" "Mauru! Meroun!" The lad yelled, the tears pooling in his eyes finally flowed down. "Thank you!" This made the two men smile lightly, looking to comfort. "We''re here," they said. "And no problem¡ªafter all, Alterans always help each other out." Chapter 537 Battle in the Inner Wall (Part 1) Mauru had been in charge of keeping the battlement guards from attacking the Alterans entering through the bridge. However, Miss Althea realized they were needed more on ground level so they devised a way to lessen the labor requirement in the battlement. What they did was to use the bodies of the guards taken down to block the way of the oncoming ones. This way, they''d have to climb over half-dead or dead bodies to get to them, which was in no way easy. It was more likely they''d slip down. Their walls were so thin that it wasn''t even difficult to do so. They simply had to lay them down in whatever way, arranging it in a way the short ''wall'' wouldn''t roll in their direction instead. There was also Miss Althea who assisted them. She would shoot people skillfully and let them fall right at the surface to cause an obstacle. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Back to the battle on the ground, Angelo sobbed a bit and willingly got dragged by a team to an alley to be treated as quickly as possible. Elementalist''s fire was special and would take a lot more to treat than conventional burn treatments, and he had to be handled as soon as possible Sen grinned and skilfully waved his sword. It so happened that his mana was a bit consumed, so it was time to get back to sword fighting¡ªone of his fortes¡ªespecially now that he got a nice new weapon. He looked at them. Unlike the kid, these two definitely had killed a lot more and would also be more skilled with the weapon. Maybe he could get more equipment from them. He licked his lips, seriousness and bloodlust combining in his gaze. "This''ll be fun." ¡­ The two aborigines prepared to fight Sen, who they acknowledged was extremely skilled. They had known these people had special techniques they were unaware of, but they had the advantage of being in wars here, and the Terran guards also taught them a lot of techniques during their stay. This allowed for a massive growth in them. They had taken advantage of their foundation as frequent war soldiers, maximizing so they would learn as much as they could in a short amount of time. It was amazing how much they were willing to teach for free and it was something that was beyond their imaginations before they encountered it themselves. Other than these, every guard had very good equipment on them, definitely saving their lives many times. When it was given to them the first time, how touched they were. They hadn''t heard of any other territory that would invest so much in their people''s safety. It was definitely a territory worth serving, and they wanted to contribute to its growth! They would not allow enemies to threaten it! Mauin and Meroun looked at each other and nodded. The latter heading to the fight next to them, while the former lunging towards Sen. The terrorist finally turned serious, raising his new weapon with sharp eyes. BANG! CLASH! SLASH! An impressive fight began then, and it was Sen versus Mauin, while the other supported the Alterans nearby, doing his best to minimize the injuries. He also kept near Mauin, ready to help when he can. Sen was only level 10 and Mauin was level 13, but they were equally matched. Sen''s movements had become even faster and more fluid as he got used to the weapon. And, as time went on, even the aborigine 3 levels above him was pushed back. It could be seen from this fight that Sen had indeed been ''playing'' with Angelo before, much like how carnivores played with their food. To be fair, it was also to observe other elementalists more, and he couldn''t have killed Angelo faster by virtue of his equipment. Now though, he had stolen Angelo''s Class D weapon and was thus much more lethal. Seeing the trouble, Meroun berserked a bit to reduce the enemies of the other Alterans before heading straight to help out with Sen. They didn''t dare underestimate him. This was a man with a similar level of skills to their strong soldiers! If he was allowed to grow, how much more trouble could he get? The fight turned the tides and the Alterans were relieved this enemy was being taken care of. With this change in momentum, the Alteran''s attacks intensified, and more and more Fargo guards fell down. Soon, Angelo had rejoined the fight although from a relatively protected fight. He seemed shaky, but otherwise okay. Jesse¡ªwho had been targeting people near where he was treated¡ªheaved a sigh of relief, pointing his arrow elsewhere. He hit the enemy guards here and there, and helping out their team from above. More and more guards arrived, and immediately saw how their side was being crushed. Those at the ground were definitely their people! The numbers were so different, how could it get so bad? Due to their distance though, they came to realize there were a lot of archers shooting their people down! "THERE! ARCHERS!" A man pointed, just in time to show how a pair of their own guards got showered by three different archers. They fell down, life and death unknown. The newcomer''s feet halted, stopping a distance away, afraid to be targetted by the flying weapons. "Where are ours?" The captain of this team asked, narrowing his eyes at the battlefield before him. Last time he remembered, each team had a few archers! Then a few more people fell and he glared at his own archers. "HEY! ARCHERS! KILL THEM!" he yelled, pointing at the windows with the said professionals. The two archers shivered and walked forward, closer and closer so the archers were within range. They took advantage of the enemies'' apparent distractions as they targeted the others so they could make a good shot. It was here that they realized that the archers were shooting very quickly. Too quickly. Were they even using the same weapon? But it wasn''t the time to wonder and they stabilized their hands, ready to take down the nearest archers. To be safe, they also waited until they took another shot so they wouldn''t be able to counteract with another one against them. However, before they could even shoot¡ª Woosh! Woosh! The next thing the archers knew, they had arrows either on the neck or the chest or both¡ªand they realized the same archers they were targeting contributed! Why do they shoot so fast!? Were those¡­ freaking crossbows?! Anyway, the teammates nearby paled when they saw their archers fall down, bleeding to death. So this was why all the archers seemed MIA! Chapter 538 Battles in the Inner Wall (Part 2) Of course, Fargo also had their archers. But even the sniper Sen failed to kill them, let alone these guys? Before they could make a good shot, they died! Even if many of the Fargo archers were former marksmen, the Alterans were trained with medieval weapons and many were also provided with crossbows! Not only that, but there were also Alteran archers above the roofs, so the Fargo guards who had thought the same¡ªwould most likely get shot down even before they could settle on a high surface. One of these archers was Althea herself, among a few others. They had used Althea''s now-destroyed plateaus to get so high up. In contrast to those on the houses'' second floors, they were busy clearing those coming from the battlement. They didn''t have a good angle of the streets, and their main attacks were those above it. Most also had some clear shots of the second-floor windows, so that was another reason why Fargo archers got taken down fairly early on. As for the Alteran archers who had occupied the second floor of the nearby houses, they had far better vantage points of the battle in the streets. Thus their main task was to assist in the close-range combats happening below. As for what happened to the people who owned the room¡­ well, it varied depending on their reactions. Some Alterans tied down the occupants, while other occupants just let them be. They just left when they realized who they were, even sending goodlucks and other words of encouragement to them. Overall, other than the teams efficiently killing Fargo guards on the ground level, their archers above eye level provided a safety net and a double-insurance to make sure the enemies that reached this area would really be taken down. It got to the point that the Fargo people saw that they had 100% chance of getting injured if they got close. Even if they had a chance to take down an enemy, they didn''t want to get any more hurt than this! That said, many of the people who arrived left with the excuse of finding more intruders. Anyway, this area was ''taken care of'' by Master Sen and the others! Similarly, some of the guards already fighting also saw that they had no chance and ran away. Sen saw some of them and if he wasn''t so preoccupied, he''d have shot them down. Traitors! Cowards! In fact, if they had the slightest of loyalty, they wouldn''t flee so early, but alas. Fargo''s side promoted those who were evil and selfish. How could they expect undying loyalty from them? "COME BACK HERE!" Sen yelled, and the Maumi Village duo took advantage of his distraction to finally landed good hits on him. He managed to avoid the lethal shots, but he was still hit in the end. He gasped as he felt his stomach stabbed and his leg slashed. He just glared at Mauin and his partner, yelling. "I''M GOING TO KILL YOU!" ¡­ While most of them fought off fellow Terrans, there were a few who had to go against aborigines. The weakest among the stationed mercenaries were level 13. Cassie happened to be facing him. Cassie gasped as she barely avoided his swift stab. She used her own iron sword to block him, but the man also had a Class D weapon he got from a town. "Eh, how heroic," the man said, licking his lips as he pushed her. She spread her legs to maintain her balance. At this time, she was shielding her two teammates who had been taken down by this bastard. They were both injured and were struggling to take potions, and she was blocking his way while they recovered. The man''s eyes turned red as he saw her still standing steadfast. "Give. Up. Already!" "NO!" S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She yelled, suddenly maneuvering to the side. Her blade slid against his creating that gritting metal-to-metal sound. She used her remaining mana and a burst of air appeared behind her, causing her blade to approach faster than usual. The man''s eyes widened as he barely avoided the stab, cursing. He then used his swift stab skill to get to her as he did with her teammates. She was hit but fortunately not stabbed due to her armor. However, the force was enough to throw her to the wall. "Kyaa!" BANG! "Cassie!" "TSK!" The man sneered, happy with her struggling state. "A woman shouldn''t be holding weapons. You ought to learn that." He walked over and took her weapon that dropped down, studying it. "This isn''t bad. Did you guys upgrade your weapons shop already? Where did you get your iron? From Guia?" "Well, whatever," he said, raising the weapon and stabbing her a bit in an attempt to undress her. After all, he had already destroyed her outer armor, and he was expecting it to just rip easily to show him some skin. To his surprise, the ripped clothes revealed a layer of conservative undergarments¡ªone that wasn''t easy to strip unless he attacked for real. Apparently, the clothing underneath was quite sturdy. Lenny gave it to her and all the women going to war for free. She had seen how women were treated here, and she had an idea of how harsh it could get for fighters. Female fighters... were inconceivable to most territories, especially Xenoan villages. They would target these women harder just to ''put things back at the right place''. Lenny''s theory was proving to be correct at this moment. "Eh, it''s more fun to undress with a challenge," the man said, raising the blade, prepared to attack again. "Cassie!" The teammates yelled, crawling to her. It was chaos all around and the other Alterans must be busy with their own fights, let alone see them in one of the more isolated streets. It was nearby some of the houses Drake and the others had burned down before, and the people here had either fled in terror or were still hiding in fear. The sharp edge threatened to thump down, targeting Cassie''s joints when a small ball of fire was thrown at him. The man''s instincts let him avoid the burnt of it, but his armor was hit and its remaining durability gave way, causing cracks. "Damn!" He gritted his teeth, glaring at the newly arrived woman. It was a relatively tall woman with good curves and fiery red hair. It took the aborigine aback, but it was a sight that made Cassie and her teammates brighten. They looked at the woman with teary eyes. "Jona!" Chapter 539 Battles in the Inner Wall (Part 3) Cassie took this time to sit up, taking out yet another weapon from her space, which in turn made the man''s eyes twitch. "Another one? Where do you get all these at your level?" he asked, eyes greedily looking at the weapon, though Cassie didn''t bother to answer him. This was the third weapon she took out. Her grandmother used much of her savings from working under Lenny to give her an extra weapon, which indeed ended up becoming a saving grace. She also used this time to drink a health potion and a mana cookie, which also made the man''s eye twitch. Beside them, Jona took this time to take a breather. Jona rushed when she realized there were Alterans in there. She was in the area they burned down and was tasked to burn a few more to add a few more trouble (they had excess oil anyway) to distract the enemies for their teams. She was the only one here though, as Drake and the others had spread out to assist. Most of them, in fact, found a way to get out to the Outer Crcle as well, using the distraction and openings of the battlement guards to do so. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Because they didn''t go through the array, their ''numbers'' weren''t counted. That was to say: it didn''t matter whether they were in the interior walls or not, so they''d be much more useful assisting the others to get inside. In any case, this had nothing to do with the current enemy who was just giving the newcomer a one-over. "Another woman?" The man commented, looking at their bodies¡ªand equipment¡ªwith greed and distaste, thinking they didn''t deserve so many good things. Then he noticed the little spark on Jona''s sword and, recalling the fire ball from before, knew that it came from her. "And an elementalist too!" "I''m really curious about your territory. Hey, you two would really be worth a lot of gold." The strongman stood before the two women, a smirk danced on his lips, his gaze oozing with arrogance and interest. It irked them very much. "Underestimating us will lose you your little brother!" Jona yelled, referring to his crotch. The man looked at her. "My little brother is already dead," he said, shrugging. His arrogant gaze was not mitigated. The insult obviously went over the man''s head. With a derisive snort, the man lunged forward, his sword swinging in a vicuous arc, very much intending to cause pain. Anyway, he was also particularly annoyed today after seeing his own house burn! His woman disappeared, and he happened to be in need of new women to vent on! Looking at the two women, he thought they arrived just in time! Maybe he''d even get to keep them both! Cassie sidestepped to avoid his attack while Jona parried. The man jumped back to avoid the attack, swinging in Jona''s direction, all while sending Cassie a kick at the same time. Cassie twisted flexibly to avoid the kick, immediately joining Jona, who had entered a sword fight with the man. The harsh sounds of clashing swords occupied the place for a while after that. The women were all sweating from tiredness and they knew they had to end this soon if they wanted to help the territory more. The two women''s eyes met and they made subtle nods. A second later Cassie jumped at the enemy, waving her sword, but this time there were swirling winds attacking him on command. This was swiftly followed by Jona''s flames, which were strengthened by the wind. The man frowned, swinging his sword wildly to kill the fire, though he did burn a bit. The man''s smirk disappeared at this point, looking at the two women with darker eyes. The two swordswomen stood side by side, and immediately lunged, refusing to let him get a breather. The fire wielder danced around them, her movements fluid as she summoned more of her flames. She sent him relentless attacks, one after the other, with Cassie joining in. The man was forced to the defensive as the two women pressed forward together. It was fortunate they had actually teamed up a few times in the Training Hall so their teamwork was good. Bit by bit, they chipped away at his defenses, and more and more wounds appeared on his body. His eyes turned red when a deep gash slit his cheek. "DAMNIT!" He yelled, his pride crushed by being wounded by damned women. He couldn''t help but go berserk in anger and pain. He sent them blind attacks, which were in no way weak or slow in his level. At some point, another scuffle had gotten closer to their area. The women saw this and they moved toward an enemy group while avoiding his hits. Sure enough, he didn''t care and stabbed them as well. The level difference between this guy and the Terran guards wasn''t low and his hits critically injured a few. Slash! "HEY! STOP IT!" Stab! "GYAHHH!" They used the enemies as meatshields while they also threw in their attacks¡ªtargetting his face in particular¡ªwhich annoyed him even more. "BITCHES!" Slash! "What are you doing!?" While they avoided, the two women couldn''t help but look at each other. The fact that he received no repercussions after hurting citizens of the ''master'' territory either meant he didn''t make an oath, or took advantage of a lot of loopholes. They turned when they saw it was nearing fellow Alterans and they shifted directions again, the aborigine following them. Meanwhile, many of the Fargo guards cursed at the damage on them, with someone very much almost dead from bleeding. But in their distraction, they were easily taken down by the Alterans, clearing up the threat this team caused. The Alterans watched the women''s battle for a breather and also to rescue them when needed. A few crawled to Cassie''s teammates, helping them out as well. The team and the watchers were alert in case the women needed rescue. Joining in now would just make this crowded and they would be more likely to hit each other rather than the sole enemy they were ganging up against. They watched in tension as the two women got hit¡ªa lot¡ªbut fortunately, due to their various equipment, they received nothing too dire. Even if the enemy was also holding a Class D weapon, their superior and multi-level armor and clothing protected them well enough. Seeing the performance of the equipment compared to other territories, the Alterans swore to invest in them a bit more. Anyway, the battle continued and more and more wounds appeared on both sides. However, the women had much better pain tolerance than men. A few gashes wouldn''t make them lose their cool, unlike this arrogant jerk still swinging. He also seemed to become even more berserk when they hit his face. At this, a light of idea entered their heads at the same time. Hey, why not use this guy''s narcissism against him? Chapter 540 Battles in the Inner Wall (Part 4) As if communicating, the two girls nodded. The next moment Cassie braved through the aborigine''s relentless attacks, summoning a strong wind with most of her remaining mana. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. With this wind was sand collected from the ground that landed smack on his face. "TSK!" he cursed, though he didn''t lose his cool despite partially losing vision. People his level had slightly higher senses, and this little thing wouldn''t blind him. However, contrary to what he thought, Cassie smiled. "It''s a new poison we developed," she said, barely avoiding a stab. "It''s used to destroy¡­ faces!" "AH!" The man yelled and he immediately rubbed his face with his free hand. He didn''t let go of his sword of course, but his movements allowed for a blind spot Jona took advantage off. She arrived right behind him and poured him some oil¡ªoil that was supposed to be used to burn for another house¡ªlighting it up with her own flames. "GAHHH!" He yelled and he swung his sword blindly in front as his face burned. Elementalist fire had a much deeper effect than normal fire, and it also spread much quicker. Cassie maneuvered so she stood behind him, stabbing his joints and his spinal chords, making his body buckle towards Jona''s direction. "AHHH!" "Go, Jona!" Cassie yelled, kicking the man to her with her remaining strength. The redhead lifted her arm and the sword abruptly dropped down, stabbing his neck, and finally killing him off. As the man flopped down, the two women looked at each other with wide smiles, giving each other high-fives. The bastard finally died! They really won! ¡­ The Alterans cheered and hugged each other, and Cassie''s Teammates¡ªwho at some point could stand up again¡ªimmediately went to assist them and their recovery. Surprisingly, they also heard a few claps above their line of sight. They looked at some of the windows. Their archers didn''t occupy every house and it seemed that, at some point, the residents who had been hiding had started to watch the fight. They saw many women clapping, some sobbing, and they felt proud. One of these women was a 21-year-old blonde named Shannon. She was a forced woman of the very aborigine that had just been killed. One of the houses that got burned was his, and she kept quiet when Victor and the others burned it down. They couldn''t take her with them, but they asked her to hide out until the war was over, and that was what she did. She was also one of the people who had been scared to death when the enemies entered the walls. She refused to look out the fight, shivering at the thought of the violence happening there. But the aborigine kept yelling profanities associated with women and she couldn''t help but look out. She gasped when she saw who they were fighting and sobbed when she watched them win. "Amazing!" She clapped, looking at the corpse of the man who had been torturing her for so long. "Thank you! You are so amazing!" She said, tears incessantly flowing down her eyes. She had never been so relieved in her life. ¡­ Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! On another area above the eye level, a certain hidden lord was shooting guard after guard in the battlement, protecting those who were jumping inside. Because the level 3 wall only had a narrow battlement that only fit one person at a time, it also made things easier for her to protect those filing in. Every arrow meant a guard would fall down from the battlement. If they were especially low in level, it also meant they dropped as corpses. She had also built another wall made of bodies on the battlement, and she watched as enemy guards tried to climb over the mountain of half-dead people and corpses, only to fall down without her wasting mana. However, at some point, the people filing in finally stopped. Even the guards in the battlement stopped coming. This was followed by some scuffles from behind the walls with the people going to various directions. From this, she had an inkling that the Fargo guards had arrived to their entry area as well. Luis, Reno, and a lot more others were there, and she hoped everything would be okay. She jumped from roof to roof, jumping over straight to the battlement. Not everything was visible due to the denseness of the buildings, but she could see the hundreds of guards and slaves had started blocking the Alteran''s ways. Fortunately, they had planned for this and there were still many leaders outside¡ªwhether it was Luis, Reno, or others¡ªwho would take lead. Victor and the others would also be helping out, so she believed they''d be alright. Of course, she still lifted her arrow to hit the particularly strong guards that she had clear sights on, hopefully saving a few lives. There was even an aborigine there and they looked for her¡ªthe archer shooting down their top players¡ªbut they were immediately distracted by the teams of Alterans coursing through the alleys, taking them down one by one like guerillas. She pondered whether to get out and assist, when her peripheral vision saw a group of people she had been waiting for. It was a small group of powerful men, and in front of them was a tall middle-aged man with a dark atmosphere about him. Her green eyes widened, before morphing into a dark expression. She watched as each of the men within the level limit attacked one of her people each time. Fargo and his men weren''t weak, and they pretty much kicked or punched the nearby Alterans to the walls, making them cough blood. Fortunately, their equipment were good and they could still stand up. When they saw the victims were still alright, several of Fargo''s men immediately lunged at them, annoyed, trying to finally end their ''cockroach'' lives! Althea immediately turned, raising her magical pair of bow and arrow. Fargo! You''re finally here! I won''t let you touch another one of my people! Chapter 541 Fargo Arrives (Part 1) Fifteen minutes ago. Fargo and his main guards¡ªa group of seven including Belize, Uzon, two level 13s, a level 14, and a level 17¡ªmightily traversed street after street, striding in a direction. He had a dark expression on his face, the slight tingling of the familiar headache not making things any better. "Those bastards!" Uzon beside him gritted his teeth, "So sly!" They went out as soon as they found out that the interior walls had been breached. Putting aside the fact that they had no idea when the bastards got past the outer wall, it took a quarter of an hour for them to find out the enemies had breached both walls! While they heard of gunshots and had planned to check, they assumed the guards found the people who was causing trouble inside. They cursed at the difficulty of communication in this place, making them lose some important timings. Belize had Aether letters, of course, but they were just enough for a few members of his team. One of whom happened to have been killed before the war by Garan and the others. The man had tried to access it in an attempt to contact Belize, but he died without an inch of skin clean. Fargo''s face didn''t change as the men around him ranted, just continuing on his strides. He looked at the three people following his group. They were all from Sen''s team, and they were the ones to run to him to tell him the enemies were inside. "What happened?" "They¡­ they built slides over the wall. They came in one by one but did it fast. They handled the battlement guards with ease so many people could come in." S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this, Fargo opened the panel to see how many new powerful names appeared and how a few of his own high-leveled people had also disappeared. He did not look for twenty minutes¡ªthis damned headache¡ªand so much had changed. He looked at the siblings Eso and Eli. "Go outside and assist with blocking the rest of them." "Yes, Milord!" The two exclaimed, running towards the gate to do their tasks. Everyone knew the rules. Even if they dealt with those inside the main walls, if even a fraction of those remaining people went in, then they could lose. "Where are the slaves?" "They''re on standby in their sty near the gates, milord," Uzon said, referring to their no-better-than-pig accommodations located by the outer wall. Fargo then shifted to his panel to send out an order. To all Slaves, he said, block the inner walls with your life. After sending the orders, he directed his attention to the three reporting guards. "What else?" This made the men flinched but they hurried to report to him what happened. "There were many elementalists, and a few proficient ones. They had Class D weapons and equipment. From what we saw, they all had it." "What?" One of the mercenaries looked at him. "Impossible! Hundreds of people in a village can''t have that many!" "B-But that''s what we saw!" Fargo didn''t seem to care about this discussion. "So you ran straight to me, right?" "Yes, yes, sir!" "So many of you?" They paled and the next thing they knew they had bullets exploding their brains. "Shame," Fargo said, continued walking forward as if he didn''t just shoot a few people. He knew they probably ran to him not simply to inform him¡ªbut because of fear. He didn''t need cowards feeding off his hands. ¡­ The headed towards the area of the breach, striding quickly, expecting to reach within a few more minutes. Unexpectedly, they encountered a group of enemies so early on. They were a group of about a dozen people with weapons out and they met each other''s eyes. There was a short standstill, their twelve people facing his seven, and it was a moment later that one of their leaders yelled: "It''s Fargo!" he said, "I saw his handdrawn portrait on our announcement board!" "WHOA!" His teammate nodded, "I saw! They also posted on the board outside our community!" "He''s worth so many contribution points!" "Those beside him must give good points as well!" "We''re gonna get rich!" Fargo and the others were unsure how to feel about this conversation. Either way, it seemed the fact that they won easily even when they were very outnumbered got into these Alterans'' heads. Without another word, they lunged forward to get their ''prize''. "Attack!" . . A minute later¡ª "FUCK! Too strong! Run! Run!" the bloodied Alterans yelled as one stabbed the strong aborigine to let go of his teammate. He prompt caught him and carried him farther away, kicking so the aborigine didn''t follow him. Fargo''s sharp eyes stared at them darkly, and the men (and women) gestured to escape. Uzon sneered. "You really think you can escape?" he asked, but the Alterans didn''t answer. Instead, their leader threw a greenish small ball in their direction. Their eyes widened. Although it looked a little different, it was similar to the sample they got from Micheal! "Is it another bomb?!" Uzon yelled, and the others also ran away, taking cover. BANG! SPLURT! Fargo and the other Terrans immediately covered their noses with whatever fabric they had by instinct. They raised their heads to realize that there was only greenish smoke that spread in a small area. It so happened that the wind was blowing in their direction, letting the smoke travel towards them. It turned out to just be some sort of smoke bomb. Fargo and the others felt a bit relieved that it wasn''t an explosive, immediately gesturing to move to get out of the smoke. Of course it was not an explosive bomb. How could Althea make so many and hand then hand some to random citizens? While she did give a few to a couple of leaders, the rest would have smoke and paralysis bombs for a temporary purchase in the store. It wasn''t cheap either, and the thrower''s heart bled when he heard the bomb explode. Price of learning, he would tell himself later. It''s the price of arrogance. "Shit, that scared me," Uzon said as he stood up, only to kneel down as if his legs got weakened. Fargo also felt the slight trembling of his hands, apparently failing to completely cover himself as well He also felt it a bit more difficult to move, but not impossible, and he immediately walked out of the smoke. More and more people followed his lead, shaking their hands and, after a couple of minutes, the numbness indeed disappeared. It was fine now that they were inside the territory, but the amount of damage this could''ve done if they were near a mob was high. Obviously, this was another type of weapon Altera had and it was both intriguing and annoying to think about it. The smoke soon passed and they looked down. The aborigines didn''t know what a smoke bomb was and weren''t able to cover their faces. Fortunately, their stronger physique allowed them to be immune to its effects. For the most part, anyway. While the stronger ones didn''t seem particularly affected except for feeling a bit numb, the weaker aborigine, the level 13, was still on the floor, struggling to move. Uzon narrowed his eyes, while another mercenary kicked the other one a few times. "What are they doing so deep in the inner circle? Hadn''t they dealt with the trespassers?" Fargo stared in a direction. "Let''s go," he said, and the others dutifully followed him. He also summoned majority of the stronger guards assigned to other areas. While it could leave those areas vulnerable, he didn''t think too many Alterans¡ªif any¡ªwould be able to breach the walls after all the forces he assigned there. "Ready your weapons," he said, eyes sharp with a bit of bloodlust. "We''re off to a murder spree." Chapter 542 Fargo Arrives (Part 2) Fargo looked at the massacre and felt veins popping¡ªit wasn''t even just anger. He felt the annoying headache attack his head and his eyes turned red in annoyance. While he had always had a slight headache back in Terran, it disappeared when they migrated here. Now that it was recurring, he couldn''t help but curse a bit. In any case, the sight of the fight still ongoing and seeing that the corpses were all his men was exacerbating it a bit. He swore that Altera would be in his hand and all its citizens would suffer under his rule for causing him this trouble. As they arrived, the group also saw what the now-dead guards were reporting to him. To be honest, they thought they were exaggerating, but they soon realized that they weren''t. Everyone truly had Class D weapons. They also had weapons unavailable to them like crossbows and certain types of armor and shields. And, of course, the Elementalists. There was a Terran who breathed fire, made stronger by the oil-filled torch he had in his hand. He created a small area of effect damage that created openings for his team. Then there was an earth elementalist who made holes that imbalanced his men, and then they''d be stabbed by Class D weapons everyone seemed to have. This was Altera? So powerful? Did he miss something? It had been less than an hour since the war started, and this was not the image he was expecting. He knew there was chaos, but he didn''t imagine it to be an outright massacre¡ªnot when he knew Garan and the others couldn''t have entered here. After all, according to the rules, those beyond the level cap entering enemy territory during wars would equal punishments usually not worth the effort and the reward. In the same vein, he had wanted to force the stronger aborigines beside him to move and massacre the bastards but he knew they wouldn''t risk it for him. In any case, their own guards were no longer that much of a threat that the Alterans'' attention could easily be taken by their arrival. Someone nearby exclaimed. "Is that Fargo?" "Yes, I saw his drawn image!" another said, "I think there are several copies posted on various bulletin boards. There''s one outside our dorm." Fargo and the others frowned. This again. It might sound simple but even the simplest of art was indicative of many things to Fargo. One, things were good enough in Altera that the literary professions like artists could thrive there. Second, they seemed to have enough paper and drawing materials to make a copy of his portrait. And, finally, it told him that their ruling party knew him enough to assign a bounty on his head. They didn''t think so much because they were immediately showered by fast arrows from all directions. His guards frowned, and the shieldsmen activated their shields and abilities, while the others took cover. "They''re using crossbows!" Uzon said, gritting his teeth as he hid from the rain of weapons. "Someone''s shooting fire arrows, too!" A shieldsman yelled as he looked at the dip in the durability of his Class E Sheild. He had barely managed to cover himself from that attack! "Darn, I missed!" the archer yelled. Someone below him shook his bandaged head. "It''s okay, Jessie! Just keep em coming!" And that was what the archers did. Fargo and the others didn''t waste equipment though. They immediately went to get cover using the buildings, with the strongest shieldsman¡ªthe level 17 Froi¡ªtraversing to grab a random person though not before kicking another one or two people nearby. Even if the enemy had good coordination, the sudden arrival of such brute force was bound to imbalance them. As the aborigine held onto the bandaged man''s neck, the rain of arrows immediately stopped. "ANGELO!!" "DUDE!" "Why are you so unlucky?!" Angelo was indeed unlucky. Now he was taken to the enemy''s side and other than the scuffles around, everyone else stopped. No one dared get close to Fargo, lest they put the poor bandaged newly-burned Angelo in danger. "Heh, idiots," Uzon said as he looked at the man dragged here by the mercenary. One of the things they found out through observing the previous attackers was that they refused to leave someone behind. This weak mentality meant they could take hostages! Of course, it wasn''t that these idiots completely gave up on attacking. There was another one of those paralysis bombs that were thrown at them, supposedly using these as distractions while a few people appeared behind them to rescue the lad. However, they were ready this time. Uzon jumped and waved his sword, batting it away like playing baseball. He tried to throw it to the Alteran crowd, but someone used his damned wind ability to blow it upwards. Bang! It exploded above their heads, soon to be blown away by the wind. "Che. Pity." As for the men who tried to rescue, they immediately entered a fight with Fargo''s guards. Even if the bomb''s distraction wasn''t there, they didn''t backtrack anymore. This attack was also a signal to the other Alterans who weren''t dealing with their own enemies to join in. All of a sudden, Fargo''s newly arrived party of over a dozen were surrounded by Alterans. Obviously, they noticed the level differences, and some were genuinely afraid, but they pushed through to fight against them anyway. Many of them were already injured but apparently, as long as their team was working, they had little to fear. "Naive!" Froi, although he was beyond the level cap, could still shield and redirect attacks among many other things to influence the fight. For example, he could shield his team from a barrage of attacks, consuming a lot of the enemies'' mana. He could grab a shoulder and throw them towards his own people, imbalancing them, and so on. Although it had only been an hour since the war began, the Alterans had gone through a lot of battles and were understandably a bit weakened. Hence, some were helpless against Uzon and the stronger aborigines'' attacks. Even Fargo himself would make a move if anyone got close to him. His moves were dire and lethal. He even used the sharpness of his soil ability, compressing them into bonafide rock-like blades. Elementalist attacks had a larger impact to equipment than weapons of the same level. Further, Fargo''s attack was definitely not weak. "AHH!" "EEKK!" "Watch out!" Before he could behead one, however, two Alterans kicked him. He let go of the man and avoided their attacks. There were various several cases, and some even went directly against the few remaining level 14s and 15s. The reason why the Alterans survived was due to their equipment and the number of times they worshipped Altera in their minds when they realized it was innumerable. Of course, considering the level differences, the amount of hits they had received, and with Fargo and Uzon''s relentless use of elements, it was inevitable for a few cracks to appear in their defenses. At some point, a few people just buckled and were easier to drag around and beat up. Fargo watched in satisfaction as several were thrown against the walls. Too bad they didn''t die¡ªthey had excessively good equipment for their level¡ªbut it just meant they had to hurt them a little more to completely destroy their defenses. And that was what they attempted to do. The momentum didn''t last a minute, however, because a moment later Fargo would hear screeching screams coming from his own people. "AHHH!" Fargo, Uzon, and the others turned to look at the mercenaries that had been torturing the Alterans a few seconds ago. They were suddenly in much poorer states than the Alterans they had just been pummeling. They were shot in various parts of the body and they all gritted their teeth in pain, with someone directly on the floor bleeding. He could see a few arrows passing through their bodies, the sharp arrowheads visible on the other side. His eyebrows rose. The Class E bow and arrows had diminished effects against these people. Why were their defenses completely punctured after a few shots? Then, his danger instincts sounded and he heard Belize beside him yell. "Milord, watch out!" The next thing they knew, an arrow encased in a special aura was flying straight to Fargo''s head. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 543 Shooting Them Down A/N: Extra chapter sent just this morning by Lotuslin ~ xoxoxoxoxooxoxo!! Your ¡­ ____ Suddenly, a gust of wind blew in front of him, followed by Belize''s hand gripping on something, a bit of blood dripping on the floor. They realized that Belize had caught an arrow. Even if Fargo had managed to lean back a bit by virtue of his instinct, he saw that the arrowhead only missed his head by an inch. The adrenaline shook them all and they didn''t move for a few moments in shock. Although it was just an arrow, it had a special aura about it. Their fighter''s instinct told them it was dangerous. As if that one shot could''ve really been lethal. No one noticed how Belize''s hands shook and bled and they looked up to find the shooter, not expecting to see a beautiful woman on top of a roof, her hands on a glittering bow and arrow. "What the¡ª" Uzon yelled, looking dazed at the woman before regaining his senses and looking guardedly at her. It was the same as with the other men. She then gestured to take another shot, and everyone''s alarms went off. "Don''t get hit," Belize said, his jaw clenched, his hand still shaking¡ªand even bleeding¡ªfrom the force of his catch. "It''s a level B weapon." "What?" They turned to look at the gorgeous woman targeting them from the roof. The wind made her ebony hair flow gently, and the shimmer of the weapon made her already delicate features glimmer even more. More than on the woman, however, the men''s eyes glinted in greed for the equipment. Without another word, the woman shot and everyone flinched to take cover. "Dammn! Get down!" they yelled, some hiding behind a wall, some taking out their best shields, while some grabbing a human¡ªa teammate or Alteran¡ªas cover. Whoosh! They heard the fast-moving arrow approach, hearts beating out of their chests. "GYAAH!" A yell exploded and they turned to look at the poor victim. It was actually Froi she targeted this time, with the arrow actually puncturing his Class D shield and hitting his shoulder! Fortunately, the woman wasn''t able to maximize her weapon yet and the man was only injured. Another one flew and it hit a lower-leveled guard, this time, taking his life with a single shot. "GET HER!" Froi exclaimed, mostly directed at his fellow mercenaries. They nodded, quickly kicking away the Alterans they were facing to change targets. Froi glared at the woman as he painfully gripped on the arrow embedded in his shoulder. He gritted his teeth in pain, gesturing to take it out so he could consume one of his last bottles of healing potion. But¡­ he was unable to even pull it. He frowned and he realized he was losing feeling to his limbs. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at the woman, who was still shooting her heart out. "She¡­ she put something in her arrow!" he yelled, just before he lost the feeling of his legs, falling down head first to the ground. "OI!" "What''s going on?" "Don''t care about him! The arrows are poisonous!" Seeing as Fargo and his party were preoccupied to not get hit by the beautiful Miss Althea''s arrows, the Alterans took this chance to rescue their injured comrades¡ªespecially Poor Angelo¡ªto safety. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Uzon saw this and wanted to follow, but he didn''t dare in case that woman targeted him. It was obvious that she was primarily shooting at those who hurt the Alterans. Obviously, the level was much higher, but they weren''t the ones half-dead. At this time, yet another one ¡ªa level 12¡ª was hit. He wasn''t dead but the effect of the poison on him was much faster. A few seconds after taking out the arrow¡ªwhich disappeared as soon as it was pulled¡ªhe shook on the ground with mouth frothing. Althea looked at the effect of her poison and nodded in relief, before dousing the manifested arrow with the poison in a cup hanging on her waist, pulling the string again for another shot. She naturally knew her limitations. Although the Bellagio was a Class B weapon, its power in her hands was much lower than its potential. It would be difficult to one-shot enemies above her own level without consuming too much of her mana. Regardless, the enemies she was targeting weren''t weak. The mana consumption of each shot was large and she couldn''t afford to waste two shots on one target, so she added some very strong poisons in her shot for good measure. These poisons could affect monsters her level, let alone humans with less defense and immunities. Uzon, who was standing beside the lord and defending him, never took his eyes off the woman. He felt his blood pressure rise when he saw her taking something out of the space¡ªrealizing it was a cookie! She looked particularly irksome as she carelessly chewed on her snack while killing them off one by one!! Uzon gritted his teeth as he glared at her. They would definitely make this woman suffer! "KILL HER! KILL HER!!" Similarly, Fargo''s cold eyes looked at her, sending an announcement to the people nearby. [Kill that woman and receive a custom house for yourself.] The guards nearby saw their lord and followed orders to get to her. But the walls were unscalable and it wasn''t easy to get to her. On the contrary, the enemy archers would just use them as open targets instead! Fargo looked at the men beside him and nodded, and with his ability he created smaller plateaus to assist them in climbing up. Of course, while Fargo was naturally talented and didn''t need a teacher to make this, it would still require a lot of mana. Fortunately, the platforms didn''t need to be too dense or too high as these people could jump at least 2 meters at their levels. Immediately, several mercenaries and guards ran towards her, eyes greedy for her, her weapons, and the promised house. They watched her whistle before gesturing to shoot again, but didn''t think much of it. They were extremely fast-moving, but the woman didn''t even flinch. A lot of people from below could see her static state. Some Alterans looked worried, while the enemies smirked. "Heh, did she freeze?" One of Fargo''s men smugly said, body filled with blood from an attack from another. However, they quickly found out how she could still be coolly shooting her arrows and eating cookies despite the imminent threat coming her way. Just when their men were an arm''s length away, two figures flashed in front of them, swiping them back to the ground with such force they vomited blood. One of the men¡ªa level 11¡ªeven landed without his heart. "What the¡ª" "Cough!" "What happened?!" One of the men yelled, gasping when he saw large claw marks on his stomach. He lost his consciousness when he saw his innards flowing out. The others shook as they saw this, a bit shivering as they tilted their heads to look at the newcomers. GRRRRRRR¡ª Everyone gaped at the sight of the looming figures that appeared before them. They were large and threatening¡ªblocking the way between them and the woman. For a moment, they couldn''t quite absorb what they were seeing and, when they did, they couldn''t help but gasp. It was a massive dog and¡­ a half-orc!? Chapter 544 Fox and Dog Fufi and Gochi had been ordered to help out in various areas, but they came running back the moment they heard Althea''s whistle. Fortunately, they had already taken down a lot of the strong enemies so the Alterans left behind adjusted quickly when they left. In fact, the two had killed almost every person level 9 and above in their area. It was why they were covered with blood, making them even scarier than usual. "What the fu are these things?!" One of the attackers yelled as he looked at the looming figures that coincidentally made eerie shadows on him. He met their eyes and he shivered, standing up to run. Sadly, before he could do so, the next thing he saw was sharp teeth. GRRRRR¡ª SQUELCH! His own blood splattered on his face, and he was no more. This sight made all the enemies around pale a bit, and the Alterans cheer in joy. "WOOO! GOCHI! SO BADASSS!" "You weren''t this cool when you''re with me!" A girl yelled. "FUFI! FUFI! WHAT A GOOD BOIIII!" Gochi cleared his throat and blushed a bit, a little embarrassed, while the dog''s tail wagged automatically at the sound of ''good boi''. He was still covered in blood of others with some dripping off his teeth, but apparently the Alterans had long been used to it. Of course, even if the beasts'' stances softened just a bit, their alertness did not. Anyone who threatened the safety of the woman above them was sure to receive a sharp claw on the face. While the beasts were protecting her, Fargo and the others watched the woman continue eating her snacks. Her attacks had slowed down and had turned weaker¡ªlikely from the lack of mana¡ªbut her shots were still dangerous considering the level of her damned weapon. Fargo took a deep breath. "Shoot them with guns," he said and those with the weapon immediately took it out. He didn''t worry about his men''s accuracy, they had been through a lot of gun fights and assassinations back in Terra, after all. He had been trying not to use them because they lost such a big bulk. And how many guns could each of their spaces have? Not to mention, they needed other things in their spaces. But this battle was worth using them. Similarly, those who were fighting the beasts also took out their remaining guns, sending barrages of shots at them. They were shooting in fear, even, and pressing the trigger wildly as the monsters approached them. "Guns won''t work!" "SHIT!" "Why is this dog as hardy as beasts?!" A guard yelled, but then he felt something sharp against his neck. He didn''t even realize his head was detached from his body when he lost consciousness. The beasts continued taking care of the unfortunate souls who were nearest them¡ªguards who wanted to get contribution¡ªkilling them easily. "ORCSHIT!" one of the remaining mercenaries yelled as he attacked him with his weapon. However, the dog just swiped the Class E weapon down, opening his arm and detaching the man''s arm from the rest of his body. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "AHHHHHHHHH!!!" Fufi had been training in the barracks and was very aware of human attacks. He didn''t even have to take the attack head-on, he simply had to pull it out of the man''s hand before he could use any skill, and Gochi immediately jumped down and beheaded him like cheese. "So strong! Are they still in the level cap?! This isn''t fair!!" One yelled as he backed away, and the others were also confused. No one could afford to think too deeply though because they were too busy surviving! Fufi was actually not yet level 10 but he had a lot of comfortable armor on to further enhance his defense. It was a special cloth that Lenny spent days making. Further, Fufi was essentially still a beast, and people of the same or similar level were of little match for him. Gochi''s case was also very interesting. He was actually not even 20 years old, and his level was just within the level cap. Most of the half-orcs were kept below level 15 during their stay at Hoskle. After all, Hoskle was a village and would have the most use of them at this level. The only exception was Baku, although he was made to guard with his body even when he couldn''t attack in wars. The two ''beasts'' had similar conditions wherein they''d require twice the experience requirement to level up, but they had a much higher attribute increase each time. This seemed troublesome at first, but extremely useful in wars because this meant that they had the force value equivalent to humans several levels above them, but would still be able to fight in wars unlike them. Fargo watched as the Alterans took the chance of this boost to get rid of the remaining Fargo guards in their midst. At this point, Fargo had already summoned every guard within the inner walls to their area. They had arrived¡ªonly about a few hundred left in the interior walls¡ªand it made him want to kill. Now it seemed like there were two sides with equal numbers of people. There was Altera with their complete couple of hundred attackers, and then Fargo''s side comprised mostly of the newly arrived guards¡ªall of whom were shocked to see that the war had already turned so dire after such a short time. Fargo naturally didn''t want to strip the other areas bare, but there was no point keeping guards in other places. He didn''t believe that those Alterans outside the wall could defeat the forces there, so this was not the time to hold back. He looked at the woman with the Class B weapon, to the people who all had Class D equipment, and then to the two beasts far stronger than should be allowable¡ª If he wanted to grab hold of this fascinating territory¡ªhe needed to go all out. No, he had to go above and beyond. And that was what he was planning to do. Chapter 545 Targets Fargo''s sharp eyes looked at the Alterans who were taking full advantage of the ''terrain'' and located in easily defensive spots. Even those on the roof only had to step back to avoid the projectiles. His eyes twitched. He didn''t think housing density would be used against him. In contrast to the Alterans, the beasts were well outside. It so happened that they had entered a plaza area he built around the inner walls to show ''exclusivity'' in contrast to the extremely dense outer walls¡ªa good portion of which were shanties. Of course, to say the Plaza was large was an exaggeration¡ªit was probably only a lot or two big¡ªbut it gave his side a clear vantage point of the two beasts, rather than them squeezing into a street and shooting blindly in front. "Attack them," he said to the newcomers, pointing at the beasts as if he didn''t see how strong they were. However, he didn''t believe these things were invincible at all! Otherwise, they wouldn''t be allowed to participate in this war in the first place!! Further, Fargo didn''t know if they could become slaves once they won Altera, but he couldn''t allow these beasts to be moving and culling his people. At this, all attacks¡ªeven by the newcomers''¡ªfocused on the two beasts. Those in front kneeled down to avoid getting hit by those behind them, and soon a rain of attacks entered the area. Or rather, the exposed part¡ªjust to the beasts. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After all, targeting the Alterans who could just hide behind the walls or houses was a waste of mana and bullets. It rained chaos of course, but the Alterans naturally didn''t hide away when they saw their brethren getting targetted. They didn''t lose with their attacks and they also rained arrows on the other side. The Elementalists who still had a good amount of mana would also throw a shot here and there, and more often than not would hit someone. Similarly, Gochi and Fufi naturally didn''t just stand by as they were attacked, but the force of the barrage was effectively pushing them back, with the two only occasionally managing to swipe one or two. "Don''t falter! FIRE!" Fargo saw the effect and yelled, and soon the Alterans would occasionally hear Fufi squeak and Gochi groan, and they knew they''d soon be getting some serious injuries soon. Fargo was right about them not being indestructible. They weren''t so overpowered that they couldn''t get hurt at all by such a barrage. It reddened the Alterans'' eyes, and their attacks turned much fiercer than ever. Those above the roofs were also raining down their arrows, though there weren''t many of them. Althea was shooting as much as she could. Her mana was still recovering, but a shot from a Class B weapon was enough to greatly damage enemies weaker than she was. Several smoke bombs were thrown in, though most of them would always be deflected. There would also be many short-range fighters going out with their sheildsmen to attack head-on. They didn''t hold back and treated this as the final fight for the sake of Gochi and Fufi. Gochi realized this and his tears pooled. The war was still long, he mused, they shouldn''t be expending so much energy like this! The half-orc seemed to have been injected with a renewed energy and his eyes turned red as he lunged towards the middle of the enemy crowd, swiping, kicking, and stabbing whoever he could. "AH!" "GAH!" Soon, the two beasts breached the formation. Unlike the brave and consolidated Alterans though, the other side were innately selfish people who could push other people down. And some already did. The lack of trust combined with fear and panic caused the formation to break, and no amount of announcements calmed them down. They couldn''t focus their attacks on the enemies and a lot of people perished under the Alteran''s onslaught of attacks. Fargo and the others gritted their teeth, joining the fray. The difference between the two groups was that Fargo''s was focusing on brute force¡ªespecially with the higher skill level of Fargo and the others¡ªwhile the Alterans were focused more on teamwork, which was easier now because the number of enemies had been greatly reduced the past hour or so. Fargo, Uzon, and the others used their lethal skills to handle a few enemies at once¡ªshowing how they were so feared back in Terran. "GAH!" Two Alterans yelled simultaneously as two spikes appeared underneath them. Their armors, having no time to change to their spare, had already showed cracks from the long-term battle royale and the spike happened to be the breaking point. "OOF!" One yelled as it stabbed his leg, and the other one fell as it stabbed his stomach. Their teammates yelled and tried getting to them, but Fargo and the others took advantage of this to get more people. For instance, they''d allow the teammates to get closer, only to prepare a deadly attack just for them. Before they could inflict even more lethal attacks though, another powerful arrow flew in their direction.. "AH!" Uzon yelled as he barely avoided the arrow, creating a gash on his arm. "Damn that woman!" He took out his last shotgun and pointed at her. Althea didn''t pause and continued to shoot at other mercenaries. Belize was there to guard the lord from attacks so Althea didn''t bother to waste ammo on Fargo and focused on other people instead. Fargo punched another Alteran who appeared behind him. Sadly his mana had to be maintained so he didn''t use another skill. As he jumped and kicked two more, he couldn''t help but look up at the beautiful woman targeting his strongest guards. She was drenched in sweat, obviously overusing the weapon, and he wondered if it was their chance. Fargo''s instincts told him this woman was the key to all of this! Was she one of the leaders of this attack? The best way to kill the morale was to take down a commander. Fargo kept his cool despite the damned headache, looking at Uzon beside him, who was cursing as the beast once again blocked a shot while killing one or two guards in front of him. "Damnit! Does it know how to calculate my projectile?" "That''s because you''re in the wrong position," Fargo said, and the man''s eyes brightened, sprinting in another direction. It so happened that there were a set of houses directly adjacent to each other. The walls couldn''t be scaled, but the various surfaces could be manipulated. Meanwhile, several guards shakily blocked the beast, trying to attack him. As the fight went on, with Fargo protected well from attacks, he soon caught sight of Uzon on a roof behind her, just out of her sight. He quickly positioned himself, pressing the trigger as soon as he settled. Uzon targeted her head. BANG! They were expecting the woman to finally fall down, if not receive lethal damage to the head. Even if it was unlikely to kill a level 10 like her, it could imbalance her and let her fall down the roof¡ªat least! It was a pity for the beauty, but maybe they could keep her corpse! However, she stood tall, even freaking pointing arrows at them. "AH!!" Another one fell down. "What?" Uzon shook and made two more shots. BANG! BANG! And it was the same. Belize looked at the woman in disbelief. "She has a very good armor, milord. I can''t tell the level as it seems hidden, but it can''t be inferior to her weapon." She was obviously not wearing anything on her head, but it was so well-defended. Only Class B defense equipment (or above, but unlikely) could have the so-called ''total defense'' quality. Fargo and the others''s eyes shone light at this. That meant that the woman had at least a class B weapon and armor on her! He looked at Belize, who was easily redirecting the attacks headed towards him, deflecting them towards their own team. Sometimes it was successful, more often the person was pulled back by his team. How these people find the time to rescue their teammates was beyond them. That woman, with her equipment, had to be dealt with by someone far, far, stronger than she was. While he didn''t know what Belize was hiding while refusing to use his skills, he was the best chance they had to take her down. High-level individuals attacking during wars would cause great losses to the attacker, but from what he knew as long as the ''victims'' weren''t killed, they had no risk of losing their lives. At most, it would probably be a lot of money and experience. He needed her alive anyway. First, he wanted to find out how she got those equipment. Second, it was no fun torturing a corpse. "It''s time for you to bring her here and take her down," he said. "In exchange, you can have one of her weapons as well as another portion of land when we upgrade." His words made Belize look at him. "Milord?" Fargo stared, all while throwing a sharp rock to stop an Alteran from bothering their conversation. "What do you think?" Chapter 546 Versus Belize (Part 1) Belize looked at the beautiful woman who was continuously shooting arrows in their direction, with someone from their side falling each time. Even if it wasn''t from direct damage, they''d be down due to some sort of poison or paralysis. She must not be more than level 10, yet she was causing his side so much damage. Normally, he''d be offended that a woman would be holding such a good weapon but oddly it just fit in her hand. She was so beautiful and fascinating. There was something in the way she held herself that stood out, and it was difficult even for enemies to look away. He could tell there was no other woman like her. That, and combined with the charm of Class B weapons and armor, he found himself nodding at the lord''s offer Class B weapons were very effective for beasts level 40 and below. Because the human physique was much weaker, it could provide massive damage to humans until level 50 or even more. Class B equipment also had extremely high durabilities versus Class C weapons, with the lowest of the same kind being 10x more durable. Not to mention, that weapon was especially colorful. It seemed like it was of the superior sort. While Class B weapons and armors wasn''t extremely rare in cities, they were still very expensive that even nobles might not own one. This was because the gap between Class C and B was not small¡ªmost weapons and equipment makers would peak at the former. The difference between Class C and B weaponsmakers were farther than the moon and the ground, not to mention the material requirements which increased with rarity and cost. As architects tended to stagnate as Class D Architects, majority of equipment makers would peak at Class C, even after decades of practice. This was why many level 40s or stronger might settle for Class C weapons, which had diminishing effects against monsters above level 30. Class B equipment also had extra effects and damage that Class C weapons would not have. For example, the full armor effect of this woman''s defense or the special penetration effect of her bow and arrow. At his level and proficiencies, such a weapon was extremely useful, especially when dealing with fellow Elementalists. After a certain point, a lot of Elementalists could start doing away with weapons and still cause major damage to beasts and humans equipped with aether gears. Similarly, the effects of non-elementalist attacks on them were also reduced by a bit, unless it was a class B weapon and above. Belize''s proficiency hadn''t reached that level yet, so such a weapon¡ªhe happened to also prefer bows and arrows¡ªwould be extremely useful to him! A little excited, Belize didn''t attack immediately and looked at his own stats. He only had about half of the mana remaining and still hadn''t recovered much after all this time. He frowned but decided it didn''t matter much. He simply had to end it fast! He lunged forward, jumping up the plateaus the lord made, reaching her area within a few blinks. He immediately summoned winds in an attempt to imbalance her. She frowned as she was blown away, taking out a sword and stabbing the roof with it. Unfortunately for her, system buildings were quite durable and the low-level Sword wasn''t able to embed enough to stop her momentum. Belize''s eyes sharpened and he jumped to her, intending to take her down while she was imbalanced. Unsurprisingly, the massive half-orc arrived in front of her, swiftly kicking him and holding her arm. Belize turned and maneuvered, landing on the neighboring roof a few meters away. He watched as the half-orc lifted her back up to stability and a moment later they were ready to fight together with him. Belize narrowed his eyes. He didn''t want to use aggressive techniques from the get-go in case he could deal with them without having to receive the penalties¡ªwhich would definitely not be small¡ªbut it seemed like it would be unavoidable. He raised his hands and soon, wind began to congregate around him. He wasn''t able to develop his close-range fighting as a talent limitation. He would have trouble engaging in a hand-to-hand combat with a half-orc half his level. Using his bow and arrow would also be useless against the half-orc''s speed and the woman''s defenses, so he could only use his elements. He frowned, looking at his mana again, before quickly summoning wind blades. Unfortunately, the half-orc carried the woman and managed to avoid the slashes. Belize didn''t follow up, opting to strategize and maximize his remaining mana. Seeing him have such reservations about using his skills, Althea smiled. Hey, she mused, the experimental Mana Reducer seemed to have worked this time. Of course, she only managed to make one so she asked Juni to choose the target well. While risky due to the man''s high level, it seemed that this one paid off. The man was in his level 30s and still saw some effects. In her estimate, if it was given to weaker jerks, they might not even be able to use their skills at all for days. Too bad the ingredients were difficult to obtain¡ªmost of which were dried plants from the Ferrol Fair¡ªand it took too long to make, otherwise she''d have given hundreds to distribute to the guards here. Of course, she didn''t feel complacent despite this. Belize was still a level 30 elementalist¡ªthrice her level and twice that of Gochi¡ªso it was in no way an easy fight. Further, a level 30''s slowly recovering mana might still be bigger than what she had. In the end, Belize opted to be more conservative¡ªit was unsightly to give so much against a woman so much weaker than he was¡ªand only used his ability for support. Belize might not have such great skills in close-ranged combat, but his level made up for it a bit and he would sprint in her direction¡ªusing his ability to add speed¡ªwith a knife, aiming to hurt her. He raised his feet and aimed to kick away the beast. Unsurprisingly, the beast was fast and was about to take his leg when he used wind to turn himself at an awkward angle, aiming straight for her body. CLANK! His eyes twitched. He had hoped his Class D knife could have an effect but it didn''t do a thing. He was hoping the Terran gun was just useless, but it seemed the woman really had very good defense equipment. He leaned back as he avoided a sudden attack¡ªunexpected because it wasn''t coming from the angle of the half-orc¡ªand stepped back to avoid another. The third one was faster and bigger and it hit him straight at the stomach. "OOF!" he coughed, surprised. The damage wasn''t too large, but it was a nuisance and he had no choice but to move roofs again. Looking back, he saw several rocks floating around the woman, and he belatedly realized she was controlling it. His eyes widened a bit as he gaped at her. An elementalist! And¡ªlooking at how stable they were orbiting around her¡ªit made him wonder if level 10s were supposed to be able to control elements so proficiently? Not only did she have high-level equipment, she was also a proficient elementalist even at such low level. Who was she?! He shook his head, knowing this was not the time to be in a daze. He heaved a deep breath as he looked sharply at the woman. The half-orc stood next to Althea, as if awaiting for her instructions. Gochi didn''t defend her from the bows and arrows that would occasionally target them anymore. This was because he realized her defense equipment was far superior to what he had ever seen. He still stuck to her, of course, knowing full well the enemy this time wasn''t weak. He turned to look at the thin man guardedly, as if he wasn''t a few heads shorter than he was. "Should I attack him, Miss Althea?" he asked, extremely respectful. The woman then looked at Belize, emerald eyes peering analytically at him. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Belize, to be honest, found it a bit unsettling. "We''ll attack him together," she said. "He''ll lose fuel soon." Belize''s eyes widened a bit at her words, turning red in anger at the realization. "So it was you!" So it was her who messed with his mana! Althea smiled a bit, looking at him inquisitively. If the timing was okay, she looked like she would bring out her notebook to record his answers. "Can you tell me more about its effect? How slow are you recovering? If you use a skill now, when will mana start to recover??" His eyes twitched, completely insulted and angry¡ªfeeling as if he was being played with. How dare she! He no longer cared about his limitations. Anyway, if he damaged her fast enough, he wouldn''t need so much mana! Suddenly, sharp wind blades surrounded him. And this time? They were aiming to maim. Chapter 547 Versus Belize (Part 2) Altera, a week ago One morning, Gochi was doing his standard rounds around the territory, looking for refugees, clearing monsters, and at the same time taking note of the plants there. His teammates were not too far away. They didn''t mind him ''slacking'' occasionally to check out plants because that meant a short break for them, too. In fact, at first, even if it didn''t take too long, he did feel a bit guilty. But his teammates convinced him that it was good to have someone who knew more about plants and that maybe he''d trigger the Pharmacist occupation someday. Gochi couldn''t bear to tell them it didn''t work that way, but he smiled for their well wishes anyway. His ears moved when he heard distant rustles, guardedly looking in the direction of the sound. Immediately, his teammates stood up, alert, and they immediately softened when they saw who it was. "Miss Althea?" Then they also stood straight, recalling her position. "We''re doing our rounds, Miss Althea!" "Yes, Miss Althea!" Their silliness made her smile. "So you guys are here," she said. "Hello, Gochi," she said, and then turned to greet the other people behind him, mentioning their names, which made them all feel a bit giddy. "Don''t mind me, I''m just looking for a few things," she said, continuing to peruse the area and her eyes ended up on the plant Gochi was holding. "Where''d you get that?" Gochi blinked and pointed at a cluster of plants nearby, partially hidden by the shrubs. "Ah, thanks," she said, walking over. Her eyes brightened and she immediately kneeled down, a small shovel appearing in her hand. They watched as she gracefully dug up a whole plant including its roots. She took out a small pot from her space, planted it there. As she settled the plant to its new ''home'', she began to speak. "This is called Amerie," she said. "It''s a fire retardant and we''re experimenting on its various uses." "Fire Retardant?" "It''s something that would slow down the spread of fire," she said. "It''s also the main ingredient for the fire killer ball." Gochi happened to be there when they tested it out. His lips twitched. "I see¡­ it''s amazing." She smiled and looked at him, telling him of the various signifiers as well as characteristics found in certain plants. This would give him an idea of its potential uses¡ªeven without an appraisal skill. Gochi shook, flattered at the selfless giving of knowledge. "T-Thank you, Miss Althea." "No problem. I hope you awaken a pharmacist occupation someday." His eyes widened and he blushed, shaking his head. "A half-orc''s use is in their physiques." "Aw, don''t limit yourself like that." Gochi shook his head. "I mean, as a natural rule of nature, we do not receive inheritances from the World Knowledge." It simply didn''t work that way, much like how humans suddenly couldn''t grow claws and tails like they could. This made Althea pause, and everyone else looked at him in pity. But then she opened her mouth again, and Gochi''s eyes widened at her next words. "Who says the system has to tag you for you to become a pharmacist? ¡­ ____ Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fargo Village, Present. The air around them moved sharply, converging around Belize. The next moment, they condensed into sharp blades. With a wave of a hand, the slashes were barrelled in Althea''s direction¡ªarriving in front of them in a blink of an eye. Even before the attack was thrown, Gochi moved to place himself in front of Althea, but she pulled him back, placing herself in front of them instead. "Miss Althea¡­!" he yelled, but it was too late to change positions again. The wave pounded on them like as if a car hit them¡ªor rather, Althea¡ªstraight on. Gochi caught her back to cushion the movement, but the force was still there and they were carried far, all the way to the adjacent roof a few meters away. . The wind blades were composed of many smaller wind shrapnels and Gochi, who was behind Althea, was still punctured and stabbed a lot. His armor had also given way under the relentless attacks. The damage, if he had stood in front of her instead, could''ve been debilitating. But Gochi didn''t notice his own wounds as he was focused on the woman in front of him, heart warm and eyes tearing a bit as he looked at her. Althea''s outerwear was also damaged a bit, revealing a silky white camisole inside but, otherwise, she didn''t seem particularly damaged at all. However, she was showing a lot more skin than proper because her outer clothing was shredded, revealing the few layers of cloth underneath. If a normal human man was in Gochi''s place, he''d have had a nosebleed. Fortunately for him, he didn''t feel attraction to another race so he was safe from Garan''s future hunting. The air settled, revealing the roof area they were just standing in. The attack made most of the wood shingles detach and fly. Considering that her low-level bombs could cause similar damage, this attack showed the damage a higher level elementalist could create. Belize heaved a deep breath, panting and sweaty. This was not surprising. After all, he used one of his premier¡ªand most mana-consuming¡ªtechniques. Despite the tiredness though, he had a smile on his face. He was confident that they''d come out of it damaged. After all, how many people of the same level had he killed with this same technique! When he received the inheritance for this, he felt that he had finally been blessed with strength after struggling for so long! Elementalist attacks also had special strengths against defense equipment, especially if it was against a weaker opponent. If Althea was wearing Class C defense equipment, she''d have indeed been greatly damaged by that attack. If it was a B class, she would also get some damage because of her level. This was because like with her weapon, she wouldn''t have been able to maximize its defensive properties either. This was what Belize had been counting for. Too bad for him, Althea had Class A undergarments she received from the World Knowledge. Obviously, such rules would not apply to such equipment. Belize''s eyes constricted when he saw the two of them still standing stably, more or less still okay when normal enemies would''ve been shredded! "IMPOSSIBLE!!" Chapter 548 Gochis Battle "IMPOSSIBLE!" He yelled, and a few others watching also gaped. Some Alterans had taken down many of the guards and had the time to watch. "Miss Althea is so OP!" "I knew she was strong but¡­ that''s a level 30 elementalist! Does that mean she can take on even stronger? She can totally fit in towns, then?" Of course, while it was miraculous for a level 10 to survive a level 30 elementalist''s continuous attacks, it wasn''t that easy. A moment later, Althea coughed a bit of blood. "Miss Althea!" Gochi yelled, positioning himself in front of her, not noticing his own wounds. She waved her hand. The armor was an armor to block attacks, but if the level difference was high¡ªespecially if it was elementalist attacks¡ªthen she''d still feel some of the internal impacts. So she would still try to avoid them lest she get internal injuries. "It''s fine," she said, "Focus on the enemy. He shouldn''t have much mana left after that." Gochi nodded, turning, immediately lunging to attack the man. He didn''t want to give him a chance to use whatever mana he had left. At this point, Belize was just shaken seeing him being pushed like this by people half and a third of his level! With red eyes he raised his hands, he called the wind elements around him, slashing them to meet the half-orc. "AH!" Gochi yelled as a strong gust of sharp wind passed him. Deeper scratches appeared on his strong skin, and he was thrown far away. Belize was filled with bloodlust and he actually started targeting the half-orc, determined to kill one of them as soon as possible. "Gochi!" Althea exclaimed, raising her hand and a boulder 1 meter in diameter appeared above Belize. It fell down and he had to step back. When he saw a small part could still land on him he used a little mana to push the location of its fall. He turned to look at Althea, who was still a few meters away. Belize had no idea where she got the boulder, but at least she got his attention. In fact, the boulder came out right from her space. She always had a boulder in her space. It wasn''t any bigger than 1 cubic meter though so as to not betray that she had space stones. As for how far they could make them appear, it would depend on how far the ''image'' of the magic space overlaid with their dimension. Since her space was larger than others, this meant that she could make it appear from farther than others as well. Similarly, she didn''t have to touch things before putting them in space anymore! She called the pieces of the stone that broke into many pieces to surround her, and Belize¡ªnot expecting her to be able to control stones so far away¡ªwas hit by the stones. Bang! Bang! Bang! It didn''t really hurt him much, but it did ache and his pride was once again stomped on, making him very angry. He was an elementalist so much stronger than she was! She shouldn''t even be able to touch his shoes! At those thoughts, he took out an expensive-looking bottle from his space and gulped it down. It was his only bottle of mana potion left and, in anger, he threw the bottle away in a random direction. Althea''s eyes were partially distracted by the bottle he threw away, but quickly concentrated on the battle at hand. At this point, Belize didn''t seem to care about his mana and was determined to just take her down swiftly before he ran out of it. The same blades from before surrounded him, but he pushed himself, making them appear even larger than the one before. He was pale and sweating, but he counted on this attack to weaken her equipment. The rotating stones clashed with his wind slashes, chipping them away quickly. After all, how could a low-level earth user like her fight against such wind? Of course, Althea would never uselessly waste her own mana. The earth dropped on the surface, immediately creating spikes on the floor between them. Belize''s armor equipment was only weaker Class C, and his footwear was even lower. He felt little tingles in his feet, and this slight distraction made him almost miss a sharp earth spike that went straight to his face. Almost, and he used a wind skill to block it. It was sent at a tricky angle though so it still hit and grazed his arm. He frowned. If he was sure he wouldn''t be hunted down due to the Visionstone, he''d have sold it off instead of giving it away. At the time he thought that if Fargo was unsatisfactory, then he''d just take over. By that time, the Visionstone was already integrated to his own token so it wouldn''t have mattered. Now, he was regretting it a bit. He should''ve sold the Visionstone in the black market to get a couple of good equipment, instead. This moment of melancholy lasted a second and Belize threw all the blades in Althea''s direction the next instant. The wind blades reached Althea, hitting her like a truck. Althea blocked herself from another attack, but this one was stronger and there was no Gochi to catch her back. She coughed, being thrown to another roof. Belize ran forward and didn''t give her time to stand up. "Miss Althea!" The people below yelled, with quite a few people long trying to get up the roof (tho sadly blown away by Belize''s raging winds). They could only watch as Belize hovered over Althea, who was lying on her back. He extended his hand upward, the flow of his hair and shirt indicative that the wind surrounded him, concentrating on his arms. His eyes were red and everyone knew this was his final shot with all of his remaining mana. Before he could stab her with the invisible wind blade, a shadow rushed in. "MISS ALTHEA!" the newcomer yelled, eyes at the woman he admired¡ªa woman who believed in him and had taught him so many things¡ª He was a bit bloody but his eyes were red, blocking the aborigine with his body, sharp golden eyes looking straight at him. "FREEZE!" Gochi growled, summoning his low-success skill in his desperation. [Used! Partial paralysis skill!] Belize''s eyes widened as¡ªeven for just those few seconds¡ªhe couldn''t move at all. "Miss Althea!" Gochi yelled and Althea flinched, realizing what he had done. Althea knew that the effect of the skill would be limited due to the high level difference. She didn''t hesitate to attack. As she laid down, a little weak, she took out the Bellagio and used all of her remaining mana to aim it at his head. Whoosh! Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Splack!! Everyone watched as the magical arrow embedded on Belize''s skull. The effect of the paralysis was over, but Belize couldn''t move. He just stood, shaking, and soon lost the feeling of his body and falling down head first, all the way to the ground. Several Alterans converged to see his dying body, looking at the sky, still absorbing what was happening to him. Never in his dreams would he imagine that he''d fall in a small village. But he did. He let out slight croaking sounds as if trying to speak, but nothing came out in the end. And, just like that, Belize was no more. Chapter 549 Rewarded There was a metaphorical silence all around them, Belize''s death naturally causing shockwaves among those who saw him perish. A few moments after Belize breathed his last, a familiar ding sounded inside Althea''s head. [Killed! Level 31 Wind Elementalist! +1100 Experience Points! +16000 Experience Point Level discrepancy bonus, +30000 experience points Elementalist bonus!] [Levelled up! Congratulations, you are now Level 11!] Her eyebrows rose as she took out a few healing potions and handed half of them to Gochi. She allowed herself to rest on the roof, taking the moment to look at her stats. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 11 (13020/45000) Life: 2700/4000 Spirit: 2500/4000 +50 Physical: 760 +40 Agility: 739 +10 Defense: 726 +134 Mana: 1140/5000 Physical Potential: A Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1), Triple Shot (D), Curved Shot (C ), Earth Mapping (D), Earth Spring (D) Passive: Mana Reduction (C) Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Medina Robe (C): +40 Defence Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] Althea''s eyebrows rose. There was not only experience point for the level discrepancy¡ªwhich so far seemed to be 1000 for every level beyond 5¡ªbut also extra for taking down elementalists. Killing humans, like when in Terran, would only give them experience points. As with beasts, nothing would be gained either if the level difference was too far below the killer either. Although she had barely leveled up, this was still a huge jump in experience. It was simply more difficult to level up as one grew, with a person having to kill more and more monsters of the same level compared to when they were weaker. One could only receive experience, in general, if one was no more than 5 levels stronger than a monster (even less for her and her husband). Speaking of this, her husband and his team reaching their levels only after 4 months was indicative of just how much they fought to be stronger¡ªand her heart tinged again at the thought. How easy would it be to kill a level 20 monster at the same level as a human being? For most people, especially aborigines, it was easily a life-and-death situation, especially if it was a one-on-one. In any case, with this kill, she had received quite a bit of experience. Too much, actually. According to her husband, killing a level 20+ monster wouldn''t even get a 4-digit experience. So¡­ getting 10,000 in one kill was extremely attractive. Hey, she was curious. How much experience would killing her, a person with 3 elements, give? ¡­ She didn''t dwell on this curiosity for now. After a brief rest, she stood up and took out her normal arrows. Although much, much, weaker, this wouldn''t take so much mana. Anyway, there were weaker men here and a class D set would suffice. She looked down and saw most of the men around Fargo had weakened. There were still a few hundreds, but they hadn''t increased in numbers so far. They were probably focused on the remaining Alterans outside the walls. She looked at Fargo, who was now fighting the Alterans as well. However, he happened to have a massive amount of contribution points on his head so he was definitely being mobbed by the ''greedy and brave'' Alterans who wanted to get those points. At this time, he was fighting against five people, being defended and shielded by his people beyond the level cap. Interestingly, even if the attacks got dangerously close to Fargo, none of the aborigines'' bothered to do lethal attacks. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Obviously, they didn''t think it was worth being punished to save Fargo''s ass. However, her people were still losing mana and sustaining some damage so she turned to Gochi, who had also partially recovered. "Help them out, will you?" The half-orc nodded, jumping down to assist against the fight with Fargo. His entrance added a major momentum in the mobbing of Fargo, with Gochi dealing with the stronger individuals. Not only were their levels not too high, but many of them had been poisoned by Althea, making them much weaker than usual. She couldn''t help but watch Gochi as he fought, her mind recalling the skill he had. It was powerful even though it was a bit difficult to activate. She had asked him about it when he first used his ability as an Alteran and found out that their half-orcs also had various unusual skills that they would begin to exhibit at a certain age. Gochi mentioned his old friends that he was with back in Hoskle. First, there was a half-orc named Baku, which was similar to tigers according to his description. He seemed to have a roar skill that shook all the surroundings. It was an area of effect skill that could make everyone his level and below freeze for a few seconds at the minimum¡ªlonger if the enemy was weaker Then there was Nana¡ªapparently pregnant when they separated¡ªwho seemed to have likeliness to a rabbit-human hybrid. She had super speed skills far superior to human''s speedster types. She could also jump high and dig holes, apparently with speed superior to the goblins (not that Gochi knew of any Goblins, but that was what the rabbit told him). Finally, there was Maomao, an avian half-orc, who could fly. Her skill was similar to wind elementalist of summoning strong winds with her wings. She could also fly fast, though sadly her wings were clipped because she was too small to carry a man and was therefore useless with flight. (Althea also noted that Gochi''s eyes softened at the mention of this one and her lips couldn''t help but twitch in amusement because a fox and a bird was an odd combination no matter what). They didn''t have classes or skill levels like humans did, either. They just either had it or not, and it''d increase in proficiency the more they used it well. There also seemed to be hereditary factors on the specific skill sets, wherein a child was more likely to receive a similar skill to that of his or her parents than any other skills. This was why they wouldn''t ever receive inheritance from the World Knowledge because they wouldn''t have been able to contribute their own skills. Hence, Gochi never thought he would be a pharmacist in the conventional sense of the word. With this, she could conclude that half-orcs, and of course orcs, must have a totally different power system than that of humans. It seemed that different races had their own? For humans, it was the elements (and also those of enhanced physiques her husband encountered before). For goblins, it was apparently an innate sense of special stones and other things on top of their digging skills. For beasts, it was their upgraded physiques, while orcs and half-orcs seemed to have something entirely different. What of the others? ¡­what of her babies? Why were their abilities so¡­ different? BANG! Her eyebrows rose as she was pulled back from distraction by an attempted assassination. They probably thought a headshot could eventually get through if they did it often enough. She looked down to see it was Fargo himself, who had somehow managed to hide between three guards and took advantage to shoot a large shotgun at her. It was probably the strongest gun they had right now. Too bad it was still useless. Her emerald eyes were dark as she looked at him. She changed her mind, pulling back her Bellagio bow. "You''re next." Chapter 550 Targeting Fargo A/N: For those who read the previous chap on 05.10.2024 I edited it a bit lol. I realized I messed up the total experience requirement (Total EXP requirement to pass Level 10 was 40k, rather than the 60k originally listed). I''m sorry. Forgive the old lady. ... ___ "Another one! Milord! Watch out!" Another guard yelled. It was an aborigine sheildsman assigned to guard Fargo and he pulled up his shield to protect him from the new shot. CLANK! And another. CLANK! His eyes twitched as his entire arm shook. They looked at the shield''s stats and saw that it dropped the shield''s durability to only a fraction! This was a Class D weapon that had barely been used before this damned war! And now it wouldn''t survive another shot. He wasn''t able to think more as another looming figure reached him, passing everyone else. It was the tall half-orc who raised his claws, repeatedly pounding on him and his shield. "GAH!" CLANK! CLANK! CRASH! His eyes widened as his shield cluttered and the next thing he knew, the claw had already appeared above him, striking down. Fargo had long stepped back as soon as he saw the half-orc come near. Althea naturally didn''t want to waste her mana on the small fry, and had been targeting Fargo the whole time. It was just that she had to distract him a bit and take down more dangerous elements for her people. Now, more of her team had neared the area and dealing with Fargo''s men, she could resume targeting him again. "Damn, my lord! She''s targeting you! It''s best you get out of her line of sight!" At this time Uzon was pushed back by Fufi. The man gritted his teeth and continuously tried to stab, but Fufi was strong and swift and he was barely able to damage him at all. "Hey, you people! Help me out here!" He called several mercenaries who twitched at the bloody sight of his enemy. Uzon, now free, immediately raised his hand¡ªnow with only a couple of bullets left¡ªaiming right on the woman''s head. He refused to believe she was invincible¡ªespecially in their turf! If he shot a few more times, maybe it''d go through! "Bitch!" Uzon yelled, targeting his gun at the woman. He saw that the beast and half-orc were distracted, and he doubted they''d reach her in time! However, before he could pull the trigger, he was forced to step back. Just in time, too, as a sharp sword swiped right where his arm was. His thick eyebrows furrowed as he turned to look at his attacker. Uzon''s eyebrows rose when he saw who it was, seeing a handsome blonde looking at him. "You!" "Remember me?" Micheal asked, eyes dark, very unlike the poor battered man from Bright, and now completely like the mafia boss that he grew up like. "You¡ª" Uzon gathered his cool and just sneered at the man who lost his token to his friend. "You''re like a cockroach." "I have to say thank you, I never would''ve been pushed to my limits if it wasn''t for your¡­ friendships." The man sneered hiding his gun and taking out his sword. Uzon immediately jumped back and raised his weapon. However, Micheal was a trained fighter and he ducked, lunging towards him. The two entered an impressive swordfight that created a vacuum around them. It was a very tense fight. While Uzon was a little bigger, a level higher, and was much more experienced in cold-blooded killings, Micheal still managed to hold his ground. This was because, unlike Uzon, who was trained mostly in hot weapons, Micheal was also trained with various cold weapons¡ªthis included fencing and kendo¡ªand this leveled the fight between them. At some point they had gotten farther and farther from the main battle, entering their own world. The sounds of swords clashing abounded and Uzon''s eyes twitched as he felt the durability of his sword go lower. He also had a class D weapon bought from the Rongos, but for some reason, the blonde''s seemed a bit more¡­ durable? "Tsk," he gritted his teeth when a particularly deep gash appeared on his leg. He sent the blonde a bad look. "How can you even fight with me in the first place?" The blonde didn''t hold back, continuously parrying. "Luckily, we vowed not to harm Bright, but not Fargo." Uzon frowned. They didn''t really take notice at the time because in their minds, it was impossible for him to make a comeback. While in terms of power they were equally matched, in terms of equipment Micheal''s was superior. He borrowed some money to equip himself to the teeth and it was saving his limbs many times. He also borrowed some money to get a bit of that paralysis potion. Uzon''s eyes twtched when he realized the places where his wounds were starting to feel numb. He glared at Micheal, having an idea of what he did. "I see you used some potion like a coward," he said, trying to avoid another hit, only to get a small wound on his face. He stabbed his own leg with a small knife to enduce physical stimulation¡ªa decisive move to lessen the effects of the paralysis on him. Micheal continued to stab and parry, unaffected by his words at all. "Nothing more cowardly than taking advantage of the weak," he said. Uzon sneered as he attacked with all his might, pushing his limits despite the wounds and the poison. Obviously, Uzon had been trained in poison immunity so the effects were much lesser to him than others. At some point, Uzon would take advantage of the major adrenaline rush and barrage him with attacks until Micheal was just as bloodied as he was. The more they exchanged hits, the more Micheal recalled the damage and death these people caused them. Adrenaline flowed and his attacks came even faster and harder¡ªbeyond his usual level¡ª [Learned! Berserk (D) Level 1: Increase all physical attacks by 30% for 1 minute. Cost: 30 mana, Cooldown: 30 minutes] His eyes sharpened, using it to the max, and soon a flurry of attacks pummeled Uzon, Crack! Breaking his sword. "Shit!" Uzon cursed as he felt a stinging pain in his arm. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "OI! HELP ME!" He yelled at the nearest guard, but sadly they had their hands full with the Alterans¡ªwho were, frankly, as durable as cockroaches! Uzon immediately ran backwards, holding his gun, immediately shooting at him. Uzon''s hands were shaky due to the injuries and the poison. His first two shots missed and hit collateral damages, one Alteran and one was a teammate. But the Alteran had an armor so while he received some internal injuries, he survived. It was not the same for the other guy, however. Uzon''s heart beat loudly as panic dawned on to him, and he immediately used the remaining bullets. Micheal tried avoiding, but he couldn''t avoid everything. BANG! BANG! BANG! Micheal''s eyes twitched as two of the bullets hit him. One almost made him lose his footing but he pursued, and the other hitting his minimally armed arm, making it bleed. But Micheal didn''t feel anything. He yelled, using the final second of his skill to finally land the kill. STAB! When Uzon received the fatal stab through his heart, his knee buckled as he held on to the blade. His fallen figure reflected on Michea''s blue eyes. "I''m going to take back Bright." he said, gritting his teeth. "Your friend is next." And Uzon was no more. Chapter 551 Abandonment It was chaos all around the territory, whether it was within the interior walls or the outer ones. After all, the condition of winning the war was to keep most of the attackers from entering the main walls. In the outer wall, two aborigines were already preparing to leave prematurely. While the regulations would allow them to leave without repercussion if they had lost enough health during the war or a mob, they really didn''t want to stay for much longer¡ªeven if it meant their month would be unpaid. The people here certainly left nothing to miss. They didn''t want to be ordered around by these jerks any longer. And these people got worse when they caught up with their levels. While it was shocking¡ªhow relatively fast these people leveled up¡ªthat was all muted by how arrogant they became afterwards! Those who were at the bottom of the ladder back when they first arrived now acted as if they were lords in whatever area they were assigned to! Of course, they had seen worse in the other territories they''ve been in¡ªso that couldn''t be the reason for their premature abandonment. It wasn''t fear of becoming slaves either. Both of them were residents of towns (they still paid for it monthly), even if they didn''t live there. Rather, they were leaving because of¡­ curiosity. At this, they turned to look at yet another fight going on in a nearby street. The enemy team still had teams comprising of hundreds of people going around, looking for ways over the wall and away from the sentries. While it wouldn''t be easy, their solid teamwork and camaraderie had prevented any deaths even after so long. If anyone was injured, they''d be healed and protected. During battles, they would defend each other, and their attacks were well-timed and powerful. This was in stark contrast to the guards hunting them. They were at least twice or thrice the number, yet dying one by one. And more importantly, the two of them had seen the attackers. There were a few familiar faces there. Those were their heroes! How could they fight them? And¡­ they couldn''t help but think: what kind of territory did these heroic figures serve so wholeheartedly? "Where are you going?" Mogi asked Rona, who was also fully packed and ready to go. Rona pursed her lips, awkwardly looking at the fight, eyes brightening a bit when someone pummeled a guard she found particularly annoying. She actually didn''t have a home. After registering in a town to protect herself from slavery¡ªpaying the monthly temporary residency fee¡ªshe just went from territory to territory that hired her. Going to another village would also just risk of the same. Besides, due to their premature abandonment, they would no longer be under the employ of the Chancery, at least for several moons. This would expose them to various risks that the lack of the chancery''s protection might cause. The two aborigines watched a bit more before looking at each other. "I''m curious about a place. What about you?" "I am." "Shall we take a look?" "I''m¡­ not sure," Mogi said, conflicted. After all, he could just wait for the war to be over and then take a look after this month''s tenure was done, right? However, in Xeno, there was a stigma of working for a territory another went to war with. While the territories themselves wouldn''t see this information, the chancery would and then they''d be tagged as questionable hires. After all, it would mean they had likely betrayed the former territory, and the chancery didn''t take kindly to this at all. "Shall we go look for their array?" "And then?" Mogi looked at her, "What if someone was waiting to greet enemies there? Wanna get shot?" "I¡­" Rona paused. "I¡­ want to see." Mogi sighed, "Well, I get your point." This made the woman look at him with brighter eyes, knowing she was very near convincing this workmate of hers! It was at this moment that they heard screams from the fight. They saw their guards take a person, as if by hostage, and immediately the attacks on him halted. Mogi and Rona were a little startled, but not too surprised considering what they''ve seen of their characters so far. They weren''t pushovers either. Before the enemy could take advantage of the lull, Luis'' palms immediately emblazoned in fire as he lunged forward, rescuing a teammate¡ªwho was obviously not a guard¡ªfrom the hands of an enemy. He was immediately surrounded, but his team immediately attacked¡ªwithout hesitation¡ªand started a battle royale. Their steps paused and they couldn''t help but watch in fascination. Not only were they learning a lot, they were also a bit enlightened. Many times, they would think, ''Ah, so there was this way to fight.'' The Alterans coordinated very well and they had each other''s backs althroughout, and this was something they had not seen in such a large scale before. Sure, there were teammates or pairs that worked well, but an entire population? No, never. In fact, there were more aggressive Alterans who seemed to be about to get hit in their rush to attack, but immediately they would be shielded from harm, and then they''d handle that enemy with the newcomer. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In any case, the more the aborigines watched, the more they realized a lot of the aggressive people weren''t being stupid and careless. They could attack their hearts out¡ªin an attempt to cause as much damage as they could¡ªonly because they trusted that their teammates had their backs. It was all quite fascinating until, somewhere along a fight, an Alteran was thrown in their direction. BANG! "DOG!" A woman yelled, worried. "I''ll be fine! Continue!" he yelled and the teammates reluctantly turned back to deal with the enemy as fast as they could. The man they called ''Dog'' landed on a street next to where they were watching, so the aborigines curiously walked over to see if he could still stand or if he was just being brave. They flinched when the lad then immediately sat up. They watched as he heaved a deep breath and took out a potion. He turned in their direction as he drank, looking at them guardedly and very much ready to attack the moment they made their move. "Enemy?" he asked, gulping the potion down carelessly. "No, we''re going away," "I see¡­" he mumbled, absorbing the effect of the potions and slowly stood up. Mogi, a guard, looked at him with narrowed eyes, looking at the young lad''s figure and stance. He noticed that the particularly skilled and strong people among the Alterans had the uniforms on. "Why don''t you have uniforms? Are they only given to the strong?" Dog looked at him weirdly. What a weird question to ask. "That''s for guards." Also, did he just imply he was weak? Jerk. The man didn''t seem to realize he had offended Dog. They just flinched when they realized he wasn''t a guard. "You''re not a guard?" "No," the man looked at him weirdly again, and they couldn''t help but feel a little embarrassed. "Most of us aren''t." "That''s¡­" Rona couldn''t help but count the many Alterans in their area alone¡ªwhich were apparently comprised mostly of civilians. "Why don''t you use slaves?" "Altera doesn''t use slaves," he said as if it was the clearest fact, before turning to ignore them. He lunged forward as soon as he felt somewhat recovered, and rejoined the fight with renewed passion. The aborigines'' eyes fixed on the fight once more, hearts beating fast, their decision to go through the array cemented to stone. They wanted to see what kind of territory would have its citizens so willing to go to a war for it! Chapter 552 Fighting Back (Part 1) Hired aborigines aside, there were also plenty of Terrans citizens who aimed to make it harder for their own ''ruling party''. There were plenty of locals trying to help out the ''enemy'' their own way, so to speak. In one area, a group of about a hundred local guards were against a smaller group of enemies. Because of the number discrepancy, the Alterans would seem to have no chance at first glance, but then they would explode in power every time they had to. Combined with their superior equipment as well as the certain elements flying here and there, the Fargo guard team encountered deep trouble despite outnumbering them several-to-one. For instance, a small blanket of fire would appear in an area and the Fargo guards would naturally try to avoid it. Those who couldn''t be burned, while those who did would hit and even step on their other teammates because of the narrowness of the space. The Alterans would take advantage of the imbalance to stab and attack. Slowly but surely the guards were taken down one by one. The watchers would also see that they never seemed to run out of strategies! For example, they''d have a formation when they were in relatively open space, and another when they were using the narrow streets and alleys. Many of the cowardly guards would give up trying to fight and would abandon the battle. It so happened that a few people passed by the alleys where several vindictive watchers lived. These very injured guards would be hit with various things as soon as they entered, some of which with surprising accuracy. One time it was stone, mostly displaced from the ongoing fights, sometimes it was a shoe, or a belt, or whatever. The current victim was a Terran guard at the peak of level 7. He was in pitiful condition. His arm was dripping blood, and his face was full of bruises and wounds. He was limping a bit as he walked, but he was definitely running away from the chaos with all his might. He was already suffering so much, cursing, and he was mentally ranting about how the world was unfair. Unfortunately or not, he was suddenly disrupted when he was hit with various little things. "AH!" He yelled when a rock hit his head, followed by another, and another. "STOP IT!" He shouted when an old shoe hit his face. His eyes turned red. "Leave me alone!" He yelled, "See what I''ll do with you when this is ov¡ª" Whoosh! An arrow flew straight to a tendon on his leg. "AH!" He yelled as he lost his balance and fell smack on the ground. He groaned. He was already in so much pain before, but now a freaking arrow decided to bury itself in his leg! Not to mention the new massive bruise on his face caused by the fall. He groaned, listening to a few footsteps coming in his direction. He cursed, shifting to get up, but a foot kicked him back down the ground. BANG! "OOOF!" The owner of the foot was none other than Kyle, a high-potential young lad that the soldiers rescued back when they reached Fargo the first time. It was worth noting that, even with his young age and mild temperament, the others seemed to look at him for support. Today though, his mood was particularly darker. Unlike the bubbly young man Gill and the others found, it seemed that the lad had grown several years after staying in this place for a couple of weeks. He glared at the man under his feet. "These hateful bastards!" he yelled with gritted teeth, kicking him back down over and over, releasing a lot of pent-up anger he was holding back the past few weeks. "You people made us suffer so much, this is our chance to return the favor!" The others around him had various expressions on their faces. Some were reluctant and worried about the repercussions, but most were nodding strongly¡ªnot really caring about the consequences. In any case, they pulled the bastard back to the house, whether it was to kidnap him or to avoid enemies altogether. Fortunately, the people nearby also saw what they had done, and also did the same. In each house, there were at least a few people who participated¡ªthere were no exemptions. Pretty much everyone with some moral compass had been victimized by at least one or two of Fargo''s men¡ªwhether it was Terran or someone from the mercenary team. And the hate was not small. They were too weak to try before, but now¡ªwith these bastards extremely weakened and alone¡ªthis was their chance to finally get their revenge! Unlike people hired through the Chancery, citizens of a territory could hurt their ruling party during the war unless they signed an oath of sorts. They could even hurt them outside of it, if there were no rules against violence. A lot of territories that felt they had absolute power would not bother with regulations, and Fargo was among these places. This lack of regulation that made many people suffer would also be the very reason why his men would be tortured to death! During this time, more and more enemies had trickled in, some even coming in small groups. They had no choice but to let the groups pass by. Even if the enemies were injured, they were only weak civilians! However, there were still a lot of lone or pairs who would pass through their streets, and the vengeful civilians would target these ''outliers''. As such, dozens of deserters ended up becoming victims of the bitter citizens they tortured for a long time! "What?!" "STOP IT!" "AHHHH!" Various yells like this echoed along alleys and streets in this area, and a lot of deserters that ventured in would no longer come out. After about an hour, Kyle''s group had half a dozen guards tied up and with broken limbs. On top of the damage caused to them by the Alterans, they were also badly beaten up by their captors. They were covered in blood and grime and snot and tears¡ªvery much unlike the arrogant pricks they were on a normal day. If one had no context, they''d even have pity on this evil men. However, sadly for these men, there was no one who felt so in that house. Kyle had about eight roommates (all of whom came here as refugees with him) and he took in about 10 refugees from the shanties during the earlier mob. Every and each one of them had beef with at least one person there. For weeks they endured the suffering these people caused them, and there was no amount of beating up felt enough! So they didn''t stop venting until they were tired, they didn''t stop hurting these people, finding their screams and cries addicting to the ears and healing to the heart. They beat them up by destroying their limbs and their crotches. Some would even outright stab them. It felt¡­ cleansing, and a few people even sobbed in satisfaction. One woman from the shanties had been abused by at least two of these men, while one of the men lost his daughter to them. There was also one whose brothers died as bait during the level 3 upgrade beast tide. He would never forget the smirking face of the men who threw him in the mob! And now he was going to destroy it! Kick! S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bang! Slash! Stab! "GAAHHH!" "Stop itt!" As they heard the screams of pain of these psychopaths, they also prayed for the souls of the people lost in their hands. "My little princess! I hope you see this!" A man yelled at the sky, sobbing, and shaking as he stabbed the man a few more times. Another was crying as he continuously kicked a particular man, hoping he suffered for as long as possible. "We''ll see you rot in hell!" he yelled, finally taking out his sword and aiming for the bastard''s heart. "May you not cause any more pain from now on!" Stab! At this signal, the others looked at the rest of the men, shivering, and begging for their lives. But no one''s heart was softened at all. They acknowledged it was time to rid the world of these bastards. One by one, the six people died horrible deaths fitting of their crimes. Chapter 553 Fighting Back (Part 2) While this was ongoing, a certain former-reporter had been looking outside, her orbs looking sharply for something. She was completely unaffected by the yells behind her¡ªyells that resembled pigs for slaughter. She did not care about those men¡ªshe needed to find someone else. She was aptly watching outside, hoping to find that bastard! She had been following his assignments even before the war, and she recognized two of these men as his teammates. This meant that he must also be in an area! Maybe he''d even pass by here as well! Knowing him, he would definitely save his own ass¡ªeven if it meant bringing down everybody else! Minutes passed and the woman frowned, considering going outside and hunting for him herself. She might not be very strong, but maybe¡ªjust maybe¡ªshe''d find her half-dead somewhere! Maybe the heavens would hear her wish and let her take his life with her own hands! She was just about to lose hope of stumbling on him when someone emerged, entering their narrow street. Her eyes widened and she immediately ran to Kyle. "One more," Vivian said, shaking. "Please. Let us take that one." Kyle''s eyebrows rose as he looked outside to see the person she was referring to. It was Peko, one of the stronger individuals who had reached level 9. He was dragging himself across the streets and he had a major injury on one of his arms. Wasn''t he the captain? What''s he doing abandoning his men? Ah, well, no one can expect anything from him. Kyle narrowed his eyes and watched the man, trying to find the best way to deal with him. "Well?" Vivian asked. She looked apologetic but also impatient. Kyle understood her completely. "Well, I can''t guarantee we''ll get him," he said. Kyle looked at him, worried. After all, this was not like the ones they had been dealing with. Not to mention, Kyle himself was only level 7. "But we can try." Despite the worries, he took out his bow and arrow anyway. One less jerk like this on the street meant countless of lives saved. Kyle pulled the bow, following his figure as he traversed. He had gone past their house now and Vivian was naturally getting worried. Kyle didn''t dare shoot willy-nilly. As a captain, he naturally had more equipment than others. He could tell his shirt was a Class D equipment and his pants were Class E equipment. He probably got them from pandering to the mercenaries. Or worse, selling or pimping out citizens for favor. His eyes zoned in on possible weaknesses and¡ª timing perfectly¡ªhe hit him right at the heel. Before the apocalypse, Kyle was in the running to join the national team for archery. His coach and more than half his teammates became zombies before the event¡ªso he didn''t know if he even made it to the team¡ªbut he was still way better than the others. Swoosh! "GAHHH!" They watched as Peko dropped down the floor, yelling, and trying to get the arrow off. Whoosh! Another came and hit his hand, keeping him from doing so! "AHHH! MOTHERF¨C" Vivian''s eyes brightened as she went out with a few big men and dragged him back with others by holding his feet. Peko gasped as he was dragged along the rough floor, his face rubbing on the surface below. "Whwat! ARGHH!" The next thing he knew the surface changed to the standard wood flooring and when he was turned, the first thing he saw was a blade held to his face by his favorite news anchor. "You¡ª!" "Hello, Peko," Vivian said, eyes red. "How nice to see you in that state." He was held down on both arms. He struggled and had freed a few arms, but was quickly held down by another. One even focused on his wounds, making him scream. "Stop struggling, Peko," Vivian said, and started with her attacks. He could only watch as she stabbed his only good hand left. She then proceeded to stab several more parts of him, including her most hated part¡ªhis crotch. "GYAAHHHH!" Vivian''s eyes turned red as she tortured him, hurting him not just for herself but also for her husband who must have suffered a lot under him. They had no access to the slaves for now, but she knew he must still be suffering now! Stab! Stab! Stab! "AHGH! BITCH! STOP! AHH!" Peko felt his unconscious slipping due to the extreme pain and as he lost pints after pints of blood. He glared at Vivian, unreconciled he would be killed in such an embarrassing way! Using his remaining energy, he spoke words that he knew would hurt her. "What''s the use of this?! Your husband is dead!" This made her pause. With red eyes, she looked at him. "What?" She mumbled, shakily pointing the knife on his neck. "Don''t think you''ll escape this¡ª" "Oh I know," Peko said, shivering from the stinging pain he was feeling. However, seeing the last bit of damage he could cause gave him some energy to grin. His teeth were chittering against each other, and he was completely bloodless, but he was determined to hurt her. "He got useless quickly, we had to get rid of ''em," he said, shivering. "I saw him roll off the cliff half-dead, just waiting to be mauled!" Vivian''s eyes turned red, wanting to shut him up! Stab! "AH!¡ªHow hopeless he must''ve felt¡ª!" Stab! "To not be able to¡ªmove and¡ªjust wait for death! HAHA¡ª" Stab!! He didn''t speak after that, but Vivian didn''t stop with her stabbing. After letting her vent a few more minutes, someone held her shoulders and someone else took the knife. "Stop it Vivian." Vivian looked unreconciled. "No, not yet! Wuuu¡ª" Peko was dead but Vivian couldn''t find the satisfaction of killing him at all! Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "No fair! No fair!!" She yelled, wanting to resuscitate the man just to torture him again. "Wuuuu¡ª" Then it felt like she just lost energy¡ªher anger deflating, replaced by anguish¡ªand she covered her face with her palms. For a while after that, she could only sob in despair. Chapter 554 Fighting Back (Part 3) This was a scene that was witnessed in all parts of the outer territory, where the people who suffered the most resided. Sometimes, it came in different forms and strategies, but each had the same goal¡ªto finally get revenge against these men. In another area, this was led by the young trio Tacky, Juan, and Baka. They were also located near the battles and had a similar strategy. The difference was that they were denser and had tighter camaraderie because everyone had been neighbors for longer, and had suffered under Fargo and his men''s rule for much longer than others. "Are you sure about this?" Juan asked Tacky, who was preparing to head out¡ªto directly join the battle. A lot of the others seemed particularly worried. "What if they attacked us instead?" This made Tacky pause, looking at the others. "Then¡­" He tore off some of the fabric from his shirt¡ªwhich wasn''t a challenge considering how many tears all their clothes already had. He wrapped the strip over his head. "I guess it could be seen as surrender." He then looked at his friends. "I know it''s risky, but I don''t want to miss this! I''ve been holding back for so long¡ª" His friends looked at him with worried expressions, but when they recalled the things they witnessed, suddenly a layer of bravery coated their hearts. "You''re right!" Baka said, raising his only hand. Juan nodded, eyes sparkling. "Let''s go!" As such, when no citizen went out to fight when the lord asked them¡ªeven for some reward¡ªthe lot of them ended up going outside to go against them instead. ¡­ Interestingly, the battle nearby was actually led by the Crow Trio. The remaining Alterans were cut off from the entry when Fargo guards came in from all direction, especially near the wall. They blocked the way and pushed them back. The team decided to divide into three. Anyway, having too big groups wasn''t ideal in dense villages. It wasn''t like Althea with wideass avenues and plenty of open space near the walls. The big teams had diminishing returns for sure and it even risked of hitting their own teammates. The Alterans were pushed back by the forces, and they fought hard to defend themselves from the barrage. Thanks to their equipment, formation, and the fact that there were so many alleys in this place¡ªmuch denser than the inner walls¡ªallowed them to have minimal injuries even when they were being mobbed by a large group of enemies. However, the quantity differences inevitably still forced some of them to separate from the bigger groups, rendering them more susceptible to danger. The crow trio and their small group were among these people. There was an instruction taught to them in such cases though: to prioritize their own safety. That was to say, if battling head-on would get dangerous, they would even be asked to run for their lives. Even if they hid out now until things settled down, it was within Altera''s standards of acceptance and no one would blame them. But¡­ how could they just hide around when everyone else was fighting? So they tried to use the chaos as a shield to at least sneak themselves to the inner walls. Even if they couldn''t merge with the groups there, their numbers alone would add to the win! Crow, the strategist, led the way along the alleys, using his sharp hearing to avoid the scuffles or the enemy guards. They knew for sure that the Alterans were heading someplace else so they didn''t bother checking whether it was their own. They managed to successfully traverse a couple of blocks. Unfortunately, at some point a door opened, revealing a couple of guards looking at them with greed. "Well, where are you goin?" The man asked and more and more people from the houses¡ªincluding the one behind¡ªgot out. They were all obviously Fargo guards judging by their temperaments, but their way was blocked so their small group had no choice but to stay still until they found an opening. These men were bloodied and injured, some were limping. Crow narrowed his eyes at the realization, slightly turning to a couple of team members and knew they thought the same: These jerks were hiding out, weren''t they? As more and more of the guards exited the house, they could see the scene inside the house from their angle. They could see several people lying down, bloodied, and those who seemed alive were shaking, sobbing, or just in a daze¡ªbut everyone seemed to have just been recently beaten up. The Alterans could imagine these guards¡ªguards that were supposed to be protecting their population¡ªforcing themselves into a house in order to hide from the ongoing war and rest, but they decided to beat up their own citizens as they did so. Bastards! Obviously, seeing their small group of 10¡ªwhich was half of theirs in number¡ªthey went out the ''safety'' of the house and aimed to vent on them next. Crow was very correct about this. The de facto leader of this group of deserters was a Terran named John. He worked as a factory worker back in Terran. He got the lowest-wage job there and he had been looked down on a lot. No one said so in his face by virtue of his large body, but he could tell by their eyes and smirks that they were. His whole life, this had been his experience. At night, he would dream of looming over these people and stepping on their heads, but he would wake up to the boring reality where he was too poor and powerless to do anything. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When the disaster happened, his physical strength gave him an advantage over others¡ªespecially during the zombie apocalypse and even during the Protection Period¡ªallowing him to gain a few more levels than his peers. That was the first time he felt true power. The seed of greed was planted, and he trained more, killed more to get more power¡ªeven if he had to steal kills, and even if he had to push people to become bait to do so. When he found Fargo Village, he immediately applied as a guard when he realized what the ''arrangements'' were. He got accepted and soon even got promoted to team lead, and he had been loving his situation ever since. Of course, loving the advantages didn''t mean loyalty to the place. Earlier during the war, their group encountered a group of enemy strongmen and elementalists, and their team of hundreds was reduced to about a score. It was humiliating! But what could they do? Their lives and limbs would always come first! They immediately ran away when they realized they couldn''t fight the bastards anymore¡ªnot without getting gravely injured. At the same time, they couldn''t get back to the barracks either. As such, they had no choice but to pick a random house and hide out until things calmed down. They got a bit bored though and their attention went to the actual residents of the house who were kneeling down, shaking in fear. Some had bloodlust and beat people up, while some just had lust and took advantage. Their ''fun'' was interrupted when their lookout alerted them of a small group of enemies approaching their area. When they realized it was just a small number of Alterans¡ªa lot of whom looked quite young¡ªpassing by, their eyes immediately brightened. They thought, it was finally their time! And so they went out, very much intent on venting on these bastards! Chapter 555 Fighting Back (Part 4) Soon, they were surrounded by Fargo guards and their team immediately raised their weapons. Crow narrowed his eyes at them, analyzing. Because their level differences weren''t high, it wasn''t easy to determine their levels accurately. There was no guard in their temporary team, and he was the strongest one at level 8. Crow then looked at the enemies and the highest seemed to be around level 7, though most of them ranged from level 5-6. Crow looked at the others and nodded at them, gesturing towards a narrow alleyway. They understood what he was talking about, and they immediately moved upon his signal. They went back to back and targeted a random side to open a path to them. Sunny was one of the shieldsmen in the team and she held out her Class D shield, pushing forward along with others. Behind her were the spearmen and swordsmen who would stab through the gaps between the shields. The plan was to weaken them a few at a time. The enemies had been damaged from the war, anyway. Even if they were outnumbered 1 to two or three, the Alterans didn''t falter at all. And because everyone was so cramped, the hit rate was 100%. "AH!" "BASTARDS!" Dog, a swordsman, was right behind Sunny. "Hya!" he yelled as he stabbed and stabbed. When he was sure there''d be a critical hit, he''d even spend a bit of mana and use a skill. [Used Stab! -2 Mana!] "GAHH!!" [Used Stab! -2 Mana!] "AHHHH!" [Used Stab! -2 Mana!] "GYAHH! DAMNIT!" Dog, along with the others, debilitated more and more people as the minutes ticked by, making it easier for them to go to where they wanted. They hurried and pushed towards a better position, stepping on the men who fell along their path (tho not without a few Alterans stabbing again for good measure). They pushed hard until they entered the alleyway, the prevalent type of pathway in the outer walls. Although still dangerous, at least in alleys, their sides would be covered and they only had to defend the front and back. With this, they could focus less on defense and more on the attack. Combined with the dripping momentum of the enemies, this turned the fight completely to their favor. John glared at the damned Alterans. "Bastards!!" he yelled as more of their people fell. How humiliating! To think he was struggling with a bunch of kids on the bottom rung of the enemy forces! Unlike the others, there wasn''t even a single elementalist here! Would those bastards from the other team mock him when they found out! However, it''d be more embarrassing to lose track of them so he yelled at the top of their lungs. "HELP! ENEMIES HERE!" he yelled and soon his other teammates did the same, though mostly out of fear. They didn''t want to be in the vanguard where you''re 100% sure you''ll get hit! sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Crow and the others cursed as they heard a couple of footsteps, with another dozen guards heading in their direction. Soon after that, another small group arrived on the other side, and suddenly their attention had to be divided. "Shit!" Clank! Clank! The enemies mobbed them from both sides. It was fortunate that they were in the alley so the enemies who could attack them at the same time was limited. However, after a brief period of confusion, John and the others snapped out of it. "Wheel battle!" He yelled, and they pounded on the small group as hard as they could, simply exchanging hitters when they got too tired. The Alteran group was compressed more and more, but they stood strong, stabbing those outside the shield with their Class D weapons, and defending themselves with their shields and equipment. At least at this point, they were far superior to their enemies and they held out even when the enemies had rotated. They were still far too outnumbered and many of them received more and more damage, with some of their equipment showing signs of cracking. Despite all this though, the enemies were still losing more people. One of the top killers was Crow himself, who was now standing on a wooden stool he had in his space to give him a better vantage point of enemies farther away. Crow was the only archer in their group so he was also shooting away, targeting those who were farther to ruin the enemy pace. He was using a crossbow, too, so the amount of shots he could send in a minute was far superior to the Fargo archers, whose hits were often caught by the shieldsmen. If they fell, then either they''d be kicked out of the way or stepped over. The enemies saw that this could not go on. John couldn''t assume more of their side would find this place. The outer wall was so large and the guards were spread out thin. Most of them would be hunting for the bigger groups, for certain. This was especially true for those who hadn''t encountered those people''s strengths, and they''d be far too enticed by the lords'' rewards to use their heads. He looked at his companions and gave a rough order before sending glares at the enemies. It''s not over yet! ¡­ The battle went on for a while longer, with everyone''s mana was slowly getting consumed. However, the Alterans still stayed strong. They knew that if they maintained their pace, they would eventually finish this off. But not everything would happen the way people wanted it to. Crow''s ears twitched and he looked up to see the lone window of a house with a Fargo guard. He had a bow and arrow, directed at the back of their shieldsmen. "Look out!" Crow yelled and immediately raised his shot, killing the man with his crossbow. Sadly the arrow was still released. Dog immediately went to catch it, but his sword was buried in an enemy''s body so he had no choice but to let go of the weapon and cover Sunny with his body. "AH!" "DOG!!" Sunny sobbed as Dog''s weight rested on her. She couldn''t let go of the shield or else they''d be in more trouble. Further, there was no space between them to care for Dog. She sobbed, yelling and pushing back the men. She was a woman and ended up with shieldswoman not because she was super strong, but because she could angle well¡ªthat was, she could determine where the more efficient path of force was. "HYAA!!" She yelled, adding pressure on the bottom, imbalancing some enemy up front, and immediately pushing the top to hit his face. Bang! She and the other shieldmen on her side took advantage of the inertia, pushing more and giving their side more space. They laid crow down as he was hit on the shoulder. Their armors were fine for now, but it didn''t have full-body defense, hence any visible opening was really an opening. They did the first aid¡ªsomething the guards were trained for¡ªbut he definitely needed a lot more space. Sunny and the others worked hard to hit and push more. But unexpectedly¡­ new footsteps arrived. Their hearts dropped. They had a rough idea where the other Alterans were heading and it was definitely not here. This meant that people coming were from Fargo! Should they run already? HOW!? Crow frowned and saw that another group of people were rushing in on them from one side of the alley. They had roughly-made bandanas on their foreheads and very serious looks on their faces. Their hearts turned cold, but they kept fighting. The more he looked, the more Crow noticed the difference. He realized they were not guards! Citizens? Did the citizens start attacking, after all? They had heard Fargo put up a good reward for killing them. When no one went out, they were relieved and thought citizens wouldn''t be a problem. The territory also had to pay a certain fee for oaths. The way things worked here wasn''t like in Terra where governments could draft people and force them to fight. Here, the power play was too variable and unstable¡ªthere was no unified ''government'' over all the territories. But¡­ seeing the citizens go in their direction with aggressive expressions out and waving their weapons, it seemed that they were still too complacent! It was just that¡­ when they were mentally preparing themselves to handle the new injection of force¡ªthe newcomers started attacking their own (Fargo''s) guards!! Let alone the Fargo guards, even the Alterans were very confused. What¡­ is going on? Chapter 556 Merge The battle entered a new stage at the entrance of dozens of new citizens, all of whom had their various weapons out. It was led by a group of young men¡ªone of whom even had one arm¡ªand they started attacking their own guards from behind. "AH!" A guard yelled as he was stabbed in the back. He kicked by instinct and the man managed to avoid it mostly. He was imbalanced but was helped out by the others. "What are you doing?!" he yelled, looking at the familiar faces in anger and disbelief. Instead of the usual suppressed facial expressions, they were now extremely aggressive. "We''ve had enough of your faces!" The guards'' eyes twitched, pushing them, trying to swing his sword but they all stepped back and avoided it. It didn''t help he was bloodied and whoozy at this time. Instead, he just yelled at the bastards. "IDIOTS! Don''t you know you could become slaves?!" "Anywhere is better than here!" Tacky yelled, spitting at him, and with his yell, the group started mobbing the few guards at the rear, lightening up the load on the Alterans. The Alterans looked a bit surprised when the newcomers headed towards their own guards instead of them, and with such passion too. Sunny used this time to get to Dog, dragging him towards a wall, and burying her shield in front of them as cover. She religiously fed him potions and wrapped his wound up with their bandages. Seeing her like this, the delirious Dog couldn''t help but smile. Sunny raised her head, her eyes meeting his smile, and she almost cried. She slapped him. "Don''t die!" "Ouch! What makes you think that!?" "You got that dazed look on your face when people succumbed to death!" "..." Back to the battle, although the newcomers attacked only the outer layer, it successfully distracted the group of enemies. The enemy forces were further divided to deal with them and soon more guards were heading to them. The differences in strength showed as many citizens were pushed back, and were about to be stabbed by angry guards. "KYAA!" Some of them could only close their eyes, knowing their reflexes wouldn''t be able to do anything for them at this point. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The painful hit never came as the guards attacking them were injured or dead a few moments later. They looked over and saw a somber-looking man standing a few heads taller than the rest of them. They realized it was an archer with a cool crossbow (where did the Alterans get those weapons?!) and he was probably standing on top of something. Of course, the enemies were distracted only for a second before the nearby guards saw that those handling them had been taken down. They headed towards them instead. Anyway, it was easier to kill them instead of the Alterans! Tacky and the others also gathered themselves, adopting a similar stance to the Alterans¡ªback-to-back¡ªfor efficiency and protection. Of course, unlike in Altera, most people in Fargo¡ªas with other territories¡ªhadn''t awakened even the basic fighting occupations. It would take a longer time before most people could do it. After all, the monsters were too strong for the typical villager. They would have to work in big teams and thus the accompanying experience would be distributed, lowering the proficiency training. Altera managed to do so only because of their system. If people didn''t want to go to the Training Hall, they could hunt around outside with stronger individuals who could guard them from death. Even the most ''budget-crunched'' people could just camp around the walls near the sentries and lure monsters in. This way, as long as they got the final kill, then the experience and copper were theirs. The popular ''golden spots'' (the corner made by the level 5 main walls and the level 3 extra wall) were always filled, so people started positioning on the now-called ''silver spots'' . The term was coined and popularized by Fred''s team, referring to the spots where the scope of two sentries overlapped. However, while the newcomers swung their swords without the advantages of skill, they were still decent considering everything. Crow, though targeting enemies attacking on both sides, decided to lighten up the load on the newcomers as well. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The group soon headed closer to them and they placed themselves near the Alterans so the enemies would be attacked from two sides now, while minimizing their side''s exposure. Stab! "AH!" Slash! "BASTARDS!" While the Alterans didn''t put down their guards against the newcomers, they cooperated decently enough. Attacking together, but at the same time not exposing their backs at them. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. More and more Fargo guards fell and the others were tempted to run away again. It was humiliating to run from a group of kids without elements¡ªbut life first! John saw several people on his side had ran away again and cursed. "BASTARDS!" he yelled going berserk at whatever opening he found, pushing someone in front of him as a shield to be stabbed by the formation. Clack! Clack! Clack! The guy was not weak and a spot indeed buckled. "Ah!" This was among the newcomers¡ªto the one-handed guy. His eyes glinted in bloodlust and he gestured to at least get a kill. "Baka!" Swoosh! An arrow buried into the man''s neck and they turned to see it was that emo-guy, who then ignored them and continued to target other people. Tacky and the other widened a bit. "T-Thank you¡­" He whispered though the man didn''t seem to hear nor care. But the admiration in their eyes didn''t dissipate. And their admiration was not just to Crow, but also to everyone on their team! Many of them had seen the ''enemies'' even before, and they knew they were incredibly strong! More importantly, they had seen how they interacted with each other: how strongmen protected the weak and how they didn''t leave anyone behind! How these people dealt with their companions in emergencies told a lot about what kind of territory they lived in. It was a type of territory that encouraged camaraderie and a territory that valued lives. So, even if they knew nothing of Altera, their hearts couldn''t help but side with them! ¡­ As for the Fargo guards who ran away, they actually weren''t able to in the end. They didn''t even get far before another group of people arrived and mobbed on them! First, no other Fargo guards went to this area of ''small'' scuffles. After all, there was far more chaos happening elsewhere that needed their presence more. This meant that the guards nearby were already in this place. On the contrary, more of the citizens around started joining in, exacting their own revenge. There weren''t a lot of them, but they were consolidated in their desires for revenge. Ironic how they didn''t move when their lord was calling for help, but went out on their own to help the enemy! At the time, they thought that since they had the option of not moving, why would they help these people who only knew to abuse them? They were too afraid to get hurt, and they knew it wasn''t worth getting hurt for the territory for a bit of silver. What was the use of that if they didn''t have their lives? Even if they didn''t die, what if they got injured? Worse, got debilitated to work in the future? Fargo never sponsored healing the injured and they would certainly not care if they starved to death because they could no longer move! Now, however, they fought for themselves, for their sanity, and for their pride. They joined Tacky and the others and soon started pushing the enemies back¡ªeven without Altera''s help. Crow saw this and his dark eyes brightened a bit, the light of an idea coming straight to his head. There must be thousands of citizens angry at Fargo and his guards, right? What if they got even more of them to fight? Chapter 557 Instigation Among the new group of people happened to be Kyle, Vivian, and the others. Vivian looked particularly bloodthirsty with her Class E sword she stole from Peko. She wasn''t very skilled, but she had the energy to stab people to her heart''s content. After sobbing her heart out, her mind cleared a bit¡ªeven just for a bit. She needed to see for herself if her husband was really gone! And to do this, she must help end this war¡ªand hopefully not in Fargo''s favor. It was why she convinced the others who wanted to punish their torturers to go out with her. It so happened that the guards had their weapons out and they managed to take them, so everyone had Class E weapons. The team had also gained some confidence after successfully killing 7 guards¡ªpeople they so feared in the past. One of them was even a team lead! S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They couldn''t help but recall the suffering they had to endure because of their weaknesses. Although they weren''t deluded to think that they suddenly became strong¡ªthey still wanted to get back the sense of agency they lost since coming to this place! Of course, they still had plenty of voices of reason so they made sure to go about as safely as they could, only targeting lone or pairs weakened by the war. Anyway, those who deserted the battle wouldn''t care for their companions. Some of them fled together, but when they saw someone get pulled into an alley, they just ran away without turning back. At some point, they encountered a small group who were bloodied¡ªsome even with arrows sticking out¡ª The group of them¡ªwhich had now increased in numbers by virtue of neighbors joining in¡ªtook down the latest deserters. As they did so, they couldn''t help but examine the men''s pre-existing wounds. "These are crossbow arrows, there must be Alterans nearby!" Kyle said, and their team went in the direction the guards came from. This meant there were more people to target. And, also¡­ they wanted to see the enemies more. To see what kind of people they were! They tracked the path by encountering a few more escapees and eventually found the narrow street where the battle was going. They also saw familiar faces there and joined in. And so, with the combination of these three ''teams'', the scores of guards in the area were finally cleared out. ¡­ At some point, the only ones left standing were the Alterans as well as the ''betrayers'' They awkwardly looked at each other, not quite sure where to go about this. Do they just part ways? Do they merge? Crow looked at the Fargo citizens, who were also injured and he looked at his team who had already drunk their medicine. "Do you guys have extra?" Some nodded and they looked at the fellow Terrans who helped them out in their own way. Of course, to save on resources, they decided on diluting the potions. The least injured Alterans were tasted to distribute the potion. The citizens flinched, surprised, when they realized what was being handed to them. Shakily, they took them with a bit of disbelief and a grateful heart. "Thank you so much¡­" "We''re brethren, we just help each other out," the Alteran said with a bright smile, making the fargo citizen tear up a bit. On another side, an Alteran gave a few Fargo citizen some of his old clothes. The Fargo citizens'' clothes¡ªeven all their change of clothing¡ªwere mostly ripped after being here for so long. This battle had rendered them practically naked. There was no clothing store available to them at this time, where could they get a change of clothing? To be honest, because everyone had the same situation, they didn''t really notice this before. But now that things had calmed down, it seemed every one of the ''enemies'' were well clothed? And they could even hand them a few. They looked at the Alteran, a little disbelieving of his generosity. "You¡­" "I still have plenty," the Alteran said, adorning a friendly smile on his face. "But I can just buy new sets. I needed to get new ones anyway, I''ve gotten fatter." "..." Suffice to say, the Fargo citizens looked at him in shock. Buy new Clothes? Got fat? And then there were also Alterans who were distributing some extra crackers they had in space. They looked unbelievable by the fact that pretty much every Alteran seemed to have ample enough to share to others! Rich ones even gave out a bottle of Gouji fruit Jam, making the citizens just gape at her in shock. Of course, they didn''t stay in shock for long because the food could be eaten by others while they were in a daze! Shakily, the citizens took a bite and ended up sobbing. Everything was delicious! How long had it been? The only food with taste they could get was the raw gouji fruit, but how many trees of that were there, and how many thousands of people were vying for it? Because there was no rule against violence, people started to fight amongst each other! Fargo''s men also encouraged it¡ªeven adding betting businesses! In the past few weeks, the people who died fighting to get a taste of decent food were in the dozens! But these people were just handing it over to them! They ate the crackers deliciously, licking their fingers, unable to stop their tears from flowing. Crow looked at the various similar interactions and then to his best friends, Sunny and Dog, where the latter was obviously enjoying the attentive care of the former. "They must''ve suffered a lot here," he said. Sunny nodded as she looked at everyone''s reactions to things that they had started to take for granted. "I can imagine, especially the women." Crow nodded. "So we''ll help them out," he said, making his two friends look at him with a raised eyebrow. Crow took out an amplifier he bought from the Research Center''s Store. For a moment, they thought he''d be speaking, but then he just handed it to Sunny. Sunny: "..." Fortunately, they had been friends for a long time, and she had an idea what Crow was up to. Heaving a deep breath, she internalized her inner cheerleader, sending out a lovely-but-loud announcer voice. "Thank you for your help, everyone! We will apply you to receive contribution points when we win!" The people looked at her, confused, but also listening aptly to whatever she wanted to say. She smiled. "In Altera, Contribution points are as good as money!" "To us Alterans, it could even be more important than money." "What do we need to do?" One of the men near her asked, not entirely convinced but hopeful. Sunny paused and she looked back at Crow, who nodded at her. "Help us win." She said. "Help us win and you can have the right to own new clothes, get access to more food, and live like humans again! "We don''t even ask you to risk your lives," she said. "You just need to tell everyone else what awaits them if we win this war." Sunny gave them her brightest smile¡ªan encouraging and shining light that hit many hearts. "So¡­ will you help us?" Chapter 558 Guide "Do slaves have the same rights as you do?" A pretty feminine voice from the side said, making everyone turn to her. It was Vivian, the former reporter, unsurprisingly asking the sharp questions. Her question hit the realization in the others'' minds and they looked at the Alterans with inquiry and maybe a bit of guardedness. Sunny''s smile didn''t change. "Altera doesn''t keep slaves." This made everyone look at her, some in disbelief and some in hope. "Really?" "Altera doesn''t need to," Crow stepped forward and added. "For one, it''s against our code of ethics as Terrans." "Altera''s citizens aren''t forced to do anything. We are completely willing to join forces to enhance it, to defend it, and to go to other territories to fight for it. "You should''ve noticed that none of us are guards. Citizens like us are willing to risk our lives to go to war. Why?" "Yes, why?" Crow rarely smiled, so this came out as a bit of a smirk. Only he and his friends knew how sincere he was. "Because Altera is worth it." ¡­ The Alterans were patient with the various questions thrown at them after that. Although they wanted to get back to war, they understood what Crow was trying to do¡ªsomething that would be more impactful than just the few of them pushing through. It was a bit odd with the corpses of the enemies around, but after so long in this place, few people were queasy. In fact, the topics somehow even ended being a bit¡­ commercial. "Do you have¡­ anymore?" one person asked an Alteran. "I mean¡­ I can pay." "Oh?" Alteran #1 said, blinking, "Oh, okay." He then took out a piece of crackers and the man handed him a few silvers! "This¡­ you can have a few more." This time it was the man''s look of disbelief. "This¡­" "It''s fine." In another spot, a few people went to another Alteran. "Do you have another cloth? Any will do, it''s just that I¡ª" "Hmn, I happen to have an old pair of pants. Its hem is a little damaged tho, and I just used it as pajamas." "I can buy it!" And so on. It had to be said: Alterans, even during wars, could still make money. Crow and his friends watched this in amusement. Of course, this couldn''t last long. After all, they had a war to fight. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He looked around to see everyone in his team had already rested, and he clapped his hands. "It''s time for us to go now," he said. This made the Fargo citizens look at him in a bit of panic, their stares making the Alterans shiver a bit. "What?" "Wait, don''t go yet!" they yelled, standing up. Even those who were limping crowded around them. The Alterans sweat-dropped, feeling a little suffocated. Some paranoid Alteran even thought they fell into a trap or something. "What about us?" "Yes, what about us!" The Alterans were very confused. "What about you?" "You mentioned contribution points. How could we make sure we''re listed?" Ah. At this, Crow and Sunny took out some writing tools to list down the names of those who helped out. "Tell me your names and what you did." "Pencil and paper? Wow you guys really preprared before the Migration." "This? No, Altera produces this." Though to be fair, they had a lot because they were part of the Architectural and Engineering team. Either way, the Fargo citizen''s eyes twitched at his words. So¡­ other people could make clothing, food, and paper now? Didn''t the refugees say Fargo was already very good? How come the gap was so big to others? Anyway, the citizens rushed to get listed, afraid to be missed out. Those at the back of the queue made sure they were visible to the Alterans as well. Of course, some people hiding inside their homes saw this and tried to get listed too. Instead of ignoring them (which was what they''d have done, had they been in their own territory), they just listed their names, promising to add points when they actually did something. Soon, it was the more prominent young men''s turns. Crow took special note of these guys¡ªyoung, brave, and resourceful. They''d be good additions to their territory. "So, what are your names and what were your accomplishments?" The leader¡ªthe curly blonde¡ªspoke first. "My name''s Tacky Brat. Killed/assisted in killing approximately 10 Fargo guards." "Juan Moon, killed/assisted in killing 8 Fargo guards," said the short and tanned lad with horsetail hair at the back. He was followed by the pale-skinned friend with narrow eyes. "Baka Hapon, killed/assisted in killing 7 Fargo guards." And so on. They ended many minutes later and the few conscious ones felt guilty for taking so much of their time. "Let us guide you to a wall," Tacky proactively offered and the Alterans naturally appreciated this. Seeing the favor of the Alterans, a lot of Fargo citizens felt envious. However, they obviously couldn''t all go, so the group separated from the others with the promise that their contributions in the war would be heard. Similarly, if they could, to bring the message to others as well. Anyway, the group continued towards the wall, but¡ªafraid they''d encounter big groups of Fargo guards¡ª had to take a few detours due to their small numbers. Unlike the inner circle, there were a lot more shanty areas in this side. It was a much worse maze than what Althea encountered. Fortunately, the locals naturally knew a lot of ''alternative'' pathways. As they passed a few houses, the people who dared peek through the windows were surprised to see familiar faces guiding enemies. However, they didn''t really dare ask or go out at this time, so they just kept mum. The Tacky trio took the Alterans through several alleys, a lot of which were just as wide as a person. It was relatively uneventful for a while until a strong stench made them stop in their tracks. They thought they had become relatively immune (although distasteful) to the smell of this place. But, somehow, the stench in this spot was so strong that they all stepped back and gasped at the sudden burst of¡ªfor the lack of a better phrase¡ªa miasma of grossness. Dog and a few others barely stopped their gagging. "What¡ª" Tacky and the others were a little embarrassed when they saw their reactions. They forgot to warn the Alterans about this. It was just that they were so used to the smell that they didn''t think the Alterans wouldn''t. However, the more they knew about these people, the more they realized that these people had lived a good life, even in Xeno. They were definitely queasy¡ªeven if they wanted to believe otherwise! Tacky stopped and cleared his throat. "This is why few people go through here, and which is why it''s safe. It''s also one of the fastest ways directly to the walls, otherwise we''d go through a lot of detours in other places and run the risk of encountering groups of guards." Speaking of which, Tacky knew this path because he often made enemies with the guards. He naturally needed places to run and hide. "But if you want to go to another path¡ª" "No, this is okay," Crow interrupted, though looking even paler than usual. "We''ll take this path." Tacky saw they were serious and headed towards the ''miasma''. "Er¡­ follow me," he said, and headed to the disgusting alley that was probably filled with filth. The Alterans saw the three young lads jump up, using the walls as a surface, pausing after a few climbs to turn and look at them. The Alterans were, understandably, a bit reluctant. It was narrow and dark and long¡ªprobably a few blocks in length. "This must be what the river Styx is like," Dog said, earning him a bump on the back of his head. It was Crow, who led the way to follow them, jumping up and opening his legs and using the two opposite walls as support. With this, more and more people followed them, every one with green faces from trying to hold their breaths. Seeing as they were following, Tacky heaved a sigh of relief (tho coughing a bit at the smell that entered). "Be careful, you know what you''ll fall to." As the Alterans approached to follow the rest of them, they couldn''t help but look at the floor filled with feces, thrown from the windows facing there. Their eyes twitched at the obstacle but fortunately they had improved physiques so it wasn''t impossible. Led by crow, the Alterans traversed the disgusting alleys one by one, trying not to breathe. Dog, who was still feeling a little sting from the earlier wounds, flinched a bit. The little movement caused him to slide down. "Ah!" "DOG!" "AGHH!" he yelled, doing his best to stabilize and avoided the floor by a few centimeters. Looking at how pale he (and the others) was, one would think he almost fell into lava. Dog''s eyes lined with tears as the stench attacked his nose because his nose clip got dropped from the chaos. He had a very strong nose and it was making him puke. Anyway, after readjusting from this episode, the group continued to laboriously go through this way. When they were halfway through, Tacky paused as he saw something. Those nearby would see that he was looking at a long line of blackish-brown marks on the wall in front of him. "Ah, be careful, some people who throw their things sometimes miss and the stuff hits the wall." This time Dog really couldn''t hold it back anymore. Bleurgh! Curse this damned place! Chapter 559 Status of the Slaves After a long torturous travel, they arrived near the walls a couple of minutes later. They kept behind a few houses, slowly looking up if there was a guard nearby. "This spot doesn''t have a sentry," Tacky said, "But there could be guards." They learned from befriending some aborigines like Rona that when war came, people had to get past the ''main'' walls in order to win. The Lord knew this too, so it wouldn''t be a surprise if he set guards everywhere in the inner wall battlement while keeping their outside area minimally guarded. However, to their surprise, there was no guard¡ªat all¡ªnearby, which alone was surprising as they would expect Fargo to focus on guarding this area. "Miss Althea and the others must be causing havoc inside," Dog said smugly, and the others agreed. "He has thousands of guards. How can there be no one hunting for us when we''re already so near the walls?" Tacky and the others looked at them being so confident and their hearts raced. They wondered¡­ was their freedom within reach? Then they stepped forward, quickly realizing that Fargo did, in fact, set up obstacles for them in the form of slaves. They looked at the line of slaves there, distanced a few meters apart. They knew Bright lost thousands of people to slavery and, looking at this, they probably used most of them as secondary walls here. The slaves were lined up in a single line. They stayed in place even with some of them having shaky legs. Their states were extremely pitiful, extremely dirty and filled with wounds. They had bloodless faces but their bodies had bloodstains all over. To the passerby, it seemed like they were barely holding on to life. Their hearts broke when they saw their expressions of surrender and pain, and things just got worse when they saw some familiar faces. "SISTER!!!" Tacky yelled, immediately running forward. He lunged so unexpectedly that no one was able to stop him. "Ooi¡ªTACKY!" His friends yelled, but Tacky didn''t hear anything. His eyes was focused on getting to his poor sister. Tacky emerged from the ''safety'' of the dense houses and entered a 3-meter distance from the slaves. Without warning the handful of slaves nearby¡ªincluding his sister¡ªlunged towards him. Their expressions were helpless but their bodies were like fast-moving zombies aiming to get him. Juan and Crow caught up with Tacky and held an arm each, pulling him back as fast as they could. "ENEMY! ENEMY!" The slaves nearby screamed at the top of their lungs, much like human alarms. Their voices were raspy and croaky¡ªobviously too parched and tired to yell so loudly¡ªbut apparently the order didn''t care whether or not they destroyed their throats. The slaves stopped following after a certain distance. They returned to position parallel to the wall, but their mouths did not stop yelling¡ªlikely to continue doing so until Fargo''s men arrived. Tacky sobbed as he was pulled, seeing his sister''s poor state. Even now, he could hear her voice among the various ''alarms''. She was yelling with a croaking voice, almost wheezing. If Lani continued to do so, maybe her throat would be damaged! His little sister always liked to sing. She drank various healthy drinks to keep it healthy! What was this now? Then Tacky recalled her appearance. Lani was bloodied and had no good skin around her. Her body was filled with wounds, some parts of her clothing ripped. Her wounds and appearance was similar to the women who were¡­ abused. He had been trying to find a way to rescue her, but who told him to be so weak and got sent to the hospital half-dead instead! During the time he was being treated, what had she experienced?! They let go of him as soon as they entered a relatively safe alley. Tacky fell helplessly to the ground, shaking. He buried his face in his palms. "Those bastards! Those bastards!!" He sobbed, punching the wall until his hands bled, crying as he did so. "Bastards, bastards! I''m going to kill them¡ªI''M GOING TO KILL THEM!" ¡­ Crow went out of their hiding place as the ''alarm'' calmed down. There were no guards that came their way, likely too far away, but he did hear some new voices. He found an inconspicuous place and looked to see the status of the wall. There were a few battlement guards that arrived. Obviously, they were spread thin and the slaves also functioned to pinpoint where they ought to focus. Logically, this was not a bad idea¡ªconsidering the other more immediate threats elsewhere¡ªif it wasn''t so¡­ inhumane. His jaw clenched as he looked at the poor slaves. They could barely keep themselves standing. Some were already half naked because of how poor the state of their clothing was. All of them were injured to some degree, but they couldn''t move away from their positions at all. He also looked at the surroundings, his sharp eyes studying what they could use. After noting what he could, he went back to where the rest were hiding. By this time, Tacky had calmed down somewhat. "A few battlement guards have arrived, but they aren''t getting down the wall. I assume there aren''t many guards in this area at all." Hence, the guards kept the most advantageous position. Tacky lifted his head and looked hopefully at Crow. "Is there a way to save her?" Crow looked at him and thought for a while. "It''s not impossible, but we can only save very few." "That''s enough for me!" Don''t blame him for being selfish, but of course his sister would come first! Crow looked at him and then at the others, who nodded. They only had a few knockout potions left with their party and they would of course keep some for emergencies. This meant they only had a bottle to spare. They were only civilians, after all, they weren''t like those cool TV protagonists who needed to hit some part of the neck and the person would lose consciousness. Who knew what they''d hit instead? Besides, the ''slave orders'' could push people beyond their limits. What if they couldn''t be knocked out easily? A knockout potion, even if diluted, was still safer. "Okay, we''ll do what we can." Tacky looked at them with wide, teary, eyes and kowtowed. "Save her and I will owe you for the rest of my life!" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 560 Rescuing Slaves There was about 2 meters of clear area around the walls. It was narrow, but it was wide enough to see anomalies from the perimeter of the wall. There were only about 4 guards on the walls. However, because of the arrangement (or non-arrangement) of this place, it wouldn''t be easy to target the guards. First, three meters above was way above eye level. If they wanted to have a chance of a good shot, they had to be on one of the houses. However, there were few windows in system houses¡ªlikely in consideration for the extreme weather¡ªand those they had happened to be facing the streets. This made sense as the houses were built right next to each other. However, this also meant there was no direct place to target the guards from. The best the archers¡ªCrow and Juan¡ªcould do was position on the ''front'' windows, hoping for the guard to pass whatever limited line segment they could see. Crow looked at Tacky and Juan, who nodded as they opened the doors to said homes, revealing the apprehensive stares of the people inside. Each house had about a dozen people squeezed together, paying several coppers a day for a night. The Alterans quickly captured their hearts with their stories, and soon they were asking what kind of rooms Alteran Dormitories had. Anyway, they managed to get permission to use the houses both as vantage points as well as places to hide the rescued slaves. Another challenge was the slaves themselves. It wasn''t that the force value of the slaves was a threat. On the contrary, they were weak and easy to push down. The challenge was what to do to minimize their injuries. At the same time, the guards who would definitely be shooting relentlessly. They would not care who they hit, and this certainly included the slaves. What was the use of rescuing them when they''d be riddled with arrows in the end? The plan was for an Alteran¡ªwho had good equipment¡ªto lure in Tacky''s sister (and as many slaves as possible) to the nearest cover (the house) and then immobilize them. "Try to lure as many in here," he said, pointing at the delineation. "They were probably ordered to stay within a certain distance from the wall." When they got back Tacky earlier, they weren''t able to see clearly when they stopped following because it was such a rush. It was safe to assume that they stopped before the building line, just to be safe. It was shieldswoman Sunny who went to assist Tacky and Baka to lure in slaves. Another sheildsman started further away, and he was followed by a few slaves along the perimeter, confirming the theory that their order was to stay within a certain distance from the wall, not from their positions. This was good because this meant they could gather a few before leading them to the ''capture area''. "ENEMY! ENEMY!" The slaves yelled as they followed as if they were afflicted by some virus from an apocalypse movie. There were only over a dozen, but it was still a creepy sight. "HEY! HERE!" The guard took out his bow and arrow. He didn''t hesitate to shoot, and his companions quickly did the same. Only one of them had awakened the Archer profession though, and everyone else just had arrows for convenience as battlement guards. The guards this time were former citizens who applied for the position. The heavily trained men who were under Fargo back in Terran were either dealing with Althea''s group, or Reno, Luis, and Ansel''s group somewhere else. They got lucky this time because this meant none of these archers were sharpshooters. The shieldsmen only had to deal with a few shots, while the rest badly missed. "Hey! They''re running away!" One said as they realized the groups were heading in particular directions. He cursed shooting as fast as he could though definitely not as fast as he''d have wanted. "Too slow! I miss my gun!" "Damn it! It''s that darned shield of theirs!" "Just shoot and shoot!" The guards continued to shoot arrows at them, not really caring if they hit slaves in the process. As they said, try and try until you succeed and it happened that someone was really about to hit a slave. Unexpectedly a shield came right in front of the slave, though she quickly avoided the slave''s desperate grip on her, continuing on her way as ''bait''. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Why would she shield the slaves!?" "Damn!" One yelled as they saw them enter a street. "Should we go down?" "We got orders never to get down the battlement unless the enemies got inside!" The other three nodded. They didn''t want to go down and risk their lives anyway. This place was still the safest! They watched as the Alterans moved from area to area, seemingly without direction, and two guards shifted position to shoot. "Shoot at the same time," one said. "For some reason, they''re shielding slaves. Target one near them, and I''ll hit the person when the shield is down." "Ah, good idea." However, before they could make use of this plan¡ª Whoosh! Two guards fell down with crossbow arrows on their head or neck. !!! ¡­ Back to the ground level, Alterans and the Fargo citizens waited tensely as the slaves entered their area. "There!" Dog yelled and immediately Alterans and Fargo citizens wrapped the slaves in ropes, pulling them back to the alleys and houses in time before the surviving guards could gather their wits and shoot. The slaves struggled but not very effectively, and those with some more strength were immediately sprayed with knockout potions. They wrapped them a few more times with Altera''s ropes¡ªeveryone had it in their tool set¡ªand the people heaved a deep breath once they were certain no amount of struggling would free the slaves. And just like this, more than two dozen slaves were saved. And just in time, too, because the slaves'' bodies had been pushed too much. If they waited a bit longer, more than a few of them would''ve crumbled. Including Tacky''s sister. Chapter 561 Count Back at the battlement, the two guards immediately hid behind the balustrade. Like this, they wouldn''t have noticed the missing slaves at all. "Has it stopped?" Survivor #1 asked #2, worried that an arrow would come flying in as soon as he checked. Survivor #2 just furrowed his eyebrows in wonder. "Where would it come from?" After the onset of panic calmed, Survivor #2 soon realized what could''ve happened. At this, he whipped his head to #1 and pointed in a direction. "Crawl!" "What?" "Crawl to any other side! Just do it!" And so they did. When they lifted their heads and no arrow came to them, they heaved a sigh of relief. By the time they stood tall and there were still no attacks, they felt a bit smug. "What happened?" #1 asked, still unsure what just happened. #2 smirked. "Idiot. They could only get a limited vantage point from the second floor," he said. We''ll be safe here." "I see," #1 said, shrugging, before looking down to see how many they got before the other two were taken down. He frowned at the fact that an entire section was¡­ empty. "There seems to be¡­ a lot of slaves missing?" ¡­ Back at the houses, the two archers had already packed up, knowing their fluke wouldn''t be happening again. Juan wasn''t an archer either and his shot missed. He looked admiringly at the other archer on the other side of the street. Crow had actually only activated the archer profession lately. But he had good eyesight and attention to detail, and after a long time of focused training every day he activated the profession. He had good talent too, and he awakened a skill called ''Precise Eye''s a few days earlier. The two of them met up downstairs with Juan staring. "What is it?" "You''re amazing. Did you use bow and arrow before?" "Not really." "Your skills are really high! You hit them straight through their necks!" "I just used an inherited skill." At this, Juan gasped in amazement, Crow''s light in his eyes adding another halo. "So you''re a professional!" How rare! There were not many in the territory, and almost all of them were recruited by Fargo! Crow looked at him weirdly. "Pretty much everyone awakened a profession in Altera." "..." Okay, fine. He was just excited on his own. ¡­ Back to the house, the slaves were being handled with as much care as they could. One of the house occupants happened to be an EMT and he checked the now-unconscious slaves that were laid down on a line. The Alterans decided that before they gave diluted healing potion, they wanted to see their states first. This way, they''d have an idea whether to give undiluted versions instead. Resources were limited, after all, and they couldn''t just give them away willy-nilly. The EMT was called Gamut. He was on-duty when the zombie apocalypse happened, and it happened when he was in an ambulance en route to the hospital. The patient he was doing CPR on suddenly tried to eat him, and they crashed to the sidewalk shortly after (with the driver apparently becoming one as well). He survived through nit and grit, using a lot of his professional knowledge to help himself and others. He didn''t join the clinic because he saw how the ruling party was. They''d always have to prioritize them no matter how minor the injuries were compared to the citizens. As such, he only made a subtle partnership with the doctors, gaining similar knowledge they were getting and getting a bit of the medicine they had to help out the citizens in need. Of course, it wasn''t so many and only the people in the house and some friends could actually take advantage for a while. Even now, when he had lines of patients, he had nothing. All he could do was to check on their situation and perhaps do some first aid as needed before they could take them to the actual doctors. It was just that the more he saw the slaves, the more dire his expressions became. "Their bodies were beaten up, they were parched and hungry. Their bodies were filled with bruises and wounds¡­" he said, voice low, as his hands checked another patient. "I''m surprised how they could stand up for so long," he said. "Their bodies were strained beyond their limitations. I''m no doctor, but I can tell this will definitely have long-term effects on them." "Bastards!" Tacky cursed again as he paced around the room. He paused when he reached his sister''s unconscious state and sniffed. Baka sighed and patted his shoulder, looking at the ''slaves'' with eyes full of pity. "We should get them checked by the doctors soon." Gamut shook his head. "I bet there are many guards in there. The ''slaves'' would not have a chance to be treated. Worse, they could even put them in danger." No one spoke after that, knowing what he said was correct. Before they could think of an alternative though, suddenly many of the slaves flinched awake. They started flinching and struggling immediately, and they had to be held down on all limbs even as they were tied down. "What''s going on?" "Didn''t we use a knockout potion on them?" This puzzled the Alterans a bit. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although the knockout potion was greatly diluted in fear of damaging them anymore, that amount should still work seamlessly for the levels of the ''slaves''! The only reason these people could once again be pushed beyond their limits was if they were compelled to. "Did they receive a new order?" Crow couldn''t help but wonder out loud. It was around this time that Juan, who had been among those monitoring outside, barged inside with wide eyes. "Guys! The slaves were being called in!" He yelled. "...why?" This made them silent for a bit in thought, and it was the Alterans who immediately came to a conclusion. "The fact that they''re being called inside and risk lowering the defense outside meant our team caused them a lot of trouble!" It had developed to the point that, perhaps, the lord''s life was in danger. What was losing a territory when the lord himself was at risk? The citizens may not agree, but the person who could send orders would. At this, Tacky and the others couldn''t help but worry for the other slaves as well. It also had to do a lot with guilt. After all, they could''ve had a chance to save them, but they didn''t. "Doesn''t that mean they''d be in more danger?" If the ''slaves'' were going to be used not just as an extra wall alarms, but rather legitimate meat shields, then a lot of those ''slaves'' were going to die. "The strongest people are there, don''t worry," Dog told them. "The best way to lower the risk of the ''slaves'' dying is to end this war as soon as possible." Crow nodded. "Well, at least now that the slaves are gone, we can get through the wall easier." He then turned and looked at the Alterans. "Let''s go," he said, and then looked at the other Alterans. The Alterans then stood and gestured to leave the young lads alone. "Will you be alright? You''re not lightly injured." Let alone the accumulated wounds, the war and the rescue alone contributed a lot to their wounds. The Alterans felt a bit responsible because they not only helped them out during the fight, but they also guided them here. "Don''t worry about us." Tacky shook his head. "You''ll need it more. We can go to the clinic." At the very least, they were citizens and wouldn''t get too much attention. They could also assess the situation of the place as well. "Focus on winning this war, now," he said, with pleading eyes, holding his struggling sister''s hand. "We''re counting on you." Crow and the others turned to leave, soon adding to the number count that would ultimately help win them the war. Chapter 562 Status of the Clinic "Let''s give them all a more concentrated knockout potion, at least," Crow said, and the Alterans gave every one of the captured slaves that woke up, calming them down for a bit. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In this way, the ''slaves'' wouldn''t be pushing themselves anymore and getting legitimate rest. This was in addition to diluted healing potions that stabilized their conditions, with particularly hurt people like Lani getting a bit more. The Fargo citizens knew that such potions must not be cheap¡ªat the very least, they didn''t have access to it no matter how much silver they gave. They didn''t know everyone who participated in the war had a small vial of the knock-out potion, let alone the healing potions which was available for purchase. In any case, this made the gesture have an even larger impact on their hearts. "Thank you. So much," Tacky and the others said, sobbing, and looking at them as if they were messiahs. The Alterans sweat dropped and waved their hands. "It''s not a big deal, really," they said. With how Althea and the others were causing trouble, they doubted they''d need so much for themselves in the end. Tacky shook his head, not allowing them to downplay their roles in this. If they didn''t arrive on time, after a few more hours¡ªeven if nothing happened¡ªmany of these slaves would''ve just dropped dead out of nowhere. How terrified his sister probably was! To yell and stand until one died, with no control over her own body! Tacky thought, they must win this as soon as possible! His sister wouldn''t last any longer! "If we help you get the word out¡­ would you give us more of those contribution points?" Crow''s eyebrows rose. "Of course. Earn enough, and you and your sister''s livelihood would be guaranteed." Tacky nodded, wiping his snot. "Then we''ll do our best," he said, and he would indeed do as he promised. It had to be said, that there might not be social media anymore, but the younger generation was still very apt with how to emulate it! ¡­ The clinic was, unsurprisingly, one of the busiest locations other than the battlegrounds themselves. After all, there had been injuries everywhere and they had been busy since the war started. At this time, the clinic was over the maximum capacity with fifty or so patients, with the second floor also filled up. What''s more, the patients were all guards, though this didn''t come as a surprise for them. They thought the citizens were probably also hurt but left out to die. Sadly, Victor and the others¡ªwherever they were¡ªweren''t here to bring those people to the clinic for treatment. From the mouths and rants of the guards in pain¡ªwho they would later find out to just be deserters¡ªthey were actually being crushed by the enemies despite their relatively low numbers. The more they heard, the more worried the doctors and nurses were. It seemed that the enemy was stronger than expected? What would that mean for them? Would they become slaves? Anyway, after a couple of hours of war, the medicine they stockpiled so much in case of a large-scale monster mob disappeared. The wounds were made even worse when the guards fought for the limited beds, even those who had minor wounds, as if they were terrified of going out and having to fight again. "My arm''s in pain! Why is it taking so long?" One man yelled as he lay down on the bed, glaring at the shaking medical professionals who were just trying to get their jobs done. "Sorry, sir, we already did what we can¡ª" "Shut up! Do your job!" he yelled, but then he saw the nurse was a little pretty. The nurse shook under his stare and he extended his uninjured arm to grab her. However, an old woman stepped in between, irking the man quite a bit. "Sir¡­ please understand." It was the head nurse who moved forward, standing firm, and appearing extremely professional. "Our medicine has run out. The person who knows is missing in action¡ª" "I DON''T CARE!" The man bellowed. "HURRY UP! BITCH!" This made the doctors walk over with deep frowns. This was especially true for Dr. Volohov, the husband of the head nurse. The man continued shouting on the woman''s face and the doctor immediately stepped forward. He wasn''t young and had white hair all over like his wife. "We would appreciate it if you don''t speak to us that way¡ª" BANG! The old doctor''s sentence was cut when a fist hit his face, and he was thrown barrelling to the wall, hitting a few other people on the way. "Doctor!" the people yelled and his wife urgently ran to check on him. "Honey!" The man¡ªa man named Rip¡ªdidn''t seem to care at all. He was just annoyed at the interruption. "Dare talk back?!" "YOU¡ª" The man lifted his head and looked down at them. "What? What do you wanna say?!" This made them shut up and look down, angry. This man was a few levels above them. They naturally didn''t want to go head-on against him. Rip found himself smiling a bit at his effect, the despair and helplessness of the previous fight being buried. This was how it should be, he thought. He couldn''t help but recall the fight he had just escaped an hour before. They were against a small group of Alterans but, surprisingly, their own bastards decided to join in! He had seen some familiar faces! He had beaten them up a few times because their faces annoyed him! Then they dared to attack him?! He could still remember the sting of a sword slashing his arm and a spear poking at his legs¡ªboth of which coming from brats he thought of as trash! How dare they! How dare they! The annoyance created a dark murderous atmosphere around him, making the nurses and doctors really fear for their lives. They were scared. Now that there was no medicine and there was little they could do, would they be tagged as useless? Would these men vent on them too until they died like so many others?! After struggling for so long, would that still be their fates in the end?! Chapter 563 Doctors Conflicts In the end though, despite all these worries, their professional instincts prevailed over their fears and they headed to the people¡ªespecially the old doctor¡ªwho had been hurt by the attack. However, before they could do anything to help, various things like bottles or whatever small item was around were thrown at them instead. Clack! Bang! Clank! "AH!" "Ouch!" Rip and a few others looked badly at the nurses who now had additional bruises, one of whom even had blood dripping down his forehead. "Don''t you dare treat them before me!" The old nurse, Liana, turned to glare at them with teary eyes, her hands trying to support her husband. "But we really don''t have medicine!" "THEN GO FIND THEM!!" "T-They''re mostly available outside the territory ¡ª" "Do I look like I care?" The doctors and the nurses paled. This meant that they would have to get out of the territory and find the plants themselves! Rip pointed at the male nurses. "You, you, and you. Go." "What?" "No, I¡ª" "It''s final," Rip said, looking at their reactions. He liked the terror on their faces and his eyes stopped at the Doctor who was being held up by his wife. Rip pointed at him. "Let him join." "What?" Liana let go of her husband and stood in front of him. "No! He''s injured!" Rip glared at her, "Shut up, old hag! If you don''t want to be thrown to the monster''s mouth like the pig that you are, then keep your mouth shut!" More than the woman, the Doctor was more angry. "YOU¡ª!" "No, don''t!" Liana yelled as she held on to her husband. "It''s not worth it," she said. "Just get out." Volohov froze. He knew his wife well. Liana was implying that he should just take this chance and escape. But how could he really do it? Rip looked at the couple and then at the nurses. "Until you get the medicine, the rest of these people will be at our mercy. Be careful, we might get impatient! You know how horny we can get!" The men clenched their fists and gritted their teeth, while the women shivered at the threats. "As long as you get them within an hour, they''re safe. So hurry up! Time starts now!" At this, several doctors had no choice but to get out to the streets where scuffles would abound, with one of the male nurses helping Volohov move. They knew time was of the essence though, so Volohov pushed himself harder no matter how much pain he was in. Volohov almost fell down at one point, held up by the male nurse Raffy. The other two nurses flinched as well, prepared to catch him. "I''m alright," he said, "We have to hurry, there''s no time¡­" They continued moving forward. They considered leaving the old doctor somewhere safe, but he was the one who knew the plants best. Besides, it was war, how safe could anywhere be? Though they were surprised at how¡­ peaceful things seemed to be, considering the injured in the clinic, they weren''t naive to think they wouldn''t encounter one. Would they even be able to get out the gates? But then, as they travelled they got pulled back. Their hearts dropped for a moment but then they looked at the kids with sly smiles on their faces. The doctor''s eyebrows rose high. "Tacky?" ¡­ Seeing them like this, to be honest, the old doctor just thought they finally lost their minds. It wasn''t the first time someone lost it. Volohov looked at the young men, filled with pity. Tacky Trio: "..." "Doc, why are you looking at me like this?" Volohov saw that they seemed okay, if not a little wounded, and changed stance. "I''m sorry, we ran out of medicine." "That''s not why we''re here," Tacky said and pulled them back to the house they were in, which happened to be a few blocks away. Tacky saw Volohov''s injury and lifted him up, leaving them with no choice but to follow. Raffy looked at them worriedly, before turning to Juan who was walking beside him. "No, we have to go¡ª" "No, trust us," he said. "You wouldn''t need those plants." The certainty in his tone made the nurses purse their lips, and then their eyebrows rose when they saw whose house it was Gamut was actually waiting outside and they felt relieved, thinking that they were brought in because Gamut had managed to somehow keep some medicine in stock. Soon they realized they were wrong. Instead of giving them medicine, Gamut led them in to see something inside the house. There, they saw a line of unconscious people. They weren''t very familiar with them, but they were all tied up even while they were sleeping. "Please check on them," Tacky said, "They''re slaves." "What?" At this, the doctors and the nurses immediately kneeled down to see their states. The doctor and nurses were shocked at the status of the ''slaves''. Gamut and the others didn''t feed them information immediately, nor did they tell them their conditions had actually been improved alredy due to the Alteran potions. He wanted them to see for themselves and perhaps diagnose if there were more things he missed. Regardless of whether their situation had improved internally, the slaves'' bodies were still battered up. Volohov looked at Gamut with furrowed eyebrows. "What¡­" he paused, voice a little breathless¡ªwheezing. "So it was this bad?" The common citizens didn''t have access to the slaves at all. They were either in the mine or in a special handling area Fargo made to process the things they found in the mine. Both places were prohibited to the citizens except if they paid a large amount of money to bribe the guards. Not to mention, there were plenty of ''bribery'' cases that only caused losses to the giver, but in the end, were not given access to the slaves at all. At some point, most people who didn''t confirm they had a relative inside simply gave up. Everyone had too many problems in their own lives. It wasn''t like in Terran wherein the biggest problems were breakups, mortgages, scandals, or an annoying boss at work. The problems now had too much to do with survival. Here, one wrong decision could literally take their lives. Who could have so much mind to bother with strangers? Out of sight, out of mind, so to speak. But now¡ªseeing their situation firsthand¡ªthey only felt heartbreak and guilt. "They went through a lot, not just physically, but also psychologically," Tacky said, particularly concerned about his sister. "What we had suffered so far was nothing compared to what they experienced in the past few days. Dr. Wais has her work cut out for her." Volohov and the nurses looked at each other, hearts frozen. Just yesterday, their psychologist, Dr. Wais, who had been focused on helping the victimized girls, had also been pulled to become one of them. They couldn''t bear to tell them this and only nodded. Unaware that his sister''s future psychologist would probably need therapy herself, Tacky continued with his orientation. "Actually, they were even worse before." "What?" "The Alterans lent us their potions. It''s diluted, but I could see that it strengthened their bodies somehow. They were literally at the end of the line before." This made the newcomers flinch and stare at them. "Alterans? Our ENEMIES?" The doctor and the nurses were completely confused, even aghast. They felt pity for the slaves, but they didn''t want to join them!! Tacky and the others expected this reaction. They quickly summarized some of the events so far. It was only then that the doctors realized¡ªit wasn''t that the civilians'' injuries were ignored, but there were few civilian patients at all! They didn''t even join the war and hid, how could they get injured? "The enemy is good! We have observed them for some time. They don''t keep slaves!" "Do you trust them so much?" Volohov asked, naturally dubious about it. "And don''t tell me they don''t keep slaves because you don''t see them! This could just be their first war, so of course they wouldn''t have slaves yet!" Tacky shook his head. "How they interacted in life-and-death situations can''t be faked. Besides, don''t you think Victor and his team''s disappearances¡ªwherever they area¡ªare weird?" S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You mean they''re¡ª" "I think so." The doctor looked at the other male nurses, who seemed just as conflicted. But then they remembered the people inside the clinic and knew they simply didn''t have the time to be indecisive. After heaving a deep breath, the old doctor looked at Tacky. "What do we need to do?" Chapter 564 Doctors Revenge Less than an hour later, the doctors came with various plants to place on their wounds. "About time!" Rip yelled, spraying saliva all over their faces. "I thought you wanted us to eat first before you arrived!" He said with a grin, looking at the shivering nurses with amusement "Sorry, it took time because there''s a war going on, after all," he said, heading towards the small preparation area in the clinic. "Let us prepare the medicine for a bit, please." "Fine. Hurry up!" He yelled and he watched the doctor and the nurses proceed to prepare, refusing help from the others. No one thought this was odd. After all, the preparation area was only so big to fit a few men. Another thing they didn''t note was that the doctors seemed to have some makeshift cloth over their hands as if to serve as gloves. After a while, the group of them came out with a medicine in their hands, using small wooden bowls and flat sticks sold at a high price by the local carpentry shop (owned by Fargo, of course). The doctor and nurses went ahead to the fifty or so guards occupying their clinic, adding the paste to their wounds. "AH! It stings!" Patient #1 yelled, punching a big nurse. He was naturally imbalanced but he desperately turned so the small medicine container would not spill. At this, the other guards looked badly at him, as if it was his fault. "Don''t spill the medicine!" Patient #2 yelled, before glaring at the guard who kicked. "Are you an idiot?" "But it stings!" "Sissy!" "Pussy!" Another one yelled. This made Patient #1 very annoyed. "You do it, then!" Patient #2''s eyes twitched but he kept his expression. Raffy headed and applied it on him immediately, and the man immediately flinched. "HISSSSS¡ª" However, even if the application stung like hell, the men had to keep it in lest they be mocked. Seeing their enduring red faces satisfied the nurses very much, rewarding them with a bit more of the paste. "DAMN!" Raffy was more experienced now and could avoid most hits, while the rest held it in lest they be mocked as well. Rip was also hissing at this time, gritting his teeth as he endured the intense sting. It was very much like dousing alcohol straight to an open wound, but worse. Volohov himself was applying it to him. At some point, The doctor looked at him appearing conflicted. "What is it?" Rip asked with gritted teeth, red eyes ready to rip out throats if triggered. "I¡­ I actually have some anesthesia-like solution, but I only have a few drops." "Add it to me!" "Yes!" he said, taking out a small vial from his space and adding it to the bowl. He mixed it well until it was completely integrated into the paste. Volohov shakily applied the rest to the wounds, and Rip immediately felt the difference. He felt that the sting was indeed a bit less and calmed down a bit, asking Volohov to apply more on his minor cuts. Volohov was surprisingly obedient this time and applied as ordered. Some guards saw this and pushed aside the nurses assigned to them. "Use that on me, too!" "No, me!" Volohov shook his head, conflicted. "This is only good for a few more people." At this, several of the stronger ones immediately yelled, demanding it be applied to them. The weaker ones could only endure the torturous sting, looking at the team leads with bitterness It was peaceful for the next couple of minutes, with the ''patients'' laying down on the makeshift hospital beds and waiting for the medicine to heal their wounds. The medical professionals stood at the side as if ready to be called, and some people started complaining about the sting. The limping Dr. Volohov sighed, looking to be truly apologetic. "I''m sorry, we really didn''t think it''d still hurt so much. This formula was fine when we used it on young girls." The passive-aggressive comment made a lot of big men shut up. For a while, there was relative silent in their clinic, sans the stifled groans and hisses around. It was broken some minutes later, when someone started flinching wildly in his bed. "AHH!" Patient #1 yelled. "ITCHY! WHY IS IT SO ITCHY!" "FU¡ªWHAT!" Another yelled, scratching his whole body, unable to pinpoint where he should scratch to feel comfort. It was so itchy that they could barely even sit up, as if every movement would just make the discomfort even more intense. The others soon yelled the same with various intensities in their reactions. Some of the female nurses seemed confused, but seeing the others coolly watching, the realization immediately struck. The doctors watched them in blunt fascination. They might not know a lot about the plants here, especially with Vanessa''s gatekeeping, but they did try to study on their own. They happened to know that some plants, while not poisonous, could still cause extreme itchiness, especially when combined with certain plants. Dr. Lu was the unfortunate person to know this by experience. They got the plants so quickly not because the plants were in the territory. After all, poisonous plants were moved outside. Rather, they had such plants in their spaces for study! They happened to have a bit and they would gladly use them all to deal with these bastards! It wasn''t that they hadn''t considered doing it before for petty revenege, but they knew these people wouldn''t die by doing so. Rather, they would just trace the ''prank'' to them and thus adding targets to their heads. But now, with some external support, it was different! In addition to their itch poisons, the Alterans lent them something important! While they couldn''t add it to everyone, they chose the targets well, and soon they''d know it would work wonders. "AHHH!" Another man¡ªa man lying on one of the more comfortable beds in the corner¡ªyelled. His body was red from itching, but suddenly he couldn''t even scratch it. "WAIT, WHY CAN''T I MOVE?" This man''s name was Tin, a level 7 swordsman who deserted very early on. He was one of the battlement guards that had fallen down due to the chaos on the walls and was fortunate enough to not be targeted by the enemy arrows. "I CAN''T EITHER!" Rip yelled, feeling the itch switch to numbness until he could barely move his limbs. He noticed that the others who had similar afflictions had that anesthetic medicine! S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Under the duress, his eyes turned red and he looked at the doctor who didn''t seem surprised by the effects. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Chapter 565 Traversing Fargo Village (Part 1) The man''s roar still made the people scared. Even when he couldn''t move, the associations¡ªtheir fear, their weaknesses¡ªwere there. They had never met the Alteran people nor had they tested the effectivity of the potions either. What if suddenly it didn''t work anymore? Fortunately, Volohov still remembered the plan, and he looked at his companions, nodding at them. At this, the nurses and doctors immediately went outside. "HEY! DON''T RUN!!" The guards yelled, the men standing up while scratching their whole bodies. Some people fell down on the floor though, unable to handle the itchiness, only ending up trying to grind themselves on the floor like idiots. The others were a bit stronger and shakily followed the nurses outside. They were very slow because their feet were too damned itchy! "BASTARDS!" "They definitely have the cure!" One by one, the guards filed out with gritted teeth and reddish skins, leaving those who were paralyzed behind. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "HEY! DON''T LEAVE ME HERE!" Rip, Tin, and a few others yelled out. They shook their bodies to get out, but those who managed to move enough simply fell down the bed, moving like disabled worms. "HEY! COME BACK!" "OI!" They yelled and yelled, but none would return, leaving them there. ¡­ Outside the forty or so guards who were extremely uncomfortable with their own skin, murderously looking for the doctors, found themselves separated into different alleys and houses around the area. By the time they got out of the clinic, there was no sign of the doctors, the nurses, or anybody else. Their strategies were to break into various houses to check if they were there or if the people knew where they were. In their extreme discomfort and arrogance, they had forgotten that they were extremely weakened and could barely move other than to scratch their own bodies. They separated into certain areas. "LET US IN!" He yelled, shakily knocking on the door as intensely as he could. "LET US INNN!!!" And the door opened. With gritted teeth, the group entered, eyes filled with bloodlust. They didn''t even question how easily they entered the houses in their muddled states. Before, the citizens would at least question or beg for them not to enter¡ªprimarily because this meant someone was going to get hurt. It was completely suspicious they entered without even a bit of that, and when they realized it, the door shut closed and they were already surrounded by various citizens, all looking at the hatefully. "What¡­" Soon, the dawn of understanding entered their muddled heads and they ran towards the door, barrelling and pushing aside whoever tried getting in their way. However, most of these guards had no weapons anymore, were extremely weakened, and were very uncomfortable. They were no match for the groups of citizens who were out for their blood! In each group, it was the same. They ganged up on the trespassers, kicking them, punching them, and doing whatever attack they could do at their pitiful levels. "What¡ª" the man yelled as he received several kicks on the body. "Do you not know you could also be slaves if we lost, huh?" "Slaves in other territories are probably better than staying under your rule!" One yelled, proceeding to kick him on the groin. "AHHHH!" his body twitched in pain and the others continued beating him up until he was unconscious if not dead. This happened in a few houses and alleys. Of course, there were also those who noticed the aberrations and turned back in time¡ªas they always did¡ªand even ran back to the clinic to get the stronger teammates they left to die. Too bad they were still mobbed to death¡ªmobbed to death by the very people they used to step on. ¡­ The screams and yells of men naturally entered the clinic and the ears of the men helplessly frozen in place. "What¡­ what''s happening?" Tin asked, forcing himself to move. He happened to be one of the people on the floor, and he was trying to crawl somewhere else like the worm that he was. Seeing as another person was getting near the exit¡ªeven if it was at the rate of an inch per minute¡ªRip started to panic a bit more. Obviously, this was a trap, and there were people who would deal with them should they stay! "Shit¡­ shit¡­ shit¡­" He cursed as he tried to wiggle out of the bed. One of the other two had managed to do so and fell down on his face. He groaned for a moment before sucking it up and started crawling as well. Rip was in a corner and he was positioned by the wall. It was much more difficult for him to do the same maneuver. "Ah, don''t try to move too much. It''d just cause internal strain and may even cause permanent damage," A new voice said and they turned their heads¡ªsome with great difficulty¡ªto see who it was. It was the Tacky trio, of course, who entered with smiles on their faces. "It really works. So great," he said and his friends chuckled. Baka even went ahead and poked one on the floor. He wiggled wildly, but otherwise couldn''t do anything about it. "Amazing. As expected of them." Crow had lent them a few drops of a paralysis potion they all had in emergencies. Crow didn''t want people to be hurt for the mission and thus gave them some tools to safeguard their lives. Fargo''s men were hateful, but many of them weren''t exactly weak against normal civilians like they were. Anyway, seeing a few drops work wonders was already amazing and it raised Altera''s place in their minds even more. Of course, Crow did say the effect was limited, especially to stronger individuals so they decided not to dilute it and targeted those level 7 and above. Rip, in particular, looked particularly mad at them. "YOU! What are you doing here!?" His eyes turned red, recalling how these kids and those enemies destroyed his group! How did they find him here so quickly?! Chapter 566 Traversing Fargo Village (Part 2) Tacky actually didn''t see him there. His reddening eyes were focused on the bastard right at his feet. However, he thought, that he might as well clear this one up so he could focus on torturing his target. "Hey, Rip!" Tacky said, looking a little bloodthirsty. He stepped on the person on the ground and walked towards him, waving around his sword, making the previously-arrogant man to pale. "I knew there was someone missing back there," he said, referring the their skirmish from before. There was actually something a bit different with this Tacky, and it was obvious something had changed since they last saw him. Rip gritted his teeth, shivering from anger and nervousness. "Traitors!" "What lies did they feed you, huh!?" Tacky almost laughed. "Lies?" he asked. "Even if they did, it wouldn''t have mattered. "We have low standards of acceptance after what you put us through," he said, raising his sword. "You tortured us so much. Didn''t you think you''d ever get retribution?!" Slash! Tacky stabbed the man straight to the heart. He was panting heavily as he slowly let the blood flow to the floor. To be honest, Tacky never thought he''d be able to kill people in cold blood before this war. The three of them used to play games a lot with some other friends. A few of the games were violent, but he remembered cringing a bit when the graphics were particularly gruesome. But their experiences had hardened their hearts¡ªmaking it so much easier after the first time. How quickly people changed. And after what he heard not long ago, he wanted to see more blood. He then turned to the man who was very nearly crawling to the door. He looked very silly, but he didn''t care. The bastard crawled like his life depended on it. And it did. Baka and Juan saw that he was heading to Tin and proceeded to deal with the remaining ones. They knew Tacky had a deep beef with this one, and let him have the satisfaction for revenge. Tacky raised his sword and stabbed the back of the man''s knees, and a loud squelch was heard followed quickly by a pig screaming. "GYAHHH!!!" Tin yelled as he laid down head first on the floor. He was then turned back, shivering, and he was stabbed again, this time on the stomach. "W-What are you doing?! GYAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Tacky didn''t answer and stabbed him right on the crotch. "STO¡ªKYAAAAAAHHH!!!!" Tacky relished in the suffering of this man in particular. He was glad he wasn''t mauled by the monsters like many of his companions. This meant he could make him suffer now! This was one of the guards who beat them up, leaving them to the beasts. But this wasn''t what made him so crazy. More importantly, this bastard was one of the people who touched his sister! He found out about it from Raffy before separating for this task. Apparently, he had heard them bragging about it while they were confined! Raffy''s eyes were a little red when he told him this, obviously holding back a lot of anger as he listened in. Raffy did not know his sister, but he felt extreme injustice for her. They had bragged about how they took her no matter how much she cried, and then how they continued abusing her until she had no tears left to cry! They did it every single day since she arrived. The thought made Tacky''s anger boil so much he continued stabbing the man, over and over, and only came to his senses when his friends patted his back, telling him it was over. Seeing the man dead, Tacky punched the floor, disatisfied. "You died too damned easily!" ¡­ When it was over, Tacky and the others went from house to house, joining the other citizens and the doctors in the hunt. With the low momentum of Fargo''s guards, there would definitely be those who would run away, and they were intent on taking advantage! It so happened that one of the houses they entered was owned by Kyle''s group. How shocked they were to see several men being tortured inside! Since they returned from talking with Crow, it seemed that the group had been very busy! In the next hour or so, more and more people joined in, and they taught them several strategies on how to safely trim Fargo''s forces. In a short time, a good fraction of the guards outside the main walls had been taken care of by the people they bullied. It also allowed the Alterans who had yet to reach the inner walls run much more smoothly than before. It went smoothly that the Alterans, who had been expecting a few deaths by now, hadn''t encountered a single one! . . . At this time, Ansel''s group was traversing the maze-like layout of Fargo. They were very quiet and were subtle, with the queasy ones having cloth on their mouths because they squealed too much at the sight of feces on the ground. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, mysteriously, they hadn''t encountered a single guard! Fargo''s outer wall was huge, yes, but to not encounter one? Were they all in the interior walls? That couldn''t be it, right? For them to win this war, they still had to guard the wall regardless of the chaos happening inside! They traversed a few more alleys, signaling some brave people peeking in to be quiet¡ªand they did¡ªand some even pointed them in the right direction. Soon, they reached the section which wasn''t too far off from their ''target'' area. Throughout all this, they still hadn''t encountered a single hostile force. "So lucky?" Beanie asked, tilting his head. His axe was out and ready to slash, but after the first batch of enemies they ran away from¡ªthe one that broke their path inside¡ªthey hadn''t encountered many of them anymore. Luke behind him shook his head. "Don''t question the blessings!" He said, saying another weird superstition he heard somewhere. Ansel chuckled, but shrugged in the end. "Meh, the universe must be blessing our awesomeness again." Chapter 567 Status of the Rongo Estate (Part 1) Rongo Mercenary Hall, Not long after Althea''s Entrance S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fargo Village was not small and the chaos happened all around it. Inside the interior walls, some distance from where Althea was, the Rongo Hall was no different. Victor and the others attacked the hall as soon as the war started, with them throwing their only smoke and paralysis bombs at the men who were about to get out to assist. A lot of these men were stronger than they were in level, so they had to use a lot of tools in order to handle them with minimal losses. They only had one of each on hand, and they decided to use them early because a group of seven mercenaries were heading out and they didn''t know if the enemies would still be moving in groups further in. One of their missions was to trim the enemy forces when they could and this felt like the perfect chance to do so. Of course, they knew that men of this level may not be taken down by a few smoke and paralysis bombs¡ªnor did they think all of them would be in the area in the first place¡ªso they opted for the more silent approach, hoping to kill as quietly as they could to ensure control over the situation. Things happened so quickly that the mercenaries weren''t able to react and alert the others. First, just as the mercenaries opened the gates, two balls simultaneously landed on their feet. This was closely followed by the soldiers who had handkerchiefs on their faces, lithely running to the interior of the gates, closing it by the way. Although it was a bit risky, they didn''t want the outside to know they were cleaning up this place. At least not yet. The mercenaries'' eyes widened as they were attacked, but while they defended themselves the two balls emitted different colored gases. Dirty rags found their mouths before they could yell out. This also forced them to inhale more of the gases through their noses, increasing their effects somehow FWOOOSHH! The two balls released smoke that was about two meters in diameter¡ªjust enough for the five men to drown in. Unsurprisingly, the effects of the smoke bombs were limited with people at this level and they didn''t fall down like others would''ve. At best, they were just a bit groggy and disoriented. However, this was enough for Victor''s team. Victor and the others attacked like the special soldiers that they were¡ªsilent and shooting only when needed. They used their weapons to weaken the enemies. The crossbows were also Class D and managed to kill one, but those with shields and shieldsmen managed to keep themselves alive. Knowing they couldn''t let these men recover behind the protection of their shields, Victor and the others opted for close-range combat. With the assistance of Amos and his wood ability, he used his only skill to tie up the mercenaries'' feet. It wasn''t strong, but with their current grogginess, it still managed to cause them imbalance. Even if it was only for a few moments, their distraction allowed the soldiers to sneak next to them, aiming at their vitals. Using their Class D weapons, the soldiers used assassination techniques to end them as quickly and as quietly as possible. Whether it was a soldier grappling a mercenary and stabbing his neck, or someone outright stabbing a person''s chest¡ªthey made sure to take these people''s lives as quickly as they could lest they recovered enough to counterattack. These people were a few levels higher than they were. They would not underestimate them. The most talented in assassination technique was a man named Rasso. Not to mention the mission, he had particular hate for these people for enslaving his son. His knife was very quick, stabbing different exposed areas where the main arteries were. His movements were fast and people were reminded why he was at the top of his class in this subject. His victim, in particular, literally drowned in his own blood. They took down all seven, one of whom was level 14¡ªprobably the leader, currently dead by suffocation of his own blood¡ªwhile the rest of them ranged from level 11 to 13. Although they had the element of surprise, this was still an amazing feat because they were a group of a dozen people who were level 10 or even weaker. The level gap was not small. Everyone was panting and sweaty from tension, but their eyes were bright as they looked at each other and then at the corpses. They didn''t know where they were assigned, but they knew they saved many lives today. They were correct. These dead mercenaries were summoned to assist the outer walls and would never be able to assist, which was the only reason why Fargo didn''t notice their absence during the height of war. Had they been able to get to the outer wall¡ªthey definitely would''ve been able to take several Alterans'' lives by virtue of their levels. Of course, despite the success, the mission would never go perfectly as planned. The slight scuffle still got attention of some nearby guards in the end. Victor and the others hurriedly dragged the corpses to hide, and they also stopped breathing just in case the enemies had extreme senses. Soon, a pair of men emerged from the interior of the base, looking at the events by the gate. They were not weak¡ªboth of whom were at level 15. Victor mused they should be the people in charge of the base while the rest were gone. "Did something happen here?" One asked, looking at the small open space by the gate to see no one was there. There were a few blots of blood on the ground, some relatively new, but it was not an unusual sight there. Rather, there was always blood in this area¡ªa lot of their victims struggled near the gates¡ªso neither of them thought much about the current sight. It didn''t even occur to these people that the enemies would dare attack this base at all. These peoples'' bias against villages was deep-rooted and they would not be able to comprehend how much of a threat the enemy could actually be. And this would quickly turn into their most lethal mistake. Chapter 568 Status of the Rongo Estate (Part 2) Instead, they just relaxedly stretched their arms, looking around and seeing the previously bustling estate completely empty. "Are we the only ones left here?" "Nah, there should still be a couple of people inside," the other said. "The enemy is just a village, after all." "I think they still moved too many of us," Mercenary #1 said in distaste. They heard that the enemies had yet to show up. He thought it was an overkill to get almost everyone moving. More accurately, it''s offensive to make everyone from the Mercenary team¡ªone that generally mobilized in towns¡ªmove for a mere village. Even if there were only a few of them here, it didn''t mean they were less than their companions currently in towns. The other shrugged. "Must be fun to go massacre outside." How could they have so much fun, if the people here weren''t so weak? In towns, they still had to walk on eggshells! Here, they can do whatever they want! Mercenary #1 looked at him. "You really wanna join?" "I''m kidding," he laughed. Who wanted extra work when they can have fun just ''watching the base''? "Let''s just go have fun with the ladies~" Hearing this Victor and the others had the urge to just attack and kill. The men immediately turned, one even with his weapon out, narrowing their eyes in a direction. "Did you sense that?" "What?" "I swear I felt violent energy." "It''s just you being horny." The man''s eyebrows rose. "Ah, you think so?" And they turned, looking forward to another fun night with the pretty ladies. Victor and the others gritted their teeth as they watched the two mercenaries leave, feeling heavy and finding it extremely difficult to hold themselves back. The main goal here was, naturally, for them to help out the victims trapped in the place. The job was especially fitting for them to do as they had been staying in the territory for a long time and may even know of the victims. It was not the time to rescue directly because they didn''t know exactly how many enemies there were and, from the mercenaries'' conversation, they definitely still had a few companions inside. The only thing they knew for certain was that the location of the women''s dorm was at the edge¡ªpassing through various modules to get there. Without knowing how they''d get mobbed, it would be foolish to barrel forward¡ªno matter how much they wanted to. They no longer had paralysis or smoke bombs, and they definitely wouldn''t have much effect if the enemy was strong. Putting aside the fact that the two mercenaries they saw were also higher in level than the previous ones, what if there were people beyond the level cap within the area? Those people might not be able to attack the trespassers, but they could definitely stop whatever plans of rescue they had. It was simply too risky. Even if there weren''t, if they went to the women first, the chaos would be much bigger and the enemies could even capture hostages. It was best to weaken the enemy before they rescued the women. But¡­ what would the women suffer in the meantime? They couldn''t guarantee how long they''d take¡ª "I''ll distract them," Amos said, "At least delay their access to the women." "What?" "I¡­ I used to run and hide a lot growing up," he said, "And I''m not as strong as you guys." The soldiers looked admiringly at the young man. This was a risky endeavor, but they knew it was the best course of action. The boy didn''t wait anymore nor could they stop him. He immediately emerged from their hiding spot. "WHERE''S MY SISTER!!!" he bellowed, eyes red from anger. This made the men turn, shocked. "Oi! You¡ª" The soldiers watched as the young man ran away in the opposite direction, extremely fast, and was quickly followed up by the two men five levels stronger than he was. Victor and the others immediately went to work, their hearts only praying the boy ran fast enough. "Let''s go purge their personnel there and take the women," Victor said, quietly so only they could hear. The others nodded in agreement, completely ready to fight. They entered the interior of the halls and checked room to room. They had the shieldsmen in front and at the back, with the archers ready to shoot whoever appeared. There were unsurprisingly not many guards, but it wasn''t that there wasn''t¡ªat least after a couple of rooms. Keeping someone in those rooms meant there was also something or someone important inside. Victor made a signal for everyone to stop. They immediately stepped back when the man looked. Holding his weapon out, he walked over to check. He did not expect a shield to suddenly appear in front of him, with a few weapons immediately taking his life the very next moment. This man was relatively weak at level 10, and when they checked the room he was guarding, they saw it was some resources. Some of them were a little familiar. "These are Alteran products," Benny said, being one of the people who focused more on what Drake and the others brought in. "They probably got it from Bright." It was obvious that the mercenary team took importance of these things. They didn''t stay long, of course, immediately moving to the next areas. They quickly traversed the hallways, ready to defend and attack. Realizing there weren''t many, they favored speed over stealth, attracting the few remaining men in there. At some point, they ended up in front of the damaged weapons storage room. They went past the smoking room that had been destroyed by the bomb. Victor looked at Benny, who had been stationed outside before everything happened. "The weapons were all taken care of?" Benny nodded, "It''s entirely smooth. Miss Juni really helped a lot." After all, without her figuring out where the weapons were and giving them access, their mission in this area would''ve been a lot harder. "The actress?" Victor asked, pondering. He had heard that there was a new woman¡ªa very famous actress¡ªbeside Fargo. Was that her? So she was an Alteran spy? "Bombs, huh?" Their group wasn''t given explosive bombs and, while it probably wasn''t as big as the bombs in Terran, they could see their damage was still not small. "The more I know about Altera, the more impressed I am," Ken couldn''t help but whisper as they gestured to go to the next place to clear. At this, Rasso couldn''t help but look back at the damage with particularly hopeful eyes. "When this war ends, we''ll be sure to get your son," Ken said, patting his shoulder. Rasso''s eyes watered at this. They had been trying to get to the slaves, but after several strategies they found out it''d more likely risk the slaves'' lives instead. The best strategy was to end the war as soon as possible. His son had always been his only family since his wife died in childbirth. He would die if he lost that boy. Thinking of their reunion was the main thing that was keeping his sanity. That, and¡­ He paused as a pretty face entered his mind, his eyes warming up unconsciously. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The group continued to clear the area, making sure there would be no surprise attacks when they rescued the women. As expected and fortunately, not a lot of men remained at the base. After all, there was a war going on and the guns were already destroyed anyway, so there was no point in keeping too many guards in here. After traversing the area for a few minutes, they only encountered a handful¡ªall of which were handled skillfully by their group. The strongest one they encountered so far was a level 13 mercenary who was guarding what was probably the boss'' room. That was to say, Belize''s. Further, judging by how he held on to his sword and the special aura, this person had the profession of swordsman¡ªwhich wasn''t something every mercenary had. This was a pretty strong man to guard a room, and they didn''t hold back with their attacks this time, with the elementalists even using some mana to deal with him. "WHAT!" The man yelled, "WE''RE BEING ATTACKED!" He screamed as he defended himself, but was shocked to see no one was coming. Someone was quick to cover his mouth with a dirty rag (due to lack of clothing, everyone had a lot of dirty rags which were their old clothes) that muffled his voice. The mercenary''s hands couldn''t be freed to take it out because he was too busy defending himself. Clank! Clank! Clank! Anyway, even if the Aborigine was a few levels stronger and had a profession, how could he go against a small mob of skilled soldiers? Suffice to say, he succumbed after some time, with a few soldiers gaining a few minor wounds, but fortunately nothing serious. A few guards stayed outside the room to see if there was anyone attracted by their fight, while Victor, Rasso, and a few others checked what was worth guarding in the room. It was a corner room that had better furniture than others. They looked around to clear, and their hearts stopped when they saw a half-naked woman tied to the bed! They gasped when they saw who it was."Doctor Wais!" Rasso was especially pale, immediately running to her. "JULIET!!" Chapter 569 Rassos Problems A few days ago. "Let go of me! Let go of me!" Rasso yelled, struggling as he was pinned down by his teammates. "Calm down, Rasso!" Ken yelled as he held the man''s arm. "Going there now would not help your son!" "But what could they be making him do while I rest here?!" He roared. His worries were completely valid, but going berserk now would only endanger everyone! Rasso did not seem to care at this point, his mind triggered by the sight of his son''s poor state. "LET GO OF ME¡ª" he yelled and the wildness made the others have to let go. Realizing he was free, Rasso immediately ran to the door¡ª BANG! Rasso was thrown down to the ground. He looked up at the attacker, glaring at him with red eyes. It was Victor, standing tall, with veins showing in anger. "Are you a fool?!" He exclaimed. "Showing weakness to Fargo would only make him exploit it!" "You don''t have a son! How can you understand me?" At this, Victor only pursed his lips. His eyes sharply looked at him. "What if he asks you to betray us for him? Will you do it?" This made him pause and the others looked at Rasso guardedly. "No, I¡ª" But he couldn''t answer, because he truly wasn''t 100% confident that he would not. They had naturally all made a non-betrayal oath¡ªmade even stricter after what Gian did¡ªbut Fargo was a slick man. Who knew if he could find a loophole somewhere? "I¡­ I can exchange myself¡­ since I made an oath, they shouldn''t be able to get anything out of me, they shouldn''t be able to make me betray you¡ª" "Do you really think Fargo would let any of us go? I bet he''d torture your son right in front of you until you do." This made Rasso lose all blood on his face. That was just what Fargo liked to do, and Rasso knew this too well. What''s more, even if their oath was tight, he''d definitely torture his son just for the sake of it! "Then¡­ what am I supposed to do?" Rasso yelled, covering his face with his palms. He had been suffering anxiety for a while now, and some of his symptoms had been flaring up since seeing his son. It was around this time that an announcement sounded across the territory. [Announcement: Slaves are now open for purchase. Go to the plaza to join the auction.] His eyes widened and he looked up, wondering if he was hearing things. Victor and the others also had startled expressions, confirming that it was real. This injected hope into him. Although they were suspicious, if it had to do with money, then it was possibly a legitimate transaction. It definitely wouldn''t be cheap, however. Several people just felt relieved that there was an alternative. Benny smiled as he helped Rasso up from the floor. "Let''s go, I have a few gold¡­ I can lend you some." S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I can, too," Kenny said, and so on. Rasso looked at them in shock. Obviously, they were just exploring the possibility of his betrayal earlier. Looking at him like this, Victor sighed, patting his shoulder. "You''re still our companion, after all." Rasso''s eyes teared up, and he was drowned in a mix of guilt and gratitude. His body shook and he bent down a bit to make a slight bow. "Thank you," he said. "So much." ¡­ Fargo held the ''auction'' in the plaza, showing off the various slaves who had relatives. Fargo stood in front with his right-hand men, settling on the chairs at the front. Sen stepped forward to lead the event. "For anyone who wants to buy a slave. It''s 100 gold for the weak ones, and 500 gold for the better ones," Sen said with a grin, making everyone there pale. "That''s too expensive!" "Lower it, please!" "I have 10 gold. I''m willing to work hard for the rest! Please give me back my wife!" Sen''s face did not change. "Do you think freeing slaves from the system is free? Idiots!" Sen wasn''t lying. Freeing slaves from the ''system'' cost 10 gold. Even if Fargo decided to give the slaves for free¡ªwhich he never would¡ªthe citizens still wouldn''t be able to save the slaves by virtue of paying 10 gold. After all, who still had 10 gold after so long? It was estimated that most of their money was drained during the first month in this place! The citizens pursed their lips but tried to haggle despite feeling scared for their lives. After all, this could be their final chance to get back their loved ones! A middle-aged man ran in front and kneeled down. This was Basil, the person who determined the locations of the well and oversaw its construction. "That''s my father!" he said, "I only have 10 silver. Please give me my father and I will continue serving you." "What makes you think I''ll accept that. Aren''t you already working for me?" "In exchange for my loyalty¡ª" He was being very respectful and was terrified, but Fargo took it as a challenge to his authority. "Oh?" Fargo asked and the looked in a direction. Basil watched as his father ran to the wall, willingly bumping into it, again and again. Bang! Bang! Basil gasped, but was held down by the guards. Bang! Bang! "STOP! STOP IT PLEASE!! I''M SORRY! PLEASE¡ª" By the time the old man stopped, he was already twitching and full of blood. It was a horrible sight. Regardless, no one could afford their rates, but some did manage to strike a deal. In the end, except for one or two people who managed to strike a deal, the rest of the slaves were sent back to the mine to be exploited. Ugo even proposed a rent-a-slave program but, obviously, Fargo wanted to make use of them for a while. In Fargo''s words, the force was needed for the mines and after they managed to get enough resources, only then could they be sold¡ªand for a higher price. The citizens didn''t have money anyway, it was time for them to save up to buy their family. In any case, one could imagine the hopelessness a single father was experiencing. His nightmares had become too painful to watch and Victor recommended him to see the psychologist, Doctor Wais. She was usually busy helping out the girls who suffered under Fargo''s reign¡ªconvincing them not to end things¡ªbut she always managed to find time for him. Rasso''s impression of her was that she was an angel¡ªeven with a huge burn scar on her face. She was so gentle and kind and it made a big man like her soften up immediately. He would listen to his problems, extremely patient, and she would tell him words of wisdom that would calm his anxious soul. She told him that his son was stronger than he was, that he raised him well and he had to believe in him. The past few days, her sympathetic ear and kindness entered his heart. They were not lovers, but his heart began to beat for her. Now, seeing her like this, he felt it breaking into pieces. Chapter 570 Rasso and Juliet Rasso pulled the woman in his embrace. They were both shivering. However, he still had the mind to cover her up well and try to make her drink the Alteran healing potion he had. "Drink this, Juliet, please," he said, gently pleading, and the dazed woman blinked, looking at him. "Oh, Rasso, is that you? Where have you guys been?" She asked, her soft voice raspy¡ªno doubt from screaming so much. Guilt flooded his body and crushed his heart¡ªhis entire being enflamed in anger. Before the war, they had to hide underground because Fargo would definitely have hunted them. It was obviously to save their lives, but he couldn''t help but feel heavy at the fact that this woman was treated like this while he hid! He gritted his teeth and held back his tears, shakily trying to get her to drink. "Drink a bit, please, Juliet," he said, letting the bottle''s rim touch her dried lips. "My body hurts¡­" He sniffed, voice croaking. "Yes, this will help." Finally, Juliet opened her mouth to drink, and he followed it up with water to hydrate her. To be honest, he had heard of the aborigine men''s bias against women and he knew that many disliked women with scars. He thought that she''d be safe, like she had been for so long¡ª He was wrong, so wrong. "I''m so sorry¡­" he said, sniffing. In response, he found her gentle hand on his face instead. "It''s not your fault," she said, that soft voice of hers that always comforted him trying to do so again. And it only made him sob even more. ¡­ While Rasso handled the female doctor, giving him a bit of time, the others rummaged the room with heavy hearts. Benny was outright sobbing with them. He wasn''t close with the doctor, but he admired her work. If not for her, there were definitely would be a lot more girls who ended their lives prematurely. Of course, time was of the essence and they knew they wouldn''t be able to stay long. Just as they were prepared to leave, they noticed some items at the side. Some of them were unfamiliar and they knew these must be some of the items Belize had been guarding. While his most important things must have been in his space, they didn''t underestimate whatever item he had and decided to confiscate them. No one''s spaces could fit everything, but they could take a few each. They also did not expect to see a piece of device they thought they would never touch again. "It''s a video camera!" Benny said, shocked. How long has it been since he last saw one of these! "It''s completely solar powered, too, I guess it still gathers solar energy from another sun." A few of the others also gathered around him to see. He clicked randomly and the video opened. Then the video played and their intrigued expressions changed very quickly, soon turning dark, and then livid. The video captured the events of the war with Bright. It showed the deaths¡ªalmost all of which were unnecessary, considering the level gaps and poisons¡ªas well as the abuse that came after. Then the film continued to show a bit more gruesome clips, the sex videos, and the torture. Among the earlier videos, there were also a few familiar men being tortured. It was their companions who went missing earlier on! They asked a lot about their group and goals. They went through inhuman torture, and the men had no choice but to tell whatever they could beyond the limitations of the oaths¡ªwhich, with the right questioning, wasn''t few. It was no wonder Fargo seemed to always know what could make them succumb! "Hey don''t destroy it," Victor said, with similarly tense expression. He immediately put it in his space, afraid Benny destroyed it due to emotion. As much as they wanted it destroyed, it was still a core technology and there might be an advantage to keeping this evidence on hand. Victor took a deep breath. As the leader, he couldn''t show anything that didn''t show stability. He looked at Rasso, who was definitely not in the state to fight. "We''ll come back here later," he told him and patted his back. "Take care of the doctor." He then walked to the door, followed by the rest of them. "Let''s go kill the remaining scum." ¡­ At this time, a certain wood-user Alteran was being dragged by the feet. Although he managed to avoid them for a while with running and hiding skills he developed growing up with the family he had, he still was no match for the senses of men 5 levels higher than he was. He realized that the only reason they didn''t notice their party hiding by the gate earlier was due to carelessness. When they focused, their senses were really very good. Amos'' final hiding spot was a beam in one of the rooms. He didn''t breathe then, and as soon as he did he was caught. "Stop it! Where are you taking me?!" A bloodied Amos yelled as he groaned, dragged on the floor like a sack. At this, the man slightly turned to look at him. "Wouldn''t it be fun to see your sister having fun with us first hand?" "YOU!" Amos gritted his teeth and used his remaining mana to summon tiny vines from his arm. It was so small but he managed to wrap it around on foot and pull back with all his strength, making the man trip just a bit. Of course, a level 15''s strength was not small so the elemenatlist''s vine broke as soon as a bit of force was added to it. The man managed to catch himself quickly enough, and just in time to take back the feet that were escaping. "Ah!" Amos yelled as he was dragged back. The other mercenary laughed and kicked him for good measure. "Oof!" Amos puked a bit at the force, using his remaining mana to gather more vines around him. He had just awakened and it really wasn''t much, but it did soften the blow of the kicks. The men saw how he was wrapping himself with vines and their eyes widened in interest. "Whoa, an Elementalist!" he grinned, "Interesting!" S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 571 Fall of the Rongo Mercenary Hall (Part 1) Victor and the others finally arrived at the final, most interior section of the place. They passed by the few guards they shot, some people kicking them more, regretting killing them so quickly. But what could they do? They couldn''t afford to underestimate these people! When they arrived, the door was wide open, and they could see what was happening inside without alerting the enemy of their presence. At this time, Juni was bravely trying to defend several women behind her. Next to her, there was also a bloodied Amos lying down on her feet. Benny almost ran to rescue them but was held back by Victor. He also signaled everyone to be quiet while he figured out the safest way to handle these bastards. At this time, Juni was waving her sword against the aborigine men, as if to keep them at bay. Instead of being intimidated though, they were laughing at her. "Pretty lady, let us have a taste. I heard about what''s going outside. We wanna have some fun before we have to risk our lives out there. I promise it will increase our chances," he said as if he wasn''t above the level cap and was just assigned to guard the place. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Juni kept her glare, waving it again, though her unskilled waving was obvious. Juni was not a swordsman. Her little talent in fighting laid more in gunmanship and therefore long-ranged fights. "GO!" She yelled, while the women behind her either shivered or didn''t move at all. The men didn''t see her as a threat at all. Rather, she was a pretty little bug struggling uselessly. However, they were the type who liked playing with food and decided to play with her emotions a bit. "Yes, yes, we know you''ve been reserving yourself for the boss," they said. "So we won''t touch you, just them." This made the women behind her flinch, expecting to be left behind. However, Juni remained unchanged, her weapon stable even if her hands weren''t. The aborigines saw this and laughed, with one of them stepping down, and it was met by Juni waving her sword. The aborigine stepped back, the smile on his face unmoving. Juni shook but kept her stance. "Don''t go any step forward," she said with gritted teeth. Victor watched her firmly hold her weapon despite seeing fear and apprehension in her eyes and felt a little admiration. He then turned to the aborigine men, two were the ones from before and there was another mercenary probably assigned to the area. Other than the two level 15s, the other one was probably level 13 according to his aura. The dozen of them wouldn''t be able to handle them head-on without losses, and the women would be especially vulnerable in whatever scuffle that''d happen. He looked at his men and nodded. Except for a few, the rest moved away and hid away from direct vision. Benny looked at some of the debris he took from the crumbled areas where the bombs exploded. He raised his palm and the debris floated. He had worried he wouldn''t be able to manipulate debris of system buildings because he heard they couldn''t manipulate the walls at all (and he may have tried his ability on buildings, though to no avail) . However, it seemed that once the bit detached from a larger structure, it was free reign. It was, of course, much more difficult to handle but Benny was a talent and with a determined wave of his arm, the debris swiftly flew to the feet of the guards, keeping them at bay. They made sure to hit all three with force, so none of the arrogant pricks would think of taking a woman hostage. Benny didn''t hold back with his throw. While he wouldn''t be able to seriously injure any one of them with his move, he could certainly shake their heads a bit. "What?!" Mercenary #1, Kok, yelled as he felt his head shake, whipping his head in the direction it came from. He moved so fast he got even dizzier, but he was quick to gather himself. "There''re attackers!" He yelled, taking his weapon out and strode outside. Three rocks at the same time told them they were dealing with another elementalists! As far as he knew, only the lord awakened Earth in this territory, and this meant there was another one going against them! "Be careful! There''s an elementalist!" he yelled, making them extremely careful. First, they found a rare wood elementalst (tho he was half-dead now) and this was closely followed by an earth elementalist! What''s going on?! Another set of rocks hit at them then, provoking, and preventing them from thinking logically, making them just rush outside to deal with the bastards! As soon as they exited to go after the attackers, the door closed, and immediately class D weapons appeared right below their eye level, targeting their legs! Slash! Slash! The soldier''s assassination techniques once again shone. Though they couldn''t attempt directly trying to kill them, they slashed and stabbed their ankles, wounding them, and causing them to kneel on the floor. They felt they were doused by something and then they felt the atmosphere heating up. Immediately after this, the fire users¡ªincluding Victor and Ken¡ªimmediately waved their arms, and a flamethrower released from their fists. It naturally wasn''t too large or strong¡ªthey had just awakened, after all¡ªbut it caused enough damage to the men who were taken by surprise and had injured legs. "GYAAA!! AHHH!!" Although the level difference was high, they had higher skills than these men, and their elements had special damage that was superior to weapons. The others also tried throwing them attacks as they were burned, pushing them back down to passively receive the rain of attacks. The men were absolutely shocked at the barrage of attacks that came over them. This was especially true for the Level 15s, who were also struggling. They were totally blindsided by the attack. Of course, they weren''t weak so despite the pain they gritted their teeth and struggled out of the barrage, only to get pushed down again by the lower momentum when a familiar ping sounded in their minds. [A Mercenary Team member has died¡­ [A Mercenary Team member has died¡­ [A Mercenary Team member has died¡­ [...] While they were being burned their hearts turned cold. What the heck was going on?! Chapter 572 Fall of the Rongo Mercenary Hall (Part 2) The soldiers didn''t hold back, giving their best. Their mana was limited and the mercenaries were not weak, and they couldn''t afford to hold back as they had been doing. More importantly, although it would be risky to have less mana in case more enemies arrived, they couldn''t risk the women! These people had to be taken care of immediately! At this time, the mercenaries had every equipment they had out to defend themselves. They were gritting their teeth in anger, glaring at them, but at this time they couldn''t do anything else but to shield themselves. Of course, even if they were in pain and bloodied, the mercenaries were definitely not easy to take down even just by virtue of their levels and the decent equipment that they had. They even managed to shakily stand up even when their ankles had been stabbed, showing that higher-level individuals really had different bodies from the rest of them. Spears and swords sent slash after slash, but they were mostly blocked by the enemies'' weapons and shields. Those with elements immediately sent a barrage of attacks, while the fire users focused on the aborigines'' heads¡ªwhich did not have any helmet of sorts at all¡ªattacking at hard-to-defend angles. The men struggled desperately while they were being roasted, even managing to nick a few soldiers with their swords and spears. However, the soldiers were relentless as if they didn''t feel any pain, leaving the mercenaries with no choice but to focus on guarding themselves¡ªinevitably receiving a lot of damage head-on regardless of level or equipment. Clank! Bang! "AH!" "ORCSHIITTT!" CRACK! Soon, their defense equipment broke and they screamed in anger as more and more of the attacks began to damage them directly. It was all good until this point, but how long could elementalists who had just upgraded keep up with this pace? When Ken''s mana started to falter, one of the level 15 mercenaries¡ªnow with 2nd degree burns¡ªimmediately took the chance and lunged at him. Even when the man was limping, burned, and bloodied, he was strong and fast enough to catch them off guard. Ken gasped as a quick fist met his face and Benny beside him caught his arm, jumping to kick the mercenary away while keeping his teammate from being thrown out. It had only managed to kick the mercenary by a meter or so, however. The aborigine recovered quickly and¡ªyelling at the top of his lungs¡ªwent berserk on them. The opening allowed another to escape the barrage and attack the nearby enemies, breaking their formation. Ken and the others immediately took them on, starting a rather intense brawl that would cause people to get thrown right at the walls. Bang! Bang! However, the soldiers were also given defense equipment, and they stood up even after they were stepped on and thrown to the walls by the strong aborigine. This made the mercenary, who was incredibly annoyed in pain, even more annoyed! On the other side, Victor ate his remaining Alteran Mana cookie to keep firing at the remaining mercenary while two others were keeping him at bay with cold weapon attacks. Kok had been defending himself with his weapon from all three attackers. Now that his armor had broken, he only had his sword to capture the damage. He gritted his teeth as intense pain spread over his body. He was already using much of his strength to even keep his stances. His eyes turned red at the fact that he was suffering so much by people with much lower levels than him! The man moved side by side while screaming at the top of his lungs due to anger and pain. Victor sadly didn''t have enough control to follow his movements, and the man quickly broke free, revealing a very angry man with no hair and third degree burns. The man looked like a character from a horror movie at this time, with his burnt flesh, and partially exposed eyes and teeth. The man''s aura changed as he obviously used a skill¡ªprobably a berserker skill¡ªand his attacks became so fast that the three soldiers surrounding him were taken off-guard. He raised his big sword and slashed at a soldier who immediately fell down after a short barrage, life and death unknown. The second one managed to defend himself for about a few seconds, and he was saved from death when Victor appeared in front of him, directly taking on the enemy''s sword with his own. Victor had let his last bit of spark enflame it, maximizing the remaining mana he had. It was also how he could handle the berserk attacks of a man five levels higher than he was. Clash! Victor was shaking and pale, but fortunately the man''s skill had already expired, leaving a further-weakened level 15 mercenary. Their swords met with sparks, and the man''s weakness leveled their differences, allowing Victor to stand his ground in a direct fight against a man a few levels stronger. Clank! Clank! Clank! Although he was a few levels higher, Victor had been technically trained since he was a boy, and his techniques were something the aborigine had never seen. Bit by bit, Kok''s body filled with more wounds, making his already burnt skin even more painful. "Argh!!" He went berserk¡ªthough this time without the Skill¡ªwaving his word around with less and less expertise, focusing on anger and brute strength. On the contrary, Victor¡ªwho was also filled with wounds, drenched in sweat, and risked losing his arm many times¡ªkept his cool. Although his health and spirit was draining, Victor didn''t show it on his face at all, making the man send barrage after barrage of uncontrolled attacks whose forces Victor could redirect with exquisite sword techniques. By this time, announcement after announcement of their companions'' deaths had resounded inside their minds, making them lose even more of their cool. But it was one announcement that made the level 15 aborigine flinch and freeze. [A Mercenary Team member, Belize, has died. Location: 0.15 miles Southwest.] "What¡ª" Victor saw this distraction and immediately took advantage, finding a slight opening in his defense¡ªright at his stomach¡ªand¡ªslash!¡ªstabbed him straight through it. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 573 Fall of the Rongo Mercenary Hall (Part 3) "GAHHH!" Kok yelled as he felt his insides being sliced, unconsciously dropping his weapon to the ground. His eyes turned red and he held on to the hilt of the sword inside him, keeping it in place as he bumped his head against his attacker with much of his remaining strength. BANG! Victor gritted his teeth as he felt stars explode in his eyes, losing his balance. He closed his eyes and followed his instincts, lunging in a direction and using his body to bump against Kok who, at this time, was struggling to get his weapon. Kok was pale and shivering from the blood loss, but his natural survival instincts took over his body, allowing him to move despite literally being burned and skewered all over his body. However, he was still unable to keep his balance when Victor rammed into him in the end. His knees buckled and he was forced to kneel down. Victor heaved deep breaths and saw that his neck was finally exposed. He raised his sword, ready to behead the man once and for all. But before he could do so, Victor had to step back by instinct, narrowly avoiding a blade that stabbed where he was just standing. Victor frowned and looked in a direction to see Ken and Benny on the ground, struggling to get up. Most of the soldiers were also down, with a few handling the remaining mercenaries together. When he saw them drinking the healing potion, he felt relieved, and fully focused on the new aborigine who was dealing with him. This one was also in a poor state, but his wounds were far less lethal and his attacks were still faster and more alert. The two level 15''s eyes met and a dawn of understanding was exchanged between them. Kok, who was gasping for breath, looked at the ongoing fight with dark eyes. He turned to look in a direction, forcing himself up and dragging his feet towards it. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and it let him move even when he was dripping blood and losing lifespan for each step that he took. Victor and the others naturally noticed where he was going and cursed. Before they could follow him, the other two guarded the way, seeming to be determined to kill whoever interrupted. The mercenaries had been taking advantage of the soldier''s kindness and softheartedness all this time. How could they not take advantage of it!? While Victor and the others tried to get past the obstacles, Kok heaved gasping breaths and trudged across the lawn. Leaving a trail of blood, he reached the door to the women. His hands were shaking but he managed to open it, and immediately he heard the gasps of the women inside. The women, who had been scared by all the screams and sounds outside, were already incredibly tense. When the door abruptly opened to reveal one of their torturers, their bodies naturally reacted in fear. This was made worse by his horrible appearance of burnt skin and blood, making him even more terrifying in their eyes. Those who had the mind huddled even tighter in a corner, while the dazed ones only shook unconsciously. This was with the exemption of Juni, who remained standing, as if frozen, and looked at his poor state with dark eyes. "Come here!" he yelled as he dragged himself, thinking that these women would come if he yelled¡ªas they always did! Instead, Juni immediately jumped on to him with her weapon. Of course, even if he was weakened, he was still five levels stronger than the woman who didn''t have any experience in fighting. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He gritted his teeth as he caught her hand and pulled her, throwing her down the floor with much of the strength he could muster in his current state. "Ah!" She yelled, coughing, and a few of the other women gasped at what happened, some shivering, while most wanted to go to her. But then they saw the scary burnt face of the man and they all froze, painful memories making their bodies shiver in terror. Kok was very hostile and in pain, he looked down at the woman, heading there with his limp, very much intent on torturing her. Unexpectedly, a vine appeared on his feet again and he fell down. Bang! His eyes widened as he felt the impact of the ground, his dying body unable to react in time. His head turned to the side and saw that young wood user, who was still half-dead on the floor, but with finger raised up. Amos gasped for air, obviously using more than what he could, and he lost his consciousness a second later. The man gritted his teeth and tried to get himself up, but then he heard clutter and looked up to see a sword already hovering above him. Juni was in pain, but the strength given by the thought of ridding the world of scum like this fueled her movements and, with her entire weight¡ªwith the weight of her past bitterness¡ªshe stabbed down! "GAH!" She stabbed him again and again, making sure the blade sliced through as much of this trash as it could. She did this over and over until he could no longer move. No, in fact, she kept stabbing her heart out until the familiar ding resounded in her mind. [Congratulations! You are now upgraded to Level 10!] Her eyes widened and she raised her head to look around. She looked at the women who were sobbing, though not of fear but of relief. Juni ignored them to go to poor Amos. She crawled to the young lad and opened a healing potion to get to him. She then turned to the other women and considered giving them some as well, but the war had just begun and she knew it''d be foolish to do so. Speaking of the war outside, the intense battle was ongoing outside. They could hear the yells and the explosions, and even the cracking of bones from where they were. Her feet moved on their own to check, the sword in her hand. She wanted to help if she could. When she got out, she was a little shocked. It was basically ruined except for the buildings themselves. The soldiers¡ªat least the ones still standing¡ªwere working together to defeat two mercenaries who were in extremely poor states. The most remarkable person was the leader, a handsome man with short hair. Although he barely spoke lest their strategies would alert the enemies, she could see his subtle signals to his remaining teammates. They coordinated extremely well and it got to the point where the two enemies were completely on the defensive. She could tell he was also a fire user, but he used his ability sparingly and with skill. She then watched as he gestured to get in her direction¡ªno doubt to handle Kok¡ªbut when he turned, their eyes met, and his eyebrows rose when he saw her and then the bloodied blade in her hand. However, he wasn''t distracted for long as he turned and skilfully redirected the enemy''s attack to the ground. The man lifted his sword and it was surrounded by flames, immediately burying to his enemy''s flesh. Using all of his remaining stretches, he strengthened the fire, burning the man from the inside. "GYAAAHHH!" Next to him, the other fight was also wrapping up with two bloodied men¡ªJuni realized there was a handful more on the ground¡ªstabbed the remaining one at the same time, and finished him off by beheading. Victor panted heavily as he saw the corpses of the enemies, not taking down his guard at all. When he saw it was all clear, the other two immediately ran to their companions around, giving them the healing potions they had. Victor saw that the team was handled and he turned to the women to check on them. His eyes gravitated to the beautiful woman standing, gaping at them with an indescribable expression on her face. He sighed and approached, wanting to tell them it was alright now and they ought to leave in case more guards returned. However, just when he was a meter away from her, her legs buckled all of a sudden. She lost her footing and he strode to catch her. She landed on his chest and unconsciously buried deeper into his embrace, as if looking for the comfort of a reliable shoulder. Seeming to have found it, she softened and rested her entire weight on him. Victor felt a little awkward but didn''t push her away. He just looked at the others to gather the girls. They would be taking her in the underground base to hide. They had already mapped a good way to minimize encounters with enemy soldiers and, hopefully, every one of these rescues survived. He said his orders with the woman in his arms, with a few of his men giving him a few looks. His eyes twitched and he was about to bellow orders for them to start moving, when then he felt wetness on his chest, wiping all the annoyance away. His heart softened a bit, and he couldn''t help but pat her back "You did a good job," he said, whispering in a gentle tone he hadn''t used in a long time. "Well done." Chapter 574 Former Mauin Villagers (Part 1) Brave fights happened all around the interior walls of Fargo. At this time, the battle of the Mauin duo and Sen, one of Fargo''s right-hand men, was at its peak. "Little low-lives," Sen mumbled as he waved his sword that was riddled with flames¡ªa technique he had mastered in this fight. With a couple of controlled slashes, he soon successfully hit Mauru''s leg. The man gasped in pain. Their equipment had long been compromised, and even more so now that more Elementalist attacks came their way. It had to be said that even if Sen was a few levels lower than even one of them, his experience, natural bloodlust, decisiveness, and elemental abilities evened out the field. Rather, the only reason both of them were still standing was because of the defense equipment the territory gave them. The three men were now bloodied as they stared each other down, exchanging a few more blows before having another stand still to catch their breaths. The aborigines were now shaking, barely able to stand up, especially Mauin who had been targetted for a while. In contrast to the two, Sen¡ªeven if he was similarly injured¡ªimmediately lunged forward, as if fuelled by the blood that flowed out of his enemy. The two men looked badly at Sen, his red eyes, and his evil smile. He was in pain, but he loved inflicting it more to others. The amount of hurt that would come out if this guy survived would not be small. They didn''t have to look behind them to know that the various battles in different streets and maybe even houses were still happening. If they let Sen get away from them, there would definitely be casualties on their side. How could they let that happen? Of course, they had to block him¡ªeven if it meant having to risk their lives. Anyway, in this world, when have they never risked their lives? They had grown to love Altera during the short time they had been there. Everyone had been so welcoming of them, helping them adjust to a new place and a new life. They helped settle their families and showed them camaraderie they didn''t think they''d ever receive from people they only met. With the noble thought of protecting the people behind, the two sprinted forward to face Sen directly, no matter how intimidated they were. Meroun sent him a barrage of attacks with his sword. Even if Sen was more skilled, Meroun had been through so many life-and-death situations and he also developed his own techniques. Clash! Clank! Clash! Clash! Meroun focused on attacking several spots that had already been wounded, some succeeded, some didn''t, and he received similar blows on his own body. For a few exchanges, it seemed to be an equal match, but one could see with how Meroun was slowly stepping back that he was being pushed. While the two were exchanging blows, Mauru appeared at Sen''s side, in what they determined to be his blindside after fighting for a while. He waved his spear¡ªan experimental model made by Troy and Brenda¡ªtowards this side, hoping to get a lethal hit. As before though, Sen''s instincts were superior, and managed to avoid it with a grin. "You never learn!" He yelled, but Mauru''s eyes sharpened as his fingers slid to a hidden button. Immediately, a hidden portion of the spear shot out, stabbing right at him, and straight through one of the wounds Meroun had been focusing on. Slash! "Aaahhhh!!" Sen gasped as he looked at the spear that entered his ribs. "WHAT!" Mauin heaved a deep breath, clicking the button again, and squelch, more of the man''s internal organs were stabbed. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The design was not yet perfect, and it would take a lot of effort to set the weapon back, which was why he¡ªor the others who had the blessing to get one¡ªhadn''t used it all this time. After all, what if the attack didn''t work? Would they have to go without a weapon? Spears were too big to carry in the space, so they didn''t have a lot of extra! However, looking at how Sen was finally skewered¡ªit was a risk that paid well. Sen''s eyes turned redder, adrenaline still pumping hard, ready to use his last strength to go berserk. However, in his pain, he did not see how the swordsman jumped up and raised his sword, aiming straight at his exposed neck¡ª Slash!! Meroun gasped as he looked at his sword with wide eyes, and then at the body without a head, realizing he finally beheaded the enemy. His eyes met with Mauin''s which were similarly wide, as if unsure whether they were imagining things. Soon, the body fell down the floor, blood pooling out of it. Sen''s head was still groaning for a few more moments before finally stopping, and it was only now that they felt he was truly gone. Their eyes shook and they stared at each other, bodies filled with relief. Dead! Finally! At the confirmation their enemy was finally not a threat, the two aborigines lost all energy¡ªfalling back on the ground with a flop, and no longer moving. . . . "Ei!" The Alterans nearby had been rushing their own fights when they realized the two had been struggling. But they were overnumbered and surrounded, how easy could it have been? In any case, as soon as they dealt with their own enemies some minutes later, they ran over to them with medicine at hand, and their hearts dropped when they saw them on the ground. "Hey! Are you alright?" One asked, shaking their shoulders, and he twitched when he saw his hands were bloody. Their armors were all dark-colored to hide the color of blood from the enemies. Unfortunately, they hid it from each other, too. Their hearts dropped, cursing, with a few trying to force-feed them with potions. The others surrounded them, more and more coming in after closing their own battles. They felt incredibly sad at the pitiful appearance of the two and a few women sobbed a bit. "Are they dead?" one asked, and another almost cried while looking at their faces. "They''re smiling," he commented, sniffing, his heart touched by the sight. Did they die peacefully? He mused. Pak! "Ouch!" The man gasped, glaring at the person who bumped his head. "Stop overthinking," he said. "They''re breathing¡­" "Oh¡­" Some newcomers heaved a deep breath and touched their chests. "Shit, that scared me." The relief made them laugh a bit, focusing on getting the two''s states to stabilize so that they really remained breathing. The people made them drink an entire bottle by elevating their necks, and saw they stabilized a bit, most of their wounds healing. The Terrans looked at the two aborigines who had apparently fallen asleep with smiles on their faces, unable to stop their own, before carrying the two to an empty house to rest. It was owned by a group of guards that had been killed. They knew this because a guard once escaped inside to get some more weapons after consuming all he had in space. They settled the two and took a moment of breather as well. Of course, this only took a few moments before they headed back out to rejoin the last segment of battle in the inner wall. Before going though, a few people patted the aborigines'' heads. "You did a very good job, Alterans." Chapter 575 Former Mauin Villagers (Part 2) While Mauru and Meroun fought and defeated Sen, the rest of their teammates were also around the inner walls, battling their hearts out. They averaged at level 11 and were very passionate in this fight. The leader while Mauru wasn''t around was a bald man named Massan. He was a level 13 archer and positioned himself above eye level, giving him a better view of the battles ongoing and having a good spot to support who needed it. On the ground, the main vanguard was a man named Ento, a large level 13 swordsman with curly hair. Like Mauru and the others, most of them had lived their entire lives in the war-torn and poor Mauin Village. Few of them knew any better. This was why when they arrived in Altera¡ªa supposed fellow village¡ªto say they were shocked would be an understatement. There were over a hundred of their brethren who survived and reached Altera. Most didn''t know what to expect as they had only been to Mauin village their whole life. While a few may have had some adventures and traveled, it was only to fellow villages as well. They just assumed Altera wouldn''t be much different to the ''richer'' villages they had been to. For example, Massan had gone to two other villages. One was to beg for an alliance and another was to get deals for resources, both of which didn''t work because Hasa and Tome had already allied by then. These villages were doing much better than their Mauin village, a village that had been experiencing war every few weeks, so they just had a rough image that Altera was probably like these villages. But Altera¡­ was nothing like those villages at all. It ended up something way beyond their imaginations. No, even now, there were times they found it hard to believe such a place existed in this world. The comfort and conveniences were one thing, but the most important part was that they didn''t have to fear for their and their family''s lives every single day, dreading that they''d be attacked again. They even felt¡­ seen, as if every life had high value worth to protect. They knew this was their home, and¡ªeven if they had nothing¡ªthey believed that they would be able to carve out a good life there if they worked hard enough. This was the type of hope Altera naturally emitted. Then the war call came and they knew it was their time! They had been through wars every few weeks. Basically, it was all they knew what to do! Such harsh conditions of survival meant that the Mauin fighters who lasted so long weren''t weak at all! This showed during the war, and it was quite impressive. At this time, they were fighting against another team of fellow Aborigine guards composed of the lower rungs of the Rongo Mercenary team, along with some weaker Terran guards. In terms of numbers, it was about the same, and experience-wise shouldn''t be too far either. The enemies didn''t worry too much. After all, even if the other team were also aborigines, they were just villagers. At least, that was what they thought. How could a group of mercenaries who choose weaker territories to terrorize be so strong? They might''ve had guns, or at least they had, but it couldn''t compare to the daily life-threatening situations the Mauin Villagers had to go through. Ento looked at his companions, giving a slight nod, and immediately they sprinted into position with Massan covering their backs with his crossbow (which he religiously named Mauinbow). Ento bravely lunged to the middle of the group, fearless, and the few people who had guns shot at him but missed, one even hitting a companion''s legs. He held out his sword, swinging around as impactful as he could while his teammates followed behind him. The imbalance made the enemy lose formation, some even attacking recklessly and hitting their teammates instead. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ento and the others surrounded them, taking shots as if unafraid of whatever attacks the enemies would throw at them. Perhaps, they really weren''t. After surviving so many wars, one just became calloused towards death. What more if the one backing them was such a powerful territory like Altera? A home that would protect their families while they were gone? A territory that would invest so much to increase their chances of survival? Massan narrowed his eyes as he shot at the enemies with impressive accuracy, using much of his mana for his skills. His bare head felt the wind''s direction and he slightly changed his angle a bit, hitting one enemy straight through the eyes and into the brain. "Ahhhh!" the enemies yelled, and some even wanted to run away. Their formation completely shattered then, with Fargo guards adopting a ''to each their own'' attitude, and many even hiding behind teammates hoping for an opening to be available for escape. However, the former Mauin Villagers continued with their relentless attacks, making it appear as if they were the wild dog group among Alterans. This fearlessness combined with experience made them almost unstoppable against a larger group of enemies. Clack! Clank! PAK! Repeatedly, the Fargo guards were hit. They were being mobbed so wildly that they didn''t even have the time to wave their weapons before they would get attacked from the side! Of course, Fargo guards weren''t entirely helpless, waving around their weapons, soon without care on who they were hitting, but the vanguards didn''t falter even when they got a bit injured. It was as if they didn''t fear injury or death, unlike their enemies, and they would take advantage of every moment of hesitation amongst the enemies to take lethal shots. In terms of contribution, each one of them was certainly garnering a lot more than the average Terran. It was really quite impressive. ''For a better life!'' they chanted, over and over, attacking enemies with blazing fire in their hearts. After all, they firmly believed this was the way to improve their and their families'' lives and stature. And they definitely weren''t wrong. Chapter 576 Tanod and Tambai In contrast to the Mauin Villagers, the hired guards Tanod, a level 13 bald swordsman, and Tambai, a level 14 balding spearman, were actually less experienced in wars even when they were already in their early 30s. They were siblings born in a town, to cleaner parents. They grew up at the bottom of society, but at least they weren''t slaves. For that alone, they felt they felt blessed. The siblings though, as they got exposed to more things in their youths, had seen the stark contrast of the lives of those people with strength compared to people like their own families who passed day to day with a meal or two. At some point, the two of them decided to find a way to grow strong so they could change their stature. It wasn''t easy, of course, but they found a way to get low-rung jobs at the Mercenary Halls to expose themselves more to that world. They started early, around their tweens, doing various odd jobs there like cleaning rooms, scrubbing floors, cleaning equipment, and the like. They worked for more than a decade without much movement to their ''careers''. When they neared 30 years of age, their levels were not even level 10. First, they were poor and had no connections. They didn''t have a decent starting point as others. After all, most monsters in towns were strong. On average, the ''weak'' monsters were at least level 10! For level 1s and 2s, even trying to kill a weakened one was practically impossible with low-leveled weapons, let alone the fact that they had no access to people who could weaken monsters for them in the first place¡ªat least not at an affordable price. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They got to this level by improving their hunting skills and determining where the weaker monsters were, but it was still dangerous and wasn''t very common in their area. They also learned some fighting skills after tagging along with mercenaries, promising to clean up after them, and even using their space to store emergency tools for others. Occasionally, there were some people who''d take ''pity'' on them and allow them to get the last hit of a dying monster, though they''d laugh at them for taking so long. Still, they would thank them graciously for the opportunity. However, life was still hard even then. In Towns, to have a proper life with such a high cost of living, one had to be at least level 15 as an adult. How easy would this be to achieve for poor people? Hence, this created a massive wealth gap where there were people who lived decently, while there were people who lived at the bottom with a small meal or two every day. It was so ironic because their world was rich in resources, yet they had to work hard every day to even pick a few Gouji fruits inside their territory walls. They got to their levels through knit and grit, but their levels weren''t very high for a town so no one hired them as fighters. Later, they triggered their occupations after years of observation as lackeys to the warriors and mercenaries they were assigned to serve. They were so happy that they decided to push and fight against a level 10 monster together¡ªalmost dying in the process. They had to drag their bloodied bodies through the gate, barely keeping all of their limbs. When much of their¡ªand their parents''¡ªsavings had to be used to treat them, they knew it was time for a change. They went to get hired in a Chancery to get away and, ironically, get other ''opportunities'' in villages. First, the levels of monsters were weaker and more conducive to their leveling. Second, only villages would hire people of their aptitude from the chancery¡ªwhich was generally more expensive than just hiring home-grown ones. Also, villages would only take 5 gold a month, which was half their salaries there, while towns would take 10. Their levels would only have a standard rate of 10 gold per month, so getting hired in towns was basically working for free in their case. So why don''t weaker people from Towns just go to villages, in the first place? There were various reasons why most chose to stay in Towns despite the possible ''opportunities'' elsewhere. First, it was simply not in people''s psyche to want to ''lower'' themselves. By instinct, people thought villages were inferior and didn''t want the shame associated with moving to one. For most people, ''demoting'' themselves was the worst-case scenario. Of course, this was more than just related to people''s pride. By default, Villages were simply much less stable than towns. They would be much more likely to fall from mobs or wars. Who would want to build homes in such places when they were already in relatively stable towns? Life in Towns might be hard, but at least they could hold on to their lives! Another reason was that getting hired in the chancery meant they wouldn''t be home for a long time, what about their parents? Getting hired there was also a game of chance. They could be hired to the other side of the world. If they didn''t like it there, they''d have to travel all the way back, which could maybe take years. But¡­ they didn''t have a choice this time. It was better than becoming a meat shield in wars along with the slaves¡ªwhich was basically the only option their level had in towns for decent money. Hence, after spending a few more months to recover and to earn a bit more money for the teleportation fees, the two finally went to the Chancery after tearful goodbyes to their parents. They didn''t know when they could see their parents again, but they promised them a better life so they better hold on to it. The brothers, at first, got hired at different places and they immediately went through a lot. However, their treatments there were levels different to how they were treated in Towns. They received respect for the first time. But things flowed and ebbed and nothing lasted, with both territories falling in wars. By coincidence, both their territories had nothing special about them, and only experienced wars once every couple of months. They were attacked by experienced territories and they had no choice but to escape after receiving some wounds, as allowed by chancery regulations. After that, they went through a few more territories, and they were more or less the same in terms of situation and quality. Regardless, the monsters fit their levels and they fought hard during mobs, eventually reaching their current levels after a few years because they still had to share the Experience with the lords and their cronies. Still, leveling up after level 10 was extremely difficult, and they¡ªironically¡ªcouldn''t imagine reaching the current strengths in towns! However, they also learned how truly unstable villages were during this time, and their current territories also fell, leaving them no choice but to once again look for another. Tanod''s final territory before Altera was a village near the Southwest deserts. The heat and aridness was intense there and he didn''t last a month. It wasn''t that he was queasy¡ªhe couldn''t afford that¡ªbut it was really too risky to stay. He couldn''t imagine how much worse it would be if there was an extreme weather change which¡ªby estimate¡ªcould be happening within the next few months! What was worse¡­ after staying there, he heard that there were occasional Undeads who escaped from their own areas, attacking the people they came across! Cringe. As such, he went to the nearest town¡ªa place called Dune Town¡ªto get hired there, hoping to be placed anywhere else. Anyway, places with relatively harsh weather year-round in the human realm wasn''t so common. All he asked for was a normal territory, that''s all! Chapter 577 A Glimpse of a Bigger World Dune Town was one of the only towns in the area¡ªunsurprisingly so. The resources outside of the vast desert were nice, why would anyone build something here? When he arrived there, it so happened that their ''princess'' was about to leave. She was very beautiful and graceful. She also had lustrous hair that was of similar color to the sands that surrounded them, shimmering under the sky. She was being sent off by her family, and they seemed genuinely reluctant to see her go. It was rare to see women so loved, so he couldn''t help but watch until the woman entered her beast car, heading who-knew-where. Anyway, that episode was soon at the back of his head as he had to spend his salary of the previous month to get hired again in the Chancery. He prayed to the late Elves to bless him. Really, a normal village would be fine! ¡­ In contrast to his brother, Tambai''s final territory was a village located on the snowy mountain ranges of the Southeast territories. This part was an area near orc territories, but unlike the orc-adjacent human territories in better terrain, humans were at an even deeper disadvantage in the mountains. The number of human territories on this side was very few and somehow Tambai luckily ended up there. Fortunately, the temperature in Xeno was generally temperate for most parts except for areas like these, because they were affected by the extreme terrains. Hence, the coldness wasn''t so debilitating that no one could move year-round. The nearest town was farther though so he sucked it up and decided to stay for a while longer, unlike his brother who went to the nearest town as soon as the month cycle ended. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for him and they got attacked by an orc less than a week after he got hired. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Rather, it attacked every so often, and he was hired to deal with the damned thing! The quality of hires for villages wasn''t very high, and he was apparently the strongest one they found! His stomach fell to the bottom but as someone who signed a contract, he had to at least do his best, and his heart was beating loudly as he faced the beast. Orcs'' fecundity may not be very strong, but a single one was no less scary than a small mob. Orcs were huge with an average height of 2.5 meters, and their force values were equivalent to at least 5 men of the same level. And these were the weaker orcs¡ªfighter orcs were much more formidable. Only one attacked their village and he could cause so much chaos already. Anyway, Tambai was, unsurprisingly, beaten up after a short fight. He survived due to the Class D armor given to him (and his brother) by their parents using the remaining lifetime of their savings. It was broken now though, and to be honest his heart broke along with it. When Tambai shook off the dizziness of the hit, people were already screaming and fighting. He was shocked to find that five more orcs had arrived. He didn''t know how many orcs would take to trigger wars, but apparently five was not enough. In any case, he woke up to a horrible, horrible, sight of limbs flying and bodies getting mutilated. Unlike mindless beasts, Orcs wouldn''t eat people directly but they could definitely dismember them with a flick. The lord was hiding in the Warehouse¡ªthe most secure place for a lord¡ªbut it wasn''t the orc''s first rodeo and they decided to attack it directly. Because he and his brother practically grew up in mercenary halls, they had learned quite a few things that were not common knowledge. For one, Tambai knew that the Warehouse was extremely safe for lords because not only were they the only ones who could access the building, but even the low-leveled ones were also said it be as sturdy as level 3 walls. Basically, before enemies could damage it, they would''ve been found by the defending guards and be dealt with. The orcs were probably very hungry and looking for more resources in this cold place. Half of the orcs didn''t eat meat, and he wasn''t surprised that three out of the five orcs seemed to have the herbivore appearance (something he also learned in the mercenary hall). They targeted the warehouse for some time, but the guards and citizens were too busy protecting themselves to care about it. After about half an hour of continuous pounding at the doors, it finally gave way. The special aura around the warehouse disappeared and it slowly crumbled, revealing the resources their village lord had been guarding. He didn''t quite know what happened when a warehouse was breached before, but now he knew. "AHHHH!" The lord yelled as he was suddenly exposed to the world, extremely shocked by the development. "NO! NOOO! HELP MEEE!" He yelled as he ran away, as if being so noisy would magically make the orcs not see him. In fact, the orcs wouldn''t have cared about him as long as they got the resources, but the lord was an idiot and screamed at the people around, pointing at where the orcs were gathering resources. "KILL THEM! KILL THEMM!!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He was so noisy and ''threatening''. It made one of the fighter orcs walk over him and raise his hand and¡ªSLAM!¡ªdetaching the top of his body with a wave of his paw. His upper half body''s projectile stopped when it hit a building, making the people nearby scream in terror. First at the horrid scene, and then at the realization of what it implied. And so, the lord died, destroying the whole village in the process. Tambai took this chance to run away as far as he could. Anyway, the orcs were too busy with their loot to care for him. It took him a full month of perilous travel and many near-death experiences before he got to the closest town to get rehired. Once again, he had to use much of the month''s salary to register, praying for blessings while he waited to get hired. Hopefully, the next village was decent. He didn''t expect much. They were used to bad lords and monster mobs, but¡­ Please, just please, nothing too weird! Chapter 578 A New Perspective Tanod hadn''t been rehired again for a few weeks, so he had no choice but to dorm in the Chancery, paying for the accommodations while waiting to get a job. This was another risk in the chancery. If no territory chose to hire you, you had no choice but to pay for not-so-cheap accommodations in the Chancery. After all, they had to be accessed quickly if a territory decided to hire them. It was taking a lot longer than usual though. Typically, fighters would be hired within 1 to 2 weeks, and much longer for auxiliary roles like cleaners, etc. After all, it was much cheaper for territories to just hire local people and just get them to sign an oath rather than hire people they couldn''t punish or hurt when they wanted to. At the same time, after some thoughts (while he stared at the ceiling waiting), it wasn''t hard to see why it was harder for him to get hired this time. Although territories would not see their records, the chancery definitely prioritized hires with ''cleaner'' records¡ªthat was to say, lesser turnover rates¡ªthan others. So, he ended up just accepting he would be staring at boring walls and ceilings in this small room for a few more days, or even another week. His brother Tambai, on the other hand, didn''t have to wait as long. He entered the chancery of the nearby town to him when his brother¡ªhundreds of miles away¡ªhad been rotting for weeks. It so happened that a certain woman had been perusing all the options the past few days and the options before them had been passed over, soon reaching them. It was Tanod who had been hired first, and immediately after his brother was hired. He didn''t even have the time to absorb the new room when he felt the teleportation array behind him activated again. He found himself turning his body to watch, and his eyes widened when he saw who was standing in the circle. He froze in place, unable to comprehend that such a good thing happened to him! Tambai emerged from the array and looked out to see an unusually decorated room. However, the first one his sights zoned into was a man who was standing in front of him. "Tanod?!" "Tambai?!" The two brothers immediately ran to each other to hug, tears crawling down their faces. It had been a few years since they last saw each other! How unbelievable to see family again! Althea¡ªwho was sipping tea on the sofa¡ªwatched with interest. When she had unlocked the possibility of hiring more, she naturally decided to use all slots so she didn''t have to repeat instructions. However, this was the first time she actually found 2 decent hires in a day, and they even knew each other! She let the two sob their hearts out for a bit before speaking. "Have some snacks while you catch up," she said, making the two men flinch¡ªremembering that not only were they not alone, but the other person was probably the lord! They bowed a bit, guilty. Although a lot of the lords they encountered were idiots who were weaker than they were, they still knew to show their respect. After all, annoying the lords could get them blacklisted from the chancery! She shook her hand and then pointed at the seats beside her. "Stop bowing and come eat with me," she said and it was only now they absorbed the sound of her voice¡ªwhich was too feminine compared to what they were used to. It was only now that they recognized the lord¡­ was a woman? Although they existed, they were very rare! The brothers lifted their heads to look, and they couldn''t help but gape. So beautiful! "How long are you going to stare?" "AH! WE APOLOGIZE!" They yelled almost kneeling and Althea rolled her eyes. "Sit down before I get annoyed." "Y-Y-YES!" they said, in sync, and appearing very much like brothers. As they sat, the woman then pointed at the drinks and food. They were unlike what they had seen before, and they wondered what they were. "They''re snacks," she said, taking a bit and eating. They couldn''t help but gulp at the sound of the crunch, seducing them to try as well. And they were easily the most delicious snacks they had ever tasted! Was this how nobles always ate? Now they knew! They still had the mind to take only one each, appearing to have tasted enough even when their eyes would always gravitate towards the plate in longing. Althea shook her head, not wanting to force them. After all, they would be able to eat similar snacks if they explored Altera enough. But seeing grown men look longingly at cookies didn''t sit right with her, so she cleared her throat. "Eat what you want, I don''t mind," she said and the brothers looked at her admiringly. So kind! So generous! They looked at her with teary eyes as they started munching on the sweet savory snacks as if they had been famished for months. Ignoring the big men''s admiring looks, Althea then began her orientation¡ªwhich was really kind of her, considering her position and schedule. However, she always made a point to know more about the people she hired. After all she experienced, she considered herself a pretty good judge of character. She wanted to know if a person would be bad for Altera or not early on. After judging that they would do no harm, for now, she then explained where they would go, where they''d sleep, et cetera. By the end, the brothers were in a bit of a daze¡ªnot only because of the unique and new things they had been hearing¡ªbut also because their tongues relished in the sweet aftertaste of their food. Sadly, there was no more and they wondered what they had to do to taste it again. They thought they could do whatever mission the lord asked them if those desserts were the reward! Althea had no idea people were willing to follow her orders to a tee for cookies, but she just maintained her relatively professional stance. "And as for the final and most important tasks, I will ask of you¡­ "I hired you here to assist our territory in an upcoming war. We''re the attacking party, so there are a lot of risks." "Pardon?" War? Attacking party?! Who wouldn''t be taken aback after what they had been through? "Don''t worry, Altera prepared the best it could. We just hope you do your best as well," she said, standing up to leave, and they also stood up by instinct. The brothers entered a daze again as they walked out, but their worries were temporarily mitigated when they saw what the village was like. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They had both been in handfuls of other territories, and those villages had looked extremely similar. Their people also had similar stances and appearances, most of which were a little dreary. But here, they saw the wide bustling streets full of activity and smiles, then they looked at a distance to see the walls and dense sentries standing tall, acting as guardians to those inside. They couldn''t help but wonder: Did a town actually hire them instead? Chapter 579 Swears The brothers just stood there in front of the Village Center, not quite sure where to go. "Hey, new hires!" They turned to see a few people greeting them. They were a pair of an old man and an old woman with baskets hanging at their backs. The bags were filled with wood and stones¡ªresources to sell in the Village center. They unconsciously stepped away as if they were blocking the door (they weren''t, not really) but the old man and woman just stood next to them in the end. "You two seem a little pale," the old man said after a while, concerned, and then looked around. "Where''s Clutch and the others anyway? They''re usually the first to greet newly summoned people¡­" "Silly old man, everyone is busy preparing for the war," she said. "Well, we are too," she said, patting the resources they managed to carry¡ªdoing what they could for the territory. "Oh, right," he said. Instead, he took out a fruit from the space and handed them each. "Here, have some. You seem tired." The brothers stared. So welcoming? They couldn''t help but look at the unfamiliar fruit with complicated expressions and the old couple just thought they didn''t know how to eat it. "It''s a berry. Just eat it directly." The brothers didn''t know what to expect but ate it out of politeness. Their eyes shut as the juicy sweet taste attacked their senses and they couldn''t speak for a while. "T-Thank you," Tambai said. "How much?" "Ah pssh, it''s a little welcoming gift from us." The old man waved his hand and they knew he wasn''t being humble. They really didn''t expect anything in return! Their hearts were touched. They had never received such kindness before, but now they received it twice within the span of minutes¡ªthe first time coming from the lord herself! Afraid they''d tear up, the brothers decided to excuse themselves. Tambai looked at the old man and woman and cleared his throat. "I¡­ well, the lo¡ªsystem simply asked us to go to Community C. Can you tell us where to go?" Before the old people could answer, a new voice appeared. "I can guide you." It was another old man the couple seemed to recognize immediately. "Oh, it''s Clutch!" The old couple said and patted them, before heading inside the village hall to sell the resources. "Well, we''re going now, good luck!" The brothers could only nod passively as they watched the newcomer approach them. "Hello, my name is Clutch, I''m one of the new hires here," he said. "I''ll guide you a bit. We don''t have much time for leisure right now, unfortunately. But we should be able to hold your welcoming party for you two after the war." S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Leisure? Welcoming party? Clutch guided them to the basic amenities of the territory¡ªdeeply shaking the brothers'' hearts¡ªwith the tour ending up in their new home. It was a lovely two-storey house with a small garden. "You can have a floor each." "How¡­ how much?" "It''s free while you stay as a chancery employee." "What?" It wasn''t Clutch''s new rodeo so he explained the benefits as well, amazing the brothers even more. Before Clutch left to get back to his job, he couldn''t help but look at them. "You two seem worried about something." The brothers looked at each other before reluctantly answering. "We heard there was a war." "Ah, don''t worry, we''ll prepare what we can," Clutch said and waved his goodbye, letting the brothers explore the rest on their own. The brothers looked at each other worriedly. The thing was, the brothers'' experience with wars also wasn''t much, because most of the territories they joined fell during mobs (or an orc attack for that matter). As for their experience for the first 30 years of their lives, it wasn''t much either. Towns didn''t go to war as much as villages would. There were a lot fewer towns¡ªwhich were also much, much, farther apart¡ªso it was much costlier to wage wars at that level. The losses during wars were also exponentially bigger. After all, half of a village''s wealth was not comparable to half of a town''s. From what they heard, well-off towns would only experiened wars a handful of times a year. In their old Town, they only had about three to five wars a year, and only because their town was not very rich to care for. However, there was a common thing in wars in villages and in towns: Territories usually only used guards, hired fighters, slaves, and mercenaries in wars. They could also hire some citizens for a price, though it wasn''t done as much. After all, most territories¡ªweak ones, at least¡ªcouldn''t force people to join without them being slaves. Citizens could not only escape before the war ended to avoid the risk of becoming slaves, they could even betray for whatever gains the other party could offer. However, citizens were generally not very strong and it wasn''t an efficient way to use money so the pay wasn''t that large either. In the end, most citizens choose to be cowards who simply hide behind the walls. Those who usually risked war for the rewards were usually poor people who had nothing to lose. Because they were too weak back then, their parents begged them not to participate in the wars. They didn''t reach that point yet, after all, they could at least have food to eat at least once a day unlike others. So, like most, they hid inside their homes in hopes that the enemies who breached wouldn''t find them. Their town was also always on the defensive, so it was easier to win by simply sacrificing meat shields to keep the enemies at bay¡ªkeeping them from entering the main walls. A few times, they would peek and notice that the first ones to die were slaves, followed by the citizens. There were plenty of slaves, so there were a lot of meat shields. At the time, they wanted to tell their parents they could join the next war for the rewards. Anyway, there were a lot of slaves to block the way with their lives. But¡­ this territory¡­ didn''t have a single one! They learned about this less than an hour after Clutch left them to explore and they had decided to continue exploring the village at their own pace. Clutch basically just introduced them to the important buildings they passed by, and then told them the general direction of the others in other streets and area. It was because the streets were so, so clean and nice. They were shy to ask Clutch before but their curiosity eventually got the better of them. In the end, they asked someone ''how many slaves would it take'' to keep the streets clean like this. At the mention of slaves, the people around them turned and looked at them weirdly. The two shivered and they didn''t dare ask again. However, the next day, they would find out that they didn''t have anything to worry about at all. This territory didn''t have slaves¡­ because they didn''t need it! Despite having no meatshields, they were trained thoroughly (it was a ''crash course'' considering the few days they had). They were also provided with good weapons, shields, and potions, and a good place to sleep. These were all default items for all guards, and their salaries were good enough to buy extras. Rather, the salaries technically weren''t as high, but the amount they could buy with a bit of money was a lot! The cost of living in towns was extremely high and they couldn''t sustain a decent lifestyle with their strengths. But here, they could live well with the same amount of money! It was unbelievable! They found it! A good home! Maybe they could even bring their parents here someday! Altera was such a good territory: Neither of them wanted to lose it! Now, at the height of war, this was the thought that energized them as they swung their weapons, rendering the enemies around them half-dead. They were assigned to the peripheral streets to keep away any new guards¡ªif there were still any in the inner wall¡ªaway from the main battlefield (which was also about to end, by the way). After all, it wouldn''t do for Alterans to beat the enemies, only to find new enemies appearing to take advantage of weakness! Theirs was a small team, but their levels were high and the new enemies weren''t particularly strong. This helped them create an impenetrable ''wall'' that helped the Alterans secure the momentum in this war. They would do their part and become bonafide Alterans¡ª They swear to it! Chapter 580 Shaken Micheal and his team comprising of people from Bright were particularly passionate about the torture of Fargo''s men they could get to. They didn''t bother taking hostages though, as they knew Fargo wouldn''t care. Gochi and Fufi were also causing major damage. They took advantage of the loss of momentum caused by Belize''s death, closely followed by several others like Sen and Uzon. Fargo''s eyes turned red as he was left with a few higher-level aborigines, but otherwise surrounded by Alterans. He sent earth spikes around him stabbing several people, but his attack had been weakened after so long and those hit were only a bit injured. Most of his men had fallen and never would Fargo imagine this war would go in this direction¡ªever! Except for a handful of mercenaries that found their way there, the only strong ones remaining were men by the names of Aka and Okra, level 17 and a level 20 mercenary, respectively. They had been doing the bare minimum all this time¡ªsimply defending and blocking serious attacks from Fargo. While they enjoyed pushing Alterans and were indeed itching to hurt them, they knew the penalty for doing so would be too heavy and they didn''t bother to risk it. Alterans knew they wouldn''t attack (for now) either so they focused their energies on the more direct threats, which slowly but surely trimmed the forces around him until they were surrounded. Worse, that woman was also targeting them! Fortunately, she didn''t have any mana anymore and her attacks were basically normal, allowing the men around him to still defend him against the attacks. But what would happen when she recovered? Even if it wouldn''t reach him, it could reach his guards. If this kept up, their remaining part of agreement would be null and he had no doubt they would abandon him at a moment''s notice! S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Damnit! Fargo saw they were useless, gritted his teeth, and opened up the panel, and a few moments later, an announcement echoed across the territory [Anyone who gives the lord a head of the enemy would receive 10 gold each!] Then, he added with a dark glint in his eyes. [Anyone who kills enemies can free a slave of their choice!] This was far higher than the previous offer and, unlike the chaos outside, the ones in the interior walls were less likely to go against Fargo as well. The people flinched and some reluctantly emerged from their houses. However, most didn''t want to join death and remained hidden. There were still hundreds of people who emerged though. All houses had several people living inside, and it would only take a few to inspire the others to go as a group¡ªafter all, it was less terrifying with other people. They looked terrified and held on to their weapons shakily, but their overall number was not small. Group by group they emerged from the houses, giving the Alterans a closer look at the people they''d be dealing with. They looked much worse than the leading party with their thinness and tattered clothes, but they were still doing a bit better than those outside where most people lived in shanties. Among these people, there were those who jumped at the chance because it meant saving their family! After they left the threshold of their houses, they immediately went to attack the closest Alterans, shaking the formation by virtue of their numbers. Althea looked at the ''battlefield'' below her. The battlefield, except for a small plaza area, was basically a network of streets and avenues. Those people who went out could basically enter their formation, some of whom coming from the back. Of course, these people were weak and scared and didn''t stand a chance against hers, but it was still a distraction Fargo and the remaining enemies used. The number of people Fargo''s men stabbed while Alterans were distracted was not small. There were also some who were on the second floor, refusing to get out of the safety of their houses, but they still threw things down in hopes that it could kill someone. She didn''t have a view of the other areas, but there should also be other people going out of their houses to take their chances as well. There were also others who got a bit creative with their attacks on them. For instance, she saw a door open with a middle-aged man with a crew cut leading it. With his housemates, they tried pulling in a few weakened Alterans. Unfortunately for them, Alteran''s teamwork was strong and they were immediately kicked back. However, they kept standing up to fight¡ªespecially that middle-aged man, and he was obviously desperate despite feeling extremely heavy in doing so. This was Basil. He knew the Alterans were not bad people as he had been watching them for a while, but what could he do? He was only fighting to get his father back. Althea didn''t know this yet, but she had seen their expressions¡ªthey were just¡­ helpless and trying to survive. She cursed at how low Fargo was¡ªhow could he push people to go against their conscience like this! Not to mention: She didn''t know what the announcement was, but she could bet Fargo was not planning on keeping his side of the deal. She took out a non-electric amplifier, which worked well enough in the area as everyone had improved hearing anyway. "People of Fargo, we are from Altera Village! We will take down this territory that made so many of you suffer," she said. "Don''t fight us! You will be free!" "There will be no slaves in Altera!" She knew it would be difficult to convince them about this. After all, they would lose their freedom and their money once they become slaves. "I don''t know what Fargo promised you, but you should know by now what kind of man he is! Would he really meet his side of the deal?" This made a lot of people pause. 5 gold per kill or the freedom of a slave was not cheap. They doubted Fargo would be willing to let go of that money if he had it! It was more likely they''d die ''mysteriously'' so they didn''t have to be ''paid''! However, they were truly afraid of Fargo. If he saw them back out, he''d definitely torture them once this was over! However, her words definitely weakened the enemies'' attacks and the Alterans made sure not to hurt them too much. Still guarded heavily from whatever attacks came his way, Fargo frowned at the lack of momentum on his side. "Releasing a slave from the system cost 5 gold! Do you really think anyone would free you?!" Althea frowned, not to lose. She had heard of this condition and¡ªwhile she definitely was not willing to pay tens of thousands out of her own pocket to free slaves from the ''system''¡ªit didn''t mean she wouldn''t be able to give them freedom in her own capacity! "In Altera, you will be able to afford it! Even if you are slaves in name, you will not be treated as such¡ªyou will be given agency so you can buy your own freedom!" "As an elder in Altera, I can swear to it!" Obviously, listening to the enemy was never wise, but Althea simply had the quality that made people want to believe her and believe in her. At some point, some people stopped attacking completely. They wondered: Would it really be alright to just... believe? Chapter 581 The Arrival of the Slaves Fargo looked darkly at Althea, as if sending daggers and dismembering her with his eyes. Althea''s eyes looked at the number of people and knew that they''d be reaching the winning requirement soon. That was: For half of the people who passed the Teleportation array to breach the main walls of a territory. However, if they left without getting the token, Fargo would lose yes, but it would just lose half its assets and people. She didn''t dare underestimate Fargo at all! She couldn''t give him the chance to get back up after this. She looked at her stats. Her remaining mana wouldn''t be able to do much damage against people level 20 and above. It was fortunate that all they could do was block attacks for Fargo. Similarly, such a pity her husband and the others couldn''t enter either, so at least they''d be able to block hits for the other Alterans. Injuries were inevitable, after all, the enemy aborigines were not weak. It broke her heart, but there had been lethal shots that had hit her people. There were unfortunately some deaths on her side already. Most of these deaths were directly under Fargo''s hands. While shots towards him were blocked by strong mercenaries, he would either use the crossbow he stole from one of her people, or he would throw sharp rocks with incredible aim. Only she had the full-body defense equipment. Fargo simply had to use his well-honed assassination skills to take down her people. The only reason he couldn''t get more was because they still had a lot of shields to block his attacks and that Fargo was¡ªfortunately¡ªstill a new elementalist and his control and mana were still limited in the end. Regardless, she had to trim those guards down! She must take Fargo down as soon as possible! Heaving a deep breath, she raised the Bellagio as she chewed on her mana cookie. [Used! Perfect Aim! -10 Mana!] sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Used! Triple Shot! -30 Mana!] Swoosh! Swoosh! She couldn''t afford to waste any now so she targeted those that could be killed. She tried hitting as many as she could¡ªfocusing on those doing the most damage to her people. There was aborigine with a massive axe swinging around like no tomorrow. The only reason the people he hit were alive was their decent defense equipment which was already on the verge of breaking. Using her skill, she looked for an opening and let go of the bow. Woosh! Hitting him straight through the neck. "OI!" "He''s dead! GYA¡ª!" Whoosh! "Dead as well!" Two of the three shots managed to kill people. Sadly, her mana was also draining very quickly. However, the less power there was on the other team, the more leverage her team had to safely take care of the rest. Eventually, all of Fargo''s men below level 15 were all taken down¡ªat least those around Fargo at this moment¡ªeither dead or injured, and they were surrounded by hundreds of Alterans. The few people from Fargo''s side felt heavy, with Fargo''s eyes so red it could drip blood. Seeing him like this, Althea''s eyebrows rose. Was her poison working? That''s right. Like the mana reducer, she also sent a little poison that affected the brain. She hadn''t tested it enough though so she only knew it would give some serious headache to a person even with the improved physiques. She couldn''t test it on an Alteran, so she went on a limb and gave it to Juni to see who it could affect, ideally someone with impact in the war. Like the other one, she also gave Juni the prerogative of who to give it to. There were too many variables to instruct her of a specific target, and Althea was very impressed she got it to Fargo himself. Of course, the fact that it could only cause headaches for now meant that Fargo was still intrinsically very strong. The main component of this poison was the common louj plant¡ªone of the first plants she had studied in this world¡ªbut the synthesis required was cumbersome so she wasn''t able to create a lot either. She wondered what else it could do, but for now, Fargo was obviously not in the mood to answer any of her inquiries. Fargo had no idea that he would become another victim of the future Poison Queen (or that she was even considering to interview him as a test subject), and simply ran his aching mind as to what he should do to get out of this situation. It was around this time that Aka looked at the side and then to the lord. "The slaves are here." Oh? Fargo looked in a direction and saw a mob of people dragging themselves to where they were. He had long ordered all the slaves to go inside when he saw the shift in momentum. He was even tempted to take back the rest of his fighting force outside but decided against it. If they weren''t there, more Alterans would get inside and they might as well accept they lost their war! The slaves took a while to get there because they were extremely weakened¡ªas one could see with how they were dragging their bodies like zombies, some with blood trailing in their steps. But none of this affected Fargo at all; he didn''t care that they were already pushed well beyond their bodies'' limits¡ªhe just needed his meat shields! Soon more and more slaves came in and some citizens who had been wanting to join for the gold saw the cannon fodders coming in, getting out to join them. [ATTACK!] Fargo''s order resounded in every slave''s mind and they poured in like a swarm of ants, suddenly increasing their pace¡ªthough for some they could even hear bones creaking and muscles being sprained. More than a thousand slaves immediately lunged toward them like zombies and for a moment the Alterans were a little at loss. Imagine several hundreds of people squeezing in a small space, pushing them aside like a tsunami! There were too many and they might literally drown their forces with their numbers. But more than that¡ªthey could see the slaves'' poor states! That bastard Fargo!! Chapter 582 The Slave Mob (Part 1) [ATTACK! ATTACK! KILL THEM ALL!] This was the order that resounded repeatedly in the slaves'' minds. This naturally made them much more aggressive, though from their face one could see despair and apology instead of anger. These people weren''t very strong, they were weak and tired and seemed to be at the end of the rope. While this was mostly a good thing for the Alterans, it meant that a little force in retaliation could kill them! Imagine being mobbed by people who had no control over their bodies¡ª who acted like zombies¡ªbut you couldn''t bear to attack them back?! That was how it was for the Alterans who had each other''s back and focused on either immobilizing the enemy or just pushing them away. However, the orders were clear to the slaves and they obviously aimed to take them the Alterans) down no matter what. It was really reminiscent of zombies with how ''mindless'' they were trying to get to them, regardless of physically stepping on people in front of them. Things got way worse for those who could recognize people around them¡ªespecially people from Bright who were acquaintances with many of the slaves. "Rodney!" Micheal yelled, gritting his teeth as he saw a person he recognized¡ªone of the new guards back then¡ªamong the slaves. Rodney came with Garan to Bright back then. If Gill was here, he''d recognize this person as the kind-hearted man who stopped to warn them at the risk of his own hide. Micheal remembered him because he worked very hard¡ªmuch more passionate than the younger guards¡ªand he had a bright personality that inspired the others. This time though, he had no good skin left and tears flowed down his face. "So painful¡­" they could hear him whisper as he clawed on them, "Kill me please¡­" They couldn''t bear to do so¡ªhow could they¡ªbut they did do their best to immobilize them as safely as they could. In Rodney''s case, Micheal used his ropes to immobilize them. He actually bought ropes from the shop after seeing all the guards had them. Now he understood what they were for. Micheal and the other people of Bright had to deal with former comrades like so, along with dozens of others. They were filled with bruises and could barely walk straight, but they kept moving. It felt like a bit more movement and tendons would break and their legs would be irreparable. On other sides, there would be many times wherein Alterans had no choice but to hurt the ''slaves'' to defend themselves. "I''m sorry, I''m sorry," they would say as they attacked, hoping it didn''t kill anyone. This was what they believed as the guilt might consume them otherwise. They even saw an old man who could barely walk. When the old man fell down unable to get back up, they felt a bit of heartbreak, but no one dared get into this mob if they had some brains. However, the door of a house opened suddenly and a man jumped into the sea of slaves, squeezing in and¡ªunsurprisingly¡ªabout to drown. "DAD! Please help him up! PLEASE!" Basil yelled and it so happened that Angelo and Jesse were nearby. The cousins looked at each other and then at a few shieldsmen teammates. With this force, they waved through the ''zombies'' and dragged the old man (and the man) after much effort, throwing them back to the house. Basil sobbed loudly at the poor state of his father. "DAD!! Wuuuuu¡ª" The old man was barely breathing at this point and Basil could only cry in despair. He stopped abruptly when a little bottle was given to him. He looked up to see it was one of their rescuers, who was apparently still with them, with their shieldsmen were blocking the door with their equipment. "It''s not much and it''s diluted, but it should somehow improve his state¡­" Basil''s eyes exploded in tears and he bowed repeatedly as he fed the potion to his dad. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" Angelo and Jesse sighed and just headed back and made sure to close the door, hoping to rescue as many lives as they could. Most people, unfortunately, couldn''t get rescued. For instance, there was an Alteran man who saw family among the slaves. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "BROTHER!" he yelled as he used his sheathed sword to try and deal with as many slaves as he could. His level wasn''t particularly high to do this effortlessly, and even with the assistance of his teammates, he was filled with wounds and bruises every step he took. Still, it felt like he wasn''t walking fast enough! By the time he reached his baby brother, he had already stepped on by the mob¡ªseemingly with no breath anymore. The man''s body moved on its own and gestured to get to him regardless of the consequences, but he was pulled back by teammates lest he leaned down and be stepped on by dozens of people at the same time! Nearby, there was another sob of recognition. "HONEY!" A man on their side yelled as he saw his wife crying, holding up weapons with no choice. "Don''t do it!" he yelled, refusing to attack his wife. Slaves did not have weapons, but she had access to a fallen weapon from a Fargo guard and she took it to use. She wished she was far from it so it didn''t end up in her hand¡ªat least then she wouldn''t have had a weapon. She was sobbing as she raised her hands in an attempt to slash, but her husband could only stare, still in shock at seeing his meek wife there¡ªlet alone attacking him. This one, too, had to be pulled back by teammates. However, they had the mind to pull the woman as well while taking away her sword, and tying her up with their rope. The man cried as he hugged her, thanking his teammates as well. Anyway, in order to protect the Alterans, the captains and Althea had no choice but to yell out an order: "Fall back! Fall back!" She yelled, strategizing while regaining her mana. "Group together!" While most people followed, she could see the reluctance in many people¡ªparticularly from those who recognized someone amongst the mob. Her heart broke for them. "I know it''s hard, but we have to keep safe first before saving others," she told them, soothing while not losing the sense of urgency in her tone. "We''ll get them back one way or another, I promise!" Chapter 583 The Slave Mob (Part 2) The Alterans grouped tightly together with the shieldsmen out, trying to stop the hundreds of slaves and citizens from successfully mobbing them. In terms of numbers, the enemies had outnumbered them several to one, and this was not even considering that many Alterans had already been weakened from the battles¡ªsome were even carried by their teammates already! Fargo relished at the sight of them being pushed back. With the wave of slaves, their way had been cleared of Alterans, clearing the path for them. They decided to take advantage of this distraction to get to someplace safer. Althea, who had a bird''s eye view of the battle, naturally saw this. However, she couldn''t abandon her people here to run after him. She simply sent an order for Fufi to take note of Fargo''s scent so they could run after them as soon as they could. Anyway, standing tall at a height and looking down at the scene on the street level, she had to take on the commander role. Hundreds of slaves squeezed together to fit along the narrow streets of Fargo. Even if the slaves were weak, their sheer numbers could suffocate them. Their force value simply wasn''t enough to handle so many¡ªnot to mention the fact they had to at least try not to kill these ''slaves'' in the process. With a sigh, she took out three small balls that rolled in her palms. She had been saving up her remaining 3 paralysis and sleep bombs, but this seemed to be the time to use them. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, three bombs might not be able to take down everyone if not used well. She still had to properly plan on where to throw them. She looked down and saw that the shield walls were sturdy enough for the most part, but others were relatively flimsy. They could use some earth walls to properly coralled the ''slaves'', especially if they received an order to disperse. She looked at the low-level pathway of Fargo. While the main avenues were made of system stone paths, the rest were not and could thus be used for earth manipulations. This would be her last bit of mana though, and it would take a bit longer for her to be able to use any techniques again after this. Harold''s Mana Cookies were great, but they were slow to recover mana and could get dangerous in more urgent situations. She really hoped to get ahold of those mana potions soon. Pushing these thoughts down, she jumped from roof to roof (not difficult at all, considering everything was so dense) and added some flimsy walls in certain areas. On the ground, Fargo¡ªwho had already neared the edge¡ªsaw that the Alterans were not being pushed hard enough. He also saw the woman jumping from roof to roof, but he had no time to explore what he was doing. So, before leaving, he made one last order. [Attack them even if it causes death. Bump your head to whatever obstacle you encounter until it breaks.] Anyway, if they did lose this war the slaves would go to Altera anyway¡ªthere was no point keeping them. At the same time, if they won, then it meant he would gain new ones! Losing a few hundred slaves didn''t matter to him at all! When the Alterans saw the movement and realized what the slaves were set to do, their hearts dropped. "NO!!" They yelled, especially those who knew people among the slaves. Althea''s eyes widened as the slaves did as they were told, bumping into the walls and shields as if the walls didn''t pain them. Bang! Bang! Bang! But they were corralled and the only way to stop was to take down the walls themselves. There were also those who bumped on the building walls which would definitely not be taken down by such little force. As for those far from the surfaces, they would bump against each other. Even if they didn''t die from concussion, they could die from suffocation! Everyone''s bodies shook at the sound of skulls pounding repeatedly, one after the other, and how blood flowed to the wall. Some slaves had blank expressions on their faces, as if surrendering to their imminent deaths, while some were just sobbing, probably of regrets, but thinking no one will hear of them. Althea couldn''t wait any longer and threw them to the corralle of hundreds of people. For the farther ones, she used her earth ability and placed a bomb above it to increase its reach. Bang! Bang! Bang! The Alterans flinched at the sound and saw the smoke at a distance. "Smoke bombs!" "Of course, Miss Althea still has some!" "I wish we saved our team''s¡­" "It saved our lives, no need for regrets." The Alterans had already covered their mouths and noses by instinct with the cloth face masks provided to them by the territory. They watched it spread amongst the suicidal slaves. The three bombs naturally couldn''t spread through all the hundreds of slaves, so the few with wind abilities also directed it, making sure the precious smoke bombs were not wasted. They heard the bumping slow down to a stop, and by the time the smoke settled down, there was no more noise except for breathing. The slaves had fallen down, either paralyzed or asleep, though because they were squeezed together they looked more like sardines standing upright. The good thing that came out of their weakened states was that the effect of the smoke bomb was very good¡ªbetter than expected¡ªand even a whiff was enough to knock them out. The shieldsmen took down their guards and they slowly guided the slaves down. Even the citizens of Fargo had gotten out to help, making a few Alterans smile (though they didn''t completely put down their guards, of course). Seeing the situation calm down a bit, Althea assigned a few team captains to handle the rest, immediately jumping to go after Fargo. "Fufi!" she yelled and the dog barked, immediately heading in a direction. The dog jumped and ran on the wall to avoid the sea of slaves with Althea following closely behind him above eye level. She had to find him before the war ended, or else he would be able to keep the token. Even if their money and people would be halved when they lost, she didn''t dare underestimate Fargo¡ªespecially not with the Rongo Mercenary team as an ally! They would remain a hidden knife that could jump at whatever chance they could to attack Altera! And Althea wouldn''t let anything threaten her family and her way of life! Chapter 584 The Battles of the Outer Wall (Part 1) At this time, the outer walls were no less chaotic than the interior. Maybe even more so because there were a lot more people there. The majority of both forces were in this area added to the chaos created by the citizens themselves. There were still three large teams outside, who were blocked in time before they could follow Althea''s footsteps of smooth sailing to the inner walls. If even a portion of these teams passed through, then Altera would''ve won this war. However, no one was complacent. They headed to the walls with the attitude that the other two teams were blocked. Two of these teams were already by the walls, just waiting to get past. Drake, Henry, and the others were also there. When the Alterans started causing chaos in the inner walls, almost all of the guards were summoned in that area, leaving a lot of openings for them to sneak out of. Even the redheaded Jona, after seeing that Althea had gotten the situation inside under control, also went out to assist. Anyway, their ''number'' wasn''t counted to the winning quantity so they knew they''d be most helpful assisting the Alterans in. Everyone knew what the requirement to win was. They didn''t even have to defeat everyone, they just had to get a certain number inside the inner walls and that was it. This was actually quite humane, and they were planning on taking advantage of it to minimize the damages they had to commit. It was easier said than done, of course. Excluding the hundreds of guards that were in the inner walls, there were still nearly a thousand Fargo guards on the outer walls. However, although there were more guards outside the territory, the outer wall had a far larger area and scope than the inside. This meant it was much more difficult to defend. This was why the remaining Alterans opted to divide into three groups, targeting to go to specific areas to go through. Before the war, Santos and Leon¡ªas the Terran Mercenary Team members who had been staying in Fargo a lot longer than others¡ªhad been assigned to study the city wall, as well as determine the blindspots. Though aether letters were handed by Drake, they had forwarded this data to Garan''s team outside, who then forwarded it to the Alterans who entered the array. One of these teams was in the Eastern part of the territory. It was composed of more than a hundred people. It was led by Reno, Jona, Santos, the crow trio (who had found them at some point), and many others. They were guarded by Santos as one of the people on their side beyond the level cap. Santos might not be able to attack due to his level, but as someone in the territory walls before the war started, he could still assist their side in whatever way he could. This team had the fastest progress. They were ready to climb up the wall using earth stairs similar to what Althea and the others did. This time, it was made by Santos and Reno. Jona and the others began to climb up, weapons out in case they got noticed. About a handful had managed to cross before Santos'' eyes widened and he abruptly turned to face a direction. "Watch out!" Santos yelled, immediately throwing an earth rock to block an incoming arrow. He wasn''t able to stop it completely, but it did skew its course so the target only got grazed. The woman¡ªJona¡ªscreamed in pain and lost balance, falling down the few-meters-high bridge. She had climbed up to help guard the battlement from guards who could find them at any time. While the fall was only 3 meters high¡ªnot lethal for people of their level¡ªit would still hurt. The expected pain didn''t come as she was caught by strong arms. She opened her eyes in surprise, looking up to see the tanned man who had saved her. "You okay?" Santos asked. She nodded blankly and the two stared at each other for a second before he put her down. Santos immediately turned around to shield the woman from yet another attack, joining the others who had already faced the group of guards who found them. While the two were having a moment, Henry and the others had already begun to defend. In contrast to Santos though, Henry could attack the enemies. The old man''s fist lit with fire, and he threw it at one of the aborigines. The mercenary frowned but managed to avoid it, turning his head to look at him. "Heh, didn''t know you''re an elementalist too, old man." Henry looked at the mercenary. This was one of the people who taunted them a lot. They would be asked to clear mobs while these guards would ''cheer'' from the walls. This mercenary had a higher level than they had, but he just refused to do his job and guard the wall as he should''ve been doing. Before, they had no choice but to just guard quietly lest the monsters breached the outer walls. In that case, rather than Fargo''s guards, it would always be the citizens who would be sacrificed first. Before, they could only shut their mouths, now they could teach them a lesson like in their dreams! However, this didn''t show in his expression at all. This had been a habit of his after decades in the Military: Never to show emotions during a fight. Despite his age, Henry was still a general and his stance was very different from others. He was silent, but there was a quiet confidence to him that gritted on the man''s nerves. The man spit on the side and lunged forward, followed by the others¡ªwho were, in turn, met by the Alterans as well. Henry''s eyes sharpened as he looked at the arrogant guard. His experienced mind made instinctual calculations on the man''s position, the forces, and others for maximum effect. All this was happening in fractions of a second, and he raised his fist in position as the man came closer. "HYA!" Henry exclaimed as another ball of fire¡ªa bigger one¡ªemerged from his fist. It came quite quickly and the mercenary was taken aback. The mercenary could only step back and Henry took advantage of the opening this created. Using the fire as propulsion, he instantaneously increased the force of his punch, and BANG! Throwing the other man straight to the opposite wall. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The man coughed in shock and shakily tried to stand up, but the General had already arrived above him, once again using fire to propel himself, increase his speed and force, and threw him to some of his teammates blocking the way! Henry''s face didn''t change as he stared down at the mercenary before taking out his weapon. "Don''t underestimate this old man." Chapter 585 The Battles of the Outer Wall (Part 2) Behind him, the other members also assisted with the guards. After all, it was best to finish this trouble as soon as possible and then just rush over when the coast was clear. At the very least, they had to weaken the enemies enough so everyone could cross. This team of guards was mostly below the level cap, including that archer. Santos helped block several attacks until he saw one of the remaining Level 20 mercenaries leave and rush over the stairs. Due to the level restriction, he couldn''t do anything to hurt the Alterans, but he could throw them away as if they were trash. The man raised his fist to destroy the stairs. Santos spent much of his mana there, how could he allow that to happen? He immediately ran to him with his sword, stopping him. Clank! The man blocked using his own weapon, and he pushed forward, pushing Santos a few steps. Santos was only level 18, two levels lower than his enemy. However, he still believed in his training and his skill and he did not hesitate to lunge forward to meet the man''s attack. Fighting between people beyond the level cap was, technically, allowed if they were already within the territory. The caveat was that if a bystander was hurt, then that counted as attacking below the level cap, and the punishments would be implemented. This made sense because system regulations always got triggered by specific conditions. This was how people beyond the level cap wouldn''t be allowed inside during war, yet those already inside wouldn''t be affected. This was how people could still get attacked outside the wars, but at the same time, a war would be triggered after a certain threshold was met. Anyway, the two of them exchanged blows, slowly getting farther from the ''weaker'' ones to avoid heavy punishments on themselves. While a high-level fight was ongoing above the roofs, the people on the street level were in no less tension. More and more enemies flowed in and Reno used his ability to block a few pathways. This created choke points so it was easier for the Alterans to take them down with less effort and injury to themselves. He also had to block his side of the easement around the wall to keep people from blocking their way up. After all, the few meters around the wall were clear and it was the fastest way for the enemies to become their obstacle. Fortunately, despite all these troubles, the situation was somewhat manageable. This was until Eso, one of Fargo''s right-hand men, arrived with about a dozen others. Reno wanted to handle him himself, but his ability was needed to stop the flow of another hundred or so enemy guards from mobbing them. Eso, like his companions, was a tough nut to crack and even a few Alterans together couldn''t take him down. He also had Class D weapons bought off from the mercenaries, adding up to his already impressive repertoire of physical attacks. "Ahhh!" An Alteran yelled as his hair was burned by the man''s fire. The Alterans beside him immediately took out water from the space to douse him. While this was ongoing, Eso had already grabbed another one. "Gah!" another yelled as he was thrown down. Eso held up his sword and was ready to stab when a weapon and a shield headed in his direction and he had no choice but to pull back. This was Dog and Sunny, and together they waved their weapons at him to the best of their abilities. They knew this person as one of the worst people in this territory, and they could not afford to hold back at all! sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Clack! Clack! They never did land a hit in the end and instead received the damage. Fortunately, they didn''t receive lethal injuries, though this was only because of their equipment. Clack! Clack! BANG! At some point, Eso managed to catch Sunny''s shield and pulled her abruptly towards him. He grabbed her waist and hugged her flush, making her pale. "Sunny!!" Dog yelled as he lunged forward, waving his sword but the man suddenly turned so he would hit Sunny and he had to stop abruptly. Eso smirked and kicked Dog in the face. It was so quick he wasn''t able to avoid it. Their helmets and armors were only class D and didn''t have full body armor effect. That face kick was a direct hit, and Dog felt his nose, at least, was probably crushed. "Dog!!!" Sunny yelled as she struggled. She was dragged to the groaning Dog and he raised his hand to stab him, intent on showing the girl how her friend died. "DOGG!!!" Before the sword landed though¡ª Whoosh! Clank! Eso sneered and looked in the direction where the arrow came from, seeing the dark-haired young lad who was staring blankly at him. Crow once again raised his bow and arrow. This had been improved by Brenda and Houser¡ªand looked at the bastards. "Hey!" The special ability of this bow and arrow using Houser''s skill? It would make the target stare at it! If the level of the enemy was low, they could even be sitting ducks! However, this time the enemy wasn''t weak, so it only distracted him for half a second. But it was enough. What''s more, he was using a crossbow and even if he missed a few shots, there were still a few that hit where it mattered. "Ah!" Eso felt the arrow partially buried in his neck. He managed to instinctively catch its shaft before it went deep, but it still hurt very much and his eyes turned red. He threw down the girl to lunge at the bastard, but before he could get to him he was surrounded by Alterans again. He narrowed his eyes as he looked around. The fact that there were so many blocking him now meant a lot of the others had been dealt with. They didn''t hesitate to mob him, hitting him willy-nilly and he had to get into a defensive stance. He roared as he waved his sword wildly, hitting as many as he could, though unfortunately not able to kill anyone because of that damned equipment of theirs! Clank! Clank! Clank! The Alterans soon saw that more guards arrived and increased their attacks, hoping to get rid of Eso before having to deal with the others. He was pushed back by the group of attackers, stepping back bit by bit, not noticing a shield weakly thrown at an angle behind him, and landing at where he was stepping back. His feet slid and he fell back, imbalanced. "GYAH!" He yelled, but his instincts gestured for him to turn to catch himself. But how could the others let him do this? Crow''s eyes immediately sharpened, using his distraction to finally shower him with lethal shots. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Except for one that missed, another hit Eso''s neck¡ªthis time going through the throat¡ªand another one around his eyes. At that exact moment, Santos would also take down his own enemy, and they would clear out most of the immediate threats. However, the delay was enough to gather more and more people around them, specifically going along the wall perimeter. Reno could only block so many and soon there were a lot more people between them and the wall. The Alterans cursed as the new enemies arrived, blocking their victory. Darn it! They gritted their teeth, eyes looking longingly at the 3-meter-tall threshold. The wall was so close! Chapter 586 The Battles of the Outer Wall (Part 3) The next team was led by Luis and Drake, taking the rear areas, and they were still doing their best to get through to the walls. Although Althea couldn''t make System announcements as this wasn''t her territory, she could still send them through aether letters. However, she opted not to do so after a few moments of thought, even if it risked winning the war prematurely. She didn''t ask anyone to slow down their pace because she couldn''t risk lives just to get the token. In the worst-case scenario, they''d just have to prevent him from gathering strength for revenge by barraging him with wars until they get it. This was why all three teams were still going strong, barrelling towards the walls as fast as they safely could. It was fortunate that this place was basically a maze. The widest street was 3 meters wide and the rest were super narrow and the wayfinding was rarely straightforward. Worse, the pathways near the various shanty areas were just as wide as one person to go through at a time. However, while Luis'' team was small enough to traverse and avoid most of the chaos, they did encounter conflict. Fortunately, Luis and Drake were there to deal with relatively stronger enemies, assisted by the others through guerilla tactics, among many other things. Another convenient aspect of this place was that anyone who was taking advantage of Fargo''s power was all in the interior territory. That was to say: Every citizen here was victimized to some degree and abhorred Fargo and his men to death¡­ and they would do what they could to bring them down. The amount of assistance they received was mild but they never lacked it during this time. For example, when a group of guards was nearing where they were, someone would make a cheesy bird sound to warn them. Their only gripe was that the places¡ªespecially the narrow alleyways¡ªwere disgusting. Shanty houses were all manually built and had no toilets. For those who couldn''t be bothered to even make a chamberpot¡ªunlike proper, well-raised, modern Terrans¡ªwhere would they throw their stuff? In public places of course! Ugh. There was also the frenemies Troy and Fred on this team, so it wasn''t easy to be low-key with these two bantering all the time. Imagine someone suddenly bursting into cackles when the other one accidentally stepped on shit. Fortunately for them, the duo did work nicely when it was time to fight, which was why they were placed in the same team in the first place. Anyway, after some sneaky traveling, they eventually found the spot Santos and Leon mentioned (via aether letter) to be a good place to enter through. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They picked it for various reasons. One, it was naturally a spot where the sparse sentries wouldn''t reach. Second, it was on a slight incline so they were a bit harder to spot compared to being in the depressed area. They would also be able to see if there were battlement guards who spotted them and therefore be able to react aptly. Although a few battlement guards were kept in other areas, they were definitely not as dense as Fargo would''ve preferred. This would allow them to deal with the enemies they encountered as low-key as they could. Finally, the spot was directly opposite to where Miss Althea and the others entered. This meant that they had very little chance of encountering guards (at least on the interior) at all! They settled down under it and immediately crafted their ''stairs''. The earth users they had in this team weren''t particularly amazing, so they opted on them just handling small boulders each. They would then tie sturdy ropes on each of the rocks to serve as weights. The ropes were quite sturdy. Every guard and many citizens had lots of sturdy coated ropes, as instructed by Garan. This was something inspired by what happened in Guia with the goblins. In any case, the two earth users coordinated well with their limited capacities, lifting the rocks over the 3-meter wall, creating a nice little ladder for them. It was stable enough to support one or two persons at a time, and their people had started to sneak inside in hopes of contributing to the numbers. Based on what had been reported via aether letters, the other two teams had yet to traverse the wall. Every one of them counted in this war, and there was no time to waste! One by one they entered, with Luis standing on the wall to guard in case people would come from the battlements or below it. Drake was also on the foot of the ladder, prepared to face whatever could block their way. While it was relatively smooth sailing the first few minutes, their movements still alarmed guards in the end. Despite the ladder being made of camouflage colors, it was hard to miss a consistent line of people jumping down the wall from the other side. A couple of battlement guards soon found them, yelling at the top of their lungs to alert the guards nearby. "ENEMIES!! ENEMIES!!!" "OI! HELP USSS!" They yelled at the top of their lungs, though they didn''t dare attack head-on, allowing a few more Alterans to go through. Luis had been aware of the Fargo guards'' cowardice and took advantage, throwing a ball of fire in a direction, making the guard scream. "OIII! COME HEREEE!" Obviously, they wouldn''t bother sacrificing themselves for Fargo, so they were waiting for more allies to deal with them. Fortunately, the enemies'' communications were still very archaic and there weren''t a lot of them alerted. However, even if there were only a few dozen enemies that arrived, it had to be noted that Luis'' team was predominantly on the other side already, so those left behind had to deal with the newcomers. Luis narrowed his eyes, but he wasn''t too worried. After all, for three months, he had handled strong monsters. What could these humans with lower levels do to him? Chapter 587 The Battles of the Outer Wall (Part 4) At this time, there were only two battlement guards left and Luis just threw fireballs at them. He knew he couldn''t take them down with just one hit, but he angled it in a way that would be efficient for him. "Ahhh!" the guard yelled, instinctively grabbing the nearest surface¡ªwhich happened to be his teammate. "Ahhhh!" Bang! Luis nodded when he saw the two battlement guards had fallen and immediately jumped down, raising his sword and emblazing it with fire, killing them while they were down. However, dozens of new enemies had arrived, and they immediately rained them with arrows (well, as many arrows as a dozen archers-or-not could shoot), with the swordsmen and spearmen ready to attack as soon as the arrow rain, er, drizzle, was over. Of course, although this was nothing compared to what Alterans could do with their crossbows, a drizzle of arrows was still a drizzle of arrows. Many of the team couldn''t help but look back at him in worry. Luis even saw a few team members gaping and gesturing to help. He immediately shook his head when he saw this. "Just continue doing what you''re doing," he said, "I''ll handle this!" The group of enemies that came wasn''t very big, it was better to get the team inside the wall! Swish! He threw a fireball, blocking an arrow. Swish! Another one, blocking anothe with his sword. Swish! And he blocked a few with a fire wave. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The attackers soon saw their already limited arrows were just getting blocked and some smartass decided to target those climbing up the wall. While the others were busy, they sneaked at the back and changed positions, targeting the people who had their backs on them. Because they weren''t particularly skilled¡ªthey were civilians before the Transfer¡ªthey went a bit closer to ensure their targets got hit. "We got you now," one of the archers said with a grin, shooting his arrow, closely followed by his companion. Whoosh! Whoosh! One missed¡ªthey weren''t archers by profession¡ªwhile another one was about to hit someone, though purely by luck. The man grinned, already seeing the body falling at a height. However, just as the arrow was a meter away from the target, a thin spark hit it, making it lose its momentum. "What?!" they yelled, but they couldn''t react in time when sparkling palms found their way on their faces, electrocuting them. BUZZ!! "AHHH!" The men yelled as their bodies shook, falling to the ground, unconscious. "Don''t forget about me," Drake said with a small smile, and Luis grinned. Together, the two warriors guarded the rest of the team, ensuring their safe passage. Drake was still a little weaker though so he was set to be the secondary line of defense while Luis took bulk of the attacks. He would take care of the few leaks, and their hearts lightened up the more people entered the other side. One person inside was a step closer to the war ending! Adrenaline pumped into their veins, wanting to get this war over with. Fortunately, Luis had Class D equipment¡ªincluding the Class D Gauntlet he bought in Ferrol¡ªand so did Drake, and they maximized their equipment and skills to just get this over with. Luis waved around his fiery sword as the close-ranged fighters finally lunged forward, and they came in droves. Soon, the two found their hands full. It was nothing dangerous because the strongest person among the enemies was level 9, but there were more and more of them coming and it was getting challenging to keep them from the ladder. It got to the point where there were only a handful of people from his side left, but more guards arrived to mob on him. The few Alterans still climbing up turned back in worry and¡ªseeing their captain getting mobbed¡ªthey gestured to turn back. "Luis! Drake!" "I''ll be fine! Go!" Although they would still need a few more from the other teams to get through, getting his entire team in the interior was a great achievement. Besides¡ª "I can''t focus if I have to watch over you, too!" he yelled and the others could only reluctantly follow his orders. They looked at Drake who also shooed them away, though he fortunately had to deal with a lot less than Luis so they didn''t worry too much about him. In any case, the cowardly Fargo guards naturally preferred to attack the person mobbed by more people to minimize the risk of injuries, so Luis was surrounded by a wave of enemy much faster than Drake was. "Haaaa!" Luis yelled as he was mobbed, some attacks getting past his defense and just blocked by his equipment. He swung his sword and hit more though and the cowardly guards stepped back, not wanting to be the vanguard against him. Still, he underestimated their shamelessness because, at some point, they just carried those he had already taken down and used their bodies as shield! His eyes twitched as they pummeled at him from different sides. He gritted his teeth as he defended himself, feeling the heat of his own fire. "GRRR!!" Unexpectedly, he felt a force released from his body and a circular hoop of fire whipped around him, hitting everyone around, burning those with no equipment at all. "GAHHH!" "AHH!" "BURNS!" The enemies directly around him yelled as they rolled around, while those behind immediately stepped back, afraid he''d repeat the skill. Luis'' eyebrows rose as he looked at the new notification that floated in front of him. [Learned! Fire Hoop (D) Level 1, creates a whip of fire around the user, 150% damage of normal elemental attack. Cost: 30 mana] His lips twitched. He thought it was super cool but pushed down the need to admire himself to focus on dealing with the rest. The Fargo guards'' momentum had dropped and even if they outnumbered the two of them, they turned tails to run away, making it easier to target their backs. Drake had also cleared up his own battles, joining him in dealing with the remaining forces. The two of them immediately stabbed their legs and tied up the stronger ones. The order was to not kill if it wasn''t necessary¡ªthese men deserved harsher deaths, and too many people needed closure. They secured the bastards before climbing up the ladder, taking it back to his space as soon as the two of them got past the wall. They jumped down with a smile on their faces. The two were immediately surrounded by the team and handed over several potions in case they needed it, making them chuckle. Luis looked around, seeing that all of them entered safe and sound. No new guards arrived either and they knew they were all called to where Miss Althea was. Anyway, they all landed and this meant the other teams only had to get a small portion of their members inside¡ªand Altera would win! Luis punched the air in happiness, while the others tried to hold back their cheers, making their faces red. In the end, some of them couldn''t hold back and cheered. Anyway, they doubted the potential newcomers would be a threat! Come if they wanted to come! Anyway, they also headed towards where the main inner battle was, hoping to help out. Almost there, Altera! Chapter 588 Ansels Team The third team was led by Ansel. Along with him were Hubert, Beanie, and the twins Leo and Luke, among many others. Their group was the largest among the three with a few hundred members. Because it was big, they naturally encountered a lot more enemies than the others, hence their slow pace. Fortunately, they also had a lot of strong members and even someone who was beyond the level cap¡ªLeon, the rare wood user mercenary who stayed in Fargo before. Like how Santos was, Leon''s role was there not just to defend, but also to provide a quick and efficient way to get them in. However, much like how earth users wouldn''t be able to build anything on a system wall, wood users like him wouldn''t be able to crawl vines up either, at least¡­ not directly. Their strategy was to manually build ladders of sorts, reinforced by Leon''s abilities. A few had managed to get in and jump to the other side, but it didn''t take long for someone to see the ladder being held up a wall from a distance. It wasn''t hard as long as someone was monitoring the perimeters and, while they timed the time of the rounds, there were more people there than expected¡ªprobably added just recently¡ªso they were caught a bit earlier than they anticipated. They were immediately surrounded after that. They also got unlucky because, for some reason, this group of guards was large. From what they could see people were coming in on all directions and their quantity was probably more than their own numbers. The enemies started attacking the ladder''s base and they had no choice but to jump down. "Eh, ladder? Should I say creative or flimsy?" One bulky man said, then answered his own question. "It''s stupid. Stupid for attacking our Fargo Village in the first place!" Leon saw who spoke and understood why this group of guards was as big as a battalion. This team happened to have some of Fargo''s confidantes¡ªthe other brother Eli and two mercenaries beyond the level cap with them. One was Fero, a level 16 swordsman, and Gron, a level 17 spearman. They were actually under Fargo''s main guards, but they were assigned to the outer wall after the monster mob. Other than those, there were also two mercenaries just within the level cap of levels 11 and 13. At first glance, this was a tough enemy¡ªmuch tougher than the other teams¡ªand Ansel and the others had two choices. One was either to rush towards the walls but risk those who would be left behind. The second was to finish off these people as quickly as they could in hopes of clearing the trouble¡ªideally before more enemies get to them¡ªthough at the risk of delaying the win and risking their own lives. Ansel and the others who had not yet climbed up opted for the latter. As for those already inside, even before the war, everyone had received instructions not to get out anymore once inside. This was considering the chance that their supposed win could get backtracked or delayed because of it. Once they won the war, around half of these people would become ''slaves'' and they could just order them to fight the others! At least for the duration of this war, they would definitely take advantage of ''slaves'' if only for the safety of their own people. Ansel and the others bravely faced the enemies. The number was about the same. Although the level differences were a bit stark, Alterans still had their good equipment and training to even out the field. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel immediately went head-to-head against Eli, while Leon blocked the way of the two strongmen beyond the level cap. "Oh? A brat being so brave?" Eli uttered with an arrogant smirk as he raised his weapon to block the attack. He pushed him off, and Ansel countered strongly, hitting some Fargo guards nearby. Seeing this, the guards around stepped away, afraid to get hit by accident. Of course, with how careless Eli was with his swinging, he was bound to hit collateral damage even from his own side, disrupting the flow of people somehow. It didn''t help that they were on the street and some people were trapped next to them. Some tried to crawl along the walls to avoid damage, while some directly ducked and crawled away from them. Of course, they could help and attack Ansel from behind, but Ansel immediately activated fire around him, making the cowardly guards afraid to approach. At the very least, they didn''t want to be the ones to approach first and risk their hides, even if the fire wouldn''t be able to kill them as it was. Ansel was only level 10 and they were not too far below him in level, but the guards were selfish and didn''t want to experience pain, so they just opted to avoid this battle. Eli sneered when he saw this, but he knew there were still hundreds of Alterans in front so he just ordered the rest to hunt for them instead. Eventually, the two ended up in a relatively isolated street to focus on their own fights. On the other side, Leon looked at the two strongmen''s eyes, wondering what they''d do in this situation. The guards pretty much just waved around them, knowing very well the level differences were so stark and no one was foolish enough to provoke Leon. While they could just get out of each others'' ways¡ªnone of them would use physical attacks against the enemies anyway¡ªthere were still plenty of ways to hinder the other side. For example, blocking attacks. For example, pushing people away and imbalancing them, making them vulnerable to attacks. Leon raised his weapon¡ªa sword¡ªand some vines appeared around it, subtly surrounding its hilt. He didn''t do anything for now, silently warning the other two not to move or he would attack them. As such, the three people beyond the level cap entered a standstill, while everyone else''s battles began. Chapter 589 Twins Battle The twins Luke and Leo took on the level 13 aborigine, while the level 11 aborigine was handled by a few of the others like Hubert and Beany. The level 13 aborigine looked at the level 11 one. "I''ll take care of these brats, Ply, the usual deal?" The level 11 shrugged, looking at the couple of weaklings who were ready to attack. "Whatever you say, Dung." "Dung? His name is Dung?!" Luke said, looking around and wondering if he was hearing it correctly. When he saw the others were holding down smiles, he burst out laughing. "Pwahahahahahah!" To be fair, Dung''s name didn''t mean the same in the local language, but the aborigine didn''t know that. Anyway, he was being mocked! Dung''s eyes twitched as he looked at the bigger twin, laughing and not paying attention to him. Offended, Dung waved his sword ominously before lunging. "I should teach you to keep attention¡ª" He yelled as he swung his sword, using the momentum to pummel Luke. However, surprisingly, the young lad caught his attack with his spear, only pushed back by a bit. Dung sneered. "Not bad," he said, looking at his Class D spear. "Pays to be rich, right?" Just entered level 10, but already had a Class D weapon! "Naw, just with a backer," Another lad appeared next to him¡ªright by his blind spot. Dung''s eyes twitched as he barely avoided a stab, though he did get grazed and his much-used Class D armor lost another bulk of its durability. He gritted his teeth and glared at the brats. He was not able to glare for long because they immediately sent him a barrage of attacks. How could a man many levels higher accept that he was being pushed back? His eyes turned red, and he immediately used one of his few skills. He directed at the weaker twin because he had a lot more openings. "Super Slash!" He yelled, and a fast slice of aura emanated and hit Leo directly. BANG! "Ah!" Leo flew to the ground. He groaned, definitely getting some internal injuries. Fortunately, his armor was still good and it blocked most of the attack. "Brother!" Luke yelled, heading towards him, but he was blocked by yet another ''super slash'' attack. The larger twin''s eyes turned red in anger as he skilfully waved his spear. The spear suddenly burst into flames, attacking him repeatedly. Clank! Clank! Clank! Eventually, Dung wasn''t able to block and the flamed spear managed to burn his hair. "AH!" he yelled, taking the remaining water in the water bag to douse himself. But the expected relief did not come¡ªon the contrary, the water never touched his head. Instead, the water freaking floated away from him! He saw it was the brat he hit, now standing up though with shaky legs. The lad whipped the water back at him, but rather than his hair it was on one of his wounds. Slap! Slap! Slap! "AH!" He struggled and could only defend against the twins'' attacks, more and more attacks connecting as they entered their own pace. At first, he just thought he was pushed back because he was taken by surprise, but as time went on he realized the brothers had extremely timed coordination. He was pummeled by the fast hits of spears and the slashes of the sword¡ªall of which did not interfere with each other at all! He was also distracted by the small-but-painful whips of water, followed by sparks of fire on another part of his body. Dung quickly found himself overwhelmed! "DAMNIT!" he yelled as he waved his own sword, hoping to hit someone. However, the brothers were agile enough to avoid his hits, just making him extremely angry! Slash! Swoosh! Clank! He gritted his teeth as he felt another small wound appeared on his arm. He couldn''t think too much though, because he was too busy handling the continuous attacks from two elementalists! He turned to look at Ply, maybe to get him to take one, but the guy was being mobbed by four people! Even a fat man with an axe was causing trouble! Orcshit! During this moment of distraction, the water that had been stinging him crawled and rose to his nose. "What th¡ªGrglegurglegurle¡ª" His eyes twitched and he shook his head, breathing with his mouth. He heaved a deep breath as he got rid of the water, but when he raised his head, a fiery spear was looming over him, ready to stab. ''ORCSHIT!'' he cursed and barely managed to catch it with his weapon. "GRR!" He yelled, pushing it back. However, it was at that exact moment when¡ª Slash! His eyes widened as he looked down at the sword that went through the crack of his armor. He turned aside and the next second a spear found his neck. Dung fell down, shocked at his sudden death. Before he completely lost consciousness, he looked up at the sky and at the twins who were looking down at him. "There," Luke said with a smile. "We taught you to pay attention." ¡­ ____ [AUTHOR''S NOTE] HAPPY END OF THE MONTH GUYS~! Thank you for your support so far! As always, extra hugs to the lovelies who vote, gift, comment, and the like! They energize me soooo much! Ahem, now for the announcement. Sometime this year (I hope) I''ll try to upload a new story! I will make sure I have enough drafts for this one before uploading anything so don''t worry about this one entering a hiatus or anything. I''ll defer the planet-building I mentioned before for the future. I''m planning on writing for ML, but with very interesting female characters (not a love interest of ML) for us girlies to identify with. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Which tropes would you be more interested in? 1. Apocalypse + System + Base Building + Dungeon : Basically, aliens would come and it''ll be survival of the fittest. ML has light personality and is a loving father. I''m thinking the relatable female will be the ML''s reborn daughter or smthg. 2.VVMORPG Fantasy World + Apocalypse + System : Starts with VVMORPG that leaks to an apocalypse in the real world. ML is probably a stoic nerd. Relatable female is the ML''s badass sister. What do you thinkkkk~! Chapter 590 Leons Battle Ply and the others were handled by Hubert and the rest of them. They adopted their usual formation with the thick-skinned warriors up front, and the archers and the like protected well behind them. There would also be a few elemental attacks getting thrown at them. Partnered with superior equipment, they soon entered the pace where the Fargo side was slowly getting plucked down while the Alterans were going as strong as ever. The two men at a standstill with Leon saw their side was losing, they frowned and looked at each other. They had been dealing with these people for a while now, and they had seen them with back-up equipment in their space. Normally, they wouldn''t care much¡ªmaking them work for a mere village was degrading enough¡ªbut they had unfortunately signed contracts with Fargo. They weren''t entirely certain what Belize¡ªnow he was dead, for shame¡ªwas thinking but they were expected to do their best as was expected of hired people from the chancery. Now, they had to do some work unless they wanted to lose a lot of money, as per the agreement with Fargo. To be honest, they still found it difficult to believe that Belize and so many others had perished inside the walls! They assumed the Alterans just did some shady things and cheated, because there was no other way! Neither of them mourned though, because with Belize and several others dying, it meant a lot of higher positions in their group were vacant! However, if they lost this battle as well, not only would it be humiliating, but their position in the group would also be affected! At this thought, Fero and Gron immediately made a move. Gron lunged to the enemy side, taking on the attacks of the Alterans which had little effect on him, and allowing the guards behind him to increase their attacks against the enemies. The Alterans fought bravely and swung their weapons, however, many of their attacks were blocked by the darned aborigine. Their good pace of taking down enemies had slowed down, and more and more guards had arrived. If this lasted anymore, they''d be exhausted and who knew when they could cross that damned wall! Similarly, Fero immediately lunged towards Leon¡ªknowing a battle was inevitable. They stepped back and distanced themselves from the main fight to avoid collateral damage¡ªwhether they cared for the people or not, failure to do so would ultimately cause them to get punished. Leon waved his sword to block the enemy''s attack, his ability stabilizing his hold, helping him angle it, increasing control and power, even if only by a bit. This was a skill he learned back when they were in Twinwave Town: Wood Assist. Basically, it was to use the wood ability as a weaker arm. On its own, it didn''t have much power, but when used by someone with skill and timing, it could really increase power. Clank! Clank! Fero''s eyes narrowed as he swung. The more hits they exchanged, the more tired and wounded he was. But he soon realized that the enemy was barely sweating. The pace was completely the other man''s! At this point, he was just keeping him company! Their levels weren''t even far apart! Leon immediately saw the minuscule opening and used his ability to pull his feet and imbalance him. BANG! Leon immediately raised his sword to stab¡ªnot to kill, but to debilitate. "AHHH!" He yelled as he saw the sword buried right in his knee! His eyes widened even more as he saw the man raise his sword again, targeting his other one. "AHHH!!! STOPP!" he yelled, but he couldn''t struggle. One, he was weakened by the deep injury and, second, he was being held down by vines! Splack!! He could only watch helplessly as he was amputated by the enemy, watching his blood flow out, the pain numbing his senses. His mind went to memories of him doing the same thing to countless others. He remembered them begging for mercy, and someone even had the audacity to curse him the same fate. Was this it, then? To his surprise though, the man stopped and wrapped dirty fabric around his cut leg and arms. "AH!" he yelled as the man tightened, stopping the bleeding. Leon looked coldly at the pale man. They were given the orders to kill the mercenary members that were too powerful, but slightly weaker ones could be kept. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One, they should be used for torture of those they made suffer. Second, also for torture, but for more information about their mercenary team among many others. They were aware that the Rongo Mercenary Team was much larger than just Belize and the group here. With so many deaths, it was likely for those people to trace them here and maybe even cause Altera some trouble. They had to be ready for everything. ¡­ Gron saw what happened to his companion and paled, immediately concluding that he had done enough for the contract. Staying here would make him lose his limbs! He turned and gestured to sprint, alarming the others. "He''s escaping!" Leon immediately ran after him, using his ability to wrap around his leg. He still couldn''t use it to lift people up, but it was enough to immobilize people. In fact, his vines were sturdier than conventional ropes and could do the job well enough. However, the man was agile and managed to avoid the vines, using Alterans as shields. Leon''s eyes twitched as he manipulated the vines to get to him. Eventually, he did manage to wrap on his ankle, but it only made the man more desperate. In his mind, no matter what, he must not be captured by this psycho! His eyes looked around and zoned in on the fat man to attack. He chose this person because he was largest and therefore easiest to attack. Using his remaining energy, Gron jumped at the man. Beanie''s eyes widened as he held up his axe to shield himself, but the man was still much more powerful than he was. BANG! "Oof!" Beanie flew to the wall with a bang, the force shaking his entire body. Everyone paled at the sight. "BEANIE!" Before anyone could react though, the familiar ding sounded inside Gron''s mind. [You have failed to follow the rules of war. You are hereby prohibited in joining three wars with legitimate. -600 gold, -60000 experience. Permanent Reduction: -600 health, -600 Spirit, -600 Mana. Debt: -492 Gold and -29822 Experience] All the punishments didn''t mean anything now. He grinned, and looked at the Alterans who watched him disappear in shock. "Damnit!" Leon cursed when he realized the man had been kicked out of the territory. However, instead of chasing, he immediately ran to Beanie along with a few more. Many others were also concerned, but there were still enemies and they couldn''t leave. Their hearts paused when they didn''t see him move for a few moments, and heaved deep breaths when he finally flinched. Hubert kneeled down to pat some dust away. "You alive?" Beanie''s eyes were wide, still shocked, and he looked around, absorbing what happened. He immediately touched his body to see if he was still alive. His armor that had long been damaged had cracked and was therefore vulnerable, but his inner clothing was fine! And so was his body! He laughed, lifting his arms as a sign of victory. "Thank goodness for Lenny''s underwear!" Chapter 591 Wolf Returns "Thank goodness for Lenny''s underwear!" Beanie yelled, immediately flinching afterward. "Okay, I admit that came out wrong." Leon and the others shook their heads, with the others jumping back to the battle. Hubert though paused and looked at Leon worriedly. "What about that escaped guy?" he asked, only to realize the latter had the huge-ass aether letter out. His eyebrows rose. Oh? ¡­ "Oof!" Gron looked at the wall and the forests surrounding him and laughed. Success! He was outside the territory! He had never been so glad to be punished and blacklisted!! Immediately he ran in West, to the nearest territory. Maybe he could get to a town with a Post Office and he''d report everything that had been happening in this damned place! However, before he could even get a hundred yards away from the walls, he felt his steps getting heavier and he realized the soil had softened. His eyebrows furrowed and he walked faster, almost running, but then he stepped on something liquid and hot. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And it was so hot that it burned through his shoes! "AHHHHH!" he yelled, falling down, only to find that the place he landed on was also filled with liquid fire. "GYAHHHH!" He screamed, feeling the liquid fire crawl on his skin, burning through. It felt horrible and he wondered if this was how those men and women felt when he threw them alive in a fire. He suffered like this for what felt like forever, and even after the earth cooled a bit, he felt the insane stinging sensation in his bones. By the time it completely cooled, his face was filled with tears and snot. His skin remained in extreme stinging pain and he struggled, realizing he couldn''t even get out of the ''trap'' at all! It was here that he heard footsteps approaching him and he struggled to see who it was. He looked up and saw several powerful-looking men looking down on him. In the forefront was a handsome man with shoulder-length black hair and pale skin. He knew they were enemies and pushed himself up, only to realize the ground was once again filled with molten earth that burned through his skin! "AHHHHH!!!" The next thing he knew, he was lifted up, already without any strength to struggle. Slowly, he felt his consciousness blackening from the pain. However, he was woken up by a burning hand on his face. "GYAHHHHHHHH!!!" He screamed like a pig and continued to whimper even when the fire stopped. "Don''t die so fast," the man said. "You still have a lot of uses." ¡­ Back in Fargo, Leon began to help out the others in their fights. He used his ability to manifest thinner vines to conserve mana while still doing its job. Using it, he tied down the feet of the particularly troublesome enemies, letting the team take care of them with more ease. Beanie, who had felt like he just gained another life, was particularly swinging with gusto. He joined the war not only to help out, but he also wanted a lot of contribution points. While the leaders of the territory were good friends, he still didn''t consider depending on them too much. Theo''s food and clothing had to be good. He should have a nice room especially when he grew up. He should have complete learning materials. He would also want to be his mother and cook for him, teach him emotional aspects, teach him about girls, and things like that. Beanie had many plans, and gaining from this war also meant a new life for him as well! "AHH!!" yells echoed and there were Alterans ready to take down those who desert the fight as well. Soon, a pile of Fargo guards was placed on the side, some on top of each other, in various states of injury. The Alterans didn''t really care who would be suffocated and they wanted them to suffer more. ... While many of the fights were over, Eli and Ansel''s was still at its peak. Eli was a water user. While he wasn''t as proficient in his element as Ansel was with his, his physical skills and experience were far superior to playboy-Ansel. He was also among the ones focus-trained by the Rongos, so he was already level 10 as well. "AH!" Ansel coughed as a water attack hit him on the chest and he was pushed back by the force. This was followed by another water attack and a weapon attack that almost beheaded him. Ansel gritted his teeth as he waved his weapon, making it explode at inopportune times. Ansel would also use his skills to weaken the enemy bit by bit. Eli gritted his teeth as a hit landed, but it only made him angrier. Ansel wanted to take this chance to maybe hit him a bit more but Eli was an MMA Champion back in the day, and Ansel stood little chance if they focused on physical attacks and techniques. Eli then shifted to avoid a direct hit and Ansel gasped, legs buckling and he couldn''t stop himself from falling a bit, imbalanced. Eli didn''t give him a chance to recover, raising his weapon to go for the kill. "Ansel!" The Alterans nearby yelled, and they ran in their direction, some blocking the remaining enemies, while the rest ran over to assist. However, they couldn''t get there fast enough! There were still enemies to take care of, still many blocking the way, and their hearts dropped at the thought that they could lose Ansel! "Say goodbye, pretty boy!" Eli said with an ugly grin, already imagining how his neck would detach and how blood would splurt up! However, before he could make the kill, his instincts sounded an alarm and he immediately jumped back with his heart raised to his throat. His instincts saved him because where he was¡ªbetween him and the redhead¡ªa white wolf with sharp teeth stood, growling straight at him. Ansel¡ªwho had already apologized to his sister and maybe even Garan for making them sad¡ªblinked when the expected white light didn''t come. White fur though, was what he saw, and he immediately brightened at the sight. "It''s you!!" Chapter 592 White Wolf The wolf had been traveling for months, alone, surviving by eating fruits, plants, or carcasses of monsters that had lost in fights. The wolf''s journey to this place was actually quite interesting. When it ended up near Fargo from Bright, it had actually just followed the scent of blood. Somehow it ended up near the caves, and felt malicious energy from the man, making it want to kill him. So it did, inexplicably saving two lives. It also recognized the person it saved, but not too well, and it just left to resume meandering again. After leaving the areas near the mines, it just went around and round, resuming its banal lifestyle. This changed when after a few days, it felt a special force. The wolf followed its direction, finding a circle with many people coming out. The wolf found them special, and it decided to stay there. For some reason, there was nary a human who sensed its presence. It watched in interest as more and more people came out of the circle and was a little confused when they stopped coming. It turned its head in the direction the people went, following, eventually reaching the walls of the territory. Fargo''s outer wall was two meters, but it wasn''t low enough for low-level monsters to jump over it. However, the wolf was different. It was not high-level but it had a very high jump. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. From a certain distance, it bolstered itself, jumping over the walls and straight towards the streets below. The wolf shook its head as an especially pungent smell reached its nose, but it adjusted and moved on, avoiding such places. It traveled and watched as humans fought humans, though it did give a bit of help here and there. For example, when he saw a small group would encounter a bigger enemy, it would howl. Those men would come in its direction, while the small group would think it was fellow humans who made the sound. It would also pull a few injured people to the side, though it would leave the humans confused as to what happened in the end. Eventually, it ended up in this place where it saw a familiar person with a familiar scent. He was weakened and bloodied, a murderous human looming over him, ready to kill. Knowing the human was about to die, it jumped over to assist, hoping to bite off the person''s head. Back to the war, the wolf lunged at Eli, who immediately jumped back to avoid the wolf''s sharp claws. The man raised his weapon to go against it, blocking its fast attacks. Eli had been a bit weakened and tired by Ansel. So, unable to match its speed and strength, Eli found himself being pushed back. GRRR¡ª The wolf''s pace increased as it continued to try and bite off a part of Eli, and it had been succeeding to nick off bits of skin, each of which was getting very painful. Soon, its teeth managed to bury on a part of his hand, making him lose his grip on his sword. Clank! "Damnit!" he yelled as his sword flew in a direction due to the inertia. He didn''t have time to mourn as he once again jumped back, pulling out his strongest gun¡ªa super shotgun¡ª-and pointed it at the monster while he avoided its deadly claws. This weapon was not inferior to the one the lord had. This was the strongest gun they could take before the migration, and a lot of them managed to secure one. This was his last one, and the remaining bullets were limited because they had dealt with a lot of mobs before settling with the current status quo. However, although he had to waste the few remaining bullets, he would have to! This could still damage a monster until level 5! Judging by the wolf''s appearance, it was definitely lower than that! Ansel''s heart dropped when he saw the guns pointed at it. This wolf wasn''t very high-leveled¡ªnot like Fufi or Gochi¡ªand guns would still have a lot of effect on it! Ansel immediately ran to Eli to stop him from shooting Bang! Bang! Ansel''s eyes widened as he turned to look in the direction of the wolf¡ªrealizing it was gone! "WHAT?!" Eli yelled, looking around. Ansel and the others were also surprised. Surprisingly, the wolf suddenly disappeared. Rather, it went on a stealth mode! If one looked closely, one could see a little distortion in the atmosphere but partnered with its speed, it was really not obvious. BANG! Eli shot where he thought the wolf would be. BANG! Another shot. His eyes twitched, knowing his bullets were limited. An idea came to mind and he manifested water, spraying it around him. He couldn''t make ponds yet, but whatever changes in the damp floor were enough for his experienced eyes! Whoosh¡ª BANG! A whimper sounded and it made Ansel''s heart fall, and Eli grinned widely. "HAHA! FINALLY!" he yelled, his manic eyes pointing in various directions, trying to get that lethal shot. It should be much easier because not only would the beast be slower, but this time there was an occasional nick of blood dropping on the floor. Eli laughed. Sure, it was fast, but Eli had a strong instinct. It was his last bullet, but it was worth using it to deal with this animal! "HEY!" Ansel yelled, appearing near him with his sword. "You didn''t forget you were against me, did you?" "Tsk!" Eli tutted as he avoided the slash, and took out his spare Class E sword from space. Clank! Clank! Ansel pushed him with continuous bursts of attacks and skills. Eli''s Class E weapon soon started showing cracks, unable to handle the barrage from a Class D weapon. Eli gritted his teeth and looked around. He saw his weapon was already gone¡ªlikely taken by this bastard redhead! He saw that he had been isolated, his own teammates slowly getting taken care of, and wouldn''t have the mind to help him out! On the contrary, the redhead had a lot of options. It was humiliating but he had no choice. He turned tail and sprinted, cursing, and swearing he''d definitely get his revenge!! GRRR¡ª "Ah! He yelled as he felt sharp teeth bury in his leg, making him fall face first to the ground. It appeared right next to Eli, and Ansel immediately lunged at Eli at the same time! Eli''s eyes widened and he immediately kicked the wolf repeatedly, barely avoiding Ansel''s attack which stabbed his ear! Kick! Kick! GRRR¡ª "GAAHHH!" Eli screamed as the dog''s bite sunk past his bones. "AHHHH!" Ansel immediately recovered and raised his sword, a blanket of fire concentrating around it. STAB!! And the fiery sword sunk at the man''s neck. Just like that, Eli joined his twin in hell. ¡­ Ansel smiled as he approached the wolf, though he was careful not to be too abrupt in his movements. He took out a little doggy bowl he had in space. It was Fufi''s but surely the wolf wouldn''t mind using it. He added potion there and left it in front of the wolf, staying a meter away. This wasn''t the first time they gave it a potion, so it was aware what it was for. It so happened that Ansel''s legs was also begging to give way, and he ended up sitting where he was, resting his chin on his palms. He happily watched the mysterious wolf as it slowly consumed the potion. "You''re really amazing, girl!" He said with a gentle smile after the wolf consumed the potion. "Did you come to rescue big brother?" The wolf raised its head and stared at him for just a moment. There was something in its stare that made Ansel feel¡­ that he was being looked down on! However, before he could open his mouth, it turned, disappearing out of his view. "..." Chapter 593 Alteras Quality Outside Altera. At this time, a few hundred meters away from the walls, two aborigines were holding their hands up. They weren''t entirely sure what the gesture was for, though. When they went past the array, people on the other side yelled "Hands up!" And they had no choice but to do so¡ªnot with all those arrows pointed at them! They recognized the special-looking bows as the fast-working ones the attacking parties had. An arrow shower alone was dangerous, especially if they shot so fast like that! A tall man with aquiline features walked over along with a few others, looking at them suspiciously. "Who are you?" Eagle asked, looking at the two up and down. He had a special guardedness to Mogi, and was ready to attack him at a moment''s notice. Fargo didn''t have uniforms, but it was obvious who had some force value. It wasn''t just physique and level, he also invested in equipment more compared to normal civilians. The two aborigines looked at each other, a little pale, but gathered themselves enough to answer the man lucidly. "I¡­ we were hired through the Chancery in Fargo, but we decided to go away prematurely." "And?" "Nothing. We would just like to live and work in Altera." "Why?" "To make a living." "..." "..." It took several seconds of staring for Eagle to realize they weren''t being snarky. "You realize you''re not making a very good first impression," Eagle said, crossing his arms. Not to mention, even if they pressed them for information about Fargo to ''prove their worth'' they wouldn''t be able to give him anything. After all, as people hired through the Village Center, they wouldn''t be able to disclose information about the former territories as long as they existed. "We can swear oaths of non-betrayal." Eagle looked at them and sighed. To be honest, while the first impression wasn''t stellar, there was no reason not to take them in. They weren''t particularly strong, but they must''ve been through a lot of territories. Not to mention, when the former territory falls, the agreement would be null, and thus they would be able to disclose more information to them. "Come with me," Eagle said, gesturing for the two to follow him. The other guards stayed in position, no longer aggressive, but still ready to attack. Mogi and Rona looked at each other and heaved deep breaths before following the man''s tracks. Only then did they finally have the mind to look forward, and soon the large level 5 wall emerged from the forest. Then they looked at the sentries which looked to only be more than 100 yards apart! A level 5 sentry had this length as the range. This meant some areas had two sentries guarding! How much did all this cost?! While they weren''t aware of the exact amounts, they knew from how their previous lords would solicit money that a few sentries wouldn''t be cheap, let alone all of these! No wonder the attacking force alone was so strong! Even their ''home ground'' was like this! Just from this, they knew: Fargo stood no chance against this place! ¡­ While new aborigines were being eased in, a few visitors from a Town were lounging in the tea house. They sat on the edge of the balcony, near the nice ivy walls, having a good view of what was happening below. They were sipping their tea relaxedly, with various food platters on the table between them. At this time, there were very few people walking on the streets. Most of those in the territory, except for the guards, were the old people or the disabled. There were also medical personnel and children. "I heard that they didn''t have slaves nor did they have as many guards as most Level 3 Villages, but a good amount of their citizens willingly joined in the war," a man with dark skin and curly hair said as he chewed on a sweet and juicy watermelon. He moaned a bit before continuing his sentence, "I''m amazed how much force they could get from the citizens. I heard they didn''t get paid much either, just the so-called ''contribution points''." The person next to him, a narrow-eyed man with light skin, was only nodding while continuously eating various fruits in front of him. Disregarding his posh clothes and items, one would think he had been famished for a long time. One of the features of Altera was its massive variety of sweet fruits. Sweet fruits weren''t very common in Xeno. In fact, this was not surprising. Even in ancient Terran, it was a similar case. The majority of the sweet fruits known to modern men were products of breeding. The original forms were far from what modern people knew, and few were naturally sweet. In Xeno, other than the Gouji fruit which was found in most places, there were only a handful of other sweet varieties that were spread across the continent. People in cities¡ªwhich had a lot of subsidiaries and access to distant territories¡ªhad more access to these fruits, but even nobles in Towns had limited range. One could imagine how amazed they were to see this ''fruit platter''! Jonathan, chewing on a lovely luscious strawberry, saw the platter was almost done again. He wanted to kick these people but then he recalled his upbringing. Instead, he turned to the owner who was standing on his counter with a wide smile. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Can we have another platter, please?" When he asked, he was actually a little nervous. What if there was no more stock? Surely, such good fruits were rare! "Yes, sir, of course!" His group heaved a sigh of relief with his answer, almost drooling when another platter came out. Sao smiled. He earned huge amounts of money with this order! "Can''t we really buy everything?" Ping, the narrowed-eyed man, asked Sao for the nth time that day. "We will buy for twice the market price!" Sao shook his head. "We implement a purchase limit here, sir. In fact, I already made an exemption serving this much to you. This is because most of our citizens are outside right now, so we had some available." "I see¡­" "Well, we came at the right time, then," Jonathan mumbled, cleared his throat, and ate another piece. Sao then excused himself and returned to his counter while the aborigines looked at each other, afraid to miss much of the platter. "Before, I was hoping the war would end quickly so we could talk business with their Elders, but now I''m reluctant," Ping said, moaning at the taste of a different fruit. "It''s only been a few hours," another one said, rolling his eyes. Wars typically used the entire day, if not the majority of it. "We should just take our time and enjoy," Jonathan said, earning various approving nods from the people around him. And enjoy, they shall. . . . A few minutes of relaxation later, Soa suddenly stood up. It was a bit abrupt so they ended up looking at him. He had already gotten out of his counter, apparently up to greet a new set of customers. This made the townsfolk''s eyebrows rise. They didn''t get that big a welcome. When they entered, the man only stood and smiled, guiding them politely to their table! Before they could get offended however, they saw the group of men and women with golden hair climbing up. Everyone gaped, looking at the newcomers in disbelief. COULD IT BE?! Chapter 594 Three Old Men An Hour Ago. Because all of their local friends had been busy with the war, the Golds with Cassandra and Veronica were left exploring on their own. The streets were mostly empty except for a few gardeners and hawkers, while the rest of those remaining were inside buildings and factories doing their jobs. Altera set a limit to the level of participants to a relatively higher level, which was really considerate of them. However, they also felt those left behind wanted to do their parts for the territory¡ªwhich was why even when working hours were over at this time, no one had timed out. Normally, people would be coming out of the buildings in droves, looking for a place or somewhere to eat. Somehow, they ended up in an alcohol shop with a very colorful sign¡ªVino''s Alcohol Shop. This store had been hyped up for a while, especially in the tavern and the boys had brightened at the sight of it. The boys immediately entered and the girls had no choice but to come with them. Right behind them were also a few passerbys who¡ªif one was watching them earlier¡ªhad actually hanging around the alcohol shop as soon as the normal working hours were over. Of course, the Golds didn''t know this, and they simply entered the shop in curiosity. It was just 1 store with no tables as well as some drawings as decorations on the wall. The room was divided by a counter in the middle, extending through the shop''s entire width. There was understandably no one around except the muscular man behind the counter¡ªwho they also recognized as the owner of the Tavern, Vino. And the man brightened at the sight of them. "WELCOME GOOD GUESTS!" he bellowed, making them flinch a bit. They cleared their throats and approached the counter, looking at the displays meticulously arranged behind the muscular man. They couldn''t help but appreciate the wide array of drinks behind the counter. There were various jars with different names and colors. There were also some descriptions with font big enough so the customers could read. The language used was very flowery, and it got them very curious. So, they asked a few questions and, surprisingly, the man offered them a try. "For you sirs and madames, we can give free taste," Vino said, giving them small cups each. This made the other people behind the line gasp. They were actually three old men with varying physical features. "GASP! NO FAIR VINO! You never give me free taste!" One dark-skinned old man said, looking him in the eye. The pale and thin old man behind him nodded. "Me neither!" And behind them both, there was the smallest one with a hunched back. "Do you only like handsome men!" Vino''s eyes twitched. "SHUT UP! Buy a big bottle from me and we''ll talk!" S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, Vino wouldn''t normally give free taste. The line of products sold here was much higher end than what was sold in the tavern! This was much, much, more costly and cumbersome to make¡ªalso consisting of more expensive and rarer raw materials¡ªand therefore much more expensive as well. Hence, considering this, many people would just get a free taste and be happy with that. For instance, most of the people from behind were just there to ''abduct'' whoever bought his product, asking them for a taste! From what he heard, they would only ask for a sip, but who wanted to share expensive alcohol? At the same time, who could reject old men so coldheartedly? This group of old men was well-known. They survived so long because they found Altera early, coming with Mathilda''s group. They came from a retirement center and survived so long due to pure luck. When their physiques somewhat improved due to leveling up, they realized they could move, and were passionate to do some work done. They had been one of the pioneers of gathering resources for the territory as much as they could. If anyone wanted to go fight in the war, it would be them. Unfortunately, even if everyone improved physically, the improvement of a negative was still zero, so in terms of strength these men were left behind. Further, they had white collar jobs in their youth which were completely obsolete in Xeno¡ªso they were stuck with resource gathering or cleaning. Anyway, they now apparently wanted to drown their stress with superior-grade alcohol, but they definitely did not have the money to buy a pint. So¡­ them asking for free taste? DREAM! But the Golds, on the contrary, were rich aborigines! His smile resumed as he looked at his fat sheep. He took out three bottles of his most expensive products. The Golds noticed that it was also wet outside, which they would later learn to be ''condensation''. Otto''s blue eyes fixed on the nearest bottle. "May I? He asked, touching the surprise. He was a bit surprised. "It''s cool." Vino smiled. "Yes! Saltpeter has now been made commercially available so cool drinks are no problem!" One of the old men clapped.. "Wow!! We can make more ice now!" "Very good, very good." "Our drinks can finally be cold!" Obi and the others had some idea what ice could be used for, but they had no idea the vastness of its use in these people''s imaginations just yet. Behind them, the old men expressed their excitement very much. "How refreshing! They said you got to put ice on your eyebags to lessen them." "Old man, if the skin is loose there''s nothing we can do about it." "Really?" The dark-skinned old man ignored them and just looked at the ceiling in an excited daze. "I don''t have trialphas anymore! I can eat ice cream again!" "Yes! Although I don''t have teeth anymore, that creamy goodness will be heavenly!" Vino''s eyes twitched at the noise the old men were making. But then he looked at the Golds who seemed amused, but he didn''t dare think they''d keep feeling that way when the old men started bothering them directly. Vino imagined the worst-case scenario. They were so old¡ªa push could injure them. So Vino waved his hand in the end. "Shoo! Shoo!" he said. "Go wait at the tavern," he said. "I''m hiring some labor and I wanna test you guys." "What?" "Really?" "Yes, yes, now go before I change my mind!" And the three old men rushed to the tavern¡ªnot that they were very fast. Because life in Altera was getting better, the demand for his product had indeed been increasing. While the old men''s productivity wouldn''t be as big as younger people''s, he just thought he would be ''giving back'' to the needy or something. Besides, maybe back in Terran, those old men shaped the world they knew or something. Vino''s job wasn''t that demanding. They could still gather resources as a side hustle, even. However, in order to meet the men''s alcohol demands, he decided to add a bit of perks to their job in exchange for lower pay. The Golds saw his defeated expression and smiled. "That''s very kind of you," Olga said, chuckling. He could only smile weakly at them. "Well, Alterans help Alterans out." Chapter 595 Meeting of Future Business Partners "Anyway, enough of those old men. Let me introduce you to my three most premium products¡ªthe ones in my tavern cannot compare!" "First is my King Malt Whiskey¡ªcrafted with meticulous care and secret techniques using the finest barley Altera can offer. It is distilled in special pot stills and aged in seasoned oak barrels, rousing a special flavor that can be quite addicting." He specifically rented a Level 2 Farm not for the planting, but for the enhanced fermentation! He continued to tell them more as he poured down a bit on each of their samplers."It is rich amber color and rich of sophisticated flavor¡ªfeaturing notes of various kinds of dried fruits, warm spices¡ªadded with a hint of smokiness, leaving a smooth and lingering finish on the tongue." People of Xeno had enhanced senses, and the whiff of the aroma that entered their noses was already an experience in and of itself. The men curiously lifted their personal cups, tasting, and their eyes brightened at the richness of it! It was also extremely refreshing, as if it cooled down her entire body. Otto, in particular, tasted the layers of flavors, and appreciated it on a deeper level. "Delicious!" The taste was really special! They had of course drunk in the Heartbreak Tavern. But there seemed to be something different this time. It was also cool¡ªadding to the refreshing feel. Vino proceeded on introducing some more wine¡ªmany of which were apparently not available in his tavern! Next, there was what he called the Pineapple Brandy, a golden brandy made from the finest pineapples¡ªa fruit that was not yet as commercially available as the others. It was fermented and double distilled to create this smooth and potent spirit. Finally, there was the Plum Amaretto, a sophisticated mix from rice plums and almonds, fermented and blended to taste the delicate almond essence. The techniques for both these liquors were special and not available to most, even to those working with liquor. Hence, Vino was confident in this extremely ''premier'' line of products of his! "These are so rare, it''s better for me to make exclusive lines of products from them," he said, smiling at them. "But because I know you''re big customers, I''m going to give it to you at a promo: 3 bottles for just 50 gold!!" Note that the bottle wasn''t even that big. But Otto didn''t seem to falter. "I''ll buy as many bottles as I''m allowed!" "Yes, yes." Anyway, they easily added a few bottles in their space, only to realize that a few didn''t fit anymore! Note that some of them had space stones! And they were all filled up after a few days in this place! Anyway, seeing as some bottles couldn''t be stored, they decided to taste a bit. The girls were all hungry for fruit, so they decided to have a drink in the teahouse instead, which lead to the current scene of Cassandra gaping at the newcomers. "Cousin?" She asked, surprised to see the man here. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh! My beautiful cousin, Cassandra¡­" Jonathan said with a smile that made Cassandra''s eyes twitch. The man then turned to the Golds, sporting an even wider smile. "I¡­ My name is Jonathan, Lord of Ferrol Town." "Ah, yes," Otto and the others nodded. "Nice to meet you." While the Golds were civil, Cassandra couldn''t help but feel worried. She looked at Jonathan up and down. Her parents didn''t send him here, did they? "When did you get here? And why?" Although Towntown lords could easily and safely travel around villages due to their strengths, it didn''t normally happen. For the most part, they would see it ''below'' them, so it was almost impossible to see a Town lord visiting a village at all. Jonathan shrugged, unashamed. "Well, the mercenary team seduced us." "Ah, makes sense." "And the Golds¡­" "Oslo brought them here." "Oslo?" "He got hired in Altera." "OH¡­" So Altera was actually the one who got the Golds? And it had been more than a month. This meant he not only returned, but brought his siblings with him! It ended up being a blessing that his affiliates didn''t get him. After all, if it was his subsidiaries'' villages the Gold landed at, it was likely he''d have just gone home after the 1st month, never to be seen again! Anyway, Jonathan and the others naturally served as hosts and started pandering a bit. Although the lord of a town was considered a noble, a top noble in the city was still superior¡ªespecially one as rich as the Golds. Anyway, it was naturally a little awkward between the two groups except for the cousins, but the ice was broken when Soa arrived with their orders. As such, few more fruit platters were served and the groups started to talk to each other. "I had been to Ferrol Town a few times in the past for an event," Otto said. "Good job." For a Town, Ferrol Town was definitely well-managed. Jonathan flinched and almost cried. "Thank you!" he said. "If there''s anything I should improve, I would be open to suggestions." Otto blinked and looked around. "Well, I think watching Altera would be enlightening for all of us." At this topic, everyone''s spines straightened. Jonathan looked at Otto, the top businessman of Bleulle, inheriting his maternal bloodline''s prowess, "Speaking of Altera Village. What do you think so far, especially since you''ve been here a few days." Otto''s eyebrows rose at the question. He smirked, though he answered honestly. "Though I have only been to cities and towns, it''s safe to say Altera Village is far superior than others in its ranks. "It has novel ideas, amenities, products, and the like. Its people are happy as well, even if they weren''t rich. After staying here, I''ve come to realize that the role of each individual was far greater than we thought. "Overall¡­ It has a growth potential superior to Bleulle." This made every man''s business senses tingle even stronger. They knew Altera was good from what they''ve seen so far, but words from the expert definitely had much more weight! Altera¡­ was definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with! If they won this war, of course. Chapter 596 Fargos Warehouse At this time, Althea had already jumped down to ground level, meeting with Fufi as the rest remained to clear out the enemies and handle the fallen slaves. Although the smoke bomb was effective to their level, she had seen how the slaves had been pushing themselves despite virtually being incredibly weak. She had also heard that ''orders'', especially from the lord, could make slaves perform far more than what their bodies would allow, so they didn''t dare feel complacent even if they were asleep now. However, they obviously didn''t have enough ropes for hundreds of people, so they could only keep them in the coralle until the war was over. She followed Fufi as he traced the man''s scent. Where would he hide? Would he go to his home? Did he build a bunker there? It wasn''t that they didn''t think of it, but so far there was no signal flare from the people who were tasked to monitor it. Where was the safest place a lord could go? Boom! She looked up to see that a flare did explode, though it was in a different direction from his home. She blinked. The Warehouse! Althea and Fufi hurried to the location, hoping Fargo hadn''t entered yet. Although she assigned a few people there, she also knew the warehouse was guarded by a number of guards, some of whom were mercenaries. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although most of these guards had been called to join the fights, Fargo would never leave it completely unguarded. From what she knew, Fargo had upgraded his warehouse, and it would probably take them hours and massive amounts of energy before they could destroy it¡ªthat was granted the remaining guards (if there were any) didn''t arrive on time to handle the threats! Too many things could happen during that duration. Their remaining hundreds of guards could recover, the slaves could wake up, and many other things. At this thought, the two''s pace increased. Althea truly hoped it was not too late! ¡­ At this time, right outside the warehouse, two groups of people were at a standstill. Fargo and his remaining guards were a couple of meters away from the warehouse, outside the walls of the warehouse. Unlike Altera, the buildings here were relatively dense. The exterior circle was filled with shanties, while the interior looked a lot like a dense downtown area in modern Terran rural towns. For the warehouse, Fargo opted for a design like Terran where there was some space around the warehouse and then surrounded by a Level 2 wall around it. The space around would be used as standby area for the items to be placed in the warehouse. Only the lord could take items in and out of the building¡ªwhich felt a little below him¡ªand it was his way to lessen his own workload. At this time, the gate was opened and the two guards remaining assigned to the area were down pn the ground. Victor and a few were blocking Fargo''s way. They were all bloodied and injured, but impressively their stances were stable. From another angle just outside Fargo''s line of sight, one would be able to see Juni and a few other girls hidden in an alleyway, with Juni holding out her sword in defense, but otherwise safe. Victor''s mission was in the Mercenary Hall, which was near the warehouse and the Village Center as part of the core area of the territory. Victor and the others were traversing the inner circle, taking care of the few guards¡ªdeserters¡ªthey encountered. But then the flare exploded nearby and they quickly hid the women as they checked on what was happening. When they realized it was Fargo and two guards rushing to the warehouse, they didn''t hesitate on using much of their energy to take care of the two guards at the gate. The two guards were just below the level cap at level 13 and 14, which meant it was not an easy fight. But they chose to do this because they saw the guards next to Fargo were beyond the level cap¡ªat the very least, with two down, they only had to worry about attacks coming from Fargo himself. Fortunately, the two people assigned by Altera to the warehouse¡ªJoe and Lee¡ªjoined them so they could handle the mercenaries as fast as they could before having to defend against the three strongmen coming¡­ and they did so desperately. Even if the two strongmen pushed them away repeatedly, they would immediately stand back up, making sure to block Fargo''s way inside. Victor and the others actually didn''t know the extent of which a warehouse could actually save a lord''s life. They just thought the enemies could still have weapons inside, so they did their best to block their way. This had only been going on for about a minute but Fargo''s eyes were red with impatience. His sharp eyes looked around to see if there was anything they could use. He looked at the second floor of the nearby houses and saw a few people looking over to see what was happening. Most of these people were Fargo sympathizers¡ªwhich was how they could afford houses in core areas¡ªand seeing it was their lord and powerful mercenaries, they finally found the courage to look out their windows. Fargo found a few very familiar faces. He recognized one as Jall, a middle-aged man who had deep pockets and a knack for gossip. The man actually had the money required to be a lord himself, but did not have the potential (he only had Class C potential) needed. Fargo made sure to ally himself well with the man, easily getting much of his wealth in the process. This was in exchange for some perks, of course, in the form of slaves. Through him, Fargo also found out about a lot of people who wanted to cause him trouble, all of whom were¡ªwith the exception of Victor¡ªpromptly ''taken care of''. The man was waving at him, and then pointing in a direction. He turned to the aborigines, who immediately lunged in the direction that made Victor and the others pale. "NO!" they yelled as they watched the two high-leveled people rush over to the helpless women, who could only scream in shock. Chapter 597 Hostage Situation Victor and the others paled. Most of the soldiers and Alterans rushed to block while Victor and Ken continued to block the warehouse, forcing their eyes not to leave Fargo''s figure for a second. However, despite the soldiers outnumbering the aborigines, they were still weak from the previous fight and the level gap wasn''t small, so they were pushed away with some effort. The aborigines cursed with the amount of force they had to unconsciously use though, afraid that they''d get punished. From what they heard, the punishments for breaking the level cap rules were really harsh and permanent! Hence, the two lowered their forces even more, so Benny and the others didn''t get injured even if they were pushed around a lot. Of course, even if there was little injury, getting pushed around so much was tiring and dizzying, and the aborigines took the chance to finally get a hold of the women. Aka and Okra arrived at the alley a second later, eyes glinting in interest as they saw the group of women there! They knew these women! They quite liked the taste of them! How could they let them get away so easily? Seeing the two men there, many of the women shook in fear. It did not help that these two men had abused most of them¡ªmany at the same time! Memories of the abuse attacked their psyche and many of them fell screaming, even when nothing had been done to them yet. "KYAAA!" "No, please, no¡ª" "Please don''t¡ªwuuu¡­" In front of them, Juni pursed her lips, thinking of what to do. She was only one woman in the end. Her eyes lifted to the man on the second floor¡ªhe was unsightly, both in appearance and in conduct¡ªand she could tell how he fit well with Fargo''s group as a citizen. He seemed to be amused by the show, even a little proud he ''contributed'' to this war. She couldn''t give him much thought for now, her eyes shifting back at the amused men in front of them. Okra smirked and headed towards the women while Aka blocked the way. The women stepped back in panic. Those who had some mind pulled the ones too traumatized to move. One of the few who could guide the women was Juliet, the psychologist. Many of these women had been her patients in this place, and her soothing voice did help in their movements. However, the alleyway was narrow and they couldn''t move fast enough in the end! Their hearts dropped as Juni''s neck was grabbed on one hand, and the free hand gestured to grab another. "WOOF!" Suddenly though Okra and Aka had to duck, letting go of the women. They barely avoided a fast slash, and the next thing the women knew, a large figure appeared in front of them. WOOF! Juni looked at the golden creature blocking the way. Because of his size and the narrowness of the alley, he really appeared like a large wall creating a protective barrier between them and the abusers. Her heart softened, her eyes brimming with tears at the sight of a familiar ''brethren''. "Fufi!" WOOF! At the same time, Fargo''s eyes widened at the sight of the canine and immediately ducked by instinct. He felt the whoosh of an arrow barely missing him again. "Come back here!" he yelled, and immediately Aka and Okra stepped back, appearing next to him after the humiliating block. Fargo cursed and he turned in the direction of the arrow. That woman''s appearance made things even more complicated. Althea walked forward, reaching the women''s area so Fufi would have easier time guarding the women. She also looked up to look at a higher floor. The women were hidden well, and there was no reason for Fargo to know where they were exactly unless someone pointed him in the right direction. Unfortunately, there was no one there now, but it reminded her that there were still plenty of sympathizers around¡ªespecially in this ''prime'' inner circle. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Those people would definitely have to be rounded off as well when Altera wins this war. Those bad apples had no place in her territories! "Give it up Fargo," she said. "Just give the token and I promise not to make you suffer (too much)." Fargo did not grace her with an answer, his sharp eyes simply looking around, looking for a way to increase his chances. At this point, every one of his forces was either down or being held back by Alterans. He was alone with two aborigines who, while strong, weren''t willing to make aggressive attacks lest they be penalized. The sympathizers had also gone back to hiding, knowing that helping him out at this time could put them in danger. Ungrateful trash. Fargo looked at the warehouse that was so close. However, seeing as the woman was here, it could be said that the damned useless slaves failed to keep them at bay. There were still so many hours before the war could end and just hiding in the warehouse would be useless. The Alterans definitely still had time to destroy the warehouse while he hid in there like the coward that he was not. Fargo''s mind ran, despite the headache, in an attempt to find a way to get himself out of this situation. His eyes ended up on Rasso, whose arm was bloodied, but was valiantly holding his weapon out with the women behind him, protecting them with the stupid dog. "I have your son, you know, shouldn''t you be helping me?" Victor and the others looked at Rasso guardedly, but the man pursed his lips, glaring at Fargo. "We''ll save him when you''re dead!!" Heh. He looked at Okra who nodded and headed in a direction¡ªwhich they would soon know was the direction of his house. Althea watched as the signal flare light up and everyone''s heart dropped when Okra brought in a young boy with him. At this, Rasso''s steadfast attitude immediately faltered. "RIAN!!" Fargo smiled at his face and then looked at Althea, who had gone a little pale. "Other than the kid, you must know there are still thousands of slaves out there waiting to move. I don''t know how you dealt with them, but I can assure you my orders would inject incredible power in them¡ªeven if it meant destroying their bodies. "What do you say? Are you open to making a deal with me?" Chapter 598 The Deal They looked at the poor boy, only 11 or 12 years of age, thin and messy. He was covered with bruises all over his body and his eyes were brimming with tears as he looked at his father. However, there must''ve been an order for him not to speak, because all he could do at this time was whimper. The boy came from Bright¡ªa good territory that treated its citizens well¡ªand yet the boy looked so horrible even after just a few days. It was obvious he suffered a lot. Just the imagery made their blood boil in outrage, but at the same time, they couldn''t attack recklessly lest they accidentally take the boy''s life. "I heard about your outburst when the slaves arrived... Of course, we kept this card safe and sound for you. Aren''t you thankful?" Okra chuckled as he handed the boy over to Fargo who had a dagger ready in his hand. He put the blade threateningly on the boy''s neck, making everyone pale. A millimeter closer to the boy''s skin was a stab to his father''s heart. "RIANN!!!" he sobbed, wanting to approach, but could only freeze when the dagger was pushed a bit deeper as he moved forward, making the lad bleed a bit. His feet halted so quickly that his knees buckled. Juliet walked over to him to pat his shoulder, silently asking him to calm down, though how could a parent truly calm when his child''s life was being threatened right in front of his eyes? Fargo and the others loved seeing such sights, making their dour mood a bit better. "I happen to know the human body very well," Fargo said, "I know exactly where the carotid artery is, and I assure you I will not miss." "No¡­ please don''t¡­" Rasso pleaded, looking at him. He did not bother standing up, so now it seemed like he was begging Fargo. ¡­which he was. "Help us convince the Alterans to take the deal. Maybe your son can keep his life." The man flinched and he looked to the side, meeting Althea''s eyes. Although they didn''t know each other, the woman had a certain stance and aura around her that told him she was someone whose words had weight. Not to mention, Fargo himself seemed wary of her. Without hesitation, Rasso¡ªwho was already kneeling down¡ªcrawled to go near Althea, rubbing his hands together. "Save him please, please. I''ll do anything." Althea looked at everything in deep thought. Alterans'' mantra had always been ''life first'', so this was indeed a heavy dilemma for her. While she didn''t want to give Fargo leeway into a discussion, the boy and the other ''slaves'' were thousands of lives depending on her decision. It was really not much to consider. Not to mention, it sounded so¡­ concrete when there was one person directly begging for her mercy. Fargo looked at Althea. "I''m getting impatient," he said. "Do you want this kid''s head to fly or see an unknown number of slaves destroy their limbs?" He knew these people had soft hearts. He had been taking advantage of Victor and the others through this, and he shall continue doing so. Sure enough, Althea''s shoulders softened, signaling that she was about to succumb. "What do you want Fargo?" "Let me go!" Althea narrowed her eyes as she looked at him, taking a beat before speaking. "Not possible," she said. "Not unless you give me the Lord Token for both Fargo and Bright." This naturally heckled a few feathers but she raised her delicate palm to continue speaking. "I also want everything you own in your spaces. Only then can I let all of you go, what do you say? Oh, and you''ll need to swear on it as well." Fargo''s headache immediately worsened. "Dream!" The standstill continued for a few moments, with Fargo seriously just considering killing the kid. On the other hand, Althea had been chewing mana cookies all this time, actually trying to delay the conflict while she recovered her mana. A second later, she took down her normal bow and arrow and replaced it with the Bellagio. She pulled it back, ready to shoot. It could only make one good shot and she''d be spent, but she had little choice right now. The sight of it made the three enemies flinch, understanding its power too well. However, they had their pride and didn''t show anything on their faces. On the contrary, they were prepared to do whatever to avoid getting hit by the damned weapon. "I forgot to tell you I recovered some mana," she said. "I can kill you now. And maybe even them," she said, looking at the two aborigines who immediately flinched. Fargo growled. "Lies!" "Wanna bet?" She tried not to show any doubts. In fact, a shot left would only gravely injure if it hit¡ªassuming that it hit¡ªFargo, let alone one of the aborigines. If she missed, a lot of lives would be lost. Fargo''s eyes turned red as he saw the glimmering weapon. Then he looked at how they were surrounded by the enemies. He might have strong guards, but they weren''t willing to kill! Rather, he had seen how they both flinched at the sight of the weapon! In their minds, if it hit, it could really kill them. Maybe they were already planning their exit at this moment! Before either of the two men abandoned him, Fargo had no choice but to¡­ compromise. The mere thought made him feel like he was boiling in anger and shame. He had never compromised in his life, but look at him now! His whole body was physically in pain with how everything was just not going to plan! His red eyes turned to look at that woman who was standing still, ready to attack at a moment''s notice. "FINE!" he said. Even if he loses the village¡ªfor now¡ªat the very least, he could get the rest of the Rongos to attack this place! Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And, most importantly: Destroy Altera! Chapter 599 The Loss of Fargo In his mind, he was already torturing this woman and her people to death, looking down as they pleaded and begged for mercy. However, before he could even be a slightest bit happy with this plan, the woman''s voice resounded in his mind again. "Swear to never attack Altera Village or any of its affiliates." "What?" "Do you really think I''m an idiot?" Fargo''s eyes twitched as the damned headache broke into his mind again, and it felt like a long needle stabbed his eye straight to his brain. "The war is still ongoing, and my mana has more or less recovered," she said, lying with a straight face. "I''ve been dying to test out a few skills with humans. Why don''t you die for science?" "I always wanted to know how painful your head is right now." His eyes widened and he looked at her. "YOU!!" At that moment, he felt another sharp bout of pain attack his head. However, Fargo was still someone who had been trained thoroughly in tortures¡ªand this included undergoing them himself as a child. How could a little headache shake him? The knife on the boy''s neck remained stable to Althea''s disappointment. He glared at her, his eyes seeming to drip in blood. "HEAL ME!" "I can swear to alleviate your pain if you take the deal," she said. "Otherwise, it can go so much worse." Althea was actually not sure about the effects of the thing. In fact, it was thoroughly possible for the effects to disappear or get muted when he leveled up, but she certainly wasn''t going to tell him that. At the same time, she didn''t want Fargo to use the boy and his father to prematurely give him the antidote (which she didn''t have by the way). "And don''t think I''m as soft-hearted as these soldiers. I''m still a scientist at heart. I may be more interested in seeing how my poison affects your body." At this, Fargo had no choice but to succumb. "FINE!" he said in the end. However, he was not a suicidal idiot either, modifying the agreement to what he needed. "But you, too, must swear an oath, to take away this headache without further damage to me. You will also allow me¡ªas well as all the surviving members my guards and of the Rongo mercenary team¡ªto leave the territory safe and sound. "And you must also allow us to leave us with all of our belongings." He wasn''t an idiot who would allow himself to venture out without weapons! "That is my minimum request. Otherwise, we might as well all die here!" Althea thought for a while. Leaving them out without their belongings was indeed almost akin to death, and there was no way Fargo would agree to it. Even if there were a few strongmen left, they would still fall if mobbed by hundreds of monsters without anything. Althea nodded and, after several moments of peace, the two of them entered the Village Hall. "You''re doing the oath?" "Yes." He looked at her with narrow eyes. "You sure are powerful enough to represent your territory." Althea''s face remained unchanged. "The system assigned me to lead this war," she said and hopped to the platform without another word. Fargo also did the same, leaving the boy to Okra''s hands. Althea stood tall and firm, telling them the contents of their oaths. She repeated it a few times, ensuring they wouldn''t miss a thing. She watched them do their oaths, watching their wordings and correcting as many loopholes as she could. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Victor and the others watched with complicated expressions. Would they really have to let go of Fargo like this? However, they also knew they weren''t strong enough to risk otherwise. After the oaths, Fargo raised his head to look at her, as if remembering her face¡ªprobably so he could vividly dream of her torture. Althea felt this, but she didn''t show anything. "Your turn," he said, similarly listening to what she said. Anyway, his oath was valid only if he agreed to hers. "I swear that I, an elder of Altera and its representative during the duration of this war, will give Fargo the solution to take away the pain I caused and tell him the way to keep his condition from worsening." Fargo looked at her suspiciously at this and Althea ignored him, continuing with her oath. "I shall also allow Amon Fargo and his surviving and ambulatory allies to leave the gates of Fargo Village¡ªexclusively on this date." That was to say, anyone he decided to leave and plant could be hunted down after the day. Fargo internally cursed at this and looked at her. "Ambulatory?" "You''re not going to take the ones who can''t walk anymore, right? Besides, we cannot hurt any of you after this." Fargo looked coolly at her. If one didn''t look at how bloodied he was and how his normally meticulous hair looked now, one wouldn''t realize this man just experienced a crushing defeat. "Add you, your people, or anyone else can attack us, even outside the walls." Althea''s eyes showed a glint of sharpness then. "No one participating in this war, including citizens of Fargo left behind, can attack you today, even outside the gate." After a few more tweaks, they locked the agreement. What he didn''t know was that a lot of the guards had their legs damaged as an instruction early on. How many men could really come with him in the end? Even when they get out, how many could really help out in the end? At best, they''d only be meatshields. They stood to the side so Fargo could fulfill his part of the deal as Althea took out a bottle of diluted healing potion to help him out. Immediately, Fargo felt the headache subside. "What about the rest?" he asked. "I can tell you believe it will have lingering effects." Althea shrugged. "Just level up," she said. Fargo''s dark eyes looked at her before taking out the two tokens hidden in his clothes. "I''m surprised you didn''t put it in the space," she said, lying with a straight face again. "Or is it that they couldn''t be placed in the space?" "Take this token for yourself and you will know." "Not interested," she said. "I prefer just poisoning people than leading a territory." Fargo didn''t answer her anymore and simply extended his large palms to hand the tokens over to her. His large bloodstained hands lingered on her clean and soft ones a little longer than proper. Althea pushed down the disgust, knowing that it wasn''t the time to push this man''s buttons, and simply used her assessment skill to confirm the validity of the tokens. [Used! Assessment Skill! Lord Token of Bright Village (Lv3)] [Used! Assessment Skill! Lord Token of Fargo Village (Lv3)] She nodded, feeling a bit relieved, but her guard still didn''t drop by a little, afraid Fargo found a loophole somewhere. Fargo and the two aborigines then gestured to finally leave, though not forgetting to look darkly at everyone else in that room. There were definitely dark thoughts in their mind but the Alterans and their allies couldn''t have the mind for them. When the three exited the center, the long-awaited announcement coincidentally echoed in her head. [Ding! Altera Village (Lv3) had met the conditions of winning against Fargo Village (Lv3). (The rewards would automatically be added to your system). Speed Bonus: +20% Rewards] [Gained! +625 Gold, +58422 Silver, +2431190 Copper from the territory!] [Gained! +812 Gold, +26232 Silver, +992111 Copper from New Slaves!] [Gained! +5932 New Slaves, +2612 Old Slaves.] [You have chosen not to Merge at this time.] Her eyebrows rose. Just in time. Chapter 600 Gathering Survivors Her emerald eyes looked at the two tokens in her hand in deep thought. Although they had already won, the token wouldn''t automatically integrate into her, just as the teleportation array wouldn''t dissipate until the 28 hours were done. It was also how Althea could choose not to merge yet, because doing so was basically telling people she was the Lord. She had automatically received more than half of Fargo''s property though (he wasn''t very rich) as well as the money of the new ''slaves''. As for the new ''slaves'' and their money, she''d handle that later. She knew freeing them from slavery needed some money, so they naturally had to let go of some of their wealth as well. Pushing all these aside for now, she looked at the other notification she received. [Would you like to announce the news to all citizens in the vicinity?] She smiled. Of course, yes. ¡­ A moment later, a similar pinging sound resounded in the Alterans'' minds. [Ding! Altera Village (Lv3) has won against Fargo Village (Lv3)!] S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was received only by everyone in the Fargo territory because Althea didn''t pay for the extra costs of sending it to everyone outside the territory. After all, she could just announce the same when they returned home in a few hours, let alone the fact that they could send messages through aether letters to those nearby. Anyway, at the announcement, the Alterans looked at each other with wide grins and cheered. "WOOOO! FINALLY!" Beanie yelled and raised his hands. "I heard a ding when I landed! The announcement was delayed a few minutes, but wasn''t the ding the signal? Did I get the Honor?!" Hubert beside him shrugged as he wiped the sweat off his face. "We gotta ask the other team if they had the same." Beanie calmed down a bit, but was excited nevertheless. Even if there were other people who got the honor, he''d still get some rewards! Who didn''t like bonuses? Before the war, a couple of richer people like Baron added a prize for whoever had the honors of being the ''winning entry''. They pooled a reward of a whopping 100 Gold! Of course, if there was more than one, then they would share it, but it wasn''t a small amount at all! They had oath system here in Xeno anyway, so they didn''t have to worry about liars! In any case, this little prize made a lot of people desperate to get through the wall, which definitely helped in the speed of this war. On the main battlefield, the Alterans were also celebrating. They looked at the sleeping slaves and heaved a deep breath of relief, finally relaxing a bit. "I wonder who got the honor?" Jesse asked, drinking another potion. He was definitely planning on kidnapping said person to treat him in the tavern! While he was in a daze, however, he did not notice a bloodied Fargo guard¡ªone with bent legs¡ªflinch behind him. As if using his last bit of strength, he jumped up with a low-durability weapon on hand, ready to take one last kill. Angelo was laughing with a few others when his peripheral vision caught this movement. His heart dropped. "JESSIE!!" he yelled, gesturing to run to his cousin. However, the Fargo guard had already raised his weapon, the blade only an inch away from Jesse''s head. SWISH! SLASH! "AHHH!" Jessie yelled when he found a detached head thrown at him. The man''s eyes were still twitching. "GYAHHH!" he screeched again, like a little girl, throwing it away by instinct. Angelo bumped his head in relief and pushed him to thank the half-orc who suddenly appeared next to them. Apparently, just before the blade could touch Jesse''s neck, a claw suddenly appeared and beheaded the perpetrator. "Thank you¡­ thank you¡­" Angelo said, and Jesse immediately followed, realizing what happened. His heart dropped. Did he almost die (again)?! "Don''t be complacent," Gochi said, and immediately everyone''s guards strengthened again. "Although we won, people can still attack within the duration of the 28 hours." At this, the Alterans once again raised their weapons and proceeded to beat up the Fargo guards. Before they could do more damage though, a resounding voice echoed, yelling for them to stop. "STOP!" They paused, turning to see it was Fargo and the two strong aborigines still guarding him. "Every ambulatory survivor among my people will be coming with me." "What?" They exclaimed, disbelieving until they saw a few more people arrive. It was Althea, Victor, and the others. "Miss Althea? What he''s saying¡ª" "It''s true," Althea said, shoulders slumped a bit. "I don''t have the power yet to make an announcement, but I confirm this. This was to prevent Fargo from making any more orders to the slaves who, frankly, wouldn''t be able to handle anymore." "In the same vein, Fargo''s men can no longer attack us." If she didn''t make that deal, they could still be attacked. There would be no other rewards than petty revenge, but losing your life after the victory was much worse than losing it during the war. At this, the Alterans'' shoulders slumped, annoyed at the guards, but also understanding of the compromise. They could only look guardedly at Fargo and his men as they ''collected'' whoever would be useful on their side. Realizing this, the injured guards rushed to stand. They knew full well that they would only get tortured by the citizens who suffered under them if they stayed, so it was not surprising the men were desperate to follow¡ªeven if they had to crawl. On the contrary, those who could not move anymore begged and cried, only to be ignored by Fargo and his men. Althea looked at all this with watchful eyes, her eyes following Fargo, determining what else she could do except write on the aether letter. While this was going on, there was another type of tension brewing around the territory. This had to do with the ''new slaves''. Many of them had received the notification of slavery! Were they slaves now!? They have to know! Fortunately, the people who spearheaded the questions were rational people who were biased toward Althea, Vivian, and Kyle. Kyle walked over to Crow and the others, who were also watching the Fargo men group together with dark eyes. "Uhm, you mentioned Altera doesn''t take slaves?" A few more murmurs resounded around, some worried, and some questioning. Crow and the others, unsurprisingly, had no idea about how slavery worked so they could only shake their heads. "We''re not sure how the system slavery thing works," Dog said, "But I can guarantee Altera doesn''t need or want slaves." Vivian sighed, "To be honest, it''s a little worrying." Sunny nodded. "We understand," she said. "But we really don''t know much about the system. However, you should''ve seen with how we handled each other and the Fargo slaves." Vivian looked at her in the eye. As a former reporter, she naturally had the knack of finding out truth versus false. So far, the young girl was sincere. Of course, not all encounters were calm. Some were demanding answers outright, while some just sobbed directly. After all, they had seen how the ''slaves'' from Bright were treated. Although Alterans looked kind now, who knew what they''d be like after everything! No one was naive to think the best out of strangers anymore! This happened in various areas, some of which were near where Fargo was currently walking around. Fargo chuckled when he saw this, turning arrogantly at Althea. "Over 5000 people. Do you really have an excess 25,000 gold to free everyone?" Althea frowned. Even if she had that amount¡ªwhich she didn''t anymore¡ªshe wasn''t planning on spending that amount at one time. "I will be discussing it with the elders, but I assure you that while you may be a slave in name, you will not live as such." There were naturally plenty of questions, but Gochi found his way back next to her, and everyone had seen how scary he could be, so they could only hide back to their houses. Althea sighed. She was not much of an idealist, so she knew fixing everything wouldn''t be instantaneous. But¡­ She looked at everyone who was watching Fargo''s movements like a hawk, hoping for the worst for them, stabbing them with their eyes. Althea''s lips twitched. They were, at least, in the right direction. Chapter 601 Out of the Gates There was a complex atmosphere in the territory, with the Alterans and the citizens watching as Fargo gathered tens of ambulatory mercenaries and a few Terran guards eager to come with them. Counting, there seemed to be almost 100 of them, though most of them had to drag themselves to move an inch. The former guards and mercenaries looked quite pitiful until they remembered the hideous things these people did. Including¡­ what they could do once they recovered. It might not be in Fargo or in Altera, but they''d definitely be making people¡ªespecially women¡ªsuffer somewhere else. As Fargo and his men exited, a lot of people went to the outer walls to see them leave. Their hearts was heavy in anger to see them just leaving like this, but what could they do? They could only hope they die some horrible death before they start ruining someone else''s life! Behind them, Althea spoke. "My oath includes not attacking them even outside the walls for a whole day," she said. "However, we know how the system determines what is considered an attack." It took a while for the hint to dawn on some, but it did come faster to others. "Please die a horrible death!" Tacky yelled, throwing some random trash he had in his space (he happened to have a few). "Don''t come back okay?! Do the world a favor!" Juan added. "Bye~ We pray the monsters will eat you whole~" Baka bellowed, taking the mysterious stock of trash in Tacky''s space and throwing it to Fargo''s group. More and more people joined in. Rocks were thrown, some other wet things, and there was even poop (a few were just lying on the ground anyway), a few of which hit some men straight in the face. They glared back, ready to curse and threaten, but they saw several arrows and their own guns pointed in their direction. Some arrows were even released, but they weren''t targeted at them. Instead, it sprinkled piss on them! "There''s still more where that came from!" One yelled from a distance, followed by mocking laughs. Afraid to get rained down with more filth, Fargo and his men could only scurry away, cursing, and swearing to take their revenge someday! ¡­ "BASTARDS!!" Aka yelled, paving the way with his sword as he wiped the shit on his face. "See if I get a hold of those bastards!" The other tens of people were silent, also feeling angry, but they were in so much pain from their injuries that they had to use their remaining energy not to faint. They knew very well what kind of people they were following! If they fainted, they''d definitely be left behind! They didn''t even have the energy to clean up whatever was dropping on their heads now. Of course, this had nothing to do with the people walking up front, not caring if there were people being left behind. They were taken for numbers and as cannon fodder. They had no use for meatshields that had to be carried. Fargo moved along Okra and Aka, looking at the surroundings. He estimated they were going South or Southeast. With a nod, he looked at the other leading aborigines. "Tell me where we''re going." Aka and Okra looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You sure do know how to keep ordering people around, Fargo." How easily they dropped ''milord'' made Fargo frown. However, he knew he didn''t have leverage anymore so he only noted this annoyance for now. When he regained some power, he''d exact his revenge on them. Okra and Aka did not know his thoughts and only sneered at him. "Don''t forget you''re no longer the lord." Fargo''s expression didn''t change as he took out a crossbow. This made them flinch, looking at him guardedly. That was until they heard his next words. "I can make this too." "What?" Okra exclaimed, looking at the damned weapon. How much trouble it caused them! "As long as I have some resources, I can recreate this in time." He actually had Sen study some medieval weapons from memory. However, because they were all used to using modern hot weapons, it hadn''t been easy. But now that they had a model they could dismantle¡ªit was a very different thing. Fargo smiled when the respect returned to the men''s eyes. "So tell me the plan." Okra toned down his arrogance, just a bit. "We''re heading to the nearest Town south of here to report what happened to all our branches, before heading to the nearest base." There are still hundreds of members of their mercenary team¡ªthey could all assist in taking back their territory. "Where''s the nearest base of your mercenary team?" "It''s in Basset Town, some Southeast of here." "Let me join you." He nodded. A strong high-potential elementalist would be welcome, and they continued traveling with dark thoughts of how exactly they would exact their revenge¡ªespecially on that woman! The best thing about getting that woman was not only her beauty and her body, but her equipment as well! However, they didn''t even get far when they heard a few rumbling sounds of a monster mob! Immediately, they entered an attacking posture and soon the monsters revealed themselves from the foliage. It was not a big mob, nor was it too strong, but it wasn''t like they were in the condition to deal with them properly! DAMNIT! ¡­ A small mob naturally couldn''t threaten their lives. Along with Okra and Fargo, they could deal with weak mobs of level 8s without much injury. However, they did lose a dozen people when they hadn''t even gotten far from the damned wall! It was humiliating! "It must''ve been that piss from before!" Aka yelled with gritted teeth. "Damnit! I knew it smelled familiar!" Fargo''s jaw clenched but he was silent, already torturing more Alterans in his mind in an attempt to calm down. However, as he thought deeper, he felt the familiar pressing sensation in his head. His eyes turned red in anger at a realization. That bitch! What did she do this time?! In fact, Althea only promised to take away the pain she caused back then and promised to tell him what could lessen its future effects on him. The oath did not include the new side effects of some plants she added in the healing potion given to him. It was much milder and pretty much non-poisonous, easily healed after leveling up or less, but Althea was petty like that. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, unaware of the former lord''s state, Aka continued to curse as he led the way. "Damn! I''m going to get back to them stronger! I''ll kill that woman! But not without tasting her to dead bod¡ª" Before he could finish his sentence, however, his head fell down, making everyone gasp. "WHAT?!" Chapter 602 Scuffles Fargo and the others raised their weapons in tension, ready to defend as they heard the soft sound of Aka''s head rolling down to the damp soil, leaving a bloody trail in its wake. When the aborigine''s head stopped rolling to the foot of the tree, the rustles of plants sounded around them¡ªsoon revealing several figures. This was Garan, Mao, and a few others, totaling to about 20 people. As for the rest, they were either guarding the other gate (Sammy) or guiding and protecting the hundreds of slaves from the mine back to Fargo''s wall. Now that it was safe to go back, they naturally didn''t want to keep them outside. Anyway, when they received the aether letter, they were already separated into groups with Garan''s and Sammy''s teams were in-charge of capturing the escapees at different gates. They were not surprised to know that they had won¡ªthey weren''t being arrogant or complacent, but they knew the strength of Altera. What surprised them was the following sentence saying that Fargo was going to exit the territory alive with approximately 60 people. They were a little shocked, but they adjusted quickly. It wasn''t difficult to trace their tracks since they were in the area anyway. Of course, Garan and the others watched them struggle with the monster mob first before making any moves. They watched undetected the whole time because they were using their binoculars and a tool from the Research Center called Parabolic Reflector. This functioned as a non-electric sound attenuator (which works opposite the sound amplifiers), which allowed them to hear clearly hundreds of meters away. It was a little bulky, yes, but they had space for it. The mob that attacked Fargo''s party wasn''t a very strong one. It only averaged at level 7 or 8, but Fargo''s team had been greatly weakened, and the soldiers knew they had a good show to watch. At the same time, they also took this time to study their enemies, ready to call on the others if they were needed. They were greatly outnumbered, after all. Fargo''s team comprised mostly of level 10s and 11s, not including the Terrans who managed to tag along. There were also two people beyond the level cap walking right next to Fargo as well, one of whom was a level 20. In contrast, the Alteran team was much smaller. Gill was with the ''slaves'' heading to the safety of Fargo, also tasked to help out with the cleanup there. Sammy and Chris were leading the capture team in another area (which was fruitful by the way, with the capture of 20-plus citizens and 10 mercenaries). This meant only Garan, Mao, and Rowan were the Alterans beyond the level cap in this area, with the rest at level 10 or below. Them versus a 50-or-so team of level 10s would definitely be a challenge. "Should we get some help?" Mao asked, and Garan paused in thought. "They would take a while to get here." There was no real-time pinging yet. They could ''pin'' a spot on the map, but they wouldn''t be able to mark the varying locations of people like in Terran. They still sent Sammy an aether note though, but they doubted they''d arrive here on time. If they waited, Fargo and the others could be gone. Anyway, they watched a handful of weaker mercenaries and Terran died early on in the mob, while the rest of them managed to fight back. This was not surprising. After all, most of the people who managed to get enough energy and strength to come with Fargo were all relatively high-leveled men. This meant that the mob could be dealt with with ease. By the time the mob was cleared, another handful had perished, leaving several men gasping for air before continuing on their way to a town, heading towards a place called Basset Town. This was apparently one of the nearby bases of the Rongo Mercenary Team, and Garan recognized the place because he bought an updated map from Oslo. They had apparently gone through the town heading back to Altera. This also meant¡­ that the place wasn''t very far. They noted this and listened for more information, but then they realized Fargo was heading where they were! In the end, they stayed put and waited for them to approach, ready for battle at any time. But then one of the men started to badmouth a woman¡ªa woman who could only be sister-in-law! It wasn''t a surprise that the captain just beheaded the guy without another word, preventing him from desecrating sister-on-law''s name. Mao cleared his throat and appeared, crossing his arms and looking quite smug. "Funny of you to decide to throw yourselves in our paths," he said. He looked arrogant but his eyes assessed their enemies closer. Except for Fargo and a few others, the rest were very injured. Sister-in-law and the others really hurt them! How satisfying! Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. While Mao and the others looked at the mercenaries, Fargo also did the same. Seeing Mao and Garan, he had no doubt that these were the people who took down so many of his strongmen even before the war. Fargo''s headache worsened but he kept his cool. How could he have not thought about this?! No wonder that woman let them go so easily¡ª They had been waiting for this! Fargo and the rest of them naturally weren''t stupid enough to stay. They all sprinted in varying directions but Garan and the others had foreseen this, immediately blocking their way. The men gasped and gritted their teeth, some bumping into each other as they tried to get far from the attackers. Fargo looked around at their disorganized state, and looked at the number of the enemies around them. "Calm down!" he yelled, "We''re more than they are. If you want to survive, attack!" These men were all selfish and didn''t want to be the vanguard and Fargo knew this well. "I will use my ability to stab whoever doesn''t contribute!" he said, and everyone knew he meant it! "It''s better to fight for your life than be killed by me! I assure you!" Although they weren''t certain how it''d be worse, Fargo had shown enough prestige and strength back when he was the lord for the people to follow him in a moment of panic. The next instant, the men immediately lunged to attack the Alterans. They were superior in numbers, they realized, and hope lit as they thought this fight might not be hopeless. As long as they finished the battle sooner than the others, then they''d have a higher chance of escaping! Okra immediately targeted Rowan. It was either him or Mao, and he naturally chose the weaker one. However, to his surprise, he was met with a sword wrapped in fire. "Another elementalist!?" he yelled as he stepped back, barely avoiding a lethal slash of sword. Rowan had been learning a lot in Altera and he wanted to see how he''d fare with a fellow aborigine a few levels higher than he was. On the other side, Fargo used his bit of mana to propel his body backward, avoiding a stab. He took out the crossbow, shooting against the enemy with impressive accuracy. Sadly for him, the men''s equipment was good and they had great instincts and, while a lot of them were greatly hurt, nothing lethal hit in the end. Fargo frowned but continued shooting, targeting the people he knew would get some damage¡ªfor instance, the common guards. Unfortunately for him, there were shieldsmen in this party, and with only Fargo having a Class D long-ranged weapon, he wasn''t impossible to defend against regardless of how skilled a shot he was. Still, Mao and the others frowned at the fact that Fargo got a hold of a crossbow in the first place. Jake or Brandon weren''t here but they felt offended in their stead! How dare this bastard use his filthy hands to hold their baby! Of course, they knew they wouldn''t be able to gatekeep the technology (at least they''d be earning royalties in such cases) but it didn''t mean they were fine with it landing on the hands of men like Fargo! At least, they wanted to keep it away from him for as long as possible! Mao met Garan''s eyes, and when the captain nodded, Mao immediately lunged forward to grab it, starting a little brawl with the man. They all knew the captain had beef with this person, but there were stronger aborigines in this party that the captain would have to take care of himself. Mao sent Fargo a barrage of attacks. With their level differences, Fargo should''ve been of little match, but the man was sly and easily determined direct fights would not be in his favor¡ªadjusting accoridingly. For now, Fargo skillfully dodged and avoided the attacks, occasionally hiding behind the other people from his team or in the Alterans''. There were plenty of times he stabbed a former Fargo guard, and there was a time he almost distracted an Alteran. Mao''s eyes twitched. "Stay still, you damned loach!! Chapter 603 More Battles While Mao and Fargo were fighting, the others were busy with the rest of the enemies, with the Alterans at an obvious advantage. The Alterans may be outnumbered, but Fargo''s men were not only weakened from the war, most of them also lacked the technical skills the Alterans had honed. On average, Fargo''s team had a higher level and numbers, but the Terrans had superior techniques, equipment, and momentum. Garan, at this time, was taking care of four level 12s and a level 14 who was nearby him, keeping them from troubling the team and allowing them to fight one-on-one or one-on-two at most. "HYA!!" "Stay still!" "Die already!" These were just a few curses the five men yelled as they tried to pummel the ebony-haired soldier. Although the mercenaries were inherently selfish, their superiority in numbers gave them some confidence to battle him relentlessly head-on. They knew how much they needed a win after all the horrible losses they experienced today! With a fierce war cry, they yelled, attacking him together with their various weapons. Garan kept his cool under the barrage, deflecting blow after blow with grace and power. He shifted to the side as he avoided the spear of a level 12, immediately followed by the avoidance of another blade stabbed by level 14. Because it was close, his body was hit by the blade, and he heard the scratching sound it made against his defensive armor. Garan raised his sword to retaliate, pushing the level 14 back and the attacks from the others with one swift move. The men looked at him, a little shocked as to how effortless he was dealing with them. However, it was not enough for them to push their pride away again to escape. This time, they believed they had a chance! It was one-versus-five, for elf''s sakes! The five immediately lunged at the same time, not holding anything back. When Garan was forced to take a step back, they were energized, sending barrage after barrage of attacks, not caring about grace or technique at all. At some point, some metallic spikes appeared around him, moving to capture the attacks as well. Even if he was alone against the five people, the sound of clashing metal was intense and many, making it seem like a large battlefield if one wasn''t looking. His eyes hadn''t left Fargo while he did so, however, and he saw the man escaping Mao''s attacks, slowly learning more from him despite everything. Still as slippery as a loach. Avoiding another attack, Garan decided to use his ability to immobilize his enemies. The air around them cooled with Ice expanding from his feet, radiating outwards. It captured the enemies'' feet one by one. They immediately struggled as they realized what was happening, stabbing the ice to get out. However, the creeping of the ice was not slow and the weaker ones were trapped to the knee a few seconds later. The level 14 though managed to escape early on, running to attack him. In his mind, distracting Garan now could make him stop using his troublesome ability. But he was very wrong. While the level 14 was swinging his sword at him, Garan raised his hand and the ice crept further upward until it was to their hips. Soon, no amount of stabbing would be able to break the ice fast enough. At some point, some internal spikes even stabbed into them, making them bleed through the ice. It was a gruesome sight. "SO STRONG!" The level 14 yelled, realizing his companions were useless. Like a typical Fargo guard, he immediately stepped back, leaving them be. But how could Garan let this happen? "Take care of them," he ordered the nearby Alterans, who seemed to be finishing off their enemies. Anyway, they would barely be able to move. He opted to let the others get the experience from the kill since he would gain nothing from killing these people. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Alterans didn''t hesitate to attack them¡ªtheir enemies were getting weak, anyway¡ªand one even used the semi-frozen mercenary as a shield! "DON''T!" the frozen mercenary yelled, seeing as his own teammate''s sword about to reach him and helplessly unable to avoid it. The man was unable to stop his momentum even after realizing the Alteran had escaped, stabbing at his teammate''s head in the end. "AH!!" he yelled, and he would be finished off by a stab in the neck, adding experience to his killer. The other three were also dealt with a couple of moments later before resuming to their actual fights. Someone even reached level 10 thanks to the kill, making him very happy, and his current enemy aghast. Seeing this, the other people battling also paled, and their distraction made it easy for the rest of the Alterans to take care of them! Garan was headed to Fargo and Mao''s fight when he turned to see Rowan and Okra''s fight at its peak. Clack! Bang! Slash!! Okra was relatively undamaged except for a few burns, while Rowan had many slashes on his body, particularly in the areas without the armor. Obviously, the relatively big level difference was still there. However, for his situation, Rowan had done really well, and he held on long enough. If any other aborigine was in his position, even if he was an elementalist, would''ve already been killed. At some point though, Okra managed to hit Rowan''s hand, making Rowan let go of his weapon. He immediately shifted his attack to a stabbing motion, targeting the redhead''s unguarded eyes. This was an attack that would''ve injured, if not kill, Rowan. Fortunately, Garan appeared next to Rowan at this time, using the tip of his sword to deflect Okra''s attack. The blade slid against his and he bent his arms, making Garan''s elbow point at the man''s neck. With a flash in his eyes, a metal spike extended from his elbow heading straight to the man''s neck. However, Okra''s instincts as a fighter and mercenary were still very good and he barely managed to avoid the abnormal attack! The close call shook him though, and he could only stand a few meters away with his weapons out, glaring at them to save himself. Rowan looked at the ebony-haired man in front of him, a little ashamed at how little damage he had done despite his equipment and the element he had been training for so long. "I''ll handle this," Garan told him and for a moment Rowan thought he was just too slow and disappointed the man. However, Garan turned his head to face him at an angle. "You did well," Garan said. "Go help the others." Rowan looked at him with slightly wide eyes, just before doing the standard salute to show his respect. "Yes, sir!" Chapter 604 Escaped Garan looked at Okra, the only level twenty aborigine they had to deal with. He also had good equipment and skill, and it was obvious he was among the upper tier among the mercenaries in Fargo. He was definitely a skilled mercenary and it wouldn''t be so easy for Garan to defeat him quickly. However, Garan had no will to delay the battle and he immediately threw ice picks at the man, who swiped them away with his sword. Garan saw this and he knew this person must''ve caught a lot of the shots towards Fargo, maybe even Althea''s shots. By extension, this guy must''ve annoyed his wife very much during the war, and his attacks unconsciously became harsher. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! BANG! "AH!" Okra yelled as he was unable to block one, then two, fast-moving ice picks. "HYAAA!" The aborigine yelled, sending him a barrage of skills to keep him from using more of his skills. Garan waved his sword, skillfully deflecting the other man''s attack. Immediately, he shifted and did a stabbing motion, which Okra avoided by jumping back. Garan had predicted this though and immediately sent a metal spike with his other arm, successfully stabbing Okra. Garan would''ve preferred to extend his sword with his ability, as it would theoretically take less energy. However, like how walls and system buildings couldn''t accommodate elements, it was the same with equipment. Okra looked at the massive stab in his stomach, gritting his teeth in pain. He couldn''t believe it! Sure, he was a bit tired, but obviously, his level was about the same as this man''s. But the longer their spar was, the more he realized he didn''t stand a chance at all! "GAHHH!" he yelled, lunging at him with all the brute force he could carry. Garan''s eyes sharpened, ready to finally end him. ¡­ Nearby, Mao and Fargo''s battles were also at its peak. The two of them exchanged quick and impressive blows, both with weapons and their mutual elements: Earth. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Mao had used his element a lot the past couple of hours (with all those men he had to bury alive and all) so he had to hold back a bit. This leveled the playing field with Fargo, who had an even more sophisticated hand-to-hand combat skill than he did. It had to be said, that even if Mao was a few levels higher than Fargo, the latter wasn''t being pushed too much because of sheer talent. In fact, the more he fought with Mao, the more he had an idea about earth techniques. It was also how Fargo was personally responsible for half the casualties Altera had, despite having mercenaries higher level than he was barely managing to kill any. As for equipment, he had bought Class D ones from Belize, including armor and weapons. In fact, Fargo had two Class D weapons¡ªone taken from Belize, and another taken from the Alteran battlefield. However, just as Althea couldn''t maximize the Bellagio, Fargo''s use of the same weapon was inferior to Mao''s. The durability went down much faster and it broke down. He cursed and started avoiding the fight again, sometimes pushing his own people or an Alteran in front of him to block Mao''s way. Soon, fortunately, Mao finally caught timing and created a small spike on the ground which ultimately caught him off balance. Some nearby Alteran who had taken care of his enemy saw also gestured to attack. Thinking quickly, Fargo used the sword on his hand to stabilize himself and threw some items he had in his space to the Alteran. He barely felt his fall and took out the next thing in his space to throw at Mao¡ªwhose weapon was a few centimeters away from him. He had several low-level blades in his space and this was what he threw, taking advantage of the pause to regain his bearing and raise his final weapon¡ªwhich also had limited durability, unfortunately. Fargo knew that that the crossbow was important to this person so he threw it straight at Mao, who caught it by instinct. Fargo''s eyes glinted as he created a spike behind Mao and as his sword swung in for a stab. However, Mao yelled and a thin block of earth appeared behind him, and he used it to roll and change directions, using the momentum to kick him. BANG! He coughed blood, falling down to the floor after a large impact against the tree. "You remember I''m still a few levels higher than you are, right? Bastard¡­" Mao said, kicking him again. He shook and he felt that his enemy was ready for the kill. He instinctively rolled in a direction to avoid the next attack but he gritted his teeth to hold back a scream as he felt the blade bury on his shoulder. Mao immediately turned it and then swiped in a direction. This time, Fargo couldn''t hold back his scream anymore. "AHHHHH!!!!!" he gasped for air as he turned his head to see that his arm was now detached to him! Fargo looked in a direction to get some help, only to see Okra just beheaded by Garan. Beside them, he also realized the others were either dead or captured already. In this short moment, Fargo also saw that the Alterans¡ªexcept for Garan and Mao¡ªwere standing together, gathering those they captured. "I wanna save you for the captain, but I don''t think you deserve to breathe another second longer in this world," Mao said, raising his sword again and quickly stabbing it down to his heart. Fargo gritted his teeth and refused to be taken down! He yelled and suddenly several small rocks surrounded him, quickly exploding with him as the source. At first, they thought they were just rocks and prepared to avoid the last-ditch effort of the man. However, the earth user Mao saw it, feeling something was different with one of the rocks. In that instant, he used his ability to scan and stop the projectiles, but it was too quick and by the time he slowed them down, they had already reached the areas of the Alterans and the captured mercenaries. However, he was able to ''scan'' it a bit to realize what the anomaly was! "A BOMB!" He yelled, gasping. There was a bomb inside one of the rocks! Darnit!! The Alterans'' eyes widened and immediately took cover, leaving the captured mercenaries behind¡ª BOOM! They forgot about it¡ªthe bomb he took from Michael back then! It seemed like he didn''t deconstruct it in an attempt to replicate it but kept it for himself! It naturally could not kill people of their levels and equipment, but it made them disoriented and their ears ring. There were also a few injuries among the weaker guards, but otherwise no lasting damage to Alterans who managed to react on time. On the contrary, the gangsters they had tied up were burnt and bloodied, while the others were barely breathing. The weaker ones were also¡­ well¡­ exploded, their innards all over the area. Mao and the others coughed, feeling the shock in their bodies. Garan was quick to recover and immediately walked through the smoke, his dark azure eyes looking around. "Where''s Fargo?" This question raised the alarm in everyone. They looked around and saw he had escaped and¡ªunsurprisngly¡ªhe left no traces in which direction he went to! "He''s gone," Mao said, pale. Garan''s fist clenched. Lost again! Chapter 605 Vanessas Healing Garan and the rest entered the territory with dark moods. They were greeted by Gill and the others who had the ''slaves'' like Bruce and Aditi with them, ready to reunite with the rest of the territory. Their smiles dropped when they saw the dark atmosphere around Garan, however, and they didn''t have to ask to know things didn''t go as well as they''d have hoped. Anyway, their group naturally had a strong sense of presence by virtue of their training and their strength, and as they traversed to the inner wall, they really caught a lot of eyes. They also shocked everyone by how bloodied they were. "Shit!" Beanie yelled as he ran towards them, "Are those intestines?" Garan frowned and looked at one of his boots, which indeed had a piece he missed. He used his ice to pry it away. Beanie''s eyes twitched, opening his mouth to ask what the heck happened. However, before he could do so another person spoke over him (how rude). "Garan!" a feminine voice called, tone oozing with concern. "I mean¡­ Captain," she mumbled with a blush, as if just correcting herself. The woman stopped just outside his private space, looking at him with worry on her face. It was Vanessa, and she slowly approached him closer in order to check in on him. From various angles, she looked like a shy woman concerned for her lover. If people didn''t know better, people would think they were really close and were doing some secret relations of sorts. Vanessa watched Garan turn in her direction, and her heart stopped when she saw his eyes shine. Vanessa''s heart beat wildly until a figure went past her towards him. "Husband!" Althea eyes became teary as she saw the blood and she immediately took out medicine to help him out. Its effects were limited on someone at his level, but they still did have some effect. Garan''s eyes were warm as he looked at Althea. In the eyes of Vanessa who was near them, it couldn''t be any more gritting. Vanessa had actually been waiting in their hiding place throughout the duration of the war. The rationale was that she was a healer and the injured would be brought to her. She waited for hours and hours, with the end of the war getting announced before she did anything! While this meant she didn''t have to lift a finger, it felt humiliating when she emerged and heard of Althea''s achievements! She was all most people talked about. Even if there were other topics of discussion, it would always lead to her somehow! ''Did you see how cool Miss Althea was?'' ''She was so strong!'' ''A proper Goddess, that one!'' At this time though, the aforementioned woman just looked like a soft lady in front of Garan, and it gritted her nerves! "The blood isn''t mine, my love," Garan said, gently pushing the bottle back."Save that for yourself. My wounds are very minor." "But¡­" "I can heal you," Vanessa''s voice cut next to them. Garan frowned at the interruption but Althea nodded, stepping aside to let the other woman approach closer. Vanessa held her head high, subtly looking down at Althea. However, neither one of the couple noticed because they were so focused on each other. "..." Vanessa bit her lips and stepped closer, "I''ll heal him now," she said, pretty much using all her skills on the man. This was not just to help Garan out, but to show to this other woman who was more ''helpful'' to him. Vanessa''s thoughts didn''t matter to them, with Garan just going with the flow to calm his wife, while Althea hoping for Garan to heal as well as to possibly gain some more insight to the profession. Vanessa''s hand lit up an azure light as the water elements surrounded her hands. She raised her hand and put them a few inches from Garan''s skin. Althea watched the process closely, noting the difference between Vanessa''s and Betty''s skills. This was understandable as they had completely different concepts of science so they could also have received different inheritances. For instance, Betty''s water healing seemed to congeal the water elements in large clusters, while Veronica''s was tinier¡ªalmost molecular. This made sense because Betty did not have a concept of molecules at all. In this way, Vanessa had a much bigger potential than Betty. Further, she found this more helpful than watching Betty, probably because she had similar foundations to the former. Anyway, as she did with Betty, Althea asked a lot of questions in hopes of triggering the occupation as well. Not that Vanessa knew of course. And if she did, she would scoff, thinking this woman was dreaming. Even medical professionals who got water elements weren''t guaranteed to trigger the occupation! S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "How much energy do you judge is needed?" "Would it ever be too much?" "People don''t get shocked, right?" Vanessa''s eyes twitched, annoyed, and glared at her. "Please let me concentrate." Garan frowned at her tone, but Althea shook her head, intent on observing the process instead. It wasn''t that she didn''t know Vanessa''s affections for her husband¡ªthe woman had never really hidden her hostilities and gossip during gatherings and events¡ªbut she knew her husband''s health was the priority. Around this time though, Vanessa''s hands moved a bit closer, only a few millimeters away from Garan''s skin¡ªparticularly focused on his ripped shirt. Althea''s lips twitched. She didn''t really mind some proximity before because of the healing process, but look at this now¡­ Did this woman think she wouldn''t notice or did she just not care? Every soldier around either looked at each other or at the sky, partly wanting to see the show and tension between the two women, but at the same time not really daring to. Garan''s jaw clenched in annoyance but Althea held his hand, soothing him, "Don''t mind, husband. Unlike Betty, who is an expert, Vanessa still needs a bit more practice. "She probably needs her hands so close to do a spell that could be done much farther away." Vanessa flushed at her comment and it got redder when she heard a few laughers and snickers behind her. Her hands shook and her ability faltered. However, she refused to be humiliated anymore and did her best to finish the task. When she did, she was sweating buckets, and she raised her head to look at Garan, who was now just chatting with his wife! "I''m done¡­" she said, voice soft in a way that would attract many men''s attention. Sadly, the man she was after was a bit blind to these things, particularly if it wasn''t related to his wife. "Ah, thank you," Althea said, manifesting a gold to pay for her service. Vanessa pursed her lips, offended, and wanted to slap it away. Fortunately, she still had some reason not to do so in the end. "No, he is my captain after all, it''s my duty to serve him." That sounded very suggestive, though Garan (and a lot of the soldiers) didn''t really absorb it. Althea, however, did. She narrowed her eyes at the woman, though her face didn''t show any other changes. "Hmn," she said, as if agreeing, "As a soldier, it is indeed your duty help out your comrades¡­" she then turned to the many injured people around. "Don''t you think it''s time for you to do your job?" Chapter 606 Recovery Vanessa had no choice but to go around and heal people. It wasn''t that she wasn''t planning to, but she was planning to work alongside the captain and the others and show off her beautiful side. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this Victor walked over, a little embarrassed. How could he not see what was happening? "I apologize," he said. "We spoiled her too much." Althea didn''t make a comment. Instead, she went straight to business. "Where are the ladies?" "They''re all getting cleaned up and treated with whatever we had," he said. "Those potions, even while diluted, had been a great help." "Will you and the General be open for a meeting later on?" Althea asked and Victor blinked, nodding in the end. "Rest well and handle your affairs, let''s meet on the top floor of the Village Center," she said, and walked towards it with her husband closely following in tow. Victor nodded then, but when he realized the meeting place, he blinked. The Village Center?? ¡­ Clinic At this time, the doctors were working round the clock to help out as many as they could. Of course, with thousands of injured they had to give priority to those who were critical. The ones in the most critical conditions were naturally the slaves. Their conditions were so bad that it was akin to people being thrown around in a car. It was amazing how they could still stand up for so long. Then they heard about how ''orders'' from the master could basically make their brains override the bodies'' limitations, allowing them to go beyond it. To be honest, it worried them a lot more than proper. After all, since Fargo Village lost, at least half of them had become ''slaves'' themselves. "You''re a slave?" Volohov asked Raffy, who nodded as he placed some paste on the skin of the patient. Volohov sighed and looked at his wife, who was also treating a couple of people. Raffy followed his sights before moving to the next patient. "I heard Auntie Liana¡­" "We''ll just trust that they act according to their promise. Isn''t Master Garan serving that territory?" "Ah, yes." They could only hope they didn''t misplace their trust. Anyway, the clinic was full and there were plenty of makeshift beds outside as well. They were made of woven leaves made by several citizens as an industry product even back then. Fargo also commissioned a lot of these before so the industry was booming. They thought it was already amazing to have such mats, but then they learned Altera had legitimate cloths like cotton and hempcloth, and they realized they still had a lot to learn. Those who could help also did so. Whether it was in placing the patients on the mat or just carrying them there, most people did their parts. As for the medicine, there naturally wasn''t much at first, but at some point boxes of medicine and gauze arrived at their doorstep, shocking them. The doctors were shocked. With this, they didn''t have to dilute the medicine too much! Giving them so much for their recovery, they mused that Altera¡­ must really be a good place, right? "Altera sent through the array," was all the delivery men said. Before leaving, they couldn''t help but add, "We also have a healer coming in to help," he said. "But she can only do so much, so please handle the minor injuries by yourselves." Another healer? They thought only Vanessa could do that! ¡­ Other than the doctors, the doubts also lingered in the heads of many people. Interestingly, there were also optimistic individuals who weren''t worrying too much. For one, there was Tacky and the others, who had smiles on their faces, despite the Slave status hanging above their heads. Of course, a part of them still worried that an Alteran would order them out of nowhere, but they tried to be optimistic. Things would be too hard to deal with otherwise. On the mat near them, Lani and the others had already woken and recovered somehow. Everyone was still a slave, but at least there was no voice in their minds asking them to attack the enemies at the expense of their own lives. At the very least, they knew it couldn''t get any worse! ¡­ One of the people helping out around the clinic was Juni. She had seen that the ladies were all cleaned up and getting treated. For their comfort, she let them stay in two adjacent houses that were appropriated to shelter them for a while. She was doing all this despite having injuries of her own, in fact. She had bandages (from Altera) wrapped around her bigger wounds which were on her hands and legs. She was also limping a bit but, otherwise, she was fine. As for the rest of the bandages, she gave them to the doctors to use on the highly critical patients inside. After settling the ladies, she then went outside to see where else she could help. As she walked, she heard her name being called. "Juni," the voice said, and she turned, finding a smile creeping up her face. It was Gill, and he was holding a Fargo guard on both hands, escorting them someplace. "I''m glad you''re okay," he said. From the reports, he had an idea of just how close Juni was in all the action. "It must''ve been scary," Gill said, sighing. He didn''t have romantic feelings for Juni anymore, but she was an integral part of his youth¡ªit was inevitable to be a little heartbroken at the image of her inside enemy territory. Juni though shook her head. Although it was dangerous¡ªit felt¡­ cathartic. To be able to damage that kind of men in whatever way she could felt refreshing and it felt good and relieving to think they wouldn''t be able to damage anybody else. "I''ve been through too much¡ªI''m much stronger than you think, Gill," she said and he chuckled. "Yeah, I can see that." "Anyway, it''s good you''re okay," he said. "And you did a good job." "Thank you. I am happy to contribute," she told him, and that was that. After nodding at each other, they continued on their way, moving forward and walking past each other as they went about their tasks for the place they mutually called ''home''. Chapter 607 Initial Plans (Part 1) Village Center Top Floor, an Hour Later The territory settled for about an hour before some key personnel were asked to meet up at the Village Center''s top floor. This was all done manually (with attendees just telling each other¡ªbecause none of them had control of Fargo''s ''system'' at this time, even Althea, because she chose not to merge the tokens yet. Fargo Village was, essentially, ''ownerless'' at this time. At the same time, because the territory was ownerless, the amenities that would usually be blocked for the lord alone¡ªincluding the third floor and even the warehouse¡ªwere accessible to all. In theory, if no one merged with the token and just left it in a secure place, what would happen when the war timer ended? There was the possibility of obliteration, but somehow she doubted it. There was no reason to set it up that way as the token was¡ªfrom observation¡ªlike an anchor to the system. The system''s regulations were most powerful here and the only reason a territory would be obliterated was because the lord¡ªto whom the token attached to¡ªperished. Rather, the more likely scenario was that it would either try to merge with the nearest qualified individual or the territory would become truly ''ownerless'', instead. While she wasn''t planning on doing it in Fargo Village, she did wonder how an ''ownerless'' territory would work. Anyway, back to the meeting, Althea looked around to see if everyone was there. On Altera''s side, it was her, Garan, Oslo, and the other soldiers. On Fargo''s side, it was naturally a bigger party with Victor, Henry, and his team. At first, Victor and the others thought they''d be meeting in one of the meeting rooms on the second floor, and they were surprised to find out they were heading towards the previously restricted floor. "We can access? How could that be?" Victor asked, looking around. "Probably because this place is ownerless now," she said as they settled around the table. The table in the head was purposely left blank. However, consciously or not, everyone turned to Althea for instructions. It wasn''t even to Garan, primarily because he was obviously there to agree with whatever his wife proposed¡­ The first topic was, of course, what to do now that the former lord was gone. Before that, Althea asked how the situation was before the war, including the situations during the upgrade mobs. This would give them an idea as to the defensive strength and performance of the territory. Soon, they would come to realize that Altera''s mob upon upgrading to level 3 was at a very different intensity than what Fargo experienced. "This is natural, Miss Althea," Oslo said, "In fact, from what I heard, the upgrade mob of Fargo was the relatively normal standard." Of course Fargo''s upgrade to level 3 was not comparable to Altera''s. First, Altera''s aether was far stronger despite the lower level average at the time (compared to aborigine villages) and, second, Fargo upgraded many days earlier and the cloud was still working at its peak. Fargo did not encounter a single level 5 monster at all. Lucky. Next, Leon and Santos reported on the current state of the infrastructure. They reported on the ratio of the squatters area to the developed land, the hygienic considerations, and the like. Basically, there was a lot to improve¡ªand this was something that required a lord. "What are you planning on doing with the tokens?" Henry asked, genuinely curious. A lot of them thought Garan or Althea would take it for themselves, and they wouldn''t mind it at all. Garan was one thing, but it was Althea who was behind so many inventions that helped them improve their lifestyles and helped them in this war! Either one becoming their lord would only be good for the territory! "The elders and I would wait for instructions," Althea said, showing no interest in the token at all. "Otherwise, we would vote for it." Vanessa sneered, internally commenting about her ''pretentiousness'' but was tactful enough not to be obvious about it. "For now, what can we do to ensure Fargo Village¡ªto be renamed soon¡ªwill be able to stand strong even without those aborigines." She looked at Henry''s side at this time. After all, they knew the situation of the territory before the war. "Actually, it''s not as worrisome as you think," Victor said. "Fargo''s men didn''t really work much against beast tides, it was all our team, Santos, and Leon who handled things. Henry nodded in agreement. "To be fair, Santos and Leon were the primary force against the mobs, even the stronger ones." Gill blinked. "Oh? That''s convenient then¡ª" but he paused when he felt the two flinch, and they looked at him as if they had been wronged. Gill: "..." "What is it?" It was Leon who cleared his throat to speak. "We¡­ would like to request a change of assignment." This wasn''t insubordination. They also wanted to see Altera! Whenever they thought of the imagery that Luis and the others gave them, they would compare to the suffering they had to endure here. They couldn''t help but feel green at the possibility that they would still be assigned here when there were obviously other options! Seeing them like this, Gill''s eyebrows rose, and then looked at Vanessa. After all, these two only stayed because of her. Now, they barely even looked at her. It seemed that her appeal had faded already? Vanessa blinked, feeling a stare. She couldn''t tell whose it was but, for some reason, she felt offended. Althea and the others didn''t take the small exchange in mind and simply proceeded in the planning. The territory wouldn''t be experiencing another war in at least two weeks, so this was the best time to reconstruct. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In the end, they decided to make a few soldiers (not Santos or Leon) stay and train the guards here as they did in Altera. Everyone prayed to their gods not to be the one assigned to it. Sure, the place was new and interesting, but how could they be happy getting pried away from the comforts of Altera? Chapter 608 Initial Plans (Part 2) They also determined some changes that had to be done in the territory itself. First was the actual inhabitants. Their primary concern was the fighting within the territory. "We would at least like to feel at peace when there wasn''t a war," Santos said. After all, back when the Rongos were around, one could see some violation of human rights in a corner or two. Althea nodded and turned to Oslo. "Would merging automatically implement the rules in Altera to the new territories? "I am not certain of that, Miss Althea," he said. He hadn''t been around much, only in cities and then the town he was ''deposited'' in for hiring. At the time, they didn''t even go to war much, let alone manage to take over a territory. "Well, we''ll find out soon enough," Althea said, already thinking of the possibilities, and whether there would be rules to add specifically for Fargo. She would later find out that she would be given an option whether to ''copy'' the rules of Altera and implement them. This would save her time and effort to input the rules one by one. However, she had to pay the same amount all over. Fortunately, money wasn''t a problem so the new Village would soon enjoy the same safety rules in Altera. The next to report were the Alterans who stayed there a bit like Drake. They knew Altera well and had a better idea of the differences. "The sentries can be a bit denser," he said, "And the dormitories would help remove the need for slums." Many people nodded at this, particularly those who traversed the slums. For example, there was Ansel, who looked at his sister as if he had been molested. "It was so disgusting! It''s like we were back to the medieval ages¡ªand these are all modern Terrans, mind you!" It seemed that even if people were educated, some people could go back to the medieval ages in a blink of an eye! "It''ll be costly, but I''m sure the people living here would appreciate it and do what they could to help." Althea noted all of these, as well as the costs. There was no such thing as ''utilities'' in the system options. Like in Altera, everything would have to be built manually, and that would be a huge amount of work. The discussion continued with various points and proposals coming across. At each point, Althea had something to contribute or correct. One happened to be Vanessa''s, who proposed to keep slaves to gather resources for medicines. She proceeded to say they would be treated humanely. Besides, a lot of the slaves didn''t deserve to be freed! "That won''t do, we already promised them freedom during the height of war," she said. "Except for the former guards and other ''criminals'' who either be executed or become prisoners of war, the others should live freely." Vanessa wasn''t there so she missed a lot of promises. Failing to achieve this would lower the citizens'' trust to Altera, and Vanessa could only shut her mouth. In the entire discussion, Victor and the others'' respect for Althea had increased another notch. Vanessa felt very uncomfortable the whole time. "Can we see the lord token?" She asked, making everyone turn to Althea. Vanessa wanted to see the look of greed on the other woman''s face. However, Althea''s expression didn''t change as she showed the two tokens which would merge automatically until the 28 hrs were up if they remained in her hands. She noticed something different about Fargo Village''s token though. It appeared a bit bigger and thicker, with a small gem embedded at the side. She used her assessment skill to take a look. "A Vision stone," she said, but her assessment skill was apparently not high enough to know more about it, indicating the level of the ''tool'' was not low. She looked at Oslo, who walked next to her to get a closer look. Oslo looked very interested when she mentioned the name, and was happy to help. Vanessa, who had always been watching closely, could see the affection and reverence in the man''s eyes. This made her eyebrows rise. "This is quite rare," he said, tone gentle. "I heard¡­ one was stolen in a city. It caused a bit of a stir and a lot of people died. How could a village have it?" "What does it do, exactly?" "You''d be able to see a territory''s population, prestige, and the like," Because of the lack of openness in information, the things he knew about certain tools were limited, even for him, a city dweller. "I did hear that after some time, one could also see a territory''s wealth and resources, though I can''t say this for certain." "This is good enough, thank you." "Anything for Miss Althea¡­" He said before sitting down on the chair. He blinked when he felt an eye stuck on him and turned to see it was a beautiful woman. A womanizer by habit, Oslo smiled and the woman blushed a bit, looking away. Oslo shrugged and continued to listen to the meeting, unaware of the woman''s stare on him and increasing bitterness at the person leading the meeting. At some point, it was Victor and Henry who spoke. "What about you? Will you be staying here for a while?" "No." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Then¡­ what do we do in the meantime?" Henry mumbled, worried. This time it was Garan who spoke. "You will be affiliated with Altera, and we hope you will lead the population. "If Altera decided to merge, then we would need a trustworthy person to steward the place." "Me?" Henry uttered then everyone nodded in agreement. To their surprise, however, he shook his head. "I''m too old and tired. Have my son do it." The past few months¡ªincluding the time when his daughter went missing¡ªhad taken a toll on his health. Followed by the migration and all the fighting¡­ he simply didn''t have the will to add so much stress anymore. Victor flinched and looked at everyone who was watching him. He then looked at his dad who was smiling at him, absolutely not planning on changing his mind. Victor looked complicated and¡ªafter a few moments of consideration¡ªsighed in defeat. He rubbed his forehead, not particularly fond of politics himself. "I''ll¡­ do my best." Chapter 609 Reunions and Aftermaths On another side of the territory, Alterans were also helping out injured citizens and the slaves. A lot of the slaves had woken up around the clinic, and some woke up with a friend or family there waiting for them to wake up. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were plenty of sobs as they realized they were freed from Fargo. There were reunions abound, but also sobs of losses. Not everyone had been placed in placed in the clinic yet, this included the hundreds of corpses around. After all, they had to handle those who were still breathing, and this unfortunately meant some corpses were just lying around for now. For one, there was a woman crying on the corner, holding a man''s corpse. "Nooo¡­. My love¡­ wuuu¡­" It was Shannon, hugging her boyfriend tightly as she sobbed. After the female Alterans got rid of her abuser, she watched their battle very closely, hoping to find a way to help out. She happened to be near where Fargo''s battles were and she wondered if she could get one of those fallen bows and arrows to assist. However, she wasn''t able to do so in the end because Fargo called in the slaves¡ªand she saw her fiance in it! She didn''t even think much and opened her door, hoping to rescue him somehow. However, she ended up being pulled into the crowd. She thought she''d drown and get stepped on, but she was lifted up and pushed aside by an Alteran fighting nearby. She was still elbowed a lot, but she was at least upright with the wall as a cover. This Alteran was Cassie, she knew, as she had been watching her a lot since her defeat of that bastard. What they didn''t expect was for Fargo to send earth spikes around as he stepped back, targeting the Alterans who had somehow gone over the slaves to attack him. It hit some of them, while others missed, and Shannon saw one go straight to her. She didn''t have any equipment at all¡ªand she knew there was no way she''d survive it. But her boyfriend¡ªwho seemed to just be going after the Alterans near her¡ªhappened to enter its path, getting stabbed by it instead. People might think it was just him being unlucky, but she knew her fiance to have extremely strong willpower¡ªshe instinctively felt he stepped on his way. Which, to be honest, was even more heartbreaking. How¡­ how was she able to live through this? Cassie, who was limping and had a lot of bandages all over, sighed at the tragic sight the girl created. She walked over, offering to help out, and together they carried the man to the side, letting his head rest on his fiance''s thighs. Cassie was nearby when this man died as one of the Alterans who was after Fargo at the time, though they couldn''t get too close because of the strongmen around him. She had seen what happened and, like Shannon, she believed that the small move was on purpose. She looked at the poor girl with red eyes, hoping she would get through this and move on. "He was a slave with orders, but he managed to save his lover in the end," she said as she looked at the man''s face, "No wonder he''s smiling." Shannon blinked and parted a bit to see. It was true, he was smiling and he had a peaceful expression on his face. Shannon sobbed, but at the same time, she understood¡ªshe could not waste his sacrifice. Even if it was hard¡­ she knew she had to live well, regardless. ¡­ She wasn''t the only one who had tragic reunions. For instance, there was Chucky, who held onto the corpse of his baby brother. He had been too late to rescue him, allowing the other slaves to step on him, crushing his weak body. They had already started to create a cremation area and he¡ªno matter how reluctant¡ªhad to bring his brother''s body. He was only fourteen years old¡­ How would his mother take this news? "Just live well," a teammate said, patting his shoulder. "You don''t want your mother to lose both her sons, right?" Chucky heaved a deep, shaky, breath as he patted the boy''s head. "I''ll take care of mum for the both of us," he said, sniffing, before finally letting the others take the body for cremation. "Rest well." ¡­ While there were many sad reunions that resonated across the territory, there were also happy ones. For instance, Tacky and his sister Lanni, who had just woken up in the clinic. As one of the main participants of the war, he naturally managed to get his sister on the ''priority list''. Tacky felt so fortunate that his sister was okay. At this time, the two were sobbing in each other''s arms, happy to find each other. They asked each other about what happened during the migration, and she told him her first territory was Bright Village. It was really nice, comparatively, but it all ended because of the war. She told him about how they were attacked, and how she was the only one who survived because one of the men liked her mole. "What about mum?" Tacky asked Lanni. They were shopping together at a mall when the disaster happened. The mention of their mother made her sob even more. "She... she became one immediately," she mumbled, sobbing, recalling how her own mother tried to eat her. Tacky sighed, patting her back. "At least she didn''t suffer anymore. Dad¡­" he paused, "We actually managed to survive all the way here, we fought so much¡­" His eyes turned red, "Who''d have thought¡­" His voice faltered as his sister looked at him with teary eyes, unsure whether she wanted to hear it. But they both knew she should know, so Tacky told her what happened anyway. "He¡­ he saw how Belize and the others were taking girls¡­ and he¡­" Lanni had stayed long enough in Fargo and heard of stories. She broke into tears and her brother saw her like this and couldn''t help but do the same. They both broke into sobs. It got so loud that it caught the attention of the others. It was like they went back to being children¡ªthat, in a sense, they actually still were. However, despite the noise, no one stopped them, and some people even joined in. Like dominoes, more and more people couldn''t stop their own tears and before long a whole area was crying. They cried loudly, some to the top of their lungs, releasing heaving sobs they didn''t know they still had after puberty. After the migration, a lot of them had¡ªalbeit quietly¡ªcried a lot, but after a while their tears had dried and their hearts felt tired. After witnessing a few more deaths and brushed with it themselves, no one really cried anymore¡ªthey didn''t have the time nor the energy to do so anymore. But now¡­ it felt like a dam had gone loose, and they let out all their emotions, as if yelling of how they had been wronged¡ªas if they were throwing tantrums at the world. Maybe they were. Either way: It felt so, incredibly, refreshing. Chapter 610 Reuniting with Old Friends In another street, Bruce, with Rebi and little Lina had separated from the other slaves from the mines to peruse the rest of the territory. They knew for sure that the Bright Territory folks were around here somewhere, and they hoped to encounter them. Not to mention, they might find people they knew among the locals! They encountered a few people on the ground and they would help them get to where the Alterans set up some minor treatment hubs. These places were located in various houses spread around the territory, near where the battles occurred. Here, Alterans would give some diluted potions to those who needed them, but only once and they would vary the dosage depending on how harsh the person''s injuries were. For now, this was all for free, and it really added prestige to the territory that took over their own. It took Bruce and the others a while to find Bright Citizens who joined in the attack but, when they did, they encountered the former lord himself! Micheal was helping out with the injured slaves at this time and, as Bruce and the others approached him, they immediately became respectful. "Milord¡­" "I''m not the lord anymore," Micheal said, patting his shoulder as he looked at him. He was thin and bloodied but somehow all his appendages were working well and his drive to survive was strong. "I heard you guys were rescued from the mines?" "Yes, sir," Bruce said, looking at the Alterans¡ªexcept for the seriously injured¡ªevery one of which was busy helping someone or a group. "The Alterans, they¡­ they''re really so good." Micheal smiled. "We are lucky to have them on our side," he said, looking at him. "You did well, too." Bruce nodded and looked at him. "I heard my daughter¡­" "She''s safe, Tom and the others are raising her well," he said. "She''s living very well right now. She even made friends." Although the Alterans had told him about her, it still felt different coming from a fellow Bright Villager who had traveled the whole time with his daughter. A part of him thought that the Alterans could just be comforting him. Besides, they didn''t know him that well. What if they mistook him for someone else? What if the girl they were talking about was another Lily? Of course he hoped the best for his daughter, but he couldn''t help but worry endlessly for her. As such, when Micheal himself confirmed their words, Bruce couldn''t help sobbing as if it was the first time he heard of it. "Oh¡­ god, thank you¡­" he sobbed, sitting down on the floor as he released all the tension he had in him. Behind him, Rebi''s eyes glazed with tears, happy for his friend and also feeling melancholic for his own situation. On the other hand, little Lina watched both of her uncles look like this with glazed eyes. From most angles, one could see a little girl looking a bit worried for her guardians but, if one looked closer, one would be able to see an incomprehensible expression on her face¡­ And it was one that resembled annoyance. ¡­ At this time, the other ''slaves'' from the mines were also looking around for family and acquaintances. Among them were Penny and Aditi, who was also observing the Alterans roaming around, knowing they were technically their new ''masters''. They were still slaves (Aditi had officially become one after Fargo lost), but they felt these people would not break their promise of treating them as free people despite it. Although there was a lot of work to do, they at least had hope of freeing themselves. The two were walking around in hopes of finding more acquaintances. Some were familiar faces from Bright, but they didn''t really know them well, and continued on. It was not easy to traverse these streets as there were still so many people, and they had to be careful not to step on anyone. They tried to help others sit up, but their energies were still limited, especially since they had been weakened for so long, and they only helped a few at a time. At some point, however, Penny froze in place, seeing a familiar person doing the same as they were. "I see someone I know," Penny said with bright eyes, looking apologetically at her companion. Aditi smiled in understanding and nodded, separating from her. "Good luck," she said, wishing for the same to happen to her. Penny smiled back. "You too," she said, and went on separate ways. Penny looked at the dashing man who was helping a few slaves out. Her eyes brimmed in tears as she finally found someone she knew¡ªand it was someone she depended on a lot since she was a child! "Brother Gian?" Gian blinked and looked at her, a little startled but not too surprised. "Penny." "I¡­ I''m glad to see you here," she said, her rounded eyes looking at him as if she were his hope. Gian lips formed a thin line, staring at her with a complicated expression. If she knew that he knew that she was here¡ªwith Fargo''s men¡ªbut didn''t save her, how would she feel? S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He did ask for them to keep her life like his sister''s in exchange for his service, but he didn''t have the power to truly save them in the end. He couldn''t imagine what she had been through, and the fact that he didn''t do anything made him unable to face her with a clear heart. "Well, it''s good you are well," he just told her, not meeting her eyes. "The Alterans are very good. They helped me out a lot," she said, unaware of the awkwardness that surrounded Gian''s body. "You really have a good team." Gian smiled bitterly. If she knew he was lurking around because he was waiting for his punishment, what would she say? She didn''t know he had betrayed his faith, did she? The imagery of the girl''s wide eyes that had always looked at him in admiration turning to disgust was painful, but he had no one to blame but himself. "I''m a little busy," he said, not really wanting to talk much at this time. Penny blinked, a little hurt, but she also knew he was helping a lot of people so she didn''t push for anything. But she felt a complicated tinge in her chest as she looked at his back, not looking back at her. She bit her lips. Did he know? Did he know what had been done to her? Did he find her¡­ disgusting? "Move to Altera. Samantha is there," was all he said, before walking away, and leaving the poor girl standing standing amidst her own thoughts. Chapter 611 Happy Convergence Aditi didn''t know her friend was left heartbroken only a few minutes after they separated. She simply continued perusing the alleys, subtly checking the faces of everyone she passed, and helping those who asked for it. This was in stark contrast to how it was before the war. Back before she got scammed to serve, she was a normal citizen as well. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At that time, even when there were thousands of people in the territory, they were either busy gathering supplies and resources to sell outside the territory or just hiding inside their homes, afraid to be targeted by the guards who were roaming around the streets. Now, there was a lot of noise. Whether it was people talking to each other, or people looking for others¡ªand thus yelling out their names¡ªthe noise pollution that surrounded her was something she hadn''t experienced after the Disaster. Fargo Village had essentially become a marketplace outside the clinic and village center and, to be honest, Aditi found it comforting. "ADITI!" a voice yelled and she whipped her head in the direction. There were a lot of people walking about and a lot of people talking over each other and she was half-certain she was hearing things. "ADITI!!!" the voice called again, this time closer, and she could see a few people giving way to someone. After another yell, a mocha-skinned man revealed himself. "Brother!?" she yelled and met up with him, immediately breaking into sobs as soon as he was in arm''s reach."Brother!!!" "Aditi¡­" The man smiled and sobbed at the same time, embracing his baby sister tightly. This was Raj, Ansel''s Financial and Banking officer. He and his brother went to war on his team, too, and had been helping with the cleanup. "Do you know what happened to the family?" Raj sighed and shook his head. "We don''t know where our parents are," he said. Though his instincts told him they were already gone, he still kept up some hope that they were fine. "But Ramil is with me." Aditi blinked looking around. Raj smiled and shook his head. "Ramil is in Altera now." Ramil had been injured in the fight. There were too many injured on Fargo''s side and the Alterans had preferred to get treated in Altera. Betty was there, anyway, and she would only be transferred to help Fargo citizens after the first wave of Alteran injuries had been settled. In fact, Raj had wanted to carry his brother, but the other insisted he stayed. This place was entirely unexplored by them with new sets of people. What if they could''ve found family? And he did! His older brother was really so smart! "Come," he said, holding the girl''s hand. "We have much to talk about!" ¡­ Near the clinic, Vivian watched the various reunions and meetings from the side. What was happening now was the convergence of three territories, and it was inevitable that there would be many happy news. Vivian though, just stared blankly at the slaves being treated in front of the clinic. She knew she wouldn''t find her husband there¡­ but she wanted to see to keep her sanity. As time passed, there were more and more people who found family, and it was making the women feel complicated. So many people had met their family, why couldn''t she? Others could find multiple family members, but her only one was getting taken away from her. There was only her and her husband in their family. They were both orphans who were raised together by relatives in the countryside. Growing up, they only ever had each other. All this time, Vivian had survived thinking she would be reunited with him again someday¡ªbut what could she do now that she might not? Vivian had always been a strong, career woman, but now that the love of her life was gone, she couldn''t help but question her own choices. She should have spent more time with him. She shouldn''t have missed all those anniversaries in favor of scoops. She should''ve given him a child he so wanted¡ªbut she didn''t, because she was busy chasing what she wanted. She even made him move to the city with her, when his passion and talents were obviously rooted in his farm in the province, where his precious herbs were taken care of. She had seen how much he loved the little garden they had on the balcony, but what could she do? Her own passion was in the city, and she could simply be apologetic and say a lot of promises to him¡ªsome of which she couldn''t do¡ªwhile he left everything behind for her. "God, if you let me get my husband back, I promise to become a better wife for him," she whispered, still holding on to miracles. "Even if he¡­ hates me after what happened, I will do what I can to give him a better life¡ªeven if it wasn''t¡­. with me." She just wanted him alive and well. At this thought, she decided to go and look at other places, heading in a direction until a familiar voice called for her. "Miss Vivian! I finally found you!" It was Kyle, who was running to her, panting. "Miss Vivian! Go, look! The soldiers brought in slaves they rescued from the mines! There are hundreds of them!" Her eyes widened as she followed him. Although Piko had said her husband died, she couldn''t help but hope for miracles. Sure enough, there was still a long line of people walking along the main avenue. There were only a few hundreds¡ªwith others opting to explore on their own¡ªbut everyone looked closely, hoping to find the person they were looking for. Vivian looked at every one of them. They all looked pitiful¡ªas all slaves were¡ªbut they looked much healthier than the ones used to mob fellow humans. However, as more and more people passed¡ªand still with no sign of the person she wanted to see¡ªher heart began to feel heavier and heavier. As the crowd walked past her, it felt like they were stepping on the little hope she had left and it made her legs feel weak. She had to use the wall of the building to support herself, slowly dragging her legs to head back to the house she was staying in. Her body was shaking, as if she was having a withdrawal symptom of sorts, and her breath was becoming a little sparser, more challenging. However, after a street, a familiar voice yelled out to her. "WIFE!" She froze and turned in the direction of the voice, and all the tiredness was suddenly swept away. He didn''t look very healthy, but he looked much better than his battered state when she last saw him. Most importantly: he was alive and well. Her feet moved as she ran to him, wrapping her arms around him. "HUSBAND!!" Thomas smiled and embraced her back, burying his head on her shoulder, rubbing as if to make sure everything was real. As they felt the other''s familiar warmth, heard the other''s voice and their heartbeats¡ªit was only then that they confirmed they were not hallucinating. The couple broke into sobs¡ªhearts filled with happiness and gratitude¡ªjust happy to be in the same space as each other again. Chapter 612 Becky While various movements appeared all around the territory, there were also a few who simply didn''t have a sense of urgency. For instance, there was Becky who was walking around and observing the aftermath. Rather, while she did feel a little sad for the victims, for the most part she was just happy to walk around without feeling someone would pull her every two alleys or so. It wasn''t like they''d appreciate her help, anyway. Although she never did anything to anyone, just the fact that she was once Fargo''s woman naturally made her an evil woman. As she walked, she would only receive looks and frowns. If she walked closer, those frowns would be deeper. So¡­ she didn''t bother helping anyone out, thinking that she''d be spat on or mocked instead. Don''t blame her for being selfish. She had suffered too much to risk her own skin for others, and it had never worked her way. Hey! She almost got gang raped when she tried helping other women! She was lucky she was pretty and the leaders were possessive, so she was fortunately limited to one at a time. When she felt she was going to get shared, she would act coy and make the man feel extremely special¡ªlike, her wanting to sleep only with him and him alone¡ªthus causing him to change his mind. Anyway, because she was smooth, she managed to escape the fate of becoming a sex toy for the Rongos after the lord got tired of her. Rather, she also found another use for herself under Fargo''s protection. How? She immediately showed her knowledge in industrial engineering¡ªyes, that was her major in college¡ªand was assigned to various tasks. As for why she didn''t do this in the first place, there simply wasn''t a chance to. How could she use her knowledge on a bunch of weeds? There was no one willing to support her ''useless'' field and her only ''value'' as a woman was to bring the men pleasure. It was only when Fargo found out that they were actually technologically behind another territory¡ªthe incredibly intriguing Altera¡ªthat they decided to add manpower in this area. Anyway, she really wanted to move to Altera but she hoped to find acquiantances this time. She was among the unlucky to have gotten herself a ''slave'' status, and she needed to know for sure what she was getting into. She looked around for a couple more minutes, and she couldn''t help but brighten at the sight of familiar faces! They were fellow engineering students¡ªthough all of different fields¡ªand she had shared a few subjects with them back then. She squealed and raised her hand, waving at them. "Crow, Dog, Sunny!" "Hey! It''s me~!" They turned to her almost simultaneously. Becky made a beautiful sight, but the trio cringed and ignored her, going away and dealing with the clean up of another place. Becky: "..." She pursed her lips, and crossed her arms. How rude¡­ ¡­ "Whew that was close!" Dog said, patting his chest with his unbandaged hand. He looked pale and nervous, as if just escaping death. Sunny pursed her lips and nodded, while Crow shrugged, not really caring for gossip. Becky had a horrible reputation back in college due to various rumors. It was cemented by the fact that she was, apparently, one of Fargo''s women back then. Anyway, they didn''t want to be associated with her at all!, so they ran away for fear of her trying to attach to them! Good riddance! ¡­ A bit more time passed and the clean-up was nearing its end, with most of the heavily injured Alterans already gone back through the array. Amidst the busy streets, there were two doggos energetically walking around. They followed the medics around, helping with the transfer of the injured to the makeshift clinic. While they were helping people out, making them happy with their fluff and smiles, it had to be noted that Fufi was often turning his head to the gorgeous white wolf. The dog''s tail was wagging wildly, showing his emotions. Luis, who was nearby cleaning up the last of the Fargo guards on the streets, looked on with a complicated expression. "Wow, Fufi''s got a girlfriend already. How old is he? Two years old?" Mao stared at him, helping out a ''slave'' safely transfer to the stretcher using his ability. "Just find someone to court too." As strong soldiers, they actually shouldn''t have trouble finding women. It was just that they were really ill-equipped for the romantic missions and often times offending the women in the end. The worst among them was actually Gill. It was still incomprehensible to them how he found such a good girlfriend who could tolerate him! Then again, Boss Gill was very handsome. The tolerance for such a handsome jerk was probably as high as Mount Nispedana. Anyway, Luis shrugged the envy in the end, continuing on settling the injured and the like. However, at some point, he felt a body fall nearby him and he instinctively pulled the person up. It went fast and his pull wasn''t weak and it ended up pulling the light weight straight to his body. He blinked, awkwardly staring down at the woman whose softness rested on him. "Thank you¡­" she mumbled, making him freeze as he heard of her soft voice. His eyes widened a bit as he looked at how her eyelashes fluttered as she blinked. It tickled his heart like feathers. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "No¡­ no problem," Luis mumbled (note: gulped). "Do you want me to carry you to the clinic?" She laughed at him as she separated from him and stood up properly. "No, I just tripped." Luis looked at her and the space behind her, seeing locals who didn''t seem to give them¡ªor rather, the woman¡ªany good looks. She saw his confusion and smiled, but Luis could see the hint of bitterness there. "They hate me because I used to be Fargo''s lover." "Eh?" He exclaimed, a bit loudly and also a little pale. She looked at the surprised man with a deep frown and her eyes glazed a bit. "I¡­ thank you for your help," was all she said before turning away. Luis followed her as she disappeared into an alley, immediately getting pulled aside himself. He turned to see it was the Crow Trio, looking at him in worry. "LUIS!" "Oh, it''s you three." "She''s bad news! Stay away from her!" Luis looked at them with pursed lips, just shrugging noncommittally, and went back to work. However, his eyes couldn''t help but occasionally gravitate towards the place that woman went to, unsure what he was thinking. Chapter 613 Yiyis Situation At this time, a few hours after the war ended, Jake finally arrived at had been Fargo Village. He was drenched in sweat and heaving deep breaths. The Alterans outside the walls did not receive the announcement, though knowing the war ended wouldn''t have changed his speed at all. The straight distance between Fargo and Altera was only about 100 kilometers, and even longer if one avoided the more dangerous trecks. Normal people would take more than a day, even if the pace wasn''t leisurely, and high-leveled individuals could sprint this for a fraction of that. However, this was in exchange for a lot of health which Jake had no problem spending. He looked around, mind a bit muddled, and a little confused about where to start his search. In the end, while looking for a familiar guard, he couldn''t stop himself from asking random citizens as he traversed the village. "Has anyone seen a girl named Yiyi?" he would ask and they would shake their heads. It wasn''t surprising, because Yiyi always kept low-key. Jake naturally didn''t waste time doing so and just asked where Alteran guards were. They looked at him up and down with smiles and admiration, before pointing him in a direction. It so happened that Sammy was there with a few others, helping with the cleanup along with everyone else. Specifically, handling the guards and a few other ''criminals'' for joint punishment. "Sammy!" he yelled, and the dark-skinned man looked surprised to see him there. "Back from Ferrol? How was it¡ª" but his words stopped when he saw Jake''s sweaty face and hair akin to a bird''s nest. You know, Jake had taken care of his hair a lot. He also bought lots of gel from the supermarket to maintain it. Sammy had the suspicion that a small portion of the guy''s space was filled with gel. But look at him now, completely haggard. "What''s wrong?" he asked, worried, but instead the man just asked if he had an idea where Yiyi was. "Yiyi?" Sammy uttered, immediately brightening up, "Ohmy, finally admitting?" "I''m just worried she got injured or something!" "Suresuresure." Jake looked a few more times with his friends also helping him out. At this time, no one had the time to list down thousands of names, especially when there was so many things to handle, so even they had to look manually. At first, they had teasing grins, but as they asked more people who seemed to have no idea where Yiyi was, the mood became more and more dire. "Yiyi did say she kept to herself, very much," he mumbled. She survived so long because she kept to herself, and they truly shouldn''t be surprised that no one knew her. However, Jake''s heart couldn''t shake off a bad feeling of foreboding. Did something really happen to her? It was around this time that a familiar woman approached Jake. They looked at her and was a little startled. "Juni?" "I know where Yiyi is," she said, her face impassive, not explaining any more. Jake saw Sammy and the other pale and it made his heart drop. "Where was she assigned?" Jake asked Sammy before he went to follow her. Sammy looked at him with a complex expression, before finally opening his mouth to speak. "Rongos." *** Jake''s face was practically bloodless as he followed Juni to one of the villas they expropriated for the women. It was a relatively new one, in hopes of not triggering any bad memories in any of them. Juni''s feet halted when they reached the living room filled with simple wood furniture, before pointing at a couch. "Stay there," she said, "The girls¡­ they don''t really like a lot of testosterone in their midst." Jake nodded in understanding. However, before Juni turned, he couldn''t help but ask. "Wait¡­ can you tell me more¡­ first?" He wanted to know so he could react properly. Juni understood this and decided to be frank with him. Anyway, a man like him would not appreciate sugarcoating. "As you could guess, she was one of the dozens of women kidnapped and used as a sex slave," she paused, looking at the man who shook as he stood. "Although Yiyi is thin, she has a cute face. It was actually a perfect target for those... monsters, especially now that there were barely any children among thousands of people¡­" Jake''s fist clenched tightly, to the point that his skin was bleeding. Juni sighed and let him be, going inside to get Yiyi. However, when she came out about a quarter of an hour later, there was no one with her. Juni looked at him with a bit of an apology. "She doesn''t want to see you. I''m sorry." Jake pursed his lips, clenching his fists. "I¡­ can you tell her I will stay here and not eat until she comes to talk. I promise not to get closer to her by more than a meter." While he knew the girl needed space now, he was afraid if he just let it be, she''d completely float away. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His mother was just like that¡ªjust before she took her life. Juni sighed. "I will try." "Thank you," Jake said, waiting patiently in the living room. He hadn''t known Yiyi enough to be in love with her, but he definitely cared for her. Eventually, Juni came out again, this time gently holding a younger girl. She was thin, wan, and her eyes were glazed as if they couldn''t focus anymore¡ªin stark contrast to the bubbly optimistic girl that he had met. When she was gently brought to his space, Jake didn''t dare get closer. He simply sat in silence with her for a while, letting her adjust to his presence in the room. "I¡­ I know you don''t want to see me right now, but¡­ "I know it''s too late but I want to tell you we will punish everyone who did this to you," he told her. "I¡­ are you mad at me? I''m sorry for leaving you behind. We didn''t know the dangers¡­" "I just want you to know I will be there for you from now on, so I hope you ask for my help whenever you need it. I can even be someone you can beat up if you want," he said with a smile. As he spoke, his eyes couldn''t help but end up on her hands on her thighs. They were thin, unmoving, and had a lot of gauze, showing she had a lot of wounds. Jake slowly took her hand with the least bandage, ready to let go at the slightest signs of fear and discomfort. He was very gentle and tentative, making sure she knew he was trying to comfort her and not anything else. Soon, their hands entwined. Yiyi blinked as her eyes stayed on their connected hands. She raised her head to look at him, tears lining up her eyes. "I''m sorry¡­" Jake''s heart broke as he wrapped his arms around her. "Why are you apologizing?" "Dirty¡­ if I wasn''t so useless, I¡ª" "You have nothing to apologize about," he told her, patting her shoulder. "It''s all them. All them! "We''ll squeeze out an apology from those bastards together, okay?" he told her, tone gentle, but his eyes cast a murderous glint. Those bastards would pay for what they''ve done! He will make sure of it! Chapter 614 Punishment While Fargo was getting cleaned up, bit by bit, a few more people were invited to the Village Center. These were the respected citizens of Fargo other than Henry, who were the doctors. Their representative was Volohov as well as his wife, Liana. They also called some of the erudite citizens who had seen and experienced the events, but would still be able to help with the objective and logical decision-making. Among these people was Vivian and, by extension, her husband Thomas. While the confessions and the recording of accounts with the local citizens were going on below, Althea and the others still hoped to find other perspectives as well. After all, most citizens were at the height of emotions, and they might miss or exaggerate a few things. However, what they would hear still made their blood boil. The type of abuse and oppression was so medieval¡ªit was a shame that modern Terrans propagated it! The Alterans also looked at Henry and the others in pity. Having to endure such oppression while trying to protect citizens must not have been easy. No wonder the old man wanted to retire. Considering everyone had longer lifespans here, the old man must''ve felt he still lost a few years. After much discussion, they decided to divide the punishments into two: Execution and Prisoner of War. Execution would be the painful and prolonged deaths of the Thousand Slashes, where their victims would be allowed to damage them, to contribute to their painful and imminent deaths. The Prisoners of War would be the exception to the ''no slave'' rule of Altera. They would basically be ''slaves'' in a sense, where they''d be punished by doing hard labor jobs for Altera or its satellites. As for the duration of this sentence, it would depend on their transgressions. Besides, it so happened that Fargo had limestone and copper deposits that Altera needed. As they said so themselves: Slaves were convenient to dig! There were naturally some ''idealistic and humanitarian'' voices around, of course, who had voiced their opinion against such blatant ''disrespect for human rights''. For instance, there was Vanessa, who wasn''t comfortable with not having a bigger part in the discussion. "They''re human beings! We shouldn''t be deciding life or death like this, nor should we allow for slavery!" she said, a bit meekly but with chest out as if she was a kind-hearted woman speaking her mind against some oppressive force. Oppressive-force-Althea looked at her. "So, what do you suggest?" "I¡­ we let them go," she said, "Surviving out in their states¡ª" "Haven''t you heard that cockroaches live forever? What will you do if someone survived and caused harm to Alterans? You might not care, but I do." "That''s not what I meant¡ª" "You think just because people are injured, they wouldn''t be able to cause damage? Vanessa, don''t be naive." "I''m not!" Vanessa said, voice rising a bit. Her upbringing and the fact that she had an image to maintain in front of Garan kept her from losing her cool. "I''m just saying we shouldn''t be playing god¡ª" "In a world where strength is language and killing is everywhere, taking a life is not playing god¡ªit''s a means of survival." "You can''t possibly say that if those men did what they did to you, you would be able to let them be?" "I¡ª" "Will you?" Vanessa pursed her lips, eyes teary, and then she looked around for help, looking as if she was being bullied. However, no one felt pity for her. Garan didn''t even look at her, his eyes were fixed lovingly on his wife. Althea heaved a sigh as she saw her like this. However, in consideration of her brother and father, she wasn''t too harsh on her. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This is no longer Terran, where the biggest problem is if the president you voted for gets elected or if you get a job, or if you will get to buy that luxury bag you wanted. "Any wrong decision here could equal lives or a massacre," she paused, emerald eyes looking straight at her. "And we, as people in power, could only do what''s best for our people." ¡­ A few hours later. At this time, the surviving Fargo guards and a couple of inner wall citizens were gathered into the plaza in front of the village center. It was the only plaza Fargo had and the Alterans jointly decided to do the punishments there. The masses gathered around to see, and everyone was filled with emotions. They all knew what would be happening to these people, and they wanted to be there to witness it. The Alterans based on testimonials of victims and witnesses to determine who was to be put to death and who would simply be imprisoned and become war slaves. This was done using a strict oath, so they weren''t worried about wronging anyone. Anyway, this public display was necessary to calm some of the wrongs. After all, the victims had to carry the ''damage'' these people caused¡ªwhether physical or mental¡ªfor the rest of their lives. The least they could get was to punish the perpetrators themselves. The prisoners naturally struggled. Many of them couldn''t walk anymore with broken or amputated legs, so they were dragged to the plaza. "NO!! LET ME GOO!!" "STOP IT!" "DON''T¡ªGAH!" During their procession, the prisoners received rocks and trash thrown at them. The citizens didn''t throw feces, fortunately, because they knew the Alterans needed to touch them to set them up on the stake. There were dozens of stakes there with those to be executed staged in batches. There were plenty of struggles, pleas, and yells, but what could their weakened selves do against the strong and healthy Alterans? Each person was tied to a stake, and several Class B knives were lined up on a table in front of them. People who wished to punish the men queued up. The direct victims were allowed to stab how many times they wanted, while the others were limited to a few. The weakened guards could only watch as people lined up to stab at them. In front of the line, there was Jake, holding Yiyi''s hand. He gently placed the knife on her hand, and she raised her head to look at him, eyes contracted in fear and apprehension. Her hands were cold, shaking as she felt the hilt of the weapon. Jake''s heart broke but he knew this was a necessary step. If she didn''t do this¡ªshe might regret it. So, with a smile on his face, he comfortingly patted her hand. "Come," he said, gently pulling her to the platform. "We will take revenge together, okay?" Chapter 615 Executions The two of them halted in front of two specific men¡ªand they were known to be very active in bedding the women in the mercenary Hall. One had no legs, while the other also had no arms. They were both bloodied and cursing. "BITCH! LET US GO!" "GO AWAY!" They yelled when they saw a familiar sight. They actually looked happy to see her¡ªas if remembering the time they had power and were looming over her. Yiyi also remembered¡ªher body did¡ªand she let go of the knife and immediately shivered. Before she could scream, Jake immediately took her to his arms, patting her back. "You can do it, Yiyi," Jake said, encouraging. She had to face them now. If they died before she could do so, a shadow could remain in her heart. He took a deep breath and separated the two of them. He gently patted her head and turned her to face the monsters, who spit at them, hoping it reached Yiyi. He wanted to see if she''d react as if she was burned. Jake frowned and BANG! He punched them both in the face. It was not so strong, but strong enough that their remaining teeth fell off! "AHHHH!" "YOU BASTARDD!!" "DIE, YOU¡ªHNG!" Jake covered their mouth with a random dirty cloth, and the other Alterans took the signal and did the same with the others. This way they couldn''t taunt or spit at anyone anymore. They should''ve done that before, but they wanted the victims to hear their perpetrators'' pleas and screams. Anyway, Jake held Yiyi''s shoulder as he put her in front of him. He had the knife in hand, placing it on her small palms once again. Only those who were fit to do so by the Psychiatrist Doctor Ward (who didn''t queue because her perpetrator was Belize) were allowed to hold the knives, of course. They wouldn''t want anyone slashing at their own wrists, after all. "Yiyi, I know you''re scared, but doing this would help other girls avoid the same fate as you did. You can help them," he said and his peripheral view caught sight of the crowd. "And look behind you. If you don''t take this leap, many others wouldn''t, too." "But¡­" "I believe you." Yiyi pursed her lips, holding tightly at the knife. Jake smiled and arranged her hold of the knife. At first, he would guide her on how to do the thousand slashes. "The trick was, not to stab them too much," he told her. "It''s always just to make gashes all over their body so they would be covered in wounds, much like what their victims had to endure." Yiyi nodded, tentatively making a slash. At first, her heart pounded in nervousness and fear, recalling the horrendousness she had been through. Yiyi was soft-hearted and in no way a psychopath, but there was something refreshing about this type of revenge. It was like slowly, she was getting her agency back¡­ Anyway, these men weren''t human. What could anyone feel empathic for? Seeing Yiyi like this, more and more victims moved forward, bravely taking a knife and facing their fears. After a few minutes, pools of blood had appeared under the men squirming in pain as they were slashed everywhere, bit by bit. In their intense struggle, some mouth gags fell off, letting the audience hear the screams of big men. "GYAHHH!" "IT HURTS!!" There was like a pig squealing while they were being blooded alive. Slash, stab, slash again, the prisoners could only yell and scream as they were tortured one by one, without any hope of freedom. Hundreds of captives were tortured in a similar way, their curses and pleas resounded. To them, it was hell on earth filled with blood but, to the audience, it was an oddly reinvigorating sight. Only those who were truly victimized were allowed a stab, but everyone else still felt vindictive happiness at the sight of their suffering. The Alterans were also there, guarding closely in case anyone managed to make trouble, and the Fargo men knew there was no escape. They yelled and struggled, cursing the world and the Alterans, wishing them the worst of fates, all the way til they lost their strengths. First, they stopped screaming, then they stopped struggling, and then they eventually stopped breathing. The prisoners still ''queued'' could only look as the first batch of men were checked for life, one by one. Surprisingly, one or two were either still alive or just pretending, and the Alterans had their throats slit for good measure. Drake, seeing as those were settled, nodded. "Next batch." The prisoners in line peed their pants, all their arrogance stripped off after watching their old teammates die such horrid deaths. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Would they suffer the same fate? Especially in the hands of the people they had called slaves?! HELL NO!! At this, a few people looked at each other, and in an instant those who could run darted in different directions, while those who couldn''t move anymore could only yell at them, begging to be taken. A lot tried to escape¡ªsome crawling away¡ªbut were quickly blocked. The Alterans didn''t even have to move, the citizens themselves kicked them back. BANG! "AHH!" The fastest man yelled as he was pushed back by several people¡ª people he used to beat up when he wanted to! How dare they¡ª But before he could react, he was slapped and kicked and basically mobbed. He tried to struggle off his ropes and gasped when he felt it loosen a bit. His eyes turned red, prepared to make a full run for it! He wasn''t able to in the end when someone decided to pummel him with a fist. He was greatly weakened at this time, and that one punch from a person several levels lower than he was was extremely offensive! "BAST¡ª" before he could curse, an Alteran already walked over to drag him back to the execution platform. He shit on his pants, disgusting everyone. "No! NO PLEASEE! Don''t kill me!!" he screamed, all arrogance drained to the ground, though his words only fell on deaf ears. The person who was now dragging him happened to be Jake. "Did you hear those women''s pleas when you did the same to them?" he asked, eyes dark. "You did not. No, you tortured them even more when they did. "We''ll just call this, implementing the Circle of Life." Chapter 616 The Betrayers Punishment Similarly, while the major perpetrators were being tortured and killed, the Alteran guards had also rounded up several normal citizens in the interior territory. "I''m not a guard! Why am I getting punished?" One yelled as he was dragged along the alleys. He looked around and saw a few others were being pulled as well. He paled when he recognized most of them, and a deep foreboding entered his gut. He kept his mouth shut, hoping he was wrong, but he did know annoying these guards now would only strengthen their case. The others though were not so mild. In particular, there were those who were rich or well-off in Terran and enjoyed a decent life here by pandering to Fargo. They had been extremely used to being arrogant, and they wanted to kick the faces of everyone looking down on them now! "YOU BAST¡ª" He was kicked down before he could complete the sentence, and he was pulled back up, no longer having the energy to be so noisy. Others were not so stupid, trying a more diplomatic approach. "This is not fair!" he yelled at the Alterans. "I saw you people going around, I didn''t say anything!" Some of the locals nearby spit at them. "You were just too scared the Alteran would kill you!" "It doesn''t mean I can be contained for cowardice¡ªAH!" "Shut up!" Mao yelled as he bumped the person''s head. The man felt his sights blur as he was dizzy, and he glared at the man. "Is this what a soldier should do?!" he yelled, and Mao''s eyes darkened. Jall smirked, thinking he affected the man, instead he was thrown to the wall. "You do know there''s no rules here about killing, right?" The man coughed in shock and gasped when he was lifted up. "It''s nothing compared to the shame you should feel¡ªheh, selling your own brethren for a bit of shelter? I heard you, in particular, even took part in the abuse." "Various reports came to light. But¡­ don''t worry we won''t kill you," Mao said. "Altera''s not planning on keeping slaves in the usual capacity, but we''ll make an exemption for you." ... Back to the torture plaza, the torture continued. Whenever the criminals were on the verge of losing consciousness, Drake would send a little spark in their bodies, ensuring they were awake to feel all the pain¡ªto feel their lives slowly being drained until their bodies lost their functions. Several soldiers stood by as they watched with complex emotions. After all, it was against their psyche as modern soldiers to do something so¡­ primitive¡­like this. However, they also acknowledged that a good revenge was often necessary for a victim to truly move on with their lives. The one who felt heaviest was Gian, who had received predominantly silent treatment. He just stayed to wait for his punishment from the captain. He was there when the citizens were making their confessions, their oaths, and their stories, and he knew some, but some were new, but none failed to make him feel deep remorse. Gian had worked for Fargo but he basically just assisted them in fights, in leveling up, and the like. He had never participated in the abuse and even low-key attempted to stop some of them, but in the end he couldn''t risk his sister or her friend. So during the times he couldn''t stop Fargo''s men without using force, he would just look away and leave, pretending not to hear the cries for help. By helping Fargo, he helped them do this. He looked at the people lined up, seeing a few familiar faces there¡ªafter all, a lot of these people begged for his help before. And because they limited the slashes mostly to the main victims, they saw almost most of them were females. A lot of them were his sister''s age, too. He felt heavy as lead, his whole body feeling like it just wanted to melsh with the earth below him. His mind was only brought back to the present when he felt a tap on the back. It was Luis, who was looking at him with a complicated expression on his face. "Captain is calling for you." "A-Ah¡­" They met up in the forest outside the territory. There was a small clearing there, though the ground was mostly soil and stone. There was Garan, Gill, as well as a few others standing there, dire expressions on their faces. "Gian, what would you like to say for yourself?" This set up made him think he was going to get the harshest of punishments. And he was willing to receive it. "I should die." Gill sneered. "Useless¡ªtaking the easy way out." Gian raised his head and looked at them, realizing there was no murderous aura around them. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He¡­ didn''t know what to say. However, he met the Captain''s sharp blue eyes and it made him feel like kneeling down. "You have betrayed our oath and you have succumbed to your selfishness and cowardice. As a soldier, you are more than a disgrace¡ªyou are a stain to what we stood for¡ª" Each word pounded into Gian''s head and heart, making him drown in shame. "However¡ªit is not worthy of death." It made him look at them with wide eyes, and Garan continued to speak. "Your life will be spared, but you have already broken the trust of the Team. You shall swear an oath never to betray an Alteran or their allies again, but at the same time you will never be able to step into its territory." Gian''s heart clenched, but he also knew he deserved much more. Garan looked at him. "I can give you a chance to say goodbye to your sister, giving her a choice to come with you." Gian shook and kneeled down for real. "No! I¡­ I can''t face anyone now¡ªespecially not my sister¡­ "Please¡­ don''t tell her I was here or what I did." In fact, the more he saw of the aftermath, the more difficult it was for him to face the others, and their brethren. He obviously had a narcissism problem, and he knew it would be difficult to change. Garan and the others saw him like this and sighed, walking past him. Gian didn''t move and listened to them leave him behind. His heart was in pain when he recalled he would never be part of their team again, but he understood it was the consequences of his actions. He kneeled there for a long time, thinking deeply, and he didn''t notice a few rustles of leaves sounding around him. Unconsciously, he surrounded himself with fire, and the low-level monsters that tried to attack were immediately burned. He waved his weapon to kill them, all without standing up. His mind ran swiftly as he calmed his heart, thinking of what to do next. When he stood up a few hours later, his eyes were clear, and he looked in the direction of what was Fargo Village. For the next month or so, Gian would guard this territory¡ªwithout entering its walls¡ªall the way until he was certain it was strong enough. Later, he would leave to travel, saving every brethren he encountered along the way. But that was a story for much, much, later. Chapter 617 Dust Settles A few hours later, the criminals for execution have all died. Their corpses were carried in a makeshift hand cart that they got the local carpenters to do. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. These carpenters had been oppressed by Fargo to make the furniture in their houses, and they had barely enough sleep from overwork even until the war. However, when they found out what the handcarts would be used for, they did everything at record speeds. Group by group, the corpses were taken out of the walls, each batch guarded by a soldier as they were thrown some hundred meters away from the walls. Anyway, the decomposition rates in this place were much higher than Terran, so they didn''t really care much about it. The earth users just dug a mass grave and threw it inside after making sure no one was accidentally alive. Back in the territory, while the cleanup was ongoing, the remaining criminals were being tried. Now, they were determining what exactly their punishments would be. There were more than a hundred of them rounded up, some of whom had actually escaped during the war but were blocked by Sammy and the others. Their transgressions ranged from assisting Fargo and his team, causing harm to brethren by malicious reporting, and to heavier transgressions like joining the abuse. Those who had murdered their brethren had already joined the executed people, so the ones being tried didn''t have blood in their hands¡ªat least not directly. Interestingly, there were also a few guards who didn''t have anything reported against them¡ªeither they were too new to the job or they had actively avoided the dirt. One of these men was a big man named Ghetto, who had been a guard for a little over a week. He landed in Fargo not long ago with some other refugees after their old village had been destroyed. Back then, Fargo was hiring a lot of guards and he happened to have been a security guard back in Terran. When the opening came, he applied immediately¡ªthinking it was likely the best job in the territory¡ªonly to regret it soonafter. Rather than help protect citizens, the guards in Fargo¡­ were the harshest monsters the citizens had to fear. Of course, he wasn''t naive enough to fight when he saw the abuse on his own. He was a weak level 8. He''d definitely die if he tried getting in the way of the other guards'' ''fun''. Hence, he volunteered to guard the outer wall, saying he didn''t want to remain stagnant. The ruling party gladly gave him the assignment¡ªthough he fully knew they were laughing behind his back, calling him an idiot. Regardless of this, Ghetto was extremely dutiful in his job. He bravely guarded the outer wall with the best of his abilities, shooting his arrows at the mobs, and getting close to the outside as needed. When Victor and the others were there to deal with the monsters, he might even jump down with them to assist. However, he was captured because he was still a guard and there were still plenty of times he still had to follow orders, making him an accessory to the abuse. For instance, more than once he was asked to pull a woman the other guards were interested in. Could you imagine pulling a helpless woman, taking her straight to hell with your own hands? There was no day after that that he had managed to sleep for more than 2 hours. The people who had gotten to Fargo with him had tried to appeal but he was afraid Altera would have a bad impression on them, so he asked them not to bother. So now, they¡ªthe remaining Fargo guards and sympathizers¡ªwere being judged in front of everyone, awaiting the judgment lead by the Alterans. The representatives for the politics were Jun and Silvia, who were part of Luis'' and Ansel''s teams, respectively. They were in-charge of handling this aspect of this war. In front of them was a bunch of paper where a summary of transgressions was written by the interviewers and investigators before, listing down everything under oath. The duo would serve as the facilitators of sorts, determining the duration of their punishment based on what they had done. For the most part, the ''slavery'' would last for years. Silvia looked at Ghetto, "According to our records, you didn''t have a lot of sins to your fellowmen, though you did bring a lot of girls to the enemies." Ghetto pursed his lips, remembering those moments, and his shoulder slumped in guilt. To be honest, he didn''t mind getting punished¡ªhe knew he deserved it. The two saw his remorse and looked at each other, deciding to be lenient on him. "Six months." Ghetto''s head whipped as he looked at the two. He was startled. The others before him had at least 5 years. Someone even got 15. For example, Jall, who got Juni into trouble back then. Speaking of Jall, his face was unrecognizable and bloated after being beat up so much. He could only curse at his sentence in silence, because speaking would just let out a fountain of saliva that would just humiliate him even more. Jall received the highest sentence because he participated in a few abuses. It wasn''t as harsh as the mercenaries and he didn''t injure anyone, but it was still forced in the end. The women he had dealt with probably wouldn''t be able to approach men for a long time to come. Anyway, hearing his light sentence, Ghetto felt teary and bowed a bit. "T-Thank you." "It just means you will have to work for a minimum of six months. If you were designated by the system as a slave, you would still have to work to free yourself after that." Ghetto nodded in understanding. Luckily though, he was not a system slave, and this meant he was a free man after six months! His former teammates heaved a breath of relief to see him get past the ordeal, and he went to them to watch the rest of the punishments dished out. There were very few people who had less than 1 year like Ghetto. The average was around 8 years of service¡ªlikely in the mines. The prisoners dreaded this, recalling what they knew about the state of the slaves in the mines before the war. When all prisoners had been assigned punishments, the duo stood in front of the crowd. "These people will be prisoners of war, basically slaves. They will be the only exception to Altera''s no-slave rule." At this, many of the citizens'' immediately stepped forward, voicing out their concerns. "What about us?" "Altera doesn''t keep slaves, and for those who were unlucky to have been assigned the role, you don''t have to worry. "Altera will never use you as slaves. We are still studying the limitations and requirements, but there will be a rule that the citizens would not be able to order anyone as if they were a slave. "Your money will be returned to you after you sign a detailed oath. If you don''t remember the exact amount of your money, we suggest you take an underestimation, because the punishment in the oath is harsh." "Other than this, you will be able to live freely, get jobs, hunt, et cetera." After the initial ''stealing'' of property (that was, the automatic withdrawal of all the slaves'' money), the ''slaves'' would be able to keep new resources and money that they earned afterward. The only difference would be in status. Slaves were not counted as entities in various senses of the word. They could not even avail the most basic residencies. If they didn''t have friends or teammates, then they would be stuck in dormitories for an indefinite amount of time. Of course, the dormitories were far superior to the average living conditions in the current Fargo, but they didn''t know this at this time, so they could only be worried. The only bright side was that they wouldn''t have to pay the daily fees. "When you gain enough money, you can officially buy your own freedom and residency. "In fact, if the money you retrieved was enough, then you can free yourself immediately." Of course, they didn''t want lazy people taking advantage of Altera''s goodness as well. Lazy people would always find a way to be lazy. For instance, because there was no entrance fee for slaves, some might just lounge around the territory, becoming beggars for some food and other resources when even disabled people could perfectly well find a job. So, they still added a limitation regarding this. "However, if you do not have the ability to buy your own freedom within a year, the territory will pay for your freedom, but you will be in debt amounting to thrice the amount." This made a lot of people talk, but they also found it fair. At this time, they couldn''t imagine anyway willingly becoming a slave for Altera! Other than these, the citizens also had a lot of other inquiries. "Are we staying here?" "If you choose to stay, that is also perfectly okay. Fargo will be merging with Altera, making citizens here Alterans as well." Most slaves would be unable to transfer to Altera by the array. After all, that needed some funds. At the same time, they also knew a lot of the victims would want to be away from this place. The normal citizens would be able to afford it, while the others would take a while. "Regardless of whether you choose to stay or transfer now or at a later date, you are welcome," Silvia said with a gentle smile. "Altera is open to everyone. And, as long as one wasn''t lazy and did not cause harm to Altera''s peace, you would definitely love a good life. "So consider everything carefully, and good luck to everyone moving forward." Chapter 618 Heading Back Althea and the others were finally heading back home with the couple of Alterans left behind, and a few locals who''d be coming with them. While the Alterans didn''t stop the migration of Fargo citizens to Altera, they didn''t strongly recommend it. For one, Altera didn''t need such an influx of population at this time. If anything, such a huge scale of migration could bring about a lot of inconveniences to them. Second, Fargo Village would essentially become part of Altera soon. It would also be needing it for the resources that it had¡ªparticularly, limestone and copper. Taking away too many of its people and talent would hinder its use. Hence, the Alterans were asked to discourage the locals'' immigration unless the person had a relative in Altera or had been thoroughly abused in Fargo. Of course, there were still a few hundred citizens and slaves who insisted on going, absolutely not wanting to stay in Fargo for another minute! Anyway, the remaining Alterans and immigrants heading to Altera lined up to go through the array, the latter with various expectations in their minds. Considering how their territory had been crushed, Altera must be even better than Fargo! No, even if it wasn''t, it was still infinitely better than this place! The teleportation array back to Altera was open for a full 28 hours. After studying this new territory, a lot of Alterans had already gone back hours prior. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There was nothing interesting in Fargo anyway and a lot of them felt they had seen enough during the war! Unfortunately, the array was still inaccessible to everyone beyond the level cap, so Garan and the others had no choice but to travel back on foot. "I''ll come with you," Althea said, feeling pity for her husband who would still be traveling for some time. Garan smiled and kissed her forehead, "No need," he told her, "You don''t need to suffer. At our level, it''s only a day of leisure travel at most." "But¡­" Garan shook his head. "You also need to discuss what to do with the token amongst the other elders," he paused, gently rubbing her cute nose. "And most importantly: Our children miss you, I''m sure. We haven''t been hanging around them lately." The two of them had been very busy in preparation for this war. He didn''t want to delay their reunion with at least one parent. Althea pursed her lips before nodding, heading into the array with many others. Other than Althea, there weren''t many Alterans who had stayed behind after the initial round of cleanups. A lot of them had long gone back to Altera to get treated or just go home already. This included Yiyi, so Jake, who had to walk back, was particularly antsy. By this time, there was a small mob of people, along with Henry and the others seeing everyone off. They all had worried expressions on their faces though. "Can one of us come with you?" Henry asked, "We would like to see where the home base is." One representative to see would be fine. After all, there was a tacit agreement that their group would be under Garan''s. It was natural they would want to see more of its capability. Beside her father, Vanessa nodded. She had seen how unimpressed Althea and the others were with Fargo¡ªwhich was arguably already very good. She wanted to see¡­ what kind of life this woman had been living! Unfortunately, Garan shook his head in response. "This place would need everyone. We''ll deploy more forces to assist soon." Victor and Henry seemed a bit disappointed, but they understood. "Well, next time then," Victor said, before saying his goodbyes. "Be careful." "Let''s go," Garan uttered and everyone turned towards Altera. However, before they could leave, all the soldiers'' senses heightened and immediately entered attacking modes. They felt some strength in the oncoming party, so their guards were raised high. It immediately deflated like a balloon as soon as they saw who they were though. It was Turbo and the others, sweaty and panting, obviously rushing to get there in record speeds. They didn''t go as hard as Jake, but they also went on a rush. They thought they still had some time before the war ended, and there could still be some use for them! However, they saw the peace and quiet and they realized the war was already finished! "Wait, over already!? There''re still a few hours though!" Turbo gasped, panting. Sammy sighed and wrapped his arms around the man''s neck, leading him back in the direction he was from. "Well, we can still get attacked one more time this month so just go back and prep the territory." "But I''m so tired!" Garan looked at the newly arrived Turbo and the others, and then to the citizens of Fargo and to Henry. "Then you can rest here." "!!!!" And so, Team B was tasked to stay in Fargo, delaying their stay back in their precious homes again! "Didn''t you say you were tired?" Sammy said, grinning smugly. This made Turbo glare at him. "I want to rest in my comfy bed and pillow! I wanna go to the bathhouse! I want to go eat my delicious hot and sour noodles, damnit!!" Comfortable bed? Pillows? Bathhouse? Hot and sour noodles?! The barrage of enticing keywords made the others quite curious, realizing there was even more to Altera than they thought. Except for the slaves taken back and the few relatives found by Alterans, the Alterans didn''t really stay and chat. Most of them had sustained a lot of injuries and didn''t want to stay outside too long¡ªespecially at the risk of having to walk all the way back. That said, all those who were left in Fargo were really unaware of the difference, except that Altera had very strong soldiers and citizens working for it. While watching Garan and the others leave, they couldn''t help but focus on the soldiers forced to stay. They were very curious! Maybe this time, they could find out more about the territory that crushed theirs! Chapter 619 Taking over Fargo Village Altera. In the Village Center, Mathilda stood in front of the rest of the elders, set to lead a very important meeting. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They had received an order from ''the Village System'' to decide on some very heavy decisions while the rest of the territory recovered and handled the injured and the casualties. Other than the elders, Oslo, and a few other aborigines were also there to provide some advice. Mathilda looked at her companions in the elder positions: Althea, Eugene, Ansel, Gru, and the new add-on Rosalind, the Elder of Education. She had gained a very important skill during her tenure as an officer, and they judged it was high time for her to be promoted. This Skill was called ''Wisdom Amplification'' which can partially clear the minds of the people in the room, temporarily increasing decision-making and learning abilities. In classrooms, this was a great thing to have, but in meeting places like these where critical decisions were made, such a skill was invaluable. "We have been called here by the system for various discussions," Mathilda began, "But it will primarily be regarding what the territory would want us to do with the two lord tokens." There was still so much they didn''t know about this world, and Mathilda could understand Althea''s reluctance to merge recklessly. The old woman turned to Oslo and the other aborigines, asking them more information about the tokens.The aborigines put together what they knew, filtered the inaccuracies, and presented them to the elders. They didn''t know that much of course, as knowing too much about things only lords knew¡ªwithout being one¡ªtypically caused suspicion in Xeno. So, even if they were curious, few aborigines actually tried exploring its functions and nuances. "As you know, the tokens detaching from the lords during wars is not common knowledge, however, there are still plenty of people¡ªespecially lords themselves¡ªwho capitalize on this." During wars, if it wasn''t the lord himself, then it was a confidante who swore various oaths that would be sent to assassinate the enemy lord, aiming to take the token before the war ended. "There are many things one could do with a token. One was to sell for a very high price. Becoming a lord, even of a village, would elevate a person''s status in this world. The village could not be moved though, so whoever would win the bid would have to manually travel to the village. "Another was to merge with the territory. The extent to what merges during such a thing is beyond our knowledge, but we do know that the ''master'' territory had direct control over the new ones, as if it was an extension of it. "Each territory could merge with a maximum of three territories," he said. "There have been cases where a lord had decided to ''throw away'' a territory he no longer needed. If this was during the war, then the token could be detached and then be sold later on. However, this would have a massive cost." The information regarding this came from Betty. In one of the territories she got assigned in, the lord was greedy for expansion and had merged the tokens he had (at the high price of hiring mercenaries for assasination works). But when he encountered a rich village and managed to get ahold of the token, he was forced to separate one of his old ones. He had been so excited with the new village, but whatever he saw on his screen made him backtrack. In the end, that lord didn''t continue to merge and simply sold the token for a high price. This told Betty that the price of separating an existing merge must''ve been astronomical. The Alterans were enlightened with the new knowledge, thanking them for their contribution. They blushed, waving their hands, saying they were being too polite¡ªthey were Alterans, too, after all. Mathilda smiled before she continued speaking. "Now that we will be going into this with informed minds, now we must make the decision: Whether or not to merge our territory." "There are various factors to consider here," Mathilda said, "And I hope everything is considered. Although tempting, merging recklessly might not be in Altera''s best interest." At this, various discussions exploded in the territory. They tacitly ignored Bright Village, for now, and focused on their bigger win: Fargo Village. "They found limestone there, right? So we can start from there," Ansel said, chewing on one of the snacks on the table. Eugene looked at him. Although he wasn''t there, he had heard about the resources that were found there were. During the war, Kimura was dragged through the array to check the metals as well. They thought he needed more courage, and they did get some good findings before they had to go back before the array closed. "There is also copper, zinc, and lead," Eugene added. "Though he did mention there are some slight compositional differences from what we know in Terran." "Wow. I heard that they found trace amounts of copper, but it seems there''s a lot more than limestones over there," Ansel said with raised eyebrows. Eugene nodded. "Actually, finding different types of minerals in a single deposit is common. There are plenty of cases where such metals had been found near limestone mines." The redhead whistled. "Wow¡­ we really hit the jackpot," he said. Although there were still a lot of things to study, this was a major step forward! Althea was also very pleased with the findings. This was probably the only war they started themselves, and it really paid off. It was really tempting to start wars, but Althea was no typical power-hungry man so the territory was¡ªthankfully¡ªspared from this type of war-mongering existence. In the end, after a few more minutes of discussion, the elders decided to merge Altera with the new village. Only with Fargo Village, anyway. Before they could move on to the next topic though, Ansel couldn''t help but ask. "So¡­ do we change its name?" Chapter 620 New Name Oh, yes, of course. This topic made the Elders and aborigines look awkwardly at each other. Some had names in their minds, while others had no idea what to suggest at all. "I prefer if we could name them straightforwardly." "I agree. Maybe we can have something for people to know it''s Altera''s." "Do we add ''Altera'' somewhere?" "Like, what, Altera Mountain Village?" "Too long." "Does the system even have word count limitations in naming?" "I think something cooler like Rocky Mountains is better." "No, I think¡­" And so on¡­ Anyway, naming something so important¡ªAltera''s first satellite¡ªwould inevitably cause a couple of disagreements. Hence, they decided to choose the new name¡­ by draw lots. Well, kind of. They decided to pick by drawing lots wherein everyone there could suggest what they wanted. If it was picked, everyone could vote on whether it was acceptable or not. At the same time, no one would really disagree if the option wasn''t too bad. After all, the people who suggested the name were in the same room. Basically, unless the answer was a troll answer, then whichever was picked first would likely be the endgame. Mathilda gathered the papers and picked one, with a few people confident in their naming sense hoping to get picked. After all, it''d be an honor to name Altera''s first satellite! What kind of bragging rights would they have during drinking sessions?! It was an honor they could brag about for generations! Mathilda opened the paper and flinched, but voiced out the contents in the end. "Limestone Valley?" "Could''ve been cooler like my Ascension Valley," Ansel said, making Eugene roll his eyes. "Limestone Valley, eh?" some asked, wondering who suggested it. "A little simplistic, but functional," Althea said, as if explaining, and they immediately knew whose idea this was. Althea had a vision of merging territories only if it had major resources, so naming them after their main resource would make things straightforward. Anyway, there was no need to hide what the territory could offer¡ªanyone who could get to the village would know what it could offer. In any case, seeing as it was Althea''s choice and it wasn''t too bad of a choice, no one strongly disagreed with the new name. And so: Fargo''s new name was decided just like that. If Fargo knew how his name was ''desecrated'' would he have an aneurysm? Anyway, the discussion continued about the other token that they had. It was Mathilda who opened up the topic. "What about Bright Village?" "We can only integrate 3 territories at most. Using it on Bright is a waste." "Agreed." "Agreed." If Micheal was here, he''d feel very complicated. But, it made things easier for him so¡ªeven if he knew how he was being discussed¡ªhe would be thankful for it. *** Sometime later, when Micheal was helping some of the slaves from Bright settle down, he was called up to the meeting. Everyone knew this was an important call and couldn''t help but be nervous, even Micheal. Of course, nothing showed in his strict upbringing. From the perspective of other people, he looked cool and calm, and this made his former citizens¡ªincluding Juno¡ªlook at him admiringly. "Well, I will be going, I''ll update everyone on the news," he said, turning away to head to the center as instructed. The former Bright citizens looked at his back with complex emotions and varying expectations. "I wonder what their decision was¡­" "Will we get Bright back?" "Do we have to get it back?" "..." "Of course!" However, internally, they really hoped to stay in Altera! This line-of-thought was something Micheal was aware of, but tacitly never mentioned. Most people would definitely choose Altera over Bright, and he could not blame them for it. However, he believed he would also be able to build a good home, so¡ªwhile unlikely¡ªhe still hoped to get his territory back. Micheal stood in front of the large door, taking a deep breath before entering. "Ah you''re here," Mathilda said with a polite smile. "We have something to discuss with you. "We got your token right here," Ansel said, direct to the point. Micheal''s eyes widened a bit and he stepped forward, though his feet stopped when Ansel lifted it up again. "Of course, the token shouldn''t just be given out without any conditions." Micheal nodded. "I expected as much." In fact, he was half expecting them to decide to sell his token to others for a large price. After all, he really couldn''t afford much as it was now. So he was a little surprised when Ansel told him of their decision. "We decided to charge you 1500 gold for it, as well as turning you to a subsidiary." Subsidiaries would have to pay tribute for at least 1 year, which was automatically deductible in the treasury. If they wished to break the relationship, it''d be after the year ended. "I am honored, but¡­ I don''t have money." In fact, counting the losses from the previous war, he was even in debt! "You can borrow in the bank, use your territory as collateral," Ansel said, making a few look at him. ''Wow, so modern'' they''d say, and Ansel felt a bit smug. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "However, if you are unable to pay the amount before the subsidiary contract ended, we reserve the right to sell the token to others." According to Oslo, a lot of aborigine territories would be targeting them for the tokens. The worst-case scenario was to strike a deal¡ªin which case, having extra tokens on hand would be advantageous. With this, two of three of her allied territories¡ªVismont and now Bright¡ª became her subsidiaries ... After settling Bright, it was finally time to merge with Fargo¡ªerr, Limestone Valley. Mathilda, as instructed, simply left the Lord Token on the highest floor. The moment they closed the door, an announcement rang inside everyone''s ears. [Altera Village (Lv3) has officially won against Fargo VIllage (Lv3) and obtained it as a satellite, hereby called Limestone Valley.] [To celebrate the overwhelming first war, the territory requests 50% off on all items from all stores within the day. Store owners shall receive a partial rebate through contribution points.] [Congratulations, Alterans! Let us witness the growth of our home, together!] Chapter 621 Celebrations and Mourning The people who got back from the array as soon as the war ended naturally mentioned that they won, but they had to deal with the critically injured before anyone could answer to the gossipers that surrounded them. On the contrary, everyone mobilized to be able to rescue as many as they could, making sure that everyone still breathing when they got back home would remain that way. Even now, several hours later, a few casualties had been confirmed, so the atmosphere was still a little muted. This was why when the announcement of Altera taking over Fargo resounded across the territory, there wasn''t much of a fuss. This actually baffled the guests very much. "They really took over?" The aborigine visitors looked at each other as they chewed their food in the restaurant. This was Ferrol Lord Jonathan and his guests. They were treating the Golds¡ªa dream come true, really¡ªto a meal and they chatted a lot about the interesting territory they were in. He didn''t forget that he came here for trading, so he ought to solidify this heaven-sent connection. "They even received it as a satellite!" Kory said, combing back his dark curly hair. "For their first war, that is very impressive." Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Actually, it was very, very, rare for a territory to take over another. After all, the differences in strengths usually weren''t too different. The more realistic goal was always to just win. But look at this place: A takeover during the first war. It was considered a miracle! "Have you seen how many elementalists they had?" Ping couldn''t help but say, recalling many of the newly arrived individuals who had come from wars. In order to facilitate the injured, a few abilities were used. For example, when rickshaws were full, some earth users would create wheels from rocks and place platforms there to help with the injured. There weren''t few of them either. "I''ve seen villages where elementalists were legends!" Ping said, impressed, and the rest nodded in agreement. However, they were all distinguished people and they tried not to show too much disbelief. It''s just that they couldn''t help but look around to see the Alterans'' reactions because they were so quiet when the announcement sounded. They were the only customers there, which wasn''t surprising, though the workers and waiters didn''t seem much affected by the news. This was really¡­ an interesting place. When they were hanging around during the war, the people''s time and actions were as it was. They didn''t seem too worried, but they just did their jobs, collected resources, cleaned, and the like. When the war was over¡ªonly after a fraction of the usual time¡ªeveryone cheered, but the atmosphere dampened again when they saw the injuries. To be honest, according to the reports, most of the injuries didn''t seem critical. But looking at the atmosphere around, perhaps it could''ve been more serious than they thought¡­? However, this was an absolutely common thing during wars¡ªwars generally had a lot of casualties¡ªand none of them thought too much of it. Instead, their minds went to how it would be for them after a couple of hours. "I assume many of the commercial areas will resume the high activity soon¡­" Ping said, a little wistful. Kory nodded, sighing. "It was fun to get them all to myself." They hadn''t been here for long, but what they had seen so far¡ªthey had seen a lot of places because there were only a few people around¡ªwas really making them excited. Jonathan''s favorite place was the Alteran Gardens with its unique plants, colorful foliage, and interesting amenities. The others had their own favorites, but without exemption, they were all incredibly impressed. Altera was definitely set out to become one of the most unique places the human territory has ever seen! ¡­ Back in the Village Center, Althea looked at the new announcements that came with the merging. [Gained! Satellite (1/3) Limestone Valley] [Gained! +1000 Gold, +100 Prestige] [Gained! Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv2), Barracks (Lv2), Custom Building (Small)!] [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 2615 (813 permanent, 1802 temporary) Total Population: 6324 Base Resources: Wood: 12300/20000 Stone: 9200/15000 Money: 19731 Gold, 1262199 Silver, 6598699 copper Reputation: 320 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv2), Barracks (Lv2), Custom Buildingx3 Building Slots: 7/9 (+2)] First of all, the new buildings were a pleasant surprise. Although Oslo mentioned that they would gain the buildings of merged territories, it still felt special to see them added into her panel screen. It was like a cheque finally cashed in and entered her bank account. The changes in the money weren''t much, but she knew most Terran territories wouldn''t be well-off at this point. As for the population, because most of the ''slaves'' were still in Fargo and they had temporarily discouraged immigration, they didn''t have a spike in population just yet. Every Alteran was injured after all, except for a couple of ''slaves'' from Bright and the women from Fargo Hall, most of the others who couldn''t walk by themselves remained in Fargo. Their people were plenty tired and injured, who could still carry strangers hundreds of meters each time? What they did do for them was a few people went back and forth the array before it closed, bringing in medicine, gauze, and the like in order to help them out. They had plenty of medical professionals there, anyway, so the supplies were not wasted. They also brought other tools that could help out the doctors. Anyway, they had much more medical professionals than Altera did and they ought to be maximized. There were still plenty of things to fix and settle in both territories. However, they were all set on-hold when Gill finally arrived. His arrival doused the room with a bit of direness, with everyone knowing what he was here for: Gill was there to report on the casualty rate. Chapter 622 Death Count Gill had arrived, and they knew what this meant: The Death Count was here. Although there were deaths during the war itself, there were more in critical conditions. They had to take them to the doctors and the healers, before they could be transferred back to Altera. However, they had lost Alterans both in Fargo and in Altera due to complications. "A total of thirty-four Alterans died," he said. "About twenty-seven died during the war, while the others passed due to the critical injuries later on." Almost all of these casualties were directly attributed to Fargo himself as well as the strongmen in his team like Sen, Uzon, and a few stronger mercenaries. Although Altera had superior equipment and potions, they were still primarily civilians. How many could truly fight against well-trained terrorists? The depressing atmosphere in the meeting room deepened. Before the war, they had expected a lot of deaths¡ªeven more than this¡ªbut actually hearing the number of lives lost was still incredibly difficult to stomach. Plus, this number was just the Alterans. There had been hundreds more deaths among the slaves, though their burial was left to Victor and the others. As for the burial of the Alterans, it naturally had to be grand. The bell rang coinciding with the number of lives lost, each with several moments of silence dedicated. The cremation was to be held in the park. For now, this was the only option as the space in the territory was limited. They were placed in separate areas so their ashes wouldn''t mix, protected by covers from the wind. The bereaved would have the option to either keep the ashes or place them in the cemetery park located at the edge of the territory. Althea was also studying the Tree Pod Burial, where the body would be placed in a biodegradable pod that would nourish a seed. The tree, in turn, would be the person''s natural gravestone. There were still plenty of complications in this, however, and she still had a lot to study before they could use it as a formal way to bury the dead. Almost every citizen came to see the funeral. Almost, as some superstitious old folks didn''t want to join and simply gave alms to the bereaved. There were also the children, who they didn''t want exposed to such an atmosphere just yet. The Alterans bowed their heads as the bodies were cremated. People who didn''t know the dead felt pity for the loss of life, while their family and friends sobbed their hearts out. Among these people were the Mauin villagers. At this time, they were standing near the burning corpses, sobbing for their lost comrade. Meroun was among the people who perished after the war. He was stabilized after defeating Sen, but he suffered a lot of internal injuries and broken ribs, which unfortunately punctured his heart. Everyone handled the injured with care, even using a carrying bed to make sure they were stable, but fate had its way of taking people away. Mauin and the others mourned for another lost brother. In fact, he was the only one who perished¡ªwhich should be a relief because they were expecting at least a third of them might not make it. But¡­ it was odd; they felt even sadder. Was it because he was the only casualty that made things more painful? Maybe it was because they were actually given the chance to grieve this time¡ªunlike in their old lives, where they were just forced to move forward head-on in order to survive. Or perhaps¡­ It was because they were living good life in Altera, even if they had only stayed a while. They finally found hope of living decently. Before, dying could be seen as the end of their struggle. They were humans; they get tired, too. Now, it was different: Everyone wanted to live. And everyone wanted to live long, long, lives. Meroun''s death ignited a renewed will inside of them. "Brother," Mauin mumbled, as if he could still talk to his cousin. "Please rest well." We will live well in your memory. ¡­ Somewhere at a distance from the pyre, Garan rubbed his wife''s small shoulders and she buried her head on his. She didn''t want to feel too sad and blame herself¡ªshe knew she had done her best¡ªbut emotionally, she felt drained and guilty. Althea pursed her lips, mind still swirling. Had she managed to make more powerful formulations, would the death count be even less? sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The weight of these deaths felt heavier than the others. After all, she was the one who waged this war. "If you were not here, hundreds or thousands more would''ve perished," he whispered, gently comforting her. "You have already done so much." Althea still felt like crying as she buried her head on her husband''s chest. Garan sighed and patted her back. "We will grow, but our enemies will also get stronger," he said. "Please don''t put too much pressure on yourself, wife." "More," she mumbled. "I want to do more." She felt that she could, but she had yet to tap on that potential. A bright glint passed her eyes, then. She and Altera had so much more room to grow¡ªand she would be sure to achieve that, even for just the sake of her people and her family. *** Behind the crowd were the aborigine visitors, watching the ceremony. It was a little novel to them, holding such a funeral for the commoners. In their knowledge, while nobles would indeed have grand funerals, the commoners usually didn''t bother. At most, the family would send them off to be burned or buried, but nothing too grand. As they waited, they observed the crowd. They saw the Alterans'' dark expressions, as well as the many people sobbing their hearts out. "How many people died?" Jonathan asked his guard, who was always gathering information. "Thirty-four." Only thirty-four? With how gloomy they were, he thought they''d lost half of the people who went through the array. Of course, he had the tact not to say so out loud. However, the atmosphere was extremely solemn and they couldn''t help but also feel heavy, despite not knowing these people¡ªdespite not really bothering with the lower class before. At some point, an old woman stepped in front of the funeral pyre, facing the bodies that were slowly turning into ashes. It was Mathilda who, as before, had been asked to deliver a short speech in remembrance of the people they lost. "Your sacrifice is not in vain, brothers and sisters," she said. "You saved a lot of lives by losing your own and, for that, we are eternally grateful." She then looked at many of the people in the crowd, her eyes meeting with the bereaved, family, and friends of the fallen. "I hope you can be proud of these brave souls. Live well, and Altera will strive to do its part to protect you and make the lives of its citizens a bit better." The aborigines couldn''t help but be touched and also confused, their world views subtly being affected by what they were witnessing. How many citizens died during their own wars? How many people have they left behind to fend for themselves? Most of these people didn''t think about that. It wasn''t that they were bad people, it was just how the worldview was: People only cared for strength and riches¡ªbecause that was the way to survive. However, this was incredibly enlightening, especially for the lords like Jonathan. He couldn''t help but look at the crowd. The solidarity they exuded was something unprecedented to him. A territory that placed so much importance on the lives of its people. How could it not garner such loyalty? Chapter 623 Hallucination? Inside the Gaea Chamber of Commerce home base (i.e. Farm Villa #2), the group was preparing to do a minor celebration, waiting for the rest of the team members to get back home. At this time, other than the children, there were only two other adults in the house, one of whom was Harold, who looked awkwardly at the mountain of mana cookies he made while dazed in worry. In the past few weeks, his success rate had improved to about 50%, so he ended up with a lot of stock. He sighed, packing them up in containers, and putting some in the space. Anyway, the boss alone could consume huge amounts of these when she was experimenting, so he wasn''t worried anything would go stale. Harold was left to care for the children. They were a bit superstitious and didn''t want to expose the children to the funeral, so they stayed at home. As for the others, they were all attending the funeral. By estimate, it should be done by now and they should be going home in about an hour or less. Realizing this, he immediately shifted to prepare for a meal. He knew everyone would be hungry but, at the same time, he couldn''t make too heavy or overly savory food either because he was certain they hadn''t eaten anything heavy since the ar began. "Do you need help, Daddy?" a little voice sounded by the door and he turned to see his daughter and Horus looking at him. He smiled and patted their little heads. "Go and do your homework," he said. "Ask Auntie Winona if you have any questions, she''s very smart." "Okay~" the two kids yelled, scurrying back to the living area where all the children were staying during this period. The kids went back to their seats next to Winona who, at this time, was smiling, poking the babies'' stomachs and making them giggle, showing off their adorable toothless smiles. She couldn''t possibly work properly knowing her friends were at war, right? She really wanted to go with them as well. It was just that her grandmother threw a tantrum, yelling if she went to war, she would die. The old woman threatened to go out the wall to follow. Winona knew that although a lot of it was due to selfishness, her grandma''s tantrum was still partially in care of her, so she didn''t push it. So at the peak of the war, she could only hang around the children while they waited for news. It was a tense couple of hours, and she felt itchy from stress. If she didn''t have the babies with her, it was estimated she''d be red from her own fingernails. Now that the war was over, Althea was still busy¡ªwith Althea sending a letter that they were Okay¡ªand Winona decided to wait for their return alongside the children. Now, she was even helping the older children with their studies, which was a welcome distraction if she was to be honest. Holding the twins, she guided the kids about some basic arithmetic. Winona was an extrovert and had a way with words, so she actually made quite a good teacher. When they ended, she allowed the kids to take a breather and go to the playground outside. They celebrated, with Horus carrying baby Theo with him, leaving Winona alone with the cuddly babies. It was just that, a bit later during playtime, Winona noticed that they were biting their toys more often. In fact, she had long noticed that the babies were drooling a lot more, even Pepper, but they were babies so she didn''t think too much about it at first. "Nono, don''t do that¡­" Winona said, gently prying Little Pepper''s drool-wet hands from her mouth. She also took out another rattle from Meatball''s mouth. "You shouldn''t put just anything in your mouth," she said, very seriously. "Don''t be like your mother, okay?" This went on for a while until Winona was genuinely concerned they''d come home poisoned someday. Harold, who had cleaned everything and already set the table, came out and saw their particular love for eating strange things. He looked at the babies in thought, but he couldn''t say anything because the aether letter in his space had heated up. "Ah, it''s a letter from boss," he said, making Winona¡ªand the babies, by extension¡ªturn to him. He cleared his throat to read and he couldn''t help but grin at its contents. "The meeting is over. We''ll be home soon," it said and it made Winona brighten. She looked at the babies who were obviously antsy to move. "Let''s go meet your mama now~" she said. The world ''mama'' seemed to have excited the two babies and their mouths made cute ''o''s followed by giggles. "Ah, so cute, so cutee~" "Your mama is sooo awesome~" she said, tickling their tummies and making them giggle. Winona looked at the two adorable cuties laughing and felt relieved in her heart. They had been extremely quiet when the war was ongoing. They didn''t even cry, they just looked like they didn''t have any energy to do anything at all. It was extremely heartbreaking. Now they were giggling loudly, as if they understood. "Okay, let''s go greet them~" she said and the babies'' eyes dilated and their cheeks seemed to flush with excitement. Winona''s heart was soft as she placed them on the stroller at the side of the room. She then prepared to go to the pantry room to get the baby bottles and other necessities for the trip. It was just that when she turned¡ªliterally two seconds after she stood up¡ªshe saw Pepper suddenly crawling to the door several meters away. And Meatball¡­ he was floating as if swimming like a frog towards the exit. Winona blinked, rubbed her eyes, and stared again. Pepper was still by the door, this time close enough to touch the door leaf, while Meatball was still ''swimming'' though not very well. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Winona: "..." Huh???? Chapter 624 Reunions Back outside, the daily activities of Altera had resumed for most people. Those who joined the war had mostly gone to rest, while those who found their loved ones would have days-worth of things to talk about. The slaves from Bright sobbed as they reunited with family and friends, though a lot of them arrived much later than the last batch of Alterans. After all, a lot of them were seriously hurt and the Alterans didn''t have the manpower to help them travel through the array. Hence, they had to go through on their own after they received some treatment, assuming they had the money for the transfer. In any case, people camped outside the teleportation array, and a lot of new people arrived now that the funeral was over. They sat on the benches set near the arrays. The benches were erected there as soon as the war started. For the most part, it was for the comfort of the defending parties. But now that the war was technically over, other than the guards, there were also plenty of citizens who camping. They were waiting for more people to go through¡ªhopefully people they knew. There had been people who went to Fargo to look for relatives, but it was discouraged at some point because they could get stuck there until a team returned to Altera by foot. When those people had yet to return, it really did serve as a deterrent to those who wanted to do the same. So, the best thing they could do was wait for more people while it was open. Of course, with people camping out and concentrated in one place, money grubbers also appeared to sell some goods. So, at least for a while, the place was really lively. However, after another hour or so, most of the people had already gone inside with only a few more remaining under the heat of the sun. A voice of disappointment echoed. "The array is about to close, no one else is coming in?" Tom asked, a bit whispering, but the little girl holding his hand still heard it. She sniffed, heart clenching in pain and fear. What if her father really didn''t come? Did something happen? Unfortunately, everyone was too busy and no one thought to specifically find Lily or Tom to say they found Bruce. When they found an acquaintance who knew them, it was already too late. Tom couldn''t risk running over there with Lily lest the array closed in on them! However, just before the array completely closed, it flashed¡ªrevealing about a hundred more people before it completely dispersed from their view. Bruce and the others had to undergo emergency treatment in Fargo''s clinic, with Ansel leaving the few of them some funds for the array. Some minutes ago, they were forcefully woken up in order to ''catch the ride'', so to speak. Everyone still felt like they had been hit, ran over, and then squished by a truck, but they knew Altera and were determined to settle there for good. Waiting for the next caravan would take too long! They didn''t know if their bodies would be better by then, either! So, by nook or by crook, these former Bright citizens practically crawled to the array. The only reason they didn''t have to was some carpenters felt pity for them. They didn''t care that the rickshaws held corpses a few hours prior, they just wanna get to Altera! Fortunately, they got in just in time. "We made it¡­" Rebi said, breathless, touching his stomach which was still aching a bit from earlier injuries. He had never been to Altera, but he had heard it was definitely the place to be. Bruce''s eyes were similarly bright. He looked forward, already pondering about how to find the territory since he knew the walls were still a distance away from the array. What he did not expect though was for a small crowd to be there! It wasn''t a big crowd anymore, but there were a lot of seats around and he could tell there used to be a lot more before. He was just startled at first and was prepared to just ask for directions, but then he heard a familiar voice just outside his peripheral vision. He didn''t even have to look for his tear ducts to break. "DADDY!!" S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bruce''s heart lifted and he sobbed, opening his arms so he could take his baby into his arms. "Lily!" Rebi looked in envy at his friend who finally found his daughter. He wished he could have the same fortune, and the hope it would happen to him lit up his fire to keep fighting. Lani beside him, however, was frowning a bit. She held on Rebi''s hand, which caught the man''s attention. "Uncle¡­" she mumbled, her large eyes lined with tears. Rebi''s heart softened, thinking the little girl was scared. "Everything will be alright. Altera is a good place¡­" She nodded, her eyes shifted towards Bruce and his daughter. She frowned when he started talking to the other big man, and they gestured to go away. "Uncle Bruce has forgotten about us¡­" she said, frowning. Rebi blinked and looked to see they were heading away. He chuckled a bit, patting the girl''s head. "Nonsense," he said. "He''s just very happy to find his daughter. We''ll all be a big family, don''t worry." Lani looked at him with her large innocent eyes and nodded. She looked very obedient and it just made him more fond of the girl. "Such a well-behaved girl," he said, and Lani smiled in comfort. "Can I call you dad?" Rebi blinked, before his heart turned to a puddle.At this time, he couldn''t help but really think of the girl as his offspring. "My daughter calls me Papa," he said, patting her head. "You can use that too." Lani looked at him, eyes full of dependence, and¡ªat that moment¡ªit made Rebi swear to provide for her and protect her as he would his own daughter. "Okay, Papa." Chapter 625 Daughters "Okay, Papa," she said and the two were holding hands as they followed the Alterans'' leads back to their territory. But by the time they reached the tall wall, they could only gape. "Wow¡­" Rebi and the others said, gaping, not expecting for Altera to go beyond their imaginations. Little Lani''s eyes were also wide, staring at the big village with a strongly beating heart. "This place is so¡­" Rebi mumbled as they entered, speechless at the clean and functional arrangement of, well, everything With wide eyes, he looked at Bruce. "You weren''t lying when you said Altera is amazing." Tom, who was walking beside them, smiled. "Well, there''s much more to Altera than just this. But you can explore at your own time later. Let me bring you to my house so you can rest." "A-Ah, yes. Thank you, Tom." "No problem," the big man said, leading them towards their new abode. Bruce though couldn''t help but look at the massive cast on Tom''s arm. "Your hand¡­" Tom looked at his arm and sighed. "Got into an acccident yesterday when I was training," he said, looking a bit bitter. In his hopes to take revenge for the friends he lost during the previous war, he trained very hard to get stronger. Sadly, he overdid it a bit, ending up quite injured along the way. The only good thing that came out of it was that Betty herself helped him out, a move that ultimately kept him from suffering permanent damage. Anyway, other than the cast, he didn''t have any other problems. Sadly, the injury was on his dominant hand which rendered him unable to join the war despite wanting to do so. After a couple of minutes more walking, they arrived in one of the duplex communities in the area. This time, Tom only had Bruce, Rebi, and the little girls with him. The rest were guided by a few locals to the Village Center. Although they didn''t have an identity in the system, they could register in Altera, which was honored in the same way. Tom advised Rebi and the others to do so after resting. There was a long queue in the village center now, after all. Soon, they headed to Tom''s rented house. "I am not a permanent resident yet so I can only rent, but it''s fair and doable." "Who are you renting with?" Bruce asked, worried. He didn''t want to get Tom in trouble. "I rented this during the war," he said. "I knew some of you would need a home, so¡­" The two big men looked at him with wide eyes, looking as if they wanted to cry. Tom''s eyes twitched, immediately raising his hand to keep them from crying. "Please don''t." "We promise to pay you back." Tom smiled. He wasn''t planning to ask for rent during the first few months at all, but he didn''t disagree, knowing it was the only way they''d feel comfortable staying in the house. Tom then said goodbyes to leave them be, and Rebi and Lani gestured to enter. However, they realized that Bruce and Lily weren''t entering. They turned to see the two looking in a direction. Lily was smiling and waving her hands, and it was obvious she saw her friends. Bruce chuckled, willingly led by his daughter to see her friends. "Lily wants to introduce me to her friends. I''ll go ahead for now," he said. Anyway, seeing his daughter had effectively made the tiredness disappear. If they took too long, he probably wouldn''t be able to move the whole day tomorrow, but it''d be worth it. As such, the father-and-daughter disappeared out of their view shortly after, leaving the other two behind. Lani pursed her lips and held Rebi''s hand tighter. "You''re my Papa now, right?" sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What''s wrong, little Lani?" "You are, right?" She asked again, as if looking to hear a particular answer. Rebi was a little confused. He kneeled down to look at the pouting girl and then looked at the direction where Bruce and his daughter left. It took a while, but he was eventually enlightened. The girl¡­ she was envious and worried, probably fearing she''d be left behind. "Of course," he said, answering her question, and the little girl gladly entered to give him a hug. It didn''t last long however, when another small voice echoed in the area. "PAPA!" Rebi''s eyes widened, recognizing the voice. He turned to see a familiar little girl with a few other kids, looking at him. There was also Bruce behind them, and it was obvious that the friends Lily saw before was this group. Anyway, he couldn''t think too clearly and let go of the little girl in his arms. "F-Fiona? FIONA!" Rebi yelled, immediately running towards his daughter, leaving another little girl frozen in her position. ¡­ Outside the Village center, there was also a group who was waiting around. At this time, Winona was walking back and forth as she carried Little Pepper, while Harold was awkwardly standing there, looking a bit apprehensive. "Are¡­ you sure about what you''ve seen, Ms. Winona?" He asked. When Winona screamed in the house, he almost tripped in his rush. But then he just saw her pointing at the door in shock. Harold was very confused because all he saw there were the babies crawling in that direction. Then she went and said some unbelievable things the babies supposedly did and Harold couldn''t only look at her weirdly. "Really?" "Of course I saw it!" "Have you been drinking?" "I HAVE NOT!" She yelled, but she calmed down when she looked at the pudgy softness in her arms, looking at her with her wide innocent eyes. "OH, baby," she said kissing her cheek, "I don''t mean it lke that. I love you no matter what, but who knows if some spell is cast on you right?" "Olga had been looking at you wrong! I think she wants to kidnap you!" Winona was talking about Olga Gold here. She had been admiring the babies a lot and had been saying how she wanted the same. Of course, she and Olga had formed some friendship of sorts, so this was partly joking. Partly. Anyway¡ª "What''s taking so long?!" Winona groaned, glaring at the door of the Village Center. Althea and the other Elders were personally handing over the ashes to the bereaved and handing them the inheritances, and Winona could only wait outside with a bit of a restless atmosphere around her. Fortunately, they didn''t have to wait too long or Winona was sure she''d have hypertension. One by one the elders (except Garan, who had to travel on foot) came out and exited the door, with Althea and Ansel coming out several minutes later. Winona ignored the redhead and went straight to Althea. "Girrllll~!" "Missed you! Glad you''re alright!" "Winona¡­" Althea smiled as she shook her head. In the end, Althea just took one of the children, with Ansel taking the other one. Ansel and Winona''s eyes met as he did so, and they just gave each other a cursory nod. Like ''hey'' and ''yo'' of awkward bro-acquainatnces. Anyway, Winona''s eyes were fixed on Althea. "There''s something I need to tell you!" She said, looking around. "No, not here," she said, and basically dragging Althea back to their abode. When they entered the house again, Winona told them of what she saw. Ansel looked at her weirdly, "Have you been drinking?" "I haven''t!" Ansel turned to look at Harold. "Did you see?" He shook his head. This made Winona panic a bit, scared that no one would believe her. "I''m not making things up!" Before Ansel could tease her though, Althea, who was now touching her children''s cheeks, spoke up. "You weren''t imagining it." Chapter 626 Visitors from Towns Everyone naturally looked at her, hoping she would say more. Before she did though, her stomach rumbled a little, making the baby in her hand giggle cutely. "Ah, time to eat. It''s already dinner time!" Harold said, leading them to the dining area. They focused on eating for a while. Although there were some light snacks during the meeting, they still missed their savory foods. Anyway, the topic was put on hold until the elders finished their food. As soon as they finished, Winona leaned forward. "Tell me again how I''m not crazy." Winona was particularly Antsy the whole time. She wanted to make sure she wasn''t seeing things! The curiosity killed her so much that when they went to greet Althea back in the Village Center, she was maybe a little half-tempted to throw Meatball to his mother to see whether he would float. Of course, that was an intrusive thought that didn''t win. Althea didn''t know the weird stuff going on in her best friend''s head and just answered with a shrug. "There''s not much to tell, truly," she said. "We don''t know how it triggers either. It just happens." "Nothing?" "Nothing." The adults looked at each other and then to the little babies who were playing with their toys. "We can only hope it won''t put them in any danger." ¡­ The next day. The entire territory was allowed for a slow day that day. That was to say, working hours started a bit later than usual to allow the citizens some rest. Some time after breakfast, the doorbell sounded, startling those inside. This doorbell¡ªa new add-on made by Baron''s party¡ªwas literally just a bell with a string system. They partnered with Kimura from the Research lab to get the right process and tuning, and Althea''s team happened to be one of the first houses to get this. Harold and the others were a bit puzzled, wondering who it could be. "Maybe Boss Garan has arrived?" "He wouldn''t need to use the door bell. Plus, it should still take a few more hours." "Ah, right." However, Althea was still the one to take a look anyway, just in case. They opened the gate to see it was Oslo, but with a ton of guests. "Ms. Althea¡­" he said, with an awkward smile, "I''m so sorry to bother you, but we have guests who hope to discuss important business with you." A lot of people looked at Oslo, a bit startled. Even his siblings who had seen him like this just couldn''t get used to his humbleness. Even if it was a lord¡ªif it was only a lord of a village¡ªthere was really no reason for Oslo to appear so humble. How could he act like this towards a mere village elder? A woman, at that? S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Unless, there were really a lot of particularly special things about this beautiful woman that met the eye, and they couldn''t help but give her a few extra looks. She was very beautiful, yes, but what was most charming was her demeanor, stance, and aura. At first, they thought the results of their investigation were exaggerations¡ªafter all, how could a woman get so much sincere admiration? But, seeing that even the Gold''s spoiled son admired her, then they knew much of it must be true. Olga, in particular, wanted to be acquainted with this woman for a long time¡ªand on a personal level. There were only a handful of women who made a name for themselves and, to be honest, Althea seemed to be the only woman she knew who triumphed over all the men in the territory. There had been a few women in history who had gotten close, but their journey was fraught with a lifetime of conflict, unhappiness, and isolation. Her mother even told her of a friend''s story¡ªa female lord, who was hunted down by her own people simply because they believed a woman should not be leading them! At the time, her own husband was the very person who led the rebellion and killed her! It was one of the reasons why she was so averse to marriage. But this woman was so beloved by men and women alike. She might not be a lord, but her power was more than most in this territory. Contrary to those other women, she had a loving husband, a complete family, and such angelic babies! How did she do it? Althea seemed to have noticed the intense stare and looked at the taller blonde, who flinched a bit and blushed, making Althea chuckle. The others didn''t seem to have noticed the interaction and simply headed inside as they were invited in. As they entered, Oslo introduced the guests to her. "You already know my siblings," he said, before pointing at the new faces. "This is Lord Jonathan of Ferrol Town and these two are Kory and Ping, his two close friends and rich men from Ferrol." In fact, Team B actually brought a lot of guests with them¡ªsome even from other towns. They were extremely curious about the territory, but no one dared to directly contact them after the Lord of Ferrol announced his interest in a partnership. Fortunately, the locals assured them that Gaea would still likely partner with them, though the degree would depend on whatever agreement they would have with the Golds and Jonathan. Ansel and Althea led their guests to the veranda, while Harold prepared the snacks and tea. Winona took care of the children and went to the neighbor''s house to play. Of course, Olga and her siblings didn''t forget to say goodbye to Winona and cute-byebyes to the babies. The babies had become familiar with them the past few days, and they giggled showing off their cute gums¡­ which now had bits of white. No one really noticed this though and the babies went ahead to Lola and Yana''s new playpen. The aborigines entered the gates and they couldn''t help but admire the gardens as well as the house a bit. "The villa is a little small compared to ours in the city, but this is so¡­ comfy." "I want to buy that villa in Luxury area" "You have to be a permanent resident first." "Even if we pay a lot more money?" "Yes." This made the guests'' shoulders slump. "Hmn." After all, many of them lived in towns, while others owned a village. Becoming a permanent resident was definitely not an option, no matter how much they liked the place. Still, internally, they couldn''t help but complain a bit. So stingy! However, after a few months, they would completely understand the territory''s decision to gatekeep so much! Chapter 627 Deals with Ferrol Anyway, this was a discussion for much later. At this time, the party simply traversed the property and settled themselves on the verandah, admiring the gorgeous view of the well-maintained gardens as they did so. "How nice to wake up to this¡­" Olga said, looking dreamy. "Our house has a garden too, but it never felt so¡­ vibrant." The difference was a bit subtle. In Xeno, most gardens were used only for aesthetics¡ªas a cosmetic accessory for the nobles. In Altera, they meant and functioned so much more. Althea let the guests absorb the place first, and nodded at Harold to serve the snacks. Some already took a bite and closed their eyes. They had naturally eaten a bit around the territory, especially the Golds, but there was a special sweetness and quality in the snacks and tea Althea offered. "I''m honored to have been visited by such esteemed guests¡­" She said, and the others smiled. The lower ranked guests were even a bit flattered. "So¡­ how may we assist you?" Jonathan looked at the Golds who motioned for him to go first, as they wanted to observe everything first and foremost. He nodded and looked at Althea, the obvious leader among these people, and then at the redhead. Jonathan naturally attempted to study the most prominent people in Altera. However, they hadn''t been here for too long so they focused on information that would help the deals. For instance, who had the most say in the territory''s money matters. Fortunately, as long as their questions weren''t too intrusive, the people themselves didn''t seem to gatekeep information too much. They even got the vague feeling of bragging from them. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When it came to money matters, it was the redhead¡ªwhich some people referred to as the handsome fire nymph¡ªwho held much power. While it seemed like he would listen to whatever his sister would say, Jonathan still knew not to bypass the necessary people and risk offending them. "We want a good deal like the one you gave to your allies. We will manage the logistics ourselves," he said. "We have already spoken with Baron, now we only need yours." "Which parties are we going to partner with?" Ansel asked in return. "And what kind of deal are we talking about here?" "Ferrol Town would be the only party you deal with in Ferrol and the surrounding area," he said, before looking at his dark-skinned companion. "Kory here specializes in the food industry and would like to gain some exclusivity in your sauces," he said. A lot of the deals with Garan back then actually profited so much thanks to this guy. He then shifted to the man sitting by his other side. "Ping here, on the other hand, owns a significant amount of inns in my territory. He was greatly interested in your furniture, fabric, soaps and the like." It was their first time staying in a place where small pieces of ''toiletries'' were provided with the room. The room wasn''t cheap of course, but it was a new concept to them over all. Ansel gave them a sharp look. "Obtaining exclusivity in that area would definitely increase your economy as a whole, even beyond the events." The events¡ªwhether it was the Ferrol Fair or the others¡ªmade Ferrol a lot of money each year. Alteran products being available exclusively to them in the area would boost this up even further. Jonathan''s eyebrows rose. "You know us well." Ansel crossed his arms. "Well, I''d like Altera and our people to get as rich as possible, so I studied various scenarios. "So, do we have a deal?" "You know, what you''ve seen so far is nothing compared to what we can truly offer¡ªespecially in the future. Your town is only a few days of travel away. We can lose some market going to Altera by making the products readily available in yours." Ansel turned to look at his sister. "Personally, I''m reluctant to offer exclusivity so easily. What do you think, sis?" Althea smiled and looked at Jonathan. "You realize that I can make much more if I sell it to anyone who comes, right?" Instead of selling to a distributor for a lower price, she was confident people from afar would come to Altera and buy in bulk. She could charge a lot more then, and she¡ªand the business owners¡ªcould also make a lot of money from the tourists who come in. Altera''s products and their continuous innovations would definitely ensure their special place in the market for years to come. Anyone with a brain naturally would want a piece of the pie. The others were taken aback, as no one generally rejected a lord of a higher level territory, let alone when Jonathan was being so kind. However, Jonathan was not angry. On the contrary, he found it a bit refreshing. "We can offer you information and protection. We will also buy the items at market cost." It had to be said: Growing up with women like Cassandra and admiring the likes of Olga and her mother¡ªand being a queer¡ªmade Jonathan quite open-minded. Fortunately for him, it was this quality that made Althea truly consider partnering with him. Years later, he would pat himself on the back for a job well done. Of course, again, this was a realization a long time in the making. At this time, a rather sensitive partnership was still in its infancy, forming its foundation. His words made Althea and the others look at him. "Altera won''t become a subsidiary to anyone¡ªthis was something sent to all elders." She said, lying with a straight face, while proceeding to send the message to all elders for consistency. Jonathan smiled. "Yes, I understand. That is not what I''m offering." When he stepped into the village, he realized how naive he had been offering it to the mercenary team before. Judging by the village''s growth, it could become a town within a year. A year! This was unheard of!! "Even if you aren''t my subsidiary, as long as our partnership remains, you can have my backing." This made his side look at him, a little startled, but they also understood. In fact, their instincts told them this was the best decision! Of course, Jonathan was still one to try to get as much advantage as he could. "I also heard that your territory is gathering information about Lords, despite not having one." Ansel and the Golds looked at him in curiosity. Althea''s eyebrows rose but, otherwise, her face didn''t change. "Well, we would like to know everything, even if we don''t need it." "And you shall have it, partnering with me," he said, before turning to the Golds. "The same applies to the Golds." "We''ll definitely be asking a lot of things that lords may not want to be public knowledge. Will that be okay?" Jonathan looked at them for a moment, before nodding. "As long as it wouldn''t be to the detriment of my own territory of course." "Yes, of course." Ansel stared at them with a smile, deciding to throw them off a bit. "We may also start our own events. We may need your guidance." "..." "..." Althea chuckled, shaking her head. "Stop scaring them," she said, before looking at the others. "We''ll do events that you do not have, and we will schedule outside your peak seasons," she told them. "We can mutually advertise each other as well." If they did events in alteration, perhaps the visitors would just go to and fro the territories. Either way, money would be going in their pockets. Jonathan heaved a deep breath of relief. For a moment there, he saw his yearly income half. Now that he knew it could double or even more instead, the blood returned to his face and he raised his hand to do finalize the deal. "Glad to be working with you." They smiled, with the siblings successively taking his hand for a handshake. "Likewise." Chapter 628 Deals with the Golds Next to deal with was the Golds, who seemed to be enjoying their snacks while watching a few deals form in front of them. They allowed them to watch such a sensitive topic because one, the aborigines wouldn''t feel comfortable kicking them out, and second, it would save Althea a lot of time in the discussions. She missed her children very much. Anyway, although the Golds had been here a while, Althea had been so busy with the war, her various experiments, and training that she just couldn''t find the time to mind them at all. She looked at the group of beautiful blondes, looking at the information available in the Lord Panel at the same time. Jonathan was already pretty strong for a town citizen at level 35. According to rumors, he was already in his late 40s though he looked to be a decade younger. The Golds'' level, on the other hand, was amazing. Obi¡ªwho was only in his 30s¡ªwas already level 43. Olga was at level 39, which was amazing for a woman, even if she was a city-dweller. And then there was Otto, who was already at level 50. She couldn''t help but look at Oslo and his level. His siblings were so far ahead of him in terms of levels; It was no wonder people said he slacked off a lot¡­ The Golds didn''t notice Althea''s judgy stare and continued on with the topic. "My brother advised me on the things you lack," Otto said. "I''m sure he told you that our family had in-house magic tool makers." Immediately, the Alteran''s backs¡ªand even the other guests¡ªperked up at the mention of magic tools. The Golds smirked, fairly confident in their offers. Of course, the values were not the same, but they should be able to buy a lot of local materials with a few magic tools. Althea leaned forward a bit, extremely interested. "Tell us more about the tools you can trade us with," she said, and Otto gladly entertained her. "We can give you our tools for a much lower price than the market cost. We have an in-house toolmaker you see, and his specialties are aether letters and aether boards." Aether boards were like aether letters, but were much larger, and had a larger network, but they had a one-way use. There would be one or two ''main'' boards where the contents would be written, and all the other boards in a large area would present it. The use of this was limited due to the system''s announcement function, but it could be used for areas outside the territory and, because it was only one-way, the tool could handle arrays that could make it work for far longer distances. For instance, they could not only place them outside the gates for people to read before entering, but they could even put them in the camping area dozens of kilometers away. It was understandably not a very popular tool, but Alterans would find a place for it somewhere. And, of course, a larger supply of aether letters would be most welcome. "Do you perhaps have more access to other types of tools? We are willing to pay, of course." The aborigines had mentioned that magic tool makers were limited to tools with similar functionality, so she wasn''t surprised the in-house toolmaker could only make the two tools. However, she would like it if they had a bit more variety. "We indeed have various channels for other tools," Otto said with a confident smile. "We can exchange these things for you for the exclusive rights to distribute in our city and the surrounding territories," he said and naturally the Alterans agreed. "Will we be dealing with you, Miss Althea?" To their surprise, she shook her head. "Not me, per se. The territory is about to open a Contribution Store selling special items. If you want, you can propose a deal at the Village Center to become a steady source of magic tools for the territory. "Give a fair price to Altera and you have the exclusivity you want for my Gaea products''." ¡­ sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The group finalized the deal, with Ansel tilting the advantages more to their side with a couple of words (this was something difficult to Althea who always preferred things straight to the point). For instance, increasing the prices, manipulating the terms, the interests, et cetera. This was Ansel''s specialty and Althea was glad to give the helm to him. By the time the discussion ended, the Golds'' eyes on Ansel had an elevated light of respect. They had indeed been acquaintances before thanks to Oslo, but seeing this side of him made them think more of him. To summarize, Altera first and foremost increased the purchase limits for all the parties involved. Of course, she was only speaking for her own products and shops, though she told them other companies would likely follow her model. As for the selling costs, Ansel made it so they didn''t even need to lower them at all. The aborigines gladly paid for the market price! For non-locals, this was a huge expense, but apparently not much for these nobles and the market they were planning on selling the goods to. The different parties also chose a field to focus on, as it was much more efficient and profitable to do so. Plus, there would be minimal conflicts among parties. Jonathan basically took the distributorship of nearly all items for Ferrol and surrounding villages, with his two companions piggy-backing on his deal. Jonathan had a share in both Kory and Ping''s business¡ªfood and hospitality, respectively. While Kory took the sauces and food products, Ping took items like pillows, duvets, uniforms, and the like. Even Cassandra and Veronica, who weren''t initially planning on making big deals, managed to get the distribution rights for beauty items in their respective towns. They had seen how Olga and Althea worked and they thought, why couldn''t they? For the Golds'' side, it was Otto who took the dealership for most items except for the fabric and beauty products. Olga took monopoly on the beauty products to distribute to her and her sister-in-law''s shop back in the city. She had also taken the fabric business, inspired by the various clothing stores she saw here. Obi wasn''t good with business but he did buy a lot of the novelty weapons. While they were only Class D weapons, they were really useful and superior weapons for those around level 20. Anyway, it was an overall productive deal, and should be able to bring Altera to another level of prestige and wealth! Altera would only become more powerful and more beautiful from here on out, and the aborigines could already foresee it. It was here that the women¡ªOlga and Cassandra¡ªlooked at Althea with shining eyes, "Is there a way to purchase a luxury house without having to transfer residency?" Althea mused for a bit before answering. As it was, only permanent residents had the right to own their properties. Temporary Residents could lease, while visitors would require a rather stringent list of requirements in order to rent a commercial or residential unit. However, her business partners naturally had some perks. "Well, you can lease it," she said, mentally deciding to add this option as soon as the aborigines left her house. "The minimum lease is 1 year, however. "It will not be cheap either as the territory typically only allowed for residents to have such benefits." "That''s fine," Olga said, "I will definitely lease one!" Although they wouldn''t buy the residency, they knew they''d be here often. They should live as comfortably as they can! Somehow, it felt like they needed to claim a part of it while they could. Cassandra nodded in agreement. "Me too!" she said, with a little blush on her face. "I will buy a villa. There''s one I love in the luxury area." Oslo couldn''t help but tease her, "New love nest?" "Shut up!!" She yelled, face red from embarrassment, making Veronica and Olga to giggle at them. "Me as well," Otto added, before looking at her, "We can rent a shop, is this alright?" Althea nodded. "As the territory''s business partners you should be allowed to lease a store for a favorable price," she said, turning to Ferrol. "That is the same with you." She then looked at Otto, with a bit more seriousness. "We would need to delineate which tools would only be available in that store, however," she told him. "There will be tools available exclusively in the Contribution Store." Otto''s eyes lit a bit, understanding why she chose to do so. "I understand." There were plenty of tools in this world, some of which no one would want on their enemies. While others could find alternative channels, they wouldn''t want it to be too easy¡ªespecially when it could be used against Altera. There were also tools she needed to request for, but that discussion was best left to the Golds alone. This was also a good thing for the Golds, especially now when they didn''t have their own physical stores yet. At least for a while, the Contribution Store would be their only channel to sell in. In any case, even with all the worry they needed to iron out, Althea and Ansel couldn''t help but give subtle looks at each other, their eyes sparkling at the possibilities. Magic Tools! Chapter 629 Town Upgrade Requirements Now that the small talk and business deals had been settled, it was time for Althea to know what she had always been meaning to ask. However, she looked at the Golds and wondered if either party would mind the other learning too much. It was fine before because they were all, essentially, a network of business partners now, but her questions had to do with the integrity and safety of the lords themselves. "You can ask what you want," Jonathan said, sounding very generous at this time. Her lips pursed, tentative. "My final question, this is especially targeted to Sir Jonathan, the lord of a town," she began, "But I can ask you later if you mind." "I assume you want to know the requirements of a Town?" he asked, and Althea nodded in agreement. The Golds also looked on in interest, wondering if they''d be hearing this as well, even if only for curiosity''s sake. Jonathan didn''t mind the Golds hearing at all. Anyway, it would probably add his good impression on them, so he wasn''t stingy with this information. Anyway, there was no way it would damage his town. "According to our records, you''ll need 20000 population, 15000 residents, and 1000 prestige to upgrade from Village to Town." A normal village would take decades to achieve this, and the fastest ones were probably Bluelle and Holt which¡ªaccording to tales of the previous generations¡ªtook a few years to develop into a town. When he heard this, he was very amazed. After all, other villages took decades to accomplish the same. The population wasn''t the difficult part in the requirement. After all, Xeno was a dangerous place that never seemed to lack refugees. Further, because of the long lifespans, the population of the world wasn''t exactly small. The challenge in upgrading to a Town had always been the prestige. The average prestige for a village that had been established a couple of years ago seemed to be a hundred or so according to his subsidiaries, but he reckoned that was already above average in number. After all, his subsidiaries theoretically should have relatively higher prestige because their backer¡ªhis Ferrol Town¡ªwas rich and had a good influence. If anything, he estimated the standard prestige of a new village to be less than 50. His late father was very smart to hold all those events and then partner up with cities, ensuring the continuous flow of people in his town. Among Towns, Ferrol was definitely among the better ones. But Altera, which should become a Town in about another year or two, may not take too long to catch up. In any case, Jonathan was very curious what Altera''s current prestige was¡­ so he asked. "It''s 300." "..." Jonathan couldn''t speak for a moment. "What?" "Is it very odd?" Althea asked, pretty eyebrows furrowed in worry. The others similarly looked at Jonathan in curiosity. "300¡­ uh, no¡­ it''s very good. Very high," he said, heaving a deep breath to gather himself. "Very much above average, and I project Altera''s upgrade after another year." At this, the others on the table couldn''t help but look at each other with wide eyes. Becoming a town less than two years after conception¡­ it was a miracle. Altera''s potential¡­ was even higher than he thought! Speaking of potential, most other towns would feel threatened by Altera''s development. If other lords were in his place, it was more likely they''d send subsidiaries to weaken Altera rather than hang around the place like a guest. Especially¡­ Altera was a bit close in distance. If it became a Town, it had too big a potential to take his citizens, his customers, and his money. In fact, Jonathan as a lord actually considered this. However, he had a glimpse of its strength as they investigated and especially during the war. He was still self-aware¡ªnone of his villages stood a chance. Worse, the relationship would''ve only soured and the goods he liked so much might become inaccessible! He couldn''t risk it¡ªhe liked those noodles too much! Ahem. None of these thoughts was obvious on his face, however, and he cleared his throat to say a few caveats. "This is the requirement for upgrade gathered during my town''s upgrade many years ago," He said. "Add some tolerance as this was done by my father back then, so I am not sure of its accuracy." Althea nodded at him, smiling. In fact, this was also partially a test. She wanted to see if she''d feel any hostility and threat from Jonathan. She was expecting it, but surprisingly he was much more open-minded than she thought. "We thank you, on behalf of the Elders. It is very helpful to us already." "If I gather more information from the other lords, I will be sure to send them over to you." At this, Althea''s eyes shone. "Thank you lord Jonathan, this will certainly be taken as a show of sincerity." Jonathan nodded, agreeing that he was indeed being very helpful. Overtly so, but he always believed in his instincts¡ªbeing helpful now while Altera was not yet so strong would be the right decision! "May I ask what is your population now?" Althea asked, curious. "We are over 300,000," he said, a little smug. This was peak among towns, which would usually have around half or even less of that. Populations in Cities, on the other hand, could go to a million or two. Althea noted this, hoping to be able to plan accordingly. She wanted to keep a comfortable density in her territory, and to do that she had to carefully calculate and plan the future expansions. "Finally, I have a number of questions. Anyone who knows the answer can answer," she asked, including the Golds in her questions. "Ask away, Ms. Althea." She pursed her lips before asking, before finally doing so. "Does anyone know about the special child from Holt City?" "You mean that brat?" Obi mumbled, turning to Otto, "Aren''t you acquaintances with the lord there?" "That''s a misconception," Otto said, but answered anyway. "Oh, the child is around 4 years old now, and he''s the treasure of the entire territory. Unfortunately, this turned him into quite a brat." "Is there anything else special about him?" "Other than his ability to make a calm person crazy?" "...yes." "I heard that he was very smart. He also started walking very early, in less than 8 months, from what I heard." S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Typical babies in Terran took 12 to 15 months to stand, with the fastest record at 9 months. Eight months was basically half the time as Terran children. "What is the normal age for children here to walk?" Olga was quite interested in baby news so she also knew something about this. "I think children here typically walk at 12 months." "Hmn, the child is very impressive then." Olga nodded. "He is also very cute, but¡­ like they said, he''s a little devil that can turn the calmest maids crazy." Althea nodded and pursed her lips, but she did her best not to show too much emotion while she asked. Outwardly, she only seemed curious. "What about powers?" she asked. "Is there anything different in terms of strength?" She hoped that she could get an idea about her children''s powers! Chapter 630 Garans Return "I''m curious because we''re so new to this world¡­ our village also needs to have more children, so we want to know more." "Well, it is more difficult to have children as one''s level increases," Olga said. "So I recommend making more babies while the average level in the territory is still low." There were a few exemptions¡ªlike her mother¡ªbut it was better to be safe than sorry. "As for powers¡­ Children generally start battling outside at 12 years old, because it''s the age most people would be mature enough to hold a legitimate weapon and not just drop it to the ground. "However, some noble children would receive some training from captured beasts much earlier," she said. "Regardless of the circumstance, the chance to see if one has special abilities is still level 10 for everyone." This meant that if a child reached level 10 early on, then they would still have the chance to exhibit power. This was the case with that guy from Holt City, who exhibited an element as early as 11 years old. He might be younger than Oslo, but he was really much more talented in terms of fighting. The only reason he hasn''t reached level 40 was because of an unfortunate accident that delayed him for ten years. "I see¡­ thank you." At this, Althea was both relieved and troubled. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She was relieved to know that her children seemed to have a guaranteed ability¡ªwhich equated to a layer of protection for them¡ªbut at the same time, she was also troubled because they seemed to have no idea how to deal with it. Before she could go deep into worry, the door opened abruptly, making everyone turn their heads with raised guards. It was Garan with red eyes. He strode forward and grabbed her shoulders, immediately shielding her from the others. "Are you alright?!" He was sweaty and panic-stricken. They had obviously rushed to get back. There should still be a few more hours of travel left. Since he said they''d do a leisurely pace before, then he must''ve consumed a lot of energy during the last leg of the trip to get back here so soon. However, it seemed like Garan went on full-on panic mode that she couldn''t ask. Althea was very confused. "Of course. What makes you think otherwise?" "I received the announcement to the Elders and¡­" Oops. He meant that announcement to all elders to keep a consistent story while she was dealing with the aborigines. She couldn''t have everyone saying different things, right? In retrospect, the notification saying ''Received an order: Never allow Altera to be a subsidiary'' was indeed a little misleading. He probably thought she was ''held at gunpoint'' or something. She sighed and handed him a bottle of water and potions to heal him. "Calm down, everything is okay¡­" The drenched Garan heaved a deep breath, taking the bottles to drink. While he was doing so, Althea cleared her throat, looking at her guests with an awkward smile. "This is my husband, father of my children." Garan turned to them, guarded, and although the man had a lower level than, well, all of them, they still felt a chill. It was here that Garan realized there were acquaintances in the room. He nodded, cool as a cucumber as if he wasn''t just super fazed earlier on. "He''s your husband?" Jonathan blinked. They hadn''t been in the territory long enough to gather such gossip, nor would they put two-and-two together even if they did. But his shoulders relaxed in the end, and he couldn''t help chuckling a bit. "Well, thinking about it," he paused. "No one else would suit each other more than you two." ¡­ They decided to finalize and formalize all their deals later in the day in the village center, especially since a number of them would be selling items for the soon-to-open Contribution Store as well. There were still a few more things Althea had to discuss with the Golds, so Jonathan''s party had to excuse themselves. With that, only the couple and the Golds remained in the verandah. Althea entered small talk with them while her husband changed clothing. He arrived some minutes later with a clean, refreshed, and very handsome demeanor. "What would you like to discuss with us?" "It''s mostly about tools," Althea began. "Let''s start with that tool maker of yours. "Can he create something that could block ''unregistered'' aether letters?" The Golds looked at each other, a bit puzzled. "What do you mean?" "Aether letters are extremely convenient to whoever uses it. I want to be able to control the enemy''s use of it, particularly during wars. Similarly, we need to regulate their use within the territory." They were against villages and those territories were unlikely to even get ahold of aether letters, but even so, they dared not belittle them. A few messages could affect the tide of war. This was even truer if they were against Towns. The Golds'' eyes widened a bit at this, a little enlightened. They¡­ had never thought about this before. "We don''t know, actually. I can''t imagine how it''s done." "We can." "What?" "Well, in theory. We have several directions, but we couldn''t even test out any of them unless someone could actually create the special parchments." She didn''t even try to ask if they could get the masters to teach her about the arrays, judging by how stringent things were here. At least not until she could prove herself with her own skills. "We had similar tools back in our home, but the medium is different. If we could partner with your tool makers¡­" Althea began, "Then we can control and block the flow of aether letters around the territory, keeping the enemies from using it. "Of course, if we receive enough assistance from you, you will also get a share of the product we''d end up producing." The Golds brightened at this and they immediately agreed. But the discussion did not end there. They also asked about the tools they got from a person named Belize and explained their uses. They weren''t particularly special, but the couple seemed to have found a lot of use for them, even if it wasn''t the intended use¡­ Then they continued with several other discussions and the Golds quickly found themselves a little lost. Obviously, they were the ones who knew about tools, why did the couple have so many ideas? Although some of the ideas went over their heads, one thing was clear: Altera was becoming the land of innovation¡ªand their growth was inevitable! ¡­ Outside, the cousins Jonathan and Cassandra chatted a bit, left alone by their friends and companions to do their own thing. Now that the deal was about to be finalized, Jonathan knew he would have to get back home soon. Speaking of getting back home. He looked at his cousin. "You really overstayed here, Cassandra." The girl gave him a pointed look. "Can you blame me?" "..." No, he could not. In the end, Jonathan sighed and took a piece of fancy-looking papyrus and handed it over to her. He¡­ had actually forgotten about it until now. Cassandra''s pretty eyebrows furrowed at the sight of the envelope. It was sealed in wax with a stamp of her town''s characteristic flower¡ªthe Isatis. "Best read in private," Jonathan said, turning away to give her some privacy. "See you in the Village Center in a few hours." He hadn''t opened it, of course, but he knew her family. Such an official letter would definitely entice some emotions to the girl¡ªfor better or for worse. Cassandra rushed over to her room and opened it. She dreaded doing so, but she was raised to prioritize family over everything. Her hands shook as she looked at its contents. Unsurprisingly, it was another authoritarian letter. And she was asked to go home, at the soonest. Chapter 631 Family The Golds left the villa with enlightened minds, leaving the couple alone in the verandah. She looked at her husband''s profile and sighed, raising her hand to touch his chiseled face. "Was the trip tiring? I''m sorry you had to worry like that," she said, and Garan''s demeanor immediately softened as he leaned into her touch. "No. I wanted to see you as soon as I could anyway." Warmth surrounded the air around them, with Garan''s arm finding her backrest and pulling her chair closer to his. The next thing she knew, his strong arms had wrapped around her waist, pulling her to sit on him and with his lips capturing hers. Their mouth and tongues rubbed together as their bodies did, and immediately the cool air of the veranda was not enough to cool down the heat. Before things could get too heated up though, they heard the door open, immediately making them flinch. It was Harold, who was very innocently heading towards the verandah. "Lunch is ready in the other house, Sheila and the others have also arriv¡ª" His voice died down when he saw the boss sitting on her husband''s thigh, and he froze at the sight of Boss Garan''s sharp eyes "I¡­I¡­!" "Stop scaring him," Althea said, standing up though her husband''s grubby hand was still stuck to her waist. "And behave," she said, kissing his cheek. "It''s time to go check on the children." ¡­ The couple walked towards the other villa with entwined hands. Garanrubbed her palms with his calloused fingers, tickling her. This got him a pinch on the cheek. Sadly he didn''t have any baby fat to pinch, so she just ended up touching his face. This just made his eyes turn dark and he looked down at her, and she immediately parted from him to rush to the other house. Garan looked at the children crawling to and fro the play pen, enjoying their toys, and making the adults around smile. They rolled and crawled and, when they saw their mother, their expressions immediately morphed to one of excitement. "Googhmammmm¡­" "Mwammmuummma¡­" Althea smiled and she took a baby on each hand, giving them smooches on their soft faces. She then turned around towards Garan and the babies also looked while in her arms. Their cute smiles widened even more at the sight of their dad, extending their hands to get ahold of him. He smiled and took them into his arms. Their tiny hands touched his face, and he leaned down to kiss their faces, making them giggle. Together, the group sat down around the large dining table, with Garan placing the babies on the high chair between him and Althea. "Better tighten the seat," Winona mentioned as she served rice to her plate. "Meatball could float out." This made Garan flinch. Eyebrows furrowed, he looked at Althea."Their ability¡­" "It manifested again," she said. "In front of Winona for now, fortunately." The atmosphere was a little muted as they ate lunch. It was fine if it was just Winona, but what if it was a stranger who saw? "I asked the aborigines about that Holt kid," Althea said, telling her husband what had been discussed. "The aborigines don''t know much either." "Even that case Betty mentioned didn''t seem to have awakened powers early." Ansel turned to his sister with a serious expression on his face. "I think you''re correct not to tell them about the abilities. I think we should all keep mum about it. If the babies are unusual, who knows what could happen. "This is a world where slavery is accepted, after all." Even the imagination that something could happen to the children made their stomachs drop, and each adult was already thinking of ways to keep the children safe in their own way. The atmosphere was a little tense, but the babbles and giggles of the children made people''s hearts go soft, immediately improving the atmosphere. They all looked at the babies who didn''t have any idea what was going on. The children were currently sipping Broat Milk (now tagged safe and very healthy) with added fruit flavor to ease them for soft foods. Also, it was really tasty. Sip, sip, sip Chup, chup, chup They were just so adorable. Their cheeks were plumper while they were eating, and their eyes a little more watery as they enjoyed their meals. Winona had also changed the baby''s clothes to their sleeping clothes. Since the advent of cotton, the children now wear different animal-themed onepiece baby suits (which was suuuper cute) every day of the week. A lot of these clothing Winona actually commissioned herself. And, if it was up to her, the babies would not be repeating clothes at all! But alas, they were being sustainable right now. Today, Little Pepper was wearing a baby onesie with a kitten theme, while Little Meatball was in a puppy-themed onesie. They were also playing around with their toys as they drank. Sip, sip, sip Chup, chup, chup Interestingly, they could also determine the babies'' preferences early on. Pepper obviously liked strawberry flavor the most, judging by her sipping speeds, while Meatball was fond of pineapple flavor. To be honest, they could just watch the babies all day, and their presence made the food even nicer. Lunch was nice, as always, and Harold was showing steady growth in skill and creativity. Although the meal was simple¡ªa hearty stew, a side of garlic bread, and a salad with her favorite vinaigrette dressing¡ªit was very satisfying. As they ate (with the couple occasionally feeding each other), they couldn''t help but hear some rustling and sucking sound, realizing both kids had started to bite on their toys. "Stop biting that¡­" When Althea took it out, their rounded eyes lined with tears, eyebrows showing discomfort and irritability. "They''re doing that more often," Winona commented, and it made Harold look at the babies again. "Boss, can you check their gums?" Althea blinked and looked at little Pepper, who was seated closer to her. She asked them to open their mouths, leading by example, while her fingers also guided them. Babies made ''o'' with their tiny mouths, and it sent cute attacks around the room. Althea looked closer and saw that their gums was reddish. "Their gums are swollen." Harold also walked closer to take a look. He, as a single father, was the only one who had real experience with taking care of babies. "They seem to be teething already," he said. "They''d be biting their toys soon. You need a teether." Harold knew what he was talking about. After all, he raised his daughter closely as soon as she was born. Shiela and Winona found it adorable to imagine one or two teeth growing on the babies. "Wow sooo cute~!" "Aww, ohmygosh must take a photo!" Winona, whose phone was always charged using Althea''s solar charger, immediately took out her phone and added a few more photos in her already large collection of baby pictures. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea though, was just concerned. "Already teething?" Garan nodded. He had studied a lot about babies in the tablet as soon as he found he had children. "Most children start teething at 6 months, 4 at most. They''re only 2 months old¡­" "Would they grow up older faster?" "I don''t know." Looking closer, their hair had also grown enough for them to see their approximate color. As with the case of their eyes, little Pepper inherited her father''s ebony hair as deep as outer space, while Meatball inherited her lush auburn ones. "Mngwahwah¡­." Little Pepper mumbled. "Gooooglugh," Little Meatball garbled. They seemed to have noticed her mood and were making adorable weird faces to comfort her. She giggled, placing kisses on their cute chubby cheeks. While apprehensive, there was no point worrying too much about things they couldn''t control. Her intuition was telling her it was nothing dangerous. But¡­ she still hoped to get answers sooner rather than later. Chapter 632 New Family Member Ansel, knowing that discussing it more would just make them worry, decided to change the topic. He turned to Althea with bright eyes. "I heard you defeated a level 30 elementalist. What''s your level now?" he asked, and this made everyone turn to her. She cleared her throat. "First of all, I had a lot of help from Gochi. And, second, I only leveled up once." "..." "Seriously?" "Seriously." To be honest, when he heard that Althea defeated Belize, he was half-expecting her to suddenly rise to level 20 or something. "So¡­ you defeated an Elementalist 20 levels higher than you were, but you only leveled up once? And didn''t you already have a good amount of experience before killing him?" he asked. From what he knew, she already had around a third of the experience requirement filled before the war! When she nodded, Ansel looked at her with a face full of disbelief, wanting to shout injustice to the world. WTF However, Althea didn''t seem to be too affected by this fact. She was quite rational about it. "According to our data, a monster will only give 20-30 more experience points than a monster with a lower level. The only exemptions are monsters in milestone levels, which can give slightly higher rewards, but overall it''s more or less the same." That was to say: Even if they defeated a monster 3 levels higher they''d only receive extra 60 to 90 experience! WTF WTF WTFFFF Ansel almost cried at this analysis, and the others were also pouting. "Such small experience for fighting against monsters that could kill us in a few bites! What''s more: Our experience requirements every level up is, like, 5000 more than the previous level. That''s so not fair! What the heck is with this world?" It wasn''t like the monsters were getting weaker! Annoying! Then he looked at Garan with renewed admiration. Going from 0 to 20 in four months? They probably grinded day in and day out, right? And, considering their levels, they probably grinded around towns! Did he really still have complete limbs? Garan caught his stare and an eyebrows rose. "What is it?" "Nothing." While Ansel and the others mourned for their future, Althea thought a bit more. "It''s very inconvenient, but it''s not like it''s completely a bad thing. For one, if monsters can level up faster, how screwed will we be? We can''t think humans would get some sort of natural advantage over other races, right?" There were so many races in this world¡ªsome of which were stronger than humans. Unlike in Terran, they simply couldn''t afford to assume humans were the ''central race'' of the universe anymore. This made them look at her, pausing in thought. Looking at them like this, Althea told them a few more theories she had. "One of the things I noticed about the system is that it doesn''t promote killing." "Think about it. What if some organization decided to hunt powerful people? Especially, powerful people but at the end of their lifespans and has become weak. If the bonuses were even larger, I can imagine a lot of people stuck at their levels would begin hunting these poor people. Ansel looked at her. "You know, the fact that you can think of that makes you a little psycho, sis." Garan glared at him, and then turned to gently look at Althea. "I love you regardless." Althea: "..." ¡­ Their in-depth discussion was cut short when they heard some scuffle coming from the verandah. They stared in its direction, listening as it went closer to where they were. They were a little guarded, but they didn''t react too harshly. After all, the people who could enter the house without them being led inside were only members of the group. The scuffles and scuttles got closer and closer and¡ª Woof! Their shoulders slumped at the same time as they saw the large dog entering through the verandah door. Fufi was big but as adorable as always, his tail wagging wildly as he stared at them. Surprisingly, a sight of white fur appeared behind him. It was then that they realized: Their mascot actually had a guest. It was the white wolf from before. A very beautiful one with a good form and silky fur. It wasn''t much bigger than the standard Terran wolves, but it was majestic. Ansel immediately sat up, laughing at the sight of the wolf. "Hey! It''s you!" He exclaimed before turning to his sister, "You know that wolf we found near Bright? It helped me out a lot during the war!" Althea''s eyes brightened at this. Then she looked at how well-behaved the dog was¡­ and how much Fufi''s tail was wagging. Hey, that rate of wagging is even faster than when he was with her. "You like her very much, eh?" Woof! Woof! She''s pretty! Althea''s lips twitched and she shook her head, turning to stare at the wolf who was standing proud at a safe distance from everyone. Ansel had detailed the fight earlier. While her defense and attack wasn''t nearly as strong as Fufi''s, it had rare stealth skills. It was even better than Horus, and it was no wonder it managed to survive so long with its (currently) low level. A light of idea flashed by her head, and she looked at Ansel. "Why don''t you try to turn her into your battle pet?" She asked and Ansel''s back straightened at this. "Right!" Ansel had always been envious of Althea and Fufi. He also wanted a battle pet! S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He stood up and approached the wolf who just stared at him. He put out his hand with a friendly and handsome grin. He was wearing his usual seductive grin, wearing his favorite cologne for good measure. "Come on, bite it," he said, waving the palm in front of her, as if not afraid the wolf would just open its mouth and eat it. However, the wolf ignored his ''sacrifice'' and turned around to ignore him. "..." Althea laughed, Garan''s lips twitched, and everyone else cackled. Ansel was taken aback, but he wasn''t one to give up easily! He immediately recovered and smiled again, this time with softer voice and smaller movements. He went around to stand wherever the wolf was facing, ''wisely'' presenting his hand as ''something delicious to bite''. "Come on, pretty girl, take a bite." He even got a jerkey out. This made the wolf pause and look at him. Ansel''s heart was raised, excited when the wolf began approaching him. "Good girl, that''s it¡­" The wolf opened its mouth but it only took the bacon, before immediately turning away. Ansel almost lost his footing. He was very depressed. Unexpectedly, the wolf went to Garan, jumping over Ansel''s hunched body, and nibbed the man''s hand instead. The next thing they knew, light surrounded the two critters, finalizing the contract. Ansel gasped when he realized what had happened. "WHAT! TRAITOR!" he yelled, glaring at both Garan and the wolf as if he had been cucked. "Why? Why choose him?!" The wolf growled and howled and they all stared at Garan, knowing that the pets'' masters could understand what they were talking about. Garan''s face didn''t change as he looked at the wolf, likely absorbing the answer. He nodded before turning to Ansel. "She said you smelled." And they all cackled, laughing at Ansel for his bad luck. Chapter 633 Wolfs Name Ansel was very sad and he sat on a corner looking like he was growing mushrooms. Winona cackled the loudest and went to him, poking him repeatedly with her fingers. "Hahaha¡­ oi¡­ you lost a battle pet because of your cologne¡­ hahahha.. I told you it''s too strong." As people close to Althea, they naturally could get a custom scent from Althea''s lab if they wanted to. Both Winona and Ansel tapped into this right, and they even fought for the first slot. Ansel won by rock-paper-scissors and Winona was there to mock the scent he asked for. Ansel believed in his taste and pointedly ignored her (he couldn''t in good conscience mock her scent, because he actually really liked it). Althea smiled at their antics, before turning to the white wolf that appeared so gracefully. She extended her hand and the wolf tentatively walked over. At first, it was just her nose touching Althea''s finger, until she was allowing her to pat her head. "Good girl¡­" Althea smiled, turning to the bickering duo at the corner. "Come on now," she said. "It''s time to choose a name." This made the two walk over to her with determined faces, instantaneously creating names. "Wolfsbane," Ansel said, crossing his arms in pride. This was a cool name and would''ve been the wolf''s name if she had the foresight to choose him as his master, instead. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Winona rolled her eyes, "It''s female, idiot," she said, turning to Althea with a smile. "Serephina." Ansel scoffed and this earned a glare from the blonde, and soon began yet another banter. In the end, after much discussion, they decided to formally name the wolf Snow Phantom, because of its appearance and its skill. "I''ll call you Snow~" Winona said, admiring the wolf''s white coat. Ansel sneered at her. "Phantom is much cooler." "She''s a girl, she would prefer pretty names." "You can understand her? No, right?" he said, tone mocking and it heckled Winona''s feathers. And so¡­ another topic of argument began. Althea rubbed her forehead, which was replaced by Garan''s hand while he glared at the idiots who caused his wife''s headache. This naturally made the two shut up, just looking away from each other in annoyance. Althea gently tapped her husband''s hand and smiled at him, before facing the two to make an announcement. "It''s a nickname and she''s smart, just call her whatever you want," Althea said and Garan nodded. "Yes, my wife is wise," he said, followed by the wolf howling next to him. Awoooo! The wolf howled, as if agreeing with her. Yes, very wise. ¡­ The group continued to bond and chatter in the living area, with the babies crawling about. Fortunately, Baron''s team really loved the babies and they already sent teethers even before they could crawl. It was made of rubber from the Waol tree, and they were shaped in various adorable shapes like baby cartoon pandas and stars. Silicone was another one of the for-development things in the Research Lab¡ªand one of the better materials for teethers¡ªbut that''d take a while. In the meantime, this would do. "Tell us more about what happened in the war," Winona said as they fondly watched the babies in onesies play. She felt very proud of their cute animal ears and the puffs on their bumbums acting like puffy tails. Althea smiled and told them of the adventures in summary. How they entered so quickly, how the enemies reacted, and how they won. "Wow.. how exciting!" Harold said. Of course, he wouldn''t want to be there either. Not because he didn''t want to join (he wanted to contribute in some way), but he knew he''d only be a burden anyway. "How much money did you take from Fargo?" "I didn''t take it, we put the money in the warehouse." After all, it was too suspicious if she easily took them all. It was funding for Fargo¡ªno, Limestone Valley now¡ªanyway. "I got a few thousand, but that includes the money taken from the thousands of slaves we received." "Can that buy a lot?" "It can buy a bit," she said. She knew most villages could only dream of that money after developing their territories, but her standards were high and she naturally needed a lot more for her vision. "It is the resources that make me happy." That was: Limestone and the Metals. "Does that mean we can build tall buildings soon?" "Soon, for sure." "And copper! Do we finally get electricity?" Winona, one of the main proponents of the research center, naturally thought deeper than others. If only they could convert their copper coins¡ªwhich they couldn''t¡ªthen they''d have the resources much earlier. Fortunately, they still found the related resource so it wasn''t hopeless. "Possible, but it''ll definitely take a while. As we know, the usual formulas and processes needed to be modified after going here." While they really won a lot though, Althea''s shoulder slumped in the end. Garan immediately felt her change and brought her for an embrace. "I want to say these resources would make the war worth it, but¡­" In her mind, the resources wouldn''t equate equally to the deaths, even if they were considered ''few''. "We''re doing our best to prepare the entire territory, to give everyone the best chance," he told her and she nodded, understanding this, though it was still too soon for her to feel less depressed about the people they lost. Seeing her like this, Winona couldn''t help but wonder. "How would wars at town level be like?" This made everyone pause, thinking. For the most part, the imagery wasn''t pretty. "We will be able to participate fully in that war," Garan told them. This was both worrisome and relieving. Worrisome because it meant the enemies were strong, and relieving because he could be with his wife the entire time¡ªeven if they were the attacking territory. Eugene blinked, an idea teasing his brain. "If wars could be won by the defending territory simply by keeping all of the invading troops outside the highest level wall, what if an enclosure too small to keep the enemies was built?" Althea laughed, "I asked something similar to Oslo before," she said, "Apparently, there was a territory that built a level 5 wall but only around his house. It was also extremely easy to guard." "Well, that''s one way to not lose a war¡­" "Well, not necessarily. A small wall meant concentrated forces would have a higher overall damage. Even if the people can''t get in, they can just destroy it instead." "Oh¡­" From here, the group continued to review the events of the war. They would mention their own POVs and they integrated the knowledge together to record and analyze the events, hoping to avoid mistakes to lessen the casualties in the future. Of course, this was only an advanced session and a more detailed one would be done with everyone. This was mostly Garan''s job, but Althea and Ansel wanted to share what happened to their side of the war. Garan planned to make an even more detailed analysis of the war. They would analyze the key battles, the pivotal moments, critical mistakes, and the like. To be fair, Altera did very well considering everything, but they naturally wanted to minimize damage as they could. This was Garan''s main goal, and what they''d be working towards. Other than the fact that it was his duty¡ªboth as the military leader and as a human¡ªhe also¡­ just didn''t want his wife sad anymore. Chapter 634 Fargos Warehouse Next, it was Ansel''s turn to tell his side of the story. He started with their entrance (and subsequent blockage), the travel back, and then the fight with Eli. "Speaking of, Snow really helped a lot as well," Ansel said, "It saved a lot of people''s lives for sure." They looked at the wolf who was now lying down and behaved on the floor, right outside the play cot. Fufi was next to her, though his eyes were often on the babies crawling. The babies giggled as they crawled towards the dogs, wanting to snuggle though Winona held them back, lifting them with a palm on each tummy. Their cheeks puffed as they pouted, sending cute attacks to Winona, who softened as they looked at her with their large eyes. However, for their sake, she stayed firm. "Nono, wait til they get a very good bath," Winona said, her light-colored eyes shifting to the two dogs, who flinched by instinct. Fortunately, they''d find out later that Snow didn''t mind taking a bath (they knew Fufi loved it) so it wouldn''t be hard to keep them clean. "What''s the next step for Fargo, er, Limestone Valley?" Ansel asked, pulling his eyes away from Winona. Althea¡ªrelaxedly using her husband''s shoulder as a backrest¡ªlooked at the two of them in alteration, smiling, though she didn''t point anything out and just answered the question. "As for Limestone Valley, we will turn it into a rich village in its own right, but at the same time elevate Altera''s development even more." While it would primarily be the village for sourcing limestone, copper, zinc, and lead, she would naturally want it to stand (and make money) on its own. Of course, not to the detriment of Altera''s¡ªwhich was set to have massive improvements in the future, especially when concrete was perfected. However, she may have to use her own funds to increase its defense at least, as it barely had any sentries on its outer walls. The deposits were also not within the territory walls, so she''d need to find ways to protect the miners and handle the logistics of everything. "We need to get the basic amenities working, as well." "And utilities," Ansel said. "They had wells and we can add more. Unfortunately, adding piping like in Altera may be too much work, but we should still be prepared for future improvements." They could also build system buildings everywhere, especially dorms, which would fix the shanty and the shit-on-street problem over there as well. "We also need to send the occasional researcher there to see if there are new plantlife," Winona said. Although Fargo was only a day away and the biodiversity here was limited, who knew if there were still finds, especially since the geology was different from Altera''s. The team continued to discuss boring stuff and only paused when they heard a soft sound. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their attention shifted to a little yawn, followed by another. It was the babies, looking very sleepy. Their eyes were about to close, their little mouths making small ''o''s as they yawned. Little Theo, who was playing closely to Pepper (though usually very quiet), also yawned, and this was followed by the ''big kids'' Maya and Horus. It was adorable and they put soft smiles on everyone''s faces. "Well, there''s still a lot to decide on, but we''re not in too much of a rush¡­" Althea said, adjourning the casual meeting. "I''ll leave the event tomorrow to you," Althea told her brother, referring to the small carnival held the next day to celebrate their first win. As always, since they had the money, why not improve the morale upwards on a straight line. So, they decided to turn it into a thing¡ªcreate a carnival for every big victory the territory experienced. This would not only boost morale, it would also strengthen the sense of unity and sense of self among the people. And¡­ who said such events wouldn''t be profitable? Certainly not Ansel or Althea! ¡­ Later that night, before going to bed, Althea habitually went to check on her warehouse. Her husband was already in bed with the babies and she teleported to her warehouse to check on it, as was her habit every few days. She cleaned and organized the vague items the system couldn''t organize itself. There was no interesting new find, which was understandable because of the lack of biodiversity in this plane, but she couldn''t help but want to explore further anyway¡­ When Winona said more researchers should be sent to Fargo, she definitely wanted to be one of them. No, she wanted to reach more, farther, but right now she was the lord in an unstable place, and she knew it wasn''t the time for her to go exploring, at least not yet. Exploration¡­ Warehouse¡­ Somewhere along the way, just before she headed back to her room, she came to an idea and her feet paused. "Warehouse, eh?" She mumbled, an experimental idea dawning on her. The space in the warehouses was very special and its ability was incredibly convenient for moving around things in the territory¡ªeven her own body. So¡­what about¡­ other warehouses? With this thought, her whole body suddenly felt wobbly, and she belatedly realized that her surroundings had shifted. She blinked, looking around. It was a warehouse, but one a level smaller than what she was used to. There was also a limited variety of things¡­ none of which she had been looking at a minute prior. After a second of thought (and disbelief), she realized what happened. This was not Altera''s warehouse¡ªit was Limestone Valley''s!! This meant that, to some degree, the warehouses were also merged¡ªaccessible to her! Her eyes were bright as she looked at the piles and piles of money and resources (well, nothing compared to Altera but still). Most of the space was unsurprisingly occupied by readily-needed resources like stone, wood, and the Flute Plants for their restaurant. There was not much of anything else, not really. While a little disappointed, she was still in a very good mood. After all, this meant she could easily transfer the limestones, copper, and other resources back to Altera with a lot less effort than she thought! She could also transfer important resources from Altera to Fargo! And more importantly, this meant she could teleport to Limestone Valley whenever she wanted! How Happy!! Chapter 635 Celebrations (Part 1) Later that day After the usual day of hunting, work, and rest, that night marked the formal celebration of Altera winning their first war. There were too many things to commemorate. Not only did they win the war, they also received another territory with great resources. There were hundreds of reunions abound in the territory, and those who had well-off relatives were immediately settled well. Luckily, a lot of these people also shed their slave status very quickly. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The only regret was that residency required contribution points, which could not be fixed by loans. Those who had not yet found their loved ones settled nicely as visitors and slept comfortably in dormitories. Their hearts were settled and in peace, to a degree, even if they still had that slave status hanging on their heads. In any case, they were already planning their next step to improve their lives even further. For the Alterans, on the other hand, it was to celebrate an immense accomplishment! Winning their first war was no small feat after all! And through this war, the territory showed its strength and ability to protect them well! Altera proved to be their guardian angel and worthy of their loyalties, and that alone was worthy of celebration! In any case, the elders opted to not have a formal program for this celebration. It would be more like a carnival arrangement (except without the rides). This was also to show off to the aborigines, and also give them hints about how some of their ''events'' would look like. They started setting up the pseudo-carnival very early that day with the help of Baron and his team. They placed it in the main plaza to accommodate as many attractions as was comfortable. There was also a stage with various programs like raffle draws and talent contests (which shall be used by Ansel and Fable to find talents for their new talent agency). There were also rows and rows of carnival game stalls built, targeting Alterans of all ages. They would open at around the same time¡ªafter working hours. Anyway, dusk and night would be brightly lit with various torches and Youli lights, especially along these streets. More importantly: They had a Lighthouse now! It was something that appeared a few hours ago out of nowhere, and it brightened the whole territory by another level! As the sun slept, colorful banners were raised, flapping with the wind and reflecting the lights. There was a festive atmosphere all around Altera, and the joyful laughter of youths echoed across the streets. In front of a stall, a gorgeous blonde admired the prize displays as well as the activities. "This is adorable¡­" Betty mumbled, looking at the bunny plush toy displayed on one of the games. There were plenty of game stalls on this street, most of which were unfamiliar to the aborigines. Most of the prices were plush toys with various Terran animals. To Terrans, they were nostalgic, to the aborigines they were novel and cute. Somehow, a lot of the men were alerted by her words and pretty much appeared next to her. "I can get that for you, Miss Betty!" "No, I will get it for you!" "I used to do hoops back in High school" "I have this in the bag!" Without waiting for Betty''s answer, the few men already lined up to try, making the stall owner very happy. Realizing what happened, Betty covered her face in embarrassment while the other aborigines smiled (and cackled, teasing). Betty naturally couldn''t just go so impolitely so they stayed behind to see who won. However, as she and the other aborigines waited, the men never quite gained enough points to get the large bunny¡ªwhich was the grand prize for that store. "Darn!" "TSK!" Betty cleared her throat. "I.. thank you everyone for your effort," she said. "Now, let''s go explore the rest of the events, yes?" She meant this so everyone could adjourn, but it was misconstrued as an invitation instead. "Together?" "Of course, Miss Betty!" "..." Betty fell into an awkward situation. She turned to her companions who were only smiling and looking like they were planning to watch a show. Fortunately, the attention detracted a bit when a relatively big guy arrived to try the stall they had just been in. After all, they had all failed in getting the shot, they naturally wanted to see other people suffer, er, try it out. The man was tall and muscular, but he had a kind face. Next to him was a friend and a little girl whose huge eyes were fixed on the same prize Betty was looking at. "Wow, what a cute bunny!" She said and she turned to her father, but saw his dominant hand was injured. Immediately, her shoulder slumped, and didn''t talk anymore. The large man with a kind smile patted the girl''s head, "I''ll do it," he said and bought several tries from the get-go, as if aware he''d need them all. And he did need them all. He pretty much embarrassed himself for the first dozen tries, but he was unfazed by the chuckles of the previous participants. Unlike them, since he bought so many at once, he could try until the tries had run out. And because he was targeting the major prize so closely, not even his dozens of attempts landed on the minor prizes at all. It was all or nothing with him, it seemed. He tried until a few more dozen of shots missed. He was down to about a handful, but his focus seemed unperturbed, determined to get the bunny for the little one. He tried and tried, until finally¡ª Whoosh! "Score! FINALLY!!" The stall owner yelled with raised hands, finding himself cheering for the big man as well. Speaking of the big man, he adorably cheered as well, practically jumping. The other men groaned in disappointment, while the others approached Betty and offered to try for some other prize. She shook her head and said her thanks, but her eyes stayed on the man and his large goofy grin as he handed the doll to the little girl, smiling proudly. "Here you go, Lily," he said and the little girl jumped in joy. Very cute. "WOWWOW!! THANK YOU UNCLE TOM!" Then there was another little girl, a bit older than Lily, gently tugging Tom''s shirt. Betty recognized her as one of the newcomers from Fargo, as she had treated her wounds before. If she wasn''t mistaken, the little girl''s name was Lina, a ten year old ''slave''. She remembered her because she was a very pretty girl, but she somehow lacked the innocence of the other little girls of Altera. Tom smiled and patted her head, "Does our Lina also want a toy? There''s only the duck toy though," he said, but it was much smaller than the bunny one. The little girl seemed a little unreconciled, looking around for bigger prices. She held the man''s hand to drag him someplace else, and the entire group soon headed out of view. And so they went. Inexplicably, Betty''s eyes followed the figures, her blue eyes fixing on the big man with a goofy smile. Chapter 636 Celebrations (Part 2) On another street, a father was trying to pull his daughter back. The man heaved a deep breath, obviously exhausted. He wasn''t fully healed yet, okay? Even with their improved physiques and daily drinking of healing potions. "It''s time to go Fiona," he said, just stopping himself from carrying the girl back home. They were currently in a carnival game called Micro Ring Toss. It was basically Ring Toss, but with much smaller rings and targets. The stall owner said that they had better senses now, so it was only right to make it more difficult. However, Rebi would argue it was too difficult. The ring was as big as his pinky finger for goodness'' sake! And the target? A glorified needle, that''s what it was! Unfortunately, he not only had zero talent in this, but his body was still weak from the sufferings during slavery. There was also the stupid fact that he may have gone outside in an attempt to earn money, and getting lotsa bruises. He thought he could just stay around the sentries, but he still overestimated himself. Fortunately, a big hero saved his life or his ghost would cry from regrets! The little girl looked at him with teary eyes. "No! One more try!" Sigh. "Papa''s tired¡­" "But you have energy to go out and find monsters to eat you!" "..." S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this, Rebi had no comeback and just did as she wanted. Sadly, they failed again! It was fortunate that each try was only a few copper each or else his empty wallet would sob. At this time, the Golds happened to be nearby. They saw that the girl (and the big man) looked so pitiful. Oslo couldn''t help but step forward, hitting the target for her. The owner looked at him and pointed at the sign. It said "Level 15 and below only" and it made Oslo''s lips twitch. However, instead of embarrassing himself, Oslo just subtly took out a handful of silvers, and only then did the stingy stall owner allow the little girl to choose her prize. The little girl gently tugged at his shirt. "Thank you!" Oslo smiled and walked away with his siblings, joining them to watch and join the various festivities all around the territory. Basically, other than the plazas and park, the avenues¡ªwhich were lined with shops¡ªwere lively and there were activities everywhere. They still had much to explore! The father-daughter watched the Golds walk away with eyes of gratitude before turning to the stoic-faced store owner. The shopkeeper asked the little girl, "Which toy do you want?" "The fox!" She yelled, and then she squealed when she finally had it in her arms. Rebi sighed in relief, already seeing his precious bed. "Now it''s finally time to go home." "Wait, wait! I must give this gift to Gochi!" Without waiting for her dad''s response, the girl bolted in a direction¡ªstraight to a certain half-orc doing his rounds. He was eating a large stick of seasoned monster meat. "Thank you for saving my dad, Gochi!" She yelled, handing it over to him. The half-orc blinked and then looked at her in puzzlement, before lifting his head to look at the father. Rebi''s eyebrows rose as he saw his daughter''s gesture, and he broke into a smile. He nodded at Gochi to take it. "My daughter still has more sense than I do," he said. He did say his thanks to Gochi, but it didn''t occur to him to give anything. After all, as a major contributor to the war, the half-orc was actually pretty well-off now. Gochi remembered them. Rebi was actually one of the newer ''slaves'', but he was a bit eager to earn money and went out prematurely. Just this morning, he almost lost his life, barely keeping it until Gochi arrived to the rescue. And now, the half-orc was getting such heartfelt thanks. His eyes teared a bit, and his eyes followed the little girl and her dad as they walked away, though not without looking back occasionally, sending him a friendly wave. He smiled. How nice¡­ ¡­ This interaction landed in the eyes of the newest aborigine hires, Rona and Mogi. Although their jobs hadn''t started yet, they had been hired by Gaea Restaurant and by the guard team, respectively. They were scheduled to start the next day, and they were instructed to enjoy the festivities because there was a lot of work to be done when they started. They had been here for a day, but the number of times their minds were blown were already innumerable. First, the place itself didn''t fit their images of villages at all. The activity, the wealth, and the beauty were superior to many towns. Speaking of towns, they had also seen people from Towns¡ªand Cities¡ª enjoying their time here. It was really unimaginable to their previous selves. Normally, people from ''stronger'' territories would look down on villages. Many would even think it was below them to step on one! But here, they were not only happily roaming around, there was even a level of mutual respect in their interactions! Of course, the typical response of townsfolk and city dwellers towards Villages wasn''t anything abnormal. This was because most villages really were backwater. The houses were small with barely any features, the streets were narrow and dirty, the people were weak and poor, and most walls were not particularly reassuring at all. Another thing they had a clearer view of was the mindset of its citizens. They had a peek of it during the war, but they realized almost everyone in Altera thought differently from them. For instance, just now, a child was showing unabashed admiration towards a half-orc¡ªone that had been conventionally seen as slaves or enemies. In their world views, there was no in between, but that little scene put a big crack into it. In any case, the two continued to peruse the festivities, buying some food and drinks to go¡ªenjoying what they could while absorbing this new entire world at the same time. While they were walking along one of the avenues, some voices called on to them. "Hey, new guys!" They turned to see it was their seniors, who were walking around together as well. "Hello, Miss Betty, Mister Clutch, Mister Gauis, Miss Leny." "Come, join us," Clutch said, as friendly as always. The two approached, feeling honored. The ''old hires'' looked at the new arrivals with friendly smiles, as they would any of their coworkers. "How are you finding Altera so far?" "Amazing," Rona said, for the lack of a better word. Mogi nodded, agreeing fully. Clutch and the others felt proud of Altera being complimented. It was as if they, too, were being complimented. At this, Clutch laughed, encouraging them. "Work well enough," he paused. "And this could be your home." The two aborigines thought: that isn''t a bad idea at all. Chapter 637 New Hires A lot of establishments also joined in the celebration and held promos. Pretty much every shop was open at that time, all with lively decors (in Xeno standards, anyway) and various activities each. For example, Heartbreak Tavern held a little event on the street in front of it. At the price of buying a small bottle of his most common alcohol (and downing it immediately), they would have the chance to shoot a tiny ball into a small basket. Not only was the ball tiny, but this basket was placed over a wobble board, so it wasn''t even still. Each shot cost a bottle, so it''d be more difficult each time because the shooter would be inebriated. The prize? Depending on how many balls they shot, they''d receive rewards in the form of premium bottles of beverage from the Vino Alcohol Shop! S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was no surprise, then, that his shop was particularly rowdy. It was too worth it to win, though sadly no one succeeded for some time, giving Vino quite a bit of profit. This liveliness before the sun even set shocked the two newly-hired aborigines named Saul and Seal Jo. At this time, the two brothers were staring with wide eyes as a certain inebriated man shot his own head on the basket, causing boisterous laughter all around. "Brother¡­" Saul mumbled, looking at the well-organized streets, consistent building and aesthetics, and the bright surroundings. "This is really¡­ a village?" "Yeah¡­ apparently¡­" Speaking of these two, Althea finally heaved a sigh of relief when she saw some new hireable aborigines. Don''t look at how she had five chances to choose and hire 2 a day, there wasn''t anyone worth hiring the past few days! These two happened to be cousins from a family of Armor Makers. Saul was a Class D armor maker while Seal¡ªfifteen years younger¡ªhad just been awakened at Class E. As for how she got another pair of relatives, Althea didn''t read too much into it. She was just relieved to add force to her territory. The happiest was, of course, Clutch who finally got new helpers! He was so happy he met them personally. He was still reeling from the happiness of getting an Armor Shop from Fargo, but he now had new assistants! It wasn''t that Clutch hadn''t been training Terran apprentices, but people who had intimate knowledge about this stuff¡ªlike Eugene and Troy¡ªwere very rare. It would take a while for the others to actually be useful. Anyway, at this time, he held out a few sticks of delicious barbeque and handed a few to each. "Thank you, sir." "No worries," he said, smiling at them. "To answer your previous question, Altera is indeed a village. It''s a level 3 village that had just upgraded a month prior." The cousins looked at the bustling streets at night, the lovely smell, and all the smiles. "This is too¡­ lively," Seal mumbled. In his memory, villages were mostly poor and backward. While he did have higher expectations for villages who could afford to hire him, he didn''t think it was too¡­ far off. Saul nodded, "This is akin to a town." He said, "A very good town." Clutch felt so proud. He was a bonafide Alteran now. "Go, eat them, I''ll show you where to go and you can explore on your own." "Where are we going?" Saul asked, reluctantly looking at the barbeque stick. But when the aroma reached his nose, he gulped and his hand moved on its own, guiding the unusual meat into his mouth. His soul left his body for a moment there. His cousin saw this and took a bite, joining the momentary death. Cluth was smug, having fun watching others experience what he did. He cleared his throat, resuming his cool and respectable expression. "Anyway, go eat while we walk to the equipment factory." First, they went past the weapon and armor shops, and the two thought they''d be going here. Surprisingly, they literally just passed them and headed elsewhere. "We don''t stay there anymore. Those are for supplying the common weapons. Our Altera produces better ones, though for a higher price." Of course, these two buildings were still essential. After all, there were thousands of hard-working citizens in Altera. Although their population was fewer than others (for now), the ratio of people fighting outside was still higher due to the atmosphere and the policies in place. Having buildings that could automatically churn out equipment in exchange for some resources was too useful! They headed to the industrial areas which was, even at a distance, awe-inspiring. The factories were pretty large monolithic buildings that could appear intimidating to someone unused to seeing such arrangements. And there were rows of them!! As they entered the industrial park''s street, they walked past human-pulled carriages with various items at the back. "Hurry! Hurry! We gotta deliver these to the clinic soon! I think the pharmacy also has an event going on!" "Do you think they''ll be using these items?" "Possibly? Then I want in!!" the other yelled, though they were soon out of earshot to hear what else they were talking about. Anyway, the trio went on their way, with the newcomers also looking forward to walking around the territory. This curiosity though was quickly put at the back of their heads when they reached what was the Main Equipment Factory. The weapons, armors, and other equipment took two factories but were combined. This was because many of the steps were shared and it was much more efficient to combine them. "Working hours are over so there''s barely anyone here," Clutch said, looking around the quiet factory. There were plenty of machines, forging tools, furnaces, and the like, but only a few people were around. The cousins looked at him. "Working hours?" "Yes. In Altera, we only work a certain number of hours." The two wanted to ask more when Seal accidentally stepped on a rock that had rolled on the floor. "Eh, what''s this?" The younger one asked, leaning down to get the black rock. Saul, the older and more experienced one, blinked. His feet moved to look closer, eyes blinking in disbelief. His eyes then ended up in the large mountain of that same rock. "These¡­ black metal¡­" he muttered, speaking to himself. "Why are there so many in a village¡­" "Oh, I forgot. We have two Class C equipment makers here." They gaped at him. "Class C?!" A level C armorer and weaponsmith in a village? But looking around¡­ they felt they shouldn''t jump to conclusions. The brothers looked at each other. They were already happy that they were hired together, but it seemed like they got hired somewhere¡­ very special. Chapter 638 Friendly Bonding The carnivals continued and the activities continued on until the two moons shone brightly in the sky. The laughter of people, especially children, echoed across the streets. Unsurprisingly, due to the effect of the disaster, a lot of these kids were aborigines¡ªspecifically, from Mauin. These kids had been exposed to such festivities for the first time, and one could imagine the enjoyment they were feeling. One of these children was Maumi, Mauru''s son, and his best friends Pongo and Gururu. Maumi was a mini version of his father, while Pongo was a short kid with dark skin and curly hair and Gururu was a skinny kid (for now) with a bald head. He was often (endearingly) called Little Monk by the locals. In order to have some fun on their own, they separated from the adults (Maumi''s parents, as the other children''s parents had died years prior), and now they were running around to and fro, exploring new things every block they went to. They had been in Altera for a few days and they had not been idle. They had been used to working alongside their parents to earn a few bites, but now they could buy SO MANY THINGS with the same (or even less) amount of effort! Today, they jointly decided to splurge! They found themselves on one of Baron''s many shops¡ªa smaller branch of the woodwork''s store, though only selling toys and paraphernalia. "Ohhh! This is cute!" Maumi squealed, looking at the wooden horse toy displayed as a prize. Pongo pointed at the beautiful wooden sword with intricate carvings. "I want to try this!" Gururu''s excitement was much more muted than the other two, but one could see his large eyes fixed on the origami displays¡ªnot for sale, but very pretty. Not far from them, the adults watched with smiles on their faces. Seeing the children so happy and carefree¡ªit was something they never could''ve imagined before. In fact, before heading to Altera, they didn''t know any better. In their minds, the children were thin as they were, suffering as they were, and that was what they grew up knowing. When they landed here, they saw how the children were, how happy, chubby, and adorable they were. They wanted their children to be like that, too. In Altera, they were certain that they would. Even the dormitories¡ªwhich was supposedly where the poor people were¡ªhad much better conditions than they were used to. What more now? Here, they could eat well, dress well, live well. They watched the children enter a play area with melancholic smiles. Their former lord often told them about the Gift of Life¡ªhow bright one''s future could be, as long as they survived. Before, they just nodded, thinking of just surviving a day at a time, not really absorbing his message. Today¡­, they finally understood it. ¡­ The Gaea Team, at this time, was also hanging around the festival and having fun. At some point though, the group separated to spend the festival on their own. For instance, Sheila encountered her fellow nurses, and was encouraged to go with them. Theo and Beany were somewhere playing on their own, Harold and Maya explored the carnivals together, and Eugene went on a date with Melissa. Ansel was busy organizing the whole thing, so they would encounter him (with Fable and the twins) walking around here and there. Of course, Althea, Garan, and the babies were also lounging around on their own. Today the couple was wearing simple couple clothes with Althea wearing a lime-color shirt and classic fitted denim, while Garan was wearing a pastel green shirt and pants that didn''t hide his well-built form. Their children were wearing similar color onesies as well. They now had cute pacifiers in their mouths, which they chup-chupped on constantly, making their cheeks look even chubbier. The babies were looking around the nightscape with fascination. They must be particularly awed now because they had never been out for so long after it got dark. It was also the first night the Lighthouse was in operation, its brightness alone adding a level of energy in the territory at this time of night. The children were really antsy and excited. The dropped their pacifiers on their blanket many times. The couple had no choice but to retract the stroller and place in her space, while they carried a child on each arm. The family naturally received a lot of looks and greetings, with a few giving toys to the kids, claiming to be members of their fan club. They took the children to play (and get doted on) for about an hour before their energies started to wane. Soon enough, their little mouths made tiny o''s as they yawned. The couple chuckled, taking it as the time for them to rest. Althea took out the stroller and placed the children there, but to Garan''s puzzlement, she didn''t move at all after that. He saw his wife looking at him with a mysterious smile. "You should go hang out with Gill and the others tonight." Garan''s eyebrows furrowed and shook his head. "No, we should head back home now." He walked forward to get the stroller, only to find Althea''s soft hand on his chest, stopping him. "It''s still early, I''ll put the kids to bed," she told him. Her convincing tone was making Garan a bit confused. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "But¡­" Sure, she was on a day off today, but he thought they hadn''t bonded enough today because she was locked in her laboratory¡­ He was very reluctant to leave. "Oh come on now," she giggled, "Contribute more GDP to the territory, will you?" "But¡­" "I actually already called your friends." "What?" Garan frowned, pouting a bit. Was she planning on kicking him out early on? Althea chuckled and pinched his cheek. "I want you to bond more with your friends, not just with me." "But¡­" he just wanted to stay with her¡­ Althea naturally knew what she was thinking and used her signature technique to convince him. She wrapped her arms around his torso, looking up at him with that cute look that heated him up. "Husband¡­" she mumbled, voice a little softer than usual. "Please?" . . . That was how, about half an hour later, the four of Garan, Gill, Eagle, and Drake faced each other at a circular table of the pub. However, they didn''t join the hustle and bustle of downstairs and chose the more private rooms. The Heartbreak Tavern was making a lot of money and bought off the next store for almost twice the market price. However, under Vino''s hand, business was definitely bustling and it wouldn''t take long for him to get back his investment. Anyway, they now offered a number of private rooms upstairs, which was where they were at. They also heard that other than the drinks Althea''s factory made, this team also had their own farm. Adding the fermentation rate in the farms, as well as his alcohol shop, the owner of the tavern was doing quite well in his industry. The group drank around the thematic wooden table they were using. They weren''t speaking much, simply passing the time together. Garan fidgeted his tankard uncomfortably, unused to spending this time without his wife. He looked at the newly-filled cup, azure eyes deep in thought. "My wife insisted I spend time with you all." He paused, eyebrows furrowed. He then looked at them with a very serious facial expression. "Am I too sticky?" Chapter 639 Mens Night Out The three held back their laughter, forcing themselves to remember his stern image so they didn''t break into cackles. Gill, who was talked to beforehand by Althea, twitched his lips. Instead of answering the question, he filled up his cup. "Come on, Captain. Sister-in-law wanted you to have fun! Let loose for once will ya?" Eagle looked at the captain in awe. "Never would I think I''d get to drink with the Captain in a legit pub." They did drink a bit during those lull times in their missions, but that was when they were camping. And even when they did drink, they couldn''t drink too much either because, after all, they were on the job. On the other hand, when they were not on missions, the captain was either strategizing, making reports, or simply spending time with his wife (mostly, it''s the latter), so they never really got to drink their hearts out together. In any case, the conversation fortunately did begin to take form. It was led by the more gregarious Eagle, followed up by the others. They chatted about their current life and roles in Altera. However, as workaholics, things naturally shifted to some work stuff. But Gill was sent on a mission by Althea: Distract the Captain well and let him enjoy the night with friends. "Let''s not talk about work!" Gill said, drinking up. He turned to Eagle with a grin. "I heard you''re finally getting cozy with sister-in-law''s nurse teammate." They were so surprised when he volunteered to help the girl, and refused to switch out. Eagle flushed. "Did you ask her for a date tonight?" Eagle flushed even redder. He had indeed asked the nurse for a date. He went around to look for her earlier. It was just that she already had a previous appointment with her workmates. He remembered his shoulder slumping and, considering his angular facial features, it must have looked a bit scary. However, at the time, Sheila looked at him as if she was heartbroken instead. In her soft voice, she added, "Uhm¡­ but I am free tomorrow¡­ we can¡­" Eagle felt like he just died and resurrected within the span of a few seconds. "YES!" he yelled with a shit-eating grin. Sheila flushed and ran away though, and it made Eagle think he could''ve scared her off¡­ He was only pulled out of his daze when he saw a hand waving in front of his face. "He''s definitely remembering something," Gill grinned, making Eagle want to bury himself under the table. Eagle cleared his throat, "Ah yes, I have a date with Sheila tomorrow. Probably." Several eyebrows rose at his admission and they looked at him, making him feel even more shy. "Have you decided where to take her?" As special forces soldiers who were always on the go and doing dangerous missions, too many of them were extremely inexperienced with women. At this, Eagle couldn''t help but look at the Captain and Gill. "Where did you take your ladies on the first date?" He asked Gill, not daring to ask the captain. The question triggered some very good memories for Garan though. Back when he confessed to Althea, she had such a lovely flushed face¡­ Their first date was in an aquarium, with Althea saying some random fact she knew about the sea critters there. It was adorable. Not knowing their ice-faced captain was reminiscing romance near sea life, Gill and Eagle continued on with their conversation. "Juni and I started dating in high school." Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was the type to like being independent and he refused allowances from his parents as soon as he entered High School. He earned some spending money by taking a part-time job in a nearby convenience store. He worked with Juni, who was also a working student at the time, albeit out of necessity. Of course, with his personality, he offended a lot of customers. Fortunately, Juni was working with him and managed to always ease the situation. Eagle leaned forward. "So.. are you going to get back to Juni?" Gill looked at him. "No! I''m officially dating Cassandra now!" "Tsk tsk. How messy!" Gill shook his head. "I''m not the one with the messy love life." He pointed at Drake, who was being fought over by two top suitors: Jona and Yana. It was very¡­ public. It never quite turned to an all-out cat fight (though it may or may not have to do with the strict regulations in the territory), but it was quite verbal and out-in-the-open. The latest gossip was that the two (physically and mentally) sandwiched Drake when he arrived after the war. "We played lovers in Fargo!" Jona said with a smug smile, "We had to play the part." Yana paled, but quipped, "Played! Even after all that, you still didn''t get his heart! Right, Drakey?" At the memory, Drake flushed in shame. At this, Eagle looked at him with a teasing smile. "Did nothing happen back in Fargo?" "No¡­" The topic somehow resurfaced some past things. "Speaking of women, I remember when Drake was so afraid of women that he almost botched a mission?" It was a couple of months before his injury. They were on a mission to obtain information about a mercenary group. They wore their own disguises and acted like they didn''t know each other. Drake happened to be a customer in the bar where one of the witnesses worked. What they didn''t know was that this witness was extremely flirtatious and he almost gave himself away trying to avoid her advances. Fortunately, the woman was a bit of an airhead and completely missed the mark. After some recalibration, they were still able to get the info they needed. Their mission had a lot of bumps, but it was fun. "It''s good to have you back to the team," Gill told Drake, and the latter sniffed a bit, touched. The four continued to chat and hang around with soft smiles, though Garan''s mind couldn''t help but fly to their villa and his soft wife. While he did like these friends of his, he was quick to miss his Althea. Sigh. Why did she want him out of the house so much anyway? Chapter 640 Working to Create Back in the house, Althea folded her sleeves with a smile as she raised the intricately carved wooden amulet in front of her. While her husband was out, she could finally finish her job! After so many hours the past few days and today, it was still not yet done, but at least she had progress! She happened to have been inspired while studying the new magic tools she received from Ferrol''s aborigines and the Golds. She ended up locking herself up most of the day trying to ride the inspiration. This was the anniversary gift that took so many weeks to prepare. She started when she got the skill, but only recently had she seen real progress. She was super ashamed she took so long to finally be able to put it into practice, but she was optimistic¡ªat least she understood it in the end! If the aborigines knew what she was thinking, they would cry. Most people would take years to even understand the first step! Magic tool knowledge came from the elves! It was super difficult to comprehend for normal humans! But Althea had no idea of this detail and focused on finishing her pendant. Hopefully, she could complete it before her husband came home. The primary inspiration for this one was the walls of the territory. She had spent a lot of her time outside hunting without her husband just¡­ staring at the walls. Fufi was always around to guard her, of course. She also chose hidden areas so people wouldn''t see her. What would she do if they get concerned by her stiff staring at the wall and then report to her husband? She drew whatever array she could see in her new array notebook, which would probably be as thick as her plant book someday. Before going home before the war, she also took note of the level 3 walls in Fargo and noticed the differences between a level 3 and a level 5 system wall. It wasn''t just the size that varied, but also the arrays embedded in. For the Level 5 Walls, the arrays were bigger, more numerous, and much more complicated. The difference was like elementary and university level, except she barely tapped into the elementary level at this time. There were also several new lines connecting parts of the circle and chords. It was all quite complicated and even her big brain had a hard time finding the relationships between the lines, circles, and patterns. In fact, after so long, she knew for a fact that she didn''t understand the arrays yet. She had a vague feeling that it would take years to master the craft, and frankly she was looking forward to it a bit. Other than the walls, she also studied the arrays under the farms¡ªthe ones that could increase the growth rate and survivability of plants¡ªbut she could only draw it (for now) as it was too complicated and mind-boggling. She also studied the other tools a lot and learned some patterns that appeared in some similar functioning tools. For example, there were patterns of chords and segments that appeared both in the aether letters and aether board. There were also similarities between the aether letter and the sound stone (a stone that could record a few seconds of sound at a time, sold to her by Otto). Anyway, there was still plenty of trial-and-error and experimentation that went on the past few days, which went a lot slower when she had to shift her attention to the war. The Magic Tool skill she received had the inheritance of integrating arrays onto the tools, so she focused on studying the arrays first. Of course, the level and effectiveness of the arrays varied greatly. She also had to practice a lot of the past few days (before the war) about how to make arrays in the first place. For now, this was something that had to be completely self-taught. It wasn''t easy. She had to ''summon'' specks of aether with her elements and create a desired line. After this, she''d have to keep them stable. This was the most difficult part. It was not easy to keep the complex forms uniform and stable for a long enough time so that her inherited skill¡ªthe integration skill¡ªcould work. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Even after a few seconds, the forms always softened and disintegrated. This was what she was left with that morning and she had to force herself out of the laboratory¡ªwhich was against every fiber of her being¡ªto participate in the festivities outside. She had been focused on keeping form stable¡ªand had been doing so¡ªsince she got home. During this time, her mana and health would reduce a bit, so she always had a cookie nearby as she did so. Each failure, she would learn her weak spots¡ªwhich was mostly in the intersections of the lines¡ªand added a bit more effort there. She wiped the sweat from her brow with her sleeve, mumbling about how difficult this was¡­ However, if any of the more informed aborigines were there, they''d be gaping in shock. They didn''t know much about arrays or tool making, but they were certain the masters were having a harder time than she was in creating something!! Anyway, Althea was not aware of the differences in her techniques. She was just focused on her job. Time ticked by, bit by bit. She tried to create a stable pattern, over and over, until¡ª [Used! Magic Tool Creation (C)! -250 Mana!] The pendant released a special light, as if softly exploding. It was similar to how binding with Battle pets appeared, except it was an item that kept glowing for a while before it calmed down. The whole time, the light was reflected in Althea''s emerald eyes, and when it faded¡ªrevealing the end product¡ªthe sparkle in her orbs brightened even more. [Created! Pendant of Protection (E). Capable of blocking 100 attacks from level 10 monsters.] Althea squealed, the long hours of work finally paid off! It''s here! Her first Magic Tool! Chapter 641 First Magic Tool She looked at the pendant nestled in her palms. The wooden pendant was a simple circular token about two inches in diameter and a few millimeters thick. On both sides and edges, there were various notches and patterns, each one with its own use. It was also a bit warmer now, and it gave a reassuring feeling of sorts which was difficult to describe. If she used her skill to look at the patterns, there would be various lines of energy traveling in each line and around the engravings. With a heart beating loudly in excitement, she used her appraisal skill to determine its functions. [Pendant of Protection (E). Capable of blocking 100 attacks from level 10 monsters. [Passive: Increases defense by 10% when health is below 10%] If other tool makers were here, they would be shocked. She really made a Magic Tool within a few weeks! Althea was unaware of the blown minds she could''ve caused. She just admired the pendant. Although it was much weaker than what she would''ve liked, it was a great first try! While it was nowhere near the value of a space stone, she would definitely make more and more, better and better ones for her husband. At the very least, he could focus on stronger monsters while not bothering with the weaker mob surrounding him. If she could make a few more, then he could go in a mob if he had to and could come out unscathed! She smiled, barely noticing how her eyelids were becoming heavier. Her husband would love this!! ... It was very late when Garan came home, feeling a little inebriated. Although his metabolic rate was fast, Gill bought a lot of strong alcohol for the group of them. He managed to get back home without incident though, thanks to his training. What he didn''t expect though, was to see his wife sleeping on the sofa. "Althea?" he voiced out, though his feet had already moved to get to her. Without another word, he carried her to their bedroom. Amazingly, even in his inebriated state, he was completely stable even when he carried the weight of another person. In Terran, if he was caught driving under the influence, he wouldn''t have failed road sobriety tests. Now at his own home though, his guard was down. His eyes were glazed and heavy-lidded as he watched her pretty slumbering face as she rested in his arms. He gently placed his wife on the bed, careful not to wake her up. She shifted a little in the movement and she opened her eyes a bit. When she saw who was in front of her, she flinched. Althea blinked repeatedly to push down the lethargy, which Garan found very cute. He smiled as he placed his palm on her shoulder to keep her from sitting up. "My wife," he said, "You didn''t have to wait for me." When he wasn''t on missions, Althea would often fall asleep in the living room while she was waiting for him to go back home. It both touched and broke his heart, and he felt complicated that the habit was carried over in this world. He looked around the bedroom, realizing it was only them. "Where are the children?" "The babies are with Sheila," she said as she patted his hand to let her sit up. Garan saw she was really awake and let her, not expecting her to lift her hand in front of him as soon as she did so. She took out a box from her space, letting it appear on her hands. "Gift!" She smiled at him smugly. In Garan''s eyes, she was being seductive and coquettish, making him heat up even more. "It''s late but, counting months in Terran months, I''m just in time! Happy Anniversarry!" She said, explaining to the somewhat confused Garan. He smiled, leaning down to kiss her. "Thank you." She accepted his peck but she covered her mouth with her palm when he started licking her lips. "Take a look at it!" She said, pouting. She worked hard for it! Garan chuckled and did as he was told, opening the box to see a token of sort a few inches in diameter. It was roughly carved but his instincts told him it was special. "It''s a tool!" She told him, "I made it myself!" She excitedly told him of its functions."This here is a Class E magic tool. With practice I should be able to improve, so bear with this for now." "It also has a passive effect of protecting your health to some degree when it''s below 10%!" His eyes widened as he finally realized what she had been up to. No wonder her callouses had been getting bigger. While she was treating them with her medicine, Garan knew every inch of her. How could he not notice? At the time, he just thought whatever farming or potion experiment she was doing caused the callouses. His heart felt full and he immediately leaned down to recapture her lips. He pushed her down the bed, and this time Althea didn''t avoid it. Garan didn''t forget to place the token in his space of course, intending to cherish it forever. His kisses were deep from the start, his whole body relishing in her warmth. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her beautiful hands in his hair. "Thank you, I love it," he whispered, his hands creeping up to the inside of her nightdress. Althea flushed as she heated up, whimpering when he started to touch her nether regions. "Hmmm¡­." she moaned, and Garan ate them up before he started kissing southwards, licking her neck, her collar, and then going down to the valley of her chest. "Your husband is so happy that he''ll make sure to serve you especially well¡­" he told her as he completely lifted up her nightdress over her head, diving down to eat her precious mounds. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh~!" Althea gasped, body arched a bit, each lick sending intense sensations down her spine. Her mouth parted and her dainty fingers buried in her husband''s hair as if to anchor herself down, lest she fly away due to the pleasure. In any case, spring night was very warm that night. Chapter 642 Morning After The next morning, Althea was woken up by her husband sensually ramming into her. "Did I wake you?" he asked, his baritone voice sounding raspy as he moved. Althea''s watery emerald eyes met the man''s lustful ones, opening her mouth to answer. "What do you thi¡ªahh~" Althea wanted to utter something sarcastic, except her mouth parted involuntarily as moans escaped from it. The sound of her voice seemed to energize the man, encouraging him to add speed and pressure into his movements. Clap! Clap! Clap! Althea, in the end, just enjoyed the love making, and after about a hundred more thrusts they climaxed together, with Althea letting out elongated moans as she was filled with his seeds. The couple felt each other for a bit longer before they finally decided to get up. Rather, if it was up to Garan, he''d have kept her in bed for a while longer (note: the whole day). Sadly, his wife missed the children (he did, too) so they dragged themselves out of bed to pick them up. When they got out of the room though, they realized that they didn''t have to do so. At this time, they were already crawling around their play area, playing with their new toys with Little Theo. The pair smiled and went to them, each lifting a child to smooch. "Mwah!" "Hmhmgmama¡­" "Googhmama¡­" Althea giggled at their cuteness, not forgetting to patting Little Theo''s head as well. "Hmhmgmama¡­" "Googhmama¡­" When the babies realized that one parent hadn''t kissed them yet, they went and tried to reach for the other with their tiny arms and hands. Althea laughed and Garan smiled, kissing the smooth face of the child in the other''s arms. The babies seemed satisfied and settled down, making the couple laugh. Anyway, it was a nice and peaceful prelude to an otherwise very, very, busy day ahead. ... In another abode was a scene a lot less wholesome than Althea''s household. A certain soldier woke up with a bad headache. He shifted in his bed, rubbing his face with his well-sculpted hand. Gill opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, realizing it was already well into the morning. He groaned, rubbing his head as he sat up, the blanket sliding down and showing off the sculpted body it had been hiding. He was in the single-detached house he bought for himself. He lived alone so he could only blame himself for waking up late. No one else would be moving to alert him of the time. Except there was. When someone shifted beside him, followed by a soft moan, his eyes widened. He turned to see a gorgeous naked woman with purple hair. "Cassandra?!" he exclaimed, waking the woman from her slumber. Gill gaped at the sight. The previous night wasn''t a wet dream, after all? Memories of last night immediately came over him, hitting him like a truck. He had just gone home from his drinking session with the captain, entering his newly-furnished house. The ground floor was basically a guest room, a small gym (one couldn''t have too few places to train), and a living room. A little groggy, he went up the stairs and belatedly realized someone was there. He didn''t really become aggressive though. After all, there were only two other people with access to his home. His mother and¡­ "Cassandra¡­" The woman was sitting peacefully on his bed, wearing one of the night dresses she bought in Altera. It was figure-hugging and so thin that it looked flimsy. Cassandra had a very curvaceous body and such an attire made men curious if the fabric would rip with a little tug. It didn''t help, of course, that he was a bit drunk. One could imagine the heat sent down his groin just by the sight. She lifted her head and stood up, sauntering to him. "How was the night?" She asked, wrapping her arms around him. His eyes darkened as he felt her soft curves rubbing against him, clouding whatever control he still had. He cleared his throat, "It was fun," he said, "I enjoyed myself." S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Hmm, that''s great," she said, her cheeks resting on his strong chest. Her stance was soft and dependent, and his heart clenched a bit. His hand found the back of her waist, caressing. "Is there anything wrong?" She shook her head and lifted her head, staring at him with her large purple eyes. "Nothing. I just want to enjoy the night, too," she said, as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down to meet his lips. "What¡ª"His eyes widened but he didn''t reject. Rather, when she parted his mouth with her tongue¡ªsomething she learned from him¡ªhe reciprocated with equal fervor. Their tongues danced as their hands felt the other''s skin, feeling the other''s heated presence as closely as possible. Gill''s hand was on her supple buttocks, caressing, before lifting her up so he could feel her more intimately, while Cassandra''s arms wrapped tightly around his neck, as if afraid he''d pull back. He followed his instincts and walked forward towards the bed, but even as they fell, their bodies didn''t part, continuously rubbing on each other, desperate for more. The next thing they knew their clothes were almost gone and both their faces were extremely flushed. Gill''s mind even got more clouded when he saw her bra already above her breasts, revealing her bare gorgeous body to him. She was really beautiful, and ready for picking. His already broken breathing stagnated even more and his hand moved on its own to touch more of her. She moaned beautifully, and he leaned down to meet her lips again, his warm scorching hand sending traces of pleasure all over her body. "Ha.. ah¡­" Gill wanted to hear more of her moans, so his hands moved even more intensely, more purposeful, and by the end, Cassandra was panting so much she could barely breathe. "More¡­ Gill¡­ please¡­" she mewled, hugging him tight. At this point, Gill''s brain was already turned to mush, and there was no going back anymore. Chapter 643 Cassandra and Gill Her begging made him rock hard, but he still paused, lifting his head to look at her. "Are you sure about this?" He asked, sweat dripping on her skin. The women of Xeno were much more conservative than they were, especially girls with her background. What she was doing¡­ could be considered extremely scandalous in her world. He couldn''t do it. With this thought, he gestured to get back up, but she was held in position by Cassandra, who was a level higher. "Why?" She asked, pained, and it broke his heart. He leaned down to give her a peck, supporting his weight with his strong arms. He parted from her, and rested his forehead against hers. "That''s unfair to you. What if you get in trouble?" "I won''t," she said, "Please?" She looked up at him, her large purple eyes looking at him, begging. She wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer to her, moving so he felt her naked softness. He could feel all of her curves rubbing against him, and each touch was sending boiling magma down his groin. "Do you not want me, Gill?" She asked, her hot breath on his ears. With this, his reason went down the drain. Who could reject this? And so was the current scene. He took a deep breath and turned to her, trying not to get distracted by her ample cleavage and beautiful face. "Are you¡­ okay?" he asked, and Cassandra looked at him as if he asked a weird question. "Of course," she said, "You were a little wild, but fortunately my level is high." This made Gill blush a bit, but he looked at her with a bit of seriousness and apprehension. "Do you regret it?" This made her frown. "No, do you?" "No, of course not," he said, laying back down to wrap his strong arms around her. "I''m just¡­ now that I''m thinking about it, I realized that it''s so sudden," he said, "Wouldn''t you get in trouble? Is it worth it?" "I don''t mind, I wanted to give my first time to you," she said. His eyes widened a bit at this, surprised, but seeing her determinated face, his heart softened and he patted her cheeks, "I''m not stupid Cassandra. What happened?" She paused, looking away, and unable to look at his eyes. Cassandra was in such a rush because of the letter from her family. They were forcing her to wed a man she didn''t like, though Cassandra knew it was for the sake of her Town. According to the letter, it would lift up the territory''s current slump, making it great again. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Women¡­ simply didn''t have much say in their own marriage, especially a woman of her position. Rebelling wasn''t a default in their worldview. Even Cassandra, who was much more feisty than her peers, didn''t even consider it. Regardless of what happened, Cassandra simply wanted something to remember by. She loved Gill and although it was impulsive¡ªfor once, she just wanted to do what she could for herself. But none of these was spoken out loud, and she only buried her head into his generous arms in silence. Gill knew she wouldn''t say, for now, but he knew there had to be a reason for her to risk being potentially vilified by her society. He just pulled her tighter into his embrace "Whatever is in your mind, know that I am willing to listen." Cassandra buried her head on his generous chest. "Thank you, Gill. I love you." ¡­ After the celebration, the daily lives of the citizens resumed. Whether it was people hunting, going to factories, gathering resources, or others, they were all out and about and contributing to the overall strength of the territory. Micheal watched the hustle and bustle of the village, and then stared at the few hundred people who would be coming to him to Bright, which was already much more than he expected. These people were all slaves, most of whom had some friends and family still in Bright. He also announced a free residency program to anyone with enough skill, which enticed a lot of people to come with him. They knew Bright was a subsidiary to Altera anyway, so life there wouldn''t be too bad. At least in Bright, they were proper residents! He had also gotten a hint that the costs of becoming a resident in Altera would only increase by a steep line. Where was the next best thing for people who wished to have residencies? The nearby villages, of course! He also had to think about his huge debt to Altera. He needed as many working citizens as he could in order to pay for that. The memory of how he milked Garan''s money came to mind, and he shook his head. Oh, how the tables turned. Still, a part of him hoped Altera would just merge them, but he knew that it was wishful thinking. Altera still had too large of a room to grow¡ªthere was no place for Bright, at least not more than as a subsidiary. Micheal requested for some guards to escort him, which the Elders allowed just this once. These guards were not few and well-equipped though. After all, there were rebels in there and they would have to be ready for a confrontation. Anyway, Bright was their subsidiary and the war punishments would not be triggered with just this amount of guards ''attacking''. As for the other guards, they would continue guarding Altera, while a few would be sent to check on Vismont and Belluga as part of the usual rounds like before. These villages were extremely close to them, and they made a point to monitor what was happening there, especially when they found out aborigines had already reached and caused chaos in one of them. Other than these, Althea and Garan finally started planning for their newly obtained territory. A new satellite! It was a new scope, a new area to handle, and a whole new adventure to fix. It was a lot of work, but the couple was sure it''d be worth it. Chapter 644 Limestone Valley (Part 1) A day later, the couple arrived in Fargo. Or rather, to Limestone Valley. They traveled with just the two of them this time, though they did task a couple of soldiers to go to the valley on a later date after the missions in other territories. They were set to switch with the pitiful Team B. They used a fairly good pace so that their health wouldn''t be affected to get there. However, Garan felt bad that Althea traveled with him through the forest when she could just teleport via the warehouse. "No, I like it," she said with a smile, and she was not just comforting him. She pointed at a plant with oddly-shaped pinkish flowers. "I haven''t seen this one before," she told him. "It''s been a long time since I encountered a new species." She immediately went to the new plants to study them closer, putting on her handy gloves for safety (which made Garan nod in approval, feeling proud of her). Anyway, although Limestone Valley wasn''t extremely far way from Altera, the soil composition was different enough that she would have one or two new flaura to study. It was very nice. She looked at the low-growing plant with clusters of pink and purple flowers. It formed dense mats of elliptical leaves. It was quite aromatic too. She used her assessment skills to take a look. [Thymus (Lv2). Adds flavor.] Xeno was not entirely running on tasteless food, they still do use aromatics. They just used it in a minimal capacity, which was such a pity. There would also be people who would experiment more and use more¡ªparticularly in towns and cities¡ªbut they would definitely not popularize the recipe and keep the knowledge for themselves. Anyway, noting that it was safe to handle, she took out a few of her hundreds of pots in her large space, uprooted a few plants, and planted it to take back to the space for transport. She also took out Tori as she took a few samples, studying its composition a bit more. All this while, Garan stood patiently by, prepared to deal with whatever threats came their way. "It seems like there are limestones nearby even in this side," she said after a while, "Plants near Limestone deposits are alkaline and have high calcium content. This plant fits the bill." She then wrote in her notebook that Thymus could also be used for digestive problems. They''re not common afflictions with their improved physiques, but the components that could relieve stomach tension could be useful for others. They then moved on about a few hundred meters West until Althea stopped again, head turning to a dense foliage with yellow pea-like flowers. She went closer and determined it was a legume of sorts. [Trefoil (Lv1). Broats love this] Althea nodded and also took live samples back in her space. She studied it with Tori to determine that it had high protein content and palatability to grazing animals. Then, finally, when they were within sights of the Limestone Valley walls, she found an evergreen shrub around half a meter tall, its leaves covered with fine hair. [Helian (Lv1). No known uses.] The Helian was characterized colorful flowers with high drought tolerance. It also had an extensive root system, which was great for soil stabilization. It also had soft leaves that seemed nice to lay on¡­ This would be a great add on to her mountain areas to keep the soil stable and make wonderful picnic spots. When Althea finally seemed satisfied with her finds, the couple headed to the walled areas. They were leisurely holding hands, walking towards the level 2 outer walls in order to observe it more from the outside. She recalled the summary reports of the wars and all groups had no problem getting past the level 2 walls. This wasn''t a surprise, but she only got a few thousand gold from Fargo. She wasn''t willing to spend too much of Altera''s funds on it. However, considering level 2 walls couldn''t even have sentries, she knew she wouldn''t have much of a choice but to use her own funds. Sigh. "So¡­ poor," she mumbled, looking at it with a pout. Garan chuckled, patting her head. "I assume this is already well off," he said, thinking of the other Villages they encountered. "Not many people can be as smart as my wife." This made Althea feel a bit better and she smiled. With a slightly better mood, the couple continued to survey the area with a critical eye. If she upgraded this to level 3 fence, it would cost her around 4000 units each of wood and stone, as well as over 600 gold. Adding sentries outside would also cost a bit. In Altera, when it expanded more, she would probably use the optimal distances because over-designing would be too expensive, even for her. The cost of adding sentries to the outer walls alone was 2520 wood, 1260 units of stone, and another 630 units of gold. As for the inner walls, there were existing sentries, albeit they were placed approximately 300 to 400 meters apart. Although this was the standard distance in the villages, it was easy for them to find loopholes. Further, because of the scopes Altera had, they easily determined where the guards were, so they took them down with long-ranged weapons. Combined with the various distractions around the territory that they set, those sections became vulnerable very easily. It was great when it was still Fargo who suffered due to this, but that can''t happen now that it was her Limestone Valley at risk. In the end, she decided she would just add another sentry in between. In fact, the optimal distance for sentries was 200 meters since the sentries could reach 100 meters each, she just felt safer adding them every 100 meters to feel more reassured. This got her to spend a bit more money. She would also spend a lot building here, so the money she won from the war was very little compared to what she was planning on using it for. The gold loot she counted was only the ones she got from Fargo himself, as she had to keep the ones she got from the slaves. This meant she only got¡ªconverting all the silver and copper¡ªa little over 1000 gold. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. So poor. Fargo should be ashamed to call himself a terrorist lord. Chapter 645 Limestone Valley (Part 2) She had long decided to keep the accounts of the two territories different, but it seemed like she''d have no choice but to invest a bit of Altera''s funds here. Of course, when Limestone Valley stabilized, then she''d take that back with interest. Speaking of which, they''d need trustworthy, capable, and sincere individuals to handle the village in their stead. While she could remotely see the status of the village and access the warehouse, she couldn''t divide herself, right? Even with Altera alone¡ªalong with her babies (husband included) and experiments¡ªshe couldn''t find enough time, let alone managing another territory. "Do you think Vincent and the others would be able to handle the territory?" She asked. Although they were granted temporary stewardship before, it wasn''t anything final yet because she technically ''didn''t have the power'' to decide that, let alone the fact that it was agreed upon before the two territories merged. Regardless, that group was really the best option for now. They knew the place well and had already been somewhat attached to it. Garan nodded, "They should. They told me they''re joining the Mercenary Team, so we can add several layers of oath." This was really great news for the Mercenary Team. Victor''s team was comprised of more than 20 soldiers. Though most of them came from other territories and countries, they were confident to increase solidarity. There was no Edenian or other countries here anymore, only Terran. Rather, just Alteran. Anyway, they really needed more soldiers. Although they were indeed strictly training the guards, they needed trained individuals to handle the current threats. Putting a deeper discussion of that into the agenda, the couple continued to peruse the surroundings of the village to reach the limestone mines. Since the war, the operations here had naturally paused, leaving empty cave systems all around. They also had to clear quite a few beasts as they perused the place. They were apparently attracted by the dense smell of humans in the place. There were not a few monsters there and they could imagine that monsters often haunted the workers while they mined. "This is not near the territory," Althea said, looking at the terrain. It wasn''t too far either¡ªonly about a few kilometers from the territory¡ªbut a lot could happen in between. She reckoned a lot of slaves perished during the travel to and fro alone, let alone dealing with the damned beasts when they were already here. They couldn''t build anything with the system and it would be impractical to build defensive walls manually as well. "This would''ve been easy for goblins," Garan said, sighing, "I''m sorry wife." Althea''s eyebrows rose as he looked at him. "What for?" "If I had kept the goblins¡­" The goblins were not only great diggers, they could also create a tunnel system of sorts for the logistics. Garan told her more about Guia VIllage, and about how he had a choice to bring goblins. They''d have been useful if he captured them instead of letting them go. He looked so remorseful, it made Althea giggle. She patted his chiseled chin. "Based on what you said, forcing them could''ve ended with them taking their own lives, instead. "If we encounter them again, great, if not we can manage on our own." While she was indeed very curious about the goblins, her people were plenty skilled. They wouldn''t get slaves (maybe except for future prisoners of war) but they would hire workers. Back in Altera, she had already gotten Ansel and the other accountants to help her calculate the labor costs for the mining. They didn''t need too much either¡ªat least for the first few week. For now, they just need enough samples of each resource for the Research Lab to be able to experiment and determine as many uses as they could. The minerals here would definitely be differences from the ones they knew in Terran. The iron was different, and the others would too. This meant they still had a lot to study to determine whether or not the item would really be useful to mine. How depressing would it be to start mining in bulk only to realize it would be useless? Hm, so many things to do, she mused, and the couple continued to analyze the surroundings of the village and valley, planning what to build and what to do with it. They arrived at the entrance of the village when it was already getting dark. It was still bright thanks to the lighthouse though, which was something Fargo purchased recently with some blood money he got from the citizens. The story was, he was annoyed with the low productivity of the people and he bought it so he could push everyone else even at night. In any case, the couple went to sleep in one of the new custom houses Althea secured when she was there. She also wanted to summarize more of what she had found so far in her head before meeting the leading party. Even if she didn''t, Garan wouldn''t agree. He believed in her sleeping well when she should, especially right next to him. The villa was in the newest community Fargo made and it was expensive so, by the time the war started, not even a third had been bought. Not many were rented either. However, after the war, she saw that a few had been sold immediately after the ownership changed. It was obvious that quite a few people had been holding back in the purchases because of Fargo and his men. Althea was very accurate in this. There were indeed a few people with some wealth who refused to invest in the territory and were just waiting for a way out. They were also very lucky to be well-off but not rich enough to catch Fargo''s attention, otherwise they''d have been milked a long time ago. When Fargo''s party was out and they were taken over, some of these people who weren''t comfortable with leaving decided to invest and buy off properties, and quite a number of houses were occupied since then. Anyway, the couple settled down and they prepared the house so they could rest. Garan immediately went to the well to get her some bathing water, filling the bathtub she had in her space. She thanked his efforts with a kiss on the cheek, before turning to the water and mixing some of her relaxing fragrance in. When she entered the tub though, a certain soldier decided to get in with her. To save water, of course. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 646 Miner Hiring After a long (and sensual) bath, the couple settled down on the bed, with Garan just unable to keep his hands off. Fortunately, this time, it was in the form of a massage. It started with Althea jokingly telling him her back would hurt if they didn''t leave the tub soon. "It would be great if you just teleported here¡­" he said, massaging her back. Althea didn''t mind the massage so she played along. They were lying on a mattress and blanket she brought herself, really appreciating her massive space more and more. Garan also looked at the surrounding interior of their current abode. Fargo had his own architect (who had unfortunately died as collateral damage during the war) and the custom house indeed managed to get the basics. However, Altera''s custom house was still far superior in terms of the systems that were added in. For example: the rainwater catching system, the biogas system, and the like. "I wanted to spend more time with you. What can I do here anyway, and how do I explain my sudden appearance?" Garan smiled as he continued his massage, moving from her back to her arms and her legs. His wife''s skin was really so smooth that his calloused hands just glided through. But how could such a massage stay innocent for long? The moment moans escaped Althea''s mouth, Garan''s movement started being erotic. She would be attacked for a different sort of ''massage'' soon after. It had to be said that even if one was in a new place, as long as you were with a loved one, it was almost as good as home. ¡­ The next morning, an announcement resounded across the territory. Altera had allowed all Elders to have announcement capabilities in both territories, allowing her to do this without suspicion. [Hiring! Job: Miners Job Description: Gather limestone and various metals in the mines. Job Requirement: Physical Stat of at least 100 Salary: 10 silver/day Slots: 0/20] [Hiring! Guards Job Description: Protect the territory (Altera and Limestone Valley), its people, and its interest! Requirements: Minimum Level C Potential. Minimum level 7. Salary: 15 silver/day Slots: 0/100] In Altera, the standard of salaries had been increased just recently, to the chagrin of the business owners, but it was mandated so everyone had to follow. However, Ansel made sure to provide subsidies and incentives to avoid resistance from them, even when the program was implemented too quickly. The salary for elders, for instance, was changed to 50 silver/day. This was in contrast 500 copper or 5 silver back when they were a level 1 village. Supervisory positions would get 15-25 silver/day, the standard employees would get 10 silver/day, and the minimum wage jobs were 5 silver/day. For their military, it was naturally higher. Except for Garan''s ''salary'' which was the same as the other elders, supervisory positions such as ''captain'' position would have a salary of 30 silver/day. The normal guards would get 15. Why would they do this? And in such a rush? With the lifting of the protection period and the arrival of many aborigine visitors, Altera had officially opened up to the world. According to the studies, the standard salary per month was around 3 gold per month for Town-level territories, and a fraction of that for villages. If they kept the salaries so low (although more than enough in Altera before) how difficult would it be if they had to travel outside? In Terran, with globalization, everyone also used a universal currency. However, its value varied from place to place. For example, one could buy a lot of things with 10,000 in a remote province, but it''d barely manage to buy anything in a top city. This would be the case of Altera and others, even if Altera was considered a luxurious and special ''remote province''. Before, they couldn''t do it because the money circulating was of resources taken from Terran. They were new and the wealth they got from mobs was limited. But now they had been around for long enough and they had opened their borders to rich aborigines, so they could afford to balance things out a bit. With the new salary scheme, standard employees would get the average salaries outside, but with the added bonus of the low cost of living. This meant that the ''average'' citizen in Altera would be much better off than their counterparts outside. Of course, they raised the prices for everything, at least three times as to how it was before they received their aboriginal guests. However, it was still much more affordable than how it was in aborigine territories. The tax she''d receive would also be much higher, but it would still take a few days before she really felt it in her pockets. In any case, this was another step towards integrating into this world. The next step would be to take advantage of it! ¡­ After getting ready for the day, the couple walked around the territory to study its workings even more. Of course, they were still lovey-dovey, with Althea holding her husband''s strong arms as they strolled. While they received a couple of stares, a lot of which were admiring as they were recognized, they did hear a couple of conversations about the latest announcements. "Did you see the announcement?" "Of course I did." "That''s a large salary! I think I''m going to try!" "As a guard? You?" Obviously, the other man''s potential must not be very good to receive the sarcastic comment. "As a miner! The salary is also not bad, okay?!" "Remember, the mines aren''t within the walls!" It was estimated that they''d only be able to incorporate the mines well after Limestone Village became a mid-level Town or something. This was something far in the future as Altera would require much of the resources. For now, they would just have to limit the miners (at least until the uses for the resources had been fully determined) to avoid any waste. Guards needed to make their rounds and hunt, anyway, they''d just let them guard miners by the way. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea sighed, wondering what else she had to consider. The plans for the walls, sentries, as well as the guards were already outlined. But she still had a lot to think about in logistics as well as the processing of the items. She also had to wonder about her next enemies, whoever they may be. Terran Villages might be weak against Altera, but what of Aborigine territories? "Most don''t even see the functions of limestone or copper to wage war, and those who do¡ªTerran territories¡ªare unlikely to be stronger than Fargo or Altera," Garan reassured her. "Of course, we will do everything to make sure that remains the case." Altera was Althea''s territory, but he didn''t want her too burdened by it. If she did, what was his use? "I wonder what I should prioritize to build. Budget is tight, after all," she said, pursing her lips. She really wanted to send more funds to research and other amenities, but she wondered if she should save up a lot more money to pour into the defenses. Garan chuckled, poking her nose. "Just build what you want, I''ll handle the rest. His words warmed her heart, and she rubbed her head against his arms. "My husband is so awesome." Chapter 647 Settling Limestone Valley As they strolled, Althea also studied the current planning of the village. While much better than others, it still lacked the greeneries and overall efficiency she would''ve wanted. It was just that one could not move buildings anymore and if she wanted to improve the planning, she would either have to demolish a lot of things or decentralize to another area when it expanded or upgraded. Either way was a little costly so nothing too major would happen for now. She also decided to hold any building and upgrades like sentries until she went back to Altera. After all, she can set other elders to be able to make announcements, but they definitely should not be able to build anything in either territories! As they walked, they saw a group of acquaintances approach. They came to them with a sense of urgency, very much relieved to see them here. "Captain! You''re here!" Turbo yelled, almost crying. The other teammates also looked wronged, which was very funny. Victor could only smile awkwardly as he greeted them. "Garan," he said, and his sister also stepped forward. "Captain¡­" she said, tone gentle as a flow of water. She opened her mouth to say more¡ªnot that Garan would care¡ªbut she was quickly overcome by Team B and their pleading. "Captain~!" "We wanna go homeeee¡­" "When will our replacement arrive?" "I want my soft beedddd¡­" "I earned a lot of money¡­ I was going to treat myself to Cook''s restaurant!" "Captain¡­" "Captain¡­" Garan sighed, rubbing his forehead. "They should be here in a few days." Turbo and the others sighed. Well, they can wait a few more days. While the team was asking when they''d be rotated back, many from Victor''s team¡ªwho would also be allowed to go to Altera¡ªwere also looking forward to it. During this time, Turbo and the others had naturally bonded with the dozen other soldiers under Victor and had shared how Altera was. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The more they heard, the more excited they were to check it out! Of course, a lot of them were a bit cynical and thought they were exaggerating but they were quite curious about the territory no matter what. "Another team should come here to support, but we need fresh blood in the guard team." After all, the guards from before were mostly either dead or had become prisoners, so the defending of the territory was dependent on the soldiers and the few remaining guards. As of now, contribution points wasn''t a thing in Limestone Valley, nor were the citizens particularly loyal to the territory, so they couldn''t assume they''d jump in and help when needed. Garan looked at Victor, the de-facto leader of the base. "As you have seen, I already sent the hiring announcement earlier this morning. I hope you take charge of finding good hires who would truly help the territory." Victor blinked, nodding sternly and respectfully. After all, Garan was technically his superior now. Garan nodded in satisfaction, looking at the soldiers surrounding them. "Now¡­ it''s time to settle this place." ... Vincent''s team moved in to one of the new communities after Fargo''s fall, finally graduating from their poor living conditions beforehand. They had to buy it according to the previous market price, of course. Even if the former lord was gone, there was still an owner, so people still had to pay as is. They chose a villa that could easily house them all. Each room was arranged in dormitory-type rooms, but it was overall comfortable. It was definitely much better than where they used to stay. They also had a big meeting room now, and that was where they''d be talking about the next steps. The Village Center was available and open to them, but the house had a bigger place and they had to involve a lot of people in the discussion. As they entered the house, they were greeted by a familiar beautiful woman. The stance and tone reminded Althea of a housewife welcoming her husband home. "Welcome back," Juni said, looking warmly at the newcomers. Althea''s eyebrows rose. She didn''t really monitor every member and was a bit surprised to see Juni was still here. Or rather, she decided to stay on her own accord? "We''re back," Victor answered in return, and the others did the same. However, Juni''s expression was particularly soft when looking at Victor and Althea couldn''t help but look at them back and forth. Oh¡­? "Miss Althea," Juni greeted as soon as she emerged among the big men who blocked her view. Althea sent the woman a teasing smile. "I see you have found a home here." Juni flinched, blushing a bit. "Yes, I have decided to stay. Amos did as well, but he was asked by some members to help them train. They should be back within a couple of hours." Juni stayed for many reasons. One, she needed space away from Gill. Although her feelings had lessened, there was still lingering pain and it would not heal if she kept seeing him with another woman. Second, he knew this place still had a lot of growth and would need a lot of trusted individuals in key positions. She wanted to be a bigger part of Altera''s empire¡ªwhich she believed would be inevitable. And finally, there was Victor himself. She knew he had been thrown into a heavy responsibility he didn''t want. Inexplicably, she wanted to help him out somehow. "Good job, Juni," Althea said, referring to her contribution in the war. "Congratulations on leveling up as well." Juni nodded with a smile. "A pity I wasn''t able to burn Fargo''s face," she said with a straight face, "Maybe next time." Althea couldn''t help but laugh good-heartedly. "I like your attitude." "Your contribution point should be sent within the day," Althea said, "Not sure when it would be implemented in this new territory, though." "It''s fine. I''m living decently," she told them. "Victor and the others got me a home." Victor scratched his cheek, a bit embarrassed. "She helped us out a lot. It was the least we could do." Althea''s lips twitched and looked at Victor and Juni and saw the very subtle chemistry there. Vanessa also saw but she only rolled her eyes. Althea sighed. Too bad her maize had only just been harvested. It''d take a few more days at least to finally get her popcorn! Chapter 648 More on the Oaths Before heading inside the meeting room, everyone in the team signed a non-betrayal Oath in the Village Center. And, as with others, the loyalty oath would be completely voluntary. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The oath was a standard perpetual non-betrayal oath made by Mathilda and Lawyer Jun to ensure there were no loopholes. This was something every territory employee, Terran or Aborigine, had to do before they get hired. They would be given a choice to continue with the employment after seeing the oath, and so far no one had refused to do so. At the same time, Altera wouldn''t demand a loyalty oath asking for people''s lives. Altera wanted to ensure its safety present and future, but didn''t want to take away people''s freedom. Hence, the oath still guaranteed the territory could trust these individuals with sensitive information, while giving them a choice to undergo it or not. It was also insurance that the individuals would in no way undermine the safety, interest, or well-being of Altera (or any of its satellites) in any way or form. Even if the damage was genuinely by accident, they would be receiving some form of punishment proportional to the damage they did. This was still under discussion, but the punishment could be monetary or even forced labor. This would ensure proper care and quality in the work of the officials and the employees. Henry and the others didn''t react much with the oaths, knowing it was necessary. There were a few frowns¡ªafter all, even if they weren''t planning on betraying, getting so many rules imposed did not feel good. Finally, the oaths were also perpetual¡ªthat was to say, like the hired aborigines, they would not be able to cause damage to Altera even when they were no longer associated with it. The wordings were also much more detailed than what the aborigines signed back in the Chancery¡ªsomething Jun and his team interviewed aborigines a lot. For one, they included indirect damage, so they couldn''t send people after Altera in their stead (as what Belize would''ve done, if he was alive). This would also control the entry of future spies in key positions of the territory. At the very least, most territories would hesitate to plant spies in their midst, because it''d have been useless¡ªmaybe even counterproductive. They even added ''perpetual beyond the grave'' in order to avoid unnecessary leaks even if the employee, or even the territories themselves, fell. As it was now, they could take the hired aborigines of fallen territories (like Rona and Mogi) and get everything they knew about the territories that were no more. Speaking of this, when they found out about this (Jun was asking a lot of questions about the existing oaths), Mathilda and the others also got more information about the world. Interestingly, most of the ''fallen'' territories were exhausted villages overpowered by mobs. Fall from wars, and more especially getting taken over, was actually uncommon. This was not entirely a surprise because, technically, wars could only be among territories of the same rank. So, while there was a 50-50 chance of losing the war, it was a rare case for a territory to actually fall from it¡ªnot unless they were specifically targeted. Sadly, Fargo was a deeply untrusting individual, so what they got from Rona and Mogi was nothing they didn''t already know. Leny and most of the others'' experiences were similar because the villages they were hired in before Altera were all unremarkable. The fall of these territories was also typical of this world. For instance, in Leny''s case, out of the dozen or so villages she had been to, about two of them fell while she was there. One was targetted¡ªthe lord apparently offending someone from a town¡ªand the other one fell under beast tides. At best, they found out that most lords would choose to hide away when the momentum fell out of their favor, leaving the citizens to fend for themselves. Anyway, as long as they kept most of the enemies out for 28 hours, then they''d have won. Tambai and Gochi''s information, though, was new and interesting. For one, they got to know more about orcs and half-orcs. For one, orcs were a lot bigger than half-orcs, which amazed them because Gochi was already towering even among the aborigines. The weaker class¡ªthe herbivores¡ªwere at least twice as strong as Gochi. The fighter class was far superior in fighting and was much more troublesome. From Tambai''s story, it didn''t take long for a group to take down the lowest level warehouse. By Althea''s estimate, a group of humans would''ve taken hours before doing the same feat. Anyway, Altera will never fall, but its citizens sure would appreciate getting to know more about those who did. This was something they''d discover more in the future. For now, they were in a meeting about the future of a territory. The leading party then sat around the large table. Garan took a seat on one side side, while Althea sat next to him. Vanessa, who had wanted to sit next to Garan, sent a bad look to Althea''s direction. "Do you have to be here?" Vanessa asked Althea, who blinked. Althea held her husband''s hand when she felt that he was about to speak. She stopped it because she didn''t want any tension between Victor, Henry, and her husband¡ªnot when she could handle it herself. Althea smiled at the woman. "Of course, I''m an elder in Altera after all." "An Elder?" Vanessa asked, disbelieving. "What kind of Elder?" She knew the woman probably had a good position by virtue of the respect she was getting, but¡­ "A useful one," was all Althea said before turning back to the table, effectively ignoring her. Vanessa gritted her teeth. "You¡ª" "Stop," Garan said with a deep frown, unable to help himself anymore. "I assure you, Althea has more to contribute in a single meeting than you can in years." He turned his eyes and Vanessa met his striking blue eyes that made her heart beat, though now in intimidation. "Now, seat down and be quiet," he said, his baritone voice flowing across the room. "Or else we will kick you out." Chapter 649 Meeting at Limestone Valley Vanessa flushed, reluctantly sitting on an available chair, not forgetting to send subtle stares in Althea''s direction. The discussion then began, led by Garan, telling Victor and the others of Altera''s plans for them, their faces brightening the more they heard. "As you may have noticed in your panels, the name of the village has been changed." Victor and the others nodded. Although the name was a little too¡­ simple, it did fit what the territory was meant to be. Althea also brought out a piece of paper with a rough schematic of Limestone Valley. She drafted the current location of the walls, the outline of the valley, and the outline of the cliffs. Limestone Valley had a very interesting terrain. The cliffs on certain areas outside the territory would make it easily defensible. Inside, there was a shallow valley that not only could create a magnificent vista of the territory. It would''ve also created good basins if the current planning didn''t become so chaotic and haphazard. "For now, this is what we''re proposing," she said, crossing out certain areas, and clearing certain buildings. "We will be creating avenues here, and here," she said, drawing two obtuse intersecting lines. They followed the terrain for minimal work, avoiding the valley and the steeper slopes. "Doing a complete overhaul is impossible and we don''t know how much the territory will be willing to spend, so for now we''re proposing to build our dormitory buildings in these areas," she said, pointing at certain areas where the shanties were located. Of course, while she had won certain building types from Fargo Village and could therefore use them, it was not the same the other way around. Instead, she''d be converting Fargo''s existing custom building, and turning it into a dorm. Althea also told them she would be proposing upgrading the walls, but that wasn''t guaranteed and don''t let their hopes up. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It''s okay," Victor said, though he still hoped for the best. "We managed to defend even with those short fences, we will continue managing to do so." Althea and Garan nodded in approval, liking his optimism. On the other hand, Victor and the others also sent their requests. For example, if sentries weren''t possible in optimal areas, they hoped to at least build watch towers so they could station people there. Like Garan and the others, Victor had some tools in their space like scopes to be able to see better. Anyway, having a watch tower was a practical alternative if they couldn''t afford dense sentries. The next topic had to do with what Altera could take early on. "Can you tell us about the professionals you have here," she said. Since she didn''t disclose that she was the lord, she naturally didn''t have the access to the population list. Not to mention, Terran occupation and other details like that were available in Altera because they required a registration process under oath. Fargo, er, Limestone Valley, did not have that. Victor and the others looked at each other, making Garan frown at their reluctance. "Limestone Valley is now under Altera. Don''t hold back." "But are you going to strip the territory of good professionals?" "Of course not," Althea said, reassuring them. "The migration would be completely by choice. Not to mention, we would definitely assign professionals here regardless, like a rotation, as how the mercenary team was assigned to guard." After a moment, the general who spoke. "I can''t claim that we know everyone, but we have professionals in engineering, agriculture, medicine, and the like." She had seen a lot of medical professionals here. From what she heard, this happened because there was a medical conference and a lot of them ended up transferring together. Similarly, the people who were even invited to the conference were all pretty accomplished individuals, so the quality of the medical professionals here was actually very good. One person, a person named Volohov, even had a green tag in his name. They really needed more medical professionals in Altera, though they didn''t pull them so soon because there were thousands of injured during the war¡ªand most of whom were still being treated. As for the others, most of the Fargo people stayed because the Alterans didn''t bother to ''sell'' the territory, unlike what they did with Bright and the other places. What if they let the population spike and suddenly they upgraded prematurely? The people actually thought too much this time. Even if Altera did meet the population requirement¡ªwhich would require thousands¡ªthe prestige was still lacking. Althea would also have to find a way to hinder any upgrade as long as she judged the territory unprepared for it. At least, she wanted Altera to breeze through challenges as it did so far. Although Altera sent an order to temporarily discourage immigration, it wasn''t really a difficult order to implement. As for why the population themselves stayed, it was because a lot of the people were so used to their own land and they¡ªif they weren''t refugees themselves¡ªhad heard from the refugees about the territories outside. Although Fargo''s leadership was horrible, the place itself was much nicer than the others. It was easily defended, had two layers of walls, had sentries, strong guards (though a lot of it had to do with Victor''s team who guarded from mobs), and the resources were ample enough with the wells and the dense interior forests. In their minds, the people of Altera could''ve gone to war with them to get their good land so they just had to stay put and maintain it, ideally get some good assets before another influx of population arrived. Hence, except for the rescued slaves and those with acquaintances in Altera or Bright, not a lot of people went through the teleportation array. They knew it was technically a (not-so-cheap) one-way trip by that time, how could they risk not being able to go back if they wanted to? Of course, after talking to Turbo and the others, a lot of people had begun to ponder whether their decision was wrong. Later, the ''influx'' of Alterans really didn''t come and then they found more about Altera and its amazingness from the guards and those who visited it. Only then did they yell out in their hearts, full of regrets. Alas! Chapter 650 Mining Discussion "The next direction we were asked to discuss was the mines." "Since the properties of the minerals can be different from what we know, we fortunately don''t need to go all-out for now. We still need to study their composition and actual use, after all." Victor nodded. "I saw the announcement only asking for 20. Did you make that?" "All Elders can do announcements," she said. "You will also have as well. They have a limit, though, so better not post too many." Victor thanked her, but his fist was clenched. The more power given to him, the more his new role was becoming concrete. To be honest, he didn''t think he had what it took to lead an entire territory. He simply wanted to defend his people, the politics would always be beyond him. Juni, who was not at the table but sitting among the audience, happened to have a clear view of Victor and his expressions. She pursed her lips in thought, though no one knew what she was thinking. Garan discussed the logistics of the miners, including the specifics of the storage and subsequent transfer to Alterra. Victor and the others were very surprised to know what he had to say. "You mean to say... that we only have to place the items in the warehouse and Alterra will receive them?" "That is correct," Garan said, and the people paused in amazement. The warehouse was basically only accessible to the lord¡ªeven if the lord wanted it accessed by others. They could place items inside at best, but they would not be able to enter at all. They knew this because Althea had tried to get her husband inside and maybe push her luck and get them both to teleport to Fargo. The couple had done a lot of things to test the limits of Altera''s warehouse. To summarize: In order to place the items, they still had to open the door, but they could not get past the threshold nor would they be able to see what was inside. From his perspective, the view of the warehouse was clouded, similar to what the Fog that protected the newcomers back then looked like. From what they saw during Fargo''s war, the warehouse was still safe even during the war. Unlike other system buildings which would be affected by the no-regulations period during wars, the warehouse was safe. In that case, the warehouse was the absolute safest place even during wars, even for the lords themselves, and it was imperative to add additional layers of defense around it¡ªhere and in Altera. They then discussed the safeties of the miners, where the guards making rounds outside would simply shift their areas more around the mines and the pathway there. "Now, before we go," she said, "We need to finalize what to do with the aborigine hires¡­" This meant that the hired people from the village center. "If you have any one you hope to keep." "Only Rona and Mogi were worth keeping but it seemed like they left during the war¡­" "Ah, they''re in Altera now." "..." "What about the rest?" "We don''t need them," Victor said, almost immediately. Other than the few fighters who had now ran away, the rest were mostly pleasure workers¡­ Althea, who had access to the People Panel, naturally knew of this. However, she didn''t want to make the women suffer by prematurely kicking them out (it wasn''t even allowed by the system without good cause) so they could only wait it out until the contract expired and let them leave on their own. The meeting adjourned with all the necessary topics discussed, and the people separated to their specific tasks. For the couple, it was to walk around the territory one more time and finalize the plans before finally heading back home. However, as they left the Center, a certain fly couldn''t help but follow them. "Captain¡­" it was Vanessa who looked soft as always, pointedly ignoring Althea who was right beside him. "The doctors are willing to be assigned wherever you ask." She said this as if she was the one who convinced them. Clearly, it was because the doctors¡ªthrough the medicine and tools they sent as war subsidies¡ªsaw Alterra''s capabilities, right? Althea watched this all in interest. She didn''t report at the height of the meeting. What could her husband, the person in charge of military concerns, do with the news? Henry and Victor who were nearby sighed at this. Before, they didn''t know Althea was here, so they were fine with Vanessa going after Garan. He was the man they would be most relieved to hand her over. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, the man was obviously happily together with his wife. They had to give her a good talk later on. Garan looked at her and nodded, though it wasn''t his scope so he didn''t have much to say. He simply nudged his wife so they could go ahead on their trip. Vanessa pursed her lips. "Can I come to Alterra with you? I''d like to prepare their place before they settled down there¡ª" "You say that as if that''s what they asked of you," Althea said with a muted smile. The slight change of tone finally alterted Garan of the feminine tension. At this, he gave Vanessa a worse look (which had already turned bad the moment she asked to intervene in his alone time with his wife). "I''m their leader, so¡ª" "Did they agree to that?" She asked. "I''m pretty sure they didn''t." "You¡ª" It was at this point that Victor finally stepped forward. He had hoped the conversation would end without things being awkward, but he was apparently too naive. "Be careful on your trip home," he just said, pulling his sister''s arm. "Rest assured this place will be handled with care." "Brother¡ª" "Let''s go," he said, with a stern tone and Vanessa could only tearily go with him. Henry looked at his children go and sighed, before turning to Garan. "There''s something I''ve been meaning to ask you alone." It was just that everyone was so busy and he couldn''t find the chance¡ªnot for such a question. "My wife can hear it," he said. A statement. "Of course, she can," he hurriedly said. "I¡­ I just thought that¡­ you binded yourself too tightly with that territory," the general said, sincerely worried. "What if the lord there¡ªand don''t tell me there''s none¡ªdecided you''re a threat?" Historically speaking, wasn''t this the likely scenario? "It''s fine," Garan said, his low voice adding gravitas to his words. "Our interests are binded tightly. He would not think of getting rid of me." When he said this, he gently squeezed his wife''s hand and teasingly rubbed it. Althea had to hold back a smile. Henry''s worry though was not uncalled for nor was it easy to reassure. "Really?" "Yes." "Then¡­ do you know the lord, by some chance?" he asked, eyes watching Garan closely. Garan though, did not even flinch. "I can only guarantee that we can trust this person," he said. "Rest assured. This place is in good hands. You will see when you get to Altera." The general met his eyes and saw that he had unwavering trust in the mysterious lord. After a few moments, the older man just shook his head¡ªdismissing his worries. He was too old for this. "Very well," he said after a brief pause. "I''ll trust your judgment." ¡­ Garan sighed and held her hand. "I''m sorry you had to endure that, wife," he said, referring to Vanessa. He wanted badly to destroy the woman with his words, but Althea kept stopping him. He knew she was afraid of creating tension between him and the ruling party here, which would not be practical for people in their positions. It didn''t mean he didn''t hate it. Looking at him like this, Althea couldn''t help but giggle. "Do I look like I''m bothered by insects?" With all her problems and all the things she had to pay attention to, someone like Vanessa wasn''t even at the periphery. Garan''s shoulder slumped in relief, and he leaned down to kiss her head. "My wife is wise." ¡­ Anyway, the couple finally headed home to their family. Althea really, really, missed her softest bed, her lovely and large bathtub, her gardens and farms, and¡ªmost of all¡ªher children. Of course, before leaving, Althea made sure to send the announcements all throughout, which caught a lot of citizens off-guard. By the time they passed the threshold, the entire Limestone Valley Territory would be brewing with excitement. [Fargo Village (Lv3) has officially been merged with Altera Village (Lv3) and is renamed Limestone Village (Lv3)! Congratulations on officially becoming Alterans!] [The new rates are as follows¡­ [Please note of the Rules and Regulations¡­ [Contribution Points are valid for both territories.] [Citizens, temporary or permanent, would automatically be temporary citizens in Altera. Rules of Permanent Residency be the same as Alterra''s.] [Paying Entrance Fees would have shared validity between the two territories.] [Housing within Limestone Valley will also be 30% lower, valid for 1 week.] Citizens of Fargo er, Limestone Village, gaped at each other. They had to reread the rates, the rules, the benefits, and the like in order to fully absorb what they were reading. So good? Chapter 651 Rearranging Bright Village. When a master territory was attacked, and most especially when it lost, subsidiaries would immediately get informed about it. What more when Bright territory was not just a subsidiary to Fargo, but a satellite? This was why by the time Micheal and the others arrived, Gingo, Sandra, and the others had already fled. They didn''t leave without causing damage though. A lot of innocent people were killed before they left. It was like the bastards just open-fired in random directions as they headed to the gates. There weren''t even people who were blocking their path on purpose, but they shot around anyway. What Micheal stepped into as he entered Bright were streets filled with blood, corpses, and wailing people who had lost their friends and loved ones. Worse, there were more people who didn''t have relatives in the territory, nor did they have friends nearby, so their corpses just laid there without anyone to even mourn for them. As for those who were injured but alive, Micheal''s team immediately ran to them, preparing diluted healing potions as they did so. Micheal looked at the extremely low momentum in the territory. At this point, Bright was still standing from the occasional mob only because of the sentries. Michael''s throat felt blocked, blaming his own incompetence. Losing the territory to traitors was one thing, but he allowed them to still cause damage when they had already lost!! It was at this point that a large palm touched his shoulder. It was Juno, his loyal guard. "You couldn''t have prevented this. We didn''t even know we were going to get the territory back, let alone them doing this." "You''re right," Micheal told him after a pause. "I can''t reduce my productivity because of those bastards." He heaved a deep breath, facing his people. "People of Bright!" The people around turned to look at him, surprised that he was there. "Fargo was defeated by Alterra. And we have our freedom again! "I know you are not in a celebratory mood, but we have to get back up again if we want to survive!" "We have been through so much to live. Are we going to let those bastards ruin everything?" Then a small mob arrived and they felt the ground shaking a little. Soon, the walls were pounded on, making a lot of the citizens gasp and sob. Micheal looked at the others, and then at the Alterran guards who had accompanied them. They immediately went outside and dealt with the small mob. Sammy was the lead soldier of this team, and he bravely served as the vanguard against the mob¡ªonly level 7, at the most¡ªtaking down a good portion with his wind blades. Next to him, the other guards didn''t hesitate to jump into the mob, even those who weren''t even level 10 yet. Considering what Alterra was used to¡ªconsidering the type of monsters it attracted by virtue of its vitality alone¡ªthis weak mob was really nothing to them. Micheal and Juno also joined in, bravely fighting against the monsters that surrounded them. Sammy stopped attacking then, though he made sure to send the convenient wind blade here and there to ensure no one would get seriously injured. Even without Sammy, the mob wouldn''t take too long to clear. However, it was enough time for several citizens to gather themselves, slowly walking towards the wall to see what was happening. They watched the fight with beating hearts. Every hit against the monsters slowly shook them, their wills slowly being built upon and slowly helping them regain some confidence. By the time the small mob was taken care of, Micheal and the others reentered the territory to see hundreds of citizens waiting for them. There was no cheering, but their eyes and stances were hopeful and alive¡ªand that was enough for Micheal. As such, Micheal¡ªstill covered with the blood of monsters and his own¡ªlooked at them with a stern face. "People of Bright! It''s time we stand back up again," he said. "We have suffered enough." Then he gave them a reassuring smile, eyes a little teary. "It''s time to do well in our side of the world, alongside Alterra." ¡­ Limestone Valley Later that day, Victor and the others implemented the rules and oversaw the hiring process. The slots were limited, and they ought to be a little stricter in the selection. By this time, over half of the slots had been filled. At first, they thought the slots for guards were too few¡ªthey were thousands of people, after all. However, they felt the comprehensiveness of the rules very quickly. Every time someone broke the rules, they would receive punishments fit for the crime. The makeshift ''prison'' ¡ªone of the combined custom houses, refurbished to fit their needs¡ªalso had a few occupants already. It was amazing. Obviously, the bulk of their job would be to deal with beast tides, rather than handle the chaos within the walls (though of course, they would still be needed inside, to some degree). As for the miners, it was fine. They had been told they would be starting slow. Plus, this number did not include the couple dozen prisoners of war who''ll be used for mining. For the guards, the ones quickly accepted were the ones who had contributions during the war. One of them was Kyle, who was now happily doing his duties as one of the guards keeping peace in the queues and stuff. He was working and trained by Amos, who stayed in Limestone Valley as well. When asked why he stayed, he only gave a sad smile. "I wanted to feel just a bit more freedom," he said, though he didn''t explain anymore. Kyle would later find out Amos'' family were parasites and him staying in an ''inferior'' territory was his way to breathe. On the other hand, Tacky and the others didn''t apply, hoping to migrate when they got the chance. Lani had really told them more about Alterra and, most importantly, the poor girl couldn''t sleep well in this place. She might be smiling and generally more cheerful than the other victims, but she was traumatized. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She needed a new environment, and they all knew it couldn''t be anything else but Alterra. Chapter 652 Status of the Female Aborigines The people interested in the job openings were now lined up in the Village Center, hoping for a bit of stability in this dangerous world. For one, that salary was really good! They could finally live decently if they got those jobs! Secondly, Victor and the others promised to train them well¡ªwhether it was the guards or the miners¡ªso they could defend themselves. This was worth more than any salary! Of course, there were still a few people in the line who were a bit more cynical. "So far less than half of those who came in got accepted. Obviously, the standard isn''t low this time. I don''t think I''ll pass." Before, as long as one had a decent level, they could get hired as a guard. They would get booted (or maybe even killed) if they were slow to follow orders though. The number of former guards who refused to join in the abuse and died right after was not few. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In fact, it was fortunate the people weren''t as queasy or as sensitive as before¡ªwho could afford to do so?¡ªotherwise the number of applicants for the Guard position would be much lower, as they would be affected by ''trauma''. "I have low chances, too, but it''s worth a try." "For sure." "I also heard those who fought during the war had much higher chances." This made a few people eavesdropping to grumble. Some people even slapped themselves, nagging for being a coward. Anyway, the queue was well-behaved, but it was also very lively. ... The hiring lasted a few more hours before the slots were filled. At this time, a certain group of aborigines looked at the activity with complicated moods. They pondered whether to apply for a future job, but they knew they wouldn''t even be considered. They were women after all, and for the longest time they believed that women were only good for specific things. These were a group of women, led by Umi, Fargo''s former favorite. "What do you think will happen to us now?" One asked, though no one answered. They were also wondering the same thing, and it was the question that lingered inside everyone''s mind soon after Fargo lost the war. They knew they were not needed anymore in the new ''Limestone Valley''. There were a few men who still used their services, but they could tell the ruling party couldn''t care less for them. This was very bad for them. Despite everything, Fargo Village was still much better than most villages. This was true even when Fargo was in charge, because they had been through much worse. "What do we do, Sister Umi?" Wana, one of the youngest, asked. She was very worried. She wanted to stay here. They were really reluctant to part with this place, especially now that life seemed to be improving for everyone. In all territories, they were treated as if they were slaves. There was no case outside of Fargo Village that they did not get seriously hurt during the act. The question was just how bad it was. How many bruises they got? Did they get slapped? Punched? How many times? How long before they could stand and walk normally again? While most of Fargo''s men still hurt them, it was mild compared to what they had been used to, at least outside the Rongo Mercenary Hall. To be honest, back at the height of Fargo''s reign, seeing the Terran women fight and look so tortured when touched by the other men¡ªor when the men fight in an attempt to ''rescue'' the women¡ªwas completely new to Umi and the others. However, they thought they were stupid, because the rebellions caused them their lives in the end. It was even better now after Alterra took over. Here¡ªalthough there was an obvious dislike for them and although there were barely any customers¡ªthe locals wouldn''t do anything to them at all. At worst, they''d be ignored, but that was that. Here¡­, they were treated as human beings. Disliked ones, but human beings nevertheless. It had also been the first time since starting this ''profession'' that they had not been pulled into an alley for an entire day. They were used to getting pulled anywhere to do what they were ''supposed'' to do, to accept whatever was thrown at them, and yet there would be many times when they wouldn''t be paid for their work at all. It was why, for them, it was best to invest in getting hired in the Chancery, because they''d have at least a guaranteed salary on top of some bonuses from ''customers'' if they got lucky. Another problem that''d arise if they didn''t get rehired was the fact that they''d have to pay a few gold again in the Chancery. Most of them couldn''t afford that anymore. Their worried thoughts were interrupted when the people around them moved towards the center. They saw a woman and others bringing over tubs of tasty gruel. The movement wasn''t slow, with a few men holding a large pot (which they would later find out to be made of condensed earth (by earth users), and then fired to a certain temperature to harden and waterproof by fire elementalists. The group was led by that beautiful woman, who had a special attractive temperament about her. Umi recognized her as the very cause of her ''fall from grace''. Umi didn''t have much hate for her though. After so long in her industry, she had seen how prevalent it was for men to feel tired of the old¡ªno matter how beautiful¡ªand look for something new. It was nothing personal, it was just their way of life. They watched as Juni and the others settled at the center of the square. Immediately, a lot of people gathered nearby, stopped at a distance by several guards. "This will be food for everyone," Juni said with a gentle smile. "This will be done twice a day for 3 days¡ªand only for three days. "This is the territory''s way to help feed you when most of you are too weak to go outside and fight." The people cheered and congregated to where she was, and for a moment it seemed like chaos was inevitable. "Wait!" Juni said, appearing cool. "Please form a proper line, otherwise you will be disqualified from taking anything for the entire 3 days." A lot of murmurs resounded but they lined up properly anyway. The guards next to her assisted in their proper arrangement. Umi and her companions watched in fascination as they watched everyone follow her orders, most of whom were willing and with smiles. Seeing women fight in the war was already shocking to them, and then they saw that ''Miss Althea'' was so loved and respected, which came as a bigger shock. Now, there was even this woman. "That''s who they called Ms. Juni right?" Wana said, looking at Juni with sparkling eyes. "She saved a lot of girls from Rongo." "She''s not very strong, but she''s quite admirable." Umi''s eyes were bright, enlightened. She walked over and queued up. "Where are you going?" the other girls followed. "Oh, so we''re getting food. Of course we are." "Well that''s one thing," Umi said, smiling. "She''s so beautiful yet so powerful. I want to follow her!" Chapter 653 Some New Alterran Innovation Another day passed by in Fargo, and the long-awaited replacement team from Alterra has finally arrived. It was Plaridel and Mao leading the team, this time. Along with them were about 10 more guards, set to be some of the main forces while the local forces were being trained. The accompanying Alterran guards were not the strongest, but they all had above average potentials and being assigned to lead their own teams should improve their strengths as well as their leadership skills. Included in this group was the cousins Angelo and Jesse. This mission was basically a shortcut for captainship so no one who were offered the opportunity declined it¡ªno matter how reluctant they were to part with the goodness of Alterra. They also kinda missed their friend Amos, who had decided to stay for a while. As for how the soldiers Plaridel and Mao were chosen, Plaridel picked the short stick, while Mao was there to assist with the mining operation. Of course, this didn''t mean he''d mine himself. Rather, he''d use his ability in an attempt to find the weak spots in the caves and therefore find the best places to mine first for efficiency. Another notable thing about this group was: They arrived on bikes. The rides were specially outfitted not only to handle the rough terrain but the very fast pedalling speed of level 20s. For this, even the professional equipment makers were tapped. Now, even if it was through denser forests, it could totally traverse it! Sprinting without the skill or equipment was something everyone could use after a certain point. It was just that it consumed health and required focus. That was to say, not only would they have low life, they might not be able to defend themselves when a monster, possibly a speed monster, were to eat them for real. The bike also had a sleek design, and strong appearance, which was just cool in and of itself. Anyway, it was very impressive and the people of Limestone Valley were in awe. "These are made for heavy terrain and had the string pedalling force of reinforced bodies!" "AMAZING!" "Where can we get one?" However, the newcomers weren''t able to detail anything, as Althea and the others arrived to see them. They almost saluted when they saw Garan and the general. They excused themselves from the audience and went to talk with them. Before separating though, they yelled at the crowd. "It''s available only in Alterra Village, but it''s still expensive, a couple of gold!" "Can we buy them please!?" "The bikes are territory property and we''re just borrowing it!" "The bikes are up?" Althea asked as soon as they got near. They were really surprised with the bikes to be honest, because they weren''t ready back then. "Yes, the factories wanted to send these to you." Mao excitedly told them that the research center had been rushing to finish it. It was too health-consuming to sprint from territory to territory and, now that they had a satellite, it was needed more than ever. Althea chuckled at this while Garan was straight to the point, as always. "How''re your missions?" he asked, referring to the missions checking on Vismont and Belluga Villages. "Vismont seemed fine for now," Plaridel said. "Belluga seems to be on track," Mao added. "Though they did request to buy a lot of medicine to stock. They''re requesting to temporarily increase the purchase limit for them." Althea nodded at this, taking note. The two also mentioned some information they gathered. Other than Fargo, they concluded that other Terran territories would be unlikely to attack another Terran territory. This was something they got from the new refugees. Other Terran territories were just struggling to survive as it was. As for the aborigine villages that Oslo warned them about, they''d have to watch out more. For one, Belluga had been attacked before and it was only a matter of time before they started targeting the nearby territories. By estimate, the first ones to get attacked would be the territories near where protective cloud was. Alterra was a few territories away from that place. Further, while they weren''t shielded from beast tides, aborigines would indeed find them more difficult to find than, say, Bright and Belluga, which villages on relatively flatter lands. Of course, while it was unlikely for them to be attacked earlier than others, they didn''t dare to feel complacent either. Anyway the group, along with the soldiers Leon and Santos, as well as General Henry and Victor, came along to meet up at the Village Center Meeting Hall. Garan assigned Vanessa to recruitment duty (of highly-skilled professionals) and didn''t allow her to enter another meeting until she finished the job. She didn''t have much to contribute other than made him and his wife annoyed anyway. They talked about the next step of action, as well as what to do with the new hires. Victor would also have the right to send announcements, but they were limited and could only contain so many words... Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Mao sighed, "Communication is really hard¡­" Speaking of this, Althea looked at them. "Has there been progress with the birds?" When Eagle and Sheila, and then Ansel, told her more about these birds back then, she had been fascinated. When they told her that they actually caught some, she was pleasantly surprised. These birds had evolved basically undetectable in order to survive. For the past few weeks, they had been trying to train them to send messages like pigeons did back in Terran. "Well, our Zoologist Reddit and natural-animal-friend Chucky had been working on it since before the war. "Before we left, we heard both Reddit and Chucky triggered ''Animal Trainer'' occupation," Mao said. "It shouldn''t be long before we get some progress." At the time, they wondered if it was like beast masters, but it turned out to be a bit different. The aborigines said they may have heard of the profession, but it wasn''t common¡ªprimarily because there was little need for it. Broats and Gugu birds were weak and easily hunted. They didn''t go extinct because of their fecundity and ability to hide and be low-key. The locals wouldn''t bother training them to be anything else. The mention of birds alone though intrigued Victor and the others, especially when they were discussed in the context of communication. "Birds?" Victor asked, "They have non-monstrous birds here?" "Yes, we found them by accident. They''re very fast and small, ideal to becoming messenger birds. "While we figure out the usual radiowaves and towers, they seem to be a more viable option for now, so we decided to research on this," Althea kindly explained, and the man couldn''t help but be flattered. From what Althea knew, the birds'' training had a lot to do with the ''loft'' or the birds'' abodes. They had the instinct to find their way back to the loft after training, much like how pigeons were trained. "There''s still a lot to study, of course, but I believe we''re on the right track." Victor and the others couldn''t help but gape at what they were hearing. First, it was superior-looking Bikes and now it was messenger birds? It had only been a few months, right? What kind of place is Alterra, really?! Chapter 654 Travel Back Before the meeting ended, Vanessa arrived with the report of how many professionals were willing to go with them. She claimed that she had convinced the doctors to come, leaving a few people specializing in emergency treatments in the valley. Many of the doctor''s specializations were useless anyway without equipment, and Alterra had shown they had the capability to provide them with better tools. However, Vanessa implied that the doctors would only come if she led them. Althea looked deeply at the woman. Her husband owed Henry and Victor a lot, with the former being his mentor, while the latter saving his life. But Althea didn''t have such gripes. "Vanessa, to manage your expectations, Alterra is not like Fargo. Unlike here, you''ll be an employee like everyone else," Althea said, "You''ll be one of the two healers already there, and will not be treated more specially than they do." Vanessa looked at her, "I know more about the medicine in this world¡ª "You think you know more than I do?" Althea asked, and the certainty of the answer made Vanessa blush in shame. Althea had heard from Drake before that Vanessa had been monopolizing knowledge here, keeping the doctors under her. This was not a practice she''d encourage in her territory. While people had the right to gatekeep knowledge, she didn''t want them too stingy. For one, she would be giving contribution, commissions, or the like to those who contributed to the ''pool of knowledge'' Alterra had. She certainly wasn''t going to entertain gatekeeping for the sake of keeping power and at the expense of the territory. "What I mean to say is, what you know¡­ will be something everyone knows there," she told her. "So don''t use it as a leverage¡ªnot against me." ¡­ The people heading back to Alterra were: the couple, Team B, Vanessa, Benny, and Henry. The next batch of migration would happen when the health of the people had been improved. For one, a lot of the professionals and migrants had been injured during the war, and another was that the doctors were still very busy with handling them. The doctors were given a few days to properly finish handling their current patients and do turnovers. Anyway, the people traveling back were set to use some of the bikes that arrived. They only took what was needed, and Mao and the others used to draw lots to determine whose bikes would be given back. Mao and the others were understandably very reluctant to part with them. In the end, Mao''s, Angelo''s, and a few other''s bikes were taken, making their moods drop a lot. They hilariously already named the bikes, saying their sweet goodbyes as they handed them over to the others. Poor guys. Unfortunately for them, Althea and the others didn''t want to get back home too late, hoping to get back home at least before midnight, so Mao and the others didn''t have a long time to say goodbye to their ''babes''. Before leaving, Althea sprayed every one of them with Beast Repellant potions so their trip was relatively uneventful. The group rode on their respective bikes. Well, except for Vanessa, who apparently didn''t know how to do so. For a moment there, Althea thought Vanessa would ask if she could ride with Garan, saying it was bigger than others. Unfortunately for Vanessa, the bike designs were standard and that excuse wouldn''t have flown. Vanessa backtracked before she humiliated herself and got Turbo to give her a ride instead. Garan wanted to ask Althea if she wanted to ride with him, but the latter rejected. It had been a while since she took a long bike ride, anyway. Anyway, the group finally went on their way, enjoying the breeze and the quickness of the travel. By estimate, with these heavy-duty bikes, they could travel almost as fast as Sprinting, except without the accompanying cost of health. Speaking of Sprinting, Garan had taught her how to use it. It was something that every level 10 and above could do, regardless of whether they were elementalists. It was basically using aether to trigger a special aether rush¡ªmuch like a magic adrenaline rush to push one''s body to the limit and traverse distances quickly. The downside was that the health would suffer every few seconds it was used and it would take longer to replenish as well, even with potions. Any skills could also not be used, and anything that would consume mana could not be activated. This was why it could not be used in fights and could only be used when traveling swiftly in emergencies. Now, they didn''t need to do so! "This is so fun! I really missed this!" Benny yelled as he pedaled. The others followed with similar faces. They rushed forward, hoping to get to their destination as quickly as they could. The only time they rested was when they reached the camping site. Henry and Benny openly admired the arrangement, thinking how thoughtful it was. At the same time, they also admired the effectivness of Althea''s Beast Repellent. Although they had to spray every few hours, it wasn''t as disgusting as the Beast Attracting potion was, so they fortunately didn''t suffer too much. They reached the vicinity of Alterra deep into the night, their path lit up by the powerful solar-charged flashlight Althea had. When she turned off the light seemingly out-of-nowhere, Henry and the others were a bit puzzled. "We''re here," she said, and they turned to look at where she was pointing. From afar, they could see the bright lights of the lighthouse (something Fargo bought recently, though in retrospect that could''ve been a response to the mobs and the war). However, they also noticed that it was brighter and more¡­ dynamic somehow. "What''s the difference?" Benny asked, and the Alterrans just smiled. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You''ll see soon enough." The newcomers could only follow and soon saw the tall five-meter wall that surrounded the entire village. They had heard how it was from Turbo and the others, but seeing it in person was surreal. They didn''t even notice they had walked through the gate until the familiar ding sound of the system sounded in their minds. Because they already read the announcement in Limestone Valley, they weren''t surprised by the fees as well as the extremely specific rules and regulations. What shocked them was the amount of activity there was still on the street. There were still stalls, friends, families, and lovers walking around leisurely. This was a proper nightlife! The brightness of their surroundings reflected in their eyes, reaching straight to their hearts. So this is Alterra!! Chapter 655 Building Limestone Valley The group separated to do their own thing, with Turbo and the others bringing them to the base, while the couple went straight home. Back to the villa, she immediately went to work as soon as they settled down. It was night, which was the perfect time to do construction works as most would already be asleep. Anyway, those who lived in the ''for demolition'' buildings had already been evacuated, so no one was gonna get kicked out while in bed. She took out the map and, along with her husband, she began to implement the plans she had for her first satellite. Limestone Valley was located in a relatively sloped area. However, Fargo was no urban planner so he applied a gridiron-like arrangement similar to Alterra, albeit with much narrower streets and denser buildings. This was improved with time, probably because he finally found an architect, but the remnants of the gridiron remained in the original area, that was, the inner walls, which was predominantly a valley. The problem with such an arrangement was that it didn''t follow the terrain so the flow felt unnatural and forced. Althea didn''t want to rearrange the entire place¡ªher money was better spent elsewhere¡ªbut she could rearrange the zone around the village center at least, heading towards the new community where she had a house in. She also took down overtly awkward and dense housing in favor of commercial areas or parks. Other than the new main avenues, she also created wider roads in strategic areas, though they''d mostly be following the terrain, opting for a more organic arrangement of roads. A lot of buildings had to be wasted, but she didn''t like them anyway. Although it was far from perfect, it was better in the eye and in use. Clean energy would enter rather than the stifled atmosphere from before, and the value of land would also increase. She also built a lot of dormitories in the location of the shanties, though she used Fargo''s existing custom house because she couldn''t use Alterra''s buildings and copy them in Limestone Valley. Since the regulations had been implemented there was well, shanties and other unauthorized constructions would no longer be allowed. A few sections of the shanty areas and a few neighborhoods were also taken down to make way for open areas like parks, playgrounds, and the like. She added wells every few blocks for easy access. After all, they couldn''t add the utility lines here. She would also use system buildings exclusively in Limestone Valley, otherwise sewerage would be a problem for her. She also added the Level 3 walls and sentries as planned. The outer wall was changed to level 3 walls, while interior walls retained the same level, but now had sentries at the optimal distances of 200 meters, finally tapping in Alterra''s funds. She also upgraded both the Village Center and the warehouse. The former in order to give herself a total of 10 chances for the hired aborigines (for both territories), while the warehouse was a given, considering all the advantages. The Village Center and the Warehouse were not adjacent though, so she had to add two buildings in between to grant herself anonymous access to the mysterious floor with the teleportation array. With these few developments, she not only used up the gold loot she got, she also had to spend a few hundred of her own. But recalling the limestones and copper, her mood lifted up again. When the Research Center researches the material enough, she would definitely capitalize on the findings! Althea stretched her arms, only to find a strong arm wrapping around her flat stomach a moment later, obviously waiting for its chance to strike. "You worked hard enough today," her husband''s low, baritone voice reached her ears. His warm breath enveloped her sensitive lobes, sending pleasurable shivers down her spine. She smiled and slightly turned, staring up at his handsome face. "Hmn, we have," she said, agreeing, and willingly allowing her husband to carry her to bed¡ªmarking the beginning of another spring night. ¡­ While the couple was being intimate, Henry, Benny, and Vanessa were wide awake and walking around the territory, learning more about Alterra. The more he saw, the more Henry was tempted to just retire and relax there. Vanessa held his arms, "Don''t worry dad, brother will lead Limestone Valley very well. We will try to get our territory to catch up with Alterra." This made Henry frown, giving his daughter a warning look. "Change that mindset, child, we are basically just hired managers, and we are honored to have the position. "But¡ª" "And please show Miss Althea more respect. You investigated as well, didn''t you? Her position here is unshakable, it''s best not to annoy her too much." Considering the power the girl held, it was only due to his and Victor''s faces that Althea hadn''t made harsher moves. Althea was known to be kind, but she was also the main force in the wars. She was an elementalist with superior weapons, not even including her overall strength and skills. He had seen it himself in the latter part of the war. He heard she even defeated Belize! Belize! A Level 30 elementalist! His daughter didn''t, however, and this likely gave her the illusion that she was at least stronger than the woman. After all, she was several levels above her. Vanessa probably thought the rumors of her defeating a level 30 man were either false or exaggerated. After all, even Garan couldn''t do it! She could still remember that handsome man who defeated him¡ª "Daughter," Henry said, tone a little reprimanding. "Serve Alterra well. That is our way for a good life. Don''t get any ideas¡ª" "Hmph. If all you''re gonna do is nag, then I might as well enjoy the place on my own." She said moving away from him with a frown. Henry sighed, but he followed her tracks anyway. For now, he could only hope the child would mature on her own, without causing any harm to herself as well as to others. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 656 Other Ongoing Wars While Alterra was settling the aftermath of their first war, several other territories were still experiencing theirs. Juno Village. BANG!! "NOOOO! HELP ME!" a middle-aged woman yelled, trying to shield herself from a blade with nothing but her arms. The woman sobbed as she saw her life ending before her, but¡ª SLASH! A long sword appeared in front of her. It nicked her pointy nose, but feeling her head still attached to her neck, she definitely didn''t mind. The blade that would''ve been on her skin was now guarding against another blade. The woman gaped as the familiar guard pushed away the aborigine enemy with all his might. He was the captain of the guard in their territory¡ªsomeone greatly respected, perhaps even more so than the lord himself. Especially now that said Lord was missing, hiding somewhere. "Gurnam!" the woman yelled, and he took a moment to look at her, though he was focused on his fight. "Get away from here, auntie!" he yelled and the woman frantically crawled back to find the nearest cover. Gurnam''s appearance added momentum to the various fights nearby. It wasn''t much¡ªand definitely not enough to turn the tides¡ªbut it was enough to give more ''fight'' to several teammates in the area, saving a few more lives in the process. Gurnam was not particularly handsome but he was well-built. Most of all, the citizens knew him as their protector. All this time, he had been one of the many valiantly guarding the gate to minimize the enemies coming in. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was impossible to win, but he didn''t run, hoping to save as many lives as possible. He was a soldier from the country of Abu before the apocalypse hit. After so long, he alone survived among the people he had transferred with. Now, he was contributing to mankind by being a guard. Gurnam used his entire weight to push the aborigine back, finally stabbing down at the man. He didn''t have the time to check if the enemy was dead and he immediately rushed to the fight he left to save auntie. "Come here!" A teammate yelled, struggling to defend himself. Unfortunately, the level difference was too high and he wasn''t able to do much in the end. Slash! "GYAH!" he yelled, though he was able to avoid a lethal hit. Gurnam arrived just in time to shield him. The duo slashed and waved to the best of their abilities, trying to avoid lethal shots though the number of injuries on them inevitably worsened still. These aborigines were too strong! Each one of them had a much higher level than them! The highest levelled person in their territory was Gurnam at level 9, but this a level considered below-average among the enemies! It was depressing. They had just won against a major beast tide. There, they had lost so many brethren¡ªwith Gurnam losing the remaining soldiers he transferred with. Half of the wall had also been destroyed, along with several establishments. They had barely managed to hold on to their territory, but they did, and for a few days they were relieved. They also strived to rebuild, even if it did use much of the remaining funds. As they watched the reassuring wall get repaired, they felt hope and they told themselves they would recover soon¡ªlike the wall did. But what was this? After a week, they suddenly got the notification of a war declaration. They didn''t even know what that meant before! Juno was one of the territories that upgraded the village center a bit late. They also didn''t have the money to hire or maintain useful aborigines because of the lack of funds, which was worsened by the beast tides, so the hiring had always been deferred until now. Or more accurately, the lord didn''t understand what it was for. So, all this time, they knew very little about this world. Even when there were aborigines that landed some days prior, they were simply intimidated by their strength, not knowing what was to come. SLASH! "AH!" Gurnam held out his sword to shield himself from an aggressive attack. He was pushed back and for a moment he thought the man would attack him and he was prepared to defend himself. However, instead of going after him, the enemy turned his body, stabbing his only companion right at the chest. "JOHN!" He cried, pushing himself to continuously stab the enemy until an opening appeared. The enemy''s level was higher than his, so he also received a lot of damage. With his grit, he managed to make the enemy lose grip of his weapon for a second, taking advantage to damage the bastard. John was one of the last guards who could fight along with him! Stab! Slash! Stab! He led the aborigine in an alley, afraid that his companions¡ªwhich outnumbered them¡ªwould come and help. The aborigine was busy guarding against Gurnam barrage, surprised by the strength a low-leveled man like him could make. There was also the problem of pride. The aborigine thought: How dare he push him back like this! He waved his weapon high for a massive and swift attack, not thinking Gurnam would be able to avoid it. This arrogance would prove to be his downfall, as the larger opening created by his attack was taken advantage by Gurnam to finally slash his neck. "!!!" Gurnam didn''t bother with him anymore and turned to find the next fight or rescue the next person. At this point, the defending guards and citizens were focused on running for their lives, how could they possibly take down enemies? For a while, Gurnam took advantage of his relatively hidden position in an alley, pulling weaker enemies that was a little away from his team, weeding them out bit by bit. He would pull and kill them as fast as he could, using his skill ''Swift Slash'' for nearly every attack. However, he soon lost energy and mana and knew he had to stop. He looked over at the gate and saw that the guards assigned there had been taken down. Other than the sparse sentries, there was no obstacle for the enemies to enter anymore. Gurnam knew he wouldn''t be able to focus the fight, however, and judging by the swarm coming through the door, it was a moot effort to try and fight them off. They didn''t even know what counted as winning or losing in this war which suddenly alerted everyone! Might as well save as many lives as he could! Chapter 657 Fall of Juno Village Gurnam tried moving at the periphery of the battles, helping those he could without sacrificing his own life. He did notice that while the enemies were enjoying killing a bit, things didn''t turn to an outward massacre. Harsh torture yes, but at least most people were kept alive. Except for those who caused even a bit of trouble, anyway. Even if it was just a bit of struggle, as soon as they annoyed the enemies, they would get killed immediately. As a result, the citizens could only fear for their lives¡ªchoosing to either run away or freeze in place, begging for mercy. Gurnam gritted his teeth at the sight, but he couldn''t just jump over and try to shake the cowardice away from his fellowmen, right? Was that even possible at this point? Might as well throw himself to a slaughterhouse! Despite all this though, Gurnam continued to rescue the companions that he could, trying not to alert the enemies¡ªwho, by the way, seemed to be rounding people up. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" A middle-aged man yelled as he got dragged in a direction. He was struggling to go to the opposite side, trying to stretch his arms somewhere beyond his reach. "My daughter!" He yelled and Gurnam turned his head to follow his sights, seeing a woman being pulled by the hair. "Daddy! Daddy!" She screamed, similarly reaching her arms. This annoyed the man pulling her, who then raised his arm to ''settle her down''. SLAP! "QUIET!" the aborigine yelled, making the woman sob. Seeing her like this, her father growled and screamed¡ªintensifying his struggles to get back to his daughter. The man was obviously the type ''causing trouble'' and the annoyed aborigine raised his sword, prepared to kill. The woman¡ªwhose eyes were fixed on her father¡ªsaw his inevitable death and her heart clenched in fear. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "DADDDDYYY!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, barely noticing another slap coming her way. It was at this moment that Gurnam appeared like a hero, stepping forward with his sword, slashing while he pulled the man towards him. Gurnam pushed him to the corner so he could focus on the aborigine, though when a few more noticed him, he immediately stepped back, ready to run. His peripheral vision caught sight of the man he just rescued and realized he was following his daughter regardless. Gurnam cursed, but he knew he had already done his part, focusing on defending himself instead. In fact, being able to defend for so long against many aborigines was already extremely impressive. But as a father, William naturally couldn''t stay still while his daughter was being dragged away. He found a broken sword and desperately ran through the fights to get to her. They were rounding up women at this time, his daughter merely one of them. As soon as he was near, he immediately threw one of the weapons with low durability in the direction of his daughter''s kidnapper. William happened to be very good at darts. "AH!" the aborigine yelled as the blade successfully hit him. Of course, it was only a shallow wound¡ªbut it sure annoyed the heck out of the man, at least enough to let go of his daughter''s hair and target him instead. William watched as the enemy approached him, shakily prepping for a fight. It was just that the man didn''t take out weapons at all. He just punched him with his bare hands. In a close fight, William stood no chance. Not only was William a typical middle-aged man with the classic beer belly (despite the fact that he hadn''t had a decent meal for days), the enemy was 3 levels higher than he was! The man was at level 11, which seemed to be the slightly-above average strength in most villages. BANG! Pak! Bang! The aborigine continued to punch and kick William until his vision blurred, but he was helpless to even shield himself with his own arms. "DADDY!" His young daughter yelled, sobbing. William''s heart clenched as he heard his princess'' sobs, and suddenly none of his wounds was quite as painful. This energized him a bit more, willing him to stand up despite the incessant punching and kicking all around him. It was just that¡ªjust before he could even sit up¡ªthe familiar ding sounded inside their heads. [Your territory, Juno Village (Lv3) has lost to Inko Village (Lv3).] "FINALLY!" The aborigines yelled with evil grins, while the citizens of Juno could only freeze, and frankly it felt like their lives were passing by their heads as well. However, a few were partially relieved. At least now, these people would leave¡­ right? This war was finally over, right?? Another ding echoed right after the announcement¡ªbut this time, only an unfortunate half could hear it. One of these unlucky people happened to be William himself. [You have been designated as one of the Inko Village Winnings. You have now become a slave.] The incessant attacks on his body stopped then and everyone was at a standstill. William''s mind reeled at the announcement. He could read it, but his mind refused to understand. He was frozen on the ground, unable to stand up for now, and he didn''t even notice he wasn''t being hit anymore. He looked up to see an aborigine looming over him, staring at him in interest. "You a slave?" he asked, but without waiting for an answer he gave out orders to test directly. "Punch yourself." And it was like he was compelled to do so¡ªwithout meaning to, William felt his hands move, and he did punch himself. Bang! "Again!" BANG! "Again!" He did this over and over, and the aborigine''s smile was wider than when he was attacking him himself! William''s mind was very confused, feeling that he had lost control of his body! Tears pooled in his eyes. He had been trying to fight no matter how weak he was, but what was this now? He couldn''t even have his own body? What is going on?! Chapter 658 Becoming a Slave "DAD!" His daughter, Sheena, crawled in his direction. It was just that he was too busy punching himself to notice. The aborigines around were watching the show in interest. Someone even whistled and pointed at Sheena, as if a new performer had arrived. "Yo! Shick, someone''s coming! Er, crawling! HAHHA" "Aww, poor thing¡­" another yelled though he was cackling a lot, obviously amused by the whole thing. "You''ve come crawling back, eh?" Shick said, coolly looking at the woman. "Did you get lucky too?" he asked, though once again not waiting for an answer. "Lick my feet." The woman sobbed, but did as she was told. William''s eyes widened, but then he was ordered to do the same, licking the other feet. Gurnam¡ªwho had managed to escape the aborigines and was trying to sneak near where William was¡ªsaw everything, falling into confusion. He was thinking of how to save the father and daughter pair, at least, but he did not expect him to punch himself so passionately and definitely not lick the aborigines feet without a hint of hesitation. He also observed the other citizens, some of which were hiding in buildings or in corners, hoping not to get noticed. Some seemed to have just lost hope, openly discussing their current predicament. He would overhear some mumblings, and some more sobs. "What?" Another person yelled next to him, "Slave? We''ve become slaves?" No? Gurnam looked around. Some people seemed to have gotten the notification, and those who received it were now¡­ slaves? Slaves, as in those people who could only follow orders? He couldn''t help but pale at the treatment that father-and-daughter was receiving. He couldn''t even ponder too deeply as the aborigines soon felt bored with torturing their new slaves. Gurnam had no doubt they did it too often to feel so. Shick, the apparent leader of this attack, clapped his hands. "Slaves! Come here!" As such, more and more people headed in his direction. Those who didn''t receive the notification could only watch, some holding on to each other as if to make sure they didn''t move. Hundreds of people nearby arrived, though Gurnam had a feeling it was only because they were the only ones in earshot. They were very obedient, heading towards Shick and the others, though one could see from everyone''s expression that they were terrified. The aborigines seemed to never tire of seeing fellow humans feel terrified of them, and they were smiling as many slaves gathered. They waited for more and more people to approach, and started chatting among themselves. "I wish lords aren''t exempted from becoming slaves. Would''ve been fun if they just followed our wishes, y''know?" The man beside him excitedly nodded. "It takes a while when they''re hiding. Anyway, we''re definitely getting the token!!" This earned him a slap on the head, before he got pulled closer as Shick whispered harshly at his ear. "Shut up! You want to announce to everyone that the token can be taken?" Gurnam, who eavesdropped by instinct, couldn''t help but be shocked at what he was hearing. Token? The Lord''s Token? It could be taken away?! Then did that mean, Juno Village as a whole¡ª Gurnam was still reeling from the news and he was only shaken back to reality when he heard Shick bellow. "Now we need to find that damned lord!" Shick yelled, grinning, his eyes fixed on the slaves around him, including those who had gathered around the narrow streets, filling up several blocks. "Go hunt for that former lord of yours! No matter what the cost!" "Go get him even if you have to die!" Shick then turned to his companions. "Go round up the slaves! Make sure we get everyone!!" "Yes!" they exclaimed, similarly dispersing in different directions right behind the mob of slaves hunting for their lord. After a distance, they would yell out orders for the slaves to come to them. Gurnam could see some entering nearby houses and yelling, making sure they didn''t miss a corner. This indicated that they needed to be heard in order to be followed. Gurnam made sure to hide well, and he pondered if he could get more information. He watched as thousands of slaves disappeared from view. Gurnam pursed his lips, wondering whether to intervene. However, he sat still in the end. There were still thousands of enemies around. Intervening would be to expose himself, not to mention that a word could get the enslaved to mob him. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. That lord was cowardly, hopefully he would stay hidden for long enough until these damned aborigines left them alone. Sadly, there was no such luck. Before long, he would see the lord being dragged by several slaves, some of whom happened to be his confidantes. They looked conflicted but their bodies were extremely obedient. The cowardly lord yelled out, trying his best to struggle. "NO!! Let me go! AHHH!" Gurnam''s eyes widened as he was brought nearer, and he stood up in an attempt to run to him. It was too late though as the man was stabbed right through the heart. Gurnam immediately froze, subtly hiding himself amongst the slaves and pretending nothing was happening. Just like that, the lord of Juno Village was no more. However, because it was still within the 28-hour span of the war, the village remained standing, waiting for the arrival of its new ''owner''. Of course, none of the locals knew this yet. Gurnam saw them walk away from the mob, and he slowly moved across to get nearer, lowering his sense of presence. He peeked a bit to see, but was worried of being exposed so he couldn''t see much at all. What he did see was a special box of sorts with a lot of carvings in Shick''s hand (tho he couldn''t see the details clearly), while the token was on his other. His companions looked at the token, crossing his arms as he looked around. "How much would the lord be able to sell this token? This place isn''t particularly special." "Even the Sheilding Box that we need to keep the token in was more expensive than the token itself, right?" Shick shook his head. "A territory is a territory. Nobles could kill just for the status of becoming a lord." At this, his confidante chuckled. "I''m half-tempted to just keep it outside the box and see which among us the token would attach to after the war." "Sure, if you wanna die." "Hehe." Shick ignored him and placed the token into the box, placing it to his bag. Gurnam saw this and realized the token probably couldn''t be put in the space, which was understandable if one looked at how the system worked. "Anyway, it''s time to go," Shick said, heading towards the gate. Gurnam pursed his lips and used the dense houses as a cover for his pursuit. As he got closer, he could hear the other aborigines emerge from various parts of the territory, also heading towards the gate. Gurnam could hear the occasional yells "ALL SLAVES! COME WITH US!" and like obedient ants hundreds¡ªno, thousands now¡ªof his fellowmen followed the enemy''s heels. More and more people came to them, with eyes and expressions filled with horror. Gurnam''s head rang as he looked around. There were several thousand people in their territory, and thousands of people were coming with the enemies. There were various people, men, women, and children, while the ones who remained could only sob¡ªsome of sadness and fear, and some of relief. At this point, Gurnam had a choice of staying and just let those thousands of people be. There were still thousands of people here he could protect, or at least try to. They who remained would at least have the walls and the sparse sentries. Most importantly, they would still have some control over their lives. In contrast, the enslaved would be very different. They would be thrust to the unknown, without much control over their own bodies, let alone their own lives. Gurnam had never forgotten his oath as a soldier¡ªto serve his countrymen and humankind. His uptightness had become a flaw¡ªat least it had occasionally gotten him into trouble in Terran and in Xeno¡ªbut this was the code he had been following. Gurnam thought long and hard, until his feet moved towards the gate to follow the slaves¡­ as if he was one of them. Chapter 659 Inko Village The Inko Villagers soon reached the gates, with thousands of unwilling followers right behind them. Gurnam was walking alongside these people as he looked around, taking in as much information as he could. He made a rough calculation that this was more or less 2000 people, which was easily half the Juno population¡ªincluding those who could only afford visitor''s pass. The new ''slaves'' shivered as they went past the threshold of the territory, stepping into the dense forests outside. With every step they took, it felt like they were leaving a piece of themselves behind. This felt even more exacerbated as they realized they had gone farther and farther from the walls and sentries. The sentries may have been sparse, but being able to see them¡ªeven from a distance¡ª still brought a sense of peace. Losing sight of it naturally made people feel imbalanced. Gurnam''s breath hitched when he realized they were completely away from their walls. He was feeling like this, what about the others who had no control of their bodies? His lips pursed as he slightly turned his head to a young lad next to him. He was very young, probably around 10 years old. The lad was sobbing, mumbling helplessly. "Sister¡­ sister¡­" He recognized this kid. He was one of the refugees who came a few days ago from the North. Scores, if not hundreds of refugees came to Juno every day after the protection period ended. He could remember him because he was brave. While many of the adults ran away, he tried to help the guards get rid of the monsters. When Gurnam asked why he was so brave, the kid had told him that he needed to be brave and strong to find his sister. Seeing him sob like this now¡­ his hope must''ve broken. He must''ve realized that he had truly become a slave without freedom, so how could he find his sister? "QUIET!" The guard yelled and they all flinched, and the child could only pitifully shut his mouth. Gurnam frowned, gazing blankly in front of him in thought. How did slavery work? Would every one of the enemies be able to control them wantonly? Before he could ponder deeply about it however, one of the fearsome sounds echoed in the area, sending shivers down their spines. ROARRR!! The slaves flinched and soon the ground vibrated, soon revealing a small mob of monsters. Because the slaves were asked to shut up, they couldn''t even scream. You could just see their faces reddening in terror. ROARR!! Soon a group of about a hundred level 6-7 monsters arrived. They had thousands of people there and it naturally attracted a relatively large mob. This also showed how uselessly aggressive and bloodthirsty these beasts were. Any beast with some cognitive ability would''ve avoided a group many times larger than they were, but these monsters just looked at them hungrily. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. By any standards, with their numbers, this mob should''ve been no problem, particularly to the Inko Villagers who were at least level 9 and above. But the enemies decided to have a bit of fun. "Hey! Slaves!" One said, "Stand. Still." Gurnam''s eyes widened as he whipped his head towards the bastards. They were all laughing so they didn''t notice any oddities in him, and if glares could kill, they''d have died under Gurnam''s right now. Soon a few monsters reached their group and a few were immediately taken into the monster''s mouths! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! Gurnam immediately gestured to move¡ªit didn''t matter if he was discovered! It didn''t matter if he wasn''t strong enough to defeat the monsters at all! He needed to save who he could!! However, before he could jump at the monster, an order from the front of the line resounded. "STOP MESSING AROUND! THE ARRAY WOULD BE CLOSING SOON!" At this, the guards around them sighed in disappointment, but otherwise gesturing to follow orders anyway. "Okay, time to stop! Kill the monsters already!" Although it was notable that the aborigines level 11 or 12 still worked together to handle the monsters, they had the advantage of numbers and no one else died during the fight. Gurnam''s heart was still beating out of his chest and all he could hear was his own heartbeat the entire time they traversed the forest. It took a couple more minutes before the crowd stopped moving, and he raised his head when he realized something was different. His eyes widened when he saw a glowing circle of magic about a hundred meters in front of them. He gaped when he saw the crowd of people ahead of them enter it, disappearing from view after a flash. It would''ve been a magical sight if they didn''t dread for their future. He followed the line until it was finally his turn to stand at the magical circle. His heart shook, not knowing what to expect. Flash! It was quite disorienting. One moment they were in the middle of a dense forest, the next they were right in front of a level 3 wall. "Let''s go!!" the guards yelled, and the thousands of them were herded through the gates. [Welcome to Inko Village (Lv3)! Please pay 50 copper for 1 day entrance.] Gurnam shakily paid the fee¡ªhe was still disoriented from the teleportation¡ªbut it was apparently different for others. "The one good thing about being a slave is that you don''t need to pay entrance fees!" A person nearby said, mockingly. "Which is very lucky because you all don''t have money anymore!" He could hear some muted gasps from people around him, no doubt looking at their own Wallets. He watched as the people around him fell into an even bigger pit of despair. They didn''t think it was possible to fall even lower! Seeing them lose blood on their faces, the guard laughed out loud. "What? You don''t know? Slaves lose their money to their new owner! Thank you for contributing to our treasury." Gurnam pursed his lips in an attempt to calm himself down. There was no gain in losing his cool. After heaving deep, deep, breaths, he looked around to observe his location. Inko village wasn''t much different from their own village, it had low-level housing, narrow roads, basic stores, and amenities. In terms of lifestyle, their Juno people were still superior because they had lived a good life a few months prior, and they tried to at least elevate their lifestyles even in the new place in any way they could. Juno at least had a well, wider roads, cleaner houses, and not as much shit to be stepped on every few meters! But they could only cry inside because they were ordered not to make any noise, so their cries were stopped so simply, and it felt incredibly suffocating. The slaves were herded deeper into the territory, then past the small plaza, and onto a zone near another gate. They were led to a massive shanty-like structure that gave off a horrid stench even when they were far off its doors. The walls weren''t even covering the interior all the way up. It reminded them of farm animal corrales but were several hundreds of square meters in size. "This is where you''ll live from now on," the aborigine said with a grin, before turning to leave while laughing. The Terrans looked at each other, faces pale and eyes filled with hopelessness. What happens to them now? Chapter 660 Diana Village Inko Village. The Terrans reluctantly settled down their new ''home'' which was, to be honest, no better than a sty. The air was thick with horrid stench of neglect and feces. There were several slaves there, though not many. However, judging by how dirty everywhere was¡ªwith at least a few pieces of shit in a few corners¡ªit was obvious that the other ''slaves'' were just working outside. How dingy this place was, and they couldn''t imagine how everyone would fit. There were thousands of them already, what more with the rest of them? At night, they''d be like sardines, right? They couldn''t even bear sit down and they just stood by, staring at each other, and wondering how they could live in a place like this. Their daze was broken about an hour later when some people called them to go outside. "Line up, new slaves!!" There was a large open space at a side and they obediently lined up like the sardines that they were. They were then ordered to arrange themselves in rows spaced about a meter apart. This distance allowed the newcomers to comfortably go into the crowd and closely study each of them, as if they were livestock. They would quickly realize that they were asked to line up neatly because the ''owners'' were there to study them. Even those who didn''t seem particularly rich seemed to be looking at them like products. It made Gurnam truly wonder if anyone from this village could treat them however they wanted. He would later find out that human slaves were indeed relatively inexpensive¡ªunlike those of other races like the goblins and half-orcs¡ªbecause¡­ there was no lack of them. The only difference was if the human was an elementalist or had other skills, and this was something they would find out later. Shick smiled and summarized their status. "There are 2320 new slaves, which is a good number as we lost a couple of hundred during the previous war, and even more when we lost against that jerk Lopi." "This batch of new blood seems good, too, even if they''re a little short," he added. "Will the Lord come and check them himself?" The other men shrugged as they continued to study the slaves. "He''s hanging around the Pleasure Hall, as always." Then his feet stopped, realizing the people in front of him were beautiful women. "Speaking of the Pleasure Hall," he said, extending his hands to grab a few soft arms. "You''ll be great additions." "What? No, please¡ª" Many of the Terran men, including Gurnam, wanted to move and help them. But the moment they did, the aborigine bellowed an order. "HALT. Stay there." Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And they did. It was humiliating. Gurnam froze as well, shaking, though he did memorize the faces of the people who took the women. He had wanted to move, but he knew each and every one of the guards here had higher levels than he did. He was no help to anyone dead. His anger couldn''t be expressed outside at all, and it felt like his insides were getting destroyed because of it. So this was what being a slave was like. Even Gurnam felt there was only a little difference with his current status. He may not be a system slave, but he was just as powerless. Anyway, the ''assignments'' continued on. Some were assigned for manure cleaning and more for¡­cannon fodder duty. Gurnam happened to have been assigned to this. His job¡­ was to be a meatshield for the guards and citizens whenever there were mobs or wars. Heh¡­ what a life. He looked beside him to find the freckled young boy shivering in fear, tearing up in silence. He was assigned to this job as well. He raised his tanned hand and patted the boy''s head. The boy turned to him with wide eyes, and it struck pity in his old heart. He was reminded that a lot of people were dependent on him, and that he had to get ahold of himself as soon as possible. Gurnam found himself smiling a little, "I am Gurnam, what''s your name?" "Milo¡­" "It''ll be hard," he told the boy. "But let''s hold on, right?" ¡­ Diana Village In another Terran Village, another war was at its peak. Diana Village was located in flat lands. While building was easier, it was also easier to find. Furthermore, they were placed near aborigine villages, so¡­ they were actually in their second war at this time, just a week apart. Diana Village had managed to hire an NPC right after the Protection Period. However, even before they hired them, the Citizens of Diana were somehow made aware of wars. This was because of the kind soldiers who arrived to save them from a beast tide. The soldiers¡­ they were incredibly strong. Sadly, when they found out they had no living relatives in Diana, they still left in the end, though fortunately not without plenty of warnings about the aborigine villages and the wars that came with them. Diana Village won its first war even without the soldiers, because of all these warnings. One of the soldiers, a curly haired dark-skinned soldier named Ben, even gave them some higher level weapons and a little money to create two sentries, now placed by the gate. Everyone then pooled enough money to build sentries every 300 meters at least. Everyone also made sure to have stocks of weapons. They also tried to hire aborigines no matter what, as per the advice of the strong soldiers, and although the choices were limited, it was better than nothing. The first attacker was named Suka Village. It was apparently a village just outside the ''cloud'' that the soldiers said protected them. The soldiers had also gone there before ending up in Diana, which showed how nearby it was. They did everything in order to defend the territory, and the 28 hours passed with most of the enemies remaining outside. The second war, however, was much more difficult. They were still recovering from the previous war. Not only that, the enemies this time were much stronger than before. They also had stronger weapons and they did not hide the fact that they had a town that they served. However, despite all the challenges, the Terrans fought hard and bravely. They had gone through so much, how could they fall so easily? One of the brave fighters was Sarah, a pretty brunette with shoulder-length hair. At this time, she was kneeling on a roof, shooting her Level E bow and arrow to damage as many people as she could. Sarah was a member of her country''s national archery team. She had just graduated and hoped to do this professionally for the rest of her life. She was just about to sign a contract when the coach became a zombie and tried to eat her. Using her skills, she survived the zombie apocalypse, almost dying several times at the hands of mobs or upgraded zombies or both. However, she refused to hide away. She was far away from home¡ªfrom her brother¡ªand she tried to find him before they got transferred. Unfortunately, she got trapped and now she could only pray that he was okay. Sarah, despite all the worries, did not stop shooting arrow after arrow. At some point, she even saved the lord and his favorite, a woman named Klara. Other than Sarah, there were also many others who valiantly defended their territory. But¡­ it was of no use in the end. Their average level was only level 6, but they were going against an army with the lowest level at level 8. Their hired aborigines¡ªlevels 9 and 10¡ªweren''t enough to handle so many enemies. They weren''t willing to risk their lives for them, either. After all, after their health went down a certain percentage, it was considered that they had already done their jobs. They couldn''t blame them for leaving at the height of the war. As such, after a few hours of bloody struggles¡­ their village fell. [Your Village, Diana Village (lv3) has lost to Lopi Village (Lv3)] And when she thought things weren''t going to get any worse¡ª [You have been designated as one of the Lopi Village Winnings. You have now become a slave.] Sarah pursed her lips, her hands shaking a bit. She had heard of the horrors of slavery, and it was worse than what they had known through history books. "Oh dear Milo¡­" she whispered, voice a bit shaky. How was she supposed to find her baby brother now?! Chapter 661 Calming Village (Part 1) Special Mention the my latest Castle Giver Lenaleia ~ Thank you for your support! Hahaha Btw, she''s the current queen of werewolf stories in Webnovel~ if you''re into that genre, you can''t miss it! ... ____ While the majority of Terran villages failed in the war against aborigines, it wasn''t all hopeless for everyone. For instance, there was the Level 2 Calming Village. Here, the Terran Mercenary Team members who had separated stayed as they looked for their loved ones. After looking for a long time, after passing by a few territories, they finally did. It wasn''t easy to find anyone''s surviving relatives at all. After leaving Fargo, this was the third territory they had been to and this was the first territory most of them found anyone they knew. Well, at least the first territory to bear them some good news. In the previous village, Minko and Sean had actually caught leads regarding their own families, but they weren''t updates they''d have wanted. Minko''s wife, Klara, was in Diana Village¡­ but she''s become the woman of the lord there. She naturally tried begging for reconciliation but Minko felt sick when he looked at her. Anyway, she was with the lord, so she''d be fine. Sean''s was a bit more tragic. He found his parent''s neighbor in Diana Village, who happily greeted him. He looked at him as if he was a savior, shocked that he was still alive. But when he asked where his parents were, the man just looked at him pitifully. When he went missing and was eventually presumed dead, the old couple wasn''t able to handle the heartbreak and passed soon after, a few weeks apart. Sean pursed his lips and held back his tears, but every night since then he would let out heaving but silent sobs, and the heartbreak would lull him to sleep. The only comfort was the fact that his parents didn''t have to suffer through this hell anymore. In any case, the group temporarily settled in this village the past few days. They took this time to catch up with the loved ones found, the unfortunate ones not daring to rush the others. For one, this world was so dangerous, it wasn''t easy to take their relatives with them to the unknown, nor was it comfortable to just leave them in a weak territory while they traveled. They decided to take a breather and plan ahead, hoping to keep their loved ones safe, even if they resumed their search for others. In Calming Village, they found Orz''s younger brother, a 28-year-old young man named Ouli. Inspired by his brother, he had grown fond of martial arts but didn''t want to serve so he owned a dojo instead. He transferred with the surviving members of his dojo, now down to two remaining students after so long. They were a brother-and-sister pair named Tiara and Ton, respectively. They also found Ryan''s uncle, Ricky, and they were currently catching up after a long (but manly) sobbing session. Ricky was a forty-year-old man who had been together with his family when the disaster happened, so Ryan was also aware of what happened to the rest of their family. He unfortunately got news that his parents had passed, with his mother turning into a zombie and taking the woman Ricky was dating with her. His father was transferred here with him and they survived for a while after that. Ryan''s father was also a veteran and was the reason why both brothers had survived all the way past the protection period. However, he was unfortunately killed in one of the mobs that came right after it was over. This was the first mob with strong monsters and they were completely unprepared for it. The only comfort was that he died in a bang. During that mob, there were dozens of level 6 monsters¡ªwhich was above the average level of guards¡ªthat managed to get past the walls. Ryan''s father was a leading guard, and he also consolidated the small group of soldiers who were also there. With strategy and skill¡ªeven if they couldn''t afford any more than a few sentries¡ªthey managed to guard the weakest areas of the territory, especially the gate. The other areas were also guarded by civilians who were inspired to fight along with him. Unfortunately, the defense wasn''t impenetrable and a few beasts got past and destroyed a good portion of the village. It was Ryan''s father who was the first responder there. It was a famous story in Calming Village, how the old man took down a few monsters not much lower in level¡ªmeaning, much stronger in overall strength¡ªbefore finally succumbing to his wounds. To honor him, the lord renamed the village¡ªwhich was previously named after him¡ªto Calming Village, after their surname ''Calma''. Ryan took comfort in the fact that his father died protecting others. It had been what he wanted ever since then. The old man was honorably dismissed back in Terran due to an injury. Ryan remembered it had broken the man''s heart when he thought he''d just die of old age without contributing any more to the world. When they told him his facial expression as he met death was nothing that resembled sadness, he fully believed it. Ryan pushed down the heartbreak and he looked at his uncle. "What about my sister, then?" He asked. "Sunny? Have you forgotten? Your sister went for an exchange program in Eden." "..." That''s right. Before he left, it seemed that his sister had just bought tickets? "Eden, eh? So, East or Southeast." Minko mumbled beside them, looking at Ryan. "Where the captain was going, right?" This made everyone silent. "What should we do, then?" "The captain and the others had likely settled down and found their relatives, if we could take the ones we found there, then maybe we could settle them there as well," Sean said, his delicate fingers tapping the table surface. This overly-pale guy, despite all the heat, barely got a tan. Speaking of which, do they still get skin cancer here? S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, the fact that they were deciding to head East already made them feel closer to the rest of the mercenary team. Ben sighed, a little longingly. "Getting back together with the captain and the others¡­ seems like a dream¡­" "Well, it won''t be for long," Ryan said, blue eyes fixed on his companions. "Get ready, guys! We''re reuniting with the rest of the team!" The rest of them smiled, feeling a bit of weight lifted from their shoulders. "YES!" Chapter 662 Calming Village (Part 2) "After we reunite with them, we will be able to look for more relatives and friends in peace," Orz said, combing back his unruly black hair. "So¡­ where are we, anyway?" Ben took out their rough map. It was something that he drew based on their combined system maps. Although they had ''digital'' maps, it helped to mark them on paper, so they could add notes and details. There was also no distance function in the system maps, so they needed to draft it in order to triangulate their location accurately. Ben''s hand traced over the papyrus bought from Ferrol, his dark skin contrasting with its pale color. "Mapping things out, we are approximately almost 150 kilometers (10 o''clock) north of Fargo." "That''s a few days of normal travel, then." "Assuming the terrain is decent and the mobs are manageable," Sean added. "Plus we have civilians with us, so it''s best to assume it''ll take twice as long." "Hmn, that''s true," Ben said, doing rough calculations. He also looked at the still empty parts of the map and was curious what else to fill it up with. He was also curious if the curve of the protection fog was an oblong, a circle, or something completely irregular. From their travels, they had determined that the delineation of the ''protection area'' was curved, at least from where they were. They figured this out because when they went almost directly west of Fargo, they found an aboriginal village instead. It was a small territory called Suka Village, and someplace they didn''t even bother to stay for more than ten minutes. However, when they went north from there, they found the Terran Diana Village. They decided to go further northwest from there, ending up in the level 2 Terran village they were now in. When they arrived, the territory was being attacked by a big mob, which was easily taken care of by a handful of them. This got them a good reputation from the get-go, making the task of gathering information much easier. What was more, when people found out Ryan was his father''s son, he became the de-facto leader of the guard group. Even the dozen or so soldiers¡ªfrom different countries¡ªfollowed his instructions. Of course, this had more to do with their show of strength than anything else. While this made things easier for them to move, they certainly wouldn''t be comfortable in just leaving it vulnerable, and this was another reason why they had stayed for so many days. Anyway, they planned for both increasing Calming Village''s defense capacity before they left, determining their potential route back to the captain by the way. The discussion was cut short when an urgent knocking sounded at their door. "Sirs! Please help us!!" they yelled, and the soldiers immediately let them in. It was a few citizens bringing a few weak bodies over. "Please cover your mouths and noses with cloth!" they yelled, forgetting to mention in their flurry. The soldiers'' eyes twitched but did as they were asked, before looking over the patients. The Village didn''t have a surviving doctor or nurse and¡ª although Minko''s water element took the aggressive route¡ªhe did have some experience assisting medics. Among the five, he was the one with the most knowledge of this and people of the territory depended on him a lot, even if he had said plenty of disclaimers. "What happened?" Minko asked, looking at the men. They had covered their mouths and noses with cloth, which were basically rags as no one had excess cloths anymore. They brought in five people, and each one looked like they were gonna die. Minko frowned, gently looking at the patients'' faces and exposed skin. Everyone''s skin had been dry for a while, but theirs were even a little flaky. Someone even showed signs of eczema on his neck and elbows. "Since when were they like this?" "It''s been a while. Actually, it''s like this for many. A lot of people are also vomiting, and the low level ones are showing worse symptoms like muscle cramps and spasms." "What have you gathered so far?" Since everyone was busy, it was an agreement not to bother the soldiers unless they did what they could. So it was assumed they had researched the source on their own before heading here in a panic. "We couldn''t find the connection between all of them!" The man said, sniffing. They had wells, but one of them had just been built and was used exclusively by a few ''victims''. "Is there a new virus going around?" Someone asked, looking worried, and it also made everyone else fall anxious. They didn''t even have doctors or medicine. How would they be able to handle a pandemic?! For the next few minutes, they waited tensely for Minko to finish studying the patients. When he stopped and heaved a deep breath, everyone else''s stopped in nervousness. "It''s just salt deficiency," Minko said. "What?" "I saw the exact symptoms during one of our missions back then." His words made the ebony-haired man beside him kneel down and look closer as well. "Damn," Orz said after a few moments. He was on the same mission and had indeed witnessed similar cases. "You''re right." That mission had to do with a rebel group hiding in the deep mountains. They encountered villagers there with the same problem. It was pretty much an obsolete illness back in Terran, but here¡­ Speaking of which, salt deficiency wasn''t much of a problem to the soldiers because their levels were raised high from the get-go (or else they wouldn''t have survived). Then, they found towns with richer varieties of food soon after, allowing them to get their minimum required salt intake. Terran territories didn''t have that luxury. Not only did the people level up much slower (primarily due to the protection period), their resources were limited to a few types. "So what do we do with them?" "It''ll be a lot of work and I lack professional knowledge to do it safety, but there can be various sources of salt even without the sea or salt mines. "It''s only in trace amounts and I''m not sure how much can help, especially the harsher cases, but until we find someone with deep knowledge about this, it''s all we can do." The others nodded in understanding. After so long in this place, their idealism and sense of entitlement had been worn down. Rather, the stubborn ones had likely died already, perished from their own arrogance. "Animal blood, some plants, and even ashes can be sources. But, like I said, it''ll come with risks." "They''d die if we don''t, so do we even have a choice?" Minko sighed, nodding. Before they could mobilize for this, however, another group of frantic people arrived to look for them. Then another alarm, making them shake their heads. It was as if they didn''t have enough problems¡­ "Aborigines! They were here and just got kicked out after causing chaos!" S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Now they''re making a scene outside the territory!" This made everyone''s back straighten and stood up, prepared to deal with the problem. A lot happened during their meeting time, it seemed. Especially, the visitors were hostile aborigines. This meant that they were looking at a war heading their way¡ªand soon. Chapter 663 Gwen (Part 1) The soldiers headed to the sentried level 3 wall, reaching it within a couple of minutes. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One of the advantages of Calming VIllage was that its scope wasn''t maximized. They only built on the area they needed, so they could afford to surround everything with the very expensive level 3 wall and sentries. They might be a bit cramped inside, but at least they were all protected by the best walls they could afford. They could just go outside in groups near the sentries when they foraged if the resources inside weren''t enough for them. This was one of Ryan''s father''s legacy. He led the movement of solicitation¡ªeven donating a lot of his own money¡ªto build the level 3 walls. They could only build a few sentries in the end but it was hundreds of times better than how it was, when everyone was vulnerable against the weakest monsters. The territory was now saving up to upgrade the village center in order to get the hired aborigines as well. This was something they only found possible (and vital) after Orz and the others arrived. There were only so many of them, and it was impossible for the current forces to be enough to handle what was to come¡ªespecially when the soldiers were beyond a so-called level cap. Hiring aborigines was the fastest way to get some force value. However, before they could do so, the situation the dreaded arrived¡ªin the form of hostile aborigines, currently taunting them from the other side of the walls. "Let us back in! We haven''t seen enough!" they yelled, though their words were polite, their stances and tone reeked of arrogance. At this time, the aborigines held massive shields, blocking the few arrows that came their way. They were also just outside the scope of the sentries, as if mocking them for their sparseness. Ryan narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, answering them with a bland tone of voice. "Sorry, but we can''t let anyone blacklisted enter." "Hey! I''m willing to pay the entry fee again!" the man said with an angry grin. They noticed the men''s faces were bleeding a bit. Looking closer, they seemed to be¡­ small claw marks? In retrospect, these people seemed to have been kicked out prematurely. Whatever they were in Calming Village for, something must''ve gone awry. It happened quickly too, since the bastards got kicked before they (the soldiers) were even alerted. Ryan looked at the reporting soldier next to him. "What did he do?" "He found interest in a woman who slapped him. He slapped her back." He frowned. "How''s the woman?" "Alive, but a bit injured. The men were distracted by her pet cats." "Cats?!" Minko blinked, while the others also looked on with interest. Ryan in particular, though his expression was mild, also seemed interested. His eyes were sparkling a bit more than the others, in fact. He really liked cats. "Yeah, it''s our first time seeing Terran animals here," he said. "I thought they all died. "Anyway, her cats were the ones that scratched their faces, just enough time before they got kicked out by the system." "So the woman is fine, right?" Ryan asked again, and the reporting guard nodded. He turned to his companions who exchanged knowing glances at each other. At this, the archers¡ªled by Minko¡ªtook out their bow and arrows, targeting the aborigines. This made the aborigines pause and look at them. Normally, they''d cackle at them but they realized one or two bow and arrow was a Class D weapon! "Leave," Minko said, and the others had similar expressions on their faces. The aborigines narrowed their eyes at him, and then at the others, eventually realizing staying like this was useless. Tsk! Geez! Before leaving though, of course they had to leave a few jabs. "What are you guarding anyway? Such a poor village! All you had going for you were your walls! Anyway, you''ll be under our feet soon!" "They''re such cowards! Kicking us out with a little slap!" "Are you sure you''re not called ''Clamming Village'', instead? Hahahahaha!" And they left, leaving the citizens of Calming Village a bit shaken. This confirmed what they feared¡ªand it was only a matter of time before they get attacked by an aborigine village. However, there was nothing they could do about it¡ªthey couldn''t follow the aborigines outside the safety of the walls, right? At least inside, they could get protected by the regulations. Ryan looked at the citizens. "There''s no use worrying too much, let''s just prepare the best we can," he said and then proceeded to send instructions to different people, jumpstarting the preparation for the imminent war. He then turned to look at the guards. "Can we go see the woman?" He asked. "She may have gotten more information about those aborigines." Orz nodded, "I wonder if she''ll be able to answer our questions though." The reporting soldier, Mart¡ªa curly haired tanned soldier from Ryan''s country¡ªcouldn''t help but reassure them, "She should be fine. I saw her put back her own shoulder when it was dislocated¡­" "..." Put back her own dislocated shoulder? Ryan and the others were a little looking forward to meet this person. A few minutes later, the group arrived at the woman''s abode. They were allowed inside after they knocked and for a moment they thought she was probably bedridden somewhere and was unable to answer herself. However, when they entered the house, they saw a beautiful ebony-haired woman sitting on a roughly-made wooden couch. It was furniture characteristic of their village handiwork, and it cost a few silvers to buy from their artisans. At this time, she was lounging relaxedly with her two cats resting on her lap. One, the female cat, was even pregnant. She was very pretty. She had short wavy hair framing her delicate face, her peach-blossom eyes were both sharp and seductive. More importantly, the girl¡ªat least to Ryan¡ªwas an acquaintance! His feet moved forward, eyes a little wide, and his heart pounding in a mix of disbelief and excitement. "Gwen?!" Chapter 664 Gwen (Part 2) "Gwen?!" Ryan exclaimed, feet moving forward to go closer, to make sure he wasn''t hallucinating. The woman''s eyes also sparkled at the sight of him. "Ryan," she said, though she couldn''t move up, because her cats were resting contentedly on her lap. Someone behind Ryan cleared his throat and only then did the woman''s eyes separate from him. She blinked. "Brother Orz?" As for the others, she didn''t recognize them, so she only nodded politely. Ryan''s feet stopped a step away from Gwen and he couldn''t speak for a while. Gwen was someone they met during a mission in a foreign land. They met about a year ago, not too long before they were deployed in the mission that brought them here. She was a tourist and they were undercover customers in the hotel. It was just that she had recognized them as soldiers¡ªsomething about her brother being one¡ªand saw that they were hunting a bad guy. She ended up helping them fit in and helped with the success of that mission. "No one would believe two handsome men would be in a hotel together if they weren''t lovers," she had said, "Sadly, you two simply don''t have the chemistry." Ryan was a little flustered with how the gorgeous woman sat so close to him and Orz noticed this very much. In the end, they decided to make Ryan and Gwen pretend to be a couple. (Orz had a girlfriend at this time and there was obviously chemistry between the two, anyway). They naturally didn''t disclose any information except that they needed to fit in, and the girl didn''t ask. She helped them out and the mission finished without another hitch. Ryan was a shy dude and didn''t dare ask for her number. Orz low-key asked her and blatantly showed it off to Ryan. The latter then confiscated it, claiming he shouldn''t stray from his girlfriend. Orz didn''t know how these two progressed but seeing how they were looking at each other, it was safe to say there was some communication after that mission. Orz smirked as he looked at the two. Where was the popcorn when you needed one? ¡­ The moment was quickly broken by a sudden announcement that rang in everyone''s head. It was an announcement from the lord. [Gocki Village (Lv2) has declared war on us! Prepare for war!!! ] They all flinched and the soldiers looked at each other. Ryan pursed his lips and gestured to go with them. Orz was quick to hold his shoulders though. "You stay here and get the info we went here for. We''ll handle the planning," Orz said, making a wave to Gwen. The others also sent their greetings and goodbyes, before leaving the two alone. "..." Ryan cleared his throat and looked at the woman who was still sitting relaxedly with her cats. "When did you get here? In this village, I mean," he asked. He also wondered when she got the cats? Gwen traveled a lot, how could she have pets? "I arrived just yesterday," she said. "My territory fell from an aborigine attack as well. The lucky thing is that I never bought real estate there, or else I''d be drowning in regret right now." She looked at him, and he felt a little nervous. She patted the area of the chair next to her. "Come, sit with me. We have a lot to talk about." He blushed slightly and scratched his nose, choosing the spot farthest from her to sit on. She giggled and casually extended her arm, resting it on the backrest as she propped her chin on her knuckles. Calming village might be poor, but it had interesting artisans who could make some furniture for the sake of their lifestyles. "So what information do you want to find out from me?" "Ah, about that¡­" Ryan began, but his eyes gravitated to her shoulder. Before, he didn''t know who the ''injured'' woman was, so other than the standard concern, he didn''t think too much about it. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But now, knowing it was Gwen, his heart stung. "Did you get hurt a lot? How is it now?" "It''s fine. My brother taught me a lot of first aid," she said, and he failed to notice a sly smile that came after. "It''s bruising a bit though, wanna see?" He nodded, genuinely wanting to see, but when she started unbuttoning her blouse, his face turned completely red. "WAIT! "I¡ªI¡ªI believe you." Seeing him flustered like this, Gwen laughed out loud, her chime-like laugh hitting the man''s heart. He listened the whole time, patiently waiting for it to die down. When it did, she looked at him with a smile. "Anyway, what I know about the aborigines was that they were definitely not planning anything good. They were arrogant the whole time and tried taking advantage." She said this blandly, but the events were actually quite tense. At the time, the aborigines were very irksome as they walked along the streets with arrogant faces. They didn''t do anything yet though, so people only watched them closely. After all, they had been warned about wars. However, the aborigines walked around as if they owned the place. They gave off the feel of looking down on Calming Village, as if they had a fight in the bag. Of course, no one was stupid to make a move just based on this. It was not easy not to say anything though, and it made things even more annoying! However, it so happened that a young man nearby couldn''t hide his expressions, and the aborigine smirked, grabbing the man''s shoulder which he couldn''t escape no matter how much he struggled. Gwen went over to stop them, which just pushed her into their line of sight and poked at their interest. In fact, they outwardly assumed she''d be a slave. They started to harass her and she slapped them in response. She was slapped back, though she avoided it just enough so she minimized the damage. Sadly, the impact still got her shoulders displaced and it was damned painful. "It''s alright now though," she said, gently patting her feline friends. "I had good assists." Chapter 665 Before the War "I''m glad you''re alright," he said, looking at the cats, who apparently helped her a lot. Good kitties¡­ "What about them?" he asked, gently extending his hand towards the felines on her lap. The cats, unsurprisingly, ignored him. He didn''t mind at all though. He was used to the cats'' ''kingly demeanor''. "When did you meet them?" Ryan actually really liked cats. He and his sister had one when they were young. Too bad it got hit by a car. They couldn''t bear to get another pet after that. He had told this story to Gwen back when they were talking. At this, his mind couldn''t help but go to those memories. Thinking about how he acted back then, he couldn''t help but feel embarrassed. It took him quite a long time after getting her number before he actually pressed ''send''. His opening line was ''Checking if you''re alright. Mission was dangerous'', which now made him cringe quite a bit. However, Gwen gracefully played along with him, telling him she''s alive and well, though she thinks someone was following her. She then asked if he wanted to go and check it out. He was a love idiot and didn''t notice the flirtation at all, thinking it was serious. He was assigned in the barracks at that time so it was easier to ask for leave. He called to ask where she was so he could go there. She laughed and it was only then that he realized what was going on. Still, he was willing to go see her but sadly she said it was her brother''s homecoming and the family would be spending time together. He was sent to a mission closely after that and their correspondence was purely by message, which eventually turned to calling each other when they could. Then that fateful mission came and he never saw her¡ªor his family¡ªagain, not until now. This was the first time they met face-to-face after that, and he felt a bit giddy seeing her now. His pondering was interrupted when he felt a soft hand hold on to his. Ryan flushed but didn''t pull out his hand, and he flinched when he realized she was pulling his hand so he could pet the feline. "C''mon, he''s your dad, greet him well." Ryan froze until his face turned red, and he didn''t even notice when one of the cats¡ªthe male with black pelt¡ªjumped onto him. The cat settled on him, though his mind was on their entwined hands. Gwen smiled and looked at him. "I''m happy you''re okay," she said. When he went away, all she knew was that he was sent to a secret mission. She hadn''t heard from him since. It so happened that her only possible source of information, her brother, went missing so she was clueless for both cases¡ªwhich to be honest didn''t do her psyche any favor. Seeing him now made her so happy, and it was partially because it gave hope that maybe she could see her other loved ones again. Ryan smiled, finally gathering his wits to hold her hand in return. "I am too. I never thought that¡­" he shook his head, diverging for the dark topics. Instead, he chose to discuss the happy ones. "Did you always have the cats?" "They transferred here with me," Gwen said, "They''re called Kat and Raffy. They''re small, but they''re feisty. They saved my life quite a few times. This one is even my battle pet now." "Battle pet?" Ryan exclaimed. He had heard of it, but hadn''t seen one before. He then felt a slight sting in his fingers and he looked down, realizing the cat bit his other hand! [Would you like to take Raffy as your battle pet? Yes | No ] "What?" Huh? Gwen laughed, kissing his cheek and making him blush all over again. "Go ahead." Ryan said ''yes'' in a daze and he didn''t even notice the light that surrounded them both. He was brought back to the present when Gwen giggled. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Aww, look our pets are a couple too." ¡­too? The wording just made Ryan all red and stand up abruptly. He gently handed her the cat, "Stay here," he said, and he looked at Gwen. "I¡­ I need to help with the war preparation¡ªI''ll talk with you later," he said and then he left, without a sign of the capable leader other people knew him to be. It could be seen as a man running away after the woman confessed, but Gwen knew better. Gwen''s eyes were warm as she followed his figure, and her smile stayed even when he already left the room. She was a fun-loving girl who traveled around. She didn''t really run after love, believing it''d come. But when she got a bit older and seeing her parents being so loving after so many years, she got curious. She also tried to go out with men, but she never felt a connection with any of them. For some reason, this boring turd of a blonde made her think that having a partner was really good. It was odd. Obviously, she wasn''t the type who people would think would fall for someone she chatted ''online'' with, but here she was. She tried to analyze why though, and came to a theory she was attracted to him because he wasn''t like the other men who just wanted her beauty, her body, or her status as the daughter of a Minister. He was the first one she was attracted to who didn''t know her identities and it felt¡­ refreshing, to say the least. It also helped that he was very cute, of course. Anyway, now he was going out to war, she obviously wasn''t going to sit down and hide away. She looked at the bruise from the earlier attack. Thankfully, she had fast reflexes and managed to jump back in time before she could take on harsher damage. It still hurt a lot though¡ªtoo bad she couldn''t hurt the bastard before he was kicked out of the territory. She slowly stood up with the cats, sitting cutely on the wood couch, no, bench. She went to get her Class D spear that was resting on a cabinet. Her previous territory, like most, only offered Class E weapons. However, the territory that attacked them crushed them easily. The level differences were stark¡ªat least 5 levels higher¡ªand the leader had a Class D weapon. One of the things she realized about the aborigines was that they really, really, looked down on women. They never thought they could amount to anything at all. When they were hunting for ''slaves'' and new victims in the territory, the girls were touched wantonly and carelessly, as if they wouldn''t fight back. Gwen took advantage of this by teasing that leader, allowing herself to be captured, letting him care less about the weapon in his hand. She used the various techniques her brother taught her and managed to steal the weapon and she ran away, also using the survival and stealth skills she learned since young. So now¡­ she was the one who got the Class D weapon. Hehe. She took the weapon into her space and sauntered to the door, smiling teasingly at the cats. "Come on, babies, let''s go kill those bastards." Chapter 666 Gwens Brother Calming Village The territory went into preparation mode. The war naturally scared the heck out of everyone, but then they remembered they had strong soldiers in the midst. Even before the war, in fact, there was a training area built, started by Ryan''s father. It was like the seed form of a budding barracks. With the arrival of Minko and the others, this had been polished and now, half a day before the war, they were training the guards and the citizens to be able to defend themselves well. "May I join?" Gwen asked, looking gorgeous and fortunately without a spear. Gwen stood next to Ryan, looking pretty and petite. In fact, Gwen was not even 5''3" in height, which was below average even for women in Terran. People just tended to forget because of her high heels and massive personality. Her appearance made Ryan blush a bit, but her words made him pale. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked at her with disapproval. "Gwen? You¡ª" "I want to fight too." After their first encounter, they entered a texting/online dating phase for the next few months. Ryan was always on missions after all and oftentimes could not be contacted at all. There were times when Gwen offered to go to him, but their schedules just never seemed to meet. This went on until that fateful mission where they believed they would never see each other again. Sometime during this correspondence, Gwen vaguely told him her brother taught her some moves, but he didn''t have the impression she could fight. Gwen could see this. In fact, she relished people''s faces when they get shocked at what she could do. Of course, it didn''t happen often, and she was particularly curious of Ryan''s face. "I can! Really, let me spar with someone my level." "What level are you?" "I''m peak of level 9." S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh? That''s really impressive!" It was Orz, who wrapped his arms around the very reluctant Ryan. "Well, that''s great! I''m sure our men here would wanna see the techniques from another land!" They knew Gwen was from Eden, a country east of where their countries were. "Peak of level 9, then¡­" Orz grinned, looking at the guards with varying expressions on their faces. "Mart!" "Yes, sir!" "You''re also level 9, go spar with her." "But sir¡­" "Don''t underestimate people, idiot. It could kill you." "A-Ah, yes." After a few words, the two entered the makeshift sparring ring. In Calming Village, they couldn''t really detail the rules and regulations so they could only go with the cheaper ''no killing'' policy. There was no problem with placing a sparring ring here, or anywhere else for that matter. The news of the fight quickly spread around (the territory was small, so it spread faster). Besides, in the last few hours, there had been dozens of people looking for reassurance in the barracks. After all, they were already told the strongest soldiers couldn''t participate directly¡ªsomething about everyone going through the array couldn''t be attacked by them¡ªso much of the burden was still on the locals. Anyway, the civilians training as well as the civilians who came for reassurance had heard of the fight and stayed to watch, some even pulling over some friends. So by the time the fight started, there was a large audience, filling up the space around the arena with several rows of people. Mart felt a little shy, while Gwen stood with poise a few meters away from him. Her arms were crossed, unbothered by all the attention. The people couldn''t help but worry about the small woman, especially compared to her enemy who was probably above 6 feet in height. This included the 6 feet man himself. "Are you sure about this?" Mart asked for the nth time the past 10 minutes. Mart was a relatively mild-mannered man, but he wasn''t weak. He even worked harder than others because he was still young¡ªstill a cadet when the disaster happened. Gwen nodded with a smile. "Don''t hold back," she said, "I sparred with special forces." This made a few eyebrows rise, and¡ªrealizing she seemed serious¡ªMart really didn''t dare let down his guard lest he humiliate himself. "Ready. Start!" Both fighters start with their stances on defensive. Neither of them moving, just circling each other. After a while, Gwen still didn''t move. "You should go and attack me, instead," she said. After a moment of thought, Mart decided to follow her whims, thinking to get this over with. However, a very swift kick kept him at bay, and he barely blocked it with his arm. It was a clean kick and had he been slower, it''d have connected with his stomach. The audience let out a few whistles. Orz elbowed Ryan, who was watching in worry as if ready to shield her before she got hit. "Yow. Stop worrying too much. She survived this long and reached such a level, she probably wasn''t lying about sparring with special forces." At this, Minko''s eyes narrowed, some thoughts brewing in his mind. "Where did you say she was from?" he asked Orz, who blinked at him. "Eden." Ryan recalled their conversations, "She said her brother''s a soldier." There was no mention that he was special forces though. "So¡­ special forces from Eden." "..." "..." Sean waved his hands at them, asking them to shut up and watch the fight. The fight continued and so far their forces seemed equal. Both were sweating a bit as they threw repeated attacks with accuracy and expertise, at least compared to most of the fighters there. Mart adopted a defensive style while Gwen sent continuous spinning kicks, much like dancing in ballet, but with the force of a hammer. To Ryan and the others, it also felt very, very, familiar. "This fighting style¡­" Minko mumbled, trying to place it. An image of a particular soldier superimposed with the woman, and the realization hit them all at the same time. They looked at each other, eyes wide. "Boss Gill!?!" Chapter 667 Prelude to Calming Villages War Like her brother, Gwen preferred to use her legs. She may not be particularly tall, but she was blessed with long legs. Normally, men would like to touch these works of art, but when they tried, their faces were likely to meet with it instead. Gill would repeatedly tell her since she was young that men cannot be trusted and she had to keep a sharp eye on them. He taught to always employ critical thinking, regardless of how ''good'' a man seemed. (She''d argue he didn''t really use much of his critical thinking when it came to his love life, but at least he used it on life-and-death situations.) Anyway, his teachings made her very choosy growing up (beating up quite a few men in her lifetime) but, fortunately, she did find a good one in the end. At this though, her sights swiped across Ryan''s very worried face and she couldn''t help but smile. The sight seemed to have sent energy to Gwen''s hits and she sent flurries of swift kicks and swipes towards her opponent. Mart wasn''t weak, but she was fast and she used her size quite well, avoiding the man''s attacks with impressive flexibility. Her brother taught her a lot about handling bigger opponents. After all, with her size and the fact that she was female, bigger opponents comprised 99% of her opponents. Eventually, Mart''s movements turned a bit sluggish after her barrage of attacks and she took advantage of the minute opening to finally land a good one at his stomach. "OOOUGHHF!" he gasped, slightly pushed back. Gwen''s eyes sparkled and she didn''t take a pause at all. She jumped and raised her legs 90 degrees from the ground¡ªfinishing the fight with a beautiful axe kick. Bang!!! The next moment, Mart''s face was on the ground, and his suffering was followed by boisterous cheers from the crowd. "Amazing! Amazing!" "So awesome!" "Beautifully done!!" Mart immediately stood up, though he seemed to have surrendered already. He was looking at her with admiration and a wide grin on his face (which was funny because he had a lot of soil on his face and teeth). sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "That''s really good," he said, extending his hand. "Hope you can teach me some moves." Gwen giggled, about to nod, but suddenly a familiar blonde appeared between them. "You okay?" he asked, looking at her in concern. Gwen smiled. "Of course." Ryan heaved a deep breath of relief before he turned to look at Mart, who was still standing there. He was probably waiting for him to leave so he could continue his conversation with Gwen. This irked Ryan very much. "Dismissed," he said. "Sir?" "You may go now." "..." Mart had no choice but reluctantly leave, his shoulders slumped in disappointment. Ryan nodded and then turned to look at Gwen again, only to see her staring at him with a sly smile. His heart thumped and his face turned red in embarrassment. "W-What is it?" "You''re very cute," she told him¡ªquite frankly¡ªand Ryan could only scratch the back of his neck in shyness. "Men aren''t particularly fond of being called cute." "But it''s true." Ryan, unable to handle the embarrassing topic, decided to shift it. "Is your brother¡­ Gill, by some chance?" Gwen, who was prepared to ignore the topic shift, was successfully distracted. "You know my brother?" She was very surprised. Their two countries weren''t close. Did they meet in a mission? "He transferred with us," Ryan said. "We''re actually planning on meeting there." Gwen''s eyes were wide and lined with tears, and Ryan had the inexplicable urge to embrace her. She gripped his arms. "Let me come with you!" She yelled, "After the war." He met her eyes and his heart clenched, his body moving on its own. Ryan''s hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her to him. He hoped to reassure her somehow. Their moment lasted for several moments, just feeling each others'' warmth, when a whistle sounded next to them. Ryan shook, opening his eyes to look around, and his sights met with dozens of faces sending them teasing looks. "...!" Only then did he remember: They were still in the middle of the sparring ring! And they had rows of people watching them!! ¡­ A few hours before the War "Are we really going to be alright?" Lord Cassas, the Lord of Calming Village, asked, utterly anxious and put the name to shame. Calming Village was a level 2 village, but the level limit was still level 15. Besides, Ryan and the others were beyond the so-called level cap and wouldn''t be able to attack at all. Enemies that went through the Array were protected by the war rules and could not be attacked by those beyond the level cap. The War rules might be a bit vague, but they were strict. Minko shook his head. "Have more confidence in your territory, old man," he said. The fact that a level 2 village survived so long after the protection period was still worthy of appreciation. Besides, though none of the five could actually participate in attacking, they could definitely be used to defend, distract, and shield the weaker guards without a problem. Keeping the enemy outside the walls was a lot more doable than he''d think. Their wall wasn''t that big¡ªjust a little bigger than the scope of a level 1 village¡ªand therefore much easier to guard. They just had to be brave, unified, and consistent. Of course, it didn''t mean they would be complacent, especially not when family members were here. In the end, they advised everyone to get decent rest, and also to remain within territory. There was also a no-entry rule at this time, in case they got visitors. Fortunately, there weren''t, and even if there were, they were obvious aborigines that''d have to wait outside. Ryan looked at him. "Winning wars isn''t difficult for the defending territory unless there''s a huge level gap." He said, "Just keep strong and unified¡ªand we''ll be fine." Ryan took a deep breath and looked at the guards and the lord. Everyone did their best, and they would help them defend their home! Chapter 668 Gocki Village Attacks An hour before the war, the alarm¡ªor more accurately, just hired people yelling¡ªalerted everyone that the war was starting and they ought to get in position. Some time later, Minko, Sean, and Orz jumped down the wall and ran around the territory, separating directions for maximum efficiency. They maintained their energies, of course, especially since they had no idea where the array was. They wanted to find the array, hopefully to take down a number before they go and attack the walls. While they couldn''t do anything too aggressive, they could cause a lot of trouble and that was enough. In fact, it wasn''t that Fargo and the others didn''t think of this loophole. They did, with Belize''s guidance. But they realized a lot of the stronger aborigines they could send to look for the array were all¡­ gone. It was at that moment that they confirmed the Alterrans had been preparing for the war for days. Anyway, the current enemy had no such preparation. So when the time started, the enemies went into the array with just the alertness of handling small village-level mobs. [War with Gocki Village (Lv2) has begun! Array Closes in 27:59:59] It has begun! They all thought, running faster around the territory. Now¡­ time to figure out where that damned array was! ¡­ It was Minko who had found the light and he immediately shot his arrow to the walls. This arrow had a cloth tied, which was a cloth of the most colorful old fabric they could get. He shot at an angle high enough so that even if it accidentally hit someone, it wouldn''t injure them, but not too high that the air resistance would distort his direction. This was a signal to tell everyone where the array was. With his signal, a few of the more powerful soldiers went to join him. Sean and Orz also found him shortly after. The teleportation array always appeared in an instant, with no warning at all. When the soldiers grouped together, about a hundred had already gone past and headed towards the wall. These people they just let pass, trusting the citizens to deal with them. Although they were strong, they were still self-aware and didn''t go against thousands head-on, especially when they couldn''t hurt them directly. For this, they decided to use guerilla tactics, subtly redirecting smaller groups from the main mobs, and taking them down without getting punished. One method of redirection was creating earth walls. The appearance was natural so the enemies thought they had always been there. Groups of hundreds would head in a direction away from the wall, further separated and heading to where several soldiers were waiting. Each soldier was tasked to take scores at a time, or even more depending on luck. For instance, a group of about 100 people, half of whom were slaves, ran towards where the walls were. However, there were various obstacles they naturally avoided. The crowd was too large or dense to see anything odd, and they only realized something was wrong when the didn''t merge with a bigger crowd anymore. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the end of the line there was a man who stood. A handsome pale-skinned man. "Who are you?!" "Someone assigned to take care of you." Sean immediately waved his spear, and thin vines surrounded their feet, reaching their waist, making them fall down. The little vines reached their necks, as if ready to snap it. Sean specifically chose this place because there were so many bushes with thin branches. Of course, the trap was also not indestructible. At his level, he could create a trap for hundreds of people, but it wouldn''t be strong enough to make them helpless. If these people fought hard enough, it could still break. So, he would terrify them psychologically¡ªanyway, in this world, people didn''t have ''patriotism''. They wouldn''t actually sacrifice their lives for the territory. He looked at them threateningly, lying with a very straight face. "Don''t move, and don''t open your mouths either. Otherwise, I will kill you." ¡­ This was the case with the other soldiers, and together they managed to hold down a few hundred enemies. For example, Orz buried their bodies to the ground, leaving their noses above. Minko, on the other hand, would try to drown them by putting water in their noses. He did this just long enough and stopped when he felt he was about to be punished, but it made the opponents fall anyway, greatly weakened. Some also tried to experiment and hurt them a bit. They saw that they weren''t punished, so they made a mental note for the future. Of course, they didn''t push the limits too much. The punishments for hurting war participants when they were at their levels were very high and permanent. From what they heard, it was almost always never worth to do so. Anyway, the soldiers could only handle so many opponents and soon, at least a few hundred reached the walls. Half an hour after the war started, there were already thousands clawing the wall. The chaos common in wars exploded, with thousands of people¡ªmostly slaves¡ªtrying to either get up the walls or force the gate open. Because walls could not be scaled, some of these slaves served as human ladders people stepped on to get to the battlement. The structure looked flimsy and incredibly creepy. They could also see how thin the slaves were¡ªthey were practically skin and bones¡ªand how they were pushed beyond their limits to be stepped on by hundreds of people. "Shoot them! Shoot a few arms and legs¡­!" the captain ordered, being rational. "But¡­" the archers mumbled, conflicted. These were humans, and many of the guards were reluctant to shoot them. Ryan arrived soonafter, and the captain ran to him, asking for help. He pursed his lips, but he also knew what had to be done. "Shoot the legs and arms of those at the bottom," he said. "If you shoot well, you wouldn''t have to kill them. "However¡­" he paused, looking at the archers with dark eyes. "As much as we don''t want to kill fellow humans¡ªif we lose this war, failing to do so could mean earning the same fate. "Do you want that?" Chapter 669 Calming Village War The Villagers shot at the human structure with heavy hearts, understanding this was an eat-or-be-eaten world. They could only watch in guilt as it fell, with people falling on top of each other, yet they had to continue hitting to keep them back down¡ªat least try to. Some ''ladders'' continued to rebuild, some with new slaves, and some over the corpses of others. Others also tried breaking through the gates, but they would be killed by arrows or spears, but the slaves were relentless in their attacks. The Villagers felt pity, but the sight also strengthened their need to win! If they lost, then the next ones pitifully clawing on gates with bare hands¡ªeven when their fingers were bleeding¡ªwould be them!!! A few hours passed, and the war soon reached a peak and, while most teams managed to guard their section of the wall, it was inevitable for some weak spots to appear. "Gyaaa!!" a man''s voice rang out in agony as enemies managed to climb up and attack. The nearby guards panicked, shooting wantonly in an effort to fend off the invaders. "Shoot!! Shoot!" one yelled frantically, fueling the others'' panic. "Ahhh!" another cried as he was hit by an arrow¡ªfrom an ally. Ryan, who was in another area, immediately rushed towards them, using the dull edge of his sword to slash and push the enemies off the ledge. After so long, they had noted that just the act of pushing¡ªeven if it was to their deaths¡ªwas not punishable, likely because it was not the push that killed them, but the fall. Of course, the wall was only 3 meters. The only time the enemies died was either they were too weak, got flattened in a stampede, or they were lucky enough to fall on their heads and break their necks. Ryan sliced several more people almost at the rim. Though he couldn''t unleash powerful attacks, he was adept at pushing enemies back and using his elemental abilities to assist the others. His appearance calmed the surrounding fighters. "Don''t panic, don''t waste your arrows and your energies," he said, immediately taking down whatever the enemies were using to get up. "What!!!!" an enemy yelled as they were pushed back, the ladder getting destroyed by fire. However, in this one and a few other spots, hundreds still managed to get in. Reuben on the other hand was by the gates, making the gates, walls, and people slippery so the people trying to climb over the other had a bit of a struggle. By the time they could be a threat, they were already very tired and easily taken down by the rest of the citizens. Ryan and Reuben were the only Mercenaries left within the walls at this time, with the others dealing with hundreds of others on their own far from their sight. The other citizens were busy attacking those trying to go up as well, for the entire length of the territory. Despite their efforts, more enemies still breached the walls in other spots. After all, the level differences were there, and it was inevitable for a few sections to fall. The battlement wasn''t very big or wide and not many could use it, so a line would have one person, and how could they go against dense enemies a few levels higher than they were? Not to mention, the enemies would literally use their slaves as shields in these areas. Anyway, the enemies climbed up one after the other with wooden ladders they built after arriving there. They seemed to have dedicated people making them, because when it was destroyed, another one would get propped up soonafter! Gwen was among the people guarding the interior. At this time, she was walking along the perimeter, watching out for any sort of leaks on her side of the territory. She had already dealt with a few enemies along with others the past couple of hours, but with Ryan''s appearance the entries on her side had slowed down significantly. She purposely moved away from where Ryan was, knowing the new weak spots would be there. Screams of pain and the commotion resounded throughout the walls¡ªas it had been the past few hours¡ªand she had to keep a sharp eye to determine where a breach was actually about to happen. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Suddenly she heard thumping sounds of bodies falling down inwards. A torrent of enemies began pouring over an area and she immediately ran over to there. "HERE!!" she yelled, calling the attention of the other people, as she and her super cats sprung into action. Fortunately, there was a small group of guards and civilians there and they immediately joined in with their own weapons. Most of them were scared because there seemed to be bigger leaks this time. However, how could they live the shame down if they left the woman alone? Her spear flashed as she took down several opponents in a few swift and clean strikes. Although they were higher level than she was, her skill and the fact that she was using a Class D weapon were enough to balance the discrepancy. Her cats, agile and fierce, darted between the attackers, targeting their eyes, making them easy targets to stab for everyone. ¡­even their own teammates. Hehe. The enemies didn''t even notice she was a woman as they were met with either her stab, her kick, or her cats'' claws. The rest of the team was also there to finish them off, rendering them helpless. Some people decided to run away, but how could Gwen let them go? Using, the spear as a bolster, she lifted her body and kicked the damned bastard down, while the others took advantage of his imbalance to end him. Together with the rest of them, Gwen fought valiantly. Her kicks were formidable and impressive, and her stabs were sharp. However, it was inevitable for them to struggle after a while, especially when the enemies kept flowing inside! While many of their own people arrived, it was still troublesome, especially since the enemies were much stronger than the majority. Among the enemies that got in were the bastards who caused trouble earlier, and his eyes turned red at the sight of Gwen. Her appearance alone made him mad, let alone witnessing her killing so many of his teammates!! "BITCH!!" he screamed and immediately ran to her for the kill! Chapter 670 The War that was Won This man was among the leaders of this war and he was at level 13, several levels higher than Gwen. While the rest of the team fought against the enemies, Gwen knew she had to focus on this one. She was the highest level in this area and was trained the most. "HYA!" She yelled, lunging forward with her Class D Spear. The man had a sword and met her attack, creating a clashing sound. The man had a Class E sword though, and it already showed a great decrease in its durability with a few attacks. The man showed greed for her weapon and his attacks increased in fervor, fueled by his need to get her and the weapon. They exchanged blows for a while and his eyes widened when he barely avoided a stab, with a deep gash forming on his cheek. His eyes turned red. How dare a woman wound him! "BITCH!" he yelled as he lunged forward, sending a barrage of aggressive attacks. Slash! Stab! Slash! How could Gwen deal with someone much stronger than she was? No matter how she trained, she was still a civilian in the end. Gwen was soon pushed back, struggling, with the weapon slowly slashing at her clothes, revealing bits of skin with every jab. The man''s eyes turned lustful and his successive hits were doused with a bit of lust. MEOW!! Kat and Raffy jumped at the man, clawing him in succession. "AH!" He yelled. Although they only gave scratches, they were plenty and they stung. More importantly, they stung his pride. GRRR¡ª In his anger, he managed to grab on Raffy, making it screech in pain. "You damned creature¡ª" "No!" Gwen yelled, immediately jumping at him without thinking. The man grinned and sparkled, using the woman''s desperation to throw away the cat and grab her neck instead. There were others who saw and wanted to rescue, but they almost died instead. Sadly, they were not even strong enough to defeat the enemies in front of them¡ªhow could they be strong enough to rescue another? The man saw this and laughed, gripping her neck tighter. He added pressure, forcing her to let go of her weapon and grab onto his arms, in an attempt to break free. However, every time she struggled he would tighten his grip on her, weakening her so all her strength was focused on keeping herself from dying. She struggled and tried to kick him, but his free hand held her legs in place, caressing it by the way. "I realize I may not mind feisty women like you. You are very beautiful¡ª" "Gwen!" A familiar voice yelled somewhere away from them and it was swiftly followed by a wall of fire. The man barely managed to avoid the attack, though it singed some of his hair and clothing. Ryan appeared between him and Gwen, eyes red in anger. He lunged forward and grabbed the man''s neck as he had grabbed Gwen, ready to break his neck, his palms heating up to add extra¡­ sizzle. Before he could do any damage though, soft arms wrapped around his abbed stomach, making him freeze. "Don''t do it!" Gwen yelled. She had been oriented and she knew the punishments were not low! This bastard was not worth it!! "I''ll kill him myself!" Gwen said, using his body to stand up, immediately going to grab her spear. She was weak but she trudged through, stabbing the bastard straight in the heart before Ryan could! Slash! They watched as the corpse dropped on the ground and their eyes met. Before running into Ryan''s arms though, she immediately ran to poor Raffy. They heaved a deep breath when they saw that he seemed fine, though just a bit shaken. Ryan patted her shoulder. "Go get some rest with them, you did well," before running over to the rest of the scuffle, creating firewalls all over to redirect the enemies, making it easier for his side to target them. "AHH!" "DAMN!" "HURTS!" His fire was not made to be strong lest he get punished, but it was enough. Anyway, the main killers were the citizens, and redirecting the enemies on certain spots made it easier for arrows and stabs to hit. They defended hard like this for hours on end, blocking entries and taking care of leaks. As the war neared its end, Minko and the others arrived and joined in. This was the time the hundreds they trapped wouldn''t be able to recover fast enough so they decided to help in the defense. The arrival of the three added a devastating dimension to the defense. Even if they couldn''t hurt people, they simply used the skills they used to trap the hundreds and weaken hundreds more¡ªmaking them weak enough so the others could deal with them with minimal losses! For example, Orz created large craters near the gates, making people fall in and step on each other, on another Minko would join Reuben in taking down the ladders propped around the walls, running around the perimeter to make sure no one else was making it in¡ªor, at least, minimizing the numbers. Seeing them like this made plenty of the opponents pale. "Elementalists!!!" "So many!!" And they were so strong, too! Just seeing so many threw the enemy''s momentum down several pegs, and the tide completely turned to the defenders. Time trickled slowly for the citizens of Calming Village, and they wanted to get things over with. Every minute that passed was a hard-earned victory and, finally, they could see the end. Safe to say, the village won that war. The Lord yelled, celebrating their wins. "We can finally afford to upgrade our village center and add sentries!" he yelled, and everyone around celebrated while handling their wounded and casualties. Ryan walked over to him and nodded. "Don''t forget to keep some money in case you upgrade." "Oh, right right right." And so, their first war ended on a happy note, the celebrations muting the exhaustion and the pain of their wounds. The sense of relief and accomplishment was obvious in their stances, even when they were covered in blood, sweat, and grime. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It would be great if they could celebrate with booze! But alas! Getting alcohol in this place was probably impossible at this time. However, for now, they''d have to make do with the sweet taste of victory, hoping for a more secure future. Chapter 671 Protective Charms (Part 1) Alterra Village "Shit¡­ booze¡­ so happy¡­" Benny mumbled as he shakily sipped his drink. They arrived last night but they could only appreciate the lovely streets and maybe buy some food from stores they passed through. They were also a bit tired from traveling and saw the neat and comfortable facilities of the Mercenary Team living areas, so they hadn''t really gone out yet. When they did, damn, they were so surprised!! "This place¡­ is unbelievable," Benny said in what was probably the tenth time since they arrived the previous night. He remembered the first time he said it: It was when they went to the Terran Mercenary Team dormitory. Even if it was a dorm, it felt cozier than the ''superior'' houses back in Fargo, er, Limestone Valley. The facilities, the bath, and the lovely toilet seat felt like heaven. These were ''luxuries'' they didn''t think they''d experience in a long while! Anyway, they all took warm baths and they fell asleep after. The next morning, Garan and the others allowed them free time that entire morning before they started at their posts. They were planning on enjoying this time as much as they could! They deserved it!! Thus, the booze, but in moderate amounts. Just sips. Quite a few ones, but still. Benny bought the mildest ones, but it was still heavenly. "Ah¡­ Booze¡­" he whispered, absorbing the savory taste of the drink, letting it warm him up as if he had been trapped in an ice age. Henry chuckled and sipped his drink as well. He was parachuted to a captain''s position and was assigned to lead the training of the guards later that day. When they arrived seeing the massive walls, dense sentries, and the liveliness and advancements of the territory, they were in utter disbelief for a while. How could the difference be so stark? Especially Vanessa who looked bitterly. How much less would she have suffered if she had gone with Garan early on? And¡­ that woman was an esteemed woman even in this place? The seeds of jealousy inside her festered even more. Why does that woman always have everything working for her? "Vanessa? Why aren''t you eating? Is there anything else you wanna eat?" Her father''s voice shook her back to the present, and she smiled innocently. "No, daddy," she said, taking a few bites of her salad. "I just missed having these food." At her words, Benny nodded passionately. "Right? For the longest time¡ªmy tongue felt like it got numb from the tastelessness of food from the restaurant in Fargo¡ªI feel like I''m in delicacy heaven right now!" Although Garan was kind enough to give a bottle of their sauce, how far could it go with the group of them? They ran out quickly and went back to restaurant food. Speaking of System Restaurant, Alterra didn''t have one¡ªever. Rather, they didn''t bother with building such a ''waste of space''. It was so interesting. Did the mysterious lord¡ªnone of them believed that there wasn''t one¡ªforesee the current development of their food industry? They were now having lunch in the market place. It had a food court situation ongoing and they got their booze in one of the stalls, apparently owned by the owner of Heartbreak Tavern, which opens late in the afternoon. Lunch was barbeque with rice and vegetable side (with sides of liquor) for Benny, Shawarma rice for Henry, and Salad, Baked Gugu bird with Gouji Fruit Shake for Vanessa. The group ate happily, getting a few snacks before they spent the rest of that morning just appreciating the place. Of course, their free time eventually had to end. Specifically, they were tasked to go to the barracks after lunch break. Like everything else, they were surprised and impressed by the place. Alterra had somehow, except for the equipment requiring advanced technology, managed to recreate the barracks in Terran! The arrangement, the training areas, and the like were mimicked, and even improved according to their changed physiques and¡­ elements! Speaking of elements, there were already so many elementalists! They had so many level 10s! They were all strictly trained and had the consciousness to protect¡ªunlike the guards in Fargo back then, who just abused their power everywhere! Alterra¡­ also had a lot of unique weapons! The equipment shops from the system were basically just there to support the demand, but innovation and production of higher level products were still prioritized. And they had so many unique buildings, too! The most impactful for them was that Training Hall¡ªwhich no doubt had a huge part in allowing so many to level up so quickly! This difference in strength between villages was heaven and earth! No wonder Fargo was crushed despite the stark differences in numbers! Looking at the tall walls and dense sentries at a distance, how reassured and safe everyone inside must feel. These protective charms were enough to make everyone feel stable¡ªand this was the starting point for a person to strive for the best. ¡­ While chaos ensued outside, life went on in Alterra, with every part of the ''cog'' doing their jobs. The people who hunted hunted, the people who guarded did the same, every one trained, and every tradesman did their own parts as well. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For a whole day, Althea locked herself in her lab again. However, rather than chemistry, she focused on creating more of the protective charms. She did have a couple of rejects, but she just became more and more proficient as time passed by. After all, the arrays, arrangement, and details were the same. The more she did, the more amazing she was at it. If other tool makers were here though, they would cry. Although it was true that the principles were the same, it was still extremely hard each time for most because it needed intense concentration. One of the uniqueness of the array was that the energy was always moving in that path. Drawing an array with the exact same energy signature each time and keeping each millimeter of movement stable every attempt was near-impossible! Althea was not at this level yet, but she was certainly on the way there. More importantly, Althea was growing obsessed! And it was only a matter of time and a little guidance before she achieved much more. Chapter 672 Protective Charms (Part 2) She was obsessed with making the tools for the days after that. The team was a little worried, but they knew how Althea was when she was like this. They had seen it when she was experimenting with her potions, and they had seen it with her farms. In the end, they could only make sure she was eating well and having somewhat of a rest (the latter of which was completely Garan''s responsibility, which he did without exception even if he had to carry her like a sack). After days of partial seclusion, Althea managed to create a couple for the group and family, and she reckoned she''d be able to make a few extra to sell in the Contribution Store. She looked at her small pile with a smile, heart feeling full. After all, each one of these could save her people''s life, and that made her feel the happiest. ¡­ One day¡ªwell after dinner¡ªshe gathered everyone in the team to their living room. This included Winona, who arrived ranting about her intolerable grandmother. "She''s so insufferable!" Winona said with her fist clenched. "She just lazes around all day like she were still the matriarch of a rich clan! She doesn''t even help me clean up! "It was fine if her body was weak, but that woman was still as strong as a bull with the voice of a dinosaur!" Ansel looked at her with a mix of amusement, mockery, and pity. "I''d hate to sound unfilial, but you can just do enough for her to survive and live well. Do you have to live with her?" Winona rolled her eyes. "And endure her telling everyone how bad a granddaughter I am?" "Idiot. Anyone could tell who''s right or wrong. People aren''t as bored as they were in the peaceful Terran. People have less time for nonsense gossip." That was not to say, of course, that people didn''t like gossip. They just started to easily tire of useless and false ones. They did, however, love gossiping about Althea, Garan, Gill, Cassandra, and Juni¡­ What was the best-selling mode of entertainment at this time? It was the puppet show about Althea and Garan''s reunion, the events leading to it, and how it ended behind the closed doors of her villa¡ªleaving the rest for imagination. There was also the love of Gill and Cassandra, as well as Juni''s apparent rise as a boss-woman. She even made herself a harem in that story. As pioneers of the entertainment industry, Ansel and Fable naturally encouraged little shows and stuff, though focusing on those showing solidarity. It was a great way to educate and integrate the masses. Also, it was a way to make the people less bored and gossipy during their lull time. Maybe, probably. For instance, Fable and another writer wrote several scenarios that could be turned into plays and puppet shows. They nudged Ansel a lot and requested a lot of papers from him, since paper was still exclusively for admin groups. The stories they made were quite interesting. For instance, how Alterra saved so and so''s lives. How it let so and so reunite, etc. It was all good fun, and Ansel could see the rise of the industry as soon as paper became commercially available. Anyway, Althea cleared her throat and gathered everyone''s attention to her. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan smiled. Before calling everyone, she had already showered him with charms. His space alone had at least a dozen. She also gave some to the children as necklaces and put them on their favorite toys, so he knew what this was about. The group looked at her with curiosity and she felt a bit shy. She cleared her throat again to make her announcement. "You see¡­ I''m officially a magic tool maker!" Then, thinking they didn''t know what it was, "I can make something like aether letters or the voice blocker¡ªbut with different functions of course." "WHAT?!" "Again, I can only make one type of tool though." The audience naturally didn''t care for it. They leaned over, curious as to what she made. "What is it, what is it," Ansel asked, scooting closer. He stopped a distance away though, seeing Garan protectively right beside her. She took out a dozen in front of her. "These are called Protective Charms. They''re not that high level, but they can protect you well to a certain degree." She then repeated its functions and everyone brightened even more. "Here I''ll give everyone," she smiled, handing one to each of them. She even gave Eugene another one for Melissa. This touched everyone''s heart and Harold even teared up a bit. "Thank you so much, boss!" "Sis, you''re so awesome!" "You''re the best boss!" Sheila exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the woman. When she separated, the nurse stared at her protective charm with warmth. She was very touched, however, the image of someone who was much more exposed to danger popped into her mind and then she looked at Eugene who got one for Melissa. "Uhm, Boss¡­" Althea smiled, "I''m making one for all the Terran Mercenary soldiers," she said, "Eagle''s will be given to you. You can give it to him." Everyone looked at her with knowing looks and she blushed in shame. "Boss!" They all laughed, though their thoughts were still on the magic tools themselves. Their heart filled with warmth, knowing Althea thought of them as she made these things. They recalled how she locked herself in her lab the past few days¡ªworking non-stop and barely eating¡ªand they felt extremely guilty for putting her through such an ordeal. Althea could see their thoughts on their faces and laughed. "It''s what I wanted to do, and for my own peace of mind," she said, "If you really feel guilty, then just take care of yourself well, and contribute to the betterment of our home!" This made the others pause and added a couple of tears in their eyes. However, their smiles were bright and proud¡ªhappy to be part of this family. "Yes, boss!" Chapter 673 Departures to Ferrol The next morning, in contrast with most others, some people''s moods were a bit dour. First, there was Vanessa, who was extremely envious of the nice place. She had barely slept the previous night despite hanging out in the spa for hours. She relaxed in the spa after the ''working hours'', which was something she really missed. However, the experience got muted because she kept hearing that woman''s name in various discussions! First, there was a group lounging in the pool area who kept talking about how amazing that woman''s beauty products were. They would exclaim how smooth their skins had become, and how it had recovered to their pre-apocalypse luster. They would call her the beauty goddess, not just for her face, but also for her ability to elevate women''s beauty! Then, in the restaurant, there was a group who talked about her medicines. One woman fawned how good they were, saving her son''s life! Then there were envious chatters of how lovely her family was, how perfect her children were, and what a great match she made with her husband. Couldn''t these women be quiet?! She had mused with gritted teeth. However, she was still raised well so she didn''t show a hint of it on her face. They''re like shrews, chattering like they want everyone to hear their discussions! However, wherever she went, there would always be some mention of her somewhere. Couldn''t she just relax?! The bitterness attacked her even after she left and went to bed, entering a foul mood as soon as she woke up. Then there was Jonathan''s party, who had already extended their stay and were no longer able to run away from their responsibilities. Of course, a lot of the civilians and other visitors who came with Jonathan would remain in Alterra for a while longer. So, even if Jonathan left, Alterra still had dozens of aboriginal visitors, not including the Golds, spending good cash in the territory. Jonathan and the rest felt very reluctant and melancholic, knowing he''d really miss this place a lot. At the same time, he was also looking forward to how he could improve his own place based on what he had seen. He had always thought his town was the best, but he now knew that his vision was still too narrow. Of course, he could do limited amounts because his town had already been built and integrated. However, he could still implement some policies like increased garden spaces (he may have two or three lots he could clear out), as well as the strengthening of the citizens themselves. He would also consider implementing his own contribution point system, allowing for territory-exclusive perks for those who contributed to the place. For one, it would improve the lifestyle in his territory. Second, it could lessen the amount of people who would be too tempted to move to Alterra once it became a Town¡ªwhich, to be honest, was an inevitable thing. "I''ll miss this place," Kory said beside him, twirling his dark curly hair. Beside him, Ping nodded in agreement. "Well, with the deals we secured, we can bring a bit of it back home." "That''s true." It was too late for them to completely mimic Alterra, but they could definitely mimic a part of it. Anyway, the party grouped together and prepared to go, bringing in a lot of chests and items that could no longer fit in their space. It was estimated that even the top of carriages would be occupied at this rate. Jonathan looked at the party setting up and raised a brow, realizing there was someone missing. He looked at the guard next to him. "Where''s Cassandra and Veronica?" ¡­ Cassandra and Veronica were indeed coming this time. To be accurate, Cassandra had to. Although she could just write a letter, she didn''t want her family to send forces to Alterra to push her out. Although she knew Alterra could handle whatever subsidiary Jacoba Town would send, she didn''t want unnecessary trouble to this place that she was slowly thinking of more as ''home'' than Jacoba. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was amazing. How long had she been here? But for the first time, she felt truly free, that she had the power to shape her own self and her own future. She truly wanted to return. Hopefully, she could manage to handle things at home in her favor. The two women waited in the barracks for the men. Their training extended so they were a bit late for the gathering time of Jonathan and the others. When the training was done, the men were immediately informed of their guests. It also seemed urgent so they went to them as soon as they could. Gill and Brandon arrived a few minutes later, a little sweaty and very sexy with how their shirts clung to their muscles. Gill saw Cassandra and approached. He was puzzled at first, but it was replaced by a frown when he saw her expression. She raised her head to look him in the eye. "I need to go back to see my family." "What?" He exclaimed, surprised. However, a moment later he forced himself to calm down. Of course, she would go see her family. What was he thinking? Instead of asking too many questions, he just asked one. "When will you be back?" Before she could answer though, the interaction next to them caught their attention. "Aren''t you going to say anything?" Veronica just stared at Brandon who looked at her blankly. "I''m going to visit my family," Veronica repeated. "But I''ll be back." "Okay." Veronica pursed her lips, and looked at the side. Her expression morphed to one of shock and amazement. "What a big crossbow!" Brandon immediately whipped his head in the direction. His eyebrows furrowed when he saw none, immediately turning to look at Veronica with a puzzled facial expression. Choo! The next thing he knew, something soft met his lips. "..." Face flushed red, the woman skittled away, forgetting about her companion. Cassandra shook her head. Although Veronica was flirtatious, she had always only held hands with the men she found fancy to. This was actually a new thing¡ªkissing, still on the lips. "Good job," she told Brandon who just blinked, as if in a daze. He left then, leaving the two of them alone by the receiving area. "I''ll come back to you for sure," she told Gill, belatedly answering his question. She played with his large, warm palms that never failed to reassure her heart. "I really like it here, after all." He nodded, gripping her palms on his. "Well, if you don''t then I''ll come and find you." She whipped her head to look at him. She wouldn''t want him to venture out for her, but the thought he''d be willing made her happy nevertheless. Gill leaned down to meet her lips, already expressing his longing. Cassandra wrapped her arms around him and they felt each other''s heat, as if remembering each sensation. They didn''t say so out loud but¡ªconsidering the distances and circumstances¡ªthey both knew they wouldn''t see each other again in quite some time. When they parted, the two of them were lacking breath. Placing their foreheads against each other, they smiled. "See you soon." Chapter 674 Encounters on the Way While the territory saw various farewells, a very thin man with a lisp was in a very good mood. "Ohhh my goodneth! Thith ith increthible! Finally managed to get thith jerk to deliver a methageth!" he yelled, looking at the small birds perched inside their cage. They were looking at him, looking adorable, as if they didn''t almost blind him! This person Reddit, the zoologist in-charge of training the birds. He had a bandage on his head. He was almost blinded by the birds a few days back. Fortunately, the food in Alterra was great so he still had his eyes. However, not all was lost in his case, because he and Chucky had finally made a breakthrough! Although it was still within the territory, they had managed to get the budgers to finally deliver a message! And they were super quick too! It only took a couple of minutes for them to get from point A to point B! They still needed to try larger distances, but they were confident it''d work! Contribution points here we come! ¡­ An hour later. Jonathan and the others were finally leaving, and Gill, Althea, and the others saw them off. This time, no Alterran would be coming with them as there were too many going-ons in their area. Instead, they asked Jonathan to send their team back in Ferrol a sealed letter so they didn''t worry about anyone coming. On the contrary, the aborigine members were asked to recruit a few more warriors. They also sent them a ''loft'' but without a bird, as well as some vague instructions on how to use it. This would be targeted by the bird (that''s still ongoing training) when it was sent there. It should be ready by the time the ''loft'' gets into the hands of Kleid and the others. Jonathan nor his team had any idea what it was for, of course. "We''ll definitely come back soon," Jonathan said, "Hopefully with the new luxury villas already built." Speaking of the luxury villas, he was still a bit bitter about it. Sad to say, the luxury houses had already been leased out before he came (with his cousin, Veronica, and the Golds taking a few sets). He was still too slow! Althea smiled, "It''s still being discussed, but the mountain villas should be built within the next... several months," she said, "They''re designed to have small pools like the bathhouse." These houses would be even more exclusive than the current villa community, designed to have their own pools and maybe even hotsprings. Though there was no volcano nearby, they determined that the groundwater was very warm, and they knew there was still geothermal activity. They planned to maximize that. Of course, a lot of digging was involved so she estimated they''d take some time to build them. Jonathan and the others didn''t have an exact image, but the mere word that it would be even grander than the current villas made their eyes shine. They even offered to pay a bit more than the leasing price, as long as she guaranteed them a house. Althea agreed, wanting to have a closer relationship with this rare open-minded aborigine lord. Speaking of this, she stepped forward with a smile, handing him a token. "Oh, Lord Jonathan, here''s a gift from me." The man looked at the piece of carved wood, and its aether signature told him this was a tool. A Magic Tool. An eyebrow rose and he looked at her. It was a low-leveled one, but magic tools were not common in these parts. "It''s a protection amulet. It may not be much for your level, but there''s no such thing as too much protection," she said, smiling. "I got a few as loot from Fargo, and I thought of giving you one." Jonathan nodded, appreciating the gesture. "Thank you." ¡­ ____ It took about a day of leisure travel on a beast cart before Jonathan''s caravan entered the vicinity of his hometown. They could soon see Ferrol from a distance, and Jonathan couldn''t help but look to his side, staring at his cousin. "Can you handle them?" he asked, referring to her family and her situation. If she asked for help, he could see what he could do. It wouldn''t be much¡ªbut he was still a lord, after all. He''d like to think he''d be able to help his only cousin. Cassandra didn''t speak, pondering. With a sigh, she patted her neck to feel the outline of the protection charm given by Gill. "Of course, I can," she mumbled, but her voice was soft. Jonathan looked at her, confirming. "If you need some support¡­" S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Thank you¡­" Cassandra said, but she didn''t dare take so much of his time again. Jacoba Town was much farther to Ferroll than Alterra was. She''d effectively be taking Ferrol''s lord¡ªor an important person in his forces¡ªfor at least two weeks. Besides, she didn''t want to risk tension between the two towns for her own cause¡ªespecially when she felt he wouldn''t be able to do anything for her anyway. Jonathan looked at her and confirmed whether she was being sincere. He sighed. "Actually, before going to Alterra, I did hear a few rumours¡­" "Just say it." "I heard that your father is trying to make that illegitimate brother of yours legitimate and the heir." "What?!" If it proceeded, then she wouldn''t have a choice, not really. The fact that her family was trying to marry her off probably had a lot to do with this! Speaking of, there were two husband candidates. One chosen by her father, and the other by her mother. One was a good-for-nothing but with a weak family, while another one was relatively decent with a good family. Both were womanizers with houses filled with women. One was to finally rid of her, while the other was to use her to retain control of the family¡ªat least just until she gave birth to a son. Heh, what a life she had. But her hand found the necklace again and she immediately felt calmer. The atmosphere in the carriage stagnated, with the two people entering their own thoughts. Veronica could only watch, low-key eating a nice candy she got from Alterra. Soon, the carriage entered the cleared pathway heading to the gate. This signalled that they''d be entering the walls in a few minutes. However, midway there, they went past a beast carriage that had just been to Ferrol, and it immediately halted at the sight of them. Jonathan narrowed his eyes. "Guia Village?" Baltimore went out of the carriage to greet him. He did some basic show of respect but his expression was bland and bored, as if just going through the motions. "What is it?" "We were tasked to study the new territories. You came from there?" "Yes, I partnered with one." "Oh? Is it the one associated with the Terrans? Alterra Village, correct?" Jonathan paused at this, and the girls also narrowed their eyes. "Why do you ask?" Baltimore''s face didn''t change. "I''m simply curious, Lord Jonathan. "Alterra," Jonathan began, "is my ally." Baltimore paused at this and looked at him. "Your warning has been noted," he just said, before turning to head back to his carriage. "Now, I will excuse myself, I wouldn''t dare hold the lord away from his territory for too long." Jonathan nodded, though his suspicious eyes didn''t part from him until his carriage disappeared from view. "Cousin¡­ are you¡­?" Jonathan shook his head. "Nothing happened yet and, even if I did, I may not be able to stop anything," he said, feeling a little powerless. He heaved a deep breath. "For now, we can only hope for the best." ¡­ As the Guia''s beast carriage breezed through the dense forest, the lord sat still on his bench, mind reeling in thought. Baltimore''s eyes sharpened as he recalled his findings not too long ago. After torturing several goblins, he found that there was a space stone in one of the goblins the Terrans took! Space Stones!! The Goblins were one thing¡ªquite a loss in and of itself¡ªbut Space Stones were also another matter. That was a rare treasure that even nobles from the cities may not have! And more than its value, it was a status symbol that he believed he deserved! Those bastards dared take it away from him¡­ The man''s jaw tightened, and an atmosphere of vindictiveness surrounded him. And it was time to take it all back. Chapter 675 Contribution Store (Part 1) Alterra. At this time, the Gold siblings were walking around, eating and drinking various juices with bamboo straws. They still looked like tourists even after so many days. Well, except for Honda, who was playing with his new friends somewhere¡­ Apparently, a so-called school will start the next day, and the children''s time to play will be limited. So now, the group of youngins were running around, doing every game they could think of. To be honest, it was a heartwarming image. They had never seen Honda so¡­ carefree before. Other families might see this as too loose and improper, but the Golds had always been open-minded. In fact, the more they stayed, the guiltier they felt that the other family members were not here. It really felt like they were slacking off¡­ After walking around for a bit more, their feet paused when they saw a crowd in front. They seemed to be forming in front of a store by the plaza. There were sounds and music and cheers and they knew for sure the was a new shop opening. This was one of the larger shops left unused for quite some time, which was really obvious because the rest of the area was very lively. It seemed like it was finally put into use. There were also plenty of stalls and walking merchants around, selling food and drinks to the people watching the show and waiting for the store''s opening. They were selling typical food that the Golds had tasted many times (not that they''d stop anytime soon) but this was why when an unfamiliar snack appeared, they knew it was a new one. "Popcorn! Popcorn!" they yelled. "Celebrate the opening of the new Territory shop with POPCORRRNNN!!" Many people turned to the shop with sparkling eyes. "Whoa, wait! We have it now!" "FINALLY!" These shops were immediately mobbed, the citizens practically throwing money. Popcorn kernels had been made available in the grocery store (in limited quantities) a few days back. Now, a few days later, at least ten stalls all around the village had begun selling the goods. There were some classic flavors like cheese (made from Broat Milk), barbeque, and sour cream. There were also innovative flavors like Gouji flavor and the minty Papra flavor, among many others. "GAH SO COOL!" The excitement naturally made the guests very curious. They lined up with everyone and they soon got close enough to be seen by the person manning the stall. "Oh my, it''s our gorgeous golden guests!" The stall owner yelled, very sincerely, and it made the Golds blush a little. There was something about loud sincere compliments that made even the thick-skinned Otto shy. The owner''s smile was wide as ever, selling his products with pride. "Try our soft chewy snacks that you would never get tired of! Various flavors available! Taste one to see which one you''d like the most!" He waved his hand over the various bowls attached to his shop sill. The Golds looked curiously at the different bowls with small puffy things of differing colors inside. The Golds tentatively took a piece of each and tasted. They blinked. It was nothing really mind-blowing at first¡ªnot like the other food with an explosion of flavor that characterized most Alterran cuisines¡ªbut they found the taste and texture very, very interesting! They could see the appeal, especially after a few specific flavors. Its flavours were lovely, and its texture soft and chewy at the same time. There was also a great combination of salty and sweet that could be very addicting. "I can eat this all day¡­" Otto said in wonder. The salesman caught his comment and brightened. "Indeed! That''s what is so special about this food. "It doesn''t have a strong taste and it may even be underwhelming at first, but it captured the so-called bliss point: the balance of salt and sweet, soft and crunchy." The Golds had definitely tried all flavors and had decided on their own favorites. Each one took a bucket and they mindlessly placed one after another, watching the program in front. The program was even livelier than standard performances which usually had a simple singing or dancing number (the Golds made it a point to watch every one during their stay). sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The ''production number'' as locals would call it was quite big¡ª one that included the biggest ''star'' Fable. With just this, one could tell that this was a very, very, important shop. They watched the performance aptly, incredibly curious what the shop was about. Fable was magnificent as always. His strong yet flexible movements were in the beat, and it was matched by the dozens of dancers moving in-sync with him. Fable had already translated his songs into the local language, so now the Aborigines could sing along and he already got quite a number of fans, especially those who came from Ferrol. When the program finished, boisterous cheers resounded. The Golds were already used to this and had long joined the applause. Some of the other aborigines who hadn''t seen enough programs weren''t though. For instance, the Ferrol guests and the new aborgine hires. However, their hearts beat loudly at the energy and it excited their souls. Safe to say, they''d be joining the boisterous cheers very soon as well. The program soon ended and Fable raised his arms, signalling another set of wild applause to resound. (He was panting a bit and a little sweaty, so in response a lot of his fangirls threw handkerchiefs at him, hoping it would be used.) "Welcome to the newest addition to Alterra!! This one is not like any others¡ªand it will be found only in Alterra!" he yelled, before putting on a mysterious smile. "What''s the shop, you ask?" "It''s the contribution store~! Where very specialized items would be sold." The Golds looked at each other. They had naturally heard of this store¡ªa lot of their products would be sold here. This increased their interest in the store, wanting to see what else was available as well as the market reaction to their products. Will Alterra surprise them again with this one? Chapter 676 Contribution Store (Part 2) The program ended and the people began to queue in front of the door. Everyone had been in Alterra for long enough to know it liked things organized. Everyone was well-behaved, especially since the punishments for violations now included a deduction in contribution points! They could handle a bit of money lost, but not their contribution points! Interestingly, the Golds received quite a few kind offers for them to go ahead. Alterrans were very hospitable, especially to people who greatly increased the GDP¡ªwhatever that meant¡ªof their village. After a while, it was their turn, and they watched the bright eyes of those who just exited the store. "It''s decided! I''ll camp outside during Beast Mobs! I must! I need to get that weapon!" His companion nodded at him. "Same! I need to get those boots!" Interestingly, another pair walking right behind them increased their pace to catch up, tapping their backs. "Same with us! Wanna form a temp team?" "SURE!" One yelled, his smile wide. And he shook hands with the stranger he literally just met. "Teammates!" "Teammates!!" And they left, energetically planning on what ''spot'' to take and what the composition of the team would be. They sounded to be looking forward to it. This made the Golds look at each other with raised eyebrows. Never in their lives had they heard civilians do this. Civilians would often be forced to fight in wars or go against mobs, of course, but for them to be so willing and even excited was really something they had only seen in Alterra. Anyway, the group entered, finding themselves in a large hall with a long counter, displaying various items. This was in contrast to the grocery stores with a relatively open plan. This set up was much more similar to a lot of aborigine stores. Although there were ''no stealing'' rules in Alterra, the higher-ups all knew the regulations would be null during wars. The objects in the Contribution Store, the Medicine Store, and many others were too important, and it was designed to easily be defensible come wars. Perhaps, when the forces were larger, the shops would be open during wars, and there would be dedicated guards to keep order. Anyway, the Golds saw some familiar items like aether letters, sound stones, and there were other items not available in the other shops. Some were familiar items found in towns like certain types of potions as well as Class D and even a few Class C equipment. This naturally excited the locals, whose exposure of the larger world was limited. The Contribution Store would not only provide a medium for the locals to afford new equipment, but they would also get a glimpse of what else was ''out there''. "WOOOO!" "AMAZING!" "I WANT THAT WEAPON! Thank goodness I saved up on points!" Anyway, the people in front of them seemed very passionate. If it wasn''t for the large ''Causing Chaos Loses You Points'' warning painted on the wall, it was estimated people would fight for the items. Otto felt a bit proud of how well his stuff was selling. After all these years as a merchant, this type of fun had long faded. If it sold well, very good, but it didn''t¡­ tingle anymore. Now, he was reminded that he built a caravan not just for money¡ªbut to explore new lands, and help others do the same in his own way. They reached the counter and saw there were two people behind to help out their customers. The larger bulkier man with a limp smiled. "Hello there~! My name is Macky," he said and then he pointed at the middle-aged woman next to him. "And this is Gierra. We handle the store!" "We are open during working hours, sir and madame~ Unless there''s a war or beast tide, in which case we''ll be closed as we''ll be contributing with everyone." When they decide to open, they''d go in shifts, and there would be a guard to keep the items safe. "Hello, there," Otto said. "So you sell some special items here? Can we only buy using contribution points?" "Yes, it''s a strict rule," Macky said, pointing at the other rules on the wall. "I see, I see," Otto said, blue eyes tracing over the various items. As a city dweller¡ªa merchant at that, he recognized all of them¡­ except for one. His sights fixed on three identical flat pendants displayed together in a special way. "What is this?" "They are Protection Charms." "A Protection Charm?" he whispered. "I don''t remember selling these¡­" "Maybe Jonathan did?" Olga asked, crossing her arms. Otto looked at Macky. "Can we see it?" Macky handed one to the aborigine, letting him study it closely. Next to him, his siblings also leaned forward to check it out. "It''s really good quality," Obi mumbled as he rubbed the surface. "Quite costly, too. Only 3 are sold." He didn''t know how the value of contribution points was calculated yet, but it was priced along the Class D tools and equipment. Otto used assessment skill, eyebrows rising a little. "It''s level E Magic Tool. Not bad." Although it could technically handle level 10 and below for 100 times, it means it could handle stronger monsters for fewer hits. Like so, it could still save lives of higher- level individuals. "I''m interested," Obi said, chewing on his barbeque-flavored popcorn. "Too bad we don''t have contribution points." Contribution points were generally not transferable unless the person died, in which case the points would be transferred to the bereaved. "Eh, they''re not really that common, but I did encounter a few back in Holt City and in Wrathforge City," he said. "Well, yes, but this is a village," Olga said, before turning to the clerk. "Any idea where these came from?" "I think Gaea Chamber of Commerce got it," Maki answered, though Gierra next to him tilted her head a bit. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Ah, I heard a lot of them went to the Ferrol Annual Fair." "Either way, that makes sense," Olga mumbled, feeling admiring. "The leading parties really care for the people a lot, to procure so many tools and equipment accessible to everyone who worked for the territory." They nodded, sticking to this conclusion in the meantime. It was the only logical explanation for new magic tools appearing in a new village! Imagine their shock when they realized¡ªa long time later¡ª that it was someone from a village who actually created it! Chapter 677 Messenger Birds After the past few days of their stay, Benny and the others had fallen in love with Alterra. And this made their imminent departure that much more heartbreaking. However, they still knew they were sent here because they asked to¡ªbecause they wanted to see what the ''main territory'' was like. Sadly, now they had seen it, they didn''t want to leave. Anyway, as reluctant as they were, responsibility and duty still emerged over temptation (they were real men). After all, they would be the mainstays in Limestone Valley, with some of the original members of the Terran Mercenary team assisting with their leveling until they hired aborigines who could do so in their stead. Benny didn''t bother hiding his reluctance though and Sammy, an old friend, patted his shoulder. "Relax. Limestone Valley is now part of Alterra. Just wait for it to change positively under us. Besides, maybe they already improved things while you were here." "Hmn, you''re right," Benny said, feeling a bit better. Even if they couldn''t be as good as Altera, even getting a bit of its quality was already infinitely better than those other territories outside. This time it was Luis'' turn to bring them there. "This will be the last time we''ll escort you. Please train harder," he said and they blushed a bit, though agreeing in their hearts. They were soldiers for goodness sakes! They couldn''t be escorted to and fro every time! Garan and the others sent them off, and Vanessa naturally couldn''t go without sending googley eyes at the captain (which was, of course, ignored). She was particularly blatant now that Althea was nowhere in sight. Before they went away though, Eagle ran to them. He was closely followed behind by a tall, skeleton-thin man with medium-length hair. "Wait!" "Eagle? And who''s this?" "This is Reddit, our Animal Trainer." Luis couldn''t help but take a closer look at Reddit, feeling that he''d be blown away if a monster sneezed on him. "Oh? Can you train beasts, then?" Reddit shook his head. "No, at leath not yet. My inheritanth doethn''t thay anything," he said. "I can only influenth and train non-aggrethive creaturth." "Including Broats?" He asked, as if not hearing the lisp at all. "I''ve already taken Chucky ath my apprentith," Reddit said. "Hith focuth ith on Broath and other livethock." They nodded, quite curious as to what this implied. Heyhey maybe even milk quality could get improved. Who knows. "Anyway, we stopped you to get you this," Eagle said, revealing a small cage with two birds inside. They blinked, even Vanessa stared. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were very little, and very very adorable. Their size was smaller than the palm and they had unique velvety feathers. They went by so fast that they were basically invisible to the low-level people there. "They''re very cute. These are the legendary non-monstrous birds?" "Yes, we''ll be using them to communicate, for now." Allied and subsidiaries could send some short messages via the VIllage centers, but it ironically wasn''t like that for satellites. After all, satellites didn''t have lords, which were required to access the messages. The Elders could make announcements via the centers as well, which was what Althea told them she did, but they had to be in Limestone Valley to do so. Speaking of this, one had to be in the village center to send the message. What if they were outside the territory? Aether letters had a limited scope and could extend not too far away from the territory. They still needed an alternative way of long-ranged communication. Cellphones were far into the future¡ªif ever¡ªso they had to find another way. Messenger birds were the most viable option they had. "Wow they really move fast," Benny said, blinking when the birds practically disappeared in front of their eyes, only to reappear again somewhere else in the cage. "What are their names?" Eagle smiled, introducing their new teammates. "These cuties are called Uno and Dos." "..." Who named them? The captain? "Can they really be used as messengers?" Henry asked. "How do they work, if you don''t mind us asking." "To a certain capathity, yeth they can thend methanges," Reddit said. "Ith can travel much father than aether letterth and they are altho very fathth. "How do we use them?" Henry asked, looking at the two birds curiously. "OH, and bring thith with you," he said, taking out a few sacks of food which Benny took. He couldn''t help but open and take a peek at its contents. They were dried and seasoned Gouji berries, and Eagle smiled at his reaction. "These fruits are apparently these birds'' favorites." They confirmed this because the ones they captured¡­ ended up bring their families as soon as they could. Reddit then continued to teach them how to use the birds. "You juth have to feed them a handful every day, and give extra when you''re sending it on a mission. "Thpray this perfume on whoever ith thet to receive it. You have to thpray every hour though ath it dithipateth quickly." Benny opened the bottle and sniffed. "Smells nice," he said. It was also notable that the birds stopped moving so quickly when he opened the bottle. Instead, they looked at him with those large eyes and he squinted at the cuteness attack. Reddit didn''t notice this and continued to explain the potion more. "It hath thpethial Gouji berry exthract. Be careful when you uthe outhide territorith, becauth you may attract a lot of bugth." Then, he paused at a realization. "Well, the birdth can altho clear thoth up, tho do whatever you want." "..." As he finished, Reddit looked at Henry and the others with deep seriousness. "Pleath take good care of them." These were practically his children, after all. Rebellious brats, but his children nevertheless. "Ah, yes, we will," Henry said, looking gently at the little critters. Benny did the same and Vanessa also found the things very cute. Eagle nodded in approval and, seeing as Reddit didn''t have anything else to say, he proceeded to add the final caveats. "As you can see, there''s a lot of imperfections with this system. We''re still studying it. But it can serve our purpose for now. For one, a bird (unless it gets distracted) can travel from Alterra to Limestone valley in a few hours." "We also had to limit the people who can ''control'' them to about 1 or 2 per territory. This is to avoid confusion on the part of the birds," he told them. "Fortunately, birds here are a bit smarter than were used to, so it''s unlikely for them to fall for obvious traps. "We''re not underestimating humans, especially Terran ingenuity though. If other people developed the technique, then it''s possible to intervene, so we don''t recommend sending super sensitive information. At the very least, make a habit of sending messages in code." Benny and the others looked at the birds with particularly sparkly eyes. "Well, our communication problem is not a big issue anymore with these babies." Sammy chuckled at this. "Hmn, yeah. But don''t be surprised if our research team churns out phones one of these days." Benny laughed, "Well, I certainly won''t be surprised." Chapter 678 First Edition Newspaper "Oh, and there''s another thing we hope to bring with you," Eagle said, releasing biles of paper filled with texts from his space. "These aren''t much, but please place them in your village center for public reading." Some of the youngins weren''t particularly familiar with it, but Henry was shaking a bit when he took a set, opening it with wide eyes. "It''s a newspaper!" As the only one in the group to have actually used this outside a museum, this meant more to him than others. "This is amazing¡­" he said, unconsciously starting to read one. The others also took a copy, curious about what it contained. The texts seemed to be printed, too. "You already have the printing press?" Henry asked, very surprised. While everyone else was struggling to survive, Alterra was advancing too fast! His reaction made the locals grin proudly. "Alterra is really heading towards modernization at the speed of light," Sammy said, but looked around the large number of greeneries. "Well, with some lessons learned." They couldn''t help but read the articles and the Alterrans didn''t rush them to go, understanding the need to read. When they saw it, they also put everything aside to read every single article. A few of the articles were written by Beany, some by the famous newscaster Vivian, and some was by Rosalind. Beany''s focus was on the territory itself. It included the rescue and assistance of Bright (with its subsequent entry as a subsidiary), the upgrade of the Training Hall, and the opening of the Contribution Store. There were also mentions of some special cases who managed to take high advantage of the Training Hall, like those who reached level 10 with it. This was posted to entice other people to maximize the Halls as well. Beany also gave a few peeks of what was available in the Contribution Store¡ªas well as some hints of what was to come. Of course, he also included some information about Limestone Valley nee Fargo Village, including the upcoming upgrades, though most of his information was fed by Althea since he wasn''t there when the planning was happening. Vivian''s article was the Grand battle of Fargo. While a lot of information was kept hidden for security''s sake (they didn''t want to feed too much info of their skills to potential enemies) the way it was written was still extremely attractive, as if the reader was taken to the battle. Several heroic figures and their deeds were listed without mentioning their techniques. Of course, they asked these people if it was okay to publish their name or if they''d like to use codes. Some were fine with their names being published, while some were not. This caused an already-interesting article to be made even more fun. Names like ''Sly Rat'' and ''Master of Doom'' were sprinkled in, and it made many readers chuckle. The list of the deaths¡ªmostly from the slaves¡ªwas also listed. If they made contributions, they were also mentioned. There was also a heart-wrenching Collective Obituary for the Alterrans who perished during the war. There would be several copies per edition kept by the village, to be added to a future library and be immortalized in history. This way, the future generation would see how many deaths the peace they had was built upon. Rosalind''s article was about the importance of continued education, followed by the news of the school opening. "Education and Strength is key to molding a younger generation," the article stated. "They must grow to be able to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their homes. They are malleable minds and must be guided towards the right path from an early age¡ªthat is what a school is for." It also indicated the classes available and what parents could expect their children to learn. For instance, there was nursery class, though Theo seemed to be the only student for now. Next was the elementary school, where Maya, Horus, Mimi, and most surviving kids would go. Other than literacy, history, values classes, and the like, Foundational fighting and exercise would also be taught here. The High School (for tweens and teens) would include real training against low-level monsters. There was already a plot of land near the barracks where monsters level 5 or below were held for training. A couple of animal advocates naturally tried to free them, but they were quickly shown that these weren''t sentient animals (by throwing them into the cages, rescued at the last second). They were mindless beasts and this taught these people that they ought to adjust if they wanted children to be able to do well in this world. Anyway, these were all public knowledge among Alterrans but seeing them in print naturally helped with people''s sense of pride. They would also help recruit more people who would see this, having a better understanding of what Alterra could offer as a territory. Anyway, now that everything was handed over, the group finally gestured to set off. However, a certain woman didn''t move. Vanessa felt her feet were too heavy. She had been trying to imply she wanted to stay for the past few days, but it was never discussed. She had to say something! Henry looked at his daughter, puzzled. "Vanessa?" She pursed her lips and looked back at her crush. "I want to stay," she said, making her father frown. "Why?" "I¡­ Alterra is getting bigger, it needs more forces¡ª" Before Henry could reprimand her, Garan''s low voice resounded in their area. "Limestone Valley has twice the population, and much less defensive abilities." "But¡ª" "Are you disobeying orders?" "No, I¡ª" "You swore to follow orders," Garan said, "And I assigned you to Limestone Valley." "But¡ª" Garan frowned, asking bluntly. "Do you want to stay in the group? This type of insubordination with an obvious agenda is not welcome in our mercenary team." Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Vanessa''s eyes widened and she looked at him in disbelief. Seeing he was serious, she looked at her father who wasn''t saying anything! "If you continue making foolish decisions, I cannot make any more excuses for you," was all he said and it made Vanessa want to cry. Benny saw the tense atmosphere and tried to diffuse it by laughing at Sammy. "See you again, old friend!" he said with a forced smile, before nodding at the boss. "We''ll go now, captain." Henry nodded and followed Benny and Luis after saying his goodbyes. Vanessa had no choice but to follow, her head bent down a bit in embarrassment. She couldn''t open her mouth to say anything anymore. She knew for sure she''d get kicked out if she said another word! She simply wanted to stay in Alterra! It wasn''t like she wasn''t going to do her job! Was it too much to ask? Chapter 679 Concrete While a mosquito was targetting her husband, Althea was very very busy in the Research Center. At this time, she was in the building materials research center, looking quite satisfied. Why? Because Concrete was almost finalised! Fortunately, when they got enough of the ingredients, they could easily experiment on the optimal conditions. They soon zoned in on the ideal formula, at least for the temperature and humidity of Alterra. They also had to consider the atmospheric composition, gravity, and even the soil properties. Now, they had to test its performance in extreme temperatures. It happened that Tori had a thermostat so they could do it scientifically. They were experimenting with Bento, a Materials Engineer from the Eden government and his team. "Gravity is stronger, so we need to make the concrete more robust¡­" one said, and his assistants¡ªmostly students from different fields of science¡ªadjusted the proportions of sand, gravel, and crushed rocks. This went on and on for a while. "Expansion rate is¡­ "Elasticity¡­ "Coefficient is acceptable, but I think it could be improved." "Maybe if we add rebars¡­" "That''s true. What about structural fibers?" She watched the scientists work on data and came up with a thought. She took out her aether letter, calling her husband. /Husband, where are you?/ /About to go home now. Why? Where are you?/ /Research Lab. We need you here./ she said, closing it after he answered the affirmative. They continued with the experiments until the handsome man arrived. The shy scientists froze, their movements getting affected just by his appearance. They couldn''t get used to his strong presence at all! Miss Althea also had a great presence, but she was gentle and kind and made people feel relaxed. Her husband though, had suffocating coldness. Why would Miss Althea even call him here? As if hearing their thoughts, Althea answered the question, "Didn''t you want to test in cold temperatures?" She asked, pointing at him. "He can simulate the cold. He can also create metal similar to steel." Oh. They looked at her with enlightenment and their attitude toward Garan shifted from one of fear to one of admiration and cooperation. Anyway, they did similar tests with Sir Garan. Garan manifested a small bar of metal to test after they determined his metal element was very close to steel. Althea was there to soften everything up (i.e. calm down the atmosphere by softening her husband up) and the scientists fortunately managed to get the data they needed. They calculated and determined the best compositions, regardless of the extreme weather conditions thrown at them. They had reformulated the admixtures to be able to trap enough air to handle extreme cold, but also used special improved fly ash to handle the extreme heat. After hours of trial and error, the test results were optimized and the scientists quickly recorded the ration and components. The system buildings could handle the current situation of Xeno on their own, but their manual constructions needed this study. Speaking of the system buildings, they studied the materials it was made of (using the broken pieces found in Fargo), and determined that their special durability was due to something else¡ªprobably aether-related. This wasn''t something in their current capability to study, but they confirmed that as long as the material was of this world, then it''d have traces of aether, so just as well. Further, they tested and their manual construction with the current concrete and were confident it wouldn''t be inferior in strength at all. Althea also determined that the arrays embedded in system residential buildings were not defensive ones like that of the walls. It was likely only related to its non-scalability, as if it added a spiritual slippery coating on its surface. Anyway, after a bit more recording and testing, they concluded this round of study was a success. "With this, we should be able to create up to 4 floors without a problem. If we find reinforcements to increase tensile strength, we can go twice that." That was to say, reinforcement as in steel. They also found some fibers, but that was limited to a few floors. Garan had limited energy and making permanent metal was much more energy-consuming than just manifesting it for a while as a weapon, so his metal was out of the question. For now, they had to find a ready source of iron¡ªan actual mine¡ªand go from there. The next direction of this lab then was to improve the strength of the reinforced concrete¡ªwhether it was by reinforced steel, fibers, or other types of reinforcements. She deemed it worth the tedious manual construction if it was 10 floors and above. With the advent of concrete, they could now improve infrastructure. She decided to defer on the high-rise building as the customized building was still enough for now. At the very least, it wouldn''t be worth so much time if the end product was only 6 floors, which could be achieved somewhat by the Level 2 Custom Building. Besides, would she want buildings too tall? In retrospect, the skyscrapers of Terran weren''t particularly attractive, and it was too dense. However, she''d still want more freedom than custom buildings could make. As with the other custom building, since she set it to be of residential use. This meant that commercial and other uses were limited, so she could use concrete construction there. As for the concrete construction that would be done for the next phase of infrastructure building, they would mostly be for the horizontal. For instance, they could create an actual path of concrete blocks to go from Alterra to Limestone Valley, in order to better facilitate travel. Aqueducts and water systems could also be improved and be made more efficient. Cisterns and septic tanks for non-custom buildings like the public buildings and the inevitable manual residential buildings. And they could also make dams. Who knew, maybe they''d be able to harness hydroelectric energy soon. Even without it though, they still opted to create dams. While miraculously, the weather so far had been tolerable¡ªonly a bit of rain, a bit of hotness, a bit of coldness¡ªit didn''t mean it was like that forever. A dam would let them have more control over their part of the river, but only as needed. She had also hoped they could reinforce the System walls somehow, but the concrete just refused to stick. However, while this was puzzling to most, Althea easily understood the reasons. Adding it would''ve interfered with the arrangement of the arrays which was extremely sensitive. It could be changed when the surface varied by even a little. Just as elementalists couldn''t build on the walls to climb up during wars, the defending territory wouldn''t be able to do anything about it either. It was fortunate the whole formation didn''t crumble when a part was destroyed, otherwise, life here would''ve been extremely difficult and expensive. Perhaps they could find a way for concrete to strengthen Alterra''s defense in some other, still efficient, way. They no longer lacked materials, so they could experiment as they wanted. Well¡­ there was still much to study, she mused, but at least they were certainly in the right direction. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 680 Unexpected Finds Anyway, after summarizing their findings, Althea finally excused herself, to the relief of her husband. As they exited though, Althea started mumbling about what to do in her lab. This made Garan frown (or pout, to be more accurate) and look at her with furrowed eyebrows. She blinked in puzzlement. "What is it?" With a deep frown gracing his handsome face, he spoke. "You promised date night." She giggled, giving him a soft peck. She was just teasing him. Of course, she didn''t forget. How could she? He repeatedly reminded her this from this morning, afraid she would. She playfully avoided him when he dived back down to claim her lips. She smiled and placed a dainty finger over his lips. "Let''s check the other laboratories as well," she told him. "It won''t take too long, promise." Garan looked at her and sighed, letting her be. Of course, this earned him another peck which wiped away the bit of bitterness. They went to the adjacent laboratories, some studying the other mined materials, and some studying the other uses of lime. The amount of zinc and copper was actually a lot more than anticipated. In Terran, while they could be found together with limestone, it was typically in a small amount compared to limestone itself. It was why, while fortunate, they had to do a lot of checking. After all, any inconsistencies with Terran were a sign they were not exactly the same in composition. However, when she used Tori to check, there were minimal differences! Anyway, when they went to the labs, most of the tests had already been completed so Althea only asked for the summaries. The copper was tested for its electrical conductivity and the like, while Zinc was taken under a bit of mechanical tests. From here, they found the performances of these minerals and metals were even superior to that of Terran! If the theory was correct, then they could make twice or thrice the length of effective copper wire with the same amount of raw materials! For Zinc, the main use would be either galvanization or battery production. If it was really a better product, then they could make even more powerful batteries and the like! And finally, of course, they also studied other uses for limestone¡ªwhich was a lot. Speaking of, lime was also used as flux to clear impurities in steel, so their new resources would also assist them in their quest to mass produce steel. What''s more? Limestone¡­ was another material used for glass! Now lime and soda ash were done, all they needed was silica. They had a riverbed, but it was freshwater and the silica content wasn''t enough. However, they could still find them¡­ somewhere¡­ as long as they focused on looking for them. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Besides, didn''t they have hired-aborigines specializing in finding materials? Finding concentrated silica in a river should be easier than finding limestone mines! With that, she sent Tronie as well as another member of the Research Lab to go look in sandbanks or riverbed sediments where the materials were most likely to appear. They would also have dedicated guards to protect them, of course. She felt particularly excited to get those. Once they had glass, the laboratory equipment would soon be complete, increasing productivity and accuracy at a straight line. They would also have transparent windows and highly-controlled greenhouses, which would allow them to grow even more sensitive flora. There was also plenty of war equipment that''d need it like scopes. They were planning on creating scopes that could see many many kilometers away, especially a big one that''ll be set in the towers of Alterra. Finally, another use of lime was in papermaking. With this, they could finally produce more and not just available to certain groups! Her book-filled library and bookshops were finally in reach! Taking over Fargo was really one of the best decisions she had made! Of course, the access to new materials just added to the long line of research items the Research Center had to study. The Research Center definitely never lacked anything to do. Rather, the queue of things to study¡ªwhether it was an order from the elders or a public request¡ªseemed to be hundreds in number already. Fortunately, they enjoyed what they were doing¡ªespecially falling in love when they saw their inventions being used by their brethren¡ªand their remuneration was also very generous. The shares for popular inventions, more or less, could set them up for life. In fact, quite a few had gotten quite rich already. Not counting Eugene, there was Winona who had gotten a bit of wealth from her rubber (Althea also had the share as the person who found it, of course). There was also Shenti, the mastermind behind the mechanical Printing Press. However, none of them retired and just did what they loved for the territory they called home. "Ah, Winona''s office is two doors away," she said, holding her husband''s arm. "Let''s check on Winona before we go. We''ll just greet her and go." Garan nodded, though internally hoping the two women wouldn''t chatter for hours like they usually did. Althea, used to just barging in (Winona told her she didn''t have to knock), really did so. Usually, Winona would be buried in paperworks on her desks. She was really professional, and all her childishness was reserved outside the Research Center. That was the image she was expecting to see. What they didn''t expect to stumble upon was Winona being in an inappropriate position with Ansel. It wasn''t like ''they just fell into each other by accident the exact same time they opened the door'' kind of thing. They were outright making out¡­ They were currently on the sofa, with Ansel over Winona, passionately lapping her lips. The curvacious Winona wrapped her arms around the redhead''s neck very tightly, as if holding on to him for oxygen. It took them a few long seconds before they realized they had an audience and they stopped trying to eat each other''s faces. They froze, simultaneously looking towards the door. "..." "..." Chapter 681 Frenemies (Part 1) A few hours ago. Ansel mightily strutted inside the Research Lab, steps filled with purpose and annoyance. A lot of women were naturally staring at him, but in contrast to how it usually was, he didn''t even greet them back. His handsome face had furrowed into a frown, his teeth gritting, and his teeth clenched. Ansel¡­ was very mad! As an elder and the lord''s younger brother, he could naturally access most of the Research Center. He was also updated about the ongoings and could even influence which items were to be prioritized. His request, the phonographs¡ªwhich was already approved, by the way¡ªhad been pushed back! He knew that Winona''s team had been developing it until yesterday. They changed to insulation cups. Why the sudden change? How were insulation cups better than the phonograph, anyway? Sure, it can keep cold and hot drinks, right? While its main use was for his entertainment industry, with phonographs, they could record trainings and educational materials! They would also be able to record some music and the like! Well, okay, both weren''t that needed for survival, but he requested first! He abruptly opened the door to Winona''s office. She was currently on her desk, finalizing something he probably didn''t like. Ansel couldn''t help but pause as he looked at her. When Winona was working, even he had to admit she was particularly attractive. However, this little daze was quickly shooed away and he slammed the door closed to get her attention. She lifted her head to look at him but went back to whatever she was doing. Being ignored was one thing, being ignored by this woman was a different level of annoying! With gritted teeth, he romped his way through her 50 square meter office. He walked past her sitting area and to her desk, pretty much slapping the table with his palm. "What are you doing developing that insulation bottle before my phonograph?" S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "My research team, my decisions!" She said. "Besides, the tools and machines needed for your phonograph is too time-consuming. It will also need glass, which is still under production. "What about my Lithography! I was sure that was next to the line." With that, their printing press could have images! "Insulation cups are much more useful to do now." "How?" "It can help with extreme weather changes!" Winona said. "Think about it, you brat, if sudden cold or sudden hot weather happens, imagine having hot or cold drink ready in your space? Plus the technology can be used in building materials, too!" "..." Ansel''s annoyed stance calmed a little, but his pride didn''t really allow him to completely let go. In retrospect, if he was calm, he would''ve thought of it himself. However, being disregarded¡ªespecially by this woman¡ªreally irked him. "Noisy old hag," he muttered under his breath before planning to go, lest he humiliated himself even more. Winona gasped and stood up, fisting his head. "I''m only a few years older than you are!" Ansel annoyedly rubbed his head, glaring at the woman who was now right next to him. "Still old!" "At least I don''t have a sister complex! Disgusting!" "You!!" Ansel exclaimed, gritting his perfect teeth. "You''re no less clingy with Althea than I am! You go to her and always rub your overly big breasts against her arms! Are you lesbian?" Winona gasped. She had a few lesbian friends, but she wasn''t going to let Ansel taint her pure love for Althea. "It''s called showing attention! I am straight and I have had a few boyfriends." "Heh," he sneered. "Those scumbags after your money and sex?" Of course he knew her story, she sobbed to Althea with all the details whenever she was visiting. She sobbed loudly too so he inexplicably knew about them as well. He didn''t listen on purpose! Even if he did, it''d be for the fun of gossip! Winona flushed in shame, and it made Ansel pause a bit, suddenly feeling guilty (just a little) for running his mouth. Winona had dated a total of two other men other than that fiance (another scumbag, arranged by parents) of hers. One had tried getting her to buy a lot of things, even a car, and she did give a few until Althea and the others told her to be careful. Because Winona revered Althea so much, she hired a private investigator to check on him just to reassure her. But what they found was that he was really using her for money! He even had a girlfriend he had been dating for a long time. The other one was a handsome sunofabeach too. He was a nouveau riche and Winona thought that she wouldn''t have the problem of gold diggers this time. However, his family started using her own as leverage in business deals. He had also been trying to get her to bed, apparently in an attempt to baby trap her. There was almost a time he almost raped her and she escaped by using her mostly-unused self-defence skills. That was when she cut things off, and Winona was single once again. The thing was, that guy had apparently taken her half-naked photos and saved them on his phone. These were taken during the few times she tried to give him what he wanted, albeit she backed out halfway. That guy was vindictive and shared the photo with his circle of friends, which then spread to more and more people. It was a huge scandal and for a while, Winona became a laughing stock in the upper circles. Of course, she got her family to destroy his so there was that. And finally, there was the fiance her family set for her. He was a douchebag she never liked, but she went out with him anyway as per request. "At least I was sincere! I''m not a shameless casanova like you who plays with girls'' hearts while pining for his sister! Gross!" "YOU!" At this time, their faces were only an inch apart. They didn''t have the mind to react to the body heat the other was emitting. They just thought their heads were too hot that everything else was! "Those men must''ve broken you so you ended up swinging the other way, right?" He loomed over her and they stepped back to the sitting area without noticing. "You probably like girls! I will tell my sister you''re having impure thoughts! Better yet¡ª I will tell Garan." This made Winona gasp loudly. "You dare! Then I will tell him all the advances you made to Althea when he''s gone!" This time Ansel gasped. "I did no such thing! "I never had perverted thoughts for my sister!" He added with a passion. It was a bit ambiguous, but in retrospect¡­ it was more like an imprint than anything else. However, being questioned like this repeatedly still gritted at his nerves. It was time to put this old hag back to her place! Chapter 682 Frenemies (Part 2) "Besides, I''ve kissed dozens of women and they said they liked it! I also liked it!" he yelled, leaning ever so closely to her. Winona flushed a bit, but she wasn''t weak! How could she be intimidated by this womanizing idiot?! NEVER!!! She looked at him up and down, a smug smile gracing her pink lips. "Pffft¡ªyou think you''re a good kisser? I think it''s disgusting!" How many different germs are in there? She rudely pointed at him. "With your bad mouth, I don''t think anyone would want to kiss you!" Winona was well-bred and was very much leashed, but when she went wild, then she really went wild. When she discovered gaming and sports, her adoption of the potty mouth was not to be underestimated. "Oh, yeah?!" "Yeah!" The two of them continued to hurl insults at each other, their increasing need to win getting them closer to each other. It was as if closer meant louder and was therefore more effective. But then somehow¡­ for some reason¡­ their near-touching lips really gravitated towards each other. They touched for a bit, sending electricity down their spines. Surprised, they forgot they were in an argument and froze in shock. They ended up shifting, rubbing their lips against each other. Whether it was to feel more or to part, they weren''t really certain. Either way, the friction they felt was glorious. The atmosphere was stagnant and they moved, but it just brought them closer in the end. They wanted to say it was an accident, but it was like their bodies moved on their own. In the end¡ªas if their brains died for a moment¡ªthey just chased the pleasure that they had not yet felt before. Ansel pulled her up to be able to get a better and comfortable access to her mouth, while Winona wrapped her arms around his neck to support her weight because her legs were buckling. "Hmm¡­." Winona hummed as Ansel began to plunder her. His hand touched the curve of her back, pulling her flush to him. He felt all her softness, and he had to admit he had long been curious how it felt. It did not disappoint. Ansel parted her soft lips with his tongue, entering. He ate her moans as his tongue danced with hers, and soon their exchange made their legs soften, and they fell back to the sofa. They didn''t even know how long they were making out until the door opened and someone cleared their throat. ~End of (Embarrassing) Flashback~ Althea tried to stop herself from giggling¡­ but she couldn''t. Garan smiled as he patted her shaking back. "Don''t hold back, it''s bad for the body." As such, Althea laughed right at their faces. It took a while for her to calm down, and the two just wanted to bury themselves into the sofa. "Well, I always knew you two would end up together," she said after taking a sip of water Garan offered. She just never commented for fear that they''d go the other way just to prove her wrong. This comment naturally made the two look at her in aghast and offense. "WHAT?!" "HELL NO!" they yelled, and Ansel even added: "I love you sis, but this time you''re blind!" This earned him a glare from Garan and he quickly shut his mouth. Anyway, the two looked at Althea with flushed faces, intent on proving her wrong. Winona pointed at Ansel, face looking like an apple. "I don''t like ambiguous casanovas like him!" "Who wants duplicitous women like you!" Ansel snapped back, face also as red as a baboon''s butt. Althea smiled, knowing they were both being duplicitous. However, she was also afraid they''d run and sleep with other people just to make their point. She mused for a while before ending up with a plan. During this silence, the two didn''t speak either, trying to make sense of what had happened. The continued tingling in their bodies¡ªas if urging to find that pleasure again¡ªwas not helping them at all! Althea looked at the two of them for a while before speaking. "What about we do this? I''ll give you two a challenge. If you participate, you would get a hundred gold each, plus another 100 for the winner." Winner? As in there was a loser? Also, the amount rang nicely in their minds and they looked at her, "I''m listening," they said, quite in-sync, too, and it just agitated them even more. "Whoever gets the other to ask them for a kiss wins." "WHAT?!" "I see what you''re doing¡ªNO! I''m never going to be with him!" S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Ptooey! I cringe at the thought of kissing her!" Althea and Garan looked at the fools in denial. It was as if they weren''t kissing each other''s face out off a few minutes ago¡­ "I see¡­ you''re afraid for falling for the other. It''s a pity, but okay." "I''m not!" The two yelled simultaneously. "Fine! I take this challenge!" She smiled, relieved. Althea loved her best friend and knew she was looking for love. At the same time, she wasn''t clueless about Ansel''s ambiguous affection, but she also knew it for what it was. She simply didn''t point it out lest things get awkward. Anyway, he knew he''d grow out of it someday, and she was relieved to see the chemistry between him and Winona as soon as they met. They would always banter, but they failed to realize how immature they were only towards each other. At the same time, despite hurling the occasional insult, they would still show low-key ways of caring for each other. For example, when Ansel got a lot of bruises from a training session, Winona would magically always have some ointment in her bag (which she would proceed to throw on Ansel''s face, in the guise of testing if he learned anything). Similarly, when Winona would go to her and cry about another failed love story, there would magically be a lot of apple products (Winona''s favorite fruit) like apple juice, apple ice cream, and the like in their fridge. They never saw this but she, an outsider, could see it clearly. It was years in the making, but they finally took a step forward. If they proved to be good for each other during this time, then she''d do her best to make sure they''d end up with each other. Chapter 683 Oslos Special Buildings Engineering Department While certain people''s love lives were being discussed, the construction design team had reached a massive milestone. At this time, the Architectural and Engineering team surrounded the large connected tables, admiring the three A1 size glowing blueprints in front of them. It had a special aura around it, and it filled the team with so much pride. "Amazing¡­" they whispered, some under their breath, and some were quiet but their smiles were deep and from the heart. Oslo was the one with the brightest eyes. He had to admit he was even a little teary. They¡­really did it! They made aether blueprints!! He managed to secure eighteen sets of blu and special papyrus after spending a lot of money. However, he was expecting to get only 1 successful blueprint even after all those tries. After all, creating even one was extremely hard, let alone he had never attempted to do so before! Back home, he heard that even experienced Architects would take at least a dozen sets to be able to create a successful product! But with the help of his team, they actually managed to create THREE aether buildings! This was unprecedented!! Even a team of Class C architects wouldn''t be able to do this! Anyway, the team admired the pieces of paper for a while before they were used and turned to magic dust. "I''m still amazed at what we made," Santosh mumbled, looking to the side to look at the remaining Blu and papyrus they had. Speaking of materials and ingredients, they didn''t use everything because there was too small a small chance of them creating another blueprint, so they opted to retain the rest for research. The papyrus was a special type of writing material made with several layers of secret ingredients, but the Blu itself was more mysterious. It was precious dust with a gorgeous shimmer. Someone called it Fairy Dust. From those magical ingredients, they created the magical blueprints which would then turn into actual buildings they''d use¡­ it felt a little surreal. They looked at the three aether blueprints, especially at the glowing lines that felt like they were floating above the paper. "It''s like 2D holograms¡­ but better." Oslo grinned. "It gets better," he said, spreading his palms over a drawing. "Us architects have another skill." He abruptly raised his palms and the glowing 2D drawing turned to a 3D one! Like a hologram!! "Wowwww!" "Whoaaa!" "Beautifulll!!" The siblings Brianna and Brian were particularly high because someday, as system architects, they''d also be able to create the same! How exciting! Anyway, as for which building the team ended up drawing successfully, well, the Architecture and Engineering Team actually had a shortlist of what they could try and build. There was the Hospital, the Library, a new wall, a Dream Forge (where, in theory, equipment makers could create stuff fast), a Cinema, an Observatory, and a Clock tower. They were also asked to create a better prison compared to the system, but there were too many concepts there that eluded them. In the end, they chose the Hospital as the first and priority building to create. When they finished it and¡ªby some miracle¡ªstill had more sets to spare, they chose the library. And when they still had more, they pushed their luck. They tried the Dream Forge once but failed a few times. They quickly realized that they didn''t have enough understanding of certain concepts to be able to create one, so they moved on to more doable ones rather than risk wasting the remaining bluelle sets. They had also wanted to explore the walls, but they were reluctant to waste sets when there were perfectly good options available in the system. Then there was an upgraded prison. The lord didn''t want the current one as it stole the life out of people. However, it would take a bit for them to make a prison that could withstand strong enemies, especially elementalists. Even for Oslo, he didn''t have the understanding of how to keep powerful people trapped inside a room and unable to get out. Their current makeshift prisons could be fine for now, but when they went against strong enemies, the lord may have no choice but to spend a building slot for a prison in the end. It broke his heart a bit to not be able to meet this need, but sometimes people would just have to adjust to where they were. In the end, they built an Observatory, which was mainly to study the skies, but it could also double to see extremely far distances on land as well. The buildings were chosen not only because they were most practical, but Oslo had better understanding about these than others. The hospital was obvious and one of the building types Oslo studied a lot. The Library, with the advent of books, would also be useful. Maybe someday, they could develop it in a way they could maximize the World Knowledge as well. Of course, this was still far from their capability. Finally, the observatory was chosen because it could help them handle the inevitable extreme weather here and could also serve as a hyper-effective watch tower. Oslo shook his head and looked at his team with big ''panda eyes'' as they called it. Since getting the sets, they had only taken the bare minimum rest. While it was hard work, he had also seen the love for the craft, and it was something that definitely helped him keep going. They had also taught him so much, and there was no chance he could''ve built more than one without them! Class C architects and above had the skill of creating these things without having to learn arrays. However, they still had to have a deep, deep knowledge of what they were building if they wanted a small chance of putting the design to life! This was all credited to these people. "Good job guys! The territory promised us good contribution points for this!" he said, "And I, myself, will treat you all to the Premier Restaurant for Dinner!" The people cheered. "Also, an all day pass to the spa is on ME!" The people screamed. Oslo laughed, letting the cheering die down before rolling the blueprints to carry. "Now, time to present this to the elders," he said with a wide smile on his handsome face. "Let''s shock all of them!" ¡­ The Elders were asked to convene in the third-floor meeting room about half an hour later. At this time, there were only Althea and Oslo, with the latter excitedly showing the blueprints. "My success rate is really high, and I hope to give much of my contribution to my team. It was only because of them that I had seen such success." Althea smiled and nodded, looking down at the blueprints splayed out on the table. Althea stared at them in fascination, not expecting an aether blueprint to be so¡­ pretty. While waiting for the others, Althea decided to study the plans in detail. She wasn''t planning on critiquing the space planning¡ªthat was not her field¡ªrather, she saw that there were arrays embedded inside and she was absolutely hooked. Oslo didn''t seem aware of it, however, and Althea surmised that the Architect occupation had a passive to just integrate arrays in the drawings. This was similar to her tool maker inheritance that allowed her to integrate arrays into whatever item as long as they understood the array. She was curious. Perhaps, was it because the arrays were not clear to the Architects that their success rates of creating a successful product generally weren''t high? Then¡­ just as the success rate increased when the architect understood the functions of the building intimately, wouldn''t this increase even more if they learned more about arrays? Oslo mentioned that there were certain buildings they couldn''t even touch. Althea felt the limitation of that was determined by everyone''s knowledge of arrays. Of course, she didn''t know exactly what arrays to learn for those nor did she understand much, but it was a rational thought. At the same time, she also took advantage of the easy-to-see arrays (convenient because they were still small and could be seen more holistically) and jotted them down into her array notebook. Oslo beside her couldn''t help but peek. He thought that she''d be writing would be critiques or things for him to improve on, not expecting the notebook to be filled with familiar-yet-unfamiliar patterns. Oslo shook, whipping his head to look at her in disbelief. "Are those¡­ arrays milord?" "Yes." Oslo couldn''t help but gape at her. He knew she had been studying arrays, but¡­ to such a degree? Also, it seemed like his work had a lot of it. "So my drawings have arrays..." Oslo mumbled in amazement. These things¡­ weren''t explored much. As long as things worked according to how they were taught, they didn''t explore things too deeply. How amazing was Alterra, the lord, and her people to have such inquisitive minds. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At some point, Althea turned to look at him deeply, making him blush. "I have a feeling that your success rate will increase even more when you learn of this," she said, showing him the notebook. "Wanna try?" Chapter 684 Blueprints and Arrays "Milord?!" Oslo''s eyes were wide, realizing the implications. "I have a theory in mind, but it''s unclear," Althea said. "So during the meeting, please describe the functions of the buildings as deeply as you could." Oslo still hadn''t recovered and could only nod in the end. "Yes, milord." "For now, let me tell you about the arrays I do know," she said, and Oslo obediently sat next to her. More than the prospect of learning more, the fact that it was the lord herself teaching him so closely made him the happiest. The two discussed the arrays and functions together for a while. The more the minutes passed, the more Oslo was shaken by the new knowledge that was being introduced to him! In such a short time, Oslo felt like he was learning so many things and he was extremely fascinated. He would also tell her some stories, buildings, and tools that had such functions, and she would be able to surmise a few things from there. Garan arrived to see the two of them sitting so close together and talking about things he did not understand. However, while Garan naturally didn''t like another man being so close to his wife, all he needed to look at was her smile and the brightness in her eyes as she learned new things. He stared for a while, and he found himself calming down a bit, sitting on the other free seat next to his wife. He may or may not express the discomfort later at bed time, of course. Anyway, the rest of the elders started arriving one by one and the meeting started as soon as everyone arrived, with Althea and Oslo promising to meet again to discuss the concept a bit more. The Elders also looked at the blueprints in fascination. Oslo, a bit smug, gave them a detailed peek of what it was. "The first building is the hospital," Oslo said, showing the large detailed drawing with luminous ink. When he turned it into a 3D model, everyone ''oohed'' and ''ahhed'' and it was quite fun. "I studied this building for a long time before I even upgraded to a Class C Architect. It was the building we were most confident in achieving." It went so well that they got it after a few tries. "This is a 1000 square meter building with five floors," he said, waving his hand, and the holographic image of the building changed angles. He then expanded it, allowing everyone to see more details within. It was absolutely fascinating. It was a very beautiful structure with open plans and breezeways, carefully integrated with nature. It was big, but not massive¡ªits mass was skillfully broken down by various visual elements and plants. "The interplay of spaces would also allow for soft aesthetics, natural play of light, and maximization of natural ventilation." Ansel couldn''t help but notice a vertical block at two ends of the building. "Is that¡­?" S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oslo nodded. "It''s an elevator." "An elevator?!" "Yes," Oslo said, very proud. Rocky was amazing. The older man pretty much drilled into his head the basics of how it worked¡ªespecially one without the so-called electricity. Fortunately, as someone from the city, he was familiar with the pulley system so he wasn''t completely lost. It was the so-called hydraulics that took him a while to absorb. "Interesting, Interesting," Ansel said, already thinking of how to add elevators in some other buildings. Oslo of course didn''t forget his promise to Althea to detail the special effects of the buildings as closely as he could. "This building could not only improve regeneration rates by 10-15%, but also improves mood and clears the minds of the professionals." "Amazing¡­" "This is very helpful¡­" Althea nodded, noting it down. "This is just level 1?" Oslo said the affirmative. "I can''t say for sure what improvements it could get upon upgrade, but it certainly has the potential to improve healing rates by 30%, at least." Another magic of aether buildings was that they were ''growable'', hence the levels. Of course, this was still limited by the architect''s imaginations and the provisions they left in the original drawings, so there were plenty of aether buildings that might not have an upgraded version, or had a lackluster one. "That''s already very good, Oslo." "Thank you," he smiled, walking over the next blueprint. "Next is the library." The case for the library was quite interesting. Although it was technically a simple building, Oslo didn''t have the concept of a public library. Fortunately, there were scroll collections in his house that the concept wasn''t completely alien, but it was difficult to picture at first. However, when he absorbed what it was for¡ªaccessible knowledge for everyone¡ªhis heart was lifted, very curious, to the point he even dreamt about it. "The Library would be filled with collections of books, a lot of which we got from your tablet, Miss Althea." "The Library can also multiply certain often-used and non-restricted books on its own," He said. He had also studied the so-called printing press a lot for this. "Further, people would also be able to learn better inside the library." This wasn''t difficult because the Hospital had a similar passive. The Elders admired and showered praises, though Garan commented at this time. "This is very good, but we''ll need to limit access to people who contribute." This made everyone pause and agreed in the end. "Indeed. We don''t want outsiders taking advantage¡ªpossibly using the knowledge against us." Someone took note of this, and Mathilda even added some regulations to effectively let them control and facilitate the library''s use. "And finally, the Observatory," Oslo said, heading towards their final blueprint. "It is able to see at extremely far away distances." He had seen what a scope could do. A small one could let them see a kilometer away. Although the large telescope would still need something they called glass to create, they told him it would be tens if not hundred times more powerful than what could be held by hand. They did not have glass yet, but the fact that he understood its functions and how it worked was amazing enough to create a magical alternative in the building. There would also be a tube inside that could function as a telescope of sorts. In retrospect, it must be covered with magnifying arrays in order to work. "Another special effect is the increased energy of those inside, allowing them to stay awake without health risks for a long time," he said. "We also added a large clock at the request of the team." After everything, a clock was actually simple. He simply needed to copy the patterns of the gears, and connect it with a wind turbine above, which works much like the water wheels they had along the river. "As for the remaining set, it has been sent to the Research Center to study." Although he really couldn''t imagine what could be extracted from them, Oslo had learned not to underestimate Alterra¡ªespecially not its research team. The elders looked at each other with bright eyes and, after some discussion, everyone stood up, placing the blueprints on the array. Those in-the-know pretended that the territory absorbed the drawings and decided the locations of the building by itself. Either way, the territory was in for a treat today. Chapter 685 Built! The next moment, a resounding ding sounded across the territory. [Congratulations! Your territory has unlocked special buildings!] People froze and stopped talking, before whipping their heads to look at each other. "Special Buildings? Did I hear it right?" Although it wasn''t announced, a lot of people knew what the Architecture and Engineering department was up to. It wasn''t a secret and there were many members of that team. It took a moment for them to absorb that it was really happening, though. "Wait, whaattttt?" "When are they building it?" "I wanna see!" S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this, someone tapped his friend. "Look, look!!" They turned in the direction of the plaza. "WHOA!" Soon, three areas around the territory witnessed the magical creations of buildings and people swarmed to watch a good show. First to be erected was the Observatory, which was located above the mountains for a maximum vista. This also allowed a lot of people to see it even at the foot of the mountains. There were a few people having a picnic near the view deck though, and they were lucky enough to be the first to see it up close. It had a square floor plan and relatively ornamental side decorations extending all the way up. The ground level was also very pretty and designed to be a hang-out place. The territory would definitely improve the park amenities in this place. It was also located far from the lighthouse because the light pollution would interfere with the observations. They might even dim it a bit when they had to. Speaking of the lighthouse, it really made Alterra visible at night, even at dim settings. They got quite a few refugees since the time they had it operational. As for enemies, it didn''t really matter if they saw them. Wars generally required people to land inside the territory before a declaration could be made. There were staff members given access to monitor everyone who entered that day and how long they stayed. Of course, they couldn''t watch out for all spy activities with this, but they would strive to be as prepared as they could be. Besides, Alterra was Proud! They definitely wouldn''t adjust their goodness because they were afraid of new enemies! Next to be built was the Library, located next to the manually-built Research Center. This place had plywood surrounding it for quite some time. There was a massive hole inside this wall and they would now know what was meant to be there! The structure was around 400-500 sqm in floor footprint area, expanding another three floors upwards. Further, it also had 2 floors underground, thus the need to dig it up beforehand. "A second one?" Otto mumbled, looking at the building slowly being built, dust by dust. They were no less fascinated than the others to witness this. After all, cities were already built up even before they were born. How often would they see a building being built from scratch? "Oslo really made two with 18 sets?" Olga asked, very impressed and a little in disbelief. Obi was even more cynical, "Maybe there''s another level C Architect in here?" "A village? It was already amazing it had gotten so many good hires at this level, you think they could get 2 level C architects¡ªsomething only seen in high-level towns?" "Who knows, right? Maybe some lord''s wife fell in love and the said lord wanted to¡­" "You could start writing stories." "Should I?" Olga rolled her eyes. The siblings had just gotten out of the stadium to watch a very fun game of basketball. Otto and Obi, in particular, were very invested. It so happened that Ansel was the one to patent the game so they had already reached a deal with him. They did not expect though, to get such a surprise as they went to get their after-game snacks. To their shock though, they heard another building was being erected. "Another one?" they looked at each other in disbelief. "No, right?" Without further ado, the family (now including Honda who had reunited with them after crossing paths sometime in between) went to where this new building was, half-expecting it was a manual construction. But, to their surprise, it was another aether building! "This is¡­ three? I didn''t expect him to finish one!" "Orcshit!" "Language!" Olga yelled, covering little Honda''s ears. Amusingly, the half-orc Gochi happened to be in the vicinity, and he turned to them as Obi yelled the expletive. An awkwardness passed as the Golds met his eyes, and every one of them just looked forward as if nothing happened. Olga cleared her throat, guiding the topic back to where it was. "So¡­ really three?" Otto looked at the building being erected, the construction reflected in his blue eyes. "Maybe Oslo took 50 sets?" "That''d make much more sense," Obi said. Not considering the enormous cost and difficulty of procuring 50 sets, it still made more sense than Oslo making 3 buildings out of such a small amount of tries. The siblings couldn''t help but want to look for their youngest brother to get some confirmation of this. Well, all were curious except for Honda, who was perfectly happy to leave them again and go adventuring with his friends. After a few hours, all three buildings had been erected and people scattered to try them all out. The Golds found Oslo after asking around, and they decided to drag him so he could personally guide them. He was with his entire team, witnessing this historic moment together. "Come, guide us!" Olga said, dragging her little brother to check out all three buildings. What Oslo could say was naturally limited but the show was fascinating enough that they didn''t beat him up because of his smugness. While many people went straight to the library, the Golds decided to climb the mountain and admire the towers. Anyway, there were thousands of people in the territory. No one wanted to miss the chance to see the new buildings. The tower, which was far from the hustle and bustle, was naturally less busy. The details were really amazing and the multipurpose function was inspiring. To be honest, a lot of the time-keeping in Xeno heavily depended on the system (which appeared during countdowns like in wars), while more approximate estimates were done with tools similar to sundials. To see time accurately portrayed outside the system, and at all times, was new even for city dwellers. In Xeno, working hours were arbitrary. Basically, as long as the workers could see, they were expected to work with minimal breaks, if any. Slaves didn''t get breaks at all, and they would even work even if it was very dark. Oslo didn''t tell them about the massive telescope as it counted as a territory secret, but he did tell them some tricks about the clock. "It''s a difficult concept to explain as I still don''t fully understand it," he said, "The team taught me about many mechanical concepts that made them work with available technology. For example¡­" When he explained and saw them dazed¡ªalthough he hadn''t mastered the principles himself¡ªhe still felt smug for finally knowing more than his siblings. Seeing his smug face, Obi wanted to punch him, but he was too curious. "What about the others?" he asked, looking forward to pointing at the large building by the plaza. They were at an altitude so they could easily see the territory. Oslo followed where he was looking at and nodded. "That''s the library." "Library?" "Like the papyrus library we have at home. But it''s accessible to the public. Or at least those who did something for the territory," he said. "Here they would be able to learn many things like what the territory knows about the monsters, as well as basic knowledge about plants, etc." "What?!" They exclaimed, but immediately calmed down. They had been here for so many days now, they had naturally realized the culture here was just¡­ different. Still, it seemed like Alterra would never cease to surprise them! Chapter 686 Library Knowledge was shared much more in Alterra, because people knew it would be good for the territory. This was still something the Golds hadn''t completely comprehended but had seen in many forms. Not even counting Oslo''s upgrade, they had witnessed stores selling specific spices that demoed several recipes for free. While they found out it was a ''great marketing'' strategy (Otto learned a lot) to sell the product, most aborigines normally wouldn''t be willing to share recipes just by instinct. They had also learned a lot about apprenticeships and the like, and they knew it wasn''t anything like the apprenticeships that they knew. An apprentice here would learn years ahead of his peers under another master! They had also read the so-called newspaper (Oslo brought one home) to show that a school would be opening for an affordable price. In the city, going to a similar establishment was something commoners could not afford nor would they even have the right to enter. Here, by the way people were talking about it, it seemed that there was no stopping anyone¡ªas if anyone who wanted to go would have a way to do so. A school was like the paragon of sharing knowledge already, and now¡­, there was a library, which was an accessible place of knowledge. The closest the nobles had to a library were rooms within their respective family estates. These rooms were also rarely accessible to outsiders. Oftentimes, even family members might not be able to get inside. Rich families would even employ array masters to protect their libraries, setting it so only specific conditions had to be met in order for it to open. For example, in the Bleuelle Lord''s house, only the lord and his heir had the right to enter this library, no one else. It was a tradition of sorts and they heard a few siblings would scheme against each other to get the right to enter. This wasn''t actually indecipherable. After all, noble families tended to have a lot more access to papyrus and recorded knowledge. Some important knowledge that would likely increase a person''s strength was inside. Oslo let the idea brew for a bit before pointing at the final building along the Southwest Avenue, near the gates. "The last building, which should finish construction in another hour, is the hospital," Oslo said. "We''ll go there later." It was placed near the gates for easy access during mobs and beast tides. He also told them of its effects, as well as the rates discussed. "Employees of the territory would have a certain amount of free use," Oslo told them. They were told nothing in the meeting earlier was top secret, anyway. "Private companies would also have the option of providing the same to their employees, though they''d have to pay for it." The concept of employee benefits was still new to Oslo, what more to his siblings, but they could tell it was the territory caring for its citizens. "Unbelievable¡­" Otto looked at his brother. "I''m impressed." "Yes, so please help me get more drawing sets," Oslo said, unable to help himself. "Should we sell aether blueprints, then?" Otto asked, as business-minded as always. "I can find a way to make deals, provide the raw materials and the like." Oslo looked intrigued, though he did not answer definitively. "I''ll ask the territory, but they should agree as long as they obtain some shares." The two brothers looked at each other, their azure eyes bright as the skies above. In the future, a single blueprint of Oslo''s unique buildings (except for sensitive ones like libraries) would sell for tens of thousands of gold each. He would give most of the proceeds to Alterra, becoming one of the great sources of liquid funds for Alterra. Of course, this was a story for much, much, later. ¡­ The Golds excitedly joined the queue to the library, looking forward to this new building type. It was just that¡­ they couldn''t enter. [Please pay 100 contribution points for 2 hours of stay] "So Library accessible only by Contribution Points." They looked at Oslo, who obviously knew this but didn''t say anything. Look at his smile, he was teasing them, watching their reactions closely¡ªno doubt to make fun of them. This time, someone (Obi) really did kick him. The level difference was no joke and Oslo pretty much flew several meters away. They were lucky Alterra''s rules were so specific. Playful Horseplay like this didn''t equate to prison time. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After all, somehow, the system could determine hostility as sentries could determine (as long as it was specified). So, if there was no real hostility, chances are, it''d pass. Olga ignored this little scuffle and just wistfully looked at the people coming in, "I really want to be a resident here¡­" she mumbled. But who''d give up citizenship of a city¡ªlet alone such a powerful one? For the most part, they would pretty much be immune to slavery even if they stayed in war-torn territories throughout the year. Oslo, who was grappling with his brother (turning to ''wild eye candies'' to the female population around), stopped as he heard of this. He looked at his siblings and smiled, deeply understanding their dilemma. "You don''t have to be residents, you can just stay here," he said. "Didn''t you lease houses? It would be a pity if you don''t use them enough, right?" That way, even if they didn''t have permanent residency, Alterra was still be getting their money! Other than teasing them, this was another reason why he didn''t tell them about the requirements to enter the library. He wanted them to feel this longing emotion even more. He had really thought a long time about this, especially during his time visiting Bluelle back them. The city was stronger for now, sure, but it didn''t feel as vibrant as Alterra. Alterra also had higher potential. More importantly: They didn''t have to deal with that kind of lord who seemed to live to exploit his family! When Alterra became a City, then they could easily shift their residencies! By that time, he believed the contribution points they accumulated would be enough even if the lord increased the requirements! The other siblings didn''t answer but, internally, a part of them was feeling the same. Regardless, they did not dare such a big decision on their own. This was something they had to discuss with their parents. Not to mention, now that they had already seen Oslo''s buildings, they lost our final excuse to stay. This was the excuse that they told their parents¡ªfor them to stay long enough to see what Oslo would achieve. This was so that they''d be there to congratulate him if he succeeded, and¡ªin the likely event that he failed¡ªthey would be there to tease, er, comfort him. But alas¡­ they mused. Obviously, it was them that''d need comforting. Chapter 687 Books While the Golds were undergoing some mini identity crisis, a new voice from behind them sounded. "Would you like to take a peek?" They turned to see it was the beautiful elder, who was looking at them with a half-amused smile. "Miss Althea!" Olga looked at her gratefully, but she also couldn''t help but ask. "Will it be alright?" "Actually, I proposed some contribution point system for you guys after deals are made. After all, fruitful deals with partners were a major part of Alterra''s growth," she said, making them brighten. "That''d take a while to implement though," she paused. "In the meantime, come with me." The Golds nodded, following closely behind her. They reached the massive double door with carved motifs, and finally entered into the space that had been poking at the curiosities for hours. As they stepped inside, they were greeted by walls filled with rectangular objects. The building spanned four floors, with a massive atrium at its center, allowing light to cascade down from above, illuminating the whole space. The people moved about, selecting the rectangular objects and opening them to reveal piles of paper filled with symbols, some of which were recognizable, while some were not. They realized it was made of that thin paper bound together at a side. The room was filled with various types of seating arrangements. There were large tables to accommodate groups of people, but there were also individual desks for those who wished for solicitude. In addition, there were also plush and colorful sacks¡ªthey called them ''bean bags'' ¡ªwhere people could recline in and sit in comfortably even after hours. Otto curiously took one book from the wall and the others followed. For the most part, the contents contained symbols they did not recognize. This was probably the written language of their home. Olga took another book with a different cover and realized she could read it. She blinked. It was a story about a girl who pretended to be a boy and sneaked into the army. The others obviously saw her reading and peeked, realizing it was in their written language. Before they could read more though, they were distracted by a few other people taking books nearby. It was different in appearance for the most part, but there was a similar green mark as the one in Olga''s hand. "Wowww¡­. Who wrote these?" he asked, seeing as it was written in the Xeno lingua franca. Her companion peeked and grabbed it as soon as she saw the content. "It''s my favorite book!" "Oh, I know this! Alterra must''ve gotten its name in the hero there!" "Cool! There''s a Terran version, but also the local one," One said, pointing at the logograms Xeno used. The Golds looked and realized there was a special color code on the book if it was written in their language. Basically, if it had a green mark, then it would be written in their language. "May I?" Otto asked, and the female Alterran happily handed it over while swooning, making sure to touch a bit of skin. She swore she would not wash her hands until tomorrow. "It''s true," Otto said, looking at the book on his hand and then at Olga''s. "Very interesting." These were all translated manually, for now. Perhaps they would get a translation feature, possibly during an upgrade, but for now, that was not an option. Of course, the works they translated were ones they didn''t mind aborigines seeing. For example, story books, some basic elementary knowledge, and so on. The Golds couldn''t help but look at similar books, finding some after a bit of perusing. While they took a look at the stories, they would also hear some exclamations around them. "OH CRAP. I know this! It''s Basics of Astronomy! I read this before in Terran!" "Wait, what?" "There are also some basic geometry and other subjects!" "Some psychology and science are here, too!" "Oh my goodness¡­ I didn''t think I''d even encounter a book of those! I used to curse seeing them, but now I want to hug them in my sleep!" "Not just Terran knowledge¡­," one said, showing them another thick book. "We also have several copies of flaura and fauna!" Other than Terran knowledge, there were also several copies of flaura and fauna books¡ªone that Althea had been working on with a team for a long time¡ªas well as the advanced Beast Guide Volume 1 she asked experts to compile. It included the name, the habits, weaknesses, and the like of monsters that they had encountered¡ªsome of which were strange because the information came from the soldiers or the aborigines, who gave information about monsters from distant lands! Regardless, this was information they ought to stab in their own heads! How many times it could save their lives?! "This is so helpful!" "Is that the last copy?" "No! There''re dozens more!" "There were also restricted access books of course, those with secretive knowledge they''d like to thoroughly keep to themselves. However, all these were already amazing to the aborigines¡ªthe Golds, the hires, and everyone else. For example, the hired aborigines like Brenda and the others. They couldn''t understand the Terran language but there was plenty of content for them to consume. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Brenda, Letty, and the others were particularly fond of books with strong women. It so happened that there was a vast collection of stories with female heroes and the like. "No wonder Miss Althea and the others are so strong. The women in her world are strong." "Not necessarily," Mathilda said. She happpened to be nearby when she saw the group of women and approached them. This was the topic she came into earshot with, and she couldn''t help but want to correct them. "It hasn''t always been that way. There were just a few women who made small changes¡ªthey weren''t particularly big acts in front of a large world, but they were something they dedicated their lives to. "Ripples after ripples of changes echoed through generations, until something or someone would finally trigger the massive change that could define that era." She handed them a few more books depicting strong women, some of whom had to be strong amidst a world that hated them for it. There was even one where women were burned as witches for having any opinions. This one made the women gasp, shocked at the unfairness of treatments. From here, one could see that back in Ancient Terran, women actually had it worse than the women here. So, it was much easier to make changes for themselves, and Mathilda hoped these books could help tell women what they were capable of. The aborigine ladies sat down and absorbed the contents of the books with apt interest, making Mathilda smile at the side. Mathilda was gifted with very good observation skills. Staying in Alterra changed a lot of aborigines, especially these women as well as their outlooks. Being aware of what the Terran women¡ªwomen these ladies admired¡ªhad been through in the past could serve as a catalyst for even bigger change in them. She wondered what kind of changes Alterra would bring to women around the continent. She was looking forward to it. Chapter 688 The Benefits of Knowledge Anyway, all around the library were exclamations of wonder and glee. This was especially true to the Terrans who frankly thought they would never see a library again¡ªor be so happy to be in one, for that matter¡ªespecially not so soon and not with such a big selection! With this, they could retain a lot of the knowledge studied for thousands of years back in Terran. They didn''t have to start from scratch anymore. Instead, they could build over what was already known, to find more knowledge, to find something more to improve their lives with! "Holy Crow¡ª" Dog exclaimed, raising a book. "It''s my favorite novel!" He had learned a lot about warfare here. It was usually a boring and dark topic, but it was told in a way that was super fun. He didn''t read a lot of books, and this was one of the handful. How nostalgic! "Be quiet!" Sunny said, pinching his cheek. "You''re the type always being glared at by librarians right?" "You''re the type loved by them, right?" "Of course!" she said proudly. Crow beside them only shook his head, just perusing the library at his own pace. Such massive amounts of knowledge were accessible at one''s fingertips. It was something very difficult to believe. While Althea watched the library being used with smiles, some people couldn''t help but gather their shamelessness and surround her. When her husband wasn''t there, Althea was much more approachable so they were planning to make the most of it. "So many books~ are papers and pencils finally available, Miss Althea?" they asked. They had known the sets had been available for a while now, just not commercially available yet. Oh, the things they could do with it!! Althea smiled at their curiosity and nodded. "Yes. Papers, pens, and pencils would finally be commercially available within the week." "YES!" "FINALLY!" "HUSH! Quiet! Don''t you know this is a library?" "Oh right sorry." Althea giggled, looking at them with a slight seriousness on her face. "We''re looking forward to what everyone creates with these new resources," she told them. A few of the people around looked at her with confidence, minds already brewing with endless ideas. It helped that there were so many books here that inspired them. "You won''t be disappointed, Miss Althea!" And she indeed won''t. ¡­ The library was extremely impactful, even more so than Althea and the others thought. After all, they knew it could be enlightening for some, but the Library was primarily built to handle information and knowledge within the territory. They didn''t expect that it''d have a lot of worldview impact even on the adult aborigines. When Olga returned home not long after this, she would definitely bring about a change among women in their class, and it would trickle down until the commoner class would feel it. Other than the Golds and the hired aborigines, there were also the aborigine members of Terran Mercenary team, particularly the first batch of arrivals. They lived like Terrans the past weeks or so, hence they also fought and hunted outside as everyone did. It had to be noted that their average levels were higher than the locals, so they could also handle themselves against the mobs. They were intent on taking advantage of the current weakness of the monsters and gathered a lot of contribution for themselves. Anyway, they also worked hard for the territory and they definitely deserved the rewards. The ones currently using a lot of the points in the Library were Roana and Yoyo, the Terran Mercenary Team''s cooks. They had been training under Joanna¡ªHarold''s assistant and Jun''s wife¡ªwho was also there reading with them, prepared to answer their questions about their readings if they had some. At this time, they were reading the various translated ''cookbooks'' with apt interest. If they were leaning down so much they were practically kissing the books. "This is amazing¡­" Roana mumbled, eyes tracing the various words on the paper. A lot of this had the recipes taught to them, while many were new. "Don''t they worry people would take away business?" Joanna only smiled. First of all, a lot of secret recipes were still kept, and second, there was a reason why there were so many restaurants in Terran using similar recipes but people still found ways to be unique and make money. "These are all just basic recipes to us," Joanna explained. "It''s still up to the chef to make things special¡ªto add their own expertise and flair." They looked at her waiting for her to explain, and she gladly did so. "Business owners need to ask, what will make the customers choose them? What can make them special? "Without competition, there is no growth," she said. "Publishing this would only make people want to innovate it, make it better." The two nodded, understanding her words but still absorbing her meaning. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, there had been a change inside of them that slowly sprouted from her words. On another corner, there was Koli, the Mercenary Team''s leather expert, who read about the history of Tanning in their homeplace. He had also been learning a lot with Sassy, though learning its history was fascinating. He could see at what point in their history was at the same level as what he knew, and he could see that they were several hundred years behind. Learning how the techniques grew to what they called ''modern'' was fascinating because he understood it more. There were also the Mauin villagers, who had a lot of contribution points due to the war. They were relatively well-off now and had decided to see everything that could be accessed exclusively with contribution points, one of which was the library. Sadly, they¡­ couldn''t read. It didn''t mean they didn''t enjoy the place though, because there were several people around who were willing to read a book or two for them. For instance, at this time, a woman named Evelyn was holding a children''s book reading session in a corner with a lot of bean bags. There were adults and children around, listening to the fun story of a little orange fish looking for his son. They clapped when it was over with the kids asking adorable questions. Some were related to the story, while some¡­ were of wonder when they''d be able to read themselves. "Don''t worry," Evelyn said, "We''re teaching people how to read in school. Just make sure to attend." This made the villagers and other illiterates brighten. They had heard of a school opening and that it only needed contribution points and a bit of money to enroll in. Even adults could learn literature and other things, and this meant they''d also be able to learn reading. To think that a month ago, reading anything wouldn''t even be in their list of wants or could do¡ªthey didn''t even have anything to read, just monsters to defend against¡ªbut now it was so close to reality that it still disoriented them a bit. "In a short while, we''ll also be able to read these ourselves!" Little Maumi mumbled as he looked up to his parents. His rounded eyes were filled with determination and certainty of his goals. Mauru chuckled, rubbing his little head with pride. "Yes," he said. "Yes, we will." Chapter 689 More Farewells Later that afternoon, the Golds would meet up in Cooke''s restaurant, as they had a reservation there. They savored the delicious offerings, ordering a variety of viands, side dishes, and others. In addition to enjoying their meal, they also placed takeaway orders for the next day and even secured another reservation. ''Takeout orders'' ¡ªas they were called¡ªweren''t usually allowed in Cooke''s restaurant. However, the Golds paid a lot of premium so they were allowed to do so. Ansel also sold them a preliminary version of what he called ''insulation box'' which was designed to increase a food''s shelf life, especially when it was inside the space. They didn''t understand how it worked, but they trusted the guy and if what he said was true, then that amount of money was too worth it. As for why they had to do so, it was because they were finally going back to the city. Ugh. "We''ve stayed for too long already," Otto said, regretfully looking at his lovely piece of sauteed meat. "The family could get worried." They had been out for a long time when they joined caravans (or even wars, in Obi''s case). However, at most, they''d be gone a couple of days to a week. They never overstayed in a territory, not unless it was absolutely necessary. They had no reason to. But now¡­ The longer they stayed, the more they didn''t want to leave anymore. They seriously considered extending their stay but, unfortunately, Alterra was still a village and didn''t have a post office yet so they couldn''t send letters to keep the parents from worrying. If they stayed a bit longer, they feared the parents would send out mercenary teams to look for them. "You should''ve designed that first," he told Oslo, who shook his head. "We did, but the connection between territories is out of our capabilities," Oslo retorted. "Besides, it''d be available after the next upgrade. It''d have been a waste of blueprint materials." He said this, but he truly wanted to create one. The locals had been complaining about long-ranged communication for as far as he knew them. Sadly, even with his skill and knowledge, he couldn''t do anything. However, he recalled the Lord''s knowledge about arrays. They were probably basic, but the fact that she could know so much on her own would say she could learn much more within the next few decades. Who knew if another miracle would happen? "Sigh, I''ll miss this place," Obi said as he stretched his arm to rest on his neck, his eyes looking around the room and the interesting decor, and then to the unique translucent panel that allowed light to go in, making it feel open even if it was completely enclosed. Oslo crossed his arms as he looked at them. "Well, it''s not like you guys can''t come back." This made everyone brighten, feeling a bit silly. It was just that they had never been attached to a territory and its people so much before. Anyway, they could just bring various products back to the city, give them to family and friends, sell the rest, and then return immediately as soon as they ran out. Olga smiled as she took another bite. It was a nice roasted beef drizzled with some wine. It tasted incredibly savory and comforting. Her parents would love this. "Next time, we''ll bring our parents." The boys nodded in agreement, though feeling a little guilty soon after. In retrospect, they had never taken their parents out on ''trips'', and it hadn''t really occurred to them to do so. However, they had befriended a few people here who had their parents or even a grandparent with them. For instance Cassie with her grandmother, and there another Chucky with his mum. They would often meet one or two of them in a restaurant or a leisure area, with the child saying they were taking the parent around to make them happy. Anyway, they were set to leave the next afternoon, and the rest couldn''t help but fall into melancholy again. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we can come back, right?" Otto said. "So let''s just get this over with." Otto, as the richest dude among them, had the largest say. Wise men said that pain should be done quickly, rather than prolong it due to reluctance. He believed this was one of those moments. (How dramatic¡­) "We''ll leave in the afternoon tomorrow via Beast Carriage and rest later that night in Basset Town some hundred or so kilometers away." Although the carriage was so shaky compared to their awesome bikes¡ªeach of the siblings managed to get one of the ''First edition Super Hardcore Version Bike'' for a hefty amount of 100 gold each¡ªBeast Carts were still much faster and reduced travel time by days. "In the meantime, we can enjoy the rest of the time on our own. I, for one, will be buying everything I can," Otto said, "We''ll meet here for lunch tomorrow." He looked at his twin as he said so, and she nodded at him. Time to fill up their space stones! ¡­ During the remaining day they had left in Alterra, each of the Golds really did their own thing, maxing the time they had there. Olga went to get her orders from the beauty shop''s warehouse in the industrial area, while Otto went to the supermarket''s. Obi also went to finish up his deal with the equipment factory, while Honda was running around with his friends. His friends Maya, Mimi, Lily, Fiona, and Horus were with him. Lily also brought in her new sister, Lina. He didn''t really like her much though. She reminded him of those little girls back home who kept trying to make friends with him, even when he tried to avoid them. Anyway, the group of kids had as much fun as they could, spending the day playing. They ''stall hopped'' a lot, targeting various snacks and drinks to consume while they played. Anyway, they were so active and they definitely burned the calories they ate shortly after eating. There was also this lovely new dessert they called cotton candy which was like clouds but super delicious. The kids walked around with different snacks on hand. "Too bad you can''t join us at school. It would be very fun." "Hmmm¡­" Little Honda mumbled, chewing on the fluffy candy with slightly glistening eyes. They looked at him like this and were sad as well. "It would be so much fun if you''re there¡­" they said, also feeling a bit teary. Honda''s eyebrows furrowed a bit as he mused. Male Nobles like him did have a school back in Bleulle. They were taught the grand history of the lord''s family, etiquette, as well as some basic combat. Female children would have a tutor of sorts who would teach them girly stuff which he would never understand. But the school in Mimi''s and the others'' mouths seemed so much fun. He would also miss his friends, especially¡­ the pretty and smart Mimi¡­ very much. Mimi held his arm when she saw him pause, making Honda blush a bit. "Can''t you ask?" Honda''s eyes widened a bit at the question. Well, could he? Chapter 690 The Golds Departure The afternoon was approaching and Olga headed towards the plaza at a leisurely pace. Because she had finished her orders early, she only had to pick them up and put the items in her space now. She spent hundreds and hundreds of gold, yes, but seeing those gorgeous beauty products line her space felt exhilarating! Now, she was just using her remaining time to experience this unique place more. She was particularly fond of the garden, and she stayed in a gazebo in the large flower garden until it was time for her to go. Somewhere along the way, however, her eyes stopped at the family having a picnic. It was Miss Althea''s. She was with her husband and children, and they were all smiles. Olga was familiar with the Alterran working hours now and it was obvious the family took advantage of it to bond for an hour or so. At this time, they were sitting in a large blanket draped over the well-maintained grass. There were simple easy-to-eat food at a side, which they consumed as they bonded. Sir Garan was lying down, resting the back of his neck on his arms. Their two babies were sitting adorably on his chest chupping on their pacifiers (which were of very unique material, though the locals just said they weren''t available yet). Chup, chup, chup They obviously weren''t doing anything and just sitting there, but it sent cute attacks everywhere. They were such adorable little things! Anyway, Miss Althea was feeding her husband with some fruits as he laid, and she could see the babies feel envious and open their mouths to try and get some too. They were too young to be given such food, but fortunately Althea seemed prepared. She smiled and brought out something from her space. It was a little spoon thing that seemed to have containers attached to them. When she pressed a button, a bit of food came out, which would then be eaten by the cuties neatly. So convenient. Anyway, watching the family, Olga''s heart felt full and envious at the same time. To be honest, she indeed had a dream of building a family. After all, she was a woman of this continent¡ªshe was raised in a way that her main value was in creating heirs. But she felt it was wrong and couldn''t entirely agree with that, albeit for a long time it wasn''t clear to her what she ought to do. She had also seen how her parents were. They were happy, and she wanted that. But she didn''t find the connection to the men she met, and she would never settle for a man she didn''t love. She wasn''t naive to believe any ''decent'' man would do either. She had seen how most marriages were, how trapped the females were, how limited their movements and views had become. Her mother''s case was rare. As for most other women¡­ they seemed to be trapped in their families, whether it was maternal or what they were married into. She would never want that for herself. However, this was too big of an issue to ponder in one sitting. She simply shook her head in the end, proceeding on her way. However, at some point, her feet stopped as she realized there was another person watching the family so intently. She recognized him as someone who went back with her cousin back then, though she didn''t quite catch his name. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was quite handsome with chiseled features, light-colored hair, and tanned skin. He stood strong, proud, even if his eyes lingered too long on a married woman. He was wearing the guard uniform and it made him look particularly dashing. "Hmn," Olga mused. It seemed like she really did have a type. ¡­ While Olga''s love life had planted its seeds, her brother was busy with their own concerns. At this time, Obi was currently buying out the highest-level weapons the equipment factory could produce. The quantity was still limited but, as a partner, he could get a lot more than other merchants. The equipment he got was only level D or E for the most part, but even in cities, there were plenty of young soldiers in their level 20s. In Bleulle, soldiers were divided into classes, similar to how weapons were. Each year a competition was held and he, as one of the youngest captains, also had the youngest troops. One could imagine that they were still looked down upon, and the only reason his troupe wasn''t bullied was because of his background. However, he prided himself on making a name for himself, so how could he be comfortable to still be protected by his parents'' name at this age? The higher the rank, the better the resources, and he naturally wanted that for his team. Sure, he could ask the family for monetary support, but where was the pride in that? Anyway, these weapons would definitely help his team rise up! ... Finally, there was Otto who was staring at the small mountain of purchase. Ansel guided him himself, and he was very very friendly. Ansel also found that the man had a small space as well. It was not as high a level as his sister''s but still pretty cool. As for why Otto didn''t seem to mind Ansel knowing about the space, it was mostly due to trust and instinct, and also due to his confidence of his strength. The redhead couldn''t help but look at the intimidating silverhaired guard next to Otto. He was tall, buff, and looked very strong. Ansel wondered what level he was. "Silva," Otto said, slightly turning to the aforementioned guard. "Yes, Master?" "If you were to choose, would you choose to get more healing potion or mana cookies?" He asked, looking at the two boxes around a feet in dimension. His space had been filled up, and he was wondering whether to get extra boxes of cookies or potions. "I would choose a healing potion as I like the instant effect more, " he said. "You don''t have to choose, Master. I still have some space left. It''s not much, but¡­" "No, keep it to yourself and go buy what you want as well." "Yes, Master," Silva said, and he also chose a few things to fill up his own space. When all was done Otto sent the payment to Ansel, whose eyes sparkled at the amount of it. Ansel didn''t make it obvious of course, he was not a newbie in commercial deals at all. Otto didn''t miss it though. However, instead of seeing it as off-putting, he just saw it as amusingly honest. He raised his hand for the customary local handshake. "Nice dealing with you, Ansel." Ansel grinned, taking the hand to return a firm handshake. "Likewise." ¡­. Soon, the time for departure arrived and everyone went to the Beast Inn to get to their now-filled carriages. The boxes looked beautiful, and they thought of how wonderful and fruitful this trip turned out to be. To think they mostly went here just out of curiosity... However, not everything was smooth sailing because¡ªjust when they were about to head out¡ªa certain little boy looked like he didn''t want to get in. Olga looked out to see the boy standing a meter away from the door, and the other siblings also looked out, wondering what was wrong? "Honda?" She asked, voice gentle. The little boy raised his head with furrowed eyebrows, obviously having an internal battle of sorts. After what felt like a minute, he finally opened his mouth, and it was not what they were expecting. "Can I stay?" . . "What?" The boy flinched at their reaction. However, albeit intimidated, the little kid actually pushed through. If it wasn''t for the implications, they''d have felt proud of him. "Can I stay with Uncle Oslo?" he said, little milky voice saying words that could kill them. "I''ll be good, I promise!" Oslo, who was seeing them off from the side, gaped, unsure whether he wanted this particular responsibility. "I can start training here! The levels of the monsters here are perfect for me!" The boy added, making the others pause and look at him. He obviously prepared for this speech, didn''t he? In retrospect, that seemed to be the excuse they sent? So¡­ they could let him stay to keep consistent? Would they still have the life to explain though? But what if anything happened? The consequences to them didn''t even matter¡ªthey happened to really care about this boy, very much. "If he causes trouble, let''s just say Oslo asked him to stay." "HEY!" Anyway, a bit of back and forth between the siblings was exchanged, with little Honda looking quite nervous. However, despite his slightly teary eyes, his expression was cool and serious. It was really cute. Honda was really a mix of his parents: His father outside (or at least he tried to) and his mother on the inside. In the end, they all just looked at Otto. He was the oldest among the siblings and had therefore the biggest voice. He was also the most liable regarding this. Otto stared at the boy who was trying to be brave. The entire time, Honda struggled not to flinch and not to show weakness. He knew that if he appeared helpless, then his wish would not come true! In the end, Otto sighed helplessly, turning his head to look at the side. "Silva," he said, and the man sitting in front of the carriage went down, bowing a bit as he stood outside Otto''s door. "Stay with Oslo and Honda." "Yes sir." This made Ansel, Althea, and the others, who were also watching at the side very curious. Ansel elbowed Oslo, who seemed a little shocked at the new developments. "What level is he?" "Much higher than me. When I left a few years back, he was already level 39." This meant he had likely landed level 40 by now. Ansel''s eyes sparkled at this. Did that mean Alterra just got a level 40 in their midst!? Chapter 691 Belluga Village War (Part 1) At this time, a small part of the guard team led by Jake and Reno went to Belluga village for their rounds. Like with other territories, Alterra guards have made a point to check on allied territories once a week. It wasn''t exactly for welfare checks¡ªthey weren''t that nice. For the most part, it was done to train the guards and also serve as a way for the Alterrans guards to check for family and friends. A lot of citizens and some caravans also followed them, though they paid some protection fee (monetary or contribution points) to the territory. They also wanted to take advantage of the momentary peace to find their family and friends. After all, there was always someone to find a family, friend, or acquaintance during these excursions. To kill two birds with one stone, they also brought products to sell to fatten their wallets up by the way. Anyway, unlike Vismont and Bright, Belluga was also the one amongst the allies that was most likely to enter a war next. Everyone hoped to find their relatives¨Cif they had some there¡ªbefore that. One of the reasons why Vismont was untouched so far was because it was a subsidiary. Aborigines said that few territories were willing to waste their monthly slot on subsidiaries because they were likely weak and poor. Subsidiary status was also done for a minimum of one year. If the occupiers chose to take a subsidiary, chances were, they''d have to pay tribute to another territory regardless of where their alliances lied. Anyway, time passed and the Alterrans reached the vicinity of Belluga. They were not expecting a lot of changes. Since Bright Village had been settled down, not much happened to any of the allies. Until now, apparently. They noticed stark differences as soon as they entered. For one, the guards were moving back and forth quickly, weapons out, and their faces and stances tense as if ready to attack at any moment. As for the civilians, the Alterrans had been used to receiving admiring gazes from the locals. At the very least, they''d get curious looks from those who didn''t know them. However, it was all muted and they usually looked at them respectfully from afar, with the exemption of stars like Fable who would definitely get mobbed. This time though, the Bellugans didn''t hesitate to enter their private space, and their eyes on them were filled with tears. They didn''t know if it was their imagination, but it looked like they just found their messiah. (Unconsciously, Jake checked his hair if there was anything amiss.) "The Alterrans are here!" One said, and another one nodded while sobbing. There was a middle-aged woman who held a random Alterran guard''s hand with a grateful smile. "Thank you!" Alterrans: ? "You''re finally here!" Alterrans: ?? "Our saviours!!" Alterrans: ??? The Alterrans¡­ were very confused. And it didn''t help when more and more people joined in, practically mobbing them. Fortunately, familiar voices stabbed through the crowd and order resumed. "Let us through!" the strong masculine voice said, resounding in the area. The crowd immediately parted, revealing a familiar brunette, followed by a man with pale-blonde hair and sleepy eyes, as well as a dark-skinned man with a large build and sharp features. The dark-skinned man looked at the others and opened his mouth, telling them it was this person who shouted before. "Give our guests some space," he said as he followed Raine to approach them in greeting, dutifully standing just behind him. Jake and the others nodded at them, relieved, while the citizens also looked at them with teary eyes. "Mr. Raine¡­ Mr. Suide¡­ Mr. Orland¡­" the crowd greeted with respect and the Alterrans couldn''t help but look closer at them. While they had heard that Belluga was actually managed by the lord''s men, they didn''t think it was to this degree. "You''re here¡­" Raine said in greeting, "I apologize for the¡­ excessively enthusiastic welcome but¡­ there''s a reason for this. "About twelve hours ago, we received a war declaration." The Alterrans flinched, listening closely, and Raine continued to explain. "Now all the citizens are trying to prepare. We tried to stock up on everything¡ªwhether it was resources, weapons, equipment, or medicines we bought from you¡ªbut it''s natural for us to be worried. "The enemies¡­. They are not weak. Their average levels would be powerhouses for us." "That is indeed a bit of a challenge," Reno began, looking at them. "How many left?" "None." "Well, you''re fortunate no one abandoned." His words made a few frown bitterly and Jake raised a brow. Raine shook his head at this. "Kimmy¡­ she made an announcement that anyone who leaves the territory before or during the war automatically renounces their belongings." "You can do that?" "Well, we''re not certain, but no one wanted to risk it." "I see. How is she? Your lord, I mean," Jake asked. While he waited for answers, he heard a lot of people around whisper their own. While most seemed sad and angry for the woman, some seemed more bitter than sorry for her. Some said ''probably sleeping'', another said ''not doing her job, that''s what!'', and there were also some perverted ''Well, since she was awakened for sex, she must be doing so much now''. Jake and Reno frowned, exchanging glances with eyebrows furrowed. They knew what happened to their lord¡ªshe was raped in public for goodness sake. Had they been so scared of the war they had forgotten to be tactful? Raine only shook his head. "I''m sorry but she''s¡­ indisposed at this time." "It''s fine," Jake said with a shrug. "So the war is starting in two hours, then?" They nodded. Jake and Reno didn''t answer immediately and looked at his team. They were a team of almost 30 people, ten of which were guards and the others were civilians. As the team lead, he had the right to make choices for the entire team, as long as he deemed it fit for everyone''s goods and safety. This choice, however, would need everyone''s consent. "Vote! I''ll give you a few minutes to think about it," he said and the others looked at each other with various complicated expressions. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Jake knew they needed some time to think about it and he didn''t rush them, While waiting for a response, Jake looked at Raine and the others. "And you know you''ll be paying right?" Raine nodded. "We are aware of Alterra''s conditions, yes." Jake looked at him. "You''re not the lord," he said. "What if she denied it?" Raine''s eyes darkened a bit as he clenched his fist. "I''ll convince her," he said. "We''d be willing to pay for our lives!" As long as they survived and were alive, that was what mattered, he thought. The question was: Would their Lord understand this? Chapter 692 Belluga Village War (Part 2) The Alterrans borrowed a house to discuss their opinions. Who could decide logically when they were being watched by people looking at them as if they were there to save them? Jake and Reno looked at their companions. "We need to know who''ll be joining in. For those who didn''t want to join¡ªshould the majority decide to go to war¡ªyou have to either go back to Alterra on your own, or find a hiding spot in this place." Separating at this point was unsafe. There were only 30 of them, after all. However, they couldn''t force people to join in a war if they didn''t want to. "So, basically, Alterra will be paid if we join in, according to the winnings in the war. If you don''t know, a portion of this pay will be shared amongst us, the participants¡ªif we choose to join in," Jake said, and it made a few people perk up. "At the same time, the enemy isn''t weak. They''re aborigines who had lived here for decades. Their average level is probably higher than yours. "There are real dangers here, and don''t expect we''d go out of our way to protect you¡ªjoining in this war would imply you''re ready to protect yourselves." "What do you think?" The other people paused and looked complicated. The rewards were really tempting, but would they be willing to risk their lives for another territory''s war? Jake looked at the Crow Trio, who happened to be with them this time. Among them, Crow had already awakened as a wind user. He was also an archer, making him much like Loki and Sammy, though his style mirrored more of the former. Speaking of which, before leaving, Crow had somehow gotten Loki to promise a little apprenticeship with him, though with a lot of promises to treat him food for years. "I''m up for it," Crow said, also wanting to test out what he had learned the past few days. One of the advantages of joining in other territories'' wars was not only the learnings and strengthening that could come out of it, but they would also be able to leave if things got too much for them. At the same time, they would still get rewarded somehow because there was a minimum amount of payment Alterra would receive, regardless if they won or not. In this group, Jake was the only one outside the level cap¡ªeveryone else could participate directly. However, Jake was reluctant to join in. Yiyi would be waiting for him, after all. However, it was still understandable that the others would take advantage of this opportunity to grow. They would also know better what it would be like to be on the defending side of a war. The discussion lasted for a quarter of an hour, with mixed opinions all around. In the end, more than 20 people joined in, while the rest chose to hide in the inn¡ªmade from custom houses, though the concept was inspired by Alterra''s. "I think it''d be worth it," Reno said after a while and the rest of them agreed. Jake and the others waited for the counter to end, nervous but also a little excited! ¡­ [War between Khlack Village (Lv3) and Belluga Village (Lv3) has began!] "Ready?" Reno asked the archers as he stood on the thin battlement of a level 3 wall. Unfortunately, only half of these were true archers, even among the hired aborigines of Belluga. After all, those type of experts would choose to get hired in towns instead. But it was still more than enough, for now. Soon, they heard the sound of hundreds of people yelling, quickly approaching the gates. From a distance, they looked like a creepy swarm emerging from the dense forest, and for those who saw such a mob for the first time¡ªit felt heavy to the stomach and creepy to the spine. The arrows rained down on the crowd, with Reno telling soldiers to be aware of leaks on the other sides. Although not many would do it, their first war¡ªled by Althea¡ªwas abnormally smooth because they sneaked around. Soon, more and more of the attackers emerged from the forests and Reno looked at them as they attacked the walls head-on. It was like a monster mob filled with brainless beasts, except this one was filled with people. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They attacked with no weapons other than their bodies, and they headed towards the gates in hopes of destroying it by virtue of their numbers. Reno narrowed his eyes. Although the sentries weren''t as dense as Alterra, there weren''t few, and he just felt stupid they were throwing away their lives like this. That was until he realized a lot of these people''s expressions were either blank, dazed, or sobbing. Meat shields. Slaves. He wasn''t the only one who saw this and he realized a lot of people stopped shooting. Reno frowned. "Don''t let pity be your downfall! If you can''t kill the slaves target their legs!" He yelled, taking a few of his stones from space, and manipulating them so he would take out a few vanguards. "if you lose, you''ll join them in their next war!" This seemed to have woken them up and they raised their weapons again. "Yes sir!" The battle continued for a while, and it felt horrible to massacre helpless people like this, but what could they do? The Alterrans also focused on just injuring them, using as little energy as possible. One, to keep energetic when the real enemy came and, second, this was technically not their fight. Why torture their morality and conscience for a war they were only assisting on? Both Jake and Reno were earth users, and they used their abilities to create little craters in the ground, imbalancing the slaves. Some would fall and imbalance a bit more. While people could still die from suffocation, their chances were stil higher than taking direct hits from sentries and arrow rain. This went on for a while until Jake saw Raine go down the battlement. "Where are you going?" "I''m going to see the lord," he said, "She needs to participate in this. We need her." Jake looked at him for a moment, before nodding. He was right. As a lord, although what happened to her was tragic, it was not an excuse to just leave the people¡ªwho were depending on her¡ª hanging. ... Raine walked past the hallways and went deeper and deeper into the house¡ªmade with several custom modules¡ªsoon reaching the room at the farthest. He opened the door to see Kimmy curled up in a corner again, trying to scratch herself. This had been a habit of hers ever since that happened. He sighed, heart stinging, slowly approaching the girl. "Kimmy¡­" he uttered, leaning down next to her and patting her head. Kimmy gave no response, however. "It''s time to join us," he said, and to be honest the number of times he had said this the past few days were innumerable. Kimmy remained unperturbed, hugging herself tightly as if she was guarding against everyone. He sighed. "Kimmy, you need to be outside. We need our lord." This finally got Kimmy to move. However, to his surprise, she handed him something. It was a small piece of carved stone. "What is it?" "Lord Token," she said. Very bluntly. "What?" Raine exclaimed, but calmed himself. He cleared his throat as he shakily held her shoulders. "May I have it? Do you want me to have it?" "I know you want it." This made Raine pause and his eyes widened. He pursed his lips as he looked at Kimmy, who was staring at him with her dulled eyes. His lips pursed and he looked at her with a complicated expression. He didn''t answer for a while, his eyes glazing as various memories passed through his mind. However, after a few minutes of silence, Raine''s hand gripped tightly on the token, as if suddenly unwilling to let go. He raised his head with a renewed, more authoritative aura about him. His eyes reflected the intricate wooden amulet on his hand. It was slightly shimmering, exuding a magical aura about it. "Yes, you''re right¡­" he admitted and he looked at Kimmy, whose expression hadn''t changed at all. "Thank you." His grip on the token tightened as he stood up, a more powerful aura seeming to emanate from him. His pretty lips parted with a smile, whispering: "Finally mine." Chapter 693 Raine Berry City, Many Years Ago The rain poured relentlessly down the city, with each drop seeming to echo the despair that hung heavy in the night air. At this time, a young androgynous brunette tried to look tough as she glared at the man in front of her. He was large and bulky, though he was wearing a sleek black suit that added to the menacing aura around him. Her sharp eyes flickered to the envelope in his hand, bulging with money. Because of the rain, it also got a little damp, and one could peek at the bales of money inside it. To most people, this was an enticing sight. But for the girl, it was nothing but disgusting pieces of paper filled with her father''s blood. "Take it," the man said, looking down coldly¡ªlooking at her as if she was a bug he was about to get rid of. "You think money could bring my father back?!" she spat, her voice trembling with grief and rage. How dare they?! How dare they try to buy her silence! They ran over her father!! "Raine," the lawyer¡ªher lawyer, mind you¡ªtried to talk her into taking the deal. His voice was kind, but his eyes showed no warmth, "The young master is already very kind giving you this." She whipped her head to him, looking at him in disbelief. "You!" "Even if you don''t take it, nothing will change. Only you''d be hungry." "No! I will put that young master of yours in jail!" She cried out, voice cracking. The lawyer''s lips curled into a cruel smile. "You realize his mother is a congresswoman while his father is a billionaire, right?" "No! There is Justice! People will see¡ª" The lawyer sighed and looked in a direction. This small look sent alarms to her instincts and it sent shivers down her spine. She wanted to turn and run away, but it was too late. The next thing she knew, Raine was taken out of the rain and into an alley. They beat her mercilessly, the pain of broken bones and the sting of open wounds mingled with the rain and her tears. She struggled hard no matter how painful, hoping someone would hear her pleas. But she felt her hair pulled strongly, followed by a harsh hiss on her ears. "Make a scene and it''ll be so much worse," they told her, and they proceeded on beating her up again. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. BANG! PAK! When it was over, the men spat at her, though not without kicking her again. She could only groan as she felt the patter of rain hit her body. It wasn''t even strong rain, but each drop felt incredibly painful. For hours, it rained, and no one passed by the alley. Even if there was, they would be too busy or distracted to avoid the rain. She was woken up from her painful daze when the rain stopped and the ray of the first light reached the narrow alley. That was when she realized: In order to have a better life, you always had to grab the power yourself. At the very least, find a way to take it away from her enemies. That young master was a queer, this she knew. It so happened that she had always been androgynous, which was also comfortable and convenient when she was doing a lot of part-time jobs. So, she had been dressing up completely as a man. She also pulled her few connections and got a job at a host club. With her appearance, she quickly gained popularity and entered the high ranks after less than a year. Her appearance happened to be his favourite type, and after a lot of hard work and scheming, she got into his circle. In less than a week after that, she would get him drunk¡ªso drunk that he and his friends would be found in a ditch, all dead, the very next day. She also released some incriminating video evidence of him confessing of his murders. Except ''confess'' was not the right word¡ªbecause he was smug about getting away with it. It went on the news as the biggest scandal of that year¡ªaffecting his entire family. She watched it repeatedly on the television as she held her father''s ashes. Only then did she feel that he finally rested in peace. ¡­ ____ Present. Belluga Village. Raine looked at the token in her hand, various emotions simmering inside of her. To be honest, the power she had before wasn''t bad. She basically had the power of the lord, without the direct control of the panel. She managed to do this by becoming the perfect doll for Kimmy. Similarly, Raine realized that Kimmy had a few ''husbands'', but these husbands were handsome but wouldn''t want to have sex with her, like the couple Suide and Orland. There was also Tugo who was pretty much a eunuch, and another one named Virgo who was just an asexual man who only knew to draw random numbers. When Raine found out that Kimmy didn''t want anything sexual, she nourished it along with the others. They played with her and acted as she wanted, making sure she was spiritually satisfied and distracted enough not to want more from them. For the others, he would gently guide them away, for their own safety as well as for herself. For instance, the famous Idol Fable. The main reason he could get back to Alterra so smoothly had a lot to do with Raine. However, Kimmy was also very spontaneous. What if she grew tired of them? What if she decided to change? It always felt like walking on a thin ridge¡ªthat she could roll down a steep mountain at a blow of the wind. And this token felt like an anchor. She looked at poor Kimmy whose eyes were glazed, but red from crying. Her heart tingled in pity for someone she saw as a friend and he patted her head. "Don''t worry Kimmy, I will protect our home." Chapter 694 Bellugas New Lord Meanwhile, war raged outside, with more and more slaves trying to destroy the gates with sheer numbers. They didn''t care about anything else but to damage Belluga''s walls and gates. This was why there were a lot of deaths so early on the enemy''s side. Only a few hours after the war began, there were already hundreds of corpses and injured people lining up the walls. It was a nauseating sight. What''s more, Slaves weren''t counted in the numbers¡ªit was as if they had no identity. That was to say, even if they comprised most of the enemies, and even if they all died, the attacking territory wouldn''t lose. It was the main reason war slaves were so sought after. They could cause so much damage to a defending territory, yet they were basically risk-free. However, seeing so many deaths, Jake and the others were naturally boiling. But this was the way of the world and they weren''t powerful enough to change it. At least not yet. Regardless of whatever internal issues they struggled with, these slaves would just try to consume the forces here and try to damage part of the walls, which wouldn''t be easy. Instead of wasting energy (and question morality) with these slaves, the Alterrans focused on the stronger people who had managed to sneak in, causing damage. Some time ago, a few enemies managed to enter by creating ladders on another part of the wall while the slaves distracted the rest of the territory. There were others but about a dozen were already visible from where the Alterrans were. As soon as they entered, they slashed away at the guards and civilians alike. Even from their location, they could see a few aborigines stabbing people with massive grins on their lips. "Tsk," Jake cursed and he turned to the other guards. "Spread out," he said, "Half of you stay here, the others find where they''re climbing from and get rid of those inside." "Yes sir!" He jumped down and sprinted towards the nearest scuffle. Here a few enemies were terrorizing guards and citizens, some of whom dragged people from inside their homes to either kill or injure. This was actually not necessary to win the war¡ªthey simply had to be inside¡ªbut they seemed to relish in the screams and terror such actions gave. Jake cursed as he lunged, using his ability to push the enemies away from their victims. He was beyond the level limit so this was all he could do. Reno, also an earth user, was right next to him. However, unlike him, he could actually do damage. Jake created a little slope for him, and Reno used it to lift himself up. Rocks floated, surrounding his fists with hard rock. With the additional force of gravity and his entire weight, he barrelled down on two enemies'' heads with the makeshift weapon he created. BANG! "Ahhhh!" "Damnit!!" The two did not allow the enemies to get their bearing. Jake trapped them to the ankles with his abilities, while Reno raised his sword to behead them. Just like this, the couple of leaks in the area were taken care of¡ªswiftly and cleanly. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The locals saw how powerful the Alterrans were, and those who were new gaped in shock. "Amazing!" "So these are Alterrans!" "No wonder everyone depends on them so much!" Meanwhile, the victims they had saved sobbed as they looked at them. "Thank you!" they yelled, some people even holding their hands to express their emotions. The others echoed the words of gratitude, their eyes filled with dependence. This wasn''t the sight they wanted to see, however. "No, everyone!" Jake yelled, "Raise your weapons! The guards and sentries wouldn''t be able to guard you here! "PROTECT YOUR OWN HOME!" they yelled, but there were screams on another side and the two of them shifted there, not waiting for the locals to be enlightened or anything. While the other Alterrans took the leaks, Jake climbed up the battlement and ran along the perimeter to find the enemies'' entry point. As he moved, he noticed how many of the attackers were within the range of the sentries. Sadly, there were too many houses that blocked the way, shielding the enemies and the sentry didn''t even open fire. It was such a waste because sometimes there were no enemies on the outer side. That was to say, that sentry was being wasted when there was an enemy right under its nose. For those cases, he stomped his feet and raised the soil underneath the enemies, raising them high enough that the sentry had a clear view, finally attacking it. The sentries, even at level 3, can cause significant damage to this level of enemy. Basically, if they were hit, if they weren''t killed on the spot, they were as good as dead because it was either someone would take advantage to kill them or they''d just be left there bleeding. On the other hand, the others weren''t raised too high, but he managed to do enough to imbalance them. He watched as local guards took advantage of the imbalance to attack and Jake left this place to them. Anyway, they fought and took down many of the leaks, all the while trying to get the local citizens to fight with them. Leaks were unavoidable due to the average level differences and their guards wouldn''t be able to handle every enemy that went through. They were successful to get a few, but most preferred to hide inside their homes and pray the guards and the Alterrans would fix their problems for them. It was a little disheartening, to be honest, and the Alterran''s motivation in fighting had become more to train and get stronger rather than help brethren out. It was around this time that a ding resounded in everyone''s heads, including the Alterrans''. [This is Raine. I am holding the new Lord of Belluga Village.] It began, and a lot of people froze at the announcement. [I implore everyone capable of fighting to please do, Beluga Village is not only the guards'' home, it is yours, too.] [While our friends from Alterra help us, this is not their home. They can leave if it gets dangerous for them, which is understandable¡ªthey don''t owe us anything.] [Do you not feel shamed outsiders¡ªeven if they are our friends¡ªare the ones killing our attackers?] [Join us¡ªlet''s fight these enemies together!] Like this, a lot of those who hid behind doors went out, holding their weapons. They were shaky, but it was an improvement to how it was before. Soon, more and more people came out and although the enemies had higher levels, the locals could overcome them in numbers. Jake''s eyebrows rose, relieved. Hey, it looks like Belluga finally found their lord. Chapter 695 End of the Bellugan War (Part 1) Seeing as the interiors were relatively settled, Jake decided to block as many enemy entryways as he could. Jake ran around the perimeter soon seeing where the enemies were getting in. It was obviously in those areas without a sentry, and they simply made ladders. Or more accurately, climbable ladders, like those scaffoldings in construction sites. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, it was obviously weak due to the rush, seeing as how it shook even if they were going in groups of ten or less. However, those who got in would wait along the interior side of the wall to form bigger groups before attacking. By the size of those groups and their average levels, they''d definitely be wreaking havoc. By estimate, the average level was level 9 or even 10. How could people around level 6 fight against them? To be honest, if the Alterrans weren''t here, he couldn''t see how they''d win this war at all! Jake got close enough to see the events clearly. However, he stopped after a distance so he wouldn''t be so visible that he''d be attacked immediately. Although his level was much higher, he''d probably get injured if he got mobbed¡ªespecially when all he could do was defend. He leaned down a bit to make himself less obvious. He focused his sights on the scaffolding-thing, studying the best place to hit. Using his ability, he added one little bump under one leg. He then added several spikes around it. It couldn''t have gone unnoticed of course, but before the people who noticed could react, the scaffolding cracked and imploded into itself. "Shaky!" "GYAAAA!!!" "HOLD IT DOWN!" "AHHH!" BANG! The scaffolding fell down with a bang, making those climbing up fall down on their faces. Hehehhe. Who said they need aggressive skills to help out? Of course, a little fall was nothing. After all, the wall was only 3 meters tall. Although no one could scale the walls, it was estimated that powerhouses could just jump over them. There was no such powerhouse here, but such a fall wouldn''t be able to kill too many people. There were also people who got stabbed, yelling like pigs being slaughtered. This also confirmed the fact that they wouldn''t be punished if they used their abilities to indirectly hurt people, and would thus be reported to the others so they could maximize it. As for the group of dozens already inside, he threw giant rocks at them. It was not to hit, but to make them run. He would rain down a lot of rocks and they would head in a direction to avoid them. "What''s going on?" "Run!" "It''s an elementalist!" "Where?!" "How would I know?! Ah!! Just run¡ª" Jake chuckled as he ran along the battlement, having fun making the enemies run like this. He made sure they were squeezed closely together as they reached the scope of the sentry. Fortunately, there were a number of them and some were within range of the sentries. Without warning, strong arrows cut through the air, killing or seriously injuring an enemy. "AHHH!" "WHAT!?" "When did we reach the sentries¡ªah!!" It was in these cases that Sentries felt particularly powerful. A Level 3 sentry could one-shot an enemy level 10 and below, with decreasing damage as the level of the enemy increased. A group of weaker locals wouldn''t be able to fight against someone who could get killed in one shot, and this was something irreplecable in a territory. In fact, Belluga''s sentry placement wasn''t bad considering their budget. They had maximally-distanced sentries in several areas, while those with minimal or no sentries were set with guards, so manpower was focused on certain areas and they didn''t have to travel around so much. It had to be said the person who planned this was still thoughtful, maximizing the limited resources they had. Unfortunately, the enemy archer took these stationed guards down already, leaving this area extremely vulnerable. Anyway, Jake focused on the group of leaks that was gathering themselves after a few were hit by the damned sentries. They saw him and gasped, but he made sure to coralle them there. The sentry would shoot every few seconds, and the unlucky ones who couldn''t hide fast enough would be hit. "HEY! OVER HERE!" Jake yelled, catching the attention of guards and citizens nearby. Soon, the corralled group was found and the locals were surprised to see easy targets ready for picking. They positioned themselves so they could attack enemies as soon as they escaped the flimsy coralle. By that time, they were already greatly injured¡ªeither by the sentries, or by the others as they tried to get out of the corralle. Seeing as this spot was settled, Jake then continued to go around the barrier to the other end of the susceptible areas. Unsurprisingly, there were another few hundred people trying to get in this way as well. Unfortunately, the enemies took advantage of the fact that this area had sparse guards due to the chaos in the gates. By visual estimate, hundreds should''ve already entered and causing havoc in the area. They entered houses pulled out people and killed them. In panic, some of those who go out of the house would be shot by arrows. There were two enemy archers settled in their battlement. They shot their hearts'' content, perverted grins on their faces. "HELP!" "No!" "Kyaaaa!" Jake cursed. Small boulders of earth floated around him. He couldn''t attack them directly lest he get penalized, but he sure as hell could make them fall. The rocks were thrown with speed and precision, making the targets yell out. They fell down beautifully, one outside the walls, the other inside. The dude who fell inside screamed. "WHAT IN THE ORCSHIT?!" Jake admired his work only for a second, continuously shielding the civilians who needed it. He would also push a few he could to the paths of sentries (this area was close to one), using them to take a few more lives. This went on for several minutes until someone finally noticed the aberration. "Someone''s making trouble!" he yelled. It seemed like the captain of this team. He narrowed his eyes, looking around. He saw where most of the damage was done and he soon zoned in on him. "OVER THERE!" "It''s an elementalist!?" "It''s a strong one, too!" Another added, taking note of how many rocks and spikes had appeared around them. This got many of them afraid. Jake smirked and took advantage, making several rocks float around him. He would use it to scare and imbalance, letting their victims either run away or even land a few allowable hits. He also used the sentries to kill a few, which was honestly his favorite move so far. The team lead though, had been through many wars, and was relatively quick on his feet. After a few attacks, he realized something. "But he''s not attacking harshly! He might be over the level cap!" he yelled. This made sense because he was really too powerful! "ATTACK HIM! He can''t do the same to you!" They yelled and swarm of enemies decided to focus on him instead. Jake twitched as he watched the mob run towards him, intending to take advantage of his limitations. Ah, darnit! Chapter 696 End of the Bellugan War (Part 2) Jake jumped back to the interior, running away. Fortunately, the buildings here were dense so it was easy for him to jump roof to roof. The others saw this and thus started a game of chase. Worse, since the houses here were only two stories, some enemies would make a makeshift stair and get a few people up to the roof with him. "Tsk," he cursed, mentally looking at the rocks he kept in space. A lot of them had been used and he needed to ''refill'' it soon. Most of the buildings here were system buildings so he couldn''t use them for his ability, however, Belluga idolized Alterra and made sure to have a lot of patches of green. As he jumped over another roof with a park nearby, his hands formed a fist and several pounds of little rocks and balls of earth floated towards him. He''d keep a few in space and the rest where he had just been standing. His pursuers would then slip and lose their balance. If he was lucky, maybe they''d break their neck in the fall (spoiler: it never did, due to the enhanced reflexes of the people here). Then, among those, one managed to keep up with him. It was a level 15 swordsman¡ªthe team lead from before. He was furious to see so many of his team felled by this bastard! However, before he could even grab ahold of Jake, something flashed before his eyes and he could only instinctively lean back to avoid it. It was a friggin wind arrow. "Thanks, Crow!" Jake said with a chuckle, leaving his final pursuer in the dust to deal with accurate wind arrows that were coming his way. They had apparently run so far that they reached the area where the majority of the Alterrans were. Crow was already there, shooting away, though he did choose his targets due to limited mana. He primarily targeted stronger people who had landed inside the walls. On another side, a group of jerks were slashing about carelessly while fighting against the Bellugan guards. One of them saw a civilian nearby and escaping, but he was close enough for him to hit. He grinned, shifting targets to stab the poor guy. However, a weird hard piece of earth suddenly appeared. It was Reno, who apparently controlled earth several meters away, all while handling a few enemies with his sword. "Why do they have elementalists?!" He yelled. "It doesn''t matter, there''s only three of them!" Another yelled, proceeding on causing chaos all around. Before he could make another move though, another slash of sword came after him. He wasn''t able to avoid it on time and it still stabbed his arm. "AH, damnit!" he yelled, swinging his sword towards his attacker, who easily redirected it away. "Who is it!?" "Me," Raine said, stabbing his weapon to take advantage of the opening, successfully stabbing him through the heart. "You!!" he yelled and gasped when Raine turned the Class D sword, ensuring his death. "They''re not the only ones you need to worry about!!" Raine said, pulling her sword back, defending against another attacker. Raine had two of the other husband¡ªthe couple Suide and Orland¡ªaround to assist her. Together, they created a small vacuum of safety that went wherever there were distraught groups of citizens. Interestingly, after rescuing, a lot of these citizens would join in the encirclement, strengthening its attacking force. Raine was never formally trained, but she lived a rough life definitely not fit for a woman. Anyway, the people who breached were taken care of by the Alterrans and Raine''s group, allowing the local guards to focus on keeping the rest of them out. Hours flashed by, and the last of the more powerful aborigines¡ªall of him had entered the territory¡ªwere finally taken down. Jake assisted by immobilizing them while the rest took either the kill shots or debilitating ones, depending on the damage they did to Belluga. Most of these people were gathered in the plaza, with Raine and the others looming over them. She was looking at them one by one, as if trying to find a familiar face. When she didn''t find it, Raine walked over to the most powerful one, kicking him on the face. "Where are those bastards?" "Who?!" Her eyes were red whenever she remembered that day! "Those bastards who attacked us before!" Her words seemed to have added ember in all the local peoples'' hearts. They were once again reminded of the deep humiliation from that day. The man didn''t answer immediately. Raine frowned and took out her sword, the sharp edge hovering right above his crotch. "T-They''re not from Khlack!" The man snapped almost immediately. "They''re from our master territory, Basset Town!" This made everyone silent. A town? Jake and Reno took note of this with narrowed eyes. Other than Ferrol, the nearest Town to them was Basset Town! ... [Your village Belluga Village (Lv3) has successfully defended against Khlack Village (Lv3)!] The array eventually closed and the war ended¡ªofficially letting Belluga win the war. Wild cheers and sobs resounded across the territory, a renewed momentum flowing in its veins. Jake and the others smiled, helping out the injured and even donating some healing potions to dilute. They learned a lot in this war and they were glad they joined in. For example, the likelihood of having meatshields, the methods of aborigines in sneaking in, how much they could actually do as people beyond the level cap, and the like. As they cleaned up, the enemy people were pale. There were also a few guards who had been watching the people outside the territory. They came running as they realized that the enemies outside had all become their slaves as well. "What happens to us?!" the enemies yelled when they heard the report. "Are all of us slaves?" There were hundreds of enemies gathered in the territory, not counting those outside. Apparently, all of them actually became slaves this time. Raine looked at the notification of winnings that she received, and then at the evil people who caused chaos to her territory. She had heard of Alterra''s approach to slavery, and she also admired that. But¡­ what would she do? What did she have to do? S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 697 Bellugas New Slaves In this war, Belluga Village received thousands of slaves, all of which Raine immediately ordered to enter the territory. They obediently did so, regardless of whether they were limping or if they had to crawl. Many of them had bitter faces, though those who were already slaves didn''t have much change in expression. This was understandable. To them, their life was the same, except the set of people causing them hell was different. The citizens looked at the procession of slaves with varying expressions. Some locals threw rocks at them, some spat, though most just felt victory that it wasn''t them doing the procession. Raine looked at the mobs of slaves coming in, following her orders to a tee. When a territory lost, half of the population would become slaves, whether or not they were in the attacking force or not. All citizens within the territories had the possibility of becoming one. Even if they were not¡ªfor example, the people outside the walls at this time¡ªas long as they went through the array, they could also become slaves. It was like even if they were outside the walls, going through the array would leave a mark on them, which would ultimately cause them to be branded as slaves as soon as they lost. However, because not everyone in a territory went through the array, there was the problem of getting the other slaves if the war ended late. For example, in their case, the war ended after the 28 hours were over. This meant that the array had closed before they could order the other ''slaves'' to enter it and head to Belluga. How were they supposed to get them? Anyway, because of cases like these, the system ''evolved'' to prefer choosing those near the defending territory to turn to slaves instead¡ªi.e. In particular, those who went through the array. "So many new slaves," Jake said as he approached the new ruling party. "What do you intend to do with them? "We received few thousands," Raine said, eyes sparkling. "We will keep them." "Oh?" Jake asked, surprised. To be honest, he had the impression that most ''good'' Terran territories wouldn''t be pro-slavery at all. It wasn''t off-putting though, he was just a bit surprised. Raine saw this and gave a weak smile. She knew her choice was a bit shocking. She expected the various types of looks she was receiving now. Unlike Alterra, they wouldn''t free the slaves. She didn''t plan to. "To be kind needs strength," Raine explained. "And that¡­ is something we don''t have yet." She was fully aware they couldn''t have won this without the Alterrans. Rather, even if they didn''t, the amount of casualties would''ve been debilitating. These slaves¡­ came just in time for them to solidify their forces. "I won''t let them do anything inhumane, but it will help in Belluga''s defense and growth overall. At least that''s what I''ll aim to do." Reno and Jake didn''t have a say about that. Besides, it wasn''t any of their business. They weren''t humanity police or anything. They were simply Alterrans who wished the best for themselves, their loved ones, and for their fellow citizens. What they needed though, was the rewards. After this topic passed, Jake approached with a smile. "As agreed, a portion of the winnings." In the rules, they would get a big fraction of the winnings as long as they provided sufficient assistance. Of that portion, at least a third was distributed among the people who participated! Raine nodded, not even hesitating to give what was due. "Thanks for your help," he said, transferring the gold and Jake''s eyebrows rose a little at the 0s. This Khlack Village was richer than he thought. At the same time, they also knew this money must''ve been built at the blood of the villages they attacked. Anyway, making a rough calculation¡ªthe shares were determined according to the damage to the enemies¡ªhe knew that his share was not bad! There were not many of them who had to divide it, after all. There were only a little over 20 of them who joined the war, and some of them joined in at the latter part of the fights. With this money, he can buy a villa (or, at least, pay the downpayment for it)! Although most had been leased by the aborigines from Towns and cities, he had insider information about a new community that''d be built within the next few months! Yiyi would love it there! Suffice to say, Jakey was in a very good mood thanks to the earnings. "No problem," he said, chuckling. "Feel free to ask again." Like this, the Alterrans gestured to leave. They didn''t have to stay and rest anymore. The war had been settled a few hours prior and they just had to secure the prisoners and keep the already half-dead and weakened mobs outside until the 28-hour line was reached. At that time, the Alterrans took advantage to rest. Before they left though, Raine and the others saw them off, though not without asking for another favor. "I have a favor to ask." "You''re asking for a lot of favor, Lord Raine," Jake said with crossed arms, though he was half-teasing. "Is it because you paid us off?" Raine smiled at him a bit, but then she stepped aside to reveal Kimmy standing behind her. "Can you take our former lord with you?" Naturally, this made the Alterrans look very surprised. "What?" "Being here isn''t helping her recovery." Reno and Jake looked at each other, and then at Raine, wondering if he had some suspicious plans. Did they want to be involved in a potential power play in another territory? "There''s another one," Raine said, pointing at a pale man standing nearby. "This is Virgo," she said. "He''s a mathematician. He had always expressed wanting to move." Virgo was an intellectual through and through. When he heard paper was being produced in Alterra, he wanted to live there. (Later, he''d find out there was a research center filled with intellectuals, and he would practically beg to join in¡ªeven offering his services for free as long as he was provided shelter and food). Reno and Jake looked at each other in thought. In the end, they didn''t have any reason to refuse. As they left, Jake couldn''t help but steal a glance at their new members before turning to Reno. "You think he''s sincere?" He asked, he could already imagine some scenarios where the man would usurp the queen and take the throne for himself. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Don''t blame him. There were really cases like this. "I think so," was all Reno could say. Politics was not his thing. He was a muscle head through and through. Speaking of, all the interpersonal talent went to his sister, Silvia, who was also making a name for herself in that field. They headed deeper into the forest, and soon the walls were out of sight. As it disappeared, Jake¡ªa species of men who liked gossip¡ªcouldn''t help but wonder. "I wonder if he''ll keep his mind with that power." "Does it matter? As long as he protects the people well." "Hm, that''s true," Jake shrugged, arranging his quiffed hair by the way. Anyway, although Kimmy was a good girl, she was no leader. In this world, they needed a lot more to be able to protect their citizens. Somehow, Jake had a feeling that Raine would do just fine. Chapter 698 An Unpleasant Encounter Days passed and the team from Limestone Valley was finally set to return, along with the first batch of migrants from the place. This was a group of a few hundreds, mostly professionals and their families. In fact, half of them were unsure of moving to Alterra. After all, although they suffered a bit in Fargo, life there was getting better. Like many others, there was doubt about whether it was a wise decision to move to Alterra¡ªwhich could''ve been after Limestone Valley''s resources and not a very good place itself. This was especially true for the non-medical professionals who didn''t participate closely in the war and had an idea of what Alterra was capable of. For example, there was a young couple Marco and his wife Renya. Marco was an industrial engineer while his wife was a linguist. "Are we sure about this?" the woman whispered, gently pulling her husband''s sleeves. She had reddish brown hair and a large scar on the side of her face. The man looked reluctant but nodded in the end. "It can''t be that bad, right?" he asked, rubbing his blonde hair. At the very least, they knew Alterran''s moralities were miles ahead of Fargo''s. At the minimum, in Fargo, he was afraid someone would pull his wife into an alley every single day. Now there wasn''t such worry. Even if there were bad apples that remained lurking around¡ªnot everyone was openly bad¡ªthey were quickly handled by the automatic rules and sent to the manual prison. Such rules were promising and he heard it was just copied from Alterra, and that said a lot about that place. Even if they would be a little poorer in Alterra, then it would be worth it. Probably. However, the couple¡ªand most of the others¡ªstill felt reluctant to leave. They had survived the zombie apocalypse together because they were celebrating their anniversary in a high-end restaurant. The number of people there was very few, and there were also plenty of supplies. Somehow some other people also caught the attention of the zombies¡ªhe distinctly remembered a man with red hair¡ªso they were safe as long as they were still. However, there were still plenty of battles afterwards, especially towards the end of the 24 hours timeline and some survivors had found the restaurant. Rather than help each other, these people ended up only leading more zombies¡ªupgraded ones¡ªnear them. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Renya had unfortunately gotten burned in the fights. They almost died trying to get to the first aid kit in the administration office, but they pushed through. They ultimately kept the upgraded zombies away by hiding in the freezer. Those were a horrendous couple of hours wherein they just hugged each other and shivered, fearing for their lives. They almost got hypothermia then and maybe they could''ve also lost a few fingers. Maybe they would''ve, but their physiques were improved by their upgrades, and that was at least one good thing that came out of all these. When they got transferred to Xeno, they had each other''s backs and attached themselves to the soldiers who would later join the current leading party¡ªVictor''s¡ªteam. Their first territory held strong for a while until the protection period ended, and it was back to fighting for their lives every minute again. Then they found Fargo Village, which had much more resources and better infrastructure than their previous one, and they felt so relieved. Sadly, Fargo and his men were extremely violent and horrible. It had become a lawless place where violence ruled. Renya had never felt so lucky that she had such a large burn scar on her body. The period after Fargo''s fall was the most peaceful time they had after the disaster, so it was not surprising that both of them were reluctant to leave that behind. It was like they suffered so much to finally find that home, how could they risk going to an unknown territory? However, they were specifically recruited for their specialties. Even if there were doubts, who didn''t want to make use of the education they worked so hard for? As for the perks, Alterra promised them and their families free dormitories and a temporary residency for 1 month. After all, their skills still needed to be checked. Not to mention, Sir Henry and the others also brought in Newspapers! There, they saw sneak peeks of Alterra which was ultimately the tilting scale of their decisions. "What if the contents weren''t true?" Renya couldn''t help but wonder. After all, the contents can easily be manipulated. Marco patted her arm comfortingly. "The fact that their territory had paper and printing press is enough to convince me they''re much better than others. "I think¡­ it''s okay to take this leap," he said. Although he also had doubts, as the backbone of their family, he could not show it. Renya looked at her husband with glassy eyes. She didn''t speak for a while before nodding. She gripped his hand tighter, finding comfort in his warmth. "Well, whatever happens, at least we''ll be together." ¡­ On the other side, Victor received some details from the Alterran representatives this time. "Limestone Valleys will primarily focus on mining," Victor repeated, reading the letter with long bullet points of instructions. He took note of them, thinking of the best steps for efficiency. "They said to give you freedom in most cases, including how to execute the basic orders," Luis said with a shrug. "We''re counting on you." Victor felt a bit pressured, but nodded in the end. Alterra''s side was led by Luis and Sammy, and they were assigned to fetch the large group of immigrants filled with professionals. They also discussed how to protect the miners¡ªwho were rightful employees¡ªand how they could maximize the output considering they weren''t going full force with the mining just yet. Luckily, they had Bazco, a retired miner who did have some knowledge in mining several materials. He would be staying in Limestone Valley semi-permanently. This, combined with some handwritten notes from sister-in-law (researched from her tablet and based on their observations when they visited), they compiled and finalized some plans. "Contact only when important. We hope that you handle this place well." "We will do what we can," Victor said and he said his goodbyes as the two headed back to the immigrants. While the two talked with the leading party, the other guards prepared the civilians and oriented them on what to do, especially during emergencies like mob attacks. Vanessa watched as the part got ready with a bit of bitterness. "Can''t I come with them?" Victor looked at her with a complex expression. He wanted his sister to have a good life¡ªof course he did¡ªbut he saw how unhealthy her affections were. Having her so close to that couple wouldn''t do her any good at all. "Not yet, sis. Maybe after a few cycles," he said, baritone voice filled with finality. He then turned to focus on the other team members to discuss their plans further, effectively ignoring her. Vanessa bit her lips. No fair! ¡­ The team left and traversed through the forests and hills, placing civilians between the guards. Of course, everyone had their weapons out. While a lot of them preferred to be protected, none of them would''ve survived this long without fighting at least a few times. It was a lot smoother than they anticipated though. Before going out, they were asked to spray bug repellants and monster repellants, though to be honest they were a little dubious at its effectivity. They weren''t expecting it to work so well! They hadn''t felt any bites at all! More importantly, they hadn''t encountered many mobs after a few hours of travel! The guards cleared the path as they traveled, placing the signs in strategic distances from each other. While it had some risk of attracting strong enemies, helping out brethren and refugees remained their priority. Their vision was that Alterra would always be much stronger than territories that could attack it, so it didn''t matter if they found the signages. "I wish more of my family would find these¡­" a guard said as he attached a sign to a tree. His friend agreed with him. "Same¡­" This went on for another half an hour and it was quite peaceful. Even the immigrants felt like smiling as they watched the interactions. It also reassured them a lot. A territory that could think about ''miscellaneous'' things like this must be powerful, right? It was peaceful like this for a bit longer until Luis¡ªwho was placing a sign against one of the trees¡ªabruptly let go and jumped back. Clack! The sound of metal against metal as a flash sparked and Luis was pushed back by a force. "Enemies!" He yelled. Strong ones! Chapter 699 The Next Enemy A blink later, they saw Luis had his sword raised, shielding against another man''s sword. What''s more? The blades were both on fire. "OH? Same type, eh?" The man said, grinning as he showed off his yellow teeth. Luis almost barfed at his bad breath. Fortunately, he managed to shakily maintain his defense as the man increased his power. Swish! Luis was pushed back further until his back hit a tree. The stranger grinned and increased his fire more, a little bloodthirsty, but paused when he felt a blade on his neck. "I advise you to back off," Sammy said, pointing right at the man''s head. He added a wind element and the breeze made the man''s eyebrows rise. "Eh¡­" The three went on a standstill, with tension so palpable the bystanders could almost touch it. The fighters were prepared to intervene and rescue at a moment''s notice while the civilians shivered in fear, thinking they made a mistake for coming on this journey. Such a strong enemy was probably not alone, right? They wondered: Were they about to die? Marco immediately stepped in front of his wife as she tried to hold back her sobs. If a fight happened, he was ready to pull his wife back. Whether or not they''d be heading towards safety, he couldn''t tell, but they certainly wouldn''t be collateral damage so early. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The others were also prepared to escape, though where exactly they should be heading in¡ªthey weren''t so certain. They all watched in tension as the three elementalists maintained an equilibrium of sorts, though one that could explode the moment a little movement was made. Even Sammy was tense and serious. This guy must have a higher level than him!! Fortunately, nothing happened as a new voice emerged from the forest. "Stop it, Ero," he said, making the man frown but the bloodlust was indeed controlled a bit. It made Sammy''s eyes narrowed but his attention refused to leave the other fire user. On the other hand, the rest turned to see the source of the voice. A middle-aged man emerged from the forest with several people. The most notable was that he had a strong aura¡ªrelative to theirs, at least¡ªand the people around him were not weak either. It seemed like more than a handful were beyond level 20! Who were these people? Were they from towns? In the end, the man named Ero clicked his tongue before stepping back, looking a lot milder than he was a few seconds prior. "Yes, milord." The Alterran guards did not soften and their weapons remained ready for an attack. It was just that the soldiers faltered a bit when they recognized who the leader was, as well as the couple of people around him. They were acquaintances! And not the good kind! Luis and Sammy shared a look, feeling a little heavy to the stomach, already thinking of how to handle this with minimal losses on their side. Who were these people, you ask? It was people from Guia Village! Not just people from Guia Village¡ªthis was pretty much the ruling party, right? Why were they here?! The man seemed to have recognized them as well. "You seem familiar," he said. Though rather as an inquiry, it sounded more¡­ irksome. A few other men arrived behind him, immediately glaring. Someone was even gestured to attack at the sight of them. He was held back by his companions, who were also eager to lunge at them but were stopped by their Lord''s calm demeanor. Sammy and Luis recognized these men as the unlucky few who happened to be fainted and left in the forest back when they were rescuing the goblins. They spent a lot of money on those sleeping powders from Bart you know, they should be flattered! Anyway, the two of them noticed that these people had huge scars on their faces, obviously made by beasts. Uh-oh¡­ The man being held back struggled. This man was called Roy, a level 18 swordsman. "They tied us up!" he yelled, earning himself a kick. "Do you have to announce so loudly?" A bald man said, looking at him badly. He looked even more scary with all the scars he had. "You were angry at them too, Seto! How could you, a level 24, be pushed around so much by such weaklings?" He then turned to the lord. "They humiliated us, milord!" "Oh calm down. It''s not like you died," Baltimore said with a mysterious smile. And the men had no choice but to step back. He looked at Sammy and Luis. "Where''re the others?" he asked, and this sent alarm bells in both their minds. "Not with us," Sammy said and Baltimore''s smile faded. "I see," he said, knowing the information from them would be limited. "There seems to be a territory nearby?" He asked. They had been through a couple of local territories the past few days, and they went East as soon as they found out it was the location of the fog. "Did you come from there?" Sammy and Luis struggled a bit. They could tell the Guia Villagers were definitely up to no good. They were straightforward soldiers, they couldn''t handle guys like Baltimore well! They were just good with fists, which unfortunately was too dangerous to use against this group! More importantly, they had civilians with them, so they couldn''t fight! Seeing them reluctant, the lords'' cronies jumped to interrogate them. "Where are you heading? Why leave?" "Why so many people?" "Are you refugees?" Before they could use this excuse, Baltimore interrupted the questioning. "No, they are not refugees. Their current states and temperaments don''t fit. It''s more likely they''re just traveling from one territory to another." At this, Ero turned and looked badly at them. "Don''t lie to us. If you do, I don''t know what we''ll do." Luis'' eyes twitched, almost jumping to attack the man''s ugly smug face, but he was held down by the arm by his tanned companion. Sammy thought for a while on how to answer. If they went to Limestone Valley, they would definitely still hear about Alterra anyway. Not to mention, Limestone Valley wouldn''t be able to fight against Guia Village, but Alterra could. So, in the end, he didn''t bother to lie. "Yes, but we''re heading towards someplace else to settle down," Sammy said. This made Luis and the others stare at him, but they didn''t interrupt. Baltimore saw their reaction and smiled, asking the following questions. "Interesting. What''s the place''s name?" "Alterra Village." "I see," he paused, "You don''t mind if we come with you, right?" This made the Alterrans flinch. Sammy plastered a smile on his face. "Sure," he said. However, as he went to lead the way, he signaled something to Luis with some subtle and obscure gesture only they understood. Luis excused himself saying he seemed to have dropped something some distance away. As soon as he was sure the coast was clear, he then went someplace to write on an aether letter, directed at the bird holder back in Limestone Valley. Aether letters could not send to Alterra, but it could still reach the Valley. Hopefully, Victor and the others reacted fast enough. At this, he made his letter look particularly urgent. /Enemy Alert! Enemy Alert! URGENT! Send a letter to Alterra. Guia Village! Heading towards Alterra now!/ He then returned to the crowd a couple of minutes later holding a stool he sat on when camping. "Left this behind, hehe," he said, before joining the crowd as if nothing happened. Baltimore''s sharp eyes could naturally see that Luis lied, but he didn''t mind much. It just made him more curious about the territory they were heading towards. "Alterra Village, eh?" Chapter 700 School Opening Meanwhile, in Alterra, the citizens were still unaware of a new enemy coming in. Instead, the atmosphere was jovial and exciting. After all, the first day of school had finally begun! The school was a lovely manual construction surrounded by large open space for plants and playgrounds. It had several classrooms and provisions for every class found in Terran (of course, adjusted according to local conditions). Other than this, there were naturally new classes like fighting classes, monster class, and Xenoan Flora and Fauna class. The school was a four-story building with an open plan to allow for natural ventilation to go throughout. Like every other building, it was designed to be naturally cool and refreshing, but with easy maneuverable walls and features to handle harsh winters. All around it, trees with wide canopies served as shade for the students and the teachers. There was plenty of ivy crawling on certain walls, the gardens were dotted with various flowers, and these added a sense of beauty and tranquility to the campus. It was a wonderful campus that encouraged growth, camaraderie, and loyalty to the territory, and in time it would be one of Alterra''s many sources of pride. When they get more of those Blu stuff, a school building would be one of the next special buildings they''d do. If she were to choose, it would either be the school laboratory or the school library. After all, a school was not just to a place to listen and learn, but also a place to learn through action, experiment, and mistakes. This was what was going on in Althea''s mind as they watched the students enter the low gates of the school by groups or by pairs. The people watched with warm hearts¡ªwhether or not they had children in there¡ªas they saw children off to do something they had taken for granted all their lives. "Bye, everyone~!" Little Maya said, hugging all the adults in her family. Horus also waved at them, but otherwise still very shy. Maya then grabbed his hand to drag him to the gate and meet their friends. Near them was Oslo and his nephew, Honda. Oslo leaned down and patted the boy''s head. "Remember, learn as much as you can, but also enjoy your time here," he said. Honda looked at him with those large amber eyes, exuding trust. "Yes uncle," he said, though he didn''t move immediately, a little intimidated by a new school. Then he heard his friends'' voice calling for him and all the tension disappeared. With a smile, he turned and ran to join them. Nearby, there was also an odd family saying goodbye to their children. It was Bruce, Tom, and their new brother Rebi and the three girls Lily, Fiona, and Lina. "Be good, girls," they said. "Always help each other, okay?" "Okay Dads!" they said and the three girls held each others'' hands and went together to find their friends (and their classroom, of course). They joined Mimi, who was waving her little hands to her parents nearby. It was notable that Alterra''s top lawyer was a little teary at this time. And then, while most Terrans adjusted fast enough considering it wasn''t anything new to them, there was a good portion of the students who were huddled together, appearing a bit nervous and lost. They were all from Mauin Village, for whom the concept of school itself was something alien and therefore a little scary. For instance, there was Maumi and his best friends Pongo and Gururu. "Do I really have to go?" Maumi asked quietly as he held on his mother''s hand. His father patted his head, "Don''t you want to be with your friends?" They had been here for many days, and the children had already played freely in the parks. They had met with the other children, and befriended them somehow. However, the concept of school was extremely new to them. What if they failed? What if they embarrassed themselves in front of their new friends? Mauru patted his son''s head. He understood how confused the boy was. Even he, an adult of several decades had only heard of schools and academies. They were exclusive to nobles and were very expensive. But here, the tuition was very affordable, could be paid in contribution points, or could be ''loaned'' in the bank as well as long as they secured a good source of income. Speaking of Mauru, he and his family were adjusting well. For one, he was already a captain after his contributions in the war, while his wife had applied to be one of the cleaner-gardeners of the school, primarily to be close to their child. "Go," he said. "Otherwise, your friends will leave you behind. Do you want that?" Little Maumi shook his head and soon a renewed determination was seen on his cute face. After a bit, the trio began to brave steps towards the gates, not sure exactly what the expect. But then their friends waved at them and they ran to them, forgetting the tension. The former Mauin villagers watched as the children joined in the locals and their shoulders slumped in relief. "They''re all so welcoming¡­" They had a bit of an inferiority complex coming here. After all, everyone was so¡­ cultured. There were so many elementalists, too. They were all smart and had novel ideas. It was hard not to feel a bit inferior. However, despite all that, they were never made to feel that way. In contrast, they were welcomed as brethren almost as soon as they arrived. "Even a half-orc could integrate, why can''t we?" "Hm, that''s true." "And it''ll only get better," Mauru said, looking at his wife with a smile. "Has our loan application been approved?" The woman nodded. "We''ll be able to receive it within the next few days." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Mauru brightened even more at this. "That''s great!" With this, they''d be able to raise their standard of living even more. In fact, they had been confused by the concept for a very long time, but after observing other people, they came to realize how magical the benefit was. Of course, they had to be temporary residents first and swear payment under oath, but that was understandable. Fortunately, the temporary residency here was affordable, especially with the contribution points Mauru saved up, making his savings enough for their entire family. Anyway, the adults watched the children and teenager enter the gates and disappear from their sights with various emotions in their hearts. However, Althea and her team felt a bit bittersweet seeing the number of students. This was because counting the little ones who entered, they could see that while the the number of children increased, it was still not much overall. In the entire territory, not including her twins, there was now a grand total of¡­ 100 kids, a lot of which were from the newly arrived Mauin villagers. Out of these 100 kids, only a portion were small children less than 10 years old. "It''s a bit sad," Ansel said, shaking his head. Thousands of people, yet less than a hundred youngins. "We don''t have enough children, it''s fortunate people''s lifespan had lengthened, otherwise Alterra would be in trouble after a few decades," Althea mumbled, noting to go to Mathilda later to discuss policies to encourage birth. She looked at the educational edifice with deep eyes, uttering with a serious expression: "It''s time to make more children." Chapter 701 Beloved Children of Alterra Her words were completely professional, but it made Garan turn to her. Althea felt his stare and she looked at him. It took a moment for her to realize what the heated stare was about and she wanted to pinch his cheek. "Pregnant women can''t make love for a certain number of months, apparently. It''ll be bad for the baby." Garan''s face was unchanged and he nodded, "Yes, there are so many people in the territory, we should implement policies that would encourage couples to procreate." Her lips twitched. Her husband can be very easy to talk to. Mathilda, who was standing beside them (and watching them in amusement), giggled. "I agree with Garan. We can add incentives for couples to create families." In Terran, plenty of countries saw declines in their younger population because the young adults simply didn''t want to make families. This created a major problem of a declining workforce but an increasing number of senior citizens. In those countries, incentive schemes were implemented, as well as some guarantees. Although not all of them were applicable in their case, Mathilda already had a few policies in mind that may mirror a couple of those policies. For instance, they could introduce child benefits and tax breaks. They would offer financial support to families who had babies until, say, the age of 3, which should give enough time for a family to adjust. They could also lower the costs of childcare items and the like. They would provide some monthly copper allowance for the couple and guaranteed free ob-gyn care and baby supplies. "This is a good time to implement policies," Althea said. "We are not only among the top in our tier¡ªwhich may not be the same after we upgrade to Town¡ªbut I also heard it''d be much harder to procreate after a certain level." This certain level varied from levels 25 to level 40, depending on the individual. Gaia, Oslo''s mother, seemed to have given birth to him around the latter level. However, most people''s limits were much earlier and they didn''t want people holding back their own upgrades because they wanted children. Mathilda smiled, taking it as an official instruction. "Leave this to us," she said, mentioning a few of the policies she had in mind. "I can tell you that in a few years, we would have thousands more children gracing our territory." Althea and the others smiled at the image. Ah, how lovely. ¡­ Back to the school, the first day of classes was now about to start!! The hundred children varied in age, but were divided into three classes which would eventually have tiers should the educators deem them necessary. The three tiers were nursery, elementary, and high school. Only Theo was in the nursery class for now, but Beany decided to enroll him anyway. When they found out about this, Garan and Althea also decided to enroll the twins as honorary students in the following days. Despite their age and since it was only three children, it should be easy for the teacher¡ªa lovely young lady called Evelyn¡ªto care for them. Speaking of Evelyn, she was a pretty girl with curly reddish-brown hair and pale skin. She was also Turbo''s childhood sweetheart and quite a mild-mannered girl. Turbo found her when he and a team of guards (as well as a few civilians training) cleared out the surrounding areas of monsters. According to witnesses, she and a few others were unsightly, but Turbo recognized her immediately. They had just escaped from a fallen village west called Juno Village, which was taken over by aborigines. When they bought their map, they found that the former territory was really a long way West, even beyond Fargo. They really traveled for more than a week before ending up in their area. Her group of more than a hundred was down to about a dozen by the time they were rescued. According to the spectators¡ªer, witnesses¡ªTurbo immediately hugged the woman as soon as he recognized her, not even noticing all the grime on her. The two just cried in each other''s arms while the rest cleared out the mob their large group attracted. As for how she survived this long, she had awakened a skill similar to Horus'' stealth skill, but milder and could easily be noticed if one looked closely enough. It was something that she¡ªas someone who lived her whole life as a super-introvert¡ªcould control well. She called the skill¡­ ''The Wallflower'' and it was practically a passive skill and required minimal mana. This skill was pretty much her default mode, and it made Turbo''s finding her so quickly even more special. It was quite romantic, and it became another material for the puppet show writers to base on. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The titles? ''Turbo finds his Wallflower'', ''Turbo''s Hidden Gem'', and ''Water Chronicles: Silent Heart, Loud Love''. Anyway, Evelyn might be a very quiet and introverted lady, but she was very nourishing and motherly. Turbo would often get teased about how he found himself a perfect housewife and mother of his children. The nursery class would comprise primarily of the basics like shapes, colors, and the like. As for the elementary tier, this was where the rest of the 30 children were assigned. The remaining ones were teenagers aged 12 to 18. For now, each was one class. The elementary class was held by Rosalind¡ªthe Dean of this school¡ªherself. She would teach them basic living and literacy, while also introducing them to the world outside. For Literacy, Terran language class would be an elective that Terran children could take if they wanted to, just to keep their old home alive, but the Xeno written language was mandatory. Unlike Xenoan spoken language which was programmed in with the system, the written language had to be learned manually. At this level, it would focus on their alphabet which was mainly logograms, which would take a while to teach. Still, she pushed for it. After all, to truly understand a culture, one must not only learn to speak its language¡ªbut also be able to read its stories. Chapter 702 Raising them Well The teachers for literacy were just the previous hires taking this as a part-time job. Or rather, they were asked to help create some guide books, and then the rest of the teachers based on this. It wasn''t that she hadn''t considered getting another random hire in the village center, regardless of what they were applying for, but the thing was¡ªliteracy really wasn''t much of a thing here. Among the people she had hired, only those from the city like Oslo and Betty, with a few exemptions like Brenda (thanks to her hardworking father) and Rowan could read. The others just learned from them as time went on. There was a long way before they achieved 100% proficiency in the Xeno written language, but with her people''s brains and yearning to learn, they would adjust in time. The Physical Education class, on the other hand, would be led in rotation by the guard team. They would teach basic health and stances. They would also be training the children''s foundations at this stage. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. By ''foundation'', it was not just limited to the Physical. Rather, it included mental and practical skills. They would be subjected to endurance training to build their endurance and prepare them for long periods of physical activity later in life. Strength exercises were also important, though they would vary according to the child''s age. They would also be training their mental resilience, hoping they would be able to handle stressors and stimulants productively. This would be done by using challenge-based activity for young kids, and stress and pressure stimulation for older ones. If they had the predisposition to be elementalists (which all Terran children seemed to be), the meditation exercises would also be taught to them early in order to form a habit. Other than these, the children would also be taught some basic plant and animal knowledge, as well as camping and survival knowledge from an early age as well. The teenagers would comprise the high school class. This one had fewer class hours because they were already expected to fight during mobs and would be starting to hunt/clear out enemies at least a few times a week. Their classes were advanced versions of those learned in elementary. Advanced fighting and survival classes would also be part of their curriculum. Advanced survival skills were also taught at this age. They would be taught proper foraging techniques and food preparation. They would even be taught basic shelter making. For instance, if they found themselves in the middle of a forest on a mission and it rained, they should be able to make a temporary shed to protect them from it. After all, the rain here was different from Terran. It could literally weaken them¡ªand that was a dangerous thing in the wild. They would also be taught basic first aid and how to make impromptu bandages and the like, hoping to prepare them for the inevitable injuries they''d experience in time. The kids had no books for now, but they could at least buy some notebooks in the school bookstore. The paper factory allocated a certain amount of paper to schools. When books became more readily available outside the government institutions and the library, they would also be sold in the school bookstore on the ground floor. Other than these, there were also adult classes like Xeno language literacy, Pharmacy, Basic cooking, and the like. There would also be specialist classes like paper making, ceramics, et cetera, but they would be on bond with the territory for at least 2 years. Although there was tuition¡ªwhich was much more expensive than the kids''¡ªit actually wasn''t expensive considering everything. To be honest, it was practically subsidized and the tuition was just there in order for the system to not be taken advantage of by lazy people. Who would want to train people but just have them work for others? They should at least get their ROI. Mauin citizens had heard of the adult classes mentioned in the newspaper, though they couldn''t read yet so they depended on others to read for them. They were still a bit cynical about something so good happening to them, but when they saw how the Terrans discussed it they couldn''t help but believe. Speaking of this, after the students settled down and began their classes, several adults also entered to school the to inquire about the adult classes. "Can we learn to read?" "Of course." Some would ask about the life knowledge. "Can we really make ceramics after graduation?" Some would also ask about future employment. "Did Baron say he''d hire those who graduated from woodworking class?" "Can we really apply for the Research Center if we get good grades?" Anyway, it was quite lively and the administrators tried their best to answer. Soon, they finished the question and answer session by asking everyone interested to register. When it was his turn, Maui couldn''t help but pause. First of all, he couldn''t write yet, so he embarrassedly had to ask the administrators¡ªwho were understanding, gentle, and helpful by the way¡ªto do it for him. As he watched his name being jotted down, he cleared his throat. "How¡­ does the classes work?" "It''s just a few hours a week, so you could keep your jobs and your training schedules. Schedules available are listed here," he said, handing over a piece of paper with a list of schedules. Then he remembered they couldn''t read yet, so he asked his teammate to read it out loud. While this was ongoing, Gochi and the others were outside, watching as more and more adults entered the gate. He was frozen on the spot, drowning in various thoughts, reluctants, and doubts until a voice sounded next to him. "Why don''t you enter?" The voice was familiar and he flinched as he turned to her. "M-Miss Althea!" "There are also courses like Basic Pharmacy, you know," she said. "Why don''t you try and enroll?" Gochi stared at her with a complicated expression. This made Althea (and her husband closely next to her) stare at him. Why wouldn''t he try? Gochi asked himself. It was because he¡­ didn''t think he could do so¡­ "What''s wrong?" He shook a bit and felt shy, but his eyes met Miss Althea''s pure green eyes. She smiled, nodding in encouragement. "Go," she said, "You definitely have the talent for it." Looking at her full of trust in him, he couldn''t bring himself to decline. He couldn''t bear to disappoint her either. So, following the crowd, he tentatively entered the school to enroll. From then on, after his duties as a guard, he would go straight to school. After a couple of months of training, Gochi would then be the first half-orc military medic in Xeno history. Chapter 703 Doggo Date While the first day of class was ongoing, a certain pair of canines were going around doing their rounds. "Fufi, catch!" one yelled, and the large golden mutt turned and barked, his tail wagging playfully. Woof! He opened his large mouth to catch a mouthwatering piece of Mooselion steak. His movements were large and when he landed after a jump, the nearby people would feel a slight shift in air due to his mass. Meat on mouth, he turned to his companion, who was also called somewhere else. "Snow, Snow! Here!" Another yelled, but threw the slab at a higher angle. The wolf''s agile form glided through the air, gracefully jumped, and caught it with its mouth¡ªlanding gently on the ground as if she just floated. This was in stark contrast with Fufi, who could cause vibrations when he lunged, forgetting how big he was now. Anyway, seeing his girlfriend was fed, he started to taste the nice meat already in his mouth. Nom, nom, nom After that was gone, another slab of meat flew towards the two, which they also caught with contrasting finesse (i.e. with Fufi decidedly lacking any of it). S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Snow though was as graceful as ever, and one could not see even a bit of stain from the meat in her fur. "Gorgeous!" The thrower yelled, and some bystanders clapped their hands. Don''t look at them slacking off. Everyone there was actually doing their usual activities, whether it was shopping, selling, exercising, or the like. However, when the two dogs passed by, they would pause and just watch them with smiles. They also always had some food in their space, not only for their own emergency supply but also for treats. Anyway, they hunted a lot, and no one lacked meat with the amount of beasts outside. If they could make the doggos happy, then their days were made. Anyway, the two dogs had¡ªalong with the babies¡ªbecome the official mascots of Alterra. They were greatly loved, getting fed every few blocks they passed by. Like the kids, they also got their own fanbases. If Pepper had ''The Spices'', and Meatball had ''The Munchkins'', then Fufi had the ''Golden Paws Squad'' while Snow had ''The Snowflakes''. Anyway, the doggos'' metabolic rates were great and they had a high rate of activity so they didn''t really get too flabby despite their consumption. Also, Althea had started a program to teach them what was poisonous or would cause their bodies harm. She rarely did it herself lately due to her busy schedule, however one of her assistants like Gus or Lily (the doctor) would do it for her. This way, if some evil mind decided to try to harm the dogs with treats, they wouldn''t succeed, and would even be caught immediately. The lessons were taught in the barracks so the soldiers would also be taught. This was not to say the soldiers were afterthought, of course. Ahem. The pair moved a couple more blocks, getting a few more treats, even from aborigines like Betty. The aborigines were very shocked about it too at first, as Battle Pets were relatively uncommon even in towns, but now there were two roaming around freely in the territory with their own matching collars as their ''uniform''. Sometime in their rounds though, the two dogs paused almost simultaneously, growling in a direction. They howled, and everyone around looked at them with furrowed eyebrows. "Oh, what''s wrong?" The dogs didn''t move though, just looking in a direction. Then the alarm bell shortly after, followed by an announcement. Apparently, a mob of about a hundred or so monsters had arrived. This was followed by the bell ringing. It only rang three times to announce and then¡­ nothing else. This meant the threat was, well, not much of a threat and they could continue as they were. It was enough for everyone to know they were being attacked without having to endure the constant noise to distract their every day activities! Anyway, the bell alerted all the interested fighters. They converged towards the gate, ready to get out as soon as the gate opened. Meanwhile, the rest of the territory just went ahead with their day. ¡­ On the battlement, Chris looked through his scope, soon seeing a team who were trapped outside by the mob. They were probably outside when the mob attacked and escaped getting surrounded by finding high ground and dosing themselves with beast repellents. They had probably been exhausted so they hadn''t fought their way through the mobs. One of the members outside saw the reflection of the scope and flinched. He then waved around his hand, signing with his hands. He was saying that they were fine and to just get rid of the mob already. With a shrug, Chris signaled for the gate to be opened, both the interior and the minor coralle outside, letting some monsters in to handle. As such, people who were eager to get some meat, money, and contribution points filed out the gate. They were holding out their weapons, shields, and the like. If they were awakened, then their elements could be floating around them. Spearheading this group were, amusingly, the Mauin Villagers. They had nothing when they arrived, and they knew nothing of the industries here so they couldn''t get good jobs inside the territory. What they had been doing their whole lives though was fighting! Even the women who weren''t able to secure jobs like cleaner and gardener jobs joined in. They had experienced a lot of wars, though they were usually tasked to protect the children. Before, they were both too scared and biased. They didn''t think it was an option for women to have a job outside the door after marriage. However, after going to Alterra and seeing female guards and leading figures¡ªespecially the respected leaders like Miss Althea, Miss Mathilda, and Miss Winona¡ªtheir perspective on their limitations suddenly got overturned. The group charged towards the mob, hearts filled with the fire of battle. They will fight! For a good life! Chapter 704 Minor Battle with Another Mob Outside the territory The group ''trapped'' outside was led by Ansel. In this group, he was with the twins, as well as about a dozen civilians who joined the hunting team. It started out quite nicely. They hunted monsters, defeated them, gained fair amounts of experience for each team member, and also got a lot of loot. By the end, everyone had their space filled with resources. Sadly, a mob of hundreds arrived, and many level 7s, which was a bit dangerous even for them. Loki was there with them but he was only allowed to help them level up and save their arses from death, so he refused to clear the mobs for them. Fortunately, Ansel had bottles of Beast Repellant potions and they managed to avoid the bulk of it. Of course, Alterra''s potions couldn''t yet be compared to that of the city''s, so there were monsters that still went to attack them, but it was manageable. They fought their way until they caught sight of the main walls. It went relatively smoothly until someone got injured and the smell of blood attracted more and more monsters, which led to their current predicament of defending-but-can''t-move-forward. "Yo¡ªAnsel~ Been a while since we last fought a mob together, eh?" Luke said and Leo nodded, all while shielding themselves against the monsters. Luke waved his spear and stabbed a monster in place, while Leo waved his sword to stab it through its eyes and through its head. "I heard you got a new girlfriend." "You already heard about that already, eh?" Ansel said, sneering, a blaze of fire burning a weaker monster to crisp. "Also, she is not my girlfriend!" The twins would''ve raised their hands in surrender if they weren''t busy defending. "Yes, yes, whatever you say." At the same time, both of them were eager to try out their new skills! Luke and Leo both activated new skills during their rounds, with Luke getting the Fire Whip technique similar to Luis'' while Leo got a technique called Water formation, which was a faster and more efficient way to condense water from air. In Alterra, all water users had a little water sac in their spaces, earth users had small boulders, fire users had oil, wind users had fans, and the like. However, there were plenty of cases where the water wasn''t enough, and condensing water from air took a lot of energy as it was. This technique was very useful in such cases. With it, the normal energy consumption would be halved or reduced even more. Luke couldn''t wait to test out his skills. He even had the audacity to grin at him, "Imma try some techniques, help me practice later, okay?" Ansel''s eyes twitched, "Being in the middle of a monster mob is not the time to practice!" Anyway, they continued fighting their way until they finally found an opening to move forward. It was small and they could only move slowly, but eventually they did reach the walls. Immediately, they took advantage of the sentries¡ªwhich was basically instinctual now¡ªto kill several monsters from the get-go. Ansel took an extra step and jumped up, his back on a sentry that was about to shoot. The twins gasped but then Ansel immediately turned away. At this level, at the right angle, a single shot from the sentry could skewer 2 monsters no problem. Like so, within the next few minutes, Ansel alone took down a handful of monsters just with sentries. The twins looked at him with a smile, and he shook his head. "Backs near the walls," he said, "Cover your backs well, I can only watch so much." "Aye, aye, Ansel~" ¡­ When the people found out about the mob''s manageable level, a lot more joined in. This was an easy level and would give decent contribution points to a lot of them. For those who were stuck in level 8 or 9, this was the perfect time to try and hit level 10! So many people had began to awaken, and they were feeling left behind! The two dogs also joined in and went around near the walls and killing what they could. Fufi was right by Snow though as the wolf''s level was limited. They were definitely working well together though, with Fufi dealing brute force and Snow killing off the remaining leaks or weakened monsters. Fufi was willing to give most of the kills too, like a good gentleman dog, so that Snow''s level would at least be high enough to handle or escape from higher levelled monster. Meanwhile, in one of the corners, the good-looking Trio were fighting a small mob while practicing their elements. Leo had long given up because he didn''t do as well under pressure. He couldn''t even make a drop before almost getting bitten. He decided to just practise the skill more in peace first. Luke was different, plus he had the guidance of fellow fire user Ansel, so after a while of swinging his spear, he decided to try out the skill he just ''inherited''. It wasn''t easy to do at will though, and he practiced so much so that after some point, his mana reduced so much that his fire whip could only be super small. It would then get put out by a monster breathing on it. Simple-minded Luke was still very happy though. "Whoo! That was a total fire whip!" S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel''s lips twitched. Rather than a fire whip, that was a fire worm. They continued to fight until the mobs had become visibly few. With the help of sentries and the dogs, the weight wasn''t heavy on anyone with a decent level. It got to the point Luke recovered enough mana and finally created a fire whip the size of a kid''s belt! "OHY¡ª" But then¡ª Drip, drop, drip A single drop of rain killed it. "..." Ansel laughed as he swung, though his eyes twitched when he felt a few droplets on his skin. Fortunately, the mob was almost finished so they didn''t have to worry about the rain too much. It was just that with rain came mud, and mud meant muddy dogs. The beast mob was dealt with but the massive canines ran to the familiar people¡ªespecially Ansel¡ªand they shook their bodies to rid of the mud, splattering all over Ansel. The redhead felt uncomfortable all over. "FUFI! SNOW!" ¡­ Back in the villa, Althea and Garan looked out the window of their home to look at the sky, now a little darker from the rain clouds. They were currently in the living room having a meeting with Eagle, who was discussing the plan for continuous exchange with Ferrol. The bell on the veranda rang. "A messenger bird has arrived!" Eagle said, standing up to take the bird, and placing it on its birdhouse to get dried and fed. "It''s from Limestone Valley," he said, and the couple nodded at him to read. The man paled immediately as his eyes traced over its contents. This made the atmosphere a little stagnant, the couple waiting for him to speak. Eagle heaved a deep breath, looking at the other two with a serious expression. "Guia is coming!" Chapter 705 Unfriendly Visitors (Part 1) There was silence in the room for a while, and Althea looked at the two men whose guards had gone to the highest level. She had heard the village mentioned in association with an interesting new race¡ªGoblins¡ªbut they didn''t really discuss the place''s force value. "Are they very strong?" she asked and the two men nodded. "Guia Village could easily be the strongest village in our region," Garan explained. "Their lord is at least level 30 and the average level of guards there are strong, but they always keep a certain number within the level limit to make sure they can cause real damage during wars." That was to say, they had plenty of guards level 20s and above, but they also had forces at level 15 or below. This average was way beyond the level 3 village, which averaged at level 12 or so. Garan and the others knew this clearly because this was public knowledge they gathered after investigating the place. It was their point of pride and was a great way to discourage enemies from causing trouble. Baltimore was also the type to prefer people getting intimidated just by his, or his territory''s, name. "Don''t their guards upgrade?" she asked. The other two shook their heads. "I think they never run out." "Must''ve been sent by their backer," Eagle said. If the guards upgrades beyond the level cap, they could send the stronger ones back to the ''master'', which was not a disadvantage at all, especially when the master would send younger ''new blood'' within the level cap to replace them. At this Eagle flinched, remembering something. "Isn''t Guia a subordinate village of Ferrol?" This made the couple frown and look at each other. Jonathan didn''t seem like someone who''d attack them. There was no point. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan shook his head in the end. "Subordinate territories are still free. For a bit of clout, they simply have to pay a good amount of tribute to the other territory until the contract ended." Subordinate villages separating from the ''master'' territory¡ªat least after the year ended¡ªwas nothing new. Of course, getting into the bad side of the master, unless a better one was found, was a stupid move that would just place a target on the territory''s head. There were also some cases where it was likely to happen. For example, when a subordinate village lost ownership of the token. The new owner naturally refused to be under a backer they didn''t acknowledge and would not renew the contract after it ended. This would often lead to the backer sending other subordinate villages to wear it down, getting the territory back in the end. This was, of course, unless the conquestor had a backer. "Would he target Alterra specifically?" Althea asked, eyebrows furrowing in worry. "The lord is the vindictive type," Garan said, telling her more details about what happened with the goblin slaves. "Since he found Luis and the others, he''d definitely consider attacking us. "However, as long as we defend well, we shouldn''t lose, not on my watch." He said, reassuring her. "It''s just that¡­ there would definitely be losses." There was silence in the room, and Althea''s heart clenched. Human lives naturally had great weight in all their decision-making. Even if it would cost more and need more effort and resources, they would definitely choose options that would save more lives. "That will indeed be a problem," Althea mumbled, gripping her skirt. Garan''s large hand immediately enveloped hers, calming her down a bit. "Well, we''re not sure if he will really attack," he said, baritone voice soothing her worries. "If he does¡­ then we will be ready." ¡­. As such, they called the soldiers within the territory to start discussing what they knew about Guia Village. Led by Eagle and Garan, Althea knew more and more details about the village. She had roughly known about Goblins and their situation in this world was¡ªeven before, from her husband. That was where she first understood the reality of how harsh slavery was in this world. However, this was the first time she had heard of the detailed account of the enemy''s strength. Garan and the others only If anyone said they were the strongest village in the region, she would believe it. She was also reminded of the¡­ resources available in the place. "You said they had an Iron mine and goblin slaves, right?" Althea asked, eyes a little dazed as she entered a deep thought process. Garan nodded. "Do you want it?" he asked, deep azure eyes staring at her as he waited for her response. If she said yes, then he''d do what it takes to get it. She didn''t answer immediately. "Rather than hunt for it, I just thought it''d be a convenient loot if we get our hands on it without extra losses." The soldiers nodded at this, though at the same time also hoping to achieve the best case scenario. The Iron bog could only give so much iron, and it was public knowledge they were running out. They¡­ really needed that mine. Althea had vowed not to be the attacking territory unless there was no other choice. They weren''t even entirely sure if Guia would attack. What if they could be talked to? Maybe a deal could be made? Money could fix a lot of things¡­ Besides, even if Guia did attack, it''ll be difficult to get the token as the lord was very strong. Not to mention, he might be in his territory during the war. Garan wouldn''t even be able to attack him then because he wouldn''t be able to go through the array in the first place. Even if he did, he might not win. Althea would never risk her husband''s life. "We won''t be attacking," Althea said after a few moments. "But if he decides to attack us, then we''ll just make him regret it." Anyway, there was also some new stuff from the Research Center that quite needed a few ''subjects''. If they were stupid enough to try and hurt them, then Althea would not mind turning them into guinea pigs. Chapter 706 Unfriendly Visitors (Part 2) Among the guards, an announcement was made, and it really surprised them all. [Potential enemies will arrive soon! Try not to show your prowess too much. We prefer being underestimated.] This startled the guards a lot, but they quickly adjusted and followed as ordered. Althea didn''t really bother doing the same with the citizens as it might give a few people the idea of selling the information to the enemy instead. There were thousands of them now, they obviously had a couple of bad apples already. Speaking of bad apples, a certain leech family was waiting around the gates when they heard people from Limestone Valley were entering the territory. They had been stalking the guard stations a lot and they happened to have overheard it. When the Limestone Valley party soon arrived¡ªwith the ''guests'' in tow¡ªthe aforementioned family ran to greet them. "It''s them!" they yelled, and went to Luis and the others. Sammy and Luis looked at the mother-and-son pair and were just confused. It was only when they started looking for a fellow guard that they remembered who this unsightly pair was. Amos hadn''t been away for long, but these two already looked like beggars. "Where''s my son?" "Where''s my brother?" Luis couldn''t handle pests very well so he cleared his throat and said he needed to bring the guests and the newcomers in. Sammy had no choice but to deal with the two, though he silently swore to spar with Luis later. They then saw Angelo in the group. Jesse stayed in Limestone Valley, but when Luis sent an urgent letter to them he and a few others immediately came to follow them back, catching up after half a day since the party was going slow with civilians in the team. Although war might not happen, they naturally wanted to be back home when it happened. Jesse would''ve gone back as well but he was already assigned a team. Angelo was an archer and was assigned to station the walls and was a bit more flexible. Anyway, because he was close with Amos, he knew these two very well. They were eyesores and he didn''t bother to hide his expression of disgust. "He stayed there." "WHAT?!" "What about us?" "What about you?" he asked, feigning ignorance even when he knew exactly what they were talking about. Even after all this time, this mother-son pair remained to be leeches, sucking Amos'' blood. No wonder he didn''t want to return here. The woman and her son glared at him, but they were weak¡ªbarely even level 5, and this was all because of Amos'' carrying them. Without Amos, if they somehow managed to survive, they would definitely not pass level 2. Sammy would be enlightened by the shamelessness of some people that day though. Seeing as he was the boss, the mother-and-son pair ignored Angelo and went to him instead. Amos'' mother¡ªBalon¡ªpatted herself, bossily ordering him. "Send us his paycheque instead!" Sammy had to stop his eyes from rolling. "That''s not how it works." "Then don''t we get support as his family?" "That''s completely at the guard''s prerogative. Besides, your other son look perfectly healthy," Sammy said, pointing at Alon. "He can go hunt outside. In Alterra, anyone willing to work wouldn''t go hungry." "NO!" "Well, then go hungry." "NOOO!" The woman yelled like a shrew. "He''s my son! He''s supposed to feed us! Unfilial bastard!!" Sammy patted his own shoulder as if massaging himself. It was a poor attempt to prevent him from getting down their level. His patience was running thin though. As one of the few extroverts in the team, this was already saying something. He looked at the guards stationed by the gates. "Send them to prison. Let them stay there for 1 day for disturbing public peace." This made the two flinch and glare at him. The guards surrounded them and they naturally tried to struggle. "This is unfair!" "Tyranny!" "HELP! HELLLPP!!!" Balon yelled which got her a tape¡ªsomething new by the research center, the cheapest one was made from thin elastic recycled paper with animal glue¡ªeffectively shutting her up. "What?! Jerks!!" Alon tried to fight back and attacked. Unfortunately for him, he was a weak chicken and was easily taken down. His mother screamed like a pig¡ªshe practically ate that tape¡ªwhen she saw her precious son hurt. "My son! How dare you!!" she yelled. She also tried to attack, though this also got her on the ground. They were then dragged to Prison to serve their short sentence. They screamed like shrews the whole way to prison, cursing everyone they encountered. ¡­ Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Baltimore and the others watched the interaction outside the gate in interest until Luis walked over. "Lord Baltimore," he said, "We''ll leave you here." This made the aborigines look at them. Luis pretended to be unaware of their looks. "Our territory is small and straightforward, you''ll be able to find more about it on your own." He didn''t look at them again as he smiled at the doctors and their other new citizens. "Let''s go get you registered first." And they left without looking back. When he said he was guiding the newcomers, it apparently did not include them. Some of Baltimore''s cronies sneered, "Disrespectful as always." They also swore to beat them back to their place someday. Sadly, the rules showed to them when they entered were abnormally detailed so for now they had no choice but to hold back. Baltimore didn''t say anything, he simply moved forward along the avenue. The Guide companies were ordered not to guide the Guia villagers. Although they would be able to find out a lot on their own, at least it wouldn''t be spoonfed to them. It was also a way for them to check if anyone would be willing to sell strangers sensitive information. The group moved together at first, looking around the wide streets, the buildings, the amenities¡­. They also saw the resources, the food, and the products. They tried a couple of things and they felt like they were brought to another world, each store asking them to eat more and more. These things could easily mark this place as a culinary capital! There were also some novel methods of transportation that went fast along the wide avenues. Some only had one person, and others had another small cart on the side. The more they saw, the more they felt like ''country bumpkins'', and slowly they forgot the disrespect they suffered. To be honest, they were a little in awe. And Greedy. Very greedy. "Boss¡­ this place¡­" Treck uttered, gulping, with his eyes sparkling as he looked at the place. Baltimore nodded, understanding. "Investigate," he said, and all the men around him separated, to study this territory as thoroughly as possible. Each one of them would later report to him and then they could plan on the best course of action in taking over. He had a feeling that this territory¡­ might be the most surprising one yet. They had to be more careful with this one, however. Not only was the force value much stronger than others¡ªthose sentries alone weren''t something found in villages¡ªbut they would also needed to preserve the interior, unlike destroying and plundering wantonly like they usually did. Most importantly, those other villages they had gone to war with didn''t interest him at all. He only liked the added resources and gold. For this place, it was very different. He wanted the Lord Token! Chapter 707 Result of Investigation Baltimore''s team met up later that night after going around on their own. After all, they were all big men, how odd it was to see big men going around together as if on a leisure trip? However, this investigatory trip that should''ve been straightforward lasted much, much, longer than expected. Baltimore looked at his men who were now facing him in the private room of the premier restaurant. They were standing by the door while Baltimore alone sat on the table. Everyone was silent for a while and didn''t speak. When the waiter arrived to deliver their food, he flinched, not sure what to make of it. Baltimore sighed, rubbing his temple. "Enter." "A-Ah yes," he said, entering, and arranging the beautifully-plated food on the table. Even from just the appearance, one could tell this was superior to the food outside¡ªwhich was already mouthwatering in and of themselves. Baltimore frowned when he saw his men shift attention towards the food, looking greedy for it. "Are you idiots?" Baltimore asked as soon as the waiter left. The men flinched and kneeled, apologizing. He had waited here alone for almost half a day. As a lord, he naturally never did the investigation himself. He went to ask where the best restaurant was and waited there after paying a premium amount for not having a ''reservation''. He was annoyed at first for being treated like everyone else, but he was too curious¡ªespecially when he saw the food being placed on the tables¡ªso he did not make a scene. In the end, his slave-servant Piko paid the people in the queue a hefty amount so he didn''t have to line up. He had to admit the food was indeed mouthwatering, and he couldn''t help but start ordering as soon as he was seated. It was easily the best meal he had eaten. There were even special effects for a majority of the meals! Surprisingly, when he asked to meet the chef, he was too busy to appear in front of him. "How rude¡­" Piko mumbled, swearing pain to the entire restaurant. "Now, now," Baltimore said calmly, but the darkness in his eyes betrayed his sadistic tendencies. "Didn''t you read the rules? The lord here obviously invested a lot on the rules." Piko sneered, "Which are useless during wars, milord." "Exactly," he said, eyes looking at the empty plates. "When we wage war, nothing will stop us from doing whatever we wanted." He didn''t speak for a moment and looked out the translucent window made from youli stone. He didn''t even know it could be used like this. "I''ll stay here, you go order your food outside." Piko''s eyes brightened, looking forward to this order since they entered. "Thank you, milord!" he said and went out, eating his heart out. This was several hours ago. While Baltimore enjoyed the food, it didn''t mean, however, that he was willing to wait beyond the stipulated time. These men better have a lot of things to report. And when he saw them stealing glances at the food, he wanted to throw them to monster mobs then and there. "Report." "Yes, milord!" It was Treck who spoke first. Among the men around Baltimore, Treck was actually the weakest one at level 15. However, he was the leading man during wars, at least until he remained at this level. In fact, Treck should have leveled up a long time ago, but he enjoyed wars where he could crush his enemies and wanted to participate actively in them. "First of all, there seems to be¡­ no lord." Baltimore frowned as he looked at him. He saw the others'' reactions and knew they gathered the same. "How did the rules and changes come to be then?" "The general knowledge is that there was the omniscient ''Village System'', as they called it, who makes all the changes." A man nodded beside him. This was Seto, a level 24 and one of the guards who were ''poisoned'' by Garan back then. He also had a lot of scars because of this. "They also have an Elder group in charge of different things. They are assigned by the system for their skills. They also have the right to ask this system directly of what they hope to change in the territory." "And you believe them?" "Of course not, milord." The concept of the elders was not unheard of, but because of the system not everyone adopted them. Very few lords would be willing to distribute so much power, after all. Baltimore''s fingers tapped rhythmically on the table as he thought. "These Elders¡­ what do you know about them?" "We know that there''s someone in charge of the internal peace¡ªwhatever that means¡ªcalled Matilda. "There is an elder in-charge of the farms called Gru." "The elder of Military affairs¡­ is Garan." Baltimore''s eyes sharpened. "He''s got a really high position from the start." "We''re still trying to investigate more about this." S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Still? You were out for half a day." The men paled. Not only had they been a bit distracted by the goodness and ended up buying a lot of things, it was also really difficult to gather the information they wanted! In pretty much everyone''s experience, when they were investigating, a lot of people chattered with them for an hour, droning on and on, but without actually answering the question! For example, Ero, a level 23 cronie, was trying to get more information about the source of the sauces. Obviously, it was common knowledge, but the people droned on and on about how the sauces changed their lives, how it helped them make livelihoods, how they were able to afford the children going to school, et cetera. But then¡ª "Oh, excuse me, I have customers! Bye~" He wanted to throw the table over, but they had read the rules and he knew he''d be fined. Being fined would get him a record, adding some more difficulties in his looking for information. "There is also an Elder of Economy, whatever he does." Whatever economics does was still vague to them. "This person is a man called Ansel, though I''ve seen him just leisurely walking around with food¡­" "There was an Elder of Research and the Elder of Pharmacy. I''m not certain what exactly they did, but I could see people idolize them." "You couldn''t gather anything?" Trek and the others looked embarrassed. "When I started asking, people started¡­ being guarded." "Same here." "I had a similar experience." "It''s like the more we went around, the harder it was to gather information¡­" They would also notice a lot more bad looks coming their way. Some of them were outright ignored. They would only be entertained if they were paying customers, but even then they would deflect the answers to something wholly unrelated to what they wanted to hear. How these people never lacked stories to tell, they would never understand. What they didn''t know was Althea and the others, especially the guard stations, had recently received a lot of reports of ''suspicious activities''. This made guards watch them closer and make sufficient warnings. Baltimore didn''t speak for a while and his cronies genuinely feared for their lives. "Find out more about those Elders," he just said after a moment of silence, making the others heave sighs of relief. "The Lord¡­ is definitely one of them." Chapter 708 Greedy Eyes Baltimore could tell that they didn''t know anything else about these Elders¡ªthese men would''ve jumped at the chance to show off otherwise. It seemed like this place was really more difficult than any other territories they faced. In fact, in previous wars, they never found the need to truly prepare beforehand. No matter. It would be a refreshing change of pace to find the occasional challenge. At the very least, the people here could tell his men were not particularly friendly. He wondered how they could take action so quickly. They just arrived, did they not? At this, the memory of that guy separating from them came to mind. Did they send a message? How? Aether letters¡ªassuming they had such a good thing¡ªdidn''t have such a large scope. Anyway, he''ll find out soon enough. Baltimore''s expression didn''t change. "What else?" "Milord¡­ this territory¡­ is really much more than I expected," Tacky said. "The food is amazing, the arrangements, facilities, and many more." "The streets are so¡­ clean." They were just so used to the status quo of dirty streets that seeing Alterra''s streets was almost¡­ imbalancing. "They even have a bathhouse and Training Hall." Speaking of which, just the thought that this place would become theirs soon made his blood boil with excitement. "They have complete facilities sir, they had a village center, farms, and factories that produce all these goods themselves." They couldn''t enter the area without almost getting into a skirmish with the guards though. "Have you seen everything?" "No, it''s tightly guarded," Seto said, "Don''t worry milord, these are the places we''ll definitely be looting during the war." "There are also other buildings unfamiliar to me," Ero said, "There are so-called libraries, schools, and hospitals, though we could not enter them for now." Baltimore narrowed his eyes. Were these among their manual constructions? Speaking of those, there was plenty of manual construction in this territory. He would also have to figure out their methodology of building¡ªmaybe he could sell the technology to the cities and towns for a high price. Anyway, moving away from these topics, Baltimore asked the reason they went to this area in the first place. "Any news about the goblins?" "No sign of them, milord." Baltimore frowned, making them flinch, and he looked at the others. Immediately, the others nodded and told him their own findings. "It seems that they never even landed in this place." This wasn''t difficult to figure out because they simply asked the locals where the goblins were. They were either really curious or were really unaware of the creatures. Someone even thought goblins were referring to children and pointed at the kids playing after that school thing they had. Ero thought he had a lead then, but after fruitless hours and investigations, he really wanted to throw the chair at the informant''s face. "They must''ve sold it early." "The Mercenary Team¡ªthey went by Terran Mercenary Team now¡ªare doing very well here. I assume they sold the goblins for a good amount." Baltimore frowned, wondering if Garan and the others encountered the space stone. Regardless, he''d need to talk to him to know where the goblins were sold. "What else? We went here to get those goblins, and you''re telling me you have nothing?" Seto and the others flinched at this. Treck cleared his throat. "I haven''t checked deeply yet. I will resume tomorrow." How could he admit he got distracted by the food? Looking at them so useless like this, Baltimore felt his temper rising. "What did you find out after so long, then?!" They flinched in fear, but they really couldn''t be blamed. Even if Alterra didn''t explicitly tell the people to withhold information, there was word of mouth that enemies were coming. People here were surprisingly silent even when offered some money. Baltimore''s fingers tapped on the table, and each sound felt like it was tapping on the men''s heads. "What about the military might?" "Garan and the others seem to be the strongest here," Ero said, with confidence. "Whenever they''re mentioned, the people would have admiring faces¡ªheh, they''re barely in their level 20s, right?" "Don''t underestimate them. They can handle people with higher levels," Seto said coolly, making the other man look at him. "So? They won''t be able to participate in wars anyway." "But they can defend, which could get a bit troublesome as they have so many elementalists." "Elementalists. Why do they have so many? In an average village, a handful was already a superpower among villages." There should at least be a dozen in this one! "What about the walls?" Ero then looked at the lord, "I checked the perimeter my lord, the dense sentries and tall walls¡­ it''s all around the territory." Silence. So rich? "This level of lifestyle and safety¡­ is far superior to other villages, milord. Even¡­" Even Guia. Ero sneered. "It''ll be ours anyway. Didn''t you see their levels? Except for the mercenary team mostly beyond the level cap, they''re all weak chickens." "What else?" "That''s all we know, milord, we swear to find out more tomorrow," Seto said and the others nodded in agreement. It was around here that Baltimore''s eyes suddenly sharpened, and he whipped his head in a direction. "What was that?" The others flinched and looked at him. Seto was about to ask what was wrong when Baltimore raised his hand, eyes staring at the wall. He took out a tool from the space and suddenly, the room went silent. At least outside of the invisible bubble the tool created, there was no sound that came out anymore. If they were allowed to destroy property, then they''d have punched a wall through there. But it wasn''t the time to gather too much attention to themselves. That could happen later. ... "Damn, they had some magic anti-bug magic tool." Chris breathed out, sweating profusely as he reported his findings to the captain. They were currently at his home, with several people listening to what he had to say. "They investigated, and they will find out more, especially about our military might later on." They wanted to try feeding the incorrect information but it was too easy to find out, not unless they put a gag order or make everyone swear under oath. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Not only would that not be worth it, but it would just alarm the enemies even more. "They''re really blatant though," Eagle said, reading over all the reports sent by the citizens to the Guard Station. Because paper wasn''t such a common consumable yet, the ''report papers'' were small pieces of paper smaller than a palm. At this time, Eagle was reading them one by one. Suspicious activity, attempted bribery, Suspicious activity, Suspicious activity again, being an ugly ass¡­ "..." Althea and the others didn''t know what Eagle was looking at, but they were more concerned about when they would move. "It must be the Voice Blocker," Althea said. Otto gave her a few of those, but she didn''t sell in the contribution store. If anything, she''d rather use it as a reward for the higher ups in the territory. Anyway, it was clear a war was inevitable. But what else could they do¡­ but just become stronger? She took out her aether letter, sending a message directed to the Research Center. /Perfect those weapons. We have until tomorrow./ Chapter 709 Target A/N: Before anything I''d like to advertise the first fanfiction of this story! Title: The Life of a Botanist After the Apocalypse by Mingxingxing (Kurarachan in WN) jeheheheh <3 ... ____________________ Baltimore and his team stayed in the Premier Inn that night. "I heard they''re building a high-end place," Ero said, looking around the nice place. "But it would be finished after a few more days." "Hm," he said, though his eyes were observing the place, wondering how they made it feel so comfortable. Anyway, the group rested well and comfortably. Even Baltimore was impressed by the facilities and the comforts the place had. The beddings were incredibly soft, the utilities were convenient, and they even had the option to fan themselves, bring wind inside without much effort. A Village could think of such luxuries only because the basics had been met¡ªand from what they had seen so far, they had met the basics well and beyond, even better than the average Town. Baltimore was someone who grew up in a town. He was then recruited by the lord there and, after intense competition with others, he won the chance to obtain the lord token. He was only in his 20s then. Now, he was well into his fifties, and his level way past 30, his village had grown to become the strongest village in the region, if not the world. However, now, this rank was being shaken, and he disliked the very thought of it. He had taken note of the many marvels here, but not really to improve his territory, but rather to note which slave he''d target and which professional to recruit. It proved to be a challenge today, but he refused to believe there wouldn''t be anyone who''d be tempted with a bit of money. ¡­ The next morning, Baltimore sent his men to not only study the territory more deeply, to determine its military strength, but also to determine the professionals behind these innovations. Also, who the lord was. He didn''t believe there was no lord here, but he was simply hiding and had the identity of an elder. Now that he knew people did this, he realized the advantages of hiding their status. He never acknowledged another''s superiority however, and instead looked down on this hidden lord for being a coward. Putting aside these issues for now, the group started with having their morning meal. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They had their breakfast in the inn''s restaurant. Of course, Baltimore didn''t table with the others. He was alone in a corner with his men on another table positioned to guard him even as they ate. Today''s breakfast was noodles with Gugu chicken. He also ordered some of those salads and soft breads. While it didn''t have special effects, the cooking was naturally superior to what was available outside Alterra. It was also because there were no effects that they could tell the difference of the meat here compared to what they had been eating outside, especially when it was something so common like Gugu Bird meat. "The meat here is much more delicious," Seto said, looking deeply at his food. Piko nodded in agreement. "And it''s not just the sauces. It''s the meat itself." Piko was a cook by profession before becoming a slave. In fact, Baltimore promised him freedom if he had served him well for 10 years. He only had 1 year left¡­ Anyway, his profession gave him a reliable voice when it came to food. This caught Baltimore''s attention. "Improved Meat?" "Yes, milord," he said, "I feel that the raw meat produced in Alterra is also superior to those outside." This made his teammates look at each other with furrowed eyebrows. How could a fellow village have so many good things?" "How did they do it?" Ero asked, seriously wanting to know. They wondered for a while but, at this time, even if they did successfully bribe people, they wouldn''t be able to answer this either. This was because most Alterrans¡ªwho ate the meat every day¡ªweren''t aware of the difference. Alterra achieved this by growing meat free-range inside system farms. Similarly, fishes would also taste more special than normal river fishes. But this wasn''t something that had been announced yet. There was no real need to, because they were all eating similar things. Anyway, the Guians separated after breakfast, intent on finishing the mission. The Lord gave the order of handling things more sensitively. Unlike in other villages, Alterra wasn''t much weaker than they were. Being arrogant would definitely not get them the information that they needed. The group parted then to do their respective missions. Okay, maybe eating a bit more by the way. Treck ate first until he was full before he started his job, Ero continued to listen and hang around the gossip centers, and Seto went to pertinent stores, detailing the offerings as well as who the primary expert was behind them. Sadly for them, there hadn''t been many aborigines in Alterra and the friendly ones were all known already. Like the previous day, it''d be harder for them to gather information. Rather, it was harder now because the locals gossiped about them. A lot. A few hours later, they still hadn''t learned a lot, causing the Guians to be in a very bad mood. The only thing keeping them from exploding was the delicious street food. Treck¡ªafter about an hour of globbing his comfort food¡ªcame face to face with the half-orc. Gochi was doing his rounds alone at this time (his partner was getting them food at the side). When he walked past and did not even acknowledge him, this made Treck even more annoyed. Seeing an inferior race there just happened to appeal to him very much! Even if for¡ªsome incomprehensible reason¡ªthe half-orc was a guard who enjoyed the same rights as humans, it felt like he was overreaching and ought to be pushed back down! It so happened that he needed to vent after being humiliated over and over by these weaklings! Chapter 710 A Little Spat Treck was actually being over-sensitive, of course. The Alterrans were pretty respectful as long as he wasn''t being an arse¡ªwhich he was, by the way¡ª but even then, they were quite civil. For an analogy, they were more like secretaries who were tasked to hide the boss from an annoying customer. Distracting, but still respectful. However, Trek only saw offense. Being played around by people much weaker than he was naturally triggered the arrogant man. Treck looked at Gochi with greed, already seeing the money. This guy would sell for hundreds of gold in cities! This¡­ thing¡­ though was now walking with pride, smiling, and it irked him to no end. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Trek followed him to a street with less activity, wanting to make him suffer. While he could not attack him directly, it didn''t stop him from intimidating the thing. Anyway, even if he did do anything physical, these weaklings wouldn''t dare go against them¡ªthe superior Village of Guia! "HEY YOU!" he yelled, walking over with an arrogant smile. "What''s a wild animal doing roaming around a clean place?" Gochi paused and looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. However, he couldn''t find the words to respond and Treck continued with his ''teasing''. "Amazing how a slave like you can hold his head up," he said with a hostile laugh. "Is it thick skin no, er, thick fur?" "Have you forgotten how you should act?" he asked. "Was this how you were raised? Shame!" He was only using his words for now, but his tone reeked of malice¡ªaiming to hurt. Gochi froze in place, ears ringing. His body reacted on its own and shook in fear. This tone was something he commonly heard from Hoskle villagers and their guests. It was usually followed by some rocks thrown or some kicks sent and¡ª because they were slaves¡ªthey couldn''t do anything about it but take everything on without a sound. This was, of course, unless their attackers asked them to make sounds for their hearing pleasure. This was because, while there was little hunger in this place, the sufferings and uncertainties were endless. Having something strong like half-orcs under their feet made them feel in control of their lives again. Treck rudely pointed at his chest, smugly poking at it. "Don''t think for a moment that your life here will remain the same." While Gochi was frozen and Treck barraged him with words, what came after were little voices, aiming to protect. The kids came faster than the nearby adults¡ªwho lagged because they had to plan before lunging forward. After all, although the prison would take anyone who aimed to hurt even if they hadn''t caused damaged yet, they could still be dragged around and taken hostage¡ªprovided that the perpetrator was not planning on hurting the hostage yet. It wasn''t that Althea and Mathilda didn''t think about implementing rules related to this, but it seemed that the rules were anchored in damage and its direct potential to do so, which was a loophole that couldn''t be filled yet because there were too many implications. For instance, if the rule against this was established, then it''d be troublesome to use rickshaws or even bicycles with passenger side cars. They also feared bringing people in case of emergencies would also be prohibited. Anyway, all these thoughts didn''t matter to the kids who bravely went forward while the adults were just about to move. "Leave him alone!" Mimi yelled, and the others backed her up with admirable bravery. They were having their lunch break at this time, and this area was the nearest eatery outside of the school (cafeteria was scheduled to open in another week). They had just finished eating and were taking a shortcut to school when they saw Gochi, immediately running to him (cuz he was one of their favorite big guys). But they realized he was with another person who wasn''t his partner and they were very angry when an ugly ass started to bully him. The kids immediately jumped to his defense and this made Treck both annoyed and mocking. "Heh¡­ protected by little kids?" He spat, "Shame." Fiona was especially mad. "Who are you!? Ugly! Leave Gochi alone!" "YEAH! Jerk!" "Smelly Poop!" And so on. At this point even the adults around were cackling, though they were close enough to defend the kids if they had to. Trek had to be attacked by a barrage of verbal insults, each one making him more and more livid. "YOU!" Treck''s eyes turned red. How dare these brats¡ªmostly girls, even¡ªinsult him!! His hands extended to grab the little brat by the neck when strong arms kept him in place. He raised his eyes to meet the inhuman orbs of gold and green. "Alterra¡­ is not a place for you to do whatever you want," he said, slowly tightening his grip. "The life I live¡­ it is up to me to protect it." Treck''s eyes twitched when he realized he couldn''t pull his arm back anymore! "YOU¡ª" It was only now that Treck realized that he was surrounded by the locals. He frowned and tutted, forcefully taking his hand with all his strength¡ªonly for Gochi to let go, causing him to fall down. He gritted his teeth, feeling the mocking and laughing faces of those weaklings. However, he still had the rationality not to attack at this time, and he simply stood up and went away. However, he was seething for every step he took, and he specifically wanted to go back and explode whenever he heard insults targeted at his back. "Sorry Gochi you had to hear that from an ugly turd." "We''ll defend you well next time!" "His breath is so smelly. I should''ve shut him up even if he didn''t say anything¡ª" And it just got worse and they didn''t bother to lower their voices. "DAMNIT!" Treck cursed, using all his willpower not to explode, dragging his feet so he could get as far away from them as possible! They will pay for this!! Chapter 711 Targetted Meanwhile, Ero mapped out the sentries and gathered as much information as possible about the level of people here. Seto had just found where the Research Center was and wanted to get inside. However, the security clearance was high and he couldn''t even enter the premises. "Tsk," he mumbled. He then moved to the library and found out it was exclusively accessed with contribution points. "..." Baltimore was also curious, looking around, and remembering details by the way. Walking here felt light and clean. When he took over, he would probably walk through here a lot. He went to hire a guide, who then showed them the viewing deck as they requested. However, he only answered questions very simply. For example, Piko would ask "Are those farms?" The guide would say, "Yes." "How many are there? What are the crops?" "That''s confidential, sorry." It was not confidential. The person was quite quiet though, without the gregariousness he heard these guides had from the reports. Baltimore knew that they wouldn''t be able to get more information from this redhead. "Go, leave us." "Ah yes, enjoy your stay," Fred said and left, thinking he was cool except his steps had a spring to it, showing how relieved he was. Baltimore and the others narrowed their eyes, though they knew it was not the time to teach locals a lesson, but they definitely took note of poor Fred''s face. They were really not used to encountering obstacles everywhere in fellow villages. Even lords pandered after them because they were strong. Even if they were beyond the level cap, it didn''t mean their threats were gone. "Wait," he said, making Fred freeze. He awkwardly turned, body filled with tension. "Y-Yes?" "That guy, Garan, is an Elder here?" "Yes, milord." "Get him to meet me." "Yes, milord," Fred politely said, before scurrying away. He almost lost his footing as soon as he was out of sight. Damn, too tense! He almost peed himself, damnit! ¡­ Baltimore and Piko stood there for a while. In the meantime, they memorized the whole place as they could, their hearts fiery with what would be theirs soon. However, as the minutes passed their mood slowly turned dour. They were expecting Garan to arrive within a couple of minutes. The bastard arrived an hour later. "Garan," the older man said, his sharp eyes tracing over the man who had undoubtedly looked fuller and cleaner since he had last seen him. Much more powerful as well. "Lord Baltimore." "Where are the goblins?" he asked, direct to the point. "Who did you sell it to?" Garan, who was aware of the line of questions the Guia people had asked their citizens, naturally surmised what they were looking for. "They escaped," he said, voice low and cool. "Sigh. We endured such a loss." "How?" "A few distracted us and they escaped by digging deep tunnels." Baltimore narrowed his eyes. "Are you telling the truth?" "If I sold them anywhere, I''d have told you," he said, "I do not have any reason not to tell you where they are if I knew. There is no advantage to me." Baltimore frowned because he was right, but somehow he couldn''t help but feel something was off. Well, he''ll find out eventually. ¡­ At this time, a certain mother-and-son pair had finally been released from detention. They looked even more horrible than they did 2 days ago, and their hearts were incredibly vindictive. Apparently, instead of realizing their mistakes, they were wholly convinced they had been wronged and those people who did so ought to be punished!! Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Bastards bastards I hope they all fall to hell," Balon yelled like a shrew, while her son nodded, punching his fist to his palm as if it was the face of his enemy. "I swear, I''ll teach em a lesson myself someday!" This happened to have been heard by Seto, who grinned, realizing it was finally his chance! He followed the pair as they dragged themselves and headed towards the dormitory. At the very least, they had enough money (much of which were taken from Amos'' salaries while he was here) to ensure they had a roof on their heads. However, the cost of the food and other things had risen since the first aborigine guests arrived. Something about balancing things out to the outside world, but they didn''t understand it nor did they care. The month salary left by Amos was gone in a day. They were hungry and they wanted to smack those jerks to pieces!! They neared their dormitory while cursing, with the few people stepping away¡ªnot in fear, but in disgust. They were too immersed in their annoyance to notice though. In fact, if the people didn''t give way, they''d have bumped into them. Before they entered the dorm premises though, a whisper came from a small alley, making them halt their steps. "Hey, what about we give you a deal." ¡­ After a bit more study, the Guians met the others in the viewing deck At this point, Garan had long left them after a non-productive talk. They rented a gazebo there to discuss, though some couldn''t help but admire the designs. "This is pretty cool," they said. After all, such an aesthetic thing wasn''t normally found in villages, or maybe even in towns. Even if it was, it wasn''t accessible to non-nobles at all. It didn''t help that the sun was setting and the view in their area was magnificent. They couldn''t bear to destroy this. But then they knew the lord wouldn''t either¡ªafter all, it would be his property, so they let go of their worries. But then he met the lord''s eyes staring at them and tensed. "What have you found about the lord?" he asked. "There is no one who has claimed the lordship since it was established," Ero said, making Seto look at him. "Why would they do that?" "Who knows how these inferior creatures think." Seto looked at the lord and told him of what he discovered. "It was Ms. Mathilda, the elder of Diplomacy, who is the most likely target. She had been here almost as soon as it was established and her influence is palpable." "What about professionals?" "There are an amazing number of professionals here and elementalists," he paused, heaving a deep breath. "I have never seen so many milord. It''s like every one of them triggered something." "They''re weak, but that''s because they have just awakened." There was silence around them. The longer they stayed here, the more their arrogance got toned down. Baltimore''s eyes were dark. "We have to attack before they gather strength." The men nodded at this, already imagining the win. Imagine defeating this place. At worst, they would get half as slaves. How many elementalists would that give them? The greed in Baltimore and his men''s hearts heated up. "What about the people behind the unique things here?" "The main person to target, milord, is a woman named Althea Witt," Seto said. "Oh?" Did they finally get some information? "She is the elder of Plant Studies, and is responsible for a lot of the things we see in Alterra. Also, milord, she''s the most beautiful woman I''ve seen." Baltimore looked on with interest. Although he could just force her to work for him, especially after the war, after so many years he had come to realize those who were not forced¡ªor more accurately, those who believed they were not forced¡ªworked best. At the very least, they were the ones who didn''t kill themselves. Look at Piko here. The first few years he became a slave, the number of times he tried to take his own life was innumerable. He usually didn''t complete it or survive by some miracle. But Baltimore realized the slave''s worth and made a promise he may or may not keep. That was what he planned to do to that woman. "Find out more about her," he ordered. "Find her weaknesses. "I want her." Chapter 712 Babies Skills At this time, the aforementioned ''target'' was trying to figure out what abilities her children had. After all, they showed it in front of Winona already, which not only showed they were not imagining things, but there was also the fact that the children could show it to anyone, anywhere. There was the option of just hiding them inside the house until they figured things out, but how could they bear to do that to the kids, really? So, the past few days, they had been trying to test things out little by little. For example, Ansel would place some cute hanging toy on the ceiling, teasingly throwing Meatball up and down. There was no floating that occurred though. They only got the baby boy''s endless giggles instead. Ansel would also ''imprison'' Pepper''s favorite stuffed toys in an inverted crib, making it seem like Pepper had to find a way to rescue them. "Don''t you want to save them, Baby Pepper?" He would ask, putting his face close to the little girl while acting distraught about the ''kidnapped'' toy. It earned him a slap, instead. Every day, there''d be something, though it''d just end in someone''s embarrassment instead. They had been taking their time though, making sure not to make the babies uncomfortable at all. However, now with the arrival of obviously hostile forces, they needed to expedite things. Work hours had just ended and pretty much everyone in the team was in the living area. Winona was there as well, though she made a point of sitting the farthest from Ansel. It was just that the farthest was still in the man''s line of sight, making him sneer at her. He even said something like ''If you really want to ignore me, then get out of my sight''. Winona raised her chin and looked arrogantly at him. "Why? Can''t keep your eyes off me?" Ansel''s eyes twitched. "DREAM!" Their spat apparently amused the little babies as they started making fun gurgling sounds as the two reluctant-lovebirds fought. This immediately dissipated the mix of annoyance and shyness between the two and they turned their heads to the cute babies to distract themselves. The twins were adorable as always with their large eyes and chubby cheeks. Now when they open their mouths, one or two little teeth were showing. Ahhhhh! Too cute, too cute. Winona went over to poke their cheeks. "Go, do your stuff already babies! Show off!" She really wanted others to see it for themselves. It was only when both Althea and Garan said they had seen the abilities, that everyone else believed Winona wasn''t hallucinating. Winona was quite offended when she realized this. Did she seem like the type to create drama without reason!? Sheesh. So now she had made it her mission to see it again, but with other people as witnesses. In fact, she and Ansel had turned it into a competition, though obviously to no success for either one of them. It was just that it was never observed again. Since the 50th Day of Migration, the two children had only exhibited their powers twice each. "Maybe it''s a glitch?" Ansel asked, making Winona roll her eyes. "You think we''re still a game? Stop being childish." Ansel sneered. "Heh, says the girl who made a scene." "You¡ª" "So you''re playing lover''s quarrel now, I see," Althea said, making the two glare at her with flushed faces. "NO, WE''RE NOT!" But then Garan''s deep blue eyes shifted to look at them¡ªdaring them to raise their voices at Althea again¡ªmaking them flinch. They simultaneously froze, and suddenly became very well-behaved. Althea shook her head and looked at the children. "What did these two cases have in common?" It was Eugene, the analyst, who spoke first. "Little Meatball''s first known show of power was during the 50th day party. It was a happy event with everyone cheering for their names." Winona supplemented, "The second one is your return from the war." "Happy events then, one that included him?" "Perhaps," Harold said, very curious. "What about Little Pepper, then?" "First one was when she was playing with Maya and the others, suddenly appearing next to us." "Next was also when we returned from the war." "So, to summarize, the babies might exhibit their powers during moments of high emotions, whether it was happiness or excitement," Althea said and the others nodded in agreement. The group thought deep and hard, trying to think of ways to mimic those conditions. "Let me try," Ansel said and went ahead to lift the little bun. "Hweeee~" He yelled as he threw Meatball up, over and over. It wasn''t that Ansel didn''t try it before, but this time it was with the goal of just making the kid excited and gleeful. The baby boy giggled, obviously liking it. Everyone just smiled, hearts warmed by the adorable innocent laughter from the child. He threw him up again, "Fly, already! Hweee~" "Googomwamwah~" "Gwammmwammm~" But nothing was happening. However, Little Meatball cried when he stopped and Ansel was forced to play until his arms¡ªa level 10, by the way¡ªgrew tired. "Hweee~ "Hweeee~ "Hweee¡ªAH!" BANG! The people rushed as Ansel fell down, with Meatball right on top of him. Althea kneeled down next to Ansel as she brought the baby up. "Oh my baby meatball, are you alright?" she mumbled as she lifted the baby, checking if he was hurt by the fall. Winona gasped and also looked at the baby, worried, before sending a glare at the careless man. "What the heck are you doing, Ansel?" "HEAVY! Ugh!!" Winona shook her head at him. "What''re you going on now?" "I swear! He was really heavy!" he yelled, gasping, pointing at baby Meatball who was held along the underarms effortlessly by his mother. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The baby was now facing him blowing bubbles, splattering some saliva on his face. "..." "Let me try again," Ansel said as he sat up properly. He extended his hands to get the baby again, but Althea lifted him back. "No," she said, "What if you fall again?" "I won''t, I promise," Ansel said. "Please? I think I''m on to something!" Althea pursed her lips and slowly put the baby on her brother''s hands. She didn''t let go immediately until she was certain Ansel''s hold was stable. Satisfied with their trust, Ansel nodded with a smile, his sights fixed on the pudgy baby in his hands. Ansel lifted Meatball up and saw that there was really no problem. Even after several minutes of this, nothing happened. The others looked at him weirdly and he felt a bit red. "He was really heavy!" Garan looked at him, "You need more training." "!!!" Ansel''s face was completely red and he shifted his attention to the little boy. "C''mon Lil'' Meatball! Work for your uncle!" Winona rolled her eyes, but, like the others, she just carefully watched lest the idiot drop the baby. Ansel began to throw him up again and, like always, the baby boy just laughed, showing off his little gums and teeth. Ansel''s lips twitched in amusement, varying the height and speed of his throws, adding excitement to the baby¡ªas evidenced by the adorable mix of giggles and squeals. For a while, Ansel continued lifting the baby up and throwing him to the air, though the adults were watching carefully lest he fall down again, ready to act at a moment''s notice. Because of the risks, the adults were all focused completely on Ansel and Little Meatball. While all this was happening, a certain baby girl was watching not too far from the safety of the cot. "Mwamwmaammm¡­" Little Pepper called, as loudly as she could. Little Pepper was not amused by all the attention her brother was getting while she was barely getting any! Hearing her daughter call, Althea turned a bit, but at this moment, idiot-uncle-Ansel fell down again, making her turn her attention back to them. The redhead fell head first, but Garan managed to catch the boy with a hand before he fell down with Ansel. Ansel fell face first and wasn''t able to get up due to the humiliation. "Mwamhaaa¡­" Little Pepper mumbled, but everyone was busy fawning over her little brother carried by her dad. At this time, they just looked at the boy whose tummy was on his father''s large hand. Their attention was completely focused on the boy that they did not notice the little muscle tension on his father''s arm. "Baby! Are you okay?" Everyone asked Meatball, not noticing Garan''s eyebrows were furrowed until he spoke. Althea narrowed her eyes when she saw the arm unnecessarily stayed in place for several moments. She looked at her husband whose eyes were fixed on the boy in his palm. "Husband? Is there anything wrong?" "He''s heavy," he said. "As heavy as a big sack of rice." "What?" "A big sack of rice was as heavy as small person!" Ansel brightened and was about to lift his body from the ground and say ''I told you so'' but¡ª "MWAMWHAAAAA!" Little Pepper yelled, finally fed up with the inattention! Filled with emotion, the baby girl appeared right on her uncle''s head, right by the center of attention, her sudden appearance made his face smack back down on the wooden floor. Everyone: "..." Chapter 713 Another Betrayer At this time, their ''guests'' were still on the view deck, studying the territory and planning routes. Baltimore also listened to the rest of the information Seto managed to obtain by giving out a few golds. Heh. They had so many problems the past day or two and it only needed two bad gouji fruits to spill so much information. "The top candidate for Lord, Mathilda, lives right next door to that Althea, Garan, and Eugene," Seto said, pointing at the farmvilla area near the farms." It made sense for the leaders to be near each other, showing the farm villa was one of the areas for the elites. At the very least, they had seen the luxury villas and it was definitely a later addition. They also saw that Althea''s home was much larger, combining two house-and-lots. Her garden was also incredibly rich, and it was likely she did a lot of her experiments in her own home. It just made Baltimore all the more interested in her. They then turned to the tall tower located at the apex of the mountain ranges within the territory line. It was taller than the light tower and it had a clock embedded into it. It had intricate patterns around it that were both unique and allowed it to blend beautifully with the surrounding gardens. On its foot were seating arrangements, but he couldn''t help but think it served a bigger purpose than aesthetics. The locked door was further proof of that. Anyway, from the apex, the group continued to memorize the place for a while longer as they waited for everyone to get there, hopefully with new information they could take advantage of. "Where''s Treck?" Ero asked after a while. "It''s past deadline." "Maybe he''s lost track of time again," Seto said with a sigh. "I suggest to wait in the inn, instead." Thinking Treck was an idiot and would definitely get punished later, they decided to go down the trail. At some point though, a woman suddenly appeared in their path. It was a woman who looked a bit unsightly compared to the other women in the village. The villagers here generally appeared clean and proper, this one''s dress was a bit ripped on the top, revealing a good part of her breasts, and it made a few men''s eyes¡ªespecially Ero''s¡ªdarken in lust. She still had a good form and flesh though. Obviously, at least until recently, she had been quite well-fed. Regardless of her history, at this time, her eyes were panicked and obviously desperate, and she looked at them as if they were her saviors. A couple of days ago, Ramona had been kicked out by Danny. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The old bastard had been hired by Ansel for his entertainment company in the works, and he didn''t want to risk such a good opportunity, so he cut ties with Ramona as if she was a bug. Well, that wasn''t entirely incorrect, not that Ramona would ever realize this. Anyway, since she had been kicked out, Ramona had been trying to clutch to a new man, but all the good men knew of her reputation and steered clear of her as if she was a plague, while those who would make moves would only like her body. She would bed them for one night and they''d give her money, before leaving her and rarely care for her again. Like a prostitute. The realization hit her and it made her a little crazy, giving her some crazy ideas, especially when these newcomers entered her line of sight. She had been following this group for a while, seeing how they looked at the territory and how the guards seemed wary of them. Also, she has overheard one of them mumbling, ''When we get this territory I''d live in the spa and relax all I want.'' Ramona knew that they were very strong and that alone was enough reason for Ramona to attach to them! She had also seen them give money to that useless mother and son pair for a bit of information and she immediately knew what they wanted. "Please help me! Take me away please!" She yelled, approaching them. She held Baltimore''s hand in desperation. Baltimore may be in his 50s, but his appearance was only in his early 40s or even in his late 30s. Danny, who was not even 50, looked much older than he did. Plus, he was a strong man and had a good body for his age. Most importantly, this man was not only attractive, he was also a lord. Baltimore nodded at his cronie to open the soundblocker again. And they pulled her deeper into one of the more hidden gazebos off the trek. "What can you do for us?" "I have been here for a long time and I know a lot of information! Ask me whatever and promise me a place next to you!" Baltimore looked at her in interest. She was a bit good-looking so he really did consider adding her to his group of women. Ero saw this and sighed, knowing he wouldn''t be able to touch this woman for a while¡ªat least until the lord grew tired of her. However, Baltimore''s brain was far from being lust-addled. He looked at the woman¡ªwhose breasts were threatening to leak out of her flimsy dress¡ªwithout much emotion. "What else do you know about Althea Witt?" "What?" Althea, again?! Baltimore''s eyes sharpened as it looked at her. "Why?" Suddenly, Ramona felt scared and she blurted out everything that she knew. "Elder of Pharmacy, she is one of the richest people here. She owns the grocery store, the supermarket, and various farms. She has two children¡ª" This made Baltimore''s eyes to sharpen. "Two children, eh?" "Yes yes, Althea loves them to death," she said, continuously blabbering on. "She is also the wife of Garan, the elders of the military!" This made everyone flinch a bit, and Seto clicked his tongue. That pair of mother and son he bribed forgot that detail! (To be fair, the two just thought it was common knowledge¡ªconsidering how often the couple appeared together and do some PDAs¡ªso it didn''t occur to them to say so.) Unlike his cronies, Baltimore''s face didn''t show much, but his eyes sparkled in interest. "Really?" he asked. "What a¡­ coincidence, don''t you think so?" This made Baltimore all the more interested in Althea¡­ and her children. Chapter 714 Dealing with Betrayers At this time, a certain mother and son were happily shopping around and showing off their newfound wealth. They were even planning to buy a house! The market prices of the houses had skyrocketed and they could only afford downpayment, but that was good enough for them! They only saw the money they got as well as the combined money Amos gave. They totally forgot about the contribution point requirements. It could be used to buy residencies for family members, but said family members could not use other people''s to buy properties named to them. But these two don''t even read the rules, let alone truly follow them, so they were just basking in their newfound wealth. "Who''d have thought all those gossip so useful!" Alon said. Alon and his mother, depending fully on Amos for livelihood, spent their days gossiping and lurking around the territory. Baltimore''s team was very lucky to have found them. Most of the other citizens who could be bribed wouldn''t have had half the information that they gave. They grinned as they stared at the lovely marble platform where they were choosing their next abode! Good bye dormitories! They can finally be among the people who had a house! Anyway, the two had chosen a house¡ªjust one of the duplexes, but they could find more information to sell¡ªand happily went to purchase it. [Transaction Failed.] "WHAT?!" "NO!" Balon gritted her teeth, while Alon glared at the innocent platform. "This damned thing!" Alon yelled, tapping the platform with a lot of his strength. Fortunately, Alon was very weak and his wild tapping didn''t damage it at all. Before Alon could ''damage'' it a bit more, new voices arrived near them and they realized there were guards nearby. It was no other than Reno, who had two other guards next to him. They were staring at the two, making them intimidated. "W-What is it?" Balon said, though she flinched when she remembered what her son had been doing. "D-Don''t mind him. He doesn''t have much strength. He can''t damage anything." Sad for them, it wasn''t why the guards were there. "We received report of suspicious activity, specifically, you two." This naturally made the two guilty people sweat a lot and panic. "W-What are you talking about?" "We''re doing nothing suspicious!" The old woman yelled, but her feet were moving weirdly, as if preparing to run at a moment''s notice. Alon was much more aggressive. "Leave us alone!" he yelled. "Don''t accuse us innocent people willy-nilly!" Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were being so obvious that if a child was there, they''d point at them and sing: ''liar, liar, pants on fire~!'' The guards naturally did no such thing. Instead, they only crossed their arms, with Reno looking at them with an unchanging expression on his face. "We''d like to ask you a couple of questions." The two guards stood firmly next to them, and they knew they had no escape. Fortunately, they calmed down enough so they didn''t run in the end, realizing it would''ve made them even more suspicious. They forced themselves to keep cool. "L-Let us finish this first!" Balon said, eyes desperate to spend the money. Her instincts was telling her she could lose it if they didn''t hold tightly to it! Reno saw this, his expression not changing. "You can''t buy a house." "What do you mean we can''t!? We have the money!" "It requires a high amount of contribution points, something you don''t have yet. Go outside and kill some monsters." "No! I have money!" "Yes, yes, we have money!" "Where''d you get the money?" Reno asked. They were here specifically because they received a lot of reports about this pair. The citizens of Alterra had a sharp eye and proactiveness when it came to guarding their home. After all, they were living so well, and they naturally couldn''t risk anyone from endangering it! So, even that time where they were seen heading with the aborigines somewhere, this already sent alarms to many others. Even if they were low-key, the housing here was relatively dense, and people cared enough to report them! Of course, at the time, the report was relatively objective with just ''two people are talking with the suspicious visitors!'' and they entered the radar since then. Also, the pair had really been gritting on people''s nerves even before, let alone now that they were being excessively smug about something! The fact that they suddenly went on a shopping spree when they were practically destitute a few days prior was the final straw that confirmed the suspicions. Reno looked at them and then looked around. It so happened they were already in the Village center. "Then take the oath and admit where you get the money. If it''s legitimate¡ªeven if it was loan or overpricing services¡ªwe will let you go." This heckled the leeches'' feathers. "Pay us 100 Gold if you wrongfully take us!" They yelled, hoping it''d scare them off. Unexpectedly, Reno nodded. They lost all blood and stupidly bolted away. Reno looked at the guards next to him and they both stepped forward, easily stopping the two by capturing them. They started screaming like pigs as they struggled. "This is a violation of human rights!" "Let us go! Let us go!" "Alterran guards are scammers! AHHHH!" No one believed them of course, and all they got was shaking heads and gossipy stares as they were once again dragged back to prison. Here, the guards would be interrogating them. If they didn''t spill, then they might have to do torture. Not that it was ever needed, of course. The soldiers practically just pinched them a bit and they spilled. The more they heard, the more livid they became. Alon was punched in the face by a guard. "SHAME!" he yelled, before throwing the two back to their cells. Immediately, the guards reported to the Elders, who held a meeting to decide on what to do with the first ever major betrayal the territory experienced. The atmosphere in the meeting room was grim. Mathilda tapped the table, showing a rare expression of annoyance. "We have to make an example!" Mathilda said. "They must be punished harshly!" As a public servant her whole life, she had always found it incomprehensible that citizens who lived good lives would endanger others like this! Gru looked a bit worried. "They''re a guard''s family member." He knew Amos well enough. He was a good kid. "That''s exactly why they should''ve known better than others." In Terran, something like this could mean expulsion or even imprisonment of not only the family member, but also the soldier regardless of whether they had anything to do with it. In Xeno, the guard only needed to swear an oath, should he still want to serve. But the punishment for betrayal¡­ cannot be light!! And so, some minutes later, a loud announcement resounded inside every Alterran''s mind. [Balon and Alon Tim has betrayed the territory. Their citizenship has been revoked and are now designated as prisoners of war to work for the territory until their sins have been paid for.] Some would argue that the term ''prisoners of war'' was technically another term for slave. Maybe it was. But, at the very least, they could earn their lives back through this. Who knows? Perhaps they''d learn their lesson. And if they didn''t? At least they had cheap labor. Chapter 715 Reporting Functions Ramona shook at the announcement. But then she thought, it didn''t matter. Glorious Hospitality had her ex Louie''s back and had networks all over, her reputation was so low someone even threw rotten eggs at her! Then that bastard Danny, during his tavern runs, would often rant about her when he was drunk! Although Alterra was amazing, her reputation was so bad here she couldn''t hang on to anyone. A place where she can''t live a good life was not a place worth keeping! She just couldn''t stay here anymore! It had to be said Ramona was incredibly naive. Not to mention, because she had never participated in wars nor had she ever cared about others, she had no idea just how bad women had it in this world, especially in aborigine territories. She always had the default ideology of ''the grass being greener on the other side'', making her blind that the land she was on was the best place she could be in. "Well, okay," Baltimore said, "I remember your contribution." He said, then manifesting a few gold pieces and handed it to her. "Reward, for now, come to me if you have more information." Her eyes brightened at the gold. Silver would already get her far in Alterra, let alone gold! She knew her decision wasn''t the wrong one! She looked at him with dazed and bright eyes. "Yes, yes, thank you," she said, her voice soft. Baltimore looked at her and nodded. "When we obtain this place, you''re going to live better than now," he promised and Ramona almost hugged him. She knew that she couldn''t compromise herself yet though, so she stopped herself and Baltimore didn''t do anything either. The group separated from her and left, set to start the next phase of their plans, while Ramona was left there already dreaming of her new life, completely unaware that someone was behind the bushes about a hundred meters away, blinking, and witnessing the whole thing. ¡­ One of the things about the Sound Blocker was that it not only blocked sounds from within, it also blocked sounds from outside. Toktok was an eighteen-year-old who found most of her living in the maintenance team, not including the hunting part where she basically hang around the Golden Corner with many others. The Golden Corner was the safe place between the level 5 main walls and the angle it made with the level 3 secondary wall. Here, they had two sentry walls covering their backs, leaving a small 90 degree opening to guard. At this time though, she was running to the village center with a purpose. Not only was it for contribution points, but she really liked Alterra¡ªshe couldn''t let anything threaten its safety! She immediately went to the Guard Station near the barracks. This Guard Station was the equivalent to the police station where people could make reports. They could report suspicious activities here. They would be taken to take an oath in the village center, and then get contribution points depending on validity and usefulness of the information. There happened to be a guard currently heading inside, probably just coming back from his rounds. She went to him and grabbed his arm. "WHOA!" He seemed quite surprised to be pulled so suddenly. Angelo was a little ashamed to not notice, but the girl''s sense of presence was really low! "W-What is it?" He asked the girl, though he found his voice lowering unconsciously. She was overtly thin, but a bit pretty. The girl didn''t notice this. She took his hand, eager to report. "What!" he exclaimed, flushed, but didn''t pull his hand away. She began to write characters on his palm and his eyebrows furrowed, but a dawn of understanding came to him when her mouth opened but only minor sounds came out. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He cleared his throat as he looked at the girl with large rounded eyes, her heart-shaped face framed by her wavy black locks. "Write it again," he said and she nodded, doing as she was told. Her hand once again held the back of his palm, while the dainty fingers on her other hand moved along its surface, tickling his heart. /I have something to report./ Angelo''s eyes widened as he was finally shook back to professionalism. He held her hand, leading her inside the guard station where they had stocks of paper. He ignored the raised eyebrows of his fellow guards, who watched them with interest. Angelo took paper and pencils, handing it over to the girl. The girl''s eyes widened in admiration, definitely missing the feeling of such tools again, before gathering herself and telling them the whole story. At the time, she was leaning down, maintaining a few flowers in the mountain trek when she saw a local talking with the guests. There was a reminder sent to all the residents¡ªtemporary or permanent¡ªto keep a sharp eye on any suspicious activities at all times. Toktok judged that this seemed like a very suspicious activity indeed. Because of her current condition, she not only had very very good eyesight, she had also learned a little skill called lip-reading. However, it wasn''t as straightforward because they were using Xeno language. Lip reading didn''t come with the automatic translation as spoken language had, so she had to learn from scratch for the past few months, and she had yet to be proficient in the language. She couldn''t catch everything, but she did manage to gather a couple of keywords. For example, Althea, for example, her husband Garan, their children, and the term ''monitor''. Angelo''s eyes widened a bit at the report. Seeing that her job was done, Toktok nodded, ready to leave. Angelo flinched and grabbed her arm, making her turn to him, blinking, and he immediately felt shy under the stare of her large innocent eyes. "Here, take these," he said, handing her a thin rim of paper and sharpened pencils. "As thanks," he said, a bit awkwardly. "They''ll be commercially available in a few days, anyway." Toktok blinked but then looked at the new set, heart beating loudly. To others, it was just writing materials but, to her, it was the means to express herself! Reluctant to use it so quickly, she just held Angelo''s palms again, heart filled with gratitude, and eager to express it. ''Thank you.'' Chapter 716 Guia Leaving A few moments later, Althea received a notification from the guards. This was done through a specific aether letter connected with the guard house. Before she could read the more detailed report, she saw the suspect in question. "Ramona?" she uttered out, shaking her head. She had forgotten about her. "What is it, love?" Garan asked, habitually wrapping his large arms around her stomach and giving her a kiss from the side. She kissed him back and then turned to the two babies side-by-side in his other arm. The children were being carried by Garan''s strong arm, so now they were cutely hanging between his arm and stomach with their little feet hanging down. They were watching their parents be lovey-dovey with those rounded large eyes. Her lips twitched and she leaned down, kissing both their cheeks. They smelled nice, having that newly-bathed baby smell, and she couldn''t help but smack them with a few more kisses. Garan smiled as he watched his family with fond eyes before speaking. "Why were you shaking your head?" "Just got a report that our old neighbor Ramona is unusually close to our¡­ guests." "Oh?" "Would she make a difference?" "Of course not," she said, shaking her head. "It''s just that¡­ we lost 3 people in one day¡ªthat we know of. Her shoulders slumped at the thought. "I''d like to believe Alterra gave them a good enough life for them not to consider betrayal, but¡­" Garan sighed and kissed her forehead, "It''s not your fault. Some people are just never satisfied." The babies also made cute noises, their milky voices comforting her heart. That night, the family of four slept peacefully, knowing they had done their best. ¡­ The next day, Baltimore and (most) of his cronies had prepared to leave the premises. Admittedly, they felt very reluctant, but then they remembered it would be theirs soon so they were energized again. If the people around knew what their looks meant, they''d definitely mob them. Anyway, they bought what they could, mostly food items, and placed them in their spaces. Although they were relatively confident they''d get this place, they didn''t know how much damage would happen. So, they bought a lot of good things like the sauces and spices, as well as some medicines they could access to. Although the medicines weren''t applicable to a lot of them anymore, some pharmacists in cities might want to take a look. They also wanted to get the pharmacy-level medicine, but apparently those needed contribution point requirements on top of money now. They were most interested in the Contribution Store, which apparently had magic tools! Guia had tools used by the ruling party because they had deep connections with superior territories; Alterra could afford to actually sell them! These things and places that could only be accessed with those contribution points just made Baltimore and the others hungrier for Alterra. When the war started, then they could just take what they wanted, including the entire place. Garan, Gill, and Eagle saw them off. After all, they knew he was the lord of a ''superior'' territory and followed customs. To some degree, anyway. "I''ll see you soon," Baltimore said to them. Garan''s eyes met his and a tense atmosphere surrounded them. "Well, we''ll be ready." Baltimore just smiled before turning away with his team. Counting, it seemed that most of the people who came with Baltimore also left, but Garan and the others weren''t naive. How could they not know that he didn''t leave his own people inside, ready to cause chaos during the war? They stayed by the gates until all of them disappeared. "They finally left," Eagle said as he put down his scope, confirming Baltimore and his cronies had really gone. They headed back to the Villa where Althea was waiting. Garan sighed and held her hand, and it basically confirmed Baltimore''s plans. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Did anyone remain?" Garan asked the others. "Yes," Gill mumbled, crossing his arms. "We''re also monitoring the locals they had close contact with." He recalled the greed in Baltimore''s eyes and really wanted to punch it away. "They will attack for sure," he said. "Baltimore was relatively poker faced, but his cronies didn''t bother hiding their greed. It was practically palpable." At this, Garan looked at Eagle, "Send a message to the branch and have them ask Jonathan what he meant with Guia." "Yes, captain!" Althea also looked at her announcement panel, paying her gold to send a message to all of her citizens outside the two territories. Even if Guia wouldn''t declare war as soon as they were gone, it didn''t mean they couldn''t cause chaos outside the territory. At the very least, the people couldn''t go out on their own whenever they wanted anymore. They had to establish some policies to keep everyone safe as much as possible¡ªeven if it was Baltimore himself attacking them. [All Alterrans must return to the interior of the walls immediately¡ªwhether it is Alterra or in Limestone Valley. You have been warned. Stay outside at your own risk.] She also sent instructions to all the elders, with Mathilda setting up rules and preparations to keep peace in wars¡ªespecially when the very expensive Rules and Regulations were voided during the time. The fact that things were so peaceful internally during the previous war, other than the good life Alterra promised, was almost entirely due to Mathilda and her team. Mathilda''s team was in-charge of keeping the order, as well as calming down any chaos and nip them in the bud. It was a low-key department, but an essential one. They didn''t dare be complacent however, because this enemy had been here for a day and three confirmed people had already betrayed. Underestimating an enemy meant Alterran lives could get lost, and she wasn''t having it. The group adjourned with specific tasks on hand, with the couple standing up as well, heading towards their respective departments¡ªwith Garan to the barracks and her to the Research Center. Alterra must be equipped well! Whatever come, come! Chapter 717 Another War Preparation Preparation for yet another war had begun and stricter rules for those going out were implemented. There were also a number of changes witnessed within the territory itself that both relieved and worried the citizens. One of these changes was the sudden appearance of sentries in the middle of the territory, located in more sensitive locations in the territory. These were the minimum level 5 walls and their sentries, specially designed and could be used as hang-out places during times of peace. For example, they added seating areas, potted plants, and some motifs. They would also not look like watch towers but would look like aesthetic features of the territory, which was great if they wanted to be underestimated. The appearances of the sentries baffled many people who came to watch their construction. They would never tire of the magical sight, though their stomachs felt a bit heavy at the moment. After all, there was that alarming announcement to call back everyone back to the territory walls. How could they not have any idea what adding sentries meant? It was definitely another war, and it was much more dangerous than the one in Fargo. Of course, there were still some who didn''t think of wars, mostly just beast tides. After all, most people actually had not gone to Fargo. Their concept of war was not that deep¡ªespecially not one that would be entering their own territory. To them, the sentries were for monster mobs. "Sentry towers in the middle of the territory?" One such person asked, "Would beasts manage to get in?" Many people around him shivered. The very thought was terrifying. After all, the monsters outside now we''re extremely strong. Those things finding a way inside the walls would mean that their guards and sentries had their hands full! While the citizens had various assumptions, the people in the barracks were also discussing the same. This was especially true among the new recruits. Reno was in charge of the new recruits today, and they had been doing the standard training before they could be qualified to lead a hunting team. "Really for mobs?" One asked, and Reno answered. "Possibly, but it is mostly for humans." "Makes sense. Many enemies are probably lurking among the citizens right now." Even if those who stayed noticed the towers¡ªwhich wasn''t widely discussed by citizens outside of their private homes¡ªit wouldn''t have mattered much. After all, how fast would word travel to Guia? They doubted a lot of aether letters were available, even for Guia. They were also unaware of just how detailed the sentry commands were. They were likely to believe the towers were just for mobs. Reno looked at the recruits, explaining more. "The Prohibitions would also be null during this time, so the territory hopes to have some immediate punishing power ready." The fact that rules become null was not exactly public knowledge and its secrecy was part of the oaths the guards took. However, if the public found out¡ªlikely to be done by enemies¡ªMathilda and Althea made it so it wouldn''t have mattered. This was new knowledge to the recruits though. And they paled, just at the image of it. "What? It would be null?" Another nodded with furrowed eyebrows. "Wouldn''t some people start stealing or attacking then?" How much chaos would that cause¡ªat the height of war, even? That would be the last thing they''d want while fighting strong enemies!! They looked at each other worriedly, but Reno clapped his hand. "That is indeed a normal occurrence during wars¡­ in other territories." "However¡­ are you going to let Alterra go into such chaos?" His words shook every new recruit. Most of the men and women here became guards not only for the benefits, but because they had grown to really love Alterra. This was their home! Of course, they wouldn''t let anything threaten it! Even a new guard thumped at his chest. "No sir!" he exclaimed, and the others followed. "We won''t let them!" ... On another side of the barracks, Garan and the others were also preparing the territory as much as they could. Most of the people in the Ferroll team were called back, including the aborigine fighters below the level limit. Garan had already sent the letter there along with the inquiry of Ferroll''s stand with Guia Village. They needed to know where the town stood between Alterra and Guia. Although they had already signed a deal with Ferrol, that was with the condition of neither territory would put the other in danger or in great disadvantage. A subsidiary village attacking them definitely broke this section. Other than these, Garan and the others also set various plans depending on the situation. For instance, what to do when the enemies got inside the walls¡ªwhich they inevitably would, or what to do when they started taking hostages, et cetera. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The factories were also working overtime, though only for an additional two to three hours in order to fill up the warehouse. In wars, only the warehouse was safe because of its condition that only the lord¡ªwith or without wars¡ªwould be able to enter it. It could get quite inconvenient as she had to handle things on her own (thankfully the warehouse had some sorting functions) and she couldn''t teleport anyone else to Limestone Valley via the warehouse, but in these cases it was really a blessing. The two new armor makers Saul and Seal were already working very hard to keep up with the need, though they had fascinated smiles even when their eye bags were large. They hadn''t been here for long, but they had already fallen in love with Alterra. They were learning so much and they really felt appreciated here. The two cousins were hired in different territories before Alterra, but their treatment was the same there. That was to say: Work nonstop for the salary, get minimal rest, eat bland food, go to sleep for a few hours, and then do it all over again. If there was war, it''d be much worse because even if they started bleeding, the lord wouldn''t care. That was the life they grew up with. They had never questioned it before, so they just went through the motions. Here, work was balanced and even during wars, they wouldn''t die from overwork because there was a stockpile. They also had great food, sometimes even with effects, as well as comfortable places of rest. The life here really couldn''t be compared. So they really didn''t want this place to suffer! Chapter 718 New Healer A new weapon maker was also hired just earlier that day. He appeared as the second option and she jumped at the chance to hire him. Fortunately, she did so as the rest of the options weren''t very good. The guy''s name was Kia, a Class E Weaponsmith with crew cut hair. When he went out to find out people were preparing for war, he was scared and a bit regretful. However, the more he walked along the territory, the more he realized it was a unique place. Everyone seemed to be moving towards preparing the territory, no one was lax! The faith they had¡­ it wasn''t something he had seen before. And when he was led, not to the weapons store as he expected but to a manually constructed factory, he was shocked. The weapons shop was treated only as a commodity shop that produced weapons automatically, while this manual construction was treated as the center of weapon and armor making in the territory. At first, he just thought the territory did this in order to get a larger workshop. However, Kia knew from previous experience that the buff the shop gave the professionals was not comparable to just simply increasing the space of production. At the time, because he had grown to like this new village, he decided to warn the lord about this. But then he was flabbergasted by the contents and he knew he would never leave! He realized he was still too naive! ¡­ As for those who wished to go outside at this time, new rules were implemented. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Not only was there a high-level requirement, but they could only be a kilometer from the walls, at most. The level requirement was 9 and above only, and this was chosen in order not to hold back those about to upgrade. Otherwise, only level 10 and above would''ve been allowed. Those who could go a little farther had even more stringent requirements. The first requirement was that the parties needed to have a level 20 fighter or stronger, and this level twenty must have an aether letter in their space. This was in order to quickly alert the territory of the emergency and, hopefully, come to rescue them. In the case of a certain pair, it was Eagle who had it. Eagle was training with Sheila, trapping a few monsters with his ability and releasing them one by one. At this time, they were already done with the second-to-the-last monster. [Used Slash (E), -2 Mana!] Sheila slashed away at the level seven monster, focusing on killing it without any other worries. Eagle sharply felt the wind around him, ready to intervene as needed. He watched with tense jaws as the grotesque hulking creature with jagged teeth lunged at Sheila, its claws outstretched to take her head. Sheila leaped backward, her axe flashing as it met the monster''s strike. The impact made her flinch but she held on to her axe for dear life, standing firm. This was one of the last monster of this mob, and she wanted to deal with it with as little help from Eagle as possible. However, the monster quickly lunged at her and she could only block it, her hands still a bit shaky from the previous attack. Sheila was pushed back and she could feel the hold of her weapon slipping away. Eagle frowned and immediately intervened. Using his wind ability, he pushed the monster back a few meters to give Sheila time to breathe. Three, two, three, two "It''s okay now!" Sheila said, asking Eagle to stop holding the monster back. The man nodded and stopped his ability, and the monster immediately attacked as soon as it was freed. The monster let out a guttural roar and it leapt to Sheila, who had her axe raised, ready to take it on With renewed vigor, Sheila launched herself at the monster. Her axe cut through the air with practiced accuracy. They had been fighting this type of monster for a while and she already knew the weakness of this species. It was in an area behind its ears, and she twisted her body to avoid its hit, using her inertia to target this weakspot. The battle raged on with her hitting many of its known weak spots, eventually slowing it down. Finally, her axe buried deep into an area, finally taking its life. After the notification of her kill, the long-awaited news finally came! [Congratulations! You are now level 10!] "Level 10!!" She yelled, jumping happily. Eagle, who had been many meters away, had magically appeared right next to her, just close enough for a hug. "I''m level ten now! Thank you!!" She yelled, turning and running straight to his arms. Then, she realized his closeness and blushed. Shy, she stepped away, accidentally heading to the final corralled monster. It was only being held by Eagle''s wind, but somehow it had entered a berserk state and broke through while he was distracted. "Watch out!!" He yelled, immediately embracing her, and guarding her with his own body. Slash! He flinched in pain, but immediately used a bit of mana to slash it into two. "Eagle!!" Sheila yelled, eyes teary in guilt and heartbreak. She took out a healing potion and forced him to drink it. He was smiling when she fed it to him and it made her want to slap him. However, the blood distracted her from her annoyance and she could only see that he was hurt. The wound was deeper than she thought, and it took her last two healing potions to help stop the bleeding. However, the wound was still deep and she couldn''t bear leave it like this. "Oh no¡­" She frowned, looking at him in puzzlement. "What are you doing? Didn''t you wear boss'' talisman?" Recalling that magic tool, Eagle pursed his lips. "You gave it to me," he said. "And?" "I didn''t want to use it." "YOU IDIOT!!" Sheila yelled, showing that rare annoyed-mother-hen attribute of hers that Eagle found so cute. She took out water from her bottle to wash the wounds at least, so it would be faster to deal with when they get back to the territory. As she did so though, her eyes stayed on the water, recalling all the knowledge she had from Betty. She recalled how water was used to accelerate healing, though as a modern Terran she thought deeper. Althea said that, in theory, the water could heal by the water molecules to interact with the body and its tissues. She was a nurse, so she had a better idea of this theory. Something stirred inside her, exacerbated by the real need to heal this man! She raised her hands and tried to control the water according to theory. "Sheila?" Eagle asked, looking worriedly at her. After all, she had slowly gone pale and sweaty! "SHUT UP!" She yelled at him, and Eagle immediately shut his mouth. Minutes ticked by and Sheila continued to experiment, trying to get the correct resonance. She was wasting a lot of water she stocked in her space, but she didn''t really care right now. Eagle was really concerned but he also saw her concentration. He couldn''t bear to distract her at this time, even when his pants had gotten wet from all the water she was using. Fortunately, their hardwork and patience did not go to waste. After half an hour of continuous use of her power¡ªconsuming the last of her mana cookies along the way¡ªSheila felt something snap inside of her, like a switch of change. [Congratulations! You have triggered the Healer (E) occupation!] Chapter 719 More Training Similarly, with many water-user soldiers around, Althea had also begun to train her water abilities. Unlike the original plan, she decided to learn the aggressive forms of water first. As mentioned, if one had just awakened an element, it was recommended to choose a path of techniques to learn. It was why Turbo could only use the drowning technique and other low-attack moves because he was a healer. Ryo, on the other hand, focused more on his aggressive attacks like water whips, jets, and other techniques. Spreading out too much wasn''t practical, no matter how talented, because then they would likely be stuck with the most basic techniques for a long time¡ªeven for the rest of their lives. Althea naturally didn''t risk it and decided to choose one path to focus on and master before crossing over. However, while she felt she''d fit better with auxiliary types of skills at first, they were going to war now, and she hoped to have as many weapons as possible. This was why she spent more time learning from Ryo instead of Turbo or Betty. Anyway, Althea had her potions with her and was more concerned with the aggressive capabilities of water than healing skills that she might not be able to awaken anyway. "Water is good for either path, though a lot of people tend to underestimate the strength of water," Ryo told her, a fluid ball of water dancing around his hand. "Water might seem like a mild element, but people forget how many people die from floods and tsunamis, or how a few inches of running water could make a person fall down." When teaching something, Ryo''s shyness was temporarily alleviated. He didn''t want to have a bad impression on the great sister-in-law! He couldn''t embarrass the captain in front of his wife! Althea had no idea the complicated mind of the man, and she only nodded in agreement. She was also intrigued by Juni''s water mutated element: Acid, which in its essence was a water element. When Juni could control he abilities more, Althea thought to study her skills thoroughly to determine the difference. There was no way for her to awaken it, but she might be able to develop skills inspired from it. For now, Ryo taught her a few moves though she was still analyzing it. The lesson had to be fast-paced because everyone had too much to do, so basically Ryo was just asked to demo and then give some aid, but the rest was on the students themselves. Along with her in this class were the other water users like one-half twin Leo. There was even Turbo in the group. While it was unlikely for him to be able to activate the skill for some time, knowing more couldn''t be harmful. Who knew when he''d activate it during a life-or-death situation? She didn''t hide this third element of hers anymore, but she didn''t announce it either. Anyone who cared would shut up and pretend not to see, which was what had been happening so far. Even if people find out, what could she do about it? It was better to equip herself with as many weapons as she could rather than hold back. Anyway, she already had many targets on her head. Having a third element was just an added feature to her at this point. Anyway, Ryo diligently demoed the Water whip and water slash to them, damaging dummy dolls in front of them. If one practiced, they would be able to form whips even if they didn''t awaken the skill. However, the damage was limited. For example, if against a similarly-leveled opponent, Leo''s whip was just as painful as if hitting someone with a belt. It was good to distract someone, but who didn''t want to be a bit deadlier when they wanted to? This was the difference of an actual Skill¡ªand this was what they hoped to achieve someday. Ideally, someday soon. Ryan extended his arm and a tendril of water elongated, as if following his movements. "The focus is to maintain the cohesion, as you probably already know. But the challenge here compared to the usual water ball and other techniques, is also to allow for flexibility while doing so." This would require great concentration. If one activated the skill, this would become much more intuitive¡ªalmost thoughtless. But, for now, they had to go through this if they wanted even a chance of awakening a skill. The Water Slash had a similar process, though its focus was more on damage than on flexibility. The next technique was the Tidal Surge. This was a technique that would produce a surge of water. It wasn''t exactly a tide and could only create a few inches of water over an area of effect, however it was enough to make people fall down. This effect was much higher if there was a water source nearby. Without a skill, it was just flooding, but with a skill, it could definitely take people down. In Althea''s case, she could only do a few inches and maybe imbalance someone of a much lower level. She would need to practice to activate the skill would be at least 10 times stronger, but for now she needed to understand the concept first. Another technique demoed to them was the Aquatic Blade, though most of them wouldn''t awaken it, though it''d be a good thing to know about, in case they encountered enemies with the same skill. The Aquatic Blade was awakened in relation to Ryo''s other occupation: Spearman. It was to create sharp blades from water, using the blade of the spear as a sort of controller. The point also increased his accuracy and focus. Aquatic Blades was basically pressurized water, so much of the Skill was in control. It naturally had limited damage so one had to be able to target the weakspots well. If one could control it in a way to keep its shape, fine, but if one awakened the skill then the brain effort would be much less, the transparent blades would be much more stable and would only require a bit of mana. Initially, Ryo was able to control a few blades up to two meters away from him. After using it for months and leveling it up, he had managed to extend it to 3 meters with about 10 blades. Unfortunately, the enemies he always went against were level 20 or so, and his blades could only serve as distractions and make some minor injuries here and there. In Leo''s case though, it was different. He was a swordsman, so the technique was useful to extend his reach, so he was particularly passionate about it. After about an hour or so, Althea was able to create little balls around her that stayed for about a minute. As they were now, they could only damage people by going straight up their noses and giving them a little headache, but it was very impressive for a couple hours of work. Finally, the non-aggressive Turbo taught her Mist Shroud. It was unlikely she''d learn of this any time soon, but it was also good to know. At least she would be able to tell when someone was about to do so by determining the change of humidity around her. Basically, it had to do with changing the state of water from liquid to gas, which was relatively doable if one had intuitive knowledge of the sciences. [Learned! Mist Cloud (E) Level 1. Limit visibility of an area 3 meters in radius from user. Mana: -5 Mana] "..." She looked worried, "Would this affect my learning of aggressive attacks?" "..." To see if it really affected her aggressive skills, they asked her to practice the water whip. She was already able to create balls float around her. The problem was to be able to elongate it, keep its form stable, and wield it with force that could actually damage, not just splash. With a determined gleam in her eyes, she stood by the water''s edge. She kept the limit of the water into 1 liter. After all, they didn''t always have ready water sources and condensing that much from air took a lot of energy. The best technique was to hold water with them at all times. While she had a huge space, people didn''t know this, so she decided to practice with limited ready water. She took a deep breath, feeling the stagnant water. She felt its ebb and flow forming little by little with her abilities. She imagined the water coalescing to a whip-like form, but when she waved it to the tree it was more like she just splashed it with water. Could it be it was really affected? How disappointing. "Keep trying, my love," Garan said, "Unlike most of us, you have integral understanding of what makes an element," he said, "Perhaps the delineation of aggressive and auxiliary for newbies may not apply to you." She nodded at this, still hopeful. It took her about a quarter an hour for her to get to the level of a fast whip going around her. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She lashed it out, sending a narrow torrent to the tree, and it ended up leaving a deep marking on it. It was not enough to completely cut it down, but it marked, and that was enough show of damage. Soon, she would be practicing on the precision, and the water danced to her will obediently. One must know, that when the water users were practicing techniques¡­ it took them at least a day to get the control right. For days, all they''d be able to do was make little splash. "Damn. As expected of sister-in-law¡­" Ryo mumbled as he watched her eventually cut down a small tree. "This talent¡­" His voice died down, not daring to say his thoughts out loud. It''s not human. Chapter 720 Half-Orcs Duties On another side of the forests, there was another group hard at training, and they were led by the very strong orc. Going outside the walls was allowed, even if they didn''t meet the level requirements, as long as they were within the visuals of the sentry towers and watchmen. Speaking of, Gochi was a very popular hunting partner to hire. Not only was he very strong, but he was unique and just hit all the curiosity buttons of the Terrans. He also had some knowledge of plants and had stronger senses, so no one would get poisoned when they were with him. Gochi also got his own fan group. They called themselves¡­ the Furries. At some point, it got as large as Oslo''s and Fable''s fangroups. Gochi only found out when he was summoned to handle a commotion at the market, only to find out it was a¡­ fan war. It was mostly girls, but there were also plenty of boys. There were no physical altercations either, but they were yelling a lot, and their noise got so annoying that a few bystanders ended up calling the guards. "Does your husband have cool-colored eyes?" "My Golden god has blue eyes!" a Golden Girl yelled with sparkly eyes. "So handsome! So suave!" In response, a Fable fangirl, calling themselves ''Fableous'' squealed back. "My Fable can dance well! Shakes his hips so well¡ªKyaaaa~!" "My Gochi has cute ears and tails! Imagine! Having a pet and a handsome husband at the same time!" Then he arrived to calm down the commotion, only for everyone''s heads to turn and he found himself running away for fear of his life. Anyway, that was many days ago and Gochi had somewhat gotten used to the attention (in the sense that he didn''t run away at the sight of the frantic stares). It would take a while to absorb that this all stemmed from love for him, however. Up until now, it was hard to believe. Fortunately, outside the territory, everyone would adopt a relatively professional stance. After all, danger lurked at every corner (tho some would argue it was an honor to die while fangirling). At this moment, Gochi was handling two low-level monsters on his own, debilitating them with his own hands, making them slow enough for the Terrans to deal with them. "So cool man!" Troy yelled, sending a thumbs up in their direction. Brenda was accompanying them today. Although her level and strength were a bit lower than Gochi, she was able to accompany them well through mobs level 9 or even stronger. At some point, a monster lunged forward and Gochi kneeled down, his hands ending up on the monster''s belly. He threw it up and it landed between a few Alterrans, though upside down and struggling to get back up. "Amazing!" Fred said, promptly joining the people attacking the monster, hoping to get the last hit. Gochi watched as more people leveled up, and he knew later he''d receive a few bonuses for doing his job well. Gochi earned enough contribution points to be a permanent resident, and with the money he had been saving as a guard and from the war, he would soon be able to buy his own residence. It was estimated that within the next month or two he''d be able to move out of the dormitory to buy a unit. Don''t get him wrong, he was enjoying his stay in the dormitory. He had never thought of a concept like ''sleepovers'' before. In his mind, people slept in a room because they didn''t have money to buy their own space. However, it was the instinct of every creature to have their own abode. He¡­ he also wanted to have his own space in case more of his kind appeared. It was an unlikely thing, but he couldn''t stop himself from hoping. They fought the small mob like this for a while until only a few were left. However, at some point, his ears moved a bit. His unique eyes sharpened, sensing more enemies had found them. "Ready," he said, and the party immediately entered a battle stance. A minute later, another small horde of monsters appeared, immediately attacking them without further ado. It was a group of level 8 monsters and Gochi immediately lunged at them to hit two legs. He also kicked them back to give the others some preparation time, before he jumped up a tree and let them handle it for training. The humans separated according to their roles, with the ''soft'' ones like archers in the middle, guarded by the tanks and close-ranged fighters. Troy took out his new weapon, the Arbalest. It was a type of crossbow but with a steel prod (well, technically, improved iron) which was even more powerful than the previous crossbow. He crouched behind a boulder created by an earth elementalist. His breath was steady but his heart was pounding. He loaded the weapon, taking aim at the creature''s weak spot (which was something he learned at the monster encyclopedia back in the Library). He squeezed the trigger and unleashed the steel-tipped ¡ªer, iron-tipped¡ªprojectile. It sliced through the air, and hit the monster''s hardened coat with a twang. It missed though and it only angered the monster, but there were a few close-ranged fighters dealing with them. Fred happened to have just finished his own enemy and was helping other people out. "Hold them down!" Troy yelled and Fred cursed at him for ordering him around, but he did so in the end anyway. Troy once again took a shot and SWOOSH! The bolt struck the monster straight at the chest, going through its body. "Yes!" "Killed! Wohoo!" "I killed mine faster, and without help," Fred added with a shrug, though turning to defend against a new monster that arrived. Troy rolled his eyes. "Sure, cuz it was stupid and got more damaged from Gochi''s attack than mine!" Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Lulu rolled her eyes, while Gochi and Brenda chuckled. They trained for a whole day and with his help, two people¡ªTroy and Fred, had finally hit level 10! "OHYEAH!" Troy yelled with raised arms. "FINALLY I can build my own covers!" Troy was an Earth Elementalist and this meant he could create his own boulders to hide in or his own plateaus to elevate himself. Fred looked at him, wanting to say he levelled up first but then he thought to let the poor guy have this one win for now. Anyway, he was officially a fire user now. All men love fire powers, and he thought that his power was far superior than the boring ability the other guy got. Anyway, he excitedly tried to make something but he didn''t even make a spark. His eyes twitched. This so happened to be seen by Troy who was showing off a little rock floating on his palm. Fred gritted his teeth. Earth ability was much faster to learn because they just had to control existing elements! "I will enroll in elementalist class!" he told him. See how your little rocks will do against my flames. Troy sneered. "I will enroll, too!" Alterra opened up an elementalist class in the barracks where citizens could learn how to control their elements for a fee. In time, it had become a low-key brag to say "I can''t hang out today, I have Elementalist class later." Anyway, this happy thing would take a lot longer without their awesome assists. At this, they looked at Gochi and Brenda. "Come! We''ll treat you to a great meal!" "YEAHH!" They dragged everyone including Gochi to the Tavern, with the two frenemies treating everyone for a sumptuous meal. Gochi smiled as he ate and drunk, watching his Alterran friends with misty eyes. "I wish the others were here¡­" Chapter 721 Barts Unexpected Encounter At this time, some hundreds of kilometers Southeast of Ferrol Town, a team under Rolan Mercenary Team was finally getting back to civilization after completing their mission. Their mission was to get the Rush flower. It was a rare plant that could only be found in Cape Rushless. It took them a long time to find it in such a huge place and they even lost someone. They ultimately found it after weeks of searching a tall cliff, with all their supplies gone¡ªno more healing potions, no more of those expensive beast repellants, none of the previous sauces they got from Garan. It was horrible. Rather, they had been to longer missions before, but they didn''t have a taste of good food back then, making the absence of it all the more torturous. Horrible, it was horrible. However, getting this mission done was still worth it. With this, their upgrade to B Level was finally in reach! "Finally heading back!" Bart said, stretching his arms. With this mission, his section would be among the top of the mercenary team, and it would elevate more when they moved to a city! Generally speaking, Mercenary Teams that could do decently in cities were Class B and above. They had settled in towns¡ªalbeit powerful ones¡ªso they could focus on their growth. Now, they could venture in cities and still do well! "Finally!! Our barbecue sauce had run out long ago," one of the younger members of his team, Bulgogi, mumbled. "My tongue is going numb from the tasteless meat!" This earned him a knock on the head, "Stop being a sissy, you could even eat charred meat before." Bulgogi shrugged. "There''s no way¡ªthey spoiled our taste buds!" The imagery of the food they were missing passed by their heads, making them sigh. They didn''t disagree, even the strict Eloi, whose high hairline went even higher at this time. They walked, alert, and paused somewhere. Sipa, the Rolan Mercenary Team''s scout and archer, leaned down to look at the floor. "This is unusual." "Footprints of animals¡­ but they are far apart¡­" he mumbled, thinking. When a theory came to mind, he whipped his head towards Bart. "It seems like it''s a two-legged beast?" Bart narrowed his eyes. "Two legged beasts? There should be few in this area." However, they didn''t put much thought on this especially since it started to rain. It was a bit of a drizzle at first but then it poured, making them curse out. What luck! "Ah darnit, what a strong rain!" "Tsk." This also made them miss some of the markings and scents nearby, which were indicators to all trespassers to leave and that this was someone''s territory. At this time, they just focused on avoiding getting hit by the rain. Although Xeno bodies were naturally strong and wouldn''t catch a cold easily, prolonged exposure to strong rains wasn''t recommended either. Strong rains in Xeno was a way for the land to ''cleanse''. The rain calmed down any excess or turbulent aethers with what was called anti-aether¡ªa vague concept¡ª letting it be absorbed by the ground. Being exposed to this for a long time would literally lower a person''s health and would take longer to recover than usual. Of course, this applied to all creatures so unless the prey was right in front of them, a lot of monsters would actually avoid getting into fights during the rain. Anyway, being in a weakened state could mean life or death in the wild, and this was why they were running away from it so desperately. Sepa immediately looked around for signs of a cave, with the rest of the small party following him. Soon, they found a well-hidden cave located in dense vegetation. Before they could open though, they immediately scattered around as a sudden figure appeared with sharp claws, aiming right at them. CLANK! Bart shakily shielded himself with his sword, realizing the attacker had sharp paws. Bart''s face turned red as he tried to push back on the sharp claws that were getting too near his face. It was fortunate they always had their weapons out or else his heart might''ve been pulled out. His team went to his aid as soon as they gathered themselves. They swung the sword at the monster, studying what they were up against at the same time. It was a much taller creature a few heads above them. It had humanoid features but large white ears and a strong tail ready to assist in its maneuvres. It also had white striped fur extending down the hairline to his back, all the way to the back of his hand. It was a half-orc! What''s more? The more orc features a half-orc had, the stronger it usually was! The team was alarmed, not daring to prolong the battle. Orcs and half-orcs had far greater stamina! The longer the battle lasted, the more at a disadvantage they would fall! Slash! Stab! Slash! The creature maneuvered itself flexibly, avoiding all their blades. It jumped up, using gravity as its additional force. They all raised their blades to block his attack, but they were all pushed back. "It''s so strong!" Bulgogi yelled, raising his spear again in an attempt to poke it. Its tail wrapped on his handle, pulling him towards it. Bulgogi gasped as he was unable to let go of his weapon in time, so now his momentum caused his body to head to the half-orc, straight to its sharpened claw. "Ah!" he squealed almost seeing his life pass by. Bart lunged forward, barely managing to save his life, but the weapon''s already limited durability after so long was lowered even more. Their hearts beat so loudly they could hear it. Combined with the heavy patter of the rain falling on them and the forest, their own heartbeats added tension to the battle. It was only a half-orc, but it was a fighter type. Its size alone was testament enough for that, let alone how it dealt with Bart, a level 30 mercenary with ease! The half-orc didn''t seem intimidated by being surrounded by a dozen humans. Instead, he increased his force towards Bart. Bart struggled to defend himself, but the force still pushed him back. His team tried to get up, and lunged towards the critter, releasing their weapons to deal with him together, but he waved his tail and made some lose their balance, and he raised his hands to slap and kick them towards the trees. BANG! BANG! BANG! It was only in this short pause that they had noticed the monster had a slight limp but otherwise, he was OK. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In contrast, there were about a dozen humans with an average level of 25, but they were having a hard time dealing with this one half-orc! Could they really win? Even if they did, how many of them would be lost?! At this, some of the younger ones couldn''t help but curse out. They were already heading home after torturous weeks in the middle of nowhere. They had already imagined their own homes, good food, and just getting enough sleep without fearing the mobs! Now, they encountered this kind of problem? One that could very well mean some people would die when they were already so near civilization! What did they do to deserve this!?! "Orcshit!" Chapter 722 The Other Half-orc The mercenaries fought valiantly, sadly they gained more injuries from the damned monster''s claws than they could inflict it. The situation worsened when the half-orc grabbed one of them by foot and hurled him against a tree. "Gyaaaa~!" BANG! "Oi! Bulgogi!" the team yelled, glaring at the half-orc. "YOU DAMNED BEAST!" they yelled, lunging at him together. However, the half-orc just continued to push, kick, or throw them. Some would find themselves crashing into rocks, some onto underbushes. Soon, fewer and fewer had enough health to stand to confront him. Their groans and cries of pain filled the air, but everyone was alive thanks to their experience and relatively good level. But there were still a lot of them and the years of fighting alongside each other honed their cooperation. They moved with precision, exploiting every opening they could find. They managed to weaken and slow him down after a lot more injuries among themselves, but the half-orc''s resilience was getting really annoying! Eloi heaved deep breaths, looking at the tired creature as well. However, it was obvious that he was still in a somewhat better state than their group. "This won''t do, we may lose energy before he would give in." "Weaken him more," Bart commanded, his eyes fixed on the half-orc. "I have a plan!" The team trusted Bart and lunged forward, sending barrage after barrage of attacks. The orc mostly defended but he also hit back before he was forced to a defensive stance again. They could feel their defensive equipment giving way, making them want to get the half-orc even more. The violent scuffle continued for several more minutes and a few more mercenaries were thrown out. Their defense equipment had given way at this point and if the beast decided to target them¡ªthey''d be dead for real. Of course, the half-orc was also exhausted. It was heaving deep breaths, though it was mixed with ominous growls. Bart''s eyes sharpened as he saw the slight change in the half-orc. He immediately ran to him, revealing a high-level tool¡ªa magic rope¡ªfrom his space and created a loop with it. "Now!" he yelled, and the remaining mercenaries surrounded the monster, keeping it in place. The loop surrounded the monster and with a pull, it was finally tied up. ROARRR! They did not dare lower their guards as they tensely watched the half-orc struggle and roar as it was trapped. It felt like the ground shook as he did so. ROARRRR!!! However, even after a while, the rope held on, and the tense atmosphere lessened just a little bit. "Did we get him?" Bulgogi mumbled, groaning as he struggled to see closely. ROARRR! "GYA!" he gasped in shock. "YOU JERK!" He yelled, kicking the damned creature. He tried to bite, but a pull from Bart kept him down and for now they were sure he was really contained. Finally! This was a very expensive tool designed to hold level 40s, let alone a beast that had a lower level than that! Bart bought it with a bulk of his savings when he encountered it on an auction in case they encounter great beasts so they could sell them to tamers. It was a pleasant surprise to use it early! The others also recognized the rope. After all, it really cost a lot! "That rope! I forgot about that!" "Those hundreds of gold was worth it!" "We''ll sell him for a very good amount!" "If he''s alive by then." "Oh, right." "This bastard, injuring us so much," Eloi said, sending the tied half-orc a kick to relieve his annoyance. "Jerkjerkjerk!" Bulgoi said, kicking as well. He was already in so much pain, what the heck! Bart heaved a deep breath and spoke. "Calm down," he said, "It''s still raining. Let''s go have some rest." After tying up the monster very very nicely, they headed back to the cave. They left the monster there to weaken it a bit more, at least until they found it a buyer. Judging by the looks of the cave, the half-orc had been here for at least a few weeks. It wasn''t as smelly as they feared either, so it at least knew not to shit on his own floor. Anyway, the ambulatory members checked the others'' states. Fortunately, everyone was alive¡ªthough the same could not be said about their equipment. As Mercenaries who traveled a lot, they naturally had a small stock of weapons in their spaces. But how many could fit in the space? Besides, a lot had been destroyed in the various battles, with the half-orc consuming the rest of them. They were also injured in various ways. They could only sigh when they recalled they barely had any potions left. Their higher-level medicine had already been consumed, except for a bottle. They had no choice but to dilute it and share it among the heavily injured ones. As for the open wounds, they had no choice but to destroy a couple of clothing to serve as bandages, hoping nothing would get infected. "Tsk," they cursed, glaring at the half-orc outside, thinking most of their troubles at this time were due to it. He better be worth it! Speaking of the rain, it didn''t seem to show any signs of stopping. Combined with their current weaknesses, they really couldn''t help but worry for themselves. "We could lose more people if we encounter a mob." "We''ll need to find a territory to rest and restock again," Bart said and this made everyone look at him as a certain thought lingered inside everyone''s heads. "This is near the fog isn''t it?" Eloi asked, and this made everyone think of Garan''s team. "Wanna check what''s behind?" ¡­ The Mercenary Team waited for a few more hours until the rain calmed, immediately heading out to their destination. Sipa led the way again but he paused when they showed him the way¡ªthe location behind the ''fog''. "That area? Wasn''t that the Dying Lands?" "What?" Bart paused. "Wait, now that you mention it¡ª" S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Dying Lands was a massive area where the resources had refreshed in much slower rates. Sometimes, a simple Gouji tree that bloomed daily would bloom once a month in this place. There were also a lot of monsters that made bases there because there were few people to fight for territory. For decades, there was no territory here simply because it wasn''t worth it. Bart seemed to vaguely remember that event 20 years ago with similar circumstances. Anyway, there were plenty of reasons to check it out. "Well, let''s go take a look." Chapter 723 New Arrivals Alterra Village. A few days later, about a hundred tourists from Ferrol found their way to Alterra. This group went with people from the Terran Mercenary Team who were called in. A lot of the visitors were under Jonathan and his cronies, set to pick up their orders. They were sent so soon because the items¡­ really sold fast and well. However, Jonathan''s people actually comprised only half of the current caravan. The thing was, a lot of people got wind of the deals and that they were heading to the ''source'' of the items. Immediately, they decided to follow suit. It was all quite the ''coincidence'' that, about a kilometer from Ferrol, the Mercenary team and Ferrol Caravan had a number of ''serendipitous'' encounters with the merchants from various territories. For example, there was a caravan who would act surprised to see them. "Oh, where are you going?" Then, no matter what their answer was, the other party would say something along the lines of "What a coincidence, us too!" Then there was another that was even more blatant, saying "We were bored staying in Ferrol and decided to check out the nearby territories." Anyway, it was all quite obvious they wanted to cut Ferrol, the middlemen, and make the deals directly. But¡­ they couldn''t kick them out right? Especially when these people could just follow them anyway. A lot of these people were from various territories. Ferrol was not about to make enemies needlessly. Besides, the lord made a deal with Alterra for exclusivity in their area. This meant their interest would be guarded. This was how a massive group of 200 aborigines entered the gates of Alterra, looking around in interest and awe. They heard it was a village and were just expecting something like Guia, but what was this? S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was a proper town! Anyway, the 200 people segregated to travel by group and Fred''s Glorious Hospitality company became quite busy. Of course, the territory told them not to overshare some information that they didn''t need to know. For example, the average level of their strengths or the detailed information about the Research Center was relatively sensitive and shouldn''t be spread willy-nilly. Although the intimate information about the territory could be found out through other channels, it was advantageous to delay it as long as possible. From a side, Gill and a few other soldiers sighed as they watched the new injected activity in the territory. These newcomers were sure to increase the GDP of the territory by a lot. Not to mention, they had already raised prices to balance with the outside, so the profit was even better than before. However, it was not entirely a good thing that they appeared at this time. "Hmm, while I''m happy for the tourists, it would be harder for us to determine if Baltimore''s people snuck in," Eagle said with a complicated expression. "It doesn''t matter," Gill said, a little absentmindedly as his eyes perused the newcomers person after person. "We''ll be prepared for them." He sighed in disappointment when he didn''t see the person he was waiting for¡ªwhat did he expect? That Cassandra didn''t really go home, just went to Ferrol? "Gill. Let''s greet them," Eagle said, gesturing to meet the remaining part of the caravan¡ªtheir own team members. There were a few people who came. The strongest fighter was Klaus, who was beyond the level cap at 18. There were also the level 15s Knauf and Essed who could join in the war. Thorance, the wood elementalist, was also there, albeit he was already level 16. However, he had auxiliary abilities. He was there to help Althea and Gru. For the other back-of-house personnel, there was Semi and Furong, the carpenters, who would be arranged as apprentices to Houser for a bit of gold. Just a bit, because what Houser could teach was limited to the basics. After all, he specialized in signage skills, which had limited use to their own carpenters. Anyway, all of them were surprised at the beautiful scenery. It looked like a happy place to be. They immediately straightened up when they saw the bosses Gill and Eagle walk towards them with smiles. "Welcome home." ¡­ As for Gu¨ªas'' side, the number of people traveling to Alterra naturally wasn''t missed. They had indeed snuck in somewhere behind with their members. These people hadn''t been to Alterra yet and had just arrived in the vicinity, so Alterrans should not doubt them any more than the rest of the caravan. These people were equipped with aether letters for ease of communication, ready to report to Baltimore and the others whatever useful news or information they could gather as ''merchants''. At this time, Baltimore and the others had set up camp a few kilometers away from Alterra. They set up in the mountainous side for more subtlety, and they waited for few more hours before they received their first letter. Seto reported the contents of the letter to their lord, who was sitting silently at the head of the table. "They''re guests from Ferrol," he said, looking a bit worried. "Would they interfere with our plan?" "No, they''re guests, even if they don''t leave before the war, they wouldn''t care enough to intervene." "What about the other plan?" he asked, referring to killing off the enemy forces bit by bit, hunting them when they went outside. "It''s a little difficult milord¡­" Eloi said, a little embarassed. "The way they grouped up meant risking our people''s lives." The Alterrans seemed prepared for war in the sense that no one was allowed to get out of the territory on their own¡ªnot without strongmen in their party. This meant it would not be easy to thin them out. "...it is impractical to risk injury right before the war, milord." "Do I look like I don''t know that?" Baltimore asked, tone low, and it made Eloi fear for his life. "No! I mean¡­ we''ll weaken their forces who go outside when we can. We will group to bigger groups to increase our chances." Baltimore nodded. "Do whatever it takes to weaken them," he said. "We cannot lose this war!" Chapter 724 A Little Tension "Tsk! I wanted to torture them bit by bit already," Eloi mumbled. He was looking forward to torturing anyone they could grab, one for information and also for the heck of it. The others agreed with him, and they began discussing torture methods and which ones to apply first. Pity they had to think so much before they could do so. In the previous wars, this was as easy as picking prey, dragging them towards camp, and having fun with ''em. Baltimore ignored these people, turning to look at Seto. "How''s the progress inside?" he asked, referring to their people planted inside. They had new people entering with the caravan, but some people from their party also stayed. For instance, Treck. Because they believed Alterra was much weaker than they were, Treck decided to stay in order to cause chaos before and during the war. He was in the best position because not only had he investigated beforehand, but he was also within the level cap. "What did he say anyway?" Ero asked, looking at the aether letter on Seto''s hand. "No reply. I assume he couldn''t access his space at this time." Ero shrugged and no one else thought much of it either. Although Treck was arrogant and could be emotional, he still knew when to step back for the bigger picture. So¡­ they weren''t too worried about him. ¡­ At this time, Trek was walking around with arrogance in each step. Although he gained a little loss, people were still afraid to butt heads with him in general. Many people would still shiver when they met his eyes, and he figured out their arrogance from before was short-lived. It didn''t matter that these people were newcomers and refugees. In his eyes, they were all the same. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, wins aside, he had a mission right now and he ought to do his job! Guia was waging war soon and he needed to start planting the seeds that''d make things easier for them during the war. First stop was the food court during meal time. While chewing on delicious barbeque, he looked at a crowd to leave bits of comments and questions, expecting that they would brew and spread among the population¡ªlike it always did. They called this¡­ planting some knowledge or tapping awareness for the purpose of (Guia''s) greater good. "Where''s your lord?" he asked. "I''m really curious. If you don''t have one, why hasn''t anyone taken the lead? "Such a good place, how could be no one hailed as the leader?" "Hey, do you know how the rules and regulations disappeared during wars?" he said to another group, "During wars is the time for the citizens to get rich!" He''d go queue after queue, mumbling similar things, ending it with "I''d say save your money now and just wait for your next war!" He did so quite a few times and with various topics. He was subtle enough too, at least that''s what he believed. However, his actions caused him to be reported instead. For the past hour, he was reported 8 times. So when he moved to another market to repeat the ''planting'', he found himself surrounded by the assigned guards in the area instead. Luckily or unluckily, it was led by Gochi. Treck was a bit nervous when he realized there were so many guards, but immediately gained confidence when he saw it was the half-orc. He didn''t know what this damn territory was thinking making this guy a guard. It was disgusting! He sneered, crossing his arms. "Ehh¡­ you again?" he asked. "I was just walking around. What are you doing here?" Gochi''s expression didn''t change. In fact, the reason why they didn''t deal with him the last time was because it could''ve turned to a real scuffle that might hurt the citizens and the children. Not to mention, the Guia lord and the others were still there. The trouble of imprisoning him for a few words of insult was not worth it. However, now that they were certain Guia would be waging war soon, there was no reason to be polite anymore. "Please stop causing chaos. It''s unsightly." His tone and stance made Treck surprised, and immediately very angry. His eyes red in anger, fist clenched and very much wanting to hit this anomaly on the face. How dare this animal tell him off?! "You''re brave since you have people with you?!" he yelled, though he wasn''t stupid enough to attack. At least not yet. Instead, he kept consistent with his mission and looked at the guards behind Gochi. "Heh," he paused, an annoying arrogant grin plastered on his face. "You''re letting this beast in two legs order you guys around? Disgusting!" Gochi''s fist clenched but he didn''t show that he was being affected. Since the last insults he came to learn how sincere Alterra was to him. There was no need to feel insecure. Instead of being intimidated, he looked at Treck with an apathetic expression on his face. "We''d like to ask you to come with us for questioning," he said and grabbed his arm. "You dare!" the aborigine yelled, immediately trying to escape. But Gochi was the same level as he was, except he was much, much, stronger. The next thing Treck knew, large hands found his face and his head was hit smack on the stone floor underneath him. BANG! His vision blurred and he felt intense pain in the head. He was dizzy and his sights saw double of the beast. Treck was livid, insides boiling with madness. "YOU BASTWARD!!!" He screamed behind the orc''s rough palms, gesturing to take out his weapon to retaliate. Flash! He wasn''t able to hit before he was teleported elsewhere. The next sight he saw was a plain dark place in stark contrast with the lively streetscapes he had just been in, decidedly without his weapon on hand. The fact that his head hurt, his vision blurry, and his heart beating loudly in anger was not helping him absorb what had just happened. He could only gape for a while trying to recover his bearing. Some minutes later, he heard some footsteps on the side and he turned his bloodied head in a direction. He saw the thick bars keeping him in a tight space, and he quickly realized that there were some uniformed guards behind the bars. They were looking at him without expression, but he still felt a shiver run down his spine. "Welcome to prison, bastard." Chapter 725 Break "The new prison welcomed its first strong prisoner," Althea said, reading the real-time reports on the Aether letter on hand. Garan sighed and patted her shoulders. She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder to feel relaxed. When she confirmed that Guia was going to attack, Althea reluctantly used a building slot to finally buy the Prison. It was located deeper into the territory near the barracks and the mountain areas, so few people had witnessed its construction. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There was no way, the manual construction couldn''t have taken strong enemies, especially elementalists. They needed a place that could truly contain strong enemies¡ªwhich Guia Village undoubtedly was. ¡­ While the undercurrents of the oncoming war brewed, many people still remained blissfully unaware. For instance, the new aborigine visitors who were just there to buy things, explore, and be tourists that they were. Although as citizens of Towns, they didn''t have to worry about getting enslaved, they still would''ve preferred peace during their excursions. Alterra had just gone to war, how could they know it''d undergo another one so soon? These people happily spent the day roaming around and shopping. Among them, a nice-looking blonde and his partner went to the weapons store, surprised to see a familiar face there. "Brenda?" He said, startled. The woman flinched and turned to the direction of the voice, becoming similarly surprised. "Rapthen? Oh my elves!" she yelled, going out of the counter to go to him. They greeted each other arm to arm. It was a casual friendly greeting, though a bit touchy-feely for Troy''s eyes. He cleared his throat as he followed her out, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "Who is this?" "It''s a childhood playmate from back home." "From Glaston?" Troy asked, feeling a little jealous. Brenda looked at him being all salty and realized what it was about. She giggled, amused and warm. "He likes men," she gently explained to him, pointing at the other man who was standing to Raphten. The man looked awkward though he greeted her with politeness. Brenda smiled at him. "That is his partner, in dual senses." Troy blinked, his hostility calmed down immediately. "Oh." Raphten though was a little startled and a little hurt. Brenda noticed this and immediately explained herself. "No, no, your... situation is normal here." In Xeno, the treatment of homosexuals varied greatly depending on one''s power. If one was still weak, it was greatly frowned upon. After all, procreation was still important and most humans by instinct disliked the situation because it hindered procreation. At the same time, if one was powerful enough¡ªwhether in terms of abilities or position¡ªit was much more flexible. For instance, in Jonathan''s case. After all, procreation was harder at his level and there were fewer expectations for him regarding that. Xeno was essentially still a place that put the most importance in power, and a Lord of a powerful town naturally could do whatever the heck he wanted. Raphten and his partner were among the former, so they were forced to keep things a secret. "They don''t promote it, but they''re accepting of everyone who wants to contribute to Alterra''s growth." "I¡­ see¡­" the men said, albeit not quite absorbing her words. However, their surprise was pushed down by the gladness of seeing a friend. "You seem to be doing well here." "Yes, I am," she said, a bit proudly. Though her stance turned a bit serious as she the image of their home passed by her head. "How''s my dad?" "Missing you," he said. "He was hoping you''d be home." This made Brenda feel a deep pang of guilt. She hadn''t been home for a while. She usually took some day off every six to twelve months or so, depending on her location, so she could visit him and stay there for a few weeks. In fact, before getting to Alterra, she had been planning on staying only for a month before leaving. But she got too attached and there were so many things that had to be done, so she couldn''t bear to leave. After a few moments of thought, she looked at her old friend. "Can you tell us your itinerary?" "Well, we just went to this area to sell our stuff in the Ferrol fair. We got curious about this place and tagged along. Otherwise, we''re heading back home." "Ricky¡­ so you''re going back to Glaston aren''t you after this, right?" "Well, yes¡­" "Can you please send a letter to dad?" she said, going back in the counter to get a paper and pen. "I want to ask him to move here¡­ but I know it won''t be easy." The old man was a bit¡­ stubborn, for the lack of a better word. She looked at the blonde. "Go to the guides, they will let you know the place well, and be sure to tell my dad." Raphten was very surprised. Everything they had was in Glaston, and Brenda was asking her father to move? But then again¡­ from what he saw, Alterra was really a unique place. He felt there was still a lot more to discover. "I will study and tell him what I saw with honesty." Brenda smiled. "That''s good enough for me." ¡­ Speaking of letters, certain mercenaries also received one each. One was for Gill, from Cassandra, and another for Brandon, given by Veronica. It was delivered to him by Knauf. Brandon wasn''t sure what to do with it, so the other teammates dragged him to a corner of the dorm in the table, and asked him to open it up with them. It was followed by hoots and teasing and a very confused Brandon. In fact, Veronica had only even kissed a few men and nothing else. It was just that a noblewoman holding hands with different men would give them a reputation similar to that of a harlot. She was actually quite innocent and her letter was sweet and pure. Amusingly, it had to take a few explaining of her metaphors before Brandon''s face found a tinge of a blush, which successively got him a few more hoots and teasing pats. Gill shook his head and went to his own private area to open his own letter. He did not expect it to only have one sentence. /Let''s break up./ Someone dropped a thing behind him and he realized a few people were peeking. "Wow¡­ Boss Gill got broken up¡­ in text," Luis gulped, looking pale. Another one shook his head and stepped back, as if it clear himself of the crime of peeking. "I know Sammy got broken up through text before. He could barely get up from bed the next day¡­" This earned him a knuckle on the head. "HEY!" Beside them, Jake whistled. "Well, it was about time. I''m surprised he hadn''t been dumped sooner¡ª" "SHUT UP!" They all flinched when Gill yelled and they immediately separated to do their own tasks, leaving the aborigine who delivered the letter in place. Knauf flinched, raising his hands. "I had no idea what it was!" he said and also walked away to give the boss some private space. Alone, Gill crumpled the paper in his hands, his dark eyes sharp with annoyance. "That woman!" he yelled, gritting his teeth. "Wait til this war is over and I will spank you myself!" Chapter 726 Wood Element (Part 1) While the others were training outside, the lord was also practicing her own elements. This time she was focused on an element: Wood, and she was practicing in the comfort of her own gardens. They summoned the newly-arrived Thorance for his knowledge of wood elements. He was called to the gardens to help her out, and was soon brought in to meet with the couple. The handsome Thorance with his light-colored curly hair and sleepy eyes couldn''t help but appear more awake as he was faced with both the captain and his famous wife. Leon, the only wood soldier user remaining, used the element as an aggressive element, which wasn''t applicable to her. Thorance, a support, was called for the purpose of training her. He looked startled when he saw her but he couldn''t look for a long time because he felt the captain''s stare. "Hello, Ms. Althea," he said, "My name is Thorance¡ª" His voice died when he saw the garden behind her. His eyes widened at the beautiful sight and he was very tempted to leave the other people and just be with the plants. He didn''t of course. He had worked under many nobles, and not one would be forgiving if he did so. He was overthinking things of course. Althea could naturally see how his eyes brightened at the sight of her plants. She smiled. This was actually good. After all, this meant this was his passion, and that was the best type of employee. "Have you gardened a lot before?" She asked. He flinched under her attention before gathering himself to answer. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He nodded. "I was born and raised in a small town south," he said, "When I awakened, I immediately applied as a gardener in the Chancery. I was hired by a bigger town, also South, which was great because I can visit my hometown relatively often. "In such a big town, there are plenty of wealthy nobles. My skills were often used to maintain the sensitive gardens of nobles." In such towns with a lot of nobles, they took status symbols very seriously. One of these symbols was a healthy garden with exotic plants. One would think that gardening wouldn''t be hard in a place like Xeno with amazing refresh rates. However, this was not the case. Althea herself knew too well that plants wouldn''t grow well if not in their proper environment, even if they were planted in system farms. On the contrary, they were a bit more ''picky''. They would grow extremely well under the right conditions, but wouldn''t sprout at all if it wasn''t. In Xeno, unless one had either specialized knowledge of plants or a support-type wood elementalist, it was too difficult to care for plants not endemic in a place, and so his services were very popular in Towns. Unfortunately, one (or a few) ladies fell in love with him and it caused quite a bit of ire among their fathers and husbands, so he was forced to resign and find a new place to get hired in. "Why do you choose to focus more on the milder side of the wood element?" It was understandable in her case as someone who dwelled and studied in plants, but this was an odd choice for others¡ªespecially in this world where all aggressive skills could save your life. The young man''s eyes softened and he smiled. It was such a gentle smile that hit the maternal instincts of women. "I have loved plants since I was a child. My father was also a gardener, and so was his father." It was such a great honor for the family to have him awaken as an elementalist¡ªmuch more so as a wood elementalist. How could he waste such a good element by using it for aggression? This answer impressed Althea and she immediately turned to her husband, looking at him with those large emerald eyes of hers. "Husband, can I hire him? My garden could really use a bit more of his kind." Garan didn''t answer immediately, looking at the soft-looking man in thought. He wasn''t a fighter and the plants with Althea were much more sensitive than those in Ferrol, so he didn''t have much reason to refuse. Anyway, it would make his wife happy. He nodded and his wife giggled, letting him get a nice smooch as a reward. "You''re hired," Althea said with a smile. "You will be helping me attend to my experimental gardens and farms, greenhouses, as well as the Gaea-owned farmlands outside." "Thank you, Miss!" Althea nodded at his story, wanting to know more. "Tell me more about your skills before you go¡ªonly if it''s alright with you," she said, belatedly remembering that aborigines were usually very hush-hush about their skills. Thorance was very happy for the job and didn''t mind letting her know more about it. "My skills are Woodland Camouflage¡ªwhich allows me to blend in with plants completely undetected for about 10 minutes¡ªas well as Plant Sense, where I could have an idea whether a plant is healthy or not." Althea was intrigued. She already had the latter, so she was particularly interested in the Camouflage skill. Thorance paused and thought of how to explain it. "Hm, it''s a skill that had to do with one being one with the plants." "Can you tell me how?" He nodded. "You need to feel like you''re the plant," Thorance said, "Surround yourself with wood energy and then melsh with the tree you wish to camouflage on." "To do this, you got to combine with the tree with your whole being as someone who can control wood." "How?" "I will show you," he said and proceeded to find a nearby tree, which happened to be a young one they had transplanted there. The young man then bent his hips and buttocks, raising his arms and closing his fingers, curling them in a weird pose that was apparently reminiscent of a young tree with lots of bends¡ªapparently to mimic the tree''s "pose". Althea''s eyes twitched. "..." He looked too silly; Althea suddenly didn''t want to do it anymore. Chapter 727 Wood Element (Part 2) However, this was a potentially life-saving skill so it was good to learn it someday so she listened to his explanation. ¡­it didn''t mean she''d try it now though. They watched as Thorance virtually seemed to disappear in front of their very eyes, making their eyes widen. The two immediately walked over to take a look, with Garan lifting his feet to light nudge where he remembered the man''s ankle was. "Ough!" "...sorry." "It''s alright, captain," Thorance said, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Basically, the slightest distraction can ruin the entire thing." "It''s still a good skill to have. Thank you for showing it to me," she said, putting down the theory in her mind probably for future use. She then excused him and he went away, leaving the couple alone in her precious garden. Now, it was time to get back to her plants~ However, as she turned, she saw her husband blocking the way with crossed arms. He was looking seriously at her. "What is it?" "Try it." "What?" "That skill," he said. "You cannot do anything else until you have mastered it." "What??" Althea flinched and she looked at her husband, realizing he was dead serious about it. No, she didn''t want to! Too embarrassing! Garan frowned and stepped over, holding her waist and lifting her up effortlessly. "You!" He then placed her right in front of a young tree in the garden. She looked back and saw how the branches were really varying. Did he have to choose this tree in particular?? She pouted and looked at him, her large emerald eyes looking straight at his. Garan gripped his arm a bit tighter to keep his serious face but otherwise he didn''t show anything. "You need this skill." "..." "..." After some minutes of silence, Althea could only sigh in defeat. She was flushed, knowing there was no getting out of this, so she sucked it up and attempted to do it. Her arms were raised and bent in strange ways mimicking the branch. It really looked stupid! "You''re very beautiful, wife, don''t be too self-conscious." She pursed her lips and glared at him (which he just found adorable) and she closed her eyes in concentration. For a while, she stayed like that. Thorance mentioned she had to be completely still. Whenever she would flinch or move by even a millimeter, she could tell she was thrown back to the starting line. Deep breath, Althea, she told herself, before she tried again. Thorance mentioned they didn''t have to hold their breaths, but Althea still decided to control it somehow. Taking shallow breaths, she concentrated deeply while gathering the wood elements nearby around her. She closed her eyes, concentrated, trying to do the theory. She failed many times by virtue of being unable to be completely still and combine with the tree behind her. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After a while, the finally felt the synergy point and remembered it, applying it everywhere. [Learned! Woodland Camouflage (E). Stealth Skill to be completely undetectable to all levels below Level 30 without Perception Skills. Limits: Subject must be completely still.] Finally! She smiled and looked at her husband with a sparkling look in his eyes. "You really disappeared," he said. As a high-level man, he could still tell she was somewhere, but he couldn''t pinpoint where, exactly. She kissed him and ran to her gardens, excited to get back to her plants and also afraid the husband would make her do silly things again. During this time, she found out more about the plants the soldiers got during the Ferrol fair. After all, every one of them finally sprouted. That meant she¡ªusing her skills¡ªcould get more information about the plants that had been eluding her. One of these was Silkwood trees, which could produce a silky fabric. It was different from the products of silkworms, but it was a good alternative. While she got silk from Otto, she still needed to study the differences. Anyway, the plant didn''t grow before because it needed damp and dark places to grow. She placed them with the mushrooms, and it grew out quite quickly inside the Level 2 Farm. Speaking of which, if this was really the material used for the cloth, then this was obviously a seed that happened to end up in a pile, because Cloth City wouldn''t sell these things so easily and cheaply. There was also Silver Leaf Willow¡ªnow a feet tall¡ªwhich she determined to have something like analgesic and could be used like aspirin and other pain relieving functions. She had also been studying its bark and found trace compounds of alkaloids like which could be used as anaesthesia. However, plenty of alkaloids were dangerous so she''d need a bit more study on this. There was also the Ferverbloom which could be used to calm respiratory inflictions and Moonlit lavender for insomnia (which would also make for great tea). She had used a lot of her mana to hasten the growth of these. Even it wasn''t much, if done everyday, there really was an effect. She habitually nourished select plants until her mana was gone and went to the Greenhouse. Unfortunately, only select plants thrived and she would still need glass to be able to completely control the situation inside the greenhouse. Glass was already being developed in the research center. Thanks to Tronie, they really found out the sand deposits from the freshwater river. From her tablet, glass from Terran sand would need 1700 celsius, which was just about the temperature their ceramics needed. It was just that the composition was slightly different and they had to do a lot more experimentation to produce glass that would be used in everyday life. It wasn''t easy. After so long, the glass they produced was so thick and incredibly brittle¡­ If they found a professional glass maker, then they''d be able to expand the research further, but there was no such luck just yet. Putting aside things that were out of control, she resumed focus on the plants that she could handle. She also touched her coffee and cocoa trees. Judging by their appearance, they should only take another 2 months or so before some of them bore fruit. She smiled, already thinking of the chocolate and coffee products. "Just a little more~" Chapter 728 Softness before the Hard "Time for lunch," Garan said, coming out of the house. He had come home during his break from the barracks, a habit now since moving in Alterra. After all, they were apart so often back in Terran, and he couldn''t bear being apart from her for too long now. In his arms were the two babies, taken from the neighbor''s house on his way there. This was probably to force her to leave her plants. This wasn''t needed though as she had already ran out of mana. Althea smiled warmly and placed a chaste kiss on his lips, before turning to smooch the babies'' cheeks. "Mwahhmaaa~" "Gugughhhmmn¡­" She chuckled and gently pinched their soft cheeks, before taking one of the babies into her arms as she looked at her husband. "How''s the training?" "Very good. Everyone''s making steady progress," he said. More and more elementalists had awakened thanks to their focused training. With the soldiers'' help, they were also able to learn a skill or two at a relatively short amount of time. "What about you?" He asked, gently leading his wife to the dining room. She smiled and told him of the plant stats which she spent half a day on. He was a little surprised at the Silk trees though, and similarly mused that perhaps it was a stowaway seed. He wasn''t wrong. The Silk Tree was indeed from one of the Cloth Cities. Specifically, Cloth City which was known for its smooth fabrics targeted for nobles. By some careless mistake, a few were dropped and eventually ended up in various markets. Because they were so controlled though, no one recognized them for what they were, and were simply sold as an unknown seed for a discounted price. Of course, the Cloth City wouldn''t have minded either way because the trees required special, often counterintuitive conditions to grow. Not only that, even if by some miracle it did grow, who''d know how to turn them into cloth? Too bad it ended up in Alterra. Eventually, they''d even create superior kinds from the same raw materials. Of course, this was something for later. Anyway, back in the Gaea team villa, the family of four headed to the dining room to eat their meal. To save time, Harold always sent them some food from the restaurant, and the meat and soup were still piping hot. Today, they were having a bowl of fresh salad composed of Terran vegetables combined with the Tutu berry, the fruit that was bigger and less sweet versions of grapes (and a lot of seeds). It was one of the very few fruits in Xeno that actually had taste though. It was nicely seasoned, and covered with special dressing made from the fruit seeds. They partnered well with the taste of tomato and lettuce, adding a special crunch. For the meat it was grilled Gugu birds, its tender meat promising a burst of flavor in every bite. "The Gugu bird here are definitely better, I also confirmed with the Mercenary Team cooks," Garan said. He couldn''t comment on the others, including meat from broat or fishes, because they weren''t available to him before Alterra so he couldn''t compare. She nodded. She had heard similar comments, though the changes weren''t instantaneous so no one was certain. However, her husband was a great cook and had a sensitive sense of taste. Him saying this meant there were really differences. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Maybe it''s because their food is from system farms?" "Possibly, and there''s also the fact that they grew and were grazed in these farms." This was very interesting. If true, then this meant even this raw material had a premium! As for the babies, while drinking broat milk, they extended their cute little hands towards their food too. They opened their mouths making small o''s, as if asking them to feed them the same thing. The babies were now nearly two months old, but they looked at least three or four months old. At this point, more little teeth had appeared. She sighed. However, they were so tiny and cute, though she couldn''t help but feel worried. This was usually found five to six months in, even amongst aborigines born here. The couple just smiled and ignored them at first, continuing to eat their meals. However, at some point the kids pouted and refused to drink from their bottles, eyes fixed on the hard sumptuous food in front of their parents. Althea saw this and turned to her husband. "Do you think they''re ready for some soft food?" She searched and it was typically at six months, but conventional knowledge no longer applied to her babies. If they continued like this, then breast milk would no longer be enough either. Garan looked at her with an unchanging expression, but his eyes brightened. Did it mean he could have it all for himself? If Althea knew what he was thinking, she''d pinch his cheeks. Anyway, at ''six months'', the gag reflex that automatically pushed away food was gone, and from the way her children played with their teether, they could at least gum food. Before, they had been adding flavor in their milk, now she could try adding bits of the real thing. She pursed her lips and went to crush them some food. She chose Gouji berry (unseeded, of course), crushed them, and added milk before giving some to the babies, who seemed very curious about the new food. She put the spoon and made an o with her mouth, and the cute babies soon followed her lead. They adorably took in the spoon, and a lot of the goo escaped. Garan wiped their mouths with the bibs. "Mwamhmmm¡­" "Googhmnnn!" The babies made os with their mouths again, occasionally numming as if they were still tasting the sweetness. The couple smiled and carefully fed the babies, though with much less in a spoon. They ate everything. "Should we be concerned?" "Not even Oslo knew what''s happening¡­" Then again¡­ they found out Meatball could control his weight while Pepper could teleport¡­ what was eating soft foods a little earlier?? Chapter 729 Refresh Rate Meatball could control his weight and Pepper seemed to have the ability to teleport. Thinking of those, the babies eating soft foods a little earlier seemed to be the least of their concerns. These were unique and dangerous powers and when they told the hired aborigines¡ªwho were under oath¡ªthey were all shocked, all unaware of what was happening. Not only were the powers unheard of, but they were being exhibited by babies! Generally speaking, powers were only exhibited after Level 10. Even if a rich family trained their kids and let them get last kills to get them to level up early, their bodies usually weren''t strong enough to support the level and they fell ill even before they reached level 9. It was the primary reason why the bulk of the training kids get¡ªat least those that give experience¡ªwas after 12, which was after the aborigine pubescence age. For Terran children, if the requirements were the same, then the age would be 13 to 14. The aborigines'' surprise worried the couple more than anything. The mysteries surrounding their children felt like a sword over their heads sometimes. However, they agreed not to overthink when no one knew about it. They just decided to aim for strength so they could handle whatever it could mean. For Garan, this mostly meant strength, while for Althea it was to make Alterra unbeatable¡ªto be the unshakeable backer for her children. She rested a bit and ate Harold''s mana cookies to regain her mana, deciding to explore the outside of the territory. Of course, her husband was with her and she didn''t go far from the gate either. She hadn''t studied the plants outside for weeks, as she had plenty to study inside. Not to mention, she had to use a lot of energy to figure out how to make those seeds bloom, so she had ignored the existing plants for a while. She wanted to see the difference now that she had awakened her element. The couple settled at a relatively isolated area at some distance from the wall. It was a small clearing lined with a variety of plants. They set up picnic blankets where both of them sat down. Althea closed her eyes and concentrated, using her abilities to check on the surrounding vegetation. For the most part, it was what she expected. Except¡­ she couldn''t help but notice a slight difference in the amount of wood energy that surrounded the plants. After all this time, she had studied the plants in her gardens, even those outside the system farms but within the territory walls. She still had some impression of their ''health'' compared to those outside. Was it her imagination¡­ or was the wood energy less outside the walls? Her eyebrows furrowed. She recalled the reports that refresh rates of plants seemed to have slowed down a little compared to before¡ªparticularly to the plants outside. Any unsual observations were reported and never underestimated. Their initial hypothesis was that there was just some sort of climate aberration, which¡ªafter much observation from the meteorology team¡ªwasn''t enough. However, the refresh rate was indeed slowing. Before, a typical Gouji tree outside would average about 44-50 fruits every day. Now it went down to about 43-48. There was also a slight lag between the blooming of the plants and the flowers too. Was there a correlation if some kind? Her population was steadily growing. She feared this might also be happening inside, but it was so subtle no one noticed. They also never lacked food due to the farms so they hadn''t really felt much changes within the walls. If it was really as they feared, then she would eventually have to lower the free resource harvesting for residents and increase the prices of harvest. She told Garan she''d take a while and not to stop her until she was done, knowing this would need her full concentration. Garan nodded. Although he looked worried, he trusted his wife fully and didn''t push for answers at this time. For the next few hours, she settled there, observing the wood elements around. Wood energy, like any other, underwent the rule of conservation of energy. If it wasn''t floating around, then it was integral to the plant and its functions. That was to say, nothing should just disappear in the real sense. She focused on the specs around her, using much of her mana to keep track. She observed the surrounding plants and their energies, and any changes that she had to note. Then, after a few hours, a change happened. A speck was gone! It was only a spec, but she couldn''t trace it anyway. It didn''t go in a plant or wasn''t absorbed by the soil. It was just¡­ gone. After another hour, there was another one. If this was a constant event, then the total disappearing specs weren''t small. She thought hard as various hypotheses formed in her brain. Back inside, the situation was much better, especially so on farms. The higher the level of the farm, the denser the energy, and the faster the regeneration rate. Based on this, it was safe to assume that the density of the wood energy was connected to the regeneration rate. This meant that the disappearing energy particles were really a cause for concern! However, she decided not to give herself a heart attack and decided to study the situation for a bit longer. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She stayed for a few more hours and witnessed a few more disappearances, and her heart dropped every time. This confirmed it. The refresh rates of the plants¡ªat least outside of the territory¡ªhad been slowing down! What could this mean for them? And was it only like this in Alterra? In this area? Or was it happening everywhere else as well? Was it something that happened to the whole continent? Was it seasonal? Permanent? "Wife? What''s wrong?" Garan asked, patient even after hours of waiting. His eyebrows were furrowed as he worried for his wife and he patted her cheek. Althea looked at him with a very serious expression. "I have bad news." Chapter 730 14 Hours (Part 1) Vismont Village At this time, one of the more relaxed territories happened to be Vismont Village. When everyone had experienced their first¡ªwith some even on their second¡ªwars, Vismont hadn''t even received a threat. They actually had a few aborigine guests from the West. They were extremely arrogant when they came, but they had barely entered when Matthew made the fact that they were subsidiaries slip. When they found out they were subsidiaries of another village, they lost interest. The advantage of being a subsidiary was that it was really not attractive to attack because it was likely poorer than others. They also had somewhat of a guaranteed assistance from the ''master'' territory (should they request for it), which meant attacking it was usually not worth it. There was also the fact that if a territory won theirs, they''d have to serve the master territory as well during the duration of the agreement. They had just entered the contract with Alterra for a month. This meant there were still 11 more months to go and the attacker¡ªif they won¡ªwould just serve in their stead. Further, their visitors were also unaware of the only advantage in taking them, which were basically just Alterran products. At the time, Alterra had just been in a war so their exports had been limited the past week or so. So the stocks for Alterran goods in VIsmont were only available in a few homes and a few establishments. Matthew made sure to keep information amongst themselves¡ªwhich also saved Alterra from a visit from a possibly hostile territory. It was a bit rushed, but when the people were told that being too attractive could send a war in their direction, everyone cooperated. Anyway, except for the custom houses being a bit special, there was nothing worth taking at all, the aborigine scouts went North. They did beat up a few people to get ''shortcuts'' to the gates, but fortunately no one died. Matthew and the others took advantage of the peace to regain their strength after the successive tragedies. Matthew also implemented his own contribution system, giving everyone who stayed in his territory an ample amount. This was the reason why the couple Okuri and Ronny stayed longer than they anticipated and hadn''t moved to Alterra yet as planned. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They wanted to spend the contribution points¡ªwhich would be nulled if they changed their citizenships¡ªfirst before moving. At this time, the couple was shopping in the territory-owned grocery shop selling Alterra products, buying their supplies for the next couple of weeks. It had just been restocked after a few hours, and the queue spanned streets. They were just planning on filling up their space, ready for their travel to Alterra when the Alterran guard team and caravan arrived, though they weren''t clear when exactly that''d be. Okuri was dictating what she wanted to the clerk, spending their remaining contribution points. Her boyfriend tapped her shoulder, making signs to tell her what to get more of. "Do we need more flour?" She asked and he nodded, signing that it could be made into many things. Okuri nodded in understanding, ordering the items. He would also hand signal or write down other things and Okuri followed his wishes. They made sure to buy as much as they could, even if they had to carry some outside the space. This way, they''d have a good starting point even after they left to move to Alterra. They left the shop, excited to get to the next stage of their lives. When they went out, they happened to encounter the lord making rounds. "Milord," The couple greeted and he nodded, leaving with old man Yao following closely behind him. They seemed to be talking, so they didn''t do small talk (a characteristic of the socialite Matthew). The two pairs separated and into their own conversations. "What did the people who just got back from Alterra say?" Matthew asked the old man. He was referring to the few people who brought stocks from Alterra (for a large markup) and had just gone ahead without staying for an hour. He was hunting outside when they arrived and he just missed them. "Alterra seems to be preparing for another war." He flinched, feet stopping. "What? Another?" Didn''t they just end one a week ago? Yao nodded. "Well, it is a very good territory. It''s not surprising it''s so targeted." Matthew frowned and, although he knew the territory was strong, he couldn''t help but worry because his sister was there. He headed towards the Village Center to send a message to Alterra. However, before he could go far, a ding sounded in his head. [Alterra Village (Lv 3) has been attacked by Guia Village (Lv3)] "We must send help," Matthew said, and Yao nodded albeit internally he was wondering if their arrival would change anything. But he also understood the sentiment. Not including Miss Melissa''s issue, Vismont wasn''t able to do anything during Alterra''s first war. If they didn''t prove their worth early, what would stop Alterra from not renewing the subsidiary contract after a couple of months? With the rate Alterra was going, the tribute they''d be giving would soon be chump change¡­ Matthew proceeded to send announcements to his guards¡ªwhich had tripled since they had gotten rid of Higson. He told them that Alterra was going through a war soon, and they should send help. Anyone who participated would receive ample contribution points, especially those who truly contributed to the war. It was just that, a few moments later, Matthew also received an announcement of his own. [Shrao Village (Lv3) has declared war on your village, Vismont Villlage (Lv3). War will commence in 13:59:59] It felt like a cold bucket of water was doused on him. Old man Yao turned to look at him, confused by the sudden change of aura. "Is there anything wrong, milord?" Matthew''s shoulders slumped, a little pale, but didn''t show anything else. He was unwilling to show any more weakness at this point. "Nevermind," he said, voice slightly coarse. "It seems like we''ll have our hands full as well." Chapter 731 14 Hours (Part 2) Alterra. [Guia Village (Lv3) has declared war on your village, Alterra Village (Lv3). War will commence in 13:59:59.] The declaration happened almost as soon as Althea realized the bigger problem they were having¡ªthe declining refresh rates. Of course, if it would just return to rates similar to how Terran was, then it wouldn''t be too big of a problem. They were used to that productivity even before, and they could calibrate themselves accordingly. Further, their current population could easily be supported by the current farms, even if they get much slower. They would just need to slowly reduce their exports. After a certain amount of deals with other territories, they might have to slow down. It''d be troublesome if they changed the prices too much because of the reduction of surplus. Anyway, Alterra itself would be fine. But¡­ what would that mean for the rest of the world? Wars were prevalent even now when the resources were plenty, what more when they were lacking? However, she put all these worries aside as Baltimore had finally sent their formal declaration. Deal with him first. As soon as the declaration was passed, all elders met in the village hall to strategize, including the top aborigine officials. It was Garan who led the meeting this time. He knew most about the territory and was as detailed as he could be. "Guia Village is easily the strongest Level 3 village in the region. If we''re not careful, we will have a lot of losses," he said, and the others nodded solemnly. "We know that many strongmen from Guia have been lurking around our territory in a while, while a few within the level cap are already within our walls." "We will contain them all," he said, "Including those who had suspicious contact with them." They might not be able to get everyone¡ªincluding those who snuck in with the visitors¡ªbut they needed to contain who they could. And when they fought back, heh. They might think they''d end up just banned in the territory and therefore kicked out, but they''ll be in for a surprise¡­ The prison this time was the system one. They had been reluctant to build this prison due to its unfortunate side effect of taking some lifespan for prolonged periods from prisoners. However, it also had the weakening capability, even if the prisoners used elements and skills, which made it too attractive for them to be stopped by some minor moral issues that these people might not deserve. At level 1, it could easily contain an elementalist level 20, and would need a few more guards if they were stronger. Since they were only a village, a level 1 prison was enough. "We need to add guards to the prison as well," he said, in case people would try to rescue their captured comrades. Anyone attacking the prison outside of wars would be placed in cells, but during wars such rules were void. "We expect a lot of injuries, but we naturally hope to minimize them," he turned to an old man at the edge of the table. "Doctor Volohov, lead your team well. If you trigger the occupation, please inform us immediately." Volohov was not yet an official Elder, but he was the most senior medical professional. He also had a green tag, and it was only a matter of time before they promoted him officially. He also served in a war in his youth, giving him some experience in the field during wars. One must know, wars were uncommon in Althea''s generation. It was difficult to find doctors who had accomplished their field whilst undergoing the pressure of wars. "Yes, I will do my best," Volohov said, with a determined look on his face. He knew that his promotion was dependent on his performance in this war, so he was set to impress. His wife, Liana, was also there with him. She was also a highly trained and experienced nurse who could handle pressure very well. She was the head nurse of the hospital and with her skills and knowledge, no one questioned her at all. Since they arrived, the old couple had pretty much lived in the new hospital, and not just because of their jobs. It was a special building, and it was something they loved the moment they stepped foot in. The building itself also had healing effects on patients. It also helped to clear the minds of professionals. It allowed them to keep their cool better under pressure that even newbies could be depended on even if there were dozens of patients getting thrown at their faces. Anyway, it was so magical! The medical field of Alterra was not limited to the building. There was ample medicine and equipment, there was endless research to get more. They also just had to submit a request for certain medicines, inputting as much information as they could, and their request would be queued up for the Research Center to study. There was a special pharmaceutical team in the Research Center. It was led primarily by Althea, but she also had assistants who focused on that department alone and had been churning out medicine formulas since its inception. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. First there was Gus, who had arrived at Alterra fairly early on, and then there was Dr. Abdul, the immunologist from their team. There was also Dr. Noa Benjamin, a biochemist, though he arrived with the latest refugees from the West. The medicines they developed would be sold in the pharmacy of the hospital, separated from the pharmacies outside. Other than the consumable medicines, there was also dedicated research for medical equipment! The atmosphere of innovation was not slowing down and as lovers of science this alone would light fire in them. They truly wanted to prove themselves¡ªthat they were truly worthy to lead a side of this great territory. If their life meaning as medical professionals would be met in Xeno, it could only be in Alterra. More importantly, it was here that they''d be able to help and save most lives, feeling the impacts of their professions to the fullest. In Alterra, they could spend the rest of their lives contributing to humanity and, with their old age, that was a formula for a life well lived. Chapter 732 Prelude to the Attacks A/N: Our precious comrade Leezertje has volunteered to make a spoiler-free character list! XDDD THANK YOUU! ... _____________ The meeting continued and various more concerns were raised. One of which was regarding the large number of people above the level cap that Guia had. "We cannot do much against the enemies camping outside other than to defend against them," Garan said. "We have to make sure they cannot damage us." S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Guia had a lot of people beyond the level cap and a lot of them would likely just be waiting outside to kite them, thinning their numbers little by little. They couldn''t send scouts out because the chances of them getting caught and killed were too high. They could check out the surroundings with the observatory scope, but the forests were dense so they had limited view due to the foliage. If the number of people was high, they''d be able to detect them, but if it was only in groups of dozens, then unless they hang around in clearings for a period of time, then it''d be difficult for the watchers in the observatory to notice them. "Everyone will stay within the walls, training either in the barracks or the training hall. We will temporarily open the barracks to the public¡ªat least those with a certain minimum amount of contributions; this will allow more people to train in close proximity to the guards." Although there were fighting arenas, the growth there was limited to the number of fights. Not to mention, one''s techniques could be pulled out to display unnecessarily. What if the enemies were watching the show? Other than this, they also had to make sure everyone had decent rest before the beginning of war. They also cannot do excessive activities and training before this time. "The guards must be in top condition during the war," Garan said. They actually formulated a regimen for the guards in the event of wars. That was, during the 14 hours prior to it. In that regimen, the guards would be given specific body strengthening exercises, and they would not undergo harsh fights and spars. They would be given very good energizing food, vitamins, minerals, and decent rest¡ªensuring their top shape during the fights that could take their lives. "We want as many people to survive as possible," Garan said, before turning to the medicine team. He turned to Sheila, who was manning Althea''s pharmacy factory. "We''re counting on you to up the production," he said, "But prioritize hiring those unable to fight or contribute more. Of course, the skill you require will still be considered." "Yes, Elder Garan." Gru was also to ensure that the raw materials for their food were unhindered. For this, they had to use the majority of their fertilizer stock and Althea''s team also made improved versions to add to the most important crops. Other than medicines and food, the territory would also be buying resources like wood and stone for higher prices so Alterra could stock up on them. They cleared up an open area near the warehouse for the overflowing resources. "The weapons and other equipment have also been stocked," Brenda reported. The custom weapons factory now had enough stock to equip the fighters a few times over. The weapons and armory stores from the system were also maximized, with dedicated people buying everything for stock. This way, it would continue producing as long as there were resources in the warehouse for it to consume automatically. Blacksmiths were also in full gear and prepared to continue producing endlessly (in shifts) even at the height of war. Other than these, they also had other weapons. Althea turned, looking at Eugene. "Eugene, get those ready," She said, and Eugene nodded. Looking closer, his eyes were sparkling. A team was assigned to Eugene, but most were still building weapons after weapons for the citizens to use. While they still had some ways to go before creating proper guns that wouldn''t explode to their faces, they had alternatives that were guaranteed to still cause damage to the enemies. Anyway, everyone except the visitors was given roles in the war. They had to invest in making everyone do oaths, but it''d be worth it in the long term. Every industry would also be running steadily during the war, even industries like clothing. Speaking of, a number of people had already awakened the profession during this time, including a few cloth makers, so it could be said that production was quite high. Other than the fact that they didn''t have to worry about fighting naked, this meant that they could get light equipment that added defense. The most popular product was Underwear because it was not visible and could serve as the final line of defense. As for the peace and order within the walls during the war, a guard team was assigned to Mathilda to keep the peace. There would be a special focus on sensitive areas like territory shops that''ll remain open during wars. The warehouses, the factories, the farms, and the water sources were also well-protected. Although there was a regulation from the get-go that anyone who caused chaos in the war would be punished, this would mean nothing if the person was an enemy in the first place. There could also be more turncoats so they didn''t completely depend on the ability of the rule. After everything was discussed, silence reigned in the room, with everyone feeling tense. The battle with Fargo had seen quite a few deaths, this one could very well had been higher. But they would definitely do their best to safeguard their people as much as they could. It was no use to be paralyzed with worry. The meeting adjourned and everyone went to do what they did best at this time, making sure to maximize the 14 hours. Althea locked herself up in the bomb laboratory again. She was making potion after potion, bomb after bomb. Of course, most of the bombs she made were smoke and paralysis bombs. As much as possible, she wanted fewer lives taken. Guia had a lot of slaves, and they would definitely be helpless cannon fodders in all of this. After long hours of work, she was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. She sighed, reluctantly opening the door to see it was Harold, carrying her little ones sobbing their hearts out. Althea ran to them as they cried pitifully, their large round eyes glistening in tears and their chubby cheeks red in emotion. "It''s time for you to rest, Althea," he said, raising a baby on each arm. "The babies wouldn''t stop crying." This made her heart flinch and she leaned down to give them small pecks. Her hand was dirty though so she couldn''t hold them. "Aww¡­ my babies," she mumbled, giving a few more smooches. "I''m sorry, I''ll finish this in a couple of minutes, okay?" The babies calmed down a bit and Harold took them outside after they really settled down, allowing Althea some space to resume her work. She hurried up and decided to end this session after one last bomb. While she was busy on one of the tables, she was distracted by a noise on another. She thought she just left something out of balance and it slipped, but then she heard a giggle. Her heart dropped and she lunged to the table, taking a dangerous ball from her baby''s hand. It was only a smoke bomb, but it still released some force that would be dangerous for such a small little thing! "PEPPER! Don''t play with that!" she yelled, placing it in her space. "Mnggmawamaaa," she mumbled, raising her hand to her mother who hugged her to calm her own heart. It was still beating loudly, and the baby buried herself in her arms. A moment later, the door suddenly opened, revealing Harold who was obviously half-panicked trying to look for the baby girl. "There you are! Gracious Gugu Bird!" he yelled, heaving a deep breath as he walked over. "Hmnnnmanmm¡­" the little girl mumbled, rubbing herself against her soft mother. Althea''s heart softened and decided to postpone everything, walking out of the room after cleaning up the work desk. Harold followed, still a bit shaky from the previous nervousness. When the baby lifted her head a bit to turn to him, only then did Harold heave a breath of relief. He gently booped the baby''s nose. "Naughty baby," he said with a smile, only to scream a moment later when he saw Meatball floating like a helium balloon, just stopped by the ceiling. "OH MY BROAT! MEATBALL!" He yelled, running under the baby boy and jumping up. He heaved a deep breath as he dragged a chair to get to him. The little bun had the audacity to laugh at him as if he was the stupidest thing. "..." Harold could already imagine the headache this one would cause when he started walking¡­ He just saw more white hairs and wrinkles on the horizon. Althea was still reeling at what could''ve happened to her daughter. She sighed and looked at her daughter, who was comfortably snuggling in her arms, completely unaware of the danger she just put herself in. Then there was also her son, who could float to the skies if they took away their sight for a couple of moments. He also seemed to be happy to cause them headaches. "Such naughty children," she mumbled with furrowed eyebrows, a little confused. "I wonder who you take after?" Chapter 733 The Array is Here! Guia Village "The time for war has arrived!" Benjo yelled, yelling at the people who stood outside their walls. He believed they were the strongest village there was. With their requirement to be guards was at least level 10, and there was more than a thousand of them. He looked at the guards and fighters participating in the territory, the mercenaries, and other participating citizens believing that like every other war, they would destroy this one. Other than the slaves, a lot of the people here came voluntarily. In their minds, this was another fun money-making activity. In fact, when they received the territory announcement, they cheered. Because wars meant loot, gold, and slaves! They waited for the array to appear, already excited for their wins and the sufferings they would cause. ¡­ Alterra Village. At this time, several aborigine guests and a few citizens were surrounded by guards. First was Ramona, who had been eagerly waiting for the result of the war. To her surprise, a female guard approached, asking her to come with her. "We''ll need you somewhere first, Ms. Ramona," the female guard, Cassie, said. The guard held Ramona, gesturing to tie her up with their handcuffs. "What?! No, let go of me!" she yelled, "You can''t do this! This isn''t legal!" "We''re just putting you under investigation," she said, "If you continue shouting I will yell the allegations back to you." She shut her mouth, guilty, but then when she realized her gaffe, she continued to reject. She was no match for the other woman, who was already level 10 herself. Similarly, some other guests Baltimore left behind (that they knew of) were also being apprehended. "What?! I''m a guest! How dare you!" The man yelled. "What are your grounds for taking us away? We are guests! Do you want to be marked as an enemy of my territory?" another said. "You have been caught causing chaos," the guard said with a deadpan expression on his face. Unlike Treck, they were much more subtle in their discussions. Sometimes with each other in bars, but loud enough for many of the people to hear. Too bad for them, not only were Alterrans generally loyal, but there was also the reporting system that gave Contribution Points. The number of reports directed at them in the past few days¡­ was staggering, to say the least. They even got a few people stalking the elders, no doubt planning some evil shit. More and more people got apprehended and those at the back realized there was no going back this time. However, they weren''t about to go down without a fight! The anti-fighting rules by default only applied when a certain amount of damage had been created. They were planning on hitting a few people first and then getting kicked out of the territory¡ªthis was what they always did for territories that actually had rules. The men looked at each other, sneered, and then lunged toward random passersby who looked like they could die (or at least very very seriously injured) from an attack. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. To their surprise though, they hadn''t even hit the victims when their sights lit up and they found themselves surrounded by dense walls and metal. "WHAT¡ª" "What? Where am I?" He looked around and saw a familiar place, with some differences, but they knew a prison when they saw one. It was just that, before, they were usually the ones sneering on the other side. When did they have a formal prison? Wasn''t it just a manual-constructed one before? Did they still have excess building slots?! "LET US GO!" "Oi!" They continued to yell and bang against the cell walls, though all they heard were their companions doing the same elsewhere. This was when they realized: They were transferred here even with just the attempt to hurt people. They were also led to specific holding cells! Orcshit. How rich was this territory to have so many specific rules? What else didn''t they know?! They continued punching and kicking the cell walls, though nothing happened. "TSK." "This should only be a level 1 prison right?" A level one prison could only safely contain a level 20, it would have discounted effects and even allow for the possibility of escape if stronger prisoners were contained. It so happened that a few people here were beyond the level cap, and someone was even at Level 20. Anyone this level from the Lord''s party would''ve been apprehended early, but they snuck in with merchants from a town so their levels were nothing too eye-catching. What they didn''t know was that Garan and Althea adjusted the Prison according to the threats they''d face. It might only be a level 1 Prison, but¡­ Suddenly, the noisy ones were sprayed with some water. It startled them and they coughed when some of the water crept up their noses. "What¡ª" They didn''t even have the time to absorb what was happening when they felt strong shocks that shook them to the core. "GYAAAA!" "What the heckkk!" "AHHHH! MAKE IT STOP! AHHHH!" It felt like they burned from the inside. The shock and pain continued until they could no longer utter anything. The others held the gates of their cells, wanting to know what made their strong companions scream like slaughtered Gugu birds. "Oi! What did you do to them?!" "OI! TELL US!" At this, a handsome man who was holding some red thread walked forward, looking down at them. "Shut up. Do you want to experience the same? That was only a few seconds. Imagine if we decide to use it more." He looked threatening and domineering. If any of his admirers were there, they''d squeal. Anyway, the water was there to make it more painful, but it only had to be used because the prisoners were strong. The other ones were not even level 15. His electricity with the wires would be enough for them. Those who were electrocuted were half dazed from the pain, the stronger ones were still able to move and had the mind to see what surrounded them. They looked down and saw meshes of reddish metal on the floor. Leading to the outside. Drake was there, electrocuting them as needed. Better was that the metal was copper, one of the best conductors of electricity. The water also had salt dissolved in it, making it more conductive to electricity. The prisoners didn''t know any of this at this time. All they knew was that it sure hurt like heck!! Chapter 734 Start of the War "GYAHHHHH!!!!" they yelled as they felt intense pain spread all over their bodies. Their bodies twitched and their mouths frothed a bit with saliva. When it stopped, they felt dizzy, forcing themselves to glare at the guards outside their cell. "Bastard!!" Stronger ones forced themselves up, kicking and punching at the metal. However, a System Prison weakened whoever was in the cells and it disallowed the use of skills and abilities, so how could they succeed? There were also those who tried destroying the reddish mesh that surrounded them, but they were very ductile and the weakened prisoners could only do so much. However, for good measure, Drake and the other guards decided to punish them for misbehaving. A mesh fell down on the particularly ''rebellious'' ones, so now they were completely surrounded by the cold, ominous, metal. They were even splashed with a bit of water again. Without further ado, Drake used his ability again, sending a strong voltage, the subsequent pain embedding into everyone''s memories. "ARGGHH!" "STOP IT!" "You bastard¡ªwait til I get out of h¡ª AHHHH!" They peed and shit themselves due to the pain, humiliating themselves even more. It looked a bit pitiful, but any Alterran who knew what they were here for would spit at them. The other ones who had wanted to fight froze and kept quiet. They could only grit their teeth as they glared, but they were too afraid of pain to do anything else. They tried to be subtle in their rebellion. But because the prison forbade them from using any skill, and considering how they were weakened by just being in the Prison, it was difficult to just destroy the flexible copper mesh that ominously wrapped around them. It would just stretch and be drawn out instead. The meshes were well-made, made to maximize the natural ductility of copper. The laboratory was also experimenting with creating an alloy or combining it with other discovered metals to make it even better, but that was a story for later. Eventually, the prisoners learned to behave, and they could only lie down in their own sweat and pee. It was disgusting and horrible and it made their bodies hot with anger, but they had no choice but to keep it in. They never had to keep their anger before! They were used to beating people up to vent! But they maintained their sanity just by the thought that the situation would be reversing soon. ''Just you bastards wait!'' they would whisper amongst themselves. ''I will make you suffer a hundred times more than I did!'' Soon, it was quiet, with the prisoners waiting in anticipation of the screams. Maybe their companions would come and rescue them soon! Their eyes went red in bloodlust just thinking of it. However, the minutes passed and they heard nothing. It was too quiet. Another flaw of a low-level prison was that it didn''t have much insulation. So people outside would be able heard the screams from the inside. If there was chaos outside, they should also hear it. This was one of the many reasons why the Alterran prison was built mostly underground. They had to dig up a large area at the side of the mountain before overlaying the prison building there. After so long, they knew how the building worked and it would be building directly at the natural ground line of that spot. Similarly, if they would expand the prison someday, they would have to dig more before it could actually do so. Of course, that''d be a problem in the future. Either way though, even if the prison was smack in the middle of town, they still wouldn''t hear the noise they were expecting to hear. "Aren''t they still attacking?" one asked with gritted teeth. It was time for the attack! So¡­ why was everything so silent? ¡­ Outskirts of Alterra Baltimore frowned. He and the other people beyond the level cap had been waiting just outside the sentries'' reach. They were prepared for whoever came out, eager to take down people as they weren''t able to do anything before. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "They''re really cowards, calling back people before we can do anything to them. COWARDS!" "Where are the others?" "They should be attacking by now?" Baltimore looked around. "Go look for the array as well," he said, and Seto nodded. He went to the other side though, as they already sent people to find the array even before. He walked around the perimeter, until a kilometer away from the gate. The Teleportation Array of the attacking territory was always in front of one of its gates. In contrast, the Array at the destination area would vary and was completely randomized. Now, he was tasked to find it and assist the group to go through the walls. Usually, it was shielding them from the sentries, which was going to be difficult because this place had level 5 sentries densely packed together. He didn''t worry too much though, because they had a lot of meat shields for that. Eventually, he heard screams and a few ground vibrations, making him smirk. "Finally!" he yelled, sprinting towards the commotion to join in the fun. Besides, they were outside the walls now. This meant that he could join the torture. However, before he could do so, he had to avoid a few monsters. He killed them effortlessly due to their low level, but he realized the quantity wasn''t few. "A monster mob?" he mumbled but just killed the monsters anyway, not thinking much about it. He simply followed the sound of the fighting, realizing the density of monsters was increasing. He frowned, having a bad foreboding feeling about the situation. Sure enough, as he arrived near the array, he saw their people coming out were mobbed by monsters as they appeared. And, because they were level 15 at most, the mob of monsters naturally caused them a bit of trouble, directly taking a few as soon as they exited the array! Seto paled, barely avoiding a few teeth heading in his direction. One managed to nick him, but he didn''t have time to be angry¡ªjust confused. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?! Chapter 735 Guia-Alterra War (Part 1) Chris smiled, panting breathlessly but his chin was held up with pride as he watched the result of his suffering. How long did he have to run with those damned monsters running after him?! It was very hard to collect a mob, and it wasn''t easy to read the aether letters reporting to him where the array was at the same time either! Those damned letters were huge! He almost let it fly away due to his speed too many times. There were also times when the inertia would make it flop straight at his face! He almost tripped and fell, getting his leg bit. He thought he was gonna die of exhaustion! He ran a long time to collect so many, not to mention that Beast Attracting potion was disgusting! But when he saw the plan was a success and the mobs had indeed found the array, he almost kissed his speed boots in glee! Done! He yelled, going back to the section of the wall as agreed on. He didn''t forget to get rid of the coat filled with piss, er, magic beast attracting potion, and threw it straight to the array. He was guided by Luis back up the battlement, and he was congratulated by the guards (and citizens) for a job well done. "Good job!" They said, laughing. Someone even gave him juice and some snacks. Someone also massaged his back. Somewhere next to them, people were fighting for the limited number of scopes. "Let me see, let me seee!" They wanted to see what was happening to the array, and those who got a hold of a scope focused in its direction. Back in the array, it was a bloody and chaotic mess. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The newcomers were expecting to be greeted by forests, not monster mobs! They came out to hear the sound of monsters growling and eating, as well as flesh and bones being torn and chewed. "GYAA! HELP MEE!" "Ahhhh!" A lot of people tried to get back to the array, but the thing was it could only work one way for that moment. Because it was still being used by the other side, they couldn''t escape this predicament at all! More and more beasts came, attracted by the noise, meat, and blood, and soon the newcomers drowned either in the stampede their fellowmen made or were attacked by one or two monsters. From the safety of the defending battlements, the Alterrans watched as the enemies arrived through the array, only to be met with mobs of monsters. Even if the mobs weren''t super strong, their quantity was not to be trifled with. The surprise alone was enough to imbalance most, and some were even eaten by monsters at least 5 levels weaker because of it. Luis, who was watching the show with his own scope, whistled. "Wow, you really got a lot." "Sammy doused me with several bottles of the upgraded Beast Attraction Potion," Chris said, bitterly glaring at the dark-skinned man who had the audacity to smile at him. He even made a thumbs-up. "Well, safe to say it worked better than expected." "You!" "I''m sure the captain will award you with lots of contribution points." All Elders were given a certain amount of contribution points they could distribute in a month as bonus, and this was something everyone would love to receive. Chris was reminded of this and shut up. Okay, fine. Anyway, their attention went back to the array and the suffering caused by their first move. Of course, the mob was not big enough to truly deal with a group of thousands levelled 10s to 15s, but they did still take down and injure a lot of them. Further, the momentum was damaged and that was good enough. It wasn''t that Althea had finally cracked the formula of determining where the array would appear. However, their new observatory building played a major part in easily detecting where the array was. Although the forests were dense and the tree canopies were wide, how could they miss the disturbance made by hundreds, if not thousands, of people? Soon they got a clearer visual estimate and determined that the enemy sent a few thousand guards, fighters, and meatshields. It was indeed a lot, and a few times the total amount of guards Alterra had. Fortunately, the mob (and the stampede) seriously injured or killed about a few hundred, which was really a good start. The only misfortune was that almost all these injuries were done to slaves. Through the scopes, they even saw a couple of little green creatures¡ªgoblins. Not only was it sad for the slaves, but there was also the fact that slaves weren''t counted as entities. Even killing all the slaves, which had about the same number as the other enemy fighters, wouldn''t make them win the war. They watched the enemies deal with the small mobs, with the stronger ones (Seto also arrived) eventually clearing it up. Although the mobs were killed, so many corpses of their own forces mixed with the beasts. The sight alone was enraging. The Guians heaved deep breaths and gathered themselves, before mightily (in theory) heading to the wall. They stopped right outside the 100 meter scope of the sentries. It was level 5 but fortunately for the enemies, their reach didn''t increase, only the damage. They could now see the people in the battlement and they had a feeling they were laughing at their misery, and imagining that made them boil in rage. They looked closer and they realized they weren''t wrong¡ªthe Alterrans really were laughing at them! "YOU BASTARDS!" They yelled, bloodied from their own injuries as well as blood from monsters and companions. "WAIT TIL'' WE GET IN THERE!" "But you won''t!" Luis yelled with their manual sound amplifier, and well from the safety of the battlements. "Just stay there and behave until the war is over and you''ll get to keep your lives!" "DREAM!!" "And are you just sending slaves? Where are the others? So weak! "How could you have the gall to attack our territory with just slaves? Are you idiots??" This naturally made the angry enemies even more livid. "YOUUU!!" Seto glared at them, losing much of his composure. How dare these weaklings mock them like this!! "DAMNIT ALL!" Chapter 736 Guia-Alterra War (Part 2) While Luis was busy taunting the enemies, the others were doing the next step of the plan. They waited until more of the main force appeared. That was to say, fewer slaves and more bastardly guards to kill. It was easy to determine because, after all, the slaves really looked pitiful. They also noticed that there were no more goblins amongst the slaves this time. They knew Guia had a lot of goblins, but it seemed like they didn''t put them into wars too much. This was correct. Unlike humans, Goblins weren''t cheap slaves and were better left in the mines to maximize their uses. The few who were sent in the first back were there to dig tunnels to escape sentry shots. As for where these goblins were, some perished in the stampede and the subsequent beast mob, while some managed to dig and hide there until one of the masters would take notice of them and ordered them to resurface. The Alterrans didn''t know this for now and they just focused on preparing to finally make a dent on the main force. "They''re precisely 150 meters away," Loki said, looking at his scope, and making rough calculations for the Bombards placed right behind the wall. The Bombard. One of the latest products of the research center and the weapons factory. When the guards saw it, they almost had orgasms. When they heard handguns were still a thing of the future due to various technological constraints, they didn''t have much hope for cannons. But look at this, now! The Bombard was among the earliest forms of cannons made by humans. It was a massive siege weapon (several people had to push it) made from wrought iron brought together by iron hoops. The ammunition was large stone balls that may or may not have explosives inside. Sammy nodded. "Already within reach," he said. The historical bombard could reach 400 to 700 meters, though these initial products could only safely reach 300 because their sulfur was limited, making their bombs not as strong as they could be. Further, considering they had to be placed some interior distance from the walls to avoid the battlement guards (and the walls, of course) from being hit, the safe range was only about 200 meters outside the walls. "The question is accuracy though." Loki looked at the mass of people in an area and shrugged, "It''s bound to hit someone." S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fortunately for them, Loki was an excellent marksman¡ªwho also had the power of wind by the way¡ªand he instructed the bombards, able to maximize them more than others. With that deadpan voice of his, he set the three bombards up as accurately as possible. "Okay, freeze. Aim some 4 degrees counterclockwise¡­ yes¡­ no, don''t target me, asshole. "Raise it up 2 degrees. A bit less. THERE." Loki nodded and looked at Sammy, who then ordered to fire. Sammy felt the wind, and although the rock was heavy, but considering its trajectory a bit of wind still had the chance of changing trajectory a bit. Calculating air resistance¡­ er... Nevermind, he wasn''t good at math nor is his ability enough to affect such a large area, so he''d just have to trust Loki on this. "Wait, let me add something," Luis said, waving around a small ball. A bomb. The artillery for the bombard could be explosive or not. Unfortunately, they did not make enough to have too many explosive ones. For instance, only one of the three bombards had explosive shells and the only one designed for it. To maximize the effect on the enemy''s momentum, they naturally wanted to use explosive shells from the get-go. With this, they could attach a bomb to a non-explosive shell and add a bit more damage to it. The explosion wasn''t as strong as the cannon, of course, but it should do its job. The hand bombs were also pretty rare, so Luis was looked at with envy. "Why do you have that? I WANT ONE." The young man grinned. "The bombs we got needed fire for it to trigger, so we fire users got some instead of others." "No fair!" A few others mumbled, but they also knew they didn''t have much say to this. They could, however, watch it explode! They all watched in anticipation as the three bombards were fired. Of course, some younger guards couldn''t help but wonder: "Since we have bombs and cannons, why don''t we have guns?" "It''s being developed, spearheaded by Jake and Brandon," an older guard said. "However, the iron from the bog isn''t good enough to handle the power. It also needs a lot of precision so it''s taking a while." There were also a lot of metallurgical requirements they didn''t understand, but they trusted the Research Center would figure it out eventually. "They also need a lot more sulfur for more¡­ UMPH, y''know?" Anyway, the guards watched the shells fly over the wall and hit right in the middle of the crowd. BOOM! ¡­ Inside the Inn BOOM! Several people hunched by the window flinched at the sound, looking at each other with wide eyes. "That must be them!" "Finally!" "Took long enough! I was getting nervous!" These were Guia Villagers in Alterra who had managed to escape detection. They had smuggled themselves as interested merchants from random territories along with the others. They also separated into a few groups, just in case. They got really lucky with that. There was a huge variety of territories that came¡ªwhich was unheard of for a village¡ªso the few groups blended in well, unlike their other companions. When they found out many of their companions and spies had been captured, the rest of them immediately hid and acted low-key until the war began. They waited in tension for quite some time but hadn''t heard much chaos, which was puzzling, and they heaved a sigh of relief when they heard a massive boom, thinking it was their team destroying the gate or something. Their role now was to further the chaos inside and they went out to see, smirks wide with malice and anticipation. They went out of their floor balcony to check the state of the streets, only to see¡­ peace and quiet. It wasn''t that there were no people around. On the contrary, there were still a lot, though they were walking with purpose, prepared for the war. This was not just the guards, but also civilians. "What''s going on, don''t they know the regulations are null?" one asked. They were certain a lot of people knew of this. "Yes, I''m pretty sure everyone knows before most of our people got captured." They all looked at each other with furrowed eyebrows. Why was it so peaceful? Chapter 737 Assasination Attempts A/N: The lovely Leezertje sent fanarts! heheheh. She drew some of the earlier monsters that showed in the story! Check em out in my facebook or discord page~! .... ____ One of the underlings looked at their leader in worry. "So¡­ what do we do now?" he asked. In their previous missions, it wasn''t so risky because everyone was panicking. The people themselves were causing chaos, they were just there to harvest the frantic prey. This¡­ was something they had never encountered before. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The leader didn''t answer immediately, only signaling for the others to calm down and stay low-key. This team was led by a man named Heso, a level 15 guard of Guia Village. He had the occupation of a spearman, so he was promoted to the Captain of his own team. His team was one of three who snuck inside during the surge of tourists. So far, the other two teams had mostly been caught, leaving them alone in this mission. There were only about a dozen of them left uncaptured. While they were far stronger than the average, they didn''t want to be mobbed and killed by numbers. At this time, it seemed a lot of the civilians were indoors, but most seemed to be doing their jobs as usual. Those walking around outside were a few guards, fighters, and officers. How much internal damage could be done with this? If they made any suspicious moves, how easily would they be found and mobbed? Even if they didn''t die, they''d be injured, and they were not willing to bleed for this war. They sat down on the balcony floor, inconspicuously watching the events on the ground level. "What''s taking them so long?" Another asked with furrowed eyebrows. After the first few booms, there was nothing else. "Maybe they''re being careful with the sentries¡­" "The cannon fodders are there to distract the sentries while they get past right?" "Maybe they''re looking for ways to minimize the losses. They''re meatshields, but they''re more useful inside," Heso said, making his own assumptions with gritted teeth. Damned territory and their dense sentries¡­ This was the problem with a level 5 sentry. If by some chance a territory was rich enough to maximize them, it meant they were placed densely and the loopholes were minimal. This territory¡­ was just troublesome all over. And it had too much money. But on the optimistic side, taking over this place was as good as taking a town! In any case, as much as they didn''t want to put themselves in danger, they couldn''t do nothing either. After all, in the small chance that they''d lose, there was a chance they''d become slaves! So they had to find a way to help out, as long as it wouldn''t put their own butts at risk. "There''s still about a dozen of us under the level cap. We can do damage," Heso said, narrowing his eyes at the streets below. "We just need to figure out how to make the most of it." "What about kidnapping them one by one and killing them, one by one?" One suggested, making a lot of people nod. This way, they were not only stronger but they would mob smaller and therefore weaker groups. "There are still a number of guards around." "Not that many anymore," another said, formulating a rough plan as they hid behind in the inn. They waited around to study the patterns, but the soldiers were always in groups of 5s. Although there were many of them, most were still within the level cap, they weren''t confident of taking care of groups without making any sort of commotion. It was more likely they''d be found and mobbed. The group ended up getting stuck and, as time passed without chaos ensuing, they felt more and more anxious. However, luck seemed to be on their side as an elder herself went on rounds! "There, that''s Mathilda," Heso said, eyes finally finding hope. "She''s the leading candidate for lordship here." At first, they didn''t really understand the woman''s functions. But during wars, she calmed everyone down, and ensured everything was organized even with the rules null. This baffled the visitors to no end, and unsurprisingly so. This behavior wasn''t something easily adaptable to aborigines who had grown with the rules of power in this world. In contrast, most Terrans had lived as law-abiding citizens without such an omnipresent system. In their minds, killing Mathilda now was guaranteed to cause the chaos they wanted. At the very least, if they were to take down an elder, it would definitely affect the enemy''s momentum by a lot. "She has several guards around her," another said, looking worried. "I''m afraid we wouldn''t be able to get close fast enough before she escaped." "I can shoot her," their archer said. Heso thought for a moment and nodded, and the archer went to position in a hurry, afraid to lose his good vantage point. The man stood up by the edge of the balcony, raising his weapon, targeting the woman''s neck. Swish! Instead of shooting an arrow though, Heso and the others watched with wide eyes as their man fell down with a massive arrow on his chest. "What!!" "Where did it come from?!" Immediately, everyone hid back to the rooms, peering out carefully to see what happened to the corpse. Heso gasped when he recognized the arrow. "It''s a sentry arrow!" "What??" It was still unclear how sentries could so accurately determine who the enemies were, but when done correctly, its potential was much higher than people thought. "WHAT THE HECK!?" "WHERE DID IT COME FROM?!" They peered and saw nothing much at first, until they noticed one of those beautiful towers in parks. It was very beautiful and felt like a large ornate tree made of stone. It was apparently much more than it appeared! "That was a sentry?!" They looked around to see a few more similar towers they could see from their position, and they were certain there were a lot more! "Orcshit!!" Not only did they have dense sentries outside, the interiors also had plenty of them! What the heck is with this territory?! Chapter 738 Confusions ... ____ At this time, the enemy''s leading team was waiting not too far away. "There''s no news yet, milord," Piko said to his master, though internally he was already a little shaken. It had already been more than an hour, but no progress had been made. This had never happened before. They had a multilayer plan for this territory, which was already a lot more than what they usually prepared. After all, they had seen a good part of its strength and they didn''t underestimate it. At least, that was what they thought. For the first part of the plan, there was Treck''s team who would cause some disturbance. First was to cause chaos while¡ªin Alterra''s case¡ªalso determining who the lord was. In the midst chaos, the lord would be the most guarded. Even if he tried to hide himself, his fear for his own life would make his identity obvious in the end. After all, why else would the Lord hide his identity so tightly? Wasn''t it just to protect himself? They would also attempt to entice the power-hungry people by telling them of the Lord Token''s detachment from the lord''s body during the war. This was a taboo, actually, but Guia never cared for that¡ªas long as they could usurp the lord even before the war began, then they''d consider it a win. Historically, this often succeeded with varying effects, depending on how much power the other parties had. This place had so many Elders and the power was distributed so much. They had believed that it could succeed. They had sent papyrus letters to all the elders except the person who was likely the lord¡ªMathilda. In the letters were information about the token''s detachment, and the fact that whoever held it by the end of the war would become the new lord. They did so right after the war announcement, but there had been no movement at all! Was it just because they didn''t know who the lord was? Normally, people could just kill every other elder during the war right? They also planted seeds of chaos by announcing the rules were null during wars, seeing as most of the citizens hadn''t known at the time. The people were worried for the territory but they were certain a few people had seriously thought of taking advantage. But obviously, now that the war was ongoing, no one seemed to have taken the bait¡ªor at least no one succeeded in causing any effect¡ªand Treck got imprisoned so early for naught. Speaking of Treck, the rules and regulations of the place were much more stringent than he had anticipated. Even attempts for hostile violence were to be sent to prison, and Baltimore had no choice but to tell the others to lay low. Although their overall level was higher, the gap was narrowed because of the level limitations, and he couldn''t lose the insiders even before the war happened. Not to mention, there was an extremely high amount of elementalists there for some reason. Speaking of that, when they took over¡ªor at least win¡ªthey would get hundreds of elementalists as slaves. When he did so, he swore to get to the bottom of it. Maybe those experts and intellectuals back in the master city would be interested in these¡­ subjects. "The last time we received the report, the people were too peaceful and they had to be low-key in taking down important people," Piko told Baltimore, a little shaken. "There is no update as of yet, I can''t tell what the reason is for now." They didn''t know this yet, but the reason no update had been made was because the aether letter on Heso''s team was dropped in the balcony, near the archer''s side. Now, they were too afraid to go out lest there were other rules they weren''t aware of, that would get them hit by the damned sentries. So, the small team inside the territory was at a standstill, completely useless for a while until they confirmed it was safe to go out. Baltimore narrowed his eyes, disliking how nothing was on-schedule. However, he thought of how much resources and money they''d be able to win in this war and¡ªwhile his thoughts weren''t obvious on his face¡ªhe was fuelled by excitement and bloodlust again. "Has Seto returned?" Piko shook his head. "I followed his tracks a bit and heard an explosion in the direction he went to. I assume the war had begun there." Baltimore''s eyes sharpened at this. "Did we have explosives?" Ero''s eyebrows met and he shook his head. "We used them up during the last war. Those buggers are expensive." "Then what exploded?" There was silence amongst their team for a while and when no logical answer came, they immediately traversed the periphery of the territory, running in the direction of the sound. They eventually reached the location and they were shocked by what they found. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Not only were their numbers down by a good fraction, but¡ªexcept for those very confused people who had just gone through the array¡ªeveryone had some injury! "What''s going on?!" Baltimore yelled, no longer able to keep his cool. Ero pulled one up, and saw the person''s ears were bleeding. "HEY! SPEAK!" The man only stared at them, disoriented. He obviously damaged his ears a bit and could only hear ringing. Unfortunately for him, Ero didn''t care and just shook him. When he couldn''t be of any use in the end, Ero threw him away and picked another random person, though he was similarly disoriented. "DAMNIT!" he yelled, but was stopped by the Lord''s deep voice. "Stop it," he said, though anyone who had been with him long enough would be able to tell he was livid. Baltimore took a deep breath, his sharp eyes analyzing the chaos around. So much loss in just an hour, and they weren''t even close to the sentries'' scope yet! He turned his head in the direction of the enemy territory, eyes red with anger and humiliation. How long has it been since he felt so humiliated?! How dare they!! ''Alterra¡­!'' he mused with gritted teeth. ''I will take you down!'' Chapter 739 A Few More Booms Eventually, his eyes saw one of his cronies lying on the floor, groaning. Seeing as he wasn''t dead, he looked at Piko, who immediately ran and guided Seto up. He wasn''t injured, but he was filled with dust. "What happened?" He asked and Seto shook his head, forcing some lucidity. "And why are there fewer slaves than I sent?" By estimate, even if they received this damage, it should''ve been mostly slaves. He saw a lot of his guards amongst the injured! Seto took a deep breath before he answered. "A lot of them were eaten by mobs, milord." "What?" "A beast mob was waiting right outside the array. Our people did not expect it, so even if the mob wasn''t particularly strong, they caused sizable damage to our forces." "We haven''t even gotten near the sentry scope!" Ero yelled, while Baltimore was quiet, deep in thought. Around him, people had tried to regain their bearings with the leading team trying to analyze what to do next. Guia Village had thousands of population and due to the nature of its industry, most of these people were guards and their families. Slaves weren''t counted as residents, but he also had thousands of them. He had already mobilized a big part of his forces to deal with Alterra, thinking it was better to be safe than sorry, but what was this? "These aren''t monster injuries!" Ero said, looking around. There were many injuries that were characterized by burns. Lower leveled individuals were burned to crisps. The explosives? Alterra really had explosives! Why would another village have one? Did they have the backing of a city?! This made sense! How else could a village be as good as a town!? But, during their investigations, there was nothing of the sort came out. They had only heard some hired individuals coming from the cities, but that was it! Did they still underestimate their connection with the cities? Which was it?! He wasn''t able to analyze further because people around him started screaming again. At this, they paled as they looked at the sky. "Flying rocks! More flying rocks!" they cried, struggling to stand up and run. "They''re here again! AHHH!" "There! Another one!" "Two!!" "Gyahhh!" Baltimore and the other strongmen moved by instinct, far from the landing spot. In their shock, they could only watch as the flying rocks landed on their people. Some exploded, while some did not. BANG! BOOM! BANG! They watched as dozens more of their people were hit, the weaker ones died under the explosion and a few were injured by the non-explosive rocks. He noticed that the explosive ones were made of black rock, while most of the others were just earth. A few more flew towards them and Baltimore immediately gathered himself, using a lot of his strength to create a boulder to meet the rock, catching it and softening its fall. He had to do this because the rocks came with such force that it wasn''t possible for him to use his ability to catch it directly. Fortunately, there were really no more explosives, just rocks. BANG! The people watched as their lord took care of the damned things, feeling that things were finally gonna get put in place! "The lord is mighty!" "Amazing!" Several more words of praise flew around, though it stopped abruptly as another one screamed. "More!" Baltimore quickly gathered his strength to push the large rocks aside. He did this a few times and he frowned because it was consuming too much mana too early in the game. Finally, there was one last rock and Baltimore did the same. Because the space around had been occupied by people (with some more coming in from the array) as well as the rocks he had already taken down, the last one landed right next to them. It settled down nicely and a few people started to relax, but the strongmen''s instincts suddenly flared and they sprinted several meters away before¡ª BOOM!! Another explosive!! Why? Was it hidden inside the rock?! Their ears were ringing and they realized that a few had bleeding ears. Baltimore looked around. The rest was fine, but they were imbalanced. In battle, this could mean life or death. "Get up!" He yelled, "Another one!" This time it was of black iron and he was sure it was an explosive! He could not control metal and his earth would not be able to hinder it at all! He could only run, leaving his people behind. BOOM! After this explosion, everyone ran back out and separated, terrified of where the next one would land. They didn''t know there was no more, however. So Sammy added a little something in the last shot. Baltimore and the others walked back, hopefully far enough from the reach of their weapon. However, before they could take too many steps, the ground shook again, and realized all the noise attracted a mob! DAMNIT! Baltimore took care of those that attacked him easily, but a few Guians who were still weak from the explosion got eaten. Even those already level 14 or 15 were eaten by level 5 monsters! S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. TRASH!!! He looked at some of the less injured men. His teeth gritted a bit as he bellowed his order. "You. Go back to the array and call everyone within the level cap. Get them ALL here!!" he yelled. "And get more slaves!" "Y-Yes, milord!" he exclaimed. At first, he was shocked, but seeing as how they were being crushed¡ª "Are you just going to stand there?" "N-No milord!" he yelled, running back to the Array with a few others, spreading out the territory to gather as many people as they could. Soon, a few hundred people arrived. On top of this were also a few hundred slaves. There were even dozens of goblins¡­ Seto looked at the men with a deep frown. "You realize goblins are expensive right?" They also added a minimal force in a war. Not to mention, due to the losses they suffered from the last goblin war, many people enjoyed torturing a lot of goblin slaves to death. These people were charged with the cost of the goblins with interest, of course, but one could see how they lost a lot of goblin resources during this time. The productivity of the mines halved compared to before the war and had yet to recover! The injured man looked at the shaking goblins and then to the Lord, who was being eerily quiet. "S-Should I¨CI bring them back Milord?" Baltimore paused in thought, shaking his head in the end. "No, let them. Get them to dig a path," he said. "It''s time we get closer to that damned wall." Chapter 740 Goblin Slaves Entrance There were about a dozen goblins assigned to do the task. They chose an area about a few hundred meters away from the walls, hidden from the line of sight of the unfamiliar weapons. After a bit, the goblins began to dig a tunnel towards the wall at an unprecedented pace. The little ones were small and perenially frowning. Their backs were hunched from working so much, making them appear even smaller, but their arms worked fast as they dug. They also knew where the weak spots of the soil were as if they could see it clearly, so even if they weren''t so strong, the soil tended to appear softer than it would if a human was doing the same task. Goblins were fast diggers, let alone dozens of them, and they were able to create meters-long tunnels fit for a few people twice their size within several minutes. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, when they neared the walls¡ªless than a hundred meters in¡ªthey seemed to have hit small threads or something, followed by the sound of distant bells. The Goblins flinched. They were generally jumpy creatures and anything out of the ordinary would make them sweat a lot. "What do you think that was?" Yut asked the other leading goblin, Iko. "I don''t know," Iko said, nervously clenching back his digging tools, crumbs of dug dirt dropping to the ground on his feet. "But we''re in a hurry¡­ so we can only do what we''re asked." He said this, but his body refused to move anyway. Their pause, unsurprisingly, was not appreciated by the humans behind them. "Hey! Why did you stop?!" "Hurry up, you rats!" "We don''t have all day! Do you want us to throw you to the beasts?!" The little green things shivered, their fear of the humans behind them overcoming the apprehension of what lay ahead. "Y-Yes!" they yelled, their little raspy voices echoing across the makeshift cavern they made. They continued to dig for a few meters more and were confused when they ended up in an opening underground. They looked and it was a predug tunnel more or less perpendicular to their own. It was much smaller than theirs too. Looking at the side, there were also some sturdy-looking stilts as if to make sure they were stable. Regardless of what it was, this wasn''t something they expected to see here. "What is this¡­?" Iko asked, and the others behind him shook their heads. "OI! KEEP MOVING!" The poor green things had no choice but to reluctantly step forward. Most of them entered the other tunnel, gesturing to continue digging across it. However, before they could start digging, they heard a weird rumbling noise coming in a direction. For a while, they didn''t know what to make of it. "Do you hear that?" one asked and the others nodded their heads, looking very worried. Anyway, goblins were far more sensitive to sound and vibration than humans. Soon, some of them realized what it was happening. They gasped and paled, immediately gesturing to run back. "WATER!" Iko yelled and the group hurried back to the first tunnel. "RUNN!" However, there was a congestion and the scary humans behind were definitely not backing away. They were wearing those scary faces too and were already gesturing to slap them. They tried to avoid it. Before they could explain, the water got too close. It was too late to run, and the strong wave of water enveloped their little bodies as if intent on drowning them. The humans were far enough and big enough that they weren''t directly hit, but the water did enter and they immediately pushed each other back. "RUN! DAMNIT!" Some slow-witted ones could not react in time and fell down, unable to get up because they were stepped on continuously. These people were also taken by the water, though most of them got stuck midway, particularly due to the smaller sizes of the other tunnels. The same could not be said for the goblins, however. Amidst the current, some muffled cries abound, though they were soon swallowed by the churn of water. Yut tried to reach out to his brethren, but except for one he couldn''t hold on to them. Most of them tried to hold someone, but no one could fight the current and they could only be blown away helplessly, losing consciousness one by one. "No¡­" Iko mumbled, gurgling water and feeling the intense headache that came with accidentally breathing a bit of water. His small hands grasped at the water as if he could grab anything else but each swipe only sent him deeper into the current. At some point, he believed it was finally his time. Iko cried as he felt his consciousness slip by. Yet, oddly, he didn''t feel a thing anymore¡ªnot fear or terror, nor sadness. At least the suffering was over. ¡­ "Are they captured?" Garan asked, looking down from the battlement. Chris and the others opened the manhole and pulled the unconscious goblins one by one. Garan and the others had seen wars with goblins, so of course they made some preparations to handle them. Just beyond the secondary Level 3 wall, they dug a deep moat. Well, not as deep as they wanted. After all, the elementalists could only do so much in a few days, and they didn''t have any mechanical help to help them dig. For now. However, for this purpose, it was enough. It was a small tunnel dug 1 meter below the ground. The tunnel itself was just over a meter deep, which was really to deal with digging goblins. They didn''t care if they got humans anyway. These tunnels were connected to the river on one end, blocked by dams, with the other ending on a concrete prison of sorts. Of course, this was limited for now so the prisons could only be so big. The north side of the river was downstream, with the south going upstream and they took advantage of gravity and the direction of water flow to determine the location of the ''prisons''. As soon as the trigger was activated, the dam would be opened, flushing those underground toward the desired location. With this, they could not only flush enemies, but also trap people¡ªand goblins¡ªin. Chapter 741 Meat Shields As for the other ones in the tunnel, they had quickly run back as fast as they could, not caring who they stepped on in the stampede. They were lucky that the tunnel descended a little, so the water stopped following them at some point after gaining a bit of elevation. However, no one dared be complacent and they ran as fast as they could towards the exit. "Go back! Run!" They yelled to the confused people who were just entering. They literally had to push people which almost caused a few brawls, except the perpetrators looked genuinely scared and they wondered what they saw underneath. The water had, in fact, long stopped being a threat, but they still ran as if their lives depended on it. When they got up to safety, they were barely breathing from exhaustion. Baltimore, who had been losing his patience, was on the verge of skewering these losers. "What''s going on?!" "Milord!" One of the men said, gasping. "Water! Took goblins! Gone!" "What?" Ero lifted the man by the neck. "Speak clearly!" The man shook and forced the words out of his mouth. "They''re gone!" He cried. "Water suddenly appeared, strong water took all of the goblins!" he cried. "I thought we were gonna die!" A sharp spike of earth passed by his neck and everyone looked down to avoid the sight, shaking, afraid the next subject of venting would be them. Baltimore looked at the hundreds of slaves they had, and then to the damned level 5 walls a hundred meters away. His patience was growing thin. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Baltimore was very angry. He had wanted to go with minimal losses as direct confrontation would do. Human resources, even slaves, were resources he spent money on. But he had no choice anymore. For the first time in probably a decade, he''d even be joining so closely as well. Alterra will pay for this humiliation! "Move forward," he ordered, and a line of terrified slaves started approaching the walls. None of those long-ranged projectiles were used anymore and Baltimore narrowed his eyes. "They don''t have any more of that." He said, and even if they did, there shouldn''t be too many anymore. "Separate. Do not make yourselves easy target by forming clusters." He looked at the shivering slaves. "Go, do whatever it takes¡ªdestroy those walls." Sobbing for their hopeless lives, the slaves could only run towards the walls, targeted by sentries. However, as they entered the scope of the sentries, they noticed that the sentries weren''t hitting most, and only injuring the others! "What?" "What''s going on?" What they didn''t know¡ªand would not understand¡ªwas that Althea and the others really felt for slaves. Even if the cost was high, she applied really detailed the programming of sentries, though with a lot of semantics help from Mathilda, Jun, and even IT professionals like Mao. She didn''t want slaves to lose their lives uselessly, so she programmed the sentries to choose well. There was now a rule that, as long as the strength of the slave didn''t pose a threat based on their levels, they wouldn''t be attacked. Her walls were level 5. Even monsters level 20 would barely be able to damage it, let alone human slaves with cheap weapons (if any at all). And if they were, they would only be injured, except if the slave truly had malice. Anyway, the sentries somehow knew when an enemy was hostile. She didn''t have the resources or time to explore why or how it was like this, but for now, it was to her advantage¡ªeven if it cost a lot to implement. After all, someday, they could be encountering Terran slaves. What if there were family and friends in there? They could''ve been reunited, but how heartbreaking would it be to find out they were killed by their own sentries instead? Not to mention, slaves weren''t counted as population. There were even cases where they had no effect on the results of war. For instance, if they were weak. This was something that was completely unfathomable to the aborigines and it left them completely confused for a while. "Did their sentries break?" one asked, hopeful. The others watched a bit more and saw that their section of the wall was now lined up with slaves clawing for it, yet none of them were attacked at all! Some guards laughed, assuming that the sentries were really somewhat ''broken'', and they ran straight to the walls. Whoosh! A large sentry arrow immediately attacked a guard, and after the cool down, the sentry shot at another guard a few meters away¡ªthis one skewering two in one shot. There was also a slave or two who got injured by the shot, but otherwise, it did not target them specifically. "What?!" "Does it work or does it not?!" "What''s going on?!" Baltimore, like the others, was also quite confused. However, his brain was faster than others. He was also a lord himself, so he had an idea about setting specific rules for sentries. Alterra¡­ set up a rule not to attack slaves! So¡­ idiotic? Why would people spend so much for such a modification? Like a snake, he already determined the next step and took advantage of this ''useless'' rule. "Go forward," he said, grabbing a random slave who happened to be standing nearby. He handed him over to one of his guards, who flinched in confusion. "Grab a slave, use them as shields," he said, and the others'' eyes widened in enlightenment. However, they were still reluctant to be the first ones to try. What if it didn''t work? The slaves were so weak, that the arrows could go through them. Baltimore''s eyes darkened and they flinched, immediately moving forward. They knew they''d definitely get killed if they continued to be frozen! And, unexpectedly, it really worked! While holding a slave in the direction of the sentry, they really weren''t targeted anymore! They had often used meatshields, but it had ironically never been so effective! Chapter 742 Finally Inside! Each goon grabbed the biggest slave they could get, using them as shields moving forward. "HAHAHAHAH!" The Guia guards laughed as they entered the scope of the sentries, but without an arrow heading towards him. "The Lord is a genius!" With a few people leading the way, more and more people grabbed a slave each and used them to safely head towards the walls¡ªat least to a degree. Sentries worked by sight, so if a target was blocked it would not attack. But could the body of a small slave really cover a hostile force effectively? Despite the relative success of the plan, there were times when it failed. Even, because many felt overconfident the plan would work, they ended up exposing themselves more to the sentry on another side. This was especially true in areas where two sentries shared a scope! They tended to forget about it, because territories generally didn''t have the money to have overlapping sentries! Rather, they had never encountered a territory that had them all over! Of course, Guia wasn''t hailed as one of the most powerful villages for nothing. First of all, there were plenty of level 20s in this group and while the sentries could cause them some injury, it generally wouldn''t kill them unless they hit a critical spot. They continued with the plan and just caught the arrows directed at them with slave bodies (wasn''t the first time they did so, they just had to time it more closely in Alterra). Some even caught the sentry arrows or used their Class D shields to block them. The higher-leveled ones¡ªthe ones above level 20¡ªalso deflected a few for the rest of them. When hundreds of people neared the walls, Baltimore created massive earth walls that blocked the sentries'' views. The slaves also managed to distract the battlement guards (and sentries) enough so Baltimore managed to create such a large stair in a short time. It was wide enough for a few men and their meatshields to pass through. It was also done at an angle that''d block arrows from humans from certain directions. Something created by Baltimore, a level 30 earth user, was naturally on a different level than the poor flimsy ladder/bridge created by Reno or Althea. It was even better than Mao''s. Baltimore couldn''t enter due to the rules, but he could definitely help hundreds of his people get inside. Anyway, this amazing display of skill increased the momentum, and the Guians yelled as they charged forward. "Go inside!" he yelled, and his men started climbing up the stairs. Baltimore''s eyes reflected the image of his people as they climbed up, ready to cause chaos inside the territory that humiliated them so! S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. VENGEANCE! ¡­ "Damn, disgusting¡­" Luis and the others, who were guarding this side of the battlement, saw as the large block appeared, giving access to the enemies to enter the walls. Their archers were shooting at it, but it was at a difficult angle where the soil practically blocked their shots. For those at the side, they did have some vantage point, but the Guians would just hold a slave as a shield, retaining their equipment. Anyway, humans could recover, their equipment could. The Alterrans would remain in shock by how these people treated fellow humans. They were being used as literal meat shields, for goodness'' sakes! Then when the slave was hit, they continued to be used as shields, they were ruthlessly thrown down when they were useless. Some died, some seemed to be alive¡ªafter all, they had improved physiques here; a little fall rarely killed anyone. Still, it still affected them so much that a few newbies had to get down and vomit. They would all come back up with stronger willpower, however. They knew it was the reality of this place, and they could only do their part in defending their homes. Luis then used his ability to set a small flare, signaling to everyone that there had been a breach here. While the rest of the battlement wouldn''t be unguarded, at least half of them would rush over to where the leak was. While the earth ladder was built up overhead, the team used their weapons and elements to attack the bridge. Luis took out his remaining bomb and threw it at the base of the ladder. He wanted it to explode from the inner side so it would fall backward instead of deeper in the direction of the territory. However, Ero saw this and threw a fireball at him, making him lose his aim a bit. BOOM! "Ahhh!" "They still have bombs!" The bomb exploded on the ground. While it mostly just injured people, there were a few deaths. Most importantly, it blew up a few meters from the stairs so it shook, causing several people to fall down the over the bridge. Baltimore gritted his teeth and used a lot of mana to continuously reinforce it. The bridge remained stable because while Baltimore couldn''t enter the territory line, he stayed at the tip of his bridge, creating walls to keep Alterrans from destroying it. A lot of people fell and were hit, but with the guarding of the level 20s, they managed to deflect a lot of attacks that could easily kill their lower-leveled counterparts. Baltimore was strong and it was inevitable that his people would manage to enter with his help. More and more filed in and the soldiers could only take down so many at a time. Several people landed on the other side of the wall, with more and more coming in. They took out their shields to hide from the arrows coming from the walls, immediately running to the buildings. Without exemption, they had violent expressions on their faces. They were all injured a bit to some degree, and each sting added vindictiveness to their bones. "FINALLY!" They yelled happy to finally enter, swearing to cause damage and havoc. Alterra will pay! They chanted. And it will be theirs! Chapter 743 Blockage Baltimore looked at his people pouring in with an evil glint in his eyes. He further reinforced the pathway with much of his remaining mana, making sure the various attempts to take it down wouldn''t succeed. But then he felt danger approaching and he immediately jumped down. He felt that the danger wasn''t over and he immediately raised the soil below him to block it. BANG! He watched with wide eyes as the sharp ice went past the wall and was stopped just an inch away from his face. It vibrated and he could tell more force was put so it''d continue to stab. By instinct, he rotated the earth so the spike pointed away from him¡ªand he did so just in time before it stabbed deeper. Slash! FLOP! He turned to see one of his men fall beside him, skewered by a large piece of ice that was meant for him. This person was a level 16, and he was killed with a single ice spike. Baltimore clicked his tongue and sent a sharp glare in the direction of the intruders. It was Garan and beside him was a tall man with silver hair. The latter was unfamiliar, but Baltimore knew he was strong. When the silver-haired man jumped down to block a few of his cronies¡ªall of whom were all past level 20¡ªby himself, it confirmed his supposition. Could they really have the backing of a city? But that didn''t matter¡ªthis place will be his! "You," Baltimore heaved a deep breath, looking coolly at Garan, who was standing there ready to block him. "I''m impressed. We have never encountered such trouble before." He took a deep breath, settling his anger, as if turning it into a sharp edge directed at Garan. "You even made me move¡­" S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan only looked at him, not bothering to give him a response. Not long ago, this guy was still respectful! Baltimore sneered and looked at the useless slaves either trying to climb up the bridge or trying to scratch the walls with their fingers. Baltimore''s dark eyes looked and thought. Seeing that the Territory invested so much money in making such rules for the sentries to follow, it could be seen where their weakness lay. They had soft hearts. So, he sent an order to the slaves on the ground. "Attack them." Garan wasn''t shaken. He simply jumped down and waved his arms around. A circular shield of floating ice surrounded him. With a move it expanded, pushing the slaves out, giving them hundreds of square meters area to fight in. Garan looked at him without any respect that he should have, irking him. "To think a level 30 elementalists would get behind weak slaves." Normally, Baltimore wouldn''t let such taunts get to him. However, it so happened that Garan and his territory had been causing him trouble everywhere. His pride was hit and he didn''t bother using the slaves anymore. His feet stomped on the ground, and large boulders floated around him, swiftly flying towards Garan. Garan lunged forward using a ramp of ice to heighten his bearing, launching himself towards Baltimore with surprising speed. On his hand was his extendable sword made of his own ice element, while Baltimore¡ªwhose eyes fixed on Garan¡ªwaved his spear to meet his attack. CLACK! The blades gleamed, showing their sharpness and teasing the damage it could do if hit. The skirmish unfolded in a blur of motion, with both parties attacking the other relentlessly. Baltimore was sweating heavily and so was Garan, but the longer it lasted the more the former lost his cool. He summoned sharp spikes of earth around him, throwing them one after the other to Garan. He did not even care if it hit any of his people by accident. Garan jumped over a rock and kicked the other one back to him, which he avoided by having to use his ability. "TSK!" He tutted, continuously barraging the man with a shower of his earth spikes. At the very least, he should have the advantage of more mana by virtue of his level! Ice surrounded Garan''s body and created a wall in front of him. Baltimore''s eyebrows frowned. Did this man not care for his mana? Or did they somehow get ahold of mana potions? The last time they checked, it didn''t have some yet. However, the ruling party could''ve hidden it, so he didn''t dare assume. He took this chance to drink a low-level mana potion for himself, ensuring he was in top shape for the next round. They took this chance for a quick breather. There was silence between them for a few moments, punctuated by the various battles that went on around them. Baltimore floated rocks around him, immediately directing them to smash Garan''s wall of ice. The many projectiles hit it with a thunderous clash, and ice shards exploded everywhere in response. There was no one behind the wall, and a flicker of realization crossed Baltimore''s face. He immediately moved by instinct, but it was too late. Garan suddenly appeared behind him, and the shards from the broken wall flew toward their direction. There were many, coming from different angles. Baltimore was unable to avoid everyone, causing his arm to be nicked. "Impressive. Using your element to this extent," Baltimore said. His words were complimentary, but tone venomous. It usually took years to master an element to this degree. What is he? "You people got strong very quickly," he said, as he sent more boulders in Garan''s direction, drinking a health potion while he was distracted. He wasn''t able to finish it as yet another ice spike headed his way, forcing him to let go of the expensive bottle. He cursed, waving his spear as his mana recovered. Clack! Clank! They exchanged blows, with his spear against Garan''s weapon that was made entirely of his ice. The more blows they exchanged, the more Baltimore''s stomach dropped. How long has it been? Not long ago, they were several levels lower than this. Even he couldn''t replace a Class D weapon with his element, let alone a Class C one. Yet this man''s ice sword remained intact while his Class C spear was losing durability. More importantly, he was several levels higher than Garan, yet he was being pushed like this! This potential¡ªit was too high! This man absolutely cannot live! Chapter 744 More Battles Outside As if there was an unspoken signal, the battle went up a notch between the two, exploding into a new level of intensity¡ªliterally. BANG! Whether it was boulders or sudden trenches, ice spikes, slippery ground, or the like, the area around them had become dangerous. It got so intense that every other fight that happened nearby moved several meters away, leaving them a clear area to fight with minimal collateral damage. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. During this time, Garan had eaten a number of mana cookies while Baltimore had drank another mana potion. Baltimore frowned, surprised at the fact that Garan could still use his elements after so long. His eyes zoned in on the cookies, and realized they must recover Mana somehow. It was not unheard of, especially for towns and above, though definitely rare in villages. The two continued to exchange blows, with those surrounding them going farther and farther for their own safeties. At some point, another ice spire headed straight to Baltimore, and he¡ªas always¡ªblocked it with a condensed rock. What he didn''t expect were sharp and long needles to go through! Baltimore''s eyes widened a bit, barely avoiding it. His survival instincts activated and he moved his body, but he still failed to avoid a needle. "AH!" he groaned as he pulled out the needle that was buried in his arm. It was a palm''s length and the part that was embedded in him was as deep as his thumb. Gritting his teeth, he yanked the needle free, blood seeping from the wound. There was no time to recover however, and he immediately bolted to the side¡ªhe had to because the bastard started attacking him again! This time he used varying ice and metal techniques and it really caught him off guard, getting an ice pick and another needle to hit him. "AH!" He also noticed that inside his ice blade, there was metal that seemed to act like its skeleton, increasing its strength. Another thing Baltimore didn''t know was that the metal was a good conductor of heat and cold, and it distributed the freeze across the blade, making it even more durable. What Baltimore did know was that Garan was proficient in both elements! Dual elementalists were rare even in cities, let alone such experts! Seeing this simply confirmed his supposition of Alterra being backed by a city! Most people would feel regret going against a territory backed by a city, but not Baltimore. Their master city was among the most powerful city in the human territory, and taking over Alterra would mean getting connections to whoever it served. He waved around his sword, knowing he wouldn''t be able to sustain such endless use of his abilities. Similarly, Garan was also experiencing the same problems. After all, mana cookies recovered mana bit by bit with time, let alone he was already level 20 so the food''s effects were limited on him. The ebony-haired man resumed just using his sword which was reinforced by his abilities, which was still impressive and still did consume some mana. However, the difference between his sword and the others was that he could control it at his will. Others would not be able to build on the weapon. After all, equipment couldn''t be built upon as walls and buildings couldn''t. Solid elements were different from skills like fire, which could be used with the weapons though the weapon acted as a point of control than anything else. The two continued exchanging massive blows, the sound of clashing blades resounding in the area. They were also going quite fast, and equally skilled with the weapon, even if they did have a huge level gap. Clack! Slash! At some point though, Baltimore did feel a bit shaken. This was because he saw that Garan didn''t have any injuries yet! How? He hadn''t notice it before because their battle was so messy with the elements flying around, but now that they had resumed the close combat battles, he could see it clearly. Did he have a full-body armor that he couldn''t detect? Or perhaps a magic tool?! This fact irked Baltimore very much, and it was evident with his attacks becoming harsher and harsher. It caused Garan¡ªwho always maintained a clear head¡ªto see an opening. The ebony-haired man immediately sliced the sword at his enemy, and Baltimore used his ability, adding movement to his feet so he was pushed backward, barely avoiding the slash. Garan''s eyes sharpened and his blade extended another meter, managing to bury in Baltimore''s chest. It was on the right chest, however, it was not that deep. The attack was unlikely to be deadly¡ªnot at Baltimore''s level¡ªbut it sure snagged a good part of his health. "ARGH!" He screamed, eyes red. "Milord!" His cronies yelled, realizing the lord was in real trouble. A few headed forward to help out. There were several level 20s around Baltimore and they immediately went to his assistance. Before they could get close to the ice corralle though, strong wind delineated them, forcing them to step back lest they receive its sharp edge. "I''m pretty sure you were dealing with me," Sammy said, and next to him were Gill and other soldiers, similarly blocking their paths. Gill waved his spear and a small crack filled with magma lined the way. Anyone who had gone against him knew that he would be able to control the molten rocks, and it would stick to their skins and burn them! The others were not to be underestimated either. They were not only elementalists, but they were all proficient with their powers. It didn''t matter if they were a few levels lower, it was no problem to them at all! The cronies gritted their teeth. Most of these people had reached level 20 as well, or at least near it. This average level was too high for a village! Guia had a few dozen level 20s and a level 30+ lord because they had the backing of a city! What was Alterra? Why was it so troublesome?! Chapter 745 Other Fights They couldn''t really ponder much as a sharp wind blade headed towards them, making them step farther from the lord''s fight. They frowned, glaring at the damned Alterrans getting in their way. Although their loyalties¡ªas with everybody''s¡ªwere not unbreakable, they still lived a good life in Guia Village, and they were getting a lot of perks. They preferred to keep the status quo, thank you very much! Furthermore, who knew what''d happen to the territory with the lord gone? What would happen to their jobs? There was also the possibility they could lose, and then they''d be slaves! This reminder added fuel to their attacks, and everyone ran towards the Soldiers blocking the way. Eloi lunged forward with his sword, only to be blocked by a shieldsman¡ªJake. Eloi gritted his teeth, continuously hitting the shield. Shieldsmen weren''t particularly common outside because it was seen as useless. After all, who would want to only get defensive skills in this world? Sure, they could get teammates, but few people in Xeno actually trusted anyone else. However, this guy always managed to deflect his attacks, either pushing him toward his own allies or him toward his allies'' blades. There were many near-misses and it just made Eloi extremely angry! "GRRR¡ª" he yelled, fire exploding on his arms as he continuously threw Jake fiery projectiles. Jake''s shield was a Class D shield made by Brenda and Troy, and this meant it was far superior to what was sold in the Equipment store by the system. For one, it had higher durability, for another, it had very good insulation. Other iron shields might feel hot after getting hit continuously like this, but Jake was fine. He sneak peaked and saw Eloi still throwing fire and saw his pattern. He waited until the fire user threw another fire ball, before stomping on the ground behind the shield. He created a little incline on the ground where his feet would land, and he immediately pushed it back and he went straight to Seto and Gill''s Battlefield Slash! "AHH!" "DAMNIT!" Eloi yelled as he gasped for air. He held his wound and took out a health potion. Before he could drink much of it, he was hit by a splash of molten rock. "GAHHH!!!" "Get out of the way!" Seto yelled, kicking him aside as he waved his spear toward his enemy. The other''s spear met his, and its contact not only had a clamping sound, but he also saw some steam coming out of it. The other man didn''t take a moment before he sent a barrage of attacks. Gill wanted to take him down as fast as possible. He needed to get this war over with. He had a woman to go after, after all. On the other side, there was aborigine Silva. He was dealing with several men beyond the level cap, coolly waving around his skill and using exclusive skills. For example, there was the [Blade Resonance] which, when used, would use intense vibration to defeat weapons of inferior materials. Silva was using a Class C sword, and if he used his weapon against most of the enemies, chances were, he''d destroy their weapons. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Add that to the fact that he was level-freaking-40, it could be said that he was handling himself very well even if he was being mobbed by at least a dozen level 20s. He was quite cool. They liked him very much. High-level Archers like Loki and Sammy had also settled outside the territory because they weren''t allowed to kill those inside anyway nor would they be able to hurt anyone who went through the array. Before, they had to use arrows without the arrow tips¡ªwhich was also a product of their weapons factory for cases like theirs¡ªso they could at least shoot down whoever got too near the walls. When they saw that the battle outside the territory was heightening, they also passed their post to others in order to help out. Mao had already created a platform from them outside the walls, but still at a relatively safe height from others. Bit by bit, they thinned out the enemies, with some warriors below guarding them. The enemies weren''t weak after all, and they really had to do their best. Back to Garan''s fight, the two had slowed down a bit in favor of budgeting their mana, hoping to take down the enemy before it was completely consumed. Baltimore was happy to see that Garan had finally shown some injuries. This meant the durability of his equipment had finally been compromised! He was looking forward to taking over this place, maybe he''d be surprised by what he could find in the warehouse! At this time, quite a number of people had managed to get inside. Other than the Stairs Baltimore made, they had also created a number of access during this time, setting them up at various places. Using the slaves as a shield, a lot of people managed to get in. Not too much yet as Alterra didn''t lack defensive tactics, but Baltimore refused to believe they would lose. When they heard screams inside, Baltimore smirked. "My people would massacre yours," he said, fairly confident because he knew the more powerful people were outside with them. They couldn''t win the war in the most common way anymore¡ªthat was to say, by making the majority of people who went through the array land within the main walls. A lot of people who went through the array had fallen even before they reached the walls. The only way to win the war now was to find that cowardly lord and kill him. From what he knew, he still had a number of people there who should be hunting, and the people who managed to enter should provide enough chaos and distraction while the spies took action. "We will defeat you¡ª" he said, feeling vindictive and looking forward to seeing the man''s cool facade crack under his words. "Crush you from within." Garan looked at him. Unexpectedly, he appeared unshaken. "I would not be so sure about that," he said and proceeded to send him spikes of ice. Baltimore''s eyes narrowed, wondering if he was pretending. If so, he couldn''t see any signs of it. So confident? Chapter 746 Battle inside the Walls There were hundreds of guards and slaves (and counting) who managed to flow inside from various points of the territory. Naturally, except for some skeletal forces in other areas, the guards and brave citizens headed to the area to deal with the intruders. Inside the walls, chaos ensued as the intruders entered the territory, aiming to destroy as much as they could. Before, when torturing other villages, it was just fun. But now, they were extremely vindictive. They hated this territory to the core! However, how easy could it be? Would the Alterrans let them enter deep into the territory? Of course not! They had only managed to get in due to sheer numbers¡ªalso of slaves, who they could just use as literal shields. They couldn''t even get past 100 meters safely! The others gasped and some of them were also hit by the arrows. Some were from sentries while some were from archers. The sentries were still more formidable though, as at the right angle it could skewer two or three people at a time! Because the roads were so wide, the damned weapons also had clearer paths to them! Within this area, there were also archers from the houses'' balconies! The intruders were practically showered with weapons! Unlike the programmed sentries, the humans could target them even with slaves up front. The Alterrans felt guilty for killing poor slaves like this of course, but they could push the feelings down if it meant taking down an enemy aiming to destroy their home! Either way, the human archers were still lower in level than their enemies, so unfortunately they couldn''t kill a lot. It was still the sentries that managed to take lives. However, even if the more powerful ones didn''t die, their equipment was losing durability. They knew that if they stayed here, they''d be destroyed before they could even do damage to the territory! "Get out of the range of the walls!" the team lead yelled, running deeper into the territory, hoping to get into more houses and out of the line of fire. They used their numbers and charged forward, some were hit and some managed to hide within the crowd and the wall of slaves they surrounded themselves with. The fact that they were mostly in avenues or on wide roads meant there were a lot of people left open, and it was incredibly annoying! However, there were still many people who managed to escape and they gasped in relief, finding cover. While some were still hit by some citizens shooting from their balconies, the Guians were still stronger on average and didn''t die. They celebrated too early though. SWOOSH! "Ahhhh!" One yelled as he was pierced by an arrow. Because they didn''t know where it came from, the ''slave shield'' didn''t work, thereby killing him. The people next to him immediately backed away, looking around to determine where the heck it came from. Someone with sharp eyes studied the angle and saw an aesthetic tower not too far away. He paled. "Sentries! They have sentries inside the territory!" They had such a hard time getting past the ones outside, only to find out there were still sentries inside?! Just how rich was this damned territory?! The team lead cursed but he kept his cool. "Calm down!" he yelled. "They aren''t as dense inside! Find some cover or areas without them!!" This seemed to have woken up the panicked Guia citizens and their moment of panic only made them angrier to Alterra. They quickly located the sentries by sight and avoided those locations as much as they could, but they had their shields with them the whole time. It made them slow but it saved their lives in the end. More and more enemies entered and several streets¡ªwide and narrow¡ªbecame battlegrounds between the intruders and the guards, as well as many brave citizens. The guards formed a sort of defensive line to protect the heart of the town, trying to keep the enemies as close to the walls as possible. The citizens were not idle as they all had their weapons out, prepared to mob anyone who passed the impromptu ''barrier''. There were also archers all around, some in the battlements, and some above the roofs. However, there were many enemies, and it wasn''t an easy task to clear them out at all. "GO!" The enemies yelled, and the surviving slaves soon headed towards the barrier of guards, sobbing, believing it was finally their time to die as everyone else had. They didn''t understand how they managed to get past the sentries and it was torturous not knowing when you''d die. But now it was finally their time and, at this thought, they felt a complicated mix of terror and relief. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One of them was Liga, thirty-two years old, who had been a Guia slave for about a year now. His job had been to clean the higher-class areas every waking hour, which was all the time except for the two or three hours of rest that he was given. It was so tiring and oftentimes the guards would bully him and beat him up just for fun. They would even make him put his face on the stuff he cleans¡ªmostly feces. He had always wondered why he was alive and what was so good about it. There was also Hoku, a young goblin, who had an unfortunate accident a few weeks ago and lost the feeling in one of his hands, rendering him unable to dig up mines with hard rocks like the others. He was designated as a cleaner slave as well, but the type with a lot of digging in the ground to bury corpses in. Not long ago, he had to dig a lot for his own brethren. Both were ready to die and, frankly, they weren''t too reluctant to face it. What they didn''t know was that the guards were ordered to simply faint the slaves¡ªas long as it didn''t endanger their or any Alterran''s lives¡ªwhile obliterating those who weren''t. The fights continued and soon the main forces began to attack as well. The enemies had higher average levels but the Alterrans, with their wit, equipment, and courage, were not pushed back. Although many of the guards weren''t as formally trained as the soldiers, they still knew more and were braver than the stronger guards of Guia who had no sense of loyalty at all. They would fight together even in the face of a Goliath, and this was something incomprehensible to most aborigines. Rather than the sheer strength Alterra had, this was the point that truly made its forces formidable. Chapter 747 Picking Off Enemies In contrast to this, the Guia Villagers were generally stronger physically and in level, but that was about it. As soon as their lives were truly threatened, it was easy for them to just want to run away. A lot of Guia guards were already looking for hiding spots, while some were already thinking of ways to get out of this alive. For example, what information could they give¡ªwithout failing their oaths and getting punished¡ªin exchange for their freedom? S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sadly, none of them could think of loopholes or sensitive information they were privy to, so the option left was to run. Guia Village was the strongest in the region and its people had a sense of pride in that. When outside, they acted a lot like they were nobles, as if other villages were beneath their feet. Before this, they had never encountered a challenge at the village level, so Alterra¡ªwhich had dropped obstacle after obstacle¡ªwas something really new to them. Obviously, they couldn''t handle it well. This was in contrast to Alterra''s soldiers, even those who had been civilians their whole lives. When injured, they would still fight, if the injury began to hinder their movements, then they would drink medicine. In the eyes of the Guian forces, they were bugs that could not be killed. "Damn! They''re endless!" Tae, one of the team leads there, yelled out. He was panting heavily with many wounds on his body. He was fighting against two people several levels lower than he was, but just when he thought he could get rid of one, he proceeded to drink another freaking potion! This was the third one since their fight started! How many potions did each of them have?! They should torture them to give them some healing potions, but the enemy was too strongm and most of their energy was left to defend. They were also shocked by the number of elementalists. Although many were still adjusting, just the fact that everywhere one looked there was at least one element floating was extremely baffling to them. As time passed, the hope of overcoming these people was wearing thin, more and more doubts occupied their hearts, and the need to escape was getting stronger and stronger. Did they¡­ make the wrong choice? ¡­ Time passed by and more and more people from Guia¡ªdied or were taken down. Their momentum had been dipping a lot and some were too occupied to find ways to escape that they not only failed to contribute to their side, it also distracted them enough and ultimately caused their losses. However, at the same time, more of them also managed to enter from the outside, replacing the forces that were lost inside. In the end, things were still not so easy. After all, the Alterrans were still a fraction of the Guians in quantity and in level. At the same time, the strongest forces were keeping Baltimore and his cronies at bay outside the territory. Fortunately, this only made the Alterrans a bit tired but they had yet to see a single casualty. After all, even if someone was gravely injured, some logistics officer would just pull this person straight to the hospital to get treated by their expert doctors and Healers. Of course, with the sheer number of enemies, it was inevitable for some to get past the initial line of defense and head towards the interior of the territory in hopes of finding a place to hide until the war ended. However, despite the guards and citizens being less dense there, it didn''t mean there was no line of defense. Ignoring the sentries, there were still citizens who were looking out of their homes. Most Alterrans had kept up with their training and had the best weapons they could afford at the moment. So even if there were no guards, the citizens themselves tended to take care of the trespassers. A bit deeper in the territory, there were Althea, Ansel, and the others, who were kiting and clearing enemies bit by bit, trying to control them in one area. To minimize casualties on Alterra''s side, they naturally always took the route of weakening the enemy first. When she saw that the enemies were clustered enough, she would throw a paralysis bomb here and there, with the wind users keeping the ''poison'' on the enemy side. Because the enemy had no wind elementalist, no one could try to blow it away. Luckily or unluckily, the victims happened to be mostly slaves, and a lot of them fell, leaving many of the enemies more vulnerable to their attacks. Scores of low-leveled people fell down, while some higher-leveled ones felt dizzy, and were therefore easier to deal with. Minutes ticked by and an enemy fell every couple of seconds that passed. One of the team leads forced himself to look around him, realizing what the situation had become. "WHAT?!" Tae screamed as he saw half his team was already taken down. In his anger, he went berserk and turned, targeting a group of obvious civilians helping out the war. This group was made of farmers including Dennis, who was holding inexpensive but had a strong Class E weapon made of bones, innovated by their armory of course. Basically, Class E weapons that the custom armory churned out were made of monster bones, which was superior to the predominantly wood equipment Class E weapons available in the system Weapon Shop. Anyway, this helped the group¡ªwho were all below level 10¡ªstand on their own, though they usually would have to group together to deal with fewer enemies. Tae was a level 15 individual. How could a bunch of level 6s and 7s deal with him without getting hurt? Clank! Clank! Stab! "Ah!" Dennis yelled as his grip on his weapon loosened after a single wave of the enemy''s hand. With another wave, he was blown back, his defense equipment losing durability very quickly. "DENNIS!" his teammates yelled, but Tae''s own people appeared to stop them. They immediately attacked and punched and kicked. Although they were not as strong as Tae¡ªonly level 11 or so¡ªthey were still far stronger than the civilians they were dealing with. It was only because the Alterrans were wearing defense equipment that they could still stand. Tae, who had been livid, was determined to vent on someone. He was ready to stab Dennis to death when a long blade suddenly appeared between them. It sliced the front of Tae''s chest, though it was not lethal due to the level difference. Similarly, metallic spikes appeared in front of Tae''s teammates, forcing them to step back and take a look at whoever was stopping their much-needed venting. It was two tall and handsome men with tanned skin, and they stood tall in front of their fellowmen. "Helios! Hugo!" Dennis yelled, almost sobbing. No, he was crying as he was hurriedly pulled back by his teammates. "My turn," Helios said with a smile, his uncle was still and silent but he appeared like an unsheathed sword ready to attack. Tae spat at the side, waving his weapon. "Your turn to die, you mean," the aborigine said and he immediately lunged forward. He would give it his all from the get-go. He could tell: These men were not easy targets! Chapter 748 Helios and Hugos Fights Holding his Class D sword, Helios lunged at the enemies and Dennis'' team zoned in on an enemy or two at a time while Helios held back a few of the stronger ones, mostly with his abilities. Their appearance naturally strengthened the momentum, and the weaker Alterrans bravely started to mob the enemies several levels higher than they were. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Meanwhile, Hugo took care of Tae himself, significantly lightening up the load in the area. Hugo actually had activated a wind mutation¡ªOxygen¡ªbut he had no idea how to use it, so he could only settle for his spear. Clank! He was doing well, but his enemy was a level 15 after all. Some of his teammates would also try to land hits on him before an Alterran could come in time. This caused Hugo to get hit a lot, and his defense equipment was losing durability very quickly. He waved his spear skillfully, using various skills to defend himself, though he found more and more wounds on himself. He gritted his teeth when a deep gash appeared at an opening, and he could feel his movements turning a bit sluggish. Unfortunately, he had no time to take a healing potion at this time. He just needed a little space¡ªeven just a second¡ªto give himself time to drink and recover even by just a bit. He wanted to clear out the enemies here. He wanted these enemies cleared from the citizens and the elders as soon as possible. At this thought, he felt the air around him explode a bit, pushing the men surrounding him. Hugo was not quite sure what happened, but he was not given the chance to think either. The level 15 stood up quickly, rushing towards him. "So you''re an elementalist too! But seeing your expression, you seem not to have mastered it yet!" Tae yelled, immediately sending a barrage of attacks as if afraid Hugo would be given time to learn more. Hugo defended himself, heavily sweating and garnering more and more shallow wounds. "HAHAH! So it''s true!" The man laughed maniacally as he continued to attack. The level difference was there and, along with his teammates'' cooperation, they slowly got him to lose energy. Hugo gritted his teeth and waved his spear, using skill after skill to push the other back. The man was injured and displaced, thrown several meters away. Hugo wanted to run to him but his peripheral saw Guians very nearly stabbing a few civilians and Hugo had to turn to help them out. His arrival let the Alterrans gather their bearings before he could turn to find their team lead again. At this moment, many of his teammates had been taken down and Hugo could see the man gesturing to make a run for it! Hugo''s heart dropped. A level 15 would be able to outrun him. He couldn''t let such a strong man deeper into the territory! This fear surrounded his heart and body and he extended his hand to reach the man. "ACK¨C!" The man held his neck, mouth parted, as if he was struggling for a breath. "WHA¡ª" Hugo''s eyes widened, his feet taking him closer to the suffocating man. At first, he was a little startled, but when he realized what happened his normally stoic face brightened in excitement. Finally! He still knew he couldn''t use this for long, so he held up his spear, finally taking down his enemy. ¡­ A few hours after the war had started, Guia summoned most of the people within the level cap from his territory, even those who were just normal citizens and weren''t fighters at all. They cared less about the sacrifice and more to just make this place suffer. It was humiliating and they had never been pushed down like this before, but it made them all the more determined to take this place down! Everywhere in the territory, the brave citizens fought to protect their homes. Some fought from the safety of their homes¡ªwhether it was shooting people from the balcony or stabbing through the windows¡ªand it made passing through alleys and streets as a group a bit dangerous. There were also plenty who had gone directly outside their houses to fight, especially those who lived far from the leaks. This was not their first war, so they knew what to do. If they saw some old teammates from the first war, then they''d group together to take care of their ''guests''. They were not only protecting their homes and lifestyles, taking down the enemies also gave contribution points! Angelo was tired from the previous wind fight and could only use his sword as he regenerated his mana. Most of the guards were in the areas of the leaks, and they made a sort of line to keep the enemies from getting too deep into the territory. His teammates this time were the dark-skinned guard Joe and pale narrow-eyed Lee, who had grown to a good partnership in battles. He and his teammates took down a few of the trespassers looking for places to hide. For the slaves, they simply knocked them unconscious when they could, but they weren''t above killing them if they had to. However, at some point, another person came in while he and the others were dealing with another group. Normally, he wouldn''t panic¡ªit was just one person, after all¡ªbut then he saw a familiar girl with her body turned back from the main fight! The enemy saw this and¡ªwanting to vent his anger¡ªran to her, weapon raised high and ready to kill! "Toktok!" he yelled, though because she was deaf she couldn''t hear him or the attacker behind her at all! "Damnit!" he cursed, using a minor wind blade skill he learned, halting the enemy''s steps. The man gritted his teeth and turned his head in his direction. When he saw Angelo was also weaker than he was, he didn''t mind changing targets. The slight breeze finally caught the girl''s attention and her eyes widened a bit to see someone so near her. She blinked and flinched, but when she realized his attention was no longer on her, she immediately took out a weapon¡ªa Class E bone dagger¡ªand targeted the man''s ears! Slash! "AHHH!" the man let out a bloody scream. "DAMN YOU!!" Chapter 749 Whetstone (Part 1) Angelo appeared between them, blocking the man''s attack on Toktok. "Get out of the way!" he yelled, pushing her to safety, before waving his sword to the enemy, using his element to add a bit of a slash. Clank! The two blades met with a loud sound, exchanging blows for the next few minutes. This enemy was level 12 though, a few levels higher than he was, so it definitely wasn''t an easy battle. Unlike the soldiers and Hugo/Helios who could leapfight due to their training, backgrounds, and skills, Angelo was a civilian not long ago. Though all Alterran guards received intense training, he still had some ways before he could do the same. Still, Angelo did his best to take him down at the soonest before any other leaks could come through. Fortunately, even when they did, his teammates had managed to finish off their enemies and properly guard this street while he focused on defeating his own enemy. Soon, some of his teammates got their hands cleared (after mobbing enemies one-is-to-three or four) and joined him. After a bit of a struggle, they finally took the enemy down. Angelo''s legs were a bit shaky and he found the wall to rest his weight. Then he found someone next to him. She held his arms and pulled him to sit down on a nearby bench. He blinked when he realized who it was, and he felt annoyed. "What are you doing outside?!" She took a pen and paper in her space to write down her words. ''I want to help,'' she wrote down. ''I already took down 2.'' His eyebrows rose and followed where she pointed, seeing two enemies lying on the shrubs she was just facing before she got attacked. He walked over to see one was a slave and another was an enemy, level 8 and level 9 respectively. He looked at the level 7 girl and asked, "How?" She happily showed him a crude-looking gel and then wrote. ''Paralysis Gel''. It had similar effects to Miss Althea''s Paralysis bomb though with lesser scope and lesser effect, but obviously still useful. Toktok made it herself. Basing on the Flaura and Fauna handbook in the library, she had built upon the knowledge she had gathered on her own. Angelo looked impressed and nodded, and he didn''t stop her from wanting to contribute. "Then¡­ make sure you don''t have blindspots," he told her, "Be careful." Of course, he still positioned himself nearby, a portion of his attention always on where she was. ¡­ In another street, Reno''s adobe walls blocked attacks as needed. After using, he would wave his upper body and these blocks would get thrown at the enemies. Cassie was next to him, bravely fighting, using her own Olympic expertise and element to take down men a level or two higher than her. There was also Fufi and Snow who were beheading people here and there. Gochi was guarding an entire street by himself with no problem either. Not far away, Beany waved his axe around, hitting these bastards threatening the territory''s¡ªand therefore his son''s¡ªsafety! He teamed up with another axe user, Tom, and his spearman friend Rebi to take down a level 12 aborigine. The enemies admittedly had a much higher average level than they had, but they could definitely level up the playfield with strategy¡ªlet alone they were in their home ground! After some time of cooperating, they had found their synergy and attacked without interfering with the other. Their personalities allowed them to work together without one-upping or relying too much on the others. Their battle moved from the wide avenue to one of the parks nearby, and this gave them some more space to increase the intensity of their attacks. Sadly, the fight got so intense that a playground was destroyed. Beanie got angry! His son loved that slide!! He didn''t let the annoyance get the best of him, but sadly his weakness did. Their enemy was, by now, filled with wounds and blood. The moment Beany lost his balance a bit, he lunged towards him. Clank! Bang! Beany couldn''t handle the barrage and fell down. It happened so quickly that none of them were able to react, and the next thing they knew the man had already slashed him. "Beany!" There was a flicker of light that came so quickly that no one noticed it, and it was then that Beany realized he was undamaged. His eyes widened, realizing. It must''ve been the protection charm Althea forced on him! He remembered the time she gave it to him. She gave one to all her friends, and she gave him one, telling him he was still one of her best friends. Beany felt a bit teary, and he snapped back up, swinging his axe with even more vigor than before. The other two were relieved and immediately attacked as well, and they snapped back into their previous pace, finally taking down the enemy via beheading him. The momentum in various parts was completely the Alterrans, and a lot of the enemies just focused on wanting to hide. The thing was, in the perspective of the enemies, as long as they stayed within the walls until the war was over, it was counted. While most of Guia''s fighters were evil and wanted chaos, some were just cowardly and some were just forced to join in this war. To them, it was better to hide than fight. For these people who were just forced to fight, including the slaves, they were mostly just made unconscious by the fighters and citizens. They would then be thrown to the original manual prison by the logistics team who were going around with rickshaws. Basically, the Guian momentum was low, even if hundreds more of them managed entered. Guians continued to enter the array, even the normal citizens¡ªevery hour or so, yet no Alterrans were lost at all! S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If anything¡­ these Guians entering just served to make the locals stronger in skill, strength, and mentality! Chapter 750 Whetstone (Part 2) On another side of the territory, there were various fights ongoing. For example, there was Balzy, the beast hotel owner, who used his tranquilizer guns on the enemies. It was expensive of course, so he chose the stronger enemies to target. One must know these tranquilizers could faint monsters past level 10. It was definitely much more potent against humans, even if they were higher level. With the strong enemies gone, the civilian citizens would go out to battle and attack the remaining forces. On another place, there was the Crow trio, Bull and his girlfriend Lulu, and a few others. They were assigned to areas with less dense enemies and less dense guards, so it was¡ªin a sense¡ªa bit more dangerous. So they had to get a bit creative. "Lead them here!" Crow signaled to his teammates, and they nodded, purposely allowing a group of enemies to go a bit farther into the territory. The enemies gladly followed with a grin on their faces. They didn''t even question why these people were running. After all, their levels were so low! Of course they''d run away! The Guians thought they finally found a weak spot in the territory. Sadly for them, this group laid traps. The traps naturally weren''t anything that would deface the territory nor would it be dangerous if fellow Alterrans came upon it instead. For instance, there were strings made of super sturdy string that they would raise if an enemy appeared. It wasn''t just normal string, they were made by their sewing experts made with special spinning and twisting techniques. They were thin but they were sharp and would definitely hurt the leg or ankle if they ran into it with enough force. They were attached to the sturdy metal on each side and could be anchored to the ground, keeping it safe for those handling it. "Yes, few people are here," one Guian whispered as they ran. "We have to reach the central areas¡ªfind the lord!" The teammates nodded with grins on their faces. "Yes! I wanna stab on that person mys¡ªAhhhh!!" They fell down, feeling the sting on their feet. This naturally couldn''t do anything gruesome like cut off their legs, but it definitely hurt a lot, especially since most people''s defensive equipment was in the upper body! A lot of people fell and more fell on top of the other, forming a little barricade made of their bodies. The Alterrans would then stab and shoot arrows at them, creating punctures in their bodies here and there. Basically, those above would bleed while those below would struggle and feel suffocated below. Whenever someone would get up¡ªwith much effort¡ªthe attacks would focus on that person. It got to the point that some people just refused to get back up and hope for the best. The hundreds of intruders couldn''t go past this barricade for a while, limiting the damage on one side of the territory. The enemies couldn''t believe they were being held down so much. They knew the guard team there was only a couple of hundred in number¡ªand this was not even a fraction of theirs! Yet they were dealt with so much, even the citizens were so strong! And elementalists! So many! At some point, a new group arrived and saw how the earlier groups were struggling to get up. "GET UP, DAMNIT!" he yelled, and this group was immediately attacked by nearby Alterrans. The Alterrans who had awakened immediately sent barrages of elements, effectively lowering enemy momentum. The team lead growled, and fire exploded in his arms and flew from his palms, hitting an Alterran right in the chest. "They''re not the only ones with elementalists!" he yelled, glaring at the enemies. This had been a pride point for Guia. Generally speaking, a village wouldn''t even have an elementalist. But they had a handful! However, that pride was crushed in front of Alterra wherein at least a third of the citizens could wield it! Fortunately, the Alterran was wearing defense equipment, though sadly the attack had caused it to finally break. The team lead continued to send another burst of flames, but this time the Alterrans were ready and blocked it with a shield. He gritted his teeth and sent fires to the trees and whatever could catch flames. They had tried to burn down the buildings here, but they were particularly difficult to catch fire! What he did not know was that not only were most of the construction fire retardant, but even if the fire was made¡ªfor instance, when he used his ability on the vegetation¡ªit wouldn''t have done much damage. Alterra had, after all, a lot of anti-fire inventions. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For example, the fire suppression ball. He would also be showered with what the locals called ''fire extinguisher'' and suddenly he couldn''t use his ability as smoothly! The locals took advantage of his distraction and promptly took him down, with a mallet on the head no less. In another spot, there were even Jona and Yana, Drake''s suitors, working together. They were fighting near the Research Center with many others and a few guards. They had predicted that the place in particular would be targeted and sure enough, quite a few enemy teams really did appear. They were brave and were quite beautiful. Some of the men could only sigh in pity. That lucky bastard Drake didn''t know the good thing coming at him! Another place that had been targeted a lot was the industrial area, which was particularly sensitive as it was particularly important during the war. There were a few more guards assigned here. There were also a few more interior sentries than others, so there was that. In various spots in the territory, pretty much every Alterran worked to protect it. Whether they were working in the government, in the factories, or fighting head-on, everyone was contributing nonstop and with complete willingness. There were plenty of aborigine guests looking out the window of their inns or rented houses, watching the good show. Their faces were mostly leisurely, though their hearts were on fire with various emotions. They¡­ had never seen anything like it! Chapter 751 Whetstone (Part 3) Back at the battlements, it was mostly well-guarded, but the enemies weren''t weak. The guards were quickly occupied by the stronger ones, allowing the enemies to enter as long as they had enough shields (inanimate or human) to get through safety. Luis waved his fiery sword at them, keeping them from his side of the main barrier. He would also throw flames at the ladders he came across, but it felt like the enemies were endless in numbers and a new ladder would pop up soon after. He didn''t get tired of doing it though. He had mana cookies in his space and he had been chewing on them for a while. Fortunately, there were a lot of mana cookies in circulation amongst the guards. Apparently, Harold had figured out that he only needed to personally do certain processes in order to add the special effect on the cookie. Hence, the cumbersome material preparation was left to a factory line, allowing a lot of cookies to be available outside of Althea''s party. Whoosh! "DAMN IT!" the raiders yelled as they saw their access burn up while they were climbing up. Luis never targeted the whole thing to save mana, but he always did choose strategic spots so it was sure to work. The makeshift stairs cracked and buckled, causing the intruders to fall into the crowd of their own people. This went on for a bit and he travelled along the battlements. A signal flare lit up on another section and he rushed towards there to help. The signal flare was only set if the ratio of the enemies versus the number of guards there was too different, so Luis immediately knew where to prioritize. He arrived about a few minutes later and saw a certain group composed mostly of Guian guards enter with their slave shields. He rescued a few guards who were battling against people with higher levels, kicking them off the walls. He took a closer look at their access and his eyes twitched. It was still a makeshift ladder, but it was much sturdier and thicker. It reminded him of well-made fire exits. Obviously, they had worked on this a bit. Too bad (for them) it''ll get destroyed soon. He took fragile balls from his space. It had a lot of excess oil inside and it would shatter at a bit of contact. Similarly, many citizens also tended to have some bottles of their preferred oil in their space. Everyone had them for personal use, but also because they could get useful in fights. I.e. making the floor and the access slippery. They also had some to assist with fire users, who were the most common type of elementalists. "Now!" Luis yelled as he nodded, and from behind him, several citizens threw thin bottles toward the men. "WHAT!" For a moment, it puzzled the enemies, but then they started mocking them for throwing random liquid. This was, of course, until Luis threw his flames at them and watched them burn. "GYAAAHHHH!" "AHH!" They happened to have a water elementalist who had been trying to whip away the blockage on his side (to little effect). He had to shift attention towards his teammates and doused them with water. Unfortunately, the fuel was oil and pouring water¡­ did not help at all. On the contrary, it help them spread out. HISSSS "AHHHH! NOOO!" A lot of people lost their footing, with the weaker ones soon unmoving as they burned alive. ¡­ The fights continued for some time, until the sky darkened, and soon droplets of water from the sky fell down. "Ah damn¡­" several people cursed under their breaths, though no one really had time to react too much with the battles ongoing. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Rain could mean different things in this battle. Rain could be good for water users because it gave them more materials to work with without working too much, but it would make things difficult for fire users, as they would be limited to their weapons. The rain continued to pour down on the region and soon their health would take a toll. However, it was generally the same for everyone so the playing field didn''t change too much overall¡­. Right? Well, not exactly. Because, unlike the Guians who had to get drenched by the rain the whole time, the Alterrans had raincoats! Although they did get damage from the scuffle, the debuffs caused by the prolonged exposure to rain were minimal. The Guians cursed. "What the heck are they wearing?!" ... Althea was on a rooftop somewhere just beyond the scope of the outer sentries. Her bow and arrow prepared to take down whoever was about to seriously injure her people. Below her were Ansel and Gochi who made sure there was no one who could distract or hurt Althea. There was also Hugo, who had found his way there. Even Winona was there, to Ansel''s annoyance, because now he had to look after her too! "Jerk! I can handle myself well!" She took self-defense classes and she was good! How else could she have survived so long without them? To prove her point, she jumped over a hostile level 11''s knee, using it as a bolster. She wrapped her legs around his neck, taking him down to the ground to be easily taken care of by the sword of nearby Alterrans. BANG! Ansel: "..." Above eye level, Althea didn''t move unnecessarily. One was to keep energy in case of emergencies, and another was to train the people. Alterra was becoming too peaceful. Although everyone went out to train, they still believed the territory was impenetrable. That was: They may have to fight and be in danger outside, but inside they could be completely complacent. She did not want them to believe that. She watched as her citizens fought for peace and to protect their homes, aghast to the bottom of their souls when the intruders damaged a piece of it. For example, when an enemy fire user burned landscaping, he was immediately mobbed by the citizens. When someone nicked a part of the building, he would get pummeled by a group of people. They also protected each other, having each other''s backs. From here, their cooperation was improved even more, and so were their strengths. This war came just in time to bring Alterra''s comprehensive strength to another level. Guia¡­ was the perfect whetstone. Chapter 752 Fight of the Strong (Part 1) While the battle inside was extremely smooth due to all the advantageous conditions, the fight outside didn''t have the same conditions. For example, the level gap wasn''t limited outside the walls. The level 23 Garan was going against the Level 30+ Baltimore, with Silva being dealt with by five surviving strongmen on Guia''s side. Other than these strongmen, there were also a lot of weaker slaves who were there to continuously weaken him. The number of slaves in Guia¡­ was not small, and much of the forces of Guia had been called on at this time. As of now, other than the hundreds of Guians still fighting inside their territory, there were still over fifty people beyond the level cap and about a handful of them were elementalists. This was amazing even for a top village. On average, villages didn''t normally have people beyond the level cap at all. The level cap was based on the upper level forces among villages, but Guia had so many! This was a testament to their strength as a village, and confirmed that it had a backing¡ªeven if it might not be Ferrol. Anyway, at this time, most of these people were outside Alterra, making trouble. As soon as Baltimore decided to attack Alterra a few days back, they had naturally called for a lot of reinforcements. He ordered a lot¡ªmost of the people beyond the level cap traveled¡ªthough his main purpose was to keep anyone from escaping. After all, so many people here were elementalists. Losing one was losing money! It was why Baltimore was so angry. He had believed his preparation was an overkill! He was confident in taking Alterra down, and that even if he missed some details, the force discrepancy would be enough to make up for it! Garan''s party also realized¡ªafter seeing so many strongmen attacking Alterra¡ªthat Guia must''ve called in much of their manpower to deal with them. Should they be flattered? In any case, Alterra only had over a dozen people beyond the level cap in contrast. This did not include aborigines like Oslo, Silva, and Rowan, but the quantity difference really was stark. Hence, the battle wasn''t just one-on-one. Such sending of forces also made for a unique battle situation wherein the most dangerous battles were happening outside the walls. The fight was also beyond the range of the sentries. After a few successful lures by Gill and Sammy, the enemies had raised the guards and fought with them well beyond the areas the sentries could reach. The battles were intense even during the rain, where the high-level duo Oslo and Silva showed off their levels and strengths, pushing back the dozens of enemy forces remaining. Around them, it was certain that someone would get seriously injured at least every few minutes. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. On Alterra''s side though, there were no casualties as of yet. This was not a surprise for those inside the territory, but for those outside, it was a massive feat. After all, the Alterrans were fighting against people beyond the level cap few-to-one! One of the reasons why no one had died as of now was because they were soldiers and had ample experience and techniques in fighting. It helped that they were all elementalists as well. This shocked the Guia folks who had been underestimating them since they were in their village. It was clear that things were only evened out because their levels and quantity were so much more than Alterrans! If they had held back, they''d have stood no chance! There was also the protection amulet which they all had. Although it could only take a few shots from people their level, those few shots had protected the soldiers from serious injuries, which was ultimately tilting the favor in Alterra''s side. "I never thought we''d have so much trouble," Seto mumbled, wiping his sweat with his bloodied shirt. He fought¡ªand was still facing¡ªGill, who was a spearman like he was¡­ except the bastard could control earth AND fire. His body was still stinging in pain from all the burns he suffered. Even when the rain poured, the man''s magma still burned him and stuck to his clothing and skin. It was torture. Gill''s eyes were sharp as he faced the other man. He was a bit injured, but otherwise okay. He didn''t take another breather and sent a barrage of attacks. He needed to get rid of this cronie so he could help out with the other fights! Sister-in-law''s protective charm had worked wonders. Sadly, he had already seen a crack and knew that it could take one last shot. He needed to be extra careful after this. The tokens of the others were in a similar state. For instance, Sammy''s, though he was certainly not letting any of his anxiety show, irking his enemy even further. Ero''s red eyes fixed on the damned archer who had been kiting him for so long. Sammy smiled smugly, making him even more hot-headed. Ero couldn''t help himself and lunged at the dark-skinned man, reinitiating a battle royale among top villagers. In the meantime, a lot of the level 10 Guians and below heading towards the walls were shot down. Every so often someone would get injured by an arrow above eye level. It was not hard to notice so the team leads gave out consistent orders. Specifically, Baltimore''s peripheral vision saw the situation and ordered several people, including Piko, to handle it. "What are you doing! Take care of those archers!" "A-Ah, y-yes!" Piko shook but he followed, running towards where the archers were. The Alterran archers were protected by fighters underneath these platforms, and it was obvious that no one would be able to get near the archers for a while. Knowing this, Baltimore took time to create a platform for them, and Piko took out his bow and arrow, but he was shaking when asked to do this. He wasn''t even an archer by profession, he was a chef. How could he go against that guy? But the enemy archers had caused damage and the Lord wanted them to do the same. Piko¡ªand the other archers¡ªheaved deep breaths and shot an arrow at the nearest enemy, which happened to be Loki. The man''s eyebrow rose just a bit, before he waved his hand and a gust of wind redirected the arrows to the ground. "..." Chapter 753 Fight of the Strong (Part 2) Piko wasn''t able to raise his bow again when he felt danger, he moved his head by instinct, barely avoiding a shot to the head. !!! "AHHH!" he yelled, shocked, and he ended up losing balance and falling to the ground where various scuffles was ongoing. He rolled around, avoiding some people, but still getting stepped on in the end. A Guian man accidentally stepped on his feet and they both screamed in pain, Eagle took advantage of his imbalance to stab down¡ªfinally taking down one out of the three people he was fighting against. He didn''t pause as he shielded himself from another attack and then stepped back to avoid another. At this time, Eagle was fighting against two level 17 fighters, one swordsman and another a spearman. It was obvious though, that they hadn''t activated the occupation yet considering they lacked the basic skills. After being in Alterra for so long, he had forgotten triggering occupations was not that common. In Alterra, if you didn''t trigger an occupation¡ªwhether it was in fighting or a life skill or something else¡ªit meant you didn''t work enough. Of course, this wasn''t entirely true as many really took much longer than others to awaken despite working hard, but they would usually gather enough contribution points to either get to the library or use the training facilities, so it usually wasn''t impossible for everyone to awaken at some point. Anyway, although Eagle was outnumbered, the enemies naturally had a hard time dealing with him, a swordsman with the wind element. Eagle slashed his sword, willing the wind elements around to follow, targeting two at the same time. One managed to duck, but the other wasn''t able to react. "Gah!!" one yelled as he received a direct slash of the wind blade, hit even before his spear could touch Eagle. Eagle jumped up, using his wind as a bolster. He immediately slashed down, stabbing at the back of the person''s neck and finally killing him. This was the same sight as many other places around them. Although they were outnumbered, the Alterrans were winning the protracted battles, not just due to skill but also by virtue of their seemingly endless supplies of equipment and tools! Worse, when they ran out, they would head towards one of the archers on plateaus. They didn''t know how they passed resources around, but these people would drop bags of food, potions, and equipment every time! Even if this was their home ground, this regeneration rate of resources was too much!! Baltimore heaved deep breaths fighting against Garan. It had been a few hours, and both were still standing strong. Despite their level differences, Garan was still managing extremely well against him. It was very annoying. This was the first time Baltimore had been so humiliated after so many years! Inexplicably, he was reminded of the past. He was born in a small town to a very poor woman who sold her body for favors¡ªsomething not unusual for his neighborhood. He grew up being bullied and humiliated, and he had to go outside and hunt at the early age of 10. Despite the strong monsters in towns, because he couldn''t kill most of them, it took him another 8 years before he reached level 10. He awakened as an elementalist when he was thrown into a small monster mob simply because he was poor. There were not many elementalists in that small town, and news reached the Lord''s ears. He and his mother were called in, and they found out he was the lord''s illegitimate son! He had received harsh training for the following years, and he was eventually sent to the master city to serve. There, he joined a deadly tournament to gain rights to a Lord Token. He, who was in his early 30s at the time, became one of the youngest lords to receive a token. The things he did to keep his position were many and immoral, but he thought it was worth it. A little Alterra Villager couldn''t humiliate him like this! "I''LL KILL YOU!" He gritted his teeth as he glared at Garan, who was similarly bloody. After a long game and many wounds, Baltimore had lost the regal cold image he had been maintaining as the Lord. At this time, there was just a thought: He must take this man down! Garan did not flinch under his barrage of attacks, skilfully blocking all of them. He looked him in the eye as they kept each other at bay. "You can try." The two of them pushed the other in an attempt to imbalance, to completely tilt the battle in their direction, but the impasse remained. Baltimore looked at how the other people were also struggling. Some of his men were even teaming up against one of the enemy''s¡ªand they were still losing! If the Alterrans finished their fights and went to help Garan, then he would stand no chance. His dark eyes sharpened as he stared at the bleeding man with rare ice crystals floating around him. "Where''s you buy those protection charms? It''s very useful." The other man didn''t give a response but just threw ice picks at him. Baltimore avoided but the man behind him got stabbed instead. It happened to be one of the four people Sammy was dealing with. "Thanks, captain!" Garan nodded and it made Baltimore even more annoyed. Baltimore took out his remaining health and mana potions, and he saw Garan do the same. How many did that man have?! One of the reasons he had so much trouble was not only due to his skills. This man seemed to have an unlimited supply of healing potions and several protection charms. Based on quality, those were Class E tools! Class E tools were not at the same level or price as Class E Weapons available in the system stores!! He was even eating some hard bread the whole time! Did they call it cookie? The battle resumed to high intensity as soon as the two of them finished their consumables. Clack! Bang! Slash! Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Because of his ability, Baltimore¡ªwho specialized in long to mid range battling¡ªstruggled a bit when he was put in the battle fist-to-fist. Garan, on the other hand, could handle either method. Garan covered the surroundings with ice, making several men slip. The Alterrans knew this technique so they were prepared, with wind users using their tornadoes to lift them¡ªand several teammates¡ªout. In the meantime, the Guians around slipped down and fell, immediately attacked by their enemies. Like so, a good portion added to the lengthening list of casualties in Guia! Baltimore''s eyes turned red. They can''t lose! Chapter 754 Almost at the End The fight entered its climax and each fighter could no longer care for the others, focusing on their own to avoid serious damage. On another side of the field near the sentry scope, Leon and Santos (the Soldier), partnered together with five aborigines. They dealt with a group twice as large as theirs, but with teamwork and strategy, they had been avoiding some casualties. While still a bit dangerous, they had bright eyes. It was exhilarating to fight alongside the captain and the others again! Back in Fargo, even if they witnessed grave injustices, they had to hold back a lot. No matter how angry they were, they had no choice but to do so because if they got kicked out, they would leave their allies even more vulnerable inside. Their internal organs got so stressed and, if their physiques hadn''t been improved, they were sure they''d have suffered internal bleeding. Anyway, Santos skillfully swung his sword, using his earth element to aid with his mobility. Every swipe of his sword, there was someone who got injured. There was Leon, also a swordsman, but he preferred to use the surrounding vegetation to trip or even tie down his enemies. They were in a forest, and unlike the others who thought trees were obstacles, to him they were part of his skills. He used his abilities to bind people to the trees to temporarily slow or even disable them, which would then be taken advantage of by him and his teammates, killing the trapped people one by one. It didn''t matter if they were outnumbered one-is-to-three¡ªor even five¡ª they would still win! ¡­ Not far from them, Jake was also fighting with two people. One was a swordsman by occupation and another was a guard who could use swords. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Unlike the smooth fights of the others though, his was a bit of a challenge. The enemies this time were level 17 and 16, respectively, which wasn''t that much lower than his own level at 19, and one of them was even an elementalist. Unfortunately, they managed to lead him away from his teammates, though he didn''t mind too much at first because he could really take them on, even if just for a while. Unexpectedly, the jerks would fight dirty (okay, he should''ve expected it). The elementalist¡ªa level 16 wind user¡ªtook out a bag from his space and blew it on him. His eyes widened and he felt his knees buckle, making him fall down. "Heh! I got you now!!" the man yelled, and the other also attacked. "Hurry! That powder can''t work for long at our level!" Jake''s eyes widened, cursing himself. Too careless! Too confident! What will happen to Yiyi when he didn''t return?! However, instead of the expected slash of pain, he saw a subtle flash of light instead. When he didn''t feel any damage, he realized it for what it was! The protection charm! At this point, a lot of the enemies had also realized they must''ve had magic defense tools since their defense weapons weren''t high level enough to have full-body defense. They cursed, trying to continuously attack him while he was down, though Jake quickly rolled around to avoid them. "How many of those do they have?!" "What city is their backer?" another yelled, stabbing at him, though Jake had already gotten his bearing at this point. Jake laughed out loud, using his remaining mana to pull up a small rock plateau to throw them off. Using the soil used in the bat, he let it fall down right on their bodies. He then jumped up and took out his weapon, finally taking them out. He took out his last protection charm, which unfortunately had a little crack already. Still, how many times did it shield him today? It''s amazing! Sister-in-law''s the best! ¡­ Not far away, Rowan was throwing fireballs against his enemy, a level 20 spearman, in a rare one-on-one battle. He was actually weaker in level but thanks to his own talent and all the learnings he had in the barracks, he was actually standing his ground. Most of his injuries happened during the rain, actually, where he couldn''t use his element. He was imbalanced at first but was protected by the lord''s protection charm as well as Loki''s strategic kiting of enemies. But now, his last protection charm had been destroyed, and he had also weakened a bit. Still, Rowan did not back down nor did he let his momentum stagnant. In fact, it even increased because he felt himself improving in this life-or-death fight. Slash! Clank! Bang! "ORCSHIT!" the enemy yelled as he was pushed back. "Why are you still standing?!" "GO DOWN ALREADY!" The man yelled, swinging his spear with brute strength. Rowan was on the defensive during this barrage, and while he obviously struggled, he managed to lead his enemy to the thicker canopies to shield him from the rain. He took out the dried leaves (sold by some stall merchants for very low prices) and then he used it as fuel to help out his fire. Rowan used his fire as a booster ¡ªsomething he learned from Plaridel¡ªand gracefully avoided a skilled swipe. Rowan used it again to propel himself forward, and his sword finally penetrated into the man''s stomach. The man screamed, letting go of his weapon. He shakily held Rowan''s hands in an attempt to pull it out, but Rowan quickly enflamed his hands, burning the dying man. When the enemy''s lifeless body finally dropped on the forest floor, Rowan smiled. Finally! ¡­ Silva at this time was against three people. He was the only non-elementalist in their side, which was something he never would''ve imagined before, but he was not weak at all. The man''s silvery hair moved along with him, damp from the rain, but shimmering from the remaining sunlight. He was panting a bit after so many enemies. He was level 40, yes, but being mobbed by so many still took a bit of a toll to him. He sighed and looked at his mana, deciding to use another technique to hasten this battle. There was silence in the air and, for a second, it felt like he couldn''t be seen. Then a moment later he had already beheaded two level 20s. The Guians were shocked, belatedly realizing there was a swarm of forces that met on the corpses'' bodies, destroying them from within. They gasped, looking pale. "Damn! That''s a Class C technique, at least!" They heard of techniques like these. Most of them were only found in cities! "Who is this guy!?" Chapter 755 Baltimores Last Stand Meanwhile, Oslo was also defending against two people at mid-level 20s. They were among the strongest cronies next to Baltimore, and he could sense they even came from cities. Of course, level 25 at their age wasn''t high in cities, but their arrogance definitely showed their superiority complex. Well, not that arrogant anymore, Oslo made sure of that. These two people were aghast as they were attacked with a metallic spike one moment and then defended against an earth wall the next. "Damn! Another dual elementalist!" he yelled. They knew there were two others. Even in cities, this was not common! However, they quickly forgot about these worries as the battle intensified even more, with the two Guians suffering injuries when two spikes appeared below them while they were distracted! "AHHH!" "DAMNIT!" Oslo smiled, continuously waving his weapon to take advantage of their slowdown. Actually, if it was a few months ago, there was no way the profligate Oslo would''ve battled two people not that much lower leveled than he was¡ªespecially not guards. Maybe he wouldn''t even risk injury at all. But the atmosphere of growth in Alterra was really not low, and he found himself vying for it, fearing to be left behind. And growth, he had. ¡­ Several fights were already closing. The strongest remaining people standing were the Lord''s right-hand men¡ªEro and Seto¡ªwho were being dealt with by Sammy and Gill, respectively. Everyone was bloodied and tired, but the enemy numbers that had greatly outnumbered them had gone down and the battles had reduced to one-on-one. Slash! Ero''s eyes widened as he saw an arrow embedded in his arm. He gritted his teeth in pain and anger, grabbing its shaft with his palm. He pulled it out and screamed in agony as he did so, realizing the arrow had a lot of hooks that took away a good part of his flesh! S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The pain and humiliation were too much and the man went berserk. "DIEEEE!" He relentlessly waved his sword toward his enemy. It was just that Sammy kept jumping back, skillfully avoiding attacks from the side and at the back, while at the same time shooting accurate arrows that brought him so much trouble and pain! "Get him!" he yelled at his teammates, taking their obedience for granted. However, these people were practically dragging themselves, though the slaves had no choice but to follow. Soon, Sammy was surrounded and hunted down by dozens. He was not shaken though, even if he no longer had a protection charm to keep him safe. "You forget I''m not just an archer," he said with a smile. He suddenly stopped in the middle of the battlefield and¡ªjust when the slaves and guards were about to jump at him¡ªa gust of wind exploded with him at the center. The weakened slaves were thrown away, some even reached the area where two spearmen were duking it out. Gill jumped over one, while Seto heartlessly kicked another one that went in his way. Seto was at a higher level than Gill, but the latter was a dual elementalist. The only reason the fight was still going was because Seto used a lot of his own teammates as shields¡ªas seen with the many burned or stabbed people around them. When Gill used much of his remaining mana to create a narrow whip of molten lava, Seto kicked one of the slaves in front of him, and he watched as the low-level slave got sliced, practically cut in half. Seto kept doing this while he recovered, which just made Gill angry! It was disgraceful¡ªusing your own brethren like this¡ªand Sammy and Gill were annoyed, determined to end it! ¡­ Garan''s and Baltimore''s battle was much bloodier, with Garan already bleeding everywhere after consuming the five protection charms. Baltimore was also bleeding everywhere, with an arm nearly detaching after several targetted slashes from the younger man. Garan targeted the area with his sharp ice and it was morbid. Garan threw ice pick after ice pick, blocked by Baltimore''s earth wall. He jumped up in an attempt for an aerial attack. Baltimore saw it as his chance to throw rocks midair, but Garan had excellent control of his body and managed to avoid it even in his position. He landed with such grace that male gymnasts would''ve given him a standing ovation if they were there. What he did not know was that Althea had formulated an antidote that would work on the common poisons found in their region. While some of the binders were rare¡ªplants bought from Ferrol¡ªshe managed to create a few emergency pellets for her family. The moment Garan felt some symptoms, he took one with a healing potion and he continuously took them as needed until it was gone, mitigating the effects of the poison continuously injected into his body. The effect just confused the person trying to kill him with poison, lowering his momentum even more. With a primal roar, Baltimore lunged forward, sending shockwaves with his ability, shaking the ground. A lot of people were imbalanced, very much including his own team¡ªone of whom even died under Silva''s weapon. Not that Baltimore cared about this at all. He hurled boulder after boulder toward Garan, drinking his remaining stock of mana potions while the other party was busy avoiding his attacks. Garan managed to avoid most them, but he was still hit by one. He felt the ground underneath him open and he was quick to put ice at a slope so he could slide towards Baltimore while avoiding the crack underneath him. He raised his ice sword, aiming to get the battle to a close-ranged fight again. Baltimore was stronger in level but he was at a disadvantage in close range. Baltimore knew this and used his ability to push his body backward. Garan calculated and placed several sharp ice at a distance behind him where he mused the enemy could possibly go next. Luckily, one did hit, and Baltimore gasped as he fell back. Baltimore lost balance but as he twisted his body, using an arm to lift himself high with a plateau. He screamed when he realized this arm was the extremely injured one, and he felt his skin tear open further than it already had. He turned and got to his feet immediately, just avoiding a direct hit of Garan''s cold blade. He threw more rocks and ground spikes, though his mind was dulled with the pain, and Garan easily escaped them. In his distraction, he did not notice that many ice spikes had remained near him. When the spike near him shot up, it was too late for him to avoid it. And so, Baltimore''s eyes could only watch as his arm was cut off! Chapter 756 Baltimores End Baltimore watched his hand fall to the ground with wide eyes. Up until now, he had been in denial that he was losing. However, literally losing a part of himself was the wake up call that shook his core. Did he truly lose?! NO! "ARGH!!!" Baltimore yelled, using his remaining mana to surround himself with small sharp spikes of earth, exploding around him. Because they were at a distance from the other battles, most of the spikes just hit trees. Some of the people hit were his people, though he did hit a few Alterrans who were promptly handled by their teammates. Those directed to Garan were blocked off by his ice wall, which slid back straight to him with a wave of Garan''s bloodied hands. Baltimore''s instincts flared and he once again used his ability to escape. He moved backward swiftly, but this time with unpredictable angles. As he did so, he blocked the bleeding with his ability. It was unhygienic and was not of much help, but it was the best he could do. As he moved, his eyes shifted to the walls which had long calmed down. From the outside, they could see the slaves and men were either taken down or captured. He had a feeling the people inside had also already been managed, and there was little they could do to turn this war around. One way was to get the remainder of the population to the array, but considering how his main forces got crushed inside, he doubted there''d be any changes. Furthermore, looking at these people, they weren''t planning on letting them go! His eyes studied the surroundings and also saw many of the fights were closing¡ªnone of which had his own people as victors! Even Ero and Seto¡ª His mind ran as he defended against Garan, who had obviously slowed down his use of elements as well, but was still holding on to the upper hand¡ªparticularly because Baltimore only had one left! He gritted his teeth in anger, but he turned his body, this time no longer intent to go back to the battle with Garan¡ªbut far away from him! When he got back to his territory, he would regroup and report to the Master. This place would then be frought in wars! ''Let''s see how long you will be able to act like this!'' He ran and avoided Garan''s hits, though Baltimore frowned when saw a fight nearby, specifically at the fight nearest the dense forest, and were therefore blocking his path of escape. Baltimore rushed into a direction so abruptly with his sword, heading straight to the forests behind the battle. At this time, Eagle was finishing off the final enemy in his area. The soldier looked pitiful and filled with blood and grime, but around him, there was no more Guian standing. He smiled, feeling the adrenaline slow down, though he still tried not to lower his guard until the war was over. However, he was human and after undergoing such a hard fight, his whole being was just tired. He did not expect that during that one second of a breather¡ª Slash! "AHHH!" Eagle yelled, eyes wide as he looked at his detached arm. Baltimore grinned as he ran past him. "An arm for an arm!" he yelled, shaking those who turned to his yell, and the Alterrans immediately headed to him while ignoring the few enemies they had left. "EAGLE!" They yelled, distracted enough that a few enemies almost hit them. Some of the more level-headed guards fortunately blocked the attacks from their backs, and trusted the others would handle their teammate''s injuries well. The team carried him and rushed him to the hospital. This left the remaining enemies to be handled by a few¡ªwho happened to be very vindictive anyway¡ªand their sense of violence was at its peak. Suffice to say, the remaining Guians in the area would die very horrible deaths. Garan had gone after Baltimore, quickly realizing he was making a run for it! He was very fast and Garan''s mind formulated on how to stop him. The man sprinted, but Garan did not. If they both just sprinted, Baltimore who had a much higher level would be much faster than he was. Further, sprinting would disable him from using his elements. Instead, Garan used his ice to create a path for him, though only wide enough to fit his feet, losing mana. Not far away, small plateaus of rocks appeared where dainty feet landed, before disappearing into the ground again when not in use. She looked like an elf jumping from one pole to another, looking beautiful and graceful as she did so. The woman raised her Class B arrow, using her skills to determine where the man would run. Using her remaining mana, she shot, though he managed to avoid it by instinct. It did graze his remaining arm. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea frowned in disappointment. That was her last shot. Fortunately, this one second of delay was enough for her husband to finish everything off. A sharp metal spike appeared above Baltimore, spiking downwards. Because he was sprinting and had minimal health and defense, it went through his shoulder and through his heart, pinning him alive to the ground. Baltimore''s eyes were wide open, and so was his mouth, as it let out pitiful wheezes and gasps. He could no longer move, and the shock wore off and he started feeling the intense pain being impaled alive would cause. Such a large spike though couldn''t be maintained for long and it disappeared after a second. The damage was done and the man fell down back first. As he lay gasping on the forest floor, his own blood pooled around him. He breathed heavily, but the water from the rain made him choke. More blood flowed out of him, mixing with the ponds around him, and he could feel his body weaken amidst the agony. Baltimore shakily looked at the skies, watching the patter of rain fall on him, and the shock of the pain occupying all his senses. At the back of his mind, he could hear footsteps approach him, and two silhouettes appeared, looking down on him. That was the last thing he would see, before everything finally turned black. Chapter 757 Battle Aftermath Inside the walls, the battles had been settled and the Alterrans were just rounding up the enemies who trespassed their land. A lot of the more powerful players inside went outside to assist, and this included Althea. It so happened she had an idea where her husband was stationed, and she had a report from those watching from the battlement. Although there was no clear sight due to the forest canopies, the two were making enough movements that they could approximate the area they were heading toward. Positioning herself in the direction where Baltimore was going, she used [Earth Sense] to have a better idea of what was happening. Her husband was very nearly about to capture Baltimore, but there was still a small chance he would escape by virtue of his level and skills, so Althea opted to help out in whatever way she could. She made a rough calculation and used the last bit of mana she had to hit him. It missed and failed to cause much damage but, fortunately, her husband was close behind, and he created an impressive spike of metal to skewer the man to death. "Dead?" Althea asked as she went to them, though her heart was pained to see her husband so injured. She had fortunately refilled her health potions before heading out, knowing there''d be a lot of injuries outside. "Wife!" Garan uttered as she approached, opening his arms to her. She hugged him and sighed, forcing him to drink a potion. "You should''ve tortured him more for hurting you so much." Thankfully, she and the team managed to create an improved healing potion that could have an effect on people below level 30. If she made it herself with her pharmacy skills, the effect was even stronger. He smiled as he drank the improved healing potion. "Well, I can''t compare to my wife who beat a similarly leveled man." She giggled and shook her head. The only reason she managed to beat Belize was because he was poisoned, she had extremely superior equipment¡ªone that could defend against people twice his level if she had been strong enough¡ªand she also had Gochi, who dealt with most of the close-ranged damage. Without any one of those, she doubted she''d have won. In contrast, her husband went head-to-head with an elementalist lord nearly 10 levels higher than he was. While their equipment and potions had some bearing, those were only to safeguard his limbs and life. Those things would''ve meant nothing if Garan wasn''t strong enough to hold out on his own. Anyway, Althea was just so happy he was all right. It wasn''t that she hadn''t offered to give him her top-tier equipment, but he adamantly refused. He told her he wouldn''t be able to fight his best if he would worry about her getting even a bit injured. After seeing her husband recover a bit of energy, she then turned to look at the corpse below them. Pity for what was inside his space and wallet. There should''ve been some interesting things in there. While Althea mourned for the loss loot, Garan leaned down and rummaged through Baltimore to get the Token. At this time, a few other Alterrans had found them, also a little shocked by the bloody sight. Then they flinched when they saw the Captain pat the corpse down. As the seconds ticked by, Garan''s indifferent face turned to a frown, until he turned to his wife with furrowed eyebrows. "It''s not here." "What?" The Token was not on his body? Why? Gill narrowed his eyes at the corpse. "Baltimore didn''t seem like a person who separated his token from himself." They nodded, agreeing to this. He was the type never to trust anyone¡ªor anything¡ªelse. He believed in his own power so much. He''d have believed the Token could only be safe with him. So¡­ what was this now? "Damn," Sammy cursed, and couldn''t help but kick the corpse again. "We should''ve tortured him!" For doing that to Eagle, he deserved more hell! Of course, he said this out of anger, not really meaning it. Keeping Baltimore alive was simply too risky! Not only was he powerful¡ªkeeping the captain occupied for so long¡ªbut also because of his connections. A few days back, they received a letter from Jonathan when they inquired about Guia. He did not hide the fact that Guia Village was indeed their subsidiary¡­ but he warned them that they were simply their subsidiary in name. Guia''s true master was much more powerful¡ªa city. He could not say any more due to an oath, but it was already plenty helpful. At the very least, they knew that there were more forces behind Guia Village than they thought, inspiring everyone''s growth even more in response. They tried looking for it for a few more minutes, with Garan taking his wife to look away. Sadly, even Sammy and the others saw nothing even after stripping the man off all his clothes, confirming the Token¡ªfor some reason¡ªreally was not with Baltimore at all. "Take the remaining men as prisoners of war," Garan said as he headed back to the walls. "We''d pull it out of their throats if we have to." *** Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. While there were no deaths among the Alterrans, there were a lot of other injuries during this war. This was unavoidable, especially when they were up against the former strongest village in the region. Among the biggest casualty was Eagle, who was currently being operated on by Dr. Volohov. His situation was further complicated by the fact that he had been poisoned! Sadly, the antidotes had been used up so Althea had to rush to make a new one, though it could''ve been too late judging by the state of necrosis. Another problem was that the threads used were not enough. The stock they had was consumed by all the stitches to be done while the war was going! It was to be made of animal gut, but took time to produce more and they had to preserve the arm in frozen solution. Still, Volohov did not give up. He couldn''t guarantee that the operation would be a success due to the limited technology¡ªbut everyone was doing what they could. Regardless, this situation broke everyone''s heart. Such a good friend and soldier lost such an important appendage. Who wouldn''t be heartbroken? Chapter 758 Justice Hall Eagle''s unknown situation caused deep anger within the Alterran guards and citizens, which ultimately led to the extreme torture of their prisoners, who were used to vent by the soldiers. Anyway, these prisoners were definitely deserving of the pain. The suffering they caused was probably no less than Fargo and his men. The Torture Chamber was located in the new Justice Hall, a manual construction building placed between the System Prison and the Barracks, directly placed at the end of a new wide street called Justice Street. The Building was large and quite intimidating from the outside, its form naturally showing its prestige. There were towering columns that rose majestically from the ground, supporting the large roof above. After a short staircase, they would be led to an expansive entryway and lounge that goes to various ''halls''. Although it was inspired by the imposing neoclassic architecture back in Terran, aesthetically, it was combined with distinctly Alterran elements like stone and wood. The top two floors had several rooms serving as courtrooms, though they were there mostly to handle grey area cases that oaths might not necessarily handle fairly enough. This was also where criminals who would ''graduate'' from their prisoner of war status¡ªwhen they paid up all their atonement points¡ªwould be tried, to check whether they truly deserved their freedom. There was also an underground pathway to transport high-profile prisoners to the other building. Similarly, there was also underground access from the Barracks. This was done not only for secrecy and security but also not to scare people too much at the possibly very poor state of the prisoners. For instance, the Guians, many of whom were being tortured in the underground torture chamber. "ARGGHHHH!!!!" Seto screamed as he was pricked by thousands of needles all over his body by some mechanism. He had been gravely injured during the war, and the needles didn''t choose whether to prick good skin or the broken ones. It would then be lifted, and the mechanism would prick him with random needles at varying intervals, torturing him psychologically too. In another torture chamber, his comrades were suffering no less. "AHHHHHH!" Ero screeched as his body was heated up like in an oven. Sometimes it would be scorching hot, while other times it would be minor burns¡ªwhich just added contrast to the pain. From here they knew that Alterra was the land of innovation in Xeno¡ªand these innovations¡­ were not limited to infrastructure or daily things. "YOU''LL PAY FOR THIS!!!" Ero screamed at the top of his lungs, "YOU''LL PAY FOR THISSS! GAHHH!!!" Gill raised his spear and heated it up, branding his fat cheek. "How? You''re trapped here, powerless. Your lord is dead. How?" Ero gritted his teeth as he shivered from the pain, but his eyes were defiant. He probably knew about the master city but couldn''t say anything due to an oath. Knowing him, if there wasn''t, he''d definitely drop the name just to ''make them fall into terror''. But, while a good piece of info to have, it wasn''t what they were looking for. And so, the torture resumed. *** Garan went out of the room about half an hour later, going out to see his wife waiting there. She didn''t get changed either. They didn''t have the leisure to waste, after all, they needed to find that token as soon as possible. From what they knew from the Golds, the token would automatically integrate with the person nearest to it regardless of whether it was in the sky or underground. However, there was another¡ªvery expensive¡ªtool that could contain it. Baltimore probably used this. If they didn''t find it before the war ended, however, then it''d be troublesome to find it again. What if the so-called master territory decided to visit? Would they lose Guia just like that? How could they let it happen when it was so near? "It''s probably in a secret room in his territory," Garan said. That was all they could get and they decided not to waste any more time on torture. Those people probably made a few more oaths so torturing them more was no use. It seemed like Baltimore didn''t go back to Guia after being in Alterra. This meant that he had always hidden it somewhere else and didn''t bother integrating with himself anymore. This could actually be very smart, assuming that the place was really secure. Not only was the territory protected during wars even at a loss, but when the lord died outside of it, the territory probably would not disintegrate¡ªat least not until the war officially ended on the 28th hour. However, Baltimore didn''t seem like someone who cared for his people so much, so this was likely the instruction of the master he served, who refused to lose the territory even at the event of his death. Further, even if there was no one who would retrieve the token after his death, it meant that the winning territory wouldn''t get anything from him either. It was quite vindictive. "We have 6 more hours," Garan said, heaving a sigh. They had to find that token, this was obvious, and the couple didn''t waste another minute and headed to the array. The thing about the teleportation arrays during wars was that they were accessible for the 28 hours the war was supposed to last. Guia could take days to get to. It was too practical to get there and¡ªideally¡ªback via the array before it closed. Sadly, Garan was beyond the level cap, so he could only accompany Althea¡ªand a few others like Luis¡ªto the array. "I will go now," Althea said, and the little sparkle on her eyes wasn''t missed by her husband who knew every part of her. She was definitely excited to use the array and go to another place. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan really wished he could come with her, or at least accompany her to a legitimate trip done just for the sake of travel. But, for now, it was a temporary goodbye for the couple. "Good luck," he said, kissing her forehead, and he could only watch as she entered deep into the array, and disappeared. Chapter 759 Entering Guia Village Before heading out, Althea put an aether letter telling the elders of her plans and to settle the prisoners well. She also asked to handle the slaves and make them swear oaths to never harm the territory, even after they freed themselves. Of course, she also mentioned that they could not drop their guards until the announcement was received. People could still attack them after all. What if there were still rats hidden, waiting to strike? "Wait," Garan said as they headed out the gate. He brought her to Baltimore''s corpse and took out a long knife, beheading him. He took out a tissue paper from his space to hold the head in, and he wrapped him in some dirty rags to keep his dirty blood from bleeding in his wife''s space. "So people believe they have already lost," he told her. She nodded, placing it in her space. This would be her ''entrance ticket'' if they needed it. Because they hadn''t retrieved the token yet, there was no announcement. Strictly speaking, if the rest of the enemy territory citizens below the level cap would go through the array and get inside the territory alive¡ªif the number somehow reached more than half of the overall participants¡ªthen they could still win. Hence, in their case, until the entire 28 hours were completed, they hadn''t officially won yet¡ªnot unless they got their hands on that token. Although it was only Althea, Luis, and a few others who went in to maintain low-key entry to Guia, it didn''t mean those beyond wouldn''t do anything else. For one, they still needed to send stronger individuals there even if the travel would take days. If they managed to secure the place, then there would be a need for trusted stewards to watch over the place. If there wasn''t, then it was a good chance to get as much Iron as they could (and maybe even get some more goblins) before the Master Territory messed things up for them. Gill also stepped forward. "I''ll go there with a few people, Captain, but I may not go back for a while." After the war, he hoped to get to Cassandra. Judging by the consolidated maps, Guia was on the way to Jacoba Town. Garan nodded, assigning the forces to go to Guia Village as soon as possible. After that, he would go around the place to check for leaks and escapees around the territory. For a territory like Guia, they had to cut all roots they could not control. ¡­ Guia Village. At this time, several guards gathered by the gates. One, to do their jobs, second, to gossip. "What do you think happened?" One asked, recalling the major orders a few hours back. The guards looked bloody and scared and they could tell the enemy¡ªAlterra Village¡ªwas a lot stronger than they thought. Pretty much all of their fighting forces were called in, leaving a handful of guards to maintain the territory. While the guards looked worried, they comforted themselves. "It''s a challenge sure, but it means the loot is higher." "Ah, that''s true." Guia Village had never lost before, and the people didn''t have the concept of it. They continued chattering until the array lit up. "They''re here!" one said, looking forward to the triumphant return¡ªlikely with new slaves. They jumped down the battlement¡ªa grave mistake on their part¡ªthinking they''d be needed to escort the slaves. Too many died the previous month during that damned Goblin attack, plus the few tortures and venting ended up reducing the goblin slaves they had. Anyway, they really lost a lot of slaves. They needed more and this war was the perfect time to regenerate and get more forces! To their shock though, the people who leisurely came through were all unfamiliar people. There were only two of them, but they came in as if they didn''t take them to mind at all! They gasped and immediately started attacking, but none of the attacks even damaged the woman, while the man was an elementalist who took them down while they were distracted!! They were both level 17 though, so naturally the fire could not kill them so easily. What they didn''t expect was a glittering set of bow and arrows directed straight to their hearts. Their eyes were wide as they stared at the newcomers. Who the orcshit are these people? ¡­ They dragged the guards deeper into the forest for interrogation, with Luis looking at his scope to see if anything had changed around the gates. He saw that it was clear, so he knew the disappearance of two guards was unnoticed for now. "First thing we have to determine is the reason why Baltimore hid it in the first place," Althea said, handing over another protection charm to Luis, just in case. This would help them narrow down the places to look, or¡ªat the worst case scenario¡ªwhether to not waste time anymore. For instance, if Baltimore placed it in his Warehouse. Only the lord could enter the Warehouse at any time. In theory, he could''ve placed the token there. Normally, if the war ended and the lord was dead, then the territory would disintegrate. In such cases, them¡ªthe winners¡ªwould not get anything except a portion of the gold and the people they may or may not have captured on their turf. But if Baltimore truly had and used that magic tool to preserve the separation of the token, then it''d be a different matter. In theory, if the Lord died with its token protected like so, then the territory would become an independent land with no master, for the rest of time¡ªat least until the token was found. However, they knew this was unlikely in Guia Village''s case. They knew from Ferrol''s secret letter that Guia was only their subsidiary in name and it definitely had a master. This meant Baltimore was answering to someone else, and they must have access to where the lord token was even in his death. Perhaps, one of his allies was already taking it somewhere. In this case, they had to get it back. Althea heaved a deep breath as she stared at the wall not too far from them. "Let''s go." S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 760 Hunt for the Lord Token At this time, Althea buried them on the ground with only their heads above the soil. She did it quickly by taking the soil she loosened with her ability back to her space. "Tell us, does your lord answer to anyone else in the territory?" Luis asked, crossing his arms and looking down at them. This was to determine if there was anyone who might know the location of the token. The guards looked at him as if he had asked a stupid question. "How could our lord answer to someone else in their own territory?" The others nodded even as their teeth clattered, shivering, trying to retain whatever sense of control they could. "Even that Lord of Ferrol Town acts like a peer!" This made the two''s eyebrows rise and they looked at each other. However, Jonathan did mention the opponent was a city, so Baltimore must''ve looked down on Jonathan by virtue of the connection. However, while they were reluctant to bump against a city, they stayed firm in the end. While stealing Guia may mean irking a strong enemy, all they''d be able to do was to send village subsidiaries to them. They weren''t dependent on anyone in resources, so nothing could threaten them either. They fought hard. They deserved Guia. Also, they could really use that iron mine and those hundreds of goblins. "Then is anyone close to your lord left behind?" Althea asked. She closed her fist and tightened the earth around them, making them shiver, but they refused to answer on principle. She sighed. They only had a few hours before the war ended and they didn''t have the leisure for long torture. Luis raised his sword. "Since they''re useless, no need to keep them alive." "GAHHH! NOOO!" "Don''t!!!" "Wait, let me try something," Althea intervened and the men looked at her with a bit of hope. She narrowed her eyes at the guards for a moment, thinking. "Their levels should be good enough," Althea said, taking out a bottle from her space. "There''s an experimental potion that could maybe help out,'' she said. "Can you open their mouths please?" At this, Luis and the others pried the guards'' mouths open and they force fed them the suspicious-looking liquid. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. None of them were certain what it was, but they forced their mouths closed and pinched their noses so they had no choice but to swallow. "HIC¡ª" "ARG¡ªgurgle¡ª" After ensuring the guards had consumed all the potion, they stood up and waited for whatever should happen to happen. For now, though, the guards just looked pale. Obviously, the medicine didn''t taste very good. Curious, Luis turned to the woman. "What is it, Miss Althea?" "Truth potion." "..." . . "Seriously?" he asked, and the others gaped at her in shock. She thought for a moment before clarifying. "Well, it''s more of a¡­ suggestion potion. If we add a few more tempting conditions, we may be able to get what we want" After saying this, she manifested some gold and dangled it in front of them. "If you tell me all you could about your lord, I will give you this." These guards were also in their level 15 or so as well, so her potions naturally had reduced effects (it was why she didn''t bother using it against Ero or Seto), but it was still strong. After a few moments, the men started to look inebriated. They proceeded to ask more about the territory, getting their maps in the process for free. With those, they found out more about the locations of Baltimore''s properties. They also found out that all of Baltimore''s closest cronies had come with him, but he did have servants in his house who could¡­ enlighten them. "I think that''s as much as we could get," Althea said and the others nodded, knowing it was time for them to take the next steps. "We''ll leave you here," Althea looked at the half-frozen men. "Good luck." ¡­ They entered from the side using Althea''s earth stairs without causing a commotion at all. Most people who remained were mostly in their homes, while the remaining slaves continued with their jobs. This wasn''t a surprise. After all, Guia mobilized the majority of their forces to attack Alterra, retaining some low-level citizens here, which was why they hadn''t actually received the winning announcement yet. Anyway, this place was grossly undermanned. It not only had loose sentry arrangements but, based on their scouting, there were very few guards there at this time. Hey, most of them were probably already either dead or a prisoner in Alterra now. However, they were not complacent and still did their best to minimize the danger. Using the maps they got from the guards, the group separated into two, with the other group taking a look at the other possible places the token could be left in, while Althea and Luis headed straight to the Lord''s house¡ªwhich was also the most dangerous place there at this time. Like most other villages, the roads here were narrow and smelly. Of course, it didn''t get the title of most powerful village for nothing. It was still much better than others, especially to Luis who had been to many aborigine villages before. Most people who didn''t participate in the war were in their homes. There weren''t many anymore, mostly women and disabled people supported by family. Obviously, Baltimore made strict orders that forced anyone with some force to the war. "How do we get in?" Luis asked as they headed towards Baltimore''s home. The villa was surrounded by level 2 walls. It was a customized building specifically made to appear more ornate than others. Compared to the simple houses around, it definitely stuck out like a sore thumb. Baltimore didn''t seem like the person who''d prefer this aesthetic, so it was likely chosen by his ''guests''. However, she also knew how it was in Xeno so her dirty appearance was actually more common than proper. Luis gaped as Althea headed to the gate and knocked on it! She did it several times, too! "M-Miss Althea!" Luis squealed through gritted teeth. Althea remained cool though and Luis had no choice but to shut his mouth. Soon, the door opened to reveal a guard, whose eyes sparkled a bit at the sight of her. "What is it?" Althea ignored his disgusting stare and kept in character. "I¡­ I''m a citizen from Ferrol Town¡­ but my caravan was attacked¡­" she said, looking pitiful. "I need to see your lord. Can I talk to him, please?" Chapter 761 Sneaking In The guard looked at her greedily and Luis behind her was really about to throw a fireball. How dare this trash eye Miss Althea! Who cared if he was a Level 18 or so! "You can come in, but just you," the guard said, heckling Luis'' feathers even more. Althea raised her palm to stop him. "It''s okay, Luis, just go around the place to pass time," she told him, giving him a meaningful stare. Her words calmed Luis down and he nodded, heading out the gate to the satisfaction of the greedy guard. He led her to the servant''s quarters at the side of the main house. Here, the live-in guards and other servants stayed, though when they saw him with a woman, many of the servants who were there scuttled away. "You can wait here," he said, asking her to sit on a crude sofa at the side. "The Lord has not yet returned from the war, but since they went all out, it shouldn''t take long." "Thank you." Althea nodded and took out tea sets, "Do you want some?" she asked. "It''s special Tea from Holt City¡ªaccording to the salesperson, anyway." He grinned, liking her humble attitude and took the pretty cup. "These are good," he said, giving her a deep look. "I bought it from a merchant when the Ferrol Fair was ongoing," she said, smiling gently and taking a graceful sip in her own cup, prompting the man to do the same. He took a sip and felt it bitter. He frowned, but did not show his distaste too much. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Holt City was known to have developed and was the main source of various things, including several sauces and special teas. They also owned the developmental rights to several System Restaurants and Tea Houses, which meant they earned money every time a territory bought and used their building. He knew this because their visitors from Towns and cities often bragged about their knowledge and he, an ambitious man, naturally remembered as much as he could. Doubting that the weak level 10 woman would dare do anything against him, he just thought it was a special tea with an unusual taste that catered to high nobles. "Where did you say you were from again? Ferrol?" he asked, as he sipped. "Yes, the Town," she said. "It is your master town, right?" The guard sneered. "Heh, not really," he said, sitting right next to her. "Ferrol Town¡­ is not much to us," he said. She appeared genuinely confused. "I heard Guia Village is a subsidiary to Ferrol. Is this not accurate?" "Well, we serve a higher master," he said. "I see¡­" "But¡­ does your lord answer to anyone? I''m asking because I hope to find someone from Ferrol¡­ or the master territory. A steward, perhaps?" The guard sneered. "Well, there was before, but how could they stay in a little village for so long?" he said, tone with hints of bitterness. The man definitely had some humiliating encounters with these people. Althea continued to fill his cup with ''tea'', and asked him more and more questions about the territory. Her attitude made him like her even more and, as long as it wasn''t a scope of the oath, he would answer her inquiries to show off what he knew. Within the next few minutes she confirmed that there was indeed someone ''superior'' who stayed in Guia a lot. However, after a while, they came back less and less frequently and stayed for shorter periods of time. Apparently, they hadn''t seen the person for a few months now. She also found out that this person also stayed in Baltimore''s main house, particularly in the Central House, so it was likely the token was near there as well. Soon, she knew she could get everything she could from this man, and her softness changed. "Well, thank you," she said, appearing as innocent as she was. The man grinned, leaning over. "Now, I can tell you more if you¡­ stay with me a while. Althea smiled, but unexpectedly she threw some liquid onto him. His eyes turned red and he wanted to grab her neck in response. However, she just casually stepped back and looked at him without emotion. "It''s time for you to die now." "What¡ª" Whoosh! A flamethrower appeared at his side, blowing him straight to the wall. "AHHH!" he yelled, feeling the intense burning of his skin. Of course, it was not enough to kill him. However, when he opened his eyes, a sharp sword was already hanging above him and¡ª Slash! He was no more. Luis waved his hand and the fire died down, and they both looked coldly at the corpse below them. Another side effect of the truth potion was that it nulls a lot of the other senses. This was why when Luis arrived in the house, the level 18 guard was completely unaware, and it was why he couldn''t react fast enough when she threw oil at him. She shrugged, turning to the door. "Let''s go in." ¡­ They snuck further inside the home and found there were still a few guards there, a few of which were beyond the level cap. Luis frowned and looked at Althea, "I''ll take care of them," he said, bravely lighting up a fire on his hand. "Wait," she said, stopping him. "Do you think I don''t have enough tools in my space?" Luis blinked. A few minutes later a few balls rolled around the house. After a soft poof of explosion, smoke was released, going through various parts of the house. The low leveled servants fell down. The stronger guards weren''t completely affected, but they did feel a bit dizzy and yawned. "Wow¡­ even level 15 got hit," Luis mumbled, wearing a cloth mask, kicking the man a bit. The man moved and Luis squeaked, finally killing him with his sword. "Do we still have a lot of tools, Miss Althea?" he asked, and she shrugged. "A few." She didn''t answer anymore of his questions and stared at the large expanse of Baltimore''s house. "Now¡­ where could that token be?" Chapter 762 Baltimores House After the lack of such tools during the first war, she overprepared a bit on this one. Added to the fact that she didn''t have to use a lot during the war since it was their home base, she still had a few in her space. They also took a few servants, especially the older-looking ones, and made them drink the truth potion. Sadly, they knew no more than the guard they killed. They did it repeatedly in many places and fortunately, the slaves and servants left weren''t particularly strong. Basically, while they sauntered across the lord''s house, they were relatively undisturbed. As they perused the rooms, most of which were empty, Althea also low-key stole some interesting items like unique decorations and cheap tools. Nothing too valuable, but since it was there might as well take it. Maybe¡­ magically the token was hidden in them, anyway. (Of course, even Althea was not that lucky). However, the somewhat happy ''shopping'' mood turned sour when they ended up in a room with about a dozen girls. The smoke didn''t get all the way here, and they were all safe and awake. The smell was strong and the atmosphere was dreary inside that room. Some didn''t move while some raised their heads to meet hers. They didn''t have much life or fight in them, but they were studying them and were a bit surprised to see another woman. Althea pursed her lips and turned to look at the surprised Luis. "I''ll talk to them," she told him, closing the door on him. She turned back to watch the women in thought. She had been wondering who to ask to get more clues to the token, but¡ªsince the use of the servants was limited¡ªshe thought that this might just be the place. Baltimore was an untrusting individual. If there was anyone who would have a clue, it''d be his closest cronies who signed detailed oaths. The other servants here unsurprisingly did not know anything about the token, leaving her with this option. The bed partners. The aborigines had a sort of predisposition to underestimate women. To be honest, it could very well be the downfall of many strong men here. "Hello," she said to the nearest responsive woman. "My name is Thea, I just arrived here, I was hired to ''assist'' your lord." They looked at her, some in guardness, while some in jealousy of her beauty. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Does anyone know when he''ll return?" No one answered her at first, mostly either dazed or of dislike. Althea sighed and looked for someone one with the most hostility. "I wonder who knows most about the lord?" she asked, appearing genuinely curious. A few women perked up a little. The most obvious was a woman who was leisurely laying on her bed. It was a beautiful woman, and had some pride in her, indicating she must have the favor of Baltimore or someone in his circle. She raised her head, looking arrogantly at her. "He will return at night, he usually comes and takes one of us. Usually, me." From this, she knew that they were unaware there was a war nor that they already lost. "I see¡­," she paused in thought. "Actually, it''s just between us but I''m actually here to test you girls out." The women naturally looked at her guardedly, obviously anxious. No one dared question her though, because there was a chance that she was telling the truth and losing favor could easily mean death here. "Who here genuinely loves the lord?" she asked. "The war¡­ has taken a toll on him, and he wishes to have a¡­ purer interaction tonight." "Me!" "I do!" another said. "I know all of his likes!" "He loves my voice!" A few women immediately approached her, showing off how well they knew the lord. She observed each one of them, and they showed various expressions. Her emerald eyes fixed on someone though. She was located at the back of the room and among those who did not bother getting closer. She had the strongest negative emotion at the question. "You," she said, pointing at the girl. "Come with me." At this, the women flinched, especially the woman from before. "Why her?" "She dislikes him! I can tell! The way she scowls¡ª" Althea shook her head, "I know," she said. "Sir Seto told me to get rid of the bad grass. He doesn''t want to infect you girls with her negative energy." At her words, the women obviously relaxed. At the same time, knowing the lord would be taking them today¡ªthey would get money or resources or good food when they did well¡ªmany immediately started to prepare themselves. Meanwhile, Althea pulled the girl into a room. The girl didn''t fight much, obviously surrendering to whatever fate awaited her. "How much do you know about Baltimore?" The woman looked at her weirdly. "Do you hate him?" The girl''s jaw clenched but didn''t answer, but her facial expression was good enough. Althea''s eyebrows rose and she pulled out Baltimore''s head out of her space with one hand, and she used her clean hand to cover the woman''s mouth. "WA¡ª" "Calm down. Promise not to scream " Shaky and a little teary, the woman nodded. Althea soon realized the tears were not of fear¡­ but of happiness. "Finally!" She exclaimed, taking the head into her hands and threw it down the floor, kicking it repeatedly. "FINALLY!!" Althea watched. Wow. Baltimore must''ve really messed with this one. Baltimore had indeed messed with this one. Her name was Yllana, a beautiful daughter of a small noble¡ªa village lord. Her territory lost a few months ago and she witnessed all her family either killed during the war or died suffering as slaves. How could the hate be small? This man tortured people for fun. He even buried people alive. He used his ability to enjoy listening to their weakening breath as he deprived them of air! Now¡­ he lost the right to do so as well! ¡­. Althea did not have the time to wait for the girl to complete all her emotional reactions to this. They headed out of the room to see Luis waiting there patiently. Yllana glared at him guardedly, but didn''t do anything else. "He''s with you?" Obviously, the girl had a dislike of men¡ªand understandably so. "He''s a good guy," Althea said. "He killed a lot of your guards you know." For the next half an hour, the three of them rummaged through the house and found a few things, but there was still no token. Yllana tried her best to remember what she knew about Baltimore, though so far nothing had borne fruit, making her feel embarrassed. If Althea had time, she''d have comforted her. To be fair, the other woman really did know a lot about Baltimore. It was likely Yllana had been remembering all details she could, in the hopes of using them someday to deal with him. However, none of that mattered for now. They were running out of time. Althea''s brain ran fast, putting together all the information they had so far: Baltimore was an earth user. He liked to bury people. And he was a bastard. At some point, her eyes brightened, "Where did you say Baltimore''s favourite garden was?" Yllana blinked and thought, pointing in a certain direction. It was a large garden at the back, and it also had a few skeletons. The girl led them to his favorite spot. It had the richest plants, likely because of the number of ''fertilizers'' it had underneath. Althea heaved a deep breath and used [Earth Sense] to peruse whatever was underground. She thought of a place that was not so easily found but accessible enough. It wasn''t straightforward. After all, her ability could only see until 2 meters below her. In the end, she could only vibrate the ground to soften it and place the soil in her space, and then let it out again. She dug like this until she could peruse some 5 meters or so below the ground. She practiced her skill a lot, until she had at least some impression of what was happening beyond her radius of capability. She used her skill to zone in on where aether was a bit denser compared to its surroundings. After a while of searching, she found a rock that had many cavities, and she looked closer at what was inside. After what felt like forever, her emerald eyes finally shone brightly. "Found it!" Chapter 763 Final Clearing Alterra Village While their Lord was digging enemy territory, the final clearing was happening in Alterra. The enemies were tied and locked, heading towards their prison, while the others were set aside for further interrogations. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fortunately, the rain had been reduced to trickles. "The rain is finally stopping¡­" a citizen mumbled, relieved. "Well, sort of." During this time, they realized the effects of rain during fights. Not only were the fire abilities basically useless, it really affected everyone else as well. They consumed a lot more energy and people had to be taken to the hospitals even when the war had completely turned one-sided. Why? Because they couldn''t recover the energies fast enough. Anyway, now that things had calmed, they rounded up the enemies to be placed in the two prisons, with the strong ones in the System Prison. There were hundreds of prisoners taken in, and they''d definitely have to be squeezed uncomfortably inside. Another awesome thing about aether prisons was that it self-cleaned. They couldn''t imagine having to clean after these jerks! As for the manual prison, there was a proper toilet there, and they''d definitely be beaten up by other prisoners if they dirtied their floor. Bit by bit, they brought people in, waiting for the official announcement that the war was over before completely relaxing. Still, it couldn''t be helped that most would let go of some tension. Their hearts and nervousness had calmed to some degree, and most had time to absorb what had happened. This was especially true for the aborigines who had lived with wars since as far as they could remember. All their lives, wars were synonymous to death and suffering. If a territory like Guia Village attacked them, if they were in any other village, they''d have assumed they''d have lost early on. But Alterra came out as a clear winner. Alterra was only a couple of months old. One of the most shocked was the aborigines from the Terran mercenary team. For instance, Knauf and Essed. They had never been in such a war before. They had watched as the leading team did their best to protect the people, even using those bombs¡ªthose must''ve been expensive¡ªjust to increase people''s rate of survival. They also saw how the injured were immediately taken to the hospitals by brethren, with designated ''logistics'' people dedicated just to rescue people. They had also seen how people protected and lifted each other up, rather than what they had been used to. What made them most in awe was the results of the war. To their knowledge, no one inside the territory died! There were hundreds of injuries, but no deaths! Unprecedented! Guia was not weak! Even they had heard of it back in Ferrol. It was hailed as one of the top villages in the entire human territory. To be honest, when they heard they had been called to go all the way here to assist in a village war, it felt as if they had been demoted. They had also thought they''d be the frontliners who would be carrying the weaker locals on their backs. But they quickly realized¡­ that they had thought too much of themselves. ¡­ Many of these war achievements were naturally not a secret to the visitors, who had been watching as spectators. Their residencies were in other higher-ranked territories, so they naturally didn''t have anything to fear even if Alterra lost. They watched aside as audiences and ended up learning a lot. While they thought that not taking slaves was unnecessary, they did see a lot about how warfare could go. They saw how good putting sentries inside could be, they saw the advantages of wide roads during wars, and many others. There were even two battle pets, who were both far from their masters, that focused on protecting other people. They shielded them and worked with them well. Judging by their teamwork, the visitors could tell that the battle pets had been training with a lot of people other than just their masters. A lot of the aborigines, especially those from villages, had also seen Half-orcs for the first time. They had heard of their reputation and today they confirmed that were indeed very strong. They watched in interest as the orc was treated as a genuine¡ªand respected¡ªmember of the team. It was a bit incomprehensible to them, but the seeds of the idea had been planted, casting doubt to what they had believed in. Even before the war, their worldviews had began to shake as they were exposed to various products, people, and concepts. After the war, they realized that it was a more enlightening trip than they had thought. They didn''t expect it to be like this coming here. They thought they''d just be making some money! Before¡­ they just thought that whoever won, they were sure to still get those products, the output just depended on who they''d be talking to. If Alterra lost, then a lot of their items would be sent to Guia (because a lot of the resources would go to them), though they preferred to make deals directly as the cost was really much lower. Further, if Alterra got weakened due to the war, a lot of these people had been planning to tell their respective lords about it. That way, they could decide to send some subsidiaries to weaken it further. That way, they''d have bigger pieces of the pie. This wasn''t anything new in Xeno, and it was why high-potential territories would often be cut from the bud. But this was not the case with Alterra. It won such a strong enemy with flying colors and they immediately knew it was not worth losing as a business partner. Besides, it wasn''t like the cost of the items was so high¡ªespecially if purchased directly from the village. It wasn''t worth making an enemy of such a village that could very well rise to a Town in a few years or less. They were also very interested in this show of strength and they wondered if they could get a hold of those hand-held weapons they could see. They were available to some of them, but the costs were high. Speaking of which, the cost the territory accrued just to minimize the injuries of their vanguards was no joke. This meant that it''d spend however much it had to protect its people¡ªand that was something terrifying to go against. Alterra¡­, was definitely the territory to watch out for. Chapter 764 Rounding them Up An Hour Prior. There was still no announcement because the 28-hour mark was still a few hours away. That was to say, unless the token was taken immediately, anything could still happen. Hence, everyone was still on guard despite having relieved smiles on their faces. The elders oversaw everything, with the guards remaining vigilant for any more unexpected moves. They especially tortured the stronger ones, making sure they didn''t have the energy to cause any chaos. Garan and the soldiers outside had already brought in their own prisoners, all of whom were going directly to the system prison. They were also there to make sure there was no accident. They had basically won. They were at the last step. How could they let anything happen? They had begun to determine which among the enemies beyond the level cap to keep alive. They made them swear an oath to tell the truth about their crimes, and they were judged in the Justice Hall. The sessions were led by Mathilda and the others. They had considered having a jury as well, in order to encourage the public participation in the judicial process as well as to expand transparency and diversify perspectives, but there were also many disadvantages so they withheld that for now. However, they would definitely finalize the criteria for that in the future, when more grey-area conflicts involving their own people could occur. In those cases, varying perspectives would be needed in order to make the citizens feel they had a voice in these conflicts. Anyway, thanks to the Oaths, they could escape the dangers of perjury, and therefore misjudgement by misunderstandings would generally be avoided. On the other hand, when they felt that a person was a total psychopath who lived to kill people and enjoyed it, then he''d be sent down to the torture chambers. More than to satisfy their bloodlust, it was more to possibly get information from them. As for the sinful men they spared¡ªthe people who showed some remorse¡ªthen they were given a choice. First, they must spill everything that they could about Guia and this world, or die like the others. If they agreed, then they''d sign another oath to never ¡ªdirectly or indirectly¡ªhurt Alterra, its population, or any of its associate territories in their lifetimes. They would thereby be assigned as Prisoners of War, with their sentence varying according to their sins¡­ though a lot of these sentences might as well last a lifetime. Outside the Justice Hall, there had not been a few struggles. However, Alterra was strong and, with the lessening of enemies who could fight, it had become easier for them to deal with enemies, even if they were higher level. "SHUT UP!" Angelo yelled, punching a prisoner 2 levels higher than he was. He pointed at the man''s tendon. "If you don''t want to destroy your legs and get dragged to prison, behave." "Am I right, Boss Sammy?" He asked, looking at his fellow wind archer, and also one of his mentors. The dark-skinned man grimaced just shooing him away. "Don''t dilly-dally, there''s still hundreds outside." "Yes, yes!" Other people helping with the roundup were Mauru and his fellowmen, who contributed a lot as they always did. It had to be said: the frequent wars from their previous lives really helped them carve good lives in Alterra. They were especially happy with their contribution points. With this, they''d eventually be able to afford some magic tools. Magic tools! To their knowledge, Magic Tools were something only available in high-level towns for an exorbitant amount of money. But in Alterra, in exchange for contribution points, it could be accessible to them! sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Mauin was eyeing a nice weapon, while the others eyed a variety of defensive weapons. They had also seen how the protection charm worked, and a lot of them aimed for that as well. Anyway, the contribution points were such happy things, and they practically dragged the prisoners to where they were supposed to be. ¡­ In one of the corners watching the prisoners getting hauled were Winona and Ansel, with the latter approaching the woman with a bit of awkwardness. "Thanks," he said, "For saving me." Winona frowned and looked away, ignoring him. It was notable that her long curly hair had shortened noticeably¡­ by a lot. Ansel awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck with a little blush on his face. What happened between them was not much of a long story. The fight continued well after Althea left to check on the battle outside. It was just that Ansel was annoyed, particularly at Winona. Even when his sister wasn''t there to protect and worry about, there was still this woman! It was annoying because he couldn''t leave her be and do his own thing! "Go back to your lab already! We can handle this!" he yelled to her back then. Winona looked at him, offended, "Don''t worry about me! I can manage!" Ansel gritted his teeth, how could he do that?! Worse was that she very early got stabbed by a sword and he felt his heart almost die right there! Annoyed, he yelled at her. "You''re no help here, you burden!" In his distraction, he failed to see a spear incoming. He was pulled in, and the spear was pushed away. The next thing he knew, a certain blonde kicked the spear-weilder down. This enemy was then promptly beheaded by Fufi. Other than the Guian''s, there was no blood from their side. However, there was a casualty: Winona''s¡­ hair. Her hair was cut at an awkward angle. It was very ugly and ragged, and it made Ansel''s heart drop. Everyone knew how much Winona loved her hair¡­ And so was the current scene. "Go away," Winona said, glaring at him, definitely not wanting to see his face at the moment. She ignored him the whole time, wearing a scowl that should''ve been irritating. ''But what to do¡­,'' Ansel thought, feeling complicated. He felt that it was adorable. Chapter 765 New Citizens The hospital, which could hold more than a thousand patients at a time, was now fully working. All the rooms, wards, and even the mass wards were filled with people. This was not just their own people, but also Guians they judged as a non-threat, especially now that their lord was dead. For instance, there were certain wards that were even filled with Guia slaves. For safety, they were in a separate ward from the seriously injured Guia citizens, so that no one could order them there. One of the patients here was the Goblin Hoku. He was the only goblin sent as a vanguard due to his disability. A goblin that couldn''t dig was useless in the mines, and the fact that he was useless even as a goblin slave truly felt like a large weight pulling him down the ground. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He wasn''t surprised to be assigned amongst the meat shields. These were the first sacrifices, and it was almost impossible to survive there, at least with all limbs intact. And when a limb was gone, then they''d be even more useless. They''d likely be thrown as bait instead, which was an even more tragic death than dying in a war. At least then, they''d have the illusion of having a higher purpose. He went in this war not expecting to ever get out, but somehow when he lost consciousness from weird smoke that enveloped him and everyone else. He lost consciousness, finding himself in a rare nice dream. In his dream, he was back home, surrounded by fellow goblins with smiles on their faces. They were not covered with wounds and had a good amount of meat in them. They were clean and their clothes did not have a single hole. His parents, who had perished in the goblin war a few months back, were also there. They pulled him for a nice meal¡ªthe bread from the restaurant, but with added plants and fruits on top¡ªand they ate until they couldn''t anymore. In his dream, there was no human to tell them what to do. There was no human to hurt them, and there would be no human making them hurt each other so they could watch and laugh at the side. It must''ve been Goblin Eden, he thought. After this dream, he woke up feeling wonderfully comfortable. He belatedly realized he had really been asleep, and the fact that it was just a dream made him want to cry. But he gathered himself somehow, absorbing that he was sleeping somewhere comfortable. He had never been in such a soft bed before. He opened his eyes and saw lines and lines of such bed with a lot of acquaintances. Some were with him, and others he didn''t think he''d see again! They were both watching him as he eased awake and chuckled when his eyes widened like saucers as he saw them. He flinched and gasped at his sudden movement, but he quickly forgot about it at the sight of old friends. "Iko? Yut?!" he yelled, also looking around to see a handful of other goblins on their beds! "You¡­ where¡­. I thought you were¡­ wuuuu¡ª" They wanted to chuckle at his silly face, but they found tears in their eyes instead. They looked weird crying as they laughed. To be honest, when they woke up, they looked even sillier than Hoku. When they drowned, swept away by the strong flood, they really didn''t think they''d open their eyes again. The others were placed in another room, but the kind nurse said they were fine. Goblins had special senses and they knew the nurse was being sincere. His eyes were full of kindness and pity, and to be honest they still didn''t understand it until now. Anyway, the goblins sobbed for a while before they stopped, hiccuping after crying so much. "Where¡­ are we?" Hoku asked, sniffed, and hiccuped. "Are we really not dead?" "No," one said. "We''re very much alive." He felt complicated after confirming if he really wasn''t in Goblin Heaven. (This heavenly bed certainly felt out of this world though, he thought.) "They saved us and healed us," Iko said, looking around. "Everyone in this room¡­ were slaves." Yut nodded, wiping his snot, eyes wide as if convincing him it was the truth. "They''re healing us¡­ they''re healing slaves¡­" He then looked down, appearing shy. "I¡­ I don''t mind becoming a slave here," he said, voice low as if afraid to be judged, but the other two didn''t deny anything. Beside them, Pency, a human slave, stared at the ceiling. He was in the same vanguard unit as Hoku. Like him, he didn''t think he''d get out of that war alive¡ªmuch like the rest of his fellow villagers who had been slaves with him. They, too, were assigned as vanguards and they were always the first to die in the war. He was a little dazed as he listened to the conversations next to him, having difficulty absorbing anything with his muddled head. So¡­ alive. He could feel both arms and legs, too. And such a soft bed and clean atmosphere¡ªit wasn''t something he could have imagined. Even he before becoming a slave hadn''t slept so well. The slaves soon settled down on their beds, relaxing, and maximizing their time there. They didn''t know when they''d be in such peace again, after all. Furthermore, they were now comfortable and light, as if their injured bodies and old wounds were healing. Was it their imagination? Were they feeling so nice that they also imagined something else was happening to their bodies? The slaves honestly didn''t know what to expect and they spent time just in deep thought. It was interrupted when the door opened, revealing a regal woman advanced in age. They flinched, instinctively knowing this was a woman with power. "Hello," the old woman, smiling at them. "My name is Mathilda, I am one of the elders of Alterra." They immediately sat up, gesturing to stand. "No need, stay in your beds," she said. "You can stay until you''ve recovered a bit more." They gaped at her and her gentle words, unsure whether she was being honest or if she was testing them. Of course, the goblins who could sense emotions had an idea, but their minds still lingered in the negative scenarios. They were afraid of becoming too hopeful. Their current states was already worrying. They didn''t dare wish for more. Mathilda didn''t mind their reactions and retained her smile. "As you can see, Alterra is a very good place that is sought after by many. "It can use a lot more loyal citizens in its midst," she paused, looking at them with deep eyes, making them feel as if she was staring straight at them. "Would you like to join us?" Chapter 766 Not Over Yet At this time, Ansel and Winona were looking at each other, glaring. They stood at an alley somewhere after ensuring that the designated people fixing and arranging the aftermath were already at work. "I thought you told me to leave you alone? What are you doing stalking me?" Winona asked, giving Ansel a bad look. "And stop looking at my hair!" Ansel''s jaw tensed as he looked at her face, trying to pull his green eyes away from her hair as ordered (though to no avail, which irked her even more). Instead of saying something that made sense though, he let his guilt cloud his brain. "Look, just accept my apology and gratitude already so we can get this over with!" He said this like a spoiled brat who made Winona roll her eyes. "FINE! I forgive you! Now, go!" "What?" Ansel furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at her. "Not enough!" Winona now looked confused. "What the heck are you on about this time?" Ansel was also a bit confused as to why he was acting this way. If he felt bad about her hair, he should just apologize and compensate her somehow! Then he could leave her alone and do his job! What was he doing acting like such a brat for?! Then his sister''s words rang in his ears. ''You two are bound to end up together.'' Ansel cringed. Nononono! NO! Winona had no idea what was going on in his head. She just looked at him like he was a crazy person and gestured to walk away. Ansel snapped out of it and held her arm. She frowned and turned to him, ready to nag, but when she met his green eyes, it showed uncharacteristic seriousness and the words died in her throat before they could be uttered. Her heart skipped a bit and her mouth dried for some reason. Probably from annoyance, she thought. But before the atmosphere between them could form into something concrete, a loud sound caught them both by surprise. BANG! They turned to look at the source of the sound, which was followed by a vertical trail of colored smoke, catching people''s attention. "A rescue flare?" Ansel said, immediately distracted. It was even a blue one. Each member of the guard team had a rescue flare. It was a product of Winona''s team. This one had no need for gunpowder and could be created with the materials they already had available. The flare could be made with potassium nitrate (which they had a lot of, considering their fertilizers and saltpeter), sugar, and cardboard tubes. The only one they needed to find alternatives to was Aluminum, but they found Zinc in Limestone Valley so it was good enough. The challenge was that it required higher temperature, but the advantage was that it had longer visibility. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. With their current materials, three colors of flames could be made: Blue with copper, Yellow or Orange with sodium, and Violet with potassium. Every guard received a yellow or orange flare, captains would have violet, and the elders would get blue ones. Similarly, the Guards who were assigned to guard the elders and their families also received blue ones during their tasks. To save on manpower, all the families were gathered into one place, which was the Gaea Villa. A blue one, in that direction¡ª They gasped at a realization, immediately rushing towards it and forgetting everything they had been arguing about. THE BABIES! ... Gaea Villa, an hour prior. Heso and the remainder of his team camped near the villa area, taking advantage of the dense foliage to hide themselves. Even when the fight was at its height in front, they didn''t join, because not long after the war started, they received instructions from the lord: /Make sure to hit them where it hurts/ As for why Baltimore didn''t use this as a threat, it was because he knew attracting Garan back inside would just ensure the favor was tilted on Alterra''s side. They couldn''t attack but they could defend. None of his people below the level cap would be able to get past Garan''s ice walls. Even he could barely handle them. Anyway, after leaving their hiding spot, they had to go through various adventures and sentry attacks. It was not easy to get through to go where they had to be in the Farm Villa area. Although there were minimal guards around and the sentries were not that dense inside the territory, there were still a lot of citizens on watch! Everyone was mobilized in Alterra. Basically, if they weren''t working in a factory or weren''t guards, they were still guarding all parts of the territory from the safety of their homes, ready to go out with their weapons (or shoot from their balconies or windows with bows and arrows). This wasn''t a formal order, but there were contribution points attached to the capture or the killing of enemies. At some point, they were showered with bows and arrows and the only reason they survived was because their levels were much higher than the shooters. Still, it alerted the guards who soon hunted them down! Although the Alterran levels were lower, their organization was something else, let alone there were a few elementalists among them! Things got worse when the half-orc joined in. They had to leave four people behind just to deal with him! Fortunately, it rained so their scents were washed away, and the damned half-orc didn''t follow them anymore. Many times they wanted to just abandon the mission. But they knew the lord was a vindictive man. If they didn''t even do this, they could get hunted down! Anyway, by the time they reached the vicinity of the villas, only the level 15 Heso was left with five other members, all of whom were above level 10, and most of whom with some degree of injury. Eyes filled with deep anger, they all glared at the house just beyond the scope of another damned sentry. They would hurt these people so much!! Chapter 767 Babies in Trouble (Part 1) At the time, the Elders'' families were gathered together for easy protection. There were the children Maya, Horus, Theo, and the twins. Babysitting them were the two old women from next door, Lola and Yana. The other elders didn''t have minors, so it was just them. They were guarded by a level 10 and two level 9 guards, as well as the sentry that covered their side of the farm villas. They were hanging around in the living room, making sure that none of the kids went out. The rules were still void and they were asked not to leave until the announcement of the war''s end was sent out. For the past day, it had been nothing but peaceful, fortunately. The school-going kids mostly studied for school. They were assigned a lot of homework by the teacher, aiming to distract the kids during the dangerous times. At this time, the kids were at a corner table, and all that could be heard in their area was the sound of scribbles and little murmurs. Horus struggled a bit because he didn''t get proper schooling, but fortunately, Maya had been very diligent and helped him out a lot. "Nono, you gotta put this number below this line, that''s the one you''re dividing," she told him, "Imagine 100 gouji berries in front of us, but we have to share it with 11 other people¡­" Anyway, it was a cute image. On the other hand, the three babies either played or slept. Right now, it was the former. "Widdle Pepah, nho eading that¡­" Theo mumbled adorably, taking away a toy from Pepper''s mouth, replacing it with a newly cleaned teether. His plump cheek looked plumper as he spoke and watched, acting like a good big brother. Little Pepper pouted when he took it, but smiled when the new teether was placed in her hands. "Mwammnggamm¡­" she mumbled, happily eating the new toy. Her obedience made baby Theo smile, and he patted her little head with his tiny hands. Meanwhile, the other baby boy was rolling around, trying to test his flexibility by eating his own feet. The two old women: "..." This peaceful time lasted a while more until a loud scuffle exploded outside. "RUN!" They heard a yell, and they all flinched, finding the voice familiar. They knew it was the guard, asking them to hide. The old women sprung into action, and so did the bigger kids. Maya and Horus took a baby each, while Yana carried Theo. The entire time the scuffle outside was loud, and they knew an all-out fight was happening in the front yard. "GAH!" a loud yell, followed by cursing. "Damned sentry! There''s only five of us now¡ªI''ll handle this, go find them!!" S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Hearing the scuffles heading nearer to where they were, the group hurriedly ran and headed deeper into the villa, opening the cellar compartment. BANG!! A loud noise of a big man getting thrown inside reached them, making them flinch. "BASTARDS! Where are they?!" they heard a panting yell, just before the door completely closed, and¡ªdue to the superior insulation within the house¡ªthey didn''t hear anything anymore. The women wrapped their protective arms around the kids, guardedly watching the only way inside. Tense minutes of silence passed and the women shakily held the kids, who were looking at them with such trust in their eyes. They were warm and soft, and the old women patted them as if in comfort. Whether it was to the children or to themselves, it wasn''t quite clear anymore. The women''s eyes pooled a bit, and their resolve to fight strengthened even more. It didn''t take long for the door to open, revealing a bloodied man with a manic expression on his face. Cellars weren''t a new thing in Xeno, after all, and when all the other rooms were empty, he started looking underground. They shook but did their best to keep their cool. They watched as the bastard went down, facing them, eyes expressing the hostility they had for them. They''d definitely torture them when they get their hands on any of them! "Run when I say so," Lola said and they didn''t have time to ask as Lola revealed a ball from her space, jumping and making a volleyball spike. BANG! "RUN!!" Yana held the kids and made a run for it, while the ball hit the man straight on the face. If they were of the same level, this would have caused damage. Unfortunately, she was against a man twice her level so she did not even make a scratch. Annoyed by the audacity of the old woman, Heso raised his hand, slashing over at Lola who helplessly got thrown down. The force made her lose consciousness, but the light of protection prevented her from getting hurt any more. The man ran upstairs to get the others, only to hear another bang, followed by dense smoke exploding upwards. "Damn what''s that smoke?!" Heso yelled, gritting his teeth. How many lives did those damned guards have?! "They''re all wearing some tools!" Heso gritted his teeth, looking at the two guards who had been dealing with them until now. They seemed disoriented, but very much alive even after the barrage of attacks they threw. However, tha tool their lord lent them, one that would block the sounds from the area, was useful that no one outside heard of the noise in the villa area. "Don''t let them go!" he yelled, pointing at the old woman and kids who were running towards the gates. The four surviving Guians with him immediately went to block, but the three Alterran guards stood up again and lunged towards them, using their bodies to block their way. "They''re still alive?!" "What in the orcshit?!" However, the Guians were more in quantity and managed to block the way. The old woman yelled, but no one came. She did not realize the sounds outside had been blocked by them, and the Guians just laughed at her in amusement. However, it could not block projectiles heading up. Heso looked up and saw the blue smoke. Three level 10 or 9 guards were naturally no match for the five of them, who had a level 15, but as soon as they let down their guards¡­ they let out a smoke that was dense and flew up high¡ªpossibly visible from all parts of the Village. It was definitely a signal. Chapter 768 Babies in Trouble (Part 2) Heso cursed, but he immediately sprung into action. With all his strength, he kicked all three disoriented guards, and they all fell¡ªbut still within the scope of the sound blocker. BANG! BANG! BANG! He saw them cough out blood and two even lost consciousness, and knew that the tools that had been protecting them for so long had finally given way. Anyway, he immediately appeared next to the old woman, eyes dripping with maliciousness. "Not so fast, old hag," he said, grabbing her hair and pulling it back. The woman screamed, but rather than due to the pain¡ªthe token only activated when serious damage was to be done¡ªshe screamed because she saw the man''s hands were heading to the crying babies. "NO! STOP IT!" she yelled, hugging the children closer to her, which made them cry louder and the man to tug even harder. "STOP IT! UGLY MAN!" Maya yelled while the boys tried to grab his pants, punching him with their small hands. Heso knew he didn''t have the time to play and he slapped the little children, making them fly in different directions of the villa. The only reason they were alive was definitely due to the tokens, all of which had received significant damage due to the massive strength differences. Heso grabbed the buns with his large hand, without any attempt to be gentle at all. The babies cried loudly¡ªto the top of their little lungs¡ªand anyone with a heart would be heartbroken. Unfortunately, the only conscious men there didn''t have such a thing. "Mwamawmmmaaaaa!" "Googmmmwwwaaaa!" Before Heso and the Guians could have a sense of satisfaction though, his instincts flared and he threw the two babies to his companions. "There''s another exit at the back! Run there! NOW!" The two sprinted in a direction, and just in time, the guards had arrived due to the smoke. Garan arrived to see the house in chaos. It was stil standing, but the lovely gardens had been desecrated and the people in his team were all unconscious, unknown whether they were alive. The other soldiers, guards, and citizens who arrived went to them first, not caring whether the enemies were nearby, while Garan''s eyes were sharp, and immediately searching the vicinity for his twins. At this time, he was using all his willpower to keep a working mind, to stop panic from overtaking him. He didn''t see his children at all, and the entire area turned cold, encasing the three remaining Guians in ice. "WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN?!" ¡­ The other side of the gate naturally had guards and citizens coming in due to the smoke, and the two fought their way through them, kicking and slashing without holding back. The men holding Pepper and Meatball were separated by the chaos, running in different directions without care anymore. With this baby, the lord would reward them a lot, each mused. They could even sell them back for an exuberant amount! They were determined to bleed these elders! These were the wishful thoughts that occupied their minds, not caring for the angry sobbing uncomfortable babies in their arms. Meatball crawled on his head, annoying him. "Googhrmmmha!!" the baby cried, patting him. "SHUT UP!" he yelled, kicking a few more low-level citizens who came to block his way. "Guugmmwa!" The baby babbled angrily, slapping his face with his little hand, covering his face. "You brat¡ª" S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Annoyed, he was about to grab the back of his onesie and maybe hit him on the wall to make him lose consciousness when, unexpectedly, the baby crawled on his head. He cursed, but was unable to utter anything when he suddenly it felt like a huge boulder fell on him. BANG!! "OOF!" he screamed as the back of his head hit the floor below him, his body bending at an awkward angle, the cracking of his spine heard through the entire street. The pitiful image of the bent man was what the guards and citizens who came running after him saw, unsure of what happened. "Alphonse!" Garan yelled, appearing next to them and taking him into his arms. He was shaking, but he had no time to let the emotions run wild at this time, rushing in another direction. His daughter was still missing! ¡­ On another street was Baby Pepper, who was seen by many and tried to rescue. However the man was sly and used the baby as a shield (there was even an arrow that hit her, but was fortunately protected by the charm). Since then, no one dared to throw attacks anymore and they just did their best to follow. They did their best to be ready to rescue as soon as an opening appeared, with the others reporting their location to the nearest guards. But this man was level 13 and he sprinted around incredibly quickly, and he soon escaped the sights of the citizens. Unexpectedly, the baby disappeared from his hand. "Where did¡ª what are you¡ª hey come back here!" Little Pepper stared and began to crawl to the opposite direction. He immediately went to her and held her up by the feet, only to realize she was holding something in her hand. "What are you holding¡­" he asked, eyebrows furrowed, and she placed the pellet in his mouth and laughed. Ansel ¡ªwho had also sprinted and followed instructions of the witnesses¡ªhappened to have seen this scene. He was luckily nearby where the commotion was happening. When he recognized what she was holding, he gasped and lunged over. "OH SHI¡ª PEPPER!" BOOM! [Learned! Fire Absorb (D): Absorb 80 Dragonbreath of fire and explosive forces. CD: 10 minutes. - 20 Mana] Holding Pepper tightly in his arms, the bomb exploded inside the man''s body, his innards spraying all over the place. Ansel''s final protection charm had also broken to pieces, but it broke when the explosion hadn''t entirely settled yet, so his back was burned. He fell on the floor, keeping his arms on the side so he didn''t squish the baby girl. Looking at her uncle rather than the strange ugly man made Pepper laugh, showing off those growing little teeth of hers. Seeing her fine, Ansel''s shoulder slumped in relief, but internally he was holding on consciousness. "Ansel!? Are you alright?!" A yell came above him. Ah, it was Winona, he mused with a smile. Seeing her here, his body relaxed and his body fell to the side, his vision slowly turning black. [Congratulations. Your Village, Alterra Village (Lv3) won against Guia Village (Lv3)!] That the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness. Chapter 769 Fall of Vismont (Part 1) While Alterra''s war had ended, Vismont''s was also at its end¡­ it was just that victory didn''t lean their way. Matthew swung his sword, swiping at an enemy or two, but they shot back at him with equal fervor, injuring him. He was filled with grime and blood, stabbing those who had been trying to get inside the walls¡ªand to be honest, it felt endless. They were swarming in like fire ants. "KILL!" he ordered, slashing continuously even when his arms felt like it was about to give way. For the next half an hour, he and the remaining guards tried to kill the enemies coming in, but there were too many. He knew war would come to them eventually, but it was hard to believe they were losing so badly. They were currently going against Shrao Village, a territory from the West. These people fought like they had nothing to lose. On the other hand, Matthew and the others had everything to lose. Unfortunately, that last enemy did land inside their walls, indicating the technical end of the war. [Your Village, Vismont Village (Lv3) has been defeated by Shrao Village (Lv3).] Matthew felt his head was ringing, his pupils constricted as he watched the enemies celebrate in front of him. "We won, we won!" The enemies cried, outright sobbing. In contrast, many of the locals froze, a lot of them seeing the slavery announcements in front of them. The enemy lord¡ªShiro¡ªsmiled widely as he looked at his people. "WE WON!" he repeated. "Go get our people!" "Yes sir!" they yelled, many heading back to the arrays. Although Shrao had already won, the arrays were still open for the entire maximum duration of the war. He then looked at the rest of the team. "Don''t be complacent! The rules are still null!" "Yes, milord!" Matthew''s eyebrows narrowed. Why are they staying? Normally, once a territory had won, they would leave with their winnings. According to the aborigine hires, most attackers should be going out as soon as they won lest they risked a lot more deaths, especially since it was very rare for the lord to be on the front line himself, so people didn''t usually spend their remaining strength looking for the token. Looking at this situation, he felt even more unsettled, and he looked around, looking for an escape route. However, he realized there were enemies everywhere and he was left wondering if he could get out of this situation that just kept worsening as time went on. He looked at his people who were all gravely injured, and then at the enemy forces who were even more bloodied due to the sentries. Their average strength was at level 9 or 10, which was superior to them but not by too much, considering that this was their home ground. The main reason why Vismont lost was because these people pushed through, regardless of their injuries. Their tenacity was¡­ insane. He looked at the lord who led people like this. It was a handsome man with ash-blonde hair, not much older than he was in appearance. He was just within the level cap as well. He was a rare aborigine lord who led the attack himself, igniting fire under his people, and making sure they kept fighting, all while leading by example. In other circumstances, Matthew might have admired this man. Sadly, he was the one losing. Matthew raised his sword, "You already won! You''re going to get so much of our people and resources already, leave!" The enemy lord tapped his spear to the ground, "No. We''re taking over this place," he said with sternness, confirming Matthew''s fears. Their eyes met, and Matthew was met with sharp eyes who would absolutely not allow for refusal. "I want ''it''." Lords, generally, don''t openly announce the tokens get detached for their own safety, not unless they had absolute confidence in their own power. Matthew understood and didn''t say anything else. He simply looked at the man beside their lord. He was around in his early thirties and had a devilish aura around him. He recognized him as Cain. "You¡­ aren''t you Terran? How dare you bring enemies here?" Cain smirked, making the scar that covered half his face look even more menacing. "You remember I''m a brethren when you kicked me out the territory!" "You killed many women!" Matthew retorted. How dare he act like a victim?! The enemy lord didn''t seem to care about their drama, crossing his arms. "We don''t have that much time, give it." S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Matthew didn''t move, and it made Cain sneer. "What? Is your sister just a cover? You just don''t want to let go of power after all?" Matthew frowned. Obviously, he was reluctant because he couldn''t trust them right? Who would trust people who''d ally with a man like Cain? Let alone it was a territory that had attacked theirs! However, it reminded him that this time there was no sister to protect. She was safe and sound elsewhere. She even found a man who would protect her. This gave him a sense of relief¡ªthe only thing that made him feel better after all these. Impatient, Shiro crossed his arms. "Slaves," he said. "Come here." There were gasps all around, including Matthew''s. "What are you doing?" Shiro ignored him and continued his commands. People cried as they watched several of their friends walk without their own control. Some tried to stop them, but they were pushed aside by the slaves, suddenly becoming a bit more powerful than before. At this time, Shiro raised his slave and pointed in a random direction in front of him. "Do you want to see them skewer themselves?" Matthew''s heart dropped, and his eyes widened when one of the slaves was less than a meter away from the sharp edge. "STOP!" he yelled, and fortunately Shiro did stop the slaves from going forward. Matthew heaved a deep breath, "Only if you promise not to hurt anyone else." At this, he found the sharp end of a spear pointed at his neck. "You talk as if we can''t force it out of you." Chapter 770 Fall of Vismont (Part 2) "You talk as if we can''t force it out of you," Shiro said, turning to his men. "Tap him." Immediately, several guards surrounded Matthew and patted him down, looking for the token. It was humiliating and, by the end, he was practically half-naked. "It''s not here," Fos, one of the Shiro''s right-hand men, said. He was tall and had afro hair, ponytailed at the back of his head. Shiro frowned, narrowing his eyes at Matthew. "Where is it?" Matthew frowned, and he did not speak. Logically, he knew he was just delaying the inevitable, but how could he bear just say it so directly? How could he not be reluctant? Besides, he couldn''t help but hold on to the hope that a miracle would happen. Perhaps, even if they weren''t rescued, time would pass by without them knowing. By then, the token would''ve reintegrated into someone. Shiro gritted his teeth, growing impatient. He also knew time was running out and he waved his spear again, about to slash on the nearest slave. "My house," Matthew spat out. "It''s in my house." "You better not be fooling us," he said, "Otherwise we will destroy everything on the way there. What do you say?" This naturally irked the people around. It wasn''t like they got crushed! They only got beat because they managed to get the majority inside! It just so happened that these bastards barged in so desperately like maniacs! They could still kill these people, including the lord! What would happen then? Would the war be reversed? The enemy lord seemed to have sensed the vindictiveness around him and smirked. "Look behind me," he said, and the several people did so. Their eyes widened as they saw that the gate was open and more and more people were entering their territory. Other than the attackers, hundreds more people came in. They were unsightly but not as bad as the refugees they had seen. There were all shapes and sizes now, with women and old people. At this, Matthew understood. These people were refugees looking for a new home. The capable fighters finished the war, and then pulled out the rest of their population from their array. Judging by the large crowd that looked to be in the thousands, it made Matthew think. Are they planning on migrating here? "I¡­ we can take you as normal citizens," Matthew immediately said. "I can waive the registration fee for all your people¡ª" "You think we''re going to trust anyone over our heads?" Shiro asked and Matthew''s lips formed a thin line. He knew the answer: No one would. Shiro looked around. "Anyone who submits to us will be left alive and treated like a normal citizen!" he said. "That is my promise." Just like this, most people quieted down. Matthew sighed in defeat, and soon he dragged his feet towards his home, stomach heavy in reluctance. Fos grabbed Matthew''s arm and pulled him to his house. At the side, some people looked down, not wanting to see what was next, while others were stopped from interfering. One of these people was Yao, who sobbed and yelled. He was patted by the aborigine Koli, who Chris saved back then. "Stop it," he said. "This is the best way for you to survive." He said this with goodwill. After all, he had seen many wars, all of which were harsher than this. The small group arrived outside his home and Matthew took the token hidden underneath a floorboard. Before handing it over, he closed his eyes, sending a message to everyone before handing it over. [This is your lord, Matthew White. Today, I would like to thank those who did their best to protect our home.] He said so sincerely. He also wanted to curse those who caused chaos, looted, and even killed during the wars. So many of his own citizens did this. They didn''t even have to cooperate with the enemy to cause trouble. [Today will be my final day in this position. I hope you all live well.] He then handed the token over, and another powdery text appeared on his screen. It was asking if he wanted to give ownership, and with a broken heart, he chose ''Yes''. [You have relinquished your ownership of the Lord Token] Shiro nodded and looked at the token in his hand with bright eyes. He turned around, ready to leave him be. However, Cain stepped forward in his path, looking at him with bright eyes. "Can I have him?" "Suit yourself," was all Shiro said before striding out the door and to his new land. ¡­ Inside the house, there were only two people left. Cain''s eyes sharpened as he looked and Matthew immediately stepped back, holding up his weapon guardedly. "Are you really siding with aborigines?!" "I only ever sided with myself," he said, "But you really annoyed me when you kicked me out." He touched his scar. "How many times I almost died, I couldn''t count," he said. His voice was calm, but his tone was venomous. "How many times I had to drag myself with only willpower to get through this world¡ªheh." Cain''s eyes turned red in anger, and he immediately lunged to attack without warning. Clack! Slash! Cain''s attacks were relentless and venting and he did not care how many items he hit in the process. Matthew took his attacks, sending some of his own. Using his earth ability, he took some soil he stocked in his space, throwing them at the other man. Cain''s eyes stung and he yelled, he screamed when Matthew''s sword managed to slice part of his arm, staying embedded there. Cain gritted his teeth and held onto Matthew''s weapon¡ªa Class D weapon Matthew bought from Alterra. Matthew gritted his teeth and tried to pull it out, but his eyes widened as the weapon slowly turned red, originating from where Cain held on to it. Rust. Unexpectedly, Cain had awakened! He didn''t show it before! This moment of distraction was enough for Cain, who immediately moved his weapon towards his enemy. Matthew gasped as he looked down, seeing the blade had stabbed him through the heart. One didn''t feel pain like this immediately as it happened. At this time, the body was still in shock. He started to feel it when his legs gave way and he found himself on the ground, swimming in his own blood. Matthew gasped as he felt life pass through him, and the sight of his pale face made Cain''s eyes dilute in pleasure. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Goodbye," he said, raising his weapon to finally finish him off. And that was the end of Vismont Village. Chapter 771 Aftermaths (Part 1) Alterra Village. [Your subsidiary village Vismont Village (Lv3) has been taken over by Shrao Village (Lv3).] The announcement rang inside Althea''s head, causing her feet to pause. "Miss Althea?" Luis asked, concerned. The others also did as well. She shook her head and waved her hand. "Go ahead." They weren''t able to discuss anymore as soon as the gates opened. They were expecting celebrations¡ªnot at their arrival, but overall. This would definitely have been the case, except for a few accidents that happened just before it ended. They frowned when they saw that everyone was looking at them seriously. Winona appeared, panting heavily as if she had just run a marathon. "Althea" She yelled, coming to hug her, greeting her with red eyes. This naturally made Althea very worried. "What''s wrong?" she asked, patting the woman''s back. "First of all. Everything is okay," she said, and somehow the serious atmosphere lessened. "What happened?" "Calm down and come to the hospital with me," she said, practically dragging Althea. The others who were with her were fortunately brought into the loop by people nearby, and many of them also headed to the hospital to see some teammates. "What''s going on?" Althea asked as she followed Winona, her pace following hers. "Don''t panic," Winona said. "Just say it already!" "Well, some people tried to kidnap your children. Ansel, Garan, and the others saved them." "WHAT? Are they alright?" Althea exclaimed, her steps immediately hastening to the point that she was already running. "Yeah, they''re unharmed," Winona said as she struggled to follow her pace. "And Ansel?" Winona sneered, but her eyes were a little red at the memory. "In one piece, unfortunately." Winona sniffed and wiped her tears as subtly as she could. She then told her of what happened just before the war ended. "The enemies were incredibly sly. They even used a magic weapon to make sure they were not interrupted. "Obviously, they stayed with the intent of targeting key people." "The old women were lucky and weren''t too hurt, managing to defend themselves. The guards are okay too, though they''re still in the wards. For the most part, it''s credited to your protection charms that they have all their limbs after being beaten up so much. "The trespassers were caught by Garan and were now being apprehended. He''s probably with the babies right now though¡ªhe refused to place them out of his sight again." "As for Ansel¡­ he got injured because¡­ of a bomb which was somehow there." She couldn''t even think of where the bomb came from for now¡ªher ears were just ringing to know someone extended their hands to her children! She couldn''t imagine what would have happened if the bomb exploded with the babies nearby! She arrived at the hospital with a nervous heart¡ªno matter how many times Winona reassured them they''re all fine¡ªand immediately went to one of the private wards. The elevator¡ªpowered by the hydraulics and pulleys¡ªstopped at the third floor. She was guided to the farthest room at the right. The moment she entered the door though, she could hear the familiar smug voice of her brother. "Winona! You''re finally here? You didn''t forget my fruits did you?" Winona groaned and her shoulders immediately softened. She was relieved to see him awake and already joking. "So, he finally owned it huh?" she couldn''t help but say, giving Winona a look. The blonde looked annoyed, "More like he found a slave!" Ansel heard their voices and brightened, waving at them with his head when they arrived (because his arms and back were injured). "Althea!" he yelled but Garan¡ªwho had sensed his wife''s arrival¡ªimmediately came to greet her. Ansel-looking-for-attention: "..." Anyway, the babies'' eyes sparkled at the sight of their mother, immediately extending their little hands. "Mwamwahaaa!" "Gugmawama¡­" Amusingly, Little Theo was also there, hugging Pepper protectively. His wide eyes were a little red¡ªno doubt from crying¡ªand he looked like an adorable little guard. She finally let go of the breath she had been holding, though she couldn''t help but look at her husband, who was surprisingly chill about Theo''s attachment to his daughter. Sensing his wife''s look, his jaw tightened. He did not like this at all, but the babies were comfortable with their friends and he, feeling guilty that the breach happened in the first place, adjusted accordingly. Althea was just happy her babies were completely unharmed, extending her arms so she could hug them. Lola was there as well. It looked like they were confined but didn''t want to be apart from the babies so their teams chose a semi-private ward where Ansel, the old women, and the babies could stay together. As they settled, she continued to ask Ansel for the details about what happened. The old women also heard the tale for the nth time, and they just kept feeling guilty. "We''re so sorry Miss Althea." Lola said, "If we were a bit stronger." "No, it''s not your fault," Althea immediately said, holding the woman''s hand. "It''s ours for being complacent. Let''s just be thankful everyone''s alright." Garan looked down, his fist clenched. This was his fault¡ªhis oversight. What was the use in making the rest of the territory strong, when his own house ended up being vulnerable? "Where did the bomb come from, anyway?" Winona asked Ansel. She was so worried before so she wasn''t able to ask him the question. "How would I know?" Everyone was confused and puzzled. Althea pursed her lips, also confused. She tried to look back, to trace her steps, to determine if there were clues. She then remembered that time in the lab where Pepper suddenly appeared in her lab. Her heart turned cold when she thought of the bomb exploding. Basing on what they told her, they just got lucky this time. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She hugged her daughter, her heart wanting to feel her warmth. The baby was unaware of the turmoil she created and just laughed. Suddenly, Meatball was the well-behaved one. Althea couldn''t help but smile a bit, gently poking the baby''s nose. "Oh, dear baby¡­" she said, tone mixed of fondness and exasperation. "What do we do with you?" Chapter 772 Aftermaths (Part 2) Small talk abounded for a while, and soon they got a few more guests. There was Oslo and a few others, bringing some paper bags with them. "We brought some food." "As expected of my brother!" Ansel said with a smile. He then looked at Winona, "Are you not ashamed?" "Then go date him!" "Are you jealous?" "SHUT UP!" She yelled, blushing. In fact, when he fell unconscious, Ansel heard Winona cry pitifully for him. Carrying the baby in her arms, she sobbed the whole way while he was brought to the hospital. He could hear her shaky voice asking how he was, if he was going to be alright, and the like. At the time, he thought, he couldn''t die. If he did, what would this woman do? Anyway, it broke the last bit of the paper wall between them and he just couldn''t stop himself from teasing her now. Not that Winona appreciated it, of course! "Where are the others?" Althea asked, looking around. In retrospect, all their team members were there except for Eugene and Sheila. "Melissa fainted and hadn''t woken up." "Sheila¡­ she''s in another room," Winona said. "She''s with Eagle." After settling the babies, the couple then went to visit the other teammates. They saw Luis and the others awkwardly standing outside though. Eagle''s arm¡­ unfortunately couldn''t get reattached in the end. Due to the healing potions and the natural improved regeneration of the body in Xeno, the window for reattachment was greatly narrowed down. Combined with the low-technology that they had, even Volohov wasn''t able to save Eagle''s arm. Still, Sheila couldn''t help but keep trying, and she tried to use her ability on him, using as many cookies as she still had in her space to recover her mana. As she did so, she was crying while Eagle was just watching her fondly as if it wasn''t his arm that was lost. Sheila continued to sob, trying to heal him, and the heartbroken Eagle couldn''t help but stop her (for the nth time since she started trying). "Silly Sheila, even if you spend all your mana everyday it won''t grow back." Sheila broke into sobs, and Eagle looked genuinely lost. It was here that Althea and the others decided to save him and knock on the door, making the two flinch. They pretended not to see the red eyes and greeted them as normal as possible. Sadly for Sheila, she was unable to hold back and hugged Althea as she broke into sobs. "Altheaaaa wuuuu¡ª" Althea gave a reassuring smiled and patted her back. "This place is so magical," she told her, "Who knows what will happen in the future?" "Wuu¡­" Eagle heaved a deep breath, his eyes not leaving Sheila''s back for a while before turning to Garan and then his teammates, giving them awkward smiles. "Hello Captain, everyone." "How are you?" Garan asked. "Alive and well, thank you." "I apologize. If I finished Baltimore faster¡ª" "It''s not your fault, captain. I got careless," he said. Baltimore wasn''t the Lord of the most powerful village for nothing. The Captain already did incredibly well. As Sheila sobbed in her arms, Althea watched the men''s interaction as well. Her heart felt heavy. Eagle was a very good soldier, and losing his good arm was a huge hit on him. It was such a pity his potention was cut so abruptly. He was also her close friend''s man and also hers. She naturally felt sad he was hurt like this. Oslo said he could get the potion but it was in Bluelle, so she wasn''t just reassuring Sheila when she said the future was uncertain. Fortunately, regardless of what happened, Eagle seemed to be taking it all in a stride. "It''s fine. I have my other arm. Eugene can do without two legs, why can''t I?" ¡­ Now that the war was officially over, the Guians were led to the Village Center to register, with the ones who weren''t ambulatory yet brought with what was called a wheel chair. The contraption alone amazed the aborigines¡ªslaves, local, or guests¡ªprimarily because of its functions of transporting people who couldn''t move themselves. In fact, even bothering to do so was novel. Generally, these people would be relegated as waste and wouldn''t be allowed to get much resources, let alone something so special. But here it seemed to be taken for granted, as if their lives weren''t useless even if an appendage or two was. The territory was already peaceful, and there were few things to clean up and arrange after the war¡ªand also due to the fact that almost everyone went to help. At this point, people were already going around, some already setting up mobile stalls, and many ready to go out and hunt again. There were even children playing already, whether it was playing tag or just climbing up a random tree to get their share of fruits that day. Anyway, because there were so many people, their procession inevitably got the attention of this crowd. They walked along the ''pedestrian street'', keeping the wider road clear. It was wide, but there were hundreds of them, let alone the crowd that parted to give way to them, standing right at the side of the road, watching their movements very closely. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They felt shy at the attention their procession was getting, but it was very different from the type of looks they usually got. For example, when many of them were led along Guia''s streets as new slaves, they would get derisive looks, while the women would get disgusting lustful ones. Here, they were looking at curiosity, and a vague sense of¡­ welcome? No, right? Perhaps this territory just really lacked slaves and were showing some gratitude? Then they remembered Elder Mathilda''s words, welcoming them as citizens who had the right to buy their own freedom. At the time, they were cynical, not daring to hope too much. What if it was just a cruel way to crush their hurts? But seeing as how they were looked at by the common citizens, and even by the children, was indicative of the place''s overall attitude towards them. Could they¡­ really allow themselves to fall into hope? Chapter 773 Walk to Register There were also people who were forward thinkers and already musing about how slave life would be in a place like this. The more they thought about it¡­ the more reassured they were. Based on what they had seen so far, serving a place like this was infinitely better than what they had experienced. One of the slaves was Pency, who was just happy to get out of Guia. Besides, he had seen how clean Alterra was. Even if his job was the same, it would be much better. Actually, looking around, he could just walk around the streets all day long, and it''d be an honor to be part of maintaining this place. He also wondered if¡­ he could be a part of it. Part of that camaraderie, that happiness¡­ What a nice dream. Other slaves were also hopeful. They didn''t really know what to expect and how big the differences were¡ªthey didn''t even know why would they have to go to the Village Center¡ªbut their apprehension transformed into curiosity the deeper into the territory they got. Still, most of the humans were still a bit confused and they looked awkward. Most of them looked down and avoided the eyes of the locals, just sneaking glances here and there of the sights and the people. If the humans felt shy, the goblins were huddling together, shaking a bit, but otherwise couldn''t help but look around in curiosity as well. This was especially true for goblins like them who were used to being kicked and spat on whenever they were in a group of humans. They had sensed no hostility at all and that alone made them feel disoriented. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Somewhere along the way they saw something odd, a tall person with odd ears and tails went past the crowd. From their perspective, he was lunging at them. A half-orc?! They shivered. A goblin also peed his cloth. But then they realized he had already stopped and just stood as an audience at a distance from them like everyone else. There were many little human cubs surrounding him. They also belatedly realized that he was not rushing to them, he was simply heading closer so the kids could see! "Gochi! Gochi! Let me see better!" they could hear little voices, happily taking the orc''s attention. He was already carrying a little girl, and there was another little one hanging on his leg. It was an odd unbelievable sight, but it inexplicably softened a couple of hearts even among the aborigines. Their goblin senses confirmed none of these people meant harm and they calmed down. The goblin who peed could only hide his face in his palm, very embarrassed. One of the humans saw this and chuckled. It was a motherly woman who leaned down and handed him a damp cloth and a dry piece of clothing. "You can find a public bathroom near the center and clean yourself up." The goblin''s eyes widened as he saw the cloth. It looked nice and clean and he shakily took it, wondering if his hands would be cut when he did. When nothing happened and he only see the kind eyes of the woman, he pursed his lips. He had never actually gotten clean clothing before. The cloths they had were usually passed on from older goblins, and some from dead ones. "Why do you still look so afraid? Alterra won already, and we don''t hurt people who aren''t our enemies." They already won? They looked at the woman who nodded at them. This was actually Rosalind, the Elder of Education. The lord is dead, as well as most of his cronies." A few guards around nodded, joining in. They had long felt pity for the shy goblins and wanted to reassure them. "It''s true. I saw it myself. They beheaded him. Too bad the lord token wasn''t with him though." The goblins shivered in happiness as they heard of this. They couldn''t stop tears drop from their eyes and it looked so pitiful, they earned a few handkerchiefs to wipe their tears. They cried for themselves and also for their fallen brethren. Not too long ago, each one of them received tortures even harsher than before. So many of their friends died even outside the wars, thrown in a mass grave somewhere outside. Not even considering how their lives were saved, this was enough for them to swear service for years to come. After all, the goblins had always believed in Karma and paid for what was due. They owed this place and they must serve it until they felt their debts had been paid. Soon, they arrived at the center and there they saw the same old woman who visited them at the hospital earlier. She had that kind smile on her face that made every one of them drop their guards. "You may be wondering why we brought you here." "That is because we are allowing you to gain the freedom and capability to rid yourselves of the slaves status. However, for the sake of our territory, we need you to swear an oath of non-aggression. Freedom? "Are you telling the truth?" Mathilda nodded, looking incredibly kind. "Alterra doesn''t keep slaves. Perhaps we would keep prisoners of wars, which are similar, but we will never keep slaves for the sake of it. "Make your oath and you will live freely. Through hard work, you will be able to buy your own freedom." Oaths cost money and this would naturally be added to their debts, but they didn''t mind at all! They didn''t just swore not to harm Alterra in any way now or in the future, but when they realized they were truly being set free, many of them vowed loyalty outright. "We swear loyalty to Alterra! Never to betray for the rest of our lives!" the goblins said, and the human slaves couldn''t help but say the same. The Alterrans flinched, a bit surprised at the promise. Mathilda and the others looked at each other, a little startled, before breaking into smiles. At this, many people approached the slaves, and some even patted goblin heads. "Welcome, Alterrans!" Chapter 774 More Recoveries "Welcome, Alterrans!" Other than the woman, a lot of bystanders also said the same. It so happened that Althea, Baron, and many others also came to see the fun. The newcomers felt a little shy but just smiled and expressed gratitude for the compliments. Mathilda chuckled as she went to meet Althea, who also had a big smile. "All of them converted," she said, referring to the slaves. This meant the territory would be injected by a new force desperate to work hard to buy their own freedom. Adding the migrants from the other territories, it was estimated their population would double compared to before the wars. Althea was in a very good mood so, looking at the crowd, she said: "To celebrate, the Gaea Stores will have 30% discounts for 3 days!" "WHOOOA!" "Ms. Althea is the best!" Following her lead, the other owners did the same. Baron was the loudest, as always. "All of The Woodworkers'' Stores will have the same!" "WHOOOOOW!" Soon, more and more stores announced the same and the crowd soon dispersed, intent on getting the good stuff before they ran out! Althea and Garan smiled at each other. For now, at least, the dangers are over. Now¡­, they just have to figure out what happened to Vismont. ¡­ In the end, Althea decided to just send a small low-key team to investigate what happened to Vismont. Anyway, the new territory was still their subsidiary and they wouldn''t be able to hurt any resident from her territory, not without some punishment. Things finally settled down in Alterra. It was actually quite a festive mood all around. Especially since they had just been attacked, they had another 14 days of freedom from worry of another war. It was high time for recovery plans as well as the resumption of the production. Betty, who now had her own department (Aether Healers, the locals called them), couldn''t help but sigh as she arranged the bandages in the cabinet. "Alterra is amazing. They won their two wars, and with such¡­ flying colors, too." She kept one bandage outside to use for her patient, Brenda, who got a bit injured during the scuffle. She was fortunately healing quite nicely. She asked Troy, her boyfriend, to stay in the factory to handle things while she was gone. Besides, they were conservatives, and it wasn''t like he could go with her when her bandages were being changed. "I''ve never heard of a territory taking over all their enemies¡­" Brenda said, "I remember not too long ago, the lord was so surprised the lord token could be detached, that the territory could be taken from her." She remembered her arrival here like it was yesterday. The lord barely knew anything about this place, but look at her now¡ªtaking over her part of the world one step at a time. "Yes, it''s incredible," Betty said. Betty came from the city and was the healer of some low-level nobles, so she had heard of a few things. A bit of what comprised Althea''s rule database had actually come from her. It had to do with her being a woman and perceived as non-threat and wouldn''t dare to say anything outside. Female escorts in taverns were common in Xeno because of this. Normally, villages of the same level weren''t too far from each other in strength. Even if they won before the 28 hours were over, they would usually go back to the arrays and receive their rewards, rather than stay and risk losses. Most lords wouldn''t bother hunting for the other lords either. Not only was it risky as the people around the lord were usually the strongest, but loser villages tended to not be worth keeping. Lords could only have 3 satellites at the same time. They had to maintain this, and they had to manage those territories as well. Except for some power and perhaps some image, keeping weak territories didn''t have advantages at all. It could even be embarrassing for the lord. But Alterra took two out of two wars, and they were such good villages too. One village had resources they needed to create various things, though most of which they didn''t understand at the moment, and the other one had black metal! Black Metal! Not too long ago, they were telling how rare this material was, and how villages and even towns paid a lot of money to get them. Now¡­ they had their own mine!! "It''s hard to believe sometimes, how far they had gone." Two months ago¡­ this was unimaginable, more so with a female lord. But Miss Althea accomplished all of this within a few months, and this was far ahead of those male lords who were so full of themselves. The two women looked at each other and smiled. ¡­ Some floors above, a certain blonde was force-feeding a patient. The redhead turned his head away with a face of distaste. "Ehh, you know I don''t like bell peppers and carrots!" Damn it, she''s serving a mix of both! "I feel you''re purposely feeding me things you know I hate!" "You need to eat! Althea said you need the collagen production! And the beta-carotine of the carrots is helpful for you!" "Even I know there are alternatives to that!" "I''m not the pharmacist!" "My sister must not want me healed to send you here!" he said, "Do you want me to starve to death?" "GRRR¡ª" "GRRR¡ª" "Fine!" she snapped, suddenly standing up and put the bowl on the side table. "Go call one of the googley-eyed nurses then! I know you want to!" "What¡ª" BANG! Ansel looked confused as he watched her stand up and get out the door, shutting it loudly. Then he turned to look at the other people in the room¡ªthe neighborhood old women¡ªall looking at him with disappointed faces. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Lola looked at Yana, speaking as if he couldn''t hear them. "Didn''t they say he was a smooth playboy?" "I don''t know where that rumor came from. Must be a lie." Ansel: "..." Chapter 775 Family Dispute (Part 1) "Jerk!" Winona cursed, sniffing a bit, as she strutted far from the hospital. "See who cares for him!" The beautiful curvaceous damsel naturally caught the attention of many men, let alone the one who was specifically looking for her. He blocked her way, making Winona almost bump into him. However, she managed to stop on time and step back, though not forgetting to glare at the damned obstacle. At this time though, she could only glare at his shoe while she wiped away her tears as subtly as she could. "Winona¡­" he said, voice drooping with flirtatiousness. Winona''s eyebrows rose and she looked at the handsome man with wavy ash blonde hair. After getting to Alterra and getting access to the hygiene products, this guy cleaned up well, without any sign of his poor state before getting here. He was still a disgusting scum in Winona''s eyes, however. She crossed her arms, looking defensively at him. "What do you want?" "Does there have to be a reason for a man to see his fiance?" "Ex-fiance," she corrected. "Pretty sure I broke that off when I saw you fucking two women!" "Neither families agreed to that, my love," he said. "We''re still in a relationship, and I can assure you I will not make the same mistakes¡ª" "Shut up." Winona really didn''t need this bug right now! This guy was someone who moved from Limestone Valley, attracted by what they showed in the newspaper. He applied¡ªas did hundreds of others¡ªfor the engineering department when the Research Center announced a mass hiring. It was a dream job for him! Doing office work and only training outside as needed. Best of all, the pay was good and they had royalties for whatever they contributed in. However, unfortunately for him, the Research Center had a high standard of employment. Those accepted were ones who could truly contribute more than the basic clerical and repetitive tasks. He was rejected and had posted a lot of complaints of unfairness¡ªnot only him, but the survivors of his family (who were unfortunately 3, like cockroaches the world didn''t need). This jerk''s nosy mother found she had a good position there, and the family had been bothering her ever since. "I told you, I''m not the only one who decides who gets the job!" she said, using her remaining patience to be civil. Otherwise, she would never hear the end of it from her grandmother. "If I were you, I''d work hard to get contribution points to get in the library. Maybe you''d find some useful information there to pass." She was already being very kind. Although this guy graduated in industrial engineering, he only passed by paying his way through. A freshman probably knew more than he did! "I don''t believe that, wife," he said, apparently unperturbed by her words. She rolled her eyes and turned, waving him away. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Stop it, Eric. I''m not in the mood," she said, finally walking past him. "Leave me alone or I''ll call the guards on you." The man sneered but didn''t follow her. In the end, he smiled arrogantly, watching her figure disappear from view. No, wife, you won''t have a choice. ¡­ Back in the hospital ward, a few googley-eyed nurses were indeed eyeing Ansel. Winona''s forced close apparently made the sliding door bounce a bit so the door was left slightly ajar. The handsome Ansel was staring at the bowl and they thought he must''ve been wondering how to eat! Poor Ansel! The nurses opened the door and tentatively walked to him. "Do you need help, Mister Ansel?" a nurse asked. Another nodded, "We can help you." Ansel naturally refused to be called Elder, even if it sounded cool sometimes. He smiled at them, making them blush. They were already walking forward to help him, but then he took the bowl and drank, obviously not needing any help at all in the first place. "It''s okay¡­" he said with a sigh. "I can actually drink myself." ¡­ Later that night, seeing as Winona''s not coming back, Ansel checked himself out (earning himself some stares from the old women, who had also recovered enough to get out). Althea and Garan naturally knew that he was healthy, thinking he was just being lazy at the hospital. Althea even supported it, because he really needed some rest, and perhaps it could be a chance for Winona and Ansel to develop more as a couple. She didn''t have any idea that Ansel would botch that chance so horribly. Anyway, he brought the items Winona left in his room. He didn''t know how Althea convinced the blonde to take care of him, but Winona brought some stuff expecting she''d stay for hours, maybe even days. For example, he had her hair brush, toothbrush, toothpaste, and face towels. Winona''s space, he knew, was filled with her other essentials as well as experimental things, so he wasn''t surprised she brought a bag for a change of clothing and toiletries. He sighed and he, with his ''good hand'', carried the hemp duffel bag¡ªmade in the factory by the way¡ªand he headed to Winona''s villa not too far away from theirs. He was wearing a cast on the other arm. It was fake, of course. Winona better feel guilty abandoning him like that. It was just that, before he could ring the doorbell, he heard something knock inside, followed by some yells. His eyebrows furrowed and he wanted to climb up the gate. Unfortunately, the system security for houses outside of wars was impeccable and he would not be able to enter even if he jumped over like superman. Fortunately, he didn''t have to wonder for long as the door opened. His eyes softened a bit as he saw familiar blonde hair, but then he saw her glassy eyes filled with betrayed anger and he froze. "How can you let them in like this grandma!" she yelled as she looked back into the villa. "This is my house! I paid for it with my hard work!" "I''m your grandmother!" "It doesn''t mean you can just let strangers stay in MY house!" She said, "I should''ve known I shouldn''t have agreed to sign co-ownership with you! Now I can''t even kick them out with the system!" Her voice was shaky, filled with the tone of betrayal and accusation. Ansel could tell she was on the verge of crying, and it made Ansel livid. He gritted his teeth. How dare they make Winona cry!! Chapter 776 Family Dispute (Part 2) "You dare!" Grandma yelled, "They''re our inlaws! They''re family!" "I will not marry scum!" She said. "And how did they survive so intact under Fargo''s reign? Knowing how they are still alive and complete, I can only imagine what they sacrificed!" Winona was quite accurate about this. This family survived by pandering to Fargo. They were basically spies and tattletales among the masses. The number of people who ''went missing'' after information from them was easily a few dozen. Some of them didn''t even do anything wrong. They just annoyed one of the members of the family, and were framed enough to lose their lives. However, they were sly enough not to be open about it, and they were lucky those who knew had perished in the war, so their entire family was safe from the purging Althea did in Fargo back then. Winona didn''t know this but she wouldn''t be surprised if she found out. Whatever the case was, she definitely couldn''t sleep under the same roof as them! At this, a few more people¡ªa good-looking group reeking of bad morals¡ªappeared next to grandma. Right next to her was the so-called fiance, Eric. "Stop being so harsh, wife," he said, gritting Winona''s¡ªand Ansel''s¡ªnerves. "We''re family. Nothing matters, as long as we''re together." He had the audacity to step forward in an attempt to hold her arm. She raised her feet and kicked him in the shin. "OOUGH!!" He yelled and the others reacted, surrounding him in comfort and glaring at her. "What are you doing?!" "How dare you!" The mother even screeched like a shrew, gesturing to take revenge. But Winona had some self-defense skills¡ªmuch better than these damned nouveau riche asses¡ªand she threw him to the back. "OOUGH!" Then another one¡ªa cousin¡ªgestured to get to her, and Ansel was prepared to intervene when the man raised his hand and disappeared. "What?! Where''s my nephew!?" "Prison." Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "WHAT?" Winona chuckled, though inside she was still boiling from anger. "Didn''t you know? Certain people are exempted from the rules," She said, "I can defend myself very well. I can even beat you up without repercussions, but the same will not be said to you." This was true. Like the guards could hurt people in self-defense, the Elders and her friends and family could do the same. As for why the woman didn''t get into prison after trying to attack her, it was likely the force value was so small she was tagged as a non-threat. "Abuse! ABUSE!!" They yelled though the farm villas were far apart and no one even heard their pleas. Even if they did, no one would care. Winona sneered and turned back, leaving them behind. "COME BACK HERE!" Grandma yelled, "GET HIM OUT OF PRISON!" "Go bail him out yourself!" She yelled, "I''m outta here!" Winona angrily stomped to the gate and was surprised to see Ansel there. "You¡­" Winona mumbled with a weak voice, and her sudden softening was a stark contrast to the Godzilla she was 2 seconds ago. It softened Ansel''s heart and he approached her. He stopped a meter away though, while Winona looked at him guardedly. Behind her, Eric gritted his teeth and stood up, forcing himself to follow her. He was especially angry when he saw the famed redhead in the vicinity. "You! I heard about you two!" He yelled. Winona pursed her lips and glared back, holding Ansel''s arm. Ansel vaguely felt it was the woman asking for support, in more ways than one. "As you can see, I have a lover now. So scram!!" she said, hugging it tightly. Ansel, who was quiet beside her, smiled. She looked at her grandmother. "Didn''t you know? I''m with an elder! Kick them out of the house or he''s going to be angry!" Eric and his family gritted their teeth, glaring at her. However, Donna, Eric''s mother, sneered at her instead. "Liar! Who doesn''t know he''s a fake!" she said, looking panderingly at Winona''s grandmother. "They''re not really lovers. I''ve heard the two of them deny it plenty of times." Winona and Ansel froze at this, looking awkwardly at each other. Ansel cleared his throat and looked at the family who was so sure of themselves. Seeing that bastard''s smug face looking at his woman with possessiveness and a woman to be taken for granted¡ªAnsel felt very annoyed. His playboy charm tuned up and he lessened the distance between him and Winona. "We''ll get rid of him if I kiss you," he said, tone smooth with temptation. "Ask me to kiss you." Winona''s eyes twitched, not forgetting about the bet. If she did, wouldn''t that mean that she lost to him?! "Well?" he asked. "I''ll share my winnings with you." The blonde clenched her fist as she pushed down her blush. "It''s up to you," he said, and she kinda wanted to smack his smug face. But then she saw Eric''s even more annoying face and she stopped herself from rejecting the offer. Winona''s eyes darkened when she met his seductive ones. "Kiss me," she said and he smirked, leaning down to meet her lips. "I won," he whispered against her lips, before pressing them together, reliving that electric current that passed through their bodies. Eric and his entire family gasped at the sight. Eric immediately lunged forward, rushing to pull them apart. "HEY! GET AWAY FROM HER!" he yelled. However, a meter or so away from them, he fell down face first. "AHH!" he yelled, looking down at his leg and realizing it was burning. "AHHHHH!!" he screamed and the family rushed to help him. While the chaos was happening a few meters away, the two were immersed in their own world. Like their first kiss together, this one was no less electric. Immediately he pulled her closer (with his ''free'' hand, i.e. the one without a cast) and felt her softness against him. The two gasped at the chemistry and almost forgot there were other people, and she wrapped her arms around him as their kisses turned deeper. "HEY!" Eric yelled, "STOP IT!" he yelled, and stood up as soon as the fire was killed. However, he was ignored by the two people lapping each other''s faces. Humiliated, he lunged towards the couple whose lips¡ª for better or for worse¡ªcouldn''t be parted at all for quite a bit. Another light surrounded him and he disappeared, making the remaining relatives gasp in shock! "ERIC!!!" "SON!!" "WHERE DID YOU SEND HIM!? YOU BASTARDS!!" Anyway, it was all very shrewish. And since they were terrified of approaching them, lest they get sent to prison too, they could only yell to get the couple''s attention. At the screeching noise, Ansel reluctantly parted with her, though not without dipping in for a second and giving a chaste kiss. Winona''s face was red and still absorbing what just happened. "You should hurry up and bail those two people," he said, eyes dark, his arms tightening around the woman in his arms. "The prison here¡­ takes away people''s lifespans, you know. He has such an embarrassingly low level, so his life is already very low." "You better run and bail him out," he said, slowly leaning to head back to the woman''s lips. "Or else you might not see him alive again." And then he went in to capture the woman''s lips once again, completely ignoring their audience. Chapter 777 Heated Night The family had no choice but to rush to the prison, leaving her grandmother behind. The old woman''s eyes were red from seeing her scandalous actions. "You! You! Have you no shame?!" The two reluctantly parted from each other, feeling the residual heat. She turned her head, but Ansel''s sights remained on her. "So? Go bother your new family!" she said, "I''m staying at Althea''s house!" Ansel looked at the things he was holding and the fake-cast that gave way sometime during their kiss. He followed her and sighed, walking back to the second villa area. However, on the way there he saw Winona by the gates. "You have access, right? At least through the gate." Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She nodded, though she didn''t enter. "But¡­" she paused, looking at the time lit up by the tower. It was already very late. "I''m afraid of disturbing something," she mumbled and pouted. Ansel looked at her flushed cheeks and plump lips, his breath turning a little heavier. "Definitely," he said, "I know the kids are with Sheila right now." Although he didn''t exactly know how active of a sex life those two had, he knew that when the children were not with them, it meant that they woke up a bit later than they usually would. This made Winona freeze, also realizing the same thing. (The couple never shared, but their PDA and states were telltale signs.) ((Garan would also be in an especially good mood the next day, so Ansel knew he could get away with a lot more during those days.)) "Instead¡­ I received this week''s stock of Althea''s wine," he said, tone lowering in timber. "I was planning on sharing it with Oslo, as I usually do, but¡­ seeing as that you lost the bet¡­" "I''ll take it!" If Oslo was here, he would pout. What about bros first? ¡­ Inside Ansel''s room, the two of them were now sitting on the floor with their backs against the bed''s apron. "What were you thinking when you changed the house''s ownership anyway?" Ansel asked as she filled her cup. Ansel knew the house was bought by Althea, as an advanced payment to the good employee. It should''ve been in Winona''s name. Winona sneered at this, sipping a bit. She closed her eyes as she appreciated the sublime taste of the drink before looking at Ansel. "You think I have a choice? "I delayed it for a long time, but she started nagging about how it was her money that supported us in the other territories. "It was true, though we were only able to recover a bit before the territories fell, it was technically still dozens and dozens of gold. "I thought, what could go wrong? My grandmother is not only selfish and definitely wouldn''t be ''kind hearted'' to strangers¡ªshe is also so insufferable she probably wouldn''t make friends." Their shot was consumed by this time, so they refilled their cups. "How could she take in a family then?" Winona paused, a little red now, and drank the entire cup down. "The reason why we got engaged was that our families were extremely close from her generation." That family was technically nouveau-riche, but they definitely got their money piggy-backing on her grandmother and her connections. "That woman spoiled that jerk more than she did to me. It''s like he''s her grandson!" Ansel blinked, filling their cups again. "Maybe he is?" This made the two pause and look at each other. The scandals that went behind closed doors of rich families¡­ if true, this wouldn''t be surprising at all! Then¡ª "EWW! Technically he''s like my first cousin then? She''s trying to make me commit incest?!" she almost sat up in shock, but she got dizzy and fell back down again. Ansel was quick to catch her and his breath hitched when he felt her softness. He gulped. "Your grandma really did seem a little off in her head despite the posh image she maintained," Ansel said, beginning to slur his words, downing another cup. He paused, leaning down in half-whisper, "Maybe¡­ she''s a product of incest too?" Winona paled, imagining the worst. "Maybe I''m ¡ª" "Well, I doubt it. You look fine despite all your flaws," he droned, subtly touching the edge of her newly-cut hair. Winona didn''t know this, but his words made her a little annoyed. "You¡ª" She turned to face him, only to realize that their faces were only an inch away. They could feel each other''s body heat, which got hotter as they got more inebriated. He was very handsome right now, appearing very seductive with his flushed cheeks and deep green eyes that seemed to peer through all of her. Winona found herself a little fascinated. "You''ll need to make sure to have someone not so closely related though, or else your kid would have something wrong¡­" he whispered, not moving a millimeter away from her. "Hmmm¡­" she mumbled with a cute nod. Ansel leaned down a bit, to feel more of her heat and she also gravitated towards him like a magnet. When their lips touched, their entire bodies tingled, and soon their bodies started rubbing each other in search for more. Soon, they started touching each other in intimate ways and the heat was going to their heads to even notice any oddity. "Hmmm~" Winona gasped as Ansel''s hand reached her breast and began kissing her neck. Her fingers buried into his gossamer locks, massaging his soft red hair. She always thought it was annoyingly nice since he was a guy, but now she just thought it was really nice to touch. She couldn''t help but grip it harder when he groped her breast through her thin clothing and she gasped when he tickled its peak. It felt like she was being consumed, and she wanted more. "More¡­" she whispered, caressing his soft head, and his eyes darkened with lust even more. He lifted his head to look at her face dazed in pleasure. He admired her expression before he leaned down again, though this time to give her a soft peck. "More, it is." Chapter 778 Consummated When alcohol was said to cloud one''s judgment to make such a big mistake, they actually knew it wasn''t true. It was just an excuse made by the infidel people to pass their actions as involuntary. Alcohol could, though, make one braver, and help people do what they wouldn''t normally dare to do. Like now, with both of their cases, kissing a ''sworn rival'' senseless and using their bodies to chase pleasure unimaginable to them. Their clothing was removed one by one¡ªeven helping each other out to do so. In fact, both of them had been a bit intimate with other people, but had never gone all the way, nor had they felt this much lust for anyone else. They were a bit clumsy in undressing the other but it was part of the thrill. It even became part of their rivalry¡ªwho took the other''s clothes off first without tearing them off. It was just that that play stopped when they saw the other stark naked and suddenly the gravity of the situation became even more real. Their breaths were heavy and their faces were flushed. They gulped as their faces awkwardly got closer again, and Ansel leaned down to push on, parting her lips with his tongue, and soon the heats in their bodies completely consumed their brains. They didn''t need to speak anymore as they consumed each other''s mouths, their bare bodies grinded against each other, chasing the feeling of the other desperately. She moaned as she felt his hardness rub on her, her erogenous zones touched and pleasured, and she gasped when she felt his fingers enter. When her exes tried to do this, she immediately buckled and ran. But Ansel''s hand wasn''t disgusting at all. She even longed for it. "Ha¡­ ahh¡­" While Ansel prepared her for what was to come, he himself was gasping, kissing her neck and her shoulders, tasting her soft skin. She moaned loudly when she got her first real orgasm, her fingernails buried in his hard shoulder. Ansel kissed her neck one more time before he lifted his head, placing his forehead against hers. His strong arms kept him balanced above her, but everything of his was grinding on her, continuously making her gasp and moan. "I''m entering," Ansel hotly said against her ears, lapping it, and eliciting her delicious whimper. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Winona closed her eyes and pursed her lips, a little scared, but otherwise she wrapped her arms tightly around his lean shoulders. She screamed when he entered and he gasped as he felt her walls clamp on him. "Winona!" he groaned, burying his head on her soft shoulder. "Hurts!" She yelled, grabbing his soft hair. "I¡­" The pain and the barrier should''ve woken them up if this was a mistake. Instead, Ansel hovered over her, his sweat dripping all over her. He leaned down to kiss her tears, waiting for her to be ready, waiting for her to ask him to proceed. She wrapped her arms around him tighter, lifting her head to meet his lips. She pried them open, her soft tongue tangling with his, as if she was asking for comfort. He gladly did so, angling his head so he could get better access. While their tongues danced, Ansel''s hand moved to caress her curvaceous waist up her perk mounds, pleasuring her where he could to bury the pain. He continued to kiss her face, her neck, and her shoulders. Ansel had also never gone all the way with anyone¡ªhe never felt like the responsibility that came after was worth it. But looking at the woman underneath him, all he wanted to do was feel her entire being with his own, making her completely his. Her mouth parted as he moved slowly and sensually, and soon the pain lessened, and all she could feel was the throbbing length inside of her. Her teary blue eyes met his dark green ones, pleading. "Take me," she said, eyes filled with dazed lust. "Take me completely already!" And he pushed his entire length, and their entire bodies arched, consummating what was a new beginning to their relationship. ¡­. The Next Day. "Can I babysit the babies today?" Sheila asked Althea. The hospital was really well-designed and even had nurseries. "Are you sure you want to take them today?" Her eyes were still red though, obviously tired from Garan''s activities the previous night. Shiela nodded repeatedly. "Of course!" Their job was among the continuously stressful jobs here. The cute babies could really lighten it up. Their presence also lessened what they called ''the grouchy patients syndrome''. The soft little pudgy balls snuggled in their parents'' warmth, unaware they were being passed around. It sent cute attacks to everyone in the room. "Awwww~" Harold mumbled, going over to gently squeeze Meatball''s tiny hand. Sheila also went to take over Pepper, who shifted a bit as the scent shifted. "Mnnnhhmmmh¡­!" Little Pepper''s adorable face scrunched in annoyance, her large rounded eyes glistening. "Aww, baby, its hospital time today," she said, "Watch the nurses heal people and make people happy, okay?" "Mhhmmggg¡­" "Googhmmm¡­" Althea chuckled and kissed her babies'' soft faces before turning back to Sheila. "Take care of them." "Okay, leave it to us!" Sheila said with a smile and she placed the babies in the stroller. They had to comfort them by making toys dance around them before going though. After a couple of minutes, the babies finally felt comfortable and Sheila smiled, about to leave through the door. It was just that before they could do so, Ansel''s door suddenly opened. Unexpectedly, it was Winona who emerged from Ansel''s bedroom, closely followed by Ansel himself. They were fully clothed, but judging by their states ¡ªcrumpled clothes, flushed cheeks, and the standard walk-of-shame posture)¡ªsomething definitely happened in there. Harold dropped whatever he was holding (one of the baby''s toys) causing the two to turn their heads and freeze. They did not expect so many people outside at this time. "..." "..." Everyone else: "..." While the others gaped, the couple cursed in their heads. Since when were there so many people right outside the room? Darned insulation! It''s unnecessarily perfect! Chapter 779 Caught! Althea smiled as she helped Little Pepper drink her milk. Her hands supported the bottle while the baby''s little hands held onto it. She watched the little girl drink fondly and she couldn''t help but poke the baby''s chubby cheeks a bit. "Gmghmawmaaa¡­" her son mumbled next to her. Althea turned to her son who was held by his father. He had let go of his bottle as he reached out to her. She shook her head and helped him hold it. Little Pepper pouted, about to let go of her bottle. She chuckled and leaned down, giving the girl a smooch, "You''re a big sister, Pepper," she said, and the girl really didn''t let go of the bottle anymore. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Little Meatballs seemed to understand and also behaved, making everyone smile. "Awww, my babies are the cutest," she said, giving both infants wet smooches on their chubby faces. She then turned to look at the two other big babies sitting tensely on the sofas. Their body language reeked of guilt, with their heads looking down and their hands on their knees. "Why do you look like underaged kids getting caught frolicking by me?" They didn''t answer. "You''re adults now," she said, "I understand that you are both very capable of making your own decisions." "Yes, but¡­" They felt guilty regardless. Even if Althea was their peer, she took bigger roles than that in their lives. For Ansel, though ambiguous, she really was family, and for Winona she was her friend as she was her counsel, also a sister. "Well¡­ don''t you have anything to say?" Winona asked, and the two looked at her tensely at the question. It amused her very much. "Well, if you want to ask for my opinion, I''d like you to get married." "WHAT?" "You don''t want to?" The two awkwardly looked at each other before shifting their sights away. She still knew Ansel only dated and kissed all those girlfriends of his. The fact that he did the whole deed with Winona meant that she was really, truly, special to him. Similarly, Winona was a conservative and the reason at least one of her previous boyfriends left her was because she refused to go all the way. These two¡­ would never be inebriated enough to break the rules they set for themselves without them truly wanting to. She looked at Harold, "Do we have weddings here?" "We don''t have a church, but Mathilda did mention more than once that it should be done in some shape or form." There had maybe been more than one person who had talked to Mathilda about it. They were planning on proposing, but didn''t know the next step so they put it on hold. For example, Bull. Another, Turbo. The two guilty people flushed when they realized what these people were planning. "Althea¡­" She looked at them, wanting to tease, though not exactly lying. She didn''t support casual sex at all. She hoped they would show more commitment to each other. "Fine. But if it''s up to me, you can''t sleep together again until you do." The two froze. They flushed even more and looked awkwardly at each other. "Ehh¡­." Althea laughed, and so did the others. Seeing how exposed they were, the new couple could not wait to bury their heads in embarrassment for the rest of their lives. ¡­ In the end, they just decided to propose a Civil affairs office in the Government Building for now, the details of which would be discussed with the Elders at a later date. People had different religions and they didn''t know how many of those remained in this new world, so they decided on just doing the secular approach. They decided to open some land leasing for people to be able to build their own things. Maybe there would be a religion big enough to make their own church. Or maybe just a mercenary team who wished to have their own base as well. Either way, the territory wouldn''t be at a loss since the lease wouldn''t be cheap and the ownership would remain in the territory. The wedding itself could be done in the gardens or one of the restaurants, and there happened to be one or two wedding organizers in the territory. They were working in the hospitality buildings now, but they''d probably love to get this part-time job. Someday, these people might make events planning companies, and soon the territory would not just see the return of weddings, but maybe also large birthday parties and debutante balls. She would have to talk to Mathilda about the laws of marital union as well. It couldn''t be the same as back in Terran as they were a mixed culture now, and they''d also be welcoming aborigines. At the very least, they would probably just be protecting their rights as well as defining what it meant to be husband and wife. They would probably be putting up more laws as well, some copied from Terran like certain family laws and the like. For example, the view that marriage was also an economic partnership might be retained. That was to say, income and assets received after marriage was shared property of the couple. They were encouraging procreation now. This law was designed, historically, in order to protect the less-earning spouse. Perhaps, this would be the spouse who''d stay at home and was assumed to have contributed in other ways other than monetary. Of course, things like prenuptial would also be a thing. There would also be laws wherein parents would be required by law to support their children until the age of 18, and they''d define what counted as a basic need here, including basic education. In the end though, she just decided to handle the infrastructure with the other elders, and let the others go at their own pace. Looking at Ansel and Winona, whether or not they would get married, would be up to them, but as the older sister she''d definitely give them the facility to do a ceremony should they want to. Besides, it would be unfair to Winona to just get married like this. That girl was a romantic, she''d want to be properly proposed to. She still really really hoped Ansel would propose soon though. Chapter 780 Guia Winnings During the meeting with the elders and the honorary members like Oslo arrived at the 3rd floor, as scheduled as soon as the war ended. It was just that, with the issue of marriages, another agenda was added to their topic. But the more pressing matters were discussed first, of course. First was what to do with Vismont. They decided to send a team to investigate first, and bring back those who wished to go back, low-key, in case the enemies were too hostile and decided to stop them. They had just gone through 2 wars, one attacking and one defense, so even if they wanted to take the territory back, they wouldn''t be able to¡ªshe didn''t want to waste slots on Vismont either. Besides, even if the lord changed, Vismont was still Alterra''s subsidiary so their people wouldn''t be able to harm their residents, at least within the scope of the territory. "It only applies to permanent residents, at least within the territory walls," Oslo said, and it made sense because master territories could take advantage too much if that wasn''t the case. They weren''t certain how detailed the system was and its internal rules, but they were done with the greater good in mind. Anyway, there were plenty of people who became permanent residents in Alterra after the war, and it''d do good to send only them. Basically, almost all the older guards were now permanent residents because of the contribution points in wars as well as the monetary winnings they received. During wars, she would give a small portion of the ''loot'' to the people who contributed. While Fargo was relatively poor, Guia was very rich. They had merged the territory before the meeting, so she got a bit more. She found out that because the lord''s wealth and territory shared a wallet, even after Baltimore died, his remaining money (the part that was not taken automatically after losing the war) was actually still attached to the territory itself. When he died, all she lost was whatever was in his space instead. The nice contents of the warehouse were also sizeable. It could be said that she really gained a lot from the second war. The portion was a small fraction, but it could do a lot for the individual. From what she heard, a lot of the guards and the stronger members who contributed a lot managed to settle down payment for a house¡ªeven if they were for small units¡ªright after the Guia war. Next topic was what to do with the new territory, now called Iron Mountains. (They decided to follow the straight-to-the-point naming convention). There were no new interesting building types, sadly, because the building slots Guia chose was something either Alterra or Fargo already had. However, they could at least focus on what they took over Guia for: the Iron. Althea was very happy to know that the warehouse was at max level (for villages) at level 3 and was filled with iron ores. She had already transferred a bulk of it to the Alterran warehouse to be taken by the warehouse men later on. Of course, because there was lord-only access to the warehouse, she had to take it out herself. Like in the other territories, she planned to build another manual construction, a foyer of sorts, where she could release the items without being seen. She was very thankful for her massive space because the items she needed to take out could usually be done within a few batches. She sent an announcement to all the elders about how much iron ore they managed to get, excluding those in the mines. Their eyes widened and they looked at each other. "Ohmy goodness," Mathilda said. Ansel whistled. "We can do so much!" Althea nodded. So many tools and equipment could be done with so much ''black metal''. The capture of Guia would definitely elevate the territory''s comprehensive strength for sure. Speaking of which, the two territories they captured were really¡­ good. To some people, it was too good. At this thought, Mathilda couldn''t help but look at the aborigines, "I''m worried for Limestone Valley and the Iron Mountains. They''re both very rich in resources, and each one could be a bountiful target in wars. "Including Alterra itself, we have three bountiful territories. Would we be targeted even more?" "Yes, definitely," Oslo said. His certainty somewhat made them worry. This was until he smiled and added. "But it''s not entirely worrying," he said and spoke of what he knew about merged territories. "The three territories, in a sense, were considered to be connected in many ways¡ªmore than just in ''ownership''. There are many implications of this. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "For one, attacking one of the three territories would count as attacking the others. This means that the maximum wars everyone had to cumulatively undergo is even fewer than others." Basically, if one of the three got attacked, the others had a two-week free pass from wars. The elders'' eyes brightened. This was actually not a bad perk! "With this, we can focus more on growth rather than worry too much about wars." "Yes, we have a lot of mining to do." "Those goblins¡­" "We will hire them as staff." "In Limestone Valley as well," Garan said, and everyone agreed. Once they built a tunnel and line it with beast-repelling grass, then the labor requirement to guard the miners would be reduced. Goblins were also incredibly good diggers. In this field, each one was equivalent to at least 10 human men. "Goblins are really nice to have. I wish they stay even after they would buy their freedom." "We''ll just show them how nice our place is, right?" Mathilda said with a smile, recalling what happened not too long ago in the Village Center. "Besides, they swore oath of loyalty. At the very least, they''d stay a while to help us out." Everyone agreed with smiles, even the aborigines. Two months ago, they''d have been very reluctant to agree Goblins would ever do such a thing. But now¡­ they were confident that the unthinkable would happen. Chapter 781 Various Marriage Customs "Next agenda: Weddings." The aborigines looked at each other, quite intrigued by what this implied. Althea wondered if they had a different concept of what it was. She knew they had it, as there were husbands and wives here. "I''m referring to Weddings as in the official union of man and woman into a single family unit," she said, though she was certain something similar existed since they had words for it. "How are the ceremonies in your places?" She asked. Since places were relatively isolated except for wars, she assumed there would be different customs for weddings. She was right. "In our region around Bleulle, the main ceremony is done with symbolic tying of the hands of the bride and groom, using braided hair from both of them. There are other ceremonies signifying their vows." Bluelle was around the middle area of the Human territory, and it was safe to assume this was one of the more common practices. "In our region, Gouji fruit wine is exchanged in a familial setting," Brenda said, "We also do the hair knots, but it''s done with ropes tied by the couple before the wedding." Brenda''s Glaston Town and Clutch''s Village were more on the far South. "Well, in Terran we simply hold ceremonies inviting friends, family, and maybe acquaintances depending on the couple. "Then a reception party would be held afterward." "I want things inclusive so people would hold weddings as they wanted and simply register to the Civil Affairs Office. "The Officiators would be any respected individual per culture," she said. The aborigines smiled. After being affected by Alterra for so long, it wouldn''t be a surprise if people decided to follow everything Alterran. They identified so much with the place already, after all. Althea didn''t know yet what was going on in the aborigines'' heads and they continued with the discussions. "Now I ask, in Xeno, what''s the difference in dynamic upon marriage?" Oslo thought for a while, "The woman would become a part of the man''s family, as she was in her maternal family," he said. "She would then be obligated to serve that family as its daughter-in-law and make sure the children grow and are raised well." "As far as I know it''s pretty much the same all over," he said, looking at the others, who nodded in agreement. It''s similar to Terran, especially those of ancient times, where women were just following whatever man they tied with. From young, she''d be following her family or the patriarch, then her husband after marriage, and then to her son after her husband passed. The variances between the regions would be the strictness, but overall it was the same patriarchal society. Althea nodded, looking at Mathilda who was no doubt making drafts of family laws in her head. "Adjourned." ... The meeting ended early in the afternoon. "Should we pick up the babies?" she asked, wondering if they should fetch the babies in the clinic or if it was too early. When she got no answer, she realized her husband was in a daze. "What are you thinking?" "In this world, we''re not married yet," he mumbled without thought, making her blink. He seemed to have realized what he blurted out and his steps paused. They stared at each other, and silence passed between them. "Althea!" the moment was broken when someone called her name. They turned to see Mathilda approaching. "I have some inquiries about the new rules¡­" "I need to go to the barracks," Garan uttered next to her and she turned to stare at him. She was fairly sure he had already delegated the work done there. "The barracks had an emergency meeting," he said with a straight face, as if to answer her unasked question. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I''ll be late. Don''t wait for me," he said, finally heading away. Althea''s emerald eyes watched the figure of her husband disappear¡ªher mind reeling in thought¡ªthough because Mathilda was there for a short discussion, that topic was pushed aside for now. On the way home, his words rang in her ears and made her blink, so she locked herself in her lab for the remainder of that day, making sure to finish before he returned home. There was something different about Garan when he went home late that night. "How was the meeting?" she asked. She was sitting alone on the sofa, reading on her tablet. "It''s okay," he said, looking at her with such dark eyes it felt a little burning. "Where''re the others?" he asked, voice a little raspy, and she looked at him to answer his question. "Everyone''s in another villa," she said, and Garan''s breath deepened, the ember in his eyes now burning forests. Althea squirmed in her seat, obviously affected. "Take a bath first," she said, though instead of just heading away, Garan approached her and lifted her up from the sofa. "Join me." The entire villa was locked, left for the couple the entire night. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ AUTHOR''S NOTES I found out that the reason why a lot of you hadn''t joined the discord Reader Lounge is because discord is an alien species to you. I was the same. When I first downloaded it for a game, it confused me so much I deleted it immediately. However, after writing the story, it kinda became required to have a discord account (most authors have discords btw, not just me) and I ended up loving it. When I got the hang of it Discord IS the best chat program I have ever used. To use: Enter the invite link I gave in my synopsis/announcements Join! Terminology Guide: 1.Server - the main location/address. By analogy, this is the¡­ er¡­ filing cabinet? 2. Categories - You can think of this as our ''Folders''. In our server, there''s the general area, and then there''s a story-exclusive area. 3.Channels - The pages of that ''folder''. There can be a page for readers and other authors to chat, there''s a page just for the images and reference documents, there''s a page for spoiler content, et cetera. 4.Discord Roles are given to determine which people would receive which notifications, get access to certain channels, etc. -In our case, there''s a role for readers of this particular story, and there''s also an extra role Priv buyers could get, though that channel is too full of spoilers I give the choice to join. xD SEE YOU THEREEE! Chapter 782 Proposals Warning #1: R-18 scenes Warning #2: Possibly awkward R-18 scenes Warning #3: Cheesy lines ¡­ ____ That night, she let him do whatever he wanted with her body. She didn''t limit him this time, and it could be said that Garan was too happy to take advantage. Althea was very active as well and they made love until the next day, which was possible because of their high levels. At midnight, Garan''s eyes stared at his beautiful wife below him, her face flushed and eyes glazed in lust. She splayed bare and pinned, passively receiving his plunder. Fwop, fwop, fwop sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "H¡­ahh¡­ h-husband¡­" she whimpered as she clenched on to him, the sound of her moans resonating with the sound of his groans and grunts and the erotic sound of their slapping skin. Her words¡ªas always¡ªsent renewed energy to Garan''s seemingly unlimited libido, and they went on for several rounds before they calmed and just laid down, lovingly embracing each other. Unexpectedly, after a while, Althea crawled above him and impaled herself in his already-upright shaft. His large palms were on her slender waist, and he watched in fascination as she moved up and down at increasing pace. She was using his body to chase her pleasure, and it was incredibly beautiful. They were both drenched in sweat and barely catching their breath as they made love. Unexpectedly, just as they reached their peak, Althea stopped her movements. Before Garan could do anything about it¡ªhis palms on her waist had already tightened¡ªshe held out a special ring from her space. It was a specially crafted ring that functioned as a protection charm as well. She sent him a teasing smile, leaning down to place a chaste kiss on his lips. "Marry me?" Garan chuckled, his body vibrating, and his baritone sound echoed in the room. He suddenly sat up, making her squeal, and then proceeded to take out his own metal ring. "Only if you marry me," he said, and they met each other''s eyes, and they couldn''t help but grin. ¡­ Speaking of proposals, Garan''s proposal¡ªthe one he made in Terran¡ªwas also quite romantic. And cheesy, if one would ask Winona (as if she didn''t sniff a little while she was sneaking peeks). It was after one of his missions, where he didn''t tell her he was back at all to surprise her. He had asked Winona to get her into a cruise of sorts, and the latter naturally agreed with open arms (provided she was the bridesmaid). Althea didn''t question the invite because Winona often took her out, with Althea often paying her back in some way by helping her out with school work. This exchange was something Winona gladly took so Althea didn''t feel like she was taking advantage. The yacht was arranged with beautiful candlelights all over the hull, and the entire venue was surrounded by flowers. It was incredibly beautiful, but also puzzling. Althea was a little confused until she saw a very very handsome Garan in a suit standing in the center. Althea remembered crying a bit because she hadn''t seen her boyfriend for nearly a month at that time. She didn''t think too much about the setup and just embraced the man as tightly as she could. "Sorry for being away for so long," he said, leaning down and giving her a peck on the forehead. He then embraced her tightly and buried his head on her shoulder, feeling heartbroken at her tears. "I wish I could do much more for you¡­" Sobbing, Althea shook her head. "No¡­ I know what you''re doing is good," she told him, hugging his shoulders tight. "I''m proud of you." This made Garan embrace her tighter. In fact, he could afford a grand light show or something similarly grand, but he knew her personality and knew she''d like something more intimate and private for such a special occasion. So, under that beautiful night sky in the middle of the sea, they had a candle light dinner with him taking out his guitar, playing her a song. Garan didn''t have very good tonality but he had a lovely deep voice. In Althea''s ears, it would always be the most beautiful sound. He knew she had always liked listening to his voice even as a child. Without an exception, she would always fall asleep when he told her bedtime stories. This happened only with him, and there was no one else who had the same effect on her. He took pride in this, as if he was the one who could make her feel the most secure. He wanted to be that person for her, for the rest of their lives. She would also ask him to sing her to sleep, but he rarely humored her because he knew he couldn''t sing well and was embarrassed to damage her ears. But he practiced a lot for this one, and for someone stoic and as someone who didn''t really do something so vulnerable, this was a huge step forward. She was sniffling the whole time, leaning and resting her head on his shoulder as he played, wanting to be in physical contact no matter what. He was both touched and sad at her reluctance to part with his body, and his voice cracked a bit¡ªthough Althea didn''t mind at all. She just buried her head deeper in his shoulder. When he finished singing, he turned to her and kneeled down. She blinked, pouting a bit at the loss of physical contact until Garan held her hand with a loving smile. "My love¡­ we had known each other from as far as I could remember. To be honest, whenever I think of the first moments of my life, you were there, like the light to the darkness, as if you were the reason for my existence. "We went through so much together," he paused, remembering all they had experienced since their childhoods until now. "And I am so glad it all happened to me when I am with you at my side¡ª "No matter what happened, I was happy, because I knew I had you with me even if we were far away. " As he said so, his eyes were filled with sincerity and love. "I want to be with you in the next phases of life and for the rest for the rest of time¡ª "Marry me, Althea." This must''ve been the longest time Garan spoke, she thought in awe. However, she knew that the usually-stoic Garan had really pushed himself to do this and say these words out loud, just to make sure she knew and understood how he felt. Of course, she agreed. And now, in another world, they exchanged rings again, but this time she proposed as well, which made it even more meaningful than before. Safe to say, the team would barely see the couple that day. Chapter 783 The Start of the Wedding As soon as the news was announced, the whole territory pretty much mobilized to hold a grand wedding for two of their beloved elders! Led by Winona, Mathilda, and Sheila, the preparations for the venue, the food, and the like were perfected. The couple wanted an intimate and simple ceremony, which made things easier to prepare when there were so many people helping. After two days, everything was ready, surprising the couple to no end. And so, two days after their proposals, the ceremony was held. The bride was already in the venue''s waiting area-turned-bridal room, getting prepared. "This¡­" Althea mumbled, really shocked by how well-organized things were after a few days. "This is too fast..." "You did specifically say not to make it too grand¡­" Winona mumbled from behind. "So we made it beautiful, but simple." Winona looked very proud¡ª as she should. "As for the dress, Andrei had awakened the Cloth Maker profession, with specialization to speed and quality. You''re going to love it~" she said, looking in the direction where Sheila was. On cue, they revealed a dress on a dress form that supported a wonderful wedding dress. The women''s eyes shone bright whenever they saw it. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "He made this by hand with lots of care," Winona grinned. "He was the one who designed your first wedding dress too," she said. "You two are really fated." It was a wonderful lace dress made of soft silky fabric. It was not so grand with a long trail, but it was a simple long dress with complex patterns. It was gorgeous and Andrei and Winona really knew Althea''s taste well. Winona chuckled at her reaction, though she was also admiring the dress herself. "It also has a special effect on adding an ethereal effect to the wearer, and a special effect of a little defense, haha, though that''s a nice side effect of the profession." The blonde paused in thought, before bursting out laughing out-of-nowhere. "Hey, I just thought¡ªHAHA¡ªI wonder if Garan would have a hard time tearing this one?!" Althea blinked in thought, no doubt seriously imagining it, while Sheila next to them just covered her face in embarrassment. On another side of the territory, Garan¡ªwho was also fitting his suit¡ªnarrowed his eyes. Why did his hands feel itchy? ¡­ The time for the wedding finally approached, and people headed to the Alterra Gardens. The Gardens had large roofed events spaces in the middle located in various parts of the area. They were designed to be able to hold events like this, so there were proper back-of-house rooms and places that could serve as waiting rooms for the main characters of the event, in this case, one for the bride, and another for the groom. The Gardens had small venues around 150 square meters large, which could accommodate 20 to 100 guests in wedding arrangements. There were also medium-sized venues which ranged from 200 to 400 square meters, which could accommodate up to 300 guests depending on seating arrangements. They naturally chose the largest one which could seat around a few hundred in banquet table form and much more in pew arrangements. Because not that many were invited, the place was arranged half in pew with the banquet tables in the back so there were little changes to be done for the reception. Hundreds of seats were filled up with family, friends, and guests who managed to get a slot earlier (Ansel made a lottery for it). Amazingly, the gift area overflowed, including gifts from those who weren''t invited. Everyone, basically, wanted to send their well wishes to the two loving Elders. These were carefully chosen gifts, some were handcrafted. After all, what could they give the two elders that they didn''t already have? The rows of chairs were arranged with a small stage in front, emphasized by a decorated archway with intricate flower designs. The archway was a masterpiece, woven with a variety of flower blooms in vibrant colors¡ªTerran and Xeno¡ª and their combined sweet fragrance filled the air and adding to the ethereal feel of the place. The pews and tables were also decorated with the similar blooms, unifying every spot visually. The venue was stunning and wonderfully designed, especially considering it was done in a day. "We got interior designers and flower arrangers work overtime on this," Winona mumbled with pride, dressed in a pretty laced pastel dress as the bridesmaids. She was talking to Sheila, who was the other bridesmaid here, and she also looked very pretty, though her beauty was the shy demure type in contrast to Winona''s vibrant spark. She was assigned to help with the food so she was also surprised with the venue. "So romantic¡­" Sheila mumbled, making Eagle¡ªwho was among the audience but was maybe also perhaps eavesdropping¡ªto turn and look at her deeply. Beside them were the other girls who wanted to know more about the preparations, and they asked a lot of questions. For instance, among the aborigines, the females also swooned, especially the beautiful Betty. Weddings she had been to ranged from simple (for commoners) to grand (by nobles), but this felt so much more intimate than any other. Was it because it was sincere and full of love? "Yeah¡­ very romantic¡­" A lot of men were looking in her direction, taking note. This included Tom, who found himself looking more and more for her since he visited the healer''s department due to an injury from a hunt. Soon, the ceremony began, signalled by the wonderful melody of a string instrument. People were submerged in the sound at first, and it was an entirely new velvety sound in the ears of the aborigines. They were only pulled back to the present when the arrival of the groom was announced and they turned to see the handsome man dressed in white walk down the aisle, accompanied by the first string instrument the Woodworkers created. Garan walked with gravitas, appearing even more handsome and regal than usual¡ªwhich was saying something¡ªand he stopped next to the altar, standing still as he waited for his bride. He stood there like a striking statue, his aura and features made everyone¡ªeven the men¡ªswoon. Garan''s face didn''t show anything more than his usual stoic expression, but his heart was tight and beating loudly in anticipation. They had already married before, but every time felt special. A flurry of emotions swirled within him, remembering all that happened between their first wedding and this one. First, their parents passed away at the same time, and then he had to leave for a mission and also to find out more about what had happened to their adoptive parents. Then, he was forcefully taken out of the world where she was, and forced to defend his life every day in an unknown new world¡ªwith her as his only light and hope, the one person that kept him going. For a long time, they were apart, fighting for their lives in hopes of seeing the next day¡ªin hopes of seeing each other again. Their paths had been fraught with thorns and danger, but despite all these challenges, they found each other again, their love as strong as ever. As he stood, he smiled a little bit, blinding everyone''s eyes. They made it again, now and forever. Chapter 784 The Wedding Ceremony The music continued to play a mellow yet striking tune as the groom settled by the altar. With the abundance of metal now, a lot of inventions popped up, and although they were pressed for time, the team managed to make simple string instruments like the harp and guitar. There was also a variety of percussion instruments developed, though those would be used in the reception later on. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There happened to be quite a few musicians in their population and one could play the harp. The previous day, rush auditions were held by Ansel and Fable, not only for Althea''s wedding, but also to determine who could be permanent musicians for the territory. They had taken note of what instruments people played, but of course had to focus on the only instruments that were made during this time¡ªthe harp. The man chosen was called Mirka, a twenty-two-year-old college student from a renowned music school. He didn''t do it professionally yet but he was good, talented, and most importantly he loved the instrument. His play brought people to a peaceful and wonderful place. The feeling felt dynamic as he played his piece. The guitarist was Fable himself, who had started out posting social media videos of him covering popular songs at the time. If the wedding itself wasn''t so meaningful and thematic, some of his fangirls would''ve swooned for him. There were also more refined wind instruments and bells and chimes, creating a lovely little band to create thematic music fitting for the event. Fable and Mirka were truly gifted musicians to be able to harmonize like this only after more than a day of practice. Their music made the audience fall into a wonderful daze, falling deeper into this meaningful moment along with the couple. Mathilda stood in front of the pew in another grand official-looking dress, standing so poised as always. Under the sound of the band, they waited for the arrival of the rest of the entourage. A moment later, the maid of honors and the groomsmen arrived in uniform dress code. The first ones were Winona and Sheila, gorgeous in pastel-colored dresses with long sleeves. They had run to the back from gossiping with the guests as soon as the music started. They walked poised and in-sync. They also had matching flowers in their hair as the ones on the groomsmen''s¡ªAnsel and Beanie¡ªchest pockets. The bouquet theme naturally reflected on the adorable flower girl, Maya, and the little ringbearer Theo also with the same flowers on his little breast pocket. Horus was also there¡­ as a flower boy. He was very shy so he unconsciously used his stealth skill which made the glitchy illusion that the flower petals were thrown from nowhere by magic. It was very amusing, and the audience smiled and giggled at the sight. Soon, the music turned more mellow, but at the same time it adopted a more varied rhythm, indicating that the other main character was finally approaching. "The bride is here," The officiator¡ªMathilda¡ªspoke, and they all turned to the back, to see¡­ A fairy. Gasps sounded as Althea entered their line of sight. Their eyes were all fixed on her, and certain pairs of eyes were oozing with meaning. One was Oslo''s azure ones. His heart never stopped beating wildly and clenching whenever the lord was there, but he had learned to push down his feelings, afraid he''d make her uncomfortable. Now, seeing her so ethereal, he fell even deeper. Another was Hugo''s dark orbs, who was following her figure the entire time with deep thoughts in his mind. However, while their gazes stayed on her, Althea''s was fixed on the front, looking at her husband standing at a distance, eyes filled with warmth and love. While the soft melody of the harp filled the air, all eyes fixed eagerly on the radiant bride whose presence was ethereal and captivating. Althea stepped forward with grace. Her simple yet elegant dress was adorned with delicate lace and subtle embellishments. It glimmered along with her, sparkling under the natural and ambient lighting of the venue. She had no veil, and people admired her beautiful face akin to that of a goddess. As she walked forward, her eyes couldn''t be pulled from her husband, as he was to her. Their eyes overflowed with love, and their hearts were full. Garan couldn''t help but approach and extend his hand to her even before she entered the Altar. If the events planner was a bit more uptight, she''d have palmed her face, but the moment was too good to notice. The two of them stood facing each other in the middle, eyes reflecting the others'' face, hearts bursting with joy and nervousness. They had been married just two years ago, but the adventures and near-misses that happened in between felt like a lifetime, making the renewal all the more fitting. Mathilda smiled at the couple, feeling a little teary herself. She had always seen the two as her son and daughter as well, especially after they transferred here, and it was inevitable that Mathilda would feel like crying like an old mother. However, remembering her role, she quickly gathered herself and looked at the two before turning to the audience, resuming the ceremony. "Good afternoon dear friends and family. We are gathered here in this wonderful garden, one of the many points of pride as Alterrans, to witness the union¡ªor the second union¡ªof our beloved Althea and Garan Witt. "The journey to this day had been frought with various trials and dangers, but through it all you remained steadfast and found each other¡ªbecoming an inspiration to us all." They vowed¡ªdespite this world filled with uncertainty and death¡ªto remain firm in their love for each other, to stand by each other, to protect, and to support. When they kissed, the harp sounded again, and everyone clapped their hands in an applause filled with emotions. The audience had various reactions, but their hearts were filled. It is our honor to witness this moment, they thought, and their minds filled with hope to see more. Chapter 785 The Start of the Reception The reception was held in the same venue. While the place was being rearranged, the guests were invited to look around the gardens and socialize. While the bride and groom talked with most of the guests, they hang around more with their families and friends. Beany and Althea''s eyes met and they smiled, knowing their gap had narrowed again somehow. He then ventured off to help entertain their guests, knowing what they were like. "This is amazing," Althea told her friends, especially to Winona and Sheila who helped with the program a lot. "Thank you." "It''s nothing. We were happy while we were doing it," the blonde said, waving her hand casually. She didn''t forget to fawn on her dress for the nth time though. "Sigh, it really suits you. Andrei is such a talent¡­" "It''s very comfortable, too," Althea added with a smile. "Fortunately, you wore white, since it''s getting hotter," Sheila added, carefully wiping her face and then fanning herself with the handkerchief. Now that she mentioned this, the others also felt the same. "I thought it was just me." "Anyway, it''s cool enough under the shades of the trees¡­" "You''re right, you''re right." The group moved under the canopy of the nearby tree. They also received a lot of greetings from the guests and they acted like proper hosts under the shadow of the canopy. They continued to chat until everyone started sweating more and more. Garan took out a clean handkerchief in his space and gently dabbed the sweat away from Althea''s forehead, but very gently, knowing it could mess the make-up. He ended up hugging her closer to him with a hand as he did so though. Althea smiled and sighed, thanking him, though she did gently pat his hand, in an attempt to take some of his body heat off her (he was too warm, which wasn''t good in this weather). "The temperature is increasing. Is it summer?" "Is it?" Another mumbled. "Probably, right?" At this, both Althea and Garan couldn''t help but pause in thought. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Xeno actually only had temperate weather in most areas. That, or the annual harsh weather. They blinked, certain thoughts on the verge of dawning¡ª Before they could explore it though, they were greeted by Garan''s team, who were smiling widely at them. "Congratulations, captain!" Garan nodded, unable to keep his hands off his wife''s waist in the end, and Althea could only succumb to the added heat. "I hope you enjoyed the party," he said. Garan knew it had been a while. The soldiers knew this and sniffed a bit. "It had indeed been too long," Mao said, heaving a deep breath. Loki beside him looked melancholic as well. "I remember back in Terran, I abhorred events like this," he said, in classic introvert fashion. "I found them boring and a waste of the little time I have in civilization. "Now¡­ I hope there''s more." They smiled, and someone patted his shoulder. "There should," Mao said. "Maybe we''ll get you a wife." Loki rolled his eyes, making everyone chuckle. Plaridel watched his friends and smiled, feeling a complicated mix of melancholy and nostalgia. "In contrast, my family culture''s the opposite," he said. "Our weddings are extremely social, even guests perform in weddings, dancing solo or duet performances just because they could." Mao laughed out loud at a memory. "I remember your sister''s wedding. They forced you to break dance¡ªHAHA" Plaridel gave him a look. "I was good." "Yes, you were very confident." "..." The conversation turned to one filled with sentimentality, and quite a few bouts of laughter. "Your family has a lot of great singers though, even the accountant, the waitress, or the nurse. All of them¡ª" Mao said, still chuckling at the memory of the various performances that night. Plaridel''s family really liked to party. The dude''s family¡ªno, clan¡ªwas so big, too, but sadly there was no clue as to where any one of them was. "Even Boss Gill clapped his hands for you¡ªthat''s saying something." Speaking of Gill¡­ This made the soldiers look at each other. "It''s been a few days since Gill set off for Iron Mountains, have we received a message from him yet?" Garan asked. Before leaving, they got Gill to bring a messenger bird with him. Because there was technically no lord in satellites, the easy communication between two territories via the Center was ironically not as straightforward as, say, between their allies or their subsidiaries. "Not yet, Captain." It was Mao who answered. He had been assigned to lead the Guard Station this week, and included in the scope of work were messages from the birds. "Hopefully, there are no accidents," Althea said. "The other people assigned there have also left, yes?" "Yes, they left before the wedding announcement." Before they could discuss anything else work-related, the events planners (i.e. Ansel and the twins Leo and Luke) called everyone back in for the reception. They went around the gardens, handsome in their matching suits, and gently asking everyone to head inside like expert classy hosts. The guests entered and the area was transformed into a reception area with circular tables and chairs, flower arrangements, with long buffet tables on both sides. There was also a relatively wide space where the altar and a few front pews had been, which would now serve as the stage. They smiled, taking their seats, very much ready to attack the food. However, they stopped themselves because they knew there was still a program. There was a very nice set of appetizers though. The waiters would bring each table a platter of appetizers like chips, french fries, popcorn, and their dips, and everyone had fun eating a few bites while waiting for the Grand Entrance. The reception began immediately. It started with the classic entry of the entourages and the bride and groom (this time the band also used the percussion instruments, adding lively beats to the music). The thick-skinned entourages would also have amusing entrances. Winona would twirl beautifully and make a clean bow in the end. Ansel made a cartwheel while Beany looked like he was about to do the same, but ended up twirling in the end. Sheila was too shy and just waved her hand, with Eagle practically giving her a strong standing ovation (except he only had a hand to clap with so he clapped on his thigh the whole time). The classic programs with the toasts, welcome speeches, and cake-cutting was maintained. Today''s host was Fable, feeling pity Juni was not there with him, and he thought it''d be more fun with a cohost he had worked with a few times. Anyway, he did very well in leading the program and there was no dull moment. To end the first part of the formal program (before they went into party mode with various performances), the bride and groom were asked to dance to a song. "Now, before we fill ourselves with the delicious-looking food at the side, let''s welcome the gorgeous newly-rewed couple to the stage~!" he said, moving away from the open area in front of the tables. The couple looked at each other and held each other''s hands, heading to the stage, embracing each other under the eyes of their guests. And so, the next section of a memorable night began, which was good because a war was heading their way within the next few weeks, and it had already begun to creep on to them like a virus. And it wasn''t one that they had ever experienced before¡ª After all, it was a war with nature. Chapter 786 A Sweltering Reception Program Warning: Mature Content Squeezed In~ ¡­ Because the renewal was short notice, the two didn''t have much time to practice their dance. Instead, they just performed the one they did during their first wedding. They danced to the song Garan sang in his first proposal, and they looked gorgeous in the middle, dancing to slow music, and appearing as if they had forgotten they had audience and only had each other in their eyes. In many weddings, the dancing was after dinner so the audience could join in various traditions, like the daughter dancing with her dad, and the groom dancing with his mother. But¡­ they did not have parents¡ªat least not anymore¡ªnor were they fond of dancing, so they changed the program to have this earlier on, then shifting to more of a party for the audience afterwards instead. Still, this was a lovely calm before the lively, and the two entered their own world as they swayed along the lovely slow music. Garan''s deep orbs stayed on his wife, who was even more stunning than usual. When she lifted her head to meet his eyes, he couldn''t help but drown in those deep emerald eyes. Althea was pulled for a bridal shower the previous night, so he wasn''t able to taste her for more than a day which was torture especially when she was so close. Anyway, her softness against his as they danced along a meaningful sound made Garan particularly heated up. "We should do this more often," he said, leaning down to her ear, blowing his warm breath over her sensitive skin. Her eyebrows rose, not expecting it from the Ice King who abhorred moving his body (well, except for bedtime activities). He tightened his hold on her, subtly caressing her back and waist, sending warmth across her body. It wasn''t the type of heat from the bad weather either. She wondered if he awakened the fire element instead of ice. "But only in the privacy of our room, of course." ¡­ When it was done, Fable walked forward, thanking them for sharing this sweet moment together with them. Now that the more solemn parts of the ceremony were over, Fable suddenly took off his coat and turned it around, changing to a more colorful suit. "Now, time to eat!" Fable announced, perking up the audience. "We will be performing while you line up and eat, so enjoy the queue~" On cue, the percussion instruments resounded, adding a lively beat that changed the aura of the entire program. Fable''s backup dancers appeared on the stage, sliding there with such grace people would think they had wheels underneath. "LET''S GET THIS PARTY GOINNNN~~" DundunDUN~ TenenenEN~ When I saw you, my whole body heated up¡ª And it''s not just this damned weather (ad lib) Seeing you standing by my side, I felt the world was all right¡ª The group danced in-sync with his more upbeat romance songs and many of the audience standing couldn''t help but at least nod their heads and shake their hips a little. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, it was a proper mini-concert and everyone enjoyed every bit of it. During this part of the program, nearly no one noticed that the groom and bride had temporarily sneaked out someplace else, instead of sitting down their assigned seats. Those who noticed only smiled and kept the knowledge to themselves. Ah, young love. ¡­ Inside the bridal room nearby, a certain couple could not keep their hands off each other. The bride was pinned on the wall by the man, who was moving his hips with intense passion, placing chaste kisses on her exposed collar and neck. "Husband¡­ husband¡­" she whimpered, her mouth slightly parted as countless coquettish moans escaped her mouth. Her body bounced along with his movements, her cheeks were extremely flushed, and her emerald eyes glazed in pleasure. She hugged him tightly, as if encouraging his fast and deep movements, which Garan was happy to oblige in. Clap, clap, clap His hand sneaked at the back of her dress and unbuttoning one of the ties. He pulled the dress down a bit, revealing more of her skin and breasts. Garan leaned down to take a mound with his mouth, while his large rough palm that had opened her dress crept up and played with the other, moulding it in his hands. He did all these while his hips were moving nonstop, supporting her entire weight with one hand on her buttocks. Althea''s body squirmed and twitched under his various ministrations, and she could only express the intensity by her moans and grabbing tightly onto him. His tongue wrapped around her nipple, flicking it, before his mouth wrapped around as much of her mound as he could. The slippery tongue and hot mouth on her erogenous zones added a spark of pleasure to the intense barrage he was giving below. Althea''s body could only react by clamping on his shaft, making the man let out a deep groan in response¡ªso deep it sent vibrations throughout their bodies. Clap, clap, clap "Sweaty¡­" she mumbled, mouth parting as she panted. She felt sticky with their combined sweat, and she could tell she''d have to redo her makeup before heading out. However, Garan seemed to heed no mind as he continued his movements. Obviously, two days of abstinence from her was too much for him. "Don''t make marks¡­ uhn~" Althea pulled his hair back, just as he was about to make a love mark somewhere very obvious. Fortunately, Garan was obedient, though he made up for the lack of marking by moving faster. Clap, clap, clap! Thankfully, construction here was very good, even if it was manually built. Otherwise, there''d be cracks on the wall right now. ¡­ At some point, the couple sneaked back in their table, appearing prim and proper as they left, though anyone who knew them would call them ''nourished''. Andrei would also confirm that the anti-creasing properties of his dresses were ''top notch'' that day. The program was at its height now, with Fable doing a backflip to end his mini concert. "Now, time for the other performances," he said, and left the stage to let the band play their ambient music. "AH! Finally time to eat~!" Fable said, running over to the wonderful buffet table that had been calling on him for at least half an hour! Speaking of food, of course it was one of the main attractions of the reception. There were seven viands and a variety of side dishes and finger foods. They ate deliciously for a long time, and it felt like filling up not just their stomachs but also their souls. Most importantly, in the dessert area, there was a new option¡ªand one many Terran had been dreaming of practically as soon as they got Transmigrated in this place!! It was just taken out to keep them cool, and the people around looked curiously at the mystery bucket. When the waiter opened it up, everyone saw the creamy deliciousness it hid within. "ICE CREAM!" Someone yelled and everyone brightened like children, immediately going around the large tub guarded by the restaurant staff. Ice cream is finally here! Just in time! The weather was starting to swelter! Chapter 787 More Proposals Even while he was eating, Fable made sure every second was enjoyable for the audience. Ansel already thought of giving him a standup comedy gig in the future. As a host, Fable showed his sense of humor with his witty comments that may or may not include the audience. For example, he''d call out Beanie. "Our reporter friend is here by the way, as an entourage no less! "If you see someone taking notes and asking people about their feelings about Gugu bird or fish, don''t mind him¡ª" He was making a jab because Beany had been doing his newspaper job very seriously, and when he was investigating about the superior quality of their raw meat, there were times he asked for people''s "feelings" because he was so passionate about food. Beanie was still embarrassed about this. "Wait til'' I form a paparazzi group to hound you," he yelled back, making the host flinch and the audience to chuckle. Then there''d be times where he''d joke about the circumstances and himself. "I still remembered a time where I looked like a beggar and was one," he said, sighing at the recollection of his entry in Alterra. "I could only eat random fruits at the time, but now we even have ice cream! "The ice cream is delicious by the way, thanks to the great food developers of Alterra," he said. "I estimate there will be obese people soon. Should we start doing zumba sessions to keep shape?" Of course, along with ice creams, with the popularization of dairy products other desserts like cakes, custards, puddings, tarts, and many others have become available. The attendants of the wedding were the first ones to taste at least half of these new offerings and they could brag about it for the next few days. One of the pioneers of the dessert development was a patiessier named Osteo. He was a chubby blonde who grew up with cakes. Although there were plenty of people who knew how to make a few desserts, no one could beat his quality and was therefore chosen to make the desserts for this wedding ceremony. His eyebags were big¡ªthis order was huge and it was placed YESTERDAY¡ªbut seeing the happy smiles of the people who consumed his food, all the tiredness went away. That and he also got a very good deal with the supermarket for his business, so this deal was too worth it! Anyway, the Terrans went wild with the desserts, spouting compliments while filling their faces. The kids were adorable with their chubby cheeks, while the aborigines were fascinated as if their souls were taken. "This is¡­ so delicious!" Clutch yelled, lifting the plate of cake up as if it was made by the gods. "So creamy and just the right sweetness¡ªI haven''t tasted anything like it!" Such creaminess and consistency was so new and so fascinating. They couldn''t have enough! Troy looked at his girlfriend eating a lot. He patted her head, "Too much of anything isn''t good. I''ll let it be for now, but you have to control it next time." "Ah¡­" He chuckled and asked for a cup of ice cream and handed over to her. "Try the ice cream. Be careful, it''s cold. Eat it little by little." Brenda blinked and looked at the creamy ball that seemed to make many of the others¡ªwho had especially sophisticated tastes in her mind¡ªto go crazy. This ball was so amazing? She asked curiously and started digging with her small spoon. "Take on a small one," Troy advised. "Or it could get painful." Clutch who was about to eat a mountain-spoon: "..." Painful? Although he didn''t know why people would go crazy for pain, his curiosity got the best of him. He put some back to the cup so he could eat a small spoonful. Brenda also ate a spoonful and her eyes widened at her first taste of ice cream. "It''s cold! How?" "It''s complicated." Clutch was in a daze before breaking off of it and started to eat spoon after spoon. On the other hand, Brenda''s eyes were closed as if absorbing the new taste in her tongue. "It''s cool, comfortable, and delicious¡ªand it literally melts inside the mouth." The other aborigines followed and tried. There were different flavors and Troy said to choose which one they like best. Some chose Gouji fruit, some chose strawberries, some berries, and the like. Everyone''s eyes widened at the unique taste, texture, and temperature. Even Clutch¡ªwho suddenly had what he''d later know as ''brain freeze''¡ª couldn''t help but feel the same. "The heat dissipated! It''s tasty and comfortable!" Betty said, demurely eating spoon after spoon. "I feel like I can eat this all day¡­" she said, and the others agreed. Without exception, after adjusting to the new taste, they looked like they were having an orgasm. This was too good! ¡­ The final part of the program came and Fable called all the unmarried women among the audience into the clear space in front of the stage. The single ladies lined up obediently, looking quite excited. Even Betty and Brenda were there, though they didn''t quite understand what was happening. "We have a superstition in our hometown," Sheila kindly explained, "Whoever catches the bouquet would likely get married next." The two women recalled the dreamy wedding and couldn''t help but give expressions. Certain men also took note of this. Althea giggled and turned around, throwing the bouquet accurately toward the crowd but high enough that the trajectory couldn''t be exactly predicted. Unexpectedly two figures appeared, intervening. Someone jumped up, a pair of hands almost reaching the bouquet, but before he could get it a wind blew and the other figure ran to it instead. Ansel clicked his tongue, changing direction, and jumping to get it. Eagle was about to get it when someone cleared her throat, followed by his feet encased in ice. It was Althea and the captain, who shook their head and Eagle had no choice but to stop. He realized there was a plan, so he had no choice but to give up (for now). Ansel, a little sweaty from the unexpected glitch in the plan, managed to catch the bouquet under the eyes of many confused guests and a disappointed Eagle. Fortunately, Ansel had the advantage of planning with Althea so he was the winner for this. Ansel asked his sister for advice about the proposal, and she went ahead and asked him to do it during her reception. He was reluctant at first, worried she might think they were trying to make the event about them, but Althea smiled. She said she''d be honored to be part of the proposal, and it would feel like a continuity of sorts. Anyway, his actions were baffling, and people were outright shocked when he walked to Winona and kneeled down, making people gasp. "Winona!" he yelled, still a little breathless. "Will you marry me?" . S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. . . Winona was speechless for a while before she gathered herself (to a degree) and looked at the kneeling redhead with deep eyes. She bit her lips and her eyes started to glaze with tears. However, despite this, she crossed her arms and did her best to look strict. As if she was weighing the pros and cons. "Will you still be mean?" "No." "Who will be the boss of the house?" "You." "Really?" "Really." Winona pursed her lips, looking as if she was thinking, but her teary eyes, flushed face, and adorably shaky voice were testaments to how happy she was. Finally, she let out a defeated breath and waved her hand. "Fine, if you''re so desperate¡ª" She was shut down by Ansel''s lips on hers and the boisterous cheers of the crowd. Chapter 788 Iron Mountains While the atmosphere of love was prevalent in Alterra, it was a little more depressing in Guia Village. Or rather, the newly minted Iron Mountains. At this time, Gill was watching a handful of men as they tried to attack him inside the territory. One had gotten particularly close, only to get flashed out of the street and disappear. This was the 9th bloke to get thrown in the territory prison today. It was also the 4th former guard. The other two cursed, and changed their strategy to just contain him instead. Heh, at least after losing a few they finally figured out some rules. Not that it mattered, of course. Gill gracefully avoided their combined attacks as if he had eyes everywhere. He caught the arm of the nearest one and kicked the other. He twisted the man''s arm behind his back, holding him down. Gill then tightened his grip and the man patted the floor underneath in pain. "AHH!!" he yelled, and his companion, who struggled to get up glared at him. "WHO THE HECK ARE YOU!?" he asked, "HOW DARE YOU STRUT AROUND HERE LIKE YOU OWN THE PLACE?!" He yelled this so everyone in the vicinity could hear. They already had quite the audience, all the way since the first guard who attacked him, and most people gave him bad looks. "Like I said, I''m the temporary steward here, cleaning up the place until the new people come in," he said, looking at the normal citizens. "Alterra is definitely a better ruler than Baltimore ever was," he said. "Except for these bastards, of course." He tightened his hold even more and the man screamed like a slaughtered Broat. "By the way, I suggest you don''t send yourself to prison," he said with that droning tone of his. "There''s a bail of 20 gold for violence, and an additional 10 gold for attacking someone from the leading party," he said, voice monotonous, and his face didn''t change no matter how much the locals glared at him. "What?!" "New Rules," he said. "Since it has become a satellite of Alterra, its rules got reflected here, too." Gill was assigned here temporarily, and he arrived just the previous day. He would be staying here while waiting for the actual assigned personnel, after which he was allowed to go on an indefinite leave so he could go and look for Cassandra. When he arrived, there was naturally a bit of chaos after they found out the territory actually lost and the lord and all his closest cronies even died in the process! A lot of the strong guards had perished, and the walls were standing only because of the sentries. The previous day, a few monsters even managed to get inside! The only reason it didn''t go completely bonkers was because Alterra''s rules were mirrored there and some people found that overtly stealing and hurting others was no longer allowed as it had been. Most citizens with some liquid funds had already left, while the people who were stuck were either too poor, too weak, or too greedy. Worse was that during the first few days, there was no one who took the seat and claimed the lordship. After a day of absence, certain groups, i.e. the remaining guards, naturally took on the helm and they were definitely not happy to see Gill there. Althea even gave him Baltimore''s head (which had a few footprints) to show off. This place was made almost entirely of aborigines (except for him) and Alterra did not have the illusion that taking over would be easy even after the place had been successfully annexed. This was overthrowing the established power with a strange new one. Of course, there''d be a lot of challenges. "If you cooperate, we can guarantee you''d live better lives than when Baltimore was here. At least most of you anyway," he said, stopping himself from revealing anything more. He did not say that those who did evil during Baltimore''s reign would be punished but that was when their power was set and he wasn''t doing this on his own. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The guards just thought he was trying to soften them up with the promises and gained a bit more arrogance. "Don''t you want to keep us, boy? Do you want the remaining forces to go, huh?" Gill gave him a look. "You say that like we need idiots like you." "YOU!!!" However, knowing there were mysterious new rules that hadn''t been announced, the men behaved a bit, though their glares remained to be scary. They stomped away, no doubt to bail their companion in jail, and probably plan their next step to make him pay for what he had done. Gill shrugged, not caring, and proceeded to go around the territory to observe again. This time, there was no one who dared come his way and start a fight. This was good because the prison was full now and the prisoners were already like sardines squished together. On the bright side, it made them more willing to pay the large amount of bail. Anyway, most people didn''t receive this money through honest means. A lot of these men''s cronies tried to get money from innocents, but thanks to the rules those people just ended up going to prison themselves, squishing them tighter even more. Only Gill was allowed to let people out of the jail, and he took his time walking there. When he arrived he saw them tightly squeezed, very smelly, and was hurting each other to get to more comfortable positions, his lips twitched. "So¡­ who''s paying bail?" Everyone wanted to. Those who did not have the money borrowed from others, though some weren''t entertained. In the end, about a third were left behind and the rest went back home (though not without sending malicious stares in Gill''s direction, all of which were shrugged off without care.) This moment caused all of the remaining guards and powers (who had wished to take advantage of the void in power) to decide to finally leave this place. Not just them, but a lot of people naturally went away. After all, without guards, how could the territory still keep standing? No one forgot about the monster mobs! Anyway, the guards and the others spit on the ground, yelling ''good riddance''! See if this place could survive without them!! They didn''t know that Gill watched them leave the gate with a relieved smirk on his face. Well, less work for him! Chapter 789 Aborigines of Iron Mountains (Part 1) It was difficult holding the fort alone, and he was relieved some bad apples had left on their own. As for revenge, although he doubted anyone would be loyal enough to Guia to get revenge for it, he''d try to prepare the territory as much as he could before he left. Speaking of that, the administration team sent wasn''t a lot either. He would have to hire among the current population. Not just for numbers, but also because they knew the place much more intimately. After all, they had to axe everyone with an administrative role in Guia. No one who turned a blind eye to such evil slavery was someone they wanted in their team. There wasn''t anyone who showed remorse either, they all just wanted him out and asked the guards to help them. It was his task to rebuild the personnel infrastructure, and he ought to start so the next guys would have a lighter load. He took out a piece of paper from his space, and it was filled with instructions and detailed ways on how to do this administration stuff. Miss Althea and his mother knew where his capabilities was not, so they wrote him a detailed guide for it. Every Elder had the ability to make announcements via the Center, and so were the upper strata of all the fields, including the stewards like himself. He walked over to the Village Center¡ªwhich was really plain in appearance, especially compared to Alterra''s¡ªand headed in to make the announcements. He wiped the beads of sweat on his face and next, he started entering the announcements. He promised good salaries and benefits. Those who would be accepted would also have a roof over their heads. This was the same benefit as the guards in Alterra, though many of them had left the dormitories in the barracks by now, after earning enough to have their own space. The other benefits like canteen food (free food during work hours) and guaranteed weapons would take a while, however. In any case, he asked people to apply through the village center, also for the accompanying oath. He emphasized that even the current slaves could apply and earn the same rates as the people with the same job. They would keep their earnings and¡ªbest of all¡ª they''d be able to buy their own freedom. Gill promised that they were free to buy their own freedom as long as they paid for their own fees of 5 gold, which was what the system required, but they would still be treated as proper citizens even before doing so. He also finally announced the rules of Alterra, which had many entries preventing anyone from taking advantage of its kindness, including taking advantage of the ''slaves''. The Center was naturally flooded with people, especially of slaves who didn''t have anything to lose anyway. They had mostly hesitant and cynical expressions on their faces, but there were a few hopeful ones. However, later that day, after he closed the applications, he would understand just how much different it would be compared to Alterra. The thing about this place was that everyone was an aborigine. They didn''t know how to fill out applications and such, and most of them couldn''t even read. The literacy rate alone posed a challenge for them to do the administrative jobs, let alone the inevitable differences in worldview. Fortunately, the Village Center would transcribe spoken words¡ªotherwise how could such a big percent of the illiterate Xeno population use the center¡ªand report verbatim to him, the temporary assigned Steward. The compilation was something he could access via the village center as well, with Althea allowing him to gain more access to certain information. Anyway, he stood on the platforms for hours before he made progress. In the applications, he asked to give details of their background and why he should give them the job. However, their submittals were just the basic name and background, how much money they needed, or how many people they needed to support. "Ugh¡­" Gill groaned in annoyance, rubbing his temple for an upcoming headache. Administrative work¡­ was really not for him. However, he did study them as well as he could. He was still responsible for this and he didn''t want to leave this post with problems for whoever was taking it. Besides, he needed the distraction every single second lest he go outside and run after Cassandra instead. After another hour of study, he zoned in on a few candidates. However, no matter how he looked at it, it was not enough. He wondered if they''d have to get some more Terrans here as well. Anyway, for now, he focused on those in reach and whom he hoped that he¡ªand his successor¡ªwould have the least problems with. Some of the local candidates for officers who stood out were a man named Poki, who applied for the head guard position, and a man named Gio, who applied for the assistant/secretary position. Poki''s application was about how happy he was that the previous lord was gone. He had been a slave here for 2 years and he was thankful for setting them free (in a sense). He stated that he now wanted to serve and earn his own freedom officially The big man used to be a guard in his old territory, which had been defeated in a war by the then-Guia Village a few years prior. He had been a meatshield for several wars, and was alive because of his skills and ability, and was therefore given a weapon to be maximized. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gio''s application was similar. He also used to be a slave, though he was ashamed to say that it was in the pleasure aspect. However, before his territory was defeated several months ago, he was a literate in his village and also served as a teacher there. He was very honest with his application and said that he was one of the people in Baltimore''s twisted harem. If Althea was there, she might recognize him too. In the room filled with women, a man with effeminate features was among them. This person was Gio. To think he was actually a scholar of sorts. This was quite good, especially for a village. Xeno was very tight about passing on knowledge, so it was very rare to have schools like that in villages, so Gill was very interested in him. He heaved a sigh and noted down the two candidates. He was disappointed no one else stood out, but it was better than nothing. Chapter 790 Aborigines of Iron Mountains (Part 2) First thing the next morning, he called on the two applicants to see him. He had to ask someone¡ªone of the servants who cleaned the Lord''s House, which he was currently occupying¡ªto do so. This was the house the new leading team would be using while the new houses were being built. This was the only one with a decent toilet and decent amenities, so they really couldn''t be choosy if they wanted to live with some semblance of comfort. As the occupied territory, Guia''s buildings could be built in the main territory, Alterra (not that any of those interested them), but the same could not be done to the extensions. Anyway, the two applicants were naturally confused as to why he didn''t just send an announcement to them. However, they followed the servant anyway. Elders and Stewards could make general announcements, but ''filtered'' ones or those directed to specific groups of people seemed to be a ''Lord-only'' privilege. The theory was that it required more energy for the system to do so, rather than just an overall announcement which was the default. Similarly, they could not send messages to citizens outside the territory lines either, even if they were willing to pay the extra costs for it. Pushing aside these thoughts for a while, Gill stood up and prepared to head to the Village Center to meet up with the new hires. Before he left the room though, he heard the tapping sound at one of the interior balconies of the large house. The Bird Loft was there and Gill''s feet moved faster to check it out. Sure enough, a Messenger Bird was there, and wrapped on its feet was a piece of rolled paper. He fed the bird its meal and rolled out the letter. His eyebrows rose when he saw its content. /Prepare to send goblins to Limestone Valley. Some guards would get there soon./ ¡­ Gill and the new hires met up in the Village Center meeting room on the second floor. The third floor¡ªthe one with the teleportation array¡ªremained accessible only to Althea. The two were understandably quite nervous. After all, they had heard of how many people Gill sent to jail. If he disliked them, what if they got thrown there, too? They tried to appear professional and likeable though, which in Xeno meant appearing strong. So when Gill arrived, he saw the two''s posture suddenly straighten like tense bows pulled back. The two tensely gestured to bow, "Milord¡ª" "I''m not the lord," he said, waving his hand. "I''m just a temporary steward assigned to fix things until a new steward comes in." This made the two a bit confused but they nodded. The taking over of territories wasn''t common knowledge, but it was actually an open secret among the upper class. They assumed that the token was won and had been sold to the new lord, which apparently wasn''t the case. They then returned to their tense postures, making Gill''s eyes to twitch. It looked very uncomfortable. "Relax," he said, "You look like idiots." His words did not make them relax at all. He sighed and sat down, staring at the two men who didn''t seem like they were breathing. He didn''t say much anymore since he knew he couldn''t comfort them anyway. Instead, he took the time to observe them and perhaps get more information about them based on their appearances. Poki was a tall man with tanned skin and light-colored hair, while¡ªas he thought¡ªGio was an extremely effeminate young lad that anyone could mistake for a female. There were no signs of arrogance or complacency in them, which he liked. "I will be hiring the two of you, but there will be a probationary period," he said after a tense minute. "If you don''t perform well for the next month, then you''ll lose the job." This made the two brighten and look at him gratefully. Gill raised his hand to stop them from speaking. "I am very strict." "Yes, we understand!" After making sure they truly understood, Gill then proceeded on sending out his first orders to them. He looked at Poki, "I want you to study and look for decent and strong men and women who wish to protect the territory. You will be paid well, at least 300 copper every day." "Three-Three hundred¡ªsir?" Poki gasped and Gill nodded. "If you do well after the probationary period, you would be entitled to the minimum wage of 500 copper." "Five¨C!" S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In villages, that''s a very good salary! Poki was very excited. However, when he recalled and memorized the instructions, he couldn''t help but pause. Perhaps he had misheard? "And¡­sir Gill, women?" They were hiring¡­ women? Really? Gill''s eyebrow rose and it made the two flinch. "Is there anything wrong?" "N-No, sir!" Poki immediately exclaimed, doing their standard respectful salute. Meanwhile, Gio stood awkwardly at the side and waiting for his own instructions. "Your job would be administrative," he said. "Your job will be to help ensure everything is in order¡ªin and outside of wars." Gio blinked, then paled, realizing he didn''t know anything about how to do that. "Don''t worry, someone''s coming from Alterra who will be in-charge of the overall organization of the territory. They will also teach you exactly what you have to do. Just do your best to learn as much as you can as quickly as possible." "Y-Yes." Gill looked at him. "Your job may need a bit more sternness than that," he said. "You need some training." He stood up and headed to the door. "You will come with me, we will be going around the territory," he said. "You will tell me what you see, and tell me what is wrong in your eyes." Ideally, he could hire someone who grew up in Guia, but sadly there was no one qualified as of yet. It was less about their skill and talent, but more about their worldview. Growing up in a place like Guia and having its values, it was unlikely for a proper human being¡ªone who could serve a territory with professionalism¡ªto grow. In the end, every person in its leading team was¡­ a foreigner. "I want to know how you truly look at this territory," he said, going down the stairs, closely followed by the two. He was not one for inspirational speeches, but he needed these two to do well, otherwise he''d suffer. "I want to hear what you think we should do to improve it. "For better or for worse, this is your new home now," he told them. "Then why not make it better?" Chapter 791 Iron Mountains Hiring Notice Before leaving the Village Center, Gill went to a stone platform to make the job announcement. [Hiring! Guards!] [Potential Requirement: Class D] [Requirement: Must be willing to fight for the territory, will not abandon post, and has cooperative spirit.] [Salary: Starts at 300 copper/day] [Register at the Village Center. Exams will be held tomorrow morning at the plaza.] As the trio walked outside, some people had already ran to the Center, as if applying first would increase their chances of getting the job. Gill nodded and proceeded to study the territory along with the other two. Iron Mountains was not a small territory. Although a huge part of it was dedicated to the iron mines, the rest of the territory was built with dense buildings, with a certain portion along the perimeters dedicated to safe resource forests. This wasn''t a surprise because the main component of Guia''s economy was iron and its slaves. It didn''t have as much need for other resources¡ª which it could trade for its iron¡ªand would thus not waste a lot of space for them. It was also fairly rich. So, unlike most villages, this place was characterized by two-story buildings, and relatively complete facilities like restaurants and wells. He observed the alleyways and the commonfolk who were just getting on with their lives. While there were no slaves anymore, he hired the old cleaners to keep things clean, while sister-in-law''s planning team would finalize what to do with this place. "To be honest Guia is far superior to my village and it is difficult to propose its improvement," Gio admitted, a little scared. Piko nodded feeling the same. "It is much bigger and cleaner than mine as well." The two looked at each other and wondered if their uselessness would get them fired. Gill sighed. Well, he should''ve known. Their minds were stuck in what they knew. To them, Guia really was the paragon of a rich village. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It''s okay," he said. "You''ll know better in time." Despite the two''s lack of fruitful suggestions, they continued to peruse the place anyway. Occasionally (very rarely) Gill would utter a few words. "This avenue could be widened," he said, referring to one of the main avenues in the territory. "This is to facilitate trade and traffic." "Oh¡­" the two would say, and they would recall many times when roads were blocked because people would start fighting after bumping into each other. It would also be frequently blocked because of the iron or other things being transferred through it. A few moments like this happened as they walked around, and most of the time the two would nod and feel a little wiser. Although Gill did not speak much, the two would understand his words and their implications enough to feel enlightened. There were many people around, a lot of whom stopped whatever they were doing to watch them traverse the place. Some even sent looks of dislike, but no one dared go against Gill anymore after what happened to those who defied him. At some point though, a woman blocked their way and for a moment Piko was ready to defend. Unexpectedly, it was a woman. She stood very tensely in their way, and it took a moment for her to gather her courage to finally speak. "Excuse me, sir, can I talk to you?" she asked, and Gio blinked as he recognized the woman. "Yllana?" This woman was Yllana, another slave. If Luis and Althea were here, they''d recognize her as one of the women who helped them find the token. Her footprint was still on Baltimore''s rotting head¡ªnow displayed just by the gate¡ªuntil now. Gill looked at the woman, and then to the two aborigines next to him. Although he knew Yllana was not a threat, the fact that Poki''s guard immediately went down when he saw it was ''just a woman'' would definitely get him a beating soon. Anyway, he stared lazily at the woman blocking his way. "What do you want?" "Are you hiring guards? Can I apply?" "I sent the notice earlier." "The hiring notice¡­ it''s a little vague." Gill looked at her weirdly. "No, I''m pretty sure it''s clear." "I mean¡­ you hire¡­ women?" "Look," he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "In my place, women could do the jobs of men." "We will simply be implementing it here," he said, "But of course, the women had to be worthy of the job and be willing to fight¡ªtheir tests would not be less than the men''s." Yllana did not mind the caveats, she was still reeling from his first sentence. "Is it true? Can we really?" Gill was really not the type to comfort or convince people. "Up to you to believe it," he shrugged, walking past her. Poki followed Gill without even looking at her, while Gio gave out an awkward smile. Yllana did not stop them anymore. She just turned and watched their backs. She had seen how the man cleaned up those jerks, and now with the new job openings she would like to participate, make a life for herself while she didn''t know what better way to go about this. She had considered applying for the administrative jobs, but a part of her wanted to jump at something completely unexpected¡ªsomething she wouldn''t have imagined she''d be doing months prior¡ªas if it would erase everything that happened in-between. Before leaving, Althea told her some things that had been slowly lighting a fire inside her. At the time, she was just happy Baltimore was dead, but when Althea asked what she wanted to do next¡­ she came up with nothing. At the time, death was okay¡ªshe simply had nothing to look forward to. As a woman without a family, what else could she do? "You know, even if men could be physically stronger, women aren''t inferior to them at all," Althea had said, her voice gentle and comforting. "In some areas, we are even better. The world has so many facets, and there is a place for everyone to excel. "Women can also build a good life for themselves¡ªwhether or not they are attached to men. Try it, try many things, and you will find where you belong¡ªwhere you will be happy." Althea''s words rang inside her mind and her heart and she turned away from watching Gill, and faced the direction of the Center. Yllana''s eyes changed to one of deep resolve, and she walked towards the Village Center, ignoring the looks of the other people in the queue. She¡­ was the only woman there. When it was her turn to the platform, more than a few people watched what she was going to do. When they realized she was applying for the same job as they were, they laughed at her. "HAHA! She''s applying?" "Heh, a woman?" "She dares!" Someone even wanted to pull her off the platform, but he was pulled back by his brothers. "Oi! Do you wanna go to prison?" "TSK!" Since they couldn''t be too physical, they ended up just mocking her with words instead. "Foolish! Don''t embarrass yourself, lady!" "Girlie! I''m looking for a wife, wanna apply to my house instead?" Yllana bit her lips and remained steadfast, ignoring the various hoots and voices around her. No, she told herself, this time, she would make a world for herself! Chapter 792 Goblins of Iron Mountains Gill and the other two were not aware of the growth arc someone was going through. They were just on the way to the mines, to do what was instructed to him by the bosses. "We need to send out some goblins to the other satellite," he said. "So you will determine which ones would be healthy and strong enough for a long trip. We''ll need a few hundred." "O-Other satellite?" "Hmn, Alterra got another territory with mines, and the goblins are needed." Gill told them this very casually, but it made the other two gape. Capturing an enemy''s entire land was rare enough¡­ Alterra¡ªa fellow village¡ªhad two!? The other two couldn''t help but feel more and more curious about the new ''master''. "I wonder what it''s like¡­ and I''m also curious about those who are coming to lead us" Gio mumbled, looking at Gill with sparkling eyes. "Will you tell us, Boss Gill?" Gill''s eyebrows rose as he looked at the androgynous man. "I didn''t peg myself to be the approachable type." Few people would start small talk with him. Gio blushed. He didn''t notice when he started letting down his guard, but he realized it went down surprisingly quickly that he could speak so casually with a man like Boss Gill. "I¡­" Gio was a naturally bubbly person and was raised in a decent family who appreciated him and his talents. He went through a lot but he was optimistic in nature. Gill shrugged, not really caring. "Well, the territory''s in good hands. Learn as much as you can." "Y-Yes!" On the way to the mines, Gill wrote down a few observations and recommendations to submit to Althea, hoping it could help her out somehow. Speaking of papers and pencils, Gio was fascinated. Such a light and convenient piece of papyrus and such a stick that could write and be erased¡ª Back in his ''school'', everyone just studied letters in the soil. They would write with sticks and then erase with their feet. It was convenient and didn''t cost anything, but there were many times he wished he could carry something he could write in. When Gill handed him a few pieces of blank paper and a pencil, apparently giving it to him, he almost fainted from happiness. They reached the Iron Mine after a couple of minutes. It was located within the territory, but had an extra level 3 wall separating it from the rest of the territory. The foot of the mountains was the flimsy housing of the goblins, and also the temporary warehouse for the ores. At this time, it had a small mountain of them, and they would be moved to the Territory Warehouse at the end of the day. Climbing further up was the mine proper, and it was bustling with activity. They watched as hundreds of tiny little things flurried about, working diligently¡ª almost nonstop¡ªdespite looking very tired. They were working too hard¡ªas if they were still¡­ slaves. Gill''s eyebrows furrowed and went to them. He approached normally, but to the small goblins it felt fast and barelling and they shivered in fear. Seeing this, Gill immediately halted his steps, making sure there was at least a two-meter distance between him and them. "Don''t be scared. I''m just curious why everyone''s still working so much. It''s break time now, you know." They looked at him oddly, and Gill looked at them with that straight face of his. They all shivered under his stare. "..." He hadn''t even glared at them yet. He tried to school his face, though how could it be easy?" We already sent the regulations. This time is Lunch Break, and everyone can rest." The announcement was both written and auditory. The goblins could understand his words, so they should''ve been able to understand the rules and regulations. However, they looked at him as if they really didn''t understand his words. "You can understand me, can''t you?" "...yes, sir¡­" they said, their little raspy voices shaky in apprehension. "Why don''t you go and eat?" Gill was expecting them to be having a break and then he''d go and ask who was willing to go to another place. "We¡­ our meal time is only at night." Gill suddenly remembered most slaves only ate once a day, and his shoulders slumped. Eating a midday meal was probably a foreign concept to them. "You should''ve heard from the announcement that¡ªwhether you believe it or not¡ªIron Valley no longer keeps slaves, at least not as unpaid labor," he said. "You can rest and/or eat lunch. You can even buy food outside¡ª "Didn''t you check your wallet? Isn''t your pay there?" The goblins frowned but followed the instructions. They rarely looked at their statuses. There was nothing there, anyway. This was why they were extremely shocked to see there was indeed copper added to their wallets!! "M-Money?" "O-Our own?" "Yes, that is what you earned by yourself." Their already-huge eyes widened and they all whipped their heads to look at Gill. They did it in such synchronization that even Gill found himself stepping back a step, not to mention the other two who lost their footing. It had to be said: Hundreds of goblins could be really intimidating together. He cleared his throat, redirecting back to official business. "Like the announcement said, you are now citizens of Alterra who will have the right to free yourselves." "Alterra?" "Yes, it''s the territory that took over Guia¡ªnow Iron Mountain." "You are no different in rank than the humans now," he said. "So you don''t have to act so humbly¡ªthey won''t be able to hurt you any more than they can hurt other races." They gaped at him, though his words were probably too good to be true for them to truly absorb it. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill didn''t force it. What they knew was something so ingrained in them. Adjusting to how Alterra wanted the place to be would definitely take a bit of time. Speaking of that, another challenge in the Iron Mountains would be the integration of the goblin population with the rest of the territory. Handling a 99% aborigine population was hard enough, but now they had to deal with their integration with another race the locals deemed ''extremely inferior''. There was a mountain of challenges but, while he wasn''t one to be cheesily optimistic¡ªnot like Gio over here¡ªGill had a feeling it would work out somehow. Chapter 793 New Shrao Village Back in Alterra, the very festive atmosphere didn''t last particularly long because the team sent to Vismont had returned. Fortunately, everyone came back with their lives and complete limbs, but none of them were undamaged. Along with them were quite a number of refugees, who were at an even worse state. Because the territory was a subsidiary, Hubert and the others were not hurt directly by the guards there. Rather, because the enemies knew this, they targeted the refugees a lot instead. Because a lot of the refugees had to be protected and there were only so few of them, it was inevitable they''d be injured by the mobs they encountered afterward. In fact, had they not arrived when they did, had there not been an aether hospital, and had there not been surgeons¡ªa lot of the refugees would''ve died within an hour of their arrival. The guards sent on the mission were those not particularly close to the couple like Reno, Joe, and Lee among others, so they didn''t have to be in the wedding. They brought a few dozen refugees with them, all being treated in the hospital. "What do you think happened?" Althea mumbled, sighing. She was just thankful that no one died. Garan patted her head. "Don''t think too much. We''ll find out more when one of them is ready to speak." The couple was called to the hospital as soon as someone regained consciousness. The first person to wake up was one of the guards, Hubert. The guards and citizens were placed in a nice ward, allowing for comfortable recuperation time. When the couple arrived with Ansel (they encountered him on the way there), not only Hubert, but a few of the guards and the refugees were already awake. Among the civilians, Ansel saw that there were a few familiar faces. For one, old man Yao was there, and then there were a few normal citizens that he remembered because of their disposition. For example, there was the young girl named Okuri and her boyfriend Ronny. He remembered them because they were a young couple joined at the hip. They were always smiling even if the times were rough, and they were the few rays of sunshine in that territory. This made the contrast of their current states a bit heartbreaking. At this time, Okuri had wounds all over her body, while Ronny¡­ didn''t have both ears anymore. Ansel knew that Ronny was a mute and while losing his ears may not affect him much, it was still a very cruel joke to do. "What happened? Just talk if you''re fine. If it''s too painful, we can wait." "We¡ªUgh," Hubert mumbled but then he saw it was Althea, he flinched. If the situation wasn''t so serious, he''d have entered a fanboy daze, but the pain he felt all over his body was quick to remind him of what happened. "Hello, Miss Althea. Our mission started out fine. We reached the place without trouble and we entered the territory smoothly because there were a lot of people coming in¡ªaborigines, to be more specific." "Because we know Vismont, we were able to go around relatively undetected as well." "You mean there were a lot of aborigines moving in and settling?" Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Hubert nodded. "They called Vismont the New Shrao," he paused, recalling what they had determined before making a move. "I think their old territory fell or was destroyed, and they went to find a place to move." Hubert paused, looking complicated. "I''m not sure I should tell this¡­ but from what we''ve noticed, a lot of the people were innocent. They were just happy to find a new home, and such a nice one too¡­" Althea and the other Elders looked at each other. This made things much more in the grey area than anticipated. If the territory was just belligerent, they might''ve used strong force in retaliation. But a situation like this was much more complex than they''d like. "We left in groups, and when we were together, arrows rained. I used my elements to guard everyone, but the attacks¡ªespecially towards the refugees¡ªwere harsh and we had to work hard to keep everyone alive." It was likely they wanted to scare off other people from escaping as well. It was harsh, but it was common practice, and those refugees were lucky they were with Alterran guards. If it was anyone else, quite a few of them would''ve fallen very early. "Do you know why they chose Vismont in the end?" Garan asked, and Hubert shook his head. The former Vismont citizens, however, did. Yao coughed and a nurse went to him to help him out. They waited patiently until he stabilized. "Higson used to have an advisor named Cain," he said, "He seemed to have purposely led Shrao to our doorsteps. I''m not sure what he planned because I assume he didn''t know Higson fell out of power when he came." "CAIN!?" They turned to see it was Crow, along with his friends. They just arrived and went to check on the refugees. After all, they used to live there and wondered if old friends had made it here. They did not expect to hear such news as soon as they arrived. Crow was both anxious and relieved¡ªanxious because why was that bastard not dead and relieved because maybe he could kill him with his own hands! "You mean Cain is there?" He turned to Hubert as if to confirm. "Early thirties with brown hair and sharp eyes?" "I suppose¡­" Althea and the others turned to look at the very-passionate Crow¡ªwhich was very out of character for him. "Do you know him?" "Yes! He''s infamous in Vismont. He is handsome and he led many women to their deaths. He murders them brutally, but he usually gets away with it until Matthew kicked him out. "I still think he got off too easily¡ª" Althea frowned, seeming to have heard something similar from Horus. Either way, it wasn''t good to keep him alive. Not including the heinous crimes he had done, he was also privy to a knowledge exclusive to Terrans¡ªand now he was even hostile to them. He was no different from terrorists, and he couldn''t be kept alive. Chapter 794 Another Unexpected News While Althea and the others were deep in thought, Yao continued to tell them what happened during the war. He looked heartbroken as he said it, but he pushed himself to say the words in case they could be of help. "We were a bit surprised when the war declaration came, but not too much because we knew that it was inevitable. Vismont might be relatively unattractive to others, but we still knew it''d get attacked someday. "We did not expect the enemy to launch such a desperate attack, however. "Many of them weren''t even slaves, but they attacked our walls like there was no tomorrow. There were so many of them and their equipment and levels were superior to ours, and we soon lost when they entered the walls. "A lot of people were still outside at the time, so I can only assume the other people didn''t take the array or were already nearby when they declared war. "They fought as if they had nothing to lose¡ªand I reckoned that was how we lost." No one spoke as they absorbed the news. After a while, Althea looked at Yao with a hesitant expression on her face. "How''s¡­ Matthew?" This made Yao choke on his own tears and everyone''s stomachs dropped, knowing what it meant. "I¡­ so many people died in that war," he said. "The lord¡­" sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Yao wiped his tears. "He gave them his lord token when they threatened to kill the people. He really had no choice¡ªthese people were desperate to get the token. They''d have done anything¡ª" he added, afraid they''d think the lord as foolish for falling for giving the token away. "Still, they killed him anyway¡ª" Silence reigned and everyone felt heavy, especially his former citizens. Matthew had a lot of shortcomings and he made a lot of mistakes, but he was sincere in remedying everything. He was willing to dedicate his life to service. He was young and had so much potential, how could they¡ªas humans¡ªnot be a little heartbroken? "I''m sorry for your loss." Yao held back his tears, obviously remembering the tragedies that had occurred not too long ago. He lifted his head and looked around, looking for a particular face. "Is Miss Melissa¡­?" They paused and looked at Eugene. Eugene''s expression had turned dark the moment he heard Matthew was dead. His heart broke for his lover, wondering what he could do to ease her pain. "Melissa fainted before, I suppose she felt her brother''s loss," was all he said. They sighed, patting Eugene''s shoulder. "Comfort her well. She lost the only blood relative she had left, after all." ¡­ Eugene went to visit Melissa''s ward after the meeting, heart extremely heavy. He just sat there for a while, holding her hand, wondering how he could break the news to her. Various thoughts ran in his head and he truly wondered whether or not just to hide it from her, at least until she recovered. She had been asleep for hours and Eugene patiently waited beside her. However, some time later she suddenly flinched as if having a nightmare. Eugene stood up, though it was abrupt that his artificial stick-leg lost balance a bit. Fortunately, he managed to catch himself on time. He saw her sweaty and scared and he shook her awake. "Melissa," he uttered, repeatedly, and she abruptly sat up as if in shock. "Brother!" She gasped and looked around. When she saw Eugene, she grabbed onto him as if grabbing for air. "My brother¡­ where''s my brother?" Eugene pursed his lips and he could not meet her eyes. Melissa''s eyes widened a bit and she gripped his arm tighter. "WHERE''S MY BROTHER?!" she asked, tone cracking, pleading for him to answer her. Eugene shook his head and Melissa''s eyes glazed, before she broke into sobs. "Noooooo¡­. Nonono¡­" She wailed, and Eugene took her in his arms. "My poor baby brother¡­ wuu¡­" she cried, holding on to him as if he was the last straw she could grasp. "My brother¡­" Eugene''s heart broke, and his arms around her tightened unconsciously, as if desperately trying to keep her tethered to him. She cried for a long time until she lost consciousness from the tiredness, falling asleep in his arms. Eugene didn''t know how long he sat like that. His daze was only interrupted when there was a knock on the door. He opened his mouth to answer, though his voice cracked a bit. He cleared his throat as he patted his lover''s shoulders. "Come in." The door opened to reveal an old nurse. It was Liana, the hospital dean''s wife. She entered to get the usual data and Eugene laid her down properly. However, he never let go of her hands, and she¡ªeven unconscious¡ªsimilarly held on to him as if he was her lifeline. Liana looked at the poor woman''s face and sighed. "She shouldn''t be stressed right now," she said. "Please make this her last venting. Avoid stress from here on out. It is imperative." "I know. Her poor health must''ve resurfaced¡ª" The nurse raised her hand, cutting him off. "Actually, there''s more," she said and Eugene tensely waited for her to continue. "We tested her blood with Miss Althea''s Tori equipment. I can also confirm it based on my own experience," she paused, looking at the unconscious woman. "She''s pregnant. It should be a week or two since it was conceived." "What?" he gasped, but he forced his voice to lower. "C-Can you repeat that, please?" "Melissa is around one to two weeks pregnant," she said. "And stressors could be dangerous to both her and the baby, considering the state of her health." Eugene gaped. It felt like he lost all the blood in his body and yet he was floating in the clouds at the same time. A week or two old fetus¡­ was his. Liana said her goodbyes and left to give them space. As soon as the door shut, he felt his fake-leg buckle, and he sat down on the chair. His heart clenched and his other hand held on to Melissa''s soft and cold ones. He leaned down as if in prayer, resting his forehead on their intertwined hands. And then he cried. Chapter 795 Melissa In another room, Althea and the others stayed to gather more information from the others. They spent hours there¡ªon their wedding day, mind you¡ªand they couldn''t be kicked out by the others, despite promising they''d handle it for them. "Did a lot of civilians and Vismont guards pass on the way here?" Yao nodded. "There were at least 50 of us who managed to get ahold of Hubert and the others before they left." The Alterrans naturally couldn''t make an announcement of rescue, so everything was extremely low-key and was passed by word of mouth. They didn''t even stay for long, no more than a day, and they scheduled meeting up somewhere outside the territory before heading back to Alterra. It was relatively smooth as everyone just wanted to go to Alterra. Even when they didn''t have the money anymore, they had heard Alterra had a bank system that could be used to take loans as long as they get a stable job or give collateral, so they didn''t have to worry about their lifestyles for long. It went smoothly for a while. Sadly, that bastard Cain somehow saw the signs and pried information from one of the rescues. In their escape, they were hunted down and captured, until less than half actually managed to meet up with Hubert and the others. Even within the territory, arrows rained down on them. Fortunately, the rescuing guards were strong and protected all their lives. Of course, because they were outnumbered, things quickly got dangerous, especially after they passed the gates. It was only thanks to the smoke and paralysis bombs in the guards'' spaces that the rest of them managed to escape intact. "I thought subsidiaries can''t attack our residents?" Crow asked, frowning as to why Cain didn''t at least get hurt when he caused so much pain. "Only in territory lands," Oslo explained, "The power of the system is limited, and they could really only fully work in certain spaces¡ªsuch as territories." This was how most rules only applied within territory walls¡ªthe ''magic'' of the system was limited, so it was focused on specific places to maximize its effects. "That bastard Cain really needs to die¡­" Dog mumbled. "He has caused nothing but suffering." "Well, at least you guys are okay," Sunny said with a sigh, though her eyes stayed on Crow who was clenching his fist tightly. Dog patted his shoulder while Sunny held his hand. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Yao sighed. "I feel very sorry for the lord. He didn''t have a chance after the war was lost. "When the enemies came and announced they would not hurt anyone who doesn''t fight back, everyone just¡­ stopped." If any of the elders in Alterra were in danger, it was estimated at least half the territory would take arms. On the contrary, their lord¡­ Yao understood that a lot of them had indeed felt betrayed by the lord''s inaction back then, but it didn''t make it less heartbreaking. He was such a good young soul who could only make do with what was thrown at him. Most men his age would''ve done a lot worse, but few people seemed to see that. Matthew reminded Yao of the child he had lost to an illness back then, and although they hadn''t known each other for a long time, the lord was still somewhat of a family to him. He could only heave a deep breath, trying to breathe out the depression. "Just like that, the lord lost the token and his life¡­" .... Outside the door, Melissa covered her mouth and muffled her sobs. Her whole body shook as Eugene supported her. She could imagine what had happened. After all, she lived there and was privy to what had been happening. How could his people remain completely loyal to him when they found out all of his inactions, all of his shortcomings? But still¡ª "Brother¡­ my poor baby brother¡­" And this was all her fault. If she wasn''t there needing his protection, he wouldn''t have had to betray his people''s trust. How alone he must''ve felt before his death! Eugene was teary seeing her like this. He patted her hand, trying his best to calm her down. He didn''t want her to come here and listen to all this, but she ended up becoming more stressed so he had no choice but to follow her wishes. However, it was enough that she heard all this. He put his foot down and determined that she couldn''t listen to anything else until her condition was more stable. He carried her, skillfully placing her back on the bed despite having sticks for legs. He sat down to the side and gently wiped her tears. "My love, it''s not good for your body to feel so depressed, your brother wouldn''t want that. "You know how he wants you to be happy." Melissa gripped the fabric of the hospital bed. "I just¡­ feel so sad for what he had to go through. He had such a bright future¡ª" "Let''s not think of the ''what ifs'', not now. It''ll only make us sad." She sniffed. "But¡­ how could I not? He''s my brother, the only family I had for most of my life¡­" She looked at Eugene, her reddened eyes filled with tears. "He is my only blood relative." "No, you''re not alone," he told her as he patted her arms. "I''m with you," he said, pausing, and looked her in the eye. "...and our baby''s with you." Silence. "What?" Her eyes were wide as she looked at him, face filled with disbelief. When all she could see was Eugene''s warm, smiling face, hope filled her heart and its broken shards slowly beat again. "...what did you say?" Eugene smiled, wiping her snot. "You''re pregnant, Melissa." The looming new tears immediately escaped Melissa''s eyes. Those were words she didn''t think she would ever hear when she found out how destroyed her body was. In fact, she still couldn''t believe it. The emotions of her brothers loss, she thought, could''ve messed with her mind and hearing. "My love," she said, shaky. "C-Can you repeat that?" He gave her a small, but very teary, smile. He held her soft face, before the threatening tears really fell off his cheeks. "We''re going to have a child." Chapter 796 Urgent Report Back to the Vismont refugee''s ward, more and more people woke up. At first, many of them flinched as if waking up from nightmares, while others just stared at the cream-colored ceiling in a daze. Without exception, they sobbed when they realized they were finally safe in Alterra. One of them was Okuri, the pretty narrow-eyed girl, who immediately looked around to find her boyfriend. "Ronny¡­" she sobbed, standing up from the bed and went next to her boyfriend whose head had bandages all over. She was one of the people who got pulled back during the war. She was about to be molested then but Ronny went to fight them. The enemy guards cut off his ears while they were undressing her. He went insane with anger and it broke her heart more than what was to become of her body. However, fortunately, the war ended at that moment and everyone received the announcement that they wouldn''t be harmed as long as they didn''t fight back. She had yelled at the enemies who didn''t seem to want to stop their abuse. She screamed, asking if their lord was lying. The enemies begrudgingly listened, and she managed to save her chastity and Ronny''s life. At present, Okuri sobbed as her hands hovered over the area where Ronny''s ears were supposed to be. He opened his eyes as if hearing her heart, and she could only sob even more. "I''m sorry¡­ I''m sorry." She couldn''t help but feel so guilty, as if this was partially her fault too. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They should''ve left Vismont earlier, but she got greedy and wanted to save up more funds before they moved. So she convinced him to delay their immigration, with them just joining the caravans to buy Alterran goods to sell back in Vismont. They had just made enough to buy permanent residencies for both of them, including ''buying'' contribution points from Crow and the others. They planned to immigrate in the next couple of weeks, but then the war happened. Even when she was bawling her eyes out, Ronny smiled sadly at her. He held out his hand and she shakily took it. Okuri watched as he weakly raised his finger against her palm, writing: It''s Okay. It''s okay now. We''re Home. It was supposed to be comforting, but it only made her sob even more. ¡­ Althea and Garan sighed as they watched all this. They were still wearing their wedding attire and it was naturally difficult to find the celebratory mood. However, everyone did have the tact to leave them (and the villa) alone. Garan knew she just wanted to rest for tonight and he gently undressed her as they settled in the room. He carried her to the bathroom for a nice, relaxing bath, and they didn''t do anything wild despite it being hard on Garan. They settled down the bed and Althea rubbed her head on his wide shoulders, feeling the lovely comfort his warmth brought. Her heart also warmed with how patient her husband was, always adjusting to her mood despite things being hard on him. She couldn''t bear to deprive him on her wedding day of course, so even when she wasn''t entirely in the mood, her hand on his chest slowly slid down, reaching his hard abs and all the way down his crotch. He gasped and looked at her with widened eyes, "You¡ª" She giggled and gave him a soft peck on the lips. "Well, it''s our wedding night after all." She quickly found herself under him and she could only look up at the overbearing figure of her husband. His azure eyes were blue but they were hot, as if it heated up whatever he gazed on. Althea could only shut her eyes when he suddenly leaned down to capture her lips, fully intent on bringing her to oblivion. ¡­ That night was filled with love, with their room oozing with the scent of sex. However, just as the two of them fell asleep, the bell rang. It wasn''t even just the bell ringing in the middle of the night that was irksome, but it was apparently a very urgent one. Althea shifted under her husband''s hold, half-asleep, and Garan patted her, telling her to go back to sleep. "I''ll take it," he said, though he was taking his sweet time getting up. Althea was really about to fall back to sleep when her eyes opened completely as another familiar ding sounded in her head. [Mathilda Ross and Melinda Bouer requests to enter your property] She blinked. Mathilda coming here at this time was already alarming, and Melinda Bouer¡­ was the lead expert of the Meteorology Team. Her stomach dropped at a thought and sat up, though her husband''s arm was still comfortably wrapped around her stomach. She was about to pry herself free when she felt warm lips kiss her spine. Her back arched in sensitivity, but she patted the strong arms around her. "Mathilda is here, she brought the meteorologist." This made Garan freeze and his facial expression morphed to a similar one of worry. "You don''t think¡­?" Althea sighed. "I hope not, but¡­" In any case, the couple let the guests in after they hurriedly dressed themselves. They greeted the two newcomers as they entered their living room and Althea was immediately met with a freckled woman with fiery red hair, looking at her with wide worried eyes. Althea then looked at Mathilda, who sighed."It''s best to let the expert tell you," the old woman said and the couple turned to look at Melinda, who was near tears. She mumbled something unintelligible in her panic. Melinda was actually in her late thirties, but she had a baby face. Because she studied too much and didn''t interact much with people, her EQ also suffered a bit. In turn, she was very child-like even at her age. "Please believe me, Ms. Althea!" "Calm down and speak clearly," Althea said in response, her voice soothing. Melinda took a deep breath, hoping to express her worries as clearly and as quickly as she could. "The Extreme Heat will be coming soon!" Chapter 797 Extreme Heat is Coming! Melinda tried very hard not to cry in guilt, "I''m sorry Ms. Althea. The temperature has indeed been steadily rising for many days now and I was hoping to wait for a week''s worth of data before reporting, but..." She paused and seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating. Althea sighed, taking out a cup of water for her to drink. The girl gulped it down and resumed reporting. "But then the rise had increased all of a sudden," she continued. "Before, it was only a hundredth of a fraction of a centigrade every day, but yesterday it went up by an entire 0.1 degree. So it had been warming up for a while, but like frogs being boiled slowly, they couldn''t notice it. They had known from the aborigines that the weather in Xeno was relatively consistent (per geographical region) except for the massive spikes upwards or downwards of the weather every one or two years. They also confirmed it through their own meteorological teams, who had recorded data ever since its formation. Their area had very good weather and had indeed maintained a certain range of temperature for weeks. This meant changes like this, no matter how minor, were not a good sign. "That''s okay," Althea said, trying to calm the woman down. "You did good coming to us for this." "I¡­ t-thank you¡­" Melinda then excused herself and went away, relieved to finally let it out of her chest. She really couldn''t handle pressure very well¡­ Anyway, back to the villa, Althea was left with her husband and Mathilda and they immediately knew what to do next. That night, an emergency meeting was held in the Village Center. Including the elders, there were also Oslo and some of the hired aborigines. They didn''t have many people so the third floor was still comfortable even with their number. They went straight to the point, with Mathilda leading the meeting. "We called you here because it''s likely that the extreme weather changes have begun and it is extreme heat for us this year. "It may also happen within the next month, or even within a couple of weeks, even." This naturally made everyone else flinch. "What?" The others looked at each other, their stomachs dropping. Oslo looked at the old woman curiously, "How do you know this Maam Mathilda?" In their knowledge, the changes always happened all of a sudden. Even if there were signs, it was only a day or two prior that the temperatures would drop or dramatically rise. There simply wasn''t enough time to prepare everyone, so only the nobles and the rich (as well as those in strong territories) could pass it with better chances of survival. Mathilda nodded. "Haven''t we mentioned we have a meteorology department?" "Well, you did, but¡­" It wasn''t easy for them to comprehend it. In fact, the concept of molecules alone was something above their heads and it would take them quite some time to understand even a bit of it. "It''s okay," Mathilda said, also realizing this. "Basically, we have a method to understand the weather in a way humans can''t quite sense on their own." Speaking of, not including the new observatory, they had actually tried hot air balloons, though it was for meteorology equipment. They had to pour some beast-repelling potions every day so it wouldn''t be taken down by birds or, when they reached their area, flying monsters, so it was a bit costly. Fortunately, they invested in it. "Anyway, that department found that the temperature had been slowly rising the past few days, but it''s very slow that we adapted to it. It''s like how boiling a frog in boiling water worked." "...what?" They had forgotten that metaphor wouldn''t hit locally. "Imagine a¡­ say, a Juju Toad. Imagine it trapped in an enclosed space with water that can be heated up. "If you suddenly increase the temperature it would naturally react and try to escape¡ªas any living thing will do, whether they are sentient or not. "However, if you gradually increase the water temperature, it is a very different story. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Instead of a sudden spike in temperature, what if the change was much more subtle? "Assuming that there is no lack of food or water, do you think it will try to escape like its life depended on it?" The aborigines shook their heads. If the Juju Toad was comfortable enough, it could stay there for a long time. "Indeed," Mathilda patiently explained. "In fact, if everything it needed was there, it wouldn''t mind staying there at all for an indefinite amount of time. "Even if the water would still come to a boil in the end. It would stay there until it died, not knowing what happened." This made the aborigines silent, understanding the accuracy. Indeed, it was entirely possible there had been subtler signs. It was just that very few people¡ªif any¡ªnoticed. Maybe those famous soothsayers¡ªwhom the nobles paid large amounts for information¡ªsimply noticed these signs better than others! Regardless of those people, this news jerked everyone back to activity. "If it''s true, then we have to prepare at the soonest!" Mathilda nodded. "If it''s extreme heat then we naturally have to prepare all the territories to handle it." Not just Alterra, but also the other two! While Alterra would definitely be better off than others by virtue of the design of the houses and the landscaping, they still needed to do a lot more for everyone to survive. Even in Terran, the urban heat could get reduced by around 15% with just 30% greenery compared to an all-concrete construction. Partnered with the use of ventilation and the water sources around them, the ambient temperature around would be much lower than anywhere else. For the other two, because they were limited to existing building types, they could (for now) modify the terrain instead. She would need to add and move a lot of plants to distribute across the territory, add more parkways, and increase underground constructions. Water for Limestone Valley would be relatively more secure due to its access to mountain spring water. On the other hand, it was the new Iron Mountains that could be a problem. The people in the room looked at each other and sighed. This¡­ was going to be a long discussion. Chapter 798 Preparing for the Heat Wave They discussed the other two territories first because the issues and concerns for the satellites were much deeper and broader than what Alterra had to fix. After all, unlike Alterra, the resources they could manipulate in the other two were very limited. Other than adding parks, several underground construction was planned, and Althea would be assigning someone from the Engineering team to determine the sustainable sizes and areas for the population and their needs. However, it probably wouldn''t be perfect and they estimated a few losses in the population regardless, but they did their best to consider everything. Then they shifted back to Alterra, where they''d have a lot of control over. "Our water sources must be secured," Althea said, looking at the representatives of the construction team. She looked at Oslo and Brianna, the Terran sub-lead of the construction team, "We''ll need to create more reservoirs or storage ponds from lake water." Of course, the ponds should still be able to have other uses like park ponds. They would also build dams in redirected areas¡ªof course, this was not to stop the river water going downstream for others as well. ¡­this was assuming no one upstream decided to do just that, of course. She looked at Tanod and Mauru, the newest official captains (they were given a lot of contribution points by virtue of their roles in the Guia-Alterra war). "I need you to study the territories upstream." This was, so far, the only problem she could think of in terms of water sources (except for them possibly drying up). Just as the world had a regeneration rate, the water also healed itself after a while, so they didn''t have to worry too much about people upstream poisoning their water. However, they wouldn''t be able to stop it if people decided to stop the water upstream. It was normally not a problem because the river was wide and the people here wouldn''t have the technology, the skills, and time to build large dams, but in case of a drought, when the river would be dryer and narrower, nobody could tell what would be done. Alterra was fortunate enough to be close to not only a river, but also a tributary from the mountain spring heading towards it. When they expanded, they would also cover another tributary from the mountains, which was a very ideal arrangement. Of course, they could also access it even if it was currently outside of the territory walls. However, the main water source remained to be the river, which had an upstream (South) and a Downstream (North), heading to what was probably a bigger body of water. Maybe they''d get to explore that route someday, but now was not that time. The Xeno continent was large and there was still too much of the geography they didn''t know about, but for now, they could only make do with the information they had about the immediate region. "You may need to sprint and you may request as many health potions in the pharmacy as you need." Sprinting was really consuming of health and it was oftentimes not worth it, but this was too important in gathering information She really wouldn''t put it below the people in Xeno to cut off everyone else''s path to survival to keep their own. This surprised the aborigines indeed. They had heard of a few territories losing access to their water sources during droughts, but they just assumed it was because the river dried off. Now, they knew that it was also possible to be cut off by man. They also considered what to do in the event of the river really drying off. Even if their river was cut off, they still had the mountain springs. They would also build massive underground tanks using dense concrete lined with waterproofing membranes (which were improved versions of the material discovered by Honey Guevarra). They would definitely be laborious to make, but they should also be very sturdy and would be able to hold the entire territory''s source of water even if the drought lasted a month. They would place a lot of these tanks around the territory, whether they were underground and elevated, just to make sure everyone had access to enough water, at least enough for survival. It was a huge project, and very much a bit overbuilding, but it was better safe than sorry. "We''d need a lot of ice as well." "We need to make a very large cellar to create enough ice with saltpeter," Eugene said, scribbling calculations on a piece of paper as they spoke. Although saltpeter could lower water''s freezing point, the temperature needed for it to work was still very low. If the temperature went too high, then their current basements wouldn''t be cold enough as it was. Eugene and Winona looked at each other and nodded. "We''ll study it. If not, we''ll just improve the insulation." "Thank you." S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "A lot of digging and modification would be done," they added. Including improved and expanded cellars, there were also tanks and other things. "The goblins should arrive at Limestone Valley within the next few days," Garan said. The Steward team had left days ago. If they rushed and minimized their rest times, they should be in Iron Mountains by now. They had given instructions to send a few hundred goblins to Limestone Valley. They would just need to ask for a bit more, so Alterra would get a few dozen, perhaps a hundred, as well. Now that the basics of underground construction were on track, she turned to Gru, who smiled at her, already thinking about his own department while they were discussing. "I already listed the drought-resistant plants¡ªTerran or local. I will rank them and show them to you." Althea nodded. "Thank you." "Did we forget anything?" "We should add an article regarding this in the newspaper and send it to all our associates," Mathilda said, referring to their subsidiaries and their allies. "Can people from the Ferrol Branch read Terran though?" "We''ll just send them some instructions," Garan said. Not many members were left there as most were summoned to help with the Guia war. Mathilda nodded. "We also need to propose to the territory some modifications to the rules and regulations as well." The rest of them nodded, with Mathilda taking note of some important considerations. They decided to put out revised rules once the extreme weather changes were publicized. For instance, there would be rules regarding water conservation and the like. There might even be small punishments for those who wasted it. There would also be guidelines and suggestions regarding the use of more drought-resistant crops to farm in the next cycle, even for those who had leased their farms. There would also be guides regarding the proper way to use their cellars, the other ways to prepare, the safety precautions to be taken during such a disaster, et cetera. "We''ll need to impose a temporary tax to those who go beyond the per-person allowance for water." "Agreed." The group spent the next hour planning and formulating the rules and guides, planning on publishing them as soon as the major changes were witnessed. The meeting ended a few hours later, and they knew that none of them would be able to sleep at all for a while. Chapter 799 Lounging Couple After the meeting adjourned, the couple decided to stay for a bit, though they didn''t really announce it. "Let''s wait until midnight, okay?" She told her husband as soon as the other people left. Maybe they''d get lucky today. Garan naturally complied with a patient smile. "Should I join you guys?" Ansel asked and Garan almost kicked him. Althea raised a brow and looked at him teasingly. "Well, if you''re sure Winona wouldn''t mind." This made him flinch and, without further ado, say his goodbye. Garan nodded approvingly, probably thinking something along the lines of ''such is what a good husband will do'' and Althea laughed at his expression. Anyway, it was true. Although Ansel had a history of dating around, he always treated the women well and never cheated. Althea knew that Winona would be in good hands this time. She didn''t even mind their banter at all. Although those two argued a lot for the smallest things, they surprisingly got along well with every other deeper issue. In the end, having differing quirks or personalities was fine between couples, but having the same core values was pretty much non-negotiable for a happy long-term relationship. The newly remarried couple lounged on the sofa while waiting for the time, with Althea resting her head on her husband''s stable shoulder, and their hands entwined as they sat. "I wish we can get new good hires this time," she said, a little bit wistfully. Since the two armor makers, they hadn''t gotten any good hires again. She didn''t want to hire too many aborigines whose jobs could easily be taken by their Terrans after all. Not only was it not practical, but it was taking away good available jobs from Terrans. "Well," Garan said, "Even if there''s none, our Terrans will handle it plenty well." The two of them relaxed on the comfortable sofa as they waited for the next day. Garan began to play with her hands, rubbing her soft palms between his rough fingers, while Althea chuckled and kissed his cheek. "You''re getting stubbles again," she mumbled, eyes staying on his chiseled chin. His azure eyes twinkled with amusement as he leaned down and scratched his chin on her nose. "Hey!" she yelled and her annoyed look just looked adorably pouty in Garan''s eyes. He chuckled, his low voice creating vibrations around him, and soon enough their play ended up with Althea underneath him on the sofa. The atmosphere immediately heated up, and their breathing stagnated. Garan leaned down and met her lips, immediately parting them with his tongue. She wrapped her arms around him and cooperated until they were grinding against each other. Garan''s large hand was creeping up under her shirt, touching the edge of her bra, when¡ª Ding, dong! The large clock in their observatory sounded its bell, and because it was so quiet at this time, it was highly audible all around. "Ah. It''s midnight," she said, pulling herself away. Garan heaved a deep breath and placed a long sensual kiss under her chin, on her neck, before lifting himself off her with a dark face. This made Althea laugh out loud and give him a smooch on the cheeks. She then went to the array again and couldn''t help but look at it closer, as she did every day. A pity she still couldn''t figure it out. How magical would it be to have teleportation arrays where she wanted them? Anyway, she pushed this aside to start the hiring process, and the room was once again lit up with magical powdery holographic-like images of their options. As expected, the first one wasn''t appealing. A cleaner, which they could easily fill with their local population. The next one was passable, which was actually a level 9 fighter named Emer. It wasn''t that special, a lot of their guards were already that level¡ªand were all future elementalists to boot. However, it was so much better than the empty hires of the past. After choosing this one, a young lad looking around his 20s appeared. He was better-looking than others with good features, rounded eyes, and orange hair. Emer was a little shocked when the first thing he saw was a beautiful woman there. However, he felt a glare from the side and he shivered under the man''s strong aura. Emer immediately pulled himself together and immediately went to him, performing the standard salute. "Milord." He said so with a lot of respect. He was intimidated but also admiring. The man''s aura alone was impressive, and he was definitely a strong lord not like most of the others. "Wrong person." ??? "It''s me," the velvety voice of the woman behind him sounded and his eyes widened. He then looked at the man with an impassive expression and then at the beautiful woman who had an amused glint in her eyes. "M-Milord!" "No need to bow," she said. "And just call me Miss Althea. Civilians don''t know of my designation, so don''t call me like that." She remembered Oslo and Rowan often slipped back then, though always in beast mobs or other dangerous situations so the noise was enough to drown in. She wondered for how long she''d be so lucky. She ought to be more careful. Being an elder already put a target on her children''s heads, let alone what could happen if people found out she was the lord. "Rise, and just treat me as a normal officer in the territory." Emer''s orange eyebrows furrowed, conflicted. He had never spoken casually to lords! "Uhm, do you have a particular task to assign me to, Milor¡ªMiss Althea?" Althea looked at him in thought, wondering the same thing. There was no real need for him, so he was basically there to add some strength and variety to her already growing forces. Not to mention, it was late and her husband was getting a little antsy (judged by how the atmosphere got 1 degree colder), so she just decided to give the most basic instructions. Emer also shivered when he realized the temperature changed around. This wasn''t normal temperature and he felt terrified when he felt the aura of ice emanating from the strongman! S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Did he do anything wrong?! Chapter 800 The New Hires Emer always did feel like he was doing something wrong. In his previous territory, he was fired because he apparently didn''t guard the Lord''s son well. He was tasked to guard the Lord''s 20-year-old son on his trip to a Town (escorted by hired mercenaries of course), but the lad only had play and fun in his mind and didn''t consider anything else. The man was focused on ''tasting Town women'' and Emer was asked to wait outside the inn while the master fulfilled his needs. Emer was forced to just stand outside the door for hours on end¡ªhow could he help him out when the other man fell down the stairs and broke his leg? In the territory before that, he was also fired. There, he was assigned to Gate duty. There were refugees who were extremely pitiful. They were hoping to get inside, but they didn''t have enough copper on them. His heart softened and he gave them a few from his own wallet and for a while it felt nice to help people out. However, those refugees caused a lot of trouble, and some were even spies from a rival village. Had he not been hired from the Chancery, he''d have been buried with the spies. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, Emer hoped that he''d do well this time! He looked intensely at the lord and her man, afraid to miss any instructions. There wouldn''t be much instructions from Althea, however. Since she found out that the other hires were welcoming newcomers their own way (usually at either the tavern or the restaurant), she forgoed the orientation and let the others do it for her. It was best to come from people of the same culture, anyway. "You can just go straight to the barracks," she said in the end, nudging her husband. "It''s located on the Eastern side of the territory and you can ask around," Garan said as he looked at him with that impassive expression on his face. "Tell them you are a newly hired aborigine that the elders sent. They will assign you to a task or a team from there." At the same time, Althea sent a message to the other hired aborigines, alerting them of the newcomer to welcome. Emer nodded and gave the standard salute before leaving the couple behind. He doubted there would be people around at this time, he didn''t dare to ask more questions. He just thought he''d figure something out along the way. ¡­ Because she actually got her hire today, Althea just emptied out the rest of the three slots without much expectation. Unexpectedly, in the fifth and final summoning, she actually did find someone interesting. [Name: Buggy Pooh Occupation: Insect Finder Remuneration: 10 Gold/month] Insect Finder. Don''t look at it weirdly and think it was useless. While it really had no application for the imminent extreme heat, it could be useful right after. First of all, such rich forests and plants couldn''t have been what they were now without insects like bees. But how come they hadn''t found similar insects? She found out more about this from the bird trainer Reddit, who had developed a skill that could detect where birds were. He mentioned that he also detected small dots that were even faster than the birds. They asked the former city dwellers about this and they did confirm that they had vaguely heard about it somewhere, though it wasn''t something given much thought by most. Apparently, like birds, human-useful insects like those with similar functions to bees had evolved to be¡­ nearly undetectable. It was beyond the sights of low-level humans like them, birds and bugs had their own domain, their own world, where their speed was normal. She had heard of the profession from Oslo and it wasn''t that common because there wasn''t much of a need for them. From what she knew, insect finders'' use was just to find the insects who had entered the territory. Although territory walls had some sort of barrier against harmful bugs and critters, it didn''t block from others. Otherwise, their messenger bird model wouldn''t have worked at all. At the same time, this also meant that the bugs that entered the territory walls were not intrinsically harmful. It was just that, in some territories, there were times they came in droves and it irked the locals very much. Humans here generally did not care whether the bugs were harmful or not. Even if they knew they were harmless or maybe even useful, the associations with the critters were too harmful and it was natural that they didn''t want to have anything to do with it. Insect Finders were generally hired to take care and clean up these critters, regardless of whether it was necessary or not. Anyway, it was an unfamiliar occupation and Althea saw no loss in hiring him. As such, the array lit up once again as the new aborigine appeared in the middle. Buggy had a bald head, large rounded eyes, and flat nose, looking like that middle-aged cleaner commercial popular in Terran. Unaware of the associations placed on him, the aborigine immediately greeted the two of them. Like the other guy, he also confused Garan as the lord. Suffice to say, he was very shocked to encounter a female lord in his lifetime. He was even more confused when he was assigned not to the cleaning team, but to an unfamiliar place. "R-Research Center, Miss Althea?" "Yes, a research center," she said. "It''s a place where we study and experiment with various things. This is where we''d need your expertise. "You will go to the research center and say the territory asked you to find bees," she said. "Bees?" Althea''s eyes twitched, unsure how to explain this to him. The critters here were very different after all. "It''s hard to explain. You''ll know more when you go there," she told him. "But wait until tomorrow. For now, go to Community B and you''ll find an abode there for you." He left and he was more confused than ever. However, at the same time, he was also very curious. He was already in his fifties and had been through at least a dozen territories that asked the exact same thing from him. How different would this territory be? Chapter 801 Upgraded Bathhouse Later that day. Althea opened her eyes as she slowly slid out of slumber, waking up a little later than usual. The sun was already a bit high, though according to their tower clock, it wasn''t too late. Apparently, the sun just went up earlier that day like how the day started earlier during summers. Of course, they all knew what this actually meant, and it just reminded them that there would be a lot to do. Althea stretched her arms to completely get rid of the lethargy. However, her movements paused as large arms wrapped around her bare stomach and pulled her to him. "Good morning, wife," he said leaning down to give her a morning kiss. Their lips rubbed against each other as they felt the other''s warmth. Before they could do one morning round though, a ding decided to pull Althea out of the moment. [Congratulations, your Bathhouse (Lv1) has met the requirements for an upgrade! Would you like to upgrade your bathhouse for 1000 Wood, 1000 Stone, and 1000 Gold?] Because of the heat plus the massive amount of contribution points given out during the two wars, the bathhouse made an unprecedented amount of customers during the past few days. Today, it finally led to an upgrade. Althea''s large emerald eyes immediately widened. Just what they needed! ¡­ When the Bathhouse upgraded, everyone was notified. The ones inside were given vouchers so they could return and enjoy the services. They were happy because they''d be among the first to enjoy the upgraded bathhouse. What an honor! "Mum, mum¡­" Koo Yu greeted his mother, who had also just left the building. They had been working in the massage section and they had been living very well from the salary as well as from the tips. While Mrs. Yu was still not completely right in the head, she was much better because of her son. She still couldn''t speak much, but she was more or less lucid now and could be talked to. Jane smiled at her son, taking his hand and they went to the gardens and settled there. As they approached, they saw a lot of people there, settling down in a way. "Mrs. Yu, Koo~!" Sunny called with a wave, and beside her were her friends. There were a lot of people settling in the surrounding gardens. There were also a lot of people from other parts of the territory¡ªthat was to say, people who weren''t even in the bathhouse¡ªalso came with baskets. They were going to have a picnic. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although a lot of entertainment facilities had appeared around the territory, to witness the creation of aether buildings remained to be an extremely magical experience and worth dropping everything to watch up close. Every time an upgrade or an erection was announced, most people would go out and watch it. Even workplaces were relatively lax about this, with the workers and employees just off-setting their working hours. It was a sight that the people would never get tired of. One, it was fascinating in its own right and second, it signified their home was getting better! When a building had a park nearby, a lot of people had a habit of watching the show with food, which to some meant enjoying a picnic! The Yus naturally joined Sunny and the others. They had been living together for a while, with the trio sharing ownership of a single detached unit. The two women were on the ground floor, while the men were upstairs. When the Yu''s earned enough for permanent residency and downpayment, then they''d move out, but they hoped to still live nearby the trio. For a while, nothing seemed to happen, though some people did say they heard a bit of noise somewhere. Later, they would find out it was underground digging. For now, the audience did not see this. They chatted for a while until someone yelled from the side, catching their attention. "It has began!" The crowd watched in awe as a blurry light surrounded the bathhouse. For the next few hours, they watched as the building gained mass bit by bit. They watched as more columns were added, as roofs appeared, and as the intricate motifs carved themselves across the walls. When it ended, everyone walked over to see more details. It slightly increased in size, becoming taller in height, though it didn''t seem like a floor was added. However, as they went and entered, they realized the Bathhouse actually expanded more downwards! The new floor¡­ was underground! Passing the grander lobby¡ªwith higher ceilings, more intricate designs, and fascinating scents¡ªand after the dressing room, the patrons would be greeted with a lovely archway to the same floor as well as a wide staircase winding down to a lower floor. The pools were much larger and there were saunas of varying temperatures as well. The rooms were larger and grander, and allowed for even more customization. Another feature Althea appreciated was that she had an option to make the herbal pools automatic (wherein she just had to set the resources it''d consume), so the staff didn''t have to put them manually. And from Althea''s understanding of system buildings, the effect of the herbs might also be improved and absorbed better by the users. The new lower floor was purely for cooler pools (for now), and a good third seemed to even be the ice cold water. They would later find out this would vary depending on the territory''s needs. For instance, it could be a hot spring if needed, though it''d require a bit of energy. "How interesting!" They gasped, with some patrons immediately jumping down to test, though most jumped right back out due to its frigidness. "Cold! Cold!" they''d yell, moving wildly to shake off the cold. "Hngggg¡ª" They shivered, hugging themselves as they shook. Why would the territory build so many super cold pools? It was warm lately, but not that warm. Did such pools become popular without them knowing? However, any change was interesting and everyone enjoyed their time in the improved bathhouse and the spa. Then the territory later announced that Extreme Heat weather was coming and they suddenly regretted being happy too soon! Chapter 802 News Early that morning, the messenger birds were sent to the satellite territories of Alterra: Iron Mountain and Limestone Valley. The allied territories, on the other hand, didn''t have access to the messenger birds and would have to get access to the news on their own. Because allied territories, and even subsidiaries, could get disconnected from the leading territory after the contract ended, Alterra didn''t dare expose too much of their current mode of long-distance communication to others. So, at least not until they found more advanced or updated methods, sending a newspaper to these places was already kind enough. Anyway, they¡ªBelluga and Bright¡ªalways sent caravans to Alterra at least once every few days so they would get informed by then. Speaking of the Newspaper, there were also a lot of copies in circulation within Alterra. The Newspaper¡ªnamed ''The Alterra Times''¡ªwas created to update the citizens about the events of the territory, as well as to provide some sort of entertainment¡ªmuch like how newspapers functioned back in the day. It could be read in the library for free. It would also be arranged in chronological order to create a sort of historical documentation for the territory. At the same time, it could also be purchased for personal use in the new bookstore on West Market Street. Here, not only newspapers, but also pens, pencils, papers, and other stationeries were sold. Speaking of the new Bookstore, when it finally opened, people naturally went crazy. The queue was long even when the purchase limit was small. Basically, a person was only allowed to buy a bit of everything¡ªwhich was just about the average use of a person for a week. No one complained though¡ªhaving a few notebooks and sets of pencils, pens, and ink was already amazing to them! Terrans were happy some conveniences they had taken for granted before were finally in Alterra. On the other hand, most of the Aborigines were taken to a whole new world. In particular, it was the aborigines who went with Jonathan that were affected the most. Because their social status allowed them to have more access to the papyrus and were literate, they were the ones who could really tell how innovative these things were. One, they had never seen such thin and convenient pieces of paper! They could be stacked up by a lot and were relatively sturdy. The surface was extremely smooth and almost white and the contrast to their writing made it seem like they were popping up! There were also such gorgeous pens that could hold so much ink at a time! And the lines had equal thicknesses! Their hands didn''t even have to be so strained because it was so relaxing to use! And pencil! Apparently, its writings could be erased?! According to the salesperson, it could be used to show ''shading'' (whatever that meant)?! Unfortunately, supply was still limited so the purchase limit was small, and this was why books were still not commercially available for now. Regardless, the Bookstore added to another unique market item for Alterra. For the associate villages, on the other hand, the newspapers were sent to update them of the events around Alterra. At this time, Limestone Valley received their copy, while Iron Mountain''s was on its way. The Loft in Limestone Valley was located on the meeting room floor of the Village Center. The upper floors of the Village Center were guarded by the system and, at least outside of wars, it was an extremely safe place to put the facility. Anyway, when it landed, Victor and his father were discussing a proposal for the development of an area. It flew over them both, with Henry being hit on the head with the larger-than-usual packaging. Victor looked at the bird standing in front of him in awe. To be frank, although this wasn''t the first time he received a message like this, it felt like he''d never tire of it. Surprisingly though, the birds seemed to be carrying something bigger, a large piece of paper almost their size. The soldier took the ''letter'' from the bird, and it squeaked, flying towards its loft. As if no longer seeing Victor or Henry there, it happily ate the meals and treats there, and it''d rest there for a while until it was sent to do its next task. Victor sat back down to read the contents of the letter, while Henry opened the larger package. They soon realized that, along with the respective messages, there was a Newspaper written in the Terran lingua franca! The father-and-son looked at each other with wide eyes and they hurriedly began reading the contents of the newspaper and letters. They didn''t even have to discuss, Victor immediately called the team for a discussion. A few minutes later, everyone arrived and sat in their own seat in the meeting room. In Limestone Valley, the Village Center was refurbished to function similarly to Alterra''s, so it had its lounges and a few meeting rooms. The top floor with the array remained inaccessible and connected to the warehouse, and no one questioned too much. Anyway, this team included Henry, Victor, Vanessa, Benny, and the others. Now included in the inner circle were the young Amos and Juni, as direct representatives of Alterra as well. "Alterran Times, eh?" Benny mumbled, looking at the piece of paper passed around the team. However, some of the news was disturbing and his joking attitude immediately turned dire. "So Vismont Village has fallen," he said, sighing. The news was primarily to warn them before heading in that area, and to be careful if they encountered people from there. To be honest, everyone thought that Vismont was the most secure village next to Alterra. It was its subsidiary, after all. "It goes to show anything can happen in this world," Henry said as he shook his head. "We always have to be prepared, never complacent." The rest nodded and continued reading the articles. The article was written by a woman named Vivian, a known news reporter back in Terran and were someone from the former Fargo Territory. It was good to know the people who had moved there were making a name for themselves in Alterra. It was written in Terran of course, for now, so it was like a Terran-exclusive news source. More than the exclusivity though, it was done primarily because not everyone could read Xeno language quite yet. Anyway, the article mentioned that the enemy territory had permanently settled there in Vismont, now called ''New Shrao Village'', and comprised of immigrants from a fallen territory. While they didn''t seem to be openly belligerent, it cannot be taken lightly. It even stated that the average level of Shrao Village was quite a bit higher than theirs. Next to Alterra, they had the strongest human force. They were satellites so they wouldn''t be attacked (at least during the duration of the contract), however, the power of the system was reduced outside of the territories. Not to mention, Shrao could break away from Alterra after a year. "So we have a potential enemy so close to us," Victor sighed as he read the news along with the rest of the team. "And they''re not weak." "It''s closer to Alterra and they could handle it better there." "What else does it say about this territory?" Ken asked Benny, wanting to take the paper away but the latter was reading very intently. "They have Terrans in high positions. The most prominent man was a man named Cain¡ª" "What?" They turned to look at the source of the exclamation, a little startled. "Juni?" Victor asked in concern, his hand extending to hold hers. She pursed her lips and held his hand tightly, as if finding strength there. "A-Ah¡­ I''m not sure," she said, "I''ll¡­ tell you when I confirm it, okay?" Victor nodded, before returning his attention back to the newspaper. The group continued to discuss the news, absorbing it and hopefully creating a good plan to adjust. For one, they would be temporarily forbidding passing through Vismont. Limestone Valley was West of both Vismont and Bright, and all their caravans could just go through Bright instead. Victor led the meeting, and included there was the improved training regime for their forces. The discussion went deep, and Victor was completely preoccupied, temporarily unaware of Juni''s internal struggles. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The voices faded to the back of Juni''s head, a single thought running through her mind. She grabbed the fabric of her pants. Her eyes sharpened and her entire body boiled in anger. Cain¡­! I finally found you! Chapter 803 The Meteorology Article The next article was written by a man called Jeremiah. The article was about Alterra being attacked and taking over another village. The headline stated ''Alterra''s New Satellite'', and it made a rough mention of them winning Guia Village¡ªnow Iron Mountains. It was naturally not too detailed for fear of giving too much information, and it didn''t show exactly how the enemy was defeated. What they did say was the strength of the enemy had an average level of level 10 or 11, and they had a lot of slaves including goblins. However, despite this, Alterra won with only injuries and material losses. Their lord, a level 30+ earth user, was beheaded and his head was displayed in the original village for all to see. This was extremely impressive and the soldiers longed to have been part of it. The newspaper also mentioned that all the slaves had been freed in the sense that they wouldn''t be treated as such and they could buy their own freedom. It was actually quite vague, compared to the first article, and understandably so. The largest article however was written by Melinda, a professor in meteorology. Victor and Henry had naturally read this beforehand, and they watched as Benny read it out loud for the others, and they all similarly paled at its contents. It outlined the steady increase in temperature the past few days, and how it was likely an Extreme Heat situation was imminent. "Is this true?" "It didn''t guarantee, but it''s best to be prepared. We all know something like that would happen sooner or later anyway." He put the newspaper aside, which was taken by Vanessa, while Victor read the letter attached to it. They were too taken in by the contents of the newspaper earlier they hadn''t actually opened the letter yet. His shoulders slumped in relief as he read the contents. "They''re sending goblins here." "Goblins? The one we heard about?" The others looked at him, eyes sparkling a bit despite their worries, and he nodded to confirm. "Yes, those goblins." They were very curious. They had never seen other creatures before! Ah, there was the half-orc, but that was a passing acquaintance. "They are supposed to help dig tunnels," he told them, "One was from the limestones to a new gate under the mountain¡ª" "So that''s what that gate was!" Benny said, clapping his hand. When a gate that couldn''t be opened (because it was literally opening towards the mountains) appeared out of nowhere, they were very confused! With this letter, they know why. Apparently, goblins would dig tunnels that would head straight to those embedded gates. "Then they will also assist in creating cisterns and the like. Also attached is the methodology for creating saltpeter." The detail of assistance lifted everyone''s hearts, their momentary fear of the incoming disaster dissipating by a huge lot. Henry stood up and nodded, prepared to work. "We should have professionals here who could do this. Especially since we took in a lot of Terran refugees." Ken and Benny nodded, standing up. "We''ll start hiring right away." As such, the group distributed the work load with urgency but with a lot of hope. "To think we would feel prepared for something like this," Benny said. Although they had yet to implement anything, the fact that it felt they had control over it was already very good. "True. The aborigines said it was always so sudden, most people couldn''t prepare at all." "Alterra¡­ is really something else," the curly-haired man said. "Of course, the mysterious lord as well." "The lord is definitely among the elders." Silence. However, they all just nodded, not really minding anything. As it was, everyone''s a family. The lord''s anonymity was to protect him or her and, by extension, it also protected them. Their discussion paused when they heard the slight sound of paper crumpled just a bit. It was Vanessa, who was still intently reading the newspaper. Or rather, glaring at it. People felt a bit hurt when they saw her hands grip the paper tightly. Not everyone could get acccess to that! That''s still a luxury product! It''s like she''s crumpling an antique painting! Victor gestured to take it away from her hands, though it was harder than expected, while the others couldn''t help but look over and peek at her expression. Vanessa bit her lips and her eyes were dark, and they looked curiously at whatever she was reading. On the other side of the newspaper, there was also cultural news and even comics sections. The comics were accomplished because Ansel''s lithography research¡ªusing the zinc from the mines¡ªstill caught up with the publishing of this newspaper edition in the end. For the comics, there was a hilarious skit of Fufi trying to get charm points for his wolf-love. Unfortunately, his perennial smiley face made the wolf misunderstand he wasn''t serious and always got the butt turn instead. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fufi then stole some meat from Cooke''s restaurant to take her and ask her to a date. This made the wolf pause. But when the wolf was turning¡ªwith the panel zoomed in on cartoon-Fufi''s facial expression of anticipation¡ªthe succeeding panel only had a ''to be continued''. "Cliffhanger!" Benny gasped, while the others chuckled. Regardless of whether it was funny or not, the fact that comics were available added levity to the atmosphere dampened by the news prior to it. Anyway, they continued reading the rest of the entertainment article, which wasn''t read even by Victor and Henry. After all, who''d have that energy after seeing the meteorological article? They just called everyone to a meeting as soon as they read the headline! As for the cultural news, it was a bit surprising even for them. It showed the renewal of vows of Alterra and Garan. There were even simple drawn pictures there, showing the very happy couple and the grand event. They looked at Vanessa. It was no wonder her hands were clenched and she was gritting her teeth. Juni''s eyes darkened and she smiled gently, very much like a proper sister-in-law. She stood up and leaned over between the siblings. If it was a man like Victor who did this, Juni was afraid they''d just tear the paper off. She held the girl''s hand gripping the paper, she frowned when she realized she really held it very tightly. They shouldn''t waste precious paper. "Let go of it, it''s crumpling," she said, quite directly, but her tone was gentle like water. To most, it sounded more like she was persuading a child. "The elders are happy and stable, it''s good for everyone, right?" she said, voice gentle and soothing. "Those two are so good and help so many Terrans, they deserve unconditional happiness together, don''t you think so?" Vanessa''s lips twitched and forced a smile. "Yeah, sure." "Can I have the newspaper? Those are still rare, a pity to waste them." "...of course." Juni then pried the paper away carefully folding it. She then handed it to her father as if she were the good daughter-in-law she had been playing the past couple of days. Vanessa''s sharp eyes watched the other woman''s back, and she saw the woman casually touch her brother''s arms. The man then turned and gave a small smile, and the two entered their own world. Vanessa''s expression darkened immediately. Bitch!! Chapter 804 Iron Mountain Preparation A few days passed after the announcement, and Gill was now standing like the tall person that he was in the iron mines, though this was visually exaggerated since he was surrounded by little Goblins less than half his height. A while back, there was a team of administrators that had arrived. He and Gio had spent days orienting them on the state of the place. However, more and more Alterran teams arrived soon after. They were to safely escort the goblins to the other two territories in preparation for the upcoming Heat Wave. Gill looked at the goblins in curiosity, wondering why none of them had chosen to leave. By virtue of giving people a choice¡ªbecause they''d feel more inclined to help Alterra if they stayed of their own volition¡ªthe goblins were also given the choice to buy their own freedom as soon as they were able. Alterra would never take a loss of course, so the little things were asked to do labor equivalent to how much their freedom costs. Gill had expected that the goblins would be working even more crazily so they could ''escape'' Iron Mountains, but surprisingly there didn''t seem to be much of a change¡ªas if none of them were planning to leave at all. This was a good thing of course, but it felt a bit out-of-character considering the historical conflicts goblins had with this place. "Can you tell me why?" He asked tone sharp as always, but he wasn''t afraid to scare them off because he knew they could sense hostility. Sure enough, their faces didn''t change. Instead, they just bluntly answered his question. "Dangerous outside." Gill''s eyebrows rose. Considering the goblins they first encountered all left them without care, it was obvious that they weren''t talking about monster mobs¡ªwhich they could avoid via their tunnels. So¡­ the Heat Wave then? Goblins could sense special stones and people''s intent, it was not a surprise that they could sense this. "It''s because of the Extreme Heat isn''t it?" he asked, "I''m actually here to ask for your help regarding this." This made them flinch but not in a bad way. Rather, they were shocked to be openly needed and with a human humbly asking for their help. "Is there anyone willing to move to other territories to do digging jobs there?" The goblins looked at him in confusion, before looking at each other. Gill rubbed his nose. Should he have called Silvia in here? She was the better people person. However, they didn''t send any of the newcomers here in the end. They were still studying the territory workings. How could they have the time to bond with the citizens, let alone the goblins? That left the only choice as him, the only Terran who had stayed here long enough. The problem was, he didn''t have a very charming way with words. "You will be hired, as you are here, but with different mountains," he said after clearing his throat. "You will be digging tunnels, basements, and cisterns there. "Of course, this is completely optional, and there are indeed some dangers in the travel, but we assure you we will do our best to protect you." He smiled kindly (well, in his standard) and the goblins looked up at him with various expressions. "Well? What do you say?" ¡­ Waiting inside the newly refurbished lord''s villa¡ªcleaned up very thoroughly by Gill¡ªwas the team, including those who would be stationed there. The leading military men would be Rowan and Reno, so there was an aborigine and a Terran representative in the military. There were also two civilians there¡ªKimura and his new assistant Lin¡ªwho specialized in metals. They were there naturally for the study of the mine itself, and perhaps to find more resources along the way. Diplomacy was to be handled by Silvia, one of Mathilda''s right hand men, er, woman. In fact, Jun was seriously considered for the job but he had a family who were quite attached to Alterra so Silvia, who was single (for now), didn''t have a choice but to agree. The woman was naturally reluctant to part with the goodness of Alterra. She had heard of the ''horror stories'' of aborigine territories. She remembered Vismont back when they first visited there, with some teammates accidentally stepping on human feces on the streets. Although she remained calm and collected, she actually almost fainted back then. That was already a Terran territory¡ªthe supposed home of ''modern'' humans. She heard that aborigine territories were even worse! Silvia was a clean freak, and she naturally knew this would be difficult for her. Fortunately, her brother was coming with her to this place. And¡­ there was also Rowan. At this thought, she couldn''t help but steal a glance at the man. She flinched when they met each other''s eye, realizing the other was also looking. They turned away abruptly with slightly flushed faces that made Reno, who had been talking with the other guards, look at them in suspicion. "Do you think I''m missing something?" he asked the people he had been talking with. The guards, similarly lacking in the romance department, only shrugged, similarly clueless. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, the escorting guards continued to plan their routes back to the other two territories¡ªLimestone Valley and Alterra¡ªalthough they would definitely travel together as a bigger group for as long as they could. They had to plan well. They would be outside the territories where there would be no rules or regulations to protect them, making it much more dangerous to travel. Goblins were expensive and they wouldn''t just be dealing with monsters in this trip. They could also be dealing with greedy aborigines. This was why stronger aborigines like the silver-haired Silva were also with them on this trip. Other than him, there were also a couple of soldiers. Anyway, this was an important mission. The goblins were integral to the survival of thousands of people from the three territories, and they had to be protected. From Guia, they would travel less than 100 kilometers to Limestone Valley nee Fargo Village, and then the goblins and soldiers assigned to Alterra would move from there. The level 40 Silva would be leading the Goblins through Limestone Valley and take the rest of them all the way to Alterra. In any case, the territory equipped them well¡ªthey shouldn''t disappoint it by showing losses! Chapter 805 Iron Mountain Barracks Meanwhile, the team assigned to stay was being oriented by Gill, this time they were heading around the territory for detailed guidance. Next to him was Poki, a Captain, as well as the handsome Gio his administrator-slash-secretary. The small group walked around and studied the place, not taking to mind the various looks and whispers of the people around. Fortunately, everyone was busy making a living so there weren''t many people gossiping about them. Outside the mines, the typical type of market found in aborigine villages was also predominant in Iron Mountains. There were hunters, gatherers, and those who process them, and they would do this over and over, day after day. It was bland and boring to Alterrans, but it was the way of life here. The major change that their takeover had caused¡ªso far¡ªwas just the lesser violence and maybe the activity brought about by the hiring notices. It''d take time, but they should be able to improve it. In time, the cultures would mesh better and so would people''s lifestyles, regardless of whether they were aborigines or not. Of course, they weren''t naive to think taking over people''s hearts would be easy. This was a place with aborigines as 99.9% of its population. This meant they grew up and lived with specific rules and world views. Handling this place was a far more difficult challenge than handling Limestone Valley. Soon, they arrived at the barracks area. The barracks in Iron Mountains nee Guia Village was a System Barracks. Like the one Alterra got from Fargo Village, it was more like a place to train specific specializations¡ªsword, spear, shield, or bow. It was nothing that special to them because, unlike local territories, they didn''t mind training others and teaching others techniques. Alterra''s (which they got from Fargo) was connected to the main barracks and added as a feature that people could access using Contribution Points, but they were never dependent on it. In Iron Valley, this was still very useful of course. In fact, at this time, the newly hired guards were there, training. More than 50 people were doing the standard exercises. Some were sparring in an area, while the others were using the barracks'' features. For example, some people were lined up in the archery range, practicing, no doubt receiving System guidance here and there. They were in groups, but the only two women were visibly separated from the others. They stood at least a few meters away from whichever group they were currently in. Silvia saw this and looked immediately concerned. However, she didn''t dwell on to it yet as she listened to the status reports. "We had already hired about 52 guards and are currently under probation. Two of them are¡­ women," Poki said, and his eyes couldn''t help but stick on the beautiful short-haired Silvia. It was purely of admiration, curiosity, and also puzzlement. After all, she¡ªalso a woman¡ªseemed to have a good position in the territory and it wasn''t anything he had seen before. Rowan frowned and stepped forward, blocking his sight. Poki shivered and looked away, once again wondering if he did anything wrong. ¡­ S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The group except for Poki left the barracks, and a few eyes followed them as they exited. Poki noticed a few people pausing though and frowned. "Go back to training! Do you want me to lower your score?" Immediately, the newbies went back to training. The salary was confirmed to be really good, and they naturally didn''t want to lose the chance! In fact, they worked particularly hard today knowing the new leaders were passing by! At some point, it was finally the women''s turn to the training area, and Poki couldn''t help but watch them closely. Before leaving, Miss Silvia said to watch over the women¡ªat least for the first few days¡ªand to ensure they weren''t being bullied. Yllana entered the swordsmanship area, while Mirea¡ª-another one of the former lord''s women¡ª-went to the Archery range. As expected, their performance was really¡­ inferior. They were slow and weak and they barely managed to pass the ''obstacle course'' test they set up. Rather, they tried to pass it so desperately that Sir Gill probably felt pity on them. He sighed, walking over to them after they were done. He was about to talk when he saw a few men stopped their tracks and watched curiously. Some even had derisive eyes, no doubt assuming the two women would be humiliated for their weaknesses. Poki''s eyes twitched and he turned to the women. "Let''s talk elsewhere," he said before turning to look at the others, sneer on his face. "Go back to work! We''re not paying you to gossip!" ... The two women looked nervous as they were put aside to talk by the captain. It had only been a few days, were they going to be let go already? Remembering their performances versus the men, they both felt a sense of dread regarding this conversation. They didn''t want to leave! They liked the feeling of training. It was hard, but it felt like they were growing stronger, and they relished that feeling. Outside the barracks, it was too hard for them to do this! At the thought, they couldn''t help but panic. "Please don''t get rid of us! We''re going to try harder!" Poki crossed his arms and sighed. "I wasn''t. I''m taking you aside to ask you to work harder than others, and if anyone of the men try to bully you, inform me immediately." This made the two women flinch. "Why¡­" "Why am I being so kind?" Poki completed their sentence for them. "Miss Silvia asked me to watch over you. She also told me to recommend action plans that would be good for you." The two women couldn''t believe their ears. "That woman from before?" They couldn''t help but remember the beautiful woman with short hair with Sir Gill and the rest of them. Based on body language, she¡­ seemed to have a similar standing to him? "Yeah. Her name is Miss Silvia, she is in-charge of the administrative aspects of the territory." "What?" The two women couldn''t help but look at each other with bright eyes. It seemed that when Sir Gill said that women could have the same positions as men in their territory, he really¡­ wasn''t lying? Chapter 806 Longing The group continued to mention things to note, as well as what he was sending the elders for improvement in the future. "I would hope to get a few more Alterran captains in here," he said, "And, perhaps, a mass migration is possible." Silvia nodded. "Policies could be made to encourage this," she said. "This will be especially attractive to those who couldn''t afford a residency in Alterra yet." There were a lot of policies to be done, actually, and some might be added in consideration to the majority aborigine population. Thinking of the challenges, Silvia couldn''t help but think about the two women from before. "Would those two women be able to cope?" she asked. While she could support them, she had too much to do to be able to monitor their progress. She was afraid their progress would be stifled by being in this place. Sure, it would change, and it could even be inspirational, but that would take a long time. Further, too many things could happen in between that would ruin everything. She was afraid that if mobs or wars happened, they''d get thrown towards the mobs. They could even be taken advantage of outside while they were hunting as a group. After all, even without wars, the rules were null outside the territory lines and anything could happen. It was harsh, but she wouldn''t put it past the men here. Although most of the ''bad apples'' had been kicked out or left, it didn''t mean there wasn''t rotten fruit left here. Perhaps they simply weren''t strong enough before and were therefore more humble. But place them in a position of power¡ªfor example, next to weaker women¡ªthey might just show off their true colors. She expressed her fears to the others, and immediately came with a proposal. "What do you guys think¡­ of sending them to Alterra, instead?" ¡­ When it was all over, the group separated to do their own jobs. Silvia was about to go to the Village center when she saw Rowan standing still, looking out the street in a daze. "Guia Village, eh?" he said, mouthing it quietly. "Rowan?" She called as she walked next to him. The redhead''s eyes softened a bit when he turned to her. "Silvia." "You seem to have entered a daze. Is there anything wrong?" She asked, wondering if there was anything about this palace that worried him. Rowan shook his head. "I just know that this is near my hometown," he said. "At least, I have heard that Guia village was only a few days'' travel from there." From what he could estimate, his old home, Voumi Town, was nearer here than Ferrol Town was to Alterra. "Oh?" "Hmn. It''s nothing much." He paused. "At least not compared to Alterra. I don''t have family there either." Rowan said as he looked at her. "But¡­ I''ll take you there someday." Silvia smiled, a small blush creeping up her face. "Hmn, I''d love that." ¡­ Other than these two potential love birds, there was also part of the team who was walking around and exploring their new assignment. This was none other than the uncle-nephew duo, Hugo and Helios. "So this is Iron Mountains¡­" Helios said, casually resting the back of his neck on his palms as they perused the place. The streets were relatively narrow but the population wasn''t as high as other peak villages, so while there were a few people roaming around, it wasn''t as lively as the other territories. This was because its focus was on mining. A good portion was the few thousand slaves in the mines, most of whom were goblins, and then the rest of the village was mostly those assigned to process or guard the place. Also, they took out quite a bit of their forces during the war, so¡­ Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They had also heard from Luis and the others that the entry and hotel fee here was extremely expensive. So the environment was less populated than they feared. Not to mention, the Alterran Rules had applied here so there was a lot less littering and stuff. As of now, no change has been done in the infrastructure, but it was relatively cleaner than they expected. However, it didn''t mean there wasn''t any trash around. For one, sometime during their walk, they encountered a familiar scene of a man trying to pull a woman. He was dragging her to his house, and he was doing it so harshly that the woman lost her footing and her knee rubbed against the rough ground. The injury was minor, and there was no intent to kill, so it didn''t trigger the rules. Hugo, although angry, was much cooler, ready to intervene with a level head. However, the sight had a parallel and triggered a memory in Helios'' mind, causing him to act a bit more strongly. "Hey, stop it!" Helios yelled, about to lunge towards the man. He was stopped by his uncle in time. Helios frowned at his uncle''s strong grip on his shoulder, but could not ask much because he already placed himself between him and the aborigine. Hugo kept his hot-headed nephew behind him and coolly looked at the man. "Don''t you know you''ll get a yellow card?" "A what?" "You must be new here," he said. "Or is it that you didn''t read the rules?" "Heh, rules. What would puny guys like you talk to me about rules!" This confirmed that this man had just arrived. He was probably a citizen who travelled elsewhere and had just returned, completely unaware about how much had changed. "I''m sorry but we cannot let you have the woman. She obviously disagrees to come with you." Hugo paused and looked at the woman in confirmation. "Am I right? You can be honest." The girl was teary and nodded repeatedly. The man sneered, believing the woman''s opinion didn''t matter. He got livid when Hugo pulled his hand off the girl''s hair and asked her to step away, telling her they''d be able to handle it. The man gritted his teeth. What made them think he could be ''handled'' by them?! Their levels were lower than his! He raised his fist, intent on attacking, and showing them just how different their strengths were. However, before the punch could connect, he disappeared. And so, Iron Mountain''s prison added another tenant. Hugo''s expression didn''t change at all and he turned to the shaking woman who was gaping at them. "You can go now," he said, and the blushing woman looked at him like he was the messiah. She looked him with eyes filled with admiration. "T-Thank you!" "We''re guards, we''re just doing our jobs," Hugo said blandly, and he thought she would scurry away and leave them alone. However, the woman''s sights didn''t leave him. He looked awkward at this and pulled his nephew away so they could continue looking around. Normally, the younger man would be teasing him by now. Instead, he was just silent. Hugo couldn''t help but take another look at the younger man. "What''s wrong with you? That was an unnecessarily passionate response," he said. Guards couldn''t be so emotional in handling scuffles, especially when no one was dying. At his question, Helios blushed a bit. "I¡­ I just remembered some stuff," he said, but without any plan on explaining further. Seeing as he didn''t want to talk about it, Hugo didn''t push him. While they walked, inexplicably, Helios fell into a daze as he thought of that woman. He remembered that heated night, and the feeling of her against him. He could still remember her pretty blue eyes and sand-colored hair, and his heart clenched in longing. Ah, damnit. He missed her. Chapter 807 Finally Departing (Part 1) Early the next day, the team met up again as scheduled, but this time for some final departure instructions and the like. The whole territory shook as they saw hundreds of goblins lined up neatly¡ªuntied¡ªfollowing Gill. Where are they going? Was the most commonly asked question around the streets that day. Among these looks were naturally greed and Gill and the others tried to take note of as many as they could. This was inevitable. Goblins were really too attractive, but they needed them too urgently to hold back. They already expected quite a few attacks heading their way during their travels. Fortunately, except for a few level 20 mercenaries around, the rest were at the level of villages. Hopefully, whatever scuffle happened, no one would be seriously hurt. Speaking of the level 20 mercenaries, some of the people who seemed open about their greed was the Yutot Mercenary Team. They were watching the parade from the side, and didn''t even bother hiding their discussions. "That''s a lot of goblins¡­" "Didn''t the lord of Voumi Town express his need for a few?" They were technically locals in Guia Village, assigned by a partnering town years prior. They had been maximized until they were level 15, however at some point they couldn''t handle the stagnancy and travelled to and fro towns (usually Voumi), also to trade and make money. They were given some independence and were registered as Mercenaries in Voumi Town. Voumi Town had better incentives for mercenaries versus Ferrol Town, particularly considering the kind of team they were, so although Ferrol was technically nearer to them, they opted to partner with the other instead. Anyway, they were gone for a few weeks, staying in Voumi and finally becoming a formal Mercenary Team. They did not expect so much to have changed when they returned. The leader, Shon, looked at his companions. "Hey, did anyone see Rod?" Rob was one of their main members. He landed level 20 already and had become even more arrogant. Was he too busy with his women to forget their rendezvous? No one could answer for a while, but no one moved, their eyes focused on watching the line of goblins as they headed to the gates. They memorized the forces with them, analyzing if they could be taken on. Some of the more troublesome people like that Gill and Rowan didn''t seem to be coming with this group, which was good. This left that chubby man¡ªwho was also in his level 20s¡ªto be their greatest threat. Looking at how he was jumping around and teasing his teammates, and seeing how he was being excessively friendly he was to the goblins¡ªto be honest, his level was soon forgotten and so was his threat level. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There was also the younger one, but the rest of them were less than level 15, which was easy. The Yotut Mercenary Team was a 50-member group. They had also recruited a few low-level people from Voumi Town looking for a group. They all headed to Guia to settle and rule their own part of the territory there. They had a pretty good deal with Baltimore, and they could occupy a piece of land as base. Towns were out of their league and they were perfectly content to settle in a village¡ªespecially if it was the best Village in the region. When they found out Baltimore''s rotting head right by the gate, they knew things had changed. However, rather than be angry, they were glad. This meant that Baltimore¡ªa level 30 bastard with the backing of a city¡ª was gone and they didn''t have to answer to him anymore. Rather than just occuppy a small piece of land, they could take the whole thing! If the Masters found out about the change in ownership, they would just declare that they took it back from the people who killed Baltimore! They might even get rewarded! They were actually meeting up to consolidate the information they had and make a plan. That bastard Rod decided he was horny and couldn''t think well, so he went away and did his own thing. Shod didn''t mind. That man was more brawn than brain, anyway. However, before they could even start discussing, one of their scouts ran towards them, pale. "I found where Rod is," he said, gasping. Shod looked at him with a deep frown on his face. "Speak." "He was sent to prison!" This made everyone turn to him in disbelief. "What?" "It''s the damned new rules," the scout said after taking a couple of breaths. "We can''t seriously injure people or even have the intent¡ªwe''ll get transported out to the prison directly!" The members all had indignant faces. They were among the strongest forces here in Guia back then, but they didn''t become guards. Baltimore didn''t mind because they always sent him a lot of money, and they helped out when they could. They would also buy Black Metal for a good price, and they''d sell them to other territories like Voumi Town for a much higher price. As they trained, they also earned money, which eventually allowed the group to grow so much. In Guia, the citizens would always look at them with fear and respect. When they returned¡ªas a formal mercenary team, no less¡ªthey expected to receive more reverence. Instead, those who knew them would find a way to avoid talking with them, and those who didn''t didn''t send them a second look! Shon''s expression darkened, and he looked at the humans followed by the Goblins. Goblins were desired resources, especially when they had succumbed and weren''t trying to kill themselves. Voumi Town had been buying those rats for a very good amount, even more than Ferrol Town. If they traded these things for help to take over Guia, then it would be a win-win. After all, Black Metal was also a desired item. "Just in time," he said, metaphorically sharpening his knives. "Let''s go! We will show them their place!" Chapter 808 Finally Departing (Part 2) For now, Gill and the others were not aware of exactly what was brewing. They were focused on planning the trip home. "I got 490 goblins to agree to go with me," Gill said. "Most of them would go to Limestone Valley, and the rest would head to Alterra." This was a good number and it still left at least a thousand more inside. According to the instructions delivered by the escorts, most of these would go to Limestone Valley, while about a hundred would settle in Alterra to help out with the Heat Wave preparations. They nodded, dividing themselves into teams so the guards would have assignments. This was to make sure that all the goblins reached the destinations safe and sound. The guards, though mostly normal guards within the level cap, were led by a few stronger soldiers like Mao and Luis. Silva went out early that morning to clear the way. Among the guards, interestingly, there were two non-Alterrans there. They were both women, and the only female members of the Iron Mountains Guard team, Yllana and Mirea. They looked a bit tense, surrounded by new people, but also hopeful. The previous night, they were called on to his home by Master Gill. It was pretty late and the associations, considering their experiences, led them to make some unsavory assumptions. A part of them thought they''d be asked to bed him. This made them a little sad, though they didn''t fight it. Master Gill was still a thousand times better than Baltimore. However, they were surprised to see Miss Silvia there instead. She was waiting for them on the dining table, with light snacks and tea for three prepared. "Come and sit. Let''s have a little talk," she said. She was so beautiful and graceful, and the two women couldn''t help but admire her. The two of them reluctantly sat down at the same table. When Silvia also asked them to drink and eat, they followed, though not expecting much. When the drink touched their lips and the cookies melted in their tongues though, the two women went blank in a daze, absorbing what they had just tasted, and started eating the rest of it with gusto. They flushed when they realized what they did, but Silvia just laughed at their reaction. "It''s a common snack in Alterra. As long as you have a job, you can afford to have that every few days. Maybe even every day." S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The two women blinked, longing but also puzzled. "Now¡­ I called you here because of that. "Rest well and prepare your things, you''re going to Alterra." "What?" "Really?" Silvia smiled. "Yes, really." The two couldn''t help but look at the woman, pushing a few boundaries to ask the question. If it was Master Gill, they wouldn''t have dared, but perhaps because Silvia was a fellow woman, they couldn''t help but want to try. "What is Alterra like?" Yllana asked. "I mean, for people like us¡­" She pursed her lips when she realized her question was vague. However, Silvia understood. "Alterra¡­ it''s a place where as long as you work hard and have the heart to contribute¡ªyou''d be able to live well." ¡­ The time for departure finally arrived and the massive group exited via the Northeast Gate. Before leaving though, the guards couldn''t help but look at the hundreds of goblins they had following them. They were really small and fragile-looking, and it triggered a few protective instincts among the few of them. There were also a few aborigines who wished to come. Some were quite suspicious, but they couldn''t exactly keep them from following either. The Alterrans just made it clear that they wouldn''t be protecting anyone else so they''d be coming at their own risk. There were a few people grumbling, though they followed anyway. The large group headed out like so, and they travelled peacefully for about half an hour. The guards easily dealt with the mobs that came through, though there were few, presumably because of Silva. However, because there were hundreds of them in this party, it was inevitable that quite a few mobs would still be attracted. Fortunately, most of them pulled their own weight. Everyone, when approached by monsters, would fight against it. Well, in the case of the civilians, they''d only defend themselves when it was right next to them, but they would not be putting much effort into it. Sometimes, they''d even direct the monsters elsewhere, likely the guards or the goblins. Fortunately, every Alterran was trained well and in all situations. They always kept their cool and handled it, though they did not forget to remember the civilians who decided to make trouble. Even the goblins were more helpful than the human civilians with higher levels than they had. Though they were small and weak, their cooperation was really no joke. To be honest, it was a bit unexpected because their impression of them was that they were really... meek. At the same time, they shouldn''t have been that surprised. After all, they saw how goblins performed during wars when they were fighting for themselves. Anyway, their fights were quite interesting to watch. Sure, they still needed to be guarded and most of the monsters had to be kept away from them, but for the few monsters that came their way, they really handled it well. For example, a group of goblins would immobilize the monster by taking a leg each, then the rest would mob and attack its weak spot¡ªsomething that was hit with impressive speed. In another area, a group would distract a monster while the rest barraged it with attacks. It was really efficient, and the Alterrans soon realized that the goblins could also detect the weaknesses of creatures! Mao and the others were a bit enlightened by this. It so happened that they hadn''t ''mapped'' the monsters in this area yet so many of them weren''t too familiar with their weaknesses yet. "Watch where the goblins focus their hits, and target that!" he said to the guards, whose efficiency spiked right after that. Slash! Bang! Slit! The small mob was handled after a few minutes with little to no injuries among the humans, and a few on the goblins'' side. When it was over, Mao went over to the Goblins, handing over a few healing potions to the injured ones. Their large eyes looked at him in apprehension and curiosity, but they definitely did not expect a direct compliment. "Good job little guys," he said, smiling. "You really helped us out there." Chapter 809 A Small Blockage (Part 1) "Good job little guys," Mao said, smiling. "You really helped us out there." The goblins gaped and they tilted their heads down a bit. Their pointed ears softened a little, and the humans reckoned it was because they were shy. Very cute. Mao and the others chuckled, while the other humans nearby sneered to themselves. The aborigines had always looked down on goblins and found them ugly and disgusting. They did not understand what these people thought when they looked fondly at the critters! These expressions and sneers were not missed by the Alterrans, of course. The trip continued on and a few mobs were encountered, they were dealt with in a similar manner but with more ease. "Let''s work together okay?" Mao told the goblins and somehow a team of goblins would integrate into the human ones. It was quite fun, with the humans dealing brute force while the goblins assisted and even guided where to attack. "Weakness is under the chin, Master!" "Lower¡­" Mao watched them from the side. They had always found chances to train whenever they could and this level of mob seemed perfect. It was also a great way to build rapport with the goblins even before they entered the territories. There were fewer and fewer mobs though, so they reckoned they were getting cleared somewhere nearby by Silva. As far as they knew, he was probably using a minor Beast Attracting potion to maximize his efficiency. With the less enemies, the group was a little more relaxed. At least the ''guests'' were. Some of the ''civilians'' hastened their pace in order to chat with the guards. Obviously, they were there to pry information. "Hey, I''m curious. Where are we going?" One asked, and it so happened that it was Luis that he questioned. "You joined us without knowing where we''re going?" the young man asked. "You must have a lot of free time." "..." In contrast, the goblins couldn''t help but look up. After fighting together with the humans, many goblins got a bit of courage to interact a bit more with them. One of them was Pupu, one of the younger ones. He was born as a slave, and didn''t know anything else but digging. It also made him quite innocent. "Where are we going, Masters?" "We''re not your masters, call us just with our names," Mao corrected. "We are going to two territories, they''ll be needing your help¡ªboth of them." The humans (who were quite offended after being ignored) forgot their annoyance as they heard more about their destination. "You mean to say that Alterra has two villages??" "Yes." The newcomers narrowed their eyes and looked at each other. A village with two satellites¡­ Even the Goblins were surprised. They didn''t know much about the humans, but they knew gaining satellites wasn''t easy. Pupu, as always, couldn''t help but be curious. "What can we do for them?" he asked. "Do they have black metal too?" This question made the civilians'' ears perk up. If there was also Black metal elsewhere nearby¡­ then this was big news! Unexpectedly¡ª "No, we only get our black metal in Iron Mountains," Mao said. "What we need you for¡­ is to help with the Extreme Heat." The goblins blinked and then nodded, a dawn of understanding coming to them. They knew it was coming, and they could surmise what they''d be doing. Well, to some degree, anyway... The humans though couldn''t help but be shaken. "What?" One said, looking at his companion. "Extreme Heat? Is it really coming?" "Do you think they''re telling the truth?" "They''re probably bluffing," another replied, ignoring how drenched in sweat he was from just walking. "Well, whatever. We''ll just ask them later," he said, his expression turning dark. "It''s not like they''d be able to do anything when we get to them, anyway..." ¡­ The trip was relatively uneventful for a bit, with a few mobs here and there, until the sharper soldiers flinched, and so did many goblins. Luis and Mao''s eyes met as they felt a few extra rustles that shouldn''t be there. ''They''re moving!'' Sure enough, as soon as the next mob cleared out, some of the ''civilians'' began attacking the guards'' backs while they were distracted. However, the Alterrans were prepared and suspicious even before, and even those who didn''t react on time weren''t much injured because of their equipment. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bang! Some guards were pushed back, while some held their ground. No one looked panicked or taken aback, however. "Finally showed your true colors, huh?" Luis asked, raising his sword to block two attacks¡ªone of which was headed to the goblins behind him. Counting down, there were about two dozen ''civilians'' that came with them, more than the Alterran guards in number. Another difference was that the Alterran team''s average level was well within the level cap, and the enemies mostly had forces beyond it. It was why they were so confident despite the hundreds of goblins there. Those things were weak, and a person could handle a dozen at least, especially when their levels were high enough. They weren''t beasts who couldn''t guard their weak spots, after all. Not to mention, it wasn''t like they hadn''t been through a war with goblins! They naturally had complete defense equipment to deal with them! The Alterrans watched as their enemies completely covered themselves, blocking all possible ''weak spots'' the little goblins could tap into if they decided to mob them. It had to be said that they were quite a bit prepared for this. As for why the Alterrans allowed the suspicious civilians to go with them in the first place, it was to weed out the greatest threat currently in Iron Mountains. If let be, they''d ask other territories to attack, and it''d get troublesome. This might be something inevitable, but they still hoped to delay it. As it was, Iron Mountain was still on its recovery and reogranization stage and an attack was not appreciated. "This is everyone?" Mao asked, making the mercenaries frown. "Yes, and be flattered," the man said. Instead of thanking him, Mao took out a signal flare and activated it. A burst of colored smoke flew upwards, likely visible for hundreds of meters away. Swoosh! The aborigines had no idea what it meant and they were only curious about the color and its function at most. Some smarter ones surmised it could be to ask for help, but they were already too far from Guia for it to be useful! They no longer delayed and lunged forward to attack. Everyone brandished their weapons, and many even used their skills. The attacks were strong and indiscriminate and goblins were hit as collateral damage. The Guards frowned and defended, and the Goblins sniffed, standing up, hoping to help in whatever way they could. They were prepared to use their own bodies to deal with the humans, but before they could do anything, bursts of earth appeared under a few civilians'' feet, and they were thrown out with a force that dented the trees they landed on. It was Mao, whose hands were extended as he controlled the earth underneath them. "Don''t think that level is all that matters, idiots." Chapter 810 A Small Blockage (Part 2) "An elementalist!!" one yelled. They were a little surprised. None of the Alterrans actually had to show off their elements during their stay, so the newcomers naturally weren''t privy to it. However, they were mercenaries in the end. Although surprised and intimidated, they gathered themselves and didn''t allow their momentum to lower, otherwise¡ªand they could feel it with their instincts¡ªit''d get too dangerous. As such, the enemy team continued to send a flurry of attacks to the guards and the goblins, with the guards doing their best to protect the little things behind them. "WAAA!" The goblins couldn''t bear being shielded so much, so they grouped together to deal with the men, each one with at least a dozen goblins. Before they could drown the men in numbers, however, the men would wave their swords, stabbing at them. It felt a bit of a pity, as damaged merchandise would sell for less. Anyway, if the goblins didn''t die directly, they would heal fast, and would still be worth something. "WAAAA!" Pupu watched as the sharp sword was about to stab him, but was pulled back by a strong hand. He watched as a burst of flames pounded on the man that were just about to stab at him. Whoosh! "AHHH!" "Another one!" At this point, every guard had their hands full with at least 1 enemy. Everyone sent here was above level 10, so this meant every and each one of them was elementalists. "So many?" They were shaken, but they refused to back down. They had a reason to be arrogant! After all, only Mao was (barely) level 20, while there were a handful of them just in their team. They were all fighting mercenaries too so the weaker Alterrans definitely did have a bit of trouble. However, as a bit more time passed, they came to realize¡­ none of the Alterrans were being taken down! On the contrary, it was their side who was slowly dying off. How could these men be reconciled? And it so happened that he saw a signal from the peripheral of his vision and he couldn''t help but feel relieved, and he smiled smugly at the enemies despite his poor state. "Heh! And do you think it''s only us?!" the man yelled, and after struggling to keep themselves up¡ªbecoming bloodier and bloodier as the minutes ticked by¡ªthe shrubs around rustled as more people arrived. About a dozen of men appeared, and none of them were weak. This was the Yutot Mercenary Team¡ªor the rest of them, to be more accurate. They had been following the group closely, so they arrived shortly after the others made a move. At least half of them were in their level 20s, mostly new recruits from Voumi Town. They were not that special there, but in a village, they were definitely powerhouses. If Baltimore wasn''t in such a rush to take over, maybe he''d have waited for their return before attacking¡ªnot that it would''ve changed anything, of course. They looked greedily at the goblins and licked their lips. They couldn''t be arrogant outside, but here they had the confidence! Plus¡­ so many elementalists! To capture elementalists, it was best to take them while their levels were low! They really won big this time, they thought. The goblins shook at their appearance, instinctively afraid. This was especially so because these people were one of their main torturers back in Guia Village. This made Shon even more arrogant. "Heh, stop struggling and obediently come with us and you will keep your lives." He said so as if level was all that mattered. It usually was because people here¡ªwhen they realized they were inferior in level¡ªwould become guarded and scared. Their momentum would lower and the will to fight was often gone. Sad for them, they went against Alterrans. Mao and the others didn''t seem to care at their arrival, at least they didn''t show it outright. "And you are¡­?" "We are the Yutot Mercenary Team!" Shon yelled, grinning. "We''re actually one of Guia''s forces. Too bad we weren''t there when the war happened, or else¡ª" "...you''d have been buried underground by now," Mao said, completing his sentence. He then turned to Luis. "I''ve never heard of it, have you?" "No," Luis said. "They''re really arrogant even if they''re no-names." "We are newly formed!" Shon yelled back, red in anger and embarrassment. "Soon, our name will resound in this area¡ª" S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We are the Terran Mercenary Team, Class D." "You?" Shon and the others looked at them in disbelief. It couldn''t be blamed on them. Class D Mercenary Teams usually had stronger members. Except for Mao, the rest of the people here were only Class E ''material'', if only level was considered. "Who cares, we have buyers from Voumi Town," Shon said after a moment of pause, pushing down the shock and resuming his arrogant stance. "You don''t want to be an enemy of Voumi Town right?" Mao and the others made no move, but they were definitely ready to fight as soon as they attacked. Shon gritted his teeth and looked at his team. "It looks like we''re torturing a few people and rats today!" he yelled, and all the newcomers gestured to lunge toward the huddled party to attack. However, before anything could happen¡ª Whoosh! Flop! Silence. They turned to see a headless Shon, whose head dropped to the ground. "WHAT?!" "WHAT''S GOING ON?!" Shon was a level 23 powerhouse!! Soon, there was another rustle from behind him. Silva walked out of the forest, face stoic as if he didn''t just behead someone. "Sorry I''m late," he said. "The Beast Attracting potion worked¡­ too well." At the sight of the silver-haired man, every member of the Yutot Mercenary team gaped in fear. "A L-Level 40!?" Silva had stayed in the house during their stay and didn''t bother looking around (as a City dweller, what could he see in a village that wasn''t Alterra?). Early that morning, he headed out to clear the path of mobs for a faster and safer travel back to Alterra. Hence, the mercenaries were unaware that such a powerhouse was escorting this team. Too late to regret now though. Chapter 811 Visitations (Part 1) A/N: Special mention to Linlin/Lotuslin who gave castle a few days back~! *HUGS* Got some exposure back thanks to it huhu Again guys if you''re fond of fantasy mythology go check out her story~ ... ____ Meanwhile, while Alterra and the others had been preparing, the allied territories were on their way to Alterra for their weekly visits. This time, the lord themselves came. Usually, it was only the Lords'' representatives who came over. After all, lords themselves going out to danger was a danger to everyone else. But¡­ there was no choice this time. The moment they read the contents of the newspaper, they knew they had to do this as soon as they could. Even if they didn''t see the newspaper, even if Alterra wasn''t kind enough to tell them, they''d have done the same by virtue of the fact that every Alterran citizen who was staying in their respective territories was called back in a hurry, escorted by the strong guards who delivered the newspaper to them. The lords didn''t dare underestimate whatever made a territory like Alterra worried so they went to check it out themselves¡ªbringing along a strong team of course¡ª-and to see what could be done about it. Along with Raine, there was Suide and Orland. With Micheal, there was Juno and Uran, a newly hired aborigine. He wasn''t very strong, only level 8, but he was the only decent choice they had for days. Uran was a stout man with short hair and a short beard. He was apparently in his late 20s already, though in villages being weaker than level 10 at that age wasn''t rare. The two groups congregated by coincidence in the camping area, where one group (Micheal''s) was already preparing to leave when they heard the arrival of people and decided to wait. Micheal was a bit surprised to see Raine as the acting-lord but didn''t pry. Anyway, he seemed to be more fitting than the woman anyway. The two groups greeted each other. "Aren''t you from the East?" "Yes, but a bridge was created direct west to us, and a pathway here," Raine said. "Although there''s a slight detour, it''s easier and safer to pass through it." "I see¡­" So¡­ somewhere along the way, the Alterrans had also created a bridge over the river south of them. When did they do that? Who knew. At some point, they just stopped getting surprised. The two groups headed to Alterra together, and this was obvious because there were noticeably fewer monsters. This showed how Alterra''s citizens hunted out a lot, to the point that most monsters so far away had been cleared. The Alterrans'' frequent clearing of surrounding monsters really helped with their trip, and this was fortunate because they felt much weaker than usual. For one, the air outside was really getting hotter, and it was made obvious because they knew what was coming. Their water was long gone¡ªeven before they got to the camping grounds. They had a water elementalist but how much mana did he have? Fortunately, there were only a few hours of walking left to Alterra so they managed to not die of thirst on the way. When they reached Alterra, they were parched and they immediately went to the stalls to get their fill. While there, someone from the Internal Affairs office¡ªJun¡ªgreeted them. There were staff in the Village Center who watched the entries to the territory. This idea was actually by Mathilda, who knew the information lords had access to. Althea made it so, to some degree, people could also access some of it via the panels in the Village Center, so they decided to tweak a few things for their own convenience. Of course, only names were visible. If there was someone noteworthy, they would send the internal affairs office a letter via aether letter. This was how Jun arrived only a few minutes after the two lords landed in the territory. Their office was given instructions to publicize the news of the Extreme Heat as much as they could, as well as how they''d be fighting it, so naturally he''d approach the two lords when they got to them. Jun invited the two lords and one of their main confidantes to Gaea restaurant''s private room so they could begin their discussion. It had to be noted that more people had been fanning themselves though, and somehow the hand fans were running out faster, selling out at records speeds. The windows were also wide open, as well as a couple of doors. Anyway, outside of wars, people still woudln''t be able to enter without permission. People had never been so thankful for the System rules. While waiting for their food, the two lords couldn''t wait to start discussing the contents of the paper. Jun decided to discuss as they ate, in order of mention in the newspaper. First, they had a hostile territory so near them. They were a bit worried about them. While they managed to survive the previous wars, that was only because of Alterra''s assistance and they had to pay a big fee for that. Although this new place was a subsidiary, it didn''t mean they couldn''t attack or harass their people outside their territory. According to Jun, unlike with Alterra, these people weren''t prohibited from attacking their residents. Heck, it wasn''t even prohibited from attacking non-resident Alterrans. They were fairly strong on average too. Its comprehensive strength was probably just next to Guia before they were transferred here. If it was hostile, then that was a lot of trouble coming their way. It wasn''t sustainable to keep asking Alterra for assistance, and the useful aborigines they could hire via the village center were only so many. They also read about the new territory they took over and couldn''t help but feel both envious and relieved. Envious that they had access to such a good thing, and relieved because it was Alterra. At the very least, Alterra could be said to be their backing to some degree, and that was incredibly reassuring. Micheal''s eyes fixed on the wedding article for a bit. Look at that guy, doing vow renewals while the rest of them were focused on getting through the day. Finally¡­ there was the Extreme Heat problem. When it was written, there was still an off-chance that they were overthinking, so it wasn''t in the headlines. Now, with the consistent increase in temperature, it was practically confirmed. "Our meteorology had actually just confirmed that today, the temperature had increased by 0.15 degrees." "It''s even more than what''s stated." "It''s increasing." "What is Alterra going to do?" "Plenty of departments are preparing. For one, improved and non-flammable insulation is being developed by the Research Center. While the cellar is indeed had a much cooler ambient temperature, we need it colder for the ice production via saltpeter. We will also be adding these in the surfaces above ground." This caught the men''s attention and they looked at him eagerly. "Another team is developing a foam-type insulation. It has less effectivity, but it''s easy to transport. They''re being developed precisely for other territories." The superior insulation was, so far, blanket type and not much would be able to fit in the space. While they could carry them, how many could they bring? How heavy it was and how dangerous the travel was for them. This foam-type insulation was really just for them! "Thank you," the lords couldn''t help but say, tone heavy with sincerity. "If you need help in the funding please tell us. We are not rich, but we are willing to invest in this. "I would also like to purchase several, at least a few hundred," Raine said and then looked at him, and they looked at Jun who nodded. "We would also like to purchase your saltpeter," Micheal added. Saltpeter wasn''t actually impossible to manufacture, but the mass production was impossible in their level. "Yes," Jun said and handed over a piece of paper, "This is the new purchase limit and prices of the items. Please discuss and think about it more." S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The lords and their cronies looked at the list. The items weren''t cheap, but not too overpriced considering it also saved lives. They nodded and discussed with their respective advisors, finalizing the deals. Juno and a few other aborigines couldn''t help but look at everyone with a bit of amazement. Could the Extreme Heat¡­ really be dealt with like this? They were not sure but, inexplicably, it felt¡­ hopeful. Chapter 812 Visitations (Part 2) After the meeting, Raine went to Kimmy''s house before doing anything else. Her team booked in the inn, while the rest of them understood that she''d be staying in their former lord''s abode like a good ''husband''. Raine had bought Kimmy citizenship and leased a luxury villa in Alterra, though it was mostly using Kimmy''s own money that she had access to. Sadly, due to the lack of contribution points, the citizenship was only temporary (Raine bought a year''s worth) and the luxury villa was leased for a year. Most people would find Raine admirable, but actually it was just to make herself feel better¡ªfrom the guilt of taking what was the other woman''s, rightfully or not. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This would also allow her not to worry about Kimmy so much, even if it was just because the other girl wouldn''t be in her presence anymore. As wise men said: Out of sight, out of mind. Of course, now that she was here, she ought to visit Kimmy. It felt complicated. What was Kimmy to her? A ''lover'', even if only by name? A friend? With a complex mood, Raine entered the house. It was well-kept for the most part, though she could see some of the woman''s personal items all around. "Ah, you''re here Master Raine," a beautiful brunette came out to greet him. This was Thessy, the nanny she hired for Kimmy. She was dressed well, as always, and she looked gently at ''him''. "Sir Raine¡­" she said, voice both soft and flirtatious at the same time. "It''s so good that you''re here." Raine nodded, greeting her before looking around. "How is she?" she asked, looking for the ''wife''. Thessy looked disappointed by Raine''s lack of reaction to her but retained her gentle face. "She''s right here," she said, guiding to the veranda. At this time, Kimmy was in one of the rocking chairs, just staring at the garden. Raine stared for a while before walking over. "Kimmy¡­" she said, but kept a meter away from her. After she was molested, Kimmy couldn''t bear to be touched by anyone except for her. However, Raine was afraid that had changed so she did not approach too closely. Kimmy turned her head at the sound of her voice, her eyes still empty. Thessy appeared right beside Raine, within her private space. "Would you like to have tea, Master Raine?" she asked, voice low and sultry, and she was so close Raine could feel the heat of her. Raine''s eyebrow rose as she looked at the other woman. Obviously, Thessy thought he was a man like everyone else did, and was even trying to seduce ''him'' right in front of ''his wife''. Raine frowned, narrowing his eyes. She hired this woman because of she was a nurse before¡ªthis was something registered in Alterra under oath so he didn''t doubt it. She mentioned she was traumatized by cases in hospitals so she didn''t want to do that job again. Should she reconsider and hire another one? But where could she find someone with similar credentials? "Is there anything wrong sir?" Thessy asked, looking at her with those big eyes, heart-shaped face framed by wavy brown hair. Thessy was very pretty and was actually quite popular. She used to be Baron''s crush and even had the honor of kissing Oslo back when he was relatively new to the territory. Sadly, Oslo got tired of her very quickly and never accepted her advances after that bastard Baron made a scene. Speaking of Baron, it wasn''t that she hadn''t tried to get to him. He was unattractive, but he was incredibly rich. He was also kind and generous, as she had seen him gift his cousins as well as her. However, his cousins had guarded him well. She cursed, thinking he must still be single because of them. Thessy was actually right about this. Because Baron wasn''t particularly attractive and didn''t have anything going for except his money-making skills, the women he attracted so far¡­ weren''t very good. His cousins had made a pact to protect him from gold diggers¡­ and they did it too well to the point that if Baron knew what they were doing, he''d kick all of them and say he was fine with gold diggers! Just let him taste a girlfriend already! Thessy had also tried linking with the guards, but they had strict regimen and a good information channel, including how many boyfriends she had in the territory. The people from other territories though, were much more¡­ gullible to her charms. Even if they investigated, would they spend manpower to look at her lovelife? She could tell Raine did have some affections for Kimmy but a part of him didn''t want her getting any better. She didn''t know if he would return the token to Kimmy if she did improve, but Thessy hoped he wouldn''t. A lot of people from Belluga had also moved here and she knew all about what happened to this woman. She was a virgin before that happened¡­ her husbands must''ve been quite dissatisfied with her! She looked at the handsome lad. He was a bit younger than she was, probably only early to mid-twenties. He was also a bit too scrawny, and not as tall as most men, but he had a good face and had the qualities of a leader. More importantly, Thessy was feeling a bit impatient. There were so many things she wanted to buy¡ªespecially from WittBeauty! She also wanted to spend entire days in the spa, but she couldn''t afford anything! Seeing Raine just staring deeply at her, her heart fluttered a bit, and she continued to update him about Kimmy''s situation. "She''s eating well, dressed well, and well cleaned," the brunette paused. "I''m doing my job very seriously." "I hope to lift the burden from Master Raine''s shoulders," she said, voice velvety and seductive. "I hope he can see that." When Raine slowly turned to face her, she stepped forward a little, reducing their distance to only about a few inches. "Can Master Raine¡­ tell Thessy how good she''s doing?" Chapter 813 Attempts to Seduce "Can Master Raine¡­ tell Thessy how good she''s doing?" she asked, very subtly going closer. If Raine swung that way, there was a very real chance to get a reaction from her. Most men definitely would. However, Raine didn''t move. Rather, she was curious about what the woman would do. Thessy felt awkward as she stood there¡ªreleasing her pheromones¡ªbut with Raine not doing or saying anything. Shouldn''t he ask her to ''talk'' elsewhere? He¡­ wouldn''t be thinking of doing things right here, in front of Kimmy, right?! She pursed her lips. She wouldn''t be too comfortable with that (yes, she also had her limits) but if that''s what the man wants, that''s what he shall receive. After a pause, she gathered herself and looked up at the ''man''. "Sir¡­, it''s really warm lately," she said, her voice changing timber to a more velvety tone. "Should we go inside? Kimmy prefers the outside, but perhaps you have a¡­ different preference." She raised her hands, gesturing to touch the other''s clothes, but her wrists were held tightly. For a man, Raine''s felt¡­ different. However, her head was too filled with desperation and awkwardness to realize anything. Instead, she just continued with her moves. "Your clothes seem really warm¡­ especially in this weather." This was both truth and a line of seduction because Raine was wearing big and loose clothing, which seemed really uncomfortable in this weather. Since Alterra popularized cloths, various old and new styles also pooped up here and there. In order to hide her gender better, Raine began to wear more clothes, mostly long-sleeved shirts and polos. Raine just stared at the woman, making her more and more awkward and unsure of what to do. This rarely happened! On the other hand, the androgynous woman was seriously considering just kicking her out. In Terran standards, this was definitely grounds for termination, and maybe even a lawsuit. In Xeno though, it was different. How many people with the qualifications could take on this job? They were mostly in the clinics or in good positions now. At the very least, Thessy had been doing a pretty good job handling Kimmy and the house. She had questionable morals in terms of romance, but she had investigated the woman and knew she had not yet done anything too bad. She had not really scammed anyone or hurt anyone (physically). In the end, despite her flaws, Raine decided to hire her. Further, as the owner of the property¡ªeven if it was a lease and therefore temporary¡ªThessy wouldn''t be able to bring a man or anyone in the villa without Raine being notified. Of course, as a system limitation, the notification would not be sent while he was on Belluga, but would''ve flooded him after she reentered Alterra. It had been a while and no such alert appeared, so he knew Thessy did not even try to get someone in. Raine sighed and decided to give her one more chance. She stepped back, waving her hand to dismiss the woman. She gestured to go up to her room, definitely intent on locking it. "I''m tired, just take care of your master well," was all she said in the end. "I''ll give you one last chance. If you make any other questionable choices, prepare to look for a new job." "Oh, and¡­" Raine paused before completely heading in. She turned to look at Thessy with a blank expression on her face. "I like men." "..." ¡­ Another visitation was Jake''s, who had returned from the barracks to visit Ryo''s family house. It was a single detached house in one of the newer communities. Nervously, he rang the doorbell and soon a middle-aged woman appeared. "Auntie," he said with an awkward smile. "How is she?" "Improving," she said, letting him in. "She eats properly now, and talks back now." His tense shoulder relaxed just a little bit. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He actually got Yiyi to live with Ryo''s aunt, with him paying for all her expenses. He also went there every day unless he was on a mission. Whenever he missed a day because he was outside the territory, then he''d make it a point to stay twice as long in his visits. He entered the house to see the old man preparing his rice crisps for the next day. Auntie sat back down, helping him out. Yiyi, too, was doing some labor and helping out with the ''family business''. Jake''s eyes softened as he looked at her figure. "Yiyi¡­" She flinched and nodded without looking at him, just continuing wih her ''job''. In fact, Jake had been paying room fees for her. She didn''t have to work at all, but if she wanted to get some pocket money he wouldn''t stop her. Jake smiled and sat next to them, joining the family in making rice crisps as free labor. They did so for a while, with auntie opening small talk here and there, though the awkwardness didn''t dissipate. The Old man sighed, having his own processes in the rice crisps, he disliked such drama and distractions. So¡­ the two of them got kicked out in the end. "Don''t come back until you two talk things out!" he said, and Jake and Yiyi found themselves outside the house, awkward as ever. Jake rubbed the back of his neck and looked at her. They had talked in Fargo Village before, but how easily could people forget trauma? Until now, Yiyi still believed she was ''dirty'' no matter how many times he told her it wasn''t true. When she walked away in a random direction, he made sure to follow her closely. There was always a meter or two between them, with him watching the girl''s back the whole time. When she noticed this, her pace quickened a bit. However, even if she ran away, Jake would''ve been effortlessly able to follow. Somewhere along the way, she ended up tripping on a rock. "Watch out!" Jake gasped, rushing to catch her. He felt her softness land on his arm and his heart beat loudly. He was nervous. How would she react with this physical contact? When she turned cold and shook, he guided her upright, holding her thin shoulders. "Yiyi¡­ Yiyi... look at me," he said, voice gentle, trying to urge the shivering girl out of her shell. She reluctantly raised her eyes and met his. Jake could only hope she could see that his heart was clear, hoping his intent was expressed. He gave her a weak smile, gently rubbing her shoulder with his palms as if warming her up. She shook a bit, but he realized it was more for him, as if she didn''t want to dirty him. Yiyi was such a selfless girl. If it was for herself, she might not bother getting out of her situation, but if it was for others¡­ "Touching Yiyi brings me comfort," he said, making her pause. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him. "I want to be close to you. See my eyebags? That''s because I can''t." This made her eyebrows furrow even more and she looked at him in concern. He couldn''t help but smile a little, and it made his eyes sparkle. "Can I hug you?" Chapter 814 Supreme Village Supreme Village Meanwhile, one of the easternmost Terran Villages¡ªthe Supreme Village¡ªwas currently undergoing its second war. "Milord, be careful!" A guard managed to block an attack on the lord, his sword creating a screeching sound with the enemy''s weapon. The aforementioned Lord, on the other hand, just screamed like a pig. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "SHITSHITSHIT!" he yelled and he barely avoided another blade from an enemy. Next to him were his cronies, mixed with fighters and cowards. One of the cowards couldn''t help but look at him with a wronged expression. "Why did we not hire more aborigines again, milord?" he asked. "Why did you let the ones we had leave?!" "Don''t you think I don''t know that, you fucker?!" The man cursed. It wasn''t like he didn''t want to hire new aborigines¡ªbut he couldn''t!! This was a territory primarily composed of Yuta Country citizens. The cowardly lord here, Ongko, was the son of a powerful individual back in Terran. Well, he was. This was the son who stupidly exposed his father''s wrong doings¡ªto Mathilda, Gill, and the Edenian party¡ªby accident, which in turn ruined his family''s lives. Well, technically Gill did, but he didn''t know this yet. Anyway, he was on house arrest during the first disaster. Because of this, his house was pretty much blocked from zombies and he survived without a problem. He also managed to take more than almost 2000 gold from his home so when he went here, he was given a Lord Token. How happy he was at the time! How smug! He didn''t have his father, yet he had his own land! Anyway, when he saw all the magical buildings¡­ he splurged. He was confident and hired the strongest NPCs he could at Level 2! After weeks, he managed to get 2 guards at level 7 and 8, as well as a cook (though apparently not ''system''-tagged). He also bought a lot of ''plain'' hires like cleaners and sluts. Anyway, he knew that he was far superior to any of the others around¡ªeven the hired NPCs said so¡ªand this bloated his arrogance to no end. Sadly, the NPCs didn''t renew their contract and left for some reason (note: he was an ass) and he couldn''t hire decent new ones because the options all sucked. He purposely ignored the large monthly salaries he had to pay his hired aborigines, too, regardless of whether they weren''t useful in the end. He refused to accept that he made the wrong decisions. Even when most of them left, he didn''t bother to look at the bill! However, his confidence in his territory was still sky-high. It got to the point that he decided to attack the nearby Level 2 village! Maybe he could get their gold, too! And slaves sounded really great! Unfortunately for him, without the guidance of knowledgeable aborigines (the ones remaining were women who only knew how to use their bodies), there was plenty of worldly knowledge that he missed! So when he decided to attack the adjacent territory without warning, he was suddenly fined 500 gold! 500 gold!! His balance was only 100 gold! What did this mean? The attack left him in DEBT. Thankfully, he won a bit from said territory so his debt was greatly reduced. He was still in debt though so he naturally increased taxes and he did have to kick a lot of people out (because they were being stingy and ungrateful and didn''t want to pay). Fortunately, when the Protection Period ended, there were so many refugees coming in and it didn''t take a long time for him to upgrade! However, he quickly realized that he had been happy too soon because there was a cost in upgrading¡­ and he couldn''t afford it! Why was it so much more expensive than the first time?! Hence, Ongko had no choice but to defer it, hoping to get enough¡ªonly to realize the upgrade was mandatory after 100 hours! So he was forced to upgrade and forced deeper in debt! With interest! When stronger monsters finally took down the outer territories, shifting their target to him, it only got worse and worse and worse. He trudged through this difficult time with the territory almost falling to the suddenly stronger mobs who went from level 2s to level 4s and 5s! They only managed to survive because he was smart and invested a lot in good walls and relatively dense sentries at the start when he was still rich, otherwise he''d be living in monster stomachs by now. But now their greatest challenge was ongoing¡ªthey were being attacked, and by strong aborigines too! The weakest of them was at level 6! Averaging at level 9! What the heck! How could their weakling group averaging level 5 manage them? Again, the walls managed to save them a while, with the enemies taking 15 hours in order to get enough of their forces inside the walls. When they did though, all hell broke loose. Of course, at first, they still managed to somewhat fight against the enemies as there were so many of them in the territory. In addition to the sentries, they managed to hold on¡­ for about half an hour. Soon more and more enemies got inside and more and more people started dying. The momentum fell down really quick. No one was willing to stay on the front line and be the one to get attacked! Even his guards eventually gave up and ran away the moment they realized the level gap. He was left alone now, screaming for people. What''s worse, the people realized¡ªor rather, his aborigine enemies announced¡ªthat regulations were lifted at this time. It was chaos. All of the shops were looted. Everyone wanted to ensure their own survival and supply, and they didn''t care what happened to others! The only safe place was the Warehouse which was only accessible to him. However, the only things in the warehouse were wood and stone resources! Those were useless! "DAMNIT! FIGHT!" He yelled at the citizens who were either running, hiding, or freaking stealing from him! There was no one who listened of course and he could only run away as well, hiding, lest the enemies hunted him down! The way to the warehouse was blocked as well, and the aborigines started targeting it! Ongko had no choice but to hide in one of the dug pits, which was there to throw trash and shit in. While the decomposition rate was higher here, the place still smelled hell! Every sniff he took, he felt like vomiting! However, when he heard screams from above he immediately sucked it up even if he felt like his insides were being burned by disgust and the bad smell. Several other guards had found their own hiding place, just waiting for this to be over. Anyway, while the lord and his cronies hid, the rest of the territory tried to protect themselves and their properties. The stalls were absolutely smashed and several citizens were trying to guard their remaining ''wealth''. One of his richer citizens, Cuppin Farrol, yelled as an enemy took interest in some ingredients he had been selling. "Don''t you dare steal that!" He screamed, taking out his wooden sword. The enemy was injured by a sentry before¡ªjudging from the arrow lodged at the back of his thigh¡ªand it wasn''t like it was hopeless for him! "HYAAA!" Cuppin yelled as he tried to stab at the man. The thief had the audacity to laugh, kicking him with his injured leg. "Not like this has any use for you!" "My brother''s a great cook!" "What''s cooking skills if you don''t know the ingredients?" he said, raising his hand to slash at Cuppin. Cuppin was clumsy and accidentally stepped on an ingredient. He fell down, barely missing the slash by a hair, and he crawled backward before he used all the adrenaline he had to lift his body and gestured to bolt away. Sobbing, he had no choice but to let go of the interesting ingredients he gathered for his brother and escape for his life. Fortunately, the men were focused on looting and Cuppin managed to find an alley to hide in. Fortunately, the war had a time limit. So after a few hours, Ongko, hiding in their makeshift septic tank, would receive a ping. [Your territory Supreme Village (Lv3) has lost to Sus Village (Lv3)!] [You lost 5452 citizens] [You lost Custom Building 1] Ugh! Since they were poor and didn''t have gold, there was no gold reward for the enemy, which was satisfying for him. However, the system decided not only to take two-thirds of his people, it also decided to take away buildings instead! Damn this place!! Chapter 815 Voumi Town Slaves (Part 1) Voumi Town Inko village was located in a dense forest in the midwestern part of the human territory, and now they were taken to the nearest town. At this time Gurnam and the other slaves from Inko Village were waiting in the dark ''storage area'', waiting for their turn to be sold. Inko Village kept about half of them and sold the rest. He and little Milo happened to be sold in the town. As for how the aborigines had yet to notice he wasn''t a slave, not only had they not encountered anyone with the audacity¡ªas the fates of slaves that have integrated in the people''s world view was really akin to death¡ªbut also because they were very complacent. As for the Lord''s list, though they did not know this yet, slaves were just counted as part of the population. That was the only ''entity'' they could have so he, as a ''visitor'', didn''t have a different status than the others. This could be attributed to Slaves ''non-entity'' quality in wars, and therefore did not have a special status attached to them. Perhaps, the ''Population'' stat counted the mass, rather than ''entity'', which was what allowed him to pretend to be a slave after so long. On another hand, the Inko Lord was too lazy with his women to check their status properly. If he had, he''d see all of them were elementalists, and he would drown in regret when he found out later on. In any case, Gurnam just accompanied the rest of the ''saleable slaves'' as they were brought to a town for selling. Voumi Town¡ªthe first town he had been in¡ªwas definitely nothing he had seen in this world before. It had tall two to three-storey buildings unlike the long line of bungalows he was used to. There were naturally more people there. They were quite dense and everywhere there were chatters of people. Though the majority of the population looked almost as unsightly as they were, it was still much better than Inko Village. While many of the Terrans didn''t have good clothes anymore, at least the ones they had had better fabric than what seemed to be low-quality hemp clothing everyone else has. In Towns, they still wore plain clothing, but it was still a bit better than in the villages. And¡ªmost prominently¡ªthe smell of an aborigine territory was really¡­ special. It was worse in Towns because it was so dense. Even in Terran, the fact that feces was a frequent sight on the streets during the medieval was common knowledge. Back in villages, they were used to it, but Towns had a much denser population, and it meant a lot more shit. Sure, there were more dedicated cleaners, but they only pass through a street once a day, how many people take a dump every couple of hours? Not a few, they could tell. His musing was interrupted when he heard people around him gagging. A couple of adult men outright vomited on the side of the street, though no one seemed to care. The slave drivers simply sneered and walked past him. The little boy next to him also gagged, though he managed to hold it in. His face was covered with snot and a few tears though, which was really pitiful. He patted crying little Milo''s head, trying to adjust to the stench. "Can we have fabric to cover our mouths?" he asked, but instead he was hit on the head by the Inko slave drivers. He couldn''t avoid it so blatantly so he only adjusted his head forward to minimize the damage. The force still made him lurch forward and almost vomit his stomach out though. "SHUT UP. NO TALKING." He said and everyone shut their mouths. Gurnam took a deep breath and went back to position. His movement was obviously shakier, but he still followed the order to a tee, just as normal slaves would. He subtly looked around, observing the town, the people, and especially the people handling them. How did the slavery system here work? Anyone can order them and they had to follow? Was that how it was? And how did the transfer work? If they were bought by a Town, would that mean any one from Town would be able to order them around? Imagine walking outside and anyone could order you to do unspeakable things¡ªall while you were completely conscious, yet also completely powerless at the same time? These were all questions they dreaded would be answered, and everyone could only wait tensely as their fates were decided by the people who destroyed their homes. They soon reached a plaza of sorts. There was a makeshift podium up front, with people being presented one by one. It was surrounded by a lot of men, mostly well-dressed, and they were yelling certain amounts and they immediately knew they were bidding. The ''merchandise'' all looked poor and horrible, and the women especially looked scantily clad. They could recognize the features of a Terran in many of them, which just put a nail in the coffin for them. This really was happening. They were really going to be sold like livestock¡­ "6 Gold!" one yelled, looking greedily at the beautiful woman. "7!" "11!" Someone yelled, and they turned to see it was one of the best dressed men there. He even had his own seating. The audience saw this and immediately started bootlicking. "Wow! Master Hesso is amazing as always!" "Only Master Hesso deserves such a beauty!" The woman sobbed a bit but was ordered down. "We''ll handle the contract later sir Hesso," the salesperson said. "In the meantime, enjoy her service~!" Hoots and whistles abound as they watched the woman approach the ugly man. "Sit on me," he said, and the woman did so. Gurnam and the others could no longer bear to look as they were led to the storage area where they''d wait until it was their turn to sell. It was a small makeshift structure at the back of the stage. It smelled horrible, with people''s body odor and the other scents trapped within a small space. It didn''t help that it was also very hot, and the inside of the building was suffocating. No one could complain and they just sat, waiting for their fates. The cheapest, most useless slave¡ªthe invalids, the old people¡ªwere sold for a mere 10 to 30 silver. The other ones varied depending on various factors as well as the bidders, but on average a human slave cost around 5 to 10 gold in a town. If a village was taken over, they could get a few thousand slaves. This meant that the winning territory could easily earn another thousand gold from the slaves alone. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. With the resources and the physiques of the people here¡ªwith higher healing rates and lesser chances of illness and infections¡ªmost people would survive wounds as long as they weren''t lethal, making it a worthy purchase, most of the time. From this point of view, it was indeed pretty good to get slaves as meat shields rather than damaging the main force that had required a lot more investments and resources to train. Of course, knowing was one thing, being sold as one was another. Chapter 816 Voumi Town Slaves (Part 2) Anyway, while the first batch was being sold, the rest remained in the ''holding area''. The place was dark with their sole source of light being the narrow opening in the curtains. It was also very hot¡ªsimmering due to the number of people enclosed in an area. It was getting hard to breathe, and it wasn''t just the smell anymore. They could hear the slave seller hype up the crowd below. When he said "Now for the next batch" everyone''s stomachs churned. The curtain fluttered open, revealing two big men with at least level 20 in strength. They chose whoever was nearest to them, grabbing their arms and pulling them to the stage. One cried, trying to stop him, though¡ªwith their strengths¡ªwhat could they do even if they weren''t ''ordered''? The other one just followed without struggle, having long succumbed to fate. "So she just gave up?" a voice in the room would mumble, tone obviously dissatisfied. A sigh from another side of the room followed the comment. "Who can blame her? As days pass, it seems like things just become more and more hopeless for us," the voice said. "It''s like there''s no end to our suffering." "Perhaps¡­ being a slave to townspeople won''t be so bad," said another, and many people started arguing with him. People listened to the discussions, all with varying thoughts. The two sides had a point in the end. They were Terrans so they had a natural aversion to slavery in general. They just valued freedom above all else. However, at the same time, how much worse could things get? A lot of them had a hard time even back in their own territories, even when they were ''free''. They struggled to get something to eat and drink, and then they had to guard against strong monsters above that. How much worse can aborigine territories be? At least they''d be more adjusted to this world, right? These people were also far stronger than they were, so at least they should live a bit better here. At this time, they still didn''t understand how much worse it was outside their Terran bubble. In any case, no matter what their view was, every and each one still tried to squeeze at the back and corners, hoping to be the last to be chosen. It was inevitable, but most of them opted to prolong the suffering anyway. As time passed, there were fewer and fewer people in the ''storage area'', their hearts beating loudly as they neared their fates. Because they were so cuddled at the edges, the slave owners usually had to open the curtains wide and head inside to pull people up. His eyes zoned in on a young woman. He grinned and extended his grubby arms to pull her up. "Noooo!" She screamed and the older man beside her immediately held her back. He was not very high-leveled but he used all his strength to pull her back. "Wuu¡ª" "What the¡ª" The slavedriver pulling looked behind to see what was going on. He frowned when he saw the girl was being pulled back. He sneered and easily kicked him back. It wasn''t too strong¡ªnot to waste decent merchandise and all¡ªbut it wasn''t weak either, considering the level differences. BANG! "UNCLE!!" The man coughed blood, but he turned and crawled. He was in deep pain, but he tried holding on to the girl. "Yulia! Yulia!" he yelled, looking at the girl who was being taken to the stage beyond the curtain. She looked back, sobbing, also extending her hands. "UNCLE!" The girl yelled, and the man''s movement hastened, though not very much. "Please!" he begged, all while he was still on the dirty disgusting floor. "She had been through enough¡ª-" Now that she was near light, everyone could see the girl being pulled. She was just a young girl, probably 15 or 16, but the marks on her indicated she had been abused, probably during their stay in Inko Village. The slave-driver couldn''t care any less, and soon she was outside and headed up the stairs to the stage. "Yulia! Yulia!" "Shut up old man!" the aborigine yelled, kicking him again. But the man held on to his feet. They wondered: Did he still have his bones intact after that kick? "Please! At least sell us to the same masters!" "Well, if you behave, maybe you''ll get lucky. Otherwise¡ª" He motioned for his neck and it shut the man up. The man smirked in satisfaction when the slave let go, heading back outside to continue with the program. Silence reigned as the feeling of dread just got heavier for some. The man on the disgusting floor sobbed helplessly, but they were certain he wasn''t crying for himself. It was here a new voice¡ªvelvety and comforting, Gurnam thought¡ªspoke up. "Uncle Ersat, calm down and listen to the voice who will buy Yulia," she told him. "Maybe we can have clues." Ersat sniffed and wiped his tears nodding. "Thanks, Sarah." Gurnam couldn''t help but take another look at the woman who spoke. The curtain being opened so much allowed him to see more of her. It was a pretty woman with short brown hair. It was probably a bob cut before, but got too long and was cut by some sharp rock. She was looking out with a sad look in her eyes and he had the inexplicable need to comfort her. Surprisingly, the little boy beside him flinched, looking at the same person. "S-Sister?!" The woman froze and turned and Gurnam saw her whole face¡ªquite cute. She had a baby face, but she had determined eyes that made people curious. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. These same determined eyes suddenly became teary at the sight of the boy next to him. "M-Milo?!" The young lad sobbed and immediately crawled to embrace his sister. The woman also broke to tears, and the siblings held on tightly to each other as if afraid to part again. It was a touching reunion amidst tragedy, and it made a few people smile despite themselves. The curtain closed again as Yulia was sold, though it ended up being partially open so a bit of light still peered through. Ersat concentrated and remembered the voice of the man who bought his only relative left, while the siblings were in their own world. Gurnam couldn''t help but look at the silhouette of the girl for some reason. She just had that calming quality to her that he wanted to approach and, if possible, get close with as well. He would''ve stared for longer had he not been distracted by a chuckle not far from him. He turned to see that it was also a beautiful woman, and she was looking at the siblings with warm eyes. She had wavy blonde hair, wearing a robe to hide much of herself despite the heat. She also had a large scar on her face, though Gurnam''s expert eyes as a former soldier could tell it might not be real. If Gurnam knew Micheal, he''d find her very familiar. After all, she was his sister. "Well, one good thing came out of this at least," she said, feeling happy for two people she didn''t even know. Perhaps it was because it gave hope that something similar would happen to her as well. They were slaves, sure, but at least they were together. Chapter 817 Atonement Points Limestone Valley During this time, the Limestone Valley guard¡ªand administration¡ªteam set to prepare for the worst of the Extreme Heat. They put into action everything they could do, including the layouting of the digging areas of the goblins even before they arrived. However, in order not to cause panic and chaos¡ªtheir hold in this place wasn''t nearly as tight as the Alterran Elders had on theirs¡ªVictor and the others temporarily withheld the information until everything was ready. Now that they knew about what was coming, the heat had become even more noticeable. Benny sighed and wiped his sweat, looking at the Alterrans who was doing the same. They were assigned to front gate duty now. A shed was built on top of the battlement using some creative carpentry work that allowed for an overhang of sorts. It was basically a cube construction added on top of the battlement to provide cover that''d be much wider than where it was supported in. After all, their battlement wasn''t as wide as Alterra''s and only a few people could fit at a time, how could a support for a shed fit in? "Well, you alright? You''ve looked a bit pale for a while," he said, but paused when he saw Amos looking a little queasy. He assumed it must be homesickness. "Well, Alterra must be so much better." Amos smiled weakly. Jesse, Baron''s cousin who was left in Limestone Valley, looked at his friend and patted his shoulder. He roomed with the guy and he knew what was going on. With the newspaper and letters sent to the ruling party, Amos received a letter as well. It was an official letter from Alterra, and it brought him some news about his family¡ªand they were not good. It stated that his family betrayed Alterra and were now serving as Prisoners of War until they received the required Atonement Points. Atonement Points, it also explained, were like negative contribution points that prisoners of war needed to pay for via labor. In his mother and brother''s case, they were currently digging tunnels for Alterra. The Points could also be received by assisting in mobs (this was completely optional, as atonement points were equal to contribution points), though considering what kind of people they were, this was not an option for them. They could do other manual labor jobs like lifting, cleaning, and the like. This was the safest for them, though in all cases they cursed and complained until a guard told them to shut up. They were not system slaves so they didn''t automatically do so, but Alon did receive a few slaps on the face for ''rebelling''. They had to be threatened with death if they didn''t behave. The letter also detailed the threats, because Alterra believed he deserved to know everything. They also told him that if they really got too much, they would really ban them and throw them out of the territory to fend for themselves. Fortunately, his family were cowards and eventually succumbed to their new manual labor arrangements. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They should be glad about it too, because they were never whipped or tortured. They really just had to do hard, honest, labor. Although Amos knew his family would suffer, he agreed that they had to go through with this. He was thankful they didn''t get killed¡ªsuch betrayal was certainly worthy of it. Even he would''ve been implicated. Jesse had been worried he''d be too sad, but was relieved to see him accepting of it. "How long do you think they''ll serve?" Amos thought about this seriously. The atonement points required would depend on the sins of the person. 250,000 points were required for each confirmed murder, 30,000 to 100,000 for injuries, and 10,000 or so for minor infractions. Betrayal though would depend on the damage done or what could''ve been done. Although Ramona and his family''s sins didn''t cause many dire consequences, it was only because the territory''s system was well-planned. If it were others, the consequences could''ve been much worse, and the punishments would depend on this. The three of them had to pay 50,000 each, which was equivalent to earning 50,000 contribution points which would take several years to pay off considering how weak they were. The letter stated that he could give a maximum one-third of his contribution points to assist with the bailing of his family. However, they would understand¡ªand preferred¡ªif he didn''t do so. This was because¡ªand this was said in verbatim¡ªthat his family members were arses. The letter even recommended that he let them be and earn their freedom themselves. Anyway, if they worked hard enough and even helped clear out mobs¡ªwherein more points could be earned to reduce their debts¡ªthey could be released within a few years. It was guaranteed though that prisoners would at least have a roof on their heads and minimal food and water. If they fall ill, it''d be deducted as extra atonement points, but they wouldn''t be stripped of their right to some health care as well. To be honest, the situation was better than most villages. The writer of the letter seemed to dislike this and wished for harsher conditions but what to do? Alterra was too humane. As for murderers, 250,000 was big but if they were high-leveled enough, they could definitely reduce their sentence length by focusing on dealing with mobs. However, despite this, they would still need a few years to earn their freedom and even then freedom was not entirely guaranteed. They would undergo some sort of hearing at that time, determining whether they would be set free in the end. The Atonement Point was a little arbitrary and they weren''t obligated to free the prisoners even after they filled this. On the other hand, they could offer better treatments like better food and shelter for those who reached this amount but weren''t set free. However, these were all years in the making and they''d cross that bridge when they get there. The letter had a lot of tangents, but it inevitably made Amos a little less depressed. At least¡­ there was hope. If his family still didn''t straighten up after this, then it was time for him to give them up. Chapter 818 Arrival of the Goblins The goblins arrived sometime later. They formed a small line towards the village center, and many people looked over in curiosity. It was almost like a procession of sorts, though they didn''t mean it to happen. They couldn''t be blamed for this. Other than Alterra''s half-orc, this was their first interaction with a non-human intelligent life! The goblins flinched at the attention, but unlike what they used to¡ªwhere the looks were filled with derision¡ªmost of these stares were just¡­ pure curiosity. Victor and the others came to meet them. "Welcome to Limestone Valley," he said. Because they were no longer slaves (in treatment), the goblins were treated as proper citizens. "I''m sure the others have already oriented you on what to do and what your salary is?" He asked and the little guys nodded. They did so with synchronicity that made a few lips twitch upwards. Aborigines called them rats, the Terrans found them adorable. So cute! Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ Benny, Rasso, and a few others were assigned to be their guide, and the groups separated. Victor met up with Silva and the rest of the team heading back to Alterra. They were asked to rest for a day, which they agreed because it was becoming a bit warm and their recovery had slowed down. The Goblins assigned to Limestone Valley came with the locals, while goblins heading back to Alterra were settled temporarily in some houses. There were two small houses rented for them, paid for by Alterra. It was a detached house that was rearranged to become dormitories. The Goblins looked around the nice house¡ªa Custom House from Fargo''s time, but greatly improved where it could be improved. The little ones couldn''t help admiring the nice soft beds as well as the bathroom, some even touching it with some reverence. It was both cute and heartbreaking, and the people guiding them couldn''t help but feel for them. The people guiding them this time was Rasso, another one of Victor''s men, and his son, Rian. They in particular had felt a lot of empathy for the kids, especially after what they had been through. The young boy was naturally traumatized by what had happened in the past and had become less energetic, a cracked shell of the little sunshine that he had been. Rasso was actually moving to Alterra with the boy, hoping a change of environment would be good for him. Juliet was also there now, and he hoped to be with her soon. He''d be joining Silva''s party, and the reason they waited for so long was because there had to be a proper turnover for his tasks, and the boy had been understanding of that. In fact, when the boy heard there would be Goblins, the light of curiosity in his eyes sparkled. Rasso asked if he could help to guide them, and the boy jumped in glee. As they guided the green ones around the house, he could see a bit of the lost sparkle in his son returning. "This is the bathroom, you just have to press this and poof!" he said and the goblins not that much smaller than him nodded in fascination. Although Alterra''s Custom House couldn''t be built in Fargo, the former architect¡ªbless his soul¡ªfortunately designed the basics well so Fargo''s Custom House was really not bad either. Next to Alterra''s, it was the best one. "These are your beds," Rian said with a smile, pointing at the beds. "You get one each," he said, his little voice¡ªnot yet hitting puberty¡ªtilting up a bit as he saw the Goblins'' reactions. "You also get your own cabinets, here." The green ones nodded, again with interesting synchronicity, and he couldn''t help but chuckle. "That''s all," Rian said. "I¡­ hope you enjoy your stay." "T¡­Thank you¡­" the goblins mumbled and watched as the boy shyly scooted away back to behind his father. Rasso smiled and patted the boy''s head. "You did well," he said, and they left after saying their goodbyes, leaving the goblins to absorb what they knew so far. Some goblins sat down on the bed, laying down. "This is so nice¡­ can we really stay here?" "I suppose so¡­?" "This place is really, really, good," another said. "I did hear the place we''re going is even better¡­" To be honest, they really couldn''t imagine it. How could things get better than this? Not much building had been done in Iron Mountains for now, so the goblins hadn''t seen a lot of Alterra''s products yet. When they did, they''d be very surprised. Not just because of the products themselves, but the fact that they''d have access to them as well! ¡­ Meanwhile, those who were assigned to stay in the territory were also assigned to a place of residency. "We already set aside a housing for you guys," Benny said with a smile, voice unconsciously smaller as if it''d scare them less. They showed the goblins one of the dormitories built from combining the local custom houses. Because Goblins were much smaller, a lot more could comfortably fit in inside a single room. Because of this, their beds were customized smaller-sized beds with three layers. It was much smaller than the conventional bed, but there was ample room for each goblin. "This building is where you''re staying. You only need to pay 1 copper per day for a bed space." "One¡­ copper?" Ussu, one of the goblins, asked. He was smaller than the others, weaker, but was loved. Like, one copper? That is, they''d still have so much left after a day of work? To be honest, even when they were free, they hadn''t had so much money! "Yes," Benny said with a grin, stopping himself from patting their green heads. "You can take a rest and go around, we will start work early in the morning." After another lingering look and clenching of fist, Benny finally said his goodbye and ''rest well''. The little ones stared at each other, slowly entering the room. They, too, admired the comfortable bedding and spacious arrangements. Obviously, this was the cheapest abode, but in the similarly-sized slave houses they were in before would house five or ten times more people. Those may or may not have proper roofs or windows, either. "This¡­ this is our house?" Moki asked, eyes wide. Back in Guia¡­er, Iron Mountains, although the new owners had freed them, nothing much changed (yet) nor did they expect anything to¡ªof course they didn''t. They were surprised they were¡ªtechnically¡ªfreed although they were very cynical about it. They were even given an option to exchange their freedom for a certain amount of productivity. However, they felt a disaster was coming and they didn''t dare roam outside at this time. They also felt the new masters were friendly and decided to see what happened next. Anyway, what could be worse than what had happened in Guia Village, where they''d be whipped and starved and even beaten up on a daily basis? Now¡­ they hadn''t been beat up for days and even had their own bed? It cost 1 copper, but this wasn''t a problem because they had their own salaries they could keep for themselves! How many times they looked at their wallet to check if their own money was really there! And it was! The little guys couldn''t help but look at each other, not daring to hope¡­, but still couldn''t help but feeling a bit hopeful anyway. Chapter 819 Victor and Juni While the goblins were resting, the administrative team had finalized the tunnel routes the goblins would build from the mines back to the Village. For the tunnels, the plan was to start digging from the gate abutting the mountains. The excess soil would be picked up by human workers and placed elsewhere, ideally within the territory. However, that plan had to be pushed aside in favor of the tunnels within the territory. They just planned the routes so they could avoid an implosion of soil or something from digging too much. They had also determined the locations of the underground cisterns, tanks, abodes, and other facilities they might need to handle the upcoming disasters. To do this quickly, they even hired hundreds of hard labor to help out despite the number of Prisoners of War already in the territory. As for the underground constructions, for now they decided to create communal ones, particularly under the plaza (expanded post-war by Alterra) in front of the Village center. Alterra claimed that the Extreme Heat was likely to happen within a week or two and they had to hurry up, and hopefully the hundreds of goblins would be able to help out fast enough. Juni borrowed the newspaper to reread the article about Vismont. The newspaper was placed in the 2nd floor meeting room and was not to be taken out, but she noticed that it lacked a page. Specifically, it was the page with the Wedding news. Her pretty eyebrows furrowed and she looked at Benny. "Who had the paper before I did?" "It was Vanessa." "Ah, thank you," she said, placing the newspaper back on its stand and going away. She looked around to find her prospective sister-in-law, finding out she was just at her house. Now, she and Victor had not known each other for a long time, and what she was doing could be said to be overreaching. What was happening to them was basically a whirlwind romance. However, they were both adults who had experienced a lot in life so they trusted in their own instincts¡ªthey believed that they knew what they were doing. However, Vanessa was obviously a non-believer of that. Juni understood this sentiment and she knew why the woman would not feel comfortable with her at all. However, it was also because of their relationship that she felt the need to keep the girl from straying. She headed to the team abode in the central community, and she found her reading in the living room with a dark face. She was alone right now, and was not even in her station¡ªthe clinic. The former actress thought for a bit about how to handle it before she walked forward. "Vanessa, that''s not supposed to be outside the meeting room," she said, sounding gentle and non-confrontational. "It''s just entertainment news, it''s nothing," the other woman said, about to put it in her space. Juni was quick and took it back, making the other woman''s eyes sharpen as she looked at her. Juni did not bulge. Instead, she looked at the other girl in the eye. "I had heard of your¡­ fixation to Garan, a happily married man." "It''s none of your business." "I''m advising you as someone who cares, it''s time to get rid of those wishful thoughts. You''re so young and beautiful, you could have any other¡ªsingle¡ªman you want." Unsurprisingly, this made the woman snap instead. "Who do you think you are?" Vanessa asked, tone rising. "Don''t think my brother likes you you''re my sister-in-law. I have the final say in my family!" Translation: Pander to me instead of acting like you''re above me. Juni was not shaken. "Your brother will agree with me." "You met him a few days ago!" Vanessa said, trying not to lose her cool, but it was hard when it had to do with Garan as well as her own position in the family. "I''ve known him my whole life! Who do you think he will side with?" Vanessa''s tone wasn''t good as she said this, and there were hints of resentment. Vanessa truly felt it was unfair. Since those two started going out, her brother had become less responsive to her pleas, becoming stricter. It made her dislike Juni more and more. It was like another bitch came right after the other, making her days harder. Juni shook her head and looked at her. "This isn''t about siding with anyone," she said. "And¡­ "You''re too engrossed in yourself to truly know him." ¡­ That night, under the light of the torch, a half-naked Victor composed a letter to send back to Garan. He sighed, feeling a bit heavy at the responsibility thrust upon him. Hopefully, he would indicate everything he had to. As he wrote, soft arms wrapped around his shoulders and softness rested against his back. His eyebrows rose and he turned his head to look at the woman. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Are you sending a letter back to Alterra?" She asked. When he nodded, her arms tightened around him. He could tell she was nervous. "Can¡­ can you ask them to draw a picture of that man Cain?" Victor looked at her deeply, but he agreed in the end. "Okay, if you promise to tell me what it''s about." After a couple of minutes, he finished the letter to the best of his abilities. When he was done, he stood up and turned, carrying the beautiful woman back to the bed. He pinned her underneath him, her soft arms still around his shoulder. He leaned down to kiss the side of her face, creeping to her ears. "Telling me now?" Before they entered a formal relationship, they were both very upfront about their pasts. They were mature adults who had been through a lot and could only accept complete honesty from their partner. Victor had told her about his ex-fiance who had betrayed him while he was on a mission. She got pregnant with the man''s child no less. On the other hand, she told him about Gill, how she was still after him until recently, and why she broke up with him in the first place. "If it''s the same guy¡­that Cain could be the one who did that to me." He''s one of the sly bastard sons of a politician and managed to get ahold of people with power. She had studied him a lot during the past few years, trying to get back at him as much as she could without damaging herself. This modus sounded too much like him. Sadly, the apocalypse happened before any vengeance was done. Her arms moved and she held his face. She looked at him with a determined facial expression. "If they want to deal with that territory, I want to help." "Okay," Victor smiled, leaning down to kiss her. "And¡­ when it''s all over¡­" he recalled the article, his eyes warming up at a thought. "Let''s get married too, okay?" Juni''s eyes widened and she broke into a genuine smile. "Okay." And she tightened her arms around him, with her shapely legs wrapping around his torso. He pulled her closer to him so their bodies were flush, only kept apart by thin flimsy clothing. "Oh, and about Vanessa¡ª" she said, recalling the woman due to the wedding discussion. Victor stopped her by placing his lips on hers. "Let''s not talk about her now," he said, starting another warm night for the new couple. Chapter 820 Back to Alterra Village Somewhere in Terran, 2 Years Ago "CAPTAIN!" Gill looked worriedly at the captain who had already stood up, ready to run to another country. He had just been stitched for an unnecessary injury!! That injury was not small! He should be bedridden! The man packed up the basics, like his passport and his wallet. "Captain¡ª-" Gill was, unsurprisingly, ignored and he could only try to talk some sense out of him. "Please captain, you''re not in the condition to fly right now." Garan''s face did not change. He didn''t even send him a glance before heading to the door. He was still handsome, tall, and prideful, but anyone who knew him well enough could tell that he was moving at a much slower than usual. It was clear that Garan was not letting a little injury stop him from going to his wedding. Gill would''ve called Althea so she could convince him herself. Sadly, even those got destroyed during the accident. Gill turned to glare in a direction, making the woman¡ªVanessa¡ª flinch. Her palms were curled over her chest and her eyes were red from crying. It irked Gill to no end. Gill''s acerbic attribute lit up at the sight of her. How dare she act pitiful right now?! "Well, we''re called special forces because no one pulled the others'' legs. What are you? A leech?" "I¡ª" Vanessa was almost crying, but¡­ This couldn''t be blamed on her! Vanessa couldn''t breathe at the thought. Her love was going to get married! The thought had been in her mind the entire mission was that it was going to finish soon and he was going to his wedding and she wasn''t going to have that! Vanessa didn''t think at all. Because of her impulsiveness, she needlessly wasted a lot of effort¡ªwell-planned and funded to meet the schedule¡ªand botched her part. This resulted in the enemies finding them, and causing the captain to get injured. Against all odds though, they still finished the mission somewhat on time. Garan sighed, not wanting to bother about anything that could delay his departure. He opened the door and turned to them. "I''m going now. Take care of the rest." The others trusted the captain and weren''t close enough to even attempt to stop him. They could only salute and do their best to handle the aftermath. "Yes, sir!" Gill just rubbed his hair, but he knew the captain could only be stopped if he was chained to a building. In the end, he just planned on finding a decent international phone so the captain could be welcomed back with an entourage to assist him. Of course, not everyone was so cooperative. For instance, the only woman in the team. "Captain!" She yelled, running to step in front of him, "Your wound! You can''t be travelling at this tim¡ª" But her next words died down as she met his deep blue eyes filled with chilling cold. "Move." Her body followed by survival instinct, but she regretted the moment she did. It was just that her legs were shaking in fear, as if she''d be shot if she dared block his way again. So she could only watch as he left, to be married to another woman. ¡­ Limestone Valley, Present Vanessa woke up crying then. She covered her eyes that was flowing with tears. She was reminded of the pain she suffered that day he got married. It was so painful. She was also suspended for a year, which was fine because she couldn''t function well during that time anyway. Her first mission after her suspension was the one that sent them here, and she tried desperately to finally get to him, though to no avail. No fair, no fair. She loved him so much. That woman just happened to meet him first! If she had more chances, more time with him¡ªmaybe he''d look her way! She swore, no matter what her family said, she''d move to Alterra after the weather change! She looked out the window. The party heading back to Alterra should''ve already left¡­ but she was sure to be on the next one. ¡­ Alterra. At this time, the man the selfish woman was pining about was in the play cot of their bedroom, doing warm up exercises with his children. Well, to be exact, there were two adults stretching and warming up, while their babies were crawling around them. It was a morning exercise for the family. It was healthy and had that small possibility of activating the glitch-like powers of the twins. Occasionally, Garan would carry Meatball with a hand as he stretched, making him giggle as he ''flew''. Althea, would also stretch carrying little Pepper, carrying her up from one area to the next, using positive reinforcement whenever she ''landed'' on the finish spot. "Wheee~ there. Landing. Very good, Baby Pepper." She said, kissing the baby''s soft chubby cheeks. "Ohh, my Baby Meatball is so good at flying~" She said, doing the same to her son. It had to be said: They were really trying everything, but the kids always exhibited abilities at odd times. It wasn''t that they were trying to activate the powers for the sake of activating them. They wanted to see how they could be controlled, so that they didn''t exhibit them unnecessarily outside the house. While there was a running theory of Meatball likely doing it when he was very giddy and Pepper when she wanted to go somewhere, they couldn''t mimic these situations every time, right? They sighed, just tagging this day as one with minimal progress. Then, after the exercise, the family went out to the dining area where the food was already served. The team didn''t eat breakfast together, particularly when everyone was busy. The goblins had arrived and a lot of things had to be arranged. There were much fewer Goblins assigned to Alterra. There were less than a hundred, as the goblins were much more needed in Limestone Valley, which not only had the mines to care for, but also lacked a lot of infrastructure compared to Alterra which needed a lot less digging. For example, most houses in Limestone Valley did not have basements, their farms were also much smaller and less productive, and their facilities needed a lot of improvements. As for why she didn''t send more when there were still more than a thousand left in Iron Valley, it was because the Goblins were also very much needed there. She had already studied the productivity of the goblins with a Research Team and they based their numbers accordingly. Iron¡­ was too important and the goblins were at their peak efficiency there. Ah, her iron. Interestingly, she had gotten a lot of the iron ore samples in the Iron Mountain warehouse and they were very good ores. They could definitely make a lot more weapons for the same mass of raw ore compared to the ones in the bog which had a lot of impurities. What was more? They found magnetite among the ores! Magnetite was pretty much the last thing they needed to develop electricity!! Not only that, they would be able to use magnets for other things. The implications of that were immeasurable! Overall, the arrival of Goblins was extremely timely. Anyway, unlike in Limestone Valley, she wasn''t very worried about the integration of the goblins here. After all, they already have goblin citizens, and from what she heard they were integrating quite well already. She believed that the newcomers would fit in quite well. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 821 Underground Tunnel (Part 1) A few days later, this would prove to be true. Days had passed and it did become hotter and hotter throughout the continent. However, most people were unaware of what was happening and wouldn''t be able to notice much difference. It was too gradual. If one asked how hot it was today compared to five days ago, they would just say it got a little hotter. Of course, this was just an illusion that fortunately every Territory Alterra allied with was aware of. In the mountains, in Alterra, there were several simple ongoing underground constructions. They chose to dig the Western faces of the mountain to do this. The streams and tributaries were on the other side so it was better to avoid that area because it''d be much more prone to erosion and flooding. They also studied the wind movements and agreed that the Western part of the mountain range received enough wind and precipitation so it wouldn''t be dried out, at least not more than other places. There were hundreds of people and goblins doing the digging work, with several humans (usually Prisoners) going to and fro to take away the excess soil. The people from the construction team were also there, erecting the necessary permanent construction like columns and beams to keep the tunnel stable even if an earthquake or landslide occurred. They also lined the surface with mesh (fibers for reinforcement and insulation) and lined it up with concrete so it''d be comfortable to stay in. They also added a waterproofing membrane (the one Honey Guevarra found) to make sure the moisture wouldn''t get inside. Everyone was busy and the construction was at its peak. The newcomers¡ªthe goblins¡ªwere particularly hardworking. The two groups of goblins¡ªone of which referred to those who had been captured during the war¡ªhad already meshed and combined and were now working together. Just the fact that they were together was enough cause for celebration for them! How shocked they were to see each other! When the war happened and some were called in to join before others, they knew they might never meet again. The chances of never seeing each other again were too high in wars. But now¡­ they had dedicated dormitories and they all lived comfortably as neighbors. The night of the reunion, the goblins caught up for an entire night and they barely slept, but somehow they were still full of energy the next day! "Iko! Pency!" One goblin said as they dug the mountainside with the humans¡ªnot as slave drivers, but cowokers! "Let me help you in this area." "Sure, thanks!" "Thanks thanks!" And they continued as a team, synergy definitely more than 1 plus one equals 2. As they finished an area, another couldn''t help but sigh in melancholy. "I still can''t believe we''re all working with a nice house and full stomachs." "Same¡­" a goblin agreed. "Same¡­" another one added. "Same." A human nodded. Speaking of, the food here was unbelievable! They had never eaten such food! And with their own salaries, they could buy buy buy! "After this, I will reward myself with Cotton Candy," Pupu, one of the younger ones, said. He was a bit naive and adorable because of his innocence. He was born as a slave, but at the same time because he didn''t know a better life he was surprisingly optimistic. It helped that the adult goblins always protected him, and were one of the few sources of joy they had. "Can we really become proper citizens soon?" he asked an older goblin, who smiled and nodded. "As long as we keep working, we''d be able to save enough to buy our own freedom." It was Yut, one of the ''drowned'' goblins, who answered. He just arrived from bringing the soil outside, and he had paper bags with him. The cost of buying their own freedom was just the default 5 Gold, with Alterra not even adding anything for its profit. It might seem extremely large for slaves who had nothing, but they were getting the standard salaries of more than 3 gold a month here in Alterra. Considering their expenses, if they worked hard (overtime work also paid more) and avoided spending too much, they should be able to save enough after a few months! S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was nothing they could''ve imagined before! "I''ll work harder!" Pupu yelled, raising his little green arms and began digging even faster. This made the other goblins chuckle. Their new human friends, like Pency, also smiled. He had melshed together with the goblin team quite well, and it helped that he was a Guia slave along with them. "Here, have snacks," Yut said as he handed the little paper bags around their team. After delivering the stones, he went to the mouth of the cave to buy some snacks. Outside the mines, there were several business-minded folks who set up stalls there. The offerings ranged from heavy food to light snacks and drinks. It was great because the marketplaces were quite a distance away from the mines. Anyway, the workers could just go to the mouth of the tunnels during their break and buy as they wanted. Speaking of which, there was no strict time of breaks here. The workers were just assigned a certain amount of reasonable output a day and they would report it honestly (they took an oath upon hiring). If they were tired in between needed rest, then they were free to do so. The stalls he went to today ranged from barbeques, cool drinks, cool snacks, and others things. Yut ate a bit of everything and bought some sour cream popcorn for the others (his treat). It felt fitting with their hard labor job. The work paused for a few moments as they consumed the bite-sized snacks, pretty much moaning at the awesomeness of it. It was more amazing the more they ate. It was even more special because they were working so hard! It''s like a reward! Who wouldn''t feel happy working hard like this? Chapter 822 Underground Tunnel (Part 2) "Ah! So delicious!" Pupu mumbled, shoving a handful in his mouth. When he realized this he blinked and looked apologetically at Yut. "I''ll buy some for you when I get my first paycheck later," he said. People were paid daily here, so they had funds for their daily expenses (which may or may not include a food splurge). Yut chuckled. "Nah, I bought the bags for you guys," he said, before heading to the wall and began to dig. Pupu blinked and ate a bit more before joining his friend. Anyway, the goblins and their human teammates continued with their job, now with an even more renewed energy as they went. Taktaktaktak "WOW you''re really going fast. If you continue this you''d go beyond the output requirement for us!" Iko said as he looked at Yut and Pupu. As Goblins, their output was a bit larger than the others. However, they were paid the same per mass so they were probably making a lot more than their human counterparts each day. Added with their excess output and overtime, then their daily salary was really quite impressive. "Wow, citizenship can come sooner for you!" "That''s what I want!" Yut nodded. As one of the first goblins there, and one of the ''intellectuals'' he had studied and understood a lot about the system in Alterra. "The sooner we get the residencies, the sooner we get the benefits." "Even temporary residency can receive a certain level of free health care, more access to resources inside the territory, and we can even rent our own home!" "Wow¡­" It was hard labor, but it was a job and no one really complained, especially those who got used to much worse. Anyway, the miners¡ªhumans or goblins¡ªwere paid as normal workers, and could therefore use their hard work to better their own lives. However, not everyone had this treatment. For instance, the Prisoners of Wars¡ªwhether they were from Guia, or minor betrayers from their own territory¡ªhad quite a different situation. After all, unlike the paid workers, they were paid in Atonement Points, and that meant they didn''t get extra money in their wallet. They could only make do with the shelter and food provided for them as sustenance, and nothing else. It was easier to handle the System Slaves because they just had to order them with words, but it was a bit of a challenge to the others who technically had their freedom from the tethers of such slavery. For example, the Alterran betrayers. "AH, SO TIRING!" Alon yelled for the nth time that day. He squatted down. Sadly for him, nobody but his mother would care, but most of the women prisoners were assigned to other labor work like cleaning or pushing the cart with the soil out. But Alon didn''t care. He wanted to throw a tantrum! "This is so annoying!" he yelled, pushing the soil with his hand, and making a mess in the area. "I DON''T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE!" This earned him a light kick from the guard-on-duty, which happened to be Angelo, who had quite the gripe with him. "SHUT UP!" He yelled. "Work or you wouldn''t be able to eat!" Angelo kicked him up. "Clean this up, or we''ll put you on shit duty like your mum." Alon''s mum was among those cleaning the septic tanks and pushing them to the fertilizer farms. Alon shivered. Although it was less hard work, it was too disgusting to access shit! Grumbling, Alon had no choice by to start digging again, though slowly. Angelo sighed. "Well, if you give low outputs, you get low atonement points. Up to you," he said, looking away to check on the other Prisoners. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although modern people like them had a natural dislike of slavery, they felt no pity for betrayers. They even felt extremely gratified that they could contribute to the territory like this instead of trying to cause it harm. Anyway, the rest of the Prisoners could only do their jobs as they had been the past few days even before the goblins arrived. Angelo and the other assigned guards nodded as they entered a pretty good pace after a while. "Work hard. Instead of Contribution Points, you get Atonement Points. Receive a certain amount and you might get pardoned!" he said, though it was targetted to those with minor crimes, marked by the color of the bracelets on their hands. "So work hard and don''t annoy us!" The guards were particularly harsh to the Guia slaves, marked blood red for those who had killed people. They didn''t whip them like those slave drivers they saw in movies, but they did ask them to dig more with less rest. "GYAHH!" "WORK!" The Guia prisoners were System Slaves¡ªstrong ones who didn''t were killed¡ªand could only drag their bodies to do so, no matter how livid they were inside! It got a bit more difficult when the Guia prisoners encountered the tunnels made by the goblins, and therefore the goblins themselves. They saw that the rats in their minds¡ª-rats they had kicked and abused a lot through the years¡ªwere being treated much better than they were! Some were even chewing on jerkies and other snacks! WHAT IN THE ORCSHIT IS THIS PLACE?! "You bastard!" A Guian yelled, glaring at the goblins who flinched at the sight of him. "You dare put me in the same place as these rats?!" Bang! He found himself kicked to the wall, some loose soil fell on him. He gasped and coughed, pushing himself up with his arm and glaring at the person who kicked him. This was Turbo, who wasn''t assigned there, but just happened to be checking on the process. Sadly, this kind of sight was still not rare, and he wasn''t surprised to encounter one from the get-go. "They''re proper citizens of Alterra! You dare insult them! 2 more hours work for you!" Unlike other territories, Alterra was not inhumane. The slaves worked just a few hours beyond the normal working hours. Adding two more was still less than the working hours of slaves outside, not that most slaves¡ªwho were formerly slave drivers¡ª-appreciated that. "Jerks," Turbo said, and he turned to look at the goblins, who flinched under his gentle stare (they were really small and animal-like). "Although you''re still slaves in name, you are Alterran citizens now," he said, kneeling down to their level so they didn''t have to strain their necks looking at him. "We''re all equal here, okay? When someone''s bullying you report it to us!" The goblins stared at him blankly, unsure if they were hearing correctly. The goblins didn''t feel any insincerity in his words, and they understood that he really meant what he said! They knew in theory that they could become citizens in name, but to get sincere treatment of equality was still beyond their comprehension and expectations. Now they were protected so well with such frankness, and some goblins couldn''t help but sniffle a bit. ¡­ Later that night, Gaea Villa. The Midnight chime sounded, and the couple was resting after another passionate activity. Althea rested her head on her husband''s generous chest, entering deep thought. It was the habit of a hyperactive brain, and it had always been one of Garan''s excuses when he went wild. "It''s to get you to fall asleep quickly," he would say, as if he wouldn''t spend hours making love to her. As they relaxed again though, the various worries about the territories emerged again. She worried a bit about the Iron Mountains in particular. It could get attacked again, especially if news came that the leadership had changed. She didn''t want to change too much before it either, so as to add an element of surprise to the next war. That and she felt stingy and she really didn''t want to spend much on the other two territories without perfecting hers first. She hoped every potential enemy would get distracted by the upcoming weather change. That way they could all focus on maximizing the survivability of the populace during that time. They really could use a war-free few weeks. Garan sensed his wife overthinking things and patted her back as if lulling her to sleep. Althea smiled, burying herself deeper into his embrace. However, just as she was about to fall into slumber, a familiar ding sounded in her head, waking her up completely. [Epo Village (Lv3) declared war on Iron Mountain (Lv3)! War will begin at 13:59:59] Chapter 823 Improving Iron Mountains (Part 1) Sigh. "What''s wrong?" Garan asked, crawling down to kiss her bare shoulder. He placed several kisses to various parts of her shoulders and neck, and his wife buried her soft hands in his hair. "Someone declared war on Iron Valley," she said, making Garan pause a little. He lifted his body a bit and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead before he sat up, knowing they had a job to do. They really weren''t surprised in the end. After all, Guia Village was a very rich village¡ªand everyone knew this. They thrived on this reputation. Alterra earned a lot of resources from winning alone. Unlike the poor Fargo Village that gave her a few hundred gold for taking over, Guia gave her a few thousand just for winning it, let alone taking over its warehouse. What Althea didn''t know yet was that she was very lucky because of her timing. If the war had been a few days later, she''d have gotten even less than what she got from Fargo. This was because, if Guia attacked a little later, then they''d have given much of their resources to a certain city¡ªas it always did¡ªand then give a small portion of the remaining to Ferrol, which was its ''master'' town, at least on paper. Of course, this was something that they''d find out much, much, later. For now, they had to prepare for the war at hand. The couple sat up to get dressed, with Althea turning off the sound blocker (which they used to avoid disturbing the babies) and prepared for a very early start for the day. They didn''t sound the alarm in Alterra, simply because the war was far away to another territory. From where they were, only Althea could really do anything that could affect the other territory. She witheld the announcement in Iron Mountains as well, opting to do what she could first. Anyway, they''d need their rest for what was to come. The enemies that could attack it were naturally strong enough to think it could win over Guia without its Lord, and they didn''t want them too prepared so Garan and Althea decided not to do anything with it until they received the attack notice. They considered upgrading a lot in favor of hoping the enemy would be intimidated, but that would just delay the fight until the enemy felt they were ready enough. When would that be? When they were stronger? During the heat wave? Now that the announcement was sent, Althea immediately sat up and opened her panel, and began with the upgrades. Anyway, she got thousands of gold from Guia, which she''d use to improve the whole thing. She would wake up the citizens in a couple of hours, which was plenty of time for the war that''d happen in the middle of the day. "It''s interesting how they chose to fight in the middle of the day. Did they really not feel the heat?" She mumbled as she pretty much drained out Guia''s money for its upgrade. Hey, this was fun. It was like splurging, but with other people''s money. If the person who was supposed to receive the money was to know about her splurge, they might just pop a few veins. But that was a story for later. Anyway, she amusedly clicked and ordered and splurged¡ªah, so fun¡ªin the middle of the night. The citizens would be quite surprised when they woke up. ¡­ The people of Iron Mountains were woken up by the announcement that they would be attacked in six hours! Six hours! "Jerk! He announced when we only have a few hours left to prepare!" "At least they warned, I heard some territories don''t bother!" "But still, our lord isn''t a level 30 elementalist anymore!" The people in the house were silent, and some had indeed begun to pack up again. They stayed because, despite having a much weaker administrative team, the entries and fees had become much more affordable. But what were savings when you were a slave?! Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was just that when they went out of the house¡ªwas it just them or was it becoming a little warm¡ªthe territory had changed a lot. Gill and the others had also moved around to see the changes. "This¡­" "Are we in the same place?" They also saw a lot of people just gaping around them in a daze. There were a lot of changes, and it could be said that Alterra really spent a lot of money into the improvements. Of course, Xeno wasn''t some infrastructure game where Althea could just move buildings around. Althea had to retain most of the village. Fortunately, there were plenty of abandoned buildings because they were either occupied by Baltimore''s men, dead people, or people who had left as soon as they realized that Guia had fallen. This gave some flexibility to Althea, giving her the choice to demolish them. In those places, she either took it down for some manual construction later on (she really wished she could at least place her custom buildings there, but alas), or turned them into parks, also to be planted with trees later after the war. She might also add some underground construction underneath a few of them in the future. The streetscape was also changed. The current 6-meter wide streets added a 2-person mountable sidewalk on each side, with provision for trees or shrubs. They could not add trees and islands without planting them manually, but the holes provided were big enough to plant young trees later on. If she blocked the Beast Carts at the peripheries (there were rarely some in villages, anyway), then the road should be wide enough for now. In the future, there would be more dorms and buildings, leaving more and more open spaces to play with, and making the place seem a lot airier. Silvia reckoned that after the war and the heat wave, they would probably have a few more improvements. The most notable changes were, of course, the walls. Many citizens ran to see and touch it in shock. "It''s really a Level 5 wall?!" one yelled and then they looked up to see sentries within eye range of each other! What in the world?! When did such big change occur?! Chapter 824 Improving Iron Mountains (Part 2) Although Guia had a lot of gold, it naturally couldn''t afford the dense sentries that Alterra had. The walls alone had consumed almost all of the gold she won from Guia. Hence, like what she did with Limestone Valley, she chose to add dense sentries in the more sensitive areas like the gates and added watch towers everywhere else. Anyway, sentries were more useful in beast mobs, which were more active by the gates. In wars, people tended to be more creative¡ªsending forces that would not focus on attacking the well-guarded gates. They''d also be sneaky in trying to get over the gate. In such cases, some human factor would be useful. She, however, added a lot of interior watchtowers for efficiency as well. It used a bit of her own funds, but it was worth it for her peace of mind. Anyway, it was a shock to the locals and they couldn''t help to stare, gape, and admire. When the leading party was in sight, they immediately surrounded them, bombarding them with questions and maybe a few words of admiration here and there. Gill and the others looked awkward. They were embarrassed with the succeeding questions and compliments because they were relatively surprised too. They didn''t think Alterra would spend too much of its own money improving another. Hey, Guia must''ve been really rich to get so many upgrades all at once. Lucky them. ¡­ In the mining area, another dormitory was also prepared. Alterra''s custom buildings could not be built here. She just built the standard houses available and placed them together to create dormitories. They''d have to make manual public toilets, but the living condition was definitely improved for the poor. This was found outside the mines and was also built inside the mine area. In this dormitory, it happened that Kimura and Lin were there, bonding with the goblins. Lin was someone found from Fargo and happened to be Kimura''s student many years back. She arrived literally a day before the war, which was fortunate because she didn''t have to experience the horrors many women there had to go through. Lin shared the same fascination with rocks, allowing her to quickly be promoted in Terran and, similarly, in Alterra as well. The two had a fascination with minerals and more so with the critters who had a special bond with it. It was amazing, it was like the goblins had a special sixth sense! They were both queasy though so they didn''t think of dissecting the creatures, but they were certainly doing everything to observe them as closely as they could. And they were very close indeed. Literally living together with them, for one. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At first, the goblins were a little scared of the two humans being all buddy-buddy with them¡ªto the point they were willing to stay in the same hut! But after so many days of not sensing impatience, but rather fascination and genuine admiration for their skills, the goblins had slowly softened up to the duo. "What''s that?" They asked and the humans turned to look at it. They brightened when they realized what it was. "Oh, finally a dormitory! I had thought Alterra forgot about us!" Kimura exclaimed, patting away some soil on his attire. How long had it been since he took a bath? After getting to do so daily in Alterra, he had to admit he really missed it. Of course, he wasn''t complaining, his field was still most important to him. "Well, they are all very busy," Lin calmly added and it made sense so Kimura agreed. "It''s a bit different though. I guess we can''t build Alterran buildings here¡­" The goblins, though, looked at the building and at them curiously. "What''s a dormitory?" This made the humans smile and led the goblins to the building. "Our new house! C''mon let''s take a look." The goblins looked up at the multistory building. It was similar to what they had seen in the main village, but it had more decorations and was built side by side as if they were just one building. The moment they stepped on the threshold a familiar ding sounded in their heads. [Would you like to rent this bed for 1 day for 1 copper?] "1 copper a day?" The goblins paused looking around to see whether they heard it correctly. Lin giggled. "Yes! That''s what you have to pay for staying," she said. "You can only have a bed for yourself though and the bathrooms, kitchens, et cetera are communal." "Ohhhh!" The green little things nodded and immediately looked at their interface. [Yes] they clicked and they immediately received directions to their assigned beds. Theirs were on the ground floor and they saw that each room didn''t have many beds at all, at least not in their standards. Then when the goblins went to their beds one by one, they realized something. It was Gup, one of the older goblins who asked. "We get one bed each?" They saw more of this as they walked around. Their beds were small compared to the humans, but it gave them plenty of room, still. Anyway, the goblins, who were used to squeezing in huts, naturally didn''t see the problem with this. Rather, it felt like a luxury to have their own bed! It only cost 1 copper to use this. They had salaries now, and this was super affordable! "This is your own home that you pay for yourself," Lin began, leaning down so she could be at eye-level with the little ones. "You will buy your own food, your own clothes, your own lives¡­ isn''t it nice?" The goblins felt a little teary, nodding repeatedly. They nodded a lot, as if doing so would make sure everything was real. There was a special feeling of spending money that you had, and they relished in it. This made them even more worried about the upcoming war. These people were so good, they didn''t want anything to happen to them. They also didn''t want to return to the lives of slaves again. It was cruel¡ªif they didn''t see all this, they wouldn''t have cared as much, but they had and now they were terrified of losing everything. "Will the war be ok?" Gup asked. Kimura smiled and Lin patted his head. "Oh, don''t worry. "Alterra is Proud and Strong!" she said, looking quite proud as if she was there. "It''ll handle everything, as long as every one of us does our part." This made the Goblins sparkle and look at her with light in their eyes. "What can we do to help?" Chapter 825 Women of Bleuelle Chapter dedicated to Lotuslin''s latest castle~! Love you~! WN decided to move my promotion to October, and the castle really helped keep up the story''s exposure! *hugs* And it''s part of the plot lol, not a filler. Had to clear this out before the Extreme Heat comes in. ... __________ Bleulle City The City of Blu was as lively as it had always been. It was bustling with activity and thrummed with the daily rhythm of its hundreds of thousands¡ªif not a million¡ªof inhabitants. In every part of the territory, money flowed, whether it was direct transactions or taxes, gold and silver were added to the City treasury. At this time, commoners bustled through the system streets. They peddled goods and served patrons. They sold their products or hunted as per usual, each transaction contributing to the city''s rich economy¡­ and the pockets of its nobles. In contrast to the commoners, in more opulent districts, the upper class gossiped about the latest news within their class. For instance, in The Prestige House, one of the upscale restaurants in the city, was currently bustling with well-dressed individuals just passing their day. This was owned by the affluent Trion Family, and one of the nobles'' favorite places to spend their day. Here, in one of the intricately-designed corners, a group of women were chattering about various things. They gathered amid the ambiance of fine drinks and food. They exchanged pleasantries and rumors, bodies with the aura of those used to luxury. They ate snacks and had cold drinks from rare ceramic cups only found in high society. They were also using intricate-looking fans to cool themselves down from the ambient heat, and looking fabulous while doing so. In Xeno, Women might not have much say in front of men, but noble women could still enjoy a lot of perks, especially if their families or the family they married into was well-off. As for the men, they were in their own ''play spaces'', hopefully not in The Allure, the top-class brothel, but what could they do? At least their husbands went back to them in the end of the day, and that was what mattered in the end. They would often bring each other down subtly, without directly offending, just to feel better about their own lives. One might even raise the topic of a mistress. "Sigh, I don''t know what he sees in that woman when you''re still so beautiful and young," a woman said, appearing genuinely concerned for the other woman. In response, the other woman would reply, "I''m not sure either, but I am relieved it is only one," she said, making a jab at the other''s husband, who famously had his own harem. They drank cool drinks and fanned themselves gracefully throughout, and if an Alterran was there they''d wonder if these women were masochists. However, while there were several groups comprised of middle-aged women with nothing better to do when their men weren''t around, there was also a group of unmarried young women. At their center was the beautiful Estra Trion, one of the Trion Family''s many daughters. As one of the city''s top families, she was naturally pandered on. She had blazing red hair and curvaceous form. She was one of the most sought-after women in the territory and had received countless proposals through the years. Next to her was her best friend Liaroa, or just Lia, who was wearing slightly more revealing clothing of light red to match her pinkish hair. Her clothing and mannerisms indicated she was ''well-bred''. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her sights always seemed above everyone (except Estra, of course). She was the daughter of the Vesto family, also amongst the top in Bleulle. Similarly, every member of this clique had families above the hierarchy in Bleuelle and other cities. At this time, the group was finding particular interest in a young woman who was sitting alone in a corner. She was quite beautiful and had near-shimmering sandy hair. Her back was straight and proud, a quiet confidence emanating from her. She maintained composure, seemingly impervious to any of the murmurs and whispers that surrounded her¡ªwhich was unlikely because some women were not far from her at all. "Who''s that?" The women whispered in hushed tones, though they really didn''t care that much even if they were heard. "That''s Sahara Khan, she''s the daughter of Dune Town Lord." "That barren desert town southwest?" one woman said, not even hiding her distaste. "Why would anyone want to build there, anyway?" Estra shrugged, "Well, except for the beast mobs, no one would bother attacking them in wars," she said. "Perhaps that is why." Several women laughed derisively. "To be fair, I heard it was just barren, not an outright desert, some 100 years ago when the town was created." "Speaking of, isn''t it a bit warm lately?" "Has it? I''ve been drinking a lot more," Lia said. Water wasn''t cheap and she realized in retrospect her spending had risen. The topic died out after a bit, with no one really thinking too deeply about it. They had a much more interesting topic of gossip, after all. "She''s really beautiful," another woman said, but pausing immediately as she said it. "Well, not as beautiful as our Estra, of course." She sweated a bit at this, afraid of offending the woman by complimenting another in front of her. Thankfully her own friend shifted the discussion away from her. "Aiya, Estra what a beautiful dress. Is that blue silk?" This made the redheaded woman turn to her with a gracious smile. "Yes, I''ve asked father to give me purple, and he promised to get me some as soon as it was available." The women around gasped in awe. Everyone knew the purple dye was extremely expensive. Blue fabric was also very valuable of course, and it was impressive to have such an intricate dress made entirely of the rare fabric. They then looked at the woman whose beauty rivaled their leader''s, and then looked at the cheap coat that hid her figure. However, based on the part of the dresses that sneaked out of the coat, they could also see that the dress underneath was also cheap. It was only slightly better made than what the commoners wear and they frowned in distaste. Was she not ashamed of showing herself here dressed up like that?! Shameless! Chapter 826 The Golds had Begun to Move "Is she not ashamed to show up here dressed like that?" "I heard she went all the way to Ferrol to gain some deals for her town, heh, I don''t know what that lord thought of sending a daughter when he has two sons." "You know a lot," Estra said to the woman, Lizbeth, one of the new members of their little clique. "My maternal family is from Saul Town," the girl said proudly, pushing her dark hair to her ear. "I heard a lot about their family." Saul Town was a level 2 town, and it had the level 1 Dune Town as its subsidiary ever since it was a small village. This made the others turn to her curiously. "How did the deals go? The one in Ferrol, I mean." "If it did, she probably¡­ you know," she said, sending glances at the lone woman. "Well, she is very beautiful." "But she wasn''t taken," Lia said with a sly smile. "What''s beauty when she can''t even capture men? Didn''t Ferrol just hold a trade fair? She didn''t catch anyone from there?" This made the women think. Xeno women would always think in the direction of men. In their minds, men were possessive creatures who loved beauty. If a beauty like that was still alone, then there was something wrong with her. "Perhaps¡­ those men discovered something?" "Maybe she covered herself up?" "Or¡­ is she not¡­ clean?" They gasped and then looked at the woman who was still sitting still, though if one looked closer one could see her fingers shaking as it held on her ceramic cup. The woman stood up and it was so abrupt they wondered if she''d dare start a confrontation. However, she just walked away, looking like a pitiful woman, though none of them felt pity at all. Not caring of the fact that they could''ve possibly made a stranger cry, the group of young women continued to gossip about her. "Why do you think she''s here, then?" another asked. "Surely, she wouldn''t think of attaching to someone here when she couldn''t do it there?" "Well, desperation can do a lot to a person," Lizbeth said, knowing the dire situation of Dune Town. "Her hometown is really in trouble. I heard more undead have been sighted the past couple of months than there had been the past year." This made the women gasp as they looked at her. "Do the men know this?" "I assume so," Lizbeth said. "My father had been receiving quite a few guests. If Saul Town is like that, then it must be more dire in Dune Town, which is hundreds of kilometers closer to the Undead Mountains." "She''s probably going to try to get some resources as well. That place just lacks¡­ everything." "Who do you think she''ll try to grab onto, then?" "The Trion family?" they asked, looking at Estra, who scoffed but didn''t exactly deny anything. Her brother had a huge harem, she wouldn''t be surprised if this one decided to get in his line of sight. It wasn''t the first time it happened. Hopefully, this one wouldn''t try going through her because Estra was tired of those types. It was here that a thought came to Lia. She looked at her friend. "The Golds had arrived didn''t they? When they started to move, that woman appeared. Coincidence?" At the sound of the Golds, Estra''s eyes sharpened. "The other siblings are fine, but if she dares touch Otto¡­ she''ll regret stepping in Bleuelle." She didn''t care about the others, but Otto was her fiance! The atmosphere around her became a bit scarier and the other girls shivered a bit, afraid, and they looked at Lia who seemed to be watching a show. "Speaking of the Golds, they are really surprising," she said. "I wonder what they brought?" The other girls nodded. A lot of them were hanging out and shopping when the Golds'' small group arrived with their many beasts carriages. All those carriages were full, and even the roof had a mountain of stuff in it. "Who knows, they haven''t shared it yet." The Golds arrived a day prior and they caused quite an uproar. They brought so many things. When they went out as a group, it already caused some interest. After all, so many siblings going someplace at once was extremely rare. They returned as a group again with so much in their bags¡ªit was bound to make a few tongues waggle. "I am so curious!" another added. "They seemed so excited¡­" another said. "So handsome¡­" "You haven''t heard anything?" One of the women couldn''t help but ask Estra, just genuinely curious. Instead of an answer, it made the redhead frown. The girls immediately flinched, realizing they had mispoken. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although the Trions had been telling people Estra was Otto''s fiance, Otto had been going around saying he wasn''t planning on getting married at all. It felt like hitting her face repeatedly, but Estra had looked at Otto as her husband since she was a child. She couldn''t bear call off the engagement. She didn''t want to. Even if she knew Otto had been sleeping with other women¡ªshe didn''t care! Women in their circle always had to push down the bitterness and live with it, but what made things worse was that¡ªin most cases¡ªtheir men were losers! Not only did they have to deal with infidelity, it was to deal with the infidelity of their attractive men with decent level but low skills. In contrast, Otto¡­ Otto was one-of-a-kind! He was extremely handsome, had a good family, and had amazing skills. He an epitome of a ''good man'' in her mind, and such a man was who she deserved. If she was to live the kind of life noble women had already accepted as a norm, then it had to be someone worth it. It was around this time that one of the maids hurriedly went to her master, taking out an aether letter. Estra''s eyebrows rose as it was opened in front of her, her heart clenching as she saw its contents. /The Golds have finally moved./ Chapter 827 Golds Movements The Gold siblings finally revealed their items and immediately affected the market, at least for their strata in society. It got to the point that a lot of parties regretted not following them where they went. No one had the resources to just keep tracking other people''s movements, even if it was the Golds. Plus, being detected could put a strain on the family relations so no one did so. Hmn, maybe next time. Anyway, the shops were flourishing. This was especially true for the ones with the space stones like Olga and Otto, who brought out a lot. For Otto, he opened a special one-day-only event in his store where he would be selling his items. He was selling them for 20 times to price (or more, depending on how difficult it would be for others to procure). It might be a bit much (he had been fondly called by a few Alterrans as the Golden Profiteer), but these were novelties so he didn''t think too much of it. This shop, called ''Land of Curiosities'', was his favorite store. Here, he would sell some of the things he got from traveling around so many territories. With huge markup, of course. It had to be noted that, even after traveling so much, he had only landed on a small fraction of the human territory. Even after years of creating his caravan, this remained the truth, and he did want to explore it a bit more. Fortunately, their lifespans were long and exploring farther was possible to do within his life. His shop was large and expensive, more than 5000 square feet. Before, the place would display something in the middle, usually something from a distant land people here rarely saw. More often than not, it would take up a huge space, though sometimes these things were just unique in appearance, but nothing special in function. People still bought though because of the status implications. Otto knew Alterra''s products were different. They were not only novel, but they were also functional, which made them all the more valuable. He was inspired by the set-up of the stores in Alterra. Of course, it wasn''t that energetic. Rather, he would add something more comfortable to nobles. Because of his selling price, his items were only accessible to nobles and rich people for now. His stock was limited after all (his space stone was the smallest one), and even if he wanted to pick a few lucky commoners, he would feel stingy. Anyway, for his purpose, he arranged the hall into something like an auction house with items displayed in a specific area to be appreciated on their own. There were high-class well-dressed and handsome chefs giving out the free tastes for the sauces, and each section had one good-looking and charming person to explain. Other novelty items like puzzles, stuffed toys, and the like were on another side, and there was also a demo area for the guests to try. He also made a maximum capacity of shoppers who could go in at a time. It was for relaxed buying, so people wouldn''t feel too cramped, and he also implemented a very strict purchase limit. Anyway, his shop understandably was incredibly lively with his patrons practically throwing money at him. "This is delicious!" one said, closing his eyes as he tasted the biscuit with peanut butter. "This is meat I bought, but the flavor was really brought out!" Another said, referring to adding a drop of soy sauce in their dried meat. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "The taste has been elevated by several levels¡­" another said, appreciating the taste of the new sauces. It really wasn''t anything they had tasted before! These were just a few of the exclamations and Otto received several compliments as he went around. After the food, he went to the toys and puzzles and even adults enjoyed them. His lips twitched when he recalled these were for kids and, in Alterra, it was mostly small children playing around with them. Seeing adults look at them with reverence was a little funny. "You always bring back the most interesting things." "Thank you," Otto was in a very good mood. He also proceeded to tell some functions as well, and introduced them to the games adults would also find fun like scrabbles, chess, and checkers. For the sake of a quick demo, he chose to play checkers, and they gained quite an audience. It was easy to understand especially because he explained his moves. He would also correct the opponent when he made an illegal move or made a bad one. "This is a wonderful game of strategy," he explained, "And it can also train the mind. Everyone would like to keep their minds sharp, after all. The men nodded, feeling their brains tingling a bit. Even if they didn''t like brain-teaser games, they''d probably buy one for the sake of appearances. Otto could see the gold coming in! He didn''t even need so much money. Just seeing the numbers gave him joy. To maximize the seeds of splurging, he continued to explain a bit more. "Chess is even more complex, but the rules might take a bit longer to explain," he said. "I can hold an event to teach and hold tournaments for it, with special prices." "Ohh¡­" "That''s a good idea!" He smiled. In time, it''d be a good alternative of pass time among the nobles. Not only would he earn money, but he''d also subtly change their perspectives and how they spend their time. In any case, it was definitely better than hanging around brothels. Otto himself never did so. The women he had been with always approached him, and they were always women of some class, even if many of them were in the middle class. Some were also young widows, so they had least expectations of him after the act. Speaking of women¡­ A red head appeared next to him as soon as he escaped the checker-loving crowd. "Otto¡­ you''re back¡­" Estra said, voice softer than usual. She was standing by with a few of her friends. She was looking at him with eyes filled with amorous feelings. To be honest, Otto also found her attractive, however she was¡­ too much. He liked his affairs to be light, breezy, and fun. Although he didn''t touch prostitutes, there were certainly plenty of higher-class women who would willingly let go of themselves¡ªwithout strings attached¡ªto be with him for a night. Estra¡­ was too high-maintenance. He couldn''t even have women in Bleuelle because she would make their lives hell. If they were commoners or even prostitutes, Estra might have done a lot worse to them. However, her family was still in the same strata as his, so he maintained a business attitude in dealing with her. "Hmn, want to buy anything?" he said, smiling. "I''ll give you a friendship discount of 5%." "I¡­" she paused looking around. "I will take a look later." "I see," Otto said. "Just call any one of the attendants and they''d give you their time. Now, if you''ll excuse me¡ª" The woman pursed her lips. "Can we talk? Alone?" Otto flinched and looked at her, before finally shaking his head a little. "No thank you, milady. I''m afraid of we be misunderstood," he said, excusing himself before the red-haired beauty could say anything else. Estra''s eyes lined with tears as he watched him go, interacting with various customers after leaving her alone. "Don''t worry," Lia said next to her ears, though her dark eyes traced over Otto''s extremely charming profile. "He''ll come around." Chapter 828 Gold and Sand "What if she wasn''t clean?" The words of those women rang in her ears, making Sahara''s strong facade crack bit by bit. She hid herself in the bathroom, covering her face. "I want to go home¡­" she whispered but she immediately pushed it down. There was too much anchored in her success and she could not fail just because of her own weaknesses. Whenever she remembered that night, she felt shame. It was something she refused to acknowledge, yet couldn''t forget no matter how hard she tried. Although the memory was a little blurry, she could still remember that man. She could remember his dark skin, his light hair, his handsome features. More importantly, she could still remember his warmth and gentleness¡ª She shook everything off and her poised stance returned. She headed out, hoping to find the people who could help her out. ¡­ At this time, another shop of the Golds was raking in money. This time, it was of beauty products. Olga''s items were displayed in the new beauty shop she and her sister-in-law Hilda had been planning for a while. This was scheduled to launch in a month when their prospect products and that pharmacist advisor was finally ready, but now they didn''t have to wait! Of course, they still paid the pharmacist the agreed upon money, though he seemed absolutely offended that they started offering other products as well. He even demanded they didn''t sell their items or lose their partnership with him. However, they had seen his products. They were good, but nothing compared to what Alterra could offer. Further, he still wasn''t finished! He was so arrogant. She recalled Miss Althea who was at the same level (and had better skills) yet did not even have a bit of arrogance. Fortunately, they had signed a partnership oath before and he couldn''t back out of their deal, at least providing them exclusivity for certain products, which would be added offerings within the next few weeks or so. For now, the focus was to have an explosive opening! As she had predicted, her items were a hit! She also sold with similar margins to Oslo''s, which was silver and gold raining down. Olga was so happy, that she didn''t even care to look at the judgemental looks from various noble ladies. Although most women didn''t have power, they still had some money. In high society, a daughter or a wife''s spending habits also reflected the pride of her family. That was to say, if a woman could spend a lot, it meant her family was also very rich and therefore prosperous. This was in exchange for a woman''s entire soul and being, but this was the norm in Xeno that few people actually questioned. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If there were any questions, it''d be from men asking questions like "why would women have to get anything we worked for?" instead. Further, what Olga and Hilda had been doing wasn''t actually welcome. After all, women generally didn''t do business; they usually didn''t have their own money¡ªat least nothing more than what was considered ''pocket money''. In aborigine minds, what the women showed expressed how well their family was doing, and making their own money seemed to undermine that in a twisted way. Like ''property'' shouldn''t be doing anything more than what it should. It shouldn''t be doing anything that cannot be controlled by men. If Terrans were there, they''d liken the local women as mannequins used to show off, but shouldn''t be having a life of their own. As such, the derisive looks, especially from fellow women, abound¡ªnot that Olga cared, of course. Hilda did, very much so, but being with her sister-in-law softened the tension. These judgemental looks were how jealous women would make themselves feel better. They would mock her choices; they would mock her lack of husband and children, and laugh about it behind closed doors¡ªand yet be secretly envious of her at the same time. They certainly rushed to buy their products. "Have you seen my skin?" a woman asked her friend, admiring the changes in the metallic mirror in front of her. "It has been smoother! And I haven''t been using it for too long. Imagine if I did." They were trying out the Wittbeauty beauty soap. The perfumes were also very popular, and the women were practically fighting over the sampler sticks. Hilda could not believe it. She could only gape as the customers admired and also paid so much for a bit of product. "Nice deal, right?" Olga asked her sister-in-law who smiled weakly, still absorbing the good things. She was also looking very beautiful, especially with the make-up applied to her. Hilda looked more youthful and her already pretty features highlighted even more. The amount of compliments that came her way let her straighten her back with a bit more confidence. Even her stiff husband stared at her for a few seconds longer than usual! Speaking of make-up. "There''s a final line that will be sold within the next few days. It''s make-up!" she said. "Sister and I are using it. Do you see the difference?" she asked and the two of them twirled for effect. The customers looked admiringly, eyes filled with envy, and a lot of jealous looks also came about. "Would anyone like to try?" The customers naturally wanted to pander to the Golds, and¡ªmore prominently¡ªthey also really wanted to try it! Olga ignored the women who were looking down on her (yet desperately wanted her products) and studied the more innocent ones. Olga''s eyes ended on the sand-colored hair in the vicinity. She was very pretty. Although her skin was a little rough, it was normal, and she knew she could be even prettier. "You!" she said, making the woman flinch. "What''s your name?" "Sahara¡­" she whispered and squealed a bit when Olga pulled her to sit down. She felt tense at the closeness of the other person, and could only stiffly sit down as she waited for whatever was being done to her to be over. Anyway, Olga did her magic on the woman. And, after a few minutes of work, everyone gaped at the result. So beautiful! Safe to say, Olga''s makeup line would be a major best seller. Chapter 829 The Other Golds While the Moneygrubber Golds were having a blast, there was FightingManiac Obi''s side, whose focus was to strengthen his underdog of a team. At this time, he was giving the new weapons to the level 20s in his team. At first, they wondered what it was until he demoed its use. In particular, how many arrows he shot within a short span of time. His team brightened at the gifts, and they were also touched by his considerations. Even when going on a vacation, he still remembered them! Anyway, the group hurried and took their weapons, trying it out. It was amazing. They could shoot many times more in the same amount of time! "Wow! This is amazing! Thank you, Captain!" This was Leez, one of the newer recruits, and a relatively androgynous young lad. He had just passed level 20, though he was fairly young¡ªonly 22¡ªso his potential was really pretty good. He was also an earth elementalist, which was really lucky for him. Generally, everyone with the disposition to become an elementalist would be trained by the territory and obligated to serve it for a few decades under oath. After basic training, they would be distributed to various guard teams or whatever place the Lord deemed them useful. His underdog team was unlikely to get an elementalist, but Obi had requested a few many times and made a scene for the unfairness. He may or may not have loudly said a few jabs about the bias of the ''higher ups'', which wasn''t appreciated. If he wasn''t a Gold, he''d definitely have been punished. For context, the head of the Bleuelle Military was Morgen Trion, the heir to the Trion family. One could imagine what he had been doing, trying to keep Obi from climbing up the ladder. Not that Obi minded, not really. He wasn''t for the politics of that place, anyway. It so happened Leez was too scrawny and ''weak'',so he was sent to Obi''s team to shut him up instead. Anyway, the lad practiced the weapon a few times. He was an archer so he had talent, perfecting his accuracy after a couple of times. "Amazing! How many shots did I do every few seconds?" he yelled, grabbing the guy next to him in his glee. Aforementioned guy¡ªa curly brunette with mustache¡ªmade a sour face and pushed him off. "Damn man! Go bathe! So smelly! Cough!" "I just did!" Leez gasped. "Not my fault I sweat a lot more lately!" Tener, another recruit, laughed out loud. "Hey, to be fair, our soft boy Leez smells a lot less than everyone else. Everyone stinks lately." Dejel rolled his eyes and just looked at the captain, getting to business. "These really are pretty good for our level, captain. It would be even better if it would have a higher level so we can deal with stronger enemies." Obi looked at him. "I heard the origin territory is working on that, but it''d take a while," he said. "For now, I bought the latest model, which I assume would be useful for the next ranking exams." "Yes, it will!" Dejel said, looking quite sure. "They''ve been trying to take away our resources. You showed them we can do well without them" The younger man looked at the weapon in his hand. "I''m sure some of the weapons makers in the City would be interested in mimicking this design though," he said, immediately looking worried. "I mean¡­," he lifted his head and looked at the rest of their 20-member team who was trying the new crossbow. "It might happen either way." Obi shrugged. He knew that the weapon would eventually land in someone else''s hands¡ª-specifically, someone with resources to attempt to study its design. However, Alterra didn''t seem to mind¡ªit was inevitable anyway. What the Alterrans did say was that it''d be difficult to copy the design perfectly. Even if they did manage to do so, a good portion of the earnings would still go to Alterra by virtue of the patent. "Ah, other than weapons, I have something else to give you guys," he said, getting the servants to take the 20 wooden boxes that''d take a portion of their spaces. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing to see. "This is what we call Emergency box," he said, getting a servant to open one, with the guards looking at the contents curiously. They didn''t recognize most of them though, so they could only look at the captain in confusion. "What are these, Captain?" "Emergency supplies," he said. "I''m not including the healing potions which you already have in your space. Rather, these are food you can keep indefinitely." These were non-perishable foods to keep in their space. There were several packets of instant noodles, jerkies, packets of biscuits, dried fruits, nuts, and the like. "This is for emergency long travels," he said. I don''t have much, so don''t eat them while in the City, those are emergency food!" "Yes, Captain!" "Now, go back to work!" "Yes, Captain!" they said in synchronicity, scurrying back to training, but with renewed energy and motivation. After all, not all captains were as kind as he was. Obi was quite proud of this. See, this is how it should be, with him being treated as a respectable leader. At home, he was still treated as a kid! He couldn''t help but remember the beating he got from his older brother. Who could blame him? After all, they did leave his son in a strange village. However, they did explain the kid was definitely living a good life there. In fact, Obi was even envious! Not that Orion really listened. No matter what, they were definitely still punished for not noticing the stowaway early enough, and then leaving him in a place so far from home! Obi could still feel the electric current run down his spine¡ªliterally. Shiver ¡­ Inside an office in one of the most premier buildings in Bleulle, a certain Orion was writing on his new paper. He wrote and wrote and wrote, but his pen stopped midway. There was a pause and nothing moved for a moment until Orion sighed, putting down his pen. He took out a letter from his space, made from Alterran paper and writing tools. The penmanship wasn''t perfect, but definitely very good for a young boy¡ªnot that he ever had the chance to compliment it in front of him. This was Honda''s letter to him, given by his siblings when they got home. He and Hilda often exchanged holding it, and they''d read it from time to time as they thought of the boy. He didn''t look like it, but he would think of his son from time to time. Dear Father, Mother, Grandfather, and Grandmother, I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to let you know that I am safe and sound here in Alterra Village. I''m exploring new places, meeting new friends, but I am making sure I have not disregarded my studies or my growth. I apologize for running away, but I assure you it will be for the best. I will make sure of it! Thank you for everything, and please do not worry about me. I am taking good care of myself. When I return, I will be the son you''ll be proud of! Yours, Honda Wilhem Gold Sigh. The note was quite energetic and had a lively tone. It was very unlike the well-behaved son that he knew. The fact that he couldn''t imagine the child being all bubbly as his siblings had described was very telling, and he couldn''t help but feel a little sad. "Missing your son?" He raised his head to see his parents, who were standing by the door. They often visited him in the office every few days, and it seemed like today was one of those days. He rubbed his forehead. "He has never been so far from us," was all he said, though not denying Gaia''s guess. At this, all three of them sighed. Even when all three siblings swore the kid was in good hands¡ªalong with Oslo and even Silva there to guard him¡ªas parents, they would forever worry about the younger generation. In fact, Hilda sobbed the entire night and was only presentable now due to Olga''s products. But at the same time, when the siblings told them of the wanders¡ªwhich made them cynical but also curious¡ªof that territory, their hearts settled just a bit. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Besides, they were correct. Honda was being smothered here, and it would be good for his growth to part with them. They could only hope that the village was as good as the children swore it to be. Chapter 830 Bart and Baku A few kilometers from Iron Mountains. "Are we there yet?" Bart asked Eloi, who in turn scratched his already high hairline. Because they now had a beast, they naturally had to go to a Town or City to get rid of him for a lot of money. You know, a strong half-orc like this could sell for a thousand gold, especially if sold in a city! But the mountain range, Mount Rushless, was best handled towards the West due to better terrain, so they took the path there instead. They were taking even longer than expected though. They got tired much easier than usual lately and they had to go through many stops, looking for water sources. This had to do with many things. One, they were sweating too much and losing their water too quickly. And another¡ª "Let me go!" The large orc yelled and no matter how long they''ve been with this guy¡ªno matter how well they tied the magic tool rope¡ªhis large overbearing frame was still as intimidating as ever. "NO! STOP STRUGGLING ALREADY!" Bart yelled, wanting to kick him, but at the same time, he was afraid that maybe he''d open his mouth and capture his leg instead. He could only cry if that happened. The tool he got could only tie the target. They still had to expend effort to keep him from flailing them around. That was to say, the rope was tied with extensions in front and at the back, with at least one person on each side holding it. Depending on the bastard''s mood, maybe they''d need two on each side. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As such, they got tired quickly and they had to take a lot of breaks. At this point, they were taking at least twice as long as they would''ve and their resources were running thin. Not the food¡ªthere were plenty in the forest¡ªbut their weapons were losing durability and they had long consumed their healing potions and the like! Then¡ªas if the skies thought they didn''t have it hard enough¡ªthey even encountered a large mob. They heaved a sigh at this new trouble. Fortunately, the territories around were only villages and the monsters averaged at level 10, so they weren''t too hopeless. However, considering how tired they were and how half of them were holding the half-orc back, it was still a risky venture that would likely cause them some losses. They battled the monsters for a while with those holding the half-orc having trouble moving. They had no choice but to use only one hand to defend themselves, otherwise, they might lose the damned half-orc and even be vulnerable to it. At some point, they had to get creative. Knowing the half-orc had strong skin, they would soon hide behind him when they got too tired¡ªusing him as a shield of sorts. This annoyed Baku very much. ROARRRR!!! The small mob flinched before running away for their lives and it made Bart and the others look at him. They had heard that some orcs could indeed intimidate monsters just by existing. It seemed like this one was one of them? Baku''s sharp eyes glared them down, making them flinch a bit. "LET ME GO!" "Do you think we''re idiots?" "I vow, I vow not to hurt you unless you hurt me!" The men looked at him weirdly. Did he really think they''d let him go because he promised? The half-orc saw this and growled in anger. "Unlike you humans, us orcs and half-orcs don''t break our oaths!" Really? They didn''t know that. Even so, how would they confirm? "Vow not to escape." The orc gritted his teeth. "Unless my own safety is not met, I vow not to¡­ escape." Heh, still smart. But¡­ instead of feeling reassured, it made Bart disagree! "No," he said. If the orc was smart, who knew what he was up to! ROAAR!! The half-orc was very annoyed. He had already made a compromise, how dare these humans back down! Because of his anger, it was a little harder to hold him down, but Bart and the others persevered. Half-orcs like this really sold for a good sum! They endured so much already! They couldn''t bear to lose it now! At some point, they passed through the mountain ranges, and they were now heading northwest to the nearest village to rest. Interestingly, this village was Guia Village, which was also the last village they had been to before entering the deep mountain ranges. According to the plan, after resting here, they''d then go further West back to their home in Twinwave Town. They would try to sell the bastard there but, should the buying amount be unsatisfactory¡ªthey wanted a high price for this one; It caused them so much trouble¡ªthen they''d find the nearest City and sell him there. Unfortunately¡ªnot to mention heading to the towns¡ªeven before getting to Guia Village, they encountered some trouble. "Well, well, well¡­" Sometime during the trek, they encountered a group of 10 people. Judging by their level, they were definitely from a town at least, or maybe even a city. The weakest of these men was level 25, and that was not weak, especially not compared to them. Baku and his team have less than half of their Health Points left. They were barely holding on, and they desperately needed to replenish their supplies. Encountering these strong enemies was the worst that could happen right now. If they went against them head-on, there''d definitely be a lot of losses on their side. The two groups stood still, looking at each other, and analyzing the other''s strengths. However, the orc''s looming body easily caught attention, and the opponents'' eyes drowned in greed at the sight of him. "Oh, it''s a half-orc! The lord would love this!" One said, looking at the orc as if it was already theirs. "It almost makes this extra trip to Guia worth it!" This made Bart and the other''s narrow their eyes. Guia? These people were heading to Guia? "Uh, hello. We''re part of the Rolan mercenary team. This is our catch." The newcomers didn''t seem fazed by the mention of a mercenary team. "Heh, which master do you serve?" "We only serve ourselves," Bart said, looking at the other team and wondering which master they served. Mercenary teams might ally with the lord of their territory, but it wasn''t required. Twinwave Town had plenty of mercenary teams bases due to its location, and only a quarter of them had a formal alliance with the lord there. "So, none, then," they said, looking greedily at the half-orc, and acting as if they had already won. "So¡­ let us have it¡ªif you want to keep your lives, that is." "Ogreshit," Bart cursed, knowing they had no choice now. With this level of the enemy, they all had to move. No one could be distracted with holding down a half-orc, too. On the contrary¡­ Bart paused and looked at the half-orc, and then at the magic rope in his palms. After some thought, he took a deep breath and deactivated it. "Remember your vow," he said, feeling annoyed at his own weakness. "At the very least, we''ll be better captors than these guys." Baku sneered, but his sharp eyes glared at the newcomers. He looked at them as if they were already dead meat. Chapter 831 Bakus Fight Bart let the rope loose in a low-key way, and it happened that most of his team was in front of him, blocking the view. After Bart took the rope back to his space, he looked at the men. "Is there no alternative where we can just go on our own way without butting heads?" The men sneered. "Butt heads? More like every one of you dying under our swords and our feet, right?" he looked at them up and down. "All of you look horrible. That half-orc must''ve made you suffer a lot." "In exchange for your efforts, we will give you a quick death," he said and looked at the people at his side before nodding. Bart and the others immediately went into the defense, capturing the attacks the enemies sent. They placed their best foot forward immediately, not daring to hold back. Their levels were not only lower on average, they were also weakened by the various adventures (and the damned half-orc) so this was hardly a fair fight. The newcomers grinned, pushing forward, not expecting the large looming beast to disappear from where he just stood, appearing right behind them! "AHHHHH!" Screams from the back echoed in the fight and suddenly the newcomers could only look back and avoid the half-orc''s sharp claws that could literally behead people with a slice. They were very unlucky, Baku was particularly angry from being held down for so long! Even Bart and the others were shocked. "Attack!" Bart yelled, shaking himself awake. "Kill them!" The Rolan Mercenary Team members forced some composure back, ignoring the cold feeling of fear that passed through their spines as they heard the screeches and squelches of body parts getting broken apart. Was the half-orc so strong? If he went hard like this when they were dealing with it¡­ Shiver Instead of thinking of what could''ve been¡ª-or rather, what might be after this was all over¡ª-they just focused on killing the distracted enemies. Bart even ran after someone about to escape, stabbing him straight to the heart. Bart watched as the man fell lifeless under his feet but he shivered when he heard another tortured scream. "GYAAAHH!!" He turned just in time to see one person literally pulled apart into two and then thrown to different directions. And that was the last enemy, every one else finally succumbing to their fates. Silence passed by amongst the survivors. Every one of the Rolan Mercenary Team had survived, albeit everyone was gasping for air. No one dared to put down their weapons though, every one looking guardedly at the half-orc that stood still, now bathed in the blood of their enemies. He was surrounded by carnage, several body parts sewn on the ground next to his feet. Most of them were divided into at least 2 parts. At the best case, the corpse was deformed creepily and it made them shiver to think it could''ve been them. Not counting the few people they dealt with together, the half-orc took care of everyone else. The darned thing killed the men with ease and they were surprised at its ferocity. "So it was kind before when it fought with us?" Sipa mumbled, eyes twitching, gripping his weapon tightly. He was ready to defend against the half-orc should he decide to get back on his word¡ªnot that he believed he''d be successful, of course. "Apparently so," Bart said, his narrowed eyes looking at the half-orc standing completely still. Assuming he didn''t attack them to death now, there was actually an explanation why they didn''t get killed earlier on when the monster obviously had the capability to do so. Orcs, half-orcs, and goblins had a sense beyond what was normal for humans. They could feel hostility and threats, even if the other races would miss it. Although they wanted to sell him, they meant no other harm, unlike those men filled with bloodlust in them. Even if they didn''t harm Baku, they''d definitely cause him to do it to others. Further, Baku was half-human and he was especially soft to humans who didn''t smell evil. Back in Hoskle Village, it led to his downfall in the end because he was soft on slaves and the enemies took advantage of that. Eventually, the half-orc''s shoulders slumped and he looked at them with a blank expression on his face. "When are we going?" he asked, and Sipa and a few others directly fell down, losing the strength of their legs in relief. Bart shook his head and sighed, studying the half-orc to ensure there really was no bloodlust left. He didn''t even make a move to escape at all, as if being absolutely true to his word. If he wasn''t, there was no reason not to go and kill them now, especially since they were greatly weakened. It seemed that it was true, then, that half-orcs were stupidly honest. Now, Bart had no way to confirm this now, but they certainly didn''t have much of a choice anymore. At the very least, with the half-orc out they didn''t have to worry about mobs nor would they have to worry about new enemies appearing in front of them. He then looked at the horrid corpses on the ground again. The half-orc''s level wasn''t far from theirs, but he could take down ten by himself which showed the physique differences¡ªat least for this type of half-orc. "Let''s go," Bart said, walking over the corpses and the others followed. Baku narrowed his eyes and reluctantly followed behind them. He even kicked a corpse blocking his way with a shrug. What they didn''t know at this time was that this massacre also deferred a few troubles Iron Mountain would have to face from Guia Village''s true ''master''. This particular team was assigned to Guia to get their ''due''. Whether it was in gold or in iron. Obviously, they would never make it to Guia. Instead, they prematurely met their end and joined nature in the middle of nowhere. Guia was associated to Ferrol by name and by the system, so it was Ferrol that was notified when it fell. Ferrol had no obligation to report this, and Jonathan preferred the master city wouldn''t know at all. At this time, the true master behind Guia was still wistfully unaware that he had already lost a money-maker territory and more so that an entire team on the way there had perished. When he did¡ªmuch, much later¡ªa few veins would pop and he''d be very angry indeed. By that time though, it was too late, and he couldn''t do much about it anymore. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 832 Arrived at Guia It was a tense hour or so more of travel. No one wanted to walk in front of Baku¡ªdoing so felt like they had a predator behind them, waiting for a chance to dismember them. When they finally reached the vicinity of what they knew to be Guia Village, they almost jumped up in celebration. They were certain they were in the right place. After all, they had the interface map and they just had to follow it. But¡­ when they arrived at the walls of Guia some time later, the group was quite surprised. The changes since they had last been here¡­ were not small. "Oh, level 5 walls? Has Guia Village become a town?" Bulgogi mumbled, looking around. He was puzzled. After all, the monsters around were still village level. Sipa and the others were also intrigued. "Well, either way¡ª-whether it''s become a town or became an even richer village¡ª that''s good news for us," Bart said, thinking they could finally get a good rest, and maybe they could sell the orc as early as here, if the price was right. This orc was too stressful. Bart felt his lifespan was shaved several years during the few days of travel with this darned half-orc! Anyway, they entered with the intent of finally getting a break and eating decent food. Well, not that the Restaurant food was decent, but it was better than what they''ve been eating the past few days. With relieved hearts, they entered the gate, receiving the expected announcement as they passed the threshold. [Welcome to Iron Mountain Village (Lv3). Please pay 10 copper as visitor''s fee.] [Rules and Regulations are¡­] If they were puzzled before, they were confused now. "What? Did I remember it wrong? Didn''t this use to be called Guia Village?" "And it''s still a village!" "Also, the entry is so cheap!" "Right?" Sipa mumbled, "It has a level 5 wall and pretty dense sentries¡­ isn''t the cost of entry too cheap?" This made Bart narrow his eyes. Baltimore would never be so kind. And the name change¡­ "So many new rules, as well¡­" Bart narrowed his eyes. "No more fighting? That''s really out of character," he said. "Perhaps Jonathan asked them to do so?" The team looked at each other and, knowing they wouldn''t be able to answer anything now, just entered though with a lot more curiosity in their minds than before. As they went in, they looked around to note of the other changes. For one, some streets felt wider, the air felt cleaner. There was a sort of levity he couldn''t quite describe. However, they weren''t able to analyze their new place very well because people noticed their entry¡ªor rather, the half-orc''s entry. Unsurprisingly, it created a bit of havoc, with several people gasping and hiding. Some screamed, and some did the same though they were pulled back¡ªafraid they''d get its attention. "Kyaaaaa! Orc!" "That''s a half orc! I heard Orcs are even scarier!" "KYAAA! Is the war starting already?!" "RUN! RUNN!!!" This made the mercenaries freeze and look at each other. A War was coming? So unlucky? S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Eloi looked at his boss. "Ugh.. should we go now?" Bart sighed, looking around. He was really exhausted, but it seemed like they had no choice but to leave. While they had no danger of being slaves even if Guia lost¡ªthough not a very likely thing to happen considering all the improvements¡ªtheir half-orc, who wasn''t a citizen of any territory, could still be taken. Further, Baltimore was strong and was an elementalist. If he saw the half-orc and decided he wanted it, it''d be troublesome to pull such a good thing from him. Even if he would pay, it would probably be at a discount. In retrospect, they should''ve thought of that before coming in. They were just too tired and desperate for a place to rest to think some things through. Anyway, how could they just let all that hard work go to waste? So, they decided to leave, hoping the half orc could protect them until the next couple of territories. They left the gate and looked back longingly. Before they could get too far though, they saw some familiar faces they didn''t think they''d see here at all! ¡­ At this time, a small group of people were walking around, seeming to plan as they walked around the territory. Their first stop was the barracks where training was at its peak, though they made sure not to go too hard or they''d be tired before the actual war. Then they made rounds outside the territory to ensure that there was no enemy camping too closely for comfort. Rather, if there was, then it was one of only chances that Gill, who was beyond the level cap, could attack directly. They had a lot of things to discuss and finalize. This was their first war with this situation and there were simply too many variables to feel that their win was guaranteed. At the very least, it was certain they''d get quite a bit of losses. How many reliable guards did they have now? These people weren''t like Alterrans. They wouldn''t brave through a situation especially if it got the least bit dangerous. They were more likely to abandon post instead. This was what Gill worried about the most. While they made plans to deal with as many situations as they could, people''s heart were still incredibly unreliable. As the party traversed the territory though, they were stopped by some familiar faces. It was a group of aborigines. They looked horrid and had obviously not taken a bath for many days, and because a lot of them had grown facial hair it wasn''t easy to recognize them. A few of them brightened at the sight of Gill, waving at him with bright smiles. "Gill!" they yelled. Gill narrowed his eyes, blinking when he recognized the man after a couple of seconds. "Bart?" "Yes, it''s us! We''re just passing by," he said, relieved to see someone. "Why are you guys here? I thought you went elsewhere?" "Also, do you have some of that sauce left? We''ll buy it!" he said, and the others looked at Bart as if he was the most quick-witted and smart leader ever. "We did, and we do have the products," Gill said, answering all his questions. It was just that¡ªat some point¡ªhis eyes fixed on their group changed from recognition¡­ to calculation. He was looking particularly deeply at the half-orc, who was staring back with narrowed eyes. "And you''re just in time." Bart and the others: ???? Chapter 833 Where is Gochi?! The Rolan Mercenary Team indeed came just in time. Mercenaries could be hired to help with the war, counting as external forces. There weren''t too many of them so they should still be within the cap allowed to assist. Even if it wasn''t, they could use the loophole and get them to camp outside the territory instead. Alterra was too far to help and while the weapons were ample, they would naturally want as many forces as they could get, especially since they weren''t familiar with the attacking territory! The war was coming and they had received a lot of letter instructions from Alterra. First, they asked if they needed help. While more force was available, there was no way a decent force could come to them in less than a day. Instead, they supported them with items, which was much more convenient because this place was a satellite. Of course, she left him a few weapons and special medicine before they parted, but it definitely wasn''t enough for the entire territory in case of war, so they opted to send huge amounts via the Warehouse. It was just that the only way they could transfer items to and fro was through the lord. In order for them to get items from the warehouse, sister-in-law had to teleport here and bring them out, one by one. So, both territories were asked to create a secondary room outside the warehouse doors to receive the items without exposing her. Captain was extremely sorry for this and implied in his letter that great doom would come to those who ask for too much. Shiver. Sister-in-law was gracious and kind though. Although she knew she couldn''t be sending them too much every single hour even during the war, she at least made sure the quality of the things she sent them was superior. She also gave them a box¡­ with bombs. Fortunately, Luis and the others weren''t here, otherwise they''d have worshipped that box like idiots. Anyway, those items were indeed really good, but if the people using them were useless, or cowards, then they''d have wasted such good things. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Which brought them back to the present. Bart was a relatively trusted individual they had signed plenty of deals and oaths. A village did not have a Mercenary Hall, but such oaths were sufficient. "We''ll need your help," Gill said, making Bart''s eyes twitch. "In this war. For decent pay of course," he said. "Don''t you like our products?" he said. "We actually have much, much, more than what you know now¡ªand they taste even better." Bart and the others brightened at this. More delicious? Food? However, they weren''t able to discuss more as a certain half-orc made a sudden move¡ªdirected at Gill. A huge shadow loomed over Gill threateningly and he took out his spear by instinct. BANG! Screech! He stopped the half-orc''s attack, but his spear was shaking a bit. Gill was in his early level 20s, and based on aura the half-orc''s level was not much higher. Yet the physical difference¡­ was way more than he imagined. At the very least, this half-orc was far stronger than Gochi! He knew this very well¡ªafter all, he had sparred with the guy a few times before leaving. This should''ve been obvious because of their sizes, but he still underestimated the force difference. His eyes sharpened, and fire surrounded him. Using the soil underneath his feet, he bolstered himself to push back. ROOOAR! The half-orc roared and buried his animalistic legs down the ground to keep himself stable. He sent a barrage of attacks at the man. It became a full-on fight from then on. Because they were outside, the rules did not apply, and it was basically a free-for-all. In this case, a free-for-orc. BANG! SCREECH! Rowan and Poki were there, about to rush and help out, but the people of the Rolan Mercenary Team stopped them. Other than to ''keep the merchandise'', it was more like they knew what the half-orc was capable of and they''d rather not see deaths right now. Bart frowned and ran to them, trying to get into the middle. "Hey, hey, stop fighting! We can talk about this!" Sadly, Baku pushed Bart aside with embarrassing ease. "You guys, darnit!" Bart cursed, looking at his space to take out the took again. At the side, he held on to the magic rope, intent to tie up the damned thing once and for all! "Why are you attacking?" Gill asked as he barely defended himself against the half-orc''s barrage of attacks. He was growing tired. He did not need this when there was a war coming! "I smell my friend on you," he said, pushing him back with his claws. "WHERE IS GOCHI!?" His roar so strong wind blew. "Gochi?!" Gill exclaimed, and so did the others who knew. His distraction caused an attack to connect, throwing him several meters away. BANG! "Gill!" Cough! Gill yelled as he got back up again. Fortunately, he was wearing sister-in-law''s protection charm so he was not damaged, but he felt pity at the unnecessary use. However, the half-orc had jumped high, ready to make another attack. Apparently attacking would make him ''talk''. Typical brute. "Gochi is fine!" he yelled, rolling to avoid the sharp attack. "If you attack me now, you wouldn''t see him!" The ''threatening'' words was a consistent show of Gill''s lack of EQ so rather than make the other stop, it only made the half-orc even more angry. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" Fortunately, it was here that the rope had successfully wrapped around Baku. Several members of the Rolan Mercenary Team joined in, holding him down. ROAAAR!!!! "WHAT DID YOU DO TO GOCHI!?" The half-orc yelled, struggling hard, red eyes glaring at Gill who was only holding himself up with his spear. Gill stared, at loss of what to do. He could only threaten, but obviously that wasn''t working with this guy. They were near the gates and had gathered a bit of an audience. Silvia had also gone out, shocked to see Gill being beaten up. She was quickly updated by Rowan about what happened and she waited a few moments for the half-orc to calm down before approaching him. Rowan stuck next to her though. Even if the half-orc was tied by a magic tool, he would not be reassured without doing so. "Gochi¡­ he''s fine. He''s a citizen of Alterra, free and now working as a guard." Her words not only made Baku turn to her, but so did every non-Alterran in earshot. A half-orc guard? Seriously? Baku narrowed his eyes at her. Half-orcs also had a special sixth sense when it came to a person''s honesty, and so far he had not felt any insincerity from the woman. At this, his shoulders slumped just slightly, finally willing to listen. As for why he kept attacking Gill, the man not only had the smell of Gochi''s blood¡ªwhich he''d later find out to be from intense sparring¡ªbut also the fact that Gill just annoyed him very much. "Alterra is our village," she said, making another step forward though it made Rowan stick even closer to her. "He''s a free man living his life. He''s even studying some pharmacy and literary knowledge during his free time. "You''re a half-orc, you should be able to tell I am telling the truth." Baku didn''t say anything and stared at them with those unsettling sharp eyes of his. Whether he was trying to ascertain if they were telling the truth or determining the best way to kill, they couldn''t tell for certain. Fortunately, after several tense moments, his body lost all hostility. He raised his head, looking at them, sharp beastly eyes meeting theirs. "What do I need to do to see him?" Chapter 834 War Again Epo Village "The time has come, people of Epo!" The newly minted lord of Epo Village, Epo VI, yelled to the hundreds of fighters in front of him. This was the force he was proud of, and they were coming with him through the array! He was fully prepared for the war, and it was finally time to shine! Not to mention, they already had plenty of people left in Guia to assist. Although a few were beyond the level cap, they would still be able to help somehow! "We go to war every single month¡ªyou know the drill," he said, "But this time, we''re gonna go against a superpower amongst the villages! So don''t be complacent! "Want to bring honor to our territory?!" "YESS!" "Want to rake in money in resources!?" "YESS!" "Then this is our greatest war yet!" He yelled. Although Epo VI wasn''t very handsome, he was passionate and the best heir his father could find. He was only 28 years old but had already reached level 15, which was just the level to still participate in this important war. Before heading in the array, he walked to the side to greet the former lord, his father. "Father, I will win against Guia Village." "Yes. We will finally get the crown!" His father looked at him proudly, also excited. This was understandable. They were so close to Guia Village and had always been envious of its growth. Obviously, it was formed at least a decade later than Epo, but its growth was so fast! A strong backer really made a difference! S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. What was worse was the mines they found! His father said that he had wanted to use that place before, but changed his mind because there were too many mountains! Turns out, there were black metals in it! Regrets! His father had been so sour about it for decades, and now it was finally time to reclaim their land! Also, Guia Village never bothered to attack them¡ªwhich, in a sense, was also offensive! Did they think their Epo Village was no good?! How dare they! Anyway, now, they lost against an unknown village, and the Epos knew it was their time! Filled with energy and fire inside of them, they headed towards the array that appeared in front of their gate. From their expression, it was almost like they already won. "LET''S GOOOO!" The little adviser couldn''t help but follow him before he reached the array, attempting to stop him. "Please think twice!" He exclaimed, "Or at least wait a bit more!" "What''s the point?" he said, "We already declared war! If we lose, we''d lose half of our resources!" The adviser looked at him complicatedly. "But¡­ I am worried, milord. How¡­ did they beat Baltimore and the others?" It couldn''t have been all luck right? They beat Baltimore, who''s to say they couldn''t beat Epo? "They probably got too arrogant for being undefeated for so long! They were also the attacking territory. Perhaps the other territory set up tricks in their home base!" Epo looked at his adviser. "Don''t worry, I saw the people from the winning territory! They''re not much!" Before leaving, he naturally checked out the newcomers. To be honest, in terms of level they really weren''t impressive. It was either the more powerful people were left in their main territory or they really used a lot of tricks to handle Baltimore. Well, he wasn''t entirely incorrect with his assessment. The people he saw were Hugo and Helios, who had just turned level 10. Their other investigators also saw Kimura who was level 6 and Lin at level 5. There was also Silvia, who was level 7. Gill was mostly planning behind closed doors so he wasn''t seen as often, though he was only in his early level twenties. This, combined with the shaky and almost-nonexistent guard system¡ªwith women no less¡ªit was natural that the territory would be underestimated. Anyway, the attackers went through the array with some confidence. Group by group, they were transferred to the territory a hundred kilometers away. However, when they got out of the array and headed towards the territory, their feet stopped when they were in sight of its walls. Their eyebrows furrowed, looking at each other. "Are we in the right place?" they asked. When Epo, who had come in after the first batch, saw that they were not moving, he immediately yelled at them. "What are you waiting for?! GO!" "But, milord¡ª" Epo was about to curse at them when he saw what they were looking at. He paled. "Was their wall this tall before?!" "Since when did they have so many sentries?" Epo frowned, his temple showing some veins. He looked at several team captains, "Spread out, find a weak spot! I refuse to believe they had good defenses everywhere!" "Yes, Milord!" After the teams left, he looked to the side and bellowed some orders. "Where are the slaves?!" he yelled behind him, and soon hundreds of slaves exited the array and joined them in the dense forests. "They''re here sir!" he yelled, though a few teams had gone to the perimeter because small mobs of monsters had found them. Epo didn''t care for them and just looked at the hundreds of slaves they took with them. These were all from minor villages around them who had lost half of their assets¡ªincluding people. "Get more!" "Milord?" They had never used so many slaves before! They needed a lot of them for the upkeep of the territory! "Didn''t you hear me?" "Yes, milord!" He yelled, going back to the array to get a few hundred more. Once he was satisfied with the number, Epo turned to look at the Level 5 walls and its sentries. Without further ado, he pointed at the wall. "ATTACK!!" he yelled and the mob of slaves, with his guards right behind them, lunged forward en masse. Epo glared at the walls as he watched them go. He didn''t believe they couldn''t make it through! Chapter 835 Epo Village Spies The people of Epo within the walls had also begun to move. Their levels ranged from level 8 through 13, aiming to cause chaos within the walls. Their goal there was simple: Exacerbate the chaos caused by the citizens themselves. Because they knew the rules were null, so they looted and caused chaos. There were also those who felt they had been oppressed by Gill and the others, so they also started acting up a lot. There were plenty of troubles led by citizens themselves, especially those who didn''t believe the ''outsiders''. They stayed in the village because the other territories were too far. To them, the war was the chance to gain some more money. So, instead of helping protect the territory, they focused on their own greed! Then, there were some enemies who started to attack citizens, focusing on the helpless ones. For instance, there was a man who raised his sword towards a family who had been running away until then. Sadly the ground was imperfect and the mother fell down. One of her two children ran away, while the other sobbed next to her. The mother covered her younger son, expecting pain. It was just that¡ª WHOOSH! Squelch! "AHHH!" The woman blinked and turned to see a large arrow had gone through her attacker''s neck. It was from the interior sentry! Every few seconds, arrows flew from the tall towers, attacking. It also attacked some major looters, though its attacks were specifically non-lethal. "Wow, I didn''t know the sentry towers could also attack locals like that," Helios said, whistling as they watched from a rooftop. They were ordered not to move for a bit, to see how the territory would fare for a while. Now, they were watching the new interior sentries, placed in every new park, at work. They had never seen it do its thing on locals, and it was only now that they had seen it used at its full potential. "Well, our citizens are good. They wouldn''t add chaos," Hugo said, stance tense and ready to move when the time was right. They allowed the troubles to brew for a bit more, allowing the enemies deeper inside, making the citizens see the dangers, before deeming it was time to intervene. "The other guards should be moving by now," Hugo said, giving his nephew a sideways glance. "Now, it''s our turn." "Take down the captains first. You have a paralysis bomb with you?" Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Helios nodded. All of the main forces had one or two. "Well, choose wisely." "Got it, Uncle." And so, the two tanned men jumped down toward the stronger enemies. Although the enemies were higher in level, they had better techniques and the element of surprise, immediately causing trouble as soon as they made an appearance. "AHH!" one yelled as he was kicked smack on the face and thrown to his own team. The force was so much the people he landed on also lost their balance a bit. "What the he¡ª" Before he could finish his sentence, a strong fist covered in metal smacked his face, and he pretty much fell on the ground head first and rolled around. The people he landed on were then met with a metallic spear, and stabbed straight at the heart, dead on impact. The enemies gaped in shock as three of their teammates were taken down in an instant. Their eyes widened as they looked at Helios, whose arms were covered with metal. "Elementalists!!" Helios'' ability was metal. Although it was not as good as Garan''s, it was still superior to most. And Hugo''s was even more special¡ªa wind mutation. He knew he had wind but for a while, he was confused that no breeze could be created. For the first time, he was hopelessly stuck on something related to strength. He saw the others who reached level 10 learn more about their own elements, while he was left behind. The previous war had given him more insights about his ability, but he had only started mastering it not long ago. It was when he was nearly killed by a monster a level lower than he was. It suddenly flailed around out of nowhere, as if gasping, but it didn''t last too long, only a second. But it was enough for the sharp Hugo to realize he was the one who caused it, and soon he could take it away at will. The limitations was huge for such power was large of course. For now, he could control a sphere the size of his palm, and for a limited time and for a large amount of mana. In the end, he rarely used it. Even if he did, he would usually weaken the enemies first, before finally taking their lives. Like now. "YOU BASTARD!" His enemy yelled as he sprinted towards him. Hugo waved his spear, making the man step back, then he twirled it again to push back two other enemies who were surrounding him. He didn''t give them the chance to gather themselves and expertly waved his spear, causing them to lose balance. Without pausing, he gripped his weapon and stabbed them all. He wasn''t sure if they died though as a swift force pushed him back. He spread his legs to keep his balance, pushing the new opponent back. It was a level 14 swordsman, who immediately sent him a barrage of attacks. Hugo allowed his instincts to take over, barely covering them. He also got hit a few times, but fortunately, he was wearing Miss Althea''s Protection Charm so¡ªfor now¡ªhe had not received any damage. Of course, being protected didn''t mean he wasn''t expending effort. After a couple of exchanges, he heaved a deep breath and he was already drenched in sweat. Hugo was only a level 10 and was naturally struggling a lot with this enemy. At this point, the guards had arrived to help him out to take care of this section with him, allowing him to focus on the strong enemy at hand. "AHH!" His eyes twitched when one of their own guards got injured. These guards didn''t have the loyalty Alterrans had, so the momentum was quickly affected by the injury. Hugo''s eyes sharpened, lunging towards the enemy with his own flurry of attacks, also making sure that some enemies become collateral damage. The two of them exchanged blows for a while, with neither one holding back, and they eventually created a vacuum around them that people avoided. Clack! Clack! Clank!! At some point, Hugo was pushed on the defense, with two hands holding his spear horizontally, stopping the enemy''s blade from slashing at him. "GO DOWN ALREADY!" the man screamed, eyes red and obviously very livid that he was being pushed around like this by someone a few levels lower than he was. Hugo''s dark eyes seemed to change as he gathered energy around him, and it shifted from his own body and directly at the man in front of him. "HCKKK¡ª!" Immediately, the man had to let go of his weapon, palms grabbing his own neck. "HCKKK¡ª!" Hugo knew it wouldn''t last long so he raised his spear, finally taking the man''s life, and thus raising his side''s momentum again. Chapter 836 Kidnap a Lord While the interior was under control, the outside wasn''t too far from getting settled either. Although Epo mobilized their thousands of troops, civilians, and slaves, level 5 walls and dense sentries weren''t something they could easily take. More and more of their troops fell, but they continued on, trying to get more people inside by ladder or going over each other. However, because the chaos in the interior had begun to settle down, more of the guards and Alterra''s had become available to go around the battlements, preventing trespassers from getting in. What''s more: There were certain people beyond the level cap waiting somewhere, waiting for their timing, to finish this as quickly as they could. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It had to be said that a smart territory, unless they were really really certain about the strength of the enemies and their capabilities, wouldn''t attack another territory head on. After all, so many things could happen. For instance, paralysis weapons being thrown in a crowd, making heaps of people fall down and injured or killed by stampedes behind them. For instance, a rain of arrows from unfamiliar crossbows killing even more people than sentries did. For instance, their lord getting kidnapped right in front of their noses. "WHAT?!" Epo yelled as he was pulled back. "MILORD!" The people gasped as they were suddenly surrounded by a fire wall. They didn''t know when the enemy arrived but somehow they got all behind them, even taking away their lord. They immediately lunged to where their Lord was to rescue him as soon as they could. Hundreds of people near the area zoned in to where their lord was. If he died, it would be chaos! More importantly, they could all become slaves! After all, they wouldn''t just be losing the war, but they could be losing the token that would never, ever, part with the lord''s body! However, they were unable to get too close as the firewall intensified on another side, while earth spikes appeared on another. "Elementalists!!" people gasped, but while terrified they knew if they didn''t save the lord, it would only be worse for them, so they gritted their teeth and gestured to mob the enemies. At the very least, they have them surrounded now and although most of the slaves were attacking the walls, they still had a few dozen newly arrived ones around them. "Slaves! Go through these barriers, right now!" Near the main forces, a delineation of molten soil appeared in the way and those who accidentally stepped on it could only scream as they felt their skin burn, feeling as if it was melting. "AHHHHHHH!" "We might not be able to attack you head-on," a deep velvety voice sounded behind the fire wall and the smoky area it created. "But if you step on what we leave behind, it''s no longer our fault." With the slaves all down, few of the main forces were willing to attack head on and be the first to get attacked. In the end, they entered a standstill and waited for the smoke to clear. When it did, they realized that there were only two figures. Two?! So arrogant? One was a handsome man with long dark hair, but then they saw who he was with and it immediately doused fear to everyone nearby. They stepped back, trying to put some distance in between. However, the sudden movement alone caused chaos and a mini stampede within their ranks, taking down several without the two enemies having to move another finger. Baku''s sharp eyes looked darkly at the enemies. He growled a bit, showing his sharp teeth. ROOOOARRR! "A HALF-ORC!!" the enemies screamed at the top of their lungs, following their instincts to run away, only making it worse for the crowd behind them. Even those who couldn''t see panicked and a lot of people ran away. They were scared, forgetting that Baku couldn''t actually attack them directly. Even if they did, they probably wouldn''t be willing to cross the narrow magma moat ¡ªnot even a meter wide¡ªthat Gill created. Everyone who was here, everyone who went through the array, averaged at level 10. Even if there were hundreds of them, his magma alone could cause a lot of damage and none of these people would be willing to serve as the live ''bridge'' over it. Gill crossed his arms as he watched the hundreds of enemies run away from them as if they were plagues, not caring if they were stepping on their own teammates. This was easier than he thought. He turned to Baku, who was carrying the enemy lord on his shoulder like a sack. The half-orc gave him a partially-hostile side eye that made Gill twitch internally. Obviously, he was very disliked, probably because he had the scent of Gochi''s blood on him. Sadly, the guy was stronger than he was and very hot-headed, so even Gill had to tone down his acerbic remarks. Anyway, not much showed on Gill''s face. He simply shifted his attention to the enemy lord struggling helplessly as he was held in such a humiliating position. Epo didn''t know it could get worse though as Baku took his leg and held him up with his head hanging down. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" he gasped, face reddening from the blood going to his head (and also from embarrassment and anger). "YOU BEASTS! LET ME GO RIGHT NOW." Gill and Baku''s faces did not change. Instead, Gill just poked the lord''s head with the dull side of his spear. "Tell your people to stop, or else the next thing they''ll see is their lord''s head." "Doing it or not?" He had no choice but to order the stop on the attacks. This was done by stopping the slaves and the rest would just follow. Gill nodded when he looked at the scope and saw that they had indeed stopped. With a blank face, he turned back to the enemy lord. "The token." "What?! Over my dead body!!" he yelled. He had gone through the array. These men wouldn''t be able to hurt him directly. Gill looked at him. This was obviously the type to love power. "I don''t have time for this." Baku gritted his teeth, growing more and more impatient. He needed to see Gochi now!!! "Give or not?" The menacing look made Epo forget that the half-orc couldn''t actually hurt him directly. He almost peed on himself. "I''ll give! I''LL GIVE!" Epo squealed the instant he felt the grip on his leg getting a little bit tighter, feeling a millimeter of his claws. Epo practically threw the token to Gill in response. And the war ended, just like that. Chapter 837 Deal with Epo Gill smirked and took it, and Baku dragged Epo forward, his claws threateningly on his neck. The enemy crowd cleared the way like a wave parting, easily allowing the two of them to reach the gates. In fact, considering the sheer number of them¡ªthere were hundreds if not thousands of them compared to the two of them¡ªif they were brave, they might have had a chance to rescue their lord. But they were cowards who only thought of surviving themselves; how could they risk their lives for someone else? "So the war is over now?" Baku asked, dragging Epo a bit more harshly due to his impatience. "When do we go to Gochi?!" "Later," Gill said as he walked briskly, making Baku grit his teeth a bit. Epo could only cry as he tried to keep up with the large half-orc. He at least needed the decency to be walking rather than literally dragged helplessly. Gill nor Baku cared for the man''s psyche at the moment. Epo gritted his teeth as he glared. "The token¡­" he mumbled. "Since you''re going to merge our territories, let me tell you the people will only follow my orders!" Gill rolled his eyes. "Do you think we''ll be interested in your poor village? Please, we''re just taking it to keep you from doing anything weird." "..." Epo was so offended. He struggled and wanted to make a bit of trouble but then the hand holding his back felt painful and he realized the half orc was slowly stabbing him with his claws! "Stop struggling," the half-orc said, his voice low and raspy and sent terrified shivers down his spine. When the half-orc''s oddly colored pupils shifted to stare at him, Epo really ended up peeing. "Or I''ll stab you by accident." If it was the victim''s own fault, then the attacker¡ªeven if they were beyond the level cap¡ªwould not be affected. And so, Epo had no choice but to get dragged helplessly, walking with pants wet with pee. ... S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The group entered the walls and closed the gates, and Baku threw Epo at the plaza in front of the Center. The citizens looked in awe as the war ended up finishing so early. Even the aborigines couldn''t help but admire. Epo gasped as his face met the floor. He pushed himself to roll to the side, only to see his spies were there, all completely beaten up and half dead. The spies he planted here were not few, nor were they weak for the level of villages. However, they all seemed to have been handled? What about the enemies? How much damage had they managed to do here?! "Damn it¡­" he cursed, face red. Gill walked above him and then handed the token to Silvia to handle. She blinked, a little surprised, but she nodded in the end. She looked at it for a moment in thought, before turning to look at Epo with a sly smirk. "Do you want it back?" Epo blinked and many villagers, including the other aborigines on their side, looked at her in surprise. The Alterrans, though, took it for granted. While Alterra didn''t have a rule banning citizens from getting the lord token, not a lot of people would actually strive to get one¡ªat least not after experiencing the comfort and lifestyle in Alterra. Everyone knew owning a territory was a massive endeavor that may not be worth it. If they were the lord, would they be able to make it as amazing and nice as Alterra? No, right? Why would they want such a money-burning thing? Worse, Lords could be hunted down! Cringe. And a poor village like Epo? Eh, no way. This was especially true for Gill. One of the things found out during his stay in Iron Mountains was that Administration work was definitely not for him. Similarly, Silvia and the others liked their current lives. Owning their own territories was simply a hassle to them. Epo looked at her in disbelief. He also looked at Gill and saw his face didn''t seem surprised either. "Y-You mean that?" She nodded. "We can sell it to you for 5000 gold." "WHAT?" he gasped, the bit of hope that lifted his heart suddenly becoming an imaginary heavy rock that hit him from above. "I don''t have that kind of money!" "We can do payment terms for you. You will pay us 500 every month," Silvia said with a sly smile. "Of course, we can sell it elsewhere." Epo bit his lips. He really wanted to cry. What to do now?! 500 every month was still a huge amount. That was most of the revenue of a small village! No, even more now that their manpower had halved! "You will also sign an oath that you, or any other lord getting the token, that you will not harm¡ªdirectly or indirectly¡ªIron Valley or any of its associate villages." "That''s not in my control!" What if his father took it back after this failure? Worse, he might give it to someone else!! "Then, if you don''t do your best to stop it, then you''d die." "..." She was so sly and few people had seen this side of Silvia. Rowan smiled, thinking she''s really cute. "You have 1 minute to decide," she said. "A lot of nobles higher up would be interested in having their own territory¡ªeven if it was as poor as yours." Epo couldn''t speak for a while. Couldn''t they let him think for longer?! "Ten¡­ nine¡­" "FINE!" he yelled out in a hurry. "ORCSHI¡ª" His voice died down when he saw a redhead covering his hands with flames, as if ready to touch his mouth and shut him up with it. "..." Anyway, Epo was taken to the Village Center for an oath, with the other people he had there becoming System Slaves. And so, another source of funds was secured, as added funding for the development of Iron Mountains. Before letting the lord go back via the array, Silvia went over with Rowan next to her. "Before you go, I''d like to add something. "We are still kind," she said. "Your first payment will be next month. You''ll need all the money you can keep the next few weeks." Epo only thought they were referring to money needed because their manpower had halved. Soon, he''d find out there that there was another much more terrifying enemy coming, and they would really be thankful for this bit of mercy. Chapter 838 Cooling the Territory (Part 1) Alterra While the Epo war was ongoing, the movements in the other two territories hadn''t stopped. Understandably though, the productivity had taken a dive for some industries. For example, some minor sectors focusing on leisure and extraneous industries were slowed down in favor of others. For one, there was a major dip in the sports centers and gambling houses related to them. It was too hot to do sports at this time. To overheat even more? No thank you. Of course, while some industries dropped a bit, others flourished. Baron''s woodworkers house was very adaptable and mass produced items according to need. Their best sellers were fans as well as massive wooden tubs. Cotton was also very popular and the factory and farms rushed to produce a lot of it before the heat struck. On that front, lighter colors like white and beige were also given priority. The aborigines were mystified by this until they found out lighter colors supposedly ''reflect'' the heat while darker colors would absorb it, making the latter impractical to wear during the upcoming heat wave. Interestingly, the kids who had been going to school seemed to absorb this trivia better, and eventually idioms like "I''m so hot I''m black" or "You make me so hot you''re white" began to be thrown around here and there. The Terrans didn''t mind or see anything wrong either. Rather, they found it amusing. Anyway, in their time and generation, racism was a thing of the past or at least kept within minor and niche groups. There was not much sensitivity in certain words. Not to mention, the more popular iterations were in the local language, creating their own implications. Other than clothing, the food had the greatest concern, of course. The food stores including the grocery and the supermarket also upped the purchasing limits for non-perishable food like instant noodles, jerkies, dried fruits, pickled vegetables, jams, and the like. They also increased production and purchasing limits to table salt, which would also help in the preservation of food. In the medical sector, not only were healing remedies increased in production, they also upped the creation of medicine with cooling effects. They dedicated farms for the minty plants like the Sagada Plant and the Papra and created special medicines from them. With these things, a single tablet (chewable, and came in various added flavors~) could lower the body''s ambient temperature to a certain degree. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The minty plants also had properties that aid in digestive functions (with less water, it was estimated a few people would get indigestion). They could also assist in fighting infections (which would be worse during heat), and promote oral health. They contained lots of Vitamin A and C, too, which was a welcome bonus. The drinks that were produced with them had exploded in popularity during the past few days and definitely more so during the actual heat wave. A lot of cuisines containing them like salads and as garnish was also very popular. There were also new shops that appeared during this time. Most prominently, there was a big new corner shop in the newest market street. This one was owned by ''the Territory'', and would be set to sell some interesting things. This large store sold some items like household items that didn''t quite fit in the grocery store. More importantly, this also included products from the Research Center, so officially they were products of the territory rather than just Althea''s. Many of the items here had a share for their respective developers, as promised to them when they were hired. This way, everything sold here also added some money to their developers. Among the first products it sold were various types of insulating materials. For instance, there were the slightly more costly but more effective blanket-type insulations. These were glued on walls and increased their insulation capability¡­ by a lot. With this, the citizens could buy insulation materials and surround their cellar walls with it, isolating the space from whatever was going on outside, to some degree. There was also the foam-type insulation that would be sprayed on surfaces and left to dry for a couple of hours. While its insulating capabilities were a bit less than the blanket-type and was also less durable (if people hit it, it could get flaked off), it still worked wonders and could be easily transportable for other territories to buy in bulk. There were even written instructions next to the item displays. The aborigines thought it was very generous and kind to do so, while the Terrans took it for granted. One of the instructions was to coat or cover the cellars with this. With very cool cellar and underground constructions, they could then buy saltpeter and use it to produce ice. Speaking of which, bags and bags of saltpeter (which were not sold in the grocery store due to their unpalatable production process) were made available and could be purchased in bulk. Anyway, this shop had just been opened and the shop was understandably full of patrons roaming around with their large push carts (nearly twice as big as the ones in the grocery store). The queue went up to several streets, reminiscent of what happened when the supermarket was opened. The queue was much hotter now though and people had umbrellas and fans with them. (And, of course, walking stalls selling delicious drinks were abound). Despite the discomfort of waiting outside though, a lot of them had excited smiles on their faces. After all, there was finally a method to cool them down more, of course they were looking forward to it! Anyway, thanks to these items, people could now not only have a cool basement¡ªthey could create ice in their own cellars! Ice! Everyone with a property could create them! The aborigines, when they realized this, could only gape. With this, everyone could live like nobles outside right? Although there was no more free water for residents, people naturally bought and stocked a lot in preparation, and it was definitely much more affordable¡ªeven during the heat wave¡ªcompared to what the people outside would be experiencing. People excitedly placed buckets in their cellars after insulating it, though a lot of people tended to stay there already because it really was a bit hotter outside even at this time. Anyway, with the commercialization of ice, stalls selling flavored shaved ice, cold drinks, and even ice cream would boom which would amaze everyone to no end. Hey, the Heat Wave probably wouldn''t be so bad, after all. Chapter 839 Cooling the Territory (Part 2) Even though the territory had temporarily halted the free access to a certain amount of water to the residents, people of course still bought buckets and buckets, some for daily use, but mostly to stockpile. No one knew how long the Heat Wave would last, but no one would feel completely safe if there weren''t ample amounts of it on hand. For Baron''s Woodworking company, their best seller at the moment were buckets for stocking of water. It was mostly for storage, but there were also some who bought small pool-sized buckets. As for how much they had to pay for that amount of water to swim on, that was up to them. "Rich people problems," some of the poorer citizens would say, but they would still stare in envy, imagining themselves swimming in cool pools. Of course, some rich people did this, while some would just splurge in the bathhouse. Even the more common folk continued working harder for the territory, though their use of contribution points had been leaning more towards using the Bathhouse instead of other things. Either way, those industries were definitely booming. Other than that, mother-and-son pair Chucky and Honey Guevarra''s newly-opened Lake Business was also doing very well. It had just been completed about a week prior because it was mostly manual construction, and the construction team had been too busy with the rest of the territory to put much effort into it for a while. However, with the arrival of the cute cute goblins, some manpower had finally been freed to do other projects. (Thanks to this, the construction team and the goblins would receive 20% discounts in the establishment for the duration of the heat wave and the time prior to it). As for how it was possible for ''normal'' people like them to own such a big business, the two had actually managed to secure some funding from the bank after submitting a very attractive business proposal. The bank had a friendly interest rate and profit-sharing deals (with Alterra permanently keeping 20% of the profit, not including the taxes) so even if they were not rich, there was no problem for their project to see reality. And¡ªunsurprisingly¡ªshortly after it opened, it was already raking in quite a bit of money! The Lake business comprised of the artificial lake dug and coated with the waterproofing membrane Honey accidentally discovered back then. Most of the lake was covered with gardens and forests for people to walk and do picnics on. There were benches placed in certain areas and in clusters, and there were also camping grounds dedicated for those who wanted to do campfires and things like that. The winds by the lake were also cooler than other places, making it very comfortable to just be in. Swimming was also allowed here after paying an entrance fee, though they had to mind that there were fishes in there, too. At the very least, it was much more affordable and open than the bathhouse. As for cleanliness, they just planted natural filtration using plants similar to cattails and water lilies. They would be able to filter pollutants naturally and also provide habitats for small critters. They also added a variation in depth to allow aeration, among many other considerations. Further, the zones for fishing and swimming were different, so they wouldn''t interfere with each other. For instance, no one would get caught in fishing hooks by accident. That''d be very embarrassing. If they didn''t do this, it was estimated someone fishing would get someone''s underwear by accident. Would be a great topic for gossip though. Anyway, other than these, several themed establishments like restaurants, boating houses, and the like had been made available. There were also plenty of establishments under development, but the construction of those was delayed until after the Heat Wave. The restaurant by the lake¡ªthe first of many¡ªhad a long pier heading deeper into the waters. They were there to serve as fishing spots as well as piers for the smaller boats, which''d only access the fishing zones, of course. The boats were commissioned from Baron''s Woodworking shop. The plain ones were for fishers, while there were more comfy and aesthetic ones designed for more romantic boat trips (though everyone was too busy to do this for now). This was all managed by Honey with a couple of hired help. Her son would assist her sometimes, but he was also busy with his own business. Chucky rented a system farm near the river veins and redirected a stream (with territory approval of course), turning it into one of the crop-fish farms, though he focused more on the fishes rather than the crops. As someone with a farm, he naturally knew that the quality of meat from the system farms were superior in quantity, quality, and taste than those from outside! Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The fish he farmed from this could sell for several times the market price. With the Heat Wave coming, his produce started leaning more toward the salted and dried fish, and his sales had not decreased at all! In both cases, the aborigines from Ferrol¡ªwho hadn''t left yet, by the way¡ªwere loving every bit of it. One of these aborigines was Pieto, who came with Jonathan as soon as they noticed movements towards the sources of the goods that he fell in love with. He had fallen in love with the noodles and sauces when it was first introduced during the Ferrol Fair and had been stalking movements from the mercenary team and the Town lord since then. He visited Ferrol Town as someone from Twinwave Town. However, unlike most of his companions who left as soon as the festival was over¡ªthey weren''t able to taste Alterran goods, sad for them¡ªhe stayed with his few guards along with a few others. Now, he was relaxing with the cool breeze in the open air restaurant by the Alterra lake¡ªaptly nick-named Lake Chill by some ¡ªeating his strawberry-flavored shaved ice¡­ with salted fish on top. Ah, so lovely. He didn''t know how Alterra seemed to be so certain the Extreme Heat was coming¡ªsomething he would have to investigate¡ªbut he definitely wouldn''t risk traveling at this time. Anyway, this place seemed to be a good place to get stranded in. Chapter 840 Calm before the Heat The citizens knew there was no use in overtly worrying about the upcoming disaster. They could just do their parts to prepare their own households while trusting in Alterra as well. This was especially true for the Terrans who had yet to experience anything regarding the extreme weather. It wasn''t like there weren''t heatwaves in Terran, after all, though those only lasted a few moments. One of the people going around the territory was Beany and his son. It was Beany''s day off from the newspaper and he had picked up Theo from school so they could bond before the world decided to torture them even more. So now, they were doing father-son bonding at the market. Carrying the toddler in his arm, the duo ambled about with little umbrellas stuck on their heads. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. These were small umbrellas that could be attached to the head, freeing their hands to do other things. It looked a bit silly, but with the duo, it looked adorable, like wearing matching outfits. Beanie had been away for a long time because he couldn''t face not only Althea but also Theo, to some degree. Now, in this heat, he was determined to make up for it. He bought his son all the cold sweets he wanted, though the kid only bought what he needed saying it wasn''t good for the teeth. The little boy also proceeded to reprimand his father as well, thinking he was the one who wanted a lot of sweets. "Not gwood, not gwood!" he yelled, little eyebrows furrowed, and his cheeks puffed up. Beany''s eyes twitched. "Yes, yes." At least they confirmed that Theo was learning something at school. While they walked, they saw a group of guards making rounds. Little Theo''s rounded eyes followed them, reflecting their greatness. "Am I gowing to be stwong like gawd ankles?" This made Beany laugh. "Sure, as long as you study very hard and don''t miss your homework." The boy nodded very seriously and Beany couldn''t help but kiss his chubby cheek. If Beany knew little Theo was thinking to grow up strong so he could protect him, he''d probably sob his heart out. ¡­ Anyway, while the territory was still preparing, the huntings and training¡ªwhether it was in the Training Hall or outside¡ªhad not halted. It was a lot more challenging under this heat of course, but the territory had emphasized the usual training requirements were still required. In response, those going outside had their spaces filled with cool drinks, water, cooling medicine, and the like. There were, at this time, at least two groups of around 20 people clearing the area around the territory. One person had to be at least level 20 in a group and the ones leading the two groups were Plaridel and Turbo, respectively. Plaridel''s group took care of the Eastern part of the territory. They had been fighting for more than an hour already and they were finally about to finish this session, which made everyone thank the skies. "How exhausting!" one said, wiping his sweat with his shirt. "It feels like I''m doing twice the work with how tired I am." "Well, I wouldn''t need a sauna now," one said, the others rolled their eyes. "It''s not like you can afford it anyway." "How rude." Anyway, the group turned to finally head back to the territory. It was estimated that their 2-hour session would end by the time they were in sight of the walls. Their small group would encounter a few monsters here and there, with the strongman only guarding and keeping them alive. At some point though, it really got too hot from the mix of the temperature and their own body heat. "Darn, I can''t take it anymore! GAH! So hot!" The handsome Hubert gasped, feeling suffocated. He felt so suffocated that he took off his already-damaged upper garments, revealing his well-toned abs from all the fighting. "Stop getting naked!" One man yelled, glaring at his 17-year-old daughter who was gaping at the blonde. "My daughter is here!" Interestingly a certain red head reacted the same. "Get dressed!" He yelled. "My fiance is here!" A blushing Winona gently slapped his arm. "That sure rolled down your tongue comfortably, eh?!" Ansel grinned and looked down at her, challenging. "Why? Shy?" Winona flushed an even deeper shade of red, though she''d argue it was because Ansel was embarrassing her. "Hell no!" she yelled, about to turn and focus on the path home. Instead of answering her though, Ansel''s eyes traced the few beads of sweat down her cheek to her neck and then down to her glorious valley¡­ His breath became heavier, but it earned him a punch to the gut. Oough! "HEY!" "Focus!" Winona quipped back and sure enough, they heard rustles of leaves around them. A small mob of monsters emerged from the bushes, looking at them hungrily. Unfortunately for the monsters, the heat made the humans irksome and therefore particularly violent that day. How dare these things block their way to their comfy houses!? Their small group didn''t even need Plaridel to move, they pretty much massacred the mob. However, someone was almost nicked because they were so tired, sweaty, and the atmosphere was just not helping. Fortunately, there was Plaridel who managed to push away the monster before it could do too much damage. Plaridel watched the battles closely. He wasn''t to foddle them though, and they could still get injured. His instructions was to just keep them from dying or receiving any permanent damage. He was also there to hold the aether letter in case of emergencies, like other territories attacking them. The rules of going out of the territory were never rescinded. For training, the average level requirement was still high and every team needed to have at least 1 aether letter linked to the Station. The delineation of scope was that the barracks was primarily in-charge of external problems, especially regarding wars and external threats. On the other hand, the Guard Station was still under the barracks, but its focus was on internal peace. Guards assigned in the territory were rotating under the Guard Station. The Guard Station was also where the complaints and calls for help were received, so there were administrative/desk people there monitoring the letters at all times. This way, if an Emergency happened, the Station would be informed, and therefore the Barracks and Elders would as well. Of course, this meant that standard groups with civilians could not go beyond the range of aether letters, at least for now. This was the compromise they had to make. The decent-leveled monsters in Alterra were being cleared and people did have to go a little farther to train properly, but at the same time, they couldn''t go too far lest they wouldn''t be rescued on time. The wars were perennial problems now, but they could not grow stagnant and hide away because of fear. Althea saw all this and felt a little bad. Who wouldn''t? She swore that someday, Alterra''s name would be so resounding that no attackers would dare touch them the moment they find out they were Alterra''s. It was a long way before that would happen, but she''d make sure it would. Chapter 841 Another Skirmish Plaridel''s team, fortunately, passed their hurdle without any more worries except excessive sweating. The same could not be said about the other team though. While Plaridel''s group was about to reach the safety of the walls, the other group led by Turbo encountered a couple of extra problems. They had a bit of a run-in with another party from the newly-minted New Shrao Village. Actually, because of the strength of the Alterran team members, the other party would have just backed away. Their lord was in the vicinity, also mapping the place, and it''d have been dangerous to get into a skirmish at this time. In contrast, it was Alterra''s side who was in an explosive mood, ready to fight the other party even when unprovoked. For one, the other team had slaves around them. They had weapons and were filled with wounds. They looked weak, but they fought on because that was what slaves do. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You promised not to hurt those who don''t fight you!" Bianca yelled, having befriended a few survivors from Vismont before. She had also heard about Matthew''s conditions back then, and because Shrao immigrated to Vismont, they had hoped that the territory''s owner simply changed while the rest of the citizens remained the same. To be honest, this was also to make themselves feel better. Due to everything that was happening, they had to ignore this new territory. Besides, they knew that as a subsidiary, it couldn''t really attack them in wars. This was partnered with the various wars ongoing at the time and the oncoming heat wave, they simply had too much on their plates. Now, they knew that they thought too idealistically. The Alterrans looked badly at the Shrao Villagers, ready to fight for their brethren. "You lied, so you better give them back if you don''t want to be attacked." In fact, those with clearer eyes could see the slaves weren''t entirely cannon fodders. They were still given decent weapons and a chance at life. They simply weren''t protected. If they were strong enough, they would still survive. It was still more humane than what they heard, but how could they feel comfortable? Anyway, the Alterrans were quite hostile and, if one didn''t have context, people would think they were bullies. Shiro remained still as he stared at them, an arm raised to keep his team from exacerbating the situation. "I did not lie," he said with a passive expression on his face. "These people were the ones who fought against us." At the very least, he didn''t enjoy torturing others. He just did it because he felt it was the practical course of action. "They deserved it," Another voice said, approaching them from behind. This was no other than Cain, obviously looking better than usual. A certain Alterran saw him and immediately exploded. "YOU BASTARD!" Crow yelled, lunging forward, but was held down by a few people next to him. If their team lead¡ªTurbo¡ª didn''t approve of a battle, then they couldn''t start a fight on their own. "Cain!! I''ll kill you!!" he yelled, uncharacteristically livid. The Alterrans who didn''t know him closely were a bit startled. After all, Crow was known for his sombre temperament. At the moment, he was on the verge of going berserk. Cain looked at them in interest. "Do we know each other?" Crow gritted his teeth, and yelled, "YOU KILLED MY AUNT!" "Oh? Your aunt? Which was it?" Cain asked, no signs of remorse at all. This made Shiro look at him deeply, with the Alterran''s hostile eyes turning even more intense. But in this world where the strong were respected and women did whatever was asked of them, it wasn''t particularly appalling for anyone from the Shrao Party. Shiro did not appreciate this added tension, however. Anyway, the other party''s apparent apathy made Crow''s anger burst and he managed to escape his teammates'' hold. "YOU SHOULD JUST DIE ALREADY!!" Crow yelled, lunging towards Cain. The latter frowned and tried to avoid it. However, Crow used his ability to add a burst of speed into his movements and the punch ended up connecting. BANG! No one really stopped him anymore either, and they were also prepared to fight along with Crow the moment he''d need it. Combined with the sight of their brethren being enslaved, they stopped wanting to keep peace completely. BANG! Crow did not take a moment''s breath and sent the other man a barrage of attacks. Cain was so taken aback by the outburst that it took him a few seconds to recover. Someone from Shrao stepped forward¡ªnot for Cain, but for pride¡ªbut Turbo appeared in front of them. Their side immediately froze, looking at them guardedly. "Let him vent," he said. "You cannot kill him," Shiro immediately said. Anyway, in Xeno, if one could retaliate, they would. That was just how the world worked. However, letting Cain get killed would mean he''d lose a valuable asset who knew more about the territory and the people there. He was surrounded by Terran territories, so he couldn''t lose him¡ªat least not yet. Shiro looked at the leader of the group. This man was strong, much stronger than what villages ought to have. Shiro watched all of the other party carefully, then looked at the slaves who were almost crying at the sight of them. The so-called Alterrans¡­ He had heard about them of course¡ªhow could he not? This was the territory they inexplicably got tied to, and would have no choice but to send tribute to for the next 11 months. All he knew about this place was from his new citizens. He had sent spies, but he had yet to get word back from them until now. What was certain was that Alterra was unlike any of the villages they had encountered¡ªit could be even said to be as good as a town! Looking at this strongman who seemed to be a typical sight there¡ªjudging by how the citizens around interacted with him¡ªhe knew that this was the truth. He had been planning on investigating himself, but there was still too much to settle back in the territory that he had to defer it. His eyes shifted to the ongoing scuffle not too far from him. So¡­ what should he do now? Chapter 842 Shiros Decision Shiro was not stupid. On the contrary, he was smart. Respected by his citizens despite his young age, he had led them to the best of his ability, and they knew it too. When their territory fell, most people had chosen another village or even the nearby town to settle, but a lot of them stayed. That was much more than what others would expect in the same situation. Anyway, he had just found a new home for his citizens after the last one was destroyed; He was not about to cause trouble now. They circled the two people brawling, and Cain was obviously taken aback by the younger man''s fighting prowess. Then all of a sudden a small but sharp metal spike appeared about to stab Crow. "Watch out!" an Alterran yelled, quickly pulling Crow back before he could get stabbed. Crow looked at Cain with venomous eyes, while the latter wiped the blood from his cracked lips, returning his glare with dark eyes. "What? You think I''ll just lie there for you to beat me?" "I can make it that way¡ª" Crow yelled, despite not being too superior in level than the other, and Cain sneered and spat out some blood, taking a spare sword from his space. However, before the two could resume their fight, they were suddenly doused with water. Crow''s eyebrows furrowed and turned to the only water elementalist in the area who could make so much water from thin air, and so did the others who saw where it came from. It was Turbo who had put down his hands. He looked at them with a stern expression. "This is not the time," he said, "Mobs would be attracted soon enough." There was silence. They knew he was right. Shiro nodded and looked at his men. "Let''s go," he said, and the men including Cain reluctantly followed, though not without staring down at the opponents. "Wait," Turbo said, pointing at the slaves. "Give them to us." "Why?" "We can buy them." Shiro looked at them. After a pause, he spoke. "10 gold each." "What?" None of them had that kind of extra money to give out. However, looking at the ''slaves'' looking at them with eyes filled with hope, they couldn''t express this openly. After a pause, Turbo sighed. "We will talk to our elders. Don''t harm any of them." The Alterrans left and so did then Shrao Villagers, with the slaves following closely as they sobbed. However, they were suddenly filled with hope this time, unlike before. Cain gritted his teeth and was about to beat one of them up to vent, but he was stopped by Fos, one of Shiro''s confidantes. "Will you be paying for the damages?" He asked. If Alterra found out they beat them, they''d discount the gold and they weren''t confident they could go against them. For one, they couldn''t attack Alterran Residents in either of their territories which was a huge disadvantage already. He could see the Slaves smile and look at each other. From their former hopeless demeanor, that short interaction seemed to have injected life into them. Shiro saw everything, turning to look at their backs and in the direction where the opponents left. "Alterra, eh?" ¡­ When Turbo''s team came back, they immediately went to report that their people had been enslaved. This was common practice in this world and they wouldn''t risk their lives to rescue all their enslaved brethren. In addition to all the wars and preparation for the heat wave, they simply put Vismont to the back of their minds. Their own way of life was threatened, who would have the mind to go out of their way to rescue others? They were not heroes who''d go out of their way and jump from territory to territory with the sole purpose of saving Terrans. At least not yet. At this time, they didn''t have the ability to go against the world. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But now that they have encountered them head on, they could no longer, in good conscience, not do anything. How could they sit still when they witnessed them so close and enslaved? Rather, the reality of it hitting them so hard made their hearts hurt in anger and indignance. "Those bastards!" "We can''t let this slide!" "Letting them go now could lower momentum, even by a bit." Althea watched them as they planned the next step, her mind entering a slightly different path of thought. Although Shrao did a lot of wrong, she felt there was another way around this¡­ "We can''t jump into this too quickly," she said. "Besides, we can''t go to war for the next two weeks." Iron Mountain had just been attacked so both Alterra and Limestone Valley could not be attacked. In the same vein, they had already consumed the month''s attack slots with the Fargo war so they would still need to wait a bit to attack. "We will also need to know the rules and regulations of that place." Around this time, Loki, who was the latest in charge of the Guard Station, spoke up. "Didn''t Limestone village say they want to join if we decide to attack Shrao Village?" "Oh yeah, what did Shrao do to them?" Not long after sending letters and newspaper to the Satellites, they received a reply letter from Limestone Valley. First, they reported about the status of the territory, as well as confirmation of their orders (for example, building a permanent extra structure outside the warehouse for Althea''s protection when she was transferring a huge amount of goods to them). There was also the mention that a few people hoped to be part of a war if it involved Shrao village, should they hope to trigger it. Even Crow and even little Horus approached some of them before they entered the meeting. They said that they hoped to be a greater part of the war¡ªif it should happen. They would have to wait another few weeks to attack though. Would the slaves last that long? Especially with the upcoming heat wave? "They''re a subsidiary, can we even attack it?" "Yes. It''s another reason few territories accept being subsidiaries. They not only had to pay tribute, but it doesn''t exempt them from an attack." This was in contrast with official alliances, in which neither territory could attack the other, or they''d be penalized with whatever was indicated in the contract. While Althea was pondering on how to handle it, Mathilda thought of an idea. "Then what about attacking without triggering wars?" The room was silent then, minds whirling with the possibilities and implications. They knew it was possible. After all, they had done this with Vismont before. Rowan didn''t attack but they still managed to cause chaos anyway, to the point that a huge power in the territory was taken down. "We have a mathematician team now, right?" Eugene asked. "Can they calculate what force value would need to trigger a war?" "..." Genius! With this, the team immediately started to distribute the work, with Eugene to work with the Math team to determine the formula, as fast as possible. Althea sighed. While she did think there could be alternatives, she didn''t stop them or put any damper in their passion. She wanted to know the threshold of triggering wars, anyway. Chapter 843 The Magic of Math The Mathematician Team was primarily made to help her calculate the locations of arrays. Everything had some bearing in maths¡ªeven in the natural world. Even if this was a different world, it applied, though a lot of their formulas had to be discovered and studied from scratch. Since they didn''t have anyone who really understood arrays in the territory, they had to figure it out themselves. After the Math team signed a nondisclosure agreement and five-year bonds to Alterra, she taught them what she knew of the arrays¡ªwhich honestly wasn''t much, but it made them cry in gratitude anyway. Since then, these people stayed in the research center unless they had to train as per territory requirements. They practically lived in the Research Center dorms¡ªwhich, by the way, was only there in case of urgent all-nighters. They had to kick them out multiple times, especially during their day-offs. At the same time, she couldn''t really blame them either. Arrays were really a fascinating subject. It was just that they were studying it from the start, basically, like how the ancients studied math. They had to go through too many trials and errors, and what was more difficult was that¡ªunlike actual maths¡ªthey couldn''t create arrays (yet) so they couldn''t test things out. Now, they were given much more concrete¡ªand doable¡ª assignments that could be the application of everything they studied thus far. The team naturally jumped at it. The team was a group of seven people, some of whom were even acclaimed experts back in Terran. Pesto, the head mathematician, was an old man with thinning hair (of course, thanks to his leveling up, it had grown quite a bit). There was also Virgo, one of Kimmy''s husbands. Since he moved here, he practically never left the center. A math maniac, that was what he was. They could only imagine the torture of staying in a territory without paperback in Belluga. He had very thick callouses. They reckoned he must have carved his notes on wood instead. This team also had Melissa. They realized that she had much more potential in the theories, especially since she wasn''t held down by the ''known'' theories¡ªsomething she had limited access to in Terran as a dropout. When she found out they were attacking the people who killed her brother, she naturally got reinvigorated and worked throughout most of the day. Eugene, even if he didn''t like wars, was fine with this type of overwork even if it was for Melissa''s well-being. For the next few days, this team, including Althea, focused on these calculations. Of course, unfortunately, there were a lot of assumptions. For example, while they knew using a certain percentage of comprehensive strength was considered as the war trigger, it was never fully quantified. The variances were too far. How did one truly quantify a person''s individual strength, anyway? They also got information from the aborigines they used as data, but how accurate could a person''s memory be? How detailed would they remember these things? None of them were lords who could see the population number at a glance, and even if they were, who would record this data? The research team therefore had no choice but to play safe for now and use a huge tolerance in their calculations. In fact, this calculation could easily take months or even years if done manually. However, their research center managed to do it in a fraction of the time. First off, a few people actually had calculators in their spaces. Some were powerful ones, even, powered by solar. Many of these people had run out of resources early on because of what they chose to put in their spaces, and they were blessed by luck to have gone far enough to reach Alterra. Some people just had different priorities. Another reason for their progress was because, a couple of days back, the Research Center already developed the electrical calculating machines¡ªthe ancient computers. As soon as they got the magnetite from Guia, she had asked Winona and Yona''s teams to prioritize the machine. Overall, there were many team members and they received a lot of investments from the territory, allowing the progress to be fast-tracked. She knew that the rules of this world and the arrays weren''t something they could fully study on their own, at least not without taking them years of study, and doing a lot of wasteful trial-and-error. The subjects were far too complicated. Thus, computers were the way to go. Even if it was the ancient ones that worked less efficiently than their Terran calculators, it was still a massive step to getting the data they needed. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Speaking of which, when she ordered¡ªvia the ''system''¡ªthe priority to shift to what was loosely referred to as ''computer'', she did get a couple of frowns (i.e. pouts) and minor complaints and whispers¡ªat least for that day. At the time, they had already produced electricity to light a Youli lightbulb, and people were jumping to apply electricity to their own projects. Although what went on inside the Research Centers was generally a secret to the outside world, information flowed freely between teams. After all, one team''s invention could assist in another''s so there was no reason to be so hush-hush about everything. For instance, one team requested machineries and motors. This team was led by Eugene. Electricity could further automate the various factories, leaving the manpower to focus on more subjective and sensitive parts of the production line. Another team requested the creation of medical devices. This was led by Winona. These were all valid requests, but the lord got the final say, and she decided to prioritize the old calculators. This was thankfully so because how depressing it would be to take months calculating. Anyway, they proved that these computers would help with the efficient and fast creation of everything else so everyone accepted the decision eventually (i.e. stop pouting and giving her teary bitter eyes). Speaking of other developments, glass was also being perfected now. It was just that they couldn''t quite create such thin glass as needed in lightbulbs or even her beakers. So for now, the experiments settled with youli lightbulbs which were thick and had very low light translucency. The energy wastage was large in turn, but they''d take what they could get. Regardless, this initial development of electricity opened up a lot of doors. It would take months or years to fully integrate it, but it was already a huge step in the right direction. At the very least, there was progress, even if it was one step at a time. Chapter 844 Result of Research After a few more days, during the height of the mass research sessions, some people from Limestone Valley, including Vanessa and Juni, had finally arrived. They were armed and ready to fight. Well, Juni at least, Vanessa was finding ways to get closer to Garan while his wife was busy in the Research Center. She managed to join in the training, but Garan always managed to avoid her, as if she didn''t exist. So annoying! Amos had also come in, though he did not dare to check out his family who were one of the very few prisoners of war in Alterra. As the letter author Mr. Jeremiah¡ªwho was apparently just Beany¡ªsaid, it was better for them to learn their lessons. Seeing him now would simply make them misunderstand he was there to help them. Anyway, while the Research Team was calculating, some mid-level personnel had gone to Shrao to spy, and also to determine its rules and regulations. They were also sent to check the status of the slaves, and if they were being treated with decency. There were also some who went openly as Alterrans. This was led by Loki and Chris, and with their levels, the lord should know where they came from, so they didn''t bother to hide it. After all, they were there to buy slaves, and they naturally ought to ''check the products''. In addition to their strengths, they were customers with whom the territory could earn 10 Gold for each transaction, so they were treated amicably. Initially, this was a very good deal for Shrao. Although the cost of freeing a slave was 5 gold, selling normal human slaves was not as lucrative and some would even sell for a couple of silver. After all, there were so many humans that entered ''market circulation'' considering almost every village went through a war at least once a month. The supply was never lacking and there was rarely any incentive to free slaves at all. Alterrans also watched a few aborigines who had come to study the territory. This was mostly done through the reporting system, wherein they also had the citizens as their eyes. A few days after sending Chris''s team to Shrao, the group returned without an accident. Chris and Loki went forward to report as soon as they arrived, and the mathematicians added the info to create a better picture, calculation-wise. They did add, however, that the price was increased to 15 Gold, after finding out all of them were elementalists. Shiro said he was being kind because elementalists could sell for more, and asked not to make things hard for him. Shiro was taking a risk this time, but the price was indeed fair. He was not lying when he said the elementalists could sell for more, and even higher if he took them in cities. Had he been an idiot, he''d go above their heads and sell the slaves, but he did not do so. However, he did decide to increase the price a bit to gain a bit more. The territory really needed that gold, after all; they had lost too much during their migration. He was hoping that Alterra would find them too small or nonthreatening to do anything about his demands. Anyway, it was rare for a master territory to attack a subsidiary because there was little to no advantage to do so. The territory would be paying tribute every month, weakening it would just lower their income in the long run. Shiro had no idea what Alterra was literally planning as he thought this. Chris and Loki ended the report with what had changed in the territory''s infrastructure¡ªwhich was none. This made sense as Shraos seemed to have immigrated as a territory and therefore unlikely to have a lot of money. It was understandable he increased the price as soon as he saw his chance to do so. Not that they''d be paying at all, of course. The rough conservative estimate of the Math Team was that they could (conservatively) send fifty mid-level elementalists or a hundred and fifty normal fighters, and they would not trigger a formal war. "That''s¡­ not bad," Ansel whistled, and the rest of them nodded in agreement. After all, they had superior equipment, techniques, and items. Their ''comprehensive strength'' should be much higher than other villages. "Alterra is very strong compared to other villages." "We can crush weaker territories without triggering wars then?" "They''re still the same rank with thousands of citizens. We can still easily lose a few people," Althea corrected, as if her brother would become a war-monger (which he was not, Ansel would argue). "Besides, they have Terran slaves. How confident are you to get rid of them if they attacked?" This made everyone pause. They really wouldn''t be able to bear it. They didn''t want to experience that time with Fargo. Speaking of slaves¡­ "How are they, the slaves?" Althea asked. If they were being treated worse, then they might expedite their attack. However, fortunately, things seemed better than they thought. "Life there¡­ wasn''t so bad?" Chris said after looking at Loki, who also had a complex expression on his face. He then proceeded to tell more of what he saw, and everyone''s shoulders slumped. It was understandably complicated to get so fired up for a volatile rescue, only to find out things weren''t as bad as they thought. "As long as they didn''t go against the ruling party, the Terran citizens there were mostly just ignored. "They had slaves but they weren''t treated too harshly, compared to what we''ve seen," Chris added. "They would live tightly in the houses, but it had our bathroom and good design. They were also rarely abused." "There are a few exceptions, of course, especially men trying to take advantage of women, but we already talked to the lord about it and he seemed amicable." Amicable. Melissa''s eyes reddened at the word, and Eugene held her hand. Not far from them, Juni gripped her fists. "Whatever happens, I just want Cain dead." Althea watched as doubts casted over the group. They were not doubting their chances of winning, but they were doubting their reasons for attacking. Besides, even if they were strong, they had to keep their forces within the conservative limit. This meant that people would still get hurt, or maybe worse. To be honest, she was willing to buy off the slaves, though they''d have to work to pay it back when they signed a bond to the territory. It would become more like an advanced payment rather than just the territory''s alms. Unlike other lords, if there was a choice to avoid injury to her people, even if it cost a lot, she''d take it. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The thing was¡­ there were people there who truly deserved heavy retribution. Little Horus had nightmares every day now. Seeing the poor thing''s state was depressing. He had just recovered and started to act like a proper child with the other kids'' help¡­ and it was heartbreaking to see him return to his somber self. And Melissa and Juni¡­ they definitely wouldn''t be able to rest properly until she had exacted her revenge. Althea massaged her forehead. What to do? Chapter 845 New Visitors are Here! While Althea and the others were breaking eyebrows in the Research Center, a certain group of aborigines arrived in Alterra, absolutely surprised. Right after the war a couple of days ago, Gill had sent a letter to Alterra asking if they were willing to buy the half-orc from Bart. They agreed, so now Bart and the others came to see Alterra. Bart was a bit curious about how they communicated without the postal office, but he''d figure it out later. As for the price, they agreed on what he could''ve cost at a Town auction, which was twice that of Gochi at more than 500 gold. Remembering that auction battle made Gill fall into a daze, his mind inevitably going to Cassandra. He ended the meeting quickly and went emo in his room then, with Bart ending up being very confused. Anyway, Bart had plenty of reasons for agreeing on that price, which was technically lower than what they''d have liked. Although Baku could''ve been sold for twice that if sold in the City, Bart felt it wouldn''t be worth it. One, he had come to actually like the damned beast. If he was on their side, he was a reliable ally, particularly during fights. The orc was incredibly blunt and honest, too, as if he¡ªBart¡ªwouldn''t ever have to worry about being stabbed in the back. Stabbed in the front, sure, but that was another matter. Second, the sale was also a gesture of goodwill to the mysterious village. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bart and the others looked around. The wide roads, the themed buildings, and the uniform greeneries¡­ were something they had rarely seen in all their decades of traveling and adventuring. Further, even if there were relatively well-planned towns, it wasn''t quite to this degree. Most territories developed organically. That was to say: the buildings were built as needed, placed where there was space available. Over time, a village, then a town, or even a city would be built. Seeing such organized streets was really rare, to say the least. Everyone was sweating buckets though, looking very haggard from the travel under the sweltering atmosphere. Behind them, the half-orc was wearing a hood lest they scared the locals again. Since they knew Gill and this place was their buyer, they didn''t want to have a bad impression. On cue, the tour guides appeared to greet them. "Welcome to Alterra!!" they yelled. It was just that they either had umbrellas or hats on them. There were different styles too. In Xeno, hats were fashion items for women. Seeing this type of accessory worn by men really took them back. Even the manly men looked complicated. It looked comfortable, they mused, all while wiping their own sweat. The one who approached them was one man and one woman. The girl had a cute hat with a large overhang all around, while the man had one only in the front. "Hello! My name is Lulu, assistant manager of the leading guide team of Alterra¡ªGlorious Hospitality! This is Louie, who will be guiding you around~" "Ah, hello, my name is Bart," he said, introducing the other dozen people on his team. He pointed at the covered half-orc. "He''s¡­ someone your territory is buying¡ª" "Where is Gochi?" the large man asked and the bystanders flinched a bit because his voice was really louder and deeper than others. It also had a growling quality to it and the people couldn''t help but look at him. "Gochi?" She asked before answering. "He''s outside. We can tell him to go to you when he arrives." The big guy flinched and Bart cleared his throat. "Anyway, ahem. Can we see your lord?" "We have no lord." "Oh?" The aborigines looked at each other and blinked, but otherwise shrugged. They hadn''t known of any other lord who hid their identities before, but they had heard it being done before. "Then¡­ who are the most powerful people here?" "You must mean the elders," she said, "Louie will take you to the village center, while I will inform the elders of your arrival. "Ah, thank you," they said and she left, leaving the man¡ªLouie¡ªto greet them. They couldn''t help but look at the hat with the front overhang that casted shadows on his face. It seemed light to wear¡ªas if it could be blown away by little wind¡ªbut it did its job well. It was definitely a new style of hat they had encountered. One of Bart''s secrets to being successful was his shamelessness. Whether it was befriending the then-weak Garan and his team, to various other things. Asking to sate his curiosity was no problem to him. "What are those?" "Hats," Louie said with a smile. "Do you want us to take you where to buy them?" "Yes please." He led them along the avenue and they looked around, admiring the trees and the planning. They were taken along the side of the road protected from the widest lanes by trees and shrubs. Then hordes of people on unusual contraptions passed by them. They were going quite fast along the so-called ''main road''. Some only had one person, some had cars attached to them. It looked¡­ fun. To travel fast in a long smooth road seemed to be quite¡­ thrilling. They wanted to try. "What are those?" Bart asked again, and the others listened closely to his explanation. "Bikes," Louie said with a proud grin. "You can rent them over there," he said, pointing at an area near the gates. "But there''s a slight learning curve so you''d need to learn to use them first." "Ah, I see." A few blocks later, they arrived at the store selling the caps. Baku was left outside due to his size, already a bit impatient. Baku was actually not their slave. The World System allowed slave status during wars alone. Any other ways wouldn''t trigger it, likely in hopes of avoiding mass kidnappings to create more slaves. However, Baku, who was promised to see his old friend very soon, was already near his breaking point. Chapter 846 The Slaves of Alterra Anyway, back inside the large apparel store, Bart and the others were entertained by the salespersons there. Or more accurately, they were surrounded by pretty ladies (and maybe a few queers) blowing compliments in an attempt to make them buy a lot. "Wow, good sir! It looks soo good on you!!" One said to Bart, while another swooned when Eloi put on another one. "Oh my¡­ so handsome!" "Kyaa! That one! No, that one also looks even better on you," Another saleswoman squealed as Sipa tried on different styles of hats. "Ah, they all look soooo good! It''s so hard to decide~" Unconsciously, the men''s backs straightened and they inhaled their stomachs in. They had never felt so handsome in their lives. "Okay, I will buy them all¡­" "Me, too¡­" There were swoons and squeals that resounded in the room, validating their choice. "Wise choice, handsome sir~" "Would you to choose accessories that will match each hat? It will make your style look more holistic, make you look even more handsome!" a salesperson said, and the others echoed her words, and soon they were dragged down to aisles displaying other things. Suffice to say, they were beloved customers. There were various styles of apparel in this store, selling various accessories like scarves, bags, belts, and the like. For men and for women, and they bought a couple that seemed comfortable and fit them well. There was also a small metallic mirror on the side to check. They were impressed that a store had it, but it was probably rich. Anyway, while they were trying other apparels now (including shirts and pants now), the door opened and the group went straight to a section with odd looking canes. Unexpectedly, the newcomers were acquaintances. "Pieto?" Eloi exclaimed, and the others turned and were startled to see who it was. "Bart?" he blinked. "You''re here! Then again I''m not that surprised. You''re always updated." Pieto was a famous merchant in Twinwave Town. He bought a lot of their sauces back then. He was also a famous connoisseur of various things and could be a bit snobbish at times. Well, seeing him here, now he could no longer charge middleman fees. Pity. The merchant saw his face and smirked, taking two ''staff'' with different colors. "Two umbrellas please," he said and the others looked at him. "What are those?" he asked and Pieto¡ªwho was obviously in a good mood¡ªactually answered him well. "These are umbrellas, you should''ve seen almost everyone outside holding something above their heads," he said. "Press this button¡ªI won''t open it inside¡ªand it would expand into those. At this time a lot of the others were listening in. They had indeed since those and saw the comfortable shadow they made underneath. "Ohhh¡­" "They''re opaque and could protect from heat, and they are also waterproof against rain." "No water comes in?" They could tell it blocked the heat after seeing it used before but, apparently, it was also useful in rain! Rains in Xeno could literally weaken them! Having this lightweight and convenient staff-shield thing would be so useful! "Well, as long as they''re blocked by the surface. It''s a different problem if it''s windy. They have raincoats and boots for those." "We''re buying two big ones because we''re going to have a picnic in the gardens!" he said, looking excited as he said so. "Bye now!" he said and Pietro and his team scuttled away, looking like leisurely tourists just out having fun. Hey, they felt envious. Louie saw this and smiled. "It''s not like you can''t do the same," he said, and the group brightened, absolutely ready to do so. ¡­ sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After buying bags of apparel, the group finally moved on (though not without a few flying kisses from the happy salesladies and salesqueers. However, Louie¡ªdue to professional habit¡ªended up selling a few stores they passed by. Although he didn''t get commissions for this (they weren''t allowed to), he still felt happy when the guests became patrons of their Alterran stores. He was so immersed in his job that he was unaware of the darkening atmosphere of the large guy behind their group. Anyway, as they walked ahead, they ended up passing by some cleaner women who were sweeping the streets, wiping the benches, and picking up fallen branches. They didn''t think much of it until Louie was suddenly called out. "Louie?" the voice started tentatively, but when he slightly turned his head it turned to an exclamation. "LOUIE!" They turned to the source and saw who it was. Among these cleaner women was an especially pitiful-looking one with the dirtiest cloth and the biggest eyebags. This was Ramona, and when she saw the person who passed, her eyes brightened as if finally seeing hope. When she saw them looking at her, her body language softened and her eyelids fluttered. "Louie! Louie!" she yelled again, this time her voice was soft and pitiful. The man though only frowned. He gave the woman a bad look, intending to ignore her. The woman noticed this and immediately kneeled down. "Please, Louie! Listen to me, it''s a misunderstanding! I love you!" She yelled, grabbing his arms. "Please, help me! I can''t live like this anymore!" Ramona had grown up spoiled with a silver spoon in her mouth. How could she live cleaning up? She was lucky today and got the streets¡ªwhich were usually clean due to the non-littering rule¡ªbut she was usually assigned to the grazing farms! Every day she had to wake up early to feed those animals and clean their shit! Oftentimes she''d lose balance or get outwardly kicked by the damned critters! She couldn''t even count the number of times she fell on feces! Seeing Louie¡ªsomeone she used to see as so incredibly plain and un-special¡ªlooking clean and proper made him look dashing! She had to get out of this life! And she can''t do it on her own! Ramona looked at Louie hungrily, determined to do whatever to regain his heart. No matter what¡ªshe must get him back! Chapter 847 Wheres Gochi, DAMNIT!? Unfortunately for her, her attention was not appreciated by its target. "Go away, Ramona. Work." Louie heaved a deep breath, massaging his forehead. He honestly didn''t know why he was so in love with this woman before. Every time he thought of it, he couldn''t help but shiver in disgust and shame. Back then, he was just a pure-hearted guy looking for love amidst all the chaos and uncertainty. He didn''t even know she approached him on purpose. At the time, he thought they met by fate. He was in his favorite affordable canteen restaurant¡ªone that he went to every after work¡ªwhen he noticed her for the first time. She was quite pretty, and she was working as a waitress there in-charge of gathering the plates after use to take to the back room. When he asked to clean his table, she smiled at him. But she was a bit clumsy and dropped a bit of the plate on him, messing up his shirt. "Oh no, I''m so sorry," she mumbled, her eyes teary and it lit up the urge to protect in Louie. They saw each other every day since then, and she would often tell him how she wanted to eat this and that, and how sad to see it so close, yet not actually tasting it. He thought the owner was too stingy for a young healthy woman to resort to dreaming to taste his food. At the time, he did not know that employees were entitled to a free meal during their lunch breaks. Eventually, she cried on him, as if she had been wronged. She said she didn''t want to work there anymore but didn''t have a choice because she didn''t have anywhere to go. Louie, already smitten with her, assumed that she was being harassed. Fighting was not allowed in Alterra so he only took her home after giving the owner a mouthful of how shameful he was. In retrospect, that owner was really an innocent. Louie returned back to the present and looked at the woman standing in front of him. That same look used to make his heart soft, now it made him queasy. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The woman pursed her lips, teary. "Please¡ª" "I can report you and lengthen your slave sentence, Ramona. Don''t annoy me." At this, the woman had no choice but to follow his orders. She looked at him pitifully, still hoping he changed his mind, but he didn''t even look at her! Although she wasn''t a system slave whose body would follow other people''s words, she didn''t want anything to add to her debts! Every time they misbehaved, atonement points were added! She didn''t want to add another day in this misery! However, Louie was her only hope¡ªno one else would even think of helping her out. She was desperate, so she couldn''t find it in her to move away. Maybe¡­ maybe he would see her desperation and grit and feel pity for her? Louie, in retrospect, was the most sincere among her exes. She found him poor and boring at the time, but now she was desperate for him! Bart and the other saw the interaction. "A slave?" he asked, very curious. They had heard that this territory didn''t accept slaves¡ªwhich was weird to them¡ªbut it seemed like it wasn''t entirely true? "Prisoners of War," Louie corrected him. "She''s a traitor who sold important information to Guia Village back then." "Ah." That made sense, and it was also a good compromise. Louie then continued to explain Alterra''s ''prisoner'' system to them as he gestured for them to go ahead. "She could earn her own freedom in a few years, as long as she works hard enough." "I see, how interesting." Ramona bit her lips as she heard them discuss her like a negative example in a history lesson. Her eyes pooled with tears. When he walked away, she just couldn''t stop herself. "Please! Louie! Stop!" she yelled, running after him. She extended her arms in an attempt to get ahold of him, except something snapped in the air before she could do so. ROARRRR!! The large hooded thing exploded in force and Ramona fell back just by the wave he created. She also ended up peeing herself and crawling back, far away from Louie. At some point, it seemed like the last bit of Baku''s patience ran out and the massive figure appeared in front of Louie. Louie found himself being lifted from the ground by the back of his collar. ¡­eh? "Where''s Gochi?" Baku asked with gritted teeth. He finally lost his patience and was now determined to get them to take him to his friend¡ªwhether or not he had to use force. In the movement, his coat fell down, revealing his ''menacing'' features''. "Tell me where Gochi is, NOW!" At the sight of sharp teeth, Louie almost squealed like a girl. "G-G-Gochi s-should be h-hunting outs-side Tiger s-sir!" The appearance of the new aborigines and the large coated ''man'' had long captured the attention of the people. It was just that they were still civil (relatively) not to gape so openly, let alone interact. When the coat dropped down though, they saw a large tiger man. He had humanoid features, but he had white tiger ears and tail. He was also very muscular. This made women and a few men want to touch his pecks to see how hard it was. Fred, the boss, happened to be hanging around nearby when he saw the odd new party. Curious, he followed them for a bit, not expecting to witness this! He immediately interfered and went between them, despite being intimidated himself. "P-Please put him down! I can help you!" he yelled, pulling Louie down. Baku narrowed his eyes and let him go, causing the man to fall down a bit. Fred nodded and looked at Baku, trying to appear as convincing as he could. "He has an aether letter. We can ask the Station to message him back." Baku''s eyebrows rose, surprised that such magic tool was in the hands of a half-orc like he was. He was cynical and his slitted eyes looked down at the man as if he could get him to speak the truth if he was lying. Fred was now focused not to pee on his pants. "It''s true! I swear!" he yelled. "Uhm, w-why don''t you come with me and let''s message him together?" "Fine," Baku said after a pause, extending his hands with sharp claws toward him instead. Poor Fred was carried by the collar and headed to where the Station was. Fred could only cry silent tears. What did he do to deserve this?! Chapter 848 A Half-orcs Threats They watched as the new guy carried the redhead in a direction, and for a moment Bart''s group was unsure of what to do. Louie, on the other hand, prayed to the heavens for his very good boss. Bart''s eyes twitched. "That guy¡­." he said. "Will he be alright?" "Is he friendly to Gochi?" "Yes, he said they''re family." "Then, they''ll be fine," he said, shrugging. "Would you like to continue with your tour?" "..." "Continue the tour?" "Well, yes, if you want," he said. That was what boss Fred would''ve preferred, bless his soul. Of course, he was still worried for his boss. He looked at the aborigines'' whose attentions were on the direction where the half-orc went. "Should I guide you to the Guardhouse, then?" he asked, and they nodded immediately. Louis smiled, relieved, and he led the way to the place, though their pace was quite brisk. Baku was really conspicuous and there was no challenge in finding him. There were also plenty of people who looked badly at the tiger because of who he was manhandling. However, they saw that he was only carrying Fred to the guard station so they held back. Bart and the team soon arrived at the guard station, a two-story building with a large ''Guard Station'' signage at the top (with Terran language translation subscript just below it). Now, the half-orc was staring down at three guards who were blocking the door. The three were staring at him guardedly, though they remained calm. The fact that the system hadn''t thrown this guy to the prison was because there was no hostility. After all, Alterra was a place wherein people who make threats could get imprisoned even before they even did anything, if their intent was strong enough. These were not privy to the aborigines watching in interest though. "I''m really curious how this will turn out," Sipa said, and the others nodded in agreement. They continued to watch and realized that one of the guards on a standstill with Baku was someone familiar. It was none other than Chris, wearing that regal-looking guard uniform that they found to be really aesthetic. Bart looked at their guide and asked. "What is this place for, exactly?" All he could surmise was that they could somehow contact those outside via aether letters, so he assumed that there were such tools there. Speaking of which, having more than a few aether letters in a village was already impressive enough. Bart knew there were only a few specific cities that sold such tools, and they wondered if this team somehow got connected to one. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. How? Who knew. The most likely answer was that they somehow found a connection during the Ferrol Fair. Or it could''ve been bought from Pietro, who also had a couple of connections in cities. Louie answered his question diligently and with a hint of pride. "The place where people can run to in case of trouble or if they have something to report." "I see¡­" Cities and High-level Towns have similar functions, though it was a special building. It was a small building where people could write reports that would be sent to the guards. It also had a minute function of very slightly hastening healing the mana of guards. They had never seen it in a village before, so they mused it was a manual construction. Either way was very impressive. "Well, it''s very well made," Bart said, and the others nodded in agreement. Their chatter was cut short with a roar. Apparently, the standstill had been broken. "LET ME IN!" "No," Chris said, and Baku looked at the three guards and the others inside who were also looking at him guardedly. It was not his intention to fight, especially not in someone''s territory where he could really be held down. He just wanted to see Gochi and his temper got the better of him! When he thought about how many delays he was subjected to, he got angry again! It was like an invisible force kept delaying things for him! "This bastard said I can go here! Now tell me," he paused, his low growling voice deepening as he spoke impatiently with gritted teeth. "Tell me where Gochi is!" In his anger, he practically threw Fred in their direction. The moment the redhead landed on stable ground, he pretty much crawled several meters away to perceived safety. Chris looked at him and then at Baku. "Gochi is outside at this time, and we will send him a message, though it might take a bit for him to get back. "He''s safe¡­ however, I may not be able to say the same thing to you." "You¡ª" It was in the half-orc''s nature to be belligerent, regardless of whether he was hostile or not. His eyes were red and one could see his sharp teeth. But Chris was not weak and wasn''t intimidated. "Alterra is not a place you can do just whatever you want," he said. "Manhandling one of ours is already warranted to send you to prison." Chris looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Are you going to calm down and meet the elders as scheduled or do you want for Gochi to pick you up in prison?" ¡­. It was only Mathilda who came to meet the group in the Center, to finalize the trade. All the elders were busy with all the things happening, but it so happened that Mathilda was nearby. Bart received a lump sum amount of 500 gold, sparkling, and said his thanks. The Half-orc, normally would sneer, but in front of Mathilda he was strangely calm. This was actually Mathilda''s passive skill at work. "He''s here," Bart said, pointing at Baku who stepped forward and looked at the strange situation. Mathilda nodded and looked at the Half-orc. "You know that we don''t take slaves here, so you will be a normal civilian. However, you will have to pay back what the territory spent on you." Baku was a little shocked. Although he heard they didn''t keep slaves, he didn''t exactly believe it. They just spent 500 gold on him! That was years worth of salary for an average man. There must be a catch, he was sure of it. However, when the oath and contract were finalized, he realized they weren''t lying. Bart and the others stayed in curiosity. When they heard the half-orc was getting freed after being spent 500 gold on, Bart and the others were also a bit startled. Mathilda saw this and smiled. "We believe that you''d be able to pay for your debts with your ability. As long as you work hard for Alterra, you''d be completely free soon enough." She then looked at Jun, who was standing next to her. "Take him to the half-orc dorms," she said. "It''s not free, but it only costs 3 copper a day. I''m sure you''d be able to handle yourself. As he watched the large half-orc lean down to exit the Center, Bart couldn''t help but walk over to Mathilda and ask. "Aren''t you worried about him?" "We signed an oath." "But¡­" what if there was a loophole somewhere? "We believe in Alterra and its charms," she said, looking at him. "Speaking of that, enjoy your stay here. "I''m sure you''d understand what I mean soon enough." Chapter 849 Rolan Mercenaries Shopping Tour And enjoy their stay, they shall! The travel from that mission, then pulling the half-orc, and then the war, had been excruciating! However, they decided not to rest because their tiredness was swept away by the curiosity of this place. First off: Food. "Where''s the place where we could get good food the fastest?" Bart asked. They ate noodles and dim sum before (which they still remembered to be a spiritual experience) but after being hungry for so long, how could that be enough? "That''d be the marketplace," Louie said, "There''re stalls there with readily available food. There are also a lot of options so there''s less queue. "Sounds good." Louie nodded with a smile. "Let''s go, it''s better to go before the lunch break crowd arrives." They didn''t know what ''lunch break crowd'' was but they hurried up to the nearest Marketplace anyway. They had seen more than a few people eating some interesting things while walking! Their stomachs gurgled just at the thought of them. Soon, they reached the aforementioned marketplace. It was a large area¡ªalmost as big as normal plazas¡ªwith various stalls side by side and back to back. In a few areas near these stalls, there were groups of tables. This way, a group could choose to buy whatever they wanted in whatever stall but still get to eat together. This was an interesting arrangement and it wasn''t something they had seen before, even in cities. After all, the major variety of delicious food was only available for nobles, and they were usually made bespoke to the noble, so how could such a ''commoner market'' be created? Anyway, Bart''s group decided on a table and they hurriedly dispersed to get their respective food. Louie got a simple barbeque-and-spiced-rice meal, while the rest chose to try various things. Someone took shawarma, barbeque, salad, and gouji fruit juice; someone chose rice toppings with sweet and sour Gugi birds and vegetable side dish; someone chose deboned grilled fish with sauteed vegetables. Et cetera. The food could barely fit in their hands, not including the several rounds of queuing that came after. When the was over, the men patted their stomachs in satisfaction. "That was satisfying¡­" "Hmn." "Your order was interesting too. Wasn''t that fish?" "Yeah, I just realized it." Fish wasn''t exactly easy to prepare after all. Untrained people would create food that was extremely oily and bony¡ªnot delicious at all. But somehow even that, people here could make into a delicacy! After some rest and desserts, they looked at Louie to ask where their next stop would be. "Is there anything you want to see?" "We''re a mercenary team," Bart explained. "We hope to find tradeable items." "Ah, yes, of course!" Louie said with a smile, leading the men to the shops. "We will go to the supermarket first." Around this time, just as they exited, a mob of people arrived and they quickly filled up the marketplace. It was extremely lively and they were taken aback by the change. "This is what I mentioned before, the ''lunchtime'' crowd. As you may have heard, we implement working hours here. In between those hours there are break times where people can stop working to eat and rest." Bart and the others nodded. These people really thought of everything. Anyway, they headed to the nearby supermarket. Because of their previous partnerships with Garan and based on what they''ve seen so far, they did have expectations going in. However, even their high expectations weren''t enough and they were still shocked at the array of products that greeted them. The variety of sauces alone was mind blowing, let alone the fact that they seemed to have a supply of salt and sugar¡ªwhich were not common at all¡ªas well as other novel things they didn''t know about. Louie though happily taught them what they were for and suffice to say they were convinced. There were also free taste sessions and they bought a lot of whatever they tried. They followed the locals and got their own carts, placing whatever they could fit in. It so happened that a cart was around one-third of a typical space, so they could estimate better what they could bring out. Everyone filled a cart or two of the goods, hearts beating in excitement. To be honest, at this point, they weren''t planning on selling what they bought at all¡ªthey would be keeping each one of them for themselves. They looked at their loot with pure satisfaction, not really caring if they didn''t fit in the space anymore. Louie had long been used to situations like this. "We still have a few stores, but we can continue tomorrow after you check in and rest." "No need to rest, just let us check in so we can put down our items," Bart said, and then he got a few of his cronies to place their items back in the inn. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were curious about the inn but were afraid they''d fall down asleep if they entered so they resolutely refused to do so. "Next is the Department Store, the Specialty Store, and the Bookstore," Louie said, and the guests''s eyes brightened even more in anticipation. They had no idea what those places would offer, but they were certain it''d be good! "Okay, yes, let''s go." As they went there, they encountered Pieto again. The merchant seemed to be heading back to the inn already. Pieto looked at them up and down, shaking his head. Goodness. They should feel ashamed! As seasoned mercenaries from a big town, they were acting like children! They walked past him after a quick greeting though Bart and the others had visibly calmed down, at least on the outside. Louie laughed as they continued on. "I also guided Mr. Pietro back when they just arrived," he said. "He pretty much slept in all those shops, you know." Bart and the others chuckled at this, tense shoulders softening once again. Heh, that bastard, making them feel immature when he reacted even worse! But still¡­ the longer they stayed, the more they felt that this place had a unique charm. A unique charm that would bring out another side in all of them. Chapter 850 Discussions with Bart (Part 1) We temporarily made it to Top 1 for Oct 2024 so here''s my thanks to everyone who helped! Hopefully, we can maintain this for 2 more hours *prays* S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ... ___ Department Store Because the market had gotten larger, the clothing and garments had separated into a new Fabric Store building near the Bookstore. Here, they were introduced to various types of cloth like hemp cloth, linen, and cotton cloth. Having all these at the same time were already impressive for a village without the new Clothing Store system building. Usually, a village would have 1 choice of fabric, and they were usually rough. If the nobles wanted better clothes, they''d either go to towns or wait for their caravans to return, if they had one. If they didn''t, then they prayed to the skies that a caravan would see their little village and pass by, but that happened very few times a year, especially if there was no town or city nearby for the caravans to use as a destination. "Actually, we also have another¡­ but it''s for super customers only," the salesperson said, looking very hush hush. "Since you''re planning on buying several bolts, I''ll tell you." They ''subtly'' went to the racks at the back, revealing smooth and somewhat shimmery fabric that made their eyes widen. "This¡­" Silk? Although the stock was small and it was much more expensive than the others, this was definitely silk. Sipa looked at his boss with wide eyes. He was one of the ''experts'' of this in their team, so whenever they had to buy fabric, he was always with them. Seeing such a thing here took him aback. "This could rival the Cloth cities¡­" he whispered, lightly touching the fabric with his hands. Eloi looked at them with a complicated expression. "It really is¡­" he said, though he was half-impressed and half-concerned. Those cities held on to their techniques tightly. They had a cutthroat culture, and he couldn''t help but feel a little worried for Alterra. However, the quality was really good and the price was a tiny fraction of what those places sold. To be honest, they could sell these for about the same or at an even higher price than what the cloth cities'' equivalents sold for. "Someone should rent beast carts from Ferrol Town, really," Sipa said with sincerity. "We''ve only been here for a few hours and what we bought couldn''t fit in our spaces anymore." Bulgogi heaved a deep breath and patted his stomach bulging from overeating. "We wouldn''t even be able to fit a couple of bolts on our backs¡­" This made the mercenaries consider it. It was true. There were still so many places for them to go. They wouldn''t be able to hold on all of the products they''d want to buy just by themselves. While Bart mulled on the next step, they proceeded on looking at the other shops. The next stop was the Bookstore. Here, they sold novelty items like paper¡ªan extremely convenient alternative to papyrus¡ªstationaries, pens, and pencils. There was also a large piece of paper they could test out the writing tools, and it really fascinated them. The Terrans nearby couldn''t help but chuckle, reminded of kids in bookstores. The quality was really different from what they were used to. For one, there were no clumps of ink! The pencil could even be erased so well there were nearly no marks at all! "How much these could be sold in noble families¡­" "It''s true¡­" Louie smiled and let them shop around. He stopped when he saw a new item though. "Oh? We also have territory maps now! But they''re not cheap," he mumbled. "Oh?" Sipa, who was nearby, immediately went to take a look. The piece of paper seemed thicker than the others and seemed more stable. It was also Louie''s first time seeing it, so he also observed it with the same interest. It was a semi-cartoonized map of the public-accessible places in the territory. It was drawn in novel interesting ways with text, both local and Terran, titled directly above the buildings. It was quite colorful too, for most part. Rather, most of it had vivid colors which was in contrast to the grey-ish areas where the public could not access to, like Barracks and the Research Center, both of which had vague placeholders to represent them. Bart walked over to study it as well. "We''ll buy one," he said, though his eyes ended up on the Specialty Shop mentioned before. "Can we go here next?" he asked, pointing at the shop on the map, and Louie happily took them there. Most of the items were completely novel, yes, and they''d have been very excited. However, they weren''t able to explore because in a section, there was a massive sign that distracted them completely: [Things to buy for the Upcoming Extreme Heat] and listed below were items they ought to buy and their possible alternatives, the quantity, and their estimated duration to last. "What¡­" Louie looked at them. In fact, he wondered to tell them when they were talking about sending people to Ferrol, but he didn''t want to ruin their mood for the rest of the day. He was planning on telling them when the tour was over. Anyway, since they were here, might as well tell them. "Our experts predicted that an Extreme Weather phenomenon is happening within the next few days," he said. This made everyone flinch and turn to him. It had indeed been a bit hot lately, though the changes were too subtle for them to think too much of it. They actually mostly noticed the changes when they arrived here and everyone had their umbrellas, cool drinks, and the like so there was contrast. After some moments, Bart looked at Louie. "They''re so certain?" "Yes. Besides, even if it doesn''t, it doesn''t hurt to get ready." The group was quiet in ponder for a while until a familiar voice sounded near them. "Why the long faces?" They turned to see a dark-skinned guard with curly hair, looking at them with amusement. This made several of the mercenaries'' eyebrows rise at the sight of their old friend. "Sammy?" Chapter 851 Discussions with Bart (Part 2) Sammy looked at them with a smile. "Sorry none of us were able to greet you earlier," he said, doing the standard casual salute of Xeno. Naturally, even before Bart''s party left Iron Valley, Gill sent a letter to Alterra that their old friend Bart was coming and he was bringing another half-orc with him. Everyone was so busy though so no one met them before now. So busy, in fact, that everyone thought someone else told Gochi of who was coming, which was one of the causes of the previous debacle. Bart shook his own bad mood due to the news and greeted him with a smile. "So¡­ this is your home?" He remembered when they were struggling to find a place just a few months ago. Now, they helped build such a thing. It was unbelievable. "Yep. Nice, huh?" Sammy said with a proud smirk. "Sorry the others are unavailable; everyone''s preparing for what''s to come." "Let us guide you, and let''s discuss some business along the way," he said. Bart nodded. "Well, discuss this Extreme Heat I heard about by the way." "Of course." Bart asked the others to continue going around the territory with Louie and get as much information as they could. Meanwhile, he went with Sammy along with his right-hand man, Eloi. Sammy brought them to the new pastry shop in one of the avenues. It was a nice two-storey shop with comfortable distance seating with half-partitions. There was a counter up front with a colorful menu pasted on a surface. The design wasn''t too pink or anything though, or else Sammy would''ve felt weird taking two grown men taller than he was in there. He ordered for them this time, choosing flavors for them before based on the Xeno fruit that they liked. It was quite a popular shop and if it was after work hours or during break, there would be a queue outside. Anyway, they settled into one of the more private corners of the shop as they waited for their orders. "So, ask away, as business partners, I will do my best to answer." "How did you know it''s coming, and how are you so certain?" "In our world, there are people who study the laws of nature and weather," Sammy explained. "We can''t 100% guarantee it will absolutely happen in the next few days, but the chances are too big to ignore." "What are you planning to do? I mean, if you can tell us." "We''re digging a lot of underground areas to keep water as well as to build abodes there," he kindly explained. "Heat is less underground, and this is further improved by our insulating materials." Insulating materials? They then recalled the items from the specialty store. "I saw those in the store," Eloi said. However, they didn''t quite understand how it worked. Again, Sammy explained, which was really nice of him. "They basically keep the heat in or out, so it''ll be useful whichever way the weather goes." "We also added a lot of parks¡ªbecause vegetation was also known to reduce temperature¡ª and our buildings were customized to allow natural ventilation." "That''s so interesting¡­" Eloi said and Bart nodded. "It''s amazing what you guys did in a place like this," Bart said, just more impressed the more he saw and heard. "Not long ago, I remember this area being a no man''s land." This made Sammy look at him. "What do you mean?" "This area used to be a barren place a few years back. I suppose your people''s entry revitalized the place." Sammy paused at this. However, it did make sense. Within the scope of the protection period, whatever shape it was, and however big its scope was, there seemed to be no aborigine territories at all when they arrived. Therefore, this place must''ve been uninhabitable before. "It''s like the direct opposite to the Grave of Villages, right?" "Precisely," Bart said, looking at them. "I heard you stayed for a long time there." Sammy nodded with a shrug. "Yes, we needed to gather strength quickly." "You people are insane," Bart said, shaking his head. Although the monsters there weren''t so strong, Sammy and the others had much lower levels back then. Camping there was like a death sentence for most people at the village level. At the same time, the risk obviously paid off. In a span of a few months, they caught up with the average power level found in towns! The trio chatted, caught up with the events of the past including where Baku was found. Sammy thought it''d be nice to find the other half-orcs, but that was a bit of an overreach so he didn''t think too much of it. He also told them about the deals they had with other territories (that were publicly available), and the Aborigines were shocked to find that even Bleulle City was in there. "Your aether letters must''ve come from there, then?" "Precisely." Bart could only gape at them. Nobles in towns had been trying everything to get connected to nobles from cities. Some succeeded, while most were only humiliated. What was this now? A village directly dealing with cities! What''s next? Dealing with Orcs? Bart and Eloi''s minds whirled, but they were fortunately distracted because their order had finally arrived. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Ah, here''s our dessert," Sammy said, handing them over. "This is Ice cream. It''s sweet and cold¡ªperfect for this weather." The men looked at their cups in interest, seeing the pastel-colored rounded sweet. It was very cool, and they lifted their spoons to their mouths not knowing what to expect. The moment the bit of the food touched their tongues though, their eyes went wide as saucers. "Delicious!" "It''s sweet!" "It cools me down¡ª" Bart said, taking another bite. "I''m happy." Then they got a bit too passionate and took a large bite, making their eyes twitch as an uncomfortable sensation crept up their heads. Sammy said, looking at the big men eating ice cream with such enlightened expressions. "Don''t eat too much too quickly," he said. "You might get a bit hurt." "It''s really cold," Bart said after a while when he finally had the mind to do some analysis. "How do you do it in this heat?" "Trade secret," Sammy said with a grin. "But I can ask if you could enter a partnership with us so you can bring the technology home." The two shot up and extended their hands to him to show their agreement, as if Sammy would disagree. "Deal!" they said and Sammy couldn''t help but chuckle. Anyway, there were many problems they had to deal with, but for now it''d be this heat. "More ice cream please." Chapter 852 A Half-Orc Reunion (Part 1) Back in the Guard House, people couldn''t help but gather around at a distance, watching the new half-orc sit hanging around the Guard Station. Instead of going to his dorms, Baku insisted on waiting there for news of Gochi. So now there was a 2-meter bulky half-animal sitting by the door of the Guard Station. He was sitting crossed-legged and crossed arms, eyes closed and very still, the only thing moving was his white silky fur as the wind blew on it. There were some civilians who needed to go inside to report something. But seeing him there, they shivered and almost ran away. After some thought though, they didn''t. They knew of Alterra''s very strict rules and regulations. After all, nothing dangerous would''ve been allowed to roam like this and make camp. Still, when they slowly headed to the door, they were comically walking sideways so they were facing the half-orc with raised arms at all times, just in case. Just then, he opened his eyes and revealed his cat-like pupils, darting to stare straight at them. The civilians squealed and ran to the interior of the guard house, amusing the bystanders. Other than them, there were also plenty of bystanders who gathered around and watched in interest. So they had a new half-orc? White Tiger model? So cool? If Baku knew what a zoo was, he''d think people were looking at him as if he was a part of them. It was like this for a couple more minutes until his nose and ears moved at a familiar sound. He lifted his head and saw his old friend approaching him quickly. Gochi''s eyes were wide as he rushed to him, shiny with tears. "BAKU?!" "GOCHI!" he yelled, standing up. The bigger half-orc walked forward with wide steps and the two raised their arms simultaneously, their forearms meeting with such force that it created a small wind around them. "It''s so good that you''re okay!" Gochi said, voice a bit shaky. Baku''s smile was wide, his sharp teeth showing off. Baku couldn''t help but look at his friend''s healthy state and his uniform no different from the other guards. This made him pause. Was it really true? Was Gochi¡­ a citizen? "Come on," Gochi said, guiding his old friend elsewhere. "Let''s talk while I walk you around." "A-Ah¡­" At this point, all hostility around Baku had dispersed, left with some confusion. Before actually seeing Gochi, he had maintained a high level of cynicism. Seeing him all fine and much better than expected imbalanced him and frankly he wasn''t sure what to make of it. For now, he just followed his friend as he personally guided him around the territory. Gochi was quite proud, Baku could tell, and he couldn''t help but look at him and his bright demeanor. "Are you happy?" This made Gochi pause and look at him, golden-green eyes sparkling with honesty. "Very," Gochi said, patting his shoulder which was a few feet above his own. "I know you will, too." Baku heaved a deep breath and looked at Gochi. "What happened so far? How''d you find this place?" Before Gochi could answer him though, the laughter of children sprinkled nearby. They turned to look at the kids running around with smiles. However, when the kids saw the two of them, they brightened even more and they all rushed in their direction. Baku flinched at the group of children fast approaching them. Instinctively, he turned away and put on a slightly defensive position. Back in Hoskel, not only were they thrown stuff by people and children, but when he was young, he accidentally injured a human boy who was bullying the other half-orcs. He was forced to get beaten up more often by other kids then, and he couldn''t do anything about it. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He had been beaten badly by children and adults then and it seemed that some of the instincts remained. However, they stopped a meter away, looking curiously at both of them. "Wow! Gochi! Gochi!" "So big! Who is this?" This was Mimi, Lily, Honda, and Horus. The Mauin kids were working (gathering resources) so it was only them running around the territory at this time. Gochi smiled at them. "This is my brother, Baku." The kids looked at the bigger half-orc with their pure eyes. "Wowwww. Hello Baku!" Lily said, though Mimi couldn''t help but ask. "Brother? Can interspecies marry here?" Mimi asked, though it earned her a tiny pinch from Lily. "Ow!" Mimi yelled, pouting at her friend who asked possibly insensitive questions. However, she just smiled at the half-orcs in the end. "Hello, Baku! Welcome!" Baku was taken aback by the pure welcome, and how they were genuinely glad to meet him. He¡­ had no idea how to handle this. Couldn''t they be more violent? At least he''d deal with familiarity¡­ It didn''t help that he was surrounded by most of them, some even holding his calf. "Come on," Mimi said, opening her arms. "Please carry me." Baku''s eyes twitched while Gochi chuckled next to him. "Just do it," he said. "It''d help with your integration." Baku felt uncomfortable but when he looked at the large innocent eyes looking at him with expectations, he couldn''t say no in the end. Heaving a deep breath that''d terrify adults, Baku leaned down and took Mimi''s collar as he carried her to his shoulder. "WOW SO TALL!" Mimi said, her rounded eyes wide from the new perspective. "I wish I was tall! That way I can see everyone''s heads!" Lily could not lose, gently pulling Baku''s hand¡ªwhich was twice as big as her face by the way. "Mee tooo! Me toooo!!" Just like this, a handful of children had climbed up. The contrast of a large half-breed with little kids hanging on him was a hilarious image. The only one left on the ground was Honda. He gaped at the sight. He had grown up with a bias against other races and it was slowly being changed in Alterra. However, he still had ways to go before he could completely adjust to it. He was still on the process with Gochi, in fact. So, unlike everyone else having fun, Honda could only stare for a bit. Gochi saw this and understood, not expecting a fast integration from a child who grew up in a City. The bias in Cities was even higher because the humans were generally much stronger there and weaker village-level half-orcs like them were less of a threat, and more of a novelty among nobles. Kids didn''t know such subtleties though, even the ''wise'' Mimi, who looked at her friend from above. "Honda! You''re so small over here!" Honda pursed his lips, looking at the half-orcs and unsure of what to do. He kinda wanted to join them¡­ but at the same time he couldn''t bear to ask. Mimi obviously had no such reservations. She tapped on the half-orcs mass of hair. "Baku¡­ Baku¡­ can you take Honda too? I wanna show him this view!" Baku''s eyebrows rose and his eyes drifted to the remaining kid. After a thought, he slowly leaned down and extended his arms to get the kid, who could not react in time before he got lifted up. "Ah!" he gasped, though the next thing he knew he was on the half-orc''s abnormally wide shoulder with his friends. Little Honda lifted his head and his hazel eyes looked at the view. Baku was a few meters taller than he was, and it was definitely the first time he had been held up so high. It was fascinating. Suffice to say, new perspectives were developed that day. Chapter 853 A Half-Orc Reunion (Part 2) The two half-orcs hang out with the kids for a bit longer until their guardians called onto them. Oslo was a little surprised to see his nephew resting on the arms of the new half-orc¡ªwho was quite violent by the way¡ªwhich got him quite nervous. Although he soon realized the new half-orc wasn''t so bad, Baku was definitely uncomfortable around Oslo. Dealing with friendly kids was one thing, dealing with a strong aborigine¡ªeven if he was non-hostile¡ªwas another. "...your nephew," Baku said with that low growly voice of his, handing (a disappointed) Honda back to his uncle. "...ah, thanks." Gochi watched the awkward interaction with amusement before everyone separated and went on their way, with the kids to their own homes, and the half-orc to theirs. The two big critters only walked and did not speak for a while, though Gochi was often greeted by many citizens. They also looked at Baku in curiosity, though he was in a conflicted, confused mood, and it showed in the unapproachable atmosphere around him. Gochi was patient as he guided his friend. He understood: Alterra Village and¡ªmore importantly¡ªits population, was just too¡­ different from what they were used to. Eventually, after walking a couple of streets, Baku broke this silence with a heavy sigh. "This place is¡­" he began, but didn''t say more. It was too difficult to express what he felt. Gochi smiled, knowing what he had been trying to say. "You''ll get used to it," he said. "And eventually, you''ll completely integrate and become an Alterran." Baku nodded slowly, though still not completely convinced he could be one of ''them''. It was just beyond his comprehension at this time. "Let me show you something," Gochi said, bringing him to the mountains, and in one of the parks there. Baku wasn''t sure where they were going until he saw a few familiar trees, lined up around an area. They were still tiny, practically still seedlings, but the circular leaves with this scent were something relatively unique to a certain region. "Bouti Trees?" Although their memory in orc territories was not happy, they had some fond memories of this tree. This was the Gouji Tree equivalent in those parts and although it wasn''t as tasty, it saved them from starvation countless times before. "Yes, somehow they managed to plant a few here," Gochi said with a small smile. "Do you know? They turned it into an ingredient for Beast Attracting Potions. They''re amazing." When combined with, er, their piss, the resulting solution was something that attracted monsters¡ªalmost like a summons. Of course, the amount (of pee) needed was miniscule compared to the Bouti Tree leaves, which was why an acre or so was dedicated to this tree in particular. Speaking of piss¡­ Gochi looked at Baku. His should be much more potent. The huge guy shivered for some reason, which was a shame to his thick pelt. ¡­ Gochi wasn''t the only one who had a touching reunion. Bright Territory caravans had just returned to buy some more insulation and other Heat Wave-related products. After all, they had maximized their purchase limits before so they had to return after everything was sold out quickly. A lot of new people had also come with them to buy their own after realizing how well the items worked, as well as confirming the increasing temperature themselves. A part of this group was the aborgine Badjau, who had technically always been the hired aborigine of Bright Village even during the previous takeover. During Gingo''s time, no one noticed his absence because not only was the ''lord'' not in the territory, the steward didn''t really care much for him and had just assumed he had died along with the rest of them. While the lord and the closest confidantes were closing a few more deals to handle the heat, the rest of them were given free time to buy what they needed or to just go around the place that was just getting lovelier every time they visited. Badjau filled up his space with essential purchases. However, since he only needed to go to one or two shops, he finished his errands pretty quickly. He went to the lake to kill time, which was the closest body of water that reminded him of home. There, he saw a person named Gaudi, who was fishing. He already had a basketful beside him. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Badjau was struck looking at him like this, thinking it wasn''t often he saw someone so short and stout as he was. They had actually encountered each other before, but they didn''t know each other as anything more than nodding acquaintances. Gaudi was a member of the Terran mercenary team and stayed in Alterra, and Badjau was usually just in Bright, they simply didn''t cross paths so often. However, they did have good impressions of one another¡ªlikely because of the similarities¡ªand Badjau found himself renting fishing gear and sitting next to the older man. The Lake House Restaurant offered a fixed amount to rent a bucket, and he could stay for an entire day of fishing as long as it fit in the bucket. The two of them sat next to each other and bonded, though their discussion was mostly about each other''s territories than anything else. "Got another one!" Gaud¨ª yelled, pulling the rod swiftly. Badjau was impressed and smiled. "That''s amazing¡­" he said, though his voice died down when his eyes captured a sight. Due to the fishing movements, Gaudi''s sleeves slid down to his elbows and Badjau saw a familiar bracelet on his hand. His eyes widened, unconsciously extending his arm to grab it. "That¡ª" Gaud¨ª pulled his arm and looked at him defensively, protecting the accessory within his stout palm. "What do you want??" "It''s not that. I¡ª "I used to have one, but I lost it during a war from before." "Well, it''s mine, I had it probably before you were even born." "Y-Yes, I understand," he said. "But I know for sure it is¡­ similar to my mother''s." This made Gaudi''s eyes widened, turning to him so fast he almost dropped his fishing rod. Though the lucky fish did manage to free itself from becoming someone''s dinner today. Gaudi found himself a little disoriented, his large eyes looking at the younger man, full of emotions. "Your mother¡­?" he asked, taking a deep breath. "Tell me: What''s your mother''s name?" Chapter 854 Threats (Part 1) Badjau''s eyebrows furrowed, but saw no harm in telling in the end. "Her name is Bousa," he said, and Gaud¨ª couldn''t help but gasp a bit. Bajdau saw the old man''s eyes reddened as if he was about to cry, but he shook his head in the end. "No, Bousa is a common name¡ª" He stopped talking and stood up. He grabbed his arm and practically dragged him somewhere. "Let''s go to Miss Althea," he said. "She has a way to test." Now, Badjau was really confused, but he couldn''t find it in himself to reject an old man on the verge of crying. The Miss Althea was in the Research Center at this time, helping out with the studies. They waited at the lounge area for a while, with the older man pacing back and forth, while Badjau looked awkward as he sat on the comfortable chair in a large reception room. It was his first time going here. To access, he had to make an oath in the Village Center (paid for by Gaudi) that he would follow all the rules in the Center even during wars. It was very strict, and rightfully so. From what they heard, this place was one of the mysterious places in Alterra. Anyway, they waited for a while and Miss Althea arrived some minutes later. The two of them stood up to greet her, with Gaudi almost entering her private space in his hurry. "Miss Althea!" he gasped, softening his voice when he realized he was being presumptuous. "I¡­ can we ask for a favor? We can pay¡­" "What is it?" "I¡­" he paused, looking around. He realized that he only knew of this because he had stayed with the soldiers for a while. Looking back, he wasn''t sure if it was public knowledge, especially when there was a non-citizen in the area. Suddenly, he felt guilty for being too rash. "What is it?" "I¡­ I heard that the Research Center has a way to determine relatives?" "Well, yes," Althea said. "Want me to test your blood?" She could study components of plants, so of course she (or rather, Tori) could do blood tests. Althea''s green eyes fixed on him, and then shifted to the other lad behind him. Her eyebrows rose when she noticed their similarities, and there should be some other clues that led them to come to her in such a rush. She nodded in the end and took a clean pin from her space to get their blood samples. They were asked to wait in the reception area for about 20 minutes or so, with Althea heading back out with the results. The two of them stood up as soon as she entered the room, looking at her with nervous eyes. She had a blank expression on her face for a while, though it broke into a smile a moment later. "You have 25% shared DNA," she said. "This usually means blood relations like uncle or nephew, Grandparent or grandchild, half-siblings, or double first cousins." The two looked at each other, eyes sparkling. This confirmed that Badjau''s mother was indeed Gaudi''s sister! Immediately, the two burst to tears and ended up hugging, all the tension they had felt the past half an hour or so immediately flowing out. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "My mother did mention she lost loved ones before¡­" Badjau said, sniffling. "It was just that she was too weak to go looking for them. I never thought I''d meet any one of them¡­" Gaudi also cried. "My parents died in Nova because of different disasters," he wept. "The only relative I had left after transferring here was my sister¡­" he sobbed. "But we got separated after we escaped from our territory that was just about to lose in a war¡ª "I tried looking for her, but the territory I ended up in lost in a separate war, and I was unfortunate enough to become a slave." He lifted his head, looking at the younger Novan with apprehension. "How¡­ how is she?" "She''s a free woman," Badjau said with a smile, and suddenly all the worries that had been haunting Gaudi were blown away. "And while life is hard¡ª" he said, as it was for almost everyone. "She is living decently in our own corner of the world, at her own terms." ¡­ Althea was glad for these wholesome moments that made her day. Sadly, a couple of hours later, some more serious issues had to be tackled. Later that day, the council met up to finalize the next step to handle Vismont. They concluded that Vismont¡­ was not a hostile territory, at least not in the sense that they had to get rid of them. At the very least, they had to take away all Terrans who wished to be taken before the Extreme Heat. They also couldn''t be complacent. It wouldn''t do to lose an Alterran during the rescue operations. Subsidiaries would get punished for attacking master territory, but it wasn''t like they couldn''t do it outside of it. "Cain can''t escape," Victor said. "Please assign him to us." Juni nodded. She was tense in both nervousness and excitement. She had been working on her revenge for years, and it was understandable she would feel a bit antsy. She had also actually talked to Melissa as well, and the two of them had a heart-to-heart talk that lasted for hours. Because Melissa could not get away from the territory due to her pregnancy, they had agreed that Juni would kill Cain for the two of them. After various discussions, the people in the room turned to the two leading women in the territory, and Althea and Mathilda looked at each other in turn. "What do you think?" "Based on the status of the slaves there, attacking could be a bit much," one said. After all, everyone just wanted to live. Althea''s fingers tapped on the table in thought, eventually coming to a suggestion. "Well, if we are reluctant to use too much force¡­" she said, pausing. "We can always¡­ threaten." Chapter 855 Threats (Part 2) Half a day later, New Shrao Village Shiro stood in front of the square facing the widest avenue¡ªthe main street¡ªlooking upwards at the intruders with no goodwill. Behind him were his people, and he was surrounded by guards. "Aren''t you afraid to get punished?" he asked, looking up. He was looking at the handsome man with crossed arms, standing tall on one of the roofs. "Are we going to get punished?" The redhead asked back, and every Shrao villager gritted their teeth in response. The Alterrans caused chaos in the territory. There were many strong guards and even elementalists that attacked the leading team and guards out of nowhere, and they were completely taken off-guard. After the chaos with Higson, Matthew naturally wanted to place more rules, but because of the mobs outside he could only opt to increase his defence instead. This allowed the Alterrans to do a bit of damage without getting kicked out. Anyway, the newcomers were not only strong themselves¡ªmore than half were even elementalists¡ªbut their weapons were also superior. Even their bow and arrow was special, with one able to shoot a damaging shot every second, in contrast to theirs which took three or more times longer with weaker shots. The Alterrans didn''t make any lethal shots at all, but the damage they showed was enough to lower the local momentum to the negative. Basically, it was a show of strength without the need for blood which was, in a sense, even more humiliating. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. What was worse was that they¡ªthe Shrao Villagers¡ªcouldn''t fight back without getting punished by losing their hard-earned money or experience. After all, they were still a subsidiary in the end. However, how could they just passively take beatings in the end? They gritted their teeth and endured the blatant threats for a while until they believed they had found an opening. They saw that the Alterrans had become less tense and they took it as their guards lowered. Although there were quite a few of them, there were thousands of citizens in Shrao. If everyone attacked, even if they could get punished a bit, it was better than not doing anything! "You bastards!!" Fos yelled and a small team of guards attacked the nearest one, hoping to hold a hostage at least! Mauru happened to be the one nearby and he raised his hand, catching the attackers. He caught one by the arm, and kicked the others. It was strong enough that they struggled to get up. Shiro narrowed his eyes and also took out his weapon, attacking the closest enemy, who happened to be Luis. "Everyone, attack!" he yelled, and trying to push the young man back, though with a surprising amount of effort considering he was a few levels higher. Luis'' hand lit on fire and Shiro barely avoided a wave of fire that came with a slash. He avoided it by instinct, but a thought enlightened him. "Let the system punish them by using too much force outside of wars!!" Even if they were subsidiaries, a war could still trigger when the condition was met. The system was still fair, and it prevented master territories from performing massacres without heavy repercussions! When that happened, they would be able to fight back without getting punished! All of his powerful guards mobilized and targeted an Alterran, hoping to get them to attack at the same time in hopes of triggering a war. They''d be punished for attacking citizens from the master territory, sure, but because the people''s levels weren''t low, it wouldn''t be debilitating. Like most things, the punishment was always taken in proportion. In the same vein, a bit of a loss in EXP and Gold was worth it because, in exchange, it would take a huge bulk of the enemy''s flesh! Shiro knew this well¡ªthat the punishment given to territories wasn''t a fixed amount, but in proportion to its assets! Even if Alterra was rich, this just meant that the punishment would be even harsher! They felt vindictive at the thought and some just pretended to be dead to avoid any more damage. Most had to cooperate though and attack, receiving some losses in Gold and Experience. It was painful, but they were comforted by the fact of what would happen when the enemies retaliated. However, this feeling did not last long as he was pushed back by a ball of fire. Similarly, his guards were attacked as well, thrown smack on nearby walls. Bang! Bang! CRASH! But there was no war. They received the punishments, yet all of them were taken down in the end¡ªeither by brute force or by superior equipment. Someone was even surrounded, yet some magic tool activated, letting the person remain unharmed while he returned the attacks with even more intensity. There were also Fufi and Snow who intimidated everyone with their teeth and semi-bad breath (they just ate), making sure those who had been taken down would stay down. At some point, Ansel had also jumped down and kicked a few of the Shrao guards, fire surrounding his feet as he did so, making them groan in pain. Despite this, the war hadn''t been triggered. "Why¡­" Shiro mumbled, confused, as he pushed himself up, sending a dark look at the redhead approaching him. "No, it won''t trigger," he said, gossamer hair fluttering with the wind. He gave off a feeling of leisure, but rather than find it handsome, it stung their eyes. It felt like he was looking down on them and they felt humiliated. Looking at them like this, the young man gave a knowing smile. "We didn''t bring enough forces to trigger it, you see." This made Shiro and his nearby cronies to flinch and stare at him in disbelief. Did they find out the threshold? How? Was it even possible? Further, although the quantification of attacking without triggering wars was unclear, it was meant to activate as long as a very small fraction of a territory''s force was mobilized and attacked. The fact that it didn''t trigger despite bringing so many strongmen meant one thing: Alterra was so powerful?! Chapter 856 Dealing with Shrao Shiro gritted his teeth as he stood up, raised his weapon, and pointed it to Ansel. He was livid, though he remained prideful and poised, which was actually a little impressive. "We are your subsidiary village, was there a need to hurt us so much?" The other guards also got up, their weapons up, also glaring at him and the rest of the Alterrans. If they continued to attack, they''d just keep getting punished bit by bit until they were spent. If it wasn''t going to trigger anything, then what was the point? Ansel looked at them, crossing his arms. "It''s exactly why we don''t want a war to trigger. We''re not maniacs who like to attack random territories." "..." What to do? This was making them even angrier! Ansel was apparently not done annoying people though. "But¡­ we decided we didn''t want to pay for the ''slaves'' after all. We needed to show what we can do first, right?" "What do you want?" Shiro asked after taking a deep, deep breath. He realized these people were just bullying them to get something! "We want all of our citizens for free. That''s all," Ansel said, like a handsome gangster. "Do that without question and we will leave you alone. "We assure you: You don''t want to have an all-out war with us." Althea said it wasn''t ideal either. It was getting warm. The heat wave could happen any time soon. What if they were outside when it happened? Shiro looked at them and sighed. "Very well. We will release all former citizens of Vismont to you without cost." "Where''s Cain?" A somber young man yelled, and he realized him as one of the people he encountered back then. "Oh right, and the man called Cain." This made Shiro hesitate a bit. Cain had long made an oath of loyalty to him¡ªotherwise, why would he keep him? The man promised that he''d give all the information he needed about these people, their culture, and what he knew about the technology back there. How many others would be willing to do so? Even if they were willing, how much did they know? For instance, the current Terran slaves. Compared to Cain, the information they had was too limited and shallow! Cain, on the other hand, had an array of strategies in his mind that even Shiro found useful to learn from. Ansel''s eyebrows rose when he saw this. "You just found a home. Is it worth it to risk it for that one vile man?" he asked. "Choose quickly. It''s too hot and my hands are getting itchy." Wow. This type of bullying was kind of fun, but he quickly shook his head of that thought. Dangerous thoughts, dangerous thoughts¡­ "Anyway, get Cain in front of us now, or we''ll beat you up so much you''d be willing to spend all your gold and level just to defend against us." It wasn''t that they hadn''t investigated the bastard''s location before attacking, but they really couldn''t find him after they sneaked in. He must''ve gotten a whiff of what was happening¡ªthat sharp bastard¡ªand hid himself. Shiro looked at them with furrowed eyebrows, his jaw clenched. After a moment, his shoulders slumped in defeat and he looked at one of his men. They nodded in understanding and split up, heading to different areas in the territory. Group by group, Terrans were hauled in. These were both slaves and those who weren''t. They looked weak and sad, they were hungry and thirsty (they were fed but understandably not much), but most had their limbs intact. When they saw Ansel and the others they sobbed, some losing strength in their legs as they ran towards him. Saved! Finally saved! It wasn''t entirely smooth though. Some guards arrived some minutes later, pale, sweaty, and anxious. This was Joe and Lee, and they were amongst those assigned to get Cain. Their appearance made Ansel frown. "What''s going on?" They took deep breaths before they could tell him the news. "Cain¡­ he''s gone!" ¡­ Cain heaved a deep breath as he exited the village walls. The moment he saw someone from Alterra, he had a bad feeling and he immediately went to the opposite gate after some basic disguise. Fortunately, Alterra didn''t send too many people and he managed to sneak out. Cain finally stepped out of that place, which was a pity because it was too dangerous to be outside a territory in this world. He had managed to fill up his space with supplies, hopefully this was enough for him to get by. He had always managed to escape whatever came his way. He was blessed and lucky in this way. He believed he could just find another territory¡ª Oof! His train of thought was interrupted when he suddenly lost his balance. He was about to catch himself to soften his fall when small feet kicked his hand. He wasn''t able to react fast enough, causing him to fall down face first. Bam! "Ough!!" He spat on the soil that entered his mouth and he raised his head to see a young boy who was looking coldly at him. Immediately, he activated his ability but was pushed back by a strong gust of wind. "Horus, don''t dirty your hands so early," Eagle said, and he pulled back the boy with his one good arm, knowing that Cain was an elementalist. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Cain sneered and summoned his ability again but then he found that he could not move. At all. "What?" Little Horus smirked and showed him a bottle. Whatever was inside had paralyzed him. "Paralysis potion," he said. Horus used his ability to sneak on him, and even douse him a potion when he fell down. He couldn''t go closer though and his collar was held by Eagle. He pouted when he looked up, earning a soft smile from the one-handed man. "Leave the killing to the adults," he said. "So many people want to kill him, after all." Speaking of that, he had also kindly sent a notification for the people inside, telling them where Cain was. It was estimated the people who hated his guts¡ªlike Crow¡ªwere on the way here, as well. Cain gritted his teeth, trying to move, but for now, he was only able to move his fingers a bit. His eyes sharpened, trying his best to move the rest of his body. Sadly, he wasn''t able to do much because dainty feet appeared, stepping on his hand. "AGHHHH!" He yelled, his body flinching a bit as the pain shocked his core. It was harder now that he was paralyzed, because it felt like his body absorbed the pain even more. The feet twisted and sent him more and more jolts of pain, and he was unable to lift his head up for a few moments because of it. He forced himself to look¡ªhis head able to turn a bit¡ªand he gritted his teeth as he did so. He glared at the woman who stepped on him, surprised to see it was an old acquaintance. "Long time no see, Cain," Juni said, her velvety voice cool but her eyes were dark. "How does it feel to be the one helpless and unable to move this time?" Chapter 857 Junis Vengeance (Part 1) Cain shook and gritted his teeth, but his arrogance still flowed as he saw her there. He didn''t know how they found him so quickly, but that didn''t matter now. What he needed to do was to survive, and it so happened that the emotional woman could be just what he needed. His eyes darted to the people surrounding him. There was the one-armed man holding that brat back. Ah, now that he thought about it, he did seem familiar¡­ Beside him was another soldier¡ªhe could tell by his stance¡ªand then next to him was a pale young lad with his bow and arrow out, pointing at him. It was that brat who kept trying to attack him in the forest a few days ago, apparently the nephew of one of his women. With at least three people wanting him dead, he wondered what he could say to keep his life. However, Cain had always believed in his own luck. Back in Terran, his father would clean up after every thing. No matter what he did¡ªeven if his actions inadvertently caused a few lives¡ªhe always got away with it. Here, in this world where there was no law, it was even easier. He had encountered his first obstacle when he got kicked out of the territory. He almost lost his life many times, and gained so many scars, but look: Didn''t he get revenge on the person who did that to him? Anyway, he got lucky and found refugees back then, just when he was at the end of his rope, eventually leading him to the newly-nomadic Shrao people from the East. Even when he was also in danger, he believed things would somehow work out his way again. Still, he couldn''t help but look down at Juni¡ªa beautiful starlet with nothing but her face and body. Even with his confidence, seeing her above him like this admittedly hit several chords and made his heart clench in annoyance and indignance. Combined with the pain and the humiliation, the words that came out of his mouth were a bit unfiltered. Anyway, a little woman like this wouldn''t be able to do anything if he managed to convince the men behind her to do otherwise. "Being unable to move is really an unpleasant feeling," he said. "Was that how you felt back then? I''m sorry¡­ I was immature. I really thought you enjoyed it with how you were moaning¡ª" Stab! "AGH!" He yelled as he felt a blade buried in his stomach. If he could move well, he''d have flinched and bent wildly, but he could not. Ironically, he was paralyzed and unable to move well, but the pain was way too vivid¡ªno, it was even exacerbated. His eyes were red as he glared at the woman he had thought of as an ant, a toy to give him pleasure. She really dared to hurt him like this¡­ "Our Juni''s gotten a little powerful eh?" he continued, "Did you pander after a man? Which one?" His eyes turned to look at Victor: Powerful, confident, and handsome. "It''s him, right?" he asked, zoning in on his target. "Hey, I know a lot of things about aborigines, want me to tell you?" he asked. "Keep me alive and in one piece, maybe we can work something out." His dirty eyes darted to Juni. "I can tell you a lot of things about this woman, too. Don''t you wanna know?" Victor didn''t grace him with an answer. He just looked at Juni with a blank face, but his eyes were soft and sad. Juni''s fist clenched but she didn''t show anything else. However, memories of that night rammed into her mind. She remembered how she was drugged, tied, and forced to do their bidding. She was so helpless, with no one coming to help no matter how much she cried. In the middle of that suffering was this man. Her eyes reddened and she raised her arm above him. Her hands leaked seemingly hot liquid that dripped out of her palm. It was so hot that it caused whatever spot it landed on to blow out a bit of steam. Cain''s eyebrows furrowed, his stomach dropping and he gasped when he felt that liquid go through his clothes. That same hand was now heading towards his face. He stared at Juni with wide eyes filled with disbelief. "You won''t dare¡ªGYAAAHHHHHH!!!!" With red eyes, Juni used up all her mana to create as much acid as she could. It wasn''t actually much, just a few milliliters, but it was enough to cause Cain unimaginable pain. She especially wanted to damage his poisonous mouth and burn his ugly eyes that saw horrendous things done to women like her. Hopefully, it could even reach his twisted brain. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She released as much acid as she could in hopes of achieving this, and Cain could scream his lungs out. It was very much lke being cooked alive, except in certain spots on the skin, which wasn''t necessarily better than the whole body being boiled, due to the contrast. "GGGAAHHHHH!" he yelled and screamed and due to the high level of pain, he was even flinching a bit. He looked like a pitiful fish thrown in boiling water, slowly being cooked alive. "STOOOPPITTT! AHHHHHHH!" Cain continued to yell as he went through unimaginable pain, his level and element the only thing keeping him alive. ¡­which, with this amount of suffering, might not be a good thing. Horus'' rounded eyes didn''t leave the man as he suffered, trying to burn the image in his own mind. Crow''s bow and arrow were still raised, and his attention never left the bastard that caused so much suffering. However, his heart felt fiery as he watched the man scream. He had hoped to cause it himself before, but Crow was satisfied now because he wouldn''t have caused him as much pain as Juni could. Torturing him like this definitely would not bring those people back, nor was it comparable to the pain he had caused all over, but it was a memory they would remember along with the good memories of their loved ones back when they were alive. They remembered every moment so that in their minds, they could tell them: You can rest in peace now; the devil has fallen. Chapter 858 Junis Vengeance (Part 2) Victor pondered whether it was time to pull her back, but he knew she needed to vent everything to move on. Juni naturally didn''t tell him the specific details of the assault¡ªno victim would be comfortable. He did not want her to relive the experience either. However, he had an idea and it was a lie to say that his heart wasn''t burning in anger for her. If he could, he''d have stabbed the man multiple times with his own blade. However, he knew too well that Juni had to do it herself. She would not appreciate other people fighting her fights for her. To move on, she needed to do this. The man''s face was melted at this time, and they could see the man''s burnt face muscles, and even a few peeks of his skull. His body slowly stopped moving, no longer twitching, and they watched as the life drained out of him in front of their eyes. Juni saw this and finally stopped. She was shaking from overexertion, but tears of relief pooled in her eyes. She turned to look at her man with a smile, who sent her his own. Vanessa, who was right next to Victor, frowned. She didn''t know Juni had a mutated ability and she couldn''t help but feel a bit jealous. It was weak for now, but it was a killer when trained well. This meant that Juni''s place in their party would only increase¡ªand not just because she was her brother''s woman. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her eyes were focused on Cain, and her vision and angle managed to catch the man''s finger move just a little bit. It was extremely subtle and the arm was on the other side of the body, with Vanessa just happened to be at the spot to get a glimpse of it. She blinked at the sight. "Juni!" She immediately called to get the woman''s attention without thinking¡ªthough whether it was to warn or something else, she wasn''t entirely certain herself. Her voice made the other woman turn to her a bit, and she was unable to react on time at the sudden movement that came afterward¡ªno one was. Cain suddenly moved and sat up, releasing a sharp weapon from his space as he did so. Obviously, he was using the last bit of adrenaline in his system¡ªin addition to the pain¡ªto break the effects of the paralysis potion to move at least one more time. Victor''s eyes widened at the realization, sprinting towards her. "JUNI!" Crow, who had been watching the whole time, released his arrow and it went straight to the man''s heart. It caused him to displace the blade a bit, but somehow the bastard still managed to continue moving. Unexpectedly, Cain''s ability¡ªrust¡ªmanaged to create a little zone around him as a final instinct and the arrow head disintegrated before it could kill him. Slash! Victor''s eyes reflected the blade going through Juni''s body. Crow immediately shot two more arrows, aiming at Cain''s eyes each. This time he no longer had any ability left and both arrows went through his head. Victor immediately beheaded the man to make sure the cockroach didn''t rise, catching his lover before she fell down. He immediately pulled out the blade and got her to drink all his remaining healing potion¡ªafter all, the flesh might heal around the object if they didn''t take it out. The blade disintegrated and they couldn''t find the mind to care for it. Everyone surrounded Juni, though giving enough space to breathe. They also took out their own healing potions and got her to drink it, dousing her wound itself. Vanessa also kneeled down and used her ability, though she was extremely pale and shaky, her blood turning cold. Her mind was whirling in thought, panic dawning inside of her, and maybe a bit of guilt and remorse. Was this her fault? Did she actually end up helping Cain? No one was privy to her thoughts, everyone''s attention was fixed on the woman on the ground. In the end, while all the treatments, slowed down the bleeding, it couldn''t stop it. The wound had become smaller and was partially clotting, but it was like a force was keeping the wound open. Judging by how paler and paler Juni was becoming, what they were doing wasn''t helping much. Victor''s cool had already crumbled, he whipped his head to Vanessa and then to Eagle. "Why?!" "It was made with his ability," Eagle said with a deep frown. "It must''ve been a skill of sorts, but I''m not familiar with it. It''s best to get the aborigines to see it," he said. "We need to take her to the hospital as soon as possible." Victor nodded and he grabbed Juni, heart stopping when he felt her getting colder and colder. "Hmnnn¡­" she moaned, and flinched, as if having soft spasms. He carried her up as she gasped, as if finding it difficult to breathe. "Juni¡ªNononono¡­" His voice cracked as he settled her in his arms, preparing to leave. "I''m going back to Alterra," he said, and another guard was assigned to follow after them in order to ensure no mob would get in the way. Victor disappeared, sprinting, using whatever health he had to get to Alterra as soon as humanly possible. As he ran with her in his arms, the symptoms intensified, and Victor could only pray that Juni would be able to hold on. She was a strong woman¡ªthis shouldn''t be able to take her life!! Juni! Please be alright! ... A/N: Let''s have a deal this Oct 13 2024~ For the next two Sundays this month, if the book reaches Golden Rank #2, a bonus chap will get posted, and if it reaches #1, THREE bonus chaps will be posted (for every Sunday remaining this Oct 2024). If the book maintains that rank until the month ends (i.e. the final rank for Oct 2024) I will upload extra chaps on the 1st Sunday of November, too! (1 bonus for GT rank 2, and 3 bonus for GT rank 1). Help us guys! o(T_T)o Thank youuuu~ Chapter 859 Tetanus Limestone Valley, a few days ago On a quiet night, the erotic sounds of lovemaking were heard inside a room. The handsome Victor hovered over the beautiful woman, moving his hips impassionedly. Juni wrapped her soft arms around him to stabilize herself, mouth parted a bit as sensual moans escaped her lips. He moved faster and faster as he reached his peak, both gasping as they climaxed, feeling each other in the most intimate way possible. After their lovemaking, Victor pulled Juni to rest on him, wrapping his strong arms around her supple waist. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, feeling the comfort of her man. They were leaving for Alterra tomorrow, and she felt a mix of heaviness and excitement. However, there were also a few things she was worried about. At this, she turned her head to look at Victor, who was looking at her warmly. "Is Vanessa really coming with us to Alterra?" Victor paused and sighed. He nodded. "She¡­ although she can be selfish, she''s quite talented and had a good potential¡ª" "Victor¡­ I know it''s not my place to speak, but she might cause some conflicts just with her obsession with the captain." Victor sighed, patting her back. "She''s just a bit spoiled, but she doesn''t have a bad heart. She still knows to look at the bigger picture." Juni pursed her lips. "Well, if you say so¡­," she mumbled, before they both fell into uneasy sleep. ¡­ _____ Alterra, Present Victor reached Alterra a few hours later, bloodied, eyes red. Juni was immediately taken to the emergency room for surgery and Victor ran to find Oslo and Garan for advice. "I¡­ it wouldn''t completely heal as expected," he said. When she arrived, they also gave her Althea''s pharmacist-grade medicine that¡ªat their level¡ªshould''ve been able to bring even worse back to life. However, there was still part of the wound that seemed infected and refused to close so the doctors had no choice but to bring her to the operating room. They looked at the remainder of the blade that Eagle¡ªwho had arrived shortly after with Horus¡ªmanaged to recover. They frowned. It was rust. To Oslo, it was simply something that weakened their metals. If one went against a rare metal user that had this attribute, depending on capability, their own metals would be affected. "So he has a mutated metal ability," Garan said, while Victor looked at him. "We should tell them it''s rust, so they could formulate a suitable Tetanus shot." Victor went back to the hospital first to tell their findings to the doctor, hopefully to provide the proper care for Juni. When he got there, Vanessa was outside, nervous and waiting eagerly for his arrival. While she did seem pale, she also seemed disappointed to see him alone. "Garan isn''t here," he said, looking at his sister, lacking the warmth it usually had. Vanessa flushed a bit. "No, it''s not that¡ªI''m here for Juni," she said, catching her brother''s look. "I called her to warn her!" Victor rubbed his forehead, sighing. He didn''t know what happened and no one saw Cain''s ability being so special. In retrospect, the ability could''ve reduced the effect of the paralysis potion on himself, as well. It would be unfair to blame this on Vanessa, whether or not she called Juni to warn or to distract her. It didn''t mean his heart was happy to see her right now though. "I¡­ I''m here to support you, brother," she said, her voice gentle and she tried to hold his arms. He shook his head, avoiding her hold. "I''d like to be alone now." ¡­ Meanwhile, Eagle and Garan went to the Research Center, to the pharmacy section where Althea was, hoping to create a good medicine for it. Althea, who was more fascinated with arrays at this time, was called and she was shocked to know about the development of the attack. She immediately headed to the Pharmacy lab, where Gus, Donlee (who would join them when it wasn''t his shift in the Pharmacy), as well as Dr. Abdul¡ªan immunologist who arrived with Dr. Volohov¡ªwere taking office. "How''s the antibiotic?" she asked, as soon as she entered. It was Dr. Abdul who answered her. "We''re still in the synthesis stage, Miss Althea," he said, "But we should be able to move on to the next step within a few weeks." The Pharmacy team''s project before this was creating an antibiotic. While they knew the formula in Terran, the needed materials, doses, and types were naturally different in Xeno. In the first place, the risk of infection was lower here. However, it wasn''t that there weren''t any cases. They were doing surgeries, and there had been a few reported cases of infections during the previous wars. Fortunately, Althea''s medicines were there to fix them but how much of that could they have? Althea''s medicine wasn''t a cure-all either¡ªno medicine was. Back in Terran, antibiotics also fixed problems like pneumonia, skin infections, STDs, and the like. Although they were markedly rarer here in Xeno, it wasn''t that they no longer existed. Rather, because they were rare, they came in hard when they appeared. Regardless, the antibiotic was still an important medicine to develop for them. As for how they discovered it, it was quite an interesting story. They found the substances with antimicrobial properties in the Srira Mushroom, one of the fungi brought over by people who went to the Ferrol Market Festival and successfully planted by her after several trial-and-errors. She asked the team to determine where the source was and they said it was from a village South. It was very cheap as mushrooms weren''t particularly popular to eat here. Generally speaking, most of the illiterate population considered all mushrooms were poisonous. "Not fast enough," Althea said after receiving the doctor''s answer. "Someone got tetanus. Other than the tetanus medicine, we may also need antibiotics." The scientists flinched as they looked at her, though some with bright eyes. Don''t think of them as extremely sociopathic, but such subjects were rare to come by. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We''ll do our best, Miss Althea." Chapter 860 Another Finding Alterra General Hospital Victor walked to and fro the door of the operating room. Vanessa didn''t leave in the end, though primarily to make a point against her brother who seemed to believe she was there superficially¡ªpossibly due to Garan. While she had a habit of looking for the man, she really did want Juni to survive. Whether it was for basic morality or just to avoid the guilt and liability, she didn''t really dwell on it for now. It took another hour or so before the doctors came out. Victor immediately met Volohov and a few assistants. Betty was also there, and her task was to heal Juni as needed. After all, the operation was on critical internal organs and they didn''t have the machines in order to keep patients alive during operations. At least not yet. "Her situation is temporarily stable, but we''re still studying how to completely heal her," the doctor said, heaving a deep breath. "His metal was rust in and on itself. Now Juni has a very bad case of tetanus." Victor''s hands clenched into a fist, but he loosened it to calm himself down. "The Research Lab is already working on its cure." Volohov nodded, "Well, I trust in the team." "Is the rust unusual?" "Rust itself can''t cause tetanus, but the rust attracts the spores of a bacteria called Clostridium tetani. In Terran, there would be an incubation period, but here¡­" This meant that this world''s version of this bacteria was much more potent and dangerous. Further, it was from an elementalist, which had known capabilities to have much more potent effects than anything else. Victor heaved a deep breath while Vanessa stood beside him, acting like a concerned relative. "What¡­ could happen to her?" "Tetanus causes severe muscle spasms, seizures, and difficulty in breathing. If left untreated, she just wouldn''t be able to breathe anymore." "What?" "We implanted a tube on her," Volohov said, "The lack of oxygen in her brain would cause her to remain unconscious for a long time." Although they didn''t have synthetic material usually used to make such tubes and medical tools, they did have rubber which was a decent alternative. "She would likely remain in a vegetative state, at least for a while." "Even in the hospital?" "She''s still breathing thanks to her being here," the doctor explained. However, the look of the doctor on him shifted a bit, and it made Victor even more nervous. "And¡­ there''s something else you would want to know." Volohov then looked at Betty who nodded before stepping forward. Vanessa also gave this one a bad look. Betty¡ªthe beautiful aborigine blonde who was also a healer. They had the same elements and occupations, and it was natural for Vanessa to feel a sense of competition with her. "I have awakened a new skill the past few days, it''s called Bodily Assessment Skill," she said. "The skill would help me see the basic status of a person''s health, though it consumes a bit of mana." The story of how it awakened was a bit¡­ unusual. That man named Tom came to her, saying his chest hurts, asking for her help and she did heal him. She knew this man as her eyes always gravitated towards him when he was around. He was not very handsome, but he had a very kind heart. She also saw him cook for the kids during their picnics and she thought how great a father he would be. Also, seeing healers consumed contribution points so she just did as she was asked. She thought, no one would be willing to waste precious contribution points if there was really no issue, right? However, the ''illness'' just didn''t seem to get better. She felt very very worried, so she healed and tried to understand what was going on, and this went on for many days. She was shocked to trigger the skill in the end. This was a skill that would''ve awoken in Betty sooner or later but, with Tom''s help, it came much sooner. Betty looked at Vincent to state her findings, "When she was healing, I used the skill to make a preliminary check on her," she said. "It''s still in the early stages but the skill managed to register it. In her, I found a little thing." It was very little because it was very, very, young. Perhaps it was only a few days old, or a week at the oldest. Victor''s eyebrows furrowed, confused. "What?" "Miss Juni is pregnant." For the first time in his life, Victor''s knees buckled and he fell down on the floor in weakness. ¡­ Victor held the woman''s pale and cold hand, his sad eyes looking at her greying face. The tubes were barely keeping her and his baby alive, and the sight was heartbreaking. He had already asked a favor from the team to send his father a message to handle things in the valley, as he''d be staying here until they needed to. "Please be alright¡­" he said, looking deeply at her, and the tools that were keeping her alive. He looked at the mechanisms and knew that Alterra already had electricity at this point, though apparently limited to a few places for now. If his heart wasn''t so heavy, he''d be incredibly amazed. "Hang on, Juni, please hang on," he begged, burying his head in the back of her hand. He shouldn''t have let her come. Or at least he shouldn''t have let his guard down when his woman was so close to their enemy. It was his fault. He underestimated that man. A man who could survive so long¡ªa lot of which he was even alone and without backing¡ªwas naturally not weak. Now his love was in danger, and so was their child. He stayed like that for hours, just staring, and he only took away his eyes when there was a knock on the door. It was Vanessa, and she was already cleaned up and was even wearing a nice dress. "Brother, it''s time for you to rest." In fact, Vanessa had been walking around the territory and buying things to distract herself from the worry and guilt. However, as she shopped, she ended up just burning in jealousy at the convenience and lifestyle of everyone. Although Limestone Valley had been greatly improved, how could it compare to the well-planned Alterra? Now, they could even have ice cream as they walked! Then she encountered Garan and her eyes brightened. Sadly, he wasn''t alone and still with his children. Her heart clenched at the picture they made, her stomach boiling in acid. She approached them, wearing her new dress, but Garan didn''t pay attention to her. He was carrying the two chubby babies, and his eyes were on them. In contrast, it was that woman who greeted her. "Aren''t you supposed to be with your brother?" The bitch asked and Vanessa had no choice but to go to the hospital again. Vanessa stayed for a while, but she really couldn''t bear to look at Juni. Seeing her reminded Vanessa of what she could''ve been thinking. Regardless of her intent, there was probably a part of her that had wanted Juni gone for good. Vanessa wasn''t ready to face that thought. What made it worse was that she was apparently pregnant! If something happened, wouldn''t she be haunted by these two lives? Vanessa''s defense mechanisms was denial. And she absolutely could not handle it mentally if the baby perished and if he was truly her brother''s blood. "Hasn''t it been only a week since you''ve been with her?" Vanessa asked, looking genuinely suspicious. "Are you sure it''s yours?" Unexpectedly, Victor stood up and went to her. Slap! Her head rang, unable to comprehend what had just happened. She barely noticed the sting on her face compared to the shock her heart felt. "Brother? Did¡­ did you just slap me?" "You''re a grown woman," he said, "You should know when to watch your mouth better." Vanessa was absolutely aghast. No one had ever raised their hands against her, and the last person she expected this from was her loving brother!! "Brother, you jerk!" she yelled, running away with tears threatening to fall down her eyes. Victor sighed and tiredly sat back down, holding the woman''s hand again. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You were right, Juni," he said, looking as if he''d aged a decade. "You were always right." Chapter 861 Final Preparations before the Heat After some hours of travel, the rest of the party that went to Shrao had finally arrived. Behind them were the surviving Terran Citizen that remained or were kept in Shrao. There were only a few thousand though, which was much less than they anticipated. Obviously, a lot of people died in the war as well as after it. Ronny and Okuri had already recovered and were now watching their arrival with the others. They looked complicatedly at the rescued people, who were now safe and sound. This was a good thing of course, but they couldn''t help but look at their own suffering. "Do you think we did the right thing back then?" Okuri asked, genuinely wondering, her eyes fixed on the molded cover that now hang on her boyfriend''s ears. "If we hadn''t escaped¡­, maybe we didn''t have to suffer so much." "Your decision was not wrong," Yao¡ªwho was greeting the others with them¡ªsaid. "Although a lot of people had been rescued, a lot had also passed. Although it was mostly Cain''s doing and a few of the lord''s citizens, a lot of people were tortured for days." During the initial investigations, the Shrao slaves indeed lived much more humanely than others. However, it was a village with thousands of people. Slaves, unless otherwise indicated, could follow any citizen¡ªtemporary or permanent¡ªfrom the winning territory. In the case of conflicting orders, they would follow the stronger person. After the ''threats'', all of the Terrans were released and they found out about the fraction of slaves who suffered. That was to say, behind closed doors, a lot of people still suffered a lot. Some may be within the lord''s knowledge, while some weren''t. "Many women had been abused. It''s just a normal thing in this world, and things really could''ve been worse for us had we stayed," Yao said, heaving a deep breath. Ronny held her hand tighter at this, no doubt thinking of what could''ve happened to her if they did not leave when they did. Neither of them had doubts¡ªshe would''ve really suffered that way. Yao sighed. "It''s just the way of this world." He wasn''t making excuses for the people of this world, but stressing out and shouting injustice each time was too tiring. This world had too many problems to be focusing on every little thing. This world was so dark, but what could they do? Until there was a chance for vengeance, they''d just hit them back but¡­ until then, they could only move on with their lives, living it as peacefully as they could. Hopefully, they would create a little patch of life where things were better. To them right now, this was Alterra, and the Region they were slowly forming around it. ¡­ The newcomers were brought to the dormitories. Some went straight to the bank, putting oaths as their collateral. In Alterra Bank, they could pay off their debts by promising their own workforce to the territory. This was something explained to them on their way there, and it immediately injected hope in everyone. Of course, the amount was minimal for now. After all, all they had was their own labor and their promise. Many of them had been captured as slaves, and this meant they had nothing in their names. The amount they could loan out at this point was only a couple of golds, just enough to feed, shelter, and clothe themselves for about a month using the most basic food, dormitory services, and maybe two pairs of clothes. They could also buy a set of basic equipment, though how long that''d last would depend on their usage. Fortunately, to most, it was more than enough¡ªalready very kind. They didn''t believe they''d be useless for an entire month. They should be able to find ways to make money on their own during that time. The amount was payable throughout one year with minimal interests, which was extremely doable as long as they weren''t lazy. If one had the right attitude, things would not get any worse for any of them in economic terms. They were already glad to be rescued, but to think they would have a chance to live well as soon as they moved in was something they didn''t expect. As for Alterra''s side, it was indeed very kind, but it always had a long-term vision in mind. And¡­ it so happened that the territory needed a lot of manpower for the tunnels. A win-win situation indeed! ¡­ The next day, these newcomers started working and the finishing of the mountain tunnels was faster than ever. They were also a team planting some plants and fungi that would thrive in tunnels. In these areas, Althea actually secretly built system farms. Even if it was underground, the arrays should still work to some degree, though only time would tell how the productivity would be. The new workers were led by the team leader to the section they had to dig up. Although it was really hot, especially for manual labor, there were plenty of trees around. There were also temporary stalls rented out by the mouth of the tunnel so they could buy snacks and food¡ªpreferably cool ones¡ªwhenever they had to go on breaks. Also, this was the only easy-to-qualify job in the territory¡ªeverything with great pay, and those ''office jobs'' were all filled. A lot of them weren''t strong or brave enough to hunt every day¡ªespecially in this heat¡ªso this was the best alternative for them. The job was to dig out parts of the soil, working side-by-side the construction team, to create these tunnels and underground construction. They witnessed various earth elementalist work with them, which was amazing, and then they also witnessed a new species digging! "Goblins¡­ really goblins." some would mumble, absolutely fascinated. Some of these people were moviegoers or avid gamers, and they really didn''t think they''d be working side-by-side with another intelligent species in their lifetimes! Suddenly, a lot of them forgot their sufferings the past couple of months, even for just a moment. Also, those cute little critters were REALLY good diggers. A little one a third of a grown man''s size could dig at least twice as fast as one. "Amazing!" "So cool¡­" sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The compliments were so sincere and although they had been hearing it a few times lately the little goblins couldn''t help but blush. Funnily enough, when goblins were shy, they didn''t turn red, and their upright ears would soften a little, making it look a bit droopy. Very cute. Other than them, a lot of the workers were from Mauin, very happy to be able to get honest and safe jobs. Although they naturally still had to go hunt outside every few days, they felt it was only natural and for their own good after a long session of explanations from locals. After all, as people who had been fighting their whole lives, they were mostly leaning towards just resting and doing jobs within the walls. At the time, they didn''t understand why everyone still had to go outside when there were perfectly good alternatives inside. Even the weaker people went outside and willingly, some were even excited to do so. Back then, they were so confused, and they were quickly enlightened by the locals. "Do you want to be left behind?" "Do you want to be weak?" "Everyone else will look young but you''re looking old!" Mauin-VIllagers-who-looked-their-age: "..." Anyway, safe to say that the villagers, the goblins, and the newcomers had integrated very well with Alterra, becoming one themselves. Chapter 862 Surprise Proposal? In the hospital, Eagle¡ªas the soldier who had witnessed Cain''s death¡ªwas called by Elder Eugene for a favor. It was a little embarrassing asking such a high-ranking guard to go out of his way to report to a civilian, but he felt Melissa needed to hear a more accurate account of what had transpired in Shrao Village. He told them of how they caused chaos inside the village, with several people monitoring the outside in case anyone escaped. It so happened that a lot of them focused on the areas of the walls that had the least activity, and caught Cain even when he was still climbing the wall. Little Horus, whose sister died tragically in the man''s hand, wanted to be a part of his demise. Fortunately, the child had very good stealth skills and was very brave, and they allowed him to do so. He then told them of how he died under Juni''s hand, literally having his face melted. "He died very painfully," Eagle told Melissa as she laid down the hospital bed again. Her case this time wasn''t an emergency, fortunately. It was just that she was a bit overworked in the Research Lab and couldn''t rest when the mission started. When she found out that the mission was a success, all the tiredness caught up to her and she fainted. Eugene''s heart clenched as he rushed her to the hospital. He had worried for her and the child''s health and was a mess of anxiety when they arrived. Fortunately, the doctors assured her it was just overwork. The current body was strong¡ªeven Melissa also did her training¡ªand she only needed to rest a bit to be as good as new. Eugene almost fell down in relief, and he just stayed with her until she regained consciousness. When Melissa woke up, she wanted to go and see the man''s corpse herself¡ªall the way in Shrao Village. Obviously, this was not possible. However, this made him thicken his face and ask a favor from Eagle. "We saw his muscles and bones, all while he was still breathing and struggling." Melissa listened intently to Eagle''s account of the perpretrator''s death, holding Eugene''s hand tightly. "He was burned with Juni''s acid. I saw how her acid went to his mouth and his eyes, and I think some of it went to his brain. I feel that it was mostly body memory that did the final attack. While he was shot through the heart and ultimately beheaded, his death was extremely painful." Melissa sobbed, feeling a little liberated, but her heart was still heavy from the loss of her precious sibling. "My poor brother¡­" she said, resting her head on her lover''s. "He was never really free. When our parents died, I tied him down because of my health, then we transferred here and the responsibility for me and for the people loomed heavily on him. The guilt and burden weren''t something I would wish on anyone. "Even with Higson dead, it only got a little better. I left the territory and gained freedom, but he couldn''t even enjoy the same¡­" she mumbled, tears running down her face. "No¡ªhe had to live with all those deaths he allowed to happen because of me¡ªand that was a worse punishment than if he was just killed. "He''s so young and so good¡­" She sobbed for a bit more and the two men patiently waited for her to calm. Her dainty hands clenched the fabric of her hospital gown. "It''s good that man is dead. I wish he suffered more." "I''m sorry for Juni though¡­" she said eventually, looking at Eagle with reddish eyes. "How is she?" Eagle sighed at this. "No good news yet." ¡­ Eagle could still recall what happened to Juni and Victor''s despair. Things happened so quickly. Everything was good one second, and everything came crashing down a moment later. He walked out of the hospital with a dark mood. "Eagle?" A soft voice called out, and it was a voice that calmed his mood. Immediately, his eyes warmed as he looked at the small woman. She must''ve been there for her shift. After awakening the Healer occupation, she had become Betty''s assistant. She was smiling gently at him, still so cute and pretty and healthy. Inexplicably, he thought of the events of the past few days. He was reminded, over and over, that life here was so¡­ fragile. "I''m glad you''re back safe and sound," she said. She was about to make some small talk but she noticed his deep stare. She couldn''t help but blush. "W-What is it?" "I''m just happy you''re safe and sound." Shiela blinked. "But I stayed here," she said, looking at him, "I''m glad you are safe and sound." "..." "..." S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You know, I wanted to catch that bouquet for you," he told her frankly, almost out-of-nowhere. It startled Sheila, but it was nothing compared to what he said next. "It was because I wanted to propose to you as well." Sheila''s eyes widened in shock, face flushed. "W-What?!" They weren''t even officially together yet! It had to be said: Soldiers were really straightforward. After all, they battled with dangers constantly. Who had the time or the leisure for detours? Seeing her not talking, he paled, but he refused to give up easily and continued to ''state his case''. "I know I lack an arm now, but I assure you that it doesn''t affect anything else!" He swore. He was a wind elementalist; he could figure something out. Sheila paled, thinking he misunderstood her. "That''s not what I¡ª" "Then what is?" "I-I-I¡ª" He looked at her like this and his heart ached when he thought she disliked him. His eyebrows furrowed, and he looked at her pitifully. "You¡­ don''t want to marry me?" "No, it''s not that!" Sheila blurted out with face as red as a baboon''s butt. It was enough to elevate Eagle''s hope and mood above the clouds. Eagle smiled widely, extending his one arm to embrace her. "I''m so happy!" "I¡ªI¡ª" The two were so in their own world that they barely noticed they gathered an audience. The scene was so awkward-cute and it made the audience want to laugh and cry. "Just kiss her already!" "Yes!" "Seal it with a kiss!" People around them yelled and Sheila¡ªwho had noticed they had spectators¡ªcovered her face in shyness. Eagle blinked and looked at the flushed Sheila in front of him. She was very small, over a head shorter, so he leaned down a little so they were at eye level. He gently pried her hands away from her face with his one large hand, placing them over his beating chest. "Can I really?" he asked and some of the people facepalmed. "Just do it!" they yelled and Sheila really didn''t know what to do anymore. Time seemed to have slowed and she gulped. She felt her throat dry up, the shyness and embarrassment causing blood to run to her brain. However, she saw Eagle''s pure and determined eyes and she couldn''t bear to tell him ''no''. Finally, she nodded, making Eagle''s eyes sparkle even more. When he leaned down to capture her lips, everyone cheered, though neither of them could hear them anymore. All they could hear were their own and each other''s heartbeats, and all they could feel¡­ was each other. Sealed with a kiss, indeed. Chapter 863 Extreme Heat (Part 1) The weddings had to be deferred though, because the event they dreaded had finally happened. A heat wave blanketed the entire world. Temperature soared, and the air was thick, heavy, and oppressive. Even the winds felt like hot breaths of a furnace, as if someone was pushing their faces close to the fire. Overnight, a drought spread out the entire continent and shallow water sources immediately dried out. The soil cracked in dryness and plants wilted under the brutal heat. The heat distorted the sights outside, with stones shimmering in the waves of heat and radiating warmth and adding to people''s suffering. The only bright side of this was that there were no monsters attacking at all during this time, but that wouldn''t have mattered because most people wouldn''t have been able to move anyway. The heat drained energy, causing widespread lethargy akin to death. People would sweat, but if they were in open air, it would dry out almost immediately, and they wouldn''t even enjoy the only advantage of sweating. The air was just painful to the skin if one stayed outside for too long, and they could even be burned under the direct sun. Cases of Heat Stress and Heatstroke were abound. Pretty much everywhere in the territory, there was not just heavy sweating, weakness, and dizziness. There were plenty of those suffering from nausea, headache, and even fainting. Alterra was lucky because they were next to water sources and there were still some water available. They prepared the best they could, so they were fine and not dying¡ªunlike many others outside¡ªbut it didn''t mean it still wasn''t hell. "AHHH¡­ sooo hot¡­" Ansel mumbled as he laid down on the floor with buckets of ice surrounding them. There were fans behind them, powered by solar panels placed above their roofs. (Not every home had one now, of course, as they didn''t have time to mass produce them) "Like a child," Winona said, throwing a face towel that had been soaked in ice water. Winona had effectively moved in since the engagement, but she did promise to support her grandmother and keep the other house. However, she did threaten if they did anything to ruin her peace, then she''d take away all that was hers. Since then, her life had been quiet, and those people would avoid her when they saw her. As always, money could fix everything¡­ "Ohh! That''s nice~" Ansel said, grinning, as he wiped his face with the iced towel. "Thanks, wife." sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Winona flushed and pinched his cheek. "Stop being cheesy!" Althea giggled and smiled when her husband wiped her sweat off. Similarly, she also wiped a cool towel on the babies who were very weak from the heat. They were whimpering in discomfort, and it was heartbreaking to watch. "Mhmnnhmm¡­" "Googmmgma¡­ wuuu¡­" The two babies were wearing minimal clothing already. They sqirmed in position, sleeping with legs and arms open to feel more of the air. Their cheeks were red as apples, which would''ve been cute normally, but they knew the children were suffering. Her heart clenched and she sighed, knowing there wasn''t much they could do but cool them down more. Garan fanned his family and refused when Althea wanted to switch. He had much stronger arms, he said, her arms were so small, it''d be tired quickly. Plus, he had his ice ability, so the air he produced with the fan was cool. "How long is this going to last?" "I heard it lasts at least a week, but more often longer than that." Everyone groaned a bit, but not too loud. They needed to conserve energy after all. Everyone was wearing very thin and comfortable clothing at this time, but it still felt sweltering. They could only imagine how bad it was outside the territory. Harold and the others were in the other villa. They didn''t hang around in the same area. Too much body heat was too much heat. The dogs were with them though and they pretty much slept next to the ice buckets. The poor things were just lying there without much energy, as if conserving energy not to overheat. Ansel turned to look at them. When they realized that it was happening, he almost shaved them. After all, if one thought about it, wouldn''t they be too hot under all that fur? He almost got his head bitten inside their mouths when he was stopped by his wife kicking him. Winona had a dog growing up. She stopped him because both dogs apparently had a double coat that functioned as insulation for both heat and cold. Shaving them could interfere with these functions and was actually counter-productive. Tsk. He still thought they''d be shaved though, and he turned to stare at them again. The two canines caught his stare and stared badly at him, apparently remembering his attempts. "WOOF!" (Translation: Ugly!) Snow howled. (Translation: I''ll eat you later) Ansel sneered at them. "Impertinent brats," he said. "See if I take away your good food¡ª" Winona rolled her eyes and just patted herself with her towel. It was just that the water and sweat made her shirt stick to her skin and curves and Ansel''s eyes darkened a bit at the sight of it. This earned him a smack on the face by a towel. "Ohh¡­" Ansel mumbled as if he was in pain, and Winona just rolled her eyes. Althea shook her head, amazed at their seemingly endless energy to argue with each other. She looked at their group and felt pity for the unproductive day and days to come. They actually converted the basements to have some comfortable sleeping spaces. But it was small and not comfortable for more than 4 people. It was also not good for the children to stay in such enclosed space for so long. If it was going to be used, it was probably going to be used by a few people a few hours at a time and nothing else. Fortunately, they had already had some small electric appliances that allowed some comfort. These fans were completed just in time, though not enough time or raw materials were prepared to make it commercially available. Anyway, it was the best they could do. Hopefully, their bodies adjust soon enough. Chapter 864 Extreme Heat (Part 2) The other people in the territory were also doing what they could to cool down. Most people stayed in their cellars, converting it into a den of sorts. They would go out at night to breathe some air but, otherwise, they could only be depressed underground. "I feel like I''m in a coffin¡­" Fred said as he laid down in the underground room, feeling like a canned tuna. "Yeah, with other smelly men," Troy mumbled. "I miss my Brenda¡­" He was mumbling so deliriously that his teammates knew the heat melted his brain a bit. He continued whispering sweet nothings to the woman who wasn''t there and it irked a lot of people who were already hot-headed as it was. "Ugh¡­" "Shut up!" "Someone slobber him with a pillow PLEASE!" After the success of the business, Fred bought the team a luxury villa after getting good payment terms. He took almost his entire liquid funds for the down payment, but he knew they had to get it before the extreme heat. The luxury villas were two residential modules combined, so their cellars were larger than most at 120 square meters. However, he lived with his entire team in there. While it was a lot cooler than above, it still wasn''t comfortable and it felt cramped, primarily due to body heat. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Brenda¡­ my Brenda¡­" Troy continued to mumble, earning several more groans around him. "Yes, go move in with her then," Fred said, wanting to physically kick him out but he felt too weak. He turned to the others, "Anyone else with girlfriends with their own cellars?" "..." "Shit. Someone murder him up already!" And so on¡­ Of course, not everyone could afford residences with its own cellar. There were also plenty among the masses who stayed in the newly dug and lined tunnels, including those who lived in dormitories and midrise buildings. After all, there were too many residents there to use the cellars, let alone those were used as storage for the buildings themselves. There were also the goblins there with them. Speaking of the goblins, they had experienced much worse without protection so they didn''t have any problems. On the contrary, they were extremely comfortable. They also had smaller bodies and emitted much less body heat than others, so there was that. Similarly, the aborigines like Mauin had been through worse, and staying in a cramped cellar was heaven. The last extreme wave was about four years prior. So many people died in their village back then. Although everyone had stronger physiques in this world, many of the aged villagers and many young children still perished, unable to handle the heat. When the extreme cold happened a little over a year later, even more people died. So now, they didn''t even feel the stuffiness the Terrans felt. They just felt cool and nice. It was all in perspective. Outside the houses and cellars, activities had been greatly reduced to almost null. However, there were still some creative minds that saw business opportunities in the disaster. Some knew how to make cool treats and lived off of those. However, they would melt when taken outside the houses so they could only be consumed inside the ''stores'' or in cellars, and it was almost like there were secret drug deals going on. Hence, there would also be some brave souls who would travel across the street to buy the treats. Of course, most people would only come out during dusk or dawn when the sun was weaker (still with paper umbrellas and with ice packs on hand) because going outside at any other time could literally burn their skins! Although umbrellas could deal with some meters of travel, who wanted to feel like melting after a few seconds outside?! Bart''s team was similar but because they were aborigines and had experienced this many times before, their tolerance was much higher. Added to their high levels, as long as they didn''t stay in the direct sun for too long, they would be okay. With umbrellas and hats, they could even go camp in the verandahs of teams who sold ice creams and other ice treats. The Alterrans were savy enough to take advantage and earn a lot from the business that literally came knocking on their door! Today though, rather than shop hopping, the group of Bart, Pieto, and a few other rich aborigines, were in the bathhouse. They had enough money to use it today, even with the added costs of not having contribution points. Even with the added Bathhouse cost of 20 times the usual due to the water shortage. Of course, at some point, they''d be spent, but in this heat it would be a pity not to hang around the beautiful Bathouse. "This Bathhouse is the best I''ve been to," Pieto said, comparing it to the few bathhouses he had been to in his lifetime. The rooms and pools were designed so beautifully and you know a lot of thought was given. Dipping in the coldest pool for hours would cool them down for a while. The super expensive cost was worth it! They chilled for a few hours (literally) before heading out to eat at the interior restaurant. The restaurant, although still a bit warm, was still a lot cooler than many rooms outside because of its design. This was done by various factors. One was the various greeneries inside the building, then the insulation, and then there was also the fact that the cool water vapor below was used to cool everywhere else. It was amazing, actually, and they wondered how these people thought of these details. Anyway, the aborigines patiently waited for their ice cream to arrive (the restaurant was full at this time, all asking for some cool snacks). Because it was owned by the territory, the flavor selection here was even larger. It was also more delicious and formulated by chefs. So although the sweets here were much more expensive, it was worth it for the rich aborigines. Soon, their dessert arrived, and they excitedly consumed their new favorite dessert. "Orcshit!" Sipa cursed as he closed his eyes, letting the dessert melt into his mouth. "I dunno how I''d survive this without ice cream!" Bulgogi sniffled as he welcomed the so-called ''brain freeze'', realizing his masochistic tendencies when it came to the combination of sweetness and pain. "I will eat this every hour," he declared, and it was obvious no one¡ªnot even the Heat Wave¡ªwould be able to stop him. Bart shook his head as he slowly ate his own dessert. "Did you notice how not just the structures, but also the outdoors, are cooler?" he said, with a bit of a teasing smile. Pieto nodded. "And I think it''s actually cooler outside compared to before, and I don''t think it''s just because of the ice cream." "It is." They had seen the preparation for the buildings and their interiors, but what about the open air outside? Was it really cooler this year? Bart grinned in superiority. After all, Sammy had told him of some things that they did to cool the entire territory. What some of them didn''t know was that Alterra had so many trees and greeneries that a good portion of the heat was absorbed by these. If one''s house had a lot of greenery, they would enjoy around 30% less heat than those from other territories. Other than these, the natural water sources were also taken advantage of as much as possible, allowing them to cool down the heat going in. Of course, there were also a lot more techniques, some of which too complicated for their minds at this time. Regardless of what they knew, one thing was for certain: Alterra was, by far, the most prepared territory they had ever encountered. Chapter 865 Heat Outside Alterra Well, while territories like Bright, Belluga, Limestone Valley, and Iron Mountains¡ªthanks to Alterra¡ªwere better than most, every other territory was doing very badly. Shrao Village. "We already lost a few older people," one man reported to Shiro, who only sighed. This wasn''t their first heat wave and this came as no surprise. In fact, his spies who went to Alterra seemed to have heard that they were preparing for it. They didn''t know how they found it but the entire territory had apparently mobilized so Shrao had decided to follow suit. However, in the end, it was too late to react because it came before they could take action. Although the housing situation in this place was much better than in their old home, there were still many people who ended up in makeshift houses. When the heat wave hit and they were outside for a long time, their skins would burn at the peak of heat. Not only that, the heat in the atmosphere made it difficult to breathe. Their bodies had adapted well to extreme temperatures but the young and the old might struggle to take such direct hits. It had been a day, and they already lost a few. Although it generally wouldn''t get worse because the survivors would have stronger physiques, people''s bodies could only handle so much, so if they remained unprotected, more and more people would just die, even the strong adults. "Burn them cleanly," he said. The heat would make the corpses rot even more badly than usual, and the stench would weaken their wills. So, his people did just that. However, someone in his team was just a bit careless because of the difficulty of movement. When they were burning the corpses, things got even worse. Because the surrounding greeneries were too dry, when a small bit of clothing burned and flew, touching one of the trees, it quickly emblazed into a fire. This was one of the few patches of forests within the walls, and everyone''s heart clenched to see it damaged. "Fire!! Fire!!" "Put it out!!" "Nooo!" Immediately the people tried to put it out, many heading outside from the shade to help out, but¡­ they didn''t have enough water! Using it to kill the fire would be killing them in a few days! '' Fortunately (or not) they had experienced this plenty of times during droughts and fast-thinkers immediately began to move. "Bury it in soil!" Shiro yelled, taking out his weapon and stabbing the ground, throwing the dry sandy soil to the fire. He also asked his men to dig around the fire in an attempt to save the rest of the area. The citizens around worked together to either bury it with soil or stop its spread, but the fire spread quickly and they still lost a lot of trees. By the time the fire was killed, almost a third of the internal forests had already burned down. Such damage killed their hearts. This was a large portion of their limited sustenance during the heat wave, and they dreaded what would happen in a few days. A lot of people sobbed, though a few were dehydrated enough that they could only let out dry tears. Shiro and his people sighed with heavy hearts, just hoping for this to be over. ¡­ Voumi Town In a certain town, the slaves were huddling underground, silently enduring the simmering atmosphere caused by the heat outside and their combined body heat. However, it was still better than burning outside. To be frank, they were alive (for now) thanks to their horrid living conditions. Slaves in Voumi Town were kept in cell-like living spaces partially underground. It ended up saving their lives during the heat wave. When it happened, they were all outside doing various jobs. For the most part, they cleaned up poop, the bits of forests, did hard labor, and other similarly tiring tasks. A lot of the women were also pulled into that industry, and the only reason Sarah hadn''t been touched was because she dirtied herself very well. At first, it was even with feces. It disgusted the owners very much and the image stuck, leaving her safe to do her laborious jobs for the days that followed. It made Milo cry in pity for his sister, but Gurnam was admiring. Inexplicably, he began to watch the girl more and more. Sarah was a bit embarrassed but pretended not to see. Their situation was not the time for romance. However, she did not reject it when he was being kind to her, and she would occasionally do the same favor. Eventually, she did feel concerned for her own appearance. Fortunately, she managed to keep some money in her space to get a secret bath and only covered herself with mud thereafter. She found out that the money manifested and kept in the space wouldn''t be automatically taken away when they became slaves. Thanks to those kind soldiers, she knew that slaves would lose their money once they were captured so, by instinct, she changed most of the money she had to physical form as soon as the war was announced. Time passed like that and they were slowly getting used to their lives. It was extremely difficult, and dangerous, but they were alive and they were adjusting. But fate decided to play with them. When things changed, the group of them were cleaning up some chamber pots and cesspits. They were to shovel them up (since metals weren''t common they used wood) and hauled them out using buckets. One by one, they were carried to the pits in the few indoor forests the place had. If this was too filled that the stech became too much, they would throw it outside the walls, which added a new set of dangers for the slaves. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Even if they just threw it by the gates, there was still a chance of monsters being there. Monsters in Towns were at a different level than in villages. Getting caught by one was akin to a death sentence. Not to mention, they had to do most of this at night in order not to inconvenience those using the gate as well, and there were plenty of times that some slaves fell down due to the darkness, bathing in the feces they cleaned up. Their jobs were like those of ''night soil men'' or ''gong farmers'' which fit the sort of medieval culture this place had. This clearing and disposal were usually done during the night, but the population here was dense so they also had to clean up in the mornings. It was during that time that the wave hit. It was Gurnam who noticed it first. Because Gurnam watched Sarah a lot, he noticed her skin was becoming abnormally redder and even sweltering a bit. He also felt the same but he was dark-skinned (and thick-skinned) so it wasn''t obvious. Suddenly¡ªseemingly out of nowhere¡ªhis instincts as a fighter flared and he immediately carried the two siblings to the dungeons, leaving a trail of pained yells behind. That first heat wave directly killed about a dozen slaves in the territory and injured many more. This was followed by extreme drought and suffocating heat, increasing the torture. At the time, they couldn''t help but think¡ªbecoming slaves wasn''t enough, they also had to fight against nature! At the time, they could only hopelessly cry. What else was this place going to throw at them?! Chapter 866 Voumi Town Heat Trigger Warning: Dubcon during the last couple of paragraphs (if you skip, read the author''s note) ... _____ Now the heat had stabilized and it was still difficult to walk a few meters outside without feeling breathless or feel like their skin was burning. It was not clear when the next heat wave would blanket the planet, yet they were still tasked to work, especially at night. By now, they all had severely burning skins. They were all extremely parched that they couldn''t even sweat anymore. "Are you okay?" Gurnam asked the siblings, who were both extremely red and dazed looking. They nodded, not having much energy to answer, and just did their jobs. Some of their companions remained vocal though. This was how they could keep their sanities¡ªby expressing their emotions¡ªregardless of whether they had the energy or not. "How could they still make us work in this heat?" one asked, in a ranting tone. One would think that since slaves weren''t so cheap, they''d at least care for the merchandise! "Slaves aren''t expensive either, especially weak ones like us," another one said. "They could replace us by the next war." This was true. A territory that always went to war could get hundreds or thousands of new slaves every month (if they won). What were a few dozens¡ªor even hundreds¡ªlost during annual disasters? Anyway, after ranting a bit they also shut up. Not only were they extremely tired, their bodies were in pain. They were hungry, thirsty, and the smell was also killing them. Speaking would not only consume energy, they would also taste the pungent air. They couldn''t afford to vomit. They had barely even eaten anything! What would they puke out? Their intestines? What was worse was they couldn''t even rest well. There were even corpses rotting in the same room and when they tried putting them outside they were often thrown back down, because it would smell above and be a hindrance to the houses. At night, although it was just a bit cooler, they''d be squeezing their stomachs, as if it was eating itself up in hunger. They couldn''t even gulp in air to fill their stomachs because the stench could kill. That night was a little different than usual. That night, some guards arrived, apparently to take some slaves. Their hearts beat fast in nervousness as the man pointed at seemingly random people. "You," he said, pointing at Glem, one of the major ranters in their group. "M-Me?" The man did not answer him and pointed at Gurnam. "You," he said, and then to Sarah. "And you." He turned to his companion. "They are some of the most mobile among the slaves." "Got it," the other guard said, nodding, and then looked at the slaves. "Come with me." As slaves, they naturally followed without question, with Gurnam following their movements to keep the facade. Milo sniffed as his sister''s hand left his, but he also knew that if he made a scene, it would only bring attention to his sister. He bit his lips and silently prayed she would be alright, but at the same time he also wondered when he''d be able to protect her properly. The summoned slaves followed the guards silently, nervously wondering what was going to be asked of them. Gurnam looked at Sarah. Sarah, who had always been covered with mud, covered herself up even more. If the owners found her disgusting, then good. They wouldn''t be forcing her to take a bath either because water was a scarce resource now! Their eyes met. Hopefully, nothing too harsh would be asked of them. "The masters are in need of fanning slaves," the guard said when they were halfway to their destination. "The other ones fainted out of exhaustion," he said. He said it casually, but everyone knew that if slaves fainted while working, they''d just be stacked in their cells without food or water. If they managed to regain consciousness then good for them, they could continue their slavery, but if not, then they were as good as dead. The slaves heaved a deep breath. At the very least¡­ fanning work was still better than, say, going outside and becoming bait to the night mobs. ¡­. In the upper class side, the nobles were also suffering, but they had plenty of fanners around them to make it somewhat tolerable. Richer ones also had some sort of blanket bought from Kilpo City, which blocked the fenestrations from the sun. It also helped in reducing the temperature of the room. It also cost a fortune. The effect was not much, but they could take what they could get. Gurnam and Sarah arrived with their large cans, and they were surprised to see familiar faces there. First was Sheena, William''s daughter. She was massaging one of the men there. There was another woman, who was also quite beautiful. She had caramel-colored hair and a heart-shaped face. They didn''t know her, but they knew she was Terran. She was kneeling down and openly pleasuring a man¡ªa relatively plain-looking one, but a bit more fit than the others. "Ah¡­ y-yes¡­ amazing!" The man gripped her hair and thrusted without caring for her comfort. He groaned when he came, looking at her with eyes full of lust and appreciation. "Sasha!" he yelled, voice raspy after his climax. "You''re amazing!" The woman pursed her lips and forced a smile. "Anything for Master Surut," she said, voice soft and lovely, and the man''s member started hardening again. The beautiful Misha, who seemed unperturbed by the degeneracy, was also here, massaging Hesso right next to them. "Hmm, so good at this," the man droned, turning to look at the beautiful woman. "You know¡­ I could make you feel better." Misha giggled seductively. "Are you getting impatient master? You know I can''t right now. I can entertain you in other ways. Isn''t my face good enough? Hesso kissed the woman''s hand. "Yes, so beautiful," he said. "I can stare at you all day." This caused his friends to laugh. Although they were sweating, they still found this entertaining. "You got a really exciting slave," one said, tracing Misha with his lecherous eyes. "I kinda want to fuck her." This made another one glare at him. This was Surut, Hesso''s dark-skinned best friend. "Not before I do!" he said, almost kicking Sasha in front of him by accident. "I asked first!" Misha smiled. "Gentlemen, we don''t want to die in this heat right? "Besides, I am bleeding now. You don''t want to break merchandise, right, masters?" "Hmm, you''re right." However, they were already horny. However, Misha was just making a lot of points and they would be reluctant to break such a perfect slave. So, instead, they took Sasha¡ªwho was kneeling on the ground¡ªto vent instead. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They dragged her up the table, taking her there in front of the others, and the woman had no choice but to succumb. However, she had been doing this for a while and was used to it, knew to accept her fate. Her mouth had already parted, and she shut her mouth as moans of pleasure started to escape her lips. This made the men laugh, plundering her even harder. This made Sarah and Gurnam''s hearts to drop, and Sarah was visibly pale. At least, that was what Gurnam saw. In reality, no one would see since she covered herself up with so much mud. Gurnam held her hand, making her flinch and eyes wide in surprise. How could he move? He placed a finger on his mouth to tell her to be quiet. ''It''s alright,'' he mouthed. ''I''ll protect you.'' Chapter 867 Voumi Nobles Gossip SURPRISE BONUS CHAP~! Not only am I settled in GT Rank 2 (so far) the story also received a Gachapon! That was the story''s first Gachapon, and it even came from the TOP AUTHOR GUILTYTHREE! kyaaa~ *dances* If you''re new in WN and haven''t checked out his story, you''re missing out~ Anyways, back to the story~ ... ___ Sasha could only look up at the ceiling as the deed was done, letting out sounds that made men think they were incredible in bed when in reality they were horrible. Not to mention that most of them were disgusting to look at. At this, she couldn''t help but turn her eyes to Misha, who was standing impassively with her eyes closed. She was so beautiful, but how was she keeping herself safe for long?! She didn''t have time to glare at the other woman when a pudgy hand grabbed her face, forcing her to look back up. This man was Surut, Hesso''s best friend. "Look at me!" he said, gritting his teeth as he pounded on her. "Make loud erotic sounds!" he ordered, and she did. As one man took Sasha, the rest who were done with her continued to chatter and gossip as if it was the most natural thing. The latest one to ''use'' Sasha went to get some water, freshly produced by their personal water elementalist. There were two of them¡ªpaid for a very high price¡ªand neither one seemed particularly affected by what was going on. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They would occasionally wet the noble men, add to the water in their feet, give them water to drink as requested. Their faces remained impassive or bored as they sat there, even if the sex was happening right at their faces. Here, they also had some cool water, but it was limited and only available to the upper class. They made this by digging very very deep wells. "Ah, only with Hesso can I taste cool water at this time!" one cronie said, tone admiring to Hesso, who was now being fanned by slaves while being wiped cool water by Misha. "Well, he is the heir to the lordship!" Hesso grinned. "Uncle sent these two water elementalists to me, too," he said, proud that the Lord thought so much of him. The cronies nodded in agreement, receiving some cool water to cool their faces. The utter waste of water made the newcomers glare, but what could they do, right? The newcomers didn''t move and waited patiently for the next instructions. When one of the main servants finished watching the degeneracy¡ªno doubt dreaming that he''d get to taste too when the masters were tired of the woman¡ªhe turned to see them there. His eyes traced over Sarah, which made them nervous. He frowned. "So dirty! What are you doing?" "I was on night feces duty, but fortunately I fell on soil this time, so it does not smell," she explained. "No water to bathe." The servant looked at her up and down and then to the empty fanning spot. He accepted her explanation¡ªit was too hot to think¡ªand the newcomers lined up to position, getting their own fans. Some of the fans were made of weaved dried leaves, while some were made of fabric. They were rather large and it would definitely get tiring swinging it around for hours on end without stopping. They did their jobs, listening to the nobles'' rants as they did so and, more often than not, they felt their brains heating up from anger too. "So hot¡­ I feel so sticky! It''s so annoying!" "FAN FASTER!" "Sigh, so smelly¡­" "So many corpses around after all. I dunno what the slave leaders are doing, not getting rid of the bodies fast enough." "Useless¡­" While they ranted like this, the slaves worked hard to fan them as they were ordered to do. With the current heat, it was like making the ''baking'' a bit more comfortable. They had to do this for hours straight, no matter how tired their arms became, all while watching the disgusting men enjoy using water to sprinkle on their faces and even their feet. It felt like their throats were closing in on themselves, and yet they had to watch these people waste it. This torture was worse than having to continue moving their sore arms. "Thirsty," Glem mumbled, making a few people turn to him. This made Hesso chuckle. Using his feet, he pointed at the foot bath. "You can get a gulp." Glem was really so thirsty so he really kneeled down to get as big of a gulp as he could. Sarah and Gurnam closed their eyes, but at the same time, they understood. They could drink dirty water too, but somehow they couldn''t handle it being from these pieces of trash. At some point, another fanner fell down, unable to take the heat and tiredness anymore. The nobles were unfazed as they lay. "Tsk, throw him out." "Waste. Don''t feed him for a day. We need to ration anyway." "We already decided to reduce their food to once every three days sir," the main servant corrected him. Before, they could feed their slaves once a day (most of the time), but with the lack of resources, they were naturally the first ones to suffer. After all, food had become much more expensive now. Towns had subsidiary villages that were required to give tribute, they also had a lot of farms, so most of the earning population shouldn''t starve. It was still costly and they were unwilling to spend too much on slaves. Anyway, people had relatively stronger physiques and could last several days without food or water. They''d be on the verge of death after that, but that was beside the point. "Oh right. Then¡­ no food tomorrow!" He said this as if the food they gave wasn''t just stale bread the size of the palm. The group continued to chatter, not caring about the dark looks of the slaves, especially Gurnam. However, there were guards around and him attacking them with his pitiful level was just pure stupid. It neared the peak of the day and it had begun to swelter. Even Gurnam''s strong arms were tiring, let alone the others''. He looked worried at Sarah, who noticed his stare. He mouthed ''are you alright'' and she smiled, shaking her head and telling him she was okay. Her arms were shaking though and he could tell her hold on the fan was weaker. Soon, another slave fell down, and two new ones were brought in. One was William who gasped when he saw his daughter in a compromising position, rubbing a man''s feet, continuously washing it with water. William wanted to move but his daughter shook her head, her teary eyes breaking her father''s heart. The men were too self-absorbed to notice any interaction among the slaves. They just continued with their chatter, with the slaves silently listening in. This time, fortunately, it was nothing related to them. Otherwise, they''d die due to an aneurysm just by listening. They seemed to be discussing someone they disliked. The conversation went from ''when will the heat end'' to ''how bad the villages had it''. "Wow. That Rowan guy''s not back yet right?" Hesso asked, as if just remembering something. "He really stayed in a village?" Surut laughed at the thought. "Does that mean he''s staying in a village at this heat ? HAHA!" The other men seemed to have imagined this and they cackled to themselves. With their unattractive faces, bad vibes, and generally rotten cores, the slaves really really wanted to punch their faces. "Damn, the image is satisfying!" Surut squinted his eyes in happiness. "Maybe he''s dead," he said, turning to Langot, the favorite son of the territory''s top merchant. "Your idea about sending him out there is really good," he said. "My idea of just getting him killed somewhere was really boring." Langot grinned, showing off those yellowish teeth of his (which just couldn''t be turned white no matter how much Papra plant he consumed, mostly because of his unhealthy diet). "My pleasure." "Heh, he dares one-up us so much when he''s just a commoner." "He thinks because he''s an elementalist, he''s above us," another sneered. "Suffering like this in this heat more than we are makes it all feel better." "Sigh, I hope he''s alive¡ªso that he suffers a lot." Anyway, the conversation ended up being all about the guy and it was obvious that he affected all of them, whether they admitted it or not. The Terrans didn''t know who this ''Rowan'' guy was, but they were very very invested in his survival. Chapter 868 Heat Waves in the Satellite Villages Rowan at this time was uncomfortable with the heat, but he was definitely not suffering. The associate villages were doing relatively well, thanks to the knowledge and resources Alterra gave them. This was especially true for the extensions: Iron Mountains and Limestone Valley. Both these territories also had the advantage of having their warehouse directly controlled by Althea. That was to say: They had a lot of resources. In both territories, they had set up the Alterra Shop, official shops which sold various products from the Alterra Warehouse. Of course, because Althea had to carry these items herself from warehouse to the outside shed, there was a very huge markup put on each item. ((These items were blessed by getting carried directly by the Lord herself, even if it was just in her large space, so naturally there was a premium.)) Of course, because of the usefulness of the items, people still rushed to buy them all anyway. These materials included things like Insulation materials and saltpeter. She also moved some umbrellas and caps and the like. However, unlike in Alterra where people could take out loans in the Bank in case they didn''t have enough money, the satellites didn''t have this right just yet, so only the better off could actually afford these things for now. However, the leadership in both territories did the best they could for the citizens, mostly by providing relatively comfortable underground bunkers for the masses. Iron Valley with its hundreds of goblins created a great network of tunnels underneath it. Although it was a little stuffy, they had all been through much worse, and being there spiked up their rates of survival so no one complained. These tunnels were placed in some parks, and thanks to the goblins they could dig deep enough so they didn''t have to uproot to many precious trees within the territory. There were also some built by the mountains, but they weren''t too deep as it could risk soil erosion because of the ongoing mining on the other side. The houses here weren''t built like in Alterra¡ªthat was, designed to handle the climate¡ªso it was torture to stay in them, at least in the standards of Alterrans. The dormitories were full as well, and the custom house communities were also full. The dormitories were lined with insulation by the territory, but not every private house managed to secure insulating materials. This was why most of the thousands of people stayed in the tunnels, regardless of whether they owned a house or not. Because Alterra planned well, there were also some minor facilities there like makeshift bathroom areas, community areas, and the like. There were also small rooms created. Syncing it with the system, the people here could rent these rooms for a few copper a day. There were also mushroom and other plant life that thrived in such environment, so they made sure to create ample farm for these crops. Since the planting had started days before the heat wave, the farms could be harvested shortly after it started. The network of tunnels was amazingly done and now that it was the direct reason so many lives were saved, the aborigines couldn''t help but admire the goblins a bit more. The Terrans were not shy in expressing this admiration, of course. "Good job," Reno said and Silvia smiled, making the little things blush in shyness. The goblins had never been appreciated before and it was a new feeling. It made them want to cry. With the Terrans'' leads, more and more aborigines had shown some appreciation to the goblins, though most still looked down on them. Some even had the attitude of ''it was only right for them to serve'', but fortunately they didn''t speak so out loud. Understandably, some directly still hated the goblins as well, primarily due to the war with goblins not long ago. After all: that war killed many citizens and destroyed so much property, some of which was everything people owned. However, it was a good start, and Silvia and the others were satisfied with the progress. ¡­ As part of the daily routine, Silvia walked across the tunnels, examining the places of stay. The hallways were relatively crowded but they were wide and there the walls were not too jagged as to cause injuries. Her brother was right beside her, though he was set to make rounds around the tunnel as one of the guards. He was also there to see early if there was someone who passed, so they could take him out so they didn''t rot in their rooms for too long. Fortunately, there was no such case yet. It was in these cases that they appreciated the improved physiques they received. If they had their Terran bodies in this type of weather, it was estimated a good quarter of the Terrans¡ªat least those outside of Alterra''s circle¡ªwould''ve died by now. While her thoughts flew, Silvia ended up in the small community space. It was basically just a large cavern leading to smaller rooms. This was also nearest to the surface and was naturally much hotter. Of course, the tunnels was still relatively hot due to the number of people inside¡ªthere were thousands¡ªbut it was infinitely better than the heat above ground. They chose this time to make rounds because the people would be holed in their rooms rather than in the hallways, which would''ve made it hard to move around. When dusk came, then people would also come out one by one, going out for fresh air when night arrived. Anyway, since becoming a satellite, Gill had also made it a project to light up the place at night. Alterra got their Lighthouse from Fargo, after all, and Guia had no such thing. Although there were torches before, they weren''t a lot. Even the mines, which operated the entire 28 hours back then, had minimal lighting because the goblins could see well at night. At the same time, the lighting meant it was a bit hot in the hallways. But Silvia wanted to do her job well and endure so she continued with her rounds. At some point though, she found a ceramic bottle near her face and she blinked, startled. She turned her head to see who it was, and a smile crept up her face as she took it. "Thank you," she said, eyes looking softly at the redhead. "Aren''t you hot?" "I''m a fire element. My tolerance to this is a bit higher than most people." Rowan said, his eyes following her movements as she lifted the bottle to drink. If other people were there, they would give Rowan the side-eye. How many words did he just say in a single sentence? But the two of them were in their own world and Rowan watched as she sipped on his bottle. However, frowned a bit when he realized she only took a sip. "You should drink more," he said and she shook her head. "We need to conserve, remember?" she said, and Rowan had to accept it. They went on rounds together after that, checking the status of the tunnels as well as the farms. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Will it be really so hot for weeks?" she asked, wiping her sweat. "It''s not going to get worse, is it? "Well, it''s difficult to say for certain," he said. "Regardless, you guys really prepared well." In the end, Silvia just sighed and looked at a distance, towards the tunnel that was still long and a little dark. "Let''s just hope everyone survives this ordeal." Chapter 869 Lovesick Fool At this time, Gill was sitting in the cellar of a villa. He naturally felt uncomfortable delaying the search for Cassandra by another week or two, but his sense of responsibility remained. Not to mention, going out when he clearly knew a disaster was coming was idiotic, no matter how much he wanted to do it. The leading team and a couple of ''richer'' citizens bought the insulation materials for their homes (well, the Terrans did), ensuring that they had their own private space even at this time. If they could afford it, why would they endure feeling other people''s body heat and sniffing their body odor, right? Anyway, not long ago, Althea built a large villa for the inner circle and whoever would be assigned to lead the territory at the time. It was composed of a few modules already existing in Guia (albeit heavily modified). It was also fenced with gardens, so they would have their own private parks. While they encouraged integration with aborigines, there were times when they''d just wanted to socialize peacefully in an open space, only among themselves. Gill had long abandoned Baltimore''s old house, which was converted to a massive dormitory and orphanage¡ªthe lower floors also lined with insulation¡ªand had moved to this area. That place was uselessly big and frankly, he couldn''t stomach staying there. In contrast, the wars had left a lot of children and teens making do in the slums. It was quite pitiful and when Silvia saw it she immediately went ahead and made the suggestion. Further, while it was a known fact that conceiving was more difficult in this world, at least among the higher levels, it was much more difficult to support another life when one was poor and struggling. This was why in villages¡ªwith lower-level people who did not have much difficulty in conceiving yet¡ªit wasn''t uncommon to see abandoned children at all. Those children now had a new lease of life. Sadly, they didn''t get to enjoy it fully because the heat wave arrived. Basically, it was like everything turned barren overnight. Even the system farms were mostly dried up except for a few drought-resistant crops improved in Alterra, and this was already a cause of wander to the locals who had never seen plants growing so well in this heat. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This fact definitely increased the Alterrans'' prestige in Iron Valley. The improved seeds were sent via the Warehouse as soon as the Heat Wave was foreseen. These were sent along with other things like fertilizers and some portable insulation. Eventually, the excess was sent and sold in the Alterra Shop. Everyone was also asked to stock up for at least a month, just in case, so no one really panicked when it really happened. The stocks though were either in a manually-created warehouse (with guards stationed at all times) or with individual teams/households. The issue of stockpiling was a challenge when it came to the satellites because the warehouse was only accessible to the Lord, who wasn''t even there. The satellites could rarely use the System Warehouse unless they were sending goods to the main territory. They had to store their items in a different place, which was risky, especially during wars, but what could they do? At this heat, everyone was just focused on surviving. Anyway, at this time, Gill was spending the day in the basement which contained their stocks for the month as well as some makeshift but comfortable beds. The underground ''room'' of the villa was outfitted with three bunk beds. Because Rowan was doing rounds, only three beds were occupied for now. During the heat wave, the ''working hours'' were swapped, with the hot mornings as the rest times and most of the activities being done at night. This was fine in theory, but¡­ the thing was, it wasn''t easy to fall asleep and rest in this heat. This also meant they had too much time to think and get agitated. And so¡­ the three grown men stared at the ceiling (or the soffit of the bed above), and they found themselves daydreaming after several minutes more of boring quiet. Gill thought of Cassandra, wondering what could''ve made her break up with him through letter. It was so abrupt and unlike her. Whatever the truth was, he wanted to hear of it from her own mouth. Hugo was also in a daze looking up, using his arm as a pillow. He knew Alterra was far more prepared than they were, but he couldn''t help but wonder how they were there. Was she very uncomfortable? But then he remembered she had a capable husband and his mood was strangely relieved as it was bitter. What about the babies? Because he was there when she gave birth, he was also fond of the twins. In fact, he''d have been one of the uncles who sent gifts to the babies if it wasn''t inappropriate, with ''Inappropriate'' in the sense that her husband definitely wouldn''t like it. He had a lot of similarities to her husband in terms of personality, so he knew what the man would hate. They could sense each other, but they kept it decent lest Althea felt uncomfortable. In the same vein, it was also natural for him to think of ''What-ifs''. If he had met her first, would she have been attracted to him instead? However, he didn''t let that thought fester. He just closed his eyes and willed himself to rest. After all, at night, the mobs could become active. While the two older men were feeling pained and melancholic, Helios was not much different. He was dreaming of that fateful night, as he always did. He could still remember every detail of that night. Her pretty face and how it flushed in pleasure, her hair that cascaded down her shoulder to her breasts, and her sweet voice letting out sensual moans that made him crazy. Where was she? Weren''t women here conservative? Why would she just run away? Did he look like someone who couldn''t take responsibility?! At this thought, he suddenly bolted up and turned. Feet on the floor below him, he faced Gill''s bed with a serious expression. He didn''t speak for a while and the other two noticed the oddity, soon turning their heads to look at him. Helios looked conflicted. However, he heaved a deep breath and looked at Gill. "I heard you''re going away to look for someone after this?" He asked and the two other men narrowed their eyes at him. "Yes, and?" Helios gulped, but he said it anyway. "Can I come with you?" Chapter 870 Another Lovesick Fool Hugo immediately sat up and his feet slammed on the floor. He looked at his nephew, wondering if he was hearing things. "What?" Helios unconsciously leaned back, but he forced himself to keep stern. "I know this might sound sudden, but¡ª" "It is." "I want to find her¡­" Hugo rubbed his forehead, realizing what this was about. He gave his nephew an exasperated look. "You don''t even know her name." Gill looked at him, "I have a place to go to," he said. "I can''t join you in your¡­ search." Helios knew this and considered this answer. "You don''t have to worry about me. I will follow you until I get news from her." Gill shrugged. As long as it didn''t interfere with his own plans, he''d just have to report this to the Elders so they could send an additional replacement for them. Gill didn''t care, but the uncle naturally did. Hugo frowned and looked at him deeply. "You don''t know anything about her. How do you plan to find her?" "She has such a unique look to her, and I could just ask around in Ferrol¡ª" "You don''t go look for a woman¡ªin a place like this¡ªfor her looks ," Hugo said, bluntly cutting him off. This world was not a playground. Every corner was dangerous. Did he think that it was as safe as Alterra everywhere? For one thing, monsters farther away were stronger than they were! Did he protect him too much? Did his success so far get into his head? Helios didn''t want to give up. He respected his uncle and his opinions, but doing nothing would be a lifelong regret. He''d rather risk everything than live with that! "I know that!" he said. "I¡­ I already purchased a lot of Beast Repelling potions and other consumables¡­ I also bought spare weapons¡ª" "You''re underestimating the dangers of this world," Hugo said. "You''re literally putting your life on the line for a woman you had met once ! Are you a fool?" "Uncle. Tell me, I have found the woman! Are you seriously going to tell me to just give it up?!" he said, dark eyes filled with determination. "I need to at least know why she ran! I need to know how she thought of me. I can''t rest otherwise!" "If she doesn''t like you?" "If¡­ if I find out she didn''t like me at all¡­ then I will try to convince her, I will court her," he said. "If that doesn''t work, then I can leave her alone. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "The point is: I have to try," he said. "Please understand me, uncle." Hugo looked at him, their eyes meeting. He could see the stubbornness in his nephew''s eyes and perhaps he wouldn''t stop unless he cut off his legs. Hugo''s eyes glazed, and he couldn''t help but recall that beautiful woman who saved thousands with her mind and charm. But he also knew he didn''t have a chance, and so he did not try. What right did he have to stop his nephew from pursuing his? ¡­ Just before Dusk. Limestone Valley was even better as a place much closer and more connected to Alterra. It was also filled with innovative Terrans, rather than the stubborn aborigines, so they could get past the differences and started working on how to make their lives a bit better. Kyle was one of the guards here and, at this time, he was bravely doing his rounds. They weren''t required to do rounds at the height of the day, but they were asked to do so starting from dusk to dawn. Of course, it was still very hot during the transitions so he not only had a very durable umbrella, he also bought tons of sunscreen from the Alterra Shop. He was rewarded very generously during the last war, and he happened to have had some extra money. Of course, a lot of acquaintances borrowed money from him. It was just that after the first few borrowings, he decided to adopt the pay-first system. He didn''t want to be an ATM! "I wonder how long this heat will happen," his teammate mumbled, wiping his sweat. "I really hate it. I feel so¡­ slimy and stuffy, even when the sun''s already going down." Like in Alterra, Guards generally came in pairs or groups of 3, densely going around the territory to ensure peace and order. One of Kyle''s teammates happened to be an aborigine. His name was Repo, a swordsman he had been teamed up with for a while. So far, he did his job well as the close-ranged combater partnered with him, the archer. Their other teammate was another aborigine, Lumot, who was actually a cleaner when he was hired in the Village Center. However, his level was 7 so they decided to hire him as a guard instead. It was like a dream come true for Lumot and he naturally worked very hard to keep his position. Despite not having a fighter profession, he wanted to prove himself so he was among the first to get ready for rounds, as if ready to fight. It was also him who, after about an hour of relatively peaceful rounds (except for a few hotheaded spats due to the heat), noticed something was wrong somewhere in the forest. He saw smoke from a distance and ran in that direction. His heart beat loudly, calling on his teammate to hurry up. "It''s a fire!" he yelled, and he and Repo went pale as they got closer to the smoke. They felt like crying a bit. They had seen how much damage a fire in the Heat Wave could cause. Both of them had the experience of watching interior forests burn down, making people''s hearts and hopes die out with it. In Repo''s hometown during the previous heat wave, a fire caused widespread starvation among the poorer folks. Because the inner forest didn''t recover fast enough, and people were too weak to venture outside, so many people died in the end. Lumot''s previous territory had it even worse. The entire forests inside the walls got destroyed by the fire and, because of the winds that passed, the embers flew to the slums, causing massive fires there as well. The slums were mostly made of wood, which had lost moisture because of the weather, and the fire spread quickly in a blink of an eye. Before they knew it, an entire slum area was razed to the ground, taking dozens of lives in the process. They had found such a good territory! It''d be a great pity to see it suffer the same fate. They had to kill this fire as soon as possible, but could they do it fast enough? They had no excess water¡ª Poof! The two aborigines watched as Kyle threw a ball to the fire¡ªAlterra''s patented FireKiller Ball¡ªreleasing an explosion of powder upon impact, killing the fire in a few seconds. "..." Eh¡­ what just happened? Kyle saw them on the verge of tears and looked a bit confused. Did the heat melt their brains? "What is it?" "...where''s the fire?" "Dead." "The fire is dead? Just like that?" Kyle finally understood their shock, and he broke to a smile. "Hmn, just like that." The two aborigines gaped at him and then at the fire that didn''t even become a threat for long. What was this operation? Chapter 871 Night Arrived Night finally arrived and everyone could somehow breathe. Well, especially in Alterra, which didn''t absorb much heat from morning due to the greeneries and it was quite cool in the evening. In other places, it would still be sweltering because the stones stocked the heat, releasing it at night. In any case, night time was infinitely better than the day, especially since they didn''t lack lighting so activities could go on full-force again, thereby their economy wouldn''t stagnate much during the next few weeks. Althea heaved a sigh, kissing her babies'' plump cheeks. They were now quite active because they slept through the morning. Although no one was used to it, with their endless fanning and her husband''s abuse of his ice ability, she and the babies were definitely much more comfortable than others. Anyway, now it was dark and the heat dispersed, they had all the energy in the world. "Mhgamaaaa¡­" "Ghurgmamaa¡­" She gently touched their soft faces and rubbed their plump tummies, making them giggle. She was so sad to see them so weak in the morning and she was relieved to see them so energetic now. They had naturally already bathed before during dusk to cool off and wipe down the sweat, so they were all quite refreshed at this time. The family hung around for a while, with Garan¡ªas always¡ªlifting little Meatball in an attempt to make him float on his own. The baby would giggle and look like he was swimming while his father''s large hand supported his belly. Sadly, in no instance did he actually end up floating. It was just a running joke at this point but it was cute so Garan could only continue doing so. Little Pepper and Althea just watched the two boys in amusement, with Little Pepper sucking on her pacifier as if watching a show. If Ansel was here, he would poke her cheek and whisper, "You think they''re idiots, too, right?" Heh¡­ In any case, the two kids soon got a little twitchy and wanted to move. They carried a baby each and went to the balcony to hang out there. Even from where they were, they could hear the crowds and mumblings outside and they knew pretty much everyone in the territory went out for some fresh air. "We have thousands of people now, probably a few times more than before our first war," Garan noted, looking at the crowds outside. It was already like this in their street, which wasn''t dense. He could imagine the big crowds in the denser part of the village. Althea, cooing on Little Pepper, couldn''t help but look at her stats again curiously. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 6985 (2503 permanent, 4482 temporary) Total Population: 10324 Base Resources: Wood: 12300/20000 Stone: 9200/15000 Money: 25731 Gold, 89699 Silver, 1298699 copper Prestige: 590 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv2), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv2), Barracks (Lv2) Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1) Building Slots: 8/9 (+11)] The population was boosted due to the wars. Fortunately, Alterra was designed to comfortably handle a large influx. Not to mention, their tunnels could hold thousands of people. So¡­ even if their population doubled, they wouldn''t lack a place to accommodate anyone. However, while it increased, it didn''t bloat as much as it could''ve. The territories they won had tens of thousands of people in total, but they did not push them to go to Alterra (well, except for the professionals). This was why the cumulative number of migrants was only in the few thousands, which was already the combined number from Shrao Village and Limestone Valley in the past couple of weeks. Slaves were also considered ''non-entities'' and were thus only included in the total population, but were not counted anywhere else. As for the Wealth, it was a combined of all three territories. She spent a lot on fixing the two territories, but fortunately they earned a lot of money, specifically gold and silver, from the aborigines. She was looking forward to the next deals. As for the buildings, they earned a lot from the previous two wars. When merging territories, the master territory could use the buildings of the satellites, but not the other way around. In that same vein, if she chose to cancel or sell the satellite, then the system building would disappear in her territory. From what she heard, this was one of the many reasons why master territories were reluctant to let go even when they found a better alternative. Anyway, for a village, her stats were really incredibly superior. The next step she''d have to look at¡ªalthough with a lot of caveats¡ªwas the upgrade to Town Level. The requirement for a town was 20000 population, 15000 residents, and 1000 prestige. The first two weren''t that difficult to achieve for most territories. Rather, it was the prestige that was the challenge. For others, anyway. For Alterra, it could be just as simple as getting population. Before the war, her prestige was only 300. In the span of a few weeks, it almost doubled. The prestige spiked because of their partnerships with Ferrol and the Golds¡ªboth superior territories in their own ranks¡ªso influencing them alone gave a sizeable amount of reputation and prestige, let alone the fact that they also had their own subsidiaries and allies that were also affected in turn. Even if Alterra''s name wasn''t used, as with the Golds who wished to hide their source, they still received the prestige regardless. Apparently, the stat wasn''t in the literal sense of people ''knowing their name'', but rather the actual influence they had built¡ªwhether directly or indirectly. Further, this was combined with the fact that they took two territories as satellites, which was the literal expansion of their influence. Every citizen they took over in those places also had some bearing in Alterra''s overall prestige, even if they were hundreds of kilometers away. At this rate, they''d¡­ really reach Town within the year. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And¡­ they weren''t ready. Chapter 872 Night Attacks (Part 1) Anyway, back to the story~! ... ____ They were not ready to upgrade to a Town. Or rather, they might be, but she wasn''t satisfied with that. Although the cap was much higher, it didn''t mean every enemy they''d face would have forces at that level. Much like how the village cap was 15, but those at that level were already the powerhouses of Level 3 Villages. Towns were the same. But the thing was: she wanted to be overpowered for her tier. That was the only way she could guarantee her people''s lives and livelihood. She told her worries to her husband. She believed she needed more time to do this, and he agreed with her. "We will delay it," he said, holding Little Meatball''s onesie as he attempted to climb on his shirt and up to his shoulder. The baby boy could not walk on his own yet, but he could climb well for some reason. Garan was so used to this by now, and he spoke like there was no one climbing up on his face. "I also need time to raise the overall level of the guards to ensure their survival at that level." The level cap for Town was now level 40. Although Level 1 Towns rarely had a lot of such high-leveled people, the fact was that there could be such powerhouses joining the war. Not to mention, late level 20s and level 30s were likely prevalent during that time. "Gooogppphhh!" Little Meatball said, drooling all over her father''s shirt as he tried to pat the man''s chin. Despite the seriousness of the conversation, Althea couldn''t help but giggle at her energetic baby boy''s antics. Holding her well-behaved daughter with one hand, she poked his bum with the other. "Mwammmaahh!" Little Pepper mumbled, putting her tiny hands on Althea''s lips. Her heart melted and she kissed the baby''s palm. The couple ended up going back down, to the living room to play with the babies as they discussed strategies. Although it was technically working hours at night¡ªso everyone else was outside working¡ªthe two of them were elders and had flexible time. They had decided to do their tasks after the children fell asleep, so they wanted to tire them out first. The babies giggled loudly, milky voices echoing in the room, as they tickled them both and then letting them play on the playcot, hopefully to use up their energies soon enough. "Should we really modify the residency costs?" She wondered as she handed Pepper a cute rattle toy, and Meatball something to bite on with his single teeth. Each baby was sitting on a parent''s thigh, with Pepper on her mother''s and Meatball on his dad''s. Garan nodded, patting the boy''s small head as he chomped on his toy. The Baby boy soon got bored of it and started to try climbing up his dad again. "Yes," he said and, with a slight sigh, he lifted the baby with an arm again. The baby giggled, trying to ''swim'' again as he flailed his small arms and legs. Meatball, obviously, preferred high places. They were not sure that was a good thing. They could only imagine the trouble he''d cause when he could walk. Worse: when he could fly . Anyway, there were more pressing matters to attend to, so they pushed this thought for now, returning to the topic at hand. "Hopefully there wouldn''t be a backlash if we increased," she said. "Anyway, life is good in Alterra even if the residency is delayed." Before, Ansel had already proposed to add requirements for the residencies especially since more and more people had been buying them after gaining a lot of points and money during the war. They had already adjusted the costs of things as well as the salaries to balance out with the markets outside. This was so their people would be able to live decently even if they went adventuring outside. However, the residency costs themselves hadn''t risen since before the war. This time, they would have to¡ªeven if just for the sake of delaying the inevitable. "I''ll discuss it with the elders after the disaster," Althea said, earning herself a chaste kiss on the cheek from her husband (all while holding out their son). She blinked. "You work too hard," he just told her, eyes deeply looking at her. "You work harder," she responded with a smile. Before Garan could lean down to meet her lips again¡ªall while holding out the excessively energetic baby boy¡ªthe doorbell rang. They blinked and Garan, after handing Meatball to Althea, went down to greet their guests. Althea looked in the direction of the front door and stood up, carrying a baby on each arm. "Let''s go greet our guests, okay?" "Mwammhhaa!" "Googgmmma!" She chuckled and went to follow her husband''s footsteps. When she arrived, she heard the guards reporting with some urgency. "Captain!" he said. "Our Observatory watchers saw a mob heading our way!" Her feet paused, and Garan turned to look at her. His serious expression softened at the sight of his family, and it was as if he hadn''t just been with them a minute prior. Althea looked at them in concern. One of the things about the Extreme Heat¡ªaccording to what they have gathered from aborigines¡ªwas that there were challenges the entire day. In the morning, it was the weather. At night, it was the mobs. The monsters rested in the morning¡ªlike they did¡ªso the damned things hunted at night. In fact, the mobs had arrived late and less in Alterra, likely because they cleared out monsters in their area before the heat. Most other territories had been attacked far earlier. However, now well into the night, they were finally going the experience their first ''Extreme Heat'' Monster Mob. According to the information, they were particularly violent during this period. Whether it was the heat, the hunger, or an overall change in hormones, it was not clear. All they knew was that the monsters were a bit more dangerous than usual. "We''ll deal with it," Garan said, sighing, walking back to kiss his wife''s face, and then leaning down to kiss his children. They both puckered their lips adorably, and the ice-block man couldn''t help but melt again, leaning down to kiss their soft cheeks. "Go rest," he said. "It will be a long night." And he turned to join the guards, heading out the walls to deal with the enemy. And so¡­ began the first of many nights of that period. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 873 Night Attacks (Part 2) Althea watched his back as he left, but she wasn''t very worried. Rather, she wondered how the others outside Alterra were doing. This was something every territory was probably going through today. While the humans were tired, restless, and had just survived the perilous morning, the monsters became active, looking for food. Alterra and the associate villages were better because they pretty much just rested at home to pass the heat. They just switched their times to nightshift. They were also very aware of what was to come and had created policies and made other preparations against them. What about other villages? Aborigine villages had many experiences with this before and, although there were deaths, they should be able to adapt well enough to keep their respective territories standing. But¡­ what about Terran villages? This was all extremely new to them. She couldn''t help but worry. She could only hope that the Terran Villages that had survived this long had hired aborigines who could guide them through such a disaster. Anyway, while a part of the guard team¡ªas the sentries could defend them well enough¡ªensured that the night would be peaceful for everyone else, Althea spent time with her energetic children. She was usually overworked with either pharmacy or her array studies, and it was rare that she could babysit them like this. They had rushed to finish every research item before the heat wave hit, and this was including finalizing some formulas. So now that that was done, she just had to turn them over to production and now she had free time. The children particularly liked to play with the magic aether toys Oslo gave them. It was a ball that floated about a feet above ground and went in random directions, designed to encourage the movement of children. This one was actually supposed to be given when they could walk already, but Althea couldn''t wait and kinda wanted to tire the kids out so she could join her husband outside. Of course, the energy was not unlimited and had to be placed with some force before it could work again. In their case, an elementalist simply had to direct any elements inside and it would work as new. She placed some energy and watched as the ball floated slowly around the room. She used her ability to study the arrays there as they played. They were quite complex but she recorded them while her babies crawled to follow the slow-moving hovering ball. They weren''t crawling fast enough, however, and eventually it left them. Athea couldn''t help but laugh out loud when two babies mumbled loudly in their cute milky voice, as if trying to get it back. "Mmmmhgaawaaa!" "Grugmawhaaa!" They yelled before crawling after it. They looked adorable in the animal onesie pajamas and she was tempted to poke their bums. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She chuckled and shook her head as she added a few more notes in her array notebook. She scribbled a couple of lines for a second and lifted her head to check on the babies¡­ ¡­only to see Little Meatball floating and Little Pepper already on the other side of the room, just waiting for the ball to head in her direction with open arms. "..." ¡­ On the battlement. The monsters during this period were indeed more rabid. In contrast to fear of mobs though¡ªas one would normally think¡ªAlterran soldiers, guards, and citizens were relieved for them. "AH! FINALLY!" Someone yelled, raising his hand as if to welcome the dark ominous wave coming in their direction. Someone was chewing on jerky as he watched the mob get closer and closer. "I had awakened a new skill before that damned heat wave. I can finally practice it!" Beside him, Hubert stretched his arms and clicked his knuckles. "I thought I was going to grow molds in there." In Alterra, it had become a habit to train, to keep aiming to become stronger, and to move forward. Just sitting in their rooms eating ice cream was something that was (literally) from another world now. After a bit, it simply wouldn''t feel comfortable anymore. Now came the cool night, and the night life of the territory was at its peak. And then the bell rang one time and pretty much everyone awake went to run towards the gate. They didn''t know how long the heat wave would last but they wouldn''t be able to stomach not training a bit during this time! The sentries had always been powerful and reliable and they had strong guards around also watching them. Mobs like this¡­ were perfect! ¡­ Garan came back home and saw that his wife and children were sleeping peacefully on the bed. He didn''t go down the battlement today¡ªhe didn''t have to¡ªand all he did was throw ice columns whenever someone was in danger. He gently placed the children in the crib, gently rubbing their heads before giving them soft kisses. His movements caused his wife to shift, opening her eyes a bit. He sat next to her and rubbed her cheeks. "Did I wake you?" He said this but his voice was a bit raspy. After all, because it was a little hot even at night, she wasn''t wearing a blanket, and was wearing her thinnest night dress. Althea was unaware that her peaceful sleeping position was seducing a monster. She just innocently shook her head, though it looked more like she was rubbing her head in his palm. "No," she said, "I wanted to sleep lightly until you came back. How was it?" He crawled to the bed and enveloped his wife to his embrace and she settled in his warmth, very comfortable. "It''s not a big mob, nothing the sentries couldn''t handle. However, a lot of people felt like they were rotting in the rooms the whole day and went ahead to clear the mobs out." It wasn''t an exaggeration to say their citizens were hungry for some battle and they welcomed this mob. Most of the aborigines and the other newcomers though were extremely shocked as they watched the people''s attitude¡ªunderstandably so. They would be very confused for days, befuddled with the abnormal territory and its similarly weird citizens. Some newcomers, of course, fit right in. For instance, Tacky and his friends gaped at the unusual attitude. They had heard of the mobs coming from people''s chatters (they lived in the tunnels) and were scared at first. But when the bell rang and many people actually ran out of the gate, they were definitely confused. When they saw that, while dangerous, it wasn''t impossible to deal with the monsters, they soon got into the mood of war-freakiness as well. Garan said everything he knew to his wife. "Even if another mob comes, our territory wouldn''t be shaken even by a bit." She giggled. Unexpectedly, she felt large arms rub her thighs, and soon went under her skirt. "Now that''s settled¡­" She blinked, lifting her head to look at him. "It was very difficult not to touch you the whole day," he said, kissing her cheek. They were together the whole day yet he could not touch her that way. The sweat and grime attached to her skin made everything even more difficult and he knew she wouldn''t be in the mood to do any ''strenuous'' activity in the day. So now, he was actively seducing her while the weather was okay. Althea giggled, tickled by his ministrations. But then remembered what happened with the toy and she held his hand to stop him from moving. She looked at him with wide eyes, though in Garan''s view it just made her look even more alluring. "By the way, there''s something else¡ª" Garan turned them over so his large frame enveloped her against the bed. He leaned down to meet her lips, immediately parting them with his tongue so he could taste his wife as intimately as possible. "Hmnn¡­" Althea let out a coquettish moan as she drowned under his ministrations, and Garan consumed her even more passionately in response. He lifted his head to pull up his shirt, revealing his wide shoulders, abs, and perfect mermaid line for her to admire. Whatever she was going to say, she had already forgotten about it. She entered a daze and her hand touched his chest. He smirked and leaned down to resume kissing her, lifting her nightdress up by the way. "We''ll talk about that tomorrow," he said while his lips hovered on hers, and a palm seductively groping at her breast. His hand slipped southwards and he activated the voice blocker as he did so. And so, the curtains fell for another spring night. The Heat Wave though, would last many more. Chapter 874 Heat and Starvations While Alterra was having a peaceful rest, almost everyone else was still restless, and it would not get easier for the next couple of days. In most territories, this period was characterized by nothing but suffering. The Heat Wave season was particularly harsh not only because of the weather, but because of the utter restlessness that came after. There was very little adjustment through this time; it was just pure torture for most. The morning could literally kill people, while the night¡ªthe supposed time to fix everything destroyed during the day¡ªwas just as restless. Whether it was to bury their dead, to do their jobs, or to hunt for food, this was the most active time for all territories. The atmosphere was still hot, but at least it was a bit tolerable and their skin wouldn''t burn when they went outside. But there were constant monster mobs during the night, killing more people, especially those who couldn''t gather enough energy. However, such weather was not the first in Xeno. It had been happening every few years or so, and had been happening since the beginning of time. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For aborigines, deaths in the morning were nothing new. Their bodies had evolved and physiques had been improved so the deaths weren''t as bad as they could be¡ªprovided that they remained in some sort of shade¡ªbut it still went up to several hundred casualties every season or so. If the village was ill-prepared, it could go up to thousands, especially among slaves. In any case, the aborigines knew to stay awake at night to deal with the mobs, so they did try to catch up on rest in the mornings, but it wasn''t easy due to the extreme discomfort. They could even die of dehydration or suffocation while asleep. It wasn''t an uncommon occurrence, particularly to the lower-leveled individuals. One of the few things that made this survivable was the refresh rates. The drought-resistant plants of the forests regenerated some food every day or so, so if one went out early, one could still find food and not starve to death. However, after a few days of the Heat Wave, people became more and more aware¡­ that the refresh rate had been slowing down. This was especially obvious to the older aborigines who had been through dozens of Heat Waves in their lifetimes. Before, even if they couldn''t move in the mornings, they could at least forage within the walls at night. The produce wasn''t much¡ªnot a lot of plants survive the weather¡ªbut it kept them alive as long as they ate something every few days or so. Now¡­ there were fewer plants to take, the leaves were smaller, and they bloomed a little slower. It was not obvious at first, but as time went on their harvest was diminishing at a palpable rate. Of course, most people didn''t actually come to this conclusion immediately. Rather, most would think other people foraged before they could, which caused a lot of desperate fights and unnecessary deaths. Ironically, in some territories, there were more deaths caused by the injuries from infighting, rather than deaths from starvation or parchedness. . After days of unnecessary bloodshed, others would just decide to go out earlier than others. People had to go out while the sun was out to forage, just so they didn''t run out. It was death either by starvation or by heatstroke, and even the aborigines had a hard time coping. They came to realize this was not the usual heat wave they had experienced before. As if the usual heat wave didn''t kill enough people, it decided to get even worse! Sure, they could hunt monsters, eat their meat and drink their blood, but they had to have the energy to fight against them first! Without the plants, without ready food sources, how would they be able to do so?! Going against the mobs without any health was suicide! Then people risked going out when the sky was out, no longer caring if they burned their skins. They could barely feel it with their hunger anyway. However, while many managed to keep what they worked for, in most cases they would be mobbed by fellowmen as soon as they got back into shades. Because they were weakened by the heat, they could no longer fight, and many died like this. They were gathering whatever live resources they could. It wasn''t easy as almost everything was dead, but they saw that the plants that were thriving obviously had some drought-resistance and focused on that. Hence, most people just went out earlier and earlier in the afternoon to get food before others could do so¡ªassuming the plant had already regenerated, in which case the timing itself also presented a challenge. They had no choice but to do so, even by burning their skins, and they also ate whatever they could find on the spot so they wouldn''t be stolen. No one wanted to have to go out at night, only to be eaten by monsters while gathering food! It was still safer this way! Further, they also realized that there were far lesser resources outside the walls. That was to say, there were more risks in getting burned because it was a distance away from shades, but also receive a lot less loot. This went on for days more but, unfortunately, when tragedy struck, it always struck in waves. Not everyone could go out midday, and there were still people who had to go out at night in hopes that some plants only ''matured'' during that time. They carried torches to light their way. However, a single flicker of ember could emblazed an entire shrub, and soon a side of the forest was covered with fire. "WHAT!?" They yelled, immediately making moves to contain it. However, it was too fast and they were too slow and weak and it quickly spread across the inner forest¡ªwhich was not that large to begin with. The fiery light of destruction reflected on their faces filled with despair. They could only cry, kneeling down on the ground, with hope utterly lost. Chapter 875 Fires More and more citizens appeared at the sight of the chaos, some directly beating up those responsible. How could they do this!? Ironically, even when they were weak from the hunger and the heat, they had a burst of energy in order to vent. Whether they were venting the anger due to the fire, or whether they were venting the anger for their situations, no one knew. On the other hand, some saw that it was hopeless and immediately ran to the other end of the indoor forests to pull out what they could. Even if it was dangerous, and the loot was very little, they had no choice. The rest focused on the tragedy in front of them: The blazing fire. The community worked together to at least save a small area. No matter how small, a patch of forest was a patch of forest! Although it would recover eventually, that''d take weeks! Would they still be alive by then!? However, no matter how desperately they wanted to stop the fire, what could they do in the end? They didn''t even have water to stop the fire, nor could they bury it fast enough. Not to mention, they saw how a team had focused on foraging what they could, so some people who had been trying to stop the fire abandoned their tasks to get what they could instead. In the end, everyone could only watch in tears as their remaining source of food inside the walls burned to crisp. ¡­ With the food sources inside the walls gone, people soon had no choice but to go outside to forage. However, they had no chance to do so because night had arrived and the beast mob found them again. They had to focus on defending their home, despite their groaning stomachs, dried throats, and weakened limbs. They had to use all their energy not to become food, barely managing to defend while they were mobbed and eaten by monsters even weaker than they were. At the same time, this also presented with an opportunity for them to gain food in the form of monster meat and their blood. Shinho, the head guard, saw this and he knew something had to be done. "Allow some inside!" he yelled, making the people gape at him. They were all covered with blood and grime, and they did not need their head guard delirious in hunger! "It''s food!" he yelled, as if reminding them of the meat in front of them. "As long as we mob it and kill it together, it is fine!" The people were enlightened a bit. They naturally do eat the meat of the monsters even before. However, at night, they would be too focused on their own survival. What was the point of hunting for food if one was already in the monster''s stomach? Further, during the heat wave, the monsters would also tend to take the carcasses of their dead in order to feed on them. The theory was that humans were not that attractive because of their lack of meat and energy at this time, and they preferred their own kind¡ªalbeit dead, in order not to spend any energy. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was why monsters still attacked territories even during the Extreme Heat seasons¡ªit was not just to collect the ''easy meat'' as per their instincts, but also to use the humans to kill their own kind, because infighting used too much energy and was too risky in the survival point of view. The monsters were not sentient, but they still had their survival instincts developed through generations of evolution. It also made it very difficult for humans to take advantage of this avenue for sustenance. Hence, leading a few manageable ones inside the walls and mobbing those beasts was the smartest move. It might cause damage to their homes, but it was better than the alternative! Shinho led a team to handle a monster that had entered, immediately causing havoc. People screamed and hid in their homes. A little boy ended up in the monster''s path of rampage. Shinho cursed and raised his weapon against it, pushing the boy aside. CLANK! His sword and its teeth collided. The monster was actually a few levels weaker than he was, but the physique differences were more pronounced now that he was weakened by hunger. CLANK! ROAAR!! "CAPTAIN!" yells from the side resounded as he fought against the monster. He recognized the voices as Hero and Rin, his deputies. They also rushed forward to fight a trespassing monster each. Obviously, more than the planned monsters had gotten in, so his deputies¡ªwho had been assigned their own section of the walls¡ªhad no choice but to help out. Their village had a few hundred guards, and they were relatively near other territories so the monster mobs weren''t as big as they could be, because they were distributed in the region. However, there were too few guards and slaves to handle such enemies alone. "HELP! EVERYONE! DEAL WITH THE BEASTS WITH US!" he yelled, hoping to reach those inside their homes. "These are our food! Our sustenance! Even without the forest, we will have our food and drink! "With our numbers, we can take them down!" There were only a handful of monsters that had entered, while there were thousands of citizens in their walls. Even if they didn''t move during normal mobs because they were afraid of fighting outside, then perhaps he could get them to help out this time! However, except for a handful, no one came out. Shinho could not dwell on this and had to focus on the challenges at hand. Clank! Slash! His battle with the monster continued with both of them receiving such injuries from each other. Surprisingly, a projectile flew in their direction, hitting the monster. It was the little boy he had saved before, apparently one of the citizens helping out. He threw rocks at the monster Shinho was facing. It wasn''t strong, but he was accurate, and one of the shots happened to hit the monster''s eye. ROAR! It flinched at the attack and turned by instinct, and Shinho used this chance to finally place the final blow. BANG! Shinho nodded at the boy with bright eyes and turned away to focus on another enemy. One monster down, a few more to go. ROARR!! Shinho and his teammates¡ªalong with a few citizens¡ªfocused on dealing with the monsters. The rest of the guards and slaves blocked the walls against the mobs, preventing more from coming in, and all this while most of the citizens were either hiding inside their homes or sobbing in hopelessness. Shinho and the others fought hard with the thought that they''d finally be able to have a decent meal after so many days. It was not a normal practice to let monsters leak in the walls. It was just instinct¡ªwho''d want enemies to enter one''s home? Anything could happen! However, Shinho believed this was a risk worth taking. They¡­ didn''t have much of a choice anymore! Mastering this was their hope to survive this disaster. Although they were weak from hunger and thirst, this bit of hope lit a fire in them. Don''t give up! They thought. They''d be able to handle this! Chapter 876 Heat and Tensions It was a long and hard fight throughout the night, and it finally stopped when dawn arrived and the temperature shot up again. By this time, dozens of the people had already perished¡ªmostly slaves¡ªpulled out by the monsters and divided amongst themselves. As tragic as it was, it was nothing new to them¡ªa daily occurrence during the heat wave, even¡ªso people moved on, and they focused on the food in front of them. After a long night, they got 10 beast carcasses, complete with meat and blood. People surrounded the goods, even those who only hid inside their homes while the walls were attacked. Of course, those who had fought immediately surrounded the food. How could they allow other people to share? There were thousands of people in the territory¡ªthe ten beasts would not be enough! Perhaps they wouldn''t even have a sip of blood! The guards looked as more and more people came out of their homes despite the increasing temperature, all to surround them. Things got even more uncomfortable because of the crowding. The atmosphere was already hot enough, and adding so many people made it even more insufferable. However, the guards didn''t move, surrounding the beasts, regardless of any discomfort. They were tired and hungry, but even if they had been weakened from the night-long fights, they certainly had the energy to defend their food! At the same time, the people had finally seen the ''light'' in the form of the beast carcasses. How could they let it go easily? With people delirious from tiredness and hunger¡ªand now with the temperature going up again¡ªtensions rose until people got physical. BANG! Two men were thrown back to the wall as they tried to approach the carcasses. They were kicked by two guards who were covered with blood and grime. They were exhausted and heaving deep breaths, but their willpower remained, determined to guard what they had fought hard for. Some citizens even had the audacity to look at them as if they were betrayed. The wife of one man cried and kneeled in front of her husband¡ªwho was a bit injured but fine¡ªand wailed as if he died. She glared at the guards, as if they were evil men. "We were just hungry! How could you do this!?" "YES!" "You were supposed to guard us!" another said. "We pay entrance fees every day to feed you!" "Yes! We pay you to get food for us!" "We also have the right to eat these things!" The guards naturally could not believe their ears, their hearts burning in annoyance and indignance. First of all, they paid for the fees as well! Their jobs was just to protect the territory¡ªnot to feed anyway! Hero, the relatively vocal one, stepped forward with a face red in anger and in heat. "We killed it! We worked for it!" he said. "It is ours!" Rin nodded. He was calmer, but his gaze was sharp. "If you wanted food, you should''ve fought with us." The guards as well as the citizens who helped out nodded in agreement. They risked their lives in this, and some really lost their lives, how could they be reconciled to get their wins taken like this? However, it only made the hot-headed citizens angrier. People generally wouldn''t go against stronger people, particularly the guards. However, they had already lost hope, their brains fried by the heat and melted by the hunger, they just didn''t care anymore. Anyway, they only had a couple hundred guards¡ªwho had been greatly weakened and were injured during the long night of fighting. In contrast, there were thousands of citizens, most of which had hidden inside their homes while the territory was attacked. With a bit more confidence, the citizens started piling up and mobbing the guards. The guards looked at the citizens in disbelief. If they could fight like this, why didn''t they do so last night? Did they think that they had been completely weakened from the fight that they wouldn''t be able to hurt them anymore?! Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The guards yelled and pushed and kicked, no longer caring how much hurt they caused the citizens. They did hurt people, and there were many people who got scared and wanted to back out, but then the momentum had already started and the people were too greedy for the food. They just pushed those in front of them, intending to drown the guards until they were given their meals. "STOP IT!!" Shinho yelled, escaping from the mob. "GUARDS! Get out! Let them be!" Shinho was a respected figure in the territory. Thanks to him, at least half of the guards gave up in fighting, just squeezing and jumping out of the mob. However, even if they followed, their hearts were fiery with anger. They watched as the people divided up the loot, not even thinking of looking at the people who actually deserved them. What was worse? The Lord came out of his days-long hiding. He was even followed by his family, his women, and his children. He smiled and looked happy at the loot that he already assumed to be his. He ordered the slaves to make way, and then threatened to blacklist the citizens who did not move. When they parted, portions of the ten carcasses had already been taken. He frowned, but also knew he could not take back what had been taken. People were becoming crazy with this heat, and he didn''t dare test their limits too much. In the end, he arrogantly took five out of the ten beasts, and ''donated'' the remaining ones¡ªthe smallest monsters¡ªfor everyone else to share. The Lords'' personal guards and slaves dragged the bodies along the avenues to his abode, and everyone else could only watch in bitterness. The citizens were not reconciled, but the heat was rising and getting kicked out of the territory was akin to death! And so, the citizens mobbed around the remaining meat, grabbing what they could and some even fighting those who had already received some. In contrast, the guards could only watch as everything went on¡ªas the food they worked for the entire night disappeared right before their eyes. Shinho''s jaw hardened and his fist clenched, his eyes meeting with many of the other guards''. They all had the same thought in their minds: Why did they work so hard?! Chapter 877 Beast Mob Again Of course, there were thousands of them there and the little bit of food wasn''t enough to sustain them for a day. For most, they had to pass the Extreme Heat in hunger and in injuries, as they had been, but the discomfort and pain had piled up for days at this point. Eventually, it''d be too hard to move even among the higher-leveled ones. However, after what happened, fewer and fewer citizens joined in the fight, and the momentum amongst the guards lowered on top of their increasingly weakened bodies. Shinho''s family, who had been among those who were helping, had been injured in the last one and he didn''t dare ask them to come out anymore. No one dared to get monsters inside the walls as well; it wasn''t like they''d be able to eat them anyway. This received complaints of course, but what could they do if they weren''t fighting out themselves? Shinho even threatened a few citizens he''d throw them out for bait if they distracted the guards mid-fight again. Even the lord. "I will kick you and your family out of the territory if you refused to feed me!" he had said, and Shinho looked at him straight in the eye. "Then do it." Anyway, being inside was only a little better than outside at this rate. At the very least, he only had to worry about his own family rather than these bastards. Seeing him determined like this, of course the lord did not dare to do so and he could only grumble as he headed inside. When more and more guards started to perish during the standard beast mobs, they knew they had to get sustenance before the night arrived. They planned to go out when it was slightly cooler, an hour or so before dusk. However, there was still sun at this point but they could only cover themselves with whatever clothing they had. The stronger men could do it somehow at the expense of burning skin, but it was better than starving to death. Many weaker citizens also couldn''t handle the hunger and followed. Even their lord, who had been hiding inside his house for the entire time, had no choice but to order his people and the slaves to forage (he had been holding back because the thinning slaves were more useful against mobs), so the people had no choice but to forage for him as well. Going outside, even when the sun was going down, was still horrible. Even at dusk or dawn, the surrounding atmosphere still felt like they were getting cooked. If going out at noon would barbeque them, then going out at dusk or dawn was akin to boiling them. It was like their bodies were melting as they scavenged but what choice did they have? However, when they got outside¡ªafter dragging their feet and enduring the heat and pain¡ªthey came to realize that gathering food outside would be even more difficult than they thought. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The drought outside¡­ was much worse than inside. To compare, if a person could get a handful of leaves inside¡ªback when they still had internal forests¡ªoutside they could get a few pieces! Some sharper people would soon realize: That not only was the regeneration rate in this drought slower, it was even worse outside the territory lines! Shinho heaved a deep breath as he combed his sticky orange hair with his hand. However, he dared not say so out loud lest people would panic again, and that''d serve no one but the beasts that''d be coming soon. They just continued to gather what they could, even if the plants they could forage were hay that could turn to powder with a bit of rubbing. They could only get the tree barks, which added something in their stomachs albeit did not assist with their healths or spirits at all. At this point¡­ even a monster several levels weaker could kill them with a slap! They foraged and foraged, going a bit farther than intended. Soon, they found a small field of the plant. It was dry, but they knew it was edible, so they grabbed what they could, also eating them as soon as they could lest it get stolen by others. This went on for a while, with everyone desperately trying to get something . Shinho looked at the sky that had darkened and lit up the torches. "It''s time to go," he said and, although unsatisfied with their loot, they had to turn tail. Unfortunately, even he¡ªin his own quest to find food¡ªdidn''t realize they got farther than anticipated. He was becoming nervous and hastened his pace, asking the others to do the same. However, when the walls were still not in sight, his sharp ears caught some rumblings at a distance, and his heart dropped. "Go, go back now!" he yelled. "RUNNN!!" The others also panicked and felt a little teary as they followed. Everyone ran back to the gate, which was still several minutes away even if they ran with all of their remaining energy. They could feel their heartbeats reach their throats, suffocating them. Along with extreme hunger and tiredness. In the end, no amount of adrenaline could help them run faster than the beasts. ROAARRRR! "AHHH!" A yell from a side, followed by a squelching sound, and they didn''t dare turn their heads and just ran on forward. "NOOO!!" "GYAHH!" They could hear bones crunching and flesh squelching behind them, but they did not dare turn back, just running forward as quickly as possible, hoping not to be the next person to meet the stomach of a beast. Shinho felt particularly heavy. His heart pained as he heard more and more people perish behind him. He should''ve watched more carefully! This was his fault! However, he still had a family and he could not risk his life for others. Such was the horrid way of this world, even if he did his best not to succumb to it completely. It was just that, when one didn''t have the strength to even protect himself, how could they expect any sort of change outside of him? More and more people fell and they could only run, ignoring the screams for help and the sound of crushed innards that followed. However, so many of them had weak legs. They couldn''t run too far at all. "AHHH!" Crunch! "HELP ME!!" They tried to defend themselves the best they could, but not to mention the civilians, many fighters were still taken easily due to tiredness and illness. They soon reached their walls and entered, shutting them down, stabbing the monsters through the gap of the gates and above the battlements. Shinho continuously stabbed his spear at the beasts that were trying to climb up their walls. Their sentries were sparse and had limited effectivity but they had done a decent job of keeping them alive so far. Sadly the people now were extremely weak, and only now were the citizens coming out to see what was happening, when their walls were already on the verge of breaking. Shinho''s eyes widened and he was immediately met with another dilemma. Should he abandon the wall and run to his family instead? Chapter 878 Fall of Another Territory He stayed for a bit longer in the end. However, he did yell for the others to help and fight, otherwise the territory would fall. Soon, more and more people were pulled down by the monsters. They would either try to climb and grab someone, or bump onto the wall repeatedly until someone loses balance. BOOM! A section of the wall shook and Shinho wanted to cry as another companion fell down, mobbed by beasts and divided among monsters. People in the battlement tried to stab the monsters outside, some were pulled down easily without much of a fight. More and more fell, and the walls¡ªthat had long been weakened¡ªwere finally starting to give way. BANG! BANG! CRASHH! They stabbed and stabbed until it was too difficult to find balance. Everyone jumped down to the interior of the walls, lest they joined the feast as food instead. They could hear their walls crumbling and a part fell down, taking several people on the battlement with them. Their hearts fell along with it, and their bodies cold as the first monster finally breached through, followed by dozens more. Was it finally their time? The remaining slaves¡ªmost had died from starvation the past couple of days¡ª were summoned as meat shields to buy time for the others. It was a gruesome sight but most people just focused on their own lives. The slaves though had no energy and just stood there. The monsters took a couple of seconds to munch and eat the humans, and soon many monsters started looking for other targets. More and more beasts came and they hunted the citizens, even if they were inside their homes. Desperate screams echoed in the territory. Some tried to run, and some to fight, but what could weakened people do against such mobs? How far could they run before getting pummeled? Bang! Bang! BANG! More and more sections of the wall fell, and it was getting too close to where his family was settled. "The¡­ the territory can''t handle this!" Shinho yelled, going to the lord who found him for protection. "Find a way to repair the walls, milord!" "We don''t have resources anymore!" He yelled, gasping when monsters headed in their direction. "AHHH! KILL IT! KILL IT!" Shinho shook his head and bolted in another direction. At this point, he could only focus on family. The Lord, at least, could pull many others to protect him. His family had no such advantage. He had already done his best for this place. "NO! YOU! Continue guarding me!! SHINHOOO!" The lord yelled, but was ignored in the end. Shinho heard his yell grow distant, and also how he yelled for the others to protect them. There were not many slaves left after this, but he got them to cover them for a bit, hopefully enough so they could find a safe house. More and more beasts got inside and it became clear that they couldn''t protect the territory anymore. Shinho made the decision to evacuate everyone they could instead, all while he ran towards his family. "RUN!" Anyway, as long as the lord was alive, the territory would stand. They could run and hide somewhere, and¡ªassuming they would survive the other mobs and the extreme heat¡ªthey could return the next morning in hopes that the beasts weren''t there anymore. But when he turned to check on the lord just one more time, he saw him ditching his family¡ªthrowing a wife to a monster''s mouth¡ªand bolting in a direction. This direction, according to memory, was towards the warehouse. While extremely cold, it was indeed the option that made more sense. However, a second later, a monster appeared from the side, biting his head and taking his body somewhere for consumption. "..." Shinho didn''t have the time to react to this as he had to raise his weapon to shield himself from another beast. It was a few levels lower than he was, but his arms were heavy as lead as it hit. After taking it down after much effort and almost losing a limb, he went to his family, also kicking or slashing at monsters on his way, saving other people in the way. One of these people was that brave kid who always helped out during the night battles. He just let him and others be when they followed him, using the path he cleared for their own safety. When he saw monsters coming from the direction of his home, he realized there was another breach in this direction, too. He hurried up and the others struggled to follow him. His heart stopped when he saw his father''s head hanging around a monster''s teeth. His eyes turned red and he raised his arms, attacking the damned monster with all his might. But he didn''t have much time to mourn if he wanted to survive. This was how it was in this world¡ªthey were too busy surviving, how could they have the time to mourn? Further¡ªhe still had other family he needed to find. Blood splattered all over his body, he went past the monster and headed to the house. He arrived at his old home and opened the door, yelling: "Ferra! Shishi!" He felt like a mountain dropped down his shoulder when he saw them both alive and intact. They were both injured from the previous battles, but otherwise alive. They immediately ran to him, sobbing. "Father went outside to check¡ªI couldn''t leave Shishi¡ª" Ferra sobbed, tears on her dark-colored face. He felt his throat closing in on itself, but he pushed it down. "Father¡­ is gone now. We gotta survive for him, okay?" The woman shook and paled, but she wasn''t given time to think too much. "Let''s go," he said, pulling his lover and Shishi, his little sister, out the door. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "W-Where are we going?" "The lord is dead," he said. "It''s only a matter of time before everything disappears!" It was too late now, this place¡ªtheir home¡ªwas going to disappear soon, and they could only flee. As for where they could go¡ªespecially during the Extreme Heat¡ªwho knew? At this time, they could only focus on how not to get eaten. Chapter 879 Terrans in a Boil As they left their small home, they would see the topmost part of the buildings slowly turning to dust. This would be closely followed by the walls, to the point that they wouldn''t have to think about climbing it anymore, they''d just have to jump over. He looked around, seeing the same sight: tragedy, blood, death. From the top of his lungs, he yelled. "Evacuate!" he and his family¡ªalong with others¡ªran towards the other gate, swiping what they could, rescuing as many as he could. They focused on running after that, having no choice but to ignore the massacre happening behind them. People¡­ simply didn''t have the energy to fight against monsters anymore. Only the guards could have a semblance of a fight left, but even they couldn''t do so much anymore and had long run away even before Shinho did. Other than him, several guards joined him. Several groups of refugees pulled their families up, while some could barely move now. He and his family had a bit of energy because he braved through the heat and mobs to get them some bits of food; Others were not so lucky. The panicked crowd went through the other gate with desperation and fear. There were still monsters in this direction but they were much sparser. With the number of them, they could escape while the monsters captured other people. Their group exited with most of their numbers because the monsters were too busy with the thousands of people still inside. They could hear the desperate screams and yells behind them, but they just fled, tuning them out. Their heartbeats were too loud as if they were ringing in their ears, anyway. When they confirmed there were no monsters following closely, with the few that were dealt with by their fighters, some couldn''t help but turn back to see their territory slowly disintegrate after their lord''s death. They could only imagine the terror of those inside. They thought they could still hide in their homes, only to have it disappear right in front of their eyes. They would''ve sobbed if there was still enough moisture in their eyes to make tears. Their home¡­ it was gone now. There was no time to pause, however. It was night and they could travel a bit, and it was cooler outside the territories due to the lack of stones that''d absorb the heat. However, they still had a gorge of battles they must go through to even have a dream of peace. They ran and ran, as far away from their territory¡ªwhich was where most of the nearby mobs were heading toward¡ªas possible. For the next hour or so, they''d fight against some mobs they encountered and there they lost a lot of torches. Let alone fighting with monsters, many were lost due to the panic and darkness that loomed over them. "Where do we go?" They asked, and the atmosphere was heavy as they trekked along the drying forests. Shinho didn''t speak for a while and just continued on his way, until he heard trickles of water. "WATER!" he yelled, and they headed in the direction. They all kneeled down to see the shallow river of water, all just jumping down and not wanting to get out anymore. "Water¡­ water¡­" They cried as they consumed as much as they could. The little boy¡ªMamu¡ªwas also smart enough to immediately get a rough cup made of dried wood in his space, gathering some of it for storage. The space could not hold water in its liquid form¡ªit simply would not store¡ªand it had to have a container of sorts. It could be buckets, pails, or the like. While most did not have this, some people did¡ªfor example, Shinho and his lover. After all, they didn''t have much to store anyway, so there was a possibility of finding water sources when they went out. As they drank, it was as if the water saturated his brain again, making it work again. The light of inspiration hit him as he looked in the direction of the water. "Follow the river!" he said. He was thinking about whether to follow the downstream or the upstream. Logically, upstream was better. However¡ª "MOBS!" The mobs seemed to have either noticed them there or arrived to look for water sources as well. They were coming from the upstream direction, and they had no choice but to go the other way instead. Shinho and the others were worried they''d find it dried up eventually with no territory in sight, but for now they could only do so. At this time, they had no idea: S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This would be their luckiest decision so far. ¡­ Somewhere farther north. Even the Aborigines¡ªwho were born and lived in this continent¡ªwere having an especially bad time now, what more for the Terrans? The first wave that morning already killed a couple of people. They were shocked when they felt their skins burn as long as they stayed in the sun. These people happened to be outside the territory when it happened, and they were not able to find decent shade in time. They eventually faded as they headed back, not to return again. Most managed to run into their homes, but the sweltering atmosphere was painful, and for lower leveled people it was even hard to breathe. Some were lucky they hired aborigines who told them what was happening when it did, and they did their best to adjust. There was also the fact that their physiques had been improved. If they were still in their Terran bodies at Level 0, they had no doubt hundreds more had perished during the first day alone. There were also a few territories that still hadn''t managed to hire an aborigine. They were lucky and survived this long because of their locations, but that fortune had been used up with this disaster. In such cases, the heat wave completely caught them off guard and confused them the entire time. They scurried to find cover, trying to adjust, though it hadn''t been easy. Even inside their homes, they felt like they were being boiled. When night came, they could finally breathe¡ªbut that only lasted a couple of hours until mobs found their location. Just when they could finally rest from tiredness, they would be attacked, and that would begin a restless night that would be characterized by blood and violence. Then they''d realize their resources were dwindling and now they had to deal not only with debilitating heat, rabid monsters, but also the lack of food and water. Some had also thought about getting monsters inside at the expense of some areas, and some territories were smart enough to convert certain places into a corral of sorts. They would build a low level wall within the territory, in aims of trapping the monsters there. As good as it was, it couldn''t last long because people had grown weak through the days, and the walls would get destroyed. With the lesser resources, these walls could no longer be repaired as well. Days passed by and their population, energy, and resources chipped away in front of their naked eyes. They had thought they managed to adjust in this new world, but it decided to throw them to hell yet again. Without exemption, everyone would ask in their hearts: Would things ever get any better? Or were they just destined to suffer like this until they finally died? Chapter 880 Rows Village One of the few territories doing slightly better was located somewhere northeast of Alterra, a village named Rows Village. While many territories had fallen, many people¡ªnative or Terran alike¡ªbecoming refugees and having to travel under the burning sun, they had managed to hold on... so far. This was one of the villages that had thought of corralling the monsters to hunt them more effectively. They had zoned a certain less-developed area to create an enclosure. While most of the territory still fought against the monsters outside the battlement, they would leave a section unguarded, allowing some monsters to go through. They also created a gate there because they knew monsters targeted those by instinct, and therefore would pile easily so they could focus their attacks more. The gate would also make it easier for them to get the carcasses inside. They would kill these monsters as a team, and then distribute it strictly amongst those who fought. They had to implement the martial law, and every one who caused trouble would be kicked out of the territory with no exemptions. A lot of territories had fallen, especially among the Terrans'', but Rows Village had lasted a relatively longer time due to its wise lord¡ªa wise old man, and a retired major general¡ªand also because of its proximity to a water source. The man''s name was Faust, an 85-year-old veteran who happened to have old inheritance money in his hands. He had built the territory next to a shallow stream. If he had a choice back then, he''d have looked for the river as well, but it got too dangerous to do so. Fortunately, it wasn''t too bad because the stream was relatively big. However, after many days of the heat, the stream had eventually began to dry up and was unable to sustain its thousands and thousands of population. Anyone with eyes could see that it was only a matter of time before there was no more. They tried to collect as much as they could, though they had to ration their water strictly. Faust also enforced strict rationing that only allowed one person to buy a bucket of water per day for a relatively high price. A lot of people died of heatstroke during the first few days, not including the deaths during the small beast tides. Further, the warehouse had also begun losing the basic wood resources needed to repair the walls. Eventually, they could no longer let monsters inside to farm them, and it was suddenly a lot more difficult to get meat and blood. After all, the beasts themselves drag away the carcass of their own kin to consume. Unless they wanted to risk their lives and limbs to carry a large monster body above the walls, they knew that it was a lost cause. To make matters worse, they soon came to realize that finding edible plants was even harder than they initially thought. The surviving plants inside the walls could only feed so many¡ªat least, the plants which could have an effect on their stomachs. Their health and spirits decreased to a very low baseline, making it very dangerous during battles. For many people, going out to battle at night meant the risk of dying after a few hits. They didn''t even have to worry about the large monster mouth taking their heads; even one or two slaps would get their HP to 0. At some point, a lot of people had to go out to scavenge in an attempt to increase these numbers. However, even at dawn or dusk, it was still very difficult. Unlike aborigines, this was their first extreme heat and their bodies were not used to it, so more people died during the early days. The first ones to die were the low-leveled people and then the few children and old people that had managed to hold on after so long. People mourned for their loss, but no tears would come out. After all, they were too dried out. One of the people dying¡­ was the lord himself. At this time, he was laying on the bed, barely moving under the onslaught of the heavy atmospheric heat. His level wasn''t too high because of the limitations of his age, and he also did not have much time to train because of his position. With a lower average level and old age combined¡­ he was at a gross disadvantage during this period. "Grandpa¡­ please have some water¡­" A beautiful young woman said as she produced a bit of water, controlling it over his mouth. For someone who had just entered level 10, this showed exemplary control over her element. The two hired aborigines they had, Valma and Cree, looked impressed but also sad at the sight. They were the only two aborigines in the place, with Valma as a 50-year-old female cleaner¡ªbut given a chance to become a guard¡ªand Cree as a 45-year-old guard at level 14. Even if they had only been here for a few months, they had inexplicably placed their hearts with them. Seeing the wise and kind lord slowly losing his life was heartbreaking. In fact, this Extreme Heat was the worst they had encountered so far. With slightly better conditions, things might''ve been different for them. Their hearts broke at the tragedy. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Please, grandpa¡­" The young woman mumbled, her face scrunched up as she tried not to cry. "My little Foxii¡­" The old man weakly uttered as he looked at her, eyes filled with heartbreak. He opened his mouth in the end, though to be frank he was reluctant to consume any resources in his current state. But what could he do? If he died, the territory would also perish. He could only hold on the best he could. If he could pass on the token to his granddaughter, he would''ve. But it was attached to his body so he had no choice but to keep living for as long as he could. A long time ago, he had asked what was needed to do this. Valma had no idea, but when he managed to hire Cree he found out that the token would be detached during a war. He didn''t even consider it at first¡ªhow dare he start a war at this time? However, he could feel his time was coming to an end¡ªvery, very soon¡ªso there might not be a choice. After a moment of thought, he turned his head to his most powerful hired aborigine. "At night, gather some of our strongest men and go to the nearest village East and strike a deal," he said, eyes fixed on Cree. "We shall start a war," he said. "Promise them we will return the things we win from them with interest." There were only losers or winners in the war. If no one attacked, then the winner would just be whoever had the higher comprehensive strength. This was the only way to get cooperation. Faye looked at her grandfather in disbelief. She was confused at first, until she realized what he was trying to do! "No, grandpa¡ª" "Please," he said, closing his eyes, his voice weak. "I don''t have much time¡­" His words made the woman''s body turn cold in terror. Her eyes widened as she gaped at him. "Grandpa¡ª" "Take her away, no matter what," Faust said, ordering Cree to do so. "NO!!!" Cree hit the back of her neck then, and carried her outside. He might not like it, but he still answered to the current lord in the end. Faust closed his eyes as he heard the door close. He took a deep breath, focusing on keeping himself alive and trying not to put energy anywhere else. Sadly, it was still too late. Because Faust would not open his eyes again after that. Chapter 881 Sergeant Faye They only found out about the lord''s untimely death when the buildings began to disintegrate. Faye had woken up just a couple of minutes ago from the yells and screams all around her. Cree and Valma arrived shortly after with pale faces. Their voices were weak, unsure of how to tell her. "The Lord¡ª" "Grandpa?" she voiced out, confused and disoriented. But as she heard more of the screams¡ªvaguely hearing about the buildings disintegrating¡ªshe immediately bolted out of her bed to go to her grandfather''s room. When she saw him just laying there, without a hint of movement, it felt like she was thrown off a cliff. She gasped as she dragged herself closer to him, heartwrenching sobs escaping from her mouth. "GRANDPA¡ª" Cree and Valma could only watch on, looking heartbroken as well. However, they also knew this was no time to mourn. It was morning and the heat would only get worse; they needed to find cover as soon as possible. Cree moved forward, stopping a meter behind the woman. "Please, Miss Faye," he said. "The Lord wouldn''t want you to perish now." Faye let herself cry out for a few more moments before forcing her tears back. She leaned down hug her grandfather one more time, all while feeling the increasing heat as the roof disintegrated above them. The sounds of the screams outside were the only thing that kept her from just staying there. "I''ll live grandpa," she said, wiping the last traces of tears on her face. "I''ll live for both of us." ¡­ "Let''s go find cover while there is still sun!" She yelled to whoever could hear her. They had no time to alert everyone or find them all; they''d just have to take whoever was there. Her beautiful ebony hair was cut short now. She should''ve done this ages ago, but her family had always complimented it and she couldn''t bear cut it off before. But now, the last of her family was gone, so there was no need to keep it¡ªat least not in this heat. She did feel a bit of melancholy. After all, she had been told to cut her hair many times when she was on duty, but she just refused to do so. Faye Alexa¡ªor just Foxii according to her family and close friends¡ªwas also a soldier, which was how she managed to compartmentalize despite the debilitating pain of losing her final blood relative. She followed her family''s footsteps of entering the military of her home country: the perenially snowy country of Colfrig. It was why despite their strategies and strength, the heat wave had a higher impact on them than others. Their bodies were too conditioned to the Winter. When the tragedy happened, she was on leave to see her grandfather at the ancestral home. Only the two of them, as well as her dad and uncle, survived the initial transformations. Her father died shortly after the transfer, protecting people. There were too many civilians, and they were soldiers, and their instincts kicked in. He ended up dying while protecting them until they found a decent place to set up territory. She couldn''t help but remember her grandfather''s regrets of rashly doing so. More than their distance from the river, he said that if he had known the token would be integrated permanently¡ªunless some conditions were met¡ªhe wouldn''t have been the one to activate the token at all. Her uncle died after the Protection Period ended, when the monsters had suddenly spiked in strength, leaving just her and her grandfather to lead thousands and thousands of people against various tribulations that came their way. They did very well, considering everything, but sadly they couldn''t hold on in the end. She was 29 years old now, unmarried, and had just awakened the water element just before all this went down. Because her ability was so necessary during the extreme heat, she was forced to train it beyond her limits. Combined with her natural talent, she became proficient at the element in good time. Other than this, she had also awakened the Sheildsman¡­ er, shieldswoman, occupation early on in the Migration. Water and Shield was an odd combination for certain, but it was what she got. "Let''s go!" She said, looking for the stream and its marks. Although it had mostly dried now¡ªleaving only sticky mud¡ªthey could still follow it to a river, which hopefully still had some water. "Yes!" Cree said, and many others followed. Cree and Valma, in fact, could easily just leave now. Their contract was with the territory, and since it was no more they had no standing obligations left for Faye However, they had seen how she had handled herself and her people. They had nowhere to go anyway, and sticking with Faye would still give them better chances than going through this alone. Similarly, there were also a lot of people willingly following her despite the lack of the lord token and territory. There were easily a few hundred of them still there. "We will follow you anywhere, Miss Faye!" One said. It was Tot, a huge bulky man with bald head. He was a territory guard who had a relatively higher level and, therefore, higher constitution than others. He was one of the hired guards and he, along with his team, had long started gathering the survivors and prepared them to leave. The others nodded in agreement, though with little energy despite meaning otherwise. If they still had the energy to talk so much, they''d have cheered for her. Sadly, most of their throats had dried and their vision had begun to feel a bit blurry to do anything else but nod weakly. At this point, everyone was parched and starving. Most of all, they felt like their skins were burning and their bodies overheating. However, even when they were mostly skin and bones, and maybe a bit despondent, they still held on to some hope because they had always managed to go through trials with Foxii''s and the former lord''s leadership. They needed to hold on to her, otherwise they''d lose reason to even move anymore. She nodded, eyes a bit teary from their trust. It was already morning and the heat was suffocating. They had been hiding in the remaining shadows of the slowly-disintigrating buildings, but soon they''d be in the sun''s direct path. Where could they go? More importantly, how could they move with barely any cover from the hot sun? She looked at the stream that was just made of mud in thought. Tot followed her eyes and nodded. "We should head to the river," he said. They hadn''t managed to venture so far as to actually find it, but they knew where the stream was heading, so that was a start. His comrade, Crump, looked at the drying forests that were so vast it went past the horizon. Without a territory, it was like getting exposed to an open wasteland, and it made their stomachs drop. Not that it had enough moisture to actually do so, of course. They had lived here for months, but because of the dangers they had stayed relatively nearby. No one knew how far the river was. Eh, more accurately, they didn''t know which direction to go¡ªupstream or downstream? Generally, streams head toward rivers, but it wasn''t a guaranteed rule. Also, what if the river was hundreds of kilometers away while the springs were actually just nearby? And, even if they found the river or a spring, then what? What if there wasn''t a territory there? It was all quite a gamble¡ªone that hundreds of lives were dependent upon. Fortunately, Faye was a seasoned soldier so she didn''t buckle under this pressure. Instead, she took note of all their concerns, deep in ponder, until she finally gained inspiration. Soil could be used for insulation, and even dried trees¡ªassuming they didn''t turn to powdery dust after some force¡ªcould be used for cover. While there were a lot of risks and a lot of challenges, they didn''t have a lot of other resources to deal with. However, they had advantages that few other territories had: They still had mud and their trees, because of the proximity to a water source, had some moisture that they didn''t break upon a slight impact. She looked at Crump. "Haven''t you awakened as an earth elementalist?" she asked, shifting to stare at Tot. "And you''re a wood elementalist, are you not?" She also named a couple of others to confirm their elements, forming a strategy in her mind. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They nodded, looking at her, not knowing what to expect. Faye covered her face that had now been hit by the ray of the sun. It was painful¡ªlike she was touching a heated pan with her face¡ªbut the fact that they had a next step was enough to raise her momentum. She¡­ actually smiled a little. "Let''s build ourselves a portable roof." Chapter 882 Finally a River The teams immediately went to work, enduring the heat as they hit their skins. They knew that this was unavoidable, and doing this at the soonest was the only way to cut their suffering short¡ªwhether it was death by heatstroke or by actually managing to build some shades. She had seriously considered covering their bodies with wet mud to protect themselves from the direct heat. After all, they didn''t have many workable trees, which meant not everyone could fit in, but at least the stream would provide ample amounts of mud. However, there were too many risks, especially if the mud dried out. Mud had insulating properties to keep the heat out, but it could also trap it in. After it dried, the helpful effects of evaporation would disappear and would just add body temperature instead. It would also hinder their movements, slowing them down, and making them suffer even more in general. Anyway, everyone worked hard and as fast as they could. Granted, their weaknesses made it so they couldn''t move so agily, but their desperation to find shade certainly helped with their speed. More and more people found them and followed their lead. They took down tree after tree, some of which broke down as they landed on the ground, though fortunately many were usable. They used the mud to connect them, strengthened by the thin vines produced by their only wood elementalist, Tot, who really looked like he was on the verge of dying. They also had an architect there, another earth user with the name of Limbo. He made sure to maximize the very very limited resources they had with his heat-addled brain. The end products were a bit flimsy and would not hold against, say, a beast tide, but it was better than nothing. There were also a few hundreds of them there, and not everyone could fit. Instead, they opted to take turns, with the higher leveled ones in the second batch. They walked along the dried stream, so they could dip in the cooler mud occasionally, and also reinforce the roof when they had to. Those without roof would also be in front to manage the pacing, making sure no one was left behind. Many of these people would occasionally cover their bodies with mud to cover and cool themselves, but they''d immediately take it off once it dried. Regardless of whether they had roofs or not, they were all weak and had trouble to breathe, but they trudged on. The people who had weak hearts had long perished, and those who had been left after so long had some grit, so even if they were suffering¡ªthey dragged their bodies. They went downstream in the end. One, because it was easier to walk on, and second they''d prefer river to mountain springs if they had a choice. Fortunately, as time went on, they''d encounter some usable wood and, after collecting a few, they''d have enough to build another roof. Eventually the majority had some sort of roof above their heads. Thor, a young blonde (though his hair was so dried up it looked white now), looked at the design of the latest-built roof. Because they were in such a rush¡ªit was mid-freaking-day¡ªit was even flimsier than the other ones. The wood couldn''t be finished properly as well, so there were gaps everywhere so some rays would get through. It happened that there were two gap lines that would hit him. "I''ll be getting very weird tan lines¡­" he mumbled, tone filled with distaste. An hour of this and he''d literally have two lines stamped on his face. If the others had energy, they''d have rolled their eyes. Faye smiled a bit and continued to lead the group. "Continue moving! I''m sure we''ll find a territory¡ªsomewhere!" ¡­ The group traveled for another hour, smack in the middle of the hottest time of the day. It was torture. It was hot, and suffocating, and they were parched and hungry as they trudged. "Shit..." Crump mumbled. The rest also cursed internally, but they couldn''t bear to actually open their mouths. Too tiring. Too hungry. Too parched. Since they traveled far, they also managed to hoard some plants to chew on. It was horrible and dry, much like eating brittle paper, but one had to do what one had to do. Anyway, in order to prevent deaths from her group, Faye and the others decided to find a place to rest. They eventually found some rock outcroppings, that provided shade, using their roofs to extend it. They took this break to drink and eat, regaining some of their energy before heading forward. As much as they wanted to stay there for longer, it would get dangerous if they didn''t find a territory soon. "Dusk should arrive in another hour or two," Cree said, voice croaky. Faye nodded, fanning herself with some dried leaf she managed to get (and eventually to eat). It felt horrible but they''ll survive. They forced themselves up and they continued to drag their bodies following the stream. There were a lot of people who had to be dragged, and no one could talk anymore. It felt like making any sort of vibration in their throats would turn it to powder. Eventually, they encountered a bit more plants than usual. They could notice even the slightest change¡ªafter all, they were so dependent on them to live. The vegetation here was also a bit denser and was just a bit healthier, to the point that they could actually taste something instead of powdery grossness. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This fact lit a fire in their hearts. This was a good sign, and their dying legs suddenly felt alive, and their pace increased even by a little bit. Squelch! They paused and looked down, realizing the muddy stream they had been stepping on was wetter, their legs sinking a bit deeper than before. Their eyes widened and they rushed forward. The mud soon became wetter and wetter, until there was actual water¡ªand soon a river was finally in sight!! The younger ones immediately ran to drink water, not caring about whether or not they left the roof behind. Everyone sobbed and followed them, rushing towards the strong body of water. However, their feet were stopped as several yells exploded. "AHH!" "Ouch!!" The youngins were fine and alive, but they looked in pain as they raised their hands, which was blistering as if they were just boiled. "Shit!" Thor gasped as he looked at the blisters, almost gagging. Faye also rushed forward, eyebrows furrowed. Because the river in these parts was shallow, even if it wasn''t stagnant, it still reached a boiling point! Faye cursed a bit. It was literally right at their fingertips! Were they supposed to just stare at it? Chapter 883 Selfish Begets Selfish While Faye and the others had found the river, there was also another batch of people from the Rows village who went the other way upstream. The village was not small and things happened quickly that people just went in different directions. However, since they had access to streams, they''d go just one way or another. Another few hundred people went in this direction. They left the moment they saw the buildings disintegrating. While most had the instinct to wait for the leading party to start moving¡ªparticularly because they had been dependable so far¡ªsome had rushed out earlier when they saw the reaction was delayed. Some had chosen the direction by random, while others did have reason for going upstream. For instance, at the very least, they knew there was really a mountain in this direction. It was more difficult to traverse because there was a slight incline, but at least it was better than hoping to find a river before dusk. One of these people was Perrot. He was just the type not to wait around. So now he, along with hundreds of others who went in this direction, were half-dead from the heat, and a lot of people had already fallen. There were people who tried to take the lead, and they built their own smaller groups with their own strategies. They covered their bodies with thick mud, protecting their eyes with an overhang. They wouldn''t be able to move well, so there was a risk when there were monsters awake, not to mention they''d move slower and remain outside for longer. However, it was better than direct contact with the sun¡ªprovided they didn''t let the dry mud stick for too long, which meant they''d expend energy in restructuring their wet mud shield every so often. They had to do this manually. Their side was not that strong and there were only a few earth elementalists, including Perrot himself, so they had limited options. Perrot was actually an engineer and he had also thought about creating a portable roof. However, the trees they encountered just didn''t work as well, breaking down easily after getting cut. He reckoned it was because they were heading on an incline¡ªtowards the mountains. The winds were stronger here, and it put a lot more stress on the trees that couldn''t adapt fast enough. It was torture walking in the open air during this weather. It was like being ovened alive, but you had no choice but to keep moving. They had been doing this for hours now, until they felt the incline increasing even more. After a long time of looking down to protect their eyes, they finally looked up to see they were in the middle of the mountains already. He looked at the mud that had slowly gained more water and he smiled, his dry lips cracking at the movement. It bled a bit, though he didn''t mind it. "I think we''re close," Perrot said, though his voice was so raspy few people actually heard him. Fortunately, the incline wasn''t too harsh, otherwise they''d have long rolled back. They continued to traverse the place, increasing their pace because the mountain springs were their target and might even be nearby. More importantly: the sky had changed¡ªit would be dusk soon. "Hurry¡­" he said, increasing his steps but having no energy to check how many people were still following him. Eventually, the eerie sound of the arid wind and the rustles of dried wood changed, soon combining with some other sounds, like murmurs¡­ and screams. "Do you hear something?" he asked, looking at his companion who didn''t hear much at first. For the most part, all their brain energies were focused on keeping themselves moving. If they fell, it was unlikely someone would pull them to shade and safety¡ªprimarily because they weren''t certain they''d encounter it! They just continued their paths and soon the voices became clearer. Even, they realized it was the Terran language that was being used, so they knew these were brethren! "Other people!" they exclaimed and immediately headed to the sound. So many people could mean a territory was nearby! They immediately shed their mud shields and not caring much about the hot sun, which had slightly cooled at this time already. However, they saw large pieces of wood in front of them. At first, they thought some trees just fell until Perrot recognized the crude handiwork of humans. It was not just wood carelessly stocked up, it had an actual pile foundation made of wood, and all parts were tied together by vines and pasted by heated clay. It was highly intentional and done expertly, considering their current limitations and resources. He walked around to study it closer and saw it had a u-structure, making sure¡­ that no water would get past this area. Perrot didn''t say anything but his feet¡ªand heart¡ªfelt heavy. He just watched as many of the Row Village folks walked past his frozen self, running forward to see their ''brethren''. They were too focused to notice what he was looking at, so their eyes were still full of hope and potential camaraderie. Anyway, there were indeed hundreds of people running in their direction, and they all had faces of despair and panic. Most of them didn''t even get far though and they just fell down, obviously unused to the raw heat¡ªwhich was already saying something. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. These people just laid weakly on the ground, hoping to get some shade from the leafless trees, though the heat of the atmosphere was too intense to feel any comfort. "Help¡­ help¡­" they asked, but who had the energy to provide it at this time? Those with some strength headed straight to the stream¡ªwhich was the highest the Row Village citizens had ever seen after the Heat Waves. The Row Villagers also wanted to go there, but those people pushed them aside and they, who had been traveling for hours, were helpless. They just watched as scores and scores of screaming people hopped on the deep stream, intending to swim for their lives. However, the people let out screeching screams as soon as they jumped¡ªif they were even in more pain than before. "AHHH!" "HURTS!" "BURNING! BURNING!! GAHHH!" The people yelled, some fainting directly in the water, while some hurriedly swam to the edge as if their lives depended on it. It confused the Row Villagers too much; it didn''t make any sense! "What''s¡­ going on?" One asked, looking at Perrot who just arrived to watch. Unlike the rest of them, Perrot was without much expression. Perrot looked cold-heartedly at these people. The thing was, because of their own creation, the blocked water became stagnant. With little ''new'' water coming in due to the droughts, the water that had been stored became extremely hot. With the right conditions¡­ it could even rise to boiling temperatures, which was what was happening now. They watched as the people tried to get to dry land, bodies filled with blisters and the low-level ones even looked like part of their skins were melting off. Some didn''t make it and lost consciousness in the water, while those who got out looked horrendous, as if they were deep fried. It was a horrible sight. But Perrot, at least, felt no pity. Chapter 884 Karma Some more people ran to jump, and the Row Villagers were simply too shocked¡ªand weak¡ªto react. More and more people suffered the same fate. No matter how thirsty, the people of Row Village naturally did not dare touch that water again¡ªmost especially not when there were bodies floating in there! As dusk approached, the locals soon noticed a new set of people were there, standing. "Help us!" Help us!" they croaked, trying to extend their hands to them. "Please!" Some people yelled but they couldn''t do much. Perrot didn''t have to say much, the people didn''t move. They could barely help themselves, how could they bother with others? They had hoped these people would be able to fight alongside them. Now they could only be burdens. No one could afford carrying that. Look: It was already dusk and these people were useless. They also had better conditions than they were in. They looked bad, but they weren''t so pale and parched like the rest of them were. Of course, it had only been a few months since things went to hell, and they did still have their morality. Inevitably, they still felt heavy for not doing anything. "No need to feel guilty," Perrot said as his red eyes looked at the people getting cooked. He walked forward hoping to find parts of the stream untouched by corpses. "Don''t you see? They blocked the stream," he said. "It''s why we had nothing." The Row Villagers immediately flinched, their eyes wide as they looked at these people in disbelief. "What?" Some ran to take a closer look, and immediately felt livid. "They built a dam!" "They blocked our water!" "EVIL!" They couldn''t help but remember their sufferings when their stream suddenly dried up completely. So many people died, particularly those whose levels couldn''t keep up with the times. The stream''s disappearance wasn''t even subtle, it just stopped out of nowhere, and now they knew why!! "HOW DARE YOU!!" one yelled, kicking the nearby local. His mother died during that drought. "Bastards!!" Another screamed. It was a woman who scratched another. Her baby didn''t survive because of the lack of water! These selfish bastards!! They didn''t have the technology or manpower to block a river, but they sure took advantage of the stream¡­ but it was at the expense of those downstream! If they actually had the excess energy to move much, they''d have beat these people up even more. However, only those who lost people had vented despite their diminishing spirits, while the rest of them just kicked or frowned, aiming to fill up their crude water bottles as well before leaving. The small amount of water from the stream, at least, was not stagnant and at an acceptable temperature. Those who were venting realized it wasn''t worth risking their remaining energy and moved on to follow the others. They just gave one last kick. "Die here!" before turning tail, no longer caring. They believed in Karma, and these people deserved it! After taking some stocks, Perrot kicked someone. "Is there a territory nearby here?" he asked. "I''ll give you a drink if you are honest." "I¡­ there used t¡­o be¡­ around a hundred kilometers from here," he said, gasping. "But we had a war with them and we won, and they eventually fell due to a m¡­ob." "My water!" Perrot sneered and gave him a few drops, and used this method to get more information. There were two territories less than 100 kilometers from here at first¡ªthere were simply fewer territories near the mountainous areas. Other than the one mentioned, the other was far away from the stream, and its status was currently unknown. Their lord died of a heat stroke. Although the transfer helped all their physiques, he was still advanced in age. It was similar to their own lord. The difference was that this lord was a businessman with great cunning, allowing him and the territory to live for so long all while stepping on others. He succumbed in such a boring way though, which was a pity, because Perrot would''ve loved to kill him himself. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, it was no longer practical to stay here and their only option was to turn back and head downstream, hoping for the best. Since it was dusk though, they could no longer afford to go slow otherwise they''d be completely exposed to the monsters. Drinking in as much as they could, they immediately hurried down, without any shield despite the pain. Seeing the rest of them heading out, many of the locals sucked it up and stood up, hoping to follow, while some of the weaker ones offered a bit more. "Let us come with you!" some said. "I have money! Please!" "Food! I have food!" This got some Row Villagers to stop. "Give it to us first." The man shook and showed his bread. It was from the restaurant. In most places, because the Flute plant dried out, the restaurant was rendered useless due to the lack of raw materials. However, here, due to the proximity to water sources (and their dam), the flute plant lasted a little longer so these people still accessed the restaurant for a few days more than everyone else. Row Villagers gulped at the bread and immediately helped the guy out. They carried him in exchange for the bread. A few others saw that it worked and did the same. Perrot saw some of them were slowing down and frowned. "There''s no time to waste now! If they want to follow, they can, but we can''t afford any more delays!" He turned and rushed forward, no longer caring if they were following or making delays. What was a bit of food if they got eaten by monsters? As such, the group of hundreds of people rushed downhill, enduring the heat and the pain in their bodies, hoping to catch up with the other party who should''ve been going slow as well. This was their main focus and they did not dare to get distracted anymore. Inevitably, dozens and dozens would fall as time went on, unable to handle the conditions. Then dusk came and they were temporarily relieved to finally feel some coolness¡­until they remembered what came with it. ROARRR! Terrifying sounds echoed all around them, and it was followed by minor tremors on the ground. They could only pale. "THE MOBS ARE HERE!!!" Chapter 885 I See the Light (Part 1) Faye''s team also encountered the same challenges. They had already drunk their fill and filled whatever container they had with water, and were rushing upstream when the monsters appeared. They knew it would happen as soon as dusk arrived, so their weapons were already brandished out and their roofs were left by the river long ago. Fortunately, the mob was smaller than they anticipated and they¡ªa group of hundreds¡ªcould actually manage it to some degree. Cree narrowed his eyes. "This means there''s a territory nearby!" he yelled, and it lit up the hope in them, letting them go beyond their usual limits. They filed along the edge of the river in pairs or in threes, so at the very least they only had to guard aside. There were also a few who decided to cover themselves with the mud just before nighttime. At least there was not as much heat, so it could be done without baking themselves. They did this to supposedly shield their bodies from attacks and also in hopes that the mud could hide their smells, possibly making them less attractive than others. Anyway, the teams fought against the monsters in front of them, all while traversing upstream when they could. They fought valiantly, considering their own weaknesses and pain. Sadly, even when they outnumbered the monsters, some people were still eaten while some fell to the water and carried downstream, fates unknown. However, most managed to deal with the monsters with teamwork and proper leadership. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Team A, focus on the Madara Monster!" Foxii yelled, brandishing her shield to cover a teammate, but her attention was on the screams to her right. With a movement of her free hand, she summoned some water from the river, creating a small whip to hit the monster in that direction. This was another advantage of being near the water! It was not strong enough to cause damage, but it was enough distraction for Team A to hit the monsters'' weaknesses, which were at the side of their necks. On her other side, she stabbed her spear, attacking the monster''s eye. She awakened the shieldsman occupation instead of the spearman, but she could at least handle a lower-leveled monster. Stab! ROAARR! It responded by lunging at her, but she managed to move her shield in time to block it. The force, though, pushed her a step back. She gritted her teeth and held on, and it also allowed citizens to attack it together, eventually killing one. Another monster attacked her though, and this one had a heavier defense. It swiped away several people on its way to her, lunging directly at her shield. She almost fell into the river, but she managed to summon water to push her back, though that took up a lot of her mana. "Team B! Attack!" she yelled, and those from her left lunged at the small group of monsters while Foxii used a good portion of her mana to put water up their noses, successfully distracting them. On the other hand, the aborigines were leading the front of the line, fighting so they could still move forward even while they were fighting. The file moved, and this meant some of the slower ones could be left behind. Some of them were the ones who covered themselves with clay. They gulped when they saw their teammates getting farther and farther, and they could only stand still, pretending to be a rock. When the monster walked past, they thought it worked. However, the critters abruptly turned back and opened their mouths, taking half of the ''rocks'' into their stomachs. Crunch! A lot of the Row Villagers saw this¡ªthe lower torsos of former fellowmen flopping to the ground¡ª and their hearts dropped as their stomachs flipped inside. "Damnit!" "Well, that didn''t work," a couple of insensitive remarks sounded. No one was friends with everyone else, after all, and they couldn''t get depressed every time someone died. After a point, dark humor was what kept them sane. Anyway, pretending to be rocks didn''t work, as the hungry beasts could still smell them. Thor''s eyes twitched. Thank goodness he didn''t try it for himself. He genuinely thought that theory could work. Anyway, he focused on the battle at hand, with Crump using his ability to create a semi-permanent bowl to throw river water to the monsters, and then Thor would promptly use his electricity to cause some damage. Sometimes it did cause good damage, while some just debilitated them a bit, but they were enough as distractions. However, their energies were all low to begin with and they could not wait until the mobs were cleared, regardless of how small they were. Their priority was still to leave the area and find a safe place. Foxii sighed, knowing this was their limit. She had hoped to clear the mob since it was so small, which would ensure the survival of a lot more people, but their bodies spirits, and HP were too low to do so. "RUN FORWARD!" She yelled, just before using much of her remaining mana to cover a lot of the monsters up front. Before dashing forward, Thor also sent small sparks of electricity to them, and the group used these few seconds of pause to widen the distance from the mobs. They just rushed blindly ahead of them from then on. Those who were capable shielded their own backs, while at the same time no longer having the benefit of caring for the others behind them. They would hear roars and growls behind them, and it would be followed by screams and the horrifying sounds of bodies bitten apart. They didn''t know how long they struggled. All they knew was that they had to go beyond their limits every step they took. Each movement felt like they were carrying tons of metal, but they had no choice but to do so. It was dark and some fell in the water, while some just lost the strength in their legs. No one had the strength to help others at this time, and they could only cry and apologize in their hearts. The longer they moved, the more the energy¡ªthe hope¡ªstarted to dissipate and more and more people fell under the claws and teeth of the monsters. However, at some point, the darkness was broken as bright light shone at a distance. Those up front immediately cried out. "LIGHT!" they yelled, and the energy that had been lost recuperated to some degree, and they rushed forward once more. Chapter 886 I See the Light (Part 2) "I see it! I see the light!" Tot yelled, eyes wide as they fixed on the only source of light they had other than the eerie two moons. Many others also saw, but they did not dare get too excited. They were hopeful but also cynical. Maybe they were dreaming? However, more and more people saw the light coming from the same direction, and everyone felt like crying. Immediately, they rushed towards it, just the sight of Light adding energy to their otherwise half-dead bodies. However, even after running for a while, the light was still far away, and they realized that it was not as near as they thought. "It''s actually farther than I thought. What could be causing such a brightness?" Tot asked, eyebrows furrowed. Cree was running along with them, and his eyes were narrowed. "It might be the Lighthouse, a special building some richer territories could afford." His words sparked more hope in them, and their hearts burst in both tiredness and in joy. To be honest, they lost the feeling of their legs a long time ago, and it was amazing how they were still moving. "Go! Run!!" However, they still had a small mob behind them. And soon they caught up again, taking down a few more people. ROAR!! "Ahhhh!" "GAH!!!" "Help!!" At this point, Foxii could no longer take it. She stopped running and turned back. They finally saw the light! How pitiful was it to lose the chance to live at this juncture?! "MISS FAYE!" Cree yelled, following after her by instinct. Faye ran back to the crowd, eyes fixed on the monsters in front of her. Using her last bits of mana to summon another whip, she hit the monsters about to bite her people. ROARR!! It did not cause damage, but it certainly angered them. The almost-victims crawled out of their paws, literally seeing their lives pass by them. "Thank you, Miss Faye!" they yelled, running towards and past her. Cree raised his sword to block an attack. However, he also lacked mana and spirit to fight against this mob. "Run now, Miss Faye!" "Let''s go!" she said, turning away. Cree kicked the monster and turned back as well, ready to run along with the others. However, he overestimated himself. That kick had taken the last bit of energy in his leg, straining it, and he fell down to the ground. "CREE!" Faye yelled and wanted to summon another water whip. However¡ª [Insufficient Mana] "Damnit!" She yelled, throwing her spear at the monster''s mouth, delaying it for a second, but that was not long enough. Her pause allowed a monster to go straight at her and, like Cree, it was too late for her to escape. Those in front also felt sad at the imminent loss, and¡ªafter losing both Foxii and Cree¡ª they were also losing hope of making it, and many just turned back to at least have a clear conscience before they perished. Those who continued running focused on the light that passed through the foliage of the dense forest. Their hearts were heavy with guilt but, at the same time, they also could not be blamed for their desire to live. The Light had been getting closer¡ªthey could tell¡ªbut apparently not close enough!! They were not going fast enough! They were so close! Would they fall here, too?! However, suddenly, flashes of movements went past them and things changed. It changed so quickly they didn''t have the time to absorb what was going on. Even Faye and the others, who thought for certain that she was dying there, could only gape as sharp spikes of earth appeared out of nowhere, skewering the monster about to kill Cree, and a sharp slash of wind killing the one heading to her. Slash! Bang! More and more elements appeared, some of water and some more of fire. It happened so quickly and in most cases, a monster was taken down after one or two shots. To their shock, after a few minutes, all the monsters that had been hunting them were dealt with. It was led by a handsome redhead, followed by a handful of other elementalists. It was not bright in their area but fire was floating around the man, illuminating him. His handsomeness made the few women around swoon, and they looked at the newcomers like they were gods. Ansel looked at the refugees staring at him. Although he was used to getting stared at, the state of these people was just too pitiful he almost thought they were walking mummies (with a little fat). "Hey! You alright?!" he asked, concerned, and helping out the people nearby. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They all stood up, though some had it harder than others. They also gave them a bit of water and some crackers. Ansel and the others did not give them more, afraid their stomachs would go into shock and hurt them instead. The refugees sobbed and gobbled it up, thinking these people were so kind to give them so much of their precious resource. This might be one of their last, right?! Were they really human? Too selfless! It had to be said: When people were hurt, hungry, and afraid, their critical thinking could suffer. If they had a bit of mind, they would also recognize the people as Terrans, but they didn''t quite absorb this fact yet. "Hurry, come with us," Ansel said and headed back, with the team placed strategically to deal with monsters as they came. The refugees followed the team with high hopes. They also thanked the skies. What were the chances of encountering a rare group of elementalists on these parts? Almost nil? Perhaps their territory sent them out to do tasks? Would it be a big town? Maybe even a City?! Regardless, it was a bit brave of the lord to send such important people out at this time, but it was their luck so they could only be thankful. Soon, they encountered some monsters again, which they dealt with easily, but then they realized there were more and more monsters as they got closer to the bright territory. The territory was getting attacked! Worse, as they got closer, they saw that a large amount of people were fighting against the mob so far away from the walls! They must be a hundred meters away, right!? Why would they be outside? The only explanation made their stomachs drop. Did their territory also fall due to the mobs? If so, then¡­ where were they supposed to go now? Chapter 887 Misunderstandings? The Terrans from downstream didn''t have high hopes anymore, but they were thankful to at least find people who could defend themselves. Even if the territory was gone, they could travel with them to find a new home. They also seemed much better adjusted to the current situation, so it was probably a native territory, which was already better than what they could''ve hoped for. After all, not long ago, they were certain they would die. Faye was already thinking of how to integrate well with aborigines. Fortunately, they had Cree and Valma to help them out. Speaking of that, she hadn''t been able to thank old Cree for his protection. She never thought he''d do that at all, and she vowed to pay him back once things were more stable. Anyway, she yelled for everyone to fight alongside these people. She wouldn''t want them to be abandoned because they were seen as burdens. They must show that they, at least, could pull their own weights! Sadly¡­ they had no chance to show this. The other teams'' rate of killing was too quick. Before they could run to a distracted monster, it was already taken care of. "..." "Go ahead," the redhead said, pointing in a direction. "The gate is that way," he said, before directing a path of fire that temporarily kept a few monsters away, allowing them to follow it. The other teammates followed his lead and pushed back the monsters in that path, creating a relatively safe way for them. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh, and if you''re asked who got you here, tell them it''s Ansel and team!" Faye looked at the others and nodded. The Row Villagers could not think too deeply and just followed instructions. They walked at the fastest pace they could. They didn''t want to be so troublesome, and they weren''t sure how long these kind people would be holding back these monsters for them. Soon, the people from the team got preoccupied with the groups of monsters that came at them, and they could only run in that direction, regardless of whether they had elementalists with them. They had their weapons out, prepared to fight themselves, but the journey was surprisingly smooth. Whenever new monsters came near them, some random people would appear, bravely brandishing their weapons to kill the monster. They didn''t come to protect them, they could tell, because their teams didn''t even look at them. These people worked in teams and they worked against a few monsters together, mobbing them. At some point, they even got the impression that these teams were even¡­ competing to get to the monsters first? Hmn, the heat melted their brains indeed. It probably affected their vision, too. Anyway, they continued to rush towards the walls, getting close enough to see its state. Suffice to say, when the Terran refugees really looked at the tall wall with dense sentries, they were quite flabbergasted. So they really were in a Town? It was much more imposing than they thought¡­ According to Cree, Towns and Cities definitely had better measures against Extreme Weather changes. Were they really so lucky to actually encounter one? Didn''t they say the monsters around towns were stronger, though? "Ouch!" Tot yelled when he felt a sharp pain on his arm. He turned to glare at Thor, who not only pinched him¡ªhe also electrocuted him. "Not a dream?" "You¡­" However, before they could argue, the double door of the gates burst open, revealing another batch of people with varying appearances and clothing. They were all holding out their weapons, their eyes and faces filled with fighting spirit. Some didn''t bother with them, eyes focused on the battlefield outside, while some looked at them up and down which made them feel a little insecure about their own appearances. They hadn''t gotten a look at themselves yet¡ªwho had mirrors? Their streams also dried up to use them as such¡ªbut they knew for sure they looked¡­ pitiful. In contrast, these people looked proper and well-fed. It had been a few weeks since the Extreme Heat started, but these people seemed to not have been affected much at all. Anyway, these people leisurely went past them, joining the battle outside. Now that the Row Villagers were near the gates, just next to safety zone provided by the sentries, they finally had the mind to absorb what was really going on. They turned to watch the battles outside and couldn''t help but gape. There were so many people outside fighting against the mob, but no one had terror on their faces. They were tired and challenged, yes, but not scared. They also noticed that many of these people were fighting within the scope of the sentries, which sent attacks every few seconds at the latest. Some sharper people like Faye and Cree could even tell these people knew exactly where the sentry arrows were coming. The civilians fought hard with no fear, even when they were almost eaten. Faye almost went over to help one out when an arrow flew in right on time to skewer it. The person¡ªunshaken¡ªwent to attack another monster with his team. Other than the sentries, there were also a lot of attacks coming from the battlements. They didn''t notice it before because they were so focused but¡­ the battlement was actually full of people. They saw people throwing rocks or shooting arrows in tandem with those on the ground. They would give them helpful assistance like distractions or even making lethal shots. There were also a few¡­ who were just watching, yelling ''moral support''. "Go Team!" "KILL THOSE BASTARDS!" Then there were those who were yelling¡­ random things they really couldn''t comprehend in this context. "Hurry! Kill a bit more so I can join in!" one said. "Hey, don''t hit that part! That''s good leather!" another screamed. There were even people... bickering. "Hey! Look at Dog!" another voice echoed, talking to someone on the ground. "How is he killing faster than you are! It''s embarrassing!" "SHUT UP!" "OI! Hubert! Don''t block the way!" One of the archers yelled. "You never listen! Wait til'' I shoot up your ass!" "HAHA! What a weak attack¡ª" "Then you go down here and let''s see who''s better!?" And so on¡­ The newcomers were very confused. It seemed like they¡­ misunderstood? Chapter 888 Shock Why did it feel like these people were¡­ enjoying it? Really? No, right? Anyway, one thing was for certain: No one was forced outside. Rather than having no choice, they were out here out of their own free will! None of them could move forward towards the open gates at this time, temporarily forgetting their tiredness and hunger. They¡­ were just too shocked. "Hey¡­" Tot said, seeming to realize something. "What language are they using?" They all gaped, their brains finally started working. Terran language? Their eyes widened at the possibility and they looked all around them in disbelief. In fact, even if the people who rescued them spoke to them in Xenoan like Cree, it had a peculiarity¡ªwas it accent? Who knew¡ªthat indicated the person wasn''t a native. Now, seeing them mock and encourage each other in their native tongue while facing mobs¡ªtheir hearts were filled in awe. These people were from Terran! These were Terrans for sure! But they were so strong¡ª Soon, more and more people entered the battlefields, some jumping down from the walls, lunging towards the beasts as if it wasn''t thrice their mass. The battles were active enough that it didn''t notice them, the accessible meat nearby, allowing them to watch the battle in relative peace. Faye was also a bit sharper and noticed the differences, particularly between those with uniforms and those who didn''t. Judging by the strength differences, the ones without the uniform were¡­ civilians? Unlike in other territories, the citizens here seemed to willingly fight alongside guards and maybe even enjoy it. This was something they couldn''t quite comprehend just yet. Everyone showed skill and bravery, much more than they had seen in most of their guards. The battle went on for many more minutes, and they watched them take down the monster mobs one by one. They would watch as they''d drag the carcasses back to the wall and where a group of¡­ goat-horse things was waiting¡­? The carcasses were placed on a large cart that was almost as wide as the gates, and the group of goat-horses dragged it deeper into the territory. Similarly, anyone who was injured (which was a not common occurence) would also be placed in another cart, though one cart was only carried by one goat-horse. It also had a blue bandana on its head, as if to differentiate it from others. What in the world¡­ "That''s a broat," Cree said, also similarly impressed. "I didn''t know they could be used that way." In one of the territories he had been to, Broat was a popular source of meat. However, they were either just standing still or running, and it was difficult to use them anywhere else. The Row Villagers had no idea what to make of it; they could only watch for a bit more. They heard a deep bell sound inside though and, like a signal, people started using elements as well! Later, they''d find out that it was indeed a signal. It was a signal that the mob was almost finished and they could play as they wanted¡ªthat there was no need to retain their energies too much! The newcomers gaped as elements flew all over. There were people who threw large rocks to distract a monster while a teammate stabbed them. The same teammate would pretty much float¡ªeven if it was just a second¡ªto go over a monster''s head to kill another one. There was a slight gust there and they had an idea that the person used the wind element. This wind elementalist would wave his hand and create a gust to push back a monster, and right where it was pushed, there was someone ready to kill it. There would also be a lot of fireballs thrown around, all while the people swung their swords or held up their shields. There was also a water elementalist who threw small water balls into beasts'' noses, annoying them, and his teammates would then take care of the distracted monsters with their weapons. There were also plenty of combinations. For instance, the fire users would combine with the wind to create stronger fire. There would even be people using¡­ oil? People had oil here? There would also be small teams of earth users who would corral monsters for efficiency. When they opened up a wall for the monsters to go through, there''d be teams waiting to deal with them. Because they came out in smaller numbers, teams would be able to work together to deal with it faster and with less injuries on their side. There would also be teams that''d bait monsters to either the sentries or some traps. It was amazing how well they could time the arrows, as if they had done it so often that it was instinctual now. They also had various traps. Some were holes dug by earth elementalists, designed to either trap smaller monsters, or imbalance the bigger ones. Their movements were always clean and swift and without hesitation¡ªtaking advantage of even a second of distraction to go for the kill. Anyway, there was an obvious organization amongst the chaos and anyone with combat experience could tell that these people had gone through a lot of battles together. In their territory, with thousands of citizens and guards, there were only a handful of people who had awakened their elements. They were completely newbies who didn''t know what they were doing and could only do the basics. Here, even civilians looked proficient! Other than these, they were also proficient with their weapons. No one below the wall had to be defended. Everyone handled themselves and cooperated with the others, killing monsters so many times bigger than they were! They also expertly knew where to stand, and no one was hit by sentries by accident (in contrast to theirs, sentries were less dense, but some people still got hit accidentally!) S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This mob was much bigger than what they had been dealing with, and yet they were dealt with such ease¡ª What¡­ where are they?! Chapter 889 Aborigines from the South While the Terran refugees from downstream fell into confusion about their new home, the Aborigine refugees from upstream of the river were still fighting for their lives. They had been traveling for a long time now. From the few hundred or so people they had when they left their village, they lost about a third. If they hadn''t even accidentally burned a good part of the forest to block the way (with flames also eating up a few of them) there would''ve been a lot less. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "No territories yet?" Shinho asked the scouts who were holding the torches to brighten up their way. They continued looking forward along the dense but dry forests, shaking their heads in the end. "No¡­ and the torch is losing oil. We''re running out, Shinho," one said, looking worriedly at his fire. It was then that another gust of wind passed by, causing a few torches to die down. "AH!" "Oh no!" They hurriedly surrounded the ones still burning, barely holding on. They surrounded them well with their own bodies, making sure to keep them lit. If all of their torches died, then they''d be depending on the two moons for light. Although their physiques allowed them to see at night to some degree, it would not be enough if they were attacked by monsters. After all, those things had far superior eyesight than every one of them! Another issue they had been dealing with was that more and more people had fallen into poisonous plants during their travels. Many were unlucky and chose the wrong plants. For better or for worse, it was the poisonous plants that were most robust during the Extreme Weather seasons. Some people, however, still ate them even if they knew they were poison. After all, they were hungry and delirious and a lot of them ended up eating whatever they could find¡ªrisking poison rather than starving to death. They were all too weak now, too hungry and thirsty, and their whole bodies were in pain. They didn''t even know how they were still moving. At the back of the line, there was even a young lad carrying an old woman, dragging both their weights with his struggling body. The old woman looked heartbroken, asking him to just let her go, but the young man¡ªwan and pale¡ªdidn''t listen to her at all. "Let me go, child," the old woman said, touching her grandson''s thin shoulders, shaking from tiredness. She felt tears line up her eyes. "No grandma," the young man said. "I can still do it." This young man was Bumi, a fairly handsome tanned lad with curly hair. He was one of the few warriors left and he protected his only remaining relative, his grandmother, with his life. Now his grandma was at the end of the rope, and he could only carry her to keep her alive. Not far from them was the ten-year-old Mamu, who had fought a lot for the territory with Shinho before. He was alone, all his relatives perishing from different disasters early in life. He matured very early, and had grown up enough to handle himself. His small legs and weak body only allowed him to be at the back of the line though. At the front, Shinho''s team led the way, clearing whatever obstacle they had to remove. For instance, the monsters, which came in small mobs. Fortunately, most mobs were attacking various territories at this time, leaving the areas in the middle with fewer monsters for them to deal with. He looked at his sister, Shishi, who was so thin that she was as pitiful as the dying tree. He then looked at his lover, who was also pale and weak, guarding his sister from eating whatever plant she saw lest she died a horrible death from poison. This went on for a bit more time, and everyone''s guards were up, expecting to encounter new mobs by now. They were hoping hard that they would never come, of course. After all, most of them simply did not have the energy to deal with another mob, but they were realists and they knew this world too well. They knew what it would be throwing at them at any time. Rustle He heard sobs behind him. Most people were obviously expecting the worst at this time. It was dark and they couldn''t see anything. Their hearts were raised, trying to determine who would be attacked first. Rustle Rustle The fighters were antsy, trying to determine where the first attack would be coming from. The moment a loud crack sounded in a direction, they immediately raised their weapons to attack¡ª "Halt!" A loud voice yelled, making everyone pause. Shinho¡ªweapon up and stance guarded¡ªwas about to open his mouth to ask more questions when he was met with a fascinating sight. Small, focused, points of light appeared¡ªand there were many of them. The refugees'' eyes widened as they saw light after light appeared around them. They were clean and focused¡ªnot like the uncontrollable fires of their torches¨Cand, because of the contrast of light and dark, it felt even more magical. "So many¡­" "Have we entered Elvendel?" Ferra mumbled next to Shinho, holding his arm. He could hear his sister sniff as well. Similar whispers were heard all around their small group. Behind the crowd, where Bumi was, there was a similar mumbling. However, because of their location at the end of the crowd, they could see things clearer. "They''re not monsters¡­" Bumi said, seeing so many lights and then to the people holding them. "What are those¡­" The refugees froze in place as the lights found them, revealing a group of people. They were holding torches, but it was surrounded by a translucent surface. While it was less bright, it was safe from causing forest fires. There were also people who wore the torches¡­ on their heads? Some had them hanging on their waists¡­ Some didn''t have the brain energy to think about it, while some saw that it was indeed a convenient set-up and freed up people''s hands to do more important things. Say, like fighting for their lives. While fascinated and curious, no one dared to lower their guards. More and more people appeared with their weird lighting contraptions. The whole time, Shinho and his people were staring deeply at them. There was obviously no territory nearby here. So¡­ who were these people? And what were they doing so far away? Chapter 890 Another Misunderstanding The group approached them and, seeing as they were humans who weren''t outrightly aggressive, their group was a little relieved. Of course, they didn''t put down their guards too much. It was led by a large man with massive scars, looking at them up and down, as if mentally noting their states and counting their numbers. The leading person immediately zoned in on Shinho, whose weapon was up as his eyes never left them. "Refugees?" he asked. Shinho''s eyebrows furrowed, and the other man''s face immediately softened. "That''s good." ??? "Where did you come from?" he asked. This man was Mauru and there tens of other people with him. His team had left the territory just around dusk. They were sent on a mission to check the area 1 kilometer from the territory walls. It was a mission by the territory, adding 50% more contribution points for every refugee they rescued. This was a very good mission to brave souls who wanted to gain a lot of contribution points. In fact, this mission had minimal advantages to the territory. It only added population¡ªwhich it didn''t lack anymore¡ªnot to mention they weren''t certain the newcomers would be functioning members of society. Instead, the mission had a lot more to do with humanity. How cruel would it be for the refugees to perish when they were so close to them? The Mauin Villagers, who were new to this concept, were extremely touched and were determined to contribute. They even left earlier, while the sun was still up at dusk. They were protected by special insulation suits created by the Research Center. It was made of material that could shield them from the heat and also had a cooling interior skin, though how it was created was beyond them. It was still a bit hot though, so they took it off and placed in the space as soon as it got dark. They also put on their special torches and lighting hats¡ªalso new products of the Specialty Store¡ªand continued with their search. Today, they ended up venturing a bit farther than usual. They encountered a few monsters already up and about to hunt, killing them, deciding to go farther just in case. And they really did meet refugees¡ªhundreds of them. It was a pleasant surprise, and they were relieved to see more people alive. Also, this meant a lot of Contribution Points. At this, they couldn''t help but look even more ''kindly'' at the refugees, who were more or less creeped out by their smiles. "Where were you from?" Mauru repeated, seeing as the people he was talking with still hadn''t answered. Then he wondered if their hearing was affected. It wasn''t new¡ªa lot of people got damaged in some way when they stayed out for too long during this time. They received a lot of refugees with a lot to ''repair'' in the hospital. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was Shinho, the de facto leader, who stepped forward. He bravely faced these strange people with their strange tools. His body language was still defensive¡ªas everyone else by default due to various reasons. Other than the fact that they did not know these people, they also sensed some ''greed'' in these people''s eyes. Why did they look at them like that? Shinho frowned and clenched his fist. What were they planning to do to them? The aborigine''s sharp eyes then noticed how ''nice'' they all looked. They were relatively clean except for some splashes of blood and dirt in their clothing¡ªwhich were all good-looking. They also had filled bodies, unlike their dried up and withered ones. What if they were slave drivers? Intent to make them slaves? Although they weren''t won in wars, they could still be sold as such after being forced to swear unfair oaths! If so, would they be kidnapped and sold so these people could eat well? But how could they eat well if there was no source of decent food? No matter what, if one only had these dry leaves for a meal, everyone had to be skin and bones by now. Sure, they were near the river so it was possible the restaurants were still in operation due to the survival of many plants, but how many could that support? Then¡­ his heart turned cold at a thought. What if¡­ what if these people had fat because they were one of ''those'' territories¡ªterritories with citizens that ate humans ?! He gripped Ferra''s hand. She herself ran away from that type of place. How broken would she be if they ended up in another one? ((If Mauru and the others knew that these walking ''Contribution Points'' believed they showed filthy greed, and even thought that they were cannibals , they''d be very depressed.)) "Who are you?" Shinho asked after a while, and Mauru looked at him and gave him a friendly smile¡ªwhich made him look even creepier, to be honest. "My name is Mauru, and this is my team," he said, making quick introductions. Mauru was captain of his own team, predominantly composed of the surviving guards from Mauru Village. They lived at the edge of death and war their whole lives, and their teamwork was very impressive. The team was kept balanced though, and there were a few Terrans¡ªand therefore elementalists¡ªin their team. It would never cease to amaze the aborigines how all Terrans seemed to be elementalists. Back in Mauin, such figures were basically legendary to them. There were a few Terrans in their team, two of whom were women. One was Cassie, a wind swordsman, and there was Barbara, a spearman with a wind affinity. Barbara (called Barbie by some close friends and family) was one of the soldiers who belatedly arrived in the then-Fargo Village and joined Victor''s team. Like many others, she eventually got assigned to Alterra. This was mostly to train them, but they could also be permanently assigned there depending on the orders of the higher ups. She was quite tall and muscular for a woman, and she looked badass with her short dark hair, tanned skin, and sharp features. Cassie also had short hair, albeit light-colored ones, though hers was a little longer and past the ears. She also had a softer demeanor to her, which was quite charming to a lot of men. Bumi, in particular, couldn''t quite take his eyes away from her. Anyway, the leaders were currently facing each other. One was tense, trying to figure out the other''s dangers, strength, and motives. In contrast, the other was feeling friendly and concerned, thinking of ways to welcome them to Alterra. The misunderstanding was also strong in this one. Chapter 891 Amalgation (Part 1) Shinho looked around him, mentally counting the number of enemies. Although they were extremely weakened from the long travels and in hunger, thirst, and pain, they still greatly outnumbered these newcomers. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Should they just run for their lives? Or should they gamble and come with them? Shinho felt tense, knowing his decision would affect hundreds of lives. Ferra felt it and patted his hand. Not to tell him he was hurting her, but rather to comfort him. This was very subtle and many didn''t notice it, especially with the lack of light, but the women were sensitive enough to see it. They looked at the refugees again and understood that they were not exactly happy to see them. This was a little counterintuitive to them, who had lived good lives, but once they thought about it, they understood. Outside Alterra, Humans were just¡­ not that trustworthy. Even the aborigines seemed to have forgotten that. Cassie immediately stepped forward next to Mauru, who was a little puzzled. "We came from a nearby village," she said with a kind smile. "It''s really not that far, probably less than a kilometer away. "We have a nearby river that passes through our territory, and it''s why we live better lives than most," she explained, waving at herself, before looking gently at them again. "Would you like to come with us?" Her words made the refugees stare at her, some with eyes sparkling with little hope and some with desperation. Many of them were at their last straws, after all. In contrast, there were also a few¡ªincluding Shinho and his family¡ªwho were reluctant. But what could they do in the end? Even if they fought against these people, and even if they won, where would they go next? They would be weakened even further by the fight, even more vulnerable to beasts that came their way. If these people were as they feared, then it would be a question of who or what would eat them in the end. He closed his eyes and gripped his lover''s hand tighter. He looked at his people. "Whether you want to come with them or not is up to you," he said. "I will understand." Everyone looked at him, concerned. "Why aren''t you coming?" "I¡­" Before he could explain anymore, their chatters were cut short by heavier rustles of the dried plants around them, shortly followed by heavy footsteps and growls that resonated with the wind. Everyone immediately put their guards up¡ªwhether it was the newcomers or Shinho¡ªready to fight. The growls grew louder, the dried vegetation around them shaking wildly. An ominous atmosphere enveloped them, causing their hearts to beat loudly. There was definitely a mob, and it wasn''t small. Shinho heard sobs around him, the civilians slowly paralyzed with fear again, while the others nervously went on a defensive. After all, it was dark and they didn''t have the advantage of sight to attack first. While Shinho''s team was like this, Mauru''s had already made a plan. They had been trained well and knew what to do in most situations. In situations like this where they had refugees they had to protect, the team would divide up into groups that surrounded the refugees. This was in hopes of shielding as many of them as they could, whilst keeping their own lives and limbs. A small group took one monster each, cooperating with others along the way. They couldn''t see too well because it was dark, but they could see enough by virtue of their lighting and the two moons. The most unbelievable was the two women fighting bravely alongside the men. No, even leading their own teams. The lighter-haired woman stood in front of their archer, taking on a monster directly while her teammates attacked it from the side. They couldn''t see how exactly, but she seemed to have pushed smaller monsters away without touching them. The dark-skinned woman was even more amazing. They watched as she lifted herself up with her spear, landing in the middle of the small mob. She waved her spear and pushed the monsters back, giving her teammates time to kill the monsters before they could tell what was coming to them. "Wow¡­" The aborigines had never seen anything like it, and they all gaped¡ªforgetting to even think of running if things went south. This was especially true for the women, who had never seen women fighting side by side with the men. Then out of nowhere, explosions of fire would pop up here and there, and they realized it was from a fire elementalist! With the added illumination provided by the fire and burning monsters, it was then that Shinho and the others realized: there was an abnormal amount of elements flying! So many elementalists?! They had never seen so many in one team before¡­ Orcshit, most of them hadn''t even seen a single one in their lifetime! Who were these people?! Both women were elementalist, too, and they created strong winds that could stop monsters from moving forward, even temporarily, creating excellent assists for their allies. They even combined their powers, creating small spinning winds that displaced enemies. Those monsters would end up in another team, finished off by either swords, spears, or a sharp whip made of fire. Shinho and the other refugees looked on as the mob was cleared cleanly and efficiently. The team had a few tens of people and no one was a deadweight, each one contributing to the fall of a monster or a few. Although some of them had to cooperate to deal with a few monsters, it was as if they were just one body moving fluidly, creating a combined killing power that shouldn''t be possible with just their individual level. A group like this¡­ wouldn''t stoop low enough to eat other humans. It was just an instinct when seeing the True Strong, and this was a belief that was built up as time went on. The more they saw, the weaker their bodies became. It wasn''t from depression. Rather, their bodies relaxed on their own, and their knees buckled as they fell to the ground. Some covered their faces as tears escaped their eyes, while some just lost consciousness in the middle of the crowd. A woman among the refugees sobbed louder than others. She was unsightly and filled with dried blood. She was pale and sickly, and not long ago she was among those who had given up on life. However, this time, her voice was loud and had a lilt of hope. "Are we finally saved?" She asked, and everyone else looked at each other with teary eyes. Well¡­ are they? Chapter 892 Amalgation (Part 2) Did a town nearby fall due to the tragedy so stronger refugees were fighting outside? No, even a town would not have elementalists running around like this¡ªnot unless all their elementalists grouped together and abandoned everyone else. Bumi watched as the younger girl jumped up bravely over the monsters head, raising her sword, and stabbing it straight to the eye. He felt his heart beat loudly in admiration. "So strong¡­" he said, his voice raspy from the dryness but laced with admiration. Grandma smiled at this, while the rest of their group could only gape. Shinho and his group watched as the dozen or so monsters were dealt with bravely, with them not having to move at all. In fact, the newcomers were even protecting their small and weakened group! It was too difficult to comprehend, so they could only gape. Even Shinho was prepared to fight the monsters but he was too surprised. The monsters weren''t even that weak, but these people could handle them one-to-one. If he entered the fight, he might even affect their momentum. In any case, the beasts fell one by one, and each one dying added life to their hearts and bodies. At this point, everyone was convinced and willing to be taken away. Even if these people happened to be slave drivers, it was still better! They saved their lives after all, even if as slaves, it was likely there was still some value found in their lives. Soon, the mob was cleared, with their leader and the dark-skinned woman approaching them again. "Are you alright?" he asked, and they felt kindness in the question. Without the terrified and suspicious eyes they had before, they realized that these people were really concerned for them. The shift was a bit hard to swallow. "Ah, yes," Shinho said after a while, trying to gather himself, though to no avail. People who could stand up did so and approached them, and they were met with a barrage of questions like ''where is the territory'', ''is it a town'', et cetera. However, the inquisitive atmosphere died down when someone fell down in the middle of the crowd. The woman beside him yelled, dropping to her knees, and immediately began to shake him. "SON! Son!" Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She lifted her head to look at the people around her. "PLEASE HELP! SOMEONE!" The woman cried, feeling her son''s body turning cold. The others also looked on in concern, but none of them knew how to handle it, and even if they did they wouldn''t have had the resources to fix it. The woman knew this of course, but how could she just accept it? "PLEASE!" she screamed so loudly she coughed up blood, obviously damaging her dried throat. "PLEASE HELP MY SON!" Just when they finally found some hope, it was suddenly taken away from her. How cruel! "Please, don''t strain yourself too much," the dark-skinned woman¡ªwho they would later known to be named Barbara¡ªkneeled down next to her. She gently asked her to give more space and she hurriedly crawled back, though her eyes did not leave them. Mauru walked over to check as well, recognizing the symptoms. "He''s poisoned," he said, seeing this case too many times. Barbara nodded, already taking out a bottle of medicine from her space. "Lift his head up, please," she said, and Mauru kneeled down on the lad''s other side to assist. The young man''s mother watched with red eyes, slowly crawling back to look closer at what was happening. Her son looked like he had lost all the blood in his body, and he was shivering so much as if it was the Extreme Cold instead of the Extreme Heat instead. Her heart was crushed, and she covered her mouth to muffle her sobs that couldn''t help escaping her lips. Barbara''s head slightly tilted in her direction. "Don''t worry too much," she said. "We''ve had cases like this before, and no one had died as long as it was dealt with in time." The woman was still sobbing a bit, but she nodded. She heaved deep breaths to calm herself down, but she saw the young lad suddenly stopped shaking. She realized that his breathing was normal and the woman''s cries escaped her lips once more. "Wuuu¡­ son¡­ wu¡­" Sobbing, she bowed at Barbara and at Mauru, expressing her gratitude. "Thank you¡­ thank you¡­" The two smiled as they stood up, looking at the refugees who were staring at them. They did not notice how the rest of the team was looting the carcasses, getting some good meat and materials from the corpses. Not everything fit in their space, but they were outfitted with backpacks so they could place the rest there. Of course, there was still quite a bit of meat left which would just decay if left there. Mauru and Barbara looked at the refugees in thought. They were really weak and the territory was still an hour or so away at a slow pace. These people were too weak to rush. What if their brittle bones broke along the way? "Let''s camp here," he said, and the team immediately set things up while the others finished up their looting. The refugees were very confusedly standing there, watching them set up. Barbara shook her head with a smile. "Come, sit down," she said, walking to the temporary campfire being built. At her request, a fire user threw a fireball on the campfire and it immediately burst into flames. At the same time, the other brave warriors helped them up, and some even gave them pretty bottles, though for a moment they were unsure what to expect were inside. One couldn''t blame their stupidity. Their bodies were pushed to the limit, and what they had been seeing so far was just beyond what they were used to. Shinho and the others watched as the rescuers took some sticks and burned them just enough to harden the wood a bit. They then skewered meat from the monsters (when did they deal with the carcasses? Those were basically skeletons now) before sprinkling some odd powder and liquid before putting them on the fire. They were all just really confused at what was happening until a special aroma whiffed up their nose. As if by magic, their stomachs rumbled loudly in hunger and their mouths watered in greed. "What¡­" Bumi and his grandmother also gulped, but they paused when they heard a giggle at the side. Bumi lost his tongue when he saw it was that pretty girl with light-colored short hair. She walked past him¡ª ah, she smells nice, he thought¡ªand he watched dazedly as she went in front of his grandmother. She handed her, the only surviving old woman in the group, a colorful bottle as well. It was really beautiful and he hadn''t seen such a bottle before. But¡­ Bumi thought the girl was even prettier. The old woman stared at the bottle in confusion and the girl smiled. "Water," she said. "As for the food¡­ you''d have to wait until it finished cooking." Then they finally realized it: These people were really giving them food and water! Who''d have thought they''d receive such kindness during this disaster? In the end, even when their stomachs were still rumbling..., their hearts were full. Chapter 893 Bright Light A/N: Have you guys seen the new versions of the song ''City of Two Moons'' by Air_Ace? They''re all really good. Come listen with us~ ... ___ The refugees immediately gathered around the campfire with beating hearts, still a bit in disbelief. More and more bottles were passed around. "Please share with others," they''d say, though there''d be dozens of big earthenware bottles going around, letting all of them drink at least a few sips. It was tempting to just gulp down as much as they could, but they had seen these people''s strengths and did not dare to hog the water. What if they''d get kicked out of the group for causing trouble? Cringe. Anyway, they were all well behaved while the barbeque was cooked, letting them get a whiff of its goodness. It was also the main reason why people behaved. They knew annoying these people would make them lose their chance to eat that. While waiting, many got lucky when the bottles made another round, letting them have another sip or two. It was just as tasty as the first gulp. Objectively, each person didn''t get much water, but each sip literally felt like it injected life into their souls. Then they were given the freshly cooked meat and swore they had died of happiness. Their hearts went on a wild ride that night for sure. "What¡­ this is too delicious!" Grandma mumbled as she ate her meat. Bumi nodded as he took another bite, sniffling a bit. This was the sight all over. They hadn''t quite absorbed that they were actually being fed by strangers when their minds were numbed by the utter deliciousness that touched their tongues. Anyway, based on their looks, if they weren''t dehydrated and had tears, it was estimated they''d be sobbing right now. Barbara and the others were amused. They did worry about feeding them savory meat when they obviously hadn''t eaten decent food in a while, but they just hoped the aborigines'' bodies had adjusted well enough to the conditions here. It was quite a peaceful couple of minutes then. Even when a few small mobs appeared, the team just stood up and worked once again. Fortunately, it was small and only a dozen people had to be mobilized to deal with them. Shinho saw they had no chance to help out again and felt guilty for being treated so well. He approached Mauru. "I¡­ I''m sorry for my rudeness earlier," he said. "It''s just¡­ hard to imagine people being kind." Mauru looked at him in understanding. As an aborigine, he naturally understood where he was coming from. Earlier, he was focused on getting them back and simply forgot about the natural distrust of their kind amongst each other. He stood up and patted the man''s shoulder. "That''s because our backing is strong," he said. "So we can afford to be kind." ¡­ S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When the new mob had been cleared, everyone had already finished eating and were prepared to make a move. "Follow me," Mauru said, and everyone obediently followed behind him. It had to be said: the kind provision of water and food made them no longer question their next phase of action. Bumi immediately crouched down with his back in front of his grandmother, who was now sitting on one of the rocks. To his surprise, she shook her head. "I want to walk." "Grandma?" Bumi asked, concerned, but his grandmother looked at him. "I rested enough," she said, smiling mysteriously. "And I have a new source of strength." Bumi was very confused and he could only watch as his grandmother walked in a direction with a smile. She went to that pretty short haired lady who gave water. "Thank you for the water," she said. "It must not have been easy to give out something so important." "I''ll survive," she said. "You may not." It was blunt but, in contrast to how many others would''ve reacted, it made the old woman chuckle instead. She raised her late daughter and grandson on her own, after all, all without a man. She never had the predisposition to look down on women. "Young lady, what is your name?" "Cassie." "Are you married?" Inexplicably, Bumi¡ªwho was right behind her¡ªflushed. Cassie was taken aback by the question and tilted her head. However, she had a natural respect for the older generation and answered politely anyway. "No, grandma." "Oh, good good good." "?" Grandma didn''t answer her and just continued to walk along, with Cassie kindly matching pace with her. Grandma fell in love even more, and Bumi could only walk behind them looking flustered. Just like this, the three were in the last row of the line. They were silent for a while, and they took it as a chance to observe the woman more. She was a valiant-looking young woman¡ªand a rare elementalist, too. Despite all these, she walked alongside them, the poor dirty refugees, as if she didn''t see a difference. It was very¡­ curious. They also wanted to ask more, but they feared it would be rude. Could they ask where they came from? What if it had fallen like their own home? So instead, grandma asked: "Can you tell me more¡­ about where we are going?" "Our village," she said and they were relieved to hear it was still standing. "So your village is fine! That''s great to hear." In their minds though, they did wonder if they heard it correctly. Village? Perhaps they misheard¡­ They also wanted to ask why there were so many elementalists, and how could women be so strong, but that felt like an overtly intimate question so they shut their mouths and pushed down their curiosity. In the end, Grandma simply smiled at her reassuringly. "Well, it''s good you guys are strong. Foraging outside is much safer. Unlike us¡­" she sighed, looking at her grandson behind them. "We work hard though," she said. "Although our territory is gone, we held on long enough, a good part of it is because many of our young men are brave. My grandson over there is not as strong as you are, but he is a good provider¡­" Bumi was aghast. "Grandma¡­" Cassie didn''t seem to mind the comment though. She was fixed with the territory comment. "So your home¡­" "It''s gone." "I''m sorry." They shook their heads. "It''s just how life is¡­ we can only hope for a better future." Cassie smiled. "Oh you don''t have to worry about that in Alterra," she said, looking forward. Her eyebrows rose. Time seemed to have passed while they chattered. "Ah, we''re almost there." The young woman pointed in front of her and the grandmother-son duo turned their heads to follow her line of sight. Their eyes widened at the sight of a tall wall a few hundred meters away. They weren''t so close, but they could see it clearly. Although they hadn''t been to a town yet, that should be a wall of one¡­ right? And are those sentries? So dense? And¡­ it was so bright! It was like it was a guiding light that broke the darkness in the horizon. At this point, they just couldn''t speak clearly anymore. "This¡­" Cassie looked at their reaction with a smile. "Welcome to Alterra Village." Chapter 894 Entering Alterra As they went closer, the clearer the situation was, and the more they realized just how dense the mobs were. They realized their journey here was smooth because every mob in the vicinity was targeting this territory. They had never seen so many mobs at night. If it was placed on their old territory, it''d have been crushed after the first few hours. Immediately, they became worried. However, looking at the unbothered expression on their rescuer''s faces, they calmed down a bit. This time, everyone had their weapons out. "It seems like the mob''s still a bit dense on this side," Maumi said, facing the mob of beasts, many of which turned at the sight of them. "..." "It''s best if you can defend yourselves," Maumi added as he waved his sword to push a monster back. "Follow our tracks though, you don''t want to get stuck in the middle of the mob." The rescuers just moved forward, separating into small teams again. They didn''t look at them anymore, as if it was their choice whether they followed or not. Of course, even if they were terrified, they had to take a leap of faith¡ªotherwise, they''d be left behind to fend for themselves. There was comfort in togetherness, right? Even if you were heading into a sea of ravenous beasts¡­ The refugees gulped in nervousness, looking at the well-lit wall at a distance. It was just a bit over a hundred meters away now, but it felt so far away. Their hearts tightened but they had no choice but to prepare for the worst. Fortunately, they weren''t left hanging and Maumi and the others created a sort of V-shaped defensive formation. With this, they cleared the mobs that approached while moving forward toward the walls at the same time. Maumi and the others did handle most of them, but with the sheer number of beasts, there were bound to be a few leaks. When the first monsters reached the refugees, they defended themselves to the best of their ability. "ATTACK!" Shinho yelled, and they targeted the leaks together as teams. They were inspired by the teamwork of their rescuers, and were influenced by their energy. The leaks were surprisingly few¡ªonly a handful¡ªwhich could easily be taken care of by hundreds of them who had finally drunk and had eaten decent food. Rather, remembering the taste of that barbeque energized them. They wanted to taste it again!! "FIGHTTT!!" "GAHHH!" "KILL THEMM!" "TO THE WALLSSS!" It would be hard to imagine they were half-dead a few hours ago. Anyway, as they fought, they realized the reason why there were only a few monsters actually reaching them was because there were a lot of people fighting in the area! Because the humans were so much smaller than the beasts, they didn''t see it before. Beyond the zone Maumi and the others created, there were probably hundreds of others in the area, taking the mobs head-on! Shinho and the others gaped at their surroundings. Even dead in the night, they could see everything in the vicinity, whether it was the tall reassuring walls, the dense protective sentries, or¡­ the brave citizens battling the mobs. They saw how these people killed mobs, and then they noticed the utter lack of despair on people''s faces. They were all calm, while some even seemed a bit¡­ excited. More importantly¡ª "Elementalists!" "So many!!" All around them, elements floated around. It was magical and frankly they partially thought they were hallucinating already. They had thought the ones they encountered were the special group¡­ but it seemed it wasn''t quite the case? It had an army of them! And¡­ were those half-orcs? They hadn''t actually seen one before, but those things could be nothing else! There were even two of them, running around from place to place, massacring monsters wherever they were. They saw how the reddish one jumped high, kicking a monster down to the ground, which created small cracks where it landed. Meanwhile, the large one just beheaded a monster, then two, then three, with a slash of his claws!! Shinho and the others couldn''t believe what they were seeing. What the heck was this place?! ¡­ Minutes ticked by and they just defended themselves, trying not to gape at the water whip that passed nearby or the firewall that appeared at the side. By the time they got near the walls, the monsters were far and few in between, and it gave Shinho and the others time to watch what was going on while they walked forward. They reached the gate before they knew it and the familiar ding echoed in their minds. [Welcome to Alterra Village (Lv3)! Please pay 5 copper.] "Five¡­" "Five copper?" Bumi voiced out and looked at Cassie, who was watching their reactions. Bumi flushed and, because his skin was tan, it looked quite red. "Yes," she said, "Alterra is very friendly to anyone. If you''re rich, great, but if you''re lacking then you''ll still live as a human being." S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her words struck many chords in their hearts, and they entered the gates to be even more amazed. It was like their minds opened into a new world. They looked in awe at the bright nightscape of the village, no, the town. The sprawling beautiful buildings loomed over them, but it felt like they were enveloped in safety and beauty. The beautiful line of trees framed their views, and the activity that bustled around them made their hearts palpitate with life . There were plenty of people around. By the gates, it was mostly people who were exiting the gates to help out the battles, but there were also¡­ merchants? People settled down near the walls, and in front of them were various products they were selling with passion. They yelled for food and drinks, and sold them for such a fair price too! At least, in their territories, they wouldn''t be able to eat or drink properly without consuming dozens of silver in this heat! "What¡­" They had never seen a livelier night before. Was it still the Extreme Heat? Did it end without them knowing? Was this place even affected by the disaster?? Chapter 895 Food Stalls by the Gate "This is a village?" Bumi asked, tilting his head in confusion. "Really?" "Is it always like this?" Grandma asked, making Cassie chuckle. "Although our nights have always been lively, it''s much rowdier now during the Extreme Heat. After all, people couldn''t go out much during the day." This confirmed that they were still in the Extreme Heat, at least in theory, though the more they saw the harder it was to believe. For one, in normal situations, normal territories wouldn''t have stalls set up right outside the gate when there was a huge mob trying to get inside. "Gouji Shake to refresh your day¡­ er¡­ night! 90 copper for a small cup~" "Refreshing mint candies~ 100 copper a bag!!" "Have nice minted meat sticks here! 100 copper a stick!" "Lemon juice, only 120 copper for a big cup!" The refugees gulped, and their eyes gravitated towards the various stalls selling food and drinks. Because they killed a lot of monsters, particularly during the past couple of weeks, they did have quite a bit of copper on hand. They had money, but nowhere decent to spend it on. One could imagine the temptations all these stalls were giving. It was like they were seductive voices calling them from the abyss and they''d be willing to jump down. Okay, it was not that dark, but not too different. "You can buy if you want you know," Cassie said, making the refugees-on-the-verge-of-drooling turn to her. "...can we?" When the Alterrans nodded, everyone immediately dispersed towards the stalls. There were hundreds of them so the stalls had queues. At this, the rescuers had to facilitate order otherwise the poor stalls would get mobbed. Anyway, after that was settled, the Alterrans waited patiently for them to get a few snacks and drinks to sate their starvation and thirst. Shinho saw they were waiting though so in order not to make them wait too long, he asked his people to make ''groups''. This way, one person would buy more products for others in one stall and the others would do the same in theirs, so they didn''t have to each wait in line. Bumi asked his grandma to wait on a nice bench while he lined up, teaming up with little Mamu, handing him some money to buy them snacks while he bought them drinks. There were just a few people in front of them, but it felt like a gorge. Fortunately, the actual waiting time wasn''t actually that long and it was their turn a couple minutes later. "Okay, that''s six minted meat sticks for you," the stall owner said with a smile, looking down at the little boy buying food. He looked weak and his clothes were dirty and full of holes. The stall owner''s heart softened, taking another stick. "Here, a bonus for you." Mamu stared, unsure of what to do. "Eh?" He didn''t have extra money¡­ The adult smiled. "It''s free," he said, reaching out his hand so the boy could take it. "It''s a gift for surviving so well." ¡­ Anyway, it was a festive time for all refugees, particularly those who had managed to get a hold of their items. They had killed so many monsters since the Heat Wave began, yet what they could buy was limited. Even if they could, a small bale of plants could cost silvers and not everyone was willing to sell, either! Especially a week into the disaster. How¡­ freeing it was to buy good food with a bit of money! They knew they were being assisted though so they only bought what their hands could carry. They were guided along the wonderful avenue, heading to what was called the sidewalk while they ate and drank. Many people felt weak on their knees at the deliciousness, but they held on, not wanting to be left behind. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, as the Alterrans said, they''d be living here soon. Eventually, these things would be normal to them. Just the thought of the future made their spirits rise up. As they traversed the street though, as they bit their food and gulped on their drinks, they didn''t notice how their tear ducts burst as if they still had so much water in their bodies. Cassie and the others pretended not to see all the sobbing, and acted as though everything was normal. They simply guided them through the avenue, stopping by the intersections to introduce where the perpendicular streets were heading towards. For example, they pointed at the streets heading towards the Market Places, before finally reaching the Central Plaza. The Alterrans also made rough introductions to the amenities in the square: from the large clocks, gardens, and the main shops. The newcomers'' eyes were wide in wonder, sniffing and wiping the tears and snot that filled their faces. They stopped in front of a large village center very different from what they were used to. It looked so pretty and light¡­ Unlike theirs, which was barely lit by torches, this place was bright all over. It was so bright they could see all the writings, which was unprecedented at night. Not that they could read, of course. In any case, the guards guided everyone to register as they wanted. Since most didn''t have money or the contribution points for residency, they simply took the temporary pass and therefore could only rent out places to stay. Anyway, now that that was done, the guards'' duties finally ended here. Mauru saw that Cassie had befriended a few refugees and approached. "We''ll be separating now. Can I ask you to send them to Dormitory #16?" Cassie nodded and Mauru smiled, thanking her, before looking at the others. He pretended not to see all the tears and snot, grinning in welcome. "You are now registered visitors of Alterra Village! Here, unless you''re lazy, you''re guaranteed to have a decent life," he said. "Cassie here will be telling you where you''d be staying until you could afford to move out on your own. "Good luck!" Mauru said his goodbye and the refugees approached them, with Shinho and the others doing a salute to express their gratitude. The guards left Cassie to bring the few hundreds of people to the dorms, which was not that near the center, but felt too close because it felt like the journey was cut there. They arrived at a section filled with big buildings arranged in rows and had shared gardens every few sets of structures. The refugees looked at her worriedly. This place was so clean and nice. Where would they be able to afford to stay? Maybe they shouldn''t have bought so much food, after all? They totally forgot about this problem when they were splurging earlier! She looked at them. "Do you still have a few copper?" she asked, and smiled when they nodded. "You must be tired, we have dormitories here that only cost 1 copper per day. I can bring you there right now." They flinched. 1 copper!? So cheap? They all looked at the buildings, wonderful and nice but, at the same time, they could not bear to take a step forward. As tempting as it was to rest, they shook their heads in the end. "No thank you, we would like to look around for a bit longer." Cassie blinked, puzzled. "Really?" "Yes." Amazingly, it was a unanimous decision not to step forward (for now), which confused Cassie quite a bit. Bumi and the others looked at her awkwardly, knowing they were being odd. In fact, it wasn''t that they weren''t tired. In contrast, they were dead tired to the point that their legs were shaking. It was just that¡­ they were afraid. They were afraid that if they closed their eyes and slept, they would wake up in hell again. Chapter 896 Finally Resting Cassie was puzzled, but she didn''t force them to rest or anything. If they wanted to go around, then who was she to stop them? However, she looked at them in thought, knowing they wouldn''t be able to afford a guide. Her eyes ended up on the old woman who reminded her too much of her own grandmother (who was hopefully resting right now), and decided to go an extra mile for them. She pursed her lips, "Then I can guide you to a place to eat before I leave." "Really?" Bumi said, a little louder than the others. When it got Cassie to give him a second look, he flushed in shame, and his tanned face was as red as a lobster being cooked. The girl couldn''t help but giggle at her own metaphor, but the sight made Bumi''s eyes brighten. He made her smile! S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His grandmother wanted to cover her face in embarrassment. Anyway, unaware of these subtleties, Cassie turned to show them the way to the Southwest Market. It was the marketplace nearest their dormitory so they wouldn''t be so out-of-way. The newcomers were understandably amazed by the bustling area. It was an open area but with a roof and lined with several stalls¡ªall with a queue¡ªarranged in rows and columns. There was also a large area with a lot of tables in several zones near these stalls. Even from the entrance, they could hear some people yell the prices and what they could tell was it was so inexpensive! Some were even more affordable than what was being sold by the gates! "This is our Food Court," Cassie said, "There''s a price hike though, you know how it is in droughts." Price hike? This is a price hike? Other than this, they couldn''t help but notice the citizens were buying, eating, and chatting as if there was no mob outside! Most citizens were also clean and well-kept and they honestly saw no signs of the Heat Wave at all! This made the new group of arrivals¡ªin similarly thin, dirty, and dazed states¡ªmuch more obvious. "Luke! Leo!" Cassie yelled, waving at them. The two men blinked when they saw her before breaking into smiles. They led their group in their direction. "Cassie~ Showing new members around too, eh?" "Hmn," she said. "Mine are aborigines, though." After a bit of discussion, they decided to merge the two groups. Anyway, they were all going to the same dormitory complex and they were bound to meet sooner or later. The other group was also large, about a few hundred or so, and the tables of the entire market were mostly filled with just their two groups. It was awkward at first, especially since one group was Terran and the other was of aborigines. However, similar experiences naturally brought them together. They spoke about the horrors of the heat and the difficulty in gathering resources. This was noted by everyone, and when this was over, everyone would definitely gain a habit of stockpiling essentials. The aborigines found out that the Terran refugees were also like the locals here, with their appearances and brighter dispositions. They also spoke of elementalists in awe but also with ambition, as if it was only a matter of time for them. Bumi''s eyes fixed on how Cassie was all friendly-friendly and touching the other men. In fact, Cassie just high-fived them. It was very platonic, but to the eyes of aborigine men¡ªwho were not used to open and extroverted women¡ªit showed a large amount of affection. Bumi couldn''t help but look at the handsome men and how strong they appeared. He then looked down to see his pitiful self. Bumi''s shoulders slumped immediately. His grandmother saw her grandson''s inferiority but knew there was no fixing it in the meantime. However, she was not too worried. Her decades of living allowed her to have an instinct about their situation, as well as their future. She knew their lives would only get better, and so would this pitiful grandson of hers. ¡­ After eating, the groups were finally taken into the dormitory areas, with Cassie decided to guide them back. She had already done so much, might as well finish off the day with them. They were assigned to different buildings, but they were adjacent to each other, allowing the groups to be closer because they knew they''d be neighbors soon. After saying their temporary goodbyes, one by one the refugees settled in their own abodes, feeling warm in their hearts. They admired their nice room, as well as the comfortable bed they could use for just 1 copper a day! Of course, one of the disadvantages was the hygiene. Unless overtly dirty, the fabrics here were cleaned just once every two weeks, and longer now during the droughts. If the bed was occupied, the cleaning costs would be shouldered by the renter, too. This was already very clean by aborigine standards, of course, but it was different for Terrans. Hence, there were actually very few Terrans in dorms except for those who had just arrived and didn''t have much of a choice. "You can get your fabric exchanged for cleaner ones for 5 copper," she said. "After today, I suggest you take a bath and get it exchanged, so you''re more comfortable." Cassie explained the basics to them, which the aborigines really appreciated. When she finally left, the refugees saw her off, promising to pay back her kindness someday. Grandma held her hand. "Thank you, child." The girl smiled, gently tapping the old woman''s wrinkled hand. "No problem, grandma. I hope you live better." "Oh, we will," she said. "Otherwise, we''d have wasted this blessing of a new life." ¡­ In the other building, the Terrans like Tot and the others quickly took a bath. In contrast with the aborigines who were already touching their beds when they saw how soft they were, the Terrans didn''t get close to it lest they get it dirty. They decided to clean themselves up the best they could first, and only then did they dare to get close to their beds. The water was not cheap, but it was definitely inexpensive considering there was a drought. To maximize the cleaning, they bought some towels (there was a store of household essentials on the ground floor) so they could wipe themselves well. They also bought basic soap and shampoo, and the Terrans almost sniffed the heck out of those bars. In any case, even with the few small buckets of water they could afford, they felt cleaner and more refreshed than they had been for months! To think they''d experience this in a major drought was unimaginable to them. After a good cleaning and drying, they put on a change of clothes (some basic hemp shirts and pants were also available for purchase in the ground floor store) and crawled to the soft bed with a soft pillow. As they laid, they thought they wouldn''t be able to sleep¡ªand they were reluctant to do so. Who knew where they''d be when they woke up? It was just that¡­, combined with their tiredness, the comfort the place brought them was overwhelming. After a few breaths, they all fell into a deep slumber, dreaming of happy things and a hopeful future. Chapter 897 More Wars Alterra had seen quite a few refugees from the heat, let alone the associate villages who were more accessible than they were. After several more days of the Heat Wave, the other associate villages also saw refugees and visitors, adding hundreds¡ªif not thousands¡ªof people into their population lists. They actually had received more refugees than Alterra did, because they were territories easier to reach. The refugees were a great mix of people, Terrans and Aborigines alike. And these people weren''t just refugees due to the heat wave or the starvation that came after it, the refugees were also here due to the explosion of wars. The lack of resources almost always led to war. For instance, Bright Village had increased by thousands of people, surpassing its population before they lost the war with Fargo. Because of their location South of the other Terran villages, they mostly received refugees from two aborigine villages: Got Village and Ugu Village. They were both located south of Bright, which was nearer a place called Mount Rushless, located some 900 or 1000 kilometers South to Southeast of their region. The mountain also seemed to have a bit more biodiversity than the other places, making it a pretty popular destination for mercenary teams who took material-gathering missions. In time, the villages there also flourished by virtue of the market these mercenaries created. Mount Rushless was also the main contributor to the river that passed by this region. Of course, it got big because there were plenty of tributaries that contributed to its growth, including the ones coming from the mountains in Alterra. Logically, compared to others, they''d be the least affected by the Heat Wave due to their proximity to the rivers and tributaries. Sadly, it also meant they were very attractive to wage war with. Not to mention the wars they had to go through the past few weeks, there were also attacks outside the place, particularly near the streams. The water sources were near them but they weren''t inside their territory lines, so it was a free-for-all. As the most important resource, one could imagine the wars that went on along these water sources. Got village had actually won their war, however, the lord was old and the war took a toll on his body. The enemy was in their last straw with nothing to lose, and the war was hard-won, with too many losses. The lord was gravely injured while being hunted to get the lord token. Even when they were near the water sources, it was still drying up and the materials and plants had long dwindled. There weren''t enough medicinal plants available and he perished soonafter. Because they weren''t in a war when it happened, the lord token died with the lord. Ugu village also won and got a good portion of the enemy resources¡­ which wasn''t much. They basically just got famished slaves who couldn''t even move and maybe some silver. But then it got attacked again by a different territory and they lost a lot more people. When they were attacked by a mob that same night, they were helpless and it fell as well. Micheal and Juno gathered all this information and sent them to Alterra via the allied villages channel in the village center. During this time, they had been focusing on raising drought-resistant plants, most of which were bought from Alterra. They also had their own farms, adding some resources to their population. After two weeks, they had managed to survive without anyone starving to death unless they couldn''t work and had no support or family. Of course, due to the strict rationing, everyone was still hungry, but it was still much better than others. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They had also noticed that the regeneration within the walls was much faster than outside, almost the same as when they came, and they quickly realized they needed to add more greeneries like Alterra did. They also shared this finding to Alterra. Whether or not they already knew, it was a sign of goodwill. With the surge of the new people, of course, they would have to tighten their wallets a bit more. Micheal immediately sent hiring notices for the farms, though as always most of the movements will happen at night. A lot of people were asked to dig to make the basements bigger as well in order to fit more people. While the smell could get bad, at least they didn''t die from heat stroke. At night, more people would also be needed to clean up the place, though this was required from those who stayed there. "Things can be worse and the smell can''t kill people (yet). Sadly, some people refused to move and help out," Rodney reported. Rodney was a new guard here. If Gill was here, he''d recognize this man as one of the promising refugees he rescued. "Then take them to prison, or threaten to do so. Tell them the top floor of the prison is reserved for them." The prison only had minimal insulation and was very hot. Staying up there for an extended period of time was horrendous. Not even counting the system prison''s punishment of sucking out life, staying there was akin to staying in an oven. Anyway, it should be an efficient enough threat. Rodney nodded and excused himself, intent on applying this threat. When the door closed, Micheal sighed and looked at Juno, who was standing dutifully nearby. "Is it too harsh?" he asked and Juno shook his head with a gentle smile. "No, milord, you''re doing well." "Really?" Juno nodded, firm and sincere. "I have been to many territories. Your village is definitely doing very well." He wasn''t lying. Two weeks of this heat and¡ªwhile many died due to stroke or in the mouths of beasts¡ªno one died from hunger. This was already much more than what other territories could provide. Not to mention¡­ "This tragedy¡­ is much harder than what we have experienced before." Micheal closed his eyes. For some reason, the faces of his family passed by his mind. "I just hope everyone''s alright." Chapter 898 State of the Other Allies All over the world, territories had started waging war with others. Whether they were the defenders or the attackers, no one escaped the tragedies of war this time. After all, it had been two weeks since the disaster started. Everyone was parched, famished, and very, very, desperate. The citizens had no choice but to join in these wars. Everyone within the level limit¡ªthat was to say, everyone¡ªwent through the array to attack. Belluga was now undergoing war with their old enemy¡ªKhlack Village. It made sense for this village to attack them during this time. After all, one was for revenge, and the other was because they were the easiest target among the territories associated with Alterra, which had the resources these people wanted. Raine rubbed her temple and looked at her confidantes, Suide and Orlande, who were Kimmy''s other husbands. They were currently wearing the insulation suits they bought from Alterra. They could not afford to equip the other guards with the same suits, so they built wide makeshift roofs that hung on the battlement instead. It was still boiling, but the direct exposure to the sun was limited. Suide sighed, his perennially sleepy eyes looking down at the battlement. His bow and arrows had not rested since the beginning of the war, and he could only fire arrows at whoever. "They never end," he said. His voice was droning but, if one knew him close enough, one could tell there was tension in his tone. The dark-skinned Orland waved his weapon as he took down another set of enemies trying to climb up the walls. He sighed, looking at the enemy''s poor states, feeling the desperation in their attack. "This is probably their last attempt." The war started a few hours in the afternoon with the enemies going full force from the get-go. This was probably in order to capture their territory before night time, where they''d have to deal with the monster mobs as well. This meant that the sun was up when they attacked, and everyone felt like they were being boiled alive. Of course, they chose a time near dusk to minimize this, but the death count of the enemy was not small. "It''s annoying," Suide mumbled with that lazy tone of his, but anyone who knew him would see his annoyance. "Too hot." Naturally, a lot of the attackers didn''t last long even when they weren''t killed by weapons¡ªthe heat would get to them instead. They managed to go for so long because there were so many of them. Specifically, so many slaves. A pity that those bastards who attacked them before¡ªthe people who did that to Kimmy¡ªweren''t even from Khlack, delaying their revenge. Then again, it wasn''t the time yet. They were still so weak after all. In the meantime, the Bellugans, including their new slaves, dropped rock after rock down the wall to deal with those who reached it. It was particularly fulfilling to see their slaves, whom they got from Khlack, helping them out. Of course, the Bellugan citizens didn''t just stand under this dangerous heat unprotected. They had bought a lot of heat-resistant hats and coats, effective sun lotions from Alterra, as well as some cooling packs. The slaves would make do with the shade, which was already much better than their former compatriots under the direct sun. The Bellugans definitely had it much better than their enemies. However, how many items could they buy? Not to mention, these things could get damaged during the fight¡­ Anyway, they were, frankly, running out of sun protection. When more people neared the wall, Suide immediately shot a few more arrows, killing more and more people who seemed stronger than others while leaving the rest for the sun or their own slaves to kill. He realized that the people he had been killing lately weren''t even slaves anymore. The surviving Khlack slaves, who had been extremely weakened from starvation, had already died during the first wave of the attacks. The others probably already died before the war. The ones in the vanguard now were proper citizens desperate for help. They had to admit that, even if Khlack was their enemy, they still felt pity for their fellow humans, especially the normal citizens. This was especially true for the kindhearted Suide, who had to shoot down many people in the past few hours. However, he was not naive enough to hold back on them. The mercy he could show now was to make sure they died in a shot, as painlessly as possible. They could never get used to killing fellow humans, but they really didn''t have a choice did they? S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Dark hands touched his shoulders and felt his tension. "Cover my back," he said and Suide could only look at him worriedly. "Be careful." The dark-skinned man nodded and their foreheads touched, before he jumped down the three-meter-tall wall, directly taking down people with his sword. His sword was emblazoned with fire and he waved, burning several more. In this weather, another source of heat was particularly torturous! As he swung, he cooperated very well with Suide, who shot people he missed with his bow and arrow. Along with them, there were also hundreds of other guards and citizens fighting. This was in exchange for resources, especially useful as they had recently varied the purchase limits due to the dwindling resources. They also had farms filled with drought-resistant plants, of course, but unlike the others they didn''t have as many agricultural talents, so they still struggled a lot. Eventually, they finally reached the enemies'' final wave, with Khlack''s ''main forces'' finally deciding to go through the array. It was dusk now, so the sun was less gruesome. They sent other people there first to weaken the enemy while they waited for more favorable weather conditions to go out and fight. They were disappointed to see their thousands of slaves and citizens useless though, more than half of them dying even before they could do some damage. At this point in time, there was only about an hour before the sun completely died out. Regardless of the sacrifices they had to make, they had to get this territory! Khlack knew that this territory had farms and a lot of wells. They wanted it! Unfortunately for them, the Bellugans were relatively strong and still had enough protection against the heat and the sun¡ªa major advantage against the enemies. The Khlack Villagers could only gape as they were still utterly useless against the enemies. Obviously, their average levels were higher, but because they had become so weak, their attacks had been reduced by a huge lot. There was also the momentum problem. They were suffering from the boiling weather, but they would see the enemies under shade! In the end, they won and gained a few more slaves. Raine had no qualms in making slaves out of the people who attacked them, deciding on using them to assist with the farming and the digging of tunnels. In exchange, they would be given some food for their work, and even more if they were very productive. When the slaves found out about it, they calmed a bit. It didn''t matter to them that they were slaves now, as long as they had food. Chapter 899 State of Limestone Valley Limestone Valley It had been more than two weeks since the last war, and it wasn''t a surprise that one of the three territories got attacked again. This time, Limestone Valley was targeted. Unlike most, this team attacked during the night, opting to deal with the monsters first. If a territory was confident in its strengths, this was the smarter move. This strategy would first allow them to escape the most debilitating heat¡ªheat that could damage and reduce their numbers even before they could get inside the enemy walls. And then, if they were strong enough, they would defeat the mobs and consume them, eating their meat and drinking their blood, reenergizing themselves for the inevitable war. Inko Village had always been an expert in wars within their tier and they had hardly lost. This was highlighted during the previous win against an interesting village called Juno Village, wherein they barely lost anyone except maybe a few people. Interesting because they earned a lot from that village! They really didn''t expect it. Sometime when they were selling their slaves, someone from the town lord''s side approached them, asking them where they got their slaves. They answered honestly and he also offered to sell the lord token there. He managed to sell it for a whopping 4000 gold from it! Normally, that kind of small village with minimal resources wouldn''t get a fraction of that! The buyer also offered to buy all his remaining slaves from that place. While it was regrettable that they had already sold more than half of the slaves when he was approached, he still got great prices for the rest of them! This was why Inkitt, Inko Village''s lord, went all this way. He naturally left his token to his son back home. But the reason he ventured out himself was because they needed to really win this place. Not only were they dying of hunger, but also because he knew this place had the same type of people Juno had! Who knew how much this one would sell! Definitely several folds more expensive! Anyway, with him¡ªa rare level 20¡ªalong with a few others beyond the level cap clearing the monster mob that came to them with not much losses. Next up: Taking down that village! In their investigation, they found out that Limestone Valley was a cornucopia with great resources¡ªwhether it was food, water, humans, and even goblins! It was the perfect place to attack that they¡ªone of the peak level 3 villages in the region¡ªcould choose. With the current resources¡ªboth human and food¡ªdwindling, they had to choose wisely! In theory, they were right! They waited patiently in a safe area as the village was attacked by mobs. They would wait until they were weakened or, better yet, defeated by the mob, before they would swoop in. When it did not seem to fall due to the mobs, they didn''t worry about it too much. They believed those people must''ve been plenty weakened at this time. Their thousands of slaves immediately attacked as soon as the last monster was dealt with, intending to swoop in and take advantage of weakness. If they had done this to most other villages, this could''ve indeed worked¡ªas it always had through the years of various extreme weather changes. However, they were against Limestone Valley. Half a day after they attacked, their previous confidence had plummeted. "Why don''t they run out of weapons?" One asked, looking at the brightening sky. They had been here the entirety of the dark hours and they still hadn''t successfully breached it! Not many slaves had managed to climb up the walls. With their small numbers, there was no doubt they had been dealt with already. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Where do they get these weapons?" One asked their scout. "Didn''t you say they were also limited?" Naturally, they sent spies before attacking, though only one managed to get out alive due to the heat. They investigated their forces and the number of guards. They couldn''t stay too long because of their rush, but there was no report of their endless supply of weapons at all! "How would I know?" the scout said, equally confused. The other spies next to him were also shocked. Indeed, how would they know Alterra had been sending a constant supply of weapons and resources via the warehouse? Since the announcement of wars, the entire guard team had been armed to the teeth. There was no way for the Inko Villagers to know this, and therefore they were gravely blindsided. Inside the walls, Benny watched as the people fell down one by one the 3 meter walls. The guards inside were watching the intruders closely, even those who got inside were dealt with not too far from the walls. Kyle attacked those who managed to get inside. However, he didn''t kill them. Unless they were extremely vehement in hurting others, they would be spared. It was both from his own morals, and also because it was an order. Henry, now holding a crutch, watched all of this. He watched as humans fought against fellow humans, and he also saw how most of these enemies were weak and helpless, having no other choice but to fight for survival. He felt sad for them and angry at the situation they were put in. Whether it was due to their lord''s orders or out of desperation, they needn''t die such hopeless deaths. So¡­ he put out the order not to kill unless necessary. An arguably stupid and risky decision, but he kept by it. Henry actually wasn''t so kind and soft¡ªhe was once a General, after all. It was just that he received news about what had happened in Alterra. Or more specifically, what happened to his grandchild¡­ He wanted to do more good, hoping to get good karma for the unborn child. Not far away, a couple of goblins admired what was happening. "So kind?" A little one asked. They were currently hiding behind buildings, looking out and watching the war. They were worried at first but as time went on everyone relaxed a bit. They were not required to fight, but they also would receive contribution points if they did. While they watched, a sudden voice suddenly sounded behind them. "What are you doing here?" The goblins flinched, bodies curling a bit as if they would get hit. The person was Benny, who had just gone to replenish his supplies. He passed by a shortcut to see the little green critters hiding near the walls and watching what was happening. "Does it look like I''ll hit you?" "Well, I won''t," he said, just taking out his new iron weapon because there was another breach nearby. The person walked away and the goblins continued to watch, particularly as Benny slashed at the enemies but did not kill them. "They''re really just capturing them." "We know they probably wouldn''t be slaves. Not the kind we know of, anyway." Ussu, one of the leading goblins there, saw that more and more enemies had gotten through. They weren''t ready to fight yet, not when they weren''t required, but they were out because they had tasks at hand: Expand the tunnels! "Continue working!" he said, turning away from the show and to their assigned areas. They were asked to work only at night, which they appreciated, how could they waste it by watching? Not once was anyone called to just give their lives. No one was thrown as needless sacrifice. All the deaths were honorable, done fighting for the territory, for what they wanted. Soon, Limestone Valley would win yet another war, and they had never seen such a kind one. Chapter 900 State of Iron Mountains (Part 1) We temporarily made it to Top 1 so here''s my thanks to everyone who helped! LOVE YOU GUYS!! You make me cry huhu Hopefully, we can maintain this for 2 more hours lolol ... ___ Now that the Limestone Valley War was over, the next war would be at least 14 days away¡ªnot unless one of the three territories decided to be the attacker, which was highly unlikely. As such, all three territories could focus on themselves again, their productions, lifestyles, safety, and the like. One day, Iron Mountain also received visitors, though in a non-aggressive fashion for a change. It was Hoye, from the Asusa Mercenary Team based in Ferrol Town, and Lowell from the Mighty Bears Mercenary Team. They were staring at the well-lit territory at a distance, feeling a bit complicated. After two weeks of the heatwave, a lot of people couldn''t handle the heat and the challenges anymore. A lot of the nobles also demanded the mercenary teams to find solutions for a good price. It so happened that both Hoye and Lowell went to Jonathan at around the same time. They were ordered by different people to check on the lord after hearing that he seemed to be much more comfortable than the rest of them. They then found out about a new material¡ªthe insulating material¡ªas early as the time they entered his home. They were both very high-leveled fighters and the heat wave wouldn''t kill them, but it sure was incredibly hot and irritating. When they entered Jonathan''s home, it felt like they were met with a cool breeze. They had never encountered such a thing before and they understood the rumors were valid. They offered a high price for the information. First of all, they were shocked to find out Guia Village¡ªwhich had been the strongest level 3 village in their region¡ªwas taken over by an unknown territory. Second, something so innovative and important was developed in a village! Anyway, now they were here. As they approached the walls, they noticed the various lights and activity in the territory. It was unlike the other territories they had encountered at this time, especially among weak villages. In every other village, people would be weak at night, either looking for food or fighting against beasts. In either case, people were just trying to survive¡ªand barely doing so. In contrast, this place¡­, except for a little weakness, they were much better off than others. How did they do it? Was it just because of those insulation materials? Anyway, after paying an unusually low entrance fee, the two groups headed towards the administrative buildings, already thinking of how to get the most out of the deal. "Do you think they still have something to sell?" Lowell asked, somewhat cynical. It had been so long, who knew if they still had the product? "This is just a satellite, I heard. If this place is unproductive, we''re heading to meet the steward." As they traversed the territory, they realized just how much had changed. Both of them had been here only a few months ago and, frankly, they were startled by how different it was. For one, the atmosphere felt¡­ fresher? Which was odd because they were still in the heat wave. There were slightly wider streets than before, and there were a lot more parks. From this, they could tell that the administration was no soft gouji fruit, and they would definitely be up for a challenge if they wanted to maximize their trip. When they arrived though, they did not expect the steward to be someone they knew. "G-Gill?" Hoye exclaimed, blinking as he looked at him. The last time they met was just before Guia''s goblin war. Lowell was even more surprised. After all, he really didn''t put the group in their eyes at all. "You!" he yelled. In Lowell''s case, the last time he saw Gill and his team was after the goblin war, where they had sensed some tension between them and the then-lord Baltimore. He didn''t care about them anymore after that though and hadn''t been updated with the on-goings in this area, even if it was not far away from them. Interestingly, a battle had actually happened and Baltimore actually perished! Who''d have thought! Gill looked at their reaction with a blank expression, as always. He naturally still remembered them as well. The former was Bart''s friend who helped them get information about the fog back then. On the other hand, the latter was one of the mercenaries trapped in Guia back in the Goblin war. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, he simply nodded at them with what he considered to be a polite greeting. Fortunately, there were the more diplomatic members Silvia and her brother Reno with him. Silvia smiled politely, while it was Reno who stepped forward because they knew aborigines intrinsically looked down on women. "Welcome to our territory, Iron Mountain." "I have to say, I''m¡­ a little surprised," Hoye said, looking around the simple but well-decorated room. Lowell was silent and watching everything sharply. They were then offered juice and water, some in glass and some in bottles, and they were surprised at the generosity. They didn''t hold back and took their own glasses, though they didn''t dare gulp everything down at once. "Delicious¡­" the men said, sipping on their respective drinks bit by bit to prolong it. This calmed them down and gave them a good impression of this group. "How may I help our guests?" The beautiful Silvia said with a welcoming smile. Now that they were softened up, she decided to speak. A few members of the opposing teams couldn''t help but look at the beauty, but their sights were blocked by a certain redhead, who didn''t speak much but had a sharp stare. He was a bit lower in level to them, but it didn''t mean he wasn''t intimidating. Hoye ignored his men and looked at the woman. Although he was a little startled that a woman dared speak over the other two men, he could judge by their body language that she was the one to speak with. Hoye was a good mercenary, and he could adjust accordingly. And this would definitely be an added point on his side during the discussions, so he could only thank the heavens for his open-mindedness. Chapter 901 State of Iron Mountains (Part 2) In contrast, Lowell was much more uncomfortable. However, he had enough tact not to say anything about it. However, he saw how they seemed more receptive to Hoye and knew it would be a factor. Easier said than done though. Lowell himself had two wives back home and a few whores outside of it. "We''re here to buy some insulation materials from you," Hoye said, and Lowell made a grunt in agreement. "Your team in Ferrol and Lord Jonathan recommended we go directly to you." Silvia nodded at them. "Well, they''re not wrong," she said. "In our case, we have them available at our Alterra shop." "Alterra Shop?" Lowell asked. "So it''s a shop that sells these things?" "Correct," she paused, "Among many others." "We hope you can take us to this shop. I also heard you have purchase limits. My request is to waive this for now. Many lives are at stake." Of course, this was an exaggeration. The people buying these things from them were nobles, and they tended to be a bit overacting in their discomfort. Silvia thought for a moment. She and Gill had actually been given enough authority to decide this. In the end, she decided to just show them the shop and see how much they''d order first. After all, the cost to outsiders was not low. Due to the convenience of connected warehouses (via Althea, of course), resources were transferred between the three very quickly. Of course, the mark-up was huge due to the fact that Althea had to transfer them out herself. Alterra also capitalized on the demand of their specialized products, adjusting according to the capabilities of their external buyers¡ªwho were, no doubt, rich people anyway. A person who could go to a satellite village a hundred kilometers away just to buy something would not be weak nor would they be poor. Anyway, the siblings took them to the Alterra Shop, which had just been refilled from orders. Because there were a lot of people in Alterra, a lot of temporary jobs in production, particularly those open at night, had been opened. This meant that the production in Alterra had not halted, and they even had a surplus to help out with the other territories. Of course, the focus was on the production of things that only Alterra could make like the various types of insulation they had developed. The food and drinks were left up to the territories themselves. "So this is the Alterra shop, hmn?" Hoye asked looking around. Lowell''s eyebrows also rose in interest. Because the shop was small, only the two of them were allowed inside while the rest of their team dispersed. Some waited for them, while some went around to know more about the changes before they left again. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Alterra Shop had a counter layout with most of the items secured beyond a delineation. There were two people behind the counter, both of which were actually guards who could defend it during wars. "You are lucky, we just received a delivery of so many items," she said. It was literally not long ago and they did not announce it in order to prevent overwhelming the shopkeepers. For the buyers who had noticed first, they kept mum about it and only told their closest friends. If it had been announced, the store would''ve been flooded by now. "Most of the items sold are related to the Heat Wave," Silvia said and the shopkeeper immediately started to explain the available products. She showed them their hats and the sunscreens. There were also thin sheets of insulation now so it could be folded a lot and therefore could get stored more densely. It was not as effective as the thicker ones, but it was good enough considering everything. They also sold specially designed fans (both in graceful and masculine varieties) as well as saltpeter. In the end, the guests bought as much of everything as they were allowed, with a request to buy all the stocks for the portable insulation spray, foams, and blankets. "We bought several beast carts," Lowell said, indicating they could buy everything they had in stock. Silvia naturally didn''t allow them to buy everything, but she did allow them to purchase 80% of the stock, which was really a lot considering they just refilled. This received a bit of thanks from the two, with them even handing them some money to express their gratitude, and also in hopes of striking good deals in the future. Silvia and the others refused, primarily because they were not allowed to do so. Even if gifts were really to express gratitude and were not given as bribes, receiving goods from outsiders would cause bias. This took the two aback, but they didn''t push it. They simply called in their people to gather the items, though as quietly as possible so to not make trouble for the shop. They hurried so they could leave while it was still in the middle of the night, with the local leading team showing them out. Lowell looked at Gill with a different light now. Before, they were weak compared to them, and they barely entered his eyes. They had gone so far in the span of a few months and he couldn''t help but feel jealous. "Time for us to go," he said. "Expect us to come here every so often to buy things." And they left, disappearing into the forests soon after. Meanwhile, Hoye''s team remained for a little longer. He asked his people to go ahead and handle the shipment, while he stayed to speak with Gill. This surprised the latter a bit. "What is it?" "The Lord Jonathan told me to pass you some information." "Oh?" He handed the letter to Gill, made with the thin stationery of Alterra. Gill hurriedly opened it up, reading its contents with a beating heart. It started sweet, with Cassandra''s love words and gratitude he had taken for granted already. Gill was smiling a bit until he got to the part of her hoping that he would find a better lover than she was. ''I know it''s selfish, but don''t forget about me. I want you to find your own happiness with others,'' she said. ''But I hope my memory still exists there¡ªThe Me with you, in Alterra, is the happiest.'' Gill''s hand shook, and he pulled his deep eyes away from the letter to stare darkly at Hoye. "What does this mean? "Miss Cassandra is getting married," the aborigine said after a while. "They are just waiting for the Heatwave to end. Gill''s pupils contracted but, otherwise, he didn''t show any other reaction. "I¡­ thank you for this," he said, walking back to his house without another word. He looked stable to others, but anyone who knew him could tell his steps were shaky. Cassandra, he thought, finding it a little harder to breathe. What''s going on!? Chapter 902 Playing Babies The next morning was the usual slow day in Alterra. The citizens were all indoors again, some productive (i.e. those working in several well-insulated factories as well as a number of shop-houses), while some¡­ not so much. The Gaea Team members were the latter. At this time, they were in the main villa lounging around with the electric fans. A few days ago, electric fans were finally made commercially available! They were the basic of the basic, and not many stocks could actually be made, but it was revolutionary anyway. These appliances had been sold in the Specialty Hall, and many of the better-off households had it now. The Gaea Chamber of Commerce members were living the couch potato life in front of the fans, eating ice cream, popcorn, or¡­ ice cream on popcorn. It was just that there was a certain ''show'' ongoing in their living room, and everyone was gaping at what they were seeing. "What¡­" Ansel mumbled, abruptly sitting up, lifting his head from its comfortable position on Winona''s soft and full thighs. Winona''s eyes, along with the others, were also looking at the same thing, similarly shocked. "So¡­ I finally let them use that aether toy¡­" Althea mumbled as she ate a piece of popcorn dipped in ice cream, creating a wonderful combination of salty and sweet. The other''s eyes twitched, their eyes fixed on the center of the room. "Yes, we can see that¡­" At this time, the babies were indeed playing with the floating ball, though saying it so simply was an understatement. At this time, Little Meatball was holding onto it. It was actually around his size, so when he embraced it with his whole body it really looked like he could roll with it. ¡­except he was floating. What the heck¡­ Ansel continued to gape as he asked his sister. "So¡­ do we finally have the formula?" Althea shook her head. "They seem to really like the toy, but that''s about it." Little Pepper obviously really liked the ball too. She was crawling fast, trying to follow the slow-floating ball around with furrowed eyebrows, her cheeks looking puffed up in her annoyance. "Mnmnmmama!!" She yelled, showing off her little teeth. And the next thing they knew she was already underneath the ball, looking up and trying to reach it. However, it was a bit higher than what a baby sitting down could easily reach. In an attempt to catch up with it, the baby girl shakily leaned forward, using her little hands to push herself up, as if about to stand up¡ª The adults tensed at the sight. Ansel and a few others even had their hands up, palms clenched to fists. Their sights fixed on the girl''s movements, and their faces were incredibly tense and excited. Flop. Unfortunately, the baby was really wobbly and fell down on her bum in the end. "Aww¡­." The adults moaned in disappointment, very much like a crowd sad that a goal was missed. Little Pepper was not one to give up however, with a determined look on her cute face, she continued to purposely crawl, following the ball. The toy was no longer in Meatball''s embrace, but he still held on with his two little hands. While he did so, his little feet were swinging as if he was swimming in the air. For a while, the adults could only watch in awe as the floating baby boy and the teleporting baby girl played their hearts out¡­ This went on for a while until the ball lost power and was in need of recharge from an elementalist. During this null time, the ball slowly descended, with Pepper finally getting a hold of it. "Googgmmm...." Little Meatball mumbled when he realized he didn''t have full control of the toy anymore. In any case, this meant that the ball was now in between two babies, both of whom wanted it for themselves. "Mngmawamaaa..!" Pepper mumbled, pulling it in her direction. Little Meatball''s eyebrows furrowed, attempting to take it back. "Gurgumghmm¡­" Unsurprisingly, the two babies started fighting for the lifeless ball. Both of them had a few little teeth now, and the adults could peek at them when they were arguing. Two babies fighting fiercely when they only had gums for the most part was quite amusing, adorable, and made for a very good show. Eventually though, the soft-hearted women finally felt pity for the children. Winona pushed Ansel''s head since he happened to be the nearest one anyway. "Come on, have pity on them already." Ansel also developed into a wife slave and nodded without question. He stood up and took the ball, to the annoyance of the two kids. "Mngmawamaaa..!" "Gurgumghmm¡­!!!" "Patience, little buns," Ansel said, putting in some power onto it. With a teasing smile, he walked away from the two kids instead of handing it over to them. He placed it a meter away to the other edge of their play cot. When it floated, the babies flurried towards it, making their uncle laugh out loud. While Althea watched the ''kids'' (babies + Ansel) play around, she was also feeding her husband some popcorn. She was aware that Garan wasn''t particularly big on sweets though, so she just fed him popcorn without the ice cream. It was mostly absent-minded¡ªwith her doing it while laughing at her babies'' silliness¡ªuntil she felt a wet and slimy sensation wrap around her fingers. She looked up to meet a very heated stare from the man who was licking them. She flushed a bit, abruptly taking out her fingers, and giving him a pointed stare. "No," she said, shoving a few more popcorn in his mouth for good measure. Little did she know that several hours later, when they went to bed, Garan would bring a bucket of popcorn into the bedroom, and he would eat them right off her bare skin. That was for later, of course. For now, they brainstormed on how to consistently make the kids'' powers work, or even if they should. Should they keep making them use their powers? They were still too young. Perhaps it could be deferred until they could be reasoned with. Anyway, they were lucky the babies hadn''t shown anything when outside the house, and could only assume it had to do with the familiarity of their home. Anyway, various thoughts passed by the adults'' minds while the kids played their hearts out. Eventually, the aether ball''s energy ran out once more and they watched the kids fight over it with amusement. Dinner time was approaching though, and the time to finish playing had arrived. "Okay, enough playing," Althea finally said. "Can you get the ball for me, Ansel?" However, before Ansel could take the ball, it suddenly turned on again. Everyone was puzzled, especially Ansel, who raised his hands. "It really wasn''t me!" However, they knew of his personality, and they wouldn''t put it past him to prank them. While the others jeered at poor Ansel, Althea decided to use the Eye to look at the toy and the babies'' interactions. She blinked. In her eyes, the ball had thin wisps of gas-like things¡ªwhich was probably aether¡ªfloating around it. It was denser at the bottom, likely because it was floating. She could also see that it had some sort of pulsation, with the most intense movements at the bottom area. This was fine and interesting as it was. However, she realized that some of these wisps¡­ were connected to her babies. Her eyebrows furrowed and she stood up, taking away the ball from them, making them protest with those large teary eyes of theirs. However, she did not succumb this time. She only looked at the ball before putting it back in her space, and it would not see the light of day for a long time until after she figured things out. Sigh. New mysteries just kept getting uncovered before they could get answered. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. What could she do about all these uncertainties, especially when they were about her children? Chapter 903 More Refugees from the North (Part 1) Soon, the long-awaited dusk arrived and the activities slowly intensified. The nightlife was once again at its peak with all industries gearing up, and everywhere in the territory there was some sort of activity. The newcomers were shocked to see how the people and the territory literally seemed to gear into motion before their very eyes. There were about a couple of dozen people who had just entered the territory. This was led by Perrot, the engineer from Rows Village who went the other way. When they found out their previous path was hopeless, they immediately headed in the other direction, hoping to get lucky. However, the previous night''s mob caught up to them, immediately killing a few. They could only run to the best of their ability, pushing themselves to sprint for hours on end, with the monsters thinning them out bit by bit. They tuned out the screams, the horrid sound of crushed bones, and spine-chilling echoes of squelched meat behind them. With their pitiful strengths, the single way to live was to focus only on their own survival. Squelch! Crunch! "Shit¡­" "Wu¡­." They ran and ran, just hoping to find a ray of hope somewhere . The only reason any of them were still alive in that situation was because the mob wasn''t that big. Further, they would stop to feast on whoever they caught up with before following the rest of them. Perrot¡ªin a moment of bravery¡ªturned back to see what was happening. It was terrifying and he almost tripped. However, it was because of this that he noticed that some monsters were headed in another direction instead of following them¡ªas if they were more attracted to something elsewhere. This bloody chase went on until they reached the river. People screamed in celebration and most of them just jumped in directly, allowing the flowing water to carry them away. On the other hand, Perrot thought that it''d be more likely to find a territory upstream of the river, primarily because he saw a few monsters head there. However, knowing one thing was very different from making use of it. They were weak and at the end of the rope already. In the end, Perrot could only jump down the river as well, to be carried until he found a rock to hold on to. The others¡­ if they had the energy to keep swimming or floating in this situation¡­ good for them, but he was sure he wouldn''t last long and he''d just end up drowning. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Several others stayed on the rock with him, thankful that their scents had been washed off and were therefore ignored by beasts¡ªthough some monster did pass by soon after. Those were incredibly tense moments and some people had to pull others under the water because they were making too much noise. Their dozen or so people survived like this for a few hours until they were certain there were no beasts nearby. They carefully swam perpendicular to the flow, eventually reaching shore. They were gasping for air, their bodies devoid of energy and it took them a while before they could stand up and walk, aiming to find a territory once more. They were carried by the water farther than they thought though, and there was no territory nearby when dawn came. Fortunately, they found some light logs along the shore of the river, presumably used for roofing by other people. It was a relief that they found some roofing, but they were extremely weak and their steps were slow. They also had to stop often to drink water from the river. For much of the day, at their snail''s pace, they simply followed the upstream of the river until they finally found a territory. When they saw how big it was, they were in disbelief. Was there a town nearby them all this time? In that case, it was no wonder those beasts so far away targeted this place. They arrived just before dusk, and therefore before the mobs came. This was incredibly lucky because they were really at the end of their ropes. Another day like that would definitely be their last. [Welcome to Alterra Village (Lv3)! Please pay 5 copper.] A village¡­ and 5 copper as entrance fee¡­ "I''m delirious¡­" he heard someone beside him say as they dragged themselves through the gate. "Yes¡­ that must be it." Perrot did not disagree, but he was too weak to open his mouth to answer his companion. He just focused on moving his feet in this heat, to finally find a permanent cover that could shield him. The moment they entered the threshold, they already felt the difference. It was actually cooler inside the walls! Perrot looked around, realizing it was because of the dense foliage, which had higher survivability rates within territory walls. The buildings were also designed to handle the heat, which was amazing, though sadly his brain was too fried to think too deeply about anything else. "HEY!" They looked up to see some guards above eye level, settled coolly inside a sentry. "Read the signs!" They blinked, realizing that there were a lot of boards by the side of the road. While there was sun, there was no one who was outside on the streets. The guards were settled nicely in their shades and wouldn''t want to bother with them either. Fortuantely, there seemed to be signages by the gate that had various information telling them where to go. For instance, where to go to rest, where to go to buy food, and the like. They gulped, using their remaining strength to head to the marketplace. If they had any excess energy and life, they''d also appreciate the path there, but they were really on the verge now. Fortunately, they didn''t actually have to go so far at all. "Hey! Here! Here!" They blinked and turned to the side, realizing that some shophouses were open. This one had a long canopy covering its entrance and they entered the relatively cool insides¡­ with an electric fan!? What in the world¡ª Anyway, pushing that aside they saw the available drinks and snacks and they practically threw money at the shopkeeper, who was very happy to make money off of them. They gobbled up their food and drinks, and they were so happy they could die. They placed order after order. Fortunately, they had savings and the food here was unbelievably affordable! However, just before they finished their nth set of order, a deep bell rang, resounding across the territory. They lifted their heads looking at each other. "What''s that?" Chapter 904 More Refugees from the North (Part 2) It only did so once, and it was not repeated anymore. Looking out the translucent window (what material was this anyway), Perrot and the others realized that time had passed and night had already descended. And with the night, came the mobs. Their hearts clenched, still traumatized by the horrors of the previous night. Further, it was unlikely that the bell sounded just to tell people of the time. After all, the noise could attract more beasts than intended, so it could only be an alert of enemies. "Will things be alright? Does that bell indicate that there''re¡­ mobs?" Perrot asked the shopkeeper, feeling tentative. He saw that he was already preparing more and more food. Obviously, he was expecting a lot more customers soon. "It''s indeed an alert that there''re mobs in sight," he said, leisurely adding menus on the tables next to them. "Don''t worry though, since it was only one bell, it means it''s not that urgent." Their eyes twitched. Why did they feel that was an understatement? Then, when people started pouring into the shop, they''d realize that it really wasn''t. "Old man! Give me your best rice crisps!" one said. "I want to snack on it while I shoot down monsters¡­" "Can I have those crispy fries please¡ªsour cream flavor." "I want lemonade with extra sugar please!" another said. "In the hanging cup with a straw please so I can move my weapons while I drink." "Gouji fruit juice¡ª50% sugar, I''m on a diet¡­" And so on. There was a queue now, and they could see it extended all the way outside. Perrot and the others could only gape, taken aback by the sudden explosion of activities. They knew they lost track of time while they were eating¡ªwho wouldn''t¡ªbut this difference was too fast. At some point, the queue paved the way to a handsome strongman in uniform. "Boss Ryo!" the people called and the man nodded politely at them. His eyes softened when he looked at the old shopkeeper though. "Grandpa," he said, handing him a piece of paper bag (did they take that from Terran?). "Your vitamins. You forgot to take it." "Ah, yes, thank you," the old man said, and the guard went out, ready to start the start of working hours. Perrot and the others soon gathered themselves and stood up, also to give space to the next shop patrons. When they went out, they saw that the empty streets during the day were now filled with people, a lot of whom were queuing in different shops, while others were heading towards the gates with their weapons out. The energy was palpable, and the fighting spirit was through the roof. They would even hear bets around, guessing who''d kill more monsters or who''d kill them faster. There were even challenges. For example, how long one could stay outside the walls and how far they could be from sentries. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The most baffling part was that people actually accepted the challenge! "Why is it so¡­ different?" they asked themselves and each other, though no one had the answer to it. They perused the place along the sidewalk, observing their surroundings in awe. They knew it''d take a while for them to adjust, but they were certainly not expecting to see some acquaintances! "Miss Faye! Cree!" They yelled, gasping as they ran to approach them. Miss Faye and the others were moving as a group, heading in one direction. It was notable that they were clean and decently dressed. They also had good weapons made of beast bones on hand, which were definitely superior to the wooden weapons they had before. It had only been a few days since they had seen each other! The other party was surprised to see them there as well, though Perrot and the others felt self-conscious when they approached. Not long ago, they had the same appearances, but now... Now that they saw more people, they realized¡­ just how unsightly they probably looked. Their bodies slumped a bit, suddenly conscious of themselves. "Perrot! You guys are here¡­" Foxii said with a smile, looking at them in relief. She was a bit disappointed there were only a few dozen, but she was glad to see old fellowmen regardless. Perrot knew about their former princess'' personality, so he explained what happened to them. He told them how they followed the source of the stream, and how it was actually blocked by others. Faye and the others'' eyes turned red, but they calmed themselves down. It was in the past, and they had a task to do at this time. "What about the others?" "Many of them swam downstream the river as soon as we got there, I''m sure there are still many alive somewhere¡­" "I hope so¡­" Faye said, sighing. "Well, we have to go now. You should go find a dormitory and rest for now. We''ll catch up later; I''ll treat you." "You¡­" Perrot voiced out, looking at her team as well as their weapons. He had an idea what it was about, but he couldn''t help but want to hear it from them directly. "Where are you going, if you don''t mind me asking." "We''re fighting outside." "...why?" Perrot''s eyebrows furrowed, and the others on his side were also puzzled. Why would they fight for a territory they just entered? They didn''t become slaves somehow, right? How could Faye not see what they were thinking? "No, we''re fighting for a better life here. "You''ll see," she said, smiling lightly. "I haven''t been here long, but I could already tell that it''s worth it." After short farewells between the two parties, Faye''s group went past and continued on their way, while Perrot and the others could only stare at their backs in thought. They would soon realize that, in these people''s minds, the mobs here were nothing to fear. They were just a resource: a source of money and contribution points. Those who wanted to earn would go out to fight without the territory forcing them to. Unlike what they had seen too many times in the past few months, the people here were in control of their own situations, and no one was helpless. It felt¡­ refreshing and... hopeful. They would go to the dormitory to get a proper rest, mulling over what they had seen so far. And the very next day, this team¡ªalong with many others¡ªwould join the fights with similar gusto as the others. They would fight not only to earn a living..., but also because they wanted¡ªwith all their hearts¡ªto be a part of this. Chapter 905 Inko Slaves As promised, because we Topped October 2024''s Golden Rank, we get a total of FIVE chappies today~ .... ___ While the others were handling the mobs, Althea and the other elders were in the Village Center. It was time for another Elder meeting, in which the updates on all three territories were discussed, as well as some future plan of action. For one, Limestone Valley was attacked by a place called Inko Village. Althea, as the lord, also saw the money they received and was very satisfied with it. She promised to use at least half of it to improve Limestone Valley. After all, they deserved it. As for the rest, she''ll take them as payment for those weapons and tools she sent there. They also received a lot of new slaves, and Henry and the others were wondering what to do with them. In this case, Althea and the others wouldn''t automatically be messengers of justice and ask them to free everyone. After all, they were enemies who would''ve killed or enslaved their people if they were weaker. Even if they could swear allegiance via the Center, there could still be loopholes in place. Even Alterra had ''slaves'' now though they were technically called prisoners of war. These people had the chance to be released after they earned their freedom through manual labor, and each one of them also signed oaths¡ªjust in case. Mathilda looked at the Elders in front of her, wondering what was their opinion regarding the new Inko slaves. "What do you think?" "I don''t think they''d mind being slaves for a while," Ansel said, chewing on something, as everyone else was. "To them, having something to eat and not getting killed by the heat wave is the priority." Mathilda nodded, "Showing them the goodness of our territory would entice loyalty in them. After all, oaths could sometimes be forced, but if we want citizens to be truly sincere and productive to the territory, they would need to fall in love with it." In the end, they decided to give Victor and the others the prerogative of whether to ''free'' the slaves or not. By freeing, it meant that they would be treated as proper human beings who could buy their own freedom after working for the territory. This would likely apply to the Inko slaves, who didn''t attack them of their own free will. On the other hand, they also had the option of using the slaves as Prisoners of War, whose labor would definitely get taken advantage of in exchange for a bit of food and water. This would mostly apply to the citizens of Inko. For the most part, their tasks would be to help the goblins in the mines and to handle the maintenance and cleanliness of the territory. They''d be assigned to jobs that no one else would want. For example, clearing up the septic tanks, handling fertilizers, and the like. There would also be those assigned to clean and handle the carcasses of monsters killed by the sentry towers (and were therefore territory property). The products of these monsters would go to various places. It could go to the territory-owned meat shop, the territory-owned leather shop, and so on. Alterra also sent one of their many weapon makers there to create Class E Bone weapons, which were superior to the Class E wood alternatives created by the System Weaponshop. If there were strong mobs and enemies, they would naturally be ordered to defend the territory as well, but with the guards and citizens. They would not be sent out to die uselessly. They would at least have a weapon. They would also be assigned to Guard teams, making sure their positions were strategic and they were efficient on the battlefield rather than becoming mere canon fodder. Further, in this case, Althea would not be returning the money she obtained from them. Even if they were freed, if they wanted to earn their own freedom, they would still need to work properly. "Now for Iron Mountains," Mathilda said, shifting to the next agenda. Ansel read the letter for them. "They received guests from Ferrol¡­," his eyebrows rose as he looked at Garan and the others. "It seems like they are mercenaries you have met before the protection period ended." Garan nodded, recognizing the names indicated. "This shows how far our products have gone," he said. Althea blinked. So was that why her Prestige spiked again¡­? Anyway, while she pondered this, the meeting moved on to the next topic. "I received a notice from Gill that he and Helios would be leaving for Ferrol when the Heat Wave ends," Garan said. "He assured that the territory is in good condition and in good hands with Rowan and the others." "Did they say why?" "Gill mentioned he''s looking for Cassandra. Helios seems to be looking for someone, too." "How curious," Mathilda said. "Did he say who it was?" "They didn''t specify¡­" Ah, young love. And finally, there was an issue consistently reported among the four: The Regeneration Rates. The regeneration rates really got slower for everyone, but the plants inside the scope of territories didn''t get affected much. The growth of the plants inside was a little slower, but that was due to the heat. Otherwise, it should be the same. At the very least, nothing noteworthy was recorded within her walls, and especially not the Level 2 Farms. She would really need to maintain¡ªand add¡ªmore plants within the walls, just in case. It was very different outside the walls, however. When she had noticed the decrease before, she sent instructions to all territories to watch out and record the growth of their plant life. The events so far confirmed some vague theories she had had in the past. That was: The regeneration rate was slowing down, especially outside the territories. The System worked best within the lines of the territory. It was so powerful and it was understandable that it had its limits. Whatever was happening, the power of the System couldn''t fix it. As for what they learned from Bart¡ªabout this area being ''dead'' before they arrived¡ªthey still needed a bit more information. For now, they had to figure out if the territories far away were witnessing the same phenomenon. Regardless, if the regeneration rate continued to decline, then the resources outside territories would¡ªin time¡ªno longer have the same abundance as they once had. And that would add another layer of challenge to this world. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 906 Juno Slaves The meeting adjourned and they went separate ways, handling their own scope of work. Althea, Eugene, and Winona went to the Research Center. Their work to improve the lives of their people was never-ending. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan and the other soldiers headed to the barracks, ensuring Alterra''s main forces were not only kept in shape, but also growing in power, will, discipline, and loyalty. He was also glad to see that the Training Hall at least 90% occupied at all times during the night. Ansel, on the other hand, headed to the bank to discuss the new market with the brothers, Raj and Ramil. New customers were reaching them and their satellites, after all, and they would have to adjust a couple of things with the economy. Speaking of the brothers, they worked even harder now that they found their sister, Aditi, who was one of the rescues back in the then-Fargo Village. They wanted to get more contribution points. They already spent the large contribution points they earned (a lot of which due to the various policies they implemented) in buying their and their sister''s permanent residency. They were now preparing to buy a house, one for each of them. They were all at the peak of their youths, after all. The territory was even encouraging procreation and marriage. Sooner or later, they''d build individual families. Aditi was actually a writer and one of the people they tapped to write the comic strips in the newspaper. The girl''s friend, Penny, was an artist and one of the major proponents of published drawings via lithography. Sheila was stationed in the hospital as always, heading to her own room at the Healers department. Speaking of this, most of the hospital departments had been filled. The efficiency, the logistics, and the hospital processes had been likened to that of Terran, except they made use of the System, the Special Buildings, and the many other conveniences of this continent. This had a lot to do with Dr. Volohov and the others. They hadn''t been here for long nor had the hospital been built for more than a few months, but they managed to make everything¡ªthe different sections, departments, and the like¡ªwork like clockwork. Basically, as long as one had a breath, they would likely survive if they were brought here in time. Lastly, Harold¡ªwhose operational tasks in the restaurant had been passed on to Joana¡ªwas left with the kids today. He was also going to help Maya and Horus with their homework since they weren''t able to finish it during the daytime. Since they were mostly awake during day time though, he would try to get them to sleep early. At least their biological clocks wouldn''t get disrupted like the adults''. He also made them delicious nighttime food before going to bed. Things that evening went on as usual. The industries flourished, the restaurants were filled, and the mobs were soon cleared. The activities only started to die down when dawn approached. Like other people, Althea and Garan also returned home around this time. However, before the couple called it a night (er¡­ day), they received an unexpected visit. It was Turbo, as well as his girlfriend. This puzzled the couple but the other two had serious expressions on their faces, so they knew it was dire. "Captain, Miss Althea," Turbo began before they even settled on their seats. "To begin, I told Evelyn about the latest war." If the topic was confidential, then it would be said so during the meeting. Otherwise, the attendees were free to tell whoever they trusted. Turbo and the others were briefed by Garan about the latest war, to update them about what happened as well as the fact that they wouldn''t be going to war for at least another two weeks. Because of their two satellites, it had been more than a month since Alterra experienced its war, which was really¡­ convenient. Turbo then went ahead and told his girlfriend, who had a reaction to the name of the enemy village. "She recognized the other village, Inko Village," he said, turning to Evelyn who nodded with a dire expression. "Yes. Inko was the territory that attacked us a month ago," she said. She gave a detailed account as to how they were attacked and how helpless they had been back then¡ªwhich made Limestone Valley''s clean win all the more impressive. When it was done... thousands of citizens became slaves, and they followed the enemies through the array. Althea and Garan''s back straightened in tension. "Are there no Terran among the new slaves?" "No, Miss Althea," Turbo said. "When we realized this, we actually sent a letter to Limestone Valley to make a targeted investigation. "First, there are no Terran among the slaves because they had all been sold to aborigine villages. "What''s worse, after they interrogated some key personnel, it seems that there were territories that showed interest in the people specifically, which was unusual. Althea and Garan looked at each other, eyebrows furrowed and hearts beating in worry. If the prevailing theory was right, every Terran who survived the initial zombie transformation had a predisposition for the elements. Even if they didn''t awaken, the lord would be able to see if the citizens had elements as long as they bothered to check the Lord''s Panel. Other Lords apparently didn''t check on this often, but it was still done, some with more frequency than others. The Inko village Lord simply wasn''t the type of strategist who would monitor the slaves. Because they had low levels, he rarely bothered to look. If he did know what was interesting about the slaves, then it was estimated he would''ve sold the slaves (while keeping a few for himself) for a much higher price. If one won a war against a Terran territory, then they''d get hundreds¡ªor maybe even thousands¡ªof Elementalist slaves. Any lord would go crazy, right? This made them feel a little heavy, one for the sold slaves, and also for what it implied. If this spreads¡­ Then the Terran Territories were sure to receive another¡ªsharper¡ªtarget on their backs. Chapter 907 Arrival of Lord Shiro More and more territories fell for the next few weeks, whether it was due to wars, beast tides, or just their lords dying of heatstroke or hunger or something equally pitiful. The fortunate thing was that the temperature was finally seeing a decline, only very very slightly. However, to most people, this didn''t make a difference. They were still dying. "Milord¡­" A thin man with pale skin looked at the handsome man, pleading. "Perhaps¡­ it''s time to get assistance?" The Heat Wave lasted a lot longer than they thought, and many of those who would normally survive had perished already. Shiro sighed, holding his knuckles together in thought. When his father died during the last war, he did everything he could to pass on the token to him. Shiro wasn''t about to disappoint him, nor could he fail those who trusted him. Until now, they had fared much better than others in their tier, and this had been a point of pride for a long time. Before they had to leave, their village was among the strongest of their rank in their area. One reason was that they had an abundance of edible plants such as the flute plant and the like. They were also located between hills with some natural tunnels that they took advantage of whenever there were extreme weather changes. Whether it was the Extreme Cold or Extreme Heat, their territory had one of the best survival rates. It was just that they had a town nearby so their mobs weren''t as weak as those around other villages. This was both good and bad. Good because they could keep a lot of their matured forces because they could still upgrade even if they stayed in a village, rather than risk moving to the next Town and settlling there. This was why their average level was 10 or 11, in contrast to 8 or 9 of other level 3 villages. At the same time, this was also bad because they still weren''t towns in the end. They had their limitations, especially with their infrastructure. However, they managed to hold on for a while. But despite his best efforts to keep the territory afloat on his own, the territory still fell to mobs. The mobs that day were too big and too desperate. They couldn''t hold on and they had to escape to keep their lives. They had considered just relocating for a bit and then returning when the mob had passed. However, for some reason, the monsters settled down there and stayed. They had considered relocating to the nearest Town¡ªVoumi Town¡ªbut the fees there were too expensive, everything was too saturated, and there was no place to settle down hundreds or thousands of people that were considered ''weak'' in their standards. Some people opted to stay there, of course, and he did not blame them. And so, he could only do his best to find his people a new home. Maybe someday they could use the old territory again, but they couldn''t see it happening any time soon. In retrospect, the beasts might have followed their instincts and decided to nest in their village, as well as their tunnels. Although they were mindless, they still had survival instincts. They must''ve felt the Extreme Heat was happening soon. These beasts had to be somewhere during the day, right? Of course, at the time, he had no idea about this. And so, he and his people became nomads without a home. They considered settling down in nearby villages, at least some of them did, but the nearest one was a place they often went into war with. The other villages were also under Voumi, so their strengths were not inferior to his. In all cases, they were almost forcefully enslaved and he took the people he could and they ran towards the West, which was the safest direction they could go to. It was where the fog appeared. His father had told him about the ''newcomers'' and the ''foreigners'', especially when the mysterious fog appeared so near them. His father had travelled around in his youth, so he knew a few things normal villagers did not. He knew that the people in their West were newcomers and therefore weaker than the natives. The travel was relatively long and arduous, but the area was filled with villages so the level of monsters was manageable. Some time during their exodus, they met someone. His name was Cain. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Shiro knew this was not a good man, but the one good thing he did was to bring them here, in what was called Vismont Village. This home¡­ was really good. It had a lot more resources within the walls, it had nice houses, and had better defence. It was just that they weren''t able to enjoy it for long because of the disaster. Even in a better home, his people were still dying. Every day, they had to bury or burn so many people and it broke his heart. They had long run out of food, and many of his people had been hungry for days. Shiro had been holding out from asking for help, but there was no choice anymore. "Very well," he said, voice weak in defeat. "We will go at dusk." A few hours later, his party prepared to go to Alterra, with him bringing a couple of stronger guards. Of course, they left the majority of their remaining forces to protect the territory. This was the first time they were going to the neighbouring territory. He had sent a few spies before the heat wave hit, but they never returned and their names disappeared from his list. Fortunately, they had been a village for decades and the mobs they were used to were stronger than others due to their proximity to a town. So, even when he only took a small part of his forces with him, they should be able to handle the small mobs they encountered. Anyway, the small team left the village, full of reluctance and uncertainties, but at the same time having no choice but to go. He could only hope¡­ that, despite their many conflicts, Alterra would be kind enough to help them. Chapter 908 Asking Help (Part 1) Dejel will also give 1 month Nitro to the winner~ ... ____ Although they were Alterra''s subsidiaries, Alterra was not duty or system-bound to actually help them, especially when the costs were high. Helping out another territory during a disaster they were also going through definitely would not have a low cost. Even if he begged, Alterra might not help them¡ªespecially after the previous altercations. However, what else could they do? His cheap pride would not feed his people. That night, he and his team traveled across the monster-infested forests, with only the two moons as well as a few torches lighting up their way. There were plenty of close calls because they were weakened by hunger, and they ran away whenever they encountered troublesome mobs. Even if they could beat the mobs, they dared not use too much energy at this juncture. They were hungry, thirsty, and incredibly dirty but they could do nothing but trudge through. Fortunately, the small team all survived in the end, arriving at Alterra''s vicinity several hours later, deep into the night. "The mobs are becoming denser, milord," Fos said, with a deep frown, stabbing down at a monster with his whole weight. "It is likely they''re currently fighting with mobs by now." If they asked for favors when the other side had just been through trouble, then coming to a good deal would be even more difficult than it already was. Shiro paused and looked in a direction of thought. The monster mobs they were used to were even stronger than this. While Alterra had somehow managed to beat them when they threatened the village, Shiro and his men were not weak. On the contrary, they could come to assist. They could use this to get better deals. "If the mob is still at its peak, then it is a good thing for us," he said. "If we come to help when they are in a pinch, then we''ll have more leverage." The men looked at him, enlightened. "As expected of the lord¡­" Fos said, and the others agreed. They prepared themselves for an intense battle ahead, feeling thankful that they saved up some energy during their travel there. At the very least, consuming themselves here, when there was a territory nearby, was a better option than losing spirit in the middle of nowhere. However, they did not expect that by the time the walls were visible, the territory was already cleaning up the beast corpses, taking the parts they needed and hauling them on wheeled carts pulled either by humans or by Broats. More than this, they gaped at the tall walls. Because the trees of the forest had dried out, there was no foliage to block the view, so they had an unhindered view of the radiance in this direction. The entire territory was incredibly bright and could be seen hundreds of meters away. It was like a bright utopia amidst the dark and depressing surroundings. After living in their own territory that was dull whether it was morning or night, this vibrancy was really¡­ disorienting. They wondered if they were really heading to a fellow village. When they entered, they were met with a bustle of activity. Every shop was open and there were people going around, some working, and some selling items to whoever passed by. They had never seen such a lively bright night. Their feet moved as they explored the place. Before they could get too far though, they heard voices calling to them. "Oh, newcomers!" someone yelled, "Would you like to buy my juice?" They turned to see there were several stalls lined up near the gates. They paused and took a closer look at the stall, realizing what he was selling. "Water?" S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Juice?" There were gallons of each blatantly displayed on his stall. After suffering for weeks in this heat, generally speaking, displays like this would''ve been mobbed by people until there was no container intact. Here, it was just¡­ there. They also looked at the other stalls and saw there were similar displays. "Mine is very good and very cheap!" He said, yelling the price to them. "It''s not even that expensive!" the Shraoans gasped, eyes sparkling as they stared at the drink. The seller looked away guiltily. He actually multiplied the price several times than the usual selling price already, but¡­ oh well. It''s a win-win deal, anyway. The other juice sellers also yelled, and they also heard how much the other guy sold, so they adjusted their own prices accordingly. "Try my fresh cucumber juice!" "My gouji fruit shake is also good!" Fos gaped, gulping. "So many options¡­" he said, voice cracking. The others beside him nodded in agreement. In fact, because of the drought, the plants that could be sold affordably were limited. So, even if Shiro and the others felt dizzy with the selection, this was not even a fraction of what was normally available. While everyone bought juice, a lively old man waved his hand. He was one of the nearest stalls. "Handsome men! Come try my rice crispies!" Rice crispies? What''s that? "It''s good, it''s good, just taste," the old man said, handing them a small bite-sized piece each for taste. "I also have other products. I have a shop near here, my daughter''s there right now¡­" The Shraoans didn''t absorb much anymore as they placed the snack into their mouths, feeling the unique flavor and texture that they hadn''t experienced yet. Immediately, they bought a bit of everything, intending to taste as much as they could. The newcomers swept through the foods and drinks until they were full, even Shiro himself. They had been so hungry and thirsty, it couldn''t be blamed on them. After the initial globbing of food, they finally calmed enough to study their surroundings more. Taking smaller bites of their snacks-of-choice, they looked around them. Everyone was clean, proper, and healthy. No one was hungry nor were they parched, and they were obviously living well enough that people were still having fun even at this time. Shiro and the others couldn''t help but look at each other with wide eyes. Perhaps, things weren''t so hopeless, after all? Chapter 909 Asking for Help (Part 2) "There are so many trees, and resources." They said. Even in the middle of the road, there''s a line of trees. In most territories, only a few types of trees remained alive, and not all of them could be eaten. Here, not only were there a lot of trees, but some of them looked a bit healthier with more leaves. This area was unlikely to be a system farm, so¡­ how did they do it? How did they keep all these plants so healthy? "The trees outside are dried up, but the ones inside are thriving," one of the salespeople said, just before he proceeded to sell them his product, which was skewered meat with vegetables. "Of course, they still couldn''t be compared to the status of the farms." "..." Each of them bought a few sticks and looked at him. "Can you tell us more?" They couldn''t help but eat what they bought though, and someone almost lost their footing at the deliciousness. The salesperson smiled and explained a few things. Alterra''s farms were never a secret. On the contrary, it was one of the major factors behind its many great deals. They could be seen from the Viewing deck, anyway. And¡­, perhaps more prominently, food was a basic need of human beings. They didn''t want to be too stingy when it came to its supply. It was why many common citizens knew a lot about it, well enough that they could give foreigners some basic information. "Our territory promoted drought-resistant plants, and most of the system farms planted those types," he said, handing a few sticks to another patron. "They''re doing quite well, so the food prices didn''t hike up too much." "Is¡­ is there a way to see?" "Yes. Although it''s a bit dark¡­" he pointed at the mountains. "We have a view deck there. You can see much of the farms in that direction." They followed directions and traversed the territory, not looking as closely around them anymore (for now), just intent on climbing up the trekking path. Food was too necessary. Their tour could wait until later. They arrived at the beautiful view deck a while later and they headed straight to the railings. It was night but the light from the torches and the lighthouse allowed them to see much of the place. Their eyes dilated at the sight. The farms were like a sea of dense plants, and it made their hearts beat. Although the farms were a little monotonous due to the limitation of plants that could thrive in this weather, it was still a gorgeous sight that injected every one of them with excitement. One of the things they knew, especially with comparison to those outside the walls, was that the plants within seemed healthier, more alive. It wasn''t obvious in the previous years because the regeneration rate was still existent even in droughts. They simply couldn''t forage when the sky was up. Now, it dropped significantly through the weeks, and territories only had the sparse forests within the walls as the source of food and water that wouldn''t kill them back. Even the beasts that they could kill, even counting the carcasses they managed to recover, still wouldn''t be enough to feed thousands of people. Hence, in Shrao, a rotation system had been implemented, wherein only certain batches of people every day would get the priority to get fed. Of course, those who actually fought the mobs would have a lot more slots than those who were just weakly laying around. It had been weeks since that had begun and they had gotten used to the hunger. Apparently, that wasn''t a problem in Alterra¡ªit never was. It not only had a lower population than other level 3s, but it also had such a huge percentage of forestry. And now¡­ they found out they had such rich farms. No wonder no one was hungry! ¡­ It took time for them to calm down, going down the path and admiring the place. They just stood there blankly for a while, absorbing the sight and its implications. In fact, if they didn''t have an entire territory straddled at their backs, they''d have stared at it for a few more hours. They walked down, intending on going to the leading party when they were attracted by the attractive scent of flavorful food. They turned to see a queue, and they were heading to one of the most famous restaurants there, the Gaea Restaurant. As if they hadn''t eaten a lot of snacks earlier, their stomachs grumbled. "We should eat," one said. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "But¡­ the mission," said another. "If the leading party decided to be petty and kick us out, we might not be able to taste anymore." "..." "..." Afraid of what they''d miss if they get blacklisted, they decided to try their first Alterran restaurant. It was fully booked and there was a short queue on the outside, but service was fast so they didn''t have to wait too long until it was their turn. While they were waiting, they were also given the menu so their orders could be prepared while they were in line. The thick and stiff papyrus was an interesting item, then they saw the uniform text and drawings in each one. The paintings were also well done, and it successfully teased their stomachs until their insides were rolling over just imagining their taste. After some minutes, it was finally their turn and they had to gulp down their excitement, barely managing to retain some class as they walked inside. They entered with high expectations. However, they were met with such unique designs and interiors, partnered with the explosive scent of the food served, and they knew they still underestimated this place. However, as they headed toward their assigned seatings, they saw some familiar faces who were also eating their hearts out. Shiro''s feet halted and so did the others, and they stared at the men in disbelief. These were¡­ the scouts he sent to study Alterra. It seemed that they disappeared from his roster because¡­ they switched residencies. The ravenous men seemed to have felt stares on them and turned their heads, freezing immediately at the sight of them. "..." "..." Chapter 910 Another Roadblock They paled and stood up as soon as they gathered themselves, though a few were still chewing. "We''re sorry milor¡ªSir Shiro. It''s just that the disaster happened and we couldn''t get back anymore." "Yes, yes, we don''t have families anymore, so we just accepted our fate." Fos'' and the others'' eyes twitched, while Shiro shook his head. "It''s okay, I don''t blame you." Shiro led the way back to their assigned tables, leaving the ''deserters'' standing there, awkwardly staring at their backs and then at each other. When Shiro and his team had sat down, some of the deserters approached. They really couldn''t risk their new good lives to report too much. However, despite everything, Shiro and the former lord were rare good lords who cared about the citizens. Further, they still had a lot of friends in the other village, they naturally wanted life to be better there now that they had a chance. "Uhm¡­ if there''s any information publicly available you want to know," one said. "We can perhaps help Sir Shiro out." Fos was the one who answered. "Well, yes, our territory is hoping to get Alterra''s assistance." "It so happens that the Elders are having a meeting right now," the scout said. "They are in the Village Center right now, sir." "Okay, thank you." The schedule of Elder meetings hadn''t been kept secret. Oftentimes, they would receive a lot of suggestions and reports just before it. Shiro looked at the scouts. "What do you think will make them want to help us?" "Well, our lord is a beautiful man," one of them said, puzzling the others. "And?" "While most of the Elders are men, two of the most influential ones, Ms. Mathilda and Ms. Althea, are females." "Female elders?" Fos uttered. The others seemed surprised as well. "Yes, sir Shiro. Women here hold significant positions as well." "I see¡­" Of course, no one asked the lord to use his beauty for negotiations. They simply went to the Village Center and patiently waited until the meeting was over. They didn''t have to wait long, and soon the concierge lady approached them, telling them someone would escort them upstairs soon. They were led upstairs by a man named Jun, an elder''s top advisor. Althea didn''t want to approve the entry of people to the second floor each time. Hence, she just set it as certain people could enter whenever they have to and granted them the right to take people with them as needed. As the Shraoans climbed the grand staircase with its intricate railings and meticulous floors, they couldn''t help but compare this Village Center with their own¡ªwhether it was the New or the Old Shrao''s. Everything was customized to become aesthetic yet functional, and pretty much everything was changed. This place¡­ had too much money to be customizing like this. Anyway, they arrived at the second floor a few minutes later, led to a big room with a large oblong table. An eclectic group of people sat around it, each one staring at them, the new arrivals. Shiro''s eyes gravitated to the young woman at the near center of the room, and he couldn''t help but look dazedly at her. She was indeed¡­ very beautiful. She had an ethereal feel to her, beckoning any man to come closer¡ª "If you don''t want to lose your eyes, I suggest you stop staring at my wife." "..." Shiro cleared his throat and gathered himself, acting as if he didn''t feel a literal chill in his body. "Hello, my name is Shiro," he said. "I am the Lord of the New Shrao Village, one of your subsidiaries." No one spoke, everyone waiting for him to finish what he wanted to say. "We request for your help. As your subsidiary, we hope you can give us some resources for us to survive." Ansel leaned back on his comfortable swivel chair, looking at the other men. Not too long ago, he was making threats at the other''s turf. "Now¡­ why would we do that?" he asked. Seeing him there made the Shraoans flinch and clench their fists, recalling their various humiliations. They simply couldn''t do much against Alterra and their gangster tactics¡­ Not long ago, they had vowed to take revenge on him, but now they were in the position where they''d have to humble themselves¡ªagain! Ansel obviously enjoyed watching them hold back whatever annoyance they felt for him. Their faces were turning red and they were gritting their teeth so hard he could almost hear it. He couldn''t stop the urge to egg them on even more. "Hey¡­, although subsidiary villages are guaranteed to pay tribute, this ''tribute'' is just a percentage of your income." He looked at them up and down. They looked horrible and dirty, and he could tell they hadn''t had a bath for at least a few weeks. Wearing that smug punchable face of his, he asked them: "Looking at how poor you are, that tribute must be too small to be worth our trouble, right?" Their fists clenched tighter, doing their best not to climb the table and slide in the redhead''s direction to pummel his face. Only Shiro himself didn''t look so red as if he had been holding his breath for a long time. It wasn''t that Shiro was not angry¡ªhe was, very much so¡ªbut he also knew he was the foundation of this deal. His cronies could lose their cool, but he could not. Althea and the others didn''t speak and just watched the exchange. Although Ansel was indeed being an ass, he was not wrong. Back then, she took Vismont as a subsidiary primarily because they were all Terrans. Further, although they weren''t so rich, Vismont still did have some income. Now that the village didn''t have her brethren and was too poor, technically speaking, she really didn''t have any reason to help or even keep them. They also had to consider the fact that these people¡ªeven if it wasn''t them, directly¡ªhad hurt hundreds of Terrans, now living in their territory. Even if Alterra was rich and had ample resources, many of its victims might not agree with goodwill. She looked deeply at the other lord. Now¡­ what would he do? S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 911 One Step Forward Shiro felt their disadvantage, but he was not one to give up. "We may not be much now, but our forces are generally superior to other villages." "We were near a town so the monsters in our old territory were relatively stronger. While most of the strongest guards had transferred to the town, I still retained a good portion. Our average level is 10, and we have many level 11s." That was indeed very good. Ansel looked at them. "We took you down with fair ease though." "You¡ª" the other Shraoans finally snapped at him. "That was only because you caught us off guard, and the territory just happened to be their subsidiary! They''d have made a lot more of a fight otherwise! Ansel shrugged. "So strong right? You don''t need help from us, right?" "YOU¡ª" Shiro sighed and lifted his hand, making his people tone it down a bit. "I also still have the control of Old Shrao Village," he said. "It is near a town. When the Heat Wave is over, perhaps the monsters there will leave." "Which Town?" "Basset Town." They were located directly West of the town. They looked at him in thought. How did a subsidiary work if it was a satellite, anyway? However, looking at things, even if they didn''t get anything from their old territory, the contracted one¡ªVismont¡ªwas still a subsidiary in function. In any case, Shrao was not weak, which meant they could be a good added force for them in the region. However, there were also cons to this. "How do we guarantee you wouldn''t just decide to separate after a few months?" The contract would end in less than a year. What if they grew enough and separated, maybe even causing them trouble because of their proximity? "We can sign an oath of non-betrayal," he said. Their scouts had managed to investigate some useful things, at least. They knew that Alterra was very strict on its oaths. This might seem restricting to others but, on the contrary, they were given much more freedom after taking it. "We will add additional duties as your subsidiaries, just support our survival." "For example?" "We¡­ we will be willing to provide maximum allowable forces during wars, as needed, and you don''t have to do the same to us without a high price." Ansel sneered. "Do we look like we need you?" "Having a lot more natives can still be an advantage," Shiro said, ignoring him. "Regardless, the more power, the better it is for the safety of most." Shiro spoke with the thought of keeping the safety of the territory which, to be fair, improved his impression on the elders¡­ even if by just a bit. "We are also well-travelled in our region," he said, primarily because they were nomads for a bit. "We can give all the information we have to you for free, and until the indefinite future." One of the things he heard from the former scouts was how Alterra placed importance on knowledge and information. Other than using the beauty trick, this was the best leverage they could think of. After all, there was really nothing else they could give to Alterra that they didn''t already have¡ªand better. The Elders looked at each other, and Mathilda stared at Althea. When the younger woman nodded, Mathilda stood up. "We accept. However, as with everyone else, you will still purchase the items," she paused. "However, we can give you the dealers'' price as our subsidiary." This was already enough. After all, if they just bought things on their own, the purchase limit would be too small. Shiro brightened, looking at them, especially the women with a bright smile. He was, indeed, a bit handsome. "Thank you!" Even if it wasn''t big, it was still one step forward. ¡­ The couple headed home after a long day¡­ er, night of work. They took baths after the daylight ended, so they didn''t take a bath before going to bed anymore, not unless they went out to fight monsters. When they got back, the babies were in their play cot with Harold, who just had a blank expression on his face as the babies massacred him. "Mwammmmaaammmm¡­" Pepper mumbled as she continuously tried to bite Harold''s hand with her gums¡­ er, teeth. Harold would just rotate or move his hand to avoid it. "Googmmammmwwwwaaa¡­" Meatball mumbled as he tried to climb up on Harold, pulling his hair with as much power as his little hands could muster. Harold sighed and would just gently pry off his small paws when it got too painful. It seemed like this had been going on for some time. Poor guy. Anyway, he eventually did notice their arrival and life was immediately injected into him. "Finally!" he yelled, standing up and carrying a baby on each arm, practically shoving them at a parent''s arm. "..." "Gosh, they just can''t be satisfied anymore," Harold said, heaving a deep breath. Now, Harold was usually a saint, but apparently taking care of the babies for hours was now too stressful even for him. This was understandable. The babies¡­ they just got more troublesome after she took away the aether toys. Sadly, after experiencing the magical toys, they had lost interest in most of their ''static'' toys, so now Bianca and the others were working on mechanical ones¡­ which, in a way, was also great business. In the meantime, they had to harass living beings. Sometimes it was them, sometimes it was Harold, and sometimes it was the dogs (who always squeaked in pain because they pulled on their furs too much). Harold couldn''t bear to pass the babies to the kids, who were busy with homework. The dogs were out hunting mobs and the other adults were busy at work as well. So¡­ he had to endure the entire night of abuse all by himself. "Thank you," was all they could say before Harold excused himself to get a well-deserved rest. The couple sighed as they took their babies to their cribs. They looked down at the babies in their arms, so cute and soft and could easily melt hearts. It''d be hard to imagine they could be little devils if they wanted to. "Mwammmaahhh!" Pepper mumbled, rubbing her chubby face on her chest. "Googgmmwaaa¡­" Meatball also mumbled, trying to climb up his father this time. The couple smiled, kissing their faces. They giggled and laughed, but started squirming again, no doubt wanting to do some activities. Those aether toys were useful in that aspect, but she didn''t know enough¡ªneither did Oslo or the other aborigines¡ªabout the phenomenon she had witnessed. She had tried to experiment with the toys after she took them. Basically, the kids were able to input aether as well. Normally, this would not have been a cause for concern¡­ except they were babies . The reason why children didn''t attempt to level up too much before reaching the age of 12 was because their developing bodies couldn''t handle the aether yet. Being in the vicinity of the aether toys, or any tool apparently, would entice the children to unconsciously use aether. What could this imply? No one knew, and no one dared to imagine the possible worse consequences. "So¡­ what do we do with them?" she asked, just as she placed Pepper in her crib and set up the mobile toy hanging above the cribs to distract them. It was really complicated. They knew too little to determine which approach was best for the children, so in the end they could only forbid them from getting close to aether tools that needed power to trigger. At the same time, for now, they should probably limit the use of their powers, too, at least until they knew for certain it wouldn''t be bad for them. How though, when they hadn''t even mastered what activated them in the first place? ... _____ [Shameless Plug] The contest game (wherein the price is a recurring character + discord nitro subscription good for 1 month) is the Crossword puzzle game~ The other three just-for-fun games are: Sliding puzzle game - personally I found this hard, but apparently some of you found it easy lolol 2. Match Game - Match the voices to the character images~! 3. Memory Game - well, memory game xD The winning Price? It''s bragging rights! Lololol Anyway, they were fun to make and I hope everyone could get to play them~ S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 912 End of the Heat Wave [111 Days after the Migration] Several more days passed by and the end of the Heat Wave finally arrived! They knew this was happening because the temperature had been slowly decreasing during the past few days. Then everyone just woke up one morning without feeling like they were melting from sweat. It was amazing. Although it was obviously just the normal room temperature, it felt like they woke up in a lovely air-conditioned room by comparison! "Is¡­ is this it?!" Some people asked as they sat up with bright eyes. They then went to their housemates¡ªwhether it was in the same room or the other rooms¡ªto check if they were imagining things. A brave soul immediately went to check outside, even staying for more than a minute as a willing sacrifice. The others who were also curious stopped their steps, waiting to see what would happen to the brave soul, whom they admired in their hearts. When the sun''s rays didn''t seem to hurt him, their hearts were lifted. However, the man suddenly sobbed and their hearts dropped again. "AHHH!" He yelled and for a moment the people watching thought he was in pain. However, he quickly cried and cheered, raising his hands to the sky. "THE SUN! SUN DOESN''T BURN ME ANYMORE!" Finally!! His yell was a signal for many others watching to do the same. There was someone who literally laid down on the outside floor with legs and arms sprawled out. "My tan," he said. He did this inside the gates of their villa, of course, so as to not appear too stupid. This was Loki, who was known for his very pale effeminate skin. To appear like a soldier, he had to make sure he got his tan. It wasn''t difficult before because they went on plenty of missions, but staying indoors really made him look like a corpse. It was humiliating! There were also some who symbolically buried their umbrellas. And there were even teams who organized outdoor parties, complete with warm beverages. This was a scene found everywhere, to the amusement of everyone else. "They''re adorable¡­" Bart said as he stepped out, also closing his eyes to feel the comfortable heat of the morning sun. His teammates did the same. It wasn''t their first heat wave, but the happiness this place gave off when it ended was particularly fun. Before, in other territories, the people were just in despair, and the happiness that came from them was utter relief that their suffering was over. It just felt pitiful and heartbreaking. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Here, they knew no one died due to the disaster at all, and their relief felt a bit childish as it was amusing. They went out of the luxury villa they leased as a team, and saw how the gardens¡ªbuilt on a level 2 farm¡ªhad fully revitalized overnight. Of course, most of the plants were still alive even during the drought because the plants were inside the territory walls and planted on System Farms. However, their productivity was much lower, their colors were muted, and they dried up a lot. Seeing them vibrant again made people happy. This was an especially welcome sight to those who had gardens right outside their door, like this villa they rented. Apparently, the owner had hired gardeners and ''landscape architects'' to create a wonderful milieu, making it very much worth the high monthly costs. This villa was actually owned by Bianca from Baron''s team. Non-residents couldn''t own houses or land, but residents could rent or lease out what they owned. For Bianca (who lived with her team) and many others'', they had bought their own house¡ªif they could afford it¡ªbut did not necessarily live in them. There was now a more stringent limitation of property ownership per citizen¡ªwhich, after the latest upgrade, had been reduced to one residential and one commercial per permanent resident¡ªso no one could hoard property. However, if a team was rich enough, it wasn''t like they couldn''t get a few properties under other teammates'' names. This was the case with Bianca, as well as a few others like Jesse and Angelo. Bianca was technically the landlord of the villa, while the other two owned apartments in the midrise buildings. The profits would be shared between them and the team, primarily because they could afford their houses due to Baron''s initial investments and support. Family was family, but money issues had to be clear. They would then rent or lease the properties out to rich aborigines who wanted their own spaces. With this business model, their team earned steady amounts of passive income every month. Speaking of Bianca, Bart''s right-hand mand Eloi seemed to be courting her. They met when Bianca welcomed them as the landlord, and Eloi saw her¡ªpretty, smart, and confident¡ªand fell in love at first sight. Basically, for the majority of the Heat Wave, Eloi had been wooing the woman. She hadn''t answered him yet though. Anyway, Bart looked out to see the Golds¡ªtheir neighbors, what an honor, and the primary reason they chose this house¡ªalso come out to see the bustling streets. "Good morning, Master Oslo," he said, then shifting to the younger Gold. "Master Honda." The two of them nodded. Bart, ever so opportunistic, naturally could not let this interaction be so short. "Can we invite the sirs for a walk around the village? Our treat!" Oslo smiled. "I''ll take you up on that offer at another time," he said, patting the boy''s head. "I need to take this little guy to school." Honda looked particularly giddy at this. He was thinking of his friends. This was the first time they''d be hanging out again with the sun high up! Oslo or Honda naturally didn''t cancel their citizenship to the City, but he was allowed to go to school for their huge donation. "School?" Bart asked. Due to the heat, there were still plenty of things they hadn''t encountered yet. "It''s like an academy, but not limited to nobles," Oslo kindly explained. "They teach various things like literacy, basic plant and animal knowledge, and self-defense. They could also teach some specializations like basic cooking, sewing, and the like." "It''s for everyone?" they looked at him in disbelief. Some of them even thought Oslo''s noble brain must''ve overidealized things. These were all sources of money. Why would people reveal it to the public? How could Oslo not know what they were thinking? If he hadn''t met the lord himself and had glimpses of her mind, he''d have thought they were foolish as well. "Every citizen can enroll for contribution points and money. The price is much higher for the specialization classes with a higher tuition, but it''s very affordable." At this, Bart and a few of his men looked at him. Many of them had children. Because they weren''t nobles, such a thing was far beyond their reach. Now, Alterra granted it to every citizen? Then¡­ their children¡­ could they attend this ''school'', too? Oslo couldn''t help but feel both amused and melancholic at their reactions, recalling his own. He had asked this once in curiosity. He was drinking with Ansel and Eugene at the time. They had asked him a question back: "If everyone was struggling with the basics, how would new things be discovered?" After a short daze, he smiled at them mysteriously. "All I can say is that Alterra¡­ is a place that could really change the world." Chapter 913 Back to Normal The citizens had begun to adjust their schedules back to how they were before the disaster. Daily life had returned to normal, with the old habits and routines returning to how it once was. The predominant working hours had returned to daylight, though it was to be implemented the next day, allowing for a bit of an adjustment period for everyone. Basically, the first day after the Heat Wave had become an unofficial holiday before the production and operations geared up again the next day. At the same time, there were also those whose lives had changed during the Heat Wave, and were now adjusting to a whole new normal. For instance, Louie, Ramona''s ex, was going on an afternoon market trip with his new love. "Ready?" he asked, standing patiently near the door of their apartment. The woman appeared soon after, looking proper in her new sundress. Louie''s eyes softened at the sight of her. Objectively, the woman didn''t have any striking features, but Louie loved staring at her face. They had been in a relationship even before the heat wave, and they just got closer while it was happening. It got to the point that they began living together in Louie''s home. His lover was a young woman named Eppa, a Mauin woman in her twenties. She was a new worker under Sassy in the Tanning Workshop, which was quite far from his normal route as a guide. So how did they meet and fall in love? They actually met at the night school. During the Heat Wave, the children were not asked to go to school, but the adult classes were open. The various specialization and skills classes were ongoing even during the night. The tuition was slightly cheaper as well, so the slots were taken up a day after the class enrollment was opened. Eppa actually started as a cleaner in the tanning workshop. It wasn''t a job that everyone wanted, but she¡ªalong with most aborigines¡ªdidn''t mind it at all. She was already very happy, already satisfied with the fact that she had a proper paying job. Now, she could buy her own things. Now, she could buy her own food¡ªwhenever she wanted. And now, she could live well¡ªall using her own hard work, without depending on anyone else. This was already far ahead of what her peers outside could even dream of achieving. She had seen how women had the same jobs as men, and how it wasn''t frowned upon here. Some were even in higher positions! In fact, her ''boss'' was a woman herself! No, she was more than a woman. She could order around the men to do whatever! It was so amazing to see how they all listened to her! Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She couldn''t help but express this awe once and the woman looked at her with those sharp eyes of hers. Eppa was really intimidated and she thought she was going to get fired! The older woman hadn''t even said anything; Sassy''s stare was just that scary! To her surprise, the woman just asked her. "Do you want to become a tanner?" Eppa gaped at her, not entirely certain what the question was about. Sassy''s eyebrows rose and she crossed her arms. "You''re pretty strong for a woman so such a job should be no problem to you. I would like to have some more meticulous eyes and hands with me. "So¡­ do you want to be one?" Eppa gulped. Was this real? "Y-Yes!" she just uttered what she wanted, regardless of what it implied. Sassy nodded in approval. "You are a resident, yes?" "Yes, Miss Sassy," she said. "Temporary?" "Permanent, Miss Sassy." Sassy nodded. "Even better. You know, if you study Tanning at our Alterra School, I can hire you. You can also have your practicum here." It had to be noted that, at the time, Eppa was still very new to Alterra and their ideologies. She was still absorbing the fact that she could have such a well-paying job as a woman. Now¡­ she was asked to go to school? "I can also help you with paying for the tuition. Salary deduction, of course," Sassy continued, making Eppa just continue gaping at her. "Because you''re a permanent resident, then it should be easy for you to gain a slot." Temporary Residents could enroll as well, but they were not the priority when the class had a quota. For example, many temporary residents were on the waitlist for certain popular classes while permanent residents practically had guaranteed slots. Eppa would not be able to afford the permanent residency on her own, of course, not so quickly with her limited skills. However, she was the beneficiary of her cousin Meroun, a former Mauin citizen who died during the Fargo-Alterra war. She had been reluctant to spend anything for a while. She felt uncomfortable with spending her beloved cousin''s hard-earned contribution points¡ªsomething he had died trying to earn. However, after a bit of convincing from the others, she realized that her cousin would''ve wanted her to use it to improve her life, so she did so. It was truly the best decision she had ever made. The benefits of being a permanent resident really couldn''t be compared with anything else, not to mention the most concrete feeling of belonging and stability that came with it. Anyway, Eppa was convinced and took Tanning classes with a nervous heart. The travel to the school, even each step she took inside the campus, was an exhilarating experience. She walked so slowly and shakily that, in retrospect, she must''ve looked like an idiot. However, she later heard that it was a common occurrence so she didn''t look as silly as she thought she was. She arrived to the class with just a minute to spare. There, she found that the teacher was no other than Sassy herself! She felt a bit embarrassed but also relieved. At least she didn''t have to readjust her bearings! Eppa had many milestones in her life after stepping into Alterra, and that was the day she stepped into another one. Chapter 914 Lively Marketplace Anyway, she met Louie, the love of her life, there, though of course neither knew of this at the time. It was during her first trip to the school canteen, which was a different setup than she was used to and it fascinated her. There, the food was lined up in bulk and they just had to choose what comprised their set meals. They could choose one Main dish, side dish, dessert, and beverage. This was not free, but definitely affordable considering the contents. Anyway, there was a delicious-looking Gugu bird dish coated with delicious reddish-brown sauce¡­ but there was only one serving left. The man in front of her happened to choose it, taking it away from her. "EH¡­" she uttered without thinking. When the man in front of her turned, she realized she was loud and she covered her mouth in embarrassment. She was so timid that she didn''t dare meet his eyes. However, her eyes unconsciously followed his plate as it was served to him, cluing him on what it was about. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Do you like this?" She dared not answer. "We can share main dishes," he said, making her flinch. "I''ve been thinking between this and that sauteed beef dish¡­ can you get that?" After being puzzled at what was going on, she nodded in the end. They shared a table together, and she found out it was a pretty normal thing to do here. The offerings of the canteen were based on the molded plates, which could only fit the aforementioned sets or less. If they wanted another meal, they''d have to line up again, which could be a hassle. Louie was very friendly and talked to her a lot, and he slowly took her out of her shell. He was currently taking an advanced cooking class, though he said that his friends (who only took the basic class) had already graduated so he didn''t have anyone to share with anymore. They ate together ever since, and the rest was history. Anyway, at present, the couple was shopping for a celebratory dinner for both of them. Louie suggested it and Eppa agreed with open arms. He also specified that it should just be the two of them though, though it wasn''t like she was inviting anyone else. They had to buy the ingredients first, of course, and so was their current market run. The Heat Wave was really horrible for everyone. Because the Guide Business was basically non-existent during that period, Louie had to go out every night to face the mobs to make a living. Neither of them was talented in fighting, so every day was tense. Now that period was over and they only had to go out when they had to, which was as much of a relief as the temperature cooling down. The couple filled up their carts together, with Louie leading it. "This is for the soup¡­" he said as he placed flavor cubes into the cart. He would occasionally teach her what he learned in class. "It adds flavor." Eppa sometimes absorbed it, but sometimes she could just look at him admiringly. Before coming to Alterra, such a thing¡ªmen cooking¡ªwas incomprehensible to her. In her mind, according to what she had seen growing up, men were just there to work, fight, and take women. At home, they would just be fed and served and then after that, they would sleep. Seeing her man being so capable but willing to do this for her was, even now, really something hard to believe. She felt like the most blessed person in the world. ¡­ The marketplace, supermarket, and the streets also saw a massive surge of people, some just wanting to walk around. The Crow Trio along with the Yus were among these people. They had met each other outside their homes and decided to peruse the revived territory together. They would buy whatever they felt like buying. It was a well-deserved reward for themselves for a job well done. Dog would buy mostly savory food like barbeque and french fries, gobbling it up like an uncultured pig. Crow would buy refreshing snacks like special taco with yoghurt-cucumber garlic sauce. It was one of the tangy snacks he loved the most. Sunny, on the other hand, preferred sweets like cotton candy, tanghulu, and the like. Another one who bought a lot of sweet things was Koo Yu, who bought candies with his own money. He even bought a few buckets and placed them in the space for hoarding. "Also for my friends," he said, smiling. By friends, he was referring to the children like Mimi, Fiona, Honda, and the like. Koo was essentially a child in an adult''s body. The children of Alterra, who were used to playing with half-orcs, were especially fond of him. Oftentimes, he would spend his free time playing with them, as if he was a kid himself. Further, because he earned a lot of money compared to his ''poor'' friends, he usually took it upon himself to occasionally buy them treats, gaining even more of their favor. During the heat wave, the Yus, who were working in the bathhouse, made a lot of money. This was not just their salaries, which were already decent, but they also earned a lot from the tips. People who could afford the bathhouse during the Extreme Heat price spike were the true rich¡ªwhether they were Terran or Aborigines¡ªand their tips were not small. This meant that the mother-and-son''s combined income was really good and they could indeed buy whatever food they wanted¡ªand for whoever they wanted. Anyway, the trip was peaceful and leisurely for the next couple of minutes of strolling. Eventually, they ended up near a deokboki stall. Unexpectedly, Koo stopped out of nowhere, pointing at it and yelling carelessly. "Mom, mom, look!" he said, eyes bright. "Brother loved that!" The trio flinched, pausing as they looked at him. They then turned to Jane with worried faces, wondering how she''d react. To their relief, the woman''s body simply softened a bit as she smiled, approaching the stall to buy a few cups for all of them. "Hmn. To be honest, I think it''s a bit overrated, but now I love it, too¡­" Jane had more or less recovered now. Her instincts as a mother towards her childish son, along with consistent sessions with the psychologist Juliet, allowed her to recover to some degree of normalcy. Until recently though, anything that reminded her of her oldest son would make her cry out of nowhere. Fortunately, she seemed to be getting better now. They waited patiently as all the cups were prepared by the stall owner. They also chose different flavors and add-ons, which was fun in and of itself. The mother and son chose George''s favorite flavor¡ªwhich was just the ''original'' flavor¡ªand they smiled as they took a bite, slowly relishing the taste and its chewy texture. For Koo, it was a happy memory, while for Jane it felt a bit bittersweet. After all, they were eating George''s favorite snack without him. However, after so long, she also began to understand that he would be happy just to see them both doing well. And, for now, that was enough. Chapter 915 Lively Gardens Other than the markets and the commercial streets, pretty much everywhere in Alterra was filled with activity. This was the first time they could see the territory again while the sun was up in the sky. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The feeling of seeing everything vibrant again was akin to the feeling of them just getting out of prison after a long, depressing, sentence. (Not that most people had experienced it, of course, but they had their imaginations¡­) Some people even gave out tofus to congratulate random passerbys for their newfound ''freedom''. Other places, like the gardens, were filled with people who were either going on dates or having picnics with friends and family. People hunted a lot during the night because there were few things they could do. Plus the time saved because there was always a nicely-sized mob coming by themselves allowed the citizens to meet the fighting requirements early and more. That meant that, outside of the actual working hours if they were employed, they had time to chill and just spend time with loved ones for the next few weeks. One of the couples on a date was Jake and Yiyi. To be more accurate, Yiyi was pulled outside by Jake to get a breath of fresh air. Jake held Yiyi''s hands. In contrast to her possible reaction a month prior, Yiyi did not flinch when Jake grabbed her hand. During the horrible heat wave, Yiyi slowly recovered from her trauma. There were a few people responsible for this, all of whom had been nothing but kind and patient with her during this period. First, there was Ryo''s aunt and grandpa, who lived with her and therefore spent most time. They treated her like their own adoptive daughter¡ªwhich was something completely new to Yiyi, who grew up as an orphan. Then, there was the very kind psychologist Juliet, who had helped out countless girls who had experienced the same. Even when Yiyi was one of the difficult cases, not once had she shown any signs of impatience at all. Finally, there was Jake and his shameless¡ªbut light-hearted¡ªintrusion into her space. Even if she still had nightmares¡ªand even if she still trembled when most men got close to her¡ªjust seeing the concern encouraged her to at least try to recover. Eventually, she did, at least if it was with them. During the day, Jake would come by and add body heat to the small house, which in turn would often receive some half-joking mockeries from grandpa. It was actually why grandpa''s shop opened a little earlier than others, during dusk, because he wanted to get away from the cheesiness with the name of Jake. Jake ignored this and just helped fan the girl. Eventually, Yiyi would take the fan and they would do it alternately. Even if they didn''t speak, just each other''s presence there was comforting. Midway through the Heat Wave, the electric fan was developed. He managed to get his hands on one and it gave him more excuse to hang out in her house. Eventually, Yiyi started joking around with him, and he started pushing a bit more. As soon as the heat wave ended, he practically never left her space, always holding her when he could, and now she could only succumb with a red face. ¡­ Elsewhere in the territory, the half-orcs Gochi and Baku also stood by, watching everything with a smile. They then looked up at the house that they just bought, admiring it with full hearts. Together, they pooled funds to get the downpayment for a single detached villa under Gochi''s name. As for how they could afford it so quickly as former slaves, not only did they manage to get the bank to help, it was thanks to the large amounts of night mobs as well. A good portion of the nightly mobs were taken care of by just the two of them, and this reflected in their spiking contribution points during this period. Still, the house was way over budget and they had to ask a lot of help and some oaths to get the funding, but they needed it because of their large stature. Only single detached houses could take in half-orcs without them feeling like they were trapped in small boxes. Even if the ceiling was still not as high as Baku would''ve wanted¡ªeven Gochi''s head bumped into a lot of places¡ªit was their best option for now. Furthermore, they also wanted to provide a comfortable home for the others when they finally reunited. They both sighed at the thought of their friends, wondering where they were and how they were doing now. After settling the house, the two headed elsewhere for a prior appointment. The meeting place was in an open-air restaurant near the parks. They liked to eat in such places because there was little chance of bumping their heads on something. Anyway, when they arrived, there were familiar mercenaries already there. It turned out that the appointment was with Bart and the others. The plan was to eat brunch together as they discussed business. This was a habit developed after coming to Alterra, where most meetings seemed to be done with food on the table. They ate in silence though, with the two half-orcs ordering huge servings on their plates, eating directly on ala carte plates. In contrast, the humans were a little intimidated by their sizes, even if their levels were lower. Not to mention, they had some associations with the half-orc race that had been imprinted on their minds since they were young. This was especially true for the younger members Bulgogi and Sipa, who flinched when the larger one stopped eating and turned to look at them. "Follow through with your promise," Baku said. "We will pay you well." Sometime during the previous days, Baku and Bart had come to a deal. For some money, Bart was asked to get more information about their remaining brethren, Maomao and Nana. Alterra didn''t have a post office yet so they couldn''t communicate with their network, but Bart did promise to do so after they left (something they were reluctant to do now, by the way). They finalized the deals that day, even formalizing it in the Village Center. After they were done, Bart and the others prepared to finally leave Alterra. Sipa, Bart''s scout, couldn''t help but look at him. "Are we really going now, boss?" His tone was a little small, obviously very reluctant. Bart rolled his eyes. "We can''t stay here forever," he said. He kind of wanted to, but they couldn''t do that yet. Eloi looked at him, looking in another direction¡ªno doubt where he believed Bianca was. "But we can try and get a base here as well." "It won''t be easy, most of the land here isn''t even for sale," Bart said. He had asked around. Only residential units could be owned and those were villas the largest variation. "However, someday, if we give enough of a deal, maybe they''d allow us to at least lease land." This was something for later, however. For now, they could only reluctantly leave the place, looking back every hundred meters or so, and wondering how much would have changed when they returned. Chapter 916 A Little Surprise Gaea Team Villa. "The Heat Wave lasted longer than we thought," Ansel said as he chewed, looking at the lush gardens that regained their vitality overnight. "A lot longer." According to the aborigines, the usual duration was no more than 2 weeks. This one lasted more than a month. "Well, there are too many unknowns," Althea said, feeding her babies, who happily made little ''o''s in their mouths. "Our intelligence teams are looking into it, and all we can do is prepare the territory for whatever happens." Everyone nodded, eating away while getting deep into their own thoughts, wondering how to best do their parts to achieve these tasks. They were now having brunch together, relieved that they didn''t have to open all the fans and eat ice cream. Thinking of all the ice cream they ate the past month, Ansel couldn''t help but touch his stomach. It got bigger due to all that sugar¡­ Anyway, it was such a relief that it was over, though now¡ªafter the initial relief¡ªthey inevitably had to think of the aftermath. "A lot of territories must have fallen." "Oh definitely, so much already happened just in our area. I can''t imagine what happened in other parts of the world." "The number of people here must be a lot, considering the number of deaths daily. Although Terrans are in the millions, the natives are probably in billions." Eugene nodded, thinking of his own calculations. "I agree, it is probably in billions. At the very least, there should be several hundred million of humans alone¡ªnot to mention the other races." This was an assumption, as no one had an actual census of the continent. However, considering the area they knew thus far from the aborigines and the average population an area approximately had, they had a rough minimum. "The other races probably fared better, on average," Ansel said. The other races were equipped with skills (goblins) or physiques (orcs) to handle it better without the human tools and technology. "Everyone has to if something like that happens once a year or two." Althea looked at her gardens. To others, she seemed to just be staring, but Althea was actually using the Eye, seeing how¡­ radiant everything was. "On the bright side¡­, the extreme weather change seems to function like a refresh button," she said, making everyone turn to her. "It cleanses and reinvigorates the land," she added, her eyes staring at the denser aura of the wood element in her garden. She''d also check how it was outside, but she reckoned it had also improved. Winona leaned over, very curious. "Does it affect the slower regeneration rate?" They had been worried about this. But if the extreme weather changes could actually help with the issue, then wouldn''t that be a good thing long term? Althea shook her head. "It is too early to tell," she said. "But I''ll assign a team to study and monitor these phenomena." Also¡­ wouldn''t the fact that it was longer mean there was really something to ''fix''? Perhaps¡­ the Extreme Weather changes could get even more frequent. However, they needed a bit more data to come up with conclusions. For now, they put the depressing topics aside and opted to go back to the lighthearted discussions. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For example, the babies and their new diets. Another change during the past few days was that the babies could now eat more soft food, not just flavored gruel. They watched the babies fondly as they ate the baby food made of various fruits and vegetables. Harold had taken good note of the babies'' nutrition and palette and so far they had been enjoying what they were feeding them. Althea smiled and fondly fed both babies with the crushed food, and they both looked excited at the new taste. Nomnomnom Nomnomnomnom They ''chewed'' on the paste-like sweetness, their chubby cheeks appearing plumper as they did so. "Soo cute¡­" Winona swooned and everyone nodded in agreement. She took out her camera and took more and more pictures. She would also send it to Althea, though there was no internet here so it was via a manual phone-to-phone transfer. Click! Click! Clack! While Winona was fiddling with her phone, her hands weakened, unable to hold on to it. Instead of catching it, her palms found her mouth as she heaved out¡ªas if she was about to vomit. No one cared about the phone. Ansel immediately ran to get a cup of water when he saw Althea was already patting her back. "...thanks," she said as she gulped the cup. It wasn''t enough though. She pursed her lips, thinking of how the nausea felt a bit better when she ate or drank something sour. She looked at her lover, who was looking at her with concern. "Can you get out lime juice? Cool ones please..." "Sure, got it," Ansel said, standing up and heading straight to the kitchen. There was no refrigerator yet¡ªfor now, only the low-wattage appliances could possibly be used¡ªbut they did have ice boxes in the cellar. He returned with a pitcher of fresh icy lime juice, which she drank deliciously. However, she was still pale. "How are you feeling?" Winona sighed, drinking a few more sips of the refreshing juice. "I still feel a bit whoozy." Winona had been nauseous and dizzy since the beginning of the heat wave, but they just assumed it was because she wasn''t used to such a temperature. They really didn''t think much because the blonde was very rich in Terran and she could get a bit queasy at times. Ansel would often tease her about still being a young lady. "It''s odd," she mumbled, rubbing her temple. "Obviously, the weather had improved but I still feel unwell." Ansel looked at her worriedly, gently massaging her other hand. "Had I been too hard?" This earned him a light knuckle on the face. Althea shook her head and looked at Sheila. "This is odd, isn''t it?" Sheila nodded. With their upgraded bodies, it shouldn''t be so sensitive anymore. Especially, Winona was already level 8. Sheila went over to Winona, "May I have your arm?" One of the healer skills Shiela inherited¡ªafter she kept using her skills as a healer¡ªwas the ability to check pulses. She wasn''t entirely sure how it worked but, basically, she could have access to the water in the human body with her element, and use it to have an image of the body''s workings. If she trained it often enough, maybe she''d even be able to detect cells. Sheila held the blonde''s hand and everyone gathered nearby, some more nervous than others. They tensed when they saw Sheila''s eyes widen. This was especially true for Ansel, who entered panic mode. "What is it?" he said, shaking a bit. "What is it?" His breath was heavier than the others and he was pale. He could hear his own heartbeat. Still, his mind refused to think of anything bad happening. He asked in hopes he was overreacting. He took a deep breath, asking again. "Tell us¡­ please." Sheila pursed her lips, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. In the end, she smiled. Looking at the couple straight in the eyes. "Congratulations!" she said. "You''re pregnant." Chapter 917 A Little Fight "Pregnant?" The couple uttered simultaneously, turning to each other with wide eyes. "PREGNANT!!" Ansel yelled, immediately lifting her high up in glee. The blonde squealed in surprise, wrapping her arms around his head by instinct, making Ansel''s face squeeze on her bountiful chest. However, he was too happy at this time to make any innuendos. Winona was also teary with happiness but she couldn''t help but pull Ansel''s hair. "Idiot, be careful." "Oh, right right right," he said, gently putting her down. He enveloped her into his arms as soon as her feet landed on the ground. He kept hugging her, refusing to let go. Winona blinked and her eyes lined with tears. She wrapped her arms around his torso, feeling his warmth as well. Althea looked at the two with a full heart, smiling. "Well, we should start preparing for that long-awaited wedding." ¡­ Winona had begun showing some emotional outbursts the past few days, but now they knew it was due to her pregnancy. This showed very clearly later in the night they found out the news. "You''re pregnant.. you''re pregnant¡­" Ansel chanted, chuckling like an idiot, all the while placing several chaste kisses all over Winona''s face. Winona giggled and enjoyed the attention. It was pretty wholesome at first, with Ansel tickling his lover with his lips, though it soon turned heated when Ansel''s hand began exploring her supple skin again. Winona moaned under his caress, with Ansel''s lips on hers, eating all the delicious sounds that she made. His hands touched her legs as he opened them wide, his warm palms sensually stroking higher until they reached her sensitive inner thighs. His hand squeezed her suppleness, loving the feel of it. "Ahh no wonder your thighs are even plumper and nicer to touch now," he said, voice raspy from lust. He was completely flirtatious when he said this, but he felt her freeze instead. Puzzled, he lifted his head to look at her, shocked to see her sobbing face. "Are you calling me fat and ugly?" Ansel blinked. When did he say that?! Slap! "Jerk!" Ansel didn''t even feel the sting. He could only gape as Winona slid away to the edge of the bed, intent to get away from him. "O-Oi!" She stood up and forcefully let go when he tried to grab her. His heart stopped when she almost hit a table, but fortunately she didn''t. Ansel was afraid that forcefully grabbing would make her retaliate more and hurt herself. In the end, he could only follow her helplessly. He apologized continuously¡ªwhich was saying a lot because he didn''t even know what he did! It was just that he got paler and paler and then completely blue when he saw where she was going! Althea''s room! It happened that, at this time, Althea and Garan were about to do their ''nightly activities''. Winona''s arrival came just in time to give Garan one of his biggest blue balls ever. However, Winona couldn''t sense the coldness that surrounded Garan and just cried, inconsolable, mumbling something like ''men are jerks, would they cheat if I''m fat? Jerks.'' Ansel very much told them the whole story but Althea knew too well about the emotional outbursts that came with pregnancy. Althea had to take her friend in for the night and Garan had no choice but to sleep in a different room. Of course, he didn''t go straight there because he dragged Ansel to the barracks for a ''warm up'' in the middle of the night. BANG! CRASH! "Ouch! Damnit!" the redhead gasped, but he tried to balance himself, lunging forward to retaliate. To no avail, unsurprisingly. When Ansel was thrown down after the nth time, he groaned out in annoyance and his hands lit up with fire. Who cared if Garan wasn''t using his element? This was to balance things out! Now that he thought about it, he hadn''t been able to practice much because he felt the heat would kill him. But now, there was no such thing. Ansel lunged towards his nominal brother, using many of the techniques he knew against him. His hands exploded and he threw punch after punch at the ebony-haired man. He used the fire created to widen his area of effect, extending his reach. Garan though would always catch his attacks, either redirecting it somewhere with a fist, a palm, or an elbow. While Garan didn''t insult him much (obviously, his technique had been polished after all this time), but his throw-downs were as harsh as ever. Ansel screamed when he landed on his back again. He did a backflip and he was standing up the next moment, not pausing at all as he sprinted towards his brother. Ansel upped his attacks, throwing them faster and more intense, truly wanting to place a hit. However, at some point, Garan suddenly shifted to the side and caught his elbow again, but this time he bent it so his fiery fist was heading straight to his body! This was one of his favorite shirts! Fire users could still burn their clothes so he had no choice but to put out the fire. The moment he did so, Garan''s large palms found his face and he was thrown back once again. "Damnit!!" he yelled, pounding on the soil beside him in anger. He was gasping for air, exhausted, and he didn''t feel like standing up anymore just to get another beating. He didn''t even look when he heard Garan''s footsteps going near him. "Fire is strong," he said, that baritone voice of his echoing in the empty sparring field. "But it is a double-edged sword." All elements could affect their users. Even him. If he was less skilled and surrounded his hands with ice without controlling it well, he could still get a frostbite from it. What he did was to create a vapor that would insulate his hands, but creating ice and frozen air or mist at the same time was an extremely delicate technique that not everyone could do. In any case, this was another harsh reality check from Garan to Ansel, and the red head¡ªdespite his aching body and being the target of Garan''s obvious unfair venting¡ªwas enlightened to the next direction of his training. Of course, another was to build fireproof clothing which wasn''t impossible for their team at all. With this, Ansel stood up again and went on another round¡­ which, of course, ended up with Ansel''s demise. Bang! Ansel was thrown a few meters away and it was here that Ansel finally gave up. "Shame to make your woman cry," he said, before preparing to finally head back to the house. Seeing him so judgemental, Ansel felt very wronged. "I didn''t say anything wrong! It''s just her pregnancy! Even Althea wasn''t any less emotional!" This made Garan pause and look at him. "What?" "Althea''s pregnancy wasn''t easy you know! And you just had to be out on a mission at that time!" Ansel yelled, suddenly feeling like ranting. "And then you¡ª" Disappeared. The coldness around Garan changed a bit and his shoulders slumped as he walked towards Ansel, pulling him up with a hand. "Tell me more." S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 918 Another Wedding Preparation Ansel and Winona''s wedding had been planned weeks prior, even before the Heat Wave. They had been planning for a while so¡ªconsidering their productivity¡ªa week was more than enough time to actually execute the event. However, at some point, Winona''s grandmother found out about it and had been trying to insert herself for a while. She had been camping in the organizer''s office during working hours, critiquing or trying to modify whatever she found unsatisfactory. There were only a few days left before the event itself, and most of the things had already been settled, with them scheduling the venue for decoration the next day! At first, they let her in because she claimed to be the bride''s grandmother. She was so insistent that they did not have the time to tell the bride and groom before she was already inside! The event organizer''s office was on the top floor of a manual commercial building. Unlike system residential units, these commercial areas did not have a blockage and automatic security function, and the old woman took full advantage of that. She pretty much barrelled into the place with an entitled aura about her, and they could only give up and let her be. They were not in the actual event anyway, what could she do if they didn''t like her suggestions? They had no idea she was going to be a monster! "No, this flower is better for her blonde hair!" "This arrangement should be like this¡­ "Add this table closer to the stage. That''s where her true family will be sitting." She even asked the organizer¡ªrepeatedly¡ªwho the groom was! As if it could change midway! "Are we sure we''re not letting Eric be the groom?" Sadly, the System''s blacklisting only worked on a territory-wide basis. They couldn''t request to kick an old woman¡ªno matter how annoying¡ªout of the territory to get eaten by monsters, right!? "The food shouldn''t have too much oil." sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "No, I want this menu." "What kind of music are you playing?" The lead organizer, Miya, was using all the patience she could muster. She was holding back so much that her usually-well-kept bun showed signs of unraveling. However, she was still a professional to the bones, and it wasn''t like she hadn''t encountered problematic clients in the ten years she was in this field. However, that was in Terran¡ªwhere the biggest problem was people thinking luxury brands were expensive, or getting dumped, or that they were gaining weight! This was Xeno now. Supposedly, surviving this long would humble everyone still alive¡ªbut apparently not. She looked at her assistant, who nodded when he received her look. He had already called on Ansel a few minutes ago and, hopefully, they could take away this annoying¡­ person. Ansel did arrive shortly after that, panting a bit as he rushed. When he saw the old woman ordering everyone as if she were paying for the event, Ansel had to work hard to contain himself. "Please leave," he said, quite politely if he might say so himself. "You will not be welcome in the event if you keep doing this." "How dare you!" The old woman gasped, looking at him. "I''m Winona''s grandmother ." "But this is her wedding, and she would not appreciate you changing anything she had already decided on." The old woman just looked at him like he was a brat who didn''t know anything. She literally dismissed his words as if they had no value. "She knows little about these things!" the old woman said, waving her hand as if to shoo his opinion. "She knows to listen to my advice." His eyes twitched and his fists clenched in annoyance, but¡ªinstead of punching the old woman as he wanted¡ªhe simply combed back his gossamer red hair, though he was very close to pulling it. He should ask his sister to add another rule to send warnings to people harassing others like this. Anyway, seeing as the old woman wouldn''t walk out on her own, he looked to the side and two guards entered the room, intending to drag her out if they had to. "We will have to escort you out if you can''t do it yourself." The old woman saw their posture and was shocked, incredibly offended. "YOUUU!" She had never been treated like this¡ªlike a beggar!! "You think you can still marry my granddaughter like this?!" Ansel was not shaken. "Very much so, yes." "..." The old woman saw they were serious and she could only complain. "I will report you for abuse of power!" she announced, walking out with the dignity she had as a former rich woman. "You''ll see!" ¡­ The old woman, of course, did report. However, unsurprisingly, nothing came out of it. She was naturally unreconciled and made a scene in front of the Guard Station. She would yell things like ''corrupt people!'', ''dirty place!'', ''abusers!'' and the like, which in turn got the guards to approach her again, causing her to leave in humiliation. How could the old woman keep quiet when she was embarrassed like this? She would gossip around, trying to dirty Ansel''s name, as well as the elders'' for letting him go rampant. However, the elders had a good reputation and people had eyes. In the end, she was just ignored and even outcasted for her slander. While the old woman was going around, spending her limited energy in gossip no one was listening to, the event preparation entered its final stages. The venue preparation, as well as the procurement of some ingredients for the food, had already begun. The performers also started mastering their piece. They were very passionate as their performance cells had grown molds during the heatwave. Ansel got his employee, the wedding planner Miya, to handle everything. It was so his stressed-out wife didn''t have much problems anymore. She just needed to make the major decisions and all the cumbersome things were given to others. Anyway, hiring Miya was a multi-level decision. It would also give less leeway for that grandmother of hers to intervene, because Miya was a perfectionist and didn''t really care about being blunt, especially now that they had shown their stance against the woman. Speaking of the old woman, at some point, she found the event place and was once again making a scene at the venue. "Thank you for your opinion," Miya said, looking over the preparations while the old woman was following her around. "Why don''t you change it?" "I didn''t say we''ll use it." "You¡ª" "I''m the bride''s grandmother!" "Yes, but I was instructed to only follow the bride''s wishes. She wishes you don''t have anything to do with it." "You!!" She stubbornly sat down on a chair, refusing to get up. Considering she was a proud high-class old woman a couple of months ago, she was acting a bit like a shrew. Was it because she hung out a lot with that nouveau riche new family of hers, no one knew. Miya knew that this grandmother was not welcome, so she didn''t have scruples anymore. She looked at her assistant. "Call the guards again." "On what grounds!" the old woman spat back. She was no longer in an office, but in a public events place! She was even standing in the gardens right now! Miya didn''t seem to care for her odd logic. "Trespassing and causing chaos," she said calmly, though unsurprisingly the old woman tried fighting for her ''rights''. It stopped when she heard an announcement in her head. Ding! [You have now been warned for harassment. One more and you will be sent to prison.] Chapter 919 A Few More Bugs The old woman gasped, surprised at the new rule. When did they have this? Still, if she went away now, that was acknowledging that she was indeed doing harassment! She was NOT! She was simply trying to be part of her granddaughter''s wedding! How could that be so wrong? These people were blind. Eric and the others agreed with her¡ªshe had the right to take full control over this! This was injustice! They must''ve been threatened by her influence! "How could this be harassment!?" she yelled, making an even bigger scene. She looked around, and it so happened that there were a few people in that area of the park at the time. "Unfair! Abuse!!" "This isn''t right! These people are stopping me from attending my own granddaughter''s wedding!" While a few did feel a little pity for the old woman, most were still lucid enough to know who was wrong. In the end, the old woman was sentenced to 48 hours in the old prison (the manual one) which was reserved for minor crimes that didn''t warrant losing lifespan. By the time she got out, the wedding would''ve already been completed. And so, the wedding planning had finally removed its biggest bug. ¡­ Later that night, this imprisonment would be the topic of discussion in many households. It was really a pretty big scandal. Although Winona was not an elder, she was pretty high up¡ªnot to mention Ansel was an Elder himself. Those who had been jealous of the ''young'' elders began running their mouths at this time. ''Unfilial and ungrateful'' were the most common adjectives that were heard among these circles. It did not help that Eric and his family were making sure that everyone in the neighborhood¡ªor in their part of the village, at least¡ªknew of the ''injustice''. After all, if they let it be like this, grandma''s power over Winona¡ªand therefore a portion of the leading team¡ªwould be diminished! And they would be affected, too! Maybe Winona would even take back the house somehow! How could they live elsewhere like poor people?! In one park, the women would gasp and cry, feeling ''sad'' about the fate of the old woman. They would wail in despair. Obviously, she simply wanted to be part of the most important event in her granddaughter''s life! So sad, so sad~ And what if the old woman died in prison? Inside a bar, the men would get drunk and ''spill'' some dirty secrets that would put Winona and Ansel to ''shame''. For example, how they''d kiss in public. They even implied that the two were having relations when Eric and Winona were still technically together! Eric would appear in pain, even crying a bit, revealing how he got the love of his life stolen by someone who had money and power. There were other more traditional people who naturally felt uncomfortable, especially those who did not know the whole story. After all, no matter how annoying, a parent was still a parent. Fortunately, the vast majority still believed in the Elder group, and those who did not know much reserved their judgment until they did. Some even knew of the inside story, and when they found out someone was slandering the elders, they went there in groups to defend the honor. An example of this was the group led by Letty, the seamstress aborigine, and Cathia, Cassie''s grandmother. Many of the tailor women were eating together when they heard someone was trying to dirty the names of their precious elders. For the most part, they were puzzled. What kind of idiots would do that? Anyone with eyes could tell that their comfortable lives were due to the Elders and the leading team! Anyway, all their warfreakishness was released when they overheard the drama themselves. "I can''t believe it¡­ Winona is such a shame for a woman and a person," Frida, Eric''s mother, would mumble as she shook her head. It appeared like she was a concerned elder disappointed at a child. "So¡­ whose house are you living in right now?" Cathia asked, continuing before Frida could continue. "It''s Winona''s right? What a way to bite the hand that feeds you!" "She does not feed me!" "Then can you get out of her house?!" Cathia said. "You think someone who owns the house would let a parasite badmouth her without repercussions?" "It''s not just her house anymore!" Frida snapped back with head held high. "It''s her grandmother''s, too!" Translation: She could say whatever the hell she wanted! The group of women rolled their eyes, knowing there was no reasoning with this kind of idiot. "She is basically a parasite!" one said, gasping as if exhausted by just looking at her. "I don''t know where she gets the confidence!" Another tutted, crossing her arms, looking at the family like they were the most disgusting things. "And to think they''re attacking the very person who owned the roof over their heads!" "Delusion is an illness, but I don''t want Miss Juliet to waste time on them¡­" "..." Similarly, a few others attacked Eric and the men of his family, calling them out for their lies. For example, Angelo and Jesse, who were hanging out peacefully with friends at another side of the bar. They were planning to chill and relax, but their blood pressure increased instead. "No, Miss Winona chose Master Ansel because he''s 1000x the man you are!" "Yes! Anyone with eyes knows you''re a useless leech!" "He''s not even that handsome!" Eric shot up his seat, eyes red. Obviously the appearance insult hit him the most. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" "Ugly inside, ugly outside," Jesse mumbled, shivering as if he was completely disgusted. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And so on¡­ The verbal abuse did not end. Since they went ahead and attacked the elders with personal insults and the like, the Alterran citizens didn''t hold back either. Sometimes they would even talk to each other, but it was so loud everyone in the vicinity could probably hear. "Did you know? I heard Miss Winona caught him having sex with his maid once¡­ and he had the audacity to tell her ''it''s just for fun''!" "Thank goodness she didn''t end up with him! The inferior genes would pull her down so much!" And so on¡­ The family was extremely tempted to attack just to vent their anger and indignance. However, they knew the consequences of retaliating too well, so they had no choice but to hold back. A bit more of this and they''d die from internal injuries! However, even if they didn''t attack, they did not know they were still the guards'' targets. Shortly after everything started, several guards appeared in the places of drama. For a moment, the family thought the guards were there to save them. After all, they were getting ganged up on! "Guards! Help! They''re ganging up on us!" "Yes! Help!" Unexpectedly, the guards went to cuff them instead!! "WHAT!?" "What is the meaning of this!?" The guard, who happened to be Sammy, looked at them with mirth. "Do you not read the announcements? There''s a law against defamation," he said. "The sentence is 5 to 7 days for minor cases." "What!?" "WHATTT!" And so, the entire family was sent to prison for a full 7 days, not to bother anyone for quite some time after that. Remaining Bugs: Squashed Chapter 920 Change of Plans All these reached the leading party, who were mostly amused and touched. After the initial sadness, Winona didn''t seem to mind whatever happened anymore. Anyway, it was just minor incarceration. The old woman was alone in her small cell, too. Winona also sent food and drinks so she didn''t actually suffer. Not that the old woman¡ªwho only saw the humiliation¡ª was thankful, of course. If she made a scene again, then they''ll throw her back in. They put this to the back of their mind and just listened to the updates about the wedding preparations. The twice-married couple was currently sitting next to each other on the dining table, listening to their discussions. It had to be noted though that Garan was particularly sticky with Althea today. They sat next to each other with a baby on each side, but Garan would often just lean down and kiss her cheek out of nowhere, making everyone blush. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She looked at him, noticing his eyebags. "What''s going on?" Did he not sleep at all last night? "Did you also have a hard time during your pregnancy?" Her eyebrows rose and she turned to Ansel, who shrugged to claim innocence. It was enough for her to surmise what likely happened. Her eyes softened as she shifted her gaze back to her husband, whose eyebrows were furrowed in worry and guilt. She kissed his cheek, smiling. "I was fine. I had Nanny, I had Ansel, I had Winona, and I had the babies. "I was in good hands," she said, and he sighed, grasping her soft hand. "I can''t imagine. How it was like for you to think I was dead." She lifted her free hand to touch his cheek."I''m glad you didn''t know about my pregnancy. You might''ve been too distracted to come back to us safe and sound." His shoulder slumped, eyes looking deeply into hers. "Wife¡­" he said, and she stared back, emerald eyes filled with understanding. The two entered their world and the others were just thankful the two didn''t start making out then and there. "Ahem," Harold said, looking at Winona, pointing at the written menu for the wedding. "Have you seen the menu? Is there anything you want changed?" Winona looked and nodded, "This looks really good to me. Thank you." Sheila looked curiously at the list, also nodding in approval. She also thought the menu was well thought-out. Seeing her like this, Harold looked at her, donning a sly smile. "When are you planning to hold your wedding?" Winona looked at Sheila, "Oh, right!" Sheila flushed. "Oh no, I¡­ I''m not¡­" Everyone stared at her and at her face which was as red as a gouji fruit. "But you really want to?" Althea asked. "Get married to Eagle, I mean." Sheila bit her lips, and nodded shyly. Winona stared at them, a thought appearing in her mind. "Then what about we do a mass wedding instead?" This made everyone turn to her. "What?" Sheila asked, looking at the blonde. Seeing her startled, Winona thought she spoke to soon. "Unless you want a solo wedding, of course¡ª" "No, it''s not that. I mean¡­" Sheila interrupted to explain herself. "I would like to get married soon as well." After seeing Victor and Juni like that every day, it kept reminding her that life was so fleeting. She should just do what she wanted. She still believed in her instincts, anyway. She felt she wouldn''t regret it. "That''s settled then!" Winona said, clapping her palms. "Let''s do a mass wedding!" The team looked at her, wondering if this was another one of the pregnancy moods that could change at any time. "Are you sure?" Althea asked, just to be sure. After all, the wedding day was particularly special to a woman. "We''re not short of funds or anything, you know." "I''m sure, don''t worry," she said. "Mass weddings could create a special sense of camaraderie. And¡­ I don''t think I can have an intimate wedding with my grandmother and that family around." They looked at each other. That made sense. Although they were imprisoned, having a solo and solemn wedding really would feel a bit odd without some family members. Winona''s shoulder slumped a bit and she looked at everyone embarrassingly. She naturally knew that changing plans at this juncture was troublesome to everyone. "I¡­ there should also be plenty of lovers who want to get married but did not have the resources to do so yet," she said. "I wanna help them find it¡­" Then, she looked at Ansel. "Only if you agree, of course. It''s your wedding too." Ansel smiled and kissed the side of her head. "Whatever the wife says." With this, they called in Eagle, who was training at the Barracks at this time. He was sweaty but couldn''t wait to come and he appeared as is. When he found out what it was about, his face looked like it received a thousand shocks of happiness. "Are we really getting married?" he asked his fiance, like an excited big dog with one arm. Sheila blushed looking away. "You proposed, so¡­" "Yes, yes of course!" "It''s a mass wedding though." "No problem, no problem," he said, whispering. "Sheila will get married to me¡­" He thought he was whispering but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Sheila covered her face in embarrassment while the others smiled. Anyone with eyes could tell they''ll be a very happy couple. ... Later that day, after some discussions, another announcement resounded in the territory. [100th day after The Migration had passed and, although it''s late, we still hope to celebrate as a community!] [A Mass Wedding sponsored by the territory will be held in 2 days. Anyone who wishes to join can register in the territory center.] [Wedding Dresses and Suits will be available for rent in the Territory Clothing Stores] [The ceremony is completely free, but the guests of each pair is limited to 10 people.] [Happy (Belated) 100th Day, everyone!] Chapter 921 Mass Wedding [117 days after The Migration] The day of the mass wedding finally arrived and it was unsurprisingly festive for the whole territory. Only a few people could actually attend the event itself, but it somehow triggered the lovey-dovey atmosphere all over. Everywhere was bustling and the people who hunted went out earlier so they could enjoy the atmosphere more relaxedly. A lot of shops even held some events as if it was Valentine''s Day. For example, the restaurants gave special discounts to pairs, the bookshop started selling heart-themed stationeries, and there were plenty of stalls selling ''love-themed'' food like strawberry juice with the fruit cut into heart-shaped pieces. There was also a spike in sales of ''shared'' food like ice cream floats with two straws or elongated plates with long pasta. Most stores sold Goujiberry though because the only place that planted strawberries during the heatwave was the greenhouses. Not a lot of people could afford strawberries, and red gouji fruit¡ªwhich was lush and abundant¡ªwas the best alternative. Chocolates were still inaccessible not long after the Heat Wave, so people just took various sweets as gifts. People who owned flower farms also began selling bouquets, profiting off on the capitalist practice. As for the wedding venue, it was still in the large events place in Alterra Gardens, but the accordion walls were opened, expanding the venue well into the gardens outside. It was magnificently designed and decorated, expanded further over the past two days. The couples who registered were also given comfortable and ample space to say their vows, giving enough solemnity and privacy, considering they''d be doing it with others. There were about a dozen couples who chose to participate in this grand occasion. Each couple could invite up to 10 people, and the rest were positioned people in the territory. The brides wore different simplified wedding dresses, all of which had some variances, while the grooms wore suits with some unique designs each. This was an amazing feat, and it could be said that Lenny''s team as well as Andrei''s were sewing monsters to be able to do all these in a short amount of time. Andrei''s company in particular actually grew a lot during the Heat Wave. People were trapped in the day, and needed livelihoods that could be done indoors. Not everyone would go out night by night to fight with mobs, after all. They would go out to meet the requirements, but they naturally preferred to do the safer jobs any other time. Anyway, everywhere in the territory bustled with activity. This included the hospital. Here, in any direction one looked, one could see someone holding a bouquet. They would have smiles on their faces, excited to give the gifts to a special someone. Victor sighed and looked outside the private ward''s window. At this time, he had moved Juni''s bed near it so she could get as much fresh wind and sun as she could. It was for extra comfort, some brightness, and a bit of vitamin D¡ªsprinkled with an illusion that maybe the light would slowly nudge her awake. It was also because of this that he could witness the lively atmosphere. He could even hear some of the events outside the hospital. Victor sighed and sat down at the bedside, patting Juni''s hand. He raised her palm so he could rest his forehead against the back of her hand. He could also feel the weak heartbeat coming from her wrist. "I wish we could participate in that," he told her, voice a bit strained. "What I wouldn''t do to achieve that¡­" He did not expect the hand to flinch after he uttered the words, however. Victor''s eyes widened as he lifted his head to stare at her. He gulped and looked at her hand, and before long it moved again. His dead heart felt like exploding all of a sudden. "Juni?!" ¡­ The wedding started about an hour or so before noon. One reason was so they could go straight to a lunch reception. Another was because it felt a bit empowering to do this at a time when, just a week prior, the open air could melt their skins. There were about ten other pairs getting married other than Winona and Ansel, as well as Sheila and Eagle. The other pairs included Yiyi and Jake, Okuri and Ronny, Eugene and Melissa, Louie and the Mauin Eppa, among many others. Speaking of Louie and Eppa, he actually proposed to her during the celebratory meal they had when the Heat Wave ended. Eppa did not know such practice and immediately cried when she realized what it was. Troy and Brenda wanted to participate as well, but decided to pass this time. This was because Brenda wanted her father there. Hopefully, her friends had told him about Alterra and was on his way to her soon. In Xeno, the presence of the parents in their weddings was extremely important¡ªnot just for the sentiment, but also because it wouldn''t be seen as a blessed wedding otherwise. By now, everyone knew that the higher the level a person had, the more difficult it would be for them to conceive. Conceiving even at a lower level wasn''t easy either, primarily due to people''s dangerous lifestyles. A parent blessing the next generation was therefore much more symbolical than even in Terran weddings. Anyway, the program was starting soon, with the brides and grooms lined up at the back for the grand procession. Althea was there to help out, and she particularly focused on Winona and Sheila, arranging their bouquets and ensuring their dresses were as perfect as they could be. About a couple of minutes before the procession though, an urgent voice yelled beside them. "Wait!" They turned and were surprised to see who it was. It was Victor¡ªwearing a nice formal suit¡ªcarrying the beautiful Juni, who was wearing a simple white dress. She was a little pale, but otherwise still very beautiful. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Victor took a deep breath, staring right at Alterra with a bit of plea. "We want to join¡­ please." "Victor? Juni?" Althea and the others blinked, but they were pleasantly surprised to see Juni fine. "...can we?" Victor said, eyes hopeful. Althea smiled, "Of course," she said, taking an extra bouquet from her space and handed it over to Juni. And so, another loving couple would make their vows that day. Chapter 922 Vows (Part 1) A/N: I''m gonna be honest and say I did NOT expect to hit T1 Golden, especially not so early in the month lololol (at best, I was expecting to crawl to it during the final week of the month kek). You guys are TOO AWESOME T_T. Sadly this (along with my busy sched) means I''m not prepared for a mass release, so I could only churn out 1 extra chap today. I''M SO SORRY and I love you guys for sending so many golden tickets. T_T HOWEVER, for the next Sundays this month (November 2024), if the story is still T1 before the day, I will post 3 extra chaps every Sunday like I did last month~! I will slowly prepare for it! Again, thank you soo much for opening hope that we could get T1 again this month! *HUGS* ... ___ A new couple joined in the procession, albeit Juni was carried by Victor the whole time. This was quite romantic and very inspirational¡ªand just the sight of them lifted quite a few hearts. The two of them were also a handsome couple. Although Victor''s suit and Juni''s dress were markedly simpler than that of others, they carried it well and people wouldn''t think that the couple literally just started to prepare earlier that morning. The guests filed in one by one, sitting on their own seats. They settled mostly with smiles, though some were looking a bit dour. Vanessa looked at the couples lined up for the procession. She was relieved to see that Juni was alive, though she couldn''t say she was happy with the inevitable marriage. However, she knew she did not have a say in this anymore so she could only bite her lips and look away. When she did so, her eyes gravitated to a group not too far away. It was a certain family, and that woman had just returned from helping out the brides. She happily took a seat down next to Garan, taking one of her babies in her arms. They were a happy family and she watched as they carried a child each, smiling at each other, no doubt proud of themselves for what they achieved. It felt like she was drowning in acid. Vanessa bit her lips and then looked around her. Everyone had found their loves and their happiness, and she was so desperate for Garan because she felt he was the man who could make her happy¡ªthe only man who could make her heart beat. Everyone was treating her like she was a cockroach when she was simply trying to make the ideal life for herself. When would she achieve her own happiness? ¡­ In their seats, the couple was keeping their babies'' settled down during the solemn event. The kids had shown a vague propensity to stand up now, and it made them very energetic¡ªtrying to stand up whenever they could. The couple tried to hold them as stably as possible, hoping they didn''t use their abilities and make a scene. When they finally behaved, the couple heaved a deep breath, leaning down to kiss their children as a reward for being obedient. "Mwahmmwaaa¡­" "Googhmaaammm¡­" The couple¡ªand many of the others sitting nearby¡ªgiggled at the children''s cuteness. Several seatmates even started making faces to make the children laugh. It couldn''t be helped: The babies were especially cute with their formal attire. Meatball was wearing a little green suit with bow tie, while Pepper was wearing a cute frilly dress with hints of azure that was the same shade as her eyes. The horsing around temporarily stopped when the music began. Immediately, everyone settled down and turned, staring at the procession of brides and grooms with excited hearts. Soon, the couples entered at a decent distance away from each other. In between the processions were the flower girls, and then ring bearers, a lot of whom were from Mauin as most children there were aborigines. They were also adorable. Little Pepper and Little Meatball giggled, waving at many of their playmates as they passed by. This included Maya and Mimi, who excitedly waved their hands when they passed by. The couples entered in pairs, holding each other''s hands as they headed to their respective altars, as rehearsed the day prior. None of the brides had their fathers there, anyway, so there was no send-off, just the couple being together in the entire ceremony. Eagle and Sheila were among those in the front row and were among the first to settle down. Sheila stood by his good arm, holding it tightly. Eagle was very giddy, turning to smile at the woman, only to realize that Sheila was a little dazed and looking afar. He frowned, wondering if she was regretting it. Was it because he lacked a hand? "What are you thinking about?" Eagle asked his future wife, a little nervous. "I wish I knew where my family is." He heaved a sigh, relieved that she wasn''t regretting the marriage, but also sad for her missing family. He leaned down to kiss her forehead, making her blush. "We''ll find them eventually, I''ll be with you the whole time." She smiled. "Thank you." Mathilda stood in front of the crowd as the officiator, looking gentle as the couples took their positions one by one. Fortunately, in contrast to the clumsy rehearsals the previous day, there were no mishaps in the actual event. When she saw that everyone had seated, Mathilda began her short speech, primarily about the importance of the ceremony and the union. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Congratulations on our couples for reaching this part of the journey¡ªthe beginning of a new phase of life," she said. She began to explain the essence of being a married couple¡ªteaching them what it was, why people did it, and why it shouldn''t be taken lightly. "This is not something you do just because you want to. This is a permanent thing," she said, "...until death. "This is not a trivial matter¡ªnot in our home that built itself on the concept of stability. I am here to warn you that divorce would be difficult if there''s no heavy reason to do so. "Marriage is something you work on, not something to be thrown away when you are bored¡­ "It is not something you consider ending simply because you found a little quirk you didn''t like. "People are built differently and there are no exact same individuals, there is bound to be differences even when there is love in between. "However, no matter what, it is our duty to do our best to make the marriage work¡ªit is what we owe to the sanctity of the union, to our partners, and to ourselves." Mathilda stood tall and smiled, asking the couples to face each other as they held hands. "You may now say your vows," she said, and each one looked warmly at the person they were facing. Every couple was allowed to say their vows¡ªshort and concise but extremely heartfelt¡ªand the audience didn''t get bored at all. If anything..., it made the singles want to get married. Some of them were people who had just arrived here during the heat wave, invited because they happened to know one or two of the people getting married. Not long ago, their only focus was keeping their lives and having something to eat every few days. Now... they were even thinking of wooing someone. How quickly priorities changed when people felt safe. And that..., was just how Alterra was. Chapter 923 Vows (Part 2) First came Ansel and Winona. They felt really shy, but they knew there were other people there so they couldn''t take too long. Ansel, in particular, had prepared a very nice speech that expressed all the emotions he had for Winona in a witty way that showcased his charm. Sadly, he couldn''t remember a word of it. "I know I may not be the smartest man and I annoy you a lot, " was all he could say, beet red from shyness and embarrassment. "But¡­ just know that I''m glad to be hit by you¡ªif it means you''ll do it for the rest of our lives." This earned a few chuckles from the crowd and Winona''s smile as she sniffed. She held his overtly-smooth face. "I know I can be overbearing at times," she told him. "Thank you for putting up with me. I love you." Ansel grinned, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I love you, too." Next to them, Eagle held Sheila''s hand. "I know that you may feel that we are rushing, but life is too unstable to hesitate. "I love you and I want to build a future with you, I don''t want to waste any more time¡ªespecially not when I''m sure it has to be you for me." Sheila smiled, looking back at him. Her cheeks were stained red, but she was surprisingly stable as she uttered her words. "While I had never imagined I''d get married to a man I only knew for a few months, I still believe in my instinct, and I still believe in you¡ªI know in my gut that we will not regret it. "Thank you for taking the step forward." They smiled and leaned towards each other, their foreheads touching and their palms entwined. Their vows received quiet claps and cheerful smiles, receiving various well wishes from the crowd. Next to them were Eugene and Melissa, who were already sobbing a bit. "We have lost so much through the disasters, and I have felt hopeless many times. I thank the heavens for bringing you to me," Eugene said, looking at her and at her stomach. "Thank you for being my family." Melissa sobbed, embracing him. She couldn''t speak much anymore and just whispered her ''I love you''s to him. Like them, the audience had also gotten a bit teary at this point. A lot of people knew their story, and¡ªeven if they didn''t¡ªeveryone had experienced tragedy during the past couple of months. Seeing others gain love and happiness was incredibly touching to them. In another spot, Turbo and Evelyn looked at each other''s eyes, bodies warm and soft at the same time. "I''ve known you my whole life, Eve," the man said, "And the first time I laid eyes on you, I knew you''d be special to me." Eve was flushed red and very teary. "You bullied me a lot¡­" she said and this caused a few chuckles amongst the crowd. Apparently, Turbo was one of those brats who pulled their crush''s pigtails for attention. He blushed a bit at the memory, but he quickly gained his footing. He kissed her palm and placed it on his hair. "Well¡­, you can pull my hair any time you want." A few whistles sounded all around, combined with good-natured laughter, only dying down only when it was the next couple''s turn. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was Louie and Eppa who went next. This would be the first intermarriage they had between an Aborigine and a Terran, making it a historical union. They definitely had a rougher preparation period than others though. The past few days, a lot of people had made subtle¡ªand some not-so-subtle¡ªwarnings not to rush into marriage. After all, they were from completely different world views. Friendship was fine, but spending life with someone with a different outlook will cause conflicts. "I know that, although we love each other, we will face challenges," Louie began, "But I believe we will get through them together." Eppa looked at him, feeling shy at being watched, but at the same time happy she could express herself like this at the witness of others. "Thank you for s-seeing me," she said, voice a little shaky as she tried not to cry so soon. "I have a lot of shortcomings, but what I w-will never lack is love and admiration for you." They received claps and cheers, a few hoots, while the Mauin villagers were outright sobbing. Lulu and Bull came after them. This couple looked a bit odd, with Lulu being a petite pretty girl while Bull was a big, stout guy who was not particularly handsome. Some girls who were jealous of Lulu''s life¡ªbeing doted on by not just her fiance, but also her cousin and friends¡ªwould whisper that she was a gold digger. After all, why would she choose someone so ugly compared to her? However, this was far from the truth. Lulu was fully capable of sustaining her own lifestyle. She fell for Bull because he was dedicated and sweet and he made her feel like she was the only girl in his eyes. "I know we hadn''t known each other for long, but I proposed to you knowing full well you are my soul mate," he told her, looking at the sky as if also expressing thanks to all the dieties (there were many) he prayed to. "I thank the heavens that I managed to convince you to believe the same." This made everyone smile and chuckle, with Lulu giving him a peck on the cheek, and he was suddenly high in heaven. Someone from the crowd asked him not to widow his wife so early and the surrounding audience laughed. The other couples also said their heartfelt vows, some sobbing outright. There was also a goblin couple, which was adorable, and it made everyone happy to see them merging well in the territory. Finally, it was the latecomers Victor and Juni''s turn. Juni was still being carried by Victor and she looked warmly at him, holding his chiseled chin. "I love you, Victor, so much," she told him, as stably as she could. "Despite my past, thank you for accepting me." Victor smiled and kissed her palm. "You are perfect," he told her. "Thank you for coming back to me." It felt incredibly warm and everyone felt inspired and happy. The ceremony ended with a few more words from Mathilda, finishing the ceremony with the long-awaited kiss. "I pronounce you, husband and wife." And several married couples were created like this¡­ and a lot of the new generation would also be conceived that day. Chapter 924 Gill, Helios, and the Goblins Today''s bonus chap is here! Again, thank you for your support guys!! I won''t be high in Golden Ticket rankings without youuu! ... ____ While Alterra was celebrating love and longevity, two men were preparing to find their own respective soul mates. It took them a few days to settle everything in Iron Mountains before they could head out, but they had been preparing everything before it was time to finally leave. Gill and Helios had filled up their spaces with important supplies that could last them weeks, hopefully. For instance, they put in a lot of non-perishable food and sauces. Gill, especially, was aware of the food situation of this place. After being spoiled by Alterra''s cuisines, outside food would''ve been torture. They also brought in other essentials like water bottles, extra equipment, potions, and the like. They bought the ones ''the territory'' (i.e. Althea) sent to sell, at the commercial price used in the Alterra Shop. It so happened that Althea''s pharmacy had also released potions that could serve even Gill''s level, probably having an effect until he reached level 30. From what he knew, sister-in-law had managed to tap into the plants they got from Ferrol back then, including a plant called Goldenroot. They were sent out by friends and family, reluctantly seeing them by the gates. "Be careful," Hugo said as he patted his nephew''s shoulder. "No matter what happens, your life and health come first." Helios chuckled, rubbing his nose in embarrassment. He felt a bit like a teenage boy being sent out by his father. "Of course, uncle." Next to him, Gill was talking with Rowan, Silvia, and Reno. He was also telling them some things to watch out for. "We know that Guia has an actual master. If anyone from a city¡ªor an unfamiliar town, for that matter¡ªenters the territory, alert Alterra immediately." They nodded, taking note of everything. "Did you bring a messenger bird ''port'' with you?" Silvia asked. It was a base that the birds would look for when they were sent out. The territory sent another one so both men had one in their space. They had to let it hang around their clothing for the most part though, otherwise what was their point if they couldn''t get detected? "Sure, but they''re not entirely reliable," Gill couldn''t help but reiterate. Who knew if the birds would get eaten? Of course, if they landed in a territory that had a Post Office, they would use that instead. They would send it to Ferrol, for now, and their team there would send the messenger bird in their stead. The Bird port was just there in case there was an emergency and¡ªalthough unlikely¡ªAlterra had to send a letter to them instead. "Well, it''s better than nothing." Anyway, the duo was sent with more reminders before finally heading out. However, before the two men could turn, a group of small voices caught their attention. "Wait, sirs¡­" They paused and turned, seeing a group of several dozen goblins running towards them. For a moment, they thought they were being sent off by the little ones, too. "We would like to beseech something, good sirs." The two men looked at each other and then to the goblins. "What is it?" They looked quite meek, especially as they asked for favors. Unlike the goblins in Alterra or even in Limestone Valley, the goblins in this place were far more shy. After all, they had grown up here and¡ªwithout a new environment¡ªthey would have the tendency to act as they always had. There was also the fact that the citizens here were mostly aborigines, and therefore looked down on goblins by default. Of course, after a lot of the citizens who bullied goblins were punished, the discrimination had become much more muted. Not to mention, a certain fraction of humans had also become neutral with the goblins after their pivotal roles during the heatwave. However, discrimination was still pretty prevalent in some groups. Even until recently, when a few goblins bravely ventured outside the mines, they encountered hostile citizens who tried to ''put them in place''. Violence was not allowed due to the rules, but they could certainly harass with words. (Of course, they would soon find out that even verbal harassment would receive warnings now¡ªthanks to Winona''s grandmother). At the time though, the rule hadn''t been implemented yet, so the case got very big. The goblins were convinced by Kimura and Linlin to go out and explore with them, though the fun quickly turned sour when they encountered the racists. The aborigine bullies said mean things like ''rats should stay underground'' and the like, naturally leading to an all-out war of words that very nearly turned physical. It was contained quickly thanks to the guards, but it showed how long it''d take for them to contain things completely. They knew it''d take time to integrate, so they didn''t force the little things and just allowed them to settle in the dormitories built near the mines. This was why it was unexpected to see so many out in the open right now. What they didn''t know was the goblins came in such huge groups because going out in small groups would be too scary for them. "What is it?" Gill repeated, a bit in a rush and had minimal patience for reluctant asking. "You see¡­ we would just like to ask, if you ever find goblins, would you take them?" It might be a bit much¡­ but they knew there were thousands of goblins trapped in human territories. This made the humans blink. When they didn''t answer immediately, the goblins felt very sad. But Gill nodded and their eyes widened. "Sure, if it''s within our ability¡ªand without compromising our own team''s safety." The goblins'' shoulders slumped in relief, their large disproportionately big eyes lined with tears. "That is already very good, sirs. Thank you." It''d be too difficult to find the Home Place, but at least there were places in the human territory where they could be treated with decency. "We promise to pay you back somehow." The little things sniffed, looking at them, though still not daring to look directly in the eye. "No problem," Gill said, and Helios nodded, though he couldn''t help but look at the goblins a bit deeply. "Good bye good sirs, please be blessed with success," they said in sync, blessing them with good health and a bit of luck. Before they left though, Helios stepped forward and stood in front of the goblins. They flinched, a bit intimidated, and were shocked when he kneeled down so he was at their eye level. By instinct, they turned, avoiding his eyes. Helios smiled as he tilted his head so he could be in their peripheral vision. "Look into our eyes sometimes, eh? Otherwise, you''re delaying a very important trip of ours. Do you not see Gill getting angry?" Gill-who-hadn''t-said-anything: "..." Regardless, the goblins did do as they were told. Helios smiled, satisfied when they stared into his eyes, even if only for a second. "And oh, try to lift your head higher when you''re walking around, too." Awkwardly, the goblins tried to do so, their backs straightening up a bit in effect as well. "Better. You''re Alterrans now, after all¡ª" he said, finally standing up. "And us Alterrans are proud." sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 925 Hunt for Love (Part 1) The duo then said their final goodbyes before heading to Ferrol. They knew the women were not there, but it was their only lead to gather more information about them. Gill had heard that Cassandra''s supposed wedding would be held in another week, and he had to find her location very soon. Because of his responsibilities, he had to compartmentalize for a while and it was making him antsy. As for Helios, it was much more of a challenge, as he''d be doing a lot of investigation first before he could even find who she was. They rushed to their destination as they could, using the Beast Repellent to minimize conflict. Of course, the current version had a lot of limitations, especially against stronger monsters so there were plenty of times they were still attacked. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In those cases, they killed monsters as quickly as they could. Gill was definitely at the level where he could deal with Town mobs, while Helios had innate skills that worked well with the other. During their time in Iron Mountains, their teamwork had been honed a lot. After all, they had a lot of mobs attacking them too and there were plenty of times Gill himself had to make a move. One of their go-to killer moves against stronger monsters was when Helios'' metal spike successfully stabbed a monster but was unable to finish it off. By then, Gill would heat it up, barbecuing it from within. It was fairly efficient with Gill not having to expend much mana. On the other hand, if the mob was too much of a challenge, then they''d just run away. It wasn''t that they believed they would be defeated, it was just that they didn''t have the time to be held back for so long. This happened quite often because Town monsters were really different from those of Villages. There were still weak mobs, of course, but there were also a lot of stronger ones level 10 and above mixed with them. The higher the level, the smaller the population of that monster, so it was more like they mixed in with the lower-leveled mobs, sticking out like sore thumbs with their sizes. From afar, in terms of size, it would look like there were small elephants interspersed with a group of bears and lions. When attacking territories, mobs really did work together, though the smaller ones could become collateral damage when stepped on by bigger ones. This was why the majority of the weaker monsters stayed near villages as an evolutionary instinct. Monsters rarely hunted each other either, except maybe when there was a resource disaster like the heatwave. They asked this question a lot at the start: There were so many of them, why didn''t they just eat each other? The running theory¡ªaccording to the aborigines¡ªwas that the aether of humans was pure and attractive to them. This was why humans had the possibility of becoming Elementalists, while other races did not. In contrast, monsters had violent aether into them, and eating more would simply make them more brainless. It was why there were rare intelligent monsters like the one Alterra encountered before. If they ate enough humans, the ''clean'' aether could slightly calm their violent energy, granting them some degree of intelligence. They were not exactly sentient, but they were certainly more troublesome if encountered head-on. It was another reason why intelligent monsters were so rare. In the absence of humans in the vicinity¡­ they would be the most sought-after meal. As for why the monsters could stoop to hunting each other during disasters, it was because humans lacked many things like a decent meal, making them a little less attractive and less filling that they could start eating their own kind. This was also true in areas with no human territories in the vicinity. In those areas¡ªaccording to mercenaries who traveled far away from human territories¡ªsome cases of beast cannibalism had been seen. Fortunately, they did not encounter mobs they could not run away from. In their rush, a trip that would normally take two days even after running took just a bit over a day. Of course, when they arrived in Ferrol, they were drenched in sweat as if it rained, and the staff in the base there were shocked. "Boss Gill!" The level 21 Kleid yelled, greeting them with a concerned face. Seeing the usual cool Boss Gill look a bit pitiful was concerning. "No, it''s fine," Gill said, waving his hand. "Gather everyone." "I''m going to Jonathan," he said, pointing at Helios. "Listen to him." "A-Ah, yes," he said, and everyone was called in, standing in the same room some fifteen minutes or so later. Helios had already changed shirts, and he looked at the current lineup he could work with. At this time, there were only about 10 people left in the base. Most of them were sent to Alterra to train, then the Heat Wave happened and they were stranded there. This should change soon because the weather had stabilized. It was estimated that a caravan was already on its way here now. After all, the money the merchants got during the last run was no joke, and some stronger people also needed to battle stronger monsters to level up. Their shop, in the absence of caravans, still sold wood items though. This was led by their woodworkers Furong and Semi, who had also activated the professions during their stay in Alterra. During the heat wave, the shop was active from dusk to dawn. In contrast to Villages, Towns had a lot more resources and special building types to allow them to get past the heat wave with relative safety. This was especially true for a rich Level 3 Town like Ferrol. Many people still died¡ªespecially among slaves¡ªbut it definitely was not nearly as bad as what most villages and some smaller towns had experienced. This meant that there was still a market for their products, especially those that were related to dealing with the heat like hand fans, wooden umbrellas, and even manual ceiling fans (the ones pulled with strings). These shops were now self-sufficient and the proceeds could pay for the salaries of everyone. Anyway, none of this mattered to Helios now. He heaved a deep breath and looked at the people he''d be depending on the next few days. "I need your help," he said. "And I''ll pay whatever it takes." He did not have much money yet, but with his skills, he could save up for it! As long as he could talk to her again, he could do whatever he had to. Whoever you are, Helios mused, I will find you! Chapter 926 Hunt for Love (Part 2) Gill did not need the updates about the team, he needed updates on Cassandra. Anyway, the team here sent regular updates to Alterra via the messenger birds. Even during the heat wave, they were still updated at least once a week, because the birds could travel during the night. The bird was assigned to Esau, who was their leading hospitality servant. He was very tall and had very curly hair. He was also the only literate one. Speaking of this, a lot of the staff in Alterra had taken Xeno literacy classes. Soon, most of their staff would be able to read the basics, at least. The line of thought caused Gill to remember the contents of the letter Cassandra sent to him, and his heart clenched in both sadness and anger, his steps gaining speed along the way. He arrived at Jonathan''s large mansion after a few minutes of brisk walking. He was stopped by the guards and his jaw clenched. "Let me see your lord," he said. "Tell him Gill from the Terran Mercenary Team is here." ¡­ Back in the base, Helios asked the others to investigate the woman, who she was, and where she was now. He tried to describe her the best he could. Appearance was easy¡­ "She is a very beautiful woman," he said, his tanned face slowly morphing to a dreamy expression. "Her hair has the color of sand¡­ soft and muted, but glitters with the sun, framing her delicate face with quiet simplicity and grace. "Her eyes were light blue. They held a certain brightness, you know? It is like the sky after dawn, a clear blue that seemed to have an intensity of its own¡­ "Her body¡­ it''s also beautiful and soft¡ª" Kleid and the others: "..." He cleared his throat. In fact, he almost spilled that she had pretty moles on her left thigh and under her right breast but fortunately, he regained his tact before he blurted it out. The staff members could only take note of the physical descriptions, heading to work as asked. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Helios watched them go, heaving a deep breath, allowing himself to take a few seconds of rest. They had been moving intensely for more than a day and his level was not as high as Gill, so he was really exhausted. After a couple of moments, he turned to look at the remaining person there, Esau. While Kleid was leading the defense team and ensuring people were not stagnant (they adapted Alterra''s minimum battle requirements for everyone), Esau was in-charge of handling guests and taking care of the branch''s business aspect. Before going back to Alterra, Jake bought him from the slave market, promising freedom after 3 years of service. In this case, any member of the Mercenary Team could order him around, which was already better than the entire town''s citizen population being able to do so. However, while he was still a slave, he still got a salary, so it didn''t feel like so. He was even assigned tasks that were definitely not at the bottom of the ladder, and the salary was high enough considering they were deducting the ''salary deduction'' fee they took as ''advanced payment'' for his eventual freedom! He was asked to oversee the commercial aspect of the entire branch, which was a massive honor. His family used to own a shop before his territory town lost a war, and he was one of the unlucky ones who became a slave. He suffered for a few years as a slave, primarily working as a cleaner of Beast feces. He was sold recently because his leg was stepped on by one of the beast carts, and people thought he would be useless with such a bad limp. After all, he moved very slowly and there was a lot of feces to be cleaned up. In the end, he was sold off for a small amount, and frankly he didn''t have much expectations about his new master. However, him being bought by this team ended up being the greatest twist in his life after that war. He was even allowed to have 2 weeks vacation every year, so he would be able to visit his family! This alone was enough to warrant his loyalty. "How did Ferrol Fair during the Heat Wave?" he asked and Esau dutifully answered. Unlike Gill, Helios was not a member of the Terran Mercenary Team, so he was not privy to what was happening here. "The team did quite well, thank you for asking." As Alterra''s base here, the team naturally had plenty of insulation and supplies brought in. They obtained their items via Iron Mountains, with some people heading there to get their stocks before the Heat Wave hit. They didn''t publicize their preparation until Lord Jonathan himself noticed their oddities. It happened that they were frugal and used a cellar for all of them, so they didn''t actually have to use a lot of the insulating materials they brought over. Jonathan bought all of these at a very high price. "And the territory itself?" "It is fine. There were plenty of deaths, a little more than usual, but as a big town it was handled fairly well." The difference between a village¡ªeven high level ones¡ªand a town was not only power, prestige, and money. There were also some building types present in towns that villages didn''t have. For example, there was the Pharmacy, which sold medicine and other things very important to a person''s survival. There was also the Mercenary Hall, which a town could tap into if they ever encountered a strong mob, and so on... Helios nodded and thanked him, before heaving a deep breath and standing up. He couldn''t sit still in the end, he had to investigate this himself. ¡­ Lord Villa Inside Jonathan''s study room, the lord himself guided the newcomer to the information he needed. Jonathan handed a map, showing rough location and distance to Jacoba Town, Cassandra''s hometown. Cassandra''s hometown was located in the flat lands almost 2000 kilometers Southeast of Ferrol, just past Mount Rushless. Traveling by Beast cart would need two to three days without stopovers. "The Southlands are a good place. It is cheaper to develop and has plenty of resources compared to others. There is also a river through there, and the area had the most towns than in any other part of the Human Territory. Generally, Towns were three to five hundred kilometers away from each other at best, some even farther than that. In this area, the average was around 200 kilometers, the closest of which was even 100-kilometer distance from each other. That was just a little more than the distance between Alterra and Limestone Valley. "I''m sure there''s a catch," Gill said and Jonathan nodded. "The monsters there¡­ are much stronger than what you''re used to." After all, the humans there were so many. Naturally, the monsters attracted were dense. The rare level 50+ monsters were also seen in these parts. "I understand," he said, looking at the lord with serious eyes. "Can I borrow a Beast Cart?" "Of course," he said. "But please try not to involve Ferrol into any of this." "Yes, I will be careful," Gill reassured him, raising his arm for a handshake. "I owe you." Jonathan smiled, taking his hand. "Just give me good prices in the deals and we''ll all be fine." Gill nodded and didn''t take another moment before heading back out¡ªnot even bothering to rest before he went on to another adventure. Cassandra, I''m coming for you! Chapter 927 Escaping From War Juno Village, a few days prior Not long before the heat wave ended, more and more people had reached the end of the rope. Among these people was the beautiful¡ªor at least she was¡ªHana. At this time, she held onto Tim, her new boyfriend, who helped her keep going. Like everyone else, they were pale and thin as skeletons. The pains of hunger and thirst had already made them numb and weak. "If we had known things would be like this, we would''ve escaped the territory as soon as the enemies announced the attack." "We should''ve escaped even before the heat wave," another said. "Like Eve and the others." 1 They said this in regret, hearts filled with ''what-ifs'', but they were too afraid to do much at the time. They were just thankful they didn''t become slaves like the others. They hid in fear and it took a day to realize the enemies had really left them alone and had left the territory. They had no idea what it meant for them, but they could only live life with what they still had. Sadly, they weren''t given much time to feel relieved. The intense heat came and starvation became prevalent as early as a couple of days into the disaster. Juno had a slower regeneration rate even before the heat wave¡ªthough it was mostly due to terrain¡ªhow much worse did things become when the extreme heat actually hit? A few weeks into the Heat Wave, hundreds had perished from the heat, the mob, or human greed. They were attacked again, and they were even more helpless this time than before. At the time, when the war was ongoing, Hana hid deep in the room, hoping never to be found. When they lost again, she actually heaved a sigh of relief, thinking at least it was over. She was lucky enough to avoid becoming a slave, but after the heat wave hit she thought she wouldn''t mind becoming one after all. Stronger territories should''ve been able to handle that heat better, right? Anyway, the war was over and more people were taken away. Fortunately, the mobs there were thinner and weaker in their area. Otherwise, Juno had long been infested by beasts. Still¡­ being eaten by beasts would''ve been less painful than the excruciating hunger and thirst they felt. It was horrible. They lacked food and water and they could barely breathe with the heat. Even the insides of the houses were steaming. One time, she even witnessed people drinking blood! At some point, they found out that there was even a group who started eating people. She was almost kidnapped by them as well. They raided her dorm and took out everyone. Their sense of smell seemed strong and they found her hiding place. It was Tim and another man named Atlas¡ªa brave young man her age¡ªwho protected her. Although the level gaps weren''t high, people didn''t have much energy anymore and they didn''t bother with anyone who required too much energy to kidnap, and thus she was saved. Time passed slowly and torturously, with more and more people dying of different causes. It was fortunate that during this time, a few people reached level 10 and gained elements, so they¡ªa group of a thousand or so¡ª could survive the village-level mobs they encountered, for the most part anyway. Then, they were attacked yet again, this time by a village called Suka Village. When the announcement rang they could only sob in despair. They knew there was no way they would win this one! Their options were limited: Die of hunger or thirst, die by becoming a meal (human or beast), or become slaves! However, unlike others who had lost hope, Atlas shook his head. "There''s a way," he said. Since the last war, he managed to find out more about the war. He did this by pretending to be a corpse near the gates, and he overheard a few things. For instance, there was a teleportation array that connected to their territories during the entire 28 hours. He devised a plan to cover himself with earth¡ªhe was an earth user¡ªand sneak into the enemy array, and then run as fast as he could. However, he had a soft heart and had the sense of justice of a police officer before he had to be dismissed, so he shared the plan to the other survivors, though they were responsible for protecting themselves from the sun and from the monsters. A total of about 30 people went out half an hour before the war started. No one cared. Everyone was just trying to pass the day, who cared about what others did? Some people wanted to escape as well, but the heat was too much and they had begun to consider that it might be better to be a slave. After all, they would have better resources. Even if it was only a little, food and water should still be given to them, right? Probably? S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. What they didn''t know was that the enemy Village this time was not just selling slaves¡ªthey were selling meat and blood. It started as a minority practice in the village, but the need due to the tragedy made most people of that village to adopt the practice. But they didn''t know this yet and these people just stayed put while Atlas, Tim, Hana, and the others went out of the territory in the extreme heat. Atlas had some survival knowledge and taught them how to camouflage as they waited for the array to open. They didn''t know where it''d appear, but they had to be well-hidden regardless. Otherwise, wouldn''t they just be throwing themselves into the enemy''s swords? Atlas created a sort of shell made from soil, using much of his remaining mana. It wasn''t even that big¡ªhe couldn''t do much else¡ªbut he chose a place with existing rocks and shrubs (albeit dried ones) so they could also help shade them while they waited. It was a tense 30 minutes, and everyone struggled to breathe under the boiling atmosphere. They were also squeezed together, making it even more torturous. Atlas'' jaw clenched as he concentrated on the task at hand, ignoring the mumbles and whispers of complaints behind him. He didn''t care, eyes fixed on the array, making approximates at the enemies they would have to deal with soon. He only stayed in Juno for so long because many people misled him! He realized they lied to him just to keep him in the territory! Many of them had become slaves or were now dead though, so he couldn''t do anything to them. The Heat Wave arrived before he could leave, but this time, he would make sure to get out. No matter what: He will find his brother! Eve = Evelyn. Remember her? She just got married.. Chapter 928 The Magic Circle has Appeared Many people very easily got antsy and impatient, saying mean things to them for dragging them into this¡ªas if they didn''t beg for Atlas to take them with him. "Shut up or I will stab you," he snapped, looking at the ungrateful people with dark eyes. He didn''t really mean it, but he would certainly do something to keep the bastards quiet. They fortunately shut their mouth in the end, grumbling under their breaths. Eventually, they heard noises in a direction¡ªheavy rustles and the sound of humans¡ªand they immediately ran there. They tried to do it as quietly as they could, though it was harder than they thought after they saw what the array actually looked like. They gasped when they saw the light, and they had to pull in a lot of people who carelessly got too close. Interestingly, some ran in another direction when they saw the number of enemies pouring out. Those people, they let be. They didn''t need any more noisy burdens. Fortunately, the enemies were also rushing away from the array¡ªin hopes of finding shade as soon as possible¡ªthat they did not notice them there. They watched as the circle would light up brightly and every time it did so, a large group of people would appear. If they weren''t so scared, they might''ve found it fascinating. The magic circle was gorgeous in its own right, and the fact that people appeared in a blink of an eye was nothing short of miraculous. However, their awe turned more and more towards fear as they saw the increasing amount of enemies passing through. Their hearts beat loudly as they saw more and more aborigine enemies appear within the bright circle, seemingly endless in number, running in the direction of their old territory. The aborigines'' appearances were not much better than their own. They were also pale, dirty, and unsightly, but their eyes were ravenous¡ªas if they would do anything for a meal. Their hearts clenched. This would have been their enemy if they had stayed. And the people left behind¡­ would stand no chance. ¡­ A meter or two away from Atlas, Hana sobbed a bit. She hugged her boyfriend, feeling complicated in her heart. "Thank goodness we left," she whispered. She felt relieved and sad at the same time. Tim''s heart softened and he patted her back, though they didn''t maintain contact for long because they were too grimy. Still, despite everything, Hana remained a bit prettier and purer than others, and it made men want to shield her from harm. "I''ll protect you," he said, and he meant it. "I''m so glad I''m with you¡­" she said, making him smile. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. From behind them, Tim''s older sister sneered. Her name was Tilda, and she was an effortless bitch. "Yeah, you mean attaching like a parasite." If Althea was here, she would recognize Tilda as the woman who annoyed her in her first salary job. The one she imagined stabbing when she practiced fencing back then. Tim''s eyebrows furrowed and Hana looked down. Atlas sighed, just annoyed by the unnecessary drama. "Shut up Tilda." Tilda pouted, looking away. On the other hand, Hana couldn''t help but sneak shy glances in the direction of Atlas, who was currently watching the array closely. Did he¡­ take her side? Tilda happened to look at Hana to see her reaction and ended up seeing her dazed look at her ''target'', and her eyes turned red in annoyance. Atlas was hers! She had been trying to attach to him even before the Heat Wave!! How could she let this pretty leech get in the way, especially not when she already had her brother! How dare her!! "This slut !" She yelled with gritted teeth, and couldn''t help but pull her hair. Tilda was already quite impulsive in normal circumstances. The heat, hunger, pain, and annoyance just made her explode even faster. "Ow!" Hana squealed and Tim gasped in surprise. His sister wasn''t starting a cat fight now , was she?! "Stop it, sis!" he exclaimed, pulling the woman''s hand off his girlfriend''s hair. Hana cried in pain, while Tilda gasped¡ªrealizing what she had just done. However, she was just so annoyed, and the heat got in her head that she forgot to think. Anyway, although they were not actually yelling loudly, it still caused a bit of commotion that made a few people coming from the array to turn in their direction. "Hussh!" Atlas whispered, pushing everyone down to the ground, shaping the soil shade even lower, forcing the people crouching to outright lay down on all fours. Tilda and the others wanted to ask what was going on, but the former policeman''s eyes were wide as he put a finger over his mouth, signaling them not to make any noise. Soon, they heard rustles of the dry shrubs sound near them. Their hearts fell as they realized it was getting nearer, and those with some sense of presence quickly covered the mouths of their reactive companions. "I''m sure I heard people here¡­" "Yeah, I heard someone squeal just now." Their hearts dropped, knowing that these people would definitely be looking closely at them. Atlas, at least, knew he had to do something. When the enemies got close enough, Atlas immediately jumped up. He used his ability to propel him high in the desired direction, kicking the two aborigines to his companions. "Cover their mouths!" He hissed, and the group huddled at them by instinct. "WHA¡ª" one yelled, but Tim placed whatever he had on hand¡ªa rock¡ªon the man''s mouth to shut him up. Atlas immediately took out his sword and beheaded the two while they were still caught off guard. Hana almost screamed, but she buried her head in Tim''s arms, making the man feel capable and protective. They all turned in the direction of the enemy, their weapons raised in case they attracted more. In contrast, some people crawled far away while they were dealing with the natives, ready to run and leave them at the moment''s notice. Atlas saw this but didn''t mind. He didn''t take it seriously; few people with heroism actually survived this long. He ignored them when they came crawling back, simply telling them to keep quiet. Instead, he focused on the array and whatever was in that direction. "They''re almost done," Atlas whispered after a few moments and immediately everyone tensed up even more. Fewer and fewer people came out of the array, and some were stronger than others¡ªthe main forces. They knew it would be their time to move very soon. Eventually, the circle quieted down, and they took it as their signal. Atlas led the run, running towards the circle as quickly as he could. "GO!" Chapter 929 Through the Array The group ran towards the array, with Atlas giving them one last advice. "Remember, after we go through, run at the direct opposite of the gate. "Take care of yourselves. To each to his own. At this stage, to survive, we can''t be bothered with other people¡ªat least I won''t." Some people frowned but Atlas had always been frank. The last time, people took advantage of his sense of justice as a former police officer. It held him back, keeping him from venturing out to find his brother. There was also the fact that no one wanted to go out with him, making it a suicide mission to even go too far away from the walls. However, if there weren''t people convincing him, begging him to stay, he really might''ve taken that risky mission on his own. Now¡­ he really couldn''t wait any longer, and he wasn''t going to let anyone hold him back. He looked at them as if he was saying goodbye. If they could follow him, good, and this meant he could travel with them for longer. However, if they could not, then he could only wish them well. "Assume they have people there to guard, at least a few of them," he told them. "Be as quiet as you can, and run as fast as you can." They entered the array and paid the required fees, hearts filled with unknown expectations and all desperation. The circle lit up, making them gasp at the strange sensation. It felt like riding an elevator but the scenery changed. It happened quite quickly, only a second, and it was normal for people to be dazed. Atlas quickly gathered his bearings, not waiting for another moment to move. He tapped the people closest to him, not wanting to make noise, but he immediately darted in the direction without looking back. Sadly, even if they didn''t make noise¡ªwhich was unavoidable with a group of civilians who couldn''t help but let out surprised sounds as they were teleported¡ªthe array lit up when it was used, and it caught the attention of the people on the other side. Fortunately for them, the heat was too intense and no one was really guarding the array closely. No one would in their right mind stay outside for so long. Some shade was created by the gates and only one person saw the flash of light. He didn''t think much at first but then he saw none of them were familiar and he realized they must''ve come from the enemy territory! "HEY!" he yelled, though he immediately felt uncomfortable after moving in this damned heat. "SHOOT THEM DOWN!" The archers by the gate¡ªwho were also covered with shades¡ªimmediately shot at them. Their movements lagged because of their weaknesses, which could only count as a blessing for the trespassers. Whoosh! Whoosh! Atlas and the others ran as fast as they could, and for the first few moments, no one was hit. However, as more and more archers gathered their bearings, more and more arrows rained down on them¡ªfinally hitting a few. "AHHH!" "HELP!" "GAHH!" Atlas gritted his teeth but continued his dash. His heart clenched as he heard the screams, the sounds of falling, and the cries for help. However, he had already done enough for others, and knew stopping now was accepting he might not see his only family member left. Tim was also hit in the arm, but they trudged on. They pushed themselves to the limits of their already weak bodies, running faster and faster despite their whole bodies feeling like it was melting from the heat. Soon, they were out of range and the guards didn''t have enough interest to follow. Anyway, they weren''t going into the territory, so there was no reason to waste anymore important energy and spirit. They ran and ran and some even fainted on the way. The person got dragged by his friend for a while until he got too tired and had no choice but to let go. "I''m sorry," the person said, apologizing before walking away without him. His friend could only crawl after them, albeit to no avail and to be left behind for dead. Eventually, the group confirmed they were not being followed and stopped. They were lucky that Atlas had some survival knowledge and found a tunnel. It was very small, too small for beasts to use, so they used it to pass the daylight. Everyone there hurried to the shade, though their skins were already stinging so much they really couldn''t feel much anymore. As they settled there, they looked around, realizing that there were only a dozen of them who managed to make it. Their hearts were beating out of their chest, and they felt like fainting from the intense heat, hunger, and tiredness. However, they were alive, and¡ªjust for the fact that they were still breathing¡ªthey couldn''t help but cry. . . They decided to pass the night in that little space, with Atlas finally gathering enough energy to completely enclose them. He left behind tiny breathing holes for them, and they could only hope there was no monster who''d catch them there. They really didn''t have that much energy anymore. They were tired, parched, and starving. No one could lift their hands enough to actually fight with a rabid beast. Of course, Atlas was still prepared for whatever, however he could. He managed his breathing, his weapon was out and ready to be used at a moment''s notice. While most were catatonic, Atlas was sitting upright and managing his breathing. Hana saw it all while she was sitting next to her boyfriend. Hana really found Atlas much more attractive than Tim. Not in a romantic way, however. After all, her heart truly beat for one person¡ªbut that person was not there. However, Atlas felt safer to be with and attach to. Sadly, Tilda had her eyes on him and the moment she gave a hint of friendliness, the woman would open her mouth and send her a barrage of hurtful words. It discouraged her from getting too close, but she didn''t mind too much. Thinking of this, she turned to look at Tim and smiled. At least she had someone who loved her¡ªunlike Tilda, who every good man looked at with disgust¡ªand that was already a fortunate thing. . . The night was tense and everyone had to practically cover their mouths to keep themselves from making any noise (or to breathe properly, for that matter). The entire duration of the night, mobs passed by where they were, causing the ground underneath them to vibrate. There were plenty of times that beasts would find interest in their mound but, fortunately, they were not yet too far from Suki Village, which was definitely more attractive to the beasts. It was another sleepless night for everyone, but the moment light peered through the tiny holes of their little hiding place, Atlas immediately woke everyone up. They were lethargic and in pain, but they knew they couldn''t stay there forever. They mentally prepared themselves for smelling their own burning skins again when they headed out, not entirely registering that the atmosphere was not as hot as it should be. When the expected stinging sensation did not arrive, even when they were under the direct sun, the realization finally dawned on them. "What¡­" Their eyes were wide as they looked at each other. "Is it¡­?" They had been attacked many times by aborigines, so they knew this heat was an Extreme Event that would eventually come to an end¡ªthey just didn''t know S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. when . They didn''t dare let their hopes up too high, however. They stayed still for a few moments, feeling the radiation of the sun, making sure they hadn''t just gotten numb somehow. For the first time in a long while, Atlas finally broke into a smile. "It''s over!" he announced, and everyone''s hearts lifted. The heat wave¡­ was finally over! Chapter 930 A Sign The group travelled East, simply because West was towards the village that attacked them. They knew this because Atlas could calculate shadows. They traversed the forests, with weapons out in case they encountered mobs. As they traveled, they saw that the plants had begun to gain vitality. If they stayed in a place to rest, they could even see the change with their bare eyes. It was fascinating. When they found Gouji fruits that had started to fruit, they immediately took a few, even if they weren''t ripe yet. Who knew how many more hours or days that''d take! They were starving! They gobbled up whatever food they could. Atlas would advise them not to eat some unfamiliar plants, but fortunately, they weren''t too picky. They could eat leaves now. They even found it luscious because it wasn''t dried up for a change. However, the surroundings were still recovering in the end, but they had to continue traveling. They also had to fight the mobs that had also appeared, so they really couldn''t let down their guard at all. The next few hours were no less perilous than before, and they could only say they were lucky enough to have things to eat otherwise they would be eaten by monsters with fair ease. "Are you okay?" Tim asked, lips parched and his cheek hollow. Hana found it a bit unsightly, but she knew she probably looked the same. Thank goodness there were no mirrors. At the same time, because she couldn''t see herself, she still had the image of her beautiful self. Inevitably, her memory would almost always go back to the peaceful time in Terran. She would even remember Ansel, the love of her life. They unfortunately had to break up when she went back to her country after the exchange program was over, but she still believed he was her soul mate. They remained friends though and occasionally chatted online. She really, really, missed him¡ªand that life¡ªso, so much. In fact, before people become zombies, she was supposed to go back to Eden to do a surprise visit. She had dreamed of a grand reunion then, where Ansel would be touched with her gesture. Maybe they would even do the deed. She was still guarding her virginity, in fact, and not even her new boyfriend had a glimpse of intimacy from her. They had not even kissed. Anyway, Tim, unaware of the comparison, religiously wiped her sweat with his hand. They didn''t have clean cloth left, but he made sure to clean his hands on the few relatively-clean patches of clothing he had on before doing so. Hana smiled¡ªshe admitted she was a little touched¡ªthough internally she would compare his every movement to her handsome first boyfriend. He was such a gentleman¡ªAnsel was. He was so dreamy and treated women with so much charm. Her heart beat in excitement whenever she thought of it. She felt a bit dazed like this, while another woman looked jealously at the care she was getting. "Shame. It''s hard enough to survive on your own, brother, but you had to drag along another burden." Tim sighed, rubbing his forehead. "You''re no different, sis." "You!" The others easily ignored the arguments. It wasn''t the first time. Besides, if they stopped it now, chances were: Tilda would zone in on them as the next target. No one wanted that headache. Atlas heaved a deep breath. "Now, we will keep heading East," he said, and the others nodded. He was still their de facto leader by virtue of skills, strength, and level-headedness. In their group, only he had awakened an element. There were two others who had reached level 9, while the rest hovered around level 6 or 7. This was fine if they were inside the safety of a territory wall, but they were in the wild and they really ought to find a place to stay soon. The previous mob had injured all of them. They were lucky the monsters were just awakening and there weren''t many of them. But what would happen a few hours later? Anyway, they hurriedly traveled East for several more hours, hoping to finally find a territory. As expected, they encountered another mob, this time the monsters were stronger and denser, and Atlas'' group lost a person. They were sad but this was no longer a new thing for them, so they could only suck it up and move on. When night came, they had to find a place to camp, finding a hill of sorts to at least have a cover. With regained energy, Atlas created a small cave for them, and they survived another night like this. "When are we going to find a territory?" Tilda asked her brother, who shook his head. To be honest, the uncertainty was also taxing, and after more than a day of blindly traveling, it was really affecting their momentum. Atlas looked behind him, marking the paths they had been in, just in case. He looked at the sky and used his survival skills (and the system map) to plot a direction. They had been going straight to the East with no sign of territories. He thought hard about what could be a way to find them and he could only think of following the mobs. However, the direction they were heading was all over the place, some were heading toward the mountains slightly north of them, and some were heading East. Before they could decide which direction to go to, they felt a vibration on the ground underneath their feet again. "A mob, Run!" Atlas yelled at his companions and they climbed up a tree each, just in time for the mob to arrive. Their hearts were in their throats as the mob passed them. After so long of fighting, they barely had any spirit left. They couldn''t afford to fight every mob they encountered. After minutes of tension, they realized that the mobs were headed in a direction. He looked another way and saw another small mob heading toward the same place. Considering the angles, the two mobs would be merging soon, creating a large mob that would definitely kill them all in a blink of an eye. At least they knew where a territory was, but would they be able to handle it? What if the territory fell in the end? He asked his teammates what they thought should be done and they unanimously said not to risk it. "Perhaps¡­ since the mobs are concentrated there, we can travel more at ease," Tim suggested. "You mentioned there were mobs heading East, anyway." "Then we will head further east to northeast," Atlas said and the others nodded, thinking it made sense. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. That was their chance to get to Limestone Valley, and they just missed it. However, after a few more hours of walking, they did find a path. Atlas and the others were extremely puzzled to see something like that in the middle of nowhere, but they were also hopeful at the hint of civilization nearby. They immediately followed it, soon coming across a wooden board with writings. They all blinked, looking at it in puzzlement and in awe. It was a sign. Literally. Chapter 931 Following the Signs They looked at the wooden sign with two sets of languages. One was in their lingua franca and another was an unfamiliar one. Atlas narrowed his eyes. "Is this the aborigine language?" he asked. They could speak and understand the language, but they had not encountered the written version yet. His comment made everyone freeze, narrowing their eyes at the sign, extremely suspicious. "Is it a trap?!" Atlas shook his head, thinking there wasn''t much point to it. Juno didn''t have aborigines, so he didn''t know much about it at all. At the same time, he wondered why anyone would bother doing this at all? Even if it was a trap¡­ where else would they go? Would they just go in the opposite direction simply because of this suspicion? In the end, they simply studied what they could understand¡ªi.e. The sign itself, and the text in Terran lingua franca. It was cut into the shape of an arrow pointing in a direction. [Path heading this way] it said, leading somewhere deeper into the forest. The unknown had always been unnerving. Obviously, they had been traveling across the forest for a while now, but with a sudden sign of civilization in the middle of nowhere, somehow they felt even more tense. So¡­ to follow or not to follow? "I think we should still take a look," Atlas said after a while. It was better than aimlessly wondering. They had been getting some water from the gouji fruits they encountered and they took meat from some monsters they beat to sate their hunger. However, they could never stay in one place for an extended amount of time, and being on the run for so long was too taxing. Their bodies were about to give way now. In fact, they had lasted so long only because, for some reason, the mobs had¡­ decreased? This got them both relieved and worried. Normally, wouldn''t being somewhere near the settlement make them encounter more beasts? How come there were fewer? However, the arrow was pointing at an area they hadn''t explored yet, and they could only hope they didn''t make the wrong choice. After following the path for some time, some hundred or so meters away, they would find a similar signage, and they would follow that, and so on. Eventually, they encountered a sign on the floor. It was also like the others¡ªarrow-shaped¡ªbut it was no longer attached to a tree, likely bumped down by a mob or something. They paused, staring at it for a while. "It obviously fell down, is it still safe to follow?" Laos, a middle-aged man from their team, mumbled. If it was taken down, what if it was now pointing in the wrong direction? The young lad next to him, Shawn, looked at him. "Which way would we go then?" "..." That was true. They had already reached this far, and it wasn''t like they knew where to go. At the very least, thanks to the System map, they didn''t have to worry about going in circles. They walked and walked and, at some point, they realized it had been a while since they encountered a big mob they had to run away from. It was always in small groups and, thanks to Atlas, they could at least manage to deal with those without losing another person. They¡­ didn''t know what to make of it, really. Should they be happy? Or should they dread it?? After a few hundred meters, Atlas suddenly stopped walking. "Wait¡­" he said, and he looked around. The others were puzzled at first until they realized¡­ they were on a pathway! It was at least 3 meters wide¡­ with flat rocks on the ground. They were arranged in an orderly manner so they knew it was man-made. "What¡­" Their hearts beat fast and they walked ahead with renewed energy, running fast until they found a sturdy post with several signs on it! It was located on a major fork in the road, showing where each path was heading. Pointing towards the West and Southwest¡ªfrom where they were just at¡ªthere were two signs. [Iron Mountains, 88 Kilometers] [Limestone Valley, 20 kilometers] Then pointing towards the North, there were two signs. [Alterra Village, 56 kilometers] [Camping grounds, 35 kilometers] And finally, pointing East, [Bright Village, 10 kilometers] "It''s really specific¡­" Shawn commented though he was mostly impressed. "So we''re likely in aborigine area now, right?" Shawn said. After all, there was no way fellow Terrans could be so connected like this, let alone have resources to create pathways more than a hundred kilometers long in total. "I''m kind of scared." The interactions they had with aborigines... were horrible. They were all marked by suffering. And now... they could be heading in territories filled with them! "But... even if they were aborigines.... would they really bother making such helpful signs?" Tim gulped, eyebrows furrowed, but his heart was beating with hope. "Surely, no one would bother doing this just to set traps for refugees?" They all agreed. At this point, even if it S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. was a trap, they''d be willing to go there! A place that could afford to go through all this trouble was probably a well-off one! Sure, there were plenty of dangers being in an aborigine territory, but at least the territories would be handled better. After all, those people lived here, unlike Terrans who were thrown to a whole new world! So, they followed the sign¡ªopting to go to the nearest territory, Bright¡ª for a few more hours. Unfortunately, everything couldn''t be smooth for too long, at least not for them. At some point, they encountered a slightly bigger mob. Their hearts fell, knowing there was no way they could handle this on their own. "Another mob!" Atlas yelled. "Run this way!" He dashed in the direction of the path, throwing whatever meat he had on stock in his space in an attempt to distract them. The others followed his movements, and it really did save a life or two from getting taken right there and there. They ran to the direction the mobs were going. The territory was heading in that direction, and their chance to survive was to head there before the mobs could! "Run! Use all of your strength if you have to!!" They gasped and ran the best they could and soon they saw a wall around 3 meters high!! "Walls!" "We''re here!!!" someone cried, but it paused when they heard the rumbling behind them getting closer. Their hearts beat fast, fearing they wouldn''t be fast enough to reach the safety of the walls before the mobs caught up to them! They were crying at this point, just praying in their hearts to please please please let them arrive on time! Tilda ran faster than anyone else, and she also had no qualms about pushing another survivor back to give herself more time. Squelch! When they heard the familiar sound of flesh being torn and bones being crushed, they could feel that the mob was really on their tails! Hana couldn''t help but look back a bit and her heart almost stopped when she realized the monsters were just a few meters away from them. Because she turned, her peripheral vision caught sight of movements from their side, and gasped when a monster came out from there! Timmy was holding her hand and was running at the edge of the group, making him the monster''s primary target. "Timmy! Watch out!" Her heart clenched and she tried to use her limited strength to pull him in her direction. However, it was too late, the monster''s jaws were too close. Not just to Timmy, but from its movement, she could see it capturing her into its mouth as well! "Kyaaaaa!!" Tim wrapped his arms around her in a vain attempt to protect her. Whoosh! Squelch! They gasped as an arrow went through the monster''s skull, realizing it was from the sentry! Hana¡ªwho was surprisingly level-headed¡ªcontinued to pull him, and they ran forward to the walls together and holding hands. They looked at the 3-meter wall and the number of sentries they could see from their side, taking down the monsters entering their scope one by one! They all cried, going straight to the gate. Their knees buckled and their entire bodies fell down¡ªsmack to the floor¡ªthe moment they reached the threshold. [Welcome to Bright Territory (Lv3)!] Chapter 932 Arrived at a Territory [Welcome to Bright Territory (Lv3). Please pay 15 copper to enter.] They just laid there for several moments before they could move their over-exerted limbs again. "15 copper, eh¡­" Tim said as he laid face down on the paved floor. Like the others, he paid for it without much thought. "That''s pretty affordable¡­" another said. They smiled, just feeling relieved that¡ªat least for now¡ªthey were finally safe. Eventually, they started pushing themselves to sit up one by one. For the most part, there were smiles and light-heartedness between them. However, it was quickly broken by conflict that exploded next to them. Slap! Tilda held her face, and looked at the person with wide eyes. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" They turned to them and saw Laos'' face was filled with tears, his expression livid as he raised his hands again. SLAP! "WHAT!!" Tilda yelled. By instinct, she wanted to go and attack, but Laos was a middle-aged man who was much bigger than she was. He raised his hand to slap her again and this time it was strong enough to cause her to fall on the floor. "Oi, Laos, stop it!" Tim said, forcing himself up to get in between them. However, Laos could not be calmed. His eyes were practically red from anger. He easily pushed Tim¡ªwhose legs were still shaky¡ª away. "She killed Shawn!" he yelled. "I saw her push him towards the monster!" The image was still clear in his mind, and it made him even angrier. "I''m going to kill you, Tilda!" Tilda screamed at the top of her lungs when she realized Laos was truly murderous. However, the man was held back by two other companions, using their weights to hold an arm each. It was surprisingly difficult. Laos was not just a big man, but his anger seemed to fuel him quite a bit. Atlas had to step forward and held his shoulder down. "Don''t do it! Didn''t you read the rules and regulations? There can be no fighting outside the sparring arenas!!" If Laos put any more force, it could trigger that rule! He could get blacklisted or go to prison! "I also saw what she did," he said. He was also angry, but he really didn''t have the energy to care or do anything about it¡ªafter all, he wasn''t planning on staying with them regardless. Laos, on the other hand, had befriended the boy. It was natural that the man would be livid. "Would it be worth it to risk your own safety for a woman like her?" he asked. This seemed to calm Laos a bit, but his eyes were still sharp as he looked at Tilda. Atlas sighed and turned, looking at the woman. "If you want to live, get out of our sights." "What?" Atlas looked at her. "Do you really think we''re going to keep someone who could push us to monsters near us? No one''s an idiot here, Tilda." "Or do you want me to drag you out the gates. Look, it''s only a few steps away. Tilda burst into tears. "You¡ª" She looked up to see there were actually two guards watching them from the battlements! "Help me! Please!" The two guards looked at her weirdly. "You know¡­ we saw everything," one said. "If it was me, I''d throw you out too." Tilda''s heart fell and she looked at everyone who were looking at her in disdain. She sobbed and stood up, running deeper into the territory. Tim watched his sister go and felt complicated. What should he do? In the end, his feet moved forward, as if to follow Tilda deeper into the territory. "Tim?" Hana asked, touching his arm. To be honest, she really hoped that woman would get out of their lives. This was the perfect time to cut her off. "She''s my sister after all," he sighed, looking at her apologetically. "My only blood relative left. You''re coming with me¡­ right? I promise I''ll support you." Hana pursed her lips and, after a thought, she nodded in the end. They turned to go to Atlas and the others, and Tim felt intense shame come upon him. His sister was a murderer, technically, but they were family. In this new world, he couldn''t bear to leave behind a blood relative when he still had one, unlike most others. In any case, as a murderer''s brother, he could only apologize in her stead. "Thank you for everything," he told Atlas. He also bowed a bit at Laos. "I''ll... teach her well," he just said, before they turned away. Their pace was leisurely though, not rushing to follow the older woman, obviously reluctant to actually do so in the first place. Meanwhile, Atlas and the rest of the group looked at each other. They waited for Laos to calm down, which he was thankful for. He needed time to mourn for another lost friend, after all. He and the others shed a few tears for Shawn and the others they lost along the way, but they didn''t take too long to gather their bearings. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Since the Migration, they had so many losses, and they got so used to tears they could hold them back quickly enough. At the very least, the mourning could wait until they have settled down. The man heaved deep breaths after a while, temporarily pushing down both the deep sadness as well as the murderous thoughts towards that woman. "I''m not sure we should let that woman be..." Laos said after calming down. Atlas didn''t like Tilda either. "She''ll get herself killed on her own," he said. He had too much on his own plate to become a minister of justice. Unexpectedly, the two watching guards¡ªwho were actually chewing on something¡ªstarted talking to them then. They were aborigine guards¡ªthey could tell by their appearance and the language they used¡ªwhich pretty much confirmed their thoughts that this was a native territory. However, they seemed friendly enough, which was such a relief for them. "People like that can''t be avoided," one of the guards said. "Rather, a lot of them survive for so long because of their selfishness." "I see tons of them, especially in the previous territories I guarded before." "You can''t risk heart attacks every time you see one of them. They''re buggers with a lot of lives." "Buggers who can kill you," his companion corrected, making him roll his eyes. "You know what I meant." Anyway, Atlas and the others thanked them before following the wide path deeper into the territory. They were greeted by dense forests that framed the wide avenue, and it was obvious that the territory chose not to develop this area too much. During the heatwave, such vast internal forests would''ve been such a relief to have. If Juno had this, a lot of people would not have died from starvation. Then they looked back at the walls that were getting farther away from them. It was a Level 3 wall and had sentries built in every 200 meters, at least by the gates. The visitor payment was worth it. Not only was it cheaper than Juno''s, but they were also so much protected. Was it because it was an aborigine territory? Regardless, that didn''t matter¡­ they were finally in a safer place, and they survived after so long¡ªthey ought to live well! Chapter 933 Actually a Terran Territory! They realized that, although they were in a dense forest area within the wall, there was actually a wide avenue that greeted them. It was around eight or nine meters wide¡ªwhich was really wide¡ªand it looked like a pathway leading to either a fantasy land or somewhere creepy. It also reflected the duality of what they were feeling now. They were now obviously in a safer place, at least compared to the outside, but how¡ªbeing around scary aborigines¡ªwould their lives be after? Somehow they encountered Tim and Hana again, which was¡­ awkward. They just nodded at each other as if they didn''t just say their goodbyes in vague terms and pretended to just be two groups walking along the same path to keep the peace. They continued to walk on with uncertainty in their steps and soon, they encountered their first foragers in the forest. "Excuse us," Atlas called the nearest person, and they looked over before walking towards them. Now that they saw him nearby, they realized that he was miles better than they were. He was thin, but not skin and bones, and their skins were not nearly as dry or flaking as theirs. Was he an aborigine? The ones who attacked them were taller than they were. Perhaps he was a slave? But a slave that was doing better than they were meant this place wasn''t bad. But¡­ what if they become slaves themselves? As people who didn''t know much about this place, they naturally went into a lot of scary assumptions. "What is it?" The person asked, and then looked at them up and down. "Terrans?" They flinched and looked at him. "Are you Terran?" He looked at them weirdly. Wasn''t it obvious? "Oh, sure, we''re all Terrans here." Their eyes widened and looked at each other. The man shook his head and just pointed at the path. "Just walk along this avenue, you''ll be able to reach the village proper soon." He then waved them away as he kneeled back down, filling the basket on his back with twigs and small rocks to sell in the Village Center. Seeing as the person didn''t want to bother with them anymore, Atlas and the others continued their way with unknown expectations. Their pace hastened a bit when they began to hear the distant sound of people, and soon the forest opened up to civilization. They gaped as they looked at the dense buildings and streets bustling with activity that greeted them. It was not only less dense than Juno, but it was also cleaner and refreshing to look at. The dominant buildings were also 2-stories tall and they had a consistent aesthetic which was pleasing to look at. There were even some patches of green in between, framing the entire place and balancing it, and it was truly reminiscent of their peaceful times back in Terran. Most importantly¡ªit was the people themselves who caught their attention. They were Terrans, but they all looked decent even after that disaster. They had bright eyes and wide smiles on their faces, living life as if the world wasn''t trying to kill them every moment it could. Their hearts lightened. However, as they walked along the streets, people started noticing them. When they did, they would stare and frown, immediately looking at them with pity. A lot of pity. The newcomers flinched, feeling conscious. Just¡­ how bad did they look? They couldn''t help but look at each other. They did not have mirrors, but they could at least see each other. Compared to the locals here, they really¡­ looked like beggars. No, even beggars looked better than they did. Before, they couldn''t quite register it because they had been used to the person''s appearance for weeks that it went over their heads. However, next to the ''healthier'' people around them, they came to realize just how unsightly they looked. Hana, who had always paid attention to her appearance, almost cried. At some point, a couple of locals even gave them a couple of copper coins each and they didn''t know what to feel. "There''re cheap food in our marketplace," one of the kindhearted people said. "It''s just around the corner." Some people wanted to say they were not beggars, but then their stomachs rumbled and no voice came out so they couldn''t actually utter the words. In the end, they realized they shouldn''t think too much of pride right now. They simply thanked the kind-hearted folks and followed the instructions, eventually reaching the so-called ''Bright Marketplace''. Micheal stayed a long time in Alterra when he lost his territory. This gave him time to study Alterra more intimately. When he got the token back, he created a version of the marketplace and moved the stall owners there. It was much smaller than any of Alterra''s, but it was still overwhelming for refugees who hadn''t seen good food in months. "Wow¡­" "This is¡­" They were blinded by the array of choices, and their feet moved on their own to explore the Market at their own pace. They decided to just meet up a couple of minutes later somewhere in one of the corner tables. As they did so, they (at least Atlas did) gathered information as well. He was kind enough to tell them what he gathered as they ate. "They have dormitories," he said, making the others stare at him. "It only costs 5 copper a day." "So affordable!" Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Atlas nodded. "I''m really surprised." In fact, this was more expensive than Alterra. Bright had too many expenditures and did not have nearly as many income-generating industries as Alterra had. No matter how much he tried, he couldn''t handle giving a 1-copper-coin bedspace rent. Still, 5 copper coins were still very affordable, and definitely much better than what the refugees had experienced since coming to this continent. An hour later, when the refugees entered the rooms, they were extremely amazed. At 5 coppers, they were expecting to sleep on the floor. Instead, they got complete furniture! They immediately took a bath for the first time in over a month, resting their backs on the soft bed with a comfortable cushion. As they stared above them¡ªeither at the ceiling or the underside of the bed above¡ªthey couldn''t help but wonder. How long had it been since they slept on a comfortable bed without their stomachs trying to eat itself? They didn''t know anymore. All they knew was that it would be the most comfortable sleep they''d have after a long, long time. For the first time, their bodies finally let go of the tension that had been killing them from the inside¡­, and they couldn''t help but cry. Chapter 934 Esias and Cecil Now that the Heat Wave was finally over, things began to restart in various parts of the world. Of course, while some territories slowly revitalized themselves, there were more that had fallen, especially Terran villages who were completely ill-equipped for such a disaster. This was not only in terms of territory capability or preparedness but also physique. Although Terrans improved their physiques as they upgraded, in terms of adaptation to the local climate, they were still inferior. There were plenty of people who fell due to illnesses, heat strokes, and the like. There were more who fell under the beast mobs. And there were also plenty who fell due to the aborigines'' persistent attacks. It was not surprising that soon after the temperature normalized, the surviving territories received hundreds of new refugees. This was most pronounced about a week after the heatwave. In Bright Territory and Limestone Villages, they received plenty of refugees from the territories West, including survivors from the likes of Juno and Diana Villages. Since they lost in their wars, their resources and strength had taken major dives. How could they handle something like the heat wave? There were also new Juno refugees who ran away while they were being attacked by Suka. Some followed Atlas''s technique, while some outright just ran away. The Eastern neighbour Belluga, on the other hand, received refugees from east and northeast territories. This was led by a group of soldiers, most were actually from Eden. One of these was Esias, an aging man with a good build and intimidating aura. Walking beside him was Cecil, a middle-aged woman with dark skin, who was also his partner. If the Witts were here, they''d recognize the officers as the two people who visited their house after their parents'' deaths, informing them about their passing. This time, they were leading a group of hundreds of people¡ªtheir former citizens. When the Migration happened, they were transferred with dozens of other officers along with about a hundred civilians. Among the civilians, there was a person who received the lord token. The person was quite the braggart, announcing what he received and what was needed to have it. However, before he could do anything, a monster mob appeared. Their group was big and had relatively high potential, so this meant that the monster mob near them was proportionally troublesome. They came by too fast and too strongly. The poor braggart wasn''t fast enough to activate the token, and they weren''t able to save him before his head entered the mouths of beasts. Fortunately, Esias, Cecil, and the rest had guns. With these weapons, they managed to save the majority of the people around them. Still, there were too many monsters and they were far stronger than the zombies they had dealt with. Even upgraded zombies could not compare. They knew that their energies, and bullets, would be drained if they didn''t do anything about it. They made a split decision to take the token. The man said that it was supposed to create a safe haven of sorts, and a safe haven was what they desperately needed at the time. The officers covered for Esias as he approached the man''s corpse. He was waving around the token when he died, so Esias didn''t have a hard time finding it. He activated it as soon as he could, and the 1 kilometer area was surrounded by a heavy aura after a blink. The monsters roared, as if in pain, and immediately scurried away from them. Cecil blinked when a plant near her also disappeared. It was quite mysterious. It was only a momentary peace of course. The thing was, money that died with a person stayed with the person. That was to say, no one had a thousand or more gold in them. This alone posed a great challenge to them. What could they do with a territory when they didn''t have enough money to build much? However, with Esias leadership¡ªand the cooperation of his fellow officers¡ªthey managed to solicit enough funds to build a wall with some sentries, as well as some houses. They had to swear oaths in the center of course, and people became shareholders in the territory. While this arrangement was risky, Esias was wise and was able to avoid most mishaps, with the citizens not acting up too much even with their positions. With Esias'' leadership and strength, this heavily disadvantaged territory managed to survive through to the end of the protection period somehow. Another factor was that they were located rather deep into the Protection Area. Because of this, they were given more time to prepare against stronger mobs as well as aborigine attacks compared to others. Unfortunately, while they did very well, two successive wars ultimately forced them out their territory. The first war was just before the heat wave. They managed to defeat the enemy¡ªbarely¡ªbecause they kept their guns when they realized the effect was limited against beasts. It proved to be the wisest decision because the guns were still effective against humans below level 10, saving many lives and ultimately winning that war. Esias and Cecil both awakened their elements during this war, with Esias awakening the earth element while Cecil with water. The second war was a lot more unfortunate, which happened during the Heat Wave. They had no more guns and they were extremely weak because of the heat and hunger. The aborigines were much more adjusted and they had slaves to weaken them even before the main party entered. They were crushed. The lord himself was there, apparently also desperate for resources. This was a village with similar dryness as Juno''s, so apparently their territory¡ª despite its poorness¡ªwas still a good option to attack for them. The lord found him and wanted his token. Esias threatened to destroy the token with his remaining gun, and he managed to strike a deal instead. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. To save everyone''s lives, he had to give up the token. While not everyone came with him¡ªmost didn''t¡ªthere were still a few hundreds who did. And they had lived like nomads ever since. Chapter 935 Esias Ability Esias and the others were let go during the night. This meant that they had to be the ones to deal with the mobs, or at least a portion of it. From the get-go, they lost a big portion¡ªmostly because many people backed out in coming with them, while there were also those who died under the claws of monsters. Fortunately, Esias had scouted the area around his territory well¡ªit was a professional habit¡ªthrough the months he had been there. He knew where there the depressions and climbs were, where they could hide, and so on. As such¡ªalthough they did, tragically, lose a handful of people¡ªthere were still more people who survived long enough until daylight arrived¡­ wherein their problem was how to live through the heat for at least an entire day. For most people, this would be a hopeless situation. They did not know where they could go, and they barely had any food or water left in their spaces. They were tired, parched, and hungry¡ªhow would they survive? More than that, they had to deal with the extreme heat in the mornings and they had to deal with monsters at night¡ªall without the protection of even the lowest-level walls. Fortunately, those who came with Esias in the first place¡ªeven after the terror of the outside¡ªwere all people with strong wills. No one who was planning to be a leech would voluntarily go with banished people obviously being fed directly into monsters'' mouths. Anyway, with an overall positive atmosphere, they managed to get through the following tribulations mostly intact. They created temporary roofs to cover their heads and they traveled like this for days, surviving with the little water they had and whatever Celia could create. At the same time, Esias and the others would always find places to hide just before night came. Esias was an earth user while Celia was a water user, so they could create mud together to fortify whatever roof or cover they could get. The two of them also had Class A Potentials, so their mana reservoirs as well as the efficiency with which they used their powers were far superior to most. Otherwise, they''d have lost energy a long time ago. Another thing they did was to keep the monster feces they encountered in their spaces. It was disgusting, but when night came, they would put it out around where they were hiding and the monsters would pass by them. It affected their psyche and killed them from the inside, but at least they didn''t get eaten by monsters. Of course, for those who were tasked to keep the feces in their spaces (they got the short straws), the exchange was debatable. "Well, it''s not like you''ve got anything in there anyway," one of the soldiers said when his companion complained about it. "You don''t have anything either, right? Why don''t we change that?" The soldier''s eyes twitched as he walked farther away from the other man, though his arms were still raised as he helped support the flaking ''roof'' above their heads. He sighed when he ended up in a spot with a hole, so the sun''s rays directly landed on his arm, stinging it a bit. "I wonder if we could get skin cancer here¡­" he wondered. "Possibly," Celia said, looking at her very dark skin. "But I think I''m safe." "..." Anyway, this went on for another day or two until Esias suddenly paused his steps. "Esias?" Celia called, causing the man turned to her with bright eyes. He then looked down, using his ability to sense the vibration of the ground below. They were not heading in a direction aimlessly. All this time, they were heading to where Esias surmised water could be. Every couple hundred meters, Esias would use his ability to feel the vibration of the soil underneath him. Very dry soil vibrated differently from soil that was slightly more compact¡ªeven if the difference was minuscule. More compacted soil meant there was some humidity keeping them together, and they had always been heading toward where there was increasing compactness¡ªeven if the difference was almost impossible to detect. He used it so expertly and so often that his awakened skill [Earth Mapping] leveled up to the point that he could feel up to 15 meters below ground. After another hour or so, they actually found a small valley with an underground spring! Immediately, Esias and the other earth users dug a hole, creating a well where they could finally get their fill of water! It looked like a small depressed basin that had dried during the heat wave. However, because of the fact that there was probably a shallow pond there before, it was richer than other places outside territories by comparison. At the same time, because of the underground water source, the trees there were slightly healthier than others. The leaves had some moisture in them and could somewhat fill their empty stomachs already on the verge of imploding on themselves! They cried as this bit of hope finally introduced itself and they drank their fills and ate whatever leaves they could find¡ªmaking sure they weren''t poisonous, of course. However, it was really not a big place¡ªthe group of them could barely fit in. With earth users'' abilities, they rushed to dig a tunnel big enough to hold them. It was very crowded, but it was better than taking on the direct sun or holding up roofs with their arms for an entire day. They could barely lift their arms when dusk came. In any case, in their new camp, they fought off a small mob to take their meat to cook and eat. After a quick dinner, they placed the monster feces a distance away from them, as they always had. The area was wide though so it could not entirely cover them, so they still had to keep their guards up through the night, doing shifts to rest. Of course, even if monsters did find them¡ªespecially if they were coming from the upwind direction¡ªthe numbers shouldn''t be too big. As long as they had enough rest and eaten their fills, Esias and the others believed they should be able to handle them. Most of them were fighters, after all, and it would be a shame if they fell at this juncture! The group also used some of the fallen wood from the fight to extend the mouth of the cave forward. It was still sizzling during the day, but at least they were no longer squeezed in with everybody else''s body heat, making it much more tolerable. The day had become more tolerable now, and at night the small mobs that came their way would be their source of protein. They lived like this for the next few days. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. No one believed they would settle there, nor were they naive to think they could stay for long. The resources refreshed very slowly during this heat, so they would quickly use up the little bit of edible plants in there. They soon had to start rationing again. They also had to keep some of the meat they got at night in the spaces to stockpile as sustenance. It was, in no way, easy to live like this. However, it was their little paradise and¡ªfor now¡ªit was good enough. Chapter 936 Sheilas Family The heat wave ended about a week after they settled in this small place. They were extremely happy at first, with many of them just laying down in the sun for a while. However, the disappearance of the Extreme Heat meant¡­ that there were a lot more monsters all throughout the day. Not to mention, the basin had began to fill with water again, making it even more attractive to monsters. Another challenge was that the poisonous bugs were active again. They would bite people out of nowhere, and if the poison got too bad¡ªand if the victim was too weak¡ªthen even Cecil''s healing ability could no longer fix it. Regardless, they knew they could no longer sustain living so openly. A territory was still necessary in the end and they had no choice but to become nomads once more. They were lucky that the heat wave, at least, was over and all they had to worry about was the mobs and the insects, which wasn''t easy, but they had better chances now because they had the resources to make sure their bodies had the energy to handle their enemies. They headed south, handling whatever the world decided to throw at them, losing a few, but overall keeping strong. Eventually, they found walls and sentries and their hearts lifted. They used the last bit of strength to rush forward, falling down in relief as they passed the threshold. [Welcome to Belluga Village! Please pay 15 Copper] They couldn''t stay on the ground for long though. They realized they were in a public place and they had to drag themselves to the side, admiring the activity that greeted them as soon as they entered. Unexpectedly, people started approaching them with food and drinks, selling the goods for affordable prices!! They naturally bought as much as they could carry, and their eyes teared up a bit as they consumed the most delicious food they had since migrating here! They gobbled up their food with such a heart, not noticing that a group of handsome men had arrived. "Milord! Sir Suide! Sir Orland!" They paused their eating (some were still chewing) and they raised their heads to see a striking trio standing not far from them, just watching them eat like idiots at the side of the road. The one in the middle¡ªthe shortest one¡ªstepped forward with a smile, heading straight to Esias. "Welcome," The androgynous man said. "My name is Raine. I am the lord here. "Would you like to join me for some tea?" ¡­ S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Like Belluga, Shrao Village also received a lot of the Terran refugees from the North. After all, there were also plenty of Villages North of Shrao Village, all of which were Terran territories. Among the refugees happened to be Sheila''s family or, more specifically, her father and her brother, Albert and Sheldon, respectively. Albert was a fifty-plus-year-old man with a curly beard and hair, made even curlier during the Extreme Heat. He looked like the typical dad, especially so before the heat wave wherein he still had a belly. On the other hand, Sheldon was a meek 13-year-old lad with a thin physique. His body language reeked of an inferiority complex, which really didn''t help when they were facing life-and-death situation. Sheila''s mother, unfortunately, turned into a zombie during the first transformation. She tried to eat her husband, and he accidentally pushed her off their balcony in his shock. He activated the system then, realizing that he had really killed his own wife. However, he could not grieve for too long. After all, he had his children to find. He didn''t find them, unfortunately, until the Migration. He found his son when a Terran village attacked theirs and he¡­ was a meatshield. His heart dropped whenever he saw the boy near a blade or an arrow, almost seeing his own son killed right in front of him. Albert cried, begging the lord and the guards not to kill him. Fortunately, they won that war and the enemy slaves became their own slaves. He approached the lord to see if he could free his son from slavery. The lord agreed¡ªjust before deciding to milk him for all he was worth. He asked for a full 8 gold from him. He and his wife were hoarders who did not trust digital money. It was why he had gold in the first place. Although it wasn''t much, but those 8 pieces of gold were all he had. He would later find out that the lord could see how much money they had and he purposely demanded to get all of his. However, even if he knew, so what? What could he do? The two father-and-son could only succumb and live like beggars for a while. During the heat wave, their old territory was attacked. It was by aborigines. In their perspective, these aborigines were incredibly strong, and even their strongest guards were no match to any of them! The father-son duo somehow managed to escape with all their limbs intact. They didn''t even look back, not feeling too bad for the lord who was eventually killed by the enemies. They had been traveling for a few days with hundreds of other refugees¡ªa mix from various territories¡ª and, like them, they cried as soon as they finally saw a wall standing strong. Then they entered and saw how¡­ nice the place was, and they couldn''t help but sob even more. When Albert cried, his whole face scrunched. When he tried wiping his tears, it ended up spreading it instead. Sheldon, on the other hand, sniffled a lot, but was otherwise very quiet. "Let''s hope this place is better," Albert said, and the others nodded. "I wonder how sister is¡­" Sheldon mumbled as he looked around the nice place. "I hope she''s alright." Albert nodded, hoping that the girl would survive all this. At the very least, she should be able to handle her own wounds, right? But¡­ he still worried a lot. That girl was too meek. She was definitely being bullied! What he didn''t know was that Sheila was indeed being ''bullied'' but in a very, very, different way by her husband. Chapter 937 Finding Clues A/N: FIVE CHAPTERS TODAY (11/16/24) everyone! Thank you soo much for your support! Hopefully, we''re T1 until the month ends! T_T ... ___At this, he couldn''t help but worry about the girl and nag her in his mind at the same time. Why did she have to work so far from home, anyway? Look at them now, unable to find each other... He should have put his foot down when she said she wanted to work in the City! Obviously, there were perfectly good clinics in their suburban area! What ''widen her world'', what ''see the city'', and what ''meet new people''? She could barely interact with people without flinching! The City was such a different world from what she was used to. She was so meek and indecisive¡­ wouldn''t she just be pushed around? Now¡­ they were in a world where it would be near-impossible for a personality like that to live well, and he could only hope that she encountered a miracle! At the same time, he couldn''t help but take a peek at his son. He was looking around with awe, though his eyes were still a bit red from sniffling. Den, one of the friends he made along the way, couldn''t help but look at Sheldon and shake his head. "Goodness, after so long, he''s still a crybaby." Albert felt a bit embarrassed, but he didn''t know what to say. "He''s¡­ still adjusting," was all he said. "We''ll get better soon." Den patted his shoulder. "You know, it''s good to do tough love sometimes. Being too soft on the kids might not do them well." This made his feet pause and frown. His eyes couldn''t help but shift to his son, who had always been passive. Because he had such a passive personality, he and his wife often decided things for him. They decided where he should go to school, what extracurriculars he should pursue, how he should behave in front of their friends, and what time he had to be home every day. This was the same with Sheila¡­ They pushed that line of work to her because it was a stable job that wouldn''t replaced easily by technology. Most importantly, it would make sure she could take care of her own body. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She could also take care of them, so they could guide her for as long as they could. That was their reasoning, but¡­ was it correct? He bit his lips as a realization¡ªone that he had been pushing down¡ªslowly crept upon him. This thought had been inkling at the back of his head for a while, but he was too busy to survive to do any more introspection. Had they been too¡­ soft? While trying to protect and help their kids, did they hinder their growth instead? If something happened to them¡­ he couldn''t help but feel that he had something to do with it, and it made him feel even more heavy than he already was. He wondered if¡­ he should''ve pushed them more. If he had, would they have been stronger people? Would they have been able to handle the real world better? "Dad?" Sheldon called on to him. He had apparently been left behind by their group without them noticing. He looked at his sniffling son who was now entering his teenage years, and then he looked around him¡ªthere were many people there, some watching their movements. He also saw young children around his son''s age. They were also thin, but their eyes seemed to have flares to them. "A-Ah, nothing," he said, just patting the boy''s head as he guided him forward. The father-and-son looked around and saw the territory was much better than their old one and they were relieved, thinking they might have found a really good place. However, they realized that most of the people here were tall on average, and their features were slightly sharper than theirs. They also spoke using a different language. They could understand it thanks to the system, but they could tell it was not Terran. "What? Is this an Aborigine village?" Sheldon voiced out, making Albert frown. They looked at each other with heavy hearts. Then again, they should''ve known. How could fellow Terrans¡ªwho had arrived the same time as they did¡ªbuild something so good and long-lasting? Still¡­ they really didn''t think too much about it before. After all, they were just focused on finding a wall! Their heaviness was worsened when they looked around, receiving some looks¡ªrealizing that some of them weren''t very friendly. They felt scared, their experiences with aborigines were all bloody. Should they escape? Escape where ? They were all panicking at this time, already trying to find a way to save themselves. However, when some people nearby started talking about them, they couldn''t help but flinch a bit. "Those damned refugees¡­ did you see? They''re probably one of those Terran guys." "They look weak compared to the others, though." "Does it matter? They''re just a hateful bunch." They turned to see it was a man with a straw on his mouth. He was very badass-looking, and he made no effort in hiding how much he disliked Terrans. The men beside him were no different, all looking at them with annoyance. Albert gulped and stepped forward. Sheldon flinched and held his arms, but he shook his head. He was shaking a bit, but he knew they had no choice. He¡­ he also wanted to show his son that¡­ they could play active roles, even in this world where they were weak. Even if he was terrified enough he was on the verge of peeing. "Er¡­ we''re sorry for what others did¡­ but we assure you we are not like them," he paused, trying to keep a straight¡ªbut polite¡ªface. "Can you tell us¡­ if there''s a Terran village nearby?" This caused the aborigines'' frown to deepen and Albert was sure he peed a bit under their stare. At this, some other Terrans also followed his lead. They even handed the aborigine men some silver they had. It was led by none other than his friend Den. "Please tell us more¡ªabout the Terrans you speak of," Den said, similarly nervous. At this point, they were all just hoping they didn''t get killed in the process. The man looked at them for a while and didn''t speak. For a moment, they thought they wasted their silver. Some people behind them had already stepped back, as if ready to run away at a moment''s notice. Fortunately, in the end, the men did tell them information¡ªimportant ones. "Terran Villages, eh? We''re surrounded by them," he said. "This territory is subsidiary to one, in fact." Albert and the others'' eyes widened, and they looked at each other in disbelief. What? Chapter 938 More Refugees from the South From the South of Alterra and Bright Villages were aborigine villages. While they already received many refugees from the south, it was by no means the majority of them yet. At this time, a group of hundreds of refugees traveled northwards. They were from various villages along the drying river, meeting somewhere along the way. Although it was slowly recovering, it happened too late and too many territories had fallen. They fought monster mobs after monster mobs and the leading teams frowned as they noticed something. "Are the monsters getting weaker?" The de-facto leader, a thirty-year-old Guard by the name of Fossu, said with furrowed eyebrows. He had a large build and dark red hair. He was also a very rare elementalist among villagers. His teammates fought alongside him, some of whom they met just recently, but the bond of life and death experiences was strong. Together, they took down a level 6 monster with relative ease. When he said this, they looked at him oddly. "That is a bad thing?" Fossu heaved a sigh and manifested earth spikes, stabbing two more monsters so they could easily get handled by the civilians. "It''s not exactly a good thing," he corrected, "It means we''re getting farther from a town." As people from fallen villages, they naturally wanted to relocate to towns instead. Going to another village¡­ what if it just falls again?! This made everyone look even more worried. "Do we turn back then?" The people who had been to a town had all unfortunately perished. Since a few days back, they were dependent on what they had heard about the direction of towns. Buying the map from the others was too expensive¡ªthey barely had a few silvers left at the time¡ªbut then they lost these people from monster mobs. "Let''s¡­ check a bit more," another person said. "If they survived after so long, the village might not be too bad." Fossu thought for a moment before nodded. This made sense, and to be honest they really didn''t have much of a choice. Sometime during the day, someone from their group paused their steps, pointing in a direction of a tree. "What is that?" They turned to look at a piece of wood plank with writing embedded in it. Curiously, they stared at it for a few seconds. Without realizing, they felt the urge to just go nearer and take a look. A signage? There were odd symbols, but there were also some familiar ones. Unfortunately, most of them weren''t literate so they couldn''t read it. Fossu walked forward to take a look. He had reached level 10, and therefore awakened, in his mid-20s. Although he didn''t get formal schooling, as the only elementalist in his family, he became the pride of the community. His family pooled in much of their resources to get him to one of those reading schools which only the better-off villagers could afford. They made sure he could get the best resources they could afford. His family didn''t hesitate to give him this, despite having to be stingy with their own food. He saw their sacrifice and appreciated it so much, and he worked much, much, harder than others in order not to disappoint them. Despite being in a village, he gained his level¡ªlevel 14¡ªwhen he was not even 30 yet. His family was so proud of him, and they tried pushing him to explore the bigger world¡ªthat was to say: Towns. However, he decided to stay for a bit longer in the village. One, he wanted to strengten himself more. More importantly, he wanted to make sure his family had enough savings. He gave them all his earnings as the lord''s top guard, hoping it would support them even when he was gone. After all, he didn''t know where he was going to get hired. What if it was far away? He naturally had to settle his family safely first before heading out. Later on though, he realized they saved much of it anyway, so they could give him a much-needed allowance. After all, the cost of living in Towns was much higher than their small village. He sobbed a bit but adamantly refused the money. He simply promised that he would live well when he moved to a Town, and he''d come to visit as often as he could. In fact, before the Heat Wave, he was about to go to a nearby town to get hired in a Chancery. It was fortunate that he wasn''t. He couldn''t imagine what would happen to his family if he hadn''t been there to protect them. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although their territory didn''t survive, he had his family¡ªhis carpenter dad, his mum, and his 10-year-old little brother¡ªand that was already a happy thing that could still make him smile even during the hottest of weathers. "It says ''Alterra Village this way''," he said, impressing the others. His dad laughed, patting his back. "As expected of my son!" he yelled, proud as always. His mother and little brother similarly looked smug at his feat. He scratched his cheek in embarrassment, pushing down a cheeky smile. He cleared his throat and looked around, donning a serious expression. "Should we follow?" "I think so?" "Maybe it''s a trap? Haven''t you heard about ''those'' villages?" A woman with dark skin and very curly hair mumbled, looking at the de facto leader in concern. Fossu looked at Fona, his lover. She looked at him with wide eyes filled with worry and fear, already fearing the worst. Before, it was relatively uncommon for cannibalism to occur, but since the heat wave, the resources became extremely scarce. There were many villages that had turned to harvesting the next resource available: Humans. Fona was from one of these villages. Before, when they heard that some villages like Hasa Village began to eat people, they despised them. However, when the resources had become too scarce and the mobs were becoming too difficult to deal with due to their weaknesses, the hunger and thirst soon got into people''s heads. They became more open with exploring new¡­ avenues to fill their stomachs. Chapter 939 The Cannibals of Xeno Trigger Warning: Mild Gore. It''s mild, I swear! I almost made it graphic, but I didn''t. You''re welcome. ;) ... ____ The citizens had begun to eat people, eat their meat, and drink their blood. They were disgusted at first, but as the hunger, thirst, and desperation hit, the taste changed and they started to prefer it. Fona only survived because Fossu and the others passed through the village and were targeted to become the next meal. It wasn''t the first time they did so, and Fona felt so disgusted whenever it happened. The only positive was that, because many people started preferring humans, the other resources had become less scarce. She survived the heat wave with that. However, while her body was surviving, her heart was not. It was worse when refugees arrived to their place. What was supposed to be a hopeful event became the start of a tragedy. At first, she would see the relief on their faces when they finally found a territory. The next moment, she would see the looks of despair on their faces as they found out the place was even more dangerous than the outside!! She wanted to warn them so badly, but she was so afraid of becoming the next meal that she ended up being crippled. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. What was worse? Fona was a decent cook, and that was something she was proud of before. But at the time¡­ it became a curse. After all, she had to cook fellow humans! The number of times she gagged while she cooked could not be counted. If something was in her stomach, she''d definitely puke them out. But what could she vomit at the time? Her own organs? In any case, she knew she couldn''t live like that. So when Fossu and the others arrived, she was intent to warn them. She also felt they were stronger than others, so she decided to make a gamble. They arrived just before dusk, completely red from the heat, but surviving thanks to whatever covers or dried leaves they found to cover their heads. She ran to them, surprising everyone. "Run away!" she told them, going straight to the point. "People here will eat you!" "FONAA!" The citizens screamed, and they all went out of their abodes to surround the newcomers. They didn''t care about the boiling heat at this time, but they didn''t want to lose this amount of meat delivering themselves at their doors! It had to be said: the heat and the delusions had gotten into the minds of the villagers. Did they think these hundred people would just stand still as they tried to slaughter them? Anyway, the villagers didn''t expect the party to be so strong, even having an elementalist. Fona''s fellow villagers naturally got defeated¡ªharshly¡ªand she thickened her face and begged, offering everything just so they take her away from the place. They did take her away, though the leader didn''t seem interested in taking her as his woman. However, a few other men asked if they could have her instead. She didn''t react too strongly¡ªshe did say she was willing to give everything¡ªshe still felt scared and sad. While she knew what she offered, she had at least thought it would be Fossu¡ª someone who she deemed was righteous and genuinely kind. Fossu turned to look at her and then at the men looking lecherously at her. "It''s up to her," was all he said, and she could only look at him in shock. She was technically at their bidding, did she still have a choice? At the time, she was just sad, thinking Fossu simply did not want to deal with her issue. However, time did show that¡­ she really did have a choice. She was soon treated like the other women. They were weak and expected to look after the basics and cook for the men. The ones with lovers were also expected to pleasure their men, but with Fossu there, no one was forced to do anything they didn''t want to. His parents and little brother were also lovely people, and she didn''t remember ever meeting people quite like them. In any case, for the next couple of days after they met, Fossu continued to lead them forward. He would handle the most dangerous enemies while at the same time helping others with their battles, inspiring them to fight for themselves. In time, Fona began to have genuine feelings for the man. She didn''t know why but when she confessed, he accepted her feelings, eventually becoming lovers. She wished her sister Ferra was with her. 1 Unfortunately, she was traded to another village as early as the beginning of the heat wave. They were twins who always seemed to have similar luck. She was fortunate to have met Fossu. Hopefully, she also met her own love and protector. In any case, since she went through so much, she was really worried that her life¡ªwhich had slowly begun stabilizing thanks to these people¡ªwould get compromised. Even if they didn''t have a home and got attacked by mobs every few hours, Fona oddly thought it was much more stable than it was back in her home village. She was naturally scared that things would change once more. What if they were surrounded by that kind of people again? What if they were stronger? People who could make signs like this would be superior to her own weak village! If a fight explodes, how many people would they lose? Fossu saw her worries and patted her shoulder. "With these weak monsters, it should only be a village. Don''t worry, we won''t enter head-on anymore. We''ll study the place thoroughly before doing anything." Fona nodded, albeit not entirely reassured, and the party continued to follow the signs. They soon encountered a path¡ªwhich was amazing in its own way¡ªwhich they followed, eventually ending up in an area with a low makeshift fence surrounding it. Fossu looked at the side and saw another signage. "Camping Grounds," he read out loud, not knowing what it meant. What¡­ is this place? Appeared in Shinho chapter (another set of refugees during heat wave) Chapter 940 A Weird Place A/N: So I see a lot of people guessing that the next big arc is the Town Upgrade! It''s true, BUT because there''ll be a short time skip, I need to settle a few things before we head there. So... manage your expectations! Getting so far into the story, you probably have an idea how long the next big arc will actually commence lololol ... ____ S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fossu stepped forward, using his earth ability to check if there were traps. He found that everything was just typical soil, though he noted that the makeshift fences were really dug deep, so they were relatively durable. "It''s safe for now," he said. "There''s no notification, either. I think¡­ this isn''t a territory¡­" "What?" the others said, going past the threshold. They came in groups though, just in case. Of course, the place wasn''t big, so the hundred or so of them quickly filled up the entire place. After observing a bit, they came to the same conclusion as Fossu. But¡­ why would a non-territory be in a place like this? "...this is it?" His father asked, looking at the flimsy 1-yard-tall fence that probably only served as a rough delineation. They then turned to look at the sheds, as well as a group of stones arranged in a circular manner with something at the center. "Is this¡­ black metal?" "In the middle of nowhere?" "What a waste¡­" one said, trying to pull it and failing to do so. "Ah, it''s tied¡­" "How strange¡­" Some people studied each element of the place, while most just found themselves a seat somewhere to rest. Soon, someone found the stone box placed near one of the trees and shrubs. "What is this?" he asked. A lot of people nearby turned to him, looking over his shoulder. More and more people gathered to see, with someone nudging it with his feet. "Well, it''s obviously a stone box," he concluded, crossing his arms. "Ah yes, we''re not blind. We can see that." "Open it up." "No, you do it." "You found it." "So, contribute. Open it." After playing a classic game of rock, leaf, and dagger, a loser was determined. The aforementioned loser would be the sacrifice to open the box. Leaning back as far as he could¡ªjust in case¡ªthe sacrifice carefully opened the lid. Flop! The lid landed elsewhere and nothing dangerous came out of it. The people heaved a sigh of relief, immediately converging to explore its contents. They took sticks to move the items around, just to be safe, and were relieved to see that everything appeared safe for now. Some brave souls soon took these items into their hands to see, and soon Fossu and the others also arrived to check what the commotion was about. Inside the box, there were various bottles (very high quality compared to what they had encountered), unfamiliar packages, and what some people recognized as rare parchment. "It''s a little thin though," one of the older ones mumbled, having touched parchment due to working under the lord at the time. "So many writings¡­" Fona mumbled, "I wish I could read¡­" Fossu smiled at her, "I can teach you." At this, a little boy appeared next to them, jumping up with pride. "Brother taught me! I can also read!" The couple chuckled, with Fona patting his small head. "Wow, Fonfon is very good." The little boy grinned, making the adults chuckle. Anyway, they handed the ''parchment'' to the only literate one there¡ªFossu. Like before, there were unfamiliar symbols but there were also text that he could recognize. It was written smaller than what he was used to, so Fossu took a while to read its contents. As soon as he understood all he could, he read it out loud. "Paying forward," he paused. "You can use whatever you need, but use just enough¡ª and try to leave some for others!" Fossu had no idea what it meant, but he felt good about it. After the first set of refugees who went to Alterra after the Heat Wave, a team actually went and improved this place while they were hunting. The next day, another team noticed this and did the same, adding some items into the Communal Chest. The Communal Chest was made larger, more durable, and even waterproof. They added sections that would divide things according to use like sauces, dried meat, noodles, and non-edible stuff like a few sheets of paper for messaging others. They also figured that there would be aborigines who wouldn''t know how to use these so someone actually went ahead to give some instructions and some basic ingredients! "They said we could add this on meat," Fossu mumbled, pointing at some of the sauces. Interestingly, the liquids in the bottles were also tagged and titled in both languages. The others were naturally reluctant to completely let down their guards. "Is it even safe?" "I don''t know¡­" "They also said you can make fire with that," Fossu said, this time pointing at the circular metallic pot in the middle. They were already confused about what the black iron was for. Apparently, it was for communal cooking? They may not use the sauce due to suspicions, but they could at least use the tools to make fire. After much debate, they ended up using them though for a few pieces of meat they got from the mobs before. Fona, an amateur cook, led this after Fossu read the instructions to her. She was desperate to replace the horrible memories from before with good ones, so exploring a new taste seemed to be a good way to do so. Soon, a rich aroma spread around, causing everyone to stop speaking, and just focus on the meat skewers displayed enticingly in front of them. Some level-headed ones were a bit worried for mobs it could attract, but their stomachs still grumbled. When it was done, many ''brave self-sacrificing'' souls volunteered to try it out. Fona could only chuckle, handing them a stick each to sink their teeth to. Without exemption, their eyes all went wide. "This is¡­" "DELICIOUS!" The exclamaitions naturally got more and more people curious to try it out. Eventually, Fossu and his family also took a few pieces, and they were all surprised at the flavor that seemed to shake their souls. Small mobs were naturally attracted by their commotion, but instead of being worried, they became excited. Why? Because the meat they had was gone! Fossu watched as the citizens suddenly became brave and couldn''t help but feel amazed. His eyes shifted back to the box in wonder. How magical ¡­ "Where¡­ did they say these came from?" Fona asked, similarly curious. His parents also looked at him, wondering if he knew. "Is it a town?" His father asked. Was a town nearby? If so, then why were the monsters so manageable? Fossu narrowed his eyes and looked closely at the letters again, recalling the signages they encountered before. More likely than not, these all came from the same place. "Alterra?" he mumbled, recalling what was written in the sign. "It''s likely from a place called Alterra Village." A place that could place signages so far away, create paths, and create little places like this in the middle of nowhere¡­ must be extraordinary. They had never heard of it, but¡­ they were certainly looking forward to seeing it for themselves! Chapter 941 Mobbed Across the globe, territories handled the disaster in their own way. Some managed to triumph it, while some fell because of it. There were also villages that had survived the heat wave and the mobs better than others¡ªbut not against the territories looking to revitalize themselves by stealing from them. Calming Village was one of these villages. They had just barely-won a war just before the Heat Wave ended, and now they had to deal with another one just a few days later. First of all, none of the Mercenary team soldiers like Ryan or Orz could fight in the wars. They could help during beast mobs, but wars were tricky business due to the level limits. The best they could do was to thin out the enemies, ideally by half at least, outside the territory. They were limited by trapping the enemies and making them lose consciousness in order to avoid the risk of penalties. This had worked well in the past wars. Adding to the many soldiers and stronger citizens, Calming Village had become a force to be reckoned with in the area. However, there was a difference in this war. The enemies had obviously prepared for them. When the war was announced, the strong soldiers settled outside, prepared for whatever sneaked in¡ªthis was something they always did. They were wearing some makeshift camouflage clothing, as usual, hoping to find weaker enemies to deal with. Of course, they were not arrogant to think the five of them could deal with hundreds, if not thousands, of human mobs that''d get out of the array. They usually employed guerrilla tactics instead, in order to safeguard their lives and limbs. For instance, the five of them were now still on their respective tree branches, waiting for people to fall into their many many traps. These traps were dug by Orz using his earth ability, with Sean using his wood abilities to cover them tightly. They also added some wood spikes below to skewer the enemies. Whether or not the enemies would get killed did not matter. Anyway, as long as they didn''t enter the territory, their ''number'' was not counted. The soldiers weren''t doing these traps to kill; they simply did not want to lose the war. Further, these traps were located near the gate so that there would be people who''d fall in them regardless of where the array appeared. Generally, although gates tended to be the most guarded spots, it was the weakest. Even with the risks, most territories would still send teams to attack a gate or two. The soldiers waited somewhere within the seeing distance of the gate, so wherever they might get transported, they would be there. Soon, mobs of people came as expected, and there were several hundreds of them arriving in their section, running past the trees they were perched at. They watched as the slaves went to attack the gates, many of whom fell into their traps. Of course, all of these people were slaves. They watched as these people were trapped, stabbed, and screamed for their lives. "Ah!" "HELP ME PLEASE!" "AHHH!" It would be a lie to say they didn''t feel sorry for these slaves who were sent to attack first, receiving the bulk of their attacks. However, to each his own, and they needed to be harsh in order for them and their families to survive and live well. ¡­ Somewhere at the back of the line, some enemy citizens watched as their vanguards and meatshields were handled by the enemy. They were a little annoyed by the waste of resources, but they adopted the attitude of observation. Such a strong enemy needed a lot of sacrifices to be dealt with. They primarily observed traps that were activated, surprised to see that there was much more than what they prepared for. "It''s those traps those guys from Hito Village warned us about!" One cursed. "They''re as troublesome as they said!" Hearing this, the Terran soldiers sent each other looks. Hito Village was the latest territory they defeated. It seemed like they already spilled a lot of info to others to retaliate. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Another looked at the continuous screams of their slaves, activating the traps for them. Then they looked at the gate at least a hundred meters away. "Darn! It''s still so far!" One said. How many traps would still get activated? How many slaves would get wasted?! Because of the harsh conditions of the heat wave, a lot of their slaves died. They didn''t have a lot to spare now, and yet so many of them were getting killed even before reaching the walls. The enemy men walked over to the activated traps, seeing the many slaves skewered in sharp spikes. Some of them were still alive and twitching, while some died on impact. The man spit in disgust. "These traps are serious," he said. Those spikes were extremely sharp, and the sheer number of them was impressive. Was it because they had a lot of elementalist? However, that shouldn''t matter as much with the sheer number of people they prepared. Those elementalists were just a handful, and they couldn''t directly attack them. They would take advantage of that. There were hundreds of people behind him coming from the arrays alone, let alone them¡ªpeople beyond the level cap who had arrived on foot. The people from the array were proper citizens. They were thin and wan and definitely greedy for whatever was inside the enemy walls. Although the war was over, their territory suffered excessive losses. By default, most aborigine lords would equate having no resources with having to go to war and get them from others. Orz and the others noticed there were really a lot of things different with this war. For one, there were people obviously beyond the level cap¡ªprobably almost level 20¡ªin the other party, and he was the obvious leader of the attacking party. He was a gruff man with a thick beard named Fang and, by estimate, he should be around level 22 or 23¡ªwhich was more than the soldiers. Other than him, there were at least a handful of people past level 15. They might not be able to enter the territory, but they could definitely become a threat to them, the people camping outside. This was going to get troublesome. Fang narrowed his eyes at the dense forests in front of him. "So many traps near here means that they''re around here somewhere," he said, looking around. "Find them! Spread out!" The soldiers watched as the main forces started separating into smaller groups of at least a dozen people. They looked around at all angles¡ªside, down, up, and the like¡ªintending to find them and deal with them as quickly as possible. Orz and the others looked at each other. Uh-oh. Chapter 942 Fall of Calming Village (Part 1) In fact, even if it was just the normal citizens looking, they''d still be in a pinch. It wasn''t that these people were strong, but there were hundreds of them. They weren''t immortals! Not to mention the dozens of people beyond the level cap. They didn''t know where these people came from or how a village could have so many, but they knew they couldn''t stay. Immediately, the five fled, jumping from branch to branch the moment they realized it''d be too dangerous to stay there. They didn''t disperse too much but always kept each other within close distance so they could still watch each other''s backs. At some point, a glint appeared in a direction. "Watch out!" Minko yelled, throwing a large water whip there. The next moment, someone fell down from a branch. It was an archer and he was about to fire an arrow towards them. However, unexpectedly, they felt strong attacks coming from several directions¡ªnot necessarily from the mob they had been looking at until this point. Ryan immediately activated his fire shield, shielding them from the attacks. However, the combination of forces from both sides brought the nearby trees to fall down, and they had no choice but to go down. "Finally out of hiding, eh?" Fang said with a smile. "You lot are really troublesome," he said. "Be honored we''re going all out." The soldiers had their weapons out, their vision taking note of their enemies. They were surrounded now and, other than Fang, it seemed like there were a few more level 20s that appeared. They frowned. Before this, there had been no villages that had managed to send anyone beyond the level cap. Now, there was a handful of them. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The strongmen immediately lunged at the soldiers, with each of them taking one or two on. Other than the handful of level 20s, there were more people beyond the level cap charging at them. Some of them were new, likely coming from other areas surrounding the territory. It was obvious that these people were there to deal with the five of them. The soldiers'' looked at each other. Even if they were strong, they could not stay here. They nodded in understanding, dashing away from the crowd a second later. "OI!" "Don''t let them go past you!" "Damnit!" Orz used his earth ability to propel himself, avoiding the attacks, while waving his sword at the same time. A spike of earth accompanied it, hitting one or two people in the process. He might be slovenly most of the time, but he looked cool when it counted. Of course, he had to make sure to only kill those beyond the level cap. He would in no way be penalized for these people! Next to him, Minko jumped back to avoid a slash of a sword. As he moved backward, he held out a bow and arrow. "Arrow burst!" he exclaimed, hitting his two enemies, one level 21 and level 17 respectively. It did not kill the level 21, but it seriously injured both of them. Minko did so again with the next batch of people that came after him. Similarly, the others also showed off their elements, making sure to hurt them where they could. All of their attacks were deadly, causing their attackers to hesitate in their approach. This was good enough, and this allowed them to widen the gap as they ran. "Follow them!" Fang yelled as he dashed, intending to block the soldiers'' ways. "They''re outnumbered! Don''t be cowards!" However, how could the five soldiers be taken so easily? Although they were outnumbered, they could avoid most attacks, retaliating with stronger attacks in response. The strongmen were surprised to know how much of a challenge this was though. When they took on this mission, they thought it would be easy. They still had a lot to learn it seemed. Also¡­ this mission seemed to have a lot of bonus rewards! "They weren''t lying when they said this place had a lot of elementalists!" "Then they''d make for good slaves right?" One of the strongmen laughed. "Well, even your two villages combined may not have been able to take them." "That''s why the master town hired you guys, right?!" The soldiers heard some of the conversation, and it doused them with cold water. Two villages joined forces to attack Calming Village¡ªand a mercenary team was even hired to deal with the five of them, specifically. Further, they seemed to have taken advantage of the loophole of not using the array and walking here on foot, so there were probably a lot more people than they initially estimated. From a distance, they saw the sheer number of people trying to break through the walls. They could see how their brethren were struggling to stab and shoot the enemies down, but a lot of enemies were close to getting through! Normally, after settling the traps, the soldiers would go straight back to the walls and assist in their defense. They were not there now. It was only a matter of time before they broke through. With the combined forces of two villages and with them being held back here, Calming Village''s victory was getting farther away. Was losing inevitable this time? ... Their paths were blocked by several level 20s, and they were surrounded by many others beyond the cap. The mercenaries sent attack after attack at them, not caring whether they hit their own allies. The soldiers could only focus on defending themselves for a while, soon realizing that they were being pushed back farther from the walls. "Shit¡­" Orz cursed, thinking how they could get out of this. Ryan narrowed his eyes at them, his element floating around him to keep the enemies away from him, all while skillfully handling his weapon. This was endless. Even if they were strong and were elementalists, they were still human with finite mana and spirit. Regardless, with this amount of enemies, the best way to go about this was to run away and get their families. After that, they would escape together. There was no way: As much as it broke their hearts¡­, they must abandon the territory. Chapter 943 The Fall of Calming Village (Part 2) They had been meaning to leave to head East to the captain. Their departure was just a little¡­ premature. This meant there would be a lot left to luck, and they wouldn''t be able to protect everyone¡ªbut what else could they do? The soldiers looked at each other, making subtle hand signals only those with military training could understand. A moment later, Sean raised his spear high, stabbing it to the ground. The nearby roots grew, creating an area that trapped people''s feet. At the same time, Ben hacked his sword, releasing a sharp wave of water along with it. Those who were trapped did not have the time to avoid it. "AHHH!" The blades disappeared as soon as they connected, leaving bloody gashes in their bodies. Some people fell directly, while some screamed in pain. The soldiers darted past the small opening they injured created, heading straight to the territory. Before they completely passed the enemies, Ryan activated his fire shield as insurance, and those who got caught in the wall screamed in pain. "AHHH!" "Take it off!" "Cover me with soil! Cover me! AHHH!" Fire from an elementalist was much more dangerous than normal fire! "Don''t let them get inside, damnit!" Fang screamed. After all, they were beyond the level limit and could therefore not cause damage inside. They had to handle these men while they were outside, or they''d fail the mission! They could not afford a failure at this junction! The men cursed and ran after Ryan and the others, going beyond their limits. All the archers raised their bows, targeting the soldier''s backs. Many of them were moving as they shot and, while their accuracy was compromised, the sheer number of them actually did land a few hits. "AH!" Ben yelled as he felt an arrow embed on his arm. His curly hair drenched in sweat and he gritted his teeth, but his feet did not stop moving. "Ben!" "I''m fine! Continue running!" He yelled. Except for that time he got hit, his pace unaffected by the pain. Ryan jumped back as he ran. Heaving a deep breath, he took a pause to send a fire ball up, hitting a few more arrows that were about to hit them. Minko also took this chance to hit back, accurately hitting the necks of two archers¡ªone dead and another high-leveled enough to survive¡ªbefore he ran back home again. Their hearts fell when they saw that slaves and thousands of forces from the enemies surrounding the walls, leaving no portion empty. While the guards fought and the sentries managed to defend, many had already climbed up the areas with minimal sentries. There were definitely dozens of people who had already flowed in. There were just so many of them¡ªfar beyond what a normal village would be capable of, especially not so long after the Extreme Weather. Those villages really did not hold back on them. Based on the number of enemies right now, it seemed like they maximized their limits. Being attacked by allies wasn''t a new thing, but it wasn''t common among villages. However, in retrospect, it wasn''t much of a surprise either. Thanks to their presence and other things, Calming village was much more stable than others. The night mobs weren''t a problem and they could also accompany citizens to forage outside (for a fee, of course, the selfless soldiers they used to be were long gone in favor of their lives). As soon as they were a few meters away from the wall, Orz immediately created a temporary stair for them to jump on. He then used much of his mana to propel them inside the territory, going over the attacking mobs. Those who tried to climb after them¡ªtrying to use them to get inside as well¡ªfell smack on their backs. BANG! They landed roughly on one of the roofs, and they rolled down the roof and to the streets below. They didn''t take more than a second of a breather before they ran to the areas with leaks, some of which were nearby. They weren''t allowed to attack, but they could at least reinforce the defense. For instance, Orz used much of his remaining mana to enclose as many trespassers as he could. Another, Ryan would leave a fire wall on a street, effectively blocking the way. If the enemies went through that after its creation, then it was no longer his fault they were injured. They were careful not to do anything that could cause the system to penalize them. They heard from Twinwave town that people who killed low-leveled individuals during wars, and within the walls, could also lose their lives. They would never risk that, not when they still had so many people to protect and to find. They did what they could about the immediate leaks, but they could not stay there forever. The five looked at each other and nodded, no words had to be said. Immediately, they went to find their families and friends, who were likely fighting in this losing war. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this time, Orz'' brother Ouli and his students Tiara and Ton were fighting leaks on another side of the village. Gwen was also very skilled, creating a deadly vacuum around her. Ricky, Ryan''s uncle, was supporting them, waving around his sword as he watched their backs. And next to them were Sean and Ben''s newfound relatives, though they were mostly on the passive side. During the heat wave, Calming Village took in a lot of refugees. These refugees were mostly Terran from the North who had come South in hopes of finding a new home. There, they met Sean''s sister and in-laws who came from a territory northwest. It fell early in the Heatwave and their party of hundreds was reduced to less than half after traveling through the night. In fact, so many of them survived because they found a cave, though some people died from the poison mushrooms there. Ben''s family, his wife and one of his children, were from a Northeast village. They had traveled a bit, going through 3 Terran villages. Their last village lasted half the Heat Wave, which was a pity. If it was the normal duration of the disaster, it''d have survived. Sadly, they were unlucky and experienced a particularly harsh heat wave instead. "Go," Ryan said as their team surrounded them, immobilizing the enemies so their family members could kill them with ease. They also gathered whoever they could, but they simply didn''t have the time to wait for everyone. Orz created a stair upwards to a more isolated part of the wall. This was a part farthest from where the enemies were. The group of them climbed up¡ªthere should be at least a hundred now¡ªwith Ryan and Ben going first so they could guard the other side. The last to climb was Orz, who left the stair behind for others. It should still last another hour or so. He looked back at the chaotic village, feeling heavy at their abandonment. Before jumping to the other side, Orz yelled to the top of his lungs. "EVERYONE! "We''re losing! We''re being mobbed by different villages and a strong mercenary team! "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! We can no longer protect you! "Stay strong, brethren!" he continued to yell, his voice shaky and his eyes lined with tears. "I apologize that we cannot protect you all. We hope to see you all in safety eventually!" They couldn''t protect or take everyone now, and he ran to his team, who were now shooting a few enemies who found them. They ran for at least a few hours straight, not daring to rest. There were few who tried going after them, but after experiencing horrid elementalist attacks, most turned back to the ''easier'' enemies. It was only when they were certain that no one was following, and that there were no more mobs in the immediate vicinity, did they dare take a breather. As they found a clearing, their legs weakened and they sat down directly on the forest floor. They looked at the endless forests around them and their hearts felt heavy at the loss, feeling sorry for those people they had to leave behind. But then they saw their families safe and sound, and could only apologize to the others in their hearts. Someday, they thought, maybe¡ªwhen they were strong enough¡ªthey would come back and save them. With how they were now, sadly, that was all they could promise. Chapter 944 Growing Too Fast Alterra Village. In the meantime, Alterra had already fully recovered. In fact, its lord was now finalizing the new costs with Mathilda and Ansel. This was because the stats of the territory spiked up too much¡ªand it wasn''t good. It was just that¡­ while they were meeting around her dining table (with lots of snacks in front of them), their meeting was always hindered by milky giggles in the play cot. The play cot was now expanded considering the activity of the babies. Today, they were wearing giraffe and elephant onesies, both following after the aether ball. Little Meatball was soon floating and Little Pepper occasionally flashing here and there, at least wherever she mused the ball would go (though not entirely with 100% accuracy). She was adorable when she guessed wrong. Her rounded eyes would glisten a bit as she pouted, making those chubby cheeks redder and more prominent. Althea would allow them to play with the magic toys once a day for half an hour in order to observe them, but nothing more until she figured things out. The babies looked for it often, too, and they cried a lot as they asked for it. In the end, they figured to just condition them on a particular time of the day when they could have it¡ªand therefore the only times they could use their powers. If they used their powers outside of it, they would lessen their time with the ball, and so on¡­ Her babies were smart so this actually did work to some degree. So far, she found out that the ball really did absorb aether. It was fine for adults, who could control it, but she feared it was not healthy for the babies. It only absorbed when it was empty though (i.e. low battery), so they just made sure that only the adults activated it. If the babies were impatient and activated it themselves, then the ball would go straight back to her space. They would cry loudly, of course, but they had the voice blocker for that. Eventually, the babies learned to behave when they realized they wouldn''t get what they wanted by crying. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Extraordinary," Mathilda said, sighing as she watched the magical sight. "Is this why you''ve been limiting the babysitting duties? Lola and the others have been depressed." Althea nodded. "We wanted to master when they exhibited it¡­" She said, "And what do we do to get them to stop in case they did exhibit their powers outside." "There is progress, however, so we should be able to trust them to others again soon." Other than the conditioning, they were also trying to teach the kids to control their powers when they were already activated. Winona held Little Meatball by his tiny armpits, putting him back on the ground. "Googmamumwa?" His little eyebrows furrowed, chubby cheeks puffed. It was adorable but Winona tried to keep a straight face (ending up with a weird expression) as she gently patted his bum. "Stay," she said, patting the ground of the cot. "When we say "stay", you keep here, okay?" "Googmmwammmwa¡­?" Under the baby''s innocent look, Winona let go of him. Almost immediately, the baby boy went to the ball again, but he was only crawling this time. Meanwhile, Baby Pepper was being lazy as she held on to the aether ball. She was being lazy in the sense that she just held it without crawling anymore, letting it drag her a millimeter at a time. Since the ball was moving especially slowly due to the added weight, Little Meatball caught up with it even when he wasn''t floating. This was very good behavior so Winona rewarded him with a soft sweet snack in the form of sweetened gouji fruit goo. Little Pepper saw it and mumbled, also opening her mouth. Winona''s heart softened and she gave food to the baby girl as well. The other adults smiled at the sight before resuming a more professional air again, shifting their attention back to the topic at hand. Gru was with them now and he was still looking at her in awe. He was the only elder unaware of her Lord status for a long time and it was getting inconvenient. He almost fainted when they told him. Fortunately, he had a strong heart despite his old face. As for why they ended up meeting in her house instead, it was because the meeting was relatively spontaneous. Most of the family were in the house, watching the babies play when Althea decided to look at the Panel. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 50,265,600 square meters Residents: 10985 (3113 permanent, 7872 temporary) Total Population: 14324 Base Resources: Wood: 17300/20000 Stone: 11200/15000 Money: 29731 Gold, 88699 Silver, 1098699 copper Prestige: 885 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv2), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv2), Barracks (Lv2) Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1) Building Slots: 8/9 (+11)] Because she was so busy the entire time after the heat wave, she had neglected to look at the status. Anyway, they didn''t change too much¡ªwhich was why other Lords would only look once in a blue moon¡ªso she didn''t think too much about it. She was so shocked when she saw the numbers and immediately called for a meeting. Althea looked at her status with very very complex emotions. Other lords would be jumping for joy, but Althea and the others looked worried instead. The requirement for becoming a town was 20000 population, 15000 residents, and 1000 prestige. It seemed like they received a lot of things even after the Heat Wave, as if an after-effect of it. The residencies had spiked a lot during this time. For one, they took in a lot of refugees during and after the Heat Wave. Even before the disaster, they had already adjusted the salaries of the people and, of course, the cost of living to balance a bit with the outside. This also meant that the residencies had become much more achievable, causing the residencies to spike. Even contribution points, due to continuous ''easy'' mobs and the high contributions in wars contributed to this. At this rate, they''d only need another month or two before they upgraded. "Too fast, right?" "Didn''t they say Prestige was difficult to achieve? What is this now?" "Our products did help a lot of territories during the Heat Wave¡­" "But still¡ª" They had heard of the harsh conditions outside of Towns. They quite like Alterra Village being in somewhat of a ''comfort zone''! Chapter 945 Changed Standards By Comfort Zone, it meant surviving in this world without losing a bulk of their people! Of course, they still trained as a habit now, but it didn''t mean they wanted trouble. Ansel and the others cringed at the thought of the changes that''d be brought about if they climbed up as they were now. They had long stopped dreading battles after getting to this stage. At the very least, Alterra was strong enough for them not to worry if they weren''t in the mood to fight and clear mobs. They didn''t want to go back to the time where they couldn''t sleep, fearing they''d get attacked by mobs in the middle of the night! "Can we even control Prestige?" Gru asked as he looked at Althea, who unfortunately shook her head. "We can''t, so we can only control the residencies." Ansel spoke this time. "Actually my sister and I already set the costs for Towns. Should we just apply it earlier?" "Hm, makes sense." "Applying the initial plans, we will set the entry fee to 20 copper¡ªwhich is still cheap considering most Towns charge at least 1 silver for entry." Seeing how it was now, they would probably increase again after actually upgrading to Town, but definitely not too much. 1 silver a day was really insane, to be honest. It was no wonder the poor remained poor over there, even if they went out to hunt every day. "Then we will charge 50 silver/mo and 2000 Contribution Points to those who want to avail Temporary Residency, and 20 gold plus 10,000 contribution points to those who hope to have permanent residency." The average salary had been raised to 10 silver per day, which was about 3 gold per month. This was the average salary even in aborigine territories. Of course, in Alterra, this money meant quite a whole lot more because it had a lot more purchasing power. Basically, even when they increased some of the costs and taxes, people living frugally could still keep at least half of their daily salaries. This was already much, much, better than those outside who could barely scrape by with their entire salaries. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, by increasing the costs and contribution point requirement, the upgrade to become a resident¡ªeven if it was only temporary¡ªhad become a lot more stringent. This applied much more to the Permanent Residency. To those who were near the requirement but hadn''t upgraded within the day¡­ they could only count themselves unlucky. "With this, we can slow down the progress by a few months," Mathilda said. "Probably." At this, she looked at the others. "Perhaps we should also change the value of contribution points." Ansel and Althea nodded at this. "Actually, we had indeed considered this." During the concept''s inception, the value of the contribution point was a lot easier to determine. The contribution points received by those with ''government'' jobs were slightly arbitrary, but they were proportional to the position. At the time, the points calculation was even more straightforward with regard to fighting monsters. Basically, it was almost the same as the copper received per kill. However¡­ they couldn''t keep using this method after all this time. This world had a balancing act. For one, nothing would be received if the monster was five levels lower. More importantly, even if the gap was not so wide, the rewards were not proportional to the monster''s strength and level. For instance, a Level 4 monster would give 100 EXP and 100 Copper to people until Level 9. Past Level 10, people had to go against stronger monsters. However, a Level 10 monster would give only 400 Copper and Experience. The differences between the strength and the danger level of a level 4 and level 10 were as wide as a gorge¡ªyet the differences in the rewards were a measly 300 copper. Looking at this, if they maintained the contribution points back as it was, a level 5 could earn around as much as a level 15 with a few variances. As such, they decided to formalize the contribution points according to monster levels instead. They also modified the contribution points that could be used as payment by employers, to balance things out. The group finalized a few things, making the assumption that they would be upgrading within a few more months. They could try to delay it a bit more using other methods, but it would be good to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Before they adjourned, Mathilda raised her hand to stop them. She remembered something quite important. "About the inevitable upgrade: We should also send word to the nearby villages." This made everyone pause, realizing the importance of this. Becoming a town would increase their monster level from the doable 6 to 8 average levels, to about twice that. Alterra was so deep into the terrain¡­ that monsters it attracted would pass by their allied villages. When Alterra upgraded, then those places ought to be prepared for that level of enemy¡ªotherwise, a lot of people will die. To think that upgrading their own territories could mean the demise of thousands of people outside¡­ was a bit burdensome. Garan sighed. "We will assist them," he said. "At the very least, they should build themselves enough to be able to handle the mobs." Of course, such stronger mobs would still target Alterra more. It was just that their position meant that the strong mobs would go through the others first if they were in the way. "Well, in the meantime, everyone¡ªevery department¡ªshall be strengthening all aspects of Alterra as much as we can before the upgrade." When they finally adjourned though, their attention was attracted by a loud exclamation nearby. "The babies!!" It was Winona, and everyone stood up to see. They worried that something could''ve happened, only to find that Winona was yelling in excitement because the babies were trying to stand up! The ball was floating a little higher this time and it seemed like the babies wanted to stand up to reach it. They watched as the babies touched the floor with their small hands, trying to push themselves up. Their bums were wiggling as they tried to do so¡ªvery cute¡ªbut the adults'' breaths paused as they waited in excitement. Would they be able to stand up so early? Chapter 946 Standing Up Wiggle, wiggle Push Wiggle It was a tense minute as they watched the two kids struggle to lift themselves up. Their little hands and legs were unstable though, and their diapered bums wiggled as they made their attempts. Sadly, their tiny legs were too shaky in the end, and they gave out as soon as they lifted their hands. They flopped down on their butts in the end. "Aww¡­" they mumbled, shoulders slumped in disappointment. What they didn''t realize was that the babies were looking at them, and seeing the adults'' ''heartbroken'' faces affected them very much. Their little faces scrunched in sadness and tears pooled in their rounded eyes. Their cheeks turned red, and they soon broke into cries. "Wuuuuuuuuuuu!!" "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" "Oh, no, babies¡­" Althea and the others immediately stood up to comfort them. Althea and Garan took one baby each, cooing them to calm them down. However, when tears flowed, they poured. "Wuuuuuuuuuuu!!" "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" "Oh, dear¡­" Althea mumbled as she rocked the baby back and forth, with Garan following her movements. The other adults also made silly faces and brought out toys in various attempts to make them laugh. Even after a while though, they were still crying in a way that broke their hearts. They felt extremely guilty for showing such faces. Clearly, they were already doing very good at their age! It was the adults'' mistake for making them think otherwise. "Wuuuuuuuuuuu!!" "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Althea leaned down and smooched the babies'' faces repeatedly as they cried. Chuu~ She kissed their foreheads and their chubby cheeks. Slowly, their sobbing calmed until they were just sniffling. Smooch, smooch~ And soon, they started giggling. Their eyes and cheeks were red from crying, but adorable milky laughter came out of their mouths. The adults could even see the babies'' gums and the single teeth they had. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their shoulders slumped in relief, but they didn''t stop making silly faces and bringing out toys, just in case. "Babies are known to be much more sensitive than adults give them credit for," Sheila said with a sigh. "Our disappointed faces must''ve affected the little ones." Althea and the others nodded, smiling at the babies. She gently rubbed their noses. "My babies are so smart and talented." "You''re too young," she added. "Don''t rush, don''t rush." In Terra, the average age of walking was 11 months, with the record of the fastest being 9 months. In contrast, her babies were not even 4 months old. Althea didn''t know how developed their bones were. If they forced themselves to stand now, maybe it''d affect their growth. They could always check, of course. Dr. Cynthia was a pediatrician and ob-gyn doctor, so she would be the perfect expert to see. However, they''d still need some tests to be sure. However, while the x-ray was being developed in the Research Center, could babies as young as hers safely undergo an x-ray¡ªespecially with a machine that was still being perfected? She wouldn''t risk it for sure. "Take your time, my babies," she said, kissing their soft faces again for good measure. "Mom and Dad will love whatever you do, and be proud of whatever you achieve." The babies didn''t quite understand her words, but they felt her emotions. They giggled again, causing everyone''s hearts to melt. ¡­. The babies might have failed to stand up, but someone else managed to succeed. "You''re doing great," Victor said with a smile, holding his wife''s hand as she finished her short rehabilitation journey. They were in the physical rehabilitation area in the hospital, and there were other people there being treated. Along with them, there were also a lot of physical therapists (they gained a few the past couple of weeks) to help them out. Although nothing was really wrong with her legs, it got affected by the operation and as a side effect of Cain''s attack. She would''ve been able to walk again on her own without rehab, but Juni wanted it to happen as soon as possible, so here they were. Victor guided her to the interior gardens of the hospital. The rehab room was boring. It was better to have actual goals in the path to hasten her progress. And so, hand in hand, the newly-wedded couple perused the lovely sight with smiles on their faces. Victor was very gentle and one could tell he''d be a great husband and father. Vanessa, who was visiting the hospital, watched this with a frown. She was there with the customary fruits, though she stopped when she saw the patient and her brother ambling about. To be honest, the sight made her heart itch with discomfort. She remembered when her brother was gentle and spoiled her very much. Now, he barely even talked to her! Even her former admirers barely gave her time of the day now. Juni turned and caught her bad look, which Vanessa immediately wiped off her face. Juni, though, was an actress who had seen a lot of things about human interactions. She didn''t miss it at all. The woman then walked towards them and handed the basket to her brother. After saying her bland greetings, she said her goodbyes. "Brother, I''m gonna go to work now," she said, turning away to head back to work. Juni sighed. Vanessa could be quite extreme sometimes, and it''d won''t do her any good to keep her unchecked. Juni looked at her husband. "Check on your sister more," she said. "It''s not like you didn''t have a hand in spoiling her." Victor''s eyebrows furrowed. "But¡­" To be honest, it just came second nature to them to give her whatever she wanted. Because they were always gone, it was their way to show their affection to her. He didn''t really question it as much before, and they just handled the consequences, believing that¡ªlike them¡ªVanessa was logical enough to see what she did was wrong, and wouldn''t do it again. Juni looked at him with a serious expression on her face. "She''s an adult and she is responsible for her choices," she said. "However, as her only family, don''t you think you should be working harder to keep her on the right path?" Victor frowned. Before, Vanessa was just his little sister. She could be a brat, but neither he nor their father had thought too much of it. Not to mention¡­ both of them were extremely busy with their careers and the life-threatening missions they were often sent to. How could they¡ªdense straightforward men¡ªknow how to handle the intricacies of raising a good kid, let alone of the complicated female species? Juni saw his cluelessness and patted his arm. She wanted to shake her head at them but, at the same time, she also understood how it could be. She had absentee parents so she knew how bad it could get. She turned out well because she was close to Mathilda back then. She had a good face and had a lot of admirers. If Mathilda hadn''t straightened her up early on, she could''ve been a very different person. Not to mention, the only true romantic relationship she had before was with Gill, who was dense in his own right, so she also had an idea of how men''s brains¡ªparticularly, the military men¡ªworked. "Trust me on this," she just told him. "Or else you risk losing her forever." Chapter 947 Children of Alterra At this time, school was ongoing and the students were already in the middle of classes. The Elementary tier had various classes, some of which had to be further divided according to the results of diagnostic tests. These were exams that all students had to take at the start of the school year so the educators could have a better grasp of the student''s level. This was, of course, to maximize the kid''s potential. This was also to give time and chance to the children new to the various concepts to adjust accordingly. This was especially applicable to the aborigine kids who comprised the majority of the students. For instance, there was Xeno language literacy and math class which was too alien to the aborigine children and had to be taught in the nursery level. In the meantime, all Terran elementary school students like Maya, Mimi, and Horus were taking the ''proficient class''. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was not to say that everyone''s levels were the same. However, this class was small so the teacher could handle each student more closely and give them specialized practice questions. Speaking of the Terran kids, one of the things that the Educators realized was that Terrans got a little smarter after coming here. The teachers said that their Terran kids learned topics faster than average (at least compared to the levels in Terra), and it was theorized that their upgraded physiques also meant upgraded brains. Which was really awesome by the way. Althea agreed with this, and so did the other Researchers. As people who used their brains a lot, they were far more aware of their cognitive abilities than others. They had realized that they could indeed figure things out a little faster than they would''ve back in Terra. The academic classes like math, science, and languages were tiered according to the students proficiency and was divided quite a bit. In contrast, there were shared classes for everyone of the same tier, because they shouldn''t be too far in strength anyway. Classes like this was the Physical Education classes, the Monster classes, and the Flora and Fauna classes¡ªhenceforth called the Survival Classes. While the academic subjects were the essential for the territory''s economic and cultural growth, the Survival subjects were the most important ones for individual strength and growth. These classes were taken a few times a week with increasing detail, and taught by the experts in the field. The Education Department had also never stopped gathering information about this world, so there was usually something new to teach every so often. Interestingly, they also learned more things from the aborigine children, who said what they knew about the flora and fauna in their areas. They also did ''sharing sessions'' about the local culture, which was actually quite interesting and enlightening to some. While this information was up for confirmation, the teachers still noted them down. The students were also taught about the importance of the territory, making them understand from young how good it was, and how they should protect it when they could. Anyway, the program so far had good results. For one, it gave the students more confidence in handling this world. The downside was that many students were eager to help out with the mobs, forcing the adults to reiterate that they wouldn''t go out to fight until after a certain age. For now, they were just asked to learn as much as they could and grow strong. After all, even if they didn''t fight now¡ªthey''d only be useful to Alterra, if they were alive and well. ¡­ One of the classes today focused on basic math, with aborigines as the students. "Do you understand this, Master Honda?" Maumi asked carefully, his friends right next to him. Even as kids, they had an instinct to respect nobles. Nobles tended to be stronger, and in Xeno the strong was revered. Honda didn''t think much of it, but he didn''t show any distaste with their closeness. "Hmm¡­ a little," he said, pointing at the lines. "Basically you just put them together and get the sum." Maumi and his friends blinked and looked at the illustration again. It was Gururu who nodded first, while the other two needed a bit more explanation. "Hmmm¡­. I think I get it," Maumi mumbled after a while. No, he didn''t understand. Next to them, a lot of kids were also confused, but their teacher showed no signs of impatience. Evelyn was the one in charge of the aborigine math class. She taught nursery-level classes back in Terra and in Xeno, so she really was the best one for this challenging task. Rather, no one else dared take on the subject. She was very patient with each of them. Even if she had to teach them the most basic concept, over and over, she remained kind and helpful to them. She understood that these kids were still learning literacy (still in Xeno language), and so one could imagine how maths would be much more alien to them. Some people argued whether teaching math¡ªespecially to aborigines¡ª was even necessary. However, Evelyn was one of the advocates of this subject (which was another reason why she was the one teaching it). She argued that they had to know at least the basic operations¡ªaddition, subtraction, multiplication, and division¡ªsimply because it was related to their lives and lifestyles. It''d be hard, but it would be worth it in the long run if they wanted people''s lives to improve. Anyway, Evelyn patiently taught them additions and so far they had managed to finish two-digit numbers (as sums) and she reckoned she could soon ease them in adding two digits as well. Anyway, another hour passed in the class¡­ and the children became more and more dazed, some outright fighting to keep their eyes open. They looked adorable though, especially since they were indeed trying very hard to learn and keep awake. Aborigine children were quite precocious since they had to fight and work at a young age. Unlike many spoiled kids, they definitely appreciated the opportunities handed to them¡ªeven if they didn''t fully understand how it could help. Evelyn chuckled as she shook her head. They had a long way to go. Chapter 948 More Schoolwork! They had a long way to go, but¡ªin the long term, even if things were slow¡ªit''d definitely be worth it. That was what Evelyn firmly believed. Evelyn went around, going from table to table, in order to guide the kids in their assignments. Every table had similar exercises, and therefore similar levels. Some were already doing addition to two-digit numbers, while some were still in the single digits. One of these tables comprised of the newly arrived aborigine kids. That was to say, the children that entered Alterra during and after the Heat Wave. On one table, there was 10-year-old Fonfon and another 10-year-old Shishi. They were also pouring their hearts onto the confusing piece of paper, trying to decipher it. However, their parents were clear: They had to work hard to be as good as others. So they were focused and didn''t dare show any impatience, which Evelyn appreciated. They were the latest aborigine additions to the territory and were still very meek amongst the others. For the basic classes, Alterra did not require the kids to have a residency. So, even if their adults were newcomers and did not have enough contribution points to even have temporary residencies, they could still attend certain classes in school. However, because the manpower for the Education Department was limited, these easy-to-access classes were limited to children 12-years-old and below. This had plenty of advantages to Alterra. One, they''d be raising the kids to their model from young (brainwashing was a strong word; they called it ''opening minds from young''). And second, it''d make the adults want to stay and work harder for Alterra even more. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Speaking of, their adults were very shocked about the school and asked a lot of people to confirm. When they did, the families pretty much gave a lot of their wealth (they had a lot of copper from mobs saved up for months) to the school. The dean was honest though and only took the proper fees alone. The little ones were naturally much more antsy. Little chubby Pongo was even lying on the wooden floor now (the elementary classes had low tables and they sat on cushions). "Do we have to learn this, teacher?" They asked her, pouting cutely. She patted their heads. "You don''t have to, but you would be poorer than others. Do you want to be poorer?" "No!" "Why?" they asked. "Why would we be poorer?" "For example¡­," she paused to look at Pongo. "What is your favorite snack?" "Strawberry Tart!" he said, gulping, and even drooling a little. "Hmm, yummy, how much is a Strawberry Tart?" "A palm-sized one with two bite-sized strawberries cost 20 copper!" "What if¡­ you only have 1 silver with you?" The boy blinked, looking at her longingly. "I never held a silver before¡­" "..." "Anyway, what if you become a big boy and get your first silver? You worked very hard for that, and it''s all you have. "Now you want to buy 2 tarts! Yum! How much would you get back from the seller after paying your silver?" Pongo froze and the other children also stared at her before looking around. "The answer''s not on the ceiling, children. "Hint, 1 silver is 100 copper." Two digits made them dizzy, let alone three. Pongo, dizzy, looked at her with teary eyes. Evelyn didn''t seem to feel pity so he had no choice but to guess. "...10 copper?" Evelyn held back her smile and patted the boy''s curly head. "Then you just lost fifty copper." "EH? Why?!" He reacted strongly as if he really lost it. The other kids also looked at her with apt attention. "That''s how Math is important. It keeps you from losing money." "Ohhh¡­" And so, for the last couple of minutes, the little ones started learning seriously again, very much terrified of the thought of losing money needlessly. They were so engrossed that the territory bell rang without them noticing (a miracle!). This bell signaled that it was already 14 o''clock in the afternoon and it meant one thing: It was lunch break! Evelyn smiled and looked at her hardworking class. "That ends our class. After lunch, go to the fields for your PE and Plant classes." "Yes, teacher!!" Evelyn chuckled and walked out of her class, surprised to see someone waiting for her. "Turbo?" Turbo happened to be assigned on patrol duty and he was nearby. Why not spend more time with the wife? "Done with morning classes?" he asked, extending his hand. Evelyn naturally took his hand and their fingers intertwined. They headed towards a nearby restaurant to spend a bit more time during the busy midday. On the other hand, most of the students went to the newly-opened cafeteria. The cafeteria had a set tray system where the children could pick food among choices and add it to their pre-divided trays. It was designed by a nutritionist to keep their diet balanced. Their food was also included in their tuition, so they didn''t have to worry about it. Speaking of which, Orphan children were sponsored by Alterra Orphanage and they would be given allowance for basic needs until they turned 18. Most of them though, wanted a lot more than the basic needs and would often find a part-time job, especially the older kids, who''d be taking cleaning jobs and manual labor jobs after school hours to get some pocket money. The friends sat together and asked about each other''s classes. It was also the time for the aborigines to ask their Terran friends for a bit of guidance in subjects they struggled with. Somehow, some tables were moved together so that more students could eat at the same table. Maumi and the others had also merged until the tables were put together into a massive one. At this time, Maumi''s group was nearest to Fiona so they asked her to help out. "No, no, you got to carry over the first digit¡­" she said, pointing at the area above a number. This made the aborigine kids very confused. "Carry over?" "Err¡­" Fiona then turned to Mimi, the smartest one of them all. Mimi ate a few more bites before turning to the illustrations. She leaned down closer to Maumi and it made little Honda frown a bit. "I am also confused about that," he said and Mimi blinked, guiding them both. The homework Maumi was so confused about was a simple math problem of adding the perimeter of a rectangle, though there was no drawing, only words. While the teacher only used easy words since they were also learning literacy, it was still a challenge. "I see I see," Maumi said, impressed. "Thanks!" he said, happily resuming eating his food (which was delicious by the way). Juna, Maumi''s mother, happened to be sneaking peeks at this time. She was successfully hired as a cleaner there at the school and she scheduled her cleaning sessions near the canteen during lunch time. She sneaked through the opened window of the canteen, seeing her son enjoying himself and happy with his new friends. To think that not long ago, the world underwent a tragedy that usually killed a good portion of the population. However, beyond expectations, they were all intact and healthy. Now¡­ they were living lives that they could never have expected before. Juna wiped a few tears that escaped, continuing to clean up the floor. Moving to Alterra was the best thing that ever happened to them. So¡­ she had to do her part¡ª ...starting with keeping this place organized and clean for the children. Chapter 949 Childrens Games After the kids happily ate, they took the remaining break time to play in the gardens. They were told not to run too much after eating though, so they only played mild games. Mimi¡ªthe girl with the high EQ and the little ''officer'' tasked by her dad to make the schooling experience better for everyone¡ªtried her best to include all the kids and to stop the formation of exclusive cliques. One of the ways to do this, according to her father, was to always bond as a group. Even if they couldn''t bring in everyone, at least someone from each group should be spending time with the others. There were plenty of cultural and knowledge dissonances between Terrans and aborigines, and there were also differences within each race. For instance, there would be differences between kids from the Eden country and those outside of it. Another, there would be differences between Mauin kids and kids from the other villages. However¡ªwith Mimi and her friends'' leadership (they treated this as a fun mission called ''make everyone friends'')¡ªthey had managed to create an atmosphere where one group was not against others. The kids naturally had their closest group of friends, with whom they liked spending the most time with. However, fortunately, there were no exclusive cliques that were formed. Of course, this didn''t mean that everyone was playing the same games at all times. It simply meant that the kids could join in from one group to another, without receiving backlash (except maybe if one was escaping an imminent loss). In one corner, the kids playing were Mimi, Honda, Lily, Fiona, and Lina. Along with them were Maumi, the curly¨Chaired Pongo, and the little baldie Gururu. Maya and Horus, as well as a few others, were playing elsewhere. Interestingly, Lina seemed to be trying to position herself next to Honda, the handsome little blonde, though he didn''t seem to take much notice of her. Right now, the children decided to play a game called ''I wanna be a tootoo-bee'' where they just had to make a circle sitting down. It was a fun alertness game from Fiona''s country where they would clap on their thighs with a beat and call on numbers. The ones who ''owned'' the numbers had to react fast and then call out another¡ªotherwise, they were out of the game. Although some didn''t even know what a bee was, that was besides the point. It was a fun game without much movement, but no less thrilling. Giggles abound the small park as the children played the ''high-stakes'' game, and laughter exploded when¡ªone after the other¡ªthe kids would mess up. Very few were sore losers, and those uncomfortable with losing eventually adjusted and loosened up when they saw their Terran counterparts having fun¡ªeven when they were kicked out of the game. The ''losers'' would even make some funny noises to distract those still within the game. In a sense, games like these were also a way to teach children it was okay to lose¡ªit was how you handled them that mattered. The fun couldn''t last forever though, because the bell rang too soon. "Awwww¡­." the children''s shoulders slumped, but they all still stood up to go to their respective classes. "I was just about to win¡­" Maumi even mumbled in bitterness. "No, I was about to win," Gururu retorted. "You were starting to mess up." "That was because Pongo''s being a jerk loser and whispering me the wrong numbers!!" "Pshh, excuses!" "Grrr¡ª" "Grrrr¡ª" Mimi''s side, on the other hand, was much calmer. Maya and the others converged with them, asking around to determine who they''d be walking with to the next class. "You''re doing Plant classes, right?" Mimi asked, roughly remembering her friends'' schedules. "Yeah, you?" "Same! Let''s go together!" Maya said, wrapping her arms around Mimi''s. A few other classmates also followed behind them. "Can I come with you?" Lina asked. They nodded and looked at Lily and Fiona, who also followed closely behind. The others like Horus and Honda, on the other hand, headed to PE class, and they also headed there together. The boys were naturally a lot less chatty though, but there was still a warm feeling in heading to a class with friends¡ªeven if it was just a minute or two of walking. And so began another fun-or-not-fun classroom sessions for the children. ¡­ Evelyn''s elementary morning class had ended and it was now time for the babies'' class. She loved it so much because the babies were so cute! This was her favorite class ever, and she always felt like melting every time. In this tiny class were Theo, Pepper, and Meatball. It was still small for now but, eventually, the new babies would grow up and this would become a larger class. In the babies'' cases, they were just there to socialize in an educational setting. It would not be good to be surrounded by adults all the time. Anyway, they had more or less captured the times they''d be using their powers, so it was fairly safe to have them outside again. Winona brought the children at this time, with their parents busy preparing the territory for the imminent upgrade. Winona also had a lot of projects but she was an emotional pregnant woman, so everyone limited her stress to about four times a week at most. Also, like Evelyn, she loved watching the three babies study together. At this time, Evelyn was teaching Theo about the different shapes. "What shape is this?" she asked, showing him a drawing of a perfect circle. Theo stared for a second before answering. "It''s a cwicul!" S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Yes, very good Theo~ It is, indeed, a circle," Evelyn said, tone extremely gentle. "Do you know what color it has?" Theo didn''t answer immediately and stared at the shape for a while before his rounded eyes widened at the recollection. "Wed!" he said. "Wed cwicul!" "That''s amazing, Theo!" Evelyn couldn''t help but giggle a little, giving him a star. It was made of painted paper. At the back, there was an adhesive with the (still being perfected) double-sided tape, so it could stick to children''s clothes without damaging them. Theo looked very happy when he received his star. He smiled and stood up, and the two women watched the boy''s little feet patter as he headed toward the babies. They were very curious and they followed his every moment. At this time, the two kids were in a play cot with a shape sorting toy made of wood and covered with soft fabric. The two were having fun just placing them through over and over, though there seemed to be a rivalry of sorts between the kids. Anyway, Theo approached the two babies and crouched down next to Little Pepper. He took the star sticker off and then he gently placed it on her cheek, making her giggle. "Mwamhhhwa!!" she mumbled adorably. "Youw wehcome, Baby Peppah," he said with a sweet smile, making the ignored baby boy pout. Winona chuckled, as she took the neglected baby boy in her arms. She gently poked his chubby cheek¡ªnot that he was amused, of course. "Googgmmmammmhhh!!" "Don''t be jealous, baby boy," she said, her voice a bit shaky as she tried not to laugh out loud. "Wait until you get a girlfriend." Then Winona shifted her sights to Theo, who looked like he could give Pepper all the stars he''d receive, and she couldn''t stop her laughter anymore. Garan would definitely age badly! Chapter 950 Families Formed and Reunions (Part 1) After a few more hours, dismissal time finally came. Some parents came to fetch their kids, while most children were let be since Alterra was safe anyway. More importantly, it was a good way to encourage independence. This was no longer Terra where the children''s problem would be finding a school or getting extracurricular points. This was Xeno where the biggest problem was avoiding deaths by mobs or wars. Those could affect an adult or a child. The earlier they foster independence, the better it would be for the child. Of course, there were also parents and guardians who fetched the kids just because they were too excited to hear more about this school¡ªsomething so unreachable to them before that they wouldn''t even consider even getting near its gates. One of them was Shinho, who had enrolled his sibling with mixed expectations. This was her first day here, and he wanted to see how it was for her¡ªhe wanted to see what this ''academy for all'' was like. He was also already making a lot of plans on what to do so they could afford his family''s residencies so his sister would gain access to more classes. As he waited though, his peripheral vision caught a flash of a dark-skinned woman passing by, making him blink. "Ferra?" He voiced out, a bit confused. He was sure she was applying for a job in various restaurants in another district. Shinho was applying for a guard position, but the exams would be held on different dates. Anyway, she shouldn''t be roaming around in this area at this time. "Ferra!" he yelled. "What are you¡ª" His voice died when she turned to him, realizing that the woman had very very similar features to Ferra, but it wasn''t her. Unexpectedly though, the woman practically ran into him, eyes wide with excitement. "You know my sister?" ¡­ On the other hand, many of the ''free'' kids played for another hour or so before finally going home. Some were heading West, some east, while some were heading straight to the orphanage where they lived. Two of these kids were the adorable Mauin villagers Pongo and Gururu. Pongo and Gururu didn''t have parents. Their parents had long gone, even before their former territory, Mauin Village, fell. For the most part, their parents became slaves during wars except for Gururu''s father, who died directly during a fight. Becoming slaves for that Tome territory was a death sentence, so everyone was certain their parents were gone. They were too young to remember to feel too sad though. The two kids just lived off their own hard work for as far as they could remember. Now that they were supported by the territory until they became adults, they finally had the time to be like true children, and the smiles on their faces had never been brighter. They were particularly bouncy as they went home this time though. They came earlier than usual too, as they usually played with the other kids until dusk. So why did they happily go home earlier today? Because¡­, today was the fifth day of the week and it meant shopping day! Shopping Day was when the orphanage replenished its pantry! The kids were excited because this was the time they got to choose their menu¡ªat least to some degree. "No, we won''t have cotton candy for dinner tomorrow." Well, there were obviously limitations. However, today''s trip was special. As a treat for doing well in school (the school sent reports every week to the guardians), the headmistress¡ªa middle-aged woman named Helen¡ªdecided to be a little more lenient. "We can have gouji fruit pie for dessert, but on the weekend." "Okay, we can do Roast Gugu Bird..." "Okay, we can bake the tart together." And so on¡­ They were also allowed to choose one simple snack for themselves on top of the usual groceries! "Yay!!" They cheered, making several rounds and choosing the treats they had been wanting to buy. Some chose a pack of candies, some chose sugary snacks, and the like. They were so happy they started singing a nursery rhyme taught at school. "Yohohoho~ Yohohohooo~" "Yohohoho~! Yohohohoooooo~" Anyway, it was very cute and put smiles on the other shoppers'' faces. Eventually, the trip was finished with most of the orphanage lining up together even if they shared carts. They just wanted the ''experience''. Apparently, queuing up in the grocery store made them feel a little like an adult. By the time they got to the cashier, the kids got even noisier. "Oh, it''s sister Samantha!" "Sister Samanthaaa~" The pretty young girl behind the counter chuckled at them. She was in her tweens, but she looked quite professional. She was one of the teenagers being supported by the orphanage. "Hello, kids." "Wow, I didn''t know this is where you worked," another kid said. "So COOL!" "Wow, I wanna work here too!" "How''d you get such a nice job?" "My brother''s friends," was all she said, packing up the groceries for them. "Wow¡­ cool brother!" another child said, but then remembered something. "I''m sorry for your loss." This was proper manners taught to them at school, when they thought someone had passed. Samantha gave a wry smile. "He''s alive." "EH? Then¡­ why are you in the orphanage?" The question was completely innocent, but it made Samantha pause. Helen was busy with a few kids that she noticed the interaction a bit too late. "Sorry, Samantha," she said as she arrived next to them. She rubbed Pongo''s curly hair. "Say sorry." Pongo bit his lips, realizing he said something wrong. His eyes glazed. "Sorry Sister Samantha¡­" The girl shook her head and waved her hand. "It doesn''t matter," she said. She wondered about the same question many times. Helen sighed, and just ushered the kids out. "Let''s go kids. Don''t you want to start cooking dinner early?" Everyone of the kids had to do chores at Home. Many of them particularly liked making dinner with the headmistress, and it was one of the things they looked forward to. "YESSS!" they yelled, their steps going out faster than ever. Helen smiled, shaking her head, before she turned to look at Samantha. "Are you eating dinner at home?" she asked. The girl thought for a while, looking at Pongo who was anxiously waiting for her answer. She wasn''t planning to go back, but she nodded in the end. The little boy would''ve blamed himself if she didn''t eat at home, even when she often did this before. "Okay, we''ll make save you a few servings," Helen said, before they finally left. Samantha kept her smile as she welcomed her next customer. "Welcome!" She said, checking in the items they were purchasing. Her heart was clenching, but she tried her best not to show her turmoil. "Eh? Young lady? Why are you crying?" "I¡­" She rubbed her eyes, but the tears weren''t stopping. She looked to the side for help. Fortunately, one of the staff saw an anomaly and called in the manager. He wanted to nag her but saw how pitiful she was. In the end, he just asked her to take the rest of the day off as he took over the counter. The young girl dropped down to the floor as soon as she entered the locker room. She squatted down, burying her face in her arms. "Why are you in the orphanage?" Yes, why was she? Because her brother left her alone! Samantha¡­ was Gian''s sister. When she found out by accident that her brother was alive, she was so happy¡ªonly to be met with disappointing news, instead! sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Useless brother," she mumbled, tears continuously flowing out of her eyes. She was still a minor. How could he leave her like that? Brother, you jerk! Chapter 951 Families Formed and Reunions (Part 2) "Did I say many things wrong?" Pongo couldn''t help but ask as they walked back Home. Helen smiled and rubbed his head. "The important thing is to learn," she said. "We should just make a delicious dinner for her, no?" Pongo brightened at this, determined to make up for his mistakes. "Hmn!" It was just that when they got back to the orphanage, they were surprised to find a woman waiting in the living room. "Bianca?" Helen uttered, a little surprised she was there at this time. She looked at the kids, "Go prepare the ingredients and the kitchen," she said, and the kids were very obedient¡ªhappily heading to their large shared kitchen to play, er, get to work. Bianca''s sight couldn''t help but follow the little ones, and her shoulders slumped. Helen saw this and seemed to realize what the other woman could be here for. The two of them got close during the Tea Club, a social club formed by mature women to talk about life. This was founded by Mathilda and Rosalind, who hoped to create a community for like-minded individuals. There, Bianca had mentioned many times that she wanted to have children. Unfortunately, it wasn''t possible for her at this time. Helen mentioned in jest that she could always adopt, and it seemed like the other woman had begun to truly consider it now. "Hmn," Bianca admitted. "I do hope to adopt soon¡ªif possible, I''d like to have two." A while back, there were a pair of friends who got Bianca''s attention. They worked part-time, helping stores clean up their items and even get customers. They were very diligent and she would see them around most days after school. One day she asked them and found they were working to get some cotton candy every day. It was both touching and heartbreaking. She believed that children should be enjoying their childhoods¡ªeven if they were being trained to be independent. She wanted to provide that for them. In fact, Bianca had gotten herself checked in the hospital. She hoped for a miracle that their improved bodies could somehow allow her to have children. She received news that, for now, she couldn''t, but it wasn''t hopeless. She just had to level up a few more times and get checked again. But Bianca really wanted kids too much, and she really wanted to help those kids grow up like the other kids with families. Helen and the other staff members were doing a great job with the orphanage, but there was a limit. There was some type of affection that close-knit families could not provide to these children. Helen looked at her for a while and nodded. "Come with me," she said and Bianca followed the older woman to the kitchen. There, she saw a group of kids preparing food¡ªsome of them were cleaning vegetables, some were chopping them, and the others were preparing the main work area. She felt a hand on her shoulder. Bianca turned to see Helen smiling at her. "Join us." ¡­ Dinner was nice. There was a very long table in the orphanage, so all of them could eat at the same time. Bianca was introduced to them as Helen''s friend. They all welcomed her well, calling her ''auntie bianca'' very cutely. They all cooked together after all, so it could be said that they had already bonded. The entire time, Bianca''s heart was warm and she knew for certain that she truly, truly, wanted a child. When dinner was over, the kids were asked to clean up after themselves, while the two ladies went to the veranda to chat. "So¡­ what do you think?" Helen asked. Bianca looked at her with a determined look on her face. "I''m ready." ¡­ A few minutes later, Gururu and Pongo were called to where Helen was, and they were unsure what to expect. Rather, they vaguely thought they''d be in trouble. They couldn''t help but think of what they could''ve done to get them in trouble. Gururu''s hands were still wet from washing the dishes, and he rubbed that on his pants. However, there should also be a bit of cold sweat mixed in there. "Did you turn off the faucet?" He asked Pongo, who nodded repeatedly. "Of course! We can''t waste water! That''s bad!" the curly-haired little boy said, before looking at the bald kid suspiciously. "You didn''t leave the toilet seat down again, did ya?" Gururu''s feet paused, and he immediately paled. "Do you think it''s because of that?" The two kids looked at each other, with Pongo looking at his friend in pity. The little monk crossed his arms though. "Well, if I''m the only one in trouble, why did you get called, too?" "...moral support?" "..." Anyway, they arrived at the door a few minutes later. Pongo was the brave one to knock (lightly, but twice). When they entered, they saw not only Miss Helen, but also the very fun Miss Bianca too! They all really liked Miss Bianca! She was so gentle and cool. She promised to show them how to make toy swords soon! "Come here, boys," Helen said, asking them to take seat between them. She was not smiling though, while Bianca was covering her mouth with her hand. Immediately, the two boys felt nervous and their movements stiffened. However, they were good kids who still followed adults'' requests anyway¡ªeven if they were scared. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were both 8-year-olds who hadn''t reached a growth spurt yet. They had also been malnourished their whole lives and had only started eating properly when they got to the orphanage. So¡­ even for aborigines, they were quite small. They struggled to climb up the chair a bit, and their feet didn''t touch the ground. The two well-behaved boys sat there, looking guilty for a crime they didn''t know and the two women couldn''t help but chuckle. The kids blinked. Bianca realized that Pongo even had some onion skin stuck on his curly hair. She chuckled, taking it away. She was unsure how she was going to be as a mother, but she wanted to give it a shot. No, she would make it work. Helen said before she called the children in¡ªwith the most serious expression Bianca had ever seen her in. She told her: Once taken, cannot be given back. Children were not inanimate objects that could get refunded, after all. Once adopted, she had the responsibility for them until they became adults. And she had to do so without the thought that they owed her. Parents should not obligate their kids to ''return their care''. Children would give back to their parents because they were loved and raised well¡ªthey would ''return'' the favor from a place of love, not of obligation. Bianca took all of these lessons well, and was determined to become the best guardian she could be. She looked at the two boys, who were so good, and innocent, but also responsible and adult-like. They knew they could not be separated without hurting one, so neither women even considered doing so. It made Bianca the best choice for adoption, because she was well-off with a lively family, so she could give a good foundation to the kids'' proper growth. She smiled, patting both of their little heads. "Boys¡­ do you like Auntie Bianca?" "YES!" They said at the same time, rounded eyes filled with sincerity. Bianca''s heart felt like it would explode in warmth. "Then¡­ would you give me the honor of becoming your mother?" Chapter 952 Barons Family Alterra Home for Kids "Goodness gracious," Helen said with part exasperation and part amusement. "They''ll still be in the same village and go to the same school¡­" The kids didn''t seem to hear her though, and they just hugged each other¡ª as if they wouldn''t see each other the very next day in school. "Waaa¡­." "Byeee Gururuu¡­" "We''ll miss you Pongoooo¡­" Seeing the kids being cute like this, Bianca couldn''t help but chuckle. She turned to Helen with a mirthful smile. "I feel guilty but also funny at the same time. What to do?" Helen''s eyebrows rose. "It''s your fault, go calm them down." The other woman laughed and walked over to the kids, her hands patting the two boys'' heads. "Well, as a farewell gift from my sons," she said. "Who wants to have some cotton candies?!" The children brightened immediately, as if their tears went back up to their eyes. "YESSS!" ¡­ While the new mother-and-sons went to the market to get some treats with their friends, Baron was elsewhere¡­ being harassed by Thessy. "Why don''t you listen to me! I really like you! But¡­ it''s your family, I¡ª" Thessy paused, looking around with teary eyes, as if afraid they''d be overheard.. Baron looked around. They were in a park, now lit with protected torches. There weren''t many people, but they certainly weren''t the only ones there. "Your cousins, they¡­" she whispered. "They told me to leave you alone! I was scared¡­ can you forgive me?" She was startled when Baron''s expression did not change, however. At some point, Baron realized what his cousins were doing. They were interfering with his love life. When he realized it, he found out that his many near-successes would fail more or less due to the family''s intervention. If it was in Terran he''d have been angry. After all, how dare they interfere with his life?! No one would appreciate it! However¡­ in Xeno, he had seen a lot of dirty things people did to survive. Here, choosing the wrong partner could literally kill you. How many lovers went against each other during this time? Some even directly pushed their partners into monsters'' mouths to escape! Thessy was not satisfied with his reaction and she started alluding that his cousins were stopping him from getting into a relationship to keep his money. However, Baron did not fall for it. He was a shrewd businessman in the end, even if he never managed to handle his love life well. He had grown up with his cousins, and he knew very well they''d guard him the same way even if he was broke. However, he still knew Thessy wouldn''t stop until she found a new target. He heard she got fired from her latest ''easy'' babysitting job with Kimmy gaining some clarity. "Thessy, I''m sorry but I don''t love you anymore," he said, "Besides, I have to pay so much taxes, salaries, and others, how can I afford a woman like you?" "But¡ª" Thessy paled, trying to hold on his arm, but he avoided it so abruptly she almost lost her balance. For a moment, she thought he''d catch her but he made no effort to do so, so she had to keep herself up by instinct. "Goodbye, Thessy," he said, thinking he looked cool and somber, slowly turning away as if he was in a movie. "Move on." And he walked away, just like that. "..." ¡­ After a fun market trip with a dozen kids, Bianca got back home with her two children. "We''re home now," she said with a smile, her hands on each boy''s shoulders as she ushered them past the gate. The two children gaped as they looked at the nice house with beautiful clusters of plants in the front garden. Of course, the orphanage was also very nice, but it felt different to have a ''home'' like this. Bianca let them take in the sights before leading them inside the house, where they saw a couple of people lounging in the living room, playing a board game. "No! Guguing, is not a word!" Angelo said, taking away a few tiles from the board. "Yes, it is!" another mumbled, placing back the precious scrabble tiles. His wrist was held in position by his opponent, of course. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "No, it''s not!" The two cousins were definitely about to enter a brawl, and their other relatives just rolled their eyes in exasperation. Bianca''s eyes twitched. She was hoping for the family to get a cool first impression, but alas. She clapped her hands to get everyone''s attention. The family turned to them simultaneously, causing the two kids to flinch. "These are your uncles and aunts," she said. "Greet them." "H-Hello, Uncles, aunties¡­" they said, a bit shy, and Bianca proceeded to introduce them, too. The cousins immediately stood up and surrounded they boys. "Ah, Bianca¡­er, your mother talked a lot about you!" one said with a wide grin on his face. Angelo kneeled down and patted their heads. "Do you remember me?" They nodded. Angelo was one of the people who saved their group back then! The other one, Uncle Jessy, was still in the satellite Limestone Valley at this time. The others introduced themselves and the children were a little overwhelmed, but they felt like laughing anyway. "Now let me show you your rooms," she said, guiding them to their place. The team had two villas, one for the girls and one for the boys. Each one had their own rooms. This was the arrangement so that if they had significant others and didn''t want to move out, they would still have sufficient privacy. It so happened that the girl''s villa still had a few rooms available. Of course, as kids, they''d be sharing. They were used in the orphanage anyway, and even worse in their old village, so they could get uncomfortable having a space to themselves. She''d give them their own rooms when they become teenagers. Before heading to the Orphanage, she had already informed the family of her decision. So, while she was with Bianca and bonding with the kids, the cousins were actually preparing a room for the children. Fortunately, their team was woodworkers and they had a furniture store, and it could really be done within a day. The boys gaped as they looked at the room with two beds. They were comfortable custom beds with storage spaces underneath. They would go up a few steps to get to them, which made it feel like they had their own special nook. There were also study tables, one for each of them, and each had their own storage areas for their books and school supplies! There was even a small climbing area on one of the walls! "This is your room," Bianca said, leaning down a bit as she held a shoulder each. "Do you like it?" The two kids looked at her, eyes a little glazed. "The room is amazing!" Gururu said. "I like it so much!" Pongo cried. They remembered how their friends would thank their parents when they gave them something good¡ªsomething they had been so envious of. They hugged her waist, taking one side each, and they looked up at her with eyes filled with admiration. "Thank you mom!" Chapter 953 Sheilas Family is Here In another house rented by a certain aborigine group, the identical twins Ferra and Fona were sobbing their hearts out. "Wuuuu¡ªsister! I never thought I''d see you again! Wuu¡­" "I''m so happy¡­ wuuu¡­" Their village was a village South called Tsho Village. It was located near a stream and by the mountainside. This should''ve been a good place, but a lot of beasts passed by their location, making it difficult for them to leave the territory. This was why, despite the apparent abundance of the resources outside, food was a bit harder to acquire than others. Eventually, a group of people who ate fellow humans appeared, but they were small in number. The sad part was that these people were strong and they were the territory''s main forces against the beasts so they couldn''t kick them out. Because of this, the people had to live in fear in their own homes¡ªafraid that the human eaters would decide to eat one from within the walls again. They would be lucky if they won a war because there''d be a lot of slaves and they''d be safe for months (since those people didn''t eat humans every day). However, when the heat wave happened, these people convinced people to become like them. Ferra and Fona didn''t have any other families and had survived intact for so long because they could defend themselves somehow. They were also outcasted because of this but they had each other, so it was okay. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One day though, they started dealing with another territory that had access to the springs that hadn''t dried out yet. One of them, Ferra, became a sacrifice to get water and a few pinches of salt bought from there. Fona was left behind and escaped when Fossu and the others passed by, rescuing her along the way. While the women caught up and cried, the rest of them gave them some space and just befriended each other. They were fellowmen from the South after all. There weren''t a lot of people like them here. On the other hand, the children Shishi and Fonfon were now playing a puzzle game in the corner, unaware of the drama going on in the adults'' side. They were going to have to bed soon, but they were definitely maximizing their time awake. "Well, it''s good that our groups found each other," Shinho said with a smile, combing back his orange hair. "Especially those two," he said, looking at the sobbing women. His heart felt happy and hopeful that such a happy coincidence could even happen. No, it was fate. "They''re special women," Fossu said with a chuckle, and his parents agreed with a smile. "Drink?" "Sure," Shinho said, and several other men went to follow them for a bit of fun. They were not rich, but the money they risked their lives for could buy a lot of things here. After so long, they deserved a lot of leisure time to make up for all the pain they went through during the first half of their lives. It felt like the wounds piled up one after the other, and it was only when they landed here that they truly had the chance to heal. In any case, the two women would definitely take a while to catch up, so the different groups separated to do their own thing. This was especially true for the men and the younger folks, who were excited to get out of the house at this late hour. They couldn''t help but be obsessed with Alterra''s nightlife. Before, because it was dark in most territories, people were already in bed as soon as the sun slept. There would just be guards and groups of people guarding the walls in case of monster mobs, but otherwise, the territory would be dead. If they get attacked, many would be summoned to help out, with their torches enflamed for visibility, but otherwise, they''d just be staring at the darkness and waiting for the slumber to hit. In Alterra, there was no such thing. It even seemed even more alive during the night. While the men left and the children were tucked to bed by the old people, the two sisters continued to chatter about endless things, giving detailed accounts of their own experiences apart from each other. Even when they found a good place, how could they truly¡ªtruly¡ªbe at peace when the state of their sibling was unknown? That changed today, and how blessed they felt! Soon, they laid down relaxedly as they chattered, not noticing as the tiredness descended upon them. The twins sniffed and cried, soon falling asleep side by side. ¡­ In another house, a similarly soft atmosphere was abound. Eagle bought a simple detached building for his family (i.e. Sheila). Sheila happily decorated it, making it completely their own. There was even a drawn portrait of them in the living room. It was very homey. The couple was spending quiet time together in the living room, with both of them holding books to read while snuggling. Eagle was holding his beautiful wife, who was wearing a lovely night dress and using his shoulder as a headrest, with his other hand¡ªthe fake one¡ªholding a book to eye level. The bright side of such an arm was that it wouldn''t feel sore at all. Anyway, at this time, Eagle was reading a war novel, while Sheila was reading a romance one. Eagle couldn''t help but peek just a bit, so he would get an idea of what romantic gestures she would appreciate. The text was very small and it was angled away from him. She had no idea just how good his eyesight was, though. It happened that the chapter was a little¡­ saucy. He gulped, looking at the woman who was completely unaware her privacy was breached. Did she like those kinds of things? He mused. He could do that¡­ His hand on her soft legs started to move, threatening to touch more intimate places. It took a while for Sheila to realize someone was being naughty. She squealed and squirmed when she felt some sensitive spots getting stimulated, immediately turning to him in aghast. "You¡ª" Eagle immediately took off his hand and raised them up as if in surrender. "I''m sorry¡ª" Sheila looked at him being so obedient, and pursed her lips. Her eyes ended up on the romance book she was reading. To be fair, she thought it was a wholesome romance when she was reading it. How was she supposed to know that the author¡ªher name was Heather¡ªwas actually a smut writer?! She had to admit though¡­ that the book, as well as her husband''s subsequent touching, did heat her up a bit. Eagle was already thinking of how to apologize when he saw his wife getting closer to him. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulder and she placed a tentative kiss on the side of his lips. This was a signal right!? What kind of self-respecting husband could refuse his wife!? She was so pretty in his eyes, especially when her cheeks were so red in embarrassment. He couldn''t help but place his hand on her back so she was flush against him, with him taking her lips into his mouth. However, his hand paused all of a sudden as he flinched. Sheila blinked, looking at him. "What''s wrong?" "The aether letter got a message," he said, sitting up a bit. They were duty-bound to always be ready to receive aether messages so¡ªno matter how hard it was (no pun intended) ¡ªhe had to open it up. Fortunately, it was just a ping. ¡­and it was the one sent whenever one of their relatives appeared in the territory!! Chapter 954 The Smiths Reunion "What''s wrong?" Sheila asked, looking at her husband in a daze. She felt like pouting a bit. Obviously, it wasn''t oftentimes she initiated! That took a lot of courage on her part. However, for whatever reason, his eyes brightened as he turned to look at her. "You know how we have a group of people monitoring all the entries in the territory, right?" Sheila nodded. Althea granted a department access to the real-time population list. There were people watching the list for 28 hours of the day. "You know how we got the staff to ping us whenever certain names enter the territory, right?" Sheila blinked and sat up, a possibility dawning on her. Her heart beat faster as her soft palms grabbed his shirt. "Just get to the point, please." Eagle broke into a smile, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "Your father and brother''s names appeared and their ages matched. Do you want to take a look?" ¡­ The Shrao caravan arrived at night time. Earlier in the afternoon, they were unlucky and were attacked by a relatively big monster mob. Some of their strongmen got injured so it took them a while to get there. By the time they arrived in Alterra''s area, most people had been wounded somehow. The aborigines were dead tired, let alone the civilians¡ªsome of whom were Terran. But who were they to complain? They were just tagging along and they were warned they wouldn''t be protected nor provided resources for. Even if they paid quite a bit for each person, it was made clear that they would not be protected. Fortunately, they stayed long enough in this place to know a few edible plants and fruits to sate their hunger and thirst. They had also bought a few of those coarse bread from the Restaurant back in Shrao Village. The aborigines all had some coarse bread as well, though it was notable how some of them also openly showed dislike for it. They even mentioned Alterra''s food with bits of longing, surprising the Terrans. At the time, Den and Albert looked at each other with curiosity and puzzlement in their eyes. The Caravan was supposed to buy a lot of things from Alterra. They wondered what a Terran village built 3 months ago could have that aborigines didn''t? Did a group of Terrans somehow manage to recreate some recipes or something? Then again, this place was very backward in some things, so perhaps a group was powerful enough to bring in some innovations. At the time, they just thought it''d be something a bit creative like jams or some simple sauces made from local plants. Of course, those were already very impressive. After all, in the past few months, most people were preoccupied with just surviving. Not many people would have the time to really experiment on something unavailable to the locals. But when they saw the walls and sentries, they couldn''t speak anymore. And then they entered and they were speechless. It was like they were suddenly thrown into a barrage of activity and brightness and they could only gape. "This¡­" Albert gasped, looking at the people going about the streets and the shops as if nothing was wrong with the world. Sheldon''s eyes widened, filled with admiration, while the rest immediately went to approach the nearest stalls. "Food!" "Drinks!" "Ohmygoodness!" Suffice to say, they ''lost'' a lot of people a few meters past the threshold. There were also people from the aborigine team who had seen Alterra for the first time. They gaped and gasped, their expression full of disbelief, unsure if this was really a village. They couldn''t believe their eyes, and even the Terrans were also shocked. Fellow Terrans did this? How?! It was around this time that a few people arrived and greeted them with smiles. "Welcome to nighttime in Alterra~! Would you like a guide?" "A¡­ guide?" What in the world¡­ "Yes! For a fee, we can guide you across the territory~ Only the public-accessible areas, of course." The Terrans looked at each other, minds going a little blank, but they nodded in the end. Encountering a tour guide in this place was so ''out there'' for them, but here they were. Anyway, they ought to take advantage. Fortunately, the fee was in groups. Some people still had excess money to hire a guide, and they allowed Albert and his son to tag along. The group immediately went to explore the village. Before going, everyone decided to buy a few things in the stalls! They weren''t rich but they magically could afford to treat themselves like this! The few coppers that could get them nothing outside, could actually buy a few things in Alterra! How happy! They were just simple snacks like a stick of barbeque or french fries¡ªbut it was easily the best meal they had in months! Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, as they walked along the wide streets¡ªrunning parallel to an avenue with bikes¡ªthey naturally thought to look for their loved ones first. As fascinated as they were, they naturally couldn''t forget looking for them. At this, the poor guide¡ªLouie¡ª was barraged with some names and descriptions. He was guiding a group of a dozen, so he couldn''t absorb them at all. He might have heard of some familiar names, but got distracted fairly quickly when the list went on and on¡­ "Ah, you can send announcements in the Village Center¡ªfor a fee, of course," Louie just said with a smile, holding up his hand to stop them. "A lot of relatives have found each other that way. Don''t worry, it''s part of the tour. We should get there soon." Hearing this, the newcomers forced themselves to calm down¡ªto be patient for a bit longer. Louie could also sense that they were eager to the Village Center so he didn''t make any stopovers in the meantime, and they just went straight to the Center. Den and the others were already budgeting for the announcement, to be able to include as many names as allowable. Albert was thinking of how to borrow money. After buying his son and paying the caravan, he really didn''t have much left except for a couple of coppers. Fortunately, he didn''t need to spend anything at all, because a familiar voice sounded at the side. "Dad! Sheldon!" At first, they thought they were hearing things. When things were too good to be true¡ªthey usually were, after all. However, when they turned to see her smiling¡ªsafe and sound¡ªAlbert and his son couldn''t help but burst into tears. "Sheila!!" Chapter 955 Pedia and Oby-gn Department The next day, Dr. Cythia''s Pedia and Oby-gyn department was particularly busy. Fortunately, she had her assistant, Nurse Lea, a baby-faced 30-year-old who was also training to do her job for some basic cases. She was a new addition from Shrao nee Vismont Village as one of the slaves bought over by Alterra. She was now working hard in order to gain her freedom. Fortunately, the territory only took a portion of her salary. That, along with the low cost of living in Alterra, allowed her to live a comfortable life that made up for the suffering she went through during the past few months. She was still unable to afford a Resident status, and she was still a slave in name, but she had never been so free since the disasters happened. Anyway, at this time, she eagerly watched as the doctor handled a patient quite well-known in the territory. It was no other than the beautiful researcher Winona and her husband, the "Red Sun" Ansel. "Alright, Winona, how have you been feeling?" Dr. Cyntha asked the blonde, who was holding onto one of her husband''s hands. Ansel''s other arm wrapped around her shoulder as if enveloping her for her comfort, while she would unconsciously rest her head on him whenever she needed to. "It''s okay," Winona said. "Just a bit tired and nauseous sometimes." Dr. Cynthia nodded, noting down the symptoms on her patient record. "Have you been experiencing pain or discomfort?" Winona shook her head. "Just some cramping here and there." At this, Ansel massaged her palm as if by habit¡ªmassaging some pressure points to relieve tension. Dr. Cynthia and Lea couldn''t help but smile. "Alright, let me do a physical exam," she said and Winona stood up to lay down on the comfy bed. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She stepped closer to Winona, palpating her abdomen gently with her hand, and feeling for any abnormalities. Winona was a bit tense, but she quickly relaxed when Ansel''s hand took hers, providing warmth and comfort. They might argue a lot, but Ansel still knew how to lessen her anxiety. "Everything seems normal here," she said. "Now, for a pelvic exam." Cynthia looked at the couple. "Did you bring Sheila''s notes?" They nodded, handing her a piece of paper with Sheila''s stamp. Since there was no ultrasound yet, there would be two days a week wherein Sheila was assigned to provide some ''ultrasound'' for them. It wasn''t detailed and Sheila wasn''t a good artist, but they could take what they could get. Of course, the Research Center''s Medical Team also made sure that doing so was safe for the baby. They did this by creating some dummy babies (made as accurately as possible with the synthetic materials they had available). Using Sheila''s skill on it, they determined that no damage had been done. The doctor looked at the stamped paper, reading the findings. It had a little doodle, though it was comprised mostly of notes. Approximately 5 weeks in gestation. The embryo is small but distinct with a developing heartbeat. The gestational sac is visible and the yolk sac is effectively providing the initial nourishment. Heart rate detected is approximately 110 beats per minute. Within normal range for this early age. Uterine Condition: No abnormalities or signs of complications are observed. There was also a note saying the fetus itself was in good condition. She smiled and looked at the couple who seemed particularly worried every time they visited her. "Well, you don''t need to worry," she said. "The child is healthy. You''re doing a great job¡ªboth of you are." ¡­ Speaking of Shiela, she had a long line of patients getting a scan at this time. She was in a very good mood. She found her family after all, and they were settling in quite nicely. Somehow her mood increased her efficiency so she had finished quite a few patients earlier than she thought. Sheila''s place was a doctor''s room where she did a private ''scanning''. The patients ranged from those checking for ailments (mostly according to doctor request, with directions on where to focus to save on mana), to pregnancies. Mostly, pregnancies. So many young lives were forming¡ªand it was obvious that Mathilda''s new policy was already showing effects. Seeing the traces of the fetuses was her favorite thing to do in this assignment. New lives, new hope. Sheila also wanted one, she thought longingly, unconsciously patting her own stomach. She wondered when she could? Because of the level differences between her and Eagle, procreation wasn''t as easy as the others. Of course, she was told they just needed a bit more time, and it was still very much possible for them to have a child. Imagining her own child was already making her happy. Of course, if Eagle heard of this longing, he''d be very very glad to help her out. Success in this case was a number''s game, after all. They just had to do it way more times than before! ¡­ Anyway, Sheila was a professional and did not linger in her daze for too long. She got the next few patients in, and handled them with the greatest care she could give. After another hour, Shiela finished scanning a patient recovering from a bone injury. "The bone is healing nicely," she said, also writing the note down. "But you still can''t put pressure there." "Thanks, Miss Sheila," the young lad said, blushing a bit, though her husband''s scary face flashed in his mind and the thoughts were immediately wiped off. Sheila smiled, taking note of the patient in her logbook. She looked at her stats. She was limited to a certain number of patients which required only a handful of mana cookies in order not to overexert herself. This next one happened to be the last one. She didn''t look at the info yet as she was still finishing some notes on the previous patient. "Next patient please," she said without looking at the door but, when she lifted her head, her eyebrows rose when she saw who it was. "Kimmy?" Chapter 956 More Pregnant Women In stark contrast to the bubbly chubby woman she met before, this Kimmy was thin and had big eye bags. Sheila felt pity for the woman and what she had to go through. It wasn''t that they didn''t try to reach out, it was just that when they visited her, she was really unresponsive. It was normal to be traumatized after being humiliated like that. Worse was that they didn''t have closure yet. They hadn''t even found the actual perpetrators for that tragedy, so now she had to live like this for months. Sheila, and many others, were understanding and came by her house every few days. However, a lot of things happened since then, with the Heat Wave and the mass weddings (and their newly wedded lives in consequence) as the latest changes. They also found out that Raine had hired a housekeeper and nanny for her, so with their busy schedules they just¡­ forgot. This made her feel very bad. She gave the woman a smile as she asked her to sit down. "What concerns do you have? Do you have a doctor''s request?" She asked, very gently. Kimmy didn''t really answer her. Instead, she gave Sheila the paper with Dr. Cynthia''s stamp. Sheila looked at the contents, and her hands unconsciously gripped on the request. Her eyes widened and she looked at the unsmiling Kimmy. Pregnant? And looking at the timeline¡­ A sense of dread and sadness came over Sheila as she stared at the tragic figure of the other woman. Could it be those¡­ aborigine men? ¡­ Back to Doctor Cynthia''s room, Ansel and Winona finished up their session and went outside, looking at the couple next in line. It was Althea and Garan, with the babies. "Your turn," Ansel said, his claws lightly pinching the babies'' faces, which earned a light slap courtesy of his wife. "Don''t! Their cheeks would mark." He tutted. She used to do it all the time! So biased, he thought. But he didn''t say it out loud, knowing his wife was emotional. Althea chuckled at their interactions before heading inside with her husband. They were greeted by the nurse there, whose eyes sparkled at the sight of them. Nurse Lea had hearts in her eyes whenever she saw the twins. So cute, so cute! Such angels! Lea and the doctor were a bit surprised to see this family here though. A thought hit them like a Broat: What if the kids were ill?! Why else would the babies be in the hospital without a prior appointment!? The smiles on their faces immediately faded, and their expressions turned to that of worry. Their anxiety was so obvious that Althea couldn''t help but explain. "Just a consultation. Nothing serious." The two women heaved a breath of relief. Anyway, now that that was settled, the two women zoned in on the ultra-cute babies. As a pediatrician, Cynthia naturally had a lot of toys in her room (it just felt natural even when there were very few babies compared to before) and she handed a stuffed toy to the babies to keep them busy and distracted. They had plenty of toys, a lot of fancy ones, anything colorful was fascinating to the babies¡ªat least for a bit. "Mwamammggg¡­" "Googmmggg¡­" The adults smiled at their cuteness before chatting with each other. "You see, they''ve been showing signs of standing up, and we''re worried if their bones can handle it." "I see¡­" Cynthia said after a pause, trying to remember how old the babies were. She had heard they were much younger than they looked, but probably not too young, right? "How old are they?" "They''re four months old." "..." The doctor cleared her throat and looked at the babies again. She took note of the information¡ªever the professional¡ªand started talking to herself as she pondered. "Some developmental milestones like crawling and rolling over, especially pulling up to stand, had indeed been achieved. "Technically speaking, they would indeed be ready to stand up soon," she said, before shifting her attention to the parents. "But they''re too young and you''re worried, I understand." The couple nodded. "Sheila had checked the babies'' bone densities and said it seemed around the same as 1 year old children. " Though for comparison, they used Theo, and they were indeed not that different. The doctor noted all of these while nurse Lea''s face changed every time the babies'' did. For example, Little Pepper would babble, and she would unconsciously mirror the movement. For example, Little Meatball''s little hands would wave as he played with his toy and she would wave back. The doctor sighed, gently tapping her to get back her professionalism. "If you don''t learn anything during your apprenticeship, I won''t pass you." The words shot seriousness up the girl''s spine. "Yes, Mam!" She raised her clipboard to take the proper notes, trying very hard not to get distracted by the little ones'' cuteness. "I''ll do a physical exam for them, then," Dr. Cynthia said, asking them to lay the twins on the bed so she could check on their muscle strength and joint flexibility. Lea went to the side in order to distract the babies (a happy assignment, really). Seeing the babies stable, the doctor gently manipulated the legs, bending, and straightening their knees and ankles to evaluate the range of motions. As she did so, she also taught Lea how to do it and what to look for, with the latter noting everything¡ªdespite itching to poke the babies'' chubby tummies, which were very obvious since they wore cute onesies. The doctor had no idea what was going on in her apprentice''s head. She just went to speak to her like the professional she was. "Lea, we''re now checking whether the babies'' legs can hold their own weight even for short periods. Their muscles should be firm and their balance, even if they were wobbling, should be improving." Lea snapped out of her daze from the cutesy attacks and held a baby''s arm pits like the doctor was doing. "Also look for the coordination between their legs." They took bigger toys they could use for support and positioned the babies over it so they could move their legs. "The babies can bear their weight and show some progress in balance," Cynthia noted, and so did Lea. They then did a series of tests that the babies seemed to find amusing. After a couple more exams, the Doctor faced the parents to tell them the results. "They should still take a few more months," she said, "But you can put them in cruisers or activity walkers to aid them." The couple nodded at this, remembering her words. Before ending the session, Dr. Cynthia also told them about a few more things to watch out for. "Go to me as soon as anything abnormal happens." "Thank you, Doctor," she said, already planning on giving Baron a call to customize the cruisers. The couple went out with a baby each in their arms. They met Winona and Ansel who were waiting for them in the hospital gardens, which were even more beautiful than before. Really, even in Terran, such a nice garden in a hospital was limited to the higher-tier areas. Here, it was accessible to all patients, helping with their psyche and recovery. Winona saw them approach and immediately left her husband to greet them and the children. She leaned down to give the twins a few smooches and then asked how the check-up went. "They''ll be walking in another month or two," Althea said. "We can finally use cruisers though." "Wow so cute~!" she squealed, imagining the babies going around on their own. She gently touched her own tummy, as if she could already see her own child as big as the twins and her heart turned to puddle. "Well, you''ll be born just in time to have playmates!" S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 957 New Arrivals While the family headed back to their villa, a new caravan had arrived. This one came from Bright Village, a consistent partner of Alterra. A lot of the people immediately headed to their target places as soon as they went past the threshold. Whether it was towards the supermarket, the clothing stores, the marketplaces, and the like¡ªhoards of people rushed towards their shops, afraid that the stocks would run out. It wasn''t the first time it happened! In contrast, the new faces were left standing in the middle of the wide sidewalk in awe. This was Hana, Atlas, Tim, and Tilda. It was only them in their group, the rest of them decided to stay in Bright Village, which seemed like a very good place already anyway. There were also those, like Laos, who stayed because they didn''t want to be near Tilda at all. It wasn''t easy for the four of them to join the caravan though. In hopes of increasing his own population, Micheal had added a tax and payment for the non-citizens who came along with the caravan. They would also pay a bond twice that amount, which the territory would keep in case they decided not to come back to Bright and settle in Alterra. This discouraged most of the refugees who were poor and had just enough to survive day to day. However, this was not the case with Hana and the others. It wasn''t that they had plenty of money, but they did have reasons to gamble much of their remaining money to get here. After gathering himself, Atlas took a deep breath and prepared to head out as well. He looked at his former companions. "Well, this is where we part." This made the others flinch, especially Tilda who looked at him with a betrayed expression on her face. "Why? Are you going to leave us?" she asked. Atlas almost rolled his eyes. "You tagged along with me to get to safety. I allowed it. Now we''re safe, do you still hope for me to carry you?" "That''s not what I mean¡ª" "Also, Tilda, don''t forget that no one would want you in their team¡ªespecially not after what you''ve done," he said, looking at Tim, who seemed embarrassed for his sister. "You''re lucky to have a good brother, but even good people have their limits." He walked over to Tim and patted his shoulder. With a low voice, he gave the other man the last advice he''d give to him. "Sometimes, the hardest¡ªbut wisest¡ªthing you can do is to walk away from those who harm you, even if they are related by blood." He walked away then and they could only watch as he disappeared deeper into the territory. Tilda wanted to follow but was held back by her brother. She whipped her head to glare at him, eyes a bit teary. "Why didn''t you stop him?!" Tim shook his head. "Didn''t you see? He has a direction. He probably found his relatives." Back in Bright, they went around after renting a bedspace in the dormitory. They all found something interesting, and most of it had to do with the ''master'' village called Alterra. The siblings just heard of the place''s amazingness and they wanted to see it. On the other hand, Atlas found leads to people he wanted to find. At the time, he was asking around and dropping names, hoping to get some information. With his background as a former police officer, he naturally managed to get a lot of information. For one, Alterra was worth the risk and he was seriously considering going there instead. The fact that the territory imposed a high tax and bond on those leaving for Alterra meant people were likely to stay there when they were given a chance. He was already planning to say goodbye to the ''team'', never really thinking he''d stay with them forever. After all, they¡ªwith a few exemptions¡ªhad just depended on him for guidance and a little protection and he was glad to let go of the burdens. Unexpectedly, a guard approached him at some point. He was apparently called by the lord himself. He was confused at first, and he just thought perhaps the man wanted to hire him. The lord of their former territory wasn''t very secretive so they knew a lot of their capabilities as Lords. For one, they knew lords could see what was in their wallets, what their potential was, as well as their professions and elements. It was extremely intrusive, but what could they do? He went with the guard for formality, though he might consider staying if the offer was good and if he could get information about his loved ones somehow. He arrived the see a striking man with blonde hair, and his instincts told him he had blood in his hands. He was clean and a bit intimidating, and Artie wasn''t sure what to expect. Instead of a hiring notice though, he was asked a question that shook his core: "Do you know of an Artie Cruz?" Atlas flinched, looking around. His eyes brightened a bit at this, and his heart hopeful. "Yes, he''s my brother." sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Micheal didn''t answer for a while, the pause causing Atlas''s heart to clench. However, his mind refused to go in a bad direction. "Where¡­ is he?" "He''s not here," he said, straight to the point. "He''s no longer here. "I''m sorry for your loss." "W-What?" "For what it''s worth¡­ he died trying to save people," he said, standing up to pat the man''s shoulder. "He also lived honorably even if life was hard. You should be proud." Atlas''s ears rang for a long time, still absorbing the fact that his brother was no longer there. The lord here apologized to him himself, telling him everything that he knew, which should''ve been flattering, but he was still reeling from the news of his brother''s death the whole time. His little brother who followed him to the police academy because he admired him so much¡ª To be honest, it was too much of a shock that he couldn''t even mourn. "His former team is in Alterra, and he gave a lot of importance to them, and they to him," Micheal said. "I''ll waive the caravan fees for you if you want to see them yourself." Atlas didn''t even need to think. He nodded and went away without turning back¡ªdesperate to meet the people who had known his brother before he died. At the very least, he wanted to know how his brother truly lived during the last months of his life! Chapter 958 Hanas Hunt A/N: The last of today''s mass release! Again, THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT! May we keep our T1 rank all the way to the end of the month *prays* ... ___ The three of Tim, Tilda, and Hana went together to check the famous marketplace. On their way there though, they couldn''t help but walk around in a daze. It felt like they were in a unique tourist spot of an old well-developed town, improved by the government. The whole place had a quaint feel to it, yet with some of the conveniences of modern times. There were shops abutting the entire street and they ended up window shopping a lot. They didn''t dare buy some ''luxuries'' like new clothing and the like for now¡ªeven if they, especially the women, wanted to. After all, their money was limited and the basics had yet to be covered. Anyway, there were so many things! And when they arrived at the marketplace, they were naturally shocked. The one in Bright¡ªwhich fascinated them already¡ªwas actually too small compared to this! Sadly, they had no extra money. What they had was just enough for shelter and some basic food. Fortunately, the things here were inexpensive compared to their original territory that overcharged, and they could still afford a few things. Tim bought his sister and Hana some bread and then a small serving of jam. Before the heat wave, they lived off that coarse bread and tangy meat, and during the heat wave they would even eat the barks of dried trees. This was already heaven. As they ate together, however, they couldn''t help but get a whiff of the scents from other tables. Their stomachs growled as they looked in longingly at the other people''s lush menus and then looked down on their bread with jam. "Well, at least the three of us are together," Tim said with a smile, swearing he''d be able to afford some better food first. Tilda just rolled her eyes, looking around, and wondering if she could find someone she knew to treat her. Tim looked at Hana and held her hand. "We''ll work hard and afford those good food, too." "Hmmm¡­" Hana said, looking a little disengaged. In fact, she pushed to go to Alterra not just because she was curious about it. She insisted on going here primarily because she found out Ansel was here! Back in Bright, while Tim was settling their accommodations, she had decided to go around on her own. She ended up being lazy in the park while the others went around and hoped to find some relatives or friends. There were a lot of parks (compared to the previous territory, anyway) and she loved it very much. She was relaxing and wondering how to make a life out of this new home when she overheard a few girls picking fruits while fawning at the same time. It felt like she was brought back to before the disaster where this was a common sight. It felt a bit disorienting¡ªlike it was something from a previous life. Anyway, the girls looked like they were simping, squealing amongst themselves. "Master Garan is the best!" she said. "That cool chiseled profile is to die for!" "No, the Golden God is!" another said. "Master Garan is for Miss Althea only!" "Hugo and Helios are really great too! I like tanned men. Those muscles¡­ ughn~" "Fable is still the best for me. With the improved physiques here, he became even more handsome, and have you seen him quadruple flip? Oh my gosh! My panties fell when he landed!" "Master Ansel is so handsome! That flowy red hair¡ªI can just bury my fingers¡ªKyaaa~" "Ansel!?" She exclaimed, her voice higher pitched than usual. The girls flinched at the intrusion and they stared at her weirdly. "You¡­" Hana realized her overreaction and immediately gathered herself. "Ah, I''m sorry," she said, back to her demure self. Her face was flushed in embarrassment. Even during all that suffering, she had never lost herself like this. "Ansel Witt is an old friend of mine¡ªvery handsome, has red hair, and a charming personality. Are we talking about the same person?" "Ah! So you''re Master Ansel''s friend?" One of the girls said, looking at her with interest. "Wow, how nice is he?" "Very nice." "That''s so nice¡­" they said, fawning again. Hana took this chance to make her follow-up inquiries. "Can you tell me where he is? I would love to see him again." The girls blinked and, to her disappointment, shook their heads. "Ah, he''s not here," they told her. "He''s from Alterra." She remembered the name in her heart, determined to go there. So when Atlas announced he was going to Alterra, she supported his decision and even convinced Tim to do the same. They weren''t 100% into it because they had to pay a good amount to join the caravan, but she convinced him of all the good things she heard about Alterra. So here they were. She looked at the smiling Tim with a complicated expression. What should she do about Tim? Then, in her guilt, her eyes drifted to Tilda, who was staring at her with narrow eyes. Her heart dropped and she looked down and resumed eating her bread in silence. Anyway, she should find him first before doing anything. So many things happened since then and, knowing him, he probably got a few girlfriends in between. What if he was together with someone now? But what would he think if he saw her with a boyfriend? Would he dislike her? Would he think she was fickle? Or¡­ would he get jealous? Either way, Hana didn''t think too deeply about their current relationships, although her heart did clench a little at the thought of hurting Tim. However, even if she was reluctant to leave Tim, it was Ansel who could make her heart beat so loudly, making her feel alive. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although Ansel had a reputation, he was never bad to them. He was very good, and he made them feel nice and good about themselves. And because he never went beyond kisses, the women also felt he wasn''t in it for sex but for love. And because they didn''t give so much to him, the breakups were rarely messy. Rather, when he made clear that they should part ways, they just understood it was part of his character and that it was nothing personal. Their memories with him remained to be good ones. And her memories of Ansel... were some of Hana''s best. Who could blame her from wanting to get them back? Chapter 959 A Little Drama At this time, the subject of someone''s wishful thinking was massaging his wife''s feet. The couple was now sitting in the living room, with Winona lounging on the sofa with her feet on Ansel''s thighs. The others were out¡ªwith the Althea and Garan heading to the Woodworkers to customize a cruiser for each of the babies¡ªso Ansel and Winona were the only ones in Villa #1. "That tickles¡­" she giggled, before giving Ansel a look. "You know, my stomach isn''t even big yet," she said. Meaning to say, her feet weren''t sore just yet. "The doctor said this is good, and I listen to the doctor." Then he pressed a sensitive spot that enticed a moan and his eyes darkened. His hand started massaging northwards to her ankles¡­ and then her thighs¡­ Winona gasped, her face turning red. "H-Hey!" "It seems like you need a massage elsewhere," he said, appearing very serious and Winona could only watch as she was carried back to their room¡ªnot to go out again until dusk. ¡­ Eventually, some team members did arrive back in the villa area. For example, Harold and Sheila. Sheila had a conjugal house with Eagle, but earlier that day, the soldier left to do the standard rounds around their region. Eagle was assigned to the Caravan Team heading towards Belluga, so she would be alone for the next few days so the team invited her to have dinner here. The doorbell rang while Harold was cooking, so it was Sheila who checked who the visitor was. She did not expect to find a pretty girl, albeit a little thin and wan, staring at the gate of the Team Villas. "Is there anything I can help you with?" The girl flinched and looked at her. "I¡­ I''m looking for Ansel," she said, though her eyes were a little red. "I''m not sure if he''s inside. May I have your name?" "Hana," she said. "It''s Hana." Sheila nodded. "If you can wait¡­" The girl nodded and watched her open the gates. Before she headed in though, the other girl stopped her. "Wait!" she said, her voice becoming quieter. "Uhm.. is it true?" Sheila looked confused. "Is Ansel really married?" At this point, even the dense Sheila finally recognized what kind of visitor this was. "Yes. Happily so." "I see¡­" the girl said though Sheila wasn''t sure what she was thinking. Especially not when she raised her head and met her eyes. "Please let me talk to him." Sheila nodded, though much more reluctantly this time. She closed the gate and entered the main villa to see Harold already setting up the table. He saw her troubled face and smiled teasingly. "Do you miss your husband already?" Sheila blushed. "HAROLD!" Then she looked around, wanting to change the topic back. "Is Ansel here?" "I think so," Harold said, head pointing at the door. "With his wife." "Oh," Sheila said, heading out. "Where are you going?" "Ansel has a visitor, but if he''s busy¡ª" It was around here that the door opened, revealing a very nourished couple. The two froze when they realized there were two people staring straight at their door. "..." "..." "W-What is it?" Ansel asked, couldn''t help but feel that they got caught again. But then he remembered they were married now so this was perfectly proper. At the thought, his chest puffed up and he lifted his chin. "What¡­ are you staring at?" he asked, a bit arrogantly, and it earned him a light slap at the back of his head, courtesy of his well-nourished wife. Sheila wondered if she should tell them. Would the nice atmosphere be affected? "Uhm¡­ someone''s looking for you, Ansel," she said. "Her name is Hana." "Hana?" "It''s one of your exes," Winona said with greeted teeth. Ansel blinked and looked at her. Instead of looking guilty though, he grinned. "Have you been following my life even before?" She punched him lightly, though not without a blush on her face. "I remember her because she was with you at that time!" She was referring to the time she was being harassed by her ex. Ansel happened to be there and saved her. He was with his then-girlfriend at the time, a pretty narrow-eyed girl with porcelain skin named Hana. But looking at how reluctant Sheila was, Winona knew this visit wasn''t as platonic as she''d like. However, she was never the type to back down. Rather, she''d rather confront the issue early on so they could all move on. "Invite her in." ¡­ Hana entered the home and looked around, her eyes filled with wonder and envy. The gardens, the pond, the swings, and the lovely home¡­ they were all so beautiful. Ansel lived like this in such a chaotic world. When she was struggling for a bite to eat or get a drop of water to sip¡­ he was living like this. She was envious as she was glad. She was glad he lived well, and was glad that she could also live like this if everything went well. She had heard Ansel was an important Elder here. Not to mention, his sister, Miss Althea, was one of the richest people in the territory. It was no wonder they had a great home. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But she heard his wife was a researcher, which was also a highly-regarded profession, even in this place. Meanwhile, she¡­ She shook her head of the insecurities. No, he was so powerful, what could that woman do if he wanted to be with her instead? She was so happy when they were together. He also smiled and laughed a lot¡­ so he must''ve treasured those memories as much as she had, right? In any case, Hana entered the living room with mixed expectations. The house was well-decorated, but she didn''t have the mind to admire the interiors when she saw Ansel¡ªas handsome as ever¡ªsitting closely next to a beautiful curvaceous blonde. Hana had to stop the urge to look down at her own chest to compare. She bit her lips. "Ansel¡­" She said, voice so soft and gentle. It irked Winona very much. It wasn''t helping that she was hormonal. However, she still knew not to overreact lest she appeared insecure. This would not only make the other woman happy, but also think she would have a chance with Ansel. Things like this¡ªmust be nipped in the bud! Chapter 960 Settling Rivals Ansel felt her tension and he rotated her a bit so he could massage her shoulder. The movements fell into Hana''s eyes and her heart fell. But then his next words made her heart stop completely. "Does this feel stiff, too? I guess pregnancy causes pain all over¡­ or was it due to our exercise earlier?" he asked, looking genuinely concerned. "Was I too hard?" Winona blushed and pinched his thigh, making him flinch. However, rather than being angry, he laughed at her instead. He leaned down and kissed her cheek before turning to their guest whom they seemed to have forgotten for a moment. "Long time no see, old friend," Ansel said with a handsome smile, though his words made Hana want to cry. "How can I help you?" "I¡­ nothing," she said, "I just wanted to see you, for old time''s sake." "Hmn," Ansel said. "I''m glad you''re alright." "The same with you," she said. There was a moment of silence that was so awkward that it was painful to her. Seeing that Ansel wasn''t planning on opening a new topic, Hana pursed her lips. "Ansel? I¡­ I may need your help as well." If he helped her, maybe they''d have more chances to spend time together. Hana thought she just needed some time¡ªtime to remind him of their past. Ansel was still massaging his wife''s shoulder at this time. "What kind of assistance would you need?" "I¡­ may need to borrow some money," she said. It was embarrassing but she really needed it. Besides, which woman would feel comfortable when their husband handed another woman¡ªa woman they had a past with¡ªsome money? She could also use the terms of payment to spend a bit more time with him. For instance, she could pay bit by bit every week wherein she''d have a valid excuse of meeting up with him. Ansel blinked and looked at her apologetically. "If you need help, I can. However, the family money is being controlled by my wife, so we need to go through her first." "What?" Hana asked, turning to look at the beautiful blonde staring back at her. Hana gripped her skirt¡ªwhich was new by the way, bought with her remaining money so she could look presentable in front of Ansel¡ª "Miss Winona? I¡­ can I borrow some of Ansel''s money? I promise to give back when I can." Winona pursed her lips. She never asked this of him, but he learned from the best¡ªGaran¡ªand so he really did give her the money as soon as they got married. Wedding gift, he said. At the memory, her mood brightened again, and her smile became genuine as she looked at the other woman. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The sight gritted Hana''s eyes and heart. "How much money do you need?" "I¡­ if you could lend us money for downpayment of a unit. Just a unit will do. There are only three of us. My boyfriend and his sister." She looked at him as she said the last part, but saw no reaction at the mention of her boyfriend. Ansel answered her this time. "In the bank, as long as you make an oath and find a job, you can apply for a loan," he said. "It''s not big at first, but it would give you time to adjust to this new world and eventually save up for residency and downpayment." "But¡­" "The interest rates are completely reasonable, you don''t have to worry," Ansel said, cutting her off. "But¡ª" Her voice and her disagreements died down when she saw Ansel stopped massaging Winona. He stood up and leaned down to kiss her forehead. When he approached her, Hana''s heart beat erratically, not sure what to expect. "Alterra is very supportive of new residents," he said. "You don''t need to lower yourself to make individual loans." Hana couldn''t speak anymore. If he said it like this, if she continued asking for money, what would she look like? "Goodnight Hana, my wife is a bit tired," he said, "I went too wild earlier, you see." "I¡­ see," was all she said, trying to keep her composure. "If you''ll excuse me¡ª" Hana left the house hurriedly, just wanting to be in her own space. She hadn''t even gotten far from the villa areas when her knees buckled, and she burst into tears. ... Hana didn''t come to their dorm until about an hour later. She was still sobbing a bit, but she didn''t want it to be obvious that she had been crying. What would she say? That she went to her ex and was humiliated instead? When she went back though, only Tilda was there. They were recent arrivals and were assigned to a new dormitory and didn''t have roommates yet. Where was Tim though? "He was looking for you. He had been for the past two hours," Tilda said, crossing her arms. "Where did you go?" "I¡­ I went to see old friends." "Just friends?" "Yes." "Don''t lie to me," Tilda said with sharp eyes, looking at her new dress, eyes flaring with jealousy. "Do you think I''m an idiot?" "Do you want me to tell my brother you came home crying like a pitiful little girl? Don''t say you''re crying because you got lost; Even Tim wouldn''t want someone so childish." "I¡­" Hana began to speak, but nothing came out. She could only watch as the tall Tilda walked over, looming over her petite frame. Tilda was in her mid-30s, tall and a bit pretty, but her features were as sharp as her words, making her very intimidating. "Tell me." Hana pursed her lips. Her eyes began to become teary again and it made Tilda want to slap her instead. Fortunately, Hana did talk so that tragedy did not happen. "I¡­ Ansel¡­ an old friend." Tilda''s already-sharp eyes fixed on her and it made her feel she was being stabbed. "You''re blushing. It''s an old flame, isn''t it?" Hana''s eyes changed and Tilda knew she was right. She was about to slap her¡ªhow dare this parasite cheat on her brother after everything he did for her¡ªbut then she paused. The name ''Ansel'' seemed familiar... Chapter 961 Plans for the Babies The name ''Ansel'' seemed familiar, Tilda thought. When she started to place the names¡ªshe was gossipy by nature and naturally heard a couple of ''important'' names¡ªher eyes widened and she looked at Hana. "Ansel? The handsome elder?" she asked, leaning over and intruding on the other''s personal space. "He lived in a nice villa?" Hana looked at her in confusion before nodding. At this, Tilda''s eyes sparkled. "Then let me help you." "What?" "Let me help you," Tilda repeated, eyes narrowing. Not only would she rid her brother of this parasite, she could also get connected to such a good family! Maybe she could even find her own target there! Genius! ¡­ Back at the villa, Althea felt a little sad that she missed the drama. Garan somewhat sensed her disappointment and gently squeezed her nose. They were now eating dinner and catching up with each other''s day. The first one that came up was the fact that one of Ansel''s exes arrived¡ªobviously trying to rekindle something¡ªonly to fail miserably. "Enough about me," Ansel said, tutting. He looked at his sister. "How was the trip to the wood factory?" Althea smiled. "Very well, actually," she said, giving an account of their visit to the woodworkers'' factory. Such an important tool naturally had to be designed well, which was something the woodworkers also took priority of. One feature was that the cruiser had to be extremely flexible. Because the babies grew fast, the baby walkers needed to adjust as well. The twins'' had a circular frame with a small fabric seat in the middle where the baby would be placed inside. Their weights would be supported by the raised seat and their little feet would rest on the floor, requiring only a bit of force from them to move forward or spin in place. It was designed so that the adults could leave the babies in a room and not be afraid that they''d fall or hit a surface (because the walker''s frames would hit them first). S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were also plenty of toys built in and there was also another one that could be set like a fishing rod in front which the babies could run after. In Little Meatball''s walker, it was a sliced pineapple. In Little Pepper''s, it was strawberries. There was also a small bell attached that would make a little sound with every movement so people would know where the babies were and where they could be heading. Althea also noted that Bianca also seemed to have adopted two little aborigine boys from Mauin. When they visited, both of them were in the factory¡ªwatching, learning on their own, and asking many intelligent questions. If they did well, Althea mused they could very well trigger occupations after a couple of years. Anyway, soon enough they would be seeing the babies ''walking'' around on their own. The adorableness! This was also the cutesy image that passed by everyone''s heads and they all couldn''t help but smile a bit. Speaking of babies, at some point, Shiela told them about her encounter with Kimmy. Althea frowned, also feeling a bit guilty for ignoring her. But what could they do? There were so many wars plus the heat wave. How could they find the time to comfort an acquaintance? "Pregnant?" She asked. "Is she alright?" "I think her pregnancy was the thing that shook her awake," Sheila said, referring to that period of unnatural daze wherein no one could get Kimmy to respond at all. Althea and the others looked at each other. "Has Dr. Juliet gotten a look at her yet?" Juliet was the psychologist they recruited from the former Fargo Village. She had done a lot for the women who were abused. Sheila shook her head. "There were too many¡­ victims," she said. "And Kimmy had really been unresponsive for a long time¡­" Basically, guardians would take the victims to Juliet, but Kimmy had always been on her own (and not taken by her housekeeper) so she had not talked to Juliet yet. "Send her the instructions to do a house visit," Althea said. "We cannot have Kimmy entering a void where we can''t get her back." ¡­ In another house, Kimmy looked out the window, gently patting her stomach. What happened back in Belluga was an experience that shook her very soul. For a long time, it felt like she couldn''t find herself, as if it was destroyed by that tragedy. For a long time, she felt like she was in a void. She could see what was happening in the world around her, but she felt¡­ detached, like she wasn''t a part of it anymore. For many weeks, she had been like this. She didn''t even care when Thessy acted like she owned her house. At the same time, that woman made it seem that she was sacrificing herself for her. Thessy also used the money Raine sent for herself a lot, only feeding Kimmy with just enough... At the time, Kimmy barely had a sense of taste, so she didn''t particularly care about what Thessy had been doing. Things changed when she suddenly felt ill. She couldn''t even move. Kimmy couldn''t do anything and there was no one in the house. Thessy was probably fooling around elsewhere, because the house was locked and she couldn''t bring her men¡ªwhich were usually newcomers¡ªinside without alerting Raine. At some point, she thought¡­ death had finally arrived. Why had she been holding on for so long anyway? This was perfect¡­ However, an odd thing happened. It felt like a string of consciousness appeared, connecting her to the outside world. She dragged herself to the door and out of the garden somehow¡ªfor some reason¡ªand there she was found by passerbys who took her to the emergency room. It was then that she found out about the life that had been forming inside of her. For the first time since that day, her soul was shocked awake. At first, she felt extreme disgust and pondered abortion. However, just when she was about to ask the question¡­, her heart clenched. She realized she didn''t want to lose it. Even if it was disgusting¡ªshe wanted to keep it. She hated those men with a gusto, but this was probably her only relative left¡­ So how could she hate her own blood in the end? She snapped back to reality then. She immediately fired Thessy and started to feel the real world again, determined to survive this. At the same time, she didn''t want the baby to be associated with those bastards. She didn''t want it to have any connections with those monsters. So¡­ there was only one thing she could do: Get rid of them. Chapter 962 Another Reason for the Rounds While Alterra was already settling down and heading toward an inevitable level-up, most villages were still trying to recover. However, the villages around Alterra were visibly much faster to do so, already showing great improvements. For example, Belluga Village, with the leadership of the androgynous Raine, restructured what she could, building things up. Fortunately, they gathered a lot of refugees the past week or so¡ªTerran and aborigines alike¡ªand her workforce and economy were revitalized by their presence. She even added more sentries and a few of the custom house modules they got from Alterra. Further, unlike Alterra, Belluga also kept their slaves as slaves. They needed the minimal-cost workforce as well as a strong battle force that they didn''t need to care for so much. Not to mention, these people had been associated with the former humiliation they¡ªand their former lord¡ªhad suffered, so they didn''t think these people deserved freedom at all. This was what Eagle''s team gathered during their stay there, and they didn''t judge. People had to do what they had to do, and Belluga''s approach towards slavery was the most practical one considering what they had and their current status. Anyway, their Prisoners of War were essentially the same¡ªthey simply did not refer to them as slaves. The main difference was that they had a chance of freedom if they contributed long enough, and if they showed remorse and change. However, they did not go here just to study the allied and subsidiary territories. Eagle''s Team¡ªlike all the guard teams who went out a few days ago¡ªhad various purposes for making rounds. One was to protect the standard caravan for citizens who wished to sell their items. It also doubled as a chance to find their relatives. Of course, there were disclaimers that the guards were not obligated to sacrifice their own lives for theirs, so they should still be able to protect themselves well. This was why, on top of the upfront payments, the caravans required everyone joining in to have a minimal level so the guards wouldn''t be too burdened. Speaking of which, some mercenary teams had also appeared, albeit from other territories. In Alterra, Guards was still the ideal job for fighters, but it wouldn''t take long until more mercenary teams¡ªthe official ones¡ªpopped up, especially among those who traveled to Ferrol a lot. After all, mercenary teams had more freedom to do what they wanted. Better-off villages like Belluga had already seen a few forming among their Terran population, though it was still informal as they hadn''t been to Mercenary Halls yet. Bellugan caravans to Alterra had mercenary guards protecting them instead of their guards. This was fine for Raine, as they preferred their guards within and around the territory at all times. Not everyone could be as secure as Alterra, right? Anyway, it so happened that there was a Bellugan caravan in Alterra when Eagle and the others were about to leave, so they all traveled to this place together for maximum safety. A new mercenary team called Corps Mercenary Team was guarding it. It was led by a man named Smithy. They arrived in Alterra several days ago and had actually extended their stay. Interestingly, he was old friends with Esias, a former lord himself. He left for Alterra just as Esias and his team arrived so they missed each other. Thankfully, not for long, and they reunited as soon as Smithy landed back home. They even went to get a drink at the tavern (owned by a citizen)¡ªwhich Esias found so impressive¡ªto catch up. There was talent everywhere with a Terran and¡ªmodeling Alterra''s citizens and its economic explosion¡ªa lot of local people gained the confidence to start their own businesses. They naturally shone in their own light as well. When Esias and the others encountered these shops, they were very shocked and saw the difference in people''s lives. They were struggling to have a sip of water, while other people were starting businesses. For a while, it was hard to digest. Speaking of Esias, he and the team members had been offered very good terms by the lord here. He and Celia were already gifted permanent residencies, while their people''s temporary residences were discounted. Belluga Village was far better off than the territories they had been to for sure, and there was no reason to reject it. It was just that from his friend Smithy, there was an even better one nearby, making him feel reluctant. He didn''t stop his former citizens from settling or going away, but his group¡ªhundreds of people¡ªhad gone through so much, and he showed such sincere leadership that they followed him everywhere. So¡­ whatever Esias decided, then most of his former citizens would follow. Smithy realized the dilemma his old friend was going through and just patted his shoulder. "Oh don''t worry, Belluga is still very very good, and the benefits you got are really great," he said. "Even if you decided to stay, I can tell that you will be among the Terrans living their best lives." "Was it always so good?" "Well, it was always better than others, except maybe Alterra itself," he said, his voice lowering unconsciously. "Especially now that our lord is better." "The lord was another person before?" "Yeah¡­ it''s actually a little sad, but it was all for the best of the territory in the end," Smithy said. He felt guilty for saying this out loud, but it was something most people actually thought about in their own minds. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It so happened he was a little drunk and Esias was an old friend of his. "She was an innocent girl, quite kind despite her eccentricities¡ªbut leading a territory was not something she should be doing." Smithy shook the thought off for a bit, trying to forget the horrible sights they saw that day. He gave a weak smile, patting his friend''s shoulder. "Anyway, welcome to a good place!" ¡­ At this time, Eagle was meeting up with the lord. The others had their own assignments so Raine only had an aborigine with him. The aborigine was like a wallflower though and seemed to like blending with the wall. Anyway, it was more or less just the two of them for now. Eagle smiled and handed Raine some wine from their own Taverns. It wasn''t something Miss Althea did herself, but it was also good quality¡ªdefinitely much better than what they had here. "Here''s a little gift," he said. "We expanded our map a lot thanks to your people''s cooperation¡ªparticularly those who came in from the East and Northeast regions." "No problem," Raine said. "I''d appreciate a discount when a complete map of the region becomes available though." Eagle chuckled. "I will forward it." This was the other reason why Eagle and the others were periodically sent out to make rounds. They hoped to expand Alterra''s world map! This was done by buying the maps of refugees¡ªTerrans and aborigines alike. This was inspired when they bought Otto and Obi''s maps in exchange for some premium goods. Otto said he traveled for a few weeks at the longest, but there was still plenty of land to be covered. It made them realize that the continent was really large, so they upped their efforts to filling up their maps. In time, they''d have a clearer view of their region and maybe¡ªmaybe¡ª Alterra''s library would even have the Map of the World someday. Chapter 963 Warning Belluga Village Speaking of refugees, Belluga had a lot of aborigines now, primarily from the East, so this meant a huge part of their blind spot of the territories East of Alterra was filled up in this trip. They also got a lot of information from Khlack slaves, wherein some citizens just helped them order the map. They were slaves but they could still receive money that came after they became slaves, as long as it was given willingly. Based on the map they had so far, the place they transferred to was either a circle or an oblong. Bart mentioned it wasn''t that large of an area. It was simply an area with very little Aether. However, when they arrived the place was revitalized as if it didn''t have any difference to the outside world. It was the opposite of the Grave of Villages they had trained in before, about a week or two of travel south of their current location. According to high-level aborigines who had settled nearby¡ªlike Jonathan and his cronies¡ªtheir area seemed to have died a decade before they arrived. Jonathan''s papyrus library had records of it, in fact. It said of a resource depletion in an area, causing the fall of the few villages there. Similarly, the previous transfer (Gaudi''s people) seemed to have had a similar if not the same experience. Gaudi overheard some slave drivers mention something of the sort. The emptiness of aether in these spots was also convenient because no one would settle there and they had the place for themselves¡ªat least until the protection period ended. The previous Transfers were hundreds of years prior and the ones before that were a thousand years before that. Sadly, there was no record of the surviving people anymore, so they could only make do with the information they could gather. With these data, they came to a conclusion: Whenever a Transfer was about to happen, an area would lose aether in preparation for it. However, a lot of these were suppositions and they didn''t spread it out yet. There wasn''t any urgency to know such a thing anyway. What they needed to spread though, was something looming above everyone. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Raine served tea and they continued to chat. "I''m honored to have the person heading the Alterra''s Logistics department to personally visit us," she said. "There''s a reason I personally went on this trip," he told Raine. "This is to inform the associated villages that they had two to three months to prepare before Alterra became a town." "What?" Raine exclaimed, but calmed herself immediately. This should not have been a surprise. "...may I know the requirements to becoming a Town, if you don''t mind me asking." "20000 population, 15000 residents, and 1000 prestige." Raine looked at her pitiful 110 prestige that had barely moved after so long. Although a lot of Terran territories got 100 prestige early on, the increase thereafter had become much slower. It was likely that the initial prestige had to do with the burst of population, but since nothing significant was affected after that, there was no more improvement. Looking at this, the prestige alone would take probably another decade. To be honest, becoming a Town was something not in her plan either. What she could do was to protect her territory against stronger mobs. They were so close to Alterra, after all. Before, it was a blessing, now¡­ it would be turning dangerous. "To prepare for the upcoming mobs, missions outside would definitely maximized. You probably would only have to worry about mobs coming at you from the East or the North, for the most part." That was to say: Guard their side well, and all will be well. Eagle finally left after a few more reminders, and Raine massaged her temple as a new problem arose. She frowned and then looked at the man beside her. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, staring at her new aborigine hire. The man''s name was Quiro. He wasn''t a hire from the Village Center¡ªwhich showed useless hires 99% of the time now¡ªbut rather one of the aborigine refugees from the East. They arrived not long after Esias'' Team did. Quiro was not bad-looking, though he had the masculinity of a fighter that added to his charm. He was tall, and his tanned skin and curly hair added to his appeal. Most importantly: He was a rare fire elementalist, which was why she hired him on the spot (after doing a detailed oath, of course). The man stepped forward as he was called. "I.. I''m not sure what you mean, milord." Raine narrowed her eyes and looked at him. "You were looking at me weirdly. Did it have to do with our visitors?" Raine asked and it made him flinch. Raine noticed that Quiro had been watching the visitors with a frown. The aborigine was not sure how to respond to this. "I¡­" He knew they were allied, but it felt bad to see their lord act humble toward someone else. He remembered when he and his people were feeling homeless, the lord was the one to take them all in. His fire had already lost spark at the time. He was ready to give up¡ªready to die. However, the lord came, waving his spear, and killing the monster that was about to eat him. He lifted his eyes to meet the lord''s and he couldn''t help but feel a little flustered. "I¡­ I am just uncomfortable to see you humbled." Raine''s eyebrows rose as she stared at the man, but she had to admit she was a little touched. Her voice changed from stern to just a little gentle, catching the man off-gaurd. "They are strong and we depend on them a lot," she explained. "Maybe we''d need to call them again to help us out soon." Quiro shook his head. He had sworn to help the lord with whatever they had, as long as it didn''t compromise the safety of his family. "I will guard this territory well. Don''t worry, my Lord," he paused. "We will help the territory become so strong we won''t have to be so dependent on others." Chapter 964 Quiros Proposal Eagle''s team left just after dusk, and a lot of people saw them off¡ªincluding the lord herself. "We will prepare the best we could," Raine said. "You don''t have to worry too much about us. We''re much more capable than you think." Eagle''s eyebrows rose, though his eyes ended up on the aborigine not far behind Raine. "I didn''t doubt it," he said. "To be honest, I feel a bit smug that all our subsidiaries are strong in their own way." He patted Raine''s shoulder (which amusingly made Quiro flinch a bit). "Good luck," he said. "Let''s create an amazing region together." ¡­ Raine remained outside the gates as she saw Eagle and the rest of them away. They didn''t take anyone from Belluga this time though. As she stared, her mind floated elsewhere. She had to admit that she did feel quite a bit unnerved by what was to come. She had a habit of pinching the web of her palm, the space between the thumb and the index finger. Quiro saw all this and took note, though he didn''t do anything. They only knew each other for a few days, he couldn''t overstep his boundaries. It was around this time that a familiar pair arrived next to them. "They already left?" Suide asked, with a hint of disappointment in his tone. They were clearing up another zone and had entered through another gate. They encountered a bit of a mob when they were heading back though, causing them to take a few detours so they only managed to get back now. The handsome man turned to his dark-skinned lover. "I told you we should''ve gotten back earlier. I wanted to buy a few things¡­" Orland sighed. "We''ll visit Alterra one of these days," he said. Suide sparkled. "You promised!" Raine was used to their interaction and, combined with the bit of pressure on her shoulder, she went straight to the point. "He passed on some important news," she said, turning back to the territory. "Let''s go to the Village Center for a meeting. "We have a lot to discuss." ¡­ A lot of people were watching the interactions. Whether it was Eagle and Raine, as well as Raine and his assistants. The new aborigines were a little surprised at how their lord was and whispered among themselves. However, they didn''t dare ask too many questions, and when they did, the people had the attitude of ''such was the case'' and didn''t think too much. When Quiro got back to the dormitories, he was surrounded by his curious comrades. Speaking of dormitories, Belluga Village also purchased the dormitory from Alterra for a relatively high price. It was lowered a bit after they used the profit-sharing model instead, wherein a portion of the profits would still go to Alterra. This was why the dorms in Belluga were much more expensive than the ones in Alterra, though it was still affordable. In fact, to the aborigines, it was still too affordable! When they met the flushing toilet for the first time, they almost worshipped it. Anyway, back to the topic. "Who were those people?" one asked. "Why would the Lord himself be seeing them off so respectfully?" "Yeah, are they from a Town?" another asked. They weren''t familiar with this region so they weren''t sure which Town was the nearest. Quiro shook his head. "They''re from Alterra Village." "A village?" "That allied territory?" another asked, having heard of the name before. His name was Croat, a perenially grumpy guy with a bulky physique. He was one of the people tasked to study the territory well, and had heard of the name quite a few times. Considering they had only been here for a few days, it was quite abnormal to hear about another territory¡ªa fellow village¡ªso much. "I am also curious." "Maybe we can join a caravan to see soon," another said, and many others nodded in agreement. Quiro looked at them. "But don''t stay out for too long," he said. "Apparently, Alterra is turning to a Town soon." "What?" There was silence in the room, and various memories made everyone shiver. Their previous Village fell because it was near a newly-upgraded Town east of them. The monsters that appeared in the region were far stronger than what they were used to, and they were completely unprepared. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They knew the dangers of being near a town too well. However, unlike before, they felt more stable this time because¡­ their lord made it feel stable. Seeing as the others knew what this meant, Quiro looked at them. "This time, we need to be prepared¡ªwe need to be stronger," he said. "If we let this one fall as well, even after our experiences, then don''t you think it''s shameful?" Everyone looked at him, their fears calmed down a bit. This place was so good to them¡ªso much better than their previous home. How could they let it get into trouble? Croat was silent for a bit, before he raised his head and said words that would cause everyone to gasp. "What if we find a way so they don''t upgrade?" Everyone stared at him. Some looked aghast, while some were seriously considering it. In order to inhibit an upgrade of another territory would be very difficult, especially if it was an allied territory. They could only attack non-residents, for one, and they could only do so outside of the scope of territories¡ªregardless of whether it was in Alterra, Beluga, or somewhere else entirely. So how would they do it? There were also others completely against it. Of course, rather than based on conscience¡ªthey did not know Alterra well enough to feel much guilt¡ªthey based on the practicality. "It sounds like a powerful territory," one said. "Do you want it to attack us?" "Yes, it''s stupid to go against an allied territory¡ªespecially a wealthy one!" Croat''s jaw clenched and glared at them. "Then how do you think we can get through this?" he yelled, voice cracking. "What if it happens again¨C" They looked at him. It was understandable that Croat was so sensitive. He lost every one of his family during that mob. He only survived because he was busy fighting monsters off, not realizing many had already breached, unfortunately with his family in the middle of the way. Quiro sighed, shaking his head. "Don''t even bother," he said. "I opened this possibility to the Lord before." Thinking about it now, it really was shameful. His face turned red every time he remembered that scene. At the time, Raine looked at him. "They were kind enough to warn us, to give us some time to prepare. Did the town in your place bother to do the same? "Even if we are weak, we must still have our conscience," she told him. "I have seen so many dark things, Quiro, and it''s not a place I want to be." "Do you not believe we can handle it without resorting to such low tactics?" When Quiro said this to his companions, word for word, everyone had no choice but to shut up. They really weren''t used to territories genuinely helping each other out. In their minds, in their worldviews, it was always one for themselves. Territories next to each other were more likely to go to war than to become allies. However, as time went on, they would soon realize just how different the culture was in this part of the world. Eventually, even if Belluga did take a long time before it was upgraded, it would definitely develop into an impressive Village in its own right. This was also the case with the rest of the associate villages. Unlike other regions where the appearance of a strong territory could either break or make others, it was all positive for the territories near Alterra. And¡ªwithin the next few years¡ªthey would create one of the most solid economic regions the continent had ever seen. Chapter 965 Jacoba Town The case of Alterra, Belluga, and the other allied territories was, unfortunately, very rare. Most villages were and would remain in chaos for a while. After all, the heat wave this time was particularly harsh and a lot more people than expected had perished. This was in stark contrast to the towns and cities¡ªwhich could take food from subsidiaries, had more special building types available to them, and had plenty of ways to feed themselves. They were also filled with a stronger population with higher physiques and tolerances, so they were naturally much more stable. Basically, only very poor people, especially those who lived in slums¡ªoutside of the system buildings with some insulation properties¡ªperished during the heat wave. They also received a lot of refugees, obtaining a lot more money and taxes. After the disasters, the best course of action for refugees was always to find a town if their strength could allow it. This was especially true among those in the so-called Central Plains area. This was an area with flat lands and great resources. It was also of sufficient distance from rivers and various lakes. It contained the largest collection of territories in the human territory. Here, Villages were dense and had an average distance of a day travel between each other. There were even towns with edges directly touching villages. Among these territories, located at its northern edge, was Jacoba Town. This Town was known for its industry handling Isatis, which was the main raw material to get blue dyes and ink. The original lord found the field and thought it was beautiful, including it in his territory. The lord was intrigued with the plant and after years and years of research and spending on manpower, they discovered that the plant could create pretty blue dyes applicable to fabric and ink. Before blue dyes were discovered, the common colors were only black, green, brown, red, or orange and their derivates. Blue was very rare¡ªthough couldn''t compare to the ongoing rarity of the violet and purple¡ªand it naturally earned them a bit. It was just that the labor and handling cost too much and therefore sold for a very high price that not a lot of people could afford it. Things spiked upwards when, shortly after, people from Bleuelle came to their area. It was another territory at the edge, specifically the northeast edge, of the central plains. It was not just its ability to make a blue color pigment, but it apparently had an effect on the precious Blu, increasing its success rates! As for its effect to the Special Blu ink, it dyed the excessively light pigment of the Blu with the ideal blue color which they found¡ªafter many years of experimentation¡ªcould absorb and retain the most aether. They entered a deal with the territory and, from then, the growth of Jacoba Village grew until it was just below Town-level after another decade. They managed to keep the partnership because they studied hard and found a technique to keep it growing and to create a better raw material for Bleuelle to purchase. Nearby villages naturally heard about this and decided to get a share of the pie. While the plant itself wasn''t unique to Jacoba¡ªthe techniques of handling it were. Jacoba hid the knowledge for a huge price¡ªtaking two-thirds of the profits without any more work¡ªand it naturally irked many territories. The stories from the older generation told them that it led to a very brutal war where several villages allied themselves against Jacoba, which was helpless against their forces. The former lord and many of his family members perished, and a new lord came to be. Soonafter this, the others immediately went to attach themselves and became a subsidiary. The new lord and his cronies continued their deals with Bleuelle and others, though they naturally had to give up some technology to the territories that helped them win the war. Of course, there were only a few others who received this knowledge, so for a long time, Jacoba still made a lot of money in handling the Isatis plants. Even at this time, the current generation still enjoyed the richness of the past, though not all of them were exactly happy about it. For example, a certain violet-haired woman stared out the window of the lord villa, looking down wistfully at the bustling town. It was particularly active after the depression of the disaster, but sadly she couldn''t bring herself to be happy about it. She turned to look at the blueish wedding dress displayed in her bedroom. It was a special wedding dress fit for the Jacoba Town princess. However, while it was a style she used to find pretty, now she just found it tacky. "Are you sure you wanna go through with this?" Veronica asked her friend. She had her arms crossed, looking at the other worriedly. Cassandra pursed her lips, feeling heavy. When they went back home, they knew it wouldn''t be a happy thing¡ªespecially in Cassandra''s case. However, she was fully planning on presenting the products of Alterra¡ªhoping to impress the nobles of her hometown. She wanted to show what she was capable of. She would then offer to become a liaison to Alterra, hopefully gaining some independence. She simply wanted to create a voice for herself. Maybe¡­ just maybe, she''d have more control over her own life. Maybe¡ªmaybe¡ªshe''d gain more say about her own future. But she thought too much of herself. Veronica looked at her. "I can, you know, find a way to message Gill¡ª" "No! That''d kill him!" Cassandra yelled, with an almost desperate tone. This caught Veronica off-guard, making her hurriedly apologize. Cassandra also noticed she reacted a bit strongly and shook her head, saying her own apologies. "Not only is Jacoba a big town, it also has Bleuelle City and Makita City as its clients¡­" she said, voice strained. "Not only Gill, but the entire Alterra Village could be in danger if they mess with it." It wasn''t that Jacoba itself was so powerful that it''d get Bleuelle or Makita City to move. However, many lords were prideful and they could just easily send instructions to subsidiaries to attack Alterra out of spite. Not only this, her fiance was also not an insignificant person. The Town she was getting married into was called Ester Town, which was also located at the eastern edge of the Central Plains. It was therefore nearer to Bleulle City than most towns. It specialized in planting, raising, and handling the Ester Plant, which was a major raw material for Papyrus. Unlike Jacoba who had to share the technology with others, Ester Town held on to its techniques tightly. The number of people rumored to have died to keep the secret was said to be able to populate a village. Anyway, Jacoba''s wealth had been steadily decreasing for a long time due to mismanagement. They needed Ester''s wealth to continue with their current lifestyles¡ªeven if they had to sell off their daughter to get it. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Seeing her giving up on her own happiness, Veronica wanted to cry. She hugged the other girl, who reluctantly returned the embrace. "My heart breaks for you¡­" Veronica said, and Cassandra just remained silent, feeling her friend''s warmth. It could very well be the last she''d ever receive after this wedding. Chapter 966 Cassandras Situation Veronica patted her friend''s back but flinched when she felt some dampness. Cassandra was crying. "You know¡­ sometimes, I wonder if going to Alterra was good for us," Cassandra said. "If we didn''t know about it, would our lives feel this¡­ bad?" Veronica''s eyes lined with tears, grabbing her friend''s shoulders. "No, I don''t believe that," she told her. "At least we have such good memories to hold on to, right?" Even if it was painful, at least there were memories that made them smile. It was far better than just cruising through this life, day after day, without any color. Cassandra sighed and opened her mouth to answer her friend, but her words were pulled back as bile crept up her throat. She took out a wooden container from her space while Veronica soothingly patted her back. Fortunately, nothing happened and Cassandra was fine after a few moments of gagging. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Veronica was really not comfortable with letting her out like this. "You''re so ill. Tell them to delay it. What if you end up puking on the groom?" Veronica asked this in concern for her reputation, but Cassandra ended up chuckling instead. Vomiting on that man''s face in public? How nice would that be? She must''ve been so disgusted with the idea that she just felt like throwing up so often lately. "I wish there''s something I can do¡­" Veronica said, feeling bad that she was so powerless even after everything. The purple-haired woman shook her head. "You also have a whole territory that''d suffer if you get targeted," Cassandra said. "Even if we make a scene¡­ nothing will change. We will only make ourselves suffer more¡­" Cassandra felt emotional. Her body felt so bad, and her heart felt so heavy. She just didn''t have much energy to fight anymore. Veronica wanted to cry. Not long ago, Cassandra''s entire aura was completely different. It was hard to imagine that, just before the heat wave, the two of them arrived at Jacoba Town with apprehensive hearts, but they were mostly excited. After all, the potential for the products were really high. If they established themselves as the source of best-selling products, then their positions would change! They showed off the dresses, apparel, make-up sets, and each one was received very well. Of course, Cassandra wasn''t the type to take a loss when she couldn''t help it and they sold all items for a high price. These were nobles after all, how could she not take advantage! She easily sold the items for 20 times the cost. She smiled and, for a while, she thought her wish would come true¡ªthat she could be free by virtue of her capabilities. She was slapped right on the face not long after that. Even when she showed the money and resources she made, her family refused to cancel the engagement and even expedited the marriage instead. Rather, they took her money and forcefully took her remaining items and kept it to themselves. They even pleaded with her to stop shaming them by selling goods as a noblewoman. They appeared so sincere that, if it was the previous her, she might have believed that it was her fault. Don''t follow Olga, they said, she was too strong and weird, no wonder she hadn''t been married after so long even with all that money. She was planning to fight tooth and nail, recalling the life Alterra women lived, but then they threatened to find the source and cut it off in the nub¡ª Blueerrggghh Veronica was fast and had an earthenware bowl ready to catch it. "This really can''t be left alone! "Why don''t you let me call a doctor?" Veronica mumbled. "I''ll make him sign a confidentiality oath." In Xeno, it was rare to get ill due to their physiques. It was common to get injured, yes, but illnesses rarely appeared. However, when they did appear, it usually meant something very serious. Even the seemingly harmless symptoms could actually mean something deadly. Not to mention, all doctors were male. Seeing one in private could cause a few tongues to waggle. However, Cassandra was so ill. What else could they do? "Fine¡­" Cassandra mumbled in defeat, though she was more concerned if she get her friend sick since she was always so close to her. Veronica heaved a sigh of relief and called Vivi, her trusted maid, to discreetly call on a doctor. She asked her to pay a hefty amount, and make him make a confidentiality oath before telling the symptoms so they could better prepare for a visit. "Again: Be discreet," Veronica said, handing several gold pieces to her maid. Vivi obediently nodded before heading out to the most reliable doctors she could find. The doctor arrived some hour or two later with all his tools. He was an old man over a hundred years old named Kero. He and Vivi had worn cloaks, though they were blocked by the lord''s men. They could only say that Cassandra was so ''beside herself'' that she fainted. It was nothing serious, but they decided to call a doctor anyway. They checked the man''s credentials before allowing them to go in, no doubt reporting the encounter to the lord and his family. As for what they''d make of this, they really didn''t care anymore. How much worse could it be? "Hello, Miss Cassandra," Kero said with a gentle tone. He moved a bit slowly due to his age, but he was one of the kinder doctors around so he was the one Vivi found. Most of the time, doctors and pharmacists were extremely arrogant. They might not even look at Vivi, and they would require the masters to go to them personally. If the client wasn''t a noble, then some would even require them to beg. Kero was a rare exception to this. Probably because of his old age, he had already seen everything. It was said that he was also there when the previous lord was still ruling, though no one dared to ask him about it. Today though, he was about to tell them some very big news. Chapter 967 Cassandra is Pregnant! Kero was very professional and did all the standard checking. He didn''t seem to have found anything at first, which puzzled him, until he thought of something and flinched. He looked at the young lady with purple hair. She was one of the few among the younger generation whom he actually liked, which was why he agreed on this visit in the first place. Normally, he would not go out of his way to do house visits at his age, let alone one that required so many oaths beforehand. He had a complicated expression on his face. ¡­could it be? His expression wasn''t missed by the two already-hyper-sensitive ladies. "What is it?" Veronica asked, tone a bit more hurried than proper. Cassandra pursed her lips and stared at him with furrowed eyebrows. Kero seemed to have realized that he made the two girls nervous. "A-Ah¡­ let me try first," he said. Just in case. He was old in age and was old fashioned. He was uncomfortable, and maybe a little disgusted, if his supposition turned out to be true. At the same time, it was his age and experience that stopped him from walking out as soon as the thought came to be. At the very least, even when his impression of the girl had dipped, she was still one of the better ones in this generation. He ought to give her the benefit of the doubt¡ªsomething very, very, few females could get. He took out a small kit about the size of the palm. It seemed like a plank of sorts but with a special gel-like solution in it. "Forgive me, lady," he said, taking a pin to get a drop of her blood. The two women watched nervously as a drop fell on the gel-like substance and watched the solution turn pink in front of their eyes. The old man paled, looking at her. Veronica went over to look at him. "What is it? Is it so serious?" sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Ah, well¡­ it is," Kero said, already gesturing to pack up his things. "M-Miss Cassandra is pregnant." Cassandra was pregnant. Both of them almost fainted. Kero excused himself then, evidently a lot more distant than before, but they didn''t worry about him telling his findings because of the detailed oath. They just paid him a bit of extra, giving him some Alterran goods they left for themselves in their spaces, to show their goodwill. When the door closed, leaving the women in the room, their feet almost buckled as they felt the shock and weakness overwhelm them both. This was indeed a very serious thing. Cassandra could be banished (or even hunted down) if it became public knowledge. Women being intimate before marriage was already a shame¡ªwhich would drop the status and value of a woman by several tiers¡ªand getting pregnant out of wedlock was even worse. Cassandra''s father had always loved face, and also wanted to find an excuse to get his illegitimate children in the forefront. How ironic, right? How can she have the possibility of being hunted when the person he was replacing her with was illegitimate? This was how powerful a man¡ªespecially a Lord''s¡ªwords were. Cassandra heaved a deep breath. "This means that I really can''t escape," she said, voice completely devoid of any hope she had been holding on unconsciously. She had to go through with this wedding! To be honest, a part of her had still been thinking of an escape route somehow even before this, it was just that she felt so ill to come up with anything. But now¡­. she really couldn''t do anything. Escaping would get her hunted down by two towns, making it too dangerous for her child. If she let it grow bigger without a wedding, chances were, they''d kill them both. The best way was to marry someone and pass it off as his child. It had been a few weeks since she and Gill did the deed, and this timing of the wedding was not too far so she could still pass it off as a wedding night baby. Veronica bit her lips as she held the other woman''s hand. She wanted to help, she really did, but her family was too tightly connected to Jacoba, dating all the way back to before it was a town. Helping her would be detrimental to her own family. As a woman, Veronica''s family had been very kind to her, considering everything, and she couldn''t risk them like that. Cassandra looked at her and her maids. "I¡­ I want to be alone now, please." "Cassandra¡­" "I''ll be okay, I promise," she said, but her voice cracked a bit and it got Veronica concerned. However, they didn''t dare stress her out too much by arguing and they left the room in the end. Of course, Veronica told the maids to monitor her closely. She left her own maid, Vivi, to watch over her friend and inform her of any changes. On the other side of the door, Cassandra was finally alone in her room. She hugged herself as she sat down on her window sill, looking wistfully outside. She stared at the people who seemed free and in control of their own lives and limbs¡­ unlike her. Gill¡­, she thought, as tears fell down her cheeks. I miss you. ¡­ At this time, the man was looking over the level 6 walls of Jacoba Town, which was impressive for a Level 2 Town. "So this is her home," he said, panting heavily. He was a little dusty and very sweaty, obviously rushing here to the best of his ability. He was about to move forward when his feet paused as he felt an onslaught of discomfort attack him. He gripped his chest, which was suddenly stabbed by an intense pain. It hurt¡ªreally hurt¡ªthough he assumed it was because he rushed here too desperately. Anyway, he didn''t have the leisure to rest right now, and he immediately went to the gates to enter her territory. Wait for me, Cassandra! Chapter 968 Gills Investigations He was stopped by a short queue outside the gates, and he took this time to look at the guards stationed there. He stared at them with dark eyes, as if gauging their strengths¡ªalready preparing for the worst. His sights then shifted to the towers. The sentries here were also relatively dense (at least compared to many towns) at 300 meters apart near the gates and a little less dense outside of it. Level 6 sentries, he heard, had a longer range from what they had, so he supposed this spacing was sufficient for mobs¡­ and for humans who kidnapped their princess. He entered the threshold and was welcomed by the system, as well as by the whooping 150 copper visitor''s fee. More than 1 silver per day¡­ He tutted and paid anyway, immediately looking around to study the place. He saw the relatively tall 4-story buildings, the 10-meter wide carriageway, and the bustling activity on the streets. A good town was a good town, it really couldn''t compare with (aborigine) villages he had been in. He also saw the many guards and the endless collection of strong men his level or above. His jaw hardened and his fist clenched, eyes showing no hint of cowardice¡ªeven if he knew he could get surrounded by these strongmen if he failed to take everything into account. He gritted his teeth, his feet taking him deeper, intent on finding out as much as he could. Gill focused on figuring out where Cassandra was, her schedule, as well as the forces he had to deal with if he wanted to get to her. The whole thing was torture for him though. Everywhere, there was a reminder of Cassandra getting married. Or rather, there was a shop owner everywhere trying to capitalize on her wedding. "The Lady Cassandra would get married to the Ester Town young master~ Let us celebrate together! Buy your blue dress here to join!" There was also someone who was selling rocks claiming it was Cassandra''s lucky charm. "Maybe you can marry yourself into a rich lord''s house, too!" It was well known that Cassandra''s fiance was the other lord''s only son. It was also much richer and had closer ties to the cities because the lord''s wife was a relative to high nobles in Bleuelle. One of the things he noticed though, was that their attitude wasn''t exactly well-wishing to Cassandra. Rather, it was a celebration that their town would be rich again. He determined this based on their wording. ''Miss Cassandra married well for us'' or ''the lord chose well'' when he also heard of the other man''s resounding reputation of being a philanderer. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Let alone his burning need to find Cassandra, he also had to hold back his acerbic tongue. The number of times he held back saying shit, bullshit, orcshit, idiot, blind, and many curse words was enough to cause him aneurysm. He almost got into a fight the first time he called someone an idiot. He had to lose several silver to calm him down, even when his own eyes were twitching with annoyance. His jaw clenched. It shouldn''t have been a surprise, but until he encountered it happening to someone he cared about, he didn''t really absorb it so deeply. If most women here were seen as tools by default, then their marriages¡ªsomething that they''d have to endure for the rest of their lives¡ªwere something that was used to claim conveniences for others. It was still hard for him to wrap his head around the idea that women were seen like this, but this was the reality, and he really wanted to take Cassandra away from it. Anyway, it was the most torturous data-gathering he ever had to do. However, after all that torture, he discovered that while Jacoba was indeed a very rich town, it was actually on its decline. First of all, after all these years, various other territories had also learned how to handle the plant. It varied in quality and technique, but all of them sold it for a much lower cost. Second, the lord party was known for their extravagance. The lord himself always bought the most unique thing that was sold to him¡ªas if to show off his wealth¡ªregardless of its actual function. Both wives held expensive parties, trying to one-up the other. They would hold a gathering or a party at least once a month in honor of whatever celebration they decided on¡ªto see which one had more powerful guests. The reason could be as shallow as a grandchild (illegitimate) losing the first teeth. This latest one happened just after the Heat Wave, when many of the poorer citizens suffered from hunger and thirst. As for how he knew so much¡ªafter much trial and error and almost-fights¡ªhe figured out that he ought to focus on the old people of the lower strata, specifically those who served nobles. He figured this out after he almost got into his 17th fight of the day. There was a particularly annoying bastard who spoke of Cassandra as if she was an object to have fun with. "That Ester heir is so lucky! I wish I got a taste¡ªdo you think he''ll send her back after he gets tired of her? Since she''s dirty, maybe she''ll get thrown out the street!! HAHA!" His brain stopped working and he immediately went to attack that bastard. Unexpectedly, the old man arrived and talked to him as if his master was looking for him. The master''s a noble so the bastards had no choice but to let him go, but not without him paying a gold worth of hush fee. The old man helped him because he could tell he was a foreigner¡ªan alien. At the time, Gill didn''t quite know what he meant (his brain was still so heated from both anger and desperation). He simply thanked him and decided to thicken his face to ask some questions, which was how he got to know so much. Later¡­ he''d find out that this old man had interesting connections with an acquaintance. If he wasn''t in such a rush, he might even think that some things were just¡­ fated. Chapter 969 Another Novan A/N: We''re behind ~50 Golden tickets for Golden Top 1! If you have extra tickets, do send us some~! That ranking is the only source of exposure this old story could have now T_T ... ____ The thing about older slaves was that they had seen a lot, especially if they had stayed in the same territory for a while, which was the likely case even if they changed masters. They were also humble and therefore much easier to interact with, unlike those arrogant aborigines. Another thing about slaves was that unless specifically told to keep mum, they didn''t have to. This was likely because most slaves still needed to be spoken with and they couldn''t write or read (not that papyrus or pens were readily available for them) so verbal communication was needed. They automatically couldn''t betray the territory or their current masters, of course, but the questions he asked sounded purely out of curiosity from a dashing young lad, so it didn''t trigger anything at all. His master was a noble who gossiped around the house a lot. The lucky thing was that this noble didn''t think these gossips were worth guarding, so it was easy information for him. He also gave them some barbeque he bought, though with added Alterran spices, along the way. He spilled even more when he tasted it. "I heard Miss Cassandra also introduced some special sauce. She made a lot of money!" he said, "My master had bought a bottle for a very high price from the lord''s house. I know this because he ranted a lot, selling it much more expensively than Miss Cassandra did." After ranting about a few things, he heaved a deep breath. "Miss Cassandra is so beautiful and capable. Her fiance is really lucky. He does not deserve her." Gill looked at him deeper and nodded, finally having a good impression of one person in this damned place. Gill looked at the old man closer and realized he was really small for an aborigine. When he took the barbecue he also saw how pudgy his fingers were, and how there was a small web between his fingers. It reminded him of someone. He also thought of the man''s open attitude to him despite him being an ''alien'' but, in retrospect, he could''ve been helpful because of it. An idea came to mind that he couldn''t help but voice out, just throwing it out there. "I''m friends with someone who has similar features like yours," he said. "His name is Gaudi." The man froze and looked at him. But then he chuckled and shook his head, as if finding the thought silly. "Gaudi?" he voiced out, his voice cracking. "Ah no, Gaudi is an uncommon name but there should still be a lot of them." In Gill''s eyes, it was like he was telling this to himself rather than Gill. The ebony-haired man looked at him closely, taking note of his features. He had more prominent features of that race than Badjau, someone already recognized as a half-Nova. Anyway, it was understandable the man was in denial. He must''ve been disappointed plenty of times in the past. However, Gill had no time to be doing therapy with a stranger. "Who''s your master?" "Sir?" "I would like to purchase you as a slave," he said. He really needed some help, especially one who knew the place. The man almost dropped whatever he was holding. "I¡­ I¡ª" Gill raised his hand to stop him from talking. "You mentioned that your master bought some of the special sauce for a very high price." "Yes¡­" "Then take me to him," he said, "Tell him I have the sauces and at a much more affordable rate than the lord." "A-Ah, y-yes¡­" he said, still absorbing the abrupt changes. Obviously, when leaving the mansion this morning he was just going to buy ingredients, right? When he helped this man out, it was just out of a random urge to be kind, because he recognized him as a non-native. He had heard that there were new Aliens that came decades earlier than expected, and that they looked a lot like the locals with some differences. However, he did not expect to see one so soon¡ªand a free one, at that. Anyway, he felt an instant camaraderie and decided to assist. But not to this degree! They walked towards the mansion together, passing by the lively streets, and the slave really didn''t know what to make of it. He was just letting his body move on its own, basically. It was broken when Gill asked him a question. "What''s your name?" "Ghesso, sir," he said. "And you are from Nova?" Ghesso''s feet stopped and he really dropped his basket this time. He whipped his head to look at Gill with wide eyes, tears lining up. However, he sniffled, stopping it¡ªas if afraid to hope for too much. Gill looked at him. "There''re two people in my village from that place," he said. "They''re free people and both are living very well," he told him, emphasizing their states. "Don''t you want to meet them?" ¡­ The noble''s name was Urkin, a middle-aged man (though he was technically well into his 60s). He had pale skin, long curly hair, and a big belly. At this time, he was munching on meat that was so delicious that he almost moaned. It was the same meat he usually ate, but the experience was wholly different! He couldn''t get enough of it! His family was the same. However, he was afraid they''d sneak around and take his stock, so he sent them to the academy for extra lessons!! It was just so delicious that he and the family ate much of the food in stock. Now, the slaves had gone off to replenish the pantry, but the person buying the actual vegetables and meat had yet to return! He was getting really annoyed, almost as annoyed as he was for losing the chance to buy more sauces from Miss Cassandra! When it was introduced, he only bought a certain amount to try it out, not knowing it''d get sold out within an hour! He couldn''t help but feel worried if they would continue to have access to the goods when she got married. Maybe those bastards from Ester Town would get that right instead? Annoying! Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 970 Deal with the Jacoba Noble Anyway, as depressed as they were to lose the precious thing, they suddenly found out that there was still some stock hidden and taken by the Lord! The nobles who got a taste naturally wanted to buy the rest of them. But¡­ the Lord sold it for a really high amount! There was even a bidding! Sadly, he was not as rich as the other nobles so he lost. Now, he must ration what he had, but he couldn''t bear to stop! What if it spoiled? What if some clumsy slave broke the bottle? Wouldn''t he die of regret then? This was the self-righteous thought ongoing in Urkin''s mind when his personal maids informed him that the meat-buying slave had finally returned¡­ and there was no meat on hand. "WHAT!?" He yelled, slapping the armrest of his wooden chair. "Get him in here right now!!" The maid looked reluctant but continued to speak before heading out. "He also bought someone with him," she said. "The visitor says he¡­ has more sauce." "...huh?" Urkin flinched and looked at her, thinking. Could it be a scammer? It happened often in their circle. Whenever a popular product appeared, there would be cheap knockoffs appearing in the market. A lot of foolish nobles ended up buying them at a high cost! Urkin had always been proud of himself for not being one of those people! Considering the Lord himself claimed that he had all the stocks, then this must be a scam! He should just get the guards to beat them up right now!! He would also sell that damned slave! . . S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. . Still, after a couple of minutes, Gill and Ghesso were led to the main living area, with the aforementioned noble looking at them with suspicion and curiosity. "Who is this?" he asked Ghesso, trying to appear neutral. Despite everything, Urkin wanted to hear them out in the end. Anyway, it was easy to determine if it was fake. He had a good sense of taste and the taste and sensation of those products couldn''t be faked¡ªat least not so quickly. For one, he had no idea what to make of the sauces and he had no idea what the raw materials could be. However, he was confident that everyone else should be the same. "My name is Gill, I have been traveling for a while and heard you are in need of something," Gill said. He was also observing the man at the same time. According to Ghesso, Urkin was actually a restaurant owner¡ªone of the more successful ones in the Town. The term ''Noble'' was relatively arbitrary in this world, except for the Lords. Next to the lords, those considered nobles were those who served the Lords closely, though it usually applied to Towns and above. Nobles could also refer to very rich people. Basically, anyone who could live lavishly could be called a noble, unlike in ancient Terran where bloodline was a major factor, with exemption to those who had been ''knighted''. This had a lot to do with this place''s focus on strength. Living well and lavishly was, in a sense, also considered ''strength'', regardless of how it was gained. Ironically, they still had some unnecessary expectations towards women, even if they were capable¡ªfor instance, Olga and Cassandra. "I''ve come to have a deal with you," he said. "I came here to buy Ghesso." Urkin crossed his arms, looking at him weirdly. "Why do you want him?" "One of my slaves is probably his relative. I found them very hard working." "I also like him. He won''t come cheap." Gill naturally did not expect this to be straightforward at all. Despite his lacking EQ and tact, he did know how to do professional interactions due to his field. "Will this do?" he asked, taking out a bottle of soy sauce and another bottle of hoisin sauce. In terms of value, if he sold them for tens times of its cost, then it''d be more than enough to pay for Ghesso''s slave contract. This was the perfect opportunity to spike the prices. He heard the nobles even held auctions for this. Urkin stared at the familiar containers, gulping. However, he did not dare assume, so he shakily took the bottles to check on them. "You can test it if you want," Gill said. Seeing him so confident, Urkin couldn''t help but feel relieved. Anyway, he did pour a bit on his pinky finger to taste and his eyes widened, looking at Gill in awe. "This¡­ it''s really it," he said, squeaking. His eyes sparkled as he looked at Gill. "If you have more, I''d buy them at twice Miss Cassandra''s costs!" Gill nodded and took out two small jars with salt and sugar from his space. Urkin also tasted them and was amazed. As someone in the restaurant industry, he naturally knew a lot more about ingredients than others. "Such high-quality sugar and salt!" "Did this come from the same place as Miss Cassandra?" "Yes." "Can you tell me more?" If he could get a deal, then his restaurant would definitely reach a new height! Gill hesitated, but shook his head for now. He didn''t know what would happen here, and he didn''t want to drop Alterra''s name just yet. "For now, we cannot supply Jacoba with too much," he said. "I''ll go back and propose to send a caravan." Urkin frowned. Traveling around would take a while. How could he wait for so long? To be honest, adding these seasonings had already changed his palette. It''d take a while for him to readjust his tastebuds! He did not want to! "I can go there! I can send my own caravans! I am willing to buy at a high price!" Gill sighed. "I can only tell you that we are also associated with Bleuelle City¡ªif you investigate, you will know that many nobles had these things," he said. "It will be up to the higher-ups to decide what to do about this." At the mention of a famous city, Urkin''s pushing immediately calmed. "Ah, I see, I see! That makes sense," he said, already thinking of sending people there to get more information. Seeing as this discussion could not go further as he liked, he could only dismiss the man, though naturally with some goodwill. He asked the maid to get some gold to give. "You can have Ghesso, this is a bonus," he said. "If you have more, come to me first." Gill nodded, taking the bag, along with the dazed Novan. "Deal." Chapter 971 Eshno A/N: Six Hours to go before November Ends! We''re just a little bit short for Top 1! If you have extra Golden Tickets, we would appreciate it sooo much if you send us some~! ehhehe ... _____ With this, Gill had another helper to find out more information as fast as he could. He had already known some basic things about Jacoba from Ghesso. He even knew of the route guards took. Gill needed help to find her location and schedule and they would meet up midway every hour. Unexpectedly, at some point, Ghesso brought him news. "Sir¡­," he paused. "Someone else is doing investigations as well." "What?" "They are also asking around about the wedding, specifically," he said. "They were investigating the bride and the groom''s schedules as well as their current locations¡ªbasically similar to us." Gill narrowed his eyes and stood up. "Where?" ¡­ The fellow investigators were currently in a cheap tavern at the edge of town. They were a small group huddled at a corner, drinking. He and Ghesso ordered some drinks as well, though he wasn''t particularly looking forward to its taste. Although the Town did have the system Tavern, the Lord made it too expensive. The Town was not small so there were a few noblemen who set up some cheaper versions, which targeted the middle class. These nobles, of course, had to get the backing of more powerful nobles from the cities, otherwise, the Lord would definitely find a way to either take them down or steal their shops. Of course, the product sold here were naturally inferior to system Taverns, let alone Alterrans''. Gill hadn''t tasted it yet, but from what he gathered, it was just alcohol diluted several times with water. If the younger members of the team were here, they''d call this ''Almost-Ale'' or ''Spritzy Water''. He wouldn''t admit it, but he did miss them a bit. Anyway, the two of them were positioned relatively nearby and well within earshot. They listened in to what they were discussing, but unfortunately nothing significant could be gathered. It was basically just ranting, especially from the person leading the team. At first, it was just ranting about their own home, or how excessively lavish people were in here. But then, he shifted his tone, and the topic actually became pretty important. "They''re so rich while we rotted in a small village for years!" he said, gritting his teeth, though the way his tone elongated was indicative of his drunkenness. "It was my family who built this place! It was MY grandparents who determined the right methodology!" he yelled, slapping the table. This made Gill''s eyebrows rise in interest. Finally, something juicy. "How many slaves died during the process!? It was not them who shouldered that cost, it was my family!" "Yet they''re living so lavishly¡ªthrowing parties when all we could do was fight for our lives to get just a bit of food and water! "This should''ve all been mine!" the man yelled, throwing his cup in anger. He growled and looked at one of the women accompanying them. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He grabbed her head and pushed her down to his crotch. "Make me feel better, bitch," he ordered and, judging from how he groaned shamelessly a minute later, the woman was doing as she was told. It was a woman from that industry though and it came completely natural for everyone. Even if the woman was crying¡ªGill could hear her muted sobs from where he was¡ªno one seemed to care. He could tell she was obviously forced into this kind of life. Gill gripped his cup so hard that it made cracks. However, he didn''t risk getting into trouble at this time. He just knew his Cassandra would live something similar if he married that man! At this point, after seeing all these things, maybe he''d just kidnap her¡ªeven if she didn''t want to! ¡­ About an hour before dusk, a grand entourage of beast carriages arrived at the gates. It was really flashy. Not only were the Beast Carts fast, intimidating some of the ''weaker'' beasts in the streets, but they were also colorful and ornate. The line of carriages traversed the main avenues, as if making sure everyone knew of their arrival. The procession stopped at a large plaza in front of the Lord''s Palace. At this time, many people had already arrived to watch the show, including Gill and Ghesso. From a distance, they also saw those people from before. After the carriages remained unmoving for about a minute, servants appeared outside the largest, most ornate, carriage. They opened the door which had an interior curtain made of silk, which would eventually reveal the person inside. Ester was only a Town, even if it was a Level 2 Town. They were really going deep into the ''royalty'' thing, which said a lot about the vanity of these people. Soon, a man with a big belly went down with his head held up high, as if to show his pride and height (which wasn''t that unusual). He then looked around with interest, his eyes also showing a glint as if he was looking at his own property. Gill and Ghesso watched every one of his moves from a distance, with the former using his specs and lip-reading skills to know what the bastard was saying. "Finally here to meet my wife!" he said, with confident eyes assuming he''d get everything he wanted. Gill wanted to magically teleport there and wipe that smirk off his face. The newcomers had no idea of the hostility directed straight at them though. Instead, they were respectfully greeted by a few butlers. Right after him, a line of voluptuous servants and women in skimpy clothing came down from the same carriage, a few going straight into his embrace. From the other carriages, a number of servants went down, along with a few more voluptuous women. Gill had to let go of his scope lest he destroy it in his anger. He could only follow as the party was led to a nice villa assigned to them, not too far from the Lord''s Palace. The group entered the house and Gill lost sight of them, but his anger had not diminished, lingering in his heart and making his entire body uncomfortable. However, he was a special soldier who could compartmentalize¡ªno matter how angry he actually was. After several deep, deep, breaths, he gathered himself. His dark eyes were fixed on the house where that man was¡ª no doubt¡ªphilandering again, all while thinking of humiliating his Cassandra at the same time!! Now¡­, how could he go about this without putting any of them in danger? Chapter 972 Cassandras Plans Thank you for your support, everyone! Special hugs to those who sent Golden tickets! I also saw large bulks of them sent to me! THANK YOUU! Although we didn''t make Top 1, I managed to squeeze in a few bonus chapters to show my appreciation. Love you guys, Enjoy~ ... ____ While Gill pondered on a plan, Eshno was settling in quite nicely. The house was a small villa that was designed specifically for rich people. It was spacious and all the furniture was bespoke by the top craftsmen in the territory. The surfaces ¡ªwhether it was the furniture, the cornices, or some columns¡ªwere carved with intricate patterns. Even if the excessive patterns could overwhelm the eyes, it was desired simply because the more complex the pattern, the more expensive it was. It was also well-decorated with a high-level monster carpet, the large face of the dead monster greeting people as they stepped into the threshold. The seats were also covered with expensive beast pelts, ensuring soft and comfortable seating experience. Eshno nodded, knowing they at least prepared a decent abode, and then turned to the person who welcomed him. "I will settled down for a bit," he said. "I''ll come see them later. Specifically¡­" he paused, licking his lips. "My new bride." "Yes, sir Eshno." The butler left and Eshno turned to look at his women. They were beautiful, yes, but they were too submissive and had dull eyes. Their eyebags were also getting a bit big, their boobs becoming a little too saggy, and their holes becoming too loose. They also had too many bruises that didn''t heal fast enough. It was getting ugly¡­ He recalled his future wife who was much more beautiful and curvaceous than these products and the little brother down below immediately raised its head. He had met Cassandra a few times during festivals held in their territory. She had rare purple hair, sparkling eyes, and¡ªmost importantly¡ªa sexy body. She also had a bright aura about her that made it feel like bedtime with her would be very¡­ spicy. She was a proper wife for a great man like himself, an exciting one. He licked his lips as he imagined her under him. Unable to stop his lust, he immediately pulled a random woman under him to vent. "You will do for now," he said, and it was followed by the sound of tearing clothes and labored moans. ¡­ Meanwhile, while the man was having fun abusing his women, Gill stood outside his abode, staring at the it with dark eyes. He had an idea what that bastard was doing right now¡ªand he dared lust after his Cassandra! Eshno was a forty-year-old man just past level 25 in level. Further, due to his questionable upbringing, he was a little off in the head. He was also the only son, even among the various women of his father, and unsurprisingly got a bit spoiled. He got and did whatever he wanted without repercussions, causing him to believe everything should bend over for them (figuratively and literally). Men like this were the majority among nobles. The only difference was that they had different appearances. Cassandra''s family didn''t even bother looking for a decent-looking one who didn''t have such a resounding reputation. All they cared about was the status and wealth he represented. Ester Town was one of the big towns in the Central Plains, located nearer the edge and near Bleuelle city and was an bigger partner to it. It was estimated that they should also become a city themselves in less than 2 or 3 more decades. Their development was at an upward trend, making them quite arrogant. In Jacoba''s side, while they did make a lot of money, they have long lost their monopoly to territories who could create cheaper alternatives, even if the quality is less. Further, the lowered production of Blu also lowered the need for their products. This was big because this was Jacoba''s only industry. Everything else was subpar compared to other territories. Partnered with bad economic practice of generations of the leading family¡ª including illegitimate children''s¡ªJacoba¡­ was actually really poor. Overall, in their small minds, Eshno was already the better choice. "To be honest, Miss Cassandra could''ve been sold off as a glorified slave to town lords. At least now, she could get the title of wife and the accompanying rights that came with it¡ª" Ghesso stopped talking as he was met with the new boss'' scary eyes. "..." After a few moments, Gill took his eyes away and sighed. "Perhaps, she''d be fine with this arrangement if it was a couple of months ago¡ªbut not anymore. "She would definitely be an unwilling party." First, she already had a perfectly good lover (him). Second, she had already seen the likes of Alterra. She already learned she could get a better life¡ªa life she definitely deserved. And Gill was there to make sure she got it. ¡­ It had to be said that Gill still knew his lover well. Cassandra was indeed unwilling. She had seen the status of women, and how they were on equal grounds with men. She had seen how cheating was extremely frowned upon¡ªeven if it was done by men. She hadn''t been in Alterra for long, but she already felt her standards had changed, and she couldn''t stomach being with such a stallion at all. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She told herself she had to go through with this wedding, to go through with marrying this man to protect herself and her child. But now, she realized she really couldn''t do it! Even when she told herself not to involve Gill or Alterra into this, a part of her still wished she had. However, as a woman, she had been raised to put others ahead of her¡ªand she was more than happy to place Gill and that place above her own happiness. They deserved her affection, at least! It was just that she felt physically in pain whenever she thought of giving her body to a man like that. Most importantly, she feared for her child. Even if their bodies were strong, she still feared a miscarriage if he got too rough. Fortunately, even with her muddle headed brain, she (and Veronica) found a way to compromise. Make the bastard sleep through the wedding night! Make him believe they had slept together! With Veronica''s help, they found a pharmacist who could create a very strong sleeping potion. Considering her pregnancy, she asked to give an even stronger dose. It should arrive just before the wedding! Nothing should go wrong¡­ right? Chapter 973 Cassandras Unheard Pleas Soon, the time for the families to meet has arrived and Cassandra felt she would never be ready. This was going to be held in Eshno''s Villa, where she and her parents would come and greet him. Normally, the groom would greet the bride''s family to show respect to them (not the bride, just the family) but Eshno decided that it should be done at his house instead. Jacoba really needed Eshno''s partnership to ensure that demand for their own products, so her father and mother followed his wishes like fools. In any case, the fact that they agreed to do this put the entire family in a humble position. Eshno became even more blatant in consequence. He looked at her with such sticky eyes that it was no different from actually touching her. Her stomach dropped, making her want to vomit again. "So beautiful¡­" he said, stepping forward. Raising his palms as if he wanted to touch her face. She immediately stepped away. "Please stop," she said, as nicely as she could, even when her stomach tumbled at his mere proximity. Tradition allowed a man and a woman to meet before the wedding. However, they were not to touch. This was what calmed her down even if she knew she''d have to meet with him. "Yes, yes, you must be shy," he said, grinning. He didn''t seem to see nor care for her discomfort, extending his oily hands to touch her face again. She stepped back, avoiding his hand again. "Please, it is against tradition." He frowned and looked around. His frown transformed into a sneer when he saw that no one from Jacoba''s side seemed to care about this tradition. Of course, neither did his side. "Who cares about that¡ª" He said, hurriedly grabbing her. When she instinctively avoided, he just gestured to carry her. She screamed, moving by reflex. "How dare you!" She yelled. She immediately slapped him by instinct, creeped out by the feeling of his hands on hers. Although their levels were similar, this guy was incredibly weak. Her slap caused him to fall down, making the people in the room gasp. "SIR!" "CASSANDRA!" Her parents yelled, looking at her as if she had done something heinous. Cassandra paled, her heart dropping. "I¡ª" The humiliation was naturally not something Eshno would let pass. He glared at her, slapping the floor under him. "Tie her up! I want her on my bed, NOW!!" Cassandra''s eyes widened. No! This was not in the plan! She didn''t have her potion yet! She was not ready!! She paled when she saw the guards¡ªnot just his, but also from her family¡ªapproach her, intending to hold her down. She was soon surrounded and her hopes to escape had become nill. It felt like her blood froze, the reality of the situation sinking in. "No! Stop!!" she yelled, stepping back and prepared to shield herself as necessary. She kicked the nearest person on the shin, and she even used the skills she learned from the family to defend herself. "YOU!" her father yelled, eyes red. However, instead of appreciation, he looked humiliated. It was a face that asked: How dare she use the family skill, especially to ruin his plans?! She had become desperate in her struggle, especially when stronger guards surrounded her, holding her arms and her legs. "No¡­ please¡­" she gasped, eyes filled with terror. What was worse was when they tied her up with a magic tool¡ªone that could easily hold a level 40 and below! When even her ability to struggle was taken away from her, tears completely fell down her eyes. No. Nononono¡ª This can''t be happening¡ª Cassandra whipped her head and looked at her family, who were just watching this farce from the side. She didn''t have much hope, but they were her only hope now. "Father! Mother! Please!!" But they just looked at her without changing expressions. Her heart completely turned cold, heartbroken. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Most of all, she felt fear. More than for herself, she feared for her child more! If this happened¡­ it would die! Then she might as well follow! She could only get carried upwards, and the mix of fear and heartbreak filled her heart, filling her eyes with tears. As they carried her to the room, one of the servants looked worried, slightly blocking Esho''s way. For a moment, Cassandra had the illogical hope that maybe something can still change. "Sir, the wedding¡ª" "I won''t abuse it," he said and the servant''s shoulder slumped and walked aside, not caring anymore. She was taken to the room and thrown to the bed, her body always leaning towards the door. When it closed, it felt like the last bit of hope in her was finally extinguished. Eshno looked at Cassandra with greedy eyes filled with both lust and vindictiveness. She tried to struggle as much as she could, but she couldn''t do it without care for fear of hurting the baby. She felt so helpless and weak. Her body and heart felt too heavy, and her tears pooled so much she couldn''t stop them anymore. "Stop please!" She sobbed, pleading. She begged and begged even after he tied her ropes to the bed, raising her arms above her head. Her legs though weren''t tied for convenience of the imminent lovemaking. "Aww, don''t cry my love. I''ll make you feel real good¡­." he said, licking her tears away. His grimy hands touched her curves, eventually finding its way under her dress. "No¡ª" she yelled as he ripped her clothing apart, revealing her luscious curves, and causing the man to gulp hungrily at the glorious sight. "WOW. What a beauty!" he yelled, practically drooling on her. "My friends said noble women may not necessarily be as seductive as the whores, but you really proved him wrong!" "Wuu¡­ please¡­ don''t," Cassandra pleaded, closing her legs. However, Eshno''s big hands held her thighs and he forced them open. She bit her lips as he undressed as well, soon looming over her. However, Cassandra saw it as her chance and kicked him as strongly as she could. BANG! The next thing he knew, his naked body was sprawled on the floor in a humiliating way. His eyes turned red. "THIS BITCHHH!!" Chapter 974 Murder in Bed "BITCHHH!!" He roared, standing up after a few seconds of struggling. Unsurprisingly, the noise alerted the guards outside and they immediately knocked to check on their master. Unlike Alterra, insulation here wasn''t particularly special, so any loud noise could still be heard outside. "Sir! Are you okay?" they yelled, knocking on the door, no doubt prepared to get inside even if by force as soon as they found out Eshno was in danger. "I''m fine! She''s a fighter!" Eshno yelled back. "I''ll be fine! I''ll teach her a lesson! Don''t bother me!!" And soon he was up and hovering above her again, but this time much less gentle. Cassandra bit her lips, extremely disappointed. She had hoped he would lose consciousness at least. But instead, it just angered him. He forcefully opened her legs as wide as he could, about to enter her. Cassandra struggled hard, the connections of the ropes to the wood creaking a bit. Although she couldn''t do anything to the rope, maybe she could do something about where it was tied to! However, even if it was working, it wasn''t working fast enough. She gasped in terror, feeling the man''s tip about to enter her¡ª Slash! Eshno suddenly stopped moving. Cassandra didn''t stop struggling, not daring to lower her guard. However, when she felt a bit of liquid squirting on her, and her eyes shifted to the man above her. Eshno was now holding his neck as if gasping for breath. She took it as her chance to scoot back and close her legs, but her arms did not stop struggling. She didn''t know what was going on, but she knew better than to watch him gather himself again! This was until she saw Eshno''s head slowly slide to the side, leaving a headless body kneeling on the bed. "Wha¡ª" Her mouth opened as a scream threatened to escape her mouth, but a callused hand covered it, muffling whatever sound she was about to make. "Shh¡­" Gill said, face red in repressed anger, kicking the still-upright body backward and off the bed. "I''m here now¡­," he said, whispering, enveloping her with his arms. He was shaking, and his eyes were lined with tears as he buried his head on her shoulder. Jacoba, in favor of the many fighters that went through them, also didn''t prohibit fighting within the territory. They simply added a lot of tax for damages. Anyway, rules would be null during wars so they didn''t see much point to it¡ªas most territories did. Unfortunately, there would also be plenty of times when it would be working against them. For instance, now, where a very important guest had been beheaded and no alarm was sounded at all. Cassandra gaped at the man who was hugging her. Her eyes were wide and her heart was completely in disbelief. She did not even notice when he untied the rope around her hands. "Y-You¡­?" she mumbled, raising her shaking hands to touch his handsome face. Gill leaned into her palm. "It''s me," he said. "I''m so sorry I''m late." "Gill! Wuuu¡­" she buried her head on his chest, her cries muffled by his wide shoulder. After a while of crying, she opened her eyes to stare at him again, and then at the place where Eshno was just at. The kill was done so cleanly, that except for the small splash during the beheading, not much blood splashed on the bed. "I was so scared¡­" "I know, I''m sorry," he said, holding her tightly. He gritted teeth when he remembered just how close he was! He had sneaked into the house at the same time they entered. Because there were so many people entering, they lowered the system''s guard. With such tight security, as well as their high positions, they believed no one would dare make trouble! Gill had seen how she was abandoned by her own family. It was just that the upper room was guarded more and he had a hard time sneaking inside. He had to use a wind-up toy he had in space. It was actually little Meatball''s, left when he played in the barracks when his father wanted him to ''familiarize himself with the setting''. Gill took it to bring it back, but things happened and he just forgot about it. He mentally apologized to Meatball as he used it as a distraction so he could use a minor sleeping potion without alerting anyone. After the guards felt groggy, he managed to enter the room so quietly that not even those inside heard him. He arrived with Cassandra tied and naked, with the man just about to enter her. The image flashed by his head, and he wanted to kick that man''s head again, damnit! He wasn''t able to because a loud knock sounded on the door again. "Sir? Are you alright?" His eyes twitched. He didn''t dare use too much potion because if people decided to check on the guards and saw them asleep, then it would get even more dangerous. However, he seemed to have underestimated their physiques. They probably just felt groggy and lost consciousness for a bit, but woke up shortly after that. Cassandra shivered and looked at him, eyes wide in fear. "Go, hide!" She whispered, trying to push him away, but he was unperturbed. He kissed her forehead as he shook his head. Instead, he looked at the door, opening his mouth to speak. "Are you idiots? Did you guys fall asleep or something? I clearly told you not to bother me!" he yelled and Cassandra was shocked to hear that his voice was almost the same as Eshno! He smiled at her cute reaction. As a special soldier, every one of them had a lot of interesting¡­ talents. Voice modulation was among the basics. Anyway, he kissed the side of her face. "Yell," he said, a little breathless. "Well, we can''t have them suspicious at this time, right?" Cassandra blinked and flushed red. Were they doing this now? She wanted to scream in her head. Too much happened today! She couldn''t wrap her mind around it! "Yell¡­" he said, gently biting her ears. "Ahhh! Please stop!" She screamed, doing as she was told, and this seemed to have satisfied the people outside. Unexpectedly, she felt the atmosphere heat up, and she could only feel like melting. "We have to continue the act, Cassandra," he said, meeting her lips as he held her hands up with his own hand. His calloused palms rubbed her wrist as if to make the rope marks disappear. If she didn''t understand where this was going, then she was stupid. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, her awkwardness was forgotten as Gill started to kiss her passionately, eating her moans and whimpers. In contrast to the fear of the act that paralyzed her earlier, each of Gill''s action served to soften her up¡­ make her look forward to it. Soon enough, he slid into her, making her body arch, gasping in pleasure. "Don''t hold back your yells," he said. "It''s for our safety." To be honest, doing it in such tense environment with the man you loved was¡­ exciting. Not to mention she had to yell lewd moans for the servants outside to hear the whole time, and the sound of her voice fuelled Gill''s movement. "Wait¡­" she mewled, gently pushing him away when he started pounding with a bit of strength. "Be gentle¡­" she whispered. "I''m¡­ pregnant." Chapter 975 Elopement A/N: The last of today''s bonus chapter! Although we didn''t make Top 1 last month, I saw how many of you tried to help me out. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! I can guarantee the mass release on Dec 29 which is my birthday hahha. Please keep supporting the story guys! Don''t let us dieeeee lololol Anyways, back to the story~! ¡­ ___ The lovemaking took a different¡ªyet more sensual¡ªturn. It was mixed with extra sweet emotion and the excitement for a new phase of their lives. However, they had to keep the charade in order not to be found outside. After that first yell, Gill also didn''t mimic Eshmo''s voice anymore. After all, they associated it with that bastard and their mood would get ruined. Gill was really passionate and held back just enough not to be too rough, and soon they finally let go, bodies recombined in the most intimate way possible. Gasping, they put their foreheads together. They couldn''t help but chuckle a bit as the tension was released. It was as if there wasn''t a corpse a meter away from them. "So what do we do now?" Cassandra asked, but Gill just looked down to look at her still-flat stomach. He sat them up, causing her to let out involuntary moans at the movement. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders to balance herself. The position, while no less erotic, let Gill have a better view of his child. Well, in his mind anyway. "Pregnant." There was such genuine happiness and relief in his eyes and it made her smile. But her peripheral view caught sight of the half-naked corpse and her eyes twitched. She patted Gill''s cheek and repeated: "What do we do now?" Gill looked at her and smiled, just glad to have gotten there on time. While it was distracting to think clearly in their position, he had naturally had a plan before deciding to behead the scumbag. He rubbed her cheek. There were still traces of her tears from before. He heard the scream directed at her parents who cold-heartedly ignored her pleas. How helpless she must''ve been. "Do you want to give your family a bit of trouble? Distracted enough so they wouldn''t have time to find out where you are?" She tilted her head and looked at him, eyes filled with curiosity. "What do you mean?" "Is it true that your family wasn''t the original ruling family?" he asked. Cassandra was a little surprised and nodded in the end. Then he proceeded to tell her that, when he got there, he happened to follow someone from the family of the previous lord. He had overheard the man''s bitterness in passing and decided to follow in case he found something useful in his mission. Using his stealth skills, he managed to follow them for a while. Fortunately, after the rants, they talked about their plans even before they entered their abode. This was lucky because he wouldn''t have been able to sneak in due to the system. He took advantage of Cassandra''s (and her family''s) entry to get to Eshno''s, but there was no such thing in the other house. They were careful and still used the voice barrier though (something they belatedly remembered to do), but as one of Alterra''s top soldiers, he had the tool against it. He activated it and he managed to hear much of their plans. They had apparently been monitoring Jacoba for a long time¡ªyears, in fact¡ªand they had known that it was weakening. It was why they had started to mobilize their forces a few months ago. They had slowly tried to get the mercenary teams outside of there. One, they revealed the place''s actual state. It was failing¡ªit was better to leave when they still had their assets! They also facilitated some deals with other towns and the like, so compared to a year prior, a good portion of mercenary teams had already left Jacoba. Next, they allied with another town, something called Uber Town about a week distance away. Uber Town was supposed to declare war within the next week or so, and they would cause chaos, regaining the token along the way. It was just that the announcement of the wedding came and it took them off-guard. They knew they had to stop the alliance at all cost. This wasn''t just an alliance bounded by the system, but also by marriage. This was like extra insurance for Jacoba and Ester. They didn''t care about Ester, but Jacoba couldn''t regain strength again! They had planned to cause chaos during the wedding, and Gill had planned to take advantage of that. They also proceeded to take in a few female slaves to vent, prior to a tenseful mission the next day. It was also what let Gill disregard the trouble his plan would cause them. Rather than trouble, it could very well get them killed, but who cared? They''re all bastards, anyway. Still, while his plan was to take advantage of the chaos they''d create, his gut told him to start moving as soon as possible. He managed to sneak into Eshno''s house during the meet-up because there were so many guests and the entry was loosened by the lord himself, being the house''s owner. He was the type that''d be too lazy to ''approve'' each entry so he changed the settings instead. Gill was thankful he did so. Had he only started moving the next day¡ª Ah, damnit, he wanted to crush that man''s head! But feeling his woman''s softness against him, he calmed down a bit, continuing with his explanation. "Whatever we did today, we can pin it on them," he told Cassandra, his eyes glinting with slyness. At this point, almost all of the tension in Cassandra''s body had left her, and all she felt was peace. She just wanted to go home now. She just embraced him tighter, feeling his warmth. "Let''s do whatever we have to," she told him. "I trust you." S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 976 Chaotic Aftermath While the couple officially eloped and escaped the town (with Ghesso, of course), the people of Jacoba were blissfully unaware of the storm coming their way¡­ and that the people who caused it had long gotten out of the territory. It was the wedding day, after all. In everyone''s minds, this was a day of celebration! Today was the day Jacoba would be great again, and so would their wallets! The wedding was set to happen in the late afternoon, but the entire territory was lively from an early hour. Some last-minute preparations were being perfected as well. This wedding had to be perfect, after all! However, when afternoon ticked in, the man still hadn''t gotten up! Several servants stood outside the room, wondering what they should do next. They let him sleep in because they knew the master went hard the previous night. However, this time, they might have no choice but to wake him up. They shivered. Who would do the ''honors''? The slaves, of course. About half of Eshno''s servants were slaves, so it wasn''t difficult to get someone to wake him up. Everyone knew the master could get¡­ violent if woken up prematurely, so no one who had their free will wanted to go inside. Two slaves used the master keys to open the door, shakily entering the room. They never would have thought they would find the Master''s severed head instead!! ¡­ It was absolute chaos, with the lord himself rushing over with no blood on his face. He gaped at the body and then the head¡­ and confirmed that they were definitely not connected anymore. "W-What¡­" He looked at the servants, who were all kneeling down and crying. They were not sad that the man perished¡ªsome of them were even glad¡ªbut the fact that Eshno lost his head was practically a guarantee that they''d lose theirs! "Who¡­ what¡­" At this point, Warron was incoherent. Just an hour ago, he was already finalizing the deal and arrangement with Ester Town! This was going to be handed over to Eshno after their wedding night tomorrow. If Cassandra satisfied him enough, then he could push some more advantages for Jacoba! He would also instruct Cassandra to assist Jacoba well even when she was in another territory¡ªand this was something Warron did not question she would follow at all! This was a woman''s duty¡ªespecially as a noble woman! At the time, he just thought that girl better satisfy Eshno well the next few days, or else he''d hear a lot from him! In fact, he had already estimated earnings he''d have every month. Now¡­ it was all crumbling in front of his eyes and he was powerless to pull them back together. "Who¡­" he gasped, feeling it harder and harder to breathe. Who would do this!? Cassandra? No! She wouldn''t dare. She definitely did not have the capability to bypass all the guards here! In fact, to make things ''easier'' for everyone, Gill left a note on the wall in Eshno''s blood. ''This is what you get for stealing our home! Now, I''ll take your daughter until you give it back!'' it said. However, while the note was not small nor was it hidden, it was written on the perpendicular wall, so the people didn''t see it immediately. At first, all they could see was the carcass of their special guest, which already shook them to the core. How could they mind anything else for a while. While Warren stared in disbelief as the key to his plan was beheaded, his family closely followed behind him. Whether it was the legitimate or the other one, they were all there to witness this farce. Warron''s mind whirled and he stood still for a while, while his wife started looking around with wide eyes. "Where''s my daughter?" She looked at her husband who didn''t seem to be looking for the bride, and was just staring at the groom. "HUSBAND!!" Warron was shaken and finally remembered his daughter. He hurriedly opened the lord panel to see if she was there. "Gone. She''s¡­ not here anymore!" "Could she have eloped?" Cessi, Cassandra''s half-sister, quipped somewhere in the room. She looked at her brother, Casso, who was also trying to push down a cackle. Cessi looked at her purse, which was so pretty and convenient. A pity she''d have to find the source herself. A hassle, but it should be worth it. Their mother, Tiara, tried to pretend to care, going to their father. "Is she still alive?" She asked with that soft high-pitched voice of hers. "I mean, if the son of Ester Lord is dead, then she¡ª" "Who cares about her, the man is dead!" Warron yelled, shutting everyone up. "Do you know what it means? This means the deal is off! Worse¡ªEster Town would be against us!!" This naturally triggered the woman who was looking for her only child. "THAT''S YOUR DAUGHTER!" Ilda yelled, eyes reddening. That was her only child¡ªa child she had raised so painstakingly! Gone! Wasted! And look at Tiara and her family! Tiara looked concerned, but she could feel her laughing inside! And look at her children! They didn''t even bother hiding their mirthful smiles! Who did they think they were fooling? "YOU! YOU PLANNED THIS!" She screamed, immediately lunging at Tiera, grabbing a fist-full of her hair. This woman had been ruining her plans for so long! Cassandra was her only hope of regaining the upper hand! How could she let this bitch get away with it this time!? "YOU!! GIVE MY DAUGHTER BACK!" she screamed, shaking the other woman''s head, as if planning on pulling out all of her hair. "GIVE HER BACK!" Tiara screamed, trying to keep her hair intact. "I don''t¡ª!" She squealed, feeling sharp stinging on her scalp! She could really lose a lot of hair like this! NOO!" "TAKE HER AWAY! TAKE HER AWAY!" She screamed, desperately trying to take away the other woman''s hands on her. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was only with this screech that her two children made a move. Sad for them, they were kicked back by the red-eyed Ilda, and for a bit they could only watch their mother being harassed like this. "Kyaaa!" Tiara screamed. "STOP IIIITTTT! KYAAAAA!" Anyway, chaos ensued, and it would not stop for a long time to come. Chapter 977 Goodbye, Jacoba! "LET ME GOO! LET ME GOOO, YOU BITCH!!" Tiara yelled, whipping her head to glare at the useless servants. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING THERE!? HOLD HER BACK!! Kyaaaa!" The servants looked at each other. The woman was the daughter of a powerful merchant and thus could not be stopped by them. In general, nobles couldn''t be touched casually by mere servants. If they did this¡ªeven if they didn''t do much but touch without permission¡ª they could easily meet death. So, despite the ensuing chaos, the nearby servants could only watch. "CESSI! CASSO! GET IN HERE!" The siblings stared, but stood up. This was their mother after all. Most importantly, they still depended on her about a lot of things! But who could blame them? They had never encountered such¡­ brutishness before and didn''t quite know how to handle it. Sure, they beat people up among the commoners for no particular reason, but in the noble circle, this was rarely seen. Ilda was usually quite poised as well. Even when their mother and father were flirting right in front of her, she retained her calmness. Everyone was surprised by the sudden explosion. The two of them took each side of Ilda, prepared to pull an arm each. However, Ilda was stronger than Tiara and definitely stronger than the two of them, the spoiled kids. BANG! Not only were the two pushed to the wall again and could only groan in pain, but Ilda also took out a few bits of hair from her rival''s head due to the movements. Tiara gasped at the sight, and she couldn''t stand up immediately from the intense mix of dizziness and pain. When she realized her son and daughter were also hurt, she screamed. "Children!" she yelled, but then she held her hair and felt an empty patch, and she quickly forgot to check on her children. "NO! MY HAIRRRR!" she cried, glaring at the other woman. "How could you do this!!" Ilda didn''t care about anything anymore. Her soft hands grabbed Tiara''s chin. "Then give me back my daughter!" "It wasn''t me!!" "I don''t believe you!" Ilda yelled back. "I swear¡ªuntil I get her back, I''ll make your lives a living hell!" "You¡ª" At this, Tiara finally snapped and tried to fight back, starting an all-out brawl between two noble ladies. They wouldn''t normally do this under any circumstance, but it seemed like Cassandra''s ''death'' was a trigger to the decades-long bitterness in Ilda''s heart. All this time, she endured because she had her daughter as her hope. Now that it was gone, she turned a little crazy. Chaos reigned for a while, with guards and servants not knowing how to stop it. When their brawl reached Warron, hitting his legs by accident, they finally caught his attention. His mind was still dizzy whenever he thought of the repercussions, and he did not need all this noise!! "Stop it! Or I''ll place you both in the dungeons!!" Warron did not have the mind to bother with his wife and his mistress. He immediately looked at his guard, gesturing to bellow an order. However, his peripheral vision caught sight of the gaping note on a wall and his voice died down. His mouth was still parted, and he looked at the wall in shock. Everyone else saw this and followed his sight. The note was made with blood, with a very ominous message to them. "This is what you get for stealing our home! Now, I''ll take your daughter until you give it back!''?" He gasped, and the others also paled as they saw the meaning of the note. Warron clenched his fist, anger immediately redirected to those bastards! "FIND THEM!" he yelled. "I should''ve known! Find the people who did this! RIGHT NOW!" ¡­ While two parties were set to butt heads in Jacoba Town, the couple (and assistant) had long left the town and were heading north back home¡ªto Alterra. Cassandra was chuckling as she laid in Gill''s hold, who was sprinting back. Despite the toll on his health, he naturally wanted Cassandra to be in the best care possible. Ferrol''s beast cart only dropped him some distance away from Jacoba before and left him there. He didn''t know what would happen but he didn''t want anything to be traced to Ferrol. This was not for the good of his heart but mostly due to practicality. If they traced Ferrol, then they''d study all of its recent connections. The biggest of these connections was Alterra and could be traced back after some search. Not to mention, the lord there was Cassandra''s maternal cousin. They could suspect him immediately just because of this relationship. In any case, they were heading back on foot until they either found a town with beast carts they could rent (or steal) or found a level 2 town with a Mercenary Hall to teleport to Ferrol with. Gill was the deputy leader and had the clearance to take in new members, which he could give to both Ghesso and Cassandra. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In the meantime, Gill refused to let go of Cassandra. Ghesso, on the other hand, was in charge of protecting them from the beasts. Town-level beasts were troublesome so, for the most, part, they mostly ran away from them. Like Gaudi, Ghesso was one of the people who had held on for a long time before finally being captured as a slave. He was also a slave in a town where monsters were stronger so he was already level 24 at this time, making him a pretty decent guard. Gill also helped out with his spear and elements¡ªsomething that made the Novan look at him with even brighter admiration. Even in Towns, elementalists weren''t so common. Didn''t he say he was from a village? Anyway, Ghesso took down the monsters bravely, clearing the road for the couple. The travel lasted hours for a few days under the hot sun. It was by no means easy. Despite all the hardships, Cassandra¡ªeven when she lost the home she grew up in¡ªhad never smiled so brightly. She hugged Gill tightly, burying her face in the crook of his neck. "Thank you, Gill," she said. "For taking me home." Cassandra¡ªdespite being on the run¡ª had never felt so relieved her whole life. Chapter 978 Arrival of the Soldiers from the West A/N: Been trying to use footnote function to mention/explain characters since I have so many and I know you already forgot abt them. But it''s not working, so I can only use the author''s notes at the bottom. ... ____ While Gill was bringing over two citizens-to-be¡ªthree counting his child¡ªseveral acquaintances had also arrived at Alterra. It was none other than the other members of the Terran Mercenary Team! The group was now staring at the wall ahead of them, and they were queuing like everyone else. "This is Alterra? Where the captain is?" Orz asked Juno, the person who the lord himself ordered to guide them to Alterra. The green-haired man looked at them blankly. "I told you this 12 times today." Included in this count were Orz''s questions when they hadn''t gone too far from his home territory, too. "Ah, yes," Orz said, scratching his cheek. They actually landed in Bright Village first. At the time, the lord greeted them himself. He was very hospitable. At first, the soldiers (who knew Lords could see people''s stats) thought he was being kind to them because they had good levels. Surprisingly, he seemed to be a bit more interested in Ryan''s uncle, instead. This was not to say he wasn''t interested in them at all. He also asked them a lot of questions. He also offered them very good jobs as Top Guards. He even offered them free housing and food allowances on top of their base salaries. "We''re actually looking for people," Ryan said, interrupting the very obvious recruitment. "If you can tell us if any of the names we need are here, we would really appreciate it." Micheal had a foreboding feeling about these soldiers and was actually reluctant to ask this question. Their strengths were just too high for them to have arrived at the same time as they did. He just pretended not to have an idea, in hopes of actually keeping them here. However, when they explicitly said they came three months earlier than others and that they had separated from another group of soldiers from Eden¡ªand were now looking for them¡ªthen he knew he could stop fooling himself. "Well, I guess I should''ve known. I suppose I ignored it because I really wanted your force in my territory," he said, heaving a disappointed sigh. "Could you be members of the Terran Mercenary Team?" They all flinched and looked at him. One had to know, that being focused on by people of much higher levels was normally unnerving. It would be intimidating if Micheal was a normal person, but he wasn''t. Instead, he just looked disappointed and his enthusiasm was toned down by about a hundred points. His shoulders slumped and he looked at Juno. "Escort them to Alterra," he just said, waving his hand as if wanting them to disappear from his sight, as if they reminded him of heartbreak. "..." They were puzzled at first and asked Juno what it was about, and when he said other members were there, they were extremely ecstatic. They also asked the lord for the names of their relatives and some refugees did find some, but there was no such luck for the others. Micheal did mention that Gill had his mother, and Sunny was a familiar name. Later, after asking around, Ryan and his uncle found out that the Sunny in Alterra was their Sunny, and she had made a life for herself in Alterra! However, although they were excited, their families¡ªwho were normal civilians¡ª were incredibly weak from the dangerous and tedious travel. Hence, they made the excruciating decision to rest for a day. Anyway, everyone told them that Alterra was the strongest, and they didn''t have to worry about that place at all. Speaking of them, while Ryan and the others were gathering info, the rest of their group was eating and drinking their hearts out. They were already so happy to find a good place, and it came as a shock when the soldiers told them they''d be going elsewhere the next morning. It startled them at first¡ªafter all, Bright was already so special¡ªbut when they found out that the rest of the team was in the next village, and that village had even better conditions, it was no longer a discussion. Gwen herself was too giddy. If it was just her, she''d run there, but she wasn''t so arrogant that she''d think she would reach it safely on her own with all her limbs intact. She just couldn''t sleep in the end so she snuck into Ryan''s bed so he could put her to sleep. Suffice to say: It was sweet torture for the poor blonde the entire night. They couldn''t sleep well and, even if they were comfortable, they ended up getting up very early. The team got ready hours before dawn and left while it was dark with their families. The target was to be able to reach Alterra by sunlight. As for the other refugees, they didn''t tell them they were leaving. Bright was already good enough, and it''d be impolite to take all the manpower they just added back. Of course, if someone heard of their plans and decided to come with them, they weren''t stopped either. Before they left though, Micheal ''got over'' his heartbreak and asked to send a message. In return for his good deed, Micheal asked them to put a good word to the territory, asking to put a small base in Bright, where one or two soldiers would be designated at a time when Alterra upgraded to Town. Of course, it wouldn''t be for free, with Micheal paying a certain amount of extra protection fee to Alterra on top of the tribute as a subsidiary. Besides, when Alterra became a Town, the hired aborigines would also see massive improvements. As long as they had money, Alterra could hire an army! S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was in stark contrast to the adjacent villages who would take many more years to even dream of reaching the prestige requirement! In that case, securing strong forces from Alterra was the best bet. Not to mention, people would be reluctant to become their citizens with such a town nearby. If one thought of it that way, Alterra should compensate by protecting them. Of course, none of them would dare say this out loud¡­ Chapter 979 Successful Landing Anyway, Juno guided them all the way to Alterra, along with a caravan (because why not), and the party arrived about an hour after sunlight. They were now standing just outside the impressive walls and imposing sentries. Bright''s merchants were not surprised as they had often been here, but the newcomers were certainly shocked. "A village. This is really a village that was built the same time as everyone else?" Mart asked, surprised, and especially so when they entered the village. Mart was a soldier who arrived with the other Terrans. Speaking of him, he had also reached level 10 and awakened the earth element after traveling for so long. With Orz''s guidance over the past few days, he was now a bona fide earth bender. "To be honest, even Towns we''ve been to may not be as good¡­" Ryan said, staring at the lively wide streets filled with activity and smiling people everywhere. The entry fee was also very good! Although it had been increased (according to Juno), it was still low if one considered this was basically a Town already. Orz, who was chewing a meat jerky he bought from Bright, whistled, very impressed. "True, the weaker towns look poor next to this," he said, remembering a few examples. The first months they were in this world, they had gone through a couple of territories before settling in Twinwave Town, so they knew what they were talking about. This¡­ was really impressive. How long has it been? It hasn''t even been 6 months since they arrived, right? Sean looked around with bright eyes, and then he turned to his sister and the in-laws. Salia met his eyes and they let out identical smiles. Her husband, Philip, was holding her shoulder with a similar smile, while his mother¡ªas always¡ªwas already thinking of where in this good place would they be settling. To be honest, Sean didn''t like that woman. She had grown up and lived in a rural area with very strict views on women. She always ordered his sister around, acting like an undefiable matriarch. According to the people in Calma Village, she would always order Salia to gather resources to sell while she herself barely carried her own weight. On the other hand, Philip was a mama''s boy who would request her to soften up but never quite put his foot down. He''d only try to lessen his wife''s load by working more, which just made the mother-in-law dislike Salia more. However, they found out that Salia was a couple of weeks pregnant and the issue finally calmed¡­ to some degree. Sean had heard her mumble ''Been married for 10 years, decided to get pregnant in this hell hole'' under her breath many times. He hadn''t hung around them for so long, but he already wanted to strangle her. He couldn''t imagine how it was for his soft-hearted sister. Before, he couldn''t mind her too much because they were in constant danger from the outside world. How could a few earfuls be more of an issue than the threat of actual death? However, if they had finally found a peaceful place here in Alterra, then it''d definitely be an issue if the old woman didn''t improve herself. Sean wasn''t a particularly confrontive person though. He wondered if he should send Orz to do it for him. Orz: "..." Speaking of Orz, his brother and his students had long run to the ''moving stalls'' and were now buying everything. These three had never stopped eating since landing in Bright, and their foodie tendencies completely exploded after landing here. Ben, who had been admiring the place, laughed when he saw the stupid look of the trio. However, he pulled his wife Katarina''s hand over to another stall to buy some stuff themselves. He leaned down to carry his son¡ªa cute blonde boy named Kenny¡ªon the way there. The boy flushed red in embarrassment. "Daddy, daddy! I''m nine years old now! Not a baby! Put me down!" "Yes, yes¡­" he smiled, though not putting him down at all. As a soldier, he missed his son''s growth a lot. The times he could carry him around like this weren''t a lot, and he was determined to make up for it now! It would cause his son to glare at him a lot for embarrassing him, though! As they approached the stalls, people couldn''t help but look at the family. Ben had dark hair and skin, which contrasted with the opposite color palette of his almost-albino wife and son. There was no doubt Kenny was Ben''s son though. They had the exact same hair and facial features, making them amusing to look at when their faces were side by side. Minko smiled as he looked at the happy families, shaking his head at his own situation. Hopefully, the wife he left behind with the lord there was living well. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When he left, he found out she was a few weeks pregnant. Other than the fact that things could never be the same between them, how could he take her away from the father of her child? Some memories of the good times with that woman passed by his head and he did feel a little tinge in his heart. Reuben, who was standing next to him, patted his shoulder. He had an idea of what''s going on in his head. "Don''t be so sad. Things are finally looking up for everyone," he said. "Who knows¡­ maybe we can build new families here." Reuben''s sister, Rina, was still not found, but with the resources the Captain had, he had a feeling he''d find her soon. Ryan and Ricky, on the other hand, were just glad Sunny seemed to be living well. "It''s good, it''s good." Now all that was left was finally reuniting with her. Ryan looked at his girlfriend, who was holding his hand. She, too, had an excited expression on her face. "I''ll see you later," she said, absolutely giddy and couldn''t wait to run where her brother and mother are! Ricky smiled and patted the cats'' heads. Even if one of them was his battle pet, those two felines didn''t want to be apart for a second. Well, let them stay with their mother. Meow They agreed. He smiled, grasping Gwen''s hands a little tighter before letting go. "It''s time to find our families." The group headed to the Village Center then, with Juno leading them. Although they could go to the Barracks first, making announcements was still the most efficient way to get the attention of anyone pertinent. And, as expected, about half an hour later, several successive announcements shook many people''s days. Chapter 980 Newcomer Registration Micheal had actually sent a message to Alterra the previous night using the Village Center, as lords of allied and subsidiary villages could do. However, him being him, he just told them a surprise was coming with this caravan. At the time, Ansel sneered. ''That jerk is always trying to appear mysterious,'' he said, and he was right. One of Micheal''s sources of small joys was to keep people guessing. Anyway, the leading party was expecting people coming in and they assumed they were someone''s acquaintance. If her children weren''t with her and asking for attention everywhere, it was estimated that Althea herself would be monitoring the changes. Ansel did go out to greet them when they were notified that the caravan had arrived. At this time, Juno had already led the newcomers to the Village Center. Juno had been here often enough to know the process and he knew that anyone who missed this step would be recorded as suspicious individuals. The green-haired warrior didn''t want to commit that technicality when his lord obviously wanted to make a good impression through this ''delivery''. They registered one by one, also guided by the concierge there. Even this alone was impressive. Who had so many resources to have a welcoming information desk? Orz and the others registered with smiles. Even if the captain and the others weren''t here, they''d definitely settle their families here. Only such a territory would give them enough sense of security if they wanted to continue exploring this dangerous world. "This is where we can register to become residents, right?" Ricky asked, wanting to ask them to take him to where Sunny was. The concierge smiled at them, used to this question. "Yes, but you cannot register as a resident for now." This made everyone flinch and look at her in despair. She felt awkward and cleared her throat. No matter how many times she went through this, it was hard to get used to being stared at with such¡­ passion by a big group of people. "I''m not saying you can''t ever do so, but as newcomers you''d have to settle in as Visitors first," she said, explaining as gently as she could. Before, she had gotten into a conflict with formerly-rich people demanding residencies. Those people, whether in Terran or here, had some money so they didn''t have to worry about living. To them, being ''visitors'' was equivalent to being ''informal settlers'' which was completely below them. They didn''t dare raise hands on her of course¡ªthe rules were strict¡ªbut they definitely said a lot of mean things. She even heard of the quintessential demand "Call your manager!" which she honestly didn''t think she''d hear so often in Xeno. Of course, those people had been taught lessons (in the manual prison, charged for harassment) and were now obedient visitors quietly gathering Contribution Points. There were also more minor cases but, fortunately, those were settled with words. Still, she would be especially tired that day and she''d definitely be hanging around in bars or in the entertainment street the same night to loosen up the stress and pent-up anger. Anyway, her job was not easy. Should she request for a raise? "We now require 50 silver a month and a one-time payment of 2000 Contribution points to become temporary residents," she said, completely memorizing the script. "To become permanent residents, it is even more expensive at a lump sum of 20 gold and 10,000 contribution points. "Contribution points can be used to buy other people''s residencies¡ªotherwise, it is non-transferable." "Contribution Points?" This made a few pout. They were so excited to become residents here! Ben frowned and patted his wife''s soft shoulder. Since they might be exploring the outside a lot, they''d be leaving their family members behind. There would definitely be a lot of protection to residents compared to visitors. For instance, in some rich territories they had been to, residents could not be easily kicked out of the territory. They could get imprisoned, but at least they wouldn''t be exposed to the outside world. How could they be rest assured enough to leave if they didn''t have this protection? "Territories are usually welcoming of new residents, right?" He asked. "Why are they so strict?" The concierge smiled, though her smile seemed a little smug. "Our Elders have determined that we will be upgrading to Town soon, and they didn''t want the town to risk defeat. "In order to defer the upgrade, a lot of measures were implemented¡ªincluding limiting the number of residents and population we''d have," she said. "In fact, your batch of refugees should be among the last batch we would be accepting." S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Everyone looked at each other, unsure whether they were hearing this correctly. "Excuse me?" Miss Concierge continued with her explanation. "According to the elders, they will only upgrade the village when they are certain we wouldn''t be defeated as a Level 1 Town." They didn''t hide this fact at all, because it was a good way for potential attackers to detract. Or, at least, have second thoughts. On paper, this seemed really arrogant. Who would be so sure they''d be undefeated? Especially when they were still in the lower rung? Regardless, it was definitely enough to startle anyone who heard of it. "Seriously?" Orz and his brother asked. The Lady Concierge nodded. "Yes, seriously." The newcomers looked at each other. Was it true? Not only was this territory¡ªbuilt at the same time as theirs¡ªalready on its way to becoming a Town, but they were also confident that they could strengthen themselves to the point that they''d be undefeatable by Towns¡ªall while still being a village! Should they be amazed or should they be worried? This was an awesome territory, leading them to be proud, but what if it caused its fall instead? They gulped, seriously pondering. Of course, the exploration could come later¡ªfamilies first! They also need to find the Captain! Reuben stepped forward, smiling at the woman. "Where can we find a list of citizens? We want to find our relatives," he said. "I heard we can also make announcements here. The woman blushed a bit and nodded. "Would you like to use our announcement service? You can send up to 100 words all around the territory for only 10 silver!" "We also have investigator teams around here," she said. "You can pay them and they could look for information in your stead! They''re not cheap though." Everyone nodded, hearts racing in excitement. Regardless of the price, if it meant finding their relatives, then it''d be worth it!! Chapter 981 Another Green-tagged Name! While the newcomers scrambled to make announcements (soon barraging everyone''s screens), the twins'' baby walkers finally arrived! It was why only Ansel¡ªwho was now watching people making announcements¡ªwas the only one who actually went to check on Micheal''s ''surprise''. The Baby Walkers were still important. People could just find them in their villa if they knew them. Anyway, the family went to check the new arrivals together with various expectations. Garan and Althea each carried a child in their arms, with Bianca and a few others from the Woodworker team there to explain its mechanics. When they revealed the walking tools, the babies laughed in glee. Anything new and colorful was fun to them at this point. Speaking of the babies, they were now wearing simple unicolor onesies, with Pepper wearing a light blue one and Meatball with a red one. The couple happily showed the babies their new toys. They were lovely intricately carved walkers with differing patterns and colors, making them pop¡ªto make sure the babies were always visible¡ªwhile being pleasing to the eyes at the same time. Interestingly, it was also obvious which walker was whose. For example, Little Pepper''s had more cutesy curvy motifs, while Meatball''s had more straight lines engraved onto it. The couple approached and kneeled down, placing the two kids on the floor so they could look at their toys more intimately. "Look, your new walkers!" The couple let them touch the walkers, and they played with the toys and the attachments. For now, they seemed fascinated. "Mwamhammma¡­" "Gogmammm..." Seeing them so cute as always¡ªand seeming to love their new toys¡ªBianca had hearts in her eyes. However, she remained professional as she explained the functions of the tool to the family. "These," Bianca said, a hand on each tool, eyes staring at the cute babies. "...are custom-made walkers we made just for you." Her voice was soft and higher-pitched as she talked to the children, whose innocent round eyes were fixed on her. Ah, too cute! "It''s designed so you can learn to walk and explore more of this world on your own." Their seats were made of flexible cloth that would bounce along with their movements. There were also a lot of toys and puzzles built-in and would keep them entertained for hours at a time. "In front are compartments where you can keep your favorite toys, see?" She said, opening a compartment at the back with cute wooden toys inside. This seemed to have excited the babies and they jumped in place while their parents held them upright. "Mwamwaaaahhh" "Googhmmaamma!" Milky giggles abounded and the adults placed the babies on their seats to test it out. The children''s feet¡ªnow wearing tiny cloth shoes, by the way¡ªcomfortably touched the ground. At the same time, the adults could see that they were sitting comfortably and not carrying too much of their own weight (for now). "It''s perfect," Althea said with a smile, heart feeling tingly at her babies'' growth. She leaned down to give them both smooches before she stood up and stepped back, wondering what the children would do. "Mwamwaaaahhh" "Googhmmaamma!" Judging by their giggles, the two of them seemed very comfortable. They also started jumping and raising their feet up and down for now, but they''d start moving as soon as they figured out that they could. "Mwamwaaaahhh" "Googhmmaamma!" Swoosh The two jumped around so much that the wheels moved just by an inch, but this little movement made the babies freeze and blink, wondering if something happened just then. They proceeded to play by themselves as well as the toys attached to the walker, and soon enough it started moving more and more and the babies soon figured out what they could do with it. "MWAMAH! MWAMMAAH!!" "GOOGHHHMA!!" sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The babies'' laughter was contagious and the adults happily watched the babies play around like this for a while. Of course, Althea did not forget to record the moment in her phone. This was a major milestone for them, after all! Minutes passed without them knowing, simply laughing whenever the kids did something silly like bumping into a corner and looking adorably dizzy. Bianca chuckled and stopped Meatball, who just happened to bump into his father''s legs. She kneeled down and held on to the walker, teaching the couple a few other mechanisms. "You can turn this knob here to increase the height if it becomes too small for them. We all know how fast they grow." Bianca definitely placed a lot of thought into this, and Althea''s eyes warmed at the love the other woman was giving her children. "Thank you," she said, handing over the promised payments. "It''s no problem," Bianca said, accepting the money though she could''ve given it for free if they allowed for it. "Rather, I should thank you¡ªfor letting me part of their childhoods." ¡­ A few minutes after Bianca left, the babies started to move again. "Mwamwaaaahhh" "Googhmmaamma!" They''d bump everywhere though, but fortunately the walker was sturdy. The couple smiled and watched them fondly, sitting on the sofa. As the kids explored their new mode of transportation, the couple started to do their own thing. Althea finally had the time to look at the population list, especially now that Micheal''s ''surprise'' was in her territory. She would always rank based on abilities for a quick perusal, and she had to admit she was looking forward to the new additions to her territory. As she did so, her back straightened, eyes fixed on her screen. There were special people this time. Garan, who was holding her in his arms, naturally felt to change. He blinked and leaned down to kiss her face. "What is it, wife?" She turned her head to him. "Well, I know what Micheal meant by great arrivals," she said. "First, I think those old team members of yours are here." This made Garan flinch, his eyes bright. "That''s not all," she said with a smile, emerald eyes fixed on a name. After so long, there was finally another green-tagged person in their midst! A glassmaker! Chapter 982 Reunion of the Calmas At this time, the territory was still echoing with announcements. The Crow trio was with the engineering team, finalizing the next possible aether buildings to do. Of course, they could only start when they got more materials from Otto. They also drew the manual construction versions of the buildings, which should be the ideal practice so they weren''t too dependent on rare materials. Even if they didn''t have the special effects of Aether buildings, they should still be able to create highly-functional buildings. However, while they were chattering and planning, they were also listening to the frequent dinging in their heads, as well as the subsequent announcements that came after. They weren''t expecting to actually know any of the people making an announcement¡ªthe chances were too low¡ªbut they listened closely every time, just in case. [Orz and Ouli Lopez from Nacha City is looking for friends and family who know him. Please come to the Terran Mercenary Team Base and ask for him.] [Sean Connor from Owlish Town is looking for friends and family who know him. Please come to the Terran Mercenary Team Base and ask for him.] [Tiara and Ton Su from Nacha City are looking for friends and family who knows them. Please come to the Village Center to ask for them.] [Tiara and Ton Su from Nacha City are looking for friends and family who knows them. Please come to the Village Center to ask for them.] A few more passed by, until finally¡ª [Ryan and Ricky Calma are looking for Sunny Calma, wherever you are right now. Please come to the Terran Mercenary Team Base as soon as you can and ask for them.] The aforementioned young lady dropped her pen, and everyone turned to look at her with wide eyes. Silence reigned in the room even after it dropped and rolled on the floor. Sunny didn''t even say anything anymore and she darted outside to finally meet her family! ¡­ After the announcements were sent out, the soldiers rented out houses for their families. They planned to settle them down first before heading to the Mercenary Team. Anyway, they already made announcements which doubled as their notification of their arrivals. As for the other refugees who came with them all the way to Alterra¡ªlike the former lord Cassas and a few others¡ªthey would settle in the dormitories for now. They were no longer the soldier''s responsibilty, though they might still be helping them out for old times'' sake. Each soldier with a family member rented a duplex unit for their own families, so they could have their own space. For example, Ben, Sean, and Orz each leased a duplex unit. They rented it for 3 months, which should be enough time for them to gather enough contribution points to buy the units. The gold was especially possible because of the banking system which was vaguely introduced to them. The lady concierge said that as long as they were strong and hard-working, they had a high chance of borrowing enough money to pay down payment for a small house. It was always the contribution point and residency status requirements that were the biggest obstacles to owning a house here. To be honest, even now, it was hard to comprehend how a few-month-old territory in a place like Xeno could have such a thing as a banking system, but here they were, already thinking of loans... In any case, each family marveled at the design and conveniences of their new home. "A bathroom! Like in Bright!" Ouli yelled with a wide grin. His students had similar faces to him. They looked like three idiots who hadn''t seen a toilet in their lives. Tiara opened a knob. "It''s a running shower!" Ton nodded. "Whoa!" "I heard that you have to fill up the tank though." "Nah, there''s a pipe there," Orz said, already asked the pertinent questions to others before. "You just gotta pay some money per cubic meter of water going up." "..." "..." To think they were so happy getting water from wells not long ago¡­ now they got pipes! Ricky was focused on the windows, the translucent Youli panels. He and Ryan hadn''t rented a house yet, wanting to see what would be needed first when they met Sunny. However, it did not stop them from checking out the units so they could choose wisely. Anyway, Ricky entered his own zone and everybody was busy admiring their own part of the house to notice. He would open and close it, touch it, and study its texture. The plebians had no idea how much information was currently working in his mind. They just continued to explore the place, eyes bright with hope and happiness. "This is similar to Bright, but even better." "They said the basic module was from Alterra," Orz said. Alterra just customized the appearances a bit more, making it a unique look despite it selling the modules to other territories. Of course, the utility lines were purely Alterra. They couldn''t comprehend how they could do all these things with so many beasts and wars going on, but they felt it was beyond their minds¡ªso just enjoy it! Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "The biogas is here too!" Sean said with a smile, opening it. "With more ingredients, we would be able to do more." Ben nodded, then blinked when a thought came to mind. "Since we''re not using the barracks or the mercenary team dorm, I wonder if we could get a little extra as an allowance in exchange¡­" "Wow, didn''t consider that." "Ah, so nice." "It would be great if we can buy our own home." "True." If they pooled funds together, they could actually afford a downpayment. Sadly, they couldn''t be residents easily. Anyway, seeing their families settled down, the soldiers finally gestured to head to the mercenary team, with Ricky coming because that was where they told Sunny to go. They had heard she was busy, possibly out of the territory, which was why they calmed themselves and planned to peacefully wait for her in one spot. Before they could get far though¡ªstill some distance away from the barracks¡ª a feminine yell sounded, making two people turn simultaneously. "Brother! Uncle!!" "Sunny!" They yelled, and they watched as the girl ran to them with outstretched arms. Finally! Chapter 983 The Glassmaker "Wuuuuuu brotherrrrr wuuu! Uncle! Wuuuuuu!" Sunny gripped and hugged her last two relatives, sobbing hard. She and Ricky sobbed identically, making no one doubt they were related. "Sunny!" he said, patting the girl''s head. Ryan was a lot calmer, but his gentle smile and glistening eyes told everyone he was also emotional. Knowing this reunion would take a while to calm, Orz and the others went ahead to the Terran Mercenary Team. Ryan and Ricky, who already met Sunny, didn''t have to go and went back to borrow Orz''s living room to talk. Ouli and the siblings, after greeting Sunny and congratulating them, also left to explore and to give space to the family. A few minutes after settling in the living room though, Sunny was still sobbing in her brother''s arms, rubbing snot all over him. Ryan did not mind it at all of course, and he patiently waited until she calmed down before they started asking questions. "We heard you''re doing well here." She nodded with a bit of pride. It was just that seeing her red face and the sniffling mess that she was, she just looked silly. "I am a resident and I can buy a property," she said. She just didn''t have money for a villa, but she was very close to being able to pay for a small unit on her own! "I need a couple more gold for the downpayment," she said, pursing her lips. She was not so strong as a fighter, nor was she exemplary as a staff in the construction industry, so she took a while to get residency. At the same time, when she did get it, she lost a lot. After all, the cost of residency was not low and also required a bit of gold, so she needed to save up a bit more for down payment. The two men''s eyebrows rose at this and they smiled. "We can help you with that." ¡­ They pooled their funds together and headed to the Village Center to finally get a downpayment. Because Sunny was the resident, then it was naturally named after her. However, the two men reiterated that even though they''d be the ones paying for the amortization, and even after they received their own residencies, the house would remain under Sunny''s name. "Eh? But that''s not fair¡­" Sunny said, shaking her head. She took them to the Gaea Restaurant for a meal, but she was not expecting this topic to open up. The downpayment was a small percentage of the overall value of the house. There were also interest rates to consider, so they would be paying a lot more than she did for the house. The two laughed at her. "Just think of it as our gift to you," Ricky said. "In Terran, it''s pretty normal for family members to help their younger generation buy a house. Not to mention, it''s your residency status that we''re taking advantage of." "But¡ª" that argument was not valid. They could just gather contribution points on their own and buy their own houses, after all! "Then think of it as an advanced wedding gift!" Ricky said with a teasing smile. "Do you have a boyfriend already?" Sunny blushed a bit but shook her head in the end. Ricky wanted to tease her more, while Ryan was nodding in approval of her current single life. In older-brother-Ryan''s mind, Sunny was still his baby sister and he couldn''t let any stinky men take advantage of her innocence! It was around this time that the food finally arrived! The uncle-nephew duo (and the niece) gulped when the ala carte dishes were served to them. They ordered three main dishes (a gugu bird, a fish dish, and monster beef), a large plate of specially-flavored rice, two vegetable side dishes, and a cool pitcher of sweetened cucumber juice for a refreshing tang. Gulp The trio ate deliciously and patted their stomachs in satisfaction half an hour later. "Ah¡­ what I''d do to eat like this every day¡­" Ricky said, drinking a few more sips of the juice. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gosh, so tasty! The stall food was already amazing, the restaurants took it to a whole new level! The life! This is the life! "Hey, pretty niece," he said, sitting upright as he stared at the girl. "Any tips on how to be rich enough to eat like this every day? Ryan also stared. They hoped she would orient them on how to succeed in Alterra. Sunny was, of course, happy to help. "Basically in Alterra, there are plenty of jobs. Even if you don''t get a conventional job, you can just hunt outside. With the amount of sentries we have, a lot of teams could do so without soldiers guarding them." "The employment jobs could be in the private or public sectors. The best job with the biggest benefits are for the village, but the biggest hirers with the most job openings are in the private sectors, primarily in Miss Althea and Baron''s industries." She told them everything that was on top of her head, looking quite proud to be a part of it. "Alterra is very good. As long as you work hard enough, you''d find a good job and live well." "That''s so interesting," Ricky said. "As long as everyone worked hard, everyone could live much better than the ''rich'' people outside. "I''m curious, how the ''rich'' in Alterra lives." "Well, entrepreneurship is the way, though¡ªlike any other businesses¡ªit had a lot of risks as well as required a pretty hefty capital to start," she said. "There are also the higher-ups of the territory," she said. "They''re the richest in terms of contribution points. "Of course, the best jobs are not easy to get¡ªthose are jobs that require huge amounts of expertise! Our Elder for Diplomacy is none other than Mathilda, a former minister you know!" "Doctor Volohov is a renowned doctor, while the others are also experts in their own fields." "The salaries have also matched with the outside because we have a lot of aborigine tourists now." "What?" Now that she mentioned it¡­ even in Gaea Restaurant, there seemed to be quite a few aborigines there! "Yes, a lot of them go all the way to Alterra to buy goods," she said. "Similarly, the territory also wants us to have purchasing power when we go outside." The two gaped at her as if they were gaping at the territory in general. "That''s amazing¡­" they said, and they were completely sincere. Seriously. That word wasn''t enough to describe it. "Anyway, let''s hope everyone finds a fitting job! My brother should have no problem entering the Guard team. My uncle is not so strong, but at least you are also a scholar. Maybe you can apply to the Research Center¡ªbut they have insane requirements, so it might not be so easy. "Anyway, even if you can''t find jobs, your pretty niece will support you." Ricky: "..." Should he be happy or sad? "Anyway, the competition is hard now, but I''m sure we can get something for you eventually. In the meantime, we can just focus on hunting¡ª uncle? What''s wrong?" They turned to Ricky, who was suddenly gaping in the air. This was because he was looking at a notification only he could see¡­ [You have been offered the position of Chief Glassmaker (Probationary) under the Research Department. Do you accept? Yes | No] Ricky: "!!" Chapter 984 More Reunions [You have been offered a position as Chief Glassmaker (Probationary) under the Research Department. [Salary: 20 Silver/day (Probationary) [Tasks: 1. Oversee the Glassmaking Operations and Resource Management 2. Drive Innovation and Product Development 3. Lead the design and artistic direction of the department 4. Ensure rigorous quality control and consistency 5. Supervise and mentor apprentices and junior glassmakers] [Do you accept? Yes | No?] Ryan saw the older man in a daze. "Uncle?" he asked, but there was no answer. The siblings looked at each other before turning to him, waving their palms in front of his face. "Hello~" Sunny outright pinched his arm. "A-Ah," Ricky flinched, startled by the sudden closeness of his nephew and niece. "What is it, uncle? You were in a daze." sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I¡­ well, I seem to have gotten a job offer?" "A what?" Ricky Calma was a shareholder in a big architectural glass company. The company mostly made glass for facades like window curtains, stained glass for modern churches, and also high-quality glass for precision instruments. He started out as one of the R&D Folks but was promoted to one of the shareholders by virtue of his talents. Rather, he was almost pirated, so the owner decided to give him a share of the company¡ªa huge risk that ultimately paid off. During that time, he also managed to secure some government contracts which further increased his value, also getting him another percentage of shares. Anyway, it could be said that Ricky was a well-deserved expert in the field. His passion for glass started when, as a child, he passed by one of the ancient churches that had become a tourist attraction in the area. It was a surreal experience when he entered that tall church. It made him feel small and humble, and then the colorful lights coming from the stained glass windows washed over him, touching his heart. Oddly, it was not on the building that he became obsessed with, nor did he become religious. Rather, he got obsessed with the translucent materials that allowed light to enter the massive structure, adding levity to its composition. "A job offer?" "Yes." "What is it?" "Head Glassmaker." Ryan: "..." Sunny: "..." Why did she suddenly feel embarrassed? "A Head Glassmaker already? Can you tell us more about the job offer?" Sunny gaped at him when he told her. "That''s a supervisory position!" she said. "Just under the Elders!" "Is it?" Ryan asked. "Can they tell what I used to do? That''s not included in the information lords get automatically, is it?" He was close with the former-lord Cassas, so he knew a couple of things. The thing was, Cassas had no idea what the green-tag meant and neither did aborigines who were not particularly close to the previous lords they served. Not to mention, Lords generally kept quiet about this in order to monopolize the greatest talents that came their way¡ªnot that green-tagged names were common at all, of course. "Anyway, it''s really impressive! People usually have a hard time securing an entry level job¡ªbut you''re a very rare parachute!" Ricky''s lips twitched. He was a bit giddy inside, though not entirely because of the salary. To be honest, when they transferred here, he didn''t think he''d ever see the material ever again. It was clear that this place¡ªaside from the magic¡ªhad medieval technology. It was also too chaotic. There were monsters, wars, and bad men everywhere. Who had the time to innovate? When he saw the windows of the modular houses in Bright and Alterra, his heart raced. It was different from glass, but the function was the same¡ªthat was to say: to protect from the elements but still bring in the light. That concept alone lit up a flicker of hope in him. He knew that the original module was from Alterra, so there was another reason he was so excited to move here. He was planning on finding out who produced those things but, who knew, he received a job offer instead. However, after many disappointments, he still couldn''t help but be grounded. "Do we really have capability to make glass here?" he asked. Sunny grinned, patting herself as if to show how confident she was. "Nothing is impossible in Alterra!" ¡­ While Ryan was bonding with family, Orz and the rest of them were reunited with the team! Well, some of them. Most of the team was outside the territory when they arrived, some of whom were on missions to associate villages and towns, leaving those stationed within the walls behind. However, those who were left behind definitely rushed to the mercenary halls, calling their non-soldier colleagues to take their places. Garan allowed for it, anyway. So¡­ when Orz and the others arrived at the mercenary team base, they received a big welcome from their old teammates. It wasn''t anything fancy, just hugs and greetings, and they could only blame Micheal for trying to be mysterious with them. "Welcome!" Luis and the other yelled, and manly hugs were spread all over. "The others aren''t here, but we called them. Let''s have a party later!" "In the meantime, let us show you our new place!" As such, the newcomers were dragged, er¡­, led inside the hall to see the offices, the training halls, the equipment, and the like. They saw the high-activity sparring areas, where there were people training hard, and the atmosphere around just made their blood boil! The feeling of defending the people they love as well as their lifestyles, while improving their own strengths, was something that eluded them for a long time. It felt both disorienting and nice to finally encounter it again. Perhaps¡ªmore prominently¡ªthey were struck with the fact that they''d be able to do so with people they respected and could trust their backs with! To people who risked their lives constantly, this was a treasure. Especially, unlike before, they defended desperately¡­ while feeling like thousands of lives just depended on them. They were strong men, but they knew they wouldn''t have been able to keep it up forever. "So¡­ how was it?" Luis asked, a wide and proud grin stuck on his face. Deservedly so. Orz and the others laughed. "It''s perfect." Chapter 985 Mathilda and Gwen A/N: Did you guys see the character voting event?! Vote now, vote now guys! Althea and Garan are there~ tho Garan''s at the edge, poor guy lololol We get frames and badges for this event too! ... ____ At this time, Mathilda was having breakfast with her team. Elders had a flexible schedule and had a lot more leisure time. Anyway, they had heard of the announcements and were discussing them with mixed emotions. "Those cities and towns they mentioned¡­. aren''t those in far away countries?" Lola asked. Yana sighed. "They are. One was even in another continent," she said. Owlish Town, for one, was a popular tourist destination she went to with her children a long time ago. Too bad they died during a plane accident before the Transfer. She almost died of a stroke that day, but she survived because of her 1-year-old grandson, who they left behind. Sadly, the migration happened, and she didn''t have any news of them anymore. In any case, the fact that those people had reached their area meant that the Terrans in other regions had been suffering a lot. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Imagine being a refugee for days or even weeks, only finding a place like Alterra after so long of suffering. How lucky they were to find it so early on¡­ At their age, if they hadn''t found a good territory within the first few months, they''d definitely have perished. Even if they didn''t get eaten by monsters, they could''ve been killed by bugs or by poisonous plants, or perhaps perish in a war. Anyway, there was a plethora of ways to die in this place. Thinking of the sufferings outside Alterra, Mathilda couldn''t help but feel worried again. "Has Gill returned yet?" she asked and Lola shook her head. That lad¡ªgoing away for so long and only leaving her a message! Sure, she had gotten healthier after leveling up a lot, but she was still an old woman! Did she act too healthy? Should she pretend to have a heart attack? That''d teach him! Mathilda was apparently showing signs of childishness like other old people¡­ She wasn''t able to worry too much, fortunately, because the bell rang. For now, she was distracted. Lola stood up and opened the gate. She wondered who''d be visiting this early, thinking it was probably just someone from Miss Mathilda''s department. However, she saw a beautiful woman with short and wavy black hair akin to seaweed instead. She had a pretty face, gentle smile, and sharp eyes that seemed to see through people''s thoughts. "Y-You¡­" Lola said, before her voice died. She was speechless from shock. Mathilda was a traditional person and she always kept printed photographs of herself and her family. Before the migration, she collected a lot of mementos and photographs. In their living room, there was a large picture of a family of four: Miss Mathilda, her late husband, boss Gill, and¡­ a girl. Because of this, Lola recognized the girl in front of her. She turned and gestured to yell at Mathilda. However, the girl held her arm and placed a finger on her mouth, asking her to keep quiet. Without a word, Lola stepped aside, telling her Mathilda was at the dining table. "...follow me," she said, smiling, and already feeling teary. At this time, Mathilda had no idea who was actually visiting. If there were any visitors during this time of day, it was one of her supervisors, usually Jun or Silvia, though the latter was in another territory at this time. She just continued eating her breakfast, wondering what was taking Lola so long. When she heard hurried footsteps enter the living room though, she couldn''t help but feel a bit puzzled. That was until the voice she had been dreaming of echoed in the room. "Mom!" Mathilda flinched, turning her head slowly, afraid the image would sweep away like an illusion if she turned too quickly. "MOM!" the girl repeated, heading towards her with stretched arms. The old woman gasped and stood abruptly, causing the chair to fall on the floor. "Gwen!! Ohmy baby¡ª" Mathilda''s tears flowed, and Gwen¡ªwho had not cried for years¡ªfinally let go of hers. ¡­ Mathilda filed for leave and asked Jun to take care of the office for the day, telling them that her daughter had arrived. The latter replied with a heartfelt ''congratulations'' and that she could take a week leave and they''d be fine. "Are you telling me to retire?" She jokingly asked. Jun just laughed, saying she should rest now because she''d be working for a hundred more years. The mother-and-daughter were left alone in the house, with them sitting comfortably on the couch with tea and snacks made by Lola and Yana before they left for their respective jobs. Their jobs had to do with Althea''s greenhouses for the most part, though because that didn''t require their entire day, they usually had a part-time job of caring for the twins as well. Anyway, the mother-and-daughter pair entered their own world, chattering endlessly. Mathilda started with how she had it very good, finding Alterra a few days after the Migration. Gwen recounted her adventures with hers and the various territories she had been through. She also told her about her pets. "Cats?" "Yes, they''re lounging in the team''s house. I''ll bring them here later." "Aren''t you living here?" She blushed and cleared her throat. "I''m a grown woman. I want my own space." Mathilda''s eyebrows rose, reaching a dawn of understanding. "Who''s the lucky guy?" Although Gwen dated a lot before, none of them were serious and had gone past one or two coffee dates. Look at this now¡­ The question turned the topic into giggly territory, and the mother and daughter laughed and talked as if they were still carefree in Terran. She told him of his name, and she was relieved to know the man also knew Gill. Speaking of Gill, the increasingly emotional Mathilda couldn''t help but sigh. "It would be great if Gill was here," she said, patting her daughter''s head. However, she didn''t dare show dissatisfaction at all. Instead, she hugged her daughter tightly, feeling incredibly blessed. "How lucky is our family¡­" Chapter 986 A Crowded Ob-gyn Room It would take a few more days before this wish would come to fruition, but the good day did arrive soon enough. The trio of Gill, Cassandra, and Ghesso finally arrived in the vicinity of Alterra Village after a long time of traveling! It was the weekend when they arrived, so most people didn''t have work. This meant the streets were particularly lively, and it was what greeted their arrival¡ªmaking them feel so relieved to finally be ''home''. "We''re finally here!" Cassandra said, tapping Gill''s shoulder, asking him to put her down. His arms must be so sore by now, she mused. The only times he rested were the few hours they set up camp, but he got her to use his arm as a headrest when they slept, so it must not have rested well even then. He shook his head and continued to head towards the tall gate. "No, you''re pregnant," he said, looking as if it was non-negotiable. Cassandra blushed, both embarrassed and guilty. "You¡ª" Ghesso, who was walking behind them, stared at the sight in front. "This is really a village?" Ghesso asked, looking at the towering walls and the overtly dense sentries. They soon passed the threshold. Cassandra was the only one who had to pay because Gill was already a permanent resident while Ghesso was a slave. Before heading elsewhere, Gill looked at the stout man next to him. "Can you go to Elder Mathilda''s house and tell her Gill is here? You can ask any guard and they would guide you there. "Tell her we''re going straight to the hospital. It''s nothing too serious and don''t worry, and that we''ll go to her when it''s done." "Specifically tell her we''re in the obygyn," he said with a smile. "Also¡­ make an announcement in the Village Center for your relatives," he said, handing him a few silvers. "I''ll free you after I settle Cassandra." Their deal was for the Novam to help him out in Jacoba and to defend them on the way here. After that, Gill would naturally free him. Ghesso looked at him with teary eyes, shakily taking the money. To be honest, he didn''t expect he''d really be freed after more than a decade of slavery. If it was Gill who was his master, he thought he was already lucky. He didn''t dare hope more. "Thank you¡­" he said, following the instructions. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill and Cassandra walked along the streets, garnering attention everywhere. Many eyes were bright, but few actually greeted them. It was obvious they were in a bit of a rush, and no one wanted to be the target of Gill''s insults! The couple arrived at the hospital a couple minutes later, with Gill taking her straight to the Ob-gyn and Pediatrics department. They did not expect it to be so¡­ lively. As soon as they entered the halls, they could hear various chatters of adults and the babbling of children alike. When they turned the corner, they realized that there were a lot of people lining up, many of whom were familiar. For instance, there was Winona and Ansel, as well as Althea, Garan, and the twins. The babies were here for their standard check-up while Winona''s was there for hers. The babies, at this time, were on their compact walkers that took half the space as their main ones. This lacked their toys and storage, but it was enough for its purpose. Anyway, if there were a lot of people, the kids rarely got bored. The two kids were now going around everywhere, exploring every corner of the hall and greeting everyone in the queue, making the wait feel much shorter than it was. They walked and walked, and then bumped into an obstacle all of a sudden. Said obstacle was Gill''s legs as he stood in the middle of the hall and they both raised their little heads, glaring at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Mwammmammm~" "Gooogmmmammmmwwaa¡­" It sent cute attacks in the hall. Anyway, the babies'' voices got the crowd''s attention to turn to the newcomers and Cassandra felt even more awkward being held around like this. "P-Put me down already!" Seeing her very serious this time and getting stressed, Gill succumbed. "You''re finally back!" Ansel smiled and stood up, giving the seat to Cassandra. "...thank you," the purple-haired woman said as she sat next to another pregnant woman. They nodded politely at each other, but with shy smiles on their faces. Cassandra and Winona weren''t particularly close yet, but they knew they''d get along well. Cassandra lifted her head to look at the other people lining up like her. Interestingly, there were also two goblin couples in the queue¡­ they looked shy and mostly just talked to each other, but they had begun to respond energetically when a human asked them about their babies. The goblins didn''t have their own spaces before, but some of them managed to save enough to rent out their own units, allowing private spaces for couples. The units were in the no-elevator midrise units with smaller units and had the cheapest rents next to the dormitories. As soon as they got the chance to procreate, it wasn''t difficult for them to succeed in gestating. Goblins had very good fecundity, and it was estimated that the goblins would at least be twins. Speaking of Goblin babies¡­ they could tell they would be unbelievably adorable. They knew because of the adult goblins who, after they started eating well, would fill up, making them look very different from the slightly-scary gaunt looks when they first arrived. Even the aborigines were starting to find them cute. Other than them, a lot of the newly married couples were there. For example, Lulu and her husband, Bull. They were not pregnant, but they wanted to ask what the good ways were in order to do so. And then¡­ at the corner, there was Juni and Victor. The two couples looked at each other and nodded politely. It was a bit awkward considering their histories, but at the same time they were happy the others were well. This way, they could all move forward with smiles on their faces. Chapter 987 Mixed Emotions Trigger Warning: Kimmy in the first quarter of the chapter. Mentions of abortion. ¡­ ____ While everyone in the queue was catching up with each other, the session inside was quite serious. Currently with the doctor was Kimmy, who was doing her weekly checkups. She was healthy enough, but she didn''t have her bubbly smile anymore. Rather, she exuded the strength of a mother. This time, Kimmy went to the appointment with an unfamiliar middle-aged woman. She was apparently hired by Raine after recommendations from the Alterrans. Cynthia didn''t know why Kimmy had fired Thessy. However, the fact that she was lucid was enough to convince Cynthia that Kimmy''s judgment could be trusted to some degree. "You should be giving birth in 7 more months¡­" Cynthia said, pausing. "Are you¡­ sure you want to keep it? Although there are still some small risks, for the most part, Alterra now has the technology to¡ª" "I will keep it." Cynthia stared for a while, before sighing in defeat. "I will respect your decision," she said. She would just have to trust that Kimmy would be a good mother, regardless of how the child came to be. They would have to monitor her closely though. In Terran, similar cases to Kimmy made for some¡­ unstable situations. "From what we know, the gestation period of Terrans is still around 10 months, and just a bit faster if one or both parties are locals. We don''t have enough data yet if it''s a mix, but we assume it will probably be less than 10 months." In the case of the Holt baby, he was born a few months earlier than average. Similarly, this made Althea''s early birth even more prominent. This was still a mystery but, since the babies were healthy, no one made a big deal out of it. Anyway, Cynthia knew she could only do so much as a doctor and as a woman. She simply gave some prescriptions and vitamins, all of which were now available in the hospital pharmacy. Kimmy thanked her and left, with her nanny opening the door for her. They gave the people outside some polite nods before heading out. Her eyes traced over the two babies and her eyes warmed, but her heart clenched at the same time. Kimmy''s hands held her stomach. "Auntie," she said as they left the hospital. "People seem to think I''m making a mistake¡­" She was determined to keep the baby, to have a family member alive. However, the more people doubted her, the more she doubted herself. Now, even she didn''t fully trust herself about how she''d react when it was born. What if the memories triggered and she did something unthinkable? The woman was Valma, one of the aborigines who came in from Rows Village. She, too, had been in the same situation many years ago. However, in her case, she did give birth to the child because she''d die if she didn''t do so. She, too, hated him at first, and even left him at the door of the person who took advantage of her. However, as time passed, she found herself gravitating towards the child. She would sneak around and look, watching from afar. Sadly, he didn''t grow up well in the end and was bullied a lot because of his situation. However, she was poor and weak and she didn''t dare take him in. At least in that man''s house, he was clothed and fed. However, one day, they just found him dead. "Well, Miss," she said, pushing down the heaviness in her body. "I can only say that the child is never at fault for his or her birth. "And that every and each one of them deserves a chance for a good life." ¡­ Mathilda and Gwen naturally went straight to the hospital as soon as they heard of the news. Because the message was so vague though, they were still partially worried in the end. At this time, Juni and Victor were already done with their turn and headed out. Gwen happened to see Juni. She gasped, running over. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Juni~!" she yelled, hugging the other woman. Juni was very startled to see her here. "Gwen?" Before she could say anymore though, Gwen felt her stomach and gasped. "You''re really Pregnant?!" she said, grinning. "My brother, really, tsktsk." Mathilda walked slower and couldn''t react in time to correct the misunderstanding. Juni looked awkward, unsure how to open the topic. "It''s¡­" At this, a man arrived next to Juni, wrapping an arm possessively around her shoulder. On his other hand was a paper bag with vitamins, indicating he had just been to the hospital''s pharmacy. He left for five minutes and an unasked-for sister-in-law appeared. "It''s not your brother''s," he said, making the woman blink. "Victor?!" she gasped, then looked at Juni, then to the couple in alteration. "This¡­" When there were gatherings of families, she and her mother joined in. Her path had indeed crossed with the siblings here and there. Speaking of siblings, Vanessa''s face appeared in her head and Gwen immediately felt irate. The silence was broken when Mathilda finally arrived next to Gwen. The old woman cleared her throat. "They''re not together. Your brother''s with an aborigine." "....oh?" Well, anyway, she and Juni were close and she grew up seeing the other as an older sister. Regardless of who the baby''s father was, she''d treat him or her as her nephew or niece. They hugged each other and promised to catch up soon, and the mother and daughter finally headed to the doctor''s. "So¡­ how is the woman?" Gwen couldn''t help asking her mom as they entered the hospital. She rarely bothered to hide her expressions, but she could do so if she had to. For example, what if she didn''t like her brother''s new woman? She wouldn''t want to make her uncomfortable, especially when she''s pregnant, right? Mathilda didn''t answer immediately as he thought of the woman. They hadn''t interacted a lot, but she did hear a lot about her. "She''s very¡­ progressive, considering how bad women has it here," she said. "I think you''ll like her." Gwen giggled. "That''s a relief." Anyway, the mother and daughter pair arrived just in time for the couple''s turn¡ªand it ended up being a very tearful obygyn session. Chapter 988 A Novan Mercenary Team? A/N: One more chapter later today~ I looked at my stockpile and it seems like I can upload some bonus chaps every Sunday after this! For this December ''24, I can do the +1 bonus chap if we retain Top 2 and I''ll try to do +3 Bonus chaps if we land Top 1 for the week~ (Hopefully, we don''t lose it during the last few hours of the month again like last time lol SOBS) Regardless, all support would be loved and appreciated! *HUGS* Your support keeps the story alive! On to the story~ ¡­ _____ Elsewhere, there were plenty of other reunions abound. For example: Ghesso, after making the announcement, only had to wait at the park outside the Village Center. Novas had quite the distinct features¡ªthey looked very different from Terrans or the locals¡ªso they found each other very easily. "Ghesso!" Gaudi yelled from afar, immediately running to his old friend. Ghesso flinched as he stood up. The two burst into tears as they ran towards each other. Any one around them would think they were about to hug, except¡­ they started punching each other instead. POW! BANG! The two punched and punched and wrestled all over the park''s grassy field, leaving the third member of their group (and the passerbys) baffled. Badjao: "..." Was this a traditional greeting from the home planet? No one knew what was happening until the two just laid side by side, staring at the sky with faces full of tears and snot. This, in turn, caused a lot of dirt to stick on their faces¡ªmaking them especially unsightly. Seeing as everything had calmed, the young half-novan cleared his throat and approached them. "So¡­ are we okay now?" Badjao asked, stopping a meter away, just in case. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The two older men sat up and turned to him simultaneously. They even helped each other up. "Why aren''t we okay?" they asked, before turning to each other with smiles on their dirty faces. "You got really strong," Gaudi said, Ghesso shrugged. "I was a slave in a Town and was asked to fight a lot." "I was also a slave in a Town," Gaudi said, he was even hired by mercenaries during the latter part of it. Sadly, they were filled with fighters so he mostly just needed to clean up after them, causing him to stagnate. Ghesso, in contrast, was a meatshield before he was bought by Urkin, letting him gain some levels a bit faster than the other. Their chatter was interrupted when the young lad Badjao cleared his throat again. "Er¡­ that fight¡­ was it a greeting?" The two looked at him, taking a moment to absorb his question before shaking their heads. "No. We were rivals growing up," Ghesso said, Gaudi nodded beside him. "It had become our habit to check out the other''s strengths whenever we could." "...oh," Badjau mumbled, relieved. Fortunately, he didn''t have to pounce on someone who looked like him, after all. Anyway, now that things had calmed, Gaudi took Ghesso to a house. Gaudi and Badjao lived together in a rented apartment house. Badjao was new so he didn''t have enough contribution points for even a temporary residency, but Gaudi¡ªas someone who fought in the mobs, wars, and killed a lot of enemies¡ªhad. Contribution points could not be shared to purchase much, but they could be used to buy a friend''s or a relative''s residences. So, for now, the two of them were temporary residents so they could rent out a place. Either way, even if they had much money (they didn''t) they would still live well. As people who had been used to the minimum, they were already living beyond what they dreamed of. Amazingly¡ªlooking at Ghesso¡ªthey knew things could get even better. ¡­ "Wow¡­ this is a really nice place," Ghesso said as he looked around the two-bedroom unit. Both bedrooms had double deck beds so Ghesso did have a place to sleep in immediately. "We''re only renting it until this month though," Gaudi said, "So enjoy it while it''s here." Ghesso''s eyebrows rose as he looked at the other man. He knew there were a lot of things still left unsaid, so he settled down in the living room, ready for a long chat. The three people caught up with everything that had happened to them in the past few decades. The story that interested Ghesso the most¡­ was actually Badjao''s. "So¡­ you mean to say there are a lot of people like your mother up north?" Badjao nodded and Gaudi smiled, looking at him. "Hey, Ghesso, you arrived just in time," he said. "Badjao and I had been planning on going on a trip North someday." "Oh?" Ghesso leaned forward, interested. "Are we going there?" The two nodded. "My mother is there," Badjao said. "And so are hundreds of Novan and half-novan refugees who had integrated with the population there." "Is it close?" "Well, no." Actually, it was very far. In Badjao''s map, the distance between this region, and his ''home'' ¡ªshown as a dark and blurry part of the map¡ªwas a few times farther than Alterra to Bleuelle. Not to mention the dangers, it would easily take them months to travel there on their own. "We''re going to form a mercenary team and take advantage of the Mercenary Halls'' teleportation arrays by taking missions near there," Gaudi said. "Within the next few months, we will go to a nearby town to register as one." Ghesso was both excited and frankly a little cynical. "How''d you get 100 Gold for creating a mercenary team? There''s an annual maintenance fee of 25 Gold as well, right?" "I will borrow from loan sharks¡­" "A what?" "They''re people to borrow money from," he said, learning a few terms after staying in Alterra for a while. Gaudi was only a temporary resident and was fairly new, so even he couldn''t borrow that much money from the bank yet. This was also why he''d be letting go of this unit to move to the dorms to save money. When he could afford it, he immediately rented out the house in his excitement. However, plans change and it started when he got reunited with his nephew! Anyway, with the number of people in Alterra increasing, all sorts of occupations and businesses had popped up. One of them was the lending business, which could really flourish because of the Oath system here. After all, unlike in Terran, the owners didn''t have to invest too much in Collections. They wouldn''t have to worry about people running away from their debts! The system could deduct a certain amount from other people''s wallets, sending it straight to them! It was too convenient to lend money for a good interest! Of course, such a system could also be abused a lot, especially when the borrower was in a desperate situation. Fortunately, Ansel had detected the practice early on and set out regulatory measures. "We''re not doing it now¡ªwe still need a bit more," Gaudi said. "We won''t be careless. However, this long plan would really be hastened with your help. Maybe we wouldn''t have to borrow from loan sharks!" He patted his old rival''s shoulder. "So¡­ what do you say?" Chapter 989 Gills Reports Back in the ob-gyn department, the Ross family''s consultation session was finally nearing its end. This was the first time Cassandra had heard so much about child-bearing and, to be honest, she felt a little terrified. She¡­ did not know what to do. If he messed this up¡ª "The fetus is still very young, but quite healthy so far," Cynthia said, pulling Cassandra back to the present. She handed the prescriptions and other notes to Gill, when she saw that Cassandra was a little bit unstable. "You have to be very very careful at this period¡ªavoid excessive activity and stress. Of course, some minor exercise is recommended." Gill nodded, eyes filled with determination to do this correctly. Interestingly, Gwen had the same look. "Of course we will. It''s been a long time since our family has seen a baby!" Mathilda laughed and turned to Cassandra, who was looking a bit teary. Although they hadn''t caught up yet, she had an idea about the girl''s situation based on what she heard so far. She also knew how hard it was to be a first time mother, especially in a place where she might feel like she didn''t have ''family''. The older woman held Cassandra''s hand, making her flinch. "Don''t worry, child," Mathilda said. "You have a home right here with us." There were too many what-ifs when a new life was involved but, at the same time, sometimes a parent should just take things as they come. "That child will grow up well," she said, her reassuring voice calming the younger woman. "And we will watch over him or her together." ¡­. After the hospital visit, the family headed back home, procuring a cart so Cassandra didn''t have to walk. There were plenty of stops along the territory and there were also laybys so the carts could pause without interfering with traffic. As a high-traffic area, there were many stops on all streets near the hospital so it wasn''t difficult to procure one. Anyway, while they rode, Gwen was doting on Cassandra and so was Mathilda. They''d make sure she was comfortable, even adding some pillows from their space to whatever seat she was using. They would hand her water and snacks, overall just trying to make her as comfortable as possible. One could tell her life with the in-laws would be very good. Cassandra''s lips pursed and she bit her lips. To be honest, it was a little difficult to believe her luck. "You''re so nice¡­" she mumbled, voice a little shaky, and Gwen chuckled at this. "No, we feel pity that you ended up with my dudderhead of a brother," she said. "We gotta balance things out, you know?" "..." Gill gave his sister a look but sighed in the end. He could never win the battle of words with his sister, so he didn''t even try. Anyway, the family headed to Mathilda''s villa and stayed there. He gently patted Cassandra''s back. "We will stay here while you''re pregnant," he said. Although his own house was good, he was most rest assured if there were other people in the same house. Lola and Yana had part-time jobs, but they were in the house to tend to everything every other time. The captain''s twins were also often here, and they could make for excellent distractions for the pregnant Cassandra¡ªwhose movements would be a lot more constrained than before. The family settled there for a bit, using this time to catch up with each other. Gill and Gwen, in particular, had not seen or talked to each other for almost half a year! The chatter was interrupted when Gill''s aether letter lit up. "Captain and Miss Althea are back in their villa now," he said. Although they met at the hospital, they couldn''t discuss sensitive stuff there, right? "They''re calling for us." At this, both Gill and Mathilda stood up to go to the house next door. Unexpectedly, a soft hand held on Gill''s. "Let me come with you," Cassandra said. "I am constrained by oath against saying some things, but I should be able to provide more context to your reports." Mathilda and Gill agreed to it after a short thought, and they arrived to see the couple already waiting for them at their dining table. The babies weren''t there, but they could hear their laughter. They were likely in the gardens behind the house. Gill went to report everything that had happened and everything he had seen and done during his stay in Jacoba. For now, this allowed the couple to note both Jacoba and Ester Town. Cassandra proceeded to explain the relationships between the two towns and even to Bleuelle City. Basically, it was a strictly business relationship, though the city had began to source from other villages as well. The only complicated part was that the Ester lord''s wife was a cousin to the Trion Patriarch. The Trion family was the family directly next to the Golds in ranking and, unlike them, this family was very¡­ demanding and unnecessarily prideful. If they somehow underestimated the relationship, maybe Bleuelle could get involved. "You did well in diverting the attention away," Garan said. "Even if they figured it out, it''d take a while, and we''d be a name among towns by then as well." "I''m more curious about the Isatis," Althea said. The current dyes were limited. She had seen the blue dye Cassandra showed and she could understand how it was considered a premium color. It really was pretty, and it was apparently the most expensive dye next to the purple. Gill smiled, handing her a few plants he bought. To ''celebrate'' the wedding, a lot of shops held special events. A few also offered Isatis Plant bouquets for a high price. He bought one not to buy for Cassandra¡ªthe plant probably didn''t have good meaning for her¡ªbut for Althea and the research team. This made the couple look at him appreciatively. Of course, Gill was always the pragmatic one and was quick to manage expectations. "I managed to get a few, however, it seems that turning them to legitimately good dyes had a special, well-guarded technique." They turned to Cassandra, who shook her head. "I actually do have an idea, but I am under oath not to tell. I''m sorry." The detailed methodologies would only be passed down to the formal heir (who was a son), but she lived there for so long that she managed to pick up some things. Sadly, women in the family took very strict and detailed oaths as early as they were very young. In the oath, they swore never to bring harm to the family and always prioritize its well-being. This was in the assumption that they''d be ''other people''s properties'' after getting married. So, in the end, she couldn''t say anything about it. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It''s okay, we understand," Althea said. "We''ll figure it out." There was a risk of getting traced because of this. After all, if they made this commercially available, it would only be a matter of time before it was determined they produced the dyes themselves. However, she believed in her territory. By the time those people noticed Alterra¡­, they would only be able to watch in envy. Chapter 990 Another Opening A few more days passed, Alterra was now celebrating the grand opening of a new construction. The Grand Hotel. It was deferred for a bit due to the other construction projects that were much more urgent. But now that the heatwave was over¡ªand with the injection of new manpower¡ªthe construction went full force. Also, after much study, Althea''s worry about the manual constructions being much more susceptible to attacks versus system buildings was more or less unfounded. This was because the Limestone¡ªor any other construction material¡ªin Xeno was also doused in Aether. It was much stronger than what could be built in Terran! As long as they constructed it well, it would be just as fine as system buildings. It was similar to the strength of residential buildings and the custom houses from the system except theirs was better because of the methodology. Further, they used hydrated lime, which would ensure the concrete they had was self-healing. Basically, they wouldn''t have to worry about the concrete quality even after a hundred years. Of course, the defense of manual buildings could not be compared with those with defense arrays like Walls and Sentries. When she figured out how to create defense arrays like those placed on the walls, then she''d have no problem creating virtually indestructible buildings. Back in Fargo, the bombs she made only damaged the walls and some loose parts of the building. For example the roof, as well as some ledges. If she wanted to destroy buildings here easily, like how bombs from Terran could wreck Terran structures, she''d have to create a bomb that would attack the structure or the molecular bonds of aether itself. But that was a dangerous weapon she was pretty sure she didn''t want to dwell on for now. Speaking of that, she also added several clauses in the oath of her researchers. She couldn''t have a mad scientist deciding to study such a thing without her permission! However, while a valid worry, Althea actually worried too much about this. Aether was still too mysterious. Even to locals who lived for hundreds of years¡ªand even to people who had the resources of books and knowledge of previous generations¡ªthis wasn''t something they could fully grasp, especially not enough that they''d be able to create such a weapon. Even several geniuses working together for years wouldn''t be able to figure it out so easily! Anyway, at this time, a good part of the territory stood in front of the magnificent 7-storey building. It was massive but its design and ornaments allowed it to blend with the surrounding streetscape. There was also a sizeable easement with a beautiful garden in front of it so it didn''t feel too in-your-face for the people coming in from the streets. It also had large windows that were like the classic Youli windows but much more transparent. They were larger now, making it seem like each floor was floating. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The structure''s approach was lined by generous gardens and gazebos, the trees'' foliage effectively framing the entire entrance. There was a large fountain in front of the building, making a centerpiece with the entrance canopy right behind it. Considering it was a building with a much taller height than the buildings around it, it did not seem so heavy and overbearing. In fact, it seemed light and airy and comfortable. Speaking of building heights, Althea had decided that even if they became a city, she would limit the building heights to 7 floors, even if they were perfectly capable of going higher. One, it looked better and less suffocating. Although having high-rise buildings was convenient, after a lot of consideration, she realized she didn''t want it if she could help it. In Terran cities, tall buildings blocked the path of winds and the sun. It even created wind tunnels that could be dangerous. She wanted everything to be less cluttered and less suffocating for the people actually using the space. Second, the infrastructure and utilities would require a lot more to build and maintain. Even if she could afford it, if she decided to add the costs over the years, she was sure she''d fall ill. Finally, she heard that Towns and above could attract the stronger flying monsters. Territory walls could only guard against enemies it could physically block. If the monsters flew above 100 meters, then her current sentries wouldn''t reach it. Of course, seven-floor buildings would only be 25 to 40 meters in height in total, which could easily be guarded by sentries. Her goal was for comfortable and clear living spaces for everyone. Seven floors should be enough even if they used much of the space as open spaces and gardens. They also had tunnels now, which could also provide extra living spaces. They would also carve a few houses along the mountainsides, creating terraced communities with gardens on top. But that was something of the future. For now, everyone was admiring the grand building that was so intricately designed, some people disbelieving that it was done within a few months. "This was really manually done?" Pieto asked, amazed. He had extended his stay because he knew something happened every few days. Look at this now. "Yes, I have been watching its rise when it started construction again," one of his cronies said. When the heat wave happened, the construction stopped, but the progress after that was impressive. There had been very few manual construction in this world due to their impracticality. They cost a lot and took a lot of time. Besides, they used bricks or wood which was not as durable as just buying modular houses. There was simply no point in doing it most of the time. However, after seeing what Alterra had been doing the past few months, it was proven that they were still too narrow-minded. Soon, the guests were invited inside, while the others looked on in envy and enthusiasm as they were led to the large door. The ones invited in the opening weren''t commonfolk. They didn''t want the opening of a high-end place to appear like a market street. The people invited were those with at least 50 gold in their wallets, so everyone who managed to get the system invite suddenly had new bragging rights. This wasn''t encouraging elitism, the Elders said, this was euphemistically called ''balancing the wealth''. With the spending of rich people, what benefited the most was Alterra itself, after all. In any case, the large beautifully-carved double door creaked open, and the guests were greeted by a grand lobby with a high ceiling. There was a large uniquely-designed chandelier above that made people think there was a fairy on top. The lobby was large and stylish, with flooring made of polished stone. When one walked past it, they would feel like they were walking to another world that made them feel both comfort and pride. People stopped in the middle of the grand lobby, staring in front of them. There, the Elders were standing in front of the grand staircase, wearing beautiful semi-formal clothing. They, too, would be patronizing the place. However, as the faces of Alterra, they naturally had to play host for a while. They smiled at their guests, greeting them with warmth fitting for what would be a top hospitality establishment. "Welcome to Alterra''s first Grand Hotel!" Chapter 991 The Grand Hotel (Part 1) A/N: Special thanks to Lotuslin for sending us a castle! T_T Helped us out sooo muchh ... ____ The audience clapped, with the aborigines (who comprised a good portion of the guests) following along. As always, it was Mathilda who took the front stage. She looked at the crowd with a gentle smile, her mere presence naturally drawing everyone''s attention to her. She wore a beautiful conservative green dress that emphasized her regal quality. Even to the aborigines, she was an undeniable noble lady. "We are happy to open the territory''s first¡ªpossibly of many¡ªhotels," she said. "This is a building type that can be found in Towns, but we will be pushing it forward in Alterra¡­ adding our own twists to the building type." System Hotels were available at Level 2 Towns. According to the aborigines, it functioned just like the inn but with larger rooms, more intricate decor, and better food. It also had the extra function of increasing the recovery rate of Spirit. While their Hotel did not have the latter function on its own, they made up for it by using special beds by woodworkers, which also improved recovery rates by a lot. "This hotel will be more than just a posh alternative to inns where our guests¡ªand maybe even locals wanting to do a staycation¡ªwould rest their heads¡­ "It is a testament to how far Alterra has come¡ªhow good life is here, to the point that we already created luxuries like these." "This building was built in hopes of helping show the beauty and charm of our village, to showcase what makes Alterra¡­ well, Alterra." "For all the guests invited today, you are free to stay for a day, at our cost, along with one other person," she said. "Kindly register your and your guest''s names. You may choose not to avail today, the 1-day promo is valid for a week." "We would like to believe that this will be a great experience for everyone. Of course, if you have any feedback, we would love to hear it." "We hope everyone enjoys your stay." Applause exploded again, thanking them for their generosity. The guests excitedly turned to the long concierge desk at the side, sparing no time to line up. The surface was made of polished stone that looked like marble, and its color fit well with the interior''s aesthetic. There were also bells in front of each concierge personnel, so it was easy to alert them. The concierge desk had three staff. For now, it was two girls and a man. They were quite pleasant to look at with their clean appearances and uniformed attires. They would have three shifts so the concierge was manned at all times¡ªwith each person looking fresh because they got proper rest. There were also bellmen and porters walking around and guiding people. They also explained what their function was, and the aborigines who hadn''t been exposed to Terran high-end hospitality were a little startled. Anyway, the guests queued properly, especially since everyone invited took pride in being invited in the first place. No one would act like a shrew, even for just the occasion. As they waited, many couldn''t help but admire the decorations around. They fit well with Alterra''s theme, though with more high-end flare by using more detailed moldings, added decorations, and more sophisticated materials. It was both soothing and impressive, and it could be said that Alterra''s interior designers really made the most of the available materials. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were also plenty of indoor plants of various types, skilfully arranged to tie in the entire room. They added not only beauty, but also fresh air inside the opulent lobby. The Terrans were focused on one of the main attractions hanging down the ceilings though! "That''s a chandelier! A glass one!" one said, and people stared at it as well. It wasn''t that they didn''t see it¡ªthey simply didn''t recall the implications until someone pointed it out. For the first time since their migration, such a large and complex thing was made with glass! Although Ricky had only been in Alterra for a few days, the Research Center already had preliminary products and only needed technical advice on how to make them completely clear and sturdy. Ricky was a green-tagged man for a reason! They also managed to perfect the tempering process with him! This way, the glass would also be very safe to use even if they were put in high-traffic areas. However, they knew they were no longer in the peaceful times in Terra so further improvements were being made to facade glass before they actually placed them in their buildings. There would be more fights here¡ªparticularly during wars. Would they have to replace the glass every time they get attacked inside? For one, they were now studying combining the durability of the youli stone and the transparency, sleekness, and aesthetic quality of glass. They also wanted to use the ability of glass to make larger panels. Youli stone could only be made to a small dimension without it turning brittle, after all. "It''s gorgeous!" another said, walking underneath the chandelier and studying its different shimmer at every angle. Obviously, the windows still didn''t have this, but it already appeared so more would appear soon. "We finally have glass!" other people said, in a celebratory mood while in the queue. More than aesthetics, there were simply so many uses to the material they were really looking forward to it! Anyway, as time passed, more and more guests were brought to their rooms. They were led to an interior hallway¡­ towards the elevator lobby. There were a lot of newcomers here, and some hadn''t fully explored the territory yet. The system just saw the amount of gold they had and invited them there. This meant that some of them saw the elevator for the first time. These things were only available in some cities after all, so many people from Towns¡ªeven rich people¡ªmight not have been familiar with it at all! They looked at the people in front of them entering a small room before it closed. When it opened again, it was empty. "Where did they go?" someone from a small town asked, the person with him even looked worried. Getting in a small room and then disappearing felt a little¡­ scary. "They''re being brought up," the staff explained. He didn''t know how to explain the mechanics of it so he answered them before they could ask. "Like magic." "..." Chapter 992 The Grand Hotel (Part 2) The Grand Hotel was the first manual building that had an elevator. After all, the custom and other aether buildings like the hospital just had to be designed with the mechanism''s concept in mind. It''d then be built in exchange for some money and raw materials. This was totally different from having to do it all from scratch. Fortunately, Rocky the mechanical engineer was there along with his new assistants. The math team also helped with the calculations, making it easier for everyone to design a proper elevator using the technology they had access to. They could make an elevator with or without electricity, but they naturally hoped to use an electric-powered one. They could now harvest both wind and hydroelectric power. Using the computers in the Research Center and the expertise of well-studied individuals, a lot of possibilities had risen. For now though, it was still manually powered using the nearby river. Their raw materials and tech still needed some time to supply such a large amount of power to a single building. Besides, when they could make electricity commercially available, they would not use it first on the luxury hotel¡ªthey''d power up homes and streets first! However, even if it was manually operated and they could feel the vibrations and the mechanical sounds of the gears and the pulleys, the experience was still incredible to the aborigines who used it for the first time. In cities, there were some similar things. Some more powerful cities even made use of magic tools and arrays¡ªbut this was a village, for goodness'' sakes! The guests were led to their respective rooms, using the keyhole mechanism to access the inside. Pieto came alone and took a room. No matter what, it was weird to have a dude as a +1. In any case, he focused on maximizing his stay here, and he was intent on remembering all the details. He was a business-minded individual whose instinct was to analyze business models. By default, he''d be studying this place''s ''selling points''. The inns, especially the premier inn, were actually very good already. But the Hotel definitely took it to a different level altogether. The smallest room was larger than the double room of the inn, the decorations were much more high-end and grand yet relaxing. The bed was bigger, softened, and the fabric felt like it was made of¡­ silk? Silk! How luxurious! Although Pieto didn''t know this, Alterra actually had a small farm of Silk Trees in the territory. It was one of the plants that had been growing in the greenhouses so, even during the Heat Wave, the Silk Trees grew well under the care of Althea and Thorance. They particularly liked it because it was a good alternative to killing thousands of worms for a few threads. However, the amount wasn''t enough to create hundreds of bolts of the fabric, as the hotel would''ve needed if they chose to go that path. The fabric they used now wasn''t pure silk but a combination, but it was still far superior and luxurious than the usual fabrics they used. There were also carpets and rugs that delineated an area to another, and each room had a shower and a tub. There was also a lovely fragrance permeating, and it was a scent that made people feel relaxed. There was also ambient lighting and well-protected scented candles, adding to the overall soothing experience. Pieto heaved a deep breath and took a good bath. He closed his eyes and let the back of his head rest on the rim. "Ah¡­ this is the life." ¡­ In line with the Terran''s view of hotels, it boasted not just of its rooms but also of its amenities. Other than its opulent lobbies and luxurious rooms, it also had a characteristic gourmet restaurant. It was a branch of Cooke''s restaurant, headed by one of his apprentices. This person happened to be one of the refugees from Juno, coming to Alterra at the same time as Evelyn, Turbo''s wife. One of the special things about this restaurant was that it was located on the roof deck floor, giving a view of the village, particularly when one walked to the edge close enough. When the glass was perfected, it would replace the current semi-translucent Youli panels, and by then the patrons would have a panoramic view of the place. It offered local and Terran cuisines¡ªor creative fusions of them. Each plate used only the finest ingredients available to them. Of course, the price was also very beautiful. There were also spas and wellness centers on the lower podium floors. It was similar to what was found in the bathhouse but a bit more posh. There were also facials here (something that would be offered in a different establishment outside). Surrounded by soothing colors and calming scents, guests could unwind and rejuvenate their bodies and mind. There were also exclusive lounges and events spaces near the restaurant. There was one of Alterra''s first grand pianos there, and there would be someone performing every weekend night. The ambiance was intimate and refined, and each date would definitely be one to remember. For the singles or those with friends, there was also a bar offering the premier alcohols. The bar counter was made of superior polished wood with simple but well-designed carvings. The bar stools were comfortable, spaced far enough for those who wanted solitude, but not too far that it''d prevent socialization if one wanted to do so. There were also a few private rooms on the roof deck and penthouse floors, all of which were at least 200 square meters. These large rooms could be rented to hold wedding ceremonies, debutante balls, birthday parties, and the like. Finally, on the lowest floor, there was a yard hidden from the outside walls. It was blocked from view by tall bamboo fences. In the middle was a beautifully designed pool surrounded by comfortable loungers and lush landscaping. There were conservative bathing suits available there, but some more liberated Terrans naturally wore whatever swimsuit they wanted to wear. It might be a bit vulgar to some aborigines, but they just needed to learn to relax and ignore them. Anyway, there were so many things to admire and enjoy in the Grand Hotel, and people could easily stay there for days straight if they had the money and time for it. It was amazing: For the price of a night, the guest could enjoy all these in one place without having to go out at all. Alterra''s Grand Hotel was definitely the first of its kind¡ªand would become one of the major symbols of the good life it offered. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 993 Surprise The territory didn''t build the luxury hotel in order to promote the difference in social strata. Ansel would tactfully call it ''milking the rich'' to help the common folk. In general, although there were people who were much richer and more powerful than others, those who were not¡ªthe common folk¡ªstill lived very well. Things like this were done not only to reward those skilled people who contributed so much to the territory, it was also to serve as goals for people to aim for. This was how luxury in Alterra functioned. If you worked hard, then you deserve all the luxury you can afford¡ªand everything was arranged so that you can get it. Speaking of this, in order to spread the Grand Hotel''s marketing, a lot of locals also got the benefit of a one-day pass to the hotel. They were there to enjoy the amenities of the hotel for a staycation. The top 10 contributors (outside the Elder table) were given slots, and they also had a lottery of sorts so 10 more people with sufficient contribution points could get it. Of course, the Elders themselves also got a few slots. Every Elder was allowed to stay for free for a night with a plus one. Some reserved this for future use, but Althea and Garan did not. Tonight was complete alone time for the two of them. Harold, Maya, and the others were taking care of the babies, and when Althea suggested to her husband that they tried it out¡ªjust the two of them¡ªGaran couldn''t get ready fast enough. The two walked hand in hand towards the elevator, greeting the other guests along the way. Some other elders were also around. For instance, Ansel and Winona naturally took the slots, happily arguing which amenity they should try out first. Eugene also had to pass because Melissa was still weak. He gave his slot to Sheila and her husband instead. Eagle gladly took it and promised he''d pay back the favor if he managed to plant a nice seed inside his wife''s stomach. This earned him a soft slap of embarrassment from his wife of course, but he just felt it was cute. Rosalind gave her slot to one of her hardest working employee, Evelyn, who was there with her husband, Turbo. Gru was forever alone and it''d be weird to invite his old man friends. Instead, he used his booking as a prize for his best-performing staff for the month. He announced this before the opening, and the productivity spiked like never before. Dennis managed to get this, and he took his new girlfriend with him. Gill had his own booking as one of the top contributors, though they''d be going within the next few days because Cassandra had not yet fully recovered from the long trip and the tribulations she went through in her hometown. For Mathilda''s slots, she gave it to her daughter and Ryan, though she was naturally reluctant to give them this slot. However, the young man visited her in her office a few days ago, reassuring her that they''d be proper and he wouldn''t do anything until they got married. He also revealed his plans to propose as well, so there was that. Anyway, the respective couples headed to their rooms to see, most of them to try out the amenities first since it was still early. Unlike the bathhouse, there were far fewer people here, giving it a much more exclusive feel. It was also much friendlier to couples as the bathhouse was segregated by sex. Soon, the pool would be filled by sweet couples and the aborigines who didn''t bring their lovers to Alterra could only suffer in silence. The restaurants were also full. After all, unlike the Gastronomic Haven on ground level, this place wasn''t as accessible to others and the queue was much shorter. For those whose reservations would take a while, this was the perfect alternative. The spas were mostly still segregated, but they mentioned the next developments¡ªwhenever that''d be¡ªwould give access to private hotsprings which would also have home-service massages. After hours of relaxing, the couples would turn in for the night, some earlier than others. Althea and Garan went to their rooms after a late lunch at the restaurant. Their room was one of the largest one and Althea couldn''t help but check it with a critical eye. As one of the people involved, it was inevitable. The rooms were naturally far superior to what was available to others, but there were still many things to improve on. She headed to touch the translucent windows, and she looked at it in thought. Currently, the windows were not transparent, just translucent and one had to look closely to see the view outside. Their structural glass production, unfortunately, wasn''t able to make passable face glass yet, but they''d replace the current windows when it did. Garan stared at his wife''s back, but he couldn''t wait long, wrapping his strong arms around her stomach. He combed her hair to the side as he leaned down, placing chaste kisses on her ears and neck. She moaned, but she patted him. "Let me go to the bathroom first," she said, a bit breathless. Her breath hitched when Garan didn''t stop and lapped her skin. "I can take you later," he told her as his tongue crept up her ears. "N-No," she mumbled, managing to escape his grasp and lock the door behind her. Garan was a little startled but smiled. He shook his head, just thinking his shy wife was so cute, still acting shy after so long. At this time, he had no idea that his wife had prepared a surprise for him. ¡­ Althea looked at her current attire, blushing a bit as she looked at herself in front of the mirror¡ªsomething available in all rooms now. She cleared her throat feeling embarrassed but also not planning on backing out at all. It had been four months since they transmigrated to this place. Counting down, it was approximately her husband''s birthday. It was why she injected a bit more funds to the development of the Grand Hotel, so she could give him this gift. She had thought long and hard about what to give him. She had already given him all the tools she had created, and she couldn''t come up with anything new for now. When he asked Winona and Sheila what to do¡­ they recommended this. She was embarrassed, but they guaranteed her that one-hundred-percent Garan would be so incredibly happy and she considered this in the end. So, here she was: wearing a revealing lingerie with a subtle ribbon, indicating she was a gift. She took a deep breath and slowly opened the door, trying not to appear so awkward. Garan at this time was sitting on the bed, patiently waiting for his wife. When she went out, he smiled, but he did not expect to see her like this. He stood up in a daze as soon as his eyes landed on her. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She heaved a deep breath and approached him, pushing him to sit back down on the bed. Garan froze in place, which was ironic because he felt like he was being burned. She climbed up and sat on his thighs, wrapping her dainty arms around his broad shoulders. She leaned down to his ears and licked it as he licked hers. She sat down on him and she could feel the large bulge hitting her crotch. "Happy birthday, husband," she whispered to his ears, grinding her body against his. "For the first round, I want to do all the work, okay?" "I want my husband to be very happy tonight." Garan gulped, stopping himself from drooling. A very happy birthday indeed. Chapter 994 Night at the Grand Hotel Warning: R-18 kek. You may skip if you want~ Smut isn''t my strong suit so it may be cringey. xD Dedicated to Lotuslin and her castle a few days ago LOL. Go check out her story guys! Maybe we can encourage her to finally allow her poor ML to get laid instead of dying over and over. \\o/ ... Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ____ "I want my husband to be very happy tonight." Garan wanted to say: He already was, and he was definitely ready to jump at her. Of course, he knew that his wife liked them clean when doing the deed so he gently put her aside, kissing her face. "I''ll go take a quick¡ªvery quick¡ªshower," he said, and practically disappeared in front of her. He used his physical ability and super speed to clean himself up well and only within a few minutes. He emerged with only a towel covering him, revealing his well-sculpted body that was still damp from the bath. This time, it was Althea who gulped. The atmosphere around the room was warm and sizzling, and it had nothing to do with the few sconce lights that were lit up to provide them with some light. Garan¡ªclad with nothing but a small towel¡ªapproached his beautiful wife sitting on the bed. She stood up and she pulled him to sit back down, causing the towel to fall down. He was now completely bare, while his beautiful wife stood in front of him. "Husband¡­ can you open your present?" Garan was already put into a daze by her coquettishness, so it took him a couple of moments to realize what she meant. At this, he reluctantly pulled his eyes away from hers to look at the ribbon tied over her chest. It was a large ribbon that hid much of the lingerie. When he pulled the loose end, the entire thing fell down to the floor, slowly and gracefully, revealing the barely-clad Althea in front of him. It was the most enticing one yet. It revealed half her breast¡ªstopping just above her nipples¡ªand he could see the little bump that teased him what was underneath. The underside of the bra had a mesh fabric that was semi-transparent, and it led the eyes to the matching panties underneath. Althea rarely wore lingerie, and he memorized each one of them (especially when they ended up being ripped apart). This was new¡­ She definitely did not get these from Terran, so she probably got this made for him. When she asked for this lingerie, she was thinking of him¡­ His eyes welled a little. She prepared all this for him? "You''re not done unpacking, husband," she said, her velvety voice pulling him back to the present. He gulped and, with stagnated breaths, he lifted his hand to touch the flimsy fabric, taking them off one by one as she stood. It was designed for easy removal, likely so he wouldn''t rip it apart like he usually did, and when he unhooked her bra everything else easily came down with a few pulls. His azure eyes were dark as he groped her breast, molding it with his hand, feeling the cute nipple rub against his palm. His other hand found her slender waist and he wanted to pull her down to him. However, her hands landed on his shoulder to stop him. She rested her arms on his shoulder and put her weight on him as she leaned down to meet his lips. "Don''t do anything, okay?" she said, face red from blushing, but extremely seductive at the same time. Garan nodded without thinking, making her smile. Their mouths connected then, and it never failed to send pleasurable tingles down his spine. She parted his lips with his tongue, taking over the kiss with aggressiveness he hadn''t seen. His large hands found her waist, but he stopped himself from doing anything else according to her request. It was difficult. Very difficult, but he endured. It wasn''t often Althea was the aggressive one and he didn''t want to ruin it by not following instructions. She seemed to appreciate this. Their lips parted, creating a silvery line of saliva between them. Garan thought he could finally do something to ease the extreme itch when she dragged her lips to his cheek, and to his ears, and then down his neck. "Althea¡­" he whispered, his body heating up to what felt like the boiling point as she started playing with his body. It was the sweetest torture. When she kissed down to his chest, he managed to behave¡­ and when she licked and bit lower and lower¡ªkneeling down to the floor¡ªhe felt his psyche crack a bit. When she held his shaft with both her hands and started licking the tip, he went insane. Sadly, she glared at him the moment he gestured to move. "If you move now, I won''t do this again," she said, her mouth just over his tip. Her hot breath sent tingles down his spine, making his entire body shiver in pleasure. He grabbed the fabric of the bed in a vain attempt to stop himself from moving. She was seriously threatening him, and Garan had no choice but to freeze himself. "Behave," she told him, and her bossiness was so alluring it made his shaft pulse. He gasped when she pumped his throbbing shaft, tentatively at first, but then increased her pace. "Wife¡­" he let out deep, guttural, groans as she pleasured him. He watched her head bob in fascination, watching her take more and more of his sensitive shaft inside her mouth. The image alone could drive him crazy, let alone the barrage of sensations she was making him feel. He shivered with every move that she made, each lick and each suckle bringing him to the edge. Slurp, slurp Suck "A-Althea¡­" he gasped, closing his eyes to hold himself. Lick Slurp It wasn''t long before he felt himself near his climax, and his body arched forward as he burst, his hands unconsciously holding his wife''s head in place. His mouth parted as he let out a masculine growl, releasing his seeds inside her mouth. Squirt!! Althea took as much of it as she could, partly because both his hands were holding her in place. She had to gulp them down if she didn''t want to choke. The suction force from her sucking made him even dizzier in pleasure, making his crotch throb and his stick to start filling up again. His dark eyes watched as she took it in, and he was pulled back to the present when she coughed. He immediately let go of her head. "I''m sorry, wife¡­" he said, guilty, but then he saw how excess semen escaped her lips and dripped down to her neck and to her breasts¡­ he forgot to breathe again. "It''s fine¡­" she said, standing up, and he felt relieved that she wasn''t mad at him. That was what he thought, anyway. She made him lie flat down, and he had to suffer his wife rubbing her lovely slit against his half-hard member, which definitely wasn''t taking long to completely rise its head. She teased him for a long time, rubbing and rubbing, almost entering but not quite, and he knew for certain he was getting punished. Still, he did his best not to succumb. However, when she finally impaled herself on his shaft, he knew it would soon be impossible to control himself. Her breasts bounced as she moved, and her expression morphed to one of lustfulness and ecstasy. His dark eyes watched as his wife moved so seductively above him, as if purposely trying to make him crazy. Fwop¡­, fwop¡­, fwop¡ª Soon, he snapped, and a moment later Althea found herself being turned over. "A-ah~" she whimpered at the sudden movement. She looked up at Garan with a dazed look on her face, startled by his movement. She wanted to nag him for ruining the play, but she met his dark ravenous eyes and her voice died before she could say anything. Sweat drops fell on her body and his body heat suffocated her. Althea knew she could only be eaten from this point forward. Garan had barely moved but he was already sweaty. After all, he suffered through a lot of tension while trying to hold himself back. However, when he started taking over, he definitely didn''t do it halfway. "Your husband already behaved very well," he told her, voice raspy and breath burning. "Now¡­ it''s time for husband to claim his other birthday gifts." He opened her legs even wide and he began to move his hips. It was slow at first, until he went faster and faster, deeper and deeper. Althea grabbed her husband''s shoulder for dear life as he rammed his weight onto her, over and over. She gasped and moaned until her mouth was parted from yelling so much. Garan skewered her so wildly and for so long that it was a miracle the bed was still standing. Good thing that the beds here were the highest quality products. Otherwise, they''d have a lot of embarrassing moments the next day. Chapter 995 Another Couple in the Hotel A/N: Ok, one more R-18 xD. If the previous one didn''t make you cringe to death, you may read this one. Lololol. This is the last smut chapter in a while, and the next ones will be according to request. xD Otherwise, I''ll just do blackout snu snus after this. According to you guys, this couple shall be called: Winsel! lololol ¡­ ____ While a certain couple was going at it early into the night, others were just signing off after a day of patronizing the amenities. Winona was in her first trimester now and could not do excessively laborious activities, so the bickering husband-and-wife frequented the warm pools, the spas, and the restaurants. They spent the entire day there, and it was only when the pregnant woman announced she was tired that they finally headed back to the room. Ansel carried her to the bath so they could get cleaned together. He would often do this, and he happily served as the good husband. He warmed the water and prepared everything, he helped her undress, and they entered the tub together. It started out fairly innocent, with Ansel helping her clean up without being too naughty. However, how could Ansel miss a chance to take advantage? So¡­ his hands began to explore her more¡­ intimately. After pregnancy, his wife''s mood for sex had dipped and he had to do a lot of seduction to get her in the mood. He didn''t mind. He actually found it fun and an interesting way to change up the dynamics. "A-Ah~" she mewled, her body arching as her back rested against his chest. Her mouth parted with continuous moans as Ansel expertly rubbed her insides with his fingers. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. While one of his hands was pleasuring her cave, the other one was determined to send tingles everywhere else. "Hnggg~" She was flinching and twitching against him as the barrage of sensations occupied her senses, but Ansel wasn''t one to do things halfway. "Should I go faster, wife?" he asked, leaning down so he could kiss he shoulder while he seductively pumped her with his fingers, though he was met by her golden locks that had been dampened by the bath. Winona''s hair had now grown a bit. During the Guian war, it was cut to just under her ears. Now, it was reaching her shoulder. He used his free hand to brush it away, revealing more of her luscious skin to him. He leaned down to place his hot lips on her shoulder and then to her neck and ears, the same hand crawling down and groping her breasts¡ªwhich were now even bigger due to the pregnancy. He loved touching it. So much. He groped and moulded it in his arms, and he would never tire of it. It was also more sensitive now, and Winona squirmed more in his arms, her buttocks rubbing on his little brother down below. Ansel''s jaw clenched but he focused on his woman''s pleasure. Of course, he would up the intensity of his ministrations, so he could have his fun too. Winona squealed when he pressed her sensitive nipple, and at the same time added pressure to her nub below. He expertly added a bit of warmth in his hands using his elemental abilities, and it was what put her on edge, and she finally let go. White light exploded in her eyes when she released, succumbing to the ecstasy Ansel drowned her in. She huffed, resting her neck on his shoulder, seemingly spent with just his hands. Ansel chuckled, quite proud, but his eyes were extremely dark and hot. His green eyes fixed on his wife''s beautiful face, now flushed red from the pleasure. He leaned down to lick and bite her ears, teasingly rubbing on her clitoris. "Does my wife like that?" he asked, and Winona dazedly nodded at him. This made Ansel laugh in victory. He stood up and carried her to bed, his shaft below very much ready for the next step. Winona''s soft arms wrapped around his shoulder as she was carried, and she felt her whole body warm up a bit, as if she passed by a sauna. He had mastered the art of using his ability to dry things, and this included the two of them. They were still a bit damp, but at least he didn''t have to wait for so long to dry them. Ansel gently placed her on the bed and she felt the soft cushion of the mattress under her, making her feel like she was on a cloud. As expected of their people¡ªthey could really make anything. Her daze did not last long as she felt the bed shift underneath her. She watched as her husband positioned himself below. He opened her legs wide and she felt a little shy, but she was too hot to do anything to stop it. Ansel was kneeling down below her while she laid down, with his hands under her thigh, their bodies perpendicular to each other. This was their usual position, making sure no excess pressure would be put on her stomach regardless of how passionate things got. Winona gulped as she saw his shaft lined up on her slit, very much ready to enter. And she was ready to take him in. Ansel could see this, and he couldn''t help but give her a chaste kiss before doing anything else. "Here I go," he said, and he moved his hips forward, pushing himself in within a few thrusts. "AH~" Winona''s back arched and her breasts bounced in the movement. Ansel bent down to take her mounds with his mouth, slowly moving his hips at the same time. He did not go too fast or too hard, but he was careful and slow. However, it was no less sensual. In a sense, it felt even more intimate because it felt like they could feel all the throbbing¡ªand the entirety of their lover. Fwop¡­ fwop¡­ fwop¡­ "Hngg~ Ansel¡­" she mewled, holding onto his arms that held her legs up and open. Ansel was sweating profusely, gritting his teeth as her cave sucked onto him. "Winona¡­" he said, voice extremely raspy. His pace got a little faster and his angle changed slightly so he could go deeper. And the sounds of her whimpers, his groans, and their slapping skins would echo for hours to come. Chapter 996 Insecurities of a Pregnant Woman The couple rested together on the bed, Winona comfortably spooned inside his embrace. However, she flinched when his hand ended up on her stomach, rubbing it gently. She turned to look at him and his handsome face and flushed cheeks. He didn''t seem to mind it, but she remembered a few things that made her sad. When they were in the pool, she felt conscious when wearing a bathing suit. It felt like people were looking at her slightly bulging stomach. Winona had a good body and was used to being admired for it. Having a bulging stomach was objectively not pretty in her eyes. And with that¡­ came insecurities. What if this guy found her ugly? What if he got bored of the slow sex? What if he grew tired ofher emotional outbursts? The statistics of men cheating on their wives while they were pregnant were concerningly high. Combined with her hormones, and the fact that a certain ex-girlfriend was like a fly buzzing around, Winona''s insecurities were not unfounded. Speaking of exes Hana somehow managed to secure a job at the bank and was doing quite well there. Raj and Ramil seemed impressed with her and, in time, she could get promoted. This would mean she''d have more interactions with her husband. Ansel did have a certain minimum for his girlfriends. For one, they had to be decent people and smart. While the former seemed to be a little doubtful considering what she obviously wanted, perhaps she wasn''t like that before. People changed, after all, especially after going through so much in this place. However, the latter couldn''t be faked. The fact that they dated meant that there was something about her that attracted Ansel, so Winona felt a little fear regardless of whether she showed it or not. However, with the weird hormonal reactions in her body now, sometimes she just couldn''t control her tears. When he felt something wet on his bare chest, Ansel immediately flinched. This wasn''t the first time it happened so he didn''t panic too much, but it didn''t mean he wasn''t heartbroken. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "H-Hey, what''s wrong?" he asked, slightly pushing himself up with an arm so he could look at her closely. He looked at her crying silently, though she couldn''t control her own body which was pitiful in and of itself. He sighed. "I''m sorry," he said, and he looked quite sincere. This made Winona stop and look at him weirdly. "What did you do?" "I don''t know." This just made Winona cry even more. She rolled around, not wanting to see his stupid face. "You idiot¡­ wuuuuu¡­." Ansel sighed and sat up, placing her to sit on her legs. "What did husband do so he can apologize properly." Winona bit her lips, cheeks turning red, seriously pondering what to say. Was she supposed to say that she just felt jealous for no reason? That she didn''t like what her body was becoming? And that she was afraid he''d leave her? Saying it out loud was¡­ embarrassing. "Nothing." Ansel took a deep breath and held her tighter. "I thought we agreed to tell each other everything that bothered us," he said. "I''d assume it was something I said if you don''t tell me, and I''d feel horrible. "I''d be depressed, go on a depressed eating spree, and then get fat. Would you hate me then?" This made Winona frown and she turned to glare at him. "You dare think that way!" "I don''t dare," Ansel admitted. "But if you keep making me guess, it won''t be good for my liver. What if I can''t get it up again?" Winona blinked at him and looked down at his very active shaft. "Well, if it keeps your libido in check¡­" "You don''t want to have sex with me?" "No, it''s not that. I¡ª nothing." Ansel didn''t speak anymore after this. Winona''s eyebrows furrowed, suddenly feeling nervous. She lifted her head to look at Ansel, to see him looking at her with a heartbroken expression, and seemingly on the verge of tears. Her heart clenched. "I¡­" They argued a lot, but when the other showed expressions of pain, everything was forgotten. She took a deep breath and told him. Her head tilted down the more she said, feeling embarrassed she was being so pathetic. "I''m sorry. It''s just¡­ Hana¡­ she''s around you a lot again, isn''t she?" Ansel''s eyes widened, finally realizing what this was about. To be honest¡­ he really couldn''t understand. Hana was a mere friend to him now, there was absolutely no attraction anymore¡ªespecially when he had a wife! Objectively speaking, Winona was 100x more beautiful than Hana and he liked Winona 100000x more. How could she think like this? It''s so confusing. "Wife¡­ why are you so stupid? I guess it''s the pregnancy brain¡­ I understand¡­" Winona''s eyes widened and she glared at him. How could he say this to her now!? When she was so sad?! "You¡ª" she gasped, pinching his cheeks. However, instead of starting a banter, he held her hands. His deep green eyes stared deep into her blue ones. "Look at me in the eyes, Winona." Winona''s claws on his face loosened, and she suddenly felt like squirming away, unused to him being so serious. "Hey! Don''t run!" he said, holding up both her hands. "You are the only woman for me. Even if you turn ugly¡ªwhich I''m sure you won''t¡ªthen I''d turn even uglier." "I''ll make an oath in the village center right now if that''s what it takes¡ª" "No, nono," she said, pulling her hands away from him so she could embrace him. "It''s fine¡­ thank you." Her heart clenched. She was also confused with her own emotions, and it was annoying how she felt like everything was out of control sometimes. Fortunately, Ansel was understanding enough and he wrapped his strong arms around her back, pulling her flush to him. Winona soon felt herself calmer and her breath stabilized, feeling everything was alright with the world again. However, in stark contrast, Ansel''s breath grew stagnant instead. He felt his wife''s softness rub against his body, and it was making the little brother leak a bit. He pursed his lips. This wholesome moment¡­ should he corrupt it again? . . His hand slowly slid south as if searching for the answer to his question. The answer? Yes. Yes, he should. Chapter 997 Tension at the Grand Hotel Restaurant While other men were going wild, another was keeping the night wholesome. The day actually started outside of the Grand Hotel for Ryan and Gwen. This day was very important, too: It was the day Ryan was set to propose. He thought long and hard and asked many people for advice on how to do it. For one, he had asked his sister for ideas but she gave him ideas that didn''t quite fit with how he knew Gwen was. She asked him if he could rent out an entire restaurant for her, sing for her, and then propose with a lot of flowers. The next option was to propose to her in the Grand Hotel, in one of the private rooms there, and create a sexy atmosphere and then shaboink. What was ''shaboink''? He learned it that day, and he looked at his sister in aghast. Anyway, if someone was to propose to his sister one day, then he''d know what to suggest. Anyway, after some thought, he decided to tap on Gwen''s adventurous spirit instead. She would have fun on a hike, and liked seeing new places. Alterra was big and she hadn''t explored everything yet, especially when she was busy with the guard applications and the like. The Alterran Mountains had a lot of trekking paths and some hidden alcoves. The official landscapers decided to add hidden gardens, smaller fountains (directly connected to streams for continuity), and so on. Gwen also told him how she wanted to explore more, but they didn''t have the time. So¡­ he planned an adventure date of sorts. With the help of his sister and a couple of other guards, helped him plan the entire day, placing small gifts in different places. He told her there were clues all around the trekking paths and she would have a gift at the end of it. He specifically told her that he worked very very hard for it and he hoped she found the prize. According to the spies (friends he got to guard the clues and report), Gwen was smiling when she found these hidden treasure places. They used the newly trained messenger birds for this, and Reddit gladly lent them for their ''exercise'' and training. The final stop was a more hidden part of the view deck. The mountains weren''t smooth after all, and the roads and decks were organically placed. Gwen was a little sweaty already but she was smiling. It was the kind of tiredness that felt good and refreshing, and she was very curious about what Ryan had prepared at the end of the line. There Ryan stood on his own¡­ with a ribbon on him. It was the ''masculine'' blue ribbon, but¡­ still a ribbon. He was the prize. Ryan could see his sister laughing at him, but when Gwen laughed and hugged him, he knew the embarrassment was worth it. "So you''re the prize eh?" He nodded. "I worked very hard on myself so I can deserve you." She blinked, and flinched when she saw how his face turned serious, and she gasped when he kneeled down in front of her. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Ryan¡­" She unconsciously wiped her sweat and arranged her hair, not wanting to look ''ugly'' for this moment¡ªno matter how shaky she was. Ryan''s lips twitched when he watched her do this. He raised his hand to grab the hand she was trying to arrange herself with. "You''re so beautiful, Gwen¡­" he said. "There''s no need to fix anything." Gwen''s eyes shook and she bit her lips. She was really shaky and arranging herself was her way to deal with the burst of emotions spreading throughout her body. "Gwen¡­ would you do me the honor of accompanying me for the rest of our lives?" Of course, Gwen said ''yes''. Later that day, as newly engaged couple, they went to have fun in the Grand Hotel. They tried every activity couples could do, both smiling widely¡ªstill high from entering the next step of their relationship as a couple. That night, they went to their room to rest. It felt a little awkward, but they knew the lines that were not to be crossed. The two of them simply slept side by side¡ªjust feeling each other''s warmth and presence¡ªand they were perfectly satisfied to do so. ¡­ The next morning, a lot of the couples (understandably) slept in. They had an activity-filled day and night the previous day after all. However, despite this, the hotel restaurant was pretty lively early in the morning. Breakfast was full of activity, and most tables were actually occupied. Some were there early to eat breakfast while they waited for their check in time (which was at noon), while some woke up early because they weren''t with a lover. One of these guests was Vanessa, who had managed to coax a ticket from her brother. Juni was still not in the condition for too much activity so they passed on the opportunity for now. Vanessa came with a female guard and fellow soldier Barbara, who was also part of her brother''s team back in Ferrol. She was assigned to Alterra and was on her way to becoming the captain of her own team. They weren''t actually close, but Vanessa realized she didn''t have anyone to invite. It felt a bit humiliating, but she didn''t want to pass up the opportunity. Barbara, though she didn''t say, was afraid of offending the princess and had no choice but to agree. They would do their activities separately though, and she was basically just there in the restaurant to accompany Vanessa so she didn''t look so lonely. Some sharp-eyed people still saw though. For example, a certain firecracker called Gwen happened to be sitting a table away. They were up early because staying too long in the bedroom outside of actual slumber was... dangerous. Anyway, Vanessa saw that she was dining with the handsome Ryan, and they looked happy together. They had never gotten along well so seeing Gwen happy with a man while she was with a placeholder made Vanessa feel embarrassed in comparison. Gwen also noticed Vanessa but she wasn''t planning on acknowledging her at all. Who wanted to ruin a wonderful morning with that woman''s face? Sadly, Vanessa couldn''t help but greet them intimately, both as old friends. She had traveled with Ryan for three months, and she had undergone battles of life and death with him. Although they weren''t so close as she was with the late Johnny, or even with Leon and Santos, she did call him older brother a lot. Ryan was indeed kind to her, as if treating her as his own sister, who he hadn''t seen for a while back then. "Gwen, Brother Ryan," she greeted, voice soft and nice, though her tone when calling for Ryan''s name seemed a little too velvety. Ryan nodded politely, not noticing the difference at all, while Gwen''s eyebrows rose. She crossed her arms. "Vanessa," she said in greeting, looking behind her to see Barbara, who was pretending not to be a part of this. "It''s good that you''re with girls this time, it''s unhealthy to stick to guys all the time." "..." "..." A crackling electricity passed the two women then, and everyone at the nearby tables felt it. People in the other tables looked complicated. They were pretending to eat their meals, but their ears were twitching. Was a catfight about to happen so early in the morning? Why did they wanna watch it? Chapter 998 Vanessa versus Gwen Sadly, no such thing happened. After all, the two women were raised well¡ªnot to mention the posh place they were in innately made people want to behave well. Vanessa only smiled at the other woman''s quip. "Still so tactless, I see," she said. "Some things never change." "Only with you," Gwen said. "Subtext sometimes misses your pretty little head, after all." "..." It was at this time that the double door of the restaurant opened, and the waiter immediately went to guide the newcomers to their seats. It was none other than Althea and Garan, so it was not surprising the waiters pretty much ran to the entrance to greet them. They did not notice any of the other guests though, as their eyes were stuck on each other. They did not see the pair of sticky eyes following them either. It was Vanessa''s, of course, and she unconsciously bit her lips. Gwen, who had been looking at her, saw everything. Gwen could see her body tense as she watched the sweet couple. She obviously disliked the sight but her eyes couldn''t be pulled away. Gwen pursed her lips. Was this girl a masochist? "Busy being a fly, I see. Things never change." "YOU¡ª" This time, Vanessa''s wounds were reopened by the sight of Garan and Althea being all mushy again, so a lot of cracks easily formed in her lady-like facade. Turbo and Evelyn entered shortly after Althea and Garan. Turbo was looking around for a good seat (the waiters were busy with Althea and Garan) when he saw Vanessa and Gwen a meter from each other. His body immediately shrunk back, causing Evelyn to look at him weirdly. "Husband?" "Ah, well, let''s go take that seat allll the way in that corner," he said, pointing at a place far from the two women. He was trying to get his wife pregnant, and she was a peace-loving woman who wouldn''t enjoy women battling each other. No need for her to get exposed to that stress! The tension between Gwen and Vanessa was actually famous in their circle. Gwen had a sharp tongue like her brother but, unlike him, she had plenty of EQ along with it. She was usually friendly and nice, but when a person irked her, then they ought to be prepared to get hurt. Anyway, the couple went far away from the commotion to eat in peace. Meanwhile, the tension near a table was at an all-time high. Gwen had admired Althea since she was young. She also admired her mother, of course, but Althea was closer to her in age and was in the same generation, making her a better role model. Anyway, Gwen had always seen this bitch for what she was and she was also one of the few brave souls to call her out on it. Vanessa really hated her for it. If these two didn''t have a good upbringing, it was estimated they would''ve entered a catfight ages ago, all the way back in Terran. In any case, Vanessa did not know how to respond without appearing awkward. Barbara sighed. She had such a nice relaxing day yesterday, so she was thankful to Vanessa for this chance. For that favor, she decided to help her out this time. "Miss Vanessa," she said. "Your food is going to get cold." "A-Ah," the other woman said and she turned away¡ªwithout smiling pitifully to Ryan of course¡ªand headed back to her table. Gwen rolled her eyes and stared at Ryan, daring him to feel pity. Fortunately, Ryan didn''t seem to care much and was still munching on his food. Tensions for some aside, the rest of the restaurant had a lovely atmosphere. For one, Althea and Garan, remained blissfully unaware of the exchange, and they just happily fed each other and entered their own little world. Another, the locals who managed to experience the Hotel for the first time were saying nothing but praise. Alterra had sent free bookings to the Top 10 people with the highest contributions for the month. They would be continuing to do so for the succeeding months as well as an additional perk for working hard for the territory. This month, majority of the recipients were those who took down a lot of enemies during the Fargo and Guia wars, and those who endlessly grinded and trained outside much more than others. Because all soldiers unsurprisingly got a place, regardless of whether they were in the territory, the Elders decided to divide the reward between guards and normal citizens giving 5 bookings each with a plus one. Other than the soldiers, Mauru was among the guards who received this perk. For the normal citizens, there were a lot of former Mauin villagers on the list. They were among those who worked the hardest during and outside of wars. Troy was actually the only commoner Terran to receive it this month. He gained a lot of contribution points by virtue of his weapons so he went with Brenda, though they were conservatives so he really wasn''t expecting to go all the way. It''d be great if they could just talk side by side on bed, feeling some intimacy and each other''s hearts. The Mauin Villagers, on the other hand, had experienced this for the first time and frankly felt like it was another world. They felt like nobles, and it felt like such an honor and an accomplishment to be able to do so because of their hard work and, of course, the goodness of Alterra. Their comrades would surround them after the experience and they would tell all about its features and its amenities. Suffice to say, the Grand Hotel would be the talk of the town, er, village, for days to come. ¡­ After a few days, more and more people would enjoy the new feature of Alterra. Some would finally use their reward bookings, while some who managed to save a lot of money (because they had a lot of contribution points) also decided to splurge. In those days, particularly during the Ob-gyn visits, the friendship between Cassandra and Juni was resurrected to a degree. They convinced each other to go to the Grand Hotel at the same time, though the latter would have to pay because they gave their bookings away. Gill and Victor looked at each other awkwardly, though when they saw their women smiling, they shrugged in the end. It was just that chatters between men were not much. Except for work, they talked about nothing else. In contrast to the men, the women were chattering non-stop. "How''s Veronica?" Juni asked, missing that innocent girl. Cassandra sighed. She was also worried for that friend of hers. Since they left abruptly, they couldn''t say a proper goodbye to her. After arriving to Alterra, she asked Gill to send a vague letter via Ferrol Town. She used the name ''Gill''s Wife'' instead of her own, which made her lover very happy. She hadn''t received a reply yet, but it had only been a few days, so hopefully they do get news within the next few weeks. She wanted her dear friend to know that everything was great and that¡­ she was finally living well again. In the letter, Cassandra said that she was living with her ''husband'' now. Do not worry, she told her, and I hope to see you soon. What Cassandra did not know¡­ was that Veronica was undergoing her own tribulations at this time. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 999 Helios Investigation A/N: Quarterfinals for Character Voting for Althea is uppp~ (Garan''s is in 3 days lol) If you have extra points, please vote for our girl~ ... ____ While Gill had already arrived home with his beloved (and even going to hotels), Helios had just traced his own target. It was not an easy task. However, he fortunately had been trained with some investigative skills and he finally found the woman''s identity. Interestingly, one of the breakthroughs was the men he had taken her away from. They went to him themselves, not knowing it was him who caused them trouble. They actually went to him for a deal about Alterran products and he low-key asked whether they knew of a pretty noble woman he could court. They suggested a few to him, all daughters of rich merchants or low nobles, which in some perspectives was beyond his league. When they suggested this to him, it was with the attitude of doing him great favors. They then ranted about a beautiful woman, who was sent by her father to help out their town. Helios had an inkling that it was her because they described her as a beautiful woman with unique sandy hair and she was taken away just when they were about to have fun with her. He did not like their tone¡ªit made him want to stab them and cut off their tongues¡ªbut, for the sake of getting information, he prodded them more. He leaned over, as if curious. "What kind of woman would escape from your clutches?" "It''s just a woman from a barren town called Dune Town looking to save it," the man said, sneering. "It was quite amusing seeing her go around from noble house to noble house and asking for help¡ªbut also refusing to become the patriarch''s woman!" The man spat on the ground. "It was so¡­ naive! Nobody would send their daughter out like that unless they were looking for a husband!" That was what everyone assumed, and Helios wondered if that was really true. The culture of Xeno was really different, after all. The thought of that woman married to someone else¡ªgetting touched by someone else¡ªirked him so much. More importantly, seeing her suffer broke his heart. The fact that these men almost touched her made him want to skewer them with metal spikes. But, he stopped himself. Between him and his uncle, he was the suave one. "I''m interested," he said. "In this so-called Dune Town," he stood up and went to the pantry, generously getting them a glass of cheap Alterran alcohol. "Tell me more." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their eyes sparkled at the drink, taking a sip, and appreciating its taste. They didn''t know why he''d be interested in such a town, but they spilled info for goodwill. Anyway, there was no harm in telling, especially if it would give them more advantages for the ''imminent deal''. So, with the influence of alcohol, they told him everything they knew. Apparently, Dune Town was one of the very few towns in the Great Desert, a vast desert South, bordering the human territory, and a few others like some clans of orcs and, more prominently, the Undead. When he heard of the undead, he immediately thought of zombies, particularly the type Terran was filled with before it got destroyed. However, there were differences. For one, these things were not entirely brainless. They were not fully sentient and were definitely carnivorous, but they didn''t stupidly fall into traps and so on. According to the information, the monsters were in what seemed like a perenial state of rotting but not completely dead. They moved about as quickly as normal humans though. Imagine semi-rotting not-so-brainless enemies that couldn''t be killed easily, that would still move even if you removed appendages. He shivered at the thought. In terms of strength, they were weaker than humans, probably due to the rotting muscles, but as mentioned they could continue to move even if there were only skeletons left in their bodies. What was terrifying about them was the damage they could do when they scratched or bit someone. Unlike Terran zombies though, they wouldn''t turn into zombies as well. Rather, it seemed like undead blood or saliva had a special component that kept them alive¡­ and killed other people. According to what they knew¡ªthough the story could''ve not been accurate as it had been some time and passed around so often¡ªthey arrived about a hundred years or so after the Elves disappeared. They came in tens of millions and were one of the new species that were transmigrated like they did. It felt offensive to be ranked along with these monsters, but what could they do? As one would expect, millions of zombies appearing wasn''t a minor thing. Fortunately, like what happened to the Terrans, these ''newcomers'' ¡ªwho didn''t really have much humanity¡ªwere also concentrated in a particular area for the first month. This area, luckily, was near the desert and only the fringe towns and villages experienced a zombie apocalypse of sorts. It was a pandemic and several villages fell during this time, and even a town, and so the surrounding territories had no choice but to work together and contain this problem. After a few hundred years of battle that spanned generations, the surviving Undead were finally pushed back somewhere far into the desert behind a tall mountain range. Every few years a few undead would appear and infect a few people, causing problems, but they would be dealt with with great force. Anyway, Dune Town was one of the towns basically had to deal with that. Top that with their resource problem, people were suffering and the economy was at an all-time low. The best course of action was to establish a relationship with a richer town, which was what everyone assumed that woman was doing. His heart broke for her. That amount of pressure¡­ he wouldn''t wish it on his enemies. "What''s her name?" He asked, appearing nonchalant. "That woman." The men looked at him weirdly but answered what they knew. "Sahara or something," one said, though not entirely sure. They weren''t the type to remember mere women''s names. Helios, though, felt it must be accurate. "I see¡­ Lady Sahara of Dune Town¡­" he repeated, as if tasting the name on his tongue. What a beautiful name¡­ Chapter 1000 Hiring Mercenary Teams Sahara¡­ What a beautiful name. It really fit the smooth, sand-colored, hair he once ran with his fingers through. His eyes glazed at the memory and it was only when his informants asked for more information about Alterran products¡ªafter calling for him many times¡ªdid he broke out of it. After a bit more small talk, he realized they told him everything they knew and he finally excused himself from the conversation. He didn''t commit to anything, but he still gave them hope of a good deal. They weren''t particularly satisfied, but they didn''t show it. Anyway, they got a free bottle of expensive alcohol from this visit. Of course, how could Helios pass the chance to punish them a bit? He may or may not have added a few things in their drinks to give them some stomach problems. It was a mild laxative, actually, one of the basic medicines in the ''medicine kits'' all guards had in their space. Of course, rather than for things like this, it was used by guards to help them when they had to hold back a lot after missions and the like. He added a few extra doses just to make it more¡­ effective. It would only show after a few days of incubation though, so it was unlikely they''d trace it back to the drink he gave them. Ideally, it''d happen during their travel home, to make things extra inconvenient for them. Best if there were Beast Mobs going after them. This was actually a possible scenario. Although he didn''t add Beast Attracting potions in their items (he knew they''d stay in the Town for a bit longer and it''d just be wasted and dissipate if he did so) if they took dump after dump in forests, it was bound to attract a few beasts. Anyway, after a while more of searching, Helios traced her current location. And it was to none other than Bleulle City itself. As for how he found out about it, it took him a few more days of research and investigation. According to the informants, before the Ferrol Market event had ended, the Dune Town party rushed to get out of the territory, which was unusual because normally people would complete the fair to maximize their trip. He had an idea why they rushed though, and it might have had something to do with what happened between him and the lady. He took note of the direction they apparently headed towards and¡ªwith the map he bought in Alterra¡ªhe narrowed down the next places she could''ve gone towards. There was no Town in the region that could exceed Ferrol in terms of ''deals'' she''d be looking for, so it could only be in more powerful territories. She exited from the Southeast Gate of Ferrol, with their angle biased towards the South. From this, he determined that Sahara was likely going to Bleulle. This was the most practical place to go to even if he wasn''t certain. At the very least, in Bleuelle, the Golds were there and he could ask for favors. With their help, if she was not there, then he''d find out quickly so he wouldn''t waste any more time there. He could move on and go to another place. He borrowed a carriage from Jonathan for some favor and also asked him what to look out for in Bleulle. Basically, he just said if he could connect with the Golds as soon as possible, then he should be fine. Jonathan didn''t let him borrow so easily, however. "I will only let you go if you hire a mercenary team, at least." "What?" S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Jonathan looked at him weirdly. "You realize that even going to Towns, you had to be in big groups, right?" he said. "You managed to get here safely because of the Beast Repelling Potion from Alterra, but that''s not going to work on stronger monsters." Unlike Villages and Towns, there was no tiers in Cities. The average monsters there could range from level 20 to level 50, depending on how powerful it was. Level 20 monsters were already past 2 meters in height. How big were those in level 40s? Cringe. Helios scratched his neck, embarrassed. He really didn''t think too much and was a bit rash, especially with the added emotions of seeing the woman. It was always his uncle who did the planning, and he was used to just taking action. There was also the fact that things ran quite smoothly for him and he hadn''t encountered any major setbacks before¡ªcausing him to be arrogant. Other than being abandoned in bed after a one night stand, of course. He was lucky to have been warned like this, otherwise who knew which monster stomach he''d find himself in. After getting a few tips about hiring, Helios went straight to the Mercenary Hall. The Mercenary Hall was a three-story homogenous building that was very much in-your-face. There was an endless stream of people going in and out, too, indicating how much activity it saw daily. He remembered wanting to build a mercenary team with his uncle to go adventuring before, but the territory really grew on them. It still tickled the adventurer in him, seeing this. Speaking of this, because he and his uncles were interested in this, they had naturally asked around. He also knew a bit from Jonathan as well. He knew that the ground floor was the mission center where various missions were posted for mercenaries to take. The upper floors were apparently where the Teleportation arrays were located. The second floor was the hiring arrays for Level E and D Mercenary Teams, while the uppermost was where Class C Mercenary Teams would come from. "HEY! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" a yell came from behind him, and he stepped away by instinct. He saw a group of Level 30s walk past him, heading straight to the hall. Helios shook his head and stepped forward, finally entering. He ended up gaping at the barrage of information being thrown at his face. Whether it was missions or lists of mercenary teams or the chatters of everyone around him. It was a little¡­ overwhelming. So¡­ how to choose? Chapter 1001 Choosing a Mercenary Team BONUS CHAP! HAPPY 1000 CHAPS GUYS! *Dances* Also, we landed in Golden T1 for now! I was also showered with lots of golden tickets huhuhu. And I got a gachapon from Lotuslin, too. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT EVERYONE!! ... _____ The level of a Mercenary Hall would determine the level of Mercenary teams that could be hired and created there. According to Jonathan and the other aborigines, the lowest level Mercenary Hall¡ªavailable as a Level 2 Town¡ªcould only hire and transfer up to a Class E Mercenary Team. That was to say, they could only travel via the array to another Level 1 Mercenary Hall up to a thousand away. The Hall would also only be able to receive mercenary teams coming in from a maximum of 1000 kilometers, regardless of their levels. Speaking of this, he also had the option of joining a Mercenary Team and then using the arrays in the Halls to go straight to Bleuelle City. A Class D would''ve been sufficient if one only considered the distance between the City and Ferrol. However, he looked and there were no missions heading there directly. To use the arrays, the trip must be attached to a mission. The Terran Mercenary Team''s slots were full, and he would not be able to create a Class D Mercenary Team on his own in a short time either. He would have to join a new one to go this path. But¡­ would that be worth it? First of all, it would take time to actually join an unknown Mercenary Team in the first place. It''d be risky, too. He''d be bound to them for at least a year¡ªwho knew what they''d make him do? The common practice in Xeno was that during the first year, new members would not be able to choose their missions. What if it''d interfere with his search for the woman? Not to mention, she might not even be in Bleuelle City, and that would mean he bounded himself for naught! So, in the end, he just opted to hire one. Ferrol had a Level 2 Mercenary Hall which could hire Mercenary Teams up to Class C. The Terran Mercenary Team made by Elder Garan was a Class D Mercenary Team. With them as the exemption, Class D mercenaries were generally level 20-25 or so on average, with the usual minimum at level 15 (depending on the Team). They could also choose missions from other towns or cities within a 5000 kilometer radius. This was already very good. The largest country back in Terran had an end-to-end distance of less than that. The mercenary team Helios would need though, was of an unfortunately higher level. Because they wouldn''t be traveling via the array, this meant they would have to deal with the mobs of a City¡ªwhich would have monster sightings of monsters level 40 or so. Generally, like humans, monsters also had a hard time procreating as their level increased. Hence, while there were many strong mobs, the big ones normally didn''t exceed level 25 or 30. It was rare to see strong monsters together because of this. The more common sight would be them appearing with weaker mobs, dwarfing them by comparison. It was like seeing a walking building surrounded by walking houses which were, in turn, also surrounded by big animals. He could imagine that it was a terrifying sight to see¡ªespecially outside of walls. Regardless, he understood that going on his own at his current level was suicidal, so he wasn''t going to even think about that. Anyway, hiring Class C mercenary teams typically cost 100 to 400 gold, which was around 100 times the salary of common workers. Helios naturally had no such money, so he borrowed quite a bit from Jonathan. The man was kind enough to give, though he did add a little interest. The Hiring of mercenary teams was a two-way choice. He would enter the desired floor and send out his hiring conditions as well as the amount he was willing to offer. The posted offer was in a range, and if the team really wanted a mission, they might lower the offer. Just posting the mission cost 1 Gold, by the way. [Hiring! A party to safely escort a few people to Bluelle City and then back to a Village approximately 2500 kilometers away. Offer: 300 Gold] Like with the Village Center, the mercenaries were bound by oath to do their best until their lives were in danger. They could only abandon when that happened but, otherwise, Helios could be rest assured that the mercenaries would do their best to safeguard his and, ideally, Sahara''s life if he found her. The Mercenary Halls would send notifications to the captains of the qualified teams as long as they were within the territory. However, to accept the mission or negotiate the terms, they (or their representatives) would have to go to the Mercenary Hall themselves. The interested mercenary teams would send out their applications and the number of forces they could send in response. This was a one-time negotiation so this was considered to be the ''best offer'' the team could make. Finally, the hiring party would choose among these, and the deal would be finalized. Helios waited about half an hour before he received three applications to choose from. [Apex Mercenary Team (C) : We will send 10 level 25-30s. We are willing to take the mission for 280 Gold.] [Takoda Mercenary Team (C) of Avel City : We will send a five level 35-40 to protect you. We are 1700 kilometers South of Bleuelle, only a few days away and we know the terrain well. We will take the job at 320 Gold.] [Yesno Mercenary Team (D) from Voumi Town: We will send 20 level 25s. We are willing to take the mission for 250 Gold]. He thought for a bit before deciding, at least between the two Class C teams. He didn''t trust a Class D mercenary team to be able to do the job, and that level would not be enough if they encountered a strong mob. In the end, he chose a Class C Mercenary from Avel City some thousand or so kilometers South of Bleulle. It was a bit more expensive than he offered, but he could be more reassured with them. In terms of safety, he shouldn''t be stingy. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, it was also a risk and he really hoped Sahara was there. Otherwise, he''d have to borrow money from the Golds, too. He shook his head off of the worries. For now, he just had to do what he must. No matter how big the world is¡­ he''d find her¡ªno matter what! Chapter 1002 Takoda Mercenary Team A/N: Round 2 of Character Voting is almost done guys! Hope Althea gets to the semi-final~ ... ____ With a couple of clicks on the platform, the deal was finalized. Almost as soon as he did so, the array lit up and five figures appeared. Generally speaking, people could judge levels according to the aura they instinctively felt. If one was lower level though, there would be a lot of estimating involved. The higher the level gap, the more difficult it would be to guess. From this, Helios could tell that the people who arrived were definitely much higher leveled than he was. They were all quite eclectic in appearance, as well. The person in the middle¡ªthe obvious leader and the one with the highest level¡ªhad combed back hair. He appeared to be a middle age man but, considering how age worked here, then he must be really old to look middle-aged. The man stepped forward. "Hello, my name is Enok, I am the team lead of your escort team," he said, making the standard greeting of the same level, which was just patting their chest twice. Helios followed his lead and also introduced himself. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "My name is Helios," he said. "My occupation is a swordsman. I''m heading to Bleuelle to find someone." When they looked at him and his level, they looked a little disappointed, but not too surprised. Helios knew that with his appearance and physique, people would think he should be of higher level. He was confident he''d catch up eventually though! "I am level 39 Spearman from Avel City. These are my teammates, Raz, Senson, Puto, and Shim. Their levels ranged from level 32 to 35." Helios nodded and greeted them all. Raz, the level 35, seemed to be the right hand man. He had curly dark purple hair and a sword on his waist, indicating he was a swordsman. He also assumed he awakened the occupation, too, because one simply could not reach past level 20¡ªand kill monsters of that level¡ªwithout awakening an occupation. Senson was a level 32 brunette with a bob cut. He was thin and tall and frankly looked a bit like a bamboo. Then Helios found out he was an archer, and he couldn''t help but worry if he had enough arm strength to make a killing blow. Then again, it was best not to judge over appearances in this place. Wasn''t the petite and pretty Miss Althea a killing machine herself? Next was Puto, a bald swordsman, though his sword was broader and larger than Raz''s, and could double as a shield. He was a level 33 swordsman, and had a perennial smiling face that made his cheek even more puffy. . Finally, the last member at level 32 was called Shim. Helios looked at him and saw his features, reminding him a lot of Badjao and Gaudi. He had an axe as his main weapon. Overall, except for the thin guy, everyone else had close-range capabilities. This was no surprise as it was the safest choice especially early on. Basically, those who choose other occupations¡ªwhether it was long-ranged fighters, sheildsman, or life occupations¡ªeither lived in stable areas or had reliable teammates already taking the responsibility for close-ranged combats. Speaking of this, in terms of variety within a team, Alterra and the adjacent territories probably had the most balanced compositions out there. Of course, in terms of level, they still had a lot of catching up to do. Anyway, now that the team was complete, they headed out to the Lord''s villa, which got the mercenaries to look at him. "He''s helping me out," he said, and they borrowed a carriage. Interestingly, the person who was driving his carriage was the same person who drove Gill to Jacoba Town before. His name was Toron, and he was very talkative. Especially more so now because he felt Helios was much more approachable (and had a lower level) than Gill so he chattered with less worry. Helios went along with it. He needed the distraction, otherwise he''d be too anxious. He even learned some more things about driving beast carts from him. Toron was nearly in his 60s and was level 25. He had served Jonathan''s father since he was a child and had been a stableboy then. Becoming a Beast Cart driver was the highest promotion for his line of work. After all, driving them required excellent control and chemistry. Even if they had the whistle made by the Beast Tamers, their control still had a lot to do with the drivers themselves. For one, they at least had to be stronger than the beasts they drive. "It''s pretty risky to be promoted in this line of work," he said. "I had a lot of peers who lost an arm or a leg." Helios looked at him. "In my place, we can travel fast across the territory with bikes or broats." "Oh?" Toron mumbled. "Alterra, right?" This also seemed to interest the mercenaries who were taking turns sitting in the carriage and running alongside it. Speaking of this, they were quite curious how a weak guy like him could afford hiring them in the first place. What was he going to do in a place like Bleuelle City, too? It was estimated that he could get killed just by fighting with a civilian there... "You should visit us sometimes," Helios said with a smile, unaware of the judgmental stares sent to him by the mercenaries. The old man nodded. "Yes, I''ve been meaning to," he said. "I love your instant noodles! I have a few bags in my space right now!" Helios laughed, feeling a little proud. "I''m curious how Broats could be better than Beast Carts though." "They don''t eat people''s hands at least," Helios shot back, making the others chortle. Helios shook his head and smiled, looking out to see the fast-moving trees and shrubs around them. He could also see some monsters actively avoiding them. "Of course, traveling outside the territory is still limited," he said. Beast Carts were better than Broat Cart outside the territories because they could traverse long distances. Weaker mobs would generally avoid them, so they were better at least for Village and Town level. It could also do good in City-level regions, provided that there were strong guards that would deal with the strong monsters. The highest monster that could be tamed was level 20, and the mercenaries soon had to start fighting as they encountered stronger mobs. They traveled for days on end, without much rest, and when they started encountering more and more monsters past level 15, Toron stopped. "As agreed upon, we''re approximately at the region near the city." Helios nodded in understanding, standing up to disembark. Jonathan agreed to lend him the cart with the condition that it wouldn''t be put in danger. Obviously, going past this place was too risky. "Sorry about this¡­" Toron mumbled. Helios shook his head and handed him a handful of silver as tip. This made the old man''s eyes brighten as he waved them goodbye. "You''re a little weak but you know how the world works," he said. "Good luck! May you all reach the City in one piece~" he said and whistled, getting the beast to rush back, leaving the rest of them in the dust. Helios: "..." Chapter 1003 Mount Rushless They were dropped on the third day of travel, just outside of Mount Rushless, which meant that they were still about a thousand kilometers away from Bleuelle. Now that they were trekking¡ªon a mountain range, no less¡ªit was estimated they''d take another day or two to get to Bleuelle, maybe more if since they encountered a lot of troublesome mobs on the way. From this trip, Helios ended up learning a lot from veteran Mercenaries. Although he did have a lot of survival training, and learned a lot in the months they had been here, there were still a lot of things to consider when traveling in Xeno wilderness. For example, he learned how to look at the trees and see which areas had recently seen big mobs and big monsters. The big monsters also had deep footprints. Sometimes there would be random depressions with plants growing in them, and later he realized they were monster footprints that had plants growing on them because of the high regeneration rates of the flora here. He also learned that very high-level monsters were big and had a specific sound to them. They were deep and reverberating that it''d send shivers down the spine, and he better run as fast as he could if he heard it. "Level 40 monsters and above¡ªalthough rare¡ªwould require level 50s to deal with it," Raz told him. "Their physique is very different from the level before it, and even dozens of humans of the same level may not stand a chance." "Fortunately, they are extremely rare. If they are sighted, the strongmen tend to be called to deal with it," he said. "They would usually be within 5 levels of the monster though, otherwise even they might not bother." Helios nodded in understanding. It must be hard to level up past 40 if the monsters were so rare. Similarly, why would these strongmen risk their necks going against a strong monster if they couldn''t get any EXP from it anymore? In any case, the next leg of the journey proved to be much more dangerous and the weakest mob they encountered was Level 15. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Helios, the customer, really didn''t fight much. He had just passed Level 11. What could he do against level 15 monsters? Level 15 humans were fine, monsters were totally a different league. He didn''t have to, either. For weaker mobs, the mercenaries took care of them with relative ease. Helios was still intrigued by the monsters though so he took a lot of notes and remembered their weaknesses. At the same time, he also watched the mercenaries'' movements, particularly those who were using swords. They had a few skills, though they were mostly using brute force. They also had very different styles. For instance, Raz had a more graceful style, almost like fencing, while Puto used his broadsword as a force in and of itself. Eventually, the mob cleared out and they continued moving forward. They were using Enok''s map this time. Although most of them had been to Bleuelle before, it was only Enok who had been to Mount Rushless. This meant that the paths from their current spot to the City were not a black fog, and they could actually plan their routes properly. "So, you plan on forming a mercenary team soon?" Enok asked as he led the team. They were following the gentle slopes, avoiding the steep and dangerous ones if they went on a straight line. Helios nodded. "When my village turns to a Level 2 Town, yes," he said. The mercenaries looked at him, a little surprised before nodding. Helios didn''t think much about it, though in reality, the mercenaries were wondering why he would wait that long. A village upgrading to a level 2 town would take several years, maybe decades. But then they remembered his level and realized it would make sense to do so. He was too weak to be out of a village so often, anyway. If Helios knew what they were thinking, he''d be quite annoyed. He would tell them that he got to his current level only after a few months! In less than a decade, he could bet: He''d have caught up with them! They traversed the mountain for a few more hours, dealing with a manageable mob every so often. Helios would also take in some loose plants he encountered to bring back. He wasn''t very familiar with plants nor would he know which ones he hadn''t seen before, but every plant sold in the Village Center had some value. If it was a plant that was relatively uncommon in Alterra, then they would not just be paid with money¡ªthey could also be paid with contribution points! When he found his woman, assuming he could take her with him, then he''d need all the contribution points he could get. The first half day was manageable, though it had a lot to do with their current pathway. However, not long before dusk, this streak was broken when they encountered a predominantly level 20 mob. The strongest one was actually a level 29, which was a challenge even to Enok and it would take him a while of his full attention before he could actually get rid of it. Enok took care of the strongest beast while Shim handled the monsters near Helios, virtually serving as his guard. Helios naturally had his weapons out too, prepared to defend himself as needed. He wouldn''t be stupid enough to actually step forward and look for a fight himself, however. At least not yet. Senson, on the other hand, easily jumped up a tree and served as the support to everyone. The dude was really lightweight, which was an advantage to him virtually having no fat at all. Puto was the main force against the mob, swinging his axe around with impressive strength and control. They did get injured a bit, but they were all minor. The monsters were only level 20 and 21 and it would be a shame for them¡ªmercenaries level 30s and above¡ªto get killed at this juncture. Soon, the minor mobs were dealt with, leaving only a handful and¡ªof course¡ªthe battle with the biggest one. After another couple of minutes, Enok finally managed to land a deep shot at the level 29 beast. Rather than weaken though, it went berserk. With a swing of its tusk, Enok was hurled to the side. BANG! ROARRRR! "Watch out!" Enok yelled as he tried to get himself up on time. However, it was too fast and went barrelling to his teammates! Shim and Puto had no choice but to work together to handle it, using much of their strengths to control it. At this point, all the minor mobs had been killed so they could focus on the monster on hand. It was definitely at the last breadth of life, but it was still strong. In the end, it also pushed the two to nearby trees, one of which was where Senson was, causing him to fall down as well. ROAAAAARRR!!! Helios'' eyes widened as the monster went straight to him, and he knew he couldn''t go directly against it. Was he too rash, after all? What happened to love conquers all? Chapter 1004 Camping with Monsters A/N: As promised, we''re getting an extra 3 chaps (total of 5) chapters today! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT, EVERYONE! Hopefully, we retain it until the month ends. *prays* Off to the chapter! Enjoyyy~ ... _____ Helios'' eyes widened as the monster went straight to him. The mercenaries saw this and turned cold. "Watch out! Get out of there!" They yelled, and they knew it''d be too late for them to come and rescue. Damnit! If the customer got killed at this point, it could be counted as their oversight. This meant they could get punished and their mercenary team could get penalized with the all-important Mercenary Points!! Causing their Mercenary Team to move even farther from the Class B qualification¡ªwhich was already years away¡ªwould be a shame! Fortunately for them, Helios wasn''t the type to freeze in front of a vehemont. He managed to avoid it in the last minute, and he dashed towards one of the depressions they encountered before. He laid down flat and it was just deep enough to cover him this way, and he immediately created a metal sheet to cover him. ROARRR! The metal sheet reverberated from the loud roar, and soon he could feel its weight. Helios used a good portion of his mana to reinforce it. He increased its thickness and added small posts to support it. Bang! Bang! Clank! He gasped when a portion of the metal sheet dented a little, hitting his lower stomach. "UGH!" he gasped, feeling his lower body slowly getting squished. He couldn''t reinforce it like this either. What if he ended up adding material to stab himself, instead? Shit! For a moment, he thought it''d continue to dent until it finally impaled him. However, after a few intense moments passed by, the pressure suddenly lifted, and he could hear muffles of sounds and yells above the ground. Helios could vaguely hear the fight that happened soon after. It was safe to assume that the mercenaries finally got to his place to deal with the monster. He was breathing heavily as he lay down, taking advantage of this time to repair his sheet. At his pitiful level, he knew he''d only be a burden outside, so he just decided to hide effectively. Helios could finally breathe out as the metal poking him disappeared. He waited patiently for the fight above to end, desperately hoping they didn''t bring the fight to his area because he didn''t have a lot of mana left. When rhythmic knocks sounded against the sheet, followed by someone saying a muffled ''it''s okay now, come out'', Helios finally retracted it and heaved in a deep breath of his much-needed oxygen. He saw that everyone was alive and well, although looking quite haggard. Enok looked at him in interest as he extended his arm to help him up. "You''re an elementalist?" he asked as he pulled Helios up. "Where did you say you were from again?" They naturally introduced each other. However, they saw his level and the fact that he was from a village, so they didn''t find any interest in his background. They just assumed he was a village noble or something with money to burn. They didn''t even think much about the ''broat'' and ''bikes'' he mentioned to the old Beast Carriage driver a few days back, thinking it was probably just one or two contraptions village nobles used to traverse the interior of the territory. Helios'' eyes sparkled, seeing their curiosity. "Alterra Village," he said. "I''ll show you around when we get there." The men didn''t know what would be needed to see in a village but they didn''t say so out loud. Anyway, with the current injuries and mana consumption, the group decided to spend the night there. Enok guided them to a decent camping spot, which was a slightly flatter land slightly above the trekking path. Senson went around and poured some Beast Repelling potions around them, and they assigned two people every few hours to guard the perimeter and alert them of any threats that came nearby. The remaining two mercenaries, then, would set up camp. That was to say: set the fire and take some meat from monsters and barbeque it. A good thing was that they had some stock of the Ferrol Beef Sauce (someone from their mercenary team bought some during a fair) which made the meat much more palatable. After this, they would take turns to sleep. Each one had a good blanket on them to cover their upper body as they slept. Either that or a big blanket, but on the thinner side so it could be folded well. After all, their spaces were only so big. How could they let a big and thick blanket occupy the entire thing? It was something the mercenaries had done countless of times. It was just that there was something a little different this time. They gaped as their employer took out item after item from his space. It wasn''t obvious what it was at first but then he opened it up and it magically expanded to a large cocoon-like blanket. Puto and Raz were the friendliest of the bunch and they scooted over to look closer. "Is it a magic tool?" they asked. Helios smiled and shook his head. "It''s just technology," he said. "By pulling on a valve, air will enter and expand the thin insulating fabric." "Ah, so magic, then." "..." "You must really be a noble." "Me?! Nah, I''m just a normal guard." "What?" "A guard next to the lord, then?" Helios shrugged. "Not really." He didn''t even know who the lord was¡­ "But you''re an elementalist," Puto mumbled, looking at him in confusion. Enok even looked at him like he was purposely messing with them. They thought that although Helios was a little weak compared to them, he should still be a powerhouse in a village. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Helios didn''t dare spread they were all elementalists. "I''m nothing special in my Village," was all he said. "Also, everyone who camps a lot has these things in their spaces." He proceeded to take out a few more things. For instance, his sauce set, a small box of instant noodles, and a papra pill which they gurgle after eating to serve as their mouthwash. The mercenaries were very curious about Helios and the things he brought out. Helios smiled and went to the fire, taking a small iron pot from his space. They watched as he cooked something brittle onto the pot and added a few things in the process, and then they gulped at the aroma that emanated from it. When Helios handed them small bowls with crackers, they curiously took a taste, before eating them with gusto. They drank the soup to the last drop, and they felt the flavor stuck in their throats and stomachs, the warmth giving satisfaction to their hearts. Delicious! "This is so good! Do you have more?" Puto asked, looming over Helios. He wasn''t purposely being intimidating, but he was. "There''s a lot more in my home," Helios said, never tiring of seeing aborigines'' reactions to their products. "I''ll treat you to good food¡ªas long as you protect us well." The mercenaries looked at him and didn''t talk for a moment, before they all broke into smiles. "Deal!" Chapter 1005 Each Others Worldviews After eating, those assigned to guard settled a couple of meters away from the campfire, though they were still within sight and earshot. There were indeed a couple of monsters venturing into their area, but they were mostly manageable. The Beast Repelling Potion they had was something readily available to a Level 3 Pharmacy, which would be made available in Cities. It had a lot more variety than the lower-level Pharmacies and offered Beast Repelling and Beast Attracting Potions against monsters up to Level 20, with diminishing effects as the level increased. The group talked for a bit more things before going to rest. Strongmen didn''t need much sleep, but they would have to get some decent rest if they wanted to recover a decent amount of spirit and mana. They were getting close to Bleuelle and it was inevitable they''d encounter more troublesome beasts along the way. He told them a few more things they could find in Alterra, though it''d be hard for them to imagine unless they were already there. If he managed to secure them as business partners¡ªbetter, as residents¡ªthen he''d get a large amount of contribution points! Starting a family in Alterra would need a large amount of it! He was preparing for it well! At the same time, he also found a bit more about them. He got most information from Puto, who tended to overshare, and Raz who was naturally friendly. The latter was one of the people on guard duty at this time, and he sat several meters away, though that didn''t stop him from joining in the conversation. Puto asked a lot about the noodles (and was fascinated when he found there were dozens of other flavors available), while Raz was more interested in the sleeping bag. Helios enticed them by saying they could buy a lot if they went to Alterra, and he could even get them good deals, which gained him additional favorability to the mercenary team. Helios also asked what their city specialized in, so that he could perhaps broker some deals, and was surprised to know that it didn''t offer much. "Avel City was one of the oldest territories in this world, though it only became a City a few decades ago," Raz explained. In terms of culture or trade, he was much more knowledgeable than Puto (who was now daydreaming about instant noodles). "It is located near a couple of hubs in the human realm," Raz continued, lifting his sword to study its sheen and sharpness. He frowned when he saw that it was a little dull and took out a sharpening stone from his space. "You could say that its specialty is being the trade center in the South." Avel City was apparently closest to Crystal City, which is the source of the very beautiful and clear crystals. Up North it was also fairly near Bleuelle City, and¡ªalthough a bit farther away¡ªit also connected to Holt City in the West. Avel City was also fairly near the Orc mountains, so a lot of Mercenary Teams needing to head there for missions would often pick Avel City as their destination. The Takoda Mercenary Team was actually one of the highest-level mercenary team there and their top 10 members were elementalists. They were very proud about this because other teams had about half of that. Their mercenary team was comprised of several groups, one of which was theirs, led by Enok. They were in the mid to lower levels though, but it was still a decent accomplishment. Anyway, these Mercenary teams were also in a race to upgrade to a Class B Mercenary Team and everyone had been taking missions all over. Being the first to reach Class B in their City was not just a matter of pride, but also of lifestyle. Becoming the strongest Mercenary Team meant that the nobles and the lord would partner with them, and that was not only an honor¡ªit was a great upgrade in terms of money and prestige! It was also why they couldn''t bear be penalized now. How bad would it be to be the cause of their team''s loss? Speaking of Elementalists¡­ after getting to know Helios more, they actually had the idea of recruiting him, though they didn''t while the contract was still ongoing. It was an unspoken rule in the industry not to have other deals with the client while the current one was ongoing. Something about it possibly interfering with the mission or something of the sort. Puto, after recovering from his noodle-daydream, butted in. "Ah yes, Raz here knows the surrounding area best," he said, grinning. "He has a lover in every surrounding Town, y''know~" Helios looked at the other man¡ªrelatively handsome, but his charm was more on the masculine side. He didn''t seem to particularly care that he was being gossiped about either. Anyway, this topic made him want to go to bed already. "He sharpens his sword everywhere, if you know what I mean," Puto added with a sly grin, elbowing Helios, who was now already opening his sleeping bag to finally go to bed. Seeing him being boring and ready to rest, Puto gave up his teasing and went to his spot and his pitiful blanket that only covered his upper body. He couldn''t help but look at the elementalist and his sleeping bag, realizing he was quite a looker. "You''re a handsome lad, and an elementalist to boot. How many wives do you plan to have?" Helios'' eyebrows rose at the question. "Just one." S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh?" "Boring," Raz said, continuing to sharpen his sword while he guarded them. "As guy a few years older than you are, I can tell you that there are a lot of tastes in the world you can explore. A mercenary is naturally adventurous¡ªand this goes with lovers, too." Helios sighed and just entered the sleeping bag. These men weren''t bad people, but their upbringing was just different from his. "There''s a difference between keeping your options open and keeping someone''s heart safe," he said. "I''d rather give my all to someone who matters than spread myself for something so¡­ fleeting and unimportant. "Don''t you think it''s much more meaningful to be the source of joy and pride to your loved one, rather than the cause of pain? "That''s just my opinion though," he said. "I''m a hopeless romantic, you see." He closed his eyes and ended that topic. Similarly, Raz didn''t speak anymore after that, and neither did the others. Agree to disagree, they would say, though at the back of their minds, they would ponder about Helios'' words unconsciously, very subtly affecting their own worldviews. Chapter 1006 Encounter with a Level 40 Monster! Helios woke up just before dawn the next day. The crisp air greeted him, and he could hear the soft rustle of the wind as well as the movements around him. He stretched his arms to shake away the lethargy and saw that everyone else was already clearing up. The fire was gone, and their items were all in the space. Raz seemed to have just woken up though, having already been replaced by Puto as the nightwatch. Because he was the employer, Helios didn''t have to do this. It felt comfortable and refreshing, and he definitely was maximizing all those gold coins that he would have to pay for eventually. Speaking of that¡­ that was hundreds of golds¡­ he''d have to work a lot to pay that back quickly enough. Although Jonathan didn''t give him a deadline, it wouldn''t do to extend it for more than a year! Hopefully, Sahara was really in Bleuelle. He wouldn''t have the face to declare that ''he''d take care of her'' if he fell deeper into debt! Anyway, the group cleaned up and prepared for another journey. As always, Helios took some relatively unfamiliar plants back to his space to sell to the Village Center or to Miss Althea. His plant knowledge was limited though, so he literally just shoved the plants to the corner of his space, hoping they''d survive somehow. Before heading forward, however, Enok finalized some strict instructions that everyone had to follow. "First off, my words and instructions are law," he said. "If you died because you didn''t follow, that''s no longer on us." He said this while looking at Helios. His team was trained to follow him but, by experience, the employers tended to want to do their own thing. If they were also from the City, then they''d even be arrogant. To those people, Mercenaries were mere guards who''d serve as meatshields if a mob was troublesome. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, he knew Helios was different but it was a force of habit. "If we encounter a mob after this point, we will run away," he said. "It doesn''t matter if it''s predominantly level 15 or 20. We will not engage in a fight with them." While there would still be manageable mobs here and there, the chances of encountering troublesome beasts were too high. If they were delayed by a mob¡ªeven a weak one¡ªand were injured by them, what would they do when they had to go up against a stronger one? "A pity though, Boss, weren''t you looking for a good fight to make progress?" Enok gave him a look. "Not during a mission like this¡­" he said, looking at Helios. "With a low-leveled employer." "..." After level 35, even in cities, it was difficult for people to level up. This was because they would only receive experience from monsters until 5 levels below theirs. How often could they find Level 30 monsters? It was in these cases that powerful employers definitely would tend to do their own things. They would like to fight and hunt monsters around their level, and the mercenaries were there to weaken the target. However, in this mission, they could only avoid any fights moving forward. They could not risk the life of their (really) weak employer and the precious Mercenary Points they had been collecting. Helios felt a bit awkward about this and couldn''t say anything that wouldn''t make him look stupid. To be honest, he had never been so underestimated (and rightfully so) since he was a kid. He swore to train even harder. The next time he went to a City, he wouldn''t be looked at so oddly! In any case, the group moved on and traveled for hours. They traversed kilometers of forests, and ran away from whatever mob they encountered along the way. They had to occasionally slice, kick, and dice to defend themselves, but they wouldn''t stay in one place at all. They always focused on their goal: Bleuelle City. However, at some point, Enok stopped moving, and he raised his hand to tell them to keep quiet. He immediately looked around to find them a hiding spot, and he led them to a rock outcrop not far away and settled there. Helios could feel the vibration underneath his feet and so could the others. It was growing more intense, and they knew that another mob¡ªa rather big one¡ªwas coming. The mercenaries showered themselves with Beast Repelling Potion, hoping that they would go unnoticed. For now, they could only stay in place due to the terrain. If they were found, Enok did have a path to run in, but it''d still be very dangerous. They could lose someone. For the next moments, they tensely waited for the mob to pass. They were about 20 to 30 meters away from them, and didn''t seem to be heading closer. As long as the wind was in their favor, they could indeed remain unnoticed. Their hearts were beating loudly and their palms on their weapons were sweaty as heck. Their eyes were fixed on the monsters, and they were prepared to fight and run as soon as they had to. At first, they saw that it was a relatively standard mob, albeit a bit larger, comprised of level 15s and level 20 monsters. In this way, even if a portion of the mob noticed them, they should be fine. However¡ª THUD, THUD, THUD¡­ Their breaths stopped when they saw a large monster walking amongst the mobs. It was a few times larger than most of them, and¡­ it was standing upright. THUD, THUD, THUD¡­ It was about 5 meters tall¡ªno, six meters tall. It had matte dark skin that seemed to absorb all light surrounding it. It had seemingly glowing eyes that was eerily lifeless and had sharp horns on its head, and even sharper claws on its hands. It was all extremely creepy, and Helios found himself turning cold. The world¡­ was still so big¡­ "A level 40 monster¡­" Puto gasped, and Senson immediately covered his mouth. "Hush!" He was pale and shaking¡ªobviously afraid. Even if they all worked together, they definitely did not stand a chance against this one. They held their breaths, even more desperate to be silent. Soon, more and more of the mob passed and the level 40 beast also went past them. But then¡­ it stopped. It turned its head at a creepy angle, its rounded¡ªalmost glowing¡ªeyes stared straight at them, sending shivers down their spines. It saw them. It definitely saw them. SHIIIITTTT!!! Chapter 1007 Seeing Bleuelle City! Their hearts froze when they saw it turn to them completely, its large mouth opening as it stared into the sky. ROAAARRR! "RUNNN!" Enok yelled, and the group of them dashed after him, following the narrow path he mapped out for them. He had been through this area a few times in the past and therefore he was familiar with a few pathways they could take. This was his least favorite one, but what could they do? The rest of the paths would open them up for slaughter! "Hurry! Hurry!" The group sprinted as quickly as they could. They were relieved to see Helios keeping up pace with them and, if they weren''t so scared, they''d even be impressed. ROAAAR!!! sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They gasped when they heard the sound of heavy stamping rush towards them, getting closer and closer. The damned beast was really fast for its size and it would really be able to catch up to them in time!! Slash! Bang! The sound of slashing and destruction followed behind them, each crash hitting their own hearts, and they couldn''t help but imagine themselves being in the middle of it! Helios looked back to see how close it actually was and what they were dealing with. He regretted it immediately. He almost fell when he saw that it was less than ten meters away from them! It was even more terrifying up close. Its matte black skin made it look like a lurching shadow¡ªone that was aiming to maim them! It also seared its claws as it ran after them, cutting the thick tree trunks¡ªand perhaps a few monsters in the way¡ªlike they were cheese. Some blood and sinew from the smaller mobs even splattered in his direction! "SHIT!" he cursed, whipping his attention back to what was ahead of him and not daring to look back again. He also couldn''t afford to do so. The path they were taking was around the mountains and over the rock outcroppings. It required a lot of balance to traverse, otherwise, they''d fall down and they might as well accept their fates! For a while, they were handling it well, and the odd terrain actually slowed down the beasts following them. Sadly, even the most experienced of men were vulnerable to even the littlest mistakes. Shim, while defending against a weaker monster coming at him, waved his axe with so much force that he wasn''t able to control his own inertia in time. When the ground he stepped on wasn''t leveled, he immediately lost his balance. "AHHH!" he screamed, and the stout guy tried to balance himself while he fell, but he only ended up facing above him because of the terrain. "SHIM!!" Puto yelled, and Raz also paled. However, they were already too far ahead to do anything. "NO!" Senson had his bow and arrow out, but he couldn''t even help his teammate because he, too, was dealing with monsters trying to clobber him. Shim could only watch as the large monster opened its mouth, no doubt about to eat him whole. What he didn''t expect was the sound of a soft whistle slicing through the air next to him. This was followed by someone tugging on his shirt, pulling him up. BOOM! Shim''s eyes widened as he looked at the explosion that came out of nowhere, not even noticing he was being dragged backwards by someone. He watched as the heat and force of the explosion caused the monster to straighten its back in its anger, holding its face in pain. ROAAAR!! "Come on! HURRY UP!" A voice yelled next to him, pushing him forward. It was Helios. He saved his life!! "T-Thank you!" "We''re not safe yet!" The others almost cried at the sight of him, and Enok patted Helios'' shoulders in thanks, but their pace didn''t slow down. They were already gasping for air now, but no one dared take a breather. They heard the monster''s distant roar again, and they knew it was running after them again! Fortunately, they soon entered more difficult terrain. In some parts, it was a narrow cliff, and in some areas it was a tunnel. This was really a path less taken, and it was the only way they had right now. At some point, the tunnel had gotten so narrow that Puto almost didn''t fit in! Fortunately, he had enough awareness to use his axe to cut down on some rocks, allowing him to pass through. They could hear the monster''s roars right behind them as well as its banging on the mountain side. Some small rocks fell down on them, and they genuinely worried that they''d be buried under rubble if this went on. However, the monster eventually stopped pounding, evidently giving up on them. Monsters were like this, and it was fortunate they were brainless. Enok didn''t dare completely let go of his guard and he continued to lead the team forward. After about half an hour, he finally stopped, looking at his team with eyes bright in relief. "We''re safe for now," Enok said. "We''re heading to another section of the mountains, and we should be nearing the exit soon." After confirming it was safe, everyone''s legs buckled. They all took deep breaths to catch up on all the air they lost while trying to survive, and they tried to relax their muscles that had been strained by all the stressful running. Of course, with people calming down, everyone couldn''t help but turn to Helios. "What was that?!" Shim asked, curious. Although he was from the city, there were still things he apparently hadn''t seen yet. "...a magic tool," Helios lied with a straight face. "It''s all I have." Every Captain-level guard was given two or three bombs every month, along with a few more sleeping gases and the like. After traveling by himself to Ferrol¡­ this was really his last one. "Anyway, how far is Bleuelle, still? Are we there when we exit this mountain range?" "Not necessarily," Enok said. "Bleuelle contained a portion of this mountain range, though it looked more like a standalone mountain than a section of it." "Ah, I heard about this," Raz said. He was a sociable guy and a pretty reliable person to assign to information gathering missions. "The Blus, in fact, were mined in that mountain." Helios looked interested in this. "Then doesn''t that mean Blu can be mined in another area in this place?" "You think no one has tried?" Enok asked. "Not counting others, the Bleuelle Nobility had definitely done what they could¡ªafter all, it''s their main industry, and it''s dwindling." Ah, that makes sense. Anyway, they put this topic aside for now, and they continued with the final section of their trek. Although there were indeed mobs, they were manageable and no big monsters were encountered again. They walked and walked and felt the slopes gradually turning flatter. Soon, the sights opened up to a vast, relatively flat, milleau of forests. And then, following the line of the mountain range, they could actually see a territory at a distance! It was still a bit far, but its tall walls and buildings were proof that it was a big territory¡ªa City! Helios'' eyes were bright as he walked forward, practically leading the team to Bleuelle. Sahara, please be there! Chapter 1008 Helios Lands in Bleuelle! A City was huge. Since they were coming from the mountain range, they had a higher vantage point and could see more of the city than people on the normal ground level. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Basically, it went as far as one could see, even from a certain height. Helios'' eyes were wide as he was introduced to a whole new world with such tall walls and buildings. Alterra also had a few tall buildings, but he had never seen them done to this degree. Back in Terran, he traveled a lot, and he could compare the size to the cities there and he could say that Bleuelle¡ªand likely most cities in this world¡ªwere definitely on the larger side. This was understandable. This world probably had billions and billions of people, too, but it was much more dense due to the dangers of places outside the territories. It was also interesting to see something so completely different architecturally to what Alterra had. Since they were so near quarry mountains, most of the buildings in Bleuelle were predominantly made of stone. However, likely due to the limitations of technology, the upper floors had a lot more wood to reduce the weight. As for why he even noticed these details¡ªalthough he still had ways to go to get to his uncle''s level¡ªHelios'' training was to be greatly observant of their surroundings and he picked up a few things along the way. Anyway, there was a long line of people coming in and out from various directions, indicating the activity of the place. There were two queues: One for people on-foot and another for people in Beast Carts. The Beast Carts were, understandably, lining up at a distance apart to keep them behaved. So even if they were fewer in number than the ones on foot, their queue looked longer. Anyway, Helios had never seen so many Beast Carts lined up before. Then again, it made sense. Even if only a small percentage could afford such a carriage, this was a city with probably a million people or more. By ratio, of course it had a lot of carriages. The group lined up on one side of course, though it seemed like the line was slow because the Beast Carts were the priority entrants. If it misbehaved at the entrance, everyone else had to keep waiting. As they queued, Helios took notice of the people in the line. It was a mix of decently dressed businessmen and also refugees. He thought for a while and decided to chat around in hopes of finding out more information in general. If he managed to report back to Alterra, his absence might even give him contribution points! If all goes well, he''d bring Sahara back. If she asked him to support her family, he would do it too! Helios had long been brewing ideas on how to convince her when they did meet. He knew she was having trouble in her Town. He''d definitely do whatever he could to help her out. Alterra was a hodgepodge of brilliant minds. Maybe they could get help, too! However, for Alterra to help, he¡ªand, ideally, Sahara and her hometown¡ªmust show enough value! It wasn''t much, but being the source of good information was a start! Not to mention, he needed contribution points to make Sahara a permanent resident! Alterra''s requirements had been spiking, and he ought to stabilize her status as soon as possible! He also needed to buy his own house. Although he and his uncle had made a downpayment for their house and were already halfway through amortization, both of them were bound to have their own families¡ªthey''d need their own spaces! Anyway, by being a social butterfly (with a few crackers here and there) he found out that the refugees came from various territories around this place. Some had been greatly affected by the unexpected Heat Wave, particularly those East and Southeast¡ªterritories apparently nearer the desert. There were also refugees from the West, some of whom were attacked by orcs. Although he had heard of orcs from their natives as well as the half-orcs, it felt different to hear about them in this context. In terms of volatility, they were a cross between Baku''s destructive powers (and more) and the irrational bloodlust of beasts. While they had sentience, they were extremely violent. There were also certain types of clans that ate humans. Generally speaking, even if it was different races, Helios considered eating fellow intelligent beings as cannibalism¡­ which was disgusting. There were also visitors from Towns. They were mostly here to buy some Blus or get some items from the marketplace, where various merchants from different territories nearby congregated to sell their things. Some visitors were even from a familiar town¡ªJacoba. They were small-time merchants who couldn''t afford Beast Carts, but were big enough to form small caravans. Blu was too expensive, but other products were good things to buy and sell back in Jacoba¡ªespecially to the lord and their families who could buy anything as long as it made them look regal. He did get news that there seemed to have been some chaos that went on though, and it involved Cassandra. As merchants, they were naturally more informed about current events and knew that a war with Ester Town was brewing. The Jacoba merchants said they''d be staying in Bleuelle for a while, letting that war pass, and they ranted to him a lot about how their savings might get drained in this place. But what could they do? They''d rather not risk becoming slaves. Helios took note of all the information he had and placed them in his notebook. As he settled back to his team, a few of them couldn''t help but sneak peek at his notebook (which was really interesting on its own, by the way) and realized he was writing in a language they couldn''t understand. Scribble, scribble Stare Scribble, scribble Helios sighed and lifted his head, looking at the nosy mercenaries next to him. "What is it?" Puto stared at him. "We also have a lot of information," he said, extending his palms and doing a ''give me'' motion. Helios'' lips twitched and he handed jerkies to them. His mercenary friends happily took the snacks and continued to leak some info to him. It seemed like Alterran products were as good as gold with them, which was great for him. From them, Helios found out that Bleuelle also had a pretty big influence South. However, although the ruling party had been hiding it, the people did eventually learn of the fact that the Blu was dwindling. A few years ago, it even inspired a large-scale movement to find a new mine. In fact, the reason why Enok knew the mountain well was because he took a few jobs¡ªfrom different factions, mind you¡ªto guard the people looking for it. No mines were found though, which actually gave Bleuelle more incentive to increase their prices. However, there was a limit, because many previously-consuming territories began to opt for system buildings instead. Anyway, the selection increased as time passed on, and there was less and less value in creating an aether building¡ªwhich, in their minds¡ªtended to become more and more similar, anyway. They chatted about this topic for a while and, before they knew it, the gate appeared in front of them. The conversation died down as Helios'' attention focused on the gates and what lay behind them. [Welcome to Bleulle City!] "Sahara," he uttered, his tone filled with longing. "Are you here?" Chapter 1009 The Current Gold Family [Welcome to Bleulle City! Please pay 5 silvers as the entrance fee.] Helios'' eyes twitched, paying for it with a heavy heart. Goodness, 5 silvers a day was 160 silvers a month. A good portion of the average salary was spent just by staying within the walls? Poor people must have it hard. Anyway, he was met with a barrage of activities as soon as he entered. The buildings were relatively tall and imposing, and there were people going around everywhere. Some of them had weapons on their backs and hips and were ready to go out. Most of them were quite strong, the lowest-level was around level 20. Some seemed to have just returned from a big hunt. They had large handcarts behind them, carrying carcasses of beasts to sell within the territory. There were also those who were just going around the perimeter, gathering resources and the like. He was also greeted with a strong stench of body odor and waste. This place definitely had a big cleaning crew, but because the City was much denser than towns or villages, it still stinked so much that Helios wanted to run out to breathe some air. There were avenues but, otherwise, the streets seemed organic and narrow for its use. There was quite a bit of traffic, especially when two larger-than-usual beasts ended up using a street at the same time. The beast carts had the speed of cars, and they traversed the avenues with relative disregard to the pedestrians. However, the people were used to this and just consciously avoided the streets whenever a Beast Cart approached. Many would also be hit and pushed away by the carriages, but they would just stand back up again and walk away as if nothing happened, regardless of their injuries. Helios was overwhelmed with the clamors of people and rackets of activity everywhere. He was reminded of dense marketplaces back in Terran, except there were the added dangers of beast carts and people who could lift them. Speaking of this, he heard the prices yelled by the hawkers. As expected, prices for cities were really up there. He worried all that gold he had saved up would get drained. He finally understood the territory''s worries when they tried to balance the salaries and costs with that of outside. It was a really big move and affected everyone, especially the businesses that had to shoulder a lot of the initial costs. He understood it in theory, but experiencing it himself was really different. If they kept it as it was, it was estimated a month''s salary wouldn''t last him a few days in here. Anyway, he shook his head, forcing himself to adjust to his new reality. He had to find Sahara! "Where are you going?" sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I want to go to the City Center to make an announcement." The Mercenaries were puzzled as they looked at him. He blinked, and explained exactly what he was planning to do for efficiency. "Cities normally don''t allow it casually," Enok explained. "There are millions of people in a City. Imagine hearing announcements from them?" His heart sank. That made sense¡­ but still¡­ "Also, even if it was allowed, are you planning on announcing a woman''s name randomly?" Raz asked, looking at him oddly. "You do know that she could get in trouble for that, right?" "What?" "Do you even know anything about this woman?" Raz-the-woman-expert asked, tone becoming more and more reprimanding. "If you¡ªan unrelated man¡ªcarelessly looked for her with such fanfare, her reputation would suffer." Raz, despite having a few lovers, actually cared for his women and took a bit more effort to get to know them to some degree. It was part of his charm. It was also why Helios'' earlier words did strike a chord, which would''ve had no effect to other men with multiple lovers. Regardless of Raz''s lovelife, his words put a major damper in Helios'' plan. He looked up at the sentries with flags and emblems, showing off the prestige the place had as a city. Bleulle City had the logo of a papyrus and pen, indicative of its main industry. After staring at it for a moment, he tilted his head back to look at the bustling streets at eye level. After being used to the openness of Alterra''s plan, this felt a little¡­ suffocating, as if it was draining his confidence of ever finding his woman. Obviously¡­ he''s going to need a lot more help. Puto¡ªthe ever-so opportunistic foodie¡ªcouldn''t help but nudge him again. "We can help you investigate if you give us some more." Helios blinked and turned to him, wondering if he was serious. He was. And so were the others. "Really? Ok deal." Wow. Alterra''s products could really replace gold. Anyway, the group huddled in a corner of the bustling plaza as they planned. They ended up separating, though they were worried about leaving Helios alone. He shook his head. "I know some people here," he said, reassuring them that he wouldn''t get randomly killed on the streets (or at least he hoped so), and to do their own tasks. He didn''t want to slow down finding Sahara because they had to babysit him! He had to reassure them a few more times before they all finally separated to do their own tasks. Helios heaved a sigh of relief as he watched their backs. Despite their flaws, they were definitely reliable. After the disappeared from view, Helios stared at the lively streets ahead of him. He took a deep breath (which made him gag a bit), before heading to the City Center anyway. He needed to get to the Golds, after all. ¡­ In the more exclusive neighborhoods, the Golds were having their meal together, catching up with smiles on their faces. They were among the very rare breed of upper-class family who could have sincere and amicable conversations with each other. "Hey! That''s my beef!" "Huh? It''s a communal dish, dumbass." Well, partially amicable conversations. Still¡­ Zaol''s mood was good. His children might be throwing insults at each other¡ªwhich made his wife shake her head in exasperation¡ªbut he was actually smiling a bit. In fact, it hadn''t always been like this in this manor. The culture back then was like most other noble families: toxic. Although his kids fought a lot, he knew they loved each other. Unlike when he was young¡­ and siblings wanted to kill each other. Chapter 1010 The Golds in the Past The generation of the current patriarch, Zaol, at least, wasn''t the same as his predecessors. As to how the family created such a culture, it actually had quite a tragic history. His father had a handful of women at his beck and call but, even so, only a few were born due to his high level. Zaol had three other siblings, though mostly from different mothers, and he was actually the second child. Their age gaps were also quite big, sometimes with a decade or two apart from each other. The oldest man¡ªthe former heir¡ªwas older than he was by over a decade. The man was a copy of their father, and acted completely like him. He was borne from a frail woman sold by her family for some blus. Her level was not too high and it took about a decade of marriage before she got pregnant with him. The main wife realized it was a son and caused his mother to have an accident. Fortunately, they both survived, but this caused him to be quite weak as a child. When they determined he wasn''t a good seed from a young age, he had virtually been ignored, which was what ultimately saved his life in the end. The next child was another boy from another woman¡ªa young noble woman, in fact, and was even more beautiful than his previous wives. His third brother was about five years younger than him, but he was definitely far more opportunistic than he was. That lad was always vying for their father''s attention, and trying to one-up their oldest brother. In some cases, he actually succeeded. This was quite a feat. After all, the oldest was almost 2 decades older than he was. Similarly, because the third brother''s mother was young, useful, and beautiful, she quickly became the Lord''s favorite woman, intensifying the rivalry between the two families. While the tensions between the two women and their sons intensified, Zaol and his own mother lived peacefully. Sometimes, their fights were only verbal, some were subtle, but as the sons grew up and got into each others'' necks, their mothers started behaving more aggressive as well. Once, when the other women got into a shrewish fight, the Lord decided to take Zaol''s mother again. She was meek and quiet, and was refreshing to be with when the other women were too much. Like this, his mother was added to his father''s roster and¡ªafter a few years¡ªgave birth to his youngest sibling, Zinnia, who was the only girl in his generation. Sadly, the birth was too much this time, and it took his mother''s life. Zaol never blamed his sister for her death. Rather, he loved her so much because he considered her the only true family he had left. For the next few years, the two of them survived quietly in their own corner. They tried to steer clear from the fights of the other women and their sons, as much as they could. He protected his sister from prying eyes, and she safely grew up into a teenager without being forcefully taken by a noble like he had seen happen to other little girls. However, it was one thing not to feel safe within your home, and it was another when one openly felt hostility inside it. They were supposed to be a family, and yet they could never trust even their own family member. Every interaction would always end with bitterness¡ªsometimes in outward fights. There were plenty of times one side sabotaged the other whatever chance they got, and vice versa. This was actually a common practice amongst nobilities and Zaol felt that he was the only one wondering why things had to be this way. It went on for years until his sister was married off to a man 50 years older than he was. She was the man''s third wife, and the women before her all died gruesome deaths. His family knew this yet they continued to send the girl to the beast. Zaol had always been soft-hearted¡ªit was called his greatest flaw since as far as he could remember. He adored his little sister¡ªhis only full sibling¡ªwhom he watched grow himself. How could he let her go to the monster''s den? So, for the first time in his life, he rebelled. He hid his sister and helped her escape. He was caught and was put in isolation for a month, to be treated worse than slaves. At the time, he didn''t regret it because at least he saved his sister''s life. Sadly, he was too naive. There were very few people willing to help women here, even if they were nobility, and especially if some reward money was involved. Zinnia was still shipped out to do the family''s bidding in the end. His second brother even visited him in prison with a sly smirk on his face, and he told him how his sister died during her first night with her new husband. Zaol almost died in the prison cell that day. At the same time, the new power and business received from the marriage caused the tensions within the family to exacerbate. The Lord of Bleulle at the time, Bleumrick''s father, also fanned the flames. He promised to give more status to their family and hoped that an heir would be finalized within the year. While Zaol was imprisoned, his brothers started trying to kill each other. One was direct assassination pinned on the other''s enemies, while the other set up various poisons. Their mothers also died in mysterious circumstances as per the other''s plans. To the despair of the lord, both heirs died¡ªleaving Zaol, who was half-dead in the cell¡ªthe only remaining heir. One could imagine the complications. It ended nicely after a few months because Gaia, one of the most viable bachelorettes in the entire City, insisted on marrying him. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They had known each other since they were children, though he had no idea why she would insist on marrying him at the time. To him, she was so bright. She could''ve married anyone she wanted. She was a passing acquaintance that he could only admire from afar. When he found out he was going to be married to her, he legitimately believed he must''ve died in prison. In any case, his father died 10 years after their wedding and he gained control of the family¡ªmuch to the assistance of his wife. At the time, he swore never to make the mistakes of the previous generation. The pondering of these deep memories did not show on Zaol''s face at all. On the surface, he was only listening to his children chatter and even argue, though it was more of a teasing nature. He knew in his heart that if any of their siblings were in danger, the others would jump in to defend them. Zaol''s eyes glistened as he looked at his current happy family, heart filled with warmth. He also looked at his wife who supported him and built this good family with him. He held her hand tightly, as if wanting to pass on his heart. "Thank you." Gaia''s eyebrows rose as she looked at him, confused. "What is this for?" Zaol just chuckled. He just leaned down and gave Gaia a sound smooch on the lips¡ªmaking the (40-year-old) kids gape in disgust, of course. "EWWW!" Chapter 1011 An Unwelcome Guest Seeing their lovey-dovey parents, the younger generation couldn''t help but gag a little. Well, Obi and Otto did. Olga was shaking her head with a smile, while Orion was eating as if nothing was happening on the table. He was sitting next to his wife, who was smiling lightly but otherwise was quite quiet¡ªas she usually was. Seeing him made Otto remember a question he had been meaning to ask. "When are you leaving for Holt City, big brother?" The older Gold answered concisely. "Tomorrow." Gaia looked at her oldest son. "Make sure to bring everything," she said. "Every essential is in my space and space stone, mother," Orion said, and the woman nodded in approval. Holt City was almost 5000 miles away from this place. For various reasons, Orion would not be using the Teleportation Array. This meant that, even by beast car, it would take around half a month just to get there. Otto looked at his brother. "Since you''re there, can you find out more about the Holt City Lord''s grandchild?" This made everyone turn to him, though Olga and the others seemed to have realized what it was about. "Why do you ask?" "Well, we''re just curious," he said with a shrug. "It''s not a secret anyway, right?" "Hmn," Orion said, tone as monotonous as always, before resuming his meal. Gaia shook her head and then looked at the other children. "How''s the business?" she asked and at the mention of his passion, Otto immediately perked up. Otto''s business had a spike¡ªwhich was saying something. His business had always been profitable, but it had been stagnant for a while. This marked its first growth after so long¡ªand such a spike, too. It hadn''t been long since they returned, but the things were already sold out and he made so much money. More so than a few rounds in others. Of course, he knew that as time passed, the margins would decrease because more people would inevitably find their ''source''. But, for now, he would definitely be milking these nobles for what they''re worth. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Olga''s business, selling products targeting women, also did well. Olga owned a shop with her sister-in-law, and they used the already established infrastructure to launch the new product lines. There were plenty of wagging tongues but they were buying their products anyway so whatever. "It''s the talk of the City''s noble women," Gaia said with a smile. "While they showed their jealousy by mocking you two," she paused, looking at Olga and Hilda, "The fact that they can''t get enough¡ªand are even fighting over¡ªyour products is enough testament to the truth." "I am happy for you two and I am proud," she said. The two women''s eyes were bright, glistening. They felt so lucky to have this support system. If it was other women selling these things, they would only be mocked while being robbed at the same time. Gaia smiled and then looked at her youngest. "I heard the ranking of the guard teams has been concluded as well." Obi looked smug at this. "Yes, we ranked up, Mother," he said. "Our people trained a lot, but we also gained a lot of points due to the weapons we bought from Alterra." The Lord''s right hand man in charge of military might, Lars, even bought the weapon. Alterra made it clear that, while it was preferred to keep the weapons to themselves, they wouldn''t be blamed if they had to give access to others. Getting a charge of insubordination was obviously not worth it, so he sold it for a good price (he charged 10x the market price). Anyway, even if Lars figured it out¡ªwhich would definitely take a while¡ªAlterra would be receiving some shares as well by virtue of their patents. The discussion headed to the best-selling products and which ones they should focus on buying. "The instant noodles, crackers, and jerkies are especially popular, especially with the mercenaries," Otto said. As people who traveled a lot, these delicious long-shelf-life foods were naturally very popular. The sauces also did amazingly, of course, and¡­ well, everything did. "Wow, that''s a lot." At this, Olga and Otto turned to their parents. "Our own tiny space stones are not enough," they said. "Can we borrow yours?" "..." However, instead of dismissing the request immediately, they actually seriously considered it, which was already very good! Space Stones were not cheap! Although they were less expensive than Aether Stones¡ªwhich could be used by strongmen to increase their levels¡ªthey were much more difficult to find. As the parents, the two of them naturally enjoyed a lot of the products the children brought at no cost. They could understand why they were selling so well. At the same time, the creativity and variety were¡­ fascinating to say the least. They were born and raised in cities. Compared to other people, they were much more enlightened about what this world had to offer. Seeing all those new things at their age made their old souls beat with excitement. "I''m so curious about that place," she said, making everyone perk up. Olga smiled and stood up, dragging a chair next to her mother so she could coax her. "Come with us for a vacation," she said, hugging the older woman''s arm. "You''ll love it there." She smiled. "Well, someday," Gaia said, looking at her husband who was looking warmly at them. She squeezed his hand a little bit more tightly. "We''ll check it out someday." Someday¡­, they''d go on a vacation without the burden of their identities. They would simply be a family having fun. After the meal, they went on to have tea as a family so they could talk more. However, it was interrupted when a servant urgently went to them. "Master, you have a visitor." For a while, they didn''t know who it was, but the fact that the servant was so frantic made them worry a bit. "It''s Lady Octavia." Octavia. The Lord''s only child, the princess of Bleuelle City, and¡ªaccording to many¡ªOrion''s former sweetheart. Chapter 1012 The Princess of Bleulle A/N: Althea had successfully passed the quarter finals for this year''s Character voting contest! Thank you to everyone who voted for her~! HUGS! Now, it is Garan''s turn in the quarter finals~! If you have excess points, do send them his way~ (voting can be done either via event page or just by the fandom) Voting ends around Dec 18 24 at 8:00 am GMT+8~ Thank you in advance! \\o/ ((Next year I will get the babies up there for voting lollololol would be so fun haha)) .. ____ Octavia entered shortly after, followed by two maids who stood dutifully by the door as she went in. She was as beautiful as always, red hair flowing down her shoulders and framing her pretty face. She had a gentle smile on her face, but she did have a sharp aura around her, indicative that she was not one to be messed with. "Did I come at the wrong time?" she asked, looking at the people inside. Obi wanted to answer but Olga pinched his arm to stop him. "OW!" Octavia didn''t even see Obi, nor did she care for his exclamation. Her green eyes ended up on Orion¡ªwhose expression was stoic as always¡ª as he wordlessly drank his tea. He was leisurely sitting there with his eyes closed, and he did not even bother to look at her. Her heart clenched but, even so, Octavia''s face did not change. Instead, she shifted her gaze to his wife, who was seated closely next to him. Hilda felt her stare and she unconsciously looked down and, for a few moments, the room was met with an awkward silence. "Octavia, you are back," Gaia broke this silence by standing up and greeting the woman. In this world, they''d have all stood up if the Lord entered the room. However, other people would not get the same treatment. "Auntie¡­" Octavia said, her sharpness softening immediately as she held onto the older woman''s hands. Octavia was a distant niece of Gaia, the daughter of a cousin on the maternal side. They were quite close, especially when the girl was growing up, and stayed with her a lot. The two women together were also quite a sight. Although their hairs were of different shades of red¡ªwith Gaia''s more brownish than Octavia''s striking red¡ªthey certainly popped a lot in a room with predominantly golden hair. Gaia led her to sit with the rest of them, taking careful consideration to sit her near Olga, and as far away from Orion and Hilda as possible. Speaking of Hilda, Gaia looked at her meek daughter-in-law. She was still a little pale and couldn''t meet the other woman in the eye. However, in contrast to how she was before¡ªseeming like a weak and ill gugu bird chick whenever Octavia was around¡ªHilda now had her back straight and appeared a lot more composed. Gaia let out a soft breath, relieved. It seemed that the success of her business gave her some confidence against her husband''s former beau. "When did you get back to Bleuelle?" Gaia asked the younger girl. "How was the visit with the allied city?" Both the lord and his only child, Octavia, had gone to visit an allied city the past month or so. However, from what she remembered, Octavia and the lord had gone to visit Hassen City, which was also more than 5000 miles away from them, though in the Northwest direction. Of course, cities had teleportation arrays so the distance wasn''t actually much of a factor. In any case, they had no news of the lord returning, so she was surprised to see the girl here. "Just today," Octavia said, answering her question. "I missed you, so I went straight here." She said this to Gaia, though her eyes¡ªconsciously or not¡ªslid towards Orion with meaningful light. Gaia cleared her throat, immediately shifting the conversation. "The Lord still hasn''t returned?" The younger redhead shook her head. "He is busy either looking for an heir somewhere, or busy making one." They looked at the young woman in pity. She was the lord''s only heir, but was never considered for the role because she was a woman. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The only reason she had not been married off was that she was the only confirmed protege of the Lord. Bleumrick certainly didn''t stop looking for an alternative, however. Some said it was retribution. After all, the current lord brutally killed all his siblings and their children to gain his current position. It was a famous time when the City was bathed in blood, which also established Bleumrick''s power. Anyway, it was no secret that the lord had been actively looking for a male heir, and his harem of dozens was a testament to that. The scheming that went on inside the lord''s large palace was terrifying. Many of these women died because they were a threat, and some were already pregnant when they perished. Anyway, it was all quite chaotic and, if Octavia was right, then this meant the lord was looking for another wife¡ªideally a young noblewoman¡ªin another City. Speaking of harem members, Olga was nearly selected when she was younger. However, Gaia and the entire family put their foot down. Although Bleumrick did succumb in the end, he definitely lost all favor of them since then. This added with Orion''s decision to marry Hilda instead Octavia, and the two families had been in a state of tension ever since. However, Octavia was a distant relative of hers¡ªthe daughter of a second cousin¡ªand they were relatively close since she was a child. Although Gaia had long felt a bit of darkness in the woman, she was reluctant to cut ties in hopes of keeping the girl on the right path. The deities knew the girl''s own family wouldn''t care. Anyway, after the initial greetings, the rest of the family excused themselves to leave the two redheads alone. Gaia did not stop them, knowing the generation didn''t quite get along with each other. Octavia was also not the Lord, so she could not expect the same reverence. In the end, the only ones left were her and Olga. As for Zaol, he knew they''d be talking about the trip but did not want to hear about it. After all, Hassen City was the place that¡ªto his knowledge¡ªtortured and killed his sister. Olga stayed for the face of it and for her mother. She had maintained a civil relationship with Octavia through the years, though they were never like sisters. Gaia knew this and never pushed them to get closer. In the end, she just patted the younger woman''s hand. After a bit of small talk, Gaia finally went to the point. "What are you here for, Lady Octavia?" Octavia couldn''t speak for a moment. Her shoulders slumped as she pursed her lips¡ªa rare show of weakness on her part. "My proposal is the same, but this time¡­ the timing is urgent." Olga''s eyebrows rose and she looked at her mother, who shook her head. "It is up to Orion, and he rejected it firmly the previous time." Octavia pursed her lips and her fist clenched. "Then¡­ let me talk to him, one on one¡­ "One last time." Chapter 1013 Lady Octavia A/N: I know everyone misses Althea and Alterra (I do too~) but yeah, we got a lot of future arcs to set up and the setting can''t be told in Althea''s limited POV while she''s safely in Alterra. xD Wait a little more, my loves~ We''ll finish this mini-arc soon! Probably! ... ____ Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Octavia went to Orion''s study and saw him writing in his study, surrounded by documents. Her heart clenched again¡ªjust by the sight of him. The current image overlapped with the ones decades ago, when he was much smaller. Orion started doing documents early on and was trained as the heir from as early as he was 15 years old. Because he had the ability and the level-headedness, he was also given more responsibilities early on. Even at that age, he was an admired ''golden boy'' in the city. He had become the ''standard'' of what an heir should be like, and people forgot how weak Zaol was. She admired him so much and was proud that her future husband was so capable and handsome. Although he was never affectionate with her, he never overtly denied their arranged marriage either. Even when the arrangement wasn''t a formal one, everybody assumed it was, so she had been so certain that she''d get married to him. But now¡­ She pursed her lips and walked forward. "Orion¡­" she said, her voice soft, hoping he''d turn to look at her again. "What is it, Octavia?" he asked, without pulling his eyes away from the documents. When she was a teenager, something similar happened. At the time, she was so jealous of the paper she actually hid them... It didn''t take long for Orion to figure out who was the suspect. Instead of being mad though, he simply ignored her for months after that. No matter how many times she visited him, how many gifts she sent, and how many words of apology she uttered¡ªhe didn''t mind them at all. She wished he had yelled at her instead. At least, in that way, he would show emotions. At the time, she felt like she was not even worthy to show his anger to. Those were the worst days of her life, only overtaken by that night when she lost him to another. She heaved a deep breath and walked around the table, her arms holding his shoulder. His eyebrows furrowed and he turned to look at her with a frown. "What are you doing?" he asked, standing up to put distance between them. Instead, she rushed forward, hugging him from behind. "Please¡­ Orion. Please help me." "Have some dignity, Octavia." "Please, take me. You don''t have to leave Hilda," she said. "You just have to take me in, even if it is only in name, please¡­" If her father found an heir, then it was only a matter of time before she got married off. It wasn''t that she had not tried killing her father¡ªit was in her blood, after all. However, that man was a powerhouse level 65. He was the strongest in the entire city next to some hermit elders who didn''t care about anything anymore. He was also deeply mistrusting. He would be able to kill the women next to him without batting an eye if they showed even a hint of being suspicious. He also had special tools and equipment that would make him virtually impenetrable to them, even when he was asleep. However, despite this, he still desperately tried to get sons even if the chances were almost nill¡ªas if it was better than putting her on the throne. Orion took away her hold on him and stepped back. He stared at her for a moment, as if considering, but he shook his head in the end. "You know how my family is, and I agree with our values." "I''m begging you so much. Do you not feel sad for me? I can be married off to a bastard!!" Orion sighed. He knew he was being callous. A woman''s marriage could determine her life and death. However, she had betrayed his trust once¡ªwho was to say she wouldn''t do it again? He could not risk the peace his parents worked so hard for for such a woman. "I am the next patriarch of the family. I will not risk our current dynamic for others." "I''m sorry, Octavia," he said. "I can help you find a good husband¡ª" "STOP IT! I want you!" she yelled. "I can marry no one else." "You cannot have everything you want, Octavia. Not everyone is blessed with such good fortune." Her father was doing everything to avoid putting her as an heir, and this man was doing everything to avoid taking her, when she was throwing herself at him! She had always been proud and revered as a woman, since she was a child. How could things be like this?! "You will regret humiliating me so much!" she said and walked out, slamming the door behind her. .... Orion stood still as she left, not even giving another look. At some point, he heard soft footsteps approach the open door, tentatively entering it. "Husband¡­" Hilda whispered, stopping an arm''s length away from him. "Will this really be alright?" He sighed. It would be a lie to say he never had affection towards Octavia, but it was more like that of siblings. Because they were close, he also knew of how Octavia could be. Octavia¡­ wasn''t too far from how her family was. She was just much more muted thanks to the Golds'' influence, but she did have the tendency to be a little mad. Although she hid it well, Orion had designated himself to be the protector of his family and its peace. So whenever his instincts flared, he would investigate it. For one, he found out what she did to various women, nobles or not. Those who were also discussed as his fiance candidate all met some form of misfortune. No one lost their lives, nor was anyone gravely injured, but they were all traumatized. Even those ladies that his mother showed favors to had become unlucky one way or another. As someone who had watched Octavia grow up to a lady, Orion felt sad seeing this. In fact, if his mother hadn''t been there to be her guide¡ªto show her sincere motherly affection¡ªOrion knew Octavia would have done much graver things. Then, she gave him a love potion, trying to control him to make love to her. That had been the final straw and caused him to adamantly be against being with her. He had known of his parents'' struggles building the family. He was born while the former patriarch was alive. The situation of the Golds was something his parents worked hard for. Adding a person like Octavia¡­ it was bound to ruin it. He didn''t risk taking her in even as a nominal mistress either. Knowing her tendencies, doing so was to put his wife and child at risk. However, for the sake of history, it wasn''t that he didn''t try to find her a way out. The best way was to find her a good husband. However, there was no good man he could pit with such a woman, knowing she could destroy his life. The man that would fit her was unlikely to be a good man, so he didn''t want to get too involved lest he be blamed. His wife waited patiently for his answer and he sighed. "What can we do but simply prepare ourselves?" He asked. In fact, one of the main reasons he was going to Holt without taking the Teleportation Array was to possibly find some ways to secure his family, even if the Bleuelle Lord (and daughter) decided to go against them. "I''m worried¡­" Hilda mumbled, shivering a bit. Octavia was her cousin. She, of all people, knew what she was capable of. She was lucky so far because of Orion''s protection. For their engagement, he even gifted her a mid-grade protection charm, something she still wore close to her chest to this day. Orion looked at his wife. Hilda had plenty of insecurities, but she had a pure heart that was rare among nobilities. She was weak, but he thought he could be the strength for both of them. As long as the family was raised and maintained well, that was all he needed from her. He sighed and patted her shoulder before walking out of the room. "Let''s go down," he said. "We have a lot of things to explain things to the family." Chapter 1014 Aether Stones When Octavia left the room, she had already wiped her tears and held her head high. She tried to retain the pride she had left and even managed to say a curt goodbye to Gaia. However, the dark atmosphere around her was indicative of what Orion chose to do. Sure enough, Orion and Hilda soon emerged from the upper floors with dire expressions on their faces. The family couldn''t help but look at each other. Hilda''s eyes fixed on her husband, and she pursed her lips. Otto shook his head. "Will this be alright?" Zaol sighed, though also a bit worried. "Orion''s leaving soon. Time apart would do well for both of them." "What are they doing going so far away?" According to the information, they went to both Holt City and Hassen City, with the Lord staying particularly long in the latter. "Well, Holt City has a lot of aether stones, that could be it." There were very few things that could get a city lord outside for a visit. "As for Hassen, who knows? He has a lot of relatives there, right?" Obi said carelessly, though he was pinched in the stomach by his sister in response. He was confused at first, but then he saw his father and he quickly shut his mouth. Anyway, Otto put the topic back to Bleumrick. "Aether stones¡­ those are quite expensive. Does he need it so much?" Aether stones were basically an amalgamation of massive amounts of aether. They were extremely expensive, the cheapest ones costing hundreds if not thousands of gold. "His lifespan should still be sizeable," Otto said, pondering. At the lord''s level¡ªand his father''s as well, to some degree¡ªthe way to level up was through aether stones, but it had diminishing effects. Not to mention, leveling up that way was a bit like cheating as well. He learned the term ''ballooning'' in Alterra, and it felt apt. At some point, it was not worth it to spend years'' worth of income when one couldn''t level up properly. "Maybe he''s putting them out as rewards to the noble families," Obi said. Some cities would gift a few aether stones to top families in their territory. It was a way to retain loyalty and increase the overall strength of the place as well. It was one of the reasons why people fought hard to be a top family in cities, because the higher the rank, the more stones they could receive. Of course, this also meant their interests would be tied deeper and deeper to that territory. Bleuelle was not as generous as territories like Holt City but it did follow its example to some degree. Aether stones had many other uses. For instance, they were used by cities to create, power, and maintain things like teleportation arrays and some superior magic tools like magic barriers. In Bleulle, there were three teleportation arrays going to three allied territories¡ªHolt, Hassen, and Cloth City. The cost was extravagant because each trip consumed some energy from the aether stone. It might heal itself through time, but the speed of consumption usually could not match the speed of recovery. This was why all the arrays were in a special building near the palace, and could be used only for at least a thousand golds each trip. Of course, each trip could include a group of people and a lot of luggage so if one had money, it was usually worth it. They also had a Magic Barrier. The barrier was something the first lord and the first patriarch of the Golds managed to obtain from Dwarves back then. After the Elves, the Dwarves¡ªwho were considered the Elves'' closest relatives, in a way¡ªwere the most proficient race that dealt with arrays. However, when the Dwarves disappeared, no new barriers were created, making Bleuelle one of the very few territories to have it. Another limitation was that the barrier couldn''t be too big either. When activated, it only covered the central area. This area could only contain the lord''s, as well as the top 12 noble families. This was one of the reasons why the position of the 12 noble houses was so revered and sought after. One had to know: A magic barrier was 100x more effective than even the highest-level walls. The barriers had only been used a few times in the history of Bleuelle, but it had proven its amazingness. Wars between cities were very rare¡ªbut they were the bloodiest. There were no more limits on wars between cities. They could go against Level 40 enemies, or Level 60. They could go against tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even more. However, even when there were cities that worked together to take them down, Bleulle kept strong¡ªand it was primarily due to this barrier. First of all, the barrier was counted as the territory''s ''top defense''. This meant that, in order to win the war against Bleuelle, the enemies must enter this area first. However, it was practically indestructible with a single stone lasting at least a few hours of maximum usage. If they had more stones (which they always had) then they''d just replace it. Basically, as long as they had enough stones, the war could end without the enemies managing to cross the barrier at all! Of course, the enemies would vent on the people left outside, but that wasn''t much of a concern within the ruling party. "Aether stones are important¡ªI don''t think we should stress out too much if one territory''s trying to collect more." "It is if the amount is abnormal." "I''m sure Bleuelle isn''t the only one doing it." As they discussed this, Otto froze a little at a thought. His caravans were far-reaching, and so was his network. Sometime before, he seemed to have gathered that Hassen was not only gathering a lot of black metal but also of Aether stones. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the time, he didn''t think too much of it. Hassen was so far away from them, after all, and its region barely touched theirs outside of the alliance. Were they connected? Or did their interests align more than before? Olga noticed her twin''s daze. "What is it?" "I remember hearing something about Hassen City." Hassen City had been keeping itself in the background during the past few decades. It made sure not to enter any conflicts, and it hadn''t been in a war for as long as they could remember. However, by pure serendipity, his people realized that its power was far beyond what it showed and that it had a lot more subsidiaries than what was claimed. In retrospect, Guia Village could have been one of these places. What were these Lords planning, exactly? Chapter 1015 Helios Arrival A/N: Semi-finals for this year''s Character Voting Contest is up~ ... ____ Orion nodded and they looked at him. "I have also gathered similar intelligence." "Is that why you''re heading to Holt City? And without using the Teleportation array," Otto said as if he was finally enlightened. They thought he was just being stingy. Apparently, he didn''t want to alert the lord where he was going. "We don''t know enough to get to any conclusions." "Well, we''ll just keep each other updated," Zaol said. "Don''t send sensitive messages via Post." The Post Office had risks and the Lord had the ability to check on the contents of what was being exchanged, so they had to be careful. "Be subtle. Perhaps we are overthinking." Before everyone could leave and do their own thing, however, the servant once again appeared. He looked a bit embarrassed for bothering the masters so often today. "You have another guest," he said, making the Golds look at each other with confusion. "We''re getting a lot of guests today." Normally, those who wished to speak with them would have the courtesy of sending a letter days in advance. Octavia''s case was understandable, but who was this one? It was probably their neighbors¡ªthat was to say, someone from the other ''top'' nobles. They believed that since they were of the same level, then there was no need to be polite. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Just the thought of those people visiting annoyed them quite a bit. Seeing that the masters were silent, the servant felt awkward. "...should I ask him to go?" "Well, I''m really not in the mood for those guys," Obi said, waving his hand, and not planning on interacting with those bastards. Olga though shook her head. "Didn''t they introduce themselves?" What if it was someone important? At this, the servant nodded. "I do not recognize him," he said. "But he claims he''s from a territory called Alterra." "..." ¡­ They naturally let this guest inside the house. To the servant''s surprise, Master Obi, Master Otto, and Miss Olga even stood up to greet him. They didn''t bother doing so with Miss Octavia. They were quite excited to see who it was. Granted, they were disappointed to see it was just Helios. "Oh¡­" Obi muttered, turning around to go back to his seat. Helios: "..." Did I do anything bad? The twins were much less rude. "You''re¡­ an Alterran guard, aren''t you?" Otto asked. They were not close but they found him familiar because he was a looker and was quite strong. He was also a rare metal elementalist, so Otto remembered him. "Yes, sir." Olga, on the other hand, was looking past him. "Are you alone?" "Yes. Miss Olga," Helios said. He finally realized that they were disappointed to see him and not any other big shot from home. "This is my personal mission and has nothing to do with Alterra." "What about your uncle?" "My Uncle?" This made everyone turn to look at her. Olga flinched, unconsciously rubbing the back of her neck. "It''s dangerous for you to be in a City alone," she said. "I quite like Alterra and, by extension, its inhabitants." "Ah¡­ Miss Olga is so kind," Helios said with a smile. "I borrowed money from Lord Jonathan and hired a Mercenary Team to escort me here." "Anyway, I''m the only Alterran here right now." "I see¡­" Olga inexplicably felt a bit disappointed but let it pass. Gaia''s eyebrows rose as she looked at her daughter, but didn''t ask. Zaol stood up. "I''ll leave you young people here to talk," he said, and Gaia left to go to her husband who would, no doubt, enter a daze on his own. He settled on his study, and he looked out the window pane with a blank expression on his face. Anything that reminded him of his unfortunate sister would silence him for hours after the fact. Gaia actually knew Zinnia¡ªquite well, too. They could be considered friends in a way, even if their interactions were limited. Zinnia''s stories about Zaol''s kindness were one of the major factors why she ended up falling in love with him. Zaol... was really one of a kind. How many men would be so loving, so considerate, and so loyal? Too rare. She''d argue they were rarer than dwarves. He would tell her over and over how lucky he felt she chose him, but it was actually the other way around. Gaia sighed and walked to him, her arms extending to massage his shoulders. "If you want me to stop seeing her, I can," she said. "I can make up excuses¡­" At this point, Octavia could still visit their house in the guise of visiting her. While it was unfair to assume this of the girl she treated like her own daughter, she wouldn''t put it past her either. Obviously, each one of her family was uncomfortable with the fact that she could visit at will, and perhaps it was time to put her foot down. Zaol held her hand and shook his head. "No, your relationship with Octavia is the only emotional anchor we have with the Lord''s family." The Lord had too much control over their business¡ªthis was something set up even from the previous generation. The first lords were very intelligent, making sure no one would grow more powerful, or richer than they were. It was not just them, it was the same with the other nobles. It was just that the Golds had been with the Lords'' family since the territory''s conception, and the interests had become too tied together. In any case, after what happened between their families¡ªparticularly with regard to Hilda and Olga¡ªlosing the last bit of favor could put them in a dangerous position. And those issues with the aether stones. Unlike his children, he was a lot less worried about Bleuelle¡­ but more about Hassen City. He knew that Bleuelle needed stones because it used the arrays a lot, and the Lords'' family always had a good amount stockpiled in case of wars. He knew that Bleumrick''s greatest ambition was to have many sons and continue the bloodline. In contrast, Hassen did not have a barrier, nor did they use their arrays as much. However, they seemed to be more active in collecting these things. Hassen¡­ also had an ambitious lord. He knew it too well. Aether stones were really powerful instruments¡ªthe most powerful in this world. If someone had too many of them, and they could make use of them, then they could become undefeatable. The reason there was no homogenous force in the continent was that it was difficult to gain too much power with the threats of beasts, other races, and the extreme weather. Further, the cities served as a check-and-balance amongst each other. Not to mention, because of the system, most people could escape to other territories as long as they were strong enough. This meant that a territory could not force people to stay in their control. If one territory could gain a vast amount of crystals¡­, this could change the current status quo. Of course, he still hoped he was overthinking. "Hassen City¡­" he just heaved a deep breath. "It cannot be underestimated. "We need to be prepared for the worst." Chapter 1016 Finding Sahara Back in the living room, the younger generation talked with their new guest. They were also even friendlier to him now, because he came with gifts¡ªcookies and tarts. Their stock was almost gone, and they didn''t dare eat them carelessly. Now, they could! The Golds looked at the tanned man in curiosity. "I didn''t think I''d see an Alterran here so soon," Otto said, leisurely placing his chin on knuckle. "How can we help you? You mentioned that this was a personal trip?" Helios scratched the back of his neck, feeling a bit awkward. "I¡­ this is a bit presumptuous but I am looking for someone, and you''re the only ones I know here." He did not know he could be such a hopeless romantic, but it is what it is. The Golds looked at each other and then to him. "Who is it?" they asked, very curious. How could he know someone other than them all the way here? "It''s a person from Dune Town. Her name is Sahara," Helios said, direct to the point. "She''s the daughter of the lord there. According to my investigation, it''s likely that she is here." Otto and Obi looked at each other and shook their heads. Before Helios could feel sad though, they heard an exclamation from Olga. "Sahara?" Olga uttered, her back straightened a bit. This made Helios'' eyes sparkle in hopefulness as he looked at her. "You know her?" "Yes, she was my customer," she said. Olga liked her and thought she had a beautiful, clean, image in contrast to the other noble women who were practically painting their faces. She used Sahara as a model for her products and the effect had been great. She also paid the girl some amount. Surprisingly, after the shop closed, she stayed behind and proposed to open up a deal with her territory. Speaking of that¡­ she should come by here within the day¡­ Olga looked at the man curiously. "How''d you meet?" "I¡­ was assigned to Ferrol for a while, and I encountered her there." As he said this, the man was blushing a bit. Fortunately for him, Olga had some tact and didn''t push him to tell her more. Still¡­ Olga couldn''t help but recall the woman''s¡­ bulging stomach. She saw it when she let the other girl fit one of her dresses to model. It was not yet so big, but the fitted dress made the bulge a little obvious. She didn''t think too much of it at the time but, looking at how frantic the man in front of her was, she couldn''t help but come to her own conclusions. And they were juicy. Was this what the Alterrans called an ''interesting tea''? Olga did not say what was going on in her head and just looked at the handsome man. "It so happens that she has been meaning to talk to us. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "She sent a letter telling us she should be visiting us today. You can wait for her here if you want," she said. But¡­ how could Helios sit still when she was so close? He shook his head, heart feeling giddy. "Can¡­ can you tell me where she''s staying now?" "I think she''s staying in an inn with a guard and a maid," she said, "It should be a mid-ranged inn along the main avenue. I can ask the name if you w¡ª" "No, thank you very much," he said, standing up ¡ªpractically disappearing soon after. ¡­ At this time, the aforementioned woman was standing not too far from the inner circle, which was visible even a few hundred meters away. It was surrounded by a tall wall with dense sentries. There were also signs of a magic barrier which could be activated as needed. Next to her was her closest maid, a tall dark-skinned woman named Bayna, and one of her guards, the large and pale Glio. They were there to visit the Golds, hoping to get the deal they had been looking for all this time. To be honest, she still couldn''t believe she managed to get connected with the Golds, but she knew there were still so many things that could happen, so she didn''t dare be too happy. "Are¡­ we certain about this, milady?" Bayna asked as she looked at the conditions of the next street. It was in stark contrast with their side of the street, which was filled with commoners. Goodness, even crossing these streets to get to the inner walls was intimidating to them¡­ The place they stood was located just outside of the inner circle, and this was where the more exclusive commercial stores and houses were located. The other street had markedly fewer people, and every one of them was better dressed than the other. Obviously, that was a place that nobles frequented. In front of City nobles, even their lady was small. The ''inner circle'' contained the Lord''s Palace, the Top Nobles'' houses, and the Blu mines¡ªand those alone. The other smaller nobles and rich people had to settle somewhere, right? This was what this place was. The closer the establishments were to this wall, the more expensive the location was. Basically, the commercial establishments the nobles used were all around this place. There were also plenty of beast carts and rickshaws in this area. There were a lot of beast cart parking lots, which were larger than the housing areas for the poor that fit dozens of families in other parts of the city. The nobles here only walked when the establishment was in the same block. Otherwise, they''d either go by rickshaw or by cart. One would not see a noble walking a long distance at all. Furthermore, each beast cart would require a ''pass'' of sorts to be allowed in this place, adding to its exclusivity. So when Sahara¡ªalong with her maid and her guard¡ªwalked toward the gates on foot, they were fairly obvious. They received a lot of odd stares, making them self-conscious, but they learned to ignore them anyway. It was just that¡­ they did not notice a certain group of noble women in a tea house nearby, automatically branding them as eyesores the moment their eyes laid on them. Chapter 1017 Lady Sahara Sahara and her servants were only a street away from the inner gates when a group of women blocked their way. They immediately tensed up, especially Sahara who found the women very familiar. At the center of it¡ªas always¡ªwas none other than Estra Trion. She looked gorgeous as always, wearing a pretty blue dress made of silk, her hands and her ears embellished with gold accessories, and put on special makeup to enhance her beauty. Completing her look was her reddish-brown hair tied up in a complex bun that probably took her maids a few hours to perfect and fix. Estra had always cared for her looks, but this was a bit more complex than usual. After all¡­, Otto was in the City now. Who knew when she''d encounter him? She had to be ready at all times! Sadly, it was this that she encountered, instead. "My, if it isn''t Lady Sahara," Estra said with a smile, though her tone was a bit sarcastic. "What brings you to this area? Are you lost?" She looked down at the woman in the ugly coat. She was going in the inner circle looking like that? On foot? With two pitiful servants? The noble ladies seemed to have thought of the same thing and they burst out laughing at the same time. The girls'' laughter was prim, lady-like, and quite cute. To the men around, it actually sounded beautiful, regardless of how mean-spirited it actually was. Sahara kept her composure while the servants next to her flushed in shame, though mostly for the sake of their lady. However, the respect for the strong and nobles had been ingrained in their bodies and they did not even think of defending her against the women. "Now, now, Estra," Lia said, combing back her pinkish hair. She was like a beautiful and gentle flower that could be blown by the wind. "She could be visiting Lady Olga soon." "Oh?" Estra asked with a strained smile. She turned her head back to Sahara and walked forward, appearing curious. "How does it feel? To be associated with a rich woman?" Although noble women¡ªbehind closed doors¡ªmocked Olga for her choices, mocked for her lack of a husband and children at her age, they still wanted to grab on to her for benefits. Not to mention, befriending her meant becoming closer to her brothers¡ª and the Golds were the best bachelors in the city. They were rich, handsome, and noble. But most importantly¡ªthough few would say this out loud¡ªthey were loyal. Their family dynamics were no secret and¡ªopenly or not¡ªquite controversial. The Men mocked Zaol when they were alone with each other, but their wives secretly envied Gaia for getting his heart. Men look down on Zaol for only having one wife, while the women could only dream of such treatment. Similarly, although Oslo and Otto were womanizers, they only went with one woman at one time. The women were famously happy and satisfied, just honored to have ever been with them at all. In the women''s dreams, they would be ''the one'' who''d get married to them in the end. By then, they could expect complete loyalty from them, regardless of their pasts. This was especially true for Orion and Obi, who were like their father in that regard, even if the former did have an arranged marriage with the princess herself. "I''m starting a legitimate deal," Sahara said, keeping composed. This was quite impressive. Most people would be intimidated after being surrounded by half a dozen women with their maids and guards closely behind them. The ''deal'' though sounded different to the women. "The Golds would never look at you!" "I didn''t mean that kind of deals!" Sahara said, voice slightly rising. She can''t have the Golds thinking she was after their sons! "I am making a deal on behalf of my home territory¡ª" "You don''t expect us to believe that you, a woman, was sent here to make innocent deals! We''re not idiots." Sahara''s heart clenched in anger, but she didn''t show it. "I''m not¡ª" "I can''t blame your desperation, though," Estra said, cutting her off. She looked up and down at her appearance, tutting in disgust. "Even my maid lives a better life than you do." "Then again, what do you expect from someone who sleeps on sand?" The joke made a few more giggles resound in the area. Sahara''s fist clenched, but her face didn''t betray her emotions. "This is my responsibility and¡ªbelieve it or not¡ªthis is completely from a business perspective with no deals involving the flesh. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Unlike all of you, I do not have the time to sit around drinking tea while waiting around for men." Her words abruptly cut off the laughs around her, the bemused eyes morphing to ones of annoyance. How could they let her win? Estra looked at her guards. They nodded in understanding, immediately stepping forward and kicked the two servants next to her. BANG! BANG! It happened so quickly that Sahara was unable to react fast enough. "Glio! Bayna!" she yelled, gesturing to run to the two servants. Her maid had lost consciousness, while the guard groaned and sat up, obviously in pain. The women smiled when they saw that she finally broke her composure. Sahara''s heart was filled with anger, whipping her head to glare at them. "Why did you do that?!" "We needed to show you how small you are," Estra said. "Did you think you''re superior with that mission of yours? Naive!" "Say, does it feel good? Crawling after Olga?" she asked. "You think you''re better than us? You are just dirt underneath our feet. Guards." "You¡ª" Sahara''s heart dropped, immediately guarding her stomach by instinct. Her eyes heated up with tears, fearing for what would happen next. She wasn''t that terrified of what would happen to her, but¡ª Her mind whirled, trying to find a way to get out of this, but nothing was coming to her. She watched helplessly as the guards approached her, definitely intent on ''punishing'' her for offending this woman! Her heart beat loudly, and her blood turned cold as the feeling of desperation occupied her senses. "No¡­" She wanted to ask for help¡­ but she knew no one would come. She could only close her eyes and hug herself, trying to protect her stomach as tightly as she could. Estra and the other women giggled, seeing her like this. They smiled at the fact that they finally put her in place. She dared get under their skins? Then they''d literally get under hers! However, before the guards could touch her, a figure appeared. Along with him were two metal spikes that seemed to appear solely to protect the woman. Sahara was shocked when she realized nothing had happened to her, and she looked up to see a protective figure that appeared in front of her, as if guarding her against all harm the world would throw at her. First, it was a silhouette, but when her eyes adjusted, she couldn''t help but let out a gasp. It was that familiar light-colored hair that glimmered against the sun, and his shoulders were so wide, like it could carry the world. Her eyes pooled with tears. It''s you¡­ Chapter 1018 Helios Challenge Helios'' level could not compare to any of the guards, but he was brave and confident, and for a moment it made the guards pause¡ªforcing them to second-guess their next step. Sahara''s eyes glistened, but her hope was doused with cold water when she remembered this guy had a lower level than her! She held his arm, and it felt warm but she didn''t give herself time to appreciate it. "Go," she said. "Go away from here!" However, instead of leaving, he turned to face her. Her heart skipped a beat when their eyes met, and she couldn''t say anything for a few moments after that. He smiled, leaning down, and his mouth parted to tell her words that''d touch her heart. "I''ll guard you with my life this time." Her eyes widened. "W-What¡ª" He gently pried her hands away from his arms, standing securely in front of her. Sahara could only watch as he stood firm even as the guards¡ªalmost thrice his level¡ªapproached him. She wanted to hold him, to ask him to go, but she was afraid it''d keep him in place instead. Seeing her being protected by a strange man, Estra''s eyes darkened. "Push him away." The guards dashed forward, their arms extended to grab onto him. Helios was tense, and he summoned metallic spikes to surround them. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Helios turned to get Sahara away from there, but the guards kicked down the spikes with little effort, grabbing onto his back. Although elementalists could deal with much stronger enemies, the level gap was a bit too wide this time. One kick and Helios found himself unable to avoid it. Bang! "Ough!" The kick sent him flying, but he maneuvered mid-air and landed on his feet. Metal spikes shot out from his arm and he used them to stab the ground, using it to stop his momentum. He coughed, but jumped forward to the two guards, skilfully swinging his sharp metallic hands in attempts to push them far from his woman. Although the guards were high leveled, they looked down on him and didn''t take him seriously. This was a mistake because Helios was a naturally talented guy who received a bit of training since he was a kid. It also helped that he had awakened an [Observation] Passive skill, which definitely allowed him to survive for so long without his uncle. It was also how he knew to go back to Shim, throwing the bomb just in time before he was eaten. Technically speaking, the guards'' bodies were like armors compared to his. However, as long as he could catch their weak spots¡ªwhich, due to their carelessness, were not difficult to detect¡ªhe believed he could damage them! So after several swift attacks¡ªone after the other¡ªHelios not only pushed them away from Sahara, he actually managed to graze them! "What!" "Orcshit!" The two guards almost retaliated at the same time, but then they remembered their own levels. If they both handled a level 10 or so young man, how embarrassing would it be for them, regardless of whether they won or not? In the end, it was the person nearer to him who made a move, and the two exchanged blows for a few moments. Helios knew he could not beat them in strength and, in a way, speed, but he could at least use his techniques to predict their movements, to minimize the damage on his own body. BANG! PAK! "OUGH!" He yelled as he was punched in the gut, and he was thrown back. However, he managed to step back fast enough that it didn''t destroy his insides and he could still manage to counterattack somehow. He never managed to land a damaging shot after the first one, but it didn''t discourage Helios, and he kept attacking and attacking. He was a bit distracted when he saw the other guard approach Sahara, however. His eyes turned red. "Don''t touch her! Aren''t you ashamed? Bullying a weak woman?" he yelled. "Only weak men do that! Because they can''t beat others!" "You¡ª" The guard he was fighting was really annoyed by him, and his speed increased as each of his shots became deadlier. This was a man more than twice his level, and a serious hit could really kill him. However, the fact that he managed to survive after so many exchanges was already amazing to the onlookers'' eyes. Although the level was low, the potential was explosive, and several nobles already asked to get the person''s information. Maybe he could be recruited for cheap. Hiring elementalists was very expensive, but hiring them while their levels were low was usually a very good investment. Back to the fight, the two guards were ordered to handle him, and obviously Helios could no longer manage them at all. He was kicked repeatedly, but he kept standing up with unbelievable grit. He drank another healing potion and, regardless of his pain, he made sure to stand between the guards and the light-haired woman on the ground. Such heroism made the women''s hearts fill with envy, jealousy, and anger. "So you seduced another man?" Estra asked, sounding cool but one could hear her teeth gritting. "Beat him up well!" She ordered her guards. Although killing wasn''t allowed in Bleuelle, at least outside of wars, they could beat whoever they wanted. With the number of powerful individuals and beast carts going around, it was not practical to have non-violence rules in such a big city. At the same time, it could allow the inhabitants to have as much ''fun'' as they wanted. Bang! Sahara''s heart squeezed as she saw Helios kicked again. He could barely stand now. She was frozen because things ran too quickly, but she knew she couldn''t sit idly by anymore. "No. Don''t!" she yelled, forcing herself to stand. She wanted to block the guards but then her hand found her stomach and her feet froze. Instead, she ran to Lia and Estra and kneeled down, desperately begging, already forgetting the pride she held onto earlier that day. "Please, please make them stop, I''ll do anything." Lia looked to feel pity but she didn''t say anything, while Estra looked down at her with a dark face. She could recall how well this woman talked with Olga. When Otto visited, Olga introduced this woman and Otto was so kind to her. That image made her so angry! And now, she seduced yet another man?! Estra was overthinking this time. Like Oslo, Otto was nice to most women. Otto was distant to Estra only because she was pushing him to do something he didn''t want. "Get out of this place. Never come back," she said, looking sharply at the woman. Without pausing, Sahara nodded repeatedly, becoming more desperate as she heard the one-sided fight on the side. Estra seemed to enjoy her pain and didn''t say anything, and it made Sahara bow down deeper, her forehead repeatedly banging on the ground. "I''m going within the day. Please!" she pleaded, her heart hurting as she heard more of the punches and kicks behind her. Helios saw this sight and his eyes turned red. He wanted to crawl to her, but his eyesight was becoming blurry. Before he could succumb, fast figures appeared and kicked the guards hurting him. "Enok! Raz!" he yelled, his voice weak and croaky. Raz only heaved a deep breath, while the old man rolled his eyes and glared at him. "We only separated for an hour!" he yelled, pale and very much aghast. "What in the orcshit kind of trouble did you get into?!" Chapter 1019 A Bit of Help A/N: Both Althea and Garan had entered the semi-finals for 2024 Character Voting Contest!! It should be ongoing until tomorrow, Dec 22 2024. If you have excess points, do send it our way~ ¡­ ____ "We only separated for an hour!" Enok yelled as he gasped for breath, obviously dashing in this direction as soon as he could. "What in the orcshit kind of trouble did you get into?!" Raz and Shim were also there, and they surrounded the two of them. Their arrival gave time for Sahara to go to Helios, though he didn''t have the energy to move. "...thank you," he just said with his voice cracking. "Glad that you found the girl," Enok said, though with a bit of sarcasm. "You also found quite the formidable enemies." "I went to some people I know, and¡ª" "This is who you mean by you know people?! Damnit!" The arrival of three new people took Estra and the others aback for a bit. They frowned. "Mercenaries?" Estra asked. "You must be from other territories," she said. No local mercenary team would dare interfere with her. "I recommend that you don''t get in our way." Enok and the others obviously didn''t want to be in the way. Sadly¡ª "Sorry, but we got a mission to accomplish." This was technically still within their scope of work. After all, the deal was to get him back to his village. At the same time, because this was beyond their control, their mercenary team might not get punished even if they failed. At worst, they''d have just wasted their time but, since they already got paid half of the fee (with the rest transferred to their treasury after the mission was completed), then it wouldn''t be too much of a loss. The system, or at least in relation to particular system buildings, could take the nuances like these in consideration and not give unfair outcomes to mercenaries. However, regardless of whether or not they''d be penalized, they had their pride as Mercenaries so they ended up helping Helios out anyway. "Well, take it as you''ve failed," Estra said and, with her signal, the guards¡ªas well as her friends'' guards¡ªrushed forward to attack. They immediately surrounded the mercenaries trying to defend Helios and Sahara and, because the mercenaries weren''t weak, there was no need for them to hold back too much. BANG! SMACK! Of course, in order to not cause trouble for their mercenary team, all Enko and the others did was to defend and push back, never to actively hurt people. This easily put them into positions of defense, pushed back until they received more and more injuries on their bodies. Sahara sat by Helios amidst all of this, trying to find a way to get him out of the range but the fighting was too intense to do so. Helios struggled to move, but with gritted teeth, he managed to hold her hand. "Leave¡­ I''ll be fine¡­" he said. Or at least that was what he wanted to say. Fortunately, Sahara could understand him despite his croaking voice. She shook her head. "I''ll be with you," she said, but she was also holding her stomach. "We''ll be with you¡­" No one understood the implications of this and just assumed Sahara meant the other mercenaries when she said ''we''. Regardless, it was a warm moment amidst the intensifying fight surrounding them. Enok''s eyes twitched when he saw the two sources-of-pain having a moment, but he was punched in the gut and he forgot all about it. Fortunately, before the mercenaries could get beaten up too badly, a new set of people appeared. A large firewall shot up between Helios'' side and the guards'', forcing everyone to part. Everyone turned to the newcomers, and each one had varying expressions on their faces. "What are you doing to my guests?" Otto said as he stepped forward, a frown gracing his handsome face. Obi was next to him, and he pushed down the firewall he created with a wave of the hand until it completely dissipated, leaving the entire setting clear for everyone to see. Estra paled, not wanting to encounter him in a situation like this. "Otto! He''s¡ª" Otto ignored her and looked at his guards. "Get a healer right now," he said, and they immediately scurried away. Meanwhile, Olga got her people to put Helios in a stretcher to bring to the house for better care. Olga walked over and went to Sahara, who was frozen, and her eyes fixed on Helios as he was being carried away. "Aren''t you coming?" she asked. Sahara''s eyes widened and she nodded. She rushed to follow Helios'' side, but then she remembered the servants and the mercenaries. Fortunately, Olga was observant and had long sent her servants to deal with them as well. The mercenaries weren''t injured too badly, but they came to see how their employer was (and also, maybe, get connected to the Golds by the way). Similarly, the servants were only hit a few times so they could stand up as well. It was only Helios who was in such a pitiful state, and Sahara knew they owed him a lot. The Golds and their guests left, leaving the bullies and the spectators frozen in place. This was especially true for Estra, whose eyes were following Otto the whole time. Liaroa''s eyes narrowed a bit as she looked at her best friend. "I guess we did guess correctly: that woman is close with them¡­" she said, making Estra turn cold. Liaroa watched her reaction as she held her arm. "There, there," she said, her voice deep and convincing. "I''m sure such poor people wouldn''t get much attention from them. Maybe it is a charity case. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Why would Otto look at anyone else but you?" ¡­ While the Golds took their guests to the rooms, the City''s Array Building had begun to churn with activity. Light force started condensing there, focusing on a teleportation array. Soon, the intricate circular pattern lit up, and silhouettes made of light started to form inside of it. When the flash of light died down, it revealed about two dozen people and a large amount of boxes and items. Leading the team was a tall man with white hair. He stood straight and proud, wearing regal clothing. He also emanated of an aura that was indicative of his high level. If low-leveled people were here, they''d automatically bow by instinct just by virtue of his strength. This was the Bleuelle City Lord, Bleumrick. Along with him was his entourage, the items they bought, as well as new slaves. There were also a lot of women¡ªmost of whom were noble, judging by their appearance¡ªthough many had reddish eyes and deep frowns on their faces. Obviously, a lot of them had been forced here, but they couldn''t do anything against a man with so much power¡ªwhether it was in position or by sheer strength. There were many beautiful women of all shapes and sizes, but there was a particular one that stood out¡ªliterally and figuratively. She was not only tall¡­, but she had two long ears extending vertically above her head, and a fluffy tail behind her. Maomao looked at the new strange environment, her rounded eyes pooling with tears. Her soft hand raised above her chest as she held on to a handmade necklace that hung on her neck. She gripped it tightly, as if feeling each of its crevices and each of its carvings, imagining herself holding to the man who made it. "Gochi¡­" she whispered to herself. Where are you? Chapter 1020 Expanding Networks Inside one of the Gold family''s guest rooms, the entire younger generation stood outside as they waited for the healer to handle Helios. Obi sighed. "He just went out for a couple of minutes and he already got into a scuffle," he said, shaking his head. "Is he really a guard?" Olga rolled her eyes. "He was saving a woman," she said, pointing at the girl who was sitting by the bed, never taking her eyes off the man on the bed. Obi did not get her point. "He just landed level 10, what''s he doing fighting against level 30s?" "Don''t mock him," she said. "We never know how you''ll act when you fall in love." Obi made a disgusted face and it made Olga want to punch him. The younger Gold was fairly certain he would never understand such stupidity, and he wouldn''t want to either. Olga faintly felt the need to curse him with a stupid love line, but she was the big sister so she didn''t do so. Anyway, the healer finished about half an hour later, asking them to buy some healing potions as well. "He should be fine," the healer said. "He just needs another day of rest and he''ll be able to stand up as normal." "Thank you," Olga said. She then asked him to treat Sahara''s two servants and the mercenaries. She then paid the treatment fee after everything. A single visit cost several golds for each patient, and even more so for Helios who was seriously injured. The healing fee cost about a dozen gold, which was easily a commoner''s earnings for one or two months. Anyway, the healer happily left and Obi sneered as his eyes followed his tracks. He remembered how Alterra''s hospital was, and how even common people could ask for their help. "Before, I thought the healers charged fairly, but after going to Alterra¡­" Otto shook his head. "Don''t compare everything there. They had an effective system that allowed them to charge so low and still keep a profit. If you keep comparing, you''d just feel annoyed." It was still a skill issue in the end. Even if a healer had a kind heart, they would never be able to charge the same as Alterra in a place like Bleuelle. It''d be too difficult to live here if they did so. Alterra, on the other hand, had a fair economy that would allow anyone to live decently, allowing them to have the capital to be ''kind'' as well. This strength was also one of the root causes of why so many unusual professions could do well in Alterra but would not survive elsewhere. Obi shrugged and they all turned to the patient. He was now in stable condition, so they could finally go away and do their own thing. The boys, in particular, left the girls behind though they were greeted by three mercenaries outside. Enok and the others greeted them and thanked them for their help, offering to pay for their own treatment. The Golds refused and the Mercenaries simply left their name cards to them, so they could be contacted easily via the Post Offices. Name cards were just simple parchments that included a person''s information, including their full name and their residencies. In order to make sure the Post office wouldn''t erroneously send their letters to someone of the same name, more information like age and profession were added as well. For now, there was no established system that would guarantee the letter would be released to the right person if they had someone with similar names and conditions, but the chances were small anyway so it didn''t matter to most. However, Mercenaries had a more sensitive profession so most of them did have Name Cards to avoid confusion and potentially losing clients or important possibly life-altering information. In any case, after a bit of small talk, the mercenaries excused themselves. They knew that they could not extend their stay without losing favor from this big connection, and they simply asked them where Helios could find them after he recovered. Hopefully, he wouldn''t take too long because extending a mercenary mission would also have a cost. Heck, in most cases, they would charge their pain to the client as well. But¡­ looking at how kindly Bleuelle City''s top family was looking at them, they knew their rescue of Helios was worth it. ¡­ Back in the room, Olga sat next to Sahara, wanting to know more about all this drama. "Thank you for everything," the younger woman said. "I''ll pay back for all of them..." "It''s fine, it''s just a few gold," Olga said, waving her hand. Instead, she was more interested in talking. "So¡­ mind telling me what this is about?" she asked, sitting down on a chair. Olga was a woman who loved to gossip¡ªas most were¡ª particularly when they were harmless. Sahara blushed a bit and couldn''t look at her or at the patient. "I¡­ we met once." S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Hmn, he did mention that," Olga said, smiling slyly. "He sure did a lot for someone he met only once." It was here that she realized that the Golds knew this man, as well. Sahara had wondered why they were being so helpful to her, but she was too worried for the man to think too deeply. "You know him?" she asked, back straightening a bit. "Who is he?" "You don''t know him?" Olga retorted, making Sahara look down in embarrassment. "Well, he''s an acquaintance of ours," she said with a teasing smile. "He''s from a village, though." Sahara nodded, unsurprised. At his age, being a level 10 could only mean he was from a village. She wasn''t quite certain how to feel about that. After all, her emotions dwarved in front of her duty and she doubted a low-leveled man from a village would be of any help to her or her town. Sahara would have never imagined that thinking this way would hurt so much, however. Olga looked at her, having an instinct about what she was wondering about. "Actually, if you''re looking for a place that could help your town, it is his." Sahara''s eyebrows rose. "What?" Olga smiled. "Trust me on this," she said, looking at the man on the bed. "This man¡­ would be able to save you more than you think." Chapter 1021 Helios and Sahara Olga then left Sahara alone with Helios (though not without a teasing smile). Sahara wanted to just watch him, but suddenly felt awkward when they were really alone. She ended up leaving to check on her servants, though she did end up back next to him, sitting by his bed patiently and without moving. She just watched the man breathe with a complicated expression on her face, and heavy and mixed emotions in her heart. She couldn''t help but remember their meeting. He rescued her from evil men, though she forced him to do something unbecoming for both of them. At first, she convinced herself it was all the love potion''s fault. She couldn''t control her body. However, as more time passed, things became clearer and clearer to her and she didn''t know how to feel about it. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although she had taken a love potion back then, her level was not too low and desert people tended to have a higher tolerance to poison. In fact, she vaguely felt that she had snapped out of it before they completed the deed. Combined with her superior level, if she truly didn''t want to be touched by him, he would not be able to, not to mention she technically forced herself on him before her head cleared completely. Although it had been painful, if she wanted to she could''ve pushed him away and ran to her maid and guards, asking them to buy her some medicine. However¡­ she could not bring herself to do so. The attention and care given to her, the sensual heat he made her feel, made her reasoning¡ªsomething she had been proud of¡ªescape her. Instead of feeling terror and disgust, his warmth was something she liked and even longed for after it was gone. She couldn''t handle the shame of what she had done so she ran away, but there was no day that passed that her mind wouldn''t go to that night. She felt humiliated and she hated herself for it and, by extension, she disliked the man, too. But he arrived in front of her, shielding her, as if shielding her from her own burdens and the shell around her heart cracked embarrassingly easy. And¡­ more importantly¡­ She held her stomach with a small bulge. She pursed her lips and then looked at the man. Should she tell him? Why shouldn''t she? Besides, Olga''s words echoed in her mind. This man¡­ seemed to be the key to her problems? She didn''t know how long she was in a daze. She only shook out of it when she saw him shift in his position. She gasped, sitting beside him on the bed. "Are you awake?" she asked, looking closely at his handsome face. His eyelashes fluttered open and his eyes gravitated to meet hers. For a while, time seemed to stop and all they could hear was their own heartbeats. Unable to handle his heated stare, Sahara stood up and sat back on her chair, appearing her composed self again, except for the twinge of pink on her cheek. Helios stared at her for a while longer, gulping. "Hi¡­" he said, voice a bit raspy and it just made her blush even more. Seeing her unmoving though, Helios immediately gestured to sit up. Sahara flinched. "Don''t move." Helios paused but did not lay back down. His eyes stayed on her, making her feel nervous. Obviously, he was several levels weaker than she was, why was she so intimidated? She frowned when he gestured to move again. "Don''t move! Your injury could get worse." In response, he smiled as he looked at her. "Then come closer." She awkwardly followed his wishes. To outsiders, they would see her as stoic, but all Helios saw was her concerned eyes and shy flushing face. When she was close enough, his large calloused hand found hers. She flinched but she did not take away her hand, telling herself it was just because she was afraid he would get injured. "I''m glad you''re okay," he told her, and her eyes inexplicably felt hot. "I''m so relieved¡­" Her heart beat loudly, she could swear other people could hear it. It was embarrassing and uncomfortable, and she was unfamiliar with how to deal with this emotion. "Olga said that you can help me," she blurted out and it made him pause a bit. She felt a bit regretful as soon as she said so. What if he thought she was kind to him because she needed something from him? Normally, she wouldn''t care as long as the goal was reached, but somehow she didn''t want him to think that way. "I¡­" "How can I help you?" he asked, and she could tell he was asking genuinely. Her heart twitched in warmth and guilt. Similarly, this shift in topic let her go back to her own element, and this allowed her to explain what the problem was. She returned to her usual composed self, and she was thankful for it. "Our territory is experiencing a food shortage now, and I have come here to ask for assistance." They had survived somehow with the sparse resources by living pitifully underground for the most part, keeping their population limited and trained. But they felt starkly that it had gotten more and more difficult to just survive as usual. She could not imagine how they handled the Extreme Heat! It was already so horrible in the forests, how much worse was it in the deserts? Many adjacent territories didn''t care for them, so she doubted they could''ve gotten assistance¡­ The thought of her people''s suffering added a jolt of panic in her heart and she turned to him with hopeful eyes. "Miss Olga¡­ she told me your village would be able to help me more than she can, though I don''t know how¡ª" "Miss Olga is right," Helios said, and he said so with such certainty that it took her aback. "But¡­ it''s not my decision to make, but the elders''," Helios calmly added. "What do you have to offer?" Chapter 1022 Dune Town Resource A/N: Voting for 2024''s Best Character Semi-final round is about to close~! If you have some extra points, do send a few to our characters! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT EVERYONE! We couldn''t have gone so far with y''all! Oh, and the three bonus chaps today will be posted in a few hours~ thank you for letting me get Golden top 1 so far~ ... ____ She nodded and took out a ceramic bottle from her space. "This is the only resource that we have," she said. "We call it black liquid. It cannot be consumed by humans, but it allows flame to last for a long time. His eyebrows rose as he rubbed the liquid between his fingers. "This is¡­" Oil? Even if Alterra was set to become self-sustaining with regards to electricity and power, it didn''t mean petroleum wouldn''t be useful. Especially since mass production of the solar panel was still far away, their sources were water and wind, which could depend a lot on nature. What about during extreme weather conditions wherein these things could not be tapped? Other than this, oil had a lot of other uses¡­ Sahara didn''t know he could recognize what it was and continued to explain what she knew. "Thanks to this, our fires could last throughout the night. It is cold in the desert at night, and it is our source of warmth." "It''s not much, but¡­ I know cities and rich territories liked their streets and walls lit up at night, I thought it''d be a useful thing to have." It was to assist the forces when fighting with monsters and it would also help refugees find their place, which was the best alternative if they didn''t have the lighthouse. And, perhaps more prominently, it was a way for territories to show off their wealth. Helios nodded. It so happened that he knew a bit about the subject as a mercenary back in Terran. "This is good. While our research center would need to study it further¡ªif this thing is as I thought¡ªthen this can also create a waterproof layer so you can create big bowls to keep sparse rainwater in. It also helps slow or prevent the decay of wood." "What?" Helios blinked, realizing her knowledge about this was not that wide yet. "Did you just discover this?" She nodded. "A few months before I left," she said. "Our people discovered it by accident. Rather, we had known of its existence for a while longer, but only began to explore its use recently." Sahara was puzzled as she looked at him. "You know what this is?" S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Helios nodded. "Alterra would love to have this. You can definitely use this as leverage." Oil could still be used in various other things. For one, plastics and synthetic materials would need it. Modern Terrans also had the knowledge of how to make plastic sustainable, to a degree. He had no idea how this was done, but he knew the Research Center would figure it out. They could also make asphalt roads which were markedly cheaper than concrete, assuming they managed to get enough oil. Asphalt was also reusable and had better sound absorption than concrete did. If they someday used it to create paths outside the territory, then it''d reduce the monsters attracted by the noise of the road. Hearing this, Sahara felt like much of the burden she had been carrying so far had disappeared. She was the only daughter of Dune Town, but unlike other girls, she was loved and cared for. When powerful people tried to get her as their wife, her parents refused the offers because she didn''t want to get married. It was one of the reasons Dune Town had been so isolated. These Towns refused to trade with them and they also forced their subsidiaries to do the same. They even announced that she was the reason for the punishments and many people tried convincing her. Some even isolated her, trying to make her marry. However, her brother made sure people knew the lie¡ªhe exposed that the other''s resources was just enough for themselves. Marrying their precious princess there would''ve been useless and they should be ashamed to think of sacrificing a little girl for their own gain. Although people could get inherently selfish, her family did have a good reputation and most people did express their apologies for turning against them. For a while, things were a little bit better. However, at some point, her brother was attacked as retaliation by enemy spies. More misfortune hit their family then. Although her brother survived, he was injured and couldn''t fight for a while. The fights against monsters had become more challenging, and there were more and more deaths in their town. They also felt it was even more difficult to gather resources, and the few wells that they had were getting less and less productive. Anyone with a brain could tell the territory would not last much longer in this way, so they had to take a big step and ask for help. Since the territories near them would not help, nor were they capable, they decided to set off farther away in hopes of getting more powerful territories to help out. There were a few teams that headed out in various directions North to Southeast. Sahara, feeling like a lot of the suffering was because of her, volunteered to take a team as well. The journey was perilous and a few guards had lost their lives. However, they continued forward, knowing that failure was not an option. Eventually, they ended up in Ferrol and, now, in Bleuelle. She didn''t think their resource was too valuable, so she didn''t dare hope for a lot of exchanges. They just needed something to survive. "What you need is sustainable resources¡­" Helios said. "As for how Alterra can help you, we have drought-resistant crops. I''m sure we''d be able to get a few and improve them more." The more he said things with confidence, Sahara also felt more and more hopeful. "Besides, do you know? No one in Alterra died during the Heat Wave. We even exported to our satellite territories," he said, feeling a little smug as he said this. "Even Ferrol Town bought stuff from us." "What?" She exclaimed. At this point, she was feeling so hopeful that¡ªeven if her expression was muted¡ªher eyes glimmered brightly. In Helios''s eyes, she was very pretty and adorable. He let out a sly smirk. "However," he paused, making her a little nervous. "I don''t know much about those things¡­" He paused, tightening the hand that held hers. "Come with me to Alterra, okay?" Obviously, this should be the case. After all, she was going to be closing deals with the village. But when this man said it, it felt like it meant something different. And it burned her. Chapter 1023 A Little Reveal A/N: Voting for 2024''s Best Character FINALS is now open~! If you have some extra points, do send a few to our characters! ... ____ Regardless of the mysterious emotions involved, there was really no reason for Sahara to refuse the invite. And so, that was settled. They only had to wait until Helios recovered, which would take another day or two even with the healer visiting. Sahara also sent a Post to her family, asking them to prepare the black fluid, and they''d find a way to transfer the goods soon. Anyway, Helios then entered a wonderful few days with the woman of his dreams taking care of him. Perhaps she was nice for the sake of her mission, but he didn''t really mind. He started asking questions about her, and after a day she even started to tell him stories about her place. She would tell him how they would use sand dunes as slides as children. Then some would fall and get hurt because of the heat, but they''d laugh so much after. Rather, it was a necessary tribulation they had to go through. The adults called it ''hardening their skins'', and some children would purposely roll around the sand when they fell off their sleds. The best times in her memory though was when it rained. Everyone would celebrate. They would all go out with not just containers but with their own bodies. They would feel the drop of the rain on their skins, opening their mouths to drink as much as they could. If one had managed to fill their stomachs with the rain water, then they had managed to maximize it and it was a point of pride. Some even refuse to eat right after to prove that they had, indeed, drunk enough blessed water to get them through the night. She would tell him how the noble children would play with the commoners, too. Though there was a gap, it wasn''t anything like what she had seen after traveling. In places like this, if a commoner blocked a noble''s way, then they were likely to get hurt. It was in stark contrast to how it was in her home, where some noble kids would even visit commoner kids in their homes and ask them to play. She longed for that simplicity again. Although life in the desert was harsh, it felt more peaceful. "You must miss your family a lot," Helios'' said, his eyes never leaving her face. His heart felt full seeing her so¡­ at peace with him. They were now sitting together at the Gold''s verandah, with Helios close to getting healed and could now walk on his own. They could roam around as guests in this massive villa, which was a great honor, though Otto and Obi had not lacked the reminder of whatever would come out of the Alterra-Dune deals, they wanted to be in on it. They already planned their departure early the next day, and now they were maximizing the quiet time they had together¡ªthough neither of them worded it out. "Yes, I do¡­ miss my family a lot," she said, answering his question. She pushed down the blush that never failed to appear wherever Helios stared at her. She cleared her throat and looked at him. "Tell me more about Alterra," she said. And although she asked to shift the topic away from her, she did feel a bit of wonder at the thought of the mysterious village. Her facial expression was stoic, but her eyes sparkled with curiosity, and¡ªin Helios'' eyes¡ªit was such a beautiful sight. "It is a beautiful place filled with plants and themed houses. We don''t lack food or drinks and our facilities are plenty and top notch. You would find our conveniences unlike what you''ve seen before. "People could eat, dress, and live well there regardless of whether they''re nobles or not. "Children also played around a lot, and whatever place they were would be filled with laughter. We also have schools there, you know, where every child would have the chance to learn more about the world, to prepare themselves for what was to come." This made her sparkle and awed. He smiled, continuing to speak, very much intending on completely ''converting'' her to staying. "They have playgrounds, toys, and the like. They can live freely and happily, while at the same time growing up ready for adulthood. "Too bad we don''t have many children," he said, looking regretful. "They''re lovely." This made her pause, unconsciously touching her stomach. She looked at him with a complicated expression. Helios had always watched her closely, and he noticed this change. "What''s wrong? Are you hungry?" He asked and sat up. His eyes twitched a bit as the flash of pain passed, but he had recovered enough that an abrupt movement wouldn''t kill him. "You shouldn''t have done that," she said, taking another healing potion from her space. He couldn''t drink it like water, but he was recommended to drink one every few hours. Like a good patient, he drank it without question, but he couldn''t help but look at her in worry. "Tell me if there''s anything wrong¡­" "It''s¡­ not that," she mumbled and stared at him. She was not sure how to tell him this. By her usual behavior, she would tell him facts without emotion. Or¡­ maybe she would not care to tell him at all. But now¡­ she cared for how he''d react¡ªand she cared for it a lot more than she dared to admit. This fact was both uncomfortable and nerve-wracking. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She gripped her coat before standing up. Helios blinked and watched as the cloak was taken off revealing a simple dress underneath. "Do you see my stomach?" "It''s sexy." "..." She didn''t know how to react to that and decided to just ignore it. She pushed down her nervousness as she touched her stomach. She felt the bump there and she couldn''t help but look at it with gentleness. She then grabbed his less-injured arm, holding his calloused hand, and guiding it to touch the bump, too. At this point, Helios already had an idea of what she wanted to say, but his brain had already turned to mush before he could fully absorb it. She took a deep breath and stared into his eyes. "I''m pregnant." Chapter 1024 Bleumricks Party While Helios'' world was shaking, the Lord''s latest party was finally starting. His return naturally caused a grand fanfare, with him announcing a party shall be held in his house a few days after his arrival. And so began a celebration filled with grandeur and luxury that lower territories could not imagine. The food was lavish, prepared by a large team of chefs and their assistants. The menu was vast, offering dishes from all over the world, made with a variety of ingredients¡ªmany of which were exotic. There were also elementalists performing on the stage. Elementalists were incredibly revered in lower territories but, in big cities, the weaker ones could be found performing. It was a way for nobles to widen the perceived gaps between them and others, and it was quite an effective one. The performers this time werethe famous brother-and-sister pair, Faira and Shala. Both of them had dark purple hair¡ªalmost black¡ªthough Faira had it short and spiked up, while Shala''s let it grow, its wavy locks flowing enticingly with her movements. Faira was a fire elementalist who specialized in doing fire dances. He moved with a mix of masculinity and grace that was intense to watch. The fire swayed with the rhythm of his body, his muscles flexing with each graceful step. He was fully clothed, but one could see the shape of his muscles through the fabric. The combination of expertise, strength, and charm made for a fascinating watch. It made the women¡ªand some men¡ªswoon, though they were naturally very muted lest they be judged as indecent. His sister, Shala, was a female water user. In contrast to Faira''s strong moves, hers was soft and graceful. She moved her body seductively as she controlled a smooth water snake around her body. She was also skimpily dressed to the standards of this continent. She was wearing a sleeveless wrap dress with a relatively low neckline that showed a bit of her glorious cleavage, and it cut just above the knee showing half of her beautiful legs. The women naturally gave her disgusted looks but the men enjoyed it, though they didn''t talk about it so vulgarly¡ªat least not out in the open. The way she moved her hips, the way she swayed her body, was so enticing that a lot of the men gaped in fascination. She would even let her water snake crawl down her legs, slowly crawling up and teasingly disappearing under her skirt. It was an incredibly suggestive move that got most men in the vicinity painfully hard. They would then be looking forward to when the party would end, so they could start bidding. After the party a few hours later, the two of them would be open to making private performances, though what went beyond closed doors was something unspoken. Neither of the siblings were slaves, but they opened themselves up like this. While it was frowned upon, the amount of money they collected after each performance was something other commoners wouldn''t be able to make for a year or two. Bleumrick had also once tried to get Shala to be his wife, many years ago. However, she had convinced him that she would lose her charm once he got her, so she begged him to let her be a special spice he could get occasionally. She was also barren, so she was not fit to be a wife. Amazingly, Bleumrick agreed, and this heightened her value even more. Which twisted noble male wouldn''t want to taste the woman the Lord vied for, but didn''t get? Anyway, this bidding was to be held after the party which was technically only starting. At this time, the Lord hadn''t even arrived yet, and the nobles were still socializing amongst each other, most enjoying the shows prepared for them beforehand. They were all subtly showing off to each other, throwing thinly-veiled brags and insults, passed around amongst each other. The lower nobles were pandering to someone, without exception, hoping to somehow expand their connections and influence. Soon, the music stopped, and they all turned to the interior entrance of the hall. Their strong and regal lord appeared, standing straight and tall despite his age. He was closely followed by his wives, slaves, as well as his daughter. It was a large entourage, and one wouldn''t be able to see the end of the line immediately. "Welcome back, Milord!" They all chanted in unison, and looking at them being so welcoming put a satisfied smile on Bleumrick''s face. "I''m glad to be home." He headed down with his entourage, immediately surrounded by the nobles welcoming him back, hoping to make small talk with him. Some nobles close to him, like the Trions, couldn''t help but observe the new faces behind him. "Ah, I see you found beautiful and¡­ unique¡­ specimens." "These are my new wives," he responded, pointing at two beautiful women dressed in graceful attire. "They''re both noble ladies from Hassen City," he said. "This one''s even a distant relative to our Golds." This made them look at the Golds with varying expressions. When did the Golds get reconnected to the Lord this way? They were surprised. After all, considering what happened to Orion and Olga''s failed marriages into the family, everyone believed that a deepened alliance like this would no longer be possible between them. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The noble families¡ªthe top ones in particular¡ªwere threatened and suspicious, not thinking the Golds would make underhanded moves without alerting anyone. The Golds though, were actually quite confused at first. To their knowledge, the only relative they could have in Hassen died relatively early on, so they didn''t think they''d have family there at all. Zaol went pale as soon as he realized something, while his family¡ªwho also ended up with similar conclusions¡ªdid dare react too much, though they also felt cold. The lord laughed heartily, seeing the Golds like this. "Come here, let me introduce you." Zaol looked at his family before he nodded and walked towards the Lord. The first person he saw was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and wavy locks. Zaol shook and his eyes felt warm with tears. His jaw clenched, and he knew he wouldn''t be able to speak without his voice cracking. Bleumrick smiled as he pulled the woman close to him, making sure she was flush against him. "This is Lady Margaery," he said, looking at Zaol. "She''s your niece." "I¡­ see¡­" he said, voice a little weak as he looked at the woman who was a spitting image of his sister. He looked at her arm and saw a bruise there and his heart clenched. She must''ve arrived with Bleumrick days ago, yet he didn''t know. While he was relaxing at home, how had she been living with Bleumrick? "I¡­ didn''t know¡ª" Bleumrick''s eyes didn''t move from Zaol''s face, as if relishing every expression of despair he let out. "I went to visit and I was so surprised about what I found. Can you believe it?" "Your sister, Zinnia, had apparently been alive all this time¡­ the Lord there quite liked her. You should be happy!" Bleumrick laughed but, to the Golds, it was filled with mockery. After all, it was telling Zaol that his sister was alive and had been suffering for decades... ...and he didn''t even know about it. Chapter 1025 The Long-eared Half-orc Zaol couldn''t speak, but when he felt his wife''s hand on his arm, he felt like he was injected with renewed strength. He approached and looked at the woman, who was looking at him with a complicated expression on her face. "I¡­ hello, nice to meet you." The girl looked at him with bright eyes, but also with awkwardness, reluctance, and¡­ shame. "Uncle¡­" she said. "My mother talked a lot about you." Zaol''s heart dropped and his eyebrows furrowed. "I¡­ thought that she died. I¡ª" The Gold Patriarch, however, could not finish his words because the Lord¡ªfor no other reason than his own amusement¡ªcut off their conversation by hugging the woman closer to him. He even leaned down to bite her ears, which clearly made the woman uncomfortable. It filled Zaol and his family with indignance, but they couldn''t do anything about it. Every noble in Bleuelle¡ªand anyone who''d have close interactions with the Lord¡ª had signed a detailed oath to never send harm to him, and this included touching him with the thought of force. This was something they had to do since they were young, in fact, and could be said to be part of a rite of passage. If they didn''t take it, they¡ªand their immediate family¡ªwould be kicked out of the City, so who could escape it? "The party is starting, we can''t be spending time just staying here," he said. "Go out and enjoy the food and performances! I''ll let her meet you when I feel like letting her go." This was not a question, and Bleumrick led the entourage elsewhere to watch the various shows and enjoy the food and attention there. As the Lord left, the Golds'' sights followed their backs with various thoughts. The age gap between Bleumrick and his new wife wasn''t small. The Lord was in the two ends of the same generation as Zaol, who was in his late 60s. The Lord was almost 90 years old, though he looked just about half of that. The Lady Margaery, in contrast, seemed to be Olga''s age at 40 years old... Their levels were also far away, and there were no few women who died under Bleumrick after he got¡­ passionate. Of course, it was impossible to find a woman near Bleumrick''s level, which made many noblemen believe the ''sacrifices'' were inevitable. Rather, the deep-rooted awe of the strong was so integral that it was taken for granted¡ªeven a point of pride to some¡ªthat women were killed in bed. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was absolutely disgusting, but it was the current way of the world. After all, leveling up after level 50 was incredibly difficult¡ªalmost impossible, in fact. There seemed to be a large gorge in between 49 and 50. It was a gorge that most people would not be able to cross in a lifetime if one didn''t have a consistent access to aether stones. Further, it was normal to only level up once or twice in a decade after this threshold. This was why Zaol reaching level 55 and the Lord reaching level 68 at their age was a feat and the reason why both families were so revered. Still¡­ it was unlikely for that girl to want this marriage. Did her father sell her off, like how it was with many other girls? Gaia patted her husband''s arm. Zaol was understandably mad, and it was depressing how their hands were tied. "We''ll figure out something to make her life here easy," she said. Gaia didn''t even consider ''rescuing'' the girl from a man like Bleumrick. It was not something they could do, and who was to say it was something they should do as well? "And¡­ your sister¡­" she said, her soothing voice calming him down a bit. "We''ll find a way to contact her." While this was happening, Obi''s eyes couldn''t help but look at the back of the Lord''s entourage. He narrowed his eyes and flinched. Olga saw his anomaly and followed his sights. She, too, gaped at the sight. It couldn''t be helped, the person was tall¡­ and had two long ears above her head. His eyebrows rose. "A half-orc?" ¡­ The party officially began when the music¡ªusing various instruments from all over the world¡ªresumed playing, and the Lord was further surrounded by curious nobles who did not forget to show admiration for whatever he had accomplished. The younger generation of the Golds were far more interested in the half-orc though. Obi and Olga slid to the back of the crowd to get a closer look. The half-orc was dressed like the other slaves, though she had a slightly more revealing dress to show the puff tail behind her. The other slaves saw them and bowed a bit. No one thought too much. Whenever the half-orc was shown, someone would go to take a closer look. She had a pitiful look on her face, and she was holding on to a cheap pendant held by a rope on her neck. As they walked closer, her little nose twitched, and her long ears slightly swiveled. The half-orc turned in a direction and her eyes went wide as she saw Obi. "You!" He flinched, pointing at himself. "You recognize us?" "You have my friend''s scent," she said, eyebrows furrowed. She looked at them guardedly and was immediately hostile the moment she placed the scent. If she wasn''t a slave, it was estimated she''d have attacked by now. "What?" "It is very sticky and intimate," she said, her nose twitching as she smelled him closely. "You rubbed him a lot!" At this, Otto and Olga looked at Obi weirdly. Obi was just confused at first until he realized what his siblings were probably thinking. "It''s nothing like that!" He then turned to the half-orc, too. "It''s nothing like that either!" Obi couldn''t help but sniff himself. Nothing was there. Although he didn''t use those scented soap (too girly), he still took proper baths right? "Us half-orcs have special senses of smell. Orcs and half orcs have scents of different spectrum to what you humans can smell." The rabbit half-orc wasn''t normally aggressive¡ªshe was even cowardly. Outside of this scene, she was looking down and her bunny ears were drooping. However, the moment family was involved she could become quite a beast. Too bad she was a slave and couldn''t do anything yet, however. Instead, she just glared at Obi and the other Golds, shocking the other slaves around her. "What did you do to Gochi?" Chapter 1026 Maomao A/N: Althea is in the finals now!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT GUYS! Garan also put up a super good fight that got the other guy really stressed out xDD ¡­ Maomao was never the aggressive one in the group back then. The women had been relatively meek compared to their men¡ªespecially compared to aggressive orcs like Baku or Kuma. However, there was still orc blood in them, so whenever they felt hostile¡ªit showed through their auras and their bodies. In Maomao''s case, it manifested in unusual ways. She thumped her legs to the ground in agitation and, because she had strong feet, it caused a minor vibration on the stone floor. Her teeth were gritting, her back arched, her ears flattened against her head, and her tail was particularly puffed up. This was her body''s show of hostility, but it was an odd juxtaposition to her cute face and soft features. Rather than intimidating them, it made the Golds feel lost... and amused. "What did you do to Gochi?" she asked again, her small voice awkwardly modulated to be of lower timber (and with minimal success). "Where is he?" The interaction caught the attention of more people around them, and the Lords'' staff members were alarmed. They panicked, immediately approaching them. "Sorry about this¡­" they said and bowed, before turning to the half-orc with a bad expression and pushing her back. "HEY! You can''t talk to the Golds like that!" S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This one had always been meek, so what was going on now? And in the Lord''s precious party, too! How embarrassing! They had always questioned why this one was kept out of the cage! Sure, she was a slave, but she¡ªand her race, in general¡ªwas so dirty they should never interact so closely with humans¡ªespecially with the nobles! It was universally believed that half-orcs had some unknown disease to them. It was like how they called the goblins ''rats'' ¡ªshort for ratus, which were disgusting critters that ate corpses like maggots¡ªor "tunnelscum". It was also similar to how they called Dwarves ''Grubs'' or ''Bearded Grubs'', which was akin to their view of the small race being creatures of soil, also dirty. It was why the Lord and others wouldn''t touch half-orcs like her intimately. However, at the same time, keeping her as a ''pet'' was a major status symbol so they were still sought after. The guards and staff reprimanded Maomao. "Kneel down! Slap yourself!" they ordered. After a pause, the half-orc did indeed do so. She kneeled down and slapped herself, though her face was full of anger. Slap! "Stop it," Olga said, in an authorative tone, and the half-orc did pause. Olga was stronger than the staff members so, as a citizen, Maomao listened to her more by rule. The rabbit orc''s eyebrows furrowed as she looked up to meet Olga''s eyes. "There''s no need to hurt yourself." Otto nodded at the interaction and looked at the servants. "It''s fine. Let us talk." He then walked to the servant and handed a couple of silver from his space. "She made us angry, you see," he said, tone full of meaning. "Can we borrow a room?" ¡­ Maomao was forced to calm down by order and he could only follow the Golds to a private room on the ground floor. Like the servants, she assumed she was being put aside so they could torture her in the private chambers. She had superior hearing so she even heard some servants mutter under their breaths. "The Golds aren''t so special after all," he said. "They''re into those things just like us." So when the Golds appeared casual as they closed the door, with them finding a seat to use or a wall to lean on, she was a little confused. Olga, the female, even patted her head. She froze and paled, making the woman take away her hand. "I''m sorry¡­" Maomao blinked, now more confused than ever. Why would the noble human apologize to her? The brothers looked at the interaction with mild interest. "So you know Gochi?" Otto asked, straight to the point. The mention of her precious friend by noble humans made her feel bad, so she glared at them. Unfortunately, she was already ordered to behave so she could not do anything else. "Yes," she said with gritted teeth. "He is family." So that''s what it was. Obi thought for about the ''scent'' on him for a bit. Was it when he sparred with Gochi? Before leaving Alterra, Obi challenged Gochi to a spar in the Barracks'' sparring ring. While his siblings did business, he bought weapons and sparred with various elementalists and the half-orc. Of course, he leveled his strength to their level, but he felt his technique had improved by miles during the days he stayed there. They lacked the strength, but their minds really worked differently from his, and it could be said to be an enlightening experience. Anyway, it was really amazing and he hoped to do that again. Before leaving, Gochi took all the shamelessness he had to ask him for a favor. He described his friends and begged them to buy them, promising to pay back in some way. "I still have two friends missing," Gochi had said before. "One is Nana. She is a tall half-orc with the capability to fly. She is pregnant, and should''ve given birth by now." "Another one¡­" he paused, his eyes softening a lot more. "...is Maomao. She is very cute. She has long ears that twitched whenever there was a sound and cute puffy tails one would want to touch¡ªdon''t touch it though." "..." At the time, Obi just shrugged and said he''d do what he could, not really thinking of encountering one so soon! He looked at the girl in front of him, matching he features with the ones Gochi described. "Is your name Maomao?" The rabbit''s eyes widened. "You¡ª" Obi smiled, though his looked more smug than anything. He crossed his arms as he looked at the bunny. "He asked me to look for you." Chapter 1027 Heading Back! Now that they were in this stage, they naturally had to find a way to get the half-orc back without earning the lord''s ire. They discussed a few things first, just between the three of them siblings. However, they were just talking in the room and Maomao could hear everything. Were humans really trying to help her? Did Gochi really have the ability to ask a noble of such a favor? How? ¡­why? Why would nobles even bother? They never cared about anything unrelated to themselves¡­ She was very confused. This was beyond her realm of understanding and imagination, so she could only push down her curiosity for a while. In the end, the four people headed back out about half an hour later, though Maomao appeared to be weak and had a lot of bruises on her body. Obi and Otto approached the Lord alone, while the two women stayed in a corner, but within their sights. Bleumrick dismissed the pandering nobles surrounding him and looked at Otto. This made the nobles dislike Otto more but they could only begrudgingly walk away. "You seem interested in my half-orc, Obi?" he asked, looking past him and to the long-eared critter not far away. "So much that you punished her without my consent." Someone with such high level naturally felt intimidating. Even Obi had to gather his wits for a moment before he could reply. "She threatened us," he just said, and nothing more. "We saw you were busy so we took it upon ourselves to remind her she''s a slave." Otto butted in, saving the conversation again. "We already punished her enough, however. Can we take her off your hands, milord?" " "Why?" "She''s really cute and my sister wants her so badly." This would make sense because Maomao was cute and fluffy, which were things women naturally lean towards. Bleumrick stared at him for a while. "Half-orcs are rare even in cities. I bought her for hundreds of gold, and that was at a discount by virtue of my position," he said. "They''re very rare and not many Lords had one. What makes you think that she is for sale?" The rabbit shook in fear, looking down. It was as if doing so would make her less obvious despite being at least a head taller than most people. Otto sighed. "I can pay with a bit more." Bleumrick looked at him. "Do I look like I lack gold?" The atmosphere silenced, feeling a bit colder as the Lord became palpably annoyed. Obi''s level was quite a bit weaker and he gritted his teeth, trying not to pull out a weapon just by the looming sense of threat. Fortunately, Otto, even if his heart was pounding loudly, remained to be his suave self. "My brother has upgraded to a Class C Architect," Otto said, seemingly unperturbed. "With some partners, he managed to build very good and growable buildings." His words caused everyone to look at him in disbelief. Oslo? That guy? Really? Otto watched everyone''s beliefs and felt understanding. At the same time, he did ponder whether or not to drop his name at all. After all, there was the possibility of Oslo being hired by the Lord when he didn''t want to have anything to do with him. However, Otto decided to do it in the end. After seeing such good products, Bleumrick would''ve demanded to know him and might perhaps force them to make an oath. Withholding his name now would only cause Bleumrick to distrust them more. "The most useful to you is probably the Hospitals," he said, "It''s a building that is much like the Healing Sanctuary, but much more cost-efficient." S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I can sell you a blueprint for a discounted price," he said. "Especially if you let us take her off her hands now." Knowing Alterra, they would not mind this. They would not only make money, but they''d also get a half-orc. "I''m interested," he said, before turning his eyes to the half-orc who shook under his stare. "However, that blueprint better be worth it." ¡­ When Helios and Sahara were doing final preparations for the trip, they did not expect a new critter¡ªa half-orc¡ªto join them! Helios was quite casual about it, though Sahara was a bit startled. She had never seen a half-orc in person before. She did have a little bias as an aborigine, and this manifested in her keeping a distance. It was not much of from a place of disgust however, but from a place of protection for her unborn child. Helios did not mind. He knew pregnant mothers and new mothers would protect their babies even from their own husband''s "germs". Fortunately, it wasn''t hard to soften up with her because Maomao just effortlessly triggered the maternal instincts of many women. It was just that noble women tended to have an image to withhold and being close to the ''dirty'' thing was usually seen as unbecoming. Anyway, the time to depart quickly arrived¡ªjust before dawn the next day¡ªand the Golds sent them to their personal beast cart stables where Sahara''s Beast Carts were parked. She had two. The servants and guards she had (as well as the people from Takoda Mercenary Team) were already there waiting for them. The entire walk there, Helios was holding her waist. She blushed, pushing it away. "It''s embarrassing." "We''re officially lovers now," he said. "I also feel comfortable supporting your back at all times." "You¡ª" "You are bearing my child, because we slept together. Are we not lovers?" Sahara''s cool face was red as a gouji fruit and the Golds couldn''t help but be amused. The servants also smiled, seeing their usually-stoic mistress show such cute expressions. The beast seemed uncomfortable with Maomao though, but the magic of the Beast Tamer whistle was fortunately able to make it behave. Helios led her to the carriage before turning back to the Golds to say a few more goodbyes. The men slapped each others'' arms. "We will send some strong guards to block people trying to follow back," Otto said, and Helios nodded, expressing his gratitude. This was their way to delay getting traced back to Alterra, if not to avoid it entirely. Hopefully, the Lord would be too preoccupied with his own things to bother with a new village. Another reason, of course, was to maintain their business advantage. It wouldn''t do if the customers decided to go directly to the source, right? They ought to make a lot of money from it first! Otto also sent him another 30 sets of blueprint materials. This cost a fortune, but he thought it''d be worth it. According to the deal with Alterra, he was also getting his shares for the blueprints. Other than this, he also handed him very costly small bottle of Limb-regeneration potion. It was the best he could do and it could only regenerate a finger, but he was sure Althea would appreciate it. This particular potion took forever to enter the market, and the alchemist responsible for it was notoriously anti-social. He hadn''t even seen his face for years now, but they were certain he was in his laboratory by virtue of the occasional smoke escaping out his window. Anyway, after a few more words, Helios entered the Beast Car. The mercenary team members divided between the two carts, squeezing in, though there was usually someone with the driver so they could defend as soon as a threat appeared. The whistle sounded and the car lurched forward, reminding Helios a bit of Terran cars. The cars exited the mansion and left the inner area, passing through the somewhat chaotic avenues with fortunately no more drama (they kind of expected someone like Estra to make a scene, though to be fair they did leave at an awkward time). Helios had a feeling the Golds'' strong men were watching over them, and would do so until they were outside the City''s scope. They were so dependable. Helios would make sure to put a lot of good words for them, on top of swearing to pay back their goodness with interest someday. Helios held his lover''s hand, before shifting his eyes away from the forests outside that seemed to move like a blur. His heart raced at the fact that he was finally heading home¡ªwith the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. To Alterra! Chapter 1028 The Group Heading Back to Ferrol Alterra. Another day or so passed, and it was time for a large group to go back to Ferrol. For one, the first batch of aborigines from the Mercenary Team like Pipa, Yoyo, and the others had already graduated and were set to go back to their base. They felt very reluctant, but they also knew their jobs and the reasons why they were sent to Alterra in the first place. As much as they loved being there, they were trained so they could make things better for the branches¡ªand that was what they shall do! However, they did promise to come back during their off weeks (they were entitled to 30 days every year) to visit, but¡ªhopefully¡ªwith their families. Starting with these aborigines as well as others who had been to Alterra, it would become a vacation spot they would visit at least once a year. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Other than them, a new batch of guards were also going to train. Particularly, there were a few level 9s and 10s who needed to handle stronger monsters to expedite their growth. Hugo was helping this group get ready. He had temporarily returned from Iron Mountains when he heard that his nephew had sent a letter that he was coming back. A few days ago, Helios sent via Post Office to Ferrol. Jonathan''s people then passed the letter to the Terran Mercenary Team Ferrol branch, who sent him word via messenger bird back when he was stationed in Iron Mountains. The younger man was apparently heading back with the woman of his dreams (the letter was half wishy-washy). Of course, even when Hugo was temporarily out of his designated station, he was still assigned to certain jobs for guards while he was temporarily in Alterra. Hugo''s current task was to organize their Ferrol-bound teams to maximize their effectiveness. After all, the monsters in towns were strong, and they would definitely be working as teams, so the composition was pretty key for everyone''s growth and survival. Further, unlike most territories whose fighters were focused on a few archetypes that had higher survivability on their own (like swordsmen), Alterra allowed the chance for other professions to flourish because they could afford to create trustworthy teams. For instance, Sheildsman was an occupation that was on the verge of becoming obsolete outside of the Alterran region. However, they would always have a team in Alterra. That occupation might not have a lot of attacking power, but their defensive skills were really top-notch. In a sense, they could serve as protective amulets on their own, provided the monsters'' levels and quantities weren''t too overwhelming. Other than them, a lot of soldiers were also coming. They couldn''t just use the Training Hall because real fights had a lot more variables than that. They created a Team C for this, which comprised of the newly arrived members from the West like Ryan and Orz. They had been left behind by their peers in terms of levels¡ªwhich was sad considering they had only been apart for a few months¡ªso they were the ones to be sent to Ferrol this time. Other than them, various caravans were also coming with huge amounts of stock that they had been preparing since the trip was announced a few days back. Although the territory already had a deal with Ferrol, the demand was high and the market was enough for everyone! All they had to do was to match Ferrol''s pricing¡ª or at least not to go too low. Anyway, knowing Jonathan and his cronies, matching the prices meant they could get a large markup! The caravans were already setting up and filling up their carts. The carts were not too big but they were designed practically and simplistically. They also had suspension systems on so the people inside would have relatively smooth rides. They were setting up in the small plaza near the gates so it was easy to see how many people were coming to Ferrol. It was a lot. Although the Economics team did have a registration process going on to plan well, it still felt amazing when they saw it in person. Another reason they had to do registrations was because Alterrans didn''t have Beasts. Their carts were pulled by the newly trained Broats which¡ªat least for now¡ªwas fully ''government-controlled''. This would not change until new tamers like Chucky or Reddit awakened and decided to create businesses on their own, instead of getting hired by the territory. Broats were actually quite fast, at least compared to other low-level monsters. While they weren''t built for fighting or slaughtering others, they were at least stronger than oxes, so it was no problem to make them pull a filled-up cart. They had evolved this way to avoid becoming extinct. However, inside territory lines, they barely moved at all and they just grazed lazily. Outside the territory lines, they were quite active and difficult to catch. In the case of the broats they bought, they belatedly found out that there was a plant fed to them to keep them calm, so the fact that they acted differently remained unnoticed during the first purchase of Broats back then. A team found out by accident when they encountered a herd of them while clearing the place. They were quite happy to see them, not noticing they''d disappear the moment they approached. However, they were also very slow-witted creatures. They were easy to slaughter, dead before they could realize they died. This was taken advantage of by Alterrans and aborigines. Although they were fast, they simply had to set up traps and the like, and they were sure to get captured. At the same time, this slow-wittedness also meant that whenever monsters appeared, they were unlikely to panic. They just had to pull on them and they''d run. Although Broats weren''t faster than humans with high levels, they were fast enough to escape middle-level mobs as long as they were pulled in the right direction. To pull, they simply had to put up the food bait in front of them, much like putting carrots in front of Terran horse''s faces. Anyway, the caravans were set to leave in another hour when two beast cars approached the gates. "We''re here!" Helios said, looking out the windows of the carriage. Every aborigine were curious and also looked to see tall walls and dense sentries that a village shouldn''t be able to afford. There were extra and unfamiliar weapons in between the sentries. Not to mention, this village actually had a queue of people coming in! Even the mercenaries were blinking. This was their last stop of this job, and they were initially not planning on staying so long. The mission lasted far longer than they thought already. They were indeed interested in Alterra before and were planning on exploring for a day or so as they rested, but that was before they ended up staying in Bleuelle for far longer than necessary due to Helios'' injuries. But seeing this place now¡­ they might just stay a while, after all. Even from outside, they could already tell Alterra was far more interesting than they thought¡ªand they had a feeling extending their stay would be quite worth it. Chapter 1029 First Impressions "Ah, Helios! You''re back!" They were set aside and inspected before entering (no other village would dare do this to a person who could afford a beast car) and the guards were surprised to see one familiar person in the group of aborigines. The guards became a lot less guarded with them from that point forward. "You can just deposit the beast cars in the Inn," the guard said, pointing in a direction inside the walls and to their left. "A lot of aborigines had gone home (with a lot of reluctance, mind you) so we have a lot of openings now." S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I see, thanks!" Helios said and he guided the driver to enter the gates, which opened to a lively plaza with small stores, parked bikes, stores, and so on. There was a clear path for them there so the beast cars were unhindered as they entered, though they did make everyone there stare curiously at them, the new arrivals. The group went down the carts as it was deposited there and everyone looked around in interest. Other than the mercenary team, there was also Sahara''s guards. Sahara''s guards¡ªexcept for the level 20 Glio¡ªwas actually composed of upper level 20 guards and even a level 30, though because of the exclusivity of Bleuelle''s inner city most of her guards had to stay at the periphery inns. According to their rules, ''outsiders without positions'' could not be bringing threats with them. The average level of normal citizens in a City was around Level 20-25, and outsiders beyond that (from non-affiliated territories) were considered threats and could not enter the inner circle without a stringent process. When they heard that the princess had encountered such trouble, they felt extremely bad, but at the same time, they knew going against the rules was a guaranteed way to get even worse fates. Anyway, they were greeted by Balzy''s Staff who kindly led the beasts to the beast hotel. While they arranged themselves, gathering a lot of curious stares, the occupants of the first cart went down. It was none other than Helios, Sahara, her servants, and Maomao. Hugo, who was with the caravan, saw this and immediately went over them. "Helios!" "Uncle!" the younger one yelled, hugging his uncle. Hugo''s eyes twitched, unused to the sappiness, but he allowed the young man to do what he wanted anyway. Near them, there was also a small crowd forming. Rather than around Helios or Sahara though, the crowd took particular interest to the tallest one of them all¡ªthe bunny! It couldn''t be helped: She was¡­ so CUTE! "A bunny!" "So cute!" "Ow! Her ears twitched! Did you see? DID YOU SEE?!" Like how Gochi and Baku were, Maomao was understandably very shocked by the reception. Should she be scared? She didn''t feel hostility¡­ but she should feel scared regardless, right? While the adults were chattering with her or about her, Maomao felt some tugging on her skirt. She looked down and saw cute little human cubs staring up at her with rounded eyes filled with curiosity. "What''s your name?" a little girl asked, and the kids around her nodded as if asking the same thing. Her lips twitched. "M-Maomao..." "Are you friends with Gochi too?" Gochi¡­ Unconsciously, her pawed hands held her necklace. She looked around to check if Gochi was there, but was a little disappointed not to see him. She looked so pitiful, her rounded eyes teary and her long ears dropping down a bit. It broke people''s hearts. Someone immediately turned in a direction. "Oil! Someone tell the Guards to send Gochi and Baku a message!" They turned to look at Maomao''s large teary eyes and suddenly felt the mission was urgent. "DO IT NOW!" This made Maomao flinch, surprised. Baku was like her precious older brother! "Baku is here too?" She uttered, her voice the softest and the fluffiest they heard from an adult critter. Those who heard it felt cute attacks all over. Anyway, Maomao was large but she was really a cute bunny in Terran''s eyes. "Yes, yes," they softly said. "He just arrived before the heat wave, they''re out hunting right now." "We''ll make sure they get here as soon as possible," another said, patting his chest as if reassuring her. Other than him, the other humans were focused on other things. "Can I touch your ears?" "Yes, you must be tired. Do you want carrots?" Without exemption, the people''s voice were soft and gentle. Even the big men with gruff voices talked this way. Maomao was really imbalanced. Why were they talking to her like this?! ... More and more curious onlookers checked out the commotion and many of them had their snacks. The more time passed, even if they were just staying mostly within the territory, the people were made more and more aware of the huge world out there. Some were also feeling dreamy, hoping they would be part of the future caravans (should they have the capital to do so). They also want adventure! Sadly, their levels (the level requirement increased a bit) were not enough yet so they could only work hard within the region of safety Alterra created around it. How many more half-orcs, goblins, and other creatures were there? Just¡­ how big was this continent, exactly? ¡­ In another area, a certain trio was still talking. It was a certain handsome uncle and nephew and a girl with sparkly light-colored hair. "You''re back," Hugo said. "To be honest I''m surprised you actually found her," he said. "And so quickly, too." He greeted Sahara as well, quite kindly. She seemed like a nice lady, and his worry settled down. Similarly, Sahara''s servants¡ªwho were tensely waiting not far away¡ª heaved sighs of relief. Not only was the village they went to impressive so far, but Master Helios'' family seemed to be alright with their lady! Helios grinned as he looked at his uncle, gently pulling a beautiful woman almost flush to him. "Well, the patron goddess of Love smiling upon us," he said. "It''s destiny, uncle." Hugo wanted to rub his forehead. On the contrary, Helios was just giddy that everything was going so well! He''s just on top of the world right now! "Oh and, uncle! I have great news!" Helios said, voice unconsciously loud because he was so happy that everyone in the vicinity could hear. He looked at Sahara with eyes filled with warmth and pride. His eyes then shifted down to her stomach before turning back to look at his uncle with the widest shit-eating grin. "Congratulations," he said. "You''re a grandpa now." Chapter 1030 Moving On A/N: The Final round for the character selection ends in a few hours! Do send some points if you can~ the competitor tends to drop huuuge points at the last minute lololol Thanks in advance everyone!! HUGS Now, on to the story~ ... ___ Speaking of babies, the small sound of cruisers scrolled through the pavement. All those who heard would turn and, without exception, they would soften as if they turned to goo. "Mwammmmmmmaaaa!!" "Goooggmmmwaaammaa!!" The babies were currently strolling around in their outdoor cruisers. They were so cute as their little feet stepped on the ground, pushing themselves forward or to the side. They had bright giggly smiles on their faces, and their rounded eyes were wide in wander as they looked at the many people surrounding them. They went around in their own pace, though a flexible rope was connected from the cruiser to a parent each, making sure they didn''t go or roll too far away. The handle was also retractable wherein the parents would just secure in place if they wanted to push the babies instead of letting them roam free. There was also the provision to add fabric below the feet of the kids if they didn''t want them to walk as well. Anyway, their little bodies bounced with every little push of their feet, and the passerbys could see their tiny shoes touching the ground. The babies'' laughter rang out as they cruised around, the melody of pure joy brought happiness to everyone in the vicinity. "So cute, so cuteeee¡­" "Omo¡­ the babies are already on baby walkers!" "Soon enough they''d be running around without them!" "Aren''t they, like, not even 5 months old?" Another asked, trying to remember how old babies should be like this. This earned him a smack at the back of his head. "Don''t question Miss Althea and Sir Garan''s genes!" Anyway, the locals were more or less used to seeing the babies and just admired them openly. Some aborigines around, however, couldn''t help but pause. One, because those babies were too beautiful! And second, because they heard how old the babies were and were surprised at their growth. "Is it like the Holt City child?" One asked. "No, even younger?" "So amazing?" "Do you think¡­ they''d also be impressive like that one?" The Holt City Lord was very, very, proud of his progenies. Basically, many people were updated on the child''s growth even when they didn''t ask for it. For example, they knew the child had begun walking when he was less than 7 months old. They knew the boy''s first word was at 10 months, and they claimed that the first word was still ''sword'' or something instead of calling either one of his parents. He also started making conversations at 15 months, with sentences ''go fight'' (allegedly) being the most common phrase he used. It would be interesting to see two more kids with the same potential. The babies were with Althea and Garan, who were there to see the caravan off, and also to tell them some reminders and the like. Garan, at this time, was having a final meeting with Team C as well as the Terran Mercenary aborigines. Hugo couldn''t help but look a bit longer at Althea, and then at her children. His heart was filled with mix of emotions, all of which clenched at it with bittersweet feeling. Back when he was in the Iron Mountains, he thought about her a lot. Now, looking at his nephew so happy, he couldn''t help but feel complicated. Logically, he knew he had no chance and his feelings were probably just a burden for her. But, he still wanted to express it. What was the worst that could happen? He was already assigned to Iron Mountains. Maybe a proper rejection would get him to stop longing for her so much, which had been affecting his productivity. And¡ªselfishly¡ªa part of him thought that being a burden was better than being nonexistent in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, he took wide steps to her. He stopped at a respectful distance away from her. "Miss Althea?" He asked, making her turn to him. His eyes flickered a bit as it met with her bright green orbs, and suddenly his throat constricted on himself. Thankfully, he was a man who could handle pressure, so he managed to catch himself before he floundered. "I¡­ Can I talk to you about something? It won''t take long," he said, appearing professional, but only he knew how hard his heart was beating. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She stared at him for a moment and he drowned in her emerald eyes, but fortunately he managed to gather himself fast enough. She nodded in the end, handing the babies to Sheila and Harold, and the two of them found a nearby park to talk. At this time, most people available were in the caravan or seeing them off. The rest were in school or at work, so there was basically no one in the park that time. Hugo was thankful for this bit of fortune. "I¡­" he began, but suddenly felt a little cowardly. How long had it been since he was this way? Althea looked at him in concern. Was the problem so big that even the usually-composed Hugo seemed befuddled? "What happened?" she asked. "Is there anything wrong in Iron Mountains?" "No, it''s nothing like that. This¡­ is a personal problem." "What is it?" she asked. "You can tell me." Her voice was so gentle that it both soothed and exacerbated his nervousness. He closed his eyes for a moment to gather himself and when it opened, his eyes fixed on hers as if wanting to connect¡ªas if trying to get a hold of her heart. Hugo was very handsome and tall, his dark skin making him appear even stronger and more charming. If any other women were met with his sincere eyes, they''d have fallen hard. "I am in love with you, Miss Althea," he said, and Althea''s eyes widened a little. Hugo... was really straightforward... She blinked, coughed, and cleared her throat. She was suddenly reminded of the confessions back in high school and college. Rejection was easy at the time because she didn''t have anything to do with those people. She didn''t care what they thought either. Hugo was different. He was a valuable citizen to Alterra, a precious brethren, so she cared a lot more about how to handle this. Her thought process showed a bit on her face though. Hugo gave a wry smile. Seeing her struggle to think of what to say¡ªas if he was a fragile porcelain¡ªwas enough of an answer. "It is fine," he said. "I just want to say it, to kill the bit of curiosity in my heart. "Don''t worry about anything. I''ll do my job with the utmost sincerity," he said, though his voice was a little raspy. He raised his hand for a handshake, which she took, but he raised it so he could place a chaste kiss on the back of her hand. "Thank you for hearing me out." His feelings for her felt like a burden for him too, but it was one he wanted to carry and hold on to. However, he knew that it wouldn''t do anything to her, to him, or to the world. As he walked away, his heavy steps slowly felt a bit lighter, and the tightening in his heart just a little bit less. However, he also knew that it''d take a while for him to completely let go, and he told himself he could take his time. He sighed. One step at a time¡­ Chapter 1031 Reunions and Goodbyes A/N: HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! I''m posting 1 hour in advance to ask for everyone''s help for the character finals! I didn''t know before but we can apparently get a character frame if she won!? loool so cooolll T_T Hope we get it \\o/ ... ____ The time of the caravan''s departure had finally arrived. This time, Hugo was coming with them, days in advance of his supposed departure. He asked for permission of course from¡ªawkwardly¡ªGaran, and his request was approved. The tension between the two men was palpable though and the people around them had the illusion that they were either freezing or struggling to breathe. Garan''s cold eyes looked at the other man, who stayed firm and stable¡ªvery much unlike his softer state when he was with his wife earlier on. "I expect the best work from you," he said. "Iron Mountains is a very important resource for us." "Of course, Elder Garan," he said. "I will do my job very well¡ªyou and¡­ the other elders¡­ wouldn''t have to worry about a thing." They were very professional, but at this time there was a clear area around them, as if everyone was ready to run if they had to. The tension was just that scary. Fortunately, nothing drastic actually happened. Hugo bid his farewell to his boss like a proper professional and headed to the caravan to take the lead along with the other strong aborigines from the mercenary team. ¡­ Helios sighed and approached his uncle, embracing him before he went away. Hugo didn''t know what to do with his hand so he only patted the younger man''s shoulder. "I''m sure you''ll find the woman for you, uncle," he said. "You deserve it more than anyone I know." Hugo gave a wry smile, though he frankly couldn''t imagine it happening to him. "Just live well with your love," he said. "Do it for the both of us." ¡­ At this time, two half-orcs and a few dozen citizens were kilometers away from the walls, clearing up the monsters there. The fighters and hunting team in Alterra were quite active, so the stronger people¡ªthose already on the verge of level 10¡ªmight have to travel a little farther to get a satisfying mob to hunt. The two half-orcs rarely were in a team together. It was just that their individual groups ended up merging at some point, so the citizens and guards had the pleasure of seeing two half-orcs strengths at the same time. And they were really impressive. Baku roared as he held up a monster upside down. He threw them every so often in the middle of the Alterran crowd, who would then take advantage of its imbalance. Stab! Slash! Hit! On the other hand, Gochi favored speed and technique rather than brute strength. So he would weaken the monsters and direct them towards his team, who''d be taking the last blow. This went on for a while, and a few people were already on the verge of leveling up. This ended when Gochi felt the aether letter trigger. It so happened that the final few monsters were already being handled so he could read it in peace. "Ah, there''s a message," he said, taking out the letter from his space. He had a serious expression on his face as he did so, mind wondering what it could contain. After all, receiving a notice while they were training rarely happened unless there was something urgent happening. Similarly, everyone looked at him, while some people nearby went closer to see it for themselves. On the other hand, Baku could not read yet. Even when he studied, he just couldn''t learn beyond a couple of words. In the end, everyone accepted that his brain simply wasn''t wired to learn it. He depended on Gochi for translations of written text which was a little embarrassing so he always made sure to overcompensite by showing off his monstrous strength. Speaking of that, he was still holding a monster nearly his size above his head while he was waiting for Gochi to read it out loud. Everyone''s heart dropped when they saw Gochi''s eyes widen, and for a moment they thought something serious like a war was happening. However, the shocked face morphed into one of glee, and the fox orc immediately whipped his head to look at Baku. "Maomao is here!" "What?" Baku dropped the monster he was holding and it immediately growled. Fortunately, the surrounding humans were alert enough to mob and take it down before it could bite anyone. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The two half-orcs immediately became antsy and the humans knew they would be in a rush. In the end, the humans¡ªled by Mart¡ªasked them to go ahead. They would run after them, at least as fast as they could go. Mart was also a team-lead-in-training so he had his own aether letter anyway. The two half-orcs rushed back to the territory at record speeds. They moved so fast that they were practically blurred. Baku was glad his little sister¡ªor at least someone he treated as such¡ªwas alive and well and would be together with them! Gochi though felt even more elated, and it was to the point he was sniffling and wiping tears before they even reached the walls. "Maomao, we''ll be there soon!" ¡­ While the two were running back, Maomao was led to wait at the guard station so she could get updated real time via aether letters. She didn''t want to wait comfortably inside¡ªwhich many of the guards and citizens were urging her to do¡ªand preferred to wait outside so she could see them the moment they neared her. She was walking impatiently back and forth and she really wanted to just wait outside the gate. However, the humans told her they could enter in either one of the gates so it was better to just wait in this spot. It was not easy though! She was too excited! From the side, quite a lot of passebys ended up hanging around. Some people who were just passing by slowed down their speed so they could stare longer at the new half-orc. Of course, there were also some who were blatantly staring at her. Some even approached and tried to comfort her, to the expense of holding back from touching her ears or her tail or her glistening white fur. "Don''t worry too much, Maomao," one of the humans said, handing her another carrot which she absent-mindedly took and munched on. "Yes, Maomao, they are rushing over here as we speak¡ªno need for you to feel so stressed out. It''s bad for the fur¡­" Their voices were squeezed and high-pitched, which would return to normal when they talked to each other. It was so odd. Maomao really couldn''t comprehend it. However, her bufuddlement was quickly forgotten when he felt familiar auras and scents rushing over in her direction. Her eyes widened, and her ears went upright and twitched. The people around her gasped when she suddenly hopped and dashed in a direction, causing a slight wind to flow in where she was. Maomao had very, very strong legs, and a single hop actually got her from the plaza to the next street! Gochi and Baku had already entered the territory then, rushing over to her and using the wide avenues. They went past the bikes and broat carts that were using it, skillfully avoiding crashing into any of them while not reducing their speeds at all. They saw each other right at the intersection, and the three half-orcs immediately brightened like the sun. "Maomao!!" "Gochi! Baku!!" The trio ran to each other for a tight embrace with a force that created a small wind at contact. The trio created a heartwarming sight smack in the middle of the intersection¡ªbecoming the most beautiful causes of traffic Alterra had ever seen. Chapter 1032 Gifts and an Adventure A/N: ALTHEA WON 2024''S MOST POPULAR FEMALE CHARACTER!! KYAAAAA Thank you for your support everyone!! *HUGS* I wonder what her character frame will look like. ¡­ ____ When the family went home, the children were tasked to sleep with their big sister Maya, and everyone knew what it meant. "Mwamaaaaaa!" "Gooooggmmmaaaammmm!" The babies were naturally not reconciled. They want to sleep with their soft mum!!! S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The babies cried, their plump cheeks puffier and redder than usual, and their rounded eyes were lined with tears. The adults'' hearts broke, especially Althea''s. Garan''s too, of course, and he pondered whether to pass on his much-awaited private night with his wife. He pitied his brother below, but the children would come first. Fortunately, he got an idea, which might help distract the kids long enough that they''d temporarily forget about sleeping with their mum. He raised both of his hands, with palms upward. Suddenly, energy condensed in them, and everyone gaped when he created two thin metal bases with indentions, one on each hand. Not only the babies, but even the adults were fascinated with the process. From this base, strands of metal formed into the shape of what would eventually become a close-up shot of Althea, showing her beautiful smiling face from the shoulder up. "It''s only temporary, but it should do for a while," he said, handing over the new toys to the babies. They had stopped crying as soon as a strand of metal floated gracefully to create something even more beautiful. Now, their rounded eyes were staring at it with curiosity. Harold, who was holding Meatball, leaned down to take a closer look. "Wow¡­ this is amazing," he said. "I''ve never seen such expert work¡ªespecially not in such a short time." Sheila, who was holding Pepper, nodded in agreement. "I know of other metal users, but I don''t think anyone could make such intricate ones." They didn''t know it yet, but it''d also last far longer than others'' temporary metallic creations. Anyway, Garan definitely showed off his expertise. Of course, it could also be his desperation to get alone time with his wife, so there was that. Anyway, this successfully calmed down the babies, whose little hands were gripping their new toys. The couple could finally excuse themselves after giving each baby a kiss on the cheek, though Garan couldn''t wait and he carried her on his shoulder and straight back to the room. ¡­ Althea was first led to the bathroom, shed off her clothing in record time. She liked taking baths before going to bed, so Garan would ''assist'' her so they could go about with their nightly activities faster. However, while she sat snugly in the bathtub, using her husband''s large body as a backrest, she realized that Garan took special focus on washing her hand¡ªrubbing the back of her hands with his calloused fingers a lot longer than other parts of her body (at least for now). She immediately knew what it was about. She sighed. "Husband¡­" "I know," he said, leaning down to place a kiss on her bare neck, tongue creeping up to lick her ears, and his rough fingers crawling down to her nether regions. "I just felt like taking you hard today." ¡­ A few hours later. Clap! Clap! Clap! That night, the erotic sounds of slapping skins and sensual moans and groans echoed across their room. Whether it was from the bathroom, to the walls, to the sofa, and finally to the bed¡ªit went on practically non-stop. The movements became more and more frantic, until a growl resounded, followed by an intense squelching sound. "Wife¡­" Garan gasped as he rested his head on Althea''s shoulder, releasing for the nth time that day. Althea was in a daze, her face flushed, as if expressing her nourishment. Fortunately, Garan finally took pity on her and pulled out, just hugging her close to him to feel her softness and her warmth. The couple rested, Althea snuggling into her husband''s embrace. He was particularly hard today and she knew it was because she received a confession. She had received plenty of confessions in her lifetime, though he was usually away for most of it so he wasn''t as affected. This was one of the few times he was in the same place, and for some reason he seemed to find Hugo a bit of a threat as well. They didn''t need to talk about it anymore though, both knowing the confession didn''t mean anything except for a passing moment. Garan caressed her waist and kissed her head. "Your birthday is happening soon," he said. "Is there a particular place you want to celebrate?" "Anywhere is fine¡­" she said, shaking her head, tickling Garan a bit and making his breath hitch. "Jonathan sent an invitation. They will be holding the Beast Fair in a week. It was delayed due to the stronger-than-usual heat wave, which gives us time to join if we want to." She blinked and lifted her head to look at him a bit. She was so cute that Garan couldn''t help but smile. "Do you want to come for an advanced celebration? We should be able to get back in time for your birthday." In her excitement, she fully turned over to face him while they laid. "Really?" Would she finally be able to see a bit of the bigger world? She was so busy before and Garan said the monsters there were unsafe for her, so she hadn''t been to a Town yet. How exciting! While Althea was already thinking of where to go, what to do, and what to buy, her husband was getting excited in a different way. Garan''s eyes darkened as he looked at his wife''s breasts squeezed on his abs. His breath turned heavy and a moment later, they were turned over again. Althea blinked as she looked at the large man hovering above her and opening her legs¡­ It seemed like Garan didn''t feel enough ''pity'' for her, after all. Chapter 1033 Arrival to Ferrol Town A/N: Special mention to Lotuslin and the holiday castle she sent~ hehehe Thank you!! Guys, if you like mythology and worldbuilding check out her story~ ... ___ A few days later, the couple found themselves outside of Ferrol Town. It was just the two of them this time, without anyone tagging along. Although the way there was relatively dangerous, Garan was not weak and their Beast Repelling Potion also helped quite a bit. Of course, they also took this time to train a bit, with Garan letting Althea handle the monsters that she could. Anyway, her equipment was way beyond her level, so they would be useful for a long time. Still, they couldn''t stay for too long because the event was about to start so she wasn''t able to level up in the end. "So this is a Town, huh?" Althea said, looking around as soon as they entered the gates. This was the first time Althea had gone to another territory outside their area, and it certainly was her first time in a town. Ferrol Town was a really nice place and worthy to be called one of the better Towns in the region. It had tall walls, relatively dense sentries, strong guards, and a bustling economy. Jonathan''s predecessor was really wise to hold all these events year-round, and it made sure Ferrol earned a lot from its visitors. The tourism industry really was one of the best ways to increase territory income, and Ferrol was one of the few examples of a territory that managed to take advantage of it. Anyway, the fair would be starting the next day and they took the day to explore the base and rest well. "This is what I prepared for you back then," he said, showing off the base and its amenities. He also took her to the gardens and the gazebo, making her brighten at the sight of it. "Wow¡­" Althea said as she stepped forward and touched the well-taken-care-of garden. "Husband, this is amazing!" He was a bit proud but also a bit embarrassed. He could remember his thought process when it was being constructed. He thought she''d be in awe of what he made for her, but in reality, she was simultaneously building her own village. "It''s beautiful!" she said as she stood up, running to him for a hug. "My husband is so good." sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Contrary to Garan''s embarrassment, Althea was so genuinely proud of him. To be able to carve up his own place in this world was not easy. She never thought her own achievements was above her husband''s. On the contrary, she was more impressed with what he had done! After all, she was gifted a Lord Token as soon as she landed! Her husband had no such advantage! He started as a ''weak'' foreigner without any backing at all. In the span of three months, he obtained good land in a good town. Who else could''ve done it? No one! While they perused the place, they were hurriedly greeted by the staff there. Garan did send a letter of their arrival, but he didn''t specify the exact date or time. Combined with the delays they had because they also trained on their way there, the staff was unaware that they had arrived at all! Those who hadn''t seen Althea looked in awe. Not only was she super beautiful and charming, but she also made the scary captain look so¡­ soft! Anyway, the two took a walk around the vicinity, and they stopped at a gazebo and relaxed there, feeling the atmosphere of the small garden with just the two of them. It had been a while since they traveled a distance for a date, and it was really quite fun. Of course, after a while, they would still miss their children. "It would be so nice if the babies are here," she said, snuggling on his wide shoulder. The children, like her, would love adventures. Garan''s lips twitched but didn''t answer the affirmative. "Maybe when they can start fighting and defending themselves," he said, caressing his wife''s waist. The atmosphere warmed a bit and he tilted his head down and took her lips. They closed their eyes as their lips rubbed against each other''s, and their tongues played inside each other''s mouths. Garan''s strong arms pushed her flush to him, so he could feel her softness while he tasted her mouth. However, the heated atmosphere was cut off by a new voice coming from the side. "Captain, Miss Althea!" One of the staff, Esau, yelled as he ran to the gazebo. "What is it," he asked without any intonation in his voice. Esau looked at them and gulped, realizing that he must''ve had interrupted something! The legends were true! The Captain was the softest with the Lady, but he could also be the harshest when she was around! Esau genuinely feared for his life! Fortunately, he was a professional. He cleared his throat and managed to utter what he had to anyway. "The Lord is here!" ¡­ "You guys really know how to carve a life wherever you are, huh?" the tall man said as he approached, looking around the small gardens by the way. Jonathan had never been inside the base, and there had never been a need to. He saw that, although it was small, it was well-planned and reminiscent of some parks in Alterra. The two stood up and greeted him, doing the standard salute, and received one in kind. "I came to buy some items," he said. "Then I heard you were here and I thought I''d greet you. "Welcome to Ferrol Town, my proud home," he said. "Rightfully so, Lord Jonathan," she said with a smile. "Ferrol is a well-deserved top-tier town. I''m sure we have a lot to learn by coming here." Jonathan quite liked her attitude and nodded. "I can guide you. I definitely know more about the territory than everyone else." The two looked at him, a bit surprised. Althea looked at him appreciatively. "Will this be alright? I mean, you are the lord after all." "I don''t see what the issue is," he said, shrugging. "Besides, I''ve tweaked a few things in the territory inspired by what I have seen in Alterra." He gave them a sly look. "As Elders who know a lot about it, I''d like to hear some of your opinions on them." It had to be said: The previous Lord educated his heir very well, and he would definitely benefit a lot from it. Chapter 1034 Ferrol Town Date Quite the peculiar sight would be talked about for a while. After all, the lord himself seemed to be guiding a couple with a few of his guards following at a distance, just so they wouldn''t bother them. This naturally gathered a lot of surprised stares. Especially when the levels of the couple were really¡­ low! The male was average level for a Town, but the female seemed to be only above level 10? However, they had the aura of nobles so they didn''t think too deeply about it. At the very least, anyone handled with such care by their own lord was definitely not a small entity! They all wondered which town or city they came from to get the lord to show them around like this. Some of the more powerful parties also sent their men to investigate. Very curious! Who were these newcomers? ¡­ Jonathan, probably because of his predisposition, had a very open mind and didn''t think his taking another esteemed person around was humbling him. Instead, he took it as an opportunity to improve his home even more! This attitude was obvious to the couple, which made them like him more. After all, one could be humble when one was in another person''s territory, but how easy could it be¡ªespecially as a native, and a more powerful one at that¡ªto do it on home ground? This said a lot about his character, and it made the couple more certain that he was one of the best partners among the native population. He was also quite smart and efficient, already applying what he saw in Alterra to his own. Jonathan and his leading party really maintained the place well compared to the territories, so they rarely had shit on the ground except for maybe the poorer neighborhoods far from the main avenues. Sadly, Jonathan said he had used up all his building slots so he couldn''t make use of the dormitory design Alterra had. They had plenty of cleaners, though after going to Alterra they had also decided to build their own public toilets. They had seen how practical it was and although there were costs, it was definitely worth it if done decently. The initial ones were located only in the high-end areas for now, but it was a start. It was still under construction and Jonathan asked for some advice. Althea saw that he at least smartly located them in parks, not too close to the built structures so it was far easier to maintain than otherwise. "I suggest building a manhole where people can easily access the tank below," she said. "And also add fragrant flowers and some deodorizing flowers nearby." She thought of her studies and suggested some endemic plants with this capability. Jonathan took note of this very seriously, while also impressed at the same time. It was amazing how a woman¡ªwho had only been here a few months¡ªcould know more about the local plants than the vast majority of the population. Next, he showed them some other features of the town that could not be found in Alterra (which was all he could show for, anyway). For example, he told them about the system buildings that they had. Obviously, the Elders of the village would be interested in the building choices when they became a town, which was inevitable anyway. Like Villages, Towns also received 2 building slots every tier up. Ferrol, which is a Level 3 Town, had a Mercenary Hall, the Post Office, a Pharmacy, an Auction House, an Enchanter''s Guild, and a Spring of Life. There were also Custom Buildings, though they functioned purely as commercial buildings¡ªwhich, at the time, was the necessary building type because they had just started the Ferrol Fair. They made use of the second one, because¡ªlike most villages¡ªthey missed using the first one before the option disappeared because they had more urgent needs to survive. Anyway, Jonathan guided the couple through all these buildings and kindly gave a rough explanation of their functions. The Mercenary Hall¡ªavailable at Town Level 2¡ªwas basically where they could hire mercenaries to, say, guard their territory or something else, like assist in wars or do escorting jobs. The array here functioned similarly to the Village Center Teleportation array in the sense that the people would be teleported one way for a cost. It had a lot of limitations, however. For one, there had to be a ''deal'' made first. That was to say, the mercenary team had to bid for a mission and be the one to win it first before they received the right to use the array¡ªwhich was not cheap in the first place. Another, Mercenary Hall Arrays were one-way. This meant that after a mission, they''d have to travel back manually. If it was too far, they''d have to find a territory with another Mercenary Hall so they could travel back to their home base or to a nearby one, depending on what missions were available. One strategy was that the home base would post a mission back home around the time they estimated the team to be done with the job. However, not only did it cost money to post a mission each day, the rules were strict even in posting. Each successful mission had the accompanying Mercenary Points and, without these rules, they could be abused by sending easy missions to each other. Even if the system didn''t allow anyone to send missions that could be taken by their own members, it was easy to form partnerships with other teams. The way the System prevented this was¡ªas always¡ªby oath. By posting a mission, one already signed a ''bond of honest reckoning'' which stated that they could only post missions on a strictly as-needed basis. The array might also not work if the System judged that there was no need to. Further, if a Mercenary Team found some loopholes and abused them, triggering the System, they might even get blacklisted from using the arrays at all. In Ferrol alone, there had been quite a few cases since the Hall was built. Another difference between Center Arrays was that mercenaries could choose which ''client'' and mission to choose, so they weren''t blindsided to wherever they''d be going¡ªunlike the people hired through the Centers. The Hall''s disadvantage compared to the Center was that the distance and scope they could choose from depended on the mercenary team''s Class, unlike in Centers where people could be transferred anywhere in the human territory. For instance, Garan''s Team was a Class D Mercenary Team, and they could travel up to 5000 kilometers away. In Terran, this was a long distance that even spanned many countries. For instance, the distance between Pariz, Frang and Mosbull, Russio was approximately this distance. However, in Terran, this was only from Alterra¡ªwhenever they''d actually get a Mercenary Hall¡ªto the nearest City to them, which was Bleuelle. Anyway, there were still a large number of rules about mercenaries that Jonathan did not discuss¡ªfor instance, how Mercenary Points worked¡ªand Garan promised to tell her more about it in the future. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For now, there were still a lot of places to go to, so they moved on. As they walked away from the Hall though, she couldn''t help but look back a bit. She pursed her lips. She really wanted one¡­ Chapter 1035 More on Town Buildings Garan, who was hyper-aware of everything related to his wife, smiled when he saw this. With his free hand, he patted her head. "You are already part of our Mercenary Team," he said. "If you''d like, we can take on missions together even before we have a Hall in Alterra." They simply had to go to Ferrol and take missions from here. This made Althea sparkle. Although she knew she couldn''t galavant around at this time¡ªshe had a territory and children to care for¡ªshe liked the fact that she had the option ready. Another consideration she needed to take was the fact that Lords would be able to see that she was the ''Lord of Alterra'' as long as they peeked on their panels and looked for her name. It was why during the few times she had gone to other territories¡ªeven during rescues¡ªshe made sure to stay outside the territory lines. At the same time, the fact that she was here, in Ferron Town, meant that they trusted Jonathan who had made an oath with them. Even if he found out¡ªperhaps he already knew¡ªit was unlikely he would be saying anything about it. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn''t be able to. The oath he sighed¡­ had a lot of subtleties and traps that Mathilda placed there. They weren''t obvious, especially when one didn''t know the details and the secrets of the territory. But, even when they did find out anything, they wouldn''t be able to utter it out nor write it down at all! Of course, this was something Jonathan would find out much later¡ªnot that it mattered. By that time, he could only be impressed. The only dangerous exception to her going outside was during the Fargo war, but she entered with the Lord unaware she was there, and even when he was he''d be too busy, distracted, or in pain to look into it. Granted, that was a risky move that could''ve gone wrong on so many levels so she didn''t dare test her luck anymore. In this vein, it wasn''t like she wasn''t doing anything. She dedicated a team (a subgroup in the maths-and-arrays team) to study the anti-slavery token that Oslo lent to her a long time ago. In theory, the way that a person with the token could bypass the system and become an ''exception'' was because their status¡ªor a certain part of it¡ªas temporarily ''hidden'' from it. She had studied its arrays and, though all of them were unfamiliar, she had a feeling that at least one of those arrays was set to ''hide'' status. This was the array she wanted to extract. Anyway, that was a long way to go, so she focused on what she could learn now. The next special building Jonathan took them after the Mercenary Hall was the Post Office, which was a specialty building that would be available as soon they became a Town. The Post Office was the main communication method in Xeno, where one could send a letter to whoever you wanted and they could access the letter from a Post Office. There was no alert sent to the specific recipient, however. The Post Office simply had an aether board-like thing near its counter where the recipients of unclaimed letters were listed. Another thing to note was that the Lord could access the letters if they wanted to. They''d have to go to the Post Office and manually open the letter they wished to see, but the option was there. Jonathan did not specifically say this, but Garan had found out about this during his stay in Twinwave Town. Apparently, there was a conflict that was settled by this breach of privacy. The Pharmacy was self-explanatory¡ªa place where they could buy HP and Mana potions (which she bought a lot of by the way). At its upgraded state (as Ferrol''s currently was), it also provided buff potions like potions to temporarily increase all the stats like Agility Potion, Defense Potion, and the like. Unsurprisingly, Althea also bought a lot of these as well. The Pharmacy functioned a lot like the equipment store wherein it could produce these potions even without someone making them. The raw materials though were different from the usual but fortunately they were endemic to most places, including Alterra. The raw materials for the buff potions varied, however, so the items were a lot more expensive than the typical HP and Mana Potions¡ªat least ten times, in fact. She put in her mental list, however, to buy the seeds for these raw materials so by the time they could upgrade the pharmacy, they could produce these potions without depending on foragers outside. This would mean they''d also be able to mass produce the buff potions at a fraction of the cost. Of course, that''d take time, but it was the likely scenario for them. She also pondered whether to buy a Pharmacy come upgrade at all, and maybe she would if they were unable to crack the formula for these items. Of course, the convenience of a Pharmacy''s automatic production was also very attractive, but everything was still up for consideration¡ªi.e. What other buildings would be available or if they could receive one as a winning during merging. However, she was not so arrogant to believe they would win a pharmacy during a war that hadn''t happened yet. Even if they did win a war against a Town, who was to say she''d even take it as a satellite at all? In that case, she would not receive a new building. Next was the Auction House, which was already explained by Gill to them before. Frankly, it wasn''t anything they could not do on their own so they didn''t even consider it. The Spring of Life¡ªwhich Ferrol bought as a Level 3 Town¡ªwas basically a much larger version of the well. It would never dry out, but it was a bit shallow and took time to refill. Still, during the Extreme Heat, Ferrol had a much lower death rate than others because of this. The Enchanter''s Guild was the one that interested her the most. It was also Jonathan''s most proud purchase and something he, himself, bought as soon as he upgraded decades ago. Here, one could place a weapon or equipment and, for a high price (in Gold and materials) and a low success rate, one would have a chance of enhancing it. For example, a Class D weapon could suddenly take on monsters that it normally wouldn''t be able to. For example, a weapon would suddenly have an elemental affinity which would increase an elementalist''s efficiency by folds. Et cetera. In theory, this was probably the building embedding arrays of sorts, and this meant she''d have unlimited access to different arrays in the future! It was available at Town Level 3 though, so it was still far from her. These buildings made it really tempting to upgrade to Town (she had saved a few building slots), however, she decided to still hold back and delay the upgrade for as long as she could anyway. She still wanted to be overpowered. That was the way to live peacefully in a place where fists ruled. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 1036 Level 1 Town Buildings That said, she was the type to want to learn every option she had so she¡ªand the rest of the Elders¡ªcould make educated decisions early on. Building slots were limited and, while they seemed to have more than others in their tier, each one of them mattered. At this, she decided to thicken her face and ask Jonathan, perhaps as they were having their meal. Before she could invite him, Jonathan turned to them. "Have you had lunch yet?" he asked. "I won''t invite you to my home because you make better food¡­ "I think it''s better we eat at your base." "..." Jonathan did not invite them to lunch. Instead, he invited himself to lunch. The couple chuckled, planning on doing so anyway, and they happily went back to the base with the guards, ready for a delicious meal. When they arrived, the food was already prepared and still warm. They set it up in the canteen which had a number of tables. The three of them were naturally in one table, while Jonathan''s guards took another table not far from them. The food was prepared by the cooks trained in Alterra, and they had many firsts on this meal. Most importantly, this was the first time they''d cook for Miss Althea as well as Lord Jonathan!! Fortunately, when the head chef Yoyo saw the Lord visited, he had the foresight to know that he''d be having lunch here! Anyway, the meal this time was a little grander than their daily meals. There was mixed fried rice with mushrooms (harvested from the tunnels of Alterra), as well as three main dishes, a vegetable side dish, and the like. Jonathan and everyone ate deliciously. Miss Althea and Sir Garan were also nodding a bit, the staff tensely watching from the side finally heaved a breath. As long as those two didn''t dislike it, it meant their standards were at least close to Alterran cuisine! "Delicious!" Jonathan said, eating another plate after a few minutes of filling himself up. Although he had managed to stock up on a lot of ingredients, Alterran (or Alterran-trained) cooks were just different. Should he send his own cooks for training? He looked at Althea in thought. "Is it possible to send my chef to you as well?" he said. "I can make him swear not to commercialize what he learned." Althea and Garan looked at him and for a moment Jonathan thought he had mispoken. But then they smiled and nodded and Jonathan felt like he made one of the biggest accomplishments he had yet! He could already imagine it: Eating food like this every day! Ah, he was already in Elvendell just thinking about it. "Great!" Jonathan said, thinking this was the greatest perk in this partnership. By the time dessert arrived, Jonathan and his men were completely satisfied in stomach and in mind. The dessert this time was a simple fruit punch, but it had milk and other things that tied up the whole thing, creating a lovely and refreshing dessert that was both healthy and sweet. "I do have quite a few more things to ask as well," she said, and Jonathan raised his head and nodded. "Ask away." Anything for good food every day! "Can you tell us more about the building options at Town level, if you''re aware of them?" she asked. "The Elders would like to know what we could do with the future slots¡­" Jonathan looked at her in interest. They must already be nearing Town level for her to ask this. "My father recorded everything," he said. "So I even know the costs as well when he built those buildings in his time." Though sharing so much was counterintuitive to how people here were raised, having a bit of critical thinking would show that there was no reason to hide it. It would even buy him goodwill from such a high-potential ally. The trio moved to the gazebo with tea and snacks on hand, which made Jonathan willing to share even more information (because the more he said, the longer he had with these snacks). The basic options for towns included bigger housing, grander restaurants, and some commercial areas which did not interest Althea. It was only the Special Buildings that were intriguing to her and were worth the limited building slots. It had to be mentioned that apparently Special Buildings cost at least 10 times typical buildings to build and to maintain (in addition to the fees automatically sent to the ''original'' territories), so a lot of Towns still opted to buy the typical options if they lacked the resources to do otherwise. It was not to say there weren''t interesting buildings amongst the duplicable (non-special) buildings. For instance, there were the Beast Stables, the Inns, and the Guardhouses¡ªall of which Ferrol had in ample amounts. The Beast Inns were relatively big and could fit in 5 beasts at its lowest level. They had the passive of calming down beasts that were deposited in them on top of hastening their HP and Spirit recovery. In Ferrol, there was one Beast Stable every couple of blocks because of the business model they adopted. After all, it would be difficult to invite and keep so many foreigners to participate in their annual events if there wasn''t a place where their sole mode of transport could be safely stored. The Inn was also very useful for a tourism-based territory like Ferrol. Its function was as one would expect: It had the passive effect of faster recovery of HP, Mana, and Spirit. Although Alterra''s Inn did not have this effect, they made up for it with their furniture specially created by woodworkers. The next was the Guard Station which could be occupied by guards to oversee the territory. The Guard Station was much smaller than the one they had in Alterra, and each one just seemed to be able to contain 2 or 3 people at a time. However, it was also duplicable and was connected by the system. All the guards inside the buildings would be alerted which sentry was working at the time, and would therefore be alerted if there was excessive activity in the area. It also functioned like a telephone booth of sorts where each Guard Station could communicate with others real-time, which was also very convenient. She found it interesting because most of these buildings already had an equivalent in Alterra. While theirs could arguably be less effective, they were already good considering their costs and, most importantly, they did not consume a building slot. Still, it could be seen that the previous lords of Ferrol had quite the foresight. From what they could see, Ferrol''s non-special buildings took up only half of their total slots. The rest were¡ªas they had already seen¡ªunder the Special Buildings category. That said, having more than one Special Building was already indicative that the territory was doing well. Whether or not this was true, of course¡ªconsidering some Lords went into debt to buy these buildings¡ªstill depended on the territory. "Tell me more about the Special buildings available," she said, continuing to write down some notes in her notebook. Jonathan nodded with a smile. "You''d definitely find them quite interesting." Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 1037 Town Special Buildings As a Level 1 Town, the special buildings available were the Chancery of Appointments, the Post Office, the Timekeeper Tower, and the Pharmacy. The Chancery was the building where a person would be paying a lump sum amount on top of a small daily residency fee to get hired into a good territory. Of course, the higher the tier of the territory, the higher the payment was. The advantage of getting hired in the Chancery was that the hiree was protected by the system and could not be abused by whoever hired them. The disadvantage was that they could be hired from anywhere¡ªso they could be taken away from their home and family for years because it was just so far away. The Post Office was already discussed prior. Not including the real-time transfer of letters, it was the capabilities of the level 3 Post Office that interested her the most. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ferrol itself didn''t have a Level 3 Post Office because it was only available in Cities, and understandably so. At Level 3, one could actually send some light items via post! This was teleporting small items to the other side of the world in real-time! How convenient was that?! The Timekeeper Tower was pretty much a Clock Tower. They developed something similar to a sundial. Its special effect was that it could create a vibration sound at certain times, which was arbitrary according to the lord. Finally, there was the pharmacy, which they had already been to before. For Level 2 Towns, the special buildings were the Warrior''s Arenas, Auction House, the Mercenary Hall, the Windmill of Fortune, and Healing Sanctuary. And the duplicable building of interest was the Hotel. The Warrior''s Arena was much like their sparring rings. The special qualities of this was that the arena healed itself, no matter how much damage it received. It could also clean up the corpses and the like, just making it a convenient place to fight. This building profited from entry fees. When entering, people would be asked to pay a certain amount, much like how it was when entering a territory. The lord would get the majority of the share from this, though an amount would be deducted automatically and sent elsewhere. The Windmill of Fortune was basically just a large windmill that provided wind to a large area. This would be good in places with low winds, and in the Heat Wave it''d have been useful as well. If there were disasters like excessive fog, poisonous fog, and the like, this would''ve had a much more massive and lasting effect than a group of wind users. The Healing Sanctuary was like their hospital, though the effect seemed much faster on the surface. However, from what she gathered, it only helped with wounds and other injuries. Complex Illnesses and the like might not be handled well. Another catch was that it cost huge amounts of gold to use, especially when the injury was beyond simple wounds. Many people who had no choice but to use it ended up becoming broke. Jonathan''s father did not choose this because of that. He had a good friend from another town who used it and knew¡ªafter paying some costs, of course¡ªthe disadvantages of getting one. Althea and the others already knew that a share of the profit these buildings obtained would go elsewhere¡ªto whoever developed it¡ªand for the Healing Sanctuary, apparently the lord''s portion would be less than half. Taking citizens'' money until they were poor and the money not circulating within the economy was not the wisest decision, so Ferrol Town passed on this building. For Level 3 Towns, the special buildings added were the Trade Hub, an Observatory, the Spring of Life, and the Enchanters'' Guild. The Trade Hub was another magical building. Every territory that had it would be able to own a ''stall'' inside this place. It was like an online market, but more virtual. They could also access the ''stall'' of any territory listed there. With this, one could buy goods from territories far away and immediately receive it via an in-built teleportation array. Just the thought of it was amazing. "My father said he was also very tempted to buy this, but an Extreme Heat happened and he was forced to buy the Spring instead," Jonathan said with practiced ease. Obviously, he had heard and was told of this story a lot. "It''s what inspired him to make Ferrol into a hub for merchants in this region. As you can see, it worked quite well even if it did have its challenges." "Another thing worth mentioning is that the majority of the unique buildings would appear at Town-level, based on the building types that were known to appear in cities." Towns also had three levels, while Cities would have only 1 tier and therefore only one chance to gain building slots. It was also why the Aether Blueprints were generally only used in cities. This was not only because they were really the only ones who could afford it without killing themselves, but it was also because¡ªafter a certain point¡ªit was the only way to gain new special buildings. "That''s all I know," Jonathan said, finally eating the last piece of cookie. Althea chuckled. She learned a lot. At this, a box came out of her space and she handed it over to Jonathan. He gaped and curiously opened it up, seeing a can-full of differently-shaped cookies! "They''re actually mana cookies prepared for me by our chef," she said. "But they taste just as good as the typical dessert." "This¡­" Jonathan suddenly felt shy. "I want you to have it," she said, insisting. "I still have plenty, don''t worry." Harold was a bit over compulsive and she had about a dozen more cans of this. Jonathan thanked her a lot and did some more small talk before he finally excused himself. He had a little bounce in his steps though and it was obvious he''d be opening this can as soon as he got home. And that, he did. While he was lounging about in his private salon, choosing which cookie to munch on, he couldn''t help but recall his interactions with the couple. Their levels were low, but they really had a special aura about them that made him¡ªsomeone twice or thrice their levels¡ªlook at them in awe. "That said, I wonder what kind of elements she controls¡­" he said, finally choosing one (a circular-shaped cookie with bunny ears), and munching on it. "A woman who can tame Garan shouldn''t be too weak¡­" Curious, Jonathan checked on the panel to take a look at their status. He already knew Garan was a dual elementalist and had quite a bit of money for his level. He had hundreds of thousands of population so it was not easy at all. It took him a while to find her, but he couldn''t help but pause when he saw she was a green-tagged name. He¡­ had only heard of it from his father''s notes. Green-tagged names¡ªthe people considered to be the paragons of their field. Then again, it was not a surprise considering what she had shown so far. Hey, he felt honored to be close to one. Then he looked at the elements and his chewing paused. Earth, Water, Wood... Triple element¡­ When he saw the row with her ''Wealth'', his jaw dropped and some of his chewed cookie goo fell down. He had no time to be disgusted with himself though. His eyes quickly shifted to the titles and he almost¡ªalmost¡ªdropped the can of cookies he was holding. Lord of Alterra Village. "!!!!!" Chapter 1038 Ferrol Beast Trade Fair A/N: Happy bday to me~ lololol. Posting 5 chapters today! (Scheduled yesterday of course) Also as thanks for letting me get Golden T1 so far. Thank you all for your support! I love youuuu~ ¡­ ____ The couple was wistfully unaware someone''s mind had exploded. They were in their own room, which was located on the interior side of the lot with a view of the gardens outside. Garan''s room was relatively large and untouched, cleaned up every few days by the servants. It was designed with her comfort in mind and she loved it so much. "This is like backpacking with you, except in a nicer place," she said, lying down comfortably on the bed. "Ah, what an interesting trip," she said, looking at the ceiling. "I wonder what we''ll choose¡­" Garan looked darkly at his soft wife just laying casually on the bed, as if unaware a beast was next to the bed. When he was planning on this base, he put a lot of thought on that bed. He wanted to be sure they would be sleeping there very comfortably¡­ especially with nightly activities. He kneeled down next to her, causing her to tilt down in his direction. He hovered above her and rested his arms on the side of her head. "I spent a lot of money on the down and the design of this," he told her, leaning down to sniff her neck, tickling her. "We even found a plant alternative to give it a springy movement." He lifted his head to place a chaste kiss on her lips, though his hand was doing something decidedly not chaste. "Why don''t we test out its strength right now?" ¡­. The next day. Ferrol Town had a large field within its walls where several big annual events were held. This was called the Ferrol Fairgrounds, and it was in use every couple of months, seeing a large influx of people from all over. The fairgrounds were divided into different sections, with the largest area dedicated to the Market Row where merchants and beastmasters from all over displayed their controlled creatures for sale. Here, buyers could peruse a plethora of Beasts to purchase. There was a grand arena erected at the middle of the large field. Its perimeter was lined with thick wooden posts reinforced with iron. Within the arena, there were large cages, each holding different beasts of varying levels. There were wide walkways for people to use and observe these monsters, and Althea and her husband were here, perusing around in interest. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The monsters'' eyes were still wild with hunger, but they did not attack like they usually did, which was testament to the power of the Beast Masters. They were not planning on buying a beast at all, but they thought it''d be a good experience to see more things than lesser. They were here primarily as vacation and for a change of pace. They couldn''t go too far from home, but Ferrol was far and different enough to give a sense of adventure and distance from their own norms. Further, Ferrol''s was the only Town lord they could trust with her identity, so¡ª until they found out a way she could bypass the Lord Panel¡ªshe was completely limited to traveling in her region. They paused walking when a person stood in front of some cages and started welcoming people to watch him. Althea was determined to experience as much as she could in this world, so they watched the whole thing. "Behold, a feral wolfbeast! Tamed and ready to serve your commands!" he yelled, showing the large cage with the aforementioned beast. The cage owners next to him did not lose in terms of loudness. "Direbears could carry your carriage for miles without anything attacking!" "Khola Beasts for the fastest and strongest ride you''ll experience!" And so on. Althea and Garan were interested in listening to their marketing, but they were not even a bit tempted to buy one. To be honest, the beasts of this world weren''t really the type of useful companions one would think them to be¡ªat least not in the way Terrans imagined. Unlike in stories where they could be used to hunt and accompany in battle, the beasts here were not really sentient. They were practically zombies in beast form without maggots crawling on them. This was why they could only be used for transportation like for beast carriages. Despite the dangers, it had become a social status to have them. For Alterra, which would have modes of transportation much more controllable than beasts, this was not practical to get at all. What she was interested in though, was recruiting a few Beast Masters. They gathered a lot of information about this field from perusing and asking around as if they were clients. Jonathan''s hospitality seemed to have spread as well, so there was a lot of ''better informed'' beast masters who were particularly kind to them. Beast Masters could control beasts by creating instruments to control that particular beast. It varied per beast, even if it was the same species, and each order had a different sound. For example, sometimes one just had to blow, say, the whistle to order it to make it run. Using the same whistle, if they blew harder then the monster would run faster. Sometimes, different whistles would be needed for the same beasts, particularly when they were stronger. The strongest controllable beast here was level 20, and it cost a whopping 200 Gold¡ªeasily a normal person''s salary for 1-2 years¡ªand almost the cost of Gochi. The cheapest ones were also in the three digits as well. This wasn''t including the maintenance of these monsters. Not to mention, the whistles had wear and tear as well. No matter what, it was just impractical to use Beasts. Anyway, from this, she could tell that their powers must have a lot to do with sounds, frequency, and wavelength. She''d need to brainstorm more with the research team, but it should be more or less in that direction. She wondered: If Beast Masters could control frequency, sound wavelength, and the like, what else could they do? Chapter 1039 The Outlier At this time, a Beast Master named Taho was handling his team''s shop. He was answering potential customer queries with a smile, and he would also guide them to their temporary stables if they wanted to buy one or a few beasts. For example, now, where he had just led a client towards the stables which still had about 10 of the same beasts. He handed them over to the beast master who held the whistles, and he was about to return to the exhibition areas again. However, he couldn''t help but want to watch the exchange a bit longer with an envious heart. Taho was a 32-year-old bachelor with greenish-brown hair that had a little rat tail at the back of his head. He was sociable, but inside he was dying a little. He had been a system-stamped Beast Tamer for over ten years now, however he remained assigned to duties like this. Why? Because he couldn''t get close to beasts at all! Even when he landed Level 20, he still couldn''t do it properly. At first, he thought it was finally time for him to do something. After all, the beast being tamed was weaker than he was. However, even if the beast was several levels lower than he was, he still couldn''t tame it in the end! It was so humiliating! He could still remember the laughter of his peers. "He couldn''t get close enough for years, now that he could¡ªhe couldn''t hear them properly!" "I''m embarrassed for him." "I guess the system chose incorrectly this time." Their Beastmaster skills required them to be close to beasts, to determine the ''sound'' each one made. The performance of sound varied a lot after a certain distance, so this was unavoidable. At the same time, this was why the whistles had to be blown within a certain radius from the monster¡ªotherwise, it wouldn''t work at all. Therefore, it was prohibited for drivers to be too far away from the beasts at any point in time, except perhaps if they were staying in a Beast Inn¡ªsomething that not all territories had. That said, a species had a lot of similarities in their sounds, so Beast Masters tended to specialize in one to three types of beasts only. Not that that mattered to him, a person who couldn''t tame a single one!! He just wanted this event to end so he could avoid the weird derogatory looks he was getting from other Tamers. They would often come to sneer at him though. "Ten years and no tamed monster yet," they would say. "An embarrassment to Tamers around." It wasn''t that he wasn''t trying! He kicked a random rock in anger, but it ended up being loose. It hit one of the beasts which turned to his direction with a growl. He shivered and he quickly ran to take the whistles which were placed near it. However, he was clumsy and he dropped them instead. He paled. Orchshiiitttt! ROAR! It reared on its hind legs as it roared, the movement pulling the ropes keeping it in place. The post ricocheted in the area, damaging the posts for the other beasts, and even hitting a few people in the process. Anyway, this agitated several monsters in the area¡ªincluding those by other teams¡ªand it was just chaos. It happened too quickly. "Kyaa!" customers nearby gasped and ran, while some brave beast tamers ran over to calm them down. Although ordering them required some instrument they carved themselves, most tamers had skills of temporarily diffusing the monster''s agitation, to fool them into thinking there was no food or threat around them. Taho also did not get this skill. Roarr! He ran to them and decided to just be physical! He was also level 21! The monsters here were only level 14 and 15! However, monsters were much stronger than humans of the same level, let alone people like him who didn''t have much talent in fighting. So he was just thrown around and stopped when he hit a random cage. He could only watch helplessly as a few monsters made a mess. He could push himself up and try to avoid casualties among the humans by pushing them away regardless of the risk to himself. "AHHH!" he yelled when the teeth of a level 13 monster grazed his back. He was pushing away the customer he had brought in. It was deep, and he was only alive because of his level. "STOP IT!" he yelled, trying to pull the monster down with its rope, but even when he was handling one, the rest of them were stomping, biting, or whatever at other tents, posts, carts, and so on. His heart was already wallowing in grief for whatever punishment he would go through after this was over. Fortunately, there were plenty of other beastmasters around and they arrived within a few minutes. They were extremely shocked at the mess that was happening, but they were quick on their feet and handled the beasts in a short amount of time. Their calming skills emanated all over the area, with more and more monsters slowing down, showing some calmness. It was not easy, however, and it definitely took quite a bit of mana from them. There were stronger ones that needed several beastmasters too and even injured a few. They yelled in pain but were otherwise okay. However, their glare directed in Taho''s direction was extremely venomous and he feared for his life. Should he just run away? However, one of the beasts slipped away and was heading towards the main Town square. If it went there many common citizens would definitely get injured or even perish! Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Without thinking, he ran over there to block the monster''s way. He had no choice but to take out a weapon in his space, ready to fight it as long as it didn''t go past him. Clack! Slash! ROAR! More and more wounds found his body, but he persisted. If someone died because of his clumsiness, he wouldn''t be able to live with himself! However, just as he was about to attack its eye, a familiar resounding voice caught him off guard. "Don''t damage the merchandise!!" The voice made him pause, and it gave the monster time to open its mouth to bite him right at the stomach. "GAHHHHH!!!" Chapter 1040 First Beast Master Recruit "AHHH!" he screamed, crying in pain, though fortunately¡ªor unfortunately¡ªstill alive. In addition to the level difference, he was also wearing some defense equipment so it didn''t go deep enough that he''d lose a part of his body¡ªat least at first. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He felt its jaws clamp down, its teeth getting deeper and deeper into him. The crushing force was dull and bone-deep, but then he''d feel the sharp teeth puncturing his skin and internal organs. He felt himself being lifted and shaken around, and he could feel the teeth go deeper and deeper, creating wider gashes in his body. He couldn''t even describe the pain he was feeling anymore. It was excruciating but also hopeless¡ªas if it was the last bit of feeling he''d receive before everything just¡­ ended. Fortunately, tamers finally got to them and made the beast stop moving, getting it to let him go. He dropped down on the grass, unable to even lift his arms. When the beast accidentally kicked him a bit, he couldn''t even avoid it. Anyway, the beast soon calmed down and was ushered away, leaving Taho lying on the grass all bloodied up. He was delirious in pain, but when he looked up and saw the tamers above him, he could only feel coldness Beast Taming was his dream job since he was a young kid. A long time ago, he was almost run over by a beast cart of a noble. It was agitated by a stronger monster that used the same roads. He thought that was really it for him. However, a strong beast master arrived and used his skill to calm the monster down, saving his life. His name was Zagu. Now¡­ that same beast master looked at him like he was useless trash, questioning the world why he was still alive. Taho forced himself up, though he could only sit up, feeling that if he stood up, a part of his stomach would fall. He was shivering in pain, though it didn''t seem like it calmed the tamers'' anger at all. The damage that level 15s could do was not small and the vicinity was a great mess. "This is too embarrassing," one of the seniors said, tone full of distaste. "It''s fine if it''s just in our Town, but we''re in a place filled with other Beast Masters! This is humiliating!" "No wonder no other beast master teams want you!" another screamed, still remembering the costs. "You better sign an oath to pay back the damages or we''ll send you to rot in prison!!" Taho shivered, and he was on the verge of crying. "I¡­ I can work for free¡ª" "No, we don''t want you anymore! You have been with our team for a year. You''re getting the salary of a newbie Beast Master but you haven''t done anything but make a mess!" Although Taho agreed on getting the minimum beast master salary, it was still much higher than the commoner salaries, so the tamers didn''t think he deserved that much. Granted, they were being harsh. This was the first time he made a mess. Before this, he was actually extremely diligent and could do the jobs of two or three people a day! Anyway, their anger-filled minds conveniently forgot all these things. They had had enough. "Get out!" "No, please!" One of the senior tamers narrowed his eyes at him. "If you can pay 100 gold for the damages you caused right now, we will consider." If he could lose more blood he would. "100 gold? That''s not¡ª" that was too much. The senior gritted his teeth, and it was exacerbated when he saw tamers from other teams look smugly at them, as if they were the target of jokes. He wanted to beat up this bastard! "Listen here¡ª" he said, gripping the younger man''s head. "You know how much damage you¡ª" "Stop," another, deeper, voice sounded and they looked at Zagu, who was the lead tamer of their team. "Just leave him be," he said, looking up and down at him. "We''re not allowed to kill here." This made the tamers pause and look at Taho, who was bleeding a lot. A few more hours and he''d die of blood loss. Not wanting to have anything to do with him anymore, they turned around, leaving him there to wallow in his own fate. Taho''s shoulders slumped and he looked down, sniffing. He tried to hold back his tears¡ªit was humiliating enough that he was fired in front of everyone like this¡ªbut it was not easy. He could still remember the time when he awakened his profession. He was making all kinds of noise at the time, though it ended up attracting monsters that almost killed him. Still, he was so proud. Getting a profession was the step to a better life, after all, let alone one that he had always wanted. However, although his salary was indeed better, he had to endure endless humiliation, causing his self-worth to go down so bad he might as well bury himself. He dragged his body to the interior woods to hide himself and to sob his heart out. He didn''t even care about his bleeding wounds, or that he was creating a bloody trail¡ªit''d clean itself up eventually. As for why he wasn''t going to get healed, he didn''t have money anymore. The next payday was actually the next day, but Zagu was definitely not sending him money after that. Anyway, Taho went deeper into the interior forest until he was several trees in, finally dropping to the ground. "Wuuu¡­." He cried, yelling out his anger and bitterness with the energy he had left. He was such a shame. Why did he even activate the profession in the first place? Was it really the blessing he thought it was?! "Sob¡­ wuuu¡ª" His crying stopped when he heard rustles approach him. Was the world not even going to let him cry in peace? He was near death''s door, damn it!! However, instead of shock or mockery¡ªwhich he was expecting¡ªhe heard a gentle feminine voice instead. "Hello there." He turned and gaped at one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Then, he met cold blue eyes, and he unconsciously looked down again. "We have seen what happened," she said, "We''re sorry we came too late. You could''ve received much less damage¡­ "H-Huh? Why are you¡ª" Why was she apologizing? "We heard you are a Beast master. We happen to be hiring Beast Masters right now," she said, handing him a bottle of what he''d realize later as a healing potion. "Would you like to try?" His eyes widened and he looked at her in disbelief. Was she joking with him? Was this a prank? But her eyes were too kind for her to be so cruel¡­ "I¡­ I''m not a real one¡­" "Oh? How so?" "I haven''t tamed a single monster in my life¡­" he said, though the two''s expression didn''t change at all. There was no disgust or even disappointment, and it made him very confused. She smiled, placing the bottle on his hand when he didn''t take it. "We don''t need you to¡ªat least not yet." "We don''t just need any Beast Tamer," she said. "We need you." "So... what do you say?" Chapter 1041 Some Improvements The couple were set to head home later that day, along with Alterra''s first Beast Tamer (in name). They bought a lot of things from the pharmacy, the market, and so on. Although the Ferrol Fair was an annual thing, its marketplace was active all year round. There were also stalls dedicated to foreigners who would bid to rent it for a week. From there, they managed to buy quite a bit of seeds, potions, equipment, and so on. Fortunately, Althea''s space was large and could fit in whatever she wanted to buy. Anyway, Althea was very, very happy and this earned Garan several pecks on the lips. It heated him up¡ªas always¡ªbut they were scheduled to head back home so he could only suck it up, thinking he could just have fun with the wife as soon as they got home. Sadly, his wife didn''t feel the same. While they were preparing to get out, she turned to him and said: "I miss the babies¡­ they''re going to sleep with us tonight, okay?" "..." Garan''s shoulders slumped slightly. "Uhn," he said, though very reluctantly. Althea giggled at this. How could she not know what he was thinking about? With Garan, if one were to guess what was going on in his head when they were together, it was probably something perverted. So, she just wrapped her arm around his torso and gave him a kiss on the chin. "We''ll do it the whole day on the weekend," she said, voice warm and soothing¡ªand, to Garan, seductive. "I already booked a room at the hotel." Gulp. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan was about to lean down to capture her lips when Taho limped over. "Esau said the Beast Cart is ready¡ª" His voice died down when he saw the sweetie position of the couple. He gulped, and he panicked when he met the man''s cold blue eyes. "I-I''m sorry!" Taho yelled and turned back, though the abruptness of his movement caused him to fall down. "AH!" he yelled, falling down. He ended up opening his wound and a bit of blood spread on the floor again. "..." "..." Was he clumsy or just unlucky? Fortunately, Taho was a level 20 person and it wasn''t easy to die with that amount of blood. They just prepared the beast cart they borrowed from Jonathan. After all, they openly bought a lot of things in the market. She couldn''t place all of them in the space¡ªit was getting a little crowded anyway. This was why they borrowed two carts, one for them and the other for the boxes of things Althea bought in the market. When they got out though, they were surprised to see five beast carts instead of the two. "So many?" Althea asked Esau, who awkwardly turned in a direction. "Althea, Garan." It was Jonathan, smiling at them. "I heard you bought a lot of things." He still called them as before, but his demeanor changed a bit. He seemed a bit more tense and respectful. Her eyes twitched. It seemed like he found out about her secret. Still, he was the town lord. She was only a small village lord; he didn''t have to act so nervous around her. "Nothing''s changed," she said. "You''re still the lord of a level 3 town, as well as our friend." Jonathan stared into her eyes and his shoulders relaxed. He smiled. It wasn''t that he didn''t know that he was still, technically, of much higher rank than she was. He¡­ just couldn''t help it. It was like they were meant to be respected¡ªeven by him and other higher-leveled people. "Well, I''m here to see you off," he said, pushing the strange thought aside. "I also took the liberty to make your trip home more comfortable." He pointed at the largest cart there, almost twice as large as the others and had ornamentations onto it. "You can use that. It''s one of mine and is very comfortable." "Thank you," Althea said. "Though we only really need tw¡ª" "Three," Garan said, cutting her off. Althea blinked and shrugged. Although she did not see the point of getting another one, she went along with it. It was only when he assigned Taho to sit on the extra cart¡ª and then started kissing her inside theirs¡ªdid she figure out the reason for this! This pervert!! ¡­ With the Beast Carts, the group comfortably arrived back to Alterra about half a day later, which was around dawn of the following day. The beast carts weren''t allowed to go beyond the first plaza so they only called some bikes to get their items, and also commissioned one for Taho, whom she assigned to someone from the Research Team. The person called in was Yen, who was curvaceous and had a strong personality, which made Taho look even more clumsy and awkward. She didn''t seem to mind though. Yen just sent her greetings to her idols before pulling the new guy to the cart. "Ah¡­" he gasped in pain as he felt the tension on his wound. He was already healing¡ªthanks to Althea''s superior-grade healing potions¡ªso there was no need to go to the hospital, but it didn''t mean that nothing hurts! Still, he knew no one would care about his pain so he sucked it up, just sitting properly on the open-air cart that was pulled¡­ by a broat? Before moving though, he found something in front of him. It was a cookie¡ªsomething offered by Miss Althea before. He gulped. "This¡­" "Yours," Yen said, a little guilty for not noticing his wounds. "It should make the pain go away." It was a normal cookie, but she made it seem like a healing cookie. Well, to her, it was. "T-Thanks¡­" He ate the cookie bit by bit, relishing its taste. He had only tasted this once before, and he couldn''t get it out of his head. How lucky that he got the treat again. Immediately, he thought Yen was an extremely generous woman. She must be blessed. "Wow¡­" Taho couldn''t help but exclaim as the broat cart lurched forward, and the rest of the grand village was revealed to him. It was beautiful¡­ "Welcome to Alterra," Yen said, amused. "The land of creativity and innovation." The woman looked at the unassuming guy who was just gaping at the sight. She couldn''t help but be curious. "So¡­ Miss Althea personally recruited you," Yen said, leaning over a bit and making Taho flush in embarrassment. "What do you know?" Taho blinked and looked down. Now that she mentioned it, when he saw Lord Jonathan so close to Miss Althea, he realized he was talking to an important person. He was already intimidated before, but after finding this out, he was outright terrified. The more he knew about her, the more he felt he was in the wrong place. "I''m¡­ a beast tamer," he said after a while. "But I haven''t tamed a single beast after 10 years¡­" Yen blinked and looked at him, realizing what his issue was. She chuckled in the end. "Look around: Do you think we need Beasts here?" Taho was confused at first as looked at the avenue. Its breadth was wide and refreshing and there were dozens (if not hundreds) of vehicles running through it in both directions. They were all very quick and safe-looking¡­ and none of them were pulled by the strong beasts he was used to. "Miss Althea must have a use for you," she said. "So lift your chin up, will ya?" Chapter 1042 More Breakthroughs One of the things that did not stop working throughout the various disasters was the Research Center. It helped, of course, that the people hired had a true passion for whatever project they had been doing so even during the heat wave, they would be working (though usually during the night shift). After the disaster was over, they even started doing overtime to make up for the low productivity they had due to the weather! This was why during the next few weeks after Althea got back to her trip, the Research Team would churn out finding after finding, product after product! One of the most impactful changes was the perfection of glass. Before, they only reached the annealing process (based mostly on the data gathered in Althea''s tablet, though with various adjustments due to the current materials). This process allowed glass to be slightly stronger, but it was still not to the quality of modern glass. Then Ricky arrived and led the glass development team to another tier. The progress could''ve been said to be on a steep straight line upwards after he got on board. Very much deserving of the green-tagged name, indeed. With him, better quenching techniques have been developed, and this allowed for the creation of an even stronger type of glass¡ªthe tempered glass. This process gave more tensile strength to the glass and made it more resistant to impact. The laminated glass¡ªthat was: two sheets of glass with a laminate in between¡ªwas also being developed, though the laminates still required some more studying to do. His arrival also improved the casting and rolling techniques, allowing them to create wider glass panels. He also led the development of Ultra-clear glass by teaching the various glass production teams how to refine the raw materials, introducing better fluxes, and showing more details about polishing techniques that could not be taught well through textbooks. The glassblowing technique was also refined. Combined with the help of the chemist, they also made glass similar to borosilicate glass in Terran, which allowed glass to handle very high temperatures. This gave birth to glass strong enough to make precious laboratory equipment! They no longer had to make do with subpar materials. They no longer had to worry about their chemicals reacting with the container and burning their desks, they no longer had to narrow their eyes and struggle to see what was going on inside, and they no longer had to worry about their containers exploding! Once this became popular, more findings would definitely explode from the Chemistry department! These were just a few of the breakthroughs during the weeks that followed. With regards to medicine and potions, the Mana Potion had been studied and had been reproduced to some degree using available materials. Although there were some ways to go, it was a good alternative to the Mana cookie which only a few people could make and worked slowly. There were still advantages of course. For example, mana cookies had much more affordable materials, so it was still the food of choice for teams with someone who knew how to make it. There were also cases where the slow-acting mana recovery foods was better (other than the fact that they tasted better). For example, during endurance fights. They were also studying the potions Althea received from the upgraded Pharmacy on top of the limb regenerating potion. Both were still beyond them though. They definitely required certain skillsets to perfect, especially the limb regenerating potion. She knew she''d take a while to figure those out and she seriously considered just handing it over to either Eugene or Eagle, though both of them refused. It was still better to learn how to create one on their own. Anyway, even if they did take it, they''d only grow a negligible part of flesh and therefore they''d only be wasting good samples. On the other hand, Electricity was slowly becoming a village-wide thing now, with several charging stations available every couple of parks. These were connected to the wind or water power generators. As for solar panels, that was still being perfected, but it should be available within the next few months. Similarly, electricity should be brought to each home within a year or so as well. In time, household appliances would also become a commodity people could buy with money and/or contribution points. Several factories had also proposed expansions during this time. With the deals with various aborigine territories, the current factories simply could not handle all the demand. Expansion of the factories would also provide new jobs, allowing even the newcomer refugees to have safe jobs to choose from. The agricultural and horticulturist departments were also not left behind. More and more variants of seeds had been grown and were being developed. Many of these seeds were in preparation to whatever weather they might have to encounter in the future. There was also a team focusing on high-yield crops like potatoes and corn. The goal was: Even if the refresh rates went down to Terran level or worse, their village of thousands wouldn''t be too affected. Finally, there was also a team assigned to study Atmospheric Water Generation¡ªthat was to say: creating water from air. They would be designing one that didn''t need electricity and this would be done by making Dew Ponds and Fog Nets which would passively collect moisture from air. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, they would also be selling systems with solar panels attached, but for a much higher price. While this might seem like an overkill for a territory with rivers and streams, this could actually be used soon. After all, Helios'' lover lived in the desert. There was definitely a large market there. If they exchanged these things¡ªamong many others¡ªfor oil, then it would be a win-win situation for everyone! Anyway, these were just a few of the many projects going on in the Research Center, each one amazing the aborigines who were better-informed than others. Some stayed and practically settled there, just to see what else was new. They wondered: What else would Alterra churn out next? Chapter 1043 Ansels Proposal A couple of months after the Migration, the lives of Alterrans had completely stabilized. For now, there could be no immediate threat of wars or of beast mobs that they would not be able to handle. If the level of the adversaries remained as it was, then their next mobs or wars might not even have casualties. It even gave Althea time and energy to improve the two satellites. After she got back, she and the architectural team had made plans on how to improve the two villages. They would be adding better roads, parks, amenities, and the like. Some could be done via the system, and these could be implemented immediately. The others would need some time. They would be designed in consideration to improve the lifestyle of the people there, and also to handle the tourism that''d come. They''d be done in phases and the budget would come strictly from the satellite''s earnings alone so it''d take time, but it felt great to have a plan. Speaking of this, Alterra was stable, but the other two¡ªespecially Iron Mountains¡ªstill needed a lot of time, which was why she wanted to improve its infrastructure first. There was still the looming threat of Guia''s former masters. Although she didn''t know why they hadn''t made a move yet, they might be doing so soon enough. Unlike Alterra, most of the population there (for now) were aborigines. They couldn''t force everyone to make oaths of non-betrayal¡ªit was something that went against the common sense here, because people could just leave if they didn''t like it there. Basically, aborigines had the default of being averse to loyalty, which was understandable because this place was really just extremely unstable. If anything endangered their lives, they''d be more likely to bolt than to risk their lives to defend a place. There was also a cost involved and not everyone was willing to shoulder that¡ªespecially when the population came in tens of thousands. The only ones they required oaths from¡ªin all three territories¡ªwere either the slaves they were freeing (at their costs) or those working directly under them. This was already a huge amount of cost, and wasn''t something other territories even thought of doing. What they did in Iron Mountains was to improve the reporting system and add rewards, though more in the form of actual money instead of contribution points. Unlike Terrans, the concept was a bit alien to the locals so many of them still couldn''t understand it well. In their minds, the proper rewards was still hard money. The equivalent in money was naturally much lower to encourage the use of contribution points, of course. Eventually, the advantages would catch up, and those people would realize which was the better option. She was even setting up the Alterrra Shop as a contribution-points only shop, which would eventually force those people to accept it. As for the foreigners going there specifically for the Alterra Shop, then they''d just have to stay a bit longer and contribute. As for Limestone Valley, Henry was doing well already and there were a few things to worry about there. Eventually, it''d run as smoothly as Alterra (at least to some degree) which was already good enough. Of course, she and the others also made sure their people didn''t get complacent. Having the skill and power to have no losses and still having them because of carelessness would be infinitely more painful to the people involved. Fortunately, after so many months, people had already formed the habit of training, at least every couple of days. If they missed their routine, chances were: they''d be uncomfortable¡ªmuch like how a health buff would feel incredibly discomfited when he missed an exercise day. Anyway, one peaceful day like any other, Ansel went to Althea while she was in her office at the Research Center. He looked a bit like a puppydog. Althea had no doubt he was there to ask for a favor. "What is it?" "So¡­ everything in Alterra is already working well, like efficient cogs to a wonderful machine. "You already provided people with the basic needs. Although a lot of the conveniences are still being done, the basics are already there¡ª" "Get to the point," she said. She happened to be reading some interesting findings from the chemistry department at this time. She wanted to get back to it. Ansel cleared his throat. "People will start looking for spiritual needs now." Her eyebrows rose and she stared at him. Did he find a deity to worship or something? "Spiritually as in those that would improve a person''s mental well-being!" he added. "This might not be the case with the natives, but we''re Terrans. We have a lifestyle that we''re used to!" he said. "I¡­ want to improve the entertainment industry!" Ansel''s goal was to be able to provide entertainment unmatched in this world! Not only would Alterra become the Food Capital and the Innovation Capital¡ªit would also be the Entertainment Capital! Ansel had reserved a few commercial units, one in each avenue, and another one along Market Street. He had also started an Entertainment Company with Fable, but he still needed a bit more investment to reach the scale they wanted. For now, all they could do was organize events and make little shows. Although he was rich and he had a rich sister, he wanted the company to be self-sustaining soon. "Don''t you want to invest in your little brother?" He asked, and smiled when she seemed to ponder about it. "There are places I''m interested in and I hope you can allow me to rent them out." He had been eyeing one of the two other buildings next to the supermarket as an entertainment area. He then started hinting at them. "Those are great places with good traffic!" There was the issue of zoning, but still¡ª Without thinking, Althea shook her head. For a moment, Ansel thought he was rejected. "No, we need those buildings for other things," she told him, and his shoulder slumped. He didn''t stay sad for long though¡ª "I''ll make a separate entertainment street for you." S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel gaped. "...what?" An entertainment¡­ street?! He would have a whole street to develop!? Just like that? This was the feeling of a rich kid being spoiled by filthy rich parents right? Chapter 1044 Other Things Brewing As time passed by, Alterra''s name began to spread to more and more territories in the region. The territories close by had begun to send caravans to the four allied territories in an attempt to buy the goods for their own use. Some people even started planning their immigration there. There were also those from farther away, connected via Ferrol. They were planning to purchase various products not just for their own use, but also to make money out of them. A lot of these territories were inspired by Alterra''s new partners who had made deals to various parties when they stayed in Alterra. Even during the Heat Wave, deals were being finalized, which was amazing in its own way. Through them, the products and Alterra''s name flowed from person to person, slowly increasing its influence even when it was barely doing anything. In this region, this was primarily attributed to the teams from Ferrol Town. Pieto''s team from Twinwave also made a lot of good deals, but their location was relatively far and¡ªfor now¡ªthey had a monopoly of Alterra''s products in their area. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, everyone who had arrived with Jonathan back then had already made a killing, and¡ªwhile all of them tried to keep Alterra''s name a secret (to maintain their market advantage)¡ªit was inevitable that some leaks occurred within their ranks. Money spoke, after all¡ªand it spoke loudly. While a few territories were just intrigued¡ªwho wouldn''t¡ªmost of them were either greedy for or livid at Alterra. Maybe both. For instance, in Basset Town, the Lord was having a meeting with the Lords of its subsidiary villages. They came as a group, beseeching his help. "Many citizens had already begun to liquidate their assets!" Unggoy, Lord of Ugoy Village, angrily raged. "My information indicates they''re planning to move to this¡­ Alterra!!" "It''s too close to us!" another person said. "I heard it''s becoming a town within the next few months, so people were rushing to move in before it happened." This made some look at him. "A Town already? That can''t be true¡ªwasn''t it built just a few months ago?" A lot of the others were also cynical. "Perhaps it is a rumor they spread out to intimidate people." "Yes, that is true." However, there were also some who had actually been there¡ªor at least their trusted confidantes had, and therefore had clearer minds. "I have heard nothing but good things," Yassop, the Lord of Yasof village, said. "I agree that some things might have been exaggerated, but I''m certain they had a lot of basis." He, too, had been greatly affected, especially with his proximity to the Alterra Circle. In the past couple of weeks, he had lost about a hundred citizens. When he asked his people to follow them, it was then that they found out they were heading to Alterra. Well, to be accurate, they ended up in one of the associated villages. Apparently, Alterra itself had started limiting visitors without prior appointments. This was something that was incomprehensible to them until now. Anyway, one thing was for certain: People were lining up in spite of this¡ªdesperate to enter. However, according to his men, even those associate villages were very good. They had great facilities and amazing food. They were already better than any of the villages they had been to. Yassop reckoned that if his men weren''t bound to him by oath, they''d have stayed there along with those people. At the same time, they were said to be far inferior to Alterra itself, which heightened the curiosity of Alterra even more. "I can''t say I blame them. That place is too good." Picky, the Lord of Picno Village added. He had seen it himself. He was one of the nearer villages and was affected first. He was already aware of it before they started implementing their new rules, but he kept mum about it because he wanted it for himself. However, while he tried to prepare for war, that damned place just got stronger and stronger. Picno was just a Level 2 Village. Before they knew it, Alterra had already left them behind! So, here he was, just hoping to get a share somehow. "You''ve been there?" "Me, as well," Tangie, Lord of Tanga Village, added. His eyes were glittering with desire. "It''s nothing like a village! I daresay it''s comparable to a town. So I wouldn''t be surprised if they really did upgrade within the next couple of months!" "Those products of theirs are really too attractive. Just one trip made them so much money!" Unggoy said, eyes sparkling with greed. "I took it all of course." This was also why those people¡ªmany of whom were captured and were now imprisoned¡ªtried to escape and immigrate in the first place. Anyway, those who had been in Alterra¡ªor in the associate villages¡ªcouldn''t help but long for the products it offered. The items were creative and useful, while the food-related ones were delicious¡ªthey were nothing they had ever tasted before! Some of them imagined delicious candies that could last weeks or longer. Some imagined the delicious noodles and the various flavors, while some imagined the savory meats and those explosive flavors. The place itself was also so amazing. The streets were wide and clean, and the vegetation was all well-maintained. Even when the sun rested, the village was well-lit, allowing people to work and have fun well into the night! There were also unusual modes of transportation. They were fast and convenient, and wouldn''t eat them by accident! Not only that, their spies also saw those bows and arrows¡ªthey worked far faster and stronger than what they had. They called them crossbows, and they could shoot as quickly as three to five people combined! There seemed to be other weapons and technology as well, but they didn''t get much access to them. In particular, there seemed to be a building where so many of the unique products were created. However, their scouts weren''t even able to get close, so they had no choice but to wait for a takeover. Even their Class E weapons had unknown varieties made of Beast Bones, which seemed to be more powerful than the weapons made of wood readily available to them. As villages, the only equipment they could buy were from the system buildings. This was why¡ªfor certain territories who managed to smuggle their people in¡ªone of the things they patronized was Alterra''s weapon store and armory. They all bought as much as their individual purchase limits allowed. They could even buy Class D equipment there, which was rare in villages since they typically had no access to black rocks like these people did! In contrast to most villages, the Alterran guards all had these weapons. Why did they have so many? How!? Of course, this information, those privy to it didn''t share with the others. Eventually, with some assistance from the Master Town, they''d take Alterra and all its goodness! These people could just watch in envy! That was, of course, assuming they made the first move on top of getting Basset Town''s support! At this, many of the village lords looked guardedly at each other. So¡­ who''d be able to take Alterra for themselves? Chapter 1045 Gathering in Basset Town A/N: ADVANCED HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I can''t do any more mass release lol, but do receive my heart and greetings. Thank you for your support the past year, Alterrans! The book is now more than 1 year old and still going decently. This is already an accomplishment in and of itself and I wouldn''t have gotten so far without y''all! Hope you remain with me for the coming year~ We''re reaching the halfway mark the story! Hehehe. Love you, and HUGS! ... ____ They were still investigating, but it seemed like Alterra still had a lot of weapons hidden. The greed in their hearts burst as they thought of this, and they looked at each other in understanding. "I will take it first!" Unggoy yelled, already claiming it. "No, I will!" Tout, the Lord of Resso village, responded at around the same time. "I''m closest to it!" Tangie said, dismissing the two of them. "My people have also been there before, and they had gathered enough information the past few weeks. It''s much more than what you have." Logically speaking, he really was the best choice after Picno, which was still a Level 2 Village. However, the others were not reconciled. "I have dealt with their kind before!" Khemel, the lord of Khlack village, yelled back. "They are Foreigners, and I have gone to war with its associate territory, Belluga." This made a couple of other lords sneer at him. "Yeah, by being defeated twice." Khlack was nothing but an empty shell now. Some monsters could even enter the walls. They would just kill it when it entered, but they were no longer able to keep the monsters completely out of the territory. This meant that there was heavy damage every day, and people died even within the territory walls. People dying in Xeno was normal, but what was the point of being in a territory that couldn''t protect them at all? The other villages all received refugees from there, so they knew what was going on. At this, Khemel''s face turned red and he sat back down in humiliation. However, he was desperate to clear his name and regain some status again. He turned to look at the Lord Bentro. "Milord¡­ If you can lend me Patte''s team again," he said. "We can weaken Alterra bit by bit from the outside. I''m sure they''d love targets like that, particularly women from that place. "I heard he even took the enemy lord in front of her subjects," he said. "He will love this mission." Bentro sighed. "My son is probably having fun elsewhere at this time," he said. Because Patte''s level was nothing special in a Town, he¡ªand his cronies¡ªtended to like terrorizing villages. He was a Basset Citizen, but he was rarely here. "Rather than send him to help you though, I''d rather send him to investigate Alterra himself." He then turned to Vara, the leader of the Rongo Mercenary Team. After a close deal between them, the mercenary team agreed to set up their main base in his town. Although it wasn''t that strong considering it was from a City, they were still powerhouses in the tier of Towns. Anyway, the man had been quietly watching them all this time and, knowing him, he must have something to contribute. "What do you think?" "We, too, know a bit about it," Vara said, rubbing his short beard. His sharp eyes turned to his side to reveal another person with a dark disposition. If Garan and the others were here, they''d recognize him as Fargo. Well, perhaps they would, perhaps they wouldn''t. This man, in stark contrast to his previous sleek image, appeared weak and pitiful. His clothing was now that of a commoner who hadn''t bathed in week. He only had one arm and one leg now, and he was held up by stiff stone legs that consumed mana for every movement that he made. Despite his pitiful state, his heart was fiery with hope for revenge. Because of the oath, he couldn''t do it directly but he could assist the people who could do something about them. The oath was strict, of course, but fortunately there was information that technically wasn''t a secret¡ªthe people in this room were simply not aware of them because of the horrible status of communications here. "I know this place very well," he said. "You?" the Lord said, looking up and down at him, not hiding his distaste. He was just a level 10 man. An invalid, too. Normally, any one who had lost a limb was garbage, but it seemed like this one had a longer life span. More importantly, his control of his element was not to be underestimated. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "One of its satellites, Limestone Valley, was mine. Me and the branch of the Rongo mercenary team assigned there were defeated by them." This made everyone''s enthusiasm to attack diminish a bit, suddenly making them more guarded. Even if the Rongo Team''s branch was probably in the weaker strata since they settled in villages, it shouldn''t be so weak either. "Their second war," Fargo continued. "They defeated Guia Valley." This made people flinch. Not everyone knew of this information. Rather, it was too unbelievable that many unconsciously missed it. Fargo knew because he had been following news of them as soon as he had the freedom to do so, and he did it by attaching himself to Vara¡­ ¡­though that naturally came with a lot of costs, some of which made him want to skin himself alive. "How they managed to do this is still under investigation, but it shows Alterra is far from weak," Fargo said. "As someone from the same home planet, I can also tell you that their technology is nothing you''ve seen before. "As you are now, any one of you will be crushed." This made the others sneer. They felt uncomfortable being threatened just by the existence of another village! Unggoy hit the table in anger. "It''s a new village right? How can it be so powerful?!" He glared at Fargo, and even at Vara. "You are not exaggerating their strength to feel less embarrassed of your loss, right? "Don''t wanna admit you''re just weak?!" Slash! Unggoy''s eyes widened as the sharp spike of earth appeared by his neck, missing it by an inch. He shook and fell back in shock, almost peeing at himself. His eyes were wide as he whipped his head at the invalid who did it. Fargo sneered. "If I''m weak, what are you?" his eyes were filled with anger and vindictiveness, and it scared Unggoy a bit, despite the bastard being nearly half his level. "YOU¡ª" "ENOUGH!!" Bentro yelled and hit the table in front of him, causing it to crack. This finally brought some peace to the table. After taking a deep breath, he looked at Fargo. "Continue." Fargo''s eyes sharpened, and he said everything he knew and could say. In particular, the fact that they were mostly elementalists. This caused both greed and apprehension to his audience, but mostly the former. There might be a lot of limitations to him now¡ªwhether it was with his current body and situation, or because of that damned oath¡ªbut he would make sure to contribute to Alterra''s downfall!! Chapter 1046 First Terran Business in Iron Valley Iron Valley At this time in Iron Valley, the day passed by as usual. A lot of things changed since the ruling party was replaced. For one, the housing situation had been gradually improved, and so did the state of the food industry. More farms had been created, and the crops available had been diversified. Slowly, more and more plants and products had been grown and harvested, adding to the variety of homegrown foods¡ªa lot of which the locals hadn''t seen. Further, the industries related to the mines were expanded, and more jobs were created in turn. The productivity also skyrocketed. If the goblins hadn''t said that the mine was still large, they''d worry about exhausting it after a couple of years. The increased productivity, of course, meant much larger income for the territory. Althea had made it a point to use most of the profit of that satellite back to the satellite. More and more (and better) houses had been created, with more amenities added in. A few Alterrans had also relocated there for a chance of a good life. Alterra was great, but for people with high ambitions, it was too saturated unless you had something really special to offer. One of these people was Tofu, a kitchen hand back in Terra. He was no great cook compared to the others, but he had the business mind and the ambition that pushed him to make the decision. When he found out a new Caravan was heading to Iron Mountains, he dragged his wife (who couldn''t cook but was so good with money that she could be an accountant) to go with him. Together, they started a business in this brand new territory. He also knew from Hugo that they had built farms here as well. Although much of the sauces had to be bought at higher cost from the Gaea Grocery branch there, the purchasing power of aborigines was also higher. He could definitely charge a lot more for less delicious food (at least compared to what Alterrans were used to)! He knew he had to carve a name for himself early before other people did the same. Among those people, there would be those who knew how to cook better or had family recipes. In terms of taste, he might not be able to match anymore. However, by the time they arrived, he believed he''d have enough capital to start a new venture¡ªwhatever that would be! Most awesomely, because he was the first one to start an Alterran business here, he was also given a lot of preferential treatment! For example, he was given a very low downpayment¡ªand he was allowed to use a shop house along the main avenue! 5% downpayment! The balance had payment terms with 15 years to pay! There was no greater deal than this! He looked at his shop that had just opened, heart filled with excitement. People curiously looked inside after an aggressive marketing campaign on the streets, and more and more people started entering and settling on the table. He giggled to himself before heading to the kitchen, cooking the first orders the restaurant would ever have. And so, that was the birth of ''MediocreFoodsYouLove'' by Tofu, and he would indeed make a lot of money. ¡­ The pretty short-haired Silvia, at this time, was doing her daily rounds around the territory. Walking beside her and matching her pace was the head guard, Rowan. They claimed it was completely professional and they really did do their jobs religiously. However, anyone with eyes could see that this was a half-date. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For one, there was no need for two professionals to walk less than a foot away from each other. Another, there was no reason for them to have flushed faces and dilated pupils the whole time. "People''s lifestyle is improving," Rowan said, turning to her. "Have you eaten breakfast yet?" "Not yet." "Shall we check out the new shop?" Silvia offered. "Miss Althea asked us to report on how the businesses are going." Rowan nodded. "Yes, we should check its status together." "I agree." Their words were relatively platonic, but if one considered the chemistry sparking between them, then one could see it was anything but that. They arrived at the restaurant sometime after brunch. Tofu''s restaurant had just opened but, unsurprisingly, he already had a lot of customers. Even if majority of the people here were aborigines, even the simplest marketing technique (i.e. yelling some catchy slogan outside the door) could attract them. Fortunately, there was no queue for now and it was easy for Silvia and Rowan to find their seats in the corner. Allegedly, it was so they could observe the place from a more holistic point of view. It was just that the fact that they had their own space¡­ made the flirting a little less subtle. No, they were not feeding each other. However, they were often caught watching the other eat, and then shyly look down when the other lifted their heads. It was ridiculously sappy. The ''inspection'' ended wth them agreeing that, while the quality and taste of the food was nothing compared to Alterra, it was definitely unique and far superior to what the local population had been used to. They judged this business to be high-potential and would not need any government assistance at all. The two continued their "non-romantic" walk around the village. They went on a comfortable pace, exchanging a few bits of small talk along the way. However, their non-date was be cut short when they heard some commotion happening in an area. Their feet moved quickly to follow the noise and they realized where it was happening. "There''s a commotion in the Iron Shop," Rowan said with a deep frown, immediately heading to the center of the crowd. The crowd, a little scared, saw them and heaved sighs of relief, immediately clearing the way for them. The shop''s frontage was a bit of a mess. The shop clerks were pale and scared, with a few guards separating them from the hostility. The guards were led by Hugo, who was standing tall and unperturbed, despite being outnumbered. Across them was a small group of tall aborigines¡ªand they were not weak. At the very least, their levels were definitely not something found in Villages. Chapter 1047 Unfriendly Visitors A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! May you all have a blessed 2025~ *dances* ¡­ ____ The Iron Shop was a large shop comprised of three modules. It was located by one of the new plazas Alterra built when it took over. After the Alterrans moved in, they not only built the Alterras shop (with a section dedicated to Gaea Grocery items), they also built one shop where people could purchase iron, whether it was in raw ore form or already refined. Other Territories all had Weapon Shops which levelled up after time. However, the level D weapons they could produce were limited because most of them did not have a lot of iron. They had to buy the raw materials from others before the weapon store could produce it. Before, the iron was purchased directly at the mines which were not organized. Of course, there was also the fact that there seemed to be one territory that was receiving the majority of the iron, so there was that. Another effect of this was that there would be less Class D weapons in the surrounding territories, lowering the threats that Guia''s adjacent villages could pose. This was another way Baltimore made sure he remained the indisputable strongest village in the area. In contrast, with the Alterrans at the helm, the purchase limits for others had even slightly increased, though not too much. This was not enough to allow other territories to make too many good weapons, but they also wanted to provide to as many ''baskets'' as possible. They didn''t change the pricing either and even lowered it for territories that were allied with them. They were less greedy and their production line was much, much, more efficient. So, even with the lower price, Alterra was making huge profits¡ªa lot better than what Guia made before. Anyway, during the past few weeks it was opened, the Iron Shop naturally became one of the most popular place for visitors. It was next only to the Alterra Shop, which was only more popular because of its variety and the rarity of its products. That said, there had been a lot of conflicts since its inception. This was not a surprise; this was just how this world was. It couldn''t be all like Alterra, right? Even with the rules and regulations, the majority of the population were still aborigines who were used to talking with their fists. At least the territory made a good chump of money from bails¡­ Anyway, this was not the issue right now. Rowan walked forward, joining the three guards, including Hugo. "What''s going on?" he asked and Hugo looked at him. "These men are asking us to surrender our Iron. All of it," he said. "They didn''t care about our explanations at all." No wonder there was so much noise¡ªand most of which weren''t even from their own people¡ªwhen there was no one fighting. Many of these people probably went here and queued properly to buy their iron. How could they allow other people to just take them all away? He heaved a deep breath and looked at the aborigines, each one with a higher level than his. "First of all, these are not free," he said. "And second, each buyer had a purchase limit¡ªthis meant no one individual or group could buy everything." He then looked at all the people frowning round them, glaring at the newcomers. "As you can see, they are all waiting in line for their share." All the people in the queue nodded in approval, which made the bullies frown deeper than before. "What are you talking about?" Ashol, the leader of the group, asked. He crossed his arms, growing impatient at all this delay. "You have never caused us trouble before. Where''s your Lord? We need to talk to him! "These things were usually placed in our carts without question! Don''t make me lose my patience," he said, genuinely about to make a move. "Perhaps that''s because the items aren''t yours as you claim," Rowan said with a deadpan expression on his face. However, his body was tense, definitely prepared to take on an attack directed at him. "This has always been our property!" he said, appearing to take this for granted. Rowan narrowed his eyes as he looked at them. "Who are you?" In retrospect, they should''ve asked earlier. It was just that the other party had the attitude that they must be known and recognized¡ªand therefore must be catered to. "We''re from Valov Town," he said. As he said this, he and his teammates lifted their chins up. He was expecting for them to be more obedient. Unexpectedly, they did not flinch at all. Some of the other visitors who had heard about them didn''t seem to care much either. It was only this time that Ashol realized that there were a lot of things that they missed. It had been a while since he personally was sent here so he had forgotten a lot of how it was. Another group was usually assigned to do this, but they had been missing in action for weeks, so his group was sent instead. At most, he just noticed the name change, which had indeed been odd, but he didn''t think too much of it. "You don''t know us?" he asked, the grip on his weapon tightening. "Who are you?" "In case you hadn''t noticed, this is no longer Guia VIllage," Rowan said, taking out his weapon too. Hugo and the others long had their weapons out, and they were prepared to have an all out fight several minutes ago. "Our territory won Guia Village, and we now control the mines." "What?" Ashol and the others looked at each other. It turned out the Lord wasn''t even Baltimore anymore? sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was big news! Things happened quickly. One of the men next to Ashol practically disappeared from where he stood, dashing over to the citizens. He gestured to grab someone to interrogate¡ªusing a painful grip as he did so¡ªbut there was a flash of light and he disappeared. Ashol and the others'' eyes widened when they saw this. "HEY! Where is he?" "In prison," Rowan ''kindly'' explained. "Didn''t you listen to the rules and regulations?" "You cannot commit hostile crimes that could hurt other people, or the system would make a move." Rowan''s sharp eyes stared at them. His level might be lower, but his confidence to the system and their rules added a certain height to his words. "You can try and attack us now so you could join him." Chapter 1048 Discussions with the Valov People They were at a standstill for a while. Their pride was hurt and they really wanted to hit people. At the same time, if they all went to prison, what would be their next step? In the end, they had to back down. "This is shit," Ashol tutted, gesturing for everyone to step away. They hated to do so, but they had to make a report as soon as possible. "We''ll be back," they just said, gesturing to leave. Afraid of their auras, the crowd gave way to let them leave. Unexpectedly, a certain woman appeared in their path. Rowan''s heart dropped, while the hostile aborigines either frowned (because she, a woman, blocked their way) or leered at her (because she was a beauty). "I''m afraid we can''t do that," Silvia said. "May we head to the office? Perhaps we can come up with a good deal." This surprised Rowan and the others, but Silvia''s face didn''t show anything other than a professional smile. Seeing that she was ''offering'', the aborigines'' minds immediately went in another direction. The woman was beautiful and had a good shape, too, so she must be good at what she does! Their line of thought was obvious with their perverted expressions. It made Rowan want to burn them. He stepped forward and stood in between them, making the aborigines frown. However, since there was a civil reception about to happen, their anger subsided a bit. "Sure," they said, and Silvia guided them to the Village Center for an official-looking meeting. They led them to the meeting room. Before they entered, Rowan pulled Silvia into a corner, looking at her with concern. "Why are we even talking to them?" "We don''t know everyone buying the iron nor do we have formal partnerships with most of them," she said, calmly explaining to him. "It won''t look good to just imprison people randomly, and we might raise some other unnecessary issue by showing force at this juncture." These people were obviously sent by Guia''s master territory. Whether it was that Valov Town or someplace else, they needed more information. Further, they didn''t know if they had allies in the vicinity, or what the information would mean for the others. They had to thread carefully. There was also the off-chance that it wasn''t like that at all. Perhaps¡­ these people were just self-absorbed and entitled. If they openly took these people down, wouldn''t that alert the wrong people they were imprisoning people? "And most importantly," she paused, giving him a teasing glance that calmed down most of Rowan''s anxieties. "Don''t you think this is the perfect time to find out more?" Until now, the ''master territory'' felt a bit like a sword hanging above them, and they had no idea whether it would fall or when. Now that they found a thread of connection, they must do what they could to grasp it. After a moment, Rowan nodded in understanding. Heaving deep breaths, the two of them entered the room. Silvia and Rowan introduced themselves. The aborigines were surprised that she held actual position. However, despite this, their perverted looks did not disappear¡ªit even intensified. In their minds, a woman must just be placed in that position to make her look hotter, and it was working. If Rowan wasn''t seated between them, it was estimated that someone would''ve attempted to touch Silvia. Silvia pretended not to see, and she subtly held Rowan''s hand to calm him down. She then told them a false story about how they even got here, or how they won the territory "We were just attacked by Guia and we got lucky to receive the entire territory," Silvia said, looking pretty as always. "It''s mostly luck on our part. "We don''t know much about its state before. We were so surprised to find a mine here." "You mean to say you beat Baltimore?" She nodded. "There were strong mercenaries who were on missions and got injured. Our territory helped save them. It so happened Baltimore decided to attack. To repay the favor, they cleared them up." Attacking territories had a lot less protection than the defending population, especially when they didn''t go through the array. There were plenty of questionable details about what she said, but obviously these men were either too blinded by her beauty and their own arrogance, or they were stupid (or maybe both), that they didn''t really think too deeply about it. "We have always been taking the Iron of this place, leaving just enough for their own weapons," Ashol said, eyes fixed on her pretty face. "The Lord expects to receive a certain amount. Ah, they require much higher now because the previous batch did not return on time." "A town needs so much?" "It''s not our town that needs it," he said, and Silvia made sure to note that down in her mind. "It must be a powerful territory to order a town like Valov so much." Ashol nodded. "Of course," he said. "Valov wouldn''t even exist without it." Silvia tried to pry more information and as the minutes ticked by, the information became more and more useless. Combined with their leering stares and increasingly suggestive comments, Silvia decided to stop the meeting before Rowan was unable to stop himself from attacking. "We will talk with the others who had reserved," she said with finality. "Please come with me so that we can convince them better¡ªafter all, we are just a weak village," she said. "We cannot compare to the influence of a Town." The group headed back to the queue and Silvia went in front to speak to the crowd. Ashol and the others held their heads up high, as if returning in triumph. However¡­ instead of Silvia demanding them to return the iron¡ªas they had expected any one with common sense to do¡ªshe told them that they, Valov Town, would be willing to buy the iron for a higher price than what they''ve bought. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This way, your costs of travel and lining up can at least be covered," she said. "It''s a win-win situation, don''t you think so?" Ashol''s eyes sharpened as he looked at her. This bitch! Chapter 1049 Disagreements! This bitch! She definitely led them to believe that they''d pander to their request! If Silvia knew his thoughts, she would just smile professionally. Technically speaking, she hadn''t committed anything of the sort. These people simply took her words with the interpretation of their own bias. With that bias being their wants followed without question¡ªespecially by a woman. If they had made an oath, they wouldn''t have been able to force her to do what they thought she promised. Of course, even if she said this though, it would only fuel the man''s fire. He felt Rowan''s stare at him and he forced himself to calm. However, it was evidently not easy, because veins seemed to be popping all over his body, and a little more of this and he''d explode. Ashol took a deep breath. However, if it would expedite the process, they might have no choice but to accept. This wasn''t what had been discussed¡ªat least not what he was led to believe. Ashol''s eyes traced over the woman''s body, his own already heating up at the thought of it naked under him. He''d just punish her later on. For now, he had to do his tasks and he shifted his malicious gaze to the other customers instead. Anyway, these people shouldn''t dare raise the price after hearing they were from Valov Town! Maybe they''d even lower it! He miscalculated this time. Again. While some were indeed intimidated by the power of a Town¡ªthere were plenty of people there who were from towns themselves! These people¡­ vehemently disagreed with the deal. To make matters worse (for Valov) the remaining stocks were even bidded out. "A powerful town like Valov should be able to out-bid the others," Rowan said at the side, making them a little panicked. In the end, the bidding began, and this earned Iron Mountains a lot of extra money. It irked Ashol and the others very much, especially when they lost batch after batch, and they had to see other people smiling as they won a whole pile of black metal¡ªeach one Valov Town was being forced to let go of. They were humiliated, and those smiling faces felt like mockery to them. Someone from their team wanted to fake it and just force them to accept their lack of funds after they won the bid, but Silvia stopped this by saying she''d only accept upfront payment in public. "For fairness of the bidding, all payments had to be done in front of everyone," she said. "We can''t have other people bidding over others but not planning to pay, right? That is what weak territories do." This shut down their nefarious plans. If they were unable to take out the money required, then they¡ªand the territory¡ªwould only be embarrassed. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In the end¡ªafter a few more batches¡ªValov didn''t win a single one! The arrogant Valov citizens were not reconciled. "WHAT IS THIS?" he yelled. "This is not fair! REDO IT!" Some other people, particularly those who had won their batches, quickly chimed in. "We won fair and square!" he said. He was one of the people from Ferrol Town and was a frequent customer here since the heat wave. "Your Valov Town can''t be thinking of stealing in broad daylight!? Against our territory?" Ashol pursed his lips and couldn''t speak for a bit. Ferrol Town was a higher level town than Valov. However, it wasn''t like they didn''t have stronger backing! The thought allowed him to straighten his back and glare at them. He looked at Silvia and Rowan, who were now standing together and staring at them¡ªas if waiting for what they''d do next. "I clearly told you that this doesn''t only involve the interests of Valov Town," he said, tone filled with implications. However, it didn''t seem to shake either one of the two. "We cannot damage the interest of the whole territory for you." Seeing her so arrogant, the misogynistic men decided it was time to put her in place. "I''ve had enough of this!!" Ashol yelled, his large hands extending to get her. Similarly, his cronies gestured to attack everyone else¡ªparticularly, those who had won the bid. However, another flash of light passed by and, this time, every one of them were transferred to the Prison. Things immediately calmed down then, and Silvia¡ªlike a professional as always¡ªsimply apologized to their guests. "I''m sorry for that," she said. "It''s difficult to handle some territories. You understand." "No worries, Silvia," their regulars said with smiles. "Some people are just difficult to talk to." She chuckled and excused herself. Rowan followed closely behind her, staring at her back and making sure she was okay psychologically. He knew that¡ªwhile Silvia didn''t shiver or falter at all during that event¡ªshe was definitely scared. As they walked though, they were as relieved as they felt heavy. "A lot of things happened, I see," a voice sounded and they turned to see it was Reno. "I was gone for half a day¡­" He was part of the clearing team that left early that day, so his armor still had splatters of blood and his weapon had fresh marks of battle. "Brother," Silvia said, heaving out the breath she had been holding. Rowan saw this and wanted to pat her head. He wondered when she''d be able to breathe this easily as long as he was with her. Reno was actually a few levels lower than he was, but in her mind he was still the most reliable. This was understandable, of course. Although Rowan was stronger (for now) in terms of raw power, he still had a lot to learn when it came to other things like managing territories, certain more complex techniques, handling people, and so on. Still, Rowan''s wish was to be skilled enough so the woman could relax as soon as he arrived. He still had much to learn, however. Silvia was also a perfectionist, so Rowan''s evident lack of administrative knowledge and EQ indeed posed many challenges to him. Anyway, Silvia filled her brother out with the events, and each sentence got him more and more tense. He sighed in the end. "Send a letter to Alterra," he said. "We need to know what they''d want us to do with those people." Then¡­ he remembered the bits of information they got so far. "And also tell them what we could be up against in the future." Chapter 1050 Altheas Birthday A few more days passed by and Althea''s 26th birthday finally arrived. Like Garan, she wasn''t into big parties so their celebration was a very intimate dinner with only their closest friends and family eating a more special-than-usual menu on the table. They set up a large dining table at the veranda area and each dish was plated well, and it was obvious the chef took particular care of them. The group ate happily, eating much more than usual, and were extremely satisfied with the experience. Cooke himself made most of the food and it was his best menu yet. They sang the happy birthday song with cake and candles and¡ªwhile it was a traditional practice¡ªit felt special and nostalgic to do in this foreign land. "Happy 26th birthday!" they greeted, each giving their special gifts. Winona and Ansel gave a few sets of dresses and suits she got Andrei to customize. Both of them had impeccable taste, so Althea knew the attire would be really good. Andrei had also awakened the Cloth Maker profession so the beautiful customized suits he made had defensive properties. They could be worn over underwear or clothing, depending on the weather and the occasion. There were even 5 colors and styles she could choose from. She also checked on the dresses'' stats and was pleasantly surprised. It gave a few additional points of defense, and it was miles better than their common clothing¡ªnot to mention how pretty they were. "Thank you¡­ I love it," she said, touching the lovely fabric. Andrei was now using the initial silk products, and he had definitely mastered how to handle them well. One had to know that each fabric had its own idiosyncrasies, and Xenoan silk was very different from Terran silk. To be able to do such intricate designs and add defensive properties to it¡ªjust a few months since entering this world¡ªwas not a small feat. With this skill, he could''ve been a green-tagged cloths maker, but it seemed that he was just below the required threshold for it. Still, with his passion and love for the field, Althea thought he could easily be as good as a green-tagged person. It took more than talent to create something amazing, after all. Next was Harold''s gift. He gave her a few buckets of mana candies, and they were crafted so she could easily take one without making a mess in her space. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This is a new development. I partnered with our candy makers and I mastered the craft, soon able to create an alternative to mana cookies. It not only lasts longer, with the material able to retain most of its properties even after a while, but it also gives a bit more mana!" Althea''s eyebrows rose as she took one colorful candy the size of her pinky and ate it. She blinked. It had a slightly sour flavor that was refreshing to eat. "Thank you¡­ these are really amazing." "He-he¡­" Sheila and Eagle gave her seeds, which they secretly got for her. They partnered with the people from Ferrol branch, and had been asking them to camp in markets there for unusual items. The bag of seeds was sent via messenger birds and arrived just in time after the couple waited nervously for the delivery. It reminded them of how people ordered gifts from Amazone back in Terran and they had to wait anxiously whether it''d arrive in time for the party. The seeds were light and could be carried by the birds, so they were properly safeguarded and the birds weren''t tempted to eat them. "Wow! I''ll definitely watch how they''d grow," she said. "Thank you! I''m sure we''ll find a way to use these." Eugene and Melissa, on the other hand, actually gave her a handheld calculator. The rest blinked and stared, even testing out its accuracy. "What''s 3721 times 23?" Ansel asked, making his wife look at him. "And? Can you tell if it''s wrong?" "..." "I know we have calculators on our phones, but the handheld calculator just feels different since you''re someone who deals with numbers a lot," Eugene said. "Plus, it''s a lot less battery-consuming and allows for more complex operations." "It''s a gift from the Research Team," Melissa added with a smile, making Althea giggle. She vaguely remembered that certain groups seemed to have a lot of unfiled OTs in the Research Lab. At the time, she didn''t think too much of it because¡ªwhile everyone could get profit shares in whatever they were doing¡ªsome were experimenting at their own pace, so they believed it was not fair to charge the time on wages. ¡­to think they were doing this instead. She smiled. "I appreciate this so much," she said, looking at them and the others. "Thank you for all these gifts. I love them." The others felt shy and were grinning ear to ear, happy she liked their gifts. Garan smiled and said he''d give his gift later, and most just assumed it was something perverted. Garan did not correct them. While not entirely correct, it wasn''t like he wasn''t going to serve her well either. Finally, the Kids performed a cute dance performance for Althea. With the twins in their cruisers in the middle. The five kids danced to the rhythm of a popular children''s song back in Terran. The music was played from Ansel''s phone. After the solar charging station was implemented, he got a copy of all music saved in people''s phones, in exchange for a free full charge of their phone for each song. Interestingly, this song was downloaded from Mart''s phone. Mart was one of the soldiers who came with Ryan. He had a sister, who unfortunately perished back in Terran. It was sad, but he was glad to have the songs she loved enjoyed by other kids¡ªas if he could watch her grow through them. The sound was a catchy kid''s song named Baby Skunk, and there were silly steps to it that were super adorable to watch. Horus was red in embarrassment but he played along, hoping to show his appreciation and love through the song despite cringing with his whole soul. "Baby Skunk choo choo choo choo~" he sang, with Maya and the other kids singing with him. "Baby Skunk Choochoochochoochoo" The babies giggled and jumped around, sometimes matching their groove. "Mwammggaa!" "Googmmammmuuhh!" The performance ended with the kids doing cutesy pose, yelling BABY SKUNK! in the end. Anyway, it was all good fun, and Althea was smiling the whole time¡ªand she barely managed to take clear pictures from giggling so much. Chapter 1051 Garans Gifts "Did you enjoy your day?" Garan asked, placing chaste kisses all over her. Night time was, apparently, the time for service. He bathed her himself and he asked her not to move, which was really sweet torture. He claimed he wanted to give back the gift he got during his birthday. She rolled her eyes, but she enjoyed his service anyway. After they got off the bath, he helped her get in her comfortable night dress and dried her hair. He didn''t do anything else for a bit, which surprised her because she really thought he''d throw her down the bed like he usually did. Garan saw her puzzlement and smiled. He leaned down to kiss her forehead. "So hungry?" This earned him a pinch on the abs, though Althea was unable to grasp much flesh at all. Garan chuckled at her cuteness and sat next to her. "I won''t let my wife go hungry for too long, of course," he said, placing a chaste kiss on the side of her lips. "But before that, let me give you a few gifts," he said, pausing to take a gift from the space. "This is the first one." He wrapped his arm around her so she could rest her neck on his arm, and he leisurely handed the gift to her. It was a shimmery flat stone that was smaller than her palm. It had what seemed like a flattened youli stone in the middle. He didn''t say what it was, but she knew it was a magic tool. She raised her eyebrows and checked it with her ability. [Memory Stone (E): Can record and store a moving image 30 seconds in length for an indefinite amount of time. New recordings will automatically overwrite existing ones.] Her eyes widened and she looked at her husband. He smiled and leaned down to place another kiss on her forehead. He then gently took it off her hand and placed aether into it. It activated immediately, with an image appearing on the youli flat stone. It was semi-transluscent and faded out, but the image was clear enough to Althea that she felt a few tears lining up her eyes. It was an image of Garan and her two kids. They were smiling and staring out from the stone. "Happy birthday, my love, I hope you enjoyed your first birthday in this world," Garan said, with the two babies happily bouncing as they sat on a thigh each. "We shall have decades after decades¡ªno, centuries¡ªmore of adventures here, and I promise that this is the first of countless celebrations to come." "Mwammwwaaahhh!" "Goooghhmmammaaa!!" The babies yelled, wiggling cutely and raising their little arms to reach the tool, though obviously to no avail. Garan held a baby in place with a hand on each stomach, though it didn''t stop them from attempting to jump out. "We love you, Althea." The thirty seconds ended in a flash, but it definitely made an impact. She turned to her husband, wrapping her arms around his wide shoulder. "Thank you! This is really great!" She carefully placed it in her space. Garan smiled and took another gift from his space. "That one''s from the babies," he said, handing her a small box of sort, which was something she had encountered before. "And this is mine." [Token Guard (D) - unused. Has the ability to store a Lord Token outside the body while retaining its ability to be used as well as retain its ownership. Can only be synchronized with one Token.] She gasped and looked at him. It was a magic tool that would allow her to keep the lord token outside her body safely even during wars. It would also ensure that, should anything happen to her, the territory would remain standing. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She had first encountered this when she found the Guia Village''s Lord Token. However, even after it had merged with her own token, she could not use that tool because it had already synchronized with the Guia Token, rendering it useless unless she decided to separate control from Iron Mountains. She needed a whole new tool that would work on Alterra''s ''wavelength'', so to speak. She had expressed her sadness and disappointment when she found out about this, and apparently her husband took note of that. To be honest, Garan wasn''t particularly comfortable getting this tool. He didn''t want to consider anything happen to his wife at all. However, there had not been a day where she didn''t worry about it. He had once gotten angry to her about it even, but she hugged him and comforted him. "I wasn''t saying something could happen to me," she said. "It''s all for peace of mind, you know?" She even went on to say analogies so far off that it took him aback. "For example, since my period is usually off by days, I tended to wear napkins early on¡ªjust for a peace of mind." "..." Further, she had always wanted an adventure. Having a Lord Token attached to her was, apparently, something that felt suffocating to her. So, even if he wasn''t entirely happy, he did his best to get it for her. He bought the tools from Jonathan. They were quite expensive, but he would be deducting the amounts to their personal deals with the sauces from before. Garan would''ve been willing to sell a few shares, too, but he knew that if his wife found out, she''d feel pity. Although the value of his sauces had lowered a bit because of Alterra''s plethora of options, his was still a good option primarily because he used purely Xeno ingredients and was much easier to mass produce. It also helped that Jonathan knew about Althea''s position, and this was a lot of favor for them. He smiled, gently getting her to lie down. Soon, his warm mouth was back on her neck, nuzzling it, and his large calloused hands groped her breasts, moulding it to different shapes. She felt her body heat up under his caress, her mouth letting out moans she could not hold back. Garan separated to kneel above her, taking off his shirt and revealing the sculpted figure underneath. "Now," he paused, placing his hand on the hem of her night dress to pull it above her head, "It''s time for the finale." ¡­ Unfortunately, sometime in the middle of the night¡ªjust when Althea was about to doze off after several rounds of ''service'' ¡ªthe familiar ding of the system sounded in her mind. [Yasof Village (Lv3) has declared War against Alterra Village (Lv3). War will commence in 13:59:59.] Chapter 1052 Yasof Village Yasof Village. The afternoon of the next day arrived and the array appeared right outside the attacking territory. Hundreds and hundreds of forces had lined up, prepared to enter as soon as the instructions were sent. Ladon, the lead force of this war and the head military advisor of the lord, looked at the forces with a complicated expression. However, he did not show any doubts, knowing it would do nothing to help with the momentum. His eyes turned to the Lord who was watching not too far away. The lord nodded and Ladon took it as the signal to begin the war. "Let''s go, men!" he yelled, and he disappeared into the array, followed by various groups of their forces. Lord Yassop watched on with a blank expression on his face, though his heart was heavy. Uckit, his advisor, couldn''t help but look at him worriedly. "Are we really attacking Alterra?" "We are attacking a strong village, but we have been trusted by the master territory to take it down before it gets any stronger." Uckit pursed his lips, eyebrows furrowed in worry as more and more of their slaves and citizens headed into the array, unknown whether they would be able to get back at all. "We do not have a chance against Guia, let alone the territory that beat it," he said, as quietly as he could, but loud enough for the lord to hear him clearly. He was there during the meeting with the Basset Town lord. Uckit had advised his Lord against this war. At the very least, he must redirect the task to someone else. Obviously, the other village lords were far greedier than his own, and they''d have been happy to get the job. Then again, this was probably one of the reasons why their lord was sent instead of the others. Unlike how it would be with the others, the Basset Town lord was certain Lord Yassop wouldn''t rebel and bite back using the new territory instead. They hadn''t said it during the meeting, but they had also sent people to take a look at Alterra. Those without families and assets in their territory did not return, while those who returned moved out with their families soon after. This was an easy testament to how different that place was. They had managed to get some information as well as what that Fargo person said, and it was clear this was a war meant to be lost. The Lord shook his head. "We''re the strongest among Basset Town''s Level 3 Village subsidiaries. We are also fairly close to Alterra," Yassop said, though he was explaining more to himself than to Uckit. "Objectively speaking, we are the most practical option." "I''m afraid we''re just here to intimately test out Alterra''s strength," Uckit responded, uncomfortable. The Lord sighed. "Perhaps," he said, eyes dark. "But you know what happens when a subsidiary disobeys Basset Town." The standard subsidiary oaths were only valid during the contract period. However, even those with the foresight to add non-betrayal oaths outside of the contract were not entirely exempted from betrayal either. After all, those former subsidiaries could just attach to another rival, and let that rival attack instead. A few cases had happened before, each one successfully serving to stifle the rebellious thoughts amongst subsidiaries. The first one rebelled because Basset Town took too much advantage of their status. They made the citizens'' lives miserable. They also made the lord''s and his family''s lives miserable. His daughters were taken and abused, and he couldn''t do anything about it. He did not renew the contract anymore and attached to Ferrol Town. But Ferrol was too far. What could they do when Basset decided to send his subsidiaries to attack it? Suffice to say, that one fell horribly and that lord died a horrid death. The token was granted to Tout, the very man who tortured him to death. He now took over as the Lord of Resso village. Another one also secretly attached to another Town up north and gathered some strength. It detached as soon as the contract ended as well. That one put up a stronger fight, surviving three successive wars. The Lord was assassinated by someone hired from the Rongo Mercenary Team, but the token couldn''t be found during the war. It was attached to the former lord''s son, who was only 10 at the time. Due to their weakness after going through so many wars, they did not survive a beast mob that appeared soon after. That territory fell and disappeared from the map. The point was, Basset Town did not take to defectors easily. At the same time, Yassop was not the type to die quietly. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I gave Ladon an instruction," Yassop said after a while, making Uckit turn to him. "He shall run and give up as soon as they are certain it''s hopeless. I told him not to make it obvious, of course." One of the things they found about Alterra was that they didn''t keep slaves in the conventional sense. He was planning to take advantage of that. Also, he not only disliked Basset and most of its subsidiaries, he also really disliked that Fargo person. He felt like being associated with any of them was allowing himself to be a sacrifice. Most importantly¡ªhe couldn''t help but remember his daughter''s poor state. His beautiful little Yelena. She was the sweetest girl and very beautiful, but she unfortunately caught the eyes of Patte, Bentro''s only son. The man was infamous for causing chaos in villages, acting like the overlord there¡ªdedicated to doing whatever he wanted, especially to women. When he saw his name in the Lord Panel, he immediately ordered all the females in his family to hide back in their homes. His Yelena was free and had a cheerful personality. She was adventurous and liked to play around in the forests. Yassop wasn''t able to find her in time, and¡ªwith a cruel twist of fate¡ªPatte met her first. The tragedy of his family started then. His fist clenched tightly, and his eyes showing manicness that was rarely seen in his usual calm image. He wanted his revenge! Uckit looked at the man he chose to follow. He couldn''t help but give a respectful salute before heading out to deal with the inevitable aftermath. "My Lord is wise." Chapter 1053 Yassop and Yelena Trigger Warning: Mentions of SA, cuz Patte. Not particularly graphic though! I won''t go down that rabbit hole again dunworry. ¡­ ___ Lord Yassop stood still, not leaving the array at all. Regardless of what happened, he must be there. He wouldn''t be able to rest well, anyway. The time for vengeance was near. How could he stay calm? As he watched group after group enter the array, his mind couldn''t help but go to a distant past¡ªwhen it was him who was leading fights like that. He was the third generation of lords here, and it was his grandfather who had obtained the token by participating in fights to the death. The Tournament of Valor¡ªwhich occurred once every hundred years or so¡ªwas something only Cities, technically, participated in. Arrays would appear outside of every city. By every city, it meant cities from all over the world¡ªincluding other participating races that actually managed to build cities. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. These arrays would lead to the host city, which varied every time. Some cities seemed to have a way to determine which was the next Host City, though no one could really tell for certain. However, when certain mercenaries or towns were strong enough, they might also join in under the name of their Master City. That was the greatest honor people of their level could gain. One of the many rewards given during this event was a set of Lord Tokens. The total amount released that century varied according to what the system judged was needed by the world. They were not a lot, however. In any case, the Lord Token was the symbol of great power, so many men would do whatever it took to own one. His grandfather was a mercenary of a well-known town East, and they joined under Warrior City. He was a bit of a power-hungry man¡ªas most were¡ªso he fought hard to earn a Lord Token. He lost an eye and an arm, becoming an invalid, but at least he had the token with him. However, he also knew that the mercenary team would want to take it away from him, so he ran as far as he could, though towards their West as the East was already Orc territory. He established Yasof Village then, got married, and had his father. He raised the man to become a strict¡ªalmost brutal¡ªoverlord, which worked to keep the Village alive. Further, even when his grandfather was weakened by the loss of an appendage, he was still a mercenary from a town in the end, so the mobs were not as much of a problem to them as it was to other villages. This caused their village to grow much faster than their neighbors, which was a great point of pride to them. When he was born, he was also raised to be a harsh ruler. Since young, he was taught that only with fear could they hold everyone in line¡ªeven during wars when the rules were null. For a while, he believed in that and thought he''d be the same type of lord as his father. Things changed with the birth of his daughter. She was so pure and kind, and he knew being harsh to people would break her heart. Inexplicably, his style of ruling softened up a bit, and he was happy as well. She was his only child, and probably the only one he''d ever have. It was difficult to procreate in this world, and¡ªalthough his level wasn''t too high yet, only level 21¡ªit was worse for him due to former war injuries he experienced after her birth. He loved her to death. Although fellow lords and nobles mocked him for putting so much importance on a girl, he didn''t mind it at all. Rather, because he knew how women were treated here, he took the extra mile to protect her from that. He just wanted her to be safe and happy, though this caused her to become incredibly naive. His poor daughter¡­ She was not prepared for the monster that inexplicable came her way. Yassop wasn''t in the Village at the time, as he was called to Basset Town to celebrate the lord''s birthday there. Similarly, Patte was also heading home, and his village just happened to be in the way. According to the maids¡ªwho were also abused by Patte''s cronies¡ªthey were all taken right then and there in the forest. It was a horrible time, but no one could do anything. Patte and the others were citizens from the Master Territory, and they would get heavy penalties for attacking them. They believed that Patte would not kill the women and, to them, that was already enough. Even when the maids told them their identities in an attempt to make him stop, it only made Patte torture Yelena harder¡ªas if she suddenly became even more attractive. When it was over, he practically destroyed her body. In Patte''s words, his Yelena was just so beautiful he couldn''t hold back. She should be honored. He then remembered his father''s birthday was coming up and left unceremoniously¡ªas if he didn''t just destroy a life. When he returned home and found out about this, he went insane. He almost declared war against a Town¡ªregardless of the consequences. His people begged him to reconsider, and he was forced to cool down. His advisors and his wife told him they were simply committing suicide, and he''d just be killing his daughter who had already experienced a tragic fate¡ªwould he make it even worse? Their lives were long, and it wouldn''t be too late to get revenge later. With time, they might actually be able to cause actual damage to those people. Later, they faked his daughter''s death, claiming she died due to injuries¡ªwhich wasn''t an unfamiliar occurence to Patte''s victims¡ªand Patte no longer looked for her again. Regardless, Yelena was no longer the same after that day¡ªwho would? She no longer had that bright smile, the innocence in her eyes was replaced with cynicism and darkness. She shook in fear and anger at the sight of men¡ªeven with family, even with him. Then¡­ they found out she was pregnant, they only felt despair. Yelena even wanted to stab her stomach. They calmed her down and talked her out of it, though apparently not without taking away another part of her soul. She no longer spoke to them after that, and she lived like an empty shell. Because of Patte''s violence, this would also be the only time she could have children, and she could not be too anxious if she wanted to survive. So they ended up keeping the child, but they were definitely not letting Basset Town know about it. While most subsidiary lords would rejoice, Yassop didn''t want another connection with that accursed town. They had also lied before, which would make their lives¡ªespecially Yelena''s¡ªeven worse if they found out. That was many years ago. The child was five years old now, and he had witnessed his mother try to kill herself many times. Yelena had never tried to harm the child again, but she always looked at him in disgust and fear, causing him to have a quiet and somber personality. To this day, he hadn''t heard him say a word. His heart was pained. For both of them. All this time, he held on for the sake of the rest of his family and his people. But now¡­ a territory might just put Basset in its place again! How could he not take advantage?! Chapter 1054 Ladrons Decision Ladron was indeed given the instruction to give up as soon as he confirmed fighting was useless. While a bit offended, he understood it was for their own good. However, it didn''t mean he''d actually do it! Going in, he was still determined to prove his abilities! Although what he heard about Alterra was indeed intimidating, it was still a fellow village in the end! The difference can''t be that drastic! However, this fire was immediately doused with cold water when he went out of the array. First of all, why were there so many mobs right outside the array?! While there were similar cases, it was by coincidence so the mobs weren''t so dense and big. Monsters usually preferred heading toward the walls, where the scent of food was far stronger, so he hadn''t seen them so focused on attacking people specifically around the area of the arrays! They were totally caught off guard and his people were taken down one by one. They were in shock and at a loss for a while until Ladron had to slap himself awake. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was too much to be a coincidence¡ªthis was planned by the enemy. He had no idea how they did this, but this meant that things would only get worse if they didn''t handle things early! He yelled, gathering himself and the others. "GET YOURSELVES TOGETHER!! FIGHT!! They''re just level 6 or 7!" This shook the composure back to his people and they started fighting back instead of just defending. Soon, more and more weaker monsters were taken down, inspiring others to fight harder and harder. They didn''t take long to clear the mob because there were a lot more people than monsters. Not to mention, their levels were higher as well. After a long fight, they finally cleared up the mob, but almost everyone around the array had some degree of injury. It must''ve been in the hundreds already, and many would not be able to handle the sentries, let alone go through the gates. They dragged the alive-but-gravely-injured people back to the array (even the slaves) and the rest headed forward to the wall. A lot of them were unwilling, but this was their job. The slaves had no choice and the guards had sworn an oath to do their best when they were applying to get the job. But... this was too scary! What else did that place plan out to deal with them? What if there were other traps? They were pale as they walked forward, weapons out. Ladron frowned when he saw the momentum was already shaking. "There are still thousands of us! Many are still coming out from the array! Don''t act like we''re losing already!" He yelled, and it worked to some degree, but they desperately needed a win if he wanted to get some momentum back. What to do? Should he find a way to sneak in and assassinate an important person? He personally thought such tactics were low, but did he have a choice!? Sadly... even that would prove to be too difficult at this time. Things happened too quickly and they were ordered to go to war without much preparation. They were unable to plant too many spies inside either, and those they did have in there¡­ they had long lost contact with. They knew that Alterra had a strict reporting system, so they did not dare to tap their connections and former citizens without risking anything. Ladron took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down. Soon, the crowd saw the large wall and they felt even more hopeless. This was really a village? Did it upgrade all of a sudden before they went to war?! "We need to go through that?" one asked, and then another. Some people just outright cried in despair, knowing that they were sacrifices in this war. "Stop!" Ladron yelled, and everyone stopped right outside the sentry scope. "Rest and regroup," he ordered, and everyone had relieved looks on their faces. Ladron knew this was not the spirit they should have if they wanted to even have the chance of dealing with that tall wall and those dense sentries? What to do? How to improve their spirits? He wasn''t given time to ponder on a plan, however. After a couple minutes of a standstill, a boom exploded from behind the walls. The next thing they knew, a large rock was barreling towards them! BOOM! "Ahhhh!" "NOooo!" People''s natural response was to avoid the large ball of death, and they ended up pushing each other back, causing some people to fall and get stepped on. Anyway, it was chaotic in the front lines, and Ladron knew he had to organize it quickly if they didn''t want to lose without even entering the sentry''s scopes!! Ladron felt his veins popping. "Calm down!" he yelled. "It didn''t hit us!" "What?!" This made the fighters pause and turn, realizing that it was true! The ball of death really didn''t hit anyone! The projectile landed in the front of the crowd. The force¡ªand the chaos it caused¡ªinjured a few, but there was no direct hit. However, the power was no joke and a small crater was made by the force of impact alone. "The next ones won''t miss!" They heard the enemies yell all the way from the other side. They didn''t know how they could hear it so clearly, which made the voice even more impactful. "If you don''t turn back now, we''ll shoot again! The next shots can definitely reach where you are right now!" Everyone paled, terrified for their lives. Most backed away by instinct, though many caused collisions amongst each other, causing a small stampede in a few areas. At this point, Ladron had lost all the blood on his face. He looked at the chaos that surrounded him. It hadn''t been long since they entered the array¡ªprobably just half an hour! What was this?! The difference in strength was so large? The Lord''s words echoed inside his mind then. "You are a great fighter and leader, Ladron," the Lord had said. "But there are fights that don''t have to be taken." Ladron''s mind whirled and he felt dizzy, his mind trying to make sense and find a way to fix the situation¡­ but nothing was coming up! "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?! I SEE YOU''RE STILL HEEEREEE~~!" The distant resounding voice (which had a teasing lilt on his voice) asked again. "We will attack again in five, four, THREE, TWO¡ª" Ladon gulped and raised both of his hands. "We give up!" he yelled to the top of his lungs. "We surrender!" Chapter 1055 Yasof Slaves A/N: Posting an extra chapter today guys! It''s my way of sending thanks to everyone for their support! We already vacillate between T1 and T2 GT Rank during the 1st week of the month, which is a good sign! As always, for the following Sundays, I will post extra chaps (I''ll try three, though it depends on my day job xD) if the book is T1 that day! Again, I can''t guarantee how many I''ll post in the end because... life... but I can guarantee I''ll do my best! ... _____ Althea was very surprised that the war did not even last a few hours. She knew it wouldn''t last long, but¡­ this was too easy, right? At this time, she was in the medicine factory helping out with their stockpile. At some point, someone from the guard team went to fetch her, speaking of the standstill. She was led to the section of the walls where the enemies were visible. Oslo made stairs for her and she gracefully climbed up, joining them in looking over to the enemies a bit more than 100 meters away. Her husband was already there, crossed arms, and she stood next to him. She looked at Oslo and Brenda, with the latter ready to check the performances of the new longbows. These were permanent additions to the battlement, and were placed at equidistant areas to reinforce the sentries. They weren''t able to test them out this time, which seemed to disappoint a few people, judging by how they were pouting. These war freaks¡­ Anyway, there were other people there as well, with some holding a new electric megaphone in their hands. These were the current top-of-the-line products from the research center and could reach more than a hundred meters on a clearing. They must''ve done a bit more amplification now if the sound was clear past 100 meters of forest. Anyway, they probably did a lot of threatening with it for the enemy to give up so quickly. "How does surrendering work, anyway?" she asked. If one was on the defense, she just assumed that the defending territory just wouldn''t guard against the entry of the enemies¡ªeventually leading to their loss. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But what of the attacking territory? She thought that they would simply stop attacking and wait for the 28 hours to end, but apparently, there was a way to give up earlier. She didn''t think anyone would do it, either¡ªespecially within an hour of attacking. She hadn''t encountered the situation before so she wasn''t entirely clear on the rules and subtleties involved there. She did not expect to receive the familiar ding before anyone could answer her question though. [Alterra Village (Lv3) has won against Yasof Village (Lv3)] [Gained! 2421 Gold, 13210 Silver, 422219 Copper] [Gained! 11212 New Slaves] "..." Not bad? According to the information they gathered so far, a village''s wealth could range from the pitiful 100 Gold at Level 1 to around four to five thousand gold at Level 3, though richer ones could have thousands more. However, those villages tended to have cities backing them, there was definitely no place like Alterra, that could make more than that on its own. On the other hand, the population of higher-tier villages ranged from 10,000 to 30,000, and some older ones that couldn''t upgrade could saturate to even more. Oslo said there were a few villages with 50,000 people, and those villages were like slums all throughout. Anyway, considering these ranges, then Yasof Village was quite above the average village. "Can anyone decide for the territory when to give up?" she asked. This time, it was Brenda who answered. "No, Miss Althea," she said. "It was the Lord who probably went to his Village Center and declared the loss there." Her eyebrows rose at this. Considering the timing, it seemed that people immediately went back through the array to tell the lord that they gave up? And the Lord gave up without asking questions? This quick pacing made them feel like this was¡­ planned. She sighed and shrugged, believing things would be clearer in time. She just looked at the mass of people. "Now¡­ what do we do with all those people?" She narrowed her eyes. "Allow the leader in," she said, making a few people flinch a bit. "They''re technically our people now, you know." The rest of the people there blinked. It was then that they recalled¡ªwhipping their heads at the sea of people not too far away from them: These people were all their slaves now! Before they could get excited though, Althea swiftly poured cold water on them. "Don''t let too many in though¡ªwe don''t want to accidentally trigger an upgrade or something." "..." Ah, right. Unplanned slaves¡­ were actually a burden to them now. ¡­ Ladron and the others waited painfully in the area. Every one of them wanted to go back to the array but slaves were not allowed to enter arrays without a master¡ªor without the order of one. Because they gave up before the rest of the attackers entered the array, everyone on this side became slaves. One could imagine the depressing atmosphere in the forest. They could only count themselves lucky there were no mobs attacking them right now, otherwise they''d be sitting gugu birds. "What do we do now?" one said, receiving the notification that they had become ''slaves''. They really wanted to cry now. All that hard work had really gone down the grain. Thankfully, he left his money with his wife who was unlikely to become a slave. The others outright sobbed, while others just curled on the ground in depression. "When would I see my family again?" "I wonder how they will torture me¡­" another said. "I know good carpentry works. They must make me do a lot of work." A big man shuddered beside them. "I am big, they will turn me into meat shield..." Another one, who was a little handsome, shivered at the thought of becoming a helpless beauty. "I... I hope I get sold to women¡­." For a while, the crowd was filled with sadness and anxiety, wondering what kind of lives as slaves awaited them. The ones who were already slaves didn''t have much expression on their faces, though they were also a little sad. Yasof Village was one of the villages that weren''t too cruel to slaves. How rare was that? It was easy to assume life would only get worse from here. Their wallowing and grief, however, were interrupted when a couple of footsteps approached. They were enemy guards¡ªand they were powerful. They all looked dashing in matching uniforms and good-quality weapons in their hands. Ladron and a few fighters flinched when they realized every weapon the enemy had was made of black iron. Except for Ladron and a few lead fighters, who spent a lot of money to get Class D weapons, the rest looked at their pitiful wood weapons. Granted, they did a bit of investigation in Alterra, but seeing it with their own eyes still felt impactful. "Who is the leader here?" the leading person¡ªa man with one arm¡ªasked. Ladron gulped and stepped forward, unsure of what to expect. "Our Elders said you and only two or three others can enter," he said, looking past him. "The rest of you¡­, head back to the array," he said, looking as if he was disgusted with them. "We don''t really need you at this time." Ladron and the others gaped at him in disbelief. !!! Chapter 1056 Ladron Enters Alterra In the end, Ladron and a handful were left behind. The others headed back to the array, but just surrounded it for a while. They looked back, wondering if this was a trap and if they were going to get pulverized if they stepped inside. Eagle rolled his eyes. "Go back home," he said. "Don''t overthink it." It was an order from a master so they had no choice but to just follow. Although¡­ every one of them shut their eyes closed as they stepped in, half-expecting to die then and there. Anyway, the Yasof slaves went back, one by one, until only Ladron and a few others were left behind. For the most part, the people chosen were those with nothing to go back to. They had no family or assets back there, so it wouldn''t have mattered where they ended up. Included here were a few people who had been slaves before. There were two people that Ladron specifically chose to accompany him, however. This was Laki, the semi-bald huge dude who felt he was going to be a meat shield, and Landi, an effeminate guy with light-colored hair. Ladron chose them because they were one of the more skilled fighters he had around him at the time. He didn''t know what would happen going forward, but it just seemed like the wisest choice to surround himself with some skilled people. Anyway, the three of them followed Eagle and the rest of the guards back to the gates. They looked up at the tall wall and at the sentries, shivering a bit as they felt sharp arrows pointed at them. As they got closer those sentries just felt even more menacing. Not only that, there were also more arrows and bows ready to kill at a moment''s notice. They gulped. They probably wouldn''t even get past that right? S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Had they continued attacking¡­ the losses would''ve been insurmountable. The sacrifices would''ve been unnecessarily large, and they wouldn''t have made a dent on the enemy lines. Some people actually questioned Ladron for giving up so quickly, now even the biggest fires of rebelliousness were doused with cold water. Eventually, they safely arrived at the gate and passed the threshold. They felt dazed that they were still alive and uninjured. Ladron couldn''t help but turn to Eagle. "Are you really going to let us go like this?" "You surrendered early before any damage was done. We already got more than enough gold for the trouble." This was one of the functions of the bank, in fact. The bank would be unaffected by the penalties in losing wars. In the chance that Alterra lost a war, the bank would keep the economy running and would not have to worry about losing half of its assets to another territory. Of course, none of the newcomers knew this nor would they understand. Anyway, they were plenty distracted when they turned to look at the territory they entered. Ladron and the others gaped in awe. It was such a clear and beautiful place! They had never seen streets so wide, and so many trees in the middle of the developed areas. The liveliness wasn''t something you''d expect from a territory that had just been through a war either. Speaking of people, those who were around greeted the guards with smiles. Then¡­ they looked at them, immediately recognizing them as outsiders. "Ohhh? These were from that other village?" "Yes." "So they''re slaves now?" "Uh-huh." The new slaves shivered a little at the interaction. They couldn''t help but look down unconsciously, expecting mockeries and maybe a few punches. It was pretty normal practice from what they''d seen, and it was a way winning territories showed their power over the one that lost. Even in Yasof, while not encouraged, there were still plenty of men who did it. "Ehhh, how curious. Must''ve been hard to go to war in the heat of the afternoon," the locals said and Ladron and the others were a little taken aback. They lifted their heads to see that many people¡ªwhether on street level or in the houses peering out their windows or balconies¡ªwere all looking at them in curiosity. These people knew they were slaves now, yet they didn''t look derisively at them at all. There were also several stalls that were set up in the small plaza they were standing in. There were queues there so they didn''t recognize it immediately, but these were obviously there even during the war. These people were so leisurely! Anyway, the wind changed and they were suddenly downwind from these stalls, and the aroma of the food whiffed up their noses. Their stomachs growled immediately. They gripped their tummies and paled in embarrassment as well as despair. They had no money to buy anything anymore. They became slaves so, naturally, whatever they had in their [wallets] was taken by this very territory that had enslaved them. If they stayed here, would they suffer from this torture every day? These were definitely good food! But it seemed like they might not be tasting them for a while¡ªif ever at all. Was this the legendary curse of ''so near yet so far''?! Unexpectedly, some walking stalls approached their area. They even handed them small snacks, which puzzled them to death. These were small cookies with dollop of red gel-like substance. They gulped, but they weren''t sure what to do with it so they didn''t dare do anything. The walking stall owner looked at them in puzzlement. "Don''t you want to eat?" "It''s not that¡­ but what is it?" Ladron asked. "It''s food¡ªcookie with a dollop of gouji fruit jelly!" "Do you randomly give people¡ªslaves¡ªfree food?" "Not really," the man said, shrugging. "It''s your reward for being self-aware." New Slaves: "..." Many stall owners apparently agreed with him because they followed his generosity. Soon, many of Yasof slaves had a bite or two to enjoy¡ªeven if it was literally just two pieces of peanuts or a piece of popcorn or a tiny piece of cracker with a dollop of jam. They ended up yearning for more, but they didn''t dare ask for it. They could only gulp and taste whatever after taste remained in their mouths, praying they''d be blessed with those little bits of snacks again someday, particularly if they were well-behaved. In any case, they thought being slaves in this place wasn''t bad at all! Chapter 1057 Transfer of Slaves They were led past the ''entry plaza'' where they saw a store with ''Beast Inn'' and there were actually a few beasts lounging in there. Even rich villages rarely saw beast carts, and this place had a parking lot full of them¡­ Then they saw what they''d later learn to be called ''bikes'' as well as broats used as transportation. The newcomers watched in fascination as they entered the main avenue and zoomed through it as quickly as a high-leveled person dashing. Eagle looked at them, used to this reaction from newcomers. "Welcome to Alterra," he said, pointing at the avenue. "The wide avenue is for fast-moving vehicles, while the ones on the side are for foot traffic." "Follow us," he said, and they headed along this wide avenue and they couldn''t help but admire the overall aesthetics. They couldn''t help but look at the stores in curiosity too, though they could not move around like tourists could. They were slaves after all. Surprisingly, some people who forgot this pulled away and ended up in the shops. Ladron''s eyes twitched, pulling a few of them back."Oi!" One of them was even Landi, who flushed in shame. "I¡­" "You forgot we''re slaves?" "I did.. I''m sorry," he said, feeling embarrassed. "You also have no money. What are you going to use to buy anything?" Landi sent him an awkward smile and took out a couple of coppers. "A few people handed me some ''snack money''..." "..." Must be nice to be pretty¡­ Ladron sighed and just turned to Eagle, wondering what he should say to excuse their behavior. They were really being unreasonable for slaves. However, he realized that the guards didn''t seem to mind at all. Each one was even chewing on their own snacks. In retrospect, it seemed that they¡ªthe slaves¡ªwere not ordered to behave at all? Ladron narrowed his eyes. "I heard that Alterra did not take in a lot of slaves." Eagle nodded. "Technically speaking, only those who had truly wronged Alterra would receive a true slave''s fate," he said. "Otherwise, you should be fine. With a bit of hard work, you''ll be able to free yourselves." They didn''t really absorb this much, and soon they ended up in a much larger plaza with gardens, heading over to a unique-looking Village Center at the center. They had never seen such a beautiful Village Center before¡­ They entered as a group, with Eagle patiently explaining the instructions. "You will not be prisoners of war¡ªat least not yet¡ª but, until you buy your own freedom, you''re still technically slaves. "However, in Alterra, you can get an identity by registering here. With this identity, you can eventually get jobs and such. Note that you''d be signing non-betrayal oaths as well, the cost of which would be added to your debts." He took them to the platforms and asked them to queue properly. "You will be registered here," he said. "Be honest and be as informative as you can. Who knows¡­ maybe it can help you get good jobs with decent money." They lined up obediently, even when they realized they weren''t ordered as slaves. They weren''t entirely certain what was happening, but they instinctively didn''t want to misbehave any more than they already had. The guard said they were not prisoners¡­ yet. They''d rather not test out what was required to become one of those. As they registered on the large stone tablets one by one, they saw an old woman walk down the grand staircase. "Elder Mathilda!" the locals greeted, and the newcomers unconsciously made salutes as well. The old woman had an aura about her that demanded respect. No wonder she was an Elder. Mathilda smiled at the locals, before turning to look at them. "Let the leader come with us," she said and Ladron nodded. This was it. The time for a deal, which the Lord had told him about. Ladron went up with her. He forced himself to keep calm. He was a strongman in Yasof, he reminded himself. He was raised and born a fighter, and he had won all the wars he went to. (Until now, but he refused to think about that for now). He raised his chin and puffed his chest, hoping to retain a bit of prestige under the circumstances. Although he was a slave here, Yasof was still his home with his friends and family. He wanted it to have an advantageous deal¡ªand that was something that could be done if he managed to hold his ground somehow. He was led into a large meeting room filled with people with similarly strong auras as the old woman. Ladron gulped. The room was large and comfortable, but for him he felt intimidated despite the fact that he was of a higher level than most of these people. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "My name is Ladron, I am the head guard of Yasof Village," he said. The elders nodded, but their faces remained impassive. It was Mathilda who began the conversation. "Speak. Why did you surrender?" "I was told by the lord to surrender as soon as I felt certain we would lose. I think your show of powerful weapons¡ªones we have not seen¡ªis a good enough indicator." This made the Elders silent and just looked at him, as if trying to see how much of his words were the truth. "I am a slave," he said, "I cannot lie." "We did not order you to," one said. "But I suppose you didn''t know that." He blinked, realizing this was the truth. Ladron gulped and took out a parchment from his space. "This is a letter the Lord asked me to hand over in the event of our loss." He handed it to Mathilda, who read it out loud for the others'' sake. /I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Yassop, the Lord of Yasof Village. If this letter is with you, it means that we have lost the war and my trusted right hand, Ladron, is now your slave. /My contract with Basset Town expires in a few more months, and I plan not to renew it. I would like to ally with Alterra, instead./ The Elders looked at each other with raised eyebrows, before turning to Ladron, who tried to keep his composure as much as he could. He was a bit sweaty though, and it betrayed the nervousness he was feeling. Ansel smirked and laid back, arrogantly crossing his arms and legs. He liked intimidating people when he could, and it was particularly satisfying when the dude had a higher level than he did. "You better be prepared to make good deals," he said. "Our standard for allies is quite high." Chapter 1058 Lord Yassops Letter Ladron nodded. "I¡­ I understand that Alterra Village is in a league of its own," he said. "But I assure you that our V¡ªYasof Village¡ªwill be more useful as an ally than as anything else." "Shall I continue to read?" Mathilda asked with an eyebrow up, evidently not appreciating the interruption. Ansel smiled awkwardly, symbolically waving the platform back to her. "Yes, Elder Mathilda." Mathilda looked at the room, as if waiting for anyone else to speak again. Everyone sat up properly under her silence. When she saw there was no one who''d be speaking over her, only then did she continue to read the letter. /As for why I did not want to renew my contract, all I can say is that I have suppressed anger with that territory because they caused me to lose my precious daughter. I do not want to be attached to them anymore, but I cannot do this without endangering my whole territory because I did not join another force./ "Yeah, like allying with a village against a town is logical," Ansel sneered though it quickly disappeared when he met Mathilda''s eyes. Mathilda''s pet peeve was being talked over when she was making a speech. Reading a long-ass letter apparently counted. Noted. He cleared his throat, awkwardly pushing himself deeper into his chair in shame. "Sorry." /Even if Alterra is a fellow village, it is very strong, wise, and good. I know I will not be at a disadvantage by allying with you./ "Sounds a little bootlicking," Ansel couldn''t help but whisper at the side. He was more careful but Ladron, who was nearby, gasped at him. "The Lord does not lick boots!" he retorted with a bit of emotion, making everyone look at the two of them awkwardly. Ansel covered his face, feeling like he''s in a classroom and stared at for a blunder. Mathilda shook her head and sighed, just finishing the latter half of the letter with that exasperated-deadpan-but-classy-old-woman look of hers. /With our alliance, I know those subsidiary villages would not be able to handle us./ /I know this proposal is sudden and you have little reason to trust me¡ªespecially after I had just declared war against you¡ªbut I am willing to go there in person to make strict oaths to prove my sincerity./ /As a show of good faith, I will tell you a few things that Basset Town has been planning against you. Further, while I cannot betray Basset Town directly, I can at least inform you who the subsidiaries are./ This made Ansel and a few others'' backs to straighten. They leaned forward in interest. Usually, smarter territories would not only make subsidiaries take oaths of loyalty for the duration of the contract but also non-betrayal oaths after. This way, even if a territory was no longer a subsidiary, it wouldn''t turn back and bite its former master. However, there were always loopholes, particularly if the information was easily obtained, not a secret, or information that would not directly damage the master territory. /Basset Town has a number of subsidiaries all around it. The ones you should be worried about are those relatively nearby, and all of them have expressed wanting to take over Alterra./ /Their names are: Khlack Village, Ugoy Village, Resso VIllage, Picno Village, Tangga Village, and ours./ /I am just the first one, and I served as an unwilling sacrifice to test your power. It is unlikely it would remain one-on-one for the next wars. It is more likely that an alliance would form and more than one village would be attacking you soon./ /The Rongo Mercenary also has significant power in the Town, and could be said to be the Lord''s greatest force there. They are from a City, albeit I do not know which one. In any case, even if their average levels were nothing special there, they are proper houses for Town-level territories, let alone villages like ours./ /They would definitely try to attack your people outside eventually, if they hadn''t already started planning for it./ This made Mathilda pause and look at Garan, who nodded. They would be implementing the standard procedures done prior to wars, but they''d probably add a few more soldiers. /The Basset Lord''s son, Patte, will probably come to you soon, as well. He''s infamous for terrorizing villages, please be careful./ The women''s eyebrows rose at this. What happened to Kimmy was extremely gruesome, so they naturally made sure to know the details of that incident. Althea narrowed her eyes. Kimmy and Raine would want to know this information, though she was not sure if a woman entering her second trimester could handle this stress¡­ /Lastly, if you know someone with the name of Fargo, he is there working with them and feeding information. He is hoping to come with a vengeance./ This made everyone look at each other in alarm, especially Garan whose fists clenched. Up until now, he still felt guilty and embarrassed for his allowing him to escape. Even when everyone said it was not his fault¡ªhe was dealing with more than one aborigine of higher levels¡ªGaran naturally couldn''t help but blame himself for it. His wife had done what she could to give him the chance to kill Fargo, but he let him escape in the end. His turbulent mood was softened when delicate hands patted his own. He turned to look at his wife and her smiling eyes, and his anger felt a bit better. /For my own safety, I would like to hide our alliance. However, to show my sincerity, I present you half of my population. I do request your good territory to be humane to them./ S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the last part, Ladron couldn''t help but want to cover his face in embarrassment. Obviously, this would''ve been a good show. Even if Alterra would''ve won the slaves regardless, there was a difference in winning them versus them being given. Because Yasof gave up very early, things leaned towards the latter because the ''goods'' were, at least, in ''good condition''. At least, that was the intent. The Elders looked at him teasingly. "As you can see, we have no use for half of your population," Althea said. "So.. you better think of a few more things your village can offer." . . Back in Yasof Town though, Yassop couldn''t help but gape at the thousands of people who had returned in disbelief. ¡­huh? Chapter 1059 More Arrivals The following week, Alterra received visits from a few Lords. One was none other than their new (secret) ally, Yassop. He was with Ladron, who went back via the array before it closed to escort him to Alterra. Yassop was beyond the level cap so he was not able to use the array, but they did leave for Alterra the same day he received the notification. He arrived the afternoon of the following day and there, he found out just how truly different Alterra was. At the same time, he lost confidence in even getting an alliance. When Alterra returned the slaves without a proper explanation, he was just confused. Ladron also didn''t know why, and he just passed on what they told him. Anyway, at first, it didn''t make any sense. Even if they were unskilled, they were still hard labor with minimal costs to maintain. In Yasof, at least, he gave slaves wood weapons and allowed them to go out in groups and forage their own food. This way, they could live decently without causing any strain but, at the same time, they were forces that were ready to be used as soon as they were needed. There was, on the surface, no reason to reject so many slaves¡ªespecially those they won fair and square. It puzzled him almost his entire way there. Until he saw the place himself, and he immediately came to a conclusion: Alterra Village was about to upgrade. Alterra was already beyond their league, but once it upgraded then it''d be too far. Since the slaves were returned, what did he have to offer, really? Both he and Ladron were at a loss, wondering if they would really be stuck with Basset Town forever. Their moods didn''t remain excessively down, however, because a man named Jun greeted them with an amicable smile. He even gave them some drinks as they walked towards the Village Center which, by the way, didn''t really look like one. Were those lights from Crystal City? They''re unnecessarily opulent! Anyway, the two of them were then led to the room filled with elders¡ªthree of whom were women¡ªand, although he didn''t show much, he was as nervous as Ladron was. He was so old. Most of these Elders were half his age. It was shameful to lose ground when the deals hadn''t even started. He heaved a deep breath and gained some footing. He let out a gentle smile and did a standard casual greeting. "Good day, I am Lord Yassop of Yasof Village." "I already said everything in my letter and I hope you have considered my proposal favorably," he said, taking out baskets filled with flora from his space. These were some plants endemic in his area. Ladron, when he arrived, advised him to do so (an Elder named Ansel apparently gave hints for a price). "I was told the elders appreciate all plants. I''m not sure which ones are already available here, but I brought what I can." "Thank you for the effort," one of the women¡ªa beautiful young brunette¡ªsaid with a smile, taking the baskets in her space. "While all these species are already known and studied by our team, we appreciate every sample brought to us." This made Ladron and Yassop''s shoulders slump in disappointment. They were at a loss because they had already given anything they had that could potentially interest another territory. After a few tense moments, Althea smiled. With her, the rest of the Elders relaxed as well. "Actually, it''s not that we require our allies to be completely useful to us," she said, making them look at her. "We aim to be completely self-sufficient. We make partners not because we are dependent on them for anything¡ªbut because we simply prefer having more allies than enemies." This made his eyes widen, but also got him quite confused. What was with all these extra steps, then? "I just wanted to see you in person," she explained. "We don''t want to be associated with people whose¡­ methods we don''t agree with, after all." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and resting her chin over her hands. "So¡­ tell us more about you and your family," she said. "You better be honest; Don''t hide anything." ¡­ Yassop told her everything she asked for. Their territory did not have many secrets except for his daughter being alive anyway, and he felt he could say that. Althea and the others listened intently, and when they looked aghast and wronged when he told of Patte''s wrongdoings¡ªeven cursing at him, swearing to let him ''see the light'' ¡ªhe felt connected to them. He felt teary and touched, and he wanted to cry¡ªthinking he was allowed to, for the first time. He never felt it before. Many other nobles would advise him to let it go. ''It''s just a daughter'', they would say. ''Just make another one.'' Finally, he felt more that these people could really be on his side. It was just that¡­ after his story, Miss Althea nodded as if she had decided on something. "Okay. We''ll take your daughter and grandson as hostage, then." "Excuse me?!" "They''ll live here in Alterra," she said as if it was already done. Yassop and Ladron gaped at her in disbelief. The contrast of emotions and atmosphere they felt in a day was too much. It felt dizzying¡ª "Stop teasing them now, Althea," Mathilda said, shaking her head with an amused smile. The rest of the elders were also smiling, which just made the two outsiders really confused. Althea shook her head. "I''m not. Technically speaking, they''d still be his citizen¡ªhis family members," she said. "From an outsider''s perspective, they''re really hostages." "This will also give you an excuse for not attacking us well, and refusing to attack again in the future¡ªbecause we somehow got hold of your precious grandson." S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "They''d pay for everything of course. They''re not guests." She then looked at the two. "You can think of them as our hostage, but really¡ªdo you think they''ll suffer here?" This made the men pause in thought, recalling the things they had seen so far. The place was beautiful, the amenities were amazing, and the people¡ªthey were the brightest they had encountered. Furthermore, the state of women here¡­ was the best they had seen. Three elders were women, and they had seen girls with hunting gears outside. They had only seen a small portion of Alterra, but these things were testament enough on what kind of place this was. Back home, even if Yelena could come out, she would receive derisive and judgemental stares, if not eyes full of pity. In all cases, Yelena would suffer. Here¡­ they had a feeling it would be different. Yassop''s eyebrows furrowed as he pondered, wondering everything that could go wrong, but¡ªoutside of uncontrollable accidents¡ªhe couldn''t see disadvantages at all. After a few moments¡­ the old man finally nodded. "Yes¡­" he said, looking at Althea straight in the eye. "...please take my family hostage." ¡­ Meanwhile, while this important meeting was ongoing, the intelligence team sent out an alert promptly sent to the Guard Station. The Station then forwarded the news to people who''d be interested in the information. For example, Althea, who was listening to Ansel happily bill Yassop for the ''hostage fees''. Ding! She blinked, opening her interface. [A man named Patte has arrived in the territory] Chapter 1060 Pattes Entry A/N: We''re nearing the end of this Volume!! If you think I''m forgetting a plot point I introduced or a character you like, do tell me~ ... ___ [A man named Patte has arrived in the territory] Her eyebrows rose but she didn''t react too strongly. Instead, she simply sent the notification to every Elder, and they all flinched in response at the same time. This naturally caught Yassop and Ladron''s attention. "What is it?" It was Ansel who spoke, giving them a look. "Patte is here." "WHAT?" Yassop exclaimed, and immediately veins around his neck became prominent as his eyes blazed in anger. He clenched his fist and looked at them. "Be careful of him! He''s done this so many times; he naturally has his own strategies. He''s evil¡ªbut he''s not an idiot," Yassop said. "Further, he''s someone very strong at the Village level¡ªmany of his cronies and guards are actually past level 20!" A level 15 in a village was already considered a powerhouse¡ªlet alone a level 20!! However, instead of being guarded, the Elders looked unaffected. Ansel leisurely looked at them. "You might as well assume they''d be captured soon," he said, standing up along with Garan and Althea. "Want to see him?" ¡­ At this time, Patte and his cronies were staring at the wide avenues and interesting buildings while their hands were filled with food and drinks. Their hearts beat with interest, excitement, and greed. Knowing this was the next target, their hearts fired up. Patte was with his usual group of ten people, three of which were above level 20. Together, they had terrorized dozens of villages¡ªpillaging what they wanted, and taking women as their dicks told them to. The level 20 guards enjoyed being assigned to Patte precisely because of this. They were nothing special back home, but outside they felt like they were the most powerful men. Of course, the group only went around villages without affiliations to towns stronger than Basset. Patte was actually quite smart and chose his targets well. He also made sure to study rules and find their loopholes. He knew how to take advantage without bringing much danger to himself. Otherwise, with the anger he had enticed, he''d have long been dead. "This place¡­ is much more than I expected," Patte said with a grin, eyes dripping with desire. "Even that Belluga cannot compare." His cronies nodded as they ate. "The food is delicious," one added. "This could make huge amounts of money if sold back in town." "Not just the food¡­" the others said, looking at the various products available in this place. Every store they passed by, there was something interesting that would make them a lot of money! The men were especially taken by those bikes that whooshed through the wide avenues. They were convenient, fast, and could be controlled well¡ªthe ideal vehicles! On the other hand, the level 20 guards were studying the local forces. They looked at the sentries¡ªwhich seemed to be consistently dense throughout¡ªas well as a couple of Alterran guards making rounds. "This fight wouldn''t be easy," one said. "If Basset Town directly moves, it might be okay, but this place is still a village." Patte sneered. "Fools. It doesn''t matter if only our subsidiaries make a move. As soon as Basset Town supports it, this place wouldn''t stand a chance." The men thought it made sense, and nodded sincerely at them. "Yes, Master." They continued to walk around, enjoying the sights and filling their spaces up with goods. This stopped when they encountered a group of beautiful girls. They had paper bags on each arm, and they were also shopping around. More importantly, they were wearing ''revealing'' clothes¡ªat least in their standards¡ªbecause the women were wearing knee-length skirts. It was like they were asking to be fucked! The girls, at this time, were unaware of the trouble approaching them. "Becky~! 1Help me choose which dress to wear on my date~!" a brunette smiled as she grabbed onto the blonde next to her. She pointed at one of the stores which displayed beautiful dresses on its frontage. The blonde nodded and smiled. "Sure, but promise to reserve some Wittbeauty products for me~" Jenna1 grinned. "Of course~! Anything to tap into your impeccable fashion sense," she said. "My employee benefits shall also benefit my friends." They then gave Becky a teasing look. "Trying to look even better than Luis1?!" "Lucky man!" Becky shook her head. "I''m the lucky one." The girls giggled, and the lovely sounds sent heat down their crotch. They watched as the girls headed in a direction¡ªwhich happened to pass by them. The men grinned. It must be fate. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this, the men immediately approached them, very much intending to have some fun. "Hey, beautiful ladies~" Ten aborigine men, each one with a much higher level than theirs, surrounded the few girls. It was quite intimidating and made a few people stop their steps, and some immediately went to find a guard. "Want to go have some fun with us? Our treat!" one said. "We will buy you whatever you want!" "Accompany us! You''ll enjoy it!" The men thought they were being charming, but the girls compressed towards each other, looking guardedly at the men. Some were shivering in fear, while some were braver than others. Other than Becky and Jenna, they also had Brianna with them, among a few others. Brianna was one of Alterra''s architects¡ªone bordering a Class D upgrade, in fact. "We''re busy," Brianna said, looking at them as if they were creeps. They were, but Patte and the others didn''t really see themselves that way. In their minds, they were men of impeccable charm¡ªand the women they took definitely didn''t dislike what they did to them. They were just being coquettish, that''s all. Becky nodded, extending her arms a bit to push Jenna back. It took Becky a very long time before she could make friends again. Being Fargo''s woman stuck to her for a long time. Things changed when, while shopping, she encountered two friends¡ªJenna and Brianna¡ªwho were having trouble pairing a few clothes. She had had enough of being cowardly. Anyway, she dealt with this type of men a lot. If they refused strongly, they might think they were just acting coy. Violence was the answer. Well, technically, the rules and regulations were... but in this case, it was the same thing. Her fist clenched. "Come on now," another man said, holding her arm. This was Uttot, one of Patte''s level 20 guards. "I am very strong. I''m sure to make you scream a lot." He said this and he made perverted motions of moving his hips towards her direction. He didn''t touch her, so there was no rules broken, but it was absolutely disgusting regardless. Becky''s hand moved on its own to slap the man. Pak! Because his guard was so low, he wasn''t able to avoid it. Of course, considering the level gap, it felt like a bug hit his face. At the same time, Becky had an idea about what strength would send her to prison, so she naturally didn''t use all her strength. Uttot raised his hand by instinct and a flash of light appeared. It was blinding and the people nearby had to either look away or squint their eyes. When they looked again, the bulky man was gone. Patte cursed, knowing exactly what happened. "Damnit!" Fargo''s former woman and the Crow trio''s classmate back in Terran A Wittbeauty Saleswoman One of Garan''s soldiers Chapter 1061 Womens Fight The aborigines naturally knew what this meant. They all thoroughly listened to the rules. They weren''t particularly smart, but they learned¡ªthrough years of practice¡ªthat they had to be familiar with these things if they wanted to have the chaotic fun they were used to having. The challenge was part of the fun, in a sense, and ''overcoming the rules'' in the literal sense gave them another sense of ''high''. Of course, they were just excited to wage war already so they could erase all that and just do whatever they wanted. In any case, knowing the rules meant they knew that Uttot was sent to prison. They glared at the women, intending to make them suffer without getting into trouble themselves! At the same time, the girls also realized what they could do. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If they couldn''t handle them with brute force, then they could verbally harass them back! "They''re so ugly!" Brianna started, looking at Jenna as if she was in aghast. "I don''t know where they get their confidence from." "Did you see those teeth? It''s so yellow¡ªno, orange!" "Gross." "Did you see all those spots on that guy''s face?" another girl said, just blurting out what she had been thinking all this time. "I bet bugs live there, using them as caves." The passerbys watching nearby also threw in their own opinions. "They smell, too! My face couldn''t help but scrunch up when they passed by!" "I know right? It''s so embarrassing that they can sashay through the busy streets looking and smelling like that!" This made the men tense up in anger, their eyes turning red. Their fists clenched and they gritted their teeth, minds whirring with what to do to cause as much damage as they could. It wasn''t easy. After all, even gesturing to attack sent Uttot away! Uttot barely even moved then! Then, it reached a boiling point when Jenna found some trash in her space (an empty bottle of something) to throw. Plack! It hit another one of the men smack on the head. [Littering: You have received a penalty of 100 copper.] "..." "YOU BITCH!!" The man screamed, and his companions weren''t able to stop him anymore and¡ª He disappeared too. Jenna gulped, staring at where the man¡ªwho was very much intent on killing her¡ªwas just standing. Well¡­, that was a hundred copper well spent. ¡­ "Heh, the trash got triggered by trash, eh?" Jenna said, very much trying to maximize the 100 copper she inexplicably lost. Seeing the girls like this empowered the people around them, starting another round of bullying. Every other man wanted to attack badly, to beat everyone up into pulp. They felt physically in pain trying to hold themselves back¡ªbut somehow, they did. They had done this many times before, so they weren''t careless. One of the reasons Belluga couldn''t do anything was because Patte had tested the limits of their rules and regulations. They were even more careful with Alterra, which was obviously much more powerful than Belluga. Naturally, they weren''t going to do anything stupid that''d land them in jail¡ªespecially not some weak women! That was what they wanted to say¡ªbut they already lost two people!! ... Not far away stood a pair of guards called in by a citizen. This was Cassie, as well as her new friend Yllana, an aborigine they rescued and recruited from the then-Guia Village. The two of them rushed as soon as they found out a group of women were surrounded by aborigine men. While they trusted the system, as women they knew firsthand how it felt like to be on the other side of such ''affection''. They didn''t want it even on their enemies! "It''s amazing¡­" Yllana said, looking complicated at how the intruders were being handled. She had been surrounded by men like that for years, especially in Guia. To see them so powerless was something that filled her heart with satisfaction. It was amazing. If those men were anywhere else, they''d have caused a lot of damage. In Alterra¡­ the locals could insult them without fearing for their lives. "Will they be alright?" she couldn''t help but worry. "They''ll be fine," Cassie said. "The territory adds a lot of new rules every time a loophole is revealed." Every week, guards held meetings to update the status of the territory as well as some loopholes that could be taken advantage of. This also included those they found during the previous wars. This would then be reported to Elder Garan, who''d get the Elder circle to add a fitting rule. This amazed Yllana even more. She was the daughter of a former lord, so she knew that each rule cost huge amounts of money. Even the simplest non-aggression rule could cost hundreds of gold¡ªlet alone using just intent (and not results) as the trigger. The more detailed and subtle the rules were, the more money it cost. However, Alterra didn''t seem to care as long as its citizen was protected. It didn''t matter if everything would be null during wars¡ªthe more days people were safe, then any cost would be worth it. Over time, Alterra''s defense would only get better. It was not an exaggeration to say that¡ªas long as they were outside of wars¡ªevery citizen in the territory would be safe from enemy aggression. The physical ones, at least. The verbal ones were too difficult. They wouldn''t want to send people to jail every time there was a spat, after all! Seeing the situation handled a bit, the two women did not approach anymore. "They''re strong," Cassie said after a pause. "I already called for backup. There''s no use going there ourselves¡ªwe''d just add to the people they''d hit on." This did feel a bit cold, and Cassie didn''t feel good saying it. Her eyes fixed on the women surrounded by evil men. The reason why these men treated women like this so easily was because of how they were perceived. Someday, Cassie swore to be part of the reason why that''d change. ¡­ Unlike many idiotic aborigines who had the same motives, this group only went around and enjoyed their tours, and at the same time planning what they''d do when they captured it. After they found loopholes, only then would they start causing havoc. They had never been to a territory as difficult as Alterra and, as much as they wanted to cause chaos, they knew they''d fail this mission as soon as they got into a full-on conflict with the enemies. Before, they wouldn''t care too much. They would even do their best to take down some enemies before going. But Alterra wouldn''t even let them have that satisfaction! They''d go to prison even before they could cause damage! Not to mention, the place itself was too good¡ªthey had never wanted a mission to succeed as much as they did now! So, as reluctant as they were, they could only let the women go¡ªfor now. Still, the arrogant men couldn''t let the girls leave in peace. "Wait a bit, woman," Panghi¡ªanother level 20¡ªgrinned, creeply licking his lips and teeth. "You''ll get to taste some goodness soon." "I will get you underneath me soon," another said, leaning over to the most beautiful one¡ªwho happened to be Becky. "Ah, so beautiful and spicy¡ªyou must be delicious." He said this in a way that triggered some old memories in Becky''s mind. After Fargo got bored with her, she was gifted to the Rongo Mercenary team where she was played with as a group every day. It was the most horrid thing she had ever experienced. She never said it to anyone, nor did she show her trauma¡ªespecially not to her boyfriend, Luis. Those memories were repressed and buried deep inside of her as she tried to make a new life for herself here. However, the more one tried to bury things, sometimes they ended up revealing themselves even more. "Becky''s the prettiest! So gorgeous, so exciting!" "Yes, Becky! Scream! Scream as loud as you can!" "You''re in pain? You love it, don''t you?" "I''ll make you feel real good¡­" She was slightly shaken when she felt wet, hot, breath next to her ears. "Let''s meet up at the inn, yeah? I''ll make you feel real good." Becky''s mind whirled, remembering the things she went through back in Fargo. Her hand moved to take out a Class D Dagger from her space. It was something she stole from one of the Rongo mercenaries. Using the only inherited skill she had, she stabbed down at the man''s nether regions¡ªwhich was bulging by the way, making it an easier target that didn''t even need thought to hit. Stab! "AHHHHH!!" the man screamed as he grabbed his bleeding crotch, falling down on the paved floor. Because Becky didn''t have hostility when she attacked¡ªonly defense instincts¡ªthe rule wasn''t immediately implemented. However, when the damage was done, it became concrete and unambiguous. This time, with the bright light, it was Becky who disappeared. Chapter 1062 Fighting Trash "BECKYY!!" The girls yelled, stepping over the man who was squirming on the floor and gripping his crotch area. "AHHHHH!!!" the man screamed, tears running down his eyes. "DAMN! IT HURTS!" Patte sneered at him, throwing a low-level healing potion he had in his space. "Relax, it''s not like it was cut off." The man hurriedly took and gulped it down. He was reminded that healing potions existed and he downed another one from his own space. Two healing potions was more than enough to heal a small cut, and he could stand up again a couple of moments later. When he recovered, what happened finally dawned on him. "Well, she''s in prison now. HAHAHA!" He laughed out loud, causing the Alterrans around to grit their teeth. He whipped his head to Patte. "But why did she cause damage before getting sent there while we cannot?!" Panghi narrowed his eyes as he looked at the local population. They were surrounding them a bit, looking at them with hostility. Some even had weapons out as if ready to mob them at any time. "It''s probably another subtlety in the rules we didn''t know about," he said. "Leave us alone now!" Bianca yelled, glaring at them and taking out her bone sword. "We''re not afraid to go to prison either!" Well, this wasn''t true. Going to prison will add to their records and it could affect their employment, promotions, loan applications, and so on. Things could be appealed if it happened for a good reason, like this one, but it was a long process because the process was usually automated to streamline things. But these bastards didn''t need to know that. They probably wouldn''t understand it, anyway! In any case, being humiliated like this, Patte and the others could no longer back away! Since a person was sent to prison, they would likely be apprehended as well. Anyway, the men found a loophole again in the end. "KYAA!" "Bianca!!" Led by Patte, they grabbed a woman nearest to them and began to touch them seductively. Patte got hold of Bianca, whose bum he groped shamelessly. It wasn''t physically aggressive so they weren''t affected by the rules. Another loophole. This one would be difficult to amen, however. What if husbands decided to surprise-grope their wives? Anyway, because he was much stronger, he could ignore Bianca''s continuous slaps. Her sword dropped to the ground when he pulled, so she really couldn''t cause him damage anymore. Even if she wanted to send herself to prison to escape him, it''d be difficult to do so. He still used his free hand to hold her hands though, in case she decided to do something like poke his eyes. It had happened before in another ''Terran'' village he toured not long after causing chaos in Belluga. The woman got a Class D weapon as a system reward, it seemed, and the sudden movement caught him off-guard. It went past his eyes and neared his brain. He didn''t have enough healing potion to fix such a damage so he had to stop his fun for a while¡ªmonths, in fact¡ªbecause of it. That woman died a horrible death, of course, and that dagger was now snug in his space. Patte laughed and grabbed her butt, as if molding it to different shapes. "STOP IT!! LET ME GOO!" Bianca yelled, bumping her head on him, but it was obviously a useless attempt to fight back. Seeing him still fine and decidedly out of prison, Patte''s arrogant grin returned. "Just calm down men! Don''t think of harming them. Think of¡­ having fun and pleasuring them, eh?" Patte''s brain wasn''t bad. Too bad he was too drunk on power and lust to use it somewhere more productive. The other women also started to attack them, but they were grabbed by different men, keeping them from harming themselves and sending themselves to prison. The nearby citizens naturally couldn''t stay still and took up their weapons. This happened quickly and simultaneously so, in fact, only a minute had passed since Becky was sent to prison. The brave citizens trying to help were pushed aside¡ªover and over¡ªbut because Patte''s men didn''t aim to hurt (a lot of self-brainwashing had to be done), nothing happened. Some citizens actually attacked, willingly taken to prison, but the Level 20s blocked them from causing significant damage, wasting their efforts. But how long could this last? Patte suddenly flinched when his instincts flared, pushing Bianca off of him by instinct. Similarly, Panghi also took his weapon out, appearing in front of him. BANG! Panghi looked up to see a girl in uniform, whose hair was slightly fluttering as the breeze surrounded her. This was Cassie, and then Yllana appeared right next to her, aiming to stab Panghi while he was distracted. "ORCSHIT!" Panghi yelled, stepping back. Both girls had class D weapons made of black iron. Even if their levels were weaker, they could still cause him damage. "LET GO OF THEM!!" she yelled jumping up, her sword extended above her head. She summoned her wind ability. Using her best skill, she created a sharp slash of wind that targetted the nearest bastard. "AHH!" Panghi yelled as he gained another wound caused by a woman! "BITCHH!" he yelled. It was not that deep, but it was humiliating! He was about to attack but then he remembered¡ªhe could go to prison! Cassie saw he had realized on time, and sent a barrage of attacks to egg him on. "I''m a guard and I can attack you!" she declared. "Now, stay still and get killed obediently!" Patte spat to the side, ignoring the littering penalty he just received. "This territory wasted too much money on its rules!" he yelled. They even assigned validity depending on roles?! Wasteful!! That must''ve cost a few hundred gold!! Anyway, guards were exempted from punishment when they hurt other people, and Cassie was intent on maximizing it. Even when men were sent to grab her, she avoided them with the help of her partner, and they''d cause damage¡ªeven if it was little¡ªas often as they could. In any case, she used much of her abilities and mana to inflict threatening damage. Slash! "Stop it!" Stab! "BITCH! STAY STILL!" Panghi yelled. "I''m going to get you!" sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Patte narrowed his eyes as he stared at the fight, and then at the surrounding people. "I''m heir to a town," he said. "Aren''t you afraid we''ll target you?" Cassie and Yllana didn''t seem to hear him. They tried to wound as many of the enemies as they could, while the enemies could only avoid or defend. No one died nor were they gravely injured, but that didn''t matter. She knew that the two of them wouldn''t be able to beat these men¡ªat least not yet¡ªbut she needed to show enough power as a deterrent. With her remaining mana, she hacked her sword once more, creating the sharpest air blade she could do at her current level. And this time¡­, even the level 20 Panghi broke some skin and gained a deep wound on his chest. She was sweating profusely, but her eyes were bright at the sight of enemy blood. "Alterra isn''t so weak that trash can threaten it!" Chapter 1063 Capturing Trash "BITCH!!" Panghi yelled as he touched his bleeding chest. It definitely wouldn''t kill him, but it hurt¡ªand his ego was especially damaged because it was done by a mere woman! "Panghi, do you want to go to prison on top of your injury?" Patte asked, looking at Cassie and Yllana''s current states. "Don''t you see how they''re panting from exhaustion?" he asked. "They can''t do much anymore." Cassie cursed internally. "We''re not the only guards here!" she said. "They can all attack you and you can''t do anything about it!" "We never initiated an attack on anyone," Patte said, showing off a disgusting but confident smile. "The ones who did attack were unjustly imprisoned for retaliating." "When we leave here, safe and sound¡ªwe will be properly compensated and you will be punished for hurting guests when we didn''t even do anything. Guests¡ªI may add¡ªthat are from a superior territory." Technically speaking, they only struck up conversation. Then they were slapped ''without cause'', causing one of his men to retaliate in ''self-defense''. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Cassie and the others frowned, looking at him. This batch of intruders was a little smarter than the usual ones, but they were openly scum. These people must have done a lot of disgusting things outside of Alterra¡ªand have gotten away with it. If their administration team was afraid of his hometown, then this could really backfire on them. Of course, they didn''t doubt their Elders one bit. However, Patte and the others did not know this. They simply took the silence as Cassie and the others being intimidated. It was around this point that a new voice sounded from behind the crowd. "What''s going on here?" he asked, and everyone brightened. "Sir Jun!" The man entered along with a few guards. Patte''s team looked guardedly at the newcomers. There were ten guards who approached them. Except for the leading person, they rest were around level 11 or 12, so Patte and the others¡ªwhose levels averaged at level 18 or 19¡ªdidn''t feel particularly threatened. Of course, this was with the assumption they wouldn''t be stupid enough to attack. In which case, they''d really taste Basset Town''s anger. "We are visiting citizens from Basset Town," he said, placing specific emphasis on their backing. "As you can see, we are being ganged on by your people," Patte said. "We were simply being friendly, but these women decided to attack us¡ªlike rabid beasts." "Sir Jun! That''s not true¡ª" Cassie said, and the other girls and passerbys agreed. They also called Patte various names like: Ugly Perverted Lying Bastard. This naturally added fire in the men''s hearts, but they endured¡ªjust remembering the faces of those who mocked them. They swore to torture them in a way that not even that slut from Belluga Village could compare to. Jun did not show any indication of who he believed. He simply sighed and looked at Cassie and Yllana. "Take the girls away from here," he said. "I''ll speak with you later." Cassie stared for a bit before nodding, turning to look at the poor girls. They were ready to fight, but they were also shaking in fear. "Let''s go," she said, pulling them away from the vile men. The women agreed quickly. They knew those bastards would be handled well. There was no need for them to dirty their eyes with their bad faces and dirty souls any longer. When they were sufficiently far away, Bianca thanked Cassia and Yllana profusely. "Thank you so much¡­" "We''re just doing our jobs," Cassie said, waving her hands. "They were so disgusting¡ªa few seconds more that and I would''ve vomited out my stomach." "We''ll treat you to some sweet later on when things get settled." Cassie blinked, feeling embarrassed. "There''s no need," she said. "I didn''t do anything." Her tone was a little bitter when she said that. She was still too weak. She needed to work harder. "We want to!" Brianna insisted. "It''d be a fun outing between friends," she said, looking at the only aborigine in their group. "Right, Miss Yllana?" The woman blinked. "Me? I''m invited, too?" This made the girls giggle at her silliness. Yllana pursed her lips, feeling a complicated mix of emotions. Growing up, girls her age only saw each other as competition. There was no sincerity in their interactions, just subtle one upmanship or¡ªwith others¡ªeven blatant bullying. Cassie patted her head. "Since you''re not used to girls'' nights out, I''ll commit to our attendance," she said. "You better clear out your schedule when I tell you to!" Yllana blinked and nodded, her cheek flushed a bit red. It was quite cute. Anyway, since Cassie and Yllana were still on the clock, they didn''t stay to chat for too long. They sent out some goodbyes before finally heading back to their station. Brianna watched their new friends go before she turned to the others. "Now¡­" she said, heading in the opposite direction. "Let''s get Becky out of prison." ... Back at the scene, Jun approached Patte, who looked down at him. "Excuse me, are you Patte from Basset Town?" Patte was a little startled to be recognized. He smirked proudly¡ªthinking he shouldn''t have been surprised. Next to Ferrol, Basset was the nearest Town to this place. It was perfectly normal for them to have heard of the ''great'' Basset Town as well as him, its heir. "That is us," he said, chest puffed up, thinking the men would become extremely respectful and treat him like a king. Instead of doing this though, they saw the group''s captain¡ªGill¡ªnod at his men, and they encircled Patte and his people. They had their weapons out and had obviously non-friendly dispositions. Patte''s smug face was wiped off, replaced with an annoyed sneer. "What do you mean by this?" "You''ll have to come with us." "What if we don''t come?" he asked, looking around. He was already looking for escape routes and his mind rummaging the rules to see if he could use something. In response to his question though, Gill¡ªwith an unchanging face¡ªlet balls of earth appear around him. Those must''ve come from his space, but then people watched the soil heat up, creating boiling rocks that drooped a bit of viscous fluid to the ground, creating a simmering sound and some smoke. "Then I''ll shove these into your faces." Chapter 1064 Pattes Plans "I have to say that¡ªas a person from a town¡ªhow you''re treating us is seriously concerning," Patte said. His words were diplomatic¡ªhe did receive proper training as a child¡ªbut the way his face was twitching indicated he wanted to rip off someone''s face. It wasn''t obvious considering how Patte let go of all decorum in villages and just did what he wanted but, as a town prince, he did have a ''proper'' side to him¡ªwhich was especially useful when he went to stronger towns with his father. He just didn''t think he''d ever be forced to use that training in a mere village. In any case, he didn''t believe this was because they ''talked'' to a couple of small women, and they weren''t lying when¡ªfor the most part¡ªthey were only defending. "We haven''t broken any rules. On the contrary, we were even wronged," Patte repeated with gritted teeth. He was really using a life''s worth of patience by not talking with fists. These damned rules and regulations must be the most infuriating set to ever exist in this continent. Normally, after doing what they wanted, they''d just punch their way to go outside as a shortcut. Now, they could only slap their way to prison. It''s so annoying! They were not idiots who could be fooled into sending themselves to prison. At least, not anymore. So they could only grit their teeth for now and try to get out of this by talking. More importantly¡ªhe had already said he was from Basset Town, and that he was even the heir. How dare these low lives act arrogantly in front of him? "You are spying on us." This time, it was Jun who spoke up. This made them flinch. How did they find out? "Impossible! We arrived an hour ago!" Panghi yelled at them. They had not yet done anything suspicious! Jun shook his head. He still had that serious and professional expression on his face, but anyone who knew him knew he was really angry. "We also don''t like your faces, and¡ªmost especially¡ªhow you treated our citizens. Regardless of whether you are truly spies, we''d still be taking you in for harassment." "Just go with us quietly if you don''t want to get hurt," Gill said, hovering the small hot rocks above them. His tone was impatient¡ªas it usually was¡ªthough he was a little more irksome now. Cassandra''s pregnancy symptoms were becoming more prominent and he¡ªwhose shift was usually over by this time¡ªreally didn''t like this overtime work. It didn''t help that they still had bystanders roaming around them, even making useless commentaries. "Gill looks cool! He''s usually so annoying." "He is cool as long as he doesn''t open his mouth." Gill: "..." In any case, Patte and the rest of them knew they''d be taken in regardless of what excuses they had. So¡­ how to escape? Even better, how to cause damage on their way out. They readied to defend themselves. Except for this guy, the others should be easy to deal with. At worst, one of them could just capture a hostage until they could get to the exit. Patte didn''t know the exact extent of what counted as ''hostile movements''¡ªwhich was vaguely mentioned in the rules¡ªbut one of his men could test its limits right now! Then, if it succeeded, they''d dash to the exit and to safety. He didn''t believe that outside of wars, those sentries¡ªwhich were abnormally high-leveled for a village¡ªwould be attacking them. Even if they did, they''d use the hostages to block the shots. And when they get back to Basset, these people will die horrible, horrible, deaths! His eyes darted to Panghi and the others, nodding. The one advantage of this place was that their avenues were straightforward. As long as they played things right, they might just manage to escape. However¡ª "I wouldn''t move if I were you," the droning voice of the enemy captain echoed and the next thing they knew all the guards that surrounded them were using elements¡ªeach one directed straight at them!! Patte''s eyes widened, while the others gasped and gaped. What? S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Even if most of their levels are lower than yours, elements can cross several levels above their own," Jun said. "Would you like to test how much damage you''d receive from a rain of elements?" It was here that a dollop of molten rock dropped on Panghi''s shoulder and he screamed. "YOU BASTARD!!" he yelled, lunging towards Gill. Before he could even reach Gill though, a flash of light appeared, and the tall aborigine disappeared. "Panghi!" Patte yelled, and he glared at the guards. "The prison he''s sent to is the System prison¡ªthat is to say, his life gets drained slowly as long as he stays there. "If you wanna go to that prison, go ahead¡ªtry to attack¡ªthough I''m pretty sure you won''t be able to reach a few steps before you''re sent there." "Of course, you can also choose to bathe in various elements. Would you be interested in knowing which one hurt the most?" One of Patte''s men at the farthest decided to make a move then. He had done this many times so, without instruction, he sprinted to the nearest passerby in an attempt to use him as a shield. He rushed to the person, making sure he wasn''t emitting hostility so he could grab the person. However, before he could even grab hold of the person¡ªwho was in a startled daze, popcorn in his mouth falling when he realized that the target was actually him¡ªa barrage of elements poured on him. "AHHHH!" he screamed, feeling himself burning up, exacerbated by other elements he couldn''t have the mind to analyze anymore. He was suffering from different types of pain, and he could only succumb. Going to prison was much better than this! Meanwhile, another person thought that the attention (and elements) were away from them and saw this as his chance to escape. He ran to the other side, but he met a similar fate. He was showered with sharp wind blades from all sides then. He didn''t die, but he could feel his skin opening morbidly on different parts of his body. The sight of their companions'' half-dead states doused the fight in many of Patte''s men. They could only watch as the guards took out sturdy-looking chains made of black metal, obviously about to tie them up. "You! Don''t touch me!" he looked at the guards approaching him. He whipped his head to glare at Jun and Gill. "You sure are brave being arrogant like this to us." Patte then looked at the surrounding citizens. "Look at your guards! Capturing people¡ªfrom stronger territories, no less¡ªwithout cause!" he yelled. "Soon, they''d imprison all of you, too¡ªif they didn''t cause your precious territory to fall due to their arrogance first!" His group had always liked playing with their prey, so they knew a bit about the psychology of people. They had to know this if they wanted to inflict maximum damage¡ªphysical or otherwise. Unfortunately, they hadn''t encountered a territory like Alterra before. The citizens watching (some with snacks) looked at them oddly. "The Guards wouldn''t capture anyone unless you''re extremely suspicious!" they answered back, obviously unaffected by his prodding. "You idiots!" Patte yelled. He didn''t believe people could have such trust in other people! "If they could capture someone powerful like us¡ªwho hasn''t done anything¡ªdo you think they won''t unjustly get to you, the weak commonfolk someday?" He laughed at them, as if he was looking at idiots. However, he was in fact studying who he could grab as hostage. "Don''t you see? They''re fooling you¡ª" His voice died down when he felt a large shadow looming over him. He looked up to see a large critter walking on two legs. Patte gulped. "A half-orc!?" But he wasn''t able to speak anymore because that large hand grabbed his face, and he felt his entire body lifted up. The next thing he knew he was hurled up through the air and was waved around like a soft branch. The world became a blur of motion, and Patte was helplessly carried through it. Then¡ª BANG! His body was pounded to the ground with a strong thud. "U-urrgghhh¡­" Patte felt dizzy from the pain, unable to absorb what just happened. He just felt a shockwave that left him breathless and disoriented. Baku stood above him. He spat on Patte''s twitching body (and therefore didn''t count as littering) and sneered. "So noisy." Chapter 1065 Patte in Jail "Well, he jumped right to it," Jun said, sighing. They wanted to minimize the damage by egging the aborigines to send themselves to prison first. It was always a fool-proof way they used to handle troublesome aborigines who could actually injure people. This batch was a little smarter though, so only a few managed to go using that method. All the talking and no action apparently consumed all of Baku''s patience. Anyway, the attack became a signal for an all-out chaos to explode. Each one of Patte''s team trying to escape on their own. The elementalists showered them with attacks in response. Some tried to take hostages or meat shields, but they didn''t realize that every single citizen could at least defend themselves or run away as needed! Some even got to the scope of an internal sentry, and that took care of one of them! The last level 20 was handled by Baku, who pretty much threw him all over the place. "AHHH!" Bang! "GAHHH!" Boom! "NOOooooo!" SLAM! When that person was left half-dead on the ground, Baku shifted his attention to another person. That person flinched and paled in fear, immediately deciding to attack a nearby passerby instead. His heart was filled with hostility, genuinely trying to inflict damage even if he had to be taken down for it! With a flash of light, he disappeared without succeeding in hurting anyone, but he did not mind as much as he thought. When he landed in the stifling system prison, he had never been so relieved! Of course, whether he''d be fine after being beaten up by the people already in prison was another topic altogether. Anyway, back in the streets, the cleanup was about to be finished, with most already handled though they were all half-dead already. Even until now, the passerbys had not left¡ªthey only increased. Of course, they made sure to stand out of the way so they didn''t become hostages or meatshields for the enemies. "Wow, Baku''s showing his fangs," the bystander from before said. This was Baron, and he finished his drink as if he wasn''t targetted just now. Their amusement decreased though, when the enemies started to insult their favorite tiger! "Don''t touch me, vile creature!" the enemy yelled, desperately trying to avoid Baku''s hold. "Hey! Don''t insult Baku!!" the citizens yelled, throwing rocks (or whatever) at him. Because there were so many, some ended up hitting him. "Ugly bastard!" "Disgusting scum!" The aborigine''s eyes twitched in anger. "YOU¡ª" Baku''s lips twitched. To be honest, he was so used to the prior insults that it no longer affected him. Seeing the citizens passionately speaking for him though, made him soften a little. "It''s fine," Baku said with that low, gruff, voice of his. "Go on with your day, people." Baku was the only half-orc in the territory now. Gochi and Maomao were clearing different parts of the region with a relatively large team. Maomao was also a guard now, given exemption without anyone questioning it at all. (It helped that many people saw Maomao kill a low-level monster with a single kick, so there was that.) The popcorn-eating crowd lingered for a bit, but some were quite obedient and went on their way. They didn''t forget to turn back to see if there was more drama though. Fortunately, the gathering of the prisoners was relatively uneventful. No one had the energy remaining to escape, and they could only be dragged off obediently. The guards pulled the chains while Baku and a few others remained at the back to make sure there were no accidents. As they escorted the injured prisoners to their destination, one of the guards¡ªAngelo¡ªcouldn''t help but nudge Baku. "You really didn''t hold back." Baku looked at the chained prisoners in front of them. "They smelled evil," he said, his nose twitching unconsciously, expressing his disgust. "It made me want to kill them." ¡­ While this was happening, Garan and a few others headed to the prisoners'' destination¡ªthe torture chambers. Before heading there though, they made sure that Yassop did a strict oath of non-betrayal towards Alterra as well as non-disclosure agreements. He was led to the torture chambers which had a few people, but no Patte for now. Until, of course, they heard the door open, revealing the newcomers dragged into a separate cells. They all looked horrible with ruffled hair and clothing, some with burns on their bodies, while some had broken faces. Patte''s nose was bent and blood was pouring out of his nose. The rest of his face was swollen, and he was helplessly dragging of feet. Patte happened to go past Yassop and his eyes widened when he recognized him. "YOU!!!" He thought of how they were caught an hour after they entered and his eyes turned red. "YOU TRAITOR!" he yelled, lunging at him. However, he was pulled back by the chains they wrapped him in, held back by Baku. "AHH!" Patte screamed, the sudden movements causing tremors of pain inside his body. Still, his anger made him forget the pain for a few seconds as he tried to go to Yassop, though to no avail. His face looked horrible, and his going berserk made him look scarier. The guards just pulled them all back and put them in separate cells. The cells in the torture chambers are solitary, but they''re small. Gill went to Garan to make his report. "Captain," he said. "A few of them are in prison at this time. Should we collect all of them here?" Garan shook his head. "They can stay there for a bit, and just bring them all here when it''s time to kill them all." "We can''t kill him¡ªat least not now," Yassop said. "His father has a magic tool that will alert him if Patte dies." They all turned to him, waiting for him to tell them more. "I heard them mention this plenty of times before, because he was rarely in the Town." "What kind of tool is it?" "I am not sure, nor do I know if it could indicate where the person dies, so I suggest keeping him alive until you''re ready to go against Basset Town." Althea narrowed her eyes. Interesting tool. She looked at Gill. "Determine who the witnesses are and make them sign non-disclosures for this event," she said. "Give them contribution points in exchange." "Yes, Miss Althea." "Assuming we block this news, it will probably take a few months before they find out about this," she said. "We hope to extract as much information from him as possible. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Also¡­there is someone who would want to meet him very much¡ªbut she needs a couple of months before she can see him without putting herself in danger." Yassop looked at her curiously. "Have you heard of what he did in our associate village?" she asked. Yassop took a moment to remember the discussions. His eyebrows rose. "The Lord of Belluga Town¡­" Althea nodded. "She relinquished ownership of the token and is now our citizen," she said. "I reckon she''d want to take his life herself." Yassop''s eyes flickered. "You¡­ are very considerate." Althea smiled at him. "We can have your daughter have a stab, if you want." "..." Chapter 1066 Terrorizing Villages Patte lost his virginity just as he entered puberty. He lost it to a maid assigned to him, as did plenty of noblemen. It was like a rite of passage, in a sense. He had been addicted to sex since then. Every night, he''d call in a maid or two to serve him. He would never miss a day. If he didn''t have required classes and training during the day, it was estimated he''d never leave his room. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After a few months, he would start to experiment a lot. He experienced various positions and various types of women. He especially liked it when women under him were much weaker than he was, making him feel even more powerful. Of course, he could only do this to maids, prostitutes, and slaves. The commonfolk¡ªand especially fellow nobles¡ªcould not be touched so blatantly unless they were hired to do so. After all, it might lower his father''s prestige. Lords had a lot of power in their territory, but they were expected to provide some sort of protection to their citizens. For the most part, it was protection against the harsh realities outside the walls, but a certain standard was held within the walls as well. This was particularly true for Towns and Cities, where the citizens had higher levels and higher standards. The nobles also held a bit more power, and there would be a lot more intricacies in the power play within the walls. A Town was able to upgrade to its level for a reason. It was a combination of various factors, on top of its longer history than villages. Generally speaking, it was impossible for a territory to gain enough prestige with only the Lord and his family in power. There would be nobles who controlled some resources and nobles who could develop and hire specific talents. There could also be nobles who''d create forces that could eventually threaten the lord, and so on. Developing a village to a town was a process that typically lasted decades and generations¡ªit was inevitable for the Lord''s family to lose some of its hold during its development. Even the commoners had a bit more control over their own lives. If they got angry with him or with the territory, they could just relocate to another town¡ªmaybe even a lower-tiered village. Of course, the latter was the worst case scenario for most as it was a heavy hit on people''s pride to settle in a mere village. In contrast, villagers had a lot less choice. It was very difficult for a villager to rise in level and in stature. They might not even be able to get far from the village alive, so Lords were practically omnipotent¡ªas long as it was within their own territory, of course. Patte learned these subtleties in his tutoring. His father hired quite a number of teachers to teach him history, literature, and the like. There was even an etiquette class, so he still knew what was the proper thing to do. During the day, he had to maintain an image that would not shame his father. It was suffocating. His core was dark and lustful in the end¡ªhow could he be comfortable living like this? In response, his night time activities started getting harsher and harsher, and he became more and more greedy. Many women''s bodies were half-destroyed because of him, and they had to be taken out of commission to recover. He didn''t really care, there were always replacement women, anyway. However, his lust after other types of women¡ªthe commoners, the merchants'' daughters and their wives, and even nobles¡ªbecame more and more prominent until it was too difficult to control. For commoners, he''d get people to entice them with money, and it''d succeed more often than not. It was unlikely for women to reject the advances of men¡ªespecially of nobles¡ªand he was ''kind'' enough to offer money, so they had no right to complain. Eventually, though, he started getting greedy for more. The noblewomen¡­ looked very enticing. However, their families had positions and he was forced to tread lightly. Fortunately, as the heir of the Town, he got married to one in the end. His father asked him to choose and he chose the most beautiful one. And damn, she was beautiful! Her name was Yayia, and he made sure to love her hard every night. He would fuck her for hours and hours until she could no longer scream¡ªuntil she fainted. Apparently too hard though, because one day, she just never woke up again. He didn''t remarry again after that, and the other nobles didn''t seem like they wanted their daughters married to him, so he went back to his nobleless diet. It wasn''t that these people cared for their daughters¡ªthey were just women in the end¡ªbut rather, it was because they were important resources these families invested time and money to. Further, town nobles had a chance of marrying upwards¡ªor so they hoped. In these noble''s minds, Patte¡ªthe sole heir of the Level 1 Basset Town¡ªwas not the highest goal they could achieve. When he realized this, he was extremely angry. He beat up servants, ranting about what the use of being the lord if he couldn''t give his son what he wanted. His father happened to be there, and his rants earned him a beating of his own. "You''re too weak," he said. "Only the strong can demand from the strong." Everyone knew that strength was the most powerful thing in this world, so he aimed to become even stronger than his father. His father hired strongmen to train him, and he did work hard¡ªwith his motivation being to put everyone else underneath his feet. However, after a few years of training, they realized¡­ that his talent was limited. He started falling behind his peers. Pulling commoners down was easy¡ªthose who tried to one-up him might even find themselves mysteriously disabled due to various accidents¡ªbut many of the others were nobles. They had their own guards and servants watching over them, so he could not do much to them. He successfully schemed against some, pitting one against the other, but how far could that go? The level gap was still increasing. He was not much of a talent in terms of strength, and he remained average in a town despite entering his 30s. No one spoke of it to his face, but he knew people were laughing at him. A lot of his father''s advisors were also sending him their daughters instead, asking to make new heirs because the one he had was useless. He hated it, fuelling the anger inside even more. Because of this, he started longing for villages¡ªand the ''freedom'' they represented. And that was what he did in the end. Chapter 1067 Imprisoned Pig As the Lord''s son, Patte was familiar with every subsidiary that they had. He was aware of the villages near them, and which territories they attached to. Villages were also poor and generally could not afford complex rules¡ªeven the simple no-killing rules were rare¡ªso it was extremely easy for anyone with enough strength to do what they wanted. Even before he went around, he already knew he''d be able to do a lot of things. Anyway, he gathered several guards with him and, together, they terrorized dozens and dozens of villages, causing countless women and their families unimaginable pain. The first village was a small village South. It wasn''t a subsidiary of anything yet, but they had formed an alliance with one of their subsidiary villages, Ugoy Village. In villages, he could do whatever he wanted. He could kick and beat up people who annoyed him, take whatever resources he liked, and even kidnap a random woman walking around. The latter one was his favorite. It made him feel alive and¡­ invincible. At first, he would pull them in a room or in an alley, but as time passed¡ªas he managed to get away with more and more¡ªhe just got bolder and bolder. Soon, he''d start taking women outside¡ªregardless of where he was. If the woman was attractive enough and made his body react at the sight of her, then she could only blame herself for prancing in front of him. His true self¡ªthe manifestation of his dark, disgusting, and lustful soul¡ªhad been suppressed for far too long. As soon as he had the chance to vent it out¡ªit exploded, and it didn''t care how many people it hurt along the way. It all became a fun game to him: How to ''break'' a territory''s system, how to affect the lives of many people, and even reward himself with the shameless enjoyment he believed he deserved. His favorites to target were the daughters or even the wives of the lords. Noblewomen were just more delicious¡ªexcept these women from villages were weak and could only succumb. Even the Lords could only watch from the side in defeat. Eventually, he started staying in the town less and less, jumping from village to village, using his brain bypass the troublesome rules. Because his power was so overwhelming to them, they could only succumb to him. The power gap let him feel such ecstasy that it felt like he was having sex for the first time again. This went on for years, and many people had tried to assassinate him. However, Patte was backed by Basset town and surrounded by guards with overwhelming strength at the village level. Instead of hurting Patte, they ended up perishing instead. Further, Patte would get subsidiary villages to gang up on whoever attacked him. In the end, the villages could do nothing but let him do what he wanted¡ªotherwise, they risk not only their lives, but the entire village''s. Excluding the villages that fell because of the assassination attempts, Patte rarely killed people anyway. This went on for more than a decade. In these years, Patte and his cronies did whatever they wanted without consequences. He definitely enjoyed his life at the expense of others'' pain. . . Until now. "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUTTT!" Patte screamed to the top of his lungs, over and over. He tried to squirm his way to somewhere like the worm he was but all that happened was his head bumped continuously against the dirty ground. They were chained to the side and their legs and arms were partially disabled. At least one appendage was crushed useless, so they had no chance of getting out at all! He would only pause when the pain got too much and he gritted his teeth, trying to endure but he could feel himself going crazy. He had never experienced such pain before! He could only curse the world and swear revenge as he yelled out. However, they did nothing to his tongue and for the following hour, he wouldn''t stop yelling. At some point, the guards decided to cover his mouth with random cloth¡ªwhich may or may not be from hygienic sources¡ªso he would shut up. One guard entered the cell and Patte''s eyes widened, realizing he would also lose his voice. "Wait! Let me out! I''m the heir of a Town!" he said. "I''ll make you head guard! Save me!" The guard, who happened to be Helios, rolled his eyes. He just placed a cloth (one of his old dirty socks that lost a pair somewhere during fights) on his mouth. Patte let out muffled yells but Helios pushed the sock deeper so it reached his uvula and he was unable to push it out with his tongue. "I knew it would still be useful," Helios said. "People keep saying I should throw it out and make new ones. Look at this now." He exited the cell and went back to his position, leaving the prisoners to suffer in pain for another day. To keep things somewhat hygienic (for the guards stationed there), the prisoners did have a squat toilet there that opened to a piping system towards this area''s septic tank. The prisoners could use it to defecate and pee. They kept one hand working for each prisoner, tied behind their back, so they could at least shit by themselves. Of course, although they were careful and made sure to weaken the prisoners, the torture area was still manual construction in the end. They did not underestimate the potential of prisoners escaping. In such cases, the toilet system could actually be a weakness, so they added a few traps there in case someone tried to pry off the fixture. Anyway, the prisoners were left to rot for a day, just suffering in pain. The night was filled with cries and groans of agony, yet no one could do anything but endure. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They also didn''t have anything to eat or drink. Their levels would allow them to survive even if they did not eat or drink for a long time¡ªdays longer than the limits of a normal human. Alterra definitely took advantage of this fact to torture their prisoners and not waste resources on them. The next day though, a prisoner was taken out and brought to another place. The door was closed tight, but they could hear the screeching screams. "What happened! What are you doing?!" Patte¡ªwho had been temporarily freed from the sock after gagging the entire night¡ªyelled at them. He was shivering, both in pain and apprehension, and all this uncertainty was making him crazy!! Helios shrugged. "All I can say is if you want to suffer less, be cooperative." "What are you¡ª" He was cut off from speaking anymore as the disgusting cloth was shoved back to his mouth (Helios used chopsticks made from metal to hold it). "You''ll find out soon," Helios said. "In the meantime: Shut the fuck up." Chapter 1068 Torture Chamber (Part 1) A/N: Trigger warning to those who don''t like torture. It''s just Patte and his people, but yeah. ¡­ ____ Helios kicked Patte smack to the wall and watched him drop down, groaning in pain. His eyes were dark as he looked at the bastard. Everyone was aware of the evil this bastard had done. All those people, especially the women¡­ To he''d think this world was crawling with men like this¡ªand will continue to do so, for generations to come¡ªand he couldn''t help but think of his daughter! (They did not know this for sure, but Helios was adamant it was a girl). The thought of it made him angry and he ended up entering the cell to kick Patte again, over and over, and the man could only helplessly accept the onslaught of anger and pain. Patte''s eyes darkened, the memories of him doing the same to countless others resurfacing. To think he was reduced to the same level as those people! Regardless of the anger and shame bursting in his heart, Patte did not have the energy to move and he could only wait as time passed and more and more of his men were taken in. Hours ticked by and the screams didn''t stop, though there were pauses in between that were filled with murmurs they could no longer hear. The longer the person talked, the lesser the screams, and it was obvious they were succumbing. Those fools¡ªshould he kill them when he got out of here? The screams were from different people, and Patte could recognize their voices. Soon, he even heard the voices from those supposed to be in the system prison, like Panghi and Uttot. Their screams were particularly loud and torturous, but they also gave up rather quickly because the sounds abruptly stopped. Eventually, everyone else''s interrogation ended and it was finally Patte''s turn. His body turned cold, understanding what was to come. He was lifted up by two people dragging him by an arm each. The new position allowed him to finally spit out the dirty cloth, allowing him to yell. "LET ME GO!" he yelled, voice cracking. He saw that neither of the guards this time wasn''t the one from before, and he couldn''t help but try pushing his luck one more time. "I''ll give you the head guard position in Basset Town! Just help me!" The guards didn''t even look at him as they dragged him to the chambers, laying him on a table and tying his appendages well. He also felt a squishy feeling under him and he smelled piss and feces where he laid, which was both disgusting and terrifying. Patte''s jaw clenched and his eyes turned red as he¡ªwith the minimal strength and spirit he had left¡ªtried to struggle out of his hold, but to no avail. He looked up to see the highest-ranking military man¡ªGaran was his name, according to the information they had gathered. With him was a small group of guards¡ªincluding that bastard Helios from before. Garan looked at Helios and handed him a small bottle. The dark-skinned man then stepped forward and shoved its contents in Patte''s mouth, covering his nose and pushing his jaw up so he had no choice but to take it all in and not splatter everywhere. Patte coughed, pale, looking at them. "What did you feed me?" he asked, gasping. "DID YOU POISON ME!?" "Nah, we''re not killing you anytime soon." His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. For some reason, he was not entirely relieved to hear they weren''t killing him yet. "It''s a special potion churned out by the research team. We were asked to test out its effectiveness," Helios said. "It''s supposed to heighten all your tactile senses, making you hyperaware of everything you''re feeling. You''ll find out soon." And, a few seconds later, he did. It hit him so suddenly that it felt like wild Kola beasts crashed into him over and over, stepping on him at unexpected places and spots, while he was being eaten by bugs at the same time. "AHHHHH!" he screamed to the top of his lungs, so loudly he swore his internal organs were about to escape his body. The pain was so intense, that he could feel every pore in his body was burning and pricking him to the bones. It was an indescribable pain he couldn''t have imagined until he experienced it himself. They hadn''t even done anything to him yet! This was just intensifying the pain he was already suffering from!! He wasn''t able to control his bowels and he finally understood what that smell from before was. It felt like it lasted forever until it calmed a little, back to the pain before the heightening of senses¡ªwhich was still horrible¡ªbut at least he''d survive. If he experienced that intensity again, he feared he''d go insane. Seeing him gasping for breath, Helios nodded and turned in a direction. Patte was dizzy and gritting his teeth, but he couldn''t help but turn a bit to see who it was. It was a woman¡ªa beautiful one, though he wasn''t in the mind to appreciate it¡ªand she was scribbling quickly down her notes. She had a frown on her face, as if she wasn''t satisfied with something. "This dose seems to have a more intense effect," she droned. "But it lasted a bit shorter than I expected." She had a bit of a pout and Patte saw Garan step forward and pat her head. "This is already plenty, thank you, wife," he said. "Now go home with the kids¡ªit could get bloody in here." She blinked and looked at him, nodding obediently. Before she left though, she turned to look at Patte. Those emerald eyes were beautiful and pure, but it made Patte''s blood freeze. Looking at her eyes right now made it feel like he was facing imminent death. For some reason, at this point, she terrified him more than her husband did. "It''s still in the experimental phase, and it varies a lot," she said. "To activate the same intensity again, you might want to give him another drop each time. "For maximum effect, I recommend torturing him a bit before placing a drop." "Please monitor if the duration of the heightening reduces each time." She was saying this so coldly, as if she was talking about the boring weather. This time, it was Garan who nodded obediently. "We will not miss a single data, don''t worry." S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She handed another bottle to Garan and the prisoner on the bed couldn''t help but pee on himself again. In Patte''s eyes¡ªthat bottle was the most terrifying thing. And he couldn''t go through that again! Chapter 1069 Torture Chamber (Part 2) A/N: Thank you Alyxatlas for the castle! HUGSSSS! I think we pulled in quite a few new readers! *sobs* I wish I can send extra chaps but the Sunday mass releases already has me spent xD Mentioning Lotuslin and _cardinal''s castle last week too! I wasn''t sure if the thank you note was published (I couldn''t find it, so I realize I might''ve posted on Discord and facebook but forgot to post here) so Imma thank you again here just in case. Thank you again, lovely ladies T_T ... _____ The door closed, leaving the men alone in the room again. Helios whistled, letting go of the breath he had been holding. He coughed a bit at the smell, but adjusted quickly. They had a ventilation system (using natural wind power) that mostly serviced the hallways for the benefit of guards'' sanities. The prison cells and the torture chambers had louvers to the hallway, allowing the smell to get sucked out too, though at slower rates. Anyway, it was the first time he had seen that side of Miss Althea. It seemed like she was in her ''sciencey'' mood, she really had the potential to be a mad scientist. He had seen hints of it back when they went with her outside which ultimately led them to salt mines, but watching several men tortured half-dead without batting an eyelid was a different issue altogether! Even he was flinching in empathy! It was hard to wrap his head around until he saw it himself. After all, she was quite the loving mother and wife. Of course, if he was a little scared, more so was the victim on the table. Patte had, once again, peed on himself (very gross) but he didn''t seem to notice. The arrogance and pride were gone and he was now just a scared bastard who deserved everything that was coming at him. Helios saw his face and laughed. "We''ll be keeping you alive for months," he said. "Do you want to suffer like this for that long? If you tell us everything early then at least you''re just a prisoner." The anger in Patte''s heart had indeed been ironed out, only leaving fear and apprehension. "W-Why are you doing this?!" "You ask as if your place isn''t targeting us." It was around here that Garan approached him with the bottle in hand. It made Patte shiver but he forced himself not to succumb¡ªnot for his territory, but because it was shameful he was reduced to this by villagers. All these years, he had treated villagefolk as people underneath his feet. Look at this now! Remembering his glory days gave him some strength again. Even if he was terrifying, there was no way he''d be reduced to a fumbling mess begging for his life! "Yassop is angry at me and wants revenge! You believe whatever he says that you''re going against a Town?! FOOLS!" Garan''s face did not change. "Tell me everything you can about your territory as well as its allies and subsidiaries," Garan asked. Even if he made some sort of oath, it couldn''t have been too detailed because of his position. "SHIT OFF!" he yelled, spitting blood-filled saliva in his direction. Garan remained stoic as he avoided it. Instead, he threw a small piece of ice he created at his bleeding chest. The biting cold caused him to convulse and adding a drop of the experimental potion made him foam out of his mouth. "GAHHHHHH!" He screamed again for a time, until the ice finally melted off, and the potion wore off again shortly after that. He was gasping for air, the last of his willpower pushed back down again. "Speak," Garan said, and an even bigger piece of ice¡ªa spike¡ªhovered above him. "Don''t think this will kill you. We also have health potions to keep you from dying." Helios nodded as he crossed his arms. "We can do this over and over until you talk, Patte," he said. "Do your body a favor and give up already." They allowed Patte a few moments to breathe and consider. However, really, he didn''t have much of a choice. Besides, only those who had actual things to fight and protect could stay strong under their torture. Obviously, Patte was just an animal with a bit of a brain. A bit of pain and he would blurt out what he could¡ªjust like the rest of his men. Speaking of, the rest of the men didn''t know any useful things about their territory. All they got from them¡­ was the atrocities they did in scores of territories and hundreds of people during the past decade. It took the Alterrans everything they had to not prematurely kill the bastards. However, they did send them straight to the prison labor camp so they could work them to death. Patte didn''t know but¡­ he was the only one left in this prison at this time. "I¡­" he gasped. "Basset Town is¡­ level 1," he said. "We can''t attack you." "Everyone knows that. Say something useful," Helios said, throwing a few needles and burying them on his skin. Patte yelled again, gritting his teeth in a vain attempt to decrease the humiliation. "We make oaths when we enter puberty!" Garan sighed. "There are plenty of information you can tell us even then," he said. "How many level 30s and above do you have?""I¡­ don''t know¡­ a few hundreds?!" "Level 40s?" "I¡­ less than 10, if those old people are still alive." "Including your father?" He nodded. "What are their weaknesses?" "I don''t know!" Patte said, and he wasn''t lying. He hadn''t taken time to get to know other people¡ªhe was too busy going around villages! "What about the people who might want to betray your father?" "What¡ª" "Your oaths should only be directly related to the territory. The noble families aren''t counted." Patte didn''t want to talk. He didn''t care about the families but his spilling information like this was akin to admitting complete defeat. "Looks like you still hadn''t had enough pain," Garan said. Lifting the bottle Althea gave him. Just the sight killed the remaining will Patte had. "I''ll Talk! I''LL TALK!" And so he did. He told them the stronger families in Basset town as well as those who might have a bit of anger towards his father. "They won''t betray father! He is still the strongest in the territory!" This was true. The Lord Bentro was a level 42 man who was the strongest man in the territory. There was also his great-uncle, who was level 45, and he''d definitely protect their family if it came to that. There were others with higher levels, but they were so old, they were probably half-dead already. Naturally, their levels could not reflect their actual strengths. The Alterrans shrugged. "It doesn''t matter if they won''t," Garan said. "We could find a way to cause chaos there, just as you caused it in various villages." Garan then turned, handing over the bottle to Helios. "I''m going home now," he said. "Take care of him." Patte''s eyes widened as he watched the door close, looking up at Helios and a few other guards in the room. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "As a reward for your cooperation, you would only experience this once (or a few) a day," Helios said, ''gently'' dropping a few drops into his mouth. "Calculating how many more months we have with you, each shot should correspond to a life you destroyed." "Wha¡ªGAHHHHH!!!" Patte screamed like a pig as he once again felt the intense agony that was destroying him from the inside. For the next few months, he would undergo this torture every day. It was as if all the pain he ever caused was compressed..., and fed to him every single day for the rest of his short life. Chapter 1070 Yelena and Yanno A/N: It''s 2nd Sunday of January and we''re in Top 1 so... extra chaps~! Thank you for your support everyone! I checked and somehow things extended so the last pre-timeskip chap is tomorrow, instead of today. xD Sorry sorry ... ____ The following week, Yassop was back with the ''hostages''. That was to say: his daughter and grandchild, Yelena and Yanno. He looked at his daughter sitting stiffly across him from the carriage. He then looked at his meek grandson sitting on the other corner farthest from his mother. The entire time¡ªfrom the announcement of the situation, to their departure, and after days of traveling¡ªneither of them showed much change in their expression. He could remember the time when he told them the news, he was really worried they''d regress and react violently. He was wrong. When he actually told them the news, the reaction was¡­ lackluster to say the least. He almost wanted them to react violently. "Alterra asked for you two as¡­ hostages," he said at the time, quickly adding: "However, you will be living freely and happy there¡ªyou won''t even feel like you''re hostages." The girl nodded, and the boy stared as if it had nothing to do with him. No matter which part of that sentence, the mother and son didn''t seem to feel much. It was as if it was the same regardless of where they were. Yassop only felt sad. He hoped that someday, even if it was in anger, they''d express more emotions. Anyway, the carriage ride was silent since the trip began a couple of hours prior. They only had 1 carriage, though the rest of the servants were in the exterior seating¡ªleaving the three of them inside, surrounded by awkward air. Whenever Yassop tried to open a topic they would respond with a nod, a hum, or a grunt. When he said something good about Alterra¡ªparticularly the amazing unbelievable things in an attempt to excite them¡ªthey would just look at him cynically, as if they didn''t believe him. Eventually, Yassop just gave up talking (for now). He looked out the blurred forests outside, attempting to pass the time, but his mind still ran¡ªtrying to find a topic that they might respond to. Nothing came to mind, however, so he ended up just staring out in a daze even in his old age. Soon, he started seeing a few teams here and there, some were even fighting mobs. "Ah, there are people already, we must be near," he said, though it was more like he was talking to thin air. Sigh. Soon, the tall walls emerged from the dense forest, and he felt like a weight lifted from his shoulder. They all paid for the visitor pass¡ªbecause residency required contribution points¡ªand led the beast carts past the gate and onto the Beast Inn. "We''re here," he said, though the other two didn''t seem to care. That was until¡­ they finally emerged from the carriage. Yassop turned to see the two looking around, their eyes slightly wider than usual. His lips twitched. This was a good sign. "Let''s go," he told them, guiding them to the transportation hub not far away from the Beast Inn. There, various bikes and broats were available for rental. They were lined up in organized rows with their drivers, just waiting for the next customer. Whoever was in front of the line would receive the next customer, so there was no fight between drivers. Apparently, they were paid for by the territory, so they didn''t have to rush to get customers themselves to make ends meet. There were prices in front of the row to indicate the variances for each ride, which was really quite affordable considering how far it was to travel from one end of the avenue to the next. There was also a section where one could rent a bike and drive it themselves but, for now, he did not explore that option. He saw his daughter and grandson''s eyes were fixed on the unique mode of transportation. He couldn''t help but feel a little smug. "You didn''t believe me when I told you they had something better than beast carts," he said, smiling. "Why don''t you choose which one we''ll ride?" The two flinched, looking at him, and he waved in the direction of the rides to confirm that he was, indeed, asking them to choose. "Each of you can choose one each." He was planning on renting three. Other than the three of them, his daughter and grandson also had a servant each to assist them in their daily tasks. The carts could carry two to four passengers, though he was ready to prepare an extra one because he doubted Yelena and Yanno would like to be sitting so close together. Unexpectedly, they both eyed a four-seater one driven by broats. They didn''t expect this, and the boy was ready to backtrack when Yassop ruffled his little head. He smiled. "The three of us will ride this then." The boy''s eyebrows furrowed, looking at him as if he was being unreasonable. No doubt, he was thinking of his mother and how ''disgusted'' she would be. "I''m sure she won''t mind," he reassured him. "It''s open air anyway, so we''re technically outside." That was to say: they were not in the same space, so he didn''t have to worry about anything. Yelena frowned, but just climbed up the cart without a word, though she was staring outside as if she didn''t want to see either of them. He led the boy up to sit next to him, and the rest of the servants went to ride another one. The carts lurched forward, marking the beginning of their first exploration of Alterra. He didn''t speak anymore after telling the driver where to go, though he was smiling in his heart. He just subtly stared at his family and looked at them staring out, watching the new sights around them. Whether it was the unique architecture, the refreshing avenues, and various other unusual things¡ªthey must all be fascinating to the two of them who hadn''t ever been outside Yasof Village. His eyes didn''t leave them at all. He watched every change in their expression, every little reaction they had¡ªbecause it had been a while. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He didn''t remember when he had last seen his grandson''s eyes sparkle with even a bit of inquiry, and it had been many years since he saw his daughter''s lips twitch at something banal like the broat snorting near her face. Little by little, their stances relaxed. Before, they were tense as if they were always being watched by someone hostile, but now they had¡­ let go, bit by bit, until they were simply tourists appreciating the sight. Their expressions weren''t much to others, but they were big in Yassop''s eyes. Anyway, the trip ended quickly¡ªtoo quickly, in Yassop''s opinion¡ªand they arrived at their stop before they knew it. Their destination was not abutting the main avenue, so they had to get off one of the stopovers, which was a layby next to the avenues, making sure the fast traffic was not hindered by unloading passengers. He guided them across a few more blocks and streets, eventually reaching their destination a couple of minutes later. "We''re here," he said, staring at the large two-story building surrounded by greeneries, playgrounds, paths, and the like. On top of the main door, there was a sign. Happy Hearts Home Alterra''s Orphanage. Chapter 1071 Happy Hearts Home The Happy Hearts Home was Alterra''s largest orphanage. It had dozens of children and minors under its care. It was being funded directly by the territory, and it boasted of policies and facilities that would allow the children to grow physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy even without their parents. Many better-off territories and villages actually had a version of this. However, those kids were raised with the expectations that they''d be serving the leading family, or whoever sponsored its creation in the first place. So, in other territories, orphans were generally relegated to becoming maids or guards. They were raised to be servants, fed just enough, clothed just enough, but trained harshly. They were thankful for the care¡ªrightfully so¡ªeven if the patron had a lot of underlying motives for doing it. He investigated how it was for Alterra before bringing the children here. He knew that they were raised by the adults as if they were their own children, given education, and freedom to do what they wanted with their lives. From what he heard, there were no kids from their old place except for a couple of teens about to reach adulthood. Most of their children were actually local, which made the effort and sincerity to give them genuinely better lives¡ªjust for the children''s own sakes¡ªeven more impressive. As for why he was sending his daughter and grandson here¡­ it wasn''t actually his decision. Not exactly. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He had wanted to rent a house, but because they weren''t temporary citizens, they could not do so. There were also no more openings for rooms or even leases remaining for them to take. The dormitory was too cluttered for his antisocial children¡ªthey might go berserk before the place could soften them up. Later, during his attempts to secure a comfortable place for his family to live in (even occasionally using his Lordship to increase his ''persuasiveness''), he found out that many of the villas were leased by people from Level 3 Towns and even Cities. He could only be gobsmacked and accept that he was just a small bug in the larger scheme of things. Alterra also refused to add more houses, opting to keep their plentiful parks and remaining forests inside the walls. It was a little counterintuitive at first until he remembered what happened during the Heat Wave. There was also the fact that Alterra was apparently delaying an upgrade¡ªwhich was really beyond his imagination before he met them¡ªand adding more places to stay in could be opposing that idea. Anyway, when he forwarded this concern to the Elders, they called in Miss Juliet and had a discussion about it. He was quite surprised, to be honest. He just thought they''d throw an extra room and rent it to them. He wouldn''t have minded if all four people (including the servants) would get squeezed in one room. It was certainly better than nothing. Instead, they had a serious discussion of what would be best for people in his children''s "situation". There, he met Miss Juliet for the first time, and he knew her specialization was how to help ''victims'' like her daughter. ''Psychologist'', they called her, which was an alien profession to Yassop until that point. However, the more he listened to their conversations, the more enlightened he became. Some things, particularly women''s mysterious minds, suddenly made sense after a couple of minutes of listening to them. In the end, after about a quarter of an hour of discussion, they recommended he send them to the orphanage instead. "I''ll recommend Yelena to work there. There are plenty of jobs she can do so she can have a salary to sustain herself more than what you send her," Juliet said. This part got Yassop confused at first. He was planning to leave them a good allowance that would last them several months as long as they didn''t splurge. "I know you''re not lacking money, but I recommend leaving them just enough for a month or two and then leaving them on their own," Juliet said, seeing his expression. "What she needs is a sense of independence: That she can do things on her own. She does not need you¡ªor any man, for that matter." "This would allow her some sense of control over her own life that doesn''t involve hiding her son from the world." "As for the boy¡­ he could live like other children would," she said. "The orphanage is a place with children who also lived without parents¡ªjust as he did, in a sense. They would be able to connect with him better than any other peer." "In time, I hope, he''d go out of his shell on his own. After all¡ªhe still had his mother, how could he be sadder than those who did not?" "Finally, living there would not pull them apart, but at the same time allow them to live their own lives at some distance from each other." Those were Juliet''s words and it added an immense amount of hope in him. So, now at the present, here they were, standing by the orphanage door. He still felt nervous and didn''t know how to explain anymore to them. Fortunately, the door opened to reveal Helen, the orphanage head. A few days back, before heading back to Yasof to fetch his daughter and grandson, he went to talk with Helen with Juliet. He explained the situation in as much detail as he could. They ended up talking for hours, and even talked about personal things like Helen''s own child, a teenager, who perished before they left for this world. In any case, the more he had talked to her, the more reassured he was that sending them here was the right decision. The two chatted a bit more as they entered, revealing a room with seating used by some children doing their own thing. "The rest are at school, so it''s fairly quiet at this time," Helen said. There was a stair heading directly to the upper floors connected to this foyer, and they headed straight there. "These will be your rooms," Helen said, introducing two rooms with two beds on each corner. Each room also had two study tables set to serve each owner of the bed, as well as their own cabinets. "Yelena and her maid, Peachie, will take on one room, while Yanno and his valet, Paulie, will stay in one." The two servants felt a bit awkward sharing rooms with their masters, but if there were no other rooms they did understand. They just silently swore to be so quiet and still it seemed like they weren''t there. Yassop smiled, satisfied with this arrangement. He looked at the two, and could vaguely sense some interest¡ªand maybe a bit of excitement¡ªin them. They were antisocial at this time and completely giving him their own space might just let them be hermits. At the same time, forcing them in many social situations could get them clam up even further. The orphanage could be a great compromise for both needs. They would have their own rooms and the children were taught to respect people''s boundaries, while at the same time there was still an overall sense of liveliness and community that¡ªhopefully¡ªwould slowly pry the two out of their rooms, and out of their shells. "It''s time for me to go," Yassop said, looking at his last two family members, giving them a month''s worth of allowance. "You''ll be on your own now. "Live well, my children," he said, patting Yelena''s shoulder, and Yanno''s head. "For now, this will be your new home." Chapter 1072 The Differences between Mothers A/N: Extra Long chapter for Alyxatlas'' chapter request~! \\o/ Once again, thanks for the castle~ ¡­ ____ The group saw Yassop and his own servants out the door. Yelena and Yanno looked at him and his back, feeling very complicated. Even if they didn''t express it much, they''d miss the old man quite a bit. It was just that they didn''t know how to say it. They were so used to being quiet and, in Yelena''s case, bitter, that they couldn''t bring themselves to say anything out-of-character. Anyway, the group watched Yassop disappear from their view before heading in, with Helen looking at her new family members. "While there aren''t a lot of people, why don''t you join me on a tour of the place?" she asked, tone gentle and kind that not even the grumpiest kid could say no to her. The two nodded. They were curious about the new place anyway. However, there was palpable awkwardness between the mother and son, and the boy didn''t dare walk along or ahead of his mother. Helen saw this but didn''t say anything. Time would heal, she believed, and time was only starting for them now. The house was designed so that those from the upper floor could quickly go down and exit the house without having to go through the rest of the rooms. This was why, before heading up the stairs, all they saw was the ante-room¡ªa more formal living room for guests and the like. The house was a manual construction building, so its arrangement was quite different from the other residential homes. After the ante-room, there was a large living room that could accommodate dozens of people at a time. There were also separate sitting spaces so smaller groups could have places for more intimate conversations. They passed by the other communal areas in the ground floor like a small library with several desks (which was also used by the students to do their homework), a canteen, a small multi-purpose hall, a lounge area for the staff, and so on. The rest were rooms for staff and some smaller kids, so they could easily be taken care of by the adults. There was also another room which was occupied by another guest¡ªlike them¡ªthough Helen did not specify who it was. Anyway, for the most part, the second floor was dedicated to the kids'' dormitories. They also had a small living room on the farthest corner from the stairs, and a lot of them tended to hang around there before going to bed. The building was also a courtyard house, so there was an open space in the middle of a rectangular floor plan, which was another communal area the children and staff could enjoy. On top of improving lighting and ventilation, the courtyard also improved the overall openness of the place. This would also allow each of the bedrooms to have nice windows and views, improving the kids'' well-being. In the courtyard, there were some movable picnic tables, swings, and some seating areas. Whenever they wanted to have a party, they''d just rearrange a few furniture and set up a barbeque somewhere. It would make the inner rooms smell of burnt meat and sauce but no one really minded that¡ªespecially the aborigine kids, who quite liked the smell. They said it allowed them to dream of barbeque even while they slept. Very cute. The tour ended about half an hour later and, unexpectedly, it coincided with the time a few of the kids went home. They were all quite small, no more than 10 or 11 years old, with some in the younger range of about 8 or 9. They politely took off their shoes on placed them on the shoe rack before entering, their eyes bright and sparkling even when they were doing the mundane. They sparkled even more at the sight of their headmistress, however. "Miss Helen~!!!" a few kids yelled, running over to her for a hug. She smiled, hugging them back. She was a bit surprised to see a few faces though. "Why, if it isn''t Pongo and Gururu1~" she smiled. "It''s been a while since you visited us!" Of course, even after they got adopted, she still saw them as family. "We miss you, too! We''re doing homework here with our new friends~!" Helen laughed. "It''s good to help each other," she said, nudging the towards the direction of the library. "You go on now. We don''t want you getting home too late." "Yes, Miss Helen~!" S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The handful of kids disappeared into the corridor, but more and more kids came home. Suddenly, there was activity everywhere and each room was occupied by a small group of children. Some were reading in a nook, some were chattering in the sofas, and there were also plenty of kids running around, spreading laughter across the halls. There was something about it that made their shoulders slump in relaxation, their eyes softening. They ended up watching everything for the next couple of minutes, with the small group just standing in the corner of the living room. They were also greeted by a lot of kids, and Helen introduced Yanno and Yelena to them as well. They were greeted with so much positive energy that the two couldn''t help but smile a bit when they responded. Bit by bit, the awkward nods and small smiles widened, and Helen thought it was a joy to watch. At some point, they heard a few kids yell at the others. "Miss Kimmy is out of her room~!" "YAY! STORY TIME!" "Story timeeee!" Like this, the kids hanging around the living room bolted towards the corridor, dragging some others with them. One of the people being dragged¡­ was Yanno. Yanno flinched, not knowing what he should do. He wanted to run, but his feet wouldn''t move. The boy pulling him was confused. Yanno was even more confused. It was an odd situation. Helen''s eyes softened. Because of his background, Yelena didn''t want him seen outside. It was as if the boy being seen by people outside of their house was cementing his existence. The boy barely had any social interactions outside of the family. Of course, he didn''t know how to handle the sudden contact. "Go with them," Helen said, making the decision for him. For now, the boy was indecisive¡ªnaturally so, considering everything¡ªso Helen decided to hold his hand until he gained some sense of self. "It will be fun." They followed the small crowd towards the courtyard. There was a pregnant woman sitting on the swing, lovingly holding her stomach with one hand, and another holding a book. In front of her were about a dozen kids sitting on the grass, looking up at him, listening intently to her words. "Today, I will tell the story of a Little Sparrow, its mother, and the wind," she said. "Once upon a time, in a meadow surrounded by tall trees, there lived a mother sparrow and her little chick¡­" Kimmy was quite animated. When she told of the story, her tone changed depending on the character, and she would also make her own sound effects. To the children who grew up without art, this was naturally very fascinating. She told the story about the mother going out to get food, but was unable to get back for many hours which, for a baby chick who was just born, was a very long time. "The baby chick missed its mother very much, but the cool breeze of the wind comforted the chick, even bringing feathery wildflowers that reminded it of its mother''s feathers." "It was comforted and ended up falling asleep embracing the wildflower, and it was also embraced¡ªin turn¡ªby the wind." "Eventually, the mama returned with the food, and the baby bird was very happy. "Mama! Mama!" she said, "I missed you! But also I felt you with me!" "The wind carried your scent and your warmth, and it lifted by wings and hugged me!" "The mother bird smiled, kissing her baby bird. ''That''s because love is like the wind. You can''t always see it, but it''s always there¡ªholding you close'' she said." Kimmy smiled, looking at the children. "Every child deserves love," she told them. "Miss Helen, sister Samantha, and the other staff loves you very much." "You might not always see it¡ªespecially when you''re being punished¡ªbut always believe that it''s there. They will unconditionally care for you, and also trying to lift you up so you can be yourself and fly when you''re ready." She smiled, unconsciously patting her own stomach. "That''s what mothers do, after all." Bianca''s (Baron''s cousin) adoptive kids Chapter 1073 Learning to Love A/N: I''m sorry, I didn''t intend this to get so long xD. We''ll temporarily move on from Kimmy after next chap. ... ____ "What was your mother like, Miss Kimmy?" This made her pause. She remembered her own childhood, how lonely it actually was, and how¡­ absent her parents were. She grew up to her twenties, but the number of times she had at least one parent on her birthday could be counted on one hand. It was why she was so obsessed with her idols. She saw them as lovers who would send their smiles and affection through the screen, through the posters, or even through the radio. Through their posts and ads, they would always say ''I love you'' or ''I want to see you (in my concert)'' and she would consume that so badly. However, inside, she knew she still felt empty¡ªotherwise, her obsessions wouldn''t go so far. She touched her stomach. She knew how lonely it was, so she would never do the same to her child. It was not a surprise that she didn''t have a good impression of mothers who were only sources of heartbreak and insecurity to her child. Her eyes ended up somewhere at the back of the audience and saw a new face there. Yelena. Miss Juliet mentioned her arrival during her session the previous day. Apparently, there was a new ''hostage'' taken in and it happened to be another one of Patte''s victims. Juliet didn''t actually ask her to do anything. After all, she was also going through her own tribulations. The woman probably didn''t want to put the burden on her. However, since they were both sent here, in the orphanage¡ªfilled with children who had lost all their known relatives¡ªit was inevitable to cross paths. However, at the same time, she couldn''t hate Yelena nor could she blame her for how she reacted. After all, she understood the aborigine''s feelings¡ªshe understood it too well. In fact, when Kimmy found out she was pregnant, her first reaction was to terminate the pregnancy¡ªand then take her own life. At the time, it felt like a monster was growing inside her and she wanted to kill it so badly. However, she remembered what someone important told her back then. Growing up, even without her parents, Kimmy wasn''t entirely lonely. There was still someone she treated as family: Her Nana. It was her nanny who took care of her since she was a baby, all the way until her death. Kimmy used to cry a lot whenever she missed her parents. She was so confused and bitter¡ªwhy were they never there? Did they not love her? Did they dislike her so much they couldn''t stay in the same space?! The thoughts took a toll on her self-esteem, and it was here that her Nana told her these words. "Every life was born to this world for a reason, and every child¡ªevery innocent soul¡ªdeserves a taste of love. If those who should be giving it are not doing so, then it is them who is wrong¡ªit is only them who miss on good things. The good things should not suffer for their blindness." Kimmy, now, did not want to miss ''good things''. At the time she just went ahead and spent her ample love elsewhere¡ªto ''husbands'' ¡ªbut now that love was being redirected elsewhere. Regardless of its paternity, this child might be the only blood relative she had left. And¡ªconsidering how she shuddered at the touch of men now¡ªthe only one she might ever have. Thinking back¡­ her reason for keeping the child was, ultimately, out of selfishness¡ªand that was okay. A fruit borne from evil was not easy to love, so she struggled a lot. She didn''t want anyone near her either, so she was predominantly alone in the process. At the same time, she didn''t feel as lonely. She was with baby after all¡ªthough for a long time, she was unsure if it was an enemy, a reluctant ally, or a loved one. However, after many weeks of carrying it in her body¡­ she did end up loving it in the end. When did it start? Was it when she first felt intense cramps? It felt uncomfortable and painful, but it felt like her baby was trying to capture her attention, much like her own vain attempts to capture her parents'' back then. Her own longing mirrored to the child and perhaps that was why she fell in love. When she told this to Juliet, she just said not to overthink things and just enjoy the process¡ªeven if it was a bit painful. "Miss Kimmy!" Milky voices sounded around her, pulling her back to the present. Kimmy looked at the simple-minded children in front of her, and her heart softened to mush. "Hmm¡­ the person I consider my mother isn''t the one who gave birth to me¡­" she said, answering the question. "But I did have one¡ªI call her Nana." Nana, her nanny, died about a year before the tragedy. She lived a full life and she treated her like her mother, as she treated her as her child. Her eyes softened, patting the nearest boy''s head. "All children deserve mothers," she said, her eyes gravitating to a certain aborigine. "Even if some mothers don''t deserve their children." This was not just targeted at Yelena and any other neglectful mothers. Kimmy didn''t think she was exempted from it at all. She once thought of killing her own child, so Kimmy believed she also didn''t deserve it. However, she promised to love it with all her heart moving forward instead. As for Yelena, she hoped to change her mind to do the same. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her dark eyes shifted back to the children, immediately lightening up. She smiled at them. "The point of the story is¡­ all of you should be happy and grow well. We will be watching over you¡ªalways¡ªeven if you don''t see us. "So¡ªI hope¡ªat no point will you be lonely," she paused, looking at them. "If you feel sad, or hopeless, know that there is always someone out there looking out for you and praying you receive the greatest fate you could receive. Okay?" At this, the kids sparkled, and yelled their answer¡ª as if afraid she would not hear. "Yes, Miss Kimmy~" Chapter 1074 Yelena and Kimmy A/N: *cough* I''m scheduling tomorrow''s chapters right now so I know for sure we''re already done with pre-time skip xDD I get embarrassed too when I miscalculate, okay!? ... ___ Meanwhile, at the back of the audience, three women stood together. It was Helen, Yelena, and a young lady with highlighted brown hair. It was Samantha, Gian''s sister. 1She had reached her 18th birthday the previous week and was no longer under the orphanage. However, she took a full-time job as a staff there, and Helen was happy to have her. She also kept her part-time job at the Supermarket, which she went to when the kids were at school. "It''s so nice to have Miss Kimmy stay with us," she said. "I can never tell decent stories." When she tried, she just droned and even she felt like she was going to fall asleep with her own voice. She was the direct opposite of her gregarious friend Penny1, who¡ªshe heard¡ªhad resigned in her artist job at the newspaper, opting to do auditions for the entertainment company Elder Ansel was setting up instead. It was a little out-of-character to be honest, but then she heard stories about what she probably experienced when she was a slave in Fargo, and Samantha realized that she¡ªdespite being abandoned by her brother¡ªwas still very lucky. "Indeed," Helen said, agreeing with her. "The kids loved her since she moved in here a few days ago." Samantha looked at her. "I thought you were agreeing with me not being a good storyteller." "That, too." "..." She sighed. Well, it wasn''t as offensive if she just accepted it as fact. In the end, she turned her head to the kids and then to Kimmy, who had made great improvements from when she had arrived here more than a month ago. It felt like it wasn''t long ago when Kimmy was the silent doll whom few people could interact with. Of course, Kimmy was still not fully recovered and would spend most of the day brooding inside her room. However, whenever the children were in the orphanage, she would occasionally pop up to bond with them, as if getting used to handling children. Alterra could heal people, that was for certain, and Kimmy¡ªon top of her own strength, of course¡ªwas a testament to that. "Kimmy is a great storyteller and could understand the hearts of children," Samantha added. "I heard she was quite the movie fanatic back then. I guess it''s true." "Kimmy¡­" they heard a whisper from the side. It was from the newcomer, Yelena. She said Kimmy''s name repeatedly, as if trying to recall something. "It''s that Kimmy," Helen said. "I''m sure Lord Yassop told you about her." Yelena''s eyes flickered, fixing on the woman amidst the dozen children. She had indeed heard of this person, her father told her about what happened. First of all, a female lord was something impossible in her mind. Even if her power later crumbled down when Patte ruined everything in the worst way, the fact that it happened was something difficult to wrap her head around. Further, frankly speaking, what happened to Kimmy was worse than what had happened to her. Not only was she abused by more than one person¡ªit was done in public, too. The only reason they were certain it was Patte''s was because he was the only one who ''unloaded'' inside. Just the thought made Yelena shiver. The humiliation and degradation must''ve been unimaginable. Yet¡­ right now, Kimmy was lovingly holding her stomach, as if she adored whatever was in there. Yelena remembered when she was pregnant. The bigger it got, the more disgusted she felt about herself. She wanted to stab it many times. Was she okay? How? Yelena felt complicated. She hadn''t talked much to her son, but this person with similar experiences was so¡­ different from her, and she couldn''t fathom the reason why. Did her father make a mistake? Perhaps Kimmy didn''t ''hate'' it or Patte? In theory, even if they were put in the same situation, Yelena should actually be much more accepting than Kimmy was. After all, aborigine women were raised and conditioned by society to be obedient to men. In contrast, Terran women were more independent and prideful. Psychologically, Yelena should''ve adjusted better with the situation, perhaps even ''glad'' that she would marry ''upwards''. She was not the first to have been impregnated. There was another one from a subsidiary village. Perhaps the seeds he was spreading relentlessly bore fruit someplace else as well. In any case, that woman was quick to enter Patte''s harem¡ªor rather, her father was quick to send her to Basset. It was just that Patte got bored of her quickly and did not like staying in the Town at all, so she lived an isolated, lonely, and neglected life. Ironically, Patte''s other women¡ªwho could not get pregnant¡ªschemed to get her into an accident, ultimately killing the woman and her child. However, Yelena and her father were different. They wanted nothing to do with Patte¡ªthey were thoroughly disgusted by him. She just felt the evil in Patte''s heart and she believed the kid she was bringing into the world was the same kind. How could she not dislike him? S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Didn''t Kimmy have the same concerns? "You know¡­" Helen said. "She would love to talk to you, too." Yelena blinked. "Me?" The older woman looked at her. "Don''t you have questions you want to ask her?" ... "How can you¡­ take it?" was the first thing Yelena asked as soon as she was alone with Kimmy. They were in her room, which was in the layout of a staff member''s room. It was a fraction of the size of the dormitories, but it was private with one bed, a desk, and a closet. Kimmy sat on her bed, while Yelena sat on the chair. "It was not easy," Kimmy said. "I have only started to talk recently." She had long sessions with Juliet, who was now practically her best friend. She must''ve cried a lifetime''s worth of tears at the time. Maybe she could''ve pushed even more, but Juliet reminded her that being to stressed was not good for the child, so she ended up forcing herself to recover. "Just don''t have to think of the child as a monster," was all she said. "They''re different people, Yelena. Patte is one person, the child is another." "But that man¡­" Kimmy turned to the other woman. "It doesn''t matter. Your child is a new person¡ªone who was still so moldable and influenceable. "We have a chance to guide them to become good people. On the contrary, if you left the child alone and let him grow up hating himself, he might turn evil¡ªwho do you think would be to blame, then?" Yelena''s eyes widened and she shuddered. Her hands gripped her skirt and she bit her lips in bitterness. Her eyes welled with tears as he whipped her head up, looking at the other woman who should understand her best. What did she expect going here? Sympathy? Approval? She did not know. "It''s not that I don''t feel bad for what I''m doing. I am not blind!" Yelena said, tone rising. Her voice was cracking in pain. "But¡­ whenever I see that boy, I remember¡ª" Her voice died when she felt arms wrap around her, surrounding her with warmth. "You don''t have to push yourself too much," Kimmy said. "But it helps to just think of the boy as a separate entity. To do this, he has to live his own life, develop his own personality." "However, for him to grow up well, he should feel the proper guidance of adults¡ªespecially his mother." Yelena''s eyes were wide and she wrapped her arms around the other woman. She buried her face in her shoulder and wept. Kimmy sighed, recalling her own state not that long ago, and patted the other girl''s head. "First, accept him for who he is, just make him feel he is not a sin, he is not trash, and he is not unwanted. "I''m not rushing you to love him¡ªthat is not easy," she said. "Not when you no longer love yourself." "Work on yourself first. Get a job, buy things for yourself, see more of this place¡ªwhich I guarantee is a whole new world for you." "Then¡­ when you pick yourself back up, look back and open your heart again¡ªfirst of all, to your own son. "My child would not have a father¡ªand he or she doesn''t need one. In our hearts, that bastard does not exist, and he will be forgotten like the useless dust that he is." "I can raise my baby on my own," she said. "I am his mother, after all¡­" They parted and Kimmy held Yelena''s face as if to make sure she was listening. "Similarly, that boy of yours¡­ also needs his mother. "As the person who gave birth to him, you¡ªat least¡ªmust be the first to acknowledge his existence." Gian is that soldier under Garan who left. Samantha is his sister Penny is that girl in the Fargo cave with Aditi. They were rescued by Chris during the war. Chapter 1075 Meeting between Two Lords Other than Yassop, there was another Lord who went to visit Alterra that day. It was none other than Jonathan himself. He arrived early that day, which surprised everyone, though not so much. Villages receiving so many lords so often was definitely unthinkable for others, but not Alterra. Jonathan went straight to Althea''s home, saying he had an urgent deal with her company to avoid suspicion. Of course, he didn''t rush them to get back home and just happily waited on the verandah, with Harold serving delicious tea and snacks. He was quite enjoying becoming Harold''s experimental taste tester. "What did you call this?" he asked, pointing at the small plate with small round circle sweets. It tasted wonderful. The shells were mildly sweet, which balanced the aromatic and tangy filling in between. It went so well with the tea he was having, too. "These are called macarons," he said. "I''m not much of a pastry chef so I had to ask help outside. This is one of the more difficult ones to make." Jonathan nodded. "It tastes great," he said, eating another one with a slightly different color. Oh~ a different flavor. He liked this one even better¡ª "Sir Jonathan." He blinked, looking behind him to see Althea. She didn''t make him wait for long and left the Research Center earlier than usual. Harold saw the boss there and simply refilled Jonathan''s cup with tea, and placed another cup for Althea before excusing himself. "Lord Jonathan," she greeted, doing the standard salute between equals. He stood up and did the same. "Lord Althea¡­" Althea smiled, shaking her head. "Please don''t call me that." Jonathan chuckled. "I know, I was teasing you." To be honest, he was too shocked to open the topic with her before she left Ferrol Town a few days back. The Lord of Alterra Village had established herself as such a mysterious entity that even Jonathan¡ªa man many times stronger than she was¡ªfelt intimidated. Not to mention, they seemed to be in a rush to get back home and he didn''t want to hold them back. As time passed though, he realized that he had a lot of questions to her and he regretted not asking them (not that he knew what to ask while she was there) so here he was, making a personal visit. If others knew, they might tell him he was lowering himself¡ªthat he was being too humble. They''d tell him he should''ve summoned her back to Ferrol, instead. However, Jonathan disagreed. Alterra would reach his level within the next few years¡ªhe could feel it¡ªand there was no point trying to pretend his territory was superior. "I''m still¡­ shocked, really," he said, and then narrowing his eyes at her. "And those oaths of yours are really¡­ prescient." She smiled. The oaths allies and subsidiaries signed were really long, but they were also fair for both parties. However, they¡ªparticularly Mathilda and Jun¡ªhad added a lot of insurance for Alterra. One of them was that the Lord or people who signed under him¡ªunder no circumstance¡ªcould reveal any information about Alterra that was not publicly known. They would not be able to utter, write, express, or otherwise give a clue of what it was at all. The other lords assumed Alterra had a lot of secrets, but how many would actually predict who the lord was? "Well, just to be safe." Jonathan looked at her. "I can''t help but want to express admiration in your¡ªand your people''s foresight, however," he said. "I still have much to learn." The more he thought about the advantages of keeping her identity a secret, the more amazed he was. However, at the same time, he wondered how long she''d be able to hide it? "I''ll try to keep it a secret for as long as I can," she told him. "Besides, all the people in position are already aware of my identity and they had signed strict oaths about it." He nodded. Normally, even if a Village Lord managed to successfully hide his identity for the majority of his run as a village, it''d be difficult to keep as more and more powerful people and factions formed in the territory. Prestige was extremely difficult to increase, and it was impossible for one person or family to carry an entire territory through to becoming a Town. However, the exemption was if the Lord was so foresighted that she was able to assign people in power early on, before they got too big, and grab hold of them¡ªensuring they were all working on the same side: Their Hometown. It was amazing. "It''s why I admire you so much for delegating so early¡ªnot many people can give out their power like that." "I just want to focus more on things I want to do and to focus on my family." In any case, the two lords chatted for hours on end. They chatted about issues at their level¡ªwhich was a rare occurrence for both of them¡ªand was definitely an enlightening experience on both sides. For Althea, there were many things and subtleties she had to learn as a Lord. In particular, the differences in leading a town versus a village. The powerplay in Towns would definitely have variances. Even in Alterra, they were already taking in some outside powers, starting with the Golds and the Rolan Mercenary Team. When they expanded further, they''d have to let a few more powers in. While she would¡ªideally¡ªonly allow groups they trusted, they couldn''t filter every bad apple out. That simply wasn''t how it worked. Wars between Towns were much more sensitive and intricate, especially when things like the Post Office, the Chancery, the Mercenary Hall, and the like were built. If Villages could be considered to be relatively isolated, Towns were the opposite. First of all, if they didn''t have connections to outside forces and territories, then prestige wouldn''t have become high enough for an upgrade in the first place. Because of this, a lot of plants and seeds would''ve been planted even before an upgrade. Whether it''d grow to something troublesome or something that''d help the Town¡ªtime could tell. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She narrowed her eyes. It looked like she was going to have to hold another Elder meeting which could, potentially, last for days. Chapter 1076 The Strongest Village Althea was learning a lot, and Jonathan was learning even more. Despite growing so old and meeting so many other Lords, this was the first time he had such a fruitful discussion with another Lord. Most Lords were arrogant and overtly confident¡ªespecially Lords of Towns. The Lords of Towns usually inherited their positions too, which was ironic. This was why many Town Lords often lacked the strength and discipline of their predecessors because things were just handed over to them. "I know a good example. In a town Southwest, there was an arrogant Lord who had everything handed to him. The previous Lord had always kept the token in the Token Guard so when he died of mysterious circumstances, the territory remained standing. His son, who knew where it was located, immediately became the Lord." "He was so arrogant with the forces, believing them to be his servants. He would send them to missions for low rates, and even arbitrarily change up some taxes. "Anyway, long story short, those people schemed to replace him¡ªand they did." This made Althea narrow her eyes. "How were they able to do this even with oaths?" Jonathan thought for a while before answering. "As a Town, there''d be more and more outside forces trying to enter and grab a piece," he said. "You know how large the stakes are among wars between towns, which was why they were so rare. "Towns have tens or even hundred times more population and resources than villages do, and their average power levels were also much higher. "The thing is, everyone¡ªwhether they were born in Villages, Towns, and Cities¡ªwould start at a low level. However, because it was dangerous to go out of Towns and Cities as low-leveled people, some ''level up farms'' were created so people could pay to kill captured low-level monsters so they could level up." "Commoners could barely afford such service, but they managed, but the extremely poor people¡ªwho could only afford their day-to-day food and shelter¡ªwould remain weak, no stronger than villages." "Improving the strength of thousands of people was too costly and, in their minds, a bit wasteful because people¡­ die," Jonathan said, shaking his head. "When a trained person died during a war or something else, all those resources spent on them would be wasted." "Some people with foresight do send their younger generation in villages to train, but they were the great minority. Town and Cityfolk simply looked down on villages so much that they cringed at the thought of sending their children there¡ªit was as if it''d corrupt them." "In my opinion, this is a stupid unnecessary mistake, and what the Golds did for their younger generation was the smartest thing I''ve seen in a long time." "Point is, because of this imbalance, Towns and Cities preferred to hire mercenaries who were experts in their fields and had also sworn oaths to do their best to fight for whichever territory they served. "It was expensive to hire from Mercenary Halls every time, but the cost of letting mercenary teams settle or have a base in a territory was just a piece of land they could call their own. This was the common practice." "However, at the same time, the oaths they took weren''t of undying loyalty¡ªthey were always transactional ones. "The mercenaries would always leave leeway for themselves to separate from a territory¡ªand usually not without taking some profit along the way. "Betrayal was not uncommon, especially when the forces found the current Lord unable to do their part of the bargain. "Even in Ferrol, I can only truly trust the Asusa Mercenary team¡ªa team that had signed an oath with my father. You met Hoye and Webb 1before, didn''t you? That''s their team." She nodded. Hoye and Webb were Bart''s friends and, according to her husband, were instrumental in him finding their place so quickly. "Oh, and there''s the Terran mercenary team too," he said, smiling. "Anyway, I have about a dozen other mercenary teams based there that I don''t entirely trust¡ªdefinitely not with my life." She nodded, taking note of everything. She then looked at Jonathan. "Thank you for sharing, but¡­ do you think my citizens would be left behind in terms of level?" she asked. "Do you think we''ll actually ever be dependent on outside forces to defend ourselves?" "..." Jonathan''s eyes flickered. He remembered that even the most common of citizens here trained hard. Even the old people could be seen with the youngsters, stabbing at monsters outside the gates. When asked¡ªwhile the most common answer was ''because I don''t want to grow old so quickly''¡ªone could feel the consistent and strong motivation was there. That, along with the superior defense systems and rules at their level, really made Jonathan rethink the current norms. He sighed, body relaxing into his chair as he took another macaron into his mouth. "Now that we can talk as lord to lord, I feel like I''m learning so much from you¡­" Jonathan said. "I feel both ashamed and amazed." Althea chuckled, sipping her jasmine tea. "I also learn a lot from you." Jonathan shook his head. In their discussion, he was definitely learning more. Instead, he took out a notebook of thick papyrus paper and handed it to her. "Here." Her eyebrows rose. "What is it?" she asked, taking it into her palms. The cover was leather, and its pages were tied together by coated ropes. There were scores of pages binded there but it seemed thicker because each sheet was made of papyrus. It was quite old and Althea immediately became extra careful in handling it. "It''s my father''s journal back when the town was new." S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What?" She looked at the copy of Jonathan''s father''s journal which included a lot of information about how he handled towns. There were a lot of things that needed careful reading. She was still new to the language and each generation seemed to have their own style of speaking. It wasn''t as changing as back in the modern Terran that changed so quickly due to social media and the like, but there were a lot of subtle differences which would take her a bit of time to decipher. "This is extremely useful," she said. "Thank you." Jonathan shrugged. "I''ve read it many times already," he said. "But I think you''d get a lot more takeaways from it than I have." "Thank you¡­" she said again, but pausing in the end. She looked at the man with a mysterious smile. "To be honest you''re¡­ being too kind, it''s almost suspicious." Jonathan blinked as he stared at her, before bursting into laughter. However, even while laughing, his eyes were deep. When he calmed down, he couldn''t help but look away with dazed eyes. "This world¡­ it has so many things wrong," he said. "I just thought that if a few more good territories were around, it''d be better for everyone else." An image of a handsome young lad passed through his mind¡ªa good childhood friend of his he had known since he was a little boy. That bright young man perished unjustly a long, long time ago, simply because of who he chose to love: Him. Then he remembered this place, how everyone was free to do what they wanted, to love whoever they chose to do¡­ and suddenly he felt that lad''s memory was no longer so bitter. ¡­ Jonathan soon left and went back to Ferrol after doing a shopping spree. Meanwhile, Althea held a meeting among the elders and this meeting would last for more than a day. A series of announcements, rules, and restrictions echoed throughout the territory¡ªas well as to all the satellites. It shook many people, but it definitely added a sense of urgency in everyone''s hearts. For the months that followed, Alterra would continue to strengthen itself¡ªpreparing for the inevitable. After Yassof, they were attacked a few more times. However, after the war with Guia, the other wars had become too easy. As for the slaves they received during the wars, they sent them to associate villages to assist in their resource management and other things. While they had a feeling that the wars was just a larger organization calibrating their strengths, it also meant that they were stable for a bit longer as long the attackers weren''t suicidal. In the end¡ªat least for a while¡ªAlterra Village had become the undefeatable Top Village. "Sigh, I wish it would always be like this," Ansel said, very dreamily, a night after an easy win. What a nice thought: their home¡ªthe unshakable strongest of its rank. "Enjoy it while it lasts. When we upgrade, it might take a while again," Winona said, voicing out everyone''s fears. When they upgrade, they¡­ will be among the bottom again. "As long as the policies we planned are implemented, we can at most delay our upgrade by a few more months," Althea said, comforting them. "Let''s use this time to strengthen Alterra so that¡ªin time¡ªwe can rise to the top again." We met them all the way back before the protection period ended, if you''d recall. They gave Garan info about the fog Chapter 1077 Several Months Later [1 Year After the Migration] [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 14585 (4913 permanent, 9672 temporary) Total Population: 18524 Base Resources: Wood: 19300/20000 Stone: 14220/15000 Money: 119731 Gold, 289199 Silver, 4198699 copper Prestige: 1982 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv2), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv3), Barracks (Lv3) Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1) Building Slots: 8/9 (+11)] Months passed by and Alterra only grew and grew¡ªwhether it was in reputation, economy, population, and in strength. The most obvious change was Alterra''s appearance. It had been developed to the maximum number of buildings except for the dedicated 30% forest area and open spaces. There were new streets and new buildings, though a lot of the residential buildings were kept unoccupied for now. The Well and the Barracks were also upgraded during this time. The other building types did not, however, apparently already at the maximum level they could be at the Village level. The upgraded Wells simply provided more water and refreshed faster while the Barracks simply expanded and could take on more trainees at a time. The tests also seemed a bit more difficult, which was quite useful. Her husband was now level 29 and lowest-level soldier Luis reached level 22 after a couple of months. This was very impressive, especially since it was much more difficult to level up after Level 20. There were about a hundred or so guards who had also passed the level limit and a few dozen had even reached levels 17 and 18, which was a bit past Althea herself, who had too much in her plate and was unable to dedicate all her time training her strength. Reaching these levels as a Village took up a lot of work¡ªmore than just going out to train. Basically, she had to put away a few rooms in the Training Hall specifically for the guards'' use only. However, because its level was limited, its effectiveness also stopped after a guard reached a certain level. The building was still at level 2 after so long. Since she didn''t receive upgrade requirements, it could only be assumed that it could only upgrade upon reaching Town Level. This was why her husband, the soldiers, and some stronger guards had no choice but to do more in order to keep themselves from getting stagnant. As such, he had to form a team to Ferrol and they camped there for two months, just hunting monsters. It was torturous for both of them, but they knew it was necessary. They would just tell themselves it was just like in Terran when he had to go on missions for a month or more. As for the general population, the average level in Alterra was now level 12, way above average for village levels. The average levels of normal adult citizens in low-level Towns was also not too far from this level. Of course, fighter types in Towns were still of a far superior level, so the Research Center had been working non-stop to balance the power discrepancies using tools and weapons as well. Not to mention, all level 10 Terrans really did awaken their elements, adding explosive force to the overall might of the territory. Althea herself had now reached the peak of level 17 after training a lot, though with limitations because of the lower level of the mobs she could face. Combined with her various other ventures in the Research Lab and her own experiments, quite a few people¡ªincluding Ansel, Reno, and the like¡ªhad already passed her in level. Anyway, many people including her were now unable to participate in wars. There were also more and more people who were trying to hold their levels at level 15¡ªwhich must''ve been incredibly painful for them¡ªso there were fewer and fewer reasons to remain a village. Speaking of which, Alterra could''ve been upgraded to Town a month or so after the Yasof War. They managed to delay for so long by making new regulations. While the Residencies would remain the same as long as they didn''t shift, they could at least control the Population¡ªthat was to say, the number of people inside the territory walls. For a while, this presented quite a challenge. Alterra was a territory admired throughout the region, and they did receive a lot of visitors every day. At some point, these visitors had to wait in the allied territories, because they had to block the entry to Alterra lest they upgraded prematurely. The slaves were not counted as entities during wars, but they were at least counted in the population. This was how lords could still see their stats, and which was why they sent the new slaves from the latest wars elsewhere. Anyway, the solution the Elders came up with was to rearrange thousands of people at a time. First off, the visitors were controlled, with many of them redirected to any of the associated villages. If they passed by them, smaller communities were built outside the territory in which these visitors would camp. Thousands of Alterrans were also offered to settle in other territories for at least a month. At this time, at least 3000 of the previous population were outside, spread across various other territories. This was a mix of visitors and temporary residents who did not have many assets under their name. As a reward, they would be given contribution points they could use to improve their lives. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. While the points varied depending on their strengths and position, the smallest amount of points was enough for a person to live well with good food and a roof over their heads for the duration of their stay. Even if they didn''t live in the best place (Alterra), their daily lives were practically subsidized by the territory for these months. If they took on jobs on top of that, this meant the contribution points would go straight to their savings! After a few months, maybe they would have enough to buy permanent residencies! Everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before Alterra turned into a Town. How much would the prices for the residencies spike after that? People didn''t know the answer to that, but they were determined not to die of regret because they didn''t make it on time! Chapter 1078 More Changes This ''population transfer'' program started a few months prior and had seen good effects on all the affiliated territories. After all, thousands of Alterrans and foreigners flooded the nearby allied villages. There were thousands of ''slaves'' that were also sent to the satellites. This large injection of population naturally created a boom in development for all the affiliated territories. Thanks to this program, these territories now had a lot more forces against beast tides¡ªto the point that no monster mob posed a threat to them anymore. In fact, with the leadership of Alterrans who had temporarily settled there, the attitude of ''looking forward to mobs'' had also influenced the local population, turning everyone into war-hungry fiends¡­ er, citizens. The population also allowed the economy to spike up, not just for the local shops, but new ones also popped up. Of course, there were a few conflicts in terms of monopoly with a few residents. After all, before the Alterrans moved there, certain parties were the leading suppliers of so-and-so products. The arrival of people from the ''source'' naturally threatened their way of life. However, it was nothing Terrans hadn''t encountered before. Considering they were used to wars and beast mobs, business conflicts were the least of their problems. For the most part, because Alterrans had access to a wider variety of products (displaced citizens also had higher purchase limits), it was the Alterrans who gave way, selling rarer products in the end. Those were much more profitable, anyway. The increased population of elementalist (on top of being associated with Alterra) had also become a deterrent to war declarations, giving the villages the stability needed to grow well on their own. In fact, all the territories¡ªexcept for Iron Mountains¡ªhadn''t been attacked for months. Although getting enough prestige to become a town was still a distant dream to them, they definitely grew to be the strongest villages in the region. Imagine: A group of villages superior to the previous Guia''s were compressed into a single region. Further, all these territories were allied to each other. As a whole, how powerful would they be? The effect was even more pronounced with the satellites, which received a lot more people than the allied territories. Allied territories were allied territories, but satellites were still¡ªtechnically¡ªpart of Alterra. In terms of systems, points, and the like, satellites had mimicked Alterra much better than others. Contribution points of those who were staying in satellites were also quite a bit higher than those in other allied territories! It just so happened that they were relatively far from Alterra so there were still a lot of them who opted to go to the nearby allied territories instead. The people assigned to the satellites were also asked to stay for a longer period of time for more efficiency and lesser turnover. For Iron Mountains, there were about a thousand people sent there¡ªand they were assigned for an entire year. First of all, it was too far away to travel to every month and, second, it was full of aborigines, was placed in the middle of aborigine territories, and was more prone to wars. Iron Mountains, in particular, were in dire need of stability. The new policies injected the Terran population into the place, increasing its strength by a notch, and creating a new subculture that would quickly change the world of the locals already living there. Anyway, Althea was certain that they were as ready as they could be for an upgrade. At this point, delaying it for longer wouldn''t be practical anymore¡ªit could even be dangerous if most of their fighters went past the level cap. At this, she called the Elder meeting to discuss this issue. If they all agreed, then they''d call back a few (thousand) people currently staying in the allied territories¡ªeffectively triggering the dreaded upgrade. ¡­ The Elder meeting began about an hour later. They were all a little somber, because they knew what the meeting was about. The last meeting they had where every Elder was called in was when they were discussing the distribution of Alterrans to other territories. So the dreaded day had finally arrived. They were really enjoying the few months of peace they had. Sure, there were small scuffles and quite a bit of spies caught during the past few months, but they really felt that they held the world¡ªso to speak. Or, at least, their part of the world. All that would change as soon as they upgraded. A lot of territories had been eyeing them, after all¡­ The first to arrive, of course, were Althea, Garan, Eugene, Mathilda, and Gru. They just happened to be near the Center so it didn''t take long for them to arrive. Speaking of the Elders, a lot has also changed during the past several months with them and their families. For one, Mathilda and Gru had trained a lot during this time, a bit more than what was required in order not to be left behind. They were now level 10 and their white hair had basically disappeared. They also trained together a lot, allowing them to develop a wholesome friendship between old people. Eugene, on the other hand, was just¡­ happy, and it showed with the impressive progress of his team in the Research Center. Melissa''s pregnancy was also going well now, though there had been a lot of scares during her first trimester. After all, she had a weak body and a low level at the time. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They had to get her to kill some low-level monsters to increase her level, and she had been stable since then. Melissa had grown to be quite healthy and was fulfilling her ''wifely duties'' very well despite her pregnancy. Ahem. Althea didn''t change much, though she seemed even more glowing with her level up, let alone Garan, who seemed much more intimidating just sitting there. After the straight months of training (with his wife far away) he developed a sharper ice-cold aura that made low-level folks have difficulty in breathing. Fortunately, his wife was next to him to thaw that. Soon, the remaining Elders arrived, each displaying notable changes of their own. Chapter 1079 Prelude to Upgrade (Part 1) There was the new Elder, Volohov, followed by Rosalind, and then by Oslo, Ansel, and Winona. In terms of appearance, the two older generations hadn''t changed much except they looked a little younger due to leveling up a bit. The younger ones seemed to have a slight image change though. Oslo''s hair was even longer than before, from just past his shoulder to now reaching his thigh. His golden hair was still the object of fascination for hairstylists alike, and it had become a great honor to cut his hair. It was just good genes. Even without magnificent hair products, the Golds'' hair had a natural sheen. Now that they were also using Alterran hair products, they became manes of another world. There were salons that framed his golden locks somewhere, claiming their products and services could ''get you the Gold''s tresses''. He did have a nice hairpin that, when he was working, tied his luscious locks into a graceful manbun. It was very handsome. Many girls from the design team took pictures of him with their phones. It was the first time Oslo had encountered it and he was so fascinated by the ''magic tool'' that he allowed the girls to take as many pictures of him as they wanted. Some men did ask why he just didn''t cut it since it seemed like a hassle to tie it up every time. In turn, he asked if it bothered them and the female population eavesdropping were quick to correct him. "NO!" "You''re fine! It''s good to put effort! Don''t be like these slobs!!" Slobs-who-bathed-every-day: "..." Next to him, Ansel also had quite a few changes. In contrast to Oslo''s longer hair, his was shorter. He had to cut off his hair to above the ears because he accidentally singed his hair during a battle. It was his own fire, too, which was really an embarrassment that caused him to be thrown to the barracks again. He also claimed that, quote, it should be fine. His wife pulled on it too much at night so this was better, end quote, which also earned him a slap on the head from the aforementioned wife. Speaking of Winona¡ªwhose hair had grown back to its original length¡ªwas already very obviously pregnant. As one of the first women to conceive in Xeno, she was already in their third trimester. It was only a matter of another month or two before they got the next batch of human newborns. The Hospital was prepared for that and during this time a lot of important machines had been recreated, though only one or two were available because a lot of the materials were limited and extremely precise. Anyway, there weren''t too many pregnant women yet and those few equipment were already enough. Speaking of the next generation, Kimmy had already given birth to a beautiful little girl. She was quite cute and her features had been taken from her mother. According to Juliet, she was a lot more stable after the birth of her child and was now living with Yelena and her son¡ªwho had also shown great improvements. They would open up Patte''s survival if Juliet judged that it would be good for Kimmy or if she''d even want to be reminded of him at this point in time. In the meantime, that bastard was kept in the torture chamber, barely kept alive by healing potions. In the past few months, only Kimmy''s baby was the new newborn among the humans¡ªbut not for other races. The goblins with high fecundity and smaller gestation period, had already given birth. The smallest birth was twins, with an average of triplets. In the past few months, they had dozens of newborn goblin babies which was really bizarre to see but also very cute. The goblins, even adults, when filled up, were really adorable. They became like little green round balls. The humans loved it so much that the green things were fed a lot whenever they lingered around humans. This care was even more heartfelt with the babies. The humans would coo and admire the babies, filling the air with love. The pregnant goblins were treated with as much care as was given to the humans, too. The Goblins had special senses to feel emotions and sincerity, so they knew that they were not acting at all. Alterra''s good treatment¡ªespecially of pregnant goblins and babies¡ªincreased goblins'' loyalties even more. The meeting began with each Elder reporting the states of their scopes, as well as their assessment of whether or not they were ready for an upgrade. They decided to discuss the most light-hearted topics first. First was Rosalind and her Education Department. With the growing population of Alterra¡ªand the boom they were expecting to experience right after the upgrade¡ªRosalind had now completely focused on the overall Educational concerns of the territory and retired as a teacher. She discussed the various programs as well as the new subjects they were going to have per age group. Included in the high school curriculum was Xenoan politics, too, which they''d need at some point. There were now a lot of teachers available¡ªteaching was made into a lucrative (with good salaries and benefits) and a fulfilling job to have. They also got a lot of literate aborigines to teach the written language. With them at the helm, even the subtleties could be taught. After so long, a good portion of the territory could already read some basic text indigenous to this continent. The school also sold books, notebooks, pens, and the like in the school bookstore, which occupied a rather big space in front of the school. The resources were so affordable that some aborigines fainted from shock. As for anything related to war, Rosalind could only say the values lesson was highly loved by the students. Even the younger kids became very ''patriotic''. In those subjects, they were taught about the rules of the territory, ethics, morals¡ªand the many written, spoken, and unspoken rules of humanity. However, these subjects also spoke of the reasons behind them. Values would only be remembered and applied when a student understood why they were important in the first place. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They also taught of Alterra''s history and its greatness, which the children admired very much. It might''ve worked too well though, and Rosalind expressed her concern with the kids jumping to war prematurely. The elders sighed. "We''d just have to remind the adults that the children¡­ could get a bit too fired up during wars." Rosalind shook her head at the memory. It was in one of the classes she guessed in. She realized the subjects worked too well and some kids were showing some hardcore "I want to fight for the territory" mantras going on. "I want to fight!" "Me too!" Rosalind shook her head and this made the kids look like they''ve been wronged. "But why Dean Rosalind! I can fight!" "Me too! I fight in wars in my previous village!" "Me, too!" "Wow¡­" the other kids said, looking at the fighter kids as if they were very cool. Rosalind paled a bit. "No." "Why?" "You''re too young. Wars between villages was already one thing¡ªwars between towns was a definite no-go." "Going to fight without proper strength and preparation would only make you burdens," she told them, deciding to get straight to the point. "Get stronger first, and then we''ll talk." She said this with unusual harshness and she could only hope that they listened. Of course, this also created a renewed wave of studious and hardworking students¡ªaiming to be able to fight for their new home as the adults did. Chapter 1080 Prelude to the Upgrade (Part 2) Next to report was the newest Elder, Volohov, reporting about the status of their medical facilities. Volohov had been promoted to an Elder a couple of months ago, though he was serving as the effective Elder even before that. He had also reached level 10, with his wife at level 9, awakening the Healer Profession soon after. His wife was also a water elementalist, so it was expected she''d awaken the same profession eventually. Interestingly, because of his specialisation in Internal Medicine, the level of skill he inherited was superior to Sheila''s. He could practically be an MRI by himself! To compare, Sheila''s could roughly see the cells, while Volohov could see the details of the organelles. These green-tagged professionals were really something else! Anyway, the awakening of such a skill inspired Volohov to work harder. He was even more hard-working than the younger generation. Other than Volohov, the hospital also hired and awakened 2 more healers during this time, all of whom were from the people who had migrated along with him. Each department position had been filled and even the nurses were not lacking. Of course, not everyone was a medicinal practitioner in Terran, but many of them were trained. There was even a batch of trainee nurses among the aborigines. Some were actually from Umi''s group, who had lived as prostitutes their whole lives. The opening for trainees was heaven-sent for them. They only needed to have a quick wit, a good head on their shoulders, and a genuine desire to care for others. They¡­ had been raised to care for others, and their sharp minds allowed them to survive in an occupation where saying one wrong thing could get them killed. Although not all of the former prostitutes applied or even ended up passing, the fact that there were a few who did was indicative enough that they could change their lives. From then on, the women had tried various jobs to find what fit them well. While there were a lot of failures¡ªsome were even fired due to various (but valid) reasons¡ªbut after so many months most of them did find decent jobs they could proudly say were their own. Not everyone, but it was already progress. Volohov also encouraged the formation of clinics along every main avenue and street. Although they were not special buildings, the personnel assigned should be skilled enough to do their jobs. These clinics would specialize in first aid, emergencies, traumas, and other simpler ailments. During wars, a couple of minutes delay in treatment could mean life or death, and having ready places to treat the injured was the priority. Garan said that they had hundreds of guards who had landed level 15, and they had been holding back their training to keep from upgrading prematurely. At the same time, they were also looking forward to the upgrade. Many of these Level 15s had been stuck to internal order duty for weeks and they were really itching to fight! The average level of monsters in Towns¡ªin contrast to the Levels 7 to 8 of Villages¡ªwas level 12 to 15, which were good levels for enemies if they wanted to grow. Although it was definitely a bit worrying to increase the level of the mobs outside, their current strength should be able to handle it. For the weaponry, Eugene reported that there were dozen of new cannons that had been built. There were also giant crossbows erected at equidistant spaces around the battlement, adding force not much inferior to sentries''. They had a few long bows before, but this was a much stronger and deterrent force to add to their walls. The handguns were still in the testing phase at this time, and the progress was slow but steady. They still needed a material that could handle the force created by such a small hand-held explosive weapon, so it would still take a while before the guards could get a hold of it. More sulfur was also found by the goblins after digging deep enough in the nearby mountains. At the time, they were actually digging for the source of hot water from the geothermal activity below for hot springs. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In the past few months, the development of the High-end hot spring villas was expedited (preselling and reservations for lease were already booked), so they were in a bit of a rush to finish its development. It was one of the amenities they planned to open as part of the celebration of upgrading to a Town. While digging for hot springs, the goblins found sulfur deposits along the way. This increased the power of their explosives. Of course, the development was not limited to the weapons. With the help of the Research team, Clutch finally developed the plant-reinforced armors! The armors created with this method was superior to the same equipment of the same level. For example, typical Class E equipment, when added with the special plant mixture, was upgraded to E+! They tested its stats and it was 20-30% more effective! The best thing was that Alterra could gather the raw materials themselves and mass-produce the items so the upgrade was extremely inexpensive! All those months of experimentation were too worth it! Next, Ansel reported on the very healthy economic situation of Alterra. Even without so many money making schemes like the Alterra store and the like, the taxes alone could fund the territory. He also told them about the various business loans and some high-potential ones that would definitely contribute to Alterra''s greatness. He also mentioned how many commercial streets they''d need to build, as well as commercial buildings the size of the Supermarket and the Arcade needed to be built. He also proposed, at some point, the creation of a mall. That''d need a bit of land though, so it wasn''t a priority, but Ansel was determined to see it happen before they became a city! For agriculture and horticulture issues, Gru reported the surplus of food they had. Not only were the fertilizers working well, they had also taken advantage of the System farms'' flexibility¡­ a little too well. Under the ground level, they built subterranean farms for plants that''d grow well in those conditions. Not only that, they¡­ also built a few vertical farms, multiplying the food made in a square meter by folds. The productivity of each farm land in Alterra¡­ could be said to be higher than the entire food industry of a small village. A lot of factories had to be built in a rush in order to process the raw materials to avoid them going stale. They also temporarily increased the purchase limits of caravans, though in time they''d need bigger factories with the flood of business that would inevitably knock at their doorstep. As such, they also discussed the possible direction of expansion. According to their Intel, upgrading to a Town would increase their land to more than twice its current area. They also agreed not to occupy the entire area, leaving a couple of meters on all sides as allowance. This way, there was a safe area outside without poisons, as well as some relatively safer areas for visitors to camp in case they couldn''t allow them inside the walls. Anyway, a few more topics later, everyone unanimously agreed¡­ that it was time for an upgrade. They watched as Mathilda took out an aether letter, directed to their Messenger Bird section. /Get at least 2000 people back from the allied territories./ she said. /We are upgrading soon./ Chapter 1081 The Allied Villages Before Upgrade (Part 1) The letter was only sent to Bright, Shrao, and Belluga for efficiency. While taking away hundreds of manpower would affect them, they had long been preparing for Alterra''s upgrade. Besides, they also had a lot of foreigners staying long-term in their residential areas. Unlike Alterra, which had become increasingly restrictive to enter, these territories had a lot of foreigner-friendly programs to attract the aborigine strongmen to stay. Of course, they had to make oaths of non-betrayal, but this was in exchange for extremely good terms like their own houses and the like, provided they also fought and protected the territory to an acceptable degree. They were also welcoming of Mercenary Team branches. Their area only allowed for one or two patches of land to be leased out however, so they were still choosy on which team to invite. In any case, to aborigines who wanted to relocate in this region but could not do it directly in Alterra, then these deals were extremely attractive. All territories had reached the peak of Level 3 Villages as well, though their Prestige would definitely take decades to meet the requirements of a Town, especially since they had no unique resources or tech to anchor on. Being so close to Alterra also slowed down their prestige increase as well, because whatever happened in the region was likely to get associated with it instead. However, thanks to the current system, no one went hungry anymore and the dormitories had also become the prevalent home. All shanty communities had been abandoned and replaced with proper housing and parks. Although they couldn''t charge as low as Alterra for their bed spaces, it was still extremely affordable. Even the invalids¡ªwho had very limited job options¡ªcould afford to have a roof over their heads. This amazed the aborigines very much and those who went to visit and returned to their home passed this on. Because of this, somehow this region¡ªslowly referred to as the Alterran Region¡ªhad become the ''dream'' place to go to, especially for people who were struggling to survive until now. In terms of defense, all villages had kept their level 3 walls, but they could now afford to place sentries at the optimum of 200 meters apart. Like Alterra, mobs and wars had started to lose their threatening nature now, too. With the injection of strong forces in their ranks, those aborigine villages that used to scare them no longer had the chance of putting a dent on them! Bright had also paid back all of its debts to Alterra by now and he felt a huge weight off his shoulders. Of course, he still had to pay monthly tribute (which was not small, especially with the revenue generated by aborigine tourists) but being technically debt-free was still a nice feeling to have. Because of this, he had the time to start tracing where Gingo and his people were. All he got after so long was that they headed West to Southwest, and in that direction¡ªexcluding a few Terran villages like Limestone Valley¡ªwere predominantly aborigine villages. If they thought they''d live better there, heh, naive. Still, so many of his citizens were hurt by that group, so they continued to investigate¡ªas long as the scouts could guarantee their safety, of course. In any case, the three territories were definitely miles ahead of most other Terran villages, and they had Alterra to thank for it. Other than these three, there were also the new allies Yasof Village and Dune Town. As soon as Yasof Village separated from Basset Town, it naturally caused a bit of commotion. However, Alterra helped weather out the wars by sending some good bone weapons as well as some guards. There were also soldiers beyond the level cap there, in case the enemies sent similar people to cause them trouble¡ªand they really did. These people were Basset Town citizens planning to weaken Yasof by killing off people going outside or heading in even before the war could be declared. However, Yassop had long studied Alterra''s methods and as soon as he declared his separation, he limited his people''s movements to around the walls (which had also increased sentry numbers by the way, which was impressive considering he still lost a large amount of money from his war with Alterra back then). However, during wars, the enemy strongmen could still cause trouble by helping the others get into the walls¡ªwhich was the primary requirement to win the wars anyway. It was a pity they couldn''t kill people, but that was that. They could just torture them after the war somehow. However, they did not expect Yasof to have a counter to their attack. Whenever a strongman would appear by the battlement, aiming to push down or pull the defenders there (and let their people kill them as soon as they lost balance), an Alterran strongman would appear, blocking their way. The Basset Town sent were naturally not that special in town-level¡ªbelow or in early level 20s¡ªthough they were still considered strongmen in Village wars. Anyway, they did not expect to encounter such a strong repelling force as soon as the war began! S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Because people beyond the cap could actually harm each other, the soldiers had no reason to hold back from dealing with them. The soldiers sent were not few either¡ªthere was Luis, Ryan, Mao, Minko, and Sammy. During the previous wars with its subsidiaries, Basset Town had sent some level 20s to assist, though none of that worked in Alterra, whose high-level archers could just target them specifically. Althea herself one-shotted a few with her strong Bellagio bow. (It helped that she had a small mountain of mana cookies and potions in her space, of course). After causing some losses in Basset Town, the wars against its subsidiaries had significantly slowed down until they halted. However, they knew that there was no way they gave up. Things were just brewing and they were preparing for a bigger fight. Anyway, they knew their style so they knew how to deal with them. Basset Town was also very vindictive so he sent quite a number of them. Sammy and the others definitely did their best to weaken their future enemies, so most of the attempts to pull down Yasof citizens ended up in their deaths. A lot of these strongmen died during the war, causing huge losses to the enemy villages and¡ªmost importantly¡ªcaused another small dent on Basset''s forces. Of course, none of this came for free and Yasof had to pay Alterra a lot of money like Bright Territory did back then. Fortunately, their location was not too far from Alterra and they could also send caravans to and fro to get products, managing to profit by selling the items for a very good price for the territories in their area. It was estimated they''d be able to pay Alterra after a couple of months. In any case, winning the war against Basset Town''s subsidiary caused a lot of waves in another region. To the aborigines in the East, this signaled that the Alterra region¡ªa force to be reckoned with, even at Town level¡ªwas increasing in size and influence¡ªand it was slowly reaching in theirs! Chapter 1082 The Allied Villages Before Upgrade (Part 2) The alliance with Dune Town had even deeper implications. After all, it was a Town and it was still thousands of kilometers away from them. The deal had been finalized just over a month prior through Helios and his new wife, the beautiful Sahara. The trade deal was for Alterra to give water-making technology and drought-resistant plant seeds in exchange for large amounts of oil. While they were trying to be self-sustaining in terms of electricity and various mechanical productions, there were still plenty of uses for petrol. Plastic and synthetic materials¡ªdespite the trouble it caused them in Terran¡ªhad a lot of great uses which they could not discount because they feared the troubles brought about by its overuse. The material could be used as electrical insulators, casings, packing materials, storage, and so on. It also had too many uses for medical tools like syringes, IV bags, surgical instruments, and the like. They were light-weight, durable, and long-lasting. Eventually, they''d be extremely cost-effective. They were also hygienic, safe, water-resistant, and so on. It could also be used to make bitumen roads which was far more sound absorbent than concrete¡ªwhich would be useful outside the walls¡ªand was recyclable. Of course, learning from their old world, they would not allow plastics and its derivatives to be commercially available until they figured out how to make it more sustainable. In any case, it was a really good deal for both parties, and it was finalized almost as soon as it was proposed. Of course, the actual implementation did pose challenges. Dune Town was a long way from Alterra¡ªmore than 15,000 kilometers away, deep in the desert. Even by Beast Car, the travel was several weeks of nonstop travel. However, this was where the magic of the Mercenary Halls came in. With it, as long as they were proper mercenaries, they could reduce their travel time by a huge amount. A limitation of mercenary hall arrays, other than the fact that only mercenary teams could use it, was that the distances and number of people to be transferred also depended on the Class. For reference, a mercenary could only use the array once a day at most, and each mercenary team had a travel cap of 10% of that class'' maximum number of members. For instance, Class E mercenary teams could have a maximum number of 100 members, and each day only 10 people could travel via the array. As for the distance limit, they could get teleported up to 1000 kilometers, which was already pretty good if one was only going around the region. For instance, Ferrol was well within this distance at only a few hundred kilometers away. In the future, teams could go through and fro via the arrays if they had to. On the other hand, Class D teams could travel more than twice at a distance of 5,000 kilometer radius. Class C Mercenary Teams could travel 10,000 km which covered most of the way. The Sands Mercenary Team, Dune Town''s top Mercenary Team, happened to have landed at Class C a few years back. With this, they could use the Mercenary Hall to teleport to a Level 2 Town, and once again the next day, effectively reducing their travel time by half. They would have to go back on foot, however, considering the items they had to buy from Alterra would not fit in their spaces. The first batch of trade had been completed a month ago and they heard touching news and good reviews. Anyway, another caravan was heading to Alterra, set to arrive that day. The Dune Town caravan passed by Ferrol late the previous night and they didn''t stop to rest, so they were set to arrive before noon of today. Sahara was very excited because apparently her mother was in this caravan, hoping to see her child. Eight to nine months was a perfectly normal gestation period for local women. Sahara had gotten pregnant more than 2 months after they transferred and she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl a few weeks ago. In consideration of the caravan arriving soon, Helios took leave from guard duty to accompany her to wait for her people. The ''alert boy'' knocked at their door about an hour before noon. "They''re here!" he said, holding hand-written sign saying so. This was Percy, Jake''s young cousin. He was still a little spoiled, but Jake did a good job making him understand he had to depend on himself to survive. So now, during his free period, he took on a job which would be able to fund his food trip later that day. He liked this job because it was flexible. He could do it when he felt like it, and there was no consequence if he decided to be lazy. He also had a good eye for clients who''d pay well and tip, so he was actually quite efficient. Helios and Sahara smiled, immediately heading out after paying the teen for his service. They got into Helios'' bike, with Sahara entering the side car with their baby. Production of bikes had greatly improved in the past few months and there was now a specialized bike store where people could buy their own bikes. It was still on the more expensive side however, so most people who had one could afford by paying downpayments and taking smaller loans. Helios did own this bike though. He and Sahara received a lot of contribution points for brokering a good deal with a town! Anyway, they rushed to the entrance plaza to greet the caravan. They arrived to see them unloading from the beast carts. These beast carts were rented in Ferrol Town. After all, they arrived via Mercenary Team array and therefore could not bring beast carts with them. A middle-aged woman emerged from one of the rear carriages, guided down by two similarly-aged women in uniforms. They were looking around the new place in fascination, unaware there was someone whose sights had fixed on them. It wasn''t that they hadn''t exchanged letters, but there were just so many things that could not be expressed properly in letters. Not to mention, she just¡­ missed her mother''s voice and her warmth. Her feet moved closer to the carriages, some memories passing by her mind. Specifically, she remembered her mother''s last words to her before they parted. They believed that she¡ªforced by circumstance¡ªtook on responsibility for burdens she had no business carrying. That, due to their weaknesses, they had no choice but to let her go. Her parents'' hearts broke for her, thinking she should just be living a carefree life under their care. Unfortunately, fate had other plans, and they had to succumb. "My kind daughter¡­ I wish you didn''t have to do this. I feel so sorry that you are put in a position where you think you have to. "Someday¡ªsomeday, I believe things will change. The heavens will see your kind heart and give you the happiness you deserve." Carrying her daughter in her arms, Sahara''s steps hastened towards the caravan. She burst into tears as soon as they were close enough¡ªknowing there was a lot to tell. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Things had changed, indeed, and it was all for the better. Chapter 1083 Sienna and Sahara Sienna looked at the village in surprise. Her expectations of this place were not low¡ªafter all, her daughter sent her letters about her experience¡ªbut seeing it for herself was an entirely new experience. However, she was not able to appreciate it further because she heard the voice she longed to hear, and all her attention was pulled towards it. "Mother!!" The voice yelled. Sienna''s eyes went wide and she turned to the direction of the voice. Her eyes lined with tears as she watched her precious child run to her. "My daughter!" she yelled, voice cracking. The two almost embraced, but Sahara stepped back all of a sudden. This confused Sienna a little until Sahara let out a smile. "Ah, mother, the baby¡­" Sienna blinked and looked at the bundle in Sahara''s arms. She shook a bit and leaned forward, gently pulling at the fabric that covered it. As soon as she did so, a beautiful baby girl with beautiful wheat-colored skin entered her sight and clenched her heart. The child seemed to be half-alseep, slowly opening her eyes as she felt the movement. Beautiful blue eyes met Sienna''s, and the old woman immediately burst into sobs. "Oh, little baby¡­" she cried, naturally taking the bundle into her arms, almost forgetting the daughter she was just running towards a few moments earlier. Helios chuckled as he placed his arm around his wife''s shoulder. He leaned down, teasingly rubbing his face on her hair. "Well, don''t be sad, I can give you all the attention in the world." Sahara blushed, gently pinching his abs, not that she managed to get a lot of skin. It was around this time that a handsome and tall man approached them. He had dark skin and dark hair, making him look intimidating. He approached with a serious expression on his face, and Helios couldn''t help but feel a little alarmed. When Sahara flinched and brightened at the sight of the man, Helios felt even more so. "Khalil?" she asked, immediately approaching. "You''re here!" The dark-skinned man''s eyes softened a bit and nodded. "Hmn, I was tasked to lead the protection team for this batch," he said, ebony eyes staying on her face for longer than proper. "It''s been a while. Time looks good on you." Sahara smiled and Helios felt a little annoyed. He immediately stepped forward, grabbing his wife''s soft shoulders again. "Ahem." Sahara blinked and looked at him. She was a bit confused at first until she realized she hadn''t introduced them yet. "This is Khalil," she said. "He''s one of the team captains in the Sands Mercenary Team. He is also an old friend of mine and my brother''s¡ªhe''s also a brother to me." Helios looked at his wife''s face and saw she was being completely honest. His shoulders slumped in relief, before turning to the other man with a meaningful expression on his face. "I see¡­ hello, brother." "Hmn." Sahara was blissfully unaware of the tension between the two men. She would remain as such because her mother finally remembered her daughter. She once again moved away from Helios and went to her mother, and they cooed on the baby together. "She looked just like you when you were a baby," Sienna said, still sniffling from joy. Sahara smiled, wiping her face with a clean cloth. "Was the trip difficult?" Sienna shook her head. "We used the arrays," she said, making Sahara relieved. Fortunately, the entire leading family was honorary members of the Sands Mercenary Team, so they could also use the arrays in the Mercenary Hall as needed. They just had to coordinate with Ferrol and another town about putting out missions for them. She would feel very bad if she made her mother go through such a long trip on her own! Anyway, seeing the mother-and-daughter would be busy catching up, Helios led the team to their destination¡ªthe industrial areas. Although Helios and Khalil obviously disliked each other, they knew when to act professionally, so the exchange began without issues. Sahara took her mother to their home, getting a broat-cab to bring them directly to their house. She and Helios, with their shared money and contribution points, managed to get a nice 2-bedroom unit in one of the mid-rise buildings. Sienna was intimidated when she found out they were in the highest floor, and then gaped when they reached the elevator. "Amazing¡­" she said. "Your letters didn''t give this place justice." Sahara smiled. "No words can, Mother." They both agreed. ¡­ They settled in the room a couple of minutes later, with Sienna still refusing to let go of the soft bundle that was her granddaughter. She also admired the house, which was decorated simply but cozily. It was said that a house''s interiors can say a lot about a family, and Sienna could tell her daughter was living a comfortable, happy, life. She couldn''t ask for more. Anyway, the mother-and-daughter chatted for the next few hours, catching up with everything that had happened since they parted, regardless of whether they had mentioned them in letters. Letters could only express so much, after all. "Helia¡­ it''s a beautiful name," Sienna said, gently touching the baby''s soft cheek. Sahara mentioned the baby''s name in her letter, though it was only now that she had some opinions about it. "But isn''t your husband''s name Helios? That''s a bit on-the-nose is it?" Sahara laughed. "Helia is his mother''s name," she said. "It also means Sun in their language. I thought it''s apt¡­ seeing how bright my baby is." Sienna looked down at the baby in her arms, so precious and so cute, melting hearts everywhere. "Yes, fitting indeed." sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The topics they touched, for now, were all light and breezy. It wasn''t difficult¡ªfor a change, they really had so many good things to discuss. They couldn''t help but remember the last time they talked face to face. Their Town was in dire straits at the time, and they were on the verge of hopelessness. Now, just a couple of months later, they could talk about banal things like what they ate for breakfast without feeling heavy in their hearts. It was those little moments they appreciate the most, because they couldn''t even have those back then. Chapter 1084 Dune Towns Past "Speaking of babies. Your brother is recovering well," Sienna said with a smile, making Sahara giggle in response. Her brother, Sinnan, was a big man nearing his 50s. However, he had been her parents'' only child for almost two decades and her mother had treated him as her only baby until she was born. They didn''t expect her to come to the world at all. They called her the ''surprise blessing''. Anyway, this was why her mother always called him baby when at home¡ªto his chagrin, of course. Even after he had created his own family, they would still call him baby. As a little kid, she used to laugh at it a lot. She remembered him ruffling her hair to punish her, and she would glare at him to stop, which ended up making the entire family laugh. Sinnan was also quite strong¡ªa rare metal elementalist¡ªand had carried the defense of the territory for as long as she could remember. Despite her laughing at him, she really thought he was the strongest in the world. With him on the front line, the town managed to defend against beasts, humans, and the undead. They still had a lot of losses, but everyone knew¡ªshe overheard adults talking¡ªthat it''d be much, much, more difficult if he wasn''t there. Her father was also a fighter, but he could not compare to Sinnan in terms of talent. She remembered her father always smiling, saying he could rest assured. However, ten years ago, tragedy struck. At first, she didn''t know the details because she was too young and was hidden in the bunker, but what kid wouldn''t be curious about events that completely turned her family over? Her mother told her the story once after she was old enough¡ªafter asking repeatedly¡ªand she remembered crying for three days straight. At that time, their Town was attacked by a horde of Undead people¡ªnumbering hundreds. It was the biggest they had encountered since those monsters were pushed back to their own region, and it was an attack that almost cost them the territory. They lost a lot of people that day, including her sister-in-law. The monsters entered deep into the territory and managed to bite many people, making them fall into the ground and suffer painful deaths. They almost lost her one-year-old nephew too, but sister-in-law hid him in one of the wooden chests there, fighting off the damned things with all her might. She succumbed to them in the end. Stepping over her corpse, those critters started hunting for the remaining life there. The monsters had a strong instinct of where life was and they surrounded the chest, pounding on it, all while the baby cried. They were not weak, either, and they eventually made dents on the wooden box''s surface. Sinna arrived after securing the gates, finding out too late that his own neighborhood had already been decimated. Sinnan did not have the time to mourn for his wife who lay unmoving on the ground, rushing to where he heard the cries of his son. Unfortunately, while desperately trying to protect the child, Sinnan was bitten by an undead. He was quick to act and cut off his arm immediately, saving his life. Even with bleeding arms, he valiantly took care of the remaining Undead¡ªgoing well beyond his limit. They later found out that a portion of the tall mountains had slightly eroded due to weathering and an earthquake, allowing more Undead to pass through. Dune Town was not the only place that got attacked, and there were at least 2 villages that fell because of it. This news sent an alarm to the region and all territories sent forces on missions to reseal it. Earth users, some of their own while most were hired via the Mercenary Hall, were deployed to hasten the rebuilding. That mission took a lot of lives, reducing their forces even more. Worse, Sinnan grew ill since then. He had grown incredibly pale, his skin blistering a bit, and had lost a lot of strength. A lot of people feared he''d become an undead at some point. He never did, and it had been a decade since then. Sinnan never recovered his strength either, reduced to a fraction of what it used to be. Including their losses from the previous mob, the territory struggled to keep afloat for years after that. They had always struggled, and the fact that their people were hungry¡ªtoo hungry to deal with the threats¡ªhad caused them to lose more and more people as time went on. Some also abandoned the Town, moving to nearby territories with better resources. They were not too deep into the desert anyway, and there were decent places a few days'' walk away. For years they were stagnant like that, and the life of the territory was definitely draining, no matter how hard they tried to delay it. However, after the deal with Alterra, they found hope. For the first time, they saw their farms so full of life¡ªthey were so lush, and they knew people would be able to set aside extra food for stockpile. They also had thrice the amount of water they used to have. They were still mindful, but because they were used to using so little, the amount they could collect now could drown them by comparison. "You should come by and visit," Sienna said. "It''d be good to see the changes¡ªthe changes you took a huge part in making." Sahara''s face softened and her cheeks flushed a bit. Who wouldn''t be happy to contribute to their home like this? Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a little yawn in the room, and they saw the little baby''s eyes¡ªwhich had been wide with curiosity a couple of moments later¡ªwere now showing signs of lethargy. The two broke into smiles. Sahara stood up. "You should take a rest, mother," she said, going towards one of the doors. "This is your room." They had already arranged her room since they knew she was coming. They had another bedroom which was only used as storage before. Their baby was still so young, after all, so there was no need for it. Now, they could use it as a guest room for their mother. They bought a double-deck bed from Baron, too, so this way at least one of her maids could come in and be with her. What was curious to Sahara though, was that her mother brought two chests worth of items¡ªmostly comprised of her daily necessities. Typically, even if she planned on staying for months, one chest was enough. They were never the type to wear a different dress each day. Back home, even nobles didn''t even wash their dresses every day due to their lack of water! So two chests on top of the items in their space was quite out-of-character for her mother. "What''s in your space, mother?" sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "My space is full¡­" "What do you have in there?" At this, Sienna couldn''t help but feel a bit awkward. "Actually, I am here for another purpose," she said. "You see¡­ we were attacked again by an Undead horde¡ªa small one¡ªnot long before I left." "What?" "It''s fine, it''s just a few and they were handled even before they reached the walls," she said. "But then we remembered what you said in your letter¡ªhow this place had the collection of the brightest minds, and how it felt like they could figure anything out¡­" Sienna didn''t know how to explain anymore. She just asked Sahara to place the baby back in the room and close the door, before taking out the contents of her space. It was a box that fit snugly in the space. The older woman then opened it up, and Sahara almost vomited. Inside¡­ was the curled body of an Undead. "..." Chapter 1085 Undead Corpse "Mother¡­ what is this doing in your space?" She asked. It must''ve been the so-called ''pregnancy brain'' she kept hearing about. Her mind was muddled; she couldn''t think why her gentle-natured mother would have the corpse of a monster in her space! Sienna looked at her in understanding. Even she was surprised when the thought came to mind. "It''s just a thought I got after finding out more about Alterra. "I just saw the amazing things they brought to us¡ªthings that fixed things that had been plaguing us for generations. "Whether it was our food problem or our water problem¡ªwith their products, we can rest assured the next generations would not suffer as we did." She sighed, looking at the dead creature in front of them. She remembered that it was her husband who took this particular undead down. However, it was not an easy fight. He defeated it after a lot of close scrapes¡ªeach one almost making her faint. It was then that she had the inspiration. "I started to wonder¡­ what if¡ªmaybe¡ªthey could fix this problem, too?" This made Sahara pause in thought. In the end, she wondered why she didn''t consider it herself. It seemed like she still had a lot to learn. It was around this time that the door opened, revealing Helios¡ªwho had just been excited to be home to his family after an annoying business trip with a potential rival. However, his feet paused by the threshold and his eyes fixed on the floor of their living area. By instinct, he thought it was something he was not supposed to see, so he closed the door and headed back out again. Let the mother and daughter bond, he mused. It must be a cultural thing. ¡ªA few minutes later¡ª The body was put back in Sienna''s space and so was the man-of-the-house. The smell stayed though and Sahara had to open up the window to freshen up the place again. "So¡­ that was an Undead Corpse," Helios mumbled, looking at the place where the corpse had been. As soon as he left, Sahara went out to get him, explaining the situation to him. Apparently, it wasn''t some Dune Town ritual he didn''t know about¡ªwhich was such a relief. Not that he''d like Sahara less, of course. Rather, he really disliked the smell of rotting corpses. Anyway, he already knew a bit about the Undead even while he was investigating her location. And, thinking about it, it really made sense that they''d come to Alterra for this. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Undead Corpse," he repeated, thinking about the name. "Isn''t that redundant?" He was no language major, but he was pretty sure that wasn''t grammatically correct. Sahara and Sienna thought about it for a while before shaking their heads. "They''re not fully humans but they''re¡ªin a twisted sense¡ªstill alive," Sienna said. "I''ve been in close contact with them many times since I was young. It feels like they still had their heartbeats, their own instincts, and so on. "It was like they were once normal humans, but had become like this at some point." Helios nodded. "We had a similar case back home," he said, making the other two turn to him. "But it''s different. Those are really corpses walking around. Worse: If you get bitten by one, you''d turn to one of them." The two women paled, terrified. "What?" "They''re not here, don''t worry," he said. "Those were, fortunately, left behind in our planet¡ªwhich was probably already destroyed." The women''s shoulders slumped in relief. They couldn''t imagine it¡ªgetting killed by contact was already scary, but becoming one of them and even potentially doing the same to their own loved ones was a different level of terrifying. In any case, they decided to get rid of the corpse and get the task over with that day. Anyway, Sienna said she wouldn''t rest well until she had submitted it. They called one of Sienna''s personal maids to take care of the baby and they headed their way. And so, in Helios'' passenger bike, the trio went straight to the Research Center with unknown expectations. They arrived some minutes later, with Sienna gaping at the large building and then at the impressive lobby. Sahara, who had been here before while they were finalizing the deals, also felt impressed as if it was her first time there. The building just emitted a sense of wisdom and grandeur¡ªwhich was fitting because whatever happened inside its walls could very much affect the entire region, if not the world. Helios went to the concierge and explained their purpose. They were then led to one of the basement rooms, which were delegated to more¡­ unsavory experiments. Not human or animal experiments, thankfully, but more on research on bombs and fertilizers, so these rooms had their own ventilation systems. The study of corpses should definitely be done here. The scientist leading this team was Medussa, a middle-aged woman with thick glasses and extremely frizzy hair. She was an obsessive woman they "captured" because of the goblins. She was actually a long-time citizen of Alterra, all the way back to before the protection period ended, which was why she survived despite still having a low level. It was just that she used to gather resources as a way of living. When the Research Center opened up hiring notices, she didn''t pass because she couldn''t express herself well and couldn''t even tell what she was good at. She was passed over because of this. This was a pity. She was not a green-tagged professional, but her obsessiveness¡ªwhich they''d see first hand soon enough¡ªcertainly made up for it. They caught up to her because of a report that someone was harassing the goblins. Apparently, there was a human who was following behind them, poking them, trying to check their flexibility and what-not. The harassment rule was only applicable when the ''victim'' reported it or expressed discontent¡ªafter all, implementing it automatically was likely to cause a lot of trouble and misunderstandings. Their prisons were only so big. They couldn''t put every pair of feuding neighbors in there! When the rule was new, they had people getting several yellow cards for the little things. One time, a house owner even got teleported to prison after repeatedly barraging a neighbor with insults for partying too much! And so¡­, reporting was the way to go in the end. However, this was not something that the introverted goblins¡ªwho had been servile their whole lives¡ªcould do by default. The goblins were either scared of humans due to past experiences or were respectful of them, particularly if they were Alterran. For this person, they were both. The goblins were helpless, not knowing what to do, so it was actually others who ended up reporting the ''crime''. The puzzled middle-aged woman was then captured and was about to get hauled to the manual prison. By lovely coincidence, Rosalind happened to be nearby when she was being captured. She was having a field trip with some students, explaining the role of prisons and what to do to never become a prisoner. The moment Rosalind''s eyes landed on her, she saw some signs of a different mental state. She paused the incarceration (Elders had this power) and called Juliet for an assessment. They found out the woman was a high-functioning autistic, but with great disability with regards to her social skills. It was like the part of her brain that had to do with other people didn''t develop past the infantile level. However, in terms of IQ, she was extremely smart¡ªa genius, even. However, it seemed that the other disability discounted this fact, so her name was not tagged green. When she found out about it, Althea got very curious: How many more people did the System miss out on? Chapter 1086 More on Undead Anyway, Medussa was then assigned to this department, experimenting to her heart''s content (within ethical standards, of course). A new creature was definitely right up her alley. "Fascinating¡­" she said, gesturing to poke at the corpse. Sienna quickly stopped her. "Be careful," she said, realizing a lot of these people would be working on the corpse for a long time. It didn''t matter before because they would often bury them deep under the sand, but it was different if it was in such an enclosed space. "Even being too near an undead could cause you to get sick," she said, saying of some cases they had before wherein everyone was so weak they didn''t have the time or energy to clean up the corpses. Suffice to say, things got worse. "Place it in your space as much as you can," Sienna said, very concerned. What if people here got sick? Not to mention her guilt, but it could add strain to the territories'' relationship! However, the scientist didn''t seem to mind much. "Oh?" Medussa blinked before grinning widely. "Even more fascinating¡­" "..." Anyway, they could only watch as the woman hovered around the corpse, completely unbothered by its smell. This was much more than what Helios was doing, considering he was already at the farthest corner of the room right now. Althea arrived about half an hour later, with Medussa already making a preliminary report and requests for tests. The frizzy-haired woman left after greeting Althea, though she ignored everyone else. No one took it personally, of course. Besides, the leading scientist being so excited was a good thing for them. Anyway, Sahara and the others walked over to greet Althea respectfully, and she did the same. "Welcome to Alterra," she said with a smile. "And thank you for this new specimen." "No, we should be thanking you for being open to it," she said. "Can you tell me exactly what results you hope to achieve?" The study of a new species was very broad. It''d help to focus on certain aspects if they wanted to see some effects as soon as possible. At this, Sienna''s shoulders slumped, and so did Sahara''s. "My son¡­ was bit by one during a battle. He fortunately cut his arm in time before the poison spread, but it made him sick. "He had been ill since he was bitten," she said. "It''s been 10 years since then and there are no signs of improvement." "He was always pale and vomiting¡ªwhich was incredibly dangerous for a place like ours, where food and water was scarce¡ªand his strength was reduced by a lot," she said. "He is a metal elementalist, but now he could barely produce a single spike a day." "I worry so much because he always went out to fight enemies, regardless of his state," she said. "I worry that someday he''d get killed." Althea looked at them. "So you hope for us to find a cure." They nodded. "If possible." "We will do our best," she said, not promising anything, though she''d definitely get her people to do what they could. "If it''s possible, can you send him here in the next caravan?" Sienna blinked. "Well¡­ I''ll try to convince him," she said. That man had not stepped outside Dune Town since that incident. He was afraid that the moment he stepped out, the enemies would come spiraling down on them. Even if he wasn''t as strong as he used to be, he was still a force¡ªlet alone the fact he was the person usually in the commanding position. Although their fights had been increasingly difficult, they were not yet hopeless. Without Sinnan there¡­ it might as well be. Althea understood her worries. "Well, let him come when the territory''s stable enough," she said. "Otherwise, it''d be difficult for us to do anything about his disease." "I understand." "In the meantime, you let us have this specimen to work on," she said. "It''d definitely take a while, so you can prepare your town before then." With this thought, she walked over to take a closer look at the creature. Although she knew of its existence, she honestly didn''t think she''d encounter one personally¡ªat least not so soon. In terms of appearance, it was quite different from their own zombies. These ''zombies'' were all bald, their skin was mottled and patchy, and they had a slightly burnt smell on top of the disgusting rotting smell. They arrived at least a hundred years ago, yet the corpses were still mostly intact. The zombies in Terran actually smelled even worse. Of course, this one''s stench still caused some headaches. At this, she walked over to the ventilation control system and changed the settings. She also took note of sending an ice coffin here later on. That said, she was really intrigued by what was keeping these creatures together, and perhaps where they came from¡ªwhat caused them to be this way? The Terran zombies weren''t transferred here for a reason. It was not that the system decided to choose humans in particular¡ªrather, they chose ''survivors''. That was to say: Every creature still alive. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Didn''t that mean these Undead were, too? "There''s still a lot of creatures we will encounter," she mumbled, mostly to herself. "It''d be better if we could get a live one to study." "..." They were already scared of showing the corpse, but it seemed they wanted a live one? However, Sienna did not mind doing anything as long as it could help her son. "Should we¡ª" Should we get a live one? Althea shook her head. "I''m afraid something will happen during transpo," she said. "After taking a look at the corpse, I''ll ask the research center if they need to go there to study the critters themselves." This made Sienna and Sahara flinch. "Wouldn''t that be dangerous?" Few people were willing to get out of the safety and comfort of a good territory¡ªlet alone if it was for the sake of other people! Looking at their cynicism, Althea smiled. "We''re living a good life here," she said. "Some people find meaning in learning something new. Maybe your home would be the source of that." Chapter 1087 Interesting Findings A/N: First of 5 chapters today! Thank you for your support, Alterrans!! *dances* .... ____ The four of them went up to the cafe on the upper podium floor to discuss the details of the agreement. The podium floor had an alfresco dining area on its deck, which gave a nice view of the village. They sat there with their orders (tea and snacks) and enjoyed the nice breeze at that height, listening to the rustles of leaves of the potted plants and the distant sound of activities on the ground level. "Medussa''s already checking the blood and skin samples now," she said, sipping her nice lavender and chamomile tea mix. "I told the testing team to prioritize it so we should get a preliminary analysis within an hour or two." "So quick?" "Yes," she said. "Of course, we can''t say how useful the findings would be." Their massive computers and equipment had advanced in the past couple of months. It was nothing compared to Terran technology a hundred years ago, but it was still miles ahead from what they had here¡ªat least in terms of scientific achievements. There were already two Tori copies in their lab, though their size was as big as a small room. One of the next projects was to create handheld versions like her Tori, but they still lacked the metals and minerals needed to do so. In any case, even if they did find the composition of the body, it was no guarantee they''d be able to do anything about it. According to the information, the Undead were Foreigners like they were, and they could very much have completely different makeup from what they knew. However, Medussa''s arrival an hour later proved otherwise. "Want to go," Medussa said as soon as she returned from her tests. The others were confused but Althea, who had been working with her for the past few months, had an idea what she was talking about. "You mean where those Undead are?" The woman nodded. "What did you find out?" "Radiation," she said, with a very smooth tone. Obviously, the subject was quite close to her heart. "What?" "A lot of radiation," Medussa repeated. "Like¡­ alpha radiation, but denser." This confused the aborigines very much. "What is radiation?" Althea thought for a moment to explain it in layman''s terms. "Think of it as poisonous air¡ªjust being near it could get you poisoned." "What?!" Sienna gasped, feeling cold at what was in her space. While they knew long-term exposure wasn''t good, they didn''t know it was that bad! They were all pale. Did that mean they exposed the baby, too? "I don''t think it travels so far," Althea said. As someone who felt the surrounding elements by habit, she didn''t feel anomalies in the room, only on the corpse. Besides, Medussa said it was similar to Alpha radiation which was the heavier type, and it wasn''t a surprise it didn''t spread out too much. On the contrary, it seemed like it didn''t spread at all. It was like the radiation was stuck on the Undead''s bodies as if it had integrated into them. To compare, it was as if their specific body type had a special gravity to the phenomenon. In which case¡­ the deaths by biting, could be an intense and concentrated case of radiation poisoning. So¡­ Sienna''s son should have it. Fortunately, it seemed to be a minor case considering he was still alive after 10 years. It could also be that his body as an elementalist was fighting the disease, and it could also be that his own improved physique (Sinnan was apparently a powerhouse at Level 39) was holding back its development. There were too many variables and there was no way to know unless they got him personally in the Hospital. In any case, by this time, his body should''ve been weakened considerably due to something like cancer or whatever equivalent they had here. If he hadn''t shown any signs of improvement at all after so many years¡ªthen it was likely getting worse, and delaying any more wouldn''t serve anyone good. "Please bring your son here as soon as possible." "What?" "We may have a lead on how to treat him, but he has to be here." This caused the two women to stand up in shock, looking at her with wide eyes. "Truly?" "No guarantees, but¡ªthanks to the findings¡ªwe do have a lead," she said. Sienna nodded. "I will immediately send someone back by array," she said. Though there was a limitation of traveling via mercenary array once a day, if someone left Alterra now and reached Ferrol, they''d still need to contact the other towns via the Post Office to set up missions. By the time the mission was set up, the limitation should''ve been reset and ready to be used. They should have her son here within the week¡ª hopefully in the next few days. With this, the family excused themselves to go to work. Their movements were light and swift, excited to finally have hope in what had been such a hopeless case. Althea watched as everyone mobilized, with Medussa patiently standing next to her though her eyes were eagerly as she waited for her decision. At this time, Althea was summarizing what she knew about the creature in her head. They seemed to have arrived as a ''civilization'' of sorts hundreds of years ago. They came in the millions or more, and had once caused chaos in a massive region in the desert and beyond it. Unlike their zombies¡ªwho were completely dead¡ªthis undead still counted as living creatures somehow. It was sad when one thought about it. If there was still some sentience in their heads, then how much suffering were they going through at this time? They must''ve been alive for a long time, too. She could surmise that their old world (and their bodies) must''ve been destroyed by extreme radiation. Whether it was a nuclear war or something related to space, they''d never know. They also had to be wary of diseases that could come with it, so she''d have to set up another isolated lab for that body. The scientists had to be equipped well before handling the corpse again. For now, there should be no dangers¡ªotherwise, Dune Town and the rest of them should''ve been plagued by various diseases by this time. However, it wouldn''t hurt to be safe. Maybe they''d even get some interesting findings they could use elsewhere. It wasn''t the first time it had happened. Anyway, she looked at Medussa, who had been waiting for her verdict. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "For now, focus on studying the corpse and its potential dangers," she said. "I''ll allow you to travel once we know more about it." Medussa looked disappointed but nodded obediently in the end. Althea smiled. Although this woman was more than a decade older than she was, she was emotionally still a child. Althea patted the woman''s shoulder. "We need you here more," she said. "You can go adventuring later when we''re sure you''ll be safe." "Besides, don''t you want to meet that guy with radiation poisoning?" she asked. "This could be the first¡ªif not the only¡ªcase of cancer you''d see here." At this, Medussa''s disappointment disappeared and she nodded energetically. "Very interesting, indeed!" Chapter 1088 The Satellites Before Upgrade While Alterra was at its final phases of preparation (and even beginning to consider scientific explorations), the other territories were not idle either. The Satellites were doing particularly well, thanks to its close connection to Alterra and the magical warehouses. This was especially true for Limestone Valley. As the satellite with predominantly Terran citizens, its culture, infrastructure, and the like were closest to Alterra. In the past few months, there has been an explosion of shops, development, and so on. For people who couldn''t move to Alterra, most of them ended up settling in Limestone Valley instead. It was also in a great middle ground between aborigine villages and Terran villages. It was the Terran territory that had the most visits from aborigines next to Alterra and Iron Mountains (which was surrounded by aborigine villages). Anyway, the tourism and trade industry was also doing extremely well and the economy was booming. They had their own banking system now, too, which only served the territory. Not to mention, Althea only received the entry fees, resident fees, and taxes (the system sent it to her automatically) while the rest of the profit the territory generated circulated in itself, allowing it to develop the fastest among the associate villages. Using this money, the roads were widened and trees were added on islands. A lot of manual buildings were created, all of which were commercial. The tunnels were also expanded and reinforced to add safety. They also had their own hospital, using another blueprint created by Oslo. The leader assigned here was not Vanessa, but Raffy, the masculine nurse who opted to stay there instead of going with Volohov and the others. There were quite a number of conflicts involved in this, but Henry was steadfast in his decision and so far Raffy was doing a great job considering everything. Their military was also showing great promise. A lot of people had awakened their elements and a lot of them chose to be guards thanks to the various benefits (housing, canteen use) the territory gave to them. A lot of the current guards had also experienced Fargo''s reign of terror back then too, and were determined to be the direct opposite of the culture he encouraged. Therefore, the guards here were quite nice and understanding, at least compared to the usual arrogant attitude of guards in aborigine territories. Over all, next to Alterra, Limestone Valley was the one developing the most. Henry and Victor were doing a great job in overseeing the place, though the latter was only in the territory half the time because he was always in Alterra to visit his wife, who was very pregnant. Of course, it was not all sunshine and butterflies even in Alterra, let alone Limestone Valley. There were still a lot of conflicts and tensions they had to fix, especially with the arrival of hundreds of aborigine visitors. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Henry also received some reports of suspicious aborigines lounging about. Everyone had been warned before and knew to watch out, especially after what they got from Inko Village. Of course, they couldn''t just imprison people because of suspicion, which could get really stressful at times. Limestone Valley was like this, more so was Iron Mountains? Iron Valley, after the war the previous month, had not been attacked again. However, it was still the one with the most tension. After all, it had a predominantly aborigine population and was located smack in the middle of an aborigine region. Fortunately, the injection of more than a thousand Terrans had slowly begun to change the landscape. For one, the widened avenue was now filled with Alterran shops. Tofu, the pioneer, had hired very good cooks among these Terran migrants. He was self-aware and knew there were countless better cooks than him. His skill was more on business, shamelessness, and overall exhibition of his thick face. Anyway, he was still among the richest Alterrans in Iron Valley, so he was able to give good salaries and got great talents. It didn''t matter if new restaurants popped up to compete with him, he had already carved himself a good spot in the market. It had also created a lovely subculture there, too, which slowly leaked to the aborigine neighborhoods. The integration was further improved by various programs and festivals designed to melsh the two races together. Of course, it was never so smooth. After all, many of the aborigines were just bitter and arrogant and were difficult to interact with. However, with time, they soon became the minority and most had no choice but to adapt as well. The Alterrans would befriend more and more local aborigines and eventually those aborigines would be the ones pushing their brethren to interact well. After all, they were really enjoying their current territory! What if it went back to how it was before if they kept pushing these people away?! Overall, every territory associated with Alterra was doing well¡­ and this was also subject to a lot of greedy hearts just waiting for their chance to strike. A number of spies lurked around, some were captured, while some were not. It was safe to assume they''d never get every one of them either and just prepare for whatever could come. The ill-intentioned aborigines were¡ªfortunately¡ªthe minority though. Most of the aborigines there were aiming to get a better life for themselves. They had seen how the Terrans were living, what their standards were, and they wanted that too! If they stayed and served the village well, then they could very much receive it too! It was the same with the migrants from the nearby villages. Guia was always well-known in the area, but when they heard about the changes they couldn''t help but want to take a look, too. They did, and now they didn''t want to leave. Sadly earning contribution points had become much more difficult now. So¡­ they worked harder than the Terrans when it came to clearing out beast mobs! Monster mobs were really not a problem now, and the only threat Iron Mountains had to face was fellow humans (which was kind of sad in a way, too). It was just that they worked so hard that the Terran locals started to complain that they were taking too much of their kills! When the aborigines heard of this, they were flabbergasted. Instead of being thanked and admired for their hard work, were they irking the locals instead?! Chapter 1089 Changes in the Gaea Team Of course, some of the biggest changes during the past months were in the family, who was having a massive dinner in the garden this time. The special occasion was Sheila''s birthday, and she was with her family as well. Her father and brother had adjusted well after they moved in. Sheila supported them for about a month or two, giving them a place to live and an allowance to live off of. However, afraid they''d turn to parasites, everyone including Althea warned her to give only the bare minimum. It could be a bit out of line, but they did it for Sheila''s sake. She understood it though. She did have a tendency to be a pushover so it was normal for them to be worried for her. Sheila did help her father find a job and her brother to enroll in school, giving them a good foundation to build their future on, which was already very kind. Her father was actually a good worker and started making good money after a promotion, while her brother was going to high school and was doing well in most subjects. After school, he was also making a bit of extra money gathering resources for the territory. Eventually, after a couple of months, the duo managed to earn enough (with Sheila''s help) to get a downpayment for a small studio unit. They just had to place a double-decker bed there, and it was already more than enough for them. To be honest, Althea had been worried for her family, fearing that they would be leeches like Amos'' family. Fortunately, they were just a bit overbearing but had good hearts. Althea could tell that her father had been a helicopter parent, but was not the kind to use his children as retirement plans. At the very least, he wasn''t like Amos'' family or Winona''s grandmother, who expected the younger generation to unconditionally support them and do whatever they ordered regardless of anything. It also helped, of course, that they once witnessed her axe a monster down while she was training with her husband. Anyway, at this time, they set the party up in the gardens because there were many attendees. They had four very pregnant women in the table, too¡ªSheila, Cassandra, Melissa, and Winona¡ªand they were all sitting together like the best of friends. Cassandra, Melissa, and Winona were already in their last trimester, while Sheila was in her first. They found out about her pregnancy more than a month prior, so they decided to make a grander-than-planned party to serve as a double celebration. The pregnant women had gotten very close in the past few weeks of bonding. They all had different mood swings and quirks, but having someone relate on a deep level was definitely helping them cope with all the stress that came with pregnancy. Anyway, it was all nice to watch them bond over this. Their husbands, especially, were thankful for the support group to deal with issues they could not understand no matter how much they tried. It also helped with their relationships too, because after bonding with the other girls, they''d be bright and happy when they got back home. The husbands would also get some clues from the other women about what their wives wanted and needed, allowing them to serve them well during this period. Sometimes, the women would even reward them by initiating sexy time. Happy wife, happy life indeed. Anyway, the women''s topics shifted from gossiping about the yoga instructor (pregnancy yoga classes appeared in the territory now), couples who broke up (and why), which neighbor challenged which neighbor (to a spar), and¡ªof course¡ªsome of the popular characters in the territory. Being well-known had some perks, but it also came with endless gossip. It just came with the territory. "Did you know?" Cassandra said as she took a bite of her meat. "Some of Oslo and Gochi''s fangirls and fanboys seemed to have formed an alliance of sorts." "Oh?" "Interesting." Although not common, a few groups of fangirls (and fanboys) could get so passionate that they''d start fan wars. At some point, it felt like an inevitable progression as the entertainment industry began to flourish. For the most part, it was just the formation of cliques and the mass purchase of merchandise (to one-up the other group). However, some war freak people even took it to another level by challenging ''enemies'' in the casinos or even in the sparring rings. It was like whoever won had greater ''love''. It could get really bad (in a funny way), and some people were forced to take one side over the other: Either love Oslo or Gochi, there was no in-between. But¡­ what if they liked both equally? That was how the alliance came about. "There are some boys and girls who decided that Oslo and Gochi occupied the same space in their hearts and could not choose either one. They then declared ''independence'' from their respective fan groups and created one of their own." As for why Cassandra knew so much, it was because it was well-known that Oslo was her ex and that she got into a little conflict with Gill over Gochi (during the Ferrol bidding wars) so she was pulled into the gossip by some aunties she happened to be in the spa with at the time. ¡­then she was asked to join in. As a member. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "They called themselves ''Golden Furries''." Cough! This was Eagle, who was eating something while eavesdropping in the gossip. Fortunately, he was able to turn his head to the side before he splattered saliva all over the food. The women rolled their eyes and resumed their chatter, while the rest of the table also ate and gossiped about various things, too. Althea shook her head and smiled, looking to the side at where an outdoor playcot was. Another major change in the past few months was, of course, related to the babies. "Come eat now," she called. "Stop playing for a bit." The two babies sitting on the cot with their outdoor toys simultaneously lifted their heads and turned to her. They had grown quite a few inches (vertically and horizontally) during this time, and they were as cute as ever with those large doe eyes, cute faces, and chubby cheeks people could just smooch the whole day. Anyway, the word ''eat'' was a good word for them and they immediately mobilized to obey. With older baby Theo next to them and guiding their movements, the two babies gestured to stand up. The two leaned over on all fours, diapered bums wobbling, and used their little arms to help lift themselves up. After a few seconds, the two were standing upright¡ªeven if they were a little unstable¡ªand immediately dashed in her direction. "Mammmwa!" Little Meatball yelled, toddling over to her with his shaky little legs. "Mwama!" Little Pepper called, doing the same. They were still so small, probably only a foot high, and their little steps were tiny but they were improving. Little Theo was following closely behind them, like a protective older brother, and it was the sweetest thing. The adults watched with full hearts as they watched the babies approach, showing their independence, and the couple kneeled down with open arms to catch them in their embrace. Both babies waddled towards Althea''s arms though. Garan: "..." Chapter 1090 A Little Interruption A/N: Chapters Dedicated to castle-giver _Cardinal~! Request: More Babies Please! Lololol In retrospect, I should''ve done this sooner xDD Thanks for reminding~ ¡­ ____ Garan looked at his children hoarding his wife. Then again, it was natural. He was not soft, while his wife was the softest. It was understandable the kids would prefer to hug her. Thinking of this, his arms wrapped around her waist and caressed it a bit before they stood up and placed the children in their high chairs. Because the kids were so energetic, they couldn''t sit still for a long time, which was why they called on to them while they were already halfway through their meals. Anyway, the babies couldn''t stop themselves from having soft snacks earlier while the adults were preparing so they were definitely not hungry. Rather, their appetite made them grow more horizontally than vertically and she was already starting to wonder if she should start managing their diets. "Mwamaa! Fwood!!" Meatball said with that milky voice of his, looking at her as if he was starved. Pepper was also pouting, her cheeks looking puffier than usual. "..." "Fine¡­" she succumbed, and the couple fed the babies the flavored soft mushy food they loved. As the two children munched and munched on their food as if they had black holes in their throats, Althea couldn''t help but look at her kids again. Other than their size, they had also grown quickly in other ways. Next to ''mama'' and ''papa'', the next words they learned were ''hungwy'' and ''fwood''. Then after a few months, they learned a few others (though most of which still related to food). Terran babies would typically say their first words at 10 to 14 months, while aborigine babies started talking about a month or two earlier than that. Her babies¡­ they started speaking at 6 months¡­ In overall appearance, her children were one year old but they look almost 2. She was very worried. Would this pace continue as they grow? What did that imply about their lifespans? There were just more and more worries. However, during this time, they at least got a hint of how to keep them from using their powers unexpectedly. The answer was simple: Exercise. How they figured this out was quite interesting. Before the cruisers, the kids had increased show of power to about once every few days, usually in congruence with the other. When the cruisers were introduced, this was eventually reduced to about once every week. But when they got used to it and it was no longer challenging, they started exhibiting powers more often again. The ''training'' with the aether ball was useful, but only to a point. It lost effect when the babies started walking and no longer needed their powers to capture it. When that happened, chaos abounded. Sometimes Pepper would suddenly appear outside of her cruiser. She would then cry while crawling because she couldn''t get back in again. Sometimes, they''d see Meatball floating but holding on to his cruiser, as if using it as an anchor of sorts. It was especially scary when this happened while he was outside. At the time it was Garan watching over the kids and his heart dropped when he saw his son floating and almost letting go of the cruiser. He immediately used his ability to create a stair for himself to get the baby, who was confused at first and then giggled when he realized his father got to him. The baby was laughing, but Garan was extremely pale. If he had been left alone, he could''ve floated to the skies! Should they have him on ropes at all times? They considered it before, but¡­ Fortunately, when the babies started running, the manifestations were controlled again. Basically, as long as they were doing something physically challenging for them, they were unlikely to exhibit their powers. As for what would happen after they got used to running¡­ they''d cross that bridge when they got there. Anyway, the dinner party soon approached its end with a birthday song, and a large lemon-flavored cake (the birthday girl''s request) was brought in. It was just that¡ªas if the world didn''t want too much of a happy thing¡ªa familiar ding echoed inside Althea''s head. [Resso Village (Lv3) has declared war on Alterra Village (Lv3). The War begins in 13:59:59.] ... Her eyebrows rose as she sipped on her lemonade. Resso Village? It was one of Basset Town''s stronger subsidiaries. Since they found out about that meeting¡ªespecially after finding out that Fargo was involved¡ªthey had been following their movements closely. There were also a lot of Basset Town spies planted in Alterra, but they managed to get a few of them. It wasn''t difficult, especially with Alterra''s reporting system. Some citizens were even sly enough to take the money and then turn around to report them. As for the capturing of the spies though, they had to be a little careful. In most cases, they just had to throw some insults at them and they''d send themselves to prison. However, for the smarter ones, they had to frame them for other things so it didn''t exacerbate the tension and alert the other side that they were on to them. When they found out a lot of the spies were targeting the Elders and their families though, these spies were set to a long time of slavery in the mines. There were also a lot of plans that had Fargo''s signature on it. For example, some people were assigned to poison wells. Sad for them, after what happened to Bright back then they naturally had a lot of SOPs prepared for such cases. At the same time, Alterra also planted a couple of spies in Basset Town. The spies they sent were non-elemental aborigines so they could blend in, and they had been there for more than two months now. Among these spies were the siblings Tambai and Tanod. They were quite good at their jobs and Alterra had been receiving some interesting news from them. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. So¡­ they had known for a long time that something was brewing; it was just a matter of time before those people decided they were ''ready'' to attack. Apparently, the time was now. They must''ve gotten wind of the request to recall thousands of people back. The best time to attack was, indeed, before those people returned. They were probably planning on targeting the returning caravans, too. She narrowed her eyes, thinking of the next plan of action. Unexpectedly, while she was thinking, another ding sounded in her head. [You have met the requirements to upgrade to Town (Lv1). Would you like to upgrade now?] Her eyes widened a bit, her eyes sparkling at an idea. "Hey, Ansel," she said, making everyone turn to her. "You know how we''re planning on doing a firework show for tomorrow''s program right?" "Uh¡­ yeah? What is it?" Tomorrow was the exact 1-year mark after their migration. As per their tradition, there naturally had to be a big program involved. However, it couldn''t all go as planned because of the war and Althea thought of a very important thing to modify. "Can we do it earlier?" Chapter 1091 Nightlife Street A/N: Last of the bonus chapters today! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR KEEPING THE STORY IN T1 Golden! ... ____ That night, an announcement suddenly resounded across the territory. There, the territory announced that the celebration for their upcoming anniversary would be held in advance! Better: All work was suspended for 2 days! A 2-day holiday!! However¡ªfor some odd reason¡ªthe celebrations would be held past midnight, which was about five hours since the announcement was made. They just assumed it was because of the 2-day holiday, so they didn''t mind it at all. Anyway, everyone was asked to rest early and just wake up after a few hours because there would be a lot of ''surprises'' later. They assumed it referred to sales and promos, which excited them so much! Still, they did rest as requested. They had no choice anyway because every stall was ordered to close for a few hours. The streets being dead for all those hours was an odd sight and they were not used to it at all, but Alterra never did anything without reason so everyone played along. Rather, it added a sense of excitement. Now, the long-awaited midnight finally arrived, and the streets suddenly exploded with activity. This was especially true for Ansel''s Nightlife Street¡ªa street created a few months back, located Southeast of the Territory. Nightlife street was a pedestrian-only street, with a bit more lighting and a lot more pizzazz. It was also a bit wider than the market streets because the building modules were much larger than usual¡ªat least twice the typical¡ªand therefore were all manually constructed. That was why it took several months before the zone was completed. The architectural design was also slightly different from the rest of the territory, but it followed the themes so it still fit Alterra''s overall aesthetic but, at the same time, people knew they were in a different place from the others. Ansel made sure to capitalize on this immersion. After all, people tended to have a sense of ''awe'' in a place that differed from what they were usually exposed to¡ªand would therefore want to spend more money there for the experience. And shops to spend money on, they definitely had! The Street was abutted by strictly entertainment-only establishments like bars, small casinos, restaurants with stages, and so on. At the end of the street would be where their largest establishments were and would be located. They kept a place for a cinema, a theatre, and so on. The cinema still couldn''t be made for now, but the theatre had begun operation as soon as the street opened. The first performance was the highly popular puppet show showing Elder Garan and Elder Althea''s reunion. It was very popular not only because the people were popular, but also because their reunion symbolized so many things for the territory. It symbolized the reunion of loved ones, of hope, of the creation of the new generation, as well as the leveling up of the territory that gained a massive force. The theater put out various performances every night since then, with the script changing every month. The script also shifted from the puppet shows (which would get its own little theaters) to actual actors performing live. There was another script that was action-packed showing Alterra''s first upgrade war, which also included the birth of the twins and ended in their birth. Other scripts were also reunion stories, like Turbo''s and Eve''s, Sheila''s and her family''s, Miss Mathilda''s and hers. And then, there were some dramatic stories about the war between Alterra and Fargo, and it included how the evil men were punished. The boos and cheers during those scenes resounded far beyond the street. Of course, top-performing scripts would often find themselves repeated after several months. Interestingly, the first performance was being redone this week and the presale tickets were already sold out. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As the theater''s popularity grew, so did the prestige of the actors. Because they were mostly modern Terrans, the treatment for the ''idols'' was starting to get similar to how it was, though with less of the toxicity and more of the pure admiration. After all, people were busy surviving, living their lives, and improving their status in this dangerous world. There was a lot less energy given to stalking celebrities and meddling in their personal lives. Still, with increasing prestige meant increasing earnings too, so the entertainer profession was starting to gain traction again. There were even some merchandise sold in bookstores and other places, and the performers would have royalty shares from that. The best-known one was, unsurprisingly, Fable, who played half of the male lead roles in the plays. Basically, he entered the upper class in a short amount of time thanks to his performances and the passive income generated by his merch. The other smaller actors were also earning livable wages too, with some more than others. While there were no other famous celebrities other than Fable and Juni there, the open and transparent auditions gave way to a lot of aspiring talents. One of them was Penny, one of the women who had been captured in Fargo as a slave in the limestone mines. She finished art studies by profession but she showed talent in this field as well. It helped that she had attractive red hair and a curvaceous body, making her very aesthetic¡ªthough her roles were often the villain or the Green Tea Bitch sort of characters. While the pay for acting jobs wasn''t as exaggerated as it was for top talents, it definitely allowed them to live very comfortably. Acting wasn''t the only field that exploded. During the past few months, various musical instruments had been developed and commercialized. Other than the fact that a lot of citizens could play, the school also added nighttime classes and weekend instrument lessons as an optional class. The talents were enough so there would always be some performances happening here and there every night. A lot of the players did it as a part-time job, too, treating them as gigs while they also had ''more stable'' income elsewhere. Speaking of musicians, the debut of various instruments was timed with the opening of Nightlife Street. At the time, the beautiful cacophony of sound echoed across the streets and beyond it, fascinating the Terran locals¡ªlet alone the aborigines who had never heard such arrangements before. At the time, and even now, certain types of comments were prevalent. "That sounds so good!" "How do they make those sounds?!" "It''s amazing¡­ my soul is touched!" "Did bards arrive?" "No, this is better." "I thought the Elves descended from the sky or something." Then everyone would be immersed and not leave the street for hours on end, experiencing the night of their lives. In any case¡ªno matter who one was asked¡ªthey''d say Ansel''s Nightlife Street was a resounding success! Chapter 1092 More on the Nightlife Street Other than these performance-based things, there were also a lot of ''interactive'' establishments. The most popular of which were the casinos, which had actually been a subject of debate among the elders, ultimately getting approval but with increased regulations. The casinos here target very wealthy aborigines and locals. Some were targeted at the super rich, while some to the relatively rich. Of course, as always, there were a lot of control measures, especially for the locals. There was a minimum amount of total wealth required to enter and a maximum amount of spending they could do. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, there were creative people everywhere who''d partner with other people to go beyond this limit, but it would be too much to control even that. If they won big through that, then it could just be considered they were too skillful. Anyway, casinos were taxed a lot. There was something called a franchise tax which, in Terran, was imposed on various businesses¡ªparticularly the gaming industry. In Alterra, it functioned and calculated about the same way. Not only was it a great source of revenue for the territory, it was also a way to monitor, control, and regulate the activities. With the increasing number of population, activities, and stakeholders appearing in the territory, there naturally had to be an increase in monitoring as well. The Lord''s system only imposed the usual taxes, including income taxes, sales taxes, and even real estate taxes (or at least their version of it) ¡ªthe Lord only had the ability to change up the percentage and vary what was included in the tax calculations. These taxes were imposed even before they arrived and were integrated with the system. They were automatically collected and went straight to the Lord''s wallet. Interestingly, there was even a small existence tax everyone ¡ªincluding visitors¡ªpaid annually, though they only found out about that after landing a year, because that didn''t go to the Lord''s wallet but somewhere else. Where? Who knows. Fortunately, it was a flat rate and was negligible to the average Alterran citizen. The only ones who''d probably realize this burden were poor citizens from villages and those people didn''t know what it was. They just assumed the Lord decided to take some money from them as if they were omnipotent beings, and very few dared to question the practice. Even if they did, the Lord didn''t know about it either so what could they do? The new ones were foreign taxes introduced by Terrans and therefore weren''t automatically collected by the system. While she did have an option to add it, she opted not to in the end. It was too troublesome for her to move finances from her own wallet to circulate within the economy. She did not have the energy to monitor everything and sadly there wasn''t an option where she could get someone else to manage her finances. It seemed like, when the system was created, entrusting wealth management to others was unimaginable. So, for things like this, she decided to go manual and get the finance department to handle it. This way, there was a steady stream of income that could be used to handle some day-to-day expenses of the territory that were paid manually. These extra taxes could also be used to force certain businesses to undergo the compliances and regulations by virtue of the various documentation they had to go through to keep in business. Finally, it would allow a certain amount of self-sufficiency for the territory to run smoothly even when she wasn''t there. She wouldn''t want it too attached and dependent on her. What if she got stuck? She wanted to travel someday! After a year in one place, it had become a concrete goal for her to travel the world at least once in her life, and she would not be able to do that worrying about the territory. Anyway, with all these functions, Nightlife Street also became one of the best places to go for romantic trips at night. It definitely gave its name justice and this zone was the brightest and liveliest place in the territory after dusk. Couples go on a lot of dates, and dates in the Nightlife street were definitely a welcome option. For example, at this time, two off-duty guards were going on their first date. Well, they didn''t call it that yet. It was a ''friendly hang-out'', though anyone with eyes could tell it was a date. This was Luis, one of the leading soldiers of the territory, and the aborigine Yllana1, who was a former Guia slave they rescued from Baltimore''s house back then. Thinking about it, that was also the first time the two of them met, with Althea and Luis being the ones to rescue her and the other women while they were trying to find the Lord''s token. Regardless, it was definitely not the greatest of circumstances for first impressions. Still, they were friendly. They had known each other for many months though their relationship had only progressed recently because Luis was dating someone else, while Yllana had believed that she would never find love. In her mind, no man would want such a tainted woman as herself. After becoming a guard, she was fully prepared to never marry¡ªanyway, she could depend on herself now. The long-standing teaching of women depending on men had changed. Yllana had enlisted as a guard back in Iron Valley, but she was moved with another female guard to Alterra, to give them a better chance to grow safely. After all, they were looked down on by aborigine men and had even felt subtle bullying from them. When she arrived in Alterra, she had become free. Nobody cared if she was a woman. As long as she was sincere and hardworking, she would get the acknowledgment she deserved. For Yllana, moving to Alterra was the best thing that had happened. And perhaps¡ªshe couldn''t help but subtly sneak a peek at the man next to her¡ª she could hope for something more. One of the women in Baltimore''s harem Chapter 1093 Dates in Nightlife Street Luis was similarly sneaking a peek, and he couldn''t help but rub the back of his neck in awkwardness. Considering that most of the people here were either close friends who were boisterously hanging around, or were lovey-dovey couples holding hands or hugging, the two of them quietly walking a foot away from each other looked a little odd. They were both shy and awkward, which was sad considering the camaraderie they had developed after working many months together. It was just that they started developing other feelings, and that changed up the dynamic between them. Yllana was assigned to Luis'' team a few months ago and their relationship was slow to develop, but it did. They were in the ambiguous phase now, with Yllana still uncomfortable with being too close to men after what happened in Guia, while Luis had also been treading lightly since his failed relationship with Becky. To be honest, when the Crow trio warned him about Becky he had indeed been wary. However, how could a virgin like him looking for love reject the advances of such a beautiful and sexy woman? Contrary to what people assumed though (he had tried to correct them many times), there was no cheating involved in their breakup. Although they had a nice relationship that lasted a month, she broke up with him saying she needed time for herself¡ªto discover herself outside of men. Becky had been hanging around Juni and Melissa a lot (he thought she was pregnant at first, which earned him a pinch) and it seemed a lot of their lessons affected the woman. He was hurt, but in retrospect it had more to do with his pride than anything else. That was a few months ago and Becky had yet to be with anyone else, and Luis had not made a move to get back together with her. On the contrary, he found himself falling for an aborigine woman instead. He didn''t know if he was lucky or not though, while he was walking around with Yllana, they encountered Becky with a few friends. They were all females, and he wondered if she was taking her hands off men completely for a while. Becky''s eyes flickered when she saw Luis and the other girl, but she kept her smile and greeted them casually, before walking away. "She''s still so pretty," Yllana mumbled, and her body language became even more insecure. When Becky and him were dating, Yllana was already on the team. She knew how close they were and how beautiful that woman was. How could she not feel unworthy? Seeing her going back to her shell, Luis quickly pulled himself together. He gently smiled and patted her head before his hand fell and held hers. This made both of them pause and look at each other, wondering what to do next. Neither one pulled their hand away though. They even wanted to intertwine their hands¡ªso they did. Yllana looked at Luis, whose attention was all on her, and her insecurities calmed. They stopped in front of Romance Resto, one of the more famous places along Nightlife street. It was a high-end restaurant with a grand piano in the middle. There was someone playing a tune there every night, and it was a perfect place to date. Her eyes sparkled as she looked around. She flinched when Luis opened the chair for her, and she awkwardly sat down, unsure how to handle it. Interestingly, another familiar couple was there¡ªChris1 and Aditi,2 one of the Fargo rescues. The two smiled when they saw each other before settling down in their seats. This was a relatively exclusive restaurant and the seats were far apart, there were also a few lattice partitions to separate the space without making things clustered, allowing each couple enough privacy even while in a public place. Admittedly, considering they were still in the ambiguous stage, Luis realized that this place was a bit¡­ too much. Mao recommended it and Luis himself hadn''t been here before, so he had no idea what to expect. That guy just said¡ªno, insisted¡ªthat it''d be a good place to take Yllana to, so he did. However, he saw how fascinated Yllana was with the place, and he thought it wasn''t the wrong choice, after all. ¡­ Chris'' and Aditi''s seats were on the more private second floor, right by the large glass windows. At this time, several buildings, particularly the new high-end ones, were already using sturdy glass panels for their windows. These were even low-E tempered glass which would not allow heat in while letting light in, creating cozy open spaces even during the afternoon. That night, they ate a delicious dinner while enjoying the beautiful nightscape of their territory. These two started dating a couple of months ago. Aditi worked as one of the scriptwriters in Ansel''s Entertainment Company, while Chris was usually assigned to scouting and clearing work for the territory. Their paths crossed in the Training Hall. Guards had a couple of free uses every month which would be a pity if left unused. Chris'' level was too high for it to be useful, but he decided to try it out once or twice for the experience. There, he''d see Aditi again. He heard from the staff that Aditi was there every night after work, desperate to grow stronger. Aditi''s motivation was never to be put in the position she was in back in Fargo. Chris, who was the one to rescue them, naturally knew what she had been through. He offered to help her train, and their time together only increased. Her time in the Training Hall added more meaning to Aditi, making her look forward to that time a lot more. While Chris¡ªwhether or not he noticed¡ªwas slowly starting to use the Training Hall more and more. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One had to know that the current maximum level of monsters was only Level 15, so it was practically useless to Chris who could no longer get experience there. Chris didn''t see any anomalies except when he was questioned by his friends, while Aditi was very much aware of her own feelings¡ªand was hoping to maximize her time with him. Aditi had, in fact, long admired Chris. Ever since he rescued them in the cave, her eyes would always follow him¡ªalways look for him somehow. However, she was content with admiring from afar. After all, their meeting place¡­ wasn''t the greatest, and most men would probably find her disgusting. She pursed her lips, looking at the man eating across from her. Who would''ve thought she''d be so lucky¡­? One of Garan''s soldiers. The wind user scout/swordsman One of the rescues back in the limestone caves when they had a war with Fargo Chapter 1094 Big Fireworks Show (Part 1) For months, they had maintained a status quo of sorts. She''d train, he''d help her out in his ''free time'', and maybe they''d grab a simple meal afterward. She was satisfied with this and didn''t dare ask for more. She didn''t have the courage to do so. However, she found out that Penny¡ªwho had been trapped with her there and experienced even harsher treatment than she did¡ªwas pursuing him! At the time, Penny had already started with the acting troupe and was gaining popularity, and it sent alarm in Aditi. She didn''t want things to change. But if they did start going out, then it''d change anyway! So Aditi used up the courage of a lifetime and confessed. Surprisingly, he accepted it, and they became a happy couple since then. They were really a normal couple with normal personalities. Their dates would be just as any other¡ªgoing out for dinner, watching shows, going on walks, and so on. However¡ªlike any other couple¡ªit was not without challenges. First, Aditi''s friendship with Penny strained a bit after her news. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They didn''t become enemies or anything, but their interactions had become a little curt. Fortunately, this improved when Penny invited them to her shows and even treated them to meals. Another, Aditi''s two brothers¡ªRamil and Raj1¡ªwere quite protective. They also knew of what Aditi had experienced during this time, and were worried that Chris would mind her ''impurity''. However, Chris easily proved his character and showed his sincerity. After a couple of months, the two were completely steady. Anyone who knew them could tell it wouldn''t take long before Chris proposed. Surprisingly, that date happened to be that day. Aditi was flushed in happiness and eating her carrot cake, not knowing the surprise. "Eat it all," he said, and she nodded, happily doing as she was told. It was her favorite cake, after all, and it was even more delicious than usual. She cleaned up the plate and belatedly noticed there was a note underneath the cake. She blinked, and then she froze. ''Will you marry me?'' Her eyes widened as she whipped her head up to look at him, though at this time he was already kneeling on the floor. She said Yes¡ªof course she did¡ªand she threw herself to him as she sobbed. Unexpectedly, a lot of people¡ªdespite their corner, more private position¡ªwere actually watching them. And when she accepted, they burst to cheers. "Wooooo!" "Congratulations!!" "Ohmygosh finally!" And so added a set of happy news just before a complicated one. ¡­ Other than Nightlife Street, all other places with commercial establishments flourished. Basically, people only slept deep into the night. They actually didn''t need as much sleep anymore with their improved physiques and the longer days here. For people past level 20, they only needed a couple of hours of rest and they''d be completely charged. In Alterra, they were sure to profit on this by keeping the territory awake all 28-hours of the day. Not to mention, the day was pretty much a holiday so everyone had proper rest. Anyway, while a few of their soldiers were going on lovely dates, the couple of the singles decided to have a drink at the tavern. "We''re upgrading to Town soon, and I still haven''t found a girlfriend," Mao1 mumbled, sniffling. He was privy to Chris'' proposal, and he had seen Luis with his girl not too long ago! Then there was also the happily married Captain and Boss Gill, as well as those good-hair-guys Turbo and Jake. When would he find his own happily ever after? The thing was, during the disaster, the majority of the people who died were children, old people, and women. The ratio of the women here was 1 is to 3 or 4, which worsened even more after the Migration due to the various abuse of some men. After so many things, many of the good women simply weren''t looking for love¡ªsome even abhorred it, particularly those who had been abused. They were too busy improving themselves and training. Who had the time to date when you could control an element and needed to train hours a day in order to master it? Anyway, this meant even a few of the stronger guards looking for love, like Mao, might not have a successful dating life. Okay, it was just Mao. Everyone else had either found their pair or was simply not looking for it. As such, Mao dragged Brandon 1(who was focused on his weapons) and Loki 2(who was a major introvert) to drink with him at the bar. Of course, as guards, they were allowed to drink off-working hours but not get plastered (which wasn''t so easy anyway due to their improved physiques) so they drank moderately. "Sigh. Obviously ladies like funny guys, right? I''m funny. Why can''t I find the lady for me?" Loki was sipping like a gentleman while Brandon seemed to be listening to Mao''s rant, but in reality he was already thinking about the next cannon design. Mao couldn''t help but look at Brandon. This guy¡­ he wasn''t looking, but he was still getting so many looks! When stationary became a thing, the number of love letters sent to him was not small! There was also the gorgeous Veronica. Though¡­ in retrospect, he hadn''t seen her for a while. It seemed like it had been a few months, right? "When did you last see Veronica?" He blinked, before thinking about it for a second. "That''s Miss Cassandra''s best friend, right? A while, I suppose." "..." Seeing as there was nowhere going with that topic, he just sighed, wistfully looking at the ceiling of the tavern. "Sigh¡­ should I just go find an aborigine woman? I mean, at least they weren''t outside the territory all the time¡­" he said, in the tone of finding a ''woman who would stay at home''. Loki gave him a look. "Don''t say that in front of women," he said. "They''ll hate you." Mao blinked. "Really?" he asked, and Loki nodded very seriously, though he didn''t bother explaining anymore. Mao''s eyes twitched. Darn introvert! Before he could push the reticent man for details, the familiar ding of an announcement sounded in their heads. [Announcement: Thank you for waking up in the middle of the night! Now... it is a few hours past midnight, and our anniversary celebration will be held as an opening show instead. The fireworks display will begin in an hour. Get to the best locations while you can!] "Oh?" Mao blinked, taking another gulp of his beer. They had been wondering about the odd timings. After all, counting the time, the fireworks would be held at... 3am? Is that a new auspicious time or something? "I wonder why," Mao mumbled, but didn''t think too much. Hey! Maybe he''d find ''The One'' while watching. Maybe she''d still be too sleepy and it would be too dark for her to see him clearly! Bank bros Chubby soldier, earth user Blonde swordsman who likes weapons Wind archer soldie Chapter 1095 Big Fireworks Show (Part 2) A/N: So, this is a bit embarrassing but I guess the mass release turned my brain to soup so I mis-edited a few stuff xD I changed up some things during editing that I now realize was messed up. To summarize, the events of the previous chapters happened a few hours after the declaration, not the next day. Lololol. I edited and fixed some continuity stuff (in Nightlife Street chap as well as the previous one), but do tell me if I missed anything! Cough. Back to the story! ¡­ ___ A lot of people wondered what was with 3:00 am and fireworks, but the activities were so explosive and the energy was high that everyone was just happy to see such a surprise. Anyway, even if they were wondering, everyone stopped whatever they were doing and headed to find the best places to view. These were either the view decks or the parks with the least amount of tree canopies to block their sights. At this time, the guard team assigned to keep peace also headed towards various squares. One of the teams was Cassie''s, who was now a captain. She had just been promoted last month after gathering enough contribution points. She divided her team into pairs to go around various spots in the square making sure the peace was there. After all, although there were a lot of rules and regulations, plenty of things still went past it¡ªotherwise, everyone would get yellow cards. So their tasks as internal guards would be to keep the order despite this. Cassie''s partner also ended up with a partner this time, and it was none other than the aborigine Bumi. Bumi had also joined the guard team a few months back and he tried hard to get assigned to Cassie'' team. His hard work bore fruit when Cassie was promoted to captain. New Captains were allowed to choose half of their members among the unassigned rookies. Because he worked very hard and was a very good worker, she chose him. Bumi was so happy he almost jumped for joy. His grandmother, Bona, was also happy he got closer to Cassie. She even made huge sumptuous delicious dinner for him¡ªhalf of which he was asked to send to Cassie and her grandmother to ''show appreciation''. Bumi''s grandmother was a pretty good cook. She took night classes for cooking at school and became one of its best students. Suffice to say, Cassie and her grandmother were genuinely appreciative of the good food. Anyway, currently, they would even be watching the fireworks together! It didn''t matter if it was on the job, bonding time was all that mattered. "Should we get our grandmothers?" She asked. Bumi blinked. "Are they already awake?" After all, the announcement came at a really odd time. They just finished dinner when everyone was asked to rest in preparation for the post-midnight activities. "I think so," Cassie said. "I think we should check. I''m sure they wouldn''t want to miss this either way." Bumi thought for a moment and nodded, and the two went by their houses to get their grandmothers. It so happened that Cassie''s house (which they owned) was near Bumi''s house (which was rented). The two old women hit it off and exercised together every morning with the other old people. Bumi''s grandmother was also hired in the same clothing shop, and they had been BFFs since then. Even after Bona gained cooking skills after a few months of night classes, she didn''t move industries, preferring the peacefulness of the profession more than the high-stress field of restaurants. The old women also used the Training Hall together (though their grandchildren often accompanied them to level up outside when it was their day off). When they got near their neighborhood, they encountered their grandmothers who were well-dressed and already heading out. They seemed disappointed to see the two of them though, with Bona shaking her head as she looked at her grandson in disappointment. Still can''t get a date? Bumi: "..." Anyway, they (along with various other families) headed to the nearest park. They were still doing their jobs though. Fortunately, outside of wars, rounds were relatively easy due to the rules. If it wasn''t for Patte''s chaos back then, they''d have even fewer guards assigned internally. Alterra was too good after all, and it was a fortune to stay there. Only idiots with no self-control endangered their rights by trying to get past the rules. The crowds congregated in certain spots, and a lot of people used ladders to get up their roofs as well. Those who were in taller buildings settled in their balconies, and they were drinking and snacking comfortably at the same time. When the designated time arrived, the lighthouse and other lighting were simultaneously turned off, making everyone flinch. Even the moons were, coincidentally, blocked by thick clouds at that point. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For a moment, they felt extremely imbalanced. The unknown was always terrifying¡­, and for that moment¡ªit was utter darkness. However, an instant later a sharp boom sounded in a direction, followed by a wheeze. A high-pitched whistle cut through the air, cutting through the tension in their hearts at the same time. The firework''s ascent left a beautiful trail of shimmering sparks, and at its zenith, it exploded outwards in a brilliant explosion of light. Moments later, another massive explosion of color erupted above their heads. And another, and another. This went on, explosion after explosion, each one more dazzling than the last. The fireworks were loud and grand and colorful, and it made everyone''s heart beat so loudly in joy. "Whoa!" "So amazing!!" Everyone immersed in the sight, just gaping at the wonderful contrast of light against the dark skies, as if they were taken into another dimension entirely. Whether it was Terran or local¡ªhumans, goblins, or half-orcs¡ªeveryone entered an admiring daze. For a moment: Everyone was the same. They were also so immersed that no one noticed¡­ that their entire territory shook a little. They just felt their legs weaken a bit, but they thought it was probably just due to the shock of beauty and brightness above them. Some more sensitive people couldn''t help but look at each other though. "Did you feel something?" Loki asked. Mao blinked at him. "Happiness? Yes. Excitement? Definitely." Loki thought about it and shrugged. Oh, well¡­ They all just continued to admire the few-minute-long fireworks display, drowning in the moment of joy and beauty. When it was over, the lights resumed, and chatters and cheers exploded all around. The topic would be a glorious sight for a while, and everyone believed they would be in a high for hours to come. However, the hype for the fireworks didn''t last for very long because a few minutes later, everyone would receive another very different type of announcement. [The Resso Village has declared war on us. The war will start at approximately 02:00:00. We hope you didn''t ignore our request for resting properly earlier today~] Another announcement was added exclusively for the guards. [For Guards Only: The territory will soon be upgraded to a Town, but don''t tell anyone else. Quietly prepare for a very strong beast tide to arrive within a couple of hours on top of the war. Thank you.] At this, quite a few barbeque sticks fell to the ground in shock. People were charged a bit for littering, though no one noticed it at all. Their attention was definitely fixed on the announcements before that. !!!! What the heck?! Chapter 1096 War Against 5 Villages (Part 1) Resso Village, hours later. [The war between Resso Village (Lv3) and Alterra Village (Lv3) has begun. The Array will close in 27:59:59] The sun was now up, and the time to fight finally arrived! "WHOOOOOH!!" The thousands of forces yelled altogether, raising their arms, and completely motivated. They were so loud they created reverberations everywhere, which just added to their momentum. Tout, the Lord of Resso Village, looked at the luminescent array not far from their gate, lighting his heart with fiery¡ªand blood-thirsty¡ªexcitement. This war was a long time coming¡ªplanned for months, which was already a huge amount of effort on their part. Alterra should be honored! That said, they''d definitely milk it for all its worth for all this trouble! They were waiting for Basset Town''s signal to attack, and they knew it was coming soon. However, they got the news that a lot of people were heading back to Alterra, which signaled a change of plans! They knew that Alterra had blocked entry for months. Apparently, the infrastructure could no longer sustain a bigger population so they blocked them off in favor of comfortable living. The official statement was that Alterra preferred the ''exclusivity'' and openness allowed by a smaller population, claiming that the subsidiaries could provide enough forces and manpower as needed. It was really snobbish, and in their opinion a bit stupid, but they also understood that they might want to attract rich people in their midst. This was supplemented by the fact that they only allowed really rich merchants in to trade, but blocked almost everyone else, keeping the population at a certain threshold. They also spiked up their threshold for residencies, though for some reason they didn''t change the visitor''s fees at all. They found the latter inconsistent, but who had the energy to think too much about that? (They didn''t think of the possibility of Alterra upgrading at all. Alterra had only existed for a year. In their minds, it was unthinkable to upgrade so early!) Anyway, in their interpretation, Alterra suddenly calling on thousands of forces back meant either one of two things: They had changed their minds and wanted to inject population again or¡­ they were preparing to go to a war! Either way was not good! The first one meant that they''d be harder to deal with, and the second risked them losing Alterra to another. So¡ªafter maliciously choosing a time of resting¡ªhe decided to declare war in a rush! S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fortunately, Basset¡ªwhile disapproving of the suddenness¡ªhad instructed all territories to always be prepared and it wasn''t too difficult to gather so many forces in just over a day. So, here they were. Tout looked at his forces surrounding the magic circle, ready to enter at his signal. He smirked, looking at the sea of people about to come in. There were more than ten thousand people there¡ªnot including the several thousand more already near the war area¡ªwhich was well beyond Resso Village''s fighting force. It was not just their village fighting this time. Along with Resso, there was Ugoy Village, Tangga Village, Picno Village, Hasa Village, and the Level 2 Pang Village. There were also a few subsidiaries that didn''t join directly but sent hundreds of forces to assist. Including most of their slaves, each one contributed thousands of people to this war. Five villages against one. How could they possibly lose? While everyone knew that calling on allies to assist in wars had a lot of limitations, there was a loophole that many territories knew of, but simply did not publicize. The rules only applied to those who either entered the territory walls or went through the array. That was to say: Other methods of travel were ignored. The System was not entirely all-knowing after all. For the most part, its powers were limited to what it produced: The Lord Token, and the territory attached to it. This meant that they could get a lot more assistance if the reinforcements traveled to Alterra by foot instead. And, because the rules were void during wars¡ªas long as allies didn''t do either of those things¡ªthen it was free play. Even before the declaration of war, all the aforementioned territories sent a good portion of their forces to help take Alterra. Before the set time of war, these forces¡ªafter rushing to the Alterra region¡ªarrived to surround the place. They went in groups of a couple of hundred or less, passing by the surrounding territories. Although the villages were ''nearby'', this was only in a relative sense. They were still separated by tens if not hundreds of kilometers, so it wasn''t difficult to bypass allied territories without alerting Alterra. Anyway, even if they did get alerted, it wouldn''t make a difference anyway. Things would''ve been more perfect if they had managed to attack the oncoming population, but things happened quickly and they really feared that someone else would declare war ahead of them. Of course, such a big war alliance wasn''t typically done even if people did know of this loophole. After all, so many things could happen every kilometer! How many mobs would be encountered on the way there? How many people would they lose en route?! Not to mention, the cost of assistance was huge. In most cases, it was not worth it to call on external forces in this way. However, they were exempt because they had the strong Basset Town as their backer! Alterra had grown so much and had just become too attractive! At this point, even Basset Town could be inferior in terms of connections, economy, and prestige! Too many territories were eyeing it now, and Basset Town was determined to be the one to take it! They had been preparing for this attack for a long time. They had also been trying to weaken it bit by bit, though most of their plans didn''t find success at all. If anything, they just lost valuable spies each time. They also prepared to deal with whatever Alterra could throw at them based on what they knew. They believed they had prepared long enough¡ªthey''d be able to handle whatever Alterra threw at them.They got this war! Alterra would be theirs! Chapter 1097 War Against 5 Villages (Part 2) Thot believed that they were fully prepared. After such a long preparation time, he refused to believe they missed out on something! For example, after a lot of investigation (and sacrificed spies), they found out how Guia and Yasof were intimidated before they even got far from the arrays. Mobs! Damned mobs. At first, they didn''t know yet how Alterra could be so quick to figure out where the arrays were. But Fargo explained to them that Alterra likely had large scopes that could see far distances. Rather than be intimidated, this information just added to Alterra''s attractiveness. Fargo went on to say the technology they knew was only a small portion, and he had gained a decent place in the territory for his knowledge. A lot of people still sneered at him though. He was so knowledgeable, why couldn''t he mimic what Alterra had done? In any case, as a response to the potential mobs, several forces¡ªsome of whom were even beyond the level cap, courtesy of Basset¡ªwere sent to camp around Alterra. They were ready to assist if those mobs appeared again. Even better, if they could catch the bastards who were luring the monsters before they succeeded, then it was already a success! There were a lot of elites sent there, several were mercenaries, and they were armed and had pretty good equipment. They had heard that Alterra also had a hidden weapon¡ªa strong projectile that could go through a mid-leveled person. It would also create explosions that would damage dozens at a time, if not more. This type of damage could be done from the safety of hundreds of meters! Imagine trying to run that distance only to be shot down by that thing? This was something that the Lord Bentro and Vara (the head of the Rongo Mercenary Team) asked Fargo to make, though without success so far. Heck, the attempts even killed a precious Class D Weapon maker! Speaking of that guy, he wasn''t even allowed to go in here. He had apparently signed an oath not to harm Alterra¡ªdirectly or indirectly, so naturally he wasn''t allowed to enter the array of war. As for how Fargo bypassed the latter oath, he had no idea. Even if he did create a weapon that''d be used to harm Alterra, they were unsure whether it would be against the oath. At the very least, they had yet to hear of someone who developed weapons and was punished when it was used against a territory he had had an oath with. Anyway, no one really knew because few people with strength would be willing to make extremely strict oaths. No one would publicize mistakes, losses, and the like either. They just knew one thing: Vague oaths had vague consequences. It could be bypassed if done well enough, but failure to do so could also have more serious consequences than other transgressions. Not that it was any of his business, of course. Anyway, even if Fargo hadn''t signed such an oath, he was still indisposed considering he was being punished for the death of a weapon maker. He was ''personally'' punished by Vara and, considering the preferences of the Rongo Mercenary Team leader¡ªheh, Fargo must be suffering. In any case, that guy did mention a strategy, and it involved avoiding the formation of large clusters, ideally under the cover of the forests. This way, Alterra would be wasting a few projectiles since they couldn''t see them well under the canopies of the trees! Besides, so many of them were heading there¡ªtens of thousands¡ªtargetting all parts of the territory! It was doubtful they''d have enough of those weapons to deal with all of them. It was also doubtful they''d be able to guard every inch of the territory since they walled off everything! Speaking of Alterra, when they got news via aether letter that even after a few hours of the declaration, the territory was still partying, they were all very confused. However, after a supposed beautiful light work¡ªa celebration, apparently¡ªthe announcement was made. Their attack was announced only a few hours before the actual war! Did the elders think announcing too early would douse the celebratory mood?! They were very offended when they found out about it. Did they not think they were a threat at all!? Tout and the others gritted their teeth at the thought. "We''ll show them!" "ATTACK!!!" He yelled, and the thousands of forces went through the array, ready for blood! ¡­ Garan, Luis, and the others were lined up along the battlements. The entire perimeter had a person every meter or so, making sure there was someone who could see all angles of the territory. Their backs were ramrod straight, and their hands rested on the sheaths or handles of their weapons¡ªready for battle. It was silent for a few minutes after the set time, and all they could hear was the rustles of the dense forest outside their walls. Eventually though, a low rumbling was felt, followed by the echoing cheers for battle. The forest shook with the sheer number of enemies walking underneath it, and the people in the battlement couldn''t help but gulp. They were surrounded, and the number was even bigger than they thought. Their stomachs dropped a bit. They then looked at the aether letters with live feed coming from the observatory. Although most of the enemies were covered by the forest canopies, the total amount of enemies was in tens of thousands!! Mao squeaked a bit. "Did the village send out their entire population?" "No, we got intelligence of an alliance," Chris said. "We also captured a few people lurking outside a few hours ago. They were under oath, but we could ask whether or not they were from Resso. They were not." "An alliance eh?" "There will always be people who take advantage of loopholes," Sammy said with a sigh before looking at them. He had to admit, the way the forest shook, combined with the loud battle cries from tens of thousands of violent men was a little intimidating. "KILL! KILL! KILL!" "ALTERRA WILL BE OURS!" "KILL! KILL! KILL!" Mao''s eyes twitched. "Hey, so many territories are going against us. We should be proud." "..." To say they were not nervous would be a lie. However, they kept cool and trusted in the plans. "Though¡­ don''t you think they should be arriving by now? It''s been hours..." Mao asked, getting a little worried. Sammy shook his head. "Our Math team''s calculations had a large range," he said. "We don''t have enough data to make it completely accurate." They only knew so much and gathered data from what they knew as well as from allied territories. Jonathan''s father''s notebook also included some information about it, which comprised most of their data. However, they knew that there were variables and things did change from territory to territory. At the very least, they knew from past upgrades that Alterra definitely did not follow the standard expectations. "It''s best to assume ''they'' would be a little late," Sammy said, clicking his neck to get rid of the stiffness. Garan, who was silent this whole time, took a deep breath and took out his weapon, his deep azure eyes looking at the vast forests that covered thousands of their enemies. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Get ready," he said. "This is going to be a long battle." Chapter 1098 Resso Village Slaves (Part 1) Tout and the others headed towards the enemy lines, their thousands and thousands of slaves heading straight to the walls, ready to create large stairs all around it, allowing them to get inside. It was quite quick, too. While waiting at a distance, their allies had already brought over stairs, lines, and ropes¡ªamong many other methods to enter¡ªalong with them. The slaves that came through the array were several thousand, which was more than Resso Village''s own slaves. Basset Town was kind enough to give them a few thousand. Anyway, slaves weren''t counted as entities. Even if they doubled this number, it wouldn''t have mattered! Now, they could target several spots along the perimeter. Even if a few were taken down, the Alterrans would not be able to push down every one! How awesome was it to have so many slaves! Better, they also knew Alterra''s sentries apparently didn''t attack slaves (very stupid of them, really). So while the slaves built their stairs, they wouldn''t even get attacked! Soon, in various areas around the territory, stairs and other types of access started getting erected. Of course, it wasn''t so straightforward. Even if the sentries didn''t attack the slaves without hostile intent¡ªat least, not yet¡ªthe humans could. The Alterran archers seemed to choose their targets though, and they varied the attacks from lethal to debilitating using an unknown criteria. For the most part, whatever was being built was just disassembled or kicked down. However, Tout and the others weren''t too worried, because there was access being built in all parts as they stood. Anyway, as thousands of slaves headed forward to clear the way for them, Resso was greeted by some of the group already there. It was none other than Hemeppo, the Lord of Hasa Village¡ªthe Village that eats people. "As per the agreement, we want a few hundred women." "Yes, yes," Tout said, shrugging. Even if the allied villages were ordered by Basset to help out, they naturally had to gain some advantages from Resso. This was Alterra, and how they would divide it up once they took over. The plan was to enter and torture everyone until they found out who the lord was and take the token. The token would be given to Basset Town to become its satellite, but everyone¡ªespecially Resso¡ªwould be greatly rewarded. Some of the allied villages requested manpower, while some requested certain technologies. Resso would receive several thousand golds on top of a few experts in food making. Excluding the slaves, the main forces already triumphed against Alterra in terms of numbers. They also had a lot of level 15s lent by Basset Town with them to help out. More than that, there were about a dozen level 25s and even a level 30 with them. These elites didn''t bother greeting them of course, and Tout would never expect them to. As long as they were there, he was relieved. The tens of thousands of the main forces¡ªdaydreaming about their wins¡ª stood just outside the scope of the sentries, waiting for the slaves to set up enough access so there was less chance of them getting taken down by the sentries on the way up. Unlike the slaves, those dense sentries would definitely target them. They naturally had to plan the fastest path inside. Unexpectedly, before most of the slaves finished, the gates opened instead! They gaped as the slaves along the gates entered group by group, followed by the slaves behind them, and from their sides, and so on. "What¡­" Tout whispered and looked at his cronies. "What did the spies say?" Well, technically speaking, he only had one spy left with an aether letter. Everyone else had been captured already! The man scrambled to take out his aether letter and write down question after question. For example: What the heck is happening, what''s going on inside, are the slaves really there?! Soon, they received a response. "They opened both gates wide, letting the slaves in!" "What?" "What''s going on?" "They''re just letting them in!" That was thousands of slaves! Were they just letting them barge into the territory without challenge? "Are they stupid?!" some asked, while some outright celebrated. "That''s great!" Some yelled, and they immediately went forward in excitement, forgetting that they were entering the scope of the sentries. Swoosh!! They watched as a few people fell from sentry and long-bow attacks and people stepped back abruptly. It was so abrupt a section pushed each other back, causing some falls and minor injuries. Tout gritted his teeth. "Don''t be careless!" He screamed. "This is entirely a good thing for us! We won''t have meat shields anymore!" He looked at the thousands of slaves entering. If they let it be, they''d be completely exposed and without their precious meatshields. "Try to sneak inside with the slaves, too!" Tout yelled, and a lot of people tried to get in along with the slaves. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They made sure to run in between. They had heard that this was a common strategy with war against Alterra: Hiding behind the slaves. Unfortunately, the archers and sentries still detected them¡ªthere were more sentries around the gates now¡ªand the attempts were easily stopped, irking the lord. "Tsk," Tout cursed. "Why would they let them in though?" He looked to his side again. "Did he say what''s happening inside?" The other man shook his head, staring at the large slight-shimmering piece of parchment. "He only said they were allowed deep into the territory, filling up the avenues! He said he''d take a closer look but he''s not responding anymore," he said. Tout narrowed his eyes, staring at the tall and sturdy walls that blocked their view. They were not only stupid enough to protect enemy slaves, they even let them inside their walls!! How did they grow so much with such tiny brains? Maybe they grew too quickly that they forgot to think? Well, in any case, all was best for Tout. They didn''t know what kind of stupidity Alterra was doing, but those slaves better cause deep damage from within! With his authority as the lord, he sent a resounding order to his slaves. [Attack!] The slaves would cause so much chaos inside, maybe those people wouldn''t have the time to bother with them outside! Chapter 1099 Resso Village Slaves (Part 2) Inside the walls Contrary to what Tout thought, the slaves inside the territory were barely causing any damage at all. Whenever slaves were ordered to attack on sight, they would do so regardless of who it was. By default, slaves didn''t choose their enemies, they just attacked whoever was closer. It didn''t matter if it was an old woman, a child, or even a former lover¡ªthe slave ordered to attack would follow orders. If there was no person nearby, slaves would automatically find openings until they found one. Slaves generally didn''t bother with the property. If a territory''s infrastructure and property got destroyed during wars, it was likely the work of normal guards and citizens. Most of these slaves were given wood weapons (most of which were sponsored by Basset), while some stronger slaves even got bone weapons or something similarly superior. One of these slaves was Cau, a level 15 spearman. He was one of the older slaves, and he had been captured more than 10 years ago even before Basset Town was a town. Through the years, he had been sent to subsidiary villages to help subdue other territories and gain their money. Attacking villages via their subsidiaries was one of Basset Town''s main sources of income. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Amidst all that, Cau became one of the best performers. He was even prohibited from killing monsters again so he could maintain his level within the village cap. He was in his 40s when he was captured. His level back then was Level 13. Now, in his early 50''s, he only climbed up two levels¡ªand it was entirely due to experience gained from killing fellow human beings. He was also on the verge of leveling up. If he killed a few more people, then he might go beyond the level cap. In that case, he''d be less used in Village Wars, which¡ªwhile a cold thought¡ªwasn''t entirely bad. Of course, he never enjoyed killing people. How could he? It reminded him of the fall of his own village¡ªthe day he lost his entire family and his friends. After so many years, only a few of them remained. Many perished due to natural disasters, and most due to wars. They attacked without regard for their own bodies, just using all of their beings to follow the orders sent to them. Each time, they were just ordered to terrorize the enemy. [Attack!] echoed in their minds over and over, like a chant and their bodies would follow as if they didn''t know how to do better. When he stabbed innocents¡ªsome were even children¡ªhe felt like dying inside. However, they were slaves. They no longer owned their lives. Coming here, he didn''t expect anything else but the same horror he had been going through for years. However, he was shocked when he saw the large wall and the dense sentries and wondered if they had gone to the wrong territory. But then it was confirmed really was the place, he was both amazed and relieved. Those sentries were dense and strong. Perhaps this would finally end his suffering. He was tired. So tired. However¡­ he got excited too early. Those sentries didn''t attack slaves at all! Why? Were they broken? Were they just displays? But then he saw it attack someone from his side and realized it was working. If so, why didn''t it attack him or the other slaves? Then the gates opened widely, letting them all inside!! His heart clenched, thinking the horrors and murders would happen again soon. Thousands of slaves passed through the territory threshold, emerging into the widest streets they had ever seen. Each street could carry several beast carts, right? And it seemed long and endless, as if it would pass through the entire territory. The avenue was empty, however. There were no signs of life. They could only enter, deeper and deeper, and they could only gape at the themed buildings, parks, and so on. [Attack!] The sound echoed inside their minds again. There was no one there so by default they headed towards the streets to find their targets. Whether it was on other throughfares or even above the houses, they would look for them. Slaves would automatically do this even if they had to climb over on top of each other. But¡­ Where were the streets? It was here that they realized the streets connecting to the avenues were all closed off by reinforced wooden walls! Cau and the others could only be confused, not realizing that weird smoke began to flood where they stood. He gasped when he felt a dull arrow buried on his legs. It was shallow and a bit painful, but he immediately felt numb all over. Then¡­, everything went black. ¡­ "Let go of me!!" A bloodied man yelled as he was dragged by Gill through the battlement floor. Gill then threw him in front of Garan before kicking him again. He sneered at the man before handing the aether letter to Garan, who skimmed through the messages. "This should be the last of Resso and Basset''s main spies," Gill said. "Though we''re still keeping our eyes open for them." Garan nodded, before turning to look down at the avenue filled with fainted slaves. The avenues were extremely wide and long and thousands of slaves could fit in. From above, the sheer amount of them was intimidating. Dedicated teams sprayed them all with their paralysis smoke, with the gas floating several feet, with the wind users making sure it reached every slave. This particular batch had heavier gases so it didn''t flow outside of where the slaves were. The archers also directly shot the stronger ones who did not fall down with arrows doused with a bit of paralysis potion. It was a massive undertaking, and by no means cheap to others, but doable for Alterra. They actually had large farms¡ªsome were even in vertical farms¡ªfor the raw materials of their sleep and paralysis potions and bombs. It was really no problem to spray a huge crowd like this. "After the war, as always, we will study who to give the right to buy their own freedom¡ª and who would become prisoners of war. For now, contain them in one area." "Yes, boss!" the guards yelled, and Garan watched them leave. Who was to say all slaves were decent people? There could be evil ones among them, too. This was a lot of trouble, and each war consumed a lot of man-hours just checking out the slaves they received. It was just that they didn''t have it in them to kill fellow humans blindly. At least not yet. This war would probably be the final war they''d set the sentries like this. At the Town level, he would ask his wife to take off the sentry prohibition of killing slaves. They''d set the sentries not to attack slaves with elementalist auras, but that would be about it. Slaves in Towns would be stronger and more threatening¡ªnot to mention, Towns'' populations could reach hundreds of thousands. They did not dare be so ''kind'' anymore. So¡ªat least this time¡ªthey wanted to rescue as many as they could before joining in massacres like other territories. With this thought, Garan turned to the other side of the walls. He looked at the enemy crowd, now stagnant beyond the reach of the sentries. This time, with most of their meatshields gone, they could only depend on their equipment and shields to cover for them. They were likely strategizing what to do now that their previous protection plan was messed up. They had no idea¡­ that the sentries would be the least of their problems. Chapter 1100 Unusual Vibrations Tout''s jaw was clenched as he glared at the tall wall. It wasn''t that he didn''t have slaves anymore¡ªthere were still a few thousand on his side¡ªbut the ratio was small that only a small fraction of them would be able to use meat shields now. Everyone was fully equipped with at least a Level E weapon and defense equipment, courtesy of Basset Town¡ªdeductable to his share of this place, of course¡ªbut that wouldn''t stop a damned Level 5 sentry, so meat shields were still the best way to protect themselves. Anyway, no one wanted to go ahead with so many sentries and archers targeting them! And so¡­ for the next few minutes, they entered an embarrassing standstill. "What''s going on?" Suddenly, a voice sounded from the side and everyone felt a little intimidated just by their approach. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Masters!" Tout exclaimed and everyone adopted a somewhat more humble stance. "Why are you just standing here?" the man asked, obviously impatient for action. Next to him were a couple of Level 20s, all with similar annoyed expressions. The man''s name was Temp, a level 30 guard from Basset Town. He was sent here to assist their entry if needed¡ªand, obviously, they were very much needed. Although Basset Town was also a new Town¡ªjust a little over a decade¡ªit had quite a few level 30s in its midst. This was the legacy of the previous Lord, who worked hard to add a lot of powerful individuals in their midst before they got eaten up by other towns. This was done by recruiting from cities and giving them various benefits such as their own homes, free food, and so on. This did not include the benefits Mercenary Teams received if they decided to create a base there, too. It was pretty much impossible to recruit someone from a Town to a Village, but a City to a Town was not too far-fetched. Living in extremely dense cities could get very cutthroat, not to mention the chances of encountering huge monsters were not small. Heck, their levels were at that awkward stage of being the meatshields for the Level 40s and 50s hunting for such monsters! At the very least, Towns were rich enough and had enough prestige to provide decent living conditions. In contrast, Villages were too poor and unstable; one could get destroyed or change owners every so often. The monsters were also too weak and staying there was akin to staying on the same level forever. For anyone with any ambition for power and a long life, remaining stagnant was akin to a death sentence. At least in Towns, the average monster level was 15 to 20¡ªwith the occasional Level 25s¡ªwhich was the perfect mob for them to level up. And finally, in Towns, they''d be proper powerhouses and were extremely revered. It was a worthy exchange for the prestige of being city-bound. Through the years, the number of level 30s in Basset Town had become quite sizeable. However, their number wasn''t big enough to bother sending them to battles between villages. Sending one here¡ªalong with dozens of level 20s and above¡ªwas indicative of just how much Basset Town wanted Alterra. And Temp¡­ he was promised a hefty bonus for winning this war. He was really fascinated by this place''s products and business. Having a part of it was indeed very good. He arrived a bit later than others though, but he was expecting the war to be entering the first wave of battles at this time. According to the plan, he and his team would sweep in to assist the entries so many more people could enter the walls. When he saw that the crowd was not moving at all¡ªidiots¡ªit annoyed him quite a bit. "Well?" Tout gulped, intimidated. "I¡­ the meatshields are mostly gone, so we''re about the head out with our shields," he said. "However, those sentries are level 5. The slaves we have now might not be enough." Temp looked at the walls. It was a Level 5 wall, and this meant even he¡ªa level 30¡ª could still get damaged and even killed if hit at a sensitive spot. "So troublesome," he said, looking at Tout. "Go back to the array and call the rest of you slaves," he said. "You''ll need those shields." Tout flinched, a little reluctant. The thing was, slaves were counted as a separate entity. If they lost the war, it was a given that half of their assets including citizens would become the winner''s. However, slaves¡ªas long as they went through the arrays or passed through the threshold of the defending territory¡ªthey''d automatically be assigned to that territory. Because of this, a loss in war was more than just losing half of one''s assets. Temp narrowed his eyes at the villager. "You think we''ll lose?" "Of course not!" Tout immediately answered, suddenly gaining confidence after thinking about it. It was just standard practice to leave some for oneself, so he didn''t think of doing so from the get-go. He was just being stupid, after all. Anyway, Tout agreed and ordered his men to gather their remaining slaves. It didn''t take long for the slaves, who were completely unprepared for this mission, to arrive. Temp and the other elites took a random slave and led the way. "While they are busy with the slaves they let in, it''s time for us to enter!" he said, looking at the crowd behind him. "Remember what we will get out of this: Power, wealth, and resources! Don''t hesitate! They do not deserve all those good things¡ªbut we do!" he yelled, enticing the people''s spirit (and greed). "Surround the territory! Enter at all cost!" And so, thousands and thousands of forces once again lunged forward with full force, aiming to finally get inside and do what they were best at: Plundering! "YEAHHH!" "KILL! KILL! KILL!" "TAKE ALTERRA DOWN!!!" They were quite passionate again. Having a strong ''general'' was definitely important for momentum. Anyway, the tens of thousands of people continued rushing forward with high passion. The number and strength seemed to have caused major vibrations in the ground, which added to the momentum of the attackers. The movement of the ground led the mob to feel they were so strong after all. It felt like they could just topple over anything¡ªeven that Level 5 Wall! They did not realize that this intensifying vibration¡­ couldn''t have come from them at all! Chapter 1101 Attacks from the Rear!! Sad for them, they were too dense and too many that they were temporarily unaware of the impending doom approaching them from the rear. At this time, everyone was just focused on getting to the various access points and entering that damned territory! Monsters tended to target the gates¡ªthe weak spots. However, humans had brains so they naturally didn''t focus their attention on the gates, which were usually the best-equipped sections of the walls. Rather, they would focus on random spots where¡ªideally¡ªthere were the least amount of guards. This was easier to find in other territories because most territories couldn''t afford this many sentries. Still, they could make up for it by their sheer numbers! This number alone was a lot more than the total population of Alterra. Not even including the slaves they idiotically let inside, Alterrans were already severely outnumbered! The Resso Villagers and their allies didn''t believe they could be pushed back at all! That place and all its goodness would be in their palms soon! Of course, while most were passionate and excited about their loot, there were others who were just going with the flow. They were brought here because of desperation or they were simply forced to. One such case was a man named Jest. He was a level 15 citizen from Basset Town. He was drafted and joined the war at the request¡ªno, the pressure¡ªof his parents. The reward for citizens during wars was not bad, after all, and he was fairly strong for his age, and it so happened that his father lost everything in gambling¡­ again. Basically, if he didn''t join this war, then the gambling house owner swore to cut off his father''s arms! What choice did he have? Jest abhorred being in wars¡ªit felt like it went against his very being¡ªbut what could he do? Not to mention his father''s hands. Life in a town was so expensive; even fighting outside all day could only feed them for a bit. Of course, Jest was still in the minority. For the most part, the people with him were just greedy for this place. He was among the vanguards this time and he avoided some sentries, and swiped away arrows. Jest looked up to see that Alterra also set up strong bows. They were several times larger than their normal crossbows and were thus not handheld. Rather, they seemed installed right at the battlements! Their force? Could impale a level 10 easily!! Whoosh! He screamed when an arrow grazed his arm. There was a rain of arrows and Jest leaned down to avoid them, flushing himself against the wall. Time seemed to slow, and his breath was heavy. He stared at the Resso villagers and allies mobbing the walls, as they were hit by arrows here and there, but they went on as ordered¡ªespecially the slaves. Then he felt it¡ªthe vibrations. He had been in various wars¡­ and¡ªalthough he had never been part of a force this large¡ªhe still felt that this vibration was too much. He had a foreboding feeling enter his gut. He unconsciously tried to flush himself more against the wall as if he wanted to combine with it. He could not die! His little brother¡ª It was around this time that they finally heard chaos happening at the back of the line. "AHHH!" "GAH!!" ROAAARR!! "There are monsters!!" Tout, who was holding a Class D shield in front of him, frowned. "What?" Everyone knew such a massive gathering of people would attract mobs, but considering their levels and their sheer numbers, they didn''t think that normal village mobs were threats at all. So what were they on about now? He was about to call them idiots when he realized the screams and roars were coming in various directions¡ªand with an intensity that was not associated with a small village mob. "GYAHHHH!" S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "WHAT!" ROOOOARRR!! It happened too fast. For those who were at the rear, they could only scream as a massive mob of monsters suddenly appeared behind them! It was like a sudden tsunami of water appeared out of nowhere except they wanted to bite their heads off!! ROAAR!! "GAHH!" "NOOOOO!!!" "HELP MEEEE!!!" Most didn''t realize the scale of the mob coming from behind them. Most just went forward¡ªthinking those near the monsters would deal with them instead. They had no idea they would be surrounded a few seconds later. One man pushed an ally behind him, though his tracks stopped a moment later. "What in the¡ª" He gasped as a large monster appeared in front of him. He stepped back by instinct, not realizing he''d end up in the mouth of another monster right behind him. Crunch! With a bite, this monster took half of his body. This happened everywhere in their group, and people''s hearts clenched as they felt the yells and roars come louder and louder, as if signaling their impending doom. The momentum to attack Alterra was doused with fear as more and more people realized that the mob behind them was way bigger than they could''ve imagined! What''s more, the beast tide for Towns was naturally not comparable to Villages. On average, the beast tides coming for towns were monsters around levels 9 to 12. However, Alterra had stronger aether than others, and the monsters coming from them were even stronger. Here... they saw a couple of Level 15s!! "AHHHH!" "NOO!!" This mob averaged at level 12, the strongest of which was level 15. A level 15 human was no match against a level 15 monster, let alone the weaker ones. What the heck is this!? "AHHH!" "STOP IT!" "GYAAA!" Many people in front realized that the way to escape death was to rush to the access! Now, they were dashing towards the walls for a different reason altogether. This was especially true for those already in the stairs and their height gave them a better vantage view of what was happening in the rears. And it was a terrifying sight. It was like their tens of thousands were being drowned from the outside, and it made people''s souls leave their bodies. Using a slave as a shield, many desperately tried to head up. However, just as they reached the top, feet appeared and kicked them down. "AHH!" They yelled, whipping their head up to glare at the person who kicked him. He saw a flabby guy looking down at him. "Go, clear the monsters first." "YOU!!" "We just upgraded, you see..." he said. "Thank you for lightening up our load." This made everyone below the walls curse in both anger and terror. DAMN YOU ALTERRA! Chapter 1102 Massacres! The tens of thousands of forces¡ªmost of whom were outside had to deal with strong mobs not found in villages. Suffice to say, it was a massacre. While their levels and numbers weren''t low, they definitely did not expect such powerful monsters to come at this moment! It still caught them off-guard in the end, exacerbating the damage. In some places, some low-level people were eaten outright. There were also those who gathered enough wit to fight, but they were either alone or didn''t work well with the others¡ªeventually succumbing to the monster mob as well. These people weren''t really trained for teamwork among those from the same territory¡ªlet alone teamwork with people from other territories! ROAR! Slash! "AHHH!" Squelch! Clash! "HELP MEEE!!!! PLEA¡ªGah!" Crunch! Some people''s bodies were even shared. For example, the upper torso was taken by one monster, but his legs would be pulled by another one. Tout saw the chaos and¡ªknowing this could not go on¡ªyelled. "DAMNIT! GET OVER YOURSELVES! FIGHT!" If they continued like this, wouldn''t they get defeated before most of them reached the walls?! HECK NO!! He immediately ordered the slaves to attack the Monsters, so the rest of the citizens could handle them while they were distracted. The poor slaves had no choice but to lunge towards the monsters that''d definitely kill them. They could only fight for their lives, slashing their wooden swords, and doing their best to live for a few seconds longer. Their bodies could no longer be controlled and moved for the sole purpose of buying time and chances for those behind them. Even if it meant going straight into monsters'' mouths. Using the temporary distraction the slaves were doing, the others used this chance to attack and mob the monsters to deal with them. After the initial attacks, the thousands of fighting forces finally caught themselves and began to fight against the mobs. "ATTACK!!!" they yelled, shifting their attention from the wall to the monsters next to them. They held out their weapons to fight, some forming some makeshift teams with hit-or-miss cooperation. Sometimes, they''d get lucky and have the sentries hit the monsters. In that case, they''d take advantage and get the final kill and even get the associated experience and copper. Not everyone was lucky with the sentries though. For these people, they could end up in the arrow''s path while they were distracted by the monsters. They''d also receive some arrows from the Alterrans, with varying degrees of lethality. However, even if it was just a graze, it still hurt and a moment of distraction was enough for one or two monsters to take advantage. "GAHHH!" another yelled as his arm was bitten off and he gasped as he felt his arm bone getting pulled out from his shoulders. "AHHH!" Then he no longer felt pain after that, because a smaller monster appeared right behind him, eating him up from above his head. Blood and internal organs splattered all over, and the spectators even saw someone''s spine being pulled out by a monster. Anyway, it was a gruesome sight all over and a few Alterran guards watching the show ended up vomiting. Don''t look at them being here for a year. Alterra protected them well enough without letting them stagnate too much. The gruesome sight of people getting eaten in half was a memory of long ago, back before they found the safety of Alterra''s walls. It was fortunate for the Resso''s Teams that there were so many of them, otherwise this war would''ve been over before they could even reach the walls. Temp and the other level 20s had also ran back to help deal with the mobs¡ªthey had no choice. They were bound to at least do their best, so they had to take down as many monsters as they could. The injection of their force naturally lightened up the massacres in the area. A Level 30 against a Level 12 was definitely not a difficult fight. Of course, mobs of this level were still a challenge, especially if they were outnumbered. It was easy for Temp to kill a level 10 and below, but being surrounded by dozens of them was still dangerous. However, even if he was being drowned, he could just pull someone to be eaten instead of getting bitten. "Orcshit!" Temp yelled as the blood of a slave he threw splattered all over him. He cursed a bit more but had no time to feel disgusted. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Then two level 15 monsters appeared next to him and¡ªbecause he was almost injured by their sudden appearances¡ªhe had to use mana and skills in the process. The monsters were dense and at some point he was left alone in the area, with everyone else either running away from the mob (though getting caught in the end) or running desperately towards the walls. Going here, Temp did not expect to get into so much trouble! He was considered strong in Basset Town. This was a war between villages! Alterra, according to their information, also had level 20s and 30s, but not that many nor would they be able to do as much. In the end, they outnumbered them a few to one. What was this now?! At most, he thought he''d be dealing with the sentries, which would have somewhat diminished effect on people his level. Even if they did, he could just grab a slave or a shield to protect himself from harm. Even the Mercenaries hired here were aghast. About another dozen of the level 20s were from mercenary teams. They at least had some teamwork to speak of so no one had died yet despite being surrounded. However, being mobbed like this was not part of the plan! Their task was to make sure those within the level cap would be able to enter the territory and cause chaos inside. They thought that this was a great exchange considering the amount of money and products promised to them after this. But, at this time, their spirits and mana were getting lower at a palpable rate, and all of them had an increasing number of injuries on their bodies. It was getting genuinely dangerous for them. Another hour of this and they''d be seeing deaths. So even if they ran away now, the oaths wouldn''t be broken. It was just that¡ªlooking at the sea of monsters emerging from the forests group by group¡ªthey had a foreboding feeling: There was no escaping this!! Chapter 1103 The Fall of Hemeppo Everyone, even the Elites, wanted to run to the walls and forcefully enter there instead. However, it was easier said than done simply because they were completely surrounded. Even if they pushed other people to the mouths of monsters, chances were: There''d be a few more waiting for them up front. Then, even if they neared the walls, Alterran archers would shoot them down! "AH!" Temp yelled when his leg was scratched. Even if the monsters around him were less than level 15 for the most part, monster physiques and strength were far superior to humans and their attacks could still damage them if they weren''t prepared enough. He could only focus on defending himself, not caring for the war anymore. He was, however, slowly stepping back, pulling in a fellowman if he managed to get them. Like this, he and a few of his team members slowly got closer to the wall, hoping to reach it before their energy was exhausted. Even if entering at their level during a war had heavy penalties, it was better than staying outside like this! However, after half an hour of pushing back, all allies next to him had either ran away or were used as meat shields, leaving him alone. In this time frame, he had already consumed a portion of his healing potions. In other areas, the dozens of level 20s had the same problem, though they were lucky to be close to each other and could fight together. They were clearing out the monsters at a good pace, which was not just good for them, but also for the Alterrans watching nearby. Anyway, it was an all-out war between man and monster, with Alterrans watching securely on the battlements¡ªkicking down the enemy ''vanguards'' back to the monsters in the process. "AHH! NOO!" Another Resso Villager yelled as he was kicked down by an Alterran to join in the fight against monsters. The man fell down and crawled back, barely avoiding a monster attack. He was lucky because a sentry targeted the monster, killing it, but there were too many beasts around. In his panic, while avoiding one, he idiotically ended up heading to the mouth of another instead. Standing on the battlement, the aborigines in the guard team looked in awe. To be honest, they had never seen so many enemies at once before so seeing the dark wave of volatile enemies did make them nervous. Among them was Mauru and his team, who were watching with complicated expressions. Every guard had their own scopes now and they could clearly see what was happening. They were so ready for a big fight, would the mobs take care of everything? Of course, the easier the fight the better, but they lived for war and the contribution points that it brought. They also wanted to test things out! A few of their younger members who had reached level 10 in the past few months actually activated the physical type of powers! One person got super strength while another got superspeed! It was unbelievable! As for how it was triggered, it was still up to study, but everyone was positive this wouldn''t have happened if they weren''t in Alterra! After all, everyone had been living together for years, yet no one had awakened such skills at all! They also wanted to add more contribution points, because that meant their lifestyles would improve even more! "Well, the enemy is a lot. They might just take care of the mobs for us." "Well, I can test out my super strength later on." Their stances were a little relaxed but still tense enough to be able to react, should a battle suddenly get to them. Unexpectedly, they saw something interesting amongst the attacking crowd. "Hey, look!" Essan yelled as he looked over his scope. "What is it?" "Look for yourself," he said, handing over the scope to his companions. They didn''t know what to expect peeking through it, but the person who did gasped. This made Mauru and the others very curious. "What is it?" he said, taking the scope to see for himself anyway. His jaw clenched. "It''s Hemeppo!" "What?" Hemeppo was one of the bastards who destroyed their old home and killed their kind-hearted Lord!! So he was part of this alliance? Mauru and the others watched as the enemy lord tried to fight off the monsters, calling his own forces to fight with him. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Most of them were too busy securing their own lives though, so except for the unlucky guards who happened to be next to him, Hemeppo was pretty much on his own. Hemeppo was indeed in a pinch. He wasn''t planning on joining the fight at all! He was just here to watch the show and throw in a few slaves to contribute, and receive very good ones as rewards. Sure, the ones he sent were practically useless, but who was counting? Anyway, his plan was to watch from safety near the arrays, and maybe find a way to get more favor from Basset Town along the way. But who''d have expected such a large mob coming from behind?! It was too late for them to get back through the array and they had no choice but to run deeper into the war zone. "HELP!!" the citizens yelled, but Hemeppo was busy hiding behind others, slowly getting near the walls. Hiding behind people''s corpses and bodies, he eventually reached the scope of the sentries. The person who activated a superspeed ability was a teenager named Mashan. He narrowed his eyes at Hemeppo. He was one of the witnesses of their lord''s death. His uncle was the only family he had left. If Mauru and the others didn''t pull him with them, he''d definitely have lunged towards the enemy to get his revenge even at the cost of his own life! Staying in Alterra had calmed down his bitterness bit by bit, but seeing this bastard still alive definitely ignited his flame. Without thinking, Mashan entered the fray, using his newfound skills to arrive next to him. "What¡ª" Hemeppo (and Mauin and the others from the walls, for that matter) yelled at his sudden appearance there. "For my uncle!" he yelled, jumping up to kick Hemeppo right in the head, causing him to fall smack on the ground, losing all balance. Mashan did not stay anymore¡ªas much as he wanted to¡ªimmediately using much of his mana to get back to the safety of the walls. He managed to get back in time to see Hemeppo''s fate. Hemeppo was still down on the ground and tried to lift himself up, but was stepped on by other people without noticing. Even if they did, no one really cared. The Lord coughed and struggled to lift his head, rolling out of the way of another stampede. However, when he managed to do so, he only saw a smaller monster with red eyes and razor-sharp teeth looking at him. "GAHHH!" he screamed, trying to crawl away from the monster. It jumped towards him, opening its mouth wide and bit Hemeppo''s upper body, thrusting up to pull off meat for consumption. Hemeppo''s shoulder was bitten off and he could see part of his body separating from him. His eyes were wide, mind whirling and unable to absorb the fact that that was really part of his body taken away from him. This pause was enough for a few more monsters to notice him there, taking him apart one by one for their own feasts. And so was the anticlimactic end of an ambitious man. Chapter 1104 Insult to Injury The Mauin Villagers watched on as the man responsible for the fall of their old home was ripped apart by monsters. They cheered, and some even cried. They were not sadists, but seeing this felt like another piece of the world was put in the right place. The others in the battlement were curious about what they were cheering about, though they didn''t move from their positions. Regardless of what was happening, they were still in a war. What if, in their distraction, an enemy archer somehow managed to target them? Worse, what if a high-jumping monster suddenly appeared and bit off their heads. Cringe. That was very unlikely, of course, since unlike other villages their walls were above a five-meter tall wall. Still, who''d want to die in some ''freak accident''? Anyway, while all this was ongoing, some sharper aborigines were quiet. They just stared in the direction where Hemeppo died. Mauru narrowed his eyes. "If he''s part of the alliance, then he''d have sent forces. Slaves, at least...." This made everyone near him pause and look at him. Essan shook. "If some of our former fellowmen are still alive and are slaves¡­" Mauru nodded. "...they could be here." The former Mauin citizens flinched at this, and they immediately turned in the direction of the avenues. It had been so long and they didn''t want to get their hopes up. But¡­ what if? ¡­ Like the Mauins, there were also a lot of Aborigine teams that had formed through the months. One was Shinho''s team, who were among the refugees during the Heat Wave. He was allowed to form his own team from the mixed-origin refugee group he made back then. Like the Mauin, they had also strived hard to get contribution points and they had been living very well. They watched with apt attention as many of the enemies fought with monsters, at the same time they also saw a lot running towards the walls. No doubt, they were planning on pushing their luck to get in the territory rather than get mauled by monsters. Several formations were broken and the enemy side was in an embarrassingly chaotic state. Instead of helping each other they either left the others or literally pushed them to monsters'' mouths. The guards looked at the thousands of people running towards the walls. Before, they were attacking out of greed. If they had a way out of this, they would''ve just run away. However, they had no place else to go but the wall. Now, instead of their own hubris, the enemies were now running towards them out of desperation. And desperate people would definitely have bursts of power. Well¡ªwhatever happened¡ªthey''ll be ready! ¡­ The enemies had indeed become desperate. Instead of fighting the mob, it was better to go inside and be protected by the walls! Anyway, those damned bastards steal the last kill anyway!! The number of times they struggled to kill a monster¡ªmaybe even losing a limb or an ally in the process¡ªonly for a random arrow to take its life when the monster was already half-dead was innumerable! They''d rather deal with Alterrans than the monsters! Most of them couldn''t do so before because they were trapped within the large mobs, but some had managed to escape and desperately run for it. However, Alterrans knew this, so how could they do nothing? By the time the enemies had reached the walls, they realized that all of their access had been taken down while they were busy with the monsters! Some just needed to be propped up, while some were outright destroyed during the chaos. "DAMNIT!" "DAMN YOU ALTERRANS!!" Worse¡­ sometimes, smoke bombs would be thrown in some sections of the Resso crowd. They specifically targeted the areas with stronger citizens. For instance, the area where Temp was. What did they spray? Beast Attracting Potions!! ROAAARR!! "AHHH!" These people had no choice but to handle the monsters it attracted. Perhaps only Temp didn''t have any major injuries at this time. Most of the Level 20s were also showing signs of exhaustion by now. But what could they do? Those damned beasts were running after them, and they had no choice but to do their best in handling them!! What made it even worse was that they could hear some cheering from the walls. "Go guys! Kill those monsters!" "Thank you!!" S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Your sacrifice is not in vain!" DAMN ITT!!! ¡­ In all parts of the battlement, there was someone guarding, making sure that the enemies were not able to enter at all. Those monsters were scary! In terms of average levels, Alterrans were technically not superior to their enemies. In terms of numbers, they were even less! If they had to handle this mob on their own, there would definitely be deaths! Better the enemies than them! Near the Eastern gate, Mao and the others were watching another good portion of the enemy fighting against the monsters. Many of the level 20s were in this area, so they were putting up a good fight, taking down a monster or two every couple of moments. This side had flatter Terran so they had better views. Although they were ready to fight at a moment''s notice, someone couldn''t help but take out the bucket of popcorn he stored in space. It was placed as a hat on his head, so his hands were free to hold weapons while popcorn was being fed to him. This was none other than Mao, because of course it is. "I wonder who we''d end up battling? The humans or the monsters?" He asked, his body was ready to move at any time, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes. Luis lifted his arms and took a handful of popcorn in his free hand. It was cheese flavor, his favorite. "Well, which one would you prefer?" "I''d like the humans to win," Luis said. "At least we can use the survivors as prisoners of war." Strong prisoners of wars¡ªas long as they became system slaves¡ªwere really useful. There was a lot less guilt involved, and even less ''maintenance'' because they require a lot less rest, food, and time to recover from fatigue. "I agree," Mao said, though looking at the strong monsters. They''re fewer in number than the humans, but everyone knew the discrepancy in overall strength was big. As he chewed on his snack, an idea came to mind. Mao turned to Luis. "Wanna bet?" Luis blinked before nodding. "Sure." "Okay, I bet the monsters," Mao said. "I bet 10 gold." Luis thought for a while. "Then I''d go with humans." "Deal." "Deal." And they shook their cheese-filled hands. If the enemies knew this kind of bet was going around, they''d definitely go insane in anger! Chapter 1105 The New Underground Bunker A/N: Thank you for your support everyone~!! We are so stable in T1 spot right now I wanna cry. I managed to make 3 bonus chaps for today, though I haven''t edited them yet. There''s a chance one or two chaps would be uploaded later than usual~ Do bear with me! ... ____ Inside the territory, people weren''t relaxing either. A lot of the civilians were inside their homes, but they had a window or two facing the streets open so they could shoot enemies as they arrived. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A lot of traps were also set up in the parks and other open spaces. Of course, they could only do minor traps designed to hold people, lest a citizen accidentally triggered it instead. There were also teams¡ªguards and civilians alike¡ªwho created barricades here and there, directing enemies towards the traps or otherwise just making sure they were more manageable, and there were also teams waiting in certain spots for ambush. As for the protection of the children as well as the other people who would not be able to protect themselves, they created an emergency bunker that was separate from the usual cellars and their tunnels. This was designed specifically for protection against outside enemies and was therefore designed to thoroughly protect whoever was inside. This was located in the Western areas of the territory where the soil was rocky but without their tunnels. It was dug to more than several meters deep by the goblins, was as big as a few warehouses combined, and was lined with reinforced concrete all over. They also made sure that new access or breaches wouldn''t happen either. Even if the enemies employed goblin slaves to dig through it, they wouldn''t be able to do anything. This was another advantage of having goblin allies¡ªthey could prepare them well if their kind were allied or were trapped with the enemies. Similarly, earth users would also have a hard time breaking it open. Even if it was the same ability as Reno, whose earth was adobe, the crystallized and reinforced structure of the bunker would make it incredibly difficult or even impossible to damage by pure force. At the very least, Reno was asked to check it out, and he barely made a dent despite consuming all his mana. One had to know that the walls of this bunker were more than half-a-meter, which was twice a person''s depth. It also had complete facilities for survival. It had a store room with food and water that could support hundreds of people for a week, or a few thousand for a few days. There were also public toilets, and some bunk beds people could use to rest in. Of course, to minimize the risks of spies and people who simply wanted to hide despite having the ability to defend themselves, the criteria for entering were quite strict. Only children 11 years old and below, old people above 60 years old (or older, if their levels were high), and the physically disabled were allowed inside. They¡ªor at least those who could actually talk or write properly¡ªhad to make oaths, too (at their costs). The others were not allowed to enter at all and could even be punished¡ªor even go to prison¡ªif they insisted on doing so. For security, there were at least a dozen guards inside the bunker, not counting the ones outside and the Level 5 sentries guarding the one way to the bunker. Speaking of sentries, there were also level 3 sentries lining the walls and located in certain spots at the center (which was why they designed it to have 3 meter ceiling heights). They were simply customized to appear like they were columns or part of the structure. Every corner and the central areas of the bunker had it and¡ªconsidering the place wasn''t too big¡ªif anyone decided to be violent, then at least two or three sentries would be gunning for him. There were also two guards in guard stations above eye level. They were archers stationed inside a small protected room, and could immediately make a move if there was an emergency the guards on the ground were not able to handle. Because most of the people here were children, there was also a nook of board games there to help them pass the time without causing too much headaches to the adults. In fact, Maya, Horus, and the group were playing jengga in a corner, while Mimi, Honda, and the rest were playing the local version of snakes-and-ladders (kongworms-and-stumps) in another. There was also a corner specifically for babies, and there were quite a few Terrans and goblin babies in there. There were even little wheels and puzzles for their age, hoping to occupy them for the entire day. The newborn babies had the exemption of being with their mothers of course, anyway all of them had pledged a lot of oaths a long time ago. So now there was a circle of mothers with their babies. Many of them wanted to join the war, but they were still breastfeeding and it wasn''t a good idea to do so. Anyway, Althea did everything to make sure her children were protected without belittling her own responsibility to the territory. Anyway, after settling her children, she prepared to leave them behind with the other kids. However, her babies weren''t making things easier for her. "Mammaaa! No gooo!!" Meatball screamed with that milky voice of his. Pepper wasn''t any better, sobbing quietly into the fabric of her pants. "Mamaaaaaaaa¡­ wuuuuu¡­" She tilted her head down to stare at the little dumplings grabbing her pants. They grabbed as much of her calves as they could with their little arms. They were even shorter than her knees, how much could they hold? Lola and Yana, who were just within the age limit, once again were assigned to nanny the two kids. They grabbed a child each and pulled them away from her legs. They were helpless against the adult forces and could only reach out for her with those pitiful faces that made everyone''s hearts hurt. "Wuuu¡­." "Mamma¡­..wuuu¡­." Althea was really reluctant to go, but she knew she couldn''t just stay here and hide for now. They were going against tens of thousands of enemies on top of some town-level beasts. Perhaps someday she could be reassured enough to hide in here with the children, but this was not the time for that right now. She could only sigh and walk over, smooching both of their soft faces. Speaking of which, they usually didn''t give her this much trouble when it was a normal work day. For some reason, they just seemed to have the instinct that she was heading somewhere dangerous. If one thought about it that way, then it was a bit heartbreaking. "Be good, my children," she told them. They didn''t know how to ask ''why'' yet but their eyes definitely exclaimed of it. "Because¡­ Mummy has to help protect our home," she said. "Alterra is also part of our family, you know." She told them. It was created for you, she wanted to say, but she could only express it in her emotions. She once again leaned down to kiss their foreheads. "Mummy will be back¡ªand with a stronger home." Chapter 1106 Althea Back in Eastern Gates Yana and Lola distracted the babies by bringing them to the play space. Maya and the other kids also scooted over and played with them, effectively distracting them long enough so she could leave. Althea went up the bunker''s tall stairs and to the bright sky outside. She took a deep breath. She really preferred the open space like this. Next time, she''d add some plants or vertical gardens in the bunker to make it less suffocating. As she emerged from the tunnels though, a furry critter jumped over. "Woof!!" She smiled, lifting her hand to pet the dog. He was large now, almost at her height. His fur was very fluffy and soft to touch, and it was relaxing in its own right. "Woof! Woof!" Fufi barked, rubbing his head deeper into her petting. Obviously, he quite liked it. "I''ll depend on you guys to protect the kids, okay?" she said, and she also looked at the couple of guards behind him. They were all assigned at the entrance of the bunker, prepared to protect it at the cost of their lives. She never asked this of them of course, but she could see it in their eyes that they were willing to do so. As the Lord, how could she not want to spoil them a bit? After the war, she took note of giving a few more bonuses to the guard team. She didn''t say any of this though. Instead, she turned to the side to look at Oslo. "I''d really rather you stay here," she said. Oslo smiled, before shaking his head. "With all due respect, my ability would be far more useful in the main warzone. Oslo was originally assigned to this guard team. However, even if he had limited mobility as a person above the level limit, his ability to trap people was particularly useful. He could also kill beasts directly, which could really save lives. So, she had to agree in the end. Mathilda was also outside, followed by a few personal guards¡ªincluding her daughter, Gwen and her husband Ryan. She naturally couldn''t hide when her main abilities were so useful to keeping peace even during wars. It was a bit risky, but her presence outside had already outed two spies who wanted to attack her. Ryan''s shieldsman profession was really useful, especially the skill called [Automatic Cover] which would activate his ability the moment a threat appeared. Of course, how effective this was still depended on his ability and remaining mana. Mathilda and Althea greeted each other before heading back to their stations. "Let''s go," she said to Oslo, who followed closely behind her. "Time to join in this war." ¡­ They arrived at the Eastern gate a couple of minutes later. The chaos outside was intense and the area right under the walls was filled with humans and beasts trying to get into the walls and kill each other as they did so. Her eyes twitched when she saw Mao and a few guards with marks of cheese on their hands and mouths but she didn''t say anything. Even if they appeared a bit careless, she knew they had the ability to recover before any damage would be done. She took out her bow and arrow, ready to shoot down any threats that would be climbing up the walls. Of course, other than that she wouldn''t bother wasting mana, especially since the enemies were useful in handling each other. For example, she would attack the monsters who were only targeting the walls, but ignore the ones taking down enemies some meters away. She was only Level 17, after all, and she still could not maximize her Bellagio bow in the sense that she could just take down hundreds of level 14s and level 15s monsters with little to no consequences to her. She should be thankful. Seeing this mob of predominantly level 10s to 15s¡­ she felt a little shiver. It was much stronger than they anticipated. According to the Ferrol notebook, their upgrade mob was predominantly Level 8s to 10s only. Without these people, they''d have taken a lot of losses. She should be thankful to them in a sense. If they survived¡ªassuming they weren''t evil¡ªshe would consider giving them slightly lighter sentences for their ''sacrifice''. At the same time, she also took this chance¡ªwhile the monsters were mostly preoccupied with enemies¡ªto observe them. This would be the normal mob they''d encounter as a Town; it was better to know them well. Of course, because Garan and the others trained near a Town, they naturally knew a lot about many of these beasts, but there were still some new ones she ought to know more of. Not to mention, there might be some observations they missed. ROAAARRR! The most familiar one had to be the Orgoi, which was a common monster near Ferrol Town. When she went there for the Beast Fair, she encountered a small mob of them, too. Orgois ranged from level 13 to 15 and had a similar appearance to the Terran hippopotamus, except it was bigger, black, and not cute at all. Basically, if the level gap wasn''t large, then a bite from this thing could crush a person''s skull. However, a lot were also new, particularly those coming from the East. She saw one that was jumping around and was quickly going from one place to another, a human''s head missing from wherever it was just at. It was a bit furry, around as tall as a human, but it was much swifter and had a terrifying face. Seeing a new beast, she hung her bow on her arms and took out her Beast notebook from the space. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She took a rough sketch and took note of its movements. It preferred to skip several meters¡ªas if it was unable to land closeby¡ªand she reckoned it had to do with its springy body structure. That was to say, one of the ways to counter it was to determine where it would not land, and attack from there. Mao and the other''s eyes twitched when they saw her with her notebook out taking notes. Hey, if the enemies knew they were being used to observe beasts like this, would they feel even worse? "As expected from Miss Althea¡­ the paragon of scholarly pursuits¡­" Luis said, coughing. "Well, we will see her notes in books soon." "AH, that''s true." Anyway, while Miss Althea was increasing the territory''s knowledge base, then one of their tasks was to make sure she could do it peacefully! Chapter 1107 Defending the Walls Althea decided to observe for a few more minutes before going into defensive mode again. She had limited mana anyway, and it was best to use her overpowered weapons against stronger monsters, particularly those that would still give her experience points. "Anyway, back to positions!" Mao yelled, seeing as more and more monsters were piling up below by a few meters. After the monsters got near, they would prefer to attack the walls, just because the ''aether'' was stronger there. It was why the people desperately tried running towards the wall in hopes of losing the monster''s attention. However, how easy could it be? Except for the first people who managed to flush themselves against the walls¡ªsome even managing to dig a small corner for themselves¡ªthe rest were not so lucky. It was really a gruesome sight. Whether it was monsters or humans, they were trying to go up the unscalable 5-meter-walls¡ªwhich, at this point, could only be done by piling up on one another. There would be humans trying to climb above monsters. Some would succeed, while some would only get swallowed from below. Similarly, there were also monsters stabbed by people trying to use them to go up. They were so desperate they often forgot there were still several layers of obstacles above the walls. "Hey did you start counting?" Luis-the-obstacle asked, holding up his sword after waving a fire whip downwards, causing a lot of beasts to slide down. He couldn''t directly attack people because he was way past the level cap, but he could definitely get beasts to crush the humans in his stead. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I think I''ll win the bet," he said, counting the number of humans still moving. There were a lot¡ªand most of them used their brains very well when it came to hiding, avoiding attacks, and so on. Mao''s eyebrows furrowed. "Huh?" he asked, narrowing his eyes as he looked down. "Obviously there are more monsters right now, right?" Luis shook his head. "Have you forgotten? There are fewer monsters in areas not in the gates. Of course there are more monsters in this place." At this, Mao paled, and he looked down. Piles of earth floated around him, intimidating humans. He couldn''t attack them directly but he could use the stones to push them back¡ªright into the mouths of monsters. "I will protect my 10 Gold!" The battles had gotten near, and a lot of people were well within earshot. Further, because Mao and Luis stood a couple of meters apart and were having their own fights (i.e. obstacles), they tended to yell at each other. So the enemies heard this bet loud and clear. "YOU BAS¡ª" It naturally made them very angry, but also very distracted. One of the men there¡ªa level 18¡ªwanted to throw a sword at them, but he ended up losing balance as he stepped on something. When he fell down, he lost all sight¡ªbecause his head was eaten up by a monster that appeared out of nowhere. "GAHHH!" "One down," Mao said, nodding. Luis then lifted his sword and sent a flame blade and split a level 8 monster in half. "One down, too." Mao sneered and started to target the nearby humans one by one too, and so did Luis. The others just rolled their eyes and focused on the battles at hand. The monsters were starting to jump dangerously close to them now, and it was only a matter of a few moments before their own fights would start. "Ready!" they yelled, and everyone was prepared to attack. Their sights were mostly directly below though, forgetting that there was a beast type that specialized in distant attacks. Suddenly, a shadow appeared right by the battlement, right above Mao''s head. It was a monster akin to a bipedal feline with a terrifying face and large arms¡ªwith paws that could destroy a person''s face with a swipe. "WHOA!" Fortunately, despite his lackadaisical appearance, Mao¡ªand the others¡ª developed very strong instincts. Before the monster could hit Mao''s head, a line of soil appeared in front of it, taking all of the force. Crash! As the monster''s palms destroyed the rock, an arrow appeared from its side, going through its head. [Killed! Leapard (Lv13)! Gained +470 EXP, +470 Copper!] Althea put down her bow and arrow. Because she was taking note of this monster, she had an idea where it was going to go next. Seeing that the battle was upon them, she immediately hid her notebook and took up weapons again¡ªjust in time to take this kill. Mao and the others wouldn''t receive experience from it anyway, so it was already an accepted norm for her to take the last kill when she was nearby. Still, this attack seemed to serve as a signal for more and more monsters to arrive. Further, it seemed like they were not just stepping over other monsters¡ªthey were also using the nearby trees. The Leapard, in particular, was very good at this. Not to mention, it was also fast enough¡ªand its movements unconventional enough¡ªto avoid some sentries. Althea took note of cutting down (and preventing growth) trees a few meters away from the walls to prevent this in the future. Speaking of that, if they weren''t in a war during this beast mob, then it was estimated that a lot of these monsters would''ve jumped over the walls by now and caused trouble inside the territory. If a few of these managed to enter, then it''d have been quite troublesome. Gulp. Well, fortunately, they also had a lot of ''meatshields'' to distract most of them. ¡­ In any case, the monster mobs had arrived near them and had found the territory more fascinating than the other humans outside. Especially near the gates, monsters started heading toward the wall without care for the sentries. Similarly, the humans were trying to climb up the other areas relentlessly. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The arrows, sentries or not, finally rained down, and the humans in the path could only scream as many of them were hit in the process. Some died like this, suddenly reminded that¡ªafter everything¡ªthe Alterrans hadn''t shown any of their cards yet. So many of them had been killed and destroyed, but¡ªstrictly speaking¡ªAlterra had barely even lifted a hand! What were they thinking attacking such a territory? But it was too late for regrets because they would join the thousands of people who perished due to a few people''s stupid decisions¡ªand a lot of people''s greed. Chapter 1108 The Last Attempts A/N: Sorry this one''s late! I had stuff going on and didn''t have much time to edit. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, this is 5 of 5 of today''s chapters! I hope you enjoyed and again: THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!! *hugs* ... ____ Now that Alterra made a move, it felt like a barrage of attacks they could no longer avoid. A lot of the smarter humans though, had managed to find the safe spots of staying against the wall¡ªburied in the angle between the wall and the ground¡ªand keeping themselves as low as possible. This way, they would almost be flush to the wall and the ground and it was unlikely to get hit by the arrows'' projectiles. At the same time, the monsters¡ªwhich were now more attracted by the aether of the walls instead of them¡ªdidn''t see them anymore. One such person was Jest, who was among the first to do this. He was one of the vanguards after the slaves were led inside, and it was a miracle he was still alive (and whole) until now. He also managed to dig a bit of the surrounding soil so that he could enter the shallow depression, lowering his presence as much as he could. He was now lying down to minimize his exposed surface area, but at the same time, he was so exposed to the gore that was happening right in front of his eyes¡ªliterally! Crush! Crunch! Squelch! He wanted to vomit and cry as another person''s innards splashed at his face. His entire body was now covered with them. They were from different people and from beasts, but he had no choice but to just stay still. He¡­ had never expected he''d experience such a horror in such a place. He was used to just helping the subsidiary villagers inside the walls. Unlike the others, he avoided violence, though there were plenty of times he had no choice but to defend himself. Still, compared to others, the blood and gore he was exposed to... definitely did not compare to what he was seeing now! As someone from a town, he had naturally seen similar monsters before. However, in those cases, the people he was hunting with were people from Towns and were not taken aback by the strengths of monsters. Of course, his share of the loot was the bare minimum, but what could he do? His strength wasn''t so special. This was different for the people of Resso Village and the others. They were definitely not equipped to deal with such high-level mobs. Anyway, more and more people realized this and soon the walls were lined up with crawling enemies trying to melsh with the walls. More and more humans dragged themselves to hide within the safety of the walls, though ironically not even inside it. By the time most of the beasts targeted the walls and the gates, the perimeter of the walls in this area was filled with humans trying to bury themselves. Some of the Alterrans who saw this from their angle didn''t mind this for now. They just focused on handling the monsters on-hand. In the end, as long as the human wasn''t evil, they really would prefer sparing their lives when they could. Anyway, considering the number of people who attacked, a lot of them would end up being official ''slaves'' anyway. ROOOARRR! BANG! Now, the beasts were more of a problem to them. Although a good portion had been handled, there were still a lot of them in the end. Not to mention, the majority of the beasts attacked either of the two gates, so it was not a surprise that they were being troublesome here. Of course, even earlier, the guards weren''t just watching while the enemies fought with the beasts (well, most of them weren''t). They did make sure to lighten up the loads later on by targeting the particularly strong ones while they were distracted by the humans. They also preferred it if fights were easier once the mob reached the walls. For example, archers like Loki, Sammy, and the like targetted the level 14 or 15 Orgois, one of the common monsters in the Ferrol area. Since they camped around the area, Garan and a lot of Guards had memorized its weakness like the back of their hands. Even if they didn''t have such powerful weapons as Miss Althea, by virtue of their knowledge (and elements), they did manage to kill the monsters in one shot. [Killed! Orgoi (Lv15)! Gained +520 EXP, +520 Copper!] [Killed! Orgoi (Lv15)! Gained +520 EXP, +520 Copper!] The soldiers like Garan and the others had their own scopes, too, though the rest of them were away from the gates to handle the human enemies that were concentrated elsewhere. One had to know: Alterra had more than ten thousand meters of wall to guard. This was not a small place at all! The number of guards was not enough to fully guard all points of the territory. However, in Alterra, that was not much of a problem. There were plenty of brave citizens in all parts of the wall, and there was no meter that didn''t have someone guarding it. To the aborigines watching this war, this was amazing. Unlike other Villages upgrading to Towns¡ªwhich usually had more than 30 to 40 thousand population by the time they reached the prestige requirements¡ªAlterra only had around 20,000 at the time. And yet somehow, despite the low population, Alterra managed to have guards in all parts of the territory simply because almost everyone wanted to contribute to the Village''s safety. Anyway, the citizens guarded along with the sentries, and the couple of ballista bolts they had helped out. Due to the fact that there were a lot of human enemies, everyone was discouraged from going down the walls, so the archers and the spearmen were the ones with the most kills. Among the citizens were the twins Luke and Leo, who were stationed somewhere Northwest of the territory. It was far from the gate, but it was also a likely spot for enemies to sneak in. They had indeed tried, but before they could finish setting up, Luke would either burn their access or kick them down. The guards and those beyond the level cap would also use their abilities to push the humans to the monsters'' mouths. Although the beasts were far fewer here than in the gates, they were still of a formidable number. The enemy team''s general in these parts was killed by the sudden appearance of monsters, so they didn''t have the strategy to deal with the monsters first before going against Alterra. For the most part, the humans focused on running away from the monsters to head to the walls, as if Alterra''s sentries would only attack the beasts more than it would attack them. This actually had some logic to it¡ªthe sentries definitely did prioritize taking down beasts. However, Alterra''s archers weren''t blind nor were they biased! Of course, despite the enemies'' many blunders, there were still many of them in numbers. A lot of them were also quite strong, so there were still a few breaches in the end. It was just that these people who managed to enter the territory would feel relieved too early. They were just relieved to finally rid of the beasts that had been relentlessly haunting them for an hour! It was to the point that they forgot¡­ that there were still plenty of things that could kill them inside! Chapter 1109 A Few Leaks and Bugs (Part 1) With the monsters now targeting the walls again, it gave time for the humans outside to finally enter. This was especially so in areas with the least amount of monsters, farther from the gates. With the sheer amount of enemies and beasts, even if both sides had weakened each other, there were still a couple of elites who managed to enter. For example, there were a few from the Rongo Mercenary Team here. They were filled with injuries all over. None of them were lethal, but they were in definite pain. They had been running along the walls in search for a weak spot. They were left with only a portion of mana and spirit so they no longer tried to fight for their lives; they just focused on escaping. Eventually, somewhere near the territory''s Northwest, they found it. It was an area where their side was closing in on the battlement, so the forces along the walls were concentrated towards the nearby leaks. "There!" one said, "An opening!" He and a handful of level 20s dashed forward. They also grabbed a few people''s heads into their palms, dragging their struggling bodies as if they were rags. They were used either to block sentries and the archers'' arrows, and then thrown into beasts'' mouths for maximum uses. After that, they took out the last of their Class D shields and, after rushing over, they did reach the gates. Using the slaves and allies along the walls as bolsters, they jumped up to the battlements with their lives and all their limbs. Luke and Leo gasped as several level 20s appeared near them. There were many guards there too, but they were all busy with the mobs in their sections. The mercenaries'' eyes reddened as they finally saw a damned Alterran! The vindictiveness in their hearts was more than whatever they had felt before! So, while most of the mercenaries just desperately went past the walls, there were also others who wanted to vent as soon as they saw the opportunity. Unexpectedly, the twins backed up, joining their companions a few meters away. This was obviously to team up with them¡ªbut only if the mercenaries decided to attack. Otherwise, they were free to enter! "Che! That''s all you can do!" he yelled, before jumping back down. After triggering the flares, Luke and Leo just sighed, focusing on the new arrivals who had been trying to ride on the momentum the mercenaries created. Sad for them, they weren''t as strong nor were they as well equipped as those mercenaries so they were easily taken down. The civilians and guards who were weaker than the enemies did not block the enemies with their lives. It was not because they didn''t want to, but because it was the standard operating procedure. If the enemy was overwhelmingly stronger¡ªthat was: more than 5 levels higher, had much better equipment, and very little chance of winning¡ªthey were asked to let them be and just trigger the flares to alert everyone else of leaks. Their captains emphasized one thing before the war: Alterra had no need for them dead. It wasn''t like the interiors were helpless. Rather, the defenses inside¡­ were even more intense in a sense. Trust Alterra, they said. And trust it they did. ¡­ [You have failed to follow the rules of war. -500 gold, -50000 experience, -10% permanent reduction to Spirit and Mana.] The mercenaries landed at the wide easement immediately after the wall, and they only realized how exposed they were when they barely avoided a few arrows straight at them! "AH!" "Damn!!" They were so desperate to just get out of the chaos outside they forgot they were entering enemy territory! Anyway, there was no other way. They just rushed towards the nearest streets. Some went separately, while some went together. They really didn''t have the mind to think too much because there was a heck of a lot of arrows heading their way! Whoosh! They saw a colorful cloud of smoke fly up from nearby, and the next thing they knew, they could hear people''s yells. "Trespassers!" They immediately heard group after group of people heading in their direction. They cursed rushing over random streets. They ended up separating into groups, heading to different streets in hopes that their team would be able to escape. One group¡ªcomprised of three mercenaries ranging from level 19 to level 21¡ªheaded further northwards. According to their information, there was a lot less population in the mountainous areas so they were planning on hiding out there instead. However, they could not even go far as¡ª-at some point in one of the streets they traversed¡ªthey were met with a few shields blocking their way. "What¡ª" They turned when they heard scruffling from behind them, realizing there were now trapped in a wall of Class D shields! Above the shields they could also see some spears pointing up¡ªobviously ready to stab if they decided to go over them. The mercenaries gritted their teeth, feeling the shields closing in. System building walls could not be scaled, and it''d be hard to defend themselves if they went over, so they could only go through the shields¡ªhoping to imbalance it by brute force. At the very least, they still had some defense equipment that could protect their hearts and heads. Furthermore, even if the enemies had class D shields, most of its effectiviness would still depend on the user! They knew for certain that except for a couple of guards¡ªwho were busy in the battlements¡ªmost of the population averaged in the level 10s. Even if they were elementalists, how well could they use their abilities? Maybe they didn''t even know many skills. Such a gift was wasted on such weaklings! Anyway, with these arrogant thoughts, the three started to pound against a section together¡ªtheir swords ready to stab the moment an opening was made. The enemies were obviously of much lower levels than they were so in terms of brute strength they did overwhelm them a little. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Hold steady!" An order came from behind the shields, stabilizing the shields. The tone though, made their eyebrows rise. "A woman?" "Heh¡ª" "I did hear women are captains are¡ªI just didn''t believe it." "Are they idiots!" "It''s no wonder all they could do was hide behind their shields!" A stab appeared from below the knee. "AHHH!" one yelled, almost buckling down. His eyes twitched as he glared at the direction of the attack. "Don''t insult our captain!" they said. "It''s called using the brain¡ªsomething you don''t have!" Then¡­ another order came from the female voice they just insulted. Those were also one of the last words they''d hear alive. "STAB!" she yelled. "They will not leave that spot alive!" Chapter 1110 A Few Leaks and Bugs (Part 2) Cassie had been too used to being looked down on, so nothing really bothered her. At the very least, Terran was a place where women could have their own high self-worth, so words from the ignorant didn''t affect her. However, her people¡ªespecially the aborigine men¡ªwere more offended than she was. Understandably so. It was not only for her sake, but also theirs. After all, if she was insulted, they¡ªwho were under her¡ªwere as well. Stab! Stab!! It happened quickly, but it felt like a lot of things happened. The Alterrans stabbed and stabbed until they hit a weakness and destroyed the enemy''s equipment. Not to mention: Equipment¡­ was a little more susceptible to Elementalist''s attacks. Most of the guards were already awakened elementalists by now¡ªsomething the enemy should know, but hadn''t encountered yet so even if they wanted to believe they were prepared¡ªthey actually weren''t. They also underestimated how much knowledge was passed down from person to person here, regardless of their relationship. In such an environment, how could an elementalist not learn at least one skill before joining the war? In some wise man''s quote: "They are akin the babies pulling a tiger''s beard." Blissfully ignorant. So when they were showered by elements and trapped within the shields, their hearts were actually shocked. "AHHHH!" "NOO!" "STOP IT!!!" The men screamed as they were showered not just with physical attacks but also by various elements. They naturally struggled, but what could the three of them do with such a barrage but try to push through? Someone tried to jump over, too, but he was immediately barraged by elements and spears from below. Because he was in-air, he was not able to defend himself at all! He fell down and used much of his remaining strength to join the others. There was strength in numbers in the end, though in their case they ended up using each other as meatshields. While trying to find ways to escape, they pushed the others, and they did the same. It was idiotic and it looked more like they were headless flies. At the same time, what else could they do but delay their deaths? They were actually more unlucky than those outside. At this point, the Alterrans knew that most of the fights would stop outside the walls, so there was no need for them to hold back too much. They could torture these bastards as much as they wanted. A couple of minutes later, the three mercenaries were filled with wounds, holes, and burns, and only their upper chest to head areas¡ªwhich were defended by either Class E or Class D Defense equipment remained intact. Barely. At some point, their equipment gave way and they were now officially half-dead. This was in sharp contrast to the Alterran Guards, who only lost a bit of mana. The Alterrans did not take a second and started attacking. Two of the mercenaries succumbed almost immediately, while one''s eyes turned red and he went berserk. He felt he was going to die¡ªsomething he really didn''t believe would happen when he accepted the mission¡ªbut now that he was, he was determined to take someone with him!! He lunged towards them with his final bit of life. He no longer had weapons¡ªit was destroyed during the barrage¡ªbut he was intent on tackling and pounding at least one to death. It so happened that some people let down their guards when they saw two had already perished. Some parts of the shield wall had visibly slacked, and he took advantage of this to take his last shot. "HYAAAA!" He yelled as he pushed, ramming into one of the guards!! It happened to be the leader too, Cassie. However, Bumi appeared in front of her, taking the hit. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. BANG! They fell some meters away with Bumi on the ground and the mercenary over him with raised arms. It didn''t matter who it was, he didn''t have the energy to capture another. Using all his remaining strength, he used one of his few skills¡ªone that didn''t require a weapon¡ªto inflict a serious blow smack on his face. [Overdrive Punch] BANG! "Bumi!" The mercenary heard a slight crack but that was it. Other than that, he realized he didn''t cause any damage at all. His eyes went wide but he was stabbed to the neck the next moment, and he died not knowing what had happened. The person who killed the mercenary was Emer, one of the ''weaker'' hires from the Village Center. He had befriended Bumi¡ªthey were practically best friends¡ªand they got even closer when they were assigned to the same team under Cassie. To be honest, he did feel a bit uncomfortable having a woman boss him around, but after the various dangerous situations their team experienced together¡ªa lot of which he was protected by the woman he looked down on¡ªand she quickly earned his heartfelt respect. He was also one of Bumi''s wingmen, though he was also blind to the issues of love so he had been pretty useless until now. Cassie immediately kneeled next to Bumi, who was still facing upward in a daze. She was relieved to see no injuries, but she saw him unmoving and her heart dropped. "Are you alright?" she asked, wondering if there were injuries they didn''t see. Unconsciously, her hand found his chest as if to check for injuries and it sent tingles in every pore of Bumi''s body. He looked electrocuted and he wiggled like a worm, placing a meter distance between him and Cassie. Cassie blinked, confused, while the others shook their heads. They just walked over to the ends of the streets, waiting for new trespassers while giving space to the two at the same time. "I-I''m fine," he said, "It''s the token¡­" "That crack¡­" she whispered. "Did it break?" All guards, in fact, had one protective token in their bodies¡ªat some point. It was just that since Althea was the only one who could create such magic tools, they were given merely as a ''starting gift'' to the guards. This meant that each guard, except for Althea''s closest friends, had only one. So, they didn''t dare be so careless with it, especially since it could only handle a few lethal shots if they were going against much stronger individuals or monsters. The Guard Team did, however, use a guard token as a reward for the best performers every season. So there was that. The guards were also the ones with the most contribution points so, worst come to worst, they could spend huge amounts of their points in the Contribution Store to get another. However, the fact that they were sparse and very expensive meant a lot. After all, in the right circumstances, a token meant a life. "I''ll find a way to replace it¡­" Cassie said, looking guilty. Bumi shook his head. "Yours is also on the verge of breaking now," he said. "You already saved me many times before, let me have this." Cassie thought for a moment as she stared into his eyes, knowing that he really meant it. Rather, insisting on replacing it would be diminishing his good deed. She bit her lips as she looked at him, nodding in the end. Bumi smiled, and for the first time Cassie thought the meek guy was a little handsome. Something had been shifting between the two for a while now, and it took another step forward at this moment. Chapter 1111 Cleaning up the Rats Meanwhile, the other group of mercenaries¡ªa bigger group with 6 people, all of whom were past level 20¡ªwere still running, unaware the other team had fallen not long after they had entered. Each area had their own strategies. In this one, it was redirecting the enemies into certain open spaces to be able to deal with them more cleanly. This was especially true when they judged the enemies to be quite strong, and the whole trapping-in-alleys strategy might not work because they''d just get barrelled through. Stronger people could also maximize their equipment, which could pose a bit of danger to them. In any case, the mercenaries were confused when they kept running into dead ends. They did not know some walls weren''t actually part ''system'' buildings but were temporary construction. Even if they did, who would have the time or energy to determine which one they could destroy? However, they didn''t think too much of the arrangement not only because they were in a rush, but also because it was a common arrangement in other places, especially villages that didn''t particularly plan where to build their houses. They knew arrangements like this too well¡ªafter all, they always took advantage of these dark nooks and crannies to do their thing, particularly sating an itch by pulling a random woman inside. They thought that was what they were going to do in this war! This place was filled with elementalist¡ªthough, to their knowledge, still at weak, manageable levels¡ªand rather than intimidated, they lusted for the force. Not to mention, their side knew that impregnating an elementalist had a high chance of resulting in elementalist offsprings! It was one of the things promised to them by the Lord and their boss, which was why the mercenaries sent on this mission were actually a lot more than what was usually sent in other village wars. Each of them had the dream of forming a harem of various elements! Many had actually vacated a house that would serve as the ''breeding ground'' for elementalists! Anyway, that dream was put on hold for now, and they just focused on getting deeper into the territory and finding a place to hide. So far, the doors were shut tight but there was someone pointing arrows at them from the windows. Considering how quickly the enemies were reacting, trying to go in a conflict with these people¡ªregardless of what their levels were¡ªwould just delay their escape. In their minds, this was probably the plan, because there was no way mere level 7s or 8s would dare expose themselves like this! They ran and ran, looking for a place where they could hide and disappear, at least until the beast mob was cleared. As for whether the territory would lose¡ªand therefore they would become slaves¡ªthey''d handle that later. At worst, they''d succumb and serve, entering an alliance with Alterra in the end. They didn''t believe that with their superior levels, they wouldn''t get good treatment even as slaves! When the time came, then they''d earn their freedom (they heard it was a possibility in Alterra) and they''d handle things from there. The point was: At least they''ll be alive. They could think of revenge later. Eventually, they ended up in a park with a lot of open spaces. They wondered where to go next when their instincts flared, immediately feeling the danger. Woosh! "AHHH!" one yelled as the large arrow finally destroyed his Class D shield. It already had several arrows¡ªsentries and archers alike¡ªand apparently, this last hit was its breaking point! "There''s a sentry!!" "Not just sentries!" One looked out and saw all the houses had arrows and crossbows directed at them. Without further ado, they were once again rained down by arrows. This time though, although some still had shields, those could only block one side! They had arrows from all sides trying to kill them. They could even hear some yells from one of the buildings. "Shoot! Shoot!" "This polybolo of yours is too heavy!" "Just shoot!" A lot of the people this time were civilians. After all, the battlements occupied most of the guards, so the interior depended on the civilians for the most part. At the very least, they were expected to hold out long enough for a couple of guards assigned there to arrive. Anyway, each zone would have a group of guards who could handle upper-level enemies, and therefore would be able to reach them fast enough just by sprinting. The civilians in this area included Troy, Fred, Lulu, and Bull1. They did not live in the area, but according to the plan, the enemies would be lured into open spaces so they didn''t use the buildings as cover and therefore let them waste precious mana, energy, and arrows. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Civilians were allowed to choose which open space to camp in, as long as every area had someone. There were also others like Thor and Limbo,1 who were refugees from the Heat Wave and had become friends with them. Thor and Limbo were already relatively seasoned elementalists, so they threw attacks on them too. Thor shot out his electric ''shots'' by mimicking a gun with his hand and shooting small sparks from it. It made the mercenaries shake and cringe. It didn''t do much damage considering the level differences, but it definitely annoyed the heck out of them. "Damnit!!" Limbo was hiding in a shrub nearby and placed his hands on the ground, liquifying the soil underneath the mercenaries'' feet. They sunk until their feet and, considering their strengths, it didn''t trap them for long. They jumped and pushed themselves up after a couple of moments, freeing themselves. However, it was enough for Thor to send them more sparks that actually caused some damage. The mercenaries naturally didn''t stay standing, though they did have trouble figuring out which way to go. Some jumped in Troy''s direction, another to Thor''s, while the others aimed to find open areas to make a run for it again. These people ran away even with a few arrows embedded into them, though they definitely wouldn''t be able to go far. Right when the deserters entered an alley, a splash of water was thrown at them. They only covered themselves just by instinct, and therefore had a delayed reaction when the water transformed into a whip, hitting them smack to the wall. "Wha¡ª" The next thing they knew swordsmen appeared in front of them¡ªfinishing them off after a few moves. Back in the park, a level 22 or 23 mercenaries jumped straight to the civilians'' areas, with Troy and the others immediately prepared to run away. Although these people would get penalized even more for hurting them, they were brainless enough to enter deep into the territory, who knew what other stupid thing they were willing to do to vent? Anyway, they naturally had hiding spots they could use when this happened, and they rushed to do so the moment the mercenary headed in their direction. However, before he could jump onto the balcony, a shield suddenly appeared in front of him while he was mid-air. "Stop right there, jerk," the new voice said. This was Jake, who controlled his shield to block the mercenary''s path. A second later, the mercenary was pushed back quickly and he wasn''t able to catch his balance in time before he landed. The next thing he knew his back was stabbed with an earth spike! "AH!" He gasped, looking down at his chest. His defensive equipment had apparently given way too, and now he was looking at blood-covered earth that went through his punctured chest. He groaned, unable to move, his body increasingly aware of the massive blood loss and the pain. "You people above the level cap sure are arrogant," Jake said. "You forgot we could kill you right?" People beyond the level cap weren''t just penalized, they were also not protected by the rules. Therefore was no problem for Jake and the others¡ªwho were also beyond the level cap¡ªto massacre them as needed. The information released to the public was naturally very downplayed. The average levels these people probably thought they had were off by 5 or more levels (which was already way above average considering the territory had only existed for a year). They also made sure people outside the guards didn''t know exactly what kind of training they were going through, so it was natural for them to be surprised. He then turned to Turbo and some other people from his team who had just arrived after taking care of the deserters. They nodded at each other before disappearing, hunting for the rest of the leaks. "Time to clean up some rats." Some of Alterra''s first citizens Some of refugees-turned-citizens from the Heat Wave Chapter 1112 Results of the Bet There were indeed breaches in different areas of the territory, but there were very few¡ªembarrassingly few. For the most part, the enemies were kept outside. This was especially true when the people ''blocking the way'' were Alterra''s elite forces. For example, there was Oslo and his earth walls. Using his earth wall, he''d create small mazes and blockages for the humans, keeping them with the monster mobs for a longer period of time. They would be forced to fight for their lives, but then the last kill would be stolen by a random Alterran archer, making their eventual death feel even more meaningless. (Alterran archers were definitely enjoying their assignments right now) Of course, there were plenty of stronger monsters that their archers were not able to take down. In that case, after the monsters ate a few members of the enemy forces, Oslo would then create spikes that''d take their lives. On another area, there were also the three orcs: Gochi, Baku, and Maomao, which¡ªin addition to a few other stronger aborigines within the level cap¡ªcomprised one of the harshest defense lines they had. This was because they guarded the Northern face, which was a bit mountainous. The enemy had been preparing for this war so there were actually thousands of people who went to attack here instead, including majority of the level 20s and above from the Rongo Mercenary Team sent to assist in the war. While they did panic a bit when they encountered some town-level monsters, they managed to deal with them with their sheer number and strong forces. At the same time, they realized what Alterra had done! They upgraded to a TOWN right after they declared war!! Are they insane!? If they made a slight miscalculation, this could''ve guaranteed their destruction!! Now, they did not know how the other areas were going, but they knew they had to maximize their current situation. By happy coincidence, they also knew the beasts in the area they were assigned to were also the fewest in number, so it was simply the perfect spot to breach. It was just that they had no idea they''d have to deal with dozens of elementalists¡ªlet alone three half-orcs!! Alterra had naturally predicted how the enemies would respond to the tribulation and assigned a lot of its forces concentrated in this area. They also knew there would be a lot more human enemies here so, except for the three half-orcs and a few guards who were beyond the level cap, the rest of the forces here were still within it. The half-orcs blocked the way of the mercenaries, while the weaker ones were too intimidated to mob them, just focusing on getting to the walls. In theory, this had a chance of working. After all, three against dozens of level 20s would be a long fight. In terms of numbers, they outnumbered the Alterrans in the battlement by tens of folds. It was just that, the slightly hopeful situation did not last long. They didn''t know how the enemies did it, but soon a group of monster mobs appeared right behind them. Some were level 13s to 15s, and the people nearby¡ªall of whom were within the level cap¡ªwere crushed or eaten! By that time, their stronger forces were already preoccupied with the half-orcs. They did not have the energy to deal with mobs! Anyway, the people up front realized what was coming at them and became more desperate to get inside. But how easy could that be? S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Among the elite guards in this area was Plaridel1, who waved around his fire shield, keeping everyone at bay. He would even create damned firewalls, burning people before they could even get near the walls. There was also Minko1, whose shots were sure to kill anyone his level or below. His arrows¡ªwhich seemed to leave a steaming track¡ªcould also kill monsters a few levels below him in one shot. And finally, there was Leon1, whose swords were sharp but more lethal were the vines he created. The impolite guy would make the people in the vanguard fall down. Even if there were not as many beasts in this area, a lot of them were still stopped even before they could reach the walls! In the meantime, the half-orcs battles were ongoing. With impressive cooperation, the three half-orcs rushed towards various enemies. Even if they were outnumbered by humans with higher levels¡ªunlike the supposed ''intelligent race'' ¡ªthey had each others'' backs. They sent continuous explosive attacks to their enemies, using brute force and their natural instincts and accuracy to make up for the level gap. At first, it was a bit more troublesome because the mercenaries still had working equipment and a lot of potions. However, as time went on, the battle of endurance tilted to the half-orcs side. Not only that, the half-orcs also had their own healing potions that were formulated to fit their physiques! Eventually, the tide completely turned and the mercenaries began to be harvested one by one. If the person didn''t a decent equipment anymore, then they''d die immediately, if not then they''d be disabled and in pain. In war, such injuries were a death sentence. Gochi would swipe his enemies down with his sharp claws. If it was a troublesome elite, then he''d use his ability to paralyze them. Even if it worked just for a second¡ªit was enough for him to inflict serious damage on the person. Baku''s was even harsher. His ability, Roar, would stun everyone near him as long as they were below his level. He could be said to be harvesting heads easily. And then there was the cutie Maomao. Of course, her jumps and kicks were very uncute considering someone would practically be punctured if they didn''t have equipment or the level to defend against it. Of course, the Alterrans were very biased. "WHOA!" "Maomao is still so amazing!" "So explosive! Our cutie!!" The rabbit blushed, and her ears twitched a bit. Her leaps became a bit more energetic though, making Gochi smile. As for the rest of the people trying to go through the walls, they were kept in place by Plaridel and the others. There was also Chris (and Essan), who were using their speed-based skills and equipment to safely run around, attracting monsters to the back of the crowd (whether it was on this side or elsewhere), trapping precious manpower to deal with their upgrade mob. In any case, there were no more leaks other than those mercenaries and a handful of lucky people¡ªwho were all quickly captured as soon as they landed inside the walls. This went on for another hour or so. While there were still a few thousands of people and monsters outside the walls¡ªAlthea eventually did receive the familiar notification in her head. Ding! [Alterra Village has won the war against Resso Village (Lv3)!] [Received! 8261 New Population!] [Received! 522 Gold, 13299 Silver, 1242002 Copper!] Obviously, Resso Village invested a lot of money and manpower into this war, thinking the return would multiply it. In any case, they were way too poor¡­ Althea sighed, looking at the hundreds of monsters still terrorizing their area. While the war with humans was over¡­, it seemed like the one with the monsters was still some ways to go. One of the soldiers who is not handsome but quite suave. A few aborigines developed a crush on him back in the Ferrol Market Fair. One of the soldiers who were initially separated One of the few wood elementalists in the original soldier team Chapter 1113 Cleaning up the Mob The 28 hours were not over yet, but the system was aware of their total population. It could therefore calculate whether it was impossible for the enemies to win by virtue of their remaining population. The citizens who died here were already deducted from the ''total population'' of Resso Village. That said, because the ones on this side of the array were now less than half of their total population, then there must be a few thousand ''slaves'' on the other side of the array. She wondered if it was worth it to get them in the first place. First of all, her orders could not work unless she¡ªor any of the residents¡ªwas there, so she would have to send a few people to the enemy Village to pick up the new slaves. Considering there would still be thousands of freemen on the other side, then sending her people there could get them attacked instead. She thought about it and decided to ignore them for now. The upper-level wall she wanted¡ªlevel 7¡ªwas only available at Town Level 2. She wasn''t planning on doing a full expansion upon her upgrade, so she didn''t want her population to explode just yet. Rather, she preferred they didn''t become too dense¡ªwhich was why she was encouraging the growth of the entire region, instead. She wanted Alterra to comfortably be at the center¡ªbustling with activity, but not to the point of being cramped and overwhelming. Anyway, her main source of income was not the entrance fees or the taxes (which were already quite high), but the scale of the trades going around. Anyway, she sent the announcement of the war victory to the guards (earning Luis his 10 Gold winning), though she told them not to celebrate too early because they still had the upgrade mob to deal with. She looked down at the thousands of people struggling for their lives and thought what she''d do with them. She considered letting them in and just letting them stay along the avenues like the fainted slaves. However, the 28 hours of war was still ongoing. Even if they had already won, the rules were still null and they could still be attacked. Knowing that she couldn''t think for too long (because many people would die while she was thinking about it), she made a quick decision which she immediately forwarded to the guards via the system''s [Announcement] function. After a couple of instructions and preparations, several voice amplifiers sounded in different parts of the territory (she should set up an electrical PA system for purposes like these someday). At the Eastern gates, the person who made the announcement was Mao. This was an announcement to their own side as well as the enemies''. "The war is over! We will not be killing any more humans! Thanks for your hard work, everyone!" This made most of the people below look at them in shock. They didn''t really believe it though. After all, these people had been toying with them for what was the worst few hours of their lives. "Any non-Alterran human outside the gate who wishes to survive, kindly bury yourself in the ground. Anyone who could be seen as a threat will be killed immediately. Stay above ground at your own risk." This was repeated in every section of the wall and the people had no choice but to do so¡ªat least for the slaves who had to follow instructions either way. Besides, some were hoping the monsters would also ignore them if they only had their faces exposed. And so there was an odd sight. While the Alterrans were fighting against the mobs, several people were desperately digging, particularly in the areas near the walls. Mao and other earth users were also kind enough to help them out. Of course, a lot of these people were not residents of Resso Village and were therefore not enslaved. They were focused on dealing with the beasts¡ªlike normal people would. "OI! Are they being serious?" one asked. He was already at the end of the rope. He could barely hold his sword stably. These random announcements were making it harder for him to keep his already-dwindling momentum! "Who cares! I won''t stand still for the monsters to kill me! Let''s look for an opening to escape!" The others were busy defending against the beasts, also filled with blood. Anyway, they had no time to be distracted now. They couldn''t wrap their heads around the enemy''s logic, so they just assumed they were playing with them. It was around this time that a monster appeared right behind one of them. "Oi! Behind you!" The others who saw gasped, but they were too busy with their own fights to even consider helping out. In their minds, they were already saying ''rest in peace''. Unexpectedly, another person appeared in front, waving his sword around with exceptional skill and accuracy, precisely hitting the weakened monster''s weak spots. It was an Alterran guard¡ªand that was obvious with their dashing uniform. "Last warning! Those who did not dig and bury themselves might get shot like the monsters," the man¡ªChris¡ªyelled, slashing again to finish off another. Another came rushing to him, as if he was more attractive. He went around earlier with Beast-Attracting potion on his cloak. While that cloak was snug back in his space, a lot of the scent remained stuck to his clothing. Like this, a lot of people were given breathing time and went towards the walls to bury themselves in a corner with everyone else. Of course, not everyone were thankful. This wasn''t surprising. After all, they were trying to kill them just moments prior. However, survival first, so no one was stupid enough to annoy the new masters. These people could only be shocked as they watched the Alterrans jump back down to the wall¡ªall fearless, and some were even lower leveled than they were¡ªto fight the mobs head on! There were plenty of civilians too, and they watched each other''s backs¡ªdealing with the stronger monsters in front of them. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The more they saw¡­ the less anger they felt. Now that Alterra was making a move with its own power instead of making use of the damned beasts, it was clear that their information was way off mark! They¡­ had no chance at all! Chapter 1114 Finally Done! After clearing out the human enemies, more and more people started jumping down within the scope of the sentries to deal with the remaining monster mob. At this time, at least a third of the mob was still around¡­ and it was still growing bit by bit¡ªattracting the nearby mobs. Fortunately, the monsters attracted by the blood and commotion here were only village level, and therefore much more manageable. Now that the major threat were the monsters, they would naturally change formations. The new formation was that fewer soldiers were spread out across the perimeters¡ªthey''ll be there just in case of emergencies¡ªbut most of them would move near the gates to deal with the mobs and rescue as needed. The rest of the citizens also went out to the battlements now that they didn''t have to deal with potential leaks. Their new slaves¡ªthe ones who fainted¡ªas well as the older slaves and prisoners of wars were also assigned along the perimeters to make sure every area of the walls was accounted for. In order to maximize the damage, a lot of them would have to go down the walls. The civilians who went down were those near the level cap or past it, and they were also asked to form tried-and-tested teams to ensure their safety from the beasts (and possible backstabs from their enemies). They must also stay within the sentries scope. Of course, there weren''t many of them. Majority of those who went down were the soldiers and the guards. Speaking of that, because they knew the upgrade was coming, every one of the ''original'' soldiers¡ªthe people who came in advance¡ªwere in Alterra. No one was stationed elsewhere and everyone like those assigned in the Ferrol branch were called back even before the war declaration. Though the war declaration came as a surprise, they were definitely preparing well for the upgrade mob. Unlike the civilians, the soldiers¡ªwho were already well past the level 20s¡ªcould go a bit farther out because they could afford to be surrounded by beasts. They also had stronger guards like Helios, Drake, and so on with them so the EXP points could be maximized. Drake''s electricity had shown great improvement in the past couple of months. More than the sheer power though, which depended on his level, he trained his accuracy to the peak. He could control his spark to a more concentrated form accurately attacking monsters'' weaknesses. As long as the monsters were lower-leveled than he was, then a few sparks could kill it. The aborigine watching gaped. It was a rare element and no one had seen one before (they were villagers who rarely saw elementalists in general), so it was naturally an impressive sight. He also partnered with water users to maximize the damage and Angelo would finish it off with his sword, using his wind ability to keep himself swift and moving and far away from monsters'' jaws. He avoided everything using some wind techniques he had learned in the past couple of months. Many other wind users were the same, and it was obvious they were trained a certain way. There was also Helios and his team, which comprised predominantly of his wife''s and mother-in-law''s guards. During the war, they helped out in the Southwest gate which was also fraught with beasts. They had been fighting against beasts for hours, though the difference this time was that they didn''t have to worry about the humans except for accidentally digging them out and stepping on them. For the most part, the enemies didn''t dare make a move. However, it wasn''t the case for all of them. Some still couldn''t help but take advantage of the enemy showing their backs to them. Sad for them, there were archers monitoring their movements and they were shot straight to the neck, and killed. No one nearby tried to do anything similarly stupid from then on. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan had a similar experience. He was already on the ground a hundred meters away from the gates, along with Gill and Orz. They were there to weaken the more troublesome monsters so that they''d be easier to deal with past them. If they thought the monster was too strong, they might kill it, otherwise, they were treated as EXP points for the rest of the team. He created ice spears and expertly stabbed monster after monster. Gill would create a delineation of magma that''d burn the monsters'' legs, while Orz would create sharp spikes that had similar effects. With them there, a lot of the people behind them gained a tremendous amount of experience. This lasted a couple of moments until Garan felt an attack swiftly approach him. His eyebrows rose, and his ice sword formed a larger surface to block the attack. It was not weak and Garan''s feet slid back a little. It was the Level 32 Temp, who was now completely filled with blood, absolutely livid and out for blood. "I''ll kill you!" He already lost an arm at this time and his eyes were red from anger and pain. He obviously didn''t believe he would be spared and was bent on taking revenge for them ruining his life! Temp immediately sent a flurry of attacks, ignoring the monsters and not caring about the collateral damage. At this time, Temp was just so angry at Alterra and wanted to hurt it badly! Garan narrowed his eyes. Although their levels weren''t too far apart and the enemy lacked an arm, Temp was obviously a man with a lot of experience. Even with one hand, his anger fueled his berserk state, pushing him beyond his limits. "Focus on your own battles," Garan ordered his team, who nodded and continued dealing with the monsters that surrounded them. Of course, how much damage could a person bleeding to death do? Since he overexerted himself with his barrage of attacks, he bled even faster. Garan only had to immobilize him with his ice, blocking the movements of his sole arm. Garan did not extend the man''s pain and just beheaded him, finally ending the enemy''s strongest force. There were also some level 20s who came with Temp, and they were also in a similar livid state. They also felt their lives leaving them and, with their drained mana and spirit, knew that there was no way they''d be able to survive. While many attempted to run away (only to end up in weaker monsters'' stomachs), most accepted defeat and buried themselves. However, there were still some who wanted to take down as many enemies as they could to satisfy their bloodthirst one more time!! They were used to being overwhelmingly powerful. Now, they were completely helpless. How could they accept it!? Their anger had gotten to their heads, leading them to decisions that would inevitably guarantee their deaths. However, unlike Temp, they were much more cowardly and preferred to beat up the weaker enemies! Fortunately, they thought, Alterrans were stupid enough to send Level 14s down the ground!! Some were even going beyond the sentries'' scopes and that was what they targeted. They rushed forward as quickly as they could, intent on taking as many heads as possible. However¡ª Whoosh! "Ah!" Whoosh! "Gah!" These people weren''t able to reach their targets at all. Their pitiful lives ended with accurate shots straight through their eyes. After a while, the shimmering arrows disappeared, indicating it was from a self-regenerating weapon. More than a hundred meters away, there was Althea. With her upgraded level, she can use the Bellagio with more strength and could one-shot a level 20 with no problem¡ªeven if they were quite far. She just had to use her [Precise Aim] skill which had only improved in the past couple of months. Anyway, everyone fought bravely, though the people fighting on the ground were asked to head back in the moment their spirits went down to 25%. They would then be replaced by similarly-leveled citizens who may or may not be chewing something as snacks. This movement killed the remaining fire of rebellion to the few enemies who still had it. After all, the new batch would be refreshed with full energy¡ªtrying to attack them in their states was suicide! For the next hour or so, the beast mob slowly reduced to a few handfuls, with the last monster coincidentally taken down by Althea herself. When the leapard fell and breathed its last, the familiar ding echoed in her head, and she immediately disseminated to everyone in the territory¡ªspreading the good news all over. [Congratulations! Alterra Village (Lv3) has officially upgraded to a Town (Lv1)!] She smiled. Finally! Chapter 1115 Alterra Town! [Congratulations! Alterra Village (Lv3) has officially upgraded to Alterra Town (Lv1)!] The victory announcement resounded in everyone''s minds, and¡ªafter a moment of silence¡ªthe surroundings exploded into cheers. "WHOOOO!!!" "OHYEAHH!" "TOWN! We''re a Town now!!" Many people even had their hands up, fists clenched, and mouths forming ''os'', as if to express their happiness using their whole bodies. Althea and Garan¡ªcovered in sweat and grime like everyone else¡ªmet each other''s eyes, both breaking into smiles. During the latter part of the mob clearing, they fought closer and closer to where the other was until they were in each other''s sight at all times. When the announcement was made, Garan headed to the wall and jumped on the carcass of some beasts that died there. He effortlessly landed on the battlement next to his wife, who gracefully put away her weapon as she faced him. "Another step forward," he said, taking her hand. She giggled. She was tired and sweaty, but her heart was filled with excitement. There were plenty of unknowns at this stage¡ªsome good and some bad¡ªbut whatever they were, they added a lot of excitement to their days. It kept them on their toes, which wasn''t necessarily a bad thing. They just have to face everything with a positive heart. She wrapped her fingers around his, tightening their grip. "Another step forward." ¡­ As per standard operating procedure, the logistics team immediately came out with their stretchers. They were there to take their injured citizens to the clinics or the hospitals. The gates were opened wide and dozens of carts pulled by Broats emerged. ''Meehhh~'' they sounded, pulling relatively big carts. Each cart could carry about ten to twelve people sitting upright, and about 5 to 6 if they were lying down. They called them ''Broatbulance''. Some would have covers that protected the passengers from the sun, while most were open-air, letting them feel the breeze outside. The priority was those who had difficulty moving. The broatbulances would also work nonstop until they were ordered. In this case, they would head back in with the patients, delivering them to their destinations inside, and then they would head back out after disembarking. The animals also had cute banners around their heads to signify their differing functions. This banner was blue if the situation wasn''t urgent, so these were heading to clinics for some first aid. If the banner was red, they would go straight to the hospitals, where some surgery might be required. There was also the black banner for corpses. Fortunately, with the ''sacrifice'' of the enemies, there were no deaths on Alterra''s side. Most of the injuries, in fact, were from the stronger prisoners of war they ordered to head out for atonement points. Their survivors would occupy these black carts instead, so the Alterrans knew who they were about to treat. Of course, to ensure the safety of their own people, these injured ''enemies'' were taken to a temporary built-up clinic near the gates and were not allowed deeper inside until they were dealt with. The slaves who hid by the wall and buried themselves were gathered and tied. Those who weren''t System Slaves would all take oaths and become Prisoners of War. If they were too injured to walk, they''d get to ride on the broat as well, though a small fare would be charged to their accounts. For these people, because they weren''t from any associate territories, it''d be too difficult to judge whether they were decent people or not. They could only force them to make a detailed oath, also charged in their accounts and (if it was empty) added to their debts. As for whether they''d keep them in Alterra or ''sell'' them elsewhere, that would depend on the territory''s needs. To make sure no one was just pretending to be a slave, they would also add something to the oath, and it had to be said that the brains of the Lawyers of Alterra were really maximized during these times. As for how these accounts were paid off, it would vary. ''Slaves'' were technically free to live as if they were not slaves. They would have jobs and things like that, and therefore these charges would just add to the debts they''d have to pay for within a year. For the Prisoners of war, after a certain amount of time, they would be able to choose whether to add their contribution points to cancel out some atonement points, or to use them to buy goods. Don''t look at Alterra being so stingy, calculating everything. This was mostly so the system would never be taken advantage of¡ªespecially by criminals¡ªand no one would take the rules and regulations for granted. There was also the Bikebulance, where it was human bike drivers who were manning the vehicle. Broats were faster, cheaper, and required less labor though, so they remained a popular option as a mode of transportation. While helping the injured get onto the Broatbulance or Bikebulance, some people started to celebrate. Even if they were filled with blood and grime, as long as their legs could move, they would likely be seen happily celebrating whether it was inside or outside the territory walls. Garan frowned, and he looked at his soldiers who were pretty much leading the carelessness. "Stand properly!" Instinctively, the soldiers entered a proper stance. Althea giggled. Garan''s expression softened when he heard his wife''s voice, but he kept his solemn expression as he looked at the soldiers. He also narrowed his eyes as he stared at the ambulatory citizens on the ground. "Don''t relax yet! Clean up everything!" Garan yelled, looking at the thousands of monster corpses around. "Are you planning on wasting all this loot?" This made everyone flinch. Oh, right!! Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Not to mention leaving so many bodies outside would attract more beasts, the bodies themselves were treasure troves to them! Their knowledge of the bodies'' uses only increased in time, with some being more creative than the others! They didn''t know how other territories handled monster carcasses but¡ªin Alterra¡ªit was a very active industry that produced a heck of a lot of jobs! One of the pioneers of collecting whole body parts (of monsters, duh) actually bought his own house already¡ªand this was during the Prohibition1! The house prices in Alterra were no joke during that period! Even people from Towns get intimidated! And so, people muted their celebratory mood and cleaned up. In Terran, there was a saying that one must clear the dust and clutter to invite space for good fortune! Hey, cleaning up was also their way to wish their home well! Period where Alterra blocked most entries Chapter 1116 Looting A/N: Belated Happy Lunar New Year everyone! ... ____ First of all, there were hundreds of monsters they were used to and therefore knew a lot. For example, after months of trial and error (and a lot of serendipity), they found unexpected uses for some body parts of common monsters. For example, the ubiquitous gnomos, which were large green rodent-like critters with short tails. They were weak, yes, but their fecundity dwarfed that of the goblins''. First of all, the Gnomos'' tails moved a lot even after death¡ªlike decapitated worms¡ªand they could be used as distractions when they were fighting humans. They were also excellent fishing baits¡­ Then¡­ at some point, someone accidentally found a special fungus in the monster''s skin. After some study, they found that it seemed to have a symbiotic relationship with the gnomos'' body. After a bit more research, these spores were found to enhance the effects of the Beast Attracting potion¡ªparticularly in terms of its effectivity with a wider variety of monsters. Perhaps it had something to do with the gnomos'' presence everywhere. Who knew¡­ As for how the Research Center figured this out, they had no idea¡ªnor did they want to know. Anyway, anything the Research Center would use could sell for a LOT of money and points. If they figured out the special use themselves, then they''d make even more! This fostered an atmosphere of exploration in the population that would amaze the aborigines for years to come. Anyway, starting with the Gnomos, more and more discoveries were made in the months that followed. For instance, the Stormdoer, which was one of the first ''strong'' beasts they encountered. It was a monster as huge as a bear but had the head of a long-nosed lion. It was a weak monster to them now but, when they started, a lot of people were killed by this particular monster. Anyway, let alone its sturdy pelt, their manes made for very sturdy threads, which would create interesting bags, shoes, and so on that (if made properly) would not be easily destroyed by level 10 monsters. There was also the Heather Rabbit, which was an alien and ugly version of the rabbit they knew. This one they found out through Taho, their new Beast master. The heather rabbit apparently had a special bone in its body that Beast masters used for their whistles. Because it was a trade secret (lest the price for the material increased) and was registered and patented in the system, this use was not indicated when experts used their [Assesment Skills]. Next was the Tanto rat, which was similar to the bamboo rat except they were blood-thirsty. It had special stomach acid that created another type of fertilizer that was useful to grass-type plants like bamboo, wheat, and the flute plant. Finally, there was the Juju Toad, which was the common blue frog-like creature as tall as their waists. It had acidic stomach bile which really helped increase the flexibility of hides without reducing its durability. It would eventually be one of the main components for the research assigned to Clutch nearly a year prior¡ªthe effective combination of plants and armors. Anyway, with the new town-level monsters, they were naturally more excited! These were strong monsters, and therefore their meat and their pelts alone were far more valuable than the loot they were used to! Imagine what they could discover after a few more months!! Many people started to rummage the carnage, yelling for more broats and bike carts to come and help them haul things out. However, their carelessness was quickly doused with guardedness when they found a few people hiding underneath, immediately attacking them. The person was immediately killed by a sentry, but not before he stabbed at the Alterran. Fortunately, the victim was a guard with a working protection token so nothing happened, but it certainly alerted everyone to be a bit more careful when they were scouring for loot. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Soon, they found more people who were still alive among the enemies. One of them was Tout himself, still miraculously alive. He apparently ordered nearby slaves to cover for him with their own bodies¡ª all while he desperately dug the soil so he could melsh better with the ground. He unsurprisingly got his token on, though no one was really interested in that one except to sell. Althea was wondering how much it would sell for. From what she gathered, a Village Token could sell at a minimum of 1000 gold¡ªand this was the absolute worst type of village that had low chances of surviving a mob without the injection of funds. However, depending on its quality and resources, this price could go up to about 10,000 or even more. If she were to assess Alterra''s Token though¡ªjust for thought¡ªit would definitely be at least several times of that. Garan remained outside with the soldiers to make sure everything was handled well and without accidents, while Althea watched as the corpses of the monsters passed through the threshold, cart by cart, to various industries like meat sellers, tanners, and teams that specialized in butchering monster bodies. Speaking of which, she took a look at her stats. She also took a look at her loot as well as her stats. There had been a lot of notifications, but there were so many enemies that she hadn''t taken note. There wasn''t a ''see history'' feature in the system, which was a pity, but thankfully she had an eidetic memory and she could take this time to absorb her rewards. First, she recalled the rewards from the war against Resso Village, which was a decent amount of gold from the territory and the new slaves. It wasn''t much, considering it was a village, only several hundred gold and tens of thousands of silver. As for population, they received nearly 9 thousand new people from Resso alone, though not everyone was on this side of the territory. By estimate, there should still be a thousand or two unaccounted for and still in Resso Village. The allied territories were also not punished by the system so Alterra didn''t get anything from them. The ones they captured would be manually set as prisoners of war, as mentioned prior, but she honestly wasn''t too excited for them. If she was just a little heartless, she''d have let all of these people die instead. However, she hadn''t gotten into enough danger and felt enough threat to go down that hole quite yet. Fortunately... the reward for turning into a Town was much more satisfying. Chapter 1117 Town Status [Received! 15000 Wood, 15000 Stone, 15000 Gold, +2 Building Slots] [You may now upgrade Farm (Lv2).] [You may now upgrade Training Hall (Lv2).] [New Buildings Unlocked!] Well¡­ while the money was not particularly special to her wallet, what really made her excited about the upgrade was the availability of new building slots, upgraded buildings, and the new special buildings. Before doing more though, she went to look at her new stats. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 1 Town Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Area: 28, 270,000 square meters Residents: 14585 (4913 permanent, 9672 temporary) Total Population: 29824 Base Resources: Wood: 29300/40000 Stone: 24220/30000 Money: 139731 Gold, 439199 Silver, 5298699 copper Prestige: 2110 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv2), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv3), Barracks (Lv3) Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1) Building Slots: 8/11 (+11)] When there was an option in the ''system'', it would remain floating until she answered. This time, there were plenty of questions about whether she wanted to upgrade so-and-so and there was also a notification of whether she wanted to expand. She did not delay the expansion this time, increasing the scope of her territory. She spread out more along the river for more resources, taking over another tributary from the mountains, creating a more regular-and-roughly circular shape. Even so, while she decided to expand this time, she would not be building new walls¡ªat least not one that covered the entire area. Although the area wasn''t restricted to a circle, the areas were calculated approximately in relation to a certain radius. At level 1 Village, with a 1 km radius, the maximum area was 3.14 square kilometers. For level 2 Villages, the approximate radius was 1.5 km. Albeit she didn''t expand back then, the maximum area was around 7 square kilometers. Finally, at Village Level 3, she had a 2 km radius to play with, so her maximum area was more than 12 square kilometers. With her current population and the expected boom, it was still more than enough for a while. Her current area, with an approximately 3 kilometer radius, had expanded to more than twice of that. This was really huge¡ªtoo huge for their current forces, and it wasn''t practical to wall all that land if she wasn''t going to maximize it yet. At most, she''d create an outer secondary wall in certain areas she wanted to use, which would eventually make the entire territory line look like irregular stars in shape. For now, she only expanded so the poisonous plants and bugs would be pushed out beyond the wall, but it would not be guarded by a wall. This way, her people could forage relatively peacefully even far away from the walls. The reason she didn''t do this back when she was a Level 2 Village was that the aether of a bigger territory seemed to also be bigger than their smaller counterparts. Expanding¡­ would''ve made them even more attractive to beast mobs. Their population was so small at the time, and it was better to hunt around at their own pace. Now¡­, they were a Town and they still had some catching up to do to match the average levels of Townspeople, so she decided expansion could be done as soon as possible. There was also the fact that the next level wall she wanted¡ªLevel 7¡ªwas unavailable at this time and would require her to upgrade once more to access it. Anyway, putting that aside for now, she went to take a look at the new building options. Aside from more restaurant and food options, the new residential houses available now had toilets with seatings (made of stone), and some more expensive ones even had tubs. Of course, that wasn''t something that interested her in the slightest. There were also two-storey commercial buildings available now, which was indicative of how Towns were¡ªcommercial hubs. Of course, that didn''t interest her either. She then looked at upgrade requirements for several buildings, which were apparently met a long time ago, except for the fact that Alterra needed to be in a Town to actually upgrade. [The Farmlands (Lv2) are now eligible for Upgrade!] [Plants in Level 3 farms will be granted a 30% increase in productivity and 100% increase in survivability.] This was compared to the Level 2 Farms, so this value was not small. [Would you like to upgrade all existing Farmlands (Lv2) for 10230 gold? Yes |No] How many fields did she have now? She reckoned there were more than a thousand, though they were maximized to go above and below ground. That said, this meant that the cost of upgrade was now around 10 gold per field. She hesitated for a bit. It wasn''t that she wasn''t being too stingy¡ªshe did not lack that gold¡ªbut she had to make sure the farmers and the land renters would be able to pay for the increased rent that''d come with it. So, like before, she would send out the option for individual upgrades instead, wherein the current user of the land would have the prerogative to increase its level. In order to make it fair for both parties, she would have them pay for the entire cost of the upgrade, but they''d be able to use the land rent-free for the next year. For those who owned their farmland, then she''d simply charge them the bare upgrade cost. New farms or farms that would be opened for rental would be directly upgraded to Level 3. In that case, she''d charge 2 gold for a month''s rent. If one calculated this way, most landowners would definitely take the first deal. It would just be an advantage of being an existing renter/landowner. Anyway, if she were to estimate how much improvement it would bring if another Extreme Weather happened, then the drought-resistant plants and many others would survive without having to do extra protective measures. Next¡­ was the Training Hall. She looked at her panel to check for the upgrade requirements. [The Training Hall (Lv2) is now eligible for upgrade!] [Would you like to upgrade the Training Hall (Lv2) to Training Hall (Lv3) for 20000 Wood, 10000 Stone, and 30000 Gold? Yes| No?] Her eyebrows rose. Whoa¡­ Chapter 1118 Training Hall Upgrade [The Training Hall (Lv2) is now eligible for upgrade!] [Would you like to upgrade for 20000 Wood, 10000 Stone, and 30000 Gold? Yes| No?] This was not a small amount, and it was much bigger than the previous upgrade¡ªmultiplied by several folds. At the back of her mind, she wondered who would get all that gold. So far there was no indication the building was a city''s ''franchise'' that went through the Sanctum of Constructs, so they had no idea which territory started it. Rather, it seemed to have been there since as far as anyone could remember. Well, that wasn''t her concern now, and she just looked at the cost, feeling a bit pained. Sure, she had the money, but she was distinctly aware of how much that actually was. For context, the average wealth of villages ranged from 100 gold for poor Level 1 Villages. Villages with a few thousand gold were already fairly well-off and were considered to have the potential to become towns after a couple of years or decades. On the other hand, the average wealth of a Level 1 Town (according to the Ferrol Journal) was a few tens of thousands. This meant that upgrading the Training Hall to this level could easily suck up an entire territory''s funds! Fortunately, that was not her problem and just upgraded it. She was kind enough to remember to send an alert this time so no one would get too shocked when they get kicked out of the building while it upgraded. She waited for about ten minutes and just sat at a bench (smiling at the people who greeted her by the way) and only then did she say ''Yes''. [The Upgrade of Training Hall (Lv2) to Training Hall (Lv3) has now commenced.] She then headed towards where the Training Hall was and, unsurprisingly, encountered quite a crowd watching the magic. "Amazing¡­" one said. "As expected of a territory upgrade! We get to see these things again!" "I heard the farmlands are getting upgrades too!" he said. "My team''s already gathering the funds for it!" "Oh yeah, I heard about that!" another responded. "How exciting! Wouldn''t that mean the prices of goods will decrease soon?" "Probably not too much, especially in the first few years¡ªthe cost of upgrade isn''t exactly cheap." "We''re investing in vertical farm equipment," another voice butted in. "Imagine how much our productivity will spike!" "Wow, you''ll be even richer! Send me a great gift for my birthday, yeah?" "What do you want?" "A bike." "Eh¡­" On her other side, she heard similar conversations. "AH, I''ll never get tired of this!" she heard someone say, sighing dreamily. It was nearby so she turned to see who it was. It was an aborigine and next to him was a Terran. "It''s not like we don''t get new buildings every couple of months," the Terran said, acting cool though his eyes were dilated as he stared at the building slowly being built up. "Besides, we just upgraded, it was a given we''d get new stuff and upgrades!" The aborigine shook his head. "You frog in a well. In other territories, the more common construction would just be houses," he said, using Terran idioms with familiarity. "Only Alterra could create and upgrade special buildings at the rate it''s going!" "Oh?" the Terran said, smirking. "Well, obviously that''s the case." He was very smug. Althea smiled and shook her head as she watched along with them. When people saw she was there, she was gently led to a better watching position and chairs magically appeared next to her so she could sit more comfortably. "...thank you," she said, just appreciating their gesture. The people smiled, embarrassed, saying it was nothing and they''d bring her a throne if they had one. "..." Anyway, the crowd grew bigger and bigger and they watched the four-storey building add another floor. It also seemed to have more stable walls somehow. [Training Hall (Lv2) has now been upgraded to Max Training Hall (Lv3)] [Monsters up to Level 30 can now be manifested.] As before, the experience would probably be smaller than the experience gained from actual monsters. Regardless, it was definitely a welcome upgrade. A lot of people must be very curious¡ªwhat it''d be like to fight against such monsters. Although the average of Town monsters was Level 15 or so, monsters past Level 20 and an occasional Level 30¡ªespecially for the peak towns¡ªwere not uncommon either. They had heard a few tales from aborigines (and even Helios when he was adventuring in Bleulle) and they knew it''d be a tough fight if those damned things decided to venture into their area. She also received the customization of price options and priced proportionally, though with obvious premium costs from Level 20 to 30, considering the differences in cost for them. There was a minimum amount, of course, considering some proceeds were going elsewhere. As before, it could be accessed purely by contribution points. For the copper the system automatically took to send to the ''developer'', it just converted the points to money according to its current value. Other than that, there didn''t seem to be a lot of differences. To be honest, considering the costs, she was expecting a bit more. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, the prices were usually fair, so she didn''t dare underestimate its actual function when it was used. Anyway, she made another set of announcements to encourage its use¡ªideally, so they could know and discover all of its features as soon as possible. [The Territory Training Hall has been upgraded! Monsters up to Level 30 can now be manifested. All guards will be given priority use for a period of 3 days!] [All permanent residents shall be given a discount of 50% of the usual rates for the first 7 days of usage, 30% for temporary residents.] [Let''s increase the territory''s strength even more! Let''s work hard together!!] This naturally caused the crowd around her to cheer, making Althea both flinch and smile at their energy. "YAY!" "Amazing!!" another said. "I can try stronger monsters now!" "Wow, you haven''t even beat Level 2 Hall." "..." So rude. Chapter 1119 Level 3 Training Hall (Part 1) A/N: *squeezes in* Have you left a review yet? lolool. 1 Happy February btw! I was planning on changing the cover to AltheaxGaran, but decided to change covers quarterly so moved that to March keke ¡­ ____ Now that the farms and Training Halls were done, it was time to consider the special buildings they''d build. She would need to discuss with the Elders about which building they''d take. She had her own ideas of course but she wasn''t arrogant to believe she would choose the best choice every time. However, the cleanup and the handling of more than ten thousand prisoners of war (among other cleanup tasks) would take at least a day. People needed to rest, too, so she decided to put that for later. Anyway, a line quickly formed outside the Hall, though they comprised mostly of citizens who were just inside the territory or just by the battlements. Everyone else was, understandably, too tired. Althea stared at the queue, pondering whether she''d join in now or wait until later. She was a bit tired from the war, but her health was still full, with only her mana and spirit consumed¡ªwith the former almost entirely so. Granted, if she decided to fight now, she probably wouldn''t be able to use too many skills due to the lack of mana (even if she was chewing mana cookies at this time), but it felt odd to just come out of such a large war with full health. Was she a masochist? Who knew. "Would you like to see?" A low baritone voice¡ªone that could weaken women''s legs¡ª sounded next to her. She blinked and looked at the side to see her husband there. He was really handsome and had a strong presence. The people around naturally made way for him as if by instinct. She smiled, taking his hand. "Well, I''m thinking about it," she said. "How did the cleanup go?" "On track," he said. "The ''slaves'' and prisoners of war are also lining up for their oaths." At this, some people nearby couldn''t help but ask. "Will some of them be freed?" Many looked concerned about this, and understandably so. Garan thought for a while. "Since they''re all technically war enemies and not rescued, the default status they could get was to be Prisoners of War¡ª regardless of whether they were enslaved by Resso, allied, or its citizens. They would just vary the amount of atonement points they could get. "Mathilda''s team would be the ones to judge how much atonement points would be attached to them, and we''d just have to trust in their assessment." One of the systems the Elder group decided on with regard to the ''slaves'' was a sort of tier system. After they cleared out the atonement points, only then would they be able to earn their own money to buy their own freedom from the system. If they came from prisoner of war status then even if they weren''t slaves to the system¡ªlike thousands of their current new captures¡ªthey''d still pay 5 Gold, though that''d head straight to Alterra''s treasury instead of the System. Anyway, that''d take a long while and it was pointless to think too much about it. For now¡­ they''d check out the training hall. When the people saw they were lining up, the two of them were practically pushed forward so they were among the first to try it out. They didn''t reject their kindness and entered after saying words of thanks. The overall area the Training Hall took was about the same as it was when it was at Level 2. However, it was taller and the structure reflected that and had thicker columns. It was just that¡ªvisually¡ªthe ceiling height was about the same. How would Level 30 monsters properly in 3-meter height rooms? Would humans just have the advantage of being smaller? The hallway though was slightly wider than before. She blinked, eyebrows furrowing a bit. Would the rooms have decreased in size then? However, when they entered one of the team rooms, they quickly realized it was the wrong assumption. The room was much larger than before! Maybe two or three times larger than the previous rooms! The ceiling height was also increased to about 4 or 5 meters! How? Did the place also have space-folding magic? In that case, then that cost was really cheap! Garan also seemed similarly impressed, blankly closing the door behind them. As the door shut closed, they both received similar notifications in their systems. [Welcome to the Training Hall, Team Room! Please choose the level of training you wish to experience! Level 1-5 - Cost: 25 contribution/hour/person Level 6-10 - Cost: 50 contribution/hour/person Level 11-15 - Cost: 100 contribution/hour/person Level 15-20 - Cost: 200 contribution/hour/person Level 21-25 - Cost: 300 contribution/hour/person Level 26-30 - Cost: 500 contribution/hour/person Note: The temporary discount set by the management applies.] Garan''s eyebrows rose as he looked at her. Although these points seemed small compared to how they charged when the Hall was new, it actually wasn''t the case. After all, they had long adjusted the value of a single contribution point. Before, one could get 500 contribution points by fighting a couple of monsters. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, the stronger monsters that were much more difficult to handle didn''t necessarily give the proportional amount of experience¡ªand none at all if the level differences were too wide. The points taken from those also varied now and were no longer 1:1 points-to-copper exchange. Now, a normal citizen fighting the occasional mob and with a low-paying job would get around 3000 to 4000 contribution points every month¡ªwhich would take several months of saving to pay for permanent residencies. So¡­ 500 points for an hour of experience would comparatively feel expensive. Seeing his reaction, Althea smiled awkwardly. "The upgrade was really expensive," she said, and then looked at him. "Should I reduce it a bit?" Garan shook his head, gently patting hers with a smile. "Do what you think is fair." "People who''d need to try out those levels wouldn''t have low amounts of contribution points," he said. "Give them something to spend it on." She giggled, pulling him deeper into the vast empty room. "Now¡­ let''s see if all that spending is worth it." Seriously! Send me what you thoughttt! We spent more than 1000 chapters, darnit! xDDD Chapter 1120 Level 3 Training Hall (Part 2) They paid 1000 points each to take on two monsters for two hours. They decided to try out a Level 15 and Level 26 Monster this time, so both she and Garan could have very good exercise while also considering the current state of their mana and spirit. It was still basically a solo fight with the other watching aside, possibly to send some support if needed. In the end, they just really wanted to train side-by-side despite their level differences. Althea went ahead first, chewing on mana cookies to recover a bit more mana while she waited for the monster to manifest. Familiar dust of light appeared in front of them, slowly forming into shape, starting from its interior. Even while it was forming, she could tell that it was an unfamiliar monster. This meant it must be more prevalent elsewhere, possibly from another side of the world. This was another advantage of using the Training Hall¡ªthey''d get familiarized with monsters that were uncommon in their areas, giving them some exposure before they potentially encountered them in real life. For the soldiers who often traveled around, this experience was invaluable. For her who simply wanted to know more, it was the same. Anyway, back to the monster¡ªwhich, like every other beast¡ªhad an ugly grotesque form that seemed so unnatural. It was like they were all chimaeras in a sense. Anyway, the monster was soon completely manifested. From a collection of light particles, it slowly became more and more solid, its sharp scythe appearing even more menacing. In appearance, her enemy was like a giant furry Mantis with a deformed bat''s face and large scythes for hands. She used her [Assesment Skills] to get its name. [Reaper (Lv15)] Eh, how fitting. Kkkkkkk A creepy sound came from it. It was like an insect, but a ghost. She gulped, turning to look at her husband. "As much as possible, don''t help." He nodded. He was reluctant, but this was always how she wanted it ever since they started training together. He could only watch as she formed a defensive position, ready for battle. [Level 15 Trial: Start] Althea held tightly to her sword, and the beast immediately lunged towards her. Its feet moved with small steps but they were quick, and it swung its scythes around it¡ªseemingly at all angles¡ªas if to ensure there was no escape for its prey. She narrowed her eyes and used [Perfect Aim] so she could see its movements a bit better. Of course, all the skill could do was increase her accuracy, not pinpoint its exact weakness. At best, it''d help her have enough control of her body to actually make the hit. She and the Reaper exchanged blows for a while after that, the sound of blades striking each other echoed the room. Garan''s jaws were clenched, fingers buried on his arms, every time Althea was hit. And she was hit quite often. When Garan realized she wasn''t wearing her protection charm again, his eyes twitched. He understood why she did so¡ªwhat kind of training would it be with such a tool on¡ªbut it didn''t make him any less uncomfortable. Fortunately, she managed to defend herself with her weapon so she didn''t get too injured. Clack! The scythe hit her smack in the stomach and she only minimized the damage by jumping back. She was still hit though, and she gasped in pain. She also saw her spirit got quite a bit of a hit too. She held up her hands to stop her husband from approaching. She was in pain, but her eyes were bright. The reason why she wanted to torture herself after getting out unscathed from the war was because it felt like she was too comfortable. Such a big thing happened, but she didn''t feel like she grew at all! Thus, when she saw the chance to get a little hurt, she took it. She narrowed her eyes and raised her sword, precisely blocking another one of the reaper''s sharp attacks. She heaved a deep breath as she kicked it, taking some water from her (non-potable) water jug to push it back. It imbalanced it a bit. Sadly, her current form made it inconvenient to rush over and attack. The movement sparked a thought in her mind though. What if that water was damaging? Like acid? Of course, she didn''t dwell on that too much at this time. She had to focus her remaining mana to control her elements, all while defending against its attack with her sword. It was great high-stakes multi-tasking. Anyway, the two exchanged hits like this for a while and Althea seemed to be on the defense, though Garan knew she was actually studying the creature. She studied its movements, its preferred attacks, and its behaviors. Sometimes she''d study something even if it meant sacrificing a bit of her own spirit. It was one of her most admirable traits, but also what worried him the most. After several tense minutes, Althea eventually figured out some of the ways to deal with it. For example, its scythe was both its strength and weakness. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was wide and sharp so it would cause very real damage, especially if it was the real monster. However, at the same time, its movement was too huge and¡ªif one timed it well enough¡ªcould create massive openings too. She studied its patterns, making some rough calculations in her mind. She struggled to get the timing at first. The skill [Precise Aim], in terms of actual application, had limited effectivity when the enemy was close-ranged and right in-your-face. She took a deep breath and jumped back. She raised her arms, using much of her mana to compress the water floating above them, making it more dense, and slammed it down on the monster before it could reach her. It didn''t crush the monster, but it forced it to pause at the right time. She used her sword to swipe away its scythe outwards, and she lunged forward to stab it in its flexible areas¡ªwhich should also be its weak spots. Clack!! Stab!! She tried to hit it as quickly as she could. The monster twitched, swinging around its arms in reflex. Kkkkk! Althea had long stepped back. The monster had slowed down now, making it easier for her to swipe its scythes away from her, so she could finally finish it off. [Killed! Reaper (Lv15)] Chapter 1121 The Gorevyrm Althea sparkled with satisfaction. Although her hair was messy, her shirt was in disarray, and she was filled with sweat, she still looked absolutely gorgeous in her husband''s eyes. Althea was the brightest after a successful challenge. Althea actually thrived on it. Although she did her best to prepare Alterra to be as stable as possible¡ªover-designing here, over-preparing there¡ªit didn''t hide the fact she actually lived for the thrill. At least when she wasn''t affecting others, she would find ways to give herself a hard time. She''d pick the most difficult projects, she''d go deep in areas she had little expertise on, she''d care for plants that had no chance to survive, or she would push ideas that would make her sleepless in thought. Whether it was of discovery or of growth, a good challenge was Althea''s true source of joy outside her family. Thankfully, she was still anchored in them and in Alterra, otherwise, Garan was certain she''d have long flown away to find adventure. "Good job," Garan said, leading her to a collapsible chair he took from his space. He wiped her sweat away as he handed her her favorite unripe mango juice. It was very refreshing. "Sit tight and just study us," he said, patting her face again before he headed to his own battlefield. Next was Garan''s enemy, a Level 26 monster. They watched as the shimmering dust slowly condensed to form a rough shape and, from here, they could see that it''d be more than 3 meters tall. Garan tightened his hold on his weapon. Level 26 and above monsters could be found at town level but they were fairly uncommon. In Ferrol, after reaching a certain level, he had to spend days hunting for monsters that''d give him experience. It was why he was (and would be stuck) in level 29 for a while. Fortunately, the Training Hall could now ease that burden. Soon, the monster formed and they watched as it slowly came to life. There would be a brief moment where it showed the monsters building up from bones, to muscles, and finally the skin. It was another fascinating feature in this place, and she knew some scientists who''d join teams in the Training Hall just so they could see these moments. After all, to the people truly studying the creatures, it was quite useful to have their skinned and de-muscled views. Speaking of which, this monster wasn''t like the mantis which had an exoskeleton, so they saw muscles first. This one seemed to have a hydrostatic skeleton¡ªthat was to say, its body shape was maintained by fluid pressure inside its body. It was large, more than 3 meters tall, and was akin to a giant earthworm except with yellow-brown skin that was not as soft as it looked. They saw how it was ''built'', after all. That skin was not thin at all. Its mouth was circular and had razor-like fangs. It had no eyes, and was just a disgusting sight overall. Fortunately, her husband was the one to deal with it. She simply used her assessment skill to get its name. [Gorevyrm (Lv26)] Surprisingly, the Gorevyrm was not entirely unfamiliar. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As a standard, Alterra bought off information from aborigines in exchange for contribution points. In the past few months, Sahara gained quite a bit of points by sharing information about her region. The Gorevyrm was a monster relatively common in the desert. She had told them about this, made a rough sketch using their pencils (she had a talent for it, learning how to draw only after a few weeks of being introduced to it), and even said how to handle them. These beasts thrived in the desert so they weren''t that dependent on water. They could also be weak against salt, but who had that much salt to waste? However, Sahara did mention some weak areas. Like the worms they knew, its underside was a bit softer than other parts to facilitate its movements. Another weakness would be inside its mouth. Not to mention, it was completely out of its element¡ªsand. In the desert, the thing could bury itself and swim around sound using its inbuilt vibrators that liquified the sand surrounding it, but that was not on its plate right now.1 So, although Garan did have a bit of trouble by virtue of its strength, it didn''t take long before he got on his groove. Garan used his ice element to hold it in place, particularly when it was in upright positions, slowly chipping its life away. This went on for a couple of minutes, with the worm being trapped, escaping, attacking, and being trapped again. The war didn''t require much mana from Garan, so he still had quite a bit left at his disposal. When the monster was on the verge of dying though, Althea stood up. "Wait," she said, standing up next to him. "Can I try something?" Garan nodded, though he didn''t move in case the monster suddenly burst movements. Althea raised her hand, feeling its interior, its body using her ability. One of the things she learned the past couple of months was how to feel a body''s interior¡­ eventually awakening a Healer profession, too. She wasn''t going to heal it or anything of course. She just wanted to see something. Surprisingly, she really did feel the blood inside the monster. She thought of the fact that when a monster wasn''t defeated, it''d stay in that room until it was. It wouldn''t disappear, and it was up to the next in line to beat it. Could it be that a real monster was really transferred from elsewhere, instead? It wasn''t that they didn''t consider it, but this place was too magical in many aspects they didn''t know which common sense still worked. The point was, since it had a lot of moisture in its body, she curiously tried to do something. Among the water users, there were plenty of people who wanted to try doing ''blood-bending'' to control a person. The concept was because humans were mostly made of water, perhaps they could control them.1 She didn''t know where they got the inspiration, but many people tried, especially during wars. However, it wasn''t as straightforward as people thought, which was both a disappointment and a relief. For one, although humans were technically composed of a lot of water, it was mixed with a hell lot of things like plasma, iron, and other organic compounds. Healers could feel the water inside a person''s body, but not move it enough it''d manipulate the entire body weight. And¡­ all intelligent beings were, in a sense, protected by the aether¡ªas if holding it together¡ªso they couldn''t be manipulated in this way. (A few of other races may or may not have volunteered as experiments for large amounts of contribution points). In the cases of monsters, the other barrier was that their skin was too thick, and they tended to have a similar or less proportion of water in their bodies. This worm was different. It basically didn''t have much to cover it, so she wanted to try if she could control it. She was a bit sweaty, using the rest of her mana. It flinched, and made a decently big movement, before she had to give up¡ªexhausted. Her eyes brightened. That was good enough for now. Garan smiled, shaking his head, before walking over the monster to finally end its suffering. Hehe. Dune inspiration, of course xDD Heheh. ATLA throwback xDDD Chapter 1122 The New Prisoners of War A/N: We''re getting one extra chap today~! We''re not T1 Golden this week, but I wanna show appreciation for making last month''s T1 so stable! Thank you for your support, everyone! ... ____ The day was ending and most people¡ªincluding those who were in the bunkers¡ªhad either gone home or went to see the trials happening in the Main Plaza. Rather¡­ except for those who were too tired or injured from the war and mobs, most people actually opted to join the latter. They wanted to know what these people did¡ªwhether they could emphathize with them or to be guarded against them. Although prisoners of war were often working in mines, gathering resources, cleaning up, and so on¡ªthere were definitely some crossed paths between them and the citizens. They wanted to know whether they were pity-worthy¡­ or spit-worthy. Because Resso Village was legitimately an enemy territory, it would not be right to just grant them the option to free themselves after gaining some money. Everyone from that side would be ''Prisoners of War'', regardless if they were system slaves or not, and whether they were from Resso or one of the allied territories. The Rosses 1handled the new prisoners. After the war, Mathilda had gone straight to the Center with Jun2 and her children to oversee the newcomers. They had started even while the mobs were ongoing, beginning with the ''slaves'' they allowed to enter early on. This was the last batch of slaves they''d rescue from attacking territories, so she hoped to allocate them impeccably. By the time the mobs were completely annihilated, this batch was not even half done yet, so everyone knew this would take a while. They didn''t want to take breaks either so Mathilda and Jun decided to go on shifts, and same with Gwen and Gill, with the women to check in for the night after a couple more hours. They set up tables in the plaza. Every one of the prisoners would be asked to make an oath (or die) before doing anything else. The oath was also extremely detailed¡ªcrafted by Mathilda and Jun themselves¡ªto ensure they still had some rights, but still ensured Alterra''s safety at all costs. After they made an oath, they would then confess to what they had done in the plaza, being as honest as the oaths forced them to be. From there, they''d judge the length of their state as prisoners of war here. If it was a murderer, then the atonement points would reflect that¡ªneeding years in hard service, if not decades. Some of the minor ones¡ªfor example, those who had been victimized by wars for years¡ªwould have a lot less. Speaking of that, there were many prisoners from previous wars who had shorter sentences. A few of them had already become either ''free slaves'' ¡ªthat was, the ones who could start to keep their money to save up for freedom. In fact, just last month, there was one guy from the Fargo war who had already freed himself. The man''s name was Ghetto1, and it was Silvia 2who judged him after the Fargo-Alterra War. He had been a guard there, but refused to join the evil. Rather, he had volunteered to guard the gates with Victor and the others back then to defend, all while avoiding the disgusting things happening inside. A month ago, he finally gathered enough money¡ªsome were personal loans from the friends he made along the way¡ªto free himself. He immediately applied to be a guard, and was now on probationary status. Anyway, his case was quite an inspirational story among the prisoners of war. This went on and a few hundred more prisoners came through, confessing their crimes¡ªespecially their war crimes¡ªmost of which caused high blood pressure all over the plaza. When the particularly annoying ones were placed on the side (they would be escorted as a group to the prison or in the prisoners'' dormitories), many of the citizens would spit on them, maybe hit them, and they couldn''t do anything about it! They gritted their teeth and the citizens continued to annoy them. When they dared to attack¡ªespecially for non-system slaves¡ªthen they''d go straight to prison, and along with that were increased sentences. At some point, some guards appeared dragging a bloodied man with them. They were guards who were on cleanup duty outside, and this meant they found more people outside the territory. One of them was a little unexpected though. "Miss Mathilda!" Angelo yelled. "The enemy lord is here!" Lords were immune to becoming slaves as long as they held the token, so he had to be dragged there instead of just being ordered around. Anyway, the announcement of his identity made everyone stare badly at him, making Tout want to bury himself in the ground again. Angelo dragged him to the front of the table. The young lad¡ªquite proud¡ªalso took out something from his pocket. "He also has the token," he said, handing the token over to her. Guards were duty-bound to give tokens they found to the leading parties, while citizens could keep the token¡ªassuming they deserved it. This was applicable only to tokens found in Alterra or in any of its satellites. Otherwise, it was a free-for-all. However, the guards could choose to keep it in exchange for paying half the minimum selling price of the token (and they could even take out loans to assist with the purchase). Of course, the condition was that the territory would be subsidiary to Alterra for the next 5 years¡ªthough no one thought that was unfair at all. Now that Alterra was a Town, many villages would be scrambling to become subsidiaries to it! However, Alterra was choosy and might not even look at them at all! It would be an honor to become a subsidiary! On the other hand, if they chose to surrender it, they would receive good pay and contribution points in exchange for it. If they decided to sell it, then the finder could get 10% of the proceeds. Any of the deals would be very good, and it was an incentive for people to hunt down enemy lords as well. Of course, they also wanted to avoid citizens fighting over the tokens or even backstabbing each other for it. Hence, they added a rule that the reward would be given to whoever found it¡ªnot necessarily the one who delivered it. They just had to take a simple (and cheap) temporary honesty oath as they submitted it. Mathilda''s eyebrows furrowed as she looked at it. They didn''t have any available Token Guards at this time, so they either had to give it back or give it to someone. Althea had given her permission to do most things for the territory, and what to do with tokens from useless territories was one of them. They would definitely not sell it back to the previous Lord, so it could only be the latter. But who''d they sell it to? Mathilda, Gill, and Gwen Lawyer. One of the first refugees and had been Mathilda''s right hand man since the start Showed in Ch 617 as one of the Fargo guards who was left off relatively easily S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One of Mathilda''s assistants who was now helping handle Iron Mountains with Rowan Chapter 1123 Selling the Resso Token "Y-You can have it! Just let me go!" Tout screamed, as if it was a good deal for Alterra¡ªone that he ''willingly lost to'', even. Mathilda ignored him while she thought, and Angelo 1just smacked him on the back of his head. "You can''t possibly think we''ll just let you go, right?" At this, some of the popcorn-eaters at the side commented. "He''s stupid enough to think he''ll win against Alterra! Don''t assume he has a brain!" "..." Tout gritted his teeth, his eyes twitching in annoyance. He just sent everyone his ''deadliest'' glare, before turning to stare at Angelo. "You''re probably going to keep me to know more about Basset Town! Too bad¡ªI''m under oath!!" he said with a vindictive grin, as if that''d cause despair. "Don''t worry, we have our ways," Angelo said¡ªcompletely unaffected¡ªand he looked at Mathilda, who waved them away. Angelo grinned and dragged the bloodied bloke straight to the torture chambers. Only Patte was there now, it was nice to have a new guy. Tout didn''t know where he was being taken, but he was instinctively terrified. "Noooo!" he yelled, trying to struggle, but to no avail. He had been weakened greatly¡ªwhen the war ended, his spirit was dangerously low. Then, when he was pulled up, he was also forced to eat a pellet that made it difficult for him to gather enough energy to even attempt to run away. "Let me go!!!" he yelled, but then¡­ Angelo did, and his face fell smack on the ground. BANG! "You¡ª" "SHUT UP!" Angelo yelled, hitting his head. He coughed, and could only look bitterly at the young man. This wasn''t fair! He gave them his token! Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. (He forgot that Angelo found it instead, but who was counting?) As he was dragged though, he could hear the the old woman ask the crowd. "Who wants to buy a token?" she asked. "We''ll start selling it for¡­ 50 Gold." "!!!" The cheapest token could sell for 1000 gold, okay! The incredibly poor and hopeless ones would still sell for 100!! "First priority are Alterran Residents, does anyone want to buy it?" "Eh¡­" Tout could hear some groans all around him. He turned to see, gaping when he saw their expressions. These people dared look disgusted!! So rude!!! ¡­ No Alterran Resident volunteered in the end. This was understandable. They had worked very hard to become proper residents, who''d want to get a disgusting headache? "No Residents? Then Alterran Citizens," she said, referring to those who were paying the daily fees. Naturally, there was a bit of a pause, with some people genuinely thinking about it. If one just looked at its definition, anyone who wanted a bit of power¡ªand hadn''t invested too much in Alterra yet¡ªwould naturally be tempted! Still, no one moved forward. First of all, there was the issue of money. Unlike Residents, they had a very limited amount they could take out. In general, non-Residents could only loan enough to use for a few month''s survival at best. And¡­ after a bit of thought, they also didn''t want to go out of Alterra. Leading another territory was too troublesome! The infrastructure (or lack thereof) was already there and would be too costly to demolish and upgrade. Who would want to live in such a ''primitive'' place? It would be full of aborigines, too! In the past months, a lot of exchanges between the satellites had happened. From the stories in Iron Mountains, they naturally had an idea about the challenges of taking a predominantly aborigine territory! "Okay, so last chance, Alterrans, I will be selling to the guests." No one answered and Mathilda turned to look beyond the crowd to the curious aborigines. They had been there a while, some being there for as long as the Alterrans. Interestingly, a lot of them had bought some recliners and chairs from Baron''s woodworking shop and they were quite comfortable at the side, being sold various goods by the opportunistic snack sellers. "We only need you to sign a peace oath¡ªthat is, you will simply not be allowed to attack Alterra or any of the associate territories. Other than that, it''s yours." "The price will start at 100 Gold," she said. At this, many aborigines raised their hands. To be honest, they were shocked that no Alterran seemed interested, but a token was a token! A small bidding war happened then, and the Resso Village token was granted to one of the merchants from Ferrol Town. It was sold at a price fair for both parties. The merchant got an entire territory¡ªa dream, really¡ªfor a dirt-cheap price of 242 Gold, and Alterra got a bit of change just before the end of 28 hours approached. Win-win, indeed. Well, except for poor Tout who¡ªby the time the deal was finalized and the token merged with the buyer¡ªwas still screaming his heart out. ¡­ While this was being handled, the Mauin villagers also helped out with the Prisoners of War, but in a different way. They had a very clear agenda¡ªto find the Hasa Villagers. Because the oath was one of honesty, they just had to ask them where they came from. During the inquisition in the Plaza, they asked these people where they came from. From there, they could filter out the ones they needed. They found a handful of survivors who¡ªwith permission¡ªthey tortured themselves. All of the Mauin men there could do this, because all of them were guards. In the end, after inflicting a lot of suffering, Mauru and the others obtained the map to Hasa Village¡­ and some information about their old brethren. "S-Some of them are alive!! AHH!!" one yelled, succumbing to the pain and deliriousness that came with it. They naturally tried not to say anything. After all, their captors were incredibly sensitive. Saying the wrong thing about their brethren was equal to their suffering. "We¡­ we liked some of them alive b-better." Immediately, the prisoners were beaten up even more. "What did you do to them?!" Mauru and the others asked, and their attacks got more intense the more they heard. This made the ex-Mauin Villagers feel complicated. Many were still alive¡ªwhich was such good news¡ªyet they also felt horrible for them. They suffered for so many months! Would they still be sane when they found them? They kicked the damned men who¡ªwhen they realized there was no way they were getting out of this alive¡ªdecided to detail everything they''ve done with evil smiles on their bloodied faces. The former Mauin Villagers could no longer hold their strengths and eventually took their lives. Mauru 1heaved a deep breath, cold eyes looking at their prisoners'' lifeless bodies. After a pause, he turned to look at his brethren. At this time, about a dozen men and young men were there to join the inquisition, and each one of them had extreme anger painted on their faces. Mauru, as the leader of their group, forced himself to calm down¡ªto balance things out, even when his heart was also bursting in anger. Too bad the prisoners were already dead and they couldn''t vent anymore. "We¡­ now that we know what happened, I''d like to get as many of our brethren here as we could," he said. "But the path would not be easy, especially now that we have upgraded to Town. "Who''s coming with me?" One of Baron''s cousins who entered the guard team One of the leading people amongst the Mauin Village, one of the villages that fell a long time ago Chapter 1124 Another Elders Meeting (Part 1) Heading back to the Gaea Villa, the couple were excited to have a nice long bath. In Garan''s case, a bath together would be ideal. It was just that when they entered the house, they were greeted by two little buns running right straight to them. "Mwama!" her daughter yelled, so adorable with her hair bunned at both sides. Her rambunctious son also stopped playing with his toy car, running to her too, but he was much louder and because he was chubbier than Pepper his steps were louder. "Mwamaaaa!" Then they saw their father right behind her and they brightened even more. "Dadaaaa!!!" Althea could only stay still as they once again grabbed her ankles. She was a bit dirty, but they ought to take a bath too before sleeping anyway. She giggled as she lifted them up, smooching their soft faces. Garan smiled and kissed everyone too, feeling incredibly warm in his heart. She realized they were dirtier than expected though. Some dust and a bit of blood were smudged on the babies'' clothes. "Oh, dear¡­" she said, a bit embarrassed. "Let''s take a swim together, ne?" This naturally excited the babies who love swimming. "Swim! Swim!" She laughed, hugging her two babies to the bathroom. They all took a rinsing shower before heading to the tub and¡ªwith her husband''s very strained help¡ªthey all got cleaned together. After half-an-hour of ''swimming'', the parents readied themselves and the babies for bed. Garan fortunately moved on from his plans tonight, knowing the kids would not let go of their mother. His face showed a bit of disappointment though. Althea laughed as she saw this. She whispered something to the two babies and she held them up to his face, and the babies stretched their little arms and wrapped them around his face, giving him baby smooches all over. Garan''s face softened and he held up the babies, taking them to sleep himself. She giggled and joined in, readying to sleep with the babies spooned between them. It didn''t take long, and the four of them fell into a well-deserved slumber. ¡­ After about a day of rest, another meeting among Elders was initiated. This was to give more time for those who dealt with the clean-up, especially Mathilda and Garan (who woke up after three hours of sleeping), to rest properly. A lot of interesting things also happened during this time. First of all, as expected, a lot of the more powerful non-slaves had tried to escape. After all, they were not bound by the system to stay, and the best time to do so was during the trial. The administration was busy with the thousands of other captured enemies at this time, and the rules were still null and¡ª at the time¡ª would end within a few hours. This was why they had to rush to make a move. They looked at each other, making vague visual signals, and¡ªabout an hour before the official end of the 28-hour war¡ªa few dozen people sprinted out to run at the same time. Of course, Althea chose to let them in during this vulnerable period not just because she was soft-hearted. She and Garan naturally prepared for such a case. Those few dozen people didn''t even get far and were not able to hurt anybody¡ªthe half-orcs and Fufi appeared right above them, taking them down. All those above the level cap were killed directly by the half-orcs, while those below had their heads bitten off by Fufi. It was a very bloody sight, and suffice to say no one dared to rebel again after that. Another was that the Mauin Villagers applied for a mass leave so they could rescue their surviving brethren. Although it was doubtful many of them had survived¡ªespecially after the Village had been destroyed¡ªthey still wanted to take a look. The ones who went out were Mauru, Massan, Ento, as well as the two new physical supernaturalists the 17-year-old Essan (super speed) and the 18-year-old Nattan (super strength). They left a couple of hours after they got the information, filling up their spaces with easy-to-digest food, water, health potions, and so on. During the past couple of months, the hardworking Mauins had gained a lot of friends and supporters, and a lot of the things they brought with them were actually donations from friends. They cried, and promised they''d be careful and return as soon as they could¡ªhopefully, with a few more people to join Alterra, as well. Anyway, the meeting started when the sun was high up, and every one of the Elders was there on time. Before they started, various data and plans were collected in order to streamline the discussions. One data set they received was the census from the administration team. They were the ones who monitored the Village Center and took care of the registrations there, recording everything, and making sure people were easily found according to their expertise. A lot of details and background weren''t reflected in the system. Even if they were, they couldn''t bother her with everything right? Anyway, they had also done oaths that would require them to Althea was impressed that they got everyone as indicated in her system though. She naturally cross-referenced to see their accuracy, and she was relieved. The number of Residents was at the exact number. The population¡ªwhich included the slaves and prisoners of wars¡ªwas still being updated as of now, but it looked to be more or less accurate. This showed how efficient and organized the Administration Department was. Should she reward them with a bigger government office? The average population in a town was several times more than what they had now, it was only a matter of time before their current floors wouldn''t be enough anymore. Mathilda had mentioned the paperwork was starting to feel cluttered. They should get more room for their cabinets, yes. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She noted that down. When she built the new walls, she would probably create a government zone so each department could have their own buildings. Hmn, how exciting. Chapter 1125 Another Elders Meeting (Part 2) Anyway, now that Alterra had upgraded to a Town, they would no longer have to ''block'' visitors from coming en masse. However, the requirements for residencies would definitely increase. This was something they had planned a long time ago in order to control the burst of population inevitably coming in. They didn''t want to get into a situation where they had to block people again just to stop an upgrade. Speaking of population, they got a lot of Prisoners of War this time ¡ªthousands of them, excluding the ones dead and on death row. They did not expand and did not need to build new buildings (for now), but it didn''t mean that such a large new labor force wasn''t needed. They could actually use a lot of new miners because they found a nice resource in Alterra for them to mine. A few months ago, a group of goblins¡ªled by Iko, one of the first goblins they received from Guia¡ªwas tasked to dig the mountains to get to the hot water under the mountains. Alterra did not have volcanoes, but there was a good amount of geothermal activity underneath. This allowed the heating of the underground water reservoir to just the perfect temperature for it to be considered hot springs. This was to be pumped and siphoned out for their upcoming Hot Spring Luxury community set to open in a couple of months. After a large amount of planning and zoning (as well as underground surveying with the tools they had), the geology experts decided on certain areas they''d use and sent the goblins to work on them. A few months ago though, the goblins came across an interesting mine. The walls were lined with soft rocks with unusual color, and the goblins took a few samples and wrapped them up in a blanket¡ªjust in case. Anyway, the goblins found them beautiful and brought them up to share. The rules in Alterra were strict, and people couldn''t take resources outside of what was allowed by the rules. Like how people weren''t allowed to build anything without approval¡ªpreventing the formation of shanties¡ªthe rule for this worked in a similar way. Of course, even if there weren''t such rules, the goblins were honest critters and would''ve definitely reported it regardless. Anyway, the goblins didn''t think much of it. It was only when a Terran saw the stone that the word ''Purple!'' was called. It was a saturated purple mineral. It had a matte finish and was softer to touch than typical minerals. When the Research Center studied it (undergoing various safety checks of course), they found compounds that, when processed, could yield a vibrant purple dye. There might still be other uses, but a different team was assigned to figure those out. From Oslo, they knew that it was a very rare color. He had a girlfriend who had family in Cloth City, so he knew a bit about it. Anyway, they obviously had to inject a bit of manpower if they wanted to mass-produce it. Whether it was the mining work, the processing of the product, and factory work for the various end products¡ªall these things would need some manpower. They could also free up the menial tasks in other factories and give them to the newcomers too, giving more complicated (and better paying) jobs to their current employees. The arrival of the new prisoners was actually quite convenient. Anyway, just before the upgrade, Althea''s last update about this was that the initial version of the dye was being perfected so that it would completely bind with the fabric. It was a finite resource so they couldn''t be careless with the experiments, so a lot of calculation and planning had to be done before every step. For now, the color tended to fade away after a couple of washes, so it''d take a bit more time before it could be sold. The only thing they could guarantee was that the color and saturation itself could be more or less maintained¡ªat least at first. Speaking of color, Oslo had been pulled in as a consultant and he may or may not have hinted that the vibrancy of their purple was far superior than what was in the market. This was great news, and this would definitely guarantee another avenue for Alterra to make money. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In Xeno, purple dye was even more expensive than the blue dye¡ªwhich was already quite costly. Apparently, in cities, a bolt was bought in increments of gold. It didn''t really surprise many of the history-aware Terrans though. Back in their home planet, there was a period when purple dyes were even more valuable than gold! It was why it was synonymous with royalty. It seemed like it was the same here in Xeno. In the end, the item was called amethystite powder, and the fabric should be available in the market within a few more months, though probably for internal or exclusive use only. Speaking of colorful fabric, the research team had also figured out a good way to use Jacoba Town''s Isatis Flower. After holding on to it for months, Alterra could now make rare and beautiful blue fabric, dyes, and ink. Rather, Cassandra¡ªwho knew the products of Jacoba Town¡ªeven vouched that Alterra''s was even higher quality than Jacoba''s and could therefore be sold even higher. As such: Purple and Blue, the rarest dyes, would soon be available in Alterra and create another booming industry from it. As for how Jacoba¡ªor the Cloth Cities, for that matter¡ªwould react to that, they couldn''t be quite sure. Anyway, each one of those cities was very far away from them, even farther than Bleulle City, so they might not really care for them, at least for a while. Even if they did, Alterra would''ve been connected to so many territories by then¡ªwhether they were allied, subsidiaries, or mere business partners¡ªthat anyone would have to be careful in handling them. This was another reason why Ansel and the others made business deals only with those with acceptable morals. Even if they were not particularly rich yet, if they had some integrity, then Ansel would consider their deals over those who had done a lot of questionable things. It would not only be against their conscience to give more power to those bastards, but it was also in the case more enemies came their way. On that front, they''d like to minimize the potential of betrayals. It would be great if they could ally with a City though¡ªthings would be a lot easier for them, just as the alliance with Ferrol definitely helped with their security and the ease of their growth. It was just that¡­ the Lords of Cities they heard about so far were all jackasses¡­ Why couldn''t there be normal people at the top, anyway? Sigh¡­ Chapter 1126 Next Steps (Part 1) A/N: Thanks for the castle Lotuslin! *HUGSSS* Your chapter request will come soon hahahaha .. ____ The next part of the agenda was the increase in requirements for residencies. As a Town, the prices and therefore the value of contribution points were also to be changed. Ansel had already prepared a report with Ramil and Raj 1about this, proposing the new prices that would fit their Town and its future growth. In order to ensure that the unfortunate would retain the chance at life, their entrance fees remained way lower than other Towns at 30 copper/day for visitors and tourists. However, the costs of obtaining residencies were high with temporary residents having to pay a one-time fee of 5000 contribution points and a maintenance fee of 1 gold a month. The requirement for permanent residency was even more disproportionally higher. It would now require a one-time payment of 50 gold and 25,000 contribution points. The value of contribution points had also been balanced out further, making it still very useful even if someone had minimum, but also not too easy to obtain so no one could hoard all the good things in Alterra. Basically, if one had to start from scratch, the average person¡ªthat was to say, someone within the average level and at a decent age range¡ªwould be able to achieve at least a temporary residency within a few months or a year, at most. Of course, this was depending on how hard they actually worked for it and how talented they were. Calculating, some people might not aim for residencies anymore and just remain visitors. However, the benefits of being residents still far outweighed its costs. The free gathering of resources had been reduced and had also become limited to Residents only, though taking the fruits and stuff from the territory was still possible for non-citizens for an affordable amount of money. Further, like before, only residents (except for some business partners like the Golds and the Rolan Mercenary Team) could lease a property, and only permanent could own one. The most visitors could do was stay in dormitories, inn, hotels, or bed spaces rented out by residencies, which could be more expensive in the long term. Also, even if it was far more comfortable than those outside, who wouldn''t want to have a place of their own? It was human nature to have their own ''base''. Alterra had also established more benefit systems available only for residents. The most prominent one would be the loan system. Non-residents would have very limited credit, only enough for survival, and this was only given if they had secured a job or gathered enough contribution points to prove they were capable of paying back. For temporary residents, they could get loans to start small businesses, and permanent residents could get even higher. There were already some people who opted to invest everything in a permanent residency, and then take out a loan to buy a house (assuming their jobs were stable of course) which was actually both a brave and smart thing to do. There would be an improved health benefits system. Getting treated in the hospitals and clinics would be affordable to the masses¡ªbut it wouldn''t be free. However, every Resident would have a certain amount of free healthcare, as well as free annual checkups. Treating serious injuries obtained during wars and beast mobs was also subject to a lot of discounts and was affordable even for the poor. (It was no longer completely free though; their numbers had gone up too much and they realized that some people took advantage.) For Residents though, they could be pretty much insured with everything except blatant self-harm. There would be social security as well, wherein a portion of their salaries would be placed in the bank for their future use. After a few years, they could be availed with some interest. Finally, there was also a retirement benefit, which could be availed by those who had been residents for more than thirty years for the young adults and fifteen years for the older people (which was short considering increased lifespans in Xeno). After retirement, they would basically not go hungry even if they didn''t work nor would they worry about the other basic needs. It was a lengthy discussion, making sure that¡ªas much as possible¡ªthey would step into the best direction they could take, not just for themselves, but for the territory and for future generations. Every elder knew who she was by now, and she told them of the new area they could play with. "The current area is now more than twice of what we have," she said. The Elders had interestingly varied expressions. Those who were more concerned about military strength (like most men) flinched, thinking of how difficult it would be to guard such a big area. In contrast, those who were into infrastructure (the woman + Ansel) were already thinking of what they could propose to build in the future. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I didn''t expand the walls because we don''t need to yet, and I''m also hoping to use the Level 7 Walls by then." Level 7 Walls and Sentries¡ªavailable with one more upgrade¡ªhad farther reach and stronger attacks, it also had a much higher defense than Level 6. She might as well save up for that, instead. Anyway, she knew the requirement of upgrading to a Level 2 Town. Because they had been holding back the past months, they were actually not too far away from upgrade and she estimated she only needed another year or less. According to the Ferrol Notes, the requirement for the upgrade was 50,000 population, 30,000 Residents, and 3000 Prestige. Now that they had opened their gates again, it was only a matter of time for Alterra to reach that population level. The supposed most difficult part¡ªthe prestige¡ªwas already past 2000 for Alterra. When new products came out, it would probably increase even more. Anyway, while Level 6 Sentry was what most towns had, it would just give her 150-meter reach (and slightly stronger) attacks, and placing those around a larger scope¡ªeven if she decided to optimize and space at 300 meters apart¡ªwould not be cost-efficient if she decided to guard the new perimeter they had now. Althea shivered whenever she had to spend money on something not cost-efficient. In contrast, the threshold for sentries with farther reach¡ªat a whooping 300-meter scope and twice the shooting rate and power¡ªwas at Level 7. Having such a wide reach, if distanced well, in addition to its strength would be truly secure her territory well. She didn''t know the exact cost yet though. Jonathan''s Father did not upgrade his wall to that level because he said it was too expensive. It was why it was a wall that could only be found in Cities, and he said no Town could afford it without draining much of their treasury. There weren''t exactly City Lords they were close with either. Even if there was, their walls would''ve been built long before they were born, so they might not be privy to that information. So¡­ Althea was saving up a lot. She still felt she was too poor. If people knew how much money she had hoarded within a year, they would faint and want to shake her badly. So greedy! Bank bros. Chapter 1127 Next Steps (Part 2) Of course, some might say for her to just expand and build a low-level wall around the new area like Fargo did, creating a better-guarded inner wall. This was indeed the ''best'' approach to her situation. Most territories would opt for an inner wall with the highest level while using a lesser wall for the rest of the territory. Other than the fact that this would give exclusivity to a ''higher class'' of the Lord''s choosing, there were plenty of practical reasons for this. First, high-level walls were too expensive to use in the large area of a territory. Second, an inner wall would be far easier to guard during wars because there were fewer areas to guard. To win a war, the majority of the enemy must get into the highest walled areas. Hence, it would be more difficult for enemies to win because the area they had to get into was smaller and more guarded. But Althea and her elders would not do this. They wanted all their citizens well-protected. While having a class strata was unavoidable because some people were simply more skilled, more powerful, or more hardworking than others she didn''t want this distance to be so stark that the lower rungs were unable to live life like proper humans. After some discussion, they agreed that there was no need to fence the current areas¡ªat least for now. She looked at her stats. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 1 Town Area: 28.270,000 square meters Residents: 14785 (4963 permanent, 9822 temporary) Total Population: 31824 Base Resources: Wood: 39300/40000 Stone: 28220/30000 Money: 109731 Gold, 449229 Silver, 5898699 copper Prestige: 2150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv4), Farm (Lv3), Training Hall (Lv3), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv3), Barracks (Lv3) Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1) Building Slots: 8/11 (+11)] Even during the past day, quite a few thousand people had landed in Alterra. It would only increase more and more. With their population, the current area was already more than enough, even with her massive amount of greenery and forestry retained for resources. All the new communities built in the past few months were either dormitories or mid-rise buildings, so her current population still fit well in her current space¡ªwith room for thousands more. In order to fit the rest of the 50,000 population the upgrade needed though¡ªif needed¡ªshe would just sacrifice a few green spaces and parks and build a few more mid-rise dormitories there. She could just make up for her personal greening requirements upon expansion. Anyway, now that the residential concerns had been addressed for now, the next point to discuss was the special buildings they''d be spending their slots on. For everyone to make informed decisions, Althea explained to them what they learned from Jonathan when they went to Ferrol, as well as what his father placed on his notes. As a Level 1 Town, the special buildings available to them was the Chancery of Appointments, the Post Office, Pharmacy, and the Timekeeper Tower. The Repeatable buildings were the Beast Stable, Guard Station, and the Inn. Obviously, the last three were not even considered because they already had them. Of course, they did not discount the advantages of the System''s versions. For instance, the Timekeeper Tower was extremely accurate¡ªbased on mysterious principles of this world¡ªthough they believed it was not unattainable with their math team. For the System''s Beast Stable, it had a passive calming effect on beasts¡ª making them easier to handle. This could also be built multiple times, so as long as a business had money, they could pay the lord to create a Beast Stable for them. This was a very common deal seen in towns and cities, particularly for establishments that catered to nobles. Finally, it had self-cleaning functions, which was extremely convenient. However, Balzy (their own Beast Inn Keeper) would argue that every part of monsters had some uses, and he indeed gained a bit of extra income by gathering beast excrement and selling them to farmers. The Duplicable Guard Stations were also really convenient in terms of passing around information, and with their lessened access to aether letters, they actually seriously considered these. The Inn was self-cleaning and had passive relaxing people and hastening recovery of Mana and Spirit. However, other than that, their own Inns were superior let alone their hotel. They could just make up for the recovery functions with their furniture instead. The Chancery of Appointments was where people could get hired by other territories like how they got their own NPCs. However, would they want their people to go out? Especially, since they''d be under oath not to harm the territory they went to? The reason other towns would build this was because it would allow them to hire beyond the limits of the Village Center, with an additional slot of 10 hires at the lowest level. This was something indicated in the Ferrol notebook, and precisely the reason why the former lord had one. However, for Alterra, this didn''t seem particularly attractive. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Pharmacy was self-explanatory with its ability to produce HP and Mana Potions at the lowest level, and buff potions when upgraded. Their own pharmacy had managed to mimic this to some degree, but it wouldn''t hurt to have one that continuously produced potions as long as they had the necessary raw materials. They already knew the raw materials, and the most used was the Haozen Berry and the Youna plants (both of which among the first plants she encountered. Other than these two, there were other ingredients, but they were fortunately relatively common in forest areas across the continent. As of this date, they had already gathered all these ingredients through various sources, including their seeds. They''d be dedicating a number of farms to raise these plants. Before, Althea had dedicated farms for her own pharmacy, but that would no longer be enough. One of the challenges pharmacies had to go through during peak times (during wars or mobs), was when they would run out of resources¡ªand therefore run out of products¡ªto sell. Imagine being in a war and the pharmacy was ''out of stock''? So, they learned this lesson and had been preparing for the mass production of the necessary raw materials. They had, in fact, already managed to cultivate the seeds in their nurseries (primary credit to Althea and Thorance) and the plants were all growing well. They weren''t actually difficult to plant and grow either. Otherwise, they wouldn''t be such ubiquitous plants at all. The reason why there were only a few people who could actually take advantage of the resources was because no one knew the formulas. Alterra''s pharmacists did figure it out after a bit of study¡ªbut that was because they were various experts who had hundreds of years worth of foundational knowledge taught to them since childhood. Anyway, even if some locals knew, they would not share. And so¡­ Alterra had the honor of pioneering such mass production of raw materials. "The Pharmacy is a must," she said, and no one disagreed. "Now for the next slot¡­" Chapter 1128 New Town Buildings (Part 1) One slot was reserved for the Pharmacy. Althea still had two slots left. After a bit of discussion, they decided on the Post Office, which would used for fast communication. Even if Ferrol Town wasn''t too far away and they could send Messengers from here to there and vice versa, fast communication could literally save lives so they didn''t want to be stingy with that. They''d also have a lot more transactions with other Towns aside from Ferrol. They couldn''t send messenger birds there, right? Not only that, considering the trends, more and more Alterrans were likely to expand their world, form caravans, and go on adventures¡ªespecially once the Mercenary Hall was built. In that case, Post Office wasn''t just convenient¡ªit would be invaluable. A Bonus: At the highest level of the Post Office¡ªunlockable at city-level¡ª they could send items too! There naturally were limitations, such as size and weight limits, but that would be really magical to have. And so, two out of her three slots were decided on. They thought and discussed it for a while, wondering what to use the last slot on¡ªif they should use it at all. Althea told them about the special buildings that would be available in the future, to determine whether they''d save the slot¡­ again. The people who lived with her were naturally aware of what she knew, but most of the other elders didn''t have that privilege. For example, she told them about the Healing Sanctuary¡ªwhich fascinated Volohov¡ªa new building available at Level 2 Town. Other than that, the other buildings at Level two were the Warrior''s Arenas, the Auction House, the Mercenary Hall, the Windmill of Fortune, and the Hotel. She also told them of the pros and cons of each one. "Sadly, the Healing Sanctuary doesn''t seem to be a practical choice especially since we have such an efficient hospital¡ªthanks to you," she told Volohov, who blushed and waved his hand around in embarrassment. The others seemed to agree with her about which option was more attractive than the others. For one, for Level 2, only the Mercenary Hall was actually useful to them at that level¡ªat least considering it would consume something as precious as a building slot. To be honest, she was still amazed that the Training Hall was made available at the Village level. For Level 3, she told them about the Trade Hub (which allowed the purchase and sale of items from/to afar), the Observatory, the Spring of Life, and the Enchanters'' Guild (which could enchant equipment). As expected, they were most curious about the Trade Hub, the Spring of Life, and the Enchanter''s Guild¡ªall of which had magic that was really beyond their current comprehension. An instant-delivery shopping center? Yes! An endless water supply? There was no such thing as too much water! Probably. Magic Weapons Upgrade Building? Of course! Anyway, for all three Town Levels, they were interested in only a couple of buildings. Since they could receive +2 Building Slots with each upgrade, they were not really lacking slots at all. Althea found it kind of interesting. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Normally, the Lord of Towns would be struggling about which building they''d choose. The Ferrol Notes indicated how much of a stressful endeavor it was because there were so many buildings they wanted to have¡ªneeded to have¡ªbut could not due to limited slots. Obviously, Alterra¡ªwhich could build plenty of its own buildings¡ªdidn''t have this problem. She looked at the elders. "I will give you all half an hour to think about your preferences and vote," she told them. "If you wish to save up the remaining slot instead, you may also indicate so." ¡­ While the Elders were deciding (possibly debating with each other), a lot of questions also popped up. There was a particularly common one. "If we merge with another Town, then we''d get some of the common ones, right?" Ansel asked, and Althea nodded. After all, they got the Lighthouse and the Armory¡ªamong others¡ªas options because they took Fargo and Guia as satellites. "However, let''s not assume that''s going to happen for now," Althea said. She didn''t want them to be complacent and choose carelessly because they''d assume they could take over another Town to get their special buildings. "Towns are of different levels, and the power of the Lords is much more integrated with the territory," she paused, looking at them. "Besides, even if we could get the token, I might not take over at all." She only had one slot left to merge. For now, she wasn''t planning on letting go of her current satellites. Even if they were just villages, the resources she could get through them and the convenience of having connected warehouses were too convenient. She could think about it when those resources were exhausted, but that was years away from now. Another, they didn''t know the cost of detaching a satellite. From what they knew, it wasn''t cheap. At the very least, it was expensive enough for some Lords to give up merging with good territories. Also, she''d want the territory to be a source of a sustainable resource¡ªwhatever they were. Otherwise, the connected warehouse wouldn''t be maximized¡ªwhich would be such a pity. Ideally, she also wanted it a bit farther away¡ªat least a few thousand kilometers¡ªto allow her to reach more area. After all, she had her own ''teleportation array'' inside warehouses. If she had them all in closeby areas, then how wasteful was she? Ideally¡­ that last slot would get her to faraway places and back¡­ She could have her adventures, all without having to worry about other lords peeking at her status. Of course, she didn''t discount the fact that there would definitely be interesting and tempting Towns around. She''d keep her mind open but, more likely than not, they would probably strike deals with them, instead. Anyway, after a long discussion, they ended up saving a slot. At this point, only the Pharmacy and Post Office were decent choices in their standard. Both structures would help increase the survival rates in the territory, and¡ªfor now¡ªthat was all that mattered. Chapter 1129 New Town Buildings (Part 2) "Now¡­ where to build them¡­" There were still quite a few large parks available to be built on. She already decided on which parks she''d build mid-rise dormitories when they finally needed them, leaving a few other places where they could build two new System Buildings. These were places where people could safely gather resources to sell to the territory. However, they also served as community areas so there were also parks with picnic tables, running paths, playgrounds, and camping/picnic areas. Fortunately, she had a lot of these areas, so even if she built on them, the people could just move parks a couple of blocks away. She looked at her map and made a rough layout. Alterra had a lot of forest patches in every zone. Considering she maintained at least 20% greening¡ªnot even including the farms and industrial zones¡ªshe actually had quite a lot of parks. To balance out the forest areas they would lose, she decided to build a Level 2 Farm array on a few patches of forest to increase their regeneration rates and productivity. As for why she didn''t do so before¡ªthere was no need to. Most people opted to gather outside so they could train at the same time, and the only ones who gathered inside the walls were the weaker ones as well as residents who had the right to a couple kilograms of free forages. Most preferred to use these parks as community areas, too. How could children run through them when there were roots all over? S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, she chose to build over a park far from the current pharmacy to serve another zone of the population, but could still be accessed easily through the Southwest gates. After some discussion with some elders, they decided to build a new street, connecting to existing streets on both ends. She would have to take down two existing buildings abutting an existing street to do so, however. They''d likely scrap those buildings when the rest of the construction was halfway through, and to give time for the tenants to move out. For now, she just sent them a message and a promise to compensate them well. If they owned it, they would get 30% more than what was the current market value of the place. If they were renting, then they''d receive free rent for 1 year at a superior unit elsewhere. The Elders watched as she moved her hands in the air. It was empty in their eyes, but she moved gracefully so they couldn''t help but watch anyway. A few minutes later the familiar ding resounded inside everyone''s minds. [A new street will appear in the Southwestern Part of the territory! New Territory Buildings will also appear. Watch the magic with us!] There was silence across the territory before a burst of noise and chatter exploded. "Whoa!" "YES! It''s here!" "I''ve been waitttinggg!" "Is that why you haven''t slept yet?" "To be fair, a LOT of the previous upgrades happened in the middle of the night!" "Eh?" "You weren''t here yet then¡ªanyway, we just woke up and boom! Changes!" "Stop talking!" another person yelled, already meters ahead of them. "Let''s go!" More and more people gathered in the western areas of the territory, all looking bright and excited. Many also brought in foldable chairs and tables, and basket-full of snacks. This wasn''t their first rodeo! They knew what to prepare! They arrived to see a crowd already there, but they were stopped at a certain delineation where bricks were slowly built up. They saw that they arrived on time and many people went to find various viewing spots. Some waited at the perimeters, while some positioned on the newly created road (which appeared much faster than the buildings) so they had central viewing. Many had seen this good position and soon the new street was lined up with spectators. A lot of shops were already going around, some even had stalls set up, and obviously the business was great. They waited patiently for another hour, and soon some sharper people could determine some building types being erected. "Wait, shop houses?" "Dozens of them!" "I''ve been waiting for an opening!" Another yelled, running over to the center to buy his first property. (He was in such a rush he had to crawl so he could get through the crowd). This was Den, one of the refugees who came with Albert and Sheldon, Sheila''s family. When he became a permanent resident after months of hard work, how sad he was to find out that every commercial space was occupied?! It was fortunate he managed to get a small unit in a midrise apartment built very recently, but he already took out a loan that was garnering interest! Admittedly, it was stupid of him to maximize his permanent residency loans without checking the availability of shops, but everything felt like a dream¡ªhe worked really, really, hard to get his residency¡ªso the high of happiness probably killed his brain! Anyway, he naturally couldn''t have the money sleep on him or he''d be paying interest for naught. He was just added to the waitlist in case those who were leasing decided not to renew and then he could buy! Sadly, after so long there was no luck, but that stopped now! A few minutes later, a line of people immediately went to the Village Center to either purchase or lease the new shops. The houses would finish first so by the time it was done and could be purchased, they had time to see the new Special buildings! There were not a few people who thought like this. After all, owning a business in Alterra was a guaranteed ticket for monthly gold! Owning their own shophouse¡ªeven if they didn''t use it themself¡ªwas also a gold mine! Who wouldn''t want a piece? It¡ªunsurprisingly¡ª became a bit of a scuffle and, if it weren''t for the rules, people would''ve brawled on their way to the center while trying to block others at the same time! Fortunately for that man, his reservation from before counted as him being on the priority list! Although he tripped on the way and was run over by other wannabee-shop owners (gosh, his heart almost died when he fell), he actually managed to get a slot in the end! Heaven has eyes! SOBS! Chapter 1130 Another Step Forward Den did not mind the jealous glares directed at him. He was too happy. In total, there were quite a few people who successfully managed to buy or rent a shop house, and they all walked back to the site with metaphorical peacock feathers above their heads. They went to check on the construction of their ''new property'', pride emanating from them so much that many people had the intrusive thought of shoving their faces to the ground. No one dared do so, of course (thanks to the rules), and the people were quickly distracted when Den and the others made an announcement. "So we also found out what else they''re building!''" Immediately, they were surrounded by people who wanted to get the info. No, they were mobbed. Considering hundreds (if not a thousand) were trying to watch the construction of a single street. Of course, they''d be squeezed in. One could only call them stupid for enticing a mob while being in the middle of it. The high of happiness could indeed make people stupid. "LET US BREATHE!" He gasped, while the person next to him screamed. "AHH!" "FUGG YOU, MISSUS LEE! THAT WAS MY TOE!" "Sorry! No need to be so rude!" "I''m gonna die!" Fortunately, they didn''t die in the end. "Ahem!" Den coughed, waving people away to give them space. Fortunately, they did. There were a number of them there and they were separated by the crowd, with some being pulled deeper into it for gossip. Den watched in horror as his companions were ''eaten up'' by the tea-hungry crowd. He stepped back, trying to direct his pull somewhere at the edge. He somehow managed to weave through the crowd to the edge, just before the half-built walls of one of the shops there. He took a deep breath of relief before turning to see people impatiently waiting for him to speak. "..." Den cleared his throat again before speaking. They got the info back in the village, er, Town Center. After they secured their units and signed contracts, someone (not him) asked what else was being built there. After all, that would greatly add to their potential foot traffic! The concierge knew the answer to this quite well. After the elders went down the stairs, they were told about what was going to happen. They were very excited too, but it was their shift so they could only imagine the fun happening on that street. "It''s the Post Office and Pharmacy!" he said and this naturally excited everyone exploded in glee. "Whoa!" "So we won''t have to line up so long to get meds!" "YES! Ugh, I still remember the depression I felt when I was sooo near leveling up but I got injured and ran here to replenish my stocks¡ªbut damn! Was out of stock!" At this, someone next to him gave him a look. "Yeah I remember that! Didn''t you beg me for some? You haven''t paid me for those potions you borrowed!" "..." Ah, he forgot about that. Everyone else was similarly excited. While they had an existing pharmacy here, a new one meant they had a new source to maximize their purchase limits! There was no such thing as having too many Health Potions! After so many wars and strong beast tides, they knew first-hand that, in this case, the more was definitely the merrier! On the other side, it was the other building that was discussed more. "Post Office! Isn''t that like instant letters?" "It feels so magical¡ªit''s like a combination of the snail mail and modern Terran tech!" After so long, people had had enough interaction with aborigines and obtained some knowledge of the outside world even if they themselves haven''t gotten out of Alterra yet. There were also books in the library they could borrow to read some anecdotes of the aborigines'' experiences. Oslo and many others had books here (written in their local language for the writers'' convenience) and they would receive a small number of contribution points every time the book was borrowed by a person (unique views, of course, repeat viewing not counted!). The most popular was Oslo''s. One, because he was just a popular personality in Alterra and anything he did would gather some interest. Other reasons were because the book gave a glimpse of a (Lavish) City life, and had a lot of drama with women involved. Too bad they weren''t allowed to eat in the library, otherwise people would be reading with popcorn. Anyway, almost every one who read the accounts of people with experiences in Towns and Cities became very curious about that side of the world. Sadly, their strengths were not enough for them to go ''travel'' without a good chance of being monster food. They also knew that Ferrol¡ªthe only friendly Town so far¡ªhad one, and some Alterrans had actually been in the Post Office there (just as tourists looking around), so they had told others of their adventures and the magic of it even before. There were hundreds of Terrans that stayed in Ferrol for a few weeks. It gave Ferrol some extra income and injected a lot of good products into their market. Further, there were those who built businesses there like Baron and Bull. To these people, the Post office was heaven-sent! The messenger birds weren''t actually public knowledge nor did anyone else other than the administration team had access to them. Both Bull and Baron¡ªas well as a few other ''big'' businessmen¡ªhad deals with the Terran Mercenary Team to let them rent their shops for a set amount of time. With the post office, the communication between the two areas would practically be as fast as real-time! They could now have real-time updates on the needs of the market there! Before, they could only make smart guesses and then wait until their stocks were consumed (which, to be fair, wasn''t a long time, but still). Further, if an item suddenly sold really fast, they could even send letters to teammates to prepare a new batch immediately! Too awesome! Money will roll! They could already see their business blossoming even more! Anyway, these were all exciting developments and it fired up all those who watched. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Another step forward! Chapter 1131 Eppa and Eppot A new system building¡ªeven if it was just residential areas¡ªwould always end up turning into mini-events, let alone if it was Special Buildings being constructed. They would just never get tired of watching such a thing. They were also happening less and less often, especially farther away from an upgrade, so they appreciated them more. When people found out that it was the Post Office and the Pharmacy, more people came in so the surrounding streets were full of people. As for those at the back of the crowd, they were already too far away from the new street to appreciate it, but they were there for the spirit of celebration, anyway. Some people were used to it, while many were also shocked. "What''s going on?" A man with dried skin and a rough beard asked the woman next to her. The woman had similar facial features, but she was visibly much more healthy and well-off. The man looked curiously at the dense crowd in front of him, and also the people approaching and joining in. He couldn''t even see the end of it at all. The woman smiled a bit. "They''re building something new," she said. "I also like watching it. After all, back in Mauin we rarely saw anything being built." The woman was Eppa, one of the first refugees from the fallen Mauin Village along with Mauru. The man next to her was her brother, Eppot, who was among the ''slaves'' let in early during the war. He didn''t get injured at all, despite expecting to lose a limb or two like so many others, which was already a miracle he didn''t expect to wake up to. Further, because he had a sister who was a resident, even if it was just temporary residency, she had the right to vouch for him and get him exempted from the fate of becoming a Prisoner of War. During the interrogations, a few dozen people from Mauin were found along with him. They were now living with the Mauin Villagers there, turning their houses into denser dormitories. Eppot didn''t expect he''d join them though, thinking he''d be living with his sister¡ªwhich was not the case. His living conditions as a slave were naturally much, much, worse. However, he happened to have seen where his sister lived. It was a small unit and only she and her husband, Louie, lived in. It had complete accessories, had lovely views, and seemed like a place small nobles would live in. She¡ªa daughter¡ªwas living so lavishly while he¡ªthe son¡ªwas stuck with a handful of others in a single room? Despite the conditions being hundreds of times better than how it was as a slave, how can he be reconciled? Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Today, not only were they shopping for his necessities, he was also hoping to convince her to let him use their unit. At least help rent him a similar one. Her husband was doing well in that guide-whatever-his-job was. They should be able to help him out. "Well, it''s too much for us now," Eppa said, unaware of what was going on in her brother''s head. "Shall we go to the next store?" The man nodded and then looked at the paper bags that filled both their hands. They were filled with various items they bought for him. "Where to next?" The woman looked forward and pointed there. "There is a men''s clothing store in that area," she said. The man looked at her. "Will it use the same fabric as your husband''s clothes?" "No," she said. "We''ll need to buy you a few sets at a time so it can''t be too expensive. They''re very durable though." His eyebrows furrowed. "It''s good fabric," he said, referring to her husband''s clothes. "It''s not inexpensive," she said. "He also needs to appear very presentable as a representative of Alterra who faces various people from distant lands, even stronger territories." Eppot didn''t seem to understand. Growing up, whatever his sister had¡ªwhich wasn''t much¡ªhe had several more of. Husband and wife''s possessions were one, therefore he should also have similar things to Louie''s. "I want it." "But¡­" It was around this time that a feminine voice sounded from their side. "Eppa? Eppot? What''s going on?" They turned to see it was Juna, as Mauru''s wife, was the de-facto lady of their group. She had about a dozen people behind her who were also carrying some shopping bags. Juna and the others pooled funds so they could get some basic clothing and supplies for each of their rescued comrades, so now they were shopping together with full hearts and satisfied stomachs. They all had wide smiles on their faces while they curiously looked around, their hearts wanting to explore the place more. Juna took leave from her school cleaning job to help settle the Mauin slaves they got. When she saw her close friend Eppa, she brightened a bit, but what she heard made her frown. If it was before, she''d take it as it was. However, after so many months here, it felt wrong. They... were raised to follow their fathers, brothers, husbands, and even sons. Growing up, she had seen Eppa give way to her brother every time. Whenever there was not enough food, most of it would go to her brother instead of her. After all, he was bigger and he was the fighter while she was expected to help out with gathering and things like that. As such, he naturally deserved much more to eat. While it was true that fighting was a lot riskier, it wasn''t like handling everything else in the territory was effortless. Anyway, him giving her a literal bite to eat while he got a handful wasn''t exactly fair. Fortunately, most people from their village had a conscience¡ªthanks to the leadership and example of their late Lord¡ªso the women were treated generally much better compared to those of other villages. Still, the differences were there, and Eppa was one of the starker cases in their village. Juna looked at Eppot and suddenly had a bad feeling. Were they too kind, after all? Chapter 1132 Spilled Bitterness She narrowed her eyes and looked at Eppot, who was now looking at her with sparkling eyes. Her stomach flipped in disgust. In fact, when she found out Eppot was amongst the survivors, she didn''t feel good at all. Many years ago, before she married Mauru, her parents arranged for her to be with this man. However, she did not like him at all and she rejected his advances often. While she received a lot of frowns, their Lord''s way of ruling had always been fair, so she was never forced. It was just that one day, just after a particularly harsh fight in a war they barely won, the bastard needed to vent. He had long set on her to be his wife, so in his mind, she wouldn''t mind what he was about to do. He pulled her somewhere to do away with her and she, a mere woman, couldn''t fight back. However, unlike other places, this was not a welcome practice in their Mauin village, so Eppot had to pull her someplace secluded. With their diminishing population, it wasn''t difficult to find one. She tried to scream her heart out but he covered her mouth and ripped her clothes, and she thought for sure that she would lose herself. She could only sob and believe she''d jump into the mouth of monsters when she found the chance. Before he could complete the deed, a heroic man appeared and kicked him off, protecting her. It was Maumu, one of the heroes of their village, and admired by many. He was also one of the reasons Eppot wanted to vent. He couldn''t stomach the other man always being the center of attention during wars or mobs, always looked at with such admiration and reliability, while he was basically ignored despite being of the same age and level. In any case, the so-called ''hero'' appeared just in time before he could enter his fiance, effectively ruining his deed and annoying him even more. "What are you doing here? Don''t you see I''m busy?" Eppot yelled, but his voice died when he saw the other man''s facial expression. Gone was his characteristic coolness. This time, he was livid, and the next thing Eppot knew he was beaten up until he lost consciousness. Mauru shook away the blood on his fist and turned to look at her, who was looking at him with wide eyes. He took some excess clothing he had in space. They were ripped and dirty, but it would have to do. He carried her and tried to get her somewhere private and safe, but people had heard of the commotion and they were sadly seen. It was quite a scandal. They couldn''t reveal what Eppot had almost done either, because she would''ve gotten an even worse reputation because two men had seen her. Eppot was also found half-dead and in a coma, and it turned into a fight between families. Fortunately, before it could get any worse, the Lord himself intervened. Because Mauru saw her naked, he was asked if he''d be okay to take her as his wife. She didn''t want to impose on him and wanted to reject. However, to her surprise, Maumu agreed, and they married. He treated her well---so well she could hardly believe it. What had started as an awkward marriage became the envy of their villagefolk. Even when Eppot recovered and tried to ruin things, Mauru was quick to take care of it. She didn''t know what they talked about but, for a while, Eppot avoided her as if his life depended on it. They were both very worried when they saw Eppot there and they didn''t want to free him at all. However, he saw them and begged, and it so happened that Eppa was nearby too. Eppa was raised to always take care of this brother of hers so she vouched for him despite their warnings. She and Mauru could only be relieved they had their own home, hoping to simply not cross paths with the bastard at all. Juna looked at Eppa, and she was now looking down and holding her skirt. She was very embarrassed and definitely was thinking back on their warnings. At the same time, Eppa was extremely conflicted. It went against her very being to not help her brother but, at the same time, she worried that she would be risking what she had built so far. Juna sighed and patted her shoulder, before looking badly at Eppot, who was a bit braver now that her husband was on a long mission elsewhere. This guy¡­ it seemed like instead of being thankful for being given a new life, felt jealous of his sister''s good life and wanted it for himself. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Just accept what she''s willing to give you, Eppot, don''t ask for more," she said. "She''s already being so kind, buying you more than what you need." Eppot''s leer disappeared, obviously disliking her tone. "We almost got married." Translation: In another life, you would''ve answered to me. How dare you talk back to your husband. Juna''s frown deepened. "My parents chose incorrectly, I chose well," she said. "As you can see, I''m living very very well." Eppot sneered. "You were just lucky they didn''t get to capture you," he said, referring to the fact that they got here, in Alterra, first. "You shouldn''t be so arrogant." He then turned to look at the small crowd of his fellowmen behind her. "The monsters from Hasa and Tome Villages just happened to go in our direction first! We could''ve been the ones to escape!" He yelled this with confidence, discounting the fact that Mauru and the others fought with extreme bravery and used whatever resources and strategy they had to protect their families¡ªat least long enough for the Golds to come across them at the time. Luck had a lot to do with it but, in life-or-death situations, luck favored the bold, the brave, and the prepared. "Just one detail and we suffered months in that hellhole. Don''t you think it''s just right to make it fairer? Don''t you think we deserve a good life?" He looked at Eppa and Juna, as if they had wronged him. "You people were lucky enough to get here first¡ªshouldn''t you make up to us? If it wasn''t for us, you''d have suffered that hellhole instead!" This caused the other Mauin villagers to frown, many of whom were affected by his words. They murmured amongst themselves with various emotions and thoughts. They were very thankful for being saved, but¡­ many felt Eppot''s words weren''t untrue either. Indeed¡­ the ones who went the ''lucky'' path were now living such comfortable lives. If those monsters focused elsewhere, wouldn''t this be their lives instead? All those months of suffering and loss¡ªwas it so wrong for them to wish for a life like this? it was a given that Eppa and the others would help them out! Rather, they should do more! If Mauru and the others¡ªwho were now risking their lives on a rescue mission¡ªknew what these people were thinking, would they regret helping them out? Would they regret using their hard-earned money and reputation to create oaths and vouch for them, to use their own funds to give them clothing and food? Would they regret giving away the comfort of their space and let them squeeze in? The short answer would be yes, and they would learn that not all brethren deserved their kindness. Chapter 1133 Louies Home Eppa''s eyes flickered when she saw their faces. She bit her lips, and she wanted to cry, extremely confused with all the internal conflict happening in her mind. Juna was just disappointed in all of them. She looked at Eppot, and also the other people they were helping. "Let me make this clear: We are helping from the kindness of our hearts¡ªit is not our duty to help you. You are not our children nor are you our parents. It is shameful on your part to expect such treatment. "I understand some of you might feel unreconciled to see us live so well when you suffered so badly. It is due to our own efforts that we built such a life. "It is not our fault you suffered, either¡ªthe people responsible are dead. Alterra and its citizens¡ªincluding us¡ªhelped you beat them. If that didn''t happen, then you''ll be either dead or still suffering. "We can easily not have helped you. We could''ve just let you become prisoners of war and work your way to freedom," she said, and this naturally made everyone flinch. "I hope you don''t take our kindness for granted¡ªbecause you won''t be able to receive it again. A few passerbys, particularly Terrans, couldn''t help but look at each other. All that noise naturally gathered them an audience, especially since the area was already crowded. This exchange made them shake their heads. As expected: Not all ''slaves'' rescued and redeemed were good crops. But what could they do? In the same position, they probably wouldn''t be able to leave long-lost brethren alone, especially when they were surrounded by people of different origins. Anyway, Juna was annoyed and didn''t want to look at their rescues anymore. She simply grabbed Eppa''s hand and nudged her away. "We will lend you a few copper coins so you can rent bedspaces in the dormitories. After that, you''re on your own." She didn''t wait to listen to their arguments. She grabbed Eppa and pulled her easily (she was stronger because her husband would guide her in leveling up) and left the others there. When they tried to follow, she threatened to call guards for harassment charges so they had no choice but to stay still and look at each other. "Is¡­ this really alright?" Eppa couldn''t help but ask after they were out-of-sight. She knew that, rationally, this was the right thing to do. At the same time, she felt uncomfortable. Juna sighed. "I understand you''d need a lot of adjustment¡ªbut do you want to lose what you have? Do you want to return to the life you''d have to answer to your useless brother every breathing moment?" Eppa shook her head immediately. Juna nodded and patted her shoulder. "We made the right choice, and we will continue to do so. We did more than enough¡ªwe have a clear conscience. "Now it is time to focus on our¡ªand our families'' ¡ªlives," she said, gently looking at the other woman''s stomach. It was still small, but they had been to the hospital a few days ago to get some good news. In fact, Eppa had been thinking of how to tell Louie the surprise. Regardless, Juna knew this was not the time for the other woman to get stressed¡ªsomething pretty much associated with her brother. "You have to be strong for the child. Right?" ¡­ Louie had no idea what had been happening. He was doing his job, guiding some tourists. His customers this time were none other than Nida and Mairia 1from Ferrol Town. "Is Plaridel here?" Nida asked, probably for the 3rd time in the past 10 minutes after they started walking. "According to the other guards, he is currently on a clearing mission," he said. Now that they had become a Town, more of the soldiers joined in clearing missions. After all, they could finally gain some much-needed EXP points in doing so. "I see¡­" the young lady said, disappointed. Even her aunt''s shoulder slumped. Louie internally shook his head. Plaridel was not conventionally handsome, but his charm was really off the charts! While they were walking along the main avenue though, the auntie couldn''t help but point out a direction. "Oh? Why is everyone heading in that direction?" she asked. He followed her line of sight, and knew immediately what she was talking about. "Ah, we just upgraded to Town right?" he asked, they nodded. Their trip (there were scheduled ''tourist trips'' to Alterra from Ferrol) was delayed a few weeks back then. They only found out it was due to an upgrade after it happened. "Well, they''re building a new street and new system buildings so many people want to see it." This intrigued the two women very much. Nida had never seen a system construction before, while it had been many years for her aunt. "Can we join?" "It''ll be crowded." "We don''t mind." Well, the customer was king, as they said. Louie wanted to check out the place anyway. However, before they even reached the main crowd, they encountered some familiar faces. "Louie!" His eyes twitched at the voice, but he kept his polite smile. It was a professional skill he developed as a guide, otherwise his face would''ve cracked at the sight of his brother-in-law. "Yes, brother-in-law?" The address seemed to have eased a bit of anger on the man''s face. "Good brother-in-law," he said. "Can you talk some sense to your wife?" he asked. Immediately, Louis'' polite smile faded. "What happened?" "Tell your wife that I forgive her," he said. "As long as she gives what is due to me." He frowned. "What?" Eppot looked at Louie, adopting somewhat of a proud stance. In his mind, Eppa was helplessly pulled by Juna and would see some sense when they talked again. "Look, she listens to me," he said. "Now that our parents are gone, I am her father figure, and whatever I say goes," he said. "If you want to keep being married, you will rent a place for me to live in," he said. "Get me a good job too. Probably something like you have." There were passerbys there who happened to have witnessed the earlier altercations. They ended up intervening for the sake of their sanity. "Your wife cut off ties with him!" they said. "They started getting greedy and entitled, so Juna and Eppa decided to just support them for a few more days and sent them to the dorms." "Don''t listen to whatever he says, Louie! He''s definitely up to no good!" "Shut up!" Eppo yelled, glaring at the man, who was also the type who was easily triggered and didn''t want to lose. "No, you shut up!" he yelled back, stomping forward. However, his companions were quick and held him back. They could not get into fights now¡ªhe could go to prison! Again! "Oi, Bento1¡ªcalm down, damnit!" one said. "I don''t want to bail you out again!" Louie looked and recognized them. Bento was actually one of their materials engineers, but he had quite a temper that went with his strong sense of justice. Afraid other people would get in trouble for him, Louie simply nodded at them in gratitude. Bento''s group continued their way to the crowd, no longer intervening in other people''s business. "I see¡­" "Don''t listen to them," Eppot said with gritted teeth. He glared at the back of the people butting in his business and then turned to Louie when they disappeared. "I am your brother-in-law, yeah?" That was to say, he''d follow his instructions. He was also older than Eppa, so he felt it was natural his voice had a lot of weight in whatever Louie decided. "So Eppa really doesn''t want to see you anymore," Louie said, as if confirming. "I will follow my wife''s wishes," was all he said and it made Eppot look at him in disbelief. "You''re a man! Why do you even listen to her? It''s why she''s gotten so arrogant!!" He wanted to say more¡ªhe really didn''t understand his attitude¡ªbut when he saw the man''s face was dark, he flinched. Louie had always been the mild-mannered one. It was why Ramona had him so tightly when they were together. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, when he married a similarly soft-hearted woman, he knew he had to step up if he wanted to protect her. He strode forward and grabbed the man''s shirt, staring at him straight in the eye. Eppot was bigger than he was, and had a higher level, but he had a lot more drive to protect¡ªand that made him stronger. "Let me see you near my wife again," he said. "And I will send you to prison myself." Some of the aborigines Plaridel met during the Ferrol Fair. He sold them some accessories He was one of their materials engineers Chapter 1134 Pharmacy Queue (Part 1) Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire A few hours later the entire street¡ªthereby named ''Post Street'' ¡ªwas completed! The Pharmacy and the Post Office were placed facing each other at the center of the street, and they were adjacent to dozens of shophouses lined up until the end of the street. There were trees strategically left behind, but there were also transplanted trees there. They were moved at some point by goblins, who seemed to have great uprooting and replanting capabilities. There were also benches placed every couple of meters by Baron''s Woodworking shop (they were very efficient and they did have a couple in stock). In the span of hours, an entire new setting was created! "My goodness," one of the spectator(who had his own stool) said as he stood up, placing his seat back to his space. "To think that just this morning, I was picking my morning gouji fruit here." sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gouji fruit happened to be the fruit he liked best after the sweet Terran fruits, primarily because it was cheap and accessible, but also because he had dark red hair similar to Gouji fruit. (It was so similar that he once had a messenger bird nest on his head¡ªto both his, and Reddit''s, chagrin). This was Fred1 who, as the boss, had flexible time and therefore had the fortune of joining whatever event he wanted to join in. He said it was so he could be ''on-call'' if an incident happened. For example, he could take over troublesome or sensitive guests as needed. This happened many times like that time when the Guia folks¡ªmay they not rest in peace¡ªwent for a tour. And then¡­ he turned to the half-orcs sitting next to him. He remembered Baku''s case quite a bit. The big guy felt his stare and turned. Because they were so big, they naturally couldn''t stand like the others. "What is it?" "Nah, I just suddenly remembered the feeling of being lifted up." "Wanna do it again?" "..." "Pff¡ª" Cassie laughed, and they saw that Bumi1 and Emer 2were also smiling. Their two teams were designated here and they naturally took advantage to ''watch the crowd and keep order'' by ''making sure they were seen by the mobs by being in front of the line''. Fred pouted, and Baku''s eyes twitched. He suddenly felt a bit guilty, but it wasn''t his personality to show it. His tail would always seem scary and his ears would never soften. "I''ll help you level up," was all he said again, coolly turning away. This naturally got the red-head to perk up. "Whoa!" "Really!?" He nodded and Fred almost jumped like a kid. Anyone who had trained with the half-orcs knew how efficient they were. Who knew! Maybe he''d leave that jerk-lover-boy Troy and his weapons in the dust this year! "Then I''d definitely have to fill my space with stocks!" he said, looking at the Pharmacy getting completed with the last shingles above the eye level finishing up. It was themed like everything else and was probably designed beautifully inside. Soon, the long-awaited announcement dinged inside everyone''s minds. [The Pharmacy (Lv1) and Post Office (Lv1) is now open! 30% OFF for all purchases done within the next 28 Hours! Standard Purchase Limits apply!] There was a burst of discussion (more than the ongoing murmurs) that exploded and the crowd started moving towards the two new Buildings, lining up to see it for themselves. As people who got nice positions, Fred''s group was among the first to line up. No one dared cut in line because those people¡ªunless they were well-liked like Althea and Mathilda¡ªhistorically did not meet good ends. (Not killed, but they may or may not be ostracised or bullied). Emer looked at the half-orcs in front of him. They were chatting well and were immersed in the territory like everyone else and, until now, he still felt it was a bit surreal. Rather, it made him feel imbalanced when he first saw it, which was different from his usual bouts of clumsiness. Getting rid of his misogynistic views was one thing, but when it came to another race he did need a bit more time. Undoing one''s beliefs for decades was never easy. "Emer?" Gochi asked. "Would you like to line up ahead of us?" Emer shook his head, smiling. The half-orc must''ve felt some complex feeling in him, which made Emer feel both embarrassed and guilty. His Terran girlfriend broke up with him because of these biases, when would he learn? "I''m sorry," he said. Gochi nodded. "I know." ¡­ Not far from them (well about a hundred people behind) were Bayna and Glio,1 Sahara''s servants, as well as Ladron and Landi, 2who were once part of Yassof Village. Aborigines were the minority in Alterra¡ªor, at least, they had the least effect and power, even if they were increasing in numbers. While they did feel very happy here and they loved to interact with the Terrans, they also needed some time to befriend circles with the same experiences as they had. Don''t get them wrong¡ªTerrans were admirable people they would love to emulate, but there was still a certain comfort to being with people who completely understood what they had been through. There were too many cases where Terrans would give advice that were easy to say, but difficult to do for them. How easy was it to just be friendly with races they had looked down on or were taught to be ''dirty''? How easy was it to leave a ''cheater'' who one depended on their whole lives? How easy was it to take on roles they never thought they''d ever hold? How easy was it to let go of the beliefs that made them who they were? It was just human nature. Still, it was also human nature to strive for better conditions, especially since they had seen that there were possibilities and what they were. So, while it was taking some time for a few natives to adjust, they were definitely changing bit by bit. Slowly, but surely, they would transform to become legitimate ''Alterrans'' by heart. Glorious Hospitality Owner (the tour guide company) One of the Heat Wave rescues One of the recent Village Center hires. Nothing spectacular, but he was one of the decent options after days of no-hire days To jog your memory: They were beat up in Bleulle back then They were part of the self-aware villagers who gave up immediately during a war. Their village was once under Basset Town Chapter 1135 Pharmacy Queue (Part 2) For many, it would start out as integrating slowly into the Alterran everyday life. They would have various circles of friends, whether it was from work or elsewhere. All aborigines would have at least a few aborigine friends who they would grow up with, and develop with, as new Alterrans. This way, they would have someone to relate to when difficulties emerged, which was really important for their psyche. Whether the Terrans noticed or not, their pace¡ªwhether it was in their growth or in their innovations¡ªwas very, very, quick. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was something that had only been obvious after a couple of months of integrating the races. The rise of most Terrans was swift and difficult to follow and when a person kept getting left behind¡ªparticularly if they had ambitions¡ªthey could eventually get depressed. At some point, some natives needed a ''support group'' (as Terrans called it) to manage the stress and manage their expectations. They could meet through various places like public parks, arcades, stadiums, and so on. It might also be friends among fellow refugees or people from the same place. Of course, there were also others from completely different places and strata¡ªwhich was interesting to see. For example, Glio and Bayna, who were from a Town, ended up being extremely good friends with Ladron and Landi, who were from a village. Traditionally speaking, this was extremely rare unless the villagers showed extremely high potential (which they did), but in this case the relationship was not transactional at all. After Sahara settled in Alterra, her servants also lived together in the same building. They got a two-bedroom unit and arranged it in a dormitory set-up so all of the servants could fit in. One bedroom was for the maids, and the other for the guards, and so on. Then, Sahara adopted the working schedules of Alterra for them, so they suddenly had free time for themselves. Of course, they had to go on shifts so that there would be people serving Sahara''s family at all times. The cousins Glio and Bayna had the same shift, which was the day shift so they had dusk as the start of their ''free time''. They met Ladron''s group while they were getting addicted to playing games in the arcade. Ladron was actually a guard but, like them, his shift was during the standard work hours. Glio and Ladron somehow ended up competing on something called ''whack-a-molerat''¡ªwhich was quite an exciting game¡ªand friendship amidst competition was born. Although Glio was only in his early 20s and Ladron was twice his age, they had found similarities in their growing love for arcade games. At the same time, a bit of chemistry was exchanged between Bayna and the Landi. They bonded over having to wait for their companions to get tired of the game before getting pulled out. As a group, they started to train together in their free time, and they would occasionally take ''weaker'' locals with them (to last kill the weaker monsters) for some extra cash. This was a common ''mercenary'' practice here, but it was required to have a few guards with them so it didn''t get abused and avoid any scammy behaviors. It was also for the safety of the trainees. After all, if anyone could just get anyone, what if people suddenly left them behind in the slightest sign of danger? Unlike guards who''d actually do their best before leaving with their lives, the ''hired fighters'' might leave at the slightest sign of trouble. Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire Fortunately, so far, there had been very few cases of stronger aborigines taking advantage of their weaker brethren like this. They were still serving in prison now and they hadn''t had a case in more than a month. Anyway, for the proper unofficial mercenaries like them, it was quite a lucrative side job that funded their arcade addiction. After nearly half-an-hour of lining up, their group finally arrived just outside the Pharmacy door. It was a double door, like usual, but the place was themed, and even the door was carved to emulate Alterra''s aesthetic. "This came just in time," the pretty boy Landi said, looking at the building in front of them. He was eating some chips, though several hands would always take a handful out of whatever he was carrying. When he tried getting a bit and felt it was empty, he frowned. "I needed to replenish my stocks," he said. It was no longer clear whether he was referring to his snacks or his potions. "Do you even need to? A lot of people like protecting you," Ladron said, shaking his head at him. In response, Landi rolled his eyes. "I reject them now," he said, giving the woman in the group a side-look. "I don''t take gifts from random people now." Because of his appearance, a lot of people saw him as a soft man who needed to be protected. Back home, it was subject to a lot of mockery, but in Alterra, it was just ''cute''. It got him a lot of discounts, which he appreciated for a time. One day, while he was on a street food tour, a ''scout'' from Elder Ansel''s Entertainment Company approached and recruited him as an actor. The pay was good so he accepted. He wasn''t particularly strong anyway, and he needed to do a bit more to improve his way of life. Still, Landi was very unnatural at first and he was a pain to watch, and for a while, he was only given roles that were called ''empty vases''. Still, he was ''eye candy'' and the discounts only increased. Despite the good pay and amazing benefits, he was not comfortable with the job at first. Which real man would be? However, the more he watched the true actors and performers take on their roles¡ªbecoming different persons, telling different stories¡ªhe started to wonder what it''d be like to be like that. He wondered what it was like to truly affect people straight to their hearts, not just their eyes. Chapter 1136 Inside the Pharmacy He remembered the first play he had actually watched as an audience. When he was recruited, he was really poor and couldn''t afford tickets. Not to mention, the roles given to him were ''extra'' roles in small performances in parks and other smaller venues. They were just asked to market some stuff, like how amazing sleep was in Woodworker''s new ''Strong'' bed, or how amazing the new sauce developed by so-and-so shop was. The pay wasn''t amazing, but it was quite good, especially considering he didn''t have to risk his life for food. When he got his paychecks he would naturally spend it on good food, decent clothing, and some more arcade time. This was why, for the first few weeks, he hadn''t actually seen a proper play yet. It was just that his group of friends eventually got curious after hearing some workmates gush about this show, or cry about that show. By this time, everyone had managed to save up a bit for more leisure activities (as long as they toned down on their arcade addiction), so they eventually managed to see a play together. It was the reunion story of Miss Althea and Sir Garan. He remembered sobbing in his seat, which was embarrassing, but he realized most of the people around him were crying too, and suddenly it felt alright. There were even fellow aborigine men crying there, and he realized he might''ve been overthinking the embarrassment caused by the job. When the sobbing session ended, he realized he had never felt so refreshed in his entire life. It also made him long for a relationship like that, too. Back in Yassof Village, though there were many women who expressed admiration for him, it was just that. The men they want to marry would be strong men who could protect and provide for them¡ªof course they would. But Landi''s talent was simply not in fighting. If he ventured out, it''d be more likely he would fall down and hit his head on a sharp rock while he ran away. But now, in theater, he felt like he was in the right place after all. Now that he had accepted its merit, he recognized that it wasn''t an embarrassment after all. For the first time, he had an ambition to grow so much, and it felt both stressful and exhilarating. This admiration turned into a drive that made him take the job seriously. He showed slight improvements through time, but he knew he could do it faster if he had more experience with life¡­ more than just going through the day. He was even advised to date to experience love, and it happened that he grew quite fond of Bayna too¡ªand she to him¡ªso they started ''going out''. Experience exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire In Alterra, they learned the value of ''dating'', which was a way to get to know a person in a romantic sense without being forced to marry them. Many people were eager to get him into the dating pool, though some were a bit disappointed he chose Bayna. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their discussion was cut when they entered the Pharmacy door. Immediately, they were greeted by a large room with a high ceiling. The first half was just an open space with a rug, stopped by a long wooden counter that extended from one side of the room to the other. There were three luminescent-marble platforms¡ªsimilar to those found in the Center¡ªseemingly embedded into the counter, spaced a meter or so apart. People lined up in front of each one. Behind the counters, there were dense cabinets filled with ceramic bottles. They were stacked on tall cabinets that extended to the ceilings. They were placed close together with barely any space between them. Obviously, it wasn''t designed for a person to pass. The cabinets didn''t have any side support outside the posts either. The sight alone made a lot of people anxious. Everyone who had gotten potions from a System Pharmacy knew that these bottles were quite thin and easy to break. If one took it out of space, didn''t drink it immediately, and then got a little careless, it would likely break and then you could only cry. Some Terrans called them disposable bottles, some called them Bottle of Tears. It was why, even before they upgraded, those who got bottles from the System Pharmacy¡ªi.e. those who went to Ferrol¡ªstill had bottles of medicine from Miss Althea''s Pharmacy. The more they had, the more reassured they would be. Anyway, for now, there were two types of bottles they could see, placed on sets of cabinets divided along a central path. One side had bottles with light reddish hues, with a sign underneath saying ''Healing Potion''. On the other side, there were bottles with dark blue hues, with a sign saying ''Mana Potion''. There was no one behind the counter and they simply just had to line up until they reached the marble-like platform. When they got there, a screen would appear, asking how much they would buy. [Would you like to purchase a 10x Healing Potion for 100 copper each? Purchase Limit: 0/10] [Would you like to purchase 10x Mana Potion for 100 copper each? Purchase Limit: 0/10] "This is a bit more affordable than the other places," Bayna said, buying up to the maximum amount. Usually those cost two hundred copper¡ªor even more if the Lord was greedy and decided to add some extra margins. "Well, Alterra should have lower costs, especially when it came to raw materials," Glio said, remembering the vast farmlands they had. "And it''s also not greedy like the other places. They smiled, feeling happy that they had found such a nice place, each one buying as much as they could. It made them hyped up for their weekly clearing/training sessions. Led by Ladron, he went out of the Pharmacy with a particular energy in him. He was heading straight to the gates, and the rest of his team followed closely after him. "Now, it''s time for us to deal with some mobs." Chapter 1137 The Post Office Queue (Part 1) For the Post Office, it was mostly aborigines who were lining up seriously. The other people¡­ were lining up just for the sake of lining up. After all, they just got here a year ago and most hadn''t even left the Alterra Region yet. How many of them would have penpals in other towns? Like the Pharmacy, the Post Office was also customized to fit the general aesthetic of the Town. Strictly speaking, this was the prettiest Post Office they had ever seen. There was even a lovely waiting area with comfortable benches that could fit scores of waiting people. Even the announcement boards were themed¡­. Anyway, without further ado, the aborigines started sending letters while some Terrans looked over to watch how it was done. Basically, they would simply place their letters on one of the marbled platforms behind the counter (which may or may not be manned) and then they would pay the fee which varied depending on the distance of its location. The Post Office was amazing in a way that it could send in any Post Office in the world¡ªregardless of how far it was¡ªpractically in an instant. The letters would then be sent there and the names of the recipients would be displayed on the large display board. It had to be the real name too, so no one could use fake names to send and receive letters. There was no automatic alert for the recipients either, and they had to take the letter in person. Speaking of this, at level 1, the letters would only be kept for 1 month. If a letter was unclaimed beyond that point, then it would be as good as gone. There would be no alert to the sender, either. That was the purpose of hiring a person there¡ªthey were basically there to inform people that there were letters waiting for them. Many wondered if the territory was hiring¡­ One of the people actually sending letters was Oslo, who sent some letters back home. When he heard a Post Office was being built, he and Honda (who was standing on the platform next to him) already composed his letters to each person in his family. Speaking of this, the content of his letters, by habit, was something that had a ''normal'' tone at all times, and was absent of any sensitive information. They didn''t really know whether the Bleulle Lord would randomly decide to read his letters, after all. All he said was that he¡ªand Honda¡ªwas still relaxing in the village they sent him to, and he asked when they''d come to visit. He had sent a letter before via Ferrol not long ago, though he decided to be clingy this time. He was getting a little worried for their lack of response the past week or so. They would usually send one weekly (and he''d pay the Terran Mercenary Team to use their messenger bird) particularly since Honda was with him. He looked at his side to look at his nephew, who still had to tip-toe a bit to see above the platform. Seeing as he was fine and could send his own letters, Oslo proceeded to send the letter entrusted to him. It was Rowan''s. Rowan usually sent via messenger bird from Iron Mountains to the Ferrol branch, who then sent the post to her grandmother in Voumi Town. This would actually continue primarily because Ferrol was much closer to Iron Mountains than Alterra or Limestone Valley. Oslo simply had a letter entrusted to him some time ago, when it was decided that Alterra was up for upgrade. He was asked to send it as soon as a Post Office was built. Apparently, it was to tell his grandma where he was stationed and send her letters directly in Alterra. The person next to him in line was actually Betty. They gave each other polite nods, before Oslo and Honda went out to continue with their sight-seeing. The streets on the shop definitely weren''t ready yet, but there should be some indications of what would appear there. For example, just as they exited the Post Office (after about half-an-hour of queuing) there were already signages posted in front of the shops. Some were pasted on the frontage, while some set up signages on posts. "Unleash Your Style¡ªMore Clothes Coming soon!" "Sweeten Your Day with Den''s Cotton Candy¡ªComing soon with more options!" "Glamour Starts Here¡ªYour New Salon Coming soon!" "Clean Clothes, Happy Life! Your Favorite Cleaning Service Coming West!" "Pens, Paper, Perfection! Nina''s Stationary Shop Coming soon!" Experience more content on My Virtual Library Empire And so on. Oslo laughed while Honda was just impressed. "Alterrans really move quickly when it comes to money." "I wanna be rich too, uncle." Oslo chuckled, patting his head. "Then better learn well." ¡­ Back in the Post Office, Betty was finally sending a letter to her family. How many years had it been, she wondered. Betty lived in a small town far West of Alterra¡ªvery far, at least a few months of travel from here. That was fine for her. When she was forcefully sent to the Chancery to help her brother, she admitted she felt bitter. Not to mention, she specifically had to go to a Level 3 Town or a City because those had Level 2 Post Offices at the minimum, which could be used to send money. She was only Level 14 at the time she was sent, not even 20 years old¡ª sent as soon as she awakened the Healer Profession. Sending her to such powerful territories was sending her to beast dens. However, because she was raised to follow orders¡ªto always prioritize her brother¡ªshe accepted and did as she was told anyway. For the next ten years or so, she worked hard in order to pay her ''duties'' to them. At first, while she was still weak, it was naturally dangerous and she was almost taken many¡ªmany¡ªtimes. One day, a visiting nobleman targetted her, and she couldn''t do anything anymore. However, she couldn''t stomach being touched by him at all, and¡ªunlike so many other women¡ªshe actually fought back. She scratched his face and kicked him, trying to run. However, the humiliation made the man livid instead. She remembered him taking out a knife from his space, and she was stabbed repeatedly in retaliation. Somehow, her fellow healers managed to get to her in time, but she was never the same after that. She was a bit scarred still, but they were mostly in her body. However, the light scars on her face were enough to make many men look at her in disgust. Instead of being sad, she became enlightened. From then on, even after she recovered, she didn''t lose her wounds. To avoid being targetted, she would lightly scar herself¡ªher face, specifically¡ª every few days, and then heal herself before they permanently scarred. For more than ten years, this had been what she had to do to protect herself. If one would question her pain tolerance, she would roll her eyes at them. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She then looked at the letter in her hand, soft fingers gripping it as she was plagued with complex thoughts. She didn''t think she''d want to talk with them ever again, but here she was. Did she truly want to reconnect with them? Chapter 1138 The Post Office Queue (Part 2) The more pain she endured, the harder her heart got when it came to her family. She still sent them money, though she didn''t increase it even if her salary did. Things changed when she finally gathered the courage she built up for years, telling them she wanted to stop and to let her go home. She even told her how difficult life was for her. In response, they went on about her ill brother needing treatment money. If she stopped now, then he would die. However, when she told them she had learned a lot from the City and could perhaps help heal him, they still refused to allow her back. That was when she started to question things and sent a letter to an acquaintance there¡ªshe did not have friends¡ªto ask how her brother was. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She made it seem like they had an argument and would prefer if she didn''t say anything, which would be unlikely because that person was also very low-key. In the end, she found out he hadn''t been ill at all, but the three of them had been happily enjoying the fruits of her labor in the city. For the next few years, she worked hard on her skills and on her connections. When she became well-connected enough, she then made deals with her clients to help her level up¡ªat least until Level 20. She sent one last bulk of money to her family, said her goodbye, pretended to take her life, and went to another chancery to get transferred to a Town. The Chancery protected the identity of their applications well enough. Her family would not find out her status at all. Her life took a turn for the better when she chose to get hired in only Level 1 Towns. She still kept some of her scars, but for the most part, she was treated with some respect as a level 20 healer. She jumped from territory to territory. She thought it was aimless at first, but in retrospect she was probably looking for the perfect place for herself. Then she went to Alterra, and she found no need to harm herself again. Even from that, Alterra had become a great place in her heart. It must have been ten years since she last spoke with them and, until recently, she hadn''t really thought about them at all. She touched her stomach. Due to the difficulty of procreation and survival, Filial Piety in this world was particularly important and believed to have heavy ties to karma. She and Tom had been trying to get pregnant since they got married so many months ago, but there were no signs of movement at all. Tom had been training hard to lower their level gap and increase their chances, too. He was so excited to have a child, and so did she. Whenever the children would walk past them, their hearts would turn to mush. While she knew there were so many factors including their level gap, she couldn''t help but feel superstitious. She then got checked with Cynthia and the other experts and she gave them the heavy news. She was barren, her body irreparably damaged from years prior¡ªduring the stabbing. Even if she leveled up many more times, the body could not heal what was no longer there. She entered into a period of depression which was only kept at bay by her kind, kind, husband and friends. Growing up, she believed that a woman''s ability to bear children was their worth. Even Bianca, who had been judged to have fertility issues back then, was slowly healing as she leveled up. In contrast, what did she have? With no hope left, she was left with superstition, which was why she was here. She wondered¡­ did she really not have a choice? ¡­ While Betty was having internal conflicts at the side, many other hired aborigines¡ªsome of whom had been with Alterra since its youth¡ªwere rushing in to send letters to home and their friends. There was Houser,1 the woodworker aborigine, who had just finished his shift and rushed here to experience the new building. He had been planning on getting his wife and children here for a while. It was just that he needed to earn enough money for an escort service to his home village. His small town was not near, and he might have to go to Ferrol to hire mercenaries too. Those folks were not cheap! While he could, technically, afford weaker ones, he would never risk his family''s life because he was being stingy. They were a tiny Town, but they were still within Warrior City''s sphere of influence and there had been sightings of strong monsters heading to the City that passed near them. He was still young at the time, but that large monster''s ugly face was embedded in his mind. Fortunately, the signage business had been very popular and was still popular, so he had actually saved up a sizeable amount. Even if there weren''t as many new shops popping up in Alterra, the demand was still high for other territories! Not far, Gauis and Tronie were sending letters in their own platforms. Gauis the Gardener had a son, in-laws, and a grandchild. However, they were several thousand kilometers Northwest of Alterra. He hoped to visit eventually, but it wouldn''t be any time soon. For now, he just told them he could send letters directly from here so their correspondence would be much faster. Still, how nice would it be if they could see the wonderful gardens in Alterra¡ªthe heavenly places he helped build! They had been worried when they found out he was fired and even had to go to a small Village. How relieved would they be if they saw it themselves! He had a feeling they didn''t believe him when he told them about Alterra! "Now that Alterra''s a Town, maybe they''d believe me!" he said, watching the letter ''consumed'' by luminescent powder, disappearing after a blink. A laugh sounded next to him. It was Tronie, the materials expert. "Well old man, if you didn''t excessively gush about Alterra, maybe they''d have believed you." "But everything I said was true!" "Yeah, but who would be able to imagine what you pictured?" he said, looking around at the Post Office which even had a chandelier. "Alterra''s¡­ the type of place that you just gotta see to believe." Gauis blinked, shoulders slumping as he laughed. "That''s true," he said. "To see is to believe indeed." Should he get an artist to make drawings so he could send them? Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire The maker of the ''ad signs'' if you remembe Chapter 1139 Still Posting! Next was Tronie''s turn, with Gauis waiting at the side for him to finish. He was a single guy whose parents died when he was young. However, he did have a rather solid group of friends, all of whom went through the Chancery to get hired in different places, except for one. Because most of them jumped around territories and might not stay in one for long, this one person was the target of all their letters regardless of who it was addressed to. All of them made it into a habit to just write something for the other four, and such was what he did. This was the first time he sent them a letter after a year. They were a very low-maintenance group of friends anyway¡ªthe type to not talk for months if not years, but when together, it seemed like they were never apart¡ªand he wanted them to know that he was permanently staying here. To avoid confusion, he didn''t send letters from Ferrol but instead waited for the Alterran Post Office to be created¡ªwhich actually happened sooner than he thought. In their small group of friends, he¡ªa Materials expert¡ªwas among the least accomplished ones. They all had different fields, but he did tell them a lot about Alterra. Unlike Gauis, he had the foresight to commission artwork. It was the scene of the entrance¡ªthe sight that would greet anyone who went past the gate. It was drawn and painted with simple watercolor (he was still amazed by this by the way) which captured the vibrancy and quaintness of Alterra. He invited them to join him if they could, but be sure to bring exotic things¡ªwhether it was seeds, materials, or knowledge¡ªso they could get a jumpstart on their lives here. After all, by the time they got here, competition was undoubtedly harsher. Gauis, who was busy looking around until that moment, zoned in on the wonderful drawing in his hand. "Whoa! Why didn''t you show me before?" "Because I know you''d have begged for it." "..." Stay connected through My Virtual Library Empire He wasn''t wrong. Tronie smiled and shook his head, placing everything into one lovely envelope (bought in the Bookstore), and he added a few stickers to seal it. It was an image of cute animals though in his case, because it was a novelty, he thought he was being ''cool and sophisticated'' rather than being cute. He placed the envelope on the platform. The smile on his face widened as he saw it disappear before his eyes. "Dudes," he mumbled, excited to see them again. "Don''t embarrass me." ¡­ By this time, the queue was almost done, and the tea-drinking crowd had dispersed elsewhere, likely getting good seats for the event later. Anyway, they were a village until a few days prior, so it was already a surprise there were so many people sending letters in the first place. Clout, 1one of the people leading a construction team, quietly lined up and waited for his turn. He couldn''t help but look at the large Post Office building as he approached, feeling turbulent in his heart. Back when he was hired by a small village, how could he have thought it''d get to this level so quickly? As for him, he was here to send letters to some old friends. They worked in towns and he would love to work with them again. Sir Oslo had given hints on the massive developments in the future and those guys would love to be a part of it. Not far in the queue behind him was the handsome Thorance, who was planning to send a long letter home as well. He had been sending one via Ferrol every month, and he¡ªthanks to his friendship with Reddit¡ªjust had to pay some fees to receive the responses via messenger birds (which would already have letters with it anyway). However, during the previous month, there was no response at all which got him worried. Hopefully, he would receive news soon, and now that there was a Post Office in the territory, he could send letters every few days¡ªeven if it meant he had to cut back on his daily expenses. The cousins Saul and Seal Jo1 were also excited to send letters. Because Ferrol was not nearby, and they did not have direct access to the messenger birds, they could only send letters whenever there were caravans heading to Ferrol. Now, they could send them much more often! Too bad their family was too far from Alterra. There were also hires¡ªwho were elsewhere¡ªbut would''ve loved to see this too. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For instance, there was Tambai and Tanod,1 who were sent on a mission and sadly didn''t witness this. They had, however, sent some letters via Ferrol back then and they hoped to receive responses by the time their mission was over. Near the end of the line was Buggy Poo1, the insect finder, who was a bit late to the party. People looked at him weirdly and if he had a clear skin on his body, he''d be flushed in shame. His current appearance was¡­ eye-catching, to say the least. He got a bit careless and was stung all over by bees. Fortunately, the damned critters didn''t die when they did so, but they certainly caused him a lot of pain! That said, his letter was a bit more squiggly than usual because even his fingers were bloated, but he couldn''t wait to send letters to his parents who had looked down on his job so much! Of course, the whole honey thing was under a non-disclosure agreement. He could only be vague with his letters¡ªjust that he was part of a very important project in a Town, and was set to have a share and get rich from it! Finally, at the end of the line was Rona and Mogi.1 They were once aborigines hired by Fargo in the Village Center. They went through a lot of twists and turns, and they did receive some monetary penalties for abandoning Fargo prematurely, but they had long recovered from that and were now living well. Rona was working under Joanna, Jun''s Wife, the head chef of the Gaea Restaurant (Harold was the leader above Joana, but he rarely went to the restaurant now). Rona had just been accepted after taking many night classes in the school and training hard. The next challenge was keeping up with the fast pace of a restaurant kitchen and¡ªwhile it was difficult¡ªshe had learned so much the past month she had been there. Mogi''s case was much more stable. He had been hired as a guard more than half a year ago, and he was now under Mao''s team. While he did have an occasional hard time following their pace, Mogi welcomed the challenge and had indeed found the best version of himself in Alterra. They were both from Villages, but they were subsidiary to Towns. They hoped that their families would get their letters somehow. There was no guarantee¡ªno townsfolk would bother with villagers¡ªbut they had told their families that they would send letters if they could, so perhaps it would reach them somehow. Interestingly, from here, one could see most of the ''NPCs'' Alterra hired at the Village level were actually from Towns or were closely related to them¡ªsent or hired by villages for one reason or another. It was quite fated, and these people felt so fortunate especially now that they could contact their homes more easily. And then there were also those¡­ with no one to send letters to. For example, Lenny Miss, the Professional Clothes Maker and one of Althea''s first hires. She did not line up, but she was in the street with Cathia 1and the other seamstresses, watching the fun. They had snacks in their hands of course, because how could they be gossiping without it. However, while the seamstresses were chattering, Lenny was quiet, just staring into the Post Office building with deep thoughts. Old Cathia turned to look at her like this, patting her shoulder. "Do you want to send letters?" Cathia asked, although rhetorically. "What for? Your family are all here." Lenny blinked, and her eyes turned from dull to clear as she turned to look at the old woman, who smiled at her as if to confirm. "Right?" The other ladies also heard this and turned to stare at her, as if waiting for her answer. Some looked like if she dared to answer the negative, she''d throw the popcorn on Lenny''s nose. In the end, Lenny''s lips twitched upwards, and she slowly nodded her head. "Yes." Clout Stone - Construction Dude. Tall, bulky, and bald middle-aged man. Cousins. Saul Jo - armor maker Class D Seal Jo -armor maker Class E. Siblings born in town, cleaner parents. Insect Guy The deserters from Fargo Cassie''s grandma Chapter 1140 Althea in Post Street A/N: We''re only 30 Gold tickets behind for Golden T1! Thank you for your support guys! Love youu~ If you have more excess votes, send them here ne? heheheh. I post extra chaps during Sundays~ +3 chaps if we''re T1! ... ____ Of course, the Elders would not miss the fun either. They went to take a look at the new street with family or friends¡ªat least after the initial burst of traffic. After letting a couple more hours pass by, just in the afternoon, a certain family went out to see the new buildings. This was Althea, Garan, and their babies. Ansel followed along, though he would separate later at some point. After all, he was going out to prepare for the celebratory party delayed by the war-slash-mob (colloquially referred to as the Idiot-massacre) a few days prior. They decided to go on their afternoon stroll (which was something they often did when both parents didn''t have work emergencies that day). The kids were still too small for Althea¡ªlet alone Garan¡ªto hold their hands and walk side by side, so since the babies were too lively they had to be on¡­ leash, er, tethers. By this time, no one judged them. Some Terrans did blink and raise eyebrows at first, but the children were obviously not uncomfortable. They probably even preferred it so they had more freedom of movement without sacrificing safety. For instance, on their own volition, they could go to random aunties at the side! Possibly get snacks! Who could come close when Garan was right next to them? With tethers, that was not a problem! What if there were other kids who wanted to greet them? No problem too! Baby Pepper even gave other girls like Mimi friendly hugs, though the boys did not dare get closer because an ice demon was watching them. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, the family took their time going around. They had until night because they go straight to the deferred celebratory event later on. Ideally, the kids would already be tired and behaved by then. At some point, after being greeted by adoring aunties, a certain little boy went back to tug his mother''s skirt. The couple looked down on the small chubby bun looking up at his mother with large rounded eyes and puffy cheeks. "Mwamaaa! Mewbow ea fwuff!" the baby said, pointing at a certain cotton candy store. Althea stared. She understood, but she waited patiently for him to finish his request. "Mwama?" Little Meatball''s eyebrows furrowed in her silence. Regardless of the answer, there would usually at least be a response. Then, he remembered her lessons. He looked up again, eyes even more glistening. "Pwease?" She finally smiled, kneeling down, and patted his head. "Okay." The baby boy brightened and hugged his mother''s ankle and Althea couldn''t help but kneel down to place a smooch on his plump cheek. "Mamaaa! Peppa! Peppa!" A little girl ran to her too, her frilly dress and the two buns on her head bouncing as she rushed. The baby girl had just escaped the clutches of another set of aunts from another side, only to turn around and see her brother hogging their mum! Your journey continues on My Virtual Library Empire Althea laughed, placing a sound kiss on her chubby cheek, too. Garan watched his happy family and he leaned down to take one of the kids into his arms. The cotton candy stall was quite crowded and, for obvious reasons, they couldn''t have the children going wild in there. The couple carried a child each and headed towards the more crowded areas as they neared the Post Street. Fortunately, it had been a couple of hours since the street opened so there was a lot less loitering crowd. The temporary stalls were set along the streets. They allowed this for now. However, after the shops opened, they would naturally ask the stalls to move to the proper rentable spots all over the territory. The Cotton Candy Stall was located right outside a new store. The stall was owned by none other than Den, who was doing a promotion for his soon-to-open shop on Post Street. He did not lack in telling his grand adventures of securing the shop either. "Even if people stepped on me, I persevered. I had a mission¡ªto bring the joy of sweetened clouds to more people!" Anyway, the guy was quite creative. Cotton Candy already existed here even before he started his business, but Den could create various animal shapes that people loved, making him one of the favorite cotton candy shops in Alterra. Further, the large sign behind him saying "Sweeten Your Day with Den''s Cotton Candy¡ªComing soon with more options!" indicated that he even made some innovations. As for what they were, no one knew, just that the kids loved whatever he was offering now. They lined up properly, and it was mostly kids in front of the line at this time. The children felt some strong presence and turned, recognizing them, and Althea did as well. They were the familiar aborigine kids Maumi, Gururu, Pongo1, and their new friend Mamu2¡ªone of the Heat Wave refugees. They were quite lively and some of the most well-adjusted kids among the aborigines. It was cute and impressive. "Miss Althea, Sir Garan!" they said, doing the standard salute given by subordinates to higher-ups. They then turned to the babies in their arms, their eyes brightening even more. "Ah! It''s Baby Pepper and Meatball!" "Please, go ahead!" they said, making a path for them. Being treated like this by children felt both adorable and complicated. "No, it''s okay, we can wait," she said. It was fine if it was just them and adults, but it was weird to do that to kids. Not to mention, they didn''t want their children to grow up so entitled that all queues would clear for them. Seeing as they insisted on not cutting line, the aborigine kids went ahead and happily bought their cotton candies. After the kids said their farewells, they all headed to one of the benches under a sidewalk tree. Althea was curious and her eyes followed their movements, realizing that they were heading towards a big guy¡ªKoo Yu¡ªsitting there. It was cute at first, but she found herself blinking in puzzlement. She realized he was carrying¡­ goblin babies? How did that happen? Mauin Villagers With Shinho, Heat Wave refugees. If you remember the brave kid who threw stones to distract monsters back in his village ,that is him Chapter 1141 The New Cleaner "Big brother Koo, have one too!" Mamu said, looking sweetly at the big guy. Koo smiled and, after rearranging the goblin babies hanging on his body, took a pinch. "Thank you," he said, goofy as always. The ten-year-old sparkled, obviously liking the big man''s gratitude. Koo Yu might be a young man, but his mind was still that of a child''s. He got along with the kids very well¡ªexcept at the same time he was a big adult and could do things they could not, making him extra cool. The aborigine kids in particular were close with him because they lived in the same area. They looked at him as both a peer and as an older brother. It was definitely a unique dynamic they really liked. As for how he ended up babysitting triplet goblins, it was kind of a long story. In Goblin culture, babies were taken care of by a group of nurses at the same time in one place while their parents went to work. They were literally placed in one room with comfy cushions on the floor, the green dumplings grouped together¡ªeither in rows or in cots¡ªand laying/playing there for the entire day. If they needed something, they''d make a specific sound, and the nurses would know exactly what the babies needed. From an outsider''s point of view, one would just see a room densely filled with green balls. Of course, although they looked the same to humans, the goblins had no problem determining which one was theirs. Be it by smell, sound, or some other qualities humans didn''t know anymore, there was no case of baby-switching among the goblins in the entirety of their existence. This practice of taking care of babies in bulk did not change in Alterra. They cleared out one of the communal rooms in their dormitories to serve this purpose. If humans were there, they would met at the cute green balls gathered in one room, but sadly no one was there to see that. They could only see the babies when they were taken out individually or with their families. Today, it happened that a pair of goblins just wanted to take their kids out for a walk¡ªsomething they learned to be very healthy for children. They naturally wanted the best for their children and there was also the fact that minorities tended to emulate the prevalent practices more than others, so many goblin families followed this practice to a tee. Even if the female was heavily pregnant and due to give birth soon... Anyway, Alterrans loved the sight of babies¡ªno matter what race¡ªso it could be said their ''walk'' was very welcome. People would stop by and look at the strollers, they would chat them up, and they would coo the babies and greet them, promising treats when they grew teeth. While it was shocking and intimidating at first, the goblins knew the emotions going around were mostly warmth¡ªexcept for a few aborigines who were still uncomfortable by their freedom¡ªso they adjusted quickly. This was another one of the reasons why the goblins loved taking the children out occasionally. It made their babies feel¡­ loved. Anyway, sometime during the walk, they encountered Koo Yu and the kids hanging out. They exchanged words and the children looked at the goblins curiously, asking questions like ''when do they start to walk?'' or ''how big are their poop?'' These were all genuine inquiries, which the parent goblins answered sincerely (and yes, even the poop question). Note that these were mostly aboriginal children, yet none of them showed a hint of disgust with them at all. Children were much more honest with their emotions, after all, and the fact that there was no discrimination in the younger generation was very telling of the current education system. The bigger kids (like Koo) were allowed to hold the babies. They were already several months old, but goblins at this age could actually already walk so they were already strong enough to be carried around by strangers. Then¡­ the goblin female screamed. Her water broke. Goblins, once they had treated a place as home and its inhabitants as trustworthy, they could get careless and trusting¡ªto a fault. "Please take care of my babies! I will find you later!" The male goblin yelled, carrying his yelling wife and running to the hospital, disappearing before Koo could even answer him. "..." Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire And so was the current scene. Mamu, Koo, and the others adjusted well enough, and it seemed like goblin babies were much more well-behaved than human babies. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Whenever they cried (they had really, really, small voices) Koo would just place them back into the strollers and they''d push the stroller back and forth as if giving them a ride. The kids had to do it because Koo was too big to push the small stroller comfortably. Anyway, it almost always worked and the kids started doing it as a game¡ªi.e. who calmed the goblin babies better? In any case, having fun while goblin-sitting was definitely an adventure and challenge for them, but it wasn''t an unwelcome one! Althea smiled and took her eyes away from them, while a certain ''prisoner'' ¡ªwho was in-charge of hauling out trash¡ªwatched them longingly, his heart clenching in pain. This was Jest1, one of the prisoners of war from Basset Town. He was also judged as a low-risk one, so he was allowed to serve near people unlike most of the others. His main job, given to him just this morning, was to clean up the trash along the streets, sweep fallen grass, and so on. Although there were rules against littering, there were often times that people would just lose track of their trash but it was too crowded to take it back, and were therefore just left there. Anyway, they were already penalized so there was little incentive to fight against the crowd to find a candy wrapper they accidentally dropped. Other than his main job, he also had an on-call job. Because Jest was from a Town, his level was decent. Other than cleaning up trash in the territory, another task was to clean those outside. So after beast mobs, he''d help out with the carcasses and also fight against some smaller monsters that found their way there. "Fuf cwouds yummy¡­" he turned to look at milky voices that seemed to go near him. He turned to look at Miss Althea, her husband, and her children happily eating that¡­ colored cloud. He watched as the babies took a bit of the cloud and fed their parents, who naturally opened their mouths to eat them. Jest pursed his lips and gathered all his courage, stepping into their paths. Although he was a prisoner, he was given relative freedom like talking to whom he wanted to. "What is it?" Althea asked, startled, but not particularly impatient. Her daughter was trying to feed her and insisted on doing so, so while talking to him, Miss Althea had a steady stream of little clouds put in her mouth. "If¡­ you have nothing¡ªlater, Pepper, Mummy''s talking¡ª" she munched on the cloud anyway, before looking at Jest. "If you have nothing else to say¡ª" "No, please, it''s important¡ª" They really paused and just stared at him, waiting for him to speak. His heart swelled with hope. To be honest, he never thought it would be a possibility for him to even talk to an elder after the war was lost. However, the more he saw about the territory, the more he felt in his heart that he could¡­ ask. What really touched his heart was how Alterra treated their casinos. Back home, casinos were the main part of how his family fell apart. So when he found out Alterra had a casino, he specifically chose the area to clean first. He spent the morning there, just watching the people come in and go, watching their reactions, and¡ªhe predicted¡ªtheir future suffering. What he wanted to do or what he wanted to see, he didn''t know, but he stayed there anyway. However, while he saw that many people were sad and annoyed, there was no¡­ despair¡ªnot the one he was used to seeing. Back home, people would look like they lost their entire lives¡­ which they probably really did. It was then that he found out about the very humane limitations put up. He would even realize that most of the ''annoyances'' from the customers were because they were kicked out after reaching the spending limit. A territory that could forgo its greed for the sake of its people made him think that maybe¡ªmaybe¡ªhe could have a voice this time. If you forgot already, he made an appearance in the latest war xD He was one of the people sent by Basset Town to help out during the wa Chapter 1142 Jests Request "I¡­ please help me get my brother¡ªno, even some news will do," he said. "I am willing to increase the atonement points I have to carry out." Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Continue your adventure at My Virtual Library Empire "I''m not sure you have enough to offer to mobilize our resources," Althea said. Her tone was not dismissive at all, simply stating facts from someone who supposedly was just an ''employee''. "I¡­ I wasn''t a slave in Basset Town," he said. He already said this during the inquisition. "I wasn''t bound by oath¡ªI was born there, there should be information you''d find useful, right?" He was not a slave in either territory and wasn''t required to take oaths there so he could tell as much as needed. Althea looked at him. She hadn''t had the chance to read the reports yet so they hadn''t begun any ''follow up'' interviews and interrogations just yet. This was basically just doing it in advance. Seeing as Althea was ready to listen (while being fed by her daughter), Ansel took out a Voice Blocker and activated it. Althea nodded in approval before turning to Jest. "What do you know?" "While my stature doesn''t allow me to be privy to a lot of things, I can tell more about the every day life and what we found threatening." To most people, this was useless information. They''d dismiss Jest and even blame him for wasting their time. However, Althea and the others knew never to underestimate even the smallest detail. At this, Althea nodded for him to tell them more, and Jest heaved a sigh of relief. First, he told them about the everyday life of the citizens there which was, for the most part, just the typical life in this world. The difference was that there were a lot more merchants from other places there than most. Basset Town could be said to be the less-developed and less-planned Ferrol of the area. That was to say: It did not have any special resources, technology, or mines of its own, but it took advantage of its location between Bleulle City and Warrior City¡ªeven if it was thousands of kilometers away from either of them. He also told them about the most famous families in their Town¡ªthe ones even the most uneducated citizen would hear of. There were also a few gangs and powers he mentioned, though it was limited to whoever was active in the area he lived in. While Jest did not have a complete list of the players in their territory, he did have the main ones. Interestingly, he mentioned a familiar group. This group affected the daily lives of even the poorest of peasants there, and it was obvious that Jest hated them in particular. "The Rongo Mercenary Team is the most powerful and disruptive force there," he said. "They arrived about two decades ago¡­ setting up base there. Immediately, the already-difficult living conditions got worse." "Of course, there was a lot of bullying and suffering even before that¡ªbut they took it to another level," he said, gritting his teeth. "They treated human lives as playthings. "They would pull whatever women¡ªor men¡ªentered their fancy and do their way with them, and no one could say anything about it!" "They would beat up anyone they thought to be eyesores until they were half-dead!" "Even if people were lucky enough not to catch their eye, they affected their living too. The mercenary team made close deals with the Lord so they could add protection fees¡ªon top of the taxes they paid directly to the Lord¡ªto any local who was doing business in the territory." "Then¡­ they built casinos¡ªturning hard-working men to useless people who only knew how to spend money!" They let him finish his soliloquy on his own. He was very passionate. Seeing his face change from his mild¡ªbegging¡ªstance to a passionately angry one, they could tell he must''ve suffered a lot back in Basset. At this time, the babies had already finished eating the cotton candies on their own, staring at the passionate outburst of a random adult in front of them. Eventually, he did calm down, immediately feeling embarrassed at the outburst. "My¡­ my brother''s name is Jord, and we live in the Western slums of the territory," he said. "I just¡­ I just want him safe." "Okay," she said. "I''ll take note of this." For a moment, she did consider just sending him there to help out. But her people there had been camping for a long time. She didn''t want to risk anything at this point. Jest bowed to them before leaving to continue his work. He did not have high expectations, but it was enough that they would try. After Jest went away, the family continued on to the Post Street, arriving at the middle of it. By this time, there were already bikes using the main road, so those on foot were constrained to use the pedestrian lanes. The family looked at the two buildings in alteration, looking at the quality and its fit to the streetscape. Fortunately, it looked good. "So how much did these buildings cost?" Ansel asked. They hadn''t turned off the Voice Blocker yet so they could talk as they wanted. "3000 Wood, 2000 Stone, 2000 Gold. Each. Plus a few hundred for customization." Ansel whistled. "I hoped we can modify some functionality too," Althea said, sighing. Baby Pepper who was snugly carried in her arms, sensed her disappointment and kissed her cheek, making Althea chuckle. She kissed her back of course. "Mwama!" Little Meatball called, extending his little arms to her to ask for kisses too. While she took her jealous son with her free arm, she looked at the Pharmacy again, telling her brother about her Pharmacy Wish List. "I had hoped we could add our own formulas and let it make them automatically as long as we had the raw materials," she said. "I would be willing to pay a few thousand gold for that." Ansel rubbed his nose. Rich people problems, he thought. Though to be fair that really would be awesome. "Well," he said. "I''m sure there would be something like that out there." Althea nodded. "If not, we''ll find a way to make it ourselves." Chapter 1143 Sunset Pair Again (Part 1) A/N: Chapter dedicated to Lotuslin, Oslo''s #1 waifu. Loolol. Thanks again for the LNY Red-envelope-castle~ ¡­ ___ "Will it be possible?" Ansel looked at his sister with sparkling eyes, while Garan just nodded, thinking ''as expected''. Garan looked down and saw the two babies in his wife''s arms though. Their hands were now sticky because of the cotton candy and he immediately took out wet wipes from his space to clean up their mouths and hands and their chubby cheeks. His hand was bigger than their faces, and he was very gentle to make sure he didn''t put too much strength into it. Althea smiled at him and held up the two babies so he could reach both their hands. After doing this, Garan simply put their pacifiers on without taking them away from their mother. The babies obviously preferred to be in the arms of their soft and fragrant mother. He did not blame them. Anyway, while Garan did so, Althea turned to her brother to answer his question. "I''m thinking it''s possible. Holt City could make buildings that''d cook by itself, so this meant it is possible for the normal people to create such buildings¡ªat least as Aether Buildings," she said. "I''m sure Oslo would upgrade someday." At this time, Oslo was focused on studying as much as he could about building types and whatever Althea had on arrays. He also asked for some information from his siblings, though to be honest what Miss Althea had was more insightful than the general knowledge nobles had on the subject. Even their toolmakers depended on inheritance and instinct to create their tools, so it was really a problem. They still had a few sets to make possibly one or two new types of aether blueprints (though that may increase depending on his skill and understanding) but so far they were still undecided about what to do with them. Hopefully, by the time Alterra expanded its walls, they''d have new aether blueprints ready. This did not include a copy of what he had already made¡ªwhich they''d do once the Town expanded further¡ªbut the new building types Miss Althea was envisioning! Speaking of Oslo¡­ he was actually still on the street, too. Ansel turned to look somewhere along the road, about ten or so meters away from them. The golden-haired was lining up to get a cool drink from the Cucumber-drink guy1, and he was surrounded by chattering women. As always, he looked completely comfortable surrounded by the feminine kind. "Yo!" he greeted, raising his arms as he walked towards him. Oslo turned and blinked, smiling at him. "Ansel!" They didn''t notice how the group of women formed a path for them and neither did they notice the muffled squeals that surrounded them. "Done with the Post?" he asked, knowing that he was here to send letters. "Aren''t you with your nephew?" "Yeah," Oslo said, turning to side to see Honda playing with the other kids. In Bleulle, it''d be impossible to see him play with village kids, but look at him so happy and carefree. Hey, he was even carrying a baby goblin now¡­ The blonde just shook his head with a smile. He did not ask where it came from and just turned back to chat with Ansel. "You?" he asked. He doubted there''d be anyone the red-head would want to send posts to at this time. "Just looking around with family," Ansel said, pointing somewhere behind him. At this, Oslo turned to look for a certain someone, and his blue orbs quickly warmed up at the sight of her standing a few meters away from them. He had to pull back his meaningful stare when he felt the husband''s icy gaze, of course. "Miss Althea, Sir Garan," he said, striding gracefully as he approached. Then, his blue eyes shifted to look at the precious buns they were carrying. "Good Afternoon, Handsome Meatball, Princess Pepper." The two babies didn''t know what those meant, but it sounded good and they smiled and giggled cutely behind their pacifiers, melting every heart in the vicinity. Althea smiled warmly at her babies'' cuteness, putting poor Oslo into an idiotic daze again. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel noticed this and wrapped his arm around his shoulder (making women squeal, some taking out their phones to take pictures). "I''m doing final checks for the party later, come help out," he said. It was not even a suggestion. Oslo blinked, stared, and then nodded. "A-Ah, yeah," was all he could say, still puzzled why he was suddenly pulled in as a supervisor of someone else''s job. However, he saw his friend''s wiggling eyebrows and had no choice but to play along. And so, the two very handsome men said their goodbyes and parted from the family¡­ making the women they passed by swoon to death. ¡­ "Damn, man, how bad do you still have it? Didn''t I tell you to date around?" Ansel asked with a very serious look on his face. "You definitely have no trouble flirting." "I couldn''t bear to go steady with anyone who doesn''t make my heart beat anymore," Oslo said. It wasn''t that he hadn''t tried the past month, it was just that he couldn''t handle it in the end. Flirting was one thing, but going out meant different for the women. It would be cruel if he gave false hopes when he had no feelings for them. Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire Before, he didn''t mind. It was just fun for both parties. Now that he knew what it felt like to fall in love, it meant he also felt the pain of not having it. He didn''t wish that on his worst enemy, especially not on innocent women. He didn''t say this out loud, but Ansel could tell. He sniffed, feeling a bit teary. He gripped his shoulder a bit tighter. "I''m proud of you, man." He definitely matured. He was ready for true love now. Oslo smiled, feeling a complex mood of bittersweet relief as well. Anyway, the two men were really close¡ªwith Ansel''s arms still around the blonde''s shoulders¡ªand someone behind them almost fainted. Suffice to say, there would be extra volumes of Sunset Pair Fanfiction going around that day. Just an unnamed side character who always sells cucumber drinks to passerbys Chapter 1144 Sunset Pair Again (Part 2) There were various fanfictions about them that sprouted over the past couple of months, especially after the paper became commonplace and accessible to the masses. It was not yet dirt-cheap, not like how it was in Terran, but every working adult could definitely afford to buy a small rim or two every week. Most stories were set in Xeno which was the easiest to write about. It could be about them adventuring together someplace else, which would belong in the fantasy-action genre. They could also be adventuring to a mysteriously comfortable cave that appeared out of nowhere, but that was a different genre altogether. It could be a dramatic romance (possibly a tragedy) where Oslo''s parents from the City were against their love. They even sent assassins to get Ansel. The current bestseller was a book titled "A Sunset We''ll Never Share". It was written by someone named ''Air_Ria''1 . It was a book where Oslo unfortunately died saving Ansel. Many women (and some men) cried when it was released, and Oslo found his house with an abnormally high amount of flowers all of a sudden. There were also plenty of books just focused on their relationship, set in the streets and buildings of Alterra. Fortunately, the books that portrayed Winona, Ansel''s wife, as evil were not popular. In most cases, she was a girlboss who gracefully ''let go'' of her husband to find happiness. Find exclusive stories on My Virtual Library Empire In some iterations, she even joined in the fun. It did not help she had blonde locks too, so the three of them together became the ''Sunset Trio'' instead. Winona hadn''t given birth at the time, but when she found out about this, she laughed so hard she almost gave birth. Next in popularity were books set in Terran, wherein it was Oslo who got ''transmigrated'' to another world. The most popular trope was him being hit by a Kola Beast Cart, died, and woke up in the body of another with the same name and face. Those stories ranged from showbiz-type of stories where Oslo had to navigate an entirely new world under the eyes of the public (with Ansel guiding him through it) to Spy stories where he used his elements and natural prowess to excel in that field. The most popular ones were called "Sneaky at Sunset" and "Undercover at Sundown", also by Air_Ria. Then there was a growing trend of alternate universes (or just ''AUs'' in the fanfiction circle) which were set in completely different worlds that were limited only by the writers'' imaginations. It could range from Ansel being a vampire¡ªloving blood because it reminded him of the color of his hair¡ªor Oslo being a golden werewolf who turns when it was sunny¡­ Anyway, there was a great variety which shook Oslo to the core the first time he found out. Ansel laughed at it at first (Winona was still laughing) but then he realized he was ''the bottom'' 95% of the time¡­ He immediately ran to his sister to tattle. Sadly, there was something called freedom of speech, so they couldn''t just shut everything down willy-nilly. Economy-wise, it wasn''t a bad thing. And there was also the fact that some people would want stories written about them. Althea simply called the Elders, calling for new laws about protecting the interests of personalities who had things like these based on them. They couldn''t control everything though. There were some¡ªparticularly the raunchy ones¡ªthat were circulated in the blackmarket. Some seemed to have found the markets outside Alterra, in which case they didn''t have control over them at all. In any case, this new law allowed them to earn from whatever (declared) media form used their likeness, so it wasn''t completely a loss. Viva Passive Income, right? Right? Anyway, it was really weird at first, but they just learned to ignore them. They just made a point to enjoy the fruits of their likeness. Eventually, they moved past the discussion and headed towards the plaza to supervise the event, to make sure they didn''t miss anything. They had done festivals multiple times so Ansel believed his staff wouldn''t mess anything up, but this had to be perfect! Before they left Post Street though, they saw Baron and the others running into the street, several staff members carrying large tables. Interestingly, Baron 1himself was leading the line. "What''s this?" Ansel asked, turning to them. Baron stopped his movements and happily greeted them. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We''re selling some new items here while we can still make stalls," he said. "Of course, the items will also be available in our actual shops for those still interested." "Like what?" Baron smiled. It so happened that they were settling down nearby and Ansel and Oslo couldn''t help but look curiously as they set up. They saw a small stall get erected in front of their eyes, and then pieces of little wooden pegs and posts lined up on the table. A few staff members assembled them into small connected boxes. They were being showy about it too, making exaggerated movements, naturally gathering a crowd around them. At this, some of the salesmen¡ª including Baron¡ªyelled to the watching crowd. "Modular potion cabinets! Modular Potion Cabinets!" he yelled, gathering more and more people to watch. "For those with adventurous hearts and the drive for growth, come here and see!" He then pointed at his craftsman easily assembling the pieces together. There were no extra tools, just the pieces stuck together by virtue of their shapes. "Created just to fit the system pharmacy bottles, this will allow you to stack your stock safely in space," he said, going over a piece that was almost finished. He took one and pulled something easily, taking out an entire box that fit just right in their hands. There were also indentations so it was easy to hold. "It also comes with bottle guards. With this, the chances of breaking it are much lower!" He was near enough to the pharmacy (most areas were unfortunately already occupied) and a lot of the buyers who could actually use it were passing by. They saw how easy to use and convenient it was, and the Woodworker''s team immediately got sales. Not long after that, they shifted to pre-sale and reservation! Suffice to say, this business idea was quite profitable indeed. Based on one of my RL author friends Air_Ace who inspired the fanfiction angle xDD Owner of Alterra''s biggest Woodworking shop. A.K.A. Golden Goose Chapter 1145 Before the Party "You people are really business-minded," Oslo said as they went on their way. Ansel smiled. "Any indicator for growth is something we aspire to. Besides¡­" he paused, smugly nudging him (with each moment of skin contact killing a random female passerby). "More tax for Alterra." The two eventually reached the plaza, which was currently at the height of preparation. They oversaw the creation of the large platform in front of the village, er, town center, as well as the line of stalls and caravan games being built up. Because Alterra seemed to find something to celebrate every couple of months, there were now shops and businesses that specialized in renting out modular pop-up stalls and caravan places. These could also be used for the marketplace stalls, within or outside the walls. It was a very lucrative business because they could reuse the modules over and over again. They had to partner with a few people who owned or rented a warehouse in the Industrial zone, but they were saving up to buy one for themselves for the expansion. According to the information, all zones would expand when the territory expanded its walls again, and that included the industrial zones. Some workers, passersby, lurkers, and loiterers saw Ansel and Oslo and couldn''t help but approach. "Sir Ansel! Sir Oslo!" they greeted, happily but also with some reverence in their town. "Can you hint what the program will be?" Ansel smiled, they naturally didn''t tell much¡ªjust that there''d be an anniversary party. "Well, mostly the usual¡ªspeeches, some music," he said. "Just look forward to it." ¡­ Before the deferred celebratory dinner, a lot of the population made a point to pass by the new street or the plaza being built up, even if it was just literally to pass through them. So¡­ most of the people outside their homes at this time were concentrated within a few streets in and between these two places. This meant that there would be quite a number of encounters. For instance, there was an encounter between Foxii,1 Thor, and Limbo2¡ªall of whom were refugees from heat waves, but from different territories. They were all seen happily eating ice cream after a ''serendipitous'' encounter on the pedestrian lane in front of the store. The two men accompanied their friend through her break, and she treated them with the dessert in response. Foxii was a Captain now¡ªone of the few female captains in the guard team¡ªwhile the other two men had very different jobs. Thor was a freelancer (who''d take random jobs when they were offered), while Limbo was an architect at the Construction and Design Department under Oslo. This came as a shock to many though. Thor was not only athletic¡ªhe was a rare electricity elementalist, like Drake1, so people expected him to join in. Thor was tempted, but he didn''t do it in the end. It was because he knew his personality wasn''t the type that would match with soldiers and their strict guidelines. His goal was to build his own mercenary team, probably when he reached the level requirement. He would name it ''Benatar1'' for no particular reason. He just thought it sounded cool. "Sometimes those hellish first months we had in Xeno feels like a bad dream¡­" he said, combing back his now-short blonde hair. He looked at the pretty Faye, who was just enjoying her desert, with warm eyes. She was still in her guard uniform. Thor knew this time was her break time; he memorized her schedule. He specifically made sure to be around the area at this time, particularly near her favorite ice cream shop, so there they were now. "I heard one of the new stores in Post Street is also a dessert shop," he said. Faye nodded. "Yeah, I heard about that too," she said. "I heard they already secured cocoa deals with Miss Althea¡­" "Hm¡­ I would like to try it." Faye nodded, she did too. "Foxii¡­ would you like to join me?" Faye blinked, lifting her head to look at the blonde staring at her. He was not strikingly handsome, but he had that carefree charm that was very much opposite to her own strictness. Still, Faye nodded in the end, and Thor''s smile brightened and his hair lifted up a bit due to static electricity. Limbo immediately felt like the third wheel. He sighed. When would he get a girlfriend? ¡­ Across the street, there were the old men Al, Bones, and Cake 1who¡ªoutside their resource gathering gigs¡ªwere living off contribution points for their occasional help in the research center. They simply had to answer some things they knew from back in the day¡ªwhether it was way of life or technology, they just had to write or enumerate what they remembered. Their previous world Terran¡ªas these children had known it¡ªwas too advanced. It had a lot of the technology that was impossible¡ªat least not within the next few years¡ªto replicate here. That was why they were predominantly focused on developing technology considered advanced in Xeno, but probably about a hundred years old for Terran folks. Although the three old men were definitely not that old, they had a lot of knowledge about the tech back then. So now they were helping with various things like the old computers, telecommunications, and so on. Their day would be mostly gathering resources and staying in the Research Center for a couple of hours, leaving most of the day free. Overall, although they would still hire some youngins to help them level up (they wanted to feel young again¡ªfiguratively and literally), they were pretty much in a semi-retired state. Today was no different. After selling some basic resources to the Center, the trio decided to hang around where the fun was. At first, they spent the early afternoon in the Plaza being built up. They went around while munching on snacks, acting like ''supervisors''. Like normal old men, they had the tendency to blurt instructions like they knew how to do everything. "No, no, I don''t think that''s symmetrical. A little to the left, ah, to the right. My right? Ah yesyes. Was it? No¡­" "I think this game should be here instead of there¡­" "That height is too small¡­" "This is just for kids? What about adults?" "Are you sure you want to choose that color? Are you sure?" Suffice to say, they irked a lot of the construction workers and were shooed away. They could only shake their old heads, mumbling ''rude kids'' under their breaths. Of course, after passing another stall and filling their hands and mouth with food, they were carefree old men again. They headed to the Post Street this time, encountering Cathia and Bona¡ª Cassie and Bumi''s grandmothers¡ªthere. Old souls just tended to vibe with each other more, and each party happily greeted the other side, and they made the spontaneous decision to go to the park together and play chess or backgammon there. While the five old folks (some of whom had hunched back due to age) happily chattered on their way there, they passed by some visiting aborigines. Aborigines looked at the group of old people lounging about happily and couldn''t help but feel complicated. In most places, unless the old person was a noble and had managed to gather loyalty¡ªby oath or without¡ªof a lot of people and family members, they were practically left on their own. Power speaks, after all, and it was an unspoken rule that anything that could hinder growth was something to get rid of. If it was family, then you could get rid of them¡ªpeople would understand. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was ironic because filial piety was something seen as spiritually important¡ªbut only if you were a woman. If you were a man with sufficient power, you could decide to ignore your parents if they became burdens. It would not even be too frowned upon. And because women generally had little capability to survive on their own, once the men decided to get rid of them, they would struggle to survive. A lot of beggars in other towns were all old people. In Alterra, there were no beggars at all, and the old people¡ªeven those without family¡ªwere living well with their own strength and capability. They heard that¡ªas long as they served the territory for a certain amount of years¡ªthey could retire and not worry about the basics again. It felt¡­ right, somehow, to do this. But¡­ how come so many other territories fail to achieve this? Aka Faye. One of the refugees from heat wave.. She led her own team. She was the daughter of the Lord, but he died before passing over the token to her. Also refugees from Heat Wave Mathilda''s former guard, and now one of the top guards Your next chapter is on My Virtual Library Empire Get the reference? No. Okay... ORZ Some random old guys introduced a long time ago xDDD Chapter 1146 More Encounters There were also particularly interesting encounters. For example, there was the encounters between Virgo¡ªone of the Research Team''s premier mathematicians¡ªand his "ex-wife" Kimmy, who now pushing a stroller with a woman and a little boy next to her. His eyebrows rose, and they nodded at each other in greeting. It was just that Virgo was not much of a conversationalist and most people would see it as snobbery. However, Kimmy, who had technically lived with him for months, naturally knew of his quirks. Still, she was still a bit defensive with men in general, and it would be a lie to say she wasn''t even the least bit bitter towards her ''husbands'' who were too weak to protect her back then. However, after so long, she had learned to let go. Being bitter wouldn''t be a good atmosphere around her baby girl after all. "Virgo," she said in greeting and the man flinched, nodding as well. They had somewhere to go and didn''t stay to chat, and separated immediately afterward. However, Virgo''s eyes followed her until they disappeared into the crowd. Kimmy had never actually touched him outside his face or his chest. For the most part, she just appreciated him visually. It was a bit uncomfortable, but she gave him food, shelter, and let him depend on her for months. So, despite her quirks, Virgo actually liked and respected this "ex-wife" of his. For a while, he couldn''t face her for being so useless after all that happened. It was one of the reasons why he was eager to move to Alterra. Then Kimmy herself moved and it became awkward for a long time. Seeing her happy now made him feel relieved. It wasn''t enough to let bygones be bygones, but at least a portion of the burden was gone. As for how he''d make it up to her¡ªhe''d figure it out eventually. His EQ was too low for him to determine that himself. ... "What is it?" Kimmy asked, feeling Yelena''s eyes on her. The woman blushed a bit, rubbing her arms, which was a sign of her nervousness. "You can talk with them?" Yelena asked. Even until now, she was uncomfortable with strange men. She was quite envious of Kimmy, and a little uncomfortable she seemed to be expanding her circle again. It could even be called¡­ jealousy. "Hmn," Kimmy said. "You''ll get there, no need to pressure yourself. Our lives are long." Yelena looked at her and nodded, looking at the cute baby on the stroller. The baby girl was so cute and lovely. Inexplicably, Yelena''s eyes shifted to her own son. He was a good-looking kid and he must''ve been a cute baby. She¡­ missed that stage of his life, and a wave of regret came over her again¡ªsomething that was happening increasingly often¡ªand she did not know how to deal with it at all. It was still awkward between them after so many months and, to be honest¡ªeven when they did little things together now like walking, eating, and the like¡ªthe conversation was still difficult. No, it seemed like he never talked to her before? She knew that he could talk now. She had overheard him talking a bit with his peers in the orphanage, and she had also heard of his laughter. She felt a strange sense of pain and satisfaction when she realized it was his, and it confused her a lot. In most cases, the boy would just hand her things without saying anything, or would just nod at her request and do it. However¡ª "Mother¡­" a voice sounded next to her, and she was not quite sure if she heard it correctly. "Mother¡­" She blinked, looking down, confirming that the person talking to her was the boy. "May buy some caramelized gouji fruit?" he asked, appearing a bit nervous. Yelena was in a bit of a daze. Were these his first words to her? Her silence made the boy purse his lips. Before he could retract his words though, she hurriedly nodded. "Go ahead." He heaved a sigh of relief, and he ran away before she could give him any money. "..." However, he returned some minutes later (the stall owner had a lot of stock) and he gave everyone¡ªincluding the two women¡ªa stick of the sweet. Yelena blinked. "Where did you get the money?" she asked, and it made the boy flinch. She was just wondering, but her tone was a little sharp, making the boy misunderstand. "She''s just curious," Kimmy said, reassuring the boy. This made Yelena aware of her tone and her shoulders slumped in embarrassment, but she didn''t know how to apologize to the boy quite yet. Fortunately, the boy didn''t retract too much and believed Kimmy. "I help out in the orphanage, Mother." Kimmy looked at Yelena. "They pay him for his work," she said, tone soft, as if guiding her emotions. "Your son is quite independent¡­ you should be proud." There were the normal chores like washing dishes and clothes the children were expected to help out with. They were the ones to use these things and chores helped foster a sense of independence and sense of responsibility in children. However, there were also jobs that would require a bit more strength¡ªlike helping in the garden or in their small farm¡ªin which case the orphanage would pay the kids, allowing them to have some extra cash on their bodies. "I see¡­" Yllana said, then looked at the boy whose body language was starting to close in again. She pursed her lips, shakily raising her palm and patted the boy''s head, making him flinch. "Good job." The boy blinked, pursed his lips, and nodded. Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was still awkward and the mother-son pair resumed their silent companionship, though their faces were visibly more relaxed. Kimmy was sincerely happy seeing this progress, as it signified another step forward. In fact, she and Yelena had progressed very slowly in dealing with their trauma. The process wasn''t straightforward at all. Sometimes, things were great and they would pass the day without nightmares or shivering spells. Sometimes, it could be so bad that they couldn''t get out of bed because of self-induced flus. It was two steps forward and one step back but, fortunately, they were moving forward overall. As for that guy¡­ they had an offer to kill him already, but she didn''t want so much brutality when her baby was just born. She just asked them to torture the bastard for a few more months. Let him suffer a bit more. When the time came, she''d take his life herself. It was around this time that a group of small voices chatting and laughing approached. It was the orphanage kids, running around the pedestrian sidewalks. "Don''t go run over the main walkways!" adults would yell to remind them many times. "Yes~" they would answer back, but they''d still hover dangerously on the edge anyway. Kids. Then the kids would see a familiar friend, and they would brighten even more. "Yanno! Yanno! Come join us!" they yelled, "We''re going to the playgrouuunddd. We''re meeting Mimi and the others theereeee~" The boy blinked and looked up at his mother, who was staring at him. She did not wait for him to ask. She gave him a small smile¡ªthe first one directed at him¡ªand nodded. "Meet us in the Plaza later, okay?" The boy went into a daze for a moment before breaking into a wide smile. "Yes, Mother," he said with a soft voice before turning around to go to his friends. The children waved at him to come, excited at his approach. However, as he got closer, the smiles on their little faces disappeared and they looked at him with increasingly concerned expressions. "Yanno?" they asked. "Why are you crying?" Chapter 1147 Celebratory Events Dusk fell on Alterra, and all of the lights were turned on. As usual, Alterra was bright and energetic when the rest of the world was dull. However, tonight, it was much livelier than usual¡ªafter all, a double celebration will commence! Not only would they commemorate the anniversary of their arrival to this world, they also upgraded to a Town (and won a big war) at the same time! Therefore, while they already had a party planned out prior to the war declaration, they had to add a few things to the program so it had been delayed a bit. And so¡­, on the second night after the War, the territory once again burst into another celebration. The plaza, the main avenues, as well as most of the adjoining streets, exploded with activity at this time. There were a plethora of stalls set up in most open spaces, and all stores were opened¡ªoffering promos and discounts. The two main avenues were closed from the usual bike and broat traffic¡ª restricting all activity to foot traffic¡ª and creating massive festival areas that centered in the plaza. The square itself was decorated with ribbons, flowers, and lanterns all over, setting up the atmosphere as soon as people saw the decoration. The trees along the main avenues were also dressed up. The timbers had beautiful adornments¡ªfurther emphasized by the ambient lighting provided by lanterns¡ªhanging on each one. The ornaments on the trees and shrubs grew denser as they approached the plaza, as if leading people there. There was a massive stage set up at the central plaza. It was a well-built semi-circular stage with arches and themed decorations that fit with Alterra''s aesthetic, while at the same time evoking a sense of extra grandeur the special occasion called for. Stay connected via My Virtual Library Empire There were no chairs in consideration to the massiveness of the activity and the number of people expected to join in. However, there were a lot of standing rooms provided. They also made sure to create some pockets for people to go to during emergencies, and there were nurses stationed there just in case. The owners of the buildings within sight of the stage¡ªincluding the territory-owned establishments¡ªworked together to build temporary platforms that''d combine their balconies. They positioned a few steps lower than the existing balconies, so the people who''d use it would be just below eye level of those on the second floor. This added a mezzanine area and another layer of platform for spectators to use without blocking other people''s views. These stores would even get extra customers because of it. As if these extra measures weren''t enough, they built some stairs up to the roofs, too. The walls were not scalable, but they could build stairs to the top of buildings as long as the stairs supported their own weight. It could be said that the Woodworker''s Team had endless work until just before the program started. Anyway, as the time of the program approached, more and more people squeezed in, and the entire place was riddled with people settling down in various elevations. There were guards stationed all over the place, ensuring order in the crowd. There were also a few above roofs, in platforms, and so on, making sure they didn''t miss anything. They would yell for people not to push, to keep some breathing distance, not to fall off the roof, and so on. Mao was even sitting on an elevated chair positioned somewhere around the outer edge of the plaza. His seat was like that tower chair that umpires used while watching over volleyball games. He had a voice amplifier in his hand, and he was watching everything (that he could see) like a hawk and he wasn''t even quiet about it. "Hey! Don''t push!" "Are you willing to push the rules?" "Gasp! Don''t sit on the gutter! Do you want to fall down three stories!" "I don''t care about you, but what about the people you''ll land on? Your fat ass could kill!" "What do you mean I''m fatter¡ªyou bast¡ª" "Yo! Men keep your distance from women! Do you want us to take you in for suspicion of being Creeps?" "No, don''t occupy that space! That''s the emergency bay! What if you faint, do you want us to crowd surf you to the hospital?" Anyway, it was very embarrassing to be pointed out like this so the crowd, despite the density, did behave somehow. As for those who were back of the crowd and weren''t able to get into a platform, they would just have to depend on the preliminary sound amplifier system the Research Center released. Its effectivity was not yet Town-wide, but it was enough to reach the entire event place and a few streets beyond it. There were also large mirrors set up here and there, reflecting the image of the stage, allowing for more people to see what the heck was going on in the plaza. Anyway, the chatter of the dense crowd was very palpable, and so was people''s combined body heat, but fortunately the weather was cool so it didn''t get too hot. Gong! The bell rang once to tell the time, and it also signified the moment the event was starting. Immediately, the noisy crowd entered a hushed silence. The event''s hosts¡ªthe new mother Juni and the fabulous Fable¡ªsoon entered and waved at the crowd, receiving excited applause. They looked at the crowd with wide smiles, before turning to look at each other. "What a big crowd!" Fable said. "Beautiful Juni, are you excited for this program?" "Of course I am!" Juni said, looking at the audience. "I''m sure everyone else is, too! Let''s not delay it with our chatter." "Eh, I thought people would want to hear my monologue¡­" Fable mumbled, faking a heartbreak. The crowd laughed and jokingly booed at him, making him touch his heart and wipe empty tears. Juni shook her head. "Before we start, let us first welcome the people most responsible for this event¡ªthe Elders of Alterra!" she announced, and the two hosts faced a direction behind the stage, clapping their hands as the new figures emerged. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea and the other elders climbed up the stage in a file. As they smiled at the crowd, the applause became a few folds louder and more passionate. They did not stop even after the Elders took their respective seats at the side. Everyone who stayed in Alterra long enough knew just how much of their current lifestyle was directly because of these people. How could they not show appreciation every time they could? Chapter 1148 Hymn! Juni and Fable smiled at the crowd, waiting patiently for the applause to die down¡ªwhich took a good few minutes to happen. "It''s hard to believe that it''s been a year since we landed in this new place¡ª" Fable began. "At the time, I would never have imagined I''d be in a spot where I''d happily call it home." Juni nodded. "While so many of us struggled to call it such¡ªdespite its dangers, I know this land had grown into your hearts." "We gather now to celebrate this change, as well as the new doors that had just opened to us." The two stared at the crowd, in-sync. "We will celebrate us¡ªour victories, our growth, and everything that is yet to come." Applause burst again, but this time the hosts raised their hands to cut it short. "Before we start anything though, let''s start tonight with our new Hymn!" The two smiled at each other as curious murmurs echoed across the crowd. "This new Hymn was composed by our very own Crump and Mirka!" Juni said, and then turned to Fable who was already walking to the front of the stage. "And sang by our very own Fable." Juni clapped as she slowly left the stage, amidst the applause that resounded along with hers. The crowd was very interested in the new Hymn, but they didn''t expect anything too profound. Some assumed it would be a fun party song Fable would dance to. However, as more and more people entered the stage¡ªwith instruments¡ª the crowd realized they might be underestimating this performance. It seemed like they already had a full orchestra?! The orchestra was led by a man in his early 30s. He had a proud stance and was wearing a relatively formal suit, his hair combed to the back of his head, adding classiness around him. He was not conventionally handsome, but at this time he looked very charming. Crump was one of the refugees who appeared during the heatwave. He was one of the earth users who arrived with Tot, and had found his place under Ansel''s wing shortly after. Next to him was a young man with pale skin, Mirka, who was lucky and got to Alterra early on. He even had the honor of performing in Althea and Garan''s renewal of vows back then. While he was mainly a harp player, he was also a gifted composer. This hymn was primarily credited to him. The conductor¡ªCrump¡ªheaded up a podium in the front-center of the stage, right next to Fable. He faced the crowd for now, standing coolly while the orchestra behind him headed to their positions. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The crowd realized that they had a complete ensemble now, slowly formed through the months¡ªwith the instruments being perfected bit by bit. This was news to many Terrans as they hadn''t seen many of these instruments yet. It seemed like Elder Ansel and his team decided to unveil these new instruments today, which was quite fitting. The first orchestra performance¡­ Considering how many people thought orchestras were boring back in Terran, they sure were extremely excited now! Crump took a deep breath and looked at the crowd that extended far into the two avenues. He then looked at the people watching from balconies, and even from the roofs. This was the biggest event Alterra had done so far, and he was standing in front of thousands of people waiting for him to entertain. His heart beat loudly, feeling the pressure. Although the Elders never emphasized how important this was for momentum, it didn''t mean Crump didn''t feel it. However, they practiced weeks for this, knowing full well such a celebration would be held eventually. With renewed determination, Crump took a deep breath as he turned to face his orchestra, who were all similarly tense. Before, the players would just perform in pairs or trios in smaller events or even solo in restaurants. This was their first public performance as a group. They were understandably a bit nervous in their debut. He could only nod at them, masking his nervousness with sternness. He refused to show any weakness. As the leader, he could not be the cause of anxiety, but rather of comfort and confidence. The members were arranged in a small arc. They were all positioned and ready to play, just waiting for the decisive wave of his hand. Crump turned to their lead singer at the side, and the background singers right behind him. Fable nodded, signaling he was ready, and Crump raised both his arms above his head in response. His earth ability exploded as he took a few carved rocks from his space, and let them soar around him. For drama and flare, they decided to let a few pieces of carved rocks hover around him. They were unmoving for now, but they would soon dance along with the rhythm, like floating musical notes designed to fascinate those who listened. With a sweeping gesture, the conductor brought the baton down, and the notes immediately filled the air. The music began slowly, with a low hum of strings seeming to rise from the ground. The carved rocks also followed this movement, giving the audience the illusion that they could see the music. This was followed by the deep resonant sound of drums that touched the heart, as if echoing with people''s heartbeats. The melody swelled with the entry of the horns and the flutes. The uplifting tunes echoed around the Town, carried by the speaker systems they had just introduced. Fable closed his eyes, drowning in the sounds and floating in the rhythm. He trained a lot for this song, as his usual ''pop'' voice didn''t quite fit with the grandiose a hymn was supposed to invoke. As a result, his voice matured¡ªalmost unrecognizable to his fans¡ªbut it definitely struck deeper into people''s hearts. With a breath, he opened his mouth to sing the words. We build our roots in this new home. We rise, we stand, and we build this land. Through the trials we''ve faced, our strength grew and grew. With hearts set as one, we forged something new. People''s faces lit up as they listened, inexplicably recalling the adventures they had gone through and how they built a new life here. Soon, the anthem soared, lifting everyone''s heart with it. All hail, fair Alterra! So bold and so bright! A beacon of hope, our unwavering light. In Unity, we find our might! Steadfast and strong, we claim our right. All hail, our land, where banners fly high! Glorious and free under the endless sky! The listeners'' hearts rose and rose with the chorus, their souls drowning in the music, and the blending of the voices taking them into a daze. Enjoy exclusive chapters from My Virtual Library Empire The song soon descended into a soft lingering finish, and the floating rocks disintegrated like glitter along with it. The entire square was held in profound silence as the Victory Hymn lingered in their minds and resonated to their hearts. The citizens would definitely memorize this hymn very quickly. Chapter 1149 Alterras Emblem A/N: Only 10 GTs Left for Golden Top 1 guys! If you have excess tickets do send them my way~ ... ____ It took a few moments of absorption before the crowd burst into cheers. While the audience was clapping wildly (some people were sniffing, and a few more were sobbing outright), Mathilda slowly entered the stage. She smiled and watched the large crowd, comfortable and patiently waiting for them to calm. When they did, somehow, she began to speak. Her voice was both soothing and powerful, and it immediately captured everyone''s attention. "That will be Alterra''s official hymn, do you like it?" The crowd naturally answered the affirmative, followed by another applause, as if the emotions brought in them by the hymn still weren''t expressed enough by their previous applause. "Some might be puzzled about what such a hymn was used for. In our case, it is to remind everyone of what they have been through, as well as to inspire people''s spirits. It will be played every time the territory lands on a major milestone like an upgrade. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire "Today, we stand at the dawn of a new era. A year into our travel here, we have carved ourselves a home, and now this home has integrated into this new world¡ªeven affecting it¡­" she paused, looking at the aborigines in the front rows. "Hopefully for the better." The aborigines nodded sincerely and Mathilda smiled, turning to the rest of the crowd. "This is an achievement not of an individual, but by our collective efforts. "Everyone who participated are heroes in their own right; each of you affected and assisted Alterra''s steps to where it is now. "From the fields, to the workshops, to the brave defenders who guarded our walls¡ªeveryone''s hard work and dedication laid the foundation on which our new Town is built. "Congratulations to all of us, and shall we witness the birth of the legacy that will last for endless generations!" Another burst of applause resounded across the territory, and a strong sense of pride emanated from everyone, particularly Alterrans¡ªwhether or not they were Residents. "Now, we all know in our hearts we are one, all working to build and protect this home. We thought it''d be fitting¡­ to have our own symbol¡ª "With great honor and pride, we will now unveil our emblem and our flag!" She exclaimed and everyone cheered. The aborigines were a little startled, but also not surprised in the end. Flags and emblems were¡ªgenerally¡ªfound only in cities because they symbolized an absolute place in this world. In Xeno, if a territory ''arrogantly'' created emblems earlier than this, then it might irk others¡ªespecially those who were of the same level. Worse, they might be hated by cities themselves. They could even get attacked just to be ''put down'' to their place, and this was why very¡ªvery¡ªfew towns dared to have their own symbols. However, there were just places that emitted the aura of stability and strength, even if the territory was young. Obviously, Alterra was just like those places. In any case, everyone looked forward to the grand unveiling. The spotlight shifted from the center of the stage to right behind it, where a pole several meters high stood erect. It was a little dark and few people didn''t think much about it before, but now they understood what it was for. Now that they noticed, it was actually a pole located right by the park next to the Town Center. The orchestra began to play once more, this time a bit of a different tune. The bass fanfare opened the sounds, commanding attention. This was followed by the stirring strings that rose with the banner, creating a solemn and triumphant melody. The music swelled, reaching a crescendo, as the flag was raised high enough to reveal the image. When the flag reached full staff, people looked at it with varying emotions, each no less profound than the other. So this was it: the symbol that would represent their home¡ªrepresent them. The emblem was composed of a few elements. First, there was the overarching circle reminiscent of a sturdy shield. In the center, there was a towering deciduous tree with deep roots, and there were representations of the sun and the two moons seeming to float around it. The main colors were gold, green, and blue, and it made for an overall striking image they''d be proud to wave outside around. Mathilda let them absorb their new symbol before she began to speak. "This is our emblem, our flag, and our symbol. This will be located in all official buildings of the territory, and all of its official carriages, letters, and the like. "The shield is reminiscent of our own shields, our walls, and our defenders. It shall symbolize protection¡ªwhether it is the protection of our lives, our lifestyles, or our pride. "The Broad Tree is to show growth and prosperity, its trees branching out everywhere¡ªreaching out in all directions. This is to signify our influence, unity, and expansion. "The Tree''s roots shall also grow deep underground¡ªstable and strong¡ªto show that no matter what kind of wind attacks Us, it will remain standing. "The sun is to show our bright future, and the two moons to show Alterra''s brightness despite the world''s darkness. "Finally, their rotation will symbolize our longevity¡ªhow we will stand the test of time." S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "The representation of what we stand for¡ªthe values we hold dear. "Alterra shall be the symbol of strength, prosperity, and pride!" she paused, looking at the crowd, this time with a more serious expression. "At the same time, remember that whatever one of us does, it will also reflect on our symbol, so I hope everyone would strive not to smear this image." A moment of silence as the people remembered this in their hearts and minds. "Let us embrace this moment with joy, and we shall build more memories on this day with the sound of celebration. Our town, our pride, and our legacy." The orchestra ended the play with a triumphant finish, and Mathilda clapped her hands as she smiled at her audience. "That concludes the formal part of our program," she said, her solemn expression turning gentle, reminding people she was also a kind aged woman. "Let the Party, begin!" Chapter 1150 The Party Begins A/N: Thank you Foxiidust for the castle!! *Dances* *hugs* *dances again* If you have chapter requests, do tell me~ ... ____ On cue, the energetic sound of the musicians resounded, reaching all parts of the event. This part of the event would last until dawn and would serve more as a background performance people could watch while they played in the stalls, ate their food, and so on. The special performances began as the Elders went down the stage to either watch from the audience or go elsewhere. Similarly, some of the crowd dispersed to go to the stores or the stalls, and many of those far from the stage just headed to the shops along the avenues and the streets, enjoying the performances happening at a distance through the loudspeakers. In any case, making a feast for the entire territory would naturally be unsustainable. They simply opened an option for every food and drink establishment to do a 50% off promo for the entire night. In exchange, the owners of those businesses would gain a few thousand contribution points. No shop owner refused the offer of course. In Alterra, Contribution Points were even more valuable than money! Back in the plaza, there were many special performances that went on. There were singing ones, and dancing ones, and there was also a short stage play that summarized the Alterran life while they were still a Village. It was inspiring and heartwrenching. The use of the orchestra added another layer of emotional depth to the performances. There was also a short acrobatic performance, one that combined the elements. They had created a circus troupe of sorts, with magnificent performances unseen by both Terrans and aborigines alike. Spikes of earth were created somewhere within the crowd and soon extended vertically. These Earth spires extended to about 12 to 13 meters, and people looked above them in curiosity. A few more appeared, some from behind the stage, and they were soon connected by narrow earth paths reinforced by metal (care of Oslo). On this narrow stage, various acrobatic performances were performed. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire This was led by Flame, an actual acrobat from Terran. He was one of the newer refugees from the North and the last thing he thought he''d do for a living was to resume this line of work. When he heard the Entertainment Company''s hiring notice, he could barely believe it. Anyway, the inspiration made him burst into flames as he flew down. Suddenly, a rope appeared and he held on to it, the momentum shooting him up high, and¡ªwith several skillful twirls¡ªhe landed accurately on one of the spires. "WHOOA!!" This was just the first of the death-defying stunts of this troupe, and it really fired the audience up quite a lot. "WOW. This is really amazing¡­" the aborigine Sipa said as he clapped his hand, gasping when the performer practically flew and turned many times around the air. The others also expressed the same awe. Although some would feel like performing was below a great elementalists, seeing it used like this couldn''t fail to amaze. Looking at it another way, it seemed that it was good training? Beside him, his teammates Bart and Eloi stood and were also watching the show. They were a lot less showy than Sipa, but their bright eyes showed they were also impressed. After the Town upgraded and the walls were open to all visitors again, the aborigines and even other Terran headed straight to visit, to see what had changed. They were surprised to see that Alterra did not choose to expand its walls for now. However, they heard something similar happened after Alterra''s first upgrade, and a level 5 wall was erected soon after it entered a Level 3 Village. Were the Elders planning the same this time? As mercenaries, they also had several information sources, so they knew what was available per level. It made them wonder¡ªwas Alterra planning on doing a Level 7 Wall and Sentry as soon as it was available? They didn''t know how much that cost exactly, but it would definitely not be cheap. Even their well-off Twinwave Town only had a Level 6 Wall! Goodness Elves¡­ While Bart was already wondering about Alterra''s future plans, some newcomers like Jones from Twinwave Town were still gaping at their surroundings. They had just arrived about an hour ago, and it was their first time in Alterra after hearing so much. However, before they could explore, they ended up watching such a good show. Suddenly, those expensive performances held by nobles for exorbitant prices paled in comparison. They didn''t know what they expected coming, but this was definitely beyond it! They were part of the Swagen Mercenary Team, which was the Rolan Mercenary Team''s direct rival in their town. Their home Twinwave Town was not close in distance to Alterra, but after many months the name had also reached them. Or more accurately, the Roland Mercenary team found another golden Gugu bird and made loads of money, so they were naturally adamant in protecting their advantage. After so many months and investigations, people finally found out about the source, though it was too late to make a big business out of it. After all, distribution rights were already given to the Roland Mercenary team (selfish jerks) so their business with it could be limited. However, it didn''t mean they couldn''t use them themselves! Those jerkies and instant noodles were too useful when traveling!! They also knew that a lot of items with low stocks didn''t reach the market, so they wanted to learn more about those! Not to mention, the distribution rights were limited to per product! If Alterra decided to launch a new thing, they¡ªthe Swagen Mercenary Team¡ªwere ready to capture that deal. So, after enjoying the show, they went straight to exploring. The more they learned, the more excited they felt. Their mood doured when they encountered Bart and their team, each one¡ªlike them¡ªhad arms filled with snacks and drinks. "Bart." "Jones," Bart sneered, chewing on his barbeque. "Aren''t you supposed to be a clerk in a mercenary hall somewhere?" Jones was part of the Swagen Mercenary Team, but it didn''t mean they couldn''t be hired as staff in the Hall. This showed the Lord''s bias towards them though. After all, a Mercenary Hall clerk was privy to a lot of information, some might be crucial to the team he served. Ironically, it wasn''t enough for them to detect the hidden diamonds called Garan and his team, whom they actually met before Bart. "Nah, I had the option of exploring," Jones retorted, sipping on his pineapple juice. "I need some exercise too. Can''t have you hogging all the goods just because you were lucky and ventured to this area first." Bart sneered. "Even if we got here first, it takes a lot of social skills and charm to get such good deals." Jones rolled his eyes. "If we got here before you did, we''d have gotten better deals." "Hah!" Bart laughed at his face, splattering some saliva. "Are you sure about that?" It so happened that a certain family entered the avenue they were in at the time. Bart almost wanted to cheer at his luck. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He raised his arm and yelled, "Garan! There you are, my handsome old friend¡­" Garan: "..." Did he miss anything? Chapter 1151 Roaming Mercenary Teams A/N: Yay~ We''re Golden T1 again! Banzaiii! I crawled and managed to prepare the 3 extra chaps today~lolol Hope you Enjoy and thanks for your support! Hopefully, we keep the rank until month''s end *Prays* Extra hugs to the lovelies who sent their tickets, and extra extra hugs to the angels who gave them in bulk *sobs* I feel like you give me all your tickets. I love you all! ¡­ ____ Jones, at first, looked at Bart weirdly for acting so buddy-buddy with random people. It was just that when he turned to look who it was, he froze a bit. "You¡­" He remembered him. He led a team of low-level fighters who somehow managed to find their town. Considering they were only at the level of villagers, this was quite a feat. There were still a number of them during that time, though they slowly lost their numbers. Despite their low levels, these guys went to the Mercenary Hall for missions practically every day. Even if they were still recovering from previous injuries, they would fight on. They were relentless. At the time, he could feel they were desperately chasing after something. Later, he overheard them speaking of going back to their home¡ªto their families¡ªand, with Garan, to his wife. The desperation in his eyes back then was a far cry from the relaxed atmosphere around him now. He must''ve found what he was looking for. His daze was cut off when Bart cordially wrapped his arm around the other man''s shoulder and led him straight to Jones. "This is Garan, one of the Elders here," he said, pausing, and then turning to Garan. "This is Jones, a member of the Swagen Mercenary Team. Remember him? He worked in the Mercenary Hall there. Experience new stories on My Virtual Library Empire "He even tried to scam you quite a bit for some basic information." "..." Garan looked at Jones and nodded. "I do remember." Jones felt very, very, awkward, and for a moment he didn''t know what to say. Business is business? No. Nothing personal? Not that, either. "Who''s this?" a new voice sounded from the side and broke his line of thought. He turned to see the most charming woman he had ever seen. She was holding the most adorable little baby, who was also looking at him curiously. She held Garan''s hand and realized this must be the wife. And look, he even had kids. Jones was overwhelmed with shame. He really didn''t have anything against Garan back then, it was just his habit to take advantage when he could. In this cutthroat world, that was the default attitude. He looked at Garan again and realized he was also carrying a little one, though that one was literally on his head, completely unbothered by the height, and lounging there as if it was the most natural thing. The baby looked down on him though and then looked away, uninterested, and seemed far more interested in pulling his father''s eyebrows. Garan¡ªwith a straight face¡ªwould just raise a finger and flick the baby''s small hand away from his face, and the baby boy would behave for a couple of moments before doing whatever again. "..." S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "H-Hello," he said, quite meekly. He could feel his teammates'' stares at him. Could they blame him though?! His sight met Bart''s arrogant face and wanted to smother it badly but he schooled his expression as he greeted Garan¡ªthis time their positions had been switched. But then he remembered¡ªhe still had something over Bart. Suddenly a bit of confidence came over him. "Hello there," he said. "My name is Jones and I''m the head clerk in the Twinwave Town Mercenary Hall," he said, as if reintroducing himself¡ªto refresh the slate. "Due to my position, I have gained quite a bit of friendship to people all over the world¡ªfar and wide," he said. "Would you be interested in striking a deal with me?" "Considering our history¡­, I can assure you would get some great advantages." ¡­ While that was ongoing, another mercenary team roamed around the streets of Alterra. These were a couple of members from the Takoda Mercenary Team. This was the team who escorted Helios and Sahara back then, and they also stayed for several days longer than proper after their job was finished, too. By the time they left, they managed to get good deals¡ªwith Helios'' vouching¡ªto distribute in Avel City and its subsidiaries. Of course, considering how popular the items were, the stocks were lacking even if they just sold the items to the City nobles. Their route to Alterra was only a couple of hours (due to the Mercenary Hall arrays), though the route back could easily take several days even by beast cart. This allowed them to keep Alterra a trade secret (and still do, for now) with only the mercenary leader and the Lord privy to it. After all, they had to send letters to Ferrol often to let them create convenient missions for them, so the Lord would be privy either way. Fortunately, the Lord hadn''t told other people yet because he was getting ample amounts of the products himself, and this was something they promised as long as he protected their interests. Anyway, they would travel through the Mercenary Hall of Ferrol Town, and due to the items they carried, they would always travel by foot, renting scores of Beast Cars from Ferrol. From then, they''d be jumping from Town to Town with their products, sometimes having no choice but to sell some to eager merchants along the way. Then, when they got back home, people would rush to buy things for them and even start bidding wars. Even if they brought in scores of carriages worth of goods, it was just never enough. Interestingly, these products also changed a lot of lives. The long-life food saved people, the beauty products saved relationships, and so on. It also slightly impacted the City''s economy in a way, and the Lord would enjoy sizeable taxes whenever Enok would return from a trip. Although prestige increased the most if the name was attached to it, the system still counted anything a territory did to cause a change. Like this, another bulk of prestige was added to Alterra. Chapter 1152 Ferrol-Alterra Tours (Part 1) Enok and the others also gained a lot from the deals. After a couple of months, their team was promoted and gained a lot of Points within their mercenary team. Like in Alterra, some of the more powerful mercenary teams employed a point system to its members contributing to its growth. They had mercenary shops where some treasures obtained by the team could be exchanged for a certain amount of points. It could be weapons, equipment, special potions, even small space stones¡ªthough the last one had such big point requirements it was still in the store, unclaimed. Of course, there were also a lot of teams who had planned on stealing deals from them. After all, deals were usually with mercenary teams, not individuals. Sad for them, the deal with Alterra was always with individuals and their teams or territory. Any change in either would be under strict study and they might even lose the deal due to the show of instability. Helios and Sahara also considered them their good friends, and having Alterrans as allies was definitely something in their favor. That said, right now they were visiting the family and met up with them at a restaurant. Miss Sahara''s Mother was there, holding the baby, while Enok and the others chatted with Helios and Sahara. "Have you joined a Mercenary team yet?" Enok asked, taking a bite of his sauteed Gugu bird and closing his eyes as he felt all the flavors explode in his tongue. "Not yet," Helios said. When they found out that guards could also be in mercenary teams he and his uncle decided to do what they had always planned to do¡ªmake a mercenary team. They had already met the level requirements and they could take loans to get the creation fee, but after months there had been no movements. It felt like his uncle just seemed to have lost the will for adventure, just focusing on defending Iron Mountains. It was probably still due to heartbreak, and Helios didn''t pressure him either. Seeing as he answered the negative, Enok and the others brightened up. "Then¡­ would you like to join us?" Helios blinked, and then looked at Sahara, who just smiled at him, ready to nod at whatever he decided. He held her hand and thought for a few moments. It was a tempting offer. He could have the adventure he had always wanted, and he had to admit that¡ªwhile dangerous¡ªhe did enjoy his time with them back when he was looking for Sahara. The thing was¡­ he had Sahara and Helia now. He was no longer the childless single dude who could go off on random adventures. Besides, he still trusted his uncle would get past things and move on for real. Anyway, it wasn''t like he himself would go out while his daughter was still a baby. Life was so long and his adventure¡ªideally with his wife¡ªcould wait. "Thanks for the offer but I''ll pass," he said, then lifted his head to grin at them. "But we would love to visit your place someday." Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire ¡­ Of course, while there were aborigines from far and wide, there were also People from Ferrol who were their most common tourists. At least¡­ until the pre-upgrade Blockage, in which case the visitors were definitely limited and trimmed down. In any case, before the Blockage, the Ferrol folks had become such a prevalent tourist population in Alterra that a Ferrol-Alterra Tour package was offered. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was spearheaded by Fred''s Hospitality Team, and mimicked by a few other ''travel agencies''. Of course, as the pioneer of the trade in Xeno, the Glorious Hospitality Travel Agency was still the most popular choice. After the Block, they shifted to other places, which also developed well under Alterra''s circle of influence. Fred''s company was also the only accredited Travel Agency to do Alterra Tours during the Blockage, but it was very expensive and for a while, only rich people were able to enter Alterra. They had a representative staying (renting monthly) in the base there, ready to take on tourists from Ferrol. They didn''t know much about the messenger birds because it was still an exclusive thing, but they were able to make use of it to some degree. When they had to coordinate some clients to Alterra, the Ferrol team would ask the Terran Mercenary Team to send their messages for a fee, though they''d have to wait for when there were actual exchanges happening. After all, the messenger birds were important resources for the territory and couldn''t be used casually for private exchanges. However, now that they had a Post Office, their process would definitely be streamlined! Before, they had to limit their exchanges to once a month! Now, they could do it every two or three weeks! No, because the Blockage was lifted, they could even do it more frequently! They''d just have to divide into teams and batches! Similarly, Alterrans could also use their services when they went to Ferrol for a tour, partnering with Alterran Guard team (for a fee) or newly rising Mercenary Teams for protection. It was odd for weak villagers to risk their lives to go to Towns for some ''sightseeing'' but what they paid for was not only protection, but also the right for some kill-shots, helping their experience by the way. The fee was also very beautiful, of course. And when the Alterrans arrived in Ferrol, the Glorious Hospitality Team''s representatives would be there to show them around Ferrol. Their first Ferrol Tour, held months prior, gained quite a bit of attention. Imagine a large group of foreign-looking people several inches shorter than average¡ªand some weaker than average¡ª walking around their streets, looking around with interest, as if the town was a show to watch. They were even led by someone holding a bright colored flag and yelling random trivia at them, whether it was about the buildings, the people, or the culture of the local population. It was quite an odd sight. There had never been such a thing in Xeno¡ªhow could there be? People were focused on survival. Who enjoyed traveling through the dangerous outdoors just to look at other places? Another adjective was stuck on Alterrans then: Weirdoes who had a death wish. Chapter 1153 Ferrol-Alterra Tours (Part 2) Of course, it wasn''t quite as smooth or welcome for the locals, and during the first tours, there were a few conflicts. This was understandable. Who''d enjoy feeling like they were ''shows''? At the time, the tour¡ªand some of the guides¡ªwere still a bit immature. "This is the Mercenary Hall! Yes, those mercenaries¡ªnot like the brutes in Terran (maybe) but the adventurers! You have to be at least Level 10 to join but I still recommend waiting a bit longer tbh." "This is the Chancery of Appointments! This is where our lovely Betty, Lenny, and Oslo came from! You have to swear oaths though, so it''s a bit boring. Who wants to get jobs outside of Alterra, anyway?" Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Don''t get out of the line! This place has a lot of beast carts! You don''t want to get squashed by accident right? Remember our disclaimers! We are not responsible if you decide to be careless~" "Yes I know it''s smelly¡ªweren''t you a refugee, too? How can you be so squeamish already?" To the Ferrol citizens, it felt odd to have their place shown around like this, and quite a lot of them expressed their discontent. A lot of people were also offended when some guides would compare their place with their home village, and a few hot-headed people even went to threaten the group. It was quite scary. Fortunately, Jonathan was there to shield them, though Fred had to be called in for a meeting wherein he had to offer quite a few discounted tours to calm people down. After learning their lessons, the guides went through a crash course of what to say and their announcements, which ended up having the occasional bootlicking. "The people of Ferrol Town are all strong and welcoming¡ªwhy would it be such a powerful Town in the first place?" "Ferrol Town pioneered a lot of events at this level¡ªisn''t it amazing! Alterra is very blessed to have it as an ally. And so on¡­ Anyway, when there were Alterrans going around Ferrol for tour, they would target places that were not available in Alterra. It hyped up the imminent upgrade of Alterra to a Town, which had been delayed back then. It was why the tours were very popular, they wanted to see what it was like while impatiently waiting for their own upgrade! Fortunately, even if Alterra had now upgraded to a Town, Fred didn''t believe the sales would dip. After all, Ferrol had a lot of events! The next Ferrol Market Fair was happening again within a few months, and the package would definitely explode then! Anyway, the current tour was a group of about 50 people from Ferrol. They came in various shapes and sizes, and they had been waiting for this tour as it had been delayed by a week or so before. Those who had been here were extremely excited, while those who hadn''t found their already high-expectations weren''t high enough! One of their customers at this time was Nida1. It was the young lady the soldiers met during the last Market Fair. Even after so long, she still liked Plaridel, and had been thinking about him for months. Even when he was often in Ferrol, training, she just couldn''t gather the courage! When she did, she found out he had gone back home and he hadn''t returned to Ferrol since. What made it worse was that there seemed to be a limit imposed to the people visiting his home! She was depressed for a while, which was made worse when her parents started introducing a man to her as a potential husband. She was already in love with someone else, how could she marry this one? Not to mention, that man was so arrogant! Not caring for her feelings at all! When she told him she didn''t want to get married to him, he was even offended! He even pushed her to show his dissatisfaction! So¡­ she resolutely joined the caravan to Alterra (she had been in the wait list for a long time) and joined as soon as she caught news of the doors opening again. She left a vague letter at home saying not to look for her because she was looking for a husband. It was just that her aunt found out about it and tagged along. Fortunately, her aunt didn''t bother telling her family about it either. She was the black broat of the family and didn''t care for anything (which was why she was still unmarried). Many people mocked her, but Nida actually admired her deep down. Her aunt also liked Plaridel, though as more of an admirable younger generation sort of thing, so Nida actually traveled to a far away place with ease. In any case, Nida had already taken a big courageous step, and when the one step was taken, it was easier and easier to take the next. She had been looking for him since their arrival earlier that day, and she ended up in the Guard Station quite a few times. Her aunt gave up and went to have fun alone, leaving Nida there on her own. The Guard Station was where most people pointed her to whenever she asked about Plaridel. Sadly, he still hadn''t returned. They asked if she wanted them to message him via the aether letters but she immediately shook her head. What if he was in a dire situation? Wouldn''t a letter just distract him? So now, she just quietly waited there, though she did buy a few snacks and drinks from the stalls nearby so she could have something to munch on while she waited. She also bought a bit for Plaridel, in case he was hungry when he returned¡­ She patiently waited on one of the benches outside the Guard Station. While everyone was enjoying the festival, she was doing this. To be fair, the lively atmosphere itself was fun to watch, so she didn''t really get bored. Rather, her heart tinged more and more¡­ She ran away from home. Could she stay here, instead? "You''re looking for Plaridel?" a voice sounded from the side, revealing a horizontally-blessed man with an intrigued expression on his face. Nida blinked and shyly nodded. "Are you his girlfriend?" Nida immediately flushed. "Nonono¡ª" she said, very quickly. "I¡­ I''m an acquaintance." Mao looked at her with amusement, before leaning down a bit. "Want us to help you?" The girl Plaridel met during Ferrol Fair a long time ago Chapter 1154 Planida? Niridel? Plaridel had no idea about all of this. He had just crossed the territory''s threshold and finally felt he could let go of the tension. He stretched his arms as far as he could, all while looking at the festivities that surrounded him. He sighed. Obviously, the celebrations were already ongoing and he felt a little sad he missed the main part, but what could they do? They encountered strong mobs just as they were heading back and had to clear those out. A few members were even rushed in Broatbulances, though fortunately none of the injuries were lethal. They could only be sad that they missed out on the anniversary event. Anyway, now that he was here, he decided to just go around aimlessly and enjoy as much of the event as he could to make up for what he missed. He walked along the streets and greeted various people, calling them by their names, and asking them for their day. They would then greet him back with wide smiles on their faces. "Are you alone this time, Pla?" "Yes~" "Want me to join you?" Discover hidden content at My Virtual Library Empire "Nah, go spend time with your family, I like to go at my own pace." "I can introduce you to someone!" "Nah, I like the single life right now." "Come, watch the performance with us!" another said. "There''s still a lot ongoing!" Before he could answer, another group from across the street would yell back. "No, stand here~!" "I''ll treat you!" And so on¡­ Plaridel, although not particularly tall and handsome, had strong charisma. He was well-loved by most people, and was admired by quite a number of girls. Obviously, he did not have a problem getting girlfriends. He wasn''t a playboy though, and during the past several months he had only dated one girl, who was happily dating someone else now. That relationship didn''t work out due to various reasons, one of the main ones was him being too busy training outside. He also camped in the dangerous outskirts of Ferrol back then, so he really didn''t have the time for girlfriends. Now that Alterra upgraded to a Town, he would only get even busier so he didn''t even bother to start dating again. That was just unnecessary stress for him. That was why he refused all the offers for blind dates that came to him in the past few months. For now, he just enjoyed the show with random people¡ªgetting a few drinks in the process¡ªuntil he decided to call it a night. However, on his way home, he was suddenly ambushed by Mao and a few others. They were gasping a bit as if they had been running around in a hurry. "Finally found you!" Mao yelled. "Didn''t you check your aether letter?!" He blinked. He must''ve been so into drinking that he didn''t see the aether letter notifications. "Anyway, there''s no time¡ª" Mao said, approaching him. Plaridel unconsciously stepped back. They had ugly sly grins on their faces and it honestly creeped him out. "What is it?" He asked, but the next thing he knew, both his arms were lifted up by two people. He wanted to struggle a bit, but Mao made a small earth spike threatening his manhood so he had no choice but to get carried away like an unmoving dummy. "Where are you taking me?" he asked, tone a bit slurred. Although they had stronger physiques that didn''t become too inebriated, they could still get a bit whoozy from drunkenness. "You''ll see," Mao said, not answering his question at all. Plaridel''s gritted his teeth. "I''m going to burn you if you don''t answer me." The earth spike slightly poked his crotch area, making his eyes twitch. "Try and see if Little Plapla will like it!" "You made us look for you for way too long!" "So tell me what this is about!" "Shut up!" Plaridel was just extremely confused. Did they start some weird initiation he wasn''t aware about!? But then¡­ he was led to Alterra Park, by the picnic tables. He was let go as if he wasn''t kidnapped at all. Mao patted his back, gently pushing him forward. "Take this chance well. You made it hard for us to find you so we had no choice but to carry you lest the chance went away." "What are you talking about???" Then his questions died in his throat when he heard soft footsteps approach his direction. He blinked, realizing that It was a familiar pretty girl with reddish brown hair. She appeared very anxious as she looked at him. "Plaridel! You might not remember me, but¡­" "Ah, it''s you! Nida, right?" Plaridel said, smiling. The girl found himself in a daze just staring at him. "Y-Yes," she said. "I''m glad you remember me." "Of course I remember you," he said with that charming grin of his, easily making the girl''s eyes sparkle and her heart to explode. In fact, it was just his habit to put all his attention on the person he was speaking with¡ªespecially when it was an anxious young lady¡ªso he quickly put aside his confusion to talk to the girl. Not to mention, one of Plaridel''s drunk quirks was to take things as they were. So, even now, he did not connect Nida with whatever Mao was talking about. "When did you get here? How''d you like our products?" he paused, and looked at her reddish-brown hair actually held up by familiar pin. It was one of the products he sold to her back in Ferrol where they first met. "Ah, you used it¡­" Plaridel was naturally good with faces and with names. His memory when it came to people¡ªwhether it was small details about them or even their quirks¡ªwas very good. It added to his charm, because he inadvertently made people feel special. To Nida, it felt like a sign. No one ever bothered remembering things about her¡­ She looked at him with bright eyes full of love. Unconsciously, she blurted out the thought she had in her heart without filter: "Please be my husband!" ???? ¡­ Ten minutes later, at a nearby bench¡­ "So¡­ let me get this straight," Plaridel said, rubbing his forehead. He also took water from his space to clear his system. "You ran away from home to find me?" sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It is also so I won''t get married," she said, face completely red. When she saw his startled reaction to her proposal, she realized how abrupt and unlady-like she was. Would it be too off-putting? Did she kill her chances because she was careless? She had heard of husbands leaving their wives because they were talked back. "That''s admirable," was all Plaridel said for now. "I know women in your position would''ve found it hard to push for what you want." This made Nida look at him with glazed eyes. She nodded slowly. "I¡­ I''m not forcing you to marry me or anything," she said, afraid he''d think she was making him feel bad for her. "It''s just a proposal." Plaridel looked at her. It had been a while since he dated and he hadn''t been interested before. Now¡­ he just thought it wouldn''t be so bad. The girls he dated couldn''t handle that he was always away. Even in Terran, he had failed relationships because they couldn''t keep their legs closed while he was on a mission. It was a lot milder in Xeno, but he could tell neither side could commit too much feelings to each other. Now he looked at the woman who went here for him. Even if she did so to escape, he could tell she was here for him too. He was not heartless to be untouched by the grand gesture. Of course, he had to manage expectations. Unlike his other girlfriends who were liberal Terrans, this one was an aborigine with particular expectations. Especially considering the fact that she proposed marriage to him at their 2nd meeting. "Marriage is too fast but¡­ I suppose we can date." "Date?" "It''s getting to know each other after a while¡ªa courtship phase, if you will," he said. "If one side decided the other is not for them, then they could just break up with a lot less consequences than divorce." "I¡­ see¡­" she mumbled, slowly absorbing the set-up. While she was a little sad he refused her marriage proposal¡ªeven if it was expected¡ªat least he didn''t refuse her altogether. "So¡­ I am your girlfriend now?" she asked, staring at him with wide innocent eyes. Seeing her look at him like this, Plaridel unconsciously scratched the side of his cheek, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. He nodded, and she smiled widely, though neither could speak to each other much after that. Anyway, regardless of their awkward beginning¡ªa new pair was born. Chapter 1155 Glaston Caravan A/N: 5/5 Chaps for the day~! Thanks again for all your support! May we keep the rank until month ends! \\o/ ... ____ Speaking of proposals, there was a particular wedding that had been delayed for a long time, but was finally seeing the light. This was because the person the couple had been waiting for had finally arrived with one of the caravans. One of the many groups that had arrived with the mass influx of foreigners was from Glaston¡ªBrenda''s Hometown. There was Raphten, Brenda''s childhood friend, his partner, and a few of the members of their caravan. Like Bart, Raphten had also secured the distribution of a few products. Glaston was quite far from Alterra, at least a few weeks of travel, so among the partners they were the ones who had returned the least. Further, Raphten''s team wasn''t too wealthy and couldn''t buy too many things, so the stocks were limited, adding to the premium state of whatever they brought back home. The products were just so good and novel that many people had to get more of them. With such a status, businessmen would definitely find a way to get a share of the pie! However, unlike Bart or Enok, Raphten and his partner were simple merchants who couldn''t protect their trade secrets very well. After the second batch, various factions started to get more interested in their source than their products. There were a lot of threatening involved, and a lot of insults were thrown. Even his sexual orientation was attacked. Their relationship was spread around the territory, and there were more than a few times he received a rock to his head. However, Raphten stood strong and allied with those who didn''t threaten them, but were powerful enough to keep the others at bay. Raphten let these parties handle the rest, as well as keeping those people from finding out about this place. They would definitely do their best, after all, their interests were tied now. Anyway, they traveled for a few weeks in their beast carts, looking forward to the loot they''d take home. Imagine how annoyed they were when they got blocked off from entering Alterra! The only comfort was that the associate village they landed on¡ªBright Village¡ªalso had versions of those products. They naturally swept those away and threw money at them. However, there were still items they could not produce, so they resolutely refused to leave without getting to Alterra. The Lord there, Micheal, was fortunately a sensible young man (unlike the Elders of Alterra) and hosted them quite well. A few days back, he also told them that a war was going to happen in Alterra and it was best to relax with them for a few more days. Their stay in Bright Village was akin to a quaint vacation, with good food, decent lodging, and hospitable people. All that gold they spent even before landing in Alterra was worth it. However, when they actually got to Alterra a few hours ago, they realized they still underestimated the place after all! Fortunately, they were rich merchants so all that gold they spent in Bright didn''t put a large dent in their wallets, otherwise, they''d die of regret right now! Anyway, by the time they entered the outer plaza and rode in the bike carts for the first time, all the annoyance they had felt back then was forgotten. They wouldn''t be leaving for a long time after this, going on to have a Quiant Vacation Part 2. Among this group of merchants was a very important person to an Alterran. This was the 65-year-old Birion, Brenda''s father and also a Class C weaponsmith! He was sitting on a six-seater cart pulled by a single man (the driver''s prerogative; apparently this set-up earned the most money), so the speed was admittedly a bit slower than others and they could see broats and bikes go past them one after the other. However, they were in no rush. The sight of the street was beautiful, and they would definitely walk around after settling their things in the hotel. The old man looked out with a soft smile. "It seems like my daughter has been living well as she said." To be honest, he thought she was exaggerating a lot in her letters to reassure him. He was apparently thinking too much. It took him a while to move because the Lord absolutely refused to let him go. There was a lot of begging and promises, and they only agreed when Alterra¡ªwith Althea''s permission¡ªagreed to supply them with a large amount of crossbows (at market price, of course). Birion didn''t know what to expect coming here, but his daughter insisted they moved, and he trusted her. He didn''t tell her he was with the caravan before to surprise her, and it was he who ended up being surprised. He was happy his daughter found such a happy and secure place. The cart eventually slowed down, slowly heading to one side of the road (there was a reflective flag raised on one side, which he''d later find out was to signal the lane changes). They watched as the cart entered a layby on the side of the road, soon screeching to a halt. The driver¡ªwho was a bit sweaty, but otherwise still energetic¡ªlooked back. "This is the street, old man." Birion nodded and said goodbye to his companions. They had been questioning his decision to move a lot, but now they could only envy. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, he walked down, carrying his chest, and placed it on the wheel he could pull. It was his own invention, though he had seen something similar being sold in a shop near the Beast Cart Inn. They called it ''suitcase'', and for those tools wherein they''d just have to put their chests and pull, they called it ''trolley''. Birion pulled his trolley, while his free hand took out the hand-drawn map from his space. Brenda sent this to him by the Ferrol Post Office before. He soon arrived at the lovely house and pulled the bell (there was a note outside) and the door opened immediately, revealing his daughter and a man about a pinky taller than she was. Birion looked a bit disappointed. He didn''t look very strong¡­ Brenda didn''t know what her father was thinking. She was just happy to see him there. "DAD!" Troy paled and scurried over with them. He rubbed his wet palms on the side of his pants, almost extending it for a handshake, then he remembered the old man didn''t know such a greeting and immediately retracted. "Er¡­ hello, dad¡­ er, Mister¡­" Troy awkwardly greeted him, doing the standard semi-casual semi-formal salute of this world. Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire The old man looked at him after greeting his daughter. "So¡­ you''re Troy eh?" he asked, looking at him up and down. Troy immediately straightened his back, breathed his stomach in, and puffed out his chest. Brenda looked at the tense atmosphere between the two men and chuckled. "Yes, dad," she said, wrapping her arm around his. "This is Troy, my fiance." Troy could feel the old man''s disapproval of him and hurried to express his feelings. He took his arm and wrapped it around her shoulder, pulling her to him. "I love your daughter very much. I want to start a family with her." Birion''s eyebrows rose. "Even when she has a scar on her face?" he said. After all, such a mar on her face¡ª of all places¡ª would typically be a deal breaker no matter how amazing a woman was. Troy''s face did not show any hesitation at all. "I think it''s beautiful," he said, tone filled with sincerity. "It shows what kind of woman she is¡ªthe kind I fell in love with." Brenda''s teasing smile faded then, replaced by pursed lips and tearing eyes. Her heart warmed and she held the man''s palm. It was very cold and sweaty, but it showed how much he cared. She rested the side of her face on his shoulder, turning to her father who had been watching the exchange. "We will get married dad," she said. "You don''t have an opinion on that, do you?" Birion looked at his daughter and his future son-in-law. After a moment of pause, he shrugged. "As long as you give me smart little grandchildren." Seeing the man was sincere, he genuinely didn''t worry anymore. He was just that type of guy¡ªotherwise, how could Brenda¡ªa girl¡ªeven have a chance to develop into a proper weaponsmith? Rather..., seeing them like this made him understand¡­ that he could finally retire in peace! Chapter 1156 Carnivals (Part 1) After the main performances, the carnivals were also in full force. Various groups went to different commercial establishments, while others went on to the carnival games spread across the parks. At this time, Althea''s group was relaxing and playing around in caravans set up in the Alterran Park. Althea and Garan, like everyone else, relaxed today, separating from the mercenaries from earlier to have their own fun. They simply scheduled meetings with the foreign mercenaries in the afternoon of the next day. After all, this was a day of celebration, not a day of work. They also didn''t want their guests to miss such good events. Anyway, their family met up with Ansel and the others to spend a few more hours playing before they all headed to bed. They jumped from game to game, taking turns, igniting their competitive selves. Discover more content at My Virtual Library Empire This was especially true for the couple Ansel and Winona, who just lived to compete with each other. They always ended up in a draw somehow, which annoyed the heck out of the two of them. Things got worse when a random stall owner recognized them and congratulated them on the birth of their child. He then inadvertently asked who the baby took after more. It started a war. It was like it was the most natural thing for the two of them. They decided to settle it by asking the two babies who weren''t theirs (because theirs were sleeping soundly at home with the nanny, Yana, who didn''t like noisy places). Whoever lost would follow a request from the winner. The contest was simple: Whoever attracted a baby to them would get a point each! And whoever receives three points wins. If both babies went to the same person, then that person would receive the extra point. Anyway, the family found a small clearing at the side with smaller crowds (not that it helped, simply because they were all well-known figures in the territory) to do this... odd competition. Althea and Garan obviously found it so stupid, but what could they do? Ansel and Winona were practically their little siblings, so they could only oblige... The competing couple promptly kneeled down, exactly along the same line, ready to win this game. Ansel tried very hard. He not only didn''t want to lose, he could very much use that request!! On the other hand, Winona had an idea about what kind of perverted request he had so she also tried very hard as well. Of course, she was competitive by nature¡ªno matter how small the contest was¡ªso there was that. "Pepper! Here! Come to auntie!" "Baby Pepper likes handsome! Handsome uncle is here!" "Meatball! Does Meatball want candy?" "Meatball! Uncle has cotton candy!" "If Pepper goes to uncle, she will have the prettiest dress in the world!! Little Pepper deserves the best!" sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Auntie has pineapple candies, pineapple slushies, and pineapple pies! Yum! Little Meatball will go with auntie, yea?" They were really noisy. Althea heaved a deep breath, feeling embarrassed because many people were looking at them. "No! No one speak," she said, holding her baby by the armpit. "Person who speaks loses." It was only when the two shut up that the babies were ''released''. The two lurched forward and headed to where Ansel and Winona were squatting down, looking intently at the babies as if calling them with their leering eyes. It was a race that was only a few meters in length, but each step was filled with tension. Each step traversed by the twins'' small feet was watched intently by everyone, even by the passerbys. There were ''close calls'', but the two babies both went to Winona in the end¡ªensuring her win with a single round. Ansel sighed. He tried, but who could blame them all for choosing his soft wife? ¡­ A few minutes later, Ansel found himself on the Xeno version of the Dunk Tank Seat game. This was Winona''s request for winning the game. Sad for Ansel, it had nothing to do with their sex life, but whatever. The seat was elevated to about two meters above the ground, with a shallow pool of water right under it. He had a tiny target below his feet, and if people hit it with enough force, then he''d fall down. So, here he was, waiting to be thrown down to the water. Quite a few people watched the fun, no doubt looking forward to seeing him¡ªwho was always well dressed¡ªlook like a drenched Gugu bird. Fortunately, the person who would sit on the dunk seat would get the same price as the person who hit it, which was the only consolation in all of this. Speaking of prizes, each stall had different ones. This one had¡­ vouchers. It was an all-you-can-eat voucher for Gaia Restaurant though, which wasn''t bad. It was also a free-for-all. Regardless of who the ''sitter'' was, anyone who paid some copper could get a shot at him. It wasn''t easy either. There was a maximum level allowed there and even then, it was designed to be very difficult even for a level 15. Anyway, whether it was for the prize, for the spirit of competition, or just to see Ansel fall down the water, the people who were trying to hit the target were all quite passionate. They weren''t the only ones. Althea, with Baby Pepper snug in her arms (with eyelids looking heavier), looked at the other games she could see from where she stood. There were basketball shooting games where the ball and the baskets were markedly smaller. When they missed the last shot they had, it looked like they were electrified in their sadness. There was a small area with minigolf games, except the putt was much more difficult with varying elevations, wilder slopes, and crazy curves. The players and the audience were so passionate and, when it missed just a bit, everyone would scream¡ªsome even pull their hair¡ªin depression. Even aborigines were the same¡ªNo, they were more used to the thrill and reacted even more strongly. There was someone who acted like he was a fish out of water when he missed¡­ The prizes for these were just vouchers. Granted, they were good vouchers, but it surprised her to see how invested they were. Althea watched with a smile and wondered what would happen if¡ªsomeday¡ªthe prizes of these games were magic tools¡­ How crazy would people get? She felt quite curious. Should she make it into an event someday? A vague idea of an event similar to the Olympics¡ªone joined by various territories¡ªcame to mind. However, she shook her head in the end. The premise of that was that they had a surplus of treasures¡ªthis was something they were still far away from. As for the future¡­ who knows? Only time will tell. Chapter 1157 Carnivals (Part 2) In Terran, the Olympics were held to promote global unity and peace. It provided a platform where people could come together, put aside differences, and just enjoy the games. It would also spike the economic growth of wherever it would be held in¡­ Althea shook her head, putting the non-existent ''Alterran Olympics'' to the back of her mind. Even if it would come to fruition someday, it would probably take a few years before they could safely implement it without people killing each other for the prizes instead. Anyway, they had been here for a while, but Ansel was still up. At first, he was still laughing, taunting his hitters when they failed. By this point, practically the whole area had tried a shot, with more coming in when they heard the handsome Ansel was the one on the seat. However, after a quarter of an hour, Ansel grew impatient. His bum was starting to get sore, and he did his best not to squirm in his seat like an uncool dude. One had to know that, at their levels, it wasn''t easy to feel this! This chair was too uncomfortable! It was definitely on purpose! One of the rules of the game was that if the target gave up on his own, he''d have to pay 100 copper! Scam! Still, Ansel believed in his grit so he pushed on. But then it was just miss, miss, and another miss, and the sound of the ball not hitting the target irked Ansel to no end. "Someone hit it already! Get this over with!" he yelled. "It is embarrassing that you people are taking so long!" "Do you think we''re not trying?!" The current hitter, Winona, yelled back. "This is much harder than it looks, okay?!" Of course, the carnival games were adjusted according to the higher cap of levels here, prohibiting people above a certain level from joining in. The target was not only tiny¡ªit was as big as a cockroach¡ªthe force required was also not too straightforward. The ball was made of special fabric and stone and wasn''t completely solid. Throwing it required the right control, otherwise, it''d get unruffled while they were throwing it. People had to pay for each shot, too. It was twenty-five copper coins per shot, which was a decent glass of juice already. Some people called it a scam¡ªit kinda was¡ªbut before Ansel, there was Dog who sat there and his team managed to hit his target. Crow¡ªwho was an archer just below the game''s level limit¡ªmanaged to hit it after a couple of tries. His friend Dog swam that day, but he almost gave him a hug (which Crow promptly avoided of course). After all, this was a favor Dog asked of Crow. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The price during their turn was a child-sized Teddy Bear. It was made of the best material and down, and was made (and donated) by Lenny. It actually had a special spirit regeneration effect¡ªeven if it was just a bit¡ªso it was actually quite valuable. Sunny had shown interest in it and Dog immediately volunteered to join in (begging Crow to do well). He had slowly been showing his feelings to Sunny, though he did not dare confess yet¡ªespecially not when she had a scary brother and uncle watching his moves like a hawk! Anyway, the fact that a team won after about 10 minutes meant that the game was not a scam. Scammy, probably, but not a "scam". Anyway, back to Ansel''s side, random passerbys paid to give it a shot and were failing. At this time, even Althea was getting impatient, and it wasn''t helping that the babies were stretching their arms to the pool, as if wanting to swim there. "No, no, Pepper..." she said, hugging her closer. "That''s not for you to swim in." "Sweem, Mama!" the baby girl mumbled, turning to her and looking at her with those large blue eyes. Her little hand found Althea''s cheek. "Pwease!" "No." Similarly, Little Meatball was also causing chaos above Garan''s shoulder. He was still lounging there, but he was pulling whatever handful of hair he could grab, making his head look like a bird''s nest. Well, since Garan''s hair was so gossamer, it wasn''t that bad, but Garan''s unruly hair was typically a sight only Althea could see in the morning. Seeing as their children were getting antsy, she knew it was time to get this over with. After a few more people tried and failed, she handed Pepper to her father. "Let me try," she said, taking over a ball. It was basically a long fabric tied in a particular way. She studied its weight and made some calculations. She threw it up first to get a feel of the ball on her palms, her green eyes fixed on the target no bigger than a Terran cockroach. She then gestured to throw, and everyone watched her every move. [Used! Precise Aim] Bang! It hit right at the target, making a lot of people gasp. A creaking sound echoed below Ansel, and a second later all horizontal support he had disappeared. His stomach dropped as he fell, creating small wave that splattered on nearby folk. Splash! He coughed out some water that entered his nose. He wiped his face with his palm and combed back his hair as he gathered himself. He actually looked quite sexy, especially when his shirt clung to his body due to the water. Experience new tales on My Virtual Library Empire Sadly, his wife did not appreciate this. She was focused on the fact that he made a fool of himself. She couldn''t help it; it was a habit formed through years of mocking each other. "Hahahhah! You really look like a wet Gugu chick!" she giggled, walking over as if to look closer at him. "I should get my phone¡ª" Ansel''s green eyes sharpened and his arm swiftly moved to grab her arm, pulling her to him. Splash! "Kyaaa!!" It wasn''t too rash because she had just given birth. However, Ansel somehow managed to get her completely drenched too. Winona gasped in shock, staring at her husband in disbelief. "You bast¡ª" She was promptly shut up by a peck on the lips. "Honey, you''re wet," he said, voice raspy. "Let''s go get a shower¡ªwe don''t want you to get a cold, after all." He then stood up and carried her in his arms, and the woman had no choice but to hold on to him to keep her balance. "You¡ª" Ansel gave a sadistic grin. "You asked for this." And so that couple disappeared, soon behind closed doors. Chapter 1 - 1: PROLOGUE [Unknown Land] In an alien land filled with gloom, death, and¡ªparadoxically¡ªthe prosperity of natural resources, there was a place called Grave of Villages. It was located right at the heart of the human territory, in the geographical center of this world. The number of villages destroyed in the area through the millennia was insurmountable, and so were the villages continuously built in the place due to the available resources. It was also one of the good hunting grounds for lower-mid level professionals because the monsters were not too weak, but not too strong for people above villager level. In the terminology from their hometown, it was a perfect ''grinding spot''. This was where a small group of foreigners¡ªmen from another realm¡ªwas staying to train in the most efficient way available to them. "This place is really creepy," One person said as he chewed on his barbeque, some of the sauce falling on his shoes. The man was not bad-looking, he had been known to be a bit metrosexual back home, but his blonde hair had turned almost brown from all the grime from their endless adventures lately. All his previous cleanliness had long gone down the drain. "I mean, seriously..." he mumbled, looking around. Even if it was dark, they had enhanced vision and the two moons were enough illumination for them. What crept him out was that this place had great resources, but the monster mobs were consistent at certain times. It was as if the resources were attracting food for the mobs¡­ He shivered. No wonder villages, which only had professionals around level 10 or so, would almost always give way after a while. The consumption really couldn''t keep up with the gathering of strength. The others didn''t say anything, though they understood his sentiment. It was just that they weren''t here to stay, only to train, and so that was what they ought to focus on. "Where''s the captain?" A young man with quiffed hair asked, chewing on a yellow fruit in his hand. The dark-skinned man beside him looked at a nearby hill, nodding in that direction. "I saw him go over there." "Surveying?" "It''s our third day here?" "Just focus on your own food, Turbo." A voice next to them sneered, before taking away the remaining barbecue stick. "Hey!" The blonde frowned and glared at the newcomer, who was crossing his arms as he stood above them, arrogantly holding someone else''s food. Jake was a man with spiky hair that he had managed to mysteriously maintain despite their lack of resources. He ate the food he ''borrowed'' in a few bites, making the other gasp in aghast. Jake met Turbo''s eyes and began to reprimand them. He even pointed at him using the now-empty stick. "Don''t talk behind the Captain''s back! Don''t you know he has eyes everywhere?" The others were prepared to beat him up a bit but then he looked in a direction, shoulders slightly slumped. "He probably just wanted to be alone for now." He''d have looked cool and introspective... had he cleaned up the remainder of the sauce on his mouth. So he still received that small beating regardless. ¡­ At this time, the aforementioned Captain was standing still, illuminated by two moons. With a straight posture, he was standing on a hill, overlooking the land, his sharp eyes surveying the surroundings. His handsome silhouette formed a contrast to the otherwise desolate view. His body was tense and alert, ready for whatever major changes would occur in a while. However, after confirming that the night would be quiet for a bit longer, he allowed himself a moment of respite, because he wouldn''t be able to rest for a long time after the fight started. He took out a phone from his space, his sharp eyes immediately becoming soft as the screen lit up to show him images of his beloved. A small smile crept up his lips, making his features even more prominent. He was a strikingly handsome man, with chiseled features and a well-toned physique, wide shoulders, and lean muscular build. His hair was trimmed, as neatly as their condition allowed, with his short ebony hair framing his chiseled features. What was most notable was his undeniable aura of masculinity and strength. He was the type of person who demanded attention wherever he went. At the moment, however, he was alone, somber, looking intently at the photos on his palm, showing a rare vulnerability visible to only one person. Unfortunately, that person wasn''t there with him. But unlike the others, he refused to believe he wouldn''t be able to go back to her. He would be able to get back to her; He felt it in his bones. Even if he didn''t, he would do whatever he had to make it possible. As he stared at her image, his striking blue eyes shone like sapphires even in the night. They not only reflected the light of the two moons, but they also shined with the light of determination and longing, and it was unbreakable and firm. "My wife¡­" He said, tone filled with tenderness. "Wait for me¡­" But the screen turned black and he frowned, his face turning pale when he saw that his phone battery had gone. In this world where there was no electricity, would this be¡ªas long as he remained in this hell¡ªthe last time he could see her image? His jaw hardened at the thought and the softness in his eyes changed to one of annoyance and bitterness. If any one of his teammates were there, they would fear for their lives. And this happened to be the sight that one of his subordinates, his right-hand man, ended up seeing. The newcomer was also quite dashing, with prominent features, lean muscles, and shoulder-length hair flowing with the wind. He had pale skin unfitting for a soldier, which turned a bit paler as he felt the atmosphere surrounding the captain. However, he quickly gathered himself and walked to the man he respected the most in this world. "Captain Garan," He said, greeting the man, doing away with the standard salute as ordered. "Gill." "They''re here." At his words, the remaining vulnerability in the captain''s eyes was replaced by his characteristic sternness. His well-defined jaw tightened in seriousness. "Let''s go," The ebony-haired man said, his deep resonant voice echoing the eerie hill. He joined a group of a few dozen soldiers from their homeland, an air of gravitas that demanded everyone''s respect oozing off of him. They stood in a formation, waiting for the black wave of monsters to reach their line of sight. Soon, they would be facing a mob of monsters that they had thought they''d only see in horror movies. But here they were¡­ The Captain, however, was unmoved, and his stability affected his people. He did not say anything to them, as he had already told them everything he could in their hundreds of battles together. Instead, he walked forward, posture erect, with his every movement exuding strength and discipline. He walked toward the approaching mob and grotesque forms soon came to view. Within a few blinks, a monster faster than the others quickly reached a few meters away from him. He raised his arms and the air around him changed, colder, and a small patch of land under him turned to ice, extending to capture the monster''s feet, debilitating it. He quickly took out a weapon from his space, beheading the monster, using the same movement to defend against a new monster that reached him. His team had also sprinted to the mob, different elements illuminating the dark skies. The man still believed in his people, they could still handle a low-level mob like this. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. With this thought, he quickly moved deeper into the mob to kill more of these beasts. His eyes were shining with determination in every swing of his sword. It was time for them to fight and become stronger. Only in this way could they have the ability to return home. And he would definitely go back to her. Whatever it took. Chapter 2 - 2: The Sun Is Dying [Terran Star, Modern Era Year 2212] "Home, hmn?" A soft velvety voice uttered as she listened to the sound of newscasters reporting news after news of criminal cases, scandals, and natural disasters. Dainty hands raised the electronic tablet and, after a finger pressed the screen, the display on the screen changed with a click. [BREAKING NEWS: The Terran Cosmic Research Center reports an unprecedented drop in the Sun''s hydrogen level. Scientists at the TCRC warn that humanity''s window for preparation has been dramatically shrunk to a few decades at best.] [This is a major departure from the previously accepted knowledge of at least a thousand years.] [In response to this urgent situation, 47 countries, including our own Eden Country, have publicly announced the acceleration of spaceship development.] [These cutting-edge spaceships are meticulously designed to carry the over 10 billion Terran inhabitants, along with genetic material of all known species.] [In a bid to preserve the planet''s already dwindling biodiversity, the ships will also carry live specimens of the most vital animal and plant species carefully chosen to sustain an effective ecosystem during the migration¡ª The sound and lights were abruptly cut by another click, followed by a soft sigh. The owner of the voice was sitting lazily on her chaise lounge, her relaxed posture revealing confident poise, and her well-manicured hands absent-mindedly patting her big belly. She now sat alone inside a classically decorated room, her long dark hair gracefully cascading down her back, and its deep brown hue reflected hints of copper under the light of the morning sun. Slowly, her striking green orbs, framed by her long feathering lashes, opened. However, as she recalled the contents of the report, her eyes narrowed slightly, heart felt heavy. She had an intuition: They don''t have enough time. Unless there was a miracle, they would all die. Just a pity for her children who may not even get the chance to experience the world, even if it was just for a while. "You shouldn''t watch such depressing news so early in the morning, missy." A pleasant-looking woman sounded from the kitchen. On her hands was a silver tray with a warm cup of milk. The woman carefully placed the items on the side table and stood professionally a few meters away, ready to be called. "Thank you, nanny." The young woman said, her feathery voice landed on the nanny''s ears, causing her to smile unconsciously. The pregnant woman did not sit properly but only lifted her upper body so she could get a sip of her warm milk. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The nanny stared at the girl she watched grow up, from a thin orphan to the present beauty of infinite charm. The woman''s luscious hair framed her oval face, accentuating her beautiful features. Her unique emerald eyes were further emphasized by the beauty mark under her right eye. The girl''s pregnancy added a soft femininity that made her more attractive. She couldn''t help but recall how she was only a few years prior; This girl had been a bit of a tomboy for as far as she could remember. Motherhood could change anyone¡­ and this stubborn girl, Althea, it seemed, was no exception. "Well, I was hoping they would get news of that guy, but they showed me the galaxy''s potential death instead." She said jokingly, but the nanny did not smile with her. "Missy..." She raised her hand to stop the topic. She knew she was the one to open the topic, and she regretted it the moment she said it. She knew the pain she felt when she found out her husband went missing months ago. Nearly half a year ago, her husband was called for a top-secret mission by their government. It was normal to be out of contact for a month or so, however, after two months, they had no news at all. A sense of dread stabbed her every day until she finally couldn''t handle it anymore and started calling the higher-ups. Fortunately, she had some connections and power in the government thanks to her contributions so she didn''t get dismissed on the first call. However, they delayed the meeting continuously until a brave media reporter¡ªan old friend of theirs¡ªrevealed the results of his investigation. Apparently, hundreds of soldiers went missing less than a month after their mission started. Worse: They had already been presumed dead. It felt like she was submerged in cold water, and she immediately went to the Headquarters and demanded an answer. She almost had a miscarriage at the time and could be said to be the worst day of her life so far. She did not even know she was pregnant. Fortunately, her brother was next to her and she was taken to hospital in time for treatment, otherwise, she''d have followed her family to the grave. After recovering, she and her brother spent most of their business profits finding out the news, tapping several illegal channels by the way. Eventually, their reporter friend hinted at some clues. However, it was extremely difficult to get news without risking life. Her brother helped her control public opinion, slowly revealing the clues they had and eventually, the government gave in to public pressure. The answer was frankly not something any one of them had expected. An odd fluctuation in space was discovered months ago, and weird animalistic monsters came out in droves. There were a total of 300 soldiers from 10 countries that went on that mission. But not a single one returned. Not even a piece of the dozen tanks and bombers they sent were seen. No one still knew what happened. Shortly afterward, the sun''s problem was confirmed, and it got more difficult to get an answer from the government. She and the other families funded their own searches but to no avail. Now, the sun''s problem exploded¡ªno pun intended¡ªand this problem had been completely set aside. Just like that: Other than their families and friends, no one remembered those missing soldiers anymore. "I''m sure the master is fine." Nanny said, "He will definitely come back to you." And she said so with certainty. Although the madam''s husband was often away, her experienced eyes could see how much that man loved his wife. He was the type of man who could jump off a cliff if she wanted a flower hanging dangerously on the side. It would break the madam if the husband was confirmed to be gone. Right now, she and the girl just firmly believed that he was fine somewhere. "Hmm." Althea hummed. And although her tone seems non-committal, her bright eyes expressed her firm belief. Then, she turned her head to the older woman. "I''m glad you''re here, nanny." Althea said so sincerely. This woman had basically raised the three of them because their parents were often busy with their careers. Now that their parents were dead, her husband was also missing, and her brother would inevitably have his own life¡­, she didn''t know what would happen if Nanny wasn''t here. The older woman smiled warmly. It was at this time that they heard the digital lock sound from the main door, they simultaneously turned their heads to meet the handsome smiling face of the newcomer. "Sister." Her expression softened as she smiled at the newcomer. "Ansel, you''re back." She uttered, finally putting down her small feet to give the newcomer space to sit next to her. Ansel stared at her for a few more seconds before walking closer and naturally sitting down next to her. He smiled and handed her the small box of snacks he brought with him. Althea''s eyes warmed at the sight of her brother. The childish little brat had grown his dark curly hair a little beyond the ear. A few buttons were also left open to show off his collar, and his overall temperament emitted a playboy charm. Of course, this was for outsiders, in front of her he just looked like an innocent little boy at the beginning of adolescence, dependent on his older sister. "Good morning sister." He grinned, showing his perfect teeth. "Long time no see~" Chapter 3 - 3: Beginning of the End Althea laughed at him. "You were here two days ago." "Forty-eight hours, to be exact." He said childishly, squeezing his voice a bit. Althea just shook her head helplessly and looked at the cute snacks he brought with him. It was a box of varied fruit pastries that she liked. It happened that it went well with milk. She hurriedly ate one and took another to familiarly put it in Ansel''s mouth. He naturally opened his mouth to take it, looking like that cute little hamster that he was when he was a kid. Ansel might be her adoptive brother, growing up with him since she was around 9 years old, but they were closer to being real siblings than other blood relatives. After all, they¡ªincluding her now-husband who had been adopted with her¡ªhad been through precarious situations together as children. It was this event that made Ansel imprint on her a bit, and he often acted like a child around her (to her husband''s great disdain). Looking at him opening his mouth again for another snack, it was obvious that growing up so big didn''t do much with his maturity. It was much like how former high school classmates, even after decades, would act like teenagers again when they were together at a reunion. Ansel would act like a kid often when he was around her. It didn''t matter if he was ten or twenty years old. She looked at the next cute pastry that she got her hands on. It was a cute little smiling cartoon dog. She couldn''t help but chuckle. "A store opened so early?" She asked as she placed it in her mouth. She took a quick glance at the floating digital clock above the television. It wasn''t even 8 a.m. yet. "Well, the owner is an ex." He said, shrugging. Althea rolled her eyes. This guy changed girlfriends every few weeks. His exes could literally line up along the neighborhood. More than once she and her husband saw him making out with a different girl around the house. Nanny (who was now rolling her eyes) had nagged him about it every day. Of course, depending on the vulgarity, sometimes her husband would drag him off to ''train'' in the backyard afterward. She tried to remember what ''independence-strengthening'' activity she threw him to before this started but she couldn''t figure out why he turned out to be such a player. Fortunately, all his exes were mysteriously still his (platonic) friends, otherwise she''d have beaten him up herself. Sensing her judgemental stare, Ansel shrugged. "I can''t help it; I''m too charming." Instead of dignifying him with a response, Althea just wore an exaggerated disgusted expression and looked down at her stomach. "Don''t look down on your uncle too much," She told her innocent children, "He just lacks attention." Ansel fake-gasped and held his heart as if in pain. He leaned over to whisper to the bulging stomach. "Your uncle is too charming, he can''t help it. Here, let me bless you with my amazingness. "My little nephew and my little niece. Are you behaving well today? "Uncle already bought you toys¡­" "Uncle¡­" Ansel continued on his soliloquy and Althea rolled her eyes. "Stop teaching them bad things. Prenatal education is too important. You know, Mom once said¡ª" Her voice was cut off as a thought came to mind: It would be so good if their parents were here. She felt a little emotional to the point that she teared up a little. Damned pregnancy. Making her think of weird tangents. Again. But alas, the hormones couldn''t be controlled and she was sobbing a bit. "Mom... Mom used to say that my birth parents must have given me the best prenatal care for me, since I turned out so well." Ansel frowned, his goofy expression morphing into a serious one. Althea was sad, but Ansel''s heart was torn to pieces. Those were his biological parents after all. The three of them, along with Nanny, didn''t speak for a while... letting a moment of silence pass by in remembrance of the loved ones that they lost. ... Ansel''s parents were both very kind people. Mom was a professor of History at university, while Dad worked in a pharmaceutical company as a top researcher. They gave all three of them the best they could provide, even when they were so busy with work, whether it was material things or love. They were one of the people who perished during the weird radiation wave that was like a worldwide EMP attack, taking down the plane they were in. It was one of the planes of ten thousand that were flying at that moment. It was also the first sign that the sun was dying quicker than expected, although it wasn''t announced to the public at the time. Althea had always felt that her husband''s top-secret mission was also related to this event. After some time, Althea calmed down and wiped her eyes, feeling guilty for reopening the wound. She pursed her lips and looked at her brother, looking at him and his formal attire. "The deal is today?" Ansel paused for a bit before nodding with a weak smile, though overall taking the change of topic in a stride. They were very used to Althea''s mood changes. At first, it made him panic when she suddenly sobbed, but at some point, he just learned to live with it and not let the stress kill him. "Yes, and they even increased their order," he said. Althea nodded. She and Ansel started their own company two years prior, with her as the source of technology and formulas and him as the management helm. She always had a special affinity for plants since she was a child. She not only liked growing them but she was also fascinated by their effects and combinations. She often poisoned herself by accident because of this and was frequently at the hospital. If she wasn''t so young (and cute, according to her husband), the headmistress would''ve kicked her out for all the excess spending¡­ Anyway, one day (during her probably 37th time at the hospital due to poisoning) a visiting doctor happened to see her by chance. He was very amused when he found out about the cause and effect and gave her a huge encyclopedia of Terran plants, their effects, and their effective combinations. She later found out that the old man¡ªmay he rest in peace¡ªwas one of the few pioneers reviving a branch focusing on botanical medicine, and he was at the hospital for a check-up when they first met. Had Ansel''s incident not happened when it did, it was estimated the old doctor would have adopted her instead. Still, they had been in contact until his death a few years back. Althea showed great talent in the field and entered the Biology and Botany specialization as soon as she entered college at the age of 17. Now, she took her thesis project, along with a few other formulas, and formulated beauty formulas and health products. In the past two years, she had come up with formulas to treat acne scars, improve stamina, improve eyesight, and improve the smoothness of the skin. Their parents were supportive and used their life savings to invest. Except for the villa they were living in¡ªwhich was an inheritance from her mother''s family¡ªthey had pretty much sold everything else. Fortunately, the products took off months before their death so they were at least rest assured that they would be able to do well when they were gone. She knew her parents very well: even in their deaths, they would definitely be thinking about the three of them siblings. Just a pity they wouldn''t be able to see their grandchildren. They have been looking forward to it even before she got married. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This would make us a lot of money," Ansel added, smug, and her lips twitched. The deal Ansel was referring to was a deal with a country south called Delo Country. It was a closed country that refused businesses abroad. This was their second big client next to the military, a deal that had given the company quite a bit of prestige. It was not illegal in their Eden country to deal with these people, so she had no qualms about this deal. If anything, because it was a bit secretive on the other party''s side, they were willing to pay twice the market price for it. "I''ll definitely get even better deals," Ansel said with confidence. She nodded, also rest assured. "When is your flight?" "In a few hours¡­" He said, tentatively looking at the time. He then turned his head back to look at Althea, opening his arm for a hug. "Anyway, time for me to go now~" She naturally entered his arms. "Be careful." The man smiled, hugging her a little tighter. "Of course." He said, "I love my life very much." ¡­ That afternoon, after receiving a call from Ansel about his safe arrival, pregnancy lethargy attacked. "You should take a proper rest in your bedroom," Nanny said, gently patting her awake. She blinked, realizing she had snoozed a bit on the sofa. "Hmm... I should," she said, lazily sitting up and stretching her arms. The movement made her hair all messed up and Nanny fondly combed it down with her wrinkling hand. "Hm, I''ll prepare you dinner so you can eat when you wake up." "Okay, thank you. Goodnight, Nanny." She said sweetly, and the old woman chuckled. "Goodnight, Miss." Althea went to bed to take a long nap, and it was fine for a while. She even dreamt about her childhood with her husband. She was running after him in their game of tag. However, just before she caught up to him, she was abruptly woken by a mysterious force that she couldn''t describe. It was like there was an earthquake, but only the air shook. She sat up so quickly that she felt dizzy. Closing her eyes to calm her nerves, she looked around to see what woke her up. Confused, she opened her phone to look at the time¡ª8:34pm¡ªand quickly realized that there was no signal. Then, she heard toe-curling screams outside¡ªfrom different directions. An odd feeling of foreboding crept up her spine. She ran to the only other person in the house, hand unconsciously on her stomach as she moved. "Auntie? Are you all right?" She asked, gently knocking on the door. As she did so, she could hear weird scraping sounds followed by a low growl. Her instinct told her something dangerous was in there. She looked around to see a broom, decisively grabbing the shaft and taking off the brush. With a deep breath, she placed her soft hand on the handle and turned the knob to open the door¡ª Only to see a weird but familiar-looking creature standing in an odd posture, body parts bending at a weird angle, and skin festering with pus. It heard her arrival and turned, and her green eyes met with its lifeless ones. Bile rose up her stomach but she pushed it down because it was at this moment that she realized who it was. Her heart dropped and her soul shook. Tears started forming in her eyes and her body shivered in trepidation. "Nanny.." Chapter 4 - 4: 24 hours Nanny''s neck turned at an indescribable angle the moment she opened the door, the eyes that used to look at her with love and warmth now didn''t have anything. No emotions, no anger, no love, no life. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This wasn''t her nanny anymore. Althea was in a daze for a while, her tears flowing. Even when she saw the creature walk towards her in unnatural staggered steps, she couldn''t move at all. It was only until the creature was only an arm''s length away that she finally got back to her senses and her body moved by instinct, hitting the creature with the metallic broomstick. Bang! The body fell, its neck turning 180 degrees. She watched as the body twitched weakly, and she almost wanted to go to check up on her. But the head turned back at a creepy angle and the familiar-unfamiliar lifeless eyes stared at her hungrily. Without bothering to bend back its legs, it dragged itself in her direction, opening its mouth in hopes of getting her meat. She didn''t even have the time to mourn the loss of another loved one. Her body moved on its own and she gripped the metal shaft on her hand. She hit the head of the monster with all her strength, to stop her Nanny''s body from being soiled any further. [+5 experience, +5 copper coins] [Ding!] She flinched at the sudden sound, looking around for its source. [Congratulations, Terran, for activating the Universe Assistance System] She could not even give a response. [Your planet XZ8912, locally known as Terran, is the only planet in the G239 and U834 galaxies to have intelligent civilizations. It was therefore judged to be an important endangered planet by the Universe.] [Galaxies G239 and U834 will be deemed uninhabitable in less than 24 hours due to the current condition of its central star.] [In less than 24 hours, to preserve remaining life, all surviving indigenous creatures will be immigrated to the Great Continent of Xeno.] [Please note that items in the system-provided backpack can be taken with you.] To be honest, Althea and her big brain failed to understand what the mechanical voice was saying. "What is Xeno?" She asked, but there was no response. "Hello?" No answer. "What are you talking about? Migration? What do you mean the planet will perish?" Still no answer. She frowned, eyes ending up on the woman who had just made her favorite dessert a few hours prior. She took a deep breath in an attempt to stop her tears, to keep her words coherent. "Tell me, please: Why did she become like this?" None. Well, this was obviously one of those one-way no-reply messages¡­ She shook her head and stared at the body, for a while not knowing what to do. She looked at the screen that appeared in front of her, following wherever she was looking, like that holographic screen that had just launched a few months ago. On the bottom left, there was a logo of a backpack, an icon of a head, and a logo of a sword. On the top right, there is a moving counter currently showing [23:45:03]. She remembered that in 24 hours, a so-called migration would happen, and surmised the counter was about that. She then looked at the backpack icon and clicked on it. A virtual box appeared in front of her, floating. It was around 1 cubic meter in size. "All items in the ''backpack'' will be taken with you." She repeated the voice''s words, absentmindedly looking at the phone and the shaft, and wondering how she could test this backpack space. She placed a hand on each item and visualized their location in the space. She blinked and looked at the backpack and, sure enough, the items were indeed arranged properly in the floating box in front of her. Normally, she''d be very interested in this but her sights inevitably landed on the body next to her. She heaved out a sigh and straightened up her spine¡ªas if it could give her the confidence to face whatever chaos was about to come¡ªand walked in front of the corpse. While she couldn''t give her a burial¡ªa useless practice for a planet that was about to perish¡ªshe decided to place the body on the bed in the end. At the very least, it would be a more respectable way to go than carelessly sprawled on the floor. Properly arranging the body and closing her eyes, Althea made it appear that she was just sleeping. Althea bowed her head, silently thanking the older woman for all the care she had given. "May you do well and find a good family in your next life, Nanny," she said, pausing. "I love you." ... [23:25:32] She left the room and ended up in the living room. She grabbed the remote to see the news, but unfortunately, all the channels were black. Althea, still a little shaken, slowly walked towards her favorite chaise lounge, lied down, and stared at the ceiling. She allowed herself a moment of respite before thinking about her next step. She took a deep breath and looked at the other logos on her ''screen''. She clicked on the logo of a person and another set of texts appeared about a meter in front of her. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 0 (5/50) Life: 100/100 Spirit: 100/100 (-5%) Physical: 20 (-5%) Agility: 17 (-20%) Defense: 9 Mana: 100 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Well, that explained all the minus signs¡­ Her sights shifted to the last icon, the icon of the sword. After clicking it, a virtual doll version of herself appeared in front of her. [EQUIPMENT LIST Head: None Ears: None Body: Basic night dress +0 Defense Arms: None Legs: None Hands: None Feet: Cotton Slippers +0 Defense, +0 Agility ] This was like a game. Although she wasn''t much of a gamer, her brother was. They often asked her to play with them when they were young. This sight was not unfamiliar to her. But her sight couldn''t help but stay on the stats. Only then did she start feeling her body and realized that she felt energized despite all the shock. Not to mention, her strength and speed were not like that at all. She totally blew nanny''s head with a hit, right? Although she had practiced self-defense techniques, she was sure she was neither that quick nor that strong. She was not sure if this was adrenaline¡­ or was her body was somewhat improved? Temporarily putting that aside, she proceeded to explore the rest of the system. She stared at the final icon: the wallet. [Wealth: 0 gold, 0 silver, 5 copper] "..." It seemed that her millions of digital money were useless. She sat back up, trying to make an effective procurement plan. She had 24 hours to take what she needed. First of all, she had no idea where they were going to get transferred to, nor did they know of the resources that they would have access to. Hence, she needed to prepare well and make sure she had everything to maximize her chances of survival in that small space of 1 cubic meter. And what is that 0 gold, 0 silver, 5 copper in her stats? Money? Money used in that other world? Althea gently patted her stomach, as if they needed to be calmed down, because calming them down would calm her down. It was just that... as she patted her stomach, her whole body froze. Is her stomach larger? Chapter 5 - 5: Beginning of a Money Making Journey No¡­nononono¡­ Her children¡­ didn''t turn to monsters, right? However, just before she could enter her pregnancy-mood-swings-panic-dread, a gentle kick hit the walls of her stomach. This made her pause and instinctively place her palms on her bulging stomach. The next kicks then turned much gentler and soothing. It was as if her babies were telling her not to overreact. For the first time since all this started, she finally smiled. Everyone may be gone, but at least her children were still with her. She had to be well-prepared, at least for them. The first thing she did was go to the kitchen and heat herself some food. She was not a good cook, but she was surrounded by them: her father, auntie, and her husband were all fabulous cooks. Auntie¡ªgod bless her soul¡ªstored a few plates of ready-to-eat food in case she woke up in the middle of the night from hunger. She also took all the food in stock and in the pantry in her space backpack, filling up a few square centimeters of space. It was just that other than rice and a few canned foods, most of these foods were perishable. What actually bothered her the most was the money. The fact that these values appeared here meant that it was possible to obtain such currencies while they were still in their home planet. Obviously, digital money¡ªwhich was most people''s assets nowadays¡ªwas useless, so she could only check if paper money or any other valuables would suffice. She also needed to check what happened to her children, as well as some medicines so she should at least pass by a hospital. However, she wondered, if the physique changed, would those medicines have any use? She stopped herself from thinking too much and accomplishing nothing. After a beat, she formulated her next point of action and stood up, heading to her room. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She walked to her room''s safety deposit box to see if cash could be converted to the system currency. Her delicate fingers pressed a few buttons and the box opened, revealing a few stacks of cash she put away in case of emergencies. She held the paper in the palm of her hand. But she paused, unsure what to do. She just tried whatever and transferred it to the space. Nothing happened. She looked at the jewelry, took a handful of silver and gold jewelry¡ªmost of which were gifts from clients and friends¡ªand placed it in the space. At first, it just stored there, but after a thought, she placed them back out. She repeated the same process but with the intent to ''sell''. [Ding! A total of 230 grams of silver, 100 grams of gold. Would you like to convert it to coins? YES | NO ] She clicked YES. [Received: +1 gold coin ,+2 silver coin, +30 copper coins] She stared at the remaining precious stones. Except for the jewelry her husband and family gave her¡ªwhich was secure in the backpack¡ªthe rest was converted to System currency. [Ding! 121 carats of Class E precious gems, 8 carats of Class A gems. Would you like to convert it to coins? YES | NO ] She pressed NO. Separating each type of gem, she transformed the colorful ones first and only got a total of 51 silver coins. The few carats of diamonds, on the other hand, earned her a whopping 5 gold coins. It seemed that gems high up on the Mohs scale had a much higher value in that other world. Then her sights fell on the safety deposit box itself¨C [Ding! 50kg of Non-aether Class C Precious metal detected. Would you like to convert it to coins? YES | NO ] She clicked yes. [Received: +69 silver coins] An eyebrow rose in interest as she perused the room and looked at the few antiques in the family collection. She stared at them for a moment and it felt like they were staring back at her, scrutinizing. She apologized to the ancestors and tried to get the antiques converted as well. Unfortunately, like paper money, they were judged to have no value. She regretfully took out all the useless stuff from the backpack¡ª(she never would have thought she''d say this about money)¡ªfrom the backpack to save space. She took a look at her wallet again. [WEALTH: 6 gold coins, 122 silver coins, 30 copper coins] This was the first time she regretted being so ''modern''. She should''ve stocked herself some hard currency had she known this would happen¡­ In any case, she didn''t know how far this little wealth could get her, but she was not going to take any chances. Not to mention, she had to fill up the entire 1 cubic meter to feel comfortable. Stretching her body, she turned her head to look at the floating clock on the top of her head. [22:54:03] At the sight of the numbers, she stood up and looked out the window, to the dark scenery outside. In her neighborhood, this was a time that should''ve been filled with stillness, silence, and peace. Instead, it echoed with horrendous screams and yells for help. However, she knew in her gut that no one would have the energy to help others right now. She could only help herself. She went towards the door, taking out the handy broom shaft from the space. She rested long enough. Chapter 6 - 6: Leaving the House As she stepped out of the threshold, she mentally reviewed what she knew of her milieu. The neighborhood she lived in was an upper-class neighborhood. It was located in the suburbs very near downtown, with residential composition ranging from nouveau riche, politicians, and stars. Each lot cut was around 300 sqm each, which was already very large considering this was still basically within the scope of the city. It could be said that a square meter of land here was worth a ton of gold. It wasn''t that her adoptive family was so rich, however. They managed to own such a house because it was bought early by her mother''s grandparents when it was still valued low. When her mother was young, a developer wanted to buy the lot for a questionable price but they refused. Thankfully, at the time, mother already made a name for herself in the academe and had developed a good network, so the developer could only compromise and let them join the development for a fair price. When they passed, the will named the three of them for a joint ownership. Althea was incredibly touched by the gesture. Not by the money, but the thought that in their heart she and her husband were truly family. It was just that her brother was often on business trips, and her husband was often on missions, so when their parents left, the house was often empty. There were a total of 47 houses in this villa area, a couple of which took two or three cuts, all of them were undoubtedly well-off and should have at least a bit of wealth at home. Such a pity for their hard-earned digital assets though¡­ Such a pity¡­ In any case, she set her eyes on the house to her left, simply because the house on the right still had screaming women in it. She was not about to rob people who were still alive, nor would she risk her life to save others who may just want to depend on her¡­ Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Forgive her for being unfeeling, but she couldn''t do thankless things. She spent years in an orphanage and¡ªeven with the deliberate protection of her now-husband¡ªshe had been exposed to the dark side of society fairly early. She was never the innocent little girl who wanted to save the world. More importantly, the people from that house were all snobbish nouveau riche whose daughters had more than once ogled her husband inappropriately like hungry hyenas looking at delicious meat. She ignored the ear-piercing screams that also attracted a lot of zombies and turned towards her gate. As she neared the gate, she went to check if there were many monsters outside. After all, the disaster happened at the height of nightlife. She slowly opened the gate and closed it just as quickly. A second later, five zombies were trying to stretch their claws in. She stepped back, a bit scared, but she remembered the experience and the bit of money she could receive. So she gathered her wits and courage and, using the sharp edge of the shaft, she poked the zombies in the eyes. It was easier than before because their arms were trapped in the gate. Elated by the discovery, she quickly poked the head of the others that were trapped. [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] To be honest, if it wasn''t for the rancid smell that entered her nose and killed her brain, this could have been quite addicting. It was like playing the ancient-themed arcade game of whack-a-mole. Then the stench interrupted her thoughts again and she felt like vomiting for real. She ran to the house to drink some water, because it would be a waste to use the bottled water in her backpack. While inside the house, she took a package of face masks and wore one. She would be exploring the neighborhood after all, the smell would only get worse. If she didn''t do anything, maybe her nose would lose its function. . . . She paused at a thought, an idea brewing in her mind. Smell. ¡­. Ten Minutes Later. Althea stared at the bodies stuck on the gate with a complicated expression, seriously re-considering this experiment. Was it worth it? However, she looked at the time again and swore to be more decisive. She held her breath and with bated breath, she cut off the arms of the zombies within her property line. She then wrapped herself with blood and even wrapped an arm like a belt, just over her big belly. She felt like vomiting again. At this point, she wondered: Would she give birth prematurely due to disgust? But only time will tell and she had no choice but to learn the answer to that for real. She closed her eyes for a moment to gather herself. She also wanted to heave a deep breath, but she remembered the mind-melting smell and stopped herself just in time. She slowly opened up one of the gates, carefully hiding behind its panel. She let a few monsters enter, and then quickly locked the gate again. Another three monsters entered within those few seconds, and another half dozen were trying to enter like the previous batch, albeit they were stopped in their tracks by the sturdy metallic fences. She couldn''t help but stare at the dozens of zombies in her area, very concerned. There were already so many monsters in their sparsely-populated neighborhood. She could not imagine what it would be like in the city¡­ All these thoughts passed by her head, but her whole being was watching the monsters on full alert. She watched as they walked aimlessly around her garden, and she stood still to see what they would do. They walked around without a target and Althea stood still until one of them started dragging its feet to her direction. Her grip on the shaft tightened and she could swear she could hear her own heartbeat. Grrrrr... The monster made some guttural noises as she... it... explored the area in front of her, seemingly not seeing Althea there. It gave her a moment to study the monster. The monster looked young, in her teens, and it seemed like the other zombies that entered were also in the same age group. They were probably neighborhood teens going to a party when the transformation happened. As the monster trudged across the lawn, closer and closer to where she was, Althea could see the puss and decaying skin on her face, the fluid coming out from the orifices, and the heavily pregnant Althea just wanted to puke again. The monster was turning around when it suddenly twisted its deformed head to face her and she felt her heart drop to where her children were. But it only paused for a few seconds before it finally looked away. Althea heaved a deep breath and raised her rod, attacking it on an orifice while it was looking away. [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] The noise attracted the other three and they ran to where the body fell, but they stopped when the noise did the same. From her observation, the main organ working for these monsters was the ear. They were blind, which was a relief. As for the sense of smell¡­, they should have it, but it was probably not much different from how it was when they were human¡ªas seen by how an arm hanging around her could cover her own smell. This made sense because hearing tended to retain its functions longer than the other two senses even during aging. Not to mention, in accidents, the eyes and nose statistically lost functions faster than the ears that underwent the same trauma. Taking note of her new discovery, she quickly killed the remaining ones inside. [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [+5 copper coins, + 5 experience] [Ding! Congratulations for leveling up to Level 1!] With this announcement, she felt that some sort of aura exploded from her body, making the monsters outside crazier. As if suddenly injected with a stimulant, about a dozen more zombies started attacking the gate. Fortunately, the gate was strong enough, otherwise, they''d have broken it with sheer numbers alone. Regardless of the zombies outside, Althea was in a better mood. She really felt that her body had improved: Her body felt lighter, she felt more energetic, and her senses a little bit sharper. Of course, this also meant the rancid smell kicked differently. Disregarding this, she looked at the dozens of monsters trying to destroy her gate. With a bit more confidence, she headed towards these monsters, starting to see them as targets to hunt. Chapter 7 - 7: Exploring the Neighborhood - Part 1 [22:06:08] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 1 (145/1000) Life: 190/200 Spirit: 121/200 (-5%) Physical: 30 (-5%) Agility: 27 (-20%) Attack: 8 Defense: 15 Mana: 100 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Her eyes paused at ''spirit'' and judged it must have something to do with stamina. As for what would happen if these got too low, she''d rather not find out for herself. She went back to the house to take a little rest. Killing those dozens of zombies had not been easy, especially in her current state. It was really fortunate that the gate was able to handle the weight, and the zombies she had to deal with were only a few at a time. First, she had killed the ones accessible through the gaps of the gates and then killed the overflowing ones climbing up the corpses. Although they could not smell her, she made a lot of noise so she managed to attract the zombies until there were none in her street. She was actually surprised by the number of people here. After all, the 40 or so households wouldn''t have more than 10 people on average, including the servants. Although this was a high-end villa area, this was still in the city''s scope. How large could single detached houses get? In her street alone, there shouldn''t be so many zombies ambling about outside. What she didn''t know yet was that the neighbors held some sort of reunion. It just so happened that many of the guests were hanging around in the gardens and outside. Amusingly, they had the ''old age'' theme so the zombies were all wearing old-school party clothes. She was relieved to notice that her spirit had risen to 150 after half an hour of rest. Now that she had an idea of the rate of Spirit increase, she could resume her adventure outside. She could feel that she was stronger and she could jump a few meters. If she wasn''t pregnant, of course. Now that she was carrying two kids, she couldn''t be so presumptuous. So she took out the ladder and placed it on the adjoining wall with the neighbor. Standing on the wall, she took the foldable ladder to the other side so she could effortlessly cross to the neighbor''s lawn. This neighbor was a former politician, with very classy young wives¡­ er¡­ wife and sister-in-law. It was very likely they weren''t home at this time, considering their very active nightlife. Their house was a classically designed home of three floors. It had intricate patterns, cornices, and others. Even the gutters had curves. Checking the surroundings for monsters, she slowly walked towards the direction of the house. Her steps were lithe and light, and her handy weapon was ready to be used at any time. It didn''t take long for her to hear rustling and growling. Her feet paused, waiting for the rustles to get closer, likely to be attracted by her arrival. But when she stopped moving, the zombies no longer had a way to determine her location, and the two servant zombies ended up zoning around. Her Armor of Zombie Goo was still useful, so they didn''t actively attack her even as she approached them. She took them down quite easily. [+5 copper, +5 experience] [+5 copper, +5 experience] [+5 copper, +5 experience] Hey, practice made perfect. It had been a while since she practiced fencing, but she felt that she was getting pretty good. She reached the door of the house and deliberately called for people in case the owner was still in the house. She was not so desperate as to rob a house with the owner still in the house. "Hello? Anyone there?" No answer. She asked again, "Hello?" Still, no answer. Seeing that there was no one home, she opened the door by destroying the handle. It happened very suddenly. She had not even stepped past the threshold when she heard a sudden gust of wind whip in her direction, something lunging at her from the shadows. In a swift motion, she barely blocked the sharp teeth of the toy dog with the shaft. Clang! Her heart stopped for a moment as she gaped at the ferocious fangs snap shut mere inches away from her face. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The creature''s horrid breath, combined with the smell of its decaying body, attacked her sense of smell. It was so rancid that she almost blacked out. But she kept the bile down and kept defending herself, swinging the shaft to where her instincts told her to, eventually connecting to the skull of the creature. She kicked it away and struck another direction, directly hitting the ribcage of the other one. The shadows were thrown a few steps back in similar directions and Althea held her makeshift weapon, a little shaken from the shock. There were indeed creatures that approached her but they were not zombies, but zombie dogs. Their eyes were vacant and glazed, but their growls told her they were hungry for her meat. A moment later, the two dogs lunged at her with speed that those previous zombies could not compare. Fortunately, she was no longer taken by surprise and managed to avoid being mauled by their sharp fangs. The dog she hit on the head already had an open skull. Its movements were slower and much easier to deal with. Adrenaline flowing through her veins, Althea lifted the rod and, while avoiding the other dog''s attack, threw down a powerful stroke that finally ended one of the dogs. Not taking an extra breath, she turned her weapon to block a deadly bite, and she could see the metal handle slowly bending. She shivered at how sharp the bites were and she immediately whipped the rod with the dog attached to it. It refused to budge. If anything, it was just bending her weapon. Seeing that she may even lose control of her only weapon, she fought for the rod with all her strength, and they eventually ended up inside the house. However, the dog''s grip was too strong. Instead, she hit the rod with the dog towards the art feature with sharp edges. The dog''s body splattered with blood and finally let go of her weapon. She hit it over and over until a familiar ding echoed in her head, and she finally heaved a sigh of relief. [+10 copper, + 10 experience] She dragged her feet to the door and closed it, for fear of new monsters being attracted by the noise. At this time, she allowed herself a short moment of respite. So animals turned to those monsters, too? And because of their physiques, they were also innately harder to deal with. Most importantly, they could smell her underneath all this gruel¡­ She instinctively cradled her belly, feeling a little shaken. It seemed that she still thought things too lightly. Chapter 8 - 8: Exploring the Neighborhood - Part 2 After recovering some of her wits, Althea looked at her status bar and saw a full 20 points of spirit were deducted. However, she dared not rest for too long and she began to peruse around the luxurious living room after a couple minutes of breather. If the outside details were showy, the house''s interiors were just gaudy. There was a mishmash of expensive displays and antiques. The upholstery had patterns and even the cornices had intricate designs. It was visually exhausting. It was like the owner was a peacock. Maybe he was. Anyway, she immediately held the items in an attempt to sell them. She was surprised to find that, basically, every display had value. [+2 gold] [+4 gold] [+23 silver] [+12 silver] [+3 gold] Elated, she happily continued exploring the rooms of the house, killing a few more servant zombies along the way. She earned quite a bit of money from the first floor alone. As she walked, her eyes were attracted to a wall-mounted rack not too far away, and her green eyes brightened. "A golf club set!" She uttered, her strides taking her in front of it. It was a complete set, made of cutting-edge materials like a titanium head. She looked at it in excitement and determined the best weapon would be the golf driver or the Wood-1, which remained in her hand while she kept the rest inside her space. She then went to the kitchen and took all bottled water and food with a long shelf life. Satisfied, Althea went to the next floor and ended up in the mistress''s¡­ er... sister-in-law''s room. She knew whose room it was because this woman loved pink to the point that it was pathological. Every time she ambled and jogged around the neighborhood, anyone could see her figure by virtue of her bright-colored clothes alone. Anyway, after shuffling through the woman''s items, she found the jewelry and exchanged it for a few hundred silver. Althea then went to the master''s bedroom and took in a few high-quality coats and leather attires for men and women. She found all the valuables, watches, and the like and got hundreds of silver and dozens of gold coins in exchange. It took her a while to find the safety deposit box though. After a lot of effort, she eventually found it in the study, under the carpet floor. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She didn''t bother to open it and exchanged it directly, surprised to find that her balance increased by scores of gold coins. Politicians were really rich. In hard currency, too. She exited the house to the east wall and repeated the old trick. It was just that the garden of this neighbor was full of rockery, so she didn''t dare jump down carelessly. She did the same thing with this one and proceeded to a few more abodes. After four more houses, she had already gained quite a bit. She thanked the heavens that she had the foundation for self-defense. Since her husband learned, she and Ansel learned too. Especially when he became a soldier, in which case their repertoire of fighting knowledge expanded tremendously in turn. How many stalkers she handled with the techniques she learned, she didn''t even know. What surprised her the most was the lack of animals though, at first she was fully prepared for encountering zombie pets because of the trouble the mutts caused her. But¡­ after so many houses, she had yet to encounter another one. Then she saw the untransformed body of the guard dogs, and then rats, and cats. She realized that whatever it was that affected people''s genes and turned them into zombies, it was too much for most animals. She felt sad for the animals, but at least they didn''t have to suffer through this hell. She shook her head of the thoughts. She had no time to feel sorry for others right now. With that thought, she continued her ''trip'' after another short break. Using her ''armor'' bug, she breezed through a full seven more houses and finally checked on her status during a short break. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 1 (585/1000) Life: 200/200 Spirit: 102/200 (-5%) Physical: 30 (-5%) Agility: 27 (-20%) Attack: 11 (+1) Defense: 16 (+3) Mana: 100 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [EQUIPMENT LIST Head: Face mask +0 Defense Ears: None Body: Leather jacket +1 Defense, Cotton Shirt +0 Defense Arms: None Legs: Leather pants +1 Defense Hands: Metal Rod +1 Attack Feet: Rubber boots +1 Defense, +0 Agility ] [WEALTH: 89 gold coins, 1522 silver coins, 2330 copper coins] Her biggest gain though was the baby products. Although it was only an opened can of powdered milk and diapers, it reminded her that she needed to stock up on these as well. Sigh, she almost forgot her babies'' food. Another thing she learned was about the survival rates of human beings. In all of the houses, there were no other survivors. At all. This survival rate was not even 5%... She felt heavy at this realization. Her husband, wherever he was, did they have to go through this as well? What about her friends? What about her brother? Did he turn to one of these things? If he didn''t, he was probably surrounded by them now, right? Alas¡­ he was hundreds of kilometers away from her. She could not do anything about it with her current abilities. Worrying would be for naught and wouldn''t help him at all. In the end, she decided to just prepare as much as she could, and maybe they would meet in that Other World and she could support them. It was just that as smooth as she had gone through the first part of the neighborhood, she encountered quite a bit of a challenge in the next house. Chapter 9 - 9: Ansel - Part 1 Aberdeen City, 16 years ago 7-year-old Ansel just felt ringing in his ears, his vision darkening, and his entire body shook in fear. He didn''t know what happened. One time he was playing alone in the sandbox, next it was all dark and cold, and scary. "When will they send the money?" Little Ansel turned his head to the door, hearing an unfamiliar voice. He was answered by another strange voice, one with an annoying screech to it, and the sound alone made the sensitive Ansel frown deeper. "The woman said to give them an hour." "As expected of famous literaties and scientist, gathering funds everywhere isn''t a problem." A disgusting cackle sounded afterward, joined by hoots and celebratory yells. Ansel still didn''t fully understand his situation, but he knew he was in trouble. Was he going to die? Like those rabbits in Animal Planet? However, before he dwelled on this thought, he felt a tap on his shoulders and he flinched by instinct. He almost yelled out when a small hand blocked his mouth. His eyes widened as he saw the most beautiful eyes staring back at him. "Shhhhhh!" She mumbled cutely, placing her free index finger on her lips. She then turned her head to behind the barrel. She waved her hand at him, telling him to follow. It was a small hole hidden behind the barrels, he watched as she crawled inside and her butt even got stuck in the hole. After struggling she managed to squeeze in, and the sight made even the most timid kid, him, chuckle. But when she disappeared, little Ansel couldn''t help but just stare at the passage, not really knowing what to do. But then her small head appeared again and she stared at him with a frown. ''What are you doing?'' She mouthed. ''Come on!'' His body moved on its own to follow. He was smaller than she was so he didn''t struggle to enter at all. It was just that his arms touched sticky substances that made his skin crawl. However, before he could even look at her with tears in his eyes, she was already crawling meters away from him, totally unaffected by the dirt. Seeing that there was no one to comfort him, he pursed his lips and followed. Following her lead, he crawled with her on the dirty floor covered with disgusting muck and sludge. It was still dark, cold, and damp¡ª But he didn''t feel as scared as he had been. ____ [20:34:23] Ansel ran to the door, closing it, using his whole weight to block the door. Heaving a deep breath, he used much of his strength to quickly pull the side table, blocking the door from the feral creature pushing on the other side. The door continued to knock but fortunately, the metallic door was stable enough. Unless the zombies found out that they could pull the double swing door to open it, he was fine for now. Finally getting a bit of respite, his legs gave out and he found himself lying on the floor. His hair was akin to a chicken nest, body was covered in blood and gore, totally unlike his usual suave self. This moment of calm after so many hours allowed him some sort of respite, long enough for him to finally absorb what was happening. The world had gone crazy. One moment he was having a decent dinner with rich clients after a successful deal, the next moment they all froze, twitched, and started salivating at the sight of him. Since then, he had been in the restaurant switching hiding places from room to room. He was also a bit lucky that another more active survivor was running around and attracting the aggro. Because of this, he simply had to estimate where they would be running towards and try to avoid as many zombies as he could, using the silent gun he got from the client''s guards to kill those that came in his way. He pulled out his phone, and frowned at the fact that there was still no signal. How was Althea? He couldn''t help but imagine a very pregnant Althea running from these blasted things in aghast. However, thinking how she had always been headstrong, combined with her skills and wit, she was probably doing better than he was. Not to mention, she was staying in the suburbs. There should be fewer zombies, right? He looked at his last gun, on its last few bullets. They were all taken from the client''s bodyguards, and he had already scrapped a few in the past few hours. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It could be said that he was still a bit lucky. If the deal had happened in any other place in Eden country, the guards wouldn''t have been able to smuggle guns in. He shivered at the thought of having no decent weapon in the midst of these ugly smelly monsters. He''d rather self-destruct than turn into one of those horrid pieces of existence! Speaking of, he needed to find a new weapon lest he joined this army of zombies. He opened up his phone and looked at the saved map, planning his route back to Aberdeen City. Maybe he could also find a good place to get a new weapon. A normal drive would take at least half a day, let alone now that cars were parked in the middle of the road, making it virtually impossible to breeze through the streets as they could''ve. His shoulder slumped in disappointment. When will he see Althea again? Then he remembered a new train line opened from the neighboring city to Bruno City, which was not far from home. This train was fully AI-automated, maybe it was still operational? The phone and radio signals might be lost, but seeing as there was still electricity it seemed that it hadn''t been interrupted. Hey, either way, he really didn''t have a choice. No matter what, he had to be within her vicinity. Only that way would he ever have peace. Chapter 10 - 10: Ansel - Part 2 Calming himself, he took time to take a look at his Stats. [STATS: Name: Ansel Witt Age: 23 Level: 1 (15/1000) Life: 150/200 Spirit: 92/200 Physical: 42 Agility: 35 Attack: 21 Defense: 17 Mana: 100 Physical Potential: S Mental potential: A+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Fire Titles: None Overall rank: A Current Status: Weakened. ] [EQUIPMENT LIST Head: None Ears: None Body: Wool Suit, Cotton Polo +0 Defense Arms: None Legs: Wool Pants +0 Defense Hands: Gun +Attack indeterminate Feet: leather shoes +1 Defense, +0 Agility ] [WEALTH: 43 gold, 0 silver, 130 copper] As a gamer, he naturally had an idea of what those stats meant. Although, he was a bit disappointed that many gold bars only got him a few scores of gold. The client paid in gold and he had not had the time to gather other things. For one thing, other than the gun he stole, he didn''t have anything else after so many hours of hiding. The so-called space backpack only contained a couple of mint candies he got from a countertop. He sighed in self-pity and looked around, but froze when he finally realized where he was. His sexy peach blossom eyes brightened at the sight. He was in the kitchen, an empty one at that¡ª the zombies must have gotten out a long time ago¡ªleaving this oasis of normalcy for him to find. His sights landed on kitchen knives as well as those huge scissors used to cut meat on table grills. He took them all into his space. He took everything that could be used as a weapon, including the chopping board. He scurried to the fridge and filled the backpack with all the food and water that could fit. Mostly filling food like rice and flour were given priority. A bit of meat and fruits were added, and the rest was potable water. After looking around for a bit to see if he missed anything, he went to find the back door of the kitchen to exit from there¡ª Only to see about a dozen zombies turning their heads to him simultaneously. His scalp numbed at the sight, each hair on his body rising in fear. He quickly closed the door and dragged another table to bar it. On cue, the door started banging and it felt like his heart rose to his throat. He tried to gulp the nerves down but to no avail. Damned city, even back alleys have so many people!! Fortunately, after several minutes, he was certain that the obstacle worked. He eventually got used to the banging and scratching on the door, finally letting his heart get back into place. He made a quick calculation and decided that handling the zombies inside was still easier than those outside. He looked at the ceilings. This city was one of the older cities that hadn''t been developed much, so many of the cities here had relatively older systems. He watched an old movie that ventilation in the olden days could fit people. He looked up the walls and saw the vents, his ears could hear some rumbling sounds from within. He hoped that there weren''t meat-grinding fans that would turn him into a minced-Ansel. His sister..., he didn''t know if she would laugh or cry at him at that time. As for Garan... he would probably sneer. ''Shame,'' he''d say, ''All that training for nothing.'' Anyway, he tried to make a mental map of the building, trying to find his way to the parking lot. After heaving a sigh, he dragged a table to the area underneath the vent, trying to open it. Because it wasn''t a common sight in his generation, he struggled for a bit, until he realized he needed something thin to pull it out. He stepped down and looked for something that could do the job and settled with a small knife. It was not easy because he didn''t have the right tool and he was starting to get impatient. He almost dropped the knife many times, and when the lid finally loosened he almost cheered like a little brat. It was just that the moment he entered, his eyes twitched. "Fuuuuudge!" Spiderwebs. Dust. Grime. Everywhere. On every freaking surface! Whoever filmed those movies was liars! Obviously, these things were clean in the movies! He should sue!! However, it was still better than rotting meat trying to eat him, so he sucked it up and just covered his mouth and nostrils with a handkerchief to avoid getting lung disease or something. As he crawled, arm by arm, leg by leg, he couldn''t help but enter a melancholic mood. He was reminded of that time he escaped from kidnappers¡­ only Althea wasn''t here with him. He did not dwell in self-pity for too long, primarily because the place was uncomfortable to sulk in, and he steeled himself, crawling forward. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It took him a full hour to get somewhere downstairs without a damned zombie. Ignoring his inevitable sneezing and the cringe from all the dust that stuck to him because of the grime¡ªhell, he felt like puking¡ªhe trudged on, like a brave warrior. He would eventually be able to find the relevant intersections. Fortunately, he had a decent memory and knew which hallway he had passed by. After carefully opening the lid from inside, he jumped down with the knife in his hand, ready to attack whatever glomped at him. Two zombies were nearby and they heard the noise, running towards him. Fortunately, zombies were a bit slower than normal people due to rigor mortis. Not to mention, he was not without martial arts training. This was because he didn''t want to lose to the nominal brother who took all the admiration of his sister and parents. So... dealing with two zombies was no problem at all. He gained confidence as headed towards the elevator only to hear scratching noises and growls quickly approaching. It was also a zombie, but it was a familiar one. It was that survivor who had been kindly distracting the restaurant zombies a few hours back. He felt a little sad. That guy didn''t make it, after all. However, his lax attitude quickly disappeared when he saw how the damned thing moved. It was at least thrice as fast as a normal zombie, okay? A bit panicked, he could barely block the zombie''s attacks with his kitchen knife. He basically could only defend himself for several rounds until he started to be more proactive in attacking. Only¡­ the damned thing was really fast. A few minutes later, the zombie still couldn''t be taken down. He feared the noise would attract more zombies. He was losing. And he was not reconciled. At this time, an idea popped out his head and he quickly took out a random piece of meat from the backpack space. Sure enough, the zombie was momentarily distracted but this one second was enough for Ansel to stab through its head. [+15 copper, +15 experience] Respecting the holy principle of No Waste, he took back the bait-meat. However even if the zombie didn''t touch it, he wouldn''t be eating it after landing on the floor with who-knew-what kind of zombie goo. He marked the meat and thought that if he ever found a fishing rod this would be its bait. After letting himself breathe for a few seconds, he dragged himself to the elevator. He closed his eyes and let himself rest for a few seconds of travel time. After all, he knew that he still had a loooong way to go before getting back home. Chapter 11 - 11: Going Home Ding! The elevator door opened, and another dozen or so zombies turned their heads to him. With a bit more confidence this time, he threw the meat to the face of the nearest zombie. The zombies rushed towards the fresh bloody meat and he took advantage to run towards his car. He took most of the meat he had in stock, throwing them at opportune times until he reached his precious baby. His car was actually a bulky-awesome-manly SUV model Monster 931. Most people would think he''d own sexy sports cars like the Leopard. In reality, he was a bit of a macho and he liked larger cars, unlike his pretty boy image. By the time the meat was gone, he was already inside the car. "Whew¡­" he gasped, resting on the very comfortable upholstered chair of his car with its ergonomic design and breathable fabric made of special synthetic materials. He looked at the unchanged interior of his baby with a smile. "Forever reliable, yes you are¡­" he said, wiping the headboard, the backseats, and the wheels. And finally, after taking a short breather, he turned on the engine. He reversed the car and stepped on the gas¡ª Thump! [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] "Oh?" It quickly dawned on him about what he just hit and his eyes brightened. After that, he headed to his target location, running over zombies and gained experience and copper by the way. [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] [+5 Copper, +5 Experience.. While he couldn''t take the lives of all zombies he ran over, he still made a decent amount of experience overall. The road had been much smoother ever since. ... "Ah, my baby is the best~" He smiled, driving through the zombies, while avoiding major obstacles to the best of his ability. This car, hereby referred to as Barbara, was a top-of-the-line monster he bought with most of his dividends from the company. Not only did it run fast and smooth, it had a strong bodice and quiet engine. It also had superior high-ground clearance, off-road capabilities, and a powerful engine that allowed it to just run over zombie corpses without the carcasses affecting its run. It was like he bought this car for the apocalypse. Well, almost. Scratches were still inevitable, unfortunately. This wasn''t a monster truck that could crush other cars after all. When the car''s metallic armor screeched as it scrapped other cars, Ansel teared up a bit. "I''m so sorry Barbara, but we have to trudge through this!" It was painful, almost like he was being scratched himself, but he had no choice but to press on the gas, even when he knew his Barbara would get dented. Ah, the torture. Anyway, except when there were road blockages that he had to crash towards, he was basically unimpeded and unaffected by the chasing zombies for a good hour (gaining some experience as he went) until he finally neared the border of the city. He looked at the back mirror and saw that there were still scores of zombies running after him. He took out the bell counter he stole from the hotel reception and threw it out of the car. The small sound was enough to distract the remaining zombies for a few seconds. It was enough for him to maneuver an escape. Well, sort of. After all, there were still plenty of zombies in the suburbs. Fortunately, it was much calmer, and even with the new zombies running after him, he felt very calm. He found zombies a little cute now. But then he remembered the dents and scratches on Barbara and his hits became personal again. [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] [+5 Copper, +5 Experience] Sure enough, only huge cars were real cars. Anyway, he continued to happily run over zombies. After running past the suburbs, he arrived at a relatively abandoned highway. Even if there were zombies, they were few and sparse. Even if they got to him, they would be run over by the car. After driving for a bit, he found a place to park his car for a bit of rest. As he sat, he looked at his stats. [STATS: Name: Ansel Witt Age: 23 Level: 1 (165/1000) Life: 165/200 Spirit: 45/200 Physical: 42 Agility: 35 Attack: 21 Defense: 17 Mana: 100 Physical Potential: S Mental potential: A+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Fire Titles: None Overall rank: A Current Status: Weakened. ] [EQUIPMENT LIST Head:None Ears: None Body: Wool Suit, Cotton Polo +0 Defense Arms: None Legs: Wool Pants +0 Defense Hands: Gun +Attack indeterminate Feet: leather shoes +1 Defense, +0 Agility ] [WEALTH: 43 gold, 0 silver, 410 copper] He wondered what would happen if his Spirit turned 0? Would his soul fly out of his body? Well, he decided not to know by experience. So, he closed his eyes and took a well-deserved rest, even if just for a while. [19:44:53] He was woken up by the sound of gunshots not far from him. At first, he was annoyed, but soon his eyes showed a tinge of interest. After all, such noisy guns were really old school, discontinued all the way to before he was born. Did someone use antiques to defend himself? Then again, old guns were better than no guns, so this dude was definitely better off than others. Curiously, he looked over at their direction and eventually found the action. He also saw a huge middle-aged man apparently losing bullets and was now using it as a hammer instead. Although he was not naive enough to save a person because of kindness¡ªhe was someone who was kidnapped once¡ªthis dude had been the only survivor he''d seen after so long. Not to mention such a brave real man like this one. He decided to help out by pressing the horn to distract the zombies, attracting about half of the zombies to him. Then, he proceeded to drive away. Sadly a few minutes later there was a huge blockage in front of him. It was a deciduous tree felled by a truck. Just as he stared at the obstruction and pondered on what to do, Ansel heard a breathless shout behind him. "I''ll help you if you help me!" His eyebrows rose as he looked at the rearview mirror. It was that gun-hammer guy from before. "PLEASE!" He yelled as he swung his hoe (where did that come from?) to the head of the zombie. Knowing there was little choice, Ansel just sighed and made a backing, crushing a lot of the zombies, earning him a bit of experience again. (At this rate, it wouldn''t be long until he reached level 2.) The man didn''t wait for the surviving zombies to stand up, he quickly killed them and jumped in the car. "Please make a backing. There''s an alley on the right. I''ve been there and the road is clear!" Ansel nodded and followed instructions. Now that he noticed, the man had a mellow voice and he was also very soft-spoken, totally incongruent with his muscular body. After a while, they did find a clear road. He accelerated past the zombies, running over a few again, before the reached the high way with relatively few cars and zombies. Several minutes of silence passed before either of them spoke up. "Thank you." The older man said, taking out a few bolts of silver. "This is half of my earnings so far. Please take it." Ansel was not polite and took the few bits of silver. Of course, his willingness to pay definitely added favorability to his direction. [Received! +12 silver] The man didn''t speak for a while and just gathered his breath. Some moments of silence passed by them, and Ansel just drove as if he were alone. "My name is Tom. I live a few blocks from here," the man finally spoke after a while. "Ansel." He just answered. "Where do you get off?" He asked, just a bit curious. The man paused in thought. "Where are you heading?" "Z city." The answer seemed to have excited the man. "Can I go with you? My brother''s family is in Mocci Town." Mocci was a town under the jurisdiction of Z city. "I will pay you with all the copper I have. I have 100 so far." Ansel did not agree immediately. Instead, he looked back at the man''s performance from before. "You''re already level 1 as well?" "Yes." He nodded. "Okay, but I won''t protect you, and you better not hold me back." "Of course, of course!" Ansel smirked and focused on driving again, dark green eyes fixed on the relatively clear roads ahead. Ignoring the sparse zombie population, it was as if he could see the person he wanted to see at the end of the road. ''Wait for me, Althea.'' he mused, ''I''ll find you, definitely.'' Chapter 12 - 12: Upgraded Zombies In the 9th house, she couldn''t help but look a bit more carefully at the surroundings. Like her own home, it had relatively old designs, telling her the original owners were like her nominal grandparents, obtaining the property very early on. It had a classic design, simple patterns, with warm color tones, and very homely. When there was no one who answered her knock, she entered the house with her now-practiced unlocking skills, which was easier because she was familiar with the lock designs. She passed the foyer and the anteroom, weapon out and ready to strike. In this house lived a family of five: The two parents, a pair of twin children, and a surviving grandfather. She could find this out from the various photos displayed on the walls. The largest one was a large picture frame over 1 meter in height, except there was also a grandmother in the photo. But it could be seen that in the more recent photos (as seen by the growth of the children), the grandmother had already passed away. They looked like a really happy family, and somehow Althea hoped that she would find survivors here more than others. She decided to start with the upper floors going down, going from room to room to find valuables. There wasn''t much though, even in the main bedroom, and it was obvious that the family lived a relatively simple life despite their being well-off. It was a little endearing. Too bad their house was several blocks away and they didn''t have any interactions before this tragedy... Shaking the thoughts off, Althea passed a few more rooms and eventually ended up in one of the last rooms on that floor. She frowned when she noticed that there were traces of blood in the area. It was like someone bloodied was dragged hurriedly across the floor and heading towards the final room. She didn''t follow this trace for now and focused on the door at hand. Tentatively raising her hand, she knocked on it a bit, a little hopeful at the sound. But when she heard it was the familiar scratching and growls, she immediately raised her weapon and opened the door. "ROAR!" Her body moved by instinct to hit the most vulnerable part she could access at this angle: The neck. She took it down with one hit and saw that it was the zombie father who greeted her. Inside, she met the mom and the grandfather and quickly handled them as well. She looked around and saw it was a study. The three adults were probably having a meeting of sorts when it happened. There were still teas and teacups on the floor, the carpet drenched with it. There was a plethora of awards on the wall¡ªfrom the father to the grandchildren. As well as a small bookshelf. Very old-fashioned, as most people read e-books now. If she had more space, she would''ve wanted to bring these treasures with her. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sigh. Shaking her head in regret, Althea looked more carefully around the study. She pondered whether there were hidden compartments and safety deposit boxes but to no avail. Eventually, she gave up and resumed her trip to the rest of the house. This time, she decided to follow the blood and her feet stopped at a sound. Her eyes brightened a bit and she felt a little hopeful. She raised her delicate hands and gently knocked on the door. Knock knock, knock knock She also heard a rustle inside as if responding to her noise. It wasn''t like the slow scratching sounds made by the zombies. It was more like people dropping things because they were startled. It couldn''t have been made by a zombie, she thought. Since the three adults were gone, then it must''ve been the children. The children survived! Unconsciously, her pace hastened a little and she hurried to open the door. Two swift figures immediately lunged at her, with speeds comparable to the mutt she encountered earlier. This was worse because there were two of them, and they were bigger. It was the girl-boy twin of the couple. They were about 13 years old, but the savagery in their eyes and form could scare the soul out of anyone. She followed her body''s instinct to hit wherever she felt like there would be an attack. Simultaneous attacks from two sides rendered her unable to follow the movement with her mind, so she just let her body''s instinct do the work. How many times she almost got scratched, she could no longer count. She had no choice but to leave the house and jump through the railing of the second floor. Luckily she was flexible and while enough so she managed to use the patterned wall as a landing to cushion her fall. But the movement was too wild for a pregnant woman like her, regardless of her strengthened physique. She felt bile rise up her stomach and she could not stop it. It was at this moment that the zombies rushed to her and she accidentally threw up on one of them. The other twin smelled the vomit on his sister and attacked her, instead. "Well, that''s one way of putting waste into use." She mused, quite proud, but not before sprinting as far as she could. Soon the twins realized that the fresh meat was gone and ran after her. She quickly used another elevation change to make them lose their balance. One of the twin teenagers followed and jumped carelessly, falling down on her face. Althea immediately raised her club to repeatedly crush the zombie''s head. The force bent the golf club and she threw it away and pulled out another club, continuing the hitting until the body stopped twitching. [+15 copper, +15 experience] She blocked the teeth of the other twin that ran over, kicking it with all her strength, and putting her whole weight to the hit. [+15 copper, +15 experience] She looked around for any more signs of danger, her heart felt like it rose up to her brain, her erratic heartbeat echoing inside her head. Her feet gave way as soon as she was sure it was safe, sliding down against the wall, and eventually ending up on the floor. It was only now that she realized the amount of red blood in both of the children. Zombies did not bleed, just excreted disgusting fluid and pus. This meant that the children didn''t turn to monsters the first time. Rather, they turned into zombies by being bitten by their family members. It was a heartbreaking image to imagine. Was that why they were so strong? This meant that those who had survived the initial transformation would turn to much stronger zombies. And when she thought things couldn''t get any worse¡ªit would. For a long time after that, her body shivered from all the adrenaline it had to release. Shakily, her body bent down to hug herself and her belly. And she broke into a sob. Chapter 13 - 13: New Weapon Althea didn''t dwell too much after letting out the sobs. But¡­ she couldn''t help but look at the dead zombie twins and her heart constricted again, imagining what they could''ve gone through. How scared the children must''ve been to see the adults turn into monsters. How heartbroken they probably were to be attacked by the adults they trusted, filled with intent to kill. And... how hopeless they must''ve felt when they turned to monsters themselves. She couldn''t help but sob again. It took her a good five minutes before she gathered herself, blaming the darned hormones for her outbursts. When she stood up though, her emerald eyes couldn''t help but look at the kids. It felt uncomfortable just leaving their corpses lying there. So after a moment of thought, she decided to cremate them. Just as she was looking for some gasoline in the house, she noticed that one of the wall displays had dropped from the scuffle. From the marks, it should have been just out of her eye level. From the mess on the floor, her sights fixated on an intricate metallic scabbard just lying there. She walked to it and pulled out the handle, and a sharp thin blade revealed itself, making her eyes shine. Good weapon! She almost missed this!! Excited, she took it for a few swings, cutting the wood furniture like tofu. However, just as she was getting carried away, she felt a sharp discomfort in her lower back. "Ugh," She sniffed, "Pregnancy is so inconvenient." She forgot that she was pregnant, and that her Spirit was too close to the 50% mark. Gathering herself, she resumed her quest to find gasoline, which she really did find in such a traditional household. She poured gasoline inside the house and burned it. Hoping to give the family a cremation, letting them join the soil sooner than wait to rot like all the others. As she stood tens of meters away, her eyes reflecting the large blaze, she started to analyze what she had encountered so far. At least 95% of the population had turned into zombies from the initial transformation, while most animals died from the get-go. As for the few that survived, they turned to zombies that retained their physical advantages while they were still alive. As for the remaining 5% (at most) of the human population¡­ they seemed to have survived. It was just that if they transformed into zombies midway, they would end up becoming upgraded versions of these monsters. These monsters were at least thrice as strong and thrice as quick as the normal zombies. Their sense of smell was also stronger, so her little technique of covering her scent with zombie goo wouldn''t work. She realized that the smoothness of her journey until now made her feel complacent (again) and realized she had a tendency to do so. She heaved a sigh, thinking it was time to rest and regroup. She took a peek at her stats, studying it. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 1 (655/1000) Life: 200/200 Spirit: 102/200 (-5%) Physical: 30 (-5%) Agility: 27 (-20%) Attack: 11 (+1) Defense: 16 (+2) Mana: 100 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] As she headed back home, she didn''t dare to jump above fences anymore. She went out the gates and used the normal route and naturally encountered more zombies. With her now-skillful swinging of her katana, she quickly killed those in the way. Fortunately, there were no upgraded zombies. It was just that the quantity still took a small toll on her spirit. The decrease was small, a mere two points, but it triggered a chain reaction. Like thunder, a lot of pregnancy symptoms attacked her simultaneously. Her back suddenly burst in pain, her legs weakened, and her stomach begging to puke. Imbalanced, she could only lean on the wall to support herself, hoping no upgraded zombies would find her. She looked at her stats and saw her spirit at 99, less than half. So many symptoms of pregnancy appeared only now after so long, she reckoned it had to do with the spirit being less than half. Dragging herself back home, house after house, she finally arrived within her walls and went directly to the bathroom to vomit. She gasped and ended up on the cold tile floor. It took her several minutes before she could catch her breath. Spirit, spirit, she needed more spirit. However, instead of just sleeping it off, she decided to take a shower. She was no clean-freak but she couldn''t handle all the grime and blood¡ªfrom those twin children¡ªon her any longer. She checked on the water in the shower to see if it was heated. When it entered the right temperature she stepped in the shower and finally heaved out a refreshing breath. Not only this but she also opened the tub so she could soak a little in one of her herbal medicine solutions. It was fortunate that civilization has long graduated from its dependence on fossil fuels. Otherwise, she''d have no electricity, maybe even water, within a day of this calamity. She couldn''t imagine being covered with zombie goo the whole day. After doing a basic rinse in the shower, she took the bucket to gather water to place in the space. Water was too important, the most important resource for survival, and she set a quarter of her space for water. She sat down in her bathtub, letting out a moan of relief as she felt the soothing water cover her body. She rested for a while before standing up, drying her hair and body before dropping on her comfortable bed. After waking up, she finally had the energy to study her current situation. [WEALTH: 153 gold coins, 1822 silver coins, 4330 copper coins] She was very curious about what she could buy with this and frankly, she had a little over-compulsive urge to convert everything to gold. However, while she had the option of converting 100 copper to 1 silver, and 100 silver to 1 gold, it was for a price of 1% for each conversion, so she just left it as was. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She took out a notebook and listed down what else she needed to gather. From the houses, she actually got some items as well. Like that hundred-thousand-worth pair of hiking backpacks, for one. Speaking of which, she was curious. The system said that items inside the space would be taken upon immigration. She wondered if other attached items could also be taken? After all, they wouldn''t get there naked without clothes, right? Probably? Maybe? Still, she dutifully added a few more changes of clothing for all seasons in her space. Just in case. Chapter 14 - 14: Level 2 [16:34:23] Althea woke up from her alarm after sleeping for a few hours, eyes meeting the weak light of dawn. After cleaning herself up and eating breakfast, she decided to take an inventory of her space. A lot had been added as she ventured around her neighborhood. For organization purposes, she divided the space into six areas. She arranged for a part purely for drinkable water. Another two parts were filled with bags of rice and flour, as well as several cubic centimeters of canned and dried foods, fruits, and meats. She also made sure she had complete sets of seasonings, a lot of them. She was not a good cook, but she (allegedly) could do some basic meals. Seasoning was essential for her to make a palatable meal. However, as someone who mixed herbs for a living, she was not without talent. It was just that there had always been someone better at her at this so she let them cook instead. Now that she didn''t have a choice, she made sure recipes were downloaded to her external drive for the sake of her sanity. In retrospect, she had never ever cooked for her husband before¡­ it had always been the other way around. She swore that when they found each other after this, she would cook him a meal not inferior to what he fed her. She didn''t bother put perishable food though. After seeing some of the cooked food lose freshness, she confirmed that the time in the backpack space was not static, hence she did not bother wasting space for easily perishable food. She went to her laboratory and took her handy custom-made lab equipment. This was custom-made equipment she had done because she was often outside, often in the mountains, gathering specimens. It was basically a carry-on lab and also very expensive. Half of her earnings last year went to this, how could she be willing to waste it? She even named it Tori, because she really loved it quite a bit. She also took her portable external memory which was only as big as a toenail, as well as her state-of-the-art tablet. It contained terabytes of knowledge automatically downloaded by her AI assistant. Because of her field in science, she had always had the habit of downloading a lot of information that may or may not be useful. She didn''t think she knew everything and she had only skimmed through a small part of this knowledge so far. Not to mention, she often needed to read references, especially in places without signal when she had to explore and camp. Most importantly, these external drives also contained soft copies of thousands of photos taken through the years. They were all of her family, friends, and her husband. There were also a few printed pictures in her space. She also had a small box containing the seeds of the herbs she had, and she also took the herbs in her greenhouse and handled them. Of course, how could she forget her portable solar panel chargers? Overall the entire tech collection occupied two parts of the floor space. She placed the clothing, living essentials, and the baby products on top to save space. There were also camping items like flashlights, lighters, tents, and bags. With this, she still had over one-sixths of the space left. For now she filled up the remaining space with food and snacks that she could eat on the way. She also took in some raw meat she could maybe use as a decoy. Although zombie''s sense of smell was normal, she thought that maybe they''d be a bit more sensitive to raw meat. Ideally, other than some space left for emergencies, the rest should be filled up with legitimate weapons. Weapons. If she was to get to even the nearest baby products store, she really couldn''t handle so many zombies by herself. Not to mention there were definitely upgraded zombies and maybe zombie creatures roaming around there. She must have a good weapon before taking a risk. Not just any weapon, but hot weapons. She searched her memory and, after a while, finally remembered a rumor amusedly told to her by Nanny. They¡­ seemed to have a drug lord for a neighbor? It was just a rumor, yes, but it was worth a try. Who knows... maybe she''d have some unexpected finds. ... The drug lord''s house was right at the end of the villa area, so she decided to also pass by the villas she hadn''t been to by the way. There were about 12 houses between the two. The first two houses were relatively smooth, earning another bunch of gold and silver coins. Actually, for the most part, there were thousands of silver coins and only a handful of gold. But there was a very interesting house among them. In one of the houses, there was a sculpture made of gold. It didn''t fit the backpack space so she had thought she may not be able to cash it in. However, she just needed to touch it and will it to cash it in. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Received! +32 gold] Smooth. She did notice her spirit lost 5 points, however, so she definitely had to watch her consumption even closer. However, what she didn''t know was that if level 0 survivors tried this, it wouldn''t have worked. It could be said that Althea was still a little lucky with her timing. _____ She jumped over the fence of the third house (okay, using the ladder), but she wasn''t even able to take a few steps inside. She immediately backed away by instinct, narrowly avoiding the sharp bite of a dog. Then by instinct, she ran in another direction and rolled over, avoiding another one. Two!!! Although it seemed like a Doberman, its fur had a different texture, definitely a mixed breed. The other one was definitely a mutt, not owned by the villa owner. Even as she was escaping from their sharp teeth, she couldn''t help but think of how dogs with mixed genes were so much stronger than inbred dogs. Speaking of which, what about the animals outside¡­? How many mutts, stray cats, and others would be out there? She shuddered at the thought of zombie rats¡­ Of course, this was with the assumption that they survived the initial transformational forces, which wasn''t very likely seeing that most house pets didn''t survive. Roar! She flinched and forced herself to concentrate on the fight, holding her katana tightly. The two dogs charged and she hit one dog while kicking the other one. A second later it was the other mutt that was hit. This went on for a long time and she could feel her spirit reducing at a palpable rate. When she finally immobilized one zombie mutt, her pregnancy symptoms had begun acting up again. "This can''t go on." She looked around if there was anything else she could use. Ignoring the body pains, she ran to the shed. Waiting for the dog to enter, she quickly ran out and closed the door. She ran back to the immobilized mutt to finish him off, turning around to hit the other dog. [+10 copper, +10 experience] [+10 copper, +10 experience] [Congratulations on entering Level 2!] She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that another 100 points of spirit were added when she leveled up. In turn, the horrible pregnancy symptoms subsided a little so that she could finally walk properly. Like before, there were no material rewards for leveling up, but her health boosted up again and she felt like she could jump from roof to roof now even with her two babies. She could also see clearly dozens of meters away and could hear noises from afar. Unfortunately, her sense of smell also sharpened and she immediately felt a little dizzy. Couldn''t she choose which sense to sharpen?! Chapter 15 - 15: Survivors [13:34:33] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 2 (250/3000) Life: 250/300 Spirit: 230/300 (-5%) Physical: 50 (-5%) Agility: 47 (-20%) Defense: 40 Mana: 200 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [WEALTH: 164 gold coins, 2122 silver coins, 4330 copper coins] Now that her health had recovered, she decided to hit the other houses all the way to the so-called drug lord. She was amazed by how clearly she could now see the details of the other houses. If she made a noise, she could basically hear even the slightest of the reactive noises nearby, as long as they were outside the house. She thought that with a few more levels, she should be able to hear inside houses with insulation. The next house averaged about 7 zombies each and, fortunately, there were no animals or upgraded zombies. Unfortunately, the loot was also average. The katana was also still the best weapon so far. There were actually fencing swords but she thought it was flimsy and may not handle the skull of an upgraded zombie. She was still worrying about her future weapon when she arrived at the next house, just before the alleged drug lord''s. In this house, she noticed something a bit different. In the other houses, any noise she made attracted zombies not just outside the fence, but also inside it. For instance, she should be attracting zombies just by opening the gate. But the gate was already wide open and, even when she made a bit of noise, the yard was still quiet. At first, she just thought the zombies were all inside the house. She habitually knocked on the door, asking if there was someone there. She was actually a bit noncommittal because she had been to so many houses and no one answered with anything other than a growl. "Who?" An awkward croak from a male. She flinched. Surprisingly, there really was someone. She cleared her throat, a little excited. "Hi, this is Althea Witt from #2 Holmes Street." She paused, pondering. "I''m walking around houses to see if there are survivors." There was silence on the other end for a while. Althea sighed and gestured to go when she heard a sound from the door. A small square on the eye-level surface of the door slid to reveal transparent glass. This was actually a common design in front doors back in the day. This was in contrast to that of her house which had a small peeping hole that small people could barely reach. From the small opening, she could see an old face filled with wrinkles, his eyes full of vicissitudes, and was looking at her warily. Althea good-naturedly kept her smile and patiently stood in place, not making any sudden movements. The old man stared at her, as if figuring out her purpose, and he soon realized she was a pregnant woman and he seemed to relax, but only a little bit. "What do you want?" He asked, voice small and weak. "We can... share a bit of food but not too much, and only once." After all, they didn''t know how long this tragedy would last. "Oh, no I don''t need food. It''s just that I''ve been to several houses and you were the first survivor I''ve seen." The man''s eyes widened, a hint of disbelief in his expression. "...How many houses?" "...almost all the other houses in the subdivision." "..." After a beat, the old man finally spoke. "How did you deal with those¡­ those monsters?" He then looked closely at her whole body to realize it was full of black blood. Seeing his dawn of understanding, she nodded. "Well, normal zombies tend to ignore me like this. However, it is useless to Zombie animals and upgraded zombies." The door finally opened and the man invited her in. "Please¡­ please tell me more." Althea nodded and entered. She walked gracefully, and one would admire her temperament had she not been covered in zombie innards¡­ The old man led her to the interior of the house, which was filled with rustic color tones and comfortable furniture. As she looked around, her lively eyes landed on a little girl half-hiding behind a partition. Only her head was visible, guarded but curious, and ready to hide the moment their eyes met. She looked about 6 or 7 years old. Very cute. Althea looked very happy to finally see a survivor, especially a child. She then turned to the old man who politely asked her to sit down. She did do so, but her sights couldn''t help but return to the little girl who was revealing her head again, checking her out. Althea laughed, in a very good mood. Because, these two¡­ no matter what, they represented something to her: They represented the hope that she was really not alone in this new, horrible, world. Chapter 16 - 16: Harold and Maya The old man raised his hand to call the little girl. Slowly, the little girl emerged from her hiding place, her curious eyes not leaving the beautiful stranger that entered their house. "This is Maya," the old man said with a small smile. "My daughter." "My name is Harold, by the way." Althea was a bit surprised at the fact that Maya was his daughter. She thought she would be his granddaughter. The man, seemingly aware of her stare, was apparently used to this reaction. He gave her a kind smile, in response. "My wife gave birth very late. Maya is a miracle." They had been trying to have a child for twenty or so years after their marriage. He was already in his fifties and his wife in her late forties when they found out that they had finally gotten pregnant. His wife also died of dystocia because of this. No matter how advanced science was, it could not always cheat death. "My condolences¡­" "Thank you," the old man said, "But, to be honest, I''m just happy we both survived." She nodded. What were the chances, right? She hadn''t found survivors after so long, but suddenly there were two. Althea smiled, "Well, we are blessed," she said before pausing, looking at the two of them in observance. "What do you know about what''s happening?" Harold did not speak immediately, composing his words for fear of sounding too ridiculous. "Well, we know those monsters appeared a few hours ago outside the gate. They wanted to reach out to me but I just hid here." Althea was a bit surprised. "Only you two are in the house?" Otherwise, they wouldn''t have so little experience with zombies. The man nodded. "I am the housekeeper here, and my master allowed my daughter to stay with me as a work benefit. My master generally lives abroad with his family, this is just an inheritance from his parents so he didn''t want to sell it." Althea thought for a while before speaking. "Well, I suggest you kill a few. Take a long tool and poke their heads through the gates." She paused and looked at the little girl. "She should do it too." "What?" The man looked at her in disbelief, suddenly regretting letting her in. Did he bring in a psycho? Althea knew no amount of words could make them understand the weirdness that had been happening in the world. Instead, she took out two of the three remaining golf clubs from the backpack space. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Two things appearing out of thin air was definitely a shocking sight. Harold gasped and Maya even yelled. The little girl suddenly stood up to look at the clubs closely, losing her shyness. "Magic! So cool!" Althea smiled, handing the putter to the girl and the wood to Harold. "It''s a system backpack, you can have it too if you kill those monsters." Harold looked at her warily, but also with curiosity. After some internal monologue, he decided to listen to her more in the end. "Can you tell us why?" He asked, "Why all these things¡­." Why are these things happening to us? "You should''ve heard the news that the sun is dying, right?" She asked and Harold nodded after a thought. "My theory is that the monsters outside had to do with some weird force field that the sun released, mutating the genes of living things. "Of course, this is only my own supposition." She couldn''t help but add. "A force called ''Universe System'', or something, will apparently send us somewhere else before the planet becomes completely uninhabitable¡ªwhich is less than 24 hours." She let this idea sit for a while. She knew it sounded ridiculous. But¡­ wasn''t everything that had been happening the past few hours no less insane? "It''s just that this system should only get triggered when you kill one of those monsters." She continued, calmly explaining. "If you activate it, you will also level up and improve your physique. The more you kill, the stronger you will be. You will also get money. I''m assuming the currency in the system is the currency of the new world." As for how she knew¡­ she didn''t. Not for certain. But it was the only hypothesis she had that made sense. Anyway, regardless of whether or not they activated the system, they would have to fight those things sooner rather than later. She stood up and patted the non-existent dust on her pants. "Well, it''s time for me to go now. Very good to meet you." The other two were taken aback. She was obviously sitting comfortably just now? "Where are you going?" "Exploring. Preparing myself for what''s to come." She only said, not explaining any more. They wouldn''t be able to imagine it, anyway. "For now I suggest you deal with those monsters outside the gate." As she walked to the door, she turned her head to look at the dumbfounded pair. "Be careful." "Y-You, too.." Harold uttered as he finally realized she was really leaving. It was Maya who stood up and went closer. "Bye-bye, pretty sister!" She said and Althea unconsciously smiled. Looking at the girl''s cute large circular eyes, Althea couldn''t help but give a few more tips. She turned to look at Harold. "Try to hit the openings of their bodies like the eyes and the mouth," She told him, her soft palm touching the putter on the girl''s hands. "Their brains must be destroyed. Better if you can decapitate their heads." "...thank you " was all old Harold could say. To be honest, his small brain still hadn''t wrapped around everything she said, but his instincts told him to listen nevertheless. He had no idea he''d be thanking this pregnant girl a lot more in the future. ¡­. Next stop: Drug Lord''s Lair ...was what she wanted to say. There was no way, the Pregnancy Snooze was a real need. She couldn''t speak for other survivors, but she, for one, really needed her rest. Althea had a hunch that it would be troublesome in the last house. Her eyelids were getting heavy, anyway. While the improved body of her level gave her unprecedented strength, she still needed to relax for a bit first. So she climbed up a clean bed of the next villa and... took a well-deserved rest. Chapter 17 - 17: The Largest House [10:29:09] At the very last corner of the villa area sat the largest house, which encompassed three full lots. The fence was over two meters high, and this did not include the electrified mesh wires above it. No wonder people thought the owner was a criminal. Regardless of whether or not it was true, this was a totally suspicious set-up, right? Anyway, with her Coat of Zombie Gunk, she sauntered to the gate and habitually pressed the doorbell. She pressed it again and only saw zombies ambling near her due to the noise. She also heard scratches and roars inside the house. She decided to take it as a sign that there weren''t any survivors. With the katana in her hand, she skilfully swiped the heads of the zombies. She was surprised by the number of them, though. She was only at the entrance and she had already dealt with twenty zombies. Was he having a party or something? But all these zombies were wearing boring suits... Regardless of whether these zombies were partying or were minions, Althea vowed to kill all that blocked her path. The more she did it, the more adept she got, and soon the dozen zombies that followed were really no problem at all. After some time, she managed to enter the house and ended up in the grand hall of the house. Here, she was met with shining riches. For example, a meter-tall golden statue, and it sold for much more than what the politician''s house contained. Excited, she quickly swept the house and earned +120 gold easily from the displays alone. It was amazing. Hyped up, she continued to explore the large house, taking some expensive wine from the cellar. Anyway, it could also be used for wounds. She also met an upgraded zombie but with experience and her current level it was no longer a problem. She eventually landed in the study. Obviously, there were plenty of secret documents she couldn''t be bothered with. Instead, she looked carefully around the room, using her improved eyesight to get clues on his safety deposit box. How did she know there was something valuable here? Because there were a lot of zombies, including an upgraded one, in the area. Sure enough, she saw an area that seemed a bit cleaner but also more worn out than other areas on the bookshelf. With a creak, the rows of books were suddenly adjustable and could be pulled out. A bit excited, she pulled the book, and soon the shiniest safety deposit box she had ever seen was revealed. She dutifully took it in her space, [Received! +323 gold, +4432 silver] She basically skipped along the hallway in glee afterward. Then, she realized there were still more zombies! She swung her katana with increasing skill but she soon noticed that it was getting harder and harder. Her eyebrows furrowed. She was encountering more and more advanced zombies. She looked at the direction they seemed to be coming from and wondered if she should go there. If she did, maybe she would be like those horror movie characters going to places they should be veering away from instead. Anyway, after dealing with every zombie that approached her, she heaved a sigh and sat down on a pretty upholstery to gather back some of the spirits she lost during the sprint. She allowed herself a quarter of an hour of respite... before following the traces of the zombies. But rather than a sight for horror movies (zombies not included), she ended up on a dead end at the end of a hallway. It was covered with a massive painting extending from the ceiling soffit to the ground. It was a weird abstract painting of geometric humans and animals seeming to have a party of sorts. However, thanks to her observation skills and improved eyesight, she soon discovered that there was something unusual about the painting. She looked closer and felt the texture of every surface she could reach and found a little indention at the side of the frame. She saw that in the background there was a piece of grape a little shinier than the others. She pressed it but there was no reaction, and for a moment she thought she might have been too many Illinois James movies. But then she thought, would there be so many advanced zombies on a dead end? She walked back to get a more holistic view of the painting. She took a flashlight from the space to get more lighting and soon realized that one of the tarot cards, placed just below eye level, had a different material. She stared at it for a bit and realized it looked like a glass of sorts. She wondered if it card scanner or something. Anyway, the curious Althea went back to the entrance of the corridor and looked for the card among the bodies lying down, eventually finding one. She unceremoniously used the card to open the elevator and, with a ping, the painting opened up to reveal a super luxurious elevator with a small chandelier on top. She thought that if the elevator would ever fall, the chandelier would kill whoever was inside first. Shaking her head, she entered the elevator anyway. There was only one button, and she pressed it after scanning the card. As she felt the elevator descend, she held her trusted katana in front, ready for the enemies she would face. The door opened and revealed a massive underground warehouse, about as large as the entire lot and as deep as 2 floors. There were long tables with huge amounts of equipment, cash, and mysterious powder. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Good Lord, really a drug lord. At this moment, three upgraded zombies wearing uniforms rushed to her. She didn''t underestimate these guys and threw raw bloody meat at one of them, dealing with three during their moment of distraction. If Ansel was here he would be very proud and say: "That''s my sister alright!" However, what Althea focused on were the beautiful gorgeous marvelous things hanging on their zombie waists¡­ GUNS!! She excitedly dealt with the remaining zombies. After making sure there were no more, she made a quick inventory. There were a total of 32 guns. There was even a plasma gun!! It was illegal to own weapons in their Eden country, so it was estimated this might be her only chance to get a hold of these babies. What was better was that guns nowadays barely made sounds, not to mention this legendary plasma gun which was a true silent killer. In this situation, this was a treasure equivalent to all the other guns combined. Although technology had greatly improved, normal guns still used consumables like bullets. On the other hand, plasma guns used consumables like energy cores filled with the required ionized gas, which were insanely expensive. After all, the tech was still too young. However from what she had read about it and knew this should still be enough to protect her, at least a few days in the new world. Excitedly, she tried putting the precious plasma gun in her space. [No weapons of mass destruction allowed] "..." A bit flinchy, she tried placing the other weapons in her space. Machine guns, grenades, and similar items were also prohibited. [No weapons of mass destruction allowed] [No weapons of mass destruction allowed] [No weapons of mass destruction allowed] [No weapons of mass destruction allowed] "..." A little discouraged, she placed the most basic guns in the backpack and fortunately¡ªthey were allowed. However, there was not enough space to take in everything so she chose some good models that had a lot of bullets in stock. She was fortunate that she forced her husband to take her to the military shooting range for fun/date night. And because she did business with the military, this didn''t become an issue. So, although normal guns weren''t as intuitive as plasma guns, she should still be able to use them. More or less. Walking back up, she couldn''t help but take a short rest again when she saw the luxurious sofas in the living rooms. As she lied down, she checked her account again. [WEALTH: 1482 gold, 23342 silver, 3341 copper coins] She still had over nine hours left. Thinking of all the things she lacked, she decided to go downtown. Anyway, she already took away the valuables at home. With her guns, she had this confidence. Maybe she could even squeeze in an ultrasound session to see why her stomach grew so big. Chapter 18 - 18: Meeting an Old Friend [09:02:22] Althea walked out of the elevator in a happy mood, the plasma gun secured on her back. Then, she needed to find herself a good ride. As such, after a little thought, she decided to go to the drug lord''s garage and see what she could get. When she got there though, she realized that the drug lord''s garage was a warehouse of cars! When she entered, the lights automatically turned on, revealing a huge array of cars for her to choose from. It ranged from the best local sedans, to the foreign ones, to the SUVs, AUVs, and then there were luxury RVs and even helicopters. There was even a small plane¡­ However, she was going to the city. There would definitely be too many cars blocking the road, and even if there was a monster truck here she probably wouldn''t use it due to all the noise it would make. She walked deeper to look for more suitable choices and eventually found the two-wheeled vehicles and her eyes brightened. The Jazzer series! The top of the line of this type of motorcycles. She normally wouldn''t know, but who told her brother to gush about it. In the end, she chose a high-performing motorcycle with the least noise rate and the sturdiest specifications. The model was excellent, it was very fast and famous for its strong engine that didn''t produce any noise at all. Most importantly, it was comfortable. Even her very pregnant self could sit properly and safely. When she went out the gate, she took a minute to check the status of the father and daughter from before. She could see the father and daughter poking at the gate from her side of the street. Unlike her house, their house has wide gaps in their metallic fence. They can do this technique along the entire perimeter of the property. And from their expressions, they seemed¡­ to be enjoying it? Like a parent-child pair bonding in an arcade¡­ She shook her head in amusement before picking up the helmet and climbing up the motorcycle, heading to the exit of the villa area. However, as she exited the main gate she saw a swift figure coming at her. She instinctively maneuvered the bike to the side and raised her plasma gun, aiming at the attacking critter. Just that¡­ it wasn''t really attacking? Arf! Arf! "Dog?" What greeted her was a dog, one that fortunately didn''t attack her. It was a dog about a meter in height. In appearance, it was a combination of various breeds, exhibiting the beautiful gestures of each one: it had amazing smooth fluff, long drooping ears, large eyes, a pointed but rounded nose, and a perennial smiley face. It was also an old friend. "Fufi?!" she exclaimed, albeit in a whispering tone in hopes of not attracting zombies. She quickly parked the motorcycle and climbed down, walking closer to the dog. She stared at it closely and, looking at its stupid look, she knew for sure this wasn''t a zombie dog. She leaned down with a bit of a challenge due to her large stomach, and the dog ambled closer in response. Seeing his cute look, she couldn''t help but smother his face and patted his head like she always did. "How are you okay?!" Indeed, it not only survived the weird force, but it also didn''t turn into a zombie. Her heart felt very happy to see him okay. Fufi was a beautiful mutt dog she had been feeding for over a year now. He was obviously a mixed breed but very beautiful, his Labrador blood obviously a little more dominant in the gene pool. She named it Fufi because he always looked like he was laughing. He was so cute and she had wanted to take it home the first time she saw it. Unfortunately, Auntie was allergic so it couldn''t be adopted. However, she did feed, pet, and play with it whenever she had the chance¨Cmostly before and after going to work. Speaking of which, this thing was amazing. Loose animals weren''t allowed in the villa area, but after so long this dog was still around. However, as she coddled the little cutie, her hands paused. Could she take it with her in that Other World? If she couldn''t, wouldn''t she be setting herself up for heartbreak? Fufi tilted his head, probably wondering why she stopped petting him. Althea abruptly stood up and clapped her hand to get the attention of the surrounding zombies. She took out her katana and beheaded a few. As for the last one, she cut off its legs and arms, kicking it to land right in front of Fufi. She watched it groan and growl, but unable to move, no matter how hard it tried. Althea looked at the dog and instructed him seriously. "You kill one too." A few more zombies arrived soon after, cutting off their limbs, and then crushing their heads as an example. "Do it." In fact, she wasn''t really expecting the dog to actually do it. What could a dog understand? Unexpectedly, Splat Fufi really did it. And judging by how the dog actually made a huge dent on the skull, he did it quite beautifully. "Good boyyy~" She goaded and took out a piece of beef jerky. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Then after watching the dog eat its treat, she eagerly looked at him. "How is it? Do you see weird screens? "Nod your head if you do." She said with a smile, nodding her own head. The stupid dog just stared at her. "..." She sighed, covered the dog with zombie goo to his despair (though in fairness to him, he seemed to not be too disgusted with her at the moment), and she carried the dog to the back seat of the motorcycle. Well, at least she had company. It was at this time that a few more zombies appeared. She casually took out a slice of raw meat to distract them, but suddenly Fufi opened his mouth and gobbled on it instead. "Ouch!! You¡ª" Fufi seemed to have nicked her finger a bit and a few drops of blood flowed. [Would you like to enter a battle pet contract with Fufi? Yes | No] "..." Although I bit startled, she pressed Yes anyway. When she did, a small flat of light formed underneath them, which also disappeared into shimmering dust a moment later. Then... nothing. She blinked and opened her stats, seeing a new icon on the bottom right with a cartoonized version of this smiling dog. [PET STATS: Name: Fufi Age: 2 Level: 0 (5/100) Life: 150/150 Spirit: 150/150 Physical: 31 Agility: 26 Defense: 14 Mana: 100 Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Earth Titles: None Overall rank: A ] "..." What¡­ was this? Also, the experience requirement for pets seemed to be twice as hers? However, the base stats were higher. But she had no time to study this for now. She had to shoot down the approaching zombies first. She missed a few, but the plasma gun was awesome and didn''t have recoil or reload time so she killed them all fairly quickly anyway. Then, when she finally put down the gun, Fufi''s cute paws landed gently on her thigh. She turned her head to meet his eyes. She looked at the forever-smiling canine in front of her as if wanting to express something. Unfortunately, she could not suddenly hear the dog''s voice in her head. It was not as if the dog suddenly learned her language like those fantasy novels Ansel liked to read. However, she now had an intuitive understanding of what he was trying to express. She looked at him again, trying to decipher his meaning, and he barked happily in response. Kill! Kill! Kill!! "..." Chapter 19 - 19: Downtown Althea arrived at her destination some time later, and now she was looking at the tall modern building in front of her in relief. The villa area was technically within the scope of the city. On a good day, they could get to the downtown area within 20 minutes, even with a bit of traffic. However, with all the cars and zombies blocking the way, the trip took over an hour. She sighed as she looked at the time. [07:41:02] Tsk, what a waste. Her first stop was, of course, the mall supermarket. She entered with her handy plasma gun in tow, with a goo-covered Fufi leisurely following her steps. The moment she entered, zombies were immediately attracted by the sound, and she immediately hit them all with the plasma gun. Anyway, she couldn''t take it with her. She might as well maximize its use while she could. [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [...] After clearing out the floor with the handy plasma gun, she proceeded to do some leisure shopping. Her first stop was Baby Products. She took several cans of milk, a few sets of bottles, several packs of diapers, pacifiers, several sets of clothes until the age of three, and others. She also took two smaller toys to fit in the small space. But she saw more cute clothes and was heartbroken not to be able to take more. She pursed her lips in thought and a sparkle of an idea hit her head almost immediately. She ran to the staff-only area and rummaged a bit. It took her a while but she did find what she was looking for: A Vacuum sealer! With this treasure, she packed up a lot more clothes than she had originally planned. Her babies would have Terran clothes until the age of 5 no problem. She then went to the feminine items next to get some napkins and tampons. Although she didn''t have her menses now, she would have it in a few months. She took a lot more of the space-saving tampons. She didn''t vacuum them at all because she heard they wouldn''t return to their original forms afterward. Heading back to the food section, she took some raw meat as they lost a few as bait on the way. She took non-perishables like rice, flour, instant noodles, jerkies, and the like. She also took all the seeds on display. Ah seeds, she should get more... Next was the adult''s clothing on another floor. First, she passed by the men''s sections taking a few sets of clothing and underwear for both her husband and her brother. She also took some comfortable shoes for both of them. Finally, she moved on to her own garments. She went to the clothing and sports stores to get equipped, choosing the best she could find and taking away what she could (vacuum packed, of course). [EQUIPMENT: Head: Motorcycle helmet +3 Defense Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Plasma Gun +Attack indeterminate Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Leather Boots +2 Defense, +0 Agility ] Decisively ignoring the ugly biking helmet she could''ve taken, she then proceeded to the next floor to get to the mountaineering shop. At this point, not much space was left in the Space Backpack, so she had to choose much more carefully on what to place. In the end, she went to the mountaineering section to get tools and supplies that she didn''t have at home, as well as some outdoor-grade backpacks and duffle bags. She wanted to test if the only things she could bring were only inside the backpack, or if anything she carried could be carried with her. She filled both bags with the basics of everything: a bit of ready-to-eat food, a few bottles of water, and change of clothes for females. In this way, it would be great if she could carry them but fine if she couldn''t. As she moved, she continued to deal with the zombies using the plasma gun. Since she couldn''t take it or even the energy core with her, she decided to use it wantonly. [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [...] Fufi was also fighting his heart out, turning out to be quite the sadistic dog. She low-key watched as Fufi got more and more familiar with jumping twice his height and using his cute paw pads to smash zombie heads. It was gruesomely amusing to watch. Anyway, the number of upgraded zombies was understandably many times more than what she had encountered before. After all, the number of people here was naturally several times more than her own villa area. Fortunately, the plasma gun was really easy to use. It was strong and there was barely any rebound at all. With her improved physique, she could barely feel it at all. Of course, she also let Fufi kill a few for training. He soon reached level 1, earning some very good stats. Eventually, she got to the elevator to go to the luxury area. After clearing out the zombies, she swept through the jewelry and watch stores. She took everything she could. Even the stores'' warehouses didn''t escape her claws, either. [WEALTH: 1992 gold, 32087 silver, 4452 copper] Looking at her wallet made her happy. Ah, how nice... Should she rob a bank? "..." . . . She paused her steps at the thought. Well, should she? . . Unfortunately, mall branches were unlikely to have gold so she didn''t bother with the banks there. Instead, she set her sights on the largest bank downtown, a few blocks from her current location. Because of the time limit, she really couldn''t be inefficient at all. Thinking she should get as much money as she could, she chose the most time-efficient bank to go to. Who knew if other people thought of the same, wouldn''t she feel so much regret? S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She would later find out that she was actually thinking too much regarding resource rivalry at this time. After all, almost all creatures on the planet were either dead or had turned into zombies. In the dense cities, the survivors of the first wave were now either dead or hiding away. Who else could think of getting out at this time, especially knowing they would be ''taken'' somewhere¨C-likely safer¨C-after 24 hours? Even if they did go out to get supplies, they would most likely just get food and drinks, rather than rob a bank¡­ But Althea didn''t know this, so she was bent on being as productive as she could in the shortest amount of time. They continued on their killing spree and soon more and more zombies found them, especially with the leadership of the upgraded zombies. The disaster happened at the peak of night activities, after all, and each floor had hundreds of zombies. However, with their current level and weapons, as long as they were not swarmed by all of these, they''d be fine. She and Fufi kill a few hundred more, and she could see her experience bar soaring. She had become more and more proficient with the gun. Partnered with improved vision, she could now hit at least 95% of her shots. [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [...] Heaving a sigh, she went to the furniture store to sit down and rest. As she and Fufi rested, she looked at her stats. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 2 (2840/3000) Life: 250/300 Spirit: 130/300 (-5%) Physical: 50 (-5%) Agility: 47 (-20%) Defense: 40 Mana: 200 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] She smiled, it wouldn''t take long before her upgrade. Her hands unconsciously patted her stomach, and they gave her a gentle kick in response. She laughed. She hoped to be as strong as possible before migration. The Unknown was the scariest thing, only with enough strength would she escape the fate of living in fear. At the very least, she would do whatever it took to give her children a stable place to grow up in. Chapter 20 - 20: Twin Dorks Althea watched as the head of the upgraded zombie exploded. [Congratulations on entering Level 3!] Grrrr She looked down and saw Fufi growling defensively around them. Althea was a bit puzzled to see him like this when she saw the remaining zombies within a dozen meters turn their heads at her, looking at her hungrily. She frowned. None of these zombies were upgraded, why were they suddenly stimulated? Not having the time to think too deeply, she quickly followed Fufi¡ªwho was already breaking skulls¡ªand she raised her gun to take them down. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [...] Seeing the room without any more movements, Althea smiled and patted the dog''s head. Fufi habitually placed his head next to her stomach as if to hug her and the babies. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 3 (105/5000) Life: 400/500 Spirit: 340/500 (-5%) Physical: 80 (-5%) Agility: 77 (-20%) Defense: 64 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [WEALTH: 2023 gold, 35487 silver, 7952 copper] With a massive smile, she exited the mall and headed towards the central bank. It just so happened that the pharmacy and the herb shop she frequented weren''t far from there. She got on her trusted motorcycle, with Fufi jumping on the back on his own. With a whoosh, they headed toward their destination. It was a peaceful few seconds on the way there, ignoring the zombies attracted by the noise they made bumping into an occasional obstacle. BAM! SQUELCH! She flinched and stopped her motorcycle, cleanly shooting down the zombies still going after her until then. She looked at the direction of the noise¡ªspecifically, it was the noise created by dropping heavy objects followed by a disgusting sound of squishing innards. She stood in place for a moment when she realized the noise was heading in her direction. It did not take long for her to see the excitement. It was happening about a hundred meters away or so on a perpendicular street. There were two survivors, they had slightly different body shapes, but she could see that they were obviously twins. Did twins have higher survival rates, she wondered. Interestingly, they had been using the backspace space as a temporary storage of heavy debris (like heavy chunks of metal) and used it to crush the zombie heads. Heh, how creative. And because of this operation, a lot of the zombie innards and gray matter splattered their clothes, accidentally covering themselves with zombie goo. Although not as much as she had, it was enough to keep them from being swarmed by all the zombies several meters away. She watched them with interest as they took on zombies, heading in a direction. From what she gathered, they were probably heading to the supermarket she just left. She watched as they got closer and closer until they reached the correct street. Unfortunately, their momentum didn''t last long because from the corner of her eyes she could see an upgraded zombie rushing in. It was quite fast and it already raised its claws before one of the twins could turn his head. Obviously, the bulkier twin had better reflexes as he used a broken locker door as a shield to guard against the attack of the upgraded zombies. "It''s one of those stronger zombies!" He whispered urgently, but Althea''s hearing had already sharpened to the point she could hear it clearly. "Brother, go!! I''ll be fine! Just go!!" The bulkier of the brothers tried to push the other in the direction of the supermarket. "Mom is waiting for us!" Althea frowned. She had been to the supermarket. Although she didn''t go to all the places, she somehow didn''t feel like there were still survivors there at all¡­ At this point, another upgraded zombie found the twins and was trying its best to take a bite. Althea sighed, already making her decision. She found that she quite wanted these two teenagers to survive. From what she had seen so far, they seemed to be good enough kids. However, helping was helping. She did not want to show the plasma gun, so she took out her katana instead. She let Fufi wait on the motorcycle with the bags before sprinting to the twins. The two struggled to deal with the two upgraded zombies, and the smaller twin saw that his brother was about to get attacked, he hurried to shield him with his own body. Althea saw all of this in her approach and her interest intensified. With a wave of her hand the upgraded zombie''s head fell down with a flop, and several zombie heads followed. The two gaped at her in awe. "T¡­thank you¡­" The bulkier one swallowed hard, eyes shining. "Goddess!" Althea smiled and took out the remaining golf clubs. "For you.." she said, her euphonious voice calming their nerves, and she swung her katana again to kill the zombies that ran over because of his yell. The admiration in the eyes of the twins overflowed. But before they attract more zombies with their loud compliments, she raised a hand to silence them. "Cover yourselves with more blood and innards from zombies, ordinary zombies won''t bother you." She said with a low voice, and the two flinched in response. "T-thank you¡­" They whispered, holding on to their golf clubs as if they were treasures. She nodded with a warm smile, absolutely shining with a halo in the eyes of the twins. They did not even notice how much gruel of zombie blood she was covered with or even the fact that she was pregnant. It was like their eyes activated the strongest filter. But Althea didn''t know this nor did she care. She simply waved her hand as goodbye before running back to the motorcycle. It was the smaller one who gathered his wits first, poking at his brother to get going. "O-Oh!" The two then happily headed towards the supermarket to meet their mum¡ªso that they could happily tell her all about this encounter. Chapter 21 - 21: Robbing a Bank Unknown to them, their goddess actually stopped midway to take one more look at them. Althea watched the twins from the corner of her eyes as they entered the building, her heart a bit heavy. She hoped that this time, her intuition was wrong and the boys would find their relative alive and well. Speaking of relatives, all survivors she encountered so far also seemed to have a relative that survived? Then again¡­ thinking about it made sense. Whatever it was that transformed the creatures of Terran, it transformed them on the genetic level. It was indeed likely for one survivor to have one or two relatives that also survived. This was also mercy in its own way, those who lived would have had hope of reuniting, while those who died perished together with their loved ones. Sigh. Too bad she didn''t know who her blood relatives were. ___ She arrived in front of the target building ten minutes later, without another hair out of place. At level 3, armed with a plasma gun and accompanied by a beast dog, she could basically walk sideways in a zombie-infested city now. After so long, her spirit was still high. This was something she didn''t expect at all. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She almost kissed the plasma gun and raised it to the sky to honor it. She didn''t forget to give another jerky to Fufi, of course. "Silly dog," She said, smiling when Fufi smiled at her, asking for more treats. She didn''t though, as it was a finite resource and she shouldn''t be treating them as treats in the first place. She turned her attention back to the 40-floor tall building in front of her. The whole building was owned by this bank and her husband once told her this building had one of the deepest and most well-guarded basements in the city. The ground floor had a high ceiling covered with the latest improved tempered glass. She didn''t try to force it open either, not only would there be noise if the glass broke (though she read somewhere this type of glass wouldn''t even budge with grenades) but would also trigger the alarm of the building. She was not afraid of the zombie wave, but it was too troublesome and may take her forever to finish them. She also didn''t have the skills to hack into the system and let the door open itself for her. Had she known she would rob a bank someday, she''d have forced her husband to teach her the related tech. As she mused, she couldn''t help but look at the timer in the corner of her eyes. [06:34:33] She didn''t dare think she had too much time. Should she just go to the hospital first? No, it was too far away. It was best to finish her tasks in this area before going to the hospital. She left the motorcycle in an alley nearby and took Fufi to the back door. It was made of special metal firmly attached to the walls with special systems. She looked around her surroundings and found a crashed car not far away, she forcefully took a loose surface and brought it with her as a shield. Yes, she was inspired by the bulkier twin. Anyway, at level 3, she could now effortlessly carry weights she wouldn''t even be able to lift before. Standing in front of the door again, she wondered if she could sell things firmly attached to a heavy surface. With that thought, she raised her hand and let her palm touch the cold metal surface, willing it to be sold to the system. [0.7T of Non-aether Grade B metal alloy detected, would you like to sell? YES | NO] The moment she clicked yes, a blaring alarm sounded throughout the building, attracting the zombies in droves. She quickly entered the door and used the metal shield to cover it. She pulled whatever desk was nearby to fix it in place. However, she knew it wouldn''t hold a horde so she ran deeper into the room to get heavier objects to stabilize it, with Fufi killing zombies attracted by the noise along the way. She groaned as she pushed the large metallic desk with all her strength, and she felt lucky she didn''t push hard enough to give birth then and there. Bang! Bang! Bang! The horde lunged towards the barrier using their bodies, banging continuously as they hit it, over and over. She held her weapon high as she stood a few meters away, with Fufi guarding next to her. The metallic thuds continued, but they soon became muffled as more zombies piled up to the point they could no longer move. Thud... thud... thud... Seeing that the metal sheet had indeed managed to keep the zombies at bay, Althea let out a sigh of relief. As for the other areas, she wasn''t particularly concerned. Even with this alarm, the zombies would just lurk around the building crazily. Walls and glass that could withstand grenades shouldn''t be afraid of zombies attacking it. Of course, the zombies inside weren''t very few either. Fortunately, there were not that many, because the office hours had already finished hours prior to the disaster. It was just that a lot of back-of-the-house employees were working overtime. However, the Level 3 Althea with her plasma gun and dog sidekick was like a tsunami passing by cottages, dominating the floor within a few minutes. [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+5 Experience, +5 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [+10 Experience, +10 Copper] [...] It felt very good to be unstoppable, and honestly, she was getting a bit greedy. Hey, she now knew that she had the potential to be power-hungry. It was just so¡­ sad that she couldn''t take the plasma gun with her. She took over the ground floor and only found computers and cash. She was not disappointed though, as she was already expecting this. She looked around and saw the zombie with the best uniform and took her access card. Althea then searched for the elevator to the basement and confirmed the access card could be used on all the floors. She decided to go from the top basement floor to the bottom, in the unlikely case that the electricity would be cut off, it would be less laborious to go down the stairs than upwards. She took all the metals, jewelry, and safety deposit boxes she could find. Even the door of the massive safes couldn''t escape her greedy claws. She was still amazed that she could do this at all. Later she would find out this was only possible because she was already at level 3, her mental capacity was enough to cover the connection between the heavy objects and the fixed surfaces. At that time, she couldn''t help but praise the skies for her luck. [05:14:23] Althea symbolically patted her pocket in satisfaction. [WEALTH: 9,697 gold and 72267 silver, 10233 copper] She didn''t know what this could purchase in that other world, but it didn''t stop her from feeling like a little rich woman again! Chapter 22 - 22: Malicious Men [04:43:23] Althea looked at the Pharmacy cabinets filled with medicine, and for a moment, was very tempted to take as much as the space allowed. After all, who did not get sick? However, she did not do so in the end, all because of an inkling: That these medicines would not have much effect on their improved bodies. Of course, it was still a pity not to take anything while she was here. She cleared out a little box the size of a lunchbox, took some basic medicine, a bit of everything else, and filled it to the brim. She then went to the herb shop in an alley not far away. This time she took all the seeds and the processed herbs with her. Although she didn''t know if the end products would have an effect on their bodies, nor if the herbs planted would even grow in that Other World, this was her specialty after all. She, at least, had to try her best. ______ Looking inside her space backpack, she saw that it only had a few centimeters of space left for emergencies. She finally decided to put an end to her limited-hoarding session, and she looked around to call Fufi, only to see him munching on chocolate left on the ground. "Don''t eat that," she said, patting the Fufi''s fluffy head and opening his mouth. Wasn''t chocolate poisonous to dogs? She looked at the stupid dog''s smiling face in worry. "You''re not going to die, are you?" Woof! Delicious! She quickly looked at the dog''s status. [PET STATS: Name: Fufi Age: 2 Level: 1 (505/2000) Life: 310/400 Spirit: 320/400 Physical: 31 Agility: 26 Defense: 14 Mana: 100 Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Earth Titles: None Overall rank: A ] Her furrowed eyebrows loosened after seeing there was no negative state, but she checked on the dog again if he felt anything odd. But she saw that there was really no problem, and she finally sighed in relief. Their improved bodies were one of the few good things that came out of all this. After several minutes of delay, she and Fufi finally went back on the motorcycle to head to the hospital. The next few minutes were uneventful and she traversed the car-filled roads with ease. In fact, if she wasn''t pregnant, she''d have gone much faster. But, suddenly, she felt a subtle change in the air. Something wheezed in her direction and she quickly avoided it by making a drift. She cursed as she struggled to keep her balance, feeling the rubber of the tires screech against the asphalt road. She eventually regained control, her heart beating crazily, and she turned her head to look coldly at the source. "Heh, not bad," A slurring voice sounded. Someone even clapped his hand carelessly, and another shot the zombies attracted by the sound. It was three men with similar features: huge bodies, ugly beards, unsightly faces, and disgusting grins. They arrogantly approached her with guns pointed menacingly in her direction. Like her, they were also covered in zombie goo. "Oh my, beautiful lady!" They all stared at her openly, lewdness seeping through their gaze, making evocative expressions that made her want to vomit more than zombie innards did. "Why are you running around all alone in this dangerous place?" The oldest one smirked, showing off his silver canines, but unlike the other two, his focus was something on her back. "You have a nice thing on your back there." He said, pointing at the huge plasma gun behind her. He obviously thought she would give it to him without any questions. Althea scoffed and did not bother to give them a response. Instead, she pressed on the horns of the bike, attracting more zombies to them. Although they did not actively attack those who were covered in zombie goo, it was enough of a distraction. Seeing the men turn their attention to the zombies, Althea quickly stepped on the gas and went in the older one''s direction. After all, a wise man once said: Kill the General first. She turned her head to avoid a bullet, flexibly turning with the inertia, she pressed the plasma to the man''s head. [+50 experience] It took a moment for the other two to realize what had happened. It was only after they saw the man on the ground bleeding from a hole in his head that they managed to absorb it. They saw red. "BROTHER!!!" "UNCLE!!" "YOU BITTCCHHHHHHH!!!!!" The younger one screamed and waved his gun around, pointing at wherever she was at. Guns nowadays barely produced any sound at all, so it was not easy to avoid stray bullets. Fortunately, there was a huge amount of meat shields surrounding her and Fufi, keeping them from injury. Not to mention, the men were cursing her loudly, as if they wanted her (and the zombies) to pinpoint where they were. She pressed the gas to the max to get as far as possible, aiming the plasma gun at the two roaring men, expertly aiming her gun, and exploding their heads moments later. [+30 experience] [+30 experience] She did not put down her gun though as the noise unfortunately attracted a dozen upgraded zombies, and she quickly shot continuously until the zombies nearby were wiped out, Fufi covering her rear for leaks. A city was a city, and the upgraded zombies attracted by these jerks were several times the total she''d encountered so far. After nearly half an hour of massacre, the zombies nearby were finally cleared. Panting, she looked down at the plasma gun, which had now lost its luster. . . S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gone. . . She sighed regretfully and placed the now-useless gun on a surface. She parted it with a very pitiful expression on her face. "You lived well, my friend." Even Fufi looked amusingly solemn. Althea held back a smile as she turned back to the bodies not far from her. She wanted to ignore the new zombies that wandered, but the blood of the men flowed and it was about to attract them to eat the dead bodies. Killing the new zombies that drifted by with normal guns from her space, she went nearer the men''s bodies to check for resources and found out the guns didn''t have bullets anymore. She looked around and there was no loot. It seemed that while killing other survivors provided a higher experience than zombies, it gave nothing else. The contents of their space disappeared, and neither were there monetary rewards. This may seem unfortunate at first, but this was actually a good thing. Otherwise, survivors would end up killing each other before the real enemies did. Shrugging, she waved at Fufi, signaling that it was time for them to go. The dog followed her and jumped back on the motorcycle and the duo continued to their destination: The Hospital. Chapter 23 - 23: Hospital [03:21:22] Althea looked at the hospital with a complicated expression. It seemed like it was only a few days ago that she was here, also for an ultrasound. At that time, both Auntie and her brother came with her. They admired the growth of the children together, gushing about how beautiful the kids were were how they were growing so we''ll. Now she didn''t have either of those two people beside her and the environment was no longer the bustling city she was used to. Instead, it was filled with the rotting scent of death and the gloom of despair. Althea took a step forward with a depressed mood. They walked closer and closer to the hospital, trying to be as quiet as they could. But it didn''t take long before Fufi suddenly stopped midway, warily staring in a direction, growling. Her eyes followed the direction he was looking at and she immediately held up her katana and took on a posture, ready to attack. Soon she saw fast-moving figures from afar, getting closer and closer. It was those upgraded zombies again. However, she didn''t have a plasma gun anymore and she was not planning on using the guns she saved for that Other World. The upgraded zombies soon zoomed in on them, running quickly for their meal. But she noticed as a few ran in their direction, there were even more running behind them¡­ Soon a small horde of fast-approaching figures appeared in her eyes. The noise they made also alerted the normal zombies, forming a small wave, directed right at them. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her heart stopped a little. There seemed to be over a score¡­ Why were there so many?! What she didn''t know was that many survivors in the area gathered together after the first few hours. They banded together, hoping to get through the ordeal together as countrymen. They did fairly well for themselves at first, even rescuing a few others. Unfortunately, they met the gangster trio and their guns, forcing themselves to be the ''leaders''. But these men took advantage and harassed the women, igniting the rebellious spirit of the people. However, no matter how brave, the weak would be the weak. The fight unsurprisingly caused a lot of deaths, which in turn triggered the zombie wave. It was during this battle that the trio found out about the concealing effect of zombie goo, which was at the cost of a dozen lives. Had she known, Althea would''ve stabbed their dead corpse even dead-er. In any case, those survivors were now upgraded zombies and were now her headache. She killed zombies after zombies, endlessly, while slowly approaching the hospital doors. Fufi really shined at this point, killing zombie after zombie, and quickly reached the peak of his level. She charged forward with a swift strike, her katana slicing through the air, beheading one. She then leaned down to avoid an attack, parrying her katana to a direction, stabbing another, and quickly slashing the weapon to take off its head. She turned her center of gravity to avoid a claw. However, it nicked a bit of her cloth... on her stomach. It was too close to her babies that she felt her heart drop. In her distraction, Fufi leaped from behind her to paw another upgraded zombie''s head. He wasn''t strong enough to one-hit an upgraded zombie yet, but the impact was enough to push it back and give Althea enough time to gather herself. Althea quickly pulled herself together and sprinted towards the monsters, beheading them at the fastest speed, lest they attract even more zombies to the vicinity. By the time they cleared the zombies, her spirit was already halved and she started to feel pregnancy symptoms: dizziness, leg cramps, which could literally kill her at this time. Even if there were only ordinary zombies moving slowly, because of their quantity and her current state, she couldn''t help but feel the impending sense of doom. The duo dragged their legs to the hospital and closed the door, attracting the ordinary zombies inside. Althea didn''t want to move anymore. Fortunately, Fufi wasn''t pregnant and his energy and low spirits didn''t affect him much. The dog killed them all, eventually reaching level 2. Again, the zombies turned to them turning wilder and Fufi killed them easily. She felt this was an important point, but she was too lethargic to think about anything at the moment. [02:23:11] Althea and Fufi went to the elevator to climb to the Ob-Gyn department on the fourth floor. She opened the door and they ignored the ordinary zombies as they ignored them in turn. They eventually reached the department and opened the nearest door. She didn''t even say anything and Fufi ran past her to deal with the two zombies in the room, one of which was in a doctor''s coat and the other was a woman with a big belly. To her surprise, not only did Fufi crush the heads of the two zombies, but also the woman''s stomach. She belatedly realized that the child could very well be a zombie as well. The thought of a small zombie with a baby''s face crawling made her spinal cord crawl. She praised Fufi sincerely, and gave him a snack, and a big petting. However, she really couldn''t stay up for too long and eyed the nearest soft surface that she could see. She crawled on the hospital bed, which still had some blood on it and laid down. Her eyelids were heavy and her body felt like lead. It didn''t take long for her to fall into slumber, with Fufi pattering next to her, guarding her with his life. Chapter 24 - 24: Ultrasound [02:05:17] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 3 (925/5000) Life: 330/500 Spirit: 270/500 (-5%) Physical: 80 (-5%) Agility: 77 (-20%) Defense: 64 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] She swore never to let her spirit get lower so much ever again. Althea opened her eyes after 15 minutes of rest before turning her head to the machine beside her. It was just that she was too late to realize that was full of blood and heavily damaged. She took out her katana to check out the next room. They dealt with all the zombies in the hallway that approached them, and they soon reached the other ultrasound room. However, before they entered, the door of the adjacent storage room tentatively opened, creaking up to a small angle, just enough to see a round eye looking out warily. Althea''s eyebrows rose, meeting the gaze directly. When the owner of the eye realized they weren''t zombies, she visibly brightened and opened the door. But she seemed to realize something and immediately closed it again. A moment later, the door opened again a little, revealing a cute head of a girl with a shoulder-length haircut, who then looked side to side at both ends of the hallway, checking if there were monsters around. When she saw that every enemy was dealt with, she turned her head to the girl standing alone in the hallway, and opened the door completely. The girl was wearing a nurse uniform and looked at her like she was Buddha. "I.." "I need to check my children''s ultrasound. Can you help me?" The girl looked like she was in a daze, as if wondering if Althea was talking to her. She looked flattered when she finally realized. "Y-Yes, of course!" And she followed Althea to the ultrasound room. The nurse kept stealing glances at her as she opened the door. Althea''s eyebrows rose. "What is it?" The girl looked a bit apprehensive, before gathering her courage to ask. "You killed all these zombies?" She nodded, and the girl stared at her in amazement and also disbelief, as she inevitably looked at the abnormally big stomach. It was really big, bigger than the ones she''d seen. Then she saw a flash and a head rolled down to her feet. She screamed at the top of her lungs. Althea quickly covered her mouth and dragged her inside. "How did you survive for so long?" She asked. Not to be rude, but it was really hard to imagine. The nurse blushed and her head tilted down in shame. Could she say that she was locked in by a bullying fellow nurse? "I''m sorry." Althea just sighed and sat down on the bed. They were wordless until the nurse had set up the machine and placed the gel on the transducer. Seeing the other girl nervous, Althea smiled and decided to lighten up the mood. "My name is Althea, by the way. What''s yours?" The girl''s big eyes blinked in surprise, just before letting out a kind smile. To be honest, it reminded Althea of Nanny. "Sheila. My name is Sheila." "Okay, Sheila. Can we see the children now?" Shiela, now much more relaxed, placed the transducer on the bulge and she stared at the screen. Her expression was one of amazement. "Twins! No wonder it''s so big." Althea looked warmly at her children on the screen, floating around, looking so peaceful and small and cute. She was so incredibly looking forward to when she could hold them in her arms. "This is already eight months old," Sheila mumbled, tone mixed with admiration and admonishment. "I can''t believe you''re massacring zombies at eight months pregnant¡­" Althea, though, flinched at her words, "What?!" Sheila was startled. "Y-Yes." Althea''s eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. "Are you sure?" "Y-Y-Yes." Althea stared her down, making her even more nervous. Soon, the brunette realized that the nurse was really not lying and she could only rub her throbbing head. She then took out another ultrasound image and showed it to the other girl. Sheila stared at it blankly, not knowing what to say. Althea sighed and pointed at a text in the upper right corner. "Look at the date." Sheila passively followed her instructions and her eyes immediately widened at the sight. "T-This¨C" Two reports, a few days apart, extremely different results What''s¡­ going on? Sheila then looked at the stomach a little warily, wondering if some weird creature would be born. But she shook her head in the end. She saw the ultrasound herself and she should know what a human looks like. Probably. Maybe? Althea watched the changes in her expression with amusement. "I reckon the force that messed up with people''s genes strengthened the survivors. In the case of my children, they grew up faster." S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sheila nodded cutely, while Fufi kept staring at the screen, wagging his tail excitedly. Friends! Friends! Friends! Althea smiled and patted his furry head. After a while, she stood up and walked out. Noticing that Sheila was staring, unsure what to do, Althea held her forehead with a sigh. Really a mystery why this girl chose a stressful job like nursing when she was such an air-head. "Do you know anything about childbirth?" "Y..yes I have assisted in natural and cesarean births before." Althea nodded and continued to walk, pausing her steps and giving the nurse a sideward glance. "Aren''t you coming with me?" "Me?!" She gasped, looking at Althea again to see if she just made a cruel joke. "Can I?" "Don''t want to?" "N-NO, I want to!!" She squeaked, hastening her pace to meet hers. "Let''s go get cleaned up." Althea said and paused, looking at the darkness outside the window. "I want to greet the New World well." Chapter 25 - 25: Fight Aberdeen City, five years prior Under the cloudy skies amongst the urbanscape, two young men¡ªone twenty-five, one eighteen¡ªwere duking it out. It was Ansel and his nominal brother, Garan. For the past half an hour, the two had been sparring, though it was mostly Ansel trying to land a hit, albeit to no avail. At this point, the eighteen-year-old Ansel was extremely sweaty and uncomfortable, his fiery red hair sticking to his smooth skin. Suddenly, the dark-haired Garan grabbed the redhead''s arm, throwing him over his shoulder, throwing him straight to the ground. Oof! Ansel groaned in pain, eyes squinting from the brightness of the white clouds. He struggled to get out of the damned ground, handsome face covered with mud from the soil below and his sweat. He felt extremely uncomfortable. He tilted his head to glare at the other person, who was as stern as always, muscular arms crossed and looking down at him. Also, to Ansel''s chagrin, very handsome. Garan Witt was extremely good-looking. He had ebony-black hair described to be as black as the universe by his admirers. This, along with his cerulean eyes deep as the ocean, as well as his masculine and chiseled features, made countless women swoon. Not to mention, his well-toned body and imposing aura was the goal of all men. This same man was looking at him like a weakling. Although he didn''t show anything on his indifferent face, Ansel couldn''t help but feel that he was mocking him. Damnit! "Stand up. Be a man." He said, his masculine voice full of imposing aura. And it gritted on Ansel''s ears. "Althea will be heartbroken to see my bruises!" He couldn''t help but quip back, knowing it was a sore spot for the man. Sure enough, the stoic expression on the overly handsome man''s face cracked a bit. His well-formed eyebrows furrowed and crossed his arms, looking badly at him. "She knows I do this for your own good." He uttered out, his low baritone voice making him look more mature. Mature? PFFT! Lies! Absolute lies! Ansel immediately opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, but the jerk beat him to it. "Ah, I see." He paused, "You wish to be saved by a little girl again." Jerk!! He mocked him for his baby-acts, but who didn''t know he often purposely fascinated Althea with that handsome face of his! Ptooey! He could still remember this ice-block acting spoiled when he was with Althea! Barf! The sight burned his eyes! Literally! S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The anger injected adrenaline in his veins and he immediately stood up ready to resume the fight. He sprinted towards the man who didn''t even bother adopting a defensive stance and a vein of annoyance grew in his head. Ansel immediately threw a jab at him, which was easily avoided. Immediately, Ansel turned his body to give him a side kick. Also easily avoided. Ansel continued attacking Garan, punch after punch, jab after jab, and then sent him occasional-supposedly-well-timed kicks. Not a single one connected. He couldn''t even touch the fabric of his clothes. What made everything worse was that the guy wasn''t breaking a sweat at all. The jerk still had the energy to send out the occasional critique with that deadpan voice of his. "Your center of balance is too shaky. This is what you get for not training your body well." "You lose your cool too easily." "Keep a clear head, and you''ll be able to find openings." He paused, avoiding another one of his attacks. "If you''re against normal enemies, that is." F*ck you! "Language." He didn''t even say it out loud! Grrr¡ª In their scuffle, they got nearer and nearer to a wall. A flash of idea entered his mind and he continued his usual attacks, with imminent misses, but it didn''t matter at all. If anything, his hits were more inspired and a little quicker than usual. One time his punch almost¡ªalmost¡ªnicked the side of his shirt. Suddenly, Ansel darted to the wall, using it as a thrust, and he flew above Garan. He clenched his fist, aiming to hit the square jawline of the other man. Garan managed to block it with his arms, but Ansel felt elated regardless. Finally connected! It didn''t do any damage, but it connected nevertheless. Progress was progress, no matter what! To his surprise, the man actually smiled a little, giving him an approving nod. "Very good." He said, and Ansel''s eyes dilated a little. "You''ve improved." Ansel honestly felt happier than winning a contest. _______ City Z, Present Ansel leaped up using the brick wall of the adjacent building, making use of his weight to behead the upgraded zombie with his new machete. With another breath, he sprinted to a direction, slashing another, before turning his body to finally behead the damned thing. "You''re amazing¡­" Tom said holding his axe and had just barely managed to deal with his own upgraded zombie opponent. He cleared his throat, embarrassed. "I¡­er¡­ had a rough childhood." He said, continuously defending himself from the onslaught of zombies that came their way. They now had to leave his baby Barbara behind because there were too many cars on the road, some were still leaking gasoline. The duo had no choice but to go forward on foot. It was not easy, but somehow they managed to get out of the mobs alive. However, as they dealt with zombie after zombie and got out of it alive and well, he couldn''t help but look back at Garan''s upbringing. Although he felt extremely tired and dirty, it was inevitable to feel a little melancholic at the suffering he went through under that man''s fists. Because the number of times the knowledge he learned saved his life was uncountable. He still felt a little thankful to that jerk, after all. Chapter 26 - 26: More Survivors City Z. In a deserted street filled with abandoned cars and debris, a pair of acquaintances fought their way through the city. It was not easy navigating through the darkness¡ªbarely lit with dim damaged lamps and the depressing moon¡ªbut thankfully their improved physiques managed to make it doable somehow. Ansel had been to this city many times for business trips. But the once-thriving street now lay in ruins, consumed by the darkness that was the apocalypse. However, neither he nor Tom had the energy to mourn for humanity''s losses, as they were too busy trying to avoid getting bitten. Ansel and Tom moved forward together, guarding each other''s backs as they ran. Somewhere along the way, they found out that covering themselves with zombie innards could hide them from the monsters'' sense of smell. Only for regular zombies though, because they discovered almost as soon as they celebrated their new discovery, a pair of upgraded zombies sprinted towards them. One could imagine the feeling of falling from hell just as they stepped into heaven. Anyway, back to the present, the zombies let out eerie groans as they attacked them, also gathering the attention of the ordinary zombies. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel darted forward, slashing through the horde with his machete. His movements were both lethal and graceful, and the brute Tom couldn''t help but admire him even in this situation. However, while they were making decent progress. Exhaustion had long begun to creep in. Dirty sweat dripped down their skin, their breathing became labored, and their movements became slower. Their spirits were already a third down. "Watch out!" Ansel yelled, kicking a nearby bin under his feet to an upgraded zombie about to attack Tom. "Thanks!" The older man uttered and took advantage of the zombies'' distraction due to the noise the bin made. Afterward, he ran to stand closer to Ansel, guarding his back again. As they fought, they actively ran to their destination. While they should be looking to rest now, there were only less than 2 hours left and they had to get closer to their loved ones as soon as they could. The two sprinted and ran over the crashed cars. It was really a challenge to jump from one car to another, especially since they were different heights and different textures. Some cars even had their front glasses destroyed. There were also some that were turned to the side. "Ah!" Tom had a misstep and his leg fell on one of the openings on an upturned car without a whole side door. Fortunately, Ansel managed to hold his arm and he didn''t completely lose balance. The redhead managed to get him moving and they jumped to the next car, barely avoiding the claw that came to them. Their change of elevation was sudden, but he somehow managed to keep himself and Tom on his feet. Ansel was very proud of his balanced center. The damned training regime popped to mind again. Damn it! He did NOT miss Garan! He frowned, annoyed, and whipped his head at Tom, venting at the poor guy. "What are you doing staring?! Let''s go!" Tom-who-had-been-waiting for him to move: "..." In any case, the duo continued to run and go over cars and they soon realized that the zombies became fewer and fewer. As they ran, they turned their heads to look and saw that the obstacle that hindered them worked even better with the zombies. They watched as the zombie fell down the broken car by itself, head first, unable to move further. "For creatures that are said to eat brains, they sure are stupid." Ansel looked at the zombies with various parts bitten off. "You don''t see them choosing which body parts to eat, right?" "Maybe this one eats more poop." Tom cackled, remembering plenty of upgraded zombies whose stomachs were open and had their innards following them around. It was absolutely disgusting. However, their path seemed to become a landmine of sorts for the zombies. For ordinary zombies, they were blocked outright, while upgraded zombies could jump and skip, but not avoid the ''traps''. Eventually, they did manage to escape, finding a small building to lock themselves in for a short breather and snack. There were about a dozen zombies inside that turned their heads simultaneously to the newcomers. Sighing, the duo quickly took care of all the zombies. Fortunately, they were all ordinary zombies, so they were dealt with with little effort. It was a convenience store and they also took away what they could, filling up the remaining free area in their respective spaces. There was no way, their spirits were getting way too low. What they didn''t expect to hear was the soft thump near them. They turned to see it came from the door of the freezer. The two men blinked and looked at each other, slowly approaching the door. After all, zombies couldn''t turn knobs. This meant one thing: There could be survivors here. This made their hearts rise, but in a good way. A few steps in and the twisting of metal sounded. The metallic door fully opened the next moment, revealing a small group of five people, shivering from the cold. The group of five was really diverse. The one who opened was a relatively aged man. Closely following behind him was a middle-aged man with a balding head, a pretty girl in her twenties, a horizontally-blessed woman, and a dark-skinned man around his 30s. Tom and Ansel''s eyes widened and they looked at each other. Really survivors! Since meeting, they hadn''t met other people at all! It was getting very depressing! Finally, there were others..., and there were still five of them! Chapter 27 - 27: The Train Home The group looked around, eyes hopeful, and searched whether the zombies had indeed been taken care of. Once confirmed, they almost cried in relief. They also saw that the two men handled so many zombies with completed limbs, and hope filled them. Especially the girl, who had been hopeless and found capable men nearby. How could she not jump at him? Especially¡­ how handsome the red-haired man was! "Thank you for coming here for us." She mumbled, blinking her eyes cutely. And she was indeed a bit good-looking, despite her chapped lips and ruined makeup. "We literally just passed by." Ansel said bluntly, "We didn''t even know anyone else was alive. "..." How Ansel scored so many women with his bluntness was a mystery to many men. Was doing anything with a good face considered handsome? The others weren''t so cool however, and they immediately approached the two of them when they realized they were somewhat amicable. "Heroes! Please help us!" the middle-aged woman said, and she was followed by the dark-skinned man. "Please take me to City A! I will pay you whatever!" Afraid that the two men would take his offer, the middle-aged man immediately made a counter-bid. "We need to go to City S. Please! It''s on the way." The old man was the only one who stood still, observing, but without hope in his eyes. Ansel and Tom looked at each other with complicated expressions. "We have our own families to go to, sorry." The other survivors frowned, but they refused to give up. Not reconciled, the pretty girl shifted targets instead. The girl even held Tom''s arm, knowing he had the softer heart of the two based on his very guilty expression. "Mine is so close, please!" Tom looked very conflicted and Ansel patted his shoulder. They couldn''t stay here. They didn''t have the time or energy to help others. "Let''s go." He said, gesturing at the door. The duo then went to the door, followed by a few. Of course, not before taking some food from the convenience store to their spaces, as they consumed most inside the freezer. Ansel didn''t mind being followed. He was still human, but he needed them to manage their expectations. "You can come with us to where we are heading. But we won''t get out of our way to protect you." This naturally stopped a lot of them from following to the door. Instead, some even looked at them indignantly. "How could you leave us like this?!" the middle-aged man yelled. Ansel rolled his eyes. "It''s not our duty to save you." He said, "You can only depend on yourself in this world." He then pulled Tom and they went out together, not caring whether they were followed or not. Fortunately, none did. What they didn''t expect was that as they left, the jerks inside threw some canned goods in their direction, making noise. As if choreographed, the zombies turned their heads simultaneously in their direction. This made their hearts drop. "Damn it!" Ansel and Tom cursed, gesturing to dart ahead. Those jerks! But what else could they do? They could only curse, and head to their target destinations regardless. ¡­ . . Half an hour later. After some time of struggle, the duo eventually managed to reach their planned intersection in the middle of the city. It was called Rosewood Intersection. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was the intersection separating the path walk to Mocci town and the train station. The two men looked at each other, feeling a little melancholic. Although it had only been a few hours, the two still felt a bit sad at their separation. They found a relatively hidden place to chat and say their goodbyes. "Well, goodbye. It was good to meet you," Tom said, extending his hand for a firm handshake. "I hope you survive," Ansel said as he took it. Tom let out a light laugh. "Likewise." And so, Tom turned around (though not before giving him another look and a nostalgic nod) and went on his way. Ansel then heaved a sigh, pulling his eyes away from his new friend, and heading to a very different direction towards the train station. Now, alone, he was extra careful in getting the attention of the upgraded zombies. Fortunately, the concourse was mostly clear and had few things to hit. [01:45:34] He eventually found the north-bound train heading to Aberdeen City. His goo-covered shoulders slumped in relief to see the train was working. Except for hundreds of normal zombies walking about, everything seemed to be in place. Even the train seemed to be following the set schedule. While waiting for his train to come, which was set to arrive in 5 minutes, two upgraded zombies managed to find him. With his level though, he could deal with them by himself. After killing the damn things, he climbed up the vending machine nearest the train tracks. Five minutes felt like forever to arrive, and when it did, he immediately threw a can just outside the door to attract the zombies inside the train outside. He watched as they swarmed out of the car and he jumped above surfaces, getting closer and closer to the open door. Roar! He flinched but did not halt, darting to the open door. He entered the AI-operated train with a quick beating heart. Bump! The door closed, and the hand of the closest advanced zombie that went after him was stuck at the door, twitching creepily as it tried to reach him. The train surged forward with a gentle lurch a moment later. This was followed by a squelching sound and the twitching hand dropped down to the floor, no longer moving. Ugh. Ansel couldn''t move for a while, still waiting for his wildly beating heart to calm. But as he felt the train move under him at a constant pace, his whole body started to relax a bit, and he entered a state of temporary peace. He dragged his body to a nearby seat, using a rail to support himself as he flopped down the vinyl-covered seat. His head turned and watched outside the window as it moved. Dimly lit tunnels flashed by in a blur of darkness. The occasional flickering lights lining the walls of the tunnel illuminated the dark outside, reminding him of the light that still existed. He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh, resting the back of his head against the window. He knew that he had done all that he could. Even if he didn''t make it, it was fine. He just needed to be as close as possible. Chapter 28 - 28: Final Hour [01:39:02] In sharp contrast to, well, everybody else, Althea and her group settled down in the nearest luxury hotel. It took them quite a fight with a few more upgraded zombies, but they got out of it unharmed. Althea also used this time to train both Fufi and Sheila, so except for the most troublesome upgraded zombies, all the others were dealt with by the two. At first, the nurse was very scared. She also didn''t have very good body coordination either, so she missed too many shots and got almost-bitten too many times. So even when she was covered with goo, it was still not easy for her to deal with normal zombies, let alone fight an upgraded one. However, hearing Althea''s voice beside her let her gather some courage to take that brave step. Sheila did not realize her timid personality was slowly undergoing a subtle change. And the further they stepped closer to the hotel, the more stable this change became. The hotel was called Niana Hotel, a five-star hotel very popular in the city. It was a very expensive and luxurious building, and it gave prestige to those who used it. It was the type that was fully booked until at least a week later. They chose this place not only because of the estimated quality of the products but also due to its exclusivity. There should be a lot fewer zombies inside than others. Sure enough, when they entered, they realized they had a much easier time inside the hotel. After dealing with the zombies, they decided to go to the hotel''s back-of-house and fill up the remaining spaces and the hand-carry bags they had. They went to the housekeeping and laundry facilities and took cleaning equipment, sewing kits, linens, duvets, and towers. Of course, they also gathered more hygiene products. Mostly for Sheila, some stocks, and the bags though, because Althea had her favorite brand¡ªher own WittBeauty¡ªpacked in her own space. They also went to the storage and receiving rooms where food and beverages were stored. Luxury hotels often stockpile non-perishable food items in their storage areas. They managed to find a mountain of canned goods, dried food, snacks, bottled water, and others. They chose the ones they liked most due to their limited space. They took a set of hybrid-powered radio equipment used by the staff as well, just in case. There were also first-aid kits and medical supplies. However, their space was limited so they could only get a bit of bandages, antiseptics, and basic medications. Besides, Sheila also agreed that these things may no longer work well for their changed bodies. After this round, the girls finally filled up all the empty space they had on hand. The two girls and a dog went to the elevator after taking a card from the reception desk, choosing the largest suite room on the penthouse floor, just because. Who knows what kind of place that Other World was? They ought to enjoy these luxuries while they could. The suite welcomed guests with a shared intricately-designed living area and kitchenette. Overall, the shared space was no less than 100 square meters in area. There were doors to the two deluxe rooms with their own premium bathrooms and lounge. What''s more, each room was complete with its own entertainment facilities, jacuzzi, and the like. Sheila couldn''t help but feel emotional. She had dreamed of staying in this type of room after seeing an internet influencer brag about it, but she didn''t think she''d experience it in this circumstance. Althea''s thoughts, on the other hand, were going in a very different direction. Her eyes couldn''t help but stay on the time counter floating in front of her. As they reached the final hour, she couldn''t help but recall the number of those zombies, and the number of survivors still alive. She knew the initial transformation had to do with genes, and not too much on physical fitness. After all, she saw bodybuilding ordinary zombies, but the meek Sheila as a survivor. Still, she wondered how many really survived in the end? The planet had 16 Billion people. Her city was small but it still had at least a million population. How many people had she encountered so far? How were her family and friends? Did they survive the first wave? What about now? She shook her head, not thinking about it anymore. The final hour was for relaxation. They didn''t know what would happen in that Other World, they ought to get some proper rest. "Use that room and clean yourself up," She said, giving Sheila the duffel bag that had been in the motorcycle the whole time. It had two sets of clothing change for each gender as well as some other basic supplies. Not to mention, the hotel had its own supplies so they were sure to be able to clean up well. Althea and Fufi went into one of the rooms. She cleaned Fufi up well first, then they showered together for a basic rinse, making sure that the disgusting goo had been washed off their bodies. Then, using the advanced hairdryer, she quickly fixed him up, happily pushing him out of the bathroom afterward for her own moment of respite. Fufi: ??? Now alone and without a dog, Althea pampered herself well. She took a long bubble bath and scrubbed herself in every nook and cranny of her smelly body. Who knew when would be the next time she would get such rest? As she sighed in happiness, patting her stomach in relaxation, she finally took time to study her own status. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 3 (1125/5000) Life: 280/500 Spirit: 280/500 (-5%) Physical: 80 (-5%) Agility: 77 (-20%) Defense: 64 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: None Passive: None S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [WEALTH: 9,711 gold and 79267 silver, 14233 copper] She didn''t know these would all fare in that Other World, but she had already done her best considering the time and resources she had access to. If it wasn''t enough, she couldn''t blame herself. Chapter 29 - 29: Migration Seven months ago. "We have unfortunate news for you, Mr and Mrs. Witt." The white-uniformed officer said, with a somber expression. He was a pale-skinned man wearing a white uniform, making him look even paler. He and his partner, a middle-aged woman with copper skin, were standing still just within the threshold of their home. They did not come into the house, simply because there were too many houses they had to go to. The three of them happened to be in the house at that time, a rare occurrence considering their busy schedules. Nanny had even gone to the market to gather ingredients for a small feast. It was supposed to be an interesting and fun day, with the three of them having a rare time catching up with each other. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Who would have thought¡ª "There have been 1032 planes that went down early this morning at 06:34." He paused, heaving a deep sigh, trying not to show the exhaustion creeping in, "There were no survivors. "We are sorry to inform you that Mr. Howard Witt and Mrs. Alicia Murong-Witt¡­ have unfortunately passed away." In that instant, their living room which had once been a place of warmth, suddenly got freezing cold. It was so cold that she was shaking, and her vision became blurry. If her husband''s large hand hadn''t been holding her, she might have fainted then and there. "What happened?" Althea heard the baritone voice of her husband ask beside her. She looked up to listen to their answer, trying to keep down the ringing in her ears. "We are still investigating the cause of this tragedy and we request your utmost patience." Althea managed to find her voice to ask, "They¡­ where are they?" "Their bodies have been collected and moved to the South Montague Morgue." The woman answered as gently as possible. Then, she paused, not sure what tone to use in his next statement, "They¡­ are in relatively good condition due to their position in the plane." "I¡­ I see¡­" The officers looked at each other and sighed, faces tired. There was no doubt they''d been through several houses before theirs. "We are sorry for your loss. The country had lost great scholars." The man told them, very sincerely. "If there''s anything we can do to assist you, please contact our team any time." They finally said without further ado, handing over their business card. They then bowed and excused themselves, leaving the grieving family their much-needed space. They were probably heading to give the bad news to the next house that opted for personal visits from officials. The moment the door closed, Althea lost all her strength, her legs giving way, her entire body suddenly devoid of energy. "Althea!" Her husband''s deep voice sounded in her ears. And she soon felt his strong arms support her weight. She habitually searched for his warmth, his pinewood scent, and buried her head in his wide shoulder. She felt herself being carried to the living room and to the comfort of the sofa. He gently placed her on his thigh, his warm large hand patting her waist. It took a while to gather herself and get enough energy to utter a syllable, but Garan was patient and did not speak, only making sure she felt his presence next to her. "They''re¡­really gone?" She asked, voice cracking, tears lining up her eyes. It was so pitiful and broke Garan''s heart. He simply embraced her deeper and patted her back. "They wouldn''t want you to feel too sad¡­" He said, "I''m sure they''re watching over us right now, feeling very sorry for leaving all of a sudden. Do you want them to feel even worse?" Tears pooled in her eyes and she sniffed. Garan, always the boy scout, took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears and then her snot. The gesture also reminded her of how her mother did the same and she just hugged him tighter. However, as she buried her head and wiped snot all over her husband''s shoulder, her peripheral vision caught a red-headed figure nearby. Her eyes stopped. It was Ansel, who was shaking in a corner, returning to his old ways of hiding and suffering quietly. But she was really sad right now, she couldn''t stand up to comfort the boy who lost his biological parents at the same time. "How¡­ how could this happen?" She asked her husband, voice weak to the point of whispering. Thousands of planes went down at the same time. Most were still much worse than their parents. Should she be thankful they got their parents'' bodies in one piece, at least? "I will find out," Garan said, placing a comforting kiss on her cheek. "Leave it to me." She nodded and couldn''t help but look worriedly at the corner. Garan followed her line of sight and sighed. The man gently placed his wife on the sofa, placing a light peck on her forehead, before striding down the particularly depressing corner. "Leave me alone!" Ansel yelled without looking up, voice squeaking, snot dripping down. It was really pitiful. However, in contrast with his gentle handling of Althea, he was more straightforward with this brother of his. Out of nowhere, Garan grabbed Ansel''s neck collar, lifting him to his knees. "What¡ª" Without speaking, Garan pulled him up, dragging him to the yard, very likely to the training ground. It may look harsh, but Althea knew her husband intended on giving Ansel some tough love, to help him go through the tragedy. If Ansel entered that lonely world of his again, it would be difficult to bring him back. In fact, Ansel''s shift from being mildly autistic to his confident, extroverted, self had less to do with her¡­ but had a lot to do with her husband''s training. It seemed that learning to defend himself injected confidence in their brother. Too much, if you asked her. Neither of them would have ever anticipated he''d turn into a playboy, but¡­ it was better than him being trapped in his own world like he was as a child, before meeting the two of them. Thankfully, her husband always knew what to do, and she didn''t have to worry about Ansel anymore. Althea watched the two men go outside the house, her mood slightly better, because it reminded her of what she still had. Yes. At the very least, they still had each other. ¡­ What she didn''t expect was that he would be sent on a confidential mission a week later. She looked at him in a daze as she sat next to him on the couch. His deep cerulean eyes also gazed at her, orbs filled with apology, his large calloused fingers gently rubbing her hands. Eventually, her eyes cleared and she looked at him with certainty. "Our parents'' accidents had to do with your mission right?" She said, looking straight at his deep cerulean eyes. "You know I can''t tell you, love." He told her, very gently. He legally couldn''t say anything, even if he wanted to. "I''m sorry I had to leave at this time." He uttered, placing his big palms on the side of her face. She closed her eyes and felt her husband''s warmth. She knew it would be a while until she could do so again, so she didn''t make any issue at all. When she opened her eyes, her emerald eyes had a renewed light. "I understand," She said, "Please find out what happened." "Of course, my wife," He said, placing a chaste kiss on the side of her face, before moving to her lips. Soon, he became a bit greedy, trying to maximize the few minutes of time they had left. He licked her luscious lips, and they easily granted him entry. Even after years, the electricity in their touches never faded, and the warmth the other provided only became more comforting, more integral, and more intuitive. His large hands moved from the side of her face to her curvaceous back, pulling her to him so he could feel as much of her as he could, given their current circumstance. He changed the angle of their kiss to gain more access, to express more of his reluctance, and she wrapped her delicate arms around his neck, responding with equal passion. His phone rang several times before he was willing to part with his soft wife. His azure eyes caught the silver viscous string that connected their lips, calling them back together, and he leaned down again. All his senses were trying to imprint his wife, trying to convey his love, and his ears pointedly ignoring the incessant calls. He breathed in his wife''s scent, savored her taste, and felt her warmth. After some time, they slowly parted and he placed their foreheads together, incredibly reluctant. She was still mourning, how could he leave? Althea could see the worry in his eyes, and she didn''t want him thinking so much when he was on a dangerous mission. "I''m very strong. What I want now is to find out what happened." "I will, don''t worry," He said, baritone voice lower than usual, filled with reluctance. Althea gave him a comforting smile and gave him one last peck on the lips before gently nudging him out the door. "Be careful," She said and he nodded, leaning down for one last¡ªreally¡ªlittle kiss. "Remember: Even when we are apart, remember your husband will always be with you." He said, and he embraced her one last time before leaving¡­ ¡­not to be seen again. At least, not in Terran. ____ Present. Opening her eyes, Althea stared at the ceiling for some time. Heaving a deep breath, she stood up and got dressed. She wrapped up the washed clothing and equipment (that still had a bit of stench) and used her new ones instead. Forgive her for being queasy. Even if they were now cleaned up, they were still covered with zombie goo the entire day. She just took a bath, how could she stomach wearing such a thing? Of course, she kept it in space to be a spare. Giving herself one last look before rest, she also took time to see her equipment. [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: none Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Leather Boots +2 Defense, +0 Agility ] She had already given her helmet to Sheila, who needed it more. It was too uncomfortable, her pregnancy made her very queasy. Anyway, she looked at the time once more and determined she could still get a shut-eye. [00:26:12] She laid down on the soft bed, setting up a timer for a 20-minute power nap. Fortunately, she was indeed really tired so she fell asleep as soon as her head met the pillow. She woke up from her alarm after a while, stretching her body and marveling at not only the physique of a level 3 but also at the effectiveness of a power nap. Her spirit had almost been filled up. [00:05:01] She met up with Sheila and Fufi in the living room, settling comfortably on the largest sofa. Sheila couldn''t help but stare at her, wide wide eyes and slightly flushed face. Althea stared back in puzzlement. "What is it?" Sheila gulped, still amazed at how pretty the other was when not covered in zombie goo. "You''re very beautiful. Your husband is a lucky man." Althea blinked, not expecting it, and laughed. "Well, thank you. And yes, yes he is, wherever he is. "You are also very cute and charming. How old are you anyway?" Sheila literally looked like an adorable minor now that she was all cleaned up. "I am twenty-seven now." Althea coughed a little in surprise. "Well.. you look much younger." Looking at her now, Althea couldn''t help but recall the questions that had been running in her head. "I''m curious, why did you want to become a nurse? Not to be rude or anything¨C" "No, it''s fine," Sheila said with a smile. "I was actually asked by my parents to do so, so they have a proper caretaker when they get old." Althea''s beautiful eyebrows rose. "Then what do you want to do?" Sheila stared at her, unsure, feeling ashamed "I .. I don''t know." she mumbled. In fact, she really wasn''t sure what path to pick, so she just went with the flow and followed her parents'' wishes without question. Althea scooted over and patted her head to comfort her like a child. Who told her to look so young? "Well, this disaster can also be seen as a new beginning." She paused, emerald eyes looking out the window, to the sky filled with doom. "Maybe you can find your calling¡­ there." Sheila nodded, feeling hopeful. However, after several beats of silence, she couldn''t help but give Althea a furtive glance. Althea raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" "Your husband¡­ I mean, if you don''t mind me asking." Althea smiled and shook her head. "He''s a soldier. He went missing months ago." "Oh." Sheila paled. Because Althea was so strong and beautiful, she unconsciously just assumed everything was¡­ good. "I''m sorry." "It''s fine." She shrugged. "He''s still alive, somewhere. I have an intuition that I''ll meet him soon." She paused, looking out the window to the waning moon with a complex expression. "My intuition has always been very strong." [00:00:32] Althea told them to hold as many important items as they could to see if they could be brought with them. Sheila held on to the duffel bag tightly, even taking a lot of the hotel supplies with her. Another bag was placed on Fufi''s back, but she added more meat snacks for him. In contrast, Althea freed her hands. Her hands would be holding on the two of them, to see if they could be transferred together. [00:00:01] The air changed subtly as if a force came down from the heavens. Then, a circular pattern of light appeared on their feet, and Althea''s expression turned a little dark, nervous. But she quickly shook her head off the thoughts, strengthening her will. It could be said that she had done her best to prepare, and there was no use being scared. At this thought, her emerald shined a sharper, more determined light. ''Whatever comes, come!'' Chapter 30 - 30: Welcome to the Xeno Continent! [Congratulations to the 114,876,877.00 Terranian who survived the migration!] . . [Welcome to the Grand Continent of Xeno.] . . [Protection Period of 1 Xenoan Month is activated.] . . Althea stared at the new announcement blankly, feeling a bit shaken the moment her brain made the calculations. The number may seem a lot, but this was not even 1% of the almost 17 Billion people who survived until the migration. This was a depressing number. One for every one hundred people. What were the chances her friends and family survived? And¡­ what was the protection period? However, she could not even take the time for deeper thought as all her stats appeared in front of her without her prompt, distracting her thoughts. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 3 (1125/5000) Life: 490/500 Spirit: 470/500 (-5%) Physical: 80 (-5%) Agility: 77 (-20%) Defense: 64 +12 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [WEALTH: 9,711 gold and 79267 silver, 14233 copper] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: None Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Leather Boots +2 Defense, +0 Agility ] . . . [You have been assessed to have over 1000 gold and overall potential above B. You are confirmed eligible to hold a Lord''s Token. [The Lord''s Token: Enchanted magical accessory that grants its owner the right to establish ownership over a designated safe and optionally fortified location of his/her choice. [Note: The Lord Token will be integrated with the Territory Lord upon activation. [Would you like to take it? [YES | NO] Her eyebrows rose, the distraction shaking away some of the depression and worry that plagued her. Lord Token? The key to a safe place? She chose YES, of course. [Would you like to use it now? YES | NO] NO. She still knew that one shouldn''t build villages anywhere. Giving her surroundings a cursory glance, she judged that this was literally the middle of nowhere. [Establishment of Territory is put on hold. Please use the token within 7 days.] However, before becoming too relieved, she had come to the question: Why would a ''safe'' place be necessary in the first place??? "What is it?" Sheila asked, pulling her back to the present. Sheila was not used to seeing the other woman look in a daze. Was there something odd in the stats that popped up? At this, she couldn''t help but take a second look at her stats. Other than the so-called ''Elemental Affinity'' the others were intuitive, and she found no major anomaly. On the other hand, Althea did not answer immediately. No one could receive her absolute unconditional trust except for her husband. Even her parents and brother, although she loved them very much, couldn''t receive this, let alone a new friend. So, at Sheila''s question, she only shook her head in the end. "It''s nothing." Neither woman spoke for a while, absorbing the new place, feeling its difference. She smiled when she saw Fufi safe and sound and still smiling. Then, she looked at the new counter on the top right. [195:59:57] This must be the counter for the deadline of the Lord Token activation. Obviously, the unit of time here was a little different than in Terran. Making a quick calculation, she had a rough estimate to have an idea. So¡­, a day here was 28 hours? Fortunately, the smaller units of measurement were the same, or else she would have been very confused. Of course, it could also be that the system simply converted it to units they could understand. Her emerald eyes couldn''t help but stay on the new icon on her screen. It was an image of a palace and was dimly lit. It had a subtle feel of majesty to it and she immediately knew that pressing it would probably activate the token. Speaking of the Lord Token, she pondered more about the qualifications needed to receive it. Assuming B was the average potential, it would mean that almost everyone who managed to get over 1000 gold coins before migration could get a Lord Token. She wondered, just how many territories would there be? And...if people who got 1000 gold could get the accessory, she really wondered if it was a good thing. She had taken out all the physical riches and safety deposit box items in her upper-class neighborhood and only got a little over 1000 gold coins because she robbed a drug lord. And, after robbing a bank, she managed to save over 9000 gold coins during those 24 hours. How many people managed to get similar achievements? Considering the few survivors she met, she mused that most people would probably gather less than 10 gold simply because cash and digital money turned to waste. Except for the old generation, most people opted to place their wealth in banks and other digital wallets for convenience. So...what kind of people could get 1000 gold coins within 24 hours? Gangsters? Drug lords? Ultra-rich people with dirty money? Normal people wouldn''t think of robbing banks like she did. If most territories had leaders like that¡ªshe shivered just by thinking about it. Would those places still be considered a ''safe'' place? Then again, those who could get this amount could be considered capable and this was a plus in its own way. Developing a territory in any world was a capital-intensive endeavor and the powerful Lord token might just be wasted on others. She just sighed and put the matter aside for now. Anyway, that was the problem for other territories, not hers. At least not for a while. Whatever the case, she definitely wouldn''t take the task of creating a territory lightly. Chances were, this new ''home'' would be her permanent one. This meant this would be the place her children would grow up in. She was determined to make it the best, at least for the children. Chapter 31 - 31: Wake-up Call Returning back to the present, Althea turned her head to the other girl. "What''s your overall assessment?" "B." Sheila said, "Yours?" "Mine is above B." Althea answered vaguely, then looked at Fufi who was forever wagging his tail happily. "What''s yours?" The stupid dog just smiled at her with his tongue out. Sigh In the end, she was just happy this fluffy canine managed to come with her. She couldn''t help but smother his head with pets. After visually checking her two companions for any injuries, Althea then turned to look at a strange woman shivering crazily a few meters away from them. Sheila followed her line of sight and flinched, very surprised there was somebody else there. "You¨C" "I¡­ H-Hello." The woman mumbled, shivering. She was a young woman wearing revealing clothes made of silk, and she looked like a beautiful but sad puppy. The scratches and blood exposed more of her skin, making her look both dirty and pitiful. From the dress, she was probably at a party when the disaster started. The woman seemed both happy and scared that she ended up with two women. Happy because at least she didn''t have to deal with lechers, and scared because these women probably wouldn''t be able to protect her at all. And why were they so¡­ clean? They even had helmets on? However, they did not even have any time to chat when she heard rustling of leaves quickly approaching, followed by spine-tingling low growls. Suddenly, two monsters of similar appearance popped out of the bushes with a roar. They were over a meter tall and extremely menacing, their eyes filled with aggression and greed. Greed for their meat. Just looking at those sharp saber teeth, one could see that it could impale anyone with a snap. Althea''s heart stopped and she looked at her companions. "Run!" She yelled, and was already a few meters farther. She decisively took out one of the guns she stocked up from the drug lord''s house and rained the monsters with bullets. Bang! Bang! Bang! Some of the bullets did connect and made it bleed, but otherwise it didn''t hinder its movement at all. On the contrary, it only made the monsters angry. Althea''s heart dropped. Beyond all expectations, the gun wasn''t helpful at all!!! In the meantime, the other monster had menacingly approached the other two women. Sheila was distracted with Althea''s fight, wondering how she could help, and the other woman quickly ran behind her. She saw the monster coming at them and, in fear, unconsciously pushed Sheila forward. Sheila screamed, unable to control her fall. Her head was protected by her helmet, which allowed her to escape a concussion, but her hands was not the same. She didn''t even feel her hands bleeding after hitting the rocky ground, because she hear a terrifying snarl next to her ears, and she could see the sharp teeth of the monster a few inches away from her head. Her heart stopped, the events of her young uneventful life passing through her mind. Was she really going to die now? Was she really going to die like this? So unknowingly? Fortunately, the bullet entered the monster''s eyes and through its brain, splattering Sheila''s face with the monster''s blood instead of her own. [Successfully killed a Level 3 Saber Tiger] [+70 copper, +70 experience] Althea had no time to even ready this as she heard a mewl behind her and saw Fufi thrown against the tree, not knowing if he was dead or alive. She glared at the tiger-like giant which then changed its target to the other woman, who had happened to run near its direction in a vain attempt to avoid another. Without ceremony, it opened its mouth¡ªcrunch!¡ª and ate the woman''s head. It was like biting a cookie instead of a human head. While it was distracted from chewing, Althea immediately aimed at its eyes and made a shot. [Successfully killed a Level 3 Saber Tiger] Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [+70 copper, + 70 experience] With heavy breaths, she aimed the gun at the forest, at different directions, ready to shoot should more monsters pop out. Only when she was certain that there was nothing else popping out of the bushes, her legs finally gave way in weakness. She could hear her own heart and she could no longer hold on to the gun due to her shaking hands. These monsters were far, far, stronger than upgraded zombies. Upgraded zombies had killed countless survivors, and these things were even more deadly. Another thing was that, even if they were of the same level, the bodies of these monsters were very different from humans. The guns did not do much on their skins, and only caused damage at very specific and tiny weak spots. On the contrary, she, a human being of the same level, could still be killed. She ran to Fufi as soon as she had enough strength and was relieved to find that the injuries were relatively minor. Similarly, Sheila only had a scratch due to being pushed down. Althea quickly took out the first aid kit in her space and let Sheila help herself as well as Fufi. As she watched the nurse apply disinfectant to the dog, her mind couldn''t help racing. What about the so-called ''protection period''? Or¡­ were these monsters already really, relatively, weak? A sense of dread washed over her, and she realized she seemed to have been complacent again. If she didn''t have guns, she had no doubt she''d be dead now. This attitude would get her killed someday if she didn''t change it. It was fine if it was just her, but¡­ Her palm unconsciously touched her stomach. She was not alone. Her hands stopped and she looked at her stomach, her large eyes shined with renewed determination. Growing up, her husband had taught her a lot of things, a lot of which were to defend herself. It was just that life had been peaceful the past few years, and she had lost the alertness she once had. She wondered if her husband, wherever he was, would be disappointed. Her husband''s handsome face flashed through her mind, a hint of longing occupied her heart. She shook her head in the end. She''d just have to remind herself of the things she should know, so that when she met her husband again, he would be relieved and proud. Chapter 32 - 32: Promise Aberdeen City, 15 years prior In the midst of the greenery of a single-detached villa, a small gazebo sheltered two children training, creating a cute and picturesque scenery that adults would love to watch. "You can''t move, Althea." A handsome young teen gently patted the young girl''s head. The teen had very striking features, and anyone with eyes would be able to tell he''d grow up to be an extremely dashing man. Similarly, the little girl he was talking to was very cute. She had springy dark-brown hair tied in two adorable pigtails combed to the side of her head. She had sparkling green eyes that seemed to reflect all that it saw. At this time, these emerald eyes were sparkling with both innocence and defiance. . "But Garannnn, it''s so boooring!" She said, staring up at the older boy. The young girl was doing (or attempting to) do a stable horse stance, and she hated every minute of it. The boy''s deep cerulean eyes looked down at the ten-year-old girl, who was looking at him and was pouting cutely, her chubby cheeks flushed from sweat. It was melting the teenager''s heart. "Ansel is so lucky to have an appointment." She mumbled, crossing her small arms. Gatan sighed, how could he say it was an appointment with a psychologist, specializing in potential PTSD victims? He leaned down and gently patted her head, wiping her cheeks with a clean handkerchief. "I can''t be by your side all the time." He said, "You have to be able to protect yourself." Garan, although he was just a junior recruit, had seen how demanding the occupation of a soldier was. But it was his best bet for strength, and thought a little sacrifice of bonding time would be worth it in the future. ¡­right? Little Althea''s cute eyebrows furrowed, looking at him in incomprehension. "Why?" "So we can grow up well and go on more adventures." He told her, knowing of Althea''s love for exploring. "You know there''s a height limit for doing certain things right?" "No, I mean, why can''t we be together forever?" Garan stared at the little girl, innocent and pure, and he couldn''t help but laugh. The young lad embraced the little girl. "We will, of course. It''s just that we have to grow up first." She wrapped her arms around him. "Really? Then I want to grow up well!" Garan''s ocean eyes warmed as he looked at the little girl. "My Althea will definitely grow up well." He said with a certainty. As they grew older, the days before they entered the orphanage became more and more blurred. Now, all he could remember was carrying the baby Althea and holding her tightly, running away from¡­something. Whether it was the dangers in this world or something else, Garan always had the firm and sometimes inexplicable determination to become stronger. "Of course, it would help you stop eating strange plants." He couldn''t help but add. The girl''s obsession with plants was extremely disconcerting. The number of times he got in trouble in his part-time jobs as a kid after abandoning work to run to the hospital couldn''t be counted in two hands anymore. Little Althea pursed her lips, doubting if she could keep this promise. How could Garan, who basically watched her grow from an infant, not know what she was thinking? He gently pinched her cute cheeks. "Some plants would make you stop growing. Do you want to be a midget forever?" This made her freeze, shiver, and hyped up. "NO!" "Then be careful, and do your training." This seemed to finally convince her and she scooted out of his embrace and went back to the boring horse stance. "Then if I get stronger, I will protect you!" She declared. "Maybe I could be like a Sailor Star!" He laughed, but his expression turned a little serious. She was so young, what if she tried to jump at big bullies by herself like that Sailor Star, a cartoon magic heroine? "You can only protect others if you are sure you can protect yourself." "Hmm¡­" she mumbled, shrugging. At this point, she didn''t really understand the implications of his warning. "I still think Sailor Star is cool, though." Garan smiled helplessly. "If you train, you''ll be more awesome than her." S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Little Althea looked at him like he''s an idiot. "Impossible!" Garan grinned, chuckling. "Want to bet?" Then, his smile faltered and his expression turned a bit grim. Althea blinked, a bit confused. Garan realized his gaffe and gently poked her cute nose. "But in the end¡­ I will be happy as long as Althea is safe and sound." He then held her chubby cheeks so she would focus on him, expression extremely serious. "Promise me that whatever happens, you will take care of yourself." ___ Xeno Continent, Present Althea took a deep breath to calm her nerves before walking to Fufi and gently lifting him up. She turned to Sheila, who was still pale from shock, and shaking from the near-death experience. "Let''s go." She said, "We can''t be near all this blood. More monsters will come." They were silent for several minutes, absorbing the experience they were inexplicably thrown into. Sheila, who was still shaking, lost her footing many times, significantly slowing down their pace. "I''m sorry." Althea sighed and helped her up, feeling that she was still shaking. While she felt pity for her, she really couldn''t deal with such a burden. She had taken her in because she needed someone to help with her pregnancy, and she had thought this place could be relatively safer than their zombie-infested planet. She was wrong, very wrong. So¡­ what could she, a pregnant woman with perennially negative stats, do with another burden? Afraid that similar things would happen in the future, Althea decided to vaccinate the girl in advance. "Sheila," she said with a somber tone. "This is our reality now. I know it''s scary, but don''t expect me to protect you every time." She patted her stomach. "You should know what my priorities are." At this time, that promise she gave him rang the strongest. Because now, not only did she have to take care of herself well, but more importantly¡ªtheir children. Chapter 33 - 33: Growth Althea turned to continue her way, with Fufi following with his naturally bouncy gait. Whether or not Sheila would gather herself and follow her would no longer be of her concern. Watching her tall back, Sheila''s eyes widened with tears in her eyes. However, the feeling of disappointment was soon pushed away by reason. Although she never thought of Althea protecting her¡­ subconsciously, wasn''t it what she really thought? Otherwise, why would she be disappointed? Shame. Shame enveloped her whole being and she felt like crying. It overflowed in her veins to the point of covering up the fear and terror that occupied her emotions a moment prior. Sheila couldn''t help but remember the heart-stopping moment where she was sure she was dead. How helpless she was. "T¡­Thank you for the reminder." She said, sincerely. "And thank you for saving my life, again." Althea nodded, relieved, before turning to continue walking to the opposite direction the monsters were from. On the other hand, Sheila took out the ax in space with a huff. It was her weapon and they stole it from the hospital emergency supplies¡ªthe type used to break glass during emergencies. Although it was heavy, with Althea''s help, she had at least reached level 1 before they settled down in the hotel. She could now wave this ax as a weapon, something which she couldn''t have been able to lift at all before. They dragged themselves through the lush forests. The smallest trees were several meters high, the taller ones they couldn''t even see the top of. The roots were protruding making it difficult to walk, fortunately their balance had also improved along with their physiques. The leaves free falling, covering the ground with a blanket of leaves and humus, so each of their steps made some noise, and they were in constant fear that something would pop out without warning, so quickly that even their enhanced hearing wouldn''t be able to adapt. Because her eyes were sharp and she kept looking for any anomaly around, it was only at this time that Althea realized the difference of the forest they landed in. She looked around her carefully and her eyes brightened. As someone who dealt with plants, she could say that very, very, few of these plants were similar to Terran. Of course in terms of survival this wasn''t very good, but as someone who hadn''t seen a new species for years, this was akin to heaven. However, it was obviously not the time to explore. They continued on their trek until they finally reached a small clearing. However, they had not even reached the area yet when a group of ugly green deer-like creatures with sharp horns appeared on their left. It looked smaller and less dangerous, but she dared not underestimate any creatures from this place. She knew they were technically the invaders and her humanity didn''t allow her to attack because of defensive threats. However, the monsters soon showed signs of aggression, greed, and hunger. The moment they gestured to attack, she immediately took out the gun, which signaled the beginning of a fight. [Successfully killed a Level 2 Hellion Moose] [+50 copper, + 50 experience] [Successfully killed a Level 2 Hellion Moose] [+50 copper, + 50 experience] However, her hits weren''t so accurate and there were plenty of misses. They lost a few equipments along the way. For instance, the helmet she gave to Sheila literally saved her life from what would''ve been a devastating grip from the monster. They watched as it chewed the helment to pieces and Sheila had the vision of it being her head. Cringe. The split second was enough for Althea to fire a shot and finish it off, pulling Sheila back to the present when its blood splattered all over her. [Successfully killed a Level 2 Hellion Moose] [+50 copper, + 50 experience] Sheila shakily stood back up and slapped herself. Althea nodded, focusing on her own fight. From this point though, they had found their tempo, and managed to deal with the rest of the monsters with relative ease. [Successfully killed a Level 1 Hellion Moose] [+30 copper, + 30 experience] She was relieved to know that the guns worked well with these monsters, causing high damage even if she missed its approximate weak spots. Fortunately, they didn''t encounter any more level 3s, or else things would''ve been extremely troublesome. It seemed like they were just very, very, unlucky earlier. She watched as Fufi take down a level one, and was currently fighting with a Level 2. Because Fufi was injured he struggled very much. Althea decided to assist him by blowing his opponent''s leg. [Congratulations to Fufi for leveling up to Level 2!] After the level up, his wound and spirit made visible improvement. Althea smiled in relief before turning her head to the other one. She watched the remaining fight between Sheila and the level 1 moose. Sheila kept looking at her and her eyes brightened when she realized she had already finished her fight. "I won''t help you." She said which made the other girl flinch, and she narrowly escaped an attack. Seeing the girl panicking, Althea didn''t falter. "You know now that you can''t depend on me forever. Only with personal strength will you gain confidence to live in this place." Althea shot a leg again to assist but didn''t do anything else. However, this was enough for Shiela to adjust her mentality. She seemed to be once again reminded that Althea was a pregnant woman younger than she was. "Yes." Her hold of the ax relaxed and her whole body found newfound strength. Lifting the ax, Sheila began swinging harder and with more precision. Unfortunately, even with the broken leg, it was not as easy a skirmish as the fight of Althea who had a gun, or Fufi who had the physical advantage of a beast. Many times, Sheila had almost been bitten. It was only because Fufi had distracted the monster occasionally that she managed to escape. After several minutes, she finally saw improvement and she began to cause damage to the monster, making it bleed. "Focus on its weak spot. We don''t had unlimited time or energy." "Y-Yes." And she did. As a nurse, she naturally had an idea where possible weak spots were. Dozens of slashes later and the monster was finally weak enough for her to gain confidence. She wiped the weapon decisively along its neck, finally taking its life. Looking at the corpse of her first kill, the tension seemed to have left her body and she fell on her knees. "I¡­ I did it." Althea walked closer and patted her head. "You did it." She said with a smile. "The next battle will be easier." Sheila''s smile brightened like never before. ¡­ S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Because of all the blood that soaked the ground, the trio didn''t dare to stay in the clearing either. They continued their way until they found a cave made from natural outcropping. Confirming this wasn''t some base of some other creature, Althea decided to let this be their temporary camp. She looked at the plants nearby and, without exception, she didn''t seem to know any of them! She admired the plethora of new plants¡ªno, the plethora of worlds¡ªwaiting to be studied and had an inkling she would discover many, many, interesting things. Chapter 34 - 34: Tinkering with the Indigenous Plants National University Library, Special Section, Fifteen Years Ago The young Althea looked at the vast array of books in fascination. Because of the advent of technology, there weren''t many of these things anymore, but she liked them very much. Learning while touching physical paper had always felt a bit sublime to her. Althea continued to peruse the selection of books, staying in a section for a longer amount of time. In this section, there were plenty of books about flora and fauna. There were tons of illustrations of plants, their parts, and uses. The young Althea had always loved plants and had her own notebook studying their uses. It was her first time seeing things so detailed. She learned that even the unassuming useless-looking parts of the plants could be used for the most unexpected thing. "Amazziinggg¡­" Little Althea mumbled, big emerald eyes looking at the book, filled with admiration. "Amazing, right?" The old man smugly said, eating his walnuts. Althea wasn''t stingy with her compliments. "It''s the most amazing thing I''ve seen so far." "It''s still more than that. For example," he showed her the leftover case of the walnut he had been eating." "After processing this¡­" he then took a bottle of the ink to his table. "Could become this." "Amazing!" "Indeed." The old man laughed and patted her head, leaving some crumbs on her ponytailed head. His old wise eyes looked at his collection. "Plants are amazing things, and you''ll learn whole new worlds from studying them." ____ Xeno Continent, Present Althea and the rest studied their surroundings, just to be sure. They decided to check a hundred meters radius, and what she had seen just made Althea itchy to explore. Upon double checking that there were no more creatures around waiting to maim them, Althea was finally able to leave the two in place. This surprised Sheila a bit, not because she was scared of being alone (well, a little), but she was mostly taken aback by the fact a pregnant woman''s out adventuring. "I''m fine, at level 3 I don''t feel pregnant at all." She said, shrugging. "I won''t be ten meters away from you guys." Anyway, all the plants around were basically unfamiliar, she really didn''t need to go far. Althea walked by several meters before leaning down, careful with her stomach, and sat on an overgrown root. Althea, who seemed to have forgotten the dangers, took out her portable laboratory a.k.a. Tori , and focused on the nearest plant. An interesting thing about space was that although time wasn''t static, the ''space'' was. That was to say, even if she pulled out the lab underneath so many things, the other things just stayed there, floating. It was quite fun. In any case, she watched excitedly as she pulled out plants and their different parts to place on the testing component. Her beautiful emerald eyes watched in anticipation as the various formulas and elements appeared on the small screen. Although this was a different world, the building blocks were still the same. She took something that was probably a type of fruit. In terms of appearance, it looked like a yellow cherry tomato. Ping! She stared at the screen and, as expected, saw that it had Flavonoids which gave the fruit its color and has antioxidant properties. She also stared at its chemical composition and concluded that this thing was edible and quite healthy. The amount of ethylene was also high, so it was probably already ripe. Wiping it with a clean handkerchief she placed it in her mouth and her face scrunched. Sour! She decisively ignored this fruit. Of course, she still took out her notebook, drew and described the plant and made a basic drawing. At the bottom of the page there was a note: Sucks to eat. It made even her, a pregnant woman who didn''t mind sour food at the moment, cringe. She turned her head to an upright plant with a thickened rhizome. Using a stick, she dug around it and found a tuber. It was a weird pinkish color and only the size of a palm. Seeing the test results, the plant, like the Tuber that she knew, was filled with dioscorin. Although different in appearance from yam, the composition was just about the same. She wrote down the possible uses, marking those that specially need more testing. She took a few bunches to the space both for experiment and food. She took note of four or five more plants, none of which were edible, or were particularly interesting, before her sights ended up on a vine crawling on another tree. It was a very thick vine the size of a baby''s arm, with purple flowers growing long and swaying with the wind as if seducing her to come to it. Unable to help herself, Althea took out several leaves and flowers from the plant to check. She smelled and she was reminded of grapes, her favorite fruit. She almost swallowed it. Almost. Fortunately, she still had the wits not to directly ingest the unknown plant. She stopped herself in time and simply placed it on Tori. She watched with excitement as she waited for the analysis to come out. However¡­ as she stared at the screen and waited, her vision started to blur... She felt weak on her knees and tried to lift herself up, only to realize that her hands couldn''t even form a grip, and her whole body fell on the ground. She struggled to turn her head to the screen and stared, finding out that the flower contained heavy amounts of phytotoxins. Poisoned. She was poisoned. There were also three types of hallucinogens in there¡­ "My love, I told you not to eat weird things¡­" the familiar heartbroken voice of her husband rang in her ears. She blinked and tears lined up her eyes as soon as she recognized the voice. She struggled to turn her head to his image. It was definitely a hallucination, but she still wanted to see. He was as handsome as always, with his dark hair like the night sky and striking features. His eyes were deep as the ocean, looking at her with eyes filled with extreme warmth and love, like he always had. Of course at the moment, there were heavy traces of worry and a tinge of reprimand. Althea gasped as struggled to turn her body to the sky for air, but she was unable to do anything else. Ah, how long has it been? As someone who had been poisoned by her own carelessness for a few¡­dozen¡­times, she already had an idea what to do. Her eyes not leaving the image of her husband, she remembered the many things he taught her. Unfortunately, she could barely even move, how could she do those signals for help? "Hey! Someone?" She said¨Cwell, croaked¡ªas loudly as her weakened throat allowed. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, she quickly lost energy. So she couldn''t call anymore after that nor could do anything else but wait for rescue, so she just closed her eyes to rest a bit. A minute later, rustles of leaves approached her direction. When she opened her eyes, what met her eyes was the worried face of Sheila, with Fufi running around her corpse¡ªer¡­ weak body, in distress. "Oh my goodness! Althea!!" "I''m fine¡­" She said, stopping the useless chatter. Sheila, a nurse, managed to do some first aid on her. At the very least, she could now move a hand, albeit with a lot of struggle. She weakly pointed in a direction near the grape-like vine with her hand. "Take .. sap¡­ from that plant¡­ no¡­ the other one¡­ not that¡­ there." The voice was a little apathetic, but every movement she made was shaky. Sheila ran to her and held the plants near her, waiting for further instructions. "Take 2mg of this, weigh it here." She said pointing at an elevated surface on Tori. "Mix it with this Lola." She took out a petal of one of the previous uninteresting flowers from the space. Sheila quickly mixed the two and put it in Althea''s mouth. It took several minutes before Althea''s pale face returned to its rosy complexion. Fufi let out a little woof, while Sheila stared at her with deep concern. "How are you?" "Don''t worry I''m used to it." She shrugged, "Just accidentally touched a bit of poison." Her tone was indifferent, but this seemed to have triggered a nearly non-existent button in Sheila. Just like that, out of nowhere, the little rabbit turned into a dragon. "ARE YOU AN IDIOT??!" The nurse shrieked, making Althea flinch away and rub her ears. Althea gaped at her, not knowing that she had it in her. "Have you forgotten you''re PREGNANT?!!" Althea paused at this, frowned, and turned her head down to her very heavy stomach. She pursed her lips, feeling very guilty. Her obsession with plants could indeed get a bit pathological. Her best friend once said she''d die of plants someday. She gently patted her stomach, a bit of a coaxing tone in her voice. "I''m sorry my babies, I was not careful enough." She took note of this damned plant, as well as the antidote. [Successfully gained New Skill: Elementary Appraisal (D)] [Elementary Appraisal (D): Ability to determine all known uses of all things below level 5. Ability to determine nomenclature of all things Level 6-10. Cost: 10 Mana] New skill¡­? Appraisal? She didn''t have to touch a plant and she would immediately have an idea on what it was for?! There could be such a good thing?! If eyes could glow, Althea''s eyes would''ve become the sun. Chapter 35 - 35: Appraisal Skill Sheila''s thin eyebrows furrowed at the woman''s unrepenting look. Was she smiling? After being reprimanded? "Look here, Althea, I know I am overreaching but¡ª" "I learned new skills." Althea said, cutting off her imminent soliloquy. "...what?" The other two stared at her. "I can now look at an object and, if they are not too high a level, I can know their names and their known uses." Sheila could still remember how Althea could mix antidotes from plants she had obviously just encountered. With this skill, she didn''t have to touch and smell those plants just to check them. This was what relieved her the most. "I reckon learning and doing things well here will let us permanently learn new skills." Sheila couldn''t help but cross her arms. "Should I eat that?" She pointed at the hallucinogenic flower, and made a rare joke, implying getting poisoned would gain her skills. Althea rolled her eyes. "You can try." Sheila giggled. Anyway, Althea was very, very, excited to use her abilities. Sadly, she could only use the appraisal skill not too many times due to the mana consumption. She wondered if it recovered as quickly as the Spirit. Thinking of this, she checked how many times she could use a skill. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 3 (1990/5000) Life: 390/500 Spirit: 400/500 (-5%) Physical: 80 (-5%) Agility: 77 (-20%) Defense: 64 + 12 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Looking at her now-useful Mana stat, she couldn''t help but feel it was really lacking. This meant that she could only use it 30 times at a time. Next, she would need to figure out the speed of recovery, but it probably wouldn''t be as fast as she would like, considering her usual pace of study. She went to a different area from yesterday and used the skill, determined to use it at least five times. Squatting down, she looked at a seed-like plant that had succulent leaves that reminded her of aloe vera. It was similarly chubby and glossy, only the shape and color was a bit different. She wanted to slice it to check if it also had that gel inside, but she didn''t dare touch anything anymore, even if she had gloves. She immediately spent 10 Mana to use her new skill. There was nothing special, no special effects or anything. A text simply appeared above the plant. There was not even a ding! sound. Although, in the long run, if people had more skills, continuous dings in their head would''ve been distracting. Returning to the item at hand, Althea proceeded on reading the texts, which was written in Terran lingua franca. [Guigorgon (Lv2): Main ingredient for hemostatic potions, partial ingredient for insect repellent.] Her eyes brightened. What a good plant! She quickly tested it with Tori and confirmed that it had bioactive compounds like tannins. As for its other known function, judging by the results from Tori, it didn''t seem to have insect repellent quality on its own, so it was probably used as a binder or something. And finally, as something with bioactive compounds, this should also be very good with food. As for the taste¡­, she couldn''t tell yet. She took note to experiment on this. Speaking of which, she decided to study more about cooking so she can have a more intuitive understanding of the everyday use of these plants. More importantly, she had vowed to make food for her husband when they reunite. Oh, and also for her brother. She turned to her next plant: a tall coniferous tree with fruit similar to pine, only it was round and colorful. [Waul Tree (Lv3): Fruits used as toys by children.] It was a bit boring, but she believed every plant was good. First, she tested the fruit with Tori. It was hard and could indeed be used as ball toys by children. She scraped a bit of its shell and saw the chemical composition, with some unfamiliar combinations appearing. As such, she took out her tablet and made a short search in her knowledge database. This fruit, although very different in appearance, apparently had a 60% likeness to pine cones. From what she knew, pine could be used as oil, albeit only essential oils. Other uses of pine cone had to do with byproducts of advanced processing that couldn''t be done with her current conditions. However her search let her find something important: Pine cones could make resin acids. Resin acids = Rosins! Probably! After checking that this Waul fruit could indeed make rosins, albeit with a higher concentration requirement, she almost jumped up in joy. Rosins could be used for soap! It also had other uses, obviously, but she didn''t care for those at the moment, just taking note that this can be used to obtain rosin. Only the universe knew how sticky she was feeling right now. Not to mention the damned pregnancy fluids making everything worse! S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Next, she put her attention to the wood. She used a knife to take a bit of skin and viscous liquid seeped through. She made sure to wear gloves this time, took a sniff, and studied its consistency. "This tree sap is very familiar." She mumbled as she placed a sample in her lab. It took a few seconds more than usual, and her beautiful emerald eyes stayed on the results. A natural polymer. Specifically, a polymer that could make rubber. This thing had elastomeric polymers, a high concentration of it. She took out a bottle with little water left and drank all its remaining content. She wounded the tree and used one of its hard leaves to funnel the sap to the bottle. Her eyes shone as she watched the viscous fluid enter the bottle, drop by drop. All her cells were excited at the discoveries. How long had it been and she already got a rubber-like substance in this strange new world? Oh, how fun! Chapter 36 - 36: Obsessed As Althea stared at the process with a little obsession, she also mused about the other uses of the compound. This sap could also be used as adhesives. As for what type, she still needed to do some experiments. As for the wood.. rubber wood, she read, was very good as furniture. But it had to be treated with harsh conditions which was not something that could be done with her current conditions. As she took a look at her notebook filled with notes, she felt the purest sense of accomplishment. She continued to peruse through her tablet for more information, though at the back of her mind she really missed reading paperback books, soon finding out a bit more information about the items. She closed the tablet and placed it back to the space. At this point, she could basically confirm that, if a higher level appraisal skill would just be able to give information on higher level plants, the appraisal would only show all ''known'' uses. That was to say, the display might not contain everything. She didn''t know the technological advancement of this place, but her methods should still be able to harvest more knowledge than the existing conventional methods here. What would happen when she found out more about plants than the people of this world? What if she discovered more uses that they did? How curious. At this point, she could care less about monsters or leveling up. She just wanted to study as many plants as she could, like the Beautiful Mad Scientist she was often called behind her back. She had already forgotten she had a territory to build. "I want to settle here for today. It seems safe here. Let''s rest for a while. You go do your own thing." She said, very quickly, leaving no room for discussion. Sheila and Fufi: "..." Anyway, even if they left, she would really not notice. Sheila sighed and just took out some food and outdoor equipment to start cooking a basic meal. This had nothing to do with Althea, who was once again perusing around to see what plants she could test. She then found another one of those sour fruits. She hesitated to use her precious mana on something so unpalatable, but curiosity got the better of her in the end. [Sour Pur (Lv1): Relieves hunger, main ingredient for coloring, condiment] Althea''s eyebrows rose. Condiment? Like, vinegar? Hey, if she was a cook she''d have thought of this sooner. She took out a few more and placed them in the space with the others. She looked at the other berry adjacent. If she had more space, she''d definitely collect boxes of these. [Yu Berry (Lv3): can be eaten raw, ingredient for Gogu medicine, ingredient for gourdsoup, ingredient for South crossfish cuisine] She nodded. As an aspiring chef (well, eventually) she took a few handfuls of this fruit and also placed them in the space. Stepping back, she took a look around and wondered if there were particularly interesting-looking plants. It didn''t take long for her to see a very colorful tree with its leaves either pink or purple. The leaves were plump and pretty, as if you could eat them raw. She gently looked at the plant and used her skill. [Louj (Lv4): with poisonous tree bark and fruit. An ingredient for the Herren Poison.] "..." sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ah, almost got poisoned again. She took note of this damned scammer and didn''t dare bring it to space. She also called the other two to where she was. Sheila was still holding her wooden soup ladle, and Fufi was eating something. "This thing is poisonous, don''t be stupid and fall victim to its deceptive appearance." "I''m not." She said with the tone of ''I''m not like you''. "Woof!" Fufi barked, making some of the stuff he was chewing disgustingly fly to her legs. "What are you eating?" Althea looked at the dog guardedly. Sheila smiled. "He tried out my cooking. He said it''s delicious." (Do you think everyone is like you? She thought.) Althea had no idea what was going on in the other girl''s head. Instead, she was interested in finally ingesting decent food. "Oh?" Now that they mentioned food, she finally felt a little hungry. She patted her stomach in guilt. She was starting to feel like a bad mother¡­ (If Sheila were to know what she was thinking, she''d agree very strongly.) Althea looked at the dense soup in front of her and gulped, blowing it a bit to let it cool down, before finally eating it. Sheila was not a very good cook either. Fortunately, it wasn''t so bad that the ingredients were turned to waste. "This isn''t bad." Althea said, and Sheila blushed at her rare compliment. "Thanks." Sheila said, clearing her throat. "But I had to use quite a bit of condiments¡­" Although she didn''t cool much, she knew most people wouldn''t use half of what she had. "Oh?" "I''m afraid the remaining won''t last another week or two¡­" Sheila felt a bit guilty. There was no way, the food she made didn''t taste anything without the condiments¡­ Althea blinked and remembered the new plants she had been studying. "No worries, we''ll figure something out." Sheila nodded, relieved, and picked up her bowl again. Althea smiled and also continued with her consumption. They entered a companionable silence, appreciating the food. As such, the trio would happily have their ample meal, especially compared to their peers who were, at the moment, still running for their lives. . . . However, Althea only got a few mouthfuls when she started hearing the familiar ominous rustles of leaves followed by low spine-chilling growls. The two girls'' eyes met and they immediately packed up, placing their tools back to the safety of their space. They took out their weapons, preparing for a fight. And Althea belatedly realized¡ªthanks to her dampened sense of smell, a temporary side effect of the poison from before¡ªthat the food they were eating probably smelled. The whiff of scent likely attracted nearby mobs to their direction. As strange beast heads slowly began appearing amongst the shrubs and the trees, Althea bitterly tightened her hold at her katana. Tsk. She couldn''t even eat in peace. It was also only at this time she remembered she had a territory to build. Chapter 37 - 37: New Skills The trio stood back-to-back, defensive, eyes looking guardedly at the new creatures that appeared. It wasn''t a single group this time. One group was composed of about 7 animals, they were as huge as a bear but with the head of a long-nosed lion. The other group was even larger in number, about 15 or so, and they looked like green giant rats with short tails. "I didn''t know your cooking would be so popular with the monsters." Althea mumbled and Sheila gulped in nervousness. "I¡­ I really didn''t mean to¡­" In fact, they''d gladly share the food if it meant they didn''t have to fight. Sheila would even feel a little like a princess who befriended animals, momentarily dreaming of taming animals with her food. It was just that the monsters here seemed to be bloodthirsty by nature and even if they were attracted by the soup, their eyes filled with aggressiveness and hunger were directed at them. Also, her soup really wasn''t anything special. Althea took out her gun and, as before, didn''t give Sheila one. After all, the resource was finite and she didn''t want to waste a bullet. Besides, when the bullets were gone and could not be reproduced, learning this skill would be useless. She took out her katana, placing it parallel to her gun. After the first near-death experience, she wasn''t naive enough to think no monster would be able to get close to her even if she was holding the gun. In any case, the moment an aggressive monster took a step forward, she would aim and shoot. Without further ado, several monsters sprinted towards them at the same time and Althea no longer hesitated to defend herself. Bang! Bang! In the few seconds that followed, she took down three. They were very quick, even with her improved aim, she still wasted twice the number of bullets. [Killed Gnomos (Lv2): +50 copper, +50 experience] [Killed Gnomos (Lv1):+30 copper, +30 experience] [Killed Stormdoer (Lv1):+30 copper, +30 experience] Especially that level two, which took 3 shots straight in the eyes before finally dying. Using the katana already out, she quickly defended herself to monsters she missed, slashing with relative skill. Althea charged forward a few steps and she quickly parried the sword to an apparent weak spot of its large mouth. [Killed Gnomos (Lv1):+30 copper, +30 experience] "Kya!" She turned to see Sheila barely avoiding an attack, and she quickly shot its leg. At this point, Sheila was already full of wounds, and so was Fufi. Going through the motions, she also assisted Fufi by hitting a few legs by the way. From her peripheral vision, she could see Fufi darting skilfully between the trees, using its smaller size to his advantage. She signaled for the two to move to a denser area. They turned to avoid another attack, using the tree to guard their backs. Her sharp eyes caught an opening and aimed her gun for another shot. [Killed Stormdoer (Lv1):+30 copper, +30 experience] She didn''t get a chance for a breather as another monster, much quicker than most, lunged at her. She managed to avoid its killing move, but it nicked her arm. Her eyes twitched but she didn''t let it hinder her movements. She slashed her katana at the monster with precise swings, aiming at its vulnerable spots. But it was strong, its movements were wild and unpredictable. The katana managed to nick it, and it let out a growl. The wounded monster retaliated, slashing at Althea with its razor-sharp claws. This was obviously level 3 monster, but still a bit faster than the ones they first encountered. Coupled with the quantity of monsters around and their swiftly draining spirits, she had a lot more trouble with this one. Fortunately, she eventually got used to its attack and pacing, managing to injure it more and more with precise cuts. The moment it slowed down she took out her gun, aimed, and shot. Bang! It let out a guttural cry, before finally dropping dead. [Killed Stormdoer (Lv3): +70 copper, +70 experience] [Congratulations for upgrading to Level 4] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 4 (30/10000) Life: 590/700 Spirit: 610/700 (-5%) Physical: 105 (-5%) Agility: 107 (-20%) Defense: 74 Mana: 500 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Similarly, the other two also leveled up at some point so their Life and Spirit have all been increased. Not maxed, but it was enough for them not to be so weak that the others had to drag them. The fighting seemed to have gotten wilder and wilder the moment she leveled up and, as the person who gathered most aggro, she was surrounded. She skillfully waved her katana as she shot those who happened to be in the path of the bullet. More than a few times she also had to take extra shots to save the lives of her companions. This went on for half an hour until she heard a familiar ding in her brain. [Successfully gained a skill: Perfect Aim] [Perfect Aim (D) Level 1: 100% hit rate for targets less than 10 meters, lasts 10 minutes. Consumption: 10 mana] [Successfully gained a skill: Quick Shot] [Quick Shot (D) Level 1: Increase the frequency of shots by two times for 1 minute. Consumption: 5 Mana] It seemed that other than skill grades, there were also levels. It would be great if someone were to explain, sadly the system didn''t come with an FAQ program. In any case, she found that the number was no longer increasing. She continued to give assistance to the other two, who were already full of wounds. She had no choice but to ignore the pregnancy symptoms that were starting to surface. After about an hour, the monsters finally stopped coming, and Althea immediately found a rock to rest. She watched as the other two dealt with the remaining level one monsters, just wanting to increase her spirit to stop the pain. "I got a skill!!" Sheila squealed as she hit the last monster. As she said this, she jumped in glee, but her legs were unexpectedly weak and she fell down with a flop. Althea, whose spirit only rose a few points, flinched at the sound. She quickly aimed the gun at the monsters nearby and killed them, finally leaving the two the time to rest. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "H-Hey!" She quickly checked her wounds and although they were not shallow they weren''t enough to kill a level 2. "Spirit¡­ only 9 left¡­" The nurse said, whispering, her face draining color even faster when she was getting attacked by monsters. She quickly took out chocolate bars to feed Sheila. She didn''t know if it worked but seeing the girl kept chewing she knew it wasn''t useless. Althea''s heart dropped when she saw it only slowed down the loss of blood. Brain running at lightspeed, Althea then took out Tori and 2 herbs she found: Guigorgon and Yu Berry to create a mix that had a hemostatic and energizing effect. She added a bit of sour fruit to stimulate the reactions, hopefully, to increase efficacy. She paused with a thought and added a familiar herb known as Googleberry from Terran, which was known for its binding effects, since she couldn''t find a local plant that would fit the role. [Created New Concoction! Please name] "Bandade" [Bandade, confirmed] [Congratulations for contributing to World Knowledge. +Gift Pack (C)] Althea was a bit surprised, but she put this aside for now, staring at Sheila. She made her eat the concoction and also applied it externally. This was something that would heal the Life status, but spirit also had to do with Life. How could you feel energetic when you''re bleeding to death? So while she had yet to figure out how to quickly restore Spirit, healing through Life felt like a decent alternative for now. It took about half an hour before Sheila opened her eyes. The first person she saw was Althea and tears couldn''t help but fall as she hugged the other woman. "Woo¡­woo¡­. I thought I-I was gonna dieeee.." Althea held back her smile as she patted the nurse''s shaking back. "You know what they say, what doesn''t kill you makes you stronger. Look at your strength now, could the ''you'' two days ago imagine it?" Sheila sniffed and shook her head. She really couldn''t. Seeing that the girl had stopped sobbing, Althea smiled. "So tell me about your new skill." Sheila smiled proudly at this. [Slash (E): Adds 1% power to an attack. Cost: 3 Mana] "This is a good skill." Althea said, and the other girl nodded in agreement. "Eventually I will be able to fight beside you without you having to look back." Sheila said, determined not to hold Althea back. Althea smiled, and her dimples showed. It was so beautiful Sheila couldn''t help but stare in admiration. Althea shook her head at the state of her companion, simply patting the girl''s shoulder before struggling to get up on her own. "Well, I look forward to it." Chapter 38 - 38: Another Group of Survivors [183:34:56] After walking for hours, Althea, Sheila, and Fufi finally found another cave to rest. Even if moving was torturous, they had no choice but to change places. The cave they found was a small cave with an entrance just big enough for them to enter while leaning down. She opened her solar-powered flashlight to ensure there were no surprises before formally setting up camp. Sheila immediately set up their cooking tools and made a fire to cook another meal, but this time they covered the cave opening with mats. They also chose food with a mild smell to be safe. Fufi laid down next to the pot, while Althea sat down against the wall thinking of their way there. The system had actually given them a map for reference, but the only places available were places that the person himself had stepped on. She had taken note of the features she had seen from afar and made some calculations about their distances, placing digital notes on the map for recording. Along the way, she tried to look for signs of a decent water source, but she didn''t have much luck regarding it. A good territory should have a good stable water source, preferably one that could be used for other things like trade. However, any source of fresh water was acceptable to her. Her trance was interrupted some time later, when Sheila called for her. "The food is ready!" Sheila said, making sure the solar lamp was stable next to them as they ate. After finally getting to eat their fill, the trio took out their sleeping bags and prepared to sleep. Althea was thoughtful and placed some manual alarm system in front of the cave. The mouth of the cave was very narrow, and it was very easy to place one so that no one needed to stay up in vigil. It was actually not that dark yet, but they were used to the 24-hour-a-day cycle and they needed time to adjust. Not to mention they had fought so much, it was no wonder they felt heavy as lead. They slept so soundly that they barely even noticed it had started raining. They had starkly different conditions than the other people who came with them¡­ ____ Ansel and Tom shivered in the cold and in fear as they squeezed themselves in a hollow tree trunk. The two of them were in incredibly sorry states. Fortunately, the rain covered up their scents so that the monsters didn''t go after them. "What do you think happened to the others?" Tom asked with that demure voice of his. When they were teleported here, there were over thirty people in the vicinity. Unfortunately, so many people attracted a large group of monsters. Those monsters were really strong, the weakest ones were more difficult to deal with than a number of upgraded zombies attacking together. They didn''t even get a chance to adjust from the transport and they were quickly reduced by half. "Most of them are dead, probably." Ansel shrugged. But anyone who survived that long in the city would have some sort of skill. He still remembered among the ten people, two people were policemen, one was in a gang, and another was mysterious but he could tell he was pretty strong. He smelled like a soldier, probably a veteran. In the end, he was still more worried about a certain pregnant woman. A lot of things happened during his travel to Z city and he only made it to a few stations before he was teleported out. His eyes twitched when he recalled the huge amount of zombies and upgraded zombies that flowed in the train car when it stopped at those damned stations. However, seeing that Tom was with him the first time they transferred, although he was not sure how the survivors were distributed, it could mean that the distance between places could''ve been compressed. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This meant that perhaps, Althea was closer to him than he originally thought. This made him feel energized that his spirit actually increased by a point. In contrast to Ansel''s relatively better mood, Tom was very depressed. He was clearly almost in his brother''s house, but there was no sign of him among the thirty people they transferred with. "What¡­ What is this place?" Tom asked, pale as a ghost. Not only was he shivering from being wet in the rain, the image of people being eaten alive was still fresh in his memory. It was horrifying. It was even worse than the horror movies his nieces forced him to watch. When they found out they were getting taken away from the world filled with zombies, he had a faint hope in his heart. At the time they naively thought: Would they finally escape the hell Terran had become? Would they finally find peace again? Who''d have known they would face bigger opponents, instead? "Was the protection period a lie?" He couldn''t help but voice out, still shivering from the cold. "Probably not." Ansel responded almost immediately. The system probably wouldn''t bother to lie about such a little thing. "It means that in their standard, this is indeed the protection period." Tom''s bushy face turned grimmer. "Such an environment...How many of us Terranians would be left in the end?" At this, Ansel didn''t have any answer. Terran was a peaceful planet. The period of wars had long passed and most people didn''t have access to brutality outside movies. Such people, how many will survive this world of strong-eat-weak? Tom felt like crying. The sight of his friends and family turning into zombies wasn''t enough, now he had to watch those few people who survived die in the mouths of weird monsters. They couldn''t even have the luxury to die in their homeland. Becoming a zombie would''ve been a better option for those people. Ansel was also a bit emotional, but he was more bothered by the fact that he was squeezed in this tree with a smelly man. He couldn''t help but push his face away in disgust. "Your damned beard is poking me." "Ah. Sorry." Ansel wanted to go out and fight monsters rather than stay in this awkward position. At least he''d get experience. He could feel his Spirit dwindling at the moment when he was not even fighting. Awkwardness abounded for a few hours until the rain finally ended. They both heaved out such a heavy sigh that it would look like they didn''t take a breath inside at all. They took out their weapons as they squeezed out of the tree. Ansel''s weapon was a bolo while Tom''s was an axe. They obtained cold weapons on the way to the station, they swept many of the weapons there. It was just that the previous attack destroyed most of their weapons and now they only had a handful left on-hand. They traveled to the direction where their previous companions ran to, soon encountering some monsters who attacked at the smell of them. Because they no longer had guns, it took them longer to take out the monsters. However, it was notable that they had become used to the speed and strength of the monsters and didn''t struggle as before. At worst, they would get nicked and get a few wounds, but their lives were intact, and that alone was something to appreciate. Back-to-back, the duo used their familiar dynamic from dealing with zombies to these new monsters. One-hit kills were no longer possible, but they could deal with them with a few attacks. "Distract it for me." Ansel said, and Tom nodded. Tom moved back a bit to have an alternative backing, swinging his axe around, trying to hit the monsters with his erratic movement. Using this, Ansel zoomed in on the monster''s weaknesses and used his weight to deal with fatal wounds on them. [Killed Lv1 Hui Mouse: +30 Copper, +30 Experience] For those who didn''t die immediately, he simply repeated the actions, yelling as he put all his strength in each attack. [Killed Lv1 Hui Mouse: +30 Copper, +30 Experience] [Killed Lv1 Hui Mouse: +30 Copper, +30 Experience] He heard an ugly squeak next to him and saw Tom managed to kill one and injure another. Seeing that he was struggling, Ansel immediately came to help. [Killed Lv1 Hui Mouse: +30 Copper, +30 Experience] They continued to encounter monsters for hours afterwards. Fortunately, they did not come in droves and could be handled by the two of them. However, the quantity was still there and they had a harder time as time went on. They could almost feel their spirits dwindling at a palpable rate. However, all was not lost, because after about half an hour, as Ansel finished off a a monster, the familiar ding sounded in his ears. [Congratulations on upgrading to Level 3!] Thank you! Ansel almost prayed to the skies. His Life and Spirit had already reached the very ominous less than 10%! He was almost dead! [Learned! Stab (E) : Adds 1% power to an attack. Cost: 2 Mana] . . Hmn? Skill? Ansel gaped at the unfamiliar new notification. His heavy heart lit up by something. Although it didn''t look as cool as he would''ve liked his skills ought to look like, it didn''t matter. This meant that even if the opponents were strong, they would also be given more chances to get even stronger. They wouldn''t be so hopeless, after all! Chapter 39 - 39: The First Territory [STATS: Name: Ansel Witt Age: 23 Level: 3 (30/5000) Life: 265/500 Spirit: 225/500 Physical: 72 Agility: 65 Defense: 47 +1 Mana: 300 Physical Potential: S Mental potential: A+ Skills: Active: Stab (E) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Fire Titles: None Overall rank: A Current Status: Normal ] He looked at his stats in satisfaction. Something beautiful was finally listed. Although leveling up didn''t fill up the stats to the brim, thevalues added during the progression were added. It was more than enough. Soon, Tom also reached level 3, and eventually dealing with the monsters became a bit lighter. He also got a skill, with very similar specs to his own. [Slash (E) : Adds 1% power to an attack. Cost: 2 Mana] Now they were finally being given a way to survive, which was somewhat of a relief. The two continued on their way, fighting an occasional mob, following the traces human beings made. Although these traces were a bit gruesome¡ªmostly blood¡ªthey were traces nevertheless. Things went relatively smoothly until they saw an arm appearing to reach out to them from behind the bushes. Tom flinched in surprise and was quick to give a helping hand. He used a good part of his strength to pull up the person¡­ Only he lost balance as he pulled, almost falling to his back. Thankfully he had good reflexes, and his eyes focused on the arm he pulled, wondering if he used too much force and how come the person was so light. But his eyes followed the hand to the arm and further up¡ª "Ahhh!" He yelled, letting go of the arm. Because¡­ it was really just an arm. Ansel got goosebumps while Tom paled, as if he had lost all blood on his face. From his peripheral vision, Ansel saw Tom gag in his direction. The big man almost barfed at him. Jerk. Ansel looked at the older man in disgust. "It''s like you didn''t see zombie heads flying around¡ª" "That''s different!" Tom argued. After all, the people he knew who died turned into zombies. Because he knew them, he knew clearly that the bodies were no longer ''them''. After a short time, Tom had understood the fact that zombies were no longer humans. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. More than anything, killing them was liberation to his friends and family. Joking aside, Ansel''s guard went up several notches at the sight of the severed arm. It didn''t take long for them to see more and more body parts, likely from different people. There was even a small foot, clearly belonging to a small child. The two silently continued to walk until they finally saw the huge body of a monster. But its attention was on the body it was mauling. The poor person was a woman. Or, it was. Not counting the severed arms, half-bitten face, and overflowing innards. Looking closer they realized that it was an acquaintance; it was one of the people who teleported with them. This time Tom really puked. Fortunately, it was in the bushes. The smell seemed to have alerted the monster and it turned its ugly head in their direction. Growling, it quickly sprinted and opened its mouth to eat the fresh meat. [Used Stab (D), -2 Mana!] [Used Stab (D), -2 Mana!] [Used Stab (D), -2 Mana!] [Killed Sabermouth (Lv1): +30 Experience, +30 copper] Tom was pulled to the present when he saw the body of the monster fall in front of him. He realized his gaffe and quickly wiped his mouth with his shirt before apologizing. "...sorry." Ansel ignored him and walked closer to the dismembered woman. "Help her out." He said, asking Tom to do the dirty work. He called it ''training''. They quickly buried the body next to where she was found and added a stick to mark her grave, placing the bracelet on the separated arm on top. They bowed a little, giving the respect they could give to someone they hadn''t even talked to, but a fellowman nevertheless. They continued to walk forward, heading to where the woman was headed, hoping to meet up with other survivors. Eventually, they heard the familiar sound of a scuffle and roars. They walked over to see the familiar movement of using the empty gun as a hammer. Ansel couldn''t help but give Tom a sideways look. Tom only had a questioning look on his face in response. It was the two policemen and a little girl, who they knew was the daughter of the older policeman. Obviously, like them, the bullets have already run out. The two policemen were already full of wounds and drenched in blood and sweat. The little girl was only a bit better, but it was obvious that she had been protected very well. Tom and Ansel looked at each other for a moment, nodding, knowing what to do next without speaking. The two of them ran out to help and dealt with the remaining monsters. "Thank you!" the younger one said. He was called Artie, and he had just entered the force a month prior. "You really saved us. My Life is less than 20% now¡­" "No problem. We''re brothers after all!" Tom said, friendly as always. The older policeman, Bruce, also nodded in gratitude before kneeling down to comfort his daughter. Artie smiled and looked at the gun in his hand. "Such a pity." They do have a few batons stocked, but that was it. Not to mention these guns protected their lives and let them come so far. "You can sell it to the system as special metal. It''s not much but it''s something." Ansel said. They were surprised this could be done. "Just take it out and put it in the space again, but with the will to sell. He watched as the two men followed instructions, and they looked at him in gratitude again. "Thanks." "It''s getting really dark." They didn''t have any lighting apparatus other than their phones. Who knew what monsters were like at this time? The man looked at his shivering daughter in heartbreak. "We need to find a safe haven." He said, feeling heavy and incredibly sorry for his poor daughter. Everyone agreed, albeit it was mostly pity for their own skins. The group then continued their way, hoping to find a trekking path to follow. Although they didn''t actually find one, they did see¡­ a stone fence? Everyone looked at each other with bright eyes and followed the fence. After several minutes of running, panting heavily, they eventually reached the gate. [You have entered the territory of Bright Village. Please pay entry fees within fifteen minutes. [10 copper coins for daily visitor pass, 500 copper for temporary residence (valid for 1 month), and 10 gold for permanent residency.] "Bright Village?" "A safe haven!" Their eyes were bright as they entered, meeting the eyes of the imposing guards. The guards only nodded at them and focused on the task at hand, ignoring them. Ansel couldn''t help but take a second look at the men. They had an ominous aura around them; it was obvious they had seen a lot of blood, likely even before the disaster happened. Their arrival seemed to have alarmed the people inside. Walking a bit deeper, they soon encountered more people. The group of people in proud postures went to greet them. A fat one with a greasy face stepped forward. "Welcome to our Bright Territory. My name is Ghoo, and this is the Lord of this area, Sir Micheal." He said and stared at them, and frowned when they only greeted with a polite nod. It was as if he was expecting them to prostrate themselves. They naturally did not, and it turned the fat guy''s face darker. "You¨C" "It''s fine." It was a young man in his late twenties. He had a clean inviolable aura around him that made people let down their guards. "My name is Micheal Berti." He said, "I am the Lord of this territory." Lord? Someone actually owned a territory? How?? Despite the many questions in their heads, the group of them nodded out of politeness. The policemen even looked awed, and the young man smiled in response. "I am one of the few people who luckily received something called a Lord Token, that allows us to build our own territory." He said, calmly introducing his situation to them. Although Ansel had a little dislike towards the guy, he had to laud him for being patient enough to explain, considering his ''status''. "I am also the first Terran to create his own territory. I received rewards that would definitely let us be in an advantageous position." Ansel''s eyebrows rose in interest. First, there would be safe havens that could be created by Terrans, and now there seemed to be a reward system? On the other hand, the policemen were more vocal in their interest. "What reward? If you can tell, of course." Micheal smiled. "No problem. I was awarded level 2 fences which will definitely be difficult to obtain normally." The group looked at each other in relief. This was indeed good. After all, this man saved up huge amounts of gold which could be used to improve the lives of those inside. The two policemen looked at each other with a smile. Ansel looked at the man, "Can you tell the conditions of becoming Lord?" Ansel asked, casually. He just treated him his age. Ansel really didn''t like him much; he could feel what a fake smile looked like when he saw one. The question earned him a few guarded stares from the guy''s cronies, but Micheal didn''t seem to have taken any offense. "A lot of gold." He just said vaguely. Ansel whistled. "You must be rich then," he said, crossing his arms. Ghoo looked absolutely offended at his casualness. "How come I never heard of you before?" "I lived in the Western continent, but some business transaction brought me to Aberdeen city." Ansel flinched. "What?" Michael''s eyes sharpened a little and repeated what he said. Ansel''s devil-may-care attitude took a 180-degree turn as he faced the man, ready to bombard him with questions. Soon he found out that this lord, along with a lot of his people, were in Aberdeen City before the disaster. Aberdeen city was hundreds of kilometers away from where he was when the Migration happened. That meant¡­ could Althea be here? Chapter 40 - 40: Directions [176:54:26] Inside a damp cave, a beautiful woman stirred from her slumber, her tousled hair cascaded to the stone floor. Althea woke up from a satisfying sleep, stretching her whole body to shake away the lethargy. She habitually placed her hand on her stomach. "Good morning, babies." She said with a gentle smile. She felt light bumps on her palm, as if the children were greeting her in response. She laughed beautifully, her eyes were warm as she tenderly patted her stomach. Too bad no one could see the beautiful view. She looked at the area around her and saw that everyone else had already gotten up. Seeing that she was alone, Althea decided to chat with her children, like she always did before all hell broke lose. She talked about the plans she had for the day, as if they could contribute to her excursions. "My babies, yesterday was a bit haggard right?" "You must have been shaken a lot, right? Thank you for not trying to get out of mommy''s tummy¡­" She could hear the slight echo of her voice within the cave. "Mommy is determined to build you a good home, so next mommy will definitely find a good place to set up camp, so you must wait until then, okay?" Her adoptive mother told her that it was good for the development of children for a parent to chat with them as early as the gestation period. More than making them more receptive of the language after being born, she was aiming for the supposed sense of comfort the act could give the babies. The world they would be born in was a strange and dangerous place; she wanted them to feel some sort of familiarity beforehand. Too bad they still couldn''t hear their father''s voice. He had a velvety deep voice the children would''ve loved. Sigh. Anyway, she continued to chat with her children for a couple more minutes, looking at her surroundings. Now that it was daylight without monsters running after them, Althea couldn''t help but appreciate the stone walls that temporarily shielded them. The cave was cleaner than what she''d expect, probably because there were no bats. There were only some stalactites, molding walls, and a small puddle of water somewhere. Because of this, the cave was a little humid, but the temperature was not bad, so it wasn''t too uncomfortable. Eventually, she stood up and walked near the mouth of the cave where everyone was at. At this time, the sky had already risen and the light seeped through their makeshift vine curtain. Sheila was preparing food and Fufi dutifully drooling after every movement, tail doing a twirling motion to show his excitement. She shook her head in amusement and, after checking up on the two, leisurely walked out of the cave. She was greeted by the beautiful and quaint view of the forest. When there were no monsters, the forest seemed to be very different. There was a hushed tranquility in the combination of the earthy scent of the soil and sight of the shafts of golden sunlight filtering through the lush foliage. Very relaxing. It reminded her of why she often camped out back in Terran. Of course, it wouldn''t be the same here. After all, here, there were monsters everywhere. As she appreciated her surroundings, and wondered if she could maintain this peace, and what she had to do. No matter which direction of thought, she knew a territory was the best bet for this. She reminded herself to prioritize this task. The plants weren''t going anywhere, but her Lord Token had an expiration date. Before going anywhere, she took the time to study her status. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 4 (730/10000) Life: 350/700 Spirit: 320/700 (-5%) Physical: 105 (-5%) Agility: 107 (-20%) Defense: 74 Mana: 500 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] She looked at the time and had a rough idea about the daytime and nighttime cycles. They had 14 hours of daylight and 14 hours at night. She took out her solar chargers to fill the battery and charged her phone and flashlights. They got lucky last night and had a resting place when it got dark. It wouldn''t necessarily be the case next time. In any case, a territory should be able to fix this. Obviously, it would be one of those safe zones. However, she did not want to be perfunctory in choosing a location. After all, she had no idea what the token could do and entail. She must find a good spot as soon as possible. To save time, she tied the solar panels on her backpack so she could charge while she explored. After eating breakfast, she told Sheila of her plans to explore. "I''m going to check out the forest a bit. Stay here." "What?!" Sheila exclaimed, staring at her big stomach. Studying plants not too far from them is fine, but exploring so far? "No, this won''t do. I''m coming with you." Althea rolled her eyes. "You''ll only slow me down." "..." Then, seeing her decisiveness, Sheila had no choice but to sigh. "Fine, but please take Fufi with you. I''ll stay here, I won''t be in danger." Althea nodded and headed outside, with Fufi close by. After studying the terrain, Althea more or less had an idea of her route. She climbed up the top of the cave to a higher altitude, and then chose the highest tree to climb. She looked up on the group of coniferous trees with snowflake-shaped leaves and held back the urge to study it. Well, no, she decided to check it out. [Snow Pine: Source of wood] Although the description was boring, she had a feeling there should be more to this than obvious. After taking several handfuls to her space, she resumed her previous activity, willing herself to focus. With skill, she used the trunk of one tree to climb up the next one, until she got to the highest point, easily 20 meters above the ground. Fufi was having fun chasing after her on the ground, jumping over the extensive roots and shrubs. He also took care of mobs, which were mostly level one. Their quantity was small, so although it was a bit troublesome for him, he really could handle them by himself. It was a group of rat-like critters, but much uglier. They were attracted by Fufi''s careless and noisy passthrough of shrubs. There were about seven of them, about to attack at the same time. Afraid Fufi might get injured, Althea decided to help him out a bit. From the tree, she took aim to kill the leader and half of the cronies, and let Fufi deal with the rest. [Killed Hui Rat (Lv2): +50 experience, +50 copper] [Killed Hui Rat (Lv1): +30 experience, +30 copper] [Killed Hui Rat (Lv1): +30 experience, +30 copper] After dealing with the monsters, she didn''t encounter them anymore after that. After she expressly told Fufi to learn to move with ''a bit more stealth damnit'', she resumed traveling from tree to tree. She was called Little Monkey by her husband when they were children, developed by her love for fruits and leaves. Fortunately, she had yet to encounter a monster that lived or moved among the trees. For now, anyway. Now, with the added physical bonus of leveling up, she could now jump from branch to branch effortlessly even with her big stomach. Standing on the highest point she could access, she looked at the massive forests that surrounded them, and frowned at what she was seeing. It was basically trees as far as the horizon and she was a little discouraged. Should she really just build a territory here? She really didn''t want to. She needed to at least find a water source. If there was no lake or river as far as she could see, she should at least look for mountain springs. After all, in Terran, at least half of the planet''s freshwater came from the mountains. Taking out her telescope she carefully looked at the horizon. She could only get the small handy ones as the larger ones didn''t fit in her space. However, after perusing a bit she did see a mountain range. She took out an ancient compass she had in her space. She felt fortunate she passed by that camping shop, it contained all the offline necessities of camping. The technology had advanced quite a bit, most people didn''t use these anymore, so not every outdoors store sold these antiques. She remembered the cardinal directions by heart and did some estimates in the distance. A hundred kilometers was a conservative estimate, which would take them about a day or two of trekking. Now that she had a general direction in mind, she felt a bit more stable. She gestured to finally return to camp (before taking a couple more of the cute snowflake-shaped leaves, of course). But when she was just about to climb down, her peripheral vision caught sight of something interesting: Smoke. She observed for a while and confirmed its mass was consistent. This meant one thing: There were other survivors nearby. Chapter 41 - 41: Fellowmen "I got news." was the first thing she said as she re-entered the cave. Sheila stared, waiting for her to continue. "I found other survivors." Althea said, and Sheila''s eyes brightened immediately. "Really?" She asked. "There''s finally more people!" Then she realized her naivety, she cleared her throat and looked at the younger girl in embarrassment. "Are we.. going to see?" Althea smiled, glad that this white rabbit was finally growing up. "Yes." Of course, they would take a look first before making contact. Anyway, the smoke was in the way of the mountains, so she might as well check it out. "I''ll make sure not to be too friendly." Althea nodded. "And don''t be too showy of our supplies." Althea reminded her, and after a pause Sheila nodded in understanding. Indeed, it''s only been a day; everyone more or less still had supplies that could last a few days. Maybe it could last weeks if they managed to hoard enough. What about after? Althea probably worried that when the time came she''d be softhearted. But Sheila thought Althea worried too much. How could she possibly forget that woman that she tried to save, but pushed her to the mouth of the monster instead. One experience was enough, a second one would just be foolish. The trio then finished up eating and packed up. Althea looked at their backpacks and wondered what to do with them. Unfortunately, there was no space in the backpack-space anymore, so they could only carry the bags by hand, as usual. They also tried to arrange themselves, even with the blood in their clothes, before heading to see the other people. As they trekked, Althea noticed a relatively recurring plant. It was a few bunches of grass with somewhat upright tillers. It was dark brown, and its stems were diagonal. This was a common plant in this area, so she decided to keep some, some of them with roots, for future study. They followed the smoke and eventually heard some murmurs and sobs, and she was surprised to see more than twenty people huddled together in a small clearing of little more than 10 square meters and making do with a small fire in the middle. The people were also covered in blood and grime, although less than two of them fought in the middle of monsters for many hours, but the temperaments of the rest were weak and hopeless. They turned to her and they were startled. Some looked guardedly, some looked with a greedy leer, and some were apathetic¡ªas if they could no longer see anything but that small speck of fire. Althea took this all in. Then, a voice from the crowd sounded. She turned to see a familiar pair of father and daughter from the corner of the small crowd. "Miss!" "Sister!" Her eyebrows rose, realizing the people who called her were Harold and Maya. They were very dirty and bloody and haggard, but their limbs were complete and they looked at her like seeing a lost relative. Althea nodded with a smile, glad to see decent acquaintances. "Oh, it''s you." When someone recognized the newcomers, the guarded ones obviously loosened their guards, while a few people retained their greed. It could be because they were young women (and a walking dog meat), and it could also be because of the bags on their backs. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After all, the fact that they had backpacks could mean their space was still full! But Althea noticed that there was still a stare in the crowd that had obvious hostility, although Althea couldn''t see who it was yet. She could determine that there were two of them. "I''m glad you''re fine, cool sister." Little Maya ran to her and gave her a hug, her head landing above her thighs, not minding the dry blood on her. "I am glad you''re fine as well." Althea gently patted the girl''s little head and then turned to her companions. "This is Sheila, I met her¡­ outside the villa area. Fufi also." Maya brightened at the sight of the dog. They lived in the same villa area, it wasn''t the first time she saw him. The two brats hit it off very easily. Watching the child and the dog talk and play, the adults smiled warmly. It took Harold several minutes to remember he was greeting someone. "Hello, Miss." Harold grinned as he approached her. The wrinkles on his face were made more prominent by his wide smile, genuinely glad to see an old friend. Indeed, although they only exchanged a few words, meeting fellowmen in this terrifying strange new land¡ªand seeing each other alive and well in this circumstance¡ªdid give her a feeling of reuniting with lost friends. She nodded and he looked around, wanting to chat, but was uncomfortable with chatting under all these stares. The group opted to relocate and chose to sit under a tree a few meters away. "Tell me what happened to you after coming here." She said, "And that group." "There are thirty or so people now. But when we arrived here, we came with over a hundred people." Harold told them, "We landed on a young forest with clearings. The view of the mountain was close and nice." "It was quite beautiful and we thought that we really escaped that hellhole filled with zombies." He paused, but there was sarcasm in his tone. "At the time, we really thought we were taken out of hell and were brought to a paradise." Althea and Sheila listened with interest, with the former more interested in this ''paradise-like'' land. "And why did you call it so?" "There were meadows and colorful flowers. The trees were many but not too dense. It looked peaceful at first sight, but¡ª "Some of those plants alone poisoned a handful of us within ten minutes of arrival." He said. Now Althea was even more interested. Not necessarily because of the poison flowers, but the description of the meadow and immature forests. Althea''s gorgeous emerald eyes sparkled in interest. Meadows, relatively loose foliage, and a mountain range close by¡­ She had an intuition. They were finally getting closer to their ''new home''! Chapter 42 - 42: Speechless "Where was this?" She asked. Although she had a rough direction, it was better to be accurate the first time. Harold blinked, curious as to why she was so interested, but just pointed in an approximate direction as requested. "It was near a mountain, we walked in the opposite direction of the mountain." After all, their common sense told them cities were generally built on flat lands not near the mountains with beasts. They relied on this modern ''common sense'' and hoped they could get to a town or a village at least. Indeed, she remembered after about a few dozen kilometers the forest was much younger than the one they were in now. It was one of the points that made her determine that direction to go to. When a forest was too old, there were more dangers, and also a lot more difficult to clear and make houses. It wasn''t that she hadn''t considered tree houses, but she was unclear about the climate here and other conditions. A stable house with foundation was still the best bet. "We were fine for a few hours of aimless walking¡­but suddenly we heard growls and a lot of them. We were reminded of zombie waves, and thought they were so." "Some of us were ready to defend, while there were still a few who cowered in fear." Harold mumbled bitterly. "I don''t know how those people survived so long. "Unexpectedly, it wasn''t zombies¡ªbut much, much worse. They were monsters as big as us, sharp teeth, and quick movements. It was still a dozen of them." "A level 2 managed to kill one and said it was a level one monster called Hether Rabbit and a few caught some courage to fight harder." "We were all level one and there were over a hundred of us, even if one of these things was stronger than an upgraded zombie, we could in fact make up with numbers. "But who''d have thought a few bastards didn''t fight but only run." Harold said with gritted teeth. "I saw those cowards use someone as a shield, a few even pushed the people next to them to the mouths of monsters." sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We cleared them in the end, and everyone who damaged the monsters got a bit of experience, but nearly half of us perished in that battle. Only two level 2s survived." Harold sniffed a little. It was obvious he had befriended some of those people that perished. "As we continued to travel we encountered more and more monsters, but¡­" Harold''s voice cracked. "How could we, a bunch of level ones, handle it?" "On the way most of us had lost much of the things in our space to distract the monsters. Not only were people terrified, they are now also hungry and thirsty. "A lot of us didn''t even have decent weapons anymore." He paused, looking at the direction of the hopeless crowd. Their eyes were dead; it was like they became zombies themselves. "People had lost hope." Shiela heaved a sigh of pity, while Althea stared at the crowd. Although there were obvious bad seeds, they were all Terrans after all. She couldn''t leave them defenseless. After a few thoughts, she turned her head to Harold. "Call a few able-bodied men and you come with me somewhere." "What?" A few exclamations from the crowd sounded. Obviously many people in the crowd were eavesdropping. "Where are you taking our men?!" "Don''t think you''re beautiful that our people will just follow you!!" A woman yelled and Althea realized it was the source of that hostile stare. Althea felt she was a little familiar. She just massaged her temple. "If you don''t want to get weapons that''s fine with me." Then she shrugged, as if she didn''t care anymore. It was Harold who came to smoothen the situation. "Please help us, miss!" He said, and a few other stared at her, hoping she changed her mind and helped them again. Most of the others looked at her with mixed emotions, while there were still a few who genuinely hoped she''d change her mind, and appeared thankful for the offer. Althea sighed in the end, letting things go just this once. Everyone was on edge, after all. She didn''t want to make the few good seeds suffer unnecessarily with the leeches. In line with this, she pointed her dainty hand in a direction. "I saw trees similar to bamboo on the way here. We can turn them into weapons." "Those who want to get some, must come with me and take one for themselves. As for the others, it''s up to you." And she walked to the direction, with Sheila, Fufi, and the Lees'' following closely behind. The atmosphere was stagnant for a moment, until a few men began walking over, and soon more followed. About a dozen men followed her in the end. The others, scared of being alone, came with them. Eventually, they reached the so-called bamboo forest. They indeed looked like bamboos, only they had bluish hued and had thorns on every segment of the Bamboo culms. "Don''t cut the culms to the roots so it can regrow." The men nodded and began choosing their own areas to harvest. However, before they could cut down a tree, a multitude of scuffles echoed around them. They could see the upright blue-bamboos shaking, followed by creepy squeaky noises that brought goosebumps to their skins. Instinctively, their own bodies shook in fear. Some even cried even before the monsters appeared. Glowing eyes appeared one by one and soon their bodies were revealed from the shadows of the grass. They were like bamboo rats, except uglier, with twice as many eyes, and were about ten times larger. The people looked in fear as the few bamboo rats increased to over a dozen, and then to a score. The creepy things saw them and immediately approached aggressively. The hostile woman pointed at Althea with malice, as she stepped back in fear. "It''s you! You brought us here to die!!!" At her signal, there were not a few who stared at her accusingly. Harold, Shiela, and even little Maya stepped in to stop them, but Althea raised her hand to keep them from making a move. Instead of responding, she just indifferently walked to meet the attacking rats. She gracefully waved her hand and a katana slowly appeared in her movement. With each swing, she took down one or two. It was both a beautiful and terrifying sight. [Killed Tanto Rat (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience] [Killed Tanto Rat (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience] [Killed Tanto Rat (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience] It took less than a minute to kill the dozens of rats that appeared. Silently, she took note that all the monsters in this area were level 1. Still a relatively weaker sort than the other level 1s she faced. However, none of this showed in her face. She only looked coldly at the then-accusing crowd that had now turned pale. Her deep eyes stared them down, her katana looked particularly sharp and bloody. "Anything else?" "..." Chapter 43 - 43: Hostile Aberdeen City, 3 years prior The sound of clashing blades echoed around the home dojo, and the scene of a couple fencing unfolded. Their footwork was precise, and movements calculated. From a spectator''s point of view, it was almost like they were dancing. The woman thrusted her weapon, and the man used his blade to deflect it. With a swift unpredictable movement, he changed the blade''s direction, pointing at the woman''s neck. "Tsk," she mumbled, stance softened as she drew down her weapon. "Good parry." He said, his cerulean eyes looking deeply at the frowning woman in front of him. "Is there something bothering you?" "Hmm¡­" she mumbled, lips pursed. However, instead of answering immediately, she lifted up her foil. Garan''s lips twitched with a smile and stepped back, similarly raising his blade. The story was definitely irksome, seeing that his fianc¨¦e wanted to stab someone just thinking about it. "There was this woman at work¡­" she mumbled. Althea had just started working, to gather experience before delving to business herself and work on her pet projects. "I refused to let her get credit for my work." "She wanted me to give way and let her use my work because she was older." She lunged forward, with quick and aggressive thrusts, while Garan had quick reactions, skillfully deflecting her strikes. He did a circular parry, followed by evasion techniques. "I refused and she made a scene. Something about young people being so disrespectful." She said, increasing her pace, which Garan deflected in turn. The clashing of their blades harmonizing with their dialogue, the two continued on with the current dynamic for several minutes. A flurry of attacking and defensive moves followed, and it ended up with a point on her stomach. She pouted and huffed in the end. Although it may look dissatisfied, Garan knew that this indicated that she was now in a more relaxed state after ''ranting''. "Just stick to what is fair and reasonable, and that is enough." Garan said, approaching her. He then took out a clean handkerchief and wiped the sweat dripping down her forehead. "Fencing is about precision and control. Much like the dilemmas we face, don''t we?" ____ Present. Althea cleanly killed the remaining rats, making it look so effortless that those who were watching started questioning whether the monsters were actually so weak. After all, a pregnant woman killed them so easily. Have they been running for their lives in vain? Althea could naturally see these questioning looks and answered their unspoken inquiries. "If you are brave enough, you can indeed deal with these weaklings. But¡­" She paused, "If you cannot even gather the courage, then you better end your life and save yourself some suffering." It was harsh and naturally a lot of people frowned, very much against her tone. Fortunately, there were some who were ashamed and inspired to change instead. Except, these people were the minority. Whatever they thought didn''t matter to Althea, and no one would dare speak against her at this time. So when she asked them to clean up the corpses and start harvesting their own bamboo, no one dared to complain. It was Harold who first went to her with two bamboos. She took out a machete from her space and cleanly shaped the bamboo into a spear. Seeing Harold unharmed from asking a favor from this pregnant god of death, the people started to hand over their bamboo to her for processing. As for why Althea didn''t let them just do it on their own, it was because she would rather not hand over her machete. Who knew if they''d return it easily? Not to mention, she was not planning on raising this ungrateful group of people. The fact that she was helping them defend themselves was human enough. She reckoned that if her husband wasn''t a righteous soldier, maybe she''d have ignored them altogether. As she created weapons for them, most of the people talked to her ingratiatingly, trying to make a good impression. Or, more accurately, trying to latch on to her. She turned a blind eye to this and instead took advantage to find out about their situation. After a while of inquiry, she found the conversations to be quite fruitful. For instance, the people here came from several cities, some hundreds of kilometers away¨Csomeone was even from Z City. Althea wondered how people were distributed and grouped together. However, this was a good thing. The chances of her meeting her brother would increase. As for her husband, wherever he was, she had a strange intuition that they too would meet eventually. "Here." She handed the bamboo weapon to the person, who was gently bumped aside by the next in line. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The next person was a young man¡ªRonald, or Ron, for short he said¡ªwho stared at her obsessively. While a bit annoying, he didn''t have any malicious intent so she ignored this all-too-familiar type of stare. He sat down next to her and watched her work, chattering about his potential. He proudly told her his C potential, because almost everyone else only had D-level potential. From their group of people, he knew only three people had C potential, and one of them had already died. Obviously, he wanted her to see his value. Althea raised her beautiful eyebrows and gave Sheila a sideways glance. Hey, who''d have thought Sheila''s Class-B was actually way above average? ¡­ Then, after a few more weapons, finally came the woman who led the accusations. Sheila, who was watching closely and prepared to help Althea when asked, scoffed at the newcomer''s face. "You''re quite thick-skinned." Althea''s lips twitched, but she took the bamboo anyway. Anyway, as long as she didn''t attempt to kill her, she wouldn''t take the initiative to ''take care'' of the other party. The woman blushed in shame but just glared at her and to Althea as if they owed her a million. Althea stopped what she was doing, the sound of bamboo dropping startled everyone nearby. "I changed my mind. I''m too lazy to deal with this." She stood up and started walking away. "You! How could you do this?!" The woman screeched so loudly that it made the hairs on her body rise. Althea rubbed her temples."I don''t seem to have offended you? Who are you anyway?" "Who?" The woman seemed incredibly offended that she didn''t recognize her. "You¡ª" Althea sighed and just walked towards her party. The woman couldn''t take it and she tried to grab her arm. Althea moved to the side and let her fall on the ground. The woman raised her dust-covered head¡ªher teeth gap dripping with soil¡ªlooking incredibly unsightly, both in appearance and expression. She glared at her filled with malice, raising her arm to point. "She! She has a lot of supplies!" As if afraid people won''t believe her. "It''s true! I saw her going from house to house massacring the zombies!" It was at this moment that Althea finally realized who she was, making her eyebrows rise in surprise. It was one of the women next door, the one that kept screaming and gathering zombies to her house. She actually survived. She looked so disgruntled and different from her peacock persona that Althea really didn''t recognize her. "You!! I saw you jumping around from house to house! If you had come to mine I¡ª" I wouldn''t have had to push my mother! It wasn''t that she didn''t notice Althea''s technique of covering herself with zombie innards. It was just that she never mustered the courage to follow her lead. "I indeed have a lot of supplies." Althea just cut off her useless rant. "So what?" "We haven''t eaten for a day!" "So?" "As a human being, isn''t it just right to share your supplies?" She asked with a dignified tone. She looked at a few others and they, especially the few men she had been flirting with, who then nodded in agreement. "Those rats are edible. Cook them yourselves." "What?" The girl paled as she looked at the corpses. "You expect me to cook for you, too?" Althea sneered. "Are you my mom? Although you look old enough to be my mom, she''s not so ugly." "Youuu!!" Her screech hurt her ears and she took out her katana and pointed it on her neck, getting her so frightened that she lost her footing. "I will say this only once." She said, directing it to everyone. "I have no obligation to feed and protect you. I''m not a public servant and even if I am, I don''t have the obligation to feed you or use my own body to protect you. "Are you not ashamed to ask this from a pregnant woman? What are you, trash?" She paused, deep eyes looking at everyone and making them shiver. "Anyone who tries to use moral kidnapping on me again, I will cut off his head." This must be the longest sentence she had uttered since she teleported here. After a moment of silence, the people staggeringly moved toward the corpses to clean them up. Sheila took two, called Harold to also take two, and no one dared complain. Harold cleaned up the corpse and Sheila familiarly set up their portable stove. Maya went to help Sheila with the vegetables and Fufi, as always, watched while drooling. Althea watched as people handled their food and looked at their surroundings, walking around the vicinity to check for monsters. Will monsters come after their food again? But this time, she had a faint expectation. Chapter 44 - 44: Nanny’s Daughter As they ate, Althea noticed that the girl beside her was a little antsy. Sheila indeed couldn''t help but feel a bit uncomfortable, and she was looking around the bushes and behind the trees every 3 minutes. It got to the point where Althea had to point it out. "What is it?" Althea asked, and Sheila looked at her worriedly. She scooted over and whispered. "Won''t monsters get attracted again?" "Probably." she shrugged, making Sheila flinch. "EH?" Althea only smiled mysteriously. She had dared let them cook because¡­ she had a theory. She thought that, perhaps, the system put the weak ones together in large numbers and placed them in relatively safer places. That was to say she, who was at level 3 at the time, was thrown to that pair of level 3 monsters. The other woman must have been nearby in the same hotel and became an unfortunate cannon fodder. So¡­ Althea had a feeling that they wouldn''t be encountering level 3 monsters for a while. Even if the food attracted monsters, she''d just let them be whetstones for Sheila and the others. After a while, the delicious aroma of grilled food floated and people stared at Sheila''s direction. However, the group ignored them and they sat in a circle waiting for Althea to come and sit down. Sheila gave Althea and the others some disposable/degradable utensils they gathered before. They all started eating the moment Althea took a bite. The meat was chewy and flavorful. Not to mention the meat itself was delicious, but the combination of condiments was also very good. Althea looked at Sheila, very impressed, since she remembered the monster meat they had so far was all hard and even a little tangy. Sheila just blushed embarrassedly and turned her head to Harold. "Harold cooked this time." "Oh? Very good." Althea smiled, remembering he was a rich man''s housekeeper. Maybe he did have some skills. "Can you teach the two of us?" "Of course, of course! Though I did use a solar-powered pressure cooker¡­" Harold said embarrassedly. The meat here was really hard to eat. The comment made Althea blink. Someone actually brought a pressure cooker? As expected of a true chef! Althea''s eyes shone in admiration making Harold''s old face blush, but he was also relieved. He had been wondering what to do for the two girls so they could take him and his daughter with them. He was very happy to be of use. It was pretty harmonious for a while until footsteps were heard. It was a tall, curvaceous, woman with a pretty face. Following closely were two men with stances similar to bodyguards. "Althea." She said with a gentle smile, eyes moist as if she was genuinely happy to see her. Althea knew these were thick-skinned people that expected to get food from them. Don''t look at the other woman being so friendly, but she was definitely the source of the other hostile stare. This one also looked a bit familiar. Although she had a good memory, unimportant faces still tended to blur after a while. "Who are you?" This one at least had the decency to not show offense on her face. "It''s me, Sandra." The woman said with a gentle tone. "I''m Theresa Jones'' daughter." She said, tentatively sitting down next to the pot. However, her eyes were all on Althea, gentle and looking like she was sincerely glad to see her. Althea looked at her with unknown emotions. Nanny''s daughter, eh? Didn''t she run away with her father, Nanny''s scum husband, a decade back? Ansel even had a lot of gossip about it. Apparently, Nanny''s scum husband cheated with a rich widowed woman. This daughter, who was only seventeen at the time, threatened to take her with him, or else she would go to the woman''s house and tell all his good deeds. Seeing her all graceful now without a hint of her uncouth origins, it was obvious that she worked very hard to change herself. Normally, Althea wouldn''t mind this. If she didn''t know Nanny, and didn''t know they weren''t really poor, Althea may even admire such a strong woman who knew what she wanted and did what she had to do to get it. It was just that¡ª "Normal people would ask how their mother is." "..." The woman paled, as if frightened. Even if she looked a bit less attractive than the peacock neighbor woman. She had a soft and gentle temperament, making the men want to protect her. These people would not imagine that she used to threaten her own father. The type that said ''bring me with you, or we die together''. It seemed that this woman had really learned a lot in the past ten years. If she didn''t know Nanny, she wouldn''t judge her too much. After all, her life could have been so miserable that she could only latch to whatever twig of hope she could get to. But Althea did know Nanny and she also knew their living conditions weren''t bad at all. Nanny''s salary was actually very good compared to her peers, and this girl could still afford to go to mid-level private schools. However, no one dared to tell Althea off. "How.. how is she?" "Dead." Sandra''s face looked heartbroken, softly sobbing as if she was holding back her tears. Althea sighed. She actually preferred dealing with the peacock woman than duplicitous women like this one. She could at least punch the former in the face. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "So¡­ what are you doing here? I don''t remember us having a friendship. I recall you abandoned your mother for riches." The woman sobbed harder and her suitors finally couldn''t help but speak up. "That''s too much. She''s obviously just trying to talk to an old acquaintance." Sheila finally couldn''t take it anymore.. "Oh? Not after our food right?" Sandra was silent, her body freezing a bit. Althea saw this and sneered. "Well, we''ve caught up now. You can go now." Sandra was silent, looking at her with a pleading expression. "What? You don''t have your own hands to get your own food?" Sheila asked, really not wanting the pregnant Althea to deal with scum. Althea''s lips lifted a bit and couldn''t help but add, "Wanna ask for a pregnant woman''s rations?" She was getting quite fond of using her pregnancy to counter moral kidnappings. At this point, Sandra couldn''t muster face to stay anymore and she ran to another area with her suitor. Althea and her group ate happily, and no one else dared to place their face for slapping. Sandra bitterly looked at the relaxed group, well-manicured hands¡ªwhich now had traces of scratches and imperfections¡ªgripping the fabric of her skirt. She had always felt the world was unfair whenever she saw Althea. Obviously just an orphan, but was so beautiful, talented, and loved by everyone. While she¡ªshe had to try so hard and sacrificed so much to get a little love and comfort. Her eyes flashed a determined light. In Terran, she could not get ahead of her no matter what.. even if Althea was strong now, she was just a pregnant woman. More men were bound to be stronger than she was. She would find those men. Better: She would find a man even better than that perfect husband of hers!! She would step on her someday, Sandra told herself. Definitely! ____ Half an hour later, everyone had managed to eat, and they all stood up staring at each other, and then staring at Althea''s group, which were still lounging about. No one dared to talk to them. Silently taking in the task of asking, Sandra went to them again with a kind-but-frightened face as if she was mustering the courage to face monsters for the greater good. "Where are you heading to?" Sheila didn''t want this woman to taint Althea''s eyes. "Why should we tell you?" "The more people the greater the strength." Sheila looked at her up and down. "You?" The blunt humiliation stopped the others who had wanted to sell themselves as companions. Althea smiled in amusement. The little white rabbit really turned into a rabid one, though Althea thought it was just as cute. "I won''t tell you where I''m heading. We will move after you leave." Realizing that they really weren''t planning on telling them, the remaining level two¨Cnamed Spike¨Cinitiated a brainstorming session. A few smarter ones noticed the pattern. It was the young man with C potential that spoke up. "The farther we went to the starting point, the stronger the monsters we faced! I think it''s best to go back!" Althea very much agreed to it. They were relieved to be going the same direction. Of course Peacock-lady didn''t forget to mumble ''hypocrisy'' under her breath. Althea almost scoffed and just turned to Sheila and told her and Harold to walk far from the crowd, lest they get pushed to be meat shields when they get attacked. Peacock didn''t want to hear any of it. "Aren''t you going to use us to test if there are monsters?" Sheila sneered and lifted her sleeves as if ready to hit this woman. Althea, half-amused, grabbed her collar to keep her back. Sheila pouted and turned to her, meeting her beautiful green eyes that were as calm as the verdant forest. Unconsciously, Sheila''s aggressive stance softened and Althea finally let go of her hold. "We''ll go first then," Althea said and lifted Maya up. Nodding at Sheila, the other girl nodded in understanding. Sheila then patted Harold''s shoulder. "Keep up." "Hmn, what?" And the girls sprinted in a direction, and Harold was a second lagging in response. "E-Ei! Wait for me!!" He quickly ran after them, leaving a group of dumbfounded people behind. Chapter 45 - 45: Night Fight The crowd gaped in disbelief as Althea and the others disappeared from sight. "What!!" "Hey!!" "Are we running after them?" Sandra''s soft voice gritted in another girl''s ears. "Pff! Who needs them!" Peacock-woman, with the given name of Ramona, said using that high-pitched voice of hers that she believed to be cute. She then turned to look at Sandra condescendingly, "If we follow them won''t their heads float up the sky?!" At this time the suitors of the two only women in the group agreed, so half of the group voted not to follow. To further make their point, they decidedly chose a slightly different direction just to prove they weren''t following them on purpose. After several minutes, about a kilometer away, Althea stopped running and they waited for Harold to catch up. When he finally caught up with the girls, he gasped to take in oxygen. "Are we¡­ not running anymore?" "No, it''s fine now. If they catch up, it''s their ability." Besides, they probably wouldn''t follow for the sake of face. Now that they realized the pattern that monsters here were weaker and sparser, they should gain more confidence to deal with them by themselves. Althea didn''t want parasites in her team, anyway. She handed over some insect-repellant to Harold and Maya so they could go unbothered by these things like Sheila and them. Then she looked at Harold, looking at him all out of breath from that little sprint. "You should train more. You''re still level one?" Harold blushed in shame, but nodded anyway. He looked furtively at Sheila. It seemed even the meek (occasionally rabid) woman was already Level 2? Sheila felt somewhat guilty for inexplicably emasculating someone''s dad. "Don''t worry, I only got to level 2 so quickly because Althea assisted me in kills. I would have died a long time ago." Harold paused and looked at Althea with a bit of hope, then felt ashamed again for asking for help from a pregnant woman. He did not expect, however, that he would open the topic on her own. "If you teach us culinary arts well, I can help you and little Maya level up." "You will help us¡­?" Harold repeated, unsure if he had heard correctly. "Really?" Little Maya jumped up, her little head bobbling like those old wobbly heads placed in front of cars. "Me too?! I will also be a cool woman like my sister?!" Althea giggled. "Yes, Maya, you will also be strong." Sheila also found the little girl very cute and told her the story of how she met Althea and how she was trained. The little girl looked at the two women in admiration, cutely nodding her head from time to time. The peaceful atmosphere didn''t last long, however. Before any sound came out, Fufi and Althea suddenly adopted their defensive stances, looking in a single direction full of guard. She quickly took out her katana, and the others instinctively followed her lead. ''Grrrrrr'' Althea and the others soon heard rustle of leaves and low growls. It was as if they wanted to be their whetstone. The group placed their backs against each other, ready to fight anytime. Harold and Sheila, though shaking a bit due to nervousness, tried to push down their fears. Maya, on the other hand, was just excited. After all, in her mind, she was fighting to be as strong as cool sister. Soon, the growling echoed all around them, glowing eyes appearing like ominous light that lit up one by one. Both Althea and Sheila put on pinned lighting on their lapels for vision. Because of the two moons, fighting at night with this bit of lighting wasn''t a big problem for Althea, a particularly strong level 4. But a little lighting was still necessary for the others. With the additional lighting, the image of the enemy became clearer for everyone. ''Croak¨C'' ''Croak¨C'' ''Croak¨C'' They were blue frog-like creatures as tall as their waists and had weird skin filled with warts that would give people with trypophobia a nightmare. However, they weren''t actually as scary as they looked. With her ability, Althea detected that the monsters were all on level one. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She relaxed her stance and decided to train the other three instead. For Maya, she cut a few legs to make it easier for her to kill. The rest were all verbal assistance. "Harold, you have to commit to an attack. You''re leaving yourself defenseless, even if it is just one moment. It''s enough to kill you." "Yes!" "Be careful of the pus! It''s definitely poisonous¡­" "A-ah, understood!" Harold said, shivering at the sight of the pus that landed a few inches from his feet. "Sheila, skills consume mana, try to hit two-in-one." She said, "You have to be able to get your timing correctly. "That cannot be rushed, just practice often." "Maya, strength comes from the diaphragm, not the arms¡ªyou''ll tire yourself out like that." "Focus more on agility than strength. Sharpen your observation skills and determine weaknesses." She said, directed to everyone. "We have limited life and spirit; Be more efficient." "Fufi, that''s disgusting. Don''t eat that." In any case, the trio went on with their killing sprees, getting the occassional life-saving assistance from Althea and from Fufi. [Killed Juju Toad (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Killed Juju Toad (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Killed Juju Toad (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] By the time the score of toads were killed, Maya was in the middle of level one and Harold had reached level 2. Fufi expressed it won''t be long until he was also halfway to level 3 though it would still take a while, since pets had twice the experience requirement to level up.. Harold would not have thought he''d level up so quickly and safely and he looked at Althea with deep gratitude. Teaching him to fight and letting him be stronger in its own right was akin to saving his life hundreds of times. He didn''t have any ability other than household chores, so he swore to do this very well to pay off their debts. As the three rested, Althea looked down at her compass. It seemed they got a bit off course due to the fight. Because of this, they had no choice but to look for a decent place to camp. They eventually found a small clearing about a few hundred meters from where they were. They lit up the fire and Harold handled the cooking set-up. Harold also showed his value and was very detailed in teaching the three girls some know-how and basic knowledge about cooking. After eating, they put away the tools to relax. Althea put out a rattan basket they made a few hours prior and laid out a few fruits in their own containers. The trio looked curiously and one even wanted to try eating, hand was promptly slapped by Althea. "These are all edible plants I found." She brought over a dozen varieties. In fact, she noticed that after the initial discovery stage, she noticed the biodiversity wasn''t actually large. It was even a little worse than Terran, whose majority of species had already died out. She reckoned it had to do with the monsters and whatever environment this place had. This was bad news, actually, because this meant that the environment wasn''t very friendly. However, she didn''t dwell on it for now, simply because she was powerless to do so. Instead, she focused on things she could control. For example, her lifestyle. "I want to explore the formulation of condiments from local plants." She said, "These condiments we have won''t last a few months." "Most plants that are genetically similar to the ones on Terran are mostly trees. Most of the fruits, herbs, and others were new species to me." She put out multicolored plants and flowers, putting it out for the adults to taste. "Taste this." She said, "Tell me if you can think of a way to process them." As they took something each, she added to reassure them, "I''ve already tested all these. They are fine, even when eaten together." Harold tentatively ate the most attractive yellow fruit and froze. Maya was curious and also placed one in her mouth. The little girl''s face crumpled, almost fainted. "So sour!" Althea chuckled and just looked at Harold. "If we add something sweet with this, ferment it¡­ we can create vinegar and other derivatives." Althea smiled. "You really know a lot." Harold scratched his cheek embarrassedly. "I used to be a chef. I was hired by the master because he loved my food. Then time passed and I eventually got promoted." Althea then proceeded on telling them, especially Harold, of what she knew as well as which Terran plant had similar properties. Harold then told them some of the basic common processes of condiments, sauces, and spices. From this, they brainstormed and determined some foods to be made and experimented on. For example, some beans could be used to make an alternative to soy. There were also berries similar to what they knew, and there were dozens of ways to handle those. In half a day, they also determined some possible uses of some herbs. They wouldn''t be the same, of course, and they had a lot of trial and error to go through, but preliminary plans had been made. Of course, Althea could look at her tablet for this, but learning by example and practical experience was still the best. Through this, she could already have a preliminary plan regarding the production of these essential products. Of course, much of this would be for later. At the moment, they still had a home to build, before they could really think about filling up their non-existent kitchen. In any case, she thought smilingly, her husband would be so surprised to see her cooking. Chapter 46 - 46: Royal Territory I [155:24:26] Through the alarm on Althea''s phone, the group woke up several hours later. But when they opened their eyes and only saw darkness, with the light of the two moons the only illumination they had, they thought they must''ve imagined the alarm. But it ran, and Althea lifted it to check the time. She felt a little headache, disoriented. What was this? Jetlag?? Well, thinking about it, it wasn''t surprising. After all, they were used to sleeping 5 to 6 hours a day at most back in Terran, and suddenly the nights were a lot longer. Of course, the team had a peaceful sleep because the last leg of the night was Althea''s watch. She was strong enough to silently and efficiently deal with the monsters that not even Fufi woke up from snoring. Speaking of the dog snoring, "What are you, a pug? Snoring so loudly when you''re a dog¡­" Althea mumbled, booping the dog''s nose with her finger. While she teased the dogs, the others began packing away their sleeping bags (Harold and Maya''s were the thin duvet that Sheila took from the hotel). Within a couple of minutes, the group set out for the next part of their journey. Although it was a bit disorienting to have complete sleep and still see nothing, the group prepared for another long journey nevertheless. Because of the fight last night and the subsequent quest for a resting place, they were displaced a bit from their desired direction. With Harold''s approximate guidance, they also avoided the location where the other group would go. After all, they were likely to go in the opposite direction from the mountains, while Althea and her group were headed towards it. Eventually, the sky brightened and although they were still a distance away from the mountain, the area did feel more peaceful. The monsters they encountered were a lot less, and if they did encounter them most of the beasts were level 1, level 2s were already the leader-monsters of their group. Because the level difference was a bit far, most of the monsters avoided them. For those that wanted to attack regardless, they eventually became training items for the weaker ones in the party. They were also sources of good meat. Speaking of which, Harold was really not bad. His cooking could be on par with her husband''s, which was saying something. Anyway, he was leagues better than both her and Sheila combined. Althea was very glad she took him in. They walked for several more hours and the mountain finally appeared near enough to appear like it could be touched. They continued to walk in its direction for some time until they went past a dense patch of bushes and trees, suddenly seeing a different scenery. They seemed to see¡­ a fence? It was a meter-high wooden fence. They looked at each other in bafflement, and for a moment they thought they were imagining things. They looked around again and confirmed they were still in the middle of dense forest, and then back to the fence in front of them extending kilometers to either direction. . Harold touched it and confirmed it wasn''t an illusion, and soon Maya and Sheila followed suit. Althea, on the other hand, did not, as she had an idea on what it was. "Let''s follow it. Maybe we will be able to find a gate." She said and the others gladly followed her lead. It took them about half an hour of leisure walking until they reached the gate. It was guarded by two guards with a wooden sword and a spear, respectively. They both had lazy postures and haughty expressions. Except for ogling at the two girls, they didn''t do much and let them enter the territory. [You have entered the Royal Territory. Please pay your entry fee within fifteen minutes.] [Please pay 100 copper coins for a visitors entry fee, 1 gold for temporary residence (valid for 1 month), and 10 gold for permanent residence.] They all stared at each other and were relieved. It really was a safe haven. Although this area was relatively peaceful, who would want to keep sleeping in the wild? Not to mention they had to keep watch when they should have been resting. The guards saw that they paid the entrance fee without batting an eyelid and looked at each other with sly smiles. "Wait!" "What is it?" "Other than the visitors fee, there is also a guide fee." He said, extending his hand. "It''s not expensive just 100 copper per person." Then the man looked at Sheila and Althea with perverted grins. "Or you can stay with us. Your choice." Harold frowned, while Sheila almost slapped him. Althea stopped them both. "I''ll pay for us." She said, and paid for the four of them. However, as she handed the copper to the guard, she grabbed the man''s hand, gripping it tightly. "I suggest you stop taking advantage of people." She said, smiling, but aura menacing. "Or else it would bite you right back." Then she let go, and guided the others to the territory. Sheila''s eyebrows furrowed and looked at Althea, feeling wronged for her spending. "They obviously¡ª" "There is a power here. You don''t want to get kicked out, do you?" Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was only a little copper anyway. Disregarding the wealth they earned in Terran, the loot from the monsters they hunted was not small. They couldn''t risk their precious chance to rest properly for a few scum. The group soon entered the vicinity and saw that other than the fence, there were a couple of buildings, beginning from about a few meters away from the gate. The road was a dirt road, and it connected the buildings as well as the gate to each other. However, the area occupied by all these together paled in comparison to the area of makeshift houses and tents near the edge of the fences, starting about a hundred meters away from the main dirt road. Even from their location, they could see that the ''slum area'' consisted of a much bigger space than the village proper. It was around this time that they heard a small commotion not far from them. "It''s too expensive!" A dark-skinned man argued with a woman, trying to convince her of something. "Come on, I''ll pay for you, it''s almost fifteen minutes!" A softer voice muttered, trying to convince him. "The money is not the point! Staying here means we have to risk our lives many times just to stay for a day!" The man argued bitterly, combing back his dark coily hair in depression. "A hundred copper¡ªthat''s two or three monsters a day! How many people died not even earning that amount!" He looked at the empty underside of his pants in bitterness, feeling the makeshift rod he used to carry his body weight under his incomplete thigh. "But, Eugene, we¡ª we can''t go anywhere else." The girl tried to reason with him, tears lining up her face as she stared at the metallic stick where a leg should have been. "Your prosthetic leg is gone. We need to build a new one¨C" "Then what about tomorrow? Or the day after? We can''t afford this amount every day¨C" Althea''s eyebrows furrowed as she watched this scene. Althea''s emerald eyes began observing the citizens. Although no one spoke, based on expression alone she could see a lot of people actually agreed with the man. This made her worried. A territory¡­ didn''t seem to be so friendly, after all? Chapter 47 - 47: Royal Territory II As if hearing her worry, someone had to come and exacerbate it. It came in the form of a plump mephitic man pompously strutting to the center. "Then don''t stay!" He said with an arrogant smirk, looking down at the dark-skinned man missing a leg. "We don''t want poor waste like you here in my Royal Village!" The people dutifully gave way to him, creating a clear path. The crowd had various expressions, some were respectful, some were fearful, and some were disgusted. No, looking closer¡­ it was mostly disgusted. Althea couldn''t help but wonder what this man did in these few days that got him so hated? "Why? You think you can find any other fenced territory nearby?" Eugene tilted his head down and he clenched his fist. "But 100 copper coins is too expensive!" "Hmph! That''s your problem." Then he zoned in on the woman next to him. "Hello beautiful lady. My name is Bobby King, I am the Lord of this village. Yes, it means I own the village and have absolute power here." He looked at her deeply and enticingly, and if he didn''t look so oily and plump maybe it could be considered a little handsome. The woman who had been looking at him in distaste didn''t shut him out anymore, and Bobby took it as her softening her attitude towards him. "This guy couldn''t even afford the daily entry fee, how could he protect you? Meanwhile I own this place and I still own hundreds of gold. Why don''t you come with me and be my wife?" The disabled man sneered and wanted to say he''s dreaming but he saw that his girlfriend didn''t immediately reject this guy¡ª He paled, obviously not expecting her to consider it at all! S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Mina¡ª" However, he didn''t even get to finish his sentence when he was pulled strongly by an invisible force and disappeared. "Hey, fifteen minutes is up." Bobby King laughed, then he turned to look at the woman flirtatiously. "So¡­ are you going to follow that loser or are you coming home with me?" The woman''s pretty eyebrows furrowed, looking complicated, but it made Bobby King fascinated. He couldn''t help but add more benefits. "I promise to protect your life the best I can. I can give all the basic needs, and more. What do you say?" This made the woman pause and, after a few moments, she nodded in the end. Althea watched as the girl followed the greasy man and sighed. While distasteful, she couldn''t blame the girl either. She only wanted to survive. "The lord has done it again." A silvery voice sounded beside them. They turn to see pretty pregnant woman, who sighed deeply as she held her son. As she turned, she also saw Althea and Sheila. She flinched a little, startled. Looking back at the lord and at them, she leaned down to whisper. "You should stay away from him, he is very fond of beautiful women." The two girls nodded, and Althea looked at the fellow pregnant woman in interest. She was a good-looking woman with coffee-colored skin, jet-black hair, and dark brown eyes. She also had sharp features, quite pretty. "How long has this village been here?" Althea asked, looking around. "It''s just the second day." The woman paused, face scrunched in disgust. "The second day and he''s already recruited his seventh wife. Can you believe it? He''s building a huge harem, it''s disgusting." Althea looked at the woman in amusement. "Well, I will take note." The woman grinned and stared at her stomach in wonder. "How far along are you? It''s so big¡­" "I''m¡­ technically past 8 months. They''re twins." Up until now Althea couldn''t completely wrap her head around the sudden growth of her children. But her instincts were telling her it wasn''t hurting her children, so she had been calm about it until now. Shaking herself off the thoughts, she turned to the dark-skinned woman. "You?" Then focused on the cute little boy staring at her. He was adorable with his brown beany eyes and curly auburn hair. His cheek was plump and red that one would just watch to shower it with kisses. Althea''s eyes warmed, heart softened by his innocent stare. "What''s his name?" "I am going on seven months. My name Priya, by the way." She said and raised her son a bit. "This is my son, Theodore, and he just turned three when¡­ you know." "Well, it''s a blessing we are still together in the end." Priya nodded, her eyebrows furrowing at certain memories. "I''ve seen whole families turn to zombies. Worse, some were killed by their own relatives." Althea agreed, quite strongly. Indeed, the fact that the change was based on genes was indeed a blessing. Most people, if they didn''t survive, died with their family. In the same way, if they did survive there was a high chance they had a relative who also survived somewhere. If more people realized this, then more people will have the will to keep on fighting. "We are new here. Can you tell us more about this village?" Althea paused, and leaned down to whisper. "We''ll pay you ten silver. How about it?" "R-Really?!" She exclaimed, but quickly quieted down when she realized the noise she made. Although she managed to get a lot of silver, what to do the consumption here was too high, her little money wouldn''t last them a few months here. "Of course." Althea assured, low-key handing her a couple of silver she materialized from her wallet the moment the woman appeared. Priya''s eyes brightened and quickly placed it in her Wallet, confirming its authenticity. "What do you need to know?" "As much as you know, and as much as you can find out." Now that she was near the mountain, she decided she could stay here for a few days. They could use this place as a temporary base, while she explored the terrain and, hopefully, find a good place to set up her own territory. And maybe she''d learn a thing or two¡­ of what to avoid. Yes, looking at a territory with that kind of lord, Althea had an inkling this territory would serve as her negative learning material. Althea was determined to build an exemplary home for herself and her children. So¡­ it naturally had to be the best. Chapter 48 - 48: Territory Buildings I [148:24:26] The group leisurely followed Priya past the Shanty area and towards the other ''main buildings'' of the territory. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There seemed to be more than a dozen buildings altogether, although only a few building types could be seen. These so-called Main Buildings were structures created through the system by the lord. The residences they''ve been seeing were the most predominant of these. They were located near the central area with the premium houses located in relatively bigger spaces adjacent to the road. Compared to Terran, they were densely packed together, but it was still much less crowded than the tents or shanty areas not far away. Unlike the ''downtown area'', the Shanty area had no personal space whatsoever with a person or two for every square meter. One could imagine the horrendous smell of body odor and human waste one had to endure every single day. It had only been a few days so it probably wasn''t that bad yet, but considering that the population should continue to increase, it would definitely get worse. Similarly, they were also squeezed far from the central area, as if they were an embarrassment to show. However, this wasn''t where they were going at the moment. Priya was taking them along the ''main'' pebble road. Adjacent to these roads was the system one-storey detached houses made of plain wood construction. By visual estimate, the area should be about 50 square meters. It was worth noting that about a dozen such houses, and only about half seemed to be occupied. Another thing to note was that the occupied houses seemed to have at least five people inside. Thinking about it, it made sense, because people could just divide the cost of renting a house. Althea turned to Priya to ask."Do you have an idea how many people are in the territory now?" Priya paused and rummaged through her memory. "I was transferred here with about a hundred people. I was with the Lord, unfortunately. "And there have always been a few groups coming here every now and then, so I''m guessing we should be at least a few hundred by now." Althea nodded. This should be a fairly normal number, if not on the lower side, considering there were millions of Terran around. She truly doubted that a lot of territories were erected just based on the stringent requirements. An average territory should be able to handle thousands, if not tens of thousands, at the very least. "What the¡ªthey charge so much rent!" Her thoughts were interrupted by an exclamation next to them They turned to look at Harold, who had yelled for some reason. He had opened one of the house''s doors and was looking at the air with a complicated expression. They looked at him in interest, and he cleared his throat to regain his bearing, "To use a house, you need to pay 500 copper coins a day." He couldn''t help but remember the poor less-abled guy from earlier. "At this rate you really need to risk your life to live comfortably in this place!" Althea followed and looked inside. It was basically just an empty fifty square meter covered bungalow. Except for a tiny private room with a hole lined with wood, there were no other amenities at all. Althea frowned and she turned her head to Priya, who was also looking around. It was her first time inside a house here, but Althea didn''t know so she asked, "Where is the bathroom?" Priya told her that she hadn''t been in one before, "But I did meet a group of people who rented a house before." She took them to one of the doors, leading to a small room with a 1 meter by 1 meter dimension. It had a hole in the middle, lined with a slab of stone. "They said they had to do their business in that hole. Of course, they had to wash it every now and then to keep it from being too dirty." The group looked at the hole in disgust, but Althea sighed in the end, knowing they didn''t have much choice. "We need a place to stay for a few days, let''s rent it together." She said, "Of course, everyone will share the rent." Althea was not short of money, but she didn''t want her possibly-temporary companions to feel she could take care of everything for them. "You''re not staying here?" Priya asked and Althea shook her head. "It would depend. To be honest, I don''t think that lord was particularly reliable." As she said so, she clicked on the rent option on her screen. The other two also sent her their share, with Harold paying for Maya''s share as well. Althea didn''t want people to know she had a lord token. She was planning to build the Territory in a low-key way. The president''s wife was a major client of her beauty products, she had more than once very emotionally ranted about the pressure of the job. She said it was often a thankless task. With democracy, there wasn''t even enough power. It was a little glory if you do right, all criticism if you did even the slightest mistake. She said she''d rather her husband be a normal man with a normal job. Similarly, Althea would not want such a thankless task to land on herself. Priya saw that they were serious and she looked at the group with a complex expression, but she didn''t say what was in her heart. They only just met after all, and how many villages were there outside? What''s more: She was pregnant and had a three-year-old son. No matter how unreliable Bobby King was, he still owned this huge fenced village. She could not gamble about their safety. But internally, she couldn''t help but doubt a little. What kind of future would she and her children have in a territory with a lord like that? But¡­ do they truly have any other choice? Chapter 49 - 49: Territory Buildings II Shaking herself of the risky thoughts, Priya took them to the largest building in the village, located at the end of the ''main road''. It was a castle-like structure, totally out-of-place from the rest of the village wh ich was characterized by gross simplicity. In contrast with the crude wooden structures lining up in its approach, the castle was made purely of sturdy stone. It had about four high-ceiling floors totaling to over 15 meters in height, not including the small towers about a floor higher. There was also a stone wall around it two meters in height, much sturdier than the flimsy-looking 1.5-meter tall wooden fence outside. Priya waited for them to appreciate the building before speaking, "This is the lord''s house." They stood relatively far, but they could see the guards surrounding the four storey house. They also guarded some open spaces that surrounded the castle. "The large empty spaces on the left there on purpose. They said the lord''s planning on building a garden." Priya said, her tone oozing with mockery. She lived in the shanties, where most people who had ran out (or were robbed) of supplies had to settle. They all made do with the local fruits and tangy monster meat¡ªfood that lacked much of the required nutrition a human needed. As the population grew, so did the unrest and the chaos. There were no rules prohibiting violence or theft, so one could just imagine what was happening in there. And yet¡­ their lord was busy building small castles and gardens¡­ The group was silent as they continued to walk to the left and saw another building one-storey high. It was another simply designed structure, basically looking like a plain wooden bungalow found in a mountain village. Then again¡­ technically speaking, they really were in a mountain village. Priya took them to enter the building. It was actually much larger when inside, about 200 square meters in size. There were about a dozen tables or so and even fewer customers. There was a huge counter area in front that took up a third of the space. Plates of flat-looking white bread and plain gruel were displayed in this area, the presentation not very appetizing. The group went to the counter to see the food. [Would you like to buy a piece of White Bread for 50 copper? Yes | No ] [Would you like to buy a piece of Plain Porridge for 30 copper? Yes | No ] "It doesn''t taste like anything, but a piece of bread can fill you for half a day." It was ex-housekeeper Harold that automatically made calculations. "The cost of living here is really high. "Even if ten people shared a house, the daily expenditure will still be at least 200 copper coins. That''s two silver coins a day¡­" Most people seemed to have only saved a few gold coins from their time in Terran, and worse, some poor people only managed to take away dozens of silver. A few gold coins were only a few hundred silver. How long could a person last without having to fight for his life outside? Not everyone could have a companion like Althea who not only had great strength herself but also helped them get stronger. In fact, he could dare say there was no one else in the vicinity at all. At least in this village. Priya agreed with the problem with the cost of living. "Indeed. It''s fine now because we still have savings and even a few supplies in space, but what would happen after a few weeks? "Of course¡­, not everyone had to fight monsters. Bobby King collects wood, stone, and certain plants and buys a sack for a few copper coins. "It''s just that a full day''s work may not be enough to buy you bread. Most people end up sharing a piece." The fact that a plant was actively getting collected interested Althea very much. There was no way a guy like Bobby would just find it interesting. It probably had to do with the system, itself. "What does the plant look like?" She asked, eyes sparkling a bit. Priya just thought she was interested in the gathering job and did not think too much. "I have some in my tent, I''m planning on selling them when I collect enough." This time it was Sheila who asked. "You just leave it in your tent?" "People won''t dare steal from me." People don''t dare blatantly steal from beautiful women, because they could ask for justice from Bobby King. He quite liked the feeling of being the hero saving a damsel in distress. Of course, this came with a price, but she made people think she was not unwilling. Harold still bought a few pieces of bread as convenient rations. Sheila did the same. Meanwhile, Althea just watched as the displayed food magically refreshed. Her eyebrows raised in interest. "Is there a chef?" "I''m not sure, it''s just that it refreshes every time the food on the plates is gone." They also watched as those who finished eating placed their plates on an open wall and it disappeared there. Althea was really interested. This was obviously a building that could be built with the territory. There was no need for a cook and it also washed its own dishes. Very convenient. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She also bought a piece of bread to taste and she almost threw it away the moment it touched her tongue. The others were amused to see her rare silly appearance. "So bad?" Sheila asked and Althea wordlessly put the bread on her mouth. If Sheila wasn''t afraid of wasting food, she''d have to spit it out. It was fine if it was just tasteless, but the texture was horrible, like eating sandpaper. Harold saw this and regretted buying so much.. he seemed to have trusted the system too much. Maybe he could throw it to the monsters and make them eat it. Maybe their esophagus would rupture and they''d bleed to death. Chapter 50 - 50: Wheat [147:54:16] Priya was very amused by their interactions, and also a little guilty for her oversight. It was just that she didn''t tell them about the bread because she thought they wouldn''t have much of a choice anyway. After all¡­ if you''re hungry, you wouldn''t be choosy. But it seemed she still underestimated this group. They soon left the ''scam restaurant'' (as Harold called it) and Priya walked them to the other side to a similar building about a hundred meters away. It was a little plainer in design outside, but inside was a bit more lively. There were cabinets filled with wooden weapons like wood sword, wood spear, as well as bow and arrow. Harold walked over to the nearest display that attracted him. [Would you like to buy a wooden spear for 10 silver? Yes | No] Harold stared at the screen guardedly, as if seeing himself getting scammed again. "Can''t we see the specs?" "You have to buy it first," Priya said, but this time was kind enough to remind them of what she heard. This was 10 silver after all. "However, most people think it''s worth it." Harold was a bit apprehensive, but he bought one anyway. [Wooden Spear (E) Attack +5 Special Effects: None Durability: 100/100] "Is it worth it?" Sheila asked as she stared at the long piece of wood, just a bit sturdier-looking than Althea''s makeshift bamboo spear. "Well, if you''re level one or two it is a decent addition to your total attack. For Level Three¡­ well, it''s better than nothing." The two girls looked at each other and mused what to buy; The two girls bought a set of bows and arrows in the end. Although Althea still had guns and bullets, she didn''t plan on taking them out unless it was an emergency. She knew that she could still use guns against level 3 monsters. Using it well as a secret weapon against monsters at that level was still the best choice. And, if need be, against human beings as well. However, the fact that it was a bit cumbersome even for guns to do damage to monsters¡ªespecially if the bullet hit the skin¡ªmeant that it wouldn''t be useful forever. It was better to use up the guns early lest they really just become useless pieces of metals. [Wooden Bow (E) Attack +5 Special Effects: None Durability: 100/100] They bought a few quivers of arrows at the cost of 10 copper per arrow. A few hundred arrows were stored in the space while a quiver filled with arrows were carried with their backpacks. Seeing that the group had already chosen their own weapons, Priya smiled and looked at them. "I''ll show you the plant now." "Thank you." "Why are you so interested anyway?" "I could be said to have dealt with plants all my life back in Terran, the unfamiliar species here fascinates me very much." Althea tended to talk much more when it was related to plants, and her friends were happy to watch her drone on. "What about you, what did you do back there?" Priya blushed a bit. "I''m a housewife..." "Housewives are the noblest profession." Althea said very sincerely. As an orphan, Althea would always have special fondness for parents who spend their days with their children. Priya was a little stunned and looked at her again, as if to see if she was just being polite. When she saw that the other woman was sincere, Priya scratched her cheek in embarrassment, shy and a little bit happy. "Well.. thanks¡­ I am also very happy." The group smiled and they walked harmoniously to their destination. As they headed back to the shanty area through the main road, Althea couldn''t help but turn her head to look at the buildings along the road. She recalled what Bobby King said before: that he still had hundreds of gold left. Althea, who owned a lord token, instead heard the implications of his words¡ª ''only had hundreds of gold left'' ¡ªloud and clear. It could be seen that these few buildings and the fence cost hundreds of gold. Territories were indeed money-burning endeavors. But, at the same time, if done well, it would be a goose that laid huge golden eggs. She was faintly looking forward to the appearance of her territory. "Mina! Mina! it''s me!!" They turned their heads in the direction of the commotion. It was the guy from before. Looking at it now, he obviously paid for 100 copper and looked for his girlfriend. When he found out she came home with Bobby, he went to the largest house to make a scene. And he was unsurprisingly met with harsh beatings. Althea watched as the woman, Mina, did her best to stop herself from running to her former man. "Go now. Leave me alone. We¡ªI need to survive too, Eugene." "No, Mina, I¡ª" The poor man tried to crawl to the woman with his hands, but he was kicked by Bobby back to his minions, who then continued to wantonly punch and kick him. The girl finally couldn''t take it anymore. However, Althea noticed her hand was subconsciously trying to protect her stomach. She had a faint guess in her heart but she didn''t do anything. It was none of her business. "P-Please! I... I will do that th-thing you asked for." She whispered, almost sobbing. "I¡­ we grew up together. I can''t watch him die, please understand." Bobby looked at the tear-filled face of a beautiful woman sighed. Who told him to be such a gentleman? "Fine." He said, "But he cannot stay here." Mina paused and her eyes subconsciously landed on her former lover. Bobby smirked when she nodded in agreement. He waved his hand and Eugene teleported out the territory again, like how he was kicked out for not paying the fee in time. "I blacklisted him this time." "T-Thank you." Mina mumbled and her hand gripped her skirt, her eyes were glazed, not knowing what she was thinking. ¡­ Priya''s tent was a blue backpacking tent located at the edge with the other tents. Of course, there were only a handful of them. After all, most people would choose to stock up on food and other basic consumables. Hence, out of the several scores of people here, only a handful had tents. As for the others, they either slept around the camp fire, or asked someone capable to build them a basic shed that could protect them from the elements. It could barely protect anyone even in temperate climates, but it was better than nothing. Still, this was rare knowledge in their time with advanced technology, and the builders had made a bit of money from it. Sheila and the others waited next to the tent, while Althea went inside with Priya. Theodore was notably very comfortable in Sheila''s arms. While Priya was rummaging, Althea noticed the simple pearl bracelet Priya was wearing. It looked quite simple and should be relatively expensive, but the sheen made it obvious it was well taken care of. Priya seemed to have sensed her stare. "This was my husband''s first expensive gift. It took a month''s salary." The woman said fondly, then tears lined up her eyes. "He was on a business trip when the disaster happened." She shook her head, and handed her a sheaf of the plant. Althea knew this plant, she had a few in her space. It was a relatively common plant that could be found every few meters or so. Looking closely at the beard and the kennel, she realized it had some similarities to wheat. Althea excitedly took a few kernels and leaves and placed them in her portable lab. Priya stared blankly at the contraption that took a good portion of her floor space. People actually brought machines in their space?! Althea was unaware of the gaping stare beside her. She found out the plant had similar characteristics to wheat, only it was closer to the ancient wheat which had a much lower yield but higher in fiber and vitamins than modern wheat. More importantly, she couldn''t get seeds of rice, barley, or wheat back in Terran, this thing was heaven-sent! sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It''s wheat." From this, it could be seen that the territory''s buildings required such resources to start producing. Looking at the selling rate and the buying rate of raw materials, it was obvious this lord was making a hefty profit. However, more than the profit, seeing a plant similar to wheat fired up her obsession again. When she went out of the tent, the first thing she told her teammates. "Stay here, I''m going outside for a bit." "Can I come with you?" Sheila asked and Althea almost immediately shook her head. "I''m going to study plants again." And also look for a good place for a territory by the way. Seeing that Althea didn''t want to bring her burden, Sheila only sighed. "At least take Fufi." Althea shrugged and went on her way, very excited. Fufi''s tail was wagging very quickly, excited for a new adventure. Harold and Sheila sighed as they stared at the back of this leader of theirs. What could they do? They could only support her from behind. The two looked at each other, with a silent agreement in their hearts. They will just prepare dinner well, to welcome her well when she went back home. Chapter 51 - 51: Surveying Althea planned out her route before heading too far into the mountain. After a couple of minutes, she decided to take a look at the western side of the mountain range first. This was because the highest peak was there and she could see the surroundings better. The west side of the mountain range was also the most accessible in terms of straight line distance, wherein she could go back and forth within the day. At the very least, she could get to the apex during daylight, with enough time for excursions to spare. As she climbed up the mountain, she looked around to remember the plants she had encountered. Even if she didn''t have time to check each and every unfamiliar plant at the moment, she could at least remember where she found them. However, after all this time, she had also basically confirmed the biodiversity here was really low, because at least half of the local plants here she had already uncovered. As for the others, most of them were really different from Terran plants. They were just waiting to be discovered and studied, and she took note of each of them. Interestingly, one or two of these ''new encounters'' seemed to have a very similar composition to Terran plants. For instance, there was blueberry. Upon checking it had a 90% likeness to the species that she knew. There were also herbs (whose roots she took with her), a lot of which could be mixed with the ones she discovered so far. While she studied, Fufi ambled about, taking care of the disturbing monsters without bothering Althea. Althea took a look at one of the unusual plants she found. It was a vine, but its thorn arrangement was new and it seemed very succulent in texture. [Jordana vine (Lv2). Known for its fever-reducing quality when crushed and applied to the forehead.] Like always, she also tested the plants at different temperatures to ensure they were consumable and not poisonous after cooking. As she studied plant section after plant section with Tori, there was a sudden ding in her brain. She blinked. [Your Pet gained a new skill: Investigator (D)] [Investigator (D): Detect items level C and below in an area of 50 square meter radius. Consumption: 10 Mana] "Oh?" However, before anything, she looked at Fufi suspiciously. She could indeed see Fufi''s stats panel but she didn''t know he could learn skills as well. It was here that she realized there was a big ugly-looking fruit in front of her. For a moment she almost thought it appeared out of nowhere. She looked at him in suspicion. "You don''t have space as well, do you?" The stupid dog stared at her with that smiley face of his before barking a little, raising his adorable paw pad, and under it appeared a very familiar backpack. "..." It was the backpack she put on him before migration! She thought it was lost in the process! "Why didn''t you tell me?" The dog just looked at her stupidly. She just shook her head and turned her attention to the so-called C-level item. [Haozen Berry (Lv15)] That was it. Her ability could only detect the known use of level 10, so she would have to depend on her own method. It was a disgusting-looking fruit and, if a person had trypophobia, it could directly give people trauma. However¡­ it had a strange attraction that called her to investigate. Level 15 creatures actually equated to D level in terms of items. But for some reason, this Level 15 was classified as a C-type item. This meant it had some special function to it. Of course, she wasn''t stupid enough to eat it directly. Instead, she tested it. It had a huge amount of tyrosine, as well as some mysterious elements that could not be detected by her technology. These elements could induce dopamine in the person, among others. She couldn''t stop herself, and the ugly thing ended up inside her mouth. Her hand moved on its own. Really. Fortunately, she did not get poisoned this time. On the contrary, she felt empowered and energetic, as if she didn''t just spend half a day trekking. Her eyebrows rose in interest and she quickly looked at her stats to see that her spirit recovered by a lot! Her eyes brightened and quickly set up the lab. "Fufi, take me to where you got it." She said and she followed the dog to the place it got the plant. The plant was a shrub, but it looked like a tree, with the ugly fruit hanging sparsely among its lower branches. Althea observed it for a while, drawing it in her notebook and writing down notes. She also took out her newly-charged phone to take pictures, then checked to see if the photo was clear¡ª Her eyes stopped at the home screen of her phone, a picture of her and her husband. Her eyes faltered at the smiling face of the man, but she quickly compartmentalized and resumed the task on hand. She took the rest of the fruit and left the raw ones alone, for sustainability. When she set up her territory she would definitely transplant it. "If there was a way to save my current location¡­" She mumbled, looking at the holographic map in front of her, and clicking on her location. [Would you like to place a tag in place (0/10 slots available). Yes | No] "...!!!" Yes! How convenient¡ª Even if this place seemed backward, there were many things that were superior to Terran. She couldn''t help but be more and more curious about this place. She also took the plants nearby as they would likely have better compatibility with it. First, she went to a juicy-looking berry that grew less than a meter from the ground. [Juli (Lv3). Good for indigestion, helps with constipation] She placed it in Tori to find out if the juice could be used as the solute as well. She shifted her attention to the plants below it, similar to seaweed, but located in mountains. Mountainweed? She used her skill to get the local name for it. [Youna (Lv5). No known uses.] To be honest these plants with no known uses were more interesting to Althea. She simply calibrated Tori and studied the item. Sure enough, she analyzed its gelatinous self and found it could be used as a stabilizer similar to agar. Rubbing her hands together like an idiot, she changed Tori from her testing mode to experimental mode. Using some of the plants she had collected this far, after a lot of time and trial and error¡­ ¡­and a few more errors and a couple more hours¡­ She eventually found the right mix. [Detected! New Formulation Level B. What would you like to name it?] "Spirit Pill" [Spirit Pill name already exists please choose another one] "..." "Spirit medicine" [Spirit Medicine name already exists please choose another one] S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Wow. She tried several more names, apparently with no ''originality''. Then she gave a random name, out of annoyance. "Sprite." [Sprite name is available. Would you like to confirm? Yes | No] "..." "Yes." Whatever. [Detected to have added Fifty points of knowledge to the World Knowledge Database. Reward: +Equipment card (A)] Her smile brightened as she opened the box. [Obtained: Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit] Very nice. Speaking of which¡­ she seemed to have obtained a Gift Package (B) for Bandade before? How could she forget?! They said brain cells die when you''re pregnant. It seemed to be true. [Would you like to Gift Package (B)? Yes | No] Yes, yes, of course. [Obtained: Bellagio Bow (B) +40 ATK, 5% Chance of Poisoning; +5 damage every minute] . Suddenly, she thought this world was so beautiful. ¡­ After a while she put on her new undergarments and stared at her new arrow, she soon realized that the sky had turned red. "Fufi!" She called and they ran to the apex together. However, she did feel a bit of contractions, but she persisted in climbing even more. She was obviously giving birth in a few weeks¡­ She needed to build a home soon! Regardless of whether they find surface fresh water, she had decided on this area. At worst, they''d just have to find a way to dig up wells. Or better, perhaps the Lord token would let her have the option to build a well. It was risky as the Royal Territory did not have such an important amenity, but it could also be that the lord there was too stupid. She laboriously climbed up the tallest coniferous tree, took out her scope, and surveyed the area. Although she could only go back to the territory after this, she was determined to find the next area of exploration. It was mostly just an endless forest, and for a moment she felt disappointed. But her eyes eventually stopped as she faced the east side where the mountains ended. The area there was a bit flatter, and if she guessed correctly there should be a valley near that area. Continuing her survey, her eyes soon saw a bit of sparkle and blue and her own eyes brightened at the sight. She had to take another look because she may have just been imagining things. Narrowing her eyes, she still couldn''t see it. Then, she used her Perfect Aim skill. [Used! Perfect Aim! -10 Mana!] She grinned¡ªshe surprisingly did get a slightly better view! Thus, she confirmed that she didn''t imagine it! There really was a river!! Chapter 52 - 52: Food Situation [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 4 (1430/10000) Life: 300/700 Spirit: 290/700 (-5%) Physical: 105 (-5%) +40 Agility: 107 (-20%) +10 Defense: 74 +91 Mana: 500 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [WEALTH: 9,711 gold and 79267 silver, 15287 copper] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Leather Boots +2 Defense, +0 Agility ] Althea took a good look at her beautiful stats, before returning to the present, to the hopeful sight of the river, even if it was a little far away. She made a mental note of the location and, considering the terrain, she mused it would take another day to get there. Also considering that they had already paid for the daily entrance fee to the Royal territory, she decided to defer the trip to the next day. She was rich, but she was not about to waste that precious silver. She patted the dust and leaves that hang on her body. She climbed back down the trees, and headed back to her team¡­ ¡­with eyes brighter than ever. ___ Royal Territory. In contrast with Althea''s lax attitude, her companions were very, very, edgy. It had been four hours after dusk and there was no sign of Althea, leaving her team frantically walking to and fro in worry. They knew her strength very well, the low-level monsters in this area were no match to her. It was just that¡­ "What if she got poisoned again?" They all froze and went pale at the thought. The three of them couldn''t relax and ended up waiting outside the door. Sheila even awakened her unhygienic old bad habit of biting on her fingernails. Fortunately, after another hour, a familiar silhouette finally came to view. When they saw her walking towards them as clean and beautiful as always, they all heaved a sigh of relief. Maya quickly ran to hug Althea, which earned her a gentle pat on the head. It was just that mother-hen Sheila couldn''t help but nag a bit. "What took you so long?" "Found some interesting things¡­" Althea just said vaguely as she patted her stomach. "Hungry." She said, and there were no more words of nagging that followed. She and Fufi ate a burger on the way down, but this pregnant woman needed to eat for three people, so she didn''t say it just to shut people up. Sheila and Harold looked at each other helplessly before walking with her back home. They heated up the food prepared for her and gave her the utensils, making sure she could eat as quickly as she could. They also did not forget to check her state, making sure she has no injuries. And they even tried to be subtle about it. Seeing her team genuinely concerned for her, Althea''s heart warmed. ___ The next day, she told the team that she would be going somewhere for a few days. Everyone frowned. They still remembered the stressful hours the night before. "We will go with you!" They said and Althea looked at them in distaste. "Too slow." She shook her head. "I can''t concentrate on my experiments if there are other people around either." "But¡­" "I''ll be fine." "How long would you take?" "At least a whole day." "..." "..." "...we''ll see you off." Sheila''s shoulder slumped as she said so, giving up in trying to convince the other woman. But¡­ this was technically the first time she would be away from Althea for so long since they met. How could she not be uneasy? Harold, Sheila, and the kids joined in the fun, low-key asking where she was headed. Althea knew they asked so that in case she didn''t go back on time, they could go find her. She didn''t lie to them, of course. They deserved this bit of honestly. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As they walked, they saw Priya with many others squatting down and collecting. She saw that Priya collected a lot of ''wheat'' which she later found out to be locally named Flute (Lv1). "Don''t you run out of things to pick up?" Sheila asked curiously. Priya shook her head. "Actually, we discovered that the growth rate in this continent is amazing. Some very simple, very small plants tend to refresh every few days, while larger ones¡ªthough unconfirmed as they''re still growing¡ªshould take a week or less." She said, pointing at a plant with its root stable in place. "In theory, as long as the roots are still there. If cut or destroyed, I heard, the plant will no longer refresh." Althea nodded, she had indeed noticed this phenomenon as well. But one thing was a mystery to her. Strictly speaking, as long as the people didn''t cut out roots, there would never be a food shortage here. So¡­ why was the food in the restaurant so horrible? Speaking of which, she saw a couple of people who just came from the restaurant wearing a frown. "I can''t get used to the food here." The man nodded, disgust evident on his face. "I agree." Althea''s sharp eyes observed the other customers and, unsurprisingly, none of them were satisfied. Soon, another set of friends came out, sighing. "Well, at least we''re full right?" "Just add Gouji fruit to your gruel, and it tastes a whole lot better." One said, "If we could find a way to process it, even better." "That makes sense. But then the cost of eating will now double." Althea eavesdropped in interest. Sure enough, someone would find a way to improve the food somehow. Terran was divided into 4 continents: North, South, East, West. Her continent, East, was famous for its gourmet culture. She looked around and saw that dislike of the people. Her people would really have a hard time adjusting in this place. If they didn''t innovate, that was. However, looking at the people around, actively trying not only to survive¡­ but also try to make their lives better¡ª She had a feeling that, as long as people were given a safe enough environment, this wouldn''t be much of a problem at all. In a place where they no longer needed to worry about their basic needs, their lives, their safeties¡­ she believed that the creativity of her people would lead them to create a good life for themselves and, maybe, for others. She wondered, to what degree her territory would be able to encourage this, and she felt quite excited. Another goal: Added. Chapter 53 - 53: Small Help "What if we add other fruits?" Another diner wondered out loud, and his companion shook his head. "Then the cost is even more expensive. Gouji fruit is still the most practical." The Gouji Fruit (Lv1) was the most common fruit in the area. Basically, at least 50% of all fruit trees were Gouji Fruit. It tasted quite decent, like a small less-sweetened pear without the core. Eating a few would be fine for a few days and a person wouldn''t starve to death. Of course, just this was not enough to meet half of the lifestyle requirements they used to have. In the end, she shook her head, placing the problem for another day. Today she was determined to find a place to set up her territory, so she had made ample preparations. For one, Fufis'' space was filled with cooked food. It wasn''t that she asked for it. It was just that when Harold and the others found out Fufi had his own space, they were determined to give her all the comfort she could get from such travel. However, before they could reach the gate, someone with a megaphone announced some news, requiring everyone to go to the Square (which was basically an open space of rocky path located in front of the Lord''s Castle). Everyone must attend, it claimed, or they would be blacklisted. Because the others still had to stay in the village for a while longer, Althea and her party had no choice but to follow the crowd. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They took an inconspicuous position almost hidden by the buildings next to the square, just watching the commotion in the square with detached interest. "I have received a mission from the system!" Bobby King said with a tone mimicking a certain politician. Althea could tell that what he was going to say next was utter bull. "One is to collect a thousand units of wood and stone. And the other is to increase residents! "That is, everyone must register as a resident! Temporary or not, or else they will be kicked out." Murmurs exploded all around, even Althea found herself frowning. The cost of temporary residency was 1 gold, with a month of validity. It was nothing to her, but it was at least half of the savings of many others. What was this guy up to this time? Naturally, complaints from the crowd exploded, some were furtive while some were blunt, and each decibel heard irked Bobby to no end. "Don''t think you''ll find another territory before monsters maul you to death!" This quieted down the cowardly crowd. Bobby smirked, satisfied with the effect and went to throw in the carrot. "If we do as the system instructed, we will have stronger walls!" "From then on, the territory will be better and better. And what does this mean? Each and everyone resident will also be better!" He stared down every resident for impact, as if he was looking at each of them as a person, daring them to disagree. This was a ''power move'' taught by his favorite TV personality. He thought he was quite dashing when he applied it. However, his stare soon ended up on Sheila, making his eyes brighten. And then he saw Althea, and his eyes shined. He excitedly went down the podium and passed the wave of people who cleared the way for his fat self. "Ladies!" He said in a tone he believed was suave and charming. He stared leeringly at Althea, pointedly ignoring her very big belly "You can be permanent residents immediately. You just have to follow me home, how about it?" And without waiting for her response, he turned to look at Harold with an unfriendly expression. "You''re so old. Surely you''re not the husband of any one of these ladies?" Harold shivered in fear at the mere thought. "No¡­ I was a housekeeper." This answer satisfied Bobby, and his stare directed at Althea turned even hotter. She had the temperament of a young lady, and he misunderstood Harold to be her servant. "No, thank you, we''re not planning on staying here." She said, with relative politeness considering her annoyance. However, her tact was not appreciated by the people as she immediately heard a number of aghast gasps in the crowd as soon as she finished speaking. Bobby was also taken aback and his mild lascivious expression twisted to one of annoyance. "I like hard-to-get plays occasionally, but sometimes I don''t." He paused, breathing heavily. "This is one of those times." Bobby couldn''t help but look at the crowd watching and he gritted his teeth. ''How dare this woman disagree with me? And in public!'' Althea could see what he was thinking. This guy was obviously a rich kid spoiled rotten and turned into an adult man-waste. She did not hate this type specifically, but she hated it when they got in her way. She just looked at her people and signaled for them to go. Anyway, they always brought their things in their space, there was nothing left in the rented house, and they could just leave when they had to. But this lord was very arrogant and was set to making her be his woman. How could he let her get away? "Pregnant woman wants to be arrogant with me?!" He yelled, extending his grubby hands to grab her. However, before he could reach her, an arm quickly touched his flabby arms. "My Lord, it is not good to hit the weak. Don''t put yourself at their level." The soft voice said, and Bobby visibly calmed down with it. The owner of the voice was Mina, and it seemed whatever she promised Bobby to ''do'' last night satisfied him very much. Mina went to them and looked them in the eye. "Lord Bobby was kind enough to give you shelter, but you dare disrespect him like this. "For the sake of you being women, we will not punish you heavily, but you must leave this territory." They were a bit surprised by the unexpected help, but nodded cooperatively anyway. Mina looked at them for a moment before she raised her arm and handed them some silver. The sight of the money made Bobby''s face darken, and he grabbed her arm. "What are you doing? That''s the allowance I gave you!" "My Lord, it is not good to be too harsh in punishment especially to women. They didn''t do you any harm did they?" She calmly explained, slipping away from him. "She carried the progeny of our Terran race. How many of us died in that disaster and how many continue to die after we went here. Killing a child is a sin. I don''t want that burden on you, my Lord." Bobby paused for a moment and his shoulders slumped in relaxation. Obviously, he was very much pacified by her words. He turned to Althea and her group and just waved his hand to let them leave in peace, looking like the most benevolent ruler. "Be thankful I''m a gentleman." He said, "But if you beg me later, I can still take you in." As they left, Althea turned her head and her eyes met Mina''s. Before their sights separated, the other girl mouthed a short request: Help him Chapter 54 - 54: Leaving Royal Village The group were leaving camp through the gate, ignoring the menacing-looking guards standing in front of the gate. It happened that it was the guards on shift when they entered, and they looked at their group very smugly. "Hmph! Undesirables, ptooey!" The girls rolled their eyes and ignored the hoots, heading straight past the gate. "Hey, ladies! If you marry me, I can maybe convince the Lord to let you in again! What do you say?" "Hey, don''t ignore us! We promise you won''t regret it!" "Yes, yes, we are very good in be¡ª BANG! Sheila and Harold froze, as they were also getting ready to beat the monsters. "AHHHH! Get it off!!! Ahhh" One man yelled, trying to get Fufi''s bite off of him. He pulled out his Class E wood sword and tried to stab but Fufi quickly let go and avoided, biting his other leg. "ARGHHH!" The dog then let him go and clawed the other one. In fact, there wasn''t even that much blood, and the injuries weren''t serious with their improved physiques. He didn''t debilitate them, as Althea didn''t want to leave the gates unguarded. But they still cried like babies in the end. The group shrugged and ignored the people who came to watch the show. The group leisurely continued on their way out, and people knew they were not planning on coming back at all¡ªnot after the scene they just made. The moment they exited though, they found a surprising sight. It was that guy missing a leg and lost a girlfriend. He seemed to have set up a small camp near the gate. He built a simple shed roof anchored between two trees. He also used hay and dried leaves as flooring. Impressive for a day''s work for someone missing a leg. Some people would probably sneer at a less-abled man doing so much even after being humiliated. For instance, those guards who mockingly watched the man every time he made a move. They would look down on him. Calling himself a licking dog, a coward. Because no matter how humiliating, life triumphed over everything else. Where else could he go, at least there were guards near the gate, right? But to be honest, Althea felt that it was more likely he just wanted to be closer to his ex. Regardless of his circumstance, she felt an undeniable pride in him. After watching the man, she sighed and started walking in a direction. To the surprise of her companions, Althea actually approached the guy. The man flinched and looked at them guardedly. But when he confirmed they meant no harm, his hostility disappeared and he gave them a puzzled, but polite, nod. "Your girlfriend asked me to help you." She said, raising her hand and revealing several pieces of silver. It was all the silver that the girl handed her earlier. The man was silent, but he obviously understood. Althea stared at him for a moment. "If she wants you to go, it may really be for the best." He smiled bitterly. "How can I? I can''t live without her." He pursed his lips and looked at the pregnant woman in front of her. For some reason, he wanted to tell his story to a stranger. Then again, there were things easier to tell a stranger than a friend. "We grew up together and have been relying on each other for as long as I can remember." He paused, closing his eyes as if surrounded by bittersweet memories. "Although we grew up purely as friends, our transition was very natural. After the layer of paper was pierced, we fell head over heels." "Even when I had lost my leg after being discharged from the army, she never showed any dissatisfaction. "She would take care of me and my needs, not asking for anything. "She was so patient and loving, I cannot imagine why¡ª" He closed his eyes, frowning deeply in pain. He opened his eyes and stared at Althea, eyes desperate, as if trying to convince her of something. As if convincing a stranger of his beliefs would somehow make it true. "I don''t know why she would leave me, but it must be for a good reason¡ª" But Althea did not agree, and she raised her hand to stop him. "Does it matter?" Did it matter if there was a reason? The output was the same. Eugene was silent, his eyes glazed in pain. Indeed. No matter what, she still left him. And that was the fact. ¡­ Eugene didn''t come with them in the end. Of course, that didn''t hinder anything for their group. She already did her part, and it didn''t matter whether he followed them. The girl saved her some trouble, and she served as a courier for her one time. On the other hand, Sheila couldn''t help but look back. "Won''t we say goodbye to Priya and little Theo? Maybe they''d want to come with us?" Althea shook her head. "They''re in a safe territory now, we''re venturing out into the wild, not conducive to a pregnant woman and a three-year-old child." Harold sighed and couldn''t help but add, "Besides, it was such a public event, she definitely saw what happened." Althea nodded, similarly feeling a little complicated at the premature parting. But as a woman with children, she understood Priya''s decision. "They already made a choice," was all she said in the end. Sheila was silent for a while before reluctantly nodding. She really liked Priya and Theo¡­ It wasn''t that Althea wasn''t reluctant, but she really couldn''t guarantee the mother-and-son''s safety and comfort. Maybe, perhaps, they''d meet again after she built her territory. She would offer them a safe haven then. Althea led the team to the mountains and no one questioned her. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, just as they started their ascent a couple of hours later, she saw a bright light from the direction they came from. It was some aura change that was similar to that of a level upgrade. It seemed to have exploded from the same spot as an epicenter. No one else noticed this and she merely took note, not giving it too much thought. They traveled for a while, killed a couple of aggressive mobs, and eventually reached a decent clearing to have their lunch. They ate happily as always. Furthermore, this time they had begun using local ingredients and they were very satisfied with the result. Althea had also learned some basic soup-making, she had already used several types of berries with varying success. Harold told them a couple of cooking techniques and the outcome was acceptable. She was very proud. Mentally, she already added this to the menu of ''what to feed your husband''. They also ate monster meat marinated with sauce from crushed Jordana vine. One of the components that turned it into an effective fever reducer, parthenolide, could be synthesized for other functions. Using this material, they could now make the rest of its flesh into a sort of powder to create an effective solution used to soften up any meat (that they had encountered so far). Added with some sour fruit and other seasonings, the end product was quite delicious. The barbecue sauce was easy and just depended on a mixture of tastes from various fruits and plants they encountered. Of course, she tested it with Tori first to ensure there were no poisonous substances that formed with the mixture of different edible substances. It could be said that this was a fully local meal and didn''t use a single ingredient, including condiments, from Terran. This was a very good sign, showing their potential for self-sufficiency. It was just that, as they ate, Fufi suddenly stood up and all the furs on his body were raised, growling in no direction in particular. Althea frowned and looked down, noticing that the soup was forming ripples. Her eyebrows furrowed deeper as she saw the ripples getting larger and larger. "Earthquake?" She voiced out and everyone instinctively put their items in the space. They looked around and realized their clearing was the safest in earthquakes already, but they dare not feel complacent. "No," Althea mumbled, eyes on Fufi''s reaction. "This is not a normal earthquake." Without saying any more, she suddenly stood up. Her companions watched in surprise as she sprinted in a direction, climbing up a tree again for a better vision. They would never get used to the sight of a pregnant woman climbing trees so skilfully, jumping from branch to branch. Fufi followed not too far behind her, and they managed to keep track of her because of this. Fufi suddenly stopped and they almost continued forward due to momentum. Thankfully Harold was strong enough and they didn''t fall in the steep slope below. They watched blankly as a piece of pebble that was just in front of their feet fall down hundreds of meters below. "..." Was this always here? Anyway, they quickly gathered themselves and looked around. They saw both Fufi and Althea staring at a distance below the slope. Puzzled, they followed their line of sights and noticed a dark-colored wave approaching below them¡­ Why would there be a wave on land? However some minutes later the wave got close enough for them to hear loud roars... It was now that they finally realized: This was no water wave, it was a wave completely composed of monsters. They looked at the dense mob, the cacophony of growling and roars sent shivers down their spines. Dense rows of teeth and red eyes, everything screaming hunger, fell into their sights. Their scalp numbed from sight, and instinctively stepped back further as if the monsters below would notice them all the way up here. Althea sacrificed a bit of mana to get an idea of the strength of this mob. There was no level 3, but there were plenty of level 2. Even if she was level 4, she would have a very hard time without good weapons. Fortunately, the monsters didn''t seem to notice them at all. The monsters seemed to have a target location and all of them focused on heading there. Althea''s eyes narrowed as some memories resurfaced. Every time she or anyone else leveled up, nearby monsters seemed to be injected by some sort of stimulant. Then she remembered the light she saw during their ascent¡­ Her heart dropped as she realized the direction the monsters were heading. Her head whipped to a direction where the extremely aggressive mob was heading, turning extremely pale. Because the mob was barreling towards the Royal Territory. Chapter 55 - 55: Beast Tide Althea hesitated for a moment before jumping down, using the adjacent tree trunks, to face her teammates. She didn''t speak for a few moments, as if something was stuck in her throat. However, she soon gathered herself to tell them her theory. "The mob¡­ it is going to attack a place¡­ and I''m pretty sure it''s going to the Royal Territory." The others paled, looking at each other, and then at her. "What do you guys think we should do?" She asked them and they didn''t answer immediately. Sheila and Harold also looked conflicted, very understandable, considering everything. After all¡­ their upbringing and humanity told them to go and help, but was it worth risking their and their friends'' lives to do so? For a group of strangers, no less? The two were silent for a while, while Fufi and Maya stayed still and silent, sensing the tense atmosphere among the adults. "They''re going to be in grave danger," Sheila mumbled after a while, speaking out loud without really answering. Althea nodded. "About a quarter of those monsters are level 2," she told them. "Even I would not be able to get out unscathed if I handled them head-on¡­" This seemed to have further solidified the seriousness of the danger in their hearts. "Really?" Sheila couldn''t help but ask again, just in case. Althea nodded. "So¡­ what do you suggest?" Althea looked at the two, asking once more. After a while, the silence was broken by Harold. "Although I am reluctant to fight so many monsters, I feel like I won''t be able to sleep properly if I don''t do anything." Sheila looked at them and dipped her chin, also in agreement. As she looked at Althea, she answered in a small voice. "Me too¡­ but we shouldn''t put ourselves in danger either." She was shaking a little as she cast her vote. This was truly a difficult decision, and she was a bit heartbroken as she said this. After all, this was equivalent to sentencing a lot of people to death, which may or may not include Priya and her children. Althea looked at the two and saw they were being sincere. She was relieved to find that no one in her current team had a hero complex. "I agree. We will help, but only within the scope of our abilities." She paused, sharp eyes looking in the direction of the monster mob. "I suggest taking them out from the rear, lightening up the load up front." In this way, there would be a window of surprise. Albeit short, it was better than being the ones taken by surprise. As for whether the lord and his cronies could handle the battle up front, that was no longer their business. ¡­. Before heading out, Althea and the team gathered some necessary herbs and plants to create the healing potions, mostly the ones focusing on healing and spirit restoration. She had to use almost all the plants she had in stock. Althea rushed to create at least one for each of them, making sure she had enough material for a few more in case of emergencies. Then, ensuring their weapons were all ample and ready, the group soon followed the mob of monsters. They caught up with the tail of the mob about an hour later, with Althea initiating the attack with her arrows. This was followed by Sheila and the three close-range fighters guarded them from the front. Sheila took out her bow and arrow. Harold took out his wooden spear, Maya her Class-E sword, while Fufi symbolically sharpened his teeth and claws. Althea took out her B-Class weapon as well, very much intent on testing its limits. She had a feeling that she wouldn''t be able to maximize the weapon, for now, but she was bent on making the best out of it to the best of her abilities. The Bellagio bow was a beautiful weapon¡ªwith rainbow-like sheen and glass-like texture¡ªbut she also knew it was one of destruction and practicality. It was powerful and didn''t need arrows, but every few shots consumed mana, so she readied her guns and wooden bows, in case she ran out of steam. Soon, more and more monsters noticed their existence and dozens came at them every time. Those nearby turned their ugly heads to them at the same time, letting out guttural roars. Althea initiated the attacks, focusing on level 2s for efficiency. Unlike before, thanks to her new weapon, as long as she aimed well, she could really take them down with one shot. [Stormdoer (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Tanto Rat (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] This was the signal for the others to attack, making sure their backs weren''t vulnerable by using a group defense position. Because of the sheer density of the monsters, Sheila had to use her axe (now with a third left in its durability) before using long-ranged weapons. Harold and Maya slashed at the monsters nearby, with Maya being guarded by both her father and Fufi (as ordered). She cooperated with them and made sure things didn''t get too difficult for them, using her arrows to hit particularly difficult enemies. They killed one when they came, killed two, a dozen, a score. [Gnomos (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Stormdoer (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Hui Mouse (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Tanto rat (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Juju Toad (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Hui Mouse (Lv2): +50 copper, +50 experience] [...] It had to be noted that humans and monsters of the same level were definitely not of the same strength. They could only handle so much because Althea had a Class-B weapon, but that would be useless if her mana ran out. Not to mention, she felt the weapon could only be used in a way fit to her level. That was to say, stronger attacks must require more mana, which would have been impractical to use. The amazingness of Class B defense equipment was also displayed at this point. Still, the fight was definitely dangerous. Being surrounded by monsters for so long, how could she only have scratches? The fight lasted for hours, seemingly endless, and Althea got to the point of using up all the arrows and half her remaining bullets. The others had at least two weapons scrapped, and Sheila was on her second to the last weapon. Everyone''s medicine had long ran out. At some point, everyone''s spirits were reduced to less than twenty percent. It was incredibly tense. Fortunately, the others had managed to level up, increasing their stats and health, allowing them to last for so long. The pregnancy symptoms long started affecting her, but she willed herself to get through it. She uncoiled herself from the tail of the level 2 Hui mouse, darting in the opposite direction and hitting it and its neighbors in the eyes. From her peripheral vision, she saw Harold wallop several level ones that attacked, protecting Maya who was also handling a level 1 Tanto rat with Fufi''s assistance and protection. She flitted through the crowd and directly targeted the level 2s to lighten up everyone''s load in the long run. It wasn''t difficult to aim at these monsters. Even without her accuracy ability, the size of a level 2 compared to lower levels of the same species was quite different. For instance, Fufi, who had just been taller than her knee before, was now nearly as tall as her waist. Although they had faster speeds, the current density of monsters also limited their mobilities, making them easier to hit. She checked her mana and saw she could only make a few shots. Adrenaline flowed through her veins and her vision and instincts sharpened sharply. Avoiding the attacks of small fries, she vaulted up using their bodies, aiming her arrows, and hitting the several level 2s remaining in the vicinity. [Stormdoer (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Hui Mouse (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Stormdoer (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Juju Toad (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] [Juju Toad (Lv2); +50 copper, +50 experience] With the leaders gone, the mob soon started showing signs of disorganization, making it easier to deal with them. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She no longer dared to spend the tiny mana she had left and took out her katana. In this last leg, they had no choice but to go beyond their limits. Even when their joints were hurting they continued to slash, parry, and hit like no tomorrow. Because, well, if they really failed to fight, there really won''t be one in the future anymore. Another hour later, the mobs on their side had finally lightened up. They looked at the sky to realize it happened at dawn. It was as if the sky cleared of the darkness, and welcomed the light. It felt extra meaningful to finish a fight to see this sight. [Congratulations! You have reached level 5!] [You have been assessed for occupation: Pharmacist] [You have been assessed for occupation: Archer] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 5 (200/15000) Life: 120/800 Spirit: 143/800 (-5%) +50 Physical: 145 (-5%) +40 Agility: 147 (-20%) +10 Defense: 94 +94 Mana: 800 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: None Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Althea naturally saw the unusual notices and the new line in her stats. However, she did not have the time to study this. At the thought that they¡ªa group with the weakest level 2¡ªhad such a hard time, they couldn''t imagine how a group of level 1s¡ªeven if there were hundreds of them¡ªcould handle this tribulation. The group did not even allow themselves another moment of respite, and they rushed to the territory, hoping to rescue a few more lives. Chapter 56 - 56: Carnage TRIGGER WARNING: Gore ... ____ The group arrived in the vicinity of Royal Territory a few hours later. Their hearts were heavy on the way as they passed through a forest that was basically flattened by the waves of monsters. As they approached, the scene slowly unfolded in front of them, and immediately they were surrounded by an atmosphere of despair and depression. Amongst a chilling silence, their senses were engulfed in the smell of rust and their eyes soon meet with the desolate landscape inside what used to be the fence. What met them was the gruesome scene of dismembered bodies lying around, their corpses laid haphazardly on the ground. Some bodies were torn apart and dismembered, while some were twisted and contorted as if more than one monster took turns to consume them. The putrid odor that oozed out of the ground hit their very souls. Grotesque remnants of life surrounded them. Bodies and limbs were torn apart, and insides haphazardly thrown on the ground. Inside these torn bodies, one could see the bones and sinew, and the blood-soaked the soil red. The faces on the corpses were frozen in a terrified expression, telling them of the horror and hopelessness the people felt when all this was happening. Sheila and Maya sobbed, Fufi howled a painful tune, and even Harold covered his eyes as he cried. Their hearts were heavy with sorrow, the image of the carnage stamped in their minds. Althea stood still and did not sob like the others. She could not. Whether she liked it or not, she was their pillar. Even if she wanted to break down, for the sake of the group she had to hold herself back. In the end, Althea sighed and looked around, trying to compartmentalize and study the scene as much as she could. Half the buildings have been completely demolished, and none were undamaged. Only the main structures of the larger buildings like the castle were unscathed, but the walls were still taken down by the mob. Hiding inside the buildings would have been useless. At this time, while the mob had mostly cleared up, there were still dozens of monsters eating up the remaining bodies. The group quickly pulled out their weapons and killed all the monsters in the vicinity. "What happened? Wasn''t this area a low-level safe area?" Harold looked around in aghast. Counting the corpses¡­ there should be very few, if any, who managed to escape. "Don''t assume anything, it could kill you." Althea said. She actually had an idea what happened, it was just that its confirmation required her to build her territory first. The team walked around to look for survivors, and gathered the corpses together to be buried. "Someone''s here!" Harold yelled near the former Lord castle. The group ran to them and they saw a familiar man with chocolate-colored skin on the ground. It was Eugene, covering his blood-covered ex, obviously in an attempt to protect her. Sheila sighed in melancholy. "This is true love." Unfortunately, only Eugene had a pulse left and Sheila was quick to perform the necessary first aid. A veteran was a veteran, even with his legs like this, the vitality was still strong. The man''s huge hand covered Sheila''s, grasping a lifeline. "S-Save h-her¡­ my .. child¡­" he gasped out. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Don''t talk," Sheila assured but she dared not tell him the girl, who was apparently pregnant, was already gone. He would lose the will to live and then he would be 100% hopeless. "We''ll do our best." Eugene stared at her for a moment before finally losing consciousness. Althea handed her some medicines which stopped the bleeding and added life and spirit. On the other hand, they moved the girl''s body amongst the corpses. Sheila couldn''t help but shed a few more tears. "So¡­ she was pregnant." The nurse whispered. "It must be why she attached herself to Bobby." Althea nodded. "She had to choose between her man and her child." A moment of silence passed by their group, before they started to wordlessly do their own tasks. They put the issue aside for now, as they continued rummaging the ruins and looking for any signs of life. Althea somehow ended up in the house they rented. One of the walls had given way, but it was not load-bearing so the rest of the house was fine. She felt something inside and her senses sharpened. She was level 5 now and her senses have improved several folds since her time in Terran. Her feet stopped when she thought she heard something, raising her hand to stop Sheila¡ªwho was perusing with her¡ªfrom making any noise. She closed her eyes to concentrate and, indeed, there was a soft sound. It was the sound of breathing. It was very weak, yes, but it was definitely there. She turned to the direction she heard it from and opened the bathroom door. Instead of a rescue, however, she was met with a putrid odor and a pool of blood. Immediately, she saw a half-eaten Priya lying down on the floor of the toilet, her corpse''s eyes wide open in terror. The part that was eaten was her stomach, the one with the child. It was a horrifying scene, and they could even see a small leg hanging out of Priya''s stomach, left out by the monster that killed it. Perhaps the monster was already full and didn''t eat her entirety. Sheila, who had just entered beside her, let out a cry. It was so loud that Harold and Maya came running. Althea on the other hand was also sad, but she was focused more on the sound of breathing. There was no way it came from Priya. She carefully put Priya''s corpse aside and the breathing was heard more clearly. Her eyes widened and she quickly looked inside the gap. It was Sheila who moved first and looked inside the hole. "Theodore!" She cried and took the child out of the makeshift cloth that carried his whole weight from falling. The child was so weak it couldn''t even cry. Althea took out one of her baby bottles and added diluted solutions of her medicines inside. She also added a sleeping solution, so he didn''t have to see his mother''s mauled corpse. Sheila quickly coaxed the child to drink and finally breathed a sigh of relief as he drank. They watched the child closely, making sure he was healthy, before returning their attention back to Priya''s body. Harold took a deep breath before lifting Priya''s corpse. They didn''t have any cloth to wrap her with and they could only incinerate her along with the others. As Harold carried the body outside to join the other corpses, Priya''s hands fell and something fell down. Althea walked to it and bent down, to realize it was the bracelet her husband gave her. Althea paused, taking it in her hand with a depressed heart. In the end, she kept it in her space, hoping to give it back to Theo someday, as a keepsake. ¡­ An hour later, the group finally collected most of the bodies they could get and placed them in one area for incineration. Eugene had already woken up at this point and saw his lover''s body. His eyes were wide, as if absorbing what he was seeing, but it didn''t take long for the scene to dawn on him, and he let out a spine-chilling cry. He wanted to drag himself to the fire, as if to join his dead family. Harold could only hold him back, his own heavy heart weighing him down. But Theo¡ªbless his young soul¡ªwalked beside him and embraced the man, as if sensing the despair and instinctively went to comfort him. Eugene froze in shock before breaking down, hugging the child to his bloodied body. He cried his heart out, but the child didn''t make a sound. The sight heavily affected her psyche, and Althea''s hands were gripped tightly, her eyebrows uncharacteristically furrowed for hours that followed. Her spirit had already been drained because of the fight, and now this sight made her feel so heavy that she was too tired to even bother with the pregnancy symptoms nearly debilitating her. It could be said that this was the worst mood Althea had been in since the migration. Turning her head away from the fire and the cries, she went to the so-called fence. She stood still a few meters away from the fence, studying, trying to distract herself. Her eyes stayed at the completely demolished fence and realized it was more of a demarcation line than a protection. She thought there''d be more functions or even a repelling function. This meant it only provided minimal defense and was completely useless against a monster mob. It was only as strong as it looked. Her whole body felt heavy. It seemed that owning a territory didn''t necessarily mean you could be safe¡­ Will she be able to protect anyone or even herself and her child? How fragile hundreds of lives were¡­ Even deep into that night, hours after the ordeal, it was the question that echoed in her head. She wrapped her arms around herself in the duvet blanket as she laid, her entire body trembling in sorrow. Her eyes rested on the broken wood window of the lord''s castle, emerald eyes fixed on one of the dual moons visible from her side. It was these moments she especially missed her husband. She couldn''t help but remember his warm touch, protective shoulders, and reassuring voice. No matter how strong a person was, they needed to have an anchor that allowed them to just let go. Her husband was that one existence. "My love¡­," she mumbled as she hugged herself to sleep, the light of the two moons illuminating her sad figure and tears lining up her eyes. "Where are you?" Chapter 57 - 57: The Husband - Part 1 Gorgon Ridge, 12 kilometers from Twinwave Town "Captain! Watch out!!" A voice yelled, pulling a strikingly handsome man out of his reverie. Flinching, Garan barely dodged the sharp canine of the sabertooth Hyena, his ebony-colored hair singed slightly by the attack. His sharp eyebrows furrowed as his eyes focused on the enemy ahead. Instinctively, he raised his lean muscular arms and a huge spear made of ice appeared, stabbing the monster''s eye. The monster roared in pain, but otherwise, the damage was minimal. At best, it only got angrier. With the cone stuck in its eye, the monster jumped in his direction, its large palm creating a small crater where he stood. The man temporarily shook away his distraction from earlier, using a lot of mana to reinforce the ice spear, making it strong enough to handle his next wave of attacks. He made swift movements both to attack and defend, his sculpted muscles flexed beneath his taut skin, showcasing strength and agility in each movement. In the midst of the attacks, the man''s chiseled face clenched as he surveyed his opponent. He judged its life to still be a quarter-full, and its movements only slowed by a bit from its peak. His sharp cerulean eyes zoned in on more potential weaknesses he could exploit. Similarly, the monster''s menacing eyes were also observing him, ready to maul him at another moment of distraction. Garan looked at his mana which was already less than half, limiting his reservoir of skills to use by a third. After a moment of consideration, he chose a skill to use. [Used Iced Ground (D), -15 Mana] Ice condensed from his feet, immediately crawling from his area toward the monster. Because it wasn''t able to avoid it, the skill successfully hindered its movements. It only lasted a few seconds before the Monster lifted its paws again, but it was enough for Garan to climb up its back in its distraction, using another skill to skewer a weak spot¡ªthe small pinch of soft skin behind its neck¡ªto finally kill the damned thing. [Used Stalagmite (D), -25 Mana] When the monster escaped the bind, it didn''t even look up at the large block of ice his size appeared above his head. Garan jumped over the ice, adding his weight, and then let gravity do its work. SPLACK! [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv14): + 400 copper, +400 experience] He did not have any respite as the surrounding monsters roared at the same time at the loss of their leader, and immediately went berserk. It was only then they knew what they''d been fighting wasn''t that bad yet. Using the spear he blocked the attack that vaulted towards him. He swung the translucent rod around to deal with the predominantly level 12-13 mob surrounding him. Now that the leader was dead, it was much easier to deal with the rest of the mob, even if they were in the dozens. Two of his teammates took out the preliminary version of their crossbow, adding long range support to those fighting in close range. The struggled to kill each one, but not too much. With teamwork and synergy, they soon entered a zone where they could kill a monster together in a short span of time. [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv13): + 370 copper, +370 experience] [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv13): + 370 copper, +370 experience] [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv12): + 350 copper, +350 experience] [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv13): + 370 copper, +370 experience] [Killed Sabertooth Hyena (Lv12): + 350 copper, +350 experience] [...] Seeing that his teammates didn''t need help, Garan continued to focus on his fight at hand. He killed a few more level 12s and 13s, consuming his manifested elemental ability. When the ice disappeared, Garan carefully looked at his remaining mana and the surviving monsters, making a quick calculation. Soon, stainless steel knives appeared around him, hitting the weak spots of the handful of monsters that surrounded him with skill and precision. Finally, using the physical skills he learned early on, which consumed a lot less mana, he finished off the ones still moving. As for the rest of the team, they also killed off the mob they were against. There were plenty of injuries and a lot of blood but none were fatal, thankfully. It was at this moment of respite that an exclamation on the side sounded. "AH!" It was a loud yell, making everyone raise their guards again, only to find out it was one of them celebrating. "I''m finally level ten!!" A pale-skinned soldier, Luis, yelled in glee. His team, after heaving sighs of relief, both congratulated and mocked him. "You realize you''re the last one right?" Luis ignored them and placed his hands together looking as if he was squeezing something, as if he was constipated. His teammates wanted to tease him, to tell some bad joke about poop, but sparks appeared in between his hands. It was tiny and would have the damage of 0, but it was enough to make the youngest soldier ecstatic. "I did it!" This was followed by a few soldiers rubbing his head to congratulate him (which he didn''t appreciate) followed by mocking hoots at how an ancient match was better. Garan smiled a bit at the sight of his soldiers. They worked very hard on this mission, and he thought he ought to reward them. Especially, they didn''t suffer any loss this time. "Then let''s celebrate with a barbeque!" They all cheered. Garan froze the bodies of meat to sell and left a couple for a barbeque party. He had always been a great cook, years of training done purely to satisfy his wife. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After discovering some by-products from various plants (thanks to his wife''s obsession, he had learned a bit of fur), he had made his own set of condiments. He gave the rights to distribute to the Rolan Mercenary team. He was also pretty well-off now, and they weren''t dirt poor as before. He could still remember their penniless state during the first few weeks of arriving. At the time, they relied on findings in the wild to survive, as the living conditions in the town they landed near to was too high. Of course, even with the dividends, they weren''t rich either. After all, finding information all over the continent to find a way home was in no way inexpensive. "Your team is really good!" Bart, the horizontally-blessed head of the Rolan mercenary regiment, said with a large smile, visible on his bushy face. The Rolan Mercenary Team was the group they partnered up with for this mission. Bart approached Garan, who was undressing to take care of his wound. He sincerely praised them. When he first met them a few months back, the average level was three¡ªthe level of children. Now the weakest was level ten. Of course, this was nothing compared to his team, but the rate of promotion was very impressive. Further, they were all incredibly strong for their level. The captain, Garan, could defeat a monster only two levels lower than him alone, and still standing. In his many years as a mercenary, this was not possible at all. This was particularly true with monsters above level ten that have improved bodies that required at least 5 skilled mercenaries of the same level to deal with. This showed how much skill this team had, and that they would definitely be able to take on most human opponents with higher levels with relative ease. And finally, the most important factor of his friendliness was one fact: They were all elemental masters. Elemental masters. Not even 1 out of 10 strongmen were blessed with this. This was why he and his team, actually condescended to partner with the then-weaklings. And it paid off. And the rate of return was amazing. Garan nodded, giving credit to where it was due. They were actually transported 3 months earlier, during the top-secret mission the World Union sent them to. It was to deal with odd alien monster that appeared in what appeared to be a black hole. However, as they fought against these monsters, the space around them suddenly ripped apart. They watched as the tanks and other big weapons disintegrated and felt their own souls being pulled out of their bodies. When they mysteriously arrived at a forest filled with unfamiliar vegetation, two-thirds of their people were already lifeless corpses, as if their souls were taken from their bodies. And after various adventures three months later, the original one hundred survivors was reduced to a little over a score. The enemies here... were too strong, especially when the first arrived. They were not prepared for it at all. The guns that managed to ''pass through'' with them were only useful for monsters below level 5. It couldn''t even scratch the skin of stronger monsters. However, it was also because of the weapons they had on hand that they survived long enough to gather strength to kill monsters on their own. He was now level 16 and the lowest among the others was level 10, Luis, who got delayed because he was severely injured for more than a month on a mission. In fact if it wasn''t for their rigorous training, they would have died having such low levels when they entered. At this level at least, they could now barely be considered a low-level mercenary team. This was actually an impressive feat. After all, they''ve been here only for three months. The average level of combat-type professionals in their 30s was level 15. It was gravely lacking compared to other established mercenary teams, but it wasn''t a bad accomplishment. It was just that no one felt it was enough, no one felt they were fast enough, no matter how much the indigenous people complimented them. They were rushing¡ªrushing to be stronger, because only if they were stronger would they get access to more resources and better networks. It was only this way that they could finally find a way home. ¡ªThe image of his beautiful wife appeared in front of his mind, a sharp pain of longing gripping his heart¡ª It was the only way he could be with his wife again. Chapter 58 - 58: The Husband - Part 2 "Hey, Brandon! Help me out with the meat!" A dark-skinned man called a handsome blonde. He had a large build and his once-bald head was now filled with curly hair. The blonde, Brandon, then threw wind blades and cut the meat in relatively equal sizes. On another side, a pale-skinned bald soldier grabbed the collar of a narrow-eyed man." Mao, stop eating that! That''s still raw!" The man looked heartbroken when the meat was taken away and thrown back to the fire. "But¡ª" Several lively scenes happened simultaneously around the campfire. The group ate happily, not saving on the Captain''s signature sauce, and the indigenous mercenary team benefited from the good food. Bart sat beside Garan, chewing the delicious Hyena thigh in his hand. "What''s that weapon?" He asked, head pointing at Jake and Brandon, the people who used the crossbow. Garan paused, and looked at the man, before finally speaking. "It''s something we''re developing. We will sell it to you once we perfect it." Those two had just triggered the Weapons Maker Occupation, allowing them to create weapons that could actually damage these monsters. Even if it was just crossbows for now, they had more pronounced effects on these monsters than their guns ever did. Bart brightened at this and cheered with his mug. "That''s a deal, then." They ate harmoniously for a while, with the injured ones handling their wounds, including Garan. It was just that, Garan would soon find out he wouldn''t even be able to handle his own wound in peace. "Captain, are you okay?" A soft voice appeared near them and Bart¡ªstill chewing¡ªgave him a teasing glance. Vanessa looked at the man, trying to be subtle in her fascination. Garan was not only the most capable man around, he was also the most charming man she had ever encountered. He was extremely handsome with his ebony hair that was as dark as the night sky, still smooth after everything, and she was extremely curious what it would be like to bury her fingers there. Then there were his gorgeous blue eyes as deep as the sea, magnified by his chiseled features and strong jaw, so charming as if a woman could stare at it all day and not feel bored. Women would love to be protected by those wide shoulders and lean muscles. Being embraced by it would feel like a dream. How amazing he was in every fight; Every and each one of his movements were lithe and purposeful, and they were incredibly sexy. However, none of these thoughts showed on her face, keeping her graceful bearing. Garan frowned and looked badly at the woman, who seemed unaware of his annoyance. The woman smiled at the sight of his stare. "I''ll help you¨C" "No need." He said, as civilized as he could. But the woman still refused to hear the message, and she ''bravely'' stepped a meter towards him. He frowned even deeper; One meter was considered his personal space. Garan eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. How many women who tried entering his personal space were kicked out by him? He did not do so this time, because among her suitors were a number of his men. More importantly, her father, the general, was one of his mentors. This face, unfortunately, still had to be given. He called Turbo, someone with the most training in first aid. "You do it." The spiky-haired man flinched a little, looking at the two people in alteration, before standing up to help out the boss. Although he still hadn''t figured out how to use his element¡ªwater¡ªto heal, he had a good background in medicine as well. The woman frowned, but her face remained patient. "I''m the only military doctor here. It is my job." She said, with a tone as if she was gently convincing him. "You think my men can''t handle such a small wound?" The woman paled, causing some of the men to look at Garan with a bit of disapproval. Bart watched it all in interest. He knew this woman, the only surviving woman in this team. She was a very beautiful woman with her reddish-brown hair and green eyes. She also had a curvaceous body that most men would love to touch. With these features, combined with her noble temperament and rare medical ability, she had fascinated a lot of men. He knew at least third of the men here, including some from his team, were her suitors. From what he heard, this was the reason why she got to level ten in the first place. The men weakened the monsters and even demobilized them, and she would get the final kill. But¡­, as fun of a show this woman could give, he had an instinctive dislike for such a woman. "I only hope to do my job¡­" she mumbled softly, rousing the pity of a lot of the men. She took another step closer, looking like the concerned maiden who only wanted to help. Garan raised his hand to stop her. "I don''t like women other than my wife getting close to me." He said, and he said so with finality. He wasn''t even exaggerating. As a good-looking orphan, there were no few old women who wanted to pervert him. Sometimes¡­ these women were even maternal figures he respected. He bit flesh out of their hands, scratched their faces, and many other things that got him severely punished. It was only when an accident happened to Althea when he was trapped in isolation that he started behaving himself like a normal civilized person around these disgusting women. This was also why he felt extremely uncomfortable around the opposite sex. Worse, if they showed even the most subtle intentions towards him, he would directly feel like vomiting. Like at this moment. Fortunately, he had the decency not to show it. It was only when he was with Althea¡ªthe beautiful angel he more or less raised himself¡ªthat he didn''t feel that way. She had always been, and always will be, the only exception. "You don''t have to be so defensive¡ª" At this time Gill, his right hand man, sneered. Vanessa turned her head to the other handsome soldier. Gill was also a very charismatic man with sharp features and his skin smooth and white, very much unlike a soldier. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If she were to compare, she would associate him more to the male leads of those saucy stories her roommate used to gush on. He was more akin to a vampire, especially with how he bit people with sarcastic remarks all the time. "Don''t think of us as fools, Vanessa. Captain doesn''t like you, period, please stop being delusional." He said frankly, biting off a piece of meat in his hand and Vanessa felt he just bit off her dignity. "No matter how beautiful, no woman is even worth a finger of sister Althea." This guy was famous for his mercurial character, and was known to only be friendly to people he acknowledged. At least the boss still gave her a bit of a face, Gill would not. Vanessa didn''t dare provoke anymore, lest she wanted to be humiliated in public. At this point young Luis, who was practicing his fire technique, exclaimed. "I did it! It lasted more than ten seconds!" The people stared at him and after a while Turbo, who had been dutifully preparing the gauze and medicine, sneered at him and yelled in a joking tone: "Ancient matches last even longer." Luis looked aghast. "You!" Then he proceeded to show off and tried to throw his fire¡­speck¡­at the man. Turbo sneered and his fingers made a gun gesture and a tiny line of water went out of the tip. Needless to say, the speck was easily killed. Luis looked at his drenched palm, and he felt like crying. "No fair!" This made everyone around laugh at him. This little interlude successfully dissipated the awkward air created by Vanessa, and soon the group resumed eating happily and started chattering about random things again, until it was time to rest. ¡­ Garan took first watch, and he was set in the middle of the crowd, while the others took post in the surroundings. He stared at the bonfire, the silence let him enter a state of deep melancholy. He couldn''t help but remember the sharp pain in his chest when he was fighting. Was it his wife? Was his wife crying? He thought to himself but no one would be able to answer his question. He took out a worn-out photo of his beautiful wife. It was a photo of her before their wedding, during their prenuptial photo shoot. It was set in one of her favorite Botanical gardens, the one with the largest variety, and a famous tourist spot. She was wearing a beautiful moss-green dress that matched her deep emerald eyes very well. The various flowers in the background were mere foils to her brightness. He had chosen this dress, himself. She was smiling widely, looking at the person behind the camera¡ªhim¡ªand he recalled that she called him at that time. He remembered when she held his hand and gave him a kiss, telling him how excited she was to tell him of her vows. His finger unconsciously rubbed the sheet harder and it took part of the photo paper with it. He frowned at the damage in the same place, thinking of how to keep it from falling apart. It had always been kept safely in space, but his unconscious rubbing the past months wore it out. If only he could charge his phone, he could stare at her with thousands of photos in there. He heaved a sigh, pushing down the uncontrollable emotions because they wouldn''t bring him anywhere near her. It was not easy, however, it never was. Garan yearned for his wife and was worried about her health. He was gone for so long, maybe he was already declared dead. Which bastard was trying to ''console'' her this time? It wasn''t the first time he was thought dead. Especially that bastard Ansel by virtue of his status as a younger brother-in-name, took advantage all the time. Thinking of this, the sense of urgency to find his wife was raised at an all-time high. He abruptly stood up and couldn''t help but stare at the two moons, as if she could see it, as if they were looking at the same moom. Wait for me, Althea. Chapter 59 - 59: Eugene Althea was in a daze, it felt like she had a very good dream, as if a familiar voice and warmth lulled her to sleep. She didn''t know what it was but she felt comfortable and safe, as if she just had the most comfortable rest she had in a while. But before she could dwell on it, the ground started shaking again, completely shaking off all signs of lethargy from her body. Her heart jumped and her eyebrows furrowed as she quickly packed up and ran to the others. Everyone else was also woken up by an earthquake and was similarly packing up. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They gathered what they could in space and grabbed the others, running to the nearest exit. Fortunately, it wasn''t too big of an earthquake and none of them lost their balance as they rushed out. They quickly got up and ran out of the building, with Harold carrying Eugene and Sheila with Theodore. "Another mob?!" Harold exclaimed, his gray eyebrows furrowed in worry. They couldn''t handle that much by themselves! The others couldn''t answer him as they proceeded to run for their lives. But¡ª They soon realized the earthquake stopped the moment they got out of the building. The ground was still and they almost lost their balance, disoriented. Harold even tripped and barely managed to keep himself from falling, especially since he had a dead weight on his back. The group couldn''t help but look at each other in puzzlement. They stared around them to see and found that it was only the buildings that were shaking. And they were shaking by themselves. "What¡­ is going on?" Harold mumbled out loud and Sheila cluelessly shook her head. All the commotion also woke up the other two. Eugene groaned and his eyebrows crunched when he saw buildings shake. He blinked and for a while thought he was dizzy, until he saw that the others were just as confused. He awkwardly got out of Harold''s back, using the stick in his space as support. Eventually, the vibrations stopped. For a moment, the air was still and they were extremely puzzled as to what was happening. However, a change soon happened, and it was as magical as it was depressing. From the top of the buildings, each building block slowly turned to powder. Slowly, but surely, the ones below suffered the same fate. Little by little, it was as if the buildings turned to ashes, carried away by the wind. The group watched as the buildings disintegrated into dust, with a heavy mood. "How come?" Sheila uttered, looking at her companions in confusion. Althea stared blankly at the floating dust, feeling melancholic."Perhaps the buildings would fall when the territory did." "Just now?" Althea nodded, voicing out her guess. "It could also mean that Bobby King just died." Everyone was silent, and Althea couldn''t help but think more deeply. That was to say, if her supposition was correct, when the Lord of a territory died, the entire territory would die with him or her. Well, at least no citizen of hers would try to attack her if they found out about her status. Perhaps. The air was stagnant for a while, with everyone absorbing what had just happened. But soon they heard an incongruent sound right next to them. "¡ªhehe¡­.hehehehehe" They turned to injured Eugene who was giggling like a lunatic. He was laughing so hard that he lost support and fell on the dirt. Theo wanted to run to him, but Harold carried the child, afraid the less-abled man had gone insane. "He finally died." Abruptly stopping and suddenly tears lined up his eyes. "That bastard¡­" he mumbled, voice speaking as he sobbed. "He threw Mina as a Shield." When the fence was destroyed the ban for him was also lifted, it was pure luck that there were other people that interested the monsters than the incomplete him. Perhaps it was also because he smelled a lot like metal, as he had been wearing special bionic legs for years that made him unattractive to the monsters. Because of this, he was still able to see Mina one last time. He could still remember what occurred like it was still happening. That bastard¡­ that bastard threw his Mina out to block an attack. He could still remember Mina''s expression of terror, how she tried to keep to herself holding her stomach, and how useless it was. He ran and ran to her only to see an arm bit off the moment she was thrown, and then her entire lower body a second later. He rushed as fast as he could to her, but he couldn''t help but see Bobby''s expression at the time, and it was etched in his head forever. Instead of guilt, the man''s eyes were filled with disgust written all over his face. "A broken woman with another man''s child!" He yelled and ran away, not caring for Mina''s life and death. It felt like he was struck by thunder at the time and he could only yell as he saw Mina fall, using his last strength to cover her body. He knew he was too late but he still covered her, determined to be with her in the last moments. He did not even notice that after biting off his leg, the monster spit it out in disgust. He was in too much pain emotionally and physically he didn''t even realize his remaining leg was gone. It was even wasted. He just thought that Mina''s abandonment made sense. They lost their parents in the same accident when they were young. They had been close friends since then and fell in love as a man and a woman only a few years back. They have been lovers only for a few years, but it felt like they spent a lifetime together. They both had a special fondness for children and had thought of adopting a lot of orphans when they got married. If he found out she was pregnant, he would no doubt do his best to give them the best¡ªeven in exchange for his life. After all, what could he, a disabled waste, do? He felt his soul dwelling deeper and deeper into depression, and will soon be unable to lift himself up anymore. But then he felt a warm hand on his arm, pulling him out of the bog. It was little angel Theodore, who had noticed the wild emotions, had gotten out of Harold''s hold and ran to him for a hug. Eugene froze for a little, unused to the warmth. But he soon felt his remaining limbs and he embraced the little boy into his arms, wanting to feel more of the pure, innocent, warmth he hadn''t encountered for a long, long, time. ¡­. The group gathered themselves well before continuing on to their journey East. Theodore was very sticky with Sheila who had taken care of him, as well as with Eugene who needed him to survive. They didn''t know how the child was so mature, he did not ask for his mother. He only looked listless from time to time but he never gave them trouble. To be honest, it was more heartbreaking the better behaved he was. Althea couldn''t help but pat her own stomach, heart hurt when she thought of the situation where they wouldn''t have their parents around them. Eugene, on the other hand, seemed to have imprinted on Theodore, probably projecting on him the unborn child that died. While not sustainable, it was a good alternative for a man who had lost his will to live. They allowed him a moment of respite to gather himself. He held the little boy''s hand, gently patting, his dark eyes soon showing a flicker of life. And, to a degree, he did recover. To the point that he took out some tools from his space and manufactured himself a flexible stick leg, like the one he had on before it was detached due to all the commotion. Although they were sticks and he had trouble balancing himself, he did eventually stand up by himself. It was obviously an intricate construction, and he did it with ease. It was quite impressive. Suddenly, Eugene became more than just a pitiful less-abled guy who was dumped by his pregnant girlfriend. Harold, in particular, became more enthusiastic. He approached Eugene and patted his shoulders amicably (because patting his metallic legs was weird, no matter how curious he was). As if interviewing an idol, the old man asked the younger man a lot of questions. After this bit of obsessive questioning by Harold, they soon found out more about Eugene. Eugene Sparks, 31 years old, was a practicing technician. He graduated in mechanical engineering, but a few years ago every man above 18 and below 50 years old was required to serve in the military for 3 years. Everyone looked at him in admiration making him feel awkward, while Althea''s eyes brightened for a different reason altogether. A mechanical engineer?! Expert! Recruit! She couldn''t help but study the group''s coincidental composition. Somehow, she managed to gather experts in their own fields, and maybe they could let their talents shine in her territory, helping it as well in turn. They now had a food expert, a medical expert, a plant and resource expert (her), three cute mascots, and finally¡­ an engineer. Althea thought that the population of her (currently non-existent) territory was small, but it was really high quality. She was really looking forward to how it''d look in the end. She refused to believe that what she had seen in Royal Territory was all there could be! Chapter 60 - 60: Lord Token "If the military enlistment was required earlier, maybe more people would have survived." Harold said, imagining the scenario of a population filled with strongmen who knew what to do in a disaster. Although he didn''t want to experience it himself, having the skills would''ve definitely made him less dependent on the girls. Although he was old, he still cared about his masculinity! To some degree, anyway. What they didn''t know yet was that a lot of Edenian men survived after the transfer, relative to other demographics, primarily because of this mandatory enlistment requirement. In terms of survivability, it could be said that Edenian citizens, especially young men, made up for a large bulk of the population. "Well, our world had entered a time of utter peace and integration," Eugene told them. "Even as a soldier, the number of fights I encountered wasn''t much, not compared to our predecessors." Eugene entered the military a few years prior after his contract with a company expired, with the unfortunate accident happening in his final year of mandatory service. Ironically, what got his hand was a machine malfunction he was tasked to fix. He wasn''t able to move his hand for a while after the accident, and it was only a month back that he started to be able to move his hand freely. Ironically, he was only able to start building things just before the damned migration, and he was not yet able to earn money from them. He wasn''t able to make up to his lover at all, he was never able to give her a good life. It had been about a year since the incident and his Mina had only been supportive of him. He had always felt guilty for holding her back, so he would never resent her for leaving him to survive. He owed her too much for that. ¡­ The group allowed themselves enough respite as they went further at their own pace. They walked according to Eugene''s pace, who was still getting used to walking without two legs. Fortunately, his thighs were intact so he could still control the direction of his ''legs''. He couldn''t help but look at the beautiful pregnant woman, recalling the medicine she asked him to take. Eugene still couldn''t believe how his wound stopped bleeding. It was incredible. The slow pace allowed them to chat with each other, easily dealing with the few aggressive mobs that came their way. The monsters were all level one, and they served as effective whetstones for the others. Just like this, a group of ''friends'', diverse in age and abilities, embarked on an adventurous trek to an unknown land. They navigated through both rocky terrains and dense outgrowing plants, easily dealing with weak mobs to strengthen themselves along the way. Everyone just followed Althea, not questioning where she was headed, believing that she really had a place in mind. As they traveled, the group also found out more about each other. For example, Harold was deadly afraid of snakes. Fortunately, they had yet to encounter a slithering critter or else he may have perished then and there. Maya once said that her father was almost run over by a car trying to escape one. "It was this small!" she said, waving her hand to show how small the snake was. It looked to be around 10 inches¡­ "Pffftt¨C" Sheila laughed out loud, while the other two chuckled reservedly. "What would you do if you encounter a snake-like monster then?" Harold shivered at the thought. For a moment, he already saw death. But then he saw his cute daughter and knew he couldn''t hide. "Well, I''d have to face it sooner or later¡­" "Or you''ll just find a cabinet to hide. Maybe rescue will come on time." Sheila said, smiling. Althea looked at her and had an idea about what she was talking about. "Like what you did?" It was around this time that they found out that Sheila was actually locked in the cabinet by a coworker, just before the zombie apocalypse came. This coworker was one of the first nurses Althea beheaded when they got together. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It was the most satisfying gruesome thing I have ever seen¡­" Sheila mumbled, thinking no one heard her. Harold chuckled, imagining a nurse''s bully unintentionally saving her life. "Not everyone is lucky to meet Althea." He added, and Sheila shrugged. "But I was. We all were." "Stop," Althea said as she walked, hands patting her stomach. "You''re making me embarrassed." The group laughed as they went, very leisurely, incomparable to how they were when they first arrived. Maya saw the adults had told their stories and proceeded to tell hers. She was very cute and was a lively storyteller. She shared a lot about herself, mostly it was about her elementary school friends and playmates, and they all felt melancholy at how unlikely things could return that way. They wondered if they would ever see children happily playing without care anymore. Except for Althea, of course, because she was an actionist, and she was bent on creating a peaceful happy home for her children. ¡­ About an hour of leisure walking later, Sheila looked at Althea curiously, because she could see Althea had a specific direction she was heading in, and she was very curious about where they were going. "Where are we going next, Althea?" Sheila asked, though she had no doubt they would follow her wherever she decided to go, even if Althea wasn''t sure of the direction. Fortunately for them, Althea already had a rough location in mind. Althea''s feet paused momentarily and turned to look at the people she''s been traveling with thus far. She pursed her lips, feeling a bit complicated, pondering what to tell them. She didn''t know what kind of event or effect activating the token would show. Should she separate from them now and just return once it was activated? Should she tell them she was going on an exploration mission with Fufi again? But...was it so necessary to hide it from them? From what she saw, they would be her travel companions for a long time. They already proved their characters and they had experienced many things together. She closed her eyes to analyze the pros and cons, and ended up following her feelings and her gut instead. "Actually¡­," She said, "I have something to tell you." . . . The group, except Maya who just ogled at her like she was her goddess, still hadn''t recovered until they neared the location a few hours later. They reached a low peak and stared at the beautiful half-valley below. It was a relatively wide area, so the slope wasn''t steep, only gently rolling. On the northwest side, there were rolling hills and mountains from as far as they could see. Interwoven with these hills was a forest, not as eerie or dense as the ones they had been to, but just right¡ªample in resources, but with manageable dangers hiding underneath. As they went deeper, more of the forest revealed itself. There was sparse undergrowth, allowing dappled sunlight to filter through, casting ethereal beams to the soil. There were a lot of delicate wildflowers, in several shades, adding a touch of beauty to the place. There was ample vegetation but not too much, there were a lot of grasslands and bushes. The mountain range opened up southwards and southeast to relatively flatter lands. In the corner of the valley, there seemed to be a reservoir of spring water seeping down to form the stream and eventually converging to the small river she saw before, about a kilometer away. She clicked on the logo of the castle and a map of the area appeared in front of her. There was also a circle and a small scale indicating that the circle had a radius of one kilometer. She moved the circle to enclose both the valley and the river, and pressed OK. [Would you like to use the Lord''s Token? Yes | No] With a bit of anticipation, Althea directly chose yes. All of a sudden, gravity on where she stood seemed to have increased a little, with the children directly falling down, the trees shaking and the air getting heavier. A circle lit up faintly underneath her feet, suddenly expanding to beyond what they could see, likely to the border she had chosen prior. A few moments later, the air returned to normal, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. [Congratulations! You have successfully created a territory. Rewarded +5000 units of wood and +3000 units of stone. What would you like to name your territory?] Althea stared at the screen for a while, interested. A name, eh? She had been so busy that it failed to enter her mind that she''d had to name the territory. Althea thought for a while and decidedly refused to depend on her own polarizing naming sense. Instead, she dug within her own memory, to the happy times back in Terran so that she would associate her territory with it. Back when they were children, her now-husband had always taken time to tell her bedtime stories. There was a particular name that stood out, because it rhymed with her name, so she liked it very much. It was an adventure storybook for children, she recalled, and its hero (male) was named Altera. It meant Proud, Powerful, and Superb. And because it sounded a lot like her name, both her husband and brother called her so when she was being domineering. She chuckled lightly at the memories, deciding on a name in her heart. Similarly, it could also be passed as just ''Higher Terran''. Ah, so convenient. With a smile, she opened her mouth to answer. "Altera." Chapter 61 - 61: Altera Village [Confirmed! Altera Village (Lv1) has been constructed. Please check the status of your territory in the territory panel.] [Please set the entrance requirements and taxation standards (changeable): Entry: Visitor pass (1-day validity): 10 copper Temporary Residency (1 month validity): 300 copper Permanent Residency: 10 gold Taxation: 10%] Good guy, that bastard Bobby raised the prices by 10 times. "Tsk, tsk." She, on the other hand, knew that the prosperity of a place was in the quantity and quality of its people, so she decided to lower some requirements. [Confirm: Entry: Visitor pass (1 day validity): 5 copper Temporary Residency: 100 copper Permanent Residency: 10 gold Taxation: 10% Yes | No] She set the entrance/temporary residence fee to at least half the default. This would not only increase her population but it would also allow the people to save more money to spend on more useful things¡ªThings that, in the long run, would eventually strengthen themselves and, by extension, the territory. However, she retained the default 10 gold for permanent residency simply because she had the confidence in the territory that she would build. If the population became saturated, she might even increase this. Wise men said that the more difficult it was to obtain, the more it would be appreciated. She hoped that at least the permanent residents would be extremely loyal to the territory. The difficulty would also add prestige to the status. And with prestige, its intangible value would increase. Of course, she''d be adding alternative ways to earn this. This was something for later. Lastly, investing so much would also make people reluctant to leave. People''s goal¡ªeven outsiders¡ªwould soon be to become permanent residents in her territory. She wanted the first thing people to think of when thinking of Altera was the good life it provided. Althea was planning on building a great territory and she believed that her land would definitely live up to its name: It would be so Proud that it would never be bullied, so Powerful that it could protect all that it should, and so Superb that it would lead the development and prosperity of those it sheltered. This was her goal. [Sheila Smith hopes to join your village as a permanent resident.] She directly clicked Yes and she looked at the men. Sheila had money because they took away valuables and safety deposit boxes in the hotel. What about the others? Harold and Eugene looked at her embarrassedly. "Well, we could only afford the temporary residency for now." Althea chuckled, she wasn''t planning on making them pay at all. However, in retrospect, they probably wouldn''t feel very comfortable with taking advantage of her like that. In the end, she found a decent alternative for them. "As the Lord''s party, I can give you an exception and take the permanent residency as credit." She said and the others brightened. A few pieces of gold appeared in her hand and handed to each one. The men brightened at this, while Maya just sparkled at the sparkly gold in her hand. "We will definitely pay you back!" Harold said, and Eugene nodded. [Harold Lee hopes to join your village as a permanent resident.] [Maya Lee hopes to join your village as a permanent resident.] [Eugene Sparks hopes to join your village as a permanent resident.] Eugene guided Theodore to do the same, which was a bit of a challenge. [Theodore Pena hopes to join your village as a permanent resident.] Althea smiled, seeing everyone now had permanent residency. "Actually I have a job for each one of you, but I''ll study the territory first." She turned her head to Sheila. "As the first permanent resident I will give you a house when I finally create one." Thinking of the house she saw in Royal Territory she frowned in distaste. Surely there were other options? Sheila almost hugged her and laughed. "Actually I hope to live with you! Just waive my rental." This made Althea smile at her fondly. Sheila grinned happily, very different from her former timid self. "Well, we''ll prepare lunch while you study. Just tell us what you need us to do, boss!" On their way here, in order to stop them from calling her Lord or her Highness, she finally agreed with them calling her Boss. It was cringey, but it was the best alternative they could think of. Althea nodded in dismissal and she turned her head to look at the now-colored logo of a castle on her bottom left. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Upon clicking the icon, five tabs would appear at the right side, namely: Territory, Buildings, People, Missions, and a greyed-out Tab indicating ''Other Territories''. She opened the first tab. [TERRITORY STATS Name: Altera Village Status: Village Level 1 Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 7 Total Population: 7 Base Resources: Wood: 5000/5000 Stone: 3000/3000 Money: 9711 gold, 79267 silver, 15287 copper Reputation: 0 Buildings: None Building Slots: 0/5] Hey, her money was the territory''s money. She looked curiously at the base resource and mused how Bobby was trying to collect as much wood and stone as he could. Just how much did the buildings cost? Don''t look at one unit of stone or wood, a single unit had a mass of about 1 cubic meter. Fortunately, a territory seemed to have its own space, with the limit being the stone and wood resources cap that she could see in the stats. Otherwise, she''d have to deal with where to place those massive cubes of resources. That aside, she quickly went to the next tab. She looked at the residences tab and was grossly disappointed. While the commoner houses Bobby chose were in the lower tier, the higher ones still weren''t worth it. The most expensive was the Lord''s Castle at 1500 wood, 800 stone, and 300 gold. No wonder the rest of the construction was so shabby. To be honest, she could not stomach consuming a building slot for any of these. She frowned, looking deeply at the panel. She would definitely not settle for anything uncomfortable. This would be their future home, after all. What was the use of a Lord token if the Lord couldn''t do what she wanted? No, no. She refused to believe this was the only option! So, she didn''t choose a house in the end. Instead, she studied the panel deeply and thoroughly trying to find a good alternative. And, indeed, she would find a very good alternative shortly after. It would still become one of the more innovative features of Altera¡ªto be known throughout the entire Xeno continent. Chapter 62 - 62: Choosing Buildings Directly skipping the disappointing Residential Tab, she began to peruse the Shops tag. Looking at the holographic images, prices, and interface theme with earthy tones, Althea thought that this felt like e-commerce on a whole different level. The restaurant required 100 wood, 50 stone, and 50 gold to produce. The other similar shops like bakery, BBQ store, and the soup store required the same. She did not even consider these, however. After tasting the restaurant, she didn''t believe the others were any better. Like the residential tab, this part would also be (temporarily) skipped. She went to the other parts of the Building Tab and saw the Weapons store and armory. These required twice the resources and gold than that of restaurants. But she mused she would definitely take this for the automatic production of weapons and armours alone. Not to mention, upgrading the buildings would also allow more powerful equipment to be available. Without anyone who could consistently create weapons, these would be essential buildings added to her list of ''to build, possibly''. Other buildings were grayed out, indicating her level was not high enough. The third tab was marked Production. Only a 600 sqm farm was available for purchase. It increased the production of plants by 20%. Considering the fast refresh of the resources here, this 20% was immeasurable. It was just that while there was no requirement on wood or stone, the gold requirement was huge at 10 gold per 600-square-meter field. She could imagine how the other lords with only 1000 gold would fare. Would they even purchase this? Especially when there were so many resources outside? She doubted it. The fourth tab was Administration. Here, only two buildings were available, but both made her eyes brighten. The first was the Village Center. With the village center, the Lord could post missions and recruitment. She could also buy supplies in the name of the territory. She could set the buying price and quantity and people simply had to go there to sell their items for money. The Lord would also obtain the ability to send messages not only to all residents in real time, but also allied territories. It was just that the last function had a level requirement, but it wasn''t like she had allied territories anyway. Of course, being extremely useful, the price was also very beautiful. It required 200 wood, 100 stone, and 300 gold. The other administrative building was the Warehouse. The lowest level cost only 100 wood and 200 gold, but the size was 200 sqm with a 3 meter height. From the introduction, it seemed that she could also see the contents from her Lord panel next to the resource space tab. She could also take items as needed, as long as she was within the territory. It had a fresh keeping function which increased the shelf life by at least twice the time, and it would increase as the building was upgraded. Next one was Infrastructure, though for now only dirt and simple stone pathwalks were provided. Fortunately, these were very inexpensive so she didn''t have to be stingy. These also didn''t consume a building slot. Second to the last tab was Defense, and she immediately went to the Wall section. Here, she saw that a wooden fence 1 meter in height cost 0.1 wood and 5 silver per meter section. Very affordable. However, level 2 stone walls made a markedly huge price difference. 2 meter high stone walls cost 0.1 wood, 0.1 stone, and 10 silver per meter. If she chose to cover the entire territory the cost would be sky high. The perimeter of her territory was nearly 6.3 kilometers. For a level 2 fence, the per meter cost would be over 600 wood and stone each, and over 600 gold. Level 3 was even more insane, with total costs of 1000 wood and stone each, and over 1500 gold. But¡ª [Do you want to build a Wall (Lv3) for 1000 wood, 1000 stone, 1500 gold? The construction is permanent and cannot be moved, only demolished for a cost. Yes | No ] [-1000 wood, -1000 stone, - 1500 gold] Althea looked at her wealth being eaten by a bulk with a complicted expression. There was no other way: What happened to the Royal Territory really traumatized her. Although level 3 was expensive, its durability was 10 times that of the previous level, and hundreds of times better than the wooden fence. She had the money so she directly placed the wall around the entire territory. In fact, if she had enough stone and wood, she''d have built the Lv4 wall directly. One had to note that the existing walls couldn''t be moved. Even if they were upgradable, the rectification cost would not be cheap and it would still be more cost-effective to build a level 4 wall directly. It was just that the wood and stone requirements were huge and beyond her resource cap, if she were to construct other buildings as well. She''d need to level up first before getting access to the level 4 wall. She watched as a long elongated pit around the territory formed like magic, and from the bottom construction started. Althea could tell that the wall itself would also erect itself in a similar manner. Everyone ran to the area and marveled at the sight. "So cool!" "This is amazing¡­" "How much does this cost?" "This is unscientific!" "Everything is unscientific." "Oh, you''re right." Althea chuckled at their antics and resumed studying the territory tab. Finally, she came to the last tab and had no text. It was an image of gears. She opened it and as she read, her eyes became brighter and brighter. Before this, she had wondered if she had to build things on her own. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But, while not impossible, this wasn''t practical. With the current situation, the manual methods she could only use were the older traditional construction methodologies. These often took months, or weeks at best. With the four of them? A good stone building could even take a year¡­ She had not forgotten that the so-called protection period will end in a few weeks¡­ at most. After all, she still wasn''t certain how long a ''month'' was in this blasted place! But now that was not a problem: Because she could, apparently, customize buildings! Chapter 63 - 63: Custom Residence (Part 1) [28 days of Protection Period] That lunch, Althea couldn''t concentrate on eating because of everyone''s heated gaze. She put down her utensils and stared them down. "Can we resume to normal please? Also, I don''t want people to know I''m the Lord here¡­" "Understood, boss!" Sheila yelled with a salute. "But I''m so curious. What does the lord''s control panel look like?" Althea sighed and gave them a rough idea, rousing a few oohs and ahhs from time to time. "That sounds amazing¡­" Harold said, and Maya bobbed her head cutely. "Does it look like a game panel?" Eugene couldn''t help but ask. He was once a normal boy who had had his share of games, after all. "It''s similar, but the theme looks¡­ medieval?" Althea mumbled after a bit of thought. The technology was really futuristic, but the entire thing felt a bit¡­ old. It was very weird. "A medieval game?" "Maybe." "But this¡­ is the real world, right?" Harold asked, and he couldn''t help but remember some old science fiction movies he had watched when he was still a young lad. "Our consciousness didn''t get taken and thrown to some game right¡­?" The girls rolled their eyes at this, while Eugene looked at him a little pale, seriously considering. The two then began on discussing some conspiracy theories, as well as what they could do. Ignoring the men''s overactive imaginations, Sheila just turned back to the boss, asking more about the very interesting Lord panel. Sheila couldn''t help but think of their accommodations tonight, and her face scrunched at the recollection of the houses in Royal Territory. "What about the residences?" She asked, a worried expression on her face. "They''re not all like¡­ that, right?" If they had a choice, they would naturally want to live comfortably. They could be a bit choosy. Their boss was the lord here, after all! Althea nodded at this and gently put down her spoon. "This is what I actually want to talk about." She said, turning to Eugene, who was discussing something about ''quests to find the mastermind'' with Harold. "Eugene." "Ah! Yes¡­" "All the residential options aren''t ideal, so I plan on customizing myself. Although we could only customize one, for now, I think it''s worth using this slot on this." Being pregnant was uncomfortable enough. She really didn''t want to wrong herself, not when she clearly had the power to avoid it. The 300 square meter limit for the custom house was more than enough. As long as the building was used as a permanent residence, it could be used to do whatever they wanted. She handed her portable tablet to Eugene. "Can you by some chance design a water supply and waste system for a self-sustaining house? Here''s the folder of past knowledge about this issue." Eugene gaped at the tablet, scrolling and scrolling and his eyes turned brighter and brighter the more he saw. Eugene''s eyes absolutely sparkled at the plethora of information in his hand, not expecting the Boss to save up detailed knowledge. "Can I copy?" He asked, lifting his head up with a bright face¡ªvery unlike his somber disposition a few days prior. He then shyly revealed his own tablet from space, amusing everyone. Good guy, he also had his own tablet. But then he realized the battery was gone and his shoulders slumped in disappointment. They inexplicably found this a little cute. "I have a charger here." Althea chuckled and released the smaller solar charger. "And yes, you may copy whatever data that you need." "Thanks, boss!" Eugene said, immediately transferring the data he wanted. Afterwards Althea and Eugene took advantage of the light, and made a digital blueprint using their tablets, using the built in programs to assist them in their calculations, drawings, and the like. The others on the other hand, after finding out the importance of wood and stone, ventured to areas within the territory to gather the resources. Over half a day later the designing duo whipped out a satisfactory modular model that could be used in more than one way. However, before they checked, they were pulled by Sheila somewhere, to stand in front of small hills of both wood and stone.. They apparently gathered resources, as a contribution to the team. Althea smiled and naturally gave them the compliments they deserved. Her smile made their day. Althea stood in front of the hills and raised her hand, using willpower to try to place the items in the inventory. [Would you like to place 16 units of wood and 7 units of stone in the Territory space? Yes | No] She gladly took it and turned her head to the others. "How long do you think a level 1 person would take to gather 1 unit of wood and 1 unit of stone?" She asked them, thinking of the buying price she''d be setting. "I would take about half a day to gather 5 units of each." Sheila said. "Low level people will probably be able to do about 3 to 5 units of wood a day or 2 to 3 of stone." She nodded, taking note. "How much did Bobby buy it for?" Housekeeper-Harold reported this time. "If I remember correctly one unit of stone is bought for 10 copper, and wood is 5." "This seems okay." Althea said, mentally setting up the buying price for resources. Even if the buying was the same with Bobby''s, the cost of living was poles apart. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bobby charged a huge amount for that trashy food, she would not. It was unforgivable. In the Royal Territory, ten copper coins wouldn''t get you anywhere. In Altera, on the other hand, ten copper coins could get you a lot of things. Her goal was to provide people with their basic needs, as long as they were not lazy and were willing to do fair work for fair rewards. Even if they just gathered resources for most of the day, she hoped they would be able to afford decent meals and have a roof over their heads. In her vision, everyone had the basics, at the bare minimum. It was only when people had the basics could they have the consciousness to truly want to contribute to the whole¡ªto contribute to the territory. Their territory. Not just hers. Chapter 64 - 64: Custom Residence (Part 2) After settling the resources, the group soon gathered around to see the draft of the house to study it. The maximum built area allowed by the system for a level 1 Custom building was 300 square meters. It had no other limitations on the floor area. She and Eugene had initially considered doing 3 floors with 100 sqm each floor, but later decided against it when they found their systems¡ªand the available materials¡ªcould only fight so much gravity. They had to recalculate a lot of things because they found out the gravity was nearly twice that of Terran! Their bodies were just strengthened, combined with the stressful situation from the get-go, that they didn''t feel the difference! In the end, they opted for a house module of 2-storeys, with each floor about 120 sqm in size. It had two bedrooms per floor, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For single detached houses, each house had its own septic tank that processed the waste to fertilize the front and backyards by the newly studied waste stabilization techniques from Terran. The sitting toilet was made of carved stone, which was a bit uncomfortable for those who grew up with porcelain toilets, but it was enough for now. They didn''t even have the most basic ceramics, how could they have porcelain? The pipes were fine because they could choose system materials¡ªwhich wasn''t a huge collection¡ªand they could find a decent waterproof stone alternative. Speaking of, the pipes were all internal within the property. For now, people would still have to get their water from the river or the spring. She simply didn''t have the capability to create the utility infrastructure as of yet. Each floor would also have its own water tanks, with pipes to the kitchen and bathroom. The waste water from the sink will also be maximized. After combing through her notes, she had found a plant with similar properties to corn cob, which can be used to purify gray water. In this way, no water would be wasted at all. Very sustainable. And she was quite proud of that. They also made the early low-tech versions of a biogas digester for gas. The cooking gas it could produce was limited, but it would be enough for a small team to use every day. Further, the stones they found were less porous and could be used in this relatively simple construction. They didn''t want that thing to smell after all. There were also double walls, high ceilings, and other techniques like provisions for heated floorings and good ventilation. This was in case of extreme weather changes, whichever direction it was. They added insulation sheets under the roofs, made from local materials, of course. During the half day drawing of the blueprint, Althea also tested a lot of the plants she hoarded on the way. One of which was hemp and other plants they could obtain straw from. There were also metamorphic rocks they found that would be a good fire retardant, so they didn''t have to worry about the insulating materials catching fire. It was similar to asbestos, except the carcinogens were non-existent. Even if there were carcinogens, she doubted it would cause damage due to their improved physiques. The final floor to use the remaining 60 square meters was the basement or cellar, about 2 meters in depth. As for how the residents sharing the house would divide its use, it would be up to them. Sadly they couldn''t give electricity for now, mostly because of the unavailability of the raw materials. However, electricity was something she added among the top of her must-figure out list. For now, they used a lamp made of alternative materials to contain a torch or a lamp lights. But the most attractive feature of custom buildings was that, after finalization of the main structure and functions, the shell itself was highly changeable on a per-building basis (for a cost, of course). For instance, if they decided to build duplex houses, they could. If they wanted to combine two units seamlessly into one, they also could. If they wanted to combine two rooms, they could. And so on. Basically, as long as the main structures were untouched, one could pretty much customize. Or course, for a few silvers. She planned on eventually making themed communities to add color to her territory. They took another look at their creation in admiration. It was so good. Considering the resources that they had, anyway. Unfortunately, its cost was insane, and a part of her wondered if it was worth it. Most people probably wouldn''t choose to activate the Custom Building option because the one-time cost of a blueprint implementation alone was a whooping 500 gold coin, at the minimum. In her case, she checked, and the cost was over 1000 gold coins¡­ However, the cost per building should still be fair. Generally, the residential buildings (except for luxury houses like the Lord''s castle) were much more affordable than other functional buildings. A small standard bungalow house in the market was about 150 silver, the two storey houses were about 300 silver or so. She didn''t know yet the final cost of her custom house as she hadn''t confirmed the production yet, and she was a little worried. She looked at the fascinated people beside her, looking at the design, probably wondering what it was like to use it. "What about you guys? If you were to design your home, what would you change?" They were surprisingly vocal about this. "A bigger kitchen with an island counter would be good." "I would have a big anteroom. The living room is a bit private for me¡­" Sheila said. "A slide, a slide!" Maya helpfully added. Theodore also nodded in agreement. The suggestions lasted for several minutes afterwards. This got Althea thinking, what if she provided a custom design service? There would be an exclusive community for these people, and she could reap even more profit! Of course, the first step was to actually get people to the territory. After all... She really placed her territory in the middle of nowhere. And she was very far from where majority of the population landed. Chapter 65 - 65: The Berti Family (Part 1) Bright Territory Ansel and Tom stood nearby the gates of the territory, right next to the dirt road to see the new batch of refugees as closely as possible. They watched each new person enter the territory with sharp, but concerned eyes. They scanned each new face, hoping to see familiar faces. They were not alone, in fact, as there were about a dozen others trying to see if there were people they knew among the crowd. The air was heavy with anticipation. One by one, they watched as the weary refugees emerged from the gates and to their sights. As it was in the previous batches, they saw more and more unfamiliar faces, each had tattered clothes, bloodied bodies, and tired eyes. Without exemption, their statues exuded physical and emotional exhaustion. As the different strange faces passed by, both their moods turned more and more dour, until finally the last person entered and they only felt disappointment. Once again, unfortunately, there was no Althea. In Tom''s case, there were no traces of his brother or his family either. The past few days they settled here, there had been more than ten batches of survivors that entered. They saw that this batch was worse than the one before, and it was expected that the succeeding batches would be even more miserable. Tom sighed in melancholy. "It''s only been four days since we arrived in this world, but when I recall those peaceful times, it feels like a lifetime ago." "Because it was a lifetime ago." Ansel just said with a frown, before sighing and went on to approach the dazed newcomers with a family photo he kept in his wallet in his hand. "Excuse me." He asked the person nearest to him, rousing the attention of all the others. Some stared at him guardedly, while a few girls inappropriately ogled. However, without exception, except for some amazement at the appearances on the photos, none of them had seen Althea (or Garan). "Still no luck?" Tom found that he had to ask again, just to be sure. Ansel shook his head. At this, he and Tom finally headed back to their rented houses, hearts filled with disappointment. On their way, he looked around the territory. Because of the savings of the free wall, the lord of this territory had enough funds to build a lot of houses and facilities. So far the hundreds of people already here had a dwelling, although a bit expensive for those who only had a few silver on hand. However, the lord here set up a guard team that could accompany citizens to go out¡ªfor a price, of course. While it was a bit expensive, the citizens could not only grow but also gather some materials to sell. As long as the citizen was not lazy and had some capability, the trade was not a loss. Speaking of, he heard that the territory was preparing for an upgrade and needed more residents. With more residents, the military might had to be increased. As such, just this morning, the management of the territory made a notice through the village center: Those who passed the interviews for guard positions would have temporary residency taken care of for 3 months. This was a very good offer and both the police officers in their party had gone to apply to the guard team. Speaking of the guard team¡­ Ansel''s eyes couldn''t help but look around and fix on these so-called Guards. Many of these guards were cronies of the lord here, patrol around their small territory. Most of them were connected after migration, but there were also a few people who knew the Lord back in Terran. These people all had a menacing aura about them, completely incompatible with the gentle image the lord had been letting on. And they also had guns. A lot of them. Ansel, although young, had an eye for people especially after entering the business. That Micheal Berti definitely wasn''t as gentle as he looked. However, he felt that the guy was still a bit sincere about providing a safe haven for their people, so Ansel would not judge him too much. That afternoon, they lined up in the restaurant to eat (privately, they called it The Pig Food Factory). As they queued, he noticed that a lot of people around him flinched and stood in a daze, looking in the air in front of them. At the same time, the air changed. Because he was standing still, it wasn''t so obvious, but there was definitely some movement on the ground. It was like a Magnitude 2 earthquake that lasted a second just happened. However, it was really subtle so he didn''t place much attention to it. Instead, he looked at the others, including Tom, curiously. Ansel knew there was an announcement, visible only to the residents. "The territory upgraded to level 2." Tom said with a smile, a bit hopeful for the future. The dry food they were now enduring seemed particularly decent for that one meal. After eating, the duo exited, planning on passing by the gate again in case new refugees come. However, on their way there, they noticed that there was a little gathering in the 100 sqm public square in front of the restaurant. After squeezing into the crowd, they realized it was the lord and two guards making an announcement. "As you have seen, the territory has been upgraded." He paused, his harmless face plastered with a reassuring smile. "The upgrade conditions have been met: 100 residents, permanent or temporary, and a population of 300 for 3 days." "This is a good thing, but I don''t know if it will have any effect outside. So I hope you don''t go out for the time being. I will also announce it through the village center and call people back before we upgrade." The use of ''we'' was really inclusive. This guy had a pretty good EQ. Speaking of which, he had been here for a few days but he had never exchanged a word with this guy after the entrance, wherein he made an obvious invitation for him to join his guard team. Ansel didn''t show anything at the time but he was recruited with such certainty. As if he was sure he''d somehow be of help to him. At the time, Ansel couldn''t help but think: Could this guy see his stats? Because of this, Ansel naturally rejected him because he didn''t have much of a good impression of this plaster-face. Still tactful, the lord didn''t contact him again. But¡­ seeing as he had no progress with finding his sister even after so many days¡­ it looked like he''d have no choice but to interact with him again. Sigh. How unfortunate. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 66 - 66: The Berti Family (Part 2) After so many days without a clue of Althea, Ansel had unfortunately come to a conclusion that it was time to thicken his face and ask this guy for information Anyway, the more annoying pompous fatty-slash-spokesperson wasn''t here to bloviate on the lord''s greatness. No one would be mocking him for asking for help. Ansel patiently waited for Micheal to finish his speech before coming to find him. Ansel stood at the path of his exit, trying not to appear as pompous as he usually did. "How may I help you?" Micheal asked, as friendly as always, while his cronies didn''t look at him very well. This was understandable, he rejected their lord after all. Ansel took out the family photo on his wallet. "I''m looking for my family. Especially¡­ my siblings." Micheal nodded and gracefully took the photo. The man''s blue eyes stayed on the picture for a moment longer than others. "Your sister is very beautiful." He finally said after a pause. "And your brother looks¡­ very powerful." He tacitly didn''t ask about the others and just assumed everyone else had passed. Ansel was taken aback by the comment. "You could tell?" "Hmm¡­" "Then?" The enigmatic man looked at his cronies and showed the photo, and they shook their heads in response. "Sadly, none of us here are familiar with either of them." He said, "May I know their names? Lords could see the names of anyone in the territory." Ansel was surprised that he was so generous in telling him this, and his impression of this guy increased a step. In the end though, after Ansel told of their names, Micheal still shook his head apologetically. Ansel sighed, shoulders slumped. "Well, thank you anyway." At the very least, now that he was certain Althea wasn''t here, nor had she had any intersection with anyone in this place, there was no point in staying¡­ He needed to go somewhere else. Ideally, another territory. He voiced it out as soon as they got back to the dwelling after eating. The others looked at him in surprise. "Are you really leaving?" Tom looked at Ansel who was really ready to go. "Now?" "Isn''t it good to just wait for news here?" Artie asked with a puzzled frown. Ansel shook his head. "She''s in her third trimester. No matter how capable, she is in a weakened state. What if she''s waiting to be saved somewhere?" The team were surprised to find the state of his sister, and they even mused about the chances a pregnant woman had in surviving. The odds weren''t very good, but they didn''t voice it out. "I can only ask you to make her stay if you encounter her here. If I don''t find her in the next territory, or even get a clue, I will come back to see." Tom and the others looked at each other, wondering how they''d make him stay. However, even if they had only been together a few days, the experiences they had together made for deeper bonds than a lot of friendships back in Terran. So¡­ they knew there was no talking things out with him. Tom sighed and they patted his shoulder to express his blessings. "Be careful. Stay alive." The other two did the same, expressing their well-wishes. Little Lily even went to give him a sweet hug. "I will come to you when I grow up. You must marry me!" Except for her father, whose worried expression turned to a murderous one, everyone else laughed at her cuteness. Ansel also said his goodbye and stood up, with the team following to see him off. However, as they headed to the gate, he saw another batch of refugees lining up. They couldn''t help but take a look together, hoping for some luck. Anyway, regardless of whether there were familiar people, the state of the new arrivals were as they had guessed: The new batch was indeed much more miserable than the previous one. Not only covered with blood, but there was no piece of clothing undamaged. He even saw someone who lost an arm¡­ Ansel, feeling that feeling that he was stared at, turned his head to look at the crowd. His eyes met with a woman''s¡ªwell, two of them, to be exact. He didn''t think she was familiar, but he saw strong recognition in the other person''s eyes. He frowned and after thinking, he stepped forward, wanting to go and ask about Althea. He saw the two women flinch a little and straighten their backs, and eyes looking at him in anticipation. One was blatant in her stare, while the other one was reserved, but both were equally disgusting. He was not talking about their current state of blood and mud¡ªbut it was more of a problem of temperament, of the soul. Although he''s had a lot of women, he was still choosy. They had to be beautiful, strong, and of good character. Like Althea, of course. He pushed the bile back down and continued his approach. Who knew¡­ maybe they would really know where Althea was. However, not even a few steps were taken when a piercing yell came soon after, distracting him from the thought. "RUNNNN!!" A piercing yell screamed, hitting everyone''s ears as well as their hearts. "BEASTS!!!!!!" ______ . . sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. . . _______ CHARACTER INTERACTION CORNER~ Ansel: Hi there, Angels and Dudes! It is I, Ansel Witt, and I''ve been tasked to spearhead this new corner Author-san decided to add! After all, you are all so awesome and we want to hear more from you! I know the timing''s off, but we don''t want to get too serious right? This is a light-hearted story damnit! Written and read for relaxation only! Oh, and you can ask me anything spoiler-free~! For example, what''s my favourite food? What time do I wake up in the morning? What''s my favourite brand of toothpaste? What about you? What are you liking about the story so far? Naw. Never mind. You don''t have to answer that. I know it''s me. Chapter 67 - 67: Run? Aberdeen City, 16 years ago Little Ansel heaved out a deep breath as they finally got out of the small tunnel. It took him a while to get his bearings, and was only brought back when he felt something warm and equally dirty on his gunk-covered hand. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was a little hand, covered with black-green stuff that looked so mushy and disgusting. Still, he did not pull back his hand. In fact, if he hadn''t been so scared before he''d also realize that the hand she covered his mouth with was this very hand. Little Althea, nicknamed Little Monkey, didn''t seem to notice her handprint on the other boy''s face. She just pulled the boy and gestured for them to go. "Let''s go!" She told him, her little voice a bit milkier due to all the whispering. Ansel looked at her small hand on his, and nodded blankly. "So, kid, where do you live?" She asked as they moved, looking down on him from time to time. Nine year-old girls were generally more than a bit bigger than boys a year younger than they were. The two of them were no exception. Little Ansel also had a timid personality and didn''t eat a lot. So it was not surprising when the boy couldn''t answer her question, and only stared at her. "..." The little girl mused that she had never heard him speak after hanging out with him for so long. Couldn''t he talk? Like that cleaning auntie from the orphanage? But before she could ask, they heard heavy footsteps not far behind them. "There!!" The man yelled, sprinting. Even if they ran as fast as they could, their little feet were no match for the massive long legs of a grown man. The man gestured to grab them but one more dose of adrenaline allowed them to avoid the grasp. However, there were uneven rocks on the ground and they lost their balance anyway. "You dare escape!" The man yelled and gestured to kick the little boy. But the little girl quickly grabbed his feet. "Watch out kid!" She yelled, grabbing the fat leg with her whole body. Ansel saw everything and the quiet boy finally spoke up. "You¡ª!" "Run! I can handle it!" She said, flexibly letting go of the leg before getting kicked, avoiding the other man''s hand and getting a few stones on her hand. The timid boy could only do as he was told and ran past the trees and the bushes, sobbing, not knowing what to do. _____ [28 days of Protection Period] Bright Territory Roaarrrrr!! Hundreds of wild beasts approached the gates and the walls with massive force. However, before the group of beasts could touch the wall, hundreds of wooden swords, and arrows met them head on. They were standing on the wall, with just enough room for them, practicing their balance as well. A few minutes earlier they had received notice to ask all citizens to help to deal with the beast tide. In exchange, for every 100 monsters they dealt with, they would be receiving a certain amount of silver. Ansel looked around as he killed a beast. No one seemed to be counting. How were they so sure about the number of kills? Like seeing their stats, could lords have other omniscient capabilities in their territories? Tsk. How annoying. He vented his annoyance on the monsters, quickly getting in the zone and his rate of hitting critical shots skyrocketed. [Used Stab (E). -3 Mana!] [Used Stab (E). -3 Mana!] [Used Stab (E). -3 Mana!] [Killed! Gnomos (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience!] [Killed! Gnomos (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience!] [Killed! Hui Mouse (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience!] [Killed! Gnomos (Lv1): +30 Copper, +30 Experience!] [Used Stab (E). -3 Mana!] [Used Stab (E). -3 Mana!] [Killed! Gnomos (Lv2): +50 Copper, +50 Experience!] The strongest mobs were at level 2, but fortunately the humans made up for it in number. Not to mention, the lord himself was at level 3, so they could manage. Speaking of, that Micheal was really capable of wielding his sword. As long as the monster was level 1, he was sure to kill it in one or two attacks. However, there seemed to be no end in sight, and eventually people started falling. More or more people got injured or died and the morale was slowly dwindling. Midway, the lord''s group bravely went deeper into the fight and killed as many as they could. Fortunately for them, the lord was also a good marksman, and he saved a lot of lives with his shots, earning him plenty of grateful stares. With the lord and his cronies leading the way, newfound courage increased the morale of the whole territory. Anyway, if they didn''t fight now, the territory would fall, and they''d die anyway. Ansel nodded in approval of his actions. He could at least acknowledge that the lord here wasn''t so useless. He threw away the sword with only 1 durability left and took out another. He also jumped down the wall, joining in the bloody ''fun''. Tom and Artie joined them down, but Bruce understandably did not. He had a daughter to care for after all, he would naturally choose to kill from the safety of the wall, not risking anything for the sake of his Lily. As they slashed through the mobs, gaining hundreds of copper and experience, they somehow found themselves near the lord''s party. Micheal and Ansel, at some point, even fought back-to-back. "We work quite well together." Micheal said, slashing on a monster''s eye. Ansel didn''t answer and jumped up, using his skills to push away the snap of the monster''s teeth, and immediately making a sharp parry. "Your brother taught you well, it seemed." The other man said. But it was so subtle, combined with the cacophony of the chaos around them, Ansel wasn''t sure what he heard. This momentary distraction almost got him eaten though, so he forgot all about this. Ansel immediately focused on the scores of enemies trying to eat a body part of his. As he fought desperately, he could feel himself getting more and more skilled and he was energized. No matter what, he ought to be strong enough to protect Althea when he found her. He wouldn''t be running away ever again. Chapter 68 - 68: Found You Aberdeen City, 16 years ago The young Ansel rushed past the shrubs and trees, ignoring the cuts he was suffering along the way. However, he accidentally stepped on overgrown roots and tripped. "...ouch¡­" He mumbled, little tears forming in his eyes. His feet hurt, his arm hurt, and his leg was bleeding. He tried to drag himself but he couldn''t go even a few centimeters. Little Ansel couldn''t help but sob. He was so useless, he couldn''t even walk¡­ And what about that girl? She was only an inch bigger than he was, and she was a girl¡­ Shame enveloped his young body, and yet he couldn''t do anything about it. He could only cry like he always had, sniffing, rubbing his snot with his dirty hands, making his face even dirtier and more pitiful. Then, he heard rustles from the bushes, and his fear was exacerbated. He stopped breathing and covered his mouth with his small hands to be sure, closing his eyes in fear. As if he couldn''t see, he couldn''t be seen either. But after the rustles there was a pause, and Ansel mustered his courage to squint his eyes open just a little bit to see. He saw those brilliant emerald eyes again, staring straight at him, bright as always. Even if there were drops of blood dripping in her eyelashes, it was still so beautiful. Seeing him all in one piece, a happy smile graced her pretty face. "Found you!" _____ [28 Days of Protection Period] After a few hours, the mob had finally lightened up, eventually running away. Seeing the scene, many people cheered, but most of them just lost their footing from tiredness, still couldn''t get back up from exhaustion. In the midst of this, Ansel was approached by a certain lord, that same smile plastered on his face. "You did a good job." He told her, "It''s a pity you''re unwilling to be my right hand man¡­" Micheal who, despite the blood on his shirt, stood straight and unaffected, unlike everyone else who were all gasping for breath. The tone creeped Ansel out and unconsciously gave him a bad stare, eyes looking around for the pompous sidekick he had. "Where''s the other one?" The man''s face darkened a little. "If you''re talking about Pho, I never said he was my right-hand man." Then, he smiled again. "You can certainly be." "Err¡­, no, thank you." The people around saw the lord''s favor on him and looked at him heatedly. Some in annoyance while some in greed. Ansel reckoned that someone would definitely try attaching to him after seeing the importance the lord placed on him. Tsk. Annoying. To his surprise, someone actually approached him almost as soon as things calmed down. It was the two girls, looking very dirty with their ripped attires, but still as well-kept as they could be, all things considered. The first girl approached him with a confident attitude that reminded him of an annoying peacock, except that peacocks were male and were actually endearing. This one just irked him. Like the cringey sound metal made when rubbed against another metal. There was also another girl a step behind her, meek and graceful, a bit better kept, making a contrast with the other girl. But he didn''t like either of them. He belatedly remembered them as the two women who had recognized him earlier, and Ansel decided to patiently wait for what they had to say. "Ansel." Peacock girl said with a nod. It was also with such certainty as if she was sure Ansel would recognize her. Instead, Ansel crossed his arms and gave her a look-over. "Who are you?" "..." Her ''poised'' stature cracked as she looked offended and aghast at his ''ignorance''. "We''ve been neighbors for years!" He looked blank, but he disliked noisy self-absorbed shrews the most. "I''m sorry, I''m not familiar with aunties." There was a burst of laughter in the crowd and the girl''s face looked as red as a baboon''s butt. In humiliation, tears lined up her eyes as she glared at him. "You are just like your sister¨C" Ansel''s pompous look changed immediately. "You''ve seen her." He said a statement, walking over and grabbing her shoulder. He shook it, sexy eyes filled with anticipation. "Where?" Ramona looked very reluctant to speak, while blushing at his warm touch. Next to her, Sandra looked at Ansel obsessively, remembering his gallant fight and the succeeding appreciation of the lord here. She had seen him before in Terran, albeit from afar, along with that husband of Althea''s. That orphan was surrounded by excellent men since she was a child. What about her? She had to betray her body for scumbags. She took a step forward at this time. "We don''t know where she is now, we were separated days ago¡­" A part of her wanted to throw some shade, but she had heard about this guy''s ''my sister is always right'' attitude, and didn''t want to take any risks. Ansel''s eyebrows furrowed as he tried placing the new girl, letting go of his hold of Ramona (to the latter''s annoyance). Fortunately for Sandra, she had several physical features that were quite similar to Nanny that he eventually recognized her. "Ah! You''re Nanny''s daughter." He said and the girl brightened at being recognized. Then she recalled Althea''s reaction and she paled, immediately letting tears run, breaking her surviving suitors'' hearts. "My mother¡­ she said she had passed away." She paused, "Althea told me she killed her, herself..." Ansel''s heart dropped and his throat felt like it was blocked by something. Nanny¡­ And Althea. She had to kill Nanny with her own hands. How sad was she? He closed his eyes to push down the depression. It was not the time to mourn, not yet. When he opened his eyes, he had regained some clarity. After a beat, he looked at Sandra. As someone who had been with at least a few dozen women and even more suitors, how could he not know of Sandra''s crocodile tears? But Ansel''s poison didn''t spread to her simply because she had news of his sister. "What direction did she come from?" Sandra genuinely wondered whether to tell him. She didn''t want Althea''s life to be even easier than it already was. But Ansel saw her reluctance and added: "I''ll owe you a favor." Deal. But Sandra maintained her meekness and did not show the brightness in her eyes. "They were heading to the mountains in the east." She said softly. "She was with another woman, an old man, a little girl, and a dog." "Thanks." He said, nodding politely. He even took out a can of dried fruit he saved up. "Here." And after politely bidding farewell to his acquaintances, he ran out the gate, quickly disappearing from view. Although he had been a bit tired from the fight, this news energized him so much that he felt he could run for a few more hours. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea¡­ I finally found you. Chapter 69 - 69: Start of Construction! Altera Village. Althea stared at the holographic map of her territory, and made a rough plan of what to build. To be honest¡­ she was really looking forward to this. Before anything though, she needed to budget. Although she was rich, if she splurged, it wouldn''t stay that way. Territory building was a money-burning endeavor. If she didn''t make sure she was on positive at the end of the day, the minus could compound, leaving her poor. She absolutely didn''t want to be poor. As such, she had to do some urban planning first. She opened the holographic map with cute earthly tones and stared at it for a while, making plans in her head and also on her tablet. The entire territory was about 3 square kilometers or over 300 hectares in size, with the mountainous areas of the half-valley already occupying around 40 hectares. She was not planning on wasting these areas, of course, and she did have a preliminary plan on what to do with these difficult terrains. But for now, she would be focusing on relatively flat lands and the areas near the river. The section of the 50-meter-wide river in the territory was located on the southeast part of the village, forming a chord of almost 2 kilometers in that length. The head of the valley was more or less in the northwest side of the territory. Interestingly, at the spot where the curvatures met, there was a small stream that would eventually end to the river. This area was quite critical. Rivers and streams were connected in a naturally-occuring system called a watershed. While watersheds were good for the world, if not handled well it could also mean a bit of trouble for the territory. For instance, when rain came, it could cause problems like flooding or water surges. So she designated the areas prone to flooding into public parks. It would be even better if she found some mangroves or similar vegetation, but this was an issue for later. As she observed her surroundings further, a familiar ding ran inside her head. [Construction of Lv3 Walls, Completed!] [Gates and Sentry towers now available for purchase. Construction is considered part of the walls and will not consume a building slot.] Her pretty eyebrows rose in interest. Level 3 walls could apparently have a Sentry attachment available, which was extremely pleasing news. The best part was that it would not consume a slot. She immediately went to study the new construction. [Sentry Towers Available with Level 3 walls and above Capable of automatically attacking hostile forces 100 meters away. Rate: 1 shot per 3 seconds. Consumption: 0.001 wood per shot Cost: 20 wood, 10 stone, 5 gold ] She nodded and mused that, although expensive, these things would probably be worth it. She looked at the walls and studied it a bit more, first deciding to locate the gates. In her zoning plan, she had designated the eastern and southwest parts of the territories as high-traffic areas. Althea placed the gates in these directions, primarily in locations where foot traffic would likely go. For example, relatively flatter lands. The gates themselves were relatively cheap as long as the wall was already there, so it wasn''t too painful to buy. [-100 wood, -100 stone, -10 gold] [-100 wood, -100 stone, -10 gold] It was the sentry towers that made a pinch in her wallet. Placing sentry towers every few hundred meters, she ended up building quite a few... [-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold] [-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold] [-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold] [-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold] [-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold] [...] Two gates and sixty-three sentry towers were built, just like that. The density of sentry towers could be said to be overkill, but it was the only way she''d feel comfortable. Anyway, those towers would automatically shoot arrows at all hostile forces within its range. Althea thought that one tower was worth a dozen troops. Just like this, her wood stock was nearly halved. It was very painful. However, it was still enough to build the necessary buildings and a small community. It was just that she would definitely be lacking resources until they found more people to gather them. Hey, she could imagine how people would react. How high their expectations would get as they go inside the strong wall¡­ only to see a few buildings? However, because of this ''premium'', this would also give her the capital to charge exuberantly. Which she wouldn''t do. Probably. It would depend on the situation. ¡­ S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After pondering, she decided on the other four buildings: Custom House, Village Center, Weaponry shop, and a farm. The house was obvious. She could even make the lower floor open plan for a custom multi-purpose building with commercial functions. Of course, the building type limitation would limit the second floor to a residential space, no exceptions, but this was already a great alternative to what was available in the system. She''d cover the main roads with these¡­ Not too much for now, she was lacking in resources. As for the cost of building her custom two-storey house, she thought it was fair at 500 silver per unit. However, by virtue of assisting the poor and milking the rich, she set its selling price at 50 gold coins but rented it out for only 100 copper per floor a day. To encourage a longer stay, the rent was further reduced to a more cost-effective 20 silver (or 2000 copper) per month. Based on the choices in the system, she could estimate the length of a month to be around 32 days here, so it was a very good deal for both parties. As for houses with open spaces, each house would get 50 sqm yards. In these small lots, they could do whatever they wanted, particularly if they had bought the space. They could plant their own small garden, make a small gym, a playground, or a leisure spot. It was all quite flexible. For a duplex set-up, where each floor would be owned by different parties, she divided the front and backyard equally with 25 sqm yards each. Satisfied with her classifications, she moved on to the next concerns. After the residential and commercial spaces were the public amenities. The most important of which, to her, was the Village center. If nothing else, the communications function alone was worth the price. When she reached a certain level, she could even communicate with allied territories, whenever it may be. Weaponry shop was also self-evident. However, the armory shops could come later, because for now she thought farm would be more appropriate. The very expensive wall would provide them with defense, and the people inside (and the sentries) could shower the enemy with arrows. The Farm, on the other hand, was necessary for protracted battles. She had no idea how often or how strong beast waves were, but she had to make sure the stable source of food for the territory. Even if the resources of this world refreshed quickly, if the population was big, it would not be enough. Not to mention, the variety was sorely lacking. She convinced herself of this and made a preliminary plan. For now, she only had enough money to develop one side. However, since she could not move these buildings after their erection, she still had to place them carefully. So she decided to develop the southwest gate first, the direction they came from. She rubbed her hands together, bright emerald eyes staring at the various structures she''d be building, feeling very elated and extremely excited. Finally! She''d finally be building their new home! ___ ADVERTISEMENT BREAK~ I will be mass releasing (around 15 chapters) On September! It''ll be on a privilege tier tho I have also drafted around 150 chapters now, and I am in need of a refresher story lol. A refresher story is a story that will help my brain keep ''fresh'' and proofread better than if I''m just stuck on a single story. Here are my WIPs that have a remote possibility of being published this year~! 1. Interstellar Rebirth: Back to the Apocalypse -BLURB: A princess from the interstellar times fails to escape from misfortune, inadvertently perishing in a blackhole. Her soul is then pulled back to the end of the 21st century¡ªwhich marked one of the greatest changes for all of humanity: The Apocalypse. -Will have 3 volumes: Childhood arc, Pre-apocalypse, and Apocalypse. 2. Woke up in the Intersteller: Got Amnesia, Married, and then Turned My Planet Into a Game Map BLURB: A female magician had to stay in hibernation to keep her life. Little did she know¡­ she''d wake up 20,000 years later. Oh, and her home planet''s about to get destroyed! -Will have two arcs: Interstellar and Planet-building. I''m considering heavier and earlier romances in both of them. I do want your opinion on this since I know this story has a lot of dude readers. Also, would you mind legitimate love triangles? Not like on this one, where the ML and FL are absolutely single-minded and pretty much no drama on the romantic side. So¡­ there! Which one would you more likely to check out when it''s out? What would you like to see? What don''t you want to see? Chapter 70 - 70: Build, Build, Build Aberdeen City, several months prior "I have a surprise for you." Her husband''s low velvety voice graced her ears as his warm hand wrapped around her waist, bringing her to the study table. "Happy birthday." He said and she opened her eyes to see a large piece of paper splayed out the table. She blinked and quickly approached it, seeing it for what it was. Drawings. Of a villa. Her beautiful green eyes widened and met his blue ones. She looked at its size, its address, and overall magnitude. She knew that this must''ve cost a fortune. She wrapped her arms around his neck to give him a smooch on the cheek and he wrapped his arms around her in response. But before he could dip his head for a more intimate kiss, Althea couldn''t help but want to tease him. Her lips twitched and she pinched his cheek before he could kiss her, faking a pout. "And there I thought you handed all your paycheck to me¡­" Ha blinked and paused, before bursting to a laugh. "I do give you all of my paychecks" He said, "But I keep my bonuses." Then he escaped her claws on his face by grabbing them and he dipped down his head to meet her lips, soon changing the angle of his head for more access. He tasted his wife for a while before (very reluctantly) parting with her. As he did so, he placed their foreheads together to maintain contact. "Otherwise, how could I buy gifts for my beautiful wife?" She giggled and gently pushed him away so she could take a look at the initial plans. Garan smiled as he wrapped his arms around her stomach, resting his chiseled chin on her soft hair. Together, they looked and studied the drawings.. "We''ll put your laboratory here." Garan said, pointing at the plan where the best rooms at the ground floor should be. He also allocated quite a big chunk of area here. "I will find the best experts in laboratory constructions, so every safety measures would be taken." She smiled, touched, and gave him another peck before resuming on studying the plans. They then planned and improved on his kitchen and gym, as well as her greenhouse and home gardens. There was also an old school library with hardbound books. And, of course, there was also the rooms of their future children, their play areas, their study rooms. It took them hours to finalize and perfect it. The couple stared at the construction plans, excited about building their own home, which would signify the next phase of their lives. However, they wouldn''t be moving to this house at all, nor would it even complete its construction. Because Garan would go missing soon after, not to be heard of again. _____ [28 Days of Protection Period] Althea heaved a sigh as unasked for memories came to mind. She shook her head of the thoughts and resumed staring at the lord panel and the map of the territory it showed to her. First she built the Village Center (Lv1) so she could have a pivot point of activity. This was basically the center of a territory, so she planned to give it enough prestige, in time. Not to mention, unlike the wall, every building could only be built as Lv1. This meant that eventually, she would be upgrading these buildings and she also had to leave enough provision for expansion. As such, she allowed a huge easement of 50 meters at front and back, and 100 meters at the sides. Even if the upgrade wouldn''t require so much space, she could just add parks and other facilities in these areas. She placed this setup roughly in the center of the territory. She also built about half a hectare of semi-paved space in front of the Village center to serve as the public square. She then turned to the infrastructure tab and directly built a road¡ªno, an avenue¡ªfrom the village center to the Southwest gate. She planned for future development. Considering the number of Terrans that transferred and the few number of lord tokens based on the requirements, each territory would definitely have thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people in the future. Construction, even system buildings, could no longer be moved once placed. Would they have to endure the traffic should the population grow by the thousands? She didn''t want to destroy buildings just so she could give way to road widening. The main road had a 6-lane or 18 meters wide carriageway, each lane about three meters wide with three lanes per direction. These avenues would be separated by middle islands, and two meters of sidewalk on each of the two sides. Except for the larger walkways (were there even cars here? She didn''t know, but there should be carriages at least), she also followed modern design and left space every meter for some bonzai. It was worth noting that for every place she built, the trees and rocks superseded by built buildings automatically turned into resources. These were full-grown trees and boulders, which had somewhat lightened up her resource problem. Of course, as someone with a brain, she tried to retain as much greenery as she could. Returning to the actual buildings, the architectural style she set was a mixture of the rich eastern flare and the sophisticated west. There were the intricate designs of the eastern cultures, but there were the extra stability associated with the western ones. Quite exciting to look at, in her opinion. It was such a good thing that she could also customize the system buildings, albeit it was limited to the facade and was more expensive. She had always believed that beauty was needed for the spiritual health, and she wanted everything in her turf to be beautiful, even if it was a bit costly. The next thing she did was build a group of houses. The distance from the center to the edge was a kilometer and she obviously could not fill this space up. So, she just built around 10 multi purpose residential-commercial buildings along each side of the main (and only) road, and added the 150sqm house-and-lots on the smaller 6-meter streets behind them. The houses were varied. She set about 10 houses for a family unit for a selling price of 50 gold. If they wished to rent, because they had all two floors for themselves, they had to shoulder the whole 200 copper per day. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although the return for rental was 8 months, it would be very friendly to citizens. For the sake of the people, she could heroically give up (some of) the convenience of fast ROI for the houses. After all, 300 square meters was huge. How many people of a team could fit and share the costs? Of course, the best thing was that they still purchased it. The best profit was there. At least in the short term. And she needed a lot of money during the developmental phase of the territory. The next housing type was the duplexes, where each floor will have different families or teams. The selling price was set to 30 gold, with the rental of 100 copper per day. A floor could comfortably accommodate 10 people, so people could share the space. A person would only need to pay 10 copper a day to have a decent roof above his head, and this could be said to still be quite fair. However, she decided to set a limit that houses could only be rented by residents (temporary or permanent), while visitors could only go to inns (coming soon) or rent a bedspace (owned by the house owners). In the future, this could be an additional source of income for everyone. Finally, she set up a dorm type building a few streets away from the main street. She took down most of the side walls and placed 5 modules together. They had shared bathrooms and kitchens. These bedspaces could be rented at a very friendly price of 1 copper per day. People could stay here indefinitely, though she thought few would because they would witness the others¡ªpossibly their roomates¡ªmoving out and improving their lives. Next, she placed the weapons store next to the square. System and other main shops would also be placed around this area. If she were to someday build important public buildings, it was estimated this would be their location as well. She watched in satisfaction as the foundation works of the buildings began. All the buildings should be completed by the end of the day. The magic of it all still amazed her to no end. As for the farm, she had to move to the area in the northeast of the river and where the main road to the East Gate would be. It was relatively flat and even if it wasn''t it was not a problem at all. She mused if she placed the farm on the mountains it would produce a terraced field instead. For now, she had to check her stats to see how much resources she still had. [TERRITORY STATS Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 7 (7 permanent, 0 temporary) Total Population: 7 Base Resources: Wood: 120/5000 Stone: 50/3000 Money: 7276 Gold, 91367 Silver, 15287 copper Reputation: 0 Buildings: Village Center (Lv1), Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 3/5 (+1)] She still had two building slots left? Clearly she only had space for a farm? Immediately, the answer dawned on her. "!!!" No wonder the custom building could only be used once and was so expensive! It bought her a precious building slot! Chapter 71 - 71: The Last Building Slot The last building slot set her up for a bad case of analysis paralysis. She was deciding between the Armory (Lv1) and the Warehouse (Lv1). Both options had their pros and cons, and she was a little confused as to which one she should build. She turned around to look at the people who had been following her around as she set up the buildings, staring around in childlike wonder. This was understandable, as seeing edifices slowly materialize¡ªspeck by speck¡ªfrom the ground up within a day was indeed a miraculous sight. She reckoned if there was popcorn, they would''ve consumed several buckets by now. "I need your opinion on something." She asked after clearing her throat, catching their attention. "Yes boss, anything!" They said, obviously very excited about anything territory-related. "I have one more building slot to fill up and I''m ambivalent between two options." She told them, "I''m torn between Armory (Lv1) and Warehouse (Lv1)." She said, and then she directly stated some of the pros and cons of each one. The others were also confused and conflicted. For better or for worse, only armor makers could create defense equipment effective against monsters. Their leather clothing from Terran, created by advanced science, could not compare. Althea mused it must have to do with some local elements they didn''t know. Similar to how a set of bows and arrows could be more effective than a gun. In any case, this was basically a choice between additional defense for an individual and something that would bring great convenience and advantages to the territory administration. Sheila shut her eyes and pursed her lips, thinking. Defense was good, but the warehouse was also good. Harold, as a housekeeper, and thus had a bit of bias towards the warehouse. However, he was also very aware of the merits of the armory instead. Knowing he wouldn''t be able to provide a smart argument, he opted not to speak for now. It was Eugene who said his piece first. "The armory is good, but it only produces Level E equipment for now." They were all relatively high level compared to the monsters here, not to mention the huge wall that protected them. "The convenience of the warehouse, on the other hand, is very high. "Not only would Boss have additional ''space'' with a fresh-keeping function, but Boss could also use this in attacking and defending." Althea agreed. Leaving aside the huge space, there were plenty of other functions that could have if used well. For instance, making a piece of slab appear in front as a shield. For instance, storing a boulder and throwing it over a person''s head. She had long wanted to do so, as early as when she was just dealing with zombies. Sadly, the space wasn''t big enough at the time. In the end, she just needed a second opinion, because people''s instinctive choice was to fully equip themselves before any convenience. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The other two saw his point and nodded in agreement. Althea opened her lord panel again and decided to choose to build a Warehouse (Lv1). She felt a sense of satisfaction in finally utilizing the system to her level. Perhaps even beyond it. In fact, there was also another consideration on her part in choosing the warehouse. That was, to use the warehouse to store stones and wood that was larger than her cap. The fact that level 4 walls weren''t locked when its full-use requirement exceeded the level cap, gave her an idea. Don''t say people would simply not build around the entire territory, Althea just thought there must be a way around it. As for the existing vegetation, she decided to keep as much as possible, to take advantage of the resource refresh. Since she could not move the trees or buildings, she could only maximize their existence as they were. As for the resources, except for the loose stone and twigs, the rest would be charged, but only very little¡ªjust enough for people not to think they could take the resources for granted. For now, she was planning to set a very negligible price of 1 copper per half a kilogram of edible food/plant, but with limited qty (? kg) per person per day. When the population grew, this price would also increase a bit, but this was an issue for later. Anyway, this would ensure people would have enough food, but at the same time safeguarding the interests of the other citizens and, of course, the territory itself. Similarly, water could also be taken from the lake or the stream for 5 copper per bucket. At the very least, the system gave her the convenience of setting up ''charge points'' so she didn''t have to watch every resource point. It would watch itself. To sum, in her territory, a person would be able to decently meet their basic needs with 30 coppers per day. She then turned her attention to Harold, which made the old man straighten up his back. "I need you to open a restaurant for me." She said, pointing at one of the mixed-used buildings along the road. "You will provide relatively affordable food to the masses. It doesn''t have to be too fancy, but definitely offers much better food than the system restaurant." "No problem, boss!" Harold said, confident. Even when the ingredients were limited, the ''rival establishment'' in comparison was a really low standard to beat. "I will give you 10% of the profit and, when you finish paying your debt, I''ll give you 50%." Harold stared at her, as if confirming she had actually said so. When she repeated her words, a bit slower, the old man''s expression brightened and he nodded successively. This type of business fitted his heart and passion very well. He would definitely do well! Althea smiled at the simmering-in-joy old man and turned to the dark-skinned Eugene, who was watching on in interest. "I''ll need you for personal use. We have a lot to do." Eugene nodded, honored by her trust. Since working with the boss on the custom house, he had gained a new sort of admiration for her¡ªprofessional worship. "Yes, boss!" She smiled and, finally, turned to Sheila. "Would you temporarily be able to handle a clinic? I''ll supply the medicines." "I''d be glad to!" "Temporarily until we find a good person to watch the shop. I''m hoping to have you as a correspondent for health concerns in the territory." Sheila was touched by her trust. "I''ll do my best! And I will also look for good doctors to assist us as well." Althea smiled. It was really great to have reliable partners. Alas, she just missed her husband again¡­ Chapter 72 - 72: Farm Villas None of them noticed the very subtle mood of wistfulness that passed by their boss'' eyes, hyperfocused on their new tasks at hand. Sheila grinned, then scooted closer to her. Looking around the themed houses near them with shining eyes. "So¡­where are we going to live?" "..." This made her pause. She hadn''t really thought about it yet in the sense that she was just ''copy and pasting'' the module as she saw fit. She looked at the custom houses that were definitely hundreds of times better than those in Royal Territory, and wondered the answer to the nurse''s question. Each module had good bedrooms (though no beds yet), bathrooms, toilets, and a private yard on both sides. It was just that she wanted a much larger yard so she could have her private gardens and experimental fields close to home. This was pretty much a basic requirement for her house, which all her family members were very kind to always provide her with. But obviously, since she wanted to hide her status, she couldn''t live too differently. But at the same time she didn''t want to wrong herself in the slightest. Thinking for a bit, she opened the map again and looked at the rough image of the territory. Her eyes zoned in on the other side of the territory and her feet moved towards it. Without saying anything, they walked several minutes to the other half of the territory, near the northeast side where the farms would be zoned. She stared at the area for a while and mused that she, a botanist, was very fond of plants. A few square meters of land really would not be able to handle her requirements. Hence, in addition to the farms, she decided to make villas with large lots she could use to farm: A farmvilla, so to speak. She then set up the avenue heading towards the East gate, with the same specifications as the Southeast avenue, knowing full well this part would be no less developed than that one. She then set up minor roads that would lead to the Farmvilla area. This farm-villa area would be located on a parallel street to the main eastern road. On the other side, they would be separated to the actual farms by orchards (coming soon). She looked at the map and finalized the preliminary locations of the agricultural zoned, as well as the industrial zone, which would be further eastward near the new gate. She might be thinking too far ahead of herself, but placing the factories near the gates would also facilitate trade, should she be partnering with other territories. For farmhouse villas she directly put two modules together and took down the partition walls. She also added verandahs, balconies, and other features. She then added a Level 2 wall around its perimeter. She made two more of the exact same sets next to hers. All these three houses would have system farms on them so the cost was quite high. Of course, the selling and rental fees would also be very beautiful. The total cost of the whole thing was several hundred silver coins, about 8 gold. As for the price, she decided to sell it for 100. For rent, it was a bit more expensive than the other building types, but it would be a self-sustaining property that would be quite profitable if used correctly. She added about 10 more farmlands in the Agricultural zone to either be rented out privately, or leased by tenant farmers. She was planning on occupying one or two for her experimental crops. While she did so, the others gathered resources on the way, adding to her quickly dwindling resources, even if only a little. Satisfied with what she had done, the group finally went on to a well-deserved break. They set up a picnic table under one of the trees near her future home, chatting and eating snacks. A few hours later, successive dings sounded inside her head. [Ding! Congratulations Weaponry store (Lv1) has been completed!] [Ding! Congratulations Custom building #8 has been completed!] [Ding! Congratulations Custom building #9 has been completed!] [Congratulations Warehouse (Lv1) has been completed!] [Congratulations Village Center (Lv1) has been completed!] [Ding! Congratulations Custom building #10 has been completed!] [Ding! Congratulations Custom building #11 has been completed!] [Ding! Congratulations Custom building #12 has been completed!] [...] About an hour later, the farmvilla they chose was finally erected, and they settled in before the sun set. It was dark and they only had their solar-powered flashlight for decent illumination, and they decided to sleep in the living area for now. There weren''t any furniture, anyway. Turning off the light, they laid down their heads, and an unprecedented sense of peace came over them. After all, they finally settled down; They finally have a home. They arranged their sleeping bags side by side, looking at the ceiling above, and¡ªafter turning off the lights¡ªeverything was now solely illuminated by the two moons of contrasting colors. Incredibly peaceful, the atmosphere calling for someone to open up emotional wounds. "Thank you¡­" Eugene said out of nowhere, and everyone tilted their heads to his direction. "I would not be alive if it weren''t for you." He said, and with his passion for creating reignited, he finally had a new reason to live. "So, thank you." The others smiled. Sheila couldn''t help but look outside the translucent window. It would be great if there were more people. "Now, all these buildings are done but¡­ there''s only seven of us." "The gold isn''t a problem yet, but the resources are really lacking. We need more manpower." Althea said, and she supported herself up with an arm. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Any ideas on how to immediately attract new people?" She asked. "After all, not many people would go into the mountains rather than look for flat lands¡­" There was silence for a while, each one thinking of a way to attract people efficiently and safely and without revealing they had The Lord in the group. . . . After a few minutes of silence, Eugene spoke up. "I may have an idea." Chapter 73 - 73: Fireworks (Part 1) Several kilometers from the territory, a bloody scuffle was ongoing and reaching its peak. "Don''t go there, damnit!" A pudgy and dirty man yelled at his companion, who in his panic ended up running to the mouth of a monster instead of running away from it. The man blinked and turned his head, and it was the last time he''d be able to do so. Splack! It was night and only the two moons partially covered by the dense foliage and a dimming flashlight were their only sources of illumination. They couldn''t see what happened, but the gruesome sound of biting and chewing made everyone shake in fear. Baron and the others were pale, but didn''t have the time to mourn the loss of yet another companion. "Distract it!" He ordered his cousin, a buff woman named Bianca, as he looked at the monster they have been handling together. They needed to end this one urgently because there was another monster was without an enemy, and it meant someone would deal with two. Bianca nodded and she ran in another direction hitting the monster as she moved. The monster¡ªa 1-meter tall monster with three ugly eyes, saber tooth, and three legs¡ªchanged its target and faced her. Baron quickly took his remaining iron stick and with all his strength stabbed the monster on its few vulnerabilities¡ªthe skin right under its 5th rib, something that they had discovered after the same monster killed their 6th companion. [Killed! Tripiel (Lv2). +50 experience, +50 copper coins!] They worked together beyond their capacity to deal with the remaining monsters. Some kicked, some hit, and some even used their own bodies to bump into it in desperation. Sometimes it worked, most of the times it didn''t, because it was as dark and they were weak and these damned monsters had very thick skins! After a few more losses, they were finally left with one, but in exchange everyone was nearly emptied and incredibly weak. With a wave of its strong arms, the remaining monster hit two of their surviving companions, throwing them high in the air¡ªBANG!¡ªand making them hit a tree and a rock, respectively. These companions lost consciousness the moment they touched the surfaces, leaving the two cousins behind to deal with it. Fortunately, it was already sufficiently weakened and although they lost a few pints of blood, they still managed to hit its weak spots constantly, bleeding it to death. This time, he let Bianca have the final shot. [Killed! Tripiel (Lv2). +50 experience, +50 copper coins!] sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When they saw it fall down, dead, their legs lost strength and they both fell down to the ground, unable to move anymore. Baron tried to raise his flabby arms but it was too heavy. With a huff, he looked at the corpses of monsters and humans around them. He saw that Bianca was sobbing, and the other surviving companions that had their consciousness were lifelessly just staring at the trees. Baron knew one thing: If more monsters were to be attracted by all this blood¡­, then it would be their end. As if sensing his fears, they soon heard rustles of leaves and they were getting closer. It was followed by low growls that they could only associate with death. Baron paled, as if he lost all the remaining blood he had on him. Were they going to die here? How hard they fought for their lives back in Terran! In the end, would their lives end in this damned foreign land?! NO. They fought so hard, wasn''t it just to survive?! "Wake up! STAND UP! DAMNIT" He yelled. He recalled when his company was having a year-end party and he had to make a speech with a broken mic. His vocal chords had never been so abused as it was now. Only a few companions managed to stand up, the rest either losing hope and giving up, while some simply couldn''t wake up in time. But thankfully, most of his cousins and friends were among the ones who stood up¡ªwith the other ones lost very early on. While sad for the others who got transferred with them, he was already satisfied with this. They took out their weapons to deal with the new monsters. They were only as small as their knees, but there were a few, and their sharp teeth were definitely no joke. The damned things ran to their other surviving companions that couldn''t stand anymore, and they tore apart their skins without effort. The constant sound of skin tearing off like paper torn off a book echoed in their ears, and they could only defend themselves to the best of their means. They were almost at the end of the line, losing hope, when a loud noise came above them. It wasn''t only noise, but also a bright flash of light, sending hope to their souls. They couldn''t believe what they were seeing. "Is that a firework?" The noise was enough to keep the monster''s attention away from the meat at hand, even for a second, but his quick thinking partner, Jules, quickly dragged everyone to run away, pushing them to go towards the fireworks. They ran, even when they felt their legs were so painful it felt like they were falling off their torsos¡­ they ran. "My spirit¡­ it''s less than 50!" "Ah! My flashlight!" That was their last one! "Hurry up!" Baron was a bit blessed in the horizontal direction and was a bit slower. A monster opened its huge mouth to glomp on him and he missed it by a hair''s breath. He felt his soul leave his body right then and there. The added adrenaline went to his legs and allowed him to zoom forward, successfully adding distance between him and the man-eating rat behind. He even manifested some silver and gold, throwing it at the damned things, but it was either ignored or didn''t do any sort of damage at all. "Damnit, what use are all these gold when I''m gonna die anyway!" He screamed, darting forward to the best of his limited ability. "I should''ve hoarded bazookas!" Chapter 74 - 74: Fireworks (Part 2) Cassie, wearing a miner''s hat, lit up the way as she cleared a path for her grandmother. She was holding a wooden sword on one hand and her grandmother was gripping on her trusted cooking pan. "Grandma, come on!" She yelled, and instinctively raised the sword and it met the sharp teeth of a monster. Grandma quickly hit the monster with her pan, and Cassie took advantage and shifted the angle so that the broken sword would enter its mouth and she pushed her body forward to reach its brain. Thankfully, it was only a level one monster and, Cassie, who was already at level 2, managed to deal with it, though barely because one wooden sword was usually done after one or two monsters. [Killed Gnomos (Lv1), +30 copper, +30 experience] She was an olympic champion in kendo back in her youth, and she loved it so much she never stopped doing it even when she didn''t participate in contests anymore. She was extremely thankful for her perseverance, otherwise, she and her grandmother wouldn''t have lived so long. She took out yet another wooden sword and heaved a sigh. She had relied on her dozens and dozens of swords to survive with her grandma until now. However, the monsters here had very thick skins and it was getting more and more difficult to deal with them. She was on her last wooden sword. If it broke, what would she do? Get some twigs? It was here that she heard a noise from a direction and her eyes brightened at the sight. Grandma narrowed her bad eyes, thinking she must have been seeing things. "Are those¡­?" "It''s fireworks!" Cassie exclaimed, grabbing the older woman''s hand. "Let''s go!" ¡­ "Follow it!" A group of young men and women shakily used the last batteries of their final flashlight to light up their way. They were filled with blood and grime, and they laborously dragged their feet to follow the light. They have been in this hellhole for a few days now, and they had never thought they''d ever go through such suffering in their whole lives. They were in so much pain with all the wounds that covered their bodies, and it felt like all their appendages were about to fall off in tiredness. They were also parched and hungry and weak, and it was just so horrible. They had long lost the food and water that they had on them. Although there was food in the forest, they didn''t know which one was poisonous and could kill them the next second. They lost exactly two and a half companions from poison, the person counted as half because in his half-dead state, he was desperate and ate the nearest most delicious-looking food beside him. At least in Terran, even if there were zombies, there was still a lot of food. Not to mention, zombies tended to lose their heads if they swung an axe with their supposedly increased physique, not like the monsters here where the same axe would be bitten to pieces. Zombies had become adorable and worthy of their longing. Troy scrunched his flat nose in regret. "If I knew we''d get thrown here, I''d have ran home to get my collection!" Troy was an ancient weapons enthusiast. Hot weapons couldn''t be owned privately, but his collection was just the right amount of coolness and the right amount of legal. Unfortunately, they were far from home when the disaster happened. Of course, their distance from civilization also allowed their group (who didn''t turn to zombies) to all survive in those twenty-four hours. It was just that they easily lost a third the moment they got migrated. They were a group of childhood friends and cousins gathered together for a wildlife bonfire party. It was supposed to be a super fun activity but, who knew, how it would end up halfway through. They were, ironically, telling horror stories when they suddenly fainted and half of them suddenly started moving creepily, and biting at their seat mates. They witnessed a girlfriend eating her boyfriend, and a brother mauling his sister. They saw them eating their insides, chewing on intestines. All of them vomitted out what they ate that night, and days later¡ªwhen they already consumed all their food¡ªthey felt so hungry that they regretted not being able to control their bile. What a waste! Anyway, they were still lucky enough to have camping gears when the disaster happened, but it had been so many days and they were in their last resources. Even the last bit of lighting they had was this flashlight and it was already flickering. However, that firework still managed up their way, telling them a direction to target, even if it only lasted for a second. In fact, it was not much of a firework, it was very small and didn''t even last more than a second. But that little spark lit up hope in them like a raging fire. There were many such groups around the area, following the light with renewed strength to defend themselves from the mobs that they encountered. The group of youngsters ran in the direction where the light was last seen, with renewed energy. Fred, who had been holding the compass, led the way, his freckled face covered with grime and sweat, but eyes filled with brightness as bright as his orange hair. Roar! "Shit!" "Just run! Run for your lives!" "Your lives literally depends on it, damnit!" They ran and they ran, until Fred saw a glimpse of stone amidst the forests. "Almost there, guys! Gooooo!!!" And they darted, with energy they didn''t know they still had. Unfortunately--- Flop! A sound of a body falling down and made their hearts drop. "Brother!" "Lulu!!" Troy quickly went about-face to run back to his cousin, but it was too late, the monster was too close. Tears began to form as he tried to go to her anyway. But before it could take a bite at his cousin, a fast arrow flashed, hitting the monster right on the head, killing it. It wasn''t the only one, more mobs arrived and¡ªas long as they were within a certain area¡ªarrows would fly by themselves, attacking the monsters. Troy''s eyes widened and he whipped his head to the direction of arrows. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were towers, placed roughly every hundred meters. "Sentries!" He yelled, and he grabbed his fallen cousin and held her up. The small group of youngsters quickly ran to the gate, but no longer panicked, knowing in their hearts that they were being protected. They felt like they breathed in a new life when a notification appeared. [Welcome to Altera Village!] Chapter 75 - 75: Rescue Altera. Althea and the others watched as the small fireworks lit up the sky with mixed emotions. It really wasn''t much, as she didn''t have much waste guns and gunpowder, but it was enough to alert the survivors. "It was really short though, I hope a lot of people saw it." Sheila mumbled, looking at the now dark sky with worry. "There should be." Eugene said, "Considering that other than the moon, there are no other sources of light at this time. The contrast would be enough for at least a few groups to see." "There will also be monsters, however," Eugene added, looking at Althea with apprehension. She looked at them, nonchalant about this issue. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As for the monsters that it would attract, the expensive sentry towers should be able to deal with them. "Let''s trust my very expensive defense system." Was all she said, very vaguely. "I also want to see the sentry towers at work..." Sheila mumbled, looking very curious. Althea blinked, looking at them. "Then why don''t you take advantage of them and train?" The trio simultaneously turned to look at her, suddenly enlightened. As such, everyone (along with Maya and Fufi) actually decided to go out and train a bit. Maybe they could even rescue a few people on the way. As for Althea, pregnancy lethargy already attacked so she was already in bed (in a bedroom this time, because it was weird to sleep alone in the living room). As she laid down her duvet, she began chatting leisurely with her babies, just before drifting to sleep. ¡­ 500 meters from the Walls "Are you sure this is the right way?!" Baron asked, panting, his flabby belly bouncing as he darted forward with all his might. He pressed his chest and his kidney, to ease the discomfort. They were getting painful from all the excess running. "Didn''t I tell you? I was awarded the¡ª" Bianca breathed in, lacking air. "¡ªBest Girlscout for three years straight!" Bianca said so with a lot of pride, even as she was gasping for breath, offended that she was being questioned. Baron rolled his eyes. Yes, of course, he remembered, her mother never stopped bragging about it to his mother. But he couldn''t even make a snide response because he was too tired and his legs were heavy as lead. He couldn''t help but look behind as he ran, and his heart dropped at how close the small mob was! They even increased in number! Damnit! Their small group went beyond their limits to escape, hoping to finally reach a safe place. But they were humans and no matter what, their bodies would reach their absolute maximum limit in the end. Baron could feel he was nearing his. But someone yelled words that made him go even farther. "I see it! There''s a wall!" "A wall?!" The group sprinted in the direction, no longer caring if they lost their legs in the process. However, a monster suddenly sprinted and extended its arms. His cousin was nicked by a claw directly at her back. "Ah!" "Bianca!!" "I''m fine! Just run!" Bianca gritted her teeth and pushed on. It was as if she wasn''t bleeding heavily at all. However, there was an undergrowth that Baron was unable to avoid, and he lost his balance, precisely 120 meters from the wall. He felt like he lost all remaining blood in despair. Nonononono He tried to crawl, no longer able to feel his legs. His companions had sprinted forward with their entire beings, not noticing someone was left behind. He could hear the monster closing in, its mouth, its breath, and Baron thought it was his end. But a moment later he heard a swish sound and a figure running to him. It was dark and wasn''t clear but he knew it was approaching him at super speed and it had sharp teeth, saliva illuminated by the moonlight. It was definitely a monster! And they were coming at him from both directions! Baron cried and sobbed, snot dripping nonstop, hopeless. He was so close¡ª "I don''t want to die¡­" He sobbed, expecting to be mauled a moment later. But the new ''beast'' suddenly leaped past him, jumping over his plump body and using it as a springboard¡ª"Oof!!" he uttered out¡ªand he quickly heard a scuffle behind him. Then there was the swish sound of metal and more noise. "Hey! Stand up!" Someone yelled and he blinked, tilting his head to see an old man waving an axe around with a dog right next to him. It was only now did he realized that the new figure was no monster¡ªbut a furry friend. "A dog?!" "Are you just going to lie there or not?!" Another voice, a woman''s, sounded. She was a bit far from them, and she was holding a bow and arrow. He saw an angel right there. And the angel glared at him in annoyance, making him flinch. "A-ah, yes!" But there was no way, his legs didn''t have strength and he just fell down again. He heard an exasperated sigh next to him and the next thing he knew he was being carried. From his side, he could see the woman shooting arrows as they ran. She wasn''t very good, but he thought it was the most beautiful thing. He looked back to see the dog grappling with another monster, finally killing it by biting its neck. It then lost its scary face and returned to a normal-looking dog (if you ignore the blood dripping from his mouth; and is that a piece of flesh), following closely behind them. He could only gape as he was carried nearer the wall, where his companions were. They were worried but safe, and they obviously wanted to get back to him. They were being stopped by someone¡ªa man with stick legs obviously sticking out of his pants? And a little girl?¡ª from going to him and they stood over an invisible demarcating line. "Cousin!" "Hurry!" He saw the stick-leg man was also holding a bow and arrow, but was markedly more skilled than the girl. Two people had bows and arrows, hitting monsters that were getting too close to them. And when they went past some sort of threshold, a few sharp wheezes passed by over their heads, and the next thing they knew all the monsters following them dropped dead. He then felt weightless and he hit the ground soon after. Harold huffed. "You''re very heavy." He said after dropping him, and walking to the little girl, and patting her head. Of course, Baron was not insulted. Instead, he dragged himself to face the rescuers. "Thank you, thank you!" He said, bowing to them. If he could feel his legs, he''d kowtow to them. His companions also bowed, sobbing, barely standing themselves. The girl, now looking calmer than before, smiled at them. "It wasn''t so much. It was the sentries that did most work." They looked at the dignified-looking wall and sentry towers. Their hearts filled with relief and joy. "But still, thank you." This time, it was Bianca. To his surprise, she was no longer bleeding. "We owe you our lives." "It''s really nothing. Just continue walking this way," she said, pointing at the eleven o''clock direction. "You will be able to find the gate." Seeing that the woman really didn''t want to deal with them anymore, they only bowed once more and finally headed to the direction. "Thank you so much!" They yelled, sincerely, with all their hearts. Sheila and the others were embarrassed, and only smiled. They would end up rescuing a dozen people before going to bed, very proud of themselves. Chapter 76 - 76: People Tab On the other hand, while the citizens slept soundly, the lord was not. She was shifting in her sleep, drenched with sweat. Abruptly, she opened her eyes and sat up, a few tears lining up her eyes. She dreamed of her husband. She dreamed of him fighting for his life and protecting his team. She dreamed of him looking out the two moons, hoping to see her again, desperately fighting to get back home¡ªto her. Only to find that the home they knew was no more. When she opened her eyes, her eyes were wet with tears. She sighed as she sat up, subconsciously patting her stomach, an instinctive act when she longed for comfort. He didn''t even know he had children yet, didn''t he? Although he didn''t seem to like children (or most people, in general), she could still recall him meticulously taking care of her even at the age where boys simply wanted to go out and play. He also took care of Ansel a lot, training him and making sure he wouldn''t get bullied. Althea thought, he would definitely be a great father. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She shook her heads of the thought. There was nothing she could do for Garan, except build him a new home¡ªsomething that they, as orphans, had an integral need for. With this thought, she smiled and looked down at her protruding stomach. "Good morning." She said, "Let''s take a look at the changes in the territory, okay? I bet they''re good¡­" [TERRITORY STATS Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 31 (10 permanent, 21 temporary) Total Population:53 Base Resources: Wood: 020/5000 Stone: 50/3000 Money: 7676 Gold, 91767 Silver, 27987 copper Reputation: 3 Buildings: Village Center (Lv1), Weaponry Shop (Lv1) , Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv1), Farm (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 5/5 (+1)] She looked at the increase of reputation in interest. How did it get calculated? However, because she didn''t know what it was for yet, her interest dwindled quickly. Instead, what caught her attention was her severely lacking resources. Even if she had plenty of gold, it seemed she wouldn''t be able to do much more at this point. However, with more people, more people would gather resources for her, so she wasn''t very worried. What surprised her was the fact that she had 3 new permanent residents. Her fee for this type of residency was not cheap. She was already planning out the alternative methods for her future residents to pay for it because the price was prohibitive. For instance, merit. For instance, contributions. But look, one night and she had 3. She then opened her territory window and chose the never before touched tab: People. Soon a list of 53 names appeared on her screen. Next to their names was their loyalty to the territory. In her own party except for Eugene who had 95%, the rest had 100%. This was not surprising. What surprised her was the rest of the people. Outside of their team had pretty good loyalties as well, at least 60%, there were even as high as 80%. Was such loyalty the default? How was Althea to know that these people had lost hope the previous night, and the light of guidance the territory released saved them all. How could they not have even a bit of goodwill? The next column was their level, then their professions, citizenship, elemental affinity, and overall potential. She could even see their net worth. Althea paused. What an intrusive access panel¡­ She shrugged in the end though, as she wouldn''t abuse this feature too much, at least not to the detriment of the individual. With this comforting thought, she resumed in exploring this function of the Lord Panel. She began to take a look at the professions. She was the only one who had something listed there. Pharmacist, Archer. She had totally forgotten about this. She ignored this for now, and shifted back to the list. She realized that the list could be arranged in decreasing or increasing order of the category needed for convenience. As she perused the list, Althea found some interesting figures. For example, arranging by potential, Sheila''s B level was really above average. In the 53 people, there were a few Bs and even an A, the rest were Cs or Ds. For example, someone actually had 624 gold in hand. A bit more and he could''ve had his own territory. For example, this same person bought the other two villas next to her! That was, what, 200 gold from the get-go? A little more and this guy really could''ve had his own Lord token. Then she looked at his C potential and corrected herself. After all, only people at B-level could get a token. Anyway, if she could change the names and add nicknames, she would put ''golden goose'' on this guy. It was also worth noting that everyone had the so-called ''elemental affinity'', whatever it meant. So far there was no indication of what this was but it definitely meant something. She really hoped there was an FAQ section somewhere¡­ Another thing she noticed about this particular attribute was that everyone else only had one element. Sheila had water, Harold and Maya had Earth, and Eugene had the rare Metal affinity, wherein he was one of the 2 people among the 53 to have it. The most common one, so far, was earth and fire, comprising more than half of the population together. For now, she knew there was at least 6 elements: Wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and metal. As for the others, there may be some out there, but they hadn''t reached her land just yet. Thinking about it, if asked, she decided to just say she had wood affinity. Three was really too much, she hoped to see someone with at least dual elements¡­ Though she had no idea what it was for yet. Putting this aside for now, she continued to look at the winnings from last night. Seeing that there were 53 people, it meant that she must have attracted a lot of mobs. The sentry towers were reliable enough that a few intermittent groups of low level monsters were no threat at all. The best thing was that the loot (no experience, unfortunately) of sentry towers automatically went right into her pocket, evident in the thousands of copper coins added to her wallet. Although she lost a bit of wood, the resources that she made in her sleep are satisfying! Better only a bit of damage was done to the walls, that it didn''t even register as 1%. Sentry towers were too worth it!! She stretched and stood up, looking forward to meeting her new citizens. Chapter 77 - 77: Housewarming (Part 1) Aberdeen City, 16 years prior Little Althea looked around her new room in awe. It was very cute, even bigger than the dormitory room she shared with four other girls. It had pink walls, a large bed, a table so she could draw and study, and a play space with toys! So many toys!! She counted and there were fourteen stuffed toys. Fourteen! And ''mom'' and ''dad'', when they showed it to her earlier, told her she had it all for herself! She turned her little head to look up at the young Garan, who had been watching her reaction. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She grinned and her feet pattered in his direction, opening her arms to his arms. "Is it our new home?" She asked Garan, who embraced her back, who was feeling sad that it took her so long to find one. "Hmm¡­" he said after a while, "Yes. You can now eat all the delicious food you want until you''re full." He paused, apprehensive she''d eat too much and hurt herself. "As long as it''s healthy." He said, touching her tummy without baby fat, not like the other kids, and his heart broke, "Or else you''d have a tummy ache." "Okay!" She said, as she hugged him. She couldn''t help but notice how her feet felt the boards warm, unlike the cold tiles of the orphanage. "So warm¡­" Garan smiled. It was now in the middle of fall, and the weather had long gotten colder. They were just too used to the cold and adapted, that she didn''t realize the warmth sooner. "It''ll be warm, even in winter?" She lifted her head to look at him in awe, "We won''t get cold in winter anymore?" He smiled, a little heartbroken, and nodded. "Hmmm~" she mumbled, burying her little head in his arms. "How nice¡­" _____ Altera Village, present. As soon as they woke up, the residents of the house except Althea (who was still sleeping rather deeply) had been walking around their new house to see more of their new home. After all, it was already dark when they settled and they could barely appreciate a thing. The total floor area of each floor (combining the floor space of 2 modules) was about 240 square meters, not including the added verandahs and balconies strategically added outside certain fenestrations. Eugene explained that it was to maximize natural ventilation and shade. He even went on to the details (something like temperature siphoning et cetera) which more or less passed by their heads. However, he did look like he was really enjoying leading them on this little tour around the house. The coffee-skinned man was very much unlike his depressed self a few days prior, and it could be seen he really liked what he''s been doing for the territory. "I thought you were a mechanical engineer¡­" "I wanted to be an architect too, but I couldn''t draw very well¡­" Although they could use programs to draw now, there was something special about drawing free hand. In that aspect, Althea was far superior. He had seen her notebook of plants, and it was admirable. Harold just smiled and continued asking questions about the house, which Eugene gladly answered. The group tacitly decided to live together, though it was mostly because they hoped to take care of Althea. Their pregnant boss would be due soon after all, as constantly reminded by Sheila. If she didn''t remind them, everyone¡ªincluding the pregnant woman herself¡ªwould all forget. Anyway, the house was huge with several rooms per floor. They would just make sure to work well to help her out with whatever she needed so they wouldn''t feel like freeloaders. The interior of the house was mostly wood, though different types of it, adding liveliness to the design. The surface and open plan arrangement was pretty, quaint, and had a relaxing quality to it. They liked it very much. They left most of the first floor to Althea. She would have her own bedroom, a study, and another room as her workshop. One of the last rooms would temporarily be Eugene''s workshop while the remaining one was a storage space for their materials and inventions. The basement, on the other hand, would be the cellar where their food stocks were placed. As for the second floor, they decided to combine two rooms to create two dormitory rooms instead. Althea was so charming, who knew how many minions would willingly follow her. Sure, they could buy more houses, but people would definitely want to live as close as they could. Anyway, 4-bedroom dormitories with ample spaces wasn''t bad at all. Unlike the Boss, they were poor, weak-hearted people who wouldn''t want to live alone in a room after living in nightmare-ish worlds in succession. Who knew if they''d have nightmares in their sleep and never wake up? Having other people in the bedroom provided some comfort. Not to mention, this was a large dormitory and they had plenty of space for their own study, wardrobe, et cetera. Then they furtively walked outside and they saw the entirety of the house. The facade was mostly wood, and the fenestrations were also wooden slats, but there was notably a slab of translucent material attached. It was peach in color, and it allowed light to naturally come in while properly protecting privacy. "Capiz?" Harold mumbled, finding the material a bit familiar, as he had worked at an island restaurant before. Eugene nodded. "Not exactly, but very similar. However, it''s good enough for now since we don''t have glass" he said, "We also added it around some torches, to replace glass to some degree, even inside the house." They then moved forward to see more details around the structure. The columns were clad with darker-colored wood to accent the lines, making the structure appear even more stable. Another notable feature was the entire ground floor was made of stone walls. It was non-homogenous and had different visible aggregates of the stones used, adding quaintness to the entire thing. This was basically a wood-stone house, and it combined the warmth of wood with the sturdiness of stone. They found it to be very charming. Eugene explained that it was to deal with the currently unknown climate systems in this world. After all, they were completely unfamiliar with this world and its weather, so he and Althea designed for everything they could think of and research about. It was quite costly and complicated, but it was better safe than sorry. There was also the peace-of-mind it provided, which made all this already worth it. And indeed¡­, this early consideration would eventually save a lot of lives. Chapter 78 - 78: Housewarming (Part 2) "Very stable." Harold said and Eugene proudly added, "This stone wall would not only add stability, but also insulation." He said, "In addition, the wooden upper floors are light in case of earthquakes, in which case heavier upper floors may be much more dangerous than their alternatives." As for how they connected the two floors, various techniques were used like supporting posts and beams, corbelling, wall tie-ins, and the like. There were even flexible joints that would allow the structure to accommodate movements, even if it was just due to change in temperature and humidity. They shouldn''t relax because the current climate was temperate, they didn''t know what seasons there were in here. Generally stone was stronger, but it wasn''t ideal for earthquake-prone areas. Although The structural members were made with similar material to concrete, they didn''t want to risk it. There was also the variable of stronger gravity. For the concrete-like item, they replaced the rebars with a tensile fiber called Flou which was a byproduct from the Louj, the poisonous plant Boss found during one of her adventures. The boss was very talkative when it came to plants, and she rambled on and on about how she accidentally figured it out when she got poisoned before and almost got poisoned again with her experiments. Of course, this byproduct was no longer poisonous nor will it have any hazardous effect on the inhabitants. It was not like the concrete they knew, but it was close enough, for now. If they could find a stable source of lime, then naturally they would use it. The amount of things they could accomplish with legitimate concrete was immeasurable. Anyway, they had a river nearby, so it shouldn''t be too far in the future. On the other hand, for the windows, they used something called the Youli stone. It was amusingly dug up by Fufi when he was digging a hole to bury a bone. It was a stone that could be used like Capiz, which was a decent alternative to glass in their current situation. For now, it could be used instead of glass walls and windows adding translucency inside the house while retaining the necessary privacy of a home. It was also fire-resistant, allowing torches to be placed inside a house safely. Fortunately, Boss already had a rough concept in her mind, and studied materials, otherwise they wouldn''t have taken just half a day to design such a module. He and the boss had a long discussion and even had low-key arguments about them. These windows and other aspects of the house could also be covered appropriately in case winter came, though otherwise it worked better for tropical hot climates. The house had a harmonious blend of elegance and stability¡ªwith the solid structure on the ground anchoring everything to the ground, while the upper level seemed to float gracefully above it. The roofing also had large eaves to provide better protection for the ones below, and its corners a little curved to make it look lighter. The roofs were also made of tile-like things, which was amazing because there was no kiln. It was nothing like they''ve seen before, not in their century. It was quite lovely. Eugene actually underestimated the effect. Beauty and versatility were the primary reasons why their buildings would definitely have a unique look amongst other territories. This architectural style¡­ would be one of Altera''s defining features in the future. ¡­ Althea walked out her room and saw that the others (except for the children, who were still sleeping) had already set up the pot. Even if they had a house with a kitchen, because there wasn''t furniture they still had to eat as if they were in the wilderness, albeit much more comfortable. It was Sheila who felt pity for the beauty who had to sit on the floor. It was blasphemy to make their boss-fairy sit on the floor inside a perfectly good house! "If only there were a furniture store!" Harold nodded. They could pretty much handle themselves, but furnishings were really a must. "The kitchen is nice, but there''s no cooking tool." They still had to use the portable pots and grills in the end. "I would love some duvet, pillow, and the likes as well." Eugene mumbled beside them. Because he had no muscles below¡­ or legs, in general, the forces on his thigh could really strain him. Looking at her companions sighing at the same time, Althea also remembered that she only slept well because her sleeping bag was high quality. No matter what, it was weird to use a sleeping bag in your own bedroom. Thinking of this she decided to look into her Lord Tab to see if she could remotely control the village center and its other functions. Sure enough, upon clicking the logo a plethora of options lit up her screen. She clicked on the Village Center and a screen floated up in front of her, showing several buttons. One was an inquiry window, a purchase window, a missions window, and the announcement window. Clicking the announcement window, she saw a text box, as well as some options for ''voice'' and font. There was also the option of announcing only to residents, permanent and/or temporary, as well as an announcement to everyone in the territory. The latter, unsurprisingly, with added costs. Directly choosing ''robotic'' and the most standard font, she began to type out her first announcement. A minute later, every resident in the territory heard a ding in their ears. [Welcome to all residents! [In order to immediately revitalize the lifestyle and economy of the territory, the system has decided to place 3-month discounts to a set number of residents who wish to rent a commercial space. [Preferred stores are: food, beverages, furniture, tools, medicine stores. Please head to the Village Center for more information.] S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The others around the circle flinched, looked at each other, and then stared at Althea who they realized was probably behind the announcement. "Harold and Sheila, for cover, it''s best for you to appear in the Village center in the guise of applying to ''rent'' a commercial space." They nodded in understanding. Though they couldn''t help but ask, "System?" "Yes, I thought I can communicate with the citizens this way. It''s very convenient." "Can we hide that there''s a lord in the territory with this?" "Maybe. Everyone''s a newbie in this world. Who''s to say there aren''t ownerless territories?" They nodded in understanding, and looked forward to the new shops that would pop out of this, what new items would finally be available to them. How many restaurants, tool shops, would come out? But whatever it was, everyone looked at each other with glint in their eyes. They would carve out this home for themselves. Definitely. Chapter 79 - 79: First House Visit As they were eating their amply-seasoned breakfast noodles deliciously, they heard the scuffles upstairs and soon saw the little heads peeking down from upstairs. They looked adorable with their half-dazed eyes, poking their heads down, and trying to see what the adults were up to. Both Harold and Eugene stood up to take the children and guided them in the circle for breakfast. It was just that Theodore was a little big man and didn''t want to get carried anymore. After all, sister Maya was just a teeny bit older but she didn''t get carried around. Seeing him struggle, Eugene then let him down as soon as they got to the lowest step of the stairs. He immediately ran to where the center of ''activity'' was (food), and his feet pitter-pattered on his way there. It was just that as he ran to the pot he missed a step and tripped. Thud! "Oh, no, Theo!" Sheila exclaimed, and the adults quickly stood up to assist him. It was Eugene who got to him first, gently patting non-existent dust on his little pants, and patting his head to comfort him. There were tears lined up in his cute big eyes, but even if a few bits of tears fell, he did not make a sound. The sight itself was heartbreaking. Althea quickly lifted the little ball to her lap, gently wiping his tears. "You are so well-behaved. You don''t even cry." The mocha-colored child still hadn''t spoken after all this time. They mused that he may have been traumatized by his mother''s death to the point that he became a mute. She felt pity for the little boy, and her motherly heart softened to mush. It was around here that her own little balls got active and started kicking. Theodore felt it and he gaped at her stomach, tentatively touching the protruding stomach, which promptly moved again. His little mouth made a little ''o'' of wonder, and his sadness was quickly swept away. His big eyes filled with curiosity and glee as he stared at her stomach. It was adorable. "That''s your little sister and your little brother." She said, gently rubbing his copper-colored chubby cheeks. "They will come out to play with you very soon." Theodore opened his mouth as if wanting to say something, but he closed his mouth again just as quickly. Althea''s eyebrows rose, interested, but before she could ask there was a knock on the door. Everyone looked at each other in wonder. They had been alone for so long, it seemed like a door knocking felt¡­ strange?? They¡­ seemed to have a visitor? ¡­ When Harold opened the gate, what met him was the ingratiating smile of a plump man. It was still an acquanitance they just met the night prior. He seemed to be in his early thirties, and he was very much cleaned up, very different from what he looked like the night before (wherein he was grimy, slimy, haggard, and with a face full of snot and tears). Anyway, the man''s current smile was so wide that Harold was taken aback. "Hello. We have just mov¡ª" Then the man saw him and gaped. "BENEFACTOR!!" "Uh, hi?" "Good morning! I didn''t know you lived here, what a wonderful coincidence! I was just about to look for you!" "Ok¡­" "I was one of the people you rescued last night." He continued to baller, "Now that I see you, I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of the team." He then very graciously manifested 50 gold. Harold gaped, but he raised his hand in surrender, afraid that the gold would be handed over to him. "Uh¡­ this is too much. We really didn''t do much¡ª" "I insist¡ª" Baron smiled, grabbed his raised hand, and handed the money to him anyway. He tentatively looked behind Harold, hoping to see another face. "I also hope to give some to the woman who rescued me with you." "You mean Sheila?" Ah, Sheila, he mused dreamily. What a beautiful name. He didn''t know he was making a creepy face and Harold could not say anything without being rude, so the old man simply stayed silent. Some of his teammates behind him ''kindly'' poked his back to pull him back to the present. He turned to glare at them, but they pointed at the house owners in front instead. It was only here that Baron finally realized that he scared the other man and he extended his hand to introduce himself. He cleared his throat and gathered himself, like a gentleman. "My name is Baron Smith. I bought the house next door." "This is my cousins Angelo Smith and Jesse Pyue." He said, introducing the two young men beside him. "While we were walking along the¡­ neighborhood, to try and find you guys, in fact, we couldn''t help but be attracted by a fabulous scent." He said, with special emphasis on the word ''fabulous''. "I know it could be too much to ask, but can we perhaps buy a few bowls from you? I am willing to pay." He said and took out yet a couple more gold. Harold blinked but did not agree immediately. "I''ll ask my boss." He said, and ran inside after gently closing the gate. "Excuse me." Althea''s eyebrows raised at this. This was the guy who had the most gold next to her. While they really wouldn''t charge that much, it definitely wouldn''t be cheap. And yet, this guy was willing to buy a few bowls of noodles for so much gold? Golden Goose indeed. ¡­ Outside the fence, the trio waited for the response, eyes staying on the now-closed gate. They looked patient but their stomachs were already rumbling. In fact, it wasn''t that Baron was the stupid rich type. He himself was a businessman, and he was known to be a bit of a shrewd one. It was just that people who could eat well after so long and rent (or buy) a villa so soon must have abilities and was worth befriending. Not to mention that they lived next to each other, so their interactions was inevitable. And, of course¡ªmost importantly¡ªthey were also his team''s benefactors. Hence, a good relationship was a must. Also, perhaps they''ve been here longer than they did? They didn''t have the time to explore the previous night. Maybe this group had information they needed. Anyway, just as he had an intuition to purchase the two remaining farm villas, he had the intuition to befriend this neighbor of his. And he was very correct at this. In the future, he couldn''t help but worship the ''him'' at this moment! Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was a genius! Chapter 80 - 80: New Neighbor A few minutes passed by and Baron and the others could only study the surroundings while they waited. "Those are¡­ vines, right?" Angelo said, pointing at the stone fence. They turned to look at the two-meter high stone fence and the little sprouts that were already crawling up. It had already reached about half a meter up the fence. "They definitely got here a lot longer than we did, at least a full day." Jesse analyzed, "We could get information from them." Baron scoffed, puffing his chest. "Of course we can! But, as goodwill, we must also give gifts!" Their chatter was cut when the man from before got out of the house and opened the gate. "Come in." He said, "But we won''t charge so much, don''t worry. "My name is Harold, by the way." He said, chatting as they walked along the paved road to the main door. "Nice to meet you, Harold." Baron said a bit absent-mindedly. He looked at the paved road and the obvious provision for a future garden. He could confirm this team was here more than a bit earlier than they were. The fact that they could also prepare for designing the house also said a lot about their personalities and abilities. After all, it showed an amazing mental fortitude to already be thinking about lifestyle after everything that had happened. "Did you also arrive yesterday?" "Yes. We were attracted by the fireworks." Harold told him without any flaws. "But we were fortunate that we were very near the source. It took less than an hour to find the wall." "So lucky!" Baron said, "Did you encounter many people?" "Well." Harold nodded. Although they moved primarilt along the East gate, he knew there were a lot more people on the Southwestern side, so he could still say this with confidence. "There are denser housing arrangements from the other gate we went into." "Oh?" "Yes. Dormitories, I believe." Baron looked at his companions with raised eyebrows. "Interesting," He said, no doubt planning to visit these aforementioned dormitories very soon. It was at this time they reached the door and they entered the house. They saw a group of good-looking people surrounding an electric pot, which was currently exuding the most wonderful smell. The boys'' eyes stayed on the pot, while Baron''s gravitated immediately to the lovely Sheila, who was feeding an adorable little boy with mocha skin. Then he zoned in on another child¡ªa little girl¡ªand there also seemed to be a pregnant woman, too. He wasn''t able to see immediately as she was facing away from the door. This composition¡­ surprised him so much. This team was really something else to be able to protect such people conventionally believed to be ''dead weight''. More than anything, this required heavy skill and resources. No wonder they had the energy to rescue them. "Hello, Miss Sheila!" He exclaimed sitting next to the woman, who was taken aback by his booming voice. He cleared his throat and tried to be gentle, making his two companions choke on their own saliva. He sent them a glare before his annoyed face morphed to gentleness, facing the woman of his dreams. "I would like to give my rescuers a little gift." He said, manifesting another 50 gold. The girl stared at him but didn''t take it. "Please. This is what my whole team pooled together. We had to express our gratitude in some way. You saved our lives." He looked very sincere (he was!) and Sheila had no choice but to take his gratitude. "Well, okay, I''ll use this for the team." She said and Harold nodded. "Same with me." Having the tact not to discuss last night again in a short while, they sat down to the free space given to them around the pot. They gaped as Harold took out a few more packs of noodles from his space. "It''s amazing! You still have so much?" Jesse exclaimed, eyes sparkling with hunger. Harold instinctively leaned back to maintain his personal space. "It''s all right. When we got here we mostly ate local materials." Baron, despite the constant enamoured looks he sent to Sheila, was still sharp enough to hear important information. "Local materials? Like ,onster meat and plants?" "Yes." Jesse made a face, seeming to remember something in the recent past, "Monster meats are so hard and tangy!" "I have a pressure cooker." Harold said with a shrug, and couldn''t help adding: "It''s solar powered." "Fuuudge¨C what? Why?" Who would bring a pressure cooker during the apocalypse?! "I''m fond of cooking." Harold said, as a matter of factly. The group looked at him strangely. Was this the legendary hardcore cooks are hardcore? And more importantly¡ª "And how''d you know which plant is poisonous?" Baron asked. How many of their initial companions fell because of eating something questionable, he couldn''t count. Harold smiled proudly and turned his head in a direction. "Boss here specializes in plants." The men followed his sights and froze, gaping at the beauty. Althea had been facing away from them so they couldn''t see her clearly. Looking at them staring stupidly, Harold frowned. "How rude." The men were pulled out of their trance and stared at both Harold and Althea with eager stares. "Can¡­ you teach us?" Baron paused. "To determine which plants could be eaten, that is." How many people they saw died of eating the wrong thing, and how they starved because they didn''t dare eat randomly¡­ Althea looked at them in interest. In fact, within the territory, no intrinsically poisonous item remained. Magically, when the territory was built all these plants were moved outside the territory (which also meant there would be more poisonous plant per square meter right outside the territory than it was before). Althea smiled, patting her stomach, she nodded in agreement. "Well, within the territory I can show you which ones are edible. I will show you when I have the time." Anyway, the residents would be allowed to take a set amount of resources per person, enough for them to survive. This made their eyes brighten and they looked at her like a goddess. They didn''t take away their sight until the irresistible sight and aroma of the food went directly under their noses. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Harold didn''t want Boss Althea to feel uncomfortable with the stares of strangers, so he hurriedly handed the bowls of instant noodles to the three newcomers. Looking at the delicacy, their stomachs churned in greed. "AHHHH! FINALLY!" No one spoke again after this, and they all ate to their heart''s content. She earned a full 30 gold coins from this meal alone. Althea chuckled. Golden goose, indeed. Chapter 81 - 81: Village Center (Part 1) Baron stared at the now-empty pot with regret, and it was only now that he had the mind to return to the previous topic. "You''ve been to the other side of this place." He asked, "Then do you know where the Village center is?" The others looked at him with interest, Baron continued speaking. "Other than looking for you guys, we were also walking around, determining where it is after we saw the announcement. "My cousin is an engineer, but she didn''t really practice much. "Her hobby was mostly carpentry, she auctioned off a number of special resin tables and carved furniture." Baron sold his cousin proudly like it was all his achievements. "She''s living in the other house though, she was injured a bit during our final run before arrows from the towers killed the monsters chasing us..." Sheila, Harold, and the others nodded. They remembered this person. She was very strong, standing tall even when her body was gushing with blood. Fortunately, Sheila was a nurse and always had homeostatic medicine in her space, so she survived. "I''m a businessman. I pretty much loved money my whole life. "Since we are here, I hope to see the opportunities here and still live well with my loved ones." Harold looked at Althea, who nodded in response. As such, the old man continued to be the spokesperson of the team. "We were actually thinking of renting a few stores ourselves." Baron''s eyes brightened, eyes zoning on Sheila, who cringed. "Shall we go together then?" He asked with a weird smile. More time to bond with his angel! ¡­ As they walked along the large pathway, they couldn''t help but admire the surroundings. Because of the lack of development and population, there was little difference outside and inside the wall. For the most part, it was all forests. However, the main difference was that there were large carriageways and sidewalks with trees in between them. This pathwalk, framed by the tree canopies and plants, actually made for a visual treat. Speaking of beauty, the young men couldn''t help but steal a glance at a certain pregnant woman. To their surprise, they saw Althea was clicking on the air. They couldn''t help but ask, "What are you doing?" S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I''m arranging my space." Althea lied without blinking, and the two men shrugged, believing her. What Althea was actually doing was setting up the Village Center before they got there. Ignoring other people''s gazes, she continued to manipulate the window as she walked. The Village Center window had a total of a number of five tabs available for use. First was the Inquiry Window, where people could gather some information for a price. Next, a Purchase Window, where people could sell certain items to the territory. Then, there was the Missions window, where missions set by the territory or others could be seen and set. There was the Announcement window, which would serve as her bulletin board to list down announcements that she had made. This was followed by a Properties window, probably related to the rental and purchase of different buildings. And finally, for the Inquiry window, it would serve as the FAQ page on web pages. This would be blank for now, and she will be publicizing several rules she set before at the same time. People could also post their own inquiries to be answered by the public. She set the price for 1 silver coin. She was also planning on taking advantage of a loophole and allowing people to sell information here as well. The Purchase window was the most important to her at the moment. At Level 1, she could only set purchases for 3 items: wood, stone, and a free slot for something else. Based on the approximate productivity of weaker people, as well as the valuation of buildings that used the resources, she had decided on buying 1 unit of stone for 10 copper coins, and wood for 5. As for the final slot for purchase, she decided to make it vague to try a loophole and decided on ''plant items''. She smiled when it got approved and set it for 1 handful or a piece of plant for 0.1 to 1 copper coin. Because the plants within the territory were protected, this meant that the people had to go outside for this. She fairly placed a much higher price per volume compared to the other two because of this. Adding up, the buying price for this would be a bit bigger than the others, which wasn''t a bad deal for people who had no idea what the use of the plants was. There would also be lucky purchases, in which case she would really earn money. Her stomach was simply too big now with the occasional contractions, she really couldn''t bear to squat down for long periods of time anymore. As for the final Property tabs, she simply inputted the previous pricing she had decided. That was: 1 detached house (1/10) set rented for 200 copper a day, purchased for 50 gold. Duplex Houses (2/10) rented at 100 copper per day, and sold for 30 gold. The dorm type bed spaces (32/240) was 1 copper per day. Farm villas (3/3) would be rented for 5 silver or 500 copper a day and bought for 100 gold. For commercial (0/10), the cost was only a bit higher than the detached houses for rent, because the only difference was the additional customization. The mixed-use buildings were rented or bought on a per-unit basis. That was to say, if they hoped to own the commercial spot, they''d also have to buy the unit above. As a benefit of contributing to the economy, she set the rental price at almost the same price as a detached house. She nodded. This was fair. She got her gold in various multiples of investment and the buyers¡­ would be buying a comfortable life. Very fair, indeed. As for purchasing the commercial unit though, because they were prime spaces, she couldn''t bear to set the same price. So she set it to quite a bit more residential units, at 80 gold. She believed in her territory. Anyone who invested in real estate in her land¡­ would definitely profit from it. This was her promise. Chapter 82 - 82: Village Center (Part 2) The custom building used for commercial purposes was especially interesting, primarily because of the inherent flexibility she could use it with. Except for the requirement that a unit must have at least one room to be used as a residence (a limitation to her custom building), everything else would be entirely up to them. They could choose whether to use a floor, or the whole building, or even just a room, for business. In fact, she had already seen something like this, where they chose to designate a single room adjacent to the street. People would just go to this ''take out window'' and go on their way. Everything was all done very easily too. One option was for the citizens to just go to the building they hoped to use (assuming it was unowned) and the window for rental or purchase will appear. The advantage of settling in the village center was the distribution map was visible, as well as the option to do minor customizations (for a small cost, of course). Anyway, none of these considerations were heard by the other people. They were chattering about their experiences before reaching the territory. It took about half an hour of leisure walking, until they finally reached the center of the village. The Village Center was about 5 meters in height and had similar style to the residential buildings. It was surrounded by a large open space with sparse trees. Behind it was a simpler building, and similarly large in area. They saw there were also a few more people heading inside, and the group followed them in. Unlike the houses that had a homely feel to it, the design of the Village Center was a bit more sophisticated. There were cornices and accent walls, there were moldings that lined the edges and corners. It had an open plan and high ceilings, and there was a huge chandelier-like feature in the middle, made of Youli stone and some other shiny/reflective stones they managed to get in small quantities. There was no electricity but there was a ''skylight'' above that transmitted lighting¡ªwhether it was the sun or the two moons¡ªto the fixture, making it glow. At night, a torch could be safely lit in these areas, as the youli stone was fire retardant and would not get burned. If she could find good oil, she could also extend the lighting hours of these torches, which would allow for some degree of nightlife in the territory. But all these were things for the future, not today. Back to the Village Center, the group continued to study the new building type. On the floor there was no counter, only elevated marble surfaces that occupied a third of the space. As well as panels about the size of a door lined up facing opposite each other. The marble surfaces were 1 meter diameter white surfaces at the height of cocktail tables equidistant to each other. While the panels were of the same material but were standing upright. A few of the surfaces were already occupied by people. "There''re updates! New windows had opened! They buy 1 unit of wood for 5 copper!" One of the people from before yelled as he stood in front of one of the tables. "How much could we earn a day?" "Let''s try it out then!" "What if we cut trees? How much wood would that give?" This made Althea frown, forgetting about this issue. Althea then made a mental note to publicize one of her rules: cutting trees in her territory is forbidden unless expressly allowed by the territory. Also, when cutting trees outside, they shall also plant at least 3 seedlings in replacement. Although Terran had somewhat recovered a bit from the destruction of nature of their predecessors, the damage had been done and too much had been lost. As a plant enthusiast, she was determined for sustainable development. More people sold some twigs and plants and others. Some were accepted, some were not. Someone even tried to sell a random item from the space, it was a wrapper. His stance was hopeful, but his shoulder slumped a moment later. "Aw, not accepted. Only a sufficient amount of wood, stone, and plants were accepted." Someone tried to sell a random fruit peel and fruit cores. "Got accepted! I only earned 0.3 copper." "Why do you have that?" "I was afraid the smell of what I ate would attract monsters or something." Althea actually allowed ''trash'' like this to be sold, because as a plant expert she knew every part of a plant had its use. She may even get unexpected seeds from this. While she''d be throwing many of these to compost pits in the end, it would be a pity to miss a few good ones that might actually appear. "Well you earned from recycling." The friends laughed and amused many of the people around. Soon, the people started occupying the free panels. Seeing this activity, their party was eager to join in. They separated and went to separate surfaces, some in front of the marble, while she and a few others on the upright panels. [Welcome to the Village Center! Announcements Inquiries Properties Rentals Purchasing Missions ] Althea watched as the people used the panels on their own, without the system bothering her at all. She nodded in relief. It seemed that this building could function on its own, as long as she set it up properly. She studied the panel and mused about some improvements. At the same time, she also received various notifications. [Received! 100 copper!] [Received! 1 copper!] [Received! 1 copper!] [Received! 200 copper!] While nice at first, she couldn''t imagine what it would be like when there were more people, or if she heard these dings inside her head all day long. Fortunately, even notification settings could be personalized. She decided to place a threshold for notifications, a minimum of 10 gold transactions, and delay notifications at night. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Received! 30 gold!] [Received! 50 gold!] [Received! 50 gold!] Althea smiled brightly. People had definitely started purchasing properties. Sure enough, Real Estate was the Best. Chapter 83 - 83: Newcomers More and more people dealt with real estate, and Baron was rushing to get hands on it. "Got it!" He yelled as he bought another property. "Why is there a purchase limit for the commercial areas though?" Angelo looked over his panel and pointed at a text. "Didn''t you see the number? There''s only ten at most per building type." "Eyyy¡­" Baron mumbled, disappointed. However, this wasn''t bad, as he shouldn''t be putting all his eggs in one basket, anyway. "Anyway, 3 months is waived, I will start my business now!" More and more people arrived at the Village Center and more and more pings and cha-chings sounded in her ears. She frowned, as much as she liked the sound, it was much too distracting. She changed the notifications and now allowed for money-related things 50 gold or above. As she perused the panel, she saw that Sheila and Harold had bought one commercial building each using Baron''s payment. This was because she had insisted for them to keep the reward, as they deserved it, and she would just receive the profit sharing she deserved. In less than 10 minutes, all ten commercial spaces have either been bought or rented out. She pondered whether to build a few more but stopped herself, recalling the pitiful state of her stocked resource. As a hoarder, she could not stomach emptying her stocks. Her rule of thumb was that at least a third of the maximum capacity was maintained. So she decided to replenish her resources first before anything else. Anyway, the accommodation was just enough to serve hundreds of people. Speaking of which¡­, when were the other people coming? ¡­ A few kilometers away from Altera. The ones who ran after the fireworks the previous night were actually the minority. Most people who had seen the fireworks the previous night simply couldn''t go out because of the darkness. After all, how many people managed to bring flashlights or similar tools to their space? However, they made sure to take note of the direction and headed there at daybreak. Mathilda''s party was among these people. Mathilda habitually placed her palms over each other, hovering just above her stomach. Her sharp black eyes looked at her companions, studying if there was more to prepare. There were two dozen of them remaining from the original hundred, and they came from three different cities in Terran. When everyone had packed up and prepared, they looked at Mathilda, waiting for her instructions. "Go." As such, the group began moving towards a direction. Even if she was one of the oldest and weakest in the group, as a retired-but-acclaimed politician, everyone still respected her. Not to mention she had saved a lot of lives with her planning and strategies. This gave her a lot of leverage and respect. The group trekked for several minutes, makeshift weapons out and ready to fight. They knew that there had never been an hour wherein their big group hadn''t encountered a few monsters. Sure enough, about half an hour later, a small mob of about 20 monsters appeared, attracted by their scents. But they were a relatively solid group and, while they were still afraid and chilled, no one broke formation and panicked. They had faith in their leaders. The person who lead the team''s forces and fights was a man called Drake, a young man with well-toned shape, dashing aura, and relatively good looks. He was also another reason why Mathilda held the position of power: Drake, as her bodyguard, followed her orders to the tee. "Fight!" He yelled as soon as one monster made a move. He led the team to fight, swinging his machete cleanly and accurately. Similarly, the others quickly mobilized at the sound, forming their predetermined teams to deal with the monsters. Drake used a tree as catapult, propelling his body towards the obvious leader of the mob. He used a skill learned¡ªParry (Lv1)---to hit its neck, making it angry. With this attack, a lot of the aggressiveness was directed to Drake, as they planned. The monster the size of his chest roared and its heavy feet moved towards him, creating small vibrations on the ground nearby. He used his skills repeatedly to deal with the monster, his accuracy for its weak spots increasing with every hit. Eventually, it fell and the rest of the mobs were markedly easier to deal with. It was very thrilling and there were many injuries but there were no casualties. In fact, half of the monsters were dealt with by one person, with him rescuing people as needed. In terms of protection, it could be said that Drake was the anchor of the group. And as someone he followed, Mathilda was the owner of this anchor. Drake was in the middle of level 4 now, way ahead of the others. He was a veteran who was unfortunately injured and was disqualified from service. Of course, his former special forces team fought for benefits and they won it for him. Unfortunately, Drake was not only taken away from the job he liked, he could longer take normal jobs as well. It was just that the improved physiques after the apocalypse helped him ignore his shortcomings. They rested for a while, treating their wounds, and consuming little food that they had left. Fortunately, they had already determined a couple of edible plants in the vicinity so no one starved to death. There was also a botany student who had some idea of how to determine which was poisonous. He wasn''t always accurate, but he definitely saved a few lives. They had also managed to find water in a creek a day prior, thanks to Drake''s mountaineering experience, though they had to disinfect it several times to be safe. After resting, the group continued on their way across the difficult terrain, crossing the hills and dense undergrowth. It was very tedious, taking them hours to reach a place that could be walked for less than an hour on foot, on flat land. The next leg of the journey to the fireworks was relatively uneventful, except for the monster hoards that attack them every so often. But with Drake''s leadership, no one was sacrificed. When they finally saw the walls their legs almost gave out in relief. They almost ran to find the closest gate and, seeing it was open, immediately ran in. [You have arrived at Altera Village, welcome!] S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They almost cried at the notifications, and they looked eagerly at the announcements that followed. "The entry is only 5 copper." One said, paying without thinking, and everyone else did the same. Excited, they entered the gate filled with hope, to finally see civilization, finally eat well, maybe even bathe¡­ Maybe they could even see brethren, maybe see their families and friends. It was just that, inside the majestic walls were¡­ endless forests? Chapter 84 - 84: Mathilda Well, not exactly. After getting over the sight, they realized there was a really wide paved road in front of them. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were about 6 lanes divided in half by trees and landscaping. There were even a few meters of elevated sidewalks on the sides, also lined with trees. Although there were no cars, they walked out of the carriageway and started walking along the colored sidewalk. It was odd to see such wide avenues in the middle of the forest, but it was a human construction and it was enough. After all, a pathwalk must lead to somewhere, right? ¡­Right? Anyway, it took them about ten minutes of hopeful walking before they could finally see buildings. And they finally felt their hearts get in place. ¡­ At this time, Althea was looking at the screen as she saw something interesting. She saw a new person in the population page, with the former job indicating politician in green font. Mathilda Kruz. Among the scores of people in the territory, except for her, only 2 people had the green font. One of whom was Eugene, and the other was a forty-year-old man named Cooke with the talent for cooking. This man had been one of the people who bought a commercial space, likely to be used as a restaurant. It could be said that people with green fonts represent the Pinnacle of their professions. Thinking of it this way, poor Eugene really lived miserably for someone with such achievements. More importantly, she also knew this person. The retired minister of foreign affairs. Famous for her feat in the Yuta Country next to their Eden country. Due to centuries of exploitation the planet''s natural resources had been used up. When a mineral resource was found between the borders, war almost broke out. Mathilda went and stopped it, even winning their country very good terms. She also knew Mathilda personally. She could be loosely considered a familial elder of hers. They had met through her youngest son, Gill, her husband''s right-hand man, and they had met several times in events and official parties. They had only gotten close from there. It was very amusing how a tactless guy with such poisonous mouth came out of a famous diplomat''s stomach. She added two more farm villas, and 4 more duplex residential units, to comfortably accommodate the newcomers. "I heard there are newcomers? Shall we take a look?" Sheila said, looking gossipy. Althea nodded and followed the girl out of the village center, with Harold and Eugene following closely behind them. They stood at the square and watched the scores of newcomers appear in their sights with various emotions, especially when they saw people with aura among them. "That firework was a very good idea, Eugene." Althea said to Eugene, who sheepishly rubbed his curly hair in embarassment. "I would love to make contributions, boss." Seeing him shy, Sheila couldn''t help but giggle at him. She looked at Althea, "Boss, if your compliments could be currency." This made Althea think. Contributions, eh¡­ "Althea?" A woman from the crowd called, breaking their conversation. At this voice, Althea wordlessly walked forward to meet them. Althea smiled as she approached, her poise calm and collected, but the brightness in her eyes betrayed her excitement. "Auntie." She paused and looked beside her. "Drake." The man blushed in embarrassment and Mathilda looked at them in amusement, knowing the usually brave young man''s weakness towards women. She then stepped forward and held her hand. She then turned to her companions, "Get settled first. I will find you." The people looked at each other and then to Drake, who looked at the younger girl in embarrassment. Althea smiled pointing at the village center''s door. "Just go inside, you''ll be able to rent or purchase a place of stay." "Thank you¡­" he said, and the others followed her, though not before stealing glances of the beautiful Althea. "I''m sorry for the impoliteness," Mathilda said as her sharp eyes watched her team enter the building. "Would you like to stay with me temporarily? We have a lot to talk about." "We sure do." She paused, giving her a vague look. "Altera... Althea .." she voiced out to no one in particular, Althea only smiled as if it had nothing to do with her. "Well, I seem to have a destiny with this territory." Mathilda just smiled and nodded. Althea looked at the older woman with a similar smile. If there were others watching them, they''d just be very confused. Hey, just like old times. ¡­ Although there was no furniture, it was still much more comfortable than in the open sun. There were also hotel pillows to sit on. Behind closed doors, Mathilda let go of her intimidating aura, finally relaxing. She held Althea''s hand as soon as she sat next to her. Her strict unapproachable aura softened considerably, turning to a mother hen. "How are you, child?" She asked, and looked at her protruding belly. Her eyebrows furrowed and she frowned, looking heartbroken, "How wronged you are... "You must''ve suffered greatly the past few days." Althea shook her head and smiled, comforting. "I''m fine auntie. I was in the villa area when it happened¡­I''m very well now. The territory is fine." Speaking of the territory, Mathilda''s worry eased and she looked at her with a smile. "Hmm, I agree¡­ you built it well." "..." Althea touched her nose, a bit shy. "Don''t worry your secret is safe with me." The old woman just said, looking melancholic. "It''s good to hide this power, people tend to blame those in power when they''re accessible. Then, as if recalling painful memories, Mathilda heaved a sigh. "If only Garan and Gill were here¡­" the old woman''s voice cracked when she mentioned her son''s name. "You wouldn''t have had to take this burden in your condition." This time it was Althea who held the other''s hand. Mathilda had been the strongest voice in finding the soldiers, the reason she retired was because she couldn''t handle the pain of losing her son. Althea thought for a while before saying anything, and decided to tell her her intuition regardless. "I feel they should be here." She told her., "My gut tells me he is closer to me than the past few months." Since she got here, she had occasional dreams. She never remembered any of them, but the feeling after she woke up was similar to the feeling of comfort when she was with her husband. Mathilda''s furrowed eyebrows stretched to one of surprise, and she looked at Althea hopefully. The younger woman just wrapped her arms around the older woman. "Gill will be fine; They both will." Mathilda embraced the young woman. "I believe so, too." Chapter 85 - 85: Inquiries Rolan Mercenaries Headquarters, Twinwave Town In the midst of a mountain range, rolling hills, and dense forests, laid a prosperous large town. It was a town that took advantage of its position in rough terrain and its proximity to various cities and towns. It had direct economic connections to nine villages, three towns, and a city, because one had to pass through this town to get to anywhere of these territories. It had relatively wide roads of about 5 meters each lane, with people and carriages abound chatting and creating a cacophony of noises that characterized a lively population. Walking along these streets, one would appreciate the overall appearance of the town. The buildings were in the continent''s usual construction of wood, of typical post-and-beam construction, but each one had differences hand-customized by the residents, showing signs of life and differing personalities. The largest building was the five story Town center and the rest of the buildings leading to it were two-storey houses, serving as its willing foil. There were, of course, a few sets of buildings larger in size than the others, and these were all purchases by large organizations. At the moment, a certain Terran was completing a deal inside one. "Here, 340 gold." Bart handed the bag to Garan with a smile. Garan took the gold with a light attitude. "Thanks." He paused, separating a third of the amount, and handed them back. "If you have any more missions, or information about that matter¡­" Bart smiled and took the bribe. "Yes, we''re contacting our teams that came back from more distant territories, perhaps they have news." "Thank you." Garan stood up and left, leaving the mercenary team''s headquarters to meet his team at the inn. He temporarily placed the money in his space, planning on how much they needed to keep. This amount of gold could actually let the entire team live well for a month or two in a small town. However, the cost of travel and payment of informants weren''t cheap¨Cone channel, Bart, already took a bulk of two week''s income¡ªso even after earning good money, they had to live very frugally. Of course, except for a few, no one complained. After all, they all want to go home. However, an occasional treat was still okay. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He called the team to eat out, surprising them to no end. Garan and the team went to the town''s advanced restaurant nearby. It offered one of the rare decent meals this place offered¡ªGrilled Masdeer, some sort of mutton that was marinated in a secret sauce. It was nothing special compared to their Terran dishes, but it was one of the edible offerings this place had. He also chose two other dishes to complement. His team brightened up at the sight of food delivered. "Thanks boss!!" The youngest, Luis, expressed in glee as he stared at the sumptuous meals in front of him. How long did he have three plates to choose from? Gill rolled his eyes but gracefully ate the food. Tsk, couldn''t compare to the Captain''s or any of Terran dishes at all¡­ but the boss was rarely generous so he shall enjoy it nevertheless. Garan nodded and ate his meal, also appreciating the rare treat. His wife always told him to balance things, not only focused on work but also add a bit of break and graciousness. Not only for him, but also for the morale of the team. Looking at the team lively around the table, Garan smiled to himself. As always, his wife was always right. ¡­ About an hour later, the satisfied team went back to the temporary home base. This temporary house was a dwelling they rented a few weeks prior. After settling down, Garan called them so they could start planning on the budgeting of the items again, like a proper democracy. "We keep 200 gold as living expenses this month." A small town typically needed 10 gold per person a month to somehow live like a human being. They just required this amount for themselves. The twenty of them were sharing a 100 sqm room, with the only girl living with other aboriginal girls next door. The remaining would be sent, as always, to the Mercenary Union for information. A few foreign soldiers frowned a bit displeased about the amount they''d be keeping. No one complained. After all, everyone wanted to go home. And there was also the fact that they personally earn just enough for themselves. The money invested for information was mostly the Captain''s money, and they were just freeloading. However, everyone did make a point to share those moments when they started making money and sharing it with a colleague.. ¡­ The next day, Garan and Gill went to the Mercenary Union. It was a three storey building made of stone, and it had a large door about 3 meters. They walked to the counter to see a bulky man with a bushy beard. "Jones. Any news on odd phenomenons the past few months?" Gill asked, "Like, say, space distortions?" Jones took the money. "Well, there''s no space distortions but there really was something odd." He paused, and stopped talking. Garan, on cue, added a few more gold. "A beast tide occurred a few days back and several unconnected territories were hit." The man said, and stopped indifferently. "That''s all we know for now. They have just finished dealing with most of the swarm, and now several forces are still investigating the cause of it at the moment." Garan and Gill shared a look, wondering if this was truly all the could get from this trip. However, from his peripheral vision, Garan couldn''t help but notice the old slave wiping the floor vigorously a few meters away. If he remembered correctly, this person was twice as far from him a few seconds prior. The man lifted his head, meeting his eyes. The two shared a flash of communication making Garan pause, understanding this man wanted to tell him something. Although the man''s eyes were lifeless and devoid of hope, there was still a hint of confidence. . . It was as if he really had something to offer. And Garan always trusted his guts. Chapter 86 - 86: Clue to Althea Garan did not call him out immediately, however, simply because¡ªjudging by the special mineral cuff on his neck¡ªGaran knew this person was a slave. It wasn''t that he wanted to discriminate¡ªthat was something very rare to see in his time back in Terran. It was just that the slaves in this world had a really low position. They had such a low status; they were barely even considered humans. It was the type made to eat pig food and sleep on grass on a daily basis. Interacting excessively with a slave you didn''t own could get them noticed. And not in a good way. After hesitating for a moment, he turned his head to Jones. Pointing at the cleaner, he said, "He looks very good at cleaning. There''re a lot of shoes at home that are in need of major care." Garan looked indifferently at the man behind the counter, furtively giving a handful of silver, but seeming like he wouldn''t really care if he couldn''t borrow the slave. The man stared at him for a second and took the money without looking at it. "Get him back before closing time." "Got it." He said and took the man¡ªwho they now realized lacked an arm¡ªback to the rented house. ¡­. "Tell me what you want to say," Garan asked as he sat in their small living area. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this time, most of the team were out for tasks, and only a few people other than Gill were in the house with him. This included the youngest Luis as well as the narrow-eyed Mao. As the slave sat still, Garan couldn''t help but notice something different. For instance, the locals were inherently taller but the proportions were the same, unlike with this man. This man was definitely human, but there were slight variations. For example, he had very pudgy fingers for his body type, he had an abnormally long neck. He also seemed to have a larger and bulkier upper body, to the point of disproportion. The most noticeable feature was probably the slightly blue tint to him, though it could also be he was just very pale and lacked melanin. These differences weren''t big, but they were there. If noticed, however, most people would just assume he had a very odd body type. Similarly, the aborigines also came in different skin tones and body builds, otherwise his team''s variety of color would''ve gathered excessive attention. In terms of appearance, except for the size, they were basically identical to the indigenous humans here. The man was silent for a while before looking at each of them one by one, similarly observing. No one spoke for a moment until the slave spoke out, "You''re not from this continent." It was a statement. Everyone''s backs straightened and they looked at him warily. A few even had a weapon at arm''s length. "How''d you know?" They asked, guarded. Although most aborigines knew they weren''t from anywhere nearby, it was never assumed that they were not ''of this world'' at all. This made them look at this man with a little hostility, and a boat-loads of guardedness. The man, however, did not flinch under their stares. He simply paused and closed his eyes, as if recalling thousands of painful memories. "I know because you weren''t the only ones." He said, "Because 20 years ago, I had been asking the same things you are." . . . "What?" It was Gill who talked this time. The man''s eyebrows furrowed and clenched his fists, obviously images of a distant, painful, past passed by his head. "I mean this wasn''t the first time people from other places got transferred here. "There was a whole civilization that was transferred twenty years ago, and there was one probably a hundred years prior." Garan couldn''t help but lean closer. "Is there a way back?" The man shook his head. "Even if there was, you would find nothing." A horrible foreboding filled up their souls. Garan closed his eyes to calm himself, heaving a sigh, he looked at the old man. However, by habit, he couldn''t help question the authenticity of everything first. "How come only you could tell us about it?" The old man looked at him deeply. "There are a lot of people who know. It''s just that they''re either slaves or way up high the ladder." Gill and Garan looked at each other with deeply tense stances. "Can you tell us what happened to these¡­ civilizations?" He said, baritone voice shaking imperceptibly. "Tell me about how you got here." The slave said, and Gill told him about their story. "The very reason odd space fluctuations occurred was because a galaxy was about to end." He said, "In my planet, these space fluctuations made a mess of the planet''s terrain, making the already ongoing disasters even worse." "Our planet suffered a catastrophe, supposedly got lucky, and survivors were transferred here to get a last chance of life." The man uttered out the last sentence in sarcasm. "Of course, they were brought somewhere that still killed them off, regardless." He paused and looked Garan in the eye. "I wouldn''t be surprised if it just happened again." He told them, almost with certainty. Garan was silent, trying to keep himself calm, his hands clenching each other. Gill heaved a sigh and turned to the man, wanting to ask more, "You mean our people¡­" "The people from your home¡ªif they survived, that is¡ªthey are most likely already here." ____ CHARACTER INTERACTION CORNER: Garan: *Stares* Where''s my wife? Author: She''s fine. Just answer their questions! Garan: What questions? Author: *Sigh* Uhmm¡­ What''s your favorite color? Why? Garan: Emerald. They remind me of my wife''s eyes. Author: Okayyy¡­ what''s your hobby? Garan: Cooking, so I can cook good food for my wife. Author: Err¡­ what''s your favorite part of the day? Garan: Bedtime, so my wife and I can¡ª Author: Stop! This story is rated PG! Garan: ¡ªcuddle and chat about our day. Author: ¡­ *Stares awkwardly at the audience* Wellll¡­. You can just ask him what you want. Can''t guarantee he''ll answer well tho! Chapter 87 - 87: Realization "The people from your home¡ªif they survived, that is¡ª are most likely already here." If this was true¡­ Garan and the rest couldn''t help but recall what they experienced when they first arrived. Being surrounded strong monsters they couldn''t do anything about¡ªmonsters they could only run from¡ªaffected their psyche quite early on. The dangers and horrors they had to go through broke a lot of tough soldiers. How many people had died and how many people lost a part of themselves, they could no longer quantify. And these were all soldiers who had undergone strict trainings and had seen a lot of blood. None of them could imagine what their families had to suffer if they really were transferred here. Garan''s blood turned cold just thinking of those damned monsters chasing his wife. Strong fire blazed inside of him and he wanted to jump outside and kill all those damned monsters that could threaten her safety. "That is all I could tell you." The old man said, pulling them all out of their daze, and he just stayed seated in place. Garan heaved a sigh, forcing himself to calm, and looked at him with deep eyes. "You know more." He said, a statement. "What do you need?" "Buy me." "What?" "Let me join your group." The old man repeated, his eyes unlike the lifeless ones he adorned while mopping the floor. His eyes were absolutely determined. ¡­ An hour later, they brought the old man back to their dwelling with a sigh. They lost 50 gold, just like that. Garan massaged his temple as they walked back to their cramped living room. The man did not sit down, as always, by habit, as a normal slave did. Garan did not ask him to be casual either. He simply raised his hand and gestured for the older man to speak. "Continue." The man nodded and unconsciously patted his empty sleeve. "My name is Gaudi. My planet is¡ªwas¡ªcalled Nova. It was water planet consisting of 90% water, back when it still existed." This made Garan and his team pause, and they realized the previous transfer apparently had involved him on a deeper level than they expected. It also explained, to some degree, his odd body structure. Garan mused he must have very strong lungs to be around water his whole life. "Before everything, our planet was already facing extinction-level catastrophes for a decade until only a fraction of the population was left." S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He could still remember the events like it was yesterday. He was still a young lad at the time, but the terror and hopelessness he experienced was ingrained in his bones. There were various natural disasters that happened every single day, not one day was missed. Sometimes, it was tremors that destroyed mountains. Sometimes, it was volcano eruptions that spewed poisonous ashes everywhere. It could also be tsunamis that destroyed everything in its path. Every day, humans kept being reminded of how small they were in the grand scheme of things. "After a few years, things even got worse¡ªas I mention, we later found out to be the space distortions¡ªand we lost half of the remaining population within a course of a week." "Then, we all got these sounds inside our heads, each and every one of us. It informed us of an imminent transfer to a ''new world''." He remembered how people celebrated this news. Anything was better compared to the perilous world they lived in. "A few hours later, we found ourselves here, being mobbed by a new set of monsters." "Our people lived predominantly in waters, with our planet made of islands that slowly sank down as the catastrophes happened." He said, "We were already inferior in strength and we were taken to a deeper disadvantage due to the terrain." "About half of the survivors died in a single day, and it was still in the so-called ''Protection Period''." This captured the soldiers'' apt attention. "Protection Period?" Gaudi nodded. "Every transfer there is a protection period, and will be open to the rest of the world after this time." "That was when the real tragedy started." He closed his eyes, sighing deeply, body shaking a little at the memories, surprisingly still so vivid in his mind. "Not only were the monsters suddenly so much stronger, but we were faced with a new unexpected enemy: Humans. "I remembered the first aborigine we encountered. "We somehow knew the language spoken, as if a translator was installed in our heads." He said, and the others nodded. They, too, had a similar ''skill'' of immediately understanding spoken language. "We were apprehensive, of course, but more hopeful." Gaudi continued, "In our world where nature itself was the enemy, there was barely any serious infighting. To survive, everyone had to unite. "In our naive, foolish, minds¡­ people with similar appearances were allies¡­" He shook his head, as if remembering their silly appearances. "Very soon, we understood this was not the case. Many times, people were even harsher enemies than monsters." "We quickly found out how lowly they thought of us ''weaklings'', and they made sure to let us feel our shortcomings. "They also blamed us for the beast tide that attacked the surrounding territories because of our appearance." Gaudi had begun to sob at this point, hand covering his eyes, but the rest could see the possible parallelism of his history to theirs. "The people of my planet did not last a year. Thousands of territories perished months after the protection period ended." "Now, we are either dead or slaves. For twenty years I have not heard of an exception." "The irony was our existence had been so small that probably a few territories nearby where we appeared had an impression of us." "I was one of the last survivors and I had gathered some information before our territory fell. "I''ve heard that, including the one from a hundred years ago, a lot of the low level existences here were descendants from us foreigners, at least had the blood of them." That was to say, newcomers would not live a good life, even if they did they''d have gone through hell to get there, and even their descendants were no exeption. This was seen for a hundred years, and it was unlikely to change¡­ unless the newcomers grew strong enough very, very, quickly. Garan felt complicated. He hoped she was here, avoiding the supposed catastrophe in Terran, but at the same time he didn''t want her to face all of these. But it did not take long for Garan to get himself together and clear his mind. He didn''t have to make things so complicated. As long as they were together, no matter what, he''d just have to protect her. Chapter 88 - 88: Weird Fog The atmosphere was tense and heavy, and no one in the room spoke until the door was opened. It was Jake, who still miraculously had spiky hair. "Boss, Bart got news¡ª" He paused and looked at the somber people who weren''t speaking at all. "What¡­ happened?" Garan rubbed his temple. "What is it?" Jake flinched, straightening up his back. "Bart...he''s asking to see you." The heavy atmosphere in the room did not dissipate, but it did put a pause in their useless overthinking and worries. Garan took a moment to gather himself psychologically before standing up and following after Jake. "I was just getting back from my short mission when one of the Rolans pulled me over." Garan nodded without speaking and allowed Jake to lead him to the Rolans'' mercenary headquarters. They walked to one of their gathering rooms and saw that Bart was waiting with two men. One was very tall and thin, and Jake imagined him to be like a human mantis. Beside him was a chubby man with balding hair. And Bart, in his usual flabby self, looked a little serious this time. He pointed at the tall man first, and then to the man beside him. "This here is Hoye and his right hand man Web. His team is based in Farrol Town, near the border." He paused, looking at Garan with an uncharacteristic grim expression. "There''s something that happened there the past few days that might interest you." He said, and then turned to look at the man beside him. Hoye began speaking to Garan. "You must''ve heard of the beast tide that happened in different territories, right?" Garan nodded, and Hoye continued speaking. "The investigators traced that all the beast originated from one area." He said, "And there seems to be some kind of changes in there that caused a great disturbance to the mobs around." The Terrans looked at them in interest, waiting eagerly for the next information. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This time it was Bart that spoke up. "We''re heading there to see. Are you going?" They didn''t even need to consider. Of course they would go. Immediately, Garan turned to Jake and Gill, who straightened their spines by habit at his impending order. "Call the rest of the team. All of them." "Yes!" They would all want to come. After all, this was the closest they had been to home. ¡­ They arrived at the Ferrol Town a day later after rushing and without rest. This was the one of the few clues they got after so much searching and living at the minimum, no one could stomach staying in one place for so long. After a short rest and restocking in the Town, they headed further inland. At first, it was just an endless forest and an occasional mob¡ªnothing special¡ªuntil they eventually saw the curtain of clouds that seemed to extend from ground to the sky. "What a weird fog." Bart mumbled, and they eventually got close to a small makeshift camp not far away. It was composed of various mercenary teams trying to study this thing. There was also several military camps around this fog. Everyone was trying to figure out how much danger it could pose to them. Hoye walked to a group, which was apparently members of his mercenary team, "What did you discover so far? Has anyone gone inside?" The men shook his head. "None of us could enter. Well, technically we can, it''s just that we exit the same way a few seconds later. There had been no exceptions." Garan frowned and looked up. It so happened that there were a few birds entering the cloud. He waited for the so-called exit, but he quickly realized the birds did not get out. "But animals can enter?" He voiced out, everyone turned to him. "What?" "I saw that the birds were unhindered." This made everyone pause and think. "Perhaps, there are rules¡­" Gill mumbled with narrowed eyes. Bart nodded and looked at his teammates as well as Hoye. "Let''s try it out." For the remainder of the day, the group experimented on the entry conditions. Garan had entered himself, and it was indeed a bit evil. He entered, but a few steps and he was out back where he was. His teammates did as well, but there was no change. "Let''s try some other creatures." Bart said, and he ordered a couple of his people to gather creatures and animals for testing. As they waited, Garan''s sharp cerulean eyes stared at the ground, and he turned his head to Gill. "Ask them to dig." Gill blinked and, realizing what the captain might be trying to see, immediately moved and mobilized a few men to dig below the cloud. All earth elementalists were mobilized and soon a trench 20 meters deep was created. But, without change, there was this cloud extending below it, as if liquid that was intent on blocking whatever passage they could think of. Soon batches of different animal types and levels were carted in by the various mercenary teams. While this was going on, Garan brought Gaudi somewhere to ask. "Was this familiar?" Gaudi shook his head. "I cannot say. I have been so focused on surviving that these details went past us." He was not lying. He knew there was a Protection Period because of the announcement and the fact that their surviving population halved as soon as it was over. But he never knew how this ''protection'' was implemented at all. Garan sighed and continued watching as the investigation progressed. Eventually, they found the rule. "Only levels 3 and above are blocked." Bart looked around and pondered if there was someone who was level 3. No luck, unsurprisingly. Generally, level 3 would be kids on average. They couldn''t send children to the unknown, right? Hearing the blockage, the team (except Garan who just rubbed his forehead) looked at each other in dismay. This was the first time the soldiers got depressed for leveling up. It was Gill who was actually the most rational. "This is a good thing, idiots." They glared at him and he rolled his eyes, continuing his explanation. "If Terrans are really there, it means they won''t be facing enemies above level 3." Oh. This calmed down everyone''s moods. After all, they could all have loved ones in there. Garan didn''t say anything for a while before heaving out a sigh. After thinking a while, he placed another order. "We will set up base in Ferrol Town." "Yes!" Knowing there was no use to stay here, everyone packed up, preparing to go back to a territory. As they walked away, Garan couldn''t help but pause and turn back to take another look. He stared deeply at the mysterious fog. Althea, are you there? Chapter 89 - 89: Furnitures! [26 days of Protection Period] Althea turned her head in a direction as if in a daze. Her pretty eyebrows furrowed and her green eyes¡ªreminiscent of the vibrant forest she was facing¡ªfocused blankly in space, as if looking for something that could not be seen. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Harold, who was asking the workers to move the sofa a little to the left, noticed Althea''s blank stare outside the window. He blinked and turned to see what she was looking at: Nothing. "Boss?" Althea flinched and turned her head back to their Chef, and to the interior of the house. "It''s nothing." She just said, looking at the status of the fit-out works, turning her attention back to the rooms that were slowly being refurbished. A lot of the smaller furniture was already built off-site (Baron''s Residential workshop) and we''re just moved by some manpower. For example the side tables, the dining chairs,and the coffee table were already in place. There were also baby and child related furniture like the stair fence, the cribs, and the high chairs. On the other hand, the few varieties that could not fit through the door were assembled on site, like the sofas, her queen size bed, and the bunk beds. There were also rocking chairs, just because. What was interesting was the amount of detail they placed. Each furniture had an overarching theme, which made everything fit together visually. In their home, Baron placed the cloud and plants motifs. Each leg and siding would have these carvings, and they were quite detailed. It was amazing because it had only been a few days. Anyway, because they were his benefactors and neighbours who paid well, Baron placed them on the priority list of production. Still with customization bonuses like the motifs. Baron had already mobilized his whole team and hired a lot of hands to quickly meet their requirements. Of course, he never failed to visit every few hours to personally check on the progress¡­ without missing a short chat with Sheila, of course. Speaking of, he seemed to have entered before Althea entered a daze. She turned to see that he was still there, low-key flirting with Sheila, who was obviously been very oblivious to his advances. For instance, Baron would say, "They say that the sunset here is particularly beautiful because of the two moons. How lovely would it be to watch with someone." "Oh, that''s nice." Sheila would say, eyes on the furniture, making sure there was no mistake. "You are very beautiful." "Eh? Oh, thanks." Althea smiled and shook her head as she resumed watching the people working. At this rate, the sofa and the beds would be completed by noon. If they worked overtime, they could even finish some other furniture. She extended her dainty arms to touch the surface of the upholsteries. Baron''s team had somehow managed to get an expert tanner to handle monster hide and turn it into leather and cloth. As for the innards of the cushions, they used feathers and furs of avian monsters. Each of the beds, sofas, and chairs would have these and it could be said to be very comfortable, at least compared to how they have been sleeping before. Cotton was unfortunately out of their league for now, but Althea felt she should be able to find a way. The thought of a well-furnished home excited her very much. If they managed to turn the multitude of hemp-like plants inside and outside the territory, they should also be able to produce cloth as well. There was plenty of work to be done, but she wasn''t panicking. She could tell everything was on track. Anyway, before Baron left (depressed due to being unable to secure a date), he promised to complete the job the next day. He still had a lot of jobs with them alone, after all. For instance, next in line to the house would be her Grocery store, then Sheila''s clinic, and finally Harold''s restaurant. Although there was a green-tagged chef Cooke as a competitor, the market was huge and she had the advantage of knowing local ingredients. Not to mention, the said chef had yet to develop his commercial unit, despite being able to afford it. Why? Obviously because of the lack of materials and ingredients. Raw ingredients and material fabrication was the major market she hoped to develop the most. No matter what specialization, these would be the first line of requirements, and was a very good way to make stable money. Walking to the verandah, Althea looked at the farm. They had also ordered a ton of fences to separate the plants, trellises for the crawling plants, and there was even a cute swing for the children. Even at this early stage, one could already see the future loveliness of their villa. Taking back her line of thought to the plants, she decided that for now, she would be testing the plants (local and Terran) within her walls. There was only the problem of labor, however. She turned her head and looked at Harold, who was still nitpicking about the furniture. Other than being a supervisor, he seemed to be a little idle now that his restaurant wasn''t opened yet. "Harold." She called, just as he discussed to the foreman what he wanted for his restaurant. "Yes, boss!" "You realize you can''t serve anything in your restaurant without ingredients right?" "..." Harold was silent, not sure about the sudden question, but nodded in the end. Althea then smiled and took out several plants and seeds. They were all nearly arranged and marked accordingly. There were even color codes to determine which was indigenous versus which one were Terran. Harold admired the boss'' over compulsiveness, but otherwise he had no idea what to do. "Okay, boss?" He asked, waiting for instructions. Althea smiled, very beautifully. "Plant this for me." _______ CHARACTER INTERACTION CORNER Harold: I remember when I was a kid¡­ I used to like picking plants a lot. I used to turn them into beards or moustaches, making me feel manly and stuff. Althea: That''s perfect! *hands over seeds* Harold: ¡­ Chapter 90 - 90: Farming After a while of detailed instruction-giving, Harold finally began planting the different plants according to the directions Althea gave. Althea asked him to do two approaches: One was with a nursery, while the other was to directly plant the seeds on the system soil. In fact, the past few days (other than doing a few hours of training every day), Althea had already began with her nursery, but it was focused on a couple of local plants, and she decided it was time to try more varieties. Althea assisted with this task, where he only had to gather soil in a specific spot in the system farm and place them on makeshift containers carved out from soft porous rocks (which would temporarily be their pots until they found a better alternative). The boss did the rest of the planting and recording. After being dismissed, he then went on to work on the second phase of the experiment. The farm itself was around 600 square meters and he held a rough plan of how the plants would be zoned. There were also basic instructions on how to garden. For example, since there were no weeds or grass in the system farm, he only needed to loosen the soil with a makeshift tiller they made from twigs. He also added some compost to certain areas, but not everything, because the boss wanted to know the effect of fertilizers on system farms. After tilling and loosening the soil, it was time for him to dig and start planting. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was around this that he heard his daughter''s immature voice. Maya jumped out, squatting beside him trying to get the shovel from him. "Let me help Daddy!" She said, taking the shovel and helping him dig. She must have thought he still had his old back problems, which was now non-existent thanks to their upgraded physiques. "My Maya is so sensible.." he smiled and didn''t reject her kindness. The world had changed now, he couldn''t baby her like he used to. Letting her help with things like this was doing her a favor. The boss told him specific instructions on how to handle each seed and plant, and he made sure to follow it to the tee. There were also plenty of ''experimental'' conditions, and he knew it was integral to the territory that he did it correctly. So, he did all the planting by himself. Of course, the others could be given to his hyper daughter. "Can I be in charge of watering?" Maya grew up the daughter of a servant, she had always been willing to serve, not to mention she was just doing her part. Maya was a very good girl. Althea smiled as the two bonded over farming, and turned her attention to the crops in the nursery. The nursery basically consisted of sensitive plants that she had to monitor herself, a lot of which were indigenous plants. As for the ones in the farm, there were also the same plants as the ones in the nursery, but also plants she judged to be resilient. This was also to test whether soil taken out of system farms was still any good. In any case, the 600 sqm was divided into 12 lots. Eight out of twelve will be given to the yam-like and wheat-like plants. However, there were differences in their conditions, like different spacing, water, depth, etc. To determine which conditions these plants grew best. The rest would be other edible plants, herbs, vegetables, and fruits. For example, berries. One was the blueberries similar to Terran blueberries. The other was the Yu Berry, and another ultra sweet berry they found on the way here. There was what she called warmmelon. It looked a lot like watermelon, only yellow, and had an effect of warming up the insides like turmeric tea. Speaking of tea, she had also taken a few bushes of tea-potential plants, but she planted them near the fences. As for herbs, mostly she took in herbs that could be used as spices and condiments. They also have their own medicinal properties, of course, much of which was still ongoing experiments. This was a particularly sensitive area, and would require most of her attention¡ªsomething she could not yet give at the moment, unfortunately. She also kept half of her nursery for Terran seeds. Of course, she did not dare use all of the seeds lest she lose them all. She just planted a few experimental products for now. Satisfied with the planting plan, she gave every crop a one-over. With the insane refresh of this world added with the 20% field bonus, the plants should all be ready within a few days. By that time, she and Eugene would have perfected some basic processing tools so they could sell the processed food at the Grocery store. In addition to these, she would sell condiments and other things in the future. She made a rough calculation and knew that her little farm would not be enough to sustain the potential population the territory could absorb. She decided to invest in 100 more farms, building them side-by-side in the agricultural zones. She ''rented'' the nearest 10 fields for herself. For the farms, she wasn''t planning on selling them, only rent them out. They were too important to the territory to give to others. She turned to Sheila, who was arranging some dried herbs as per her request. "Sheila, can you do me a favour and post a job notice in the village center?" The announcements tab was not limited to the Lord. Citizens could also post, but for a price of 1 silver for every 100 words. "Let''s hire some farming hands. Those with experience in farming, gardening, and agriculture are welcome. The salary will be 50 copper a day." "Let''s add those to help us in the grocery store. You can also attach manpower you need in your respective stores.." She said, enumerating the various types of labor they would need. "Got it!" She said, properly putting away the plants. Speaking of which, judging by the number of people coming by the day, production would eventually be required. She looked at the map, and mused she should at least add an industrial area. The quantity of the processing of different fields would definitely need this space. Even after all of these, she still had so much to do. But¡­ she was feeling quite excited. Chapter 91 - 91: Livelihoods (Part 1) At this time, all over the territory, dozens of people were gathering wood and stone to exchange for some copper. Of course, a lot of them still go outside a couple hours every day to hunt, knowing full well they couldn''t be too complacent even when they''re in such good territory. It also helped that a team with an old man, a little girl, and a pregnant woman always went out to train early before dawn, going back well into the morning. This had been happening every day, without exception. Of course, going out to fight monsters wasn''t for everyone. For these people, the alternatives for decent livelihood within the walls was something they treasured. Although it was a bit of hardwork and manual labor, pretty much everyone had small smiles on their faces. It was really a breath of fresh air. They had not only rested well and bathed well, but they could also earn their keep peacefully without having to risk their lives. As such, even if they worked under the hot sun, no one complained. On the contrary, they had relaxed expressions. However, one young woman had a worried look plastered on her face the entire morning. As she gathered the resources, along with some edible fruits, she couldn''t help but give subtle glances at the old woman doing the same, albeit at an evidently much slower pace. When the old woman paused for a moment, the lady dropped what she was holding and ran to her. "Are you alright grandma? How''s your back?" Cassie asked the older woman worriedly, holding her arms to assist her. "Don''t you worry, child." The old woman laughed, not expecting a little pause to induce a panic attack. She gently patted her granddaughter''s hand off of her arm. "I hadn''t felt back pain for days now. This little thing is nothing." Thankfully, the evolution had indeed helped her physique a lot. She felt alive and, now, safe, and she definitely wouldn''t be able to stay still in the house while her granddaughter worked under the hot sun. Although they were not rich before or after the transfer, they still lived well back then and she hoped it would be the same here. For now, it seemed very promising. They could now sleep on beds, drink water when needed, and eat decent food. Unlike before, where they could only sleep amongst soil and rocks. It was very scary because there were not only beasts, but there were also so many aggressive bugs and birds in the forest. Some of the people that came with them were killed off by bug poison. Cassie cringed at the memory of her companion''s painful death by bug bite¡­ As for the other basic needs, they also struggled very much upon arrival in this new land. They could only drink dew water¡ªwhich Cassie learned to collect in what she called a ''camping camp''. And even that wasn''t easy to collect either because they lost a lot of dew if monsters appeared unexpectedly. The only thing they didn''t struggle as much was the food because not only was she able to collect a lot back in Terran, her grandmother had the wisdom of the old and had very good intuition of what was edible. It was around this time they heard rustles coming nearby them and they flinched by instinct. But they quickly remembered that they were in a safe place¡ªonly harmless critters remained within the walls¡ªand their panic calmed down, though they kept their guards up just in case. They saw a small group of various ages with makeshift baskets on their backs. It was filled with produce. "Amazing. You gathered all of these?" Cassie whistled, impressed. "You sure maximized our foraging limit." She was referring to the limit some hoarders experienced first. Understandably, the territory limited the amount of resources a person could forage. "Well, actually, we were approached by rich neighbors to collect stuff for them." "You could do that?" "Yeah, but we consume our own limits." "Oh¡­ rich people problems, right?" The teen laughed. "You don''t know, just this morning someone was already making plans to furnish their house." His friend couldn''t help but supplement. "They were talking about the budget¡­" The youngins cackled, and proceeded in talking about some rich people and their funny stories. The old woman, Cathia, smiled as she watched the lively interaction of the younger generation. Just a day ago, they were all filled with weakness and tiredness. Now they could talk about random things with strangers they just met. Looking at the tall territory walls and then the people around laughing and filled with hope¡­, she believed they would continue to do so. ¡­ Deeper into the territory, was Baron''s busy workshop. He set up his workshops in both of his farmvillas. They used about two-thirds of the fields as a workshop, adding makeshift sheds to protect the workers from the sun. While a little wasteful to use over half of the system fields for a workshop, they really didn''t have much of a choice. No other place was big enough. Anyway, Baron''s sharp business sense was telling him where to invest, and he found his calling in these industries. And he was right. It had only been more than a day and his team had been flooded with work. For one, the customized special fit out projects, all with Ms. Althea''s team, already took all of his highest skilled workers. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Other than these, Baron also had a separate production team for less specialized items which required considerably less skill. Of course, the number of workers in his hand, which was nearly a score of people, was really no joke. Especially, he had only been in the territory for two days. As for how he managed to find so many carpenters and workers, it was mostly down to his boundless charm (which Ms. Sheila seemed to be blind to, for now) and also luck. Okay, there was also the fact that there were less than 200 people in the entire territory, concentrated in very few living zones. Everyone was bound to know everybody else. Because of this, it was fairly easy for him to get hires and form partnerships by being a little friendly. One of the survivor team happened to be in a construction site. There was even an architect with them, though he refused to work for him. Anyway, this less-specialized team of fabricators focused on the most basic furniture, mostly beds, chairs, and tables. So far, the line was enough for them to work overtime for the following week. As the Greats had said: The businessman who takes the first step, takes the most profit. He could almost smell the profit coming in. He estimated he would have the return on his huge investment within a week. His business in Terran had never been so good! Chapter 92 - 92: Livelihood (Part 2) Baron nodded in satisfaction as he stared at the marvelous status of his workshop #1. Humming happily, he then walked out of the gate and went to his second workshop. As he entered, he was met with sharp eyes that almost made him run for his life. Until he remembered who it was and he stopped his tracks. Clearing his throat and slowly turning around, he faced the ''greeting'' person head on. It was a woman in her late 60s, but she was scarier than the gangsters he''d seen. It was Sassy the Tanner, the old expert of an obsolete art he managed to convince to work with him, for a good share of the profit of course. It was amazing someone still knew how to do it, since back in Terran hunting had been mostly illegal and people opted for synthetic leather already. He flinched a little at the old woman''s stoic stare. She was looking him down, arms crossed, and very intimidating. He put up an awkward smile. "Good afternoon, Sassy!" The woman grunted at him, not caring for any nonsense. He cleared his throat, getting on topic. "Are we on schedule?" He asked, looking at the various soon-to-be leather that were drying in the yard. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The whole yard smelled pungent with a mix of earthiness and astringency. There were dozens of workers absorbed in activities, with various tools made of animal bones lying around. There were makeshift bone knives, hammers, and some other tools he couldn''t name. A number of workers were standing over a wooden trough filled with water mixed with other stuff, their sleeves rolled up, and mixing the bubbling concoction. This concoction was made by Sassy herself. Apparently, she got a skill called appraisal which helped her figure out the various alternatives to her old plants. It was amazing. He''d have complimented her if she hadn''t been so scary. Anyway, he looked at the hides that were stretched taut on wooden frames, some of them were being brought to the concoction. "Looks like we are on schedule." He said, answering his own question. The old woman nodded. "We''ll need to refill the raw materials." "The stocks should be coming any time now." Baron said. Speaking of raw materials, other than buying hides from the fighters, there were also ''loggers'' who sold their wood to him. After all, the territory expressly prohibited cutting trees within it and replacing the cut trees with seedlings for the trees within a kilometer outside. He could even foresee ''jobs'' specializing in re-planting. Of course, these loggers would need protection so they often went out with groups of fighters, the most popular was one lead by a dude named Drake. In any case, Baron''s business mind could already see the potential of these models. Without a doubt, a lot of these collectors would soon form the first rudimentary market in the territory. And Baron was dead set on occupying a good place in it. ¡­ While there were some already planning on how to get rich inside the territory, there were also some who wished to get stronger, aiming to fight not for the hide or their meat, but mostly for the experience. "Aren''t you baiting too many?!" A man with fluffy red hair yelled at his brunette friend. Their party of seven were now running from a mob of thirty. They had similar features to mole rats, only they were green and slimy. Troy rolled his eyes, pulling on a wooden sword he bought from the territory. How was he supposed to know they nested underground!? "It''s fine! Just run towards the walls if we can''t take it anymore!" One of the two girls in the group yelled. She was cute and petite, but she was tough as nails. Fred swooned."My Lulu is so Smart!" "Of course!" She said proudly, aiming an arrow at a monster, though the arrow head stuck on its scale. "And who''s your Lulu!" "My Lulu, don''t be rude! Don''t take after your cousin!" "Fight!" Another yelled, pulling their attentions back to the enemies aiming to freaking eat them, all while shooting some arrows behind him as they fled. But after running for a while, they realized there was something wrong. "We should be at the wall by now!" Fred yelled, looking around. He turned to his companions. "Who led the team?" "It was Troy!" "Damnit! It''s like you don''t know he had a nonexistent sense of direction!" Troy gasped, offended. "Hey!" How rude! "Anyway," Lulu screamed. These idiots! "Focus!" Thankfully, they reached the wall on time, and the sentries attacked right on schedule: One shot every three seconds. Heaving a breath of relief, the backs further inwards and attacking the monsters get past the sentries. "Stab!" Troy called out a skill he got, like a dweeb. "Stab! Stab!" Fred rolled his eyes, but otherwise did not have the time to mock him. He was busy defending his own appendages! Fred and the others slashed and slashed, making sure not to accidentally enter the sentry''s shooting path. There may not have been any innocent Sentry victims as of yet, and they certainly didn''t want to be the first ones! "Just attract them all within the sentries'' scopes! They''re bound to get hit eventually!" The group started baiting mobs to the circlement. The sentry towers didn''t shoot subsequently as there was a few seconds to cool down each shot, but this was enough for them to safely mob a few monsters at a time and help each other level up. Of course, some rivalries was unavoidable with certain manchildren, trying to one-up the other. It got to the point where they very nearly got into an accident. "Watch out!" Fred paled as Troy accidentally changed positions just after the sentry shot an arrow¡ªand he went directly at its path! Will troy be the first innocent victim of the sentry tower? Luckily, Troy was a bit clumsy and lost footing and he fell back first on the ground, the sharp arrow narrowly missing his nose. "Fuucckkk that was too close!" Fred cackled, though it was mostly in relief (not that he''d ever admit it). "HAHAHAHA! You''re lucky your nose is so flat! HAHHAHAHAHA¡ª" "Shut uppp!" Lulu''s temper finally exploded. "SHUT UP! Don''t you see you''re still weaklings? How could you be so careless?!" She yelled, "Joke around when you can one-shot these damned monsters!!" The two man-children finally behaved, focusing on the task at hand. They did this all day long, levelling up under the protection of Altera, gathering strength. All this in the hopes of eventually joining the ranks of the strong of their territory, and carving a good life for themselves with their own fists. Chapter 93 - 93: For the Economy While various citizens were doing what they could to gather stable income, their lord was also thinking about how to get the economy running as quickly and efficiently. She was chewing something sweet again, a lollipop she was reserving for her babies. Unfortunately, her cravings seem to be on the sweet side and her self-restraint cracked at the need for sugar. It had been less than a week and she had consumed a good part of the sweets she hoarded. Fruits were fine but their variety was so small, she got sick of them fairly quickly. This was very bad news. Distressing, even. When would they find sugar? How could her children live without it? It wasn''t that she hadn''t tried extracting sugar from the fruits, but the process was extremely cumbersome and the sugar in the local fruits really wasn''t much. Not to mention, fruits required to gather sugar (even if it was a high-sugar fruit, which they weren''t) would still be a lot more in quantity than, say, from other sources like sugar cane. Sigh. What a tragedy. Anyway, she pulled herself back to the topic at hand and took a look at her stats. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 1 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 64 (13 permanent, 51 temporary) Total Population: 313 Base Resources: Wood: 920/5000 Stone: 650/3000 Money: 7302 Gold, 91467 Silver, 37007 copper Reputation: 20 Buildings: Village Center, Weaponry Shop, Defensive Wall, Warehouse, Farms Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 5/5 (+1)] She wanted to build industrial areas where the lush resources would be processed to finished products. However, she didn''t have a building slot anymore. Even if she did, she would not waste it on this function. Too bad the custom building couldn''t be used. One was the column spacing was impractical and second, the custom building had to have some residential use. Even the commercial modules she built had to have residences somewhere, usually on the second floor. Not to mention, there was also the utilities infrastructure that she should be planning while the territory was still young. Thinking about it for a while, she opened up the Lord panel. She opened the announcement tab and made a post in the name of the System. [Announcement: The territory is hiring as many strongmen in construction to further develop the territory. Requirement: Experience in construction work. Wages: 50 copper/day labor 80 copper/day foremen 150 copper/day technical talents (architects and engineers) Please submit your resume at the Village center. ] She made similar announcements for Territory-hires for consistency. [Announcement: The territory is hiring people to maintain cleanliness in the territory. Requirement: Working body Wages: 40 copper/day labor Please submit your resume at the Village center. ] Althea saw this as an opportunity to further liven up the economy. Including those that she and Baron would hire, pretty much the majority of the population would be able to get comfortable salaries. The construction in and of itself would also contribute, as there would be more industries that would pop up when there were more building types available. Speaking of the constitution team, she had seen that there were actually a few former construction workers and an architect in the 300+ people currently in the territory. If she would get a civil engineer or two, she could have a complete team. She turned at Eugene who had been playing with Theodore during his breaktime. "Eugene, you will temporarily lead the production of blueprints after we finalize the tools." She paused. They weren''t producing paper now and it would be a pity to use paper too much, as only Eugene actually stocked up on a few rims. Speaking of which, when paper was mass produced, she decided to sell a plant guide so the resources could be gathered by the people as well. This way, the ready resources around¡ªinside and outside the territory¡ªwould be maximized. "A sheet is fine." Eugene smiled at her stingy appearance. "It''s not a priority, but since we''re doing conventional construction, it may take a while so the sooner we start the better." "I''ll make an inventory of the materials, to start." Eugene said, before gesturing to go. He still remembered the plethora of materials he briefly learned about when they were designing the custom house. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Thanks." She said, "We''re counting on you." ¡­ Outside of their villa, the moment the announcements were made, the territory boiled. "JOBS!" "The salary is so good!" "I was a mason before!" "I can totally clean well! I''m a proud over compulsive!" Someone said, referring to the second job offering. The second job naturally wasn''t popular to the young people. Even those who were poor in Terran. This was their chance to start over, and not let their poor education hinder their living well. How could they take such a job? However, many old people who didn''t have much options, as well as young kids, found this to be very much in line with their current capabilities. In any case, there weren''t any residents that weren''t talking about the job openings, with the tourists listening in and asking for news. One such person was Nina, who was a visitor simply because she couldn''t afford any other residency options. Who told her to be an utter ''modern kid'' with all their savings in digital form? Hearing that there were job openings that were paying well, still in her field of study, she naturally got excited. "I''m an architecture student!" The person beside her who had been gathering resources, looked at her very impressed and a bit of envy. "Really? That''s great! You should try it!" Things had not yet calmed down when, not long after that, the citizen-made announcement made by Sheila also resounded across the territory. If the territory hiring came as a pleasant surprise, the citizen-made announcement made them dumfounded. There were so many openings! Everyone would have jobs at this point, right? There were requirements for farmers, labor, seamstress, medical professionals, cooks, waiters, craftsmen, artists, and many more. What about those who would gather resources? Who''d do those hard jobs? Then they remembered there were still millions of Terrans around. Let the newcomers take those jobs instead. "More jobs!" "We can make announcements as well? That''s so cool! Who is Sheila and how do I post?" "I worked in a botanical park before!" "I lived in the countryside until a year ago! I know a lot of crops." Another person looked at the dazed person beside him. "Didn''t you come from a pottery family?" This was a scene that happened all over the small population. In any case, the fact that the territory was hiring, whether or not they even applied, was enough to stabilize their hearts. After all, this meant that the territory had plans and that their lives could only get better from here. That, in and of itself, was reassuring enough. Chapter 94 - 94: Drake Althea smiled at the energized atmosphere althroughout the territory. However, she knew that the splurge of announcements wasn''t over yet. Following the economy, it was time to improve the territory''s military might. The reason why economy came first was that the sentries and the wall had been providing them with enough protection. She had decided to improve people''s spirts first. She also preferred thinking about money than military affairs any day. Sigh. If her husband was here, she could throw this problem to him and not care about it anymore. But he wasn''t, so she could only adjust. As she relaxed, she mused as to how to handle this issue when she didn''t know anything. At this thought, a familiar face appeared in her head: Drake. Her husband was not here, but there was someone who knew no less about these issues. It was still someone they could trust. With a smile, she stood up and went to knock on the opposite door. She knocked a few times before the gate opened, revealing a middle-aged woman with a bun hairstyle. She remembered that she came with Mathilda''s team back then. Her name was Belinda, and back in Terran she used to be an antique appraiser, which was an unfortunately useless job to have at this time. For now, anyway. Althea, for one, never thought any skill was useless. Althea smiled at her. "May I see auntie?" "Of course." The other woman said, letting her in. "She''s in the verandah." "Thank you," Althea said, entering with a smile. Because the layout of farm villas were similar, Althea didn''t need guidance to get to the older woman. When she entered, she saw Mathilda was sitting on the verandah on her rocking chair (Baron got quite a lot of talented people in a day), staring blankly into space. Althea stopped herself from making any more noise. She didn''t say anything for a while, wondering how she''d give the woman some pasttime to distract her from worrying excessively for her children. At the moment, Mathilda''s livelihood was a landlord, in which she rented out rooms to her former companions. This meant she had too much time in her hands, and therefore too much time to fret about how her children were. After a while, Althea finally decided to knock on the already-opened door, to catch the woman''s attention. "Good afternoon, auntie." The older woman''s face warmed from her previous blank expression. "Come, sit." She said, pointing at the opposite rocking chair. Althea nodded and relaxed, and the two were silent for a while after that, simply appreciating the peace and each other''s silent company. After a while, Mathilda finally spoke, turning her head a little to Althea''s direction. "Is there anything you need, child?" "Hmm¡­" She mumbled, eyes closed as she rocked back and forth in the chair. She then stilled and opened her eyes, looking at the elder. "Auntie. May I borrow Drake?" Mathilda''s eyebrows rose in interest, and Althea went on to explain. "I''m planning to form a guard team, but most people only had the mandatory military training at school. I hope to hire him as an instructor." Mathilda paused, looking at her in surprise. But not even a moment later, she nodded in approval. Althea blinked. So easy? Mathilda saw her daze and chuckled. "If he''s willing, he can do whatever he wants. He''s done enough for me." Mathilda paused, "I had already told him this as early as when we entered the territory. "It''s a good way to force him around young beautiful women. He ought to fix that excessive selective shyness of his or he would never get a wife!" The two women laughed at the man''s expense, sharing stories they had heard about his embarassments. Poor Drake. ¡­ Ha-choo! About a few hundred meters from the wall, a certain woman-shy man sneezed. It wasn''t that he was afraid of women in general, but only young beautiful ones. He vaguely remembered as a kid, he was adorable and didn''t speak much, and he happened to come upon a rowdy group of young girls who pinched him and patted his head. They were smiling as they surrounded him, blowing compliments endless compliments with their high-pitched voices., It terrified him. Anyway, this issue had never hindered his work before so he never really got his way around it. But now¡­ "Drake¡­ am I doing this correctly?" One woman, a ginger named Jona, waved her sword in the air, trying to show him a technique he showed the group before. He froze, nodding blankly. Then there was a black-haired woman with sun-kissed skin, Yen, who appeared right beside the Jona. She showed her own sword skills, much flashier than Jona, who rolled her eyes in response. "It''s like this right? Drake?" She said, smiling brightly with heavy blush on her face. Drake gulped, freezing, not knowing what to do. To be honest, he''d rather face a mob of monsters than these two women. "Drake, help!" Someone from his team called, as he was being attacked by three monsters, and Drake was improperly relieved of the news. He sprinted there and he worked together with his team and dealt with the monsters, gaining some of the experience, occasionally giving some deserving people the last hit. Soon it stabilized enough that he only weakened the monsters, and the others dealt with the rest. He watched by for a couple of minutes until he heard a familiar ding inside his head. [Ding! The village system detected that you are suitable for military instructor. Do you accept? Yes | No] [Job: Military Instructor Wages: 3 silver/day Benefits: 1 basic weapon every month 10% off to all system items Free residency during the hired period] Drake paused in his movements, but his peripheral view saw a Level 3 monster incoming. He temporarily put this issue aside and resumed his killings. Later, he ran to the other side of the field to rescue another one. Looking at the grateful looks of his temporary party, he just nodded with a blank expression. When the situation finally settled down, with them reaching the scope of the sentries, he finally had the time to study the new notifications. He wiped the sweat running down his cheek, low-key avoiding the women trying to do it for him. He opened his panel again and many thoughts were running inside his head. There was even a voice echoing. It was Mathilda''s, and he recalled their conversation just a few hours after they settled down. ''Drake, this is no longer the old world. You are no longer my employee, but a partner.'' ''Your small disability should''ve been improved by your upgrades right? Don''t you want to focus on that?'' ''You loved being a soldier, didn''t you?'' He looked at the floating question asking him if he wanted the job. With eyes filled with renewed determination, he clicked Yes. [Announcement: the village system has determined that Drake Lesley is eligible to be the temporary trainer of the guards.] [Announcement: The territory is hiring people to guard the territory and clear out monsters in the vicinity. Requirement: Men and women aged 18-50. Physical: 30 or above Overall potential: C or above. Wages: 100 copper/day . Benefits: 1 basic weapon every month Free residency during the hired period Limitations: 0/30 people Please submit your resume at the Village center. ] "That''s amazing Drake!" Yen said, smiling, with Jona closely beside her. "Congratulations!" They yelled together, trying to one-up the other with their soft voices. Drake froze, nodding. "Hmm." And he scurried away. Poor Drake. ¡­ With that announcement, people once again flooded the Village center, making their CVs beautiful so they could get the job. Along the way, the citizens also sold their forages, increasing the average number of transactions in the village center by another bulk. Sitting peacefully next to Mathilda, Althea suddenly got a notification. [Triggered: Village Center upgrade tasks: [?] 1000 successful transactions [¡Á] 1000 gold transactions (760/1000)] Althea''s eyebrows raised in interest. Oh¡­? She wondered what would happen when she upgraded? She had a feeling it was going to be very good. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 95 - 95: Rice!! Althea looked at the announcement with interest. Obviously, the gold transactions here referred to both purchase and selling. After all, it had only been a few days. In any case, she estimated that she''d be able to upgrade the Village Center in a day or two. But, Althea had a feeling. She had a feeling that the Protection Period was an integral time to gain strength. She simply could not wait around for a day. Who knew, what if she made a miscalculation and found out that month was actually shorter than in Terran? What would she do then? Who knew what kind of alien time system this place had in place. She would never, ever, place her new home and family at risk for such carelessness again. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Thinking for a bit, she decided to fast track it a little. How to increase the number of transactions? Trade, of course! The Village hall could buy and sell using platforms by making announcements, and this wasn''t limited to the Lord. As such, in order to increase the transactions, she sent out gathering missions with-root/undamaged plants at a higher price under her own name. Another advantage of doing this was the fact that the village center had a similar function to her Assessment skill. That was: When a trade was made through the little tables in the building, stats and uses would appear, allowing people to be able to study the trades better. She reckoned the building''s assessment skill would not be limited by the level of the item like it did hers, which was why she thought the building was better. In this way, both parties could estimate the value and allow the transactions to be more clearcut. It was worth noting that this was only applicable for the trade function, and not the ''selling'' function, where the plants went straight to the warehouse. Of course, the territory not only enjoyed 10% tax on all transactions, but the trade itself had a small fee of 1 silver to 10, depending on the mass of the items traded. In a sense, sending out trading announcements would get her rebates. Satisfied with the set-up, she went home to finally get her rest. That night, in her new bed (using the washed duvet they took from the hotel), she lied down comfortably and looked at her warehouse. It was a new habit of hers that was both cumbersome and very, very, fun. It was like unboxing a delivery she didn''t know the components of. She was perusing through the space with her mind, counting that a good part of the floor had already been occupied by various plants. Fortunately the stone and wood automatically entered the resource space which counted as her usable resource during construction, otherwise they would definitely occupy her territory space, without leaving her enough area for everything else. She roughly arranged the items with her mind, a very useful feature of the warehouse. It was fortunate she could do so, otherwise she might give birth due to overexertion. Just like this, several plants magically floated around and landed on their designated piles. The dried plants on one place, the seeds on another one, and replantable plants on yet another. Hopefully, the cabinets she ordered from Baron''s team arrived soon so she could better organize the warehouse. She also ordered some wide-threaded ladders so she could easily access the top shelves without straining herself. Don''t look at her climbing fences and jumping tree to tree a few days prior, but she was really feeling the heaviness now. After she levelled up, in fact, which was weird because she should''ve gotten stronger instead. She was making a note of each plant. Most of which were already familiar to her, an unsurprising fact because of the lack of diversity in this place. However, there were one or two that seemed new, or at least a variant of other plants, and she put those aside for study. She also put aside the ones that could still be planted, deciding to take them out tomorrow. Anyway, the warehouse had an improved fresh keeping function, so her new plants would not die immediately even if they were out of the soil for a day. But just before she pulled her mind back, her peripheral saw a long sheef of bluish-green plants. She didn''t see them before because they were pushed to the corner of the room. But now that it was relatively clear, the plants attracted her eyes and she curiously moved her attention towards them. She walked to the sheaf and stared at it for so long that she suddenly felt a shift and she looked around, wondering what changed. She walked closer and heard footsteps. She stopped and the sound also stopped. You know, because she entered with her mind, there should be no sound at all¡­ She blinked at a thought but restrained her excitement. She lifted up an item to see if her physical body was really here and, to her surprise, it really was. This meant she could teleport to the warehouse! How magical! This building was too worth it!! Clearing her throat to calm herself down, she finally took a closer look at the plant she was holding. It had vibrant blue green leaves that gently swayed with her movements. The most intriguing feature had to be the tear-shaped panicles themselves¡ªthey were elongated and gracefully drooping, bearing clusters of grains, unlike the Terran with components on top of the stem. It also smelled a little nutty, unlike the earthly aroma of their Terran crop. She took out her portable lab from her space, studying its composition, making sure her theory was correct. Soon, the line of data appeared and the more data showed up on the screen, the brighter her eyes got. She still hadn''t recovered from her discovery with the warehouse, and another pleasant surprise came. It was a good day. She should make it a holiday. She raised the sheaf up, looking at it with obsession. Rice! She finally found it!! Chapter 96 - 96: The Farmers [25 days of Protection Period] The first day of various job openings started, and a lot were quite unsure of what to expect. There were some who were already quite shocked almost as soon as they timed in. The hired farmers couldn''t help but stare at the beautiful pregnant woman in front of them, a stupid-looking dog with a perennial smiley face right beside her. She was the boss of their farmers? Where was the stereotypical burly farming boss with a booming voice that they expected? Althea only smiled at their dazed looks and began to explain the scope of their work. "These ten farms would be dealing with local plants necessary for human consumption. "You should be familiar with this plant," she said, raising a sheaf very common in the area. "This is locally known as the Flute plant. On Terran, it should be close to wheat." The ten people looked at each other in surprise. It was a common plant and they sold everything to the village center! "We will be planting these, and also breed it in a way that would improve its quality and output." "That''s amazing¡­" "I didn''t know that was how it was used for¡­" Althea allowed them to chat a bit as she released another sheaf and held it up on her left hand. They stared at it very curiously. If the previous one was equivalent to wheat, this one¡­ "This is a plant similar to another essential crop." Her ability didn''t name it so this was one of the undiscovered plants. "We''ll just call it¡­ rice." The 10 people brightened at this, "Rice?!" "Yes, but it''s still an experimental crop because we don''t really know exactly how this strain differs from what we know. "Also, don''t ask me where I found them. A teammate got lost and brought it back, but it''s probably within the territory. I analyzed it and determined it had a strong likeliness with wild rice." Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She didn''t speak for a while after that, letting the farmers absorb the information with bright expressions. Wheat and rice, both very very important crops which they didn''t think they''d even encounter in this place, let alone propagate themselves. She observed them all and her eyes zoned in on one man advanced in age, who had the brightest eyes of them all. This man''s name was Gru Gilbert, and she knew of him from his hundred of theses. Gru was an agricultural expert, who was teaching agriculture in the top university in an adjacent country. He was near them because he was in Eden doing a seminar when the disaster happened. She first knew of him from science magazines. He was also a green-tagged talent who probably just arrived. To think he''d end up a farmer¡­ "Your name is Gru, yes?" "Yes, boss." "I know you. You''re an agricultural expert. Known best for the doubling of the production of the Vivi Plant." Viv¨ª Plant was a rare plant required in cancer treatment. Not many people outside the field were interested in this though. Gru knew this and looked at her deeply. "May I know your name boss?" "Althea Witt." The man gaped, disbelieving, but shook his head in the end. His old face brightened and extended his hand. "It''s an honor to meet you Ms. Witt, I have long heard of your name." "Likewise." She said with a smile, "It would be a waste of your talent to just farm. "Ah nonono. I''m happy with living like a human being again." She smiled at the humble old man; she liked him already. "You will be in charge of this, increase your salary by 20 copper." The old man gaped at her and she continued to speak with a smile. "You can plant these seeds with different conditions. Report to me what is the most productive." "T-Thank you, boss!" "This is actually wronging you. Your skillset could be much more useful somewhere else¡­" "It''s my honor to study this, Ms. Althea. It has been a while since I''ve been excited!" While the other farmers looked at him in envy, someone had a more farsighted brain and looked at Althea. Hesitating for a moment, he gathered his courage to ask. "Boss, if you don''t mind us asking, how much were the fields?" "You can''t really buy the standalone fields. It''s just rented out, only at 50 silver per month and 10% tax is automatically deducted." The farmers looked hopeful, only 10 people were hired this time so their teammates could still get some, but they hesitated on reacting. After all, wasn''t this just thinking of doing your own competing business after leaving your boss? Althea laughed at their expressions. "Don''t worry, you or your respective teams can rent your own farmlands. As long as you produce efficiently and don''t take my stuff, I don''t mind." Gru couldn''t help but admire Althea. Only less than two days and she had already figured out so much about the territory. Gru was very thick-skinned and didn''t hide his thoughts at all. "As expected of Ms. Althea¡­ always so amazing." His teammate Dennis, a farmer he met on the way here, rolled his eyes and couldn''t take this prideful guy''s grovelling appearance. He stepped forward and looked at Althea eagerly. "Then, can we buy seeds from you, boss?" Althea blinked for a moment, and smiled. "After the first harvest, sure." Everyone were relieved and very very happy. "Thanks, boss!" They exclaimed, very inspired, and they worked even harder farming than they ever thought they would. For the next half day, Althea watched the ten people passionately fill up a couple of fields with the wheat and rice seeds according to her requirements. There were some differences in their methodologies like their spacing, the depth of the seeds, etc. However, with the blessing of the system farms, she was confident most of them would grow well. She could already imagine the beautiful upright sheafs following the wind, signifying the promise of a great lifestyle ahead. How nice! Chapter 97 - 97: Prelude to Upgrades "Boss Sister, boss sisterrr~" Althea turned to look at two dumplings running towards her with their little legs, propelling them forward with their boundless energy. Fufi had already bolted some time ago and was now running alongside them. Maya was ambling towards her with Theo in hand. They had bright smiles on their chubby cheeks and the adults (the farmers and their helpers) who saw them couldn''t help but watch them fondly. With the current situation and the tragedy everyone went through, even if the kids stood motionless for an hour, there would be someone to dote on them. Even if it was visualizing the children they lost on them, there would definitely be someone tearing up in the vicinity. There were also animal lovers, with the survival rate of domestic animals even worse than children. There was definitely no lack of people spoiling Fufi. He had gained a lot of weight and she swore to get someone to train him soon so he didn''t get too unhealthy. Althea looked beyond them and saw there wasn''t anyone behind the children. Seeing that they were alone running around the territory, Althea knew that the adults had already started working on their respective tasks. Fortunately, the territory was very safe, and any damage or danger to residents would actually alert the ''authorities'', i.e. currently, just the lord or Drake, whom she assigned as such. All dangerous flaura, fauna, and insects were also expelled in the area when she created her territory. She found this out when Sheila no longer applied her insect repellant and asked permission to sell only to people going outside, instead. "Children." She said, patting their little heads as they entered her arm''s length. "Do you want to watch them farm?" She asked, head pointing at the hardworking men (and women) who were occasionally looking in their direction. "Are they farming now?" Maya looked on with interest. "Like what me and Papa did in the house!" "Yes," she smiled. "It is indeed very similar to what you did yesterday." "What are we planting?" "Rice and wheat. The beef rice meal you like so much couldn''t happen without these." "Ooooohh." Maya said, fascinated. Theo also had his mouth with an o-shape, showing off his shaky front tooth, also expressing his feelings. It was adorable. The group of four walked around the fields with interest, and she introduced the kids to the friendly farmers. Of course kids will be kids, so they did eventually get bored. Seeing this, Althea smiled and looked to a direction, to the undeveloped area of the territory. "Shall we walk around the forests?" And of course, the kids agreed with glee, and they (including Fufi) bounced about as they followed Althea to the nearby forests. The perks of under developed territory was that resources were everywhere, and it was safe. For now, while the population was still small, she didn''t limit the harvesting of resources within the walls too much. At least for now. The refresh rate was amazing anyway. She''d just add the rule of prohibiting taking the roots. Although it was difficult for her to lean down, the two children were very good and helped her. She taught them some basic knowledge on how to handle the digging, and how to make sure every harvest was sustainable, in the process. Surprisingly, Theo''s pick up was even better than Maya. Too bad he couldn''t speak, otherwise he''d have been asking a lot of questions now. "Can you get me that, Maya?" She asked, as she distracted the kids to handle a safe plant. This was because next to them she saw an unknown pink plant attached to a tree like a fig. She was afraid the children would touch it accidentally. She had already analyzed with her skill it and saw its use. [Soft Vine (Lv2): Muscle relaxant] Not only could this be used in medicine, but there was also a more important use (for her, anyway). But touching it could have a few side effects¡­ She took out her gloves and took some samples, for use as well as to replant and propagate back home. The moment they got back home, she went to the kitchen and walking to Harold who was preparing some ingredients for their next meal. "Boss?" She handed a basket of pinkish plants and placed them on the counter. "Try to soften monster meat with this, we can''t be dependent on your pressure cooker forever." Especially, it wouldn''t be able to handle the amount of orders when the restaurant opened. As she pointed at the plants, she looked at him with a mysterious smile. "Try not to handle too much bare-handed though, lest your muscles soften too much." "What?" "Mix it when you marinate, but don''t soak your hands on it." "Oh, okay." Harold said, blinking, the use of the thing slowly dawning on him. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When it did, his shoulders immediately tensed in excitement. "Let''s try it for dinner." Harold said, excitedly handling the meat and marinated it with the new plant. Of course, because it was new he also experimented in the concentration with varying success. When the meat was served that dinner, everyone pretty much drooled. Today''s meat dish was Stormdoer meat stew. There was a combination of vegetables and herbs (vouched safe by Althea) with a scent that permeated the air. The meat was tender morsels that oozed of fragrance, begging to be chewed. When it entered their mouths, the meat melted, and their eyes shut as they appreciated the taste. Indeed, the meat served was even better than before! It had a special floral aroma to it that fit well with the traditional taste of meat. She also tested the dish and there weren''t any volatile reactions at all. If anything, it blended really well with the other ingredients. Dinner was sumptuous and that night''s rest was estimated to be particularly nice. And it was made even happier¡­ because Althea finally received her long-awaited notification. [Detected! Conditions for upgrading Village Center had been met! Would you like to upgrade?] Chapter 98 - 98: UPGRADED! The team had been lounging in their new living room after that sumptuous meal when a ding sounded in Althea''s ears. [1000 gold transactions confirmed!] Althea was not surprised. After all, the farms had been rented now, a lot of stone and wood resources had been exchanged, and including the order she made under her name, there were plenty of transactions that happened in one day. [?] 1000 successful transactions [?] 1000 gold transactions (1003/1000)] [Detected! Conditions for upgrading Village Center had been met.] [Would you like to upgrade for 500 wood, 300 stone, and 800 gold?] "..." Good lord, this upgrade was thrice as expensive than building one from scratch? Looking painfully at her rapidly disappearing resources, she pressed YES. She decided that luxury purchases like custom houses would require not only gold, but also wood and stone resources. Milk the rich people well! Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She opened the window and except for the 2 more purchase slots and a new Rules and Regulations tab, there seemed to have no change. One must know that they could make some simple prohibitions even at level one, for a price. For example, no fight, no theft, etc. If it occured, an alert her or whoever she assigned to implement the rules (like Derek), and they would handle it from there. So what was the difference with the new tab? A bit disappointed, she decided to see the building for herself, making the others stare at follow her movements. "Where are you going, boss?" "Village Center is updated." She just said, but it was enough for everyone to stand up and leave whatever they had been doing. They arrived at the updated building a few minutes later, and they could hear the charter around. "I saw a building grow on its own!" "It was like magic." "Can buildings just get taller by themselves??" "Maybe! Like those infrastructure games I used to play." Walking past the crowd, they finally got closer. It was now twice as large, and twice as imposing. Inside, the area was enlarged with more platforms and surfaces. There was also an additional marble counter in the other end, with no platforms on the way from the door towards it. There was also a staircase on both sides of this empty concierge. They saw a few people climbing up excitedly to see what was inside. Unfortunately, they seemed to be stopped by an invisible wall. "It''s forbidden." Someone mumbled in disappointment, swiping around like a mime. "Nope. If there''s an opening, I can''t find it." Another one stepped in next to him, doing different movements, looking no less idiotic. Disappointed, the man''s shoulder slumped, "Me neither." Another sigh. "Let''s just go." Althea, who had been watching their exchange, frowned. If she wanted to hide her identity, did it mean she had to watch out for people before going to the second floor every time? "Is anything the matter?" Sheila asked and she shook her head. "I''ll tell you later." She whispered and the team went back to their base with a lot of questions. Althea though, was distracted the whole way. ''If only I could teleport¡­'' she mused. For a while, the issue dampened her mood. But then she remembered: She could indeed ''teleport''. Albeit it was teleport to the warehouse. Well, good enough. ¡­. Later that night, Althea excitedly went to the warehouse. There had been a lot of changes since the last time, there were now rows and rows of cabinets from Baron. The warehouse now looked similar to the supermarkets back in Terran. She walked past these and went to the end where the warehouse connected to the village center. She opened her Lord window and went to the Building Tabs. Paying a couple of gold, she added a mezzanine and a staircase. This way, she also not only gets access, but she also maximized the space. Building a door on the connecting wall, she turned the knob with a bit of anticipation in her heart. What could be on the other side of the door that only the Lord could get in? But, on the second floor there was¡­ nothing. "..." Her lips pursed and she entered, looking around more carefully. Then she looked down on her feet and her peripheral view saw a pattern nearby. She studied the floor and saw a faint, but pretty, circular pattern in the center of the room. It was made of a complex symbol that exuded some sort of power. There were concentric circles and curves, with these complex curves creating an intricate pattern connecting these circles. Her pretty eyebrows furrowed as she slowly walked over the aforementioned pattern, walking above it. Ding! [Would you like to spend a one-time fee of 100 gold to open the portal for specially hired work? Note: 1. Monthly salaries are paid separately. 2. At Level 2 Village Rank, a maximum of one person a day can be hired. 3. The summoned person reserves the right to agree to the hiring process. 4. Three attempts are allowed daily. 5. Hired individuals are duty-bound to complete the scope of their tasks, according to their job descriptions. 6. Hired Individuals are not slaves and will not endanger their lives for the territory. They are only required to do what is within their ability and are allowed to flee as needed. 7. Territories cannot force a Hired Individual to commit acts they are not willing to do. 8. Hired Individuals may also choose to apply extension of their tenure. 9. Lords can terminate a hiring deal, but the initial hiring payment for that month would not be refunded. Note: Hired Individuals are contract-locked to never be able to do any harm to the territory. Even upon the end of their tenure, Hired Individuals will not be able to disclose anything related to the territory.] She blinked. Hired Individuals? Do they appear above the circle? Like a game of sort? Then she paused at a realization, eyes bright in curiosity. Could this be the legendary NPC? Chapter 99 - 99: First NPC As interested as she was though, she didn''t say Yes immediately. Even with all these odd alien elements, she still knew that this wasn''t a game at all, where people had many lives and NPCs were guaranteed to be harmless. Even if there was an explicit note saying they couldn''t do any harm to the territory, there was no mention of protection of the individual. She might be much stronger than other Terrans, but who knew what would come out of this teleportation circle. Her brain couldn''t help but imagine a couple of scenarios that she really didn''t like. She cringed at the thought of zombies appearing all of a sudden, asking them to hire her with those creepy groans of theirs. Ugh. She shook her head and stared at the circle again in ponder. Her lips were pursed, before finally approaching it again. While risky, a lot of good things tended to come from risk. Not to mention, thinking about how the Universe system had always been objective and helpful¡­ it would be such a pity to pass on this opportunity because she was afraid. In the end, she decided to take a small leap of faith, and throw down a whooping 100 gold. There was an option on not hiring anyway, she might as well study the options first. [Yes] [-100 Gold] She watched as lighting from the pattern glowed and followed the lines outwards, remaining lit up indefinitely. [Would you like to open the portal for 1 silver (1/3)] Yes. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [-1 Silver] Soon a holographic image of a man appeared, looking dazedly at the screen. Althea could help but appreciate the magical technology before anything. The closest thing she could describe it was, like the game panel, a holographic image of sorts (which, by the way, was still being perfected in Terran). At the same time however, it was not quite a hologram. It had a more ''airy'' and translucent feel to it. More like the air itself was condensing to produce a colored image. It was very magical. It was only at this time that she finally took a moment to look closely at the person. He was quite tall. He was plain looking but had soft features. He also had a semi-bald head, that was more pronounced on the side. He also had an apprehensive expression on his face, which was a little amusing. Anyway, Althea moved on and shifted to look at his stats. [Name: Madon Loo Level: E Abilities: Production of low level weapons Wage: 10 gold per month Confirm? Yes | No (1/ 3)] Production of low level weapons? Her eyes brightened. Did it mean this person could produce weapons that damaged the monsters here? The wooden swords, bows and arrows, etc. that could do similar damage with their Terran guns? However¡ª She pressed NO in the end. She already had a weapons shop, there was no need for this. She could only hire one a day, what if there were better options at the back? However, this overlap between building and person did make her curious. If she hired an NPC, would they be able to replace the use of a building? Then she looked at the ''hologram'' again, deep in thought. She wondered how would she start see the next option? First she tried to swipe the image to the left, though the image only broke to pretty dust-like particles that recondensed to form the image. She thought for a moment and uttered "next," and the image broke down. [Would you like to open the portal for 1 silver (2/3)] Yes. The image of a 6 feet tall old man appeared. It seemed that everyone that appeared would be around or taller than this height? Even a crunched old man was taller than the typical Terran man. [Name: Crutch Bendon Level: D Abilities: Production of low to mid level armors Wage: 15 gold per month, food twice a day inclusive Confirm? (2/3)] This time she said Yes. Somehow, she doubted the next one would have a higher level. Judging by the logic of the system, it was likely that the better quality NPCs would be available upon levelling up. Naturally, she wanted the best for her territory. Of course, their monthly costs also increased. When she made her choice, the light from the circle projected upwards, creating a light curtain. When the light dimmed, the same old man appeared within the magic circle. Teleportation?? Oh my goodness. While she didn''t know what to expect exactly, this was a bit¡­ shocking to witness. However startled she was though, Althea didn''t show anything on her face. The old man, on the other hand, was stunned when he saw her. It was only for a moment and he quickly caught himself and kneeled down. "My Lord." "Get up." Althea hurrieldy said. "Just call me Althea." The old man gaped, looking aghast. "That¡­ isn''t customary my Lord¡­?" "People here don''t know I''m the Lord, so please treat me like the others." Crutch looked at her in incomprehension, not understanding why she did so. Althea sighed and opened up her game panel, deciding where to place him at. It just so happened that one of the new shops along the main commercial area hadn''t been rented yet. She took down its availability. "There''s a house on this address. The ground floor is for commerical, the upper floor could be your sleeping quarters." The man stared at her, confused. "Not an armory, my Lord?" "Is there a difference? I mean with what you would produce than what a building could." Crutch seemed to be at a loss, as if he didn''t think about this issue at all. "Not much, but our existence doubles the productivity of a building, at the minimum. That''s all I know. I apologize my Lord." Althea was relieved, it meant she wasn''t wrong. A pity for the productivity, but who told her building slots to be filled up. Anyway to sum, NPCs could, indeed, replace buildings. "It''s fine you helped me a lot." She said and the old man looked so honored Althea thought he''d have bowed if she didn''t stop him. At the same time, she thought of how other Terrans would choose in her position. They would probably opt to buy buildings instead of hiring NPCs. The one-time cost of a typical commercial building was only 50 to 100 gold, and you could produce unlimited amounts as long as one gave the raw materials. This was in contrast to the NPCs, which were paid 10 gold a month, at the cheapest, and their productivity would definitely not be ''unlimited''. She couldn''t tell which would upgrade faster, either, so her choice actually had a number of risks. But, well, each to their own. She still believed in her intuition. Chapter 100 - 100: Second NPC "Milord?" Clutch looked at her warily, and Althea crossed her arms as she stared at him. He was shaking a bit, obviously intimidated. Her eyebrows furrowed. "Am I scary?" "I¡­ no, yes¡­" "What?" "Whatever my Lord says is correct." "Just treat me casually. I''ll be angry if people find out about me because of your attitude." She said so with faux-sternness. What she didn''t expect was that he would look like he was about to cry the moment she said it. Her eyes twitched, not dwelling on it anymore. Obviously, the status of the Lord in this world was relatively high, which was mostly a relief. Another interesting thing was that NPCs seemed to be speaking another language? However, she could understand it clearly, as if there was an automatic translation in her head. Of course their way of speaking was a little different, but her brain could just translate it in a way they would easily understand. She looked at the man who was still looking down, not meeting her eyes. "Can I ask, my words¡­are they in your language?" She knew the question was weird, but she didn''t know how to ask ''Do you understand the language I''m using'' when he obviously could. Surprisingly, the old man really understood. He shook his head. "No, your language is strange. Your territory must be far from mine¡­" "I see, thank you." She said after a pause, "You go to the place I told you about. Good night." "T-Thank you, milord." He said, bowed, and walked out the door, gently shutting it. Althea couldn''t help but stare at the door, recalling the man''s reaction to the question. So¡­ everyone¡ªincluding aborigines ¡ªhad an automatic translator in their heads? She shrugged and yawned, sleepy. She''d think about that later on. ¡­ The mid-morning of the following day, Althea went back to the 2nd floor to summon another NPC. The only difference was that there was an additional set of couches and coffee tables on the corner, rush ordered from Baron''s team, making them the first citizens to enter the second floor (though not before signing an NDA, just because). She took out some snacks and milk prepared by Harold. Yesterday, she wanted to have a chat with the old guy. But she was very pregnant and tired so she passed. This time she made sure of her comfort. She opened the portals again and took a look at her options. Unfortunately, she didn''t take the first two. One of which was a level E armor maker and another one didn''t have a skill that¡­ she''d want in her territory. The woman''s ability was to ''serve'', and judging by her revealing dress and the constant winking and sexy poses of her holographic avatar, it was probably ''that'' type of ''serving''. The last one was also a woman, but she had a stronger aura and short hair. [Name: Brenda Walker Level: D Abilities: Production of low to mid level weapons Wage: 15 gold per month, food twice a day inclusive Confirm? (3/3)] Finally seeing a decent option, she heaved a sigh of relief and clicked ''Yes''. A familiar burst of light lit up the room, soon revealing the live-version of the image. It was a pretty woman with a strong but curvaceous figure. It was just that there was a huge burn scar on the lower side of her face, disfiguring her otherwise pretty face. The woman bowed, not daring to look at her. "My Lord." S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She repeated her instructions with Crutch, and the woman looked at her with a similarly baffled expression. Althea didn''t bother with her reaction anymore and went straight to the point. "You will be assigned to my weaponry shop." She told her, "It''s just that it''s only level one. It won''t affect your level of production, will it?" The woman raised her head, as if surprised to hear her voice. "N..No, mil¡ªmiss. But working in a weapons shop will increase my productivity." "Do you know why?" She asked, curious. Perhaps she could figure out an alternative to these buildings. "Weaponry stores have production rooms accessible only to the workers and the Lord. "This working room includes all the tools we need to work well. We also get a special increase in these rooms, increasing our rate of success and efficiency, depending on the level of the building." Althea nodded, taking note. It seemed that she would still need to consider adding an armory in the future, though it would really depend on the situation. "Weaponry stores also have accommodations?" "Yes, a level 1 store can accommodate up to 2 employees." "Do these building buffs apply only NPCs¡ªI mean, people hired like you are?" The woman seemed a little confused with her question, and Althea realized that this seemed to be a common sense question. "We lived in a secluded area before; we are unaware of the situation of the continent." She cleared her throat. "The term Buffs are used to refer to quality or productivity increase awarded by, say, a building." Brenda nodded in understanding. "As long as the Lord hires someone, regardless of in person or through the village center, they can enjoy the same¡­ buffs." She nodded, relieved. "Where are you from? Do you have family?" "I live with my father in Glaston Town." "Where''s that?" "It''s a hundred kilometers from the centre of the human Territory." She said, a bit proud. After all, the closer to the center, the less likely they will be noticed by surrounding races, and thus safer and better developed. Althea was very interested to hear about the ''outside world''. "Oh? You seem very proud of your home." Brenda touched her nose in embarrassment. "Well it''s more on the development of the territory.'''' She mentioned the relative safety from the enemy races. "Our home really did well, and a lot of it had to do with positioning. "If it was a human territory attacking during the Territory Wars, our territory would likely handle it well." This one sentence poured cold water all over Althea''s curious good mood. Her back straightened, eyebrows meeting in befuddlement. Territorial Wars? Humans attacking? What was this? What was it this time?! Chapter 101 - 101: Territorial Wars (Part 1) G Tourist City, 18 months prior Inside a deluxe hotel room, a newly-wed couple watched the worrying news on the television in the comfort of their bed. [The tension between Eden and the Yuta country is at an all time high.] The reporter said, and an image of thousands of soldiers marching was shown. They looked very disciplined and regal, meant to show the country''s population that they, the Military, could handle whatever results would come out of the discussions. The newscaster continued to speak. [The Edenian Military is preparing in case it develops negatively. However, our Foreign Affairs Minister Mathilda Ross will be flying to personally handle the talks.] "Are you allowed to be here?" Althea asked, turning her fluffy unruly head to the man she was lying on. "It is my week off." He told her succinctly, but his eyes were warm on the woman in his arms. His large hand slid down to her soft unclothed waist, slowly caressing her supple skin. He had been looking forward to this for months. How could he forget that their honeymoon a few months prior was cut short because of a mission! Althea pouted and held his naughty hand in place. "But¨C" "There are plenty of capable people in the military." He said, voice raspy and sexy, as he changed their positions and placed her underneath his hovering large body. Not forgetting to turn off the damned television, of course. He dipped his head so his lips touched the side of her face, slowly going down her neck, sampling her supple skin there. His warm hand moved, caressing her thigh, feeling her softness. Althea was frowning with a flushed face. She pursed her lips as he went lower, and she quickly placed her hand on his warm lips, stopping him from doing more. "Will Auntie be okay?" She asked, a bit breathless. How could she be in the mood when people she knew were in danger? "Gill led the team to protect her himself. They''ll be okay." He said, kissing her palm. He couldn''t tell her any more details because it was confidential, and he just assured things would be okay. However, his deep azure eyes met her lovely emerald ones and he understood she was really not in the mood (for now). Sighing, he simply returned them to their previous position, with his wife snuggling comfortably on him. After confirming that he wasn''t going to ''take advantage'' (so cute, Garan thought), her shoulders slumped in relaxation. She buried her head on his wide shoulder, wrapping her arms around him, feeling his soothing warmth. "If only there were no wars." He looked at her gently and his large hands caressed her back. He leaned down to kiss her head. "Only in an ideal world, my love." He said, wrapping his strong arms around her, sending her warmth. "But no matter what¡­," he told her, "You have this husband of yours to protect you." ____ [24 Days of Protection Period] Althea rubbed her temple and walked to the lounge area and sat there. Her body felt very heavy, like lead was resting on her. It wasn''t even because she was pregnant. Brenda for a while just stood there looking down and waited for instructions. After a moment, Althea drank her tea habitually to calm her nerves. Not only did they have to deal with monsters, now they had to deal with other humans, too? Wait, no, there seemed to be other¡­ creatures? It was only after her cup was half empty that she noticed the other woman standing dutifully not far from the circle. Althea sighed and waved at the other seat. "Take your seat, and have a snack. It''s cookies and tea." Brenda hesitated and looked at a loss. Althea''s eyebrows rose, puzzled. "What''s wrong?" "It''s improper to be so¡­ informal with the Lord." "Well, my territory is different." Brenda saw that she was not testing her and was sincere in the invite. Brenda couldn''t help but be extremely honored to the point that even if she was fed poison she may really take a sip. "T-Thank you.." She was actually being polite and thought that she didn''t have the guts to eat and drink too much. It was just that the moment a bite touched her tongue she couldn''t help but eat and drink a bit more. It tasted amazing. The aroma of the ''cookies'' and the fragrance of the tea enveloped her senses, carrying her to an unfamiliar world she would love to explore. When her teeth bit into the cookie''s crunchy but chewy exterior, a burst of flavors erupted on her tongue, making her want to moan. Then she took a sip of the tea, each drop sending warmth to her body. She immersed herself in the earthy essences of each sip, closing her eyes as her palette exploded with floral undertones, mixed with some natural sweetness of fruit she could taste. She had heard of teas. Weren''t they supposed to be bitter? Unconsciously, she raised her head to ask the nearby person¡ª When she saw the lord''s beautiful emerald eyes looking at her in amusement, Brenda shivered¡ªGoodness Elves, how could she forget that the LORD was right next to her!¡ªand she abruptly stood up, and bowed at a 90 degree angle. "I-I-I''m sorry my Lord!" She exclaimed, shaking a bit. She wouldn''t get fired as soon as she was hired? Ironically, her eyes ended on the plate, and felt reluctant to part with it the most. Althea saw all this and held back a chuckle. "I told you to just call me Althea." "H-How could I?" "Calm down. It''s fine, I placed it there to be eaten." "B-But¡ª" Althea rubbed her forehead. Obviously, there was a heavy cultural gap between them and it was useless to teach too much. "Do you want to eat the rest or not?" She said, "If you don''t sit back down I''ll take them back." "..." "..." The woman furtively sat back down. Althea waved at the food and as if ''doing her duty'' the woman resumed her chewing. She did not even notice she was humming a bit, but Althea didn''t point it out lest she went into a panic attack. Anyway, from her reaction, she could tell that the NPC loved the food, and this was still using the simplest available ingredients¡­ S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, instead of dwelling, she started changing the topic. "You mentioned some sort of war earlier¡­" She paused, deep eyes darkening. "Tell me more about this¡­ territory war." Chapter 102 - 102: Territorial Wars (Part 2) "Tell me more about this¡­ territory war." Althea paused, "And, has this always been the case?" Brenda looked at the lord''s face and saw that she was really not angry, she composed the answer in her head and responded. "Territory wars are inter-territory fights that have been happening for millennia. "My father had taught me that wars had been going on since the time of our ancestors. It was the natural way of life back then. "Plundering, murder, and theft were common practices and were considered common sense at the time¡ªregardless of the race. "But the wars had gotten so bad that over half the population died. This was some thousands of years ago, I believe." "Led by the elves, the Concordium began and limited the waging of wars to a maximum of twelve times a year, or once a month. There was also a day required to warn the territory being attacked, so no there are no real surprise attacks. "To some extent, this really allowed respite time for everyone to recover." "Concordium?" Althea said, "What do they do? Where are they now?" Brenda shook her head. "I don''t think they still exist, but the rules set applied to everyone who entered the land." "I don''t know much about it, we were only commoners after all." Althea didn''t bother with this Concordium as she felt it was far from her. On the other hand, she was still very worried about the wars. "Won''t strong territories just target weaker ones?" At this point, Brenda now fully understood that the lord truly had no idea what was going on in their place. Of course, while it was a mystery how the Lord''s people had yet to experience Territory Wars, it was none of her business. Brenda simply answered as carefully as she could, trying to be as helpful as possible. "Territories were only allowed to attack territories of the same level. However, if a territory wants, it can challenge any stronger opponent." Althea nodded. Indeed, if wars could be waged without limit, it would only be endless bloodshed. Wars could be said to be an inevitability for a planet with so many different intelligent creatures. Even in Terran, where only humans were the only intelligent beings, wars had been an unavoidable part of history, let alone when there were so many races. Speaking of other intelligent creatures, she''d have to ask this in detail later on. "Then what''re the winnings?" Brenda swallowed another piece of cookie. She couldn''t help it, it called to her. "Regardless of whether the territory was challenged or was challenged, the loser will give up the current half of its assets to the winner. "This includes gold, resources, buildings, people, and others." Then she paused, looked at Althea with a bit of reluctance, but still voiced out her thoughts. "...Unless the Lord themselves are killed and their tokens taken, in which case the territory can be merged with the winning territory." "What?" But¡­how? The Lord token was integrated into her. It was not a physical item after use nor was it in space. From her understanding, a used lord token would not appear until the holder died. And when they did, as what happened with that other guy from Royal Territory, their land will disintegrate with them. "I hadn''t encountered it personally, but a mercenary I once knew had once been hired to fight for an attacking territory." She looked a bit bitter at the mention of the ''mercenary she once knew'', and Althea saw some history. But Althea was never one to pry. "They won, and they managed to get the entire territory. "According to him, during the 28 hours of war, the Lord token will temporarily be disassociated with the body¡ªunable to be integrated and placed in the space." "It wasn''t common knowledge, but it so happened the lord that hired him knew of it and specifically investigated and targeted the enemy lord." "Hence during the time of wars, even if the Lord died the territory would not. Whoever could take the token would get the territory as well." Althea thanked the heavens for her decision to be low-key. Otherwise, in wars, if she didn''t trust the people around her, she would not only be afraid of attacks from the outside but also greedy people who wished to occupy her land. Brenda also realized the advantages of the lord hiding the lord identity. It was just that she had never known anyone who could let go of the prestige of being hailed, respected, and worshipped that came with the status of a lord. After all, even lords with small villages had a higher status than low nobles in towns. Not to mention, the lord obviously didn''t know about the Territorial Wars before and yet she made this decision. She was obviously a very wise lord. Brenda was relieved to be under her for the time being. Then Althea looked at the woman. "28 hours is a day, correct? How many days a month?" Brenda blinked suddenly questioning the wise Lord image in her head for a moment. But then she remembered they were complete foreigners. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "32 cycles my lord." This confirmed her previous supposition and was relieved it was really longer than Terran months. It meant she still had 24 days to go. Althea was still absorbing all the information, but it felt like her brain wasn''t working very well. Instead, she just asked another issue she had been concerned with. "What other creatures are there? Other than humans?" "Orcs, dwarves, goblins, zergs, the undead¡­ there seem to be smaller ethnicities but I''m not very familiar with them¡­ " She looked very distressed as she said so. "I''m sorry my Lord." Sigh¡­ Althea couldn''t even be bothered to comfort her right now. If those fantasy novels and movies were accurate, then these so-called Orcs, goblins, dwarves, zergs, and the undead¡ªand there were also elves, it seemed¡ªwould definitely not be easy opponents. Even the NPC wasn''t clear about it, how could she prepare for it? Althea rubbed her temples, trying to soothe an incoming headache. What the heck... was this place? Chapter 103 - 103: A Moment of Respite [24 days of Protection Period] Now that she knew what they would face after the protection period, she suddenly felt a deeper sense of crisis. She still hadn''t gotten over her little trauma from the last beast tide, now they had to go through wars?! And at least once every month at that! It was only now that she noticed Brenda looking at her worriedly. Althea sighed, unconsciously patting her stomach to calm herself. Her babies were responsive and gently kicked from inside, making their presence known, as always. With renewed strength, she opened her alluring emerald eyes that had now regained its calm. She then looked at the woman, who flinched a bit. She started giving instructions, her tone as stable as it could be. "Go to the Weapon Store, and focus on creating mid-level weapons." She said. In this way, not only would they have Level E weapons, but they could have improved Level E and even Level D weapons. Of course, the latter was preferred, so she ought to give a bigger incentive. "You will receive 1% of the profits for each weapon you make. You will also get more if you innovate." She paused, looking at the other woman who was already gaping at her in confusion. Althea assumed she needed more explanation, "It means that for every weapon you produce, you would get a residual. Further, you will receive a higher share per weapon if you innovate on a weapon yourself. I hope you do so." "My Lord?" Brenda couldn''t help but ask again, doubting if she heard it correctly. Althea stared at her and repeated what she said, and how could Brenda dare make her repeat again? Brenda still couldn''t believe it. She had never heard of lords giving more to the hired personnel beyond the conditions of the contract. But when she saw the seriousness in Althea''s tone she could only bow her head in gratitude. "Yes, my lord." This was such a great honor it would take her the rest of the day to absorb it. Before Brenda left, Althea couldn''t help but emphasize: "Remember: People don''t know of my status as the lord." "Yes, milord." Brenda left the room and walked down the flight of stairs, flinching at the heads whipping to her direction. She cleared her throat and continued walking down, heading to the Weapons store as ordered, inevitably causing a disturbance to the people using the ground floor. ¡­ On the other hand, Althea, through the warehouse, teleported back to her room. Her shoulders slumped as she stepped into her room, heaving a sigh, and went to the bathroom to take her bath. She looked at the new earthenware tub, now filled with water from the tap, connected to the tank above. She lit up the fire pit below the tub to warm the water. She really needed a very relaxing bath right now. She was partially in a daze as she prepared her bath, waving her hand along the water as she waited for it to warm, unsure of how to handle all the pressure. A couple of minutes later, she judged that it was warm enough and headed to the counter. She took out an earthenware bottle on the surface, gesturing to put a couple of drops into the bath water. The moment she uncapped the bottle, a gentle fragrance wafted out, lingering in the air. The room was filled with a mix of gentle aromas, carrying promises of relaxation and serenity. Walking towards the tub, she tilted the bottle, and droplets of the scented oil fell from its lip, merging with the clear water below. What she added was her latest floral essence extracted from wildflowers and mixed with a system-unnamed plant that smelled like Jasmine (and was thus named as such). A contented smile graced her lips as she dipped her hand into the water. The soothing warmth and fragrance of the water was lovely. She shed off her clothes, stepping on the slippery surface of the tub, and sank into the water''s warm embrace. As she laid inside the wooden bathtub with her eyes closed, a soft sigh escaped her lips, not wanting to think about the beasts and the wars. Her worries were temporarily carried away by the relaxing aroma and the gentle caress of the water. As her mind drifted, she couldn''t help thinking of how the NPCs revered her by virtue of her being the Lord said a lot about the hierarchy here. A society with a sharp hierarchy meant that there was a contrasting concentration of wealth, something she could take advantage of. Althea had always been confident in her products. Her products had always been top par and her luxury items sold for exuberant amounts. Even in this other world, she believed she would still do well. Thinking of the wealth she could milk out of the nobles here, the feeling of dread about the inevitable end of the Protection Period softened a bit. A bit biased, she contributed her change of mood to her product, naming it with the apt ''Calming Spring''. ¡­ "Boss is so beautiful¡­" Sheila couldn''t help but whisper as the pregnant woman gracefully walked out of her room and joined them on the just-set table. "You smell very nice." "It''s a new product. I''ll give you one." Sheila brightened. Which woman doesn''t love beauty in their core? Old Harold, who was quite dull when it came to all things beautiful, just continued to chew his food, much more interested in the gossip he caught. "Someone came down from the second floor! They say it''s a woman as tall as a big man. Very strong, too, and she went straight to the armory!" He paused, finishing a few more bites "Boss, do you know who it is?" "Hmmm. An NPC, who will be in charge of the weapon shop." The men perked their ears in interest, while the children just enjoyed their flavored mashed potatoes. "NPC?" Harold asked, not sure if he heard correctly. Eugene very helpfully explained to him. "It''s called a non-Player Character. Basically a non-Terran." "Yes, it''s an aborigine hired through the village center." Althea paused and looked at them strangely, "Also, she wasn''t the first NPC." "Eh?" "There was also one last night, an armor maker. Everyone''s probably already asleep at the time so no one saw him, or at least noticed he wasn''t from Terran." "I placed him in one of the shops near the center." Anyway, they only had torches and the two moons at night. Who would stay up late? At this time, the vibrant nightlife was something exclusively from a ''past life''. For now, anyway. In any case, Eugene brightened at the knowledge of such experts entering their territory. "That''s great to hear. So it could make more weapons and armor now right?" Housekeeper-Harold, as always, focused on certain things first and foremost. "How much do they cost to hire?" Althea shrugged and told them, getting them to nearly choke. "15 gold a month?! Each?! So expensive?!" The much-sought-after permanent residency was 10 gold, and so was the downpayment (just determined) for the most basic housing unit! "I''ll just make sure they''re worth it," Althea said apathetically. "I have the choice to rehire them after a month, anyway." The topic shifted to the other NPC, and also thought perhaps an armory would also be good. It was Eugene who spoke of differing opinions. "Shouldn''t we just improve his working area?" Althea paused and then looked at Eugene with a little admiration. "Very good idea." She said, this way she didn''t have to use a building slot¡ªthat she didn''t have, by the way¡ªon the building. Of course, the gossip didn''t end there. This time it was Sheila who shared the news. She leaned over, looking quite gossipy, very unlike the timid self she first met her with. "There were a hundred people who entered the territory this morning." But her face scrunched to a depressed expression, remembering their states and the stories that came with them. And she looked at Althea with a very worried expression. "They all looked horrible, it seems that their territory also got attacked by a beast tide¡­" She couldn''t help but shudder at the memories of how Royal Territory was before. "Will they attack us too?" Althea nodded and told them the truth, "Oh, definitely." All their hearts skipped a beat, and they gaped at her. "Boss? So sure?" "If my theory is correct, the attack would happen within a few hours of upgrading." "Are we going to upgrade, boss?" Althea nodded. "Very soon." She did not reveal what she found about territory wars, for now, as they already had enough on their emotional plates at the moment. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The table was silent for a while and the children finally noticed the weird atmosphere and blinked their cute little eyes. "But ours is better!" Maya said, eyes expressing how certain she was. They all broke into smiles. Harold chuckled and he patted her head. "Well, our territory is definitely better than that guy''s." Althea nodded. "That''s why we need to strengthen the guards team." Eugene, who was in the military, nodded. "The citizens themselves should have a certain discipline as well. We don''t want them abandoning the territory in the middle of the crisis, add chaos, and maybe make things worse¡­" Althea smiled. In fact, seeing there were more and more people coming in, she decided to publicize the rules she had set prior. It was said that civilization was born from the delicate mix of freedom and order. Althea completely agreed, and she would definitely make sure her territory was as great as it could be. Chapter 104 - 104: Rules and Regulations Althea stared at her Lord panel for a while, wondering if there was a function that could help her. The new function of the Villages Center¡ªRules and Regulations¡ªshould be more than just another announcement function, otherwise it wouldn''t get its own tab. Before, even at level one, they could add clauses like no fighting, etc. for a cost, but the end effect would simply alert the authorities (mostly her, and whoever she assigned to the task). What was different after levelling up? A little curious, she raised her dainty arms to activate the tab, and the screen shifted to form another set of tables. To be honest, she hadn''t gotten tired of watching this screen shift, which looked like microscope air particles floating around, forming different images after a ''click''. It was quite fascinating. Soon, an image in front of her revealed two columns of differing colors. There were ''Rules'' on the left side and ''Punishments'' on the right, in their own language. Although the system didn''t help them translate the local written language, it was kind enough to do so with their ''screens''. Her emerald eyes skimmed through the texts, studying them, and saw that there was also a row below indicating the amount needed for implementation. Heh, everything was paid. Then again, if she had the convenience of automatically punishing those that wronged the territory, she felt that it would be worth it. "Now that we''re in this topic, help me formalize some rules." She told the team, who in turn looked at her curiously. However, looking at all of them without professional knowledge on politics and social science, she paused a bit. Fortunately, there was someone who spent her whole life in the field, and she was conveniently right next door. She looked at Harold. "Can you call auntie here as well, she''d definitely be able to help." Harold nodded and went to the neighbors, calling the former politician in. When Mathilda arrived, the adults all sat down the dining table to discuss on the rules and regulations to be implemented in the territory. They brainstormed on what to write, and even decided on the sequence. After all, they couldn''t scare everyone from the get go, right? Most importantly, they also took advantage of this time to announce the other rules that would affect every day life. They reread, revised, and revised again until they finally decided on the initial Rules and Regulations within the territory. The payment was based not only on word count, but on the details. For example, adding a no-fighting clause added much more than simply ''no killing'' because fighting had a wide breadth and variation. Even the degree of punishment cost differently. She paid a whooping 500 gold for implementation of the initial Rules and Regulations. Soon, another announcement appeared in front of everyone in the territory, visitors and citizens alike. [Welcome to the Proud, Strong, and Prosperous Altera Village! We aim to create the idyllic sanctuary where all those who stayed can sleep and live well, whilst maintaining the necessary abilities to survive in the outside world. In order to maintain the peace and order within our great territory, everyone within its walls must abide by the Rules and Regulations as follows: 1. Fighting outside territory designated areas is strictly not allowed. Punishable by yellow card, unless damage to others and/or the territory was done, in which case see item (2) and (3). 2. Damaging public property is punishable by repair of the item and 1 yellow card. 3. Damaging other''s property is punishable by paying three times the original objective value of the item. 4. Littering is not allowed in public spaces of the territory. Punishable by 10 copper per cubic centimeter of trash. 5. Noise in residential areas are not allowed after dusk. Punishable by 10 copper per person disturbed. 6. Loose stones and loose wood resources can be taken without limits. 7. Temporary Residents are entitled for 1 kg of free plant (public domain forests) resource every day. 8. Permanent Residents are entitled for 2 kg of free plant (public domain forests) resource every day. 9. For ten copper coins: 1 kilogram of plants, fruits, and resources can be foraged per visitor per day. 5 kilograms for Temporary residents. 10 kilograms for permanent residents. Gathering more will trigger a payment method of ten times the normal value of the plants. 10. Temporary Residents are entitled for 10 L of free after resource (river or spring) every day. 11. Permanent Residents are entitled for 30 L of free after resource (river or spring) every day. 12. For ten copper coins: Visitors can get 50L of water per person per day in any of the water sources. Temporary residents may get 100L, and permanent residents may obtain 150L. Gathering more will trigger payment requests of 1 copper coin per liter. 13. Uprooting any plants is prohibited, unless expressly allowed by the territory. Punishable by 1 yellow card. 14. Trees within the territory cannot be cut without consent. Punishable by 1 yellow card and planting 100 tree seeds. 15. Creating chaos and confusion within the territory is punishable by yellow card for minor transgressions, and red for major transgressions. 16. Theft is punishable by paying 10 times the cost of the item, the return of the stolen item, and a yellow card. 17. Anything done under questionable morals or at the cost of damaging other people''s property, rights, and health, will be punishable on a case to case basis. 18. Due to the current lack of a prison, mild crime punishments are community service. I.e.Unpaid gathering of resources, cleaning duty, etc. Refusal would earn transgressor a yellow card. 19. During attacks on the territory, even under the protection of the walls and sentries, protected citizens shall do their parts. For every 1% loss in the health of the walls, 1 copper coin will be automatically deducted to anyone protected within the territory. 20. All employed personnel shall be required to spend 28 hours per week outside the walls with the intention of training. 21. Standard working hours shall be 10 working hours, including 1.5 hour break, at the discretion of the employer. Overtime pay and night differentials must be practiced. 22. During attacks on the territory, anyone who adds chaos will be punishable by at least 2 yellow cards. 23. Citizens and visitors may report suspicious activities of others in the Village center via the Information Tab. Rewards upon verification will be in units of contribution points. 24. Anyone proven to have intentionally compromised the safety of the territory is punishable by red card. 25. During attacks on the territory, everyone who defends the territory will obtain contribution points equivalent in number to the copper coins awarded by the system. 26. Contribution points can also be obtained by any acts, behavior, and knowledge contribution befitting and adding to the positive growth of the territory. Note: ''Cards'' are non-physical entities attached to the transgressor''s systems. Non-transferrable. Contribution points cannot be traded, sold, or transferred in any way or form. Three yellow cards are equivalent to one red card, punishable by expulsion and blacklisting. Permanent residents may have one yellow card waived by paying 100 gold at the Village center. Can be done only once per person per month. Remember: Staying within the territory will subject everyone under its protection with its rules. There will be no exceptions.] The entire territory froze for a good few minutes as everyone read and absorbed the content of the announcements. There were naturally various voices that exploded, a lot of which were negative. One person frowned and murmured. "Attacks on the territory?" "We have to guard the territory as well? What are the guards for then?" However, there were many more people who agreed, especially those who had experienced other territories and suffered from it. It was them who were first to speak up for the rules. "The previous territories charged many times more than this one and it only had a wooden fence and a small guard team." "The large walls and sentries must be expensive to build and maintain, but they''re definitely much safer than others." "Yes, yes." A few nodded in agreement. "It is estimated this one percent actually takes a while to happen." "I''ve been to other territories, the entrance alone is several times that of here. You enjoy this benefit, how can you not follow this little thing?" "I think it''s fair." "I think it benefits us all! Who would want leeches in their team?" "Right! Those who disagreed must want to be parasites!!" "I think so, too! They probably just want to hide away!" "Damn! I had transferred with people like that! They pushed a lot of people as shields!" "Same!" Soon there was a change in the direction of the discussion, a lot of which due to the fact that those who disagreed would delegated as someone who only wanted to take advantage. They would be seen as someone who did not want to do any work, while taking the fruits of the labor of others. Which was, indeed, actually the case. These few bad seeds had to keep their thoughts to themselves, while the rest discussed the new rules positively. "Hey look, we don''t even need a labor union anymore." "Haha. The territory does love us!" "What''s contribution?" "I don''t know, must be a good thing." Then there were also teasing comments. One man looked at the friend beside him, "Hey, they said no littering." he laughed, "What if they back-charge? Won''t you get negative copper now? HAHA" And some were more curious of the new terms, "Hasn''t anyone noticed the advantages of being residents?" S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Yes, I can''t afford permanent residency, but temporary residency here is very very cheap." "We are entitled to some free food and water! What value for money!" "Ah I feel so stable! I felt like this when I bought a house back in Terran!" In this way, the number of residents skyrocketed¡­ ¡­to the point that another upgrade was triggered. This time, for the territory itself. Althea blinked at the new screen that suddenly popped in front of her eyes. [Upgrade requirement for the Territory to Level 2 has been met! [?] 100 Residents (temporary or permanent) [?] 300 consistent population for 3 days. Do you want to upgrade for 100 gold?] [Yes | No] Chapter 105 - 105: Guía Village (Part 1) Aberdeen City, 22 years prior "Upgrade, upgrade!" A sweet milky voice chanted, excited, putting a small smile at the faces of the people around her. They were currently in a small but colorful snack store. It was quite popular, as shown by the occupied tables even in the dead hours of early afternoon. At this time, the young cashier chuckled at the hyper adorable little girl below the counter, waiting for her grande order of ice cream. Although she and her brother were dressed a bit shabbily, they both had clean temperaments and good looks that people would think they were child actors wearing costumes. Anyway, the clerk just felt she was adorable, and added a few more fries into her order. "Thank you for your patronage." "Yay! Thank you Mister~" The tray was dutifully taken by an older boy, very handsome, and the girl tottered to follow him to their seats. "Thank youuu Wanwan~" Garan smiled as he placed the tray on the table, leaning down a bit. On cue, the little girl gave the older boy a slimy peck on the cheek which only made him happy. He patted her head and served her her food, placing them neatly in front of her and easy to reach, leaving just a bit for himself. The young Althea noticed this and frowned, placing more food on his plate "Wanwan is much bigger than Althea. Wanwan must eat more." She said with finality and the young Garan couldn''t help but pinch her plump cheeks. He did not reject her kindness. His angel had always been very kind. "Ok, okay. Thank you Althea." He said, picking up a bite to eat under her stare. Satisfied with his obedience, Althea cutely nodded in approval before eating her own food, happily chewing this rare treat. Her already chubby cheeks puffed as she chewed and her bright eyes lit up brighter every bite. Garan already felt full watching her satisfied. If he could afford treating her more, he would, sadly he was a kid and there was a limit to how much he could earn. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In any case, he thought cleaning up the mess hall everyday to get a few more bucks was too worth it. ¡­. _____ Guia Village, subsidiary village of Ferrol Town, Present Garan looked through the scope, one of the few surviving tools during the transfer, and stared at the direction of the fog, trying to see if there were any changes whatsoever. Seeing that there was none, his strong jawline tightened and his eyebrows furrowed deeply. Garan frankly didn''t know what to feel. He couldn''t eat well since he found out she could be in this place, perhaps getting chased by monsters, suffering from hunger. The image itself made his heart hurt so much that he massacred an attacking mob of monsters by himself. They were currently staying in a village called Guia Village, which was much closer to the fog along with others. They chose this place because they could watch the fog through the scope any time they wished. It was also the only village so close to it that survived the massive beast tide. One reason for this was because of its relatively higher altitude and easy to defend state. The other was because it was built as a mining village subsidiary to Ferrol Town. Because it was a mining town, it was also very tightly-protected. It therefore had much stronger manpower than the adjacent villages. They were only allowed to rest for a few days thanks to Bart''s connections, as non-residents were generally not allowed to stay in the place for long. They''d have to find another way to monitor the fog soon, as they hoped to stay indefinitely. Gill saw his boss sigh, and he understood very well how he felt. He, too, couldn''t help but look at the fog every few hours, as if he could see his mother and his sister in there. "That fog must be the protection. If we''re correct, it should disappear in less than a month." A month in this world was 32 days. Judging the explosion of the beast tide as the beginning of the countdown, they had already taken 7 days. This meant they didn''t have to be so near the entire time, they only had to get the timing right. While uncomfortable, Garan knew he was right. He could at least make use of this time to strengthen himself and study this world even deeper, so he could protect Althea when they reunite. "Boss, breakfast is ready." Another voice cut through their melancholic moods. They turned their heads to him. It was a man with fair skin and aquiline features, aptly named Eagle. He was also the only surviving person from the logistics team. These months they had gotten into the habit of discussing some investigations during meal times, because they were often up and about, busy, every other time. Everyone was reporting their own tasks. They reported on various areas and aspects of their respective scope. After all, they chose to investigate themselves rather than listen about everything rather than relying on the word of mouth from the locals, even from Gaudi whom they had just met. For example, the time and distance to the next surviving territory. In which case, was tens of kilometers away. For example, the level of monsters in the vicinity. Which was the average for villages, which was levels 5-10. For example, how many territories around actually fell and what happened to them. Which, so far, based on the refugees outside, rose to about as high as 85%. This damage was really big. "I''m afraid people would blame the territories inside." Luis mumbled, not forgetting Gaudi''s tragic story. "Perhaps." Garan said, especially if someone deliberately targeted a territory, in which case that territory would have no choice but to face wars twice a month. "This is why we have to be as strong as we could be, and this starts with understanding this world more." The others nodded, and they continued their discussions, with a serious aim to prepare for whatever they may encounter. After all, they had an entire civilization to protect. Chapter 106 - 106: Guía Village (Part 2) The reporting continued on for another half an hour. Gaudi, as someone who had been in this place for over twenty years, was also quite helpful, adding details in their reports that they otherwise wouldn''t have noticed. Although he was a slave for most of his stay in Xeno, he still heard a lot of news especially in his stay at the mercenary hall. Hearing the detailed reports from the soldiers jogged his memories and some observations he didn''t put to heart at the time. In particular, just when the soldiers were trying to figure out a way to get information inside the fog¡ªfor instance, using low-level birds and hanging warning messages on their legs, hoping it dropped over ''destined people''. Although papyrus was very expensive and it was a long shot any information would actually reach Terran hands, it was all they could do. "The people inside the fog may not be entirely clueless about what goes on outside." The others turned their heads to him, a bit hopeful. "My territory before was one of the better ones amongst Nova territories. "We managed to upgrade our village center just before the protection period was lifted. Our territory hired some aborigines through it. Although it cost us a lot of gold to get information, we did get them. "We were also certain of their truthfulness because they were contract bound not to cause disadvantage to the hiring Territory." "That is hopeful." Gill nodded, and the others agreed. "Terrans should be richer, right? Nova had undergone extreme disasters, how much cash could they hold?" Luis mumbled, turning to Gaudi. "No offense." "It is fine. I also hope your people do well." Gaudi said, sincere. He looked at the variables in front of him, strong people aiming to protect¡ªsomething his own people didn''t have. "Perhaps it would be different this time." ¡­ Soon it was Vanessa''s turn. Her tasks had to do with medicine, and she¡ªwith her head held high¡ªspoke next. Her task was to study the treatment methods and their costs. Especally, she was embarassed when they just transferred here, because a lot of her knowledge no longer applied in this place. However, after months of hard work, she really managed to adapt and do well in her field. This was her pride. "The cost of treatment here is very expensive." "Although there were no healers here (and if there were, they would likely charge exuberant amounts) there was a pointed lack of medicine." She smiled. "I have also found a herb that had hemostatic effects." While speaking, her pair of dark-colored eyes always landed on Garan. She had heard his wife was known for her knowledge in plants. If she were to remind him of that woman, he should at least soften his attitude, right? She never thought she''d put herself so low and start vying to be a substitute, but she couldn''t help herself. Vanessa really couldn''t sit still anymore. She had begged her father to send her on the same mission as Garan. It had been so long and she hadn''t gotten an inch closer. Her wish of gaining even a bit of attention was doomed to fail, however, as the man only nodded and turned to the last person to report. Finally, it was Eagle''s turn, whose investigation direction had to do with logistics. "They had tamed a few flying monsters to transfer the ores." He said, looking a bit wishy-washy, which looked stupid on his slightly angular face. "How nice it would be to have a tamer¡­" "There is a fifty percent chance of the beasts biting back¡­" Gaudi couldn''t help but add. "..." I didn''t ask you. Eagle selectively ignored this, especially when he recalled something he eavesdropped. His back straightened up, recalling the wistful longing of one of the tamers: ''If only I had a space stone, we wouldn''t have to go back and forth in this weather!'' He was lost in his memory, which triggered a bit of impatience in his companions. "Say it!" Luis mumbled, annoyed. Eagle cleared his throat. "I heard a particular interesting piece of knowledge." He paused. He paused a bit too long, so he earned a rather hard ''pat in the back'' from Jake to get him speaking.. "Apparently," he began, as he massaged his beat-up shoulder and sending a glare to the culprit. "People need not be limited to 1 cubic meter of space." Everyone''s back straightened like his. Their eyes focused as they stared at him, waiting for him to continue. Don''t look at them appearing professional, their bright eyes betrayed their excitement. "There seems to be a special mineral called Space Stone. It is very rare but it could be used to either make accessories, or merge in our own space. I hear it doubles it, at least!" "Really?" Luis even stood up and stared at the ceiling, as if a diety was there to thank. "That''s great! Our space is too small!" "I want one!" "Me too!" Looking at their excited expressions, Gill sneered. "If it''s so easy to get, we''d have heard of this months ago." "..." "..." They simultaneously turned their head and looked at Gaudi to see what he could add regarding this piece of super-interesting information. The older man looked a little embarassed at the passionate attention and cleared his throat. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I have indeed heard of this. But I have never met anyone who had one, at least no one announced it." He paused, thinking, recalling all the limited information he had on this item. "The only circulating description is that it''s a ''stone that contains the stars''¡ªthe most beautiful gem in the universe." "That''s all?" Luis asked. "Damn. Makes me itchy with curiosity¡­" Jake couldn''t help but add. "What I do know is that they''re very difficult to find, and even more difficult to harvest." he told them, "I have encountered countless of missions looking for it, but in my decades of stay I have only heard it succeed once or twice before." "From what I gathered these precious stones could only be found, and mined, by Goblins. He paused, looking at these new set of masters he had. "And only by Goblins." Chapter 107 - 107: Other Races Goblins, eh? As a mining village, Guia Town naturally had a lot of goblin slaves. It was just that they were all concentrated in prohibited areas and they had yet to see one up close. Similarly, in other territories, most goblins were also confined in well-protected mining spots. Normal people wouldn''t be able to see them at all. In fact, if Guia town didn''t just have the most common iron-like metal, their team wouldn''t even have the right to stay overnight, no matter how well-connected Bart was. Guia village was divided into two areas: One was the village center where the accommodations of majority of the population¡ªmostly miners'', the guards'', their families, as well as guests like them¡ªwere located. This was very restrictive in itself. Because guests like them could only get visitors pass and had to pay 10 silver per day. This was not including the inn fees that rivaled those of large towns. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They heard a lot of refugees from the adjacent villages that were destroyed came here, but were eventually kicked out due to not being able to pay the visitor''s fee. They could imagine the tragic sight of desperate people simply trying to find a safe haven, only to be denied because of people''s greed. The other area was the actual mining area, which took up over half of the territory''s land. This was strictly prohibited to outsiders. It was heavily guarded and monitored, taking up nearly half of the guard team. This was also where all the goblin slaves were. They turned to look at Gaudi, the ''veteran'' who had been here for nearly three decades. "What do you know about the other races and how do us humans fare amongst the forces in this world?" Gill asked the old man. They also tried to find out, but this type of knowledge would take years if they didn''t have the right channels. Bart was fine, but they feared things would change if he found out they weren''t from this world at all by asking too much, so for this they could only ask a fellow outsider. The older man nodded, as a slave of the mercenary union, he had indeed overheard a lot of news through the years. "As far as I know, there has never been a hegemonic force among intelligent beings, even among humans. "It''s sad, but amongst the human territories, there was always in-fighting." "As for the other races¡­" He paused, recalling his limited knowledge on the matter. "Other than goblins, I have heard of various races like dwarves, mermaids, the undead, trolls, ogres, and elves." "The Goblins, as you may already know, are small and weak. While rare, you can still see goblin slaves from nobles and central territories. They comprise the most population next to humans in the human territory. "They specialize in detecting minerals and ores. Amongst all intelligent beings, no one can compare to them in terms of detecting such things. "They said even a goblin child was better than a human expert that studied stones for decades." "What? That''s amazing. There must be something to their physiques, then¡­" Luis mumbled, chewing on something. Gaudi nodded. "Goblins also had the strongest fertility, so even if they''re the weakest, they could make up for it in numbers. I heard of a small mercenary group from a border village had an unfortunate skirmish with a rare aggressive goblin group. "There are still horror stories about the status of their corpses even until now, many years later." Gaudi paused, rummaging his memory, before speaking again. "They''re also extremely skilled at digging; I heard their abodes are generally dungeons and caves they created themselves. Next to the orcs, they were the other race who often attacked human territories, especially those with goblin slaves¡­" "Ferrol Town and Guia village happened to both be territories near the borders of the Goblin and Dwarf territories." This made them pause. "So dangerous?" "I¡­ haven''t actually heard a lot of dwarves attacking human territories so far. At least not on this side. "Dwarves are known for their ingenious weapons and tools, but they have been enslaved by humans until about a hundred years ago, and have gone into hiding since regaining their freedom. "They are a small and reclusive race, and I have only heard about a handful of encounters after all these years. "Elves were the smallest population, less than a hundred per generation, yet the most powerful. "They have been extinct for thousands of years, but they were recorded as heroes. Xeno seemed to have also encountered catastrophic events, similar to our planets'', and the elves saved the whole continent. "My personal theory was that perhaps the reason why several civilizations could be sent here to survive was because of this lasting magic of the elves. But that''s just my guess. "The Undead¡­ I have no idea except they were disgusting creatures that eat live meat. They were pushed toward the barren lands in the northwest, but I hear occasional sightings and fights. "With no exception, it was always accompanied by massive losses on our side against this race." "That''s like zombies right?" "Seriously?" "Mermaids had their own kingdom on the Western and Eastern seas, though I have no idea how the two kingdoms differed." Luis couldn''t help but look wistful. And he wasn''t alone. "Are they pretty?" "What?" "The mermaids." Gaudi looked at him weirdly. "I¡­ from what I heard they had sharp fangs, white eyes, and aggressive temperaments¡­" "..." Gill rolled his eyes at the fools and just looked at Gaudi who was being weirded out by their questions. "Ignore them and continue." "A-Ah, yes." The old man said, "Trolls are also called Stone men, basically made of stone, and they live next to ogres known for their green skin and grotesque appearance. The former were peaceful and timid, while the ogres were more aggressive, but somehow the two races worked well together." "Because they live in the same areas, they often cross-marry. I had the fortune to see a crossbreed being dragged as a slave. The nobleman who bought this slave paid enough money to build an entirely new village." "As for the others¡­" He shook his head, "I don''t know anything." Gaudi stopped and no one said anything, absorbing the new information. It had to be said that in the past three months, they had focused too deeply on the way home, that a lot of knowledge had been bypassed. It was around this time that they heard a bit of commotion outside. They looked at each other and went out, to see a line of well-equipped soldiers dragging a long line of goblins. In the past few months they had only seen a few goblin slaves from afar, this was the first time they actually saw them up close. It was just that, as low-key as they wanted to be in a foreign territory, what they saw made their blood boil. Chapter 108 - 108: Goblin Slaves The Goblins were quite small, the largest one was only as tall as their thighs. They had green skins, long noses, and pointed ears. When they looked closer, they could also see that they had pointed fingers, narrow eyes, and rough skins. But what struck the soldiers the most was their state of being: they were ossified from hunger, with countless scars everywhere on their skin, their green flesh further covered by fresh and dried blood. The creatures were currently being dragged by their cruel captors, blood stamping their steps, and marks of heavy abuse visible in their emaciated bodies. Some were hopeless and soulless creatures, while there were few who had bright eyes and fighting spirit. Whatever it was, how could the sight sit well with the soldiers? "They''re goblin slaves bought from other territories." They overheard someone near them mention to his companion. "I heard they were bought for a very high price." "What''s up with the sudden purchase though? Did the demand for iron increase?" "Who knows¡­" They couldn''t help but look at the goblin getting dragged, marks of blood following their footsteps. Garan frowned, his gut was telling him something troublesome was about to happen. His attention was brought back to the sorry sights when a tottering old goblin met with a harsh whip from the guard. "Get moving!!" He yelled, throwing his whip again, not just hitting the one goblin but every one around it. The goblins screamed in pain but they dragged their bodies regardless. Garan and the others clenched their fists in anger. More expressive ones like Luis had their faces contorted in lividity and indignance. Although they were soldiers, they had lived in a fair, peaceful world. Their special teams were basically the only soldiers who still encountered real danger every few months, and it was only due to rare insurgents and criminal gangs. It was a very rare sight, even for them, to see an intelligent being abusing another to such a degree, so openly, and without remorse. But they did not move, still knowing their place. But holding back definitely hurt their bodies, their livers, their heads. Sam even felt like he would have an aneurysm if this went on. A sudden yell sounded then, pulling them away from drowning in helpless self-pity. "Hey! Come back here!!" One of the slave drivers yelled at the top of his lungs, pudgy arms pointing at their direction. Soon they realized that one goblin seemed to have escaped. It was going to their side. "Stop him!" The slave driver yelled pointing at their group. But none of Garan did anything and they pretended as if they didn''t hear anything. Eagle even blocked the way a little as if by accident. "What are you doing?" The slave driver asked with a menacing look on his face. "Oh, what happened? I was just standing here peacefully¡­" Eagle answered, nonchalant. Veins popped in the slave driver''s head but he didn''t have the time to argue. He simply pushed him to the side, but Eagle was not moved. The slave driver narrowed his eyes but knew this wasn''t the time for this skirmish. Instead, he stepped away, cursing, promising himself he''d deal with this bastard after he got that damned goblin! But when he moved, Eagle did too. "YOU!" Eagle looked absolutely confused. "You told me to move." The escaped goblin was baffled as he sat, but he quickly got up and continued to run. The slave drivers glared at them and seeing they were standing still, he raised his hand to hit him with his weapon. "This will teach y¨C" S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Slap! A handsome pair of hands gripped on the whip, a bit of blood dripping from the point of contact. "I apologize, my friend''s ears are not very good." Garan said with a very diplomatic tone of voice, but his hand gripped his whip tightly. "Bastards!!!" He yelled, pulling with all his strength, and fell down when Garan suddenly let go. "You told me to let go¡­" "YOUUUU!!" The man turned red and speechless in anger. His posture changed and was about to attack when another voice from the crowd echoed, making the soldiers frown. "Caught him!" The person yelled, proud. "I caught the rat!!" Unfortunately, even if their group didn''t do anything to help evil, someone else did. The goblin was still caught in the end. It wasn''t that they didn''t think it would be caught, but it was caught too quickly. Did the people here have no pity for the little guy? The slave driver in front of them sneered as he stood up, sending the two sharp glares. Eagle and Garan were unfazed, however, as if they really didn''t have any idea on what just happened. He paid the captor some silver and dragged the poor goblin back to the line, the slave driver''s eyes on Garan, sending daggers with his sight. The man then threw the little guy to the goblin crowd, raising his whip to the highest his arm could reach, and hitting it with all his strength. They watched as the goblin was whipped several times until he was half-dead. Every Terran had their fists clenched, holding back. These¡­ were obviously intelligent creatures with their own feelings and thoughts!!! Among them, Eagle had already gestured to run to stop the whipping, but was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder. Eagle chose logistics even when he had good force value. This was because despite his menacing features, he had a very soft heart. He wouldn''t be able to kill an enemy at all. Fortunately, the monsters here were only rabid creatures who aimed to kill, otherwise he''d still be level 3 after so many months. Eagle looked at the hand and then to its owner. It was the captain. Of course, it was. The man shook his head, stopping him from doing any more. "It''s none of our business. We already did what we can." "But¡­ this is wrong." "Yes, I know. But we don''t have the power to critique other people''s worldviews." Garan said with a frown. No matter what, their safety came first. How could they risk meeting their families for strangers? Especially those from other races. There was silence in the group, but everyone agreed in their hearts, no matter how unwilling. But then¡­ they heard the familiar ping of the system sound inside their heads. Everyone, even those near them, flinched at the same time. [Guia Village (Human) is set to be attacked by Hoko Village (Goblin). You have 14 hours to prepare.] [13:59:59] Their eyes widened as they looked at each other, startled. An attack!!! They couldn''t be so unlucky, could they? Chapter 109 - 109: Before the War (Part 1) Aberdeen City, 20 years prior The nine year old Garan looked bitterly at the locked door of the isolation room, heart filled with anger and indignance. Unfair! Ptooey! He spit out the remaining blood of that hag out, spitting out again as he tasted the disgusting rusty taste. It tasted as dirty as she was. It landed on the isolation room''s dusty cement flooring, just next to the dirty cot he would be sleeping in the next couple of days. It was his third time here this year, and it was only the second month of the year. He just couldn''t stop himself. Those women were disgusting. They always watched him with dirty eyes and wanted to touch him. First he just threw a vase at a visiting rich woman, the second time he punched the volunteer in the face, and now he bit off the flesh of the vice principal. The vice principal angered him the most. She was supposed to be their mother! How could she think of him that way, and try to sell him off to others! It was too disgusting! He didn''t even feel the hurting stomach due to the kick and neither could he feel the bruise on his shoulder. He just needed them in pain. He didn''t care about his hunger and thirst either. He had no regrets. They deserved it. He was just a little worried that Althea would cry again while looking for him. But he had already told his friend to take good care of her and reassure her. Recalling Althea''s cute face filled with bean shaped tears looking so heartbreakingly pitiful¡­ he¡­. he started to regret his impulse a little, after all. But what could he do? He could only hope that his friend would be able to keep her from trouble. He suffered like this in the isolation room for a few more days, receiving just enough food and water not to rot there and die. However, when he finally came out, he ignored his weakened self from hunger and he immediately ran to the dormitories to check on his angel. On his way there, he encountered Beanie, a good friend of theirs, and the person he asked to take care of his angel. But without speaking the flabby brat ran to him and shook his shoulders. Annoyed, he pushed him off. "What?" But when he saw the rare seriousness in Beany''s eyes, he felt his stomach drop. "What happened?" He asked, looking around, praying it wasn''t as he thought. "Where''s my Althea?" Beanie looked at him and gritted his teeth, flushed from shame. "I''m sorry, I¡­ I swore I looked away for just a few seconds¡ª" "JUST GET TO THE POINT!" He yelled, the last thread of patience snapping. "Althea''s gone!!" Beanie yelled back in fear, crying in guilt. "It''s been half a day!" It felt like he fell from a building and splattered all over the ground. ¡­ Present. Garan cooly looked at his subordinates, gesture exuding calmness and strength. His sharp eyes watched in apathy as the chaos all around him exploded due to the imminent war. After all, like them, a lot of these people weren''t citizens here at all. Eagle frowned and looked at the tense surroundings. "What do we do, boss! We''re not allowed to leave!" He said, not believing their bad luck. The village had just entered a martial law where no one was allowed to leave the territory. They had been here for three months, but they had only really been around Twinwinds, a very strong town. Not only did it rarely get attacked, but when it was attacked, it always won. They had never participated in the wars in this place, not in the real sense. But look: They just stayed here for a day, and they were already getting dragged into one. "Get out of the way! There''s obviously still time!!" A commotion particularly louder than other caught their attention. It was two mercenary teams trying to get out the door. However, rather than look scared they looked annoyed. More likely, it wasn''t that they were scared of whatever was attacking, but that wars were too troublesome and it was not worth the trouble. The mercenary team consisted of about twenty or so members, all of whom were large in stature, and had sneering angry expressions on their faces. Similarly, the guards had several builds, looking very annoyed at these bastards making their jobs harder. "If you leave you will be blacklisted!" Another guard added, "If you really want to leave, one person pays 100 gold!" "What?! Are you insane?!" A mercenary roared. The defensive stance of the guards were forced to be more aggressive as more moves were exchanged. The guards were naturally arrogant in their own way, looking down at the damned men causing the headaches. "Cowards!" He said, "Afraid of rats!" At this sneer, someone finally snapped and threw a fireball. This was the catalyst of the skirmish of elements that ensued. Bursts of elements exploded, hitting one another. An earth spike flew to hit a guard, which was blocked by an earth wall. Then another mercenary threw fireballs, hit by guards with their waterwhips. Similarly, most men¡ªthe non-elementals¡ªalso joined in the fight, but they had a separate fight altogether. Those that were gifted with the elements used their abilities to attack, either missing or deflected, destroying the facade of the buildings. If system buildings didn''t have inherently strong structures, the houses would have been taken down by now. This was an exchange that consisted of scores of men, creating a morbid but beautiful sight. While most of the others panicked, trying to avoid becoming collateral damage, those from Terran were fascinated. Why? Because it was very rare for them to see so many other elementalists in action!! Unless you were a family or clan member, or an apprentice, the chances of learning knowledge and technique from an expert was almost nil. But in front of them is a tutorial! S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 110 - 110: Before the War (Part 2) After trying to study on their own, they finally found a live tutorial! Still most of the elements were available for show. One must know that these Mercenaries and special guards averaged at level 20s. The powerful mercenaries were here because they were purchasing iron in bulk orders to be used by their large mercenary regiments. The guards were strong because most of them grew up in towns¡ªprimarily, Ferrol town, the master territory of this village. Naturally, their average level was in the 15s and 20s. Such a fight was really too rare in a village. Anyone who was anyone in the industry were Elementalists, but this was still not a big percentage. They didn''t know their group, which had 100% elementals, was so rare before. Fortunately, it wasn''t too rare that their existence was suspicious. It just seemed to add a strong background for them. In any case, it was fortunate for them to develop this ability. It had saved them countless times. Without their elements, they wouldn''t have lasted for so long. However, regardless of talent, they had only practised these skills for a month or two. The passage of knowledge in this world was incredibly closed. As mentioned, unless a family or clan member, or an apprentice, the chances of learning knowledge and technique from an expert was almost nil. Everything they knew, they learned by themselves and¡ªif they were lucky¡ªthey could watch other elementalists such as ones from the Rolan Mercenary team fight and maybe learn a thing or two by watching. But now¡­ they could watch fighters in level 20s duke it out, very closely, and still as spectators. It could be said to be the best learning experience they had thus far. They watched as flames danced around the fire elementalists, and the gust of winds swirl around the wind elementalists. They admired as the earth elementalist''s feet merged with the ground, and whistled at the seemingly endless water dripping from the hands of the water elementalists. They watched as one of the fire elementalists let flames burst in his hands as he lunged forward, sending fiery projectiles towards the guards. They watched as a wind elementalist guard, with a swift motion of his hands and arms, formed a wind shield, deflecting the attack to some degree. The earth elementalist guard stomped the ground, causing a couple of rocks to jut out, killing the fireballs that passed the wind shield. This was followed by a counter attack from the guards, also defended against by the mercenary, and so on. This went on for many minutes, and the Terrans couldn''t help but make commentaries on the side. "You can really fly with the wind element!" Sammy, the dark skinned soldier from the south, patted whoever was beside him excitedly. Jake, the one being beaten, pushed him back, but the smile on eyes while watching the fight was bright. "Turning the ground to quicksand! That''s cool." Similar never-seen-the-world expressions echoed in their group. It was a little embarrassing, but who told them to have no choice but study their abilities on their own. Actually, they thought too much. After all, most people weren''t elementalists at all, so it wasn''t actually too childish. If anything, people would admire them for understanding what was going on. "He delayed the ignition of the fireball!!" "You can add spikes to vines, eh? How?" Turbo, a water elemental, was inspired when he saw the waterwhip trouble a wind element. Everything it hits the face, although the power was weak, it was distracting enough. He thought what if he could control it to stay on an opponent''s face? Wouldn''t that cut off someone else''s oxygen supply? The fight continued on for a few more minutes when the ground suddeny shook. It was at this time that two huge walls blocking the two sides, somehow stopping a brunt of the attacks. It was Barton, the lord of Guia village, and a level 30 powerhouse. He looked about mid-30s despite his much older age. He only had a small streak of white hair that may betray his age, wearing an expensive attire from one of the Cloth cities. He stood between the two forces, standing tall and intimidating. "Hoko village is a goblin village. You think we''ll lose to a mere goblin village?!" He bellowed, causing everyone to pause. "Although they have great numbers, they''re the weakest race in the continent!" He continued, looking each of them in the eye, intimidating them. This included the spectators, and not just the mercenaries or his guards. "Not to mention, wars can only be fought at the same level. How can Guia village compare to other villages?" This made the people who were worried relax a little. Indeed, even powerful villages generally have talents no more than level 15. Where can you see another village with a level 30 Lord? Seeing that the crowd calmed down a little, Barton''s sharp eyes turned to one of the leading Mercenaries attacking his guards. "Lowell of the Mighty Bears Mercenaries?" "That''s me." The man answered, pompous. Even if the man is several levels higher than he was, he refused to show weakness. Fortunately, Barton didn''t seem like he called him out to find fault. "I believe your home base, Georgian Town, was also attacked by Goblins, yes?" The man paused and frowned, not liking the information revealed. However, Barton sent him an amicable smile. "Can you tell us in detail about their style of warfare? We will reward you generously." Lowell looked at the older man warily. But realizing that he was serious, along with the very real attack coming soon, he eventually gave in. "Goblins are known to be great diggers." Barton paused, his tone grave and filled with distaste. "They built a lot of tunnels and traps, and they could do it very quickly and subtly." He looked away, a little ashamed. "We almost lost because of this particular ability of these rats." S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Everyone listened closely, startled. A small town was threatened, what about them, a village? Everyone looked at him in apt attention, dedicated to listening to what he had to say. They dared not underestimate the goblins anymore. Chapter 111 - 111: Soldiers Aberdeen City, Twenty-one years prior Garan crossed his arms and watched in beffudlement as his little angel walked around, dragging several ducklings with a rope. She was adorable, but he also felt a little pity for the ducklings being dragged. "What¡­are you doing Althea?" He asked, leaning down so they were in eye level. "Are you sure you''re not hurting them?" "No, no, Garan." Althea corrected him ''patiently'', looking like a cute little adult. "This rope is used to guide them!" "You don''t know. They''re so stupid." Her cute eyebrows furrowed and her chubby cheeks puffed as she spoke. "They would jump out to the road if I didn''t do it!" She then looked at him with all the seriousness she could muster. "I save them, like a hero!" Garan held back his smile, patting her head. "Yes, yes, ropes saved their lives." He chuckled, "My Althea is amazing." _____ Guia Village, Present Garan watched as the lord of the territory gathered information about their imminent enemy with seriousness. Before Bart left to go back to Twinwave, he told them a bit about the Lord of this village. Garan could still remember that they were a bit surprised to find out that the lord, Barton, was already in his 70s. He looked to be only in his 30s. After thinking it through, it made sense. People here had an average life span of 100 years. Stronger people of levels higher than 20 can reach 150 years, not to mention level 30. Goblins'' fecundity was strong, but their lifespans were much worse than humans, with an average lifespan of 40 years. Of course, these were for slaves, free goblins never subject to slavery were estimated to be able to live a decade or two longer. Of course no matter how long the life span, it didn''t matter if you couldn''t keep your head. Barton and his assistant listed down Lowell''s advice on how to handle goblin attacks. They discussed it among themselves for a while. There were plenty of arguments between the underlings, most of which was the assignment of the vanguards, to the point of a fight almost breaking out. But Barton shut them up by assigning which guards and soldiers would be the vanguard. He had a very strong presence and no one dared argue with him at all. Soon after, the entire territory mobilized everyone for a fee. Garan and his team also helped. Although they didn''t know how they''d handle the actual goblins, they could at least help reinforce the defense of their side against them. They did not agree on how humans dealt with goblins, but they definitely wouldn''t betray their humanity for them, either. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Lowell stepped forward to further detail his experiences with goblin wars, looking as if he was disgusted by the idea of Goblins themselves. "These things are the worst bugs you could imagine. They could dig as quickly as they could crawl." "Once the war starts, they would definitely start digging somewhere inwards. In a short span of time they could create a complex network of tunnels and traps, taking away our advantages in size and skill." To deal with this, everyone was asked to dig deep ditches, relatively deep about 2 meters in. The rare elementalists did a lot of the work in this and thus gained a lot of money than the others. Stakes were placed inside these, so the enemy diggers would be stopped at a certain distance from the wall, ideally to be handled before they got too close. Similarly, deep and sharp stakes were stuck in the ground to serve as underground gates. They added deeper spikes that would vibrate and warn those above ground if there were suspicious movements underground. Other than these, there were plenty of other ground traps that goblins, with their limited vertical size and strengths, would have difficulty coping with. Barton looked satisfied with what was happening to the village and soon excused himself and left the rest to his men. The Terrans watched as the entire village and visiting mercenary teams mobilize with full-force to defend against the goblins. Garan and the others felt complicated. The goblins would face a helpless massacre, wouldn''t they? ¡­ The group felt heavy at the thought of the oncoming massacre. It wasn''t that they even considered betrayal. After all, they were ultimately on the human side. It was just that no matter where, no matter who, useless killing was something that bogged them down. They were soldiers. And because of this, they were particularly caring of life, despite being willing to sacrifice one''s own, if needed. Were they really just going to watch this massacre happen helplessly? It was here that Garan noticed a soldier hailing their tamed mounts to a different position, held by ropes. The creatures were a little unwilling but had no choice but to follow. His cerulean eyes fixed on the ropes, and an idea dawned on to him, recalling that short but lovely memory of his Althea and her ducklings. "Hear my orders:" He said with that baritone voice of his, and his subordinates instinctively straightened their bodies to listen in response. "Gather as much rope as you can." He told them, "I have an idea." ¡­ The rule of territory wars was that the winner would receive 50% of the territory assets, and this included all resources: Including humans. However, this only referred to those within their enemy''s home territory. That was to say, if one side could keep the attackers and their assets, the winning side could get a lot more than 50%. In the same way, individuals participating in the wars could get a chance to receive the loot from the losers. This was what Garan and the others were targeting. However, asking for loot was one thing. Asking for the very expensive goblins was a whole other thing. At the very least, even Gaudi had never heard of it being done before. A few hours before the attack was set to begin, Garan approached Barton, who was then surrounded by a few mercenary leaders and their henchmen. "Lord Barton." Garan said, making the standard salute¡ªplacing their dominant hand on their chests. As long as they didn''t have to bow or kowtow, this little thing to show standard respect didn''t matter to them. "You are... Garan, yes?" He said, remembering this person was introduced by Bart himself. Despite his level, he caught the attention of Bart and the others, which said a lot about this person''s ability. "Yes, milord." "What''s the matter?" "I have a bit of a request." He paused. "Lord Barton said before we can keep the loot of the creatures we killed, in addition to 10 silver for every goblin killed, yes?" "That is correct." He said, and the others were also looking at him curiously, wanting to see what he wanted to ask for. "We would like the exchange these for the right to sell all the goblins we capture alive." An awkward silence passed by the space. Barton was a bit surprised, and he looked at this young man deeply. However the young man said it out loud, and a lot of the others were waiting for his answer. Before he could speak, Garan continued with his soliloquy. "They are considered dead the moment they attacked your good territory. Instead of the gold, I would appreciate it if the lord would be so kind as to allow me to make a bit of a living out of this." Garan had grown up well past the prideful arrogance from the past. He had evolved to be someone who could bend and stretch. Even if he didn''t look up at the nobles here, he could give them the minimum respect they expected to receive. He knew that lives were more important than his arrogance. Barton was silent for a while. This was highly unusual. Because generally, if people were spared in wars, they were automatic properties of the lord. More importantly, goblins who had begun fighting would never stop doing so. They would never be slaves as they would definitely take their own lives if they were captured. In his long years, no goblins with fighting spirit had been caught. Almost always, they died before they could get dragged into human territory. He sighed. "Fine." He said, looking nonchalant. Then he walked away, not giving the chance to the others to ask for similar requests. Garan knew he made things awkward for this lord, so he excused himself to focus on their next tasks. He did not notice the same lord pausing his steps and looking back, sharp eyes sticking on him. ¡­ "Boss our spaces, except for some emergency supplies, are now filled with tools for captivity." Logistics Officer Eagle reported, a little excited. It had been a while since they''d done something worthy of their status as soldiers. Pity the space was too small, or else they could''ve bought more. Garan looked at each of the soldiers, obviously looking forward to this rescue mission. He could understand their mood. All this time they had no choice but to focus on themselves and on their survival. Because of their weak strength, they had no choice but to simply watch the incredible amount of injustice around them. They could only watch when weaker people got abused and beaten up in front of them, commoners got exploited by nobles, and experienced the overall injustice that was the common practice in this world. But they couldn''t do anything, because they knew prying would mean certain death. It was logical and understandable, and very necessary for survival, but¡­ it shamed them to death. It was a feeling oftentimes even worse than death. But now they could actually do something worthy of their title! They could finally stand upright and say proudly, with all their might: They are Soldiers!! Chapter 112 - 112: Capture (Part 1) [00:00:00] [Attention to Guia Village! The territory war has begun and will end in 27:59:59 hours.] Right on time¡ªa loud horn reverberated across every inch of the territory, and every person within the walls immediately got as tense and ready as they could be. The light of the temporary teleportation array lit up a hundred meters away from the walls. To the locals, it was not unfamiliar as they had been attacked every few months or so, but the Terrans¡ªwho had been staring outside some time before the timer stopped¡ªwatched in awe. They had never encountered teleportation arrays before. There seemed to be some patterns appearing about a hundred meters away from the walls before the counter stopped, and then the patterns abruptly lit up when it did. It was like shining water suddenly flowing on engraved surfaces on the ground. This was followed by a bright light that projected upwards from these patterns, appearing as if they were curtains that extended to the clouds. The blinding light lasted for a few seconds and, as soon as it dimmed, the forms of the creatures transported were revealed. The little things were dense and plenty, surrounding the walls with aggressive faces and their weapons raised up high. Those who had been standing gallantly over the walls paled at the sight of endless waves of goblins. They were more than they anticipated. They were like ants, ready to eat them whole. There were thousands and thousands of goblins that showed up at their doorsteps, forming a large formation outside the gates. Most villages could have a maximum capacity of 20,000. Did they send the whole population to attack? "They must be receiving help from a larger territory!" Someone yelled, getting a little nervous. Another one answered him, eyes staying on the approaching killer wave. "Outside assistance during wars is limited. At most, only a thousand or so goblins." Other than a level cap, only 10% of the average comprehensive strength of the territory since its establishment was allowed to assist in wars. "Yes, but we are only a few thousand humans in here!" Not to mention, because the goblin slaves still counted as Population, the humans in the territory were only half of the attacking goblins. "It doesn''t matter if they are 50,000 or 100,000." Barton said with his low voice as he noticed the momentum wavering. "They are weak and small and they cannot connect with the elements. "It is a well-known fact that a normal-level human could deal with a handful of goblins without a problem. More importantly, we have prepared well for their attacks. "There is simply no need to be intimidated." At the rational voice of their lord, the people once again calmed down. "Right! The lord is wise." "The lord is wise!" They once again reminded themselves that humans were much stronger than these rats, not to mention they were in their home territory. And the lord was very right¡ªthey were very well-prepared to go against them! Their pride was already hit by all this effort they had to spend! It was shameful to still be afraid in this junction! With more confidence, the people watched closely as at least half of the goblins disappeared into the ground, hopefully approaching their traps and falling to their deaths. They watched as the flags vibrated, which signaled the start of their fight. "Attack!!!!!" One of the captains said and the assigned fighters jumped down. They were quick to stab designated areas with their long iron spears. Squelch! Stab! Squelch! Judging by the fresh blood that coated their weapons, they definitely succeeded in killing a wave of goblins. However, there were too many green rats and eventually some started to pass through, to the gates. The commotion also eroded a lot of soil, letting these soldiers fall down the pit. "AHHH!!!!" "HELP!!!" They would not be able to utter more than a few words, as they were immediately swarmed by the green creatures, stabbed and killed almost as soon as they landed. The swarm soon went past the first obstacle, both under and above ground, leaving a trail filled with blood of humans and goblins. The wave reached the wall, using their picks and weapons to try and erode it little by little. Of course, level 3 walls, the archery teams, and the sentries every few hundred meters weren''t decorations either. While the wall lost a few percentage of life, another wave of goblibs was killed. As expected, although the goblins were fighting bravely, it seemed that they were still no match for the strength and preparations done by the humans. Garan and his team took up an area of ''battle''. They made sure not to interfere with other people''s ''good'' deeds as well. The soldiers were trained with various martial arts, even support roles like Vanessa and Eagle, and they could indeed handle the weaker goblins with relative ease. Except from when they formed a damned wave, in which case elemental techniques were indispensable. Earth users used earth walls to confine the goblins, forming walls above two meters with coordination to each other. After making sure the walls were stable enough, the soldiers would then throw in things like sleeping powder or paralysis powder (bought from Bart, quite expensive) inside the boxes. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They would simply need to wait until the goblins lose consciousness and they would get scores of goblins. Fire users use their fires to direct the goblins to their traps, or let them faint in mild heat stroke. And water users¡ªexcited to try out their new skills¡ªused water to temporarily cut off oxygen supply and made them faint. In fact, the damage to the goblins had been so minimized that they themselves¡ªthe soldiers¡ªhad more wounds instead. Some of the goblins noticed this, then they shifted their attacks to the mercenaries and locals of Guia Village. Who wanted to be humiliated like that by those humans! They''d rather die for their pride! The soldiers-trying-to-save-them: "..." Don''t jump into your deaths, damnit! Chapter 113 - 113: Capture (Part 2) This went on for hours on end. There were piles and piles of corpses on the ground, adding layer after layer as time went on. Especially the goblins who, if no longer moving, would most definitely be dead. Although some teams did try capturing goblins, the little things went insane when they realized their plans. The goblins'' suicidal attacks went wilder, resolute to die than be captured. Who could blame them? Living as a slave was indeed a life worse than death. But¡­ the Terrans couldn''t exactly announce they were there to save them, right? It was this point, along with the stark contrast amongst human corpses, that alerted Garan. Some only had a lethal wound or two, while the others were completely unrecognizable¡ªbutchered, skinned, or anything similarly gruesome. It was one thing to succumb (well, relatively) when caught, but the attack style seemed a bit different. He noticed that goblins killed most people quickly when they could. But there were certain people who were particularly miserable. For example, there were people like the slave drivers who died a very gruesome death. Their eyes were poked and their bodies stabbed thousands of times. From their faces plastered with expressions of agony, he could tell they suffered a lot while breathing before finally given the luxury of dying. For instance, the man who whipped the old goblin and went after the escapee was particularly horrid-looking. His body was dismembered, the bones and sinew visible from their angle. Luis vomited, some splatter landed on Gill''s shoes. "Shame." Gill frowned in disgust, resuming the task at hand. They also noticed that the goblins didn''t seem to have much aggressiveness for them, bypassing them directly increasingly often. This did not affect their progress though, if anything it accelerated their progress. It could be said a good part of the attackers were caught by them. It was just that their ropes and medicine were running out, and it was estimated they would have to stop soon, lest they lost everything instead. Not long after they heard a wave of screams coming inside in territory. Many of the humans around looked at each other in puzzlement. "What''s going on?!" The yells got louder and more pronounced and many people outside who weren''t dealing with goblins ran to the gate to see what the heck was going on. As if hearing their questions, the screams became louder and more lucid, and they soon had an idea what was going on inside the walls. "GOBLINS!" "The slaves! They''ve escaped!!!" Curious, a couple of wind users lifted themselves up to the battlement, seeing the chaos within. Apparently, the newly-caught hundreds of goblin slaves inside had somehow escaped from imprisonment. They were now fighting with the main force within the walls, increasing the chaos, taking another set of human lives. Over half of the forces had now gone outside the walls. No one expected an attack from the inside. "KILL THEM!!" "Don''t let them deeper into the territory!" If these green rats managed to get to the mines and set the thousands of goblin slaves inside free, then they would really be in trouble. Could things get any worse? As if hearing their question, the ground near the gates suddenly shook, and so did their hearts. BOOM! BOOMM!! While the interior of the village was in chaos, the people from outside suddenly started yelling in shock and despair. "The goblins had a dwarven weapon!" "What?!" "What the heck is going on?!" "Why are they so crazy?!" They hadn''t fully absorbed what they were hearing yet when another earthquake shook the area. A lot of people near the walls lost their footing, some even fell from the battlements. The people turned their heads to the direction of the explosion to see that the gate was destroyed! The people ran to where the major damage was, weapons up, only to see a ten-meter large weapon rolling, crushing everything in its path. It was a heavy weapon that had a tube attached to it. Large rocks came out of it, like the catapults from the cities, but more powerful and quicker to recharge. Soon it reached the wall, hitting it incessantly, eventually cracking it. The weapon dealt massive damage to the territory, hitting dozens and dozens of humans, crushing them to death with the rocks as large as a person. It did not take long for that section of the level 3 wall to fall down. People''s hearts dropped to the bottom. One must know that during Territory Wars, territories could not do any sort of construction at all! They could only watch helplessly as the thousands of bloodthirsty suicidal goblins entered the territory, consuming every human being in their path. While this was ongoing, a group of goblins¡ªthe slaves from before¡ªhappened to cross paths with them. There were only a handful of them left, but they all had that fighting spirit in their eyes. The soldiers looked at each other. And they nodded at the same time. While there was chaos and the sound of killing around them, the Terran elementalists summoned their powers to deal with the goblins¡ªan overkill, but it was because they wanted this done quickly without hurting anyone (or any goblin, for that matter). They happened to have one last batch of capture weapons remaining. Just right. ¡­ S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Soon, the machine rolled inside to shoot at other bulks of people, crushing more people. A lot of people tried to deal with it, only to be crushed by its stone wheels. However, when the people nearby were losing hope, their lord appeared like the powerful hero he was in his mind. Barton appeared, jumping from manifested rock to another, and with a large boulder directly killed a group of goblins. It also blocked the attacking mechanism of the weapon, allowing the people to deal with it. "It''s gone! It was a consumable! That was their last hit! Kill them all!!" He yelled, and he did his best to counter attack, really not expecting he had to make a move himself. As such, as valiant as the goblins were, and how well they fought this time, it took only an hour for the tide to completely shift to the humans. The goblins, more and more, could only wait to be slaughtered. But they did not give up, they continued to fight, without showing an inch of fear. However, what was crazy was that even if they were losing¡­ there was no sign of them trying to escape at all. It was as if they were determined to die there, and the Terrans could only sigh in pity. There was only so much they could do, and they had already reached their limits. Garan''s deep blue eyes followed the massacre that came after, heart heavy. He could only hope¡­ that their future wars wouldn''t be so bloody. Chapter 114 - 114: Suspicions Thousands of goblin corpses and humans covered the soil. Whether it was outside or inside the walls, blood and body parts of two very different races littered the ground. Ironic how the only way these two races could be seen ''together'' was if there was blood involved. The sight of corpses¡ªhumans or goblins¡ªsplayed out so miserably made their eyes burn. It was not just a troubling sight, but a depressing one. The Terrans always felt it was an unnecessary fight. The locals were even more indignant. Although not unusual in territory wars, the fact that they had fought and lost so much to an ''inferior race'' was extremely humiliating for them. Hence, even after several hours after the war, some people kicked the goblins'' bodies out of anger. In Garan''s team, only a handful were left in the village, the rest staying with the captives somewhere else. They feared they''d all be mobbed and stabbed to death by the bitter citizens who had lost too much in this battle. From what they''ve been hearing, they had never lost before, let alone lost so badly. The Terran soldiers looked at each other and sighed. Wars between nations in their time had long been over. They may be soldiers, and their hands covered with blood, but those were all criminals and terrorists¡ªThe world was better without them. What about this? There was even a young girl that died due to the explosion of the door. There was an old man who got burned by a missed fireball. There was also a pregnant woman who was crushed by the so-called dwarven weapon. This was a real war, where innocent lives splayed the ground everywhere¡­ While looking at the battlefield in melancholy, they saw a mighty group of people approach them. It was the lord Barton and about a dozen cohorts. The man looked at their group and frowned when he saw there were only a few of them. They looked quite imposing and only Barton didn''t look at them with sharpness, at least on the surface. "Where are the goblins?" He asked. A little alarm bell rang in their ears, making their bodies a little stiff and guarded. However, Garan didn''t express any of it on his face. Instead, he looked at the lord unfazed and answered in a calm tone. "We secured them outside, as we are afraid of any revenge attacks from the survivors. What''s wrong Milord?" Barton paused, narrowing his eyes, trying to figure out if he was making excuses. It was not that he often didn''t follow his own words. But there was no way, he heard this group actually managed to catch a lot of goblins¡ªan unprecedented feat! He had just received the ''wins'' from the war, and he only received a hundred gold! That was a chump change! Especially considering the damage these rats made! How could he be reconciled? "I want them. I''ll pay you more than the market price." He said, introducing the compromise. In his words, he wanted to make money out of these captured goblins, so he was technically not going back on his words. However, Garan and the others frowned. They knew the reason this Lord agreed with his request was because he didn''t believe they''d be able to capture goblins alive. They looked at the aggressive-looking cohorts and knew they reported their moves to this lord. Naturally, Garan would not give the goblins up at this juncture. "I''m afraid that''s not possible." The locals looked at him in disbelief. Barton frowned deeply, while his cohort yelled out. "What??" "Our team had already left. They were worried some escaped goblins will run after us, so we ran even faster." The other were silent. "Really?" One man sneered, "It seemed to me like you were friendly with the goblins." "It seemed like you helped them out just yesterday, right?" Garan frowned at his reaction. For a moment, he thought they were being suspected as traitors. However, from what he gathered the past few hours, there was no need to be suspicious of any of them. But¡­ they didn''t want them to think they were out of trouble! Garan stood there, staring at him, as if he would say another truth if he stared harder. "We helped them because we were planning on buying the slaves, but the war happened. "Our researchers found that being good to the slaves significantly increases their productivity." Lord Barton''s shoulder relaxed a little and he looked at him in interest. "Oh? Mind telling me more?" Garan nodded, doing the standard salute to nobles. "Studies showed that giving even the slightest bit of better treatment could increase productivity and loyalty of these creatures by a significant amount. "For instance, allowing for a break 10 minutes longer, giving a few spoonfuls more of their food, among others." S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I see," was all he said. But then he looked at the group deeply, trying to figure out the truth of this. "They cannot be called back?" "Yes, I apologize." "Very well." He said, tone unchanging, and even Garan did not know what he meant. In the end he just turned away, ignoring his existence. Garan and his team watched the other group leave, staring back at some of the cronies who were looking back, looking at them menacingly. When the other group left, so did Garan''s, heading towards the meet-up spot. As such¡ªat least for now¡ªthey left safely with hundreds of goblins in the guise of selling them. But a few people, including some from Barton''s party, were not reconciled. Garan could tell their small-mindedness from miles away. Of course, unless they had killing intent, they wouldn''t try to fight to the death either. After all, they were still on the side of humans. There may come a time they would have to give up the goblins. If it really came to that, there was no need to feel guilty, they had done enough for them. But this was the worst case scenario. They would still want save as many lives as they could. Chapter 115 - 115: Karma The group found the rest of the team about an hour later. At this time, the soldiers were dining in a clearing, some distance away from the captives. They were talking about where to release the little things. "Where do we leave them?" After all, living them here in the human territory would be no different than leaving them back in Guia. "Er¡­ do Goblins even have their own safe territory?" "There should, right? How else would they wage war with other villages?" "Oh, that makes sense. Do you know where this place is, then?" They looked at each other and turned to Gaudi, who also shook his head. He had never been out of a couple of human settlements, how could he get out of the human territory? Garan thought for a while and sighed, "I think we should just leave them in a more difficult terrain to find. At the very least, they have good digging capabilities so we can give them a good chance to survive and escape." The team nodded. They''d already done more than enough for the creatures. They weren''t even expecting any thanks! Before they could finalize their plans, however, everyone whipped their heads in a direction, bodies tense and guarded. "Trouble! Trouble!!" A yell quickly approached them. It felt like a breeze arrived and a figure appeared when it died out. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was Loki, a soldier with mutated wind abilities that allowed him to spy on people several levels higher. He was pale and had a grave expression on his face. "They want to kill us! An order from the lord!" He said with greeted teeth, and the rest looked alarmed at the news. The others'' backs straightened and they frowned, indignant. "What? How come? We got them fair and square." Garan raised his hand. "Calm down. We should''ve known it would be like this." He paused. "We just take advantage of¡­ the terrain." Indeed¡­, they were no goblins, but they also had some skills. ¡­ A few hours later, the group watched as the enemies fell into the trap, now with cloth on their faces. Don''t look at them so much weaker than these guys in level, but the breadth of survival and fighting knowledge imbued in their heads was enough to deal with stronger opponents if used well. They didn''t kill the cronies, but they did hang them upside down. They didn''t tie them too tightly either, in case of monsters getting near. They didn''t worry beyond this, as these people were quite strong in level. They should be able to handle village-level monsters with relative ease. Satisfied with the state of the men, the group turned back to the group of captives. They just sat there and peacefully ate their soup. Garan was surprised that they were so well-behaved. After all, this was the very same group of creatures who were crazily attacking like rabid dogs not too long ago. Garan observed them a bit more, wondering if they were acting. Interestingly, it seemed that amongst some of the goblins they saved, that little guy who ran away back then seemed to have a relatively high position among the goblins. Garan knew this because the goblin was being surrounded by goblins with humble body language. They also seemed to be enjoying the barbeque doused with his special sauce very much. Garan walked to this group of higher-ups. "You seem to be fine like this?" He asked, good-natured, but was ready for a surprise attack any time. The goblins remained in their place. The goblins seemed to still not want to talk to them (which was funny because they had sauce on their lips), but at least there wasn''t any life-or-death aggressiveness. It was something he was very curious about. It was an old goblin next who spoke, explaining to him. "Goblins have a special ability, and it is not limited to stones. It just so happened that it was the most practical application of the ability." The old green creature paused and looked at Garan, who was trying to figure out what he meant. "Another facet of this ability is to detect the breath of our brethren, and also the type of breath. "Breath? Type of breath?" "Yes, either suffering, pain, or¡­ something else." Garan immediately understood, recalling how they were pretty much undamaged while the slave drivers went through hell before their deaths. Before he could ask to confirm though, he noticed that the old goblin and the few others beside him looked at him in a complicated expression. "What is it?" He asked. The goblins looked at each other and then to him, asking a simple question: "Why?" Why save us? The black-haired man did not answer immediately, but when he did, he answered succinctly. "We come from a place where there are no slaves." He just said¡ªquite vague¡ªbefore turning back to his teammates. But it was enough to explain everything. ¡­ That night, the soldiers, after seeing the result of their final knockout drug on the soup, took out all the ropes and other constricting tools. Seeing that everyone was free, their group walked out to leave them be. Vanessa whispered to her suitor. "Why didn''t we keep a few? We won''t treat them as slaves, we can hire them to look for ores for us." This suitor, Rey, was a bit brainless when it came to Vanessa, but this time he did not agree. "The little trust the goblin gave would disappear. It''s not the time yet, nor are we strong enough to hold whatever they could find." Vanessa frowned, feeling annoyed for not being gratified this time. Since they rescued the goblins, it seems her suitors were a little less passionate about her than before? What Vanessa didn''t know that something had changed in her suitors after the rescue mission. They had, after all, finally reignited their life meaning. They no longer had to hold on to something as abstract as romantic affection to feel sane. Brain cells simply started working when not blinded by love. But, again, Vanessa didn''t know this yet. ¡­ A few hours later, Garan, Eagle, and Gill walked back to this former camp to check on the goblins. The camp was clean and there were no more goblins. From the neatness of the place, the goblins had obviously left peacefully. Well, except for a jar of his sauce¡­ that was nowhere in sight. There was also a jar of his special condiment¡­ His lips twitched. As he turned to leave, his peripheral vision saw something sparkle in the grass next to the stone where the old man used to sit. He walked to the area, followed closely by the other two. There were about three stones on the ground, the size of toenails. They were quite beautiful, as if the stars were condensed and placed inside a gemstone. It was an ethereal stone, not like anything they had ever seen. A thought hit the trio''s mind at the same time. They whipped their heads to look at each other. Their sights met and their eyes widened in disbelief. ¡ªA stone that contains the stars¡ª Space stones! The goblins actually left them space stones! Chapter 116 - 116: Space Stones Aberdeen City, 5 years ago "That is 32,000 Eden dollars, sir." The friendly saleswoman said as she handed over the velvet-covered jewelry box. She couldn''t help but stare at the handsome man in admiration, though the latter only had his sexy cerulean eyes on the box and nothing else. "Thank you," He said with that velvety baritone voice that softened the knees of all the women around. It was just that the cold atmosphere around him stopped anyone¡ªeven the most forward women¡ªfrom approaching. Helpless, the women could only swoon as he walked away, wondering who the lucky woman was to receive such heartfelt gift. The clerk was especially aware of the sincerity of this gift because she knew that the payment was just for the chain¡ªmade of iridium, mind you. According to her boss, the man obtained the diamond himself. Ah, how romantic~! As he entered his car, Garan couldn''t help but take another look at the bespoke pink bracelet on his palm. It had a very delicate chain with intricate designs, the diamonds lined the strap every few millimeters, but not equidistant, adding a natural quaintness to its appearance. He was already thinking how it''d look on her slender and graceful wrist. He held the paper bag with a bit of anticipation in his otherwise apathetic eyes. He felt it was a great coming-home gift after nearly a month of absence. Garan''s job was incredibly risky and difficult, but the price was fair. Whenever they took down criminal gangs, they actually received a lot of shares from the wealth they confiscated. It was just that Althea had an independent personality and didn''t want his money, especially since they were not married (yet). So Garan could only save up for their married life and spend the rest just buying her gifts. If he could find rare seeds and plants, that was the best, but unfortunately that best friend of hers had better access in that area than he did. In any case, due to the unfortunate nature of his job, he was often away from home. Him covering her up with (ideally wearable) gifts from him was his way of making her remember him everywhere. And also, they would serve as a declaration to other men. His soldiers told him women liked jewellery. And through the years, he had given her almost all of the the rare varieties. This one was particularly special as this was a rare pink diamond he found on a target mine, and there was nothing like it. Combined with the very rare platinum-metal iridium ore, this was his best one yet. Hopefully, this particular accessory would fit her well. His Althea was so wonderful, so beautiful, so smart, and so kind. It was very difficult to find a worthy gemstone for her. But alas, when he finally gave it to her in a special dinner he arranged, he noticed that the pink gem paled when she wore it. He frowned. Pity. "Thank you." Althea said with an amused tilt to her voice, kissing his chin. "Why the long face?" "Too expensive?" He shook his head, retaining a serious expression on his face, eyes on the bracelet on her pretty arm. "Nothing is too expensive for you, my love." Instead of saying any more, he just wrapped his arms around her, feeling her warmth. To be honest, even this rare gem didn''t do her justice. _____________________ 10 Kilometers from Guia Village The trio looked at the three stones blankly. Wordlessly, Garan took it and handed the other two each one. Eagle looked bright while Gill was surprised. The former didn''t think much and he just excitedly placed the beautiful stone inside his space. [Level 3 Space Stone detected! Would you like to merge with your space? Note: Capacity will halve upon merging. Yes| No] The capacity of the stone halves when merged with the personal space, but it was more secure. As a fighter, Eagle naturally chose the latter. The moment he clicked ''yes'', a change happened on the smoky holographic image in front of him. The image of floating box, the pitiful 1 cubic meter that was his space, appeared in front of him. Then, a larger transparent box floated and superimposed against the image of the old box. This transparent box had manoeuvrable arrows on each dimension. This meant that he could decide whether to enlarge the space horizontally, vertically, or both. After a bit of manipulation, he saw that his space expanded from a pitiful 1 cubic meter to over 25, with dimensions of a bit over 3 meters by 4 meters, and a height of 2 meters, making it look like the size of a normal bedroom. He grinned and looked at his two companions who, to his surprise, were just staring at the stones. He was a bit confused. "Boss, you''re not merging?" He paused, concluding an answer himself, "Oh, you''re not planning to merge." This was understandable. After all, unmerged level 3 stones should give about 50 cubic meters of space. "It''s not for me." Garan just said in that baritone voice of his. Eagle, on the other hand, looked at him wondering who it was and if the captain would consider telling him. Seeing this, Gill shook his head. Don''t look at this guy''s mature menacing face, he was more innocent than Luis. Instead of enlightening this guy, Gill just gave his space stone the captain. "Take it. I didn''t do anything more than the others. It would be unfair to the team." Unlike Eagle, who had been the primary force of this rescue, he really didn''t do more than the rest of them. Having such a precious item on him would definitely rouse a bit of jealousy to some of the others. Garan raised an eyebrow and looked at him. Gill sighed, and forcefully placed the stone on the other man''s palm. "How many times you saved my life, boss, I couldn''t count anymore. Please take it, it will keep me from feeling useless." Garan looked at the two stones at hand, feeling complicated, but he accepted the kindness in the end. His eyes brightened at the two stones in his hand. Had he finally found it? He wondered. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ''The perfect gift.'' Chapter 117 - 117: The Perfect Gift The two watched as various emotions seemed to have passed by their captain''s head. Eventually, the captain did gather himself and looked at the two of them. "Thank you." He just said, "I owe you one." Gill felt very awkward with such a display of gratitude, "Boss, please¡ª" "This is very valuable, I saved your life because it was my duty and you are my friend." Garan told him, "If you can truly let this go, I can promise to send you something of similar value when I can." "Boss, you don''t need¡ª" he paused, seeing Garan''s serious expression. "Sure." For a moment, they thought that the captain would merge this second gem. It was just that¡­. Garan still didn''t use it. This baffled the two men. "One for her absorption and the other one for wearing," Garan said, clearing their doubts. Eagle looked at him blankly, finally realizing what this was about. The moment it dawned on him, he slapped his forehead, regretting absorbing the stone so quickly. He knew how much the captain loved his wife, and he wasn''t surprised he was giving her everything. He was often away, and the captain used to compensate with everything else when he could. Every person in the team knew of this because they witnessed his obsession themselves. For instance, there was once a mission in a submarine. The boss dived to a dangerous depth just to get her a huge pearl. He also attacked the base of a terrorist group that had been smuggling rare platinum ores¡ªa job he didn''t have to do, but so happened to be nearby. Eagle thought that he also owed a lot to the captain. How could he enjoy a better space when the boss didn''t? Garan saw his pitiful expression and had an idea of what was going on in his head. "Don''t worry, I just don''t need so much space." He said, very reassuring. "But Althea is different, she not only had to bring a lot of equipment, she also collected various plants during her experiments. He looked in a random direction with warm eyes as if seeing her image in front of his eyes. "I am in pain whenever I see her laboriously bringing so many things to the mountains. "Her having this would let my heart rest a bit more." He told them, "Looking at it this way, this is also for myself." He could still remember that one time when he went back without telling her as a surprise, only to find out she was camping somewhere. He found that she refused accompaniment this time (which he later found out to just be her thick-faced suitors) so she was basically alone in the mountains. With a tense heart, he tracked her down and followed her. After hours of trekking, his heart finally rested as he saw her well and about. But his heart constricted again when he saw her carrying a large backpack half her size, arms filled with various items, and her pretty face drenched in sweat. She accidentally dropped a plant¡ªa delicate one¡ªand her expression of heartbreak, when she saw it was broken, hit his heart. Garan closed his eyes with a sigh, returning to the present. He patted the man''s shoulder, just before finally standing up. "Don''t think too much. This is simply a part of who I am now." He said, "And I wouldn''t change it for the world." ¡­ That night, Garan manifested tools for jewelry making like pliers, wire cutters, scissors, carving tools, and knives. He also used the bespoke Swiss knife that Althea gave him for their 1st anniversary. At this time, the team had moved a little and had set up camp in a cave between Guia village and Ferrol Town. Although there were occasional strong monsters around, the team always went out to clean the surroundings in groups of five. Now it was his turn to watch camp and he planned to use this time to carve something for his Althea. However, knowing it would take him a while to finish, he told his soldiers to keep sharper watch. He had always wanted to do this, but he didn''t have the skills at the time. Transferring here, he inexplicably awakened metal as his secondary element. It took him several hours to complete the intricate design that had been on his mind for years. All the while, he had a determined yet tender expression on his face, hands moving with precision and care, each etching filled with love and thoughtfulness. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A soft smile graced his handsome face as he thought of the wearer and he looked carefully at all the details, making sure there weren''t any imperfections. The bespoke metal bracelet exuded an air of elegance and craftsmanship, yet felt very intimate, down-to-earth, and obviously crafted with emotion. Like every other accessory, it was also intricate but not too gaudy, so that she could wear it every day. The foundation of the bracelet was meticulously crafted and polished to perfection. Engraved on it were subtle hints of wings. Because she was, after all, his angel. He also added hints of her favorite flower¡ªdaisies¡ªthe flower symbolizing peace and happiness, her life goal. Also, the flower''s resiliency as a wildflower added to its charm, and it fit Althea very well. Finally, he carved their initials together inside, forming a thread tied tightly together. The stone was held firmly by the most secure bezel setting. It also had a special design that would hide the appearance of the space stone, only visible whenever she wanted to, for safety. He admired it for a while and smiled. He raised the stone against the night sky and he watched how the brightness from the fire refracted inside, making the stars appear shinier. If she moved it along a certain direction and looked at certain angles, the sparkles inside would appear like they were moving¡ªas if there were meteors inside. It was absolutely fascinating. Whenever he bought Althea jewellery, no matter what kind of gemstone, he didn''t think they gave her beauty any justice at all. Now he knew why. It was because they didn''t know about Space Stones yet. Chapter 118 - 118: Rowan and Oslo [22 days of Protection Period] [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 1 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 154 (25 permanent, 129 temporary) Total Population: 384 Base Resources: Wood: 2320/5000 Stone: 1250/3000 Money: 7412 Gold, 96667 Silver, 39407 copper Reputation: 50 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2), Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv1), Farms (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 5/5 (+1)] It had been a few days since she got the notification for the upgrade and¡­ Althea actually decided to delay the upgrade in the end. She had considered it deeply and decided to build her foundation well. After thinking long and hard, she realized that there wasn''t much of an advantage to upgrading as soon as she got the chance. It would only bring her a wave of beast¡­ While there was no express limit on the population in the territory, the land size, resources, and buildings had a lot to do to cap it. Not to mention, there would definitely be useful new buildings after every upgrade. It was why many lords upgraded when they could because it was necessary to properly support the growing population. They also hoped to unlock amenities and functions necessary for human survival. But her territory, which could create 2-floor mixed-use buildings and dense dormitories, did not have a problem with sheltering the population. Altera was also a territory built on land of good resources like rivers and springs. Hence, these issues weren''t a problem for her at all. In terms of the wars, not upgrading immediately was also not a bad choice. It was advantageous, even. Because generally, only territories of the same level could attack her. To feel safe, she just had to make herself invincible among her own level to at least a level higher. She couldn''t help but be thankful to the NPCs, especially Brenda, for letting her know of the territory wars in advance. Otherwise, she may have chosen to upgrade every time she could. Maybe by the time the protection period ended, max-level villages would attack her as soon as she got out. What a pinch that would be¡­ Brenda, who felt the Lord''s rather appreciative stare, couldn''t help but blush. "I¡­ It''s an honor to be of help, Milord." She smiled and looked at her, as well as the other NPCs. Althea and the NPCs were now on the exclusive second floor of the village center, but the difference within these few days was great. The lounge had been expanded to all four sides. There were now complete furnishings and decorations, intricately designed as commissioned from Baron. There were even rugs (albeit made of monster fur, so people occasionally get shocked by the menacing head of a Stormdoer). There was even a little pantry complete with snacks, coffee, tea, and others, to give the NPCs a shining new impression. This aimed to not only welcome them but also to improve their sense of belonging to the territory. Speaking of NPCs, she had received two in the past three days. One day was null as there were no useful ones, while the other two days took a few tries to show a good one. Althea felt that it was getting increasingly more difficult to get decent NPCs. She wondered why¡­ Anyway, one of the new NPCs she got was a level D soldier who could assist Drake. From what she gathered the past few days, the review (care of Drake) was stellar. The latest one, who just been hired two days before, was a level D architect. They were both ''Elemetalists'', so their base salaries were twice that of the same class. The soldier, Rowan, was a red-haired Fire Elementalist. While Oslo, a handsome blonde, had a dual earth and metal element. It was only when she met them that she knew the meaning of their affinities. They could literally create fire, earth, and metal out of thin air. It was magical. And it made her really want to reach level 10, the level this could be tapped, as soon as possible. Also, she found someone with two elements now, and she didn''t feel so out of place. Of course, she still didn''t disclose her affinities, just in case. In any case, the salary of these two was a whooping 30 gold per month each but, it had only been a few days, and she was already sure it was worth it. For instance, with Rowan''s help, Drake''s workload had decreased exponentially. He could now have the time to come up with the guards'' training plans. This was essential in building a foundation for their fighters, as fighting was much more than just brute strength. Oslo, the Architect, was even better. Although it was not cheating enough that she could build a system-level structure that could get her a building slot (for now), he was a great help to the construction team being formed. The population had risen again in the past few days, increasing the pressure to build more. Furthermore, while she could build residential and commercial homes as needed, there were still many infrastructure projects that needed to be handled. These buildings would take time to produce, unlike system buildings, so they had to be planned in advance. This was where Oslo, said architect, came into play. He not only had the knowledge of local building materials they so lacked, he also gave them ideas on buildings on other territories, as well as some construction techniques they could use. Oslo had babbled several materials and techniques and the Terran engineers and architects that followed him had their notebooks out. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, a lot of these technologies were inferior to what they knew, but most of them were still quite useful. For example, they found that a common rock¡ªhe called it prud¡ªcould be used as a sort of adhesive for wood construction. This was a great help because there was no nails yet, and they could only use jointery techniques to secure wood-to-wood construction. All this help was well after Oslo gushed about the modular houses though, as beforehand he was very uninterested in interacting with anyone (except for a couple of beautiful women whom he flirted with from the get-go). Her lips twitched when she heard of this gossip. Thinking that these aborigines were really so interesting. Chapter 119 - 119: Foundation Althea couldn''t help but recall the gossip of her team when they arrived back for dinner the day she hired Oslo. Oslo was very handsome with his long golden hair, clear blue eyes, tall lean muscular structure, and very prominent facial features. This naturally caught a lot of attention, much like how it was for stars, and this included the people from her own team. "Oh that guy was sooo handsome, right?" Harold said, looking like an old lady excited for some gossip. Sheila nodded very vehemently. "More handsome than the stars I''ve seen!" Eugene chuckled at his team''s fangirling. "You don''t know. He looked indifferent at first, but then I saw him crack a bit when he saw our buildings." "Ohh?" Sheila and Harold leaned in, listening. "Tell us more!" "He paused for a long time in front of our building, his dull bored eyes gradually gaining light the more he stared." "In the end he looked around the house, studying, until he looked enamored like staring at a beautiful woman." "I wish he would stare at me like that¡­" Sheila mumbled, dreamy, and Harold amusingly nodded as well. Althea smiled as she watched her team gossip about a handsome man as if they were still in the peaceful times back in Terran. Speaking of Oslo, her first impression of him was a very handsome stag who didn''t want to work¡ªin sharp contrast with the strict and upright red-haired Rowan¡ªbecause the holographic image was just standing lazily, uninterested in the world. This was very different compared with the others, who either had professional looks and stature or had welcoming smiles on their faces. The blonde back then even had a deep frown, and his overall body language reeked of leisure and laziness. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She felt like he didn''t want to be hired by a little village like theirs. And perhaps, this was indeed the case before. However, it seemed that the past two days, the territory had quickly grown into him and he showed some promise. This was the case to not only him, in fact. Because the population was relatively small, it was tightly-knit, and the newcomers were more or less actively welcomed. Terrans were open-minded people, as seen by the lack of discrimination in their population¡ªno matter what size, shape, finances, or color¡­ they were all Terrans in the end. This was unlike their people from hundreds of years prior, where people even discriminated for something shallow like the color of their skin. Looking back at that part of history, she couldn''t help but shake her head in distaste. In any case, befriending these NPCs wasn''t a challenge at all. She reckoned that even if they looked odd, as long as they contributed to the territory, they would be welcomed by the people with open arms. Even, some people were even more fascinated with them because they loved hanging out with these exotic people. Oslo, a charming man, already had a couple of girls following him around. Safe to say, the NPCs integrated quite well. She could see it in their eyes. Back to the present¡ª "If I may ask, at what point do you plan to upgrade Milord?" Oslo asked as he sipped his tea (for the nth time that morning), bringing Althea back to the present. "I plan to gather more resources first. At least enough to rebuild the walls even if they reached 1% remaining health twice over." "That is wise." "I do hope so¡­" She said, turning her head to look at Rowan, and the red-head straightened up his spine as he listened. "While I handle the defensive amenities of our territories, the manpower would be up to you and Drake." He nodded. "The training of the guard team will be enhanced." "I hope to get your assistance on this." "Yes, my Lord." He said with certainty and she nodded, relieved at this new help. In the wars, at worst, a territory at the peak of her level could attack her. Then¡­ didn''t she just have to make sure her strength, facilities, and infrastructure were better than those a level higher? She had helpful NPCs and she could ask of this. At this, Brenda couldn''t help but look at the lord admiringly. This was obviously a good safe method, but why hadn''t she heard others do it? How many people could truly stop themselves from upgrading when they had the chance? Then she thought the upgrade was equivalent to more power, more wealth, more prestige¡­ How many could put that aside? Apparently her Lord. Brenda stood up and did a full bow as if wanting to reiterate her loyalty. "Whatever help you need, Milord, I will do it." "Just focus on Class D weapons. If you need resources to level up, tell me, and I''ll try what I can do to help you." "My Lord, I¡ª" "You deserve it." She said and added when she saw the woman was about to cry with emotions. "Just make good weapons, that''s plenty helpful to me." "Y-Yes, milord," Brenda said, furtively wiping her tears, before finally excusing herself. "It is the same with you, Clutch, although I understand having no armory is¨C" "No, my Lord, Master Eugene, and the others had been extremely helpful in providing me with a good workspace. I¡­. I cannot ask for more." It was true. To be placed with such importance was such an honor to him as a professional and as a person. He could only promise to prepare the armors for the territory to the best of his abilities. Then she looked at the handsome Oslo who was both leisurely and poised. She could tell he was well-bred, and she was a little curious about how he ended up in their little village. The blonde smiled at her warmly, "The first phase of factories must be completed within the next few days, Milord. Rest assured we are monitoring their progress very closely." Althea smiled, and his eyes flickered a little as he looked at her. "The harvest of the crops will be very soon. They must be processed at the soonest." "Understood, my Lord. We will be able to make it." She nodded and dismissed the NPCs. "Meeting adjourned," She said, though her green eyes followed as they stood up at the same time. "Thank you for your hard work." This made the NPCs pause their movements. Their eyes widened and they flushed, very flattered and embarrassed. Not everyone could receive gratitude from their lord. Althea flinched when she saw a few of them about to cry again. Awkwardly, she repeated that the meeting was adjourned and they ought to go back to their jobs. As they were sent away and went on their way to handle their assignments, they vowed to not disappoint her by even the littlest bit. Althea, on the other hand, after finally seeing the passionate NPCs off, looked at the rough plan of her territory with her mind. She already began adjusting and making plans to prepare for the upcoming beast tides and Territorial Wars. She habitually patted her stomach, feeling the presence of her children, and her thoughts becoming firmer than ever. She was determined to make her territory worthy of its name: The Strong, the Beautiful, and the Proud¡­ Altera. Chapter 120 - 120: Harvest (Part 1) Aberdeen City, 20 years prior "Hungwy¡­" Four-and-a-half-year-old Althea mumbled, her huge emerald eyes looking around to see if there were any changes in her surroundings. She was in a big, big, concrete room with no one around. There were windows, but they were so high up, as high as three Garans standing on top of each other. The reddish sunlight was filtering through these high and broken windows, casting soft beams of light into her dusty surroundings, and into her tearing eyes. The air was thick with echoes and creepy reverberations where the only sounds she could hear were her own footsteps and calls. It was¡­. scary. She didn''t like scary things. Her tiny arms were clutched on the small puppy stuffed toy Garan bought for her a few days prior, her little heart asking for comfort. She had been here since forever, but there was no sign of Garan. "Obviously, sister Sasha said he was here¡­. Gawan¡­ Gawan¡­.?" She called out with her small milky voice, trying to open the door but it wouldn''t open. She didn''t know how long she had been here in the big abandoned building, but she had been walking and walking and she couldn''t find Garan at all. She looked at the sky darkening. She was obviously here just after the darkness went away¡­ "Hungwy¡­" she mumbled again, looking around for something to eat. She hadn''t eaten for a long time. She had never been so hungry before. She continued walking around the abandoned warehouse, her stomach grippling in pain. She looked around carefully for something to eat, looking everywhere, looking at every nook and corner, until she saw a small vine of green plants growing near the window, crawling low enough for her to reach. It looked a little juicy with its oval leaves and had a small rod-shaped flowers attached to it, nearby there were also black balls that looked a lot like berries. They looked very delicious. Enticed, she took a few, ate it, and chewed. Her face scrunched in the bitter taste of the green, then the honey taste of the flower. Then she ate the black berries which tasted very very weird but edible. In any case, her hunger disappeared immediately, and she looked at the juice vine in amazement. "You''re as amazing as Gawan." She mumbled, because Garan would always feed her, making sure she was eating well. She then sat back down, staring, not really knowing what to do next. Soon, her eyelids got heavier and heavier and she fell asleep. BANG! She was woken up a few hours later, by the loud thump of the door being opened abruptly. And it opened with such a strong force that the panel hit the wall and threw dust all over the air. Emerging from the wide dusty opening was a handsome young boy, appearing all haggard, pale, and filled with bruises. "Althea!" He yelled and the next thing she knew she was carried up, checked for injuries. "Are you alright?!" "Gawan!" She yelled, hugging his big head. She blinked, realizing he was shaking. He also had a lot of weird painful-looking marks, all over his body. "Wis it pwainful???" "No¡­ no¡­ It''s fine." Garan said, a bit weak on the knees and he kneeled down, gently placing her on the ground. He then saw a black thing in front of his face. "Weat it! Delicious!" She said, and she said so while she was chewing on it herself. Instead of eating though, he forcefully took it away and checked on it. It was an unfamiliar plant. Eyebrows furrowed he opened her mouth to try and take the thing away. Unfortunately, she had already swallowed it. Garan paled. "What are you eating?!" "Dewicious¡­." She answered, grabbing another thing from her pockets, and raising her hand to show him a piece of green. Too bad there was no more. Garan really didn''t know what to say. That was also the first time Althea got poisoned from eating plants. Oddly enough, rather than becoming scared of plants, Althea grew obsessed with them instead. _____ [21 Days of Protection Period] Althea, Harold, and the others went to the farmlands together to watch the harvesting of the most important staple foods: wheat and rice! There were only a few thousand square meters of wheat and rice ready to be harvested, but it created a beautiful sea of various colors that excited the hearts and souls of all who saw it. The rice here was a bit greyish with spots of blue, while the wheat had a reddish tint with dabbles of green¡ªeach sheaf moving gracefully along with the wind, creating a wondrous melody that they associated with full stomachs. Their appearance was unlike the farmlands they had seen on the internet, for sure, but it was no less gorgeous. No matter what color, it filled people''s hearts with hope. "Woowww!!" Maya yelled and she ran to the fields to play with her friends Theo and Fufi. Harold sniffed in emotion. Their last rice was consumed just a day prior. "It''s only been a few days and we can already harvest it. We will never go hungry." He said, as if he got hungry after joining Althea. Sheila rolled her eyes. "Then you shouldn''t have eaten so much yesterday. It looked like you''re the pregnant woman." Harold touched his nose in embarrassment. When he found out the rice and wheat could be harvested today, he couldn''t help but make the team a whole feast to celebrate (which, in effect, consumed much of their stocks in turn). He spent kilograms of their stocked rice and a lot of meat to create several viands. He even made ovenless bread, which was extremely popular. He made so much that the neighbor celebrity diplomat and the guard trainor had their share. "Well, it was to make the boss'' mood better." Harold said, making Sheila pause and purse her lips. During their previous day''s training, there was a decided lack of level 2 monsters they encountered. After all, the boss was heavily pregnant and they couldn''t go too far. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. So, instead of giving them the level 1 monsters, she started killing them herself. And what happened when she did? No experience nor copper came out. Not one. They never noticed this before. Understandably, the boss was very depressed. According to the NPCs, monsters lower than 5 levels would no longer harvest anything. Although the boss was only level five and, theoretically, should still be able to get experience at that level, the fact was that rule would make leveling after level 5 extremely difficult. Sheila looked at him and sighed. Indeed, the boss always let them have the last hit of level 1s since they started traveling together. The fact that it took so long to realize actually made them feel guilty, and a lot more appreciative of her efforts to strengthen them as well. "Well, be sure to make a lot of good food for her." She paused, remembering the woman''s cravings. "With a lot of sweet fruits." "That''s natural!" Harold said, crossing his arms smugly. Of course, to cook well, more ingredients¡ªwhether they be sauces, condiments, or others¡ªmust be made available. Whether they liked it or not, they had already almost used up the ones from Terran. However, it didn''t matter. Because Althea and the others were very much prepared for that as well. The citizens would be so surprised at their selection! Chapter 121 - 121: Harvest (Part 2) Far earlier in their trip, almost as soon as they transferred, Althea and the rest already had the improvement and sustainability (of their lifestyles) in mind. There was not a day where Althea and Harold had some discussion about the food and ingredients in this world, and since the creation of the territory, they had not forgotten this goal. To date, Harold and his team¡ªsigned a confidentiality agreement at the village center¡ªhad already done half of the spices and condiments they formulated beforehand. These were already being mass-produced to be sold in earthenware bottles of about 100 and 250mL, to be made available in the grocery store tomorrow. The other options were still being finished, with his team working overtime. They still had a lot to do. At this thought, Harold excused himself and quickly left the farm areas. He went straight to the second floor of the restaurant, to the temporary production area, and started to monitor the progress like a hawk. Eugene, on the other hand, was looking brightly at the plants for a different reason: The machines they worked so hard to make could finally be put to use! He and his team (also signed with virtual confidentiality contracts provided by the village center) had worked day and night for the farming tools and machinery. Fortunately, there were old designs available on their tablets and they could surmise the process after a bit of adjustment. In the past few days, they had developed the most basic type of threshers, rollers, and other farming tools. Even if hundreds more fields were filled with rice and wheat, they could handle it. Speaking of which, he had to rush the construction team to finish the processing factory¡­ they still had a lot of raw materials to handle! Like this, he also left excitedly. At this point, the two children and Fufi had long run far away, their laughter bringing joy to all the adults in the vicinity. "Ah, they''re all gone. I feel pressured." Sheila said worriedly, though there was a fond smile on her face. In the end, the nurse also decided to check the production of her scope of work¡ªAlthea''s formulated medicines. Althea''s emerald eyes captured all of these and giggled. Who''d have thought that a little over a week ago, Harold was a poor old man who was scared for the future, Sheila was a timid nurse who couldn''t look people in the eyes, and Eugene was a love-hurt disabled veteran who was convinced he was a waste. Seeing people regain hope like this made Althea more determined to build a good home. ¡­ In the Farmlands The farmers happily harvested the crops with a custom sickle Brenda made. It was much better than the sickle recorded on her tablet, and it had additional efficiency bonuses. "This is so amazing!" Their eyes were bright at the sight and couldn''t help but look forward to the harvests of their families. "In a few days, my team''s farm will also look like this!" "Mine will take longer, but it''s better than nothing!" Althea had allowed her farmers to pass on the knowledge they got from her and also allowed them to buy seeds from her at a fair price. This made them even more loyal to her to the point of worship. Althea really didn''t mind, because the more farms and farm hands, the less worry she had to worry about the food situation within the territory walls. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In fact, this wasn''t the first harvest. Several vegetables and plants with shorter cycles were already harvested and processed to be sold in her grocery store. There were also the Terran plants she planted, and although they grew much slower than the indigenous plants, they grew well nevertheless. There were tomatoes (called red fruit by the system), peppers, sour fruit, and other alternatives used for condiments. Various vegetables and berries were also picked up. The rich harvest inspired many others to plant. To meet the demands, she built a few more fields¡ªeach of which were taken up almost as soon as they were created. These buyers naturally bought the seeds from the expert¡ªHer. Althea had quite earned a bit of money from the seed purchase alone. Of course, the seeds used for special condiments were kept to herself. She dared not underestimate the cooking skills of her brethren. She also needed a lot of money. She had a territory to build, okay? Anyway, her target in the long term was to be a stable source of raw materials, and not just seeds. She aimed to create a more thorough win-win situation for the people, her, and the territory itself. She also kept the medicinal plants to herself, though mostly because the people here didn''t have her skills. Who knew if they''d poison themselves. Cough. In any case, plants that took a month to grow from a seed generally took less than a fraction of the time here. Coupled with the buff of the farming land and her special fertilizers, it was expedited even more. Putting aside the safety-monsters-everywhere issue, this place was really amazing. It was basically impossible to starve to death here, right? You could be eaten whole by monsters, but at least you wouldn''t suffer the extreme pain of hunger. She was no stranger to that pain as an orphaned child, and she wouldn''t want it on anyone. Of course, her memory wasn''t that clear, nor did she think Garan would actually let her starve for so many days¡­ so this memory was really vague to her, but she remembered the feeling like it was yesterday. "This is great. I can imagine the food situation in the territory would improve like a vertical line." Gru said, pulling her back to the present. "Have you isolated the best samples and seeds?" "Yes, boss!" As the farming went on, she and Gru were careful and isolated the better strains. This was in order to breed better and better generations of plants every batch of harvest. With the short growth cycle, she wouldn''t take long to develop strains with much better productivity. Eventually, she''d be able to develop better tasting and healthier strains. This point alone fired up her passion for plants, making her glow even more, to the amusement of everyone around her. At the very least, in this place, even if there were wars everywhere, at least they would not lack food, water, and a roof over their heads. And with the basic needs stable, people will start looking for spiritual satisfaction, luxuries, and better lifestyles. And she, the Lord, will naturally give it to them. Chapter 122 - 122: Grocery Store Opening Aberdeen City, 3 years ago "What are you laughing at?" A velvety deep voice sounded beside her, gently asking. Althea turned her head to see the handsome face of her fiance, his deep blue eyes looking at her as if she was the only existence in his world. Her heart thumped and she grinned, showing him her ultra thin tablet. "Look!" She showed a photo of two famous celebrities. "The actor here is called Fable, and the other party of his scandal is called Juni." "Their couple name is FaNi." She giggled, and then shrugged. "I just thought it was funny." Garan smiled dozingly, patting the tip of her delicate nose with his callused finger. "It is very funny. My Althea is the funniest." She stared at his handsome features for a while, to the point that the serious man''s ears turned red. Garan cleared his throat. "What is it?" "Our couple name, I''m wondering what it is." He chuckled, "What do you think?* "Well, what about¡­ Garalthea? Ganea? Garantha? Altharan? Algara? Garalth? Galthea? Gaea?" She paused, thought for a while before silently deciding on which one sounded best. A second later, she nodded in agreement with herself and turned around to hug the man''s strong waist. "Gaea'' sounds very cool and auspicious." Garan chuckled, hands sliding naturally around her. "Whatever my wife says is right." He said, leaning in to give her a peck on the lips. It was just that such a simple peck would no longer be enough and he gestured to deepen the kiss, hugging her tighter¡ª "AH! My eyes!" They turned their head to the jerk that had been lying down on the chaise lounge. "Please¡­ please stop kissing out of nowhere!" Did they forget he was right here?! JERKS!! "No one''s asking you to watch~" Althea retorted, sticking out her tongue. Ansel looked absolutely offended and he stood up and stomped to the door. "I''m leaving! Damnit! Not having the decency to get themselves room¡ª "Also ''Gaea'' is a very stupid name." He said and closed the door with a bang. "Don''t listen to him." Garan said with a smile, though internally he had already wondered when to ''train'' that brat. "It is a wonderful name." Althea grinned in agreement, burying her head on his wide shoulder. As always, her Garan had good vision. _____________ [20 days of Protection Period] That day the commercial street was particularly lively. Nearly all of the population had gathered in one spot, the look of excitement visible on their faces. Why? Because the second store in the street (after the furniture store) was finally opened! Better? It was a precious Grocery Store! They had long eaten up their supplies from Terran, and had to make do with the harvests of nature. While there were creative brethren who could make decent meals with the current conditions, it would still get tiring after so long. If every food available in the makeshift market was either fruit you could just get yourself or barbeque with a single type of sauce, people would naturally feel sick of it after so many days. They had grown up in a world with an explosion of flavors available for choosing, a plethora of tastes that colored their lives obtained at a point of a finger. Less than two weeks prior, they had dozens of barbeque flavors to choose from! After their basic needs had been met, it was inevitable to long for what had been. Who could blame them from being choosy? Anyway, back to the future grocery store, when would it open? They were very hungry! They had heard that rice, flour, and other things would be sold here. It seemed they would finally be able to satisfy their taste buds! They looked at the tall tower in the park in front of the village center. It was a giant sundial-like sculpture, designed by the new NPC architect in conjunction with a few Terrans, and it served as the clock. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were a lot of calculations that went on in there, but that was beyond their understanding so all they knew was that it was cool. They saw that there were only a few minutes left before opening. The crowd was big and occupied the carriageway, extending all the way to the sidewalk on the other side of the road. Fortunately, there were no carts yet so the huge roads were all used by pedestrians. Looking around, anyone could see the density of the crowd. "At least two-thirds of the population are here, right?" Fred said, gulping in excitement. Troy nodded, he couldn''t help but flinch around, unable to calm down. Lulu sighed and took a step farther from the immature men, though her eyes stayed on the store whose doors had yet to open. They waited patiently for the minutes to pass and soon, a beautiful pregnant woman and an old man appeared in front of the store. They naturally knew them, especially the beautiful Ms. Althea, who was primarily responsible for the richness of their farmlands and livelihoods. They clapped at her arrival and she smiled at them beautifully, fascinating a lot of men. The newcomers went in front of the shop, standing tall, in front of the so-called ''ribbon'' made of rattan painted in red pigment. They needed to simulate ribbon cutting, after all. Amusingly, the scissors to be used were a sickle. Althea stood in front of the crowd in a graceful posture, attracting everyone''s apt attention. Holding the ''ribbon cutter'' in her hand, she began to open her mouth to speak to her people, "Thank you for being here today, in what we believe would be a major turning point for our new home. "Amidst the chaos and uncertainty we have been thrown into¡ªtwice¡ªall of us here showed our resilience and will to live. "We all knew what we have been through, and how far we''ve come." She said, pausing, emerald eyes looking at the crowd and grasping their attention tightly. "Let this grocery store be one of the symbols of our indomitable will. "Let each product tell the story of the true perseverance of the farmers, the skills and hard work of the workers, and the hope of the people who consume them¡ª "Today will be the day the Grocery Store will finally be open! The store where we could obtain what we need, to make various types of food, condiments, and tools to improve our lives. She paused and waited for the applause to die off before resuming. "We will open up the avenue of enjoyment and happiness back to our lives. As individuals and as a community¡ªwe will not only survive, we will thrive." More and more cheers echoed in the territory, everyone''s souls hyped up for the opening of a shop. Indeed, it was more than just a shop, it was a symbol that their lives would get better!! "For today, 30% off of all purchases! Available until today''s stocks last!" She said and looked at her team, who lined up next to her. Together, they welcomed their guests. "Welcome to Gaea Grocery Store!" Claps and cheers were heard, even a few rambunctious roars as they watched the scisso¡­the sickles¡­ cut through the red rattan. They looked in excitement at the unveiling of the wooden sign, a special order carving from the furniture store. With neat strokes carved into the flat piece of wood, the store''s name was finally exposed to the masses: Gaea Grocery Store. Interestingly, it was not written in just the Terran Lingua Franca, but there was also the local letters¡ªthat no one understood yet¡ªwith the help of the NPCs. Anyway, everyone felt high at the sight and more at the removal of the ''ribbon'' that blocked their way! The cheers did not stop even as the people began to enter with the guidance of the guards. On the 10th person though, he was blocked and couldn''t enter anymore. He looked at Althea with a look of puzzlement and despair. Althea chuckled in amusement. "The store is small and can only accommodate so many people at once. "Don''t worry, there''s a purchase limit so no one will be able to hoard our products, at least until the factories are done. The waiting crowd was attracted by this word. "Factory? "The huge construction team seems to be building a few warehouse-like structures?" "Indeed. A few people and I had requested the building and it was approved by the system. We already reserved a few." Everyone brightened at this. More factories not only meant more supplies but also more job openings! They had heard of this woman''s team hiring a lot of people. The wages were enough for them to live well without having to risk their lives outside! Of course, the priority of these jobs was the women and the old people but, with these factories, more chances for them will be provided! Seeing it this way, the Gaea grocery not only provided food but it also gave them livelihood. To the population, the grocery store had become much more than just a place of purchase. It had become a place of hope, a pinnacle of human survival. Under heated stares at the door, the first batch of people soon emerged, carrying baskets filled with items. Looking at their satisfied happy grins, the people outside couldn''t help but feel itchy. What was that? So many vegetables and fruits! So colorful! There was rice and wheat! They could see it with their razor-sharp eyes! They also seemed to see a few potteries. What was inside? And... when did they have pottery? Everyone was seriously impressed. How many days had it been?? They''ve already done so much! This team was really hidden! Chapter 123 - 123: Professional Cook Cooke was tapping his chubby feet in impatience, his arms were crossed and his eyebrows furrowed, feeling incredibly irked. He looked at the long line with a frown, the frown on his wrinkled face getting more profound as he saw the weaved baskets filled with various items in the arms of the shoppers. When will it be his turn? Would there be enough stuff remaining by the time he entered? He was so itchy. He wanted to go in there now! His livelihood depended on it! Literally! Cooke really didn''t know what came over him buying a commercial unit with all his wealth with the current conditions. He couldn''t do anything with it at all, except sleep on the second floor, maybe! He was a professional cook, yes, and he was also judged by the system to be in the profession. But so what? He couldnt do anything! Who told him there were no ingredients! He really didn''t consider it! It seemed that when the system alerted him that he was eligible for an occupation when he used a special but cumbersome ancestral technique to treat the monster meat to make it delicious, the pride went over his head? Fortunately, the commercial unit was mixed-use, so he could use the second floor as his house, otherwise, he''d be sleeping on the streets. He could also make a living doing barbeque, but the meat softening was too troublesome and the spices on hand were limited. Although his customers were satisfied, his soul was dissatisfied. And now he heard a grocery store was opening?! A customer of his, who happened to be one of the hired hands of this new grocery store owner, low-key mentioned to him that seasonings would be available soon. He was then invited to the opening of the store. So here he was. After all, how could he miss this?! After many long torturous minutes of waiting¡­ Finally, eventually, it was finally his turn. Unsure of what to expect, he entered the door with mixed emotions. And what greeted him was heaven. . . . He went straight to the condiment and spices section. There were a few bowls of pottery in front of small vats, a text carved on wood stating their taste. There were also saucers in front of these vats which they could lift and let drop on their fingers, so they could have a taste. In front of these different vats, there were also various notes indicating things like ''a bit sweeter than regular vinegar'', ''less hot than sriracha and a bit sweet'', and ''a bit saltier than usual soy sauce'' which let them know what to expect before tasting. Anyway, Cooke excitedly tasted each one and his eyes brightened like the stars ate the sun. This was it! Although they were a little different than what he knew and a little less tasty, he did not mind it at all. He was a chef after all, he could make it work. Probably. He whipped his head at the clerk, who was by now used to the sparkling passionate stares of the buyer. "I would like a bottle of each please." "That is 10 copper for a small bottle of soy sauce each, 5 if you have your own container." He said, showing the size of a 100mL earthenware bottle. "The price is the same for hot sauce, salty gel, and mild sweetener." "The sour fruit sauce costs 10 copper coins, 5 if you have your own container." "Sure." It was not cheap, but it was worth it and definitely value for money. "Would you also like to buy a basket to hold everything?" The clerk asked, as if none of them had space. "..." He ended up buying in the end though. It wouldn''t go to waste, anyway. After looking at the bottles in satisfaction, he finally had the time to look at the rest of the store. The whole store had a convenience store vibe. Amusingly, on the wall, there was a warning sign. Instead of ''CCTV is watching'' he had seen in Terran, there was ''System is watching'' carved on a wooden sign. Anyway, he continued perusing the shop and looked around. The floor area was about 200 square meters, divided into two parts. Two-thirds for food, the rest for non-food items. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The food consists of rice, flour, seasonings, and condiments. There were also pickled vegetables and processed meats. Non-food items included several earthenware potteries and utensils, and weaved items like baskets, slippers, and backpacks. It was amazing how much one team could produce! It seemed like it had only been a week when they started hiring people? So efficient? How did they do it? Well, however they did it, he bought a bit of everything with the remaining savings he earned from barbeque. He had witnessed the purchasing power of the people here, he believed he would be able to make profit very quickly. It would be better if he got a better deal thought. The things were not cheap. Of course, they weren''t too expensive on their own, but he was building a restaurant. A few bottles of seasoning were relatively inexpensive, but boxes of them would be heavy on the pocket. It was at this moment that a soft voice that reverberated, like the cello sounded next to him. "Are you a cook?" The man gaped at the newcomer, blinking, but also a little dazed at the beauty that appeared in front of him. Althea smiled in response, waiting patiently for him to respond. "A-Ah, yes." Althea had had her attention on this guy: Cooke Ferrell. Other than her, he was the only one who had an ''occupation''. She had always been curious what the difference between the professional cook from Terran (Harold) and the professional cook from Terran that was also sealed by the system (Cooke). Thinking of this, her smile towards the old man turned a bit warmer. "I have heard of your work, Mr. Ferrol." "Ah, yes, thank you." He paused and realized this was Ms. Althea, the owner and developer of pretty much whatever he was seeing. His usual arrogant posture immediately became more respectful. "No need to be too polite." She said, "I''m here to offer you¡­ a deal." Chapter 124 - 124: Food with Special Effects Cooke Ferrell looked at the gorgeous pregnant woman. He was a shut-in in the kitchen and, even at his age, he couldn''t really deal with beautiful women very well. His half-brother handled all the business aspects of his restaurant back then, so he was never forced into much social interaction at all. He could just focus on his craft. He shook his head and calmed himself down, "A deal?" He asked, "What kind of deal?" Althea watched his reaction with an awkward smile, a bit surprised that she had to spell everything out to an old man. "As you know I own this place. You know¡­ this place with all the ingredients?" "Perhaps, if you''d let me taste a meal you cooked, I may be able to give you better prices." "I¡­ I can, of course!" "That''s great." She smiled and he couldn''t help but gape. Althea continued with her offer, "Perhaps¡­ we can come up with a satisfactory supply deal?" Althea added, and Cooke¡ªfinally realizing what this was all about¡ªbrightened like the sun. Oh my! What an angel!! It was just as he needed it! ¡­ Half an hour later, Althea found herself sitting on the table on the 2nd floor of his commercial space. Obviously, Ferrel was using the entire 2nd floor as a dwelling while the now-empty ground floor would be the restaurant. Using many of the ingredients that he had just bought, he served her two dishes: one meat viand with rice, and a vegetable side dish using local greeneries. He looked nervous as a lot of the seasonings used this time were new and had never been used before. However, he had tasted it and thought it was divine, and he could only hope this Big Boss felt the same. Althea looked at the simple meal with bright eyes. It looked unassuming, but the subtle aroma wafted to her nose really teased her stomach and the babies inside. She felt them twist around in there. Her lips twitched; It was like they were asking why she still wasn''t eating. Anyway, she gulped at the plate and¡ªusing the wooden utensils¡ªimmediately began eating. She was unsure what to expect from a system-acknowledged cook but, to be honest, she was a bit excited. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The food finally entered her mouth after a graceful movement, but she awkwardly froze a bit as the combination of meat and sauce melted on her taste buds, taking her to a surprising gastronomic experience. The taste was¡­ sublime, to say the least. It was like the seasoning embedded itself in every molecule in the food, so she could taste the unique flavor with every bite. It was as if there was a cacophony of flavors dancing in her tongue, and she tasted a delicate balance between the simplicity of the available materials and the refinement of how each of them was handled. Furthermore, her sharp senses felt something different in her body¡ªwas she more energetic?¡ª and she immediately used her appraisal ability to check on the food''s stats. [Steamed Glorglemeat with Red Fruit : +20 health, +10 spirit] !!! "What is it?" Cooke asked a bit worriedly when he saw her staring blankly at the food. Did she hate it? Didn''t it work? Was he going to sleep on the streets???? Althea looked at him for a moment and sent him a sly grin. "Have I told you about my skill?" ¡­ Half an hour later, Althea got out of the pseudo-restaurant in a very good mood. Holding 40% of the shares, she only had to supply a fixed amount of material and seasonings every week. She would also be teaching him about the various ingredients available locally and every local material she encountered hereafter. In any case, considering the quality of the food, she would be really making money from this deal! There was also the very important fact that Cooke would be taking the high-end private restaurant route. Not only will the profits be huge for a little material, but it also wouldn''t conflict with Harold''s relatively more¡­ commoner-friendly prices. Speaking of stores, she passed by the pharmacy, currently being decorated. A few days back, she had already asked Sheila to get a few workers and, after signing the confidentiality contract in the village center, proceeded to teach them handling methods for the herbs and making basic medicine like hemostatic gels. Judging by the stories she heard, bug repellant would also be very popular, particularly to those going outside the territory. While their product wouldn''t be as good as her, a Pharmacist, the effect wouldn''t be too bad. For instance, when Sheila tried to make one based on her formulation, the effect was 30% as effective. This 30% was actually pretty good; it was actually more than enough for the use. According to the NPCs, the efficacy of the formula itself was superior, and low-key mentioned the effect would be several times stronger if done by a Pharmacist. She had yet to tell them she had awakened the occupation, and she wondered what else they could tell her about it. Speaking of her own products, she decided that she would occasionally sell her own creations here¡ªto be tagged ''Premium Grade''¡ªat an exorbitant price and in limited quantities. Of course, she would only do so after she finally understood and publicized her ''occupation'' as a pharmacist, so she''d have a reliable ''brand''. Putting this issue aside, she continued to look at the other stores as she walked along the greened streets. She saw that a few were already being furnished, while the others had just been bought with the advent of farming. These new stores would also sell food or derivatives of them. She almost hummed as she walked along the street. It was estimated that within a few days, this street would be very lively. And when the factories were completed, she would build a few more commercial spaces, expanding this liveliness all over her land. Now that the economy was planned, all she had to do was wait for some construction to be completed before creating any more changes. As for the other aspects, they were also on track. With the guard team completed and training very hard, the military might of the territory was also reassuring. Anyway, with all these settled, she finally had the time to explore the inexplicable new stat. [Occupation: Archer, Pharmacist ] Okay, just the Pharmacist stat for now. Chapter 125 - 125: Professional Knowledge The past few days she had been so busy with the planning of various aspects of her territory¡ªand the unfortunate mandatory training¡ªthat she had neglected her favourite task: Plants. The pottery making alone took a few days. First, they had to make the temporary kiln (located in a shed in their backyard), then they had to do some designs. Similarly, they also had to plan for the ''big kiln'' ongoing in the industrial area. It was fortunate there was someone who knew how to do earthenware, a family practice that would''ve ended with him, a childless man, should he have perished in the many disasters that he went through. It was just that he didn''t really enter that field and was an office worker when the end happened. He had to do some practice before he could recall the techniques he used. Hey, if there wasn''t some information downloaded on her tablet, it was estimated he''d have taken months of trial and error first before creating something decent. In fact, there was also someone who knew how to do ceramics, porcelain, and other stoneware. But the creation of such would take too long and the temperature requirement would need a bit more research. However, they had already contacted the person expressing their willingness to invest. Hopefully, they would find someone who could expedite the processes as well. She had not explored the forest for a few days, and the only experiments and mixtures she had done were seasonings. She had yet to understand this profession at all. However, when she saw the additional effect of a system-tagged Chef''s food, her interest was reignited. Although she had produced potions in the past, they added less than 10 points. Not to mention she could only handle low-level plants, for now. But food made by a ''Cook'' could add even more stats, how could she not be interested? How much could she improve as a pharmacist? She was quite looking forward to it. ¡­ [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 5 (3350/15000) Life: 800/800 Spirit: 800/800 (-5%) +50 Physical: 145 (-5%) +40 Agility: 147 (-20%) +10 Defense: 94 +94 sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Mana: 800 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera Village Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Thinking about it for a moment, she concluded that the most practical thing to do was just ask the people who knew about these things. As such, Althea decisively called all four NPCs to the second floor living room of the village center for tea, which made people in the village center very curious at the ''reunion'' of the NPCs. But this was not Althea''s concern. Instead, she just looked at the NPCs as she sipped her tea, offering the others the same. "How are you guys faring in the territory?" "Very good, Milord!" It was forever passionate Brenda who spoke first, a top student as always. "I encountered a citizen with great interest in what he called ''ancient weapons''. Together we are producing a ''crossbow''. I promised to give him a share of my commissions boss, should we be able to patent it successfully." Her NPCs had benefits, that excluded their fixed wages, they enjoyed 1% of profit for everything they did, with an additional 10%-30% if it was something they developed and improved on their own. Althea nodded and sent her well-deserved words of praise that made the other woman''s day. Then she cried, Althea was taken aback. "What''s wrong?" "I didn''t think a woman like me would be praised so often by the Lord. I just feel like dreaming." It was only now that Althea realized, when together, the NPC men had different looks at Brenda, looking at her with a bit of incomprehension and surprise. In retrospect, except for Brenda, all the other options on female NPCs seem to be ''that'' type of helper? The status of women in this world was so low? She couldn''t help but voice it out. After staying in the territory for so long, Brenda had some understanding of the lord''s and her people''s ''common sense''. "Except for very beautiful, noble, ladies and strong women like me¡­ others basically serve as playthings." How surprised she was when she saw the women here could talk and work alongside men without receiving weird looks. It had been so many days and she was still surprised. The male NPCs seem to have realized their gaffe. "We.. we''re just not used to it, milord. Please don''t take it personally." "It''s fine, all you did was give weird looks. At least you''re self-aware." Althea said with a smile, shifting back to the topic at hand. "What about you guys, how are the tasks?" Next to speak was Crutch. "We are also doing well, my lord. Although working in a makeshift armory was a bit of a challenge. I am still making good amounts of armors. "Basically, only the guards and a few others venture far out, my armour output, for now, is alright." This also meant if there were more people, it would not be enough. "I''m reluctant to spend a building slot on armory in the future. Do you have better alternatives to improve your output?" Clutch paused, before nodding. "Well, we can get other armormakers to help, and I can improve on my craft." Althea nodded, "I''ll leave it up to you then." She said, shifting to Rowan for the military concerns. The redhead straightened his back again, dutifully reporting. "Drake and the others were very good, they have techniques I am not familiar with, and I can teach them my knowledge. We improve our skills together." It was Oslo who spoke last. He leaned forward with a suave smile. "The modular house was ingenious milord! "Did you decide on it? It''s amazing I can''t stop thinking about it that I even improved a bit on my professional knowledge just studying it." Improve professional knowledge? "You can ask Eugene for more information in his free time." She said, "I designed it with him by my side." Oslo was a little disappointed their chat couldn''t continue, but nodded in the end. Althea didn''t notice this however, and she just looked at the NPCs with a bit of inquiry. "Now that we''re on the topic of professional knowledge, I actually called you here in relation to this." They all looked at her simultaneously, curious as to what she would be asking. "Can you tell me more about this subject?" She asked, "Just what is it, really?" Chapter 126 - 126: Pharmacist "Just what is a Professional, truly?" She asked, "How does it differ to people who have knowledge of the field, still experts at it?" The NPCs looked at each other, pondering who would be able to answer best. In the end, it was Oslo who spoke out. "Occupations can be triggered when a person is detected to have sufficient knowledge and talent regarding a field." "Not all ''experts'' could trigger it as talent is unfortunately a requirement. Unless, the person worked so incredibly hard for years that this barrier was broken." Rowan nodded. "This is quite rare, less than a third of the people I know have occupations. I don''t think even one-of-ten of these people broke the ''talent barrier'' on their own." Crutch looked at him. "That''s already quite high. You must be from a town." He said, and turned to Althea. "In my small village, not even a hundred were professionals. We have a few thousand people there." Her eyebrows rose a bit at this. "Can non-specialist do similar work?" She asked. After all, she could make quite a number of special medicines even before she triggered this occupation. "Specialization increases chances of activating occupation-based skills. Non-specialists are also limited to D level skills and products." "Getting a job qualification isn''t related to levels, but to skill. However, certain skills need certain levels." Althea paused, before nodding. "What are the advantages of receiving it?" "Once detected, you will have a high chance of receiving knowledge." "Oh?" Althea mused, very curious. "Where from?" Rowan shook his head, not clear on the issue either. Most of the others were the same. The knowledge simply appeared in their minds, ready for them to practice and put into use. Of course, knowledge and practical applications were still different, and they had to sacrifice a lot of raw materials to be able to actually create the product. For Rowan and Oslo, they had to practice countless hours to master a single point of knowledge. Althea looked at the blonde, who had the deepest background. Oslo noticed her look and held back a smile. Calmly, he spoke up. "The records say that there is a so-called World Knowledge, interlacing the world together, compiling all knowledge that intelligent beings have created." He said, "It existed for thousands of years, but they had become accessible for everyone a thousand years ago. It was one of the things the elves left behind before they perished." "It ''sends'' knowledge'' to professionals'' heads?" She asked. "It sends appropriate techniques and knowledge according to various factors, most quantifiable of which is the level." "Everyone starts at level 1 of their professions, but the growth and the quality of knowledge varies from person to person." Althea''s eyebrows furrowed. "I didn''t see any progress¡­" At this point, the NPCs finally figured out that the lord must have awakened a profession. They were very curious what it was. "No one knows how to really improve on it with numbers. It was more intuitive. From my knowledge, practicing continuously and learning new knowledge was the way to go." He then smiled at her. "It is why I''m so thankful to you, my lord, for exposing me to your wonderful buildings." Althea shook her head and looked at him very seriously, "These details are nothing if you don''t have the skills to see them." Oslo blushed a bit, scratching his nose in embarrassment. Then, in an attempt to compose himself, he added some information he suddenly remembered. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "My lord. I heard that different people of the same profession receive different sets of knowledge." Brenda couldn''t help add, eager to share. "I know this as well! For us weapon makers, at a certain level, we could imbue elements in our weapons. The set of techniques, elements, and abilities will differ per person." "Indeed," Oslo nodded, "The knowledge sent is different for every person. It depends on the experience, knowledge bases, race, etc., but mostly it depends on aptitude and talent. The prevailing theory was this was done in order to maximize the use of the skills passed down." Althea blinked, eyes bright. Then this must be the so-called World Knowledge that awarded her with such good things as her bow and defense suits. If this World Knowledge truly collected the knowledge of intelligent beings, then it was estimated the knowledge she contributed may also be sent to some pharmacists out there. How curious. "Do they receive some knowledge as soon as they are tagged for the occupation?" "To my knowledge, yes milord." Tsk. She obviously contributed first, when will this World Knowledge send her some formulas back? The others noticed the difference in her expression, and finally couldn''t stop themselves from asking. "Did you trigger a profession, Milord?" She nodded, and the four looked excited, urging her to continue. If their old selves from a few days ago could see them now, they''d bump their heads together¡ªhow could you be so casual with the Lord? There was no way, the Lord herself didn''t act the pompous majesty of other nobles. On the contrary, she was so friendly and welcoming. She even invited them for delicious tea and snacks every day. Their lord had such an attractive aura that made her approachable despite the quiet strength and confidence she exuded, it was inevitable for them to be charmed. Althea was a little embarrassed by their obsessive stares. "I''m a pharmacist now, apparently." Silence ensued in the room for a while, with the NPCs'' eyes wide, someone even almost¡ªalmost¡ªspilled tea. "You''re a pharmacist, my lord?! That''s amazing." Oslo said, blue eyes brighter than ever. All the others looked at her like she was a god. Althea was even more embarrassed. "W-What is it?" "That''s very amazing, my Lord!" Brenda gushed. "In my town, there was only one pharmacist, and his status was just after the Lord!" "Indeed, my Lord. The threshold for Pharmacy is very, very, high. Deep knowledge of plants is needed, a very good head, and a sharp intuition for its effects." "In most cities, there are only a handful of pharmacists, let alone smaller territories. I heard they create the most miraculous things." Althea''s slight shyness was swept away when she heard of this. "What skills have you heard of?" "I heard they could make concoctions to increase levels," Rowan said, Clutch nodded. "I heard of a pharmacist that could make an exploding potion. It seemed that a level 10 Mooselion was no match for it " "I know pharmacists that could create all-poison immunity potions." And finally Oslo, "The pharmacist from my hometown could make potions that could grow limbs¡­" Althea''s back straightened, feeling very excited. Even if she didn''t learn everything, just a few of these are already amazing, right? Anyway, the economic and military development were now on track. She could finally focus on what she did best! . . . . Later that night. Althea was locked in her laboratory after eating dinner late at night, using her solar-powered lights to light up her laboratory. She was extremely focused on her craft. Dealing with and mixing various plants and chemicals, she was unperturbed, entirely fixed on the task at hand. But¡­ sometime later, a familiar ding suddenly rang in her head. [It has been detected that Altera Village has been qualified for Upgrade for 100 hours. Please prepare for a mandatory upgrade within 28 hours.] Althea who was just about to mix an experimental bomb: "..." Darn it! Chapter 127 - 127: Brothers Aberdeen City, 16 years prior "Found you!" The little girl giggled as she looked at Ansel, her bright emerald eyes shining in glee, her chubby cheek red from panting and from excitement. She then extended her hand to him and he, subconsciously, went out to take it. She pulled him up and guided him to move. They ran deeper into the forest and farther from the eerie abandoned warehouse where he escaped from. He could only watch as she dragged him through the bushes, with her jumping over protruding roots with ease. Of course, because he wasn''t as skilled as she was, and what met him were occasional leaves and branches slapping him. However, running through the forest like this felt a little¡­ fun. But, these moments of peace did not last long as the familiarly terrifying bellows soon sounded in their ears. "There they are!!" "I SEE THEM!" The girl pursed her lips as she ran, "Whoops," she uttered, just before changing her direction at an obtuse angle, almost twisting his arms with her dragging him. Fortunately, she was only a weak little girl at the moment and he managed to keep his arm intact. They continued to run for a couple more minutes until they found a forest with few large trees. She pulled him to an empty trunk. "Wait here." She ordered, taking a random twig below and threw it in a random direction far from them. She had a very far throw for someone with such small arms¡­ Rustles indeed followed the noise and for a moment they were relieved. However, a couple of steps later a large hand grabbed the little girl''s collar and lifted her up. The man looked at her with interest, showing off his ugly smile. "Oh my, what a cute kid." The man grinned, revealing his golden tooth. "I bet you sell a hefty sum." The little girl struggled, waving her chubby arms to hit the man. Unfortunately, it didn''t even reach a speck of skin. Ansel, shaking inside his hiding place, was very scared. He was pale, sweating, and terrified. He wanted to speak out, but no voice came out. Coward, coward He cried helplessly as he watched the girl lifted even higher for ''appreciation''. "Let mwe gow!!" She screamed, pulling Ansel out of his own depressed mind. "Little brat! You dare scratch me??!!!" The man yelled, throwing the girl down to the ground with a loud flop. Ansel''s large eyes reflected the strong legs that raised to kick the small girl now on the ground. Ansel didn''t want to think anymore. He ran on out and grabbed the man''s towering foot, using all his tiny strength in an attempt to redirect the attack. The gold-teeth man grinned. "There you are¡­" he said, grabbing his collar. It was at this point that the other two big men arrived, looking more menacing than the other. "You made a friend when we were looking away? Don''t worry¡­ if your parents don''t pay up, you will be together for a looooonngg time." He cackled and the other two laughed with him. "Boss! This little girl''s so cute. Can I play with her before selling?" "Not before I do!!" Neither Ansel nor Althea, at this point, knew what they meant. However, the newly-arrived teenage boy drenched in sweat, and panting, happened to hear this exchange. His vision turned red. "Althea!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, immediately darting in their direction. Using one man''s leg as a thrust block, he jumped and used his entire body weight to kick the golden teeth out of the man''s face. It was so sudden and strong that the man''s grip loosened and the inertia kept the two captives in place and ready to fall. The newcomer managed to catch Althea, not even seeing the other little boy with her. "Garan¡­" The little girl mumbled, tears lining up her eyes. She wrapped her arms around him, looking at him with dependence. The teen''s anger subsided a little and his heart softened. "I''ll be back." He said, gently placing her in a relatively large tree root far from the hustle. The 13-year-old looked at the men with great malice. Just imagining them thinking of his Althea like that made his blood boil. He sprinted towards the two surprised men. They managed to catch themselves before he attacked, but it was too late. Garan feinted an attack but shifted his kick to the other. Using the inertia of the kick, he flipped over to hit the other man''s head. This was all done with precision and both men were dizzy with just 1 kick. Garan did not give them a moment of respite. He jabbed a person''s face, and the others stomach. He kept attacking them, and kicking the golden teeth man in the process. However, they were all big adult men after all. How could they be so easy to take down? One of the men managed to grab his hostile leg and threw him down, and the other immediately landed kicks on his body. Bang! Pack! Thump! "Garan!!" Althea cried, standing up, but was stopped by Garan''s shout. "DON''T COME HERE!" He yelled back, standing up. He immediately darted in a direction, not giving the men another chance to attack. More hits were exchanged, with Garan receiving quite a bit of damage in the process. However, despite receiving punches and kicks from the big men, Garan remained unfazed, his expression as stern as ever, and it didn''t take long for him to make a comeback. He grabbed the feet aiming at his head and used his strong upper core and hands to lift the enemy''s weight. Arms gripping the leg, he twisted his body and landed on his feet. Using his entire weight he lifted the man and dropped him with a bang. "OI!" "WHAT THE¡ª" A second later he already darted to the others¡ªstill shocked¡ªjumping up and using his thigh to kick a face. He was a bit imbalanced when the man suddenly moved to the side but managed to land sideways on a tree. Using the momentum, he kicked the trunk and jumped from tree to tree, using the unexpected angles to finally take them down. They finally unable to regain their balance, and Garan was quick to take advantage¡ªhitting them in the head and the crotch. They screamed in pain, crying, no longer able to stand up. And the young Ansel captured all of this with shining eyes. ''So¡­ cool¡­'' S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­.. [20 days of Protection Period] Ansel raised his spear, finally stabbing the damned monster to death. [Killed Gnomos (Lv1): +30 Experience, +30 copper] He immediately turned and waived his wooden spear to block another attack, but its large teeth broke the low-durability weapon apart. He cursed and took out another weapon. It was already his last one. [Stab! -3 Mana] [Stab! -3 Mana] He used the dense forest to provide some temporary hiding spots, though most of the trees were damaged by the monster instead. Finally, after using up the rest of his mana, he finally weakened it enough to give the final blow. [Hui Mouse (Lv2): +50 experience, +50 copper] He finally managed to breathe as he looked at the monster fall down, almost losing his footing. After taking off some good meat from his enemies, he pushed himself to a safer place without blood to set up camp. He dragged his feet to go farther away, hoping to find some shelter¡ªan overhang¡ªand built a fire. Fortunately, he was dragged by Garan in wildlife training since he was a child so he could handle this little thing. That jerk said it was for him to protect himself, especially if he got kidnapped again, but sometimes he thought Garan just wanted to torture him. That guy seemed particularly proud when he saw his gossamer hair all messed up like chicken nests. So much for brotherhood¡­ As he sat in front of the bonfire, he sighed and wondered when he''d see Althea. It had been so many days and he met quite a few survivors and he had not met one who was familiar with her. Well, it wasn''t that no one claimed it. But a few wanted to take advantage to milk some money out of him. Naturally, he gave in, like a natural victim. It was just that when he found out they lied, he beat them up until they were half dead. The mountain range was too large, and its connecting area was too wide. He admitted his sense of direction wasn''t the best, but surely he shouldn''t be too far off the mark¡­? As he stared into the small fire and the disgusting meat he had to make do with. He couldn''t help but recall the halcyon days where he could get Garan to cook for him. Sigh¡­ (If Garan knew what he was thinking, he would roll his eyes. It was obviously cooked for his wife, okay?) Soon, the meat was ready. Or at least as much as it could be. However, just as he was about to eat it, he heard rustles of leaves less than a hundred meters away. He quickly killed the fire with loose soil, climbing up the tree with practiced skill. Soon, the newcomers arrived and Ansel got a closer look at them. It was two men with torn bloodied clothes. They are with similar hair, but a bit different temperaments and body mass. But when they turned their heads to his direction, he saw that they had exactly the same face. Ansel''s eyebrows rose in interest. Twins? Chapter 128 - 128: Teamwork The twins, Luke and Leo, looked at the abandoned camp with observant eyes. "Brother, it seems like it hasn''t been too long since the person left," Leo asked his brother as he observed the bonfire with a barbeque stick still smoking. Luke, straightened his back, sniffing, and looked around with narrow eyes. "Maybe they hadn''t left yet." Leo flinched at this and looked around as well. He realized that his brother was likely accurate for once, and he quickly changed his approach. He looked around for some signs and indeed saw some footprints heading towards a direction. He did not approach the forest, but only faced it, plastering on a friendly smile on his face. "Hello!" He uttered out, though not too loud as to catch the attention of the monsters, especially those they just escaped from. "We''re sorry for ruining your dinner." He said, looking back to once again make sure there was no enemy that followed them. "Do you mind if we rest here a bit?" He continued, hovering over the makeshift stone chairs surrounding the bonfire. "I promise that we are not bad people!" Ansel stared at the teenagers, not answering immediately. However, after watching them for a while longer, patient, and didn''t take his meat on a stick, his shoulders relaxed a little. He still had the intuition regarding people''s characters. These kids looked a little stupid, but they were not bad people. After another thought, he jumped down the tree to meet the twins eye to eye. It was Leo, the self-proclaimed to have higher EQ than his brother, who spoke. He raised his hand in greeting. "Hi! My name is Leo and this is my brother Luke¡ª Roar!!!! They turned to the sound not too far away, and rustles of leaves soon near them. Ansel sneered and whipped his head in their direction. "Monsters followed you?!" "We''re so sorry!!!" They yelled. They could''ve sworn they really lost the monsters ages ago. Otherwise, would they dare stay here and chat? Ansel heard that monsters were coming from all directions. Having no other choice, he just gritted his teeth and took out his weapon. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Some were familiar monsters while others weren''t. He recognized a few as the Hui mouse and the Gnomos. There was a new type that was as huge as a bear but with the head of a long-nosed lion. There were about a dozen monsters that sprinted towards them and they no longer had the energy to chat or care about each other. With his injuries, Ansel barely managed to defend himself against a few, while the other two had a harder time coping. However, he only had two hands and two feet, and eventually, one got past his defense and bit his legs with its tiny but sharp teeth. "Ah!" He yelled and quickly rotated his sword, stabbing it down. Over and over. [Stab, -3 Mana!] [Stab, -3 Mana!] [Stab, -3 Mana!] "Whoa, is that magic?" Luke mumbled, seeing a small flash of light when he attacked. Then he saw the bite and his eyes twitched. Unfortunately, he had too much on his plate and was injured as well. Ansel ignored him and continued his attack. Eventually, under his onslaught, the biting monster let go of its bite like a leech, eventually losing its life. [Killed Hui Mouse (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience!] He saw his leg bleeding, but he gritted his teeth and he didn''t allow it to hinder his movements. All this took a few seconds. Any longer and he''d have had two more bites on his body. He ignored the pain in his leg and hit the nearest monster. It was fortunate these were mostly just level ones, otherwise, none of them would be able to handle this mob. Ansel continuously hit monster after monster. He was gasping and could see that his already-dripping spirit was getting even lower. His ears flinched at a sound and he instinctively moved his body to the right to avoid the attack. Unfortunately, his bad leg carried the brunt of his weight, and was unable to support it. He lost his balance and saw the monster open his mouth to eat him. It was at this moment that another spear appeared hit the monster''s eyes and went straight to its brain. He turned his head to the source. It was Luke, and he sent him a nod of appreciation. He used his spear as a cane to bring himself up, taking out the sword to handle the monsters that came his way. "Watch out!" "Thanks" Like them, he used his spear to block the attacks on the twins, assisting them in their subsequent kills. Somehow, the formation changed and the two of them sword users began attacking behind Luke''s strong defense. During this time, Ansel noticed that their teamwork was surprisingly smooth. Did he inexplicably become a member of triplets? It took half an hour for them to deal with a small mob. Without another word, they once again dragged their bodies to a different area, finding a damp cave. Hopefully no monsters lived here. Even if there was, they didn''t have much of a choice at the moment. Without another word, Leo took out a first aid kit and leaned in front of where Ansel sat. Ansel was surprised, but he didn''t reject the kindness. He needed it, anyway. "Thanks." Leo scratched his head embarrassedly. "Well, we kinda brought you the trouble in the first place." Ansel was non-committal and shrugged, looking around as he was being treated. He looked at the molding rocks, dried stalagmites, and the very rough walls. His sights finally ended up on their familiar class E wooden weapons. "Which territory were you from?" "It was called Bonnie Village." Was? "A beast tide destroyed it, just yesterday," Leo said, knowing what he was thinking. He frowned, "Where?" "Flatlands up north." Leo said, "We came here looking for springs." Ansel nodded. "There is indeed one kilometer from here." He said, pointing in a direction. But before the twins could thank him, his pointer changed to another direction. Then¡­ changed it again. "..." The twins stared at him in confusion. Ansel turned beet red. "I don''t have a particularly good sense of direction." The brothers sighed but didn''t push it. After all, they brought the poor guy trouble. The topic died down and they settled themselves in the cave for a bit of rest, with the twins handling everything as he was more injured than they were. Ansel took this time of respite to observe the twins. It seemed that the older one, Luke, was the muscle of the pair. He was the one who carried the logs and stones in. While Leo, the younger one was, well, everything else. So far, Leo was the medic, the cook, the navigator, the brains of the pair. As Leo prepared the tangy meat for barbeque, Ansel sat down in the nearby chair, curious about their former territory. "Have you seen someone by the name of Althea in your territory?" He asked, not knowing which answer he would want to hear. "There''s an Athena." Leo mumbled, "The lord''s girlfriend." "Then it is definitely not her." Leo continued to ponder. "There was also an Alnea. But she''s a kid¡ªvery cute. How old is the person you''re looking for?" "Twenties. But she looked younger. Very beautiful." "Do you have a photo?" Luke asked, interested when he heard the adjective, and Leo also scooted closer to peek. Ansel nodded as he took out his wallet from the space. He really wasn''t expecting much, and he definitely wasn''t expecting their eyes to widen so much at the sight of her. "It''s her!!!" They yelled, simultaneously, and Ansel''s heart stopped. He faced them and grabbed a shoulder, shaking it a little. He couldn''t help but grip a shoulder in urgency. "You know her?" Now he was just worried. What if something happened to her in the beast tide?! Leo saw his pale face and hurriedly corrected his words. He patted back his shoulder, comforting. "We didn''t meet here, we met at Terran." "What?" "How''d you know her?" Leo asked back, very interested, eyes shining with glee. This enthusiasm made Ansel flinch a bit. "She''s¡­ my sister." "Sister??" They yelled, in sync, and Ansel couldn''t help but rub his ears at the noise. "Do you want to attract monsters here again?!" The two quickly realized their gaffe and covered their mouths, but the brightness in their eyes remained. Luke and Leo exchanged happy smiles and looked at him. "Do you want us to tell you a story?" . . . Half an hour of very passionate story telling later, Ansel still couldn''t calm down. Althea was roaming around the city? On a motorcycle? With that huge belly of hers? (Though it seemed the twins didn''t notice she was pregnant¡­ ) Althea was taking a walk around zombie-infested streets? Careless and cool? As if nothing bothered her? Althea flying across buildings to rescue them? Okay, he knew that last one wasn''t true. It was definitely an idol filter at work. But¡­ looking at the shining gazes of the two boys, idolizing and admiring, at least Ansel could be sure that she was doing well. That was all that mattered. Chapter 129 - 129: Prepare for War (Part 1) [19 days of Protection Period] Nineteen days before the end of the Protection Period, a new announcement echoed through the territory, waking everyone up. [Announcement: The territory is hiring people to guard the territory and clear out monsters in the vicinity. Requirement: Men or women aged 18-50. Physical: 30 or above Overall potential: C or above. Wages: 100 copper/day. Benefits: 1 basic weapon every month Free residency during the hiring period Limitations: 0/70 people Please submit your resume at the Village Center. ] "They''re hiring Guards again!" One man said, shaking his partner, who was holding their breakfast. This partner was also staring at the announcement and didn''t have the energy to nag him. "So many?" He asked and looked at his friend, "Are you going to join?" S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Of course! The lives of guards are the best now. They also have the best benefits." However, there were still, understandably, quite a few cynical people. "That''s because the monsters are low-level. Who knows what happens after the protection period." There were also a few voices mumbling that there would come a time when the enemies would become too much for them. By that time, wouldn''t the guards be cannon fodder? However, these were a great minority of the population. The life in the territory was really good, especially after going through so much suffering. Most people couldn''t help but be optimistic. "I''ll cross that bridge when I get there!" Life was so precarious now. They ought to enjoy the benefits they could get now, rather than worry so much! There were also more who analyzed the advantages further. For example, a group of young people gathered for breakfast, discussing their next step. "Rather than the risk, the opportunities are much higher." One said, and another one added, "At the very least, those who join the guards have obviously risen in level. Whatever happens in the future, if you''re strong, you can depend on yourself if you have the strength." His friend nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you can think of it as training with guards." Similar conversations echoed across the territory and several were already lining up at the Village Center, as if being first meant their chances were higher. Lining up, Lee asked his friend Joe, "Why do you think they''re hiring so many guards?" Joe shrugged. "Maybe because there''s more people in the territory?" "Hmmm makes sense." Lee said, "After all, some bad apples are bound to mix in." "There already are," Joe said, leaning down and whispering, very gossipy. "There was a family who wanted to just leech off a kid, right? I think his name was Amos or somethin''." "They''ll definitely sign him up without his consent." "There''s really a lot of slots this time!" Lee said. After all, there were so few of them in the territory. This was basically half of the population right? Joe paused for a moment and blinked, continuing to ponder. "Maybe there''s a beast tide coming soon¡­" Those who heard all whipped their heads at him. "Take it back!" "Stop!" "No one asked you!" "What if you have a crow''s mouth you jerk!" "..." _______ Althea looked down at the people lining up on the first floor with her arms crossed. Fufi was running around her legs, looking as if he was asking to play. She smiled, leaning down to pat the dog''s furry head. Fufi squinted his eyes as if enjoying her ministrations and she couldn''t help but giggle. She also heard a soft chuckle next to her and she shifted her head to look at him. It was Rowan, and he was there to make some reports regarding the hiring. "How''s the training so far?" She asked Rowan, who immediately straightened his back as he answered. "The upgraded training you requested has been in full swing. Drake has been using your hometown''s training of the body and mind and I think it is quite effective. "Especially if people don''t develop elements in the end, the soldiers should still do well." Althea didn''t ask about the elements yet, because she heard she had to be level 10 to even feel its presence. She had too much on her plate now to be curious about a not-so-near future. "What''s Drake''s level now?" "He had stabilized at the peak of level 4. If he keeps it up, he should hit level 5 within a few days." Althea nodded. "What about you?" She asked. Rowan was a level D NPC. For fighter-type NPC level D NPCs generally ranged from level 15 to 30. "I''m at level 16, milord." Althea nodded, thinking of her own level. In fact, she did not dare train herself and kept herself in the middle of level 5, because she didn''t know if the level 2 monsters during the tide were because the Territory was upgrading to level 2, or because the lord was level 2. And also, she was too far along in her pregnancy. Premature birth in this place was much too risky. But¡­ she needed to be ready for an attack of level 5 monsters, just in case. In their guard team, except for Rowan and Drake, the rest were level 2s or 3s. There were also a number of citizens in their level 3s. More. She needed to do more. Woof! Woof! I can help! I can help! She took a closer look at this pet she had been ignoring. Fortunately, the kids were there and they loved to play with him otherwise she''d be very guilty. [PET STATS: Name: Fufi Age: 2 Level: 3 (6650/10000) Life: 1310/1500 Spirit: 1320/1500 Physical: 111 Agility: 126 Defense: 94 Mana: 300 Skills: Active: Investigation (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Earth Titles: None Overall rank: A ] Fufi had been stuck at level 3 for a while now. Part of it was because none of the team had been coming to train and hunt much the past week, and the other was that pets seemed to have a markedly higher experience requirement for the upgrade. However, their base stats became a lot higher as they leveled up. She smiled and booped the dog''s nose, and turned her head to look at Rowan again. "I have a favor to ask of you." Chapter 130 - 130: Prepare for War (Part 2) Rowan''s red eyes blinked a bit, before he nodded passionately. "Anything, my Lord." "I''m sure you''ve seen Fufi." Althea said, pointing at the smiling dog with a wildly wagging tail next to her. Unconsciously, Rowan smiled at the creature. "Yes, I have indeed seen Fufi, Milord." He said, "He often runs around the territory and follows us when we''re doing rounds." He had never encountered such a cute little battle pet before, though it seemed the lord was treating him as the children''s playmate instead... "I need you to take him during your rounds. You can also ask Drake to help you out on this." She told him, "His level had gone stagnant the past few days, and I feel sorry for him." "Yes, milord." He said, really feeling an honor to watch over the lord''s pet. Also, looking at the "good boy''s" smiling face, Rowan looked a little forward to it. Pets were different from Beasts, as they had some intelligence and empathy. They were also very, very, rare. They were bred from animals that hadn''t changed hundreds of years prior. These animals were divided into domesticated meat as food sources or Pets. And although the pet was weak, he had never seen a pet so smart. As expected of the Lord, even the pet was amazing¡­ ¡­. Alone on the second floor of the village center, Althea took the time to peruse through the list of applicants for the guards, which had been pouring nonstop since the announcement was made. After about half an hour, Althea chose the next 140 people to be on the shortlist for guards. Except for two people, all level 3s had officially joined the guard team. She would forward this list to both Rowan and Drake, to determine through interview which ones to keep. After all, she was no soldier and it would be a pity to lose talents by pretending to know the field. After the manpower, the next point of concern was the equipment. Ideally, they''d find a way to go way beyond the standard level E weapons and armor. Even if death was unavoidable in wars, she wanted to do her best to keep it to the minimum that it could get. She opened her tab and sent a message to Brenda and Clutch, asking them to come to the second floor. As they entered, their atmosphere was a little grim, no doubt knowing the implications of her mass hiring of new guards. Everyone looked at each other with serious expressions. "You may have noticed something." She said, and the other two nodded. "We''re upgrading soon." Clutch said, and Brenda nodded looking at the lord with a worried expression. Brenda knew of the lord''s plan and, looking at her face, this seemed to be forced? "Mandatory upgrade is required 100 hours after the qualification." She sighed, answering Brenda''s question. "And I had wanted to dominate the level 1 villages¡­" she mumbled in regret. Pity¡­ Of course, this was also a fair rule, keeping cheating territories like hers from taking advantage of loopholes. "Now we can only prepare." "You don''t have to stress yourself too much, my Lord," Brenda said, comforting. "Only level 2 mobs should attack our territory. The walls and sentries are strong enough." Hearing this, Althea''s shoulders slumped a little in relaxation. However, it didn''t last long. The reason why hoarders were hoarders was because of their instinct to take everything needed in case of a rainy day. Similarly, she''d rather be super overprepared than be underprepared. "How''s the upgraded weapons going?" "We''re in our finalization stage. He should be finished with the missing detail drawings "You should hire him as an apprentice." Brenda nodded with a bright smile, happy to have the same thought process as the Lord. "Indeed, that is what I did. He had just accepted, in fact, so he''s working really hard in the workshop." Clutch looked at her with envy. She not only had a weaponry store but also a reliable helper! Would the Lord dislike him for his lack of productivity? He ought to look for apprentices as well. "Clutch." The Lord''s voice instantaneously brought him back to the present. Then he saw her hand over two earthenware bottles. He opened them to smell the contents. Plants? "This is plant extract taken from Amerie and Glutose. Try experimenting with different rations and mix them with your shields." "Plants, milord?" Clutch had never heard of this done before¡­ Althea nodded and continued with her explanation. "One plant could help harden any surface, while the other makes it more flexible and could have a reflective function." It was unfortunate she only had the time to rummage through the warehouse the day prior, otherwise, he''d have more time to prepare. Hearing this, Clutch couldn''t help but feel agitated. Plants could do so much? Indeed¡ªwhat if he could combine it successfully with his armors? More importantly, Clutch looked extremely honoured to be partnering with the Lord for a project. Although he had no idea how to combine plants with his work¡­ At this thought, he felt nervous. What if he failed? "Ask Eugene for advice, he should be able to guide you." "T-Thank you, my Lord." Althea nodded, her eyes sparkling a little, looking forward to their products. "I''ll leave it up to you!" The two stood up and bowed. "Yes, Milord!" ¡­ That night, Althea was drinking her tea, the relaxing type, because she really couldn''t rest at all. She patted her large belly, and they were not moving. Very peaceful. She smiled. At least her babies were sleeping well¡­ She was smiling and imagining how her babies would look in the future, when the countdown for the mandatory upgrade finally turned 0. The air changed a little, a milder version of how it was when she activated the lord token. Because most people were sleeping, they did not notice the change in the atmosphere, but she and the NPCs definitely did. [Congratulations for reaching Level 2! Rewards +5000 wood, +3000 stone, +3000 gold, +2 building slots] Her pretty eyebrows rose in surprise. Hey, no wonder others were so hyped to level up. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 131 - 131: Level Up [19 days of Protection Period] Althea''s emerald eyes stared at the many notifications that appeared in front of her. Her fingers paused when the final message appeared. [Would you like to expand your wall to the edge? Yes | No] She blinked and thought for a while as she calculated the costs. Her dainty fingers moved and pressed the negative. [NO] It seemed that not every built edifice was unmovable. It was just that the gold requirement was not much lower than if she simply built from scratch. However, the resources needed were also pointedly lower. But this didn''t matter now. Either way, she chose to defer any changes until the beast tide ended. After all, she not need such a large area. And more importantly: a smaller territory was an easier to defend territory. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 159 (27 permanent, 131 temporary) Total Population: 404 Base Resources: Wood: 7820/10000 Stone: 4750/8000 Money: 11522 Gold, 98663 Silver, 46407 copper Reputation: 50 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2), Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv1), Farm (Lv1) S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 5/7 (+1)] Hm, it was beautiful. She looked at the resources'' with satisfaction, although it had a long way to go, if she wasn''t building anything, it should be enough. During beast tides, she could refill the ''health'' of the walls as she saw fit, and she wanted to make sure she had more than enough resources to fill it up even if it was on the verge of destruction. She called on an advanced NPC meeting again, treating the NPCs as consultants prior to choosing anything that consumed a building slot. She observed the NPCs as they entered one by one. She suddenly called them in the middle of the night but there was no sign of complaints. "Milord." They bowed as she entered the lounge, and her green eyes observed the set-up of the meeting area. There was already food in front, prepared by Harold and Sheila. She knew very well the appeal of their food to the NPCs and she was willing to give this benefit. Of course, if she had coffee, she''d prefer it at this time for everyone else, and hot cocoa for herself. Ah, she really missed those hot beverages¡­ When she arrived, everyone had been waiting there and were now relatively casual. They could now eat the snacks and sip their tea without being worried of being thrown in the blacklist for impertinence. Through this, she would also get clearer ideas on what would sell well with the aborigines. It was hitting many birds with one small act of kindness. "We had just upgraded," She told them, "I temporarily delayed the expansion until after the Tide, but I will need your help to choose buildings." As she said so, she already opened the Buildings Tab. It was just that her peripheral vision couldn''t help but catch Clutch''s eager gaze and she felt a little guilty. Althea had indeed considered an armory, but deferred again in case there were better options among the new buildings. She looked at the available buildings that were no longer greyed out. In the Residential Tab there were two new housing types, but they were really just a bit bigger than the previous. Very uncreative. Did the locals not pay attention to where they were living, or was the system hyping up the ultra expensive options by low comparison? For Commercial buildings, only new food stores were lit up: one store selling fruits, another store selling dried foods, and one fruit juice shop that served both hot and cold drinks. The last one seemed interesting, but she naturally didn''t choose it. She had already seen a couple of stores who probably made better drinks than this. There were no potion houses or any medical related facilities available at her level. There were also no new buildings regarding equipment either, and the armory remained unchosen. But¡­ there was a new building tab named Luxuries. Inside, two new buildings were available for purchase. One was called the Lighthouse, defined to be tall tower lit up to guide people as well as serve as supporting lighting for a territory. It was set to light up at night and lit up an area with 100 meter radius, for a certain amount of wood every day. Althea was very curious: What kind of light was used there? It was Oslo who answered her inquiry. "It is perennial fire, my Lord, and it simply consumes a bit of wood every day to maintain." She nodded, understanding the charm of this. The nights here was quite dark, it was only because they had two moons that there was still a bit of visibility. She could see the advantage of this in terms of population as well, especially for a territory like hers set up in the middle of nowhere. And¡­ it would also look good, and the function was practical, but it was something that could be done on their own for a much, much, lower cost. The other luxury building was a Bath House, with the function similar to an ancient civilization back in Terran. It also came with automatic heating and cooling functions. [Luxury Bathhouse (Lv1)- automatically redirects water and produces various temperature pools: extreme hot, very hot, lukewarm, cool, cold, freezing. Must be placed near a water source with 200 tons of water a year. Automatic cleaning and reuse function. Note: Water is not potable. Cost: 300 wood, 500 stone, 500 gold. ] She stared at the special note, though, that the water here was non-potable. Perhaps the energy needed to heat or cool the water will somehow turn the water non potable? Anyway, a few tons of water a year wasn''t much for her who had mountain springs and rivers in the territory. But¡­ more than the light house¡­ she actually considered this more. She had not forgotten about the once-every-year-or-two climate disaster that could last weeks, if not a month. At that time, wouldn''t a good bath in hot/cold water actually start saving lives? Chapter 132 - 132: Level 2 Village Buildings Regardless of potability, she seriously considered the Bathhouse. Automatic heating and cooling was not just a luxury, but in times of extreme weather conditions, it could save lives. The NPCs mentioned that once a year or two there will be a major climate change¡ªand there had never been an exception thus far. Sometimes, it was extreme heat, which had such soldering heat that could kill people if they stayed out for too long. Sometimes, it was the extreme cold, where people could lose a finger after staying outside for half an hour. Even if the construction team was about to complete the basic utilities, wherein they could redirect water from the sources, other changes were not practical at this time. Changing temperatures would be an energy-consuming endeavor and they might not be able to do it fast enough to rescue lives. She silently tagged this as a building for consideration. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Next was the Production tabs which contained four new buildings: lumber house, quarry, ice house, and something called Gugu Bird House. The first two just increased harvest and efficiency of transforming resources into usable products. The ice house was another one for serious consideration. It would have been better if water from the bathhouse was potable, then she wouldn''t even need to consider this. However, if the freezing water from the bathhouse was cold enough, perhaps it would be enough to create ice from another source. It would be even better if they found saltpeter. The last one, based on the description, was basically a chicken coop. It increased the fertility of Gugu birds by 20%. Sounded good... if she knew what Gugu Birds were¡­ This time it was Brenda who spoke up. "It''s a relatively common bird, especially in the Eastern and Southern regions. I am not sure where the territory is, but based on the temperature, there should be some nearby. "It is recognized as the best source of bird meat because of the amount of meat in each one and their strong fecundity." Brenda wrinkled her nose. "In retrospect, the meat was tasteless, but it is very filling." Clutch added, "They''re level cap is also level 3, though most of them are in level 2s, and were thus easier to domesticate than others." Althea nodded in understanding. She decided that after the tide, she would send out missions to capture these things alive. If it was really common, a few people should have encountered it before. After a thought, she dismissed all the buildings in this tab, already formulating ways they could build them on their own. For the Infrastructure Tab, there was one addition, but it was very essential, especially for others. [Well (Lv1)- Produces a fixed amount of 5 tons of water per day. Can be built continuously. Cost: 100 wood, 100 stone, 50 gold per well. ] This could be a bit costly. In Terran, the optimal water consumption per person was 100 liters a day¡ªthat was, the comfortable amount¡ªwith 2 to 3 liters a day needed to barely survive. If people didn''t save much, the well could only serve a few scores of people every day. That was to say, for a single well to serve an entire territory¡ªwhich had thousands and thousands of residents¡ªpeople would have to make do with a liter or two a day, at best (assuming only a few wells would be built). However, this was not her concern, as she had plenty of water sources already integrated into the territory. In the Defense tab, there were two buildings that caught her attention. [Barracks (Lv1) - Trains soldiers to positions according to their aptitudes (vanguard, infantry, cavalry, etc.) Cost: 100 wood, 200 stone, 100 gold] [Training Hall - Allows users to simulate fights with archived monsters, races, and other entities with maximum realism. 20-50% of experience from counterparts could be earned. Level 1: Max Level manifested is level 5. Cost: 100 wood, 200 stone, 500 gold] This was Good. Really, really good. Considering the hassle of going out to kill and only finding level 1s¡ªwhich didn''t give her any experience anymore, which was unfair¡ªshe''d rather train within the comforts of the territory. Well, it seemed like she would have to sacrifice a few good buildings. Oh, the armory as well. At this thought, she looked at Clutch. "The armory is no longer possible, Clutch, I''m sorry." This alarmed Clutch and the others so much that they bowed by instinct. "Don''t apologize milrod! It''s just a matter of convenience." After all, the mixture the Lord gave him with so much inspiration, and additional efficiency bonus was only something very convenient for him. To think he made the Lord apologize for this¡ªshame!!! Looking at the NPC who was about to cry, she raised both hands in surrender. "Sure, okay, whatever you say." She then told them the buildings that she chose, as well as the reason why, and she received their admiring gazes. Looking at them like this, what do the aborigine lords do with their building slots? Why were these people''s standards so low?? In any case, after adjourning the meeting, she finally went home to build the two buildings: The Training Hall and the Bathhouse, quite excited as to how they would add to the territory. ¡­ In the middle of the night, a series of announcements rang in everyone''s ears waking them up from slumber. [The territory has been upgraded. All weapons and armours sold at 10% discount! [All weapons and armours can be bought using contribution points at half the value!] [A beast tide is estimated to arrive in a few hours. Please defend the territory together! The contribution point system has now been activated.] [Contribution Points: As Territory-based currency: Can be used to buy or rent property, at a discounted price. Can be used to purchase rights to use special buildings. As Merit: In the future, certain contribution points will be required in addition to other qualifications for high level jobs.] Everyone could only stare blankly at the announcements. ¡­What¡­is going on?? Chapter 133 - 133: The Alarm is Ringing! To be honest, most of the people still hadn''t entirely absorbed the announcements until the bell rang. And it rang loudly, for a long time. This new bell was a percussion instrument located inside the sundial-clock tower. It was made by Oslo, a metal elementalist, to the admiration of everyone in there. From the NPCs, they knew materializing metal that would stay materialized was extremely difficult, and it took Oslo several days just to complete the tiny bell half a meter in height. However, thanks to Eugene''s ingenious design and shape, a small bell could still be heard a kilometer away, and perhaps even further. It was announced to ring twice a day, at 07:00:00 during dawn, and at 21:00:00 at dusk. Except for emergencies. In particular, attacks on the territory. "Seriously?!" A man sat up from his bed, waking up his dozen roommates in the territory from their daze. "I told you! They hired guards for a reason!" He said, another one sobbed out of nowhere. "Oh my god! Am I going to be a refugee again?!" Lee rolled his eyes. "Don''t compare the old territory to Altera. Whether or not it has a lord or it is system-made, it''s many times more reassuring than the old one, okay?" "What do we do?" "Fight, of course! Didn''t you see? Contributions! We basically get twice the amount of coins!" "There are discounts for the equipment as well!" "If we buy with contribution points, the discount is even larger!" "The guards are strong! The weakest one is level 2!" "Don''t you remember how the sentry towers saved our lives so easily? How could you be afraid?" "Our territory is awesome! Not like those weak chickens! The beast tide is nothing!!" "Let''s go, let''s go!" ¡­ Similar conversations were heard across the territory. There were some voices of fear and worry, but no one was blind: they had seen how steadily the Territory developed. A territory that could give a sense of security inevitably gave people a sense of belonging. In the end, more and more people went out and bought weapons and armor, surprising the NPCs. "The people here¡­ are very optimistic." Clutch said with a smile, that he had followed the Lord''s advice to hire someone to handle the sales. Brenda did the same. "Fortunately, I have been working overtime with my apprentice." "Did you finish that special weapon of yours?" "Yes! The best is that he is testing it with his friends. He is very eager to make contributions." She said, not realizing how big and shy her smile was. Clutch''s seasoned eyes saw it though, but he didn''t say anything. They should go with the flow. He then looked at the food shops and stalls that popped up since the grocery store opened. They were now open again in the middle of the night, ready to provide food for the defenders¡­ and make some money along the way. Unsurprisingly, they saw Oslo ambling about and eating something on a stick. "So fast?" "I love the food here, it''s really nothing like I''ve seen before." As a Level D Architect with his background, he could be said to have seen a lot. But this place never failed to impress him¡ªwhether it was the beautiful, admirable, and unique Lord, the talents that worked for her, the ideas they came up with, and the food¡ªthey were all so new that he had sworn to do his best so the lord would keep hiring him. Brenda and Clutch saw his wistful expression and turned their heads to look at each other. They smiled. Because they were thinking of the same thing. ¡­ On the other side of the territory, a group of young adults encircled a weapon, faces flushed from excitement. "This is itt!!" "The crossbow!" Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Cool!" A group of young men and women surrounded several weapons laid out on the table. There were two types of weapons, one was familiar from dramas, and the other not too much. "And what''s that?" One said, pointing at the weapon as large as his hip. That looked super cumbersome to carry. "That''s a Polybolo! Very awesome." Troy said, proceeding to show his friends the cylinder drum and mechanism. He developed the crossbow first, but someone apparently went ahead of him. Fortunately, he still remembered the polybolo, also a pretty good ancient weapon. It had a quicker firing rate than the crossbow. But¡­ it was heavier and less powerful. So there was that¡­ Whatever, they still did make crossbows, but it was no longer in his name so they had to give up some share of the proceeds. His frenemy, Fred, scoffed at this. "I heard you patented it in the village center? Aren''t you guilty?" Patenting through the Village Center, they said, was patenting it all over the world. "That''s why I''m using half of my future proceeds to charity." He scoffed back. "You think this is still Terran? What charity?" Their mutual friend, Lulu, rolled her eyes at these two man-children. Instead, she smiled at this cousin of hers with a bit of appreciation. "But I didn''t think you''d really learn how to make weapons so quickly." In Terran, this hobby of his was useless and had worried their parents very much. "My master taught me well." Troy mumbled, cheeks tinted a beet red. Fred gaped at him, before breaking to a loud cackle. "Oh my, are you blushing?!" He said, "You''re like a kid!!" "I''m not!! You shut up!" The brunette yelled at his red-head frenemy. Fred''s mocking laughter did not stop as he recalled childhood memories. "You were EXACTLY like this with that freckle girl from fourth grade!" "It''s not the same!" "Hey, although you look like you''re the same age, you''re soo immature and she''s like that hot secretary with a secret agent side job, right?" Totally subject to house-men''s fantasies, even with her scar. "Isn''t she an NPC?" Another person asked, but the question offended Troy. "So what? She''s a real person!" Fred, as always, couldn''t help but utter a snide remark. "Women like that like steady men, right? Not a man-child who has pictures of old weapons all over his bedroom wall?" "..." A pause. "Really?" Lulu massaged her temples, and just took a crossbow and walked to the walls. She didn''t have time for this nonsense; She had contributions to make! Chapter 134 - 134: The Beast Tide is Here! While everyone was rushing to make contributions, some NPCs had already done their part and were walking around to observe. They also wanted to see where they could help further. The three NPCs walked along the commercial street, though mostly along stalls because most of the shops were still being renovated. They paused when they saw Sheila talking to someone¡ªa young woman with dark blonde hair¡ªin front of the building. The NPCs looked at each other. This was the lord''s person, after all, and they wondered if they could greet her? Would it bring trouble to the lord if they did so? The three walked their original path and soon overheard some of their exchange. "Lily¡­ the clinic will be opened now," Sheila said, "Be prepared for emergencies." "But I''m¡ª" "It''s okay, we know you were just in your first year of residency when things happened, but you''re the best we have. Don''t worry, we don''t expect you to do things beyond your abilities." The young woman''s shoulders slumped, knowing she didn''t have much of a choice in this. "Okay, Ms. Sheila¡­" She said, "But please tell me what I need to improve as soon as you notice them!" Sheila nodded encouragingly, but sighed internally. Like Harold, she had also hired a few people, but for the clinic itself, she only managed to find a student. Unfortunately, no legitimate doctors were in the territory now, and their student-nurse pair will have to do. It was around this time that they were approached by the ''Golden god'' (coined by his new fanbase in the territory), his shoulder-length golden hair shining even at night, his bright blue eyes charming their hearts out. "I can''t help but overhear your dilemmas, beautiful ladies," Oslo said with that shining smile of his. The two women blushed under his attention. "Uhm, it''s no problem. We''re just a little nervous. It''s our first war, after all." Oslo nodded in understanding, turning to look inside the store. "May I see?" Lily was a little reluctant but Sheila knew where this man''s loyalty was, so she nodded, leading him inside. As Oslo entered the door he was met with a long counter. And behind it were rows and rows of cabinets filled with different types of medicines. He was impressed. With his sharp eyes, he saw the few specially marked bottles in a position above the counter. They had a different bottle than the others. "What are those?" "They''re special potions made by my boss." The Lord? A Pharmacist? No doubt they''re good. He really wanted to see their effects. He then turned to the bottles below it. "What about these?" "Our people, made according to my boss'' formula. Not as good as the boss'' but better than most." Brenda and Clutch had already stood beside Oslo at this time. "The lo¡ªyour boss is amazing." Oslo studied the bottles and gave out his assessment, particularly those produced by other people. "In fact, these potions are generally OK." He told them, very patient. "You can just increase your production, do some first aid, and things will be fine." The two girls nodded, taking it to heart. Lily, especially, who would brag to her roommates that the Golden god talked to her! ¡­ At this time, the guard team had already lined up along the inside walls. The 100 guards lined up in clusters of five, facing the gates. Although they still had no uniforms, their formation was enough to show they''d received some training. In front of them were two handsome men and a fluffy dog with a perennially smiling face. There were also about a dozen strong men on the side, some were scared, while some were looking forward to it. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The walls were fully lit up with torches. Usually, only every 20 meters or so were lit, but today there was twice the number making the walls look even more majestic under the two moons. The leader, Drake, stared at his shoulders with his sharp eyes. A lot of the new recruits were shaking. They had only been able to train with them for a day, it was no wonder they were a bit scared. Drake walked in front of the most obvious recruit, a 20 year old lad with a level A potential. He was shaking and his eyes shifty, as if looking for an escape. However, he saw the boy''s determined eyes and knew he may have misunderstood. His name was Amos, a dark-skinned lad with a medium build but very high potential. "You are shaking too much, are you scared?" He asked, "Do you regret joining the guard team?" "No, sir, no! These are shivers of excitement, SIR!!!" Drake''s eyebrows rose and his lips twitched, but he didn''t show any other changes on his face. Instead, he simply made a nod of agreement. "Then keep that energy! We''ll be going out the gates when the beast wave arrives!" "What?" The others also couldn''t help but look at him in shock, and he shook his head. "Don''t worry, we have already set up a meter high temporary barrier a few metres from the walls. It will allow us to kill monsters with better efficacy. Looking at many still-anxious faces around him, he frowned. "Don''t you believe in the strength of the territory?" Drake paused and looked at everyone, and the soldiers felt he was looking at each one of them. Slowly, as they remembered the their backing¡ªtheir Altera Village¡ªthe terror subsided somehow. "Remember, you are guards of this territory. Even if you are scared you must face it. If you falter, what about the people behind?" A lot of them still had relatives inside the territory. At least for them, they could not falter. Not to mention, half of these guards had come from fallen territories. They appreciated what they had a lot more and thus wanted to protect it with more intensity than others. "Are you going to man up and be steady, soldiers?" "SIR YES SIR!!" Satisfied with the renewed atmosphere, Drake and Rowan turned to the gate. "Let''s go!" ¡­ They went out and saw a temporary wall about two or three meters parallel from the main wall. The walls enclosed after dozens of meters on both sides, giving them at least a hundred meters of work space. The dozen men who were with them were in charge of maintaining the temporary walls. It was a dangerous job, and none of them were below level 2. They were also among the shortlist in the previous interviews. If they did well here, they would be promoted to guards, themselves. There was also a temporary barracks located next to the interior wall. The five groups will be divided into two, taking 1-hour shifts, and the guards would also be divided to two. The guards were settling in position when Fufi''s forever-wagging tail stopped wagging, tensed, and he started growling in a direction . They looked at each other when they noticed, but they didn''t have to time to ask as they soon felt the ground shake. Whipping their heads to the horizon, they soon saw a foreboding wave of darkness entering their line of sights. The gulped, a mixture of nerves and excitement filling their veins. They''re here!! Chapter 135 - 135: Defenders The soldiers and citizens stood above the territory''s formidable walls, gazing out. Everyone could feel the trembling of the ground becoming more and more intense. Their narrowed eyes watched closely as the shadows of the creatures began to take form. The wave surrounded the territory, but somehow they always knew the location of the openings, focusing much of their forces there. The beast came and attacked all around the territory, but most of the force focused around the gates. According to the NPCs, it had always been like this. At least 80% of monsters were likely to attack the area by the gate, because they were the more vulnerable parts of the walls. As such, the strategy was to focus their forces on the gates. As for the rest of the areas, the sentry towers could theoretically handle the rest. Of course, the territory also encouraged the citizens to take a look at these areas as well, just in case. Anyway, the number of enemies here was few and controlled, and¡ªwith the sentries'' assistance¡ªshould be easily managed by civilians. Back to the Southwest Gate, the Archers formed a line of defense and raised their bows, ready to rain arrows down the monsters below. In order to avoid accidentally hitting allies, archers were instructed to let it rain only at certain distances. The citizens who wanted to fight also joined in. Some bravely stood outside with the guards, while those who preferred long-range attacks stood on the wall. Troy and his friends were one of these people. Not only did they have crossbows, but also his polybolo, and they were sure to contribute the most in the long-range fights. The trembling of the ground intensified, heralding a hoard of monstrously ugly creatures, aiming to massacre all those behind the wall. From the depth of the darkness, the formation of terrifying figures emerged, grotesque forms and hungry eyes bringing terror to most people''s hearts. They watched with both fear and anticipation as the black wave got close enough to see their forms. There were various types of monsters, different sizes, colors, and appearance¡ªbut all ferocious and extremely stimulated. Not too long ago, the same people standing may have trembled in fear if they saw this sight, some may even cry, but not anymore. For the people of Altera, these monsters presented new possibilities, not only death and injury. The first wave of monsters surged forward, the tide threatening to consume the outer walls and those that defended it. Drake waited for the monsters to reach the zone of the sentries. "Ready!" He yelled, as the close-combat warriors stood, ready to fight those that got past the sentries and reached the temporary outer wall where they stood. "FIGHT!" He yelled a resounding battlecry, and the warriors charged on the monsters, using the temporary fence as support. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Clash of iron, wood, and flesh soon resounded on the battlefield. The warriors struck down the creatures they drew near and spearmen thrusted, keeping the monsters at bay. A level 2 fence wasn''t much if left undefended, but when it was, it would still last a while. They killed hundreds of monsters this way and everyone was cheering. Of course, it was only a temporary wall, and there weren''t too many defenders. The sheer quantity of monsters was too big and monsters would inevitably pass through. At the sight of the monsters slowly trickling inside to the main wall, Drake raised his hand. "Fire!!" The archers drew their bows, and volleys of arrows soared through the sky. It rained down on the monsters. Although their skins were tough, the sheer quantity of arrows was enough to cause them significant damage. The best of which was Tony''s party, with their more powerful weapons, and they harvested low-level monsters with relative ease. It was really amazing. After all, they heard even guns had limited effects on monsters level 3 and above, so even if the mob was level 2, they didn''t think the effect would be so big. From this, one could see the magic of the Weapons Maker occupation. Troy''s eyes glistened, wanting to trigger it as well! "Good shot!" Lulu yelled at her cousin who managed to hit a monster straight to the eye, killing it immediately. Troy grinned smugly, but his face transformed to one of annoyance a second later. He glared at a direction, "Don''t waste the arrows, damn you!" He yelled at Fred, who used five crossbow arrows but only hit their tough skins. Lulu''s eyes twitched. "Shut up!" She yelled, making the two flinch in terror. In fact, since these two men hit 25 years old, they had indeed matured¡­ except when they were with each other. It was as if when meeting up with childhood friends, one inevitably returned to how they were at that point in time. "Focus on the fight, damnit!" "YES MA''AM!" And the two worked out their ''differences'' and began to shoot at the monsters again. Fortunately, the polybolos were also powerful enough to actually cause damage, and they did kill the monsters in the end. Volleys and volleys of arrows rained down on the monsters right below the wall, with the short-range fighters fighting it from the rear, as well as defending against those up front. There were thousands of monsters. Monsters were hit, a few fell, but not enough to take most of them down. The creatures lunged relentlessly against the wall, arrows sticking in their bodies, unstoppable and wild regardless of how many arrows were embedded into their bodies. It was as if they were unable to feel pain. Perhaps, in their brainless minds, they truly did not feel pain. However, the number of monsters were large compared to the hundred people in the area. Even if they had a lot of weapons and defensive tactics, it was inevitable for the fight to take a toll. Fortunately, the pharmacy opened in the nick of time, and most of them had handy medicines in their space. They fought for many minutes on end. Eventually, fatigue threatened to wear them down, but they didn''t yield. Warriors stood their ground against these beasts. Especially the close-range fighters, who took the most tiring task. Together, the long-ranged and close-ranged fighters fought valiantly, and they were not losing despite the large discrepancy in numbers. This was a feat, because people generally couldn''t handle monsters one-to-one. It could be said that the territory truly prepared well for this battle. Unfortunately, the holes in the defense still became bigger and bigger in the end, until openings were formed. "Ah, Lee! Watch out!!" Joe yelled at his narrow-eyed friend, trying to get to him. He stabbed the monster with all his strength but it seemed he wasn''t going to make it. Tears formed in his eyes as he could see losing another one of his friends. However, the gruesome scene he envisioned did not happen as a tall fire wall appeared, saving the man''s life and burning the enemy. The monsters nearby roared in pain as they tried to kill the fire that stuck to them. At the same time, they were brainless monsters, and a lot still tried to go through, burning themselves. It was a gruesome scene. To the eyes of the Terrans though, the sight of the fire and the burning enemies brightened their eyes. Amazing!! Chapter 136 - 136: NPCs in Action The Lord specifically told them to let the people experience the dangers of the mobs first before making a move. While it was difficult, the people nevertheless didn''t fail to impress them. "Are you alright?" Rowan asked, and the soldiers stood up amazed but quickly gathered themselves. "T-Thanks¡­" he said and jumped back to battle. The people on the wall though, were not so calm. "Ooh my god! Is that a firewall?" "So cool!" "I heard when you reach level 10, there''s a 10% chance you could awaken an element." "Just ten? Then it is not guaranteed even if you have the affinity in the stats bar?" "...I don''t know." However, the discussion was cut short by Rowan''s valiant display of abilities. He let out a fire whip, dealing with a handful of monsters almost immediately, and the warriors only needed to hit them once and they''d die. He made sure not to kill them, leaving them to the others. The lord told them this was an event to strengthen the people. Besides, he didn''t get any experience or copper from these weaklings at all because people could not get anything from monsters lower than 5 levels from their own. This happened several times and the soldiers below received a lot of experience from getting the last kills. "Goodness, so cool!" "I wish they made a move sooner!" "Focus! Are you here to watch or to help?!" "Oh, right right right." They continued shooting their arrows, with the logistics team ensuring they never ran out of them. However, sometime later, quite a few archers couldn''t help but freeze midway, watching the battle below. A gasp. "Metal spikes!" "Oslo? The architect??" "So handsome!" A girl swooned, but not before firing her shots with decent accuracy, of course. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I want to reach level 10!!" "Then you better kill more monsters!" Monsters fell one by one, cries of fury, twisted forms loitering the ground This display of the two elementals inspired everyone''s fighting spirit to the maximum. Seeing the killing spree of the two NPCs, they even started to worry that nothing would be left for them to kill! ¡­ Baron Smith was throwing heavy stones from his space to the monsters that were scratching the walls. He and his team had brought in a number of boulders to assist. After all, no matter how rich, you sometimes couldn''t buy talent. Baron was one of the types with no body coordination no matter how much he practiced. He looked at his cousins Angelo and Jesse. Angelo was already in the guard team, killing several monsters every few minutes, while Jesse was shooting with a very good hit rate. Cassie and her grandma on the other hand were working overtime in their kitchen, making easy-to-eat foods and snacks to sell at cost price to the people in the front line. Mathilda was assisting Sheila and her new assistant, Lily, in preparing everything they could to assist the wounded. At this time there was a new face that joined them. It was a graceful woman looking to be in her 20s. They didn''t have any idea who she was and what she was doing there until she introduced herself. "I''m an¡­ NPC that has just been hired a few moments ago. My name is Betty, and I''m a D-level Healer." A Healer?! The women brightened at this and grinned at each other, quickly running to both sides of the new NPC, startling her, and then quickly dragging her to help. Overall, everyone did what they could for the territory, even those far within the walls. Gru was one of these people. He walked to his backyard to check on the yam he was breeding. It was all he knew how to do and, with his age, it was all he could do. At the very least,he could help provide the food that would give everyone the strength they needed to fight the enemies. He looked at the grafted plants and saw they were doing well. He added a few more experiments, doing what he could. What he didn''t expect was the sudden ding in his head. [Congratulations! Occupation confirmed: Farmer] ¡­. While major activities was happening in the Southwest gate, the Eastern gate was minimally guarded in contrast. Althea stood on the walls of the Eastern Gate. She had given the order that she would handle the gate herself, with them following after settling the other gate, much to the aghast of the others. She had checked the map and she saw that at least 70% of the monsters were heading to the Southwest gate, a little over 10% to the Eastern gate, and the rest attacking the rest of the walls. To assist her, the Eastern gate had extra two sentry towers right by the gates for extra force. There was also a temporary construction outside this gate, albeit much smaller and condensed, made by Oslo with his earth ability. Instead of a wall, there were platforms of different heights but accessible to each other. She could jump over to them from the gate as she needed, jumping to and fro to capture as much as she could. These were all temporary though, as a limitation of Oslo''s ability, but she reckoned the fight shouldn''t last longer than a day. Althea had stopped herself from leveling up before, and she was now hungry for experience. As for her pregnancy, she had asked the new NPC healer to add a small buff in her body for protection, and she also prepared a lot of medicines just in case. Anyway, one of the two NPCs will be joining her after increasing the momentum on the other gate. More importantly, it was very rare to encounter so many level 2s and 3s. She needed them to finally level up, and thus focused on them, ignoring the others [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 5 (3900/15000) Life: 800/800 Spirit: 800/800 (-5%) +50 Physical: 145 (-5%) +40 Agility: 147 (-20%) +10 Defense: 94 +94 Mana: 800 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera Village Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Leather Boots +2 Defense, +0 Agility ] Using her precise skill and strong weapon, she hit every critical shot, killing many monsters in a minute. Anyway, it was very rare to encounter so many level 2s and 3s, so she was bent on focusing on them. [+50 Experience, +50 Copper] [+70 Experience, +70 Copper] [+50 Experience, +50 Copper] [+50 Experience, +50 Copper] If people were to see the sight, they would admire her not only for her strength but also for her beauty that seemed untinctured by the mess. And, indeed, it was what caught two mysterious pairs of eyes. Chapter 137 - 137: The Battle at the Eastern Gate [19 days of Protection Period] The pair of eyes belonged similar-looking men with tanned skin and light-colored hair. Quite handsome with their large builds and chiseled features. At the moment though, the men''s eyes were fixed upward, eyes locked on the gorgeous woman jumping from platform to platform. She was pulling her arrows, hitting the targets with grace and accuracy. They couldn''t help but admire how effortless she was moving across the small plateaus. As she shifted, her striking eyes were focused on the targets at hand, with her hands drawing a slender bow with a unique sheen. With practiced movements, she notched an arrow and released it¡ªsending it straight to the head of a level 2 monster, killing it with one shot. It was a fascinating sight. And then they realize¡ªvery belatedly¡ªthat the woman was PREGNANT! Very, very, pregnant. "Are you seeing this, uncle?" Helios, the younger one with slightly longer and wavy hair, whipped his head to his uncle, whose eyes never left the woman at all. The duo had gone to this gate because they had wanted to assist the territory in a low-key way, away from most of the bustle at the other gate. The two of them had entered the territory through the Eastern gate a few days prior. They were one of the few who had understood its existence, as most of the others didn''t even know they had an Eastern gate. They didn''t expect that there was someone else so far in front of them. Even if they did, it was definitely not what they had expected to see when they got here. "Hmn," Hugo, the taller man with a slightly larger build and crew-cut hair, nodded, eyes widening a little when the woman slipped a little but managed to regain her balance a second later. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Very skilled." He said very succinctly, and his nephew nodded in agreement. Hugo''s parents had him very late in life, and instead of his brother, his nephew who was five years younger was more like his sibling. Hugo had hit level 4 just before entering the territory and Helios was at the latter part of level 3. They considered themselves pretty strong, and that they should be able to assist in the handling of the mob here with the help of the sentries, but they found out they could not compare to a pregnant woman. It was both emasculating and amazing. However, they weren''t stupid enough to think the woman was invincible and did not need help. Hugo nudged his nephew forward as he himself sauntered to the battlefield. "Miss! Do you need help?" Helios asked and he couldn''t help but gape at the beautiful woman when she turned her head to them, meeting her deep emerald eyes. Hugo felt embarrassed and patted his shoulder. "Don''t you see she''s busy? Just do it." The two of them took out their arrows, hitting the monsters with precision not much inferior to hers. When their arrows were gone, they shifted to their close-range weapons. With Helios waving his wooden sword and Hugo with his spear. They jumped to the mob of level 1s, as Althea had been taking care specifically of level 2s alone. They were valiant and skilled, obviously practiced. Althea''s eyebrows raised as she spared the two a look. She remembered them, as she had asked Harold to find out the owners of a couple of names that interested her. These two were the strongest people other than herself, the NPCs, and Drake. She had hoped they would join the guards and was a bit disappointed when she didn''t see their applications. If they didn''t want to join the guards, she had wondered how to keep them to serve the territory¡­ especially now when she saw them taking on a mob by themselves. In any case, Althea assisted the duo with her shots¡ªeven if the monsters no longer gave her any experience¡ªearning their appreciative nods many times. This went on for about an hour and they soon felt their spirits reaching the red line. Even if the monsters were just level 2 at the worst, the three of them dealt with several hundreds of monsters after all. Even with their level, it was extremely cumbersome. Not to mention, all the medicine they stocked up was now gone. Althea noticed this as they had already begun getting relatively serious injuries without making any attempts to heal them. She took out two personalized bottles from the space. "Here! Take it!" She said, throwing it to their palms with accuracy. "T-Thanks!" Helios said, surprised, while Hugo looked at her deeply, before looking down at the bottle. They didn''t think any further as they were still surrounded, breaking the lid and consuming all the bottles'' contents. Almost immediately, their bleeding stopped and they could feel a good portion of their health and spirit had recovered. "What¡ª" The pair were amazed by the effects of the medicine. This was better than what they got from the new pharmacy, and they couldn''t help but give the woman another look as they slashed away. However, they were being mobbed by monsters and didn''t have the time to dwell on her mysteries even for another second. Another hour passed and the effects of the medicine had soon been used up. Fortunately, one of the NPCs¡ªthe architect¡ªarrived and spikes of metals appeared, skewering the monsters around them. The handsome blonde''s eyes never left the woman on the elevated platform, eyes filled with worry. Judging by his sweat, he definitely rushed to get here. "Milor¡ªMs. Althea, you''re a pregnant woman, you should take a rest." He said, while sending out spikes to deal with the monsters nearby. Althea, who was really starting to feel the pregnancy symptoms, nodded in agreement. She jumped to the safety of the walls and watched Oslo deal with much of the remaining mobs. From the corner of her eye she watched as Oslo dealt with the majority of the monsters. At the same time, giving the two other men the final kill, inspiring them to keep attacking even when their health and spirit had entered dangerous levels. One of them, the younger one, even leveled up to level 4. And Althea felt a little jealous. When would she be able to upgrade? Chapter 138 - 138: LEVEL SIX Althea felt she was very, very close to upgrading. With the level of the mobs outside the Beast Tide, it may take her a while to upgrade if she let this chance pass. After all, for some reason, she couldn''t get experience from level 1s anymore when she was only level 5. This was a mystery even to the NPCs, as she should still be able to get some experience until she was level 6. When else would she be able to see so many level 2s together? Not for a long time, right? Not when she couldn''t travel too far away due to her pregnancy anymore¡­ With this thought, she looked at her stats. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 5 (13960/15000) Life: 120/800 Spirit: 143/800 (-5%) +50 Physical: 145 (-5%) +40 Agility: 147 (-20%) +10 Defense: 94 +94 Mana: 800 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera Village, Elder in Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ] Seeing there were only a few monsters away from an upgrade, she couldn''t help but frown. It would be such a pity not to take advantage of this. So, how could she not? Althea rested on the battlement for a moment as she wiped off the grime and sweat off her face and neck. At the very least, she gave herself a moment of respite as she took all the remaining medicines she had and ate all the special-effects food from Cooke. As she rested, her green eyes watched the battle below with great interest. At the back of her head though, she was closely watching the recovery of her health and mana, eager to join the fight. A few minutes later, she stood up again. ''Just a bit more'', she mused. She decided to push herself a little further. With a huff and a little prayer, she went to the edge of the battlement, taking out the Bellagio again. [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [...] "Ms. Althea?" Oslo exclaimed, worried, and he immediately ran to her, ready to defend. But Althea herself was very high level compared to the mob, combined with her powerful weapon and recovered mana, she went on a killing spree. [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] One final shot passed through a monster''s brain and her eyes sparkled. Finally¡ª [+50 Experience, +50 Coins] [Congratulations for upgrading to Level 6!] Yes! However, before she could feel happy, she suddenly felt a sharp, sharp, pain in her stomach. It felt like she was being torn apart. "Ahhhh!!" Her legs lost their strength and she lost balance. "Milord!?" Oslo yelled, sprinting to catch her. She landed safely in his arms, and he paled as he saw her in extreme pain. What was happening? He was about to run inside when he heard a scream beside him. "Helios!" The man behind yelled, running to his nephew. Oslo frowned and saw the two men were also at their limits. It wouldn''t do to leave suddenly, as the Lord would feel sad if a citizen died. With sharp eyes, he looked at the two men. "Take her to the infirmary!" he yelled at them. "I can handle these things myself!" The two nodded and ran at the woman with worried expressions. It was Hugo who was faster and quickly brought her up to his arms. The two ran frantically to the temporary infirmary near the Southwest gate. The nurses and medical professionals took them in like any other, until they saw who it was and everyone became flustered. When Sheila and the others saw who was in her arms their hearts dropped. "Boss!!" Immediately they placed Althea in the bed. Sheila immediately took her, trying to figure out what happened. Her head whipped to the two haggard men with a deep frown. "Speak! What happened?!" Neither Hugo nor Helios could answer well. "She had gone on a killing spree, but she didn''t show any signs of loosing health or spirit at all." It was Betty who spoke, trying to calm the situation. "She has no serious injury but¡­ her water broke." "What?" "She''s not even nine months pregnant!" Sheila said, confused. "Although technically, she should only be about seven months in¡­" "What?" Hugo asked, his eyes following the flurry of activity in front of him, "What does that mean??" "The Change¡­ it accelerated the growth of the children." She shook her head, knowing this was not the time to discuss this. "What happened this time?!" It was Eugene who cut the atmosphere, dark-colored eyes looking at Althea. "She upgraded." He told them. As someone with very high observation skills, he noticed some changes in her aura. "She upgraded six levels since then?" Betty asked as she quickly used her ability to stabilize her, giving Lily and Sheila time to prepare the tools. Betty didn''t know how to deal with the mystery either, but she knew how to handle the emergency at hand. She immediately asked the nurses to prepare a room, who ran immediately to prepare for the suffering woman on the bed. Even Sheila, whose body was automatically working in a flurry, was sobbing a little as she did so. While these was all being prepared, Althea¡ªcovered in sweat and pale in bloodlessness¡ªfinally couldn''t hold back the intense pain anymore. Body feeling like it was being pulled on all directions, she let out a toe-knurling scream¡ªpiercing everyone''s hearts. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Thousands of miles away, Garan whipped his head to a direction, feeling an unprecedented sense of dread. His heart clenched and his blood turned cold. Without thinking, his feet moved as he sprinted to the direction of the Fog. He ignored the surprised yells of his subordinates and just ran there, using all his strength. Faster, faster! As he ran closer, the horrid feeling intensified and he couldn''t help but let out a heart-wrenching roar. "ALTHEAAA!!!" Chapter 139 - 139: Children City G, seven months ago A sunny mid-morning in one of the country''s most premier tourist cities, a very eye-catching couple held hands as they walked along the beautifully greened street. The weather that morning was excellent, the temperature was cool and the breeze was refreshing. Most importantly, they finally got to spend some time with each other. It has been a while since they''ve gone out for the sake of a walk. Garan''s deep azure eyes turned to his wife. Her hands entwined with his, her attention was fixed on looking around the new city. She was the embodiment of an avid sightseer. Her emerald eyes dilated occassionally, mouth parting a little when she saw something of interest. Very curious, and very cute. Garan felt guilty of not being able to give her this as often as he''d like. Althea always liked to explore and go to new places, and yet he couldn''t give it to her. He raised their hands and kissed her palm, cerulean eyes looking at her gorgeous emerald ones with apology and love. He always told himself it was for a stable future for their family, but a huge part of him felt he kept missing important things. If only he could divide himself, he would. She blinked under his hot stare and mouthed ''what?''. But instead of answering, he just smiled and shook his head. He simply raised her hand and placed the back of her hand against his lips. Althea''s eyebrows rose, curious, and her free hand found his stomach, knowing he had a ticklish spot there. He flinched as his lips twitched. This made her giggle and continue to ''attack'' him, thinking she could get him to tell her of his thoughts. (In fact, Garan did not have a ticklist spot at all, at least not after puberty, as his body was trained very thoroughly to not have many weaknesses. However, he was sure to play along with his wife every time.) Garan pretended to flinch so he could pull his wife flush on to him, making her gasp. His eyes darkened and he leaned down, ready to capture her lips. Before the two could go on an all-out PDA, however, the laughter of children approaching caught their attention. They were five children, very cute, and they were playing and laughing, oblivious to the world outside their own. They were so adorable that the very sight of them placed a smile on her face. But as one ran in their direction, trying to escape the ''it'' in their game of tag. He did not notice that there was a tile slightly ajar. Althea saw it though, and she immediately looked worried at the sight. "Oh no, watch out!" She uttered out. It was too late and the child fell down near them. Althea quickly got out of Garan''s grasp and she leaned down to help him up. His playmates also arrived next to them standing up next to the fallen child. The children gaped at her as she patted the dust off their cartoon jumpsuits. "Are you okay?" She asked, voice very gentle and soothing. "Yes. Thank you beautiful sister~" one child said. "Thank you beautiful sister~" The others repeated. She giggled and they blushed, scurrying off with their small feet after saying another milky thanks. Althea didn''t notice how her eyes warmed. "What lovely children¡­" "Hmmm," A voice sounded beside her, "You will make a good mother." He said as he placed his huge hand behind her waist. She chuckled as she returned to his embrace, also returning the compliment. "And you will make a good father." At this, he looked unsure, showing a rare silly expression on his face, making Althea''s lips twitch in both amusement and a little melancholic. "Oh, stop doubting. You''ll make a great father." She repeated, "You forget how you were when Ansel and I were growing up." She touched his chiseled chin with her soft hands, "Not many big brothers can be so patient." Garan still looked unsure. He didn''t have a father figure growing up as he was already grown up when he was adopted, joining the cadets shortly after. He really wasn''t confident that he would be a good father. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "If they look like you¡­" he mumbled, after some thought. Althea rolled her eyes, but Garan''s eyes brightened as imagery of his words popped inside his head. Garan immediately began to see them with children. It was a lovely sight and his heart warmed just thinking about it. It wasn''t that he hadn''t imagined it before¡ªhe had already had an image of their family the moment he realized his feelings for her weren''t platonic. However, the images had never been so concrete, likely because subconsciously he had been afraid that they wouldn''t come true. But when the happy image passed by¡ªhe was carrying adorable daughters that looked exactly like his precious wife¡ªa breath of warm air in the cold winds surrounded his body. "Then, shall we try?" He asked, bringing her to him. How lovely would it be to create life with their own bodies? Further, with a child to accompany her, she would also have more pieces of him when he''s away. She giggled. "Hmmm." Garan''s eyes brightened at her agreement, and he almost carried her back to their hotel. And they did create a life that night, still two of them. ¡­____¡­____¡­____¡­ Altera Village, Present They immediately transferred Althea to the clinic with as much speed and care as they could give her. At this time, they already had wheeled hospital beds and Sheila pushed the bed to the operation area. Although the clinic had not yet opened officially, everything was already installed, cleaned, and settled. The clinic occupied four units and was large enough to serve twice the current population. For ease of movement, the emergency area was entirely on the ground floor, and they gently placed Althea in the outermost room. "Hnmmnn¡­." Althea groaned out as she gritted her teeth. Her whole body was drenched with sweat. Her eyebrows were furrowed deeply, her face red from pain, and her eyes threatening to pour out tears. She had not made another noise after that one heartbreaking scream. And the sight of her silent endurance was even more heartbreaking¡ªespecially for her team. Although pregnant, Althea had always been their anchor. Now that she appeared so vulnerable and was suffering like this, they all felt unbalanced and in pain. Lily came back after disinfecting everything. Disinfectants were something not yet developed with local materials, although it was an ongoing study by Althea herself. Lily happened to have alcohol in her space, and it was the last bottle. They had asked Oslo to make some tools with his ability. Although metal abilities were limited to black iron and could only last a few hours, it was better than nothing. Anyway, they wouldn''t insert the tools inside the wounds. Ideally, Althea will give birth naturally. Their current conditions just couldn''t support a caesarian section. If it was a caesarian section¡­ then there was really no guarantee. The news placed a heavy weight in everyone''s heart, terrified of what could happen to the bright, intelligent, beautiful woman that they knew. Sheila and the others closed their eyes and held their hands, praying for her to be okay. Chapter 140 - 140: Birth The medical women stayed in the room to guide Althea through her birth, while the rest waited in the lobby restlessly. Oslo was walking back and forth outside of the room, Harold''s feet were continuously tapping, while Eugene was scratching his scalp too often¡­ It was hard to watch. With a sigh, Mathilda spoke up. "Althea is a strong woman. She''ll be fine." "Will she be really okay?" "Premature birth at this place¡ª" Everyone paled at the unspoken thoughts and they all looked at the locked door with eyes filled with concern. Although they were outsiders, Helios couldn''t help but add. "A few days ago, I was on the verge of dying. My wounds were bleeding nonstop, some of my innards could be seen." They stared at him, as if wanting to see his point. "I upgraded, and now I''m fine." The team stared at him, wondering what he was blabbering on about. Mathilda¡ªwho had known Althea for many years and had an instinct for her abilities¡ªwas relatively calmer and helped him out, "It meant the upgrade alone could guarantee her life." This made them relax a little, but their worried expressions didn''t subside. In the end, Harold sighed, "No one noticed?" He asked, feeling incredibly guilty. They lived together but none of them saw it. Were they too busy that they ignored such details? What kind of teammates were they?? Mathilda shook her head, stopping such negative thoughts from permeating. "The stomach doesn''t change much after the 8th month. Don''t blame yourself." Silence echoed along the waiting room, the only sound they could hear were the murmurs and hums inside the room. They would also occasionally hear Sheila''s reassuring voice, followed by Althea''s pained groans. It took many hours of silent tension before they heard Althea''s desperate cries again. Each tone gritted in their hearts, and the women felt teary. Palpable unease occupied the air and they could only pray as they listened to the intense suffering going on inside. Fortunately, it didn''t last long because they could soon hear a baby''s cry. Then¡­, came another. But they still did not breathe. It was only when Sheila came out of the room very sweaty and bloody, but with a relieved smile on her face. "Both mother and children are okay!" A wave of relief and happiness flowed in the room and they simultaneously heaved the breath they had been unconsciously holding back. Finally! ¡­ Althea was taken out of the ''operating room'' a few minutes later, to one of the private rooms. The people immediately converged to see but when they saw Althea was asleep, they did not bother her. However, they couldn''t help but take a look at the babies. The two babies were wrapped in the comfortable baby clothes Althea took a while back. They had prepared it for this day, they just didn''t think it would be so early. They were gorgeous babies, plump and white. Their eyes were large and wise, and their smiles were infectious. They didn''t have the usual wrinkled face of newborns, and looked incredibly beautiful from the get-go. It was as if they had been completely nourished in the womb. Betty said they might be able to see already. "Pretty!" Maya said and little Theo nodded in agreement. Harold had only brought the two children in the past hour or so, not wanting them to suffer too long with them. "Daddy, Daddy, are they my new brothers and sisters?" Harold patted the children''s head with a smile. The two children grinned and ran back to the bed, watching the babies'' every movement with apt fascination. One baby¡ªthe boy¡ªblowed a saliva bubble and it popped a few seconds than it normally would. This was enough to impress the children. "Wowwww." Maya said, awed, then she turned to the other baby who was giving her a toothless smile. "Hey, she laughed at me!" "Wooowwwssoooocuteee." The innocence of the children let them let out a breath of relief, and they looked at each other. After so long, they finally found smiles on their faces. ¡­ Sometime later, after seeing the situation stabilize, neither uncle nor nephew could stay. They politely said goodbye to the others. "Are you sure you won''t stay? I''m cooking a celebratory dinner tonight." Harold said as he accompanied them out the door. The pair looked at each other and smiled, but shook their heads in the end. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were not so thick-skinned as to join such a tight-knit party on such an intimate occasion. "Well, thank you. We owe you." "We didn''t do much. We only took her in because she and Oslo saved our lives and did our jobs." Harold nodded, "Well, if you need anything, just knock on our doors." "Thanks." On the other side, Althea was moved to one of the two private rooms of the clinic. Seeing her peacefully asleep, the team took turns holding the children. They just couldn''t stop staring. How could children be so beautiful like angels the moment they were born? As she carried one of the children, Sheila couldn''t help but recall the mysteries from earlier. Now that she had regained some calm, she had finally remembered these issues. She turned to the NPCs, especially Betty. "Does this happen all the time? I mean pregnant women''s gestation period shortening due to upgrades." Betty was taken aback at the question and shook her head, "Of course not. Although not unheard of, it''s quite rare. In the town I lived in, I only heard of it happening once. "In my knowledge, it wasn''t to this¡­ degree either. At most, just one or two months advanced." Betty told them, "There were rumors that they simply got pregnant before marriage." The Terrans looked at Betty in curiosity. "Then can you tell us more?" "Yes, because it was such a rare case, it was studied by experts." she said, carefully remembering what she knew, "It was found that certain children growing up during upgrades could absorb energy¡ªaether." "How does it affect Althea?" "Had Althea not been pregnant, her upgrade would be even more pronounced. Not in terms of level, because experience gained from monsters is constant, but in attributes." "Her physical improvement could''ve been stronger?" Sheila voiced out a bit shocked. You must know that although Althea never told them of the attribute she got, the fact that she was so much stronger than them meant that she was getting higher attributes for the same level. "Are there conditions when this happens?" "The cases are too few to make a conclusion. However, there is a hypothesis. "The case from my old town was the case of the lord''s daughter, who was a rare talented woman. She got married to one of the princes of Holt City, a known genius in his generation. "They were quite famous as top talents of their generation." She said, "So it could be related to this." "Hence, the consensus was that this probably happens when both parents have excellent genes." She paused, looking at their lord''s first companions before her eyes shifted to two of the most angelic little babies she had ever seen. She was very curious. "May I ask?" She began, "Who''s the father?" Chapter 141 - 141: An Inch Closer Aberdeen City, 19 years ago He had just gone back from work when the 11-year-old Garan was met with a chubby brown-haired boy. In his hand was a pink paper bag, and inside it was a stuffed toy to accompany that small dog stuffed toy of hers. Plushies should be big enough to be hugged, he thought, and she ought to have a much larger one than the old one that could fit in her small pocket. Because of the gift, he took overtime work and took even more time to buy it, so he was a few hours late in getting back than usual. He ran home excitedly afterward, looking forward to his Angel''s smiling face. "Garan! Garan! Big news!!" The boy ran to him with his usual energy, but this time he was frowning and looked a little sad. "Garan! Althea is gone!" The little chubby boy¡ªBeany¡ªsaid, looking at him with pity. But his pitiful look soon turned to fear. "What? What do you mean??" Garan grabbed Bean''s shoulder, unconsciously pressing to the bone. The younger boy''s eyes flinched in pain, squeaking, "She¡­ she got adopted, just today!" "WHAT?!" The younger boy flinched, startled. "Well, actually the parents seemed decent¡ª" Garan''s dark face did not subside. Poor little Bean didn''t know how to escape safely from this guy''s claws. Garan''s breath was heavy, unsure how to absorb this sudden fact. He whipped his head and glared at the innocent Bean. "What happened?!" Scared, poor Bean''s young mind just told him to tell everything he had seen. "Althea was crying, looking for you everywhere." He gulped and almost screamed when he saw Garan''s face getting darker and darker. "The principal tried to pull her somewhere else, but she was crying so miserably that the visiting couple saw her." "They found her lovely and it broke their hearts to see her crying. It happened that the couple was looking for someone to adopt." Garan looked at him, and he continued telling him what he knew. Pitiful Little Bean gulped again in nervousness. "They promised her t-that if she behaved well, you would come see her. That''s all I know." Bean took a deep breath after finishing and tried to reassure this wild beast of a friend. "They looked very sincere." Garan frowned and clenched his fist. It wasn''t that he didn''t want her to find a good family, but he was angry he wasn''t there when she found one. He wasn''t even able to say goodbye to her? He still had so much candy saved up to give her little by little for fear she''d ruin her teeth¡­ He turned to Bean. "Did you get their address?" "Not, exactly, but the headmistress should have it." Garan frowned and turned, his feet automatically taking him to the headmistress. Then, suddenly, he felt extreme pain in his body¡ªso extreme that his legs gave way, and he fell strongly face-first on the floor. He didn''t even feel the pain from the fall; the sudden grip on his heart felt so much more painful. "Oi! Garan! What''s wrong with you?!" . . . A few minutes later, every news outlet would report that a terrorist attack happened in a certain children''s mall, killing hundreds of people, most of whom were children. _____ Present. Garan glared at the fog in front of him, thinking that it was the obstacles that had kept her from Althea back then. He finally reached the fog and entered again, but came back out where he entered a moment later. He frowned but continued doing so anyway, over and over again. For the nth time, he stepped out exactly where he came in. His fists clench, heart heavy and depressed. He wouldn''t be so helpless again, would he? In fact, he hadn''t found that terrorist group yet, even after all these years¡ª That group of bastards took joy in forcing terror into people''s hearts, destroying worlds, ruining people''s lives. He almost lost his world back then, and he could still remember the despair that he felt. Althea was said to be the only one to survive in that area, and miraculously only a part of her back received some burns. It was just that even if it was relatively lucky, a wound was a wound, pain was pain, and it broke his heart regardless. He could still remember her pale bloodied face when he saw her at the hospital even at this moment. Althea still had that damned scar on her back. It was a large scar that extended from her lower back to her hip. Every time he saw it, his determination to get rid of all scum strengthened. At the same time, he was reminded that he had to be so strong no one could stop him from seeing her again. He would protect her from any sort of harm, he had vowed back then. And he had indeed protected her well, especially after she couldn''t get adopted afterward. This was because both the adoptive parents died in the accident, and she was tagged unlucky because of it. She was called a jinx, turned into an outcast, and was bullied when he was at work. He tried bringing her to work, but it didn''t always work, and he often lost his job because of it. This was primarily because working at his young age was illegal, and bringing her to work highlighted that fact. Other than him and Beany, she didn''t have any friends. She focused much of her affection on plants, obsessed, to the point of poisoning herself trying to explore their world. So no matter how beautiful a child she was, no one dared to adopt her until many years later. While it was a good thing for him in the end, he couldn''t help but feel unfair to her. His Althea was so good..., no one had the right to reject her, it could only be the other way around. And now¡­, Garan held his chest where his constricting heart was. He could feel that something happened to her again, and this time nothing could stop him. His sharp cerulean eyes glared at the mysterious cloud in front of him. He would not lose; Not this time. ¡­. For the nth time, he tried entering the ominous cloud again, to no avail. "Boss? What''s going on?" It was Gill, and a few others. They were tasked to follow the boss and help him with whatever he suddenly had to deal with. One could imagine their shock to see their usual cool and composed captain suddenly turning pale and terrified, darting in the direction of the cloud. But when he suddenly yelled sister-in-law''s name, things suddenly made sense. Only Althea could break all the walls around the captain, making him forget everything else. Garan, drenched in sweat, just stared at them for a moment before shaking his head. "Go away." He said. "This has nothing to do with you." "But captain¨C" Vanessa stepped forward, looking gentle. "Captain, please have some water, we¡ª Garan raised his right hand and a spear of ice appeared. He quickly threw it into the fog, but a second later it turned back to him. Swish! He avoided it, but there was now a line of blood on his cheek. "Boss! Are you okay?" Garan unceremoniously wiped the blood and looked at his soldiers seriously. "You can see that the cloud is returning my attacks right? Still want to stand there?" "..." Seeing them unmoving, Garan sighed. "I''m just trying to get inside in advance. It''s my personal effort and has nothing to do with the team. You being here won''t help me." He paused, "There''s no need to waste your time here. I am enough." He didn''t know if more people would affect his work negatively and he''d rather not risk it. Gill and the others looked at each other, reluctantly nodded, and stood several meters away to safety. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan saw that they were far enough and this time raised his hand to produce metal. He tried sending spikes but this time he avoided them with ease, then he produced much smaller metals, like pellets. His metal element, unlike the black iron of others, was closer to steel. It could also last longer. If it was small enough and he used all his strength, he could even conjure a small piece of metal that wouldn''t disintegrate afterwards. It was what he used to make Althea''s space stone accessory. It was very strong, superior to the stainless steel found in Terran. Similarly, these pellets were such things. He threw them inside the fog, but unfortunately, they all came back to attack him in turn. He frowned, trying a few more things until he determined continuing to do so was pointless. Giving up on using his ability, he just went in the fog over and over and over again. Over and over. And over and over until the bright sky revealed the two moons. "Boss, boss!" "What is it? I won''t stop." He said but Gill''s eyes were bright. "That''s not what I meant, boss!" He raised an eyebrow. Gill grinned. "We counted. After hundreds of tries, you last a little longer inside than before!" It was only a few seconds, but after so many times they could finally notice it to count. Garan''s blue eyes brightened and he whipped his head to the cloud. He smiled at this realization and a bit of hope, his plummeting spirit rising a bit. Immediately, he darted back in. And again, and again. It didn''t matter how small it was, as long as he was getting closer. Every tenth of an inch taken was still a tenth of an inch closer. ''I''m coming, Althea. Please be alright.'' Chapter 142 - 142: Recovery Aberdeen City, 2 years ago. "That BASTARD!" The beautiful Althea uncharacteristically cursed out loud, voice cracking from crying, talking to no one in particular. That JERK ran out during their honeymoon and he came back all broken? And she couldn''t even hit him!! All kinds of violent thoughts ran through Althea''s brain, all while both of her hands were busy wiping her tears and snot. The middle-aged woman beside her smiled and patted her head, not calling her out for her duplicity. "Dear child, he''s going to be alright¡­" Althea''s red eyes stared at the older woman, filled with sadness. "Mother¡­ he¡ª" Not knowing what to say, she just buried her head to the older woman''s shoulder. "Why¡­ why does he do this to himself? Isn''t it nice to just play peacefully here? With me?" "Dear child, you know very well what kind of person Garan is." She said, continuing to comfort the young woman. She gently patted the girl''s head, not minding how wet her shirt was becoming. "However, I know for certain that you mean the most to him," she told Althea, "And he wouldn''t want you to be so sad¡­" Althea lifted hear head and looked at her bitterly. "He should stop getting himself killed, then!" She swore: She wouldn''t talk to him until he swore never to get hurt again! ¡­ When they were called to the ICU because the patient was awake, only Alicia came in. Althea stepped back and just watched his damned pitiful self in the bed. Mother and Garan exchanged a few words for a little while, and Althea whipped her head to look away when the two looked over the door in her direction. Soon, the older woman left the room to give space to the couple. Seeing that Althea was not taking a step into the threshold, Alicia smiled and gently pushed her in, to the latter''s chagrin. Althea did not meet the man''s smiling eyes. She refused to. "Still angry?" He asked gently, a smile on his face. Jerk. Still had the heart to smile, seeing me like this, eh? Jerk jerk jerk "Don''t be angry, I''ll be in pain you see¡­ouch.." Then he flinched looking in pain. Althea also flinched, but with clenched fists she did not turn her head to him, trying very hard not to budge. Garan smiled, finding it cute. He watched with fond eyes as she just sat on the chair with arms crossed, not looking at him at all. He could stare at her pout all day long. However, he worried that the anger would affect her health, so he did not do so in the end. "I''m sorry, wife." He said, very sincerely. "You''ve been wronged." She whipped her head to glare at him. "You''re obviously the one in pain!" Garan struggled to extend his hand. It looked laborious to do but he did not put it down until she took it. Althea really couldn''t bear his struggle so she succumbed and did as he wanted. He tightened his grip on her, at least as tight as his current strength allowed. "I know. But my pain saddens you so." "I had promised not to hurt you when I asked you to marry me. Now I''m making you cry¡­" He whispered, his deep baritone voice now with a hint of coarseness. "I''m sorry." "Hmph! You''re indeed a liar." She said, trying to keep the tears at bay. Her eyes ended up on his bandaged upper torso. She didn''t see it herself because the initial treatments wasn''t in this hospital, but she heard it was so bad that his innards were exposed. "You were injured so badly, I¡ª" "Your husband has a very strong body. You should know." Garan had wanted to soften the atmosphere with an innuendo. He even chuckled at the sight of her snot. "Don''t laugh!" She scolded, "Why do you keep treating this as a joke?" She felt extremely annoyed, "See if I get injured like you instead¡ª" Unexpectedly, his eyes turned red as she uttered these words, looking absolutely livid. "STOP! Don''t say it!!" He bellowed, shocking her soul out. Althea froze, not expecting such a strong reaction. "Garan?" She choked, startled by his violent reaction. She saw him struggling with something, as if shaking in fear. Althea was too young at the time and didn''t remember most of the events. How could she know the impact of those words? Alarm from the machine blared and her eyes widened. She quickly pressed the emergency button. "Nurse! Nurse!" S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A group of doctors and nurses rushed into the room, and she was led out of the room. She watched as they pulled him out of the ICU and to the operating room. Althea shivered as she stood blankly in front of the operating room, showing signs of hyperventilation. Alicia ran to her, embracing her as soon as she was in arm''s reach. "What happened?" "I¡­I''m not sure¡­" It was around this time that another person stepped next to them. It was Gill, and he had been moping around in silence all this time. "Sister-in-law¡­ It was my fault. I was careless and he saved me. Don''t get mad at him." "It''s¡­ it''s not your fault, Gill." She said weakly, still confused. "It was me who seemed to have said s-something¡­. something that stimulated him." At the memory, she soon entered another flurry of panic. Her breathing became irregular and the tears started to flow up even more. Alicia held her tighter and patted her back, trying to calm her down. "What did you say?" Althea looked passively and just told her their last conversation. Mother just patted her hand, unaware of the reason for the strong stimulation, but surprisingly it was Gill who spoke regarding it. "I may know this." He said, making the two women turn their heads to him. "When we were drinking, he told me about a terrorist group he''d been tracking for years." He paused, looking at Althea. "What is this group? What does it have to do with¡­ this." Gill pursed his lips. "It seemed that you got into a life-threatening accident as a child because of them. It was an open scar and¡­ I feel that one of his major motivations as a soldier was to get rid of this particular scum." Althea pursed her lips, her long eyelashes feathered over her green eyes, trying to hold back a new set of tears. For hours after that, she only looked at the Operating room door with a blank face. Even with the turbulent emotions brewing inside her, none of it showed in her face anymore, and no one disturbed her thoughts. Her deep emerald eyes looked at the red light of the operating room with deep determination. That day, she swore¡­ She swore that he would never see her hurt, ever. ________________________ [17 days of Protection Period] Althea opened her eyes to see an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. Her body felt like it was hit by a log and proceeded to be rolled on by it. "Uhhh¡­" she mumbled, her hand habitually creeping to her stomach to feel her babies. But she froze as she did so. Why was it flat?! Her eyes widened immediately, and sat up by instinct. But the movement was so sudden that she felt dizzy, her back falling on the bed again. It took a moment of staring blankly into the wooden ceiling, but eventually the reality of everything that happened finally dawned on her. It was about this time that the door slid open, revealing a young-looking woman with dark blonde hair entering with a wooden tray, likely containing her medicine. The woman¡ªwhom she recognized as the newest NPC Betty¡ªplaced the tray on the table, before turning to look at her. She blinked, startled, at seeing her awake, before she broke into a relieved smile. "You''re awake, my lord." she said, turning to the medicine to hand it over to her. "Betty." Althea uttered weakly, looking around the room. Where were her babies? Betty saw this and explained. "The others should be coming back soon." She said, "They often stay here after working hours." Betty said. After so many days, Betty still couldn''t help but marvel at the concept of ''working hours'' and she felt a bit amused when she used it herself. "As for the children¡­" she paused, smiling, and stood up. She went out of the room without saying another word and a moment later, she and Lily came in carrying two children. Even just seeing them from afar, Althea was filled with warmth and love. The closer they got, it felt as she was swimming in hot springs. They were tiny little balls of cuteness, wrapped in differing colors of silk cloth she managed to hoard back in Terran. So soft and adorable to look at, and she couldn''t wait but hold them in her arms. The baby boy had her emerald orbs, and the little girl inherited her father''s cerulean eyes. Both were equally very beautiful. The babies raised their heads at the same time and her green eyes met the largest and loveliest eyes in the universe. They gave her simultaneous toothless grin and giggles and her heart felt like it melted into a puddle. Just like that, she felt her whole body and her soul recovered. Chapter 143 - 143: Little Meatball and Little Pepper Althea cradled her babies in her arms, her eyes filled with warmth and love. She watched all their movements closely, every twitch of their fingers, every toothless grin they made, every sound they uttered¡­ all imprinted into memory. She felt so very happy and so blessed at the moment. However, she soon realized the differences in her babies. She had seen newborns before, but her babies seemed like they were a few months old already? They not only looked much fuller than newborns, they were already able to move more, and express themselves a little more. ¡­should she be worried? However, while a little concerned, she told herself that as long as they were healthy, that was all that mattered in the end. "My lovely babies." She said softly, leaning down and smooching their soft chubby cheeks. The baby boy squirmed in her arms and suddenly giggled. His tiny hand raised to grab the empty air above him. His laughter filled the room with infectious joy. The little boy gurgled all of a sudden, and so much saliva flowed out of his mouth. She couldn''t help but giggle. "You''re not going to be a little troublemaker, are you?" She asked. She would never admit it, but if he was then he''d have inherited it from her. In contrast, the little girl lied still in her arms, her big blue eyes focused on her mother''s face. Her expression was alert and curious, as if already exploring the world around her. "My, what a smart baby." She said, kissing the baby''s little forehead. Feeling her attention on another, the little boy continued to wiggle in her arms letting out a series of adorable baby noises. "So silly¡­" She giggled, kissing the boy on the cheek. At the side, the young-looking Betty watched with warmth and envy. She was already in her 40s, and she was starting to long for her own children. Too bad she couldn''t find someone to settle with. At the same time, she felt relieved. Such a loving Lord¡­ who wouldn''t want one? ¡­ Later that afternoon, the NPCs, along with Sheila, Harold, and the kids came to visit together. They all had some fruits and other easy-to-digest food with them. (As for Fufi, he was apparently still outside the territory with the guards team, killing his heart out.) Their eyes brightened at the sight of her awake and looking well despite looking a bit pale. "How are you boss?" Sheila asked as soon as their eyes met, with the nurse sitting on the side of the bed. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea smiled. "I''m fine now, it just came as a bit of a shock," she said, playing with her babies. Sheila''s eyes brightened at the sight of the cute babies. "Oh hello babies~~" She goaded, followed by the others. The infants blinked cutely and turned their heads to the ''noise''. They babbled in response, as if trying to reply to them. They were so adorable that all the adults turned into mush. Oslo couldn''t help but step forward and want to lift her up, but the little girl turned her head making some weird sound, her chubby cheek a bit puffier than usual. "A feisty little one, eh?" Oslo mumbled, before turning to the pale beautiful woman on the bed. "What''re their names, Milord?" Unexpectedly, Sheila and the others whipped their heads to him with questioning glares, making him flinch. Oslo was very confused at their reaction. Did he say something wrong? He obviously had a point?? Harold, Sheila, and Eugene looked at Althea guardedly as she mused of names. She seemed in a daze in thought. Realizing everyone was staring at her, she cleared her throat. "I¡­ I want to wait for my husband." This made Sheila and the other''s shoulder slump in relief. The poor things definitely dodged embarrassing names with this! "What about nicknames my lord?" The oh-so-dense Oslo continued to ask, making them glare at him. But then they thought it was only nicknames so it could be silly. With that thought, they decided to loosen up, and looked at Althea in curiosity, wondering what nicknames she''d end up giving the babies. "Nicknames, eh?" She looked at her first-born first, the pudgy little boy staring at the ceiling. He was a little twitchy with his little butt moving all the time. If he could roll, it was estimated he''d be rolling until he felt tired. Her lips twitched, deciding on a nickname. "Little Meatball." The others cackled. So cute. And true to their expectations, the nicknames were silly. And had a lot to do with food¡­ "As for my baby girl¡­" Althea paused, seriously thinking, using her big brain to come up with a magnificent nickname for her child. And the child, as if sensing her stare, the little girl tilted her head up to meet her eyes. Emerald eyes met azure ones, and Althea''s heart melted into puddle (for the nth time that day). She concluded that the little one was very brave and quite feisty, and she quickly thought of a fitting name for her. "Little Pepper." She said,gently tapping the girl''s cute nose. "My little Pepper." Sheila and the others giggled at this. "Ah~ It kinda suits them!" She said. For nicknames, the boss'' naming sense wasn''t too bad after all. What a relief. Althea smiled, a little proud of her naming sense not being judged this time. She looked at the babies and placed them in her laps, tickling them and enticing some milky giggles. "Did you like it?" She asked them, and they gave her a toothless grin in response. She thought her husband would also like the nickname. He had good taste, always liking what she came up with. At the thought of her husband though, her smile subsided a bit. With a bit of heartache, she hugged the children, letting their softness heal her heart. ''Ah, my love.'' She mused, looking out the translucent window in melancholy. ''I wish you could see this.'' Chapter 144 - 144: Status of the Territory The atmosphere was very soft and cuddly for a while, until Althea turned her head to look at the NPCs. She knew they not only came here to check on her, but also to make reports. If she had really been out for a few days, then a lot of things must''ve happened in between. "How''s the territory?" The NPCs looked at each other before nodding. It was Oslo, who oversaw the construction, that spoke first. "The constructions you planned are all on schedule." He said. "There were many requests for stalls after the farms, including the rented farms, have been harvested of their crops." Oslo couldn''t help but marvel at the sheer variety of crops in the territory. Each one still had specific sets of processing methods, with a lot of the end products and food items he had never seen before. Harold saw Oslo had entered a daze and smiled, continuing the story. "People also understood which plants were edible. Combined with our raw materials, sauces, and condiments, basically, food culture has begun to revive. "The territory had no lack of meat either, as at least a third of our citizens as well as the guards always manage to fill up their spaces with animal carcasses. They had a whole market for themselves, and had their own area where people would go to get their meat. "Anyway, plenty of stalls have already begun to pop up around the territory. We temporarily placed them on the roads before the commercial streets with an affordable fee of 5 copper a day. We also allowed some stalls to be built on specific places in the main square, though at a more expensive 10 copper per day." At the mention of the stalls, Betty couldn''t help but comment a bit excitedly. "Ah, yes, I''ve been there. The variety of products was incredibly fascinating," She couldn''t help but gush as they talked about it, as she really truly, enjoyed her walk amongst the stalls. She had never done so much shopping in a village before. "The food was delicious, my Lord. Much of the food I haven''t seen before. Your people are amazing." "That''s good to hear." She said, although she was a bit surprised. How many days had it been since the grocery store opened? So many people opened businesses already? To the point of legitimate and complete marketplaces popping up? "The factories, inns, and utilities are on track. They should be put to use within a few days." Oslo said, still reeling in fascination at the functions of these buildings. Truly, every day in here felt like he was somehow getting closer to a professional upgrade. Althea heard their updates and was greatly relieved. "That''s great, thank you." "How about the strength of the citizens?" "Well, the people had been going beyond the required hours of hunting. This was after they saw the strength of mobs and how we could damage them with our own strengths." Even those who had been hiding away were inspired. They defeated such a strong mob¡ªmuch, much, bigger than the ones they encountered before¡ªand yet they came out alive and stronger. It just gave people hope. "Also, a lot of people are still talking about the elementalists. It was very cool." S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oslo and Rowan couldn''t help but feel a bit embarrassed. "The Training Hall also worked well." Sheila added, "Harold and I mastered our skills and gained quite a bit of experience the past few days." As she said so, she leaned down a bit, gently poking a baby''s adorable belly. "It''s so useful, people will flock to it if it''s known. I suggest increasing the price to 10 contributions per hour." "Okay," Althea said with a smile, very open to suggestions. "Anything else?" "A few more refugees have arrived." It was Rowan who spoke this time, "A few hundred was counted in a single batch." Harold recalled seeing this group, and he couldn''t help but gossip a bit. "Their story was quite tragic, there were thousands of them in the territory, but less than half survived." "Not only this but¡­ I heard a lot of atrocities happened, even amongst Terrans. It was disgusting." He had heard of territories that had already taken advantage of the power differences, making brethren suffer no less than the monsters outside the fence. "The more people, the more bad apples." Sheila pursed her lips, "Our territory only has a few hundred people right? I can''t imagine thousands." "It''s normal for other territories to have more people." Eugene said after a little analysis. "When this territory was established it had already been days after the transfer. Most people would choose to build a safe space as soon as they had the token in their hands." "By the time Altera was built, a lot of people had already settled in other territories." Althea continued, "There is also location, there should be no one that got teleported here. This could be seen that after the first batch, everyone else were refugees from other fallen territories." Harold looked at them and sighed, "One percent of Terrans survived the initial disaster. Why are there so many people still dying? "I can''t imagine what happens when the protection period is over." He said, "I hope more people survive this ordeal." A moment of silence passed by. Before becoming part of Altera, the NPCs wouldn''t have cared much about the ''poor people outside''. The culture they grew up with was the survival of the fittest, to focus on one''s own survival. How things changed in a few weeks¡­ "Well. We''ll just have to make a territory that could welcome them well." Althea said, breaking the silence. She hugged her children closer to her, feeling their warmth a bit more. "Wherever they come from, as long as they have the heart to contribute, they are welcome." She couldn''t help but look at her giggling children with a smile. It was as if all these tragedies didn''t happen. In their minds, it really hadn''t. "No matter how injured and broken¡ª "My wish is that our territory¡­will give them a place to recover. Anyone. Without judgment." She turned to look at the babies who turned their heads to her. "Aren''t I right?" And they smiled, and she knew she was doing the right thing. Chapter 145 - 145: Cynicism (Part 1) A few kilometers away from Altera another group of refugees had formed, heading towards its direction. It was a group of about a hundred or so people, all covered in blood and grime, with their clothes mostly torn, making them look extremely pitiful. As they dragged their legs forward, their backs were slumped, movement lethargic. After going through such long struggle, their overall disposition had become depressing. Some of these people''s eyes were already dead, just walking along with the crowd. Some could still fight the mobs that they encountered, while most would just stand by as the monsters came. If it weren''t for a new group of ''guards'' guiding them to a new territory, half of them would''ve already perished ages ago. So now they were following these guards, but with very low expectations. Jun and his family were one of these people. The were amongst the few that had just escaped the disaster of their territory. While they were thankful for being saved, they were a little unimpressed by the newcomers¡ªeven if they were indeed guarding their safeties. Don''t get them wrong¡ªthey were incredibly thankful for them saving their group, but they couldn''t help but think these guards were just guiding them to their territory in order to milk them for their remaining money. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After all, it wasn''t the first time it had happened. The previous territory did so, and when they got to the territory they charged exorbitant amounts for ''guarding fees''. But that territory had been destroyed by the beast tide and he witnessed hundreds of deaths in a single night. However, he was also one of the rare few who had kept their entire family of three and, for that alone, he was thankful enough. After all, they had gone through two territories already¡ªand both gave him a lasting negative impression of these supposed ''safe havens''. But what could they do? They were only small humans¡ªtheir existences were so small; they could only make do with what they could find. The first one was breached the day they arrived, a few hours after they bought the residency. It was like the beast tide just waited for them to arrive. In retrospect, perhaps it did. From supposition, it seemed upgrading a territory had to do with population growth. Similarly, an upgrade could also mean an attack to the territory. He learned this the hard way, because he witnessed the fall of two territories, each time losing bulks of their already small wealth. In the first territory, they lost nearly all their money. In that village, the monthly payment and food for housing alone was 1 gold per person, to be paid upfront. At the time, 3 gold and a few silver was all they had. However, thinking that it was for the survival of their family of three, they naturally paid for it. However, that same night, it was attacked by hordes of monsters. It failed to defend and fell relatively quickly. Their money, gone in a few hours. However, they had their lives and all their limbs, which was still infinitely better than others. So they gritted their teeth and did their best to escape. They saw how many people died, but they pushed through with their wits and luck, eventually finding another territory soon after. He could still remember the feeling of relief when they found a new territory after the tragedy of their first one. But it was not without sadness and despair, because the entire family was broke. But, again, they still had each other. They thought this one must not be worse than the first, right? The second one they managed to stay for several days, long enough to meet the lord there. It was indeed a lot better, but they still struggled, especially since they only had a few silver and copper left in their pockets. There were restaurants, weapons stores, armory stores, and houses. It was fine, much better than living in the wild. It was just that there were thousands of people there, and most could not afford the few built houses in the territory. They had no choice but to just build flimsy straw and wooden houses themselves, joining a slum area formed at the edges of the village. It was so dense that they barely had a square meter of space for themselves. Worse: because of the density, the cacophony of noise was stressful and the mixture of body odor could kill. This was especially made worse by the fact that¡ªunderneath all the blood and grime accummulated since the Transfer¡ªmost of them still had the zombie grime from back in Terran. He felt their brains died from the smell alone. The people didn''t have access to the standard utilities either, every inch of soil had trash and human waste. It was disgusting and he stepped on feces more than once a day, but it was their life, and the family still had each other. How dare they complain? The food was also expensive and even if they worked the whole day cleaning the territory they could only afford a tasteless meal for one at the restaurant. One meal, for the three of them. The restaurant gruel was also the only source of water there. Fortunately, many of the plants and fruits were edible so the three of them managed to live. It was just that they had to go outside to gather, because gathering resources inside had a huge cost¡­ However, compared to living in the woods ready to be mauled by those monsters any time, they really had no complaints. They were a very optimistic family. It was just that that one got breached too and their little hope for a decent life was crushed to ashes. This last territory was breached by a large beast tide filled with level 2 monsters. There were only a dozen level 3s in the territory, most of whom guarded the lord alone. The people were left defenseless as soon as the walls fell, which frankly didn''t last long at all. Several hundreds of people were slaughtered, just like that. He and his family escaped because it was already their second territory. A similar light happened just before the beast tide that destroyed their first territory, and his instincts rang alarm bells inside him and he forced his family to be prepared to leave at any time. At the time, he and his wife spent almost all of their remaining wealth to stock up on food and weapons¡­ which wasn''t much, but it was better than nothing. And now¡­ they were heading to their third territory. He no longer had any expectations. The tragic experiences he had with territories were fresh in his mind, to the point of cynicism. It was the same with everyone else in their group. And who could blame them? Life here just really, really, sucked. Chapter 146 - 146: Cynicism (Part 2) They were a group of a hundred-plus people, some familiar, and some unfamiliar. The past few days were incredibly dangerous, and they encountered many small mobs along the way. Fortunately, most who had survived for so long had already killed one or two monsters, and their survival rate was higher than when they just arrived here. It was that time that they met this group of so-called guards and no one died anymore. They traversed the forest with relative peace, as the guards dealt with the mobs they attracted with relative ease. As they walked, he couldn''t help but notice a little boy¡ªa somber and quiet child¡ªwordlessly following at the back of group. After a while of observation, he realized the boy was alone. And¡­ Jun was quite certain he wasn''t with the original group. Did he join them halfway? He patted his wife''s shoulder to tell her he was going somewhere, pointing in a direction. She looked at the boy curiously but didn''t follow, simply holding their daughter''s hand as they continued to trek. Jun walked slower than others, soon ending up near the little boy not older than his own daughter. "Hello there," He said with a smile. But the boy''s frown seemed frozen on his face. He blinked and walked in front of the boy, and the boy stopped just before hitting him. He smiled, slightly bending to the little boy''s level. He gently asked, "Are you with anyone?" The boy shook his head. "Want to come with us?" He shook his head again. The guards of their potential third territory saw the exchange and approached them. Jun watched them as they walked closer. Despite the clumsiness of a few guards, the others seemed quite well-trained and very confident. However, while their bearing somewhat impressed him, he still did not have much of an expectation for this new territory. "The territory is building an orphanage," the guard said, "We can handle him if there''s no one to take him in." An orphanage? Really? He was a little surprised and apprehensive. People bothered with orphanages? In this situation? The guard saw his cynicism but didn''t call it out. "You''ll see," was all he said, and the topic was killed as such. Another hour passed by and he saw the guards looking around. Jun followed their sights and saw markings. "We''re almost there." One of the guards told them with a reassuring smile, as if noticing their tension. He felt a little dazed, as most of the guards from the previous territories were haughty and didn''t take moneyless people like them in their eyes, especially now that they didn''t have one clean spot in their bodies. Their group of one hundred people huddled together as they walked closer and closer to the new territory. "What do you think this one will be like?" Billy asked him. Jun looked at the middle-aged man with a sigh. Billy, along with a few others, had traveled with him all the way from the first territory. While they had lost a lot of people along the way, they also followed him for an early escape. Strictly speaking, they''ve been through three territories together and naturally had the same reservations. There was no way. They suffered too much. Not to mention, they really weren''t strong enough to be able to live well with just their strengths. While some of them reached level 2s after escaping, most of the others were still level 1. It wasn''t that there were no brave adventurous souls that aimed to strengthen themselves by training. But the monsters here were really¡­ abnormal, to say the least. Dealing with them without proper guidance and expertise would pretty much mean certain death. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. They couldn''t help but wonder if they''d still be occupying the bottom of the pyramid in this place? However, they soon forgot about their worries when the guards stopped in their tracks. They didn''t absorb it at first until they caught sight of the fence. No, not a fence. A wall. As they looked up at the more than three-meter tall wall in front of them, as if impenetrable. There were also menacing towers every hundred meters, ready to attack enemy landing within their range. The refugees couldn''t help but look at each other, eyes wide with disbelief. It felt a bit¡­safe? ¡­ [You have entered Altera Village (Lv2)! Please pay the entrance fee of 5 copper.] "Only five copper?" Everyone was surprised. The previous entrance fees alone were at least 10, the last one even asked for 50¡­ After paying immediately, as if afraid it would suddenly change, the group soon stepped into the gate. Beyond the gate wasn''t something they expected to see. It was still a vast forest, but the road was very wide. There was even a delineation of carriageways and sidewalks and even greening in-between. The greening was still planned well using permeable pavements and soil around the tree in consideration of its growth. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was no urban planner, but his uncle was. This was definitely a sign of forward-thinking. "What about residency? Can you tell us more?" Jun asked the guard politely, peeking out of his guarded shell that had been afraid of expecting anything. "I mean, how much and how does it work?" He added. Though he didn''t have much money yet¡ªonly a few silver and a few hundred copper now¡ªit was best to know early. "Residency is now done in the Village Center. Temporary residency is only 1 silver and it is valid for 1 month." The guard said. "Permanent residency is a bit expensive though, at 10 gold. But I hear you can waive this fee if you exchange a certain amount of contribution points. "Renting and buying housing will also be done in the village center. Don''t worry I''ll take you there." The guard said very naturally, as if it was no big deal, but the people gaped at him in response. The amounts alone echoed in their ears. So cheap!! Although permanent residency was indeed expensive, it was still cheaper than others. Not to mention there was an alternate way to pay. "What''s a contribution point?" He asked as he followed the group along the wide carriage way. To be honest such a large road surrounded by lush trees looked oddly beautiful, like a stairway to heaven. "If you do tasks for the territory, say killing beast waves during the beast tide, you can earn it. You keep the experience and the copper from the kill, so basically you double your earnings." "A lot of people got rich during the last beast tide," He paused with a chuckle, recalling a couple of memories. "I hear some people wishing it would happen more often." The refugees looked at him as if he was an alien. What they''ve been hearing so far tugged some strings in their hearts. But their now-cynical natures prevented them from being too excited. However, soon they started hearing chatters and noises and a lively crowd greeted them¡­ along with sumptuous aromas that absolutely killed their stomachs. Wait, sumptuous aromas? No¡­ right? They asked all these in disbelief, but their legs were moving much faster than before, hoping to find the sources of the chatter and aroma. And what they saw next made them believe they were dreaming. The pinched themselves and pinched each other. Someone even pinched too hard and earned himself a knuckle on the head. Whatever it was the pain ensured them they were very much awake, and yet they still couldn''t believe what they were seeing in the end. This is¡­ impossible, right??? Chapter 147 - 147: Hope Emerging from the frame of the serene forest, the scene opened up to a lively market place, set within the wide sidewalks. There were stalls, dozens of them, surrounded by many patrons, showing off various goods¡ªmany of which they never thought they''d see again. There were scores and scores of people shopping around. Each one, without exception, looked neat and clean, and all of them with wide smiles on their faces. To be honest, it was such a stark contrast to what they''ve gone through the past few days that they half-thought it was an illusion. The guard saw them staring and explained, very patiently. "The Marketplace is still under construction, so the stalls are basically set up along the road. We don''t have cars here yet anyway." Their eyes twitched. That was not the point of why they were in a daze, okay?! Food!!!! Legitimate food!!!!!! No way, their feet moved on their own and they all found a random stall to stand in front of. Jun and his family ended up at the nearest stall with a healthy old man guarding it, something they never thought they''d see. "New guys? Welcome!" The friendly old man then took out a brown plate to show them small chunks of food. "Try out my sticky rice. If you like it, buy a bundle! Only 10 copper! 3 copper per piece!" Just ten copper? They bought it. They looked at the soft goodness wrapped in leaves. They put it in their mouths and they were met with fabulous softness they didn''t think they''d ever taste after that horrible restaurant food. "Is this really rice??" He said at the familiar taste. The color and texture was a bit different so he wasn''t sure before. "Of course. The experts in our territory are amazing. Not only rice, but also wheat and plenty of other plants are being processed!" They nodded and stopped themselves from buying another batch, because there were too many stalls. What would they do if they saw something they wanted and had no more money? Fall in Despair? Beg? "We will return tomorrow." He said, and the old man smiled in understanding. "I will be here!" The family, along with the others, continued perusing different stalls. They ended up in a stall with large earthenware vats being displayed. "Hello little girl? Do you want lemonade? Only 2 copper a cup!" He said, "Add two copper if you don''t have your own cup!" They also bought it. With three cups, to be exact. The rationale was they were going to use it at home anyway. The family stopped by a corner, staring at the cups in their hands. Gulping, they drank it together. It was a new drink. Similar to lemonade but with a bit less tang. And it was still very refreshing. They continued for several stalls until all six hands were full. His wife paused, looking at him worriedly. "Do we still have enough money?" Jun paused and took a moment to calculate. He was also quite worried. In the end, he grinned because, even after buying so much, they really still had some money left! Amazing! How much had they bought?! "Yes! We still have money!" He said, eyes sparkling. Not long ago, it felt like they couldn''t afford anything no matter how hard they worked. But now¡­ now¡ªfor the first time since they came¡ªthey could actually fill their stomachs! His daughter, Mimi, giggled as she ate, and his wife hummed happily. Seeing his family like this, Jun''s eyes warmed, the somberness slowly ebbing away. Slowly, but surely, the darkness in his heart was being wiped away. ¡­ Billy and the others also went to different stalls, gaping and staring like idiots. Partly, they were having the dreaded analysis paralysis. And partly, they were just overstimulated. There were at least a score of stalls, selling different food like barbeque, crisps, dried fruit, pickled foods, juices, and non-food stuff like weaved baskets and blankets. How many days had it been since they were transferred? Why were some people so¡­ well-adjusted? And¡­there were so many stalls, how could a day be enough? However, before indulging, they soon remembered that most of their wealth was lost with the last two territories. They reluctantly chose one or two stalls to buy from, promising themselves for a self-treat when they earned a bit of money. Chewing on his rice crisp, Billy couldn''t help but gulp in worry, causing him to cough. But afraid of wasting a speck of food he quickly drank his Dodo fruit shake to push it down. "You okay?" "A-Ah yes, alright." He cleared his throat while appreciating the cleansing aftertaste of the juice. Delicious. To think he had only drunk tasteless gruel¡ªat best¡ªfor more than a week. He had really wronged himself, who used to drink juice or soda every day in Terran. But not anymore. Hopefully. "I¡­ I was wondering how to earn money with my rate of spending." He said, and the stall owner was taken aback for a moment. After a while, the bearded stall owner laughed. "Well, you''re in luck!" He said, "The village is hiring more construction workers, even the lowest wages are very good!" Billy brightened at this. "Oh?! I was a mason back in Terran! How do I apply?" "Just go to the village center. Basically everything is programmed there." "I see, I see, thank you!" He said, buying a few more rice crisps along the way. But, he paused his steps, and turned to see a kid. They met him on the way, he looked like a wild child. "Want some?" But the kid flinched, running away. Billy shrugged. The kid wasn''t a baby, especially not after what he experienced here. Surely, someone who liked kids would take care of him. In the end, Billy just ate his crispies until he reunited with the group. After all, for days, if he didn''t eat what he gathered, he''d be enduring the horrid food from the restaurant. So although the tastes were different and a little inferior to what he used to eat in Terran, it didn''t matter. He felt he was already in heaven. ¡­. The team reluctantly met up together, then they felt embarrassed when they saw the guards actually waited for them. "Sorry for this¡­" "It''s fine, you''re adding GDP to the territory after all." "..." "By the way sir, I hear you also find jobs at the village center?" Billy asked, hoping to find a job. Many others were interested and they listened aptly. Actually, the fact that the village center had so much activity baffled them. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The previous territories also had a village center, but it seemed like it didn''t have much use except for selling wood? The soldier nodded proudly. "Yes. After registering and putting your information, you will be able to see available jobs, properties, etc in the village center. "A lot of jobs are open now, and a lot of which may fit you. If you also have suggestions for jobs not on the list, you can also place it on the forum. Who knows, maybe the system will see it." "System? What about the lord?" The soldier paused and mused. He awkwardly scratched his cheek. "I''m¡­ actually not sure, I don''t think this territory has a lord." No? They looked at each other, taken aback. But¡­ they shrugged in the end. Because it didn''t matter. As long as they lived well, who cared if there was someone behind the scenes or not? As long as they could get a glimmer of a decent life, they wouldn''t be choosy. "Do you know what jobs we have the best chance of getting to sir?" Jun asked. "Of course! I heard they''re building dozens of warehouses and factories, so they''re hiring construction workers." Another young man from the group walked a bit faster to walk nearer the guards. "What about the guard team? Are you hiring?" The guards smiled a bit proudly. "The territory just hired a lot a few days ago, but I''m sure there would be openings soon." From behind, they could hear whispers about the guard team. "The guards team seem to be the best though. With the sentries, the job isn''t as dangerous as it is in other territories." As the guards spoke, some of the better investigators in their party remembered some important knowledge. The locals were very detailed in their storytelling, obviously still high from the previous battle. "I hear legit soldiers and aborigines actually train the team!" one person said, and a few others gathered the same. "I heard that too! The aborigine could even cast fire walls and fire balls!" "What? Magic?" "Does it have something to do with elemental affinity?" "I have fire, too, does it mean I can do that as well?!" "Yes! If you get to level 10, they said!" "Whoa! I need to start training!" They laughed, totally unlike the depressed group of people less than an hour prior. The people in front of the line smiled. "Well, I feel there will be something for everyone." Jun said. Even an old man could live healthy and lively, how could they¡ªa group of young and strong adults¡ªnot have a way for a good life? "Yes, I''ve seen the prices of the goods. I believe we''ll still have savings after a day of work!" The group that had been apprehensive and quiet a few minutes ago had completely changed faces, chattering excitedly, filled with anticipation for the next day. Jun and his wife looked at each other with smiles on their faces. They finally found it: Hope. Chapter 148 - 148: Peace Aberdeen City, 2 years ago The sun had just risen, and its opening light slowly draped the city with a new day. Althea, gently woken up by the early sun''s greeting, groaned and turned her head nestled in her arms. She seemed to have fallen asleep on the side of her husband''s hospital bed some hours prior. She knew this judging by how stiff her shoulders were. She rubbed the lethargy away from her eyes and stretched it away with big movements, freezing when she saw her husband staring at her the whole time! "Husband!" She yelled, immediately scooting to the side of his bed, and looking at him apologetically. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry for scaring him but when her eyes met his warm azure ones, her tear ducts, uncontrollably, broke again. "I''m sorry¡­" Althea sobbed as she stared at the man who had just woken up. Althea was not a crybaby, at least not for a long time, but when it came to Garan she felt like it was still as it was when they were children: Her tear ducts just did not know control at all. Garan smiled, weakly wiping her tears. "Why are you apologizing, my love?" "I shouldn''t have said¨C" "That was not your fault, it is my own weakness." Althea paused and only stared at the man, not knowing what to say. She sniffed pitifully. But before she could get her own tissue the patient was already wiping it for her. She hurriedly took the tissue and glared at him in embarrassment. "Please act like a patient." Garan grinned. "Don''t be shy, wife." She frowned, "Stop treating me like you have to care for me all the time! I''m not a baby!" He continued to wipe her snot despite her glaring, and he gave out a fond smile. "I''ll always take care of you. It brings me joy." She froze, and then flushed, making him chuckle. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Seriously. If he wasn''t injured she''d have punched him for all his teasing! ________________________ [17 days of Protection Period] Althea watched the two children snore in their new custom cribs, eyes filled with warmth and love. Their babies were so beautiful and lovely and blessed. She wasn''t being biased when she said they were little angels brought down to the world to bring people warmth, light, and love. She stared at them without any traces of boredom all the way until she heard them hum. It was said that babies'' cried differently according to their needs. Althea was very interested in this theory and specifically looked at her omniscient tablet for it. For example, low-pitched short cries likely meant the child was hungry and, because the baby''s tongue sticks to its palete, the sound that comes out was similar to ''neh''. In contrast, choppy cries likely meant they were upset. Probably had to do with the baby being emotional or something. Then, repeated ''Eh'' sounds¡ªwith the air coming out was brief and jerky¡ªusually meant that the babies needed to burp. It was all very interesting and Althea remembered reading the downloaded article with apt attention, repeatedly. Another type of sound was when the babies would cry outwards, with cries sounding like ''heh''. This likely meant that they felt uncomfortable¡ªit was as if they were pushing the discomfort through their cries. And then¡­ when the sound was prolonged, elongated, hoarse, and contracted, then the babies were in pain, likely from gases and were in need to relieve themselves. Finally, the babies were likely to be sleepy if their cries started with a yawn and their mouth opening wide, and would then recede almost immediately, forming ''aoh'' cries. Althea had read all these with gusto. Although it may not be applicable to some cases, it did have some research backing and Althea would definitely keep record of its accuracy to her children. She watched closely as they opened their adorable eyes and cried. Sheila seemed to be ready and knocked closely after their cries. "Let me help you." She said and Althea didn''t stop her. "They are probably hungry." Althea said, unbuttoning her blouse to feed them. Sheila helped her place them comfortably in her arms. Unsurprisingly, both babies really sucked in hunger. Sheila blinked, looking at Althea in admiration, "A mother knows best after all." Althea grinned knowingly, "Actually there''s something I''m testing out." She said and handed the tablet over to Sheila. Sheila, like her, was very interested in the concept of baby language and was determined to test it. Soon the children needed to change their diapers and this time, Sheila volunteered to do the dirty work for her. Althea watched as the woman washed and changed the children. "You are very familiar with this." "I had a baby brother more than ten years younger than I am." She smiled, but quickly subsided at the fact that she didn''t know his fate. "He was in our hometown with our parents. I don''t know how they are¡­" Althea patted her shoulder just before carrying one of the children. "You are fine and it is likely some of your relatives are, too." Sheila nodded, hopeful. Althea had told them about her hypothesis and they believed it with all their hearts. It kept the fire of hope that they''d be able see relatives alive, and that was very important. Then, the moment of melancholy passed, and they stared at the next problem: The problem of diapers and waste. She''d have to ask the NPCs how their old territories dealt with trash, though it shouldn''t be too urgent. Most of the materials used were local and sustainable. How many people like her brought trash from Terran material? As for the diapers¡­, She did gather a lot back in Terran, but how many baby products could a part of a cubic meter store? The diapers that could fit in her space wouldn''t last a month, leaving her with a very important problem: What to do when they ran out. How''d the ancients do it? Well, she''d leave that for later. Right now she decided to just enjoy the peace brought by her children. She took the tablet to take photos and videos of her little ones to show to G¡ª Her thoughts stopped at the image of her husband passing by her head, and she felt the sharp pang of longing in her chest. She sighed, her hold on the tablet unconsciously slacking, suddenly in a sour and heavy mood. If only Garan was here to watch with her¡­ He would probably love taking care of the babies with her right? Chapter 149 - 149: Preparations Outside the cloud. Garan''s sharp eyes watched his team handle the mob, prepared to make a move should he be needed. "Wind users, start!" He uttered. On cue, the wind users surrounded the mobs roughly corralled by the team. Their arms extended, making waving motions as they manipulated the wind around the mob, solidifying the corral. The fire users ignited their arms, throwing their attacks into the wind, burning many of the monsters inside. A cacophony of growls of different monsters echoed, and they decided not to prolong the monsters'' sufferings. "Now!" Garan ordered. On signal, a dozen elementalists bombarded the monsters, taking a life every few shots, leaving the last kill to whoever by luck. Soon, another team came in, with another small wild mob following behind them. The team continued to train, almost desperately, and slowly they grew stronger day by day. As he watched his soldiers train and fight harder than before, Garan couldn''t help but look at the cloud again, heart filled with longing for his beloved. Garan couldn''t help but recall the events a few days prior, many hours after his desperate attempts to get inside. . . S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. . ¡ªA few days ago¡ª. Garan did not know how many times he tried. Until, finally, he stayed for more than a minute. After going back and forth, he had felt that the cloud was truly something that protected what was inside. During that time, the sense of urgency that hit him had already subsided. ''Was Althea alright now?'' Garan remembered thinking, hope slowly replacing the despair. Since they were children, he and his wife had had a nearly telepathic connection. At the time, he had a feeling that she was truly out of danger. It was also at that point that he also understood that what he was doing was pointless. He felt that there was something else he should be doing¡ªor rather, preparing. Memories of their first arrival came to mind. The suffering, the deaths, and the losses. Then the knowledge of the strength discrepancy between territories¡­ how powerless they were when they first arrived in a town, how they could only clench their fist after being bullied and looked down on. He could still remember he was spat on by a mercenary, just because the man''s girlfriend looked at him. They were fortunate that senseless bullying of people far inferior in level was looked down on here. This was likely caused by the rules of the territory wars and the 5-level gap effect¡ªas well as pride in strength¡ªotherwise, there would have been far fewer survivors than the score of them. The number of times he''d have been killed simply because women looked at him in admiration would''ve been countless. In any case: Strength was always the answer. His cerulean eyes stayed on the cloud, looking at it deeply. If it truly was the manifestation of the so-called Protection Period, then it would be a double-edged sword. While having low-level monsters was relatively safe, there was also a downside: The surviving people inside would be much, much, weaker than those outside. It could even be said that things may be worse for them after a while, because their expectations of what was truly dangerous had been heavily discounted. Undoubtedly, a lot of people would die after the so-called Protection Period was lifted. Other than for Althea, they also had a duty to protect human beings in their own way. It wouldn''t be as before, but they would definitely do what they could. His team finally realized that his mood had changed, and approached him warily. In the past few hours, the rest of the team had arrived in worry. He did not have the mind to pay attention to them at the time. When he had sufficiently calmed down, he had looked at them deeply, pausing a bit at his gaffe. He had no regrets however, because if the feeling of dread did not subside, he had no doubt he''d have forced his way in regardless of the cost. He had closed his eyes and heaved a sigh, taking a moment to gather himself. He has opened his deep blue orbs with a determined light in his eyes. That time, he turned and looked at the people still waiting for him. "Soldiers." He had said, calm, his stance filled with his characteristic gravitas, and the soldiers couldn''t help but be taken aback. If they hadn''t been here for hours, they''d have thought they had imagined his desperate appearance a couple of minutes prior. "Hear my orders," his baritone voice was full of command. At his voice, they instinctively strengthened their spines, waiting for the order. "I have come to the realization that there are plenty more ways we can do while we wait for our loved ones." He had told them, his baritone voice reverberating amongst the open space. "You were all with me, we know what it felt like to have no power in this world, how difficult the life was." The soldiers had nodded in response, fists clenched in emotion as they recalled the tragic memories, though their eyes on him all throughout. "Assist me to build up our forces on this side, strengthen yourselves¡­ "¡­So we can properly protect our loved ones once this cloud no longer do so." A renewed goal lit up the fire in them. They raised their hands to salute. "YES, CAPTAIN!" . . And now, at present, Garan looked at his team desperately training¡ªeven more than before¡ªbecause now they had true and palpable hope of reuniting with their loved ones. "Boom!" "Yes! Finally leveled up!!!" Luis yelled, letting several embers spark around him. He had finally gotten past level 10. "Me too!" The men laughed at each other, feeling their growths, excited to meet with their families and possibly show off. A small smile graced his lips, and he walked away heading to another place to train. "Don''t worry Althea," he mused, tone now much calmer than it was. "I will protect you well this time." Chapter 150 - 150: Build-Up [17 days of Protection Period] Althea''s chin rested on the base of her palms as she fondly watched her children¡­ well, exist. Listening to her children giggling with their new customized toys, the gentle smile on Althea''s face grew wider. They particularly seemed to like the rotating cartoonized Terran animals hanging above their heads. Very cuddly. Speaking of wooden children''s toys, Althea had to say Baron''s business mind was something else. It had only been a few days but he and his team¡ªa very well-balanced team with both fighters and artisans¡ªhad already bought 3 commercial modules. These modules were all quite important and have become household names within the territory: One module was for furniture, another one was for toys and other paraphernalia, and the last one (still under construction) was for leather products including but not limited to, leather clothing and shoes. Of course, most of them were still ongoing development but one could see the potential from a mile away. It was also because of this group that she placed a maximum of 5 real estate properties (of any form) per person. After all, she knew her commercial spaces would be in very high demand. It wouldn''t do for someone to monopolize them. Speaking of wood products, when would paper appear? She took out her tablet to study the methodology of paper making, eyebrows raising as she did so. Compared to what they have been doing so far, paper was actually relatively simple to create. She decided to partner with Baron''s woodmakers for this. Putting this note aside, she went to take a peek at the status of her territory. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 431 (81 permanent, 350 temporary) Total Population: 964 Base Resources: Wood: 9300/10000 Stone: 7100/8000 Money: 12582 Gold, 99263 Silver, 174497 copper Reputation: 50 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2) , Weaponry Shop, Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse, Farm (Lv1), Bathhouse (Lv1), Training Hall (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] "Hm¡­" Because she was out cold the past few days, the resources had pretty much caught up. This meant she could finally start building comfortably again. She looked at the deferred item. If she chose to expand this time, the perimeter would be more than 12.5 kilometers long. [Would you like to expand your wall to the edge? sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Movement Cost: 1110 wood, 1110 stones, 3500 Gold Building Cost: 2010 wood, 2010 stones, 3140 Gold] It seemed that moving the walls was actually more expensive than creating a new level 3 wall in terms of gold but, at the same time, it would be using half the resources. This made sense because they could recycle old resources, but the ''labor cost'' of demolition, transfer, and construction was more. In the end, she decided to keep the old wall and defer the placement of the wall to the new border. Anyway, there was still plenty of space and¡ªfor better or for worse¡ªnot too big of a population. Not to mention, the upgrade to level 3 should only need 1,000 residents at most, and her current size and speed of construction would be able to handle this little number. It was the upgrade after that that would be a challenge, as the aborigines mentioned they had not encountered a town with less than 20,000 population (so far). In any case, her (planned) dormitories alone could swallow a thousand with no problem, not to mention she would still provide many housing types for people''s choosing. She decided to place a level 5 wall directly when she expanded a second time, to create an inner city and then simply expand outwards during the succeeding upgrades. According to the NPCs, Level 5 Walls were already above-average defense even in towns, which was just right if she wanted to retain her advantages every tier she climbed up to. It must also be very expensive. So, for now, it was better to invest the reward money in money-making buildings instead. Looking at the map, she first set the construction time to 27:00:00 in the evening. She kind of wanted to surprise people when they woke up. First, she dealt with the residential buildings. She set up several more dormitory communities with designated small parks in the middle, located deep in the residential zone. This area alone would be enough to accommodate a thousand people. The more populous Southwest Avenue would finally be lined with commercial buildings. Of course, the roads would maintain the greenery, keeping the beautiful approach to the main areas. There would be several new communities with hundreds of houses. Mostly of duplex communities, the best-selling housing type she had so far. She also made sure to add enough open spaces every few blocks. Her goal was that if one walked around Altera, one would find a path or two covered with trees at all times. This was healthy, practical, and very atmospheric. There would also be a bigger commercial street perpendicular to the main roads, ending in cul-de-sacs. These streets would be pedestrian-only streets, filled with park walkways, benches, and the occasional small park and playgrounds. Then she placed public toilets adjacent to the larger parks. There would be payment per use to avoid their degradation, but definitely very affordable. Marketplaces for stalls and commercial events would also be placed along this area. It would eat about a thousand square meters, with set locations for stalls, on each side. After a thought, she decided to place a small Events place in the middle, should someone want to sponsor it. For example, if a stall owner hoped to bring more customers, he could use this area to promote his/her products, for a small cost. When the area wasn''t rented, benches and other rest areas would be placed there. Going back to the pedestrian-only streets. She planned the ends of these streets, the cul-de-sacs, would have malls and other large-scale commercial spaces. Some mid-level inns were included in this. These buildings would be erected manually because the current modules would not be able to support them. The limitation of the custom modules was not only in area but also in its use and allocation. She could catch the ''residential use only'' loophole in the storefronts simply because people could use the upper floors as residential. Similarly, her supermarket¡ªan enlarged version of the grocery store¡ªwould also need to be built manually. She already reserved the building on one of the cul-de-sacs. As for the current grocery store, it would remain operational even after the opening of the supermarket, though it would shift focus to serve more as a convenience store instead. Inns and village clinics also had to be built manually. The advantage of this was that they would have more leeway in designing, so they weren''t limited to two floors. For the clinics, they opted for three floors, and for the inns, they decided on four. That said, other buildings that used dormitories like schools could be made from modules, but it didn''t feel very organized to do so. She didn''t want it too horizontal either, feeling that it was a waste of space, so having higher floors for the school was also ideal. Speaking of building heights, she should add merit to Oslo and his knowledge, otherwise, they wouldn''t dare build high in this gravity. Although aborigines didn''t build high it was because they didn''t have the concept of reinforcements like they did. The material, combined with the reinforcing fibers they discovered, allowed them to build manually until the fourth floor. Anyway, her construction team was huge and efficient so it wasn''t much work to build manually. They needed to build their bodies as much as risk their skins outside to get stronger anyway, so she didn''t worry too much about the construction workers'' training. Smaller clinics could also be made, but that would be work for other people. That was to say, if there were medical professionals who hoped to own their businesses in the industry, she''d support them with open arms. She was a very good lord, she proudly told herself. She could easily give preferential treatment to professionals needed by the territory, leading to a win-win situation, and also retaining herself good talent. Now that the commercial and residential zones were completed, her emerald eyes shifted to the rest of the territory¡ªto the so-called source of life of a Civilized Society. The Agricultural and Industrial zones. Chapter 151 - 151: Agricultural and Industrial zones For the East area of the Territory, she planned to take the industrial and production route. She built ten more farm villas in their ''neighborhood'', as well as 200 more fields. Althea immediately ''rented'' 50 farms for her own use. He-he. There was no need for the ''territory'' to own fields because the taxes alone were enough to keep her warehouse stocked. It was so stocked that the upgrade condition¡ª90% occupancy, ? of the same item¡ªwas met quite easily. [Would you like to upgrade Warehouse (Lv1) to Warehouse (Lv2)? Area: 500 square meter, 6 meters height New Functions: Automatic inventory function and automatic sorting. 100 copper per sorting Cost: 300 wood, 200 stone, 500 gold] She sighed. She clearly remembered the gold and wood required before was only 100 each, and no stone requirement. It seemed that upgrading any building time was universally much more expensive than buying its most basic version. Regardless¡ªNaturally, ''Yes'' was clicked. What was best about the upgrade was not the doubled floor size or the increased ceiling height. It was the fact that there was now an automatic inventory function and automatic sorting! Of course, the latter had a small charge of 100 copper per cubic meter of sorting. However, she valued her time to be much higher, so she thought it''d be worth it. Leaving the warehouse behind, she went back to planning the Eastern part of the territory. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. More factories were zoned in this area. Each lot would have a thousand square meters with a building footprint of around 600 square meters in size and five meters in height. Like farm villas, there was also a level 2 fence surrounding each one. So far, three factories have been made, two of which were hers and one was Baron''s wood factory. There were seven more currently being built. These were also not for sale but leased for a minimum of 5 years. When she really expanded, perhaps (unlikely, but perhaps) she''d put more land for sale, but she was taking a bit of a condensed route now, so she decided to hold most of the land in her hands. Anyway, the harder it was to own land in her territory, the more prestige would be attached to it. As for the military, she left a huge part of the land for it not far from the village center, near the industrial and farming areas. Here, they would build barracks on their own, jointly planned by soldiers from both worlds. Although system barracks may be more efficient and may have better output, she couldn''t let go of her bathhouse. What if extreme weather changes happened tomorrow? What would they do? Anyway, she was really looking forward to what the construction team, Drake, and Rowan would come up with. Whatever it was, it definitely wouldn''t be bad. She had also placed the Training Hall in this area before. She was planning on giving guards a cumulative 50 hours per month to use it for free. On the other hand, everyone else needed to pay 100 copper and 100 contributions an hour to use it. Using it often would not only give an advantage in terms of strength, but it could be seen as a sign of prestige. Speaking of prestige, there would be two luxury areas. She set aside a part of the mountain covered by future expansion for mountain villas, and another one was located south, on the other side of the river, which was already under development. The main feature of this area was, of course, the Bathhouse. While she bought it mainly as an additional card during extreme weather conditions, it would happen a few weeks a year at most. When not in those harsh times, the bathhouse treatment would be what it deserved: a Luxury. Anyway, in non-emergencies, bathing in hot springs was really unnecessary for survival. Eventually, she would also develop the area into an up-end leisure spot with get-aways, spas, and the like. The bathhouse luxury area would requiring 1 silver an hour and 10 contribution points to enter (not including the added services inside). The Bathhouse would thereby be tagged as another one of the ''special buildings'' requiring contribution points. Speaking of, her farm villa was actually located pretty near the river, just past the parks. It would take less than ten minutes of leisure walking to get to the bathhouse. "Do you want to take a bath at the pool with mom? When you get a little older, of course." She said playfully, teasing her children and making them roll over. The children laughed and her heart melted, and she couldn''t help but smooch the both of their faces. After dozens of kisses, she finally turned her attention back to the task at hand, adding the finishing touches. Her eyes stared at the bird''s eye view of the territory, people will definitely be surprised by the changes when they wake up tomorrow. Very big¡­ and ready for the entry of hundreds of new residents. She paused at this thought, her face twitching a bit at the thought of how much work all these facilities and the territory''s future population would require. She wouldn''t be able to handle it herself. She didn''t want to. If she did, she might as well forget about doing her precious experiments and, of course, spending enough quality time with her children. In any case, the territory was getting larger and she''d soon need administrative functions. Her goal was to be a hands-off shopkeeper, only making the major decisions and reaping profits, while spending the rest of her time in whatever way she wanted. What a lovely thought¡­ She quickly tried thinking of how to apply it in reality. The first consideration, of course, was what she couldn''t do with the system she already had. Although the Village Center was extremely convenient and made many things ''automated'' there was still plenty of work that needed the human touch. Even when Terran was advanced, the budding AI and robotics technology still didn''t take over several service-oriented industries. She was not planning to change it now. She thought that perhaps she could find an NPC to assist her. Of course, ideally the core positions were still Terrans, not because of anything else, but because NPCs were just hired people in the end. Even if they grew to love the territory, most of them had their own homes. For Terrans, there was no other place. She rummaged several faces in her head to determine who she could place in certain positions, pausing at a particular face. Didn''t she have the perfect person right next door? Chapter 152 - 152: A World for Children [17 days of Protection Period] It just so happened that she received a twin-stroller as a gift earlier that morning, perfect to use on a morning walk to the neighbors'' this afternoon. She walked towards the wooden contraption and couldn''t help but smile, remembering the touching event from earlier. The morning was tranquil and the sun felt nice and she had just returned from her morning walk with the children¡ªboth lying happily in their simple stroller¡ªwhen a familiar neighbor happily blocked their way. "Baron?" "Yes, Ms. Althea, it is I!" he said, putting his chest out proudly though it just made his stomach bigger. "This is Bianca by the way, our top artisan." He said with that amicable face of his, pointing at the gallant-looking woman beside him. But the woman looked shy and had to be pulled closer by Baron. Seeing his usually-gregarious cousin was not talking, Baron decided to be her spokesperson. "To congratulate you on your birth, she carved up a bespoke twin stroller¡ªamong other things¡ªfor your children~!" Althea was surprised and looked at the woman again¡ªwho was trying not to blush¡ªand then shifted her gaze to the covered push cart sort of item she had in front her. "These look wonderful! Thank you. Please come in." She said and, after a bit of push and pull, the group entered the house with smiles. Althea prepared tea for them as they unpacked the gifts and even Althea was surprised at its quality. Of course, first was the stroller. It was light, smooth, and delicately carved. Baron''s cousin, who had already hired dozens of woodworkers, seemed to have carved it herself. It was made of rich, polished wood, and it exuded the aura of both elegance and comfort. There were even cute carvings alluding to the children''s nicknames¡ªLittle Pepper''s had a condiment shaker with a smiley face and Little Meatball''s had, well, meatballs rolling happily. Very cute. The cloth of cushion was made of repurposed cotton, which was likely from their own stocks, as the cotton factory had yet to produce anything. However, it was sewed with precision and care. Inside were other toys and accessories used by babies. There were four wooden teething toys with different shapes of Terran animals. Carved in each were their nicknames, and they got two of each. Very thoughtfully, Bianca gave a dove and a puppy to Little Pepper, and a lion and a dragon to little Meatball. Very, very, cute. There were also four wooden baby rattles, carved to look like seasoning bottles (for Little Pepper) and little meatballs on a stick (for little Meatball) Adorable. And finally, there were wooden stacking toys that the children would be able to use in a couple of months, no less intricately carved than the others. "This is amazing¡­" she mumbled. This cousin of Baron was really a talent. The talent meant she had a lot of work, but chose to make such a detailed tool for her children. One could see in the work whether or not the artist placed their heart and soul into it. Althea was quite touched; Bianca must really like children. She vaguely had an idea why the woman was being a bit awkward around her. After all, when one truly cared for an opinion, one tended to be more nervous than usual. Althea''s emerald eyes landed on the woman, who was trying not to ogle at the children. "Would you like to hold them?" Althea offered with a smile, pushing the old stroller near her. Bianca brightened visibly, but dared not be rash. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Can I?" "Of course." "T-Thank you¡­" She said, and took a baby up¡ªwhich happened to be Little Pepper. "Wooo¡­" Little Meatball mumbled, drooling, and his little eyebrows furrowed. He was pouting so much his fat cheek looked even bubblier. It melted everyone''s hearts. At this time, Althea was already holding the toys for additional washing. She was smiling and looked at Baron, who had literal hearts in his eyes. "Please give attention to my son. He gets jealous easily." She said, and Baron gladly complied. "Yay! Yay!" Baron lifted the baby boy, and dropped him just as quickly, enticing adorable giggles. "Hmnhnggg!" Little Pepper blinked, raising her small arms, also wanting a ride. As such, the cousins played with the babies happily, and she could tell their family back in Terran should have a lot of children. "Hmn. Our parents comprised of 7 siblings." Baron said, giggling as Little Meatball drooled on him. Althea remembered that the boys that went with him during the visit were also cousins? Anyway, from this, Althea knew the children would have another pair of uncle and aunt that would spoil them thoroughly. Later, she would find out that Bianca was unable to have children due to an accident years prior. Although she was a strong independent woman, she really would have loved to have a child of her own. Baron, on the other hand, loved children because of his personality. Unconsciously, having children felt like having new friends and playmates. Regardless, it just reminded Althea that she needed to make the territory safe enough that people would not need to worry about having children. Of course, she would also create a territory where the children would feel safe, happy, yet grow strong enough to handle whatever the world would throw at them. For this, she''d need a lot of help. ¡­ That afternoon, Althea prepared the children for their first neighbor visit. She dressed them up in one of the few sets of baby clothes she had (she took baby clothes of different ages, hence couldn''t hoard too much of one size), and smooched on their soft cheeks because she felt like it. She went down with the children and placed them in their lovely new stroller, looking around the house to see if anyone went home. They should''ve already been done with training/hunting by this time so it was likely that everyone was busy with their own businesses. The development of the territory was now at its peak, and her team had been made aware of the large territorial changes that would be visible later in the night. To maximize profit, they naturally had to rush everything. For example, Harold was running a restaurant, which was showing great promise. He was also finalizing some of the condiments and sauces they''d be using. Sheila was running the pharmacy, also showing a lot of profit. The factory was working over time (paid very well) to produce more products. After the last beast tide, everyone had found an integral need to stock up on medicine. In particular, there was a purchase limit of only a few bottles a day. During a real fight, how could they rest assured with such little stock? Hence, most people opted to buy a bit everyday, regardless of need, ensuring their own supplies. And then there was Eugene, who was still tweaking and studying the machines and tools for the territory, occasionally walking around for ''inspiration''. Well, Fufi was an exception. Since the children were born, unless she would explicitly order him to go train (which was the current case), he would be no farther than a few meters from the children. After double checking everything, she pushed the stroller to the next door. She really hoped that the trip would be productive. After all, she was only so idle because she had just given birth. So she really hoped everything could be settled, so she would always have more time to bond like this with the children. Chapter 153 - 153: Administrative Team Mathilda opened the door to see a beautiful woman and extremely adorable children staring at her. She couldn''t help but give out a large smile. "What are you doing here?" The older woman asked, pleasantly surprised. Matilda then leaned down to take a closer look at the babies. "Did you miss grandma?" She asked, kissing them. She often visited Althea and the babies in their house, of course, but she was excited to see them at her own house. "Come in, come in." Mathilda smiled, leading them inside. The farmvilla Matilda was living in was occupied by her team of 12. Most of them were young people, like Drake, who had found either employment or business in the territory¡ªa lot of whom were in the hunting/meat supply business. Only two old women with Mathilda stayed at home to care for the garden and do the housework. At this time, they seemed to be planting Fuyu, a vegetable similar to cabbage. "Old Yana was well known for her pickled vegetables." Matilda, seeing where she was looking, said with a smile. "Although we''ve sold one batch so far, they sold out quickly." The two old women noticed them and didn''t care much, until they saw the babies and their eyes sparkled. As they approached, their eyes shone with bright light and¡ªafter asking permission¡ª they washed their hands and carried the babies with them to the lush garden. They absolutely adored the children with the third woman, Lola, lifting up Little Meatball as if she didn''t have back problems, and the other Yana, was talking to Little Pepper and cooed every syllable as if the baby could understand. "Don''t worry about them." Mathilda said, knowing full well Althea, who had an extremely busy schedule, wouldn''t be here just for a visit. She then led the young woman to her veranda, which had the required set for tea. Mathilda turned her head to the younger girl and led the way. "Shall we?" ¡­ The two women sat around a circular table in the verandah. A few earthenware tea cups were there, and Mathilda made her a simple cup of tea. "Is there anything I can help you with?" Althea nodded. "Actually, the territory is getting bigger. Other than administrative staff, the territory will also need a¡­ face." This was another function of the administrative team. From what she gathered from the gossip about refugees and NPCs, contact with other territories was inevitable. The village center was limited to within the territory. She could not make announcements in the name of the system somewhere else, at least not in her current level. This would cause a lag of communication between territories. "May I assign you as the territory spokesperson? I will announce it in the name of the territory system." Mathilda was a bit surprised. "Is this alright?" Althea nodded. She definitely didn''t want to be released as Lord for now. After all, how could she charge so much if people had a face they could haggle with? Besides, Mathilda wouldn''t be in danger of being mistaken as the Lord during territory wars because she was with many people when the territory was established. It was not possible that she built the territory under their noses. As soon as Mathilda nodded, the familiar magical screen appeared in front of her. [Altera Village System determined you are eligible for the job of ''Elder for Internal and External DIplomacy'' Wage: 500 copper/day, free residency, 100 contribution/day Do you accept? YES | NO] "Oh?" Mathilda''s eyebrows rose in interest. "What''s my job description?" "Basically you represent the territory outside. Inside, when there are conflicts, I hope you can settle them. Anyway, Drake follows your orders a lot. Just right." She mused for a moment. "I should add the job description in the hiring notice." She told herself. She couldn''t be there to explain the jobs to the others too, right? "Won''t people misunderstand me as the Lord? I don''t want such a burden." Mathilda said, eyebrows furrowed. Different from Althea, she had actually been to a position of power, above millions, and the pressure and intrigue wasn''t something an old woman like her wanted to experience again. "Most people know you and it is just right to be tagged with a good job by the system. There should also be other ''Elders''. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "If they refuse to let go of doubts, have a gamble with them. The Village center has a contract system after all. You can make a bet: If you swear you''re not lord and the system agrees, then they will pay you 100 gold¡­ or something." Mathilda nodded, a little amazed. The Village Center was really convenient. It could help them bypass so many problems¡­ This would also change the dynamics of the justice system. After all, people wouldn''t be able to commit perjury like before. "Anyway, as I''ve mentioned: I''ve been thinking of making a few more ''System Hires'' so that yours wouldn''t be too eye-catching." Althea said with a smile. "That said, can you help me determine what jobs need people?" Of course, Mathilda agreed very quickly. "I assume you have a way to confirm people''s jobs and aptitude?" Althea nodded. Mathilda thought for a while. "Someone needs to be incharge of the service aspect, such as welcoming newcomers and guiding their placements. The Village center is convenient, but there are a lot of hits and misses when people look for a place on their own. "Speaking of, are the contents of the village center automated, or¨C" "No, I program them myself." Mathilda looked at her with both admiration and pity. Although they weren''t so close to know all of each other''s habits, she knew where this girl''s passion laid. Other than spending her time with children, she would''ve liked to spend the rest of her day tinkering with her plants. She probably didn''t have time to spend in her lab right? "Then you can hire someone to study and document the needs of the village, submit it to the ''village system''¡ª that is, you¡ª and you just have to input it to the system for implementation." Althea brightened. Indeed, why didn''t she think of it? Sure enough, an experienced mind was the wisest. She looked at her list and her good brain quickly zoned in on a few people with administrative jobs back in Terran. Although the system couldn''t really determine the People''s old jobs, it had a lie detector embedded so only the true inputs of the citizens during registration were retained. Prosecutor? Jun Suarez. She made a mental note to send him a hiring notice later, after she finalized his job description. "Drake can be a good trainor, but he is no leader. Perhaps you can assign someone to head military affairs? That NPC of yours, perhaps? If it''s safe and he''s trustworthy." It was tempting, but Althea shook her head. "I hope to reserve this job for my husband. But I will put Rowan as an officer to temporarily lead this aspect. I plan to develop him and Drake into one of Garan''s deputies, next to Gill of course." Mathilda saw that she had the confidence that her husband would find her, and she felt more reassured about the safety of her own son. The two continued to chat as Althea continued to peruse through the list of names. "What about other fields?" "I plan to limit the positions to green-tagged individuals." She said, "But other experts could become officers." "That said, Eugene would definitely be spear-heading the Research and Development Department." Mathilda nodded, interested. "Are there other green-tagged professionals we could use for public office." Althea was scanning names when the older wman asked this. Suddenly, she paused at a name. It was an acquaintance¡ªand he had actually gained an occupation. Gru, the agriculture professor, unsurprisingly awakened the Farmer profession. Oh, how exciting. Chapter 154 - 154: Elder of Agriculture Eden National University, a month ago Gru Beanman stood tall in front of the dais, his white hair combed back neatly, wearing a formal attire that exuded authority. His fatherly eyes looked amongst the crowd composed of students and teachers, who had been listening aptly the past hour. With a gentle but dignified smile, he opened his mouth to continue his speech, heading to its conclusion. "Before I end this session, I would like to take time to express to everyone that it is an honor and privilege to stand before you, the next generation of thinkers. "As I enter the last leg of my career, I feel extremely¡­ happy to see and meet you¡ªthe hope of our field." He paused, not for effect, but because of the various memories that passed by his aging head. He could still remember when he was in their position as a student with great ideals. He was lucky because, unlike many others, he had actually achieved his dreams to some degree. "Let us work together to restore the species that had once flourished in our soil." He uttered out after a deep breath. "Let us not forget the mistakes of our ancestors, and of the biodiversity that we lost, so that we do not commit the same mistakes." He paused, "I will repeat this for the nth time today: Agriculture is the bedrock of civilization. We are one of the main proponents of our planet''s rejuvenation. "We aim to fill up the gaps left by the species unfortunately lost in time and tragedy. "Students of this noble discipline, you will stand in the forefront of change, tasked to heal the scars inflicted on our planet. Do not forget. "Let us do our part in restoring the beauty of our planet and shape a future of hope." "Thank you." Applause echoed in the hall and he smiled, heart filled with hope, looking forward to the future. Sadly, he never did get to see the planet''s plant life rejuvenation. After all, a disaster still destroyed everything in the end. ____________________ Altera Village, Present Amongst the sea of lush crops that would make anyone drool, a certain Old man was gaping at thin air, looking very stupid. "Old man, what are you staring at?" A farmer asked, wiping his own sweat with his old towel. Gru barely heard the question as he stared at the screen in front of him. [Altera Village System determined you are eligible for the job of ''Elder for Agricultural Development''. Job Description: 1. Lead and oversee the research for crop improvements 2. Develop and implement strategic plans for agricultural growth and diversification 3. Lead the study and introduction of agricultural techniques, machinery, and technologies to improve crop yields. 4. Provide guidance and recommendations to renters of land on what to plant 5. Determine the overall crop needs of the territory 6. Oversee the responsible use of resources such as water and soil to ensure sustainability. 7. Manage crop rotations, pest control (if applicable), and irrigation systems to optimize yields. 8. Establish disaster procedures and insurance for the agricultural sector. 9. Make detailed daily reports of accomplishments and send them to the Village Center 10. Take charge of the agricultural education of the territory Wage: 500 copper/day, free residency 100 contribution points/day Do you accept? YES | NO] A good pie just suddenly fell down? Just like that? 5 silver a DAY? Doing the things he loved all his life?! "YES!" He exclaimed, startling everyone around him. Dennis, one of the farmers for the wheat farm, couldn''t help but ask curiously. "What''s going on?" Gru, who was still immersed in joy, was pulled back to the present. "I¡­ the village system hired me for a job! The wage is very¡ªvery¡ªgood and there are contribution points every day!" "Whoa!" "Envy!" Gru suddenly found himself surrounded by all the farmers in the field. They ran really fast. "How?" Gru was a bit shy, but also thinking of an answer. "Well, I assume it was because last night I got the occupation of Farmer." "And?" "Not sure yet, all I know is that I have the ability to determine the Health of the crops. For rice and wheat, there''s a notification if the plant is lacking anything." "That''s amazing!" "How do you trigger it? Aren''t we all farming?" "Yes, yes, we even started at the same time!" "Envy!!" Gru paused, genuinely wondering about this. Thinking in retrospect, it likely had to do with his expertise and the effort to study. "I''ve been trying to, well, improve some crops in my backyard. It seemed successful." A lot of them were enlightened. "It makes sense. Weren''t you a famous agriculture professor before?" Gru was even shyer. "Oh please, I wasn''t THAT famous." Chatters of excitement followed after that, with a couple of offers here and there. "Can I apply to be your assistant?" "Yes, yes." A few more nodded. It was then that someone remembered something. "What about your current job?" Cold water seemed to be thrown at his face. Gru remembered his current job and he felt guilty. This job was highly sought after, with great benefits, and the boss had been kind to them. What to do?? What was an old man to do????? So¡­. when Althea got back home, she saw a very guilty-looking Gru outside her gate. She led him to their now well-furnished living room, looked at his depressed and ashamed self, and patiently waited for him to speak. She didn''t speak even after a while of silence, knowing what he was here for. She simply let him drink tea, hopefully, to calm his nerves. It took him a while but he did speak out after a while. "Boss¡­I¡­ you are very good to us, and I am extremely, extremely, thankful for the opportunity you have provided me. "Despite my age, I have also been learning a lot. From the job, from you, and for this I am forever thankful to you¡­" Then he stopped, unable to say anything more. Althea kept back her smile. "Just get to the point." "I¡­," he coughed, "I received a job offer from the Territory. It¡­ it wants me to be an elder¡ª" S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He gulped, "I may have to regretfully leave my current job." Althea almost laughed at his apologetic confession. "It''s fine. Just don''t forget to leak me some helpful information. I''m sure the system won''t mind." Gru was surprised at how easily this went. As expected of the famous Althea Witt. "Ah, yes, thank you!" Althea grinned and stood up. "Since you''ve taken over the handling of crops¡­ Come, let me show you something interesting." She said, gesturing for him to follow her to the back. Gru was a little puzzled, but he wordlessly followed her out anyway. They ended up in the verandah, heading towards the private gardens. He didn''t know what to expect, but as soon as he exited the balcony and saw the garden, his eyes widened and his throat was blocked, shocked by what he was seeing. The old man''s footsteps crunched gently on the gravel path below him, leading deeper into the unbelievably beautiful garden¡ªan oasis of greenery and blossoms. Rows upon rows of plants and flowers greeted his sights and greeted all his senses. The air was filled with a wonderful blend of scent and freshness, his skin greeted by the gentle breeze that felt nicer than it was outside. Then as he entered a new section of the garden, his mouth was wide open in shock. He whipped his head to Althea, who was following close behind with an enigmatic smile. He shakily pointed at the special plot of land. "This!!!" Terran plants! Over half of the field was with familiar plants! He turned his head to the garden again, leaning down, looking carefully and touching so very gently. Gru almost shed tears; It was as if he landed back home. Chapter 155 - 155: Terran Plants Althea smiled and let the old man bond with the plants. She knew his reputation, and she knew he was the perfect person for this job¡ªwhether it was for his ability or his sincerity. She walked over after a while, gently explaining some things to him. "I had managed to procure a number of seeds before the transfer." She said, leading him over to a plot of land. The whole time, the old man''s eyes were dilated in joy, and if she wasn''t there he may really have wept. "Here are the root vegetables like potatoes, carrots and radishes. Unsurprisingly, they''re the most versatile and were quick to adapt to the local ''regeneration'' rates." Speaking of regeneration rates, they found that taking soil from the system fields forgoes the +20% growth bonus. So, they just built a small shed as a nursery above the system Farm. She then took him from plot to plot, to the bean varieties like beans, lentils, and even chickpeas. There was a dedicated plot for herbs and spices garden like basil, oregano, and rosemary. Some herbs could be used in a few days, while most would still need weeks at least, but they were all very beautiful regardless. And then there were the oil producing crops (ready for harvest in a few more days) like sunflower, soybean, and olive. There were local alternatives but if she were to be picky, she didn''t like the aftertastes very much. There was also not much oil from meat here, so producing good-tasting vegetable oil would be so lovely. Moving forward, they went to the section of the trees. The Fruit-bearing plants (which were now a meter high baby trees). There was a good variety comprising apples, peaches, and citrus, and then the nut trees like almonds, cashews, and walnuts. And finally, there were also her favorite tea plants, coffee plants, and cocoa. "I didn''t plant much for fear of wasting seeds. Now that I see them growing well, I will be transplanting most of them to a field per type." "Yes, yes." Gru nodded in agreement, full of support. "It''s just that the growth rate was understandably slower than the local ones, Fortunately, it was still faster than in Terran." For plants that still had no local alternatives like coffee and cocoa, these seeds were real treasures. Thinking about bringing back coffee and chocolate was making her drool¡­ Not to mention, there were still many recipes and food that required the old plants, so she decided to use several fields to plant them. Even those that did have local alternatives were still explored. After all, the strains they had had undergone thousands of years of improvement. If there was no need to start from scratch, why would they? Of course, the price would also be much more expensive than the local seeds. There was also an area with herbs for personal use, as well as for the pharmacy. These would take far longer to grow, but very worth it. As for the greenhouse, it was still ongoing planning. They needed enough Youli stone or similar material first, as well as insulating material that would fit well with its use. Anyway, seeing Gru almost crying as he stared at the fields, Althea pursed her lips in amusement. "When I get some surplus seeds, I will sell some in my grocery store." She said and Gru looked at her as if she was a god. "Can you reserve some for me?" He asked, looking like a child instead of an old man in his 70s. In fact, if he had a tail, it''d probably be wagging. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was extremely excited about this, especially the Terran variants of vegetables and fruits. This way they could get the productivity of the plants here and the quality of the Terran plants. He was so hyped up just thinking about it that he swore he got 10 years younger. "Sure." "Thank you, thank you! You''re a really amazing person, boss!" She smiled. Even when he''s already an Elder, he was still as easygoing as before. "It would be great if you''re an elder too. For research?" Gru mumbled off-handedly, half-dreaming about what he''d do in the farms today. This offhand comment though, made Althea''s eyebrows rise. Elder in Plant Research? That was an interesting idea. Right? There would definitely be times where she''d want to show prestige without showing she''s the Lord. Wasn''t this just right? Althea cleared her throat and lied with her eyes open. "Actually, I already am." Gru froze and clapped. Of course! How could Ms. Althea not be an elder when he had the honor? "That''s very good to hear." Gru said with a happy smile. "It so happened that our two fields are connected." He raised his hand for a handshake, resuming his old practice, finally looking professional. Althea smiled and took his hand. "Looking forward to working with you." "An honor." He said with that toothy old man smile. "I wonder who else got the opportunity?" "Auntie Mathilda''s also an Elder." "Oh?" He asked, interested. "Must have to do with diplomacy?" "Internal and External Affairs." Gru''s face showed a level of understanding, before they shifted back to their favorite topic: Plants. The two of them spoke for a while longer, laying out the plans for the crops. Which would be planted for this rotation, how many fields would be allocated, et cetera. For instance, the coffee and cocoa would get their own fields, same with other fruit requiring an orchard. And also, pretty much every other crop. When the study of the greenhouse was completed, they would also apply it to the territory farms. But this discussion was centered in Althea''s farms alone. Naturally, she needed to make territory-owned fields now, as it would cast a suspicious light on her otherwise. Speaking of territory farms, all farms have been rented out. Althea advised him helpfully that he could request fields from the territory, and if the rationale was there¡ªit would likely get approved. Gru didn''t even wait another moment and planned the request for some ''territory-owned'' farms to do his own experiments on. He was also given access to her own fields. Although it was her ''private'' property, she gave the right to Gru to study it, and give some back to the territory by sharing the result. It took them nearly three hours to iron everything out, and Gru politely refused to eat a meal in her home. Interestingly, when Gru left, he went straight to the neighbors house, which really amused Althea. Making house calls already? Perhaps she should include the elders in the meetings with the NPCs? At least once a week? Other than elders, she skimmed through the data in her Lord panel, arranged the list according to loyalty, and looked at the attributes, talents, former occupations, as well as specialties. With a few press of her fingers, she sent successive announcements to several people, startling quite a few areas, at the same time lighting several fires in people''s hearts. Chapter 156 - 156: Territorial Offices Althea stared at the invitation with satisfaction. For these people, she only needed to wait if they accepted it or not. Hopefully, it was the former. Anyway, the terms she gave were very fair. In the future, she would also be assigning elders for the offices without one. It was just that the said Terran ''super experts'' had not yet arrived in her territory, so she could only assign officers for now. The Offices she decided to build were the basic ones needed to manage a town-level territory (in Terran, anyway, as aboriginal territories seemed to have different governing structures). One was the Office of Construction and Public Works which would not only be handling the ''manual'' construction within the territory, but also the maintenance of infrastructure, parks, and utilities. For now, the head officer position would be held by Oslo, as well as the other architects and engineers¡ªmany of whom he took in as apprentices. Next was the Office of Public Safety would be in charge of the territory''s military might. They would be maintaining law and order inside the territory. They would also serve as the main components of guarding the land from exterior threats. Rowan and Drake would be the primary officers for this. In the future, she would also be developing its functions in emergencies such as fires and disasters. In fact, Rowan was already telling them about the historical climate disasters that they could be facing and were already making some preparations for it. She was relieved to know the design of the buildings should be able to handle the extreme temperatures, provided people didn''t leave the houses much. They would have to spend a lot of wood to maintain the warming (for cold temperatures) for each building though. On the flip side, in case of hot weather, they would have to develop ways to fan and distribute cold air should it get too hot. They had done as much as they could to provide enough passive ventilation and air circulation in each building. They used various established techniques like thermal siphoning, air tunnels, and others. But they would need to do more if they didn''t want to suffer too much. They also added provisions for wind catchers around the territory, which could be added if the temperature got too hot. (These would be in the scope of the Public Works group to judge and maintain). For now, she wasn''t making an Office for Urban Planning, because she was doing this easily on her own with the help of the system. She''d establish one when she expanded a bit more, probably when the territory upgraded to town. There would also be the Office of Finance and Economic Development, which would handle financial management like budgeting and taxation. However, thanks to the system, the data was presented to her directly in a straightforward manner. For this Office, they would focus more on determining the proper pricing, determining the market trends, determining good investment opportunities, and so on. Ansel had a knack for this, and she hoped to reserve the position for him. Anyway, with her current population, she could handle these matters by herself. The Office of Health and Human Services focused on the health and social welfare of the territory. The Offices would be held by Lily, Betty, and Sheila. On paper, this department would have a partnership with her company, wherein the officers would determine which medicine would need to be stocked. The Office of Education would in the future be managing the schools and other educational facilities in the territory. For now, because there were no children, the focus would be on adult classes such as basic survival. She also planned to launch an indigenous lingua franca class, wherein the Terrans would be exposed to the Xeno language. After all, although they could understand spoken language, written language was out of their range. What if the indigenous had good books that could be helpful to them? The officer assigned here was a woman named Rosalind, a dean in one of Eden''s prestigious universities. As for why she didn''t title Rosalind an Elder despite her very obvious experience, it was because she wasn''t green-tagged. As discussed with Elder Mathilda, Althea made the requirement for the Elder either green-named or of a certain occupation (sealed by the system), without exceptions. It wasn''t like non-green experts couldn''t develop the title and/or the occupation with time. At worst, it would give inspiration for the Officers to work harder in their trades. Perhaps this requirement would inspire the people to work more integrally, attempting to trigger occupation for their own promotions. Moving on, she shifted to the Office of Agriculture and Production, with Elder Gru, which would be handling the agricultural and agricultural products aspect of the territory. Finally, there was the Office of Internal and External Affairs, also known as the Office of Communications and Public Relations. It would be the platform for people to voice their concerns as well as handle their social needs. Because of the system, plenty of the tedious work in all the department was forgone, so she could assign more jobs to them. For this department, judiciary work was also included. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their function would just be as Mathilda mentioned before. These people would also double as officers under the Justice Department. Anyway, she could use the territory system to kick out unsightly individuals. This was very cool and she kind of wanted to use it¡­ Anyway, the function of the so-called justice department would just be to investigate and determine inside stories for more gray-area disputes. For the actual more stringent Justice System, she decided to leave it entirely to the ''system''. This was because in many cases, it was better to have no face to complain or beg for mercy with. Of course, even if this was the case, the function of the justice department was no less important than the others, because humans were complicated creatures. And¡­ she had never believed in automation of everything. What''s the point of a society without a huge dabble of the Human touch? She looked at her initial list with satisfaction. When her village became a town, then the Elders would become Ministers and the Offices would turn into Departments. All her staff would enjoy very good benefits as well, adding pride and prestige to the job. All these people would help the territory improve in various facets and help create a wonderful land together with their own hands. Let them help in the building of the territory with their own hands and in this way, they would love it even more. This was something to aim for. After all, a land loved by the people was the richest of them all. Chapter 157 - 157: Officer Jun A society was made of people and must therefore be handled by them. Although there would be plenty of inefficiencies and perhaps there would also be errors, at least compared to relying completely on the system, Althea didn''t mind. Only when there was room for growth would people actually do so. She would never allow her people to become stagnant and be left behind by the times. Back to the justice system, she mused that there would definitely be more gray-area conflicts in the future than any other. She wanted the territory to have an objective system, which the Universe system assisted with, but at the same time she didn''t want this ''organism'' to be a callous robot. The delicate balance must still be reached somehow, and this was how Mathilda''s team would come into play. Silently, her eyes zoned in on one particular name, one of the officers she had just invited. Jun Suarez. ¡­ "Go clean that up¡­" a beautiful dark-skinned woman pointed at a corner, then gave her husband a pointed look. Jun looked at the kitchen area of the house and, carrying the broom made of dried plants, nodded. "Okay¡­" After cleaning out the small amount of dusts (not much, the house was just a few days old, after all), they took out the old clothes as a wet mop. These clothes were some of the many clothes that got destroyed as they traveled in this world. His daughter Mimi had already moistened hers and was wiping the wooden sofa (newly installed!) while the two of them husband and wife focused on the larger surfaces. Anyway, today was their first day in their new home! They had finally moved on from the dormitory and it felt so, incredibly, happy. They rented one floor of a duplex unit for a month, with an ambitious goal of paying for the downpayment of its ownership within the next few months. They had calculated, as long as the two adults worked hard, owning property was not a pipe dream. Of course, they had to be permanent residents first but the contributions required were actually fair¡ªonly 5000, valuing half if paid for in currency¡ªand achievable as long as one worked for the territory long enough. This, in itself, was amazing. After all, in Terran, after decades of working, they had yet to pay off their loans and mortgages. But here? Although it would take a while, the possibility of it was there, more concrete, and it wouldn''t take them decades to accomplish either. The couple had just arrived a few days ago, and they already felt unprecedented peace. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, it would be better if they had a stable source of income. For now, they had been gathering wood and stone to sell, but after seeing the improving lives of the existing residents, they couldn''t help but feel a bit of ambition. They, too, want to live, not just survive. So they took a risk and spent nearly all of their money for rent, leaving just enough for basic necessities, believing everything would be okay.. As he joined his wife in arranging their new home, he couldn''t help but recall his life a few weeks ago. The day started out like any other. He¡ªan overworked public official¡ªwent out of the house early in the morning, eating the breakfast his wife prepared for him before dawn, and then went to work, expecting he would get back home all tired after dusk. He usually had to work overtime, and that day should not have been an exception, but¡ªfor some reason¡ªhe had a foreboding feeling that made him go home earlier. At the time, when he saw his wife was safely cooking at home and his daughter was doing homework on the dining table beside her, the sense of relief that came over him was surprising. For an hour or two of peace after that, he had thought that he was just overworked and was thinking too much. Except¡­ a disaster really happened and he couldn''t be more thankful he had gone home. Had he maintained his habit of going home late¡ª Joana paused, sensing him just staring at her and no longer working. She laughed and pinched his cheek. "Are you not used to working now?" She said, "You don''t have to help me." Jun blushed a bit, and it made him both touched and guilty because he knew he had indeed been neglecting his family the past few weeks before all hell went loose. Looking at his wife who was now smiling as she had been, Jun heaved out a relieved sigh. Although the disaster was horrifying and sad, at least the family was together, right? In any case, the family happily arranged their new abode, moving the furniture as needed. Looking at their simple but complete home, he couldn''t help but admire the territory again. They really didn''t have much silver anymore, and yet they could have a house like this. Even if it was just for a month, it was really amazing. Calculating their current resources, they still had money for food for the next few days. He was not worried. Here, as long as every member of the family worked hard, they definitely wouldn''t go hungry. They didn''t even attempt to be heroic and try strengthening themselves outside. With their strength, if they didn''t have guards with them (as those employees training had), they''d just be jumping to their deaths. The fact that so many people still died under these monsters'' jaws after so long was testament to how strong the monsters were. His refugee story wasn''t unique, anyone who had been entering the past few days had similar tragedies. They had a daughter. Such a risk wasn''t an option, not when there were safer alternatives. Anyway, they now had hope for a good life, and they ought to celebrate their first meal in their new home! "Shall we go shopping for ingredients?" His wife asked. "We don''t have food for lunch and dinner anymore." "Yes," he smiled, happy to accompany his wife, holding hands throughout. Their daughter, on the other hand, happily followed them with her pigtails bouncing as she skipped about. She declared today was her ''day off'' from ''working'' (gathering resources) and it was time for her to ''take care of the elderly''. This amused the couple greatly. The family happily shopped along the stalls, their baskets filling up with their needs for the next few days. While their savings were gone, they just thought to live for the moment. They had gone through so much after the disaster, they ought to reward themselves! However, just as they reached one of their final stalls, they heard a little noise not far from them. Chapter 158 - 158: A Small Scuffle When they arrived they saw two middle-aged men¡ªone caucasian and one copper-skinned¡ªglaring at each other with red eyes. "Why are you so rude?" "Why are YOU so rude?" "I didn''t do anything!" The dark-skinned man said, frowned, and looked around. "I was just buying things from this stall, and he suddenly scoffed at me and mumbled rude things." "You were laughing first! I worked hard for this!" The caucasian said, raising his voice, and the dark-skinned man looked at him indignantly. "What? I didn''t laugh¡ª" "You saw my items and you laughed at it!" the stall owner, the blonde man in his late 40s, yelled. "I didn''t force you to buy it!" The dark-skinned man frowned, but his fist clenched, thinking there was no explaining to this guy. The fact that he was on the receiving end of nagging-with-saliva splatter was making him red in annoyance. Maybe he should just punch him in the face???? However, he had just clenched his fist and was about to raise his arm when a new person suddenly appeared between them. He was a bit tall with tanned skin. He had an average face, but his stature was authoritative. "Excuse me," Jun said with a neutral smile. "I know it''s not my place to intervene, but from what I''ve been hearing there seems to be a misunderstanding." "Who are you?" They spat, glaring at him simultaneously. Any other would have been intimidated, but Jun remained unfazed. "My name is Jun. I''m new here¡­ I also worked in the legislative sector back in Terran." He said, "I may be able to give an outsider''s perspective. His brown eyes landed on the clenched fist. "There''s no need to go physical with this argument. Please remember that fighting isn''t allowed in the territory. We don''t want to be blacklisted, right?" This made the two men pause, shoulders slumping a little. "May I know what happened?" He said, standing straight, looking even taller. Although he was prying, his stance was firm and poised, and unconsciously the two men saw him as an authoritative figure. "He laughed at my craft." "I didn''t! I swear. I even admired it a bit! It''s just that I remembered some things¡­" Jun smiled. "It seemed that there really was a misunderstanding." The angry man flushed a bit, not just of embarrassment but also of some memories. "I''m sorry, it''s just that my daughter¡ª" the blonde man paused. "It''s my daughter''s technique. My daughter taught me this." The other man''s stance softened and just patted the other man''s shoulder. "I also have a daughter, but I don''t know where she is now." he said, "The memory I remembered¡­ "My reaction wasn''t a sneer¡­ I remembered my daughter was also fond of this¡­ it was a generational thing, I suppose." The other man couldn''t help but smile a little, "The things they get obsessed by at that age¡­" And the two actually started talking about the habits of their daughters'' generation. There was even a bit of laughter at the end. And the conflict was over, just like that. As the couple walked home, he noticed his wife had been silent the whole time, but also giving him furtive glances here and there. Jun raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" "I''m thinking¡­ maybe we could recommend a legal team?" His wife asked him, "The guard had said the system was open for suggestions. It may even award contribution points if it was worth it." Jun was taken aback, but was also very interested. "That¡­ might work." Joanna smiled and proudly lifted her head. "I''m looking for a job with Gaea Restaurant. Mr. Harold said I was a good cook and have a lot of potential. I''m already on the final interview!" Jun was surprised. He didn''t know this. "Wow! Congratulations!" he said, grabbing his wife''s hand with pride. "Me too, me too!" His ten-year-old daughter raised her hand. "I made 20 whole copper coins yesterday!" She said, the little girl could fit anywhere and could get a lot of resources within the territory to sell. The couple looked at each other and laughed. ¡­ The family went home and his wife began preparing dinner, while he drafted his proposal in the room. He concentrated and did his best to think of all the issues and concerns that could occur, and he only realized the time when his wife had called him for lunch. He spent a few more hours after the meal before he finally finished. He finished just before dinner was done. "Let''s talk about it after dinner," Joana said, patting his shoulders, expressing good luck. He smiled and embraced his wife, feeling extremely lucky to have her in his life. Gathering courage, he headed to the Village Center to submit his advice to the territory to open a legal team. But¡­ before he even left for the village center, a ding rang inside his head. [Altera Village System determined you are eligible for the job of ''Officer for Internal Affairs Job Description: 1. Organize the settlement of newcomers 2. Recommend jobs and job placements 3. Research citizen needs and solutions 4. Assist the elder of diplomacy with internal relations 5. Make detailed daily reports of accomplishments and send to the Village Center Wage: 300 copper/day, free residency 50 contribution/day Do you accept? S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. YES | NO] "What is it?" Joana asked, puzzled, looking at her husband who was staring blankly at the wall. "Ah, well¡­ I got an offer. A job offer from the territory." "What?" Joana exclaimed, pleasantly surprised. He was as well, but he dared not accept it thoughtlessly. As a former lawyer, he was not the type to bite off pies from the skies as soon as they fell. So, he went to the village center and made inquiries. [I have received a job as an Officer. What will happen if I don''t do well? Will I be punished?] [What would happen if one day I hope to quit my job? Will I be kicked out?] Althea received the message (Officer questions and reports were set to be sent directly to her) and she was quite amused. When people asked the stone tablet so earnestly, somehow she got the feeling that her citizens were praying to her to get some answers? She shook her head in amusement, before sending out the answer. [Quitting a job is done in the territory center. However, a period of 15 days of turnover is required.] [If the territory assessed that you are no longer fit for the job, you will simply lose the qualifications. Of course, this will enter your record and receiving territory jobs would be more difficult thereafter.] Jun read the replies over and over and was relieved. With a deep breath, he finally pressed [Yes] and ran back home to tell the family the good news. Chapter 159 - 159: Public Servants G Tourist City, 18 months ago "Wow, she really did it! Auntie is amazing." Althea exclaimed as her emerald eyes watched the news aptly. She had been worried for a whole day. Fortunately, the news coverage was real-time so they didn''t have to suffer too much. [Eden country has officially received majority development rights of the Yuckan Valley. Forming a partnership with Yuta Country, they will begin sustainable extraction within the year.] [The Yuckan Valley is one of the few valleys with a biodiversity index of Moderate¡ªnow very rare in our contemporary world.] [Eden country will now be safeguarding this place, and our Scientists will be at the forefront of sustainable research in the area.] It could be said that the mission to Yuta country was a resounding success. "Not just her, Gill as well." Her husband''s low velvety voice sounded beside her as his warm hand wrapped around her clothed stomach. She turned to look at him curiously, soft hand on his chest. "You can tell me now, right?" After seeing him not worried at all about the deal, she had a feeling this guy knew a lot! It was probably top-secret before, but maybe she could hear about it now. Oh, how curious. Garan looked dotingly at his wife who had sparkling eyes. His naughty hand caressed her curvaceous waist. Since she was no longer worried, perhaps they could finally be lovey-dovey again? "It depends." He said, teasingly. "I''ve been suffering for a whole day, you know¡­". Without further ado, she abruptly sat on him and wrapped her arms around him, meeting his lips. His eyes widened a little and he sat still as she parted from him and placed many pecks on his face, his nose, and his lips. Over and over. "Husband¡­ husband~ Please tell me?" She asked coquettishly, resuming her pecks. This adorableness, combined with the feeling of her softness, made him snap like a mouse trap. ¡­ Althea only got the answer to her questions several hours later. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Apparently, the deal wasn''t meant to be so one-sided. However, about a year ago, an insurgent group rose up and caused chaos around the whole Yuta country. The military couldn''t defeat these scum. A special ops team¡ªled by Gill¡ªwent to Yuta country to fix this internal conflict. It wasn''t that the mission wasn''t dangerous but they managed to get information about the group about the insurgent group''s internal workings. And this was, amusingly, all due to the online activity of the leader''s son. "What makes it more interesting is that the leader of the insurgents was an illegitimate child of their monarch." Althea chuckled a bit. Not only was the younger generation the accidental source of a detrimental leak, but the insurgent leader himself believed the throne should''ve been his by virtue of his being the eldest (Illegitimate) son. Althea rested her head on her husband''s wide shoulder, a little amused. "What a drama¡­" "Tsk tsk. That''s why you should always hire on merit." She mumbled, "Otherwise who knew what they''d do accidentally." Garan nodded, just staring at his beautiful wife lounging on him. "However, it definitely wouldn''t have gone so smoothly without Auntie Mathilda in the front line." He said, "After all, it could''ve just gone the other way¡ªwe may have been able to receive backlash for prying into other people''s property and business. "Yes. I can''t imagine anyone but Auntie actually pulling it off." "Indeed¡­" He said, and Althea didn''t notice his eyes darkening until she was already flipped over. "Now, I have told you everything." He said, "It''s time for my reward¡­" Her eyes widened, gently pushing his face away from hers, trying to escape his massive body hovering over her. "But you already¡ª" But her meek questioning was shut by his lips on hers. She succumbed in the end, of course, she did. Anyway, she really ought to reward him well indeed. ____________ Altera. Present. Now that the basic structures of the Offices have been planned, Althea decided to organize the hiring process of their staff. After all, they alone would have a bit of a challenge with the current population, let alone when their number surged. However, a lot of these fields were not her specialty. Even with her helpful and omniscient tablet, she didn''t dare hire based on her own knowledge. She hoped the positions would be based on merit eventually. Like having exams, and the like. In the end, she decided to include an initial screening process with the help of the system. A basic exam with an ideally massive pool of questions they would be answering. Basics like the person''s character and proper expertise would also be determined at this point. She sent the notification to all officers (and elders) to create their own questions and answers. When there were more supervisors hired, she''d ask them as well. She wasn''t afraid of leaks, because each employee who accepted the recruitment was to sign a virtual contract. Some of the main pillars of this were integrity, loyalty to the territory, and the avoidance of purposely doing anything that could put the territory at any sort or degree of disadvantage. After this initial screening, the applicants would then go to a face-to-face interview with their respective future bosses. Their sincerity, resourcefulness, and skill would be the primary characteristics to be determined here. Eventually, she would have a full office of government officials who would be sincere to the territory. Speaking of office, she also had to tell Oslo to build a building near the Village center, but not too close to hinder its potential expansion. It was a four-story building, which was the maximum they could build until legitimate concrete was available. Each office would at least have half a floor to themselves. As for the interior, it would be modeled after the typical offices, but with more interior decoration, interior plants, and just an overall less plain and boring design. She smiled. Now that a lot of the experts were in place, she could finally rest her mind on some distracting territory problems. She could finally start doing what she really liked¡ªresearching! After all, she was the Elder of Plant Research now, was she not? She ought to start doing her job! She couldn''t upgrade with the mobs outside anyway. Tsk. Might as well do what she did best. Chapter 160 - 160: Mysterious Kid Althea was very excited to go to her lab (children dutifully deposited in the neighbor auntie''s house) to finally develop the products she had in her head. However, before she even settled in her lab, Sheila burst in, with wide red eyes, looking quite panicked. "Boss!" Althea was a bit startled, "What is it?" "Please help us! Someone has been poisoned, we are not sure how to handle it¡­" she mumbled, looking very worried. Without another word, Althea gently placed down her experimental tools and followed the other woman to the clinic. After rushing, the two women got to their destination within a couple of minutes, with Sheila bringing her into one of the ward beds. When they arrived, they saw Betty was already there, and she was using her Healer ability to keep the patient''s vitality. Walking closer, Althea realized it was a child. It was only a little boy, probably five or six years old, with chestnut hair and freckled skin. It was just that this unique skin was now covered with bluish spots as if he had bruises all over his body. "Oh my, what did you eat?" She mumbled but quickly saw the symptoms, realizing it was the same poison she fell victim to. In fact, Sheila had also found it a little familiar, but she didn''t remember the formula so she had to call Althea. Not to mention, she wasn''t entirely sure it was the same poison either, as the symptoms were much more pronounced than Althea''s. Some foragers gathering resources outside the territory found him in the forests. Because all intrinsically poisonous plants were displaced, there were really a lot of poisonous plants just outside the territory. However, Althea had made a point for Sheila and Lily to teach people about these poisonous plants, at least to some degree, which significantly lowered the damage the plants brought to her citizens. The child must be a newcomer. Anyway, the boy was found very very late, so Betty''s ability could only maintain so much vitality in the poor child. "I couldn''t keep it for long," Betty said with furrowed eyebrows, her pretty blonde hair wet with sweat. Betty was a healer, but she couldn''t handle serious poisons, not when it already reached the bones. Althea immediately took out Tori and handled the solution, using the same materials as she had before, but with differing concentration. Before administering, she made sure to check for its approximate effects twice, in consideration of the boy''s light weight and degree of poisoning. Althea eventually judged the solution to be as safe and effective as it could be, considering the time. They immediately got the little boy to drink it. However, it was not easy as the boy was unconscious and looked in so much pain. He didn''t cry out though, his little eyebrows were just furrowed, and he was shaking in evident pain. It broke the hearts of those who saw it, especially Sheila who had a brother not much older than this one, and Althea who had a young son. Soon, the medicine started working a bit and he could utter words in his dazed state. "Sister¡­ sister¡­" The boy mumbled, voice stuttering and longing. Sheila couldn''t help but hold the boy''s hand, acting like the sister he was looking for, and the boy immediately called, grabbing her hand for dear life. After a while, the boy''s bluish complexion turned pinkish and he began to recover some of the complexion a little boy should have. Seeing this, the women finally breathed out a sigh of relief. "Who''s he?" Althea asked, looking around, belatedly realizing there was no one around who resembled a guardian. "He came with the latest batch of refugees," Sheila said, wiping her sweat. "Doesn''t he have an adult?" "No, no one knows him," Sheila said, and Betty couldn''t help but add. "I believe he was staying in the orphanage. The first orphan, so to speak." Speaking of, the concept of an orphanage was a rare thing to Betty. She only ever saw something somewhat similar in a few cities, but it was here in a small village and still with an arguably better setup. In a few cities, there was an establishment just called ''Shelter'' for these children, and basically it was a place where parent-less children were thrown, giving them just enough food to survive until they were twelve¡ªthe age people tended to start fighting monsters. Here, the orphanage would take care of the child''s entire well-being, and all the way until the age of 18. Then again, Altera Village seemed to be forward in so many things. Althea looked at the boy as she heard that the boy had no adult with him, feeling heavy. With this, she knew that the child was probably alone for the past weeks. How terrible. The unfortunate fact was that defenseless children were likely to lose their lives first in the two tragedies that they simultaneously had to go through. Surviving children, like Maya, tended to have their protectors with them. So far, there were only a handful of children in the territory, and only this one was without a guardian. "It''s amazing he got this far on his own¡­" she whispered, and the others nodded in agreement. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sheila looked warmly at the boy, gently patting his head, and wiping his forehead. "He''s a very good kid." She said, heart suddenly longing for her own family. She wondered where they were¡­ ¡­ Meanwhile, the little boy, with the given name of Horus, was having a horrible dream. He dreamed of life back in Terran, when he and his sister struggled through the slums, barely managing to eat. His sister worked very hard, but even in his young age, he knew his sister''s work wasn''t good, because many people frowned at her, pointing with mean faces whenever she was there. They also called her names, which he didn''t understand, but a child like him could still feel whether it was malicious or not. He tried to help her many times, he tried looking for a job, but what could his small body do? Eventually, he discovered that he had a talent. It was the talent to take people''s things without them knowing. And he was amazing at it. With this skill, he bought his sister food and new clothes and told her people gave it to them. Although she was questioning, she took it, playfully pinching his cheek, thinking that her brother was so cute, so people naturally wanted to help him. This went on for weeks on end, and his final victim seemed like any other, but only much richer. It was a big man in a suit with a bulging wallet as bloated as his stomach. He had an ugly beard on his face and cigars on his hand, his other hand holding the waist of the lady next to him. He was very distracted, laughing loudly with his friends and teasing the ladies in his arms. He was so distracted and not minding his wallet hanging out of his pocket at all. It was as if he was asking him to take it. Horus'' confident mind was already thinking of how to buy that pretty hair tie for his sister. He thought that, like every other time, he would be able to get away with it. Until, of course, he got caught. Chapter 161 - 161: Little Horus "Well, well, what do we have here? Such a small little thief?!" The man grinned evilly, grabbing his small arms. The men threw him down with a bang, hitting the table leg. The man raised his feet to give him a kick. It wasn''t too heavy that he''d break bones or die, but every kick hurt very much and it probably wouldn''t have felt much different from it. The man''s cohorts chuckled while the people around could only close their eyes and frown, with no one stepping over to help. Luckily, there was still someone who was willing to take a small step. Someone around knew of him, and the person immediately called his sister who was working her 2nd job nearby. "What are you doing?!" She yelled as soon as she arrived, to see a man kicking his brother for the nth time. "Please stop!!" She screamed, running and covering her brother''s body. "He tried stealing from me!" The man said, but paused when he saw the girl more closely. "What?" "And he''s pretty good at it. He must''ve been doing it for a while, yeah?" Horus could still remember the despair in his sister''s eyes when she realized what he had been doing. She sobbed but covered him with her body regardless. "That''s enough!" She remained firm, "He didn''t get to steal anything did he?!" The man didn''t answer and just leered at his sister. Horus didn''t like his stare and he tried to sit up to protect her. But he was too small and weak and powerless. He didn''t really know what happened after that. All he knew was that they were taken to a cheap motel room and he was asked to wait outside. He didn''t know what his sister did inside the room, but the man didn''t beat him anymore after. He even threw them some money. He was confused, but he hated the feeling of helplessness very much. He grabbed the money and threw it back to him. The piece of crumpled money hit the man''s leg, and a moment later he fell down. For a moment he thought his throw was super strong and he grinned. But then the man''s body started to twist in odd shapes, then he began growling, and then crawling to his direction like a monster. His sister got out of the room and screamed, grabbing a random thing¡ªa vase¡ªand hitting him with it. The vase broke but the monster continued to move, unbothered. He felt himself being pulled back, behind her sister, as she took a piece of the vase and stabbed the man. It continued to move, and his sister stabbed it over and over, until it finally stopped moving. He saw his sister shaking and crying and held his hand. "We need to run." She said, shaking, but as they opened the door, they only saw more monsters. They were everywhere. But they closed the door and saw the monster of the man was still twitching. His sister frowned and kicked the piece of vase stuck in its head, and it finally, truly, it stopped moving. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Is it really dead now?" He asked, but when no one answered he lifted his head to see his sister staring into thin air. His sister paused. "System?" She voiced out, confused. "Sister?" She looked at him with her red eyes still tearing up, but after a while she told him to hold a weapon. He didn''t really understand and he watched his sister take another piece of the vase, a bigger piece, and made him hold it. "Sister?" With another piece in hand, his sister opened the door again. Horus was very confused and extremely terrified. "Sister??" But he watched as she led one zombie in, closing the door again, and stabbing it over and over until it could hardly move. "Kill it." His sister said, holding his hand and motions for it to hit the skull. Horus shook, feeling the hard skull against the vase. "But¡­" His sister sighed and held his cheek. "Don''t you trust your sister?" He shook his head. Of course, he trusted his sister. So, with some guidance and a lot of snot and tears, little Horus managed to finally stab through the piece of porcelain into the zombie''s brain. [Welcome Terran Survivor 045 to the universe assistance system!] "Do you see it?" "It''s a screen¡­" he said, extending his hand and saw his hand go through the screen. It was very pretty, like gazillions of super tiny luminescent powder forming an image in front of him. "It''s really there? Okay¡­ okay¡­." His sister said, stuttering, before she dragged him back to the inner room and they locked the door. They stayed there for hours, embracing each other in their shaken states. Fortunately, there was food in the small refrigerator of the hotel room so they did not go hungry. Hiding inside his sister''s arms, he looked up at her, "What''s going on sister??" "I don''t know either¡­" she said, voice still stuttering. "It seems we''re going to get taken to a new world¡­" "No monsters??" "No monsters." She said, but he felt she wasn''t very certain. They stayed like that for a few more hours, resting a bit, waiting for the counter to stop. But a few hours in, and amongst the creepy scratching of the doors, he could see the changes in his sister. "This won''t do¡­" she said, "We can''t waste time here..." "Sister?" "We need to fill up our space." She said, "We ought to live better there, right?" He looked at his sister, nodding, and they opened the door with weapons in hand. They went out to take valuables within the motel, and they fought off the zombies together one by one using whatever they had on hand. Fortunately, the motel was locked and the number of zombies outside their rooms was limited, giving them some time to adjust. His sister took the emergency axe and he was given the longest knife in the kitchen. They took away the people''s wallets and went straight to the back room and took in as much food and supplies there as they could, especially food with long shelf lives like grains and uncooked pasta. There was also some jewelry and little gold from the customers, though not much, as no one in the motel was very rich. The most expensive they got was a wedding ring on a man''s hand, and the man''s alone, as the woman didn''t have any rings on her. It was not easy, but just as they finally got used to it and managed to scour much of the small motel, a circle of light lit up under them, bringing them to another strange, and even more dangerous, world. Chapter 162 - 162: More Territories When they transferred, they transferred with hundreds of others. The true nightmare began at that time because monsters far stronger than what they encountered surrounded them. There were so many, tens and tens of them, and their ugly appearance made a lot freeze in fear, becoming easy targets to eat. The way the people were mauled was a thing of nightmares, striking terror in more people''s hearts, and in turn making them easy victims. It was a horrible cycle. Soon, the fight began and some people managed to snap out of the shock and defend themselves. Even if the monsters were strong, they were far more in number. That was what some of them thought at first, but they quickly realized that the monsters were nothing like the zombies back in Terran! They were much, much, stronger and even a group of big men couldn''t beat a monster without someone losing an arm, a leg, and his life. He and his sister struggled to kill one together, along with a few others, eventually learning to help out and defend themselves. His little body did its best to help, and when he managed to slash a wound on its feet, he brightened and celebrated, not realizing that it only made the monster go berserk, and it lifted its sharp claws to his direction. "Horus!!" Slash! "Sister!!" He yelled, watching the monster''s claw slice his sister''s face. ROAR!!!!! He yelled back, "ROARRR!" He screamed with his little voice, running to it. He used their last weapon to hit it, but it didn''t hurt much. Instead, it lifted its paws to smash him. But Horus'' unknown skill¡ªtriggered by extreme anger and adrenaline¡ªhelped him avoid its attack. Over and over. To the point that it was even superior to the adults. [Evasion (E): Avoid detection of all monsters level 10 and below for 10 seconds. Consumption: 5 Mana] It wasn''t clear what it meant, but he instinctively knew it was helpful. He willed the ability to apply and it did, and he ran to the monster. He immediately jumped to the weakened monster, stabbing its eyes repeatedly. It shook wildly as if he was a fly that would let go with a shake. But energy coursed through his small body and he gripped the monster with his small arms, stabbing again and again every time he could. Finally, he dug enough of its eye to finally reach its brain. Stab! Stab! Stab!!! ROARRRRRR!!!! He stabbed until it fell down and no longer moved. [Killed Stormdoer (Lv1): +30 experience, +30 copper!] He didn''t even notice this as he sprinted to his bleeding sister, sobbing with snot, yelling for help. But who could pay attention to him when there were still a dozen monsters slashing about. He could only drag his sister to a safe place, trying to stop the bleeding on her face with a clean cloth they got from the motel. Sniff. "I''m sorry¡­" Sniff. His sister weakly took out a handkerchief and wiped it on his tanned face. "I won''t die." She said, "Don''t cry. You''re a big boy now, aren''t ya?" The group of them, after losing a good portion, did end the small mob. But his sister earned a scar. More than once, she was told she was ugly many times, and little Horus would attack them every time. By the second day, there were only about 50 of them left alive, most of whom were very injured, and no one bothered with this little thing anymore. Their group of hundreds struggled through the first few days, dwindling quickly in numbers, and becoming more and more miserable as they traveled. Soon, they encountered an enclosure¡ªa fence¡ªand they ran with their remaining energy to look for a gate. [Welcome to Vismont Village!] S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He and his sister looked at each other with bright eyes. Happily, his sister wrapped her arms around him. "We''re finally safe!" How could they know it was the beginning of another, more tragic, experience? ¡­. In the village, they found out that the paper money they took was useless. Fortunately, there was some jewelry and a little gold they got from the motel, but it was very little. Together, they had scraped up only a few silver currency they could use. This wasn''t enough for them to live with a decent stomach for a week. They worked hard to gather what they needed to survive. They were doing honest work, and he wasn''t stealing anymore, as his sister had asked him. Except for the fights because someone would insult his sister, the two of them had gotten used to one legitimate meal every 2 days and living in a shed made with leaves. They had also gotten used to the horrid and sticky smell of feces and body odor. But then¡­ that man came. He said he had fallen in love with his sister, her strength and hard work. He also needed a good wife and wondered if they could consider living with him. His sister was naturally reluctant, but that man was charming and eloquent. He also promised she could leave if they couldn''t make it work. He was charming and capable and promised them a good life in their territory. At first, he did. He let them live with him in a residential unit, and let them eat at the restaurant every day. But¡­ a few days later, after he went back home from gathering wood, he found his beautiful sister bloodied, naked, and without a breath. There, in that damned place, he brutally lost his sister. What was his punishment? He was just banished from the territory!! The man was strong. A cockroach. He wouldn''t die. How could he be reconciled?? So he escaped from the village and he ran after his sister''s murderer. He ventured to the wild by himself. A six-year-old who could barely handle a level 1, using his ability to the most of his ability, went on a mission to hunt. But he lost his target in the end. He followed his sister''s murderer to this direction but didn''t find him yet. He swore to kill him, and stab him dozens of times more than what he did to his sister. So he looked and looked, traveled, barely avoiding countless near-death hits. Other than his new magic skill, he used his flexibility to climb up trees and jump between them. For days, he managed to escape monsters time and time again¡­ ¡­trying to find the most hideous monster there was. ¡­ Altera village, present Horus woke up with red eyes and saw the most beautiful older sister he had ever seen. But his dark heart could not appreciate it as the hate in his heart was revived by his dreams. "What are you thinking?" Althea asked, noticing the little boy''s dark mood. "Stabbing someone twenty-five times." Her eyebrows rose. A potential little villain, eh? But Althea''s face didn''t change. Instead, she sat on the side of his bed, patiently. "It must be a villain, then." She said, nodding at him. The child froze and looked at her with wide eyes. "Hmm .." he said, voice cracking. "He killed my sister." "Do you know where he is?" The child shook his head. "If you did, how would you beat him?" The boy''s lips pursed, not knowing what to answer. "What are you doing outside the walls on your own?" "I¡­ I wanted to be stronger¡­" he said. He had seen so many people going out near the walls, using the sentries to assist their fights and getting stronger and stronger. He wanted that. But in the end, he fainted after touching a plant. He flushed red, embarrassed. Althea hid a smile and patted his little curly head. "Why don''t you stay with us and gather strength?" The cute little boy with pale freckled skin, curly chestnut hair, and large round eyes looked at her, wondering if she was telling the truth. Then he remembered that man was no less kind. He was also charming. And suddenly the boy''s body adopted a defensive stance. Althea blinked. "Oh my. Am I scary??" She asked, touching her heart as if she was surprised and a little hurt. This made the boy flinch and he shook his head immediately, then blushed again. This time, Althea and the other women couldn''t help but laugh. "Don''t worry," she said, "The territory is fair, you should know by now right?" "You wouldn''t suffer injustice here." She told him, patting his head, her melodious voice reaching his heart and calming it. "Not anymore." Chapter 163 - 163: Vismont Village [Welcome to Vismont Village (Lv2)! Please pay a visitor''s fee of 10 copper within 5 minutes of entering. [To become a temporary citizen please pay 10 silver (valid for 1 month), and 15 gold for permanent residency.] Ansel and the twins looked at each other as they entered. The twins looked a bit impressed. "Quite affordable. At least half of the previous one. I wonder how they tax¡­" Ansel raised an eyebrow. "My previous one''s about the same. They should have a default value or something they adjust." "What??" The twins looked at each other, indignant "Our previous territory ripped us off then." Luke mumbled, gritting his teeth. After all, they were focused on looking for their mother during the 24 hours pre-migration. How much money could they take? Leo sighed, also remembering their poverty, "Well, the lord''s dead now. He has no one to blame but himself. Just a pity for the innocent." The trio was silent after that, going further inside the threshold to realize it was all forests. There wasn''t even an actual pathway. Luke couldn''t help but double take and look back, confirming there really was a gate. Fortunately, there was still a rough trekking path that they could follow to wherever they ought to be heading. "This territory should have just been upgraded." Ansel said as they walked forward, sharp eyes studying his surroundings. He remembered back in Bright, he saw additional walls getting erected far from where the old one was. And a few hours later? A Beast Tide arrived. While Luke continued to look around as he walked, Leo nodded. "Then they should have just experienced a beast tide." Luke was startled. "Really? So sure?" "Ansel told us before that his previous territory was upgraded right before the beast tide. You were too busy eating at the time." "Oh." "Didn''t you see the trees felled outside the walls?" "Oh I thought people were gathering resources or something." Luke shrugged and continued on his way. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel was amused, "It seems that all the brain went to you and the brawn went to him." Leo coughed and chuckled. "Well, in our current situation, he''d likely survive better." The trio continued walking, following the makeshift pathway they found. After a couple of minutes, they eventually saw a change of scenery. They encountered more and more people. They were setting camps in the forests, some were using the tree canopies as roots, while some were completely cutting them off. However, considering the density of the forest, although many of the trees were cut, there was still a lot to cover the remaining scenery. It was just that judging by the noise of chatter and the horrid smell that reached their brains, they could estimate that the people in this area would at least be in the several hundreds, if not thousands. Soon, the group arrived to see the crowd and saw the people and their living conditions. Most of them were living in makeshift sheds supported by the forests, covered with blood, and very listless. It seemed that the beast tide really did a number on this place, Ansel thought, and he looked around the people to see who he could approach. Soon, they walked to a harmless-looking group and Ansel took out a few bales of edible fruit. "Hello there, can you tell me more about this territory? What happened?" The people looked hungrily at the food in his hand but they didn''t take it immediately. "It''s edible, I promise." And he sent out his signature playboy smile. The women on the team blushed immediately. The women were the first to be won over. How could such a handsome lad lower himself to give them poison? "The territory just got attacked by a beast tide." Another girl took a few pieces. "A lot of people died. Even the wall almost fell." "Who''d have thought? We were so happy when another wall¡ªa taller one¡ªappeared but there were monsters everywhere, and many places were left unguarded." Then a middle-aged woman added, with a hint of wistfulness. "But we have a very good lord." She said, "During the time of crisis he was fighting with us¡­" Everyone seemed to agree with this, admiration consistent in their expressions. "He had held us together at that time, he asked everyone to gather resources to reinforce the walls, and now we survived. "The loss was heavy, but some of us had been to other territories¡­ This was nothing at all. "The lord said, if we lived well and protected the territory, the sacrifices of those people were not in vain." Ansel and the other two were a bit interested in this lord, so admired by his people. Leo and Ansel, in particular, were intrigued. How many days had it been? Someone already bought so much of his people''s hearts? They continued chatting with the women who happily accommodated them and they, at some point, formed a little gossip circle. After a while though, the little gossip circle would be bothered by the sound of a little commotion from the other side of the slums. "What''s that?" Luke asked, chewing on some fruit "It''s them again." The person next to him (straight male, joined at some point) complained, frowning bitterly. "Who?" "The Tiger Gang." He said, "They often come here to get protection fees." "Oh? Your Lord doesn''t protect you?" The man gave him a bad look, offended. "What do you know! It''s just that everyone else is weak here." "These guys were the main defense after most of the others died. It wasn''t that the Lord didn''t want to kick them out, he had no choice!" Ansel raised his hands in surrender, blinking in surprise. "Yes, yes, you''re absolutely right." It was here that a menacing group of bulky men finally reached their area. They were giving intimidating stares at each person and waiting for them to give a copper. Leo looked at the dozens of gangsters with raised eyebrows. He tilted his body a little to Ansel, whispering. "So many of them survived?" "I heard it was a bunch of gangs put together after the Migration." Ansel watched in interest, adopting the attitude of a detached bystander. However, it didn''t stay that way as the gangsters eventually reached their circle. They looked menacing and slimy, a different type of disgusting altogether, The men paused at the sight of them, grinned, and began looking at the three of them up and down. "Handsome young men?" Ansel''s eyes twitched, having the feeling that trouble was about to come. Couldn''t he just look for his sister in peace?? Chapter 164 - 164: Lord of Vismont Village Aberdeen City, a year ago Ansel looked at the beautiful ebony-haired woman in front of him with his charming peach blossom eyes. He lifted the hand entangled with his own and placed it against his mouth, making the woman blush. Hana, however, tried to push down her smile. After all, she was currently in the midst of questioning him. She couldn''t help but remember the beautiful curvaceous blonde and her mood dipped again. "Who was that?" Seeing that she couldn''t get distracted, Ansel sighed, tightening his hold of her hand as he guided her towards a bench. Ansel was having a great date with this girlfriend of his when annoyingly encountered Winona, Althea''s BFF, being harassed by someone in the same park. It was one of her rich suitors¡ªthe type that couldn''t take no for an answer¡ªand he was pretty much dragging her to go on a date with him. Although the two of them didn''t get along well¡ªbordering on hostility, actually¡ªhe couldn''t let her be, right? So, he swooped in and dealt with the guy (no blood, just a couple of faux-passes that made him lose balance and humiliate himself). However, it made his current girlfriend, a pretty exchange student from Yuta country, to look at him questioningly. "She''s my sister''s best friend." He said, explaining patiently. "We''re not close." "Not close?" Hana asked, narrowing her eyes as if she could see if he was lying if he did so. He nodded very decisively. "Not close." Hana didn''t say anything for a while and just looked at him deeply, trying to determine if he wasn''t just making excuses. Ansel leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips, "I wouldn''t lie to anyone about this." He already had a reputation at this point, and the women knew what they were getting into. Hana pursed her lips and sighed, succumbing, and they went on with their date. The couple continued their walk along the park, buying ice cream as they leisurely chatted, and it was really nice for a while. They stopped when they heard a cacophony of female screams nearby. "What''s that?" Ansel asked, and they went closer to see what the commotion was about. Who knew, maybe it was a singer they liked. Like, Fable perhaps. Soon flyers and banners were seen on the ground and on banners, and they found out that it was actually a political campaign of a small politician. "Why does it seem like an idol is here?" Ansel asked, eyebrows furrowed. He turned to see his girlfriend staring at the life-size Sintra board model of the man. "That man is quite handsome." She said and Ansel looked at Hana in interest. "More handsome than your boyfriend?" Hana chuckled and tiptoed to kiss him on the cheek. "Of course not~" ____________________ Vismont Village, Present The gangsters leered at them in a way that their stomach tumbled in disgust. "You''re new here aren''t ya?" One said, extending his hand. "Just right. Let me tell you, to remain here you have to pay some cash!" It was unsurprisingly, Luke who stepped forward, between his brother and greeted the man. "You haven''t protected us yet, why should we pay you?" Luke immediately answered, with a deep frown on his face. One of the man''s cohorts sneered and clenched his fist threateningly. "Pay or not?" Luke, their own goon, sneered back. "You? Are you worth it?" Without warning, the man threw a punch, with Luke preparing to fight back. Ansel had gestured to stop them, not wanting Luke to get kicked out. But the punch actually connected and Luke immediately countered back, pushing the other back a few steps. Ansel''s eyebrows raised. ''Fighting here isn''t prohibited?'' He thought. Ansel knew very well the lord had the power to impose this. In Bright, there were once two people who exchanged hits and they were automatically teleported out of the territory. Hmn. Territories seemed to have more differences than he thought¡­ The gangsters'' auras changed from smug to angry, and they gestured to attack them, not caring about the bystanders they hit on the way. How ever did the lord here gather such a fanbase with these scum running about? Anyway, Ansel quickly cut some of the people who wanted to gang up on Luke, using skills Garan wholeheartedly ''taught'' him. In contrast, although Leo could handle one on his own, he struggled a lot. Basically for the remaining half dozen men, Ansel and Luke took care of them together. The past few days of traveling and fighting monsters together did wonders for their teamwork. They dealt with them quickly and efficiently, with Luke serving as an aggressive ''tank'' and Ansel as the main attacker. By the end, he¡ªwithout using a weapon¡ªalso used his skill, shocking the men. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Stab! -3 mana] A flash of light passed and a huge piece of skin was taken away. "AHHH!" "What¡ª" "Fuck! What did you do!" The gangster said as he felt blood drop from his arms. ''What happened?'' He thought, disbelieving. ''The brat didn''t have weapons on him, right?!'' Ansel felt a few admiring gazes cast in their direction, but he received hateful glares from the men on the ground. "Bastard¡ª" They took out their weapons, and naturally, the trio did as well. Luke took out his wooden spear and shield, while the other two took their swords. The gangsters did not care who they hit and a lot of citizens became collateral damage. Luke was a real source of brute force, while Ansel received harsh training since he was a child, so they really managed to handle the men even when they were outnumbered. However, just as they were about to gain the upper hand, about a dozen men appeared, heroically taking down the gangsters. The actions were swift, especially since the gangsters were weakened, and this was followed by a soft but commanding voice emerging from the crowd. "How many times have I told you that you can''t hurt the citizens?! Have you forgotten the prohibition to kill? Even if it was an accident you will not be exempt." The low stern voice echoed across the crowd and the people''s faces brightened instantaneously at the recognition of its owner. "My Lord!" The people exclaimed, looking at him admiringly as if he saved their lives. Ansel looked on with interest. This timing¡­ was interesting. He bet 10 gold this guy had been watching for a while. Why, though? The owner of the voice was a very handsome young man. When everyone was dirty and haggard he gave off a clean and charming feeling, at the same time exhibiting mature masculine charm. No wonder those women looked dreamy at the mention of him. He was even wearing well-made long sleeves with a turtleneck in this weather. Was he trying to pass himself up as a monk? More interestingly, Ansel also happened to know this guy from Terran. He had seen him campaign when he was on one of his dates. He remembered him because of the screaming girls and ladies, as if he was a pop star. Matthew White. Apparently, the lord here was a small politician. One of his major taglines was that he was supposedly a ''clean'' politician from a commoner background. He heard before that people with 1000 gold upon Migration were required to even get a chance for a Lord token. How''d this guy get 1000 gold in 24 hours? Very shady. Still, Ansel watched as the man was surrounded by his thankful citizens with narrowed eyes, and sneered. If he really wanted to help these people, he could''ve kicked those men. At least, he could''ve stopped the gangsters from harassing the people long-term. He had seen Bright''s plaster-face deal with troublesome people who entered his territory. The power of those with the Lord title, at least inside their jurisdictions, was not to be underestimated. Ansel narrowed his eyes as he looked at this man. It was either this lord was too weak¡­ or he didn''t really want to help at all. Chapter 165 - 165: Wells Ansel watched in interest as the gangsters were taken in for prison. Though, looking at their still-confident and menacing expressions, he reckoned this was counted as a childish ''timeout'' instead. Ansel''s sights followed them as they were hauled out and his eyes inevitably met with the lead gangster''s, who was sending him a warning glare. In response, Ansel crossed his arms and smirked, sending him the middle finger, which made the latter explode and sprint to him. He easily did so, too, and it was either he was super strong¡­, or the ties were just for show. Ansel had a feeling it was the latter. "Looks like you don''t want to escape from a beating, eh?" Ansel smirked, his hands raised and entering a ready-to-kick-butt posture. However, before Ansel could beat him to a half-dead state, the other of the Lord''s guards surrounded the man and took him down, tying him up more snugly. After securing them all, the guards continued their way with the gangsters in tow. A lot of whom not forgetting to send glares in their direction, threatening. "See how I handle you later!" He yelled, looking at them as if they were already dead meat he''d skewer in a barbeque later. Ansel and Leo looked at each other with raised eyebrows. They were so confident? Were they going to get released later after their ''time-out''? However, neither of them pointed it out, knowing they were in another person''s territory. When the crowd regained peace, Matthew¡ªwho had appeared unaffected all throughout¡ªraised his hand and everyone became quiet. "I have actually come here because of a purpose. I have been going from community to community in order to personally congratulate everyone for protecting the territory well. Thank you." "Nonono, we wouldn''t have been able to do it without you!" "Yes, my Lord, we never would''ve had the courage if it wasn''t for you!" "Well, the credit is to all of us," he said with a smile. "I have come with good news, as well. When we upgraded, new buildings became available to us." "A lot of which are useful new structures, such as the Wells." He paused for effect, looking at the audience whose eyes were becoming brighter and brighter full of hope. "That''s right, the water source. We no longer have to make do with the restaurant gruel as our only source of water. "We can now bathe again and drink our fills¡­ our territory will get better and better!" Then he paused, eyes softening and looking a bit distraught. "Unfortunately, the building cost of each one is a bit costly, and there will be a small cost per use afterward. "So now I request we work together for our home! Would you like to help me? Those who share will get higher limits than the others¡­" He scratched the back of his head and looked down, as if embarrassed. "Each one costs about 100 gold each and a lot of resources. After repairing the wall, I do not have any left¡­" "Yes Lord! Water! Everyone needs water!" "I''m willing to share!" One person said, manifesting a few pieces of silver. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Me too!" "Don''t be embarrassed Lord, you''ve done so much already!" "I will share 10 silver!" "I will share 50!" Matthew smiled brightly at them, looking grateful. "Thank you, everyone, I will not forget your contribution!!" Everyone cheered. They will finally have water! Luke nodded in admiration. "He looks like a pretty good guy!" Both Ansel and Leo rolled their eyes. Ansel turned his head to Leo, asking with his eyes: Did this guy get scammed a lot? Leo nodded, ''Yes, always.'' "He almost joined a cult once¡­" Leo whispered, making Ansel cackle a bit. Luke seemed to have felt the ridicule, and turned his head to them, puzzled. "Huh, what?" "Nothing." The two shrugged and resumed watching the show. This speech of Matthew not only managed to solicit 100 gold and hundreds of resources, but this investment and his constant use of inclusive language would influence people to deeply feel for the territory, increasing loyalty. It was a bit smart if he really didn''t have the money. But¡­ Ansel had a feeling the cost of that well was definitely lower than 100. And he did mention before that he had been going from community to community. He wondered how many ''wells'' he was able to fund using this method. Also, he could''ve also promised the people who shared that they could get the equivalent amount of water for free, instead of just buying a higher limit cap. His train of thought was interrupted when he saw Luke shake hands with Matthew. His hand slapped his forehead and Leo shook his head. Then the idiot turned his head to them and called them over. "You guys, come here! Come here!" The two had no choice but to introduce themselves. "Ah yes, Ansel Witt." He said with a mysterious smile. "And Luke and Leonard Hugh." "I''ve seen your performances. You are very strong." Ansel frowned at his knowing look. Although he hadn''t confirmed it, he could feel the lords could invade his privacy somehow. Like they could read information about him he didn''t want others to see. It was intrusive and he didn''t like it at all. "Do know we especially welcome those who can contribute to the safety of the territory." Matthew said with a smile, "The conditions are very good. Just say them and we will do what we can." For a moment, Ansel was tempted to ask him what it was, just out of curiosity. In the end, though, he shook his head. "We''re trying to find people. We probably won''t be staying for long." Matthew stared at them for a moment longer than proper, before sending them that winning smile. "Well, come to me if you change your mind." He said and politely excused himself, heading back deeper into the territory. For a while, they thought that was that. However, hours after parting, Ansel felt a weird feeling of stickiness in his back making him frown for a long time. Their group¡­ was definitely being watched. Chapter 166 - 166: Charisma Aberdeen City, a year ago "Really?" He asked, confirming Hana''s answer. Hana giggled. "In my eyes, no one can be more charming and handsome than you." He smiled, "Good answer." Hand-in-hand, the two of them moved forward with the crowd to watch the person on the platform. The man was already having his speech. "Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for gathering here today in this small open area in a park we all love. "It is an honor and privilege to stand before you as a candidate for City Council. My journey has been a humble one, as you may know, but I believe this brings a unique perspective to the table. "We have faced a fair share of challenges, but these obstacles have taught me the true value of resilience and persistence. I know the difficulties ordinary people face because I have lived them myself. "In this journey, I carry with me not only my own experiences but the collected dreams and aspirations of our class¡ªof the workers having two shifts, of the fathers providing for their families, of the mothers just hoping to give better lives for the children, or the typical youngin'' just entering the world of adulthood. "I promise unwavering commitment to listen and work tirelessly on your behalf. "Together, we share a vision of a brighter future for our city, one where opportunities will not be limited by circumstances, and every voice is heard, as it was¡ªfortunately¡ªbeen with mine. "I hope to share this voice with all of you, let us all make our lives better. "Thank you and may we journey towards progress together!" This was followed by raging cheers in the small crowd, as well as a lot of screaming from the young women. He looked around in interest, and then at the man with a gentle smiling face, and he just knew it was a mask. ______________________ Vismont Village, Present Leaving the slum areas, the trio went to the village center to rent a house, and also to find out more about the territory. The village center was a one-story building located near the center of the territory. As with Bright, there were trade surfaces and information platforms placed equidistantly on the floor area. He saw the inquiry tabs and set another mission (after paying 50 damned silver) for information about a woman called Althea Witt. The reward ranged from 5 silver to 5 gold. Of course, the truth must be confirmed by the system first. When he was done with his errand, he saw the twins had already rented a house, which was tagged in the purchaser''s¡ªLeo''s¡ªmap. One would be able to rent a room and share a common area with others or rent the whole house for a price of 10 silver a day. To save money, they rented a room to share. "There is basically only one housing type, a two-story building." The smaller twin said as they traversed the lively streets lined with stall owners sitting on the ground and selling various things. They were mostly things they had from Terran, while a few managed to get monster parts from the beast tide and sold them for meat. They soon arrived at the assigned house and went in, immediately seeing that there were no furnishings. It was basically just a roof above their heads, but it was really better than most. Luke had even gone straight to the bathroom and came out refreshed and amazed. Fanboy Luke went to stand in front of them, telling them in glee, "The bathroom here is way better than our old one. The toilet here actually has a seat." Leo nodded. It was indeed better than the previous one. Ansel didn''t bother, because Bright territory also chose the same type of house. After resting for a bit, the trio went out to get something to eat. They lined up at the restaurant and endured another horrid meal, eating edible fruit they found to put down the horrid taste. They ate slowly so they could stay longer. Keeping their ears sharp, they tried to be subtle while catching as much gossip as they could. Restaurants were one of the places to gather Intel. Even if they couldn''t openly investigate the happenings in the territory, they could eavesdrop. It so happened that the table next to them was composed of old and new residents, with the former giving news to the latter. "So you can''t kill here?" "It was amazing. One of the gang members killed someone before and when the Lord found not only did he kick this person out, but he worked hard to build a prohibition. Since then, no one dared to kill." "That''s great. I have been wondering in the wild the past few days! I finally found a safe place!" The old resident nodded proudly. "You don''t know. Our Lord had to pay a lot of gold to set this prohibition. He really thinks of us everywhere¡­" While many of the conversations were about their daily lives, if it rounded to the Lord of the territory, it would be filled with amazement, gratitude, and awe. Even Ansel was amazed by the guy''s charm. Anyway, eventually, the topic turned to rants about their sufferings and the trio was no longer interested, leaving for the other facilities within the territory. Other than the restaurant, there was also the weapon shop and armory in the main commercial area. They went in to check out if there was any difference with the weapons and realized it was all the same. They still bought a few of each because of the durability limitations of level E weapons. As they went out, they saw a commotion not too far away from them. Bored, the three of them decided to watch the show. Several meters away, they immediately found out what the ruckus was about. "They''re building a well!" Came a yell within the crowd. "The people who shared will get priority!" "The lord is fair!" "The well! The Lord is building the well!" More people followed the crowd and Luke had long joined in. The other two simply looked at each other and sighed, finding a nearby tree to climb and get a better, but comfortable, view of all the commotion. They settled down on a tree each and they looked at the center of the crowd. It was Matthew, of course, in front of an open space near the village center. There was a clear area of radius of about 5 meters surrounding him, and he seemed concentrating deeply on the task at hand. Heh. Sure enough, a showman was a showman. Soon, the land in front of him shook. From there, it seemed like a force suddenly pushed down the soil and created a hole. Slowly, the people watched as the well materialized speck by speck, and then brick by brick. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was a magical sight that was never boring to watch. Ansel looked around to see the expressions of the people. It was a miraculous thing and, in the eyes of the people, so was Matthew himself. Chapter 167 - 167: Hypocrisy "Hypocrite." A whispered sneer sounded below them, catching Ansel''s and Leo''s attention. It was a dark-haired young man with huge eyebags, seemingly with a perennially somber expression. The two people beside him¡ªa short haired girl with golden hair and the short man with a semi-bald hairstyle¡ª nodded in agreement. "I bet you 10 gold that a bucket of water would be insanely expensive." The girl said. "I bet you 10 gold he''s going to ask for more money right after this." The shorter boy whispered. Both Ansel and Leo found this conversation far more interesting than the show in front. It was just that they didn''t make those snide side remarks anymore until the well was built and celebrated. They didn''t wait to see the results of the bet. Ansel and Leo watched as the three men and women walked away from the crowd, but didn''t do anything more. While a bit curious about what they knew, it was none of their business after all. They would only care about all this drama if they suddenly decided to stay here for good. Which they wouldn''t. The next day, Ansel and the others went back to the village center to see if there were replies to their inquiries and news of their loved ones. To their surprise though, a particularly large crowd was there so they couldn''t enter easily. As they waved through the crowd, they soon saw what the commotion was about. Matthew and his cronies were there, apparently making an announcement. "We are now a Level 2 Village and would need to increase our military. "We are hiring guards and we encourage strong men and youths to apply." Ansel knew lords could make announcements via the system. This guy was really patient to always want to appear in front of people every single time¡­ Uninterested in the so-called announcement, Ansel and Leo continued on deeper into the village center and each found a platform for their transactions. Unfortunately, none of their inquiries had been answered. After adjourning the gathering, Matthew approached their direction. He had seen their indifference and went to them with an amicable smile. "You seem to be very troubled. Can I do anything to help?" Luke nodded, looking pitiful. "Yes, lord. We sent out inquiries about our loved ones, unfortunately there''s no news." Matthew smiled, "Ah, yes, I saw that." Ansel approached the man and asked, "You have a list of citizens don''t you? Can you tell us if there''s anyone with the name of Althea Witt (25) and Kathy Hugh (48) in your list?" Matthew frowned and did not answer immediately. He sent subtle glances at his surroundings, looking around the people who were surprised to know that he had a list. They looked at him, wondering what else he could see. Matthew stared at Ansel for a moment. When he saw only saw his genuine concern to find his loved ones, his guard loosened a little. "The system does indeed send me a list of names," he said, "Along with their age and potential. Like an automatic registration of sorts." The crowd nodded, thinking their lord really was powerful. Matthew seemed to be staring at a screen but, a few minutes later, he shook his head apologetically. "I''m sorry there was no one who matched their names at all. There was a Kathy Hugh, but she is only 12 years old." The three men''s shoulders slumped a bit. "Well, I assume my territory is located in a good place, as a lot of refugees from all directions find me." He offered, "Why don''t you settle here and wait for their arrival? "If you enter a fair employment contract with me, I can give you and your families preferential treatment in buying property. "I not only sell houses, but also land." Ansel had seen this advertisement in the tab. Matthew was selling property for a lot of gold. The downpayment alone would cost most of his remaining gold. This guy was really bent on winning them over. However, Ansel still had some EQ and didn''t reject this lord in front of his people. He decided to defer instead, "Thank you for the offer, Lord Matthew." He said, "We will discuss it." Matthew nodded in agreement and excused himself, "Well I''m looking forward to your good news." He said, sauntering back to the crowd of admiring citizens. ¡­ "We''re really settling?" Luke asked, a bit looking forward to finally finding a place to stay. "Of course not." The other two answered him simultaneously. The big guy''s shoulder slumped. "No way I''m gonna spend more money here." Ansel said and Luke blinked at him. "Well, he is also very poor. Each building must be very expensive. It''s a pity we can''t use it¡­" he apparently thought that Matthews'' offer earlier was good. "He''s probably not as poor as he claims. Everyone who got a Lord token should have at least 1000 gold to be qualified." This caught the attention of the twins. "What? They need 1000 gold to own a territory?" "I owned 5 silver when I got here¡­" Luke said, downcast. Leo looked at Ansel curiously. "How''d you know?" "The lord of the previous territory had a very noisy follower." he said, shrugging, "It''s very likely the public knowledge of building costs is false, as well." This made the twins think a bit, but only shook their heads. It was none of their business anyway. Besides, the lord had absolute rights in their territories, they could charge what they wanted. As such, the trio just continued to walk around the small village, gathering news along the way. They found that along with the cities they were familiar with like Z City and Aberdeen, there were three other cities, some a hundred kilometers away from each other. It could be said for certain that the Migration definitely condensed their distances apart. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This likely meant they could see people they knew soon. "Or¡­" Leo mused, "Everyone was distributed uniformly and people from the same city could''ve been sent farther away." Their shoulders slumped at this, and their investigation became a bit more frantic. Ansel had also taken out Althea''s photo when he saw some decent-looking people, newcomers in particular. Except for some compliments about their appearances, there was no one who had seen either Althea at all. Ansel sighed, frowning, but didn''t lose hope. He felt it, he was getting closer and closer to Althea. And that they would meet very soon. Chapter 168 - 168: New Friends As the trio left the building, a bit downcast, they found themselves walking around the few stone paths in the territory. Eventually, they passed by a relatively low-traffic alley. It wasn''t an issue at first but they started hearing some thumps, and scratches, followed by aghast voices. "S-Stop it!" A female voice yelled, sobbing. "Yow¡­ we can indeed stop¡­ just serve us, eh?" "Bastard!" The three looked at each other with a frown, quickly following the noise to see half a dozen big men beating up two men, with a man holding on lewdly to the girl. It happened to be the dudes from the Tiger Gang. "Out already?" Ansel asked with a sneer, "And already making chaos." Without further ado, the trio immediately darted into the alley, stopping the attack. They didn''t even explain themselves and started beating the men up. "What are you¡ª" "OI¡ª!" Bang! Smack! Crack! Anyway, according to territory rules, as long as they didn''t kill anyone, they''d be fine. A few minutes later, the men were lying down half-dead, groaning in pain, and the twins went and picked up the woman''s friends on the ground. Ansel went to the blonde lady, and checked up on her. And then looked at her companions, who were also familiar. He realized it was the snarky trio from before. The girl blushed a bit at the handsome sight of her rescuer, "T-Thank you¡­ but¡­" Her brown eyes passed by the gangsters on the ground. Their rescuers had made sure the gangster couldn''t get up and wake up for a while, but they would wake up eventually wouldn''t they? What would happen then? "T-Thank you¡­" The shorter one said as he was assisted to stand by Leo. "Can¡­ can we trouble you.. to carry us home?" He mumbled, volume lowering in shame. "It''s just in the next block¡­" The trio looked at each other and shrugged. Since they began to help, might as well go all the way. They arrived at the house a few minutes later, and they encountered a lot of neighbors who definitely saw the poor state of the teenagers. However, many of those people scoffed at them rather than show some concern, while the others just ignored them altogether. Ansel''s pretty eyebrows rose. The trio''s reputation definitely wasn''t very good. The shorter man smiled wryly, the pale man remained indifferent, while the girl bit her lips in bitterness. They entered the house in silence and the three could only drag themselves to give the few bits of fruit they managed to collect. "You really don''t need to bother," Leo said for the 3rd time since they entered. "We simply had the ability to help, so we did." "No, you''ve done so much." The pale and somber young man said, motioning to the girl and then to the other lad. "My name is Crow, this is Sunny, and that guy lying over there is Dog." "We''re sorry we got you involved. Those groups will definitely trouble you next." They all looked guilty but they couldn''t give them anything in return except for their heartfelt thanks. Leo, however, noticed their wording, "You were targeted?" After a sigh, they nodded. "They said that they heard us badmouth the Lord." Dog sneered. "How dare us. You saw how those people looked at us." Sunny scoffed bitterly, "Hmph. Do we look stupid to badmouth that guy in front of his fans?" "We never did, at least not in public. But everyone I knew that didn''t like the lord was targeted by those gangs, without exception." Ansel raised an eyebrow. Lords probably had a way to see the, what, loyalties of the people? At least it could show their¡­ affection level? Hey, then his score must be very low. Before he could dwell on this thought though, he was addressed by one of the three. "I know you. That Matthew really wanted to win you over. You must be strong." The pale man looked at the three of them, realizing who they were. They were quite famous, beating up the gangsters and receiving the Lord''s ''favor'' and all¡­ Fanboy Luke sensed the sarcasm and was a bit puzzled. "You make it sound like a bad thing?" "Relatively strong people not under the Lord¡­ well they tend to be the vanguard during attacks." "Some even mysteriously¡­ disappear." "You know that circulating story where this lord spent money and effort to implement a no-kill zone in the territory?" "Well, my aunt was a victim, one of many, and he did more than just murder." Crow sneered. "The lord didn''t even punish him, he just kicked him out. Who knows if he''s wreaking havoc somewhere else." The trio looked at each other in silence. They could imagine what that guy had done based on Crow''s tone. They felt heavy because in time more and more such situations were bound to happen if things remained as it was. Case in point: Didn''t they just rescue these three from a similar situation? It was here that they heard the door open abruptly, a deep voice immediately bellowing. "Are you guys alright?!" Dog scratched his poor ears. "Cousin. We''re fine thanks to these guys." "Thanks¡ª" but he saw just how badly the young men and women were beaten and a fire of anger exploded. Dog managed to drag his pained body to stop him. "Calm down if you don''t want to run to your 4th territory." The man closed his eyes and calmed down. It took him quite some time and he tilted his head upwards and faced the ceiling while huffing heavily. Ansel was reminded of chimneys blowing smoke. After he sufficiently calmed down, the newcomer turned to face them with a smile. "Hello, my name is Bull, 25. I''m sort of the guardian of these kids." He did a light bow to express his thanks. Ansel and the others were a little ashamed. "It wasn''t much." "Not if you know how much trouble helping them could bring you." Bull sighed and looked at them, figuring out a way to express his gratitude. As he stared at them, his very good head immediately placed them in a memory. He happened to be in the Village center not too long ago. "You were looking for someone, aren''t you? I''ve been to three territories since the Migration and I boast very good facial memory." This was also why he did well as a guard in the Royal Territory. Ansel and the twins looked at each other and nodded, trying out their luck. Ansel took the photo from his space and handed it over. The twins didn''t have photos of their mother, and could only eagerly wait for Ansel''s good news. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bull''s thick eyebrows rose all the way to his forehead the moment he saw the photo. "It''s that beautiful pregnant woman." . . "What?" Ansel flinched, basically teleporting in front of Bull, scaring the soul out of the poor guy. "Where have you seen her?" He asked, grabbing the larger man''s shoulders, and it took a few moments before the latter could utter a word. Bull paused and tried to make a mental map. It wasn''t difficult because the system kept maps of everything they passed through. "I''ll send you my map." He said, after all, they couldn''t show their own ''screens'' to others, so it wasn''t conventionally straightforward to see each other''s maps. "Hmn?" In his travels, Bull found a special function of the system maps. That was: they could transfer maps to others. For a price, of course. Anyway, he gladly took over the cost and sent it to Ansel. "It was there." He gave him a verbal description of the area where they met¡ªthe former location of Royal Territory. "I remember she went eastward and managed to avoid the beast tide." He couldn''t help but look at this handsome man, that woman''s brother. Even if their intersection was short, she was very beautiful and had a special aura about her. He was understandably curious about this relative of hers. He patted the man''s shoulder with an interested expression. "You don''t know. When she was kicked out, the woman wasn''t lost¡ªlike she had a direction. "That''s all I know." Ansel stared at the transferred map with bright eyes, and they could swear there were little tears lining up. They stayed silent, waiting for Ansel to gather himself. The man sniffed and sneaked a little wipe under the eye, before resuming his cool image. "Thanks." He said, "I''ll go there immediately." He said and looked at the twins. They nodded even without him asking. "Of course, we''ll come with you!" "I also want to see the Goddess again!" Bull looked at the three as they stood up with a complex expression. Before the trio could utter their farewells, Bull cut them off. "We''ll go with you, as well." Everyone turned to look at him. "What?" "We can''t stay here anymore." Bull said, rudely pointing at the three teenagers. "These kids would lose their lives, eventually." The three looked aghast and offended, flushed in shame. But they couldn''t say anything against it. After all, there was a very real chance that it would happen. And so¡­ Ansel''s team grew even more. Chapter 169 - 169: Pharmacy Skills Aberdeen City, a few years prior Inside the custom laboratory inside their own home, a certain plant enthusiast had submerged herself in her creations. Alicia sighed and just placed the food on a clean surface (which was much smaller than before) before heading outside. After all these years, they knew it was counterproductive to distract her when she was in her own zone. If there wasn''t an explosion, then the experiment could fail altogether and she definitely wouldn''t eat until she recreated the destroyed progress. All they could hope was that her stomach rumbled enough to distract her and she smelled the food on the tray. Looking back at her nominal daughter, she reluctantly left the room, trying not to make too much noise. Hours later, Althea finally emerged from the zone and lifted a small beaker with pinkish liquid. It was her special moisturizer, designed to greatly improve the smoothness of skin regardless of skin type! "I did it! This will definitely be a gold mine~" She said, a little smug. Next up would be other beauty products. Then, when she gained more knowledge, she would start creating medicinal solutions as well. Hopefully, these medicines would help out her husband and help keep him safe. Anyway, with more resources and money, she could travel more and procure more and rarer materials. She couldn''t depend on her husband, parents, and Winona all the time, right? She stretched, satisfied with today''s achievements. But as she did so, her stomach rumbled. "Hungry¡­" she mumbled, and she turned her head, her emerald eyes ending on the tray with a smile. Food after success was just so much more delicious! _______________________ [15 days of Protection Period] Altera Village, Present. Inside her laboratory filled with powder and different parts of plants, a certain auburn-haired woman stared at an invisible screen with bright eyes. Some of these had actually appeared before, but she didn''t have much time to appreciate them much because she was in the zone. She definitely did apply them as soon as she could, though. [Congratulations on upgrading to Pharmacist (D)] [Congratulations for creating Alien Crop Fertilizer (B).] [Alien Crop Fertilizer (B+): Special Fertilizer that could increase the growth rate of alien Crop by 5 times and increase the survival rate by 100%] [Detected contribution to World Knowledge. Receive B Gift Pack] [Learned! Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1): Determine the mixture of basic liquids (Level E-D) with 100% accuracy. Consumption: 10 Mana] After spending the past few days inside her lab, she finally got it! And the rewards were satisfying! It was worth noting that skills she received after becoming a pharmacist seemed to be growth-type skills. From the NPCs, Growth-type skills improved the more it was practiced effectively. She liked this setup very much. She then looked at the skill she also received a day ago. [Growth Skill Advance Identification (Lv1): Assess basic combinations (Level E-D), descriptions, and functions. Consumption: 10 Mana] The description might seem basic, but this skill alone had been immensely helpful the past couple of days. Her progress could be said to have doubled because of it. Anyway, she looked at her products with bright eyes. Not only did she improve the fertilizer for local crops, but she also managed to mix one for Terranian plants!! She could see it, self-sufficiency for all kinds of crops would finally come! sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They would be able to taste the old food again! The ingredients here were not bad and they were abundant, but the variety was poor and the flavor of the Terran crops was still superior. Of course, it could also be because they had only occupied a small place in this world. There were probably more ingredients out there waiting to be explored. This was also something to look forward to in the future. She heard pharmacists could get major discounts in medicine stores in cities and towns. That alone was major news that made her very happy. Another perk of being a pharmacist was that this skill could increase the effect of whatever she made, even using the same prescription as others. It was either increased production or increased effect, hence the (+) signs. Anyway, now that she had the formula, she could produce it in the new factory. Although the effect of non-pharmacists was less than half of hers, it was still extremely valuable and would be a great source of funds. She stretched her arms out to squeeze away the tiredness and sore back, before she remembered the gift pack she had just received. Before going out of her laboratory, she opened her new gift pack. A small circle appeared floating above her hand, soon revealing the content of the gift. It was a pretty pair of brown boots. They looked too big, but she put it on and they conveniently adjusted to her size. After walking around the lab to check on its comfort, she took a look at its stats. [Eagle Boots (C): +35 Agility, +10% weight reduction] Very good! This would allow her to explore the mountains near her territory more efficiently. After all, she really neglected this aspect of her profession. Now that she had already given birth, the time for her exploration would come soon. Not to mention, the practicality would allow her to go home earlier, giving her time with her babies! [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (C): +35 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] She looked at her equipment list with satisfaction, finally going out of the room for things other than food and a short nap. She stopped at a table and saw a lot of food prepared. With a smile, she washed her hands and extended them to get a bite. She ate very quickly though¡­, after all, she had not played with her babies for days! Chapter 170 - 170: Color When she went out of her lab, she headed straight to the living room where she knew the team would be hanging out in, if they were there. Her eyes zoned immediately on the two babies on the cot, and her world exploded with color. "Hmmhgggh!" Her babies brightened up and extended their little chubby hands at the sight of her. Her heart warmed and she took them from the cushion and into her arms. "I really neglected you¡­" she sighed with a bit of regret, before placing wet smooches on their smooth faces. They giggled and everyone in the room smiled. "Well, they will understand. You did it so they don''t miss out on the wonderful tastes we grew up with." Sheila said, "The next generation would surely love you for it." Althea chuckled at this, "Shall I put my name in the history books, then?" Sheila laughed. "Of course! It would definitely be easier to teach kids since they''d love sweets!" Speaking of the next generation, the children¡ªMaya, Theo, and now Horus ¡ªwere watching the adults with interest as they played building blocks, creating quite the tall structure. The adults soon started to discuss grown-up stuff, boring the kids, and they ran outside and went back to the playground. The playgrounds¡ªconsisting of slides, swings, monkey bars, etc.¡ªwere gifted by Baron''s team. They were placed in the gardens by the flowers, and the children loved them. Even Horus, who tried to maintain a serious I''m-an-adult face, tried the slide many times. Of course, all with an unchanging face, even on his way down the slide. It was cute in its own way. Anyway, the success of the playground prompted Althea to order a few larger sets, to be placed on several parks around the territory. There weren''t many children now, but she would like to think there would be in the future. She believed that the territory would eventually be filled with the laughter of children¡ªadding another dab of color to the territory. While the energetic kids went out, her babies, on the other hand, were laid on the soft blanket on the floor. As soon as they landed, they immediately tried rolling. Althea giggled and helped them out, and she wondered who would be able to roll on their own first. "So¡­ what did you dish up this time boss?" Harold asked, and Althea lifted her head to him at the question. Althea smiled proudly. "We will be able to increase production of Terranian plants, to the degree of the refresh rate here." She said, "Things would only get better." Harold was very happy. Although the seasonings they made using local ingredients were good, how could it defeat the formulations that had undergone thousands of years of the perfection process? "I rented another factory to create fertilizers this time. I''m planning on mixing it with compost to see the effect." This meant they couldn''t handle this in the same factory as the existing herbal mixture factory. Sheila nodded, immediately knowing what to do. "I will also send hiring notices." A lot more people would be very happy about the new openings. Although there were plenty of people going outside, there were even more who could be used more within the walls¡ªespecially those who simply couldn''t handle the monsters without eventually losing a limb. Of course, they''d have to be upfront about the product being handled. "Add 20% to their wage, compared to employees of the same level," Althea said after a thought. Sheila agreed. "Got it!" Althea smiled, happy that she had such reliable teammates. Because of this, she could now focus on her kids who in their own way were vying for her attention. For instance, Little Meatball drooled all over himself trying to call her, while Little Pepper''s little arms were extended in her direction, cute tiny hands opening and closing repeatedly. As she laughed and hugged the kids, feeling their warmth and softness. They stayed just like that for a while With the babies in her arms, she took a look at her territory stats. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 965 (121 permanent, 844 temporary) Total Population: 1524 Base Resources: Wood: 9200/10000 Stone: 6100/8000 Money: 14282 Gold, 109963 Silver, 389497 copper Reputation: 70 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2) , Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv1) , Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] The territory now had close to a thousand people, over half of which were citizens. It shouldn''t take long for the next upgrade. Anyway, whether she wanted to upgrade or not, she''d have no choice but to face it anyway. Well, at least she''d open up new buildings. Judging from the options upon leveling up, they should be pretty good. She didn''t think that she''d be inferior to level 2 villages even if she had just upgraded. Based on what the NPCs told her, she was doing very, very well, considering they''ve only been in existence for less than a month. They didn''t think it was possible, actually. In fact, rather than fear of hostile villages, she was more looking forward to encountering other territories now¡ªas long as they were friendly¡ªbecause the market would be wider, and they could add an even higher profit margin. If done well, it would only improve their already thriving economy. An improved economy meant a better life and more resources for the creation of superior defense systems! And because the defense system was so good, it would give way to the improvement of everything else inside its scope¡ªnot just the economy and lifestyle. Even when they were currently closed off to the world, the economy of the territory was already very healthy¡ªa good part was due to her and Baron, who hired a good bulk of the population, increasing overall spending power. It was just that the money from other territories must be much bigger. Not to mention, most of the plant seeds she bought didn''t exist here¡ªat least not in the area. She was looking forward to seeing more varieties in the future. Althea placed the children back in the stroller, ready to take them out for an afternoon walk. After a moment of consideration, she decided to head to the factory area, to check on their progress. "Aren''t you tired boss?" He asked. After all, she had been stuck in her lab for a day! "No. I''m plenty energized right now." She said with a smile, "I''ll just rest earlier when I feel tired." "Oh¡­" Harold said and looked conflicted. He decided to just join her in the end and show her the status of the factories under him by the way. As they walked, the two chatted about the innovations and revivals that would follow. "You seem to already have ideas on what to add to our sauce and condiment selection¡­" Harold smiled, his old face had already visibly looked younger, very happy and content. "I feel proud when I see all the stalls and stores using our products, and I feel proud of seeing the happy faces brought by our flavor." He said, "I feel young again, and with such a heavy purpose in life." Althea looked at the grandpa figure in amusement. But her eyes also brightened at the prospects that they would be bringing the territory. It was said that food was the symphony of flavor that united a society, while spices were the notes that harmonized a culture. With a wider variety of raw materials, the wider the creations the people could create, and the more colorful the people''s lives could be. She was going to give a safe haven to the people, and she also wanted to give them a platform to show off what they could do. The territory would only get better and better, never stagnant. Just as it should be. Chapter 171 - 171: Morning Walk It was a bright but cloudy day in the territory, the atmosphere was comfortably temperate, and almost everyone was outside. The sun''s embrace was warm, but not too hot. The sky stretched expansively, with the soft breeze greeting everyone good morning. At this time, there were already plenty of people hunting outside the territory, and many more heading out, weapons out, ready to accompany the guards in clearing out the surroundings of enemies. They were mostly guards, but there were also plenty of citizens, a lot of whom hope to get the job during the next openings. Being a guard was still the best, not only would you get stronger, you''d be rewarded in and of itself. Also, the guards were very cool. There were also the people who were hired by the territory to get the carcasses of the monsters killed by the sentries, provided there weren''t maggots, of course. One feature of this place was, as the resources refreshed at a miraculous rate, so did the decomposition of dead things on the soil. This included food. One could imagine thinking a barbeque would be perfectly fine after not eating it after resting a couple of hours¡­ only to wake up with it filled with maggots! Interestingly, this only happened outside of the territory, so biscuits and noodles were especially popular even if the trip outside only lasted a day. The maggots here were very scary and very, very, ugly. Although they didn''t actively attack people like in those scary apocalypse movies, accidentally touching them would be painful and could lose someone major amounts of spirit. Anyway, their jobs were to check whether the meat had maggots or not. They were instructed to ignore those meats with maggots and double-checking those that did not for further processing. The territory was increasing and almost everyone was used to eating meat every meal, back to how it was, which surprised even the rich aborigines. Further, after improving their physiques¡­ their food requirement increased as well. The System restaurant probably provided food that better considered the changed physiques, but they still wouldn''t exchange it for the food they had now. The difference wasn''t much anyway, and they only had to eat a little more meat. Overall, one could imagine the meat consumption. This also meant that the mobs hunted outside weren''t enough anymore. For now, anyway. Of course, the meat was studied thoroughly for consumption before being sold at the discount markets, and the other parts were sold to leather manufacturers like Sassy the Tanner. Bones were also sold to Baron''s group as they could create various tools, even needles, from it. As for the rest of the carcasses, they were asked to be sent to the composting pit, to be made into fertilizers. The inside the territory on the other hand was no less lively. There was a bustle of activity in pretty much every corner of the village. Regardless of activity, laughter and chatter flowed freely in the village, as neighbors caught up with news and gossip as they prepared for their day. First, there were already a lot of people perusing the interior forests at that time, cleaning out loose wood and stones to sell and find plants to eat. Then, there was the marketplace that was already bustling with life. The stall owners laid out their products and wares to sell, wearing welcoming smiles on their faces, imagining the day''s sales. On these stalls, there were also various colorful fruits on display, herbs, handicrafts, and the like. Some people also started selling Terran items for novelty, still for high prices, selling them as if they were antiques. For example plastic ware, jewelry that wasn''t converted to Xeno currency, and even things like story books, toys, and the like. Interestingly, these people had hoarded these things not on their own, but mostly bought from others early in the Migration. This reminded her of the stories of people hoarding antiques back in Terran during the Great Famine, and getting rich when they regained their values. The industrial factories were not yet open, but the makeshift armory and weapons stores were. The expert''s hammers and tools had rhythmically prepared for the start of production, and one could already imagine the goodness that would be created. Other than these, the aroma of freshly cooked goods and baked bread bathed the air, relaxing everyone''s souls. Overall, there were very few people idle in the territory and people seemed to have somewhat recovered from the disasters of the previous week. Of course, it would take a long time, if ever, for people to truly go back to the peaceful life in Terran¡ªback when people''s biggest problems were breakups and not being able to afford luxury bags. But people were resilient and the territory provided them with enough stability and peace they so needed. The people''s relaxed faces, in contrast to the despaired look of when they had just entered, was something Althea appreciated with relish as she walked to the industrial park. "Pretty miss! Come buy some of my fruits!" "No, no, buy mine!" "Buy juice, miss!" "You look beautiful, this jam would make you even more so!" While the marketplace was still under construction, a lot of stalls, even towards the East gate, had popped up. Most of them though sold fruits and vegetables harvested in the Territory. After all, a good part of the territory had been making good money relative to the low cost of living. They now had more than enough purchasing power to just spend money on local fruits instead of picking them up themselves. Hence, although she placed a limit on the amount of cheap fruit and plants the citizens could take within the territory, this business was still booming because the scavengers could still make some money even if they paid for the extra things they picked. "Old man, feed your daughter well! She''s so beautiful!" "My fruits are very healthy! Your dad and babies would love it!" "Oh my, there are babies?!" It seemed that, subconsciously, people didn''t associate strollers with babies here. After all, adults died easily in this place, what more of children? They probably thought she was pushing a small shopping cart or something. However, Althea was in a good mood and allowed the many bystanders to admire her children. Of course, she limited the number so the babies didn''t get smothered. They looked at the toothless smiles of the children and their hearts softened into puddles. "How old are they?" "A few days old." She said and some people looked at her, thinking how could they not remember there was such a beautiful pregnant woman walking around. Althea was not surprised. After all, she rarely went out of the house except when going to the farm. Most people had really not seen her at all. However, someone did actually recognize her. The person gasped, looking at her as if looking at a star. "You''re the pretty pregnant woman who''s hiring so many people!" He said. "My roommate is one of your farmers." He said, eyes beaming with joy, "Congratulations on giving birth!" She smiled and said thanks, until she realized the looks others were giving her. The looks on her sizzled even more, probably due to her ''CEO'' status, making her feel awkward. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Who could blame them though? Everyone who were updated with current affairs knew that those who worked for her team were living very well, much better than others. They heard that there were also bonuses from their restaurant or grocery if you worked well. These bonuses were in the form of food and ingredients, some of which were not yet available to the public! The people looked at them hungrily and Harold''s cowardly side showed as he hid behind the boss and the strollers. Althea''s eyes twitched. Why did she suddenly feel like a golden goose hunted by everyone? Chapter 172 - 172: Factories Althea cleared her throat. "Thank you for your blessings." She said, "Now if you''ll excu¡ª" "Would you start hiring again soon?" "Well, while my hiring of farm hands is already closed. My team and I are also developing other industries. "There are also many people developing businesses, I''m sure more job opportunities will be open. "We''re currently heading to the factories just built. If you''d excuse us¡­." The people sparkled but they dared not harass her, lest they give her a bad impression. And finally, they were free. Of course, some yells like ''my name is (so-and-so) and I''m a very good worker!'' were thrown here and there. There were also "My name is (so-and-so) and I can handle anything!" "Please choose me! Remember my name is (so-and-so)!" Harold and Althea looked at each other with amused faces, their pace increasing to escape the passionate crowd. She and Harold got to the Industrial park after several minutes of walking, heaving a sigh of relief. The industrial part was a gated area also with level 2 walls to prevent non-workers from entering. The road was a wide 6-meter wide carriageway in consideration of future population and productivity. To date, there were already 10 factories completed in the industrial park. Five of which she ''rented'' in her name, though one of them was in another zone and was ongoing construction. One was the sauce and seasoning factory, with about a score of workers bound by contract. They were all capable of cooking and they even set up a system where the workers could suggest formulas. In this system, her company would pay for the materials and apply to work within working hours, but if done well they would get a share of the proceeds. Depending on the potential and uniqueness of the formula, the share of the worker ranged from 10 to 30%. Two sauces had been produced this way, albeit they were still under production and were not yet available in the market. One was the sour sauce made by an old woman named Loa. The taste was delicious, like a special type of vinegar. Another was called the Floo powder by old chef Koko. It was a powder of questionable color that added a slight umami taste. Although it was not nearly as strong as what the MSG they were used to, it was the next best thing available. She had also tested the formula, and it was still healthier than their conventional MSG. And these were developed only after a week since they started the program. She was looking forward to what else could be developed given more time and resources. They had a walkthrough of the factories, taking note of areas of improvement. They also spoke with the workers if they had suggestions. "Hello, boss!" They greeted them with respect and admiration. They also couldn''t help but peek at the cuties in the stroller. So cute!! "Good work," Althea said, looking at each one of them. The workers were extremely flattered. "Well, we are thankful for the opportunity." "We were discussing about what we can improve, or perhaps products we can aim for. Do you have any suggestions?" It was Koko who stepped forward, "Boss. I have received some requests and we were wondering when and if we have mustards?" She blinked. She had not yet encountered a mustard plant so far but it was noted. "Noted." The old man brightened at being heard and a few others said their piece. Someone even asked for a banana ketchup which was an odd choice but he said his town liked it a lot, and some dishes would do well with it. In any case, she noted all of their concerns, promising to see what she could do before moving on to the next factory. Harold did not come with her this time, as he stayed here to plan the other selection of sauce, as well as the determination of the most effective production lines. The next factory was the plant mixing factory, where the medicine from the pharmacy (now predominantly handled by Lily) was being made. There were only ten women for now because the consumption of medicine in the territory wasn''t that large yet. Of course, it didn''t mean the profit here was smaller than the others. On the contrary, because the formulas were so special, the profit margin was quite large. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Especially her patented Bandade and Sprite. For her specially made formulations, they added the Brand Premium, making for even larger profits, ranging from thirty times the cost to a hundred. The third was the processing plant for wheat, rice, and other future similar crops. Other than the rice and flour, they have also developed starch and yeast. As well as rice wine and sake. The fourth was food processing for some of the finished food products they took on such as pickled vegetables or dried meat. There was also a large kiln for baking bread and biscuits, as well as frying food like instant noodles. For the last factory, they chose one in another zone. The industrial area was zoned into two: one half for edible items and the other for not. Their waste management and delivery were also zoned and handled accordingly. Her last factory was in the latter zone. Five per type of factory had already been built and she only took one in the other zone. It was a factory reserved for her fertilizers. When she got the chance to gather more Waul wood, she would also assign a factory for its products, like rubber, glue, and other derivatives of resins. Speaking of which, more and more products would soon be available and her little grocery store wouldn''t fit the variety of items anymore. She made a silent note to order the construction team to prioritize the supermarket next. In the name of the territory, of course. Mentally taking notes of these things, she leisurely pushed the stroller along the paved road of the industrial park. After a few minutes, her green eyes caught sight of a group of people standing in a circle not too far away from her. They had wide smiles on their faces, chatting about some interesting things. As she went closer, she recognized who they were. A few of them were still acquaintances. It was the team who rented the three factories in this area for their wood, leather, and other products¡ªthe team with the largest industry. Next to hers, of course. Her emerald eyes zoned in on the person talking the most, looking very animated. Baron Smith. Her Biggest Tax Payer. Chapter 173 - 173: The Biggest Tax Payer Baron Smith. Her Biggest Tax Payer. As hyperactive and horizontally blessed as always, he chatted excitedly with his team members about some developments in the territory. Speaking of this guy, his furniture/wood/toy store not only sold a lot of products, he also bought and rented a lot of properties. In total, this guy had hired almost a hundred people on his own. This increased the spending power of the people by leaps and bounds. Next to her, he contributed the most to the current economy. A very good taxpayer, indeed. As they approached, she could hear them discussing excitedly. "Did you see the latest mission?" "The one for capturing Gugu birds?" "It wasn''t a territory mission, was it?" "No it was the Altheans." Altheans? Althea''s eyebrows furrowed. And her eyes twitched, realizing what team they were referring to. Nononono¡ª They didn''t name their team after her, did they? Oh g¡ª Baron whipped his head to see her there, and he visibly brightened. He raised his hand to greet her. "Speaking of which, here''s the boss!" Althea rubbed her temples. Baron didn''t seem to notice how her face turned a beet green. Instead, he raised his hand and greeted very loudly, "Hi boss of Altheans! Woodworkers here!" Do they make team names now? And why did they all sound so stupid? She sighed and plastered a smile on her face as she walked forward. "Hello, good morning." "Good morning Ms. Althea~ We were just talking about your team. We''re so curious about the mission Ms. Sheila sent out through the village center¡ªthe Gugu thingy one. Could it be what I thought?" "Hmmm." Althea nodded. "It''s basically local chickens. Beasts that were relatively weak but with high fecundity." "OH?!" He exclaimed and everyone looked at her with bright eyes, wanting to know more. "How''s the taste." "It is edible. Its meat was also softer than beasts and could be used as livestock. We heard it from Oslo." Among the NPCs, it could be said Oslo was the most approachable, so she used his name without thinking. Anyway, she knew he wouldn''t mind. That guy was so approachable that a lot of Terrans called him ''Brother Oslo''. Rumor said that he already made a girlfriend¡­ or two. And they still cooperated very well. Anyway, the news of potential livestock in the territory energized everyone. "Chickens!! We''re going to have chickens!!" "Well, it shouldn''t taste exactly the same." "It doesn''t matter!" Baron said, looking at her like a sycophant. "Sell some to me, okay? I''m willing to buy twice the value!" Although he could send out a mission under his name, it would feel a bit low. Not to mention, he had no idea about the characteristics of the bird. It was still more cost-effective to go through Althea instead. Besides, he and Oslo¡­ they really didn''t get along well. You see¡­ when he realized that Sheila didn''t have any idea for him at all, he moved on from this 76th crush. He thought, it was the 77th, perhaps he''d have better luck? But this crush got obsessed with Oslo, instead. He could still remember the beautiful Thessy, wavy brown hair and bright brown eyes, so lovely when she bought so many of his products. Thessy was really pretty and poised, like a lady. It so happened that he had just been depressed from being friendzoned by Sheila, and he fell in love at first sight! He naturally chased after her, giving her discounts and stuff, and then giving her gifts. She accepted them all with a smile and hope ignited in him. The reason he was so obsessed with money was because he had watched a show once where the person was super ugly, but because he was rich, he could get all the girls he wanted. And yet he had NEVER had a girlfriend despite having money. NEVER! Such a mystery! But he was aiming to end this streak on his lucky 77th! Anyway, he had planned his proposal (for courtship) very well. He had already commissioned his team to make her pretty hairpins that would suit her sooo well! Fancy his surprise when he saw the poised Thessy following Oslo around like a mindless fangirl! (He didn''t have anything against fangirls, but it was depressing to see one''s crush going after another man!) However, he managed to suck it up and just categorize the admiration as idolizing a star, like Fable. But then he actually saw her lock lips with the man and his heart broke. And because he was given hope, his reaction was quite¡­ strong, to say the least. It involved a lot of shouting and snot and saliva from yelling being splurted around. Looking at him all bitter, Althea held back a smile. The altercation between those two was no secret. Sheila and Harold gossiped about it for a whole dinner. "Sure. You can also rent a farm and raise your own livestock farm. "That''s¡­ a good idea." He said, "But I have too much on my plate now. Maybe we''d just raise them for the team." "Congratulations on your expansion by the way." She said, "I heard you have nearly a hundred people working for you." Baron scratched his cheek shyly. "Well, so many people came here, and there was no furniture. Furniture is a very time-consuming job and the demand is very good." Speaking of which, the dormitories now had full double-deck rooms, saving space for the users. There were also tables and chairs. It had to be noted that all this furniture was commissioned at the cost of the occupants themselves, which would be donated to the building when they left the dormitories. So even if they saved up to move out, they left the furniture in the room for the next person. It was a culture of ''passing forward'' that started somehow the past week or so. It was all very convenient. Not to mention, because the makers were the same group, the beds had a uniform appearance, making it look all organized and nice. Baron couldn''t take all the credit. "I was lucky to get to know talents." He said, embarrassed, "Besides, you don''t hire any less. You even contribute more variety. "Also, you yourself are the technical talent. I think you are amazing!" "Thank you," she said, "Well, it''s all so we could live well, right?" Baron smiled, his head turning to his team with happy smiles. As he stared, he couldn''t help but remember the people they lost before they found this safe haven they now called ''home''. "Indeed." He repeated, eyes warming. "Everything is just so we could live well." Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 174 - 174: More Plans Baron turned his attention back to Althea, seeming to be reminded of something. "How''s old Eugene?" "Still working on your project." She said. She knew that he was partnering with Eugene to create bicycles. Oslo created metal for them, but producing permanent metal was so much work, and only a few grams a day had been produced. It had been several days, but there was still no movement. But from what she heard at home, it seemed that Eugene had made some progress. Something about minimizing the need for metal lugs. Eugene also got the largest share of this project, and he promised her (the boss) some shares as well. It seemed like she''d take about 10% of the profits without having to do anything at all. It was very nice of him. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In fact, even if Eugene wasn''t a teammate, such a share was very smart to give to the Lord, as it would ensure the proper support for its development. In this topic, she also heard Baron''s woodworking factory was working on wooden wheels and axles. Even if it wasn''t bikes, rickshaws, and maybe carriages (if someone could tame beasts) would arrive in the territory soon. For now, they produced rickshaws because no one knew how to tame animals to carry people. Anyways, whichever mode of transportation would be introduced, Althea would welcome them with open arms. There were a lot of people in the territory who were looking for safe jobs with minimal skills. They had a minimum requirement for training so she didn''t worry too much about their strengths stagnating. There were also quite a few people¡ªa lot of whom used to be strong men¡ªwho had lost arms and hands before reaching her territory. They were thus unable to do most of the jobs needed in the territory. This job would suit them just fine. In any case, although the development for transportation would not be seen within these few days, she could already see her bustling territory with its own transportation. She was looking forward to it. And¡­ she really wanted to reward those who were making these things a reality. Althea silently took note of adding a good amount of contribution to the people who would make this happen. Reward those who deserved it: This was the way to keep innovations going. "I''ve already applied to rent another factory," Baron told her. "Focusing on these wheeled contraptions." She nodded, congratulating him. With this, Baron was now renting 4 factories. One for household furniture, one for other wood shenanigans, one for tanning works, and the currently being built factory for the aforementioned wheeled contraptions. Because factories were only for rent, the 5 owned real estate limit didn''t apply. Similarly, when Althea ''rented'' tens and tens of farmland, no one questioned her. "Well, I''m sure you''ll succeed." She said pointing at the stroller. "I can personally attest to the quality of your products." Bianca and Joe, who were the main technical talents of Baron''s company, blushed at the compliments. Especially Bianca, who had worked very hard for the babies'' accessories. At the mention of the children, Barons, and his companions'' eyes had instantaneously landed in the covered crib. But they¡ªat least those other than Bianca and Baron¡ªweren''t close enough to Althea to handle the babies with ease. Now that Althea herself opened the topic they were happy to jump in. They really, really, liked these kids very much. Not only because they were supremely adorable, but also because they were their unwitting muses. It was Althea''s requests for toys and playgrounds that actually inspired them to create the product line in the first place. Even without seeing the babies, they were already considered their muses. But seeing them now and their cute chubby cheeks and large colorful eyes, their position as forever muses of the product line was cemented into stone. So¡­ cuttteeee!! "Are they awake?" Bianca asked, eyes so eager no one could refuse. "May I hold them?" Althea was just gesturing to nod and Bianca was already holding a baby. "..." The group doted on the children very happily, making the kids laugh in glee. They already started discussing a toy line for children and giving the children several copies for free. They also began to explore more playground features. They seemed very passionate about this. "When the wheels are made, we could make those seesaws, spinners, and merry-go-rounds." "Eventually, when we get the technology, we could make things like carousels!" "Very cool, but we must use Terran animals as seat models. If we use the local beasts, maybe the kids would think they''re friendly and try to pet them!" He gasped at the image. "Can you imagine? A child running towards a monster, thinking it was their friend¡ªgasp!" "You realize they''re babies." One said, rolling their eyes. "They won''t even go outside." "But we have a few children. They won''t be unused!" "Yesyesyes. Our territory is amazing and safe, soon children will be running around for sure!" "Ah~ how lovely that would be. Children running around, going to school, giggling and making our hearts happy¡­." "Yesyesyes!" "Someone better develop paper already! How are we going to have books for school?!" "A team''s perfecting it already!" "Can I write an autobiography? Do you think it will sell??" Another one thought out loud, "No, even better, novels! I should get my wife to write novels again." "You idiot. People would be interested in knowledge first!" "No, you''re the idiot! I remember you read e-novels instead of studying when you were a little brat! So of course novels would sell!!" "You don''t know. People have their basic needs now, what better way to meet spiritual needs than a good book?!" This went on for a while, and Althea watched fondly. She looked warmly at the group of people doing their part to improve lives. When people were working hard for the territory, she, as the Lord, felt both proud and energized to continue doing what she had been doing. Everyone was sincerely working for the territory. Whether it was for themselves or their families, it was a great thing for the solidarity of the land. A community with one mind could always perform miracles. Althea had a feeling they were already starting. Chapter 175 - 175: Elder-Aborigine Meeting When Althea came back to the house, she was finally able to ask the others about the issue that had been bugging her the whole day. "Altheans, really?" Althea asked, crossing her arms, watching as they plated the food for dinner. And she thought she had a bad naming sense. "Well, teams have been forming and it''s so weird not to have a name," Sheila told her with a sheepish smile. Harold was quick to nod. "Yes, yes, mostly people who came together often named teams and lived together. Aren''t we just like that?" Althea sighed but understood their need for an ''entity''. After all, they handled businesses together. It was odd to just refer to the group as just ''the team''. But still¡­ "Why Althean?" "I think it sounds cool. Very fitting of your great self." Sheila said slyly, making Althea roll her eyes. "Also, it sounds like the territory name, so we mused it was quite fitting." Althea''s eyes twitched. Seeing that no one intended to change the address, she tried to think of an alternative instead. "What about Eden?" "Dennis'' teams already got that name." "What about Terran Team?" "Mathilda''s team took it." "Eh? Didn''t Jim''s team also call themselves that?" "Really?" "Wouldn''t that be confusing, then?" "..." "..." "It would be great to build a system for guilds or teams." Sheila thought out loud, though she felt she was just being wistful. However, this made Althea, the lord, pause. "Why not?" She asked and everyone stared at her, eyes brightening when it dawned on them. "Let me ask the NPCs." She said, opening her Lord panel. "Perhaps there''s an existing registration system already." She then sent invitations to the pertinent individuals. Due to the business of everyone''s schedule, the number of meetings was reduced to about twice a week, one of which was set to be with elders, unless there were emergencies. That night happened to be this meeting day. After dinner, the group convened with the Elders to hold the first meeting together. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gru, Mathilda, and Eugene were quite nervous. This was the first time they were going to the second floor after all. Even Mathilda and Eugene, who had the advantage of knowing the lord, felt a little tingly. Especially Old Gru, who didn''t, was particularly antsy. If he was to be honest, he was actually a little scared. There were plenty of legends about this floor, rooted in its mystery and the fact that no one but the NPCs knew what was inside. The people who did the fit-out work signed an NDA so they couldn''t squeeze anything out of them, making the place appear even more mysterious. It was said that in the room there was sand, and from this sand, NPCs were formed to become humanoid creatures. There was also a legend that there were test tubes there, with one getting activated whenever the territory ''summoned'' an NPC. Anyway, it was all very silly, but still made him quite nervous. It didn''t help that they became a spectacle the moment they took a step up the stairs. Under the interested eyes of several people who were using the lower floors, the three Elders climbed up the stairs and were able to turn the knob at the top of the flight, unlike the others who could not even move it by an inch. Althea¡ªhaving happily entered the second floor without having to sneak around¡ªand the aborigines had arrived a bit earlier, was now lounging as they waited for the others. Of course, Althea reminded them of how to address her when there were others. Speaking of the NPCs, their quantities were the same as before, without additional members. The past few days, there had not been a new NPC that interested Althea. So she deferred today''s summoning after the meeting. Perhaps she''d gain some luck. In any case, Althea and the NPCs had already discussed some issues in the territory and now very few concerns were left. Most of the issues remaining required other people''s expertise, which was just right. The format of the meeting was basically reporting any updates that had happened in the territory the past week. She ''reported'' the status of her plants, especially the Terran plants, and also the possible uses she found of local ones, which really intrigued the aborigines very much. For example, the lord spoke of a plant¡ªcocoa¡ªthat could produce the most wonderful dessert. Based on what many of the Elders'' reactions were¡ªdreamy, drooling a bit¡ªthen it must be very delicious. Too bad it would still take a couple of months to grow. There were also interesting uses for the plants they grew up with. For instance, the omnipresent Flute plant was no longer just for food, but it could also be used to make what the Lord called ''ethanol biofuel'' or something. It was apparently helpful for the clinic and to prevent infections, killing tiny creatures called ''bacteria'' that could cause infections. "Of course, whether it could truly kill Xeno bacteria was still up for study." The lord couldn''t help but add. Eugene reported the status of the creations, which were the bicycle and a machine that made something they called ''paper''. Similarly, the others also reported on their respective scopes. One of the last to present was Mathilda, who proposed a simple justice system to deal with small altercations that didn''t need the system''s interference. "I have already gathered people from related fields. Now I only need to put them for vetting." They nodded in agreement. "Better if the guard team is involved." "Yes, I''ve already coordinated with Rowan and Drake." Gru, on the other hand, reported the successful crossing of two breeds of wheat, improving the yield. Not only this, but he was also crossbreeding several vegetables. If combined properly with Terran yield, this could get even better. For instance, he combined the gouji berries with their grapes, creating a quaint taste that was absolutely fabulous. For instance, he also combined the local warmmelon with the Terran watermelon. The end product was sweet watermelon with a strong aftertaste. Not everyone would like its taste, but he found it interesting anyway so he went ahead with the experiments. Althea was particularly interested in this. "I''ll lend you some of my fertilizer. It was formulated for Terran plants." "Good, good!" Gru was extremely excited. This meant he could experiment even more! Gru was actually one of the people who had grown to love this place. After all, plants grew so much, and so quickly, and he could really see the evolution and changes in his experiments with his own eyes. It could be said that Gru was still one of the most optimistic people in the territory, and he was a pleasure to work with. Chapter 176 - 176: Mercenary Teams The discussions continued for about half an hour before it was done. The attendees chatted as they waited to be dismissed, but Althea turned her head to the aborigines. "I''m curious about something." "Ask ahead, Ms. Althea." "As you may have noticed, a lot of our people have formed their own teams." She began, "Do we have a team system available outside?" The aborigines looked at each other before answering. They kept forgetting the lord and everyone else did not have the common sense they grew up with. As always, it was the erudite Oslo who explained. "Well, there is nothing that could stop a group of people from forming teams." He said, pausing, "However, while forming teams is technically arbitrary, forming official teams is not." "Official teams?" Gru asked, also interested in this topic. "Official teams are basically teams from one territory who could deal or do business with other territories. Like an individual requiring a legitimate identity before doing any business at all." Hearing ''other territories'' excited the two old people quite a bit. They had heard about the other territories and did hope to know more. Both of them traveled intensively back in Terran. With their age, they had already been exposed to most cultures in existence. They were particularly looking forward to seeing new ones. Oslo looked at them and continued to speak. "After all, territories must protect themselves. Speaking of this¡­ "If a group of people exceeded a hundred people, forming an official group would be mandatory. Most territories would choose to disband this group themselves otherwise." Althea nodded in understanding. This was probably to prevent the creation of a power outside the lord''s control. That said, she had a hunch that a new tab in her Lord Panel would show information about the Teams when they were available. "Similarly, once made official, the registered team will have the sole right to their name. Anyone purposely making unapproved deals in the name of another team would be punishable by law." That was to say, the law from the system. As for how the system punished people, she heard it ranged from automatic deduction of items of the space, or banning of certain skills, to the reduction of important stats among others... "There are a lot of types of Official Teams, the most common of which are the Trade Teams and Mercenary Teams. "In either case, the registration must pass through the village center." "We can do this now?" S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oslo shook his head. "From what I know, the requirement is a Level 3 Village. It would also be through the village/town/city center that the updated lists of teams and their territories are listed. Of course, there''s a small fee to pay." Gru was very curious about everything, especially the aborigines'' territory. Could he buy new seeds from these teams in the future? "How much?" "It depends on the Lord." Clutch nodded. "I once had to hire a mercenary team to gather some materials for me. The initial payment for access to the list of names costs about a silver. The hiring costs were a bit more expensive." Speaking of this, Oslo then remembered a few more points. "Ah, territories also reserve the right to determine the rights and limitations of teams. "Though I think the base fee of 100 gold for creating a Team is fixed, everything else could be manipulated. "For example, a maximum membership of 100 people, maximum number of Elementalists, among others. "There was also a certain amount of tax per month to be paid to the territory they were operating in, which would depend on the Lord. In cities, it was typically about 10% on top of the usual taxes." Harold pursed his lips. It sounded troublesome. "What are the other advantages of building a team?" "Big teams could also build their own places within a territory, if the lord allows. They can also hire people through the town centers, but they will pay twice as much as the lord does." This meant that Official Teams, in a way, was a certain entity in and of itself. Many forces would become teams just for the feeling of power. "You really know a lot," Brenda commented. The last few points even they didn''t know. Oslo looked proud, combing back his golden hair, and sent them a winning smile. "Well, the cousin of an ex is a lord of a town," he said, "I learned a lot from them." _________ Ferrol Town That same day, thousands of kilometers away, Garan and the others stood in the Town Center with deep frowns. "Geez, 100 gold registration fee is really expensive," Gill mumbled, looking at the tablet. "And there''s an additional 10 gold for every ten members. What a scam." "I told you, I can lend you some money." A foxy woman sauntered next to Gill, flirtatiously wiping her well-manicured finger on his chest. Gill shivered but didn''t do anything, and he even had to hold back his poisonous tongue. Who told this woman to be the cousin of the Lord here? She was a gorgeous woman with purple hair and eyes. Even after months in this place, it still took a while to get used to all these odd hair and eye colors. Garan''s lips twitched in amusement and the others held back their laughter at his constipated face. Gill glared at them and lightly pushed her hand away. Cassandra pouted. However, she was a decent woman who still had some boundaries. She took a step back and let her future lover''s teammates join him in front of the tablet. "What do we name the team, boss?" Garan was silent. He had wanted to name it Althean or any of the cute couple names she came up with. Unfortunately, he was simply leading this team and did not think he owned it. In the end, he chose something they all related to. Garan paused for a moment, opening his mouth and his low baritone voice sounded across the halls. "Terran Mercenary Team." Chapter 177 - 177: Clothing Problem (Part 1) After walking out with the other elders and going home, she teleported back to the second floor of the warehouse to go back to the village center, precisely to where she stood ten minutes earlier. Ah, the lengths she had to go through to hide her identity¡­ She stood in front of the summoning circle, heaving a sigh. Hopefully, this time she would be able to summon a decent NPC. Well, ideally. For some reason, it was getting pointedly more difficult each day to encounter a good NPC. More often than not, she just wasted her silver trying to get a good option. Perhaps, this was the point. Maybe the first ''good stock'' was there to entice them to keep trying. Who knows¡­ "Wish me luck." She said to the aborigines that had remained there. Althea then walked to the summoning circle without another word. "Good luck, milord." The aborigines uttered, also looking forward to it. They wondered if they would finally get another companion to share the good things with. To be honest, it was quite fun to watch fellow aborigines'' surprised faces when they encountered things from this territory. It made them quite proud. It also showed that, subconsciously or not, they already felt great sense of belonging to the Territory. Althea did not know about the going-ons in their heads, however. She simply stood on the circle, paid a silver as required, hoping to actually get a decent one this time. Unfortunately, the first one was just a Level E armor maker. While she considered it seriously to give Clutch an assistant, she paid another silver for the next slot anyway. The second slot was a gardener without any occupation at all. According to his description, he was very experienced in maintaining plants of the lord''s castle. Sigh. With pursed lips, she clicked on her final chance for the day, hoping not to waste another silver. [Name: Lenny Po Level: D Abilities: Production of low to mid-level clothing Wage: 15 gold per month, food twice a day inclusive Confirm? (3/3)] . . Clothing?? She seemed to have¡­ forgotten all about this? It was fortunate that Terrans had been given space early on and some time to prepare. Pretty much everyone who survived had several changes of clothing. However, after the initial suffering, a lot of clothes should''ve been destroyed. In time, they would really have no clothes left!! She herself and her children had ample of clothing, enough change of clothing that could rotate a week, so she really didn''t feel the problem before. Immediately, she hired the NPC and a bright light illuminated the room, revealing a middle-aged woman with a simple, but comfortable, dress. However, it was notable that her eye bags were big, her eyes were dull, and her whole person had a somber feel to it. The woman was a bit surprised when she saw Althea, but quickly caught herself and saluted. "Milord." "Call me Althea, elder, or Miss Althea. My identity is a secret here." "...yes, Elder Althea." Well, good enough, Althea mused before she continued speaking. "May I know how your profession differs from non-professionals?" "The clothing I create has defensive properties." Similar to armor makers, though armor makers could produce other accessories like gloves, knee guards, and shields. Althea nodded and quickly assigned her a job. "Okay, I will assign you a place. How many pieces of clothing can you make?" The woman stared for a moment, blinking. "What cloths do we have available in the territory, milord?" "..." Darn. She was happy too soon. ¡­ "So¡­ how do you guys get your clothing?" Althea asked after a pause, looking around and facing the other NPCs as well. The NPCs looked at each other. They also forgot about this problem. Although on their part, while they were impressed with the fabric the Lord and the others had, they saw that the clothes did not provide any defense attribute at all. Hence, they didn''t ask for fear of offending people. "Nobles tend to call on seamstresses and clothes makers to their houses to create bespoke attires. "Most territories have clothing stores where commoners could buy their attires. For villages, there''s usually just one, while town level and above would have at least 1 store carrying products from one or two of the Cloth Cities." "Cloth cities?" Oslo nodded. "Well, the art of cloth-making is dominated by three cities: Cloth City, Kilpo City, and Makita City. All fabric known to humans have all basically come from there." "Oh? Tell me more. And what are the differences in their products?" "Cloth City is known for its extremely smooth fabrics with natural sheen. This is the favourite of nobles." "Kilpo City specializes in highly insulating cloth suitable for cold climates. However, they also supply simpler clothing commoners used." S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Makita City fabrics were better known for its fabrics with soft pile that could create rich texture. Nobles also like this, but they''re a bit uncomfortable and only worn during formal occasions. "They also provide what we call Makita cloth, which was a type of cloth that was more accessible to commoners, albeit much more expensive than Kilpo''s." Althea listened carefully. If she were to take on similarities based on the description, it seemed Cloth city specialized in something like Silk, Kilpo with something like wool, while Makita was something like¡­. Velvet, perhaps? Similarly, cheaper cloth was also available from Kilpo and Makita. "Mine is from Kilpo," Clutch said, lifting his sleeves up. "It is a bit rougher compared to what I see your people use, milord." She looked closer and it looked a bit like hemp cloth. "My clothes are from Makita," Brenda said, and the others (sans Oslo and Betty) said theirs were the same. Looking closer, it was very similar to linen that she also wanted to produce. "Any idea what their raw materials are?" Oslo and the others all shook their heads. "We apologize milord. It is a closely guarded secret by these cities." "Indeed." Lenny said, "To my knowledge, the recipes had been exclusive to them for centuries." Oslo''s dark blue eyes suddenly turned sharp. He abruptly stood up and stared at the Althea. "Milord, are you planning on producing yourself? I''m afraid¡ª" He was afraid that the territory would be targeted. Don''t think the level difference was so large that they wouldn''t touch Altera. There was a limit of ten attacks per year if you were an attacker. But there was not as stringent a limit in receiving one. A territory could actually be attacked every 16 days. That was to say, the village could get attacked twice a month if the territory was particularly attractive. If a territory was targeted by an allied force, then they may have to experience wheel battles once or twice a month. As very rich cities, these three cities had a lot of subsidiary territories allied to them. "We''ll cross that bridge when we get there," Althea said, taking note of his caveat. "Besides, they may not pay attention to us. "Didn''t you notice our clothing doesn''t have any attributes at all?" The NPCs nodded, and Althea continued. "Even with Lenny, the attributed clothing may have to do with raw materials." With this, the NPCs'' shoulders slumped in relief. Her lips twitched. However, she thought, if it did come to the point she''d be targeted for producing products that would break the monopolies of powerful entities¡­ Althea did not panic. She knew she just needed to make sure she was invincible at least to a territory a level above her. She wasn''t planning on tucking away their resources for fear of others. After all¡­ ''Altera'' was meant to be ''Proud''. Chapter 178 - 178: Clothing Problem (Part 2) Putting these things for far in the future aside (for now), her emerald eyes landed again on the clothing of the NPCs. From here, she could tell Oslo and Betty were well off, using silk-like fabrics in their clothing. She was especially concerned with the commoner clothes though, which they needed the most. It was just that she didn''t know if there were flax plants or similar plants here. In Terran, those were found predominantly in areas with sandy loam and temperate climates. The weather system alone in this place was very different, who knew where those plants were? However, she did seem to see plants similar to hemp nearby, so she could at least have someplace to start. And although hemp was made for coarser fabric, it was a very good alternative. It was also more environmentally friendly, sustainable, and could be planted very densely¡ªallowing for huge output per field. Still, she would still be looking for flax or its alternatives, simply because of its practicality and comfort. Cotton, on the other hand, was also difficult. Cotton seeds weren''t sold in supermarkets so she didn''t have any on hand. But¡­ while she did not have cotton seeds on hand, the hotel duvets might have some¡­ She immediately made plans to ask Eugene to put the bicycle project on hold in favor of weaving tools, whichever raw material they would end up using. In fact, the old tools for hemp or flax were relatively simple and didn''t need a lot of mechanisms, it was cotton that was a bit difficult. Cotton was also a good type of cloth, especially for uses aiming for comfort like underwear and everyday shirts. It also had better moisture resistance than the others. This would be needed if their only other alternative was cloth made from hemp. So if she really found cotton seeds, Eugene could only succumb and find a way for a cotton-weaving machine. Hence, Althea not only built a few more farms dedicated to the crops, but she also reserved another factory to make cloth. This factory would be focusing on making rolls, and rolls alone. She wasn''t planning on making her own clothing store. It was enough to provide raw materials. She believed in the skills and creativity of their Terrans. Let them handle the fashion industry by themselves. In this way, she could focus on the creation of different types of fabric, different qualities, and a wider variety of colors. She turned to Lenny. "While waiting can you write down all you know about cloth, the popular styles, and the like?" Lenny nodded. Then she looked around. "May I borrow some parchment?" "..." She forgot the paper was still under development. She looked at the NPCs. "Where do you get parchments?" "I think a new store should be made available upon upgrade. It''s a shop called, ''Bookstore''." Althea leaned in a bit, interested. "Oh? What else is available?" "There are different types of parchment. Like the cheaper papyrus, to the more expensive animal skins. Ink and pens are also sold here." "And?" "That''s all¡­" She looked at the NPCs with a weird expression. "There are weaponry stores, armory stores, and now even a bookstore. But there''s no clothing store?" "..." They didn''t know either. Althea couldn''t help remembering the Three Cloth Cities. Could big territories dictate available building types? Anyway, unless there was something magic about the parchments, she would definitely not waste a building slot on it. Paper only needed investment and a bit of technical knowledge. She and Eugene had partnered with Baron''s team for this and they had been working on it for a while now. Hopefully, they will get the finished products within a few days. It was the Ink and graphite that would be the challenge. She''d need to check the warehouse if some materials were sold to the territory. As all these things passed by her head, she couldn''t help but pause with a frown. She still had so much lined up in her lab, so much land to explore! But how could she start anything in her precious field with all these issues popping out? There was so much to do! If there was only someone to handle these things with her¡­ ¡­ Nispedana Mountain Range, 22 Kilometers away "Ansel, behind you!" Leo yelled, stabbing a monster that almost mauled him. Fortunately, Ansel''s body coordination was very good and he managed to avoid the claw behind him. However, it did nick a good part of his shirt and pants. While the bleeding wasn''t bad, it definitely destroyed his shirt! Damn! That was his last decent clothing! Well at least he had it, everyone else had holes everywhere and were almost looking like jungle people. He shook his head of the thoughts and focused on the mob at hand. [Used! Stab (D). -2 Mana] [Killed Gnomos (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] [Used! Stab (D). -2 Mana] [Used! Stab (D). -2 Mana] [Killed Tanto Rat (Lv1): +30 copper, +30 experience] They fought and stabbed until the last monster fell. During this time, their team work had improved leaps and bound, and a small mob like this was no longer life-threatening. After the battle, they dragged their legs in the direction without resting. One was to avoid monsters attracted by the blood, and the second was that Ansel couldn''t bear to rest. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The group soon got used to Ansel''s pacing and managed to continue on. The redhead looked back at the huge man next to him. "This is the direction right?" Bull nodded. "Their team definitely went in this direction." As he confirmed this for the nth time, Ansel found himself more and more energized, his feet hastening its movements even more. He was so unstoppable that he ignored another piece of cloth falling off him, showing off his good abs and chest, and making the girls blush. Ansel did not even bother with this. He was in too much of a good mood. He had an intuition: He would see Althea very soon. Chapter 179 - 179: Construction (Part 1) [13 days of Protection Period] Days breezed by in the territory and a lot of changes were witnessed during this time. There were more and more people joining their territory, adding life to an already lively place. They were haggard and devoid of hope when they entered, but without exemption, they would quickly regain vitality¡ªand it was a sight that brought joy to those who watched it. More and more people also grew stronger even if they weren''t fighters, joining the guards in their hunting outside the walls, protecting the territory in their own way. With every step toward strength they took, the belief in protecting their home was ingrained deeper and deeper into their hearts. More and more buildings were erected, promising stability. More and more shops were established, enhancing vitality. Streets became more and more lively as time went on, reassuring people''s hearts despite the uncertain future. Each of these changes added a layer of happiness, pride, and satisfaction to each of its citizens. Slowly but surely¡ªeven with the advent of the protection period looming over them¡ªeveryone felt stable, taking one step at a time with a smile. . . That morning, Althea was prepared to take a walk around the territory with her children to give them their much-needed vitamins and exposure to the outside world. According to her research, healthy exposure to sunlight would also allow the children to have a healthy circadian rhythm and would have better sleep patterns. Exposing them outside also exposed their senses to various stimuli, sounds, and sights¡­ which would be good for their cognitive development. She brought them out wearing enough shade¡ªhats and covers weaved by people in the market¡ªand finally entered the world outside. Like yesterday, it was only the three of them, which was just right and relaxed. As for where the rest of the team was, the adults were busy with a lot of assignments, and polishing the systems of the industries assigned to them. Even the children had their own busy schedules. Maya insisted on being independent and gathering resources. As one of the few children in the territory, Horus similarly refused to be a dead weight as well, helping out his new big sister. On the other hand, Fufi was officially the Mascot of the guard team, while Theodore had found a liking just watching Eugene tinker with his tools like a good baby boy. [PET STATS: Name: Fufi Age: 2 Level: 4 (15680/20000) Life: 1310/2000 Spirit: 1320/2000 Physical: 171 Agility: 176 Defense: 144 Mana: 500 Skills: Active: None Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Earth Titles: None Overall rank: A ] Althea smiled, knowing Fufi was not being lax with his training. She pushed the pretty stroller forward and was met with a couple of admiring words from people around. After they left the more crowded spaces, the family stayed in one of the parks for a while, with the children cooing excitedly. Althea stretched her arms and let the babies have their breath of nature for a while, before taking them to Auntie Mathilda''s older lady friends for babysitting. "Mngmamahh¡­" Little Pepper mumbled seeing that she was heading off. And Little Meatball was not to lose. "Googooogleglrgh¡­" sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Lola and Yana laughed, shaking the babies'' bespoke rattles in front of them. Althea also smiled and gave her babies another set of wet smooches. She looked at the old women who looked at the babies lovingly. "Thank you for this." She said, and the two women shook their heads. "Thank you for trusting us," Lola said, and Yana couldn''t help but add. "Trust us when we tell you this is our favorite part of the day." Althea smiled and thanked them again, giving a few seeds from her space as a reward as she knew about their hobbies. After settling the children, she went to take a look at the status of construction in the territory. After huge amounts of investment, it was finally the last leg of this construction phase (for this level, anyway). The 10 new factories were done. And now, the construction team was focusing on building the perpendicular commercial street, thereby named Market Street. Market Street was a kilometer-long street about six meters wide, designed only for pedestrian access. It was lined with small trees and benches in the middle, dividing it into two wide lanes. The shops here were set to sell and/or rent for about 30% more expensive than the commercial street along the main avenues because of the inevitably higher foot traffic. This was especially true for the shops on the intersection, set to be twice as expensive as the original stores. Obviously, these shops would be empty for a while but it wouldn''t take long. She had long heard of the demand for stores. These would definitely be swept off within the day, though the renovation should last a little longer. She also bought off one corner shop. She was not sure what she''d use it for, but it was too good a location not to use herself. At the two ends of this street were small parks, complete with various trees and flowers, as well as a playground set made by the Woodworkers. Adjacent to the parks would be large buildings ten times the size of the usual unit in floor area. Three were set per end, and she reserved two on one side for her supermarket. These were all quite large developments and were not for sale. They could only be leased every year. There was also a territory-owned inn on each end, aiming to target the middle-class market. As for the super luxurious hotels¡­ that was a thing for later. Having the current development was luxury enough. Other things could wait for when rich aborigines like Oslo arrived, whenever that might be. She arrived at the end and watched the construction ongoing. She had already built the streets with modular units, and now only a few buildings that were being manually constructed were left. Her supermarket was already in the finishing phase, while the adjacent ones were already topping off. Overall, this was technically overdevelopment, but she didn''t want the area to look empty when it already had a designation. More importantly, she believed in her territory. It wouldn''t take long for the development to catch up. It was both intuition and her pride. Chapter 180 - 180: Construction (Part 2) As for how so much construction was done in such a short time, a lot of it had to do with manpower. If Baron and her team hired about a combined fifth of the total population, then the construction team hired by the territory took another. Over half of the abled men and women in the territory worked in the construction team. Basically, except for the guards who was always hunting outside for at least half a day, everyone had a ''day job'' and were otherwise training in their free time (which was required for hired hands anyway). This was fortunate because she really didn''t think too deeply about this aspect. There was no way, other than the required hunting time and the overall levels, she really didn''t think much about the strength of the people and left it all to Drake and Rowan. As long as the walls were ready to defend whatever happened, she put this issue to the back of her mind. It wasn''t her specialty and to be frank she didn''t have much interest in it. She was extremely lucky to have sincere people in the field working for her. Of course, her ideal was still her husband taking the helm. In that case, then she''d really have nothing to worry about. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, a lot of these people chose construction because it also trained their physiques. It was also because of this that the territory changed so much in just a few days. Of course, this was not without the help of magic, and a lot of funds from her own pocket. "Brother Oslo that''s soo cool!!!" Speak of the devil¡ªshe turned her head to see Oslo using his earth magic to lift the stones on the ground, serving as a crane to take materials up. Oslo was a rare dual elementalist. Back then, when she saw the NPCs so shocked, she was a bit startled because she didn''t know it was that rare. "You are a dual elementalist?!" The usually-cool Rowan exclaimed. He happened to be there because he was making rounds. "Is it so rare?" Althea asked, walking next to him. "Mil¨C" Rowan stopped himself, "Yes, Ms. Althea! Not even 1 out of 100 elementalists have dual elements." Althea looked awkwardly at her three elements in her Stats. She decided not to tell what her stats were until she knew more about it. In any case, the Elementalists had definitely assisted in the fast development of the territory, and they proved themselves to be quite the value-for-money. She hoped there would be more elementalist popping up in her options, but she somehow doubted it. If they were really as rare as Rowan said, they were unlikely to show up in her little village. It could be said she struck gold to have encountered Oslo and Rowan. And so early, too. She watched the construction of the supermarket in a daze because of this, only to be pulled to the present some time later by a familiar voice. She turned her head to meet the chubby face with the name of Baron. "You got the building before me again¡­" He said. "You came in a close second." She said with a smile. "You are really updated." Indeed, she was really surprised by this guy''s news channel. She was the lord so, obviously, she got first pick. But this guy was already waiting in the village center just as she posted the opening. Baron was a bit smug, "A businessman''s intuition," was all he said. "Well, fortunately, my building will be finished tomorrow. The lease for that is no joke." Althea smiled. He was referring to the building on the other end of Market Street, directly opposite to her supermarket. He took the entire corner. "I''m sure it''d be a good investment." "Yep, that''s for sure~" The two chatted for a while¡ªmostly business-related¡ªbefore Althea excused herself, aiming to take a look at the other projects. She walked to the other side where the streets were still under construction. The utility systems had been embedded underground, and soon small lakes and Wells (dug so quickly thanks to Oslo) would be easily accessible to every block. The utilities were almost completely developed along the roads, under the green islands. She had built some aqueducts as well, for areas near the mountains to gather water from the springs easily. The NPCs had never stopped marveling about the concept of bringing water straight to the houses. Although technically, it hadn''t been done yet, it was such common sense to all the Terrans that they couldn''t help but believe its doability as well. Of course, they added some controlling mechanisms that maintained the previous pricing for utilities. They didn''t increase the rates though, which was something celebrated by the people. Similarly, waste management was also settled. Except for system food-based buildings, other buildings didn''t have self-cleaning functions. Because she didn''t purchase any food buildings, this meant every building had to have its own waste management. Fortunately, the materials here were mostly natural, so the waste management wasn''t a particularly big headache to deal with. This was also a new thing to the NPCs. The world here, apparently, was very much like the medieval period in their world, where there was no such thing as waste management. In slums, people even directly defacated on the streets. She cringed. For the next phase, she was pondering whether to build police stations, fire stations, and other necessary public buildings. As the population grew, these would be essential. At least in their minds, as they grew up with these benefits. As the wise men said, it was easy to shift from poverty to luxury, but not the other way around. The school and library would be deferred not only because of the paper issue but also because there were less than a dozen minors in the territory, most of whom were over ten and were already helping out their families. She also built a few more fields and factories. One was a permanent kiln, which would be necessary with the increasing population and needs. They had already figured out a way to handle the temperature needed by ceramic and porcelain. When these were done more efficiently, she expected most houses to regain their porcelain water closets and tubs. Of course, she didn''t forget about the cloth factory. Although linen was a long shot, they really found cotton seeds. Interestingly, it wasn''t in the hotel duvet that they found it. After all, five-star hotel duvets had undergone a lot of quality checks. Instead, they found the seeds inside the cotton down jackets from the supermarket back in Terran, which happened to be stored in Fufi''s space. Hey, a little hero indeed. Unfortunately, they weren''t much, so she had to do a lot of treatment to speed up its growth and development. Fortunately, she had Gru, who was familiar with the growing conditions of the plant, helping her out this time. It had been a few days, but sprouts had already formed and they would eventually be looking forward at the shrubs. The other factory of hers would be dealing with the long-awaited Waul tree products like rosin and (hopefully) rubber. Of course, she''d need to transplant several of said trees back into the territory. Oh, and she also needed to bring home those Haozen berry shrubs and Juli trees and plants, which were essential for her Sprite solution! She smiled at the list of ''assignments''. Why? Because she finally had the excuse to go out again! Chapter 181 - 181: Out of the Territory When Drake and the others saw Althea outside the Southwest gate alone¡ªin full gear, no less¡ªthey were taken back. What was this beautiful woman who had just given birth doing outside the walls? Fufi, on the other hand, was just happy and running around her in excitement. Adventure! Adventure!! Althea chuckled and patted the good boy''s head as she sensed his thoughts. "Wanna come with me?" Fufi''s smiling head bobbed, telling her of his approval. It just made her laugh. Not far, the team of guards couldn''t help but watch the beautiful scenery that she made for a while. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Drake was the first to approach the woman, blushing a bit. He still hadn''t overcome his fear of beautiful women, but thanks to the patient perseverance of his many suitors, he was getting better. "Ms. Althea! Where are you going?" "Exploring for some plants," She said with a smile. Drake turned to the deep forest beyond and frowned. "You can just tell us and we¡ª" "Nono, I need to do it myself. You probably don''t know this but I have appraisal skills. if it were others, they may just die of poison." "But¡ª" "This is an order from a village elder." Drake stared at her in conflict, before sighing. "Well, then at least let a few of us escort you." He said, looking back at his team who naturally had no complaints. Drake nodded in approval before turning to Althea with a smile. "After all, what kind of guard team are we if we can''t even protect an Elder." ¡­ In the end, fifteen people were tasked to accompany her, while the rest kept the guard duty in their area. This included Drake, Fufi, and the Hugo uncle-and-nephew duo. "I''m surprised you actually entered the guards'' team." She said and the duo gave a shy smile. "We had wanted to form our own force at first and be our own boss, but¡­" The handsome Hugo chuckled and finished the sentences for his nephew. "The territory charmed us." Indeed. The territory was so good. How could they not love it? And also¡­ how could they say they were also heavily inspired by the beautiful image of a lone pregnant woman defending a gate by herself? After all, such a good territory was guarded so tightly by so many people who had only stayed there for a few days¡ªand this was including a pregnant woman¡­ Inexplicably, they wanted to join them, too. With a good atmosphere, the small group headed in a specific direction. The guards looked curiously at the compass in her hand. One of the guards was a little older and looked nostalgic. "It''s been a while since I''ve seen an old compass." He said, using that old man''s tone of his. "My father used to take me to the mountains near our village. "Then you must be rich to have a forest near your home." Another one said. Half of their Terran planet was dead due to the overuse of the previous generations. Unlike before, in their generation, ''living near the forest'' actually meant a luxury trip. The man rolled his eyes. "I''m telling a story here, alright?" The friend laughed. "Alright, continue." Similar conversations echoed around the group. Obviously, even when they were guards and trained, Drake and Rowan adopted a relatively lighthearted handling where the soldiers could freely chat as they wanted. Of course, this was in the condition that they remained vigilant at all times. They could chat, but their attention and senses must always be directed outwards. This half-listening attitude also caused some tangents in the conversations which was also amusing to listen to. For example, a guard would ask his friend what he ate for breakfast and in response, the friend would answer he woke up early to exercise. There was also a case where someone was singing, but someone sincerely thought there was a monster croaking. It was quite funny. Anyway, as they walked, Althea occasionally taught them which plants would be useful to them, as well as their emergency handling, while gathering some for her own use. For example, she taught them which herb could hasten blood clotting. For example, which plants would be filling when eaten even with the most basic preparation methods. And, for example, she also taught them which plants were poisonous. In the same vein, she taught them which partner plant was needed as an antidote. Of course, all this knowledge was all basic and couldn''t be compared to the professionals handling them, but the knowledge could definitely save lives. The guards knew this and they listened thoroughly, admiring this beautiful woman even more in their hearts. They watched as she found a particularly interesting plant and asked them to rest. Hugo looked at her smiling face filled with passion. It was obviously a topic she liked very much. "An admirable genius." He said could not help adding to himself. "Her husband¡­ is a lucky man." "He is," Drake answered beside him, surprising both Hugo and Helios. "You know him?" "We were soldiers together," Drake said but didn''t elaborate. Hugo wanted to ask more until they heard a small flop nearby them. To their surprise, it was made by the woman as she took out a machine from her space. "This is my portable lab, Tori." She said with a happy face, taking some specimens and tinkering with it. There was also a notebook and pen on hand ready to record the changes. She was very eager and like a little girl, very much unlike the goddess of war in his first impression. Hugo, in particular, found it extremely cute. Drake also smiled, though for a very different reason. Years ago, more than once, he remembered Garan''s monologue about occasionally feeling jealous of a ''Tori''. Their indifferent captain, when a little drunk, droned on about how his wife sometimes only had Tori in her eyes, how Tori took all her time¡­ He had always thought it was a pet or something. Only now did he know what it was. He shook his head in amusement at the memory, before regaining his serious face and ordered the soldiers to set up a temporary camp for lunch. Hence, while Althea did her experiments, the soldiers set up a campfire for a barbeque. Using the special barbeque sauce from her Gaea grocery store, of course. As they prepared the meal, their stomachs started growling. Sadly, until after they ate the beautiful elder was still immersed with her notes. "Should we tell her?" One soldier asked. "Wouldn''t that be very rude?" Another soldier added worriedly. Drake, on the other hand, had heard about Althea''s bouts. If they didn''t disturb her now, they might as well prepare for dinner. However, before he could say anything. Althea had already straightened her back and ran to them, raising an elongated tubelike leaf in front of his face. "We have it now!" She exclaimed, bright like a child. "Salt!!" Chapter 182 - 182: Unexpected Rescue Hearing her words, Drake''s eyes sparkled a bit, but his expression did not betray. Everyone''s rapt attention was on them while Rowan was just a bit puzzled, but also quite curious about what they were talking about. But as Drake looked closer, he saw that it was just a plant, the flute plant, which was the local equivalent of wheat. He looked at Althea in puzzlement, and she put it closer to his eyes. "Not the plant, look closer! The powder!" "I traced a huge amount of salt here. She said, taking it away before Drake could actually see the alleged powder. "There must be a source nearby!" Without listening to other people''s opinions, she began to go in a direction as soon as she cleared up. Along the way she pulled out random plants for testing, checking if they any had traces of salt. It took a while but they patiently followed the traces and really seemed to be finding something. At least according to the Elder''s increasingly excited expressions. Soon, the green forest opened up to a clearing with a cave filled with multicolored satin stones, and they couldn''t believe their eyes. It was a glistening wonder of different shades sculpted through centuries, making their eyes shine. And then there was the faint scent of minerals whiffing through their noses, exciting their bodies. It was definitely a salt mine. And it was huge. "Oh gosh." The soldiers brightened and Althea clapped her hands. Althea immediately went there to test the items with her gloves. When she confirmed that it was, indeed, salt, everyone cheered like they just won the lottery. So far they''ve been using fruit and other plants to deal with their needs for salt, but it was really not enough. Their river was a freshwater source so they couldn''t get salt there at all. Now it was here! In such an unexpected place!! S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea quickly taught them how to gather the items. Although most of them didn''t carry chisels and hammers, their weapons were good enough alternatives, especially since they wouldn''t be able to harvest everything anyway. Everyone took as much as their spaces and backpacks could carry, with Althea warning them that the rock salts had to be purified first before consumption. Althea looked wistfully at the amount of rock salts in front of her that she couldn''t take. If only they had more space¡­ Regretfully, she could only mark this place. In any case, they finished eating lunch on-site and continued on their way to the actual target of the excursion. After walking a couple of hours, they eventually reached an area of predominantly tall trees, mostly coniferous. She took out her tools to harvest some fruit and sap again, placing some in her space, and some to her backpack. "Let me carry it for you, Ms. Althea." Hugo offered and she accepted his kindness with a smile. She then placed a tag on the location of the Waul tree area, to post uprooting missions through the Village Center. Tagging was another function of the map, and the transfer of data was taught to them by the NPCs. With tagging, people could mark places on their maps. They could send these coordinates for whatever function they needed, and whoever received this tag would have an additional area on their maps, even if they hadn''t been there yet. Of course, like everything, this came at the cost of a couple of silvers-per-transfer. "It''s done." She said with a smile. "Let''s go! "I''ll treat you to our Gaea restaurant when we get home." She added and the guards cheered, sycophantically adding ''The Elder is good, the elder is great'' making her laugh out loud. On their way home, they used a slightly different pathway to maximize their trip. Because of this, Althea had managed to harvest a few more plants and the guards learned more before the trip was over. However, during one of their stops, Fufi suddenly stopped and growled, facing a direction. Althea frowned and her ears moved, sharpening her hearing. They stood up to follow the distant noise and soon the sounds became clearer and clearer, and their frowns getting deeper and deeper in response. A few hundred meters away, some sort of scuffle was ongoing, an ominous combination of growls and screams echoing to their ears. They looked at each other, and they quickly ran in the direction. ¡­. "Pay attention!" Ansel yelled, killing the small mob of monsters, saving Luke from death. Since Leo was gravely injured, Luke had gone berserk. "Get yourself together!" He yelled before attacking another level 2 monster. He looked back to see a few people getting mauled but he couldn''t care for them now, as he was too busy protecting himself. In addition to their small group before, they now totaled to a hundred people. They encountered another group of people¡ªover a hundred of them¡ªthat had settled in a complicated cave system they encountered by chance. They''ve been here for a few days, escaping from another village that was just taken down by a beast tide. It was fine at first¡ªeven a little happy to find more brethren¡ªbut they realized the beast tide wasn''t actually over yet and¡­ it was still clearing in their direction. Even if Ansel was already at the peak of level 3, facing a sea of monsters had taken a toll. To be blunt and exact, he was on the verge of dying. "GYAAAHHH!" Someone beside him yelled as his arm was bitten off. Right next to him was a woman, and she was dragged by a smaller monster deeper into the mob. "HELP ME!!!" She yelled, and those were the last words she would utter as she drowned in the sea of beasts, each body part ripped apart for consumption of different monsters. This was happening all around him. He watched as the hundreds of people lost a portion with a heavy heart but he gritted his teeth and fought on. He also watched his life and spirit starting to drain¡­ and yet there was no end in sight in the sea of beasts. Worse, somewhere along the way, he tripped over a corpse and slightly lost balance. He managed to stop himself from falling head-on, but the moment he lifted his head, he saw a massive mouth with sharp teeth aiming to glomp at his face. His heart dropped to the ground as he saw his impending death in front of him. Ansel was not reconciled. He hadn''t even seen Althea (and Garan) yet¡ª Whoosh His eyes saw an accurate arrow enter the monster''s mouth, and exited through its skull. He wasn''t even able to absorb what happened when ten more monsters around him were taken down in a similar manner, creating a vacuum of safety around him. He stiffly turned his head in the direction of the shooter, and his eyes met her beautiful emerald ones. Ansel immediately burst into tears. Chapter 183 - 183: Sibling Reunion (Part 1) Aberdeen city, 16 years prior Ansel felt his head spinning as he was carried away like a dirty potato sack by the teenage boy who rescued them. On the other hand, the little girl was comfortably carried on his arm, her arms intimately wrapped around the older boy''s neck. She was safe, protected, and very comfortable with one of the teen''s hands making sure she didn''t get hit by stray twigs. Ansel in contrast was very different. There was even an occasional branch that hit his face. The distinction was very stark. "Garan¡­" he could hear the girl sob. "Are you okay?" She asked, a milky voice filled with worry. Ansel couldn''t see the teen''s reaction though as his line of sight was on the ground the whole time. As they ran, the boy responded with a simple "Hmm." And then they enter the denser forest and his pace quickened so they could get away from the kidnappers as soon as possible. Ansel was already feeling nauseous from the previous pace, but now he got even dizzier as the boy ran quickly across the woods. Blop, blop, blop The surroundings were shaking so much, it was like his brain was jiggling. Blop, blop, blop Eventually, he couldn''t handle it anymore and¡­ he lost consciousness. . . When he woke up, he saw the worried faces of his parents. Immediately, all the wrongs of the world popped like a balloon. "Mom¡­ dad¡­" he squeaked, a pool of tears quickly lining up his eyes. All the tension and suffering seemed to overflow with his tears and he started sobbing. Mother looked heartbroken and immediately approached him, placing him in her warm embrace. He was not good with words and he didn''t like using them, so he expressed his sadness with sobs. It took him a while to calm down and he finally looked around, little eyebrows furrowing when he wasn''t able to see what he was expecting to see. Mother held back a smile. "Are you looking for your new friends?" He nodded cutely. Mother suppressed a smile and turned to Father. His father gave a knowing smile in return and went out the door. Several minutes later, he re-entered with two beautiful children on each side. There was the girl from before even cuter all cleaned up and with her hair tied in twin pigtails. Just looking at her comforted him very much. The teen was even scarier (and cooler) although he was covered with a lot of bandages all over his body. He couldn''t tell at all he was injured by how he carried both of them. Inexplicably, he looked cooler in Ansel''s eyes. Anyway, the little redhead''s eyes were wide as he stared at them, feeling extremely elated to see them. He felt his mother pat his small head."This is your new sister and brother." She said, smiling, and Ansel''s green eyes went wide in shock. Mother laughed and gently pinched his cheek, guiding him off the bed and pulling him closer to the two older kids. "Don''t you want to greet them?" _______ Present. "ALTHEAAA!!!" He yelled but, unfortunately, there were too many monsters between them. It was those ugly blue frogs as tall as his waist that were in the dozens, the metaphorical gorges between him and Althea. With renewed energy, he went ahead and swung his sword, using his skills as much as he could. [Killed Juju Frog (Lvl 2): +50 Experience, +50 Copper!] [Killed Juju Frog (Lvl 1): +30 Experience, +30 Copper!] [Killed Juju Frog (Lvl 1): +30 Experience, +30 Copper!] [Killed Juju Frog (Lvl 2): +50 Experience, +50 Copper!] [Killed Juju Frog (Lvl 1): +30 Experience, +30 Copper!] As he killed he could see himself getting closer and closer to her, and he had all but ignored his spirit. He started another bout of killing spree, gathering enough experience and finally upgrading. [Congratulations on reaching Level 4!] [Learned! Piercing Strike (E). Consumes -5 Mana!] [STATS: Name: Ansel Witt Age: 23 Level: 4 (230/10000) Life: 265/600 Spirit: 185/600 Physical: 89 Agility: 75 Defense: 54 +1 Mana: 400 Physical Potential: S Mental potential: A+ Skills: Active: Stab (E), Piercing Strike (E) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Fire Titles: None Overall rank: A Current Status: Normal ] This upgrade increased his efficiency effectively and he slowly killed his way to get closer to Althea, the team he was with closely following the path he made, similarly killing their way through. Soon they were only a couple of meters away and he noticed that the people Althea brought with her were extremely strong. Each one seemed to be at least his level before upgrading. Those who were focused on close-ranged fights were fast and valiant, while those with arrows were quite accurate in the hits. They were also protected by swords and spearmen and they could hit away without worry. There were several hundreds of monsters they had to work with, but this team didn''t look like they would ever be in danger. It was amazing and his heart couldn''t help but lift up in awe and relief. He was particularly impressed with those two tanned men with similar looks. One had a spear and the other had a sword. Their teamwork was impeccable. They didn''t even have to turn around to see how the other dealt with the enemy, yet they could somehow add to the attack effectively. For instance, one would slash a few Level 1 Gnomos along his feet, and the other would stab the ones behind with his spear. Like this, they created a vacuum of safety around them. They were very handsome and cool, moving with smooth movements, though their techniques seemed different from those of the veterans he had seen. Speaking of Veterans, he couldn''t help but look at the dashing short-haired man similarly waving his sword. Unlike most though, he had a wooden shield with him, which he used to push enemies just before beheading them. Some old buried memory as a young teen being thrown in obstacle course after obstacle course came to mind and, unconsciously, his eye twitched. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Drake?!" Chapter 184 - 184: Sibling Reunion (Part 2) "Drake?!" Ansel yelled, seeing a familiar figure also valiantly dealing with the mob. When Garan ''smuggled'' him into the special forces training grounds, Drake was one of the people he was thrown to. The guy''s training was very harsh and his entire body would be dead tired by nighttime. Later, Ansel found it was because he looked too feminine and Drake happened to have a great (emphasis: great) weakness against ''beautiful women''. Ansel was offended at first, but then he learned to take advantage of that by acting like a sissy, and Drake couldn''t wait to escape from him¡ªsuccessfully lightening up his load. Hehe. He was a genius even at that age. It had already been a few years though, he heard that Drake had already retired. The man raised an eyebrow looking him up and down as he slashed, giving him a nod in the end. This was all done as he got rid of several monsters using his weapon. Was that a nod of approval? Did he finally look masculine? Ansel also noticed a couple of people around Althea, protecting her. Some of which were in-charge of long-range attacks. There were not only close-range fighters, but there were also archers with a special bow. "Are those crossbows?" He asked no one in particular. Was this available in any weapons store he had been to? Didn''t seem like it? He also couldn''t help but notice their states. Everyone looked so¡­ stable. It was in stark contrast with the haggardness and panic on their side¡­ which was the normal bearing through all the territories they''d been to so far. Why did it feel¡­ so different from what he''d encountered? Then, a wall of fire appeared in front killing a handful of monsters in one go. "What the heck!!" "Magic?!" "Whoa! Awesome!" Despite being grossly outnumbered, the fights became increasingly easy from this point. Anyway, seeing the newcomers deal with the monsters so well¡ªsomeone could even make a fire whip!¡ª injected stimulants to their side. Their group of nearly a hundred people fought hard for their lives, hope revitalising their lackluster energies, and there were no more deaths after that. Eventually, the mob thinned, and the miserable group noticed there were no more monsters attacking. "We did it!!" "Yes!" They cheered, while some groveled on the ground, some due to extreme joy and some due to sadness for those they lost. "If only you got here sooner, my daughter¡ª" she sobbed, hitting the nearby guard. However, the guard did not do anything and let her vent. Of course, most people were just thankful and gave the guards a hug. On the other side, Ansel was finally within a few meters of Althea. The woman smiled and opened her arms, welcoming him. His feet moved on their own and he went to her without another thought. When he entered her embrace and felt her warmth, his tear ducts that had been pouring since he saw her seemed to have a renewed water source and snot also came out. Althea was not disgusted. Instead, she laughed and good-naturedly rubbed his back. "Still a kid. Crying so miserably." The people who had been used to Ansel''s cool and collected image were taken aback by the sight. Althea raised her head and finally noticed this group, and then she saw their miserable appearance. She patted Ansel''s back. "Let''s deal with your friends'' wounds first." Ansel finally remembered he was with a party and quickly swiped his snot with his back to them. When he turned around, he was all cool again. If they couldn''t see his reddish eyes and nose, they''d have thought everything was a hallucination. Ansel watched as Althea dealt with the injured using copious amounts of potions and herbs. As his eyes followed her body, his heart was full. He knew he had somewhat ambiguous emotions towards Althea. It was no longer platonic but at the same time not entirely sexual. The process of this realization had hit his worldview very deeply, to the point that he started dating around to see the difference. However, he never acted on it. He knew the dynamics of their relationships would be ruined if he did so. Althea being awkward with him would''ve been the greatest torture. Ansel always knew that there were plenty of things where one choice changed everything. Just like when they were children, had he not gotten out of hiding when Althea was in danger, they wouldn''t even be acquaintances now. In any case, Ansel had felt an unprecedented sense of peace with Althea now only a few meters away from him. He barely noticed his injuries until Althea went to treat them. "Here, drink this." She said and he looked at the ceramic bottle (did she take this from Terran?) in interest, before drinking its contents. Just like this, his spirit improved fully. "This is amazing!" He exclaimed and Althea smiled, but she then went to treat his friends so he couldn''t ask any more questions. Half an hour later, everyone was administered first aid, including Leo who was rescued from certain future disability. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was amazing, how quickly his blood clotted. There was no medicine building in their past territories, but it seemed that Althea''s had, and the effect was very good. Even certain disability was dealt with ease. Disability¡­ It was only now that he remembered: wasn''t she pregnant? What was she doing with a flat stomach?! His heart dropped. Ansel immediately walked to Althea and held her shoulders, eyes staying worriedly at her stomach. Althea blinked, startled, but soon realized what this was about and gently patted his hand. "They''re fine. They are at home." "Premature birth?" He voiced out, heartbroken. How much had she suffered when he was away? Althea shook her head. "It''s a long story." She just said, "I''ll tell you when we get home." And so, the group of over a dozen expanded to hundreds. What''s more, the battles were easy and a lot of people relaxed enough to chat. One of these was Ansel and the duo, primarily because Althea was busy discussing with the cool Fire Magic guy what to do with so many of them. "You could really fight! What style is that?" "It''s a family legacy," Helios said with a grin, looking at the other man next to him. "I still have a lot to learn compared to my uncle." Ansel realized what he meant and gaped, "You''re actually uncle and nephews? I thought you were brothers!" "Well, the age gap between my dad and uncle was huge." He said, "Dad practically raised us both side by side." Ansel nodded, very interested, but his head brewing some other¡ªunimportant¡ªthoughts. The older one was about Garan''s age, and the younger one was closer to him. He smirked. Hey, he thought maliciously, should he start calling Garan ''uncle''? Chapter 185 - 185: Preparing the Base ''Uncle'' Garan was irritated for some reason. He frowned, narrowing his eyes as he stared in a particular direction. "It feels like someone is scheming against me." Gill raised an eyebrow and looked around, puzzled. But¡­ they haven''t done anything yet? Gill shrugged in the end and handed Garan a piece of parchment from his space. "It''s here." Garan''s azure eyes stayed on the piece of parchment before extending his hand. His rough fingers traced the symbols on the surface, and his sharp eyes studying every detail as if it was already built. It was a plan for their training ground, commissioned for a very very high price from a Class-D Architect in the town. As of this morning, it was already halfway through construction. Gill was asking him to check before finalization, because any addition to the construction must be instructed now. Garan studied the drawing well in case they missed anything. He did make some minor improvements, but they didn''t change the structure itself too much. The entire property was surrounded by stone walls, akin to level 2 walls from the territories. It was divided into a few sections with varying sizes. First, there was a central courtyard for main activities, obstacles courses, and drills. This area occupied nearly half of the entire lot. Next to these, was an archery range, a wooded area for combat training, and some amenities. In fact, a lot of this would have costly amenities. For instance, they added verandas, gazebos, and gardens. There were a lot of new plants in this place. His wife said that beauty improved people''s spirituality. Garan believed she was correct so he invested in this as well. More importantly, he wanted his wife to live well here when he found her. If she had a stable environment, Althea would definitely swim like a fish in the ocean in this place with new species to study. She would also love to have her own gardens to transplant these species so she could study them more closely. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. That said, he needed to prepare a greenhouse for her as well, in case the weather turned dour and her plants could get destroyed. Seeing her sad would break his heart, so he ought to be proactive. "After everything, ask if there''s someone who can make greenhouses as well." He said, checking his budget and nodded when he confirmed he should still have enough. Garan had used another sauce formula to make a deal with Jonathan, the lord of Ferrol Town to ensure the finances of the team. In exchange for 95% of the shares, they also got themselves a small lot of about an acre near the edge of the territory. They also got a lump sum amount of 300 gold, along with the remaining 2% share of the future proceeds for selling the formula. Garan looked at the plans again and nodded in satisfaction. With the help of Gill and Eagle, he didn''t have to worry too much about this. The two assisted in the design of the land dedicated to Military training to match their old headquarters and training hall, though with larger practice spaces because of their more destructive elements. Most of the land was assigned for training. There were tracks, obstacle courses, and sparring rings. The remaining buildings, except for the amenities he built for his wife, were huddled together on three-storey buildings¡ªthe maximum height that could be built with non-aether buildings. "When will it be completed?" "I paid the construction company at a premium cost. And with Jonathan''s help, the building is expedited. They estimated the remaining work would be completed within two days. "The main residence is ready for occupancy now, by the way." Garan nodded and followed Gill to the newly built edifice. He looked at the residences, making sure they were made very well. Although he was usually a bit stingy, the facilities they added were complete. It would have large canteens with greening, nicely sized rooms for members in supervisory positions and above, as well as comfortable dormitories for others. These would also have decent bathrooms, at least the best that they could get considering the current technology. The entire residential area was overall the best they had seen since they traveled here. And this was actually made with their families in mind. After all, if the life inside the fog was horrible and the territories weren''t good, their families may very well live here with them. This way, the moment they were found, they could immediately provide them with better living conditions. They also planned to hire decent men and women to enter the team, to expand their influence and power. Good living conditions were imperative to keeping talents. All this required a continuous flow of money, but Garan and the others were lucky to have landed in Ferrol. Ferrol Town was known for its production of Houlibeef. The sauce Garan made after a lot of study was perfect for this type of meat, the perfect combination of various plants and fruits. When he got the Life Occupation of Chef about a month prior, he had received a D-level identification skill along with it. It was thanks to this skill that he managed to make the two formulas without poisoning anyone. Anyway, through the partnership, not only Garan but also Ferrol Town made a lot of money. And it had only been a few days. It could be said that in such a short time, they earned a lord of a territory as backing. This was still considering their tense relationship with Guia Village, one of Ferrol Town''s many subsidiary villages. Now that they didn''t have to spend money to buy information, the group finally had a surplus. Most of the team still saved money though, in an attempt to help out their probably-dirt-poor families inside the fog. Garan himself maintained the simple lifestyle from before, saving up money to ensure his wife''s lifestyle. Oh, also Ansel''s, maybe. He frowned and went against it. Ansel was a grown man now, he ought to handle himself well enough by now. As such, all consideration for the little brother was scrapped, and he just double-checked the plans to make sure it was perfect not only for his team but also for his wife. Chapter 186 - 186: Terran Mercenary Team Garan had already made a mental list of the things to buy for his wife. Because he couldn''t do anything productive to get closer to her, doing all these over-compulsive preparations made his soul calm down, giving him the necessary stability to function decently despite the impatience. He heard the cloth from Cloth City was the best. It was the most beautiful and the most colorful. He made a mental note to order several bolts of different colors. He also decided to buy cloth from the two other cities, especially one from Kilpo, in case the so-called extreme weather veered towards the extreme cold. He would also buy a lot of commoner cloth from Makita City, which seemed closer to linen than any others and would be good to make Althea''s everyday clothing. He also needed to find good seamstresses to make the clothing for her. Anyway, Garan was very aware of her size. He made a mental note to ask for different sizes though, as he didn''t know if Althea had lost or gained weight during their time apart¡ªhopefully the latter. Fabric¡ªor the creation of actual clothing¡ªwas in no way inexpensive. On average, decent clothing costs a couple of gold per set. However, Garan knew both services were not easily accessible to villages. Althea would definitely have trouble finding a change of clothing from wherever she was. (At the back of his head, he also wondered where to hire someone to wash clothes for her.) Other than clothing, there were shoes. The products of the best tanner in town was also quite expensive, but he still made a note to order her enough boots and shoes. He would also ask the tanner to make different types of bags, so Althea had a lot of choices depending on her plans and her mood. He also noted to buy tons of parchment and ink for her from the bookstore. She liked to draw her plants and write detailed notes very much. His wife had a good memory, but she found a bit of extra happiness in recording everything in tangible ways. How torturous it must be to see so many alien plants but not be able to record them? There were also no hygienic products here, only water and a plant called Papra which had a minty aftertaste. The practice was to use these to wash, well, everything. Since there were no other options, he decided to buy a few bags of these as well. His wife was a bit of a clean freak like he was. His poor wife must be suffering and uncomfortable, his heart hurt just thinking about it. Sigh. He couldn''t do much for her now but, in a few days, he would get her himself, and give her the best life possible. Then came her other needs which were, to her, sometimes even more important: Her plants. Hence, how could he forget to buy an important thing: Seeds and potions? As big of a variety for both as he could get. At least this time, he wasn''t one-upped by that girl Winona when it came to procuring exotic seeds and materials to gift his own wife. Garan reviewed his personal sources of income. So far he had released one sauce and one condiment, to Ferrol and to Bart, respectively. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A conservative amount of about 200-250 gold a month could be received from dividends alone. He would dedicate about a hundred to the team and its operations. The remaining would be for his personal use. This amount was comforting, and he knew he''d be able to provide a luxurious life for his wife when they met. Furthermore, the team also hunted for a lot of meat, and they had long been able to pay for their own basic expenses. They could exchange the body parts of the monsters for vegetables and fruits they couldn''t get themselves. Most interestingly, Jake and Brandon were receiving royalties for their crossbows, meaning somewhere out there¡­ the designs were being reproduced. They couldn''t help but think¡ªor hope, rather¡ªthat the people using it were Terrans, as well. Unfortunately, during the weekly payout only ''Troy Prud'' and ''Brenda Smith'' showed up, which didn''t give them a lot of clues. In any case, the current model of the team was relatively self-sufficient and could take on a few more members. "Send a hiring notice in the town center. We accept members and soldiers even if they''re not elementalists. If they get accepted, not only will they get a monthly allowance of 5 gold, at the least, but their accommodation and food will be taken care of." Gill, who knew this plan nodded in excitement. [Terran Mercenary Team is hiring fighting force and life occupation professionals. Wage: 5 gold/mo, free meals (3) and accommodation Requirements: Level 10 or above. Pass for 2 rounds of interviews.] This notice created a wave within the territory and within a couple of minutes it was all most people were talking about. "So generous?" Was often asked in disbelief. After all, the average cost of living in towns was about 10 gold per month, and this was mostly for food and shelter. To give 5 whole gold inclusive of food and shelter was very, very, generous. "With this, we can basically save up a few golds every month!" One exclaimed as if he already got the job. There were also many others who were very cynical about the unheard-of name making the announcement. "What is this Terran Team anyway?" "It''s a new team, I think." "I know them. They look professional and their auras are strong, but¡­" he sneered, "There was no one above level 20." Almost everyone who heard made a derisive sound. There were also a lot of questioning voices all around the territory. After all, what could a group of people less than level 20 do? On the contrary, such a weak group¡­ had so many resources. A pitiful group of level 15s could have so much money, get their own land, and live so comfortably while they¡ªseveral levels higher¡ªstill needed to watch their spending! Tsk Such a comfortable life¡ª Do they deserve it? The answer was a resounding NO. This made a lot of sly brains calculate what they could get out of them, already planning how to get some leaks. Unknowingly, in whatever way or form, the Terran Mercenary Team had made a name for itself just a few days after its establishment. As for whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, this was something to be decided with time. In any case, the team was working full-time, trying to prepare as best as they could¡ªin hopes of welcoming their loved ones well. Chapter 187 - 187: Interviews (Part 1) While certain men were inspired and hyped up, a certain tall, plain-looking Aborigine was the opposite. He had a semi-bald head that made his entire face look even more elongated, which was further emphasized by his deep frown. He dragged his feet along the town''s stone pathways, head filled with thoughts of uncertainties. His name was Madon Loo, and he was very depressed. He was now unsure what to do with his life, and he was feeling even a little panicked. A few days ago, he had just been rejected at his final chance in the Chancery of Appointments. He paid a whooping 5 gold for a few slots but no territory took him in. He could understand this in towns because hiring them was not cheap. Further, there were better and more experienced options at that level. He wasn''t even choosy. For his last run, he was even reduced to accepting villages¡­ but¡­ for some mysterious reason he didn''t understand, he was still rejected by the said village! Was that lord blind? Althea-the-blind-lord: "..." He grabbed his very short black hair in stress but heaved a sigh to calm himself. Now that he had to wait another month before he could enter the Chancery of Appointments again, he just trudged his feet to go to the Town Center, hoping there was a job. He didn''t understand. Was it so obvious that he just got the qualifications to be a weapons maker? Obviously, life occupations weren''t very common right? This was the thought that had baffled him for some time as he blankly looked at the announcement board in a daze. It was a board that occupied nearly an entire wall. It was filled with parchment sheets overlapping with parchment sheets. Some were faded, and some were brand new. The most prominent one was a bounty for a man named Zokuro. His eyes twitched just at the sight of his drawing like his eyes were burned. Legend was that he was so ugly because he was part ogre. No one could confirm this, however, as anyone who got close enough to him was all very dead. Then there were also hiring notices for Elementalists¡ªespecially wood Elementalists¡ªwhich had nothing to do with him. Moving further to the better-kept part of the board, he saw an announcement about a rich lady looking for her lost family heirloom. It was allegedly a space stone necklace. Madon shook his head, doubting she''d ever get it back if it really was a space stone, which wasn''t very likely in the first place. There was also a post announcing the location of the Tournament of Valor¡ªa once-a-century event that all cities participate in¡ªwhich was scheduled to be held in five years in the City of Makita. This¡­ also had nothing to do with him. Cities were too far away from him; he couldn''t even get hired by a damned village, he thought bitterly. Then, he saw the announcement of job openings in a mercenary team. It looked like it was just posted and he looked at it curiously, not expecting much. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But his dazed eyes grew big when he absorbed the contents. 5 gold a month? With free food and shelter?! There was such a good thing? One must know that they could only get this amount in the Chancery of Appointments! The organization took a commission of 5 gold every month, so pitiful Level Es like him could only get the remaining half of the amount. Madon looked closely at the owner of the announcement, not knowing what to expect. Terran Mercenary Team? He stared at the announcement for a while longer, nodding to himself, remembering their address by heart. What did he have to lose by trying? ¡­ Later that day, an understandably long line was found in front of the makeshift tent in their new territory. The construction was temporarily stopped so people could only see one completed building, a full fence, and a few edifices under construction. It was quite bustling and very interesting. Amusingly, there were also a number of women, albeit not as interviewees, but as audiences. Who told this group to be so temperamental? Similarly, there were also many men who ogled at Vanessa, who was in charge of note-taking. She enjoyed the stares very much. Too bad the one she wanted to look at her was blind and never even gave her a glance. Garan did not notice the bitter stare at all as he watched over the interview process. Right now, there were only about a handful of candidates that interested him. Although there were a lot with strengths past level 15, it was either their attitudes were too haughty or they were too complacent. Garan did not blame them, however. He was the strongest in this group and he was not even level 20 yet. In a town, this was not enough to lead a mercenary team, especially not one making such noise. But he didn''t feel inferior. Most people here took at least a decade to get to level 20. It took them a few months to get close. With hard work and smarts, Garan believed that his team would catch up with the indigenous people here. With this reassuring thought, his attention returned to the ongoing evaluation. At this time, one of the more interesting applicants was being interviewed, and pretty much every soldier around listened to him with apt attention. "My name is Madon Loo. I am a professional weapons maker." He said, and Brandon, a soldier from the Western continent as well as Jake, straightened up their spines. These two men''s specialty happened to be weapon-making, which was why despite their different nationalities, they were as thick as thieves almost as soon as they landed here. Together, they even patented a crossbow technology and got a C-class shield¡ªsomething now used by Brandon, the Shield wind Elementalist. The two of them also triggered the occupation during its development¡ªgaining great insights into weapons production and having preliminary knowledge about this world''s driving force¡ªAether¡ªand how it was integrated with the weapons they created. Although Madon didn''t notice, the soldiers all brightened at the sight of him. Another Weapons Maker on the team, still an aborigine one which had more worldly common sense than they had, would definitely be a great addition to the team. The two whipped their heads simultaneously to the captain, eyes begging him to give the guy a ticket in. Garan''s lips twitched at the blond and the red-headed quiff-haired men looking at him like they were children. After a pause, he nodded, and the two almost jumped in joy. If Madon knew he was being so appreciated¡­ he would cry. Chapter 188 - 188: Interviews (Part 2) In any case, a weapons maker was definitely a Go for them, and when Garan nodded the two in-house weapon experts relaxed their tense shoulders, looking forward to what they could be learning from this new member of theirs. Other than triggering the occupation, Brandon and Jake already had plenty of designs running around in their heads. It was only lately when they had ready access to parchment did they start drawing. They have been trying to create them, and there had been some success. The weapons maker had a special skill that helped in understanding the connections between components, as well as integrating the life force Aether into their weapons so they could cause decent damage to monsters outside. This was how a simple bow and arrow from a store could cause the same damage as their top-of-the-line Terran gun. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But according to Gaudi, different people likely received different knowledge. Both Brandon and Jake had yet to receive another inheritance and they were definitely eager to peek at one. Maybe, having this guy could help them out! Anyway, having another weapons maker on the team would definitely take the weapons team to another level, not to mention those two could learn more and maybe even receive an inheritance. If they had a special confidentiality contract with this guy, he might even be able to assist in the creation of the bespoke weapons Brandon and Jake designed. "I work very hard and although I have only been promoted to a proper Weaponsmith, I was told by my master that I have the talent to become a B-class weaponsmith someday." The soldiers nodded, internally adding another OK note on this guy''s head. They went through hundreds of applicants and finally settled with 15 people, 4 women and 11 men. The women were in logistics to assist Eagle, some for the canteen and some for the sewing of uniforms and other clothing. They weren''t being sexist, there really were no female warriors at all. The women even received some frowns from many indigenous men because they were getting jobs outside the house. The men, on the other hand, ranged from level 14 to level 21. Garan took in Kleid, the level 21, because he felt the seriousness in him. He did not see haughtiness in him at all, despite his higher level. Satisfied with their list, the group began to pack up, thanking everyone for their participation. "What? You didn''t choose me?" A bulky man yelled, pointing at one of the soldiers, tone acerbic. "I wasn''t chosen either! What a scam!" "You weaklings didn''t hire me because you thought I''d defeat all of you, right?!" The group frowned. It seemed there would always be officious people doing unnecessary things for a sense of existence. "We chose them because they would contribute to the team, rather than make it chaotic." It was Garan who stepped out, his low baritone voice echoed across the vicinity. "You are proving our decision was right." The men flinched a bit, intimidated by his aura. Then he remembered his level, which was a couple of levels lower than theirs, and they regained confidence. "Pfff¡ªsays the weakling. If you''re so amazing, why don''t you¡ª" He was not able to finish his sentence and he saw a large palm over his head. He felt his body losing footing and he was pulled down to the ground, the back of his head hitting the ground with a bang. Ferrol Town was one of those towns that did not prohibit fighting, as long as there would be no damage to other people''s property and killing, fights not exceeding five minutes were allowed. The two men were shocked by the sudden attack and Garan quickly turned his center of gravity. He twisted his strong upper body and kicked the other one in the direction of the third. The impact was strong enough to push the third man and lose his footing. He walked towards the imbalanced men, raised his leg, and sent them an ax kick, throwing them face down the dirty soil on his feet. This all happened in the span of ten seconds. . . "What¡ª" "F¡­ what happened?" One asked, twitching as he felt his stomach crunch in pain. The trio eventually gathered their senses and went on the defensive, but they realized that the enemy team had already surrounded them, making them pause any further movements. They looked at them in disbelief, "This... this doesn''t make any sense!" He yelled. How could he be beaten by someone 3 levels lower than him!? The other soldiers continued to block their sight, staring down at them, waiting for them to make a move. None of them did. Even if they were taken by surprise, they were still taken down by a man a few levels lower. All three of them. How could they deal with the remaining dozen? The men frowned and looked at each other bitterly, red in embarrassment and anger. However, still feeling the pain in their bodies, they didn''t have the face to stay. They went away and soon left the sights of the crowd. There was silence in the crowd, who were absorbing what they had just seen. Garan saw this and nodded, standing upright in front of the crowd. "As you can see, with us, you can grow stronger beyond your level." His words echoed in the hearts of many, especially those who were already taken in. Strength: The key to survival in this chaotic world. And this team was not only paying them a generous salary, they were also willing to teach them how to get stronger. Was that really possible? A little too good to be true, right? No matter what they thought, Garan remained still and poised, looking at the audience in the eyes. "In the next few days, after our small complex is completed, we will also start hiring again. Please look forward to it." He said, before turning away without another word. However, these words were enough to spark deeper curiosity among the indigenous people. Lord Jonathan, who was watching in interest not too far away, couldn''t help but chuckle a bit. Good guy, he even used the commotion as an advertisement. Chapter 189 - 189: Aborigine Fangirls Ferrol Town. Garan, Gill, and the others went in, leaving the members assigned with public relations (i.e. social butterflies) like Luis and Sammy to answer the questions. Anyway, now that the scary men were gone, a lot of people came closer to satisfy their curiosity. Most prominently, people asked when the next batch of interviews would be. There was no way. Not only were the conditions and benefits extremely attractive, but they could also learn to be stronger than others! Maybe they''d even be able to beat people beyond their level! How amazing was that? It used to be something inconceivable¡ªbut they just saw it with their own eyes! Still one-against-three!! "Would you really teach us your techniques? How much would you charge us?!" An eager middle-aged man and Luis smiled amicably in response. "There would be no charges, but the skills taught would depend on specialty and position." He said, "Of course you''ll have to sign a bond with us in the Town Center, tying you to us for a couple of years." The people nodded, as this was common practice amongst commercial and mercenary teams investing in their people. And because they would be invested in, they also asked, "Do we get equipment?" "Yes, but the level would depend on your contribution and potential." He said, "If you make enough contributions, you may even get exclusive equipment not available in the Weapons store!" He wasn''t lying. Their own weapons makers were both very innovative and hardworking. Then there was a young lad looking at him curiously. They seemed to be around the same age. "This was the first time I''ve heard of you though, how come?" "We''re new, just established a few days ago," This time, it was Sammy who answered. What he received were quite a few disbelieving stares. "What?" Sammy was unfazed though. "The lord of the territory became our business partner and we got some land in return." "Really? That''s impressive¡­" "Well, our boss is amazing." He said, "You may not know this but our boss is the Inventor of ''Ferrol Beef Sauce'' and ''Rolan Magic Sauce''! If you join our team, then your food will have it!" This incited a lot of excited murmurs, and you could see the remaining inkling of doubts swept away. "Wow¡­" "Wow¡­" Sure enough, good food fixed everything. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Similar questions popped up and Luis and the others patiently answered them all. "Do you have Elementalists?" One asked, breaking the plethora of inquiries asked at once. Silence ensued and they stared at Luis, waiting for his answer. Although they didn''t think he''d answer the affirmative, they were curious if this group would surprise them again. Luis almost said the truth but didn''t in the end, primarily because it was too unbelievable. People might just think that he was lying. So, instead of answering, he simply raised a palm and willed the fire elements around him. Soon a small fireball formed floating an inch above his finger, its light making the people''s eyes bright. It was only as big as a tennis ball, but at least it wasn''t the tiny spark from before. This was enough to impress everyone though, and they looked at him in awe¡ªmaking him feel a bit smug. In a particularly good mood, he smiled at them. "Do you believe me when I say that we do?" "Yes, sir, thank you for answering!" They got an Elementalist answering questions! What an honor! In any case, the crowd wouldn''t clear up until many minutes later, appearing quite interested in what they had to offer. It could be said that the ''advertisement'' was very successful, and their name resounded throughout the territory, just as they wanted. ¡­ That night, under the illumination of the torches, the commotion finally died down, and the team underwent their usual night training inside the fence. It was supposed to be as per their usual routine of training, with them focusing at least two hours before sleeping honing their physiques. However, tonight, other than the team members, there were also some audiences that were unfortunately allowed to watch. It was all thanks to her very close connection with the lord, that they had the ''honor'' of having his cousin here as an audience. Cassandra looked at the man running uniformly with his men, purple eyes warm and loving. "So charming¡­" She said, her eyes wondering from Gill''s handsome face to the well-built body that the long-sleeved shirt could not contain. It didn''t help that the sweat allowed his lines to show. Cassandra was almost drooling. Fortunately, she was raised as a lady, and all this happened in her head. "Well, he''s definitely better than that oily ex of yours." Her friend Veronica, who had shamelessly tagged along on this trip, commented beside her. Cassandra rolled her pretty purple eyes. "Oslo is not counted!" She shivered just by thinking of their kiss. They should''ve just stayed friends! "Gill is definitely my first love!" "Yes, yes, whatever." The other girl said, her eyes landing on the handsome man with golden hair and blue eyes who was running with a different team from Gill. "Brandon is also very good." She said, eyes softening. "How handsome¡­" In fact, Garan was the first one to catch her attention¡ªas would be the case with anyone¡ªbut she hadn''t even entered within two meters of him and she could already feel the entire vicinity freeze. It was very scary. Although she loved beautiful men, she loved her life even more. And at the moment of ''life-and-death'', Brandon appeared like the light in the darkness, the sweetness amongst the bitterness. Veronica fell in love at first sight. Although it happened often with her, she had a feeling this one would last a long, long, time¡­ "Oh my, how charming!" Veronica was pulled back to the present when Cassie pulled her skin. "Ouch!" She said, glaring at the other girl, but her peripheral vision caught sight of her future-husband and she forgot to argue. They were sparring now, and it happened that Gill was sparring with Brandon. They just fell in love even more. Chapter 190 - 190: Sparring At this time, the handsome long-haired man and the muscular blonde were facing off in the field, competitive spirit exchanged between them. Their shirts had long been taken off and they were exchanging weird-but-charismatic moves that seemed very deadly. Gill seemed to have more focus on kicking attacks, while Brandon was focused more on his fists and punches. It was quite interesting to watch, though they were often distracted by how their muscles flexed and hardened in each hit. It made them forget their upbringing. In any case, they tried to focus on the match itself. Veronica watched Brandon closely, burning all his small movements in her eyes. He always had his arms bent up with his hands clenched. His elbows were also stuck out in a defensive stance, ready to attack and defend at the same time. Gill also had his hands up, but his hands were loose, and much of his attacks were from his lower body. Brandon moved forward and jabbed skilfully, while Gill let out continuous kicks to push him off. Gill immediately countered with a quick spinning kick and Brandon ducked and countered with a fast jab, immediately followed by a hook. Gill immediately backed away, his tall nose barely avoiding the attack. He then unleashed a rapid succession of kicks, one of which managed to hit Brandon''s side. Brandon pushed through and pressed forward, however, closing the distance between them. He delivered a series of body shots, aiming at an opening from the other''s kicking stance, and Gill had no choice but to abandon his flurry of attacks in favor of defending. This led to a momentary standstill and respite, where the two just faced off a couple of meters apart, staring each other down. Gill and Brandon were obviously using different techniques, but each one wasn''t any less intimidating. Of course, they weren''t limited in stance, and they were obviously adopting the other''s ''style'', but they had obvious preferences. They were also going so fast that they had to squint their eyes to see properly. Not to mention, neither of the men was using weapons, but the girls were under the impression their attacks would be no less deadly. It was all so very handsome that the two women forgot they were ladies and openly cheered for their ''men''. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, compared to the modern fangirls of Terran, they were still quite tame¡ªat most, they only uttered out the men''s names louder than they usually did. It was just that people had the comparison point of how they were some days prior. "Gill!!" Cassandra uttered, clapping her hands prettily. The pink-haired Veronica was no less dreamy. "Brandon~!" On the other side, the soldiers looked at the two fighting men with laughing grins. "I thought this place was like the ancient period where women were demure. I was wrong." "Oh they were pretty demure, it''s just that our Gill and our Brandon had too much charm." "HAHAHAHHA!" Gill and Brandon ignored the banters and the women cheering for them. This was especially true for Gill who, unlike Brandon¡ªwho looked more clueless than indifferent¡ªactually had a slightly dark expression on his face. Gill raised his feet to hit the other''s stomach, using his arms to balance his weight. Immediately, Brandon bent sideways to avoid it, his arms gesturing to hit his face. Gill twisted his body to avoid the jab and he shifted his center of gravity to give Brandon a high kick. Brandon then shifted to jiu-jitsu and grabbed his feet, trying to grapple him, but Gill was extremely flexible and managed to escape a potential hold. He took advantage of the opponent''s imbalance to kick his ankle, pushing him down with the palm of his hands. This made the cheering on the side a little louder. "Gill, wins!" Luis, the referee, energetically announced with raised arms. This was followed by cheers and hoots, a good part of which from aborigine women. A certain purple-haired woman, in particular, had her heart beating so loudly. Although Gill did not look in their direction, her purple eyes were full of him. Her Gill was really amazing, she thought, she must get him! "You''re amazing Gill!" The beautiful purple-haired woman clapped her hands vigorously, very unlike the lady they first met. A few days ago, she was all demure and lady-like. Look at her now. What he didn''t know was that she had ''bribed'' Mao and Luis with food a while back, asking them what Gill wanted. They honestly just told her that because he valued honesty (i.e. with him being so tactless and brutally honest at times), then he must like women who expressed their feelings well. Regardless of whether he knew, Gill pursed his lips as his peripheral vision was inexplicably filled with purple. Gill didn''t have much of a good impression about relationships. He himself had been broken up with, though for the understandable reason that he was never present. Not everyone was as good and as understanding as sister-in-law Althea. Still, his eyes couldn''t help but stop in the purple-head''s direction from time to time. His dark eyes met her colorful ones, expressing so much blunt admiration for him that it was uncomfortable. After a pause, he looked away, decidedly not minding her anymore. "Tsk. So noisy." He said, before walking away. From aside, the soldiers watched the drama with interest, looking back and forth the aloof Gill and the beautiful and cute Cassandra. Luis chewed on whatever fruit he had in space, making a commentary with gusto. "Hey, Gill looks like that bad boy male lead in those dramas my sister likes to watch." "Ah! Yeah, my favori¡ªI mean, my mother''s favorite was ''I Made a Deal with the School Bad Boy''." Mao said, nodding. Luis looked at him and nodded. "Oh, I know that! The one with my goddess Juni!" "Yes! She was so pretty¡ªI mean, my mother is a fan." The brunette Johnny looked at them and nodded. He was also a fan. Gian, who was beside him, cackled, knowing his friend''s hobbies. There was one mission where Johnny almost died, and he made him swear to bury him with his collection of his goddess Juni. Said it was a good sign, since their names sounded so alike. Whatever that meant. Anyway, the soldiers continued with their fun, a bit oblivious that the town''s lord¡ªthe female lead''s cousin¡ªhad arrived and was listening to their commentary with a complicated expression. Chapter 191 - 191: Cassandra and Veronica A dozen kilometers away from Ferrol Town. A week prior "Ah~ We''re finally almost there!" The beautiful pink-haired woman looked at her friend in puzzlement, "The travel to this place is so troublesome. Why do you even bother?" Cassandra didn''t answer her immediately. They were currently headed (i.e. running away towards) her cousin''s territory. This wasn''t a bad idea on its own because, after all, a relative''s territory was generally safe. The problem was: the town was many days away from her own. But¡­ Cassandra knew she really didn''t have a choice. She couldn''t stay there anymore. "Aren''t you tired of staying in the same place?" She asked Veronica, "I know your territory had already upgraded to town, but it''ll take a while for the scenery to change, right? "Wouldn''t it be more fun to go home after a while and wait to be surprised by the changes?" Veronica, of course, knew that this had nothing to do with her. But she knew that her friend was going through something so she didn''t call her out (for now). Fortunately, after a long time, the torturous days of travel were finally reduced to a couple of hours so her mood was no longer so dour. Some time of traveling later though, Veronica couldn''t stop herself from just asking directly. "Come on, Cassy. I''m your best friend. Tell me what''s going on?" At her question, Cassandra stared for a while before sighing in defeat. She combed back her luscious purple hair, looking out the curtains of the carriage. "Do you think thirty is old?" "No, why?" Vanessa asked, looking up and down at her friend. "Are you talking about our age?" Cassandra nodded. "Thirty? We''re practically adolescents!" "Then does it make sense my parents are pushing me to get married already?" Veronica pursed her lips at this question, wondering what to say. In the end, she answered truthfully. "Well, you''re the only child and a woman, so¡­" Cassandra sighed at her misfortune. In fact, she wasn''t really an only child. Her father had plenty of mistresses, but her mother''s family was too strong and there was no way her father would let an illegitimate son take over. That left one option: A grandson. That meant: Her giving birth, as soon as possible. Cassandra frowned, rubbing her temple. She knew this, of course, but she didn''t want to believe her whole life was planned so strictly that she didn''t even have a choice on who to wed and when to do so. That was the rest of her whole life! She was so young! However, she didn''t have the time to mope for too long as the whole carriage soon shook wildly before abruptly stopping. Not far away, they heard one of the guards yell out. "A mob!" "What?" Veronica yelled and her maid opened the curtain for her. There were scores and scores of mobs around them and their guards dutifully guarded their carriage. Unsurprisingly, the beasts that pulled their carriages stayed still, neither helping nor joining the mob¡ªas always. Veronica paled a bit but then she looked closer at the fight outside. "They''re not even level 10." She said, but Cassandra shook her head. "You forget we only brought a few guards with us," She said, "Even they would get in trouble with such a large mob. And, although unlikely, what if the mob managed to trigger our mount¡ª" Before she even finished her sentence though, the beast carriage shook wildly and it lurched forward so quickly that the four girls inside fell down down their chairs. Flop! "Kyaa~!" "Misses!" The guards yelled, but they were being mobbed by dozens of monsters each. Although they were ten levels stronger, it was difficult for them to fight such a large mob. Cassandra, Veronica, and their maids struggled to get back at their seats and hold on to them for dear life. One of the maids yelled at the driver, but no answer came. He was probably dead, and their hearts dropped at the thought. Anyway, one of the risks of a beast carriage was that the monster could get confused by the mob. Although unlikely to attack its owners, their orders may fall on deaf ears¡ªas was the current case. They continued on forward, moving wildly, and they could feel the carriage hitting tree after tree. Her maid covered her mouth and tried to stop herself from vomiting, and everyone else was extremely dizzy they wouldn''t be far from puking themselves. Then a splatter outside was heard, and the carriage stopped abruptly. The momentum was so sudden that the carriage went off balance. Unexpectedly, the door opened and the four of them were pulled out. Her head hit a hard chest and she looked up, meeting one of the most handsome faces she had encountered. "T-Thank you¡­" "Hm." was all he said, letting her go and focusing on the mob at hand. He actually let her fall down to the ground, but she didn''t mind. Her eyes unconsciously just followed his movements. He was extremely dashing and she watched in awe as he manipulated two elements¡ªfire and earth¡ªskillfully combining them into one attack, which melted every monster that it touched. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was obviously lower in level than her and the guards, but he looked so much stronger. She watched him fight, purple eyes ingraining his image, and deeper and deeper in her heart. "Thank you," She said, demurely approaching him and exuding all the grace she learned growing up. He only stared at her for a second before nodding without any emotion. He then turned to the head guard. "Can we get a few carcasses? It''s lunchtime." "A-Ah, of course." The guard said and the handsome man gave a curt thanks before taking a few monsters with his team. Not once did he look in her direction again. This was the first time she was saved so gallantly, by a man who had no lust for her, her wealth, or her position. Inexplicably, her heart beat faster. Chapter 192 - 192: Exordium A week prior. After the monsters had been cleared up, Cassandra''s group decided to rest near their rescuers, who were then very skilfully making a campfire. Veronica couldn''t help but look at the handsome leader of the group. She heard that Garan was his name. She combed her beautiful pink hair and approached the man, who was then observing how his team handled their meat. But she hadn''t even felt close when her body shivered, both in coldness and fear. Unconsciously, she lost her balance and fell on her buttocks smack on the ground. She made so much noise that everyone turned their head to her. Her face blushed¡ªas pink as her hair¡ªas she sensed the many stares directed in her direction. Most of the soldiers lacked the usual empathy for a woman, and her guards were relatively far so she had to endure several grueling seconds of humiliation sitting on the ground until they got to her. Or so she thought¡ª "Are you alright?" A gentle voice asked and she tilted her head to be met with gorgeous blue eyes and blonde locks that shone with the sun. "A-Ah, yes¡­" She mumbled, though her eyes had metaphorical hearts in them by now. She took his hand and he helped her out, though he let go immediately and joined his friends to eat their barbeque. It was like there was no interaction at all just a few seconds prior. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "..." On the other hand, Cassandra wasn''t getting much luck with her own attempts for a connection either. She approached Gill, who was cleaning up his weapon. She stopped just a meter away from him and he lifted his head to look at her with an eyebrow raised in puzzlement. "May I know how we could thank this sir?" She asked, "I mean, you did save our lives." Gill looked at her weirdly. "We killed them for the meat." "..." The man no longer bothered with her and also joined the campfire, completely ignoring her. The two women looked at each other with weird expressions as they just watched the men and their maids fix their carriage and recapture the beast. Fortunately, they had spare whistles so they managed to regain control of the things. The two groups no longer had any further interactions until a delicious whiff reached their side and they couldn''t help but turn to the source. They saw the group eating the meat hungrily, looking very satisfied, and they couldn''t help but drool. "Can you buy some from them?" Veronica asked, though she dared not approach for now, for fear of embarrassing herself again. They then asked their guards to buy as much as they could, not minding the amount they charged. In the end, they bought a couple of sticks for about a dozen gold. A bit expensive, but the aroma was killing their stomachs. Then they took a bite and they felt they''d been brought to Elvendell. No wonder they were so ignored. If it was for food so delicious, they could ignore everything too. At this thought, the women found themselves feeling better. They were so engrossed that they didn''t notice that the other group had already packed up and went ahead. It was too late to notice and they were already several meters away when it dawned on them. The girls couldn''t help but look in their direction wistfully. "Where do you think they are heading?" Cassandra asked her guard, who analyzed the direction the group was moving towards. "It''s in the direction of our destination, Miss." The man said, smiling occasionally as he chewed on the barbeque. Cassandra''s purple eyes brightened at his answer. So they were going to Ferrol Town, then? Goodness Elves! It must be destiny, then! Later, she would meet members of their team and she would treat them a meal, gaining information that Gill was likely to like honest and forward women. It was hard and shameful at first, but then she found a different sort of freedom from just expressing herself as she wanted. She was far from her parents anyway. She never returned to how she was and, indirectly or not, a lot of this feeling of liberation was associated with Gill and her affection for him. It just made her like him more. _________________ Ferrol Town, Present Cassandra was used to Gill ignoring her, so she didn''t mind him not answering her question. Who would have thought she''d be willing to be so humble? Back in her town, she was basically a princess, no one would dare to do this. Similarly, no one would look beyond her beauty and status¡ªand just see ''her''. She didn''t know why, but she felt Gill would. All her actions though were being observed by two people not too far away. Jonathan sighed, not knowing what he was thinking, while Bart looked at everything the Terrans built with a complicated expression. Bart was also one of the visiting personnel at this time. He just happened to have business in the area and decided to check up on this quickly-growing partner of his. He was quite surprised by what they achieved in the time they were apart. First, not every team could get a piece of land for themselves. Sure, the sauce made a lot of money, but Jonathan was not someone who would give a piece of his territory to others just because of it. Not to mention, it was to a team who seemed to have a subtle conflict with their own subsidiary village. Then he saw how close the princesses of Jeronia and Hubble Towns were to the team. It was even to the point that they let go of much of their expected lady-like restraints to openly cheer for men. In his heart, it just ended up solidifying the team''s background even more. He turned to Jonathan who was also intensely watching the soldiers train. "You seem to see a lot of potential with this team." Jonathan raised his sharp eyebrows. "Aren''t you the same?" he said. "A team filled with Elementalist, rising over several levels within a few months¡­ there must be something special about this team." Bart didn''t speak and continued to observe the spar. It was true, of course. And their decision to make friends proved wise every day. They really got a lot of money! Clearing his throat, he decided to observe this new base of theirs. His black eyes shifted to look around this new ''territory'' they had been building with such grandeur. It was large with a number of buildings. He also didn''t expect such attention to the greeneries either. Not far from the sparring area, there were also a lot of contraptions the team called ''obstacle courses'' and other unknown mechanisms he didn''t understand. To be honest, Bart was a little shocked at the novel training methods. But from what he was seeing, these things and methods worked. After all, he could see its effects on them. He could remember this team who was obviously much lower in level than his, but the killing rate was not much inferior. Could this be their secret? He had always been surprised at the rate of growth of these guys. It was just that their sudden increase in enthusiasm to fight and hunt was beyond him. He didn''t even know people could be more passionate than how they already were. After all, as far as he knew, if people leveled up, their physiques also improved. No one really bothered with this type of training. Not only did they go out of their way to hunt for mobs for most of the day, but when they went back to the base they would still do some training. He heard from their staff that this was done every single day without fail. He thought that they had been working hard enough before, but after that fog¡­ they began to train beyond their limits. Why''d they suddenly become so¡­ aggressive? It was as if they were chasing a certain high goal and failure was absolutely not an option¡ªthat if they didn''t reach a certain threshold of strength, they would die. He recalled the change that happened after that fog, coupled with some of the rumors he had been hearing lately, and he couldn''t help but look deeper at Garan and the others even more deeply than before. Bart had an inexplicable feeling: That this was the exordium of something big. Chapter 193 - 193: Newcomers [12 days of Protection Period] Altera Village. After much ado, the mighty team of 131 people, led by Drake, finally arrived at the vicinity of Altera village. Because most of the people were injured, the pace of travel was very slow. It was already daybreak the next day when Althea and the team returned. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The newcomers stared blankly at the tall walls of stone and sentries. Intimidating from the outside, but stability-inducing from the inside. "Are level two villages so powerful?" "I don''t know. But it should be very expensive." "Yes, the previous Lord asked us to give shares to build a wooden fence. At the time, he looked like he was planning on scraping everyone''s wallets." "The people here must be seriously rich, then¡­" As the people chatted, some guards had already excused themselves according to Althea''s instructions, for them to get people to help with the injured as soon as possible. Soon, the large group went past the territory line. [Welcome to Altera Village (Lv2)! Please pay 5 copper coins as entry fee.] [To become a resident, kindly stop by the Village center for a free registration.] [Please read the Rules and Regulations below: ¡­ Ansel''s eyebrows rose. He abruptly turned his head to look at Althea, eyes sparkling with inquiry. Altera? Althea saw this and gave him a mysterious smile instead of answering. They''ve been family for so many years. How could he not know what this meant? Their exchange was subtle and went unnoticed. Althea even shrugged it off and shifted her attention on the refugees a moment later. Ansel, on the other hand, was gaping at her the whole time, trying to keep himself from exploding. Altera was definitely ''that'' Altera! He was related to the Lord! How awesome was that? ¡­ While Ansel was immersed in the wonderful idea of being directly related to the lord, the other people were discussing a different part of the welcoming sentence. They looked at each other, shocked. "5 copper? So cheap?" One asked, eyebrows raised all the way up, wondering if he just wasn''t seeing another zero in the end. "So good?" One asked, a little cynical. "Maybe the purchase inside would be sky high! "Goodness, I hope not." "We could get resources to eat for such a low amount! This amount is almost free, right??" Another one exclaimed, already reading the rules and regulations. Even if it was limited, the amount was more than enough for a person. In their previous territory, everything was charged high. The only things they could gather for free were loose stones and twigs, to be sold to the territory at low prices. Of course, they didn''t think it was unfair because at least they could gather resources within the safety of the walls, but¡­ no comparison, no harm. "There''s water?" Another one voiced out, disbelieving. "So cheap!" Could they finally take a bath? They couldn''t use the water from the restaurant gruel as bath water right? Then someone brought out a concern, "We are also required to fight?" He asked, shaking, still remembering the terror of the previous beast tide. The air was stagnant and they looked at the guards, who were unfazed. "Well, if you want a contribution point, you can fight. Don''t worry, the territory has a lot of people vying for it. Everyone could contribute in their own way during wars, not just fighting." "What''s a contribution point?" Another one asked, recalling that he had indeed read it in the rules. Followed by another question, and another. The guards who were with them answered patiently, but inside they were feeling extremely proud of their territory. Even without comparison they knew their territory was amazing. But with all these refugees telling them the situation outside, their liking and loyalty to the territory had long formed to love and obsessive pride. "CPs¡ªer, Contribution Points¡ªare points you''d get if you contribute to the territory one way or another. The best way was to contribute to the territory fights, but people with jobs judged by the territory to help its growth would also get contribution points." "I hear private business owners could also apply to pay their people these points, in lieu of copper." There were dozens of chatters around the crowd, it seemed that the rules alone were plenty enough to talk about for hours. They entered the massive gates with bated breath, inevitably even more excited than before. Inside, they found themselves on a peculiar but beautiful wide road in the middle of a rich forest. The forest was majestic. Which was weird because, obviously, the forest outside was the same as that inside. The power of contrast, perhaps? There were also trees in the middle of the avenue and along the sidewalks, indicating the lord here had foresight and was set to follow his or her plans. And these plans made them even more optimistic. "The Lord here is very good." The guards paused and looked at each other. "Actually, the territory doesn''t seem to have a lord¡­" Those nearby turned and waited for the rest of the story. The guard had no choice but to say. "Everything here is done through the Village Centre, saying it is the Village System." There were murmurs around, but they were mostly puzzled. "Do you believe it?" "Well, it doesn''t matter which one it is, as long as we live well¡­" "That''s true¡­" Basically, everyone was left to their own thoughts and wander, with the guards answering endless questions as they traversed the wide avenue. It was around this time that they heard the sound of rolling. It was a little loud so when it got close there was a bit of a vibration. Their hearts turned cold, partly thinking they were monsters. However, their worries were soon put to rest because soon several human-pulled carts and rickshaws appeared. "What¡ª" "Seriously?" There were a few people on the carts who stepped out and went to them, directly to the heavily injured ones. These carts immediately took them in, prepared to go somewhere else, likely for treatment. Seeing all these, the newcomers'' hearts couldn''t help but beat loudly. Obviously, they all arrived here together, why was the developmental difference so stark?! Chapter 194 - 194: Shocked Althea allowed them to absorb the new sight for a few moments before speaking, "We are on the trial version now, only these few are available at the moment. We called them so the injured people could go ahead." The people looked at her in awe. Drake walked to Althea and made the standard salute, rightfully given to an elder, that also solidified Althea''s elevated status amongst the newcomers. "We will go ahead to take the injured people to the clinic, located near the main square." He turned to the others. "It is near the village center, you can follow if you want." He turned his concerned gaze back to Althea. "Are you sure you''re not coming with us?" He asked, referring to riding the carriages with the heavily injured people. Althea nodded under the people''s stares. "I''m planning to introduce some of the territory as we walk." She said. There were too many injured people, she didn''t want to take their comfortable space. As such, the most heavily injured people were placed in the carts, with their friends and family walking closely following. Luke said a temporary goodbye to Ansel and his goddess, before leaving to follow the cart where his brother was. Ansel looked at their backs in worry and Althea couldn''t help but pat his shoulder. "He''ll be fine. We have a healer here." "Healer?" Althea saw him surprised and realized most of the other territories couldn''t have upgraded their village centers to level 2, simply because of its cost. It was the Lord''s prerogative to upgrade and she wouldn''t be surprised if they ignored it. Speaking of cost, upgrading territories themselves required huge amounts of gold. Which made her wonder what happened if the 100 hours leeway was over, but the territory didn''t have enough money to upgrade¡­ would it be in debt? At this point, Althea wasn''t wrong. Such territories would indeed fall in debt, and the interest rate was staggering. "Where did healers come from?" Ansel asked. "They''re¡­ aborigines hired by the territory by special means." Althea answered very vaguely, "From what I heard, it had to do with an upgraded village center." Was all she said, before walking forward with her brother. Many people looked curiously for her to speak more, but no one dared ask. Who told them to have such a high image of Althea after she rescued them so grandly, and with the guards following her orders so respectfully? Ansel was also very curious, but he didn''t ask. They''d have plenty of time to chat later on. The group continued, walking along the avenue with a bit of wonder and extreme curiosity, following its path and not noticing the time. Before they knew it, they were starting to hear some buzzing and they understood they were getting closer to people. But, it''s just daybreak, right? "The day is just starting. People wake up early to prepare their shops and some need to buy breakfast before going to hunt or to work." One of the guards explained, a bit proud. "Shops? People prepare shops?" The woman asked, "The restaurant and other stores are always open, aren''t they?" Another guard butted in with a smug smile. "They are shops owned by the citizens here." The group was taken aback. "What? What could people sell?" They knew of stalls, as they were available everywhere, but the term used was ''shops''. This time, none of the locals spoke. Instead they gave out sly smiles. "You''ll find out soon." The crowd was still chattering at this point, but then they all stopped. Because they started smelling the amazing aroma food. Their stomachs churned. Ordering them to follow the smell or else they''d eat themselves! The pace of walking had visibly hastened and the newcomers soon arrived at the active commercial streets. Although it wasn''t as lively as it was when the stalls were here, it was energetic enough even at this time so early in the morning. A lot of people had to eat breakfast before running to their respective jobs or going outside to hunt monsters, after all. "Food!" S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The guards, already used to this, decided to part with them when they reached a large intersection. It was the handsome Helios who gave the instructions. "We will leave you here to explore on your own. "Basically this avenue contains the most important facilities." He then pointed at his left and right. "This is a new street, called Market street, which only takes in foot traffic. "If you''re on a budget, there are Marketplaces at the end of each street, where various stalls are located. As far as I know, the food sold there is much cheaper and simpler than those in the big stores." The marketplace where the stalls (which could be rented on a per-day and per-week basis) were placed right in front of the garden squares of Market Street. This was also to ensure that the majority of traffic would reach the supermarket. He sneaked a peek at Althea, who smiled and nodded. "There is also a supermarket on the end of this street." He pointed along the northeast side. "I heard it''s opening later in the day. "And finally," He pointed further to the avenue they were walking in. "If you wish to become residents, find a place to live, find a job, etc. do register in the village center at the end of this avenue." He then faced the refugees with a friendly smile, absolutely charming the women. "That''s it: Welcome to Altera!" . . With this, the guards were done with their jobs and headed to the barracks to report. Of course, the guards all greeted Althea before segregating from the group, offering to escort if she needed. Althea shook her head, and told them she''d be spending the morning with her brother. Crow and the others knew Ansel had found his sister, so they didn''t stick with him. They simply thanked everyone for their rescue and promised to treat them to food when they earned money. Seeing everyone go their own ways, Althea grabbed Ansel''s arm, dazzling him a bit. "So¡­shall we go see the children, Uncle Ansel?" Chapter 195 - 195: Niece and Nephew "Altera, eh?" He asked her with an amused tilt in his voice as soon as the others left. "Didn''t anyone question how much it sounded like your name?" Althea only blinked at his question, adorably innocent. "I know, what a lovely coincidence. Interestingly, it could also mean (higher) Alt + Terra(n)." She said with a sly smile, obviously using this reason before. Ansel shook his head. She obviously felt quite proud of this explanation, so he just went along with it in the end. The two of them continued to chat as they walked to their destination. It was breezy and fun and it was like they had never been apart. After passing through the lively greened streets and parks¡ªwhich still hadn''t stopped amazing Ansel¡ªthe two siblings finally arrived outside the villa. "We''re here." She said, looking back at him with a proud smile. He chuckled and turned to look at the tall fence in interest, his eyes brightening up the more he saw. In classic Althea fashion, the entire house was aesthetic and had a lot of plant elements. Although the house itself was a little far from the fences, one could already appreciate the detail to greenery of those who lived behind the walls. The fence was slowly being covered with colorful vines. It effectively lined up the perimeter of her house and set up its approach. He could also see the small trees near the fence and he bet they would be deciduous trees with wide canopies. If so, then when all these vines and colorful canopies grew, this house would definitely be a head turner. If such a house was found in Terran, maybe people would be taking pictures outside of it, turning it to a small picture spot. Althea smiled and opened the gate, and Ansel couldn''t help but gape as he stepped into it. It was even more beautiful inside. The path was lined with shrubs and trees, swaying with the wind, the gentle breeze carried the delicate scent of flowers. The flowers were arranged into meticulously designed flower beds. The sight of budding shades of crimson, peach, green, and others blended beautifully, and just the view could make any one feel better. There also were, interestingly, plenty of garden decorations and details. There were ponds and carved arches. There were also play spaces for children, as well as some leisure spots people could hang out in. It was akin to a paradise, especially compared to what they had been seeing since landing here. Along the edges of the gardens was a wooden fence. Crawling on them were not only colorful vines, but also fruit-bearing grapes! Looking beyond the grape fence, he could also see the rest of the property, as the other side was still visible at this point. Ansel could see a lush garden-farm on the other side, and even the preliminary sight amazed him. There were a variety, many familiar and mostly unfamiliar. But whatever it was, they were fascinating as they were baffling. In a daze, he began to doubt his memories. Was this the same world? Everyone arrived here at the same time, right? A few weeks ago? Why were other people''s lifestyles so¡­ different? Others were struggling to keep full and most people were worried about encountering monsters. But then there were people like Althea who placed so much effort in lifestyle probably as soon as they arrived. Nevertheless, he was more happy to know that Althea had been living well. Seeing this definitely made it feel like a weight on his back was lifted by helium balloons, and that was all that mattered. They entered the house and the people eating breakfast raised their heads, smiling brightly at the sight of her. "Althea! You''re back!" Sheila said, while Harold immediately stood up to prepare more food. "Have you eaten breakfast?" Althea shook her head and walked to her children in the crib next to the dining table. They were already babbling and extending their cute little hands. Fufi was also very excited to see them and was wagging his tail and staring at them from the other side of the crib. Harold paused when he noticed someone else was with her. The others followed his line of sight and flinched, startled. The boss brought a man home? And it was an extremely handsome young man. Was he a star, they wondered. Harold was the first to assume a welcoming stance and looked at the young man. "Have you eaten?" Ansel, who was still staring at the complete furniture, politely shook his head. Harold nodded. "Then I will prepare for you, too." He said, earning Ansel''s thanks. Ansel then followed Althea to the crib, charming eyes meeting the beautiful eyes of the children. They looked back at him with wonder and innocence, and he felt as if their smiles could wipe away all of his worries. He couldn''t help but gape and admire, his heart warming and softened to a puddle. "They''re your children alright." He said and Althea laughed in response. "Garan is also very handsome." Ansel shrugged noncommittally, and he just smiled at the children and made funny faces to make them laugh. Althea sent them flying kisses. Although the babies didn''t look like it, they were newborns after all. She was afraid they were sensitive to the dirt. Similarly, Ansel followed her lead and admired them from afar. "What are their names?" "I had yet to give them one. I was waiting for Garan." "Then what should I call them?" She pointed at the adorable baby boy with bright eyes, continuously splattering babbles. "We call him Meatball because he likes rolling around so much. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Then she gestured for the charming baby girl, who was staring at them in curiosity with an adorable toothless smile. "And this one is Little Pepper. She''s both cute and feisty, you see." Ansel couldn''t help but laugh out loud. "Hey, why do I feel they fit them so well?" He cackled, and the children felt his energy and laughed with him. Ah, his heart melted again. It was around this time that Harold yelled from the kitchen. "Time to eat." He said, catching the two newcomers'' attention. After sending more flying kisses to her babies, Althea guided Ansel to a seat. She placed him right next to her, and he couldn''t help but look at the rest of the table. The others were already seated, staring at him curiously and nodding at him in welcome. He gulped, feeling a little shy, before nodding back, and introducing himself. "I''m Ansel. I''m Althea''s brother. Nice to meet you." "Hi~ I''m Sheila." "Hello, I''m Eugene." A man said, then pointed at the kids at the table. "That''s Theo, Maya, and Horus." "Hello, Big Brother Ansel~" The kids (sans the mute Theo) yelled in response. Ansel''s lips twitched. So many children and a man with sticks for legs? His sister was really something else. "Harold''s the one in the kitchen," Eugene added, and on cue, the man came with trays and Sheila quickly stood up to help him out. Ansel''s eyes couldn''t help but look to the kitchen. It was only now that Ansel realized that Harold cooked with gas. Gas¡­? How?! But he quickly forgot about the issue when his eyes focused on the food being served, slowly entering his sight plate by plate, and making his stomach growl like it hadn''t eaten in a decade. The breakfast was a chicken viand, a vegetable side dish, and a cup of rice. This was a normal breakfast back in Terran, but now it felt like he was in heaven. Ansel looked at the food in front of him and was once again in a daze. Althea smiled and patted his shoulder. "Let''s eat?" "A-Ah, yes." He said and when the food entered his mouth he almost cried, recalling the ''torture'' restaurant food brought them. It was delicious! F*ck. HOW?! But outwardly, he just ate in silence, graceful and poised, even if the food in front of him was disappearing within a few blinks. Harold and the others chuckled at this. Safe to say: The new guy really liked the food. Chapter 196 - 196: The Team The group introduced themselves to each other more thoroughly as they ate, and Ansel took note of their words seriously. After all, he would be part of their team as well. Harold, the old man, was the chef. Cute little Maya was his daughter, who he had late in life. He was also in charge of the overall operations of their restaurant and grocery store. Gaea grocery store, Gaea supermarket. Garan. Althea. Tsk. Stupid names. Ansea sounded much better, he thought. Anyway, back to the rest of the team, he looked at the other girl, who blushed a bit under his stare. The other girl, Sheila, was a nurse and watched over the pharmacy and the production of medicine according to Althea''s formulas. Only now had he realized that the miracle medicines they gave before were her own creation! Because they were so magical, he always thought they were system products. After all, in Terran, no matter how high the efficacy of a medicine was, there was no truly ''instant'' effectivity. However, he was quick to regain his calm. This was Althea they were talking about after all. Even if it was at the unfortunate cost of poisoning herself, she always managed to discover something amazing and beyond her time. Wait a minute¡ª He whipped his head to Althea, looking at her worriedly, "You didn''t poison yourself when you arrived here, did you?" Althea looked at the ceiling while the others cackled. Ansel''s eyes twitched in response. Seriously? "So? I''m fine." She said, "I have a bit of immunity because of my¡­ experience." "That''s not something to be proud of!" Althea shrugged. Anyway, moving on, Sheila was also apparently helping around the clinic as well. Althea mentioned that she was attempting to learn from the Healer NPC as well, in hopes of triggering the profession, ideally, as soon as she reached level 10. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He had a lot to ask about those professions. It was the first time he heard of it. However, he stopped himself so he could learn more about the others first. Especially that Eugene, the guy without a leg. He was apparently in charge of technological innovations. The dark-skinned man worked with a lot of people including a few NPCs and engineers, especially an industrial engineer, to bring a lot of ''modernity'' to life in just a few days. Next to Althea, this guy also had the bulkiest pockets in the team, because he owned the largest shares for his inventions. Amongst the new teammates, Ansel liked this guy the most. He heard he was currently researching bikes and cotton-weaving machines with the help of Althea''s database. Most importantly, a few days ago, Eugene had triggered the life occupation of Creator, assisting him in the swift understanding of the machines. This meant that he would only create more in the future. As such, there were already prototypes of bikes and Ansel was planning on coaxing this guy to let him try. The cotton gin and weaving machine, with the help of Brenda, the weapons maker NPC, was already done as well. This knowledge made him breathe fresh air. There should be some bolts of cotton cloth available for mass selling soon. The fact that he didn''t have to worry about his change of clothes made him want to cry. Internally, of course. And finally, the children and Fufi were in charge of being cute. And they were truly bundles of joy. They brought smiles wherever they went, and people forgot all the sufferings they had been going through, even if it was only for a moment. Of course, little Maya and Horus contributed with resources they picked up themselves (as they reminded the adults constantly), and Fufi was technically a member of the guard team. They chatted like this for a while, eventually leading to the topic of accommodation. "He will stay with us in our room, then," Eugene said and Ansel nodded. Althea, however, was the type to spoil her brother and she thought he should really have his own room. She also knew his history, how could he take girls home without his own room? "I''m building another set of farmvillas." She said, "I''ll take the one right behind us and expand the whole lot. "Will that be okay?" Sheila asked. She knew Althea was not short of money even after all the construction going on, but they set a purchase limit in the name of the territory before¡­ "Publicly, I only ''own'' this one farm villa and the commercial space at the intersection." She said with a shrug, "I know for sure Baron, on paper, owned more properties than I do." "Ohhhh. Now that you mention it¡­" Sheila said, nodding, and then they proceeded to plan on the new distribution of rooms. In the end, only Althea, Ansel, and the children would remain in the original house. The rest would transfer to the other house. There would still be dormitories for future core members of their ''Althean team'', but at least the ''originals'' (them) would now get their own rooms. Eugene was particularly happy with the future bigger laboratory that could rival Althea''s in size. "How nice¡­" The handsome Ansel told them, very sincerely. "You guys are amazing." They all blushed and said nononono it is your sister that is amazing. "How did you two find each other?" Harold asked, finding out that hadn''t asked this yet. "An unexpected rescue. We literally just chanced upon them." Althea said with a smile, and Sheila clapped her hands. "Well, rest assured your life will only get better from here!" Ansel smiled. "Yes, I agree." Speaking of life improvement, Althea remembered something."Is the Opening on track?" She asked, and Sheila flinched, brightening at the recollection. "Oh right! I''m glad you came back on time. You can see the supermarket opening yourself!" Althea agreed. She had given the instructions before leaving for the date of opening, regardless of her presence. But now that she was here, of course, she''d watch it. After breakfast and cleaning up the dishes, Sheila and Harold excused themselves. The opening of the Supermarket was today, so the adults were definitely going to get very busy with the preparations. The very responsible little Maya was in charge of watching the children so that everyone could do what they had to do on this momentous day. On the other hand, Althea and Ansel set out to clean themselves so they could finally hug the children. They were too cute! How could they not see them extending their little arms for hugs?! "Mangmmama¡­" Little Pepper mumbled seeing that their mother''s attention was finally back on them. "Googwoomngmama¡­" Little Meatballs was not to lose, and some saliva popped as he called on to her. Ansel chuckled, "They even have different calls¡­" Althea smiled and fondly watched the uncle-nephew-niece together in one frame. She sighed. It would be perfect if her husband was here as well, then their family would be complete. Anyway¡­ at least there was improvement, she thought optimistically. One down, one more to go. Chapter 197 - 197: Respite (Part 1) Ansel heaved out a relaxed sigh as he laid on his bathtub filled with warm water. As he submerged his body, it was like all the tiredness and stress of the past few weeks seemed to flow out of his body. "Ah, this is the life!" He said, closing his eyes, and leaning deeper down until his entire body was covered. His senses were refreshed and all his tense muscles relaxed. Groaning in relaxation, he simmered in the lovely warmth of the water. His body also felt soft; it was as if all the tense muscles were being massaged on their own. Ansel had no doubt that the special Jasmine Fragrance Althea gave him to mix with the water had a lot to do with this. She had always had a talent for making concoctions like this. For a while he laid there, just feeling the warm water surrounding his body. It was so soothing that he mused that this must be what it was like to return back to the womb of mothers. He emerged a couple of seconds later literally feeling like a newborn. As he chilled out, he began to observe the bathroom of his new room. It was a ten-square-meter bathroom with the tub he was on at the far edge. It was next to a small capiz-like fenestration that allowed natural lighting in. If he wanted, he could open this window and observe the garden outside as he bathed. Ah, how lovely. He then turned his attention to the tub itself. The bathtub was made of ceramics and intricately designed wood. There were carvings, but the most important feature was their anthropological design. Any body size would be able to lay down and relax their hearts out. It could be said that whoever Althea commissioned items for her house¡ªwhether it was wood or earthenware¡ªshe took particular care with its quality and design. Of course, due credit shall also be given to the masters who managed to follow her whims. It must not have been easy. Ansel couldn''t help chuckling at the image. He was obviously going insane with worry for her, but she was living the life in her new home. He cleaned himself up very thoroughly and he even fell asleep in the bathtub a few minutes later. Fortunately, the shape of the tub was to prevent people from drowning even while snoozing, so he was still alive and well after the fifteen-minute power nap. He dipped once more before standing up to get out of the bathtub. His well-built body¡ªfurther improved by the level upgrades¡ªwas completely exposed to the air. He stepped out of the tub and he was soon covered by the cotton towel accessible by an extension of the arm. Drying himself with a towel¡ªdefinitely from a Terran hotel¡ªhe went out of the bathroom and looked around his new room. Immediately, he saw new sets of clothes folded neatly on the bed. It was a polo and pants set made of comfortable linen. He tried it on to find out it was just his size. It was still his favorite brand of comfort clothes. Althea must have gotten these from the ''downtown trip'' she took, the one he heard about from the twins. Even if he knew Garan even had more sets of clothing, Ansel felt warm in his heart. After all, even in that situation where zombies were chasing, Althea could still think of them, remembering even the small details. With a smile, he looked at the other things prepared for him. He saw a small jar with a note, saying it was a gel alternative and his eyes sparkled. How long has it been since he had his lovely gossamer hair? He could live without these chicken nests, thank you very much. Ansel got dressed and arranged his hair with a smile, knowing he looked good by instinct (there was no mirror in his room yet), before finally leaving the room. He went down and found her having tea in the verandah, relaxed in her seat with a leg folded under another, sipping her cup gracefully. She looked as beautiful as ever, having the plants and sun behind her as her background, serving as a willing foil to her beauty. Beside her was a soft mat of beast fur where the four children were playing (Horus was out ''working'') with various wooden toys. Of course, the babies were rolling around¡­. not at all looking like newborns¡ª Now that he thought about it¡­ "Are newborn children supposed to be rolling around?" And¡­ they don''t look like newborn premature babies at all! Althea smiled and motioned for him to join her, pouring him tea from the quaint earthenware tea set she commissioned. "It''s really a long story." She said, "I want to hear what happened to you first." S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh." Ansel took a sip of the tea and was not surprised to find it delicious. It was a lovely mix, having the sweetness of fruit but the refreshing hint of something minty. Although Althea didn''t cook, she could really mix fantastic teas. "Well, the Transformation happened while I was having dinner with my clients." He began speaking, telling her about his adventures and how he managed to survive. He did not hide anything. Althea was heartbroken and she patted his hand, and seeing her worried look at him Ansel gave himself a nod. If Garan were to see his pity-act, Ansel had no doubt he''d be thrown in the wilds for training. He soon got to his arrival at Bright territory and Althea looked at him curiously. "Bright had nothing on what you have here, but it''s better than the others. It was horrible living there, Althea! You probably can''t imagine!" "I have an idea," Althea corrected him, "I didn''t build the territory from the get-go and I happened to have encountered one before getting here." She said, her eyes darkening at the memory of the friend they lost. Ansel didn''t have the time to ask for details because she lifted her head with clear eyes, obviously putting the topic aside and putting back her attention to his situation. "Tell me more about this Bright and Vismont villages and their lords." Ansel paused before nodding, telling her his impression of the guy. "In fairness to him, although I don''t like Lord Plaster-face, he is still much better than that other lord." He saw Althea pondering about something, but she shook her head when he asked. "It''s just a preliminary idea for now." She said, "I''ll tell you more after I flesh it out more." Instead, she looked at him with interest. "You seem to really dislike the Vismont village lord." Ansel mumbled about what he knew and experienced. Then he turned to Althea. "Tell me honestly, what do you see about us?" "What?" "What are lords able to see about the people in their territory?" Althea blinked, before smiling mysteriously. After a while, she still didn''t speak, completely whetting Ansel''s appetite. "I promise not to tell anyone else!" Althea did not speak, just raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Please, sister?" He asked, acting cutely. If Leo and the others were here, they would probably vomit. And if Garan was here¡­, he''d definitely have thrown Ansel into the barracks for a very, very, harsh training regime. Chapter 198 - 198: Respite (Part 2) Althea, on the other hand, was used to him acting like a baby. So she just laughed in amusement instead. She looked at him, face morphing to one of seriousness. Ansel leaned over to listen well. "What I can''t see are the specialties and occupations the people had back in Terran. For this, I rely on the registration system." Ansel nodded. And then? What about what you can see? He asked with his eyes. Althea''s lips held back a smile. "We can see the basic information like level, occupation, elements, wealth, and¡­" She paused mysteriously. "Even loyalty." He gasped. "What! What an intrusive system!!" "That''s what I thought as well, but it''s been very helpful to me so far so I have no complaints." "Do note that there are still limitations," she told him, "From what the NPCs said, Loyalty values cannot display a negative value, so you can''t use it to determine someone aiming to do harm." Ansel was still simmering that so much of him was bare for those two jerks to see. "TSK. No wonder I felt creepy when those two stared at me!" Then he paused and looked at her like the sycophant he could be. "Of course, this doesn''t apply to you, my kind beautiful sister." It was here that they heard a bit of mumbling from the children''s side as if alerted by Ansel''s noise. They saw one of the babies had rolled out of the mat. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Meatball really did his nickname justice. Althea then stood up to take the baby boy, who was babbling with drool all over his face. She gently rocked Little Meatball in her arms, cleaning up his slobbered face with a clean cloth. "Ggoogrgurgleggg¡­" he mumbled seeming to thank her for her service. She couldn''t help but giggle at his cuteness. "Silly baby," she said, leaning down to give him a huge peck on his chubby cheeks. He giggled adorably in response. Little Pepper saw this and she extended her chubby arms to her direction. Ansel saw her hands full and took the baby instead. It was just that Little Pepper being Little Pepper, she refused to behave in the arms of a strange dude. (Garan would be so proud). "Mwammwah!" Althea smiled but didn''t take her, wanting her to be closer to her relatives. "Aww, baby¡­" she said and her heart broke when the little girl''s eyes lined with tears. "This is your uncle Ansel. He is family." She said, kissing the girl on the cheek. "Don''t cry, okay?" Ansel looked at the interaction with a smile, deciding to be proactive and gently lulling the baby girl. She didn''t look very comfortable at first, but she soon adjusted as she saw her mother nod with a smile as she behaved. Althea grinned warmly as she saw Little Pepper finally snuggle into her uncle''s warmth. "You should talk to her." She told him, "They don''t understand what we''re talking about, but hearing our voice gives them a sense of security." "Oh?" He asked, then turned to the baby girl and lifted her in front of him. "So, little princess, what do you want to talk about?" The baby stared, seemingly pursing her lips, before she began to babble nonsensical syllables. "Hey, I wonder what she said¡­" "She probably said you''re a silly uncle." It wasn''t far off. Anyway, the two adults laughed and Ansel stood up with the baby girl in his arms, heading towards the table. Althea did the same with Meatball. The two then took the babies back to the table and sat down, cooing them as they chatted. On the other hand, Maya continued to play with little Theodore, also looking very cute with their own little makeshift world. "What about you?" Ansel asked, and then looked around at the beautiful house¡ªsomething he really didn''t think possible with the current conditions. "A lot must have happened, right?" Althea chuckled because there was too much that had happened. She started with her adventures within the villa areas, as well as the meeting of Harold and Maya. Ansel couldn''t help but tap the table when he heard about the drug lord. "I knew it! I knew that guy was a drug lord! He reeked of it!!" Althea raised an eyebrow. "You know him?" Ansel nodded as he remembered a memory, looking very dignified as he did so. "You don''t know. When I went home late one time, I got a bit¡­ lost and ended up on his street. You know what I saw?" He paused for effect, "Mysterious garbage bags being hauled out of the house, guarded tightly by those men in black with guns¡­" Althea was a bit amused by his gossipy side. "Oh, don''t speak too badly of him." She joked, "He shares some of the credit on how I was able to make this place so well." This made Ansel pause. "You really did build this place very well. You''re as meticulous as always, especially when I recall how those other territories are." Even if others had money, he strongly doubted those other lords would be able to create a territory with such detail and convenience as Altera. Not even close. Then he looked at her with a puzzled face. "But these should be extremely expensive, right? How did you¡­" get so much money? Then he remembered her mention of the drug lord''s contribution. His eyes widened. "I robbed the neighbors¡­ and the bank." She said with a shrug. Ansel looked at Althea in awe. This sister was even more badass than he remembered! ____________________ CHARACTER INTERACTION CORNER~! ((What if the kids were a little older and could make a commentary?)) Author: So kids, this happened many years ago when you were babies. You probably don''t remember, but what do you think of your uncle back then? Little Pepper: So he was still an idiot even back then. Auntie Winona wasn''t lying! Little Meatball: *nods* Yes, an idiot. Uncle Ansel: ¡­ Author: ¡­ ¡­That wasn''t as enlightening as I thought it would be¡­ Chapter 199 - 199: Supermarket Opening The two of Althea and Ansel left for the soon-to-open Gaea Supermarket each with a baby on hand. As they walked, Ansel''s free hand pushed the empty stroller, in case their arms got tired. Maya and Theodore, of course, also happily joined in the fun. Althea smiled at the two children giggling, patting Maya''s little head with her free hand. "Hold on to Theodore''s hand tightly okay big sister Maya? We don''t want him getting lost in the crowd." Maya bobbled her head cutely, grabbing Theo''s hand like the best big sister. Althea chuckled and continued to give them more precautions. There would definitely be a crowd there. She then turned to Horus, who had just appeared after a morning of ''work'', gathering resources to pay his ''rent'', joining them in their excursion. He was a very diligent little kid. "As the oldest boy in your group, you will guard your siblings well, okay?" The little boy adorably straightened up his spine, looking dedicated. "Okay!" Horus then took the empty stroller to push, eyes not leaving the other two kids. Satisfied with the arrangement, Althea and Ansel carried the babies by hand and continued on their way. Because Harold and the others were already in the supermarket, the group was composed of two adults and five children. This alone caught a lot of attention. Fortunately, no one was too impolite and stared too long. They simply smiled warmly as they sent subtle stares. "Hmnamma." Ansel felt the soft pudgy Little Pepper shift in his arms and his heart softened into a puddle. She was extending her small hands in Althea''s direction, mumbling continuously. Seeing the little girl call on his mom, they decided to exchange babies to carry. Little Meatball was startled to suddenly leave the soft arms of his mother to this new guy, staring at him blankly at first as if he didn''t know why it happened. It was super adorable. Little Meatball seemed to have noticed his ''mocking'' eyes and he stared accusingly, tears lining up his big eyes. Ansel flinched. ''Oh, dear me¡ª'' Ansel was afraid of being framed as a mean boy bullying the weaker kid¡ªsomething he had done more than once with Garan back when they were children. So, he quickly cooed at the little boy, praying he didn''t make a scene and ruin his image. He tried gently swinging the boy, then when it wasn''t working, hastened his pace, and it just made the little guy''s eyes even redder. F¡ª Seeing that it was useless, he changed his approach and playfully threw him up in the air for a throw-and-catch game. Fortunately, Little Meatball wasn''t sent by a mysterious force to take revenge on him for his father, and the kid actually started giggling. Althea smiled and the other people around also laughed, complimenting him for being a good father. This made him pause. They must look like a family of four, er, no, a family of seven and a dog. Tsk. He should''ve brought a camera. And then he''d show them to Garan when they finally met¡ªwhenever that may be. Since Althea was confident he was here, then Ansel subconsciously believed the same. Now that he thought about it, he didn''t even know he had children, did he? "Hey, what are you thinking?" Althea asked, looking back at him and seeing him in a creepy daze. "Let''s go!" "A-Ah," he said, though internally he was cackling. Finally got to one-up that jerk! ¡­ S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The opening of the supermarket would be as grand an event as a Terran store opening would. Well, relatively. After all, there was a decisive lack of the usual party items. There was no more gunpowder so how could they get fireworks? There was no paper (yet) so how could they have confettis? A lot of the other party items were also based on paper. There was also a pointed lack of pigment variety as well, so how many colors could they paint the makeshift banners? All that Harold and Sheila could organize was some manifested gongs by Oslo. They hired some people from the construction team to hit the gong when the opening time came. Speaking of Oslo, that guy was seriously overworked lately. Althea made a mental note to add some special bonuses to particularly contributing NPCs. Should she make an MVP NPC of the month or something? There was also Brenda who had worked overtime for a few nights with Eugene with the machines for cotton. Rumor had it that her dating life took a toll because of it. At this, her emerald eyes looked among the crowd and saw Brenda with her love life (Troy) next to each other and all shy. They were blushing and giving each other subtle glances, and when their eyes met they would look away with shy smiles on their faces. Fortunately, whether or not the rumor was true, they seemed fine and happy now. The seven of them settled somewhere near the stage, waving through the crowd which politely opened to them like a sea parting to make way. After all, who dared block the big boss and her cute babies? There were hundreds of people in the area so it was understandably very crowded and a bit chaotic. There were guards around that kept the peace though, so nothing too serious happened. Anyway, Harold and the others obviously did a good job in marketing. They even saw a number of the newcomers who came with Ansel, though most of them had obviously cleaned up, though their clothing had a lot of holes (like at least half of the population). In particular, there was the trio and their older guardian, who were all chewing on something as they waited excitedly for whatever may come their way. Like them, there were many others who, instead of resting after such a long trip, joined the fun instead. Althea smiled, recalling how they were when she met them. In less than a day, they were already in the mood to join a random event. She shook her head in amusement and turned back her attention to the stage. As an opening program, Harold and the others organized a short show in the park square in front of the supermarket. Even Althea didn''t know about the program they prepared, and she was quite excited. She had a feeling it would be quite... fun. Chapter 200 - 200: Fable While waiting for it to start, the people bought street foods from the marketplace next door. Combined with the food from people who sold things on foot, everyone had more or less something on their hands to chew before the program even began. Soon, the gong ended and old Harold went out looking like the amicable old man that he was. "Thank you for coming, everyone!" He said, extending his arms in welcome. "Our Gaea Food Stores has now officially opened a Supermarket! "We welcome you to our very own Gaea Supermarket!!" Harold smiled and waited for the applause to stop. "This is inseparable from your patronage, so thank you everyone! "We promise to offer you a wider variety of products, many of which will surely please you. Perhaps, our products may even improve¡­ everyone''s lives. How, you ask? You will see very soon¡­" Harold smiled as everyone cheered and clapped their hands again. There were also some hoots and playful boos, asking him to stop being mysterious already. In response though, with a mysterious smile, he raised his hand, asking for their silence. "Before we enter though, we would like to give you a little¡­ surprise." He said, stepping down the temporary stage without another word, and everyone just looked at each other in bafflement. For a while, there was silence, until¡ª Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Didi! Bangbangbang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Several men with beat boxes came out, and they artistically (with shaking hips) hit beat after beat to create a background song of sorts. The young women and the girls could feel their hearts thumping at the familiar beat. They used to listen to it back in Terran and used to dance with it wildly in clubs or in the privacy of their rooms. "Could it be¡­?" Sure enough, a handsome man with clear eyes and great shape jumped out and stood in the middle of the beat-boxers. The women went absolutely insane. "Fableeee!!!!" "Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" "Look here, Fable!! AhhhhhhhHHH!" The singing star happened to be Fable, one of the more famous singers in Eden. As for how he hadn''t been drowned by fans after being in the territory after so many days of staying, it was a long story. Fable entered the territory a few days prior but, because he looked absolutely unsightly when he entered, no one recognized him at all. He didn''t bother to arrange himself either because, in his last territory, he was almost raped by the female lord. There was also the fact he entered the Eastern gate, which had very very few people at the time, so he thought no one actually saw him. Anyway, after entering the safety of the walls, he wasn''t able to last long. He fell unconscious somewhere there in hunger. He was found by the soft-hearted Gru, who had been making rounds in the farmlands. Through him, Fable found a place to stay. Through Gru, Fable eventually met Harold. Gru and Harold had become good friends due to their similar interests and age group, and he somehow managed to join in the circle as if he were their grandson. A few days ago, Harold mentioned his problem with the opening program. Fable, who was extremely grateful to Gru and liked Harold as an elder, volunteered to help them out. He organized the entire program. Anyway, after spending the past few days in the territory, he had come to understand the atmosphere here. Here, he believed he could finally be himself, and he decided to announce his return in the grandest way possible¡ªlike the star that he was. He lifted his head and his bangs flew to the back of his head, eyes staring intimately at the crowd, making a couple of hearts stop. /I am here, I am here, I am here¡­/ He started singing, moving his body and hips along the beat. He performed his characteristic choreography and there were even background dancers behind him. Even Althea had to admit this guy was really talented. He had no conventional musical instruments, but he had the crowd at the palm of his hands. /Finally! Yeah! I have you with me, so dance with me¡ªoh! Oh, Dance with me./ Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Not far away the group of NPCs had also joined in the fun. At first, they were flabbergasted by the wild screams, but then the handsome young man started singing and dancing and they couldn''t help but be pulled into the atmosphere. "This song is amazing! I don''t understand the words, but I feel my body just following the rhythm on its own." Clutch was hilariously moving along with the beat with his stiff body. "What novel movements," Brenda added, nodding to the music. Troy who was beside him smiled and low-key taught her the moves. "One hip left, arm up, then lift your feet¡­ yeah, like that." "It''s so interesting¡­" Betty said, looking at the stage with stars in her eyes. "It is very attractive." Lenny nodded quietly, looking stiff, but internally she was already making clothes for the young man with uncharacteristically sparkling eyes. At the end of his opening songs, Fable''s movements went faster and quicker, raising the energy to an all-time high. He moved so quickly, movements in sync with his background dancers, belting it out at the same time. He even backflipped at the end, earning him boisterous applause and even the NPCs had joined in. Even Clutch had his hand raised with a lot of the fans, as if waving his hand for Fable to notice him. It was quite funny to look at. Ansel caught all this in his eyes. Since Althea told him of the NPCs and where they were, he had occasionally found his sights on them. He watched their interest and eventual fascination, and then their blending in with the crowd''s love for the person performing. His beautifully shaped eyebrows rose in interest, a certain money-making idea brewing inside his head. Should he develop the entertainment industry? Well...? He knew that it would definitely be a hit with the Terrans, but it looked like he could make a killing with the aborgines too. His eyes sparkled; he could already see the gold raking in. Chapter 201 - 201: Inside the Supermarket (Part 1) The performance continued for another quarter of an hour, without losing energy at all. May it be the performers or the audience, no one felt tired despite sweating from all the dancing under the heat from the midmorning sun. The performance finally ended with a classic Fable triple flip and the audience applauded wildly, forming a little treble on the ground, almost like a small monster mob came. Everyone was at a high. They never thought they''d be able to feel this again. And Fable¡ªbreathless but bright¡ªfelt happy from the bottom of his heart. It was like he was brought back to when he was just starting in the industry¡ªwhen the joy of performing in front of an audience was at its purest. At the time, even if it was just one audience, if he improved that person''s day with his art, then it''d have made his week. He was happier today than he had been in the entire previous year, when he was at the height of fame. Anyway, Fable closed his eyes as he surrounded himself with the sound of applause and hoots, as if it could recover his spirit somehow. Nearby, the aborgines also followed the show of appreciation of the crowd and clapped their hands, also screaming. It was a novel experience and they felt they''d remember it for a long time to come. The excited chatters and cheers continued until the large doors of the supermarket opened and began to let people pour in. Guards stood in front of the door and asked the people to line up, and they did so without any grumbling. Anyway, the show provided them with a lot of topics to chat about while they waited. "That was soooo much fun!" "Kya! Fable is so handsome!" "I knowwwww. I wonder since when did he get here?" A gasp. "I think I saw him! He was unsightly but he looked familiar at the time. I just thought I was hallucinating!" "Oh my! Such a pity!" "Such a pity!" Inside the building, the chatters were no less than those outside. But they were still organized despite the excitement, especially thanks to the private guards hired for this event. They would also be in charge of the security within the premises. Of course, this wasn''t entirely needed because of the rule she set: Theft was prohibited. However, Althea felt a few guards were still needed to maintain order. She even added more sales clerks to guide the customers. With similar thoughts as to why she was maintaining the service and hospitality industries, she just thought adding Human touch added meaning to mundane things. She hired one clerk per section, with a section having three working in shifts. This was just right considering the number of people allowed to enter at one time. Like the Grocery store, the maximum number of people that could simultaneously enter the edifice was limited. This time, the limit was increased to 200 people at a time, so the people outside wouldn''t need to wait too long. With their current population, anyway. As for what could happen when the number of people spiked, she''d deal with that later. Back to the exterior of the structure, the line moved very slowly, with the slots for 200 people decreasing at a fast rate. Soon the person was blocked and while sad, he just chatted with the person next in line and patiently waited for his turn. The stall owners also mobilized and were wearing those small wooden platforms that were supported by their necks. On the platform were their respective products¡ªit could be fruits, it could be processed meat, or it could be juice. This way, the people could also chew a few things to pass the time. There were even young kids offering massages, performances, and the like. A little boy even tried mimicking Fables dances, though he failed miserably at cartwheel, and it made people laugh and gave him a few tips (though not without warning from older people to be careful with his neck, of course). Anyway, even waiting in line is so much fun now. The aborigines were very enlightened. Soon, more and more people entered the interior of the supermarket, and this batch included the aborgines. The arrangement of the supermarket was very similar to the Terran versions. It had a large span and high ceilings, with an open plan filled with rows and rows of shelves the height of a person. Between these shelves were wide walkways that could easily fit three people walking side-by-side. Very airy and comfortable. Clutch and the other NPCs looked at the novel arrangement in interest, their peripheral view ending at the large weaved baskets by the entrance. They didn''t know what it was for, but they saw that it was something the people in front of them were taking before moving forward. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was a basket made of treated wood, the size that could fit a small child. It also had wooden push handles extending upwards by about a foot, and with small wooden wheels below. "Pushcart!" Another person said, and took a piece to enter the supermarket. Very naturally, a couple other people took their so-called push carts and entered the store. The NPCs looked at each other and followed what the Terrans were doing. "You push it like this?" Clutch asked, doing the motion. Brenda looked at the other people in front of them. "You put things there, it seems." Troy smiled, thinking Brenda was cute. "Yes. You place things you want to buy and pay for them in the exit." "Ohhh¡­" the NPCs said simultaneously, amusing those around them. Anyway, they entered and began their first supermarket shopping experience. The first floor was basically a larger version of the previous grocery store. Right in front of the counter were various earthenware like pots, pans, plates, bottles, and bowls. When earthenware was paid for, a special paint will be added to signify its own status. After all, some people would use these to contain the foodstuff they would buy later on. This was another difference with Terran grocery stores. The packaging either had to be bought inside or one had to bring their own. It was convenient, and just right considering there was an omnipotent ''system'' watching theft that could happen. Well, at least outside Territory Wars, in which all regulations would be halted. But that was an issue for later. There were more varieties and sizes now, and there were special versions of more intricate designs. Beyond the earthenware stores were the rice and wheat area. They were bought in kilograms. Next to it was processed food like pickled vegetables and jerkies. The variety of flavors had increased significantly. After all, a lot of seasonings had been formulated in the past week or so. There were also new additions that made the Terrans'' eyes brighten like the sun. Instant noodles and biscuits. "Whoa!" "It''s here!" A gasp. "I can''t believe they already made this!" "This team is amaziinnnggg!" "I''ll take spicy flavor!" "Wow, what is this? Gui berry flavor? That''s new." "There is also Gouji fruit flavor." "We have to adapt to local materials. Anyway, I believe in the products of this team!" "Yes, yes!" Another smiled, looking at the biscuits, promptly taking several bolts. He would buy several jams and his breakfast would be fast and heavenly! People bought everything they could, maximizing their purchase limits, even if it meant siphoning their savings. Anyway, they knew the territory was stable and they could comfortably earn it back. They were more scared the stocks would disappear when they needed them! Chapter 202 - 202: Inside the Supermarket (Part 2) The people had gotten to the point that they were more terrified of losing the opportunity to obtain these things than losing their savings. This was especially true for the store owners who had signed deals with the grocery store, so they luckily had much higher purchase limits. Seeing the Terrans so excited about the new additions, the leisurely NPCs couldn''t help but ask. Gru, who was next to them, patted their shoulders. "This is a special dish from our home." He said, "They''re not only delicious, easy to prepare, and easier to carry, they also have a very long shelf life." Everyone knew the system space didn''t have a fresh-keeping function. As such, these food could really save lives during travels. "They would be great for people on the go. You can eat delicious food even in the wild!" Troy made a thumbs up. "You NPCs will love it!" Although Brenda and the others didn''t know why they were called NPCs, they had long gotten used to the title. So, they nodded, and followed the ''experts'' in their shopping, observing the various ''flavors'' available for purchase. Like them, the aborigines also placed several instant noodles inside. Anyway, they wouldn''t go to waste. Even if they didn''t like a particular flavor, someone else was bound to love it. Sadly, like before, their purchase limits were like everyone else''s so they couldn''t take too much. The group continued on to other products, adding more and more to their carts that were already filled. Troy took two more, for him and Brenda. As they shopped, the aborigines watched the people around gush about the products and couldn''t help but feel amused and curious. As they did so, none of them lost in buying a bit of everything. And oddly enough, they also felt pride. These were all made by their Lord. All these things were only available in their territory¡­ "How interesting¡­ I''m really looking forward to what appears after this¡­" Brenda mumbled, as she looked around the avid shoppers with a smile. Troy, who had been watching her reactions, grinned in turn. He happened to have a team mate who worked in the factory. He signed an NDA, but he could still guess quite a few things! "If you think the food we made so far is delicious, then I can tell you you haven''t seen anything yet!" Sure enough, they soon headed to the seasoning section. Here, there were new selections that made people cheer. Not only were there the previous varieties of sauces and spices, but there were also familiar ones from back home! "Soy sauce?!" "Vinegar?" "Chili!!!" "READY MIXES!!" This was mostly the credit of the factory people and Althea''s handy tablet. This also made the restaurant and food stall owners look like they were having orgasm. As for the salt, she just discovered it and was ongoing processing. She planned to release it after a few days. It would be great if there was sugar, too. But for now they could only settle with glucose from fruits. She watched the people excitedly buy as much as allowable, especially those shop and stall owners. There were also other cooking essentials like vegetable oils, so now they no longer had to settle with the subpar oil from monster meats! Speaking of meats, raw meat in the supermarket was unavailable until refrigeration could be done. Anyway, there was no shortage of monsters outside. This would also be another avenue for the residents to earn money. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In another section of the supermarket, people were also cheering at the sight of familiar Terran Fruits and vegetables. "Tomatoes?" "Peanuts?" "S-strawberries??" "How?!" "It''s amazing!" To think they''d find Terran produce! It was like they never left!!! Everyone had excited smiles on their faces as they shopped galore, filling their cart up with what they could. Meanwhile, on the second floor, there were only two offerings at this time, as the others were still under development. However, they were no less loved than the products below. One half offered the various products by Baron''s team like wood products, leather products, and others. Of course, they were sold at slightly higher prices than their own store, but people still bought it. After all, who would want to walk a kilometer when you have everything else here? And the other one made some mothers cry. "Fabric!" Hemp and Cotton cloth, though mostly hemp, with cotton costing ten times due to its current lack of raw materials. There were a number of colors to choose from. First, the natural colors of dirty white for cotton, and peach for hemps. Then there was the ochre color which varied with the shade of yellow and red, depending on the iron content of the material. Finally, there was carbon black, traditionally produced by burning organic material, but the team was looking for alternatives. As for the other colors, aside from assigning a team dedicated to it, Althea was also planning on creating exploration teams needed to find mineral deposits and the like. But for now, these were more than enough. And this was evident at the tearing eyes of many citizens. It had been over almost twenty days since the Migration. Their clothings had long been damaged by attacks and the environment. It got to the point that having a few holes in their clothing was fashionable! Now that they could finally get a few new ones¡­ how could they not feel a bit teary? ¡­although they don''t really know how to make clothes. But they believed in other people''s skills! However, someone still voiced this concern after a while. "Are there no ready-made clothes?" At this, the assigned Clerk smiled and explained. "Our company had already partnered with a number of cloth makers, who would be producing the end product for the territory. "There will be a clothings stores along the main avenue. They will open once the production of fabric stabilizes." Everyone''s hearts lifted. They didn''t know how it was in other territories, but they knew for sure they''re living the good life now. Not only could they eat well, they could also sleep well. They could do what they wanted without fearing for their lives every day. They could willingly go outside to get stronger, and yet without fearing death every time they step out the gates. And now¡­, they could also dress well. Their spirits couldn''t help but get lifted even more at an exciting thought. Who knew what things would be available next! The sense of dread towards the unknown slowly ebbed down, even for those who had just arrived. They couldn''t help but look forward for the next day. Chapter 203 - 203: Celebratory Dinner (Part 1) That night, Althea called the NPCs and her inner circle to the second floor for a little behind-the-scenes celebration. She knew how hard these people worked to get the supermarket going within a few days. After all, every single one of the products was produced from its raw materials. Just the processing itself was no simple task. This was all done with limited technology and in such a short period of time. Even in Terran, this could be said to be a miraculous feat. She wanted her people to know that she appreciated their hard work and celebrate the end product with them. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, this dinner was not just to celebrate the opening of the supermarket. It was the fact that the completion of the supermarket in and of itself was a sign of the development of the entire territory. How many industries, how many more shops, how many jobs would be generated after this? How much wider would the product selections be? How many more food types would people be able to choose from? How nice would it be for the people hunting outside and the people guarding the territory to go back home and eat their hearts out? Wouldn''t they work even harder? More passionate about protecting their good lifestyles? The building of the supermarket could be said to be the cementation of a promising future. This ought to be celebrated, no? Hence, later after the sunset, Althea smuggled Ansel and the others to the second floor through the warehouse door. "Wow¡­ you do this every time you summon an NPC??" Sheila couldn''t help but ask. She also asked this in a whispery voice by instinct, looking very shifty, as if people could still find them so near the warehouse. Except for Ansel, it was everyone''s first time sneaking around like this, so they were naturally¡­ not very cool. Anyway, it was quite a fun experience. The children were even giggling and poking at each other. It was as if they were playing hide-and-seek with the entire territory. "Well, I can teleport directly to the warehouse, so it''s not as troublesome." "Oh, right." Sheila nodded, relieved. She then turned to the children happily covering their mouths as if no one would hear their bubbly giggles. She shook her head with a smile on her own face. In contrast with their sneaking around, the NPCs went directly via the village center. Many people were curious but shrugged in the end. They heard the NPCs had an exclusive hangout there. They were quite curious, but it had nothing to do with them. As for the Aborigines climbing up the steps, they really didn''t know what to expect. It was just that they found themselves a bit excited nevertheless. Soon the aborigines and the gang entered the second floor, and they were surprised by the changes. Althea had commissioned Bianca and a few interior designers (temporarily allowed access and hired by the ''territory'', with accompanying signed NDAs) to improve the furnishing of the second floor from sleek to gorgeous, and much more complete. There were now a few more couches¡ªvery plush and comfortable to look at¡ªand a matching coffee table in front of it. There were also meeting and dining tables, drawers, and bookshelves (though empty, for now) located in strategic places. The walls were adorned with a tasteful combination of vintage artwork (done by an artist via charcoal medium¡ªthe literal kind) and figurines (sculpted by Bianca and her team of artisans), creating a sense of nostalgia and curiosity. The partitions, made of a combination of wood and painted hemp fabric, delineated each area without enclosing them completely. The furniture themselves were intricately carved and very anthropomorphic, and the fabrics of the furniture and the carpets were made of soft monster fur. Someone went over to touch it. It was extremely comfortable. And the furniture¡­ they weren''t sure if it was just their imagination, but just looking at them relaxed them. In fact, they weren''t wrong. There were actually two people who had awakened the life occupation of Woodcarver during this time, both of whom were in Baron''s team, and they did the special room justice. Not only were the products of these two gorgeous, but they also had the sublime effect of slowly increasing spirit the longer people stayed inside. There was also a set of plush armchairs and a side table next to the window, where the users could look down and see the bustle of the public square and parks below. The entire room was quaint, inviting, and warm. It offered a cozy and serene atmosphere that invited those who saw to relax and appreciate the surroundings. At the moment though, the most distracting part of the room was the largest circular table filled with a wide array of food. Each and every one attacked all their senses, making them want to sit down. It was adorned with a feast of mouthwatering delights, and everyone''s stomach bugs were successfully stimulated. Especially, Harold, who knew most about food, and he immediately made a commentary. "A bruschetta for the appetizer! It uses Terran tomatoes, a local alternative for basil, and rich olive oil that had just been extracted! He then looked at the plate next to it, "Then there are the Cucumber and Meat rolls, with sweet and sour sauce¡ªassembled with elegance, offering a refreshing touch." Moving further along were varieties of salads and viands. Each bite looked very colorful and flavorful. Harold made sure to narrate in a very, very, detailed manner so it was like the food was asking them to sit down already and eat them up. They gulped. The main dishes were gugu birds with golden skin, succulent and gorgeous, as well as Stormdoer tenderloin, cooked to perfection and adorned with a savory crust of local herbs. They gulped again. Finally, there was the dessert dazzling with decadence. Because there was no sugar yet, and Terran fruits had yet to bloom, every dessert was made with local fruits. However, they were handled with such delicacy one would think it was made of fruits from the gods. For example, the Gouji fruit one could see everywhere was carved into interesting shapes like apples and an unfamiliar bird species (which Harold would call a swan later on). The fruits were arranged with different fruits, creating an interesting palette of colors, and creating a work of art. The food was prepared by the private chef Cooke, with every food an absolute treat and had an effect of increasing life and spirit. The aborigines couldn''t help but look at each other with complex emotions. Did the Lord prepare this¡­ for them? Chapter 204 - 204: Celebratory Dinner (Part 2) "Whoa¡­" Ansel commented, breaking the NPCs daze. "This is pretty impressive!" Althea watched everyone''s reaction with a smile. Safe to say, they quite liked her surprise. "Sit down," She told them, going to the table herself. On her signal, everyone quickly went to their seats, trying to stop themselves from drilling openly. Althea also took out the few jugs of wine from her space, placing them on the table. She uncorked it and let the aroma whiff out, making all adults drool. She had prepared these a few days back and buried them under the garden (as system fields also had the added effect of hastening fermentation). Now was the perfect time to finally taste it! "Yes! I finally get to taste your wine again!" Ansel said, rubbing his palms together and looking like a deprived alcoholic. He extended his claws to the jars and it earned him a soft knuckle on the head instead. "Ouch!" "Behave." "Yes, sister." Everyone chuckled at the interaction, though their eyes quickly gravitated back to the sumptuous plates in front of them. The people tried to control their drooling, though to minimal effect, and for a moment Althea didn''t want to make her speech. What if they didn''t listen to her and stared at the food instead? In the end, with a bit of worry in her head, she still stood up on the small elevated platform at the corner of the room. Fortunately, they had the tact to focus their attention on her and not on the table. Heaving a deep breath, she began to speak. "First of all, I would like to thank and congratulate everyone for a job well done," She smiled at them, very gently, to the point they blushed. "Tonight we celebrate, not only the successful opening of the supermarket, but also to celebrate what it represents: A better territory. "This could not have been achieved¡ªespecially not so quickly¡ªwithout you guys. So, thank you." The small crowd shook their heads, feeling very shy. This was especially true for the aborigines who were unused to getting compliments from nobles. The status of the Lord had always been so high, they were just doing their job, how dare they accept such deep compliments without tact? "Today I''m awarding each of you with 5000 contribution points." She said, "It may not have much impact to you now, as you are either already residents or hired individuals, but eventually we will be opening shops specifically circulating only contribution points. "Contribution points could also be used to purchase what money could, but with larger values. By that time, it would be helpful to you." "T-there is no need to explain my Lord, we are already very honored," Lenny said, very embarrassed. She had only helped with the dyeing of the cloth, not nearly as important as the contribution of the others. Rowan and Betty also spoke out. They barely helped. "We wouldn''t have been able to develop our thoughts so carefree without the help of the guards and the clinic. "How could people work on these luxuries if we still struggled with our safety and health? Don''t underestimate your value. "Credit must be given where it''s due." She paused, eyes staying on certain people in particular. "In line with this, I would like to call out Brenda, Eugene, and Oslo for their especially huge contribution to the many successes not only in the supermarket, but also in the territory." Speaking of, these three barely had any sleep the past week, their eye bags were as large as their eyes themselves. It was Oslo who spoke this time. "Your supplements were of much help milord." He said, and he wasn''t even being a boot-licker. He was still amazed at the potions that came out of the Lord''s hands. It was even more amazing than the mixtures he was used to. Coming from him, as someone who was born and raised in a city, this was a very big feat. "No, your works have been indispensable to the current beauty of Altera." She said, looking at them with a large smile. "Thank you." Rowan and the others felt a little teary, hearts filled with accomplishment and warmth. They had never been so¡­ acknowledged before. Most nobles they knew were extremely entitled. Everything that went well must have something to do with their existence. They would never take a second look at them, the mere servants. "The three of you, Eugene, Oslo, and Brenda have especially worked hard. I will give you another 2000 contribution points and a bonus of 100 gold." sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She manifested the gold, placed in intricate boxes, and handed them to each of the three. Oslo actually grew up with a golden spoon, never lacking money, but these 100 gold felt extremely beautiful at the moment. "You don''t have to, my Lord," Brenda spoke up. "I¡­ my professional level which had been stagnant moved." She said, feeling guilty for taking such an advantage. If anything, she should be paying the lord instead! "It is the same with me," Clutch said, and the others nodded in agreement. It was really difficult to accept this with an open heart! They felt like they owed the lord way too much! Althea''s eyebrows rose, interested in the so-called improvements. Instead of claiming credit, she thought of what else they could do for the territory and was looking forward to their surprises. "Well, then, I''m looking forward to what more you can offer Altera." They stared at her for a while, absorbing, and when they understood what she meant their hearts that had been filled up to the brim, overflowed. Renewed strength and inspiration filled their hearts, and they stood up, bowing at an angle, showing the greatest respect. "Yes, milord!" Such a kind Lord and her people, along with their novel ideas and beliefs had unknowingly crept up their hearts and affected their very being. It had not even been a month but, truly, their previous lives felt like a lifetime away. Thinking about it now, they had no doubts: Accepting the job offer from this territory was the best decision they ever made. Chapter 205 - 205: The Summoning Circle The celebratory dinner ended a bit over an hour later. Only Ansel and Althea remained on the floor, with Sheila and the others sneaking through the warehouse''s back door. They still had plenty of things to discuss after all. Now alone in the beautifully designed lounge, the two siblings sat relaxedly by the coffee table. They were having tea to help them digest the marvelous meal they just had. Today they were Ginger-sagada tea, the local alternative to ginger mint tea, which was a soothing blend and was great to drink for a hungover. The tea was a steaming and fragrant infusion of the two plants and a few more flowers, and it permeated the room with pleasing warmth. "Ah, this is the life~~" Ansel said, lounging about the large sofa in the room. He just had the most wonderful wine he had in a while, and now he was chilling with minty tea. There wasn''t much actually, regrettably not enough to get him drunk, but he could take what he could get. Speaking of the drink, he couldn''t help but recall the faces of the Aborigines when they took a sip of Althea''s special wine. He could''ve sworn their souls left their bodies for a moment. "The Aborigines are really quite interesting.." He said, "Very amusing to watch, especially when they''re exposed to our things in Terran." "Well, they are indeed quite fun," She said, "And surprisingly quite sincere." Ansel couldn''t help but recall how they were during the party, and how they were near tears with so little, exacerbated by the wonderful alcohol they were having. "They definitely fell in love with the territory, Althea. You''re amazing." Ansel said, pausing, looking out the window, and staring at one of the strange moons of this world. "I have a hunch they''d be of great help with our assimilation with¡­ the outside world." Althea nodded, agreeing. The outside world, from the aborigines'' words alone, was obviously a large and dangerous place, much more than what they had encountered so far. However, the unknown also presented a lot of opportunities, so Althea was bent on making her territory benefit from the opening or transition from the Protective Period, rather than fear its disappearance. One of the ways to do this with the least risk was to have good NPCs, especially with the system assurance that they could not do any harm to the territory, even if they wanted to, and even if they were no longer associated with it. "I hope I get a good one today." She said with a hint of prayer. She would be taking Ansel to the NPC summoning today, hoping to get a decent hire. The past few days there had been regrettably no decent NPC options to choose from, and it was such a pity, whichever one it was that she had hired, they were all so helpful. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She had no doubt that the territory and its people wouldn''t have grown to such a degree so quickly if they weren''t there to guide them. With a bit of hope, Althea climbed to the summoning platform and paid the required silver for summoning. Unfortunately, her luck still wasn''t very good. One was a book boy (though he looked like in his thirties. Should it be called a bookman instead?). His job description was literally just to carry books and other basic personal assistant tasks like cleaning up after their master. His tagline was ''I clean up all the messes of my boss, no matter how dirty'' Another was yet another woman with a questionable job description. This one was still wearing revealing clothing¡ªwhich was actually not that common even with women of the same job¡ªand she could see over half the woman''s breasts. She gave Ansel a furtive glance, curious about his reaction, and he was offended she was watching his reaction at all! "I don''t play with those things!" "Okay, sure." "Hey!" Althea shrugged and ignored him, activating her final slot for the day. It was a cleaner. Specifically, a feces cleaner, because most territories didn''t really do hygiene facilities at all. "Still none today, it seemed¡­" she sighed with regret. Ansel, a born businessman, thought a bit differently. "Well, it probably meant that most professionals don''t choose to get hired this way. At least not to our small villages." Althea paused. Then after thinking about it, she nodded. It made sense. The NPCs had told her professionals were rare. They were most likely in demand in territories much better than mere villages. Then¡­ why would Oslo and the others choose to get hired in her little village? Althea couldn''t help but think more of the NPCs that were in the territory. To accept getting hired in a village¡ªand she was still a Level 1 village at the time¡ªthere must have been other reasons for them to end up here, rather than them just looking for a job. As she mused the intricacies of it all, she couldn''t help but overhear Ansel''s mumbling. She ended up watching him enter a soliloquy. Ansel at this time was walking around the summoning circle, fascinated, droning on about the magic and how cool it was. "This is a real magical technology. Summoning people from somewhere to here¡­" He paused, seriously pondering. "I wonder who''s¡­ in charge of all this?" This statement made Althea pause. A part of her probably thought subconsciously, due to the game elements, that this was a bit like a game. It was why most of them referred to the aborigines as NPCs¡ªsubconsciously lightening up all these tragedies by likening them to games. She forgot that every function probably had a force behind it. These magical buildings and their functions¡­ who developed them? Was there some organization that controlled them? Were all these¡ªwhether it was NPC hiring or the building of structures¡ªbeing overseen and managed by a certain force? Or maybe multiple? Perhaps, they even had different departments. How¡­ interesting, she thought, but she did not dwell on it. She''d just ask Oslo in case he knew, and if he didn''t¡­ well, it didn''t matter. She had too many things on her plate at the moment, anyway. She would just do her best with what she had and, hopefully, that would be enough. Chapter 206 - 206: NPCs Meanwhile, as the siblings were making sense of the world, the aborigines were heading back to their respective abodes with warm hearts and large smiles on their faces. Clutch went back to his home with a full stomach, entering his home''s threshold with a smile on his face. "Something good happened today, I see." A voice sounded and he looked up to see his neighbors, new guards Joe and Lee standing by the stairs to their unit, observing him with curious smiles. Clutch grinned, "Well, the l¡ªthe territory sent us rewards and bonuses. So I am quite happy." "Oh? Tell us!" The two said, arriving next to him, like the gossipy men that they were. The three chatted for several minutes before he was finally released to get back to his precious unit. His unit was located among the first communities to be built. It was something that the lord called ''employee benefit'' and each of them was allowed to use a full floor to themselves. The Lord said, if they contributed well for a year, their respective units would be theirs, even if they didn''t become permanent residents. This was a very very attractive offer to anyone, especially for him. He had never lived amply. His whole life, he had hovered over the line of barely getting through to outright poverty. But after years of hard work, things finally got better for him. This was because when he was in his late 40s, he finally triggered the life occupation. Of course, because he was late to exhibit, it meant that his talent was barely passable. Towns were more likely to pass him over in favor of younger talent with greater potential. He didn''t even try to apply to towns. He chose to apply to villages directly. However, professional or not, working in a village would never have gotten him rich. He didn''t think he''d own such a house in his lifetime. And it was such a good house, too. To be honest, even when he was serving those nobles back when he was a servant boy, he had never seen such a nice house. Sure, the houses of nobles were large and magnificent, but did they have comfortable bathrooms? Could they cook without wood? S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, Clutch went to bed very comfortably, using the new pillow he bought from the supermarket. ''Ah, so nice'', he mused, easily lulled to sleep by the comfort, soon to have very good dreams. ¡­ Oslo was lying on his bed, now adorned with the so-called cotton materials, looking at the ceiling. In his hand was still the gold he received from the lord. This was technically the first gold he had ever earned. Oslo was born with a golden spoon and was sent far from the family to hone him. After all, he was already in his late 30s (still a young lad, in his opinion, with his lifespan and all) but he had yet to reach level 30. Moreover, his professional level was stuck at D for a decade. By the standards of his family, this was extremely inferior. Who told him to be so fun-loving? There were so many interesting things and people in the world, how could he have the time to study? So...he was sent to the Chancery of Appointments to find him a harsh job for training. They also set his option to villages only. The problem was, most villages couldn''t afford the rate of D-level Elemental employees. So it took him a while to get hired. He dated three girlfriends while he was waiting. Eventually, to his chagrin, he did get hired. He didn''t have any good expectations about a little village and thought he''d just charm his way from doing anything that was a hassle. Who''d have known he''d be so surprised? He thought he would never help beyond his job description, but their marvel ideas and lovable personalities reached his heart. He felt that the amount of ''overtime'' he had done the past week was more than the total time he spent working before coming here. It was tiring, but he''d do it all over again if he had to. More importantly, he had learned more in a few weeks than he could after years in other places. It was amazing. He learned that certain materials could be combined, he learned that certain rooms could have multiple functions, he learned that simple could also mean beautiful, and so much more. And the lord here¡ªOslo paused as her smiling face flashed inside his head¡ªwas incredibly lovely. He really liked it here. ¡­ Rowan was practicing his sword in the backyard. Under the light of the two moons, he diligently honed the slashes, parries, and techniques he learned as a professional. He then recalled the new moves he learned during his stay, combining them with what he learned, and even combining them with the innovations on his elements. If there were others watching him, they would''ve enjoyed the view. As a level D swordsman in his late twenties, he was still considered a talent in his town and was quite popular back then. It was also because of this that someone had purged all his means to bind him in an application exclusive to villages. But he had been training with Drake and the others the past few weeks. Although his level naturally remained stagnant as he couldn''t gain experiences from such weak monsters, he had felt a great improvement in his knowledge nevertheless. Even his elements showed improvements due to their suggestions. This was amazing because no one in the village had awakened their own elements yet. He didn''t know certain types of oil could increase his power so much. He didn''t know that certain types of "fuels" could prolong it. There were even some techniques and combinations of chemicals that turned his red fire into a stronger blue one. How did they know so much when they obviously didn''t know about the elements? In any case, he knew it wouldn''t take long for him to upgrade to C. Those people must not have expected it! He smirked, looking forward to the day he would see the look on their faces when they saw his growth. Chapter 207 - 207: The Women of Xeno (Part 1) [12 days of Protection Period] Weapons Shop. "What do you think of this, master?" Troy asked, shyly showing her a detailed drawing of a small weapon. It was similar to a crossbow, but hidden inside one''s sleeves. It was perfect for assassination. Her eyes brightened at the design, "Amazing, Troy!" "It''s nothing, I just take some knowledge from my hometown." "Well it''s nothing if you can''t translate it, so don''t underestimate your goodness." She told him, but too shy to look him in the eye. "I heard you bought a house?" Troy received a lot of contribution points for his crossbows and polybolos. Although someone out there owned the patent rights and he had to give up some of his shares, he still earned the majority of the earnings of his own production. He was now one of the few people with the much sought-after permanent residency. "Well, yes. I''m paying for the downpayment." Troy mumbled, scratching his chin in embarrassment and a little smugness. In his culture, owning a house equated to stability, making him very marriage-worthy. He couldn''t help but send the girl in front of him a furtive glance, before joining her in work-related chatters. They talked for a while before finally working on the draft. Brenda was a weapons maker and she had the skill that could immediately understand the inner workings and mechanics of simple weapons. Although he didn''t know why indigenous people here didn''t already make these weapons with these skills, he was happy to contribute. Anyway, this allowed Brenda to give constructive inputs in the design, making the blind-hit processes Troy was committing a lot more efficient. Troy gaped and was not stingy with his compliments, turning Brenda red. Her heart couldn''t stop beating at the sight of his sincerely admiring face. There was always something special about this bubbly man. He was always so¡­ happy and smiling. His eyes also never lingered on the small scar on the side of her face. This had never happened before. In Xeno, to become a desirable but respected woman, you must either be very beautiful with a high noble status, or a beautiful woman with great strength or skill. Because she was a woman with a man''s occupation, coupled with her scar, she was deemed an undesirable woman by everyone. Her previous lover ended their relationship right after she had this scar. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. More importantly, Troy truly admired her for her skills. And this meant more than anything else. Looking at how things were going for her, Brenda couldn''t help but think fate was really mysterious. Back then, when she got to the Chancery of Appointments, she did not even bother filling up requirements higher than a village. Who knew¡­ the village that''d pick her would be so good? ¡­ Clinic. The beautiful Betty sauntered from patient to patient, checking on their status. The morning light hit her beautiful face and golden hair, mesmerizing a lot of men. She changed the cover of the wounded that her busy assistants hadn''t done yet, admiring the material as she did so. It was now using a special plant-based gauze the lord created and applied herself. This was in contrast to the type they had been using more often, which were gauzes made by the factory. The formulation was also by the lord, but they were naturally less effective than the ones made by the lord herself. However, the lord did give them a couple of rolls of gauze she made herself for emergencies but, otherwise, they use the ones made by the factory. Do not underestimate the quality of the latter though, it was still much better than what she encountered in the city. This gauze could not only protect wounds but also had the effect of hastening wound healing. It was amazing and she, as a healer for many years, had never seen it before. It was just that she had heard that this particular patient was a close friend of the Lord (or rather, her brother''s), and hence had the honor of experiencing the special product. It was also quite expensive so she was not stingy with her charging. Fortunately, the people could choose to pay on credit, which was in turn monitored by the system. This time, she was taking off the gauze on the wound of the handsome young patient. When she took it off, the wound had been completely healed. "Sister, you''re amazing!" The patient''s twin said, eyes filled with admiration. "My brother was healed so quickly!" Betty smiled. "Well, much of it was due to this special gauze." "The expensive gauze you mentioned before," Luke mumbled. He heard a small bolt cost a dozen silver. Fortunately, Ansel passed by and gave him a bolt otherwise they''d be in debt like many others. "Well, it is said that cheaper gauze, with lesser effect, will be made commercially available soon." Betty paused and smiled, "Of course, I hope you never have to use it." Luke was mesmerized by her smile, staring at her with eyes filled with admiration. She was just his type: pretty and gentle, fit for his strong self. "You''re so pretty. Are you single?" Betty blinked, taken aback by the question, but she let out a chime-like laugh in response. "How old are you?" "I''m 19!" Betty smiled and, looking at the other men eavesdropping in curiosity, chose to tell them some facts. Because she had a decent level, she was also in her level 20 in her late 30s, she looked much younger. Nineteen¡­ was half her age. "Well, I''m 38." Silence ensued in the clinic. "I couldn''t tell!!" Luke exclaimed, his simple mind allowed him to react quickly. She was the same age as his mother. Suddenly, he remembered his still missing mother and felt sad. "Oh my, what''s wrong?" Betty asked worriedly. Did she somehow break him? "You are the same age as my mother." He said shoulders slumped, looking like a sad puppy. "We couldn''t find her yet¡­ "You just look so young¡­" Betty''s heart softened. "I''m sure she''s fine. Having two strong sons like you two, she is probably a strong woman herself." Luke nodded, while Leo watched on with interest, though also feeling worried for their mum. Soon, optimistic simple-minded Luke recovered and stared at Betty with admiration. "You really look young though, sister!" "Well, I entered level 20 in my 20s, so I aged slower at that point." "You''re level 20?!" He gasped, as did everyone else who was listening in. He was level 4, and he had been so proud of it, too! And also¡­ "You age slower?" Betty knew the Lord and her people seemed to lack some common sense here. "The average lifespan of professionals level 10 and below is unlikely to exceed 100. "But when one reaches 20, people could receive 50 to 100 more years." The twins looked at each other and then looked at their pitiful level 4. They thought they were already above average because they were nearing the peak of the level soon. Who knew even the most unassuming woman they met here was at level 20!! She wasn''t even a combat type right? They really must get stronger! So embarrassing!! Chapter 208 - 208: The Women of Xeno (Part 2) After a long time of small talk, the twins finally got checked out and said goodbye to her, as well as the people they knew still in the clinic. Betty watched the twins leave with a bit of melancholy. When she was in the city, she was also quite popular. She also reached a rare level 20 for a woman and was also a rare healer. She had suitors lining up. While she thought it was fine at first, in retrospect it was really suffocating. Every move was watched, every move was gossiped about, and nearly all her movements were limited. Not to mention, even if she was skilled, she was still a woman in the end. The men had taken for granted that she would at least accept some of their advances. It was incredibly discouraging. Why did she work so hard if she still had to pander after others, even to weaker men? It was probably why when one of her rivals¡ªpartnering with a man she rejected¡ªpulled some strings to enter her into a bad job placement contract, she didn''t fight too hard. It had been a few years since she started in these smaller places, and the previous ones were not much better than cities in terms of politics. However, she was safe, sound, and highly respected because of her level and skills, so no one dared to slight her. However, she never stayed in a place for more than three months. There were many reasons for this. Some of the small towns and villages she''d been to had been breached or lost in wars, while some she volunteered to leave because of politics, others were simply not worth her stay. But now¡­ She walked back to her patients with a smile. No regrets. ¡­ Lenny stared at the new factory and machines in front of her with amazement in her usually dull eyes. About a dozen machines her height formed a line, and all around her she could hear the rhythmic hum of diligent workers working to and fro to produce the fabric she loved. Teams of artisans and laborers seamlessly moved about, creating lovely end products soon to be turned into works of art. No, Lenny thought, this process itself was an art. The air thick with a sweeter scent¡ªit was cotton, they said¡ªgreeted her nostrils. There were rivers of white clouds on one side. Bunch by bunch, they were processed by specialized artisans, soon transforming into comfortable cloth that people could wear. It was fascinating. From what she gathered, the people here somehow redirected part of the river to make use of so-called water wheels that helped with many of the contraptions. Speaking of contraptions¡ªin the heart of the factory stood massive looms, domineering but also reassuring. She gently watched as their shuttles darted through warp and weft, weaving the threads together with precision. There was also a group of people in charge of dyeing or coloring, their heads often looking over cauldrons of color to check on their quality and consistency. She had seen the end products in the supermarket and it never failed to amaze her even if it wasn''t the first time she watched them. It was not the first time she had been here¡ªshe had been here every day since she was hired¡ªbut the carding and spinning of the fibers, the meticulous weaving and dyeing of the cloth, and the entire process never failed to amaze her. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Lost in the beauty of the process, her mind churned with ideas, envisioning garments that even nobles would love. She slowly walked around the factory, eyes perusing the machines, trying to absorb their greatness with interest. She still remembered the day when the newly hired workers arrived. There were about a dozen women and a few men. That sight alone was rare for Lenny. Even in her field, it was usually dominated by men like everything else was. But here there was no difference. People just did what they did well. They greeted her enthusiastically. Because it was known she was an NPC¡ªwhatever it meant¡ªwho was working for the territory in a unique setup. Through the system, the territory announced that the public statement was that she would be her own entity and create a business in her own name and in a partnership with Ms. Althea. The difference was that the private individual would only have to pay a certain amount of tax in exchange. This made the people especially curious about her. Anyway, greeting them with newfound friendliness, Lenny continued on her way around the factory. The building was divided into four production lines. The first two processed the raw materials (cotton and hemp, they called them). The third one was the weaving into cloth, which fascinated her very much. While she waited for enough batches of cloth, she went to the fourth production line¡ªactual sewing¡ªwhich was her absolute love. The leader of this team was a woman named Jona, a kind woman who generously taught her team and her how to use the tools and several types of techniques, many of which were unfamiliar to her. This came as a big surprise. How many people had to work sweat and blood before learning specialized knowledge from someone? However, she saw that no one was as shocked as she had been, so she didn''t speak out. Lenny simply took this gratitude to heart and swore to help the other woman out in some other way. As they learned, they chatted, and she learned about the wonderful place these people had called home. Slowly, the life that had its vitality stolen when her son died, gradually healed. When her son died, she needed a place to escape, far away from the city she lived in. Villages were the farthest from cities, so she set her ideal destination as such. For years, she went from village to village, eventually numbing the pain. She thought it would be like this until she finally stopped breathing. And on her son''s tenth year of death, she was hired by a unique place. She did not even notice the time as they worked, they had already completed hundreds of bolts. Then she heard a bell and saw people stopped working. "Where¡­ are you going?" "Work hours are over~" "What?" People knew she was not from Terran and had an idea of the work culture in this place through the NPCs. Apparently, the aborigines often had to work until late at night, but the sun had barely even left the sky now, so they could understand the confusion. "We have a standard 10-hour work hours here, including break time. Any more will be as needed and we will get additional pay." Lenny''s dazed self was pulled out of the production line and out to the paved road outside. There, she saw the woodworking factory people and they greeted them amicably. "We''re going to the marketplace!" "There''s an event~" "Come, come with us~" "There''s an event in the marketplace! Fable would be performing later tonight. "Let''s eat our hearts out!!" Bianca said with a sunny smile, pulling her hand. She was a little startled, but she¡­ she didn''t pull it back. Soon, they encountered another group on the road. Lenny''s usually-dull eyes met with Brenda and Betty''s. No words needed to be said and the women smiled at each other, knowing what the others were thinking. They found it¡­ A place they could be themselves. Chapter 209 - 209: Inter-territory Connection (Part 1) That night. While most people had gone to the nightlife event¡ªsomething suggested by Ansel¡ªAlthea was at home bonding with her children. She had never been fond of the nightlife, especially not now that she had children. On the other hand, Sheila, Harold, and even Eugene were pulled in by their work teams. Althea had asked them to take some profit from the shops and treat the staff, as a belated celebration for the opening of many of her shops. The children were already in their bedrooms at this time, and though Maya had tried very hard to come with the adults, a little bedtime story got her snoring within a few minutes. Her babies though, were still full of energy because they had a good nap earlier in the day. But it was fine. She wanted to spend more time with them, anyway. She watched smilingly as her son rolled around the cot while her daughter tried endlessly to reach for the ceiling. "Silly babies¡­" she said with a chuckle. "I wonder where they got it from." A new voice sounded behind her, and she turned her head to see a warmly smiling Ansel, who rested his weight against the door jamb. It had probably been a while since he started watching them. "You''re already here?" Althea asked, surprised. He was the one who was organizing the event after all. "It''s all set up," Ansel said with a shrug, sitting down next to her on the carpeted floor. "I found I''ve grown out of that phase." He said, shrugging. Though he really had his fun and women, nothing beats a relaxing night at home with family. He had already lost too many loved ones, and he had long left that phase of his life. He turned to look at the utterly adorable babies on the cot, and he couldn''t help but poke the nearby Meatball''s chubby cheeks. "Mngwwaa" Little Meatball babbled, drooling, his cute eyebrows furrowed a bit. "Yes, I think you''re handsome too." Althea laughed. "Well, it''s good that you thought of a party though. Everyone needed a good place to just¡­ let it go. Safely and in a fun way." "Well, citizen happiness is also important in those infrastructure games I used to play." He said, winking, and Althea giggled again. Ansel smiled as he turned his attention back to the babies, and they played who rolled better and other tiring (dizzying) games until they fell asleep. Very proud of ''lulling'' the children to sleep, he turned to look at Althea, who was looking outside the window, deep in thought. The light of the two moons¨Cone reddish, one bluish¡ªcombined to give her face a different sort of illumination. Althea was as beautiful as always. With deep eyes, Ansel settled the babies before standing up and sitting closely beside her. "What''s the matter?" Althea didn''t speak for a while before sighing. "I just got a report from Rowan that the monsters outside are no more than level 3¡ªwhich were relatively uncommon to encounter in the first place. "Even Drake has stagnated to level 5." Next to her, Drake was the strongest Terran. The fact that he stagnated meant that everyone else probably would as well. "I''m worried. I''m worried that the monsters outside would be shockingly strong. What level would the monsters outside be? What level of mobs do we have to face after the protection period?" Ansel couldn''t help but recall the horrors of their first arrival. The lifting of the protection likely meant they would experience that again, maybe even worse. It made his heart drop to his stomach. "The NPCs¡­ they''re all at least level 15, and they had no haughtiness in them at all. Like, it was a normal level at their age." Ansel frowned. This was, indeed, worrisome. "I am wondering how to further increase our level before the Protection Period ends." Although the guards have been hunting around, she received reports that most of the mobs were level 1s and 2s. "Such weak mobs are not conducive to their level-up. A lot of people have stagnated." She, herself, didn''t even bother going out anymore. She would just tire herself for a little experience. Ansel looked at her in amusement. She was worrying about this issue so much. While correct and valid, he knew other territories were still worrying about how to deal with the current mobs. If other territories heard her concerns, they would definitely band together and hate on her. He sighed and stretched his hands in the air, placing them behind his back. "Even if the highest level is level 3, I wonder if there''s a way to call a mob of them." At least, they could upgrade by quantity. It was better than nothing. . . However, just as he said this, the light of idea simultaneously passed through their heads. They paused and looked at each other. It seemed¡­ that there really was a way to get these beasts to attack her? A Beast Tide. The one that came with an upgrade. Althea paused. It seemed she still had to aim to level up, after all. She opened her Lord tab and looked closely at the territory Stats. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 1002 (188 permanent, 814 temporary) Total Population: 1997 Base Resources: Wood: 9500/10000 Stone: 8200/8000 Money: 15591 Gold, 112963 Silver, 469497 copper Reputation: 110 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2) , Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv1) , Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] There was no indicator of what population needed to upgrade. However, based on some stories from the NPCs as well as the requirements of the previous upgrade, she could surmise that it was probably 1000 residents and around 3000 fixed population for 3 consecutive days. If so, then although the number of residents had met the standard, the population itself still lacked a thousand. "The problem is that our location is quite far from others. We were also established quite late, most people had already settled in the nearest territories by the time we were built." Althea then looked at Ansel and finally spoke about an issue she had been ruminating about for a while. "I have something I want to try, but I''ll need your assistance on this." Ansel straightened up. Will he finally be able to help? S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She nodded. Ansel was among the first group of newcomers who were not really refugees, but rather immigrants from other territories. This inspired her on what she could do next. Anyway, from what she heard, a lot of these territories weren''t very good. "Tell me!" Ansel said, a little antsy, and she smiled slyly at him. "Since people have already settled down¡­," She paused, "Then we''ll just have to attract them here, won''t we?" Chapter 210 - 210: Inter-territory Connection (Part 2) The siblings discussed for a long time, scheming¡ªer, planning¡ªon increasing the population by a thousand within the next few days. To facilitate the planning, Althea taught Ansel the Tagging technology of this continent, which amazed the latter very much. "So convenient," He said, awed, eyes staying on the various points on his map. Although Bull taught him how to exchange maps before, he didn''t know he could ''save coordinates'' and send it to others. In contrast with just the maps, the tagging system could assist directionally as well. This was actually more helpful to him, someone who didn''t have a stellar sense of direction, than just melding maps he may or may not understand. In a game, it was like that arrow that showed up on front of the character and you just had to follow where it was pointing at. "It''s amazing¡ªsome of the things that appeared here." "Indeed." Althea said with some emotion. "While some returned to the ancients, some became more convenient in a way that we couldn''t have had imagined. Very magical." Anyway, the two of them studied the expanded maps with the other territories Ansel had been to, namely: Vismont in the West and Bright in the Southwest. She saw that the straight line distances between both Bright and Vismont actually weren''t far. Vismont was less than 50 km while Bright was a little over this. Considering the terrain, the one-way trip to each one should take no more than a day. Ansel looked at the map with a complicated expression. Judging by the map, he pretty much missed Altera many times during his travels! Like, he took one or two wrong turns and he ended up in the wrong territory! "To think I took weeks to get here," he said, regretful he hadn''t arrived sooner. Maybe he could''ve been there when she was giving birth. Althea smiled at him comfortingly. "Well, if you had, we may have a lot of trouble meeting the requirements, right? "Nothing that happened needed be wasted," Althea said, sounding like an old woman. "Everything had its uses, and everything could be taken advantage of." Ansel stared at her deeply before nodding, patting his chest. "Let me lead this mission, Althea. Well, maybe you can lend me Rowan." Althea nodded, it was her plan anyway. Not only did Ansel know a lot about these territories and their lords, he was also a pretty good representative. Of course, she would still get Mathilda to send some of her officers to handle the diplomacy. However, Althea had always been a forward thinker. She didn''t want the surge of population to be so dependent on an exodus which, especially after the Protection Period, would definitely be more dangerous than it was now. "Other than attracting citizens, I have another task for you." She said, looking at him seriously. Ansel leaned over, very interested in contributing. "Tell me: What do we need to do?" He paused, "I mean other than attracting citizens." Althea traced over some path in her own territorial map¡ªwhich of course Ansel could not see. As Ansel mentioned, although the straight line distance wasn''t that far, the terrain definitely made it impossible to just traverse it so directly. So¡­other than attracting people, she wanted to send out another task. It was to create passive guidance towards the territory. That was: Pathways. Building stone paths would be too much work, for now, with the construction within the territory at full blast. However, clearing a simple trekking path and adding signs would be good enough. She told him of her plans and he nodded in agreement. "In this way, even when we''re not on a mission, more people could get here much easier!" He said, and he couldn''t help but remember his own struggles. If there was a path, he definitely would have taken less than half the time to find this place! Ansel was very excited about this change, as if improving it would make up for the failures of the previous days. "When will we start?" "Soon," She said, opening her Lord Panel. Before doing anything, she filled up the existing lands with housing depending on their zoning. She added more and more dormitories and commercial units. Since the supermarket, every commercial unit had been rented out. This was understandable because the supermarket provided raw materials for various industries to finally start working. There were thousands of people in the territory, each one had their own sets of knowledge to contribute to their Altera. Not to mention, any one with the slightest business sense knew that the sooner they started, the more money they''d make. The demand for stores would also rise up with the imminent surge of population. Hence, she would be building more of the type in the future. She planned to place a grocery store branch in the Western Avenue as well as the luxury areas. As for another supermarket, another building would wait for the next upgrade. The rest of the land was filled with farms and provisions for a few more factories. Satisfied with the maximization of the remaining space, Althea judged that they were now ready. She raised her hand, scheduling several announcements for the next day. ¡­ [11 days of Protection Period] The next day, other than the fact that the land had suddenly ''filled up'', a new announcement made the territory boil. [Territory Mission (A): Clear the Way to Neighbors Completion: Make a simple path to an existing territory Village (Level 2 and above). Minimum Requirement: A team with 70% Level 3 and above. Rewards: 5000 contribution points per team of ten people] [Side Tasks: Bring more people to the territory! S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Reward: 300 contributions per person for direct recruitment. 10-100 points for Indirect recruitment] Most people were still wiping the goo off their eyes when they saw the announcement. Without exception, their backs all straightened up, rereading the contents at least twice before reacting. After doing so, it could be said that all lethargy had been blown away. Oh my goodness! What a way to wake them up! The territory made another big move! Chapter 211 - 211: Preparations (Part 1) It was no exaggeration to say that the announcement got everyone out of their beds. For instance, in the dormitories, a few minutes after daybreak, all public/living areas were filled with teams meeting up. "What do you think?" Crow asked his teammates, eyes fixed on the new announcement. "Shall we join in?" He paused, looking at his teammates, "To Vismont?" Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At his question, Sunny and Dog nodded passionately. "I want to! I want to take meat from that guy!!" Sunny exclaimed, still remembering the humiliation they went through just before leaving. Dog''s fist clenched and raised up as if punching an imaginary Vismont Lord there. "We''ll make them bleed!" The trio looked at each other with sly excited smiles. Who couldn''t tell that the territory was trying to poach people? They would also be saving people with this, so they were technically doing good deeds too! "Let''s buy breakfast while we plan," Crow said, feeling his stomach grumbling a little. Before the announcement was made, they were planning to go shopping for breakfast in the marketplace just before going out of the territory to hunt and level up. It could be said that their stomachs adjusted to Altera''s standards very quickly. Crow still remembered that a few days ago, he could bear a day of hunger without any problems. Now, he was hungry at least thrice a day. He was getting spoiled, he thought. They probably wouldn''t survive in other territories after seeing the goodness of Altera. Hearing the plan for eating, the other two immediately nodded in agreement. And so, the trio headed to the Marketplace in a happy mood, quite looking forward to what they could do to those bastards! As they left the building, however, their feet paused as did the others. They looked around, realizing that the scenery had changed more than a little bit. Sunny tilted her head in wonder, "There seems¡­ to be a few more dormitory buildings????" "Wooowwww¡­" Dog mumbled as his rounded eyes looked and made a mental count. He couldn''t help but laugh as he counted, turning his head to his friends. "The territory''s really targeting a lot of people this time." Crow looked around in a relaxed mood and nodded. "Indeed. And, obviously, the territory will welcome them well." Sunny giggled and clapped her hands, "Now let''s make contributions and help the territory achieve it!" ¡­ The trio went to a random stall (there were so many choices) and waited patiently for their order as they chatted. "Will it be alright though? Is it safe?" Sunny couldn''t help but ask, slightly reconsidering after a bit more thought. "We naturally will be teaming up with the guards for safety reasons. Those Vismont pests don''t have a chance against our guards!" Dog smiled, and then huffed, crossing his arms. "Let''s see how that lord would iron this one out!" Crow nodded, looking forward to it. Then, a wisp of aroma went straight to their noses and to their hearts, completely halting the ongoing conversation. "Here''s your order!" The young girl said with a smile. "Three orders of Yui fruit bread and six orders of Gugu Bird dumplings!" The delicious smell of food wiped away the aggressiveness in them. Suddenly, Sunny was reluctant to leave. "But I want to relax more!" They''ve only been here a few days. Can''t they enjoy it more before heading out to battle again? Dog, who was no less aggressive a second prior, nodded in agreement. Crow looked at these two unstable idiots and rubbed his throbbing temple. "We can do that after we become permanent residents!" The contribution points would allow them several steps closer to this goal. They didn''t even have their own houses and could only live in dorms at the moment. Sure, the dorms were much, much, more comfortable than their lodgings in Vismont, but how could they be satisfied when they watched others steadily improving their lifestyles? How envious they were every time they saw a person or a family ''moving out'' of the dormitories to rent, or maybe even purchase, their own home! The two looked at him pitifully and he rolled his eyes. His sights ended up on the food on their hands, tasty, affordable¡­ ¡­and completely unavailable anywhere else. A flash of inspiration hit his head, and he let out a rare smirk that somewhat scared the other two. "E-ei. You alright bro?" "Crow??" Crow ignored their concerned looks and smiled at them, creeping them out even more. "Actually¡­ won''t we be able to attract more people if they gain a more intuitive understanding of the territory?" He asked them, "That is: We let them know about the resources and lifestyle the territory offers." The two gaped at him, a bit slow, and Crow decided to get to the point. "We could buy some things to sell there, and we would definitely be able to sell for a high price there." The two were in a daze for a while and brightened when they finally absorbed the implications. Genius! In this way, not only would they become permanent residents by virtue of their contribution points, but they could directly buy a house with the money they earned by reselling! Dog patted his back in glee. "I knew behind that dark exterior of yours is a very enlightened brain!" Crow''s mouth twitched. And so, for the rest of that morning, they borrowed money from Bull and started to source food with long shelf lives like rice, wheat, jerky, noodles, and the like. Calculating their overall money, they should be able to buy kilograms of each to sell. It was unfortunate they had a purchase limit¡­ even if their space was full, they could bring some bags with them right? If there were more than a handful of rickshaws available, maybe they''d rent them out too. Regardless, they really wanted to buy a lot more than this! Then again¡­, it seemed Bull already gave them a bulk of his money. Where else would they get another ''investor''? This wouldn''t do. They needed better deals. At this, Crow''s brain started churning ideas again, until it really landed on one. Crow paused and whipped his head towards his companions. "Isn''t boss Ansel related to the owner of the Supermarket?" The other two gasped, this time quickly understanding what he meant. Crow was really a genius! Chapter 212 - 212: Preparations (Part 2) In fact, the Vismont Trio were not the only group who had thought about this. The other teams heading to the other two territories had similar schemes brewing in their minds. While most people were heading to the West and South, some partnered with others to go to a new territory East. Basically, there were a lot of teams that were very interested in this mission. All of them had one or two people who were sly enough to see the business opportunities in this mission almost as soon as it was sent out. For instance, Luke and Leo (or more accurately, just Leo), also thought of the same thing as Crow and the others. This was the one variable that could get them a hell of a lot better deals: Ansel! So¡­ very early that day, Althea had to deal with someone''s cheesy pandering. "Althea~ Sister ~ Sister Althea~" This guy had almost always called her by name. When he called her ''sister~'' then he must have a favor to ask. "I have a favor to ask, I promise it''s win-win~" He said. "Continue." "It''s about the supermarket¡­" He paused, and Althea couldn''t help but look at her own accounting. She looked at the sources of income and saw how the Supermarket was doing. The turnover of the supermarket had always been very strong, it wasn''t until Ansel came with a sycophant smile on his face that Althea realized the sales were faster than usual. Althea was actually quite interested. She crossed her arms and looked at him, "What do you want?" Ansel grinned. . . . sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. An hour later, the supermarket posted an announcement through the Village Center. [Gaea Supermarket: In light of the new Level A mission sent by the territory, Gaea Supermarket will temporarily waive the purchase limits. This will be applicable only to teams registered for the inter-territory connection mission sent by the territory. There will also be a 20% discount for all temporary and permanent residents! Let''s help the village together!] . . This announcement made everyone absolutely thrilled. Those who had been hesitating due to the potential dangers were outright injected with courage. Why? Because they also thought what those teams thought: Business! Money! So many people rushed to the stores and not just the wood factory. If there were rickshaws available for sale or rent it was estimated all of them would also be swept out by now. Unfortunately, the wood factory refused because the rickshaws, without rubber, would definitely just give way in the current terrain. Anyway, regardless of whether there were rickshaws, the travel time was only one day and much of the food available easily lasted longer than that. For a while, all shops in the territory flourished even more. Fortunately, the latest batch of crops were just harvested and, with overtime work, the shops could meet the large demands of the market. Each factory was thus inundated with orders. It came to the point where Sheila and Harold hadn''t even sat down to rest for several hours straight. Althea, however, reminded them that the quality must not be compromised, and they followed this to the best of their abilities. Of course, not everyone was excited about just the money. Among the people joining the mission, there were also plenty who thought more deeply than the profit. Dennis was one of these people. "This is also a chance to find loved ones safely!" He said. He had a stable job as a farmer now. He could definitely provide for them well after he found them. Speaking of jobs, he really found the best. Ms. Althea was a goddess (like always) and announced anyone who joined the mission would get paid leave. Paid leave! "Right, right, right! My sister hasn''t been found yet! But I was too scared to go find her alone." "Yes, now teams will be led with level 3s or above it is safer!" "But I''m only level 2! Considering the competition for the slots, we wouldn''t be able to come then!" "Ugh! We must train harder so we can join the next Exodus!" "I hear half of the guards will also be joining." More and more people came to the village center to register to join in. The line to use the platforms reached past the square, and it was still growing. Of course, many of them knew it was a long shot to be approved. Even if 30% of the slots were for people below level 3, would they really choose non-fighters to come with them? Then, while someone was chatting with a friend as they waited, his peripheral vision caught sight of someone climbing down the second floor. "A new NPC!" He yelled and everyone on the ground floor turned their heads to the stairs simultaneously. The man was taken aback. What''s an NPC? Who? Him? Someone couldn''t help it and walked to him. "Welcome to Altera, Mr. NPC! Can we know what shop you''re building?" There were many words the new NPC did not understand, but he answered what he could. "I¡­ I am a Woodworker¡­ NPC. "I was asked by the lo¡­ the territory to find a man named Baron and cooperate with him." This made everyone pause and look at each other. This could be done? Then again, Ms. Althea seemed to have this privilege also? What an honor! Envy! The woodworker could only stare at the people in a daze, wondering what they were on about. It was indeed true that the lord asked him to work for Baron, in exchange for some tax. This way, she would not be the only ''individual'' to hire NPCs. She could also do this for future aborigine hired. After all, she wanted them maximized and placed where they could shine the most. The new NPC seemed a bit overwhelmed by the stares and quickly left as soon as he found out where this Baron guy was. This episode soon ended and their attention resumed to the upcoming mass Exodus. Everyone couldn''t help but imagine the gains of this trip, and they couldn''t help but chatter and cheer energetically at what was to come. Oh, how exciting! Chapter 213 - 213: Upgraded Farmlands [10 days of Protection Period] On the twenty-second day after the migration, nearly 80% of the territory''s population was wide awake well before daybreak. Althea watched as a hundred or so residents flowed out to explore almost as soon as the day began, before heading out of the house herself. She decided to perfect the current circle before the new wave of people came. Then, after the upgrade, she would use the expansion rights for two levels and use the best available walls. The current territory was big enough for her, but after the upgrade, it would quadruple its size. The high-level walls would also be very expensive. But she believed in the income of the territory. Even if it wasn''t, she would definitely find a way to build the strongest wall that could be purchased at her level. After everything, Althea was still heavily biased in defense. In any case, all these were problems for later. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She went back to sleep and woke up when the light of the sun shone through and prepared herself and her babies for their morning walk. A couple of minutes later, Althea headed out and went to the farms with the strollers. In her current stage, the farms had the heaviest role in her economy. She had to pay special attention to it. Since she had added hundreds more farmlands last night, the farm area had now been maximized with more than 700 fields. Some of which were in the mountains, mostly orchards for cocoa and coffee. Out of the 700 fields, about half of which were still being planted, as most were just ''reclaimed'' yesterday. As for the older fields, a lot of the rest with short-cycle plants were already harvested. One of the more important harvests was cotton, which was the crop''s first main harvest. This also meant their supply could increase by leaps and bounds, and the clothing stores lined up would finally open. With the help of her pharmacist-grade fertilizers and the farms, as well as some hired assistance from Farming elder Gru, the few dozen of the fields dedicated to the plant had flourished. For her personal garden fields back home, she focused on more sensitive plants (local or Terran) as well as breeding new Terran plants and creating seeds. When the quantity of seeds was enough and sustainable, she would also open a seed store for both local and Terran plants. However, because of their special status, only permanent residents would be allowed to purchase seeds, and still in a limited quantity. Other territories could also go into a partnership with her, but she''d definitely give a high price. Back to her garden, she went to one section she dedicated to Terran flowers like roses, orchids, and the like. It was a sea of color and an immersion in fragrance. It was an incredibly beautiful sight. The kids babbled happily at the lovely surroundings that occupied their senses. Anyway, she had long confirmed that they didn''t have allergens so she didn''t worry too much about the babies'' exposure. After a relaxed walk, she soon ended up in the greenhouse under construction. With the help of Eugene and Oslo, a small greenhouse was about to be built and tested. For now, it was made of Youli stone and insulating materials and theoretically workable and duplicable. Time would tell how effective it was, but it was still a step in the right direction. Overall, the agricultural aspect of the territory was on track and that alone let her heave a huge sigh of relief. Like defense, food sustainability was her main focus for the territory. "What a relief¡­" she said, looking over at her babies, "You don''t have to suffer growing up." "Mmhhammmngama~" "Googlrhhgh" She giggled and played with the babies for a while, until the familiar ding sounded in her mind. [It has been detected that a total of 100,000 kilograms of plants have been harvested in the farmlands. [The Farmlands are now eligible for Upgrade! [Plants in Lv 2 farms will be granted 30% increase in productivity and 100% increase in survivability. [Would you like to upgrade all existing farmlands for 723 gold?] She flinched in shock as she stared at the notification. An upgraded farm? Survivability?! YES. Yes, of course. She had always worried about what would happen to her plants when one of those annual extreme weather changes happened. They all worked so hard in these fields. Not only would she feel sad, but it was estimated the entire territory would be depressed. This upgrade was just what she needed. Of course, the greenhouse would still be retained. Survivability was increased by 100%, but this was very misleading. After all, what was the actual value of survivability that was doubled in the first place? 10%? 5%? Maybe even less? Maybe the change was even negligible? However, Althea thought that any improvement in this field was a welcome one. She was sure the others would, too. She didn''t lack that amount of gold, anyway. However, as someone who didn''t take losses, she also made an announcement to the territory. [Farmlands have now been upgraded to Level 2. The rental fees after 1 plant cycle will be increased by three times. [Level 2 farmlands have increased production of 30%, 100% increase in survivability, 50% resistance to extreme weather changes] [Those who hope to rent Level 1 farmlands shall request for new fields in the Village Center] She nodded. This was fair. Anyway, there were a remaining ten or so hectares in the agricultural area, dedicated to raising free-range breeding of Gugu birds and, in the future, other livestock. They didn''t need too much space for now. She could give some space to people who hoped to retain the level 1 farmland and build them there. Of course, this was only in the unlikely case that someone would rather have the cheaper default option. It was also worth noting that the very expensive upgrade was probably not really based on the additional 10% productivity, but on survivability. Hopefully, the citizens understood this well enough. After all, some time ago, she had made sure everyone was aware of the imminent weather changes, at least to a certain degree. She had announced the news she got from the NPCs through the information tab. She even pinned it so it wouldn''t get buried in the plethora of information coming in every day. By this time, most people should be aware of the unusual weather patterns of this world. No matter what, she wanted everyone to be prepared for whatever they might encounter. To the best of their capabilities, anyway. Chapter 214 - 214: Other Resources Anyway, whatever would happen, her beautiful fields were here at present and she ought to appreciate them. She looked down at the two babies, who she realized had been staring at her in curiosity all this while. She giggled, leaning down to give them a few kisses. She lifted them out of the stroller and walked around the flower fields with them, telling them their names and uses. The babies didn''t understand anything, of course, but they loved hearing their mother''s gentle voice, and they were giggling the whole time. Some minutes later, she walked back to the stroller and settled the twins back there. She took out her phone¡ªnewly charged by solar batteries¡ªfrom the Space and took photos of the beautiful scenery. With a smile, her video turned to the cuties inside the stroller. The two children smiled and laughed as if they knew what she was doing. They were both very photogenic. She then raised her arm to take a selfie of the three of them. With the screen also facing the babies, she showed them the picture they took together. Althea smiled at how cute they were, her finger robotically hovering on the send button, unconsciously about to send the photo to her husband. "..." Sigh. Pushing back the pang of longing, she just leaned down the stroller and smacked her babies'' cheeks with kisses. Her husband wasn''t here, but she could love the children for him as well. Her mood turned a bit dour regardless. With a sigh, she decided to open the panel to distract herself and then turned to look at the overall status of the territory. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 1015 (188 permanent, 827 temporary) Total Population: 2124 Base Resources: Wood: 9660/10000 S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Stone: 8310/8000 Money: 15611 Gold, 113263 Silver, 478197 copper Reputation: 110 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2) , Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] They hung out there for a while until she decided to walk back home. She started pushing the stroller forward and the children, who were cooing adorably in place, laughed at the sudden jolt. Her heart softened and filled with fluff at the sight of them, but in the back of her mind she thought of how her husband was and how he might be suffering so far from them. She reached the main avenue in a melancholic mood. As she walked, she saw a couple of acquaintances hanging around in one of the breakfast shops on the East avenue. It was Gru, and he was happily bonding with Harold and Clutch. From what she could see from where she was, they were laughing boisterously in an old-man sort of way, and she couldn''t help but smile a bit. The friendship of old men was a joy to watch and she liked listening to them sharing stories. So today, she decided to join them. "Boss!" "Ms.Althea!" "Milor¡ªMs. Althea." She smiled. "Good morning." And the men greeted her, clearing up a space for her to sit comfortably. Like Harold, who already ate breakfast at home, she only ordered some finger foods. Working hours didn''t start until an hour later, and these guys loved spending time as soon as the day started. Gru seemed to have read the notice and was very very happy. "Have you read the news? It''s amazing!" Althea nodded and smiled. "Our road to self-sufficiency will only get richer." The old man nodded repeatedly and hummed. Althea paused as she saw Clutch, she decided to ask some doubts about it. "You mentioned there will be extreme weather changes once a year or two, right?" He nodded, and Gru looked focused. The territory had said something about this, but not enough information was provided to do much about it. "How are the plants affected by it? The ones already planted as well as the plants to be planted." "I only know that existing plants old enough in good farmland have a chance of survival. Otherwise, the plants would just go to waste. Further, new plants would not grow." Gru gaped at them and his eyebrows furrowed in worry. "The upgraded farmland will definitely increase survivability but I doubt it would be high. We need to figure out other ways." Althea nodded. The extreme weather lasted for half a month to a month, she just needed to ensure the stock lasted. Even better was to create a condition where plants could grow even in the harshest of weathers¡­ Giant greenhouses? The sort that spanned acres? Making a small greenhouse in her backyard was no problem, but creating large structures was a different problem altogether. Did she have the technology for it? No, unfortunately not. Anyway, there was no use worrying about it too much for now¡ªalbeit research for it would definitely continue and be expedited. She still had so many things to improve that were within her control, but no less important. For example, salt. A necessity for long-term health and survival. Fortunately, the rock salt mission was very popular. Although it was a bit far, the pay was very good and they were promised a certain amount of processed salt. As for the processing, although not many people knew how to process salt, there would still be a handful of people who did. She hired them all. What she worried about was the eventual thinning of the rock salt. By her estimate, it could still last a few years, but this world was too unpredictable. Who knew, maybe there''d be an earthquake and all the rocksalt would disappear? She shivered. Scary. She made a mental note to prioritize looking for other sources of salt as well, though from what she heard their approximate location might be too far off the sea. Another mission that had been going on was the uprooting of young Waul Trees. The past few days she had already filled half a field with them. Soon they would have a ready source of resin and the like, which would push their technology another step forward. Finally, the Gugu Bird missions were also very productive. There were also people who rented fields and used some of them to raise the chickens. In this way, there would also be plenty of other channels of production, there would be richer products, richer pockets, and a richer treasury. In any case, whatever happened with all these uncertainties, she was happy to see the territory was on track. No matter what, she would prepare what was to come the best she could. And she knew her citizens would do the same. They were all Alterans, after all. Chapter 215 - 215: Pathways Meanwhile, outside the territory, the people on the pathfinding mission were already past the first leg. For the first leg of the trip, the people heading Southwest and West traveled together. There were plenty of reasons for this. First, it would reduce the cost of the formation of the pathways, as there would be shared paths. This would also increase the chances of convergence between parties, increasing safety against enemies. Third, according to the consolidated maps they had gathered, they found that even if there were flatter lands southwards, the land after it was rough terrain. It was simply not practical to segregate early on. For those going to Bright village, this was choosing a relatively harder terrain at first then going a smoother trip. Over all, it was a more practical, safer, and faster path for them to join the Vismont team at first. And finally, and most importantly: The more, the merrier. "Finally almost halfway there!" Ansel said, stretching his arms as they walked forward. He looked at his team in front that was clearing up the path. The teams going South to Bright Village were Ansel, Derek, a handful of guards, and several scores of citizens. On the other hand, the team going West to Vismont were Rowan, the twins, the Crow trio, a score of guards, and about a few scores of citizens. The contrast was because Vismont was tagged as a potentially aggressive territory while Bright, although with a Lord of questionable origin, had more sincere consideration for the citizens. "Are you excited to see other villages?" Sunny asked her new friend, Cassie who, like her, was a rare level 3 among the girls. The other girl nodded. "I hope to find my little brother. He was playing with his friends when it happened." She had heard that most people who survived the first transformation would have a relative or two who also survived. She and her grandmother had been anchoring on this as they made a life for themselves in Altera. Her grandmother, a former seamstress, had gotten a job with the new seamstress NPC who was planning on renting her own store in the territory. The pay was very good and safe and Cassie really had no worries with leaving for a few days. This was especially true since after entering level 2, her grandmother''s knees had really gotten better. Now, she just hoped to find her teenage brother and their family would be complete. Sunny, on the other hand, was very envious. Unlike most people here with relatives within the country, hers weren''t. She was actually a foreigner in Eden, she lived most of her life in the Western country of Aubros. She simply got into an international exchange program that was scheduled to end the month the disaster happened. Fortunately, a lot of her good friends survived, and they were getting through it together. Similar conversations echoed within the group, and they chatted about their lives and dreams (of course, they tried to do so without losing focus on the surroundings). Along the way, the group followed the Territory instruction of clearing a trekking path and placing signages in visible areas. The trekking paths were created by moving loose stones to keep the plants from growing too quickly. If often used, it could stop the growth of plants in those pathways. As for the signages, each team was provided with a hundred, secured by the guard team. These signages were provided by Baron''s company, and bought by the system for contribution points. One had to note that these weren''t normal signages. This was created by the new Level E Woodworker NPC that was hired by Baron for a whooping 20 gold a month. Speaking of Baron, he was very shocked when he found an NPC outside his door, and even more shocked at the asking price. Baron always felt that the territory itself had commission for this hire, but he had no proof! But still, he hired the guy, one was for goodwill, but more importantly, his sharp business eyes really could see potential in this aborigine. No matter what, he still believed the territory wouldn''t force its citizens in a disadvantageous position. And he was very glad he followed this instinct because the product this guy made was really magical! For instance, the signage bought in bulk by the ''travelers'' was not the normal wooden sign. These signages were not only good to look at, it even had a passive effect of attracting attention, literally! It could attract the attention of any intelligent creature within 5 meters of its location. What could this mean? sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This meant magic ads, damnit! Further, and perhaps more importantly, the direction could be set permanently. That was to say that if the signage was accidentally misplaced, it would always point to the direction set when it was first installed. This naturally created huge demands. Not only for those on this mission, but for the many shop owners in the territory! The woodworker''s schedule was filled for the next couple of days, with the orders amounting to hundreds. It could be said this business boomed. But if anyone was surprised at how well the products were doing, it was the creating NPC himself. Houser, a mere level E woodworker, didn''t have a good life even after awakening the occupation. This was because he received only skills related to these traditionally labeled ''useless'' things. He thought that he''d spend his life making unpopular works so he could only last a decent territory for a month or two before being let go. Who knew he''d be commissioned to create hundreds of his works almost as soon as he got hired? The poor old man almost cried. However, this fact cemented yet another loyal-borderline-obsessed aborigine to Altera. ¡­ The journey of the two combined groups was smoother than anticipated. They had encountered several mobs along the way but they were just level 1s and very few level 2s. The minimum requirement for joining the mission was level 3, so it was basically a breeze. This came as a relief to all of them. But, of course, the guards didn''t stop reminding them to keep their vigilance. How embarrassing would it be to get injured on advantageous plains? In any case, the two parties were set to separate a few kilometers from Altera, in a small valley at the end of the mountain range. It was a predetermined intersection decided when Derek, Rowan, and Ansel were studying the topography. This place might not be exactly equidistant from the two territories, but it was a location highly visible even if people came from different directions. The terrain also allowed it to be better protected against the open air and winds. At the same time, its altitude was not so low that it would easily fall victim to flash floods. Soon they arrived at the place and set up camp. A relatively large stone platform was formed at this time, about ten square meters. They also added grout-like substances, stone chairs, and others. They were careful not to damage the soft surfaces until they were cured. They also set up rough easy-to-build sheds around this circle, as sturdy as it could be considering the limited time and materials it was made of. In the middle of the stone circle was a small soiled area with stones stacked up, and some wood and leaves as fuel in the center. Above it was a huge metal pot, which was something Oslo manifested with all his power that day because of its permanence. This would allow passersby to cook a meal well, to add energy to their journey that would still take a couple of hours. Of course, they made sure to tie it to the ground to keep unscrupulous people from taking it away. Rowan watched as the team did as the territory asked with enthusiasm. He was curious, as this was not rewarded at all, so he asked the one nearest to him why they were being so detailed. The man looked at him in surprise, but then his expression became melancholic. "I just think¡­ It would be good if my children could find this path. I thought it would be good for them to find such a good place to rest..." Rowan''s eyes faltered and he nodded, finally understanding what the Lord meant before they left. Before leaving, the Lord instructed them to make sure the paths would be built well. Build them with comfort and hope in mind. He knew that the Lord planned to make this into a rest area. The Lord said that if they could get more people with Builder Occupation, she would build sturdier rest houses in these intersections. The Lord was really so kind, so considerate. And the people¡­ Rowan looked around at the people enthusiastically doing more than ordered for people they didn''t even know they''d see again. Some people even placed some non-perishable foods on makeshift stone trunks and boxes. Some even left covered earthenware for ''destined people'' to find. These were all without rewards and at no prompt of the guards at all. Rowan couldn''t help but be touched by the camaraderie and sense of a bigger self these people had. He hoped that the people would find the path the Lord and her citizens built for them. He didn''t know them and yet¡­ he inexplicably found himself praying for them. Chapter 216 - 216: Trouble at the Entrance It was late in the afternoon when the west-bound group arrived in the vicinity of Vismont Village. The familiar wall was there, and it was as ugly as ever. Among the group of nearly a hundred or so people, a certain trio couldn''t help but huddle together for a discussion. "Afraid?" Crow uttered, dark eyes staring at the level 2 fence in front of him. They knew very well what they were set here to do would rouse ire from the higher-ups of this territory. It was difficult to believe that a few days ago, they were being bullied so harshly simply for speaking out. But now? They came back to bully it in turn. This was the power of having a backer. Dog pompously scoffed at his question, but his shaking knees gave him away. "We have Rowan here." Sunny looked a little worried. "What if that guy hires NPCs too?" "Last time the village center was only one floor¡­" Dog said, but his voice was a bit quieter than before. "...he probably¡­ can''t¡­?" "How long ago was that? So much could happen." The group chatted as they approached the gate. Their eyes were soon met with the sight of quiescent guards lounging about. They were lazy in their stance, uninspired with their jobs, and someone was even carelessly sitting down and eating fruit while slowly falling asleep. However, the arrival of their group made enough noise that it woke up every one of the guards. Their group was not too big compared to the refugees who immigrated from fallen villages, but they were not small either. Seeing Crow, Dog, and Sunny, the eyes of a few guards narrowed. "You look a bit familiar." They did not deliberately hide their identities, one was for pride, and the other was they had no way: Fabric was still expensive and they couldn''t make mystery robes. "Well, we lived here before." The guards sneered, looking at them smugly. "Oh? You like living in the wild, then?" This guy obviously looked up to this territory so much that he didn''t think there''d be any better situation outside of it. He did not even notice their clean skin and clothes. Neither did he see their healthy complexions. However, he did see the items they were carrying. "What''re in the bags?" "Resources we''re trying to sell," Crow said blandly, implying it was just wood and stone as anyone else would think. After all, bluntly lying to this ''customs officer'' and getting discovered would definitely get them in a lot more trouble than it was worth. Most of the guards scoffed in distaste and were about to let them pass. However, someone had a very good nose and got a whiff of the supposedly scentless food inside. It put Dog''s name to shame. "Wait!" He said, trudging in front of them. He had a large belly, an amazing thing considering the state of food when they left. He sniffed at Sunny''s backpack, sending goosebumps. Dog frowned and pulled her closer to him. The guard did not notice this exchange, his attention was completely on the bags. "Oh? Smells good. Let me see." He looked curious, extending his grubby hands to the nearest bag, his tone non-negotiable. They frowned but had no choice but to show. Sunny reluctantly opened the backpack, revealing a lightbox containing the lightest food that was most practical to carry: Biscuits. They didn''t look very special by Terran standards, but it was enough to make the guards widen their eyes and drool. "Yoooo¡ª" "Bloody hail!" "B-Biscuits?!" When they saw everyone was carrying a flimsy cotton backpack, their eyes sparkled. They didn''t even think of asking where it came from but just looked at them greedily. So many days of that horrendous food must have gotten to their brains. The Alterans frowned at the sight of their greedy faces. This was not the type of ''hype'' they had hoped to receive. The guards cheered as they looked at the bags of the other people. It was as if it was already theirs. "Wow! Jerky!" "Shit, is this instant noodles?! Why do you have so many?" "Soft bread!" "This is rice cakes! Holy cow!" Then the leader, a bulky man who went by the name of Brong, couldn''t help narrowing his eyes at the odd group. "They must have more in their space." This made everyone frown even deeper. A few were even prepared to start fighting. Then, letting the tense air ferment, Brungo grinned, showing his ugly golden teeth. "But we are not corrupt people. Things in people''s space stay in people''s space." However, before their team could heave a sigh, Brungo smiled and looked at them, tone as if he was giving them alms. "We are good guards, and we will only require what you hold right now." His subordinates grinned, arrogantly stepping forward to near their harvest. "You''ll need to leave this here to enter." He said with an unquestionable tone. Dog, Sunny, and more immediately went to mother hen mode to protect their stuff. But the more composed ones managed to calm them down. It was Crow who stepped forward to talk it over. He addressed Brungo, being the leader and all. "We can indeed give them to you," Crow started, earning the shocked gazes of his friends. He raised his hand to stop them from speaking. "But we don''t have to pay the temporary fees and accommodation for a week. And you will still have to give us a few gold up front. That is their value." A guard sneered. "Are you stupi¡ª" "Are you willing? Or do we make a scene, calling the Lord for hiring gangsters as guards?" Crow cut him off with a threat, trying to keep his stance confident. He wasn''t even lying. These bastards really were gangsters. The gangster guards were triggered and glared. Some were indeed worried, while others were just aggressive. These people stepped forward to grab Crow but a pair of hands appeared in front of them, holding the two men down. The two were a little startled, not yet absorbing how effortlessly they were both stopped by a hand and glared at its owner. "Who are you?" The bigger one asked, and was a little startled at the man''s look: He was a lot taller than they were, more muscular, and he had unusual crimson-colored hair and eyes. "We don''t want trouble," The mysterious red-haired man said. "Then pay up!" The guards said, saliva splattering on their faces. Rowan''s face darkened, and even his subordinates shivered. Fortunately for the Vismont guards, Rowan had a calm personality despite his turbulent element. "We did mention our terms." Calmly, Rowan simply repeated their conditions. "If you cannot pay for it, then do not ask for it." This naturally angered the guards, who yelled at him in turn. "You don''t tell me what to do¡ªOUCH!" Rowan placed the appropriate amount of force to restrict them and make them feel a little pain. Primarily, it was to stop them from speaking and splatter saliva all over him. The two men paled when they realized they couldn''t move an inch. They raised their eyes to meet the terrifying odd-colored eyes of the man. Who still wore contact lenses at this juncture? Still red ones? More importantly, why was he so strong? As guards, many of them were level 3 already, but they had no chance against this guy! "Are you letting us pass or not?" Rowan asked with a calm tone, but the pressure of his grip was gradually getting stronger. "Fine, fine!!" The men squeaked like slaughtered Gugu birds. "We''ll let you go, let you go!" Rowan scoffed and released his grip. The sudden loss of holding force and the pain drove the two aggressive guards to their knees. Rowan then motioned for the group to step towards the interior of the territory. Seeing that the guards were not moving, he nodded and also turned away. However, certain guards were not reconciled. Together, they sprinted towards his back, aiming to destroy his spinal cord. They gave evil smirks as their feet approached the redhead''s back, but suddenly he disappeared in front of them. Things happened quickly. The next thing they knew huge hands landed on their faces and pushed them down back first on the ground. Bang! "What??" They couldn''t even fathom what just happened when they realized things didn''t even end there. A moment later they felt their skin heating up, and they soon realized that their faces felt like it was burning. "AHGGHHHH!!!!" "WHAT THE HECK AHHHHH!!!" Rowan took off his hand, leaving pinkish handprints on their faces. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He abruptly lunged at Brungo, hitting him on the leg, forcing the man to kneel down in front of him. Rowan''s instincts told him the two were ordered, and he would not let this man go without a warning. "You should control your own people," he told them, voice deep and heavy. "Because you will also get blamed for the troubles they cause." "You!!" The man gasped, pale from the pain. He gritted his teeth and glared, but fear was evident in his eyes. Rowan looked down at the kneeling figure, sneering. "No wonder they were so weak, their leader is disgusting. "Be thankful I just heated up their faces. "Next time¡­" He paused, red eyes even more menacing than before. "It will really¡­ burn." Chapter 217 - 217: Vismont Village Again No more incidents at the entrance happened after that, primarily because no one was around. The group entered the territory without further ado, the guards'' eyes sending daggers on their backs. "Won''t they make trouble?" Sunny asked worriedly. "Oh, they will." Crow sneered, "But we''ll handle it." As he said this, Crow paused and looked back, his dark eyes glazing over the guards twitching in pain on the ground. "Maybe we can use this chance to enlighten more people about this lord they adore." ¡­ [Welcome to Vismont Village (Lv2)! Please pay 10 copper coins for an entry pass. [If you have to avail residency please pay 20 silver for temporary residence and 20 gold for permanent.] Looking at the new rates, the old residents couldn''t help but look at each other. "Except for the Visitors pass, did he increase the price?" Dog frowned and Bull sneered. "Why am I not surprised." He said, "I bet he told everyone to be thankful he managed to keep the visitors pass the same." Unfortunately, it just so happened that there were citizens gathering wood and stone that overheard this sarcasm. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Of course the Lord increases the price! The territory is level 2 now!" The old man said, and a middle aged woman next to him nodded. "The territory protects us, gives us shelter and food! What is working a little harder? Besides, those who can only pay daily fees aren''t affected at all!" "Yes, yes." "Our Lord is very kind." The rainbow fart session was obviously going to last for a while. They couldn''t help but roll their eyes (furtively, of course), and they politely excused themselves. The more tactful members of the group apologized, and some were amicable in chatting with them. At least, the people here weren''t ungrateful. At this point, they had to give it to Matthew. He was very good at brainwashing people. They walked along the forest path. It was narrow and rough, just as one would expect in untouched forests. They passed through a worn path made by frequent traffic passing through, heading to where more people were. Footsteps muffled by the leaves and twigs, the group continued to walk for a few more minutes. Soon, the scenery changed and the path grew wider and more pronounced. They began to hear the familiar bustle of crowds. They were then hit with the strong smell of people that hadn''t taken a bath gathered together, combined with the sticking scent of human waste. "Ugh¡­" Dog groaned, pinching his nose. Everyone else had scrunched up faces. But¡­ they pushed through and went further into the territory, eventually reaching the community that lived there. There were several flimsy huts leaning against each other. There were even some outright sheds made of twigs and leaves and they looked so unstable that a small wind could topple it all. There were also tents¡ªmakeshift mostly, but a few were Terran camping tents. They were grouped together, forming a certain circle on their own, and surrounding a bonfire that seemed to serve the entire community of thousands. Wherever they looked, it was more or less the same. Everywhere, the crowd was dense and disorganized, and frankly very, very, gross. However, it was worth taking notice that they had encountered the slums much earlier than the last time, indicating the population boom the territory experienced. By visual judgment, the population lost during the last beast tide had been recovered by new sets of refugees. They wouldn''t be surprised if they found out there were over 10,000 people in here. No wonder the territory sent them out. Compared to others, their population growth was really very slow. After all, the location of the territory was really hidden. Most people wouldn''t think of climbing mountains to find civilization, right? Putting these thoughts aside, they went straight to the slum neighborhood, which was becoming more and more derelict as the days passed. Although there were obvious attempts to hygiene, the sheer density of people made the smell unable to mask. They frowned at the increasingly obvious horrendous smell of human waste in the area. Of course, they also knew that the impact was so strong because they were used to the beautiful and clean atmosphere in Altera, and they were even more thankful to the territory for providing such a home. Squelch Someone paused their steps, and slowly looked down to see what caused the sound and the sensation, praying that whatever he was imagining was incorrect. Unfortunately, his prayers weren''t heard, and he paled at the disgusting sight that was now his shoe. "Fuuuuuuddgeee¡ªI stepped on shit!" "Gross!" Even Rowan, who had grown up seeing this dirt, was creeped out. He was now completely an Alteran. Anyway, a lot of the people had maintained their sensitivities. They had been used to the cleanliness of Terran before and now, in Altera. It made them extremely queasy compared to their peers. "Eww!" "Geez¡ª" The women outright squeaked and some even screamed. "What the heck!" One man yelled, stepping away, only to step on another one. "FUUUDGEEE!!!" The locals rolled their eyes. Where did these spoiled brats come from? "Go away!" One said, "I don''t know where you''ve been but everyone''s barely surviving right? Did you just get transferred?" In their annoyance, a lot of people missed the newcomer''s new clothes and temperaments. They were struggling so much and their brains were wired to find food, water, and their required nutrients. How could they notice these details? The Alteran group blushed a little, ashamed, but still feeling very very grossed out. A few took an earthenware bottle out and the other a bamboo bottle, and poured water on their feet. The locals looked at them like they were murderers. "WATER!" "Why would you waste that!!" A cacophony of yells reached their ears, partnered by angry faces. Fearing that they''d be mobbed, the Alteran group could only escape to a less dense place before making any more plans. They definitely did NOT plan for this! Chapter 218 - 218: Setting Up Shop Before heading to this place, they had imagined being mobbed by a crowd¡ªbut only because they loved their products so much. They were looking forward to being ''hot-pancakes'' for a while. They would never have imagined being mobbed because they washed poop with water¡­ Fortunately, Rowan and the others were very scary so everyone managed to get out unscatched. Though not without stepping on a number of shit on the way there. Ugh. However, no matter how torturous, they valiantly trudged through, ending up in less populous places that didn''t know who they were. This time they were careful and went to the forests to wash up. They settled in another slum with a new start, now very very careful at where they stepped on. Anyway, regardless of the horrible first impression, they still decided to start their movements with the ''poor population'' first. They had considered selling their goods near the village center as they would definitely buy for a much higher price at first, but decided not to in the end. After all, the money-making was not the main goal of this trip. The pirating¡ªerr, rescue and recruitment¡ªmission was. It also gave the most rewards, if done well. This was why they were focusing on the slums, at least at the start, because they would be the easiest to convince by promising a better life. This was in stark contrast with the people near the village center. Basically, those who lived near the center already invested much of their wealth in the territory. No matter how dreamlike a territory they portrayed Altera to be, they might not be willing to leave. It was a natural thing. After all, who would want to waste their wealth and just jump a leap of faith? Besides, they weren''t missionaries. Who was to say they would be able to ''convert'' these people? Of course, some of them who brought in the ''luxuries'' like cloth and wooden products could sell them to these people with a huge mark-up. These ''rich'' people would be much more likely to be willing to spend money on comfort, as they had already met their basic needs. In this way, they could earn a contribution for recruiting ''the unfortunate'' and earn good money from the rich. It was a great strategy and the team felt very proud of it. With renewed energy, the group went past the dense crowd and continued walking, settling in the small buffer forest between the slum area and the built area where the horrendous stench was the least. The trio couldn''t help but look around as they did so, making a mental map of the territory in their minds. The built area was located where the slums had been the last time they were here. At the very least, the construction of residential buildings had not been lax. The team took out some sheets to sit comfortably in and set up some of the food items they planned on selling. There were biscuits, breads, jerkies, dried fruits and others, and each one made the bystanders'' eyes widen like saucers. In fact the moment they wastefully took out cloth to sit on, people already took notice of them. Then they started displaying food items and people rushed in. Although they couldn''t really tell what were displayed¡ªor rather, they couldn''t believe it¡ªthey couldn''t help but feel excited at the sight of new things. Fortunately the Alteran guards were there to intimidate and the people dared not to rashly approach any further. With the guards blocking, the crowd was frozen a meter or so away from where the team was setting up. Their sights were fixed on the shop being set up, eyes following every movement of the ''stall owners''. Slowly, it dawned on them that they were indeed seeing what they were seeing. "Is that¡­ what I think it is?" "Rice!?" A yell. "That is rice, right? Although it''s blue?" He wasn''t sure because he might just be colorblind due to excessive hunger. "Biscuits?" A gasp beside him sounded. "Bread!" came a scream. It did not end there as a lot of others started taking out their stocks as well. If the people''s eyes were wide before, now they had turned as round as saucers. "Noodles?" "Jerky!" "Strawberry jam!!!" The exclamation in front attracted more and more people, very curious as to what the commotion was about. One of these people was Okuri, a narrow-eyed girl with short hair. She looked at the commotion with raised eyebrows, turning her head to look at her boyfriend Ronny. "What are they doing?" She asked, frowning, "Why are they chanting food?" She asked the man beside her, continuing her mumbling, "Are they playing a game or something? "Did that shitty gruel finally climb up their brains?" She continued to ask. Ronny only shook his head as his eyes stayed on the crowd, also very very curious. Okuri naturally saw how her boyfriend''s eyes stuck to a direction and she sighed. "Shall we take a look?" She asked and Ronny''s eyes brightened. He grabbed her hand and dragged her there, amusing Okuri. If this man could speak, maybe he''d start chanting random foods himself soon. Anyway, whether it was curiosity or fun, more and more people gathered, making the place a little more chaotic than usual. "Line up properly!" A voice inside the crowd yelled, and surprisingly those upfront followed religiously, making those behind even more curious. Their people were so obedient with people other than the Lord and his cronies? In any case, because the crowd in front cleared up, the things displayed soon became visible to those behind. Okuri''s narrow eyes widened (as much as it physically could), and she was one among many others. They finally realized that the earlier crowd weren''t chanting anything¡ªthey were yelling out what they saw! S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Vismont people watched in awe. Their brains couldn''t believe it, but the drools dripping said their stomachs believed it. This glorious array of food they never thought they''d see again was blinding their eyes! How¡­ how was this possible!? Chapter 219 - 219: Prying Corners (Part 1) In order for the guards to not drown in the crowd, the team decided to keep the selling area in a small spot for ease of guarding, with the people divided into three batches of sellers. The first batch was Crow''s group, the former residents of Vismont. Crow''s team was relatively poor, and they could only afford the more affordable food like biscuits, the cheapest bread, and processed Gouji fruit like Gouji jams and dried Gouji. This was a small variety to them but, to the eyes of the Vismont citizens, they opened up a cornucopia. Their eyes stuck in the products as if afraid they would disappear if they blinked. The paper was still under development, so the fragile biscuits were packaged in a large box made of very light local wood, and sold in the wood store. When this box opened, it was like gold was revealed. The people in line immediately began asking as soon as they said they were ready (they were very disciplined and their guards looked very strong). "How much for a box of biscuits?" "100 copper for a small box," Sunny said, raising a small box the size of a palm. The customer gulped, stomach worms causing chaos in his stomach. But then he recalled his assets and thought he ought to haggle a bit. "100 copper for a small box?" He said, "That''s not cheap!" Dog''s smile was unfazed. "But it''s definitely worth it!" They actually decided on the market price of ten times the cost bought in Altera. Although it was not cheap, it wasn''t too expensive compared to the horrid food from restaurants, so it was too worth it. Next to him, another sale was happening. "How much is this piece of bread?" "Just 50 copper!" Crow said, "Very affordable." This one didn''t even bother haggling. He was afraid someone would preempt him so he bought a bit of everything, even if it was a little costly. A man looked at the blue-ish rice, which was explained thoroughly by the salesperson. "I want a bag of rice please!" One man said and Sunny shook her head. "We can only sell half per person." "I can only buy half a kilogram?" The customer frowned, repeating, hoping he heard if wrong. Sunny nodded. "That is correct, good customer. You know we can''t bring too much, right? So we can only set a purchase limit. Give chance to others, right?" Like in Altera, they naturally had to place a purchase limit here. However, the majority of the reason was to avoid creating a stampede. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The man pursed his lips, not reconciled. His wife and daughter were currently gathering resources in another area and not with him. This little amount wouldn''t last the three of them very long. However, he knew if he tried to change this rule, he''d probably get ganged up on, so he had no choice but to nod and just buy what he could. Sunny smiled in understanding and handed him his items, "Don''t worry sir! We will definitely come back and sell stuff often." She said, and her words comforted all those who heard. "Really?" Sunny grinned, "Yes, really." Next in line, an old acquaintance of theirs appeared, still looking very gentle. "Sunny¡­" he said, really hoping to get a back door or something from acquaintances. This uncle was one of their neighbors before. They weren''t friendly, but he was one of few who did not bother them. "Sorry uncle, if you need more, you can just buy from others." Then she looked at him slyly, "Or just buy in the territory. The purchase limit is two kilograms per person a day!" Jimmy blinked and leaned forward, interested. "Really?" "Much more affordable as well." At this, the man''s eyes brightened, and he sat next to her to chat while she did her job. Sunny was friendly and let him do so. Anyway, their chatter also attracted a lot of curious people asking about Altera. Sunny was quite confident she was gonna get loads of contribution points! There were similar conversations next to hers, this time it was from Bull, who had a lot more money than she did. "There are strawberries here?" It was a middle-aged woman, looking weathered by the winds. Her son, who had been working very hard gathering resources, liked this fruit the most. Bull saw it was a potential ''victim'', he quickly put on a bright smile. "Some people from our territory brought seeds from Terran. So we not only have strawberries, we have soy, peanuts, watermelons, and others." "Your territory? You''re not from here?" This time it was Okuri, who was next in line, asking. She looked closely at the people. In retrospect, they should''ve noticed it earlier. This group of people was completely different from what she had seen since they got to this hell. These people had clean demeanors, with bright and confident smiles, like this chaos didn''t bother them at all. "No. We were sent by the Territory to sell surplus from the territory." "Surplus?!" "That''s unbelievable!" People looked at each other in disbelief. While some only gaped, impressed. "If true, then how amazing is that..." The words of amazement, disbelief, and inquiry echoed in the area for well over an hour, and the three groups'' items for this area had already been sold out. Those at the back of the line that were told the cut-off turned pale. "Already gone?!" "When will you come back?!" Soon, the crowd got rowdier, and some were outright mad at being unable to purchase. In fact, the guards had already told them earlier where the line ought to be cut off, but no one really left. They were probably hoping there were hidden stocks. But when no more products were taken out to be sold, the people became more and more discomfited. However, before all hell broke loose, a resounding voice, amplified by a makeshift cone amplifier, sounded. "Please calm down, we may not have any more to sell right now, but we assure you our production lines have been working very hard. It was a woman named Silvia who spoke. She was quite beautiful, and curvaceous, with short auburn hair. She was a person in Mathilda''s Department and was assigned to this group to handle interpersonal concerns they encountered. "Hello! We are from Altera Village, about half a day''s walk away from here. "We have created a path to go there, and we will welcome customers very much." They couldn''t bluntly recruit, right? Anyway, when they visited the territory, Silvia was confident about how it would affect all their visitors. She knew that when they got there¡­, they probably wouldn''t want to leave. Chapter 220 - 220: Prying Corners (Part 2) After she spoke, another crowd surrounded Silvia and asked various questions at the same time. Fortunately, Silvia, a well-established real estate salesperson back in Terran, was unfazed by all the questions. She did not miss one question and she did it all with a smile. "It''s about half a day''s walk." She said, answering the person who asked how far it was. Then, she turned to the concerned person who asked about safety. "No, it''s very safe if you have level 3s with you. During the protection period, our experts determined there should be no monsters stronger than level 3." "Are you sure?" "Yes, our guards have been hunting kilometers away from our walls, they have yet to encounter anything stronger the past few weeks." Someone from the side asked about their water concerns. "Water? Our territory is built on a water basin with a mountain spring and river. The territory built wells." "How much? Only a few coppers per gallon I believe." "What?" S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Impossible!" "What about food, then?" Another voice asked from behind her. Silvia ignored the expressions of disbelief surrounding her and answered the other questions patiently. "Food, yes, our territory has a lot of farms. Terran plants occupy about a quarter of them." Then another person asked about the visitor''s rate, and Silvia happily answered it. "5 copper is the visitors rate." She said with a smile, and the people looked at her a little cynical in response. "Five?? How is that possible?" "Now, you''re just lying. Lady, there''s no need¡ª" Silvia was unfazed by the questions becoming rude. "Our territory believes in wealth with population." She said, "Similarly, the territory requires only 3 silver for temporary residency." "Seriously?" "What about permanent residency then?" "The Permanent Residency? It is 10 gold. We can also exchange with contribution points for half the price." "Contribution points??" "Yes, it''s a merit system of sorts. As long as you help with the growth of the territory, it is likely you''ll earn some in addition to the money." "Then why would people want to get permanent residency then? Since the other options are so cheap?" "The only people who could purchase property are permanent residents. There are also added benefits such as certain amount of free resources, water, healthcare, etc." "That''s amazing¡­ too amazing." One said, with a tone of questioning by the end. "It is," Silvia admitted, "But you''ll see the truth behind it yourself if you visit the territory." A few were questioning, and disbelieving, but there were also plenty who had been softened up. "What about the houses, then?" he asked, so what if the entries were cheap, maybe¡ªbecause the entrance was so affordable¡ªthey would have to live in even worse shanty areas there! "We do not have shanty areas," Silvia said, "For those who lack money, we offer bedspaces, placed in our dormitory buildings. It is priced at a very friendly 1 copper a day." Basically: Whatever came out of her mouth was a topic for passionate discussion. Surrounding her with questions and chatter, the people continued to bombard her with their concerns, certain thoughts cementing in their hearts the more they heard. It was quite lively. This was what Matthew and his cronies found after being alerted by the guards of the commotion. "They were very arrogant, my Lord." The other nodded. "They act like they own the place." "I don''t know where they get their things, but it was probably nowhere good." "It''s better for us to take it from them." If Crow and the others would hear them they would sneer. Typical gangsters. Matthew nodded perfunctorily, but his feet were not slow. He thought if these people could really produce all those things¡ª They looked at the crowd gathering around, looking all bright and excited. It was at this time that they heard more than one people say: "Can we go back with you?" The guards paled and cursed, catching the attention of a few people nearby. Someone saw the Lord and felt a little guilty. "My Lord! They meant to go there to buy things, don''t misunderstand." "Hmm¡­" he said, expression calm and unchanging, not knowing what he was thinking. Because of the noise, the people in the main crowd still did not take note of their existence. The guards felt appalled and offended, and they quickly shouted for attention. "Ungrateful! A little food and you all grovel like dogs!" The people''s eyes widened and their heads tilt down unconsciously, either feeling guilty for the Lord or afraid of the guards. "No, no, my Lord you''ve misunderstood! We plan to buy from this territory to bring to ours!" "Yes, my Lord. Now that these delicious things are available, we can finally eat better!" Matthew nodded at them and smiled. "Of course I understand." He said, "I came here to start a trading deal with these people¡­" Hearing this, the terrified looks on their faces morphed to one of amazement. "The Lord is wise, as always!" "Our Lord will always have great foresight!" Matthew gave out a seemingly embarrassed smile, turning his head to the foreigners. Matthews'' eyes landed on the woman in the middle of the crowd, then on the hint of crimson among the people. He was very visible because he was very tall and had very striking colors. Matthew''s eyebrows rose when he saw the person and his¡­ crimson hair and pupils? Someone could still wear contact lenses in this situation? He approached the tall man, who was obviously the leader of his group. "Can I ask where you are from?" Rowan was standing still with arms crossed, ready to take action in the slightest sign of chaos. He didn''t appreciate the interruption to his job. But he realized it was the Lord of the territory and, by instinct, he became a little more respectful. "We are from a village called Altera, a territory half a day''s walk east of here." Was all he said, before turning his head away, doing his job. The guards beside him glared but didn''t do anything. Fortunately, Silvia was sharp and had seen the interaction. Silvia stepped in at this time, with a smile on her face. "We have come here to broker deals with various individuals in hopes of livening our economy." She said, cannot help but look at the handsome man and his long-sleeved turtle neck. Silvia could see that his current wear was made from an older shirt, too, like it was refitted to appear so. He seemed to wear this type of outfit all the time, was he not hot? "We have various production lines and, while citizens have purchase limits set for individuals, our territory can make separate discussions with larger entities like territories." "Well, who can I talk to about this deal?" Silvia nodded. "It''s me." Matthew signaled for her to chat in a different area. Before they separated for a more private chat, he couldn''t help but look at the flaming red hair of the person near them, a person whom his guards seemed to be terrified of. This must be the guy who crushed the guards at the entrance. He stopped walking when they went past the man and asked. "Which place is this sir from? I mean in Terran." He thought he''d have a better idea about him if he found this out. "I''m not from Terran, Lord," Rowan said, stoic, but habitually quite respectful. "What?" Rowan looked at him with raised eyebrows, repeating. "I''m not from Terran, Lord." Matthew''s eyes widened a little. Not from Terran? Then, where would he be from? This place? An aborigine?! Chapter 221 - 221: Unbelievable Bright Village At this time, the Southbound group had also arrived and was setting up their area. It took them a while to get there because of a monster mob, which amounted to about a hundred, delaying their arrival. They were a relatively big group, but the territory had been seeing influx after influx of refugees so they, except for their handsomeness, didn''t capture much attention when they arrived. Ansel and his team eventually got to their target location, finding a place in the makeshift Marketplace in front of the village center shortly after. "Where do we go to meet the lord?" Jun asked Ansel, the former visitor of this territory. Unlike Vismont Village which they didn''t really care for, Bright was a much more decent village somewhat worthy of partnership. Ansel smirked. "Just sell as planned. If he has any brains he''ll come to us himself." Jun was silent for a moment then thought it made sense. Hence, he just asked the team to settle down in an area, with the few guards surrounding the place. The grand positioning made the people around¡ªwho were selling either fruits or meat¡ªstare at them. "So much spazz?" One said, biting off a nearly overripe fruit he couldn''t sell. Anyway, dinner shopping would begin soon. People here had developed a habit of consuming fruit with the horrid gruel or bread to make it more palatable. "Heh, they''re so confident," he said, "They must have foraged something new." The person who spoke was a stall owner in the store next to him. It also happened to be the popular store¡ªthe barbeque stall. Although the meat he prepared couldn''t compare with what they were used to, he still managed to soften it and add a good combination of fruits to make it relatively edible. "Well, they carry big bags. Means it doesn''t fit in their space anymore right?" The others shrugged, not really expecting much. It was just that a minute later, their eyes almost fell. They watched as the small group unpacked their things from boxes. Rice, flour, jars, and others were revealed and those who saw had their feet moving on their own. They couldn''t believe what they were seeing. It was only after staring, and then asking, then staring again did they finally believed it. They didn''t know how all these things got here, some even assuming someone brought them from Terran, so they knew the price would naturally not be cheap. Someone finally stepped forward and asked someone who had been arranging his stall. "Are you¡­ by some chance¡­ selling these?" As soon as the person nodded, the surroundings basically exploded with a cacophony of noises. "I want all this rice!" The person said, opening his arms wide to make his point. The people around glared at him, ready to fight as soon as he uttered his words. The salespersons'' lips twitched. "We only sell half a kilo per person, sorry." "Fine! Sell me everything I can buy!" He said, waving around his silver, and eventually getting some. He pointed at the other things in the shall as well. "Get me this loaf of bread and jam." "Me, don''t forget me! I want instant noodles!" Another one said, buying several things he could afford. "I want this bolt of jerky!" A newcomer yelled, "And also some rice!" "Hey! Don''t push!" "I''m not!" "Instant noodles please!" "Wow! So many flavors! I wonder how it tastes?" S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Anything is better than restaurant food!" A voice from beside him said, and the people around couldn''t help but nod in agreement. "That''s true!" "As a certified Foodie, I can tell these are legit!" The quick ones managed to get a bit of everything and they handled it as if they were treasure, immediately placing it in the space for protection. It was very busy and a bit haggard, but every Alteran had a smile on their faces. The group of them made over ten times their investment. Ansel himself, who got the best deal, made scores and scores of gold within the first hour. If it wasn''t for the contribution, most people would have loved to just make money this way. But who told the territory to need more people? Soon, only a bit of food was left. Ansel saw that there were still hundreds of people behind who looked anxiously at them. If the guards weren''t intimidating¡ªespecially with Drake and Hugo who were at level 5¡ªthere would have been a stampede by now. "We only have a bit left of food, sorry!" Jun said and looked at their pale disappointed faces with a faux-guilty smile. "We can just go back every few days to trade you some. Or just buy it from our territory, we can definitely accommodate your needs." A lot of people looked at him with hopeful looks but, as it always was, some people were not reconciled and immediately started imposing what they wanted. "But this food is something I must have!" He said, "I''m willing to pay twice these people!" A regal man, a dozen people behind the line, yelled to them. Jun''s eyebrows rose and looked at the man. Although he didn''t look very clean, he was still better put out than most people. With his lead, more people started bidding. Jun shook his head at the other Alterans, stopping them from accepting immediately. However, it wasn''t that he was against it. He knew that even if they insisted on selling their market price to the next guy, these people would just offer to bid with the people who managed to get the product. Unlike the Alterans, however, these people might even get a little hurt since they didn''t have any guards. Jun paused in thought. He didn''t want chaos, but he didn''t want to inflate the value too much. It would go against his personal creed as a former public servant to do so. In the end, he decided to just set the price a little higher. "We will not auction these off, as they are just commodities in our territory. We will only temporarily increase the price by two and if those in line are still willing to buy, then we will sell." As if afraid to be preempted, the people in front of the line quickly answered. "Yes, yes, I am willing!" "Me too, me too!" Seeing that those in front took the deal with no exceptions, the relatively richer people at the back frowned. Some of their relatively entitled attitudes still existed. They obviously had money, why couldn''t they get the things they used to take for granted? They need these things! How do they get it? Chapter 222 - 222: Get Rich Quick Jun naturally saw the depression nearby, pausing in thought. In order not to make a bigger commotion, he asked another person to separate and make another stall. This person happened to be Ansel, who got the best deals by virtue of being the relative of the owner, accompanied by a few better-off fellows. But Ansel enjoyed the crowd more so he got an assistant to sell his stuff for him. Opening their spaces, he transferred some of the items to the other''s space without revealing anything to the outside world. Of course, such ''remote'' transfers also cost some money, but they were really a hassle to carry. Seeing that the goods were settled, Jun turned to look at the rich crowd simmering in impatience. "We may no longer have a lot of food products available, but we do have items for luxury, still expensive even in our territory because the production isn''t mature yet. For those who have currency in gold, please come with me." The hopeless people at the back brightened and followed. There were surprisingly more than a hundred people who still had a lot of surplus gold coins. This stall was much more peaceful and only needed a few guards, and the crowd was only because there were still a lot of curious bystanders. The privilege made the rich customers stick out their chest, a little proud. But then the items to be sold were revealed. They flinched and someone even coughed violently when they saw the new items being offered, and they immediately lost their bearing. Bolts of fabric in several colors, as well as sewing kits, were taken out, and it made these people''s eyes widen. You must know that while they were much better off than others, they were almost the same in terms of how unsightly their clothes were. At best, they could only wash it more than others. Leather could be done, but it was too hot and uncomfortable! But now they see bolts of cloth!!! S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We are selling a bolt of cotton, 1 meter width and 3 meters in length, for a lump sum of 5 gold each." The salesman said with a smile. "Hemp cloth as well, albeit a lump only costs 80 silver per bolt." Then he showed a wooden box opening to show a few spools of threads and needles. "For now, we offer two thread weights for each available color and different needle sizes and types." "We will soon offer threads and needles for crocheting, quilting, and the like." "This particular sewing kit cost 10 silver." Metal was still difficult, so the needles for now were made of beast bones, delicately carved by their artisans. These people did not even hesitate and paid immediately, afraid that they''d lose stocks again. Those who bought handled the cotton and saw the quality was not bad. One of the customers, advanced in age, was particularly more noticeable because the way he checked fabric reeked of expertise. Jun''s eyes couldn''t help but follow the man as he got out of the crowd to go somewhere less dense. He gently unrolled the two bolts (one was allowed for cotton and two for hemp). The man''s fingers traced its texture feeling for any irregularities. He looked closely for any imperfections, and he checked for the consistency of the weave. He also lifted it to check its weight and density, and pretty much stuck his eyes on the fabric to see the selvage and the edges. With an unchanged expression, he waved them to see how fabric draped and fell. He nodded, seeming satisfied with how the fabric held its shape. Finally, he held it against the light to see its translucency. The man''s eyebrows rose, he combed back his white hair, and gaped at the items. Naturally, the quality could not compare to Terran''s, but he didn''t even expect to see anything of the type so soon. His name was Andrei, and he used to be a well-known fashion designer back in Terran. He naturally knew about this stuff. But more importantly¡ª "You mentioned that¡­ you produce these?!" He darted back to the crowd and asked the sales person in disbelief. "Yes, when we left, the first batch of cotton had just matured and the machines had only been completed. So we bought this for a relatively high price." Andrei found this a bit unbelievable. Their side was still obviously struggling with the basics, but someone else was already producing luxuries. As someone who had been a refugee, he had thought Bright was already very good. But alas, there was no harm without comparison. Anyway, he bought the maximum allowed purchase of three bolts and a set of sewing paraphernalia. The others bought one or two, especially after finding out the price would be lowered when the technology developed. After these were done, the next set of items was revealed, causing wild chattering of the spectators. The group revealed items like larger jars of condiments and earthenware, also sold in gold. Because the team sold condiments and sauces in larger containers to save space, the condiments and sauces were sold in jars. "Soy sauce?" "Chili!!" "Is that¡­ ready mix?" "Curry flavor? Sour soup flavor?" Ansel smiled and looked at his companions. Together, they took small earthenware saucers, and took a bit of each, handing them to their customers to let them have a taste. The people looked at each other, gaping. Oh my gosh! These are legit! HOW?! What could this mean? It meant they could start cooking delicacies again! This naturally led to a bidding war¡ªwhich Jun allowed this time. What was more, he actually decided to sell a vat of each in a set! After all, taking this amount was enough to make a business out of it! If the people who managed to buy could actually cook, they could get a return of investment within a few days! As he watched the bidding war going, Old fabulous Andrei couldn''t help but gape. "This is amazing¡­" Andrei mumbled, and those beside him nodded very passionately. As they appreciated the goods, they couldn''t help but take second look at the sellers¡ªwhich they belatedly realized to be so much cleaner and happier than anyone else. But¡­ what they were more curious about was the territory that could produce all these and make these people so satisfied with their lives. Such a territory, within a few weeks, managed to revive cultures they thought they''d lose forever, preserving technology they thought they had lost. So¡­ they were just very, very, curious. What kind of territory was this¡­ Altera? Chapter 223 - 223: Meet Old Friends Back in the food area, Ansel was selling jerky with a smile on his face, making the girl buying blush as red as a tomato. He smiled, chuckling, which just made the girl flush even deeper. This was a very good customer who purchased everything to the purchase limit so Ansel was obviously very kind. "Here you go," he said, handing her the hemp bag with a winning smile, and the girl looked at him in a daze. "A-Ah, yes¡­ Uhm¡­" "Be sure to check out our territory, okay? It''s lovely there, almost as lovely as you." "I-I¡­ okay¡­" Jun¡ªwho had just returned to this side¡ªalmost rolled his eyes and just smiled at the person next in line, who had been getting annoyed by the delays up front. "Hello, dear customer," Jun said to the person, pulling the girl out of her daze. Realizing her gaffe, she flinched and quickly excused herself to leave. Of course, this was not without looking back wistfully in Ansel''s direction. Ansel did not see this, however, as he had already shifted his focus to the next customer, "How may we help you today?" The person nodded and also bought to the maximum allowable purchase. "A little of everything please, to the maximum we could get. "Okay. Please note that all items are at twice the original selling price." The man nodded, manifesting several golds. "No problem." Jun smiled cordially and organized the items they would be selling. There were no more biscuits and bread, but there was still a bit of the others like rice and condiments. This purchase made those behind very tense. The sale continued until they reached the last batches, with some items getting looted faster than others. "There''s no more strawberry jam?" A familiar soft-but-manly voice sounded in his ears and Ansel turned his head to its source. It was Tom, looking very disappointed, staring at the empty blanket on another one of their makeshift ''stalls'' in despair. Because Ansel was on the other side of the ''store'', covered by other vendors (and there was also the fact that the older man''s attention had always been fixed on the items below), Tom didn''t notice him there at all. Ansel smirked and stood up, asking his neighbor to sell the remaining bits for him, and walked beside the older man. Because he was wallowing in grief, Tom did not notice his approach until he felt a pat on his shoulder. Absent-mindedly, Tom turned his head to be met with familiar peach-blossom eyes. Tom gasped in surprise at the sight of the handsome lad that he didn''t think he''d see again so soon. Ansel rolled his eyes at his daze. "Come with me." He said, and it was just then that Tom was pulled back to reality. "Ansel?! You''re back!!!" But before he could celebrate, Tom''s shoulder slumped, looking at him filled with pity. Ansel''s eyes twitched. What was this guy thinking, this time? Tom''s initial thought was that Ansel didn''t find his sister and suffered a bit outside. Unable to hold up, he came back. In despair, he followed the crowd, and thus their fates reconnected. Tom was already thinking about how to feed him. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He then patted the man''s shoulders. "It''ll be fine. I''ll support you." Ansel''s eyes twitched realizing what was going on in this guy''s head. "Look closer, big guy," Ansel said and Tom blinked, finally doing so. Very quickly, he realized that he thought too much. Tom took a second look at his old friend and sized him up, surprised at what he was seeing. He was obviously much more filled up, whiter, and cleaner than when he left, right? "You!" Was all he could say, puzzled by how this could be. How long has it been? Why was he so different? He couldn''t help but look at the well-fitting garments with leather clothing on his body. Tom had been with him for most of the time back in Terran, he did not have time to get these clothes. Ansel smirked proudly. "My sister gave it to me~" He also looked so smug that if Tom wasn''t such a mild-mannered guy, he''d want to punch him. But¡­ how nice. He was happy for him. "Well, it''s good that you found your sister," was all he said, very polite, but he was also very envious. He wondered where his brother''s family was¡­ Shaking his head of the thoughts, he pulled himself back with a smile. There was no use worrying now, he could only do his best to strengthen himself so he could support and protect them when they found each other. The duo weaved through the crowd and, looking back, Tom couldn''t help but feel emotional again. "It''s a pity I wasn''t able to buy those things¡­" His strawberry¡­ Ansel rolled his eyes. This idiot. "Didn''t you see what direction I came from?" Tom stared at him, puzzled, and Ansel pointed his thumb back to the store not far away. It took a moment but it did dawn on him, and the middle-aged man gaped as soon as it did so. "You came with them?!" Tom paused and gulped at a realization. "Then, you¡ª" Ansel nodded. "I''m making a private sale." "Y¡­You mean¡­?" Ansel looked up in exasperation. "Do you want to buy my products or not?" Tom almost cried. His favorite strawberry jam was in reach! ¡­ CHARACTER INTERACTION CORNER (ANSEL EDITION) Ansel: We meet up with old friends! We will also meet more next chapter! They''re not friends though. Author: Time for the interview! Ansel: Oh, yes, Ms. Author. Shoot away! Author: ¡­what is the best seller? Ansel: Everything sells well! But if I were to point out what the resource-scarce people bought, it''s mostly the bread and biscuits. Author: hmm. Makes sense if they didn''t have their own kitchen to cook. Ansel: Some also buy condiments so the meat they have on hand tastes better. Author: If you''re in their position. What would you buy? Ansel: Hair gel! Author: ¡­ Seriously? Ansel: The resources could come later. I look very good. Author: *looks at Althea* Look at this thing you raised. Althea: My baby brother is adorable whatever he does. Chapter 224 - 224: More Acquaintances The duo had finally gotten out of the crowd a few minutes of struggle later, with Tom stopping himself from asking any details, lest they be overheard and cause Ansel trouble. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, they didn''t get far before another voice called out to Ansel, with a very familiar tone of voice. Ansel''s eyes twitched, he didn''t seem to have female friends and/or exes with such a high-pitched tone of voice, right? "Ansel¡­" the voice called again when she saw that they didn''t pay attention. The two men turned their heads to see two women approaching them with big, relieved smiles on their faces. If others saw, they''d think they were old friends or something that finally found each other after suffering great wrongs. Ansel recognized them as Nanny''s daughter and the showy woman who called herself their neighbor. Looking at the two women, Ansel could see that the environment obviously took a toll on them. Their faces had lost their previous smoothness, their clothing was well-kept but poor quality due to circumstance, and their skins had gotten rough and dark. Despite all these changes, their core was the same: one was as haughty as ever, while the other one stood a step behind her as if willingly serving as foil. Of course, Ansel''s experienced eyes told him she was doing the exact opposite. He could even sense some low-key goading of the other woman to encourage the other to act like a spoiled brat. It didn''t help that the Peacock woman a.k.a. Ramona really was really a spoiled brat that magically still hadn''t been fixed by the apocalypse AND the migration. She did not hide the greed in her eyes when she saw him, which crept Ansel (and Tom, who wasn''t even the target) very much. "Ansel¡­" she repeated when he didn''t answer, assuming he simply didn''t hear, eyes ogling him maniacally. Ansel was still as handsome as ever, Ramona thought greedily, and he was even cleaner than when they last saw him. Not to mention, compared to the sorry state of everyone right now, Ansel was a massive light in the darkness! Her gossipy nature also informed her that Ansel was among the people who brought all these goods here. Not only did they bring food and condiments, but they also brought fabric! She definitely can''t miss him! She thought strongly, thinking of various ways to get Ansel to take her with him. Ramona, at this time, was getting desperate. Since they got here, she had been trying to attach herself to Micheal. At least, get attached to any one of his confidants. Unfortunately, she had no luck for a while and had no choice but to settle with the lowest ranked people amongst the Lord''s party¡ªa plain-looking muscle-head named Paulie. She couldn''t help but send a furtive sideways glance at the woman beside her. She did not have any luck, but¡ªfor some mysterious reason¡ªthis woman did. Ramona didn''t know how she did it, but she managed to snag someone from the lord''s inner circle¡ªa man named Gingo, who was in charge of the lord''s Treasury. He was not very handsome, and a little older than they were, but the lord''s decisions on where to place his money had a lot to do with this guy. It was not an exaggeration to say he held the most power next to the lord himself. But looking at the lively stalls, Ramona sneered. So what if you had money? What was money if you couldn''t even eat a decent meal? She had had enough of all those bland food! At this thought, her stare at Ansel got even hotter. "You''re back?" She asked with a smile she thought was sexy. Ansel only nodded and gestured to walk away when Sandra beside her spoke. "Althea¡­ she¡­ how is she?" She asked, appearing truly concerned. "Hmn," Ansel responded and turned to her. He was still polite to Sandra. After all, it was her direction that led him to Althea. "I found her, " He said, "Thanks to you." He then handed her a small basket with a little of everything¡ªone of his offerings, the food set. Sandra blushed and was very flattered by the gift, while Ramona frowned in jealousy. "This basket is actually a product from her industry. She''s doing very well." He said, "You know her field. She''s like a fish thrown into the water now." Ansel took a deep look at the woman, pretending not to see her stiffened stance. "She was among the first citizens there and it was the first territory she settled in. She barely suffered." Sandra gripped the basket when he heard how Althea was. It was even her first territory! She didn''t suffer at all! Most importantly, she was the one behind these items? How? Why?! She must still be so beautiful right?! Ansel sneered when he saw the reaction she thought she was hiding well, politely excused himself, and led Tom to go on their way. Ansel and Tom didn''t get far, when he stopped walking. Tom was a little puzzled until the redhead turned to a direction with an unreadable smile. Ansel stared back at another familiar face staring at him. It was none other than the territory lord, Micheal, as well-put as always. He was standing still and poised with a few of his guards and cronies beside him. Interestingly, some of these guards were familiar. It was Bruce and Artie, now guards, who were also pleasantly surprised at the sight of him. They didn''t break character and run to him of course, but the brightness in their eyes was welcoming enough, Ansel smiled back, happy for them. He also saw how hard they worked for this back then, and was glad they''d gotten the opportunity. Micheal looked at him, and then to the Alteran team not far away. The man then sent a deep unfathomable look, but that same smile was plastered on his face. Micheal walked over to him, stopping just over a meter away. "Shall we talk?" Ansel gave him a knowing look and smirked. "Gladly." Chapter 225 - 225: Discussions The group settled down in a meeting hall built beside the village center. It was a little crude with thatch as roofing, unlike tiled ones in Altera, but it was a good enough enclosure, considering the length of time they''ve been here and the resources they had. The room also had some simple furniture like chairs, tables, and the like¡ª which was actually quite impressive, especially if one hadn''t stepped into Altera yet. The entire space had about two hundred square meters in floor area. There was a large centerpiece table smack in the middle, surrounded by a dozen chairs arrayed at equal distances. There were also some chairs set flush along the walls, probably for audiences like their assistants. It was an obvious meeting room, flexible to add audiences as needed, and it looked like a crude, small, but usable plenary hall. Ansel nodded. Compared to other territories, Bright was definitely one of the better ones. He mused that there should also be a construction team here, as well as someone who had some knowledge of politics. "Sit down, please," Micheal said, gesturing towards chairs. He politely didn''t sit down until the guests did so. There were two groups in this meeting: Local and Alterans. The Alterans were only him, Jun, and Drake, with the others closing up the business outside. The locals, on the other hand, naturally had a lot more people. There were about ten of them, including the two women. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The two women Ramona and Sandra managed to come in in view of their men. Well, Sandra did. Ramona''s man wasn''t even there. She got in holding Sandra. As everyone was settling down, Michael opened some small talk. "Have you found your siblings?" Ansel nodded. "Partially. I found my sister, thank you for asking." Ansel responded with similar politeness. "She''s living with me in the territory now." "Oh, how well?" Micheal asked and when he realized the question was a little inappropriate, he added, "I overheard what you told them." He nodded his head to the two women, who were listening eagerly to his question. Ansel smiled, quite proud of his sisters'' achievements. "Well, she''s living in her own villa there and is eating well every day." Micheal nodded. "That''s great to hear. I heard that the thriving food industry in your territory had a lot to do with her, as well." "My sister is very good with plants. She found some indigenous plants and studied their use." Ansel paused, "She and her team found a way to make some of the familiar products from indigenous items like what you saw today, and rented farms for mass production." Micheal and the others couldn''t help but remember, with some longing, the products circulating. They also bought out a lot of citizens for a very high price. It was Gingo who spoke next. "It''s unfortunate we cannot purchase farms." He said. The territory bought a village center, a weapons store, an armory, the walls, and the residences. After leveling up, they purchased the well and the warehouse. This wasn''t a bad decision at all because the resources were lush in this place. Although the food wasn''t enjoyable, no one would starve. "However, it doesn''t mean we cannot farm on our own," Micheal said, comforting. "We could build edifices, why not till the land for agriculture?" The people on his side nodded, enlightened, and were relieved. Then it was Bruno who spoke out his concerns. Bruno was Micheal''s primary person in the military and security aspects of the territory. "My lord, would they tell us information about the plants? A few of his cronies nodded, having the same concern. "The people we lost due to poisoning are not few." After all, there were so many of them. The resources within the walls were sometimes not enough. A lot of people, especially those with not much money, would tend to venture outside to forage. Micheal heard their questions and turned to Ansel, silently asking for his response. The redhead crossed his arms with a smile. "Everyone in our territory is aware of which plants nearby are poisonous and which ones are usable." He said, "I''m no botanist so it can''t come from me. You''d just have to visit our place, our people would likely share knowledge with you." The citizens of Bright looked a little surprised, but not too much. After all, they were all from one place, and sharing this knowledge wouldn''t hurt Altera at all, so they were only thankful. The NPC guard Juno, on the other hand, looked at them with cynicism, because he grew up thinking very differently. Juno was a tall handsome man with unusual dark-green hair, cut very short. In his culture, people had to go through fire first before getting such important knowledge from another person. So, most of him would be guarded. He was even thinking that this could be a trap to lure the Lord out of his territory. But, looking at the Lord having a sincere discussion about this, he dared not speak out. Regardless, he would just have to increase his vigilance and just do his job and protect the lord here. As his mind listened to the discussion, his honey-colored eyes couldn''t help but give the lord a furtive glance. For better or for worse, this was a lord he was starting to sincerely admire. He was unique, unlike the other lords he served. He was strong, but he was also kind. He didn''t have the pompousness of nobles at all. Micheal felt his stare and turned his head, making the NPC flinch a little. He nodded as if to reassure him and the NPC couldn''t help but blush a bit in embarrassment. Micheal did not see this. Instead, he returned his attention to the red-head in front of him. Thinking of plants and crops, as well as what they had been producing so far, Micheal couldn''t help but voice out his admiration. "It is amazing. It''s great that she also found plants similar to Terran¡­" Ansel shook his head. "While there are indeed some similar plants, a lot of the familiar plants you saw really were from Terran." He said, making the others stare at him. His lips rose upwards, and he looked a bit smug. "You see¡­ she also brought in seeds from our planet." Everyone else at the table flinched. "What?" Their eyes twitched. Everyone only had a cubic meter of space. There was so much they had to pack¡ªfood, water, and clothing would''ve filled the space in no time. No one would think of going out of their way to get seeds, right? Well, apparently not this guy''s sister. And looking at his smug (punchable) face, the decision served them very well. He still looked a bit spoiled by her. Envy! Chapter 226 - 226: First Inter-territory Partnership Micheal cleared his throat, repeating his words as if to confirm, "She¡­ she brought in Terran plants?" "Yes. She already rented several farms dedicated to them." There was silence for a while before the lord broke it, with his back resting on his chair, losing a little of his composure. "Your sister is amazing. Most people¡­ really won''t think of this direction." Even he, who had a lot of resources at his disposal, thought to fill his space with weapons and basic supplies. "Well, she''s a bit¡­ obsessed," Ansel said with an awkward but fond smile. Anything his sister did was cute and logical. If it wasn''t, the world was wrong. "Well, it improved the lives of the people in your territory." Micheal told him, "This alone makes her a hero." "Of course!" He agreed very strongly. Not only in the territory, other people would also enjoy the benefits very soon. Micheal was extremely interested and excited, although he maintained a cool facade. He leaned down and placed his elbow on the table, placing his hands together. "So¡­ if we hope to make a deal, what would your sister say?" Ansel mirrored his body language, smiling. "She gave me full power on this." "Okay, good." ¡­ [2 Hours Later] "You¡­ are very good," Micheal said, extending his hand for a handshake. However, if one knew him well enough, one would see his expression was a bit darker than usual. Ansel was very smug. Even though he was young, he was told by everyone he was a very skilled businessman. Micheal was not easy either and there were times that he felt an invisible dagger threaten him. But who told him to have all the cards? So, Micheal had to succumb, buying a fixed amount for 100% more than the Alteran market price. They also had to pick up the goods themselves. Althea had said that non-residents would have to buy goods in the territory for at least thrice the price, even more for the luxury items. So this was not a bad deal at all. What actually irked Micheal was the fact that he had to let go of 5 construction talents for every month the deal was in effect. Then he would let them work in Altera for free for that month. That was, he''d be paying these talents'' salaries. Micheal was dark just thinking about it, his calm but sharp stare targeting the redhead whose face was so happy and proud that everyone on his side wanted to punch him. Ansel naturally felt it, but he was feeling too accomplished to care. He got them more construction talents~ Althea had told him that after the territory was upgraded again, the land would be four times as large, maybe even larger. They would really need these talents. Anyway, they didn''t have to worry about corporate spies or anything because the contracts in the village center were very strict. "Your sister is very kind to give her territory this convenience when it is her items being sold," Micheal said, looking at the other man with unknown thoughts. Ansel''s lips twitched. "Of course!" He said, "She''s one of the designated ''Elders'' there. This is basically the head of a department." "Oh?" Gingo asked, very curious. They, too, had built a little government, but they called them department heads. "Who assigned that if there was no ''lord''?" "The system," Ansel said, shrugging. "Notifications just appeared in front of them or something." The other party continued to ask questions, obviously trying to find out more about Altera. Similarly, during those two hours of discussion, Ansel also found quite a bit of things about the other party. For example, like Altera, the Bright territory was also widely invested in construction, using money to buy resources to build houses, restaurants, and wells. Micheal could tell that Altera was even more adamant in this and he was very curious about what they had built so far (as Ansel was being vague, obviously telling him to see it for himself). Another piece of information he got was that Bright''s village center was also upgraded a few days back. It happened that the first talent Micheal took fancy to was a Builder. In Bright, the manual construction in the territory focused the types outside the system. For example, the government office that they were now in. Although they were simple buildings, they met certain needs of the territory and were already much better than most territories on the same level. Better, just yesterday, Micheal got the news that someone triggered the life occupation of Builder. This was really good news as he was in dire need of talents and occupations. His population was several thousands of people, but not many had triggered the skills. Even the Village center wasn''t particularly reliable regarding this. On the second day of leveling up the village center, he won a level E guard¡ªthe green-haired Juno next to him¡ªbut there were no special hires after that. After many days, he finally settled with a no-rank cook yesterday. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There had been no useful ones since then, and sometimes he felt the hiring function whetted the appetite with good talents only at the beginning. Then¡­ after making the lords curious and spending silver every day, the hiring function would leave them hanging. Micheal sighed, feeling it to be a pity, before he returned to the present. His eyes met the arrogant Ansel''s and he couldn''t help but think a bit deeper. Among many other things, Micheal was also very curious about the kind of territory the great Althea Witt, Mathilda Cruz, and Professor Gru Beanman were so dedicated to. "It seems like I have to visit your territory soon," He said. "You should. You would definitely¡­ be enlightened." "You are very confident." "Always." Without any more words, the two headed to the village center some time later. Under the witness of their cohorts and many citizens of Bright, the two went to a platform and opened a contract. They raised their hands, as if registering their fingerprints, and a small light enveloped the two of them, immediately bursting like a bubble a second later. This marked the beginning of Altera Village''s first Successful inter-territory partnership. Chapter 227 - 227: Military Might Back to Altera, Althea was going around handling her industries, preparing as much as she could before the hundreds, if not thousands, of people arrived. She had already planned for the expansion of the factories, as well as scheduled the hiring of more labor force. She also scheduled a lot more factories for the various new needs of the territory. For instance, there would come a time when Lenny''s workshop could no longer fit in the fabric factory. This would be especially true when the commercial space she got for her was opened. As such, a factory would be dedicated to Lenny. They would be focusing on more common clothing and undergarments, and the rest of that market would be left to the citizens. In terms of residences, the current dormitories and residences would be able to swallow the newcomers. However, she did have to prepare well for the inevitable future expansion of the residential areas. Anyway, the land after the upgrade would increase by folds, but she didn''t know exactly how it would change after that. The NPCs mentioned that the expansion of the territory sometimes was not straightforwardly radiant, some were elongated, so she didn''t stress on the premature planning because of this. There were also other aspects that needed to be perfected, like policies that would be applicable to tens of thousands of population. For instance, traffic. Another, security. The more people there were, the more bad apples there would be. This was an inevitable fact she needed to address. Speaking of this, she decided to look at the loyalties of her citizens, in case she already had a bad apple around. She looked at the Citizens tab for the first time since the monster mob. She found the lowest loyalties for now was 50%. "Hm. Not bad." She said, and this meant she was still relatively problem-free in this area. For now, anyway. She looked at the other stats as well and, to her surprise, she found that there were also more and more people who triggered Life Occupations. There were more woodworkers, farmers, and builders. Dozens of them. It could be said that the peacefulness and prosperity of the territory inspired and gave time to a lot of people, allowing them to trigger these occupations that otherwise would have taken much longer. Anyway, this would allow her territory to be built faster, a necessity for her Territory that wished to develop as much as possible before they faced the dangerous world outside. Above all of these, of course, she knew that one of the first things she had developed well was the military force. Fortunately, even with her lack of talent in the area, the people assigned to this aspect were all very responsible, knowledgeable, and passionate about their job. There were also more Fighting Occupations like swordsmen, shieldsmen, spearmen, and archers. People with these occupations had received some skills, a few more than others. For example, Helios and Hugo received three skills each as soon as they activated their professions, while some only had one. Regardless of whether it was one or three skills, however, she had no doubt that the training hall had a great contribution to this. After all, the monsters outside had become relatively weaker to them, triggering fighting occupations that needed life-and-death experiences. The Training Hall somewhat managed to fill up this gap, to a certain degree. The countdown to the end of the protection period had begun, and what were all these riches and conveniences if they couldn''t protect it? On the contrary, it would become a favorite target of more powerful territories instead. Although she would only be against village-level territories, the indigenous villages of this world had average levels of about 10 or so. This was twice what their own level forecast was! Now that their level started to stagnate at an average level of 5, Althea had no choice but to develop weaponry and defense even more. Although Drake and Rowan weren''t here at this time, they had made sure everything was in order. So, their policies were strictly followed by the more than 100 of the remaining guards. She watched as the barracks used a mixture of training methods from Xeno and from Terran, each of which complemented the other. Speaking of methodology and technique, Drake and Rowan were also surprisingly compatible with each other. Drake trained the guards'' physical and reaction times, while Rowan trained a more subtle quality¡ªsomething he called spirituality¡ªthat was supposed to solidify the foundation of Elementalists. It was a very subtle technique that was incredibly difficult to understand if one hadn''t awakened yet, but not entirely impossible to practice. It was like meditation, but more yearning for an outside force. Althea had tried it and although she hadn''t awakened yet, her instinct told her the exercise was useful. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She and the others in her team made it a point to turn this spirituality training into a habit, done at least an hour every day. Perhaps, this would solidify their foundation, and make it easier for them to practice the elements when the time came. Returning to the present, she walked down to the training ground, joining the hardworking men. "How are you?" "Miss Altea!" The guards greeted the ''elder'' warmly. Their looks were with traces of affection and with massive amounts of admiration. This was a strong woman who was responsible for why their stomachs were always filled and satisfied¡ªthe woman who had affected their current lifestyles the most. Nobody said it out loud, but everyone who knew her achievements knew she was pivotal in the development of this territory. It was Reno, Drake''s right-hand man, who stood forward to answer her question. "The lowest level of the guards is level 3, Ms. Althea, and most of them are already level 4. With the help of the training hall, the average should be at level 5 by the time the protection period ends." This was one of the main items for reporting to the higher-ups every few days. It was obvious how seriously they took it. He heard the elders jointly requested to increase the free benefit time of the training hall to their guard team for this purpose. "What about combat capability?" "A level 3 can now take on a level 3 monster, one on one, without sustaining damage, miss Althea!" She nodded, pretty eyes following the movements of the hardworking guards. Although the level was low compared to those villages outside, how many fighters could fight against the same leveled monsters one-on-one? She doubted there was a lot. "Announce it to your guards," she said, emerald eyes not leaving her persevering guards. She ought to inspire them a bit more and pushed them a few more steps forward. "For every upgrade to level 5, a guard is entitled to 10 kilograms of rice, a big packet of instant noodles, a big packet of biscuits, a 1-liter jar of processed meat, and 3 small jars of any condiment of their choice." The guards who were low-key eavesdropping nearby widened their eyes, hyped, and lost their subtlety. They stopped whatever they were doing and stared, making sure what she said would really be implemented. This was big! That amount of food was more than enough to feed a big person for a month! The beautiful elder was so generous! "I''m expecting more level 5s soon." She said with a smile, and the guards almost saluted. "Yes, miss! Thank you!" If there was something that measured her personal prestige, her already high value would''ve skyrocketed even more. Chapter 228 - 228: New Mission Dragon Team Barracks, A few years prior It was night time and the military barracks laid in peaceful silence, now relatively empty as most soldiers were already preparing to rest. One area, though, remained filled with activity. Continuous gunshots echoed across the semi-open air shooting range, particularly audible amongst the quiet fields surrounded by dense forests. The one holding the gun had soft delicate hands, and she was supported from the recoil by strong arms flushed behind her. These same strong arms held up her supple arms, keeping them stable and in position. After shooting, she narrowed her eyes at the target brought back by the carrier. Her hit rates ranged from 6 to 8 points and she frowned. She had been here for so long, why was her accuracy so low? She pouted and looked at the man behind her. "So bad?" Garan chuckled and leaned down to kiss her head. "You are already doing very well, my love." "Really?" "Really." Althea''s mood turned up and she looked at the gun in her hand again. It felt really powerful, no wonder men loved it so much. "Well, I hope you''d never have to use it." He said, leaning down to peck at her lips. Althea smiled, closing her eyes to receive his chaste kiss. "Hmmm. I know," she told him, "That''s why you do your best at your job. So that I can study my plants with a peace of mind." Garan chuckled, wrapping his strong arms around her and she relished in his warmth. "Well, my wife is amazing." She pinched his cheeks. "We''re not married yet." Gatan smiled kissing her naughty hand on his face. "Not for long." ________________ Altera Village, present. After a short chat with the soldiers, Althea then proceeded to go to the newly minted weapons and armory factory, refurbished from one of the newly built buildings in the industrial area. On paper, this factory was ''expropriated'' by the ''territory'' to be used as a weapons factory. It was located next to the Kiln and had better security compared to the others. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This area was where the weapons and armor would be mass-produced. After so long, Brenda and the others determined that, except for the productivity buff, they could do everything else in the factory, considering they had relatively advanced machines (for Xeno, anyway). It functioned like a combined armory and weapons store, albeit focusing only on production. All artisans and creators also had their own large workspaces, and they also added water wheels for their machines, as needed. It could be said that the Territory invested a lot in this. As an elder, she was one of the people with access to this area. The bike project was once again deferred, this time because Eugene had to help Brenda and Troy make some more weapons. The Creator job was so rare because they could also function as weapons makers, armor makers, etc. The catch was that there wouldn''t be any skills given to them by the World Knowledge, just the basic passive skill of understanding underlying mechanisms, which meant that they had to study every skill by themselves. Basically, unless one was really an inventor by profession, the job of Creator would not be available to them.. Fortunately, Eugene had long transferred the contents of Althea''s tablet to his and he had all the reference that he needed. Another passive that Eugene had recently developed was ''faster hands'' in which his hand speed could do twice as much without reducing accuracy. It was very cool to watch. Further, Troy had also awakened the Weapons Master''s occupation, and everyone knew it (he threw a party, making quite an announcement). He was very smug at the fact that he could now make ''magic'' crossbows that could do more damage against the monsters here than Terran guns. She watched as the three tirelessly tinkered with various components splayed out on the table, and Eugene''s hand was moving so fast that the Her before the apocalypse may have a hard time following his movements. "We have created smaller crossbows that could be activated by a finger. Although its force is weak, it is lethal if accuracy is good." "Very assassin-like," Althea said and Troy brightened at being ''acknowledged''. "Indeed! Very cool! The enemies won''t know what hit them!" The group smiled and proceeded to discuss the other weapons developed during this time. "Another one is the double-end axe. We used stone for the ends though¡­" The dark-skinned Eugene said, wiping sweat off his face with his new cotton towel. "It''s a good weapon for a Level E with stronger durability and higher damage." "We also developed a similar spear," Brenda said, "if you press this button, it will extend by a meter. It was amazing. "There are limitations, however." Eugene said, "The durability was compromised because of this feature. It would work well if it''s iron.." "It would be great if we have some black stone¡­ I mean, iron ores." Brenda said, "I feel my level is increasing, I may be able to handle black stone¡­ er, iron tools soon." Brenda had been stuck at level D for many years. She stayed here for less than a month and she already felt this barrier loosening. "Too bad the chances are so small, but goblins are too difficult to find in our situation." "Well, let''s just do what we can." Althea said, "I''ll¡­ recommend to send missions to find ores." The other two brightened. Why didn''t they think of it? "Can we do it?" Troy asked, not wanting to be rude, but the territory was really accommodating right? Althea nodded. "As long as the rationale is there, if it is good for the village, chances are it will be approved." Troy brightened, looking very admiring. "How nice is our territory!" Althea smiled, and so did the others. "I''m sure the territory would be glad to know your thoughts." Later that day, she went to her room and opened the Lord panel, setting an announcement similar to the mass exodus from before. It was just that there was something a bit different this time. Althea looked at the follow-up question on the floating screen in front of her. [It has been detected that there are citizens outside the territory at this time. Would you like to send the mission to them for 14 gold?] This damned money-grubber, charging 10 silver per person¡­ still rounded up. But what can she do? She didn''t have the luxury of time on her hands. Besides, a little gold was not much with her current net worth. [Yes] . . That day, yet another mission calling for another Exodus sounded across the territory [Territory Mission (A) Find resource points for the territory! I.e. Metal ores, special plants, etc. Requirements: None Limits: Must contain resources for at least 100 people. Rewards: 2000-10000 contribution points per team depending on scale and importance] And like so, everyone in the territory gaped at each other, and the scores of people outside the territory flinched at the same time, looking in a direction with wide eyes. It''s only been a day! The territory''s doing big things again! Chapter 229 - 229: Training Hall (Part 1) Althea stood in front of the very popular Training Hall, just before dusk. To her surprise, she saw the long line waiting to use the facility, with people waiting patiently for their turn as they chatted. At this time, some stall owners had already brought their portable shops and were selling some snacks and drinks to the line. Ah, people could never let an opportunity to earn money pass by. Whatever it was, Althea was just very happy to know that even when the day was ending, even after people had just gone home from a long day of work, people were still dedicated to self-improvement. From this line, it could be seen that a lot of people chose to spend their contribution points strengthening themselves first before anything else. She had worried people would choose to spend it on comfort first, but it seemed she thought too much. This was a wise choice for them, and it somehow made her feel proud of them like a mother. She also looked forward to using it herself. She was strongly prohibited (by her team and Mathilda) from using this facility during the past few days. Naturally, this was because she had just given birth and the training hall was known for the physical and mental exhaustion it pushed a person to. There was news of ordinary people buying time with contribution points, but they came out half-dead. Of course, the gains were also not small. These ordinary citizens gained a level and were recruited into the guards shortly afterward. This was what she was after. She had remained stagnant in the beginning of level 6, not having been able to go out much after giving birth. And even if she did, for some reason level 1s¡ªthe predominant mobs¡ªno longer gave her any experience. Now she had to make up for it. With a deep breath, she walked forward and lined up like everybody else. It was just that her presence had always been strong and she was quickly noticed by the people lining up. "Ms. Althea!" One said and everyone paused whatever they were doing and whipped their heads in her direction. She smiled awkwardly, a bit taken aback. She could only watch as the people lining up smiled at her panderingly. "It''s Ms. Althea!" One paused, "Please go ahead!" "Yes, Ms. Althea! Please go here¡­" one said, pointing at the space in front of him. Even without her contribution to the food industry, her striking beauty, or her position in the territory¡­ Her hiring rate alone was enough for people to want to suck up to her. Seeing that the people thought it would be an honor to give up their position in line for her, she was not polite. Simply thanked them with a smile. "No problem, miss!" "We''re glad to save you time!" "Everyone knows your time is super precious! Equivalent to the food of our village!" They looked so funny, she thought, and she laughed with them. "Well, I''ll make sure we release some more products soon." She said just before entering the hall, and when it closed she could hear them cheer. ¡­ Althea looked closely at the training hall as she entered. It was a two-storey building with around 500 square meters of footprint. There were about 10 rooms altogether per floor, with five doors facing each other on a one-meter-wide hallway. At the end of the hallway, there was a parchment with words written in strong strokes. Althea, who had been learning the local language, could make out the words ''Strength First, Happiness Later'', which was quite amusing. She stood outside one of the available doors, determined by the fact that it was partially open, unlike the others that were closed shut. It had a very crude and simple in design. Althea went in and looked around the room, observing before doing anything. It was a room composed of stone all around, walls to floor, without any embellishments. It was more like a more refined quadrilateral cave than anything else. Disregarding the aesthetics, she then proceeded to the function. At level 1, the Training Hall could only manifest a maximum level monster of level 5. However, it was still much better than the puny level 3s outside. A familiar ding rang in her head as soon as she closed the door. [Welcome to the Training Hall! Please choose the level of training you wish to experience! Level 1 Cost: 50 contribution/hour Level 2 Cost: 100 contribution/hour Level 3 Cost: 200 contribution/hour Level 4 Cost: 300 contribution/hour Level 5 Cost: 500 contribution/hour] In the back room, this contribution point was automatically converted to its equivalent copper. From what she understood, 90% of this money went back to her pockets, while the rest went to ''somewhere else'', likely going to the mysterious ''developer'' of the building. This amount per hour was understandably not cheap, and she mused it was probably because manifesting monsters took up a lot of energy. This also showed the territory''s willingness to invest in the guards by providing them with a few hours of training for free, regardless of level, which increased the prestige of both the job and the territory even more. Before doing anything though, she took time to check on her stats. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 6 (100/20000) Life: 900/900 Spirit: 900/900 +50 Physical: 175 +40 Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Agility: 177 +10 Defense: 114 +94 Mana: 900 Physical Potential: B Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1), Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] Satisfied, she turned her attention to the holographic screen dedicated to the facility. After paying the money for a level 5 monster, a hologram-like thing appeared in front of her. It was a bigger, scarier, version of the Gnomos, one of the first monsters she encountered here. It was still similar to an ugly rat, but its green hue was darker and more menacing, its short tail was now longer and sharper, and its teeth looked like it could kill twice as easily as the Gnomos they had known. And so a woman and a monster stared each other down, with the latter''s eye glinting with malice. Althea couldn''t help but gape for a moment, looking at how there seemed to be saliva also dropping, how its fur was raised at the sight of her. It was so realistic. The aura of a stronger monster was intimidating, and it sent goosebumps up her spine. But more of her¡­ was excited. She''ll finally get a good fight! Chapter 230 - 230: Training Hall (Part 2) Althea looked at the monster in the eye, staring it down. Don''t look at it being a level lower than her, monsters'' physique was something fragile humans could not compare with. Not to mention, for physiques, level 5 was a threshold for monsters. Unlike before where every level up would have a bit of an increase in stats, every five levels would have a somewhat higher increase. Since this applied more to monsters, it spelled more trouble for them. Without warning, the creature lunged forward at incredible speed, its claw clashing through the air. She shifted her weight and avoided it and the creature emitted a low growl, dissatisfied with its miss. She took out a normal Level E bow and arrow, ready to strike. She did not want to be dependent on overpowered weapons to fight, especially since she couldn''t maximize it with her low level. Personal skill was still the best bet. Not to mention, even if she wanted to use her overpowered weapons, she wouldn''t be able to, This was because there was also a limitation of allowed weapons inside. For level 1 Training Halls, up to D-class weapons were permitted. She immediately activated her skills to increase her chances. [Perfect aim! -10 Mana!] [Quick Shot! -5 Mana] The monster quickly turned and lunged towards her, showing great flexibility. She deftly maneuvered behind the creature, sending a flurry of quick strikes at its weak spots. She jumped back as it lunged forward, kiting it, and she used her skills many times to cause heavy damage. She couldn''t help but recall her first days with her gun. A level E bow and arrow was on par with it in terms of damage, and she could only marvel at the magic of this world. At the same time, she wondered, if their Weapons Makers could somehow produce guns¡­ how powerful would they be? Anyway, she wasn''t able to dwell on this as the monster roared from the bottom of its stomach, and she felt a little vibration in the room. Enraged, the monster thrashed around, very quick and very strong. Althea barely avoided its strong jaws, but she didn''t avoid its paws and she was thrown meters away. The giant rat jumped to maul her, and she rolled over to avoid it. She did manage to, thankfully, avoid a bulk of its attack, but its tail suddenly turned and struck her, causing her to lose her balance just as she regained it. The monster naturally went to take advantage of her imbalance but she was quick to get in an attacking position even while lying down. Down on the ground, she quickly shot several arrows in a row, hitting its mouth and even its uvula. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Rooarrrr!!! Its body shook in pain, trying to take out the few arrows that got stuck in its mouth. Taking advantage of its distraction, Althea quickly jumped on her feet, avoiding its heavy paws wildly flailing about, and began continuously shooting again. She jumped sideways to avoid the monster''s massive teeth, somersaulting to regain her balance and using her legs to zoom back to the monster. At this time, she took out her improved katana¡ªcourtesy of Eugene and Brenda, now capable of damaging a level 5¡ªfor a change of pace, mostly for her own more balanced training. The two fought for several rounds, most of which were close calls. There was one time that she almost got ''bitten'' but she used her legs to hit the side of its face, redirecting its bite. Such a strong and fast opponent was intrinsically superior in close combat. She naturally sustained some damage. She looked at her stats and saw that her life and spirit were reduced by a third. "Tsk." Sure enough, the level wasn''t everything In the training hall, one''s life and spirit were duplicated, even if you lost either, you would not die. However, she heard in the end the real body will still lose spirit, and depending on the damage, the remaining points may just be enough to keep one''s life. Soon, her ten minutes were up and she had to reactivate her skills. [Perfect aim! -10 Mana] In a blur of motion, the monster darted toward her, its claws and fangs poised to strike once more. Her lithe movements eventually adjusted, breaking its former stiffness and matching with the creature''s speed. With calculated precision, she slashed her katana, narrowly missing its agile form. Quickly, she transitioned and placed the katana back in her space. She swiftly strung her bow, eyes fixed on her fast-moving target. With as much focus as she could muster, she quickly released the arrow. Then again, and again. She hit its weaknesses like the eyes and the neck, giving it some damage. She eventually found the pattern of its movements, but unfortunately, her reaction time wasn''t fast enough yet, causing her to receive a bit of damage. But, in time, her expertise and timing neared perfection, and she started causing more and more damage as time went on. Splack! The monster roared in pain after an arrow buried in his eyes, right at its iris. It was at this moment she suddenly heard a familiar ding in her head. [Congratulations! Perfect Aim skill (Lv1) has leveled up.] Her eyebrows rose. Some skills were upgradeable the more they were used. It seemed like this skill was one. [Perfect Aim (D) Level 2: 100% hit rate for targets less than 20 meters, lasts 15 minutes. Consumption: 10 mana] In this short time of daze, the monster had finally recovered from its agitation, and their eyes met. Immediately, the damned thing lunged back in her direction. The two of them continued their previous fights, though Althea was notably no longer being pushed around. It still wasn''t easy though, as she wasn''t able to avoid its tail grabbing her legs, and pulling her down to her back. Bang!! She took out her katana, swiping the tail continuously as she used the blade to block his teeth. Eventually, she had to use her own legs to push down its glomping as she stabbed its tail. With a roar, it finally let go and her feet barely avoided being ''mauled''. She quickly recovered and shot several more arrows using her upgraded skill. She unleashed a barrage of attacks on the monster, each shot connecting with its mark. The creature finally stumbled and, using her katana, she finally drained its health bit by bit. She soon ended its life with several slashes. At less than thirty percent of life left, she watched it finally fall down. She watched its image disappear, much like the ashes of the buildings in Royal Territory before. When everything was gone, her legs gave way and she also found herself on the ground, gasping. Medicine and other healing agents were not allowed to be used in the training hall, aiming to push the individual to the limit. Oh, she was being pushed alright. [You still have 00:24:14 left, would you like to continue?] She stared at her little digital life left and narrowed her eyes. After a short breather, she raised her graceful finger. [Yes] Yes, of course. This wasn''t enough. This was something she realized with sharp enlightenment after this fight. She was still too weak. Chapter 231 - 231: Clues (Part 1) Vismont. Later that day, the sale continued in Vismont Village, but this time they set up a stall near the village center, with the richer population as the target market. They had decided on the location, with the agreement of the so-called lord, based on efficiency. More importantly, the lord was right next to them, and this alone immediately gathered the attention of everyone around as soon as he was noticed. The group settled down, setting up under the illumination of the torches, and they were quite crowded even before everything was set up. They took out 1L jars of various condiments to wholesale, bags of flour, bolts of cloth, and sewing tools, all sold in gold. People started their endless inquiries as soon as they appeared. One of the first things to notice was the bluish-green fine powder that was sold in kilogram bags. "Matcha?" The first in line asked, and the seller smilingly shook his head. "No, it''s flour." "Flour?" Other people focused on the other things, recognizing it. "Rice!" One asked, "Why is it blue?" "Both flour and rice are local materials. They naturally look different. "Rest assured our experts have determined they are healthy and safe." He cleared his throat and taught them some trivia that they got from the grocery store clerks. "The wheat here developed chlorophyll pigments making them packed with more vitamins and minerals. It also has more antioxidant properties. "Rice is blue because it has loads of iron, magnesium, and zinc coming from the rich soil. Very good for immunity and bone strength! "In any case: Our territory has been consuming it for a while, and it has been only good for us!" "Wow! How does it taste?" More and more people asked and the Alterans, ready for such questions, took out free taste samples of everything: Be it the sauces, the condiments, the cooked rice, or the baked bread. Without exception, those who tasted had bright eyes, their little doubt washed away by the taste. "Wow! It''s almost the same!" "Delicious!" "This is amazing!!!" "If we add this sauce to the restaurant gruel it would improve its taste 100x!" "I, on the other hand, wouldn''t eat that joke of a gruel with rice and wheat now available!" This marketing naturally got the trust of the people desperately wanting to believe they were real. The crowd got bigger and bigger and the Alteran guards started imposing the organized lines because the people here were pushing each other. Fortunately, the crowd in this area was much smaller than that of the shanty areas and were thus much easier to manage. The lines soon organized and the people reluctantly lined up, hoping there were a lot of stocks for them. "What are you going to buy? I can only choose one¡­ who told me to be so poor." "My brother lent me some money so I can buy a bit of everything for the house." "Wow, how lucky!" Micheal watched the commotion with a blank face, eyes looking at the lively faces of the crowd, with a mysterious expression on his face. They were standing not far from this crowd, along with his confidants. Next to them were Sylvia and the red-headed Aborigine. "Seeing the crowd, I wish I could buy more¡­" he told them, eyes staying on Silvia, who just smiled. Prior to their setup, he had already purchased a bit of all the products. While he tried to gain more for cheaper, he was only given a 10% discount on everything. The gangsters naturally ''spoke for him'' and demanded more, and the atmosphere got tense because of it. Micheal barely managed to diffuse the situation and he had no choice but to take the small discount offered. Soon questions about the stocks and availability popped up. "Are these really the last batch?" "Do you really have no more stocks left?" Micheal shifted his eyes to focus on the crowd, wondering how the shop owners would respond. At this question, the shop owners actually looked particularly excited, answering with ''subtle'' enthusiasm. "This is indeed the last batch." One said, voice calm and a bit low, but his bright eyes betrayed the excitement he was feeling. "However, you could get some in our territory, or wait for the next caravan to arrive." Micheal''s lips twitched. This line¡­ who was deaf to hear its low-key goal of poaching? No, it couldn''t even be considered low-key anymore. He sighed and just looked at Silvia, who was giggling a bit. "Do you produce them yourself?" "Yes, we had a famous plant expert in our territory. She not only studied the local plants, she also bought seeds from Terran." she paused, "It is her team who was also responsible for processing the crops into what you see now." S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This made Matthew pause, a little shocked, while the others gaped shamelessly. He cleared his throat, returning to his composed self. "I see¡­ the person who made this is really amazing. Do you know them personally?" This lord looked really amicable, but anyone with brains could notice the interrogative undercurrents. When Silvia shook her head, he turned to look at the other less busy individual in the store. Crow and Leo answered with similar vagueness (because everyone else lacked the EQ to deal with Matthew). Eventually, the lord finally excused himself to do some official work and got his people to warmly see him off. Sunny and Dog didn''t even bother hiding their eye-roll. Anyway, now that the creepy lord was gone, the atmosphere in the group lightened up visibly, and the joy of making money more pronounced. The selling continued and the people, especially the twins (who had gotten very good deals thanks to their friendship with Ansel), had large smiles on their faces. Rich! They''re really rich!! A few more rounds of selling and they would probably be able to buy their own house!!! After all, even if there was a deal between the two territories, their purchasing price would still be lower. They could create caravans and still sell these items for a very good price! No, there were downpayment programs. With this money, they might be able to pay for the down payment as soon as they get back! At the latest, just one more round! ''It is amazing. They''re amazing. The territory is amazing.'' Even with their parents there, their house in Terran was a rental. How proud mom would be when they see them own a house! "Should we buy a duplex or a single detached house?" Leo asked dreamily and Luke answered almost immediately. "Mom loooves gardening. A small one-side yard may not be enough¡­" They looked at each other, eyes bright, and thought of their choice simultaneously. "Single detached it is, then!" The twins continued to excitedly chatter about their new house while selling for a while, interrupted when they felt an apprehensive stare directed at them. Leo turned his head abruptly with narrowed eyes and saw a familiar woman. But Leo was unsure because she was quick to turn around and leave. "That''s¡ª" Luke uttered. Leo knew that his brother had a better vision than he did, confirming that the woman was indeed who he thought she was. Their eyes met each other, and they stood up, gesturing to follow the woman. After all this time, they finally had a clue! Chapter 232 - 232: Clues (Part 2) Before leaving, the twins asked their new friends and stall neighbors Sunny and Cassie to watch their stuff for them. After orienting the girls, they headed in the direction the woman ran to. The twins quickly weaved through the crowd in the direction of the woman. They ran purposely, expressions a mix of determination and urgency. They passed through crowd after crowd, alley to alley, house after house, trying to catch up to the woman. Unfortunately even with Luke''s superior eyesight¡­ they still lost her. "Damn it!" Luke yelled with gritted teeth, while Leo frowned, his fists forming into fists. "Why did she run?" Luke said, mumbling bitterly, while Leo didn''t speak. Yes, why would she run? There was no other reason unless¡­ He shook his head, not wanting to think too much. "Are you looking for someone, lads?" An old man manning a clothing repair stall asked. The man looked at their clothes and nodded. "Those must be made here, in this continent, yes?" "Ah¡­ yes." S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. To promote their products, the main parties traveling were encouraged to wear new clothes from the newly produced cotton cloths. "You could tell?" "Yes, most clothes from Terran are automated. There are differences in the stitches." "I see¡­" He said and felt very good about this kind-looking old man, temporarily putting aside the issue of the woman. Besides, he could''ve seen something. "You fix clothes for a living?" The old man paused and chuckled. "You can say so, yes. "Since we don''t have access to cloth, the people here could only make do with what they have. I happened to have fixed a lot of clothes in my youth¡­" He paused, smiling. "This is all thanks to the lord that a useless old man like me could get a job." Luke was good friends with Sunny''s group, so he naturally had some more knowledge about the ruling class here. He couldn''t bear to let this kind old man be brainwashed so deeply. "From what I heard, the lord here is a bit.. shady? A politician who could get so much hard money, and all¡­" The man paused, only staring at them for a moment, and Luke felt a little guilty for trying to break other people''s worldviews. "Perhaps." The old man said after a moment, face adorned with a wise smile. "But we don''t deny that much of the reason we could live peacefully is because of him." Luke shrugged and just thought he was a lost cause. Leo on the other hand just paused with his words and didn''t say anything else. "Have you seen the woman we were chasing? She had a braided bun on her head." Leo asked, "She''s our mum''s friend. She was with her when the disaster happened." The old man looked at them with wise eyes, as if determining if they were telling the truth. He closed his eyes and finally spoke. "She lives with others a block from here." He said, pointing in a direction. The twins thanked the old man before heading their way. But as they walked away, they heard the old man say behind them: "A reminder: Things may not be as they seem." Leo''s steps paused for a moment but he shook his head. He had much more urgent matters to deal with. ¡­ They sprinted with all their strength and reached a relatively sparse neighborhood outside the center. They were looking around and saw the woman about to reach a door. Lucky for them, the woman tried to mislead them by going in a different direction before heading home, saving them a lot of trouble instead. Luke used much of his strength to dart after the woman and finally caught up. He grabbed her arms, pulling her to an alley. "KYA!" She yelled, but her mouth was quickly covered by Luke''s large hand. They pulled her to a quiet location, and Leo stared at the woman with narrowed eyes. "Promise you won''t scream or run and we will not bind you." The woman was breathing heavily, wide eyes looking at them in fear. Leo''s jaws clenched, while Luke was just annoyed. "Are you going to help us or not? The shivering woman was silent, as if considering, and it took a while for her to nod. This hesitation alone made Leo''s frown deepen. Luke, as promised, let her go. The woman gasped as she lost the feeling in her leg and almost dropped, only to be supported on each hand with separate arms. Luke immediately began his interrogation. "Auntie! Why did you run? Where''s mum?" "I¡ª" Leo tried to be as gentle as he could, in contrast to Luke. "Auntie, we just want to ask where mum is." Leo watched the middle-aged woman pale even more at the question, shaking in fear. The more she didn''t speak, the more their hearts dropped. Luke''s eyes were turning red in impatience and annoyance, while Leo tried his best to stay collected. He stopped himself from panicking, big brain thinking of the many possible explanations. Maybe¡­ maybe they parted early on. Maybe¡­ they canceled their plans at the last minute. Maybe¡­ they didn''t go to the supermarket in the first place¡­ "Where''s mom?" "I¡ª" she uttered but shut her mouth, looking at anywhere else but the two of them. Seeing her like this, their hearts stopped. "Where is she?!" Luke couldn''t help but shake her, already a tiny bit of patience wearing thin. She shook her head crazily, and Luke''s vision started going red. "WHERE IS MY MOTHER?!!" His bellow seemed to have made the woman snap. "I didn''t mean it! I didn''t mean it!!" She yelled, completely losing her footing, covering her own ears as if she wasn''t the one currently yelling. "She tried pushing me first!" This made them freeze like they were thrown into iced water. "LIAR!!!!" Luke roared. "I''m not, I swear." She sobbed, her arms covering her whole body as if she was in pain. Leo looked at the ground with a dark face, his hands freezing to fists then loosened then gripped again, awkward, not knowing what to think. Things are not what it seems, the old man had said. Perhaps it was implying that this woman was also a victim. But¡­ He just didn''t want to believe it. Chapter 233 - 233: Another Altercation (Part 1) Vismont. Nights in Xeno were quite dark, and nights in the small Vismont village were no exception. Here, only the main road was lit with torches and still very sparsely at a hundred meters apart. If it weren''t for the two moons, people would basically be blind at night. On the side near the main plaza, the best-lit place in the territory, a certain group of top sellers were already packing up, but there were not a few people still lurking around, hoping they magically released more products. Anyway, the Alteran products have sold out and everyone was very happy with the earnings. Rowan nodded and walked to Silvia, the main proponent of inter-territory relationships in the team. "What do you think?" He asked, referring to their next point of action. They weren''t given the order to partner with Vismont. And although it wasn''t prohibited, their party definitely wouldn''t take the initiative for cooperation. He hoped to know the stance of the territory in case of accidents. "If they approach us with very advantageous deals while we''re here, we may consider. Of course, if they''re doing anything inhumane, then naturally there would be no partnership regardless of profit." Rowan nodded and he looked around to find the people who had been here before, for more referencing. But as he did a headcount, he noticed two people missing. "Where''re the twins?" He asked and it was the girls Sunny and Cassie who stepped forward to answer him. "They seemed to have seen someone they know." They said, "They looked to be quite in a hurry¡­" Rowan frowned and looked in the direction. He was a bit worried. After all, this territory was not nearly as safe as Altera, and the ruling class were forceful people who only sought to take advantage. This was actually the standard in most territories he knew and knew of, but after a month in Altera, it was obvious how his view had changed. "I will look for them." He finally said, before turning to the Alteran crowd. "I have already rented a few houses in community C. Gather your bearings and rest well. We will travel back on daybreak tomorrow." "Yes!" ¡­ Rowan found the twins an hour later after following a couple of clues. The two of them had dark expressions on their faces, looking uncharacteristically somber. This was unusual because these twins had been some of the most energetic people he had ever encountered. However, he did not ask, they weren''t close enough for him to pry, and it seemed like they encountered a very personal issue. "I have been looking for you." He said and the two looked apologetic. "We''re sorry," they said and he didn''t nag them. Without anyone speaking, Rowan led them to one of the residences he rented for the team. It was the usual unit available, except that they had brought blankets from Altera to keep themselves somewhat comfortable. This was in contrast to the others who probably only had a roof over their heads. They had seen how it was for most¡ªthey would be already better off than most if they brought a tent. The others barely had a shed built above their heads. While there were indeed carpenters in the territory, they were sadly not accessible to most. Anyway, their abode might be really bare and basic but this was already a luxury for nearly everyone else in this village. He remembered when he and the other Alterans saw the accommodation and frowned in distaste. This was until they belatedly realized that it was how the better-off people had been living. It was very impolite of them to complain so much. Some people were outwardly ashamed of how queasy they had become..., but then became proud because their home was just so much better than others, spoiling them in turn. However, the twins didn''t seem to notice the living arrangements at all, obviously dwelling in their own worlds with low moods. Before leaving the two to their own devices, Rowan gave them both a pat on their shoulders. "Just call if you need something." He said and left without waiting for a response. Leo and Luke''s eyes met, and they sighed, lying down on their respective blankets, directly on the hard cold floor below. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But they were so numb, they didn''t even feel it. ¡­ Crow, Dog, and Sunny had a small house to themselves. Lighting up the protected torch in the rooms, they formed a circle in the middle of the room and sat. "What do you think he''ll do?" Dog asked his friends, "Do you think he''ll target us and our goods?" "He probably will. Be careful of his guards. They may find fault soon." "But they can''t hold a candle to Rowan, could they?" "Who knows? Those people have such dark minds, don''t underestimate them." The group nodded in solemn moods, their heads wondering how to defend themselves from possible attacks from the snakes. At this time, there was a sudden knock on the door, startling them for a moment. When they didn''t respond immediately, the knocking turned a little more urgent, followed by a familiar voice. "Sunny? Dog?" "That voice¡­" They quickly open the door to see their neighbor auntie from when they lived here. She was very kind to them, one of the few people who didn''t snarl at their group. Occasionally, she would even send them some fruits her son harvested. Their faces brightened at the sight of a friend. "Good that you came, auntie. We actually kept some stock of our products¡ª" but Dog''s soliloquy was stopped when the middle-aged woman gripped his arm with teary eyes, shaking in fear. "P-Please come with me¡­ my son has fainted, and I¡­ I don''t know who to call¡ª" They frowned and immediately went with her to see. Bull scoffed. "As expected of a hypocritical lord and his ruling class. People don''t even look for them when there''s trouble." The young men and woman looked at each other and nodded, coming after the woman to help her out. They had completely forgotten the defense strategies they had been discussing literally 1 minute prior. Chapter 234 - 234: Another Altercation (Part 2) The group of four ran to a familiar slum area and to a small makeshift hut to see their old friend. To be honest, there was an element of smugness here because they kind of wanted to show off how well-off they were now, despite being so pitiful just a few days prior. However, what they got into was not the scene they expected. The son was indeed without consciousness, but on his back was a large foot owned by a huge man with a mocking smile. Beside him were eight more people. They recognized a few as the guards from the entrance. Worse, they brought more ''manpower'' with them. Their hearts paused. "The boss wants your products," Brong said, chewing an Alteran jerky he had. He closed his eyes and savored its taste, and when his eyes opened he just looked even greedier. Dog scoffed, glaring, even when his legs were a little shaky, "Heh, that lord finally lost his patience eh?" Crow furrowed his eyebrows. His ego and success had flooded his head! So much for being a genius! And they¡­ they really should''ve known better! They turned their heads to the auntie who was sobbing, not daring to look at them. And they were more certain in their hearts that this was a trap. Hey, of course, it was a trap. Were they still in denial? Damn them for being stupid!! Rowan was not with them now, and they were in the slums. In this place, no one went against these bastards at all! They don''t know what happened with the first thousands of settlers of this territory but they seemed to have fear of these gangsters ingrained in their hearts. Obviously, if everyone banded together, they''d be able to fight these people off right?! "Well, get out all the items you had in stock. As well as the gold you earned from our people." The three''s hairs rose in anger, "Dream!!!!!" They yelled and the big man cracked his knuckles in response. Without any warning, he sent the same knuckle into Dog''s face. The young lad was thrown back, gasping with a bloodied nose. "Dog!!" The others couldn''t react immediately and could only run to him, lifting his head up. Brong and the others laughed at them, "Still not giving it to us?" Sunny, whose eyes were tearing a little, held on to Dog, looking heartbroken before whipping her head to glare at Brong. "It seems you forgot you have no chance against our soldiers!" This made the gangster pause, but only for a bit. Instead of backing away, they only laughed at her. "Pfft! How many are you, how many are we? This is our territory! Didn''t you know that the dragon still had to give way to the snake in its own home?!" S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The trio paled. Indeed, the lord of a territory was extremely protected in their scope. They weren''t sure if Rowan and the others could handle it! Even if they could, what if the lord kicked out Rowan and the other strong men? What would they¡ªwho could be left behind for free beating¡ªdo?? The remaining goons quickly held back the three youngins, pulling them apart, and hitting different parts of their bodies. However, they were not like before¡ªthey were much stronger and braver now, and they managed to turn it into a fight. Crow avoided a punch and kicked someone''s shin, and Dog made a quick follow-up by headbutting the person. "GYA!" They took advantage of the momentum to damage another gangster. Of course, even if they improved their strengths and had a lot more fights in them, they were still no match for hard-skinned gangsters who fought for a living. "I see you got some fight in you," Brong said, but then more people stood up and it became one-to-three. Very soon, all they could do was defend themselves and curl up like turtles. Some men also pulled Sunny away. She squealed and cried, with Dog and Crow yelling for her but was pushed back violently by a flurry of kicks and punches. She wanted to vomit at the grubby hands touching her body, trying to get into her clothing. "No!!" She cried, but the hands only groped more hurriedly, and she looked around for help, only to see the others being beaten up helplessly. She was beginning to lose hope. She sobbed. "Someone, please¡ª" "Hehe. No one would dare save you, silly girl!" A man yelled, grabbed her face with his grubby hand. Sunny could only cry desperately as the man''s hand crept down her shirt. However, before the disgusting hands could do anything else, the door abruptly opened, followed by a loud bellow. "STOP IT!" Their eyes brightened at the new voice, but she was not expecting its source at all. It was Matthew, as clean and well-put as always in those seemingly unlimited supply of long-sleeved high-neck polos of his. "Let them go." Brungo paused and looked at him, wondering if he was serious. Matthew looked back at him and sent him a warning stare, "I will kick you out if you do any more." Brungo''s eyebrows rose in disbelief and he gritted his teeth, glaring. "You¡ª" "Are you listening or not?" Brong thought for a while and frowned. He sneered, before sending Mathew a glare, not forgetting to give them one last kick before leaving the hut. The two lads groaned, but not without laboriously turning their heads to look at the newcomer, eyes filled with befuddlement. Matthew paused to look at them, not speaking for a while, "I want them out safely in a minute." He said, before leaving again. The door shut and the air was still¡ªit was as if he wasn''t there. Except for aunties'' sobs, the air of silence remained in the room. The trio looked at each other. Matthew? He saved them? After sending goons after them? Crow naturally hated the man who was part of his beautiful aunt''s brutal murder. Did he have to set up such a show to get their approval? What the hell is he up to? Chapter 235 - 235: Matthew White (Part 1) Bang! Huge fists filled with sharp metallic rings connected to Matthew''s stomach, quickly making him lose his footing. His dark-ash blonde hair was uncharacteristically all over his face, sticking as he sweated in pain. He didn''t speak and just gripped his stomach, coughing in pain, but he didn''t show any hint of fear, despair, or hate¡ªas always. "Tsk¡ª" the large man sneered, spitting on him. "Did you think you''d escape easily from a punch?" He said, kicking him several times until he couldn''t move anymore. The larger man''s eyes traced over him, seeming to revel in his pitiful state. "You think just because you''re the Lord here you can do whatever you want right?!" Lying down and eating dirt, Matthew forced himself to utter out words, "Brother-in-law¡­" "So you STILL remember I''m your brother-in-law!" The man roared as he kicked again, still with more strength. "Do you want your sister''s medicine to be thrown into the mouths of monsters?" This finally made his impassive look change and he paled further. "No, I¡ª" The man seemed happy to finally see fear in his eyes, but it naturally did not calm his aggressiveness, and the man habitually kicked a bit more. "Then why did you stop my men, HUH?!" He yelled, sending him yet another kick, this time on his leg. Matthew gasped and tried to lift himself up to explain. "I¡­ I thought f-for you." Cough. "It w-was for you to get more." Interested, the man finally stopped kicking. "Continue." It took a moment for Matthew to gather himself, but he spoke even before he could. He knew how impatient this man was, after all. "For producers¡­ it''s better to gain access by cooperation." Matthew used this moment of respite to sit up and wipe the blood from his mouth. "Their territory could produce the items they sell. Our village does not have this capability." "Then make it so!" "It''s not that easy!" Cough! "The technical talents are in their territory! Do you think they''d allow us to steal these talents when we beat them up off the bat?" The man paused, rubbing his bushy beard in thought. "Then what do you plan to do?" Matthew''s hand gripped the soil beside him, eyes flashing with bitterness. "...gain their trust and gain access to their talents." He paused, and Higson looked at him in interest. "And? Continue." Matthew pursed his lips, his eyes darkening. "I will use my¡­ assets to get them back to the territory." The man stared at him and grabbed his face. He looked at Matthew''s handsome face¡ªthe only part of him without bruises. He cackled, very amused. "Heh, as expected for the brother of a slut." Matthew wanted to bow his head to hide the uncharacteristic hideous expression on his face, sadly the man held his face firmly and he couldn''t move away at all. It was unknown whether Higson knew what he was thinking, but he spat out again as if expressing his disgust. "Be thankful you have a useful face." He said as he gripped Matthew''s white face and sneered, "Otherwise I''d love to see it as colored as every other part of you." S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ That night, Matthew sat on the cold wooden floor of his bedroom, groaning in pain. Using the dwindling first aid kit in his space, he dabbed some medicine on his bruises. It was at this time the door opened to reveal an emaciated but beautiful woman who had very similar features to him. She gasped as she kneeled beside him, looking at his body with no good skin left. "Oh, Matthew¡­" As she handled his wound, tears continuously fell from her eyes, eyes turning darker. "I''m sorry, if I weren''t here, you¡ª" If she was gone¡­. Matthew was very familiar with this somber look. "Don''t say that!!" He roared and the woman shut her mouth, just helping him deal with his wound without saying anything. Matthew watched her with a frown, heart constricting in fear of what she could do. The most recent time she tried to kill herself was not even that long ago. It was when she threw herself at a monster during the beast tide, intent on getting mauled. It was lucky that he was nearby, or else he''d have lost his only relative. He looked at this woman who was both his sister and mother. She was only five years older than him, but it felt like she took on the burden of generations. She was so good. He could still remember when they were children and had parents, she always brought home so many awards¡­ Look at her now¡­ ''She''s like this because of me,'' he couldn''t help but muse, every time he saw her pitiful state. When their parents died, she had to drop out of college to support him. There were teachers who tried to convince her, but she refused every time. Even if she got scholarships, how could the meager allowance support them both? Then she found out she had Trialphas, a disease requiring expensive maintenance for daily life, and then all hope of returning to school was lost. His upbringing and her disease rendered her unable to have any other choice but to put away her talents. Inadvertently, she was pulled into a dirty industry because of her beauty, to her now-husband''s most lucrative business. He tried to pull her out of it, but what could a teenager do? So he chose a path of power¡ªpolitics, and he was talented at it. He was even hailed as the most promising young politician of the decade. Unfortunately, before he could garner any power, she had already gotten pregnant and tied the knot with the bastard, and now he held her life in one hand. There was a time that they had managed to escape from him though¡ªthe Disaster known as the Apocalypse. To others, it was hell. But to the two siblings, it was an unexpected Hope. It was finally their chance for a decent life. Chapter 236 - 236: Matthew White (Part 2) To others, the Apocalypse brought only horror, pain, and losses. To the two of them, it meant freedom. It started when he found out his sister suffered a miscarriage after receiving a beating from Higson. Matthew only saw red the moment he heard the news from someone he bought from inside. She was still in their home! He didn''t even bother taking her to the hospital! He went mad and disregarded the politician image he had been trying to maintain, driving like a speed racer to confront the man. However, despite his rage, he was not entirely irrational. Before heading to the imminent ''battle'', he sent all the results of his investigations to his friends, telling them to call the police should he not contact them within 24 hours. He had been waiting for the perfect time to release the documents, but he needed them divorced first before he could do so. Otherwise, his sister could be dragged in the legality of everything as his wife. He had been planning on showing all those evidence to his sister later that week. As he drove, he kept thinking, had he moved just a few days earlier, had he been more decisive¡ª Anyway, today, he was determined to get them divorced that day, no matter what. "Matthew, please wait!" A familiar voice sounded and he turned in a direction, and he saw his pale sister hurriedly getting out of a cab. His sister knew him too well, it seemed. "Sister!" He yelled, catching her when she lost her footing due to weakness. "Don''t do it!" "Nothing can stop this, sister." Melissa paused and looked at him. "I''m coming with you." "NO!" Matthew growled, yelling at his sister for the first time in his life. Melissa did not falter, gripping his arm, with her eyes particularly filled with fight¡ªsomething he had not seen in many years. Seeing this, his stance softened a bit and he heaved a sigh to calm himself. "You can''t do anything. You''ll only make me worry when you come.: "How would we divorce if I hadn''t signed the papers yet? I must be there!" "No, you don''t." But she blocked his way with her whole being, threatening to hang herself if he didn''t return in half a day. The thing was, Matthew wasn''t sure if he could return in half a day. In the end, he could only succumb to her demands. "If he shoots you," she had told him at the time, her eyes filled with determined light, "Then he shoots us together." The two of them looked at each other, nodding, and mightily ran to the man''s base. However, on his way up the elevator, his vision darkened and he woke up and everybody else was ''asleep''. He shook his sister who fortunately woke up and they dragged themselves over the figures on the ground, heading to their destination regardless. Then the bodies started flinching, getting up, and moving so stiffly that he could hear their bones cracking. The bodies darted to them without warning, trying to eat them. But he was quick to take one of the guns lying on the floor, barely managing to save their lives. Weird game-like notifications appeared, but he was in no mood to read any of them. He didn''t know what happened but he wanted to take advantage to finally end the bastard. He went to the most guarded area in his base, but Higson wasn''t there. He only saw his piles and piles of gold and jewelry instead. His eyebrows furrowed and they approached the treasure trove. "How many lives did this cost?" He asked, touching the nearest gold bar with a heavy heart. A floating notification appeared in front of him, but he was in no mood to absorb any of it. The next thing he knew a ding sounded inside his head, followed by a glaring text. [Gained! +1002 Gold] And then he realized none of the gold and jewelry remained. He turned his head to his sister, who looked just as mystified. "They just¡­ disappeared." She told him, but his heart pounded like no tomorrow. At the time, he had no idea what it implied, he was just terrified that the money Higson worked so hard for disappeared from his watch. The high of courage from before diffused, and he was determined to just take his sister away from it all. He escaped with his sister to reach the migration period, hiding in the nearby residential area and filling up their space with what they could. Then, they arrived in this world. He built up a territory using the money he stole from him. They even named it Vismont, which meant the Land of Rebirth in the old language of their mother tongue. Unfortunately, it didn''t last long as his gang and his guns eventually found his territory and he had to sacrifice too much to keep everyone''s lives. If the Lord''s token hadn''t been infused to him, there was no doubt he''d have lost it, along with his life. Back to the present, Melissa looked at his brother with a broken heart. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her brother was so good and so kind, but associating with that bastard would only denigrate his achievements¡ªhis great self crimped by Higson''s control. Even if he was doing the best he could for the people, considering everything, it meant nothing because Higson and his cronies were there, making everyone suffer. If it wasn''t for her disease, her brother would have dealt with those bastards as soon as they appeared. How could she bear it? Melissa couldn''t help but sob. "Sister. Don''t worry." He said, thinking of the mysterious group of people who had already done so many miracles in such a short period of time. It wasn''t that there were no doctors in his territory¡ªon the contrary, there were plenty. But what could doctors do without medicine? But more than the resources they had, he cared more about something else: They were strong. Very strong. He held his sister''s hand firmly, this time with renewed hope in his eyes. "I may have found us a way out." Chapter 237 - 237: Unwelcome Guests Vismont Village, many weeks prior Inside one of the many identical houses in the village, Matthew was happily planning for their small village''s development. He was using some excess paper he managed to hoard back in Terran. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He had already made a preliminary zoning plan of the village, and he felt joy whenever he thought of its imminent execution. He might have started politics for his sister, but he quickly fell in love with public service. Now, he had all the power, and there was no need for the cumbersome red tapes and pandering to arrogant old men to implement his vision. Despite the monsters outside, he optimistically thought that he was really living¡­ a dream. His daydream, however, was quickly broken by a desperate knock pounded on his door. It was a young man with curly red hair. It was one of his few guards, Oliver, and he was incredibly pale and scared. Matthew put down everything and stood up, looking at him worriedly. "What''s going on?" Oliver immediately turned around and asked him to follow, saying many people would die if they were late. "What?!" He exclaimed, but he ran out of his own home without another word. The air was tense and a palpable unease lingered in his village, his heart felt like it was gripped tightly by something. This was a bad premonition. Did a mob attack their village again, Matthew asked himself, over and over, until he ran to where Oliver was leading him. But¡­ if it was a beast tide¡­ why was everything so¡­quiet? He only heard some whimpers, at most. He would soon find that it was not a beast tide, however. It was worse. "Well, well," A pause, "Nice place you have here!" Matthew''s heart dropped as he heard Higson''s voice, and his eyes met the other one''s. It was filled with malice, glaring at him with undisguised hostility. Around him were about a hundred men, each one with a gun on hand, pointing at a different citizen who were all pale and shivering, eyes wide with fear as they looked at him filled with hope. Matthew wanted to kick these gangsters out, but everyone had guns, and they could shoot people even before he could do anything. At this time, he had not yet discovered the automatic execution of regulations. Even if he did, he might not necessarily have the money to purchase it on his own, especially not when the person was only threatening and had yet to do actual damage. Matthew very well knew what Higson''s arrival meant, which made his heart heavier the more the metaphorical clock ticked by. He established this village for about a few days now, and they had been building it together. His group of less than a thousand people had worked hard to build this, to fight the monsters that came their way. Was it all going to be for naught? "This should all cost a lot, right?" Higson asked, looking at him in suspicion. "I wonder how you did it." "And you built all these in a couple of days¡­ how?" Matthew didn''t speak. Higson sneered and he turned to a direction. As if on cue, a gun touched the forehead of a random woman next to them. She sobbed and looked at Matthew imploringly. "H-Help¡­ me¡­ my lord¡­" She sobbed and she immediately shut her mouth when the gun was harshly pushed against her head. "TELL ME!!" Higson yelled, making everyone flinch. Matthew shut his eyes and clenched his fist, but he had no choice but to answer, "I¡­I received a Lord''s token¡­ it allowed me to build all these." "How come it''s just you? Where''s mine? Where is it?" He said and narrowed his eyes, "The treasure I lost a while back¡­" "It''s integrated into my body." Matthew immediately said before they attacked him for the ''token''. Thinking of this, he couldn''t help but feel relieved and he ended up looking at his brother-in-law with chin high¡ªfor once. "It''s integrated in my body," he repeated. "I don''t know what happens if I die." Higson paused and looked at him, laughing. It happened very quickly. Higson made a slight nod and¡ª BANG! A bullet went through the woman''s head. "You!!" Matthew growled, about to kick them out and risking a few losses, lest they make any more damage. But then several of his goons held on to more people, with their hands on the trigger, guaranteeing death for them. Matthew''s ears rang, a bit panicked, but he managed to keep his wits enough to try to find a way out. But then¡­ it got worse, and all his cool dissipated into thin air. "Cain!" Higson yelled and a relatively decent-looking man emerged. He was very clean, unlike the others. The newcomer sauntered to the center, and Matthew''s eyes constricted at the sight of who he was holding. "SISTER!" He yelled but he could only freeze as she was dragged closer to Higson, who grabbed her face. He sneered when he saw the beautiful woman was still pale and sickly, "Eh, considering how you ran, I had thought her disease had magically healed." He then heard the sound of guns clinging, and the soft clicking sounds of the trigger nearly being pressed, and his heart dropped. Fortunately, the triggers weren''t pressed but their hearts remained high, as if ready to fall down. "Kneel." Melissa was pushed down on her knees. Matthew wanted to run to her but a gun pointed at her head, ready to press it at a moment''s notice. Matthew was prepared to bend his knees when his sister screamed. "Don''t do it!!" Melissa yelled with all her might and emotions, shivering at the memories of so many horrors triggered by the sight of her husband. "D-Don''t¡­ don''t give in, please! Or it will never end!" She said so, looking valiant, but the adrenaline and emotions were too much for her body. She felt her vision blur and a wave of dizziness washed over her, falling down head first. "SISTER!" Matthew yelled but a gun pointed at him and his sister, and he could only watch as she tried to move, uncoordinated, and her speech slurred. His heart froze at the familiar sight, some harsh memories washing over him and making him shake in fear. His sister assured him she had brought medicine¡­ was it already gone?! To have such symptoms, she must''ve ran out for days! Then Higson lifted a vial and his eyes constricted. "Heh... when I found out my treasure was gone, I made sure to take all of this I could gather. Seems like my instincts still serve me well." The other man grinned, arrogantly looking down at him. "Are you kneeling or not?" Chapter 238 - 238: Catalyst of Change "Are you kneeling or not?" His head was ringing, knowing full well his sister would feel even worse if he did so. If he could get the medicine some other way¡ª BANG! His eyes widened as a young lad¡ªa teenager no more than 13 years old¡ªhad his head blown during his moment of doubt. "YOU!!!" he yelled but his knees had long been weakened. With this catalyst, it completely gave way and he flopped down to kneel on the floor. "Let them go. Please." He said, gritting his teeth in anger, humiliation, and worry for his sister and his people. Unexpectedly, Higson laughed. "Nyahahah! Why would I?" He said, "Do you think I''m so stupid? Do you think I didn''t see you were planning on doing something earlier? What? Kick me out?" S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Matthew paled, and Higson''s eyes turned red at his reaction confirming his theory. "I¡­" "You will follow all my orders, understood? Like you always did." he grinned and Matthew''s fist clenched. He looked down, covering the sharp light in his eyes. But then he thought, he just needed the right timing. He could get rid of them¡ª But his hopes were quickly dashed as Higson continued speaking. "We''ve been studying this place, and a person of mine¡ªCain, smart guy¡ªfound that¡­" He paused, looking in the direction of the aforementioned man amongst his people¡ªthe one who pulled in his sister. "We found that you can sign contracts and stuff¡ªthe kind that can''t be taken back." Matthew''s jaw clenched, his heart tightening. "What do you want?" "Swear loyalty to me. Follow my orders." He said, "Both of you." "Only if you¡ªand your people¡ªpromise not to kill anyone anymore." He said. "Sure, I promise that we will not kill anymore. Otherwise, if you find out, you are free to punish the person as you like." Higson grinned as he said so, waving his sister''s medicine in front of his face. He was holding it so carelessly as if he could drop it any time. The man''s golden teeth glinted as he stared down at him, the metal reflecting light that blinded him in many senses of the word. How could he not hear the loopholes in his side of the deal? But¡­ what choice did he have?? Matthew felt his world was darker again. Would they really see no end?? ________________________ [9 days of Protection Period] Vismont Village, Present Matthew opened his eyes as he blinked away the remaining lethargy in his body. He shifted his body to get out of the bed, but the sharp aches of his injuries attacked and he groaned in pain. "Damn it!" He yelled against his pillow, not bothering to get up. Anyway, it was still dark, he ought to rest more. Maybe this pain would be better by then. Unfortunately, even getting back to sleep was difficult, because now he felt pain even while he was breathing. Realizing he really wouldn''t be able to get back to sleep, he decided to do something productive, ideally to distract himself. He got up and laboriously dressed into one of his long-sleeved turtlenecks. It was a pain to wear (literally), but he had no choice unless he wanted to showcase all of his bruises. He trudged to his office¡ªa refurbished residential unit¡ªnext to the village center. Heaving a sigh, he closed his eyes to feel the silence around him, his only light was the sparse torches and the two moons. It took him a while to gather himself and he sat straight up again, arms on his desk. As he sat on his crude chair, he then looked at the state of his territory. [TERRITORY STATS Name: Vismont Villages Status: Level 2 Village Area: 12,566,371 square meters Residents: 907 (67 permanent, 840 temporary) Total Population: 10524 Base Resources: Wood: 6700/10000 Stone: 5500/8000 Money: 91 Gold, 12743 Silver, 86097 copper Reputation: 30 Buildings: Village Center (Lv1), Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv2), Restaurant (Lv1), Residence Type 1, Well*2 (Lv1), Mansion Building Slots: 7/7] He sighed even deeper at his near-empty pockets. Don''t look at the taxes and donations he managed to solicit, not even half of it remained in his pockets. Not even the increase in the payment for residency helped, and that took a toll on everyone. He had worked very hard to convince Higsons to keep the Visitors fee as it was, and it earned him a very hard beating in response. The doctor said had he not reached level 4 when it happened, he''d have died from the beatings. On the other hand, the money he had gained went to building houses, restaurants, and wells. The rest¡­ it went to Higson''s party. What did the bastard use so much money for, one would wonder? It was to feed himself, his cronies, and his dozens of women until they vomited. At some point, Matthew just thought to himself that this was paying back the gold he ''borrowed'' back then. He had to do this small brainwashing, so he didn''t die of bitterness and anger. A pity for all the functions he could''ve added for the territory had he retained all that money. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to upgrade the Village Hall, but he really didn''t have funds. He didn''t know what happened after the upgrade, but the high cost probably meant it had good additional functions. What was worse was that he also wasted a building slot to buy the mansion, located in a prohibited area in the territory. The basic armory was forgone because of it. This special residential estate took about a quarter of the whole territory, and it was all given to Higson as his private estate where he could do whatever he wanted without regard for him, any law, or any moral rules whatsoever. It was a quarter of the territory, but over half of the crimes committed in Vismont happened here. In less than a month, a lot of people disappeared within these forests. They did not even bother burying them, and he had seen plenty of bodies just lying around when he went there. It was a disgusting place that ought to be burned to the ground. However, he never lied to himself and gave himself an excuse. Whatever happened there, he was complicit as the Lord of this place. But¡­ no matter how disgusted he was, he couldn''t do anything. It was either justice for others or his sister''s life. Not to mention he swore to serve, or he and his sister would die. Not to mention, he had a feeling the territory would fall if he died, in which case that was thousands more lives at stake. There was no choice at all. Not until ''those people'' arrived. Higson''s chaos had to end, lest he lose his sanity and the people lose their homes. And now, with these new visitors, he finally got a chance. He didn''t know if he''d be entering a deal with the devil with them, but it would definitely be a lesser evil than Higson. At least¡­ that was what he was praying for. Anyway, this Altera¡­ whether good or bad, was a catalyst for change, and he was determined to make use of it. Chapter 239 - 239: Help Me Matthew recalled the rants of the guards yesterday. At first, he had difficulty in believing them, thinking they were exaggerating to make him move. This couldn''t be blamed on him. After all, they had claimed that two level-three guards couldn''t even make the enemy guard¡ªwho was now known to be an aborigine¡ªlift a finger. But as he watched the ''Alterans'' the past day, he realized that these people were much more powerful than he imagined. Even his fellow Terrans were stronger than they were on average. As a level 4 individual, he could tell the weakest among them were level 3. This was very amazing. There were over ten thousand people in his territory, not even a hundred were at level 3. This alone sent signals that this ''Altera'' was not a simple territory, and he could feel that it was much, much, more powerful than his own. He also saw the temperament of his guests. They were energetic, lively, and filled with hope. All of them were like that, even his former citizens who had only been gone for a couple of days. And most importantly: They could also produce so many items that he had deemed impossible to see in the short term. Amazingly, they could even produce to the point of having a surplus. What if they had the medicine they needed as well? After all, Trialphas wasn''t an uncommon disease! As he mused deeply about his next point of action, an urgent knock sounded, pulling him out of his trance. "My Lord¡­" "Come in." The door opened to reveal a kind-looking old man with half-squinted eyes. Micheal''s tense stance softened at the sight of the other person, who immediately stood in front of his table with a little urgency. If the twins were here, they''d realize this man was the old clothes repairer they encountered just the day prior. "Old Yao, what is it? So early?" This was old Yao, one of his confidants. In his free time, he fixed other people''s clothes for a fee. This time though, his usual calm face betrayed a bit of worry. Matthew''s eyebrows rose. His heart dropped automatically because emergencies in this place usually made him suffer a lot. "What''s the matter?" He asked, a bit afraid of the answer. Hopefully, it was nothing life-or-death. "Those people are already preparing to leave," the old man said, making Matthew abruptly stand up. "What?" But he didn''t ask anymore, he simply walked out and went straight to the house the group rented. Indeed, some of the Alterans were already waiting outside for the rest of the group, very ready to leave. Matthew frowned, looked at the dark sky, and saw that it wasn''t even dawn yet? He stood still for a while before asking the nearest person for the leader. For this team, there seemed to be two: the aborigine and the woman. Among the leaders, it was the woman who soon came out to meet him. She didn''t look particularly surprised to see him. And there was no sign of dislike, which was a good thing for him. "How can we help this lord?" She asked. "You are in such a rush to leave?" "Well, the territory sent another mission. We would like to try doing it for points." "What?" "We were asked to look for resource points." "Just lately?" "Yes, we just received the notification last night." Matthew flinched. That could be done? Why was he so behind the news? Anyway, this was not the topic he came here to discuss. Heaving a deep breath, he looked at the woman, the atmosphere quickly turning solemn. "I would like to speak to the decision-maker in private." Silvia looked at him for a moment before nodding, guiding him inside their temporary abode. The moment they entered the house though, he was met with hostile stares. At this time a few people stepped in and looked at him guardedly. Since they were already leaving, he reckoned they didn''t want to bother being polite with him, someone they disliked. "What do you want, lord?" The taller boy asked, crossing his arms. He knew these kids and had an idea why they were biased against him. Understandably so. Especially the boy with a somber disposition, Crow Higgins. His aunt had been a victim of Higson''s party, one of the more direct ones. Crow''s aunt was one of the women Higson took fancy to, but refused. The man then got one of his gangsters to defile her and kill her. This gangster¡ªCain¡ªwas very unassuming, and he didn''t think he was so vile with his neat appearance. It was only after Higgins'' aunt passed that he also found out this gangster killed even more. Micheal truly wanted to massacre him and give him a brutal death penalty like in the medieval ages. But he had to lower his punishment because Higson was the man''s friend. He let that guy go out of the territory as punishment, at the order of Higson. To others, this could be considered a punishment indeed, but Matthew always felt that that man was a cockroach and would still be alive to this date. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In any case, for the victim''s family, he had no excuse. He didn''t even explain himself, because none of it would be enough. Regardless of all the complications, however, he knew he didn''t have much time. He bowed his head, tone sincere. "Let me talk to you." he said, "Please." This humble gesture surprised everyone, and after looking at each other. This alerted everyone of the seriousness. Most of the people outside the leadership circle, though curious, went out on their own. The ones that remained in the room other than Silvia and Rowan were the other four, claiming they knew him the best, and they ought to be there. There was no furniture so they stood inside the room, waiting for the lord to speak up. "As the lord of this territory, I would like to request a deal." "Don''t trust him, Rowan! He definitely isn''t as clean as he looks!" Dog whispered, trying to be tactful by not yelling. But Matthew was a level 4 individual, how could he not hear it? Rowan did not speak for a while, but only stared at Matthew, who had let go of his prideful image and was in a humble stance the whole time. Rowan''s red eyes stared him down, and Matthew felt a little hairy. After a beat, Rowan finally spoke."It would depend on the deal." Matthew paused as he looked down, his hand gripping his leg. When he raised his head, a renewed light could be seen. "I am willing to do anything," he said with certainty, "As long as you clear the territory of those scum!" Chapter 240 - 240: Attack! If Higson had plenty of loopholes in their deal¡ªthat was: they could kill as long as he didn''t see it directly and could even decide on the punishment because of their leverage¡ªhe, too, placed one for himself. He simply couldn''t betray him or his party directly. If he didn''t give explicit assistance to whoever would deal with Higson, then he was safe. Higson either didn''t notice or didn''t care because he was too confident in himself, his men, and his guns. Anyway, because Vismont didn''t prohibit fighting, dealing with Higson''s group of men was surprisingly simple. What''s more, there was someone who triumphed over everyone in level. It could be said that Higson''s order to allow for violence¡ªand with so many loopholes¡ªhad backfired on him horrendously. Of course, per the lord Althea''s order never to coddle her citizens, except for dealing with the few people with guns, Rowan didn''t make a move. There was also the fact that he didn''t want to accidentally start a formal war. It was uncertain to what degree he could fight, but he feared a Territory War would be triggered prematurely. From what he heard, triggering a war without warning caused some consequences to the attacking territory. After all, there was conventionally a 28 hour warning before an attack, what would be its use if people could attack as they wanted? At this point, Rowan was thinking too much. Even if they did exceed the force requirement to qualify as waging war (which they didn''t), the Lord of the defending territory¡ªwho will be alerted the moment it was triggered¡ª must formalize it first. Of course, if that was indeed to happen and Matthew decided not to trigger a war, then his life could be forfeited due to his deal with Higson. But all of these were ''what ifs''. Things happened to go in the Alteran''s and Matthew''s favor, primarily due to Higson''s arrogance. In any case, to be safe, while Rowan didn''t attack, he did defend. And his defense was explosive. For instance, at the moment, Rowan was surrounded by a snake made of fire, which attacked people as he ordered, burning near them, destroying their guns, distracting them enough so that the Alterans could deal with them easily. At this, Matthew couldn''t help but be in awe of Rowan, his dull eyes beginning to shine a bit of light. Fire! He could control fire!! As the aborigine stared at the fire whip in marvel, Matthew seemed to have been brought back to his missing childhood. None of this showed in his face, however, and he continued to watch the fight from afar, looking quite professional. Soon, he came to understand that the rest of the guards, and even some of their normal citizens, could fight really well. Especially those twins, who were particularly fierce¡­ It was so¡­ safe¡­ that Rowan still had the time to send some critiques, especially to the normal citizens. "Leo, don''t put too much force on your attacks. Take advantage of the other''s momentum instead." "Very good Cassie, you just need to commit more to your attacks." "What are you doing Dog? Do you want to destroy your teeth?" The group also all had a plethora of weapons and techniques. And medicine! Matthew''s eyes shone at the sight of medicine that stopped the bleeding so quickly. This made his eyes brighten more than the magic. Sure enough, there was medicine in their territory! "How are you guys so powerful?" He asked out loud and Silvia, who happened to be standing next to him, was the one to answer. The woman''s eyes never left the fight, and she smiled at this question. She, too, had a crossbow in her hand, shooting away in leisure. She smiled at him, eyes filled with pride. "Our territory is so good¡­ all of us simply wanted to do our part in protecting it." ¡­ They beat their way through the huge estate, dealing with the remaining gangsters. Although they were only a few dozen people, the lowest of them was level 3, the other party had no chance. Not to mention that backup Rowan was right behind them, to protect them from major injuries, mostly by shooting accurate fireballs when he needed to. Eventually, they reached a large castle-like house in the middle of the forest. There were still about a dozen men with their bows and arrows and a few remaining guns. They were behind a level 2 wall, and there were high risks of casualties if they attacked recklessly. Rowan''s power wasn''t enough to deal with the level 2 fence straightforwardly either. After all, he wasn''t a beast with iron skin. Those so-called guns could still damage a human of his level. Even if it wouldn''t be much, successive shots would definitely injure him. If he was injured, others from his side would probably be as well. Fortunately, the lord gave them a secret weapon to deal with similar situations. He took a palm-sized ball from his space, lit it up with his ability, and threw it behind the walls. Foosh!! Nothing happened for a moment and Rowan thought he must''ve done something wrong. He frowned, feeling guilty of wasting the lord''s efforts. However, before he could think of an apology, a dense fluff of violet smoke exploded from this tiny ball, and soon the people behind fell down one by one. He blinked in surprise. He didn''t know what it did¡ªthe lord only told him when and how to use it¡ªbut Rowan was truly amazed. How did that much force fit inside such a tiny ball the size of his finger? "Gas bomb?!!" Someone yelled and they turned to Rowan with burning eyes. "It''s Ms. Althea''s doing." He looked at the sparkling eyes of the men. "There''s only one." Their shoulders slumped visibly but they quickly recovered when they thought of the bomb eventually becoming available to them. It wasn''t like the destructive bomb anyway. It was just a¡­ very potent gas bomb, hence there was a very high chance of it becoming commercially available in the future. In any case, they effortlessly entered the gate after letting the wind pass. Of course, they did not put down their guards, unsure of what they would see inside. They walked through the gate and walked along the dense forests, weapons raised high in case of an attack and traps. They dared not relax even if they got this far fairly easily and without injuries. After all, they were in the enemy territory now! Crack! "Ah!" Dog yelled when he felt imbalanced. Everyone raised their weapons while Crow was ready to rescue him, thinking it was a trap. It wasn''t. "A bone!" Dog yelled, throwing a human bone that he accidentally took on hand. Because it hadn''t been long since they transferred, these bones still had a lot of skin, making it even more disgusting. The women screamed and the men yelled, realizing there was more than one. "Shit!!" "What the heck!" A lot of people puked and some couldn''t even bear to look. There were even carcasses, some were only a few days old. And worse¡­ "Jimmy!!!" It was Sunny who yelled and Crow and Dog immediately ran. It was Jimmy, the one who chatted with her deeply when she was selling stuff. He bought a lot of things and expressed interest in seeing the territory. They were just talking yesterday!!! The atmosphere was extremely heavy. Matthew''s head was lowered in shame, fists clenched, avoiding the several glances that came his way. No one spoke again after that and they just continued forward. The difference was that before, it was just an attack based on interests. Now¡­ it was personal. They soon saw a structure in the middle of the forest. It was a small castle hidden in the woods. It was one of the premier buildings available, but everyone just found it vile. This must end! Now! Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 241 - 241: Vengeance They frowned and entered the gate, with Rowan leading the way. At his level, although he could get injured, these people''s guns would not kill him. And because the estate was so huge and there were no shots fired in the fence, the people were completely unaware of their arrival, making the trip relatively easier than anticipated at least at first. However, as they entered further, a disgusting stench attacked their nostrils. It smelled dirty and pungent. It made their eyes twitch. Suddenly, Rowan pulled back the person next to him. "Watch out!" He yelled, throwing a fireball at a direction, followed by a toe-curling scream. The man screamed as he was burned alive. When the killing prohibition was implemented, it was only applied to areas outside the estate, as ordered by Higson in exchange for a week''s worth of medicine. It was the reason why there were so many corpses. It was just that¡­ he never would''ve imagined that there would be so much. He knew Higson was shady, but this¡­ was not human. It was just something beyond his imagination. Whether or not he knew, his citizens outside did not know about this exemption. How many of his citizens hoped that the people inside were still alive, somehow? His heart clenched at the inevitable despair many of them would feel when they found so many people still died. He felt ashamed, too ashamed. The scream attracted a few people on the ground floor, easily dealt with by their team. As they finished off the trash, the redhead put out the fire on the burning corpse in case it spread and they continued on. Walking past the dead bodies, the group moved forward and went to the upper floors. Now experienced, they handled the guards on the floor well and silently, and they soon heard different types of noises as they went deeper into the mansion. They could hear laughter and screams and odd noises around the house. It was so loud it probably masked the screams from earlier. Walking forward, they did not immediately go to where the activity seemed to be. They decided to clear out the floor to minimize the enemies coming from behind. With Rowan in front, they opened a room nearby, only to see a bunch of naked women filled with scars and bruises, eyes staring blankly in random directions. They could obviously see, but there was no change in their expressions at all. Even if they heard them they did not turn their heads, no doubt thinking of them as anybody else who had been here. These women probably just thought they were the same type of people as those who came before them. And they just stayed there¡­ like lifeless dolls. Anger flowed into each of their veins at the sight. Scum! Total scum!!! Crow was silent, looking at the bruises, and realized it was familiar with what was found with his aunt! Angry, the team went from room to room, taking down the lewd activities going on. They took down aggressive individuals and tied down the rest for later handling. They soon found Higson having his way with two women, one was unbound, but the other was tied all around. They were so engrossed in their activity that they didn''t notice the commotion outside. Or, perhaps, he did. And if that was the case, then it was actually more disgusting because it meant that he heard the same noise often, but in totally different contexts! The images of the women filled with bruises flashed by their heads, and they recalled the corpses outside, and their sights turned even redder. Matthew went blind with rage and he quickly ran and attacked Higson. He vented all his anger, not only for what he had witnessed but for the years of suffering and humiliation he and his sister went through because of him. Caught off guard, Higson endured several punches and kicks before he could counter. They had the same level, but Higson had more experience in this, and it didn''t take long for him to make a comeback. Unfortunately for him, Matthews was not alone and other people quickly held Higson. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were not gentle and Higson screamed like a pig. Crow, having an idea of what happened, kicked him with all his strength. Matthew walked over and pulled back his oily hair. "Give me the medicine and you will keep your life." Higson gave a bloody grin. "You want to save your sister?! Dream!" "You!" Matthew darkened and he kicked Higson like he used to kick him. On the other hand, as they watched, Crow and the others looked complicated. They¡­ seemed to have misjudged a poor person? However, a lot of the wrongs in the territory had his approval. He was not innocent in all of these. The corpses outside and the women here. Did the citizens know what was going on? Would they still respect him as much as they used to? Matthew continued to beat Higson up, only to receive his annoying grin. It took dozens more of attacks until the man took out a small box of vials. "This is all that''s left." He said, and Matthew didn''t even have the time to worry about what happened when it was gone. At least they could delay the problem. He heaved out a sigh, stopping his attacks, and stretched his hands to get the item. But Higson threw it away. "Noooooooo!!!" He yelled, immediately running to catch it. Taking advantage of the distraction, Higson took out his remaining gun from the space and pointed at Matthew, whose entire attention was to catch the medicine. The moment it landed and broke was when Matthew saw the nozzle pointed at him. "Bang!" ¡­ . . ¡­ Matthew watched as Higson''s body turned to flames, screaming at the top of his lungs as he was burned alive. Matthew watched every second of it. "Thank you for saving my life." He told Rowan when the fire died down, but his eyes had shifted to the broken glass and liquid that was absorbed by the floor, not knowing what he was thinking. Melissa, who sneaked into the battlefield, arrived shortly after. She saw Higson being burned alive, and the seeping medicine in front of her brother. Melissa had a rough image of what happened and frowned. Not because of the lost medicine, but because of the despair her little brother must have been feeling. She slowly walked to her brother and wrapped her skeleton-thin arms around him. "My baby brother¡­ you''ve done your best." Her tone was extremely gentle, and comforting, and it broke his heart even more. "There''s no need to struggle anymore." She told him, voice so soothing, like it always was, and Matthew couldn''t help but break into sobs. "You already worked hard enough." She told him, "Thank you for everything." Chapter 242 - 242: Settling Down "Thank you for everything." The soft voice of his sister sounded in his ears, pulling him out of his daze. His hands clenched as she wrapped her bony arms around him. Matthew was not reconciled. Why? Why was the world so unfair to them? His sister was the only family he had left! The world was so cruel to them¡ªit seemed like it wanted to take his only family left, even after everything? She was his sister, his mother, and his anchor. If he didn''t have her¡­ would he be able to deal with anything that came after? But if he did follow her to the grave, what about the citizens? If he didn''t, what about him? Melissa''s eyes lined with tears at the manic look in her brother''s eyes, wrapping her thin arms around him even tighter. "No, no, you''re going to be fine." "You''re so young¡­" she sobbed, "I''ve held you back long enough." The calm Lord that they knew broke down crying, and his sister couldn''t help but do the same. They watched the sad scene of the siblings'' despair with complicated eyes. It could be seen that the lives of these two were quite tragic. They really couldn''t tell Matthew''s life experience was so colorful, they thought he was born with a silver spoon. His current disposition was very unlike the image he had as a magnificent lord. It was the softhearted Dog who couldn''t watch it anymore. He walked closer to the siblings and cleared his throat. "Uhm¡­It''s not¡­ entirely hopeless." The siblings paused and turned to look at him with very similar looks of confusion, eyes still a little red from sadness. Dog stared for a bit before he could utter a word. "It''s not hopeless because your disease isn''t unfixable with the current situation... There were a number of people in our territory that had Trialphas." "What?" Melissa voiced out, while Matthew held on to Dog''s shoulders directly. "And then? Do they have a lot of medicine?" Dog shook his head and the siblings visibly paled. Dog flinched, not expecting a short pause would bring so much emotional damage. He was clearly not yet finished speaking, okay?! "They don''t have a lot of medicine because they don''t need them anymore!" The two didn''t speak and just stared at him, eagerly waiting for him to continue. Dog felt a little shy and cleared his throat again. "The Trialphas patients in our territory only had to watch their food intake when they reached level 2." "Basically, Miss just had to level up to heal." They could see the woman was only level 1 after so long, the type that barely even managed to get to the level. This could mean that after all this time, she was very protected or¡­ trapped. "One of our guards even had stage 1 cancer." Dog paused, pointing his chin to one of the men kicking the unruly tied-up gangsters to make them behave. His lips twitched. Dog coughed before turning his head to the siblings. "As you can see, he''s quite healthy." Sunny stood beside him and nodded. "Besides, even if there''s something lacking, maybe Ms. Althea can help?" Dog''s eyes widened at the realization. "Yes, right! Ms. Althea''s medicines are very good, especially those that she makes herself¡ªthat''s just miracle medicine, man." The two watched as the conversation turned to a new individual, with such a gushing tone too. Matthew looked at the two and spoke after their spiel. "Ms. Althea? The one that makes the medicine you guys took before?" "Well, her company''s. It would be such a waste to use Ms. Althea''s medicine for such small wounds." His eyebrows rose, from what he saw, the wounds were not small wounds. "Yes, Ms. Althea''s amazing." Dog and the guards showed expressions of admiration that Matthew was even more curious. In any case, Matthew walked back to his sister and took time to absorb this information. Slowly, the new information dawned on them, finally understanding the new hope that was being presented. The siblings held each other''s hand with long-lost genuine smiles slowly returning to their faces. ¡­ The fall of the gangsters had echoed across the territory. While there were plenty of worries in their defense now that most of the strong people had gone, it was mostly hopeful. "So what if they''re strong? They had only made us suffer!" "Yes, sometimes¡­ it is so much more painful to suffer under your own kind!" The Alterans would be very surprised to know that very few citizens had any rebellious thoughts against their lord, despite knowing what was going on behind the scenes. Of course, this was granted they didn''t know exactly what went on behind the scenes¡ªi.e. believing the no-killing prohibition was applicable to the entire territory. It was inevitable that a lot of hearts would shift, disappointed, and even angry. For now, they were fairly forgiving. A lot of them were with the Lord when the territory was just established. If his sister died¡­ he would too. Then what would happen to the rest of the territory? Similar situations echoed in the territory, with people just being inspired to become stronger. They had seen the Alterans. Even normal citizens could fight! The gleeful atmosphere was exactly the opposite inside the formerly forbidden area. Unlike those who were celebrating, a lot of people directly entered the forbidden area, trying to find their loved ones. The citizens who went in to find relatives watched blankly as rows and rows of corpses were lined up. It was for identification. There were also plenty of girls sitting aside, blank expressions on their faces akin to the zombies they thought they left in Terran. They were finding it hard to absorb the sight, and they stutteringly looked at the Lord standing blankly. The man turned to them, red eyes, with his sister right next to him. The two of them looked wan and dark, tears flowing down their faces. "These are the people we lost to Higson," He said. "I have failed you." The citizens couldn''t truly absorb his words until their feet took them to the corpses. One by one, bawls of despair and sadness exploded. Some lost their family, and some their friend, but there was no one who had a dry eye in the area. The siblings felt their hearts clench at the sight and they looked at each other. Holding a hand they stood closer to the corpses, the victims, and their families and friends. The knees bent, landing on the stony soil below with a flop, and they kowtowed. If they could bury themselves under the soil to express their apologies, they would''ve. Matthew, sobbing, bellowed strongly as he prayed. "As a Lord, I feel ashamed for not being able to protect my citizens. The weight of this transgression is mine to bear," he said, shaking his head when his sister wanted to intervene. "I will not make excuses. I will not ask for leniency as I know very well that I deserve a fate worse than death. "However, I hope that I can be given the chance to fix¡ªeven a little¡ªof my wrongs by improving the lives of thousands more than who we lost. "May their deaths be a reminder of what we cannot become¡ªweak and cowardly. May we be strong enough to protect ourselves!" His dull eyes soon gained a bit of light. "I¡ªMatthew White¡ªswear never to make the same mistake again. And I will do my part to prepare each and every one of you¡ªmy citizens¡ªfor a better life." His forehead met the ground, showing maximum humility. "Please give me this chance!" S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 243 - 243: Another Ally Similarly, in another area with a stagnant atmosphere, a certain set of twins stood in front of a woman. Luke and Leo met the woman as they were waiting at the gates, preparing to leave. She had been watching them the whole time, though it took her a while to approach them. The two followed her to some distance away from the crowd. Arms crossed, they looked at her, waiting for her to speak. "I know whatever comes out of my mouth won''t make you feel any better¡­" she said, "But now that you''re leaving, I hope you don''t keep the hate in your hearts¡­ "And I am in no illusion that you will forgive me. My only wish is that you two do not live in hate. My death would not do that. "You are good kids. You know what is right or wrong." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "What I can do is assure you that I won''t be getting any decent sleep from now on. "As long as I live, I will suffer the consequences of my actions." She told them, "This is my guarantee." Luke and Leo sighed and looked at each other, simply walking away. As they walked, their shoulders straightened, expressions loosening. Because she was right. They didn''t need to suffer for her. ¡­ Hope could change a lot of things even when nothing had yet to happen. In Vismont, there had been an obvious increase in chatter and activity, gossiping at the new shift in power, smiles filled with longing. Anyway, the group rested for a few more hours in the unit, before the lord came to visit them again. He arrived with an old man this time. And he was still wearing his turtleneck, covering his bruises, but his disposition was a lot lighter than before. "Thank you!" He said, "I don''t know how to thank you more." At his smile, the trio who knew him best among their team couldn''t help but take a second look at him. It was very unlike the lord they''d seen. He seemed to become more¡­ human, now. Rowan nodded with that deadpan face of his. "Just do your side of the deal." Matthew blinked and smiled. "Ah, yes. Of course." The reason why every member of the team bothered to dip their toes into this mess was because of his side of the deal, otherwise, who would bother? Silvia and Rowan naturally got themselves quite a good deal. The deal was for Matthew to willingly let go of at least five talents for each person who participated in the purge, as long as the citizens agreed, of course. Matthew also promised to give incentives, which was also a low-key way of earning another territory''s money, but Matthew didn''t mind. He owed too much to these people, and he owed too much to his citizens. Even when he was the Lord, he knew which territory could give them a better life. How dare he take away this chance from them? Soon, an announcement echoed across Vismont Village¡ª [Mission: Solidify the Cooperation between two territories. [Content: Become a resident of an allied territory, Altera Village (Lv2) [Requirements and Rewards: [No minimum requirement, settlement fee of 5 silver will be given. [Bonus of +5 silver for people with Occupations] For a while the people were confused. "Altera?" One asked, and it was a lively young man who answered him. "It''s the one with all the products! Remember? They said their territory produces those things." "Great! I was planning to check it out before now I have more incentive!" In another area, a small group of people had bright eyes. "Oh yes! My friends and I have been planning on starting a caravan!" "I hear the first batch is leaving today! We should go with them! It''s safer!" Okuri looked at her boyfriend. "What do you think?" The silent man nodded with a smile. He pointed at her and then at him, and then placed his hands together. She smiled, understanding what he meant, "Together." Basically, across the territory, there would be similar conversations about migrating to another village. Some were happy and some were sad. "I understand the lord''s dilemmas but¡­ I can''t stay here anymore." One said. He had just finished burying a cousin. "Me too¡­ I¡­ my sister suffered too much, maybe going to a different territory¡­" another uttered, holding his sister''s hand. His lively sister¡­ so beautiful and gregarious¡­ now refusing to speak. Then there were also angrier ones, "I honestly can''t look at the lord without wanting to spit at him now." "Yeah!" And there were more than a few echoes of agreement. Although they rationally understood the lord''s predicament, it didn''t mean their hearts were willing to forgive. It could be said that it would take a long time for Matthew to be absolved by these people, and he understood it. He couldn''t have asked for more, in fact. He wished them the best in Altera. ¡­ Of course, while many were already planning on their move, there were many others who were just watching the show. After all, most of the people who had already invested their wealth in Vismont would be unwilling to move. However, they were very willing to take a look and explore. One of them was Old Yao. In his old age, he was rarely excited about a trip, but here he was. In any case, whether it was the old man or others, they were more than willing to see and do some shopping! No matter what, the Alteran products were definitely the real deal! ¡­ A few hours after the announcement, the various members of the Altera team looked at the crowd of hundreds of people in glee. It was a noisy crowd, all with mixed emotions and expressions, but they all had something in common: They were all coming to Altera! sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were so many!!! Of course, a lot of these people had the mentality of just going to look, but they were confident in their territory. A lot of them would definitely stay. Calculating the contribution points, the Alterans couldn''t help but want to dance. They could finally be permanent residents! What''s more, the businesses of their teams would thrive, making their pockets even heavier! Allied territories are awesome! Chapter 244 - 244: Convergence Vismont. In a good mood, the Alteran party exited Vismont and headed back home with great fanfare. Someone even waved back to the watching crowd. "We shall returnnn!!!" Prepare your funds well~" He said, already calculating how much to invest on the next trip. Silvia and the others laughed. "What an idiot," a man said, but he was grinning widely as he said so. He, too, was already making plans for the next caravan. Other than the Alterans, hundreds of people followed Rowan and his team outside. While many were joining for the ''exchange program'', a good part of the crowd were visitors who simply aimed to see the source of goods, hoping to create some money in reselling. Of course, there were also some who simply wanted to go and see this new territory because of curiosity and some other purpose. Matthew and Melissa were included in this group, with Matthew hoping to learn more about the management and Melissa to see the sources of medicine. Although it was established that she didn''t need medicine, she still wanted to see what was available to them. Matthew looked back to his level 2 walls now that he was on the other side, feeling melancholic. This was the first time he would leave the territory for so long and despite all the chaos, he had really grown to love it. Of course, before going out, he left the territory to capable hands. Although a lot of the guards were under Higson, Matthew had made sure some of them were on his side. These guards had been low-key during Higson''s reign, and now they could finally do their jobs. He could still believe them and leave the territory for a day or two with ease. "Are you sure you want to come?" Matthew asked his sister for the nth time that hour, worried. After all, he had already asked his trusted guards to help his sister level up in some spots near the territory walls. His sister knew of this arrangement. However, his sister looked at him with a determined expression on her face. "Getting stronger is literally my only way to survive, little brother. Stop coddling me." "..." Anyway, seeing that there was no changing his sister''s mind, he just vowed to be by her side and help her level up as soon as they could. They moved forward with a large group comprising of hundreds of people, which naturally attracted hordes of mobs. The groups came in scores at the least and hundreds at most, and during the latter many people from Vismont couldn''t help but notice they weren''t being protected. A man''s eyes widened as a large set of teeth was about to maul him, barely dealt with by a group from Vismont. A number of them sustained a bit of injury in the process. They frowned, looking at the Alteran guards dealing with monsters far away from them. "Hey! I was almost bitten!" The guards turned to look at him but didn''t leave their posts, as ordered. "You!!" The Vismont visitors yelled, indignant at this ''service''. Obviously, they were guests, right? No, they were very wrong. Soon after their exclamation the tall redhead aborigine faced them and they all shut their mouths. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Don''t expect us to go out of our way to protect you," Rowan told several people from Vismont still shaking under his stare. "Your own life still depends on you." "You¡ª" a person said, turning to their Lord for justice, only to see him fighting alongside the Alterans. They were a little annoyed at first (especially with the scandal and all) but then they saw their lord skilfully kill a monster, and then guide his sister to kill another one he had weakened, they couldn''t find enough shamelessness to ask him for help. Then they couldn''t help but notice that every Alteran was fighting valiantly, no matter who it was. They even had bright, excited, expressions on their faces. It was in stark contrast to theirs, which was filled only with fear and apprehension. Was that why everyone was so strong? The man pursed his lips and took out his weapon, finally joining the fight. Fortunately, the few people from Altera¡ªguards or not¡ªwere strong enough to deal with low-level mobs, not to mention so many of them from Vismont. Along the way, Matthew continued to help Melissa in her fights, aiming to get her to level 2 before reaching Altera. After several hours of travel, they started seeing more and more people. They realized that these people were settled down and making camp. The Vismont people were very surprised to see people out of nowhere. After all, they knew they still had a couple more hours to go before reaching Altera. The others saw their arrival and blinked, some nodding a bit, and some smiling. They were all quite friendly, and very unlike forest encounters before which were characterized by yelling for help and despairing sobs. As they walked they saw the stone paths and the sheds, and the Vismont group quickly realized that this was obviously a temporary camp. "You''re here!" A voice sounded from beside him and they saw Dog and the others walk forward to greet some of the people from the other party. "How many did you get?" "103." The other person said proudly. "Plus about a hundred visitors." "We got 254." Dog said, "And that''s just the residents. We have more visitors." The other gasped in shock. "Wow!!! How''d you do it?" The Alterans that went to Vismont grinned, grabbed their friend''s shoulder, and told him of their ''adventures'' in his territory. At this point, if Matthew still didn''t know what was going on then he''s stupid. He was mostly amazed though. The few of their territories were so busy with their own jurisdiction but another one was extending hands everywhere. Just how many resources did this place have? The two groups eventually merged together and the mumblings and chatters intensified, forming an area akin to a marketplace. The guards soon formed a loose perimeter outside, to deal with the mobs as they came. Fortunately, they weren''t too big mobs and could be handled with relative ease. In any case, the crowds merged happily, resting in their own pace, chattering. However, several minutes in, new types of yells started to pop up in different areas. "Husband?" A voice sounded from Vismont side, the man from Bright froze at the voice and tears lined up his eyes as he turned. Surprisingly, there were several people who knew each other¡ªand most of them were not from Altera. "Wife!" He yelled when their eyes met, and the two ran towards each other as they waved across the crowd. The woman threw herself at her husband, sobbing, and the man couldn''t help but shed tears as well. This seemed to trigger a whole set of reactions and a few more found their relative, friend, or colleague. Sobs of joy from different directions soon echoed and everyone started feeling antsy, hoping to experience the same luck. Very quickly, the temporary camp became even livelier, with people running about hoping to meet family. "Does anyone know a¡­" a few people yelled, telling their own names in case someone recognized. Some people were enumerating the names of their loved ones and friends. Without exception, these people all went across the crowd, which would¡ªconsidering their number¡ªpotentially lead to a stampede. The guards had to step up to keep the order. "Halt! Everyone''s going to the same destination. Please start your search after we enter the safety of the walls!" Drake yelled, and the others echoed. It was inevitably a little chaotic, but they did follow in the end. What if they injured themselves and a mob came? What did that achieve? It took a while for everyone to settle down¡ªwho could blame them? The possibility of finding family in the crowd right in front of them could make anyone''s blood boil. Of course, most people weren''t so lucky to find someone, but just the possibility alone made this trip worth it. And the fact that they could travel to and fro three territories without having to fear for their lives gave them enough hope for the future. And that was already something to celebrate together. Chapter 245 - 245: Two Lords The Bright team decided to wait for the Vismont side for another hour or two to let them rest, helping out the guards handle the mobs as they did so. It was very clustered due to their numbers, but it was all people so they didn''t mind. It was actually quite fun, like a sleepover in daylight and without the sleeping-in-peace part. In the midst of this, the handsome blonde Micheal, surrounded by his cronies and had plenty of airspace, was approached by a similarly handsome man with wavy ash-blonde hair and a gentle expression. Micheal saw and recognized it as the Lord of the other territory Altera extended their hands towards. He also heard this guy was especially unfortunate. Micheal''s blue eyes passed over the other man and then to his sister who had an 80% likeness to him. "Matthew White," Matthew said, extending his hand to the other man. "Lord of Vismont." "Micheal Berti." The blonde said, taking the handshake. "Lord of Bright." The two sat next to each other by the campfire while the people from Altera began to cook for them. Even if there were hundreds of people in the crowd, the temporary camping site could more-or-less accommodate them all. It was in no way comfortable nor did it smell good, but it was better than the shanty areas they got used to. There were also a score of cooking areas, albeit only one had a big metal pot, but it was enough for them to properly rest for a while. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, other than the two lords, the Alterans wouldn''t cook for anyone else, but many of the visitors and migrants who came had bought their products and had their spaces filled with them. They peacefully (with Rowan glaring and all) lined up along the cooking areas within the camping site. When it was their turn, they would start cooking the food by themselves. After this, they would form groups and eat according to their contributions to the meal. There were naturally a few conflicts, but it was joyful overall. They had smiles on their faces and were eating their food deliciously, their eyes were bright and excited for what was to come. The two men watched their people so lively when they hadn''t arrived at their destination, making them feel complicated in comparison. Obviously their own people, but others were doing a better job than them everywhere. "Altera has a very meticulous¡­ management," Matthew commented as he looked around the temporary camp. Not only were there relatively sturdy shelters, but several cooking areas and campfires were also provided. There were also makeshift fences and stone pathways. As long as you didn''t settle down for good, this was really a good place to camp. "Hmm¡­" Micheal said, observing every bit of the temporary camp. "You really believe them when they say the territory has no lord?" Micheal asked his perennially smiley face and narrowed eyes showing interest. Matthew shook his head. "But the other party doesn''t want people to know, so we can only accept it." They were lords themselves. Although there were plenty of things that were still a mystery to them, they had some idea of how a person could hide so well. The two of them talked like this as they observed the others, looking quite handsome together. The two of them side by side naturally attracted quite a few curious glances. After all, two excellent men with such high status inevitably caught attention. People heard the system chose lords based on the money and potential that they had. Looking at the two, did handsomeness, composure, and youth also factor in? What they didn''t know was that they were already two of the handful of other young Terran men gifted with the Lord token¡ªone of which had already perished. Most of the others were old men and middle-aged men. At the beginning, there were also quite a few women¡ªas they were more likely to have hard wealth like jewelry on hand. Some were even old ladies who liked to hoard jewelry and gold. But this was far from their consideration at the moment and they simply joined their people for a well-deserved rest. When the resting time ended, the people were asked by the Alterans to clean up after themselves. There was a designated spot/hole for trash (which happened to be all-biodegradable materials) and the people obediently threw the items in the proper place. This compost would be used to fertilize some plants they wanted to keep in the temporary camp. The visitors couldn''t help but sigh. It seemed that the people from Altera were too comfortable right? To be considering sustainability and recycling so thoroughly? As they walked forward, Micheal and Matthew noticed that a couple of groups had begun to separate from the main crowd. In fact, a good part had already entered the forest outside the designated paths. "Where are they going?" Micheal asked Rowan beside him, who nodded to answer. "We received a mission from the territory yesterday." He said, "They wanted to take advantage and use unexplored routes back." Micheal paused. It seemed that Ansel mentioned this vaguely before he separated from them in the camping site. However, the redhead had decided to spite him by being mysterious so he didn''t have any idea about what it was about at all. Silvia spoke to explain further. "While some of us had long separated to look for resources, most of us will just take an alternative route to the same destination." "Don''t worry, they won''t be too far away, we''ll still be heading to the same destination." She said, and they watched as about a few dozen people from Altera left the group. The two lords looked at each other. It was Micheal, who hadn''t heard of this Exodus, who asked. "You can send an announcement to people outside?" "It must not be free," Matthew said, and Micheal nodded. "That''s true." As lords, they knew just how pretty much everything related to the territory costs some money. Too bad the Lord of Altera wanted to hide himself. They could really learn a lot of things from him. However, they still had an inkling that they''d learn plenty without him. And so, along with hundreds of their citizens, the two lords set out, heading in a direction, and hearts filled with anticipation. Interestingly, the last leg of the trip was quite peaceful, and it was estimated that the groups that took the other paths dealt with mobs heading their way. They arrived at the vicinity of Altera Village a couple of hours later. It didn''t take long for them to see a stone wall from their distance, which was easily still a few hundred meters away. Soon, they got nearer and they realized it was too different from what they were used to. It must be a level three wall, over three meters in height. It was also worth noting the dense amount of sentries it had along its perimeters. As they stared at the wall, the newcomers couldn''t help but question themselves. This was especially true for the two lords who looked at each other with complicated expressions. They all had the same starting point, didn''t they? Why was everything so¡­ different?? Chapter 246 - 246: Belluga Village As smooth as the explorations to the South and the West were going, the trip to the East was currently a bit turbulent. At this moment, the group of 30 Alterans was being followed by a few scores of people, but it was not necessary to go to the territory with them. To be more accurate, they were being chased. A little bit rabidly, in fact. Fable, who had very clearly disguised himself, was still exposed in the end. But even if he was exposed¡­ how was he to know that even under the circumstances of others barely having basic needs, he still had to deal with crazy fans following him?! At the very least, he had thought that even his former fans would be so preoccupied with survival that they wouldn''t spend energy on him, even if they did notice!! If his fans were to hear his question, they would answer very simply. It was because their life was so bland with the bland food and lackluster houses and unstable environment that they had more intense spiritual needs than before! To a lot of these girls, finding something¡ªor someone, for that matter¡ªthat they could so clearly associate with their more stable and abundant pasts was akin to finding water in the desert. And they were very, very, thirsty. Fable shook his head as he ran, wondering if he had made the right decision by coming here. As someone who had been to another territory before and as someone enticed by the fabulous rewards offered by Altera, he naturally volunteered to come and try his luck. He really wanted to be a permanent resident as soon as possible. He had a feeling, the price for becoming a permanent resident would rise as the territory did. He didn''t want to miss this chance!!! Of course, after being salivated by the Lord here, he made pertinent suggestions and caveats to the team who''d be going on the dangerous mission with him: 1. Ideally, no handsome men would come, if it was unavoidable then they must make themselves as unattractive as possible. And¡­ 2. If they were to sell goods like the others, it''s best for the harmless-looking women to do it. Because it was safer. For the men. In the end, a team of about thirty people was formed. Ten of these thirty were guards level 3 or above. It was just that¡­ the guards chosen this time did not know whether they should be glad or offended. Anyway, right now, the day they were supposed to head back to Altera, he unexpectedly encountered a little¡­ glitch. "Here! Hide here!!!" A guard yelled, and they turned a corner into an alley. They were fortunate that, like most territories, the arrangements of the buildings here were on a per-need basis. This meant they were mostly placed haphazardly and were easy to get lost in. And for the Alterans, it gave them plenty of hiding places. Their hearts were beating loudly as they hid, though some guards couldn''t help but like the feeling of being chased by girls. Made them feel handsome. Fable saw their expression and wanted to strangle them. "If you like getting chased so much, why don''t you go distract them?!" The guards paled, quickly shaking their heads. Those fangirls were really rabid! If they showed up instead of their idols, they knew they might get a beating! "Oh no handsome mister Fable, don''t say something so scary!" "Yes, we are NOT enjoying this!" "TSK." Fable tutted and he wanted to call them out when they heard scuttling sounds quickly reaching their area. "There they are!!" "Damnit!!" As they ran for their lives, Fable couldn''t help but recall the feeling of accomplishment he had early in on the trip. They arrived at the territory about half a day after leaving Altera. It started out just as planned with the selling starting out relatively peacefully, and they had earned a lot of money. Fable had even guided the team on where to sell and how to sell them, maximizing their profits. With his sweet tongue (using a slightly modified voice), he had even managed to sell for much more than ten times their cost! He was quite smug about this. They stayed until the night in happy moods counting money and resting well. The next day, they happily prepared to leave after some advertisements regarding the sources of the goods. Oh, and also, that they could come with them if they wanted. It was a bit of a long shot because this territory was actually decent compared to most. It had few shanty areas as there were plenty of two-story houses built, and the basics like a restaurant, wells, and the others were there. There was also a Level 3 wall with a few sentry towers to protect them, so the price they set was very acceptable to the citizens. The only questionable choice was the bathhouse, but then their own Altera also had it so they couldn''t judge. It had been nearly a month since they transferred here as well, how many still had the liquidity to move their base? S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, although they may not be able to take people back directly, they still knew to attract more people. There was still a little contribution point for the first batch of people attracted by the trip, even if it was indirectly. So, theoretically, this should''ve been an OK trip that earned them a lot of money and indirect points. It was just that the Lord and her cronies were a little¡­ eccentric. Even the citizens were a little crazy, as they were personally experiencing at this time. Who would think he''d be discovered because an extremely sharp-eyed fan saw a small tattoo under his palm? It was very small, the size of a bug, but apparently, it was enough to identify him. "Why don''t we just run all the way to the territory with these women?" Someone asked, whispering lest they be discovered in their very temporary hiding spot. "I mean, it makes sense, right?" Fable rolled his eyes. The jerks even had the energy to joke. "That''s kidnapping? Who knows if they have relatives!" "Then make them follow us too!" "..." The Alterans looked at each other in thought, not saying anything for a while. Well, should they?? Chapter 247 - 247: The Fangirl Lord It was half an hour later that they managed to hide behind some alleys again (safer this time, hopefully!) Of course, they had to separate to be able to hide better, perhaps do some distraction tactics (i.e. Fable pushing them cuz they''re obviously enjoying the attention anyway) to give him some more time. Instead of getting beat up though, the girls didn''t really bother with them at all. This was both relieving and sad. Getting beat up at least meant they got surrounded by women, right? Depressed! Anyway¡­ Fable, who was very experienced in hiding, and the remaining ''survivors'' from his group were able to hide well. Unfortunately, he didn''t know if it was the skill of the lord here as a person, or a skill of a lord of a territory, but he was still found in the end. The woman appeared with her high heels which was different from what she wore before (did she stock up on it?). Closely beside her was a small harem of handsome men. She was a bit chubby, but curvaceous, and she had a fairly decent face. By most standards, she was even pretty. But Fable paled in terror at the sight of her. It''s her! The Lord! ¡­ Kimmy brightened at the sight of the handsome man with sandy hair, looking at her with wide eyes filled with admiration (note: Terror). Kimmy Smith was a very rich spoiled 29-year-old girl who had rooms filled with jewelery, gold, and other shiny things. During the apocalypse, she sold most of these things, along with the family treasury, and this allowed her to earn thousands before the Migration. It felt amazing to finally lead and create her own territory. Most importantly, she could do whatever she wanted! As for her parents, wherever they were, she could only pray for their souls. After all, when the disaster happened they were in other countries with their respective lovers. As someone who had been neglected by her parents for as far as she could remember, her greatest joy in life was watching actors or idols, collectively called Husbands. Back in Terran, she had watched every concert of her husbands, took the best spots, had backstage passes, bought all merchandise, and funded their fanbases. She had almost taken one¡ªher favorite¡ªto hug in her house some days ago but he regretfully disappeared. Who knew, he would actually come back. Was it fate?! She sauntered to him, and seductively¡ªwell at least she thought so¡ªwiped his chest with her manicured fingers. "Shall we continue where we left?" Fable almost squeaked in terror. "No, no! No, thank you! I''m not even handsome!" "Don''t underestimate yourself!" She said, "You''re one of the most handsome men I ever laid eyes on!" He was so creeped out that his brain seemed to have died for a moment. "No, no, in my territory there were plenty of more handsome men!" "Really?" He did not even have the time to regret what he said because his brain died again when the finger climbed up his chin. "Yes, yes, really." "Okay! I see you were about to leave? How interesting! Maybe I''ll go there soon!" His stomach dropped. Wouldn''t bringing this woman to Altera be a disaster for all the handsome men in the territory?! S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He didn''t have the time to backtrack as she already wrapped her arms around his, and basically dragged him out to the streets. As they walked, Fable felt like his legs were as heavy as lead. Raine, Kimmy''s current favorite, saw this and chuckled. He walked closer to him, just close enough to whisper. "Don''t worry, she never really forced anyone¡­ well, except you. You were a very good entertainer." "Er¡­ thank you?" Kimmy wrapped her arms tighter around his well-toned arms and Fable tried his best not to push the woman away. She was completely unaware of his tension, thinking he was just shy. "What are you waiting for, Silly Fableboi?" "Err¡­ what?" Fable asked as they walked along the streets. Fableboi? The endearment used by his fans was clearly Fablecious, right? Ah, wait, that would''ve been creepier coming from Kimmy. "Oh, you silly goose~" She giggled, rubbing his nose like he was the most adorable idiot. "To your territory! Let''s gooo!" "A-Already? Right now?!" Fable gasped, startled by how quickly things were happening. "Altera is half a day away! Y-You''re the lord, aren''t you?" She shrugged. "My husbands can handle it." She said, pulling him forward. "Let''s go now!" "..." Eventually, they met up with the rest of the team by the gate, as agreed upon before they separated from all the running. They decided to meet up there within an hour, and together they would escape and head back to Altera. It was a decent plan. Too bad Fable had a massive baggage. The team gave him weird, weird, looks when they saw who he was with. Fable wanted to cover his face. How embarrassing! Could he say he really didn''t have a choice?! The people who got ''captured'' with him were holding back their laughs. No doubt they will spread all that they witnessed to the whole of Altera when they could! Jerks! As they walked to the gate, Kimmy saw the people in his party, looked them up and down, and couldn''t help but ask again, a little questioning. "Are they really handsome?" She asked, looking at him as if he was lying. "This is what you call handsome?" The others: "..." The laughs were cut short like that. But these complicated emotions of his companions had nothing to do with Fable. To him, this was an opportunity. Could this be his chance of backtracking? He didn''t take it in the end though, his gut was telling him he may be trapped here if he lied. Self-preservation still prevailed. I''m so sorry handsome men of Altera¡­ "Yes. Some even had odd hair colors like bright gold and crimson red ¡­" "That''s amazing!" Kimmy brightened, "I look forward to meeting them~" Fable gulped at her obsessive expression and shivered. He prayed for Oslo, Rowan, and even Drake never to know of this conversation. Chapter 248 - 248: Entering Altera Village Altera. The group of hundreds couldn''t help but stare at the 3-meter tall wall, nearly double the size of theirs, and so very reassuring to see for those who stayed inside. Then they looked at the extremely dense sentry towers¡ªpowerful-looking, menacing, and protective. "Are those sentry towers?" Matthew asked in a quiet voice, eyes fixed on the towers. Micheal nodded. "It''s only available for higher level walls," he said. He knew this because Juno commented on it when he expressed his worries. It was just that only high level villages with rich background or low level towns tended to have this due to the expenses. To see it in a fellow Level 2 village¡­ was both depressing and inspiring at the same time. Micheal and Matthew followed the locals and led their respective teams into the gate. Other than the inexpensive fees, what surprised them was the quaint but vivacious surroundings that greeted them. The entire area was developed¡ªno, bustling¡ªfrom the get-go. The streets were wide and there were two-storey structures on both sides, with a small amount of people moving to and fro, some of which gave them curious glances. However, they were quick to lose interest and proceeded on where they were headed: the shops. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Shops? "Did you have a commercial building?" Matthew asked Micheal. He believed he was one of the poorest lords out there, so he wouldn''t be surprised if he missed out on a bit. "No." "No?" Matthew uttered, surprised. And there was also another very obvious detail they noticed. The architectural styles of these buildings were unfamiliar to them. Was it not the same for everyone? The two lords looked at each other and compared notes, soon realizing they had the exact same options. "What do you think?" "I''m not sure¡­" Matthew uttered and he wanted to ask. This issue was something for later, however, and they decided to focus on the issue at hand, i.e. the current development of this territory. "Did the lord here develop the entire territory?" He asked, and the blonde next to him looked back at the walls, narrowing his eyes. After a beat, Micheal spoke, "The lord here didn''t choose to expand¡­" "What?" Matthew looked around. Although it wasn''t visible normally, he noticed the curve of this wall was indeed more pronounced, meaning the circle was smaller than theirs. They couldn''t help but recall the empty space that opened up in their own territories when they upgraded and then looked at the wide prosperous streets in front of them. They felt a little ashamed. Subconsciously or not, they chose the choice with more power¡ªsomething associated with a larger jurisdiction. Of course, it wasn''t exactly an erroneous decision on their part. From what they''ve gathered, their population was several times more than that of Altera, so it was still a factor in their expansion. They had to expand even if just for the added resources they could get inside the safety of the walls. The provision of a safe place to forage without the worry of poisonous plants and insects alone was a direct effect of their expansion. However, they did still envy how well-planned this place was. It seemed like even if they didn''t expand, no area was wasted, but at the same time it didn''t feel claustrophobic. They continued to walk and observe, taking note of the features of the village even near the gate. There was traffic so far from the center, and with the rate the territory was going, this area will definitely be prime shops in the future. They also saw a lot of stores that weren''t occupied yet, and those that were seemed to still be under renovation. With their business senses, both of them felt tempted. Especially, at the rate this village was going out and extending its claws everywhere, this road would not just be filled by locals, it would soon be filled with ''tourists'' like them. This was definitely prime real estate right here. "Can a non-resident own a shop here?" Micheal asked, turning to the woman beside them. She seemed to have been watching them in amusement which made them feel a bit embarrassed. Silvia didn''t comment on it though and answered their question. "The commercial areas can only be rented by residents. It is also a little more expensive than the permanent residents. "This is the same as the houses. Only permanent residents have the right to purchase their own property. Residential status (temporary or permanent) would also be needed to rent it." The two nodded, thinking that it made sense. If they had a lot of funds, they''d have considered this in their own territories, but not at the moment. After all, they still needed the gold that was roused from selling land and property. Sighing at his own poverty, Matthew turned to look at a building. "Do we just go in?" "Well, generally, everything can be done in the village center to avoid conflicts and people entering other people''s territories¡­ but you can go directly to shops you hope to rent. You won''t be able to enter if it''s owned." The two nodded, it was how residences worked in their territories as well. It was around this time that a guard went to Silvia and said some stuff, sending looks at the immigrants. Silvia nodded and then turned to them, smiling apologetically. "Excuse us, we will take the immigrants to the village center to register." She said, "They will also pay for their residency there." This puzzled the two lords. "People had to go to the village center?" "Yes, there is still a lot of information missing that the territory hopes to learn. People register under system oath." You could swear an oath under the system? A few minutes in and they already learned so much. Anyway, the new residents followed the guards to the village center for the so-called registration. Meanwhile, the two Lords also instructed their fellow tourists that they would meet here in the afternoon of the next day. This was, of course, assuming they''d want to go back. To be honest, they thought that someone would stay to guide them around. Even if they were poor, they were still lords, right? However, they quickly realized why they were left so carelessly. Before Silvia and the others had completely gone out-of-sight, they were surrounded by many local people. And, considering this timing, they were definitely waiting for Rowan and the others to leave. They all had amicable smiles on their faces, stopping just outside their personal space. "Welcome to Altera Village~" They said, very friendly. The visitors flinched, taken aback by the passionate welcome. One of them was a redhead with orange-ish hair and a freckled face. He had a confident stance as he looked at them. "Welcome to Altera¨C!" He said, opening his arms, "My name is Fred, the head of the Glorious Hospitality Team. "If you wish to have a tour of the territory, you may hire any one of our guides for a very affordable 30 copper per hour, for a maximum number of 10 people per group." The visitors looked at each other. Would going around a small territory still need a guide? Chapter 249 - 249: Guided Tours While doing a guided tour for such a small village was weird, they were aware that they only had a little over a day here and naturally hoped to know (and gain) as much as they could. After a moment, the two lords decided to hire a guide and the others also followed their leads and hired their own. Because the two of them had different targets from the others, they asked the rest to form separate tour groups, including their confidants. This was actually what the people wanted (though they tried not to show it). After all, how could this ''field trip'' be fun with the ''bosses'' around? Anyway, the groupings were completed after some time. Interestingly, most groups had a mix of people from the two territories. Obviously, a lot of people bonded on the way here. Each group was soon approached by a designated guide and, for the lords'' ''group'', it was a lively girl. She approached the two lords with a blushing face and bright eyes and¡ªfrom how the other girls glared at her¡ªthis assignment was hard won. "Hello! My name is Lulu! I am in charge of your customized tour today! May I know who will be the members of your team?" "It is just the two of us," Matthew said with that gentle smile of his, hitting the hearts of the girls around. "I see, I see~ What kind of tour do you want to take? We have food tours, luxury tours, etc. We can also customize~!" "Custom, please," Matthew said, meeting his blonde companion''s eyes. "We may have more targeted requirements than the others." Lulu nodded amicably, ready to listen to them and meet their needs. "Okay, this is noted! May I know what exactly you wish to know?" Matthew smiled and proceeded to explain. "Well, we are Lords of our respective territories. We would like to get a more detailed description of the features of the territory, is this okay?" "L-Lords???" The girl paused, paling, and excused herself. She turned her back and scuttled somewhere. When she got back a minute later, she was already pulling that guy Fred from before. "Hello, distinguished guests! This is my boss Fred, and he knows most about the territory than any other guide. The Lords definitely deserve the best~" Lulu said, blushing, and ran away to shyly hide beside the other girls and soon to get new less-intimidating guests. Back to the two lords, although a little startled, they didn''t mind the change. As long as much of the information they wanted would be known, then they''d consider the guide worth it. Fred grinned as his eyes stayed on the two lords. Rich guests tended to tip a lot! Of course, this batch of people was technically their first guest, so he had yet to confirm this personally. Anyway, his grin did not diminish as he walked closer to the two lords. "May I know how many people would be in the lords'' group?" He asked. "Just the two of us," Matthew said. Even his sister joined another group, focused on going to the pharmacy and health center first. Anyway, now that she had already leveled up, he wasn''t too worried about her. It must''ve been a while since she had free reign¡­ "Okay, then! Follow me, please~" Fred said and began walking along the avenue, describing what he knew about the territory (that was allowed to be released in public, especially to outsiders, of course). "This is one of the two main avenues in the village: the Southwest Avenue. There is another one called the East Avenue. The two avenues are very wide with a nearly 20-meter-wide carriageway, not including the provisions for sidewalks and the lane in the middle." He did not mention the middle was a bike lane. It still hadn''t been publicly sold and he didn''t want to jinx it. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He really, really, wanted a bike. "The greening is very well maintained," Micheal mentioned, blue eyes looking at the street islands with warm eyes. "Yes, the greening here is very rich, even in areas filled with buildings. They are maintained by people hired by the system, but I heard there is a new NPC specializing in taking care of plants." "NPCs?" Matthew whispered, unaware of the term. Micheal saw that he was really confused. "They''re the aborigines hired through level 2 Village centers¡­" he said, "You haven''t upgraded your village center, have you?" "What?" Matthew felt endless regret. So that was where the Aborigines came from. He couldn''t bring himself to ask before, thinking it was a private matter. Matthew also had a very hard life and had no idea about game terminologies, so he wasn''t aware of what NPCs meant as much as the NPCs themselves. Matthew shook his head and looked at Fred and Micheal again as they moved forward. "Tell me more," he said, "I mean the process and requirements." Fred didn''t know much about the actual process but the fellow Lord, Micheal, did. "When you upgrade your Village Center to level 2, it will become a two-story edifice. On the second floor, you could ''summon'' aborigines to hire." Not just Matthew, but even Fred listened in. Although he knew some of these from his friendship with the aborigines, he hadn''t heard of it from the point of view of a fellow Alteran. "Is it expensive?" "Very. The cost of hiring and their maintenance isn''t cheap either." "..." Matthew sighed. "They should be worth the money though?" Micheal didn''t answer immediately. "The first batch is decent, the next ones are usually letdowns. Good NPCs come days in between." Micheal said very succinctly. There really were too few decent NPCs to the point he couldn''t take any of them with him on his trip, lest mobs attack the territory. He then turned to Fred, who he saw was also listening to him in interest. "Can you tell me more about this territory''s NPCs, if possible?" Fred flinched under his stare and cleared his throat. "Well, I don''t claim to know all of them. But I do know of most," he began, "We have a seamstress, a healer, an armor maker, a weapon maker, and others. "There is someone who specializes in building and could control earth and metal. His name is Oslo, very handsome and he even has his own fan group that may be able to rival Fable''s soon." "Fable? The idol?" "Yes, that Fable," Fred grinned. "Then there is Rowan¡ªwho was with you¡ªan essential NPC to the guard team and could control fire. The others can''t control elements, but they also serve their purpose." "So not all NPCs can control elements, then¡­" Matthew said, and Micheal nodded. "None of my NPCs can. Seeing Rowan use fire is my first time seeing this." "Really?" "Yes." Fred let them chat for a bit before continuing his info dump. "There were also NPCs hired by individuals. One was hired by Baron to join his woodworking factory, while Ms. Althea partnered with a seamstress NPC. "I hear they just hired them for some gold, and according to my source from Baron''s side, they were very very worth the money." At this point, the two lords could only look at each other. People could do this? The two were silent for a while. They seemed to have¡­ not seen the world??? Chapter 250 - 250: Narrow Vision The tour continued forward and they eventually reached the more developed part of the territory. The two lords quickly realized they hadn''t seen anything yet as they moved deeper into the territory, and it was even livelier than they expected. They soon saw more and more people, chatting and laughing, most of whom had baskets or bags in their hands. They also had more and more activities going about¡ªwhether it was staff delivering raw materials, people taking down signage covers, or salespeople hanging out in the streets, hoping to sell something. "Guests!! Buy two and get one free!" Someone yelled, holding a wooden sign outside a store. "Promo available on opening week only!" Not too far was another shop with a promoter as well, but he was carrying a wooden plank with cubes of sweets. "Free taste! Free taste!" Reverberating with his voice was another salesman right next to him. "Opening Week Promo! Buy one shirt, get a handkerchief for free!! "You will not only be comfortable, but also handsome!" Then somehow he zoned in on the two of them (as if his eyes were magnets attracted to the two of them) and he pretty much teleported in front of them. "Handsome men! Want to shine more with clean, new, comfortable clothes?" Handsome-men-with-dirty-clothing, "..." In fairness, before encountering Alterans, the two of them were really well-put in comparison to everyone else. Their lips twitched, and they ended up entering the store. Whether it was curiosity or shame, they refused to dwell on it. It was a simple store with wooden mannequins and hung clothing. It was low-end compared to what they had seen in Terran, but in the middle of the mountains in a new world, this was amazing to see. There was also a complete set of underwear. The colors were plain and limited, but it made the two of them sigh in relief. Anyway, both of them ended up buying a few sets. As soon as they went out, the food salesman appeared right next to them, also smiling with teeth exposed (he had surprisingly white teeth; can they ask him how he did it?) Anyway, this salesman was apparently polite enough to wait for their transaction to be over, and now that they were out he seemed to have imprinted on them. "Free taste!" He said and they couldn''t help but take a second look at the samples. They were a bit¡­ unsavory-looking and odd-colored. But the man seemed to not see this, as he proudly presented his craft. "A-Ah, Thank you." The men said, awkwardly taking the ugly-looking cubes. Under the eager stare of the man, the two of them had no choice but to taste. When the snack melted in their mouths, the two of them couldn''t help but blink and look at each other. "It''s rice snacks," Micheal said, "It tastes nice." Obviously, the materials available were still different¡ªfor one, they didn''t have the conventional sugar¡ªbut it felt delicious anyway. It also explained the odd color, as the rice here wasn''t white. Anyway, they also bought a few boxes. Of course, not every store had staff outside, with some only having signage to show what they offered. However, every shop had people coming in, and the entire streetscape was bustling with activity. Some were alone, while often they were with someone. Many people had baskets in their hands, going from shop to shop, with the basket getting filled up bit by bit every few steps. The two lords were shocked by the vibrancy¡ªpeople chatting, shopping, selling¡ªwith undeniable smiles on their faces. Life. Peace. Prosperity. It almost felt like the end of the world didn''t happen. "It''s amazing¡­" Matthew whispered to no one in particular, but Micheal nodded in agreement. They looked at the shops they passed by. Even from the outside, they had an idea of how business was booming. They were also surprised at the sheer variety of foods and products. They thought they''d seen miracles with the food the team brought to their territories, but it turned out to be the tip of the iceberg! There were noodle shops offering a variety of noodle dishes, there were bakeries boasting many options, and there were canteens offering different viands every day. This was just a few of many. Other than food, there were also various stores focusing on wood products, earthenware, leather, and many others. The two turned their heads to ask Fred how this was done, only to see him watching their reactions in interest. The two stiffened a bit in embarrassment straightening their spines to appear more formal. Matthew cleared his throat. "Where do they get the raw materials?" Fred smiled, "The Gaea Grocery Store, of course!" They remembered the stories they gathered on the way here. "This is the property of one of your elders, Ms. Althea?" "Precisely! She''s the Elder for Plant Research." He said. "Almost every food you see has her handwriting on it. "Not only did she bring in the common plants from Terran, but she also raised local plants to fit consumption." "Very admirable," Matthew said, thinking it was an old grandma. Micheal, on the other hand, smiled mysteriously. "It would be lovely to meet her¡­" He just said, his velvety voice entering the ears of women around, fascinating them. Fred cleared his throat, "From what I heard, she was usually in her laboratory, so she''s rarely seen at this time." "I see¡­" They nodded in understanding as they continued walking. As they observed the surroundings, the lords couldn''t help but put forward some of the other points of doubts they encountered so far. "I''m curious, in our panel, we have set buildings. The two of us compared and saw the options to be the same. Are all these buildings manually constructed?" Fred paused, actually not sure about this. But thinking about how these buildings just appeared overnight, he found an answer in his heart. "Most of the commercial buildings should be system buildings since they literally appeared overnight. The bigger ones, like the supermarket, were built by the construction team." Fred paused in front of a two-storey building. "Like this one," He said, "This is one of the buildings that were built manually." "It''s one of the two inns along this avenue, the more affordable one. It is also one of four in the whole territory. The other two are at the ends of Market Street; I''ll show you later." The two looked at the building closer to study it. It was a two-storey building that had a simple but good-looking facade, but its architectural style followed every other building around, making for a visually pleasing continuity. There was also a garden along the easement with colorful local plants, and beside them were small pathways to allow guests to admire the greeneries. Michael''s sharp eyes observed the differences. The facades between the conventional shops and the inn were different, while the commercial and some residential units had the same skeletal layout. As a lord, he naturally knew they could do some customization of system buildings for a price. That was to say, the base building of the commercial and residential units was the same. He then remembered there was a custom building option. Very likely, it was this neglected function. He had been tempted before, of course, it was just that he couldn''t afford it. He also had no idea if it was flexible enough, thinking it could consume an important building slot. At the time, he simply opted not to use it. But seeing the advantages and potential now, he made up his mind to put it on his priority list. Sigh. It seemed his vision was still too narrow. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 251 - 251: Enlightening "What are you thinking?" Matthew asked as he looked at this new friend of his, just staring deeply at the inn. Micheal shook his head. "I''ll tell you later." He said, as there were still plenty of things they had to explore before studying them deeply. The trio proceeded to walk along the beautiful pathway, coming across another small park along the way. "The territory seems to be very conscious about greening." Fred nodded. "At least 20% of the built areas were green, and this is not even including the farm areas and the pure forests near the edges." The ginger sighed dreamily as he said so, "This was lovely, back in Terran very few cities could do it, I always dreamed of living in those places. Now here I am!" The two nodded, agreeing. In Terran, because of the damage to the environment, less than 10% of the forests were left in the end. In terms of area, that was less than 0.1% of the entire planet. The trend of richer cities was to create ''green cities'' but the initial and maintenance costs were exuberant, most people couldn''t afford to even rent a small unit in these cities. (It had to be said that Garan and Althea were still pretty lucky to live in an orphanage not far from a forest. This was only possible due to conservatory laws, so it could be said that the two still lived an ironically ''luxurious'' life as orphans, even if they were often hungry.) In any case, it was a pretty novel experience for all Terrans to be transferred in this world made predominantly of rich forests. But the dangers quickly slapped reality onto their faces and their focus shifted purely to survival. They didn''t even think about the issue of sustainably and just built where they could. They just thought to keep some patches of forests inside for the resources, just enough for the current population, and that was it. "Are the farms open for visit?" "In a sense, yes, but only at the edges." Fred said, "More accurately, only to a viewing deck. Only owners of farms and their personnel are allowed inside that zone." "Can you bring us?" "Of course! Come with me." They walked along the avenue to the center, seeing more and more stores and people. They also saw a lot of their own people shopping around, hands already filled with food only half an hour into the tour. Passing through here, they went northeast to see a winding path climbing up the mountain. "We''re going up the Mountain?" "Yes. I''ve mentioned we can only go to a viewing deck¡­" The two lords looked at each other and shrugged, following their patient guide along the path. It was a well-maintained trekking path, designed for hikers. It was designed according to easy trekking paths back in Terran. There were wooden benches every hundred meters or so, and they saw about three gazebos so far. Internally, the two lords sighed in self-pity. Really, they were still struggling, but someone was on the way to make a mountain resort¡­ They took about half an hour to reach a certain height to a small building with a large deck. It was surrounded by various plants, and there were even some Terran flowers like lavender. "Most of the farms are private land, but the territory built this small view deck for those who wish to gain a better view of the territory. It is also near the farmlands, so I decided to take you here." The two reached the view deck¡ªlined with cut stone and balusters¡ªand headed towards the railings to look over the edge. They had yet to study the entire sight, but their hearts were shocked to the core almost instantaneously. The entire city was extremely well-developed, themed, and organized. The roads and streets took an organic but relatively gridiron form, with the greenery plenty and uniform. And the farms¡­ It was shocking. Dozens and dozens of hectares of crop-filled land shook their souls. There were rice, wheat, orchards, tubers, herbs, and others¡ªplenty of them. This was a scale they wouldn''t even be able to imagine to achieve in less than a month. It was not that they didn''t consider farming, but the local plants and their methods of growing were unfamiliar. Not to mention, the refresh rate of the forests made this issue a non-priority. Well, obviously they thought too little. It took them a while to shake themselves off the mental blow, enough to observe the rest of the territory. From their location, they could see the large warehouse-like buildings some hundred meters away. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Matthew pointed at them and asked, and Fred answered happily. "Those are factories: Some were rented by Baron''s party, many by Ms. Althea''s, and a few occasional teams are also reserving the ones being constructed." "Factories?" "Yes, there are woodworking factories, herbal medicine factories, food processing factories, ceramics-making factories, fabric-making factories, and many others." "..." "..." They were shocked by the scale of farming and industry in this territory. They should have taken up nearly half of the current land, right? Wasn''t that too generous? However, it could be seen that it worked. Whoever the Lord was, he knew very well how to use the talents of his citizens and maximize them to the degree they didn''t know they could emulate. Of course, the condition for such development of talent was that people would feel safe enough. After all, they first needed to feel safe enough not to worry about the basics, and safe enough to be able to explore a higher sense of existence. The two looked at the tall walls, sentry towers, and the level 2 Village center, knowing in their hearts that this condition was met, and more. What an enlightening trip¡­ The two really can''t help but admire the wisdom of the lord here. Ideally, they would have wanted to learn more from the sage himself, but for now (since the lord here obviously didn''t want to be disturbed) they''d have to settle with studying his product. But they excused themselves, they were only inexperienced young men after all. The Lord here must be a seasoned old man. Althea-the-old-man: "..." Chapter 252 - 252: Fascinated (Part 1) Back in the ''downtown area'' of the village, the hundreds of citizens that came with the two lords perused and looked around, amazed. They were absolutely fascinated with what they were witnessing. Those who were tasked to settle down were completely relieved, feeling that they had made the most correct bet ever. They even had a few silver for settlement fees! Other than these lucky souls, there were also about a hundred people who just came to visit, similarly shopping their hearts out. It was just that most of them didn''t want to go back anymore. But, alas! Who told their teams and their wealth to be in another territory. Of course, there were also those who had built some power and reputation in their own territories, so were especially reluctant to leave it all behind. Such were Artie and Bruce, Lord Micheal''s close guards, though they were definitely shaken and very very tempted by what they had been seeing. Fortunately, Altera was so near, and they could often go visit. For Artie and Bruce, they could ''volunteer'' to guard the caravans and stuff, which was hitting two birds with one stone. Anyway, Artie, Bruce, and little Lily walked with their new friends from Vismont and formed a tour group on their own. They were a group of ten, three from Bright and the rest was a team from the other village. They chatted happily about various things, including their time in Terran, while at the same time marveling at the beautiful pedestrian-only street they were currently passing through. It was wide, at least five meters including the nice island between with trees and benches. This island made for a narrow, elongated, park that spanned the entire street. Most of the stores here were still under renovation, but there was still a lot of foot traffic. According to their guide, Nina, these people were all going and/or coming from the cul-de-sac area where the marketplace and the supermarket were. As they walked, the pretty guide pointed at some stores that were near completion. "This is one of the clothing stores to open! I hear it focuses more on undergarments and night dresses." The group naturally went in and bought what they needed. They only bought what was necessary, knowing that there was still much of the territory to be explored. Their spaces were so small and they could hand-hold only so much baggage, what if they just wasted their money? There weren''t even beggars here they could give their ''overweight baggage'' to. Some half hour later, they walked out with smiles and passed by another opened store. "This one focuses more on everyday clothes," Nina said and Artie couldn''t help but ask (a bit shyly) as they entered the shop. "Who owns these?" "Different teams own these stores. From what I hear, Ms. Althea has a share in a few, in exchange for much lower prices for the raw materials." She said, proud of the gossip she managed to get. They walked forward for a couple more minutes, passing by a couple more stores, before finally ending up in a dead end that expanded to a small park. Looking closer at the park locations from certain sides, one could see that there was a real possibility of adding roads there. When this development was completed, it would make this area into a hub for two more streets as well. Abutting these streets were large buildings and the marketplace, and everywhere they looked was so lively and fun and they just wanted to run around. "We''re here! The Gaea Supermarket~" Nina said, her long adorable pigtails following her movements. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Artie couldn''t help but stare. Guide Nina didn''t seem to notice this as she led them to the queue to enter the supermarket. "There''s a maximum number of people inside. Since it''s been so long since the opening, people don''t usually have to line up anymore. But you guys came in droves of hundreds, so¡­ "Anyway! There''s a purchase limit so people don''t take too long inside." She shrugged and they settled down in the queue. It was around this time that some cute teenagers and old people approached them, carrying boards with snacks and juices. "Sale, for sale~ Sour fruit bites!" "Buy two bags, get one free! Potato chips!" "Fautle Juice! Just 10 copper for half a liter!" The offerings were all very alluring and the visitors were all ''buy, buy, buy!'' ¡­And by the time they entered the supermarket half an hour later, they were already bursting in fullness. "This place is heaven!" Pip, a dude from Vismont, yelled out in satisfaction. The others couldn''t help but agree. Their tastebuds had never been treated so well since the zombies attacked! Anyway, the group entered the building and were met with a large open plan that overwhelmed them¡ªtheir eyes blinded by the dazzling array of products. Their eyes sparkled and took a cute pushcart each and went to do their shopping. They felt elated and they were having such fun! How funny that such mundane activity back in Terran felt like going to the amusement parks now. Then they approached the displays and saw the prices. Compared with the market price back home, at least¡ªhow little they had to pay! So affordable! Nina furtively took a peek. "That''s actually thrice the amount locals have to pay¡­" Nina told them. After all, even if indirectly, she''d also get a little contribution if she took part in a successful ''brainwashing''. They gaped at her and were really tempted. It was just that, for now at least, their assets, resources, and power were all in their respective territories¡­. Anyway, while the price was thrice that of locals, it was still much cheaper than their purchase in their own territory. They would still make a killing even at this price. The travel time wasn''t that long either, the trouble was totally worth the profits they could get for one trip. They could already hear the cha-ching cha-ching in their heads! Oh¡­ how exciting! Chapter 253 - 253: Fascinated (Part 2) They bought as much as they could, not minding even if it was taking a significant portion of their wealth. Fortunately, there were hide bags and baskets now available for sale, which they could carry with them since their space definitely wouldn''t be enough. They also bought bags of rice and flour, jars of various sauces and condiments, some essentials, and others. Their excited hearts could not stop thumping. What made them even more ecstatic was the bulletin board, mentioning the products ''under mass development'' like soap, shampoos, and paper!!!! "Wait, there''s more!" Salt! It was fortunate the fruits and plants here had (trace amounts of) salt content otherwise everyone would have died from hyponatremia. But legit salt was still needed. This was equivalent to saving people''s lives! It could even be treated as currency in and of itself! Their hearts were still beating fast as they lined up at the checkout counter. "This territory¡­ is really something else," Artie said, eyes still sparkling from the goodness. The others nodded. To be honest, they never thought they''d see much of these things again after living in the forest for so many days. Before the Alterans popped out the way they did, they were quite fully prepared to live on beast meat, a small variety of fruit, and disgusting gruel for the rest of their lives. At this rate, they may be able to revive the lifestyles they had back in Terran! (Except they had a lot more trees, which was the best of both worlds!) "It''d be best if there were no monsters though¡­" A man shrugged, "For now, we only encountered levels 2 and 3 at most. Soon enough we''ll be stronger than they are!" "Yes, yes, it''s quite hopeful!" "I''m almost level 3 myself!" Pip sighed, "You forget we''re at the protective period." The man tutted, "We''re obviously having fun, why are you throwing truth bombs!" "..." "Here are your items!" The cashier said with a smile, breaking their chat. The owner of the items took the items and¡ªall while chattering nonstop¡ª he was promptly followed by the person next in line. Soon, the last one in the group packed up. They placed the more fragile products like ceramics in the space and the other items were placed in the animal hide backpacks and duffle bags they just bought. They held onto these bags like treasures. Artie wanted to speak more with Ms. Nina, so (with a blushing face) he approached her. "Ms. Nina¡­, hm¡­, how do they know who the residents are or not?" Nina smiled proudly and told them to look at the person being served after them. Pip couldn''t help but look back at the next person in line. It was a middle-aged woman with a scholarly feel around her. She bought a cart filled with items, and a lot were expensive items like clothes and special sauces. They watched the person behind them show a small wooden card to the shopkeeper, and the cashier uttered a surprising number. The person bought items of similar value, but she obviously paid a lot less. It seemed the shopkeepers could indeed determine the residency of a person. "Cool! How does it work?" The older woman who just got out of the counter smiled. Nina greeted her amicably. "Ms. Rosalind!" "Nina," she said, "I see you''re entertaining your guests well." "Hehe." The older woman turned to the visitors. "It was made by the woodworker aborigine hired by Baron, but he signed an anti-counterfeit contract with the system, guaranteeing the legitimacy of each card. "If there were rascals who tried to cheat, then they would automatically get blacklisted in the territory." sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She sounded very much like the teacher that she was, and the youngins couldn''t help but nod like respectful students. Rosalind was in charge of the Education Office of the territory. While there were no schools yet, she was in charge of releasing pertinent information to the people. If there was a media outlet, then she''d be the chief editor. At least until there were schools, of course. In any case, Rosalind had put her heart into her tasks, hoping to trigger some occupation. She had heard all the Elders had occupations and surmised it must be a requirement. After all, she currently had the highest position in the department, and had sufficient experience in Terran, but was not titled an elder. She still had some ambitions at her age, and she naturally hoped to have better positioning in this new world. Pip seemed to understand this was a person with some power and was particularly respectful. "Thank you for your information. Uhm, my team and I will be forming a caravan here. Was there a way to make deals with the owner?" "From what I heard, your territories opened a deal with the lords to purchase at twice the local market price and at much larger purchase limits." She smiled, "You should coordinate with your respective Lords first." This information made everyone brighten and they nodded in understanding. "Do you think we''d get approved?" One person asked, "What if that deal was for personal use only?" Who would want to help potential competitors? Pip smiled and shook his head. "The purchase limit may be larger, but it still exists. With the number of people back in our territory, do you think what the Lord could buy is enough?" "But¡­" "Think about it: Altera was so close. If they monopolized the items and increased the price too much, then it''s more likely people would just go directly to Altera!" "Oh!" "You''re right!" The others calmed down at this. Their lords were young, but they were wiser than their peers. They had a feeling their requests would get approved. "Also¡­ tax!" He said, "You forget I''m an economics major!" "Bringing these in will revitalize the economy! The tax and the satisfaction of the people they could get from this is much more than what they could get from a monopoly!" And this was true. As such, the imminent deals with the two lords would mark the beginning of the two territories'' progress. And all these would center in one place: Altera. Just as Althea wanted. Chapter 254 - 254: Gaea Restaurant Various guided tours abounded the territory, one of which was the Dining Experience tour, taken by Sandra and Ramona. They formed a group of ten with some strangers and the guide led them through a trip focusing on the territory''s currently-accessible food culture. The two girls were accompanied by old acquaintances Spike and Ron, at the request of their men who had to stay in the territory. There were plenty of differences, however. Ron had lost his boyishness and had now adopted a slightly more serious temperament. He was no longer so smug with the C potential he had (as there were many others now) and his styled hair had now turned into a chicken nest. Spike was also very different from when Althea and the others had seen him. However, there was a stronger aspect to him despite losing an arm. The four of them were transferred together from Terran and could be said to be the only survivors remaining in that group of people. Of course, this was not including Harold and Maya who separated from them early, hopefully (to Sandra and Ramona) already very dead. This was not much of a chance though because they came with Althea, who reportedly was doing very well. Maybe they''d even have an (unfortunate) encounter in this territory soon. "When are we getting there?" Ramona asked the guide impatiently, tone as arrogant as ever. Spike and Ron looked at the women in disgust, as they had always done since they reached Bright. In that party, the two of them were the remaining fighters, and only the four of them survived until the end. Scores of people. Four were left. If these women hadn''t been so scheming, there would be way more than the few of them that survived in that group. Both of them had lost precious friends because of these two women, Spike even lost his woman. For Ron, it was an old friend who migrated with him. He happened to have fallen for Sandra and did his best to protect the woman. It happened to cost him his life. Spike''s woman, on the other hand, was lost a bit more directly. At the time, the strong men defended the group with the women and weaker people fighting behind them. While Spike was guarding valiantly, his women fell into the mouths of monsters. No one saw what happened, but they had an inkling Ramona pushed her based on her distance. Now, ironically, they had no choice but to guard the two women. They didn''t have much choice either as they had already invested their remaining wealth in Bright, working under Gringo to maintain their lifestyles. Doing their job as meticulously as they could did not mean they liked it, of course. They hated every bit of it and they had to use all their tolerance not to just punch the woman in the face. Ron couldn''t help but remember that beautiful woman who took the old guy and the little girl away. Unlike these two dodders, she was so strong and beautiful¡ªa veritable goddess. How good would it be to follow her instead of these two! "We''re almost there~ Don''t worry it will definitely be worth it!" The guide patiently said and Ramona scoffed. The others were much better though and they followed while looking around the streets in fascination. They were soon guided along the so-called Eastern Market Street, soon reaching the food stores, and the bitter men completely forgot about the two women. "Sweet and spicy noodles!" "Monster meat rice rolls!" "Fried Gugu Bird!" "Stormdoer burger¡ªwith fries!" "Glutinous Gouji fruit cakes!" The group ordered as much as they could and placed them in the space. When they reached the stalls, their movements were even wilder. Although the space didn''t freeze time like in those novels, it did have some sort of preservation side effect because of the static space itself. It was not much, but rotting due to outside air, moisture, bacteria, and the like were greatly diminished. At the very least, when they get back home the day after tomorrow, they should still be able to eat and sell these things. With full stomachs, they continued to explore the rest of that corner place and saw the largest building next to an inn¡ªthe Woodworkers'' shop. This pretty much specialized in furniture and other household paraphernalia, and they couldn''t help but sigh. "The people here have it so good¡­" They thought. This thought remained even as they headed back to the intersection and began walking along the main avenue, heading toward the center. Along the way, they saw more and more shops, restaurants, and essential stores like utensil stores, clothing stores, bag stores, and stores that sold secondary processed foods like jerkies, pickles, jams, and the like. There were even shops selling ''luxury goods'' like processed monster furs and hides, ready to be bought to be made into clothing, upholstery, rugs, and the like. It could be said that the people here could make a full play of their talents. People could make good money here without having to risk their lives outside. Very comfortable. They felt more than a bit jealous. Anyway, they bought what they needed from the stores and felt their wallets rapidly dwindling. However, it was not painful when they thought of the money they''d make in return and the improved lifestyles that came after. They paid the guide for a few more hours and he guided them through various facilities and parks, and eventually reached the central area. There, they saw a store occupying two units, with a very long line at its door. "That is the Gaea restaurant. It''s the most popular restaurant in the territory, and the most cost-effective!" The guide said as they moved forward the line. "Is it the most delicious?" "It''s the second most delicious." "Oh?" Ron asked, curious. "The title of the best tasting restaurant was taken by Master Cooke, a cook by Occupation. I mean occupation tagged by the system. Like, a game job." Ron and Spike nodded. In Bright, there were a few who activated jobs like carpenters and some battle-focused jobs like swordsmen. They had yet to have a cook though. "What''s the difference with the food he makes?" "The food there has special Effects so it''s worth it even if it was really expensive." He said, "It''s also very exclusive, so I don''t suggest trying to go there without a booking." "On the other hand, the Gaea Restaurant has the most variety of food. I hear the team that owns the Supermarket owns this one, so you can see how they could price fairly even if they had such a variety." S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "That''s amazing¡­" "Very." The guide said, proudly, as if he was part of the team. In any case, they lined up for a bit, with Ramona expressing her impatience here and there. "No one''s forcing you to line with us," Spike said with a frown. This irked Ramona very much. "You¡ª" But Spike just looked away and ignored her and Ramona almost had a tantrum. Almost. At the very least, she had the tact not to act like a little brat in a woman''s body. Fortunately, although the line was long, the service was quick. It didn''t take too long for them to be able to enter. Like the restaurants in Terran, there was a dais, a host podium, and a host behind it. Today it was a hostess, a pretty one, and she welcomed them very cheerfully to the restaurant. They stated the number of seats they needed and the girl checked her wooden board with makeshift black chalk. "There is an opening in a private room that can fit you. It''s just that there''s a minimum order amount. Would you like to take it?" Ramona looked at a man with a smile and he raised his chest proudly in response, "Of course." The hostess called a waiter to guide them to their room and they entered the intricately carved double door to the interior of the restaurant. They were greeted with the sumptuous aroma of food, and the visual impact of the interior design overwhelmed their senses for a while. They couldn''t help but be surprised at the decorations. Each table and chair had matching etches and carvings. There were also detailed cornices, monster fur rugs, and turning tables. This may not have been anything special back in Terran, but this was an apocalyptic world in the wilderness!! It was unbelievable that a few weeks ago, this land was all forests!!! The visitors couldn''t help but look at each other. Are they really still in Xeno? Chapter 255 - 255: Unfair! Aberdeen City, Years ago Inside a dimly-lit atmospheric bathroom, an exclusive scent lingered in the air. It was the women''s powder room in a prestigious restaurant, with intricate metallic linings and baseboards, and exclusive marbles as expensive as a normal house. Sandra looked at herself in front of the mirror, a triumphant gleam of victory filled her eyes as she stared at her reflection. She felt¡­ beautiful. And that she deserved the best. Her long black hair was styled by an expensive stylist, cascading down in graceful waves. Her dress was made of red silk and lace that accentuated her curves, revealing just enough skin. She did not want it to be so revealing that her gentle image would be compromised. However, it was still very sexy, showing just enough skin to entice but keep the mystery alive. "I''m finally here." She whispered with a smile as she added a bit more color to her lips. She had finally nabbed her ideal man¡ªa man near her age and relatively handsome, not like her previous men who only had money going for them! It didn''t matter that his eyes always lingered on other women, nor did it matter that he had many women out there. The fact was that she was his favorite and that she was likely to be the one to receive his proposal was all that mattered. His marriage proposal! She would marry him and she would be the madame, and then her life would reach its peak! The fact that she was invited in this exclusive restaurant¡ªone where he would never take a woman to unless he was serious¡ªwas already a huge step forward. She sauntered back out and joined him, imagining the most wonderful night. "I''m having such fun, thank you for taking me here." "Hmm." "Did you taste this shrimp? It''s amazing, I wonder how they did this." "Hmm." "I bought a new lingerie tonight, do you want to see?" "Hmm." If she didn''t know that he was being absent-minded, then she was being stupid. However, she kept her smile and raised her head to ask him if he was having some trouble. After all, she was a good wife, and she wanted him to know he could confide in her¡ªdespite knowing full well he wasn''t having any problems. But as she looked at him, she realized that he was ogling shamelessly at another table¡ªright when she was in front of him. She frowned and pursed her lips. This was much more humiliating than just finding out he had been sleeping around even when he was dating her. However, she didn''t desperately study the high class for nothing. She remained calm and poised, though her eyes furtively turned to look around. She soon saw that many other tables, men, and women, were staring in a particular direction. They weren''t as blatant as her date, but one could see sincere admiration in their eyes. Her eyebrows rose in curiosity and she followed their sights. But when her sights landed on what they were looking at, she almost dropped her spoon. It was Althea and Garan, beautiful and handsome as if shining in their own light. She was wearing a simple but pretty light green off-shoulder dress, while he donned a bespoke suit with a matching undershirt. What was most notable was their appearance, form, and temperament. It was simply not something wearing good clothes and make-up could emulate. No matter how much she hated the sight, even Sandra could only admit they were a beautiful couple. As if wanting to torture herself, Sandra couldn''t help but look at them closer¡ªespecially that handsome man. At this time, Garan was looking at Althea so dozingly. It was so obvious that Althea was the only person in his eyes. She suspected that even if a beautiful woman danced naked near him, his sights wouldn''t leave Althea at all. Then¡­ Sandra turned and looked at the man she had been chasing the past year, giving her all, forgetting all of her pride just so he''d notice her above his other women. Worse, he was also ogling obsessively at Althea! Her eyes were glazed with darkness as she gripped on the soft fabric of her dress. Unfair! __________________ Altera Village, Present The group seated on the largest table on the second floor. It was a carved round table that could easily seat 12 or 13 people. They sat according to their favorite friend, and they continued to chat even as they ordered. "Here''s the menu," The waiter said and handed them thin wooden planks with charcoal handwriting, locked with varnish. The group was given three such menus and everyone looked at the menu nearest to them. They gulped at the familiar and unfamiliar names of food, and then froze at the price. So affordable! The restaurant back home cost them about 20 copper for bread and 15 for gruel. This was already affordable compared to the fallen territories many refugees have been to, but it was nothing next to what they were seeing! The food here¡­ one could get a full meal with meat with that money! With drinks! One of the men¡ªthe chubbiest man¡ªbrightened and looked at the women. "It''s my treat!" He said, and the three women clapped their hands, giggling. Especially Ramona. "Amazing¡­" Ramona said, smiling. "It''s admirable that you can treat us like this!" "It''s fine." He said, smug. "I have plenty of money, and I can easily make the money I lose in half the time." Ramona looked awed and admiring and the guy looked even more smug. They ordered pretty much everything to taste, and they felt like all their stomach worms were already dancing in their stomachs. "Hurry up please!" They told the waiter, who smiled amicably and said he''d do his best. As they waited for their order, the small group and guide naturally got acquainted with each other. "You''re planning on creating a caravan?" Ramona asked the chubby man, blinking more frequently than usual. Sandra remained poised as she drank the tea, which was wonderful to taste. Her movements were also closely watched by a few men and received the rolled eyes of another Vismont woman. "Yes, I used to be a businessman and I had managed to get some capital back in Terran." The Vismont man said with a seductive grin. Ramona seemed interested and leaned a bit closer. Sandra on the other hand was much less interested. After all, she had already snagged one of the more powerful men in the territory, how could she be interested in these small fries? However, this didn''t stop her gentle smiles and demure placing of her hair behind her ears. Seeing the two women flirting with the strangers, Spike and Ron frowned. They were hired by the men of these two women, what were they supposed to do here? It was around this time the waiters served them their food and the four viand meals, side, and soup almost made them drool. Each meal was all plated very creatively, each with a unique aroma that seduced their stomachs. When they placed a bite onto their tongues, it felt even more sublime. No one spoke as they ate and just focused on eating their food. It was the best meal they ever had¡­ No wonder the line was so long. The caravan guy ordered more food and paid the bill, for takeaway. They headed out of the room with full stomachs and satisfied souls. They were in a very good mood. Especially Ramona and Sandra, who not only got to eat their fill for free but were also doted on by many men. However, their good mood dropped a bit when they saw a familiar figure as they headed downstairs. The old man was speaking amicably with the people from the other table. The two women froze while the two men beside them brightened. Ron smiled and walked to the old acquaintance. "Harold!" "Ron." The old man smiled, and shook hands with him and Spike. "How are you?" Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Fine. I work well here, I handle the food here." "Stop being a humble old man." The guide smiled. And then he turned to look at them. "He''s a part owner." Harold coughed and shook his hand. He was quite shy, "No, no, Ms. Althea was just kind enough to give me part ownership." The guide, Harold, Ron, and Spike laughed, chatting a bit about this and that. However, the sentence about ownership echoed in the heads of two particular women, and it took them a while to react. "They own this place?!" Ramona exclaimed while Sandra frowned perceptively. Harold blinked at the explosion, shaking his head humbly. "The majority owner is Ms. Althea, she did all the investment." Ron and Spike sparkled in admiration, recalling the cool pregnant woman who pretty much saved their lives. "Ms. Althea is really amazing¡­" "Yes, yes." Harold said, "She''s the best." Even the guide beside them gushed, "A goddess, that''s what she is." Every word of gushing gritted on the women''s bones. Not to mention¡­ they saw the popularity and the number of people. Calculating all these dishes bought, they could only imagine how much money could the restaurant made every day! And they called Althea their boss?! How could the world be so unfair?! Chapter 256 - 256: Salt and Sugar (Part 1) Aberdeen City, Twenty-one years ago The young Garan and little Bean stared at their stock of essential condiments with a bit of pride. Winter was coming and it meant major rationing in the orphanage would happen. When they were smaller, they had no choice but to eat what was available and when it was available. This often meant very painful stomachs and heavy shivering from the cold. But nine-year-old Garan and his BFF Little Bean were already big kids and they were determined not to suffer so badly anymore. So they worked very hard during the errands and part-time jobs to stock up long-lasting food. They also bought salt and, because the shopkeeper admired their independence (i.e. she thought they were adorable), she gave them a few pieces of candy. "What is this? What are you doin''? Has it snowed already?" Little Althea asked as she saw the two boys putting salt on their meat. Bean cackled at her stupidity while Garan smiled fondly, using the base of his hand (because his fingers had salt) to rub her small head. "This is called salt, This would make our food last longer." He said. "It''s so we won''t go hungry when the snow falls." Although Garan did his best to feed Althea well, to the point that he himself went hungry, she still did experience it. Now that she found out that they wouldn''t be hungry again, Althea looked at Garan with admiration. This made him very proud. She then decided to help them with their task, which Garan naturally allowed her to do. She cutely mimicked the actions of the older boys, taking a bit of salt and rubbing it on the raw meat. For some time, they could only hear the soft flap of meat being turned and the soft rubbing sound of salt. It was peaceful for a while until the little girl exclaimed, "Iiichhh! Salty! Pyew! Pyew!" The boys turned to look at the four-year-old with a scrunched-up face, her chubby cheeks looking even more pinchable. Bean laughed out loud. "Who told you to eat it! That''s why it''s called salt, idiiooottttt." He said, which earned him a little bump from Garan. "Hey!" S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In fact, Garan also wanted to chuckle at her cute scrunched-up face, but held back because he knew she''d cry. Instead, he smiled at the little girl and told her about the powder. "It is very salty, but all our food tastes good because of it." "Weally?" "Yes, every delicious thing you have ever eaten probably has a pinch. Just a pinch for a load of meat." "Oh¡­" He chuckled and, after wiping the salt off his hands, took out a piece of candy he got from the shopkeeper lady. He unwrapped it and gently put it in her mouth. "Don''t swallow it whole, okay? Just chew." "What wis thwis?" She mumbled, but the moment the little thing touched her taste buds and melted there, a new unfamiliar sensation exploded her mind. Little Althea felt like she climbed up the clouds. It was her first taste of real sugar. Garan looked at her reaction and smiled. "It''s candy. Sugar. Do you like it?" She bobbed her head passionately. Her emerald eyes met the azure ones that looked at her so fondly, and she felt even sweeter. Sugar. So sweet and lovely and melty in her mouth. And it was a taste she had never forgotten. _________________ Altera Village, Present While waiting for her new citizens to settle down, Althea¡ªas always¡ªwas in her laboratory. This time her babies were being watched over by Harold and Maya in the living area so she could rest assured. She had been reading about the purification of salt the previous night and was now putting it into practice. She had started out preparing early in the morning so that she''d take a shorter time with any trial and error that may happen. She had too many things to do and could no longer afford to spend days on end stuck in her laboratory as often as she used to. Going back to the task at hand, she looked at the translucent rock and the tools in front of her, determined to complete this task today. She must create consumable salt! Doing a bit of pep talk, she soon immersed herself in her experiments. Salt could be purified in two ways: Filtration and Evaporation. There were plenty of ways to do these, but the most effective ones were modern and required a lot of tools. Fortunately, she bought Tori with her so her basic set of glassware like beakers, test tubes, etc, was in her hands. It was her only set, however, so she was very, very careful with it. Speaking of glassware, she would have to put the production of glass in her to-do list once the situation had stabilized. For now, she''d have to settle with a set. Anyway, she just needed it to get the correct formulas, especially since the salt here was different from Terran salt. After determining the proper ratio and methods, she and her factories would then be able to use the salt purification techniques by the ancients. For the first filtration method, she took out the densest fabrics she could find. And since paper was still being perfected by Baron''s team, she could only use the cloth available. She crushed the rock salt as instructed on her tablet and started to filter. She overlaid fabric on different orientations to get better filtering. She then placed the filtrate on her only remaining evaporation disc, very careful with the heat so as to not break it. If that happened, she would be so very heartbroken. She tried many times, tried several concentrations, and tried different heats and timing. Each one resulted in different products, and every batch¡­had unhealthy amounts of impurities. But she refused to give up. She had already gotten reports that some low-level people getting had already begun feeling sick due to the lack of sodium. High-level people wouldn''t be immune to it either, but they fortunately required less salt to function well. But the fact was: Most of them were low-level people at this time. Salt¡ªit was much too important to Altera and its citizens! It was only nausea and fatigue now, but soon it would be seizures and cramps and maybe even comas. How ironic would it be to improve their lifestyles so much, only to suffer because of the lack of salt¡ªa resource they had taken for granted their whole lives? Althea''s eyes flashed with determined light. In Altera, she was determined that it would never happen! Chapter 257 - 257: Salt and Sugar (Part 2) Purifying Xenoan rock salts was far more difficult than she had anticipated. According to her database, Terran rock salt should''ve been finished by now. She had to study a lot of the composition and the differences with Terran salt and had to do some more trial and error for quite some time after that. It took her a few more hours to finally end up with a powder that had few enough impurities that it wouldn''t cause any damage to even the weakest human (i.e. her babies) long-term. She looked at the bowl of beautiful edible crystal that had finally formed. It was even more glistening than she remembered, and it had hints of pink at certain angles. Quite pretty. She placed her pinky on the bowl and closed her eyes to focus on the taste. As the powder melted in her mouth, her eyes brightened at the taste of the perfect saltiness. "Hm~" She mumbled in satisfaction, though her face scrunched a little at the saltiness. She opened her emerald eyes and admired her work again, tilting it to different angles. She tried testing its consistency and it was almost like snow. Snow¡­ Suddenly, an image of a beautiful leaf appeared in her head. She couldn''t help but remember those beautiful snowflake-shaped leaves that now gathered at the corner of her space from as early as their arrival in Xeno. She completely forgot about it. No way, so much had happened since then¡­ Curiously, she rummaged the space to a small box and revealed the snowflake-shaped leaves that had already dried up a bit. After all, it had already been a few weeks. If she remembered correctly, she didn''t even have the Appraisal skill back then. She looked at the leaf and used her skill. [Estancia (Lv1): Relieves hunger, adds trace amounts of energy.] "Oh?" She mumbled and immediately handled it so she could test it on Tori. She didn''t expect much, probably some additive to a medicine or something. She was staring at her precious salt while waiting for the results to come out. Ping! Tori called and she turned her head to check on it. When she finally saw the summary of its composition, she gaped. Her eyes widened the more she read, but she dared not make any assumptions. After all, there were some plants with similar composition but they couldn''t extract ''that'' at all. She immediately scuttled to her testing area for more detailed examinations. She dissolved the plant in water. Using ceramic mortar and pestle, she ground the plant to a fine paste, later dried to a powder. It went refractory test and also a density test, putting some powder in a test tube solution, making it cloudy. The density of the solution changed, as it should if it became sweet because of the presence of¡­ sugar compound. She gulped but decided to make an extract to test its taste. Using a makeshift distillation process, she soon created a concentrated liquid. A little shakily, she placed her pinky to the solution, tentatively putting in her tongue. When she tasted the sweetness she hoped for, she almost cried. So much time wasted!!! Sugar! Sugar was with her all along!!!! Her pregnancy cravings wouldn''t be so horrendous if she had this! She wouldn''t have had to eat the sweets she reserved for her babies! Regret! Much regrets! S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The uncharacteristic exclamation made Harold and Sheila (who were trying to sneak the babies in to get her to rest) run to her. "What''s wrong?!" "What happened!" She looked at them with pitiful eyes and the two gaped, really not used to it. For a moment, they thought some sort of tragedy happened without them knowing. The babies also started mumbling sadly, as if beginning to cry as well. Eh, no, they really started tearing up. But then Althea suddenly showed them browning leaves with complex shapes. "Sugar! I found sugar!" Their tense shoulders slumped immediately, and the children cooed and they extended their hands to reach their mother. Althea''s eyes softened and she took them both, handing over the ''leaf'' to Sheila. "Sugar? A leaf?" Sheila looked at the beautiful leaf for a while, not seeing the sugar. Harold looked at the leaf carefully, and nodded, looking at Sheila. "Silly, haven''t you heard of Stevia?" Harold said and then turned to look at Althea with sparkling eyes filled with anticipation. "May I?" He asked, extending his palm. Sheila handed him a leaf and he put a nail to take a bit to taste. It was a bit bitter, but he had tasted unprocessed stevia before. This was similar. Althea nodded. "This looks different, and the processing was probably a bit more cumbersome, but this is definitely a source of sugar¡­" And Harold was right: It had a lot of similarities to Stevia. Not only did it contain less calories than conventional sugar, it was also much sweeter. A pinch could do with what other types would need a teaspoon of. This was a natural sweetener of her dreams. Better, she saw how dense those trees'' leaves were, and she knew the source would be no problem at all! "Try this as well." Althea smiled, pushing the bowl of salt to the two. They placed their pinkies for a taste and their eyes brightened. "Salt!! You succeeded!" The two of them stood up in excitement, blood boiling. How much this could change!! How much more they could develop from this? The purification of the rock salt had been completed and now they also had sugar. Harold felt he had never been so happy since landing on this wretched planet. As they said, a bit of salt and sugar went a long, long way! Now they had both!!! How happy! Althea also chuckled, very happy. However, more than the taste, to Althea, the taste of salt and sugar meant a bit differently. She couldn''t help but recall some fond memories from her childhood, and she looked down at the children in her arms. Feeling their mother''s loving stare, their large eyes gaped at her and she smiled, kissing their cheeks. She didn''t have to worry about the little ones missing these important tastes anymore. Salty and Sweet: The taste of home. Chapter 258 - 258: Medical Tour Melissa''s side, on the other hand, was having quite a lot of fun as everyone else. Her brother gave her a lot of gold as pocket money. However, she was not careless about it. After all, even if Matthew said it was ''pocket money'', she knew it was a good portion of his savings. Her custom tour joined with some other groups at first, and she ended up eating quite a bit from the stalls. She had also talked a lot with different people, chatting about the most mundane things. It had been a long time since she engaged in small talk with strangers. They passed through several parks, especially the spot old people frequented to exercise together. It was both amusing and heart-warming: the way old people could still live normally in this situation. Her guided tour, however, soon segregated from the others because she took a personalized medicinal tour, which would end up in two places: the clinic and the pharmacy. They soon reached the clinic and Melissa couldn''t help but study its structure for a bit. Melissa looked up and saw the large carved signage both in Terran with in an unfamiliar language as a subtitle. She also noted that the clinic had a similar architectural style as the others. The difference was there were more windows and its facade was relatively wider than the other buildings as it occupied a few more lots. It was also bustling with activity. Of course, a clinic having so many people was not a good thing, but the patients themselves seemed to be laughing at themselves and she couldn''t help but smile as she watched. "So¡­ did you get Betty to agree on a date with you?" A man asked his friend as they exited the building. The other blushed. "No. I want to at least be her level first!" "Well, courageous!" His friend said, patting his shoulders. "To the Training Hall!!" "To the Training Hall!!" And so they went in a direction, presumably to this so-called Training Hall, even with their bandages. The guide watched the exchange with her with a similar smile, before turning to look at Melissa to explain. "Our healer is¡­ very beautiful." "Hmm, I understand." Melissa''s current target was Betty, the NPC healer who was supposedly in here at the moment. And now she just learned that this healer was also very beautiful. Not knowing what to expect, she entered the health center and was a little startled at the flurry of activities. However, despite the fast-paced actions, Melissa still felt that it was organized and reminded her of modern efficiencies. There seemed to have been a little accident, and this caused the staff to be particularly busy. As such, the two of them had to walk near the walls to avoid disrupting the activities. At the same time, the two of them discussed its interior. "It seems a bit small, especially now that our population is growing. However, I heard another clinic would be built soon. It''s expected to be opened within a week or so," the guide explained. "It''s to be located near the Southwest gate. It was apparently to deal with the injuries of Beast tides and wars." "That''s amazing¡­" Melissa couldn''t help but say, and the guide looked flattered as if she was praising her directly. "Yes, yes it is." She said. If the girl had a tail, Melissa mused it would be wagging now. It was amusing how the citizens identified so much and so deeply with their territory even only after a couple of weeks. It really took care of them, it seemed. "Well, I''ll stay here and go around on my own." She said, standing in front of the clinic. "You can go now, thank you." She then handed him some silver. "Keep the change." The girl blushed and stuttered a little. "A-Are you sure? You paid for my day." Melissa smiled beautifully, her white skin glimmering under the youli stone-filtered sun. "It''s fine, you''ve done more than enough. Thank you very much." Seeing that she was serious, the female guide succumbed and just thanked her repeatedly before leaving. The health center was about 300 square meters large, and it was separated into different areas that handled different urgencies. It was really like a small clinic in Terran, but with a bit more energy. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was a curious sight. Although a facility like this was normal in Terran, most territories would not have this facility at their level, let alone to this degree. Melissa felt it was amazing. This territory was amazing. Settling in a corner seat like a wallflower, Melissa continued to observe everything with great interest. There were about a handful of doctors and nurses ambling about and shifting from bed to bed. On the beds were a combination of civilians and a few guards. She knew they were guards because she saw some with the same uniform making rounds. She just assumed the guards that came with them wanted to be low-key. (Although Melissa wasn''t wrong, what she didn''t know was that the uniform was a new thing. With the advent of Lenny, the guards now enjoyed leather uniforms with special effects as a special benefit. Also included were cotton undergarments with special effects. This was just released the day prior so the guards that went outside didn''t get to wear them yet.) Anyway, while Melissa had taken the stance of an observer, she couldn''t help but still worry a bit at the state of the people. Although there wasn''t much blood, they really seemed to be in pain. There was an amicable woman next to her, seeing her concerned look, told her what happened without her asking. "I heard a party accidentally chanced upon a nest of Fire Ants. "The guards managed to rescue them, but they also sustained damage." She shook her head. "Children. They think because they''re not so old like us that they could just amble about anywhere." The old woman sighed, "Fortunately, the ants were all level 0s, and there were no casualties, but I heard the bites hurt like hell." Melissa''s lips twitch upward a little. How long has it been since she had been spoken to so casually, so randomly, by a stranger she literally just met? "Well, it would teach them a lesson." The old woman laughed. She turned her body to face Melissa. "You''re very sensible." She said, "My name is Mathilda, by the way." Melissa was very busy with her job after dropping out and became a shut-in after marrying Higson, so she didn''t know much about current affairs. She had no idea the woman in front of her used to be a regular on the news. "Melissa White," She said with a smile, "I''m here to see the Healer NPC." "Oh same as me." The older woman smiled, "Are you new here?" "Ah, yes, visitor." This interested Mathilda a lot. Most visitors wouldn''t hang around the health center. However, she didn''t pry, instead, she asked about the territory. "Well, what do you think of it so far?" Recalling what she had seen so far, a gentle smile graced Melissa''s pale face. "It''s an amazing place," She said, "It''s a place that could allow people to be what they can be." Melissa paused, looking at everything with a smile. "And that is such a wonderful thing." Chapter 259 - 259: Finding Family Mathilda smiled at her warmly, "Well, I''m happy to hear that." The two chatted for a while until the nurses finally had the time to entertain them. She gently called for the attention of one of the nurses. The nurse saw Mathilda first and let out a wide smile. "Elder Mathilda! Are you here for your weekly session with Betty?" Mathilda nodded and then also nodded goodbye to Melissa, before standing up to follow the nurse to the other side of the room. After the nurse settled Mathilda, she came back to Melisa with a smile. "Sorry to keep you waiting. How may I help you?" "I would like to get checked on by the NPC." "I see. Well, you''d have to wait for about an hour." The nurse said, "The treatment for elder Mathilda will take half an hour, and Ms. Betty needs to recharge afterward¡­" "It''s okay, I can wait." She said, pausing, "Is the pharmacy near here?" To her surprise, the nurse blinked and smiled, "I happen to manage the pharmacy¡­" This confused Melissa a bit. Sheila noticed this and understood. "Oh, I just apprenticed here in hopes of triggering an occupation." Althea had sent her to study with Betty in hopes of triggering the occupation. Healers were water elementalists. It so happened that Sheila had a water affinity. "Occupation?" This inspired Melissa. There were a lot of people in Vismont, and there were a few people who had triggered an occupation. The skills they inherited basically pulled them out of the quagmire. She, too, wanted to learn. Anyway, deciding to pass by the pharmacy first, the two women left the clinic and walked a block to their destination. Melissa looked around the quaint building. It was a 100-square-meter room with a large counter in the middle. There were about 7 other people in the store. There were various well-made cabinets lined up. Inside them were various bottles made of ceramic glazed in different colors. The displays also had some descriptions in front of them carved in thin wooden planks. While Sheila walked to the shopkeeper, Melissa looked at the medicines. Most of which were grade D or E medicines for various inflictions, especially wounds. There were even potions to help stabilize your level. There were also potions that could instantaneously heal. It was fascinating. She didn''t even know there were medicines for that. "Ms. Melissa," A voice pulled her from her trance. She turned to see the newcomers who seemed to have just entered the Pharmacy. She recognized them as people next to the Lord of Bright Village. She smiled, and she patted the little girl''s head while talking to the adults, "You also hope to buy medicine?" Artie nodded. "Yes, the medicine the Alterans used was miraculous. We hope to stock up for ourselves." They then excused themselves and went to buy what they needed. The trio bought a lot of different types of medicine, pretty much sucking up the remaining savings they had pooled together. "Well, life before money." Artie sighed. Bruce nodded. "Hmm. Life before money." As they turned, they saw the little girl already befriending the woman in charge. "Your name is Lily as well? Well, you have a beautiful name." The woman said, and the little girl giggled. "Hehe. You also have a pretty name." This greatly amused the woman behind the counter, who took something from the table behind her. "Here, dried Guoji berry, have some." She said, gently handing a handful of fruit in her hand. "Thank you pretty sister with a pretty name~" Older Lily laughed and the little Lily giggled. The others smiled at the interaction, and it was all very peaceful until a familiar ding rang inside everyone''s ears, effectively stealing their attention. [George Yu: Looking for Jane Yu and Koo Yu. Please meet me at the East main park within the day if you are here] [Honey Guevarra: Looking for son Chucky. Please meet me at the east gate within the day if you are here. I''m waiting for you!] [Danny Higgins: Looking for Joshua and Kate. Please meet me here at the Village Center!] [...] Similar announcements were made and they realized there was a new trend. It also inspired a lot of people hoping to find relatives. This triggered a lot of chatter around the territory. "How much is the announcement?" "A couple of silver I think." "I think we should make announcements. If the territory gets annoyed with the spam, maybe the price will rise!" They were right about this. It could be said that even without knowing their lord, they had managed to grasp her money-grubbing pattern. Althea had indeed decided to increase the price the next day. She''d give them this for now. Even with the increase, of course, it would still be cost-efficient. Anyway, people could just share an announcement slot as it allowed for 500 words max. This went on for hours, and more than dozens of people really found relatives! The word of mouth spread and more and more people gathered around the plaza. Melissa went to join the fun and decided to do so after she saw the healer. Betty was indeed quite pretty. With her height, she''d have easily swept the Terran modeling industry by storm. At the moment though, the blonde was concentrating on using her ability on her. Mellisa''s eyes shut. The magic working on her body felt so relaxing. It was akin to bathing in warm soft jelly. It was like she was being cleansed. When the light went out, her entire body felt lighter. She met Betty''s eyes, who had been watching her expressions. "How is it?" She asked, and Mellisa grabbed her hand in gratitude. "I feel so much better. Thank you. I owe you!" Betty shook her head, "A lot of it was thanks to your own leveling up and hard work." Melissa smiled, proud. "Well, I have a good family." Betty chuckled, though eyes hiding a bit of envy. "I bet you do." ¡­ About half an hour later, she excitedly walked along the avenue to watch the show. She was with Sheila, little Lily, and the others at this point, they all had anticipation in their eyes. They settled down in one of the restaurants along the square, eating while watching relatives and friends reuniting, feeling second-hand warmth as if they found their loved ones as well. Melissa smiled as she watched a pair of siblings hugging, and crying. And then, her eyes shifted to a father-son pair on the other side. How nice¡­ However¡­ she didn''t expect to see a familiar figure with chocolate-colored skin walking along the avenue. He was limping a little, but she could still remember his figure after all these years. "Senior brother¡­" . . . Eugene blinked when he heard his name being called by a familiar voice but mused it was a coincidence in the end. He shook his head and the little tingle in his chest. But she felt a soft hand touch his arms, making him freeze. His eyes widened a bit, startled, before softening a moment later. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Eugene let out a gentle heartfelt smile, "Melissa¡­" Chapter 260 - 260: Eugene and Melissa The two old friends were speechless for a while, not knowing how to begin. "I¡­" "I¡­" "How have you been?" They asked at the same time, and they paused, chuckling. Sheila blinked curiously at the interaction and the very palpable chemistry between them. She wanted to ask desperately, but they were in their own bubble at the moment. She gave up gossiping in the end, swearing to make Eugene spill the beans when he got back home. She cleared her throat, and the two turned their heads to her simultaneously. "I¡­ er¡­ have stuff to do back in the pharmacy. Uhm. Eugene? I''ll leave Melissa to you?" Eugene blinked and then turned to Melissa, who was shyly looking down at her shoes. "I¡­ well, yes, okay." "Okay~" Sheila smiled and said her farewells to the two, saving herself from being a third wheel. Melissa and Eugene were silent for a while, genuinely unsure where to start. Melissa couldn''t help but look at his legs. Although it was covered with pants, it was obvious that he had been amputated. He was limping because his left leg still had thighs, while the other one had lost that high. Eugene caught her stare and massaged his shoulder in embarrassment, looking away a bit. However, thanks to his accomplishments lately, he had gained enough confidence not to feel too self-conscious about it. Fortunately, Melissa didn''t seem to mind much. However, she did look like she was about to cry for him. "Ummm¡­ is there any place you want to see?" He asked, trying to distract her. "I will guide you." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Melissa blinked prettily, looking at him. "I¡­ can you take me to your favorite place?" "Other than my lab?" He asked. That place was really messy there at the moment. She blinked at this, startled. But then some memories resurfaced and she couldn''t help but chuckle. "Okay, other than your lab." ¡­ Eugene led her to the riverside parks, with the waters now shimmering in golden hues beside them. It was built quite meticulously. With the stone path walk lined with shrubs and plants parallel to the river, it was easily one of the most beautiful places in the territory. The trees here were well-maintained and, because the Boss chose a young forest to build on, none of the trees were intimidatingly big with invasive roots, allowing for peaceful forest walks for nature lovers. The Boss also commissioned Baron''s team, in the name of the territory, to make plenty of benches and picnic tables. Hence, every thirty meters or so, one would be able to see a group of picnic areas available for use at any time. Some existing trees along this area were uprooted and replanted somewhere else. Instead, colorful trees were lined along the main pathwalks. This was a very specialized job as it was not easy for uprooted trees to survive. The boss'' formulations had a lot to do with the high survival rates of these plants. The cost was not low, but it was worth it. Not only was the atmosphere around the place more open and airy, but the canopies of these colorful trees made beautiful arches. It created a sort of arched pathway, and people who walked through it would think they entered some sort of fairyland. This pathway, which was called Path to Heaven by residents, extended beyond the river to one of the luxury zones. They walked in companionable silence, with Melissa''s light footsteps combining with Eugene''s slightly metallic sound. After a while, the two reached their destination. Eugene furtively looked at Melissa who was silently marvelling at the sight. He smiled. "There''s a gazebo area over there." He said, leading her out of the main pathwalks and to the soil roads, passing through forests and gardens, and ending up on a hill area with gazebos and picnic areas. This was one of the places Boss added farms in, but with flowers planted instead of crops. Not only was it beautiful, but they could also be harvested for use nearly every day. On paper, the boss ''buys'' the harvest to use as raw materials for her own beauty line (coming soon), adding to the public funds used by the territory. The beautiful flower arrangements surrounded the gazebos, framing the entire area, and appearing otherworldly. It was a gorgeous sight and Melissa gasped, walking faster to admire the roses and orchids and other flowers. Eugene smiled and chose a gazebo slightly along the hill''s higher area, with a view of the clear river dividing the territory. After paying the rental fee to the territory system, the pair sat down on the beautifully carved bench in relaxation. Melissa sighed dreamily. "This is so beautiful, I wish I could live here." "Can''t you?" Eugene asked, looking at her deeply. "My brother¡­" She paused and looked at this old friend. "We''ll see¡­" was all she said and stared at the man. They couldn''t bear to taint this moment with their dark pasts. Instead, they started a conversation about the happy times. Mostly, it was during their school years, and they ended up chuckling at the various memories. "You were so stupid back in physics class. How could you switch the charges?" "You weren''t very good with tools. I remember you almost losing a dainty finger of yours¡­" "We used to do projects together often, we really liked to stay in the library. Mina, she¡ª" The two paused, looking at each other at the mention of the name. In fact, there was nothing to be guilty about, because Eugene and Mina only became ''more than friends'' from their sibling-like childhood friendship long after Melissa left. Not to mention, they were never really together. They had sparks¡ªbig ones¡ªbut she had to drop out and he was conscripted, and they thought their fates ended there. But still¡­ Almost immediately, the warm atmosphere between them was doused with something a little bit depressing. They didn''t speak for a few beats, and Eugene cleared his throat to get her attention. "In fact¡­ this is just a small park compared to the main garden parks in the territory. Do you want to go?" Melissa, not wanting the conversation to turn to that depressing direction, nodded hurriedly. And so, the two of them stood up with awkward smiles, heading to these so-called territory gardens. They barely talked after that, all the way until they reached the gorgeous bridge around eight meters wide, connecting them to the other side of the river tens of meters away. It was a fascinating piece of construction, and it distracted Melissa away from any of the earlier awkwardness that filled the air between them. Eugene smiled. As always, Altera never failed to amaze. Chapter 261 - 261: Altera Gardens Melissa''s feet moved on its own, her eyes fixed on the details of the bridge. The bridge was wide and spacious, with its railings made from carved wood and stone. The sides weren''t boringly straight either. There were some overhangs with seating, so people could take a rest, relax, and look over the river without disrupting traffic. Melissa couldn''t help but sit on one of these seats. It was a bit curved and comfortable to sit on despite it being stone and wood. She looked behind her to see the lovely river, along with the forests and buildings that abutted it, as if serving as its frame. What was most impressive was how long the bridge was. After all, the river was not just a few meters wide! "This is amazing, did you guys build this in a few days?" "Well, a hundred people worked on this, one of which was an earth-metal elementalist, so it wasn''t impossible. The pay and contribution were very generous." "Amazing¡­" They soon reached their destination, and he took her to the still-closed Altera Gardens, which was set to be a tourist spot in the territory. It was planned to open within a few days but, as one of the Elders, he was allowed to go in without problems. "My boss requested for a lot of fields to be built here, and she planted different flowers and plants instead like the gardens before, but much more detailed. She got a lot of contribution points for helping the territory build this." He told Melissa of some experiences and challenges they encountered as they walked and appreciated the features as they did so. There were various earthenware sculptures and plant arrangements, beautiful gazebos, benches, and picnic places. Eugene just knew this would be a popular destination for everyone. In fact, this was still far from what Boss had planned for this area. In her plans, there were fountains, artificial waterfalls, greenhouses, arcades, topiaries, and the like, which were scheduled after the level-up. Eugene remembered asking Althea why she chose to develop areas like this when there was still so much to be built. ''Spirit''. She had told him back then, ''People need to feed their spirits, too.'' Looking at Melissa''s pretty eyes and looking around happily, he now understood what she meant. The Boss also said that when the area of the territory expanded, as well as local rubber finally finishing development, courts would soon be added to several parks in the territory. In this way, people of all types could really enjoy the space. They walked around the luxury area first, and they went past the bathhouse towards the special villa areas. The villas here were also very beautiful. Functionally, it had a similar concept to farmvillas, but there were two villas to share a farm. A house also had more intricate decorations and with flowers planted inside. It was a dream house to all. Melissa silently took note of the area and placed it in her heart. This was so she could visualize living there someday. Of course, this could just be a dream, but it didn''t matter. After all, she hadn''t had a dream for a long, long, time. ¡­ The two found a place to sit on the turf near the mouth of the river. They stared at the clean water flowing endlessly, perhaps towards an even bigger world they had yet to explore. In this line of thought¡­ "I wonder where these waters have passed? How wide¡­ is the world out there?" Melissa mumbled absent-mindedly, and Eugene couldn''t help but look at her deeply. They were surrounded by the vitality of plants and nature. Suddenly they felt... that they didn''t have to be so afraid. They were so little compared to the big world, why did they have to act like they carried all its weight? Melissa couldn''t help but look at his metallic leg, manually bent to a sitting position by hand. "You must''ve gone through a lot," She said, eyes incredibly soft as she looked at him. The last news she had of him was that he entered the mandatory military service, and she thought he''d do great and come out with lots of medals. Who would''ve thought¡­ "Yes." Eugene looked at the beautiful woman whose skin had turned yellow and whose flesh had become bones. She used to have a very healthy complexion. He felt heartbroken at what she had become. "You, too." They were silent for a while as if wondering whether to tell the other about what they had gone through. It was just that the beautiful surroundings relaxed their souls, making them want to lay bare and open up to the other. And they did. By the time they already told their experiences since their life paths separated, the two were already teary-eyed. Melissa wiped her tears with her hands. "In fact, staying in Vismont feels¡­ burdensome." She told him, "I knew how much suffering Higson had done, and it could''ve been avoided if my Brother didn''t have to think of me every time¡­" Eugene sighed, his hand pausing as it hovered an inch above her shoulder. Eugene could not touch Melissa now¡ªeven in comfort¡ªwithout feeling heavy at Mina''s and his lost child''s memories. However, he still wanted to tell her it would be okay. "Who''s to say things wouldn''t have been worse without you? At least you have family." Eugene said, looking into her eyes with a warm smile, "No matter what, everything is fine now." She paused and met his eyes, and her heart filled a bit. "Yes," she said, "The future is bright." It would be such a pity to waste it, wallowing in sadness as she had been doing for so long. Her soft eyes hardened a bit as a thought came over her. . . . Half an hour later. "Are you sure about this?" Eugene asked Melissa, who was looking at the two-story village center with determination. For the first time in her life, Melissa just wanted to be a little impulsive. She wanted to buy a house here, no matter what. She gripped the scores of gold coins her brother gave her¡ªno longer pocket money, but already half of his personal savings. She couldn''t afford the house, but she could afford its downpayment. The terms were fair and doable and she didn''t want to miss it. Anyway, although she had made a series of bad decisions in her youth, she was still counted as a smart girl back in the day. She still knew what a good investment was when she saw one. She wouldn''t regret it. She would pay her brother back in the future, she swore. She was not an invalid. She could take care of herself. She stood in front of the platform with a strongly beating heart, feeling as if she''d done something rebellious. She had never done anything rebellious. Not to mention, the ''authority figure'' happened to be her little brother. She heaved a sigh and looked at the screen. [Would you like to purchase Permanent Residency for 10 gold?] Yes. [Permanent Residency, Received! -10 Gold] S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Then she clicked around to look at the residences. Her dainty fingers hovered over it for a while, before she hardened her resolve again, and pressed ''Yes'' to the purchase. [Downpayment Paid! -20 Gold [Please pay 8 Gold every month for 12 months. [Penalty: Compounding Interest 2% per month delay] With this, Melissa successfully became the 10000th transaction in the Village Center¡ªtriggering its upgrade. Chapter 262 - 262: Best Friend (Part 1) Althea was blissfully chewing on something sweet¡ªa sticky candy Harold made from her new sugary discovery¡ªwhen the familiar ding sounded in her head. [Congratulations! Your Village Center has met the requirements for upgrade!] [?] 10,000 gold [?] 10,000 total transactions S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Would you like to upgrade for 1500 wood, 1000 stone, and 1500 Gold?] Her candy almost fell on the floor¡ªalmost, as her body didn''t want to waste a single bit of sugar. "Upgrade?" And¡­ goodness. This was way higher than the previous time. Normal villages wouldn''t be able to afford this, right? She wasn''t wrong. Most territories with level 3 Territory Centers were already Towns, in which case they would already be called Town Centers. Of course, this did not mean that NPCs she could hire were still no longer limited to village level. However, that didn''t matter to Althea, as she would always upgrade these buildings when she could. She had seen the advantages of the level 2 Territory Center, she didn''t want to miss whatever an upgrade had to offer. She naturally said Yes to the upgrade, of course. However, she knew that it was in the middle of the day and the building was being used by a lot of people. So, she decided to defer the upgrade by a few hours, scheduling an announcement of its upgrade as well. Now that the Village Center was set to upgrade, she looked at the lord''s panel to see when the territory itself would experience the same. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 1115 (261 permanent, 854 temporary) Total Population: 3024 Base Resources: Wood: 6790/10000 Stone: 5989/8000 Money: 19911 Gold, 133269 Silver, 768199 copper Reputation: 150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv2), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] Althea looked at the population requirement that was finally exceeded. Now, she only had to maintain this for three days and she would be able to upgrade the village to level three. She nodded and¡ªafter finishing up her candy break¡ªresumed her experiments. Today''s experiments comprised mainly of powders. She was now working on a bomb, inspired by the pharmacist potion bomb Oslo mentioned before. She didn''t know if she''d trigger a Pharmacist inheritance someday, but she always liked to rely on herself first. She commissioned the construction team to build her a comfortable shed on the opposite side of the houses in the two conjoined villa lots. This was her alternative laboratory for things with a bit of¡­ risky nature (not that Ansel and the others knew of course¡ªshe just told them it could get¡­smelly). This was, after all, inspired by fertilizer bombs so there would be a time she might be using some¡­ unsavory elements. She wouldn''t be using much feces, fortunately. After all, a third of her fertilizer formulas didn''t need excrement, though these were naturally much costlier. However, if she figured out the formula for this, the formula for lower-cost excrement-using bombs would be easier to handle and mass produce. But that would be left for others to do. She wasn''t going to touch that. Anyway, she still had confidence in her skills. She could formulate great fertilizers with a combination of various plants. She could naturally make an alternative for fertilizer bombs. And she was making good progress. With the rate she was going, she should be able to complete this before the protection period ended. She had a lot to thank her Pharmacist skills for this, otherwise, she''d take at least a year. Tinkering with a few more formulations, using her skills, she looked at the data of the current formula and she judged her progress to be roughly 40%. [Looking for¡­ [It''s me! I''m here¡­. [My love, it is I¡­. I''m here in Altera!] Her eyes twitched. More and more announcements flowed in, distracting her very serious experiments. The overflow must have a lot to do with her announcement of the Center closing for the upgrade, but still¡­ Why wasn''t there a ''mute'' button for site-wide announcements? It was so annoying¡ª So¡­ she set the payment for a public announcement at 20 silver per 500 words, for every 1000 people in the territory. She nodded. Thinking of announcements as Ads, this would still be a fair price. The announcements soon became scarcer and her screen turned back to its peaceful status. But then a new announcement came shortly after, breaking her reverie again. However, instead of being annoyed, she was just surprised. Why? Because this announcement actually had her name. [Winona Armani: Looking for my BFF Althea Witt! I just arrived from Vismont, where are you? [No, never mind, I know where you are. Who told you to be famous even in here. I''m knocking on your door soon. You better prepare a sumptuous lunch for me! Well, no not you, you can''t cook, find a chef! Xoxoxo] Althea blinked, reading the message again for good measure. After reading twice, she rolled her eyes, as if she was annoyed. It was just that there was a smile on her lips that betrayed her happy mood. She put down her experiments and went back to the main living area and saw that the food was already being prepared. "Hnngmaamaaa¡­" "Mnhghhhnnm¡­" She turned to look at her babies, who were extending their hands, calling for her. They were currently lounging about on the carpet with their stuffed toys (a new addition to Baron''s Toy factory, using some extra and waste cotton bought from the factory). Theo and Maya were there, playing with them both. Especially Theo, who was always close to little Pepper, ready to give her what she wanted at a wave of her small hands. For instance, the giraffe stuffed toy, was very quickly placed on Little Pepper''s cute palms, just as she wanted. This earned Theo a cute giggle, which made the boy brighten very adorably. Althea''s lips twitched at the interactions and walked to them. She patted little Theo and Maya''s heads while smacking wet kisses on her babies'' chubby cheeks. "Hnngmaamaaa~" "Mnhghhhnamamaaa~" Her heart softened at their cuteness and couldn''t stop herself from showering them with kisses. They giggled and waved their hands and small little stuffed toys around, looking very happy to finally see their mother. This was what Harold, who had just come back from the cellar, saw. He had taken additional ingredients for a rich meal, as he felt dinner today ought to be special. "It was your best friend?" He asked, just to confirm. Althea smiled, her eyes warm. "Well, you can say so." Harold''s eyebrows rose at the answer. Even if the answer seemed noncommittal, he knew that Ms. Winona was definitely as she claimed. He was quite looking forward to a person their boss acknowledged and even decided to prepare a few more dishes. "Well, then," He said, turning to the kitchen. "Let us welcome her well." Chapter 263 - 263: Best Friend (Part 2) Althea was helping the babies roll around when the expected knock came. "I''ll get it," She said, and Harold nodded to take the babies in her arms. Harold shook his head with a smile, cooing at the babies who were startled by the sudden separation from their soft and fragrant mother. "Aww, c''mon kids, let your mother meet her friend." he gently said, and after a few moments, the babies did stop squirming. The old man smiled, wrinkles forming on the side of his eyes, and he lifted his head to look in the direction of the door. The boss may not look so excited outwardly, but anyone who knew her could see her eyes brightened at the sound and her steps were faster than usual. Outside, Althea opened the gates with a bit of urgency. Immediately, she saw the beautiful woman with long golden curls and a curvaceous body. Even if she was a little dirty due to the current situation, she was still very attractive. Terran had undergone major globalization a hundred years prior, so every country on the planet was of mixed races. However, among all her acquaintances, Winona was one of the more exotic-looking ones with her silvery-gold hair and silvery-blue eyes. The moment the gate fully opened, revealing her, the girl''s image flashed by and Althea was wrapped in a huge hug a second later. "Ohh! Altheaaaa!!" The blonde sobbed, and Althea''s eyes twitched as she felt snot on her neck. "I missed y¨C" The girl''s words stopped at the realization of something. She abruptly parted with Althea, placing her hands on her shoulder. The woman looked at her up and down with a pale face, eyes staying on her stomach. "The babies¡ª" Althea smiled, gently patting the girl''s shaking hand on her shoulder. "They''re fine." She said with a soothing voice, but the fact they were ''premature'' didn''t ease the other woman''s worries. "Let me show you." Althea just said, putting her hand on the other girl''s and pulling her in the house. "Rest assured, they''re both very healthy." "Well, if you say so¡­" Winona mumbled, but it did put her heart to rest somewhat. Althea was brutally honest with her and wouldn''t sugarcoat these things. Anyway, it was only now that Winona managed to appreciate the house and the yard. Despite her remaining worries, Winona couldn''t help but whistle at the masterpiece-of-a-house she was looking at. "Damn. You really know how to live wherever you''re thrown in, huh?" This was true. There were plenty of times they had to camp due to work, and somehow Althea managed to live comfortably every time. Whether it was multifunctional tents, pre-prepared hot foods, ultra-effective mosquito repellants, or whatever, Althea would always look like she was on a leisure outing. At this point, Winona couldn''t help but make a joke. "Girrrll. To be honest, I always doubted that zombies or monsters could kill you. I just thought the plants here could." Althea''s steps paused a bit. Could she say it really almost happened? Fortunately, they were already at the door and Winona saw the children as soon as she came in, distracting her from this line of questioning. She squealed at the sight of the babies and their chubby cheeks and rounded eyes. "Oh my, are these the twins?! They''re SO CUTE I''M GONNA DIEEEE." The blonde gasped at the cute-attack and wanted to run to them but was held back by Althea by the collar. "You''re dirty. Take a bath." "Oh, whoops!" She looked at her embarrassing state, a far cry from her usual high-end and always well-put image. She cleared her throat and looked at Althea embarrassedly. Althea chuckled and pulled out a small box from the space. Winona didn''t know what to expect but then she saw that inside it were shampoos and soap that Althea got from Terran. The other girl sparkled, looking at the hygiene products as if they were bars of gold. Then¡­ tears lined up her blue eyes, making the adults flinch. The beautiful woman didn''t bother with her image though. She just sniffed, very touched by the gesture, and proceeded to glomp at Althea, hugging her tightly before sobbing again. "I LOVE YOU!!" As always, Althea is the best! . . . Winona came out of the bathroom an hour later. "Sorry, I just haven''t had a good bath for so loonngg!" She said with a smile, not much of an apologetic expression on her face. "Your house is amazziinng, you have a water tank of your own! In Vismont, we had to get water from the well on our own for a price." She said going straight to her and the children. She flopped down the mat and then cooed the babies in Althea''s arm and took one of them. Her heart softened into a puddle at the baby girl''s softness, kissing her cheeks, before continuing with her rant. "Well, at least Vismont had a well. The first territory sucked big time!" Althea chuckled at her lively storytelling and stood up, guiding her friend to the dining room. "You seem to have been through a lot." This excited the gregarious Winona, setting herself for another long story. "I can''t tell you quick enough, it was sooo unbelievable. When grandma and I migrated, we¡ª" Her chatter abruptly came to a halt when she saw the food on the table. She had been around the territory for a few hours so she naturally knew the food culture here was unbelievable. If she didn''t overhear Althea''s name as she shopped around, it was estimated she would still be eating at a random stall. "Okay let''s talk later." She said, sitting down to eat. Althea chuckled at this and turned to Harold. "This is Harold, he''s in charge of our food. There are two others currently outside. The other kids are Theo and Harold''s daughter Maya." Winona was always particularly polite to people who cooked her meals. She smiled and greeted the old man, as well as the children. This house was filled with children¡ªsuch cute ones, too. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. So Happy. She always liked children. Too bad she was an only child. Then she paused and looked at Althea with a rare mood. Although she was living the life now, Winona knew it must not have been easy for a pregnant woman alone in the apocalypse. When the disaster happened, if her grandmother wasn''t with her, she may have run straight to Althea, her pregnant best friend with a missing husband. She also knew ''that guy'' was also on a business trip, leaving Althea alone, which made her even more flustered and guilty. All this time, even when she and her grandma were suffering, her mind often dazed off in worry for this pregnant best friend. Still, they found each other in the end, didn''t they? "I''m glad you''re okay." She said as she gripped the other girl''s hand, "Truly." Althea smiled. "You too." There were so many detours, but the two of them were together again, and that meant so, so, much to them both. Chapter 264 - 264: Winona (Part 1) The trio ate happily, with Winona praising Harold''s food to the heavens, making the old man blush in embarrassment. "If you live with me, you can have meals like this every day," Althea said with a smile, and Winona''s spoon paused midway as she whipped her head to look at her. Some tears lined up the blonde''s eyes, making the other two flinch. Bitterly, she threw back a rhetorical question. "You think I don''t want to??" "..." S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea sheepishly rubbed her nose, knowing this was a prelude to a rant. Absent-mindedly, Althea took a bite at the last viand, not noticing Harold''s nervous stare. "I would''ve run to you when things happened! It was just that¡ª" Winona paused, looking at Althea who was gaping as she ate a dish. She waved her hand in front of the auburn-haired woman. "Hey, Althea. What''s wrong?" Althea ignored her and continued to chew, taking another bite to confirm there really was a difference to the other dishes. She paused and used her ability to analyze it. [Harold''s Pie (E): +1 Health every 3 seconds, lasts for 1 minute] She blinked and raised her head to look at Harold, who was smiling in response. "You¡­" "I just triggered the Occupation, just today in fact." Althea''s eyes brightened. She had always wondered when he''d trigger it¡ªafter all, he had been cooking so much and using a variety of novel ingredients. Before, when she asked the NPCs why this was so, they said triggering an occupation was half-dependent on talent. Harold not activating despite all the resources and innovation likely had to do with lesser talent. In the same vein, the fact that Harold triggered it now meant that he had worked very, very, hard. She felt quite proud. She was also very curious. "What skill did you get?" "The active skill is a similar identifying skill to your first skill. I can identify up to level 10 for some mana. "I also activated a passive skill. With it, there is a 20% chance of making food with special effects, like this one." Althea nodded. It was not as good as Cooke who had a much larger passive and could offer the special-effect food in restaurants, but it was more than enough for a small team. "Congratulations," She said, eyes warm. "I''m proud of you." "Thank you." Harold smiled, genuinely happy for this growth of his skills. This was primarily because it felt like his importance to the team increased. Winona looked at their interaction with complex emotions. She could see Harold was sincerely trying to serve Althea as some sort of housekeeper, and Althea in turn genuinely liked the old man and treated him as a confidante. To create rapport in a month meant they probably went through life and death together. To be honest, she was a little jealous. Before, other than her family, only she was close to Althea like this. Winona''s family was very rich¡ªthe largest Energy company in the continent, in fact. It was why she was thrown into a major she didn''t like and grew up with too many restrictions. Then¡­ she met Althea. She was two whole years younger than her, but she was so beautiful, sassy, and passionate in what she did. She was also the only person around her age who didn''t feel intimidated nor did she ever ingratiate herself to her. At the time, her gut had told her it would do her good to befriend this woman. So she did. Or, at least she tried. The thing was, even if Althea looked gentle and mild-mannered, she was notoriously difficult to open up. It took her months of shameless pestering and bribes (using exotic plants and seeds) to get the other girl''s heart. It took even longer to be publicly acknowledged as her ''best friend''. She remembered how happy she was when Althea didn''t deny the relationship when some random stranger assumed. At the time, Winona felt like she finally earned herself a true friend. Similarly, there was no one else who was truly close to Althea outside her home. Being the only person close to her other than her family had been a point of pride. But now she saw a group of people getting closer to her heart, just because they happened to have migrated near her. Althea seemed to have sensed her friend''s change of mood. She didn''t know what it was about, but her hand held the other''s automatically anyway. "Shall we move to the living area?" She asked, pulling the latter back to the present. "Hmm¡­" Winona smiled and followed her friend to the sofa. They sat on the comfortable rugs with their backs resting on the sofa''s apron. They gently placed the kids on their designated rug delineated by stuffed toys. The two babies laughed happily as they were placed in a familiar place, resuming the game of ''who-rolled-better''. The two women chuckled, with Winona still assisting little Pepper to win (Girl Power, she said). "They''re only a week old right? I didn''t know they could roll at this age." She said, giggling when Meatball rolled on his stomach showing off his cute wiggling butt. "Normal babies don''t." "What?" "It''s¡­ we''re not sure either," Althea said, helping up the baby to get on his side. He blinked wondering why the view suddenly changed. From what she got from the NPCs, it just had to do with a little jackpot of good genes. Instead of dwelling on mysteries, she turned her head to Winona, who was now gently poking the soft flab of the two children. She just couldn''t take her hands off the flabby little ones. "What happened to you?" At the question, Winona sighed exaggeratedly, body softening in ''weakness''. She then hugged Althea, asking for comfort. "Oh gosh, I don''t know where to begin! She said so, but she ranted on anyway. "It''s a looongg story! I tell you, it was so horrible!" She began and her words that must''ve been 200 words per minute. And Althea just quietly listened in¡ªjust like she always did. Chapter 265 - 265: Winona (Part 2) This had always been the dynamic between them. Althea was the introspective, somewhat introverted one, while Winona was the super extrovert who could talk for hours. Of course, even if she was gregarious, it didn''t mean that she truly liked talking to the person. It was just how she was raised¡ªto network. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was only with Althea that she could truly talk for hours on end, and still be filled with energy afterwards. "The day started like normal. I was exercising in my home gym while watching Keeping Up with The Bazoomas, as always, when the doorbell rang." "It was my grandma." She sneered a bit at the memory. "Yes, that grandma." Althea nodded, understanding that this was obviously the paternal grandmother Winona didn''t like. "You can imagine the torture of living with a snobbish old woman in the forest, then on a lackluster territory, then on another slightly better territory¡­" She shivered just by remembering. "Anyway, I jumped too soon. I''ll start from when we were in Terran." She cleared her throat and sat in a more comfortable position. "So, she was nagging me about my fiance at the time. She went on and on about me getting old and it was time for me to give birth." The blonde''s eyes twitched at the recollection and shook her head, turning to Althea looking as if she had been violated. "She kept saying I no longer had the excuse to keep delaying the marriage blah blah¡­" "Then we lost consciousness. For a moment I thought I had a little aneurysm with all the nagging. Turned out the world went haywire." It was particularly unfortunate that, except for a couple of jewelry, all of her own wealth was digital. She had a little silver when she transferred here. Fortunately, her grandmother had a habit of hoarding and a lot of her old jewellery was sold. "We hid ourselves in our house. But most of the servants became monsters and we almost died twice inside our own house!" Fortunately, they were both raised in ultra-rich families. Ultra-rich families required some sort of self-defense knowledge of the progenies, so they weren''t completely helpless. Even grandma could defend herself from the zombies, unless they were upgraded like some of the servants who unfortunately didn''t make it with them. Those Winona had to fight herself, almost dying many times. In any case, they spent the rest of those 24 hours in the house, filling up their spaces and cleaning up the zombies they encountered. It was only when they transferred that they met life-threatening situations again. They survived thanks to wits and some strength, but it was definitely far from easy. Although Althea was living a good life now, Winona couldn''t imagine how it was when she just entered with that large stomach of hers. "What about you?" She asked. "What have you been through? And how did you guys get to this place?" Winona was amazed by what Althea had built here, though she wasn''t that surprised because Althea had always been super resourceful. Anyway, she was very glad Althea found such a good territory. She couldn''t imagine being out there with the little ones. She shivered at the thought and couldn''t help but kiss both the children''s chubby cheeks to comfort herself. Ah, so happy~ Althea smiled, telling her much of what had happened. She told her almost everything. Almost. Because there was no compelling reason, Althea didn''t take the initiative to tell her about her being the Lord. But, if she found out on her own, it wouldn''t have mattered. By the end, she got to her reunion with her brother. "Ansel should be back in a few days." At the mention of Ansel''s name, that guy''s smug face appeared in her head. Winona sneered in response, mentally swiping the image away. "Well, I''m glad you found your brother. Even if he is an embarrassment to all good men, he still makes for a relatively decent sibling." Seeing the other woman''s gnashing teeth, Althea couldn''t help but recall all their antics. It seemed like even before, Winona was still annoyed just at the thought of Ansel. The story was¡­ a few years back, Winona sneaked into Althea''s house once to surprise her, accidentally getting in Ansel''s room. She then saw him making out with a girl who was definitely not the girl he was with the week prior. Since then, Winona never hid her disgust for Ansel and Ansel was never polite and talked back all the time. Their interactions were fraught with sarcasm and double meanings. They were, of course, very decent with each other. After all, they had to retain a certain amount of civility because Althea was in the middle. They had a very complicated relationship. Then Winona paused and narrowed her eyes, looking at Althea with a bit of worry. "He didn''t do anything¡­ inappropriate, right?" To you? "Inappropriate?" "Nothing." Althea had been used to the way Winona''s mind went on tangents, so she took it upon herself to bring the conversation back to a more sensible topic. "So what''s your plan? You can live here with us." Althea said. She knew Winona had always liked sleepovers, at least sleepovers in her house. Surprisingly, Winona shook her head with reluctance. "I have to pick up my grandma first," She said, "I don''t want to put you through the ordeal I call my grandma, we''ll rent another house. I researched and the prices here are quite fair, especially if it was just a rental." Althea shook her head, patting the other woman''s hand, "I already have a well-paying job for you when you get back." Winona actually specialized in Materials Chemistry, and she was quite good at it. In addition, her family was the leader in the energy industry back in their continent (although¡­ Winona had wanted nothing to do with it, but Althea thought the blonde should still know some things). Whether or not she did, however, Winona would be very helpful to the laboratory team she and Eugene were forming. There were already plans for a huge research center, and they needed all the help they could get. "Okay! I''ll take you up on that offer!" Winona said, earning herself a big smile from Althea. "That''s great, there are plenty of things I need your help with," Althea said with a weird smile. ''Yes, very much.'' "..." Winona looked at Althea''s smiling face, feeling a little weird. Her best friend was obviously smiling at her, why did she feel like a sheep in front of a tiger? She must be imagining things¡­? Chapter 266 - 266: Level 3 Village Center (Part 1) "Why¡­ are you looking at me like that?" Winona asked, with eyes looking a bit scared. Althea blinked, confused. "Looking at you like what?" "Never mind," Convinced that it was her imagination, Winona shifted her attention back to the cute babies on the cot. It so happened that Little Pepper was closer to her, and Little Meatball was trying to roll to his mother. Different shades of blue eyes met, and Winona couldn''t help but gently pinch Little Pepper''s cheeks. She was very gentle of course, but it didn''t stop her from poking multiple times. "Hmnnnhh!!" The baby girl pouted, her cute little eyebrows meeting as if expressing her annoyance. Of course, this pout just made her chubby cheek even chubbier, and it made her look cuter. "Ohmy, a feisty little one, eh? I wonder who you inherited it from?" Winona giggled, poking her tummy. "Hmnggnmmm!!" Little Pepper mumbled, annoyed, and Winona raised her hand in faux surrender. "Yes, princess! I will stop now." Little Meatball, who was uncharacteristically behaved because he was chilling in the arms of his soft and fragrant mother, seemed to have noticed that some ''fun'' was happening elsewhere. Althea noticed her baby boy squirming a bit and saw where he was looking. With a smile, she placed him beside Little Pepper in front of Winona, so they could both be teased by the blonde instead. Althea was watching them fondly, giggling occasionally when a familiar alert sounded in her head. [Ding! The Village Center (Lv2) will now upgrade to Village Center (Lv3)] Althea paused. Oh, she forgot about that¡­ ¡­ When the Village Center was upgraded, everyone inside was kicked out. Out of nowhere, they appeared outside the halls, some directly landing on other people. They were all dizzy and disoriented. Someone even vomited on a poor passerby. "HEY!!" "I''m sorry, it''s just¡ª" However, his apology was cut when he saw the passerby look behind him in a daze, forgetting the puke on his shirt. Blinking, he turned to look and his eyes widened¡ªalong with everyone else in that area. They watched in amazement as the former two-floor building magically increased in height and added a floor. It was incredible to watch and definitely difficult to believe if they hadn''t witnessed it themselves. Obviously, there was an announcement of the upgrade, but it was still an unexpectedly magical sight. Althea, far away and in the comfort of her house, also checked the new status of the Village center. The new village center now had three floors, with the upper floors having a ceiling height of about 3 meters, while the ground floor was still higher at around 4. Other than this, there really weren''t a lot of new functions. This may have been because level 3 Territory Centers were often found in Towns, which in and of itself presented a lot of upgrades. Anyway, no harm was done by being too early and she decided to make the most of what they could do with it now. On her screen, there was a translucent image of the three floors. They were empty except for the pre-existing furniture in the lounge, and the rest were up to her arrangements. She set the top floor to remain as the NPC floor and executive lounge. She would be able to place more sophisticated lounges and partitions, also adding some dining tables and the like. She would also be placing a small library, whenever books would be available. The second floor would be meeting rooms and offices for the different departments. Although she was building a larger ''government hall'' of sorts, it was not a priority, and the current size of the officials could still fit on the second floor. And finally, the ground floor would retain its previous use. She also made a more comfortable counter area for the host. She actually forgot to hire one before. Now that there was a comfortable place for them, she could place them there as an information desk. [Territory Announcements: Hiring: Information Desk Clerk Requirement: Good memory, good attitude, pleasing appearance. Slots: 3 (3 shifts of 10 hours each) Wage: 90 copper/day] Although there was a FAQ section in her marble panels, it couldn''t have everything. Of course, as to not overwork the ladies and gents, the information wouldn''t be free. The people would still pay a certain amount based on the importance of the information. Similarly, people could also sell information, though it must be vetted by the system oath. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As for the other functions, there seemed to be some improvements in the NPC hiring system. She teleported to the warehouse again and entered the village center through it. She had been forewarned that there would be no change in the quality of NPCs, as there were only three ''contract types'': Villages, Towns, and Cities. Until Altera became a Town, she would only receive applicants who chose villages, most of which weren''t really worth the gold. From what she understood, it just so happened that she had activated the level 2 village center very early, still with a lot of gold at hand, so she managed to snag the ''good stock''. According to the NPCs, even Aborigine villages had difficulty funding the upgrade of a village center to level 2. However, while the ''quality'' is the same, the number that could be ''browsed'' and could be hired was increased. From the previous 3 choices, she could now look at 5, and hire up to 2 people a day. She activated the summoning circle again, hoping for a good harvest. At the very least, she had two more extra shots to get them. Unfortunately¡ªand unsurprisingly¡ªthe first four options were no good, none of which had elements or even occupations. It was only after paying her fifth silver for the day, that she finally found someone interesting. [Name: Clout Stone Description: Level E Construction expert Wage: 10 gold/mo] Althea''s back straightened at this, looking at the image of a serious-looking bushy-bearded middle-aged man in front of her. Just in time for the imminent upgrade! Chapter 267 - 267: Level 3 Village Center (Part 2) When she got back home, she received the heated gazes of everyone. Althea flinched. "What is it?" She asked, and it was the newly-arrived Sheila who spoke. "We saw the village center was upgraded!" At this time, Winona was snacking on something while holding a baby, looking at them curiously. When she asked where Althea went, they said she went to check on an upgrade. She felt there was more to this than they let on, and she felt if she observed a bit more she''d come to a conclusion herself. "And?" Althea asked. She didn''t remember what was all the fuss, but Harold spoke with enthusiasm. "This means we can formally form an official team boss." Althea''s pretty face turned a little weird. "I really don''t want it to be named Althea team." The others looked disappointed, and Winona''s chewing got faster as she watched them. They looked at each other, wondering about what other name they could use. "Shall we head to the village center to register?" Sheila said, "Thinking if a name is useless if it''s already taken¡­" "What''s this official team?" Winona couldn''t help but ask, while one of her hands was gently poking Meatball''s cheek. "Basically just an identification for a Group." Althea shrugged. Of course, now that the topic had been breached they would have to make the group. Although they had no plans of forming a caravan, as they planned to just be manufacturers, they still had to make deals with other territories as suppliers. Ansel''s deal with Bright was not exactly formal because of this. It was more of an oath of sorts, done because both parties trusted each other. However, aborigine territories were said to generally require Official Teams before talking about any deals. "Can anyone join?" Winona asked, and Althea''s eyebrows rose. "Want to?" Winona nodded vigorously, and Althea naturally accepted with a smile. And so, the group mightily ran out and went to the village center after dinner. As they walked, Winona admired the equidistant torches that lit up the territory. Although it was not as bright as typical towns back in Terran, it was definitely a nightlife capital compared to the surrounding territories. Anyway, since the Migration, she had never seen anything so bright at night. "These must cost a lot¡­" she mumbled and Althea was busy with Little Pepper, who was burping a lot, and just answered without thinking. "We probably don''t spend more wood than any other territories¡­" "Oh?" "I found a pretty good oil." "My Althea''s awesome as always." Winona smiled and continued looking around. "Your product seems to be widely used in the territory." She paused walking and narrowed her eyes at Althea. She abruptly turned her face to face Althea, stepping forward to get closer. She leaned in and whispered. "You know the Lord don''t you?" Althea blinked but nodded in the end. "Hmn." Winona gasped, gossipy eyes sparkled. "Are you very close? Are you finally moving on from that cold-faced-always-away husband of yours?" "Winona!!" "Oh, whoops sorry bad joke." Winona put out her tongue. "Seriously though, are you close?" Althea paused and looked at her, before smiling and nodding mysteriously. "It''s not just me who''s close¡ª "You are, too." . . Several minutes later, even until they were in front of the marble panel, Winona was still in a daze. Harold and the others, however, had their shoulders slumped in disappointment. The names of Terran, Eden, and most variants of the name were already taken. There was no option to add numbers like Terran007 or anything like that, which was a bummer. Sheila lifted the baby in her hand saying jokingly, "What about Meatball and Pepper?" "..." Althea nodded. "Sounds good!" Harold sweat-dropped and glared at Sheila who also paled. Harold was quick to save, "Then what about Gaea Chamber of Commerce? Since we named the supermarket like that anyway." Althea looked at them and shrugged. As long as it wasn''t just her name. Seeing her agree, Sheila and Harold breathed a sigh of relief. Harold led the registration lest Althea regret it. They finalized the registration a few minutes later, including their own names as its members. When it finally came to the still-dazed Winona''s turn, Althea sighed and waved her palm in front of her. "You still sane?" It took a while until Winona''s head turned robotically to her, then her blank face quickly morphed into one of excitement. "YOU''RE TOO AMAZING!!!" Althea covered her mouth. "Only the team knows." Winona nodded wildly, raising a hand to show her surrender. When Althea let go of her mouth, Winona gasped to calm herself down. Before registering her name, she couldn''t help but turn her eyes to Althea again¡­ with eyes that had always idolized Althea sparkling even more. Obviously, she came from an ultra-rich family, right? Why does she feel prouder being associated with the Lord of a village? Anyway, she shrugged with a smile in the end. Just happy everything was finally going well. Until a smug face appeared in her head. In her head, he told her with an arrogant stance: "What are you so proud of, idiot? You''re just a friend, I''m her brother!" Her eyes twitched. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Would be great not to see that redhead''s face though, cuz that would ruin her day. ¡­ Later that night, Althea tucked her children into her bed. Suddenly curious about the teams, she opened her Territory Tab. She wanted to see what interface related to Teams appeared. As the Lord, she naturally didn''t have to access this window all the way from the village center. Althea saw there was indeed a new Team tab and by choosing it, a list of teams to check theirs appeared. There was information about the number of members. She couldn''t access their home bases, among many other information, as that was only possible with Mercenary Halls. She arranged from the newest one, her emerald eyes perusing mindlessly while patting her children to sleep. Then, her hands paused, eyes fixed on a name about a dozen names further in. This meant that this team had been created far earlier than any of the teams in Altera. "Terran Mercenary Team?" She uttered, unsure why it sounded a bit special when it shouldn''t. After a while of staring, she told herself that she really shouldn''t think too much of it. After all, at this point, some of the surviving territories could''ve reached level 3. But her eyes stayed there, and her finger couldn''t help but touch the holographic name¡­ How mysterious¡­ Obviously, there were plenty of names she could associate with like the Country of Eden, Aberdeen Team, or TerranFolk¡­ And yet¡­ she felt a weird connection to this one. She wondered why¡­ Chapter 268 - 268: Dangerous Enemies (Part 1) Hundreds of kilometers away from Altera, a team of well-built men (and a woman) traversed the rough nature''s terrain. The team walked through the dense forests, their swords, machetes, and the like clearing the path as they made their way to their destination. When the ground beneath their boots changed from hard ground to a softer, yielding, texture they stopped, and the person in front immediately went to check. Garan looked at the scout who was leaning down to study the soil for clues, meticulously surveying the terrain. "It should be here¡­" The scout, Chris Felton, a.k.a Three-Eyes, told them as he squinted his eyes to a direction. He got the inheritance of Scout skills, very in line with his specialty back in Terran. Vanessa, intent on contributing, chimed in. "From my research, the target plant thrives in dark and humid places." She said next to them, looking at the plants that she knew to be more adapted to moisture. "I''m guessing there should be caves in that area." Garan nodded, pondering on the next point of action. In the end, they concluded that it was not practical to go there with the entire party. It was still best for scouts to check out the area before they went there. "I''ll check it out," Chris said but paused just before he disappeared. He cleared his throat and looked at the others. "I''ll need someone with combat skills though." Chris had the wind element but, even if he was technically a swordsman, he had very little attack power. His skills and specialties focused more on control. For instance, he could place the element on his feet, making him run extremely quickly. He could also send light items like leaves to send them to serve as a signal, saving on resources. However, even if he wanted to, he wouldn''t be able to use it to assassinate people, let alone the monsters here. Perhaps he could use it to assist, but never to directly kill. Garan pondered who to send with him when a man with reddish-brown hair stepped forward. It was Johnny, looking at Garan with determined eyes. "I can go with him, Captain," he said, "I have enough attack and defense capabilities, and I also have speed-up skills to do the job." Garan thought for a moment and looked at the earth elementalist, before agreeing. "Go with him. Send the signal when it''s time for us to follow." The two nodded at the instruction, with Johnny sending a subtle glance at Vanessa. The woman caught his glimpse and smiled, making Johnny happy he volunteered. Chris pulled him back to the task at hand with a pat on the shoulder and pointed in a direction. "Ah, right," Johnny said and the two sprinted to a direction to see the so-called cave. Chris, assisted by his level C speed boots, quickly disappeared from sight, followed closely by Johnny with his ability¡ªInstant Starting Blocks, where he used earth to serve as racing blocks. While waiting, the others took advantage of this time to finally get some rest. They were currently finishing up a mission as a Mercenary team, which was important in their standing on this continent. Using the Mercenary Hall in Ferrol Town, they took plenty of jobs during this time. So far, they''ve done at least a dozen level D missions. This was their first level C mission. Objectively speaking, Level C missions were a bit of an overreach considering their average levels, but not impossible because they could fight beyond it. This was not to mention the strict training regimes they went through both in Terran and here. Level C Missions generally required people to be in their level 20s. Garan had just reached level 19, while the others ranged from level 14 through 17. They had already made a name for themselves in the Class-D cluster, and it would soon be time to move on to Class-C. Taking on Level-C missions would reduce the process by months. This mission was to obtain a C-level plant called Harana Orchid. Although it was only C level, it was rare and difficult to trace. It was primarily used to formulate some special medicine by those rich pharmacists. Because of this, the mission rewards were also very good. Not only would they get a few hundred gold, but they''d also receive several pharmacist-grade potions, which was what they were really after. While Ferrol town had a decent Pharmacy offering products that could help them gain some health and mana¡ªespecially those below level 20¡ªPharmacist-made solutions, they heard, were particularly special. The normal mana and health potions already cost a lot. Pharmacist-grade solutions cost about a hundred times more, making this mission extremely worth it. Overall, despite the risks, it was a great opening mission for a new league. Minutes trickled by as they waited for the scouts to come back. While some waited for the two, the others were tasked to guard the perimeter in case monsters appeared. The mobs in the area ranged from level 12 through level 14, which was indeed a challenge, and a lot of them got injured getting here. Despite the injuries they gathered, they persevered, and they went on with their mission regardless. Fortunately, no one was lost and they were finally on the last leg of the journey. Now, they just had to wait for the scouts to return, hopefully with good news. It was just that the atmosphere shifted dramatically less than half an hour later, when they felt a fast wind approaching, rousing all their guards. It was the panic-stricken Chris filled with blood who appeared with an unconscious and very bloody Johnny on his back. "HELP!" He yelled and placed Johnny on the floor in front of Vanessa. They saw Johnny had a huge hole in his stomach, bleeding profusely. It was a horrendous gush, and they could see cut innards from where they stood. "JOHNNY!!!" Several soldiers leaned down, trying to stop his bleeding. Vanessa was shocked but, fortunately, she still had the wits and quickly tried to stop his bleeding. It was just that even after doing the basic treatments, they quickly realized that it was too big. "What happened?" Garan asked with a frown, but he didn''t wait for an answer as he stared in a direction with deep eyes. "Ready for battle." Immediately, everyone else''s stance went on high alert, whipping their heads to the direction the two came from. "Johny! No¡­ hang on, man!" Gian, Johnny''s best friend, yelled beside Vanessa, doing his best to assist. He even tried to cauterize but the hole was way too large. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The others tried not to get distracted as they listened to his sobs, their attention kept in the direction Garan was facing. Judging by the Captain''s deep frown, they could feel the severity of the situation. It seemed that they were up against very formidable opponents this time. Chapter 269 - 269: Dangerous Enemies (Part 2) Everyone''s defensive stance changed to one ready to attack. With no exemptions, their elements were ready to call at a moment''s notice. Suddenly, a fast wind came and was about to attack Chris. Garan quickly manifested ice picks and threw them in a seemingly aimless direction. Suddenly, a human quickly backed away, narrowly avoiding the sharp edge. It was a man with a wan body frame, tall, and a pale face, but he looked rather than sickly he looked more like a thin vampire that fed on blood. "Tsk," he said, wiping the small line of blood on his cheek. The speedster then swiftly moved back¡ªalmost teleported¡ªto a direction, where he stood. At the same time, his new position revealed his companions¡ªno less intimidating than him. There were three people beside him, each with their own characteristics. "Shame," A feminine voice uttered, making the speedster tut in annoyance. It was a woman with a strong figure and reddish-brown hair. Next to her was a muscular old man with a bald head and a short beard. He had his arms crossed, just staring at them with no emotions. The last one had a bulky and domineering build. He had a huge body frame twice that of a normal man. The others had impassive expressions on their faces, while this man reeked of malice. The team saw the dripping blood on one of his hands, its mark extending all the way to his arm. It was obvious that it was the arm that passed through Johnny. They glared at him, livid, and he just sent them a toothy smile in response. He even licked the blood on his hand. Garan''s eyes narrowed, brain already churning for what they could do. Because Elementalists were so rare, indigenous people also evolved to develop other ''elements'' focused on their physical abilities. This included super strength and super speed. This was the first time they encountered this type, let alone both. The bulky man looked at each of them up and down, and he sneered at their low levels. "Tsk. The team that stole our mission was so weak?" He turned slightly to the direction behind them, "Captain, I''m offended." After his words ended, a new figure emerged from the shadows, entering their line of sight. Suddenly, the air stagnated at his entrance. It was a handsome man with striking features appearing in confident strides. He had long locks with a unique fusion of red and black. It cascaded leisurely down his back, beautiful¡ªbut akin to snakes. They didn''t know if it was their imagination, but they could almost see some sparks surrounding him. His piercing red eyes looked at each of them. There was a confident smirk placed upon his lips, and it felt so self-assured that it was insolent. He moved with predatory grace, exuding an air of supremacy, and normal people would not dare look at him in the eye. Everyone, especially the only woman, Vanessa, stared at the man exuding magnetic charm, despite the undeniable threat he showed. The man was well aware of his effect on women, but he didn''t take a second look and focused on the leading figure instead. "Ice? That''s rare." He said, an evil arrogant smile pasted on his face. Garan''s azure eyes narrowed, body tense in guardedness, meeting the newcomer''s red ones. At this time, all his guard was up and was ready to give it his all in a moment''s notice. This man¡­ was definitely a force to be reckoned with. ¡­ The atmosphere turned incredibly tense¡ªwith their side brewing in a mix of guardedness and aggression. While Vanessa tried to handle Jhonny again¡ªbelatedly, as she was distracted by the newcomer. Everyone else created a wall around them in guarding formation. The newcomers did not attack and only watched, which made everything even more tense. Soon, Vanessa shook her head. A few people gasped as they saw Johnny''s pale face, while the rest glared at the enemies in front of them. They didn''t have the time to mourn the loss of another companion, but they could definitely spend this energy to avenge him. The Terrans stared at the five people, simmering in aggression. It was as if they were ready to eat up prey and, at the same time, looking at them like ants. It was extremely humiliating. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The man the enemies called captain only stared and looked at them, as if not noticing their piercing glares. As he spoke, his penetrating eyes observed them like a tiger surveying his target. "You are very brave to take on a level C mission at your level." He said, words admiring but his tone mocking. "It would''ve been fine if you didn''t attack my people for no reason," Garan said with his low voice. He was still thinking of whether to fight. The loss of Johnny was heavy, but losing more for revenge was impractical. He could tell all these people were several levels higher than him. If an all-out fight were to happen, it was estimated half of them would be lost. "If you give us the flower, then we will let you go." He said. Everyone glared, and Garan didn''t refuse immediately. Abandoning a mission would ban them from the cluster for at least a month. There would also be a lot of long-term effects, and their few weeks'' effort would be for naught. But would he risk any more lives for it? Of course not. Seeing the boss considering, Gian reacted immediately in aghast. "They killed Johnny!" Garan looked at the enemy leader. Although the flower or the mission was nothing compared to their lives, it would really feel like Johnny''s death was null if they lost it as well. Failing would also disallow them from taking any more missions for a time. The time and resources lost would also mean they would find their loved ones later. And he couldn''t guarantee that these people¡­ wouldn''t go on a killing spree either. While honorable strongmen (or those who wished to be seen as such) would not unnecessarily kill people with much lower levels than theirs, this was not a universal rule at all. Garan tried to think of a compromise, "The two groups fighting will cause losses for both parties. I feel that there should be another option. " He said. The huge man scoffed, obviously thinking of them as ants. Ants had no right to negotiate. Garan was unmoved. "What about I fight one of you to determine who owns the flower? No matter who wins, there would be no killing in either group." The enemy team smirked at his words, and the huge man laughed out loud. "Weaklings sure have the guts!" Garan did not falter, and Gian was held back by Gill, stopping him from doing anything stupid. "What would beating a group of weaklings do?" He asked. The captain looked at him deeply, crossing his arms. A moment later, he opened his mouth and his velvety voice uttered out, "Well, it is more interesting to see a hopeful struggle." The man said, shrugging. "But, to change things, if you lose, you will be beaten by my men without question." Garan''s jaw clenched, opening his palm, revealing an expensive gift from Jonathan¡ªa seal of oath. "Yes, as long as no life is lost." Chapter 270 - 270: Dangerous Battles (Part 1) "Oh? Using a magic tool to ensure your life, eh?" Silas looked at his companion and his bloody arms. "Well, I can''t say I blame you." The big man knew the captain was considering and sneered, patting his large chest. "I want to do it, then." He said, "I''ll make it as bloody as possible. "They have to know they''re just puny ants not even worth negotiating with!" He said, looking at the seal. "We don''t even have to kill them to show that." The woman and the old man didn''t have any reactions and just watched from the side. However, if one looked closer at their eyes and their lips tilting up, one could see they were quite interested in the upcoming ''show''. The thin man¡ªone of the more gregarious members of the group¡ª outright whistled. "Yo, Sin! Beat him up quickly! I can''t wait to do some exercise~!" "Sure sure," Sin yelled back, grinning, as he stepped forward and stared down at Garan, who also took a step forward. Sin punched down several trees in his path and kicking their trunks out of the way, leaving them with some clear space for movements. Everyone stepped back and left them around a hundred square meters of fighting space. In the middle of the new ''clearing'', the two stared each other down, and the man arrogantly gestured for Garan to attack. Garan darted to his direction, appearing in front of the other in an instant, surprising the larger man. Garan raised his feet and Sin immediately raised his hand to take on his kick. Although it didn''t do any damage to him, it still tingled a bit, showing the strength of the attack. Sin''s eyes narrowed as Garan shifted his body. Abruptly, Garan placed the force on his other leg, hitting the man''s stomach, a relatively weaker part of the body. "Oof!" "You!" Sin gritted his teeth. He raised his arm to wallop him, but Garan quickly avoided it. The punch was so strong that it created a wind that destabilized him a bit, but he managed to catch himself. Garan saw the hole in the ground made by the missed punch, and quickly had a rough estimate of this man''s force value. Garan manifested ice with his secondary element¡ªmetal¡ªand he quickly charged. On the side, Silas'' eyes narrowed as he watched. His frown deepened a bit as his eyes followed Garan''s movements. At this time, Garan had already slashed against Sin with his two swords in expert movements. He did this continuously and with amazing speed, eventually landing shallow wounds on the other man''s body, enraging him. "GRRR!!!" The man yelled, attacking continuously. Although he was physically stronger, Garan was much more nimble and agile and he avoided most of his attacks. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was just that Sin created a few craters in his attacks and Garan unfortunately landed on one. The millisecond of imbalance it caused was enough for Sin''s jab to finally connect. THUD! Fortunately, Garan managed to block himself with metal, softening the blow. He spat out blood as the force hit his internal organs. He ignored the yells of his teammates, azure eyes focused on the enemy in front of him. Heaving a deep breath, Garan returned to a defensive position, still relatively stable in his footing. Sin frowned seeing him still moving smoothly. Even with that block, most people''s bodies wouldn''t have been able to handle that impact¡ªespecially not at his level. He had even fought Orcs hand to hand before! The fight went on for several more minutes, both landing shots on each other, dripping a lot of blood on the makeshift field. Garan heaved a sigh as he looked at his near-empty life, spirit, and mana, barely supporting his body weight against a tree. He knew that there should still be half in the other man''s stats. Although the low-level magic tool could only be effective for one formal agreement¡ªwhich was the no-killing agreement¡ªthey still agreed that they wouldn''t be allowed to use any tool, potion, or equipment in the duration of the fight. Garan knew very well that the other team probably had superior resources, and he didn''t want to widen the strength gap. And because of this, he couldn''t drink any healing potions either. Anyway, Garan knew this could not continue. Although the enemy team would not kill them, if they left them disabled in the forest then they would be as good as dead. He couldn''t lose. He closed his eyes to gather himself for one second. When he opened his eyes there was a renewed light and even Sin taking advantage of his weakness and lunging at him did not make him flinch. His body was now pumping with adrenaline, filled with strength, and mind calculating to the max. He immediately jumped back and instantaneously created ice picks as large as an arm. These icepicks floated around them, immediately congregating around the man. But instead of attacking directly, Garan used a tree to vault himself up, using a lot of mana to form large spears of ice and metal. He targeted the man''s body at an angle, targeting standard human weaknesses at the same time. Bang! A piece connected and hit his arm. "Ah!" And Garan quickly maneuvered himself to kick it deeper into his skin, using his own weight to do so. "ARGHHH!!" Garan quickly manifested more ice and metal with much of the remaining mana, intent on hurting him more. He was not planning on killing him, which was obvious, but to debilitate him enough. However, before it could hit the enemy again, Garan''s body moved and used the spear to block a side attack instead. The unexpected fire hit him and his weapon, creating such a force that he was thrown to the other side, hitting a tree. Bang! Garan coughed out blood and heard oncoming steps, he struggled to lift himself up to face him, only to be kicked back down. He looked up to see the other Team''s captain, eyes dark with killing intent. "I don''t like it when my men are hurt." He said, smiling evilly. "As payment, we will do the same to yours." Chapter 271 - 271: Dangerous Battles (Part 2) The low-level magic tool only allowed for 1 idea of agreement. For this case, it was for no deaths to happen and for the winner to retain the plant. Nothing else could be done, and Garan couldn''t stop either team member from interfering. It was just that the other team¡ªnever in their imagination¡ªwould they think they would have to interfere. Silas kicked Garan again with a force that lifted him up a meter. He coughed up blood, grabbing his chest in pain. "Captain!" His team yelled and immediately they went to attack. The other team smirked at this movement, as if it was a signal for them to finally start fighting without looking desperate for a fight. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. All this time, they had been itching to beat people up¡ªhow dare they hurt Sin so much¡ªand were ready to receive them. "Come! Show us what you''ve got!!" Foo said with that droning voice of his. He leaned forward, disappearing in a flash. Immediately, the Terrans quickly lifted their weapons. Garan sat back up as quickly, trying to gain his footing, but he was kicked back down by Silas again. He shivered as a strong current passed by his body and his eyes widened, looking up at the other man. However, despite the pain, he moved and managed to grab the man''s leg. "You promised not to kill." Silas smirked evilly, kicking him back down. "Captain!!!" The Terrans yelled, immediately running to attack their enemies and rescue their captain. It was Gill who led the charge spear crackling with fiery energy. Followed closely by the others. Gill went directly to the Captain, waving his smoldering spear but was blocked by the woman. Luis slashed his sword, also with fire, his sand-blonde hair glinting in the heat, and the others showing off the elements from the get-go, not daring to hold back against these people. This was the first time they encountered true fighters. Although they¡ªthe Terrans¡ªwere low in level, their fighting prowess allowed them to fight those with a few levels above them. This had a lot to do with how either enemy elementalists relied too much on their elements¡ªwhich was useless if mana ran out¡ªor it was against non-elementalist who didn''t have access to fighting inheritance and were thus unable to deal with their plethora of techniques. But they had a feeling¡­ this time definitely wouldn''t be as easy. They didn''t even consider going one-on-one. Gill went head to head with the woman who had used large curved double swords, blocking his attack. Her weapons seemed thin, but it effortlessly took on his attacks. Gill''s eyes narrowed as he saw some barrier of fire appearing at the point of contact, and he knew the woman was also a fire user. Behind him, Loki used his wind ability to quickly climb a tree, hiding in the shadows. He leaned on a stable branch, his ponytailed black hair floating with the wind, and his bowstring taut and ready to shoot in assistance to his team. Eagle, with the power of wind in his command, swept through the battlefield like a whirlwind. His short ash-blonde hair flew wildly in the wind as he met with the Speedster''s attack. Next to him, Turbo manifested a water whip to hit the momentarily stopped Silas. The man didn''t even flinch as the old man appeared in front of him, manifesting an earth wall to easily block all attacks. The old man''s legs parted and he stomped his feet and clenched his fist, and the wall broke to many pieces, attacking Turbo in turn. "Shit!" Fortunately, he was quick and managed to avoid the bulk of the attack, but was hit regardless. Foo quickly went to him and Turbo bent backward by instinct, avoiding a sharp edge that cut his spiky hair, giving him a very bad haircut. "Darnit!" Turbo yelled, manifesting more water attempting to trap Foo, who was now causing damage behind, particularly to Chris, who had barely managed to block with his sword. Turbo, distracted, failed to see the large boulder heading towards him. Jake quickly leaned down and placed his hands on the ground. The earth shook along with his quiff hair. Instantly, a massive shield appeared and blocked the hit. He frowned when the rock decimated his shield, however. "Tsk. Didn''t even last a shot." Soon dozens of similar rocks floated and headed towards them. "F*CK!" Jake yelled, manifesting many shield walls. "Guys! Watch out!" Brandon similarly protected his companion with his windshield, similar to a barrier, though for now it could only slow down the rock''s pace enough so his companions could deal with them. Ryo, the shy water spear wielder, fought with determination dealing with the projectiles, protecting those behind him. And then there was Gian, an impulsive fire user, angrily deflecting the stone attacks with his sword, slashing excessively as if they were the heads of the enemies. By the time he dealt with the rocks near him, his short dark brown hair glistened with sweat and several embers of flame were surrounding him. Then his eyes met with Sin''s who had now gotten up, drank some recovery potions, and very much wanted to pummel someone. Gian had been desperate for revenge for a while now. It wasn''t a surprise that he went to Sin. Using his fire swordsman skill, he immediately lit up his sword with his elemental fire. Similarly, many other elements joined in, catching the enemies a bit off guard. The other team was startled by the plethora of elements that surrounded them. "Who are these people?" Foo, the speedster, asked. He was sweating a bit found his way back to his side and asked his companions. However, unlike most, he didn''t feel particularly intimidated. It wasn''t the first time they encountered a team filled with Elementalists. It was never quite so large a group, but it wasn''t too far off. Percy, the old earth Elementalist, narrowed his eyes, though the hard stones floating around him were as menacing as ever. "Hmm. I do wonder which city owns them." He looked at their captain, a bit concerned. "Does it matter? Strength is the last word." The muscular woman, Valeria, said. "Hmn. Just do away with them. Anyway, we agreed not to kill them." Silas said without a care, looking down at their leader who was standing up. This meant whatever happened, no matter what these guys'' background was, it didn''t matter. "But we are sure to give them a taste of what a bloody lesson truly is." Garan''s eyes sharpened as his fist clenched in both pain and anger. It was indeed a bloody lesson, but they would definitely not go down so easily! Chapter 272 - 272: Bloody Lesson (Part 1) Aberdeen City, two years prior The early morning sun filtered through the window, seeping to a certain couple inside their bedroom. However, unlike the usual atmosphere, the air at this time was heavy with the scent of medicine and antiseptic. Althea carefully unwrapped the soiled bandage, the sight inside slowly revealing itself. She frowned when she saw his jagged wound, it was reddish and bluish and painful-looking. Her heart ached at the gash, but continued to care for him, gently cleaning his wound. Garan looked warmly as his wife carefully handled his wounds. One good thing that came out from that accident was that he got to spend many days straight with his wife, and she was still caring only for him. His gaze was blatantly hot and Althea couldn''t help but blush. But then she saw his wound again and felt very angry in response. She glared at him, though it looked adorable in his eyes. "Having fun?" She asked bitterly, and he didn''t dare nod. However, she could see it in his dozing gaze and she pinched his cheek in response. "Well, it''s annoying! Don''t smile!" She ordered, and Garan immediately schooled his expression to his usual stoic one. Althea then proceeded on her task, completely ignoring him. However, as she did so, her sights ended not only on the red wounds but those that were healed by time. She couldn''t help but trace her hands on his many scars. "You have so many scars¡­ do they still hurt?" She asked, voice soft. Obviously, her anger couldn''t last when she knew he was in pain. Althea knew that sometimes scars were still painful even after years. Garan''s body was filled with them. If all these scars hurt, then¡­ Garan''s eyebrows furrowed and he flinched at the sight of his wife''s eyes slowly getting filled with tears. "Wife, don''t cry¡­" "They don''t hurt anymore," He said, "In fact they are important." Althea blinked and stared at him, and he couldn''t help but kiss her cheek. "Each scar is a testament to what we have been through," He told her, tone very gentle as he patted her smooth face. "For us soldiers, scars are testament to our story of survival and valiance. "Even if the lesson was bloody, it was a lesson nevertheless." _____ Present. Garan took advantage of the distraction to consume healing potions that he had in the space. However, he was kicked back down as soon as he did so. "Calm down, let''s watch what your people can do." Silas said, turning his attention back to the various fights the surrounded them. He was completely unperturbed at the misfired shots or stray rocks. The closest fight was Sammy''s, though he was without his characteristic grin, and on his face was signs of tension. The soldier fired his wind arrows with uncanny accuracy, all the while moving and avoiding the shots directed at him. He was particularly prominent in appearance with his semi bald hairdo and dark skin. Unlike Loki, who threw arrows from the dark, he shot away as he moved. Gill was also very, very, impressive. He waved his spear with skill, as if it was a part of his body, and he was going head-to-head with Valeria, only receiving the occasional assistance from his teammates. While other fights were entering their peaks, Sin and Gian''s fight, on the other hand, was at its decline. Gian and Sin faced each other. Sin was standing arrogantly while Gian was sweating profusely and could no longer stand upright. In fairness, Gian did relatively well in his attacks, but Sin was just much stronger than he was. It didn''t take long for Gian to sustain a lot of damage, only able to stand up because he was being played with. And they also received instructions not to kill, sadly, so there was that. Anyway, Sin was definitely having fun torturing him, which was more humiliating than just getting beat up! Gian was not reconciled. Obviously, he was almost beat by the captain! And he was already weakened! However, his anger didn''t do much to his strength and soon Sin got tired and wanted to deal with the other ''flies''. Without noticing, a large hand formed into knuckles and was about to connect with his head. "Oi, Gian!" Mao''s earth elements surrounded himself with earth, using his body shield the defenseless Gian. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. CRACK! The heavy punch connected with the earth armor, but compared to the ground Sin had created craters on, the shield wasn''t much harder. BANG! CRACK! The narrow-eyed soldier was thrown away by Sin''s punch, bloody and his shield had all crumbled to pieces. He was breathing, fortunately, but this was only because the enemy captain agreed not to kill them during the fight. "Mao!!" Gian yelled and he whipped his head to his enemy, his anger only making his attacks on Sin wilder. Vanessa, who had just dealt with a man''s injury, was quick to rush to the Mao''s aid. Fortunately, they stocked some expensive healing concoctions in their spaces so their soldiers weren''t left a step too close to death. Returning to Sin and Gian''s fight, Gian was now gasping for air, and Sin watched him take his last mana potion. Sin chuckled, walking forward, and crackled his knuckles. He was getting bored and wanted to deal with the spear-weilding Magma dude. However, before he could make another shot, he suddenly felt an arrow barrelling towards him. He immediately used his best Body Hardening technique. As for why Sin wasn''t able to use this technique with Garan, it was because he needed to be still for more than 1 minute. Only Gian was able to give him this breathing time. However, even if he managed to activate the skill, the arrow came with high accuracy and swiftness¡ªwhich was just enough to scratch him. The small bit of blood made his eyes turn red. Their Captain injuring him so much was one thing, but these people were even lower leveled than that guy! Annoying! He growled and grabbed Gian''s head, and it felt like an iron grip on the soldier''s face. Gian hit his strong arm with his elbow, but to no avail. With a huff, Sin lifted his weight and threw his entire body in a direction¡ªto the tree where the arrow came from. Bang! "Oi, Loki!" Sammy and the others yelled, throwing various attacks on Sin. Sammy sent Sin continuous arrows, most of which using mana-consuming skills. But at this time, Sin''s body hardening technique was in full effect. None of his shots caused him any damage. "Shit!" So far¡­ they had yet to get the upper hand, even with their numbers. It would only be a matter of time until they would get taken down one by one! ____ Important Announcement! [11.22.23] Hi guys! Big news! We''re getting an e-bookkkk!! Thank you guys soooo much! Wouldn''t have been chosen if you weren''t there supporting me from wherever you are~ I have 5 days to change anything in the first 50 chapters before it gets published for KDP. I already diminished the info dump in the first three chaps (spoiler: still an info dump). If there''s anything else you want changed, tell meee! You can also comment on the chaps themselves if you want! Thanks again Alterans! Chapter 273 - 273: Bloody Lesson (Part 2) As Sammy held the front line against Sin, the atmosphere crackled with tension. However, Sammy didn''t feel too scared as there were others supporting him from behind. Minko, the water archer, also shot from behind. He used his inherited skill called Aqua Burst. It was a very good skill using pressurized water that burst on impact. However, Sin''s body skill was still in effect and it only annoyed the man, throwing some destroyed stones to poor Minko. Brandon was quick to shield him, fortunately, and even threw back the stone. Still to no avail, of course. But when he noticed there was no effect, Minko shifted his shots to the woman who was currently being dealt with by Gill. "Tsk!" the woman yelled as he felt his hits burn a bit. It successfully distracted the woman and¡ªwith Gill sending a flurry of well-timed attacks¡ªwas forced to step back to Plaridel''s firewall. Whether or not it had an effect, Minko didn''t notice because the same rock thrown before was thrown at them again. Chris and the curly-haired Ben was facing the relentless attacks of the speedster. While Ben continuously sent his sharp waterblocks, Chris was not idle with his own attacks. Using his wind-infused sword, he extended its sharpness in unexpected times, almost hitting the man. His attacks were inherently not very strong, but he had excellent control, and soon the quantity of scratches got many enough to actually hurt. When Foo realized this, his eyes turned red and his attacks went wilder. Leo used his wood elements to distract him while he slashed his sword. Using his element, he skillfully danced around his foes. Meanwhile, Plaridel set firewalls behind them to burn when the enemies were being pushed back. "Bastards!" Foo furious yell reverberated as he swung his weapon wildly at the soldiers. He was very quick and Leo only narrowly avoided a major blow when Reuben¡ªthe water swordsman with a bald head¡ªsuccessfully intercepted the attack. He waved his weapon with grace, pushing him back. It gave time for Leo and the others to gather themselves and he immediatley returned to his own fight with the earth elementalist old man. At this time, the old man¡ªan earth swordsman¡ªgrappled with the formidable old man. The others with him were struggling to get up, and he was soon at the end of the line himself. Percy turned his body and quickly pushed himself back farther with his ability as a new spear came his way. Sharp thorns emerged from the spear, attacking him, but he manifested earth around him, blocking all attacks. "Tsk," Leo mumbled, taking a shot while his own enemy was distracted. At this time Ryan, the fire shieldsman, joined Ben and Chris. Specifically, Chris, who was being targeted by the enemy Flash. However, the enemies this time were not normal. Not only were they true fighters, they also had inheritances from their clans and masters. Valeria, after all this time, was barely damaged¡ªall of the damage on her was by Gill, who was now running out of mana. Gill pushed her further back to Plaridel''s shield. Unlike the damage to Foo, however, a shield made of fire exploded and surrounded her, eating up Plaridel''s in the process. It was like a little campfire went against a flamethrower. However, while surprised, the soldiers quickly gathered themselves. Instead, they were fired up and their attacks leveled up, actually pushing the aborigines a bit. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For instance, more and more attacks managed to graze Foo, and Gill had gotten used to her movements and was damaging her further. However, the momentum didn''t last long because large earth walls guarded the two¡ªand it wasn''t just an earth wall. It was Percy''s earth upgraded skill, that could temporarily harden his stone to bedrock. "This is my clan''s secret technique: Supreme Harden." "Damn it!" The Terrans yelled, but they didn''t stop their attacks, improving even in the harshest conditions. However, the gap was there and the three enemies were successful in managing to defend against the nearly twenty soldiers from Terran. Soon, half were rendered unconscious. Vanessa, defended by Santos, another earth sword warrior, also showed her archery skills with grace, supporting from behind when she wasn''t doing first aid. However, despite her busy schedule, her eyes couldn''t help but stare at the handsome man who had his feet on the captain. Her heart broke for the captain but, at the same time, she couldn''t help but admire the other man as well. At this time, Silas narrowed his eyes at the ongoing scuffle as he stood on the side, easily deflecting attacks that came their way with his electricity. "Your team isn''t bad." He said, looking down at the man under his feet. His eyebrows rose when he saw the man already calm and collected, abruptly turning his body and facing the floor. The man''s strong arm then lifted his whole weight, kicking Silas off of him in the process. Using his elbow, the man suddenly turned his body to swipe a kick in Silas'' direction. A sharp glint on his legs indicated a scythe-like blade connected to his feet, extending his reach. Silas managed to avoid the kick with a small nick and the hem of his clothing ripped apart. Granted, he only used level C clothing now because he didn''t think he''d need to dirty his higher-level equipment, but still¡­ Anyway, Silas looked at the man, now standing upright. Silas watched in interest as Garan manifested a metallic rod beside him. It was not big, basically only a small spike that did nothing. But to his surprise, Garan just left it around him. The ebony-haired man manifested ice again. They were just as usual, which was a bit of a disappointment. Silas avoided them easily, throwing some electric sparks in response. To his surprise, his attack was directed to the metal, as if naturally attracted to it. Silas'' eyebrows rose. He didn''t know metal could be used against him like this. He frowned, but was also a bit intrigued. The demeaning look in his eyes slightly paled, and he looked at his opponent with increasing interest. A snake made of electricity surrounded him, and it combined with light-colored fire. Garan''s jaw tensed and he stood guardedly, though without any showy display of his elements. Silas almost chuckled at this, knowing the other man''s mana had to be rationed very well. "It''s our turn now," he said, his elements crackling around him, increasing the tension in the air. Garan, stoic as always, only adopted a defensive position, raising his arm and ready to attack in an instant. "Come." Chapter 274 - 274: Bloody Lesson (Part 3) Garan drank another bottle of mana potion as he conjured razor-sharp blades of ice around him. Silas, with a charismatic smirk, manifested dancing flames that flickered with the intensity of his prowess. Garan propelled a barrage of icy shards towards Silas. The redhead however weaved between projecties, electric sparks dancing along his skin. He then sent an electric shock directed to Garan, but it was once again attracted by the metal rod in the ground. It wasn''t that Silas had never fought against metal users before. It was just that they never used it so skillfully to affect his attacks at all. One of the reasons for this is that metal users could only manifest pure iron, which had too many impurities to be effective conductors. Garan''s was a combination of steel and some aluminum, which was a great conductor of electricity. Taking advantage of the enemy''s pause, Garan lowered the temperature around him, and the ground slowly turned to ice in an attempt to destabilize the enemy. Silas immediately conjured flames that melted the ice, sizzling steam bathing the two dashing men. Garan donned an icy armor and lunged at Silas¡ªat an impressive speed¡ªbut Silas wreathed in electric flames countered with a surge of raw power. The collision sent shockwaves in all directions, distracting the other fights as well. For a while, a symphony of ice and metal meeting fire and electricity abounded. It created wave after wave of impact and the fights around paused for a bit to watch them. Foo and the others stared in disbelief. While they knew the captain wasn''t giving it his all, it was still very rare to see him get so into a fight. Soon, Garan ran out of mana and he started to depend on his techniques and physiques to fight him. To his team''s surprise, Silas also dispersed his elements, joining him in a hand-on-hand fight. Silas'' red eyes sharpened at his techniques, unseen and unheard of even by someone of his background. He avoided most of them, but he couldn''t help but feel impressed at the intricacies of it all. He took down Garan many times by virtue of raw strength, but the ebony-haired man stood up every single time. Silas also noticed the man''s hit rates were increasing, and he could feel a few bruises had formed on his body. During this time, the other fights had also resumed, courtesy of some Terran soldiers who wanted to take advantage of the enemy distraction to hit a few more shots. Suddenly, Garan attacked at a weird angle and Silas wanted to mock him only to realize it hit Sin behind him, who was about to attack another one of his teammates. This was interesting because Sin had his technique activated, and yet the attack stuck. One must know that Sin had fought an orc before, and this guy did just about the same amount of damage. Even if the orc was lower in level, who didn''t know they had much stronger physiques than humans and were comparable to beasts? As he continued to fight Garan, Sin couldn''t help but observe them more, albeit only half of them remained standing. He saw them protecting each other when they were in danger themselves. Another quarter of an hour later, only Garan (and the woman, who was well protected by quite a few men) was standing upright, and his people were all injured in various degrees. Silas smiled and his arms raised and Garan shivered a bit at the aura that surrounded him. "I learned a lot from you today. So let me show you one of my family''s secret skills." It was very quick and Garan had no time to dodge. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bang! The next thing he knew he was already thrown against the tree, unable to get up for a short time. His body was still shivering, as if instinctively afraid, and it felt incredibly bad. No matter how difficult the opponent, he had never been a coward. But now his legs refused to cooperate and he couldn''t even stand up. He tried to get up while his eyes stayed on the enemy that stood still a few meters in front of him. But then the man turned towards the others. Garan frowned and wanted to follow, thinking he was going to attack one of his teammates. However, he was still shaking¡ªweak¡ªand he couldn''t even lift his feet to stand. "Damnit!" He yelled, punching the ground. To his surprise though, Silas went and held Foo''s arm, who was just about to critically injure Chris¡ªhis favorite target. "That''s enough," Silas said, and he looked at his teammates who were all very injured. Foo and Sin were understandably very angry, as they themselves could barely stand. Normally, he''d be angry at how his team was injured, but he was mysteriously calmed down after a good fight. He hadn''t felt satisfied in a long time¡­ Anyway, despite the sorry state of this team, Silas was still very impressed by what they accomplished. "Let''s go." he said, and the others followed him, walking over the ''bodies'' lying on the ground. As he walked away, a woman appeared in his way. Her hands were held together above her chest as if in prayer and she was looking at Silas with eyes filled with gratitude. "T-Thank you¡­" She said, making the others¡ªespecially Valeria¡ªsneer. Silas ignored her and continued on his way, which happened to be near where Garan was kneeling. "As agreed, you can keep the flower." He said. He then threw a potion into the air that dispersed magically to the air around them. "You have successfully¡­ entertained us." He said, completely turning back. "May we meet again." ¡­ The air was stagnant for a long time afterward. No one spoke as they absorbed the fact that they really stood no chance. Although they managed to hurt the enemies through various counter-attacks, they were all worse than half-dead when the enemy left. The small field was covered with a mixture of their blood. They stayed there for hours after the fight, trying to recover their strength and spirit, using their remaining strength to barely deal with the monster attracted by the blood. However, the monsters weren''t many and they only arrived hours after the enemies left. It was easy to conclude that the potion that had been dispersed was a beast-repelling potion. How nice of him. (Partial sarcasm) Anyway, some time later, Garan recovered enough to stand. He looked at his companions. Then his eyes shifted to the mauled corpse of Johnny, who they weren''t able to protect against the mob. After finally gaining some power the past few weeks, it was the first time they lost someone. And most of them nearly died. It seemed they had been complacent. It was truly a wake-up call¡ªa bloody one. Chapter 275 - 275: Aftermath Aberdeen City, 16 years ago The fourteen-year-old Garan just came back from training, and his body hurt like hell. "You''re finally back?" Howard, who had been having a late-night tea time with his wife, greeted him. Garan nodded politely at his nominal parents. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Alicia looked at him with a gentle smile. "Have you eaten?" "Yes, mother," Garan said, looking around. "Is Althea still awake?" "She should be in bed," Mother said, "But you should see. It''s been a month since you returned, she missed you very much." The teenage Garan nodded and said goodnight to his parents, his feet immediately bringing him to Althea''s room. When he opened the door, he saw her soft peaceful figure on her large bed, softly snoring, like a little angel. Then he could see from the corner of his eyes an eyesore sleeping on the floor mattress. This brat seemed to have attached himself to his angel. It was to the point he cried when Althea was too far. In distress, the parents had no choice but to allow him to be so clingy until he was a bit older. Fortunately, they didn''t allow him to sleep on her bed or Garan would definitely beat him up. He rudely stepped over the boy''s sleeping body and sat on the bed to look closer at Althea. She was still so cute and soft and all his tiredness was swept away at the sight of her. When her eyebrows furrowed he hurriedly let go, but soon realized it wasn''t because of him. She was frowning deeply and humming as if in pain. He frowned and gently tapped her shoulders to wake her up. Her eyes slowly opened, her long eyelashes fluttering. For a while, they were still narrowed from the lethargy, but the sleepiness was wiped away when their eyes met. "Garan?" Her small voice sounded, melting his heart. "You''re home?" The nine-year-old girl habitually scooted to wrap her arms around him and he laid down beside her, making her feel comfortable. Thankfully, he took a good bath before leaving the training camp, otherwise, her cute face would be scrunched up in the smell. He patted her back and she snuggled closer to him. "Tell me a bedtime story¡­" she said and he smiled, agreeing. Before he could start though, he heard a rustle near them. Garan knew that Ansel should have also woken up. "Story¡­" she said, as if reminding him, and he couldn''t help but chuckle. Garan rummaged his head for said bedtime story, and recalled the children''s book he read when he was working in a small bookstore years ago. "Well, let me tell you a story¡­" He said, combing her hair back. "About an ancient hero named Altera." He remembered the story because the cover was so colorful, and its palette just to Althea''s liking. He had saved up money to buy it for her. Unfortunately, it was sold out by the time he had enough. The story started with how the country was plagued by wars and the suffering of the people. A commoner man rose up to the challenge, used his strength and charisma to affect the hearts of the people, and used strength to stop the wars. It took him five decades, but it set off an era of peace that lasted for centuries. "Altera was the hero of his people." He told her, "The name came to signify beauty, pride, and strength in their country." "He''s amazing," she mumbled, already half asleep. "That''s a beautiful name¡­ "Hmm¡­" he told her with a smile. His voice was already in the lower timbers, and it comforted Althea very much. Soon, she dozed off. After a while, all he could hear was soft snoring (Ansel''s included), making him smile even more. Garan also closed his eyes, soul listening to her soft breathing. As he lay, he felt peace that he had not felt for weeks, falling into slumber shortly after. He was finally home. _____ Ferrol Town, Present Just over a day after the bloody incident, all the soldiers had recovered significantly. Most of them were already resuming their training regimes. If anything, they worked even harder. It was hard not to¡ªnot after feeling their weaknesses so starkly. For one, the Mercenary team''s training field was filled with people, and even their own captain was sparring with someone. Garan held the attacker''s arm and twisted it, making him fall on his back. Bang! Followed by a cough, and Garan stopped attacking, waiting for his sparring partner to get up by himself. Sadly, he wasn''t getting up and just stayed like that for some time. Garan looked at Gian who was sobbing bitterly, looking very ugly. The snot coming out of his nose solidified the dust from the ground he was thrown to, making it even more unsightly. The younger man could only punch the ground, probably thinking it was his face, and sobbed loudly. "Why!" He yelled, filled with resentment because he didn''t kill the big guy. "If you had aimed to kill from the start, if you''d aimed at his head, he''d have been killed!" "Maybe." He said and Gian just glared at him. Garan sighed but did not beat him up anymore. "But that also meant a lot of lives in exchange." Gian gritted his teeth at this, yet no intelligible answer came. "If you want revenge, then be strong enough to deal with the consequences. Even Luis, who had been out for a month, is catching up to you." He said, and Gian stared at him, eyes filled with sadness and bitterness. "But Johnny¡ªHe died for nothing!" "I know. But the world is not fair¡ªespecially not this one. "Remember: Revenge begets revenge. If you want to get back at them, be strong enough to be able to protect those you hold important." What was the point of revenge if you''d just lose more and more in the process? He sighed, looking at the sky. "Doing otherwise is¡­ simply foolish." They still had a home to get back to, after all. Chapter 276 - 276: Closer Garan heaved a sigh as he walked away from the fields, taking the towel Gill handed over to him. "Don''t worry boss, he''ll calm down eventually." The long-haired man said, comforting the captain. He couldn''t help but look at the pitiful Gian on the floor, who was now helped up by Chris. Turbo even bathed him with water using his ability and Eagle dried him up with his. The two continued to walk to the fence, "Are we going to see new missions?" "Hmm." Garan said, and the two proceeded to the Mercenary Hall to complete the task. Fortunately, those strongmen still kept their word of letting them have the plant, so their mission could still be completed. They were a step closer to becoming a level C Mercenary Team. This was unprecedented to their average level of members. They also received five of the promised class D healing medicines. One had been used for Chris, who was heavily targeted in the last attack, and another was used for Gian, who was very much treated like a rag. Which was regretful because he challenged Garan as soon as he could stand. Eagle, the logistics officer, would have two, while the last one was snug in Garan''s space. Maybe he could get it to his wife. She would definitely love to study it. The two arrived at the Mercenary Hall, receiving quite a few glances. It could be said that they had received quite the attention for completing a level C mission, and a lot more people asked when they would hire again. For now though, there was no need for hiring. Not to mention, when they upgraded they could start to summon other mercenaries. The higher the level, the higher the prestige. Upon upgrade, when needed, they would be able to call on lower-level or maybe similar level mercenary teams for help. For a price, of course. This could even be done through the mercenary center''s teleportation array at a discounted cost. It could be said that their completion of that mission opened up a lot of doors, even when they had yet to upgrade. If they hadn''t settled in Ferrol Town, it was estimated they''d be receiving a lot of proposals to switch bases. Historically, most territories would pay a lot of money to get high-level mercenary teams to set up bases or businesses in their territory. This was because a good mercenary team not only increased the overall power of the territory, but they could also boost the economy through taxes and trade. However, high-level mercenary teams cost a huge amount. So it was more cost-effective to buy out a weaker team with high potential before they upgraded. The Terran Mercenary Team happened to be such good stock. However, Jonathan was quick to show off their closeness by sending a few more medicines to their base, with quite the ceremony of using his right-hand man to deliver. Anyway, the name Terran Mercenary Team once again resounded in the territory. Except¡­ they were much less smug than they could''ve. After all, this win was partnered with some major humbling costs. But that was in the past now, and they could only barrel forward. Standing in front of the panel, Garan looked at the status of the Mercenary team. [Official Team Status Level: D (5498/10000) Prestige: 67 Territory Ranking (D): 12 Overall Ranking (D): 431 Members: 37 ] Although they had much fewer members than those of the same rank, Garan would like to think their team was more quality than quantity. He dared think that they could handle any other mercenary teams of the same class and levels with ease. "What mission should I choose?" "Choose a Level D one, for now," Garan said. After all, the end of the protection period was approaching, they couldn''t take too many risks as before. "Take several and we''ll just divide into two or three teams." "Got it," Gill said and went to perused the potential tasks to take. Meanwhile, Garan went to look at the other teams. It was a habit of his even in Terran: Know thy enemy, so to speak. Unlike the list in the Territory Center, the list of teams in the mercenary hall was more complete¡ªit indicated the level, number of members, ranking, place of establishment, and length of establishment. This meant that he''d have an idea of the areas with the highest level of competition, as well as a rough idea of the strength and resources of these teams. He arranged it from the newest to the oldest, simply because the new ones were more likely to compete with them in level. However, as he perused the list, his heart stopped. "Captain? What''s wrong?" Gill rarely saw the captain so flustered. Basically, he was only like this when it had something to do with sister-in-law. He followed the captain''s line of sight. "Gaea Chamber of Commerce?" Could it be? But it could also be a coincidence. After all, Gaea could mean many things. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But seeing the boss like this¡ª Gill had been close to the couple for many years now. He knew of the cheesy couple names they came up with. Most of them were catchy and cringe-y at the same time. He could still remember Algaran and Garhea. Ugh. What was that? One sounded like a prison and the other sounded like diarrhea. However, at this time the Captain''s eyes were zoned in on something. Garan''s eyes were fixed not only on the name but also on the Territory it was made in. Altera¨C Garan''s heart beat wildly. One of the two could''ve been a coincidence, but both? "Captain?" "I¡­ the territory is Altera." Gill blinked. And? "Altera means something to us." He said, roughly explaining the origin of the connection. Even Gill was surprised. After a pause, Gill had a semblance of a smile on his face. "It means they have a level 3 village center now. They should already be in a level 3 village by now, at least." Gill''s shoulders slumped in relief as he said so. Moreover, if the Captain was right, and the people behind this team¡ªor perhaps, the territory itself¡ªwere who they thought, then this was a very very good thing. "Looks like Terrans aren''t doing too badly." Gill still couldn''t help but shake his head he leaned closer to the captain, whispering. "Doesn''t it mean that sister-in-law could be¡­ a Lord herself?" Wow, just wow. But Garan barely registered this detail, his mind filled with the fact that he just received another clue to his wife. Garan was silent for a while. He was so still that no one would know he was shaking. Without another word, he strode to the information desk and paid a handful of silver. "Is there a way for territories to communicate?" The man behind the desk smiled amicably, taking the silver without blinking an eye. "Yes, but only towns with Mercenary Halls or Halls of Commerce could start communicating through the aether. Oh, and they have to have level 3 Territory Centers, of course. "The price is very high though, and the target recipient must also register in the service for a fee¡­" Garan nodded, his brain already thinking of what to tell her. His blood was boiling, knowing for sure he was correct. Althea really was here!! Chapter 277 - 277: New Finds Unfortunately, Altera was still a level 2 Village at this time and could not do any communication via aether at all. They would very quickly realize this as they knew how difficult it was for a territory to grow. They then only assumed that the system gave some exceptions to the newcomers of this world. Anyway, the little commotion hundreds of kilometers away had nothing to do with the rest of Altera, which was as lively as always. However, at this time, some people''s faces¡ªspecifically, the visitors from Bright and Vismont¡ªlooked a bit dark and sad. This was because today was the last day they could stay. They were already happy that the exodus was moved a couple hours further because their lords had a meeting to attend to, but it just wasn''t enough! "I''m going to the bathhouse again today. Totally worth it." Pip said, standing up after eating an early breakfast. "I totally deserve such a good bath." His companions nodded and followed him to the luxury area. They also bought some stall snacks to eat on a picnic on the way back. There was another group that went straight to the marketplaces, and another group went to the premier restaurant which they spent a lot of extra money on to get some seats for. The two lords, who had met by coincidence in the hallway, looked down at the happy residents from the mezzanine balcony. They could only marvel at the territory''s charm and hope they could mimic it to some success when they get back home. Speaking of which, even this ''typical'' inn was quite impressive. This was especially true with the public spaces, which was arranged in a way that the lounge was still grand and spacious with relatively intricate decorations. The rooms were also very comfortable, much better than the ones they were used to since coming here. There were also special torches, oil lamps, and protected fire pits to light up rooms at night. There were no candles yet, but this was a great alternative despite the limitations. In retrospect, it was also safer. There was natural ventilation that allowed the building to cool off. And there were provisions for ceiling fans, powered by the winds outside or manually (if there were no winds). Together they went down the stairs, observing more, trying to absorb as much as they could during their stay. They nodded to the people who greeted them and went outside, hoping to explore a bit more before leaving. Looking at how well the manual construction was done, they also marveled at the custom buildings nearby. From what they had studied so far, the custom houses were not only comfortable, but they were also self-sustainable¡ªthey had passive cooling, efficient heating, had their own water tank, and one could even use waste to make cooking gas. To be honest, when their people were excitedly telling them these features, they really couldn''t absorb how it was done. "The houses are also so much better than buildings in my place." "It is the same with me¡­" Although they had yet to try how custom buildings worked, they knew there would be a huge amount of technical talent to design it. "I feel a bit complicated." Matthew sighed. While glad that the Terrans retained such technical talents, he felt a little sad being left so far in the dust. "I wonder if there''s a way to get the blueprints for the custom houses. I only have a few hundred golds left, but I can spend a lot on it." "The actual application of the blueprint should also cost a lot." Micheal helpfully added. "..." Matthew didn''t know what to say. Micheal smiled, "However, I do agree with the purchase. Let''s open the topic later, maybe the Elders know about it." The perennially-smiling Micheal then paused as he said so, a look of introspection appearing on his face. "If the deals today work out, life in our territories will definitely improve." "Hmn, I agree." "..." "..." Suddenly, a new unasked question emerged: Which one of them would be able to do it better? The two looked at each other awkwardly, and Matthew cleared his throat in an attempt to diffuse it. "Did Silvia and the others mention the meeting time?" "Yes. Brunch time at the restaurant¡­ I believe the name is Terran Gastronomique Haven." Micheal said, lips twitching at the name. "Then¡­ Let''s meet there. I''m going around for a while." "I''ll do the same." And so, the two handsome lords separated ways, looking forward to what new things they would learn. Hopefully, ahead of the other. One Altera ahead of them was enough, how could they let the other easily do the same! ¡­ Meanwhile, Althea left the territory very early for her much-needed walk outside in search of new resources. To the eyes of others, she was just trying to train like everyone else. If they asked this in front of Althea, she would look at them bitterly. It would be great if she could actually get experience from the monsters outside, which were predominantly level 1s. Why was she the only one who couldn''t get experience points from the majority of the monsters outside? Another assumption for her frequent trips was that she was exploring the terrain for contribution points, which in a sense wasn''t false. Speaking of, two confirmed resource points have been discovered since the announcement. One was the Jathro, a potential source of improved burning oil, which reminded her of the tropical Jatropha plant back in Terran. In addition to the biogas oil that could rise from their processing, they could use it for cooking and lights. It was very sustainable as well. There was also a field of Tutu berry, a group similar to grapes. Although their Terran grapes were more delicious, the grapes here were larger and gave a different sort of crunch. The health benefits were also higher. It also had richer tannin content, making it potentially more delicious when it turned to wine! The two people who discovered these resources each received 5000 points. With them as an example, it just roused the enthusiasm for resource hunting to a whole new level. Althea herself continued to search, passing through already familiar plants. After perusing for a while, she eventually did end up finding new species. It was olive green in color and had elongated serrated leaves. She was very happy. Because of the lack of biodiversity in this place, it had been a long time since she encountered a new species. Unable to help herself, she immediately studied it. [Sagada Plant (Lv4). Effect of oral cleansing. Triggers cooling sensations.] "Oh?" she uttered, curious, touching it for study when she was sure there was no poison. It had a pleasing aroma to it, and it was soft and slightly fuzzy to the touch. Using Tori, she also determined a lot of its contents. It apparently contained a lot of Menthol, which not only gave off a cooling sensation when consumed, but it also had certain cleaning and disinfecting properties. The NPCs mentioned a plant that had a refreshing taste¡ªPapra, they called it¡ªthat could make the tongue feel cooling sensations. It was used to clean people''s mouths to a certain degree. She wasn''t sure how this one would fare against that plant, but she was happy to find something to enhance their hygiene products! She couldn''t celebrate for long though, as the heating rays reminded her that the sky had already changed. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She looked at her watch¡ªa glorified sundial that only worked if you knew your cardinal directions¡ªand saw it was time to go back. After all, she still had a meeting with the two lords. However, on her way back, she heard rustles not far away from where she stood. Curious, she sprinted in the direction of the noise, and a new scene was revealed when she reached a clearing not far away. It was a group of people, surrounded by dozens of level 1s, about a handful of level 2s, and one level 3 king. Although they were superior in number, monsters tended to be stronger than humans a level or two higher than them. One could imagine the struggle. After watching a bit, she realized that half of them were still familiar. The Alterans who went East. Hey, she wondered how their trip went. Chapter 278 - 278: The Third Territory Lord The most prominent among those fighting was Fable, who was stabbing a monster repeatedly, trying to get it to fall down already. He looked very haggard, very uncharacteristic of him after revealing his presence in Altera. The group fought monsters together, with the level 3 monster taking on 10 people at a time. She didn''t take action immediately. She wanted to see how her own people fared against such mobs and she also hoped to gauge the strength of the newcomers. Soon, Althea judged that even a star like Fable had adjusted well and had lost much of the classic Terran squeamishness, while the approximate level of the newcomers was more or less the same as Bright. Althea finally decided to help by taking out the Bellagio Bow. She wordlessly killed the level 3 king with a single shot¡ªa shot straight through the eyes¡ªmaking it easier for the people to kill the rest of the mobs. Then she killed most of the level 2s as well. There was no way she would let the rare experience-giving mob go at all! She also killed several monsters that were about to succeed in their attacks, saving a few lives by the way. [Juju Toad (Lv3), +70 copper +70 experience] [Juju Toad (Lv2), +50 copper +50 experience] [Juju Toad (Lv2), +50 copper +50 experience] As she shot, the people quickly realized that the burden had lightened. They didn''t immediately trace the direction as the arrows flew by too fast, however, they did eventually catch her image. They looked at the shapely woman wearing comfortable leather pants and jacket. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, and she was looking down at them like an immortal. At the sight of her, the men''s eyes were particularly lit up. Kimmy did not notice how the others reacted because she, too, was gaping. ''So cool¡­'' she whispered. Fable almost cried when he saw her. "Ms. Althea!" He yelled, swinging his sword and wanting to get closer to the heroic woman. Althea saw this and nodded, killing more monsters on their side regardless of the experience given. She looked at her people with concern. "Is everyone alright?" The Alterans looked touched at her heart and ended up reassuring her instead. "Yes, Ms. Althea! Thanks to you we only sustained minor injuries!" "It''s rare to encounter such a big group¡­" "It was an accident¡­ we came upon two mobs fighting, and ended up trapped in between¡­" Althea smiled and listened patiently to all their stories. It was only when she saw particularly bloodied visitors that she cut off their soliloquy. "Well, we''re close to the territory. Let''s get you guys treated." She said, and the others immediately nodded, scuttling after her. As she turned, another girl appeared right in front of her face. It was a woman with sun-kissed skin and a slightly plump but curvaceous figure. The woman had a good face, though it was discounted as she stared at Althea fanatically, looking a bit creepy. Fable saw this and cringed. He couldn''t¡­ he couldn''t have brought a disaster to Ms. Althea herself, right?! How he had sinned! Althea, on the other hand, could see not only Kimmy, but some of the men beside her looking at her obsessively. She sighed and decisively ignored them. She just looked at the woman who, based on how she was being protected, was probably someone of high importance. "My name is Kimmy. I''m the Lord of Belluga Village! Nice to meet you." Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea''s eyebrows rose a little and shook the other''s hand. "My name is Althea. I''m an elder in Altera village." "Elder?" Kimmy repeated. There were also elders in her territory (suggested by one of her husbands) but they were either really old or really famous back in Terran. Althea nodded and smiled at the female Lord (which fascinated them even more), "It so happens that the other elders and I will hold a meeting with two other visiting Lords." She said, "Would you like to join us?" "What?" "Other lords??" Kimmy and the others were shocked by the fact that other territories were already in contact. "Yes, two territories came to visit us, hoping to strike deals." The Bellugans looked at each other, interested. Combined with the products Alterans offered, the people of Belluga couldn''t help but feel itchy with curiosity. In any case, with various emotions, the team continued to travel towards Altera territory. ¡­ The group wasn''t as big as the others, with Fable''s group being just a little less than 100 people, a third of which were Alterans. However, this number was plenty attractive to nearby mobs. However, Althea dealt with all monsters above level 2. One was that she needed every bit of experience she could get, and the second was that she had a meeting to rush to. Anyway, the more the group walked, the more amazing they found Althea was. This greatly increased the momentum in everyone, especially the proud Alterans. As they walked back to the territory, Fable sighed and with some effort tried to walk along Althea''s swift and effortless pacing. Wiping a little sweat, he apologized to the woman. "I''m sorry, Ms. Althea." Her eyebrows rose. "What for?" He sent a furtive look at the woman who was low-key flirting with her man, finally noticing he was a bit injured. However, she never failed to look at their direction, sending a supposed ''seductive'' wink. He cringed. Althea had no idea what he was on about and simply asked what she was curious about. "How was the trip?" "Ah... well, it''s a commercial success." "Oh? What about the other aspect?" "Well¡­" he scratched his cheek, embarrassed. Fable mentioned that these people weren''t even planning on settling down at all, just curious about the products offered. He then turned to ask Althea. "How did the other teams go?" Fable could surmise that they went well though, considering two lords were there to strike deals¡­ "Very well, they each got hundreds of new residents." "Whoa!" Fable exclaimed, weakened a bit in shame. Not only did he do so much worse than the others, he might have even brought a plague-named-Kimmy to the territory! Althea saw his guilt and smiled. "You still brought the Lord didn''t you?" She said, "According to the others, it seemed like bringing in the lords would give much more points. "Further, bringing business because of partnership with other territories has an even bigger contribution." Fable lightened up again, but he remembered what Kimmy was actually in Altera for and he felt guilty. "Actually, this Lord could get a bit¡­ troublesome¡­" "Oh?" Fable was too ashamed to speak which actually just amused Althea. She then recalled the stories and ''popular science'' Fable had mentioned when they were making the groupings. Her eyebrows rose and she turned to the other woman, who was flirting with her injured lover at the moment. "I''m sure our men can handle her perfectly well." She told him, "Besides, she would be on our turf, remember? How many regulations do we have implemented?" "Oh!" The star exclaimed and his eyes brightened. Fable''s guilt was swept away like this and he smiled at Althea beautifully. Kimmy, who had been watching from afar, felt a little miffed that the two beautiful people hadn''t paid attention to her. She left her man and increased her pace to walk with them. She walked between the two and beamed at Althea, "How is it your territory?" "Very good. A lot of business opportunities." "Business? I am very interested!" "Well, our territory is about to close a few deals with two other territories." "Those other Lords are distributing the products?" "Yes." In the end, even if Kimmy was a lovebrain, she still came from a business family after all. This meant she knew when an opportunity to make money arose. "I''ll join in!" "Very well." Althea nodded, "I''m sure we''d close very advantageous deals for both sides." Then she paused, looking at their visitors very sincerely. "Our territory is also very beautiful, we welcome visitors very much." "Beautiful?" Kimmy asked, very interested. Althea smiled. "You must like beauty very much." Kimmy flushed. "Yes! Very much." "Then¡­ you would definitely love Altera." Without further ado, the group rushed to Altera, the newcomers heavily wondering what sights they would see. Chapter 279 - 279: Terran Gastronomique Haven (Part 1) When the small group arrived at the gates of Altera an hour later, the newcomers gaped everywhere. "Amazing¡­" Kimmy mumbled, eyes wide as she stared at the wide organized avenues and streets, abutted by lovely shops selling SO MANY THINGS! Kyaaa. Her shopaholic nature: Activated! "You can shop around after the meeting, milord," Raine whispered, pulling her out of her reverie. "We can stay here for a long time afterwards, the other two lords will not." "Oh¡­ right, right, right¡­" she said, (temporarily) bringing her sights to the road ahead, and Raine was just glad his reminder was heard. Anyway, Kimmy had no choice but to hold back, and she¡ªalong with every one of her companions¡ªstared at the stores with rumbling stomachs and wildly beating hearts. They went past the pedestrian-only street and were continually amazed by everything. Kimmy had to be pulled by Raine in order to stop her from going to the clothing stores. They weren''t even fashionista stores, just basic clothing, but she brightened at the sight of them. She had brought loads of clothes and shoes from Terran, but they were quickly dwindling and were dirty now. After all, how well could they wash clothes with limited water and no soap?? After so many weeks, she was really beginning to be stinky! She swore she''d buy dozens of new clothes today! After the meeting, of course. Eventually, they reached the end of the street and saw a large corner park. It was surrounded by buildings and there was even an open-air roofed market on one side filled with stalls. Even from afar, they could see the stalls selling a dazzling amount of food and crafts! Especially foods! They felt dizzy just thinking of what to choose when they could finally look around. In any case¡ªhow could a market be so developed? It''s only been a couple of weeks, hasn''t it? Time ran fast and they weren''t given enough time to appreciate as they arrived at their destination. They stopped in front of one of the three three-story buildings there. It was the premier restaurant of Altera: the Terran Gastronomique Haven. It was one of the large commercial buildings on the eastern end of Market Street. The restaurant was located near the Woodmasters Gallery, except it had a better location. It was not only next to the open area, currently a small park but it was also adjacent to a new street provision. Not to mention, the Eastern Market Street happened to be closer to the luxury areas near the river as well. With more than half of the villas there already occupied by rich people, it was already the perfect location for his high-end restaurant. In the future, when the new street opens, then this restaurant will also be a corner building in two pedestrian-only streets like the Supermarket. He''d also get more access to the richer crowd. The location was the primest of the prime. Cooke begged Althea to have it. Or rather, implored her to ''kindly ask the system'' for some priority in the rentals. These large commercial buildings could only be rented and Cooke also needed her ''connections'' to get the premier building. On paper, she was not the Lord, but everyone knew the Elders could make suggestions to the system. No one was surprised with the approval of the request and the subsequent procurement of this lot for rental. Although Cooke had bought a standard mixed-use building a while back, since becoming close with a few NPCs he had seen how much potential his business could have. This was especially true when the Protection Period ended when the territory would be open to more locals. So he decided to take a risk even before he got a return on all his initial investments and upgrade. He had a backer and a funder (i.e. Althea), anyway. As for what Cooke did with the first unit he bought along the main avenue, he was converting it into a high-end bakery instead, being manned by his not-yet-a-system-chef apprentice who arrived with Jun back then. "This is amazing¡­" Kimmy said and Althea''s attention was pulled back to the present. She turned to see the newcomers were currently admiring the buildings and their facades. In front of every large commercial building in the cul-de-sac, there was about two meters of easement. These were patches of open space that could be used in any way by the adjoining structure. Baron''s wood products gallery had a lot of wood sculptures and carved items to show their expertise. It was basically an area to showcase their usable outdoor furniture. For the restaurant, this easement was adorned with a small fountain with circulating water and flower gardens. "So beautiful! I didn''t know they had these flowers here." Kimmy said, softly touching a lavender flower, "Amazing¡­ how did you get water all the way here? Do you have pumps?" She asked, referring to the small fountain. It was a cascading fountain under the entrance canopy and right outside the door, welcoming all those who entered. Althea looked at the intricately formed fountain with a smile. Other than the restaurant, there were also various other and bigger fountains. They placed various types: there were birdbaths, cascading, freestanding, and spewing fountains. The most challenging, naturally, were the spewing fountains, and there were only three in the entire territory. One was in the main square in front of the village center, another in the luxury area, and another in her soon-to-open garden park. Althea looked at the other girl to answer her question. "We used the siphon system." "Siphon system?" Althea tried to explain, but it went over Kimmy''s head. Raine watched all of this and sighed, looking around the massive developments, even just around this park. He couldn''t imagine how so much could be built within a few weeks. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Beluga had its share of refugees and he naturally knew how it was in most territories. Frankly, he was quite proud of what they had accomplished before. But now¡­ His fist clenched, the ambition in his eyes sparkling a bit. He swore that his Belluga Village wouldn''t be left behind for long. Chapter 280 - 280: Terran Gastronomique Haven (Part 2) "I didn''t understand a word you said but it''s amazing¡­" Althea chuckled and shook her head, just leading them inside the restaurant. However, before taking a step she paused. "I will only be taking the lord and one confidant." The group of ''confidants'' froze but low-key stared at Kimmy eagerly. This was with the exception of Raine, who was quiet and looking stable as a rock. "Raine will come with me." Kimmy said and Raine smiled in response. "Thank you for the opportunity, my Lord." Kimmy nodded, trying to look cool and prestigious as always. She then turned and went to follow Althea''s tail. Before they parted though, Raine gave several dozen of silver for each of the ''rejected'' companions. "Use it to shop around," He said, "It''s not too bad, sitting in a meeting isn''t very fun, is it?" The people brightened. "Thanks, Master Raine!" They said and the man smiled, following their Lord through the door, met with the scenery inside. It was definitely high-end and even the door was so intricately carved. Their beams also had decorations, and there were even finials. The tables were hand-carved, and polished to a smooth luster that mirrored the ceiling above. Varnish had now been developed in small quantities. They had extracted only a bit of resin from the waul trees, but relatively simple things like this could be done for now. All the stone walls also had ornaments. They were ornate with wooden frames and carvings, adding to the overall atmosphere of the space. There were not many people here, but without exemption each one coming out had huge smiles on their faces, glowing with satisfaction. As they walked deeper, they couldn''t help but catch sight of the food being served. Gulp. The plates were a symphony of colors and texture attacking the eyes, and there was a wonderful aroma attacking their stomachs. Their stomach rumbled just thinking about it. Althea led them to the stairs and they climbed to the private rooms on the second floor. "This is the most prestigious restaurant in the territory, owned by a Michelin chef who triggered a high-level chef occupation. Almost every meal that comes out has special effects." "Occupation?" Kimmy looked confused while Raine frowned. Althea was a bit surprised. The other two lords were obviously familiar with it, why not this one? Although this girl looked sincere, there seemed to be a lot of details she missed. "Some people triggered inheritances. The NPCs¡ªaborigines¡ªsaid if the person had shown enough talent and innovation in this land, they could trigger it." "Aborigines?!" Althea sighed. "Just ask the other two lords, I don''t know much about this." Kimmy turned to meet Raine''s eyes, and they looked at each other with complicated expressions. Before coming, they had thought that their territory was not bad. But¡ªnot even considering the advancement and the products¡ªthey were so behind others, even in information? This was incredibly unsettling. At the same time they felt thankful that they followed her whimsy, letting them discover their shortcomings before it was too late. The two''s atmosphere turned somber and they just followed Althea to the room. They had a feeling that this meeting would be much, much, more meaningful than they thought. ¡­ "An honor to finally meet the great Althea Witt." Micheal smiled, and beside him was Matthew, who was staring at her for longer than proper. "You flatter me." She said, turning to also shake hands with Matthew. "Ah, hello," he said, meeting her hands. He flushed when he realized he was a bit sweaty on his palm. "Well, your name resounds in the botanical industry at such a young age." Micheal said, "The women in the family were great plant enthusiasts." "You knew me back in Terran?" "I know of your family." "Oh?" Micheal smiled mysteriously and didn''t say anything. Althea blinked but shrugged in response. She was a little curious, but she knew that this plaster-face (Ansel drilled the term in her head) definitely wasn''t planning on telling her anything. So she didn''t dwell on it and just invited everyone to take a seat. The different groups sat around the large circular table, facing each other with their own thoughts. On Altera''s side, there was Mathilda, Gru, and Rowan. On Bright''s, there was Micheal and the only confidant that came with him this time, his bodyguard Dig. On Vismont''s, it was Matthew and a wise old man Leo and Luke would recognize as the cloth repairer guy, Old Yao. And finally, to represent Belluga Village, there was Kimmy and her husband Raine. Before officially starting the meeting, Cooke personally led the service staff to deliver the food, much like how he''d deal with VIPs in the five-star restaurant he co-owned back then. The difference was that he was much more attentive this time. After all, in this new place, your backing was not just related to your money, but also your life. Of course, it so happened he really loved Altera Village and admired the Elder, so he naturally wanted the best deal for them. Thinking of this, he introduced the meals with gusto. "This is the grilled Gugu meat with soy-garlic sauce. The effect was to increase spirit regeneration by 10% for one minute." "This is a vegetable salad with tomato and the local warmmelon for crunch, a wonderful combination of Terran and local plants, put together by my special sauce made from various berries. The effect is to increase mana recovery by 10% for one minute." "Don''t think this is useless because you''re not going to fight outside any time soon, but the NPCs said that prolonged consumption of food with special effects has a chance of slightly improving permanent stats! "Anyway, this viand is ... He introduced the others and the visitors had to put effort not to drool. Not to mention, they were also amazed by the special effects. How great would it be to have a chef in your team, especially when you''re traveling? How do they get one? When Cooke left them with a smile and they started to dig in, it took a while for them to actually start talking. For some time, it looked like they were all angry at each other as they were too busy eating. In any case, the meal was fabulous and was even better than what they ate back in Terran. They chatted as they ate. A combination of good atmosphere and good food¡ªit inevitably formed a good setting for the meeting. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And this was a very good thing. After all, this was a meeting that would affect four territories. Chapter 281 - 281: Meeting Between Four Territories After half an hour of amicable eating, Althea had a preliminary impression of the three Lords. Micheal and Matthew had their own similarities¡ªwearing smiling masks and giving off a pleasant first impression to most people. However, Matthew''s was a bit milder, like a mask he wore all the time¡ªwhich wasn''t a surprise for a politician. On the other hand, Michael''s smile was akin to a snake, ready to strike. The third lord, Kimmy, was a spoiled brat but without a bad heart. She simply loved beauty and was open to what she wanted. She had a lot to learn, but might still be able to do well with experience. As they ate the fruit platter, Micheal began with his inquiries, "Do you know of custom buildings? We hope to buy the blueprint." Althea looked at him in interest. In fact, the only way that a custom building design could be copied had to be directly created by the Lord. For maximum effect, some necessary details had to be included. A lord with technical knowledge would have massive advantages over lords who didn''t have it, even if they had talents who could create drawings they could base on. It was akin to sculpting, say, a car. Someone who knew its inner workings would definitely create a much more holistic structure than, say, someone who carved the image based on another''s ideas. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, there was a decent alternative. It was just that if the other lords lacked technical talents, they might not be able to capture some of the intricacies. Regardless, Althea, a mere Elder, should not know these things. So, she did not say anything. "I''m not certain. Perhaps Oslo, an aborigine Architect, may be able to shed light on some of your concerns." Micheal looked at her deeply before nodding, "I see¡­ thank you." Matthew was listening closely and said the same. "So those are custom buildings¡­" Kimmy mumbled and turned to Raine. "We already used it for my house though¡­" "Well, we can still manipulate some basic features so they become more useful." "Hm, you''re right." The dessert was served shortly after this. They were fruit platters and fruit tarts, using various vegetation, mostly local. Sugar still hadn''t been used commercially, however, so the sweetness was still limited by current conditions. Even so, the desserts were lovely and the guests loved them very much. They didn''t even have to pretend to be polite and not mention the main topics for a while. They genuinely forgot about their troubles as they ate. Althea could only imagine what Cooke could do if he got hold of actual sugar. She almost drooled at the thought. Anyway, after a short period of small talk, they did shift back to the main topic of this meetup. That was: The Deals. After cleaning up their plates, Matthew and Micheal looked at each other and then at Althea and the other Elders. "About the items we want and the purchase limits¡­ "We would like to gain purchase limits that would suffice our current populations¡­" "That''s not possible," Althea said, "If you''d notice, the entirety of our population is just a fraction of each of yours." The lords nodded, knowing their request was a long shot. In the end, they (using some old Terran paper various cronies gathered separately) gave her a compilation of their requests, based on what had been offered before in their territories, as well as new products they had seen when they got here. The discussion then continued from what the territory was willing to offer and how much they were willing to pay. The end discussion was similar to what Ansel and Micheal had discussed before, but much more detailed and comprised of wider array of products. Micheal looked at her. "Can we also have seeds?" "Sure, but only a limited amount and variety. For now, I''m selling only staples like rice and wheat." Even if she was so limiting, the others were as bright as the sun. "That''s good enough! Thank you!" "I can also sell planting guides for these two crops. For a price, of course." The three looked at her, touched. She really didn''t need to do this, but she did. It could be said that even if Ms. Althea was a bit of a money-grubber, she was a kind and fair one! As such, it was finalized that Altera would be selling them seeds owned by the territory, as well as finished products from Althea''s team like flour, rice, cloth, and others. While it was still twice as much as that of the locals, they could definitely sell these things for a much higher price, so none of them minded. "The territory seems to give you a lot of preferential treatment." Micheal smiled, looking at the product list 80% of which is owned by Althea. Obviously, even if she paid taxes, she was the biggest winner in all of this. Althea only smiled with a nonchalant shrug. "I am the top taxpayer after all. I ought to have some perks." Micheal just nodded mysteriously and Matthew, who had been predominantly quiet for a politician finally spoke out. "It''s really amazing, how much you''ve built in a few weeks." Matthew couldn''t help but mention, that his tone of voice was unconsciously gentler than usual. This made Yao, the grandfather figure beside him, look at him in interest. "Thank you," she said, "I have always had an obsession with plants and experiments. I am happy that it had some use even in this world." "I hope you discover more." Matthew said, eyes softening, "Our Vismont will gladly buy it." Althea smiled and nodded. "Thank you." she said, "I''m actually here to mention something about this to you." She paused and looked at the three lords in alteration. "There should also be resource points in your respective territories. We have already explored our surrounding areas, but I''m sure there are other species around yours. "If you were to send me some samples of unfamiliar vegetation, I can study it for you. Of course, you must provide me with a good bulk as my share." The three Lords and their confidantes brightened at this. A woman who could elevate the agriculture and food culture of an entire territory in less than a month was definitely not bluffing. This was giving them money! Mathilda looked at the solidifying deals and nodded. "There are also some concerns. Will you be allowing caravans from your territories to buy as well?" The three lords looked at each other, and then to their confidants, in thought. In the end, the lords jointly decided to allow their people to make deals with the Supermarket. Anyway, the buying price and purchase limits were still lower than theirs. More importantly: It would drive the economy of their territory and improve people''s lives, how could they reject them? This would also increase the room for innovation in their respective territories. In such a short time, they could already see the development of their territories skyrocket, as well as the subsequent improvement of their citizens'', and their own, lives. They couldn''t help but look at the smiling Althea in deep thought. No wonder people here call her a ''hero''! Chapter 282 - 282: Four-way Alliance "So this is what a level 3 Village center looks like..." Kimmy said, looking at the three-story building in front of them. They entered and were met with a lot of people doing their own transactions. Seeing them, a lot of them stopped what they were doing and turned, looking at them curiously. Kimmy looked fascinatedly at the decorations, and then to the chandelier and the sconce lights. They looked very good, almost like they had electricity. She turned to look at the two other lords with fluttering eyelashes, blushing a little. "Do your village centers look the same?" The two men cringed a bit, unconsciously stepping back. "No. We saw it when it was level two, and there are still differences." For one, theirs were much plainer. It could be said that the Lord here tapped every chance of customization. It was really, very, very rich. Anyway, they weren''t exactly left to appreciate in peace as people noticed Althea, who had entered a bit later than they did. "It''s Ms. Althea!" A yell from the crowd greeted amicably. This was a catalyst for the cacophony of greetings that followed. "Hello, Ms. Althea! Fancy seeing you here." "Wow, good afternoon Miss!" "Still as beautiful as always, Miss Althea!" "How are the babies?" Many people approached them, genuinely adoring the woman. Althea smiled and responded to what she could, temporarily leaving the visitors some meters away for their own comfort. "She''s really popular and loved," Yao said, smiling. This made Micheal smile beside him. "Well, not only is she charming, she basically holds the economic lifeline of the territory." "Do you think the Lord here will¡­" Matthew couldn''t help but look at the woman worriedly. Historically, the kings didn''t like other people adoring others. "I don''t think so," Micheal said, "Besides, if the Lord here is that type of person, he wouldn''t have hidden his identity in the first place." "Ah, that makes sense," Matthew said, shoulders slumping in relief. Similarly, the other two elders were also quite popular, chatting with the citizens casually and having fun, yet receiving the respect they ought to have at the same time. It was quite envious. Micheal''s rule, while fair, also had a tinge of force and fear in it. Matthew''s depended on charisma and the concept of ''unity against a common enemy'', though after Higson''s killings were revealed it had already been discounted. As for Kimmy''s¡­, she wasn''t entirely sure how her territory was so well-managed. Speaking of Kimmy, it was here that she walked near the two men. "Where does that go? Why isn''t anyone going up?" She asked, pointing at the seemingly unused stairs. "The NPCs go down from there." Althea, who had just gotten back to them, answered. She then led them to a free platform to seal their contract. Matthew stared, "Why are they called NPCs anyway?" She shrugged, "Gamifying when we can lighten up the pressure. We''ll ease out of the term eventually." "Does the choices of NPCs get better?" Micheal asked as he stepped forward to follow her lead. Althea shook her head. "Our NPCs said quality would improve after we became a town." "Hmn.. makes sense." "So this is where NPCs appear?" Kimmy mumbled, ranting at Raine beside her. "I should''ve spent on it instead of the bathhouse! You should''ve warned me!" Raine froze a bit, and nodded passively. "I apologize, my Lord." She had forgotten this had been the latter''s advice all along. She just didn''t listen, saying something about needing a good bath after drowning in this hell hole for so long. Althea took a moment to watch the three lords again, wondering whether she should inform them more of what she knew. She''d rather their territories improve along with her than get buried in the next beast tides. Other than the fact that they were all humans and they should help each other out, there was an economic reason for it as well. As they said, in terms of territories, rich neighbors could bring richer gains. The characters of these three weren''t bad. They were also young and open to innovation. She could also see the sincere desire to improve their territories and the lives of the people. After some thought, she came to a conclusion and looked at them with sincere invitation. "After the signing," She paused, "Can I meet privately with the three Lords at noon, before you go?" She said, "I''d like to invite you to a light after-lunch snack in my place." The people looked at her a little surprised, but seeing she was serious, they couldn''t help but be touched. "It''ll be an honor," Micheal said with an enigmatic smile, patting down his bodyguard Dig, who was about to speak. This man always thought of worst-case scenarios. This was naturally a good quality for his job, but Micheal wasn''t having it today. He could already imagine what he was about to say: They were outside their turf, anything could happen. However, he still had an idea about the character of this woman. She could be trusted. The groups settled around the panel. After Althea typed in some things, a glittery holographic screen appeared in front of all of them. It summarised all that they had talked about earlier, including some punishments for breaching it (mostly in gold, though heavier transgressions could mean losing a building slot). [Would you like to finalize this deal with Gaea Chamber of Commerce?] Matthew and Kimmy were new and read carefully. Micheal had signed a contract with Ansel before, and this was just a further stamp to the deal. At the same time, the three lords pressed enter, and an instantaneous light surrounded them all, catching even more attention on them. Soon, an announcement echoed across the territory¡ªto everyone, including the visitors. [Gaea Chamber of Commerce: Our company has now secured partnerships with Terran Territories: Bright Villages, Vismont Village, and Belluga Village.] This way, everyone would be aware of the new deals that had been happening, so they could plan their own trades accordingly. This would also signal other commercial teams like the Woodmasters to follow her lead and create partnerships with other territories as well. Althea looked at the announcement in thought, thinking whether she should tighten the relationship. Allied territories are different from subsidiary territories where the latter would give some tax to the leading territory. However, allied territories were usually between territories of equal strengths or at least of equal advantages towards the other. As it stood, she really didn''t have much advantage in allying with them. However, humanitarian desires aside, she didn''t believe it would be useless in the objective sense. She could just look at these four territories as an extension of her market. And a larger market meant money. Formalizing the alliance would allow a smoother flow of people and resources, which would bring her quite a bit of gold in tourism. Anyway, she''d be telling them a lot of what she knew already. She might as well formalize it. [Territory Announcement: It has been detected that major commercial partnerships have been concluded with three territories. [Elder Mathilda will be representing Altera Village. The territory system allows for the formation of allied territories at the judgment of the three existing Elders.] Gru flinched and looked at the other two in surprise. Althea shrugged saying she was just as surprised, and Mathilda only chuckled. "Well, better make friends than enemies, right?" The other three lords watched their interaction with mixed moods. While excited, they were also apprehensive. They were still self-aware. They didn''t seem to have anything to offer to warrant an alliance. It felt like they''d be taking all the advantages. "I¡­ is this alright?" They asked and Mathilda nodded. "The Village System had spoken. I''m just here to represent." The other visitors gulped and looked at each other, a bit disbelieving at this good thing that dropped on their heads. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, at this announcement, people from all territories gathered to watch this momentous occasion. The village center was packed but proper, with everyone watching closely as the lords and elders stood in a circle around the platform, no doubt seeing magic screens in front of them. [A four-way alliance between Altera Village (Lv2), Bright Village (Lv2), Viamont Village (Lv2), and Belluga Village (Lv2) is being established, effective immediately] [Each territory will now be able to communicate via Territory Centers (Lv3). [Allied territories cannot go to war, but they can participate in allied wars of the same level.] [Please confirm. [Yes | No] The four people¡ªMathilda, Micheal, Matthew, and Kimmy¡ªselected their answers at the same time, and patterned circles appeared under their feet the instant they did so. It was much brighter and larger than typical commercial deals, signifying its effect and importance. No one spoke and waited for it to pass. When the light of alliance ebbed, everyone cheered. Even those who didn''t know each other from different territories patted each other''s backs. Regardless of where they were from, they now had more allies¡ªand this was a marvelous thing! Chapter 283 - 283: Caveats A few minutes later they arrived at the Eastern area where the farmvillas were. The other lords had already asked their confidants and other citizens to prepare for departure in a few hours. The farmvilla area was very cozy with wide roads and larger parks. And because of the large lots, the entire community felt much more open and quaint. The two men had only seen the area from afar and it felt more comfortable up close. Soon, they arrived outside her house, a large private villa with a tall fence. They could see plants like bougainvillea from outside, one could tell the gardens inside were well taken care of. "Let''s go in." She said with a smile, opening the door to welcome her new allies. What greeted them was a beautiful garden of various colors and decor. The wonderful mix of scents surrounded them, already immersing them in a better mood. There were even hanging flower gardens, ponds, and swings. Kimmy couldn''t help but exclaim. "Now, this is living!" It was like entering a mini fairyland. "How do you maintain this?" "Hired a gardener," She responded vaguely, "One of the NPCs hired by the territory to be exact." She added, "He also takes care of my private tourist spots." "It was mentioned by one of you that private individuals can hire NPCs." Matthew asked, "How was that arranged?" "People that hire NPCs pay about 20 gold a month to Level E professionals, and 30 to Level D." The two lords nodded. Doubling the hiring fee seemed fair and a new way for the Lords to make money. This note was added to their mental checklists. Kimmy gaped at them though. "A month? So expensive?" "Well, if you choose well, they''re usually worth the price." "Oh.." The group walked slowly, appreciating the scenery, eventually reaching the house. Micheal could see the module, but everything else was very different. It was the gregarious Kimmy who spoke up. "This is still a custom house?" Althea pretended to be unsure. "I''m not sure¡­ all of the houses and the shops looked alike when they appeared." This may seem vague, but this was enough of a hint. In particular, the sharp Micheal and Matthew had indeed taken the hint and were already trying to design. If they knew who the Lord was, they would beg for the blueprints even for a high price! They hoped their cronies would fulfill their mission to look for this Oslo! They reached the threshold of the house and entered after taking off their shoes. There was an ante-sala right after the door and they walked deeper to reach the living room proper. Here, they saw a large animal fur cot with children and babies. There were three babies playing on the ground to be exact, and they were happily nannied by little Maya and (very rarely) little Horus. "This is Maya, Harold''s daughter. And this is little Horus, adopted into our team." The little boy turned his head to them with a smile, but then he saw Matthew and frowned deeply, almost hissing like a wild child. Althea walked forward and patted the little boy''s head. "He''s¡­ from Vismont before." "I¡­ see¡­" Matthew said, and suddenly he couldn''t look straight into the boy''s eyes. Beauty-lover-Kimmy sparkled. "They''re so beautifuuullll. Especially the infants! Are they¡­ twins?!" She exclaimed, successfully diffusing the tense atmosphere. Althea smiled. "The twins are mine." She said placing smooches on the children''s faces. It was a beautiful sight. Kimmy exclaimed. "No wonder they''re so cuteeee!" Matthew froze, looking a bit pale, while Micheal''s eyebrows rose, and his curiosity towards the children rose to a new height. ''Their children? How would they be like?'' He mused. Althea didn''t notice these reactions. She simply led them to the verandah and took some ready-made biscuits, cakes, and tea to serve. As they settled down on the comfortable seats, Althea took a sip of tea before speaking. "You may be wondering why I called you here." They nodded, all while taking a bite of the snack and a sip of the wonderful tea. "The elders and I found quite a few things from the NPCs." She paused. "Perhaps because there was no one who claimed lordship, if there was any, the relationship between Alterans and NPCs has always been particularly close." The men nodded. They have heard from their people that NPCs always joined in with the locals during the many festivities and were rarely absent during nightlife activities. Amazingly, they had become true members of the territory, something the other territories had yet to have. It was amazing, let alone to Matthew and Kimmy who didn''t even have NPCs at all. "I''m starting with the so-called Protection Period. What do you know about it so far?" It was Micheal who spoke, "It protects us from much stronger enemies. Giving us some time to grow. " He said, and Althea nodded. "The Protection Period¡­ is indeed important in guarding us during our growth period. "But¡­ what meets us outside is much, much, worse than you could probably imagine." The three froze and looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. No matter how triggered though, they waited for her to continue. Well, mostly. Kimmy did not have patience in her vocabulary. "What do you mean? Please tell us!" She first told them about the level differences. "What are the average levels in your territory?" "Two," Kimmy said, Matthew nodded. "Mine also." "It is three in ours," Micheal said, earning admiring gazes from the other two. "It is four in Altera." The trio stared at her, eyes wide, especially Kimmy. "That''s amazing!" Althea shook her head. "This is nothing. This level is just about the average level of Aborigines in their early adolescence. "The weakest NPC I had was level 14, and he''s a gardener." "What?" Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Level 7 or 8 is probably the minimum level of fighters for aboriginal villages." She told them, "Once the protection period ends¡­ more people at this level will get to us. "We have to be prepared." Kimmy looked particularly worried. "Would they attack us immediately?" Althea shook her head. "This is the other thing I hope to mention to you. "In this Continent, it was expressly forbidden to attack a territory arbitrarily and without warning." She raised her hand to prevent them from misunderstanding. "But it doesn''t mean there won''t be any attacks." "First, a small force could do damage without triggering it." She said and looked at Matthew. "Which was what happened in Vismont before, where only a few scores of Alternans fought, with Rowan guarding their safeties." Matthew nodded. "They basically overthrew a shadow regime without triggering it." The others didn''t even have the time to admire Altera''s strength when Althea began to speak again. "There is a culture here. Something called Territory Wars¡­" "What?" Kimmy uttered out. That didn''t sound very good. No, that sounded terrifying. "From what I heard, territories can issue formal attacks to territories of the same levels. A maximum of twelve times a year was allowed." Silence. She didn''t speak for a while, allowing this information to be absorbed, at least to a certain degree. "We not only have to deal with mobs¡ªwhich will also be stronger¡ªbut also fellow human beings¡­" Micheal said, rubbing his temple. "Had the NPCs said anything about the monsters?" Although he had NPCs, they really didn''t care to tell him much, for now. "Yes. In villages, level 5 mobs are normal." "What?" "Shit!" Kimmy yelled, rubbing her head. "Level 2 mobs are already a big problem to us!" "There''s also another important thing I''m telling you alone and not your confidants." The three gulped, instinctively knowing the gravitas of what she was about to say. "In Territory Wars, the Lord token separates from the body. Whoever holds the token until the war ends, should they want to, will be the new Lord." There was silence in the room, trying to absorb this information and its various implications. The three Lords were silent, feeling heavy in their hearts. They thought they could finally begin to build a stable life¡­ but it seemed that they thought too much. Just¡­ what kind of world is this? Chapter 284 - 284: Leaving (Part 1) Soon came the time to finally leave, and Althea saw them off to the gates. Kimmy hugged her goodbye, while Micheal shook her hand. Matthew also extended his hand to shake her hand, though his eyes were fixed on her occupied ring finger. "Where''s¡­ your husband?" He asked but paused immediately, regaining some of his lost tact. "I mean if you don''t mind me asking." "We were not together when the migration happened," She politely responded, "But he will come for me." Althea said so with confidence. Don''t ask her why she knew, it was her intuition. Matthew stiffly nodded, pushing down the sadness, and politely said goodbye. He then turned his body to join the other two. The three Lords once again thanked her profusely before heading away, minds still bugged by the plethora of worries they''d have to face, among many other things. As they walked far, nearing the center, they agreed to separate and meet with their respective teams. Of course, not without a tad of flirting, courtesy of Kimmy. "If you ever want to have fun, call me~" She said, winking, already figuring out how to upgrade the Village Center to do so. The two men nodded stiffly, and Kimmy¡ªseeing as neither man wanted to speak with her (for now)¡ªreluctantly went away. Watching Kimmy leave, Matthew finally couldn''t help but ask Micheal. "I have a question." "Ask away." The other man said with a cool smile as they walked. "You said before that you know of her family." "Did I?" "Did you know her husband?" "Maybe." "How is he? I mean¡­" "I know what you''re trying to ask," Micheal said with an unchanging voice and Matthew flushed in embarrassment of being seen. "No one is better, unfortunately." He made a rare sneer. "Even in his job, he could be said to be the best." Matthew paused, blinking. This guy looked so impassive but he really felt very palpable annoyance coming out from him at this moment. Hey, could it be...Michael had a beef with Althea''s husband?! "You¡­ have an animosity with him?" Micheal shrugged. "Well, in our previous life. But not much of that matters now, right?" Matthew sighed, nodding, though he couldn''t help but feel a bit curious about the details. The two then reached the inn and separated with their own thoughts, putting other things aside. No matter what, they had already built their home. Now they had to do everything to protect it. ¡­. Some time later, on the side of the inn where the Bellugans stayed in, Raine greeted the Lord when he received news of her return. "Was the harvest good? Did we get a lot of information?" He paused and thought of the topic that interested their lord the most. "Did you get close to any of the two lords, milord?" Kimmy''s shoulder slumped but it was only because she remembered all of Althea''s warnings. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Raine saw her sad and was not surprised, assuming her flirtations didn''t click. Those were powerful men, after all, so he just assumed Kimmy was rejected and hurried to comfort her. Raine patted her hair and spoke, "Well, Fable did mention a lot of handsome men here. I have indeed seen someone with different hair colors¡ª" "We have no time for that." Kimmy cut him off. Raine was quite startled by Kimmy''s rare seriousness and was even more surprised when she started giving rational orders one after another. "Buy all the resources you can, we''ll go back to the territory today." She said, in stark contrast to her plans to stay for a long time and shop her heart out. Although Raine was a bit confused, he nodded and followed her orders to a tee. Something serious must''ve happened during that meeting. ¡­ On Matthews'' side, he met up with his sister at the inn. She was looking at him sheepishly and he was frankly a little scared. "What is it?" What he didn''t expect was that Melissa would pull him for a guilty surprise. She brought him to the luxury area. It was the first time he saw it up close, and he found it difficult to believe other people had luxury areas when his people were just meeting their basic needs. They passed by the gorgeous gardens with plenty of families and lovers having fun and knew this must be the garden Althea was talking about. Such a beautiful woman creating such beautiful things¡­ While it wasn''t to the point that he never had a girlfriend or two, his experience disallowed him to put too much into relationships. It was just that he was not innocent and he knew that he was very attracted to the woman. Too bad she was already married. And with children. "We''re here." They stopped in front of a villa with a garden, which reminded him of Althea''s house a bit. "I bought it, I paid for the downpayment with the money you gave me." . . . "WHAT?!" Melissa flinched and hurriedly put her hands together. "Don''t be mad! I''ll pay you back I promise, and I won''t bother you with the monthly payments. I already partnered with Eugene ¡ª" "Who?" He raised his hand to stop her and breathed in, trying to understand. He already suffered huge amounts of information overload today, he had to take time to absorb this new thing. As far as he knew, one could not own real estate in Altera unless they were permanent residents! "First off¡­ you decided to immigrate without telling me?" He asked, trying to sound calm, but his voice croaked a bit regardless. Melissa held his arm to comfort him. "No, no. Rather than immigration, think of it as Vismont opening a¡­ branch in Altera. "I''m planning on making it into a homestead of sorts, renting out the other rooms for an expensive fee. Not everyone can buy these villas after all, and a lot of people would want to experience it. "Besides, wouldn''t you want to live in such a nice place when you visit? You''ll come often for business won''t you?" Matthew looked at his sister who''s eyes were wide in apprehension. It calmed his heart a bit, feeling a bit guilty for making his sister¡ªwho was five years older than him¡ªso fretful. It would be a lie to say he wasn''t shocked and a little betrayed, but he had seen how Altera was. His sister would live here well and safely. Not to mention the things he heard this morning; Altera was definitely the best Territory to be in after the Protection Period. But¡­ who''s Eugene? "He''s¡­. My new colleague." She mumbled, unconsciously twirling her hair. "He used to be my senior brother (though we are about the same age)¡­ he is also one of the most important people in the territory!" "Oh?" He asked, arms crossed. How could he not see his sister''s flustered state? But he didn''t point it out. She was obviously still very shy about it. Unexpectedly, her shoulders slumped more, and began to feel teary. His eyebrows furrowed, but he patiently waited for her to speak. Then, she told him the true reason she decided to stay. "I¡­ I feel too ashamed to face the people of Vismont." Ah. For a while, the two of them just stood still, one absorbing the surprise and the other thinking of ways to calm him. In the end, Matthew just sighed. He looked up at the sky as he calmed himself down. A few moments later, he held his sister''s hand like he always did. "You did the right thing." He told her after a long pause. "As long as you''re happy." Chapter 285 - 285: Leaving (Part 2) Meanwhile, on Bright''s side, Micheal found a new person waiting for him. His eyebrows rose as he saw the handsome man with shimmering golden hair, leisurely drinking tea in the lounge. A lot of women were also staring at him, gesturing to want to talk, but did not carelessly approach as they would''ve, say, been watching Fable instead. It probably had to do with the man''s power and position. Not to mention, the man reeked of class. He was definitely well-bred. Eventually, though, the women did gather courage to chat him up but before they could approach, the man''s eyes lifted and met his. Micheal''s eyebrows rose and he immediately walked to him. "Mr. Oslo." Oslo nodded, relaxing his back against the upholstery. "Ms. Althea told me you were looking for me." "Yes," Micheal said, walking over and sitting to the seat in front of the aborigine. As he sat, he heard the man utter, "Where''s the other one?" "He went out with his sister." He said, "Are you here for the blueprint?" "Yes." He paused, "Well, you can tell him he (as an Allied territory) can now buy the blueprint in the village center. The price is 100 gold upfront and 5% of the subsequent profits will go to Altera. "However, the drawings could only be so detailed, due to the lack of papyru¡­ paper. How much you could copy would still depend on you." "...thank you," Micheal said and lifted his head when he saw the man leave. "Wait." Oslo paused, meeting the other man''s eyes. "Tell your Lord of our utmost gratitude." The blonde smiled, and he just walked away. ¡­ At this time, another set of goodbyes was happening in the aforementioned lord''s home. After receiving the order of their imminent departure, Winona ran to Althea to say goodbye. "I will come back." She said, burying her blonde head on her friend''s shoulder. "With my grandma, unfortunately." "I''ll reserve a villa for you. I''ll add furniture." Althea said and the other woman lifted her head and looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. Winona wanted to reject it, but she wouldn''t hear the end of it if grandma found out. In the end, she accepted Althea''s kindness. "I''ll make sure to pay you." Althea chuckled, patting the other girl''s head. "Just take it as advanced payment for being an excellent employee." "Awwww." The two chatted for a few more minutes, with Althea saying all the precautions, and was teased by Winona for becoming an old mother. "Remember," Althea finally said, "You must take care of yourself." The two hugged and Winona finally had to leave. "Wait," Althea said, taking out a few small boxes from her space. First, she showed the largest box. It was a custom organizer with sections, about 100 millimeters in each dimension. "Do you still have space?" Althea asked. Winona blinked and nodded. "Here are some products not yet made available to the public due to the limitations of raw materials," She said, gently placing the box on the nearest surface to show its contents. Inside, there were jars of salt and sugar, and other seasonings, some of which were not yet available in the supermarket. Winona gulped as she looked at the bottles with careful notes telling her what it was and how to use them. There was also a smaller box on the side. "These are cookies that Harold baked. They had the effect of slowly increasing health. On the other hand, this biscuit has the effect of recovering mana." "These little balls here are gas bombs. You can throw it on monster mobs to distract them a bit. They have limited effects though, as some monsters have stronger lungs, so please don''t rely on it too much. I can only give you three pieces, unfortunately." And finally, Althea pointed at another box. "Finally I have several bars of soap of differing scents, jars of shampoo, preliminary versions of toothpaste, sanitary napkins, and my perfume. It''s Sweetened Rose." Winona had already been tearing up a bit when Althea out the items. But now she was sobbing. There was even Althea''s perfume! Sweetened Rose! Her favorite!! Instead of saying anything, she just glomped at Althea again, so very touched. "I looooveeee youuuuuu this is the best gift everrrrrr!!" ¡­ Eventually, the call time had come, and it was the moment for all the visitors to leave if they wanted to arrive at their respective territories within the day. Seeing their allies (and some even made friends) go, a lot of Alterans grouped and saw them off, which kind of made the people leaving want to both blush and cry. They watched Vismont and Belluga leave the territory one by one, everyone carrying at least two bags. Some people even managed to buy the few saleable rickshaws available to hold onto items. Of course, because there was no rubber yet, they would have to prepare to replace the wheels midway. They also bought a lot of spare tires. In fact, if there were more production of rickshaws, it was estimated there would be a lot more. "Ah, they''ve only been here a day, but I feel quite sad," Harold mumbled beside her, and Sheila nodded as he watched them go. Althea and her team joined the territory for the send-off. They stared at the thinning crowd with complex expressions. Probably because they were all allies now, the parting felt particularly sad. It could also be because this place was too unstable and dangerous. Who knew how many people leaving now would ever be able to come back here? Only Bright Territory was left, and Micheal turned to look at his team as they said their final goodbyes. Like with the other two territories, he saw that the members coming back were a bit fewer than when they came. This wasn''t a surprise as most people if they had a choice, would naturally decide to choose Altera instead of any of their territories. One of the people who stayed was Ramona, and she was currently saying goodbye to her ''best friend''. Sandra hugged the girl goodbye. "I will tell him your decision. I''m sure he''ll understand." Sandra said, really like a good sister. Ramona nodded and hugged her again. "Just tell him I''m protected now and I''m living a decent life." Ramona said, and Sandra parted with her with great ''sisterly reluctance'' before joining the team. As she exited the tall walls with the others, Sandra could not help looking back and felt regretful. If she had better options like Ramona (though anyone here was better than what Ramona had back in Bright), she''d have stayed as well. But her man was one of the more powerful figures in the territory. As they said, it was better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. If she found a young handsome capable man then she would jump at the chance. Unfortunately, she didn''t. She didn''t even consider the aborigines like Oslo and Rowan. Their level was too high that they could make her kneel with their auras alone. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel''s handsome face flashed through her head. It would be great if she were to capture him¡­ But¡­ she didn''t even know where Ansel disappeared to. Chapter 286 - 286: Iron Bog (Part 1) At this time, Ansel was currently a couple of kilometers away, in a place where the air was thick and humidity was intense. All they could hear was their sticky footsteps and the occasional gurgle of bubbling muck. They were currently halfway through the mission, heading to what would¡ªhopefully¡ªbe an iron bog. When the announcement was sent to all of them, he was approached by a shy man¡ªa refugee who arrived with Jun back then. Even before leaving Bright, they immediately mapped (okay, it wasn''t him) the approximate direction of the bog and they decided to take the risk. The trip was set to take at least a full day, and the output wasn''t even certain. However, although the trip could go to waste, iron was just too important to the entire territory not to take a look. Ansel stopped and looked at the sky, wondering if they''d be able to get back to the territory by sunlight. He looked at the person beside him and asked, "What time is it?" The man raised his sundial-like watch to check the time, "It is a few hours before noon." "Thanks," he said, his sights returning to the rough untravelled path in front. Ansel would also want to be able to tell the time. Sadly, the sundial watch didn''t work well with someone as directionally-challenged as he was. Alas! No one was perfect, not even him. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Putting these thoughts aside, his small party continued to trudge through the humid forests. Soon the ground changed and got muddier and muddier, soon arriving in front of a swamp. Ansel''s dark green eyes stared at the disgusting viscous pond. His eyes twitched every time the bubbles spit some liquid on his leather boots. He looked around and saw the trees here were quite unique, with moss and lichen adorning their branches and trunks, blending in the greenish hues of the bog. Their forms were twisted and bare, their barks were weathered and textured, and their leaves were dark and leathery. This wasn''t a surprise because, after all, these poor trees grew in iron-rich water and acidic soil. There was also the occasional fruit, though they smelled bitter and sour. He didn''t even try to taste it. He simply took a bit of fruit and trees for Althea to study. Later, Althea would indeed study these thoroughly. The usefulness of the fruits wasn''t much, but the wood could be used, even just the branches, for sustainability. After that, deep red and purple dyes would be introduced to the territory, belatedly adding another batch of contributions to their group. Further, these trees were also rich in tanning compounds, which could be sold to Baron for his tanning business. Of course, for now, he didn''t know these things because his eyes were attracted by the stones half submerged in the muck, which created a (very small) pathway to the other side. It was inviting people to step, and one wrong step and one could be sucked. So they didn''t cross. Instead, Ansel took a random big rock that could fit in his space and then released it on top of the bog. Flop! They watched as the stone dropped on the disgusting fluid, forming a ripple that was quickly absorbed by the viscosity. Nothing happened for a moment and Ansel almost thought he was being overly paranoid. But then¡ªas if the viscous liquid responded to his ''attack''¡ªmore and more bubbles began to form. These bubbles got larger than the bubbles before them, popping disgustingly and hitting not just their boots but also their pants. It was here that extremely disgusting grotesque forms emerged from the muck, one by one, making weird noises between growls and howls. The creatures'' skins were pallid and slick and their red eyes were gleaning with predatory hunger, and plenty of big men in their team shivered. They were like aliens from old sci-fi movies. It was super gross. Anyway, everyone''s weapons were all long ready, and just waiting for orders. "Watch my back!" Ansel yelled at his team as he raised his weapon, a sword he got customized from Brenda with some material donations from Oslo. He was among the first to trigger the Swordsman occupation in Altera, and he was bent on practicing it. "Yes!" Amos, the young guard with high potential that Drake had his eyes on, was with him at the moment along with a few others. Together, they met the monsters as soon as they got off the swamp, swiping and stabbing with increasing skill. Together, they chipped away at the monsters. This went on for a while as the swamp aliens weren''t weak, and the fact that they felt squeamish didn''t help at all. Another was the fact that they had been fighting for what was probably a whole day. Amos was going on his second weapon now, the previous one losing durability even before they got to the swamp. This was the same with almost everyone else. Ansel''s was a bit better. His was a bespoke weapon and thus had much higher durability than others. Anyway, they slashed away, trying to be technical with his slashes, for efficiency. Nearby, Amos poked his spear and killed the other, and the other guards took care of the last ones, gaining points. [Ghasa (Lv2), +50 copper, +50 experience] Ansel took advantage of an opening and lifted his leg to kick a monster to another. Then, using their imbalance, he ran over them and stabbed them, finally impaling the damned things. With increasing skill, he stabbed and slashed, the metal of his sword screeching against the metallic skin of the monster. To be honest, it made his teeth hurt. However, he had long lost (most of) his squeamishness and he stabbed away as if he wasn''t affected. At some point, he even felt his body becoming one with the sword¡ªa sensation that occurred when he activated the Swordsman Occupation. [Ghasa (Lv3), +70 copper, +70 experience] [Sword Slash (D). Swordsman Skill. 50% chance of doubling damage. Lasts 1 minute. Mana -10] Ansel''s eyes brightened. Finally!! His first Swordsman Skill! Chapter 287 - 287: Iron Bog (Part 2) [Used Sword Slash (D). -10 Mana] He slashed expertly at the monster, his stabs becoming faster and faster and more accurate. His hits were sharper, like a special sharp aura of sorts surrounded his attacks. He really felt it¡ªthe difference, though primarily because his teeth didn''t hurt as much, as there was less screeching and more successful stabbing through the skin. The new skill added another bout of passion in Ansel''s attacks, letting him take care of another monster, saving Amos from injury. Their noise naturally attracted more monsters, however, and they had to fight those as well. His eyes twitched as he saw the monster effortlessly get up from the muck. Their lower bodies were sharper, and their legs were sharp, similar to arachnids. This allowed them to move easily across viscous fluid as if they were swimming in clean pools. Well, whatever, it was all just super gross. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Also, because of Eugene''s story, he thought that maybe monsters disliked the smell of metal. What was this now?! Of course, it could only mean this wasn''t an iron bog at all, so how could there be the smell of metal? However, he couldn''t think too deeply about, as he was preoccupied by not getting eaten by such disgusting monsters. The fight went on for some time later until there was no more emerging from the damned mulch. Fortunately, these monsters were solitary and had low fecundity, so they managed to clear out the entire place relatively quickly. Not to mention, the protection period expelled any monsters above level 3, which further reduced the enemies they had to face. [Ghasa (Lv1), +30 copper, +30 experience] [Ghasa (Lv1), +30 copper, +30 experience] Ansel nodded and heaved a sigh. Congratulating the others and ordering them to get some samples of the monsters for study, a habit of his when he found his sister found joy in discovering new things even in this place. Ansel wordlessly walked towards a collection of large rocks far from the action. He stopped in front of the largest one that had a flatter rock on top of it. Ansel then lifted it up, revealing a man squeezed inside. He looked at the shaking bespectacled man underneath and pulled him up by the collar. He then dropped the man to stand on his own and he looked at them in embarrassment after he was able to do so. His name was Kimura Johnson, a man with balding black hair, pale skin, and single eyelids. He also had spectacles on though it was filled with scratches. "S-Sorry about this¡­" he said, genuinely guilty. He also wanted to fight with them, but he froze all the time. This was one of the newcomers who came with Jun''s batch, and he was some sort of a metal expert. Ansel sighed, rubbing his temple. "I don''t know how you survived so long." Kimura''s lips pursed. He also didn''t know. In fact, how he survived for so long was more or less due to luck. It was just that he froze too much to absorb what was happening around him. In Terran, he happened to be in the lab with one person, who turned into a zombie. But they were working on a lot of sharp objects and with an accidental push from him, it basically skewered itself. He just ended its suffering, and at the same time the kill was counted on his head, activating the ''system''. And when they migrated here¡­ he was still very lucky. There were plenty of times he was almost eaten, of course. It was just that, when he was beside someone else, for some reason, the monster would definitely target the other person. He actually mumbled this to Ansel, whose eyebrows rose. "Oh?" He asked, interested. He recalled Eugene''s story. Apparently, his leg was indeed mauled by a monster back in the Royal Territory. However, it was eaten with¡­ distaste and was thus vomited out afterward. Eugene could now joke about it, saying it was such a waste of a perfectly good leg. It seemed like these people worked so closely with metal smelled like it. And he knew his earlier theory seemed to have some merit, after all. In fact, he wasn''t wrong at all. Most beasts really did dislike the smell. It didn''t mean they were afraid, however, only mostly disgusted. It was just that this particular monster, which lived in the iron-filled muck, was an exception. Anyway, after a short rest, the group proceeded on their trip to a very important (potential) resource point. Kimura narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at the terrain as they moved, expert eyes watching for some landmarks like weird-shaped stones and terrain change. When he was a refugee, they came across a large swamp with surface discoloration in stagnant areas. He wasn''t able to confirm it because, well, life. He even forgot about it for a while. However, an announcement of resource hunting was sent and he was reminded of what he could find. Even if he was weak, he also wanted a better life for himself, which was why despite his cowardice he took a leap of faith and joined the ''mass pirating'' activity the territory launched. When the new missions were announced, he also took another step forward. He partnered with a higher-up, hoping to get good resources. So¡­ here he was. He walked deeper into the muck, surrounded by guards on both sides in case of monsters suddenly appearing. Fortunately, all the monsters nearby had been dealt with, so he was able to finally focus on studying the terrain for clues. A few minutes later, his feet stopped at a spot. Kimura looked at the telltale sign of deep red and orange hues in the bog¡ªindicating rich iron content on a spot a couple of meters away. He dared not approach though. "Over there," He said, pointing at an area. Knowing the guy''s cowardly nature, Ansel gestured to walk over. "Are you sure?" He asked Kimura, just for good measure. He nodded. "Yes, iron bogs should be below." Ansel nodded and walked over to the more colorful waters, feeling the mushy ground below starting to get firmer. However, before they could do anything else, they heard rustles of leaves, and the next thing they knew a new mob had been attracted. Ansel looked at the others and sighed. He walked towards the rustles, ready to defend the spot with the others The feeling of the gooey greenish-black liquid creeping upwards on his leg was extremely disgusting, but they could only push through. Because they knew how important this place was! Chapter 288 - 288: Iron Harvests Ansel lunged forward, his bespoke blade slicing through the damp air. He hit the creature''s metallic skin. After so long, they naturally already determined the weak spots of the creature, one of which was an orifice located at its neck. He really liked the sound of metal to meat the slashes there made, in contrast to the clashing sound of screeching metal that annoyed the hell out of him. Amos and the other spearmen jabbed at another approaching creatures, keeping some at bay to be more manageable. Ansel deftly blocked the countered the disgusting critter''s attack, sparks flying as its shiny skin hit his weapon. They spun their weapons in wide arcs to guard the injured ones and Kimura. Soon, more and more monsters fell and a lot of them were left with one-on-one fights. Amos thrust his weapon into the bog''s mire. Using it as leverage to get above a monster, he landed on one head and raised his spear to stab another with great precision. [Ghasa (Lv2), +50 copper, +50 experience] [Congratulations! You have activated a Profession: Spearman!] Amos'' eyes widened. "YES!" He yelled, unaware of the new monster that appeared behind him. "Hey!" Ansel yelled and threw the sword as if it was a javelin. He wasn''t an athlete though and his accuracy sucked, and the throw was just enough to distract the thing for a second. Fortunately, it was enough for Amos to gather himself and turned his body with his spear, stabbing repeatedly until it died. [Ghasa (Lv1), +30 copper, +30 experience] "Tsk," Ansel tutted as he walked to his sword which was now filled with bog grime. "Ugh." Amos looked very guilty. "Sorry." Ansel sighed and couldn''t bring himself to reprimand the hardworking kid too much. "It''s fine. You''re assigned digging duty though." Amos, who was nervous, immediately brightened at the ''light'' punishment. "Yes, sir!" ¡­ When all the monsters fell, the group didn''t rest. They immediately went to get their resources lest more monsters get attracted! The team was divided into two groups: One to dig the pit, one to both guard them and arrange to put them aside, to dryer grounds. They dug out as much from the alleged iron bog as they could, ignoring the smell and stickiness of the water. The colorful rocks varied in size, from a rock as small as a pebble to one as large as a small boulder. They had rough and textured surfaces with unnatural intricate patterns. Kimura took one, fascinated, and took out his tool from the space¡ªjoining the ''exclusive'' group of experts who took priority over bringing their tools over the basics (like food). He called it¡­ Chipper. He happily chipped the outer skin of the ore. It was not easy, but he couldn''t give it to others lest they damage it. After a while of working, a metallic luster revealed underneath, and his expert eyes confirmed the legitimacy of this resource. His eyes were bright and he lifted his head to look at Ansel, who had been watching closely. When he nodded, Ansel and the others almost jumped up in glee. "That''s it!!" Ansel said, relieved, finally forgetting about the stickiness of the body. "Let''s go! They still had to process those back home!" They didn''t stay the night and rushed to the territory. They arrived right before dusk and each one of their small team received lovely notifications! The members of their small team received different amounts according to contribution, and it was even more than they expected. [Congratulations! You have received +3000 contribution points!] He smiled. Although as the Lord''s brother, he didn''t need these points, it still felt very nice. This was of course especially true for the others, many of whom were trying to save up money and points for a better life. Kimura obtained the most at 7000 points. The pale-skinned man smiled as he cried. He could be a permanent resident now! He, who had just been waiting for death not too long ago, could actually live a stable life in this chaotic world! Ansel looked at everyone''s happy faces. That was way more than the promised 10000 contributions for the team. Althea was understandably very generous this time. "Well, after reporting, everyone should get a well-deserved rest." He said, and the others nodded, thanking each other for their hard work. After saying goodbye to the team, he ran back home to see Althea and the children. But when he saw how dirty he was compared to the clean streets of Altera, he stopped. He didn''t want to appear so dirty, so he rented a room at the inn to take a bath before finally going back to the house. He got back home about half an hour later, and Althea was there waiting for him. She stood up when she saw him, naturally giving him a familial hug. "You did a very good job!" Ansel hugged her back as he shyly scratched his cheek. "It was all that Kimura. Also, there wasn''t much, aren''t you going to purify it?" "Yes, it''s still a long process, but it''s a huge step in the right direction." She said with a smile, "As long as a few weapons are made, that''s another safety net added." There were now over 200 guards in the territory. The target was to equip them all with iron weapons and armor. The amount gathered was indeed far from enough. "We''ll need a lot more help to get all of those resources back home." There were only a little over 2 days before the upgrade. She needed to mobilize everyone to gather as much as possible. She opened her tablet to research how much unpurified iron would be needed so she could get an idea of how much reward she could offer and how much to charge. Apparently, ancient long swords would require half to over one kilogram of purified iron. Iron, by default, was a Level D weapon at the lowest, which would sell for at least 50 silver. Making rough calculations, she set up some prices and¡­ went on to mobilize the entire territory again. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Territory Mission (B) [Task: Mining Ores. (Tagged location will be provided to those who accept the task.) [Duration: 28 hours [Rewards: 100 copper per 100 grams of ore] People around the territory were surprised at the news. "Iron?" Someone slapped his thigh both depressed and amazed, "Here I am still searching for resource points, someone discovered Iron." And then there were a few laughs and claps. "It means the territory will only get stronger!" "Are my improved farming tools finally at bay?!" Someone whispered wistfully, gaining a couple of eye rolls. Regardless of whatever they wanted to get developed after this discovery, everyone had a unifying thought: Their territory was amazing! Chapter 289 - 289: Working with Iron The announcements of the territory further deepened the aborigines'' sense of place and lit up fires in several hearts. Brenda and Crutch, in particular, were in an unbelievable mood. They were ecstatic, but at the same time, it sounded too good to be true. They happened to be next to each other in the workshop¡ªanother factory building¡ªworking on something with Eugene when the announcement resounded across the territory. At first, they really couldn''t believe it, especially Clutch. At first, they mused the lord and the others thought that Iron¡ªlocally known as black metal¡ªwas something else. They hadn''t even seen goblins before, how could they find the materials? However, a part of him still hoped for a miracle. The territory truly needed all the improvements it could gather to protect itself well. Further, the threshold for Level D Weaponmakers and Armorers to Level C was working with iron. Just thinking of getting a hold of the material¡ª Brenda, who was there when the quest for iron was sent, was a lot less cynical. From what she had seen, the lord and the others seemed to be familiar with the material. But she did understand how Clutch thought. First off, not everyone could capture and enslave goblins, the only race who could efficiently find such resources. Second, even if they did manage to somehow get their hands on the goblins and the black metal the effective method of processing wasn''t common knowledge, either. For many territories, the effort and cost of handling iron was much higher than simply purchasing them from the established channels. This had always been a secret of big families, something that had historically caused a lot of lives to maintain the secret. "If it is really black metal, then what if the lord expects us to be able to handle it?" Brenda''s comforting smile disappeared. Oh no¡­ Clutch was right. What would they do if they disappointed the lord? The thought of the woman frowning at them, disappointed, made her want to cry. It was at this time a notice visible only to the NPCs appeared in their heads not long after that. [Notice: All NPCs shall meet at the third-floor meeting hall. Target: Finalized action plans for the Iron] "Hey, what''s wrong?" Troy, who had seen their daze, waved his hand in front of both their faces. "Did you get so excited about the iron as well??" Clutch and Brenda looked at each other awkwardly. "We were called for a meeting," she said. "We''ll have to go early today." "Ah, yes! Gogoggooo!" "A-ah¡­, yes." When the other workers cheered them up, very excited about the next steps in handling iron, they could only nod awkwardly and hope for the best. When they arrived the Lord and the young master Ansel were already there. The others also arrived right after them and they went inside, wondering how the meeting would go later on. Althea, Ansel, and the NPCs sat around the table. Althea sat at the head, looking at everyone with a serious expression. "We only have a few days left before the opening of the barrier and an even shorter time for the next beast tide. I hope to expedite the processing of this, the target is to equip all guards with at least one iron weapon." Both Brenda and Clutch looked at each other and bowed their heads in shame. "We don''t know how to handle this material¡­ I apologize, my Lord." Clutch said, followed by Brenda. "It is the same with me." She said so with a shaky voice and a bit of a push and she''d definitely cry. Althea smiled at them in reassurance, "Don''t worry, I have a few people in mind." The two whipped their heads up and stared at her, their expression complicated. She couldn''t help but chuckle. "But you will be joining this person in creating equipment. Hopefully, you can learn from him as well." The two''s eyes looked at her in disbelief and worship, but they knew her well enough not to question her anymore. Even if the material they claimed could be wrong, their hearts still felt full. Althea only smiled at their tearing eyes, and she turned to Oslo and Clout, "Please assist Eugene in creating a smithing factory as soon as possible." "Yes, milord." And finally, she turned to Rowan, "Please organize the protection of the people who will gather the bog iron." "Yes, milord." The redhead uttered, saluting. Although he was silent and he didn''t have much expression on his face, his heart was hot. He could imagine the new items that would soon be available to them, how Altera''s strength would be taken to yet another level. "Meeting adjourned." And everyone soon left, one by one, feeling each of their steps becoming particularly meaningful. ¡­ After the meeting ended, Althea opened the territory panel for the essential next step. In the Lord panel, she looked at the list of citizens, narrowing on a name and his so-called expertise. With a smile, she raised her hand to the powdery screen, pressing a few buttons. A moment later, a very special invitation was sent, one that was set to change a person''s life. . . . At this time, Hardy was picking up stones and loose twigs and branches when a ding sounded in his head. [The territory has discovered Iron. You have been detected to be able to handle the material. You are invited to become a territory-hired blacksmith.] [Wage: 200 copper/day, 1% sales commission for all products innovated] Whatever was in Hardy''s hands fell on the ground. 2 silver a day!!! Plus commissions!?! S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He just arrived earlier from Bright territory. He didn''t think he''d get a chance so soon!!! ¡­ Everything was expedited. The near-finished factory reserved for Baron was temporarily delayed and expropriated. In exchange, he would get a 20% discount on rent for the 6 months. Within that day, Eugene and Oslo had set up a working station in accordance with Hardy''s specifications. Oslo was pale afterward, but he knew the importance of this to the territory, and he was willing to take the extra mile. Far away, Rowan and many guards and civilians were already fighting in the swamps and clearing it up from all monsters. Brenda and Clutch, on the other hand, started to create their equipment. It was a learning curve at first, but Old Hardy was a great teacher. Not to mention, it was really the material that they thought! And the lord and the others really knew how to process it! Althea watched the process closely, watching them handle the metal, their hammers hitting it to shape. To Althea, each hit made her feel a bit more stable. War was coming, and they must be prepared. Chapter 290 - 290: Gearing Up (Part 1) [7 days of Protection Period] [The Beast Tide will happen in less than four days. It is recommended everyone prepare enough weapons and resources to minimize losses.] [Contribution will be equal to the copper coins received from a monster.] [Do not underestimate the monsters! The system predicts monster mobs to be much stronger than the previous one.] [The top residents with the most contributions earned during the upcoming beast tide will receive the following: [Top 1: Permanent residency for 1 person + Duplex unit house Top 2: Permanent Residency for 1 person + 50 gold worth of items from Gaea grocery store Top 3: Permanent Residency for 1 person + 30 gold worth of items from Gaea grocery store [Top 4-10: Permanent Residency for One person ] [Purchase price of stone and wood will be increased by 50% 2 days before and after the beast tide.] At first, the topic that exploded was the beast tide. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It''s a beast tide!" The sound of despair, particularly coming from newcomers. After all, they all had horrendous experiences associated with the beast tide. Its sound alone was enough to terrify them to freezing point. They had heard it had to do with upgrades. Now that the territory was already level 2, that meant the monsters would be much stronger this time right??! However, they soon came to realize¡­ that they were alone in panicking. Looking around, everyone else seemed¡­ excited??? A lot of people around them were even celebrating, already discussing with their friends what they''d do. "Finally! I had felt I was stagnating for so long! I already consumed my contribution to use the training hall!" "Same! Now, not only can we recharge on loot, we can also recharge on contribution while we get stronger!" Another group was rubbing their hands. "Time to get rich!" The newcomers were very confused. What the fudge??? In Altera, thanks to the walls, sentries, and guards, there were basically no deaths in the previous beast tide. Instead, a lot of people were able to afford permanent residency. For them, the Beast Tide was a source of money and contribution points. A source for the Good Life. Eventually, the self-absorbed old residents noticed the baffled states of the newcomers and patted their backs in amusement. "Don''t worry, the territory prepares well. Don''t you see all these announcements?" "Just do our part!" "Don''t be lazy! The territory takes 1 copper coin from everyone whenever the wall loses 1% of its durability." "What?!" "It''s not much. We only lost a few coppers last time." "As long as no one''s lazy¡ª" one added, "Basically, everyone must take part in protecting the territory! Isn''t it just fair?" "Yes, yes, yes." This type of explanation echoed across the territory. Some conversations, on the other hand, turned to profits. "My crackers should sell especially well at that time!" "Someone request to Ms. Althea to increase the purchase limits!" "Oh, yesyesyes." "I will be able to afford permanent residency for my daughter and I!" "You sound like you''re going to kill most monsters." "No, I''m going to earn it by selling hundreds¡ªnonono thousands¡ªof my snacks!" Anyway, it was both a baffling and¡­ reassuring sight to the newcomers, and they found their nerves inexplicably calming down. It seemed that the beast tide¡­ wasn''t so scary after all? ¡­ Inside the villa, the team also convened for a meeting. Contrary to many of the people''s relaxed states, the management teams were much more tense. Althea even worried that because there were no human losses during the previous fight, the people might get¡­ complacent. She needed to put out appropriate warnings out there very soon. She got news from the NPCs that the monster mobs might not necessarily be level 3. They could apparently go up to level 4, depending on the energy the territory produced. This ''energy'' they called aether was produced by vitality and life. She wasn''t being arrogant, but they would definitely get a strong mob. This was both reassuring and worrying if it happened. Reassuring because it would mean she was doing the right thing and worrying because Level Four was the average level in her territory. Not only would they be outnumbered, but the fact that monsters could take on several humans in the same level was a bigger problem. They needed to create other ways to reduce the casualties as much as possible. The way about this was to increase the defense, much of which would come with the upgrade and weapons. The weapon and armor shops never stopped producing and innovating. She was perfecting her small secret weapons, as well. "Sadly, I can''t maximize this weapon," she said, taking out her bow. Her Bellagio Bow was a level B weapon. It could theoretically be handled by levels above 30 level no problem. However, at her level, she would not be able to use it so efficiently. Not to mention, the stronger the power used, the larger the mana it consumed. This was her main concern. Looking at the bow, Eugene''s eyes widened. "What is it?" She asked, puzzled. Obviously, it wasn''t the first time he saw this was he? "I seem to have forgotten something important." He said with an embarrassed face. Before they could ask, the man then pulled out two familiar boxes: a level C and one level D gift pack! Now that they recalled, Eugene had also built a lot of unknown things in this world, right? Eugene remembered he received two gifts from world knowledge. One was for the loom, and the other was for the iron furnace. "The notification happened when I was in the middle of perfecting my craft." He said with a deadpan face. "Then¡­ I forgot." Harold and Sheila gaped at him in disbelief while Althea nodded in understanding. Indeed. She totally understood. So, she wasn''t alone in being stupid like this. Harold and Sheila looked at their genius teammates and shook their heads. Ironically, the people likely to receive gifts were the types not to remember them. In any case, this new development was reassuring. They could really use all the advanced equipment that they could get! Chapter 291 - 291: Gearing Up (Part 2) Anyway, the group leaned closer to Eugene, interested in what he got. Eugene then opened the gift boxes¡ªone blue and one indigo¡ªreleasing two very good items with special shimmer around them. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. One was a large, but thin, shield the size of a table. It had a slight golden and copper glimmer to it. The other was a thick blue coat with a bit of sparkle. It was a little feminine, to be honest, but conservatively considered unisex. "Ohhh~" Harold said, looking at the items with sparkling eyes. "Tell us what they do." Eugene nodded and excitedly checked the item''s stats. One must know that even if he forgot about the boxes, now that the equipment was on hand, his old gamer habits tingled. He was also quite giddy about this. [Shield of Honor (D): +20 Defense, 50% chance of 10% reflection] [Coat of Hew (C): +40 Defense, decreased presence by 10%] "Oh!" "Very nice!" "Just as you need!" Eugene was a veteran and his attack wasn''t bad but, due to his disability, his agility was near zero. These defensive items would be perfect for him. After all, he still needed to fight in some form. Although he was a Creator, leveling up was still essential for survival. Not to mention, certain occupations would be blocked by level as well. No matter how hard he created, he would encounter a bottleneck sooner or later if his level didn''t follow. This was why even healers like Betty still aimed to reach level 20, at least. Of course, if he was to get good long-range weapons, that would''ve been even better. Harold looked at the equipment in admiration. "I heard from Gru that Troy also received Level E equipment for the mini crossbow. He had bragged about it for days." Sheila nodded, she had heard of it too. Then she remembered another rumor that Troy was openly regretful about, "The conventional crossbow didn''t receive one though, probably because it already existed." "Pity, indeed. I wonder which territory made it first." "They just got names of 2 blokes by the names of Brandon and Jake." "Oh? That sounds Terran, right?" "Well, Altera can''t be the only one with weapons experts, right?" "Hmn, you''re right." Anyway, Althea was just glad that the spirit of innovation was high on her turf. She looked at Harold. "Since you''re a chef now if you could create a unique recipe with unique effects, you may also receive gifts." The man blinked, but he nodded after a pause. "I''ll do my best." He looked at the nice equipment of his teammates and he imagined the spirit of innovation running through his veins. He wanted one, as well! ¡­ With the announcements as the catalyst, the whole territory was injected with a stimulant. Every aspect of the ''gear'' worked harder than ever to prepare for the upcoming fights. The guards increased their training, each one aiming to be as strong as they could be within a short time. Of course, it was still to a reasonable degree so as to not tire them out too much. As for the production aspects of the territory, the industry with the most movement was iron production. Not only were there scores and scores of people going out to gather iron, but a lot of labor was hired to process them. Overtime making of iron weapons was required to meet their needs. It got to the point where the Weapons store got an upgrade without her noticing¡­ Not only this, but the logistics took a step up. While the development of self-manned vehicles was once again deferred, the wheeled carts and others were well into mass production to assist in the logistics of the iron bogs. For the existing production lines, they would be working a few hours longer. There was fair overtime pay and there was even night differential pay, which was something that shocked the NPCs very much. Althea also announced the temporary doubling of the purchase limits in both the supermarket and the grocery store, so the businesses would be able to prepare enough. To further encourage the mass production of usable products, a 10% discount was even added. This led to the mass hiring of temporary workers even for private enterprises, so even the newcomers all had jobs¡ªgreatly increasing her tax as well as the lifestyle of all inside her territory. There were also others who worked hard to gather stone and wood resources, instead, also increasing her resources. She would soon reach the limit of the territory space and would have to store some in the warehouse again. No, in fact, it didn''t necessarily have to be stored at all. She decided to set aside a piece of land near the village center¡ªsince it had plenty of open space around for future expansion and parks¡ªand just place them over there. And finally, there were also many others who chose to go outside and train more than the rest. This was especially useful to those below Level 3, as fighting outside for one more day could mean a level upgrade. One level difference could mean life and death. Whichever preparation a citizen chose, it was all the same to her as they would all strengthen the territory''s preparation in its own way. After a beat, she opened her Lord tab to see how the village was going overall. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 2 Village Area: 3,142,000 square meters Residents: 1315 (321 permanent, 994 temporary) Total Population: 3224 Base Resources: Wood: 9990/10000 Stone: 7989/8000 Money: 20611 Gold, 143269 Silver, 778199 Copper Reputation: 150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv2), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)] Looking at her ample and increasing wealth, money, and resources, she was finally able to sigh a breath of relief. There was still a lot of work to do, but they were definitely on the right track, and they deserve a pat on the back for that. Chapter 292 - 292: Potions and Bombs The next few days were incredibly fast-paced. Everyone was busy and set to work particularly hard, hoping to prepare the territory and themselves the best they could. Naturally, as the Lord, Althea was no different. Now that the infrastructure and military concerns were settled and on track, Althea decided to lock herself up in the lab again, munching on a sweet cookie (or lollipop, chewy candy, or whatever her dainty claws got from space) as she did so. The first half of the day was dedicated to her small bombs. She had given all the bombs she had to Winona before she left, so now she had to make more to help her deal with the mobs. Among the many types of small bombs on her lists, the easier-to-do ones were the paralysis bombs and poison bombs. This was because she had plenty of paralyzing and poisonous plants, so the main affecting components were done fairly easily. Her main challenge was the triggers or ignition mechanism. After all, there was no gunpowder, only some rough similar powder she managed to squeeze out of available materials. How many people had literal fire-on-hand like Rowan? So she had to do some alchemy first and create a solution that reacted upon exposure to air. She took various plant parts in her collection, trying to see the effects. This alone took many hours. It would''ve taken longer had she not recorded her findings on plants as she found them, very thoroughly in her notebook and the tablet. After a while of searching, she came across the stalk of the Amerie plant, found in the forests East, which belatedly sparked a bit after being burnt. Inspired by the progress, she studied and tinkered at will and she got very, very, immersed in the activity. She ate only when she noticed her stomach gurgled¡ªwhich was once the entire day. Harold and Sheila could only bite their nails. After all, Althea warned them of what she was doing and made strict instructions not to disturb her lest something exploded. "Do you think I packed enough?" Harold mumbled looking at the shed in worry. "Well, we did give her something to eat for a good 10 meals¡­ my worry is if she''d actually eat them." "Sigh¡­" "Sigh¡­" Anyway, while the people outside were worried to death, the person inside lived in her own world. After yet another half day of experimentation, Althea finally managed to come up with the finished products. One was blue and the other was violet. They were even smaller than the bombs she gave away, and a bit more potent. [Improved Paralysis Bomb (D): incapacitate enemies below level 10 for 10 seconds] [Improved Poison Bomb (D): Decrease the life of enemies below level 10 by 1 every second for 5 minutes] Ah, beautiful. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Both ''inventions'' did not trigger the World Knowledge notification though. This meant that somewhere out there, someone also had this. This also meant she''d have to share some of her proceeds with this person. Tsk. She made a few more batches, taking a few more hours of her day. Anyway, now that she had the improved formulas for these, it was time to move on to the true damage bombs. One example was the fertilizer bomb¡ªa true explosive. This was very difficult. What she could do at this time definitely wouldn''t compare to the bombs she knew, but it should be enough to damage a small mob of level 4s. A passive of Pharmacist, like weapons makers, armors, and other creator occupations, was to infuse aether into their work, increasing their efficiency and effectiveness in this world. This was precisely why medicine from Terran would not work for people beyond level 2, why Terran guns were worse than a local bow-and-arrow, and how a flimsy wooden shield could handle more damage than a slab of Terran metal. It was a fascinating concept that ought to be studied more deeply when she finds the time. It was also around this time that her stomach finally told her to eat, so she dropped her work to eat. She blinked at the plethora of options on the table. There was bread and jam, rice and viand, and some hard-to-perish fruits. Seeing the feast prepared for her, her eyes couldn''t help but warm. ¡­ The true bomb experiment was more difficult because it was more dangerous and this meant she had less leeway in her trials and errors. This didn''t make her falter though. She knew very well that this could save a lot of people''s lives. As such, in a room lit with special torches protected with youli stone, a beautiful girl with long dark brown hair and emerald eyes looked over at her intricate workspace. Her movements were deliberate and precise, honed from years of obsessive practice, trying to balance the potency and safety of her creation. This was not easy and she almost blew herself many times. She also had to limit the more dangerous parts of this experiment during the day, lest she ignited the torches and blew herself up. Hours of trial and error later, she used her Pharmacist ability and Tori to study the composition of the item. A little adjustment later¡ª [You have successfully created a unique explosive. Received Gift Pack (B)!] Her eyebrows rose. Wasn''t there a pharmacist who invented something similar before? Perhaps the formulation and effects were too different that it counted as an original? Anyway, Althea excitedly opened it to see it was a beautiful robe. It was plain in color, but the fabric looked like superior silk, and it had a different sheen to it. [Medina Robe (C): +40 Defence, lowers presence by 20%] Putting it on, Althea''s attention quickly returned to her experiments. But her eyelids eventually turned heavier as the minutes trickled by, as if her body was already aware that she had finished the most important tasks and it was finally time to rest. Soon, she had no choice but to go to bed. She was a bit regretful her momentum was broken, but then she saw her babies and all her tiredness went away, letting her sleep peacefully, the energy completely renewed for yet another bout of obsessive experimentation the next day. Chapter 293 - 293: Mana Problems [5 days of Protection Period] Althea created several pieces of all her bombs before feeling satisfied enough to move on to the next, perhaps more important, concern. Mana potions. The Bellagio Bow could indeed deal with enemies until much, much later down the road, but it could only be used if her own level and mana could keep up with it. She had been killing monsters way below her so the mana per shot was tolerable, but it needed a disconcerting 1 to 3 mana per shot. This wasn''t including the Perfect Shot skill and the others. She could only imagine the mana required for stronger opponents. Mana potions were essential. She had been trying to study it, little by little, primarily from the NPCs, but without much luck. Mana was based on a person''s capacity to channel a force called Aether. In Xeno, it was the basic unit of life and magic. She theorized that people who didn''t have the capability to handle aether wouldn''t have survived the transfer. Or, in their case, the first wave of transformation during zombie apocalypse. Elementalists could channel this in the form of elements and those physical transformations like super speed and super strength channeled it through their blood and muscles. People who gained skills were also able to master a ''formula'' of a channel. Similarly, using a skill successfully required Aether. To be able to refill a person''s capacity to channel Aether, one must find ingredients that could do the same. At least, there was no such plant she knew so far that could use this. She had asked the NPCs and it was apparently another one of those ''secret formulas'' of certain pharmacists. They and the occupation guild-owned Pharmacy Building (available in Towns, apparently) had full monopoly of the item and their ingredients. However, her territory was not a town (yet) nor did she want to be so dependent on other people''s works. She thought for a while and teleported to her warehouse. She rummaged through her warehouse for the plants sold by the citizens, to see if she could get lucky. Unfortunately, other than the ones she already studied, the new ones¡ªwhile interesting¡ªcouldn''t assist her, for now. However, it wasn''t a complete waste of effort because she did find materials she''d find use for after everything was settled. For example, she found a plant called Jacoba. The assessment ability indicated that it was used as an ingredient for mosquito repellants. Tori showed that it was similar to Citronella but more potent. Another one was a purple grass called Hoisen. A leaf of this poisonous plant that could paralyze a 100-kilogram monster, if ingested, at the drop of a hat. It was a perfect ingredient for one of her bombs. And then there was a stone called Blackstone in Xeno. In Terran, it was similar to Graphite. Once developed, they would have pencils and ink, which was an integral part of the territory''s next phase of development. She needed to find the person who sold this first, of course. In any case, she returned to her experiments in a somber mood, wondering when she''d be able to create her own Mana potions. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ She ate her sandwich for lunch and decided to try out the version of the potion again. She struggled for hours until a knock on the door pulled her out to the present. It was Harold. "Boss. Would you like to have a snack?" Normally she''d tell him to leave, but she was stuck in a rut and wanted a bit of respite. More importantly, she also missed her children. When she went out, she was met with two of the loveliest eyes in the entire universe. "Mhmmmamma¡­" "Guwggwgwgw¡­" Her heart softened and all her tiredness was swept away, taking them both into her arms, placing dozens of pecks on their chubby cheeks. She went to their play area and bonded with her babies for half an hour, finally noticing the new snacks that Harold showed her. "You''re still here?" "I want to see how it tastes." Her eyebrows rose a bit and she looked at the food plated delicately on the plate. These were a sweet treat made from various fruits and sugar. Other than the newly-discovered sugar, there was a taste of Terran strawberries, and the taste of the local Guia berry, a fruit that was a known ingredient for energizers. She also felt that it had special effects. When she could, she taught both Harold and Sheila the effects of the plants they had on hand, and they had studied it very seriously. Harold also seemed to have learned it by heart. She curiously used her ability to assess its effects. [Magic Tart (E): Adds 1% Mana to consumer every 5 seconds for 2 minutes. [Applicable for level 1-10 consumers. [Eating a portion will have corresponding reduction effects] She froze and her head whipped to Harold. Of course! Mana was also life, it was Aether. What better source than food?! Not to mention, the increase in percentage instead of an amount would be extremely useful. The increase in mana, in numbers, didn''t seem much compared to the amount of mana required to fight higher-level monsters. This was especially true when fighting against strong opponents which could easily suck out a person''s mana very quickly. It was just that mana recovered in percentage, so it was still practicable as long as one held on. And now this snack could increase this % recovery! "Harold, you''re a genius!" She exclaimed and Harold looked very proud. Althea looked at him curiously, "What did you get?" A little smug, the old man took a beautiful blue-silver kitchen knife from his space. [Chefs Knife (D): Increases chances of special effect dishes by 30%] Speaking of, the NPCs said it was basically impossible for chefs below level A to get a 100% special effect rate. She reckoned that guy Cooke also received rewards for him to get such a percentage of success. Althea thought a lot of the Terran professionals would probably obtain, if they hadn''t already, a gift pack in a year. Very nice. If the NPCs knew how many accumulated gift packs the territory had received after a month, they would be shocked. Even towns established for years would not have this amount! But Althea and Harold did not know this. But even if she knew, Althea would only smile, never complacent. Instead, they were still planning on how Harold could make as many magic tarts as he could without killing himself. She needed as much as he could make to even feel a semblance of calmness. She would never dare underestimate this damned world. Chapter 294 - 294: Prepared Enough? Aberdeen City, many years prior S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan looked at his Althea excitedly buying her camping gear. She looked almost as excited as when she entered her first seed store many years ago. She had just entered college years earlier than her peers and he still felt she wasn''t ready to go on this excursion. This was the first time she''d ever be so far from him and the family. When he was gone, he at least knew the family was there and she was safe. What was this now? However, Garan knew he wouldn''t be able to stop her. Mostly, he couldn''t bear break her heart by stopping her from doing what she loved simply because he felt uncomfortable. "What about this? You may think that you know more than others because you were often in the forests when we were in the orphanage, but I''m telling you now that there are many more dangers in forests than you think¡ªespecially the one you''re going to." The orphanage was located in one of the few green cities, Aberdeen City, but there was no way they would be able to occupy such prime real estate (as all areas near forests and greeneries were). So the young Althea always had to walk kilometers to get to the forests every day and forage. He couldn''t help but remember that time she got kidnapped with Ansel. He felt his heart beating so loudly in nervousness that it felt like it was escaping his rib cage. In any case, despite her ''experience'' in going to forests, it was not enough for him to feel reassured. The forest was too near the city, it wasn''t very big and was actually relatively urbanized. This meant that wildlife wasn''t as dangerous as it could be. This was very different from the place she was heading towards. They''ll be heading to a legitimate jungle jointly protected by the three countries that abutted it. She looked at him, her large emerald eyes staring, and he could only heave a sigh of defeat. "I will take you camping this weekend and I will teach you all that you need to know." "WOW! Thank you, Garan!" She yelled embracing him. He flushed but managed to gather himself and smiled as he felt her warmth, patting her head. His eyes heated up a bit but he knew she was too young. He dared not move forward right now. Instead, he could only serve as her big brother, guarding her in any way he could. He separated the two of them and he held her shoulders so they could meet eye to eye. "Preparation is key to minimizing losses. Whether it is resources, time, or¡­ life. "No matter what: You must always prepare well." ___________________ Altera Village, Present [3 days of Protection Period] After days of work, it was finally the morning of the upgrade. All she had to do was wait for the notification to be triggered, which would likely be exactly 3 days since the new citizens from Bright and Vismont people officially settled in the territory. After all, the population count was apparently counting the same group of people, not just visitors that passed by. This was fine, as it gave them more time to prepare. Instead of waiting for another hour or two, however, she decided to summon the NPCs in the lounge again, for some final ironing out of the details. "My Lord," They said, nodding as she went to her seat. "We will be upgrading soon," she told them, tone a bit heavy. "Tell me if there are still major problems and I will defer it." The last time, she was allowed to defer for 100 hours, it was likely to be the same this time. The NPCs shook their heads. It was Rowan who spoke this time. "They are only small issues, milord. Deferring would mean we will face the mob along with the lifting of the protection period." She nodded and smiled. It was fortunate that they were here. She wouldn''t know what to do if she were as clueless as she had been going in this strange new world. "Well, then I will upgrade as soon as I receive the notice. Everyone will assume the tide will appear within a couple of hours." "Yes, milord!" They said simultaneously, and she nodded. "Now, tell me the progress of our territory so far." She said, looking at Brenda and Clutch, who seemed like ansty children itching to tell her something. Rowan''s procurement team had been extremely effective. They had already returned with tons of iron, the people in the smithing said they could finally provide weapons to all the guards. In terms of raw materials, anyway. "Speak." The two grinned. "Just last night, old Clutch and I upgraded to level C." Both were a bit teary and were bowing a bit. "This is all thanks to you and your people milord." This surprised the other NPCs, as upgrading was extremely difficult for those with an Occupation. How long had they been here? But this territory was so magical, so in the end they weren''t that surprised after all. "This is due to your hard work," Althea smiled. "Then join Hardy in creating iron tools now," She said, knowing that they had only been helping out and learning the past few days. "The surplus can be sold in your shops." This meant that the people, not just the guards, would have access to the iron weapons. "Yes, milord!" "Is there progress with our other assignment, Clutch?" This made the smile on the old man''s face freeze, and he bowed a bit in shame. "No, milord, so far I haven''t been able to integrate the effects of the plants. I apologize." "It''s fine. It''s a long shot, anyway. Keep working on it in your free time." Clutch''s shoulders slumped in relief and guilt. "Yes milord, I will do my best." Speaking of raw materials, she turned to look at the redheaded soldier. "Rowan," She said, "I hope you have already called everyone back by now." "Yes, milord. As of this morning, no Alteran civilians are outside the territory." As for visitors, since the announcement of an imminent beast tide a couple of days prior, almost no one traveled to the territory. They had also sent messengers to the three Lords (since none of them had upgraded their centers to level 3) to stop anyone who wished to visit at this time. Of course, there were still a few brave souls who still went. These people had studied the territory as thoroughly as they could, determining it was actually the best time to move in. It would be such a pity to miss this chance to gain strength, money, and contribution! The Protection Period was ending soon and even they, the small citizens, had to prepare for their future. Chapter 295 - 295: The Notification is Here Back to the meeting, next to the report was the beautiful Betty, who mentioned the state of their medicines. "We have enough in stock for at least 1000 active fighters in the territory even if they fought for an entire day," She said, "For now, we should be able to last even if the mob lasts a few days." On paper, these were bought from Gaea Chamber of Commerce at cost price, in exchange for some contribution. Althea nodded, "That''s good, but we can''t slow down production until the last minute." Betty agreed, "Yes, milord. There would also be temporary workers contracted to work in shifts so the basic handling of the raw materials wouldn''t stop." She had learned of this method from Lily. She marveled at the efficiency of everything in this territory and was shocked by how much quality medicine had been produced in such a short time. Seeing that the medicines and potions were on track, she turned to Oslo, who sat next to her. Knowing her question, he looked at her with a deep smile. "We already built modular sheds to serve as infirmaries on both gates," he said, "They are about 196 square yards, and can be erected and dismantled all within the span of a few hours." Althea nodded. 196 square yards was more than 100 square meters, which was just enough for its functions. Like Betty (and the other NPCs for that matter), Oslo couldn''t help but be amazed by their ideas. These retractable houses could be built and collapsed easily as needed. If he had a large space stone, maybe he could bring one with him and he could camp carelessly outside. Anyway, the concept wasn''t too complicated but not many could think of it at all. "Very good. Thank you so much for this." "Just doing what I ought to," Oslo said, staring deeply. Althea didn''t notice this however and she turned to the other NPCs for their respective reports. Since they were on the topic of amenities near the gates, she turned to Gauis and Rowan, reminded of something. "How''s that grass?" "Transplanted around the gates, milord." They were referring to the iron grass transplanted from the bogs. It didn''t really contain much iron, but it had its smell¡ªthe type monsters seemed to dislike. Perhaps, it would make them think of weapons in that area, which they didn''t want to go to unless there was fresh meat to eat. Ansel mentioned his theory and she felt it made sense, so she decided to plant them around the gates. It wasn''t much, but it should have some effect of repelling some monsters. At the very least, it might be able to defer their attacks and be dealt with before they cause any damage to the walls. And finally, she turned to the perenially-silent Lenny. Technically, she was her own employer and wasn''t under the territory. But what she created still had heavy impact so she was called in regardless. "All the clothing stores have been opened and I have created enough undergarments for the guard team. The next few days will be for surplus, so normal citizens could purchase." Because she was the only official Cloth maker who could make clothing with effects (i.e. more than +3 or +5 defense), she naturally wouldn''t be able to do much if she focused on creating full sets of clothing. Instead, they opted for her to specialize in undergarments, which could serve as the last line of defense for most. Fortunately, she was already a level D Seamstress when she got here, otherwise, she''d have drowned from the orders. After all, not everything she did would successfully gain an effect. The NPCs and Althea looked at each other in silence, sighing, and wondering if any of them had forgotten anything. After all, even the smallest mistake could mean a life. Even the NPCs felt particularly responsible. Although they had grown up with the concept of death since they were children, after being in Altera¡ªa place where life was given such priority¡ªthey naturally wanted to keep protecting it. It was around this time that the familiar ding resounded in Althea''s head, and they knew this seeing the way she flinched and then looked at all of them with wide eyes. [Congratulations you have met the conditions of upgrade! [?] 1000 Residents [?] 3000 fixed population for 3 consecutive days [?] 100 Prestige [Would you like to upgrade for 1000 gold? [Yes | No] Prestige? Still 100? She remembered she seemed to have gotten this number when hundreds of people came to visit the Territory. Sadly, the NPCs knowledge of lord-specific stats was limited and they didn''t know exactly how it was calculated. It wasn''t that they couldn''t find out back then, but it was a useless knowledge to have, for them, before getting hired in Altera. She shook her head and studied the other requirements met. Residents were a given, but 1000 gold¡­ did every upgrade mean a zero was added to the required gold? This meant it was not so easy to level up after level 2, being much more restrictive than any of them anticipated. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A part of her was concerned for the other villages but dismissed her worry in the end. She didn''t have the ability to rescue them, she had her own hands full. There was no use worrying about it at all. She shook her head and returned her attention to the floating screen of shimmering powder in front of her. [Yes] As always, energy came from the ground and slightly shook them. It was this energy that attracted the mobs, and it was stronger than she expected. She wondered how strong the enemies would be this time. Her eyes were sharp, her hands unconsciously gripping the handle of her chair, as if she could see the mobs far away congregating in their direction. Her stomach felt a bit queasy from dread and nerves, but she pushed it all down, knowing that the lord could not be shaken. Whatever it was, she believed that they would be able to fight it head-on! Chapter 296 - 296: Level Three Village (Part 1) [Congratulations on upgrading to Village Level 3!] [Received +5000 wood, +3000 stone, +5000 Gold, +2 building slots] [Collected resources detected outside Resource Space. Merge? Yes | No] [Detected deferred expansion, would you like to expand now?] Althea stared at the magical screen floating in front of her, her emerald eyes following the floating luminescent particles in thought. She pondered whether to defer the expansion again. After all, a smaller area to defend was more practical. In the end, though, she wasn''t comfortable not having level 5 fences and she found that just changing the current fence to level 5 was too wasteful. So, she decided to expand in the end. Anyway, she had so much preparation, it should be fine as long as no one was careless. She looked at the map and saw a semi-transparent shape overlapping the current 1-kilometer radius circle. Her delicate hand rose and she touched it and she soon realized that it was moldable. This meant that she was able to choose which area to expand towards. Outside the scope of the current territory, the available map to her as a Lord was the available map to her as a person, this meant that lords that didn''t explore would be expanding blindly. Fortunately, she had consolidated maps of other people, mostly by buying the information via the Village center, so she was very aware of the surrounding areas tens of kilometers away. To summarize the surrounding terrain: South and West were mostly hilly forest. East, northeast and Southeast had flatter terrain. North and a portion of the Northwest were mostly mountainous and rocky areas. Contrary to most people, who would only choose to expand East, she actually chose to enclose a lot of area towards the northern mountains. This was not only to expand on her luxury areas there but also her attempt to secure the natural water source from the mountain. All poison was expelled during the creation of the territory, but no one knew for sure what happened after. What if the purifying function was a one-off? Anyway, she had heard stories from the NPCs where warring territories poisoned their enemies'' water sources. While it could''ve been poisoned from the inside, there was still the possibility of the poison being added upstream. While she was figuring out a way to safeguard her rivers, the safest bet she had was to secure a water source in the first place. In her case, it was the mountain springs, which created tributaries towards the river. Despite consuming a good bulk of the mountains though, she still had plenty of expansion area because of her previous deferral. After the mountain, she then expanded towards the east and noutheast with relatively more flat lands, conducive for construction and planting, and a bit more towards the forests. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 1315 (323 permanent, 992 temporary) Total Population: 3224 Base Resources: Wood: 18700/20000 Stone: 14200/15000 Money: 26711 Gold, 143669 Silver, 798199 copper Reputation: 150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv2), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/9 (+1)] In terms of area, it seems like a Level 3 village would have a maximum scope of 2 kilometer radius. She looked at her stats, relieved, and immediately started the major construction works. Of course, beginning with the best wall available at her level¡ªthe level 5 Walls. It was about 6 meter in height and required 0.5 wood and 0.3 stone per meter, in addition to 75 silver per meter. Her eyes twitched at the potential costs. After all, her perimeter increased from over 6 thousand meters to over 12 thousand meters. By calculation, the wall should be finished in a few hours. Even if there were mobs that would get to them so early, it shouldn''t be much of a problem with the old wall (temporarily) still up. She built a new wall directly at level 5, however not to the edge as to give an allowance for a secondary wall. [Built Wall (Lv5): -6284 Wood, -3770 Stone, -9425 Gold] She closed her eyes, refusing to look at the numbers as if she could physically feel the pain. She even had to massage the back of her neck because it felt stiff. Next were the Gates (Lv5) which was basically as tall as the wall and hopefully even stronger. [-300 Wood, -300 Stone, -50 Gold] [-300 Wood, -300 Stone, -50 Gold] When the new wall was set, she took down the old wall and recycled over half of the resources that were used to make the old wall. [Wall (Lv3) Recycled] [Received! +500 wood, +500 stone!] [Sentry and Gates (Lv3) Recycled] Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Received! +730 Wood, +415 Stone] In the zone of mass shopping, she also added sentries at the optimal distances of 100 meters apart, allowing two sentries to guard an area as before. She also directly chose level 5 sentries which could deal with level 20 monsters with relative ease. [Sentries (Lv5) capable of hitting enemies 100 meters away. Strength Rating (C) [Rate: 1 shot per 1 second [Wood consumption: 0.01 wood per shot [Construction: 100 wood, 50 stone, 15 gold per sentry [Would you like to build 125 Sentries (Lv5)? [Yes| No] It was unfortunate they still had a cooling down period so she still had to mobilize the whole territory to defend, but it was now thrice as effective with ? Cool down period and much stronger hits. Naturally, she wouldn''t be stingy. [Yes] [-12500 Wood, -6250 Stone, -2500 Gold] [Construction failed. Insufficient Resources.] Oh. My. Goodness. Her head rang. She seemed to have been so used to being rich that it didn''t occur to her she''d be lacking?? However, she calmed down and calculated. She saw that the resources needed weren''t much, so she immediately sent an announcement, buying out resources for twice the cost, valid for 3 hours. The teacup in front of her refilled and she lifted her eyes to look at Oslo, who was gently smiling my lord. "Is there anything the matter, Milord?" She looked at the room and saw the Aborigines looking at her in concern. She must''ve looked so distraught for them to look so worried. "I was surprised I lacked resources. That''s all." The NPCs were surprised. Although they didn''t know for sure how much money the lord had, she should still be extremely rich. "What did you build, my lord?" "A level 5 wall althroughout. I wanted to build sentries every 100 meters, but I lacked the resources." Brenda, who was chewing on a cookie, coughed wildly, shocked, and Betty had to use her ability to quickly comfort her. "Oh my elves." Otherwise, silence ensued before the aborigines finally had the energy to utter something. Clutch cleared his throat and stared at the lord. "Level 5 walls and sentries?" "Those are only found in mid-tier Towns," Betty mumbled, still patting the still-coughing Brenda. Althea looked at them. "Well, I guess it''s a good thing then because a lot of my money has been sucked out." And she looked so very dissatisfied with this. The aborigine''s lips twitched. That was a LOT of gold, right? My goodness. They want to tell her, she didn''t have to set the standards so impossibly high! Chapter 297 - 297: Level Three Village (Part 2) Unlike the others who were looking at the lord with a mix of worship and incomprehension, Oslo smiled and handed her some cookies instead. The others soon calmed down and adopted a similar stance. After all, they ought to stop being so surprised. Althea didn''t know what was going on in her NPCs'' heads as she was focused on the map of the territory that had become too large. Fortunately, the map had a zoom feature. As always, while the terminology was modern Terran, the actual interface was a lot more magical looking that it sounded. When she zoomed in, it was more like billions of tiny fireflies floated around to build her the image. It was very amazing. She studied the map closer and went to the edges. She did not build to the edge of the allowable building area, at least by the avenues. She turned to look at Oslo. "You said that the building function cannot work during territorial wars?" "Yes, milord." "What about during beast tides?" "..." "?" "I¡­ haven''t thought about it, milord." Oslo blushed a bit, embarrassed. Althea pursed her lips in amusement. "I was just curious. Don''t think too much." In any case, she had left about 50 meters away from the main walls on the side of the gates. Horizontally, it would extend about 100 meters from either side of the gates, leaving an open space of about a hectare. The NPCs said that the building options were blocked during Territory wars, but she mused it was not necessarily the case during beast tides. During the last beast tide, she was too busy in the East gate to remember to try it out. These secondary gates would have plenty of uses. For one, refugees and visitors that happened to arrive during wars would be able to hide there temporarily, should the gates be closed. It was a little costly, but she planned to add a level 3 fence all around as a barricade to give a chance for relatively safe close combat. She also added level 3 sentries there for extra measure. Theoretically, this meant that at least four sentries would be attacking monsters in certain areas, primarily where most of the fight was happening. Before clicking though, she paused and looked at the NPCs watching her graceful movements in fascination (despite not seeing her ''screen'' at all). "Has there been a case where the sentries attacked a citizen?" Oslo, who had been embarrassed for not answering her earlier question, jumped to answer this one. "No, milord. When it''s not during a territory war, unless the person happened to move in the way, the sentries generally did not hit citizens. "Anyone registered as a visitor or citizen in a territory will not be attacked by it unless expressly set by the lord." Althea''s eyebrows rose at this, "We can add directions to sentries?" "I''ve seen it done in cities, but I do not know of the requirements." She looked at her panel and saw no additional instructions for level 3 sentries, but there was indeed an additional box for level 5. There was a one-time payable amount per instruction per sentry, however. There were options on who it would attack. In fact, when Oslo said that visitors would not be attacked, she was both relieved and worried. Now, she had an answer to these. After all¡­ what if someone paid the visitors'' fee and caused chaos inside the territory? The automatic blacklisting took a few seconds to work. And what about during the wars, where the automatic blacklisting was temporarily disabled? What if there was an enemy who registered as a visitor first and then attacked from the inside? Don''t tell her she was being paranoid, the whole inside job method had been done historically a lot of times even in Terran. Anyway, she definitely appreciated this feature, very much. Other than the defense structures, she also extended the avenues accordingly but did not build anything else for now. She would study the available buildings when she had the time, but a preliminary look told her there was no building essential for the upcoming war. Fortunately, the necessary resources soon arrived at her fingertips, so she could start building the sentries as well. "My people are so efficient," she said with a smile, and the NPCs couldn''t help but smile with her. [-12566 Wood, -7540 Stone, -2514 Gold] Outside the building, the walls and sentries were slowly erected to the amazement of the citizens¡ªwho immediately ran to the border to watch the show. Hey, who told the entertainment program to be delayed due to all these wars? They could only rely on these things for fun. A few hours later, the walls and the sentries finally stood straight. The walls were five meters high and its battlements were over a meter thick. The sentries were even taller than this at over six meters in height. Everyone who looked at it would inevitably feel a sense of security. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 1315 (323 permanent, 992 temporary) Total Population: 3224 Base Resources: Wood: 700/20000 Stone: 200/15000 Money: 11531 Gold, 143669 Silver, 798199 copper Reputation: 150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv2), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Building Building Slots: 7/9 (+1)] She watched her glorious wealth halve with a snap. Not to mention the wood and stone resources, which were reduced to three digits¡­ However, she looked at the overbearing defense she had created and knew in her heart it was worth it. Althea opened her Lord Panel, making an important announcement. [The Beast Tide will appear in less than 6 hours. Everyone outside the territory must return immediately, no one is allowed to leave the territory during this period.] [There is a high chance that level 4 monsters will appear. Please prepare accordingly.] She heaved a sigh and her back rested at the upholstery. The NPCs frowned, hearts hurt by how stressed she was. "You''ve done well, milord," Oslo said and the others nodded. His blue eyes looked at her deeply and added. "Too well, in fact." The Aborigines couldn''t help but look at each other and then at their lord who was doing her best to protect everyone in her turf. They, too, would protect the territory with their lives. They swore on it. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 298 - 298: Gears All departments were working non-stop for hours to maximize the time before the beast tide came. The citizens also increased their gathering of resources. This wasn''t only because of the increase in buying prices of the resources, but also because they had seen the massive constructions that had happened. They wanted to do their part to replenish the territory. No one was lax. Cassie helped her grandmother out. Although she had made a lot of money selling products to other territories, before the fight this was all they could do for the territory. She also hoped to gain more contribution points from the mob. Now that her grandmother was stable, she planned to apply for the guards during the next recruitment. On the woodworking side, Baron, Bianca, Houser, and Joe worked overtime to create spikes apparently to be placed outside the gates, a request of the territory in exchange for contribution points. Although he had money, the bathhouse and training hall still required contribution points! Also, he was also an Alteran! He ought to do more! Hence, he, the boss, joined in as a labor force. After production, Houser used his skill on the stakes, making it have the passive of attracting monsters to it. Although they weren''t strong enough to kill a monster, the fact that monsters would get attracted and ideally stab themselves¡ªeven if only a bit¡ªwould be plenty of help to the front-liners. It was a production line of wooden stakes basically, and for a while, only the sound of wood thumping, sawing, and processing (and Houser chanting skills) was heard. It was broken when they heard footsteps from upstairs. It was Angelo and Jesse, who were stretching their bodies to shake away the lethargy. "You should still be sleeping," Bianca said, temporarily pausing her work. A few hours ago, they were ordered to get ample rest at this time. After all, it was estimated people would have sleepless nights fighting against the mobs. Angelo shrugged. "We did. But who could sleep so much at this time." "Hmm I''d rather hone my techniques," Jesse added and turned to his cousin. "Shall we go to the barracks?" Angelo nodded and the two prepared to go out again. Seeing them working so hard, Baron couldn''t help but want to reward them a bit. Baron threw them some money. "Go treat yourself at TGH." "TGH?" "The Terran Gastronomique Haven!" "Seriously?!" The two''s eyes widened, unused to his non-stinginess. "You''ve changed!" Angelo looked at him suspiciously. "You don''t think we''re gonna die, do you?" Jesse gasped, aghast, and looked at Baron with teary eyes. "And you want to give us a last meal!" Baron''s eyes twitched and he lifted his feet, trying to kick them (to no avail, of course) "Go! Go away!!" He yelled, pushing the two youngins. However, when they turned, he added, "Give me back that money!" "Ehh~" the two pouted and they ran out the door, hugging the money to their chests. Seeing them like this, Bianca ended up laughing out loud. Silly cousins. . . Mathilda''s team was in charge of the internal order. Her main task was to make sure nothing went wrong inside the walls. There was too much trouble outside, their people ought to have peace of mind that their home and backer were unperturbed. She turned her head to speak to Jun and Silvia, her closest confidants in the department. "Only ten guards are allocated to maintain the internal order and the rest would be outside, it is our job to ensure that nothing will add to the chaos." "Make sure all the rules are set and without loopholes. "And make sure our team is easily accessible at all times during this time." The two''s backs straightened, "Yes!" She nodded and opened her personal tab, activating her skill. During this time, Mathilda had gained the skill of creating announcements using only mana. To make it more efficient, she set the recipients to be everyone in her department. These announcements also had the weak and subtle influence of bias. It was quite a powerful technique and Althea was glad it was on Mathilda and no one else. [With your full sincerity, protect the territory well!] Mathilda heaved a sigh, unable to keep her worries for the many variables that could happen at this time. [We must make it in a way where the brave guards and citizens fighting upfront will have no worries!] . . . Gru''s team of farmers were working as they were with the fields. They aimed to make sure nothing could go wrong with their essential crops. Daniel shivered a bit as he handled the crops. "I''m getting a bit nervous." Then he looked at the young man beside him, uncharacteristically quiet. "So nervous that you can''t speak?" Dennis asked, the boy shook his head. "I actually want to fight. My level is stagnant." "Aren''t you level four?" He asked, wondering whether this brat was low-key bragging. Another man who was still holding a hoe, interrupted. "I once drank with Clutch. The average level of villages is around level 8 to 10. And this was the average level of their young men!!" There was a moment of silence. Indeed, no matter how peaceful the territory was, strength was still the last word. Even if they weren''t fighters, they couldn''t be too useless! "Fight!" The young lad said after a while. "I think we should definitely join in!" Another one nodded. "Why do you think there was a minimum of 21 hours of mandatory training every week?" In the territory, employees were given 2 days off. Here, all able-bodied employees below 50 were required to commit 21 hours a week to either go to the training hall or go outside to fight. Well, this only applied to the companies, territory-owned or privately owned companies as a requirement to their employees. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Freelancers and other non-employees may choose not to go out at all. Of course, this would be to their detriment. "I also want more contribution points!" He said, "I want to do more for the territory!!" They then turned their heads to the elder, asking him for instructions. Gru smiled in understanding. "You actually didn''t have to ask me. I got an alert from the territory. "Those who fight will have paid leave on that day." The men looked at each other with smiles and cheered. "...as long as there is enough manpower for the crops ready for harvest." Gru added, "Well every man aged above 50 will remain with me. The others will be joining the fight!" "Yeah!!" "Be careful though. You still have other responsibilities inside the territory!" They smiled. "Of course, Elder!!" Gru smiled, feeling reassured. If the ''younger generation'' was like this, there was nothing to worry about. This was what has been happening all over the territory. Even the people who had ''office'' jobs. After all, Althea through Rosalind had never lacked reminding everyone what they could be facing after the Protection Period ended. Their level, as it was, was akin to children outside. How could they accept that? No matter how cowardly they were, they couldn''t be weak like ants!! Chapter 299 - 299: The Mobs are here! Hours later. In the health center, the ''territory'''' bought off all the medicine in the pharmacy, with the medicine factory continuously working to create more stocks. During the next day, all stocks would go straight to the health center. In the meantime, Lily, the Pharmacy shopkeeper was set to practice her undergrad knowledge with Betty. She and Sheila would be her right-hand women, one of which would be assigned to the East gate. Betty double-checked the medicines. There were various medicines, the most important of which were the hemostatic medicines, the ''Bandade'', and ''Sprite'', all of which were inventions of the Lord. These were all amazing, and it could be said that one was equivalent to a life saved. Betty couldn''t help but gently rub the ceramic bottles, heart filled with emotions. Of all the territories she had been to, she had never seen such an excellent woman. Let alone one that cared so much for the people underneath her. Betty knew for sure that this territory would not fall. . . . In the Barracks, all the guards began to congregate, with a mix of emotions in their eyes. Drake and Rowan formed two teams. The ''territory'' set the distribution to 80% in the Southwest gate, which was estimated to attract most of the monsters, and the remaining at the East gate. The other areas would have very sparse attacks and would be guarded by the dense sentries. Helios walked to ask Rowan. "Will Ms. Althea be joining?" "Yes, of course." "Which gate would she take? Will she still choose the East gate like last time?" "Yes." "Then, can we request to be assigned there? The last time we fought well together, and her style inspired my uncle¡­ and I." He changed his words when he realized his words were a bit ambiguous. "Oh?" "...yes." "Very well." Rowan said, "You must guard her well." "Yes, sir!" Rowan nodded and he and Drake stood in front. Rowan and Drake looked at each other, with the former nodding to the latter. Drake cleared his throat and stood in front of the crowd. "We are now about to face a formidable enemy. Do not underestimate them as they will be much stronger than what we have faced before. "Some of us may be lost in this battle, but no one''s sacrifice is in vain. Each of us has hundreds of lives on our backs, and we save hundreds when we bravely wield our swords toward our enemies. "Know that in every slice and every attack we do, we are protecting our home. Never falter. Our home is right behind us. "Do you understand?" "Sir, yes, sir!" "We will now distribute your weapons and equipment." At this, everyone''s back straightened, their eyes following excitedly as box after box arrived in front. They were as big as an adult man''s arms, while some were longer. Counting the boxes they realized it was a box for each one! "Line up!" Rowan called and they obediently did so. Those who received went to the side to open the boxes immediately and they all brightened at the contents of each one. Each one of them received three sets. Each set consisted of weapons and equipment like iron swords or spears, shields, and uniforms made by Lenny. They have been distributed to all guards. They also had several copies of all relevant medicines. The cost of each set was definitely no joke, and they had three. Each. The guards couldn''t help but be touched by the territory''s attempts to protect their lives. Who wouldn''t want to protect it with all they had? . . . Finally, there were the people just outside the gates. They were helping set up the spikes and other traps just delivered from the woodworking shop. "The last beast tide was scary¡­" Sunny mumbled as she held the spike so Dog could hammer it down. After all, they almost died in Vismont, almost helpless against such large hordes. It was a traumatizing experience. "Look around you," Crow said, and the two of them followed. They looked around and watched the people doing the same territory task as they were. Without exception, everyone was just working hard. No one looked scared, just serious about what they were doing. "They also guarded their territory during the last beast tide but they don''t seem afraid at all. They even look¡­ excited." Sunny mouth formed an ''o'' in realization. Satisfied that he fixed his companion''s fears, he began to look around. "Hey, where''s Bull?" . S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. . . Bull was currently watching the spat between Troy and Fred in amusement. He was bringing food to his new girlfriend, Lulu, who was helping out with the logistics of installing the stakes outside the exterior fence. "A level E? Still bragging about it after so many days?! I heard others got a level D equipment! Weak!" "At least I got a gift pack! Unlike you¡ª" he paused, sneering. "If I''m weak, what are you? Scum??" Lulu rolled her eyes and just held her boyfriend''s arm. When the boss was next to this best frenemy, they both turned into little boys. Troy then proceeded to swing his special level E Machete (special effect of burst strength with a CD of 1 minute). With a swing, he easily cut a tree, showing off his newfound strength. Fred sneered, and was about to make a snide comment about how only men with half-sized sticks needed to show off, but his eyes landed on a black wave far away. His face paled and for a moment Troy almost thought he finally got to scare the guy with his prowess. Troy smirked and puffed his chest proudly, but soon he realized that the guy was looking past him. Then he watched as Fred''s face turned paler and he whipped his head back to the direction of the territory. His pupils shrunk in fear and then he yelled from the top of his lungs, squeaking like a little boy. "THE MOBS ARE HEEEEERE!!!!!" . . . The bell ran continuously, and everyone changed their tasks, ready to defend. A low-magnitude earthquake shook the territory, resonating with the wild swinging of the bell. Althea and the others were quick to run outside. She looked at the Lord map which could show enemy forces during wars and beast tides. She flinched. Tens of thousands. She frowned and ran to the southwest gate first to see the bulk of the forces, using her ability to check on the largest monsters. Level 5. This was even stronger than they feared¡­ And considering the number, this would definitely last longer than expected. It was also very likely that this beast tide could overlap with the lifting of the protection period. She couldn''t help but rub her temple to ease the upcoming headache. She may have¡­ grossly miscalculated. Chapter 300 - 300: Attacks [Alert! For every 1% decrease in the health of the walls, 10 copper will automatically be deducted from the accounts of everyone inside it. [Let us defend our home together!] That was to say, the guards and fighters didn''t have to pay. Anyway, the first citizens did not complain even with the increase in the penalty costs. They weren''t blind; they knew the walls and sentries must have been insanely expensive. The newcomers, on the other hand, mumbled but did not dare speak out when seeing the established members not complaining at all. Who wanted to be an outcast? The teams then went to their respective positions with Althea, Ansel, Hugo, and Helios¡ªalong with a score of guards¡ªheading to the eastern gate. The remaining guards and all the fighting citizens guarded the southwest gate. Althea paused before she went up the battlement, looking at the other people sideways. "I will focus only on the level 4s and 5s alone, which will consume too much of my mana. The rest is up to you. "Be careful. I will definitely not be able to watch your back the whole time in this situation." "Yes!" Hugo watched Althea''s lithe back as she climbed the stairs to the top of the wall, with deep eyes. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Uncle." His nephew called him, pulling him back to the present. "Let''s get in position." Hugo flinched a little and nodded, following him. Ansel, who had been watching the whole thing, sneered. However, when he turned to face his sister, the sneer had become a gentle smile. "You! Don''t go overexerting yourself!" He said, but saw that the mob was closing in so he could only follow the others to the main battle area. The ground shook wildly and some people almost lost their balance as they ran. The magnitude got stronger and stronger until the monsters became visible even on the Eastern gate. They opened the gates on the exterior wall set to allow inside some monsters that got past the sentries. They stood in what they now called the gap¡ªthe fifty-meter area between the level 3 and level 5 walls around the gates, ready to handle these enemies. The guards took out their new iron swords and shields. They were all level E, as Brenda and the others were still learning, but they were superior level E weapons, breaking into the quality of level D''s. However, even if it didn''t, the new weapons¡ªweapons that the territory prepared for them¡ªgave them added courage to deal with the imminent danger rushing in their direction. The vanguard monsters were generally level 3s and an occasional level 4. The guards were quick to take these on, using skills as needed. Because of the spikes installed outside the fence, there were plenty of monsters distracted, making them a bit easier to handle. Hugo and the others stabbed the monsters on the other side of the fence. Hugo even jumped up on top to get more access to the monsters. While risky, this could get him more kills as well as reduce the damage on the fence. From the corner of his eyes, he could see several arrows occasionally flying and Hugo couldn''t help but steal glances at the woman above the wall. Swish! A beautiful hit. Swish! A one-shot kill. But then, suddenly, she pointed the arrow at him¡­ and shot. His heart dropped until he saw a level 5 monster falling beside him. "Focus." "Thanks." Althea didn''t really blame him too much. He had just risen to level 6, and level 5 monsters still easily could''ve taken him in a moment of carelessness. Ansel, who was nearby, scoffed. This guy! He was totally eyeing Althea!! How could he even compare to Gar¡ª Ptoeey! He stopped himself. He absolutely refused to praise that guy!! To vent, Ansel quickly raised his iron swords, battering the monster near him. [Killed! Stormdoer (Lv3). +70 Experience, +70 Copper] He quickly moved to the other one, taking note of where the sentries were lest he accidentally get shot. Anyway, everyone had some sort of orientation about them, hoping to avoid unnecessary damage. He jumped up above one monster''s head, precisely at where a sentry arrow hit, using his weight to embed it deeper. He then used its skin to propel himself somewhere else, hitting another monster near Hugo, showing off the skills he learned from that guy. "That was very good," Hugo said, quite friendly, as he defended against an attack. Ansel sneered. "Hmmph!" Before jumping about and killing a monster just damaged by a sentry. "..." Althea was not aware of all this drama and she quickly moved to target the more powerful monsters, especially those aiming to destroy the level 3 fence. The level 3 fence was relatively affordable since it was only a few hundred meters, at least compared to the higher-level stone walls. Even if she didn''t refill the resources for repair, she could just build another one altogether in its place. However, she was a stingy person and she hated unnecessary costs. She saw an unfamiliar pair of monsters¡ªthe first time this had happened in many days¡ªand aimed at them. They were dark blue and had three small horns on their heads. They also had large saberteeth and bubbling skin, particularly ugly. What''s more, from their size she knew that they were at least level 4 and level 5, respectively. [Used Perfect Aim. -10 Mana!] [Killed! Boggart (Lv4) +100 experience, +100 Copper!] [Killed! Boggart (Lv5) +150 experience, +150 Copper!] She heaved a sigh, and looked for more monsters of the same level, eating a mana biscuit to begin slowly replenishing her lost mana as she did so. For hours this went on, and there were still no signs of stopping. She made sure to target only the stronger monsters, resting when necessary, knowing she could not be missing at this time. When she had sufficiently rested, she once again took out the Bellagio, killing the next high-level monsters she saw. [Killed! Boggart (Lv4) +100 experience, +100 Copper!] [Killed! Boggart (Lv4) +100 experience, +100 Copper!] She also saw how effective the sentries were. To be honest, she really worried they might hit citizens, but she thought too much. It seemed that as long as one was aware of the location of the sentries, it was fairly safe to be around them. Her sharp eyes shifted and focused on her brother, killing anything nearby that could distract him too much. She watched Ansel as he skilfully used the walls as a propelling force, damaging two monsters which were both killed off by the sentry a moment later. Except one was alive and he used his weight to finally skewer it through its head. The wall move? Using external forces to kill? Using gravity to the max? Hey, her husband would be proud. Chapter 301 - 301: Willing Guardians Meanwhile, at the Southwest gate, Rowan jumped to the middle of the mob and used his abilities to kill a wave. He was very strong. Although he was sweating due to the sheer quantity, Rowan was still as strong as ever. Althea was very relieved with the other gate because the strong Aborigines were there. She was also relieved not just for herself but for other Terran territories. Hopefully, they also managed to hire decent NPCs. With them, any mobs inside the protection field were manageable. So¡­ even if more than 80% of the monsters were attacking that area, she just needed to focus on her own scope. As for the Terrans, because of the policy requiring employees to train outside several hours a week, even the ''office-people'' maintained basic fighting skills. Everyone who went out was at least level 3, and they were leveling up quickly because the monsters were greatly weakened by the Aborigines. Overall, she was really quite assured with the southwest side and just rebuilt the secondary wall there as needed. However, it couldn''t be as ''perfect'' as before. The mob was too big, it was inevitable to have a few sacrifices. Rowan threw another fire whip when a metal spike appeared to kill the adjacent monster. His red eyes stared at the lifeless body that he was too late to save, and it was pulled back by a teammate to the side, trying to make sure his body wasn''t disrespected even during the fight. In anger, even when his mana was already draining, he shot another large firewhip in the direction of the monster, killing it along with a few others. "My turn," Oslo said, returning to his side, killing a few monsters on the way. As the strongest forces, at least one of them had to be present at all times to minimize the deaths. Oslo had been resting inside for about two hours, as they had decided to alternate. Rowan did not immediately leave, however, because the numbers were still in the thousands and they hoped to further lessen the load. Seeing this, Oslo sighed and just handed some mana potion he had in his space. "You should replenish now." "Ah, thanks," he said, quickly downing the shimmering blue liquid. He blinked when he saw it was the more expensive sort but Oslo was already in the middle of the fight before he could thank him. In fact, only Rowan as a soldier was duty-bound to defend the territory, but who told Oslo and the others to like this place so much? However, Rowan understood the other man''s thoughts, so after mass killing and consuming the regenerated mana again. The man followed instructions and went to replenish some energy. When Rowan left, Oslo threw massive amounts of metal and earth Spikes, assisting the guards in gathering a bulk of experience and copper. "Thanks, Oslo!!" "You''re awesome!" "I leveled up!" Another yelled, "Just what I needed!" Although there were a lot of monsters, the level was low, so it wasn''t a problem as long as they got ample rest. Not to mention the guards and citizens were hungry to get the ''last hit''. Soon, even the other aborigines like Clout and the Gardener joined in, significantly lightening up the load. They may not be fighters, but they were still level 15. This was pretty impressive as non-fighting hired individuals generally didn''t participate willingly in such fights. But Oslo smiled, knowing how they felt very clearly. A few hours later, Rowan returned and patted the sweating Oslo''s shoulder. "My turn," he said and the blonde nodded. However, he wasn''t going back inside to rest. "I''m going to check on the lord." Rowan blinked, a little startled, and then looked at the hardworking guards and citizens around him. A small smile graced his usually stoic face, killing a few attacking monsters along the way. He had been sent to assist level 2 villages against the upgrade beast tide more than once before. These territories had much higher levels of fighters than in Altera, but the momentum was never, ever, so big. It was paradoxically both a mystery and an understandable fact. In those territories, there were a lot of casualties even in groups of level 7 guards fighting against huge mobs of level 3 monsters. But in Altera, groups of level 3s and 4s handled the monsters through cooperation and strategies. Even if they went against level 5s, they could handle it long enough for him or any other of the aborigines to arrive. It was difficult and they had casualties and deaths, but it was amazing what they could do with their current strengths. And, perhaps most importantly, there was the territory itself. It served as their supportive backing, as their anchor, and place to rest and be treated for their wounds. It was always there, never allowing the fighters to feel hopeless. He was curious about what would happen when their levels caught up with theirs. He looked at Oslo, who was staring at him, thinking he had instructions to send. "Hmm." He shook his head, "Tell the Lord that we¡ªand her people¡ªare handling this gate well." ¡­ S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Heading to the other gate, Oslo couldn''t help but observe the activity inside the walls. While the fight was difficult and they had already started to witness some deaths, it wasn''t enough to scare most of the locals who had already seen much worse before they became members of the territory. In the past month, death had become a part of their lives, and they were already thankful they were still alive after so long. A lot of stalls were even set up near the infirmary just inside the stone wall, accessible to fighters whenever they needed sustenance. "Hello Mr. Oslo, you should rest over there!" George Yu was one of the first batch. He was a newcomer that just entered. He set up¡­ a massage stall. There were indeed a few fighters asking him to massage their shoulders and tired arms. It was George''s brother who was doing the job, and he seemed to be quite enjoying it. It was an odd practice for Oslo, but the soldiers did look like they were being treated and reenergized after¡­ Oslo shook his head at the offer in the end. "I''m going to the other side to check." George nodded in understanding. "Okay, good luck!" George followed the back of the aborigine with deep admiration, though he also didn''t want to lose in terms of loyalty to the territory, especially not to someone not even Terran. Since he found his autistic brother here and living well, he wanted to do more for the territory. Also, he needed contribution points to give his brother a better life. His brother was one of the people who were lucky to have been rescued by the guards when they were making rounds. One of the first batch of rescues, and it could be said his brother suffered less than he did. How relieved he was when they found each other via the announcement system, and how happy he was when he saw his brother all smiley and safe. And now he, too, was living quite well. You must know that even in Terran, his brother didn''t have such a smile on his face. George just owed a lot to the territory, so he joined in the fight, occasionally joining his brother here when he was resting. "Brother. Drink." Koo handed him a bottle of juice he bought earlier. George smiled and took it, looking at his brother who had not gone to rest at all since the war began. However, he didn''t force him to go home either and just let him spend his time on the stall. Although his brother couldn''t express himself well, he knew he cared too much for him to be able to rest comfortably. It was also his own way of helping the territory. "It''s time for me to go now," George said with a huff, standing up and facing the large gate. "Be careful brother! We''re going to Gaea restaurant after, okay?" George laughed, "Yes, of course! We''ll order your favorite fried Gugu Bird." Koo Yu gave a toothy grin, waving his hand as his brother walked away. As George walked towards the gate, he took out a porcelain bottle from the space. He wanted to take the medicine so he was in top shape before the fight. As he drank, his rough fingers couldn''t help but rub the bottle a bit. The supply of medicine was free for the first ten bottles per person. This was a huge cost, and it showed how the territory never lacked in trying to keep them alive. It showed how much importance it placed on their lives, compared to material things like money. To many who had experienced the horridness of this place, this alone¡­ was enough to lay down their lives. Unfortunately, though he didn''t know it yet, George Yu will indeed do so. Chapter 302 - 302: Level Seven Oslo continued on his sprint to the other gate, hoping that their lord wasn''t too tired. Along the way, he could see that everyone was up and about, despite it being in the middle of the night. Some were preparing to fight themselves, some were setting up stalls, and some were handling logistics. There were even people who were gathering resources, making sure the territory was never stretched too thin of resources. He then turned to see the people being rushed to the infirmary and those who have sadly passed. It was sad, very, but everyone knew that death was unavoidable no matter how well-prepared they were. So no one was lax and allowed themselves to mourn for too long, at least while the mobs were here. They compartmentalized and immediately went back to the battlefield¡ªor whatever task they chose to do¡ªas soon as they were able. Oslo''s heart heated up a bit, feeling proud and awed by the sense of community in Altera¡ªsomething he had never seen before. So, even if there were sacrifices, he knew that Altera¡ªwithout a doubt¡ª would emerge from this stronger. ¡­ Back to Althea''s side, they were also doing similar wheel battles as that of the other gate. Hugo, Helios, and the others continued fighting. The strategy was for ? of the fighters to eventually rest in the temporary infirmary shed for a couple of hours. This was completely based on need. A person strong enough and wanting more contribution points would definitely rest less than others. Harold, Eugene, and the others had also joined in after settling the logistics behind the walls. In Harold''s case, it was to prepare a space-full of Mana food for the boss. "Sorry, we''re late boss! Here''s your order!" He said. Althea smiled and took what could fit in her space, and the rest on the balustrade next to her. She started eating while the others went down to fight. Except for Eugene, who was temporarily joining her shooting from the battlement. Like most, they dealt with the weaker monsters while Althea took on level 3s and above. Althea didn''t bother with anything that couldn''t get her experience points anymore. Anyway, other people needed it more than she did. She sighed and just continued shooting. The one good thing about this mob was that it ought to help them level up a few times! Oslo came to the new Eastern gate several minutes later. He saw her as stable as always, continuously hitting her arrows, and sweating so much. She was also a bit pale from tiredness. It broke his heart. He went next to her and took out a cotton fabric to wipe her sweat. She was a bit startled but smiled and thanked him. "How''s the other gate?" Ansel, who was now resting on top of the walls with Althea, sneered again. Here comes another one. Oslo, whose attention was all on Althea, didn''t notice the derisive sneer. "Well. The people are working very hard. Most of the medical personnel were also there¡­ are you sure you don''t need help here?" "The other side needs it more. Besides, how can I know my limits if I don''t push it?" She asked, punctually sending another arrow towards two level 5s that were trying to gang up on Hugo. [Congratulations on reaching Level 7!] [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 7 (100/25000) Life: 980/1200 Spirit: 850/1200 +50 Physical: 230 +40 Agility: 229 +10 Defense: 176 +134 Mana: 1200 Physical Potential: A Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1), Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Medina Robe (C): +40 Defence Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] She was a little startled at the increase in stats. Before it ranged at about 30-35 points. Now it directly increased by 50 or more. Her health and mana also increased by 300, compared to the standard 100. Was it always like this? Or was it because she had already given birth? Whatever it was, she was glad and the renewed energy made her attacks fuller, more concrete. Meanwhile, the battle on the ground was more intense. Sheila swung the axe against a level 1, killing it after a few skills. She then moved to a level 2 weakened by the sentry, killing it as well. She was so engrossed she didn''t notice a level 3 monster sneaking up behind her. "Sheila!" Harold yelled, swinging his own iron axe to get near her. Unfortunately, another monster blocked his way, though it was dealt with by the sentry. He paled and looked in the nurse''s direction, but a swift gust of air passed by and sharp canine teeth pretty much beheaded the attacking monster. Sheila shook a little as blood splattered all over her face. "Thanks Fufi!" Fufi at this time had already reached level 5 and was just below her waist on all fours, and about two meters tall on his hind legs. He already had his own dog house in the farm villa, adjustable according to his size. Above the battlement, both Althea and Eugene were about to shoot the monster when Fufi dealt with it. They quickly redirected to other monsters, relieved in their hearts. After shooting a few more times, Eugene let down his bow, "It''s time for me to go down now." Althea''s eyebrows furrowed as she let go of another shot. "You don''t really have to.." "Don''t worry boss, I not only used to be a soldier, my equipment for defence is really top notch." "Be careful." Eugene nodded, leaving her alone on the battlement. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After a while, Althea had to take a break to replenish with potions and mana cookies. As she did so, her emerald eyes stayed on the endless wave that extended to the horizon. She looked at the mob that still saw no end and sighed. Still a long way to go! Fortunately, she still had her three little secret weapons. Chapter 303 - 303: Bombs in Action Aberdeen City, thirteen years prior "Bomb it!" Twelve-year-old Althea told her teammate, Ansel, who happily obliged by throwing the bomb to their virtual enemies. Their enemies naturally all died, and Althea looked very happy. "Wow¡­" Garan, who happened to be watching them play, felt complicated. Did she love bombs so much because she was almost¡ª He glared at the brat who introduced her to such unhealthy games. Ansel: ¡­ Anyway, after their game, the teenage Garan couldn''t help but pull Althea somewhere to talk (though not without sending a small glare at Ansel, who shivered for his life). "What is it?" She asked, and Garan wondered how to tell her without sounding overbearing. "..." "Garan?" Garan couldn''t speak immediately. He just had a nightmare the night before, where Althea¡ªwho had now entered her teenage years, the supposedly rebellious stage¡ªlooked at him in distaste. "Stop being sooo boriinggg!" Dream-Althea had told him. She was wearing that adorable pout of hers, but she just kept saying hurtful things. He paled. "Garan? Are you alright?" Garan blinked and looked down at the girl in front of him. When he saw only kindness and concern in her pretty emerald eyes, he heaved a sigh of relief. Alas, he thought too much. How could he compare his angel with the brats of the world? "I just want you to know, that hurting people isn''t a good practice. You just have to protect yourself." "Unless it''s the bad guy," she corrected him. His lips twitched and he nodded in agreement. "Yes, unless they''re the bad guy." At this, Althea looked at him proudly. "Didn''t you see? Those ninjas tried to attack my turf!" She told him, eyes filled with certainty. "Of course, I''m gonna protect it!" ______________ Altera, Present. Helios and Hugo heaved a gasp as they killed a level 4 monster together. It took them a while, and they knew their movements had begun to lag. "We just rested an hour ago." The battle has been going on for more than a day now, their rest times naturally had to be extended. "There''s still so many." "Well," Now that their bodies were as heavy as lead and had begun to lose a few more people, the momentum had begun to slow down. Everyone also had heavy injuries on their bodies, only kept standing by the medicines¡ªwhich were quickly dwindling¡ªand by sheer willpower. The tension had risen, and it could be said no one expected this degree of strength they had to face. It was fortunate they had reliable Aborigines, or else they''d have lost a lot more people. Ansel parried the sword against the monster, slicing its eyes immediately after. He stepped back to avoid its claws, and the sentry hit it directly in the back. He deftly avoided another attack from behind, but his legs had gotten a bit weak and he miscalculated, losing his balance. The monster quickly took advantage. Roar! "Shit!" he yelled, placing a shield in front of him to give him time to recover. However, the shield was saved as a spear appeared. It was quick to pass through the monster''s neck, splattering blood all over Ansel''s face. He turned to see Hugo, who had just pulled back his spear. "Thanks," he said, standing up and ready to fight again. Although he didn''t like the bloke, gratitude due shall be given. "I got the experience." The other man said, redirecting another attack with his spear. He angled in a way that the monster moved in a direction and was promptly shot by the sentry for him. It roared and he took advantage to hit it on its weak point, finally killing it. A second later, Helios kicked another monster to their side, with Hugo¡ªwithout any more prompts¡ªstabbing it with his spear mid-fall. Ansel then jumped above yet another weird thing, kicking it with all his strength, just before stabbing its eye with his sword. Immediately, Hugo stabbed its mouth with his weapon, using his whole body weight (and more) to pull it in the direction of a sentry. Helios also took a shot at it. Combined with the sentry''s arrow, the monster met its quick demise. The three''s teamwork had improved by leaps and bounds during this time. Soon, the uncle and nephew''s life had gotten critically low and they had to go rest. Then Ansel would shift to Luke and Leo''s fight, who had just arrived from their short break. It could be said Ansel was quite the team player. They continued to fight. This time, Oslo stayed a bit to lighten up the load further. Anyway, Rowan had Clout and the others to assist him on the other side. But even if Oslo was strong, eventually his mana and physique would still take a beating like everyone else, especially when he was up against hundreds. He was so preoccupied and he wasn''t able to help out Ansel, who got nicked in the arm, even if he was nearby. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea happened to see this and frowned, increasing her shooting. She also saw the strain on the walls. She used her ability to lock in on another set of stronger monsters who were doing the most damage to the walls, killing them, and it ended up consuming the bulk of her remaining mana in the process. Looking at her soldiers in dire need of rest, she studied her stats and judged this was the time that she used her consumables. She went to the intersection of the two walls a few dozen meters from where she was. She stood at the intersection of the T, where the height difference was two meters. She easily jumped down and walked along the outer wall. "Althea!" Ansel gasped, looking up, "What are you doing??" She stood at the edge of the level 3 wall on the verge of collapse from the mob. This time, she didn''t repair it and just allowed for a new opening. Then on the monsters right outside the outer wall, she threw the paralysis and poison bombs. Boom! Bang!! "What!" Althea looked at the people gaping at the other side of the wall, seeing the strong flash of light and purple powder that was visible through the broken wall. "Kill!" She ordered, jumping down to deal with them. "Althea!" "Boss!!" People ran through the gates and the opening to help her out, though they didn''t expect to see the monsters were now just lying around like sitting ducks to kill!! "Amazing!" "They''re sitting ducks!" "Don''t be too complacent! I only have a few!" She yelled, "And it only lasts so long!" "Ah, yes!" The group killed as much as they could. After so long, they have managed to master the weak points of these monsters. They had killed about a hundred or so before the effect loosened. Althea''s sharp eyes saw the moment the monsters were about to wake up. "Get back up!" She yelled, and they jumped up the walls again, resuming the stabbing while above it. Then after a while, Althea would throw her bombs again, and they would repeat the same thing. Because the monsters were sitting ducks during this time, they didn''t have to waste too much mana and energy, increasing productivity by several folds. About an hour later, someone sobbed. "I can finally see the end!" The people looked forward and looked for the edge. It was into the end of the horizon, which was still a few hundred at best, but at least it was finally in sight. She looked into her space to see her final set of bombs¡ªthe actual explosives. She only had a few and she had to time it well for momentum. She believed this was a good time. Her emerald eyes watched the crowd and the mobs, holding on to small spheres smaller than her palm. She took away the ignition, throwing it as far as she could. Immediately, she did the same to different parts of the mob. A second later the air shook and three different areas of the mob exploded, throwing a bit of meat to their location. BANG! BANG! BANG!! [Congratulations! You have upgraded to Level 8!] The fighters looked at the monster corpses where the bomb landed. Each one killing at least a few dozen monsters! Only level 5s survived but they were easily killed by the sentries. They turned their heads and gaped at Althea. Oh my gosh! Ansel sparkled, wondering if he could get one. Many others looked the same. She looked at them with embarrassment. "That''s all I had though." Awwwww~ Pity. But it doesn''t matter, because they knew that this was a major step to finally finishing this damned mob! Chapter 304 - 304: Death Count [17 hours of Protection Period] When the beast tide ended a day later, everyone who couldn''t walk was carried to the infirmary tent to rest. On the other hand, the team from logistics took the bodies and the loot in the fields, to be distributed equally according to contribution. As they walked back, Oslo looked at her complicatedly. Those exploding balls were quite powerful. He remembered telling her about a pharmacist who built something similar, but he was fairly certain it wasn''t so strong. From what he knew, the stories of its effect were even exaggerated. However, it was still hailed because of its uniqueness. What''s more, that particular pharmacist worked on the formulation for half his life. How old was their lord? How long had she been working with the materials here? Althea wasn''t privy to the multitude of thoughts running through Oslo''s head. She was just sleepy and she wanted to see her children already. Althea sighed and ate the last snack she had in her space. She trudged through her tiredness and looked at her stats. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 8 (8320/30000) Life: 480/1500 Spirit: 250/1500 +50 Physical: 310 +40 Agility: 319 +10 Defense: 306 +134 Mana: 1600 Physical Potential: A Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Medina Robe (C): +40 Defence Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] She saw that her experience bar was well into level 8 and Fufi was in the middle of level 6. She couldn''t help but smile. Also, those stats¡­ would she be able to lift a level 3 monster now and pull it apart? Oslo noticed her smile. "Good news?" "Hmm," she said, telling her of their levels. "Also, the average level rose from 4 to 6!" Because of this, she felt their sore bodies were worth it. She sat down on the infirmary chair and refused treatment. Other people needed it, she only needed to rest. "Are you alright?" Hugo asked her, looking concerned. Althea stared at him and nodded with a smile. At this, Oslo appeared beside them out of nowhere. "You should take a nap, Ms. Althea. You deserve it." She looked at him but didn''t follow. After a pause, she asked, "What do you think will happen after the protection period ends?" The sudden question startled him a bit, but he recovered quickly. "The mobs would be stronger, but they shouldn''t be so many," Oslo said, reassuring. "Like I said, you should rest." He then looked at her, eyes filled with warmth. "Shall I send you home?" Hugo''s handsome face turned a bit dark. "It is best if a Terran takes care of fellow Terrans, don''t you think?" The two men stared at each other, an undercurrent only men understood was between them. Althea was too tired to notice. Ansel though could see everything. He crossed his arms and looked at them, both annoyed and amused (in a superior sort of way). He knew with his entire being that Althea would never look at them in that way. He found it entertaining to find men throwing themselves into a pitfall. It would be even more fun to see how they''d deal with THAT guy¡­ ¡­ However, as much as people wanted to celebrate, something inevitable soon dawned on them: The Deaths. The Southwest gate finished up about half an hour after the Eastern one and now Drake and Rowan stood in front of her to report. Next to her were the other elders, Mathilda and Gru, who came to check up on her as soon as things were settled. "How many did we lose?" "Fourteen guards and twenty citizens, Ms. Althea," Rowan said. To be honest, Rowan was amazed by how few this amount actually was. In other territories, casualties often exceeded several hundred, at least. And this was still with smaller level differences between people and monsters. However, looking at the somber faces of the Lord and the others, he chose not to speak out. Hearing the numbers, Althea felt extremely heavy. She seriously considered giving a lot of gold to the bereaved but went against it after a thought. It was not sustainable¡ªthey would only be facing stronger enemies and, therefore, more losses, in the future. Not to mention, in territorial wars, Oslo wouldn''t be able to join in. If Rowan leveled up a few more times, it was the same with him. If there were fighter NPCs available, even lower-leveled ones, she''d gladly take them. Unfortunately, there was no such luck the past few days. In any case, the potential for deaths in Territorial wars was no less than now, maybe even more because there were so many variables. "In addition to the contribution points the victim had earned during their lifetime, the territory will also give 5000 contribution points to the person''s bereaved." Gold and space items are gone after death, which was why a lot left some of their money to trusted people, but contribution points were not. As early as during the registration, everyone was asked to input the name of the person to whom they wanted to give their property, in case of death during a battle for the territory. They were collectively referred to as the Bereaved. She then looked at Oslo. "Set up a cemetery in the mountain area southwest. "We shall hold ceremonies for their passing. Pass on the announcement. We will begin in an hour." The Terrans nodded without question, while the Aborigines were a little surprised. They felt¡­ touched. No Lord had ever cared enough for deaths and the bereaved like this. Most of the time, even acknowledgment was absent. ¡­ Mathilda stood in front of a temporary stage in the main square, where the dead were laid down in white cloth, looking peaceful despite their bloodied states. "We stand before you today to honor our brethren who sacrificed their lives. This time we will remember them and their lives, and how they affected and saved ours." Oslo couldn''t help but turn to the sobbing man not far from him. Koo Yu. His blonde eyebrows furrowed and he whipped his head towards the bodies. Soon, he saw the familiar face of the boy''s brother, George. Mathilda continued to speak, "And we will bury our brethren''s ashes into the soil of this world: One with it, as we will also do, eventually." "In their memory, we will live well in this world," Mathilda paused, heaving a deep breath¡ªheavy, heartfelt. "Let us take a moment to remember their sacrifices, remembering how they took part in our inevitable freedom and success." Rowan then stepped forward, hands igniting in flames. Embers floated towards the pile of corpses, very quickly spreading and consuming them all. The bell rang continuously, as if the territory itself mourned for the loss. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Mathilda looked at the burning corpses sincerely, bending for a bow, and everyone¡ªincluding the aborigines¡ªfollowed. "Thank you for your sacrifice." Chapter 305 - 305: End of Protection Period After the ceremony, she, the elders, and the aborigines went directly to a meeting, aiming to polish what they could before a well-needed rest. When it was all over, everyone congratulated each other, before going out of the room to go their separate ways. They went down the stairs and Althea stretched her arms, but her yawn paused midway when she saw who was waiting at the bottom steps of the stairs. It was Sheila and Harold, each holding her children, arrived to pick her up. "Mwmammaaaa~!" "Ghghmoghamgga~" They looked very cute and very very happy to see her fine. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea immediately brightened and wanted to kiss her babies, but stopped herself due to all the grime and blood. In a hurry home, she said her polite goodbyes to the men, with Ansel striding along with her. However, before going anywhere, she looked at the Aborigines who had been watching everything with warm eyes. Althea paused, turning to the (former) Terrans. "We should also stop calling them NPCs." She told them, "I know that gamifying this world lessens the load, but our protection will soon disappear." She paused, finally looking away, sights looking past everything in the territory. "For better or for worse, we are now part of this world." ¡­ Althea and the group went home and she quickly took a bath. After that, she hurriedly went out to hug her babies, giving them many, many, smooches on their cute cheeks. She carried them both to the bed, embracing them with her warmth, feeling their softness. "I missed you soooo much¡­" she mumbled, and the two children giggled cutely, and she couldn''t help but place another set of pecks on their pudding-like cheeks. Then little Meatball yawned adorably, followed by Little Pepper, and then Althea herself. She felt her eyelids become heavier and heavier. As she laid down with her babies in her arms, she used her remaining strength to make an announcement: One asking everyone to get a good rest. Let them rest for several hours. The bell would ring when it was time to wake up¡ªto signify that it was time to start preparing for yet another battle. ¡­ Ferrol Town "The mobs have been particularly antsy." Bart''s right-hand man, Eloi, mumbled as they walked towards the Terran Mercenary camp. He mentioned this because a monster managed to nick his shirt and now he had to buy a new one. He was a middle-aged man with big eyes and a very high hairline. Like Bart, he also had a large waistline, though it increased lately and he blamed the Terran mercenary team for it. They had just arrived from their base in Twinwave and noticed the mobs on the way were quite irritated. Fortunately, the mobs around weren''t too high, and it didn''t cause them too much trouble. They passed by Ferrol, though mostly to meet Garan and the others. It was because they happened to be going to Cape Rushless, which was not too far away from here and they wanted to see if there was some new stuff to see (and get some exclusive food by the way). But when they got to the Terran Mercenary Team''s camp, they saw them packing up, as if preparing to go somewhere far. Bart also noticed there were several people who were not there. And also¡­, they were all covered up in bandages? "What happened to you?" Reuben shrugged, "Encountered some hard stubble." Another¡ªthe pale-skinned Minko¡ªnodded. "Very hard stubble." "..." However, they basically ignored him and were busy packing up. He noticed somewhat of a flurry in their movements. Bart watched patiently as they finished up, with those who completed their tasks earlier looking in the direction of the fog. They looked both worried and excited and it made Bart very curious. He walked over to Eagle, who seemed relatively freer now than the others, but he was obviously a bit antsy. "Level 5 Mobs were found entering the fog a day before," Eagle told him, face pale. "Captain and the others hand already gone to take a look." Bart flinched a bit, narrowing his eyes. He knew these people had something to do with the fog, and it seemed their connection was deeper than they thought. According to what the rumors he heard a few days ago¡­ he kind of worried for this team. "All of you are going?" He shook his head. "Only those with relatives there," he said. That was to say, all Aborigines would remain to watch their properties. Bart thought for a while before nodding. Curious, he offered to come with them in the end, and Eagle and the others gladly agreed. Maybe they''d get more information along the way. ¡­ They arrived at the border of the cloud several hours later, which would have taken longer had Bart and the others not come. After all, there were really a lot of aggressive monsters around. Such a strong group really helped them breeze through it. Bart received the team''s gratitude (in the form of good snacks) with a smile, and he turned his head to look for the advanced team. Soon, he saw Garan and the rest in full gear, eyes never leaving the cloud in front of them. It was obvious they would be traveling, for a long time. "There were changes?" Bart asked, approaching the serious man while taking a bite of the heavenly snack they gave him. Garan nodded. "It seems like a month has passed." "What are you planning?" He asked him as well as Gill, who was standing still next to him. "We will find our relatives, of course." Bart nodded, having such an idea. "Well, then, I hope you succeed." Bart paused. "And don''t forget our business!" Garan nodded. "Of course." He needed to feed his wife well, after all. However, before going, Bart couldn''t help but give them a bit of warning. Bart walked over and said with a lowered voice, "I heard¡­ a few forces are mobilizing in this direction." This made the Terrans whip their heads to him with furrowed eyebrows. Attention from aborigines of this kind of world¡­ was definitely not a good thing. Bart raised his hand. "That''s all I know." Garan sighed and nodded, "Thanks for the warning." Bart sighed and just wished them good luck before bidding his farewell. The man continued on to his destination, leaving the Terrans behind to watch the changes, thinking deeply about what could happen. They set up camp right next to the cloud, lighting fires, and cooking meals. Except for a couple of monster groups, the wait was relatively peaceful. But soon they noticed their barbeque sticks started moving, and the charcoal started rolling. Gill sighed. "It''s another mob," he said. Everyone else took out their weapons and prepared for the monsters they''d be facing. But they noticed this mob seemed a bit larger than others so they packed up and found a higher ground so as to not be surrounded. It was a mob of Suide, predominantly level 8 and 9, probably attracted by the smell of their food. They dealt with them with relative ease, with no injuries whatsoever. It was just that the wind users'' abilities accidentally wisped away the smell, some of the escaping mob went in the direction of the fog by chance. The team went nearer the fog and planned to kill the monsters when they came out of the fog. But, who knew¡­ After several minutes, the mob still hadn''t come out yet! "What? Are they inside??" "Huh?" "The fog is clearing!!!" Someone yelled and they looked up to see that it was true. Their eyes widened as they looked closer, watching the cloud slowly ebb. However, instead of relief, they only felt heavy with worry. They had hoped the return of relatively higher monsters would take a while to get here, but apparently not. No matter how amazing, the Terrans definitely wouldn''t reach level 8 or 9 within a month. Garan''s heart beat frantically, terrified of what his wife might have to face next. "Let''s go!!!" He yelled, and everyone rushed into the fog¡ªhearts all calling for their own loved ones. Please be alright, wife! Chapter 306 - 306: Duties Duties Eden Military Training Camp, 14 years ago Bang! "That''s all you got, cadet?!" A well-built middle-aged man bellowed, punching a young man to the ground for the nth time that morning. The sixteen-year-old Garan groaned and pushed himself up once more, his muscles hardening as he prepared for another attack. The older man narrowed his eyes as he watched the young boy''s movements. "You cannot be a proper soldier if you''re not strong enough!" The huge man snapped into position again. "Come!" He yelled and the boy flinched, similarly entering an aggressive stance. Determination burning in his azure eyes, the young lad lunged forward. His strikes were swift and precise for his age, but it was lacking in the eyes of the older man, who was grooming him to be the best there was. Bang! Another takedown, with the lad immediately jumping back up to stability, darting towards the older man without a beat of delay. The boy''s movement was impressive, but the older man easily deflected his hits, and soon started to counterattack. First, the boy was hit in the stomach, then to the chest. The lad struggled to defend, albeit with increasing frequency of a decent block. However, the soldier''s seasoned movements contrasted greatly with the teen''s imperfect techniques, and he failed as soon as the old man changed his tempo a bit. The older man''s movements were precise and impactful, and the boy blocked the blows with gritted teeth. The impact pushed him down everywhere, but he stood up every time. He was beaten up again for another half an hour, but without fail, Garan stood up. The huge man looked at him deeply and relaxed his stance. Still, Garan did not dare lose his guard. The boy''s eyes sharpened and his body shifted. Using his excellent reflexes, he jumped up and changed his position, indicating it was a fake. He launched a quick strike hitting the man''s side and the man, taken by surprise, let out a muffled grunt. The boy immediately jumped back in a defensive, ready should he attack him again. However, instead of attacking, the man''s posture relaxed, making the boy''s eyebrows furrow. The man smiled and patted his shoulders, with no signs of a new attack. Garan''s tense body relaxed a bit, but still guarded enough in case of a fake-out. "Good," the man said after a while and the boy blinked, lips twitching upward. "...thank you." The old man looked at him with deep eyes and Garan unconsciously straightened his back more. "Listen well, soldier. We are the shield in front of our country, and thus, the shield in front of our loved ones." Garan couldn''t help but think of that huge scar he saw on the young Althea''s back when they were swimming. She didn''t mind it, but he felt like crying. As he remembered this, his eyes sharpened, and the man saw it and nodded in approval. "That is the duty of a soldier." He said, "And you have the eyes and soul of one." ___ Xeno Continent, present "They''re headed over there." Chris motioned in a direction, showing the scratches amongst trees. Garan''s team had been following the traces of the mobs for a while now, following closely behind them. Not only were they aiming to lighten the load of their brethren, but it was also a well-known fact that mobs were known to detect sources of aether¡ªthat was, other living things, especially intelligent beings¡ªand attempt to eat them. Hence, to find other humans at a time when they had no direction, they must follow this mob. Not too close to attract them, but not too far to be too late for rescue. However, before the mobs found their targets, they heard a group of terrified screams getting closer to them from the side. They frowned. If they could hear the noise, so could the mob up front. Sure enough, the mob quickly turned to the noise and instantly changed targets. "Go!!" Garan yelled to his team, and they sprinted after the monsters, hoping to get to the humans before the monsters did. They ran as fast as they could but when they arrived the monsters were already mauling a few corpses. Cursing, Garan immediately summoned his ice spears, sending them directly to the monsters. The ice picks embedded on their skin and through their necks, finally killing them. His teammates, similarly, used their skills to kill the monsters as quickly as possible to minimize the deaths. However even if these monsters had lower levels than they did, they were still around level eight and could not be killed in one shot by most if the weak points weren''t hit. Regardless, it was an amazing sight¡ªhow terrifying monsters that could kill a person with a small bite seemed so powerless against humans¡ªhumans that were so similar to them. Brethren. The refugees gaped in amazement as elements floated around, menacing, and killing the beasts that had terrorized them a moment prior. Not only were they extremely skilled in weapons, they also magically released fireballs, waterballs, and other elements. It was a magical sight and many survivors thought they already died and went to heaven. In their distraction, they failed to notice a small but agile monster that darted to their direction. "AH!" A person yelled when he caught sight of it, and his heart dropped¡ªbelieving it was finally his time to get eaten. But a wall of earth appeared in front of them, protecting them from the monster. Then, from behind the wall, another person seemed to have¡­ flown. Carried by the wind, he raised his sword as he jumped over the wall and straight to the monster. Splash! The sword was buried into its skull, and it fell down to the earth with a thud. "This¡­ is a miracle¡­" a rare surviving old man uttered, tears slowly forming in his eyes. "I¡­ how¡­" "Are¡­ are they l-like¡­ us?" These people are amazing¡­ The people who had been pale, scared, and soulless stopped moving. Their dull eyes watched as the soldiers cleared out the mob that attacked them, dead eyes slowly gaining a bit of life. Hope had been lit. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And that was the first step to everything. Chapter 307 - 307: Tracing Scum If they¡ªthe refugees¡ªstill had the strength, no doubt quite a few would be approaching actively instead of running to hide like they usually did. After seeing the direct threats to the people had been dealt with, Garan ordered everyone not to waste too much mana anymore. Hence, except for when the monsters got too close, the soldiers all used their weapons instead. Anyway, none of them received any experience or copper because the monsters were over 5 levels below them, so it would be a pity to lose a lot of mana from it, not when their journey was probably still long. They soon took down the dozen or so monsters left, with a few people kicking the monsters for good measure. Silence passed by this part of the forest, with the two groups awkwardly staring at each other. When the survivors saw that it was safe, they looked at the soldiers longingly, before dragging their weak feet to them. Soon after, the soldiers were surrounded by about a hundred people, most eyes now filled with admiration and relief. The soldiers naturally looked around for family, though to no avail, and they looked at each other in disappointment. Of course, it would be impolite to show it so openly, so the more friendly soldiers like Luis, Jake, and Sam started to chat with the refugees. However, as they did so, they couldn''t help but notice the extremely poor conditions the refugees were in. None of them had a complete dress¡ªthere were men who only had pants filled with holes and nothing else. And, without exception, each one was covered in mud, blood, and grime. They were also extremely thin, their complexion extremely wan and unhealthy. Garan''s heart dropped. What about the others? What about Althea?! ¡­. While he was in a daze, in a dark mood, and with a very intimidating aura, the survivors were already approaching the others with various emotions. "Thank you so much!" One sobbed, and another bowed. Another kowtowed, partly because he lost the feeling in his legs, as well as to express his gratitude. The soldiers were embarrassed, and they couldn''t help but wave it off. "We''re just doing what we can as fellow Terrans." It was just that the confirmation that they were there as allies made a lot of tense shoulders slump in relief, and also even more passionate in interacting with them. There was also a teenager who looked at them in awe. "Are you soldiers!?" He continued to chatter even before they even answered. "I knew you were going to save us! And what is that magic you did?" The topic seemed to have triggered a flood of curious questions. "Oh, yes, that''s amazing!" "Did you get superpowers?" "Yes, how?" However, before they could answer, the happy atmosphere was broken by a heart-wrenching wail. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "My son!!! My sooonnnnnn!!!" It was a middle-aged woman hugging the corpse, letting out guttural cries of despair. Judging by her bloodied but unharmed arms, she had obviously just found his son after rummaging among several corpses. Looking closer, they could see that it was the corpse of a teenager. They recognized him as the boy who had just been killed when they arrived. The woman knew this and her head whipped in their direction, red eyes sending accusing glares. "Why did you arrive so late?! "He didn''t have to die!!! "What kind of soldiers are youuu!!!!!" She screamed, but her hold on her son remained and she only buried her head on his face¨Cthe only remaining body part intact. The soldiers¡ªexcept Garan, who was still in his own world¡ªlooked down, ashamed. If it were others, they wouldn''t feel as guilty. But they were soldiers living with a creed. They couldn''t help blaming themselves. Had they been faster. Some people couldn''t take it anymore and just patted the woman''s back in an attempt to calm her. "Come now, you know it''s not their fault¡­" "Yes¡­ we''re sorry for your loss. Let''s bury Junior together, okay?" Of course, they also knew that if it was their relative who died like that, they would feel the same, so they couldn''t condemn the grieving woman for it either. Anyway, a few others went to comfort the woman, who only wailed in pain, still blaming the soldiers. The refugees looked at the soldiers embarrassedly. Luis shook his head, silently gesturing that they didn''t mind. He told them to let her vent, they would kill the monsters that would be attracted by the noise. Some more tactful people stepped forward to change the topic. "Uhmm¡­ you are really soldiers, right?" A person, one who had been quiet all along, asked. They didn''t wear any uniforms. They just assumed because of their temperament unique to soldiers. "Well, yes." "That''s great!" He paused, hesitated, but pushed through with his request. "My cousin. I have family left in my territory¡­" This seemed to have triggered the memory of everyone. After all, they had been too focused on their own survival, how would they even consider others? Most of these people had formed acquaintances and friendships in the past month. "Yes, yes! Can you help our territory?! We just escaped but it hasn''t fallen yet!" "Please!" "There are thousands of people in the territory! They should still be holding on!" "Yes, we just happened to be gathering resources on the other side of the territory when they broke in! We could only run as far as we can!" The soldiers blinked and didn''t answer, only shifting their heads to the captain who, at some point, returned to the present. Garan was silent and didn''t agree immediately. But he did not refuse either. One was because of the military creed and the more important one was that their relatives could be there. After a pause, he looked at the most composed person next to him, a middle-aged old man with a balding head. "Is your village''s name Altera?" He asked. The man flinched as if thinking of a response, but was scared by Garan''s sharp eyes. He didn''t dare to lie. "No, I''m sorry." But he quickly added, "But¡­ I''m sure someone in the territory knows! Our Lord is very powerful! Usually! The monsters that suddenly attacked were abnormal!! Garan sighed. Regardless of whether it was of duty or one of selfishness, going to their territory was the most practical first step. He prayed for some good news. ¡­ On the way to the aforementioned territory, the team effortlessly killed the mobs that attacked them. It was his team who made all the moves this time, often just using iron swords, but sometimes using elemental skills, all of which earned admiring gazes. Althea would also be fascinated with those tricks. He was told he was very dashing when using his skills, and he looked forward to her admiring face. Then, he couldn''t help but continue worrying for his wife. When he got news of huge amounts of level 5 monsters entering, he immediately checked the mercenary union for the status of her team. Fortunately, it was as stable as it had been. His wife was so amazing, he believed that she would be fine... As they walked, he couldn''t help but ask the person next to him. "What''s the name of your village?" "Fargo Village." Garan''s feet stopped. Fargo¡­?? His movement naturally made everyone stop as well. The soldiers put up their guards and the refugees shivered. Garan noticed his gaffe and shook his head. "No, I just remembered something," he said with that impassive voice of his and just continued walking forward. Everyone was puzzled, but no one dared to question him. Garan didn''t care about the stares as his mind churned like crazy at the familiar name. The criminal group he had been hunting¡ªthe people responsible for Althea''s scar¡ªhappened to be named the Fargo Group. ''If it''s the same group¡­'' His eyes sharpened. If it was the same people¡­ Then they must be killed! Chapter 308 - 308: Village in a Valley In the end, in consideration of various factors, Garan and the team decided to follow the refugees to their village. However, the travel was not straightforward as the survivors did not have a compass nor did they have the time to mark their path. However, the so-called Fargo village was located in a particularly prominent landform¡ªa valley¡ªso they only had to go where the small mountains were. Further, the soldiers also asked the refugees to help them tag the location on their maps¡ªsomething that amazed the refugees to no end¡ªso a few of them could even go ahead to the location. Five people: Turbo, Jake, and three others, were sent ahead to check on the situation. "The goal is to minimize the losses of the people." Garan told the five, "But be sure to keep your safety as the top priority." This had been their mantra since coming here. While they would still help people, they would no longer sacrifice their lives for them. After all, only if they were alive would they be able to save even more people. More importantly, saving their own lives ensured they could protect their own loved ones well. "Be careful," he finally said and the five nodded. "Yes, sir!" They said, and it took a few seconds for them to disappear from their sight. The more optimistic young people couldn''t help but be in awe. "Amazing¡­" they said, "I wish I were that strong." Eagle, the soft-hearted one, smiled at them. "You will be. Just be brave and aim for self-improvement." The young lad looked at Eagle in admiration. To be honest, the man had a bit of a scary face due to his sharp features, and he was the last person the lad expected to give any sort of pep talk. Eagle sensed his stare and looked back with an eyebrow raised. "Did I say anything wrong?" The boy, Kyle, was both embarrassed and touched by his words. "Er¡­ thanks¡­" Those who watched the interactions couldn''t help but smile. Anyway, soon all the refugees could stand and walk one way or another, and Garan started walking forward, with everyone else following his steps. Their steps were relatively slow as almost all the refugees were injured, but thankfully the soldiers were patient and protected them well. It wasn''t peaceful for long, however, as they quickly heard rustles approaching them, and the soldiers immediately separated and headed in the direction of the sounds, fully prepared for what was to come. Quickly, they took them down with their weapons, leaving the refugees absolutely in awe (again). As soon as the mobs were settled, the group started moving again. And when more mobs arrived, the soldiers would do the same. Over and over. In the remainder of their travels, they encountered several more groups of monsters. These monsters were no longer limited to the usual levels 1 or 2 the refugees were used to. On the contrary, a lot of the new mobs ranged from level 6 to level 8. Such levels were the minority in numbers, but it was enough to shake the refugees to the core. "Why are the monsters suddenly so strong?!" Someone cried. "Stronger? That was still weak." Gill tactlessly mumbled as they ran. "What?!" "You haven''t seen anything yet." Eagle rubbed his temple as they trekked. "Stop scaring them." "Don''t coddle them," Gill said, ignoring the pale faces of the refugees. "The average level of monsters here would remain at this level. They should get used to it." Some people cried and some even lost strength in their legs from the shock. Gill''s eyes twitched and decided to soften up his tone a bit. "Don''t worry," He told them, "The monsters shouldn''t exceed level 10 around villages." At the very least, villages didn''t need to worry about a level 20 monster attacking them. There was a rather accurate observation about these monsters: The stronger the territory, the stronger the monsters. This was because of the energy, or aether, a territory innately had. This was what attracted monsters, and it varied from territory to territory. This was why during Upgrade Beast tides of villages, the level was generally lower than level 5. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For the low-level villages, he heard it was only level 3 mobs that attacked. This side of the human territory did have generally weaker mobs. In turn, the weaker territories settled here for survival and also because they didn''t have much of a choice. This was why no true strong professional stayed in villages, despite the potential for hegemony due to strength. After all, people would not receive any rewards for killing monsters 5 levels below them. More importantly: who wanted to stay stagnant? As if in a vicious cycle, weak territories would also turn away any strong individual who could change the status quo. However, the average monster level was about level 7 or 8 and was already very lethal to the current Terrans. This was their new reality, and they had to adjust if they hoped to survive. "There," Gill said, very kindly. The Refugees: "..." That did NOT make them feel better! Gill ignored them, already feeling very kind in his attempt to ''comfort'' them. Garan sighed and just continued his trek, hoping the advance party had mitigated the trouble up front. As he walked, he couldn''t help but think a lot about what Gill was telling them. This low-level mob around villages was not even permanent. It would change if powerful towns and cities appeared in the vicinity. As such, more powerful mobs would be attracted by the aether produced by the vitality of a stronger community. Because of the attraction of stronger territories to stronger monsters, there were cases of neighbors attacking neighbors, just to stop them from bringing in stronger monsters and implicating everyone. But this was what weak cowardly lords chose to do, and he didn''t think there was a Lord from Terran who was like this. At least, he hoped so. He hoped that there would never be a war between Terrans. It was already them against the world and there was no need to add each other in the list of enemies. To be able to thrive in this world, they had to work together. Except with scum like Fargo, of course. ¡­ About half an hour later, they finally neared the vicinity of Fargo village. It was located in a lush valley with relatively comfortable side slopes. The soldiers observed the terrain by habit and saw the other side of the mountain. It was steep and difficult to traverse. This was a natural barrier on two sides, hard to attack and easily defendable. It could be said that the Lord here had quite the foresight. Garan frowned, knowing the enemy could be a bit troublesome even in this new world. However, as they went closer, they quickly heard loud growls and horrific screams and their pace turned panicked. Soon they saw many corpses of humans and monsters, as well as the broken walls not too far from them. "The monsters have traces of elements in them," Gill said as their pace hastened towards the broken part of the wall. Obviously, the people who came ahead had just finished off the monsters attacking the walls. It was just that a lot of monsters had already gotten into the territory. The level 2 fence had long been breached. The gate was wide open and people were trying to get as far from it as they could. Obviously, the refugees said the walls should''ve been able to last longer. They said that they had strong enough guards to hold on for at least half an hour. What happened now? Running against the crowd, Garan''s team weaved through to enter the opening to see the bloody scene inside. There were maimed corpses everywhere, blood was splattered all over the floor and there were more people getting killed every step they took. There were hundreds of corpses littered on the ground, stacked over each other, each with missing body parts. There were monsters that were feasting with these piles, while some found more desire to hunt live prey. The soldiers watched all this with a heavy heart. It seemed they had miscalculated. Chapter 309 - 309: Fargo Village The large village was now shrouded in chaos and blood, the air thick with tension, and the ground trembling nonstop from the weight of hundreds of monsters inside the walls. Their hearts fell at the sight, and their feet immediately darted to the nearest monster to deal with it. Desperate cries echoed through the territory, helpless against the onslaught of powerful monsters. The soldiers immediately activated their elements so they could deal with them as quickly as they could, joining the advance team in their fights. Turbo and the others were focusing on the most populous areas, trying to save as many people as they could. It was just that, with the number of people running about, and how many people a single monster could take down in a second, they simply weren''t rescuing people fast enough. It didn''t help that they were all going in a direction and were thus actively hunted down. While dealing with the nearest monsters, their sights followed the direction where they were running towards. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. From a distance, they could see another level 3 wall deeper inside, likely built over the original wall. A lot of people were running desperately to its gates, thumping it, albeit to no avail. Fortunately, there were a few sentries there, so even if people couldn''t get inside its closed gates, they had some hope of survival through the sentries. That was not within their concern at the moment, however, and everyone turned their attention to the monsters at hand. There were about a dozen or so level 6 and 7 monsters roaming around and playing with their meals. The others were dealt with by their soldiers and some were handled by two locals. The two were definitely aborigines. A few weaker monsters were also handled by dozens of guards and cannon fodders. Unfortunately, they were too far and weren''t able to save a lad from being mauled. But they did arrive soon enough to save everyone else. Anyway, while Garan and the fighters handled the monsters, the rest tried to rescue who they could. At this point, Vanessa and Turbo, the medical personnel, took the lead. Followed by Chris and Sammy, who joined in the logistics of rescuing people directly from the mouths of monsters. There were hundreds, no, thousands of people to rescue, and only a few of them. It was naturally not easy. There were points where Chris, carrying two grown men in his arms, was surrounded by monsters and almost had to let go of his rescues. Fortunately, Gill sprinted in their direction, manifesting a fireball on his hand. He also used his earth abilities to create walls and created chokepoints, to ensure the monster wouldn''t go anywhere else. "Thanks!" Chris yelled, disappearing to safety again. On another side, one of the village''s aborigines, yelled in pain as he felt a sharp tooth nick his arm. Mogi''s eyes narrowed when he was finally injured a bit by one of the monsters. Although they were several levels below him, he¡ªa mere level 12¡ªwas handling at least three of them. It was common knowledge that someone needed to be a few levels above a monster to defeat it one-on-one, but he was surrounded by them! Who told this village to be filled with people weaker than his twelve-year-old niece!! And who told him to be bound to protect the Hiring village as much as he could, at least until he was certain of death? It was only at this time that hired people like them could refuse. It was even worse for Rona, a fifty-year-old chef, who was not even a fighter but happened to have a higher level than the residents. She was only level 9 at her age, and it was enough indication that she couldn''t handle these things well. They didn''t know why the guard team mobilized so late¡ªalready well after the monsters killed so many citizens¡ªbut they were contract-bound to do what they could within their abilities. "AH!" Rona yelled beside him and he turned, looking at her shoulder already gushing. Instead of crying and looking scared, Rona looked a bit relieved. She judged that it was time for her to run, already meeting the minimum requirement she was expected to meet. "I did my part." She told Mogi, who nodded in understanding. Unfortunately, he couldn''t do the same. He applied and was hired to be a Guard. This meant that unless his health and life were below 30%, he could not run away. However, as Rona turned to flee to safety, a monster who had already eaten the people nearby lunged toward her. "ROAR!" It was so loud and sudden that Rona lost her balance and fell down. It opened its mouth to glomp at her, and she peed her pants in shock. "Rona!" Mogi yelled, barely dodging sharp teeth to the heart due to the distraction. Rona''s life passed by her head. She knew this village would kill her the moment she saw the average levels! What made everything worse was that she only had a few days of contract left! But an inch before being mauled, a spike of earth appeared in front of her. It ended up right under the monster''s chin and impaled it. And then, from the same direction, three more earth spikes appeared, killing the barely-damaged monsters Mogi had been dealing with. The two didn''t even absorb what was happening until the monsters took their last breath. An Elementalist! What''s more, to be able to one-shot a monster, an Elementalist had to be either five levels above the monster or have an extremely powerful weapon on hand. The two aborigines looked around to see the other monsters were already dealt with, each with traces of element manifestation. Not too far away, they saw a strange lad fighting a level 7 monster by himself. His sword was completely engulfed by flames and with a wave, he divided the monster in half. That was a Swordsman''s classic skill: Floating Slash! Then a water whip splashed not too far, also dividing another monster into a few pieces. Goodness Elves! So many elementalists!!! Why were they in such a small place? Chapter 310 - 310: Assistance To be honest, since spending so much time with these weak Gugu birds, Rona and Mogi had forgotten what it was like to be around the true strongmen. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were dozens of strong monsters that plagued the territory, but it only took about half an hour for the team to deal with the monsters, including the weaker monsters attracted later on. Further, sometime when they were dealing with the monsters, the outer walls had also been repaired by the lord (wherever he was), so, fortunately, no more losses happened after that. Soon, the sound of monsters disappeared, and people realized they only heard sobs and cries. They¡ªwho had been terrified to look up to see the sights¡ªfinally lifted their heads. When they saw that all the monsters had been dealt with and their protective walls had finally been fixed, the people couldn''t help but kneel down in relief. There were also plenty of people who were near the saviors and were determined to express their gratitude in one way or another. "Thank you, thank you!" The cries of a person echoed, amongst many others, holding a team member in tears. "Er¡­ it''s not much, really¡­" It was an embarrassed Luis, who was carrying said crying person. They were currently heading to one of the residential buildings refurbished as an infirmary by Vanessa and Turbo. Jake, who was walking next to him, cackled at his embarrassment until a teenage girl suddenly threw herself at him. "Mister¡­ mister soldier¡­" she mumbled looking soft and sweet, but the spiky-haired soldier couldn''t help but cringe. She didn''t seem to notice this though and was intent on expressing her love, er, gratitude. "Thank you for saving me¡­" His eyes twitched. "It was nothing, I''d do it even if it was anyone else." "Don''t say that sir! Don''t be shy!" Jake cringed. He was not a pedo, okay? Even if he was only around 5 years older than this girl, he liked curvaceous mature women!! And he didn''t want them so clingy! His steps unconsciously hastened, and this time it was Luis who was cackling. The little girl following Jake was called Yiyi, a nineteen-year-old high school student. She was an orphan since as far as she could remember, and this was the first time she expressed herself like this. Even at a young age, she was one who managed to support herself through hard work and she had never known how to depend on someone else. When the zombie apocalypse began, she was in cram school, trying to study for the unified college entrance exams in an attempt to change the course of her life. She worked very, very, hard. Even if she was a little late in starting compared with her peers, she managed to get to that step, how could she fail? She had worked so hard, to the point of nosebleed. Who knew these very same nosebleeds would almost get her killed, by her own classmates who turned to zombies! In her panic, she accidentally killed her zombie deskmate by pushing her out the open window. She inexplicably activated the ''system'' with space, which was awesome, but there were too many zombies and she was surrounded. She couldn''t put it into use at all. She hid in the classroom cabinet for the whole twenty-four hours, relying on a bottle of water to feed herself until the supposed salvation¡ªthe Migration¡ªcame to take them away. She transferred with a group of over 200 people of different ages and sizes, and for a moment she felt like everything was finally going to be okay. However, in less than 5 minutes after they landed, they heard ominous rustles of leaves and growls around them. A score of monsters attacked them that time and they immediately lost half of their number. Right in front of her, she saw a kid beheaded with a bite and an old woman dragged into the mob. She couldn''t help but puke out the contents of her stomach¡ªwhich was miserably mostly water¡ªa lot of which ended up on her own shirt. Anyway, the mob was settled after a great many deaths and injuries, and Yiyi happened to be among the lucky ones. It was just that the dangers were never-ending. Not just from monsters, but from each other as well. Among the survivors after that mob were a lot of men. Unluckily, half of these men found the new world to really be their salvation¡ªa place where they could do whatever the hell they wanted. Fortunately for her, she was not only unsightly all the way back in Terran due to her nosebleed and zombie goo (and now, the vomit), but when monsters attacked she was thrown to the ground a lot making her look like a dirty-but-tall kid. This also had a lot to do with her non-existent breasts. Anyway, she managed to follow this group from the edges and used her intuition to survive all the way to this territory. She could not afford any of the dwellings or the standard food, but it was already very good. She was an orphan and was used to taking care of herself. Even when she had nothing, as long as there was forageable food, she could survive. She strutted along the edges of the territory, keeping herself away from any people of power. She kept herself alive by picking up stones, wood, and plants. This went on for many weeks until¡ª [Occupation obtained! Forager.] [Gather (E): Obtain 10% more of resources when skill is used. Passive skill.] It made her entire week. Anyway, this new skill let her earn a bit more every day and, after some time, she stepped into a little improvement in her lifestyle. She was also very stingy with herself. She built her own shed and dug her own toilets, and she only bought food from the restaurant once every three days. With this skill, she managed to save up a bit to be able to buy water from the well to get a good bath. She had kept her used PE uniform tucked in space as a change of clothes back in Terran and now she would finally get to wear it again. She wanted to meet the new month with a refreshed look. Anyway, with her thin body, she doubted anyone would be interested in her. So, she did clean up herself, and she felt refreshed, like a clean woman. She proudly went to the village center, planning to treat herself in the restaurant that day. This time, no one would look at her with such disgusted eyes. It was just that on her way to the restaurant, a commotion exploded. Apparently, after a month of struggling, the safe zone was attacked and she could only count herself (very) unlucky. Chapter 311 - 311: Yike (Yiyi + Jake) The memory of how it all started was extremely clear in Yiyi''s head. It started out as a day like any other¡ªpeople foraging everywhere, people going out to hunt, and the Lord''s cronies walking around like they owned the place. The only difference was that she was excitedly lining up at the well to get some bathing water¡ªthough very early, lest someone mean took interest in her precious bucket. She was smiling widely as she took her bucket to her shed. She cleaned herself up the best she could, though she used some leaf that smelled like mint and tasted like toothpaste as soap to clean herself up. It wasn''t the best treatment by Terran standards, but she felt like she had experienced the world''s best spa. Not that she''d know what it was really like, of course, as she only knew spas through television. She had wanted to work part-time there, but she wasn''t attractive enough for the front desk and she was too young for other jobs. In any case, she wore her relatively clean PE uniform and she suddenly felt like the cleanest she had ever been¡ªby virtue of the stark comparisons. She happily went to walk to the village center to get to the restaurant, like a normal citizen, which happened to be the first time she did so as she always stayed in the peripheries. However, even this simple happiness was destined to be cut short. In the middle of her walk, a group of people filled with blood, gravely injured, entered the territory in panic. "MONSTERS!!!!" They yelled and as if waiting for the signal, the territory was shaken by strong earthquakes and banging sounds. The people quickly realized strong monsters were attacking their walls. The monsters banged and banged against the walls, and they could see dust and some loose stones falling down. The citizens inside could only panic and hide, wondering when the guards would arrive to deal with the beasts. There were also some people who already ran towards the inner walls, hoping to call on the Lord. But, to their aghast, it only took an hour for a good portion of the wall to fall, revealing monsters much larger and more menacing than they were used to. "KYAAA!!!" "Oh my goodness!" "HELP!!" A monster entered the gap and easily killed several people with a wave of its paws, beheading another with its bite. It went deeper and soon, more and more beasts entered through the gap, feasting on whoever they found in their paths. Yiyi naturally ran to where the people were to get the protection of the guards. Unexpectedly, some desperadoes felt they were going to die and instead of preparing for a fight, they decided to enjoy their last leg of life. She was pulled into an alley and the next thing she knew she was thrown on the ground, different pairs of grimy hands touching her everywhere. "What!!" A sense of dread worse than what the monster triggered roused up her throat. "Stop¡ªwhat¡ª" But her struggles only excited the men and hopelessness soon dawned on her. She sobbed and yelled, but no one came for her. After all, everyone was busy trying to save their own lives, who would care for her? She understood this, definitely, but just this one time in all her years of living that asked for help¡ªwould there be no one who could hear her?! Was it too much to ask? The creepy laughs and cackles of the men crawled down her spine, and she could only sob and yell to the top of her lungs, not caring how painful her throat was. But then the movements stopped, followed by a loud yell and she opened her shut eyes to see what happened. Splat! She watched as a snake-like critter appeared out of nowhere, eating the heads of the men, and splattering blood all over her. She was covered with their blood and could only shake as the monster finally noticed her and opened its mouth to eat her as well. She truly thought she was finally going to die when an iron shield suddenly flew in front of her and embedded itself on the rock, and an earth shield appeared, as if enhancing it. A handsome man with quiffed hair appeared above this shield, jumping down and dealing with the monster in a couple of strokes. "Good job, Jake!" Someone from the side yelled, though she didn''t look at him as her eyes fixed on her own savior. Jake, wonderful name. When she was saved by Jake from the monster, she saw an angel. Her brain automatically created a couple name for them. Yike. Ah, beautiful. This was the first time she had been moved after living for so long. She didn''t know how to handle the feeling very well. The little bump in this newfound love life was that she didn''t have friends due to her busy schedule, nor did she have true elders to guide her. Consequently, her EQ was relatively undeveloped, causing her to be a little tactless in her pursuit. But Jake didn''t know about any of this. He simply wanted to run away from this overly forward woman. The two continued with this dynamic, the man doing his job carrying patients and supplies, with a girl following behind and even carrying what she could. Jake couldn''t even kick her out like this! Fortunately, the team wasn''t tactless enough to hoot at them, but they didn''t hide their smug smirks at all! Jerks! ¡­ Basically, the rescue continued for a while after that. This was all led by the Terran Mercenary Team, but none of the local guards seemed to bother helping them at all. While this was bothersome, none of the soldiers complained. They simply did their best to help as many brethren as they could. Eagle was in charge of the supplies, aiming to provide goods and water to the victims. Of course, they didn''t use their own money. Rather, they pooled money from those who wished to eat and they would buy the restaurant food for them. Anyway, the prices were about the same as the prices in aboriginal territories, and although they''d be stretched at their current strength, no one should die of hunger, not in Xeno. The main problem was the medicine, as there was no shop selling it in the village yet and Turbo and Vanessa could only do so much. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, most people were still thankful, even the Aborigines, who had been gaping at them in admiration. In any case, they did what they could, exploring their first Terran territory by the way. Garan looked at the just-repaired gates with a frown. He turned his head to a middle-aged man beside him who had volunteered to help along with his team. "Where is your Lord?" The man was silent and unconsciously put down his head, evidently uncomfortable. The people around were silent, shivering. Garan observed the people''s body language and almost sneered. The group didn''t even bother hiding their brutal ways, it seemed. Being in this place where power was everything must''ve seemed like heaven. Still, did the people here know who their lord was? Probably not. That guy was very hidden, he only had a glimpse of his profile after hunting for so long. Even if they did know, what could they do? They needed him to survive. Anyway, as the mercenary team helped those they could, the two people they sent for a more in-depth study of the territory came back with intel. It was Chris, as always, who had scouted the territory to gather information with Loki, who specialized in spying. "How was it?" "The location was good and they had wells early on, so it''s actually a little better than the poor villages we''ve been to." "It''s just that¡­ the people here¡­ are really terrified of the Lord''s party. They couldn''t even elaborate on it." "Do you know the Lord''s name?" Loki nodded, looking at the Captain''s expression. "The Lord''s name¡­Amon Fargo." Garan''s eyes shone a murderous light. It really was him. Chapter 312 - 312: The Lord of Fargo Village Where was this lord when his territory was being destroyed, his citizens being eaten? He was drinking tea in his room, very leisurely, far in the center of the territory further enclosed by a level 3 stone wall with a decent amount of sentries. The handsome middle-aged man with sharp features looked out the window of his room, overlooking the people running around, trying to fix themselves with odd satisfaction. He oozed with a mature man''s charm. However, his expression was odd. He seemed leisurely and happy as he sat there but¡­ he was looking at a tragic sight. More accurately, he couldn''t see what was happening outside the inner walls, but the screams echoed and the smoke and dust told him chaos had ensued. Amon Fargo always loved¡ªrelished in¡ªthis sight: a bit of chaos, a swipe of passion, and a dollop of despair. Anyway, he knew the Aborigines would be able to handle the monsters, it would just take a while. Hopefully, the population outside would be reduced by a decent amount by then. His precious territory was already so overpopulated; It was time to reduce it. His territory was so good, he didn''t like how dirty it was becoming with so many poor people running around, begging. The fortunate thing was that he kept the original wall, improving to level 3 with sentries, keeping the ''bad crop'' outside. Of course, he still built a level 2 wall around the new land, which was already very kind. As he relaxed in his seat, he made a mental note of the current situation of the territory again. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 3915 (903 permanent, 3012 temporary) Total Population: 13824 Base Resources: Wood: 13300/20000 Stone: 11100/15000 Money: 331 Gold, 45699 Silver, 2098699 copper Reputation: 108 Buildings: Village Center (Lv2) , Armory (Lv3), Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv2), Barracks (Lv2) Bonus Building: Custom Building x 1 Building Slots: 9/9 (+1)] He frowned. They only lost about a thousand people. Were those Aborigines so strong? Amon put the issue aside for a while, admiring his handiwork to determine his starting point in this new world¡ªafter the Protection Period. Overall, from what he gathered from refugees, his territory was undoubtedly the best. Not only were his forces strong, and his wealth ample, but the resources were also better than others. He had managed to find natural springs and harvest it through a refugee who had arrived. Pity he had already purchased the well some time prior, consuming a building slot, but no matter. With the current population, they needed as much as they could get. There was also his main advantage over others: Fargo was the first to reach level three among the Terran territories. As a reward, he obtained the customized building for free, which was just right as he realized that the original custom building option he had pushed aside was no longer available to him. There was also a new custom building available, but it was too expensive and he didn''t think he needed it, for now. In any case, when he was arranging it, he didn''t think much except that they could create a less boring and disgusting building type. When it was being finalized, however, he realized he had underestimated this building. He¡ªor a Terran architect he managed to collect¡ªwas able to mimic basic amenities from Terran, and this was more than enough compared to the trash buildings aborigines called residences. He built a mansion out of four modules with it. He was also planning on building several communities using the module to sell it for a hundred times the price. The problem was that the population was saturated and every meter of land was occupied¡ªhe had nearly 15,000 people¡ªand those that could not afford a house squeezed together to make those unsightly shanty zones. Where would he place these custom residences? The poor people took up all the space! He didn''t even have to think much before he decided to make the shanty zones the location of the new exclusive communities. He already had the site development plans on hand and he was getting impatient to implement them. This was why when the gate was breached, he ordered his guards to stay put for an hour before doing anything, in the name of trapping the monster for the two aborigines to handle. Anyway, they probably should be able to, and even if they didn''t, level 3 sentries could handle level 10 monsters without a problem. He had hoped that half of the shanty towns be cleared out, but he seemed to have underestimated the aborigines. Speaking of Aborigines, other than those two, there was still another one. He put down his cup and turned his head to the young man standing not far away from him. Only the ''young man'' was already in his late 40s. Amon couldn''t help but be fascinated by this world, even if it was just for the extension of life alone. What made it all the more enticing was the beautiful promise of a new type of power. "Belize," he paused, putting down the cup. "You people are so strong? The population drop had significantly lowered. Perhaps I should''ve repaired the outer walls a bit later¡­" The aborigine seemed a bit surprised, similarly confused. "They shouldn''t be¡­" The aborigine wasn''t very tall compared to the others, but he had a special aura about him despite having an unsightly mouse-like face. He stood still and straight, like a well-trained butler. Belize was also the only truly impressive hire he managed to nab¡ªthe only elementalist he had ever encountered, who had the element of wind. "I will go investigate later." "Hm," Amon said with a shrug. At the very least, it meant Mogi made for a decent guard. This made him quite hopeful, and he hoped to get more good hires. He needed to find a few more Aborigines to improve his strength. After all, the Protection Period was already finished, and he was bent on stepping above others to reach the top¡ªlike he always was. "You mentioned before¡­" he turned the spoon around his personalized teacup, something he brought from Terran. "That if I attack a territory, I could obtain at least half of their resources, correct?" "Yes, milord." "This resource includes people right? Talents?" "Yes, milord, you have the option to turn your captures into slaves." Amon nodded, liking this arrangement very much. "What kind of territory should I target?" "Most people choose a weaker territory, but that goes with the risk of wasting one war slot of that month." S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What''s your suggestion?" "The most successful wars are, of course, against stronger ones. Not only are the resources extremely good, but there are also prestige bonuses." "Your old master did this?" "Every time." "Can you tell me more about this?" "We are aether-bound not to be able to say anything when hired through the system. These things I tell you simply weren''t obtained that way." "You seem to tell me a lot." "I am very good at choosing masters." He said, smiling mysteriously. Indeed, his former master was very good. He was so good that he attracted all sorts of talent to him. It was too bad there was someone better who managed to kick him to the curb, leaving him without a choice but to stay in the villages. Amon smiled and, to anyone who knew him well saw it, they would think that someone would die a gruesome death. "Well, then¡­ as for the strategies of defeating stronger territories. It should be destroying it from within, yes?" Belize smirked looking at the sleek man, appearing so clean yet reeking of blood. "As expected of the master I chose to serve." Chapter 313 - 313: Belize It was not that he hadn''t seen anyone do evil¡ªhe had partnered with plenty in his lifetime¡ªbut this one had special wisdom that he hadn''t encountered. Sometimes, he wondered how their brains were made. For one, it was his first time to hear of something like the exploitation of societal divide. He made groups fight against other groups without them knowing, orchestrating fights and misunderstandings, making sure there would be no unity amongst the lower class. What was even better? He and his cronies could use their power to do whatever they wanted¡ªand they definitely did do what they wanted¡ªand the Lord''s means made the people unable to rebel regardless. Even if he killed someone in front of a crowd¡ªeven in front of a relative¡ªpeople would not dare to rebut him. They would not even dare to look at him, fearing for their lives. He was extremely intelligent and gave those who followed him lush lives. As long as one didn''t go against him, one could live decently. Even those penniless people stuck in the shanties felt their lives were better than those outside. As long as you didn''t go against him, of course. He was amazed. Even his former master couldn''t control his subjects like that, and he still had to pretend to be a good lord, having to hide his dirty secrets despite supposedly being the most powerful entity in his own territory. After all, there were plenty of wars and other territories who could take their population instead. What if they didn''t fight in the wars and willingly became slaves of another instead? Historically, through the years, this had happened a few times. It was very rare because few people would actively choose to be slaves, but it did happen. Belize had also watched Amon torture his detractors, and in methods unimaginable to him, who had claimed to have seen a lot. His evil ways were not uncouth, even classy, and had noble air, but in reality, he was no better than the gangsters who gang-raped children. It really captured this servant''s heart. All these thoughts of his servant didn''t seem to bother Amon, who just turned to look outside again, realizing that things had calmed down. His eyebrows rose. "Already?" "Milord?" "The chaos has stopped." Amon opened the Population tab to see if how many people were left in the outer circle. Except for about a score of people, there were no more deaths since he checked. "Hmn, interesting," he said, tapping the wooden table rhythmically. He still had so much population. Soon, it would combine with more people, more refugees, and eventually some Aborigines. Perhaps, there would even be spies from other territories, attempting to do what he was planning on doing. At this thought, he turned to Belize before clicking the tab. "The Lord could see the loyalties of the people. Wouldn''t there be an indicator if someone wanted to harm the territory?" "The lowest loyalty was 0, even if the person was hostile," Belize said, "However, there is a special magic equipment available in towns that could increase loyalties by 50." Amon nodded, eyes turning to look at the People panel. He was indifferent at first, but his eyes quickly sharpened and his spine straightened just a bit. His eyes narrowed in interest but with a bit of a threatening atmosphere. Belize saw all these changes and looked curiously. Soon, the Lord gave out an eery chuckle and looked at him. "It seems you''re no longer the only elementalist in the territory." Belize frowned immediately at this. The others couldn''t have gotten here so quickly. "They''re not your people." He said, judging by their names. He would later confirm by seeing their demeanor, but he had a feeling they were brethren. Terrans were a little smaller than the average aborigine¡ª Belize was just particularly small¡ªcombined with names and demeanor, it was fairly easy to determine who were Terrans and who were not. "They''re Terrans." "Pardon?" Belize couldn''t help but exclaim. This was even more strange. People from the same place as the Lord have already awakened? How was that possible? His dark eyes looked at the mysterious expression on the Lord''s face. Would he just let these people be? Belize thought to himself, knowing how the lord handled threats. Indeed, Amon didn''t like unexpected things¡­ Especially those who could shake his position. His brothers and cousins would know this very well. He stood up gracefully, going down in his sleek dark suit and black leather shoes¡ªone of the twelve sets he took from Terran¡ªto greet the newcomers. They headed towards the gates of the inner circle, a lot of their cronies seeing and following them. When they finally passed through it, they saw a lot less chaos than they expected to see. He and Belize watched as these mysterious men organized the entire population to handle the disaster. People followed their movements, admiration in their eyes. Amon''s eyes narrowed but otherwise showed nothing indicative of his mood. "Hello." He said, exuding the mature masculine charm, not like someone in his late 40s at all. However, to the eyes of Garan and many of his team who knew him, it was the devil''s incarnate. This was one of the most evil men on Terran. A world-famous terrorist, though his face was never shown. Garan knew his look from a drone after years of hunting. This was a man who could send drone strikes to kindergartens and hospitals, simply because he wanted to. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They couldn''t find him in Terran but chanced upon him now? Must be fate. "I would like to invite you to my abode, to express my gratitude." "No need." Garan said, trying not to be obvious with his hostility. At the very least, he had hidden his hunting very well and his information web shouldn''t have captured his existence by the time of the disaster. Most importantly, Amon Fargo was also arrogant. Even knowing he was hunted down, he didn''t bother looking at the ''ants'' that looked for him. For a time, he had hoped that he could finally rid the world of this scum. Unfortunately, as he feared, this man really ended up being the lord here. This made the situation become far more complicated. This world might not have laws like in Terran, but since the enemy was a lord, he unfortunately could not be killed immediately. After spending so long in Xeno, Garan knew the consequence of killing the Lord: Killing the Lord outside the territory wars would destroy the entire territory¡ªnot even leaving dust in its wake. Most of these people were innocent and they were their brethren, he could not destroy their home so simply. This meant one thing: They could only wait until the territory war. Of course, Garan would not be able to wait for so long. He needed to find his wife as soon as possible. So¡­ what could he do? Chapter 314 - 314: Interaction Amon narrowed his eyes at the newcomer, feeling a bit of hostility. He couldn''t help but observe them a bit more closely. Looking at their straight postures and stern auras, Amon''s eyebrows rose a little. Soldiers. A natural hostility between opposing forces, perhaps? Perhaps they''d heard of his¡­ management methods and had a dislike for him. Who knew. Maybe there was even someone here who had actively hunted him in Terran, though thanks to the vast network left by the previous generations, he was never threatened by this nor had he ever cared. But that didn''t matter to him, those people never succeeded back in Terran, they wouldn''t be able to touch him here. Amon believed in self-interest triumphed over everything, first and foremost. In fact, not a few of his current cronies were once soldiers-turned-mercenaries. "Are you sure?" He asked, maintaining his smile, "I took precious tea from Terran. I reserve its enjoyment with valuable guests." Garan''s stoic face was unmoved, his baritone voice reverberating in the surroundings. "We are just passing by. We''re looking for our respective families." "As a Lord, I could see the names of visitors and residents. I could help you if you need to find the names of your loved ones if you want." This made Garan pause. However, no matter how desperate, he would never let him even mention his Althea''s name. However, declining strongly might give them away. He looked at his team, knowing that it would be unfair to stop them from looking for family. Most of them didn''t have personal vendettas against this man. "I am fine," He paused, "As for the others, it''s up to them." A lot of his men''s shoulders slumped in relief. On cue, a couple of footsteps approached. "Can I, captain?" There were two soldiers, Reuben and Minko, both of whom were not from Eden. "Of course." Reuben awkwardly held his bald head as he approached. "Rina Connery. She is my sister. She is nineteen." "And Mine." Minko said, "Klara Solovic, my wife. She is thirty now." Amon nodded at them and appeared to look at his panel. After a few moments, he shook his head. "There are no such people in the territory, unfortunately." The two men''s shoulders slumped, disappointed. However, with their example, a handful of others also tried their luck. Each one told of names of family members, hoping to find at least one of them. There were a few similar names, but the ages didn''t match. Garan looked at his soldiers'' disappointed faces and sighed. "We will investigate on our own and we will no longer bother your lordship," Garan said, not wanting to have further interaction with the man. "I see. Well, you can come to me if you need anything," he said, raising the guard of several cronies. This group had already caught their attention and alarm even before the lord showed such promise, but now he was being so hospitable! Fortunately, the new guys were stupid and didn''t appreciate the lord''s gestures and excused themselves, leaving the lord with his cronies. As they left, Amon''s eyes followed their movements, dark eyes stewing with unknown thoughts. He looked at Belize right beside him, presence extremely low as always. "Didn''t you say the ice element is extremely rare?" He had asked because it was the element he wanted, not the earth he had gotten. Belize''s eyebrows rose, turning his head in the direction of the soldiers. "Indeed. I have only met a handful in my 50 years of living." "Hm. Well, that man had ice¡­ and metal." Belize flinched. "What?" A dual elementalist? And of rare types, as well. Looking at him like this, Amon knew he did not have the strength to go against this group. For now, it was best not to intersect paths. He didn''t even push them back. If he were to kick them out, who was to say they wouldn''t partner with adjacent territories to attack him? "Well, as long as they don''t¡­ damage the current status quo, we will not have problems." He said with a smile, but his tone was heavy. "Or else¡­ well. We''d have a very different talk." ¡­ Their group of 23 ended up renting two houses in the outer circle, with Gaudi and Eagle in charge of the arrangements. Gaudi looked wistfully outside the wooden swing window, thousands of people interacting, and he felt envious. Even when it was mostly a tragedy and depression, especially after the attack, at least they were together. He remembered the time he used to see a lot of his brethren as well. It was very difficult, but it was miles ahead of being alone. Being the only one of your kind within a territory was depressing in more than a few ways. He just sighed and arranged the furniture they bought from a shop owned by a citizen. In fact, there were a number of shops owned by the citizens, which was proof that life was still decent here, at least on the surface. Sammy helped him out with carrying the items while Eagle went off to gather supplies, recharging their group''s supply and filling up his space. The group had signed a contract to keep Eagle''s space stone a secret, this included Gaudi and the rest of the aborigine members of the team. To be honest, Gaudi (and the rest of them, for that matter) still couldn''t believe this group''s luck. They were such a small (and relatively weak) group, yet they managed to get a hold of such precious stone. Well, as the wise elders from home had said: Great things happen to great men. It was apparently quite accurate. While the logistics handled their supplies, the rest of the team was in charge of gathering information. Whether it was about the territory or about their family members, or the overall situation of their brethren, they researched and studied everything they could gather. Later that day, everyone came back to the temporary ''home base'' and seemed very productive. Whether it was replenishing their items or of information, they managed to gather a lot. "A lot of people are thankful to us for saving them, so gathering information is much easier than expected," Sammy said, sitting beside Chris who nodded. "It was just that this is under the condition that the questions had nothing to do with the Lord or his party." Gill looked at them. "What did you find out?" "Most of the people here were from Eden. In terms of statistics, about 60% are Edenians. We noted most refugees seemed to have come from the East and Southeast direction. "This is followed by a mix of people from the three adjacent countries." This particularly interested the few members who were from one of these countries. "What?" S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "How many?" Most of the soldiers asked their teammates, eager to find out more. Of course, there were some people who were dejected, knowing their families were probably far away because they were nowhere close to Eden on the Terran world map. They could only wonder if they were okay, and if it was still possible to meet them. However, it was not with little hope, because among these people who got concrete news were soldiers from countries far away. Orz Lopez raised his hands. "My countrymen are here." Ben and Minko, his countrymen, nodded, apparently finding out the same. Sean beside him flinched and looked at them in anticipation. "Mine aren''t, but my country is next to Orz''s." Ryan was silent as he stared but he was already deep in thought. "Perhaps, mine is also nearby¡­" The rest of the group looked at them in surprise. These five people were all from another continent altogether. "How do you know?" Because of globalization, it was basically impossible to determine a person''s country by their skin color, eye, or hair color. It was difficult even if one studied habits or cultures. It got to the point that people stopped judging anything around them. But looking at Orz and the others looking so certain, the others couldn''t help but stare. Did the Transfer compress everyone together so much? Chapter 315 - 315: More Friends Aberdeen City, Eighteen Years prior "Awww, little one, you don''t have to miss me." The teary Althea pouted, making the chubby tanned boy grin. However, if one were to take note of his runny nose and red eyes, any adult could see he had been crying. A moment later though, his pretentiousness cracked like a normal little boy. "Wuuu¡ª" He then began to sob, hugging his two friends and rubbing snot all over both of them. "I''ll definitely miss you guys though!" He then parted with them eyes filled with tears, before reluctantly parting with them for real. Before going, he grasped arms with his best friend, Garan. "Be happy." And then he patted little Althea''s head. "Don''t get fatter!" She said. Obviously, he ate just as much as they did, but he was so chubby! The boy grinned. "I will get fatter, for your information!" He got fat with eating minimal, he could only imagine how it would be when he could eat normally. It was both an exciting and worrying image! After a while longer of farewells, Beany joined his new parents in their car, not forgetting to open the window and wave until they were no longer in sight. The two of them watched the car disappear from view, and Althea sighed like a little adult. "There''s just the two of us now." Garan''s heart broke. If only she had more friends¡­ He leaned down and patted her head. "And we will always have each other." ___________________ Fargo Village, Present. The group looked at the five in question, wondering, "How could you tell?" At this, Orz and Ben''s shoulders slumped, as if ashamed, their eyes narrowed in pain. "We met Tagashi Sister-in-law¡­" Orz paused, before clarifying. "We met Jiro''s wife." Silence occupied the room. Before losing Johnny, the previous one they had lost was a man named Jiro, the last person in logistics other than Eagle. He was a kind, soft-spoken man liked by everyone, and his death was particularly painful for a lot of people. He died on the way to Twinwave inside a large mob that killed a dozen of them. Eagle looked at the men with furrowed eyebrows. Among them, even if they were from different countries, he spent most time with Jiro as a fellow logistics soldier. "How¡­ did she handle it?" It was Minko, the pale archer, who spoke up. "Not very good," he said, looking at the silent companions next to him. "She was hysterical, actually." Then Ben, scratched his now-curly hair (he used to don a half-bald look), before dragging the topic to the information asked of them. "They were refugees from another territory." They said, "The territories further West and northwest were mostly from our country." No one spoke, because they knew of the implications: Their next stop would then be towards the West, while those of Eden and the nearby countries would be heading East. After a long moment of silence, the five awkwardly looked at each other before turning to the captain, donning complicated expressions. They were happy to finally find some clues, but they knew they wouldn''t have gotten so far without the captain. "Captain, we¡ª" How could Garan not know of their internal conflicts? "You will always be members of the Terran Mercenary Team," Garan said with a small smile. "We could contact each other through the mercenary union, can''t we?" The five choked up a bit, touched, and their tears fell when Garan then took out dozens of gold and handed a handful to each one. "You would definitely want to leave as soon as possible," he told them with that characteristic baritone voice of his. "The sun is still high, it is safer to go now." "Captain¡­" the soldiers uttered, sniffing. How lucky they were! ¡­ The rest of the team returned with similar news, quickly noticing the atmosphere. There were a few people packing up! "What happened?" With complex expressions, a couple of companions told them of the major news that just happened. "What?" "That''s lucky¡­" Luis sighed, being ever-so optimistic. "This also means Terran has been compressed within this area. Everyone should be able to meet someone from their hometown." Indeed. The compression gave them more hope of encountering people they knew sooner than expected. It was just that the parting from life and death companions dampened the mood regardless. Soon, the time to say farewell arrived and they walked the five people to the gate, giving them some food and items to take along the way. "See you again, soldiers!" S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The five stopped some meters away, standing up straight, and saluted them. Their eyes were lined with tears, hearts mixed with hope to find their loved ones, and reluctance to part with their life-and-death friends. "Thank you for everything!" They just said, just before finally turning and heading towards West¡ªhopefully to their families. May they meet again! ¡­ The team was now reduced to five more people. They were now only 17, excluding Gaudi. Garan sighed, feeling a little heavy. They walked to the rented villa in silence. He looked around. "Gill is still not here?" He asked and the soldiers looked at each other with similar questioning expressions. Looking around, they realized that it was only Gill who was still outside. They did not have to look for him, however, as Gill arrived a couple of minutes later still with some more big news. When Gill knocked on the door, he had a rather happy expression on his face. "There''s someone who wants to meet you." He then stepped aside to reveal the person behind him, revealing himself to Garan''s cerulean eyes. The newcomer was, like everyone, unclean and unkempt, but his rounded eyes were brighter than anyone in this territory. He was also a lot thinner than when Garan saw him a few months back. But it was definitely him. "Beany?" Garan immediately stood up and raised his hand to give the newcomer a one-handed hug. Beany looked annoyed and gave him a light push. "That is Jeremiah to you!" He said with a little annoyance. "I''ve been telling you for two decades!" Garan couldn''t help but let out a low chuckle, a very very rare sight for the others. Beany then looked around to see his companions. It was just a year ago that he and Garan reconnected after a decade of estrangement. They had not seen each other for years after getting adopted. When he went abroad, they didn''t even get to attend his wedding, nor was he able to attend theirs. Did they even know he was married? Who knows¡­ Speaking of wives¡ª "How is¡­ Althea?" He asked, concerned. The last time they talked was when he was investigating Garan''s disappearance. Who''d have thought he''d meet him here, of all places? Anyway, he didn''t have updated news of Althea because he was forced in isolation soon after and he wondered if the couple had met during that time. Hopefully, they did, because that meant she was safe at least. Garan sighed, "She''s not with me." He paused, looking at his old friend, remembering his specialty. "She should be nearby in a Territory called Altera Village. Have you heard of it?" "No, unfortunately. Except for the first territory I''ve been to¡ªwhich fell on the third day, by the way¡ªI''ve only been here." He paused as if recalling a memory, but he shook his head. Instead, he turned to Garan with a gossipy tone. "General Price is here." This made Garan flinch and caused Vanessa, who had been watching all of Garan''s reactions carefully, to abruptly stand up. "Dad?" She asked and Garan also looked at Beany, very concerned. The woman then walked over to them. "How is he?" She asked as she held his arm, heart beating faster in excitement. But it was doused with cold water with the chubby man''s next words. Beany sighed, looking at them both. "He''s¡­ not so good." Chapter 316 - 316: Mentor Aberdeen City, 10 years prior The twenty-year-old Garan aimed the new plasma gun at the target, destroying it with a perfect hit. "Not bad handling a new weapon." Henry nodded, impressed, patting Garan''s shoulder. In stark contrast to his sternness when he was still a new recruit. "Thank you, General." He said and he looked around, a bit puzzled the general was here in the shooting range. "Come with me." Garan nodded and dutifully followed his superior deep into the military building. Soon, they ended up inside a meeting room over 200 square meters in size. The walls were lined with various large screens, each one showing differing live images around the country. There were even images from abroad, as well as satellite images. As a centrepiece, there was an interactive screen integrated into the large 1-meter radius table. Garan''s eyebrows rose. This was the strategy room. Anyone who could come here was someone of power. "I''m bringing you here because I need you to lead a team to rescue a very important group of students." The old man showed him folders and folders of files about teenagers. "This is a school bus from Caytan Academy." Caytan Academy was one of the country''s premier schools for the very, very, privileged. It was estimated every child in that school bus had at least one parent in power. Then, Henry sighed and a folder stayed on his hand, almost crumpling it. "My daughter is included here," he said, "So I was judged as unqualified to lead the team. The same goes for the two other people who could do the same. "Parents would die for their children, as people die for their beliefs." "Do you remember what I told you when I recruited you?" Garan was recruited to the military because he was noticed for his valiant rescue of two children¡ªthat was, Althea and Ansel. Henry happened to be monitoring the updates because he knew the Witts personally. He was impressed by Garan''s prowess and recruited him to enter a special program in the military. "Being in this position is to protect your country. And more importantly, your loved ones." A heavy hand patted and stayed on his shoulder. "I can only depend on you for this." _________________ Fargo Village, present The group followed Beany to another house on the other side of the village. They saw that this place had also been devastated by a few monsters. Most walls had been demolished, and marks of blood were still fresh everywhere. Beany said that it was the General''s small team that handled the monster. "Soldiers are soldiers." He said with melancholy, "Even when the country is no more." The team of level 4s and 5s tried to fight with the monsters but it wasn''t easy. Their team of twenty was reduced by a third before they finally took down the one. While they managed to deal with the other monster that plagued the area, in the end, they were left with twelve. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan''s pace hastened as he listened, and Vanessa closely followed behind him. They reached a standard housing, dilapidated by the fight. Fortunately, the houses built by the system were structurally sound. As long as the Lord didn''t die, of course. They did not even knock and went into the house, causing the mobile soldiers¡ªbarely bandaged by old cloth¡ª to flinch and take on a defensive stance. One of these people was still familiar, especially to Vanessa, whose eyes quickly turned red as she ran into the man''s arms. "Brother!" "V-Vanessa?!" The dirty, bloody, but dashing man exclaimed, thinking he must''ve been seeing things. However, when he felt her warmth, he realized he was not dreaming. He quickly opened his arms to take her deeper into his embrace. Vincent smiled in relief as he patted his sister''s back. He felt a little teary, not expecting to encounter his sister, who had been presumed dead for nearly half a year. After gathering himself, he lifted his head to look behind her. He was a bit surprised to see so many others standing there. His eyes soon met with Garan''s and gave each other a mutual nod. Garan stepped forward, head pointing to the people lying on hemp mattresses on the other side of the room, covered with blood. "How are they?" It was here that the others'' attention focused on the other end of the room. They were all covered in makeshift bandages, and it was difficult to determine who was who. "There are twelve of us left but, four of us¡­" then he remembered something and shook his sister. "Sis, you''re a doctor! Take a look at them, quickly!" He said and Vanessa remembered her strong father could be one of those people. Vincent stood to the man in the middle, covered in blood, and Vanessa sobbingly kneeled down to treat him. She was a bit shaky, however. "Dad! Oh no¡­ wu¡­" Garan saw that it would take her a while to treat his mentor and turned to look at Turbo, who nodded back and immediately followed Vanessa''s lead. Turbo took out his kit and handled the injured people as efficiently as he could, starting with the general. Vanessa saw this and finally calmed down a bit, helping him out with relative efficiency. The four people were in really bad shape. However, the bleeding was stopped and no internal organs were displaced so they could still be saved. The soldiers who got fatal injuries had already long perished. This was still very impressive, however. One must know taking down monsters of the same level generally required three to five humans. They had to handle stronger monsters. Fortunately, all of them should survive with time. Seeing the wounds being handled properly, everyone''s shoulders slumped in relief. While there was still plenty to fix, at least the most critical period has passed. Garan stood next to Vincent, who could be said to be an old acquaintance. "How are you?" "Fine. More or less, just how we look." The brunette smiled with a shrug, but his eyes showed the tiredness and tragedy they encountered at this time. Vincent saw Garan looking at him, waiting for him to say more details, and he sighed, doing so. "We migrated together, a group of about fifty soldiers, along with a score of civilians," He said, "The mob was predominantly level 2 which could not compare to the zombies at all. We lost a third of our people, even with the guns." In fact, had it not been for the civilians, half of the sacrifices wouldn''t have had to be made, but soldiers had an understanding of this and would never utter it out loud. "For about a week or two we managed to survive in the wilderness, built our own sheds and the like." Then his expression darkened even more, his fist clenched in bitterness. "But a beast tide ran in and we could only run away, somehow in the direction the mob was going towards¡ªto the newly upgraded Fargo Village. We entered and joined the territory, relieved to finally find a safe haven of sorts. It''s just that¡ª" Vincent paused, heaving a deep breath, unable to speak anymore. Garan looked at his heavy expression and knew they must have had some conflicts with the Lord here. A slyer part of him couldn''t help but think: Perhaps, he could get their help in dealing with this scum. Chapter 317 - 317: Stimulus "Did Fargo give you a hard time?" He asked, making the other man flinch a bit. Vincent didn''t speak for a while, heaving a sigh. "You remember Paolo?" "Paolo Cruz?" Garan asked. He was in his team hunting for Fargo. He had lost his daughter in one of Fargo''s attacks in a children''s hospital. The little girl was just testing for a simple cough with her mother. Vincent nodded. Garan immediately knew what happened. "You can imagine how insane he went when he saw Fargo strutting around like he owned the place¡ªwhich he did, we found out too late," Vincent said with a monotonous voice, but one could see how angry he was with how his jaw tightened. "He was killed brutally in front of a crowd as an example." His jaw clenched and his hands formed a fist. "The bastard¡­ the bastard had the audacity to display our comrade''s body by the gate!!" Those who heard him felt their heart constrict in anger. What a bastard! What made it worse was that he was finally in front of them, yet they couldn''t do anything about him! Vincent heaved a deep breath before speaking. "The terror brought on the territory was very real. It was the beginning of tyranny. "They killed and plundered as they wanted, and we also lost a lot of people trying to protect the citizens." Terrans were used to freedom, they naturally didn''t take such brutality lying down¡­ at least at first. "Unsurprisingly, people ran to us for help," he said, "It went well at first, with us forming a small force as subtly as we could." "However, one day, one of our men goes missing and the very next day a family yells at us to bring their daughter back." "Our reputation fell, but a lot of people still believe in us. His men started to limit their brutalities¡­ and started to attack our supporters." Vincent heaved a deep breath and raised his head, letting it rest on the wall behind him. "No one dared ask for help after that." "It didn''t help that life had indeed gotten better. People could eat and drink every day, and they were protected very well from the monsters outside, especially when the territory started hiring aborigines." "These aborigines were much stronger than all of us combined, who would want to side with us after that? Fargo''s men do take women as they want, but they don''t kill them. Unless the people went against the lord and his party, they would keep their lives." "This became the status quo. It was disgusting, but we couldn''t risk our lives for a hopeless fight." "It was just that the next week after that, another two men were taken subtly for ''punishment''¡ªafter trying to save a woman¡ªand were never seen again. "Before we could organize a rescue¡­" he paused and looked around. "This happened." The others listened in a dour mood, and Vincent rubbed his temple, not meaning to sound so emotional. "But right now I just want my father to be okay." Garan and the others sighed in worry, shifting their attention as the patients were being treated. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fortunately, both Vanessa and Turbo had become proficient in using the medicines available. Using a diluted potion they won from the mercenary mission, they managed to improve a number of wounds. Although it was diluted, it was still effective. Vincent and the others were amazed. He looked at Garan with wide eyes. "What is that medicine?" "It''s a special medicine we got from a mission. It is made by a pharmacist." "What?" Vincent''s eyebrows furrowed. "But I haven''t seen such quick effects." It was Gill who spoke this time, "An Aborigine pharmacist." He explained, "They have a certain¡­ magical skill set." Vincent and the others were a little confused. "What mission are you talking about, exactly?" "One from a mercenary hall. They''re available in towns." Vincent and the other soldiers looked at them in shock. Especially Vincent. It didn''t really occur to them until now¡ªGaran and the others had probably been here since they were missing!! "Where is this town?" He asked, "How¡­ how long have you been here?" He didn''t even wait for them to speak, already knowing in his heart what the answer was. His back straightened and looked at Garan, Gill, and the others. "Tell me more about this world." ¡­ They stayed for about an hour before the general opened his eyes to see¡­. the daughter he never thought he''d see again! "Daughter?!" He exclaimed, so shocked that he ended up coughing. "Dad¡­" she sobbed, hugging the man to keep himself from moving. "Don''t get up, it''ll open your wound¡­" The man froze, feeling his daughter''s warmth, and knew for certain he wasn''t dreaming nor was he dead. His eyes pooled tears and Vanessa''s heart broke seeing her stern father like this. "Dad¡­" The old man gripped her hand, though it wasn''t very strong as he was still weak, but it expressed his emotions clearly. "You are fine¡­ you are fine¡­" "Hmn, yes Dad, we are." She said, sobbing, and the father-daughter pair just held onto each other for a while before they could gather themselves. At this time, Vincent had also parted from Gill and the others to sit down next to his sister. Seeing his two children together, alive and with complete limbs, Henry couldn''t help but be even more emotional. "Son, daughter." As he held his children''s hands in relief, his peripheral vision finally saw the other group squeezing in their small house. He flinched and had to be held down again to keep himself from doing any abrupt movements. "Garan? Is that you?" At the sound of his name, Garan stepped forward, nodding respectfully. "Yes, General." The old man smiled and looked at the people around. He then looked alternatively at Vanessa and Garan. "Did you arrive together?" "Everyone who disappeared at that time was sent here." He said, "Although only a score of us remained¡­" "It''s fine. As long as you''re fine¡­" The old man then looked at his daughter who was stealing glances at the man with a red face and his eyes brightened a little. Garan had a bad feeling and stood up. "Let''s leave the family alone." He said and politely excused himself. The others from his team followed his lead and put some distance. As they walked away to give the family some space, Gill sighed looking at the father-daughter pair. "For a moment there I thought the General would leave his daughter in your care." He told Garan as soon as they were out of earshot. Garan sneered. Even if it happened, he would only give minimum protection. He would never let any... thing that his wife could misunderstand close to him. Although they fully trusted each other, no one appreciated flies irking them. "Have you forgotten her brother is right there?" "Ah yeah. Sorry. I watched too many of my ex''s soap operas." Gill said with pursed lips, shrugging. Unfortunately, for many years, he had been dragged to watch a lot of his ex''s dramas. It even became a habit until it became a stress reliever for him even when he was in the barracks. Even his snide remarks would occasionally contain cheesy lines from famous face-slapping scenes¡­ However, they hadn''t gotten far when Vincent went after them, calling them back. "No, Garan, come back please." "We have plenty of time to speak together." He said, "It''s you¡­ you wouldn''t be staying here for long right?" The general frowned and looked at Garan. "You wouldn''t stay?" The ebony-haired man nodded. "Yes, we found the territory my wife is in. I will look for her. Of course, I will not stop anyone else from going to the Territories they believe their families are in." This implied Vanessa could definitely stay here without worrying about their team. The general''s eyebrows furrowed. "It is not safe here, not exactly." But they could not travel either, especially when the direction was still unclear. "But we cannot leave." "The lord is too powerful in his own territory." He said, "But I feel uncomfortable leaving that beast running around doing what they wanted." "Yes, my conscience will kill me eventually," Another soldier nodded in agreement. "But what can we do?" He said, "He definitely won''t go out with us." They assumed that getting the lord outside would diminish his power. It would, of course, however, they hadn''t considered something very important. "You can''t kill the lord outside of the wars," Garan intervened, "The entire territory would disintegrate." "What?" And¡­ wars? Garan was silent, before looking deeply at Vincent and the General. He could tell, they truly hated Fargo. "However, there is another way," His eyes sharpened and he stared at the other two men, eyes stern and tempting. "What if I told you there''s a way to take the token away from him?" Chapter 318 - 318: Lurking Garan and Gill did not leave the General''s house until late at night, after a long while of discussing strategies. As for whether Fargo was watching their movements, they couldn''t do anything about that. They could only prepare to be attacked. There was no way, a lord was simply too powerful within his own territory. "Lords can really see loyalty?" "Wouldn''t we be discovered soon?" Gill shook his head. "No, the minimum is zero, never negative. Zero isn''t conclusive evidence of betrayal. I''m sure a lot of people here have this number." Vincent and the others heaved a sigh of relief. Their values were definitely zeroes, but they were sure that at least a third of the territory was the same. Soon, the group started to discuss the timing of their attacks. After all, because there was no war yet, they couldn''t deal with Fargo or else the territory would disintegrate. They also could attack during the territory wars, in which case that was just damaging to oneself. "We can''t risk anyone else." The general said. Henry was a very upright old man, it was just that he married a snobbish socialite and spoiled his only daughter. "Of course," Garan said, "We can only bide our time, strengthen ourselves." In the end, they decided to subtly strengthen their force here. In which case, a few of their team will stay. But not too many as that would raise Amon''s vigilance. Before adjourning, Garan looked at his small team. "At least two people will remain. Your task will be to help raise the level of others." He said, looking at his soldiers and telling them of their mission. "Raise their levels to a point Fargo wouldn''t be able to do anything to them." "Yes, captain!" Similarly, they would be able to safeguard themselves during the imminent territory war, whenever that could be. The problem was, if Amon noticed their level increase and made an issue out of it. And also¡­ "Fargo already had strong aborigines with him, right?" "That is troublesome." "Isn''t there a way to hide levels from the omniscient eyes of a territory Lord?" They asked Gauis, who they let join. Anyway, slaves were contract-bound never to betray their masters, similar to how hired individuals could not utter anything sensitive related to the hiring territories. At this, Gauis looked down, very guilty. "I apologize. But I have not heard of such." Silence reigned in the room again, and some were even wondering if it was really safe to stay here. However, they would be reminded of all the people who would have to suffer under the man''s reign and their consciences attacked them again. At the very least, with them here, Fargo and their forces would control the intensity of their killings. If they were gone¡­ maybe Fargo''s men wouldn''t care anymore because there would be no one the people could turn to anymore if things got bad enough to risk their lives. "Just lay low," Garan said after a while. "Perhaps¡­ he would be too busy dealing with other enemies now that the Protection Period is over." ¡­ Garan''s group prepared to leave first thing the next day. Among Garan''s team, only Vanessa and two others (Leo and Santos) remained with the General. Oh¡­ and Gian also belatedly decided to stay. Obviously it was because he was still bitter with the captain and didn''t want to have anything to do with him for now. Anyway, after saying their farewells, they headed towards the East gate where most Edenian refugees seemed to be from, which was where most of them needed to go. Because of Garan, most of the protected people during their weakest were naturally Edenians. Not to mention, different nationalities naturally didn''t get along too well in the beginning. Spats, bad decision-making, bad luck, and many others slowly lessened their numbers unnecessarily bit by bit. Edenians had the highest survival rate not only because Garan was a capable leader, but also because of the unity of the Edenian soldiers. Among the remaining 14 people, 10 were from Eden. As for the rest, they''ve no clue where to start so it was better to move with the team. Vanessa, though, wanted to go with them, but there was no valid reason that wouldn''t make her look desperate. She wanted to at least say a sweet goodbye to Garan, but their eyes didn''t even meet. Unreconciled, she stepped forward to get closer to him. "Be careful." She said, and he only nodded politely before turning away with the team. As the group headed towards the gate, a feminine voice echoed across the whole entrance, making everyone turn their heads simultaneously at the source. "Wait, Jakey!" The aforementioned man flinched in terror. Oh good lord, ''Jakey''?! Jake tried to hide his embarrassed blush with a palm on his face. It did not help that the people beside him were mimicking her tone of voice. "Oh, Jakey, wait~" "Jakey~~~" "Oh, Jakey-honey!" He glared at the cackling people he used to call friends, and then glared at the woman who was causing him the embarrassment. Yiyi ran to them, carrying a woven basket on her arm. She looked at him admiringly but hesitated on speaking. "What is it?" "Can I come with you?" Jake crossed his arms. "Want us to bring another deadweight?" "But¡ª" she paused and her head dropped down. "Okay¡­" But... she wasn''t too disappointed. She didn''t expect he''d really take her within him anyway. She then passed him the basket she worked on last night. "Here. I made these jerkies and dried fruit for you." She had worked part-time in a food processing shop before, and she was actually very good at this. As for why she didn''t use the jerky, fruit, and baskets to make more money before, it was because she witnessed someone doing business get bullied. There were too many gangsters and bad guys in the territory, every area pretty much had some asking for ''protection fees'' and more. They couldn''t even keep the money they worked for. In this world, money without a bit of power wasn''t wealth, it was trouble. Jake''s sharp eyes stared at the basket and saw the splinter marks on her hands that were holding it. His stance softened a bit in response as he took the basket. "Just go work for Vanessa. You said you''re a good cook, right?" "Yes! I worked a total of 34 part-time jobs, 17 of which were related to cooking!" She said proudly. During their ''bonding time'' together during the rescue efforts, she had also told him that she had taken jobs in laundry, cleaning, and babysitting and that she would make a great wife. His ex-friends didn''t forget to encourage the girl. "Don''t worry Yiyi! We''ll watch over him for you!" "Yes, yes, keep him away from those vixens!" "Yes, yes, I bet those vixens can''t cook as well as our Yiyi!" It so happened that Yiyi made them some barbeque before, so they knew the girl did have talent. Yiyi blushed profusely and looked at the group with shining eyes. "Yes, please! I''ll be sure to make you a lot of food the next time we meet!" "We''ll take you up on that! Haha!" Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The soldiers laughed and made more promises, while Jake just covered his face, not knowing whether it was due to humiliation or embarrassment. Too bad Yiyi wouldn''t be the same the next time they get there. Chapter 319 - 319: Leaving Fargo Village Soon, the group finally went ahead to go out. Other than their group of 14 (including Gaudi), they had Beany with them. He pretty much appeared all-packed up the morning they were set to leave. Something about the dictatorship had no freedom of speech; Poor reporters like him could only suffer extrajudicial killings. And, of course, he too had a family to find! In any case, the group¡ªmostly comprised of soldiers level 15 and above¡ªtraversed forest after forest, hill after hill, with relative ease. They dealt with the mobs so easily, with Beany gushing with every element manifested near him. His reporter stats quickly revealed itself. "How do you handle the elements?" "What was it like when you first transferred?" He was there when Vincent asked Garan for more details about this strange world, but that was mostly about the world. The more emotional aspect of the story was left out and he wanted to know more. "We transferred here about four months ago. All 300. A hundred survived the initial transfer." Garan said, "Then we inexplicably found out we have a system and a space." "Three months? You guys got really strong. I''m only level 2 after a month¡­" "There was no protection period, then." Beany blinked, the implications dawning on him and he paled. He looked at Garan and the others with a mix of pity and even more respect. "It must''ve been terrifying," he said, squeaking. "Well, it could''ve been worse." Silence occupied the group as they walked, in their heads they couldn''t help but reminisce about what they went through coming here. "Althea would be happy to find out you''re alright," Beany said with a smile and Garan''s feet stopped. "You have met her?" They had lost contact with Beany because he was adopted by foreigners. Their contact resumed separately many years later, though never as a couple. The chubby man nodded, "Had a lot to do with you, in fact." Garan took a deep breath as he started walking again to Beany''s pace. "Tell me." "Long story." Beany said in his typical gregarious fashion, "It started out when I was chasing a scoop¡­" "Straight to Althea," Garan said impatiently, knowing the other''s propensity to go on tangents. He reckoned he''d do quite well in creative writing instead. Beany tutted as he walked, annoyed by being interrupted. He wanted to tease him out of spite but shivered under his stare. So, in fear of his life, he told him the story. "Ahem, when you guys disappeared¡­ well, the government tried to keep it under wraps for as long as they could." "But over a month passed and there was no news of you. She tried to get information from the government, but no one gave her a direct answer. He frowned, "No one bothered to tell her?" He asked. His wife, of all people, had the right to know what happened to him! What happened? In retrospect, he should''ve asked the general. "I happened to be covering the same story. She was with a redhead and the Diplomat Mathilda, trying to get more information. I saw her during one of my stakeouts¡ª" "How was she?" S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What do you think?" Garan''s jaw tensed and his hands formed fists as they walked. The atmosphere around him turned cold¡ªliterally¡ªand Beany could only rub his shoulders with his hand to keep himself warm. Althea¡­ she must''ve been heartbroken¡­ She had just lost their parents at the time, how much pain did she have to endure alone? Ansel could be there, sure, but he wasn''t very reliable, especially as he was also mourning. Garan knew that Althea was only truly vulnerable and emotionally dependent on him alone, and no one else. Losing him¡­ would have hit incredibly hard. The other soldiers nearby were also somber, especially Gill who heard about his mother, who had worked with Althea to find them. After yet another hour of sadness with the soldiers venting on small mobs they encountered, Beany remembered something to lighten up the mood, even for a bit. "She got a bit chubby," he told him, and Garan was startled before his shoulders slumped in relief. "Chubby? Well, that''s good." At the time, Althea was only a few months in and her stomach wasn''t obvious. Even Beany didn''t have an idea that Althea was pregnant at all. "She must''ve been stress eating." Beany thought out loud, earning him a glare. "...er¡­ eating to distract herself." He said. Beany shut his mouth, afraid to offend this big demon. It was just that after a couple of mobs he just really couldn''t do it. He ended up asking questions here and there, chattering about endlessly. "It''s amazing¡­ how much mana would that take?" "Did you learn that technique on your own?" Sometime later, he turned to Garan. "Do you train like those old movies we used to watch?" When they were children, they came across some very old movies¡ªit was all they could afford¡ªusing antique playing machines they managed to scavenge in the bins of rich people. They were mostly martial arts movies and Beany was more than a bit obsessed. "You can join us train when we settle down," Garan said, wordlessly killing a monster with a sword. Beany''s face scrunched at the exercise, "Ehhh¡­" "It''s to protect your family." Beany paused and nodded. "Fine." He said, "They would definitely think I look very cool." As they walked further East, the forest began to look a lot less dense than before, and it looked a bit similar to the forests they had access to as kids. Garan and Beany couldn''t help but be a little nostalgic. They used to play in the forest a lot, which was far from the orphanage so they spent an hour in the morning traveling concrete to get there. They also had Althea along with them, though her focus was more on plants. "I see a lot of unfamiliar plants here¡­" Beany couldn''t help but mumble. "I wonder if Althea would eat a random plant again and get poisoned¡­" Garan''s feet paused at this, puzzling everyone. Beany turned to him in confusion, only to see his pale face. He gulped, realizing that what he said frightened the iceberg. "I was joking! Joking!!!! How could she still be like a four-year-old?! Right?" Garan nodded, with a determined look on his face. "Right. My Althea is so smart. She would absolutely not be poisoned by plants, even if they are unfamiliar." He said, his stoic expression returning, and continued to lead the team forward. If Althea was here, she''d look up at the sky and pretend not to hear anything. Chapter 320 - 320: One’s Own Families "Geez, you really haven''t changed!" Beanie told him, mocking. He then elbowed Garan, his expression turning sly, "Hey, tell me. How''d you two¡­ you know, transition to lovers?" Garan didn''t answer him, though his pace hastened forward, to the point that Beany struggled to follow. "Hey!" Beanie yelled, cackling when he saw Garan''s ears a bit red. "Stop running away!" The team watched their interactions with complicated expressions. Other than in relation to his wife, their captain had never been so uncharacteristically¡­ human. It seemed that the captain placed a high importance on the reporter, as well. Moving on from the topic, the old friends changed to Beany''s family. "What about your wife? Do you have any idea where she is?" Garan asked, shifting the topic off him. The two of them reunited when they accidentally met on a mission related to Fargo. Garan actually knew he had been married by virtue of his wedding ring, but he never met his wife. Beanie was also a wife slave and was successfully distracted from teasing his friend. "I was too weak alone and couldn''t go out to find my family." He said and with a smile looked at their team in admiration. "Now I can find them safely, preferably with all limbs intact." "Well, we''ll help you train. Most of the monsters here wouldn''t add any experience to us, anyway, not even the copper." "Really? I owe you!!" "We owed you first," Garan said as they moved forward. Before they could go far though, the stoic man couldn''t help but ask again. "Was that all you know about her?" Beany nodded apologetically. "Yeah, I was in isolation for a while after that. I wasn''t able to contact her at all until all this happened." He said, as he was imprisoned for months after revealing government ''secrets'' about their disappearance. "I was only able to call my wife, but I was too far to reach them in time." Fortunately, Beany was freed for about a week before the disaster, or else he''d have been guilty for life. "I''m sorry for you." "No, I did a lot for myself." He said, "It''s very hard to get a good scoop. I''ve been stagnant for so long, I wanted to make my wife proud." Beanie''s face because soft in remembrance of his beautiful wife. "When I married her, I promised heaven and earth you know. How else would I win such a beautiful woman??" It was not entirely for Garan or Althea, but to get a big scoop to bring pride to his beautiful wife. He had always pictured her proud smile, telling him that she was glad she chose him. "You must be thinking of your wife," Garan said after a while, making Beanie raise a brow. "How''d you know?" "You look stupid." "Heh, you should see how you look when you talk about Althea." Garan shrugged¡­ and then proceeded to look stupid indeed. Beanie could only cackle. ¡­ Hours passed as they traveled East and the team was now fighting another mob. It was a relatively strong mob with a few level 9 monsters and a number of level 8 minions. Luis, Plaridel, and Sammy, the lower leveled ones, dealt with rare monsters level 9 and above because it could still give them experience. Fortunately, there weren''t many of this level or the refugees nearby could only wait for death. Sammy took out a level E bow he bought months ago. It would be too much of a waste to use his level D equipment¡ªwhich generally handled monsters level 11 and above¡ªon such weak monsters. "Wind arrow," He called, and the poor damage of a level E attack increased by a notch, killing the monster in a couple of shots. A moment later, using the same techniques, the dark-skinned man took down another one. There were four level 9 monsters in that mob, with the remaining lower-level mob killed early on. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Luis and Plaridel went directly against the four monsters, while the long-range attacker Sammy was protected by a wall of fire made by Plaridel. It was thin, as Plaridel needed to manage energy use, but it was enough to redirect the monsters'' attack for Sammy to make his shot and Luis to use his fire sword to deal with the other one. "Fire Barrier," Plaridel chanted, forming another wall of fire around the remaining monsters to keep them in place. The monsters roared as they were burned and Luis quickly slashed his weapon to deal with another one which had been greatly damaged by Sammy''s arrows. "Fire Slash!" He yelled, with unnecessary gusto, swiping his fiery blade at the beast. BANG! They watched it go down, finally reducing the four monsters to three. One reason they chanted their attacks was not to look silly (the two of them would even argue it sounded cool), but uttering the names of the skills made them easier to manifest and solidify. Aether was such an abstract thing, that using it to create complex attacks was a laborious task. Not everyone had brains like the Captain or Gill. Plaridel watched as the remaining monsters reached his firewall, and he immediately changed its form to trap them. "ROAR!" The monsters roared in response, using their bodies in an attempt to get out. They didn''t care if they were burnt. Unfortunately for the monsters, they couldn''t even cross the wall of fire. This Fire Barrier was a type of firewall, but it was different from the firewall of a mere fire Elementalist. If it was by others, the monster could indeed cross and it would only cause damage to the monster. The Fire Barrier had combined with his Shieldsman occupation, and those trapped inside would not only be damaged but also legitimately trapped. This was a painful lesson he, and other Fire Sheildsmen, learned from those strong aborigines they fought against. Sammy continued to shoot the Wind Arrow continuously, with most of them hitting good spots. Luis, on the other hand, waved his flame-covered sword. He relentlessly slashed and parried, the element doubling his attack power as well as its reach. Beany watched all this in HD, unconsciously walking closer to the fight that he lost an eyebrow. Had he not been pulled back by the collar by Eagle, he''d have lost both. Regardless of the eyebrow hair that remained, he was so very engrossed in what he was watching that he didn''t take note of it at all. "So¡­ cool." He mumbled turning to the soldier next to him. "Level ten right? Level ten and I''ll be able to use elements right?" He asked, eyes bright with excitement. He had wind affinity. With this thought, he vowed to work even harder. Soon, they encountered a small mob of monsters, disabled by the team, and killed by Beany. By the time the sky darkened and they had to rest for the night a few hours later, Beany was promoted from the base of level 3 to the middle of level 4. "YES! I''ll definitely make it up to you guys!" He yelled, calming down a bit as he helped the team set up camp. The soldiers shrugged, not really minding the trouble at all. After all, a friend of the captain was also their friend. Beanie refused to not be able to show his gratitude, however, and insisted on giving rewards. After a thought, he just promised them one of the best rewards he, personally, received. "I''ll get my beautiful wife to make you her signature dishes!" Sammy couldn''t help but stare at the former chubby reporter in inquiry. He was really not attractive, how beautiful could his wife be? So¡­ in classic Sammy fashion, he asked. "Tsk! You don''t know. I prayed to different gods when I was pursuing her!" He showed a printed photo of their family of four. "Here," He said, proudly presenting the photo. "I will also bless your eyes with my beautiful baby boy." Sammy''s eyebrows rose. It was indeed a beautiful woman and a cute child. He looked up at Beany, and then the picture again. "Did you take a DNA test?" He couldn''t help but joke. "Youuuuuu!!!" Beany gasped in great offense, grabbing the other man''s shoulder to headbutt him. Unfortunately for him, Sammy was a soldier 10 levels stronger than he was and effortlessly avoided his attack. However, Beany did not give up and he continued to run after the man to issue his revenge. It was quite silly and quite a few people laughed. "You¡­ gasp¡­ jerk¡­ gasp." Beany mumbled bitterly, rubbing the sweat on his face. Sammy''s lips twitched. "Yes, yes, I was just joking," He said, handing the photo back to Beany. "The little boy has your inquisitive eyes." All of Beany''s annoyance was wiped away by the comment and he brightened up immediately as he hugged the photo. "Well, you got good eyes." He said, before sitting down next to the campfire Luis made. Beany made sure to secure the photo in the space, of course. It was just that¡­ if Althea and the others were here, they''d recognize the woman and child in the photo. One of them was even a team member now. Priya and Theo. Chapter 321 - 321: Training Beany The team woke up before dawn, starting their travel further east even before the sun rose. If the monsters were level 7 and above, the team dealt with it fairly quickly, not wanting to delay their travels too much. But when they encountered a mob of levels 3 through 4 they would kill most while retaining the weaker ones, whilst heavily injuring them. Beanie blinked as he watched this. He flinched when Sammy walked next to him. "Didn''t you say you want to reach level 10 quickly?" He said as he wrapped his dark arms around the portly man, before pushing him forward, basically throwing him into the monsters'' mouths. The poor man squealed. Luckily for him, the monsters were mostly discounted and fell down before they reached him. "Hey! That was pathetic! I wish I had my camera to show your wife!" Beanie gasped, but smiled smugly, "My wife happens to love me no matter what!" ROAR! He squealed again. "Hey! We don''t have the whole day!" Beanie shook his head and stood up immediately. Right! Everyone had family to look for, it was already very kind to give him these few minutes to level up! And he was determined to work hard! . . . A few minutes later. It was really not easy! He was sweaty and gasping and he barely did any damage to the monster! "You need to try harder than that, Beany!" Sammy yelled when he saw Beany rolling around trying to avoid the monster''s attack. Even Sammy''s teasing didn''t get to him. Primarily because the dude was also a wind element and may or may not be his master in the future. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill got impatient though and burned the monsters'' remaining legs with magma. It roared and fluttered about, which gave Beany enough time to gather his bearing. "Kill it!" "Oh, yes, yes!" He said, seeing the heavily weakened level 4 monster in front of him. Although Garan and the others helped carry his level, they tried not to coddle. There was always some life left on the monsters, albeit they were greatly weakened and had a disability of sorts. At this time, the enemy was a monster called Kooi with sharp horns and flat face. Two of its legs were barely usable. It was humiliating to ask for more cheats! Beany gathered himself and fought with it bravely, slash, parry, and pakpakpak! Eventually, he did earn a couple of nick. "Don''t focus too much strength on your arms. You''ll get tired easily." Garan told him with that monotonous voice of his. It was a good enough tip for Beany though, who changed things up a bit. "O-Oh!" He had a preference for the axe (it looked cool) and swung it with all his might (i.e. all his weight). His pacing improved and was soon able to make the killing shot. [Killed Kooi (Lv4). +100 experience, +100 copper!] The group continued to travel swiftly across the mountains, giving Beanie the occasional monster every few hours or so. By the time he was on his 3rd mob many hours later and kilometers away from their camping site, he was at the peak of level 4. Of course, if they weren''t in such a rush, Beanie would definitely be at least level 5 now. It was just that by this time, he only had enough spirit and health to keep walking, so the succeeding monsters regardless of level had been dealt with by the soldiers. They pretty much bulldozed their way East, and Beanie could only shake his head in wonder. "These monsters seem really weak in front of you guys," he said, and Garan gave him a pointed look. "Weaker monsters are around weaker territories." "I''m trying to say you are strong, not that they''re weak!" Beany gasped. He couldn''t let him have a moment of complacency? Garan shrugged. It was Gill who couldn''t help but express another snide remark. "Outside, these monsters are relatively weak. Level 4s like you are still playing at home with their mummies." And Sammy, this jerk, laughed out loud. "You''ll see, if I get stron¡ª" Beany was ready to argue when he saw the soldiers halted and the light atmosphere changed somehow. Everybody''s steps paused as the scenery in front of them changed. "It''s a wall?" "No, not anymore¡­" Several pairs of eyes looked at the sight in front of them in disbelief. It was a low-level village, as shown by the level two walls and buildings. Except¡­ there was no sign life. There were only mountains of corpses, none of whom had complete body parts, with visible muscles and sinews attached. The beasts had a feast here not too long ago, they could tell. Looking at how things were, there were thousands of bodies lying there, waiting to be consumed by maggots and buried in time. The buildings had already begun to disintegrate as well, bit by bit, they disappeared into nothingness. Each dust the wind carried was a hit on their hearts. The territories of Terran were still so vulnerable. "What¡­" Beany squeaked, almost falling down from the shock. The soldiers, used to the sight of death, quickly gathered themselves, although one could tell with the shaking hands and pale faces that they were no less shocked. Garan heaved a deep breath. "Help them," he ordered and everyone immediately went to the various corpses and arranged them together into a single place. At the same time, they hoped not to see anyone familiar among the dead. Each corpse carried to the center made everyone look in both apprehension and pain, praying that there was no one familiar to them. Fortunately, except for Luis'' classmate who he wasn''t very close with, and Sammy with a neighbor he didn''t like, no one else found anyone they knew. Still, seeing someone you once knew alive and well dead in such a horrific manner made them feel depressed regardless. "Let''s¡­ send them off," Garan said, voice in a lower, heavier register than usual. On cue, all the fire users surrounded the corpses in the middle, using the ability to light them on fire. They watched in silence as the corpses burned, returning to the ground. It was a pity they had to stay in this foreign place forever, not even having the luxury of dying in their own land. Chapter 322 - 322: More Survivors About an hour later, the corpses had completely turned to ashes, and there was nothing left but them mourning. Garan looked at his team that entered a gloomy mood and sighed. "Let''s go," He just said, and the team prepared to go on their way. Beanie sniffed, feeling very heavy. To be honest, he had been compartmentalizing in order to retain some cohesiveness. Although he had also seen a lot of deaths in his previous two territories, he knew his family wasn''t there nor were they nearby. But now, they were so near other Eden territories, and this was what he kept on seeing¡­ He shook his head, refusing to think about it anymore. Rather than be crippled with worry, he''d rather move forward to get to as many territories as he could to find his family. The team soon went their way further east, though no one spoke a word anymore. It was just that they hadn''t gone far when they heard rustles, a lot of them, approaching relatively quickly. The soldiers immediately raised their guards ready for whatever would come. The distant sounds were quickly followed by yells and screams. The soldiers looked at each other, but otherwise stood still as they listened to the many rushed footsteps that came their way. A crowd of hundreds appeared, batch by batch, from the dense forests. Each one looked absolutely horrid, covered with blood and dirt, and their expressions filled with terror and hopelessness. They were running for their lives. Only, deep in their hearts, they didn''t think they''d have much hope of succeeding at all. But it didn''t mean they would stop trying. "Run! Run!!" They yelled, seeing people blocking their way. The team stood still and watched as scores and scores of fleeing people rushed in and went past them in a flurry. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The people didn''t have time to wonder why they were unmoving and just continued to run as far as they could. They rushed in like ants suddenly escaping from the nest, avoiding the obstacles that were them, and they were such in a rush that most didn''t even bother to avoid them. It was just that as a few people bumped into them, they were thrown back by the force instead. "What?" they asked, but flinched when they saw the soldiers¡ªstanding still as if another man his size didn''t just barrel onto him¡ªlook down at them with an impassive expression. Too scared to make an issue out of it, they just ignored the soldiers and continued to escape. Of course, some had the mind to warn them. For instance, a middle-aged bald man wearing only a dirty white shirt stopped next to them, yelling. "What are you doing? Run!!" The man tried to drag one with him but the person shook his head. Gill looked at the man who was pulling his arm, actually stopping to pull him despite looking incredibly terrified by what was behind. Instead of speaking though, Gill looked at the incoming monster without emotion. Ignoring the man''s curse, he easily escaped the man''s hold and summoned fire in one hand, and earth in the other. The man didn''t absorb what was happening until Gill was several steps away, baffling him. "What¡ª" He wasn''t so stressed out that blood crept up his brain, did it? Gill coolly met the monster''s sprint and jumped up. He clapped his hands together while in the air, forming magma between his hands. He then raised his hand above his head and pounded the monster''s head with his palms burning with magma. "Magma Melt" He uttered under his breath, watching as his technique burned a hole into the monster''s skin. Whatever the magma touched, it melted like it was a gruesome ice cream. This was just the first of the miraculous sights the refugees saw. They soon saw the whole team light up in different colors as different elements manifested around them. Every and each one (including Beany and Gaudi) fought the monsters, each one looking valiant in the eyes of the refugees. Especially the elementalists, who looked so divine in their movements¡ªno matter which element they commanded. More and more people stopped running, watching the lights and magical sights with all their hearts, sending a flicker of hope into their dying hearts. Each ember lit a fire, each rock added stability, each gust adding excitement¡ªadding a breadth of life¡ªand the crowd watched in amazement as the monster mob that tortured them so much was dealt with so easily by fellow humans. In fact, the people who didn''t have elements were also impressive and even more inspiring¡ªbecause they represented what they could do themselves, rather than the miracles (the soldiers) that happened to come their way. "Awesome¡­ Axe!" Beanie exclaimed, naming his own technique for coolness. Although it wasn''t a skill and didn''t consume Mana, he felt it was stronger by virtue of its name. Fortunately, the monster he was up against was another level 4 weakened by Luis, so he managed to kill it unscathed. Gaudi, a level 14, was not an elementalist but he could also handle himself very well. He was a spear-user and he swung his weapon around expertly. Although he had gotten rusty after years of not fighting, he was still quite impressive. It had to be said that Gaudi was among the people who survived among his kind for a reason. When someone asked why he remained a cleaner slave despite having the ability to do decently in villages and even low-level towns, he said it was because slaves who could fight were sent to the front lines with no support but themselves. In their Terran terms, they would be called ''cannon fodders'' or meat shields. In contrast, cleaning up the mercenary hall was just much more attractive. Eventually, the battle ended and the team stood still, while the atmosphere around them brewed with various emotions. The refugees looked at each other with wide eyes, some were disbelieving, while some just sobbed. They''re alive. They''re safe! It''s a miracle! Chapter 323 - 323: Another Terran Territory At the sight of saviors and survivors, the heavy atmosphere from both parties immediately lit up. Instead of speaking, Garan simply led the bigger team to continue on as if nothing happened. They could catch up eventually, but their loved ones couldn''t wait any more. Not to mention, more mobs could be attracted by all this blood. There were so many refugees and only over a dozen of them¡ªthey wouldn''t be able to protect all of these people even if they had an overwhelming strength advantage against the monsters they encountered. So this was why the team didn''t stop to chat. Rather the two groups simply converged into a line. The refugees understood and followed, and behaved, while unable to stop giving admiring gazes at the soldiers but were afraid to act too closely. Although they had good impressions of soldiers, the corrupt guards of their former territories unconsciously made them afraid of people in power. Especially¡­ such powerful people. They''re probably very arrogant, right? It didn''t help that when they encountered a mob, they were dealt with in a few blinks. Such strong monsters with thick skinned were killed so easily. If they offended these people, would they get pulverized? So the group of three hundred people walked in silence for hours until it was time for dinner. They camped in a relatively large clearing they found after clearing out the mobs they encountered, using them as meat by the way. The more gregarious soldiers like Luis started talking to the refugees as the others prepared the food¡ªwith the help of tens of refugees, of course. "So¡­ what happened to you guys?" The people near him flinched a bit, but saw he was a young lad with a friendly smile, their shoulders slumped in relief. "Our territory fell as well. We were allies with Porta¡ªthe territory where we met¡ªbut¡­ "Well, at least we survived." Luis nodded, "Is this all of you? From your old territory." "Well, everyone panicked and ran to different directions." "I see, I see¡­ then did you happen to encounter someone with the name¡­" Luis began to enumerate various names, though no information about them was found. Similarly, the other soldiers saw this and followed his lead. However, even with this, no one got news that they wanted. "Well, no news is good news," Sammy said with an awkward smile, trying to convince himself more than anyone else. "It would be better than hearing they perished, right?" With that, the sad topic was temporarily put aside, and the teams focused on filling their stomachs for another day of fighting ahead. For dinner, they had barbeque using the meat of the monsters they just killed. The refugees were the ones who cleaned up the meat, while the soldiers handled it with a diluted version of the Captain''s signature sauce. Adding a bit of their seasoning to improve the taste, the aroma that wafted to everyone''s noses automatically made their stomachs churn. The soldiers asked them to line up properly, and they were for the most part behaved, no matter how impatient they were. They left the meat in the center, and anyone could take it. Fortunately, there wasn''t anyone expecting to be served and filed properly, only taking one per person. What they didn''t know was that there were indeed people who had planned on using moral kidnapping. But the coldness of the captain scared them to death. Soon, the first batch of refugees managed to get a hold of a stick, immediately bringing them to their mouths, and they almost cried. "Amazing¡­" they said, even if they burned their tongues a bit for being too hasty. Some people even outright sobbed, happy to finally taste something decent. More than the luxury of flavor, it was more an excitement to the soul. Gill looked around and found someone. He was lined up near the end. Gill approached him, ignoring the ogles of the others, especially the women. "You." He called the bald man from earlier. "Me?" "What''s your name?" "Rodney.." "You''re not bad." He said, and handed him a seasoned meat. And some cotton pants¡­ His eyes sparkled but he was a little puzzled by the special treatment, so he was reluctant to take it immediately. Gill sighed and just left the items in his hand before returning to the group, leaving a dumbfounded Rodney standing. ¡­ Garan''s team started eating their own food, while the others set up their own fires and stoves. Some were creative and added some familiar fruits and herbs, while some really knew how to handle the tangy monster meats. The soldiers were also eating quite happily when a soft sultry voice sounded next to them. "May I also have?" Luis and Sammy gaped at the beautiful woman who approached them. Luis abruptly stood up, recognizing her immediately. She was wearing plain clothing and was a little dirty, but the pretty face of Terran''s biggest female star was still recognizable. She was also of normal weight¡ªstill quite sexy¡ªunlike many of her companions who were emaciated. "Miss Juni! Wow, I''m a fan!" Juni was a starlet that debuted just a few years prior, but was shot up to stardom by talent and some well-chosen movies and dramas. By the time the Migration happened, she was already one of the biggest stars. In fact, she had just won Eden''s most prestigious Best Actress award before the Migration happened. Luis had followed her since her debut and was very excited to interact with her. He looked around. "Is Fable here? He''s my idol!" Juni smiled awkwardly, "Don''t listen to rumors. We were barely even friends." Luis nodded even if a bit disappointed. However, he soon snapped out of it as he thought she was hungry so he happily gave her a stick of meat. "Thank you," she said, releasing a gorgeous smile. Fanboy-Luis was taken to the stars by her smile. What he didn''t expect was the woman''s eyes turned to give furtive glances in a direction. It wasn''t obvious at first, but he caught her doing so more than once as she ate. Luis blinked curiously and followed her line of sight, ending on their deputy. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Why would Juni be looking at Deputy Captain Gill? Juni frowned when she looked at Gill, not even turning to her direction, even when they were only a meter apart. But Juni didn''t say anything, she just ate her piece and thanked the group for the hospitality, paying a piece of silver before going. Luis naturally tried to reject it but she shook her head. "Please, it is for my own comfort." She said, and Luis reluctantly accepted the money. While mysterious, no one really thought too deeply about it and the group soon went on their way, with torches on hand lit by the fire users in the team. This was a novel experience for the people, to travel so long at night time with so much light. A few hours later, the line stopped and the crowd curiously looked at what caused it in front. Some even walked closer to see and everyone looked at what was in front of them in awe. A stone wall. A 3-meter-high one at that! And a level 3 wall meant there were sentries. This was a territory! A strong one! The people cheered and they immediately went to the gates, entering with anticipation of some well-deserved rest. And when the familiar ding resounded inside their heads, everyone smiled. ''Finally!'' they mused and immediately looked at the name of the territory to remember it by. [Welcome to Bright Village!] Chapter 324 - 324: A Good Territory! [Welcome to Bright Village!] [Please pay 5 copper coins as Visitor''s fee.] Everyone looked at each other, surprised, half wondering if they were imagining things. "Am I seeing it correctly? 5 copper???" "So cheap?!" "I''ve never encountered a territory charging so little!" Similar chatter resounded among their group of 300+, but their feet never stopped moving, eager to know more about this curious territory. As such, the mighty group of refugees and soldiers entered the territory with a bit of anticipation. They went past the gate and were immediately met with a 6-meter wide road. They walked along it curiously as, during the first leg of about a few hundred meters, the view was pure forest. However, after passing this, the road immediately became lively. The roads were abutted by a few two-story buildings similar to some villages they''d been to. There were other familiar buildings like the restaurant, weapons shop, and armor shop. Despite these, there were also plenty of unique elements. For instance, there were five commercial buildings with two floors, looking quite different from the rest. It was interestingly unique in appearance with a stone ground floor and wooden upper floors. They weren''t able to appreciate it too much though¡ªthey weren''t even able to see what they sell¡ªbecause the liveliest aspect of the roads took all their attention. The stalls! And they were shocked by the fact that they were selling food they didn''t think they''d encounter again!! "Are those¡­ FRENCH FRIES?!" Mao, the foodie, was the first to exclaim. His narrow eyes widened like he had double eyelids. "Rice cake!" Luis beside him gulped as he stared at the stall next to it. Sammy, on the other hand, focused on the commercial buildings. He even entered one and quickly sent news. "They sell clothes here! It''s cotton and hemp I think, and they are cheap!" In fact, cloth was still a luxury product in the territory. It was just that decent clothing was very expensive in Xeno. This was not even a fraction of the price outside. The newcomers, especially the refugees, had sparkling eyes. In fact, the soldiers were still held back. The refugees, after absorbing they were really not dreaming, all spread out like a group of kids set free in a candy aisle. Each one went to a specific stall of choice, vocally admiring it as if it were a museum piece. "Amazing!!" "Gosh, is this jam?" "Noodles!!!" One yelled, threw money without checking for change, and sipped. He moaned out. "I''m in heaven!" "How did they do it??" "This is amazing!!" The citizens of Bright could hear the discussions of the newcomers and smiled with pride. "Of course. Our Lord is very good. He''s even gathered very good seeds for us and set up farms so we could be self-sufficient." "The first harvest will be in another week or so, I think." He said. "The prices would be even cheaper then." The team couldn''t help but look at each other with relieved smiles in their eyes as they heard this. At least they knew some Terrans were doing well, and this meant their families could also be in such territories as well. In any case, they had a very good impression of the Lord of this place. "He must be a good guy," Luis said with an admiring nod, and everyone, even if they didn''t speak, agreed. Then they proceeded to walk along the street, stomach grumbling. Seeing his team wanting to attack each stall they passed by, Garan shook his head. "Let''s find a place to stay first." He said, pulling everyone back to the present. Indeed, they came with hundreds of people, what if there was no accommodation left for their team? Garan, Gill, and a few proceeded to ask the locals where they could find places to rent, while the rest said goodbye to the refugees. "Thank you! Thank you so much for saving us!" Several people said, many of whom bowed in gratitude before parting with them. "Have this please!" Rodney stepped forward, handing over a basket of food he just bought. With his lead, a lot of people followed. "This too!" "Please, have this!" The soldiers were a bit surprised and touched, but they didn''t reject the kindness of the refugees. It was good to know that they were not taken for granted. The team separated from the refugees, receiving their heartfelt thanks once more. Of course, as always, there were still some dissatisfied with their lack of help in settling them down. However, they had seen their strengths and didn''t dare to speak out. The team proceeded to look for available housing. Most of the houses had already been occupied. It was a recent thing, apparently, as a lot of people apparently made a lot of money from selling products. They eventually found one of the two-story houses a bit farther from the main road. According to locals, it was a new community, with the lord using a new housing module from the system. It had a similar appearance to the new commercial areas near the gates: two stories, relatively steep roofing with corners slightly curving up, and with a quaint combination of wood and stone, giving the impression of both stability and flexibility. There were only five units in total and the rent was very expensive. However, they had no choice but to take it as it was the only available one after leaving the cheaper rentals to the refugees. After confirming the rent, the mercenary team members filed in, not really expecting anything too special. However, when they went inside, they were amazed by how clean and organized it was. There were proper flooring and partitions and the room arrangements were similar to open plans back in Terran. The furniture was also very complete, and there was complete upholstery. There were even rugs made of beast fur. The more sensitive ones even closed their eyes and felt another difference: The temperature. It was Chris who spoke out. "This is very interesting," he said, "It is hot outside, but the inside is much cooler." He opened his eyes and studied the house further, realizing that this was done by maximizing wind and air temperature. They also saw some unfamiliar translucent materials used as windows and lamps. "This is so interesting." "Probably a custom house, right?" "The designer must be very knowledgeable about this." "Amazing. They hadn''t been here for a month, right?" "It''s official: the Lord here is my idol!" Excited to explore, the younger members ran to the rooms. And they scuttled out, looking at the rest of the team in awe. "The house here has toilets!" Luis yelled, and Sammy immediately flinched. "Fudge. Seriously??" The two men immediately went to check on the toilets together, admiring it. After all, it had been so long since they saw a legitimate water closet! This place was like the medieval period of their Terran Planet. It was already a luxury to have a hole to shit on. Most commoners would use chamber pots¡ªstill the ultra-cheap kind because metal wasn''t readily accessible to most! Anyway, it was super gross. "A legit kitchen counter, too," Eagle said with a smile. He remembered the raw materials he saw on the market. Can he finally prepare a legitimate meal? It seemed the price for this house was worth it after all? Compared to anywhere they''ve lived in since coming, this was a real luxury. Not to mention Gaudi, who had lived in extreme poverty for decades. This was akin to living in the palace. Seeing the house, the group had completely been won over by the territory. "When I find my family, I might just settle here¡­" "Me, too." Garan nodded. If Altera wasn''t good enough (assuming it wasn''t hers as they suspected), and if she didn''t like indigenous towns like Ferrol, they could indeed settle here instead. After all, even if a Town was more convenient and bigger, it was still different to be surrounded by brethren. Well, whatever his wife preferred. As such, the team excitedly headed back out to finally eat their fill to appreciate this unique territory even more. This could possibly be their new home, after all! S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 325 - 325: Questions The group happily went to the market and ordered everything they could get their hands on. They ate french fries, rice cakes, rice with monster meat, etc. It had to be noted that the offerings were mostly rice and potato-based food, which was just what they needed! It didn''t bother them that they were green or blue or red. Even if it was rainbow-colored, they''d eat it! "They''re building a kiln, and soon we''ll offer bread as well!" The vendor couldn''t help but announce proudly. "That''s amazing!" Some time later, they then went to the barbeque stall next to it. They had thought that it probably wasn''t anything too special, considering they already had the boss'' sauce. But then they saw the array of available sauces and they couldn''t help but gape. "Soy sauce?" Mao uttered, and Luis echoed beside him. "Vinegar?" The soldiers looked at each other, shocked at the choices, then they were fired up, decidedly buying a bit of everything. The group also ordered various meats and vegetables on skewers to gobble. They were all consuming quite well for a while, their abbed stomachs slowly bubbling out of shape. Of course, they really wouldn''t care about ''shape'' right now, they cared more about how much more it could take before they couldn''t eat anymore! It was a peaceful time for a shopping spree for a while. It was just that some time as they were walking along the street and enjoying various street foods, Gill''s hand with the skewer paused. He sighed and, to his team''s puzzlement, he turned his head to a direction. "How long will you keep watching?" He asked and Luis and the others blinked, not sure who he was talking to. And then their mouths opened in shock when they saw a familiar gorgeous woman emerging from the crowd. "Juni???!" The young soldiers and citizens gaped and looked on in admiration. Juni only smiled at them, but her attention quickly focused on the sexy man who was looking at her impassively. "You were eating so happily..." She said with a smile, "Can we talk?" "Ehhhh, why??" Luis and Sammy couldn''t help but mumble. "Why would she want to talk to you?" "I mean you''re handsome but you really can''t speak well!" Gill massaged his throbbing temple in annoyance, swearing to train these brats hard so they didn''t sound so stupid every time they opened their mouths. "...we used to date." "Whaaatttt?" "Holy Gouji Berry¡ª" "What? You?!" "What about Miss Cassandra?" Mao, as someone ''bribed'' by Cassandra with food to hint at some of Gill''s personal details, blurted out with a frown. He froze when he realized his gaffe and raised his hand in surrender when Gill sent him a warning glance. The handsome soldier then turned to look at the beautiful woman for a few moments, before finally nodding. Juni''s tense shoulder relaxed a little and she led him to one of the restaurants at a corner shop. The group looked at the back of the former couple with complicated expressions. Even Garan didn''t know about Gill''s love life. When Gill said that he watched too many of his ex''s dramas, Garan didn''t think he meant it like that. Then he couldn''t help but recall the much better condition of the woman compared to the others. Although he didn''t have an interest in anything other than Althea and his job, he had still heard some things about the deep water of the entertainment industry. It was not hard to assume what she could''ve been doing all this time and was a bit worried for Gill. Of course, he knew that this thought was extremely judgemental and unfair. Not to mention, this was none of his business. At least, until it started to affect the functions of the team. Putting the thought aside, he turned his attention back to the bustling market street as well as the people''s happy faces. Whatever the case, it was really, truly, good to know that there were still Terran territories that were doing well¡­ ''I pray Althea''s living well.'' Garan entered a short daze at that time, warmly thinking about his wife. Sandra was shopping when she saw his frozen figure. Her heart skipped a beat the moment she realized who it was. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This man was still as handsome as ever. However, she also knew of his temperament, and approaching him now would just set herself up for embarrassment. Not to mention, her lover had been watching her moves lately. It didn''t help that Ron and Spike told him about her alleged ''flirting'' with other men back in Altera. Even if she had managed to pass the blame to Ramona, the seeds of doubt had been planted, and it was getting increasingly difficult to satisfy him. She frowned at the thought of Ron and Spike. She swore she''d deal with them someday¡­ But whatever dark thought was brewing in her mind though, her eyes never left Garan. She stood there, watching, and when she saw that they moved to another stall, she also followed as subtly as she could. She gulped, her heart beating wildly, her eyes filled with the dashing may with deep azure eyes. Maybe¡­ just maybe¡­ she''d finally find a chance to climb up! ¡­ Sandra did not have to wait long to see a chance to approach. "Make way! Make way!!" A group of injured people carried three men who were dripping with blood. They watched as the severely injured people were carried to one of the commercial buildings. The sideboard indicated it was a pharmacy-slash-clinic. The soldiers were curious. How was the medicinal capacity of this territory, they wondered. After all, it was still a village and it didn''t have a system pharmacy yet. Without a word, they followed the crowd to observe. Soon a pitiful group of bloodied people were either carried or guided inside the building. They looked very much in pain and very worried. However, it was worth noting that did not appear hopeless, which was very different to the refugees they had seen so far. In contrast to those people''s dull eyes, these people were hopeful that their teammates getting treated well. The difference between territories could be seen even from this. "Please save them!" They exclaimed and a doctor knelt down to take a look at the wounded as his assistants stopped the bleeding for the others. After a moment, he turned to the ambulatory members with an apologetic frown. "We do have basic medicine for everyone, but we only have two bottles left of Bandade and Sprite¡­ "In their case, it can''t be diluted unless we get the premium grade." The team''s shoulders slumped, but they still chose the more critical people to use the remaining bottles. The soldiers watched as the group paid tons of gold and the shop owner brought out a box of bottles, as well as other things. It seemed that with that bunch of gold, the party not only bought the medicine but also other solutions and some so-called special gauze. Garan and the others watched as the medicine was applied, and were surprised to see that it immediately stopped bleeding. It even closed up a bit. "This¡­" Turbo''s eyes widened, surprised, but there was no one to answer his questions. The medical personnel continued to treat the wounded guards for half an hour before they finally heaved a sigh of relief. Someone checked their inventory and sighed even deeper, looking at his workmates. "I wonder when the martial law will be lifted. We need to stock up on supplies from Altera." The word immediately sent alerts to a lot of the soldiers. Garan immediately appeared next to the nearest nurse, who happened to be a meek female. He was a meter away but his presence was overbearing. It didn''t help that he was very, very, handsome, and it had the tendency to destroy a shy girl''s heart. "All these things came from Altera?!" he asked, his baritone voice was handsome but extremely scary. The nurses and doctors were frightened. Sandra who was nearby saw this as her opportunity. She began to approach, her eyes on him. Sandra was determined to replace the poor female nurse who was both adoring and scared as she looked at his face. "Y-Yes." The nurse said, and she couldn''t help blushing at the focus of the deep azure eyes anyone could drown in. Garan frowned and, seeing as this one couldn''t give him the answer he needed, he turned his head to another medical professional¡ªa male this time. "Tell me. Please." Sandra''s pace hastened as she finally reached a few meters from the dashing soldier. Similarly, the male nurse had already opened his mouth to answer when a ding sounded in his head. Or rather, an announcement popped up above every person''s head, including the visitors. [No one is allowed to reveal anything about Altera other than the Lord. Leak at your own risk.] The male nurse: "..." Sandra, who had wanted to offer her help: "..." The atmosphere stagnated. And, for some reason, it made Garan''s eyelids twitch. He¡­ he had a bad feeling about this. Chapter 326 - 326: Deals Half an hour prior. Micheal was drinking a precious tea blend inside his study, overlooking the territory he created in a complex mood. He had done his best, but the world outside was too dangerous not to worry. Sip. Ah, good tea. He bought this tea from Althea for a very high price and, as he savored the warm drink, he could feel his stress and worry diminishing at a palpable rate. As expected of the woman who could handle that man with ease. In any case, he was perusing the population list in this better mood when a group of people appeared and shot up the top of the list, which made it stagnate again. He was curious and a little apprehensive at first, but then he saw the name at the very top. Immediately, he stiffened and his jaw tensed, his eyes turning darker at the sight of it. Garan Witt. The man that caused them huge amounts of losses just because of his ''intervention''. One could imagine how his blood boiled when he saw him finally landing in his territory. Micheal''s eyes blue eyes narrowed, a dark smirk gracing his lips. He would finally be able to deal with this guy. As for why he didn''t deal with either Ansel or Althea, it was against his principles to drag innocents into battles. Also, he''d lose a lot if he went against them, especially for something they didn''t even have a hand in. Anyway, this bastard cost him a lot of money, and he was determined to get it back. Maybe even get interest¡­ He stood up and walked outside, attempting to see the bastard for himself. Although he knew the man had gotten much stronger for reasons unknown, he still hoped to see him bloodied and desperate. However, as he went on the streets, he saw another batch of his own guards bloodied by the strong monsters outside. He sighed. The protection period was indeed the newbie period. The current challenges of the monsters were incomparable. If he had more resources, he''d have bought more of the premium weapons from Altera. Sadly, he was also very poor. He also had to buy the custom houses because he found out that it would disappear if unclaimed after 32 days. He had seen the advantages and had already purchased the blueprint from Oslo, and he couldn''t bear to put that all to waste. And so, he jumped in despite the huge costs¡ªwhich were, truly, beyond his means. He should''ve known each module cost a lot more than the standard buildings! Furthermore, after that warning from Althea, he naturally had to go above and beyond his capabilities to protect the territory. That handful of customized houses, upgraded fences, and sentries (though very sparsely placed every few hundred meters¡ªthey really cost too much) had siphoned out all his funds. He even had to borrow from his subordinates, as well as solicit from citizens in exchange for some added ''status''. That was, these people would have priority in his new amenities, et cetera. Fortunately, everyone was cooperative. Anyway, they easily saw where the money went. Not to mention, he knew that the investments on custom houses would return to him in a short while and he''d have some funds again. He still needed more, however, and it was a worrying thought. ¡­then he remembered he''d have another source of income, one that was coming to his own doorstep very soon. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. With a smile, he sent an announcement to all his residents, walking to the meeting hall to wait for his next pot of gold. ¡­ Garan found his location several minutes later, with two of his men. Micheal also had Dig and the only fighter aborigine he had, Juno. Juno was a level E soldier at level 15. Not bad compared to his people, but not impressive compared to Altera''s aborigine, who was also an elemental. Sigh. He really ought to stop comparing to Altera. That place was in its own league. Speaking of Aborigines, he had a vague inkling: that Altera really took most of the good hires available at their level. After all, Altera upgraded much earlier than they did¡ªprimarily because of its ample funds and foresight. It was very likely that it had managed to get most of the decent options. Pity, but it could''ve been worse. At the very least, Altera was an ally and wasn''t a territory he had to worry about. A couple of minutes later, three soldiers including Garan entered the meeting hall looking all intimidating, as always, but Micheal''s aura when negotiating wasn''t much less. "Lord of Bright." Garan started, that apathetic low voice of his bland as always. "My name is Garan Witt, and these are my men Gill and Eagle." They greeted him politely and he stood up with a smile. He walked over and extended his hand. "My name is Micheal Berti." Garan imperceptibly flinched, and his azure eyes sharpened as he looked at the blonde. This man¡­ Berti was an infamous mafia family spanning five generations. It was just that the current generation cleaned up the family, no longer selling drugs. They sold only weapons to security companies and some other private non-terrorist groups. This itself was not too illegal so when he caught up with them they got out by paying an (ample) amount of money. This amount of money happened to be a good bulk of the liquid funds he had. "You seem to recognize me," Micheal said, donning a mysterious smile, extending his hand to meet his handshake. Garan''s face showed no change when he answered. "Your surname is quite well-known." "Of course." He said, his grip tightening a bit. "Too bad we still lost to a twenty-plus-year-old soldier¡­" Garan sighed, finally knowing for sure what the announcement was about. With their history, it would be questionable if this lord didn''t make it hard on him. In fact, the ban on the information was definitely on purpose just to annoy him. "There is news that I want." "Yes, I know. I definitely have the information you want," he said enticingly, smirking. "It''s not cheap." "It depends on the information." Micheal smiled handsomely, but it only brought creeps down their spines. "I can tell you exactly how to get to Altera¡­" he said and watched as Garan''s back straightened in anticipation. "As well as information about your wife and brother." Garan''s eyes widened and he raised his head. The two men beside Micheal immediately went on defensive under his strong aura, but Micheal only flinched a bit, not showing any weaknesses. Instead, he leaned over with his chin on the back of his hands, smiling. "The price¡­ will definitely not be low." Chapter 327 - 327: Deal Closed Aberdeen City, Many Years ago One weekend in the early summer, the family was gathered in the kitchen by Althea. They were well-behaved and waited patiently as to what this was all about, and they soon saw Althea bringing in a colorful array of jars. These jars were filled with vibrant tea leaves, fragrant herbs, and delicate flower petals. The school was off the week, with Ansel and the two professors were relaxing at home. There was also Garan, a special Military soldier, who was also on a rare day off. The parents looked at her curiously looked at her, her boyfriend¡ªas always¡ªwas just watching her dotingly, while her little brother had a teasing smile on his face. "I have been studying and testing these for a long time." "How many times did you get poisoned?" Ansel asked, and Althea answered with a bit of smugness. "None!" "Not because you''re immune now, right?" "..." Alicia laughed and gently tapped the boy''s head. "Let Althea have her moment." "Che," Ansel tutted and crossed his arms, though his eyes quickly gravitated back to the curious table in front of him. Althea cleared her throat, entering a small zone she entered during her experiment, albeit a milder version. She smiled as she delicately scooped a blend of loose leaves into each teapot, adding different herbs and flowers to each one. Soon aroma wafted into her audience''s noses, making her audience unconsciously lean down the table for a bit more of a sniff. For a while, only the sound of porcelain and metal clashing, combined with rustles of tiny leaves, was heard in the room. Finally, she ended the ritual with pouring hot water on the cups, placing a different blend in front of each them. The looked brightly at the beautiful blend in front of them, sniffing the nice aromas that whiffed up their noses. Althea smiled and started to introduce her work. "For dad, I''ve chosen an exquisite blend of dried rose petals and camilla tea leaves. Smart and Bold, fitting dad''s scholarly pursuits." Howard laughed in his characteristic deep and hearty laugh, taking the cup for a sip. His eyebrows rose as the aroma and taste enveloped him. It was as if transported to a distant rose garden in full bloom. Althea judged it to be a success and turned to her mother. "For Mom, it is a blend of green tea, lavender and chamomile. A fragrant bouquet that was calming as it is rejuvenating, much like what she is to me." Alicia giggled. "Aww~ Thanks love. I''ll try it out now." She inhaled the soothing aroma of the concoction as she sniffed, and it felt like she was strolling through a serene lavender field. Very relaxing. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Ansel''s is a fruit-infused herbal tea with hints of apple, hibiscus, and orange peel. It''s a playful medley of flavors, a fitting drink for our youngest." The red head immediately took his cup, a bit excited, and was met with the tasty fruity explosion in his mouth. "Hmm! Delicious~" They all chuckled at his reaction, and soon Althea turned to her handsome boyfriend, who made her blush a bit under his deep stare. "For Garan, it shall be a robust blend of black tea, mint leaves, and a touch of lemongrass. It is bold and invigorating, much like you." "Thank you, Althea." He smiled and took a sip, met with a refreshing burst of mint that invigorated his senses, though his eyes never left her face. "Is it tasty?" She asked, blushing a bit, before turning to everyone else. Everyone nodded, praising her for her talents. In any case, the kitchen that day was particularly fragrant, filled with warmth and happiness¡­ ¡­and the contentment of a complete family. __________________ Bright Village, Present Garan stood up in shock and looked at him murderously. Even his two guards who tried to defend couldn''t move, startled by the man''s aura. Micheal coolly raised both hands. "We''re business partners. Ansel is even my friend, how can I hurt them?" The suffocating atmosphere dispersed a little and Garan just looked at him guardedly. However, there was anticipation in his eyes which were what Micheal needed for this deal. He turned to Dig and pointed at the cabinet with his head. "Come, drink." He asked, and naturally they didn''t dare to risk getting poisoned. "Why would I bother poisoning you in my own territory?" "Because you cannot kill us otherwise." "..." Well, they''re not wrong¡­ Micheal sighed and took the cup handed to Garan, drinking from it himself. "Hm.. Delicious. It''s your loss. Such good tea from Ms. Althea." Sure enough, Garan flinched and after a thought, he took the teapot and sipped on its contents. Silence passed by as Garan simmered in its taste, no doubt recalling certain memories. Soon, his stance softened and he looked at Micheal with less hostile eyes. "Fine. How much?" "2000 gold." "What?!" Logistics-Officer-Eagle gasped. Gill glared. Garan frowned. "That''s too much." He said, "You did not pay that much of a penalty." Micheal did not say anything in response. Two thousand gold in Xeno was indeed an over-quote. However, his family lost much more than money. For example, reputation. For example, his mental health. Garan looked at the smiling man''s unchanging expression. The atmosphere stagnated for a while, before Garan finally heaved a sigh. Did he have a choice? He couldn''t coerce people outside for information. Especially, they obviously lived well here, how could they betray their lord? Garan rubbed his temple. "I only have 600 in my hands." He told him. This was true, the next dividend from Bart''s mercenary team would arrive in a few weeks. Micheal was actually surprised he had that much (it irked him a bit). But, anyway, there was more than one part in this deal. "Then...for the balance, I''ll take 500 from Althea, and for the rest just help us clean up 1000 monsters above level 5 around our territory and we''ll call it even." He said. "The final kill will be my guards''." Garan''s handsome eyebrows furrowed. Discomfort in making his wife pay for something he owed aside, killing 1000 monster would take a while since there was no large mob, let alone they had to give the last hit to others which would easily triple the time requirement. How could Garan stay longer when he already knew where his wife is? No matter what, he couldn''t do it. What if she was hurt while he was ambling about? She must be missing him so much, how could he bear let her suffer more¡ª "Don''t worry about your wife." Micheal said, knowing his concerns. "She''s doing very well." Garan looked at him to see if he''d say anything else but he was still just as cryptic. Manipulative bastard. As if unaware of his glare, Micheal retained his smile and continued with his vague clues. "Altera is extremely strong. Bright territory cannot compare." Gill and Eagle''s eyes widened, while Garan remained stoic, but the way his eyes dilated was very telling. "We got a lot of our resources from there. What you see here? The food, the prosperity? Altera''s is much more advanced. "Even the design of the custom house had been bought from there." Gill and Eagle looked at each other with their eyebrows arched, a bit in disbelief. They were really curious about this place! Before, it was just because of sister-in-law, but now they also want to see it for what it was. Gill even thought deeper. From the way the captain recognized the territory name, perhaps sister-in-law had a lot to do with it! That meant one major thing: That she was definitely doing well! Micheal let his words brew for a while, before continuing to speak. "Your wife holds a huge pie in there. How could she not live well?" He smiled again, quite confident that he had placed his cards and would get an even better deal. But when Micheal thought Garan would try to get more information, he just saw him nodding with a stupid look on his face. He looked quite smug, as if saying ''yes, my wife is the best''. Tsk. Micheal looked at the guy''s dreamy expression and sneered at his old self for losing to this boring-lovesick-idiot. Heh. It seemed like he didn''t want to know he had children, then. After a moment of dazedness, Garan turned serious. "500 gold now, 500 gold I will pay in the future, and 500 monsters." He hoped to see her status in person as soon as possible. He also needed money to make sure he could give her some gifts when they met. Micheal thought for a while and thought it was indeed fair. But¡­ he had the upper hand here. "500 gold, 500 gold owed, 600 monsters, one third of which must be level 7 or above." Garan paused, thinking. After a moment, he nodded. "Deal," he said, a bit helpless. As he was led to the village center for a contract, he could only sigh, looking out longingly to a direction. ''I''m sorry wife, you''ll have to wait a little longer.'' Chapter 328 - 328: New Guard Hiring Altera Village. Altera stared at the clear skies with a complex expression, her pretty finger rhymically tapping on the varnished wooden table. The protection period was already over for more than a day and¡­ nothing happened. It wasn''t that she was complaining. After all, at the very least, they managed to get their much needed respite, and the resources have been recovered to a certain degree. Actually, it had recovered much faster than anticipated. This was because when people woke up, the first thing most did was start the production of everything needed in wars. This included gathering resources, making sure that the territory didn''t lack it when in need. She had also managed to make a few more bombs by this time, which was a miracle because she slept for nearly a whole day. That mob really took a toll on her health and spirit. So, she was thankful that they had some rest. It was just that the unknown was just intrinsically uncomfortable. There were times that the wait was no less torturous than the actual problem, and this was one of those times. What she didn''t know was that the site she chose to place Altera was in an area in a particularly difficult terrain to access. It was also amidst many other Terran territories that was much more accessible to mobs and were therefore attacked first. However, whether or not they knew, they would definitely prepare enough for it. She shook her head, studying the status of the base. When the territory was upgraded, not only were there new building types available (which she''d be deferring until the first enemy arrived) but also the conditions for upgrading the buildings were made visible. When the Weapon store was upgraded to two, it could create more varieties of E weapons. At level 3, it would be able to create level D weapons. Particularly, the sword, the spear, the axe, and the bow and arrow. The cost though was ten times as much as it was at level 2. She still upgraded it, of course. Although Brenda had also become a level C weapon maker, she was busy with innovations and didn''t have time to supply the whole territory. Not to mention, she also had to create Level C weapons, something that a Level 3 Weapons store could not make at this time. There was also the fact that her own factories could make Level E and D weapons for a much lower cost and better quality. But, if she had the money, who would say no to the automatic production of standard weapons? This was especially true for normal citizens who couldn''t get a hold of the higher-quality factory-made ones. As for the warehouse, it was indeed nearly filled, but it should still have several more days before she met the requirements for its upgrade. Judging by its constant production by virtue of basically unlimited resources care of her citizens, the warehouse should upgrade very soon. On the other hand, the upgrade condition for the Training Hall was for the successful completion of 1000 fights against the strongest level 5 monster. She needed to upgrade this one because she''d be hiring guards soon. The current ten rooms wouldn''t be enough for everyone. Unfortunately, this upgrade would take longer than others. Very few people, including her, had actually dealt with this. They were definitely far from 1000 fights against a level 5, not to mention the added requirement of actually having to win the fight. By estimate, they probably had less than a hundred wins after all this time. However, she believed that after the previous mob, more people would have gotten much stronger and would thus be able to win against the strongest monster. She looked at the Population List on her Lord Panel, and she made a rough count on the high-level Terrans in the territory. Level 8: 1 Level 6: 12 Level 5: 280 Level 4: 778 She reckoned this was a pretty good ratio. If everyone level 5 and above could fight (and win) a few times, then she''d meet the conditions. She ruminated for a bit, composing another announcement in her head. And so, after a while, a series of announcements echoed across the territory. . . [The Protection Period is Over! The average level of monsters outside has tripled! [It is forbidden to leave the territory with teams of less than 10 people. The minimum level of leaving the walls is level 4 unless the average level of the entire party is level 8.] . . [Territory Announcement: Now Hiring! Guards [Requirements: Minimum level 4, with cumulative contribution points of 500 on record. Good moral character. [Wage: 100 copper/day, 50 contribution points, 3 meals and accommodation included. [Available Slots: 0/200] . . [Training Hall is 50% off for three days!] . . [Territory Announcements: All guards that defeat the current highest level monster ten times in the Training Hall will become a captain, without exception. [Validity: Indefinite] . S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. . [Contribution Point Rankings: Will show the Top 100 Residents in terms of contribution points. Can be set anonymous. [Note: Will now be visible via the Village Center, in the same tab as personal contribution points] "Minimum level was level 4, darn it!" "They''re hiring 200!!" "There''s still 1 more day! I''m at the peak of level 3! I can do this!" "People who can beat the level 5 monster in the training hall ten times will automatically be captains!" "I heard their salaries are 2 silver a day!!" "Ppffff you say so like you could beat the level 3 one¡­" "You shut up!" The man yelled, "Don''t jinx me!!!" The other just laughed, though he, too, would definitely try out as well. ¡­ There were also milder but no less meaningful reactions to the announcements. For instance, Cassie''s. Cassie was still with her grandma, though they were not gathering resources as they usually would at this time. They were both sewing hems on face towels with many other women under Letty''s store. During the last war, these sold out quickly. Not only were they used as face towels, but also for other things like cleaning wounds and stopping bleeding. After all, the number of medical gauze and medicines were limited, especially with their growing population. Her grandmother smiled. "Well, they''re hiring again." Cassie nodded, "It''s a good thing I reached level 4 during the last beast tide¡­" The women turned to her, looking at her in interest. "You''re trying out, Cassie?" One woman said, and another nodded. "Oh yes, I heard you joined the Olympics before?" "You must be very good." "We need more women fighting out there!" One said, and another nodded very excitedly. "I''ll make you good handkerchiefs and towels to use comfortably!" Cassie blushed at the burst of attention and smiled shyly. "Thank you for your support!" She said, her heart lit up a bit more with the fervent support of her friends. Her grip on the cloth tightened a bit, before she resumed her job. The guardship could come later, the other jobs were no less important. Chapter 329 - 329: Aspirations On another side of the territory¡ª "Finally they''re hiring again!" Another person exclaimed, looking up at the sky with a bright smile. Crow and the others were currently gathering resources because they didn''t want to risk going outside at this time, as they had heard of the dangers. The three of them happened to have landed level 4 during the beast tide. It was an amazing feeling. Too bad the monsters got so much stronger and none of them were able to revel in his newfound strength¡­ because it was nothing in front of their new enemies. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Happy, brother?" An innocent voice asked beside them, and the trio looked at their new group member and dormmate, Koo Yu. He was a few years older than they were, but his mind stayed at a child''s age. No matter, this new brother of theirs was adorable no matter what. Especially Crow who pretty much owed his life to him. Or rather, his late brother. During the mob, he was surrounded by monsters, so many that the sentries weren''t able to deal with some of them. At the time, both Dog and Sunny were taken somewhere else as they fought. He remembered the brave George joining him in the fight and the two of them fought back to back. Crow was touched. They seemed to only share a dormitory at most. They barely even talked before. The two lads defended bravely and they rode on the momentum to kill one with the help of the sentries. Unfortunately, an accident happened. While they were distracted by a monster, a smaller one appeared next to them. It happened that George was nearer, basically covering him by virtue of his position. The man was pulled by a monster to be mauled. The only thing Crow could''ve done for him was try to recover his corpse as intact as it could be. George definitely saved his life. Sadly, it was at the expense of his. As he picked resources, his fist tightly clenched what he was holding in the memory. "Brother Crow¡­ don''t hurt yourself¡­" His dark eyes softened and he let out a rare non-creepy smile. He ought to make it up to this brother, who lost his only relative because of him. "Of course we are happy," Crow said, answering his first question. "Because we''ll have a chance to become stronger." "Like Rowan?" Koo asked, particularly fascinated by fire. It was not a surprise for his simple mind to like the showy element. Fortunately, his affinity was fire, otherwise, his young mind would''ve been very disappointed. Crow''s lips twitched. His element was wind. "Maybe." "Can you make fire go pew pew?" He asked, voice habitually nasal. Before he could answer though, a boisterous laugh behind him sounded. "Aww, Little Koo, he''ll have to train a lot harder to be THAT cool," Hubert said in amusement, his blonde hair filled with leaves. He then suavely (or at least he thought so) shook his head, the leaves gracefully falling down his head and shoulders. Hubert was another life-and-death friend they made during yesterday''s battle. He had pulled Dog to the side because he accidentally went to the path of a sentry arrow already released. If Hubert wasn''t there, Dog would''ve been skewered to death. Anyway, Koo looked at the blonde in puzzlement, "Really?" "Yes, but your brother will be joking with the guards soon. When he''s become friends with the actual cool guys, maybe he can ask them to make fire for you." "Really? That''s awesome!" Crow rolled his eyes. Hubert was actually in the exact situation as he was. He had no doubt that this guy would throw a legitimate party if he was accepted for the job. "Well, I''d definitely join in!" Dog said with a shrug. "Yeah, but are our contribution points enough to try?" "It should be! We killed a lot during the beast tide!" Sunny said, giggling, "Let''s check the village center for our status later." Hubert nodded, adding some resources to his basket for selling. Since they were going to the center anyway, might as well maximize the trip. As he did so, he couldn''t help but wonder who got the most contribution points among them. "I wonder who won the rewards?" he asked, making a mental note to check the rankings to feed his curiosity. The question though made everyone pause, thinking. In the end, a few faces appeared in all their heads. The people who actually got the most kills were actually just Althea, Oslo, and Rowan. In order to encourage the people though, she rewarded the top 2 non-aborigine that came after them, who were Drake and Hugo. Both of them were already permanent residents and they decided to sell their winnings for some gold, instead. The list was not announced, simply because the winner received a question whether to remain anonymous or to announce in the territory, which all of them refused. It was around here that an old man gathering stones nearby scooted over, eyes filled with gossipy light. "Not counting the Aborigines, then Ms. Althea must have won!" "Oh?" "Yes, I heard she pretty much killed most of the level 4 and level 5 monsters attacking the East Gate!" "Wow! How? Her level is high, but not THAT high, right?" "She got good equipment." "Oh, yes, I heard she got a good weapon! From the system gift pack!" "Well, she did invent a lot of things¡­" Hubert sighed dreamily. "Beautiful and capable. Goddess is a goddess," He said, hands on his chest as if keeping his heart there. Poetically, if he didn''t, he thought it''d fly to Althea every time he thought of her. He was one of the people with Ansel at the time they were rescued by Althea. The image could be said to have been imprinted, like on many others. The old man nodded, smiling proudly at the information he got from a teammate (who happened to be dating a guard). "You may not know¡­ but I heard Ms. Althea threw bombs!!!" Gasp! "What?!" "Seriously?" No citizen was assigned in the East gate and after the tide they went to rest. This was immediately followed by a busy preparation for the lifting of the protection, so a lot of things hadn''t spread widely yet. "Do you think she''ll sell it?" "Where? The Supermarket?" The other two rolled their eyes. "Maybe she''d build a new shop??" "I heard she also had paralysis and poison bombs! Explosive bombs may not be sold, but those two could be!" "Someone ask her!" "Too shy!" Then a lot of men couldn''t help but remember her beauty and were hyped to have an excuse to talk to her. "I volunteer!" He was nudged by an arm. "No, I will represent our group. It won''t do to spam her!" Hubert said with a confident smirk. "Why does it have to be you then?" Hubert grinned, combing back his lustrous blonde hair not too inferior to Oslo''s. "Because I''m the most handsome!" He was then beaten up by his team. Fortunately, the territory only banned legitimate fighting in the territory (outside the fighting arenas), which was characterized by a motive to hurt and reduced health. Otherwise, the whole gang would''ve received a yellow card then and there. ¡­ On the other hand, there were people who had been preparing to go out when the ban was announced. They froze when they read the contents, as they were really ready to meet the monsters head-on. They really made a lot of money from the last beast tide. They came a few days before the beast tide and were inspired by the locals to do more work. Under the protection of sentries and aborigines, they really did earn a lot¡ªstrength and monetary-wise. "Wait! There''s an instruction that people below level 5 must come with the guard team! "I heard the level of monsters outside would spike up after the protection period!" It was a dark-skinned man with very curly hair, trying to convince his white friend not to be rash. The man who was looking forward to hunting outside looked around sarcastically. "Monsters? Really? Where?" "Shhh!! Don''t ask for it, are you an idiot?!" The man rolled his eyes and was about to mock his companion for being a coward when the ground vibrated. Somewhere above the wall, a guard shouted. "Attack!!!" He bellowed, "It''s a monster attack!!!!" The dark-skinned man glared at the other man. "You damned crow mouth!!" "..." Can he say sorry? Chapter 330 - 330: Level 9 Monster At this time, Althea was lounging in her living room, bonding with the children. "You grow up so quickly¡­" Althea mumbled as she rolled her babies on the cot. Clearly only a month old, but they were already on the verge of crawling. (Well, if dragging one''s little butt to move counted as crawling). "Hnghbgmm¡­" Little Pepper mumbled, her clear blue eyes looking at her, while Little Meatball drooled all over. "Ghamnnngh¡­" Meatball drooled so much some started to flow to where Pepper was. Little Pepper felt the wetness and her face scrunched, rolled over, dragging her body¡ªalmost crawling¡ªstomach down. Althea giggled. She leaned down to place kisses on the two babies and pondered whether to guide them on their crawling journey or let nature take its turn. Before she did so however, a blaring alarm sounded around the whole territory, followed by vibration of the walls getting hit. Althea frowned, her spine straightened in tension, whipping her head to face a direction¡ª They''re here!! ¡­ "I''m counting on you¡­" she told Lola, who took her babies into her arms. Yana was already preparing the place they would place the kids. It was located in the living room, but with a clean new cot added. It was filled with toys they bought a day prior, just for babysitting duties. At this time, Mathilda had already gone out to her team, handling their scope, leaving the two old women there wanting to contribute somehow. Fortunately, Althea knocked on their door, asking them for help, allowing them to do a bit more for the territory. Or, to be more accurate, one of the people carrying it on her back. "No problem," Lola said, but she couldn''t help but look at Althea worriedly. She heard from Mathilda before she left that the monsters outside were far stronger than what they had encountered so far. No one was certain how they would truly fare against these monsters. "Be careful out there," Lola said, and Yana¡ªwho just returned from setting up the play place¡ªnodded in agreement. She also took one baby in her arm, and Lola did the same. "Please try not to get hurt." "Of course." Althea said with a smile, "Thank you for always being available to care for the kids. I can only fight with little worry for them because of this." "We love the children don''t worry," Lola shook her head, feeling that they didn''t deserve so much praise. She then looked at the babies and let them face their mother. "We are all waiting for you to get back safe and sound. Aren''t we, little kids?" She said, and the two old women held the babies'' hands to help them wave at their mum. The babies had long been teary, as if sensing that their mother was risking her life. "Mmmahmanggg¡­" "Googmmmgmmm¡­" Althea smiled and wiped the babies'' tears. They were so well-behaved to not be making a scene despite wanting to. "Mommy will come back very soon~" She said, kissing them many times before reluctantly walking away, this time without turning back. The two old women listened as the little babies whimpered, but were otherwise well-behaved. It was amazing and it also broke their hearts. The old women sighed as they watched Althea''s back¡ªso lithe and brave¡ªgo farther and farther until she was no longer in sight. "Such a wonderful woman," Lola said, heaving a deep breath and lulling the baby in her arms to relax and not be too sad. Yana also lifted a baby up and gestured to take him to the play place, hoping to distract them a bit. It was just that as the twins lay there, seeming to have none of their characteristic energies, the two old women could only look at each other and sigh in depression. "Poor things..." "She shouldn''t be forced to risk her life like this, especially when she has such small little ones waiting for her to come home¡­" "Alas," Yana sighed, "Such is the world now. We can only adjust." ¡­ Althea watched as the newly arrived monsters attacked her territory from the walls, her emerald eyes looking at them deeply, studying them. Thanks to the sentries, there were only about a dozen monsters left at this time, but they were large, about 2 meters high. They had large upper bodies, three massive fangs, and bluish scale-like skins. At this time, a lot of guards were in this part of the battlement and they had continuously tried shooting at the monsters but they didn''t so much. Fortunately, the sentries were reliable and the main walls had barely taken damage, keeping the monsters at bay and killing a few. Studying the set-up more, Althea realized that they destroyed the outer fence, seemingly like stepping on a cake. Jerks. Annoyed, she used her ability to determine their levels. She flinched a bit when she saw them to be 8s and a level 9. She frowned. This was far from what they were used to. Althea immediately aimed her arrow at the bastard who did the most damage. Although her Bellagio Bow could be used against much stronger monsters, that was in the hands of much stronger archers. As she was currently, she could only deal with a few shots against such a level of monsters before her mana ran out. She tried shooting at a level 8, using Perfect aim to hit its weak spot. [Killed! Sansha (Lv8)! +220 Experience! +220 Copper!] One shot, and it fell down. Unfortunately¡­ Althea looked at her stats and saw that that one attack took nearly half her mana¡­ Tsk. She did not continue what she had been doing and let the sentries fire continuously to weaken them. She didn''t want to use any of the few bombs she made, either. They were so few, who knew when they''d really need the bombs instead? Besides, the monsters now were troublesome, but still manageable. They were the perfect whetstones for her and her people. Of course, the premise of something being classified as ''practice'' was that they wouldn''t die for it. The monsters continued trying to hit the wall for a while longer, and her eyes caught a monster that was continuously protected from damage, shielded from the sentries by hiding behind the body of its companion. She narrowed her eyes, feeling something different here. Was it because it was a level higher than the others? It was at this time that Rowan, Oslo, and Drake joined her on the wall battlement, watching the monsters hit the walls continuously without regard for the sentry arrows shooting them. Level 5 sentries could easily take on level 10 without taking much damage, with slightly discounted attacking damage with stronger monsters. This damage further decreased until the monster was level 30. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The dozen or so monsters were reduced to about seven. It was around this time that a smarter monster¡ªthe monster from before¡ªseemed to have noticed the futility of their attacks and roared loudly. The next moment, the weakened, but surviving monsters ran just out of the sentries'' reach. Althea''s eyebrows rose. So smart? Chapter 331 - 331: Intellectual Monster A few monsters followed it and they stood menacingly in the safety outside the walls. There was a total of seven monsters there, six level 8 and the one level 9 intellectual one. However, that was quite a smart move, in contrast to the mindless blood thirst of weaker monsters. "Are they supposed to be smart?" She asked Rowan, who had found his way next to her. "No, Ms. Althea." He said, "But there are indeed very, very, few cases where some leading monsters gained a bit of intellect." Althea looked at him curiously, waiting for more information. "There have been sightings, especially in cities. I didn''t think I''d see one in a village." "What are the implications?" She asked, emerald eyes staring at the distant monsters. "Highly troublesome. If 5 was usually needed to take a monster of the same level, such type may need more¡ªsometimes twice of that." Althea paused, looking at the thing. "Has anyone tried¡­ to tame them?" Oslo blinked, surprised. However, he nodded in the end. "Yes, there were people, especially beast tamers, who tried. After all, intellectual monsters ought to be easier to take and more useful to keep, however¡­" "Without exemption they all failed. Almost each attempt caused the deaths of the beast masters." Althea nodded and turned back to the monsters standing still not too far from the walls. "What caused this?" Oslo thought for a while. "The current observation was that other than strength and talent, these monsters also consumed massive amounts of aether." Althea''s eyes sharpened, continuing his words. "It means they killed much more than the others." Well, whatever these monsters were, there was no way she''d let one roaming around the territory. Wouldn''t that just trap people inside? Her emerald eyes looked at the monster and then turned to the other two next to him. "Rowan, Oslo." She said, "Can you weaken them enough for the others?" Anyway, they couldn''t gain any experience from them, might as well carry the guards to level up like rockets. The two men looked at each other in understanding, while Drake felt complicated. He also wanted to fight, but he could only be carried. As a former soldier, could it be comfortable? But¡­ getting stronger was still the priority. The two aborigines quickly jumped down the nearly six-meter-tall wall, without fear and very gracefully. Rowan softened his fall by using a strong flamethrower blazing out both hands, like a human rocket. Oslo, on the other hand, built platforms halfway through, albeit stemming from the ground. Apparently, the wall could not grow any soil, metal, or any other solids made by Elementalists. This was a little inconvenient now, but this was generally actually a good thing for those inside. After all, who''d want Earth users to build access above the walls during wars? This was apparently a quality of system buildings¡ªor more accurately, Aether Buildings¡ªin general. This was why Oslo could only ever help with manual construction and never with buildings made by the ''system'', like the custom houses. Anyway, moving back to the battle, the two aborigines sprinted towards the monsters who immediately lunged at them as soon as they went beyond the sentry range. Oslo immediately made metallic spikes while Rowan made a flame wall. However, when the level 9 noticed this, it moved farther. It didn''t run, but just waited at a distance, far enough from the men so much stronger than he was. Seeing most of the monsters being dealt with, Drake called all the guards level 6 to join the fight. All level 6 personnel in the territory except Ansel were all guards, so all 12 people went down to join the fight. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were four level 8 monsters to be dealt with, excluding the level 9 that was looming nearby. When Drake and the rest got closer, the two aborigines hit the monsters'' knees to discount their movements. They then stood between them and the level 9, lest it decided to attack in unexpected times. The guards fought against the weakened monsters, with Rowan and Oslo stepping in only when the attack was judged life-threatening and could not be avoided. Each of the four weakened level 8 had three level 6s Alterans to fight them. In all accounts, this still was extremely dangerous, even when the monsters were greatly weakened. However, the Alterans still fought well, strategizing, and maximizing each others'' strengths. They had grouped themselves in a way that could maximize their chances: I.e. with one main attacker, one long-ranged attacker (archer or spearman), and one with the best defense (ideally a sheildsman). In one team, there was no shieldsman, so Hugo extended his spear to stop a monster, defending his teammates, with Helios was dealing with the same monster as the main attacker. The other three monsters were handled similarly, though for a while it was mostly just them avoiding deadly attacks from the strong beasts. Nearby, Drake took out his shield to protect a team member. "Sheild Reinforcement," he chanted, and for that moment his barely-a-Level D shield improved its performance, easily taking in two attacks from the monster, allowing his teammate¡ªAmos¡ªto attack it from the side while it was distracted. Amos poked his spear repeatedly at the monster, trying to damage it the best he could. Thanks to Drake''s distraction, his blade was fortunately able to stab to a narrow gill-like thing on the monster''s rib area¡ªlikely his ears. Splurch! "ROAR!!" It yelled, flailing wildly. Amos barely managed to avoid it by jumping back, but its pained movements were quick and sudden and not everyone was able to avoid its body. It happened that its hit connected with Drake¡ªwhose shield had returned to normal¡ªand he was pushed several meters away, deeper into the forests. It was at this moment that the level 9 intellectual monster decided to lunge forward. The two aborigines cursed and were about to go to his rescue when¡ª "I''ll take it!" Swoosh! An arrow flew, redirecting the monster''s attack, saving Drake''s life. Althea rushed past the aborigines and into the monster''s attacking range. They didn''t expect Ms. Althea to jump down to attack the level 9 monster on her own! Chapter 332 - 332: Alteran Battles Against Beasts At this point, the level 9 monster had only been partially weakened by Oslo before it escaped farther away. Three of its legs were still working, and its health should still be mostly-filled. Althea was only level 8, and going against it was extremely dangerous. "Ms. Althea!" They couldn''t help but exclaim. How could they bear watch such a delicate, beautiful woman, who just gave birth, deal with the strongest monster? Althea had long been chewing on a mana cookie and, after waiting for a while of watching the others fight, her lost mana had recovered by a bit. She had her Bellagio out and hit the monster lunging at Drake, reducing its remaining life by half. It also drained much of her mana, so she took more cookies while she changed her weapon to the Katana upgrade to D-class by the weaponmaker Brenda. The weapon was made of Terran steel with no special effects. The system classified it as a weapon with a level D material but gave it an overall rank of upgraded level E. Of course, to deal any decent damage to monsters, it had to be heavily improved by Brenda, the new C-class weapons maker. Ironically, this showed how Xeno iron was more effective than Terran Steel in this world despite the latter being a superior material. She had actually studied this and judged the composition of iron to still be weaker than her steel. She can only attribute it to the fact that Weapon Makers could input the Xeno-exclusive force called aether to the weapons, making them more effective. It was a magical thing and she hoped to study this mysterious force someday. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, for now, like any other level E weapon, the katana could now be used up to level 10, but its effectiveness heavily depended on the user. With a bit more confidence, she started to parry her sword while avoiding the monster''s sharp claws. It was really, really, fast. And it damaged her outer clothing a bit. However, she had Rainbow Silk undergarments so she wasn''t worried about showing anything. As for the Medina Robe, she didn''t wear it for now, as it could be used to pull her instead. At the moment, it was being worked on and modified by Letty to allow its use during closed-range fights. She was hyperfocused and got used to the monster''s speed. She naturally didn''t think she could deal with it easily. After all, not only was it a level higher than her but also the fact that it was a beast that could take on ten people of the same level. However, considering everything, she was doing very well. She hadn''t given damage after the Bellagio shot, but she hadn''t been injured either. She had not formally trained in using the katana, but she had been depending on it for life for so many days. Partnered with her fencing knowledge, she developed a more innate understanding of it and was able to use it with increasing skill with every battle she fought. Although struggling, she had managed to defend herself in plenty of dangerous attacks, which was much more than what the guards had been doing. The people watching were in awe. They just thought Althea was awesome with her super bow, but they never saw her in close combat. "FOCUS!" Rowan yelled, saving one from being eaten due to the moment''s distraction. "A-Ah! Sorry!" The man yelled, and most of the others flinched and fully focused on their own fights. However, Ansel couldn''t help but still be distracted, and the aborigines couldn''t blame him. Oslo and Rowan''s eyes met and they nodded, with Rowan staying to watch over the others while Oslo would guard Althea''s safety. Back to Althea''s fight, she still couldn''t see a way to deal damage until she recovered enough mana to use the bow again. But she didn''t want to be too dependent on it. She tried thinking of ways but it didn''t help that, from her peripheral vision, she could see a lot of people staring in her direction with worried faces. Ansel was even nicked because of his distraction. "Focus on your own fights!" She yelled, and slashed the sword to guard from another maul. "You''re distracting me!" Rowan glared at the few who still wouldn''t listen. "Didn''t you hear her? You''re not helping! It''s like you forgot we are here!" Ah, right. Seeing her fine, the others reluctantly turned away and fought the other monsters together. They knew the aborigines wouldn''t let her get too hurt, anyway. The guards then turned and fully focused on their own fights. Their momentum increased, knowing a brave woman was in a direr situation than they were. Drake awakened a Sheildsman occupation, Ansel and Helios had awakened the Swordsman occupation, while Hugo was a spearman. During the previous beast tide, a lot of people awakened new skills. Now, they decided to use their skills to improve their damage and to practice the skills, as well. Hugo used a skill called "Cyclone Guard", where a small attack field would be produced as he circled the spear around him. It was also a fitting name for a wind user. It was estimated that he could incorporate the element well into this when he awakened. It also looked quite impressive. It was just that it took a good bulk of his mana. Helios learned a skill called "Aetherwave slash" where a wave of aether attack was formed with a swing, extending his reach and damage. And then there was Ansel, who learned a variation called "Resonance Strike" wherein the force took place after a slash on the body¡ªa belated reaction of sorts and could be harder to guard against if used well. On the other hand, Drake used his sword to Parry. And then, using his Clutch-customized iron shield, he activated his new Sheildsman skill "Small Reflect", which could reflect 1% of attacks, lasting for a minute. He reflected the damage that was heading to Ansel, before joining the redhead in his attacks. The two aborigines stayed not far away from them, watching their moves with complicated expressions. They couldn''t help but marvel at these people''s growth. Although people could indeed trigger fighting occupations easier than life occupations as long as level 5 was reached, it was not too easy. At least, to their knowledge, less than 40% of people who specialized in a weapon ended up triggering the respective occupation. This was an important distinction as they would be able to inherit skills Class C and above. The majority just settled with the low-level skills they could get by practicing the weapon for years, calling themselves swordsmen, shieldsmen, etc, despite not being stamped by the system as such. But Alterans¡­ as long as they reached level 5, they will more or less trigger a fighting occupation. Some of them weren''t even formally trained in their weapons. They just learned as they fought! Just¡­ what kind of minds do the Lord and her people have? Chapter 333 - 333: Althea vs Level 9 Beast Althea''s solo fight with the intelligent level 9 monster naturally wasn''t as smooth. Although the aborigines helped and discounted another one of the monsters'' legs, it was a level stronger than the Lord. But what could they do, the Lord asked them to stay put unless real and lasting damage to any of them was about to happen. The two of them could only watch the fights with bated breath. Meanwhile, Althea chewed on her mana cookies as she swung her sword to weaken the thing. Eventually, her mana managed to recover enough to use a skill. It was called Triple Shot, and she got it from one of her grinding sessions in the Training Hall. [Triple Shot (D), -10 Mana!] The Bellagio Bow let out an odd sheen, releasing three shots at the same time, congregating on a single sensitive shot. It was so strong that the monster was pushed back a by a feet or two. ROAAARRR!!! It roared in anger, lunging at Althea in rage. She avoided it with a smile, knowing the attack had successfully taken away a good portion of the monster''s life. Meanwhile, the two aborigines gaped. Oslo couldn''t stop himself and manifested a large earth wall between them so they could ask. "W-Was that the triple shot, my Lord?" It was Rowan who threw the question, and Oslo nodded as he looked at her. "You''re an archer as well?" "Yes?" She seems to have been using the bow and arrow since the beginning, right? "And put down this wall." What she didn''t know was that, even if the skill was a level D skill, it was an archer-exclusive one. That was to say, normal archers would never be able to use it. "But¡­ aren''t you a pharmacist?" "Yes, and¡­?" She asked, "And like I said, put down the wall." How could she have known that, for some reason, indigenous people generally only have one. Anyway, Oslo did eventually take down the wall and Althea avoided the monster''s maul by shifting her center of gravity, using the inertia to turn. She managed to hit the monster''s eye. It did a minimal damage due to her lack of mana, but it was accurate enough to cause some damange, making it even angrier. The two of them went to and fro like this and, although the monster''s life had been greatly discounted at this time, Althea still didn''t feel the momentum shifting completely to her direction either. In fact, she felt the damage to her side was increasing. As time passed, her clothes got more and more torne and bloodied. It was fortunate that her defense equipment was fabulous (especially with her Class A Underwear), otherwise she''d have teared up her layers of clothing¡ªa sight that would make Garan want to stab the eyes of all men there. Anyway, she still underestimated a monster a few levels higher than she was. Not to mention one with a bit of brain, so it always managed to get out of a pinch whenever she felt like she could get a good shot. Unlike the others that attacked head on despite falling into disadvantage, this one knew when to back off and bide its time. For instance, because half of its legs were painful, it wouldn''t attack when she was on his weak sides. It would just guard, ready to bite her head of if she dared to attack. It had to be noted that, even with its legs in pain, it wasn''t slow and its bite was still just as strong. The fight became stagnant and they just continued to send attacks and defend, attack and defend, and so on. This went on until she lost her balance due to its strength and was almost mauled. The monster''s feet were sucked into the ground before it could reach her, with her back supported by strong arms. It was Oslo, looking at her with a very worried look on his face. "Are you alright?" He asked. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Hmn, thanks," she said she got out of his grasp and jumped back to the fight. Oslo could only sigh and watch as closely as he could, hopefully to help her avoid any more injuries. The monster soon broke through the ground and the two stared off for a while. She looked at its three menacing fangs jutted from its massive upper body, angry, while her sword was high and ready to strike at an instant''s notice. In a swift motion, the monster lunged forward and its fangs directed to eat her midsection. She dodged to the side, the monster''s momentum carried it past her and she quickly turned. Using it''s blind side, she took advantage of its distraction to stab the nearest weakspot: Its butthole. Hehe And also, ew. It screamed and jumped in pain. She ran father and it rushed to her with a painful limp. Unfortunately she too wasn''t any less bloodied, but she gritted her teeth and tried to outrun the damned thing. The berserk monster pretty much teleported to her, mouth open to eat her whole. She jumped back to increase the distance between them, even at the expense of hurting her back a bit. With a deep breath, she took out the Bellagio for a final shot, and she felt time slow down a bit due to the extreme adrenaline. At this moment, she took the shot. Swish! But she saw its angle was skewed and knew for sure that she aimed incorrectly. Her heart skipped a beat and it felt like she was floating in mid-air at that moment. She could see Oslo run to catch her from her peripheral vision but her eyes were fixed on the arrow that was about to pass the monster. It felt like time ran so slow that the short distance the arrow travelled felt extremely long. Then¡­ the arrow''s path suddenly curved a little and hit it straight through the monster''s mouth and to its brain. [Killed! Sansha (Lv9): +250 Experience, +250 Copper!] [Learned! Curved Shot (C): Shoot with variance of up to 1.5m radius, +20% attack. Mana: 30 Mana] [Learned! Mana Reduction (C),Passive skill, reduce mana consumption by half for a period of 1 minute. CD: 50 minutes.] 2 skills? And both C-class!! "Are you alright, milord?" Oslo whispered rashly, holding her with shaking arms, only belatedly realizing she had been caught from falling to the ground. But her legs gave way and so Oslo completely held her weight. "Thank you," she said, realizing she could barely move. She checked on her stats and realized how low her life and spirit was. She quickly took her medicine and sighed, watching so many of the guards team up against each one. Although they were finishing up, it could be seen by how they were struggling to hold their weapons that it was an extremely hard fight. "So much work for such a small mob¡­" She mumbled, standing up after feeling some energy return to her. Oslo''s azure eyes traced over his arm that had held her warmth, before shifting to look at her. He heaved a sigh and walked over, leaning down a bit so their eyes were leveled. He looked at her warmly. "You shouldn''t feel too much pressure," he told her, "The levelling within the territory is already very fast. To be honest, I have never seen anything like it." Althea blinked and looked at him, slightly apprehensive and obviously wondering if he was just trying to comfort her. "Really?" "Hmn," he nodded, "Don''t put too much pressure on yourself, milord. You''re already doing marvellously." She smiled, "Thank you for saying so, Oslo," she said, with a particularly bright smile made even more colorful by her relief. Oslo looked on in a daze, even when she had already walked past him. Ansel, who had also ran to her saw the whole thing and sighed. Now he just pitied this dude. Chapter 334 - 334: Altheas Caveats The group took the monsters back¡ªtheir carcasses contained a lot of usable materials¡ªinside the gates. "Are you sure you''re alright?" Ansel asked his sister, now covered with a coat of sorts. He was supporting her shoulders and she was leaning on him. He was heartbroken but he knew having to fight like that was a necessary evil. "Yeah," Althea said, "Now I just want to see my babies." Ansel smiled in understanding also looking dazed at the recollection of his cute neice and nephew and just led the woman through the gate. But when they entered they were a little startled by the crowd that had been waiting for them, immediately cheering as the gates closed. "Amazing!" "Bravo!!" "I was terrified to see such large monsters, especially when I heard of their level, but looks like we can still handle it!" "Nothing to be scared of!" S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We don''t need the protection period anymore!" The crowd had been watching the fights from the safety of the walls. However, even if they did want to help, their skills and levels would just designate them as burdens instead. At the same time, people from the health clinic arrived with all the tools needed to perform first aid, bringing the heavily injured guards back for more intensive care. The crowd looked at the group¡ªespecially Althea¡ªwith fanatic admiration. She had spearheaded the economic and agricultural development of the territory, and now she joined the guards to vanguard against the strongest monsters they had ever encountered so far. And then they realized that she was the strongest non-aborigine!! It was unbelievable! Just¡­ what can''t she do? With these thoughts, they couldn''t help but want to express admiration in one form or another. There were plenty of words of encouragement and affirmation, and there were also a lot of people who gave their stock medicines to those who fought, and none of them were rejected. Of course, not everyone was amazed. For example, Ramona who was gritting her teeth in the crowd. During the fight, in contrast with the aghast gasps and worried prayers when Althea got wounded, Ramona was holding back smiles. Ramona frowned, glaring at Althea''s bloodied figure. Even all bloodied, she was so beautiful, so admired. And why was she still so strong?! She was the strongest other than the Aborigines!!! Ramona simmered on the side with a dark expression. "What''s wrong, wife?" A plain-looking man asked her in concern. She had, of course, found a new man who did most of the work in their ''household''. One who made all of the money with her in charge of ''taking care of the household'' i.e. buying whatever she wanted. He was even working as a staff of the Glorious Hospitality Company and was making quite a bit in commissions. She had been living amply, much much better than how it was in Bright. However, more than once she passed by outside Althea''s house and she could see the wonderful colors inside even from outside the fences. She could often hear laughter inside (though mostly by the children playing) and she could imagine the fabulous life she still had. In comparison, her own life paled¡­ again. How could Ramona be satisfied? ¡­ Althea looked at the surrounding crowd, who were in a celebratory mood. She didn''t want to put a damper on it but she felt that she had to. She shook her head and looked at them, waiting for them to calm down. Under her stare, they did. "The new average of the monsters outside is level 7. I hope everyone¡ªfighters or not¡ªwill try to gain strength on their own." She said, her emerald orbs filled with seriousness. "We only won because the aborigines are here. What if they aren''t? What if they couldn''t?" Territory wars had level limits¡ªthey knew this, she had to remind them of this. The reminder, indeed, successfully put a damper in the celebration. Silence reigned the area for a while. "It is still best to strengthen ourselves, without relying on anyone." She said, heaving a sigh, "I''m sure the territory will help decrease the risks as it could, but of course, it wouldn''t be unavoidable. "I hope everyone braves through it. Because¡­ the monsters would only get stronger." She looked at the others and they gestured to continue back to their homes. Before leaving the crowd, Althea couldn''t help but add her last advice to them. "Be stronger. It will be the only way to keep what we have now." ¡­ Later that day, after a good bath, rest, and bonding with the babies, the siblings met again in the study room. Althea and Ansel looked at the territory map, which was now much larger than it was before. Paper now had preliminary products, though not enough to sell. For now, it was basically used only by her and the departments. Oslo''s Architecture and Engineering Team would definitely be consuming the bulk of it. Graphite had also been discovered near a marble deposit by one of the adventurers just before the protection period ended. With graphite, they could also formulate ink and create pencils. However, because the missions to safe harvest were limited, ink and pencils were also in limited supply, mostly exclusive to the territorial departments. In any case, in front of them was a hand-drawn map of the territory. Drawn by Althea herself, primarily because she was currently the only one who knew the bird''s eye view of this place. Ansel''s eyes dilated at the sight of the map, extremely impressed. "Wow¡­ huge area." He said, eyes tracing over the large expanse of land. "Hmm¡­ I want to maximize every inch. I''m thinking of increasing the greening to 40%." She said. This was very ambitious, but their goal had always been to build vertically. For Altera, this was not a pipe dream. She wanted a higher percentage of this because this also included the natural forest resource points that had to be maintained. Not only would they be safer for the citizens to harvest, but they lacked the dangerous poison plants and insects that were abundant in the forests outside. Don''t think of it as too much, these were all providers of quick-refresh resources. All in all, while it seemed like an overkill, she believed it wouldn''t be a stupid decision to do so. Her intuition told her so. And eventually, she would be proven wise. Chapter 335 - 335: Resuming Development Althea had also decided to continue with the old plans, before adding the system buildings so as to not be too dependent on them. The land has expanded, but she was able to decide on the direction of its expansion. Rather than a circle, the land was more like a very irregular rectangle, mostly extending to occupy more river and flat lands, as well as the mountains north. She also decided to add another consideration with this expansion: Underground Construction. It wasn''t that they didn''t consider before, but the tree roots were too dense and they didn''t want to risk weakening the foundation of buildings. Now was the perfect time to do so. The mountain areas northward was also a bit enlarged, other than safeguarding the springs, this was also to occupy a resource point for hemp, which was currently being developed to make fabric and paper. She still hoped to find something like flax though, as linen was smoother and didn''t need to be ironed. There were several clothing types more suited to it. It was also highly absorbent, more comfortable than hemp, and it was also more durable and breathable than cotton. Anyway, having the three types of cloth in addition to animal hides would provide the territory with enough necessary variety. Next was the arrangement of the roads. Following her new greening rule in the urbanized areas, she maintained the planted sidewalks, road islands, and parks. The farmlands were expanded twice its current size and she invested in more fields. The earlier it was bought, the better, as it raked in more profits. The industrial park also planned to build several more factories for rent. Speaking of factories, because it was public knowledge that Althea ''requested'' factories to be built and Gru''s public domain farmlands had been approved by the ''Village System'', there had been a number of other building requests. Some of which were actually pretty good, and were thus slated to be added in the territory. One was to create a small fishing port along the river. Although people could fish here (conditionally), comfort would be nice since they''d stay for hours. Some transportation routes would also be added here, though mostly with small boats and canoes. The person who suggested was a man named Bull, who she heard was someone from Vismont before. He was asking to make a business out of it, not only would he transport goods or people along this long river chord, he also proposed scenic routes. Althea, naturally, approved of this. Similarly, there were also proposals to add artificial river routes heading deeper into the luxury areas and form a small lake. The person who suggested it was from Silvia and her brother Reno''s team. Reno was one of Drake''s men in the guard team, while Silvia was an official under Mathilda, so the business would be primarily handled by their teammates. The leading team member, Honey Guevara, happened to discover a relatively non-porous material that could be used like geomats to keep water in a certain place without leaking into the soil. As for why the use of the material was limited to this (rather than other applications) was because it was strong only when it was in contact with water. Further, it could only be placed in fragile thin layers. From Sheila''s gossip, Honey was collecting weird materials to try to get them approved as resources when she accidentally fell into the river in her excitement. Unexpectedly, she touched an unusual surface very different from the rocky texture she was expecting, and spent days investigating until she and her team figured it out. She called it WaterBlocker. Because land could not be privately owned, however, Althea simply awarded the woman with huge contribution points (a whooping 5000) and priority to rent commercial land adjacent to the lake. Her story did inspire a lot of people and it was partly because of her that they found a lot of resources just before the protection period ended. Of course, while she approved of this, as someone with a better grasp of the terrain she changed the location of the artificial lake to more natural basins. This was to let it double as water collector during strong rainfalls to prevent flooding. After this was settled, the siblings focused on the other side of the river. Althea and Ansel also made some plans for these areas. The river bent slightly north, so the last section of the river that was still within the territory connected closely with the farmlands. At this, Althea paused thinking of another improvement. She added another river branch. She read somewhere about a technique of integrating fish ponds into fields, forming a sustainable ecosystem on its own: Rice-fish culture. This was a farming system that integrated the cultivation of rice and fish in the same field. Fish benefited from the rice, using them as shelter and food. The rice plant, in turn, benefits from the fish by having them control pests and provide nutrients through their waste. Better, what if the fish grew better because they lived on system fields? S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Definitely worth the try," Ansel said. Althea nodded and added it to the agenda. After all, they still needed to figure out if the rice could survive such an arrangement. Next, there was also someone who requested daycare so their children could have some place to socialize and learn. Adults were too busy to care too much, after all. This was especially true now that most of them had to hunt outside a few hours a week. There were now over three thousand people in her territory, about a score of which were children under 7 years old. It was more than before, and she made a mental note to send a task to Rosalind later. As for the others, the modules and factories were extremely flexible and could be modified as needed. For instance, a more popular baker in the territory requested larger kilns, as the current demands could no longer be met. This could be rectified by the person buying bigger units and placing larger kilns. The luxury areas also increased a little, while the areas between the center and the southwest gate increased the most. She got a lot of rich citizens since the last visit of the three territories. She also added narrower streets perpendicular to the avenues every two blocks or so, adding a few more pedestrian-only streets by the way. She assigned more areas for stalls. Now that the basic raw materials were basically completed, a lot of industries were expected to rise. There were already different shops for clothing, shoes, bags, etc. booming. Different types of foods, different types of furnishings, and different services were already flourishing. When rubber became commercially available, even more industries would rise. Of course, there was still a lot of study of local resin to be done. She really wished Winona was here already. Anyway, there should be more demand on the commercial side and she should be filling up the main avenues again. Except for the areas along avenues, she basically didn''t build much anymore. For now, the residences were enough and she just needed to add another dormitory. There was plenty of construction left and she didn''t want to expand to the next level up. The level 5 walls were very expensive, and she didn''t need such a large area anyway. Her next goal was to find a way to safely build high-rise buildings. They might have limestone deposits as they were near water sources, but she searched to find out it was a long shot. Concrete was still integral if they wanted to build even taller. Her target was at least 10 floors. Unfortunately, it would be hard to find limestones as the river was freshwater, rather than seawater. However, it wasn''t impossible, but just very hard. At worst, she''d have to find another alternative somewhere. The one she used in the module was basically just for grout, not structural concrete. It would be better if the curing time of concrete was reduced. She read in her tablet that a batch could take days, so a building would take months or even years to finish. Her theory about the latest Aborigine hire reducing time was still a theory after all, and she couldn''t take it as fact already. She didn''t have that time, and neither did the territory. And then there was steel, which would only work if they could find more iron sources. That, too, would take time. Fortunately, she saw the new buildings and there was a good alternative she could use while this aspect was being studied. Anyway, she didn''t build any more buildings for now. Instead... she turned to look at the system buildings that came with the upgrade. I''ve ignored you long enough, she mused. Chapter 336 - 336: New System Buildings Ansel watched as the beautiful Althea gracefully press on her screens. He found it fascinating even if he couldn''t see what she was seeing. Also, judging by her movements, her ''screen''¡­ seemed to be at least twice as theirs! He was very very curious about the lord panel, so he ended up asking a lot of questions like ''how big is it?'', ''what could you see?'', or ''is it also sparkly?'' Partnered with his large wistful eyes, Althea just thought her little brother was so pitiful that she hoped she could show it to him. She thought for a moment and nodded to herself, looking at her baby brother with seriousness. "Or we attack back whoever attacks our territory. I''ll give you the Lord Token." She said, very blunt. "..." Ansel was genuinely touched, but he just laughed and shook his head. "I''m a businessman and not a leader. I''d rather make money here with you than take on that responsibility." Althea smiled and Ansel cheekily served her another cup of tea and snacks. As he did so his eyes stayed on the large map and his brain turned. Their territory¡­ was becoming really, really, good. People ought to pay more. "I think it''s time to adjust the prices. There''s no need to have the equivalence of contribution points anymore." "Oh?" "People could afford it now. Besides, the luxuries Altera provided is no longer the same as before." "Housing prices ought to increase as well." He said, placing a cookie in his mouth. "Of course, we will be improving the terms of payment to make it accessible to normal people. I wonder if we can develop a bank or loan system as well?" There was already an IOU system in the clinic, why not apply to anywhere else? Althea nodded, thinking that it made sense. "Yes, Elder of Finance and Economics." Ansel grinned. The two discussed the new prices and rationale, as well as the adjustment in the value of contribution points. After their chat, Althea looked at the screen in thought, "Since price raise was inevitable¡­, then let''s make this price increase 100% unquestionable." She looked at the updated tabs in the Lord panel to see the New buildings available to them as a newly-minted Level 3 Village. To be honest, when she saw the buildings before the mob, she thought that they were neither disappointing nor exciting, so she ignored them for a bit and focused on the preparation for the upcoming fight. There were still new residential houses, new food stores, and drink stores. There were now clothing stores and shoe stores, too, albeit it was indicated that the clothing store was the lowest level using coarse cloth, and would probably only provide the better fabric upon leveling up. This was a new addition though, as the aborigines mentioned before that there was no such thing. This was very interesting as, apparently, additions in ''options'' didn''t occur often, at most once every few years. She later found from Oslo that there really was a way for people or organizations to create ''building types'', wherein they would get a lot of money when it was built and used regardless of how far the purchasing territory was. In Terran terms, it was basically franchising, only much more convenient and magical. Oslo didn''t know the details, however, though he mentioned he''d try to find out during his ''day off''. Although his family didn''t have the Lord Token, they had some relations to their City Lord. The bookstore was also now available and it was not charming at all. As mentioned before, it only sold plain papyrus and ink for a hefty price. Not everything was a waste, however. The improvement among the options was that there were now Fish ponds, taverns, parks, and prisons. These were all basic buildings that many territories would love but were not so special in Altera, which could build all these by itself. In fact, she just used the options as an alert of what she could add, in case she missed anything. For instance, the prison. The Aether Priosn was very strong and could hold prisoners up to level 50. It also took slowly took aether of people inside the cells. It was very miniscule every day, but deadly in the long term. In Xeno, this was akin to taking people''s lifespans. While intrigued, she didn''t buy it in the end. Not only was it expensive, she had no need for such an inhumane building. As for the others, she literally had them all in the territory already. The difference was the convenience of magic of course. For instance, System fish ponds increased the size, fecundity, and nutrition of fish by 20% at level one. System Taverns had automatic refilled cups as long as Gouji fruit raw materials were often provided. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In the end, she just opted to save her two new building slots. There should be more powerful buildings available when the territory was upgraded to a Town. Shifting tabs, she went to the infrastructure section to see there was also an addition. There was a new stone road called Redstone. In the information, it said it could withstand a mob of level 30 monsters for ten days. Her eyes brightened at this. Someday a lot of carriages would go through here. Although she heard from the aborigines that only rich towns and cities had this, because the services of beast tamers were so expensive and so rare, it didn''t make her falter at all. Even if they didn''t get beasts, they could someday¡ªeven if it would take decades¡ªbuild cars, instead. Or maybe both. She was a bit ambitious in this regard. She overlaid it with the existing carriageway and more than half of the resources used in the old roads were automatically recycled. Outside, she could hear the oohs and aahs of the people admiring the beauty of the red stones. She and Ansel looked at each other with raised eyebrows, standing up to look out to see the sight. It was more pink than red, but it blended well with the peach-colored sidewalk, the calming green of the forest, and the erratically colored stone walls and wood of the custom buildings. Very colorful. She loved it. And lastly, she turned her attention to the last tab and her precious alternative to the creation of taller buildings. Her new custom building! Chapter 337 - 337: New Custom Building The new custom building slot was quite magnificent. It was more than thrice the size of the original one and¡­ five times as expensive. The new custom building had a maximum total floor area of 1000 sqm, which meant she could do a lot more than before. Just a pity that it came with a maximum height of 10 meters, so she couldn''t go to the ideal eight or so floors. With this, only three floors could be made. Maybe four, at best, which was just the same height as the manually created inns. However, the system buildings were built for the weather or conditions here. That was to say, even if she built slightly taller, she didn''t have to worry about the gravity here or earthquakes. This was a major plus, even if it was costlier. Of course, she now had civil engineers in the territory so they could make the necessary calculations regarding this, just having to remind them of the new gravity quotient they had to deal with. She told Ansel about this and he threw out his opinion, "I suggest four. The original custom building should still be a luxury. We can make these four floors smaller with smaller areas per room, and at a much more affordable rate." Although the design rate was expensive, the per unit costs should still be fair so they didn''t need to charge too much. Althea thought it made sense. She studying a bit and making some preliminary plans. When she and Ansel decided on the final ceiling heights and ''unit cuts'', she sent a private mission to Eugene and Oslo''s teams to help her iron out the details and technicalities. When the team arrived, they were a bit surprised to see them, although they just quickly assumed the Village System just sent her the same mission as it did to them. Anyway, without further ado, they went to work to create a preliminary design including planning of utilities and other considerations. Because of its height, the water tower had to be above the roofdeck. As for how they put water up the tanks, they used not only siphoning but something called hydraulic ramp pump. The challenge was that they needed some good metallurgy work to make pathways that could withstand the water pressure. As for the other systems, similar ones from before were retained and fitted for the new arrangement. For example, waste treatment was common for the entire building. This meant that the resulting biogas was shared in the building and would therefore be bought per usage, with the funds earned used to help maintain the building. It also had features for natural ventilation like atriums, naturally ventilated hallways, and sky gardens. There were also provisions to cover these openings with youli stone slabs in case of exceptionally cold winters. A whole community was built using this module and it was estimated a lot of people from the dormitories would jump in queue. As such, the middle-class studio units and one-bedroom small condominiums were born. There were actually plenty of buildings she hoped to build and Althea had specifically left a lot of space for these buildings. Although she could manually build them like always, not only would it take time, but it would need a lot more resources and also waste potential. This world had allowed people to create miracles through buildings. How could she not tap it? Speaking of magic buildings¡­ She turned to stare at Oslo, who was startled by her stare. "When are you going to level up to C?" "Soon." He said. He wasn''t lying. The level that had been stuck for so many years was finally showing progress inside this unique village and under its unique Lord. You must know, because of the incredible rarity of their pertinent materials¡ªmaterials needed to create aether buildings¡ªArchitects had a much more difficult time to upgrade than others. Most architects, in fact, remained stagnant at Class D for their lifetimes, which was very poor compared to most other professions who could reach their peaks at Class C. And now¡­ he was going beyond that at the young age of 30. His eyes met the lord''s and smiled. This was all thanks to her and her people. Althea was just relieved to know he was upgrading soon. "Good," She said and handed him the tablet. She opened up all the architecture-related books for reference. "I''ll lend this to you, you can study it within the village center library." Growing up with a holographic screen in his head, the tablet naturally wasn''t too magical. But its contents were. And¡­ it was still in the language he grew up with! Thanks to the aborigines, Althea and many others had already learned the local alphabet system. When books were popularized, others would learn of them too. With that knowledge, she had transcribed it to her high-functional tablet, allowing it to automatically translate the books so Aborigines would understand. "I¡­ thank you," Oslo said, a bit shaky. He knew it must not have been easy to collect all this knowledge and make it available to him. Although Aborigines could not betray hiring territories even if they wanted to, this level of trust was unprecedented. He was actually only required to stay hired for a month by the family, but now he just wanted to stay to watch its development indefinitely. He then excused himself to settle on the top floor of the village center. And he wouldn''t be coming out for many, many days. Of course, his food delivery would still be exclusively from Cooke''s or Harold''s. But that was a story for later. At the moment, Althea was looking at her building tabs to study the Upgrade conditions for various buildings. During the height of the beast tide, she had received several notifications. It was just that she was too busy to care for them. Then she forgot about it while preparing for the lift. The condition of the upgrade for the Bathhouse (Lv1) was accumulated use of 10,000 hours. Considering how many days it had been built¡­ how many people actually used it every day? She didn''t count anymore. All she knew was that it was raking in profit. The Training Hall was still a bit far from an upgrade, but the progress was very good. The hall witnessed a natural surge after her announcement. She estimated it would be upgraded within the next few days. The warehouse though, was finally eligible for an upgrade at this time. It was ten times more expensive than the previous one, but she still bought it. With her mind''s eye, she looked at the changes in the warehouse and was pleasantly surprised. The Warehouse (Lv3) was larger with 1000 square meters and five meters in height. What was amazing was that the area outside was unchanged, as if the space within the warehouse could expand indefinitely without affecting the building outside! This was basically a type of space folding right? She wanted to know more about that! It also had an automatic sorting function. The categories were vague but it was enough. For instance, she could separate rocks, wood, plants, and others, which would make her occasional rummaging for treasure much easier. In a good mood, Althea took another look at the basic improvements of the territory with a smile. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Residents: 1415 (373 permanent, 1042 temporary) Total Population: 3524 Base Resources: Wood: 700/20000 Stone: 200/15000 Money: 10711 Gold, 14699 Silver, 898699 copper Reputation: 150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lvq) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx2 Building Slots: 7/9 (+2)] The village was upgrading, and so were its people. And that was good enough. Chapter 338 - 338: SOS (Part 1) Eden University, Five Years Prior Inside a school''s laboratory, bathed in the soft sunlight peering through the curtained windows, the beautiful Althea Witt stood in front of a stainless steel table, engrossed in her work. There was a plethora of tools and plants occupying her space. Completely absorbed in her experiments, her emerald eyes focused only on the task at hand. Her ponytailed auburn hair cascaded down her shoulders, her focused expression highlighting the delicate features of her face. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When a beaker reacted, she was quick to write down notes on her notebook¡ªfilled with formulas and various equations only she could decipher. Here, she added complex notations with bright eyes. Nimble fingers carefully adjusted the glassware in front of her with deliberate and practiced movements, and she handled the instruments with gentle confidence. Occasionally, she would brush stray strands of her hair to the back of her ears. The men around her gaped, watching, wanting to do it for her. But the door of the laboratory abruptly opened and the admiring men quickly turned their attention back to their respective tasks, blush creeping all the way up her ears, as if they''d been caught staring. "Altheaaaa! SOS! Help meeee!!" Althea blinked, carefully turning off the fire. She turned to look at the beautiful blonde woman who was making such a desperate face. "My project!" Sobs! "The one I''ve been working on since the beginning of the semester! It won''t integrate!" "And?" "It''s based on organic materials so¡­ well¡­" Althea sighed and turned off her own experiments, taking away all her items in the laptop bag. She was then dragged to another lab, helping out her crying best friend. ¡­ They got out of the lab some twelve hours later, and the two women stretched their arms, with Winona''s shifting to wrap around Althea''s dainty shoulders. Winona happily rubbed her face against her friend''s. "Thank you soooo muchhh! You''re the best! I would definitely get those rare plants from the Desert country for you!" Althea''s eyes brightened but she modestly shook her head. "You don''t have to.." "Well, I want to." She grinned, and Althea chuckled. Not too far from them, Ansel was standing, waiting patiently for his sister to get out of the damned laboratory. He frowned as he looked at Winona''s arms occupying so much of Althea''s personal space. Winona noticed this stare and stared back, lifting her chin proudly. Althea saw her friend''s attention somewhere else and followed her line of sight. She blinked, "Ansel?" Ansel''s dark expression immediately morphed into a gentle one. Raising a nice-looking box in his hand, he approached them. "I thought you''d be hungry." Winona looked at him guardedly. This jerk was acting like a boyfriend while the real boyfriend was abroad likely fighting for his life! Althea was unaware of the electricity exchanged between the two and she just smiled, taking the box, before looking at him again. "Thank you. Don''t you have class?" "Yes, in five minutes." He smiled, "I happen to pass by." "Well, thanks again." "Hm, anything for my sister," He said just before he sauntered away, attracting the stares of all the women he passed. "He''s not normal Althea," Winona couldn''t help but whisper with a tone of heavy warning. Who couldn''t tell his feelings, only Althea right? Also, he looked all wishy-washy around Althea, and then he proceeded to create a string of exes. It was disgusting! Instead, she earned a tap on the forehead. "Don''t be silly. He''s just attached, like a chick to his mother." ''Only you would think that!!'' Winona wanted to yell but didn''t do so. But Winona just pursed her lips, knowing Althea wouldn''t believe her. Then¡­ she had no choice but to just watch that redheaded playboy like a hawk!! ________________ Altera Village, Present While Althea was discussing the plans with Ansel, there was a sudden knocking on the gates outside. They looked at each other and were about to stand up to take a look. However, they quickly realized that Harold had already let the newcomer in, seeing the guest''s flustered state. It was Jesse, one of Baron''s cousins and a guard. The moment he saw Althea, he immediately approached. "Ms. Althea!" He exclaimed and Ansel rubbed his ears in surprise. "Hey! Speak louder, will you? It''s not like we''re deaf or anything." Ansel mumbled sarcastically. The guard realized his gaffe and blushed. Seeing this, Althea just sighed. "What is it, Jesse?" "Your friend! She¡­ she''s injured. Ms. Lily said to call you immediately." "Friend?" She voiced out, though she had already stood up and was heading to the door. "It''s the blonde one from Vismont." "What?" Althea''s pace quickened, heart tightening in anxiety. She was already sweating a bit when she arrived at the health center. Similarly, Ansel was also rushing right beside her, eyes filled with complex emotions. She rushed in, asking where the girl was. The nurse wasn''t used to seeing the beautiful Ms. Althea flustered and she could only hurry and bring her to the patient''s bed. Althea''s tense shoulders slumped as she saw Winona all in one piece and being treated as an outpatient. At the very least, it meant her condition was not too critical. As she approached the woman''s bed, she saw her current pitiful state, and her heart broke a bit. The girl''s body was riddled with bandages, her face was pale, her lips caffed, and her nails broken. Althea sighed. This girl loved beauty the most. She had perfectly manicured fingers, styled hair, well-chosen clothing, and used the most advanced Beauty products (before completely converting to her WittBeauty Products, of course). Althea could only hope that nothing scarred, or the girl would definitely feel sad. Of course, even if it did, then Althea would just have to formulate scar removal creams for her. Althea held the blonde''s cold hand, which was unconsciously shaking even when she was asleep. It broke Althea''s heart. "I''m here." She said, eyes on her best friend''s pitiful figure. "You''re safe again." Chapter 339 - 339: SOS (Part 2) Althea looked around the room. There were about five others in Winona''s team according to the attending nurses. And, unlike Winona, they were receiving the most urgent care due to their horrible states. Among them, there was an old woman with white hair hyperventilating. She was wrinkled and a bit unsightly, but one could tell from her features that she was very beautiful in her youth. Althea knew that it must be Winona''s grandmother. Other than their first residents, this was the first time she had met an old person. Winona really protected her well, despite all the badmouthing the girl did behind her back. The others were bloodied and someone even lost an arm. Lily, Sheila, and Betty were working extra hard to save them. Fortunately, the group stabilized and, except for the one who died on arrival, the other five should survive. "They''re fine," Betty said, obviously overdrawn from using too much ability. Althea kindly gave her her exclusive top-quality Sprite to help her spirit. Betty blinked as she held on to the well-made porcelain bottle. This was only accessible to Althea''s friends, no one else. Betty was extremely touched. "Thank you," She said. Even at her level, the lord''s potion had a very good effect. This was just as she needed. She did not dare mention to pay, however, because value couldn''t be attached. Instead¡­, Betty just swore to continue to work hard for the lord. ¡­ The siblings sat in the waiting room for a while, chatting as they waited for Winona to finally regain consciousness. Soon, the figure on the bed shifted and she slowly opened her eyes. Althea''s worried face morphed into a relieved smile. "Hey," she said, sitting on the mattress. "How are you feeling?" Winona gaped, startled, and smiled weakly when she realized it was Althea. "Could''ve felt better." S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Winona was just about to start acting like a baby when her peripheral view caught sight of Ansel, who had been watching their interactions with crossed arms. Winona stiffened a little and she inexplicably blushed in shame. Althea flinched at her expression and she couldn''t help but feel worried, "What''s wrong? Is it painful?" Winona looked at Althea pitifully, and the latter immediately scooted near her and gently patted her head. "Your grandma and most of your teammates are okay. They''re recovering." The blonde blinked and looked at her, making Althea smile. "I arranged your home for you, you can move in as soon as you''re discharged." "Thank you," Winona said, wrapping her arms around the woman, and resting her chin on the other''s stomach. From her position, she could see the redhead behind, frowning, and Winona couldn''t help but send an arrogant smirk in Ansel''s direction. But then she also caught sight of her companions in adjacent beds and she suddenly remembered she had a mission. She parted from Althea, face uncharacteristically somber. "But¡­ there''s something else I need to talk to you about." Althea''s eyebrows rose in curiosity, but she patted the other girl, telling her to relax. Stress was not good for recovery. Winona shook her head, knowing that the issue was too urgent. "Vismont is asking for help from Altera. Matthew said they''re willing to be a subsidiary to Altera if they were rescued." "What?" "His NPC told him of this option and it was the only way he could see for the territory to survive." Matthew started hiring Aborigines late. He didn''t have any good ones left to hire. So when the monsters attacked, he could barely hold on. They were lucky the mobs were on the weaker part of the spectrum¡ªonly at level 5¡ªwhich could be handled by level 2 walls and aborigines to some degree. Otherwise, else they''d have perished even before Winona could reach the gate. In fact, if Althea hadn''t given her those weapons she wouldn''t have survived. Her grandmother was with her when they fled. When Matthew found out they were going to Altera, he didn''t stop them, instead he asked them to send the message and asked ten guards to guide them. It was just that only a handful were left. Betty, who had been watching from the side, was very surprised by the proposal. Based on her knowledge, subsidiary territories were at least 2 levels lower, more a whole rank different. Territories generally only accepted subsidiaries when they were at Town Level, because no territories below would be willing to be under them otherwise. This was a big commitment because this meant their territory would be constrained to pay Altera 10% net income tax every month¡ªno matter what. And why would a territory be willing to be under another? It was in exchange for a little protection or backing. And this ''help'' was manoeuvrable. The superior territory could just send 10 people before the territory war (still within the level cap) and that was it, the contract wouldn''t be breached. Those people might even just watch in the sidelines if they wanted to. This was a somewhat unfair trade that usually happened when one territory really needed the protection of the other and couldn''t find a better alternative. Althea also seriously considered this. Although Vismont could not compare to her, all territories generate a lot of money. The variance was the economic wealth, infrastructure, and satisfaction of the common people. At least, she knew Matthew took care of his people, despite all of his shortcomings. He was worthy to save. "I submitted the request to the territory and received an immediate response," Althea said, playing the role of the elder-not-the-lord role quite well. "It agreed, unsurprisingly. "I''ll do it. We''ll go right now." She said, standing up, and everyone ebside her flinched. "Why are you coming?" Ansel asked and Winona nodded, but was still weak to sit up. "You don''t have to come." Winona said. "If it''s troublesome you don''t even have to¡ª" Althea shook her head to stop her. Althea wasn''t being impulsive. Seeing her unchanging state, Winona tried to convince her more. "What about the territory?" "It''ll be fine without me," She said, confident. The aborigines mentioned the average level of monsters around villages was level 7 or 8. With Oslo, Drake, and Hugo along with the sentries in the territory, she didn''t worry too much. At worst, some low-level secondary fence would be sacrificed again. "I want to train more," she told them, "And I¡­ haven''t explored any other territory since coming to Altera. "Shouldn''t we take a look at the new subsidiary?" Chapter 340 - 340: Finally Leaving Bright Village Bright Territory Not far away, a battle was just concluding, with a territory Lord gracefully finishing off a monster. His sharpened wooden sword stabbed at the eye of an ugly, slimy beast with a flat face, made easier to hit as it was held in place by ice covering its entire leg. [Killed! Kooi (Lv5)! +150 Experience, +150 copper!] "That is the 700th monster." Garan said, looking at Micheal who had just pulled away his sword. He had now entered the peak level 7 and he really wanted to find a way to keep them here and let him upgrade a level. But he looked at the man''s cloudy azure eyes and he knew he couldn''t ask for this without expecting a beating. In the end, life was more important. Anyway, he had an aborigine to help him out as well. "Fine," he said, "I''ll open up a purchasing mission to Altera. You can go with them. Anyway, I''m sure many people are looking forward to going back there." Micheal sighed as he said so, feeling complicated. It was both a good and bad thing to be near such a good territory, but he would probably be losing another bulk of citizens after this. Sigh. "You''re already doing very well, milord." Juno kindly said beside him, as if sensing his thoughts. The blonde smiled at the aborigine, appreciating the gesture. "Thanks," he said before turning away and opening his lord tab to write the much-awaited announcement. Micheal also set the minimum level to 4. Making a rough estimate, there should be a total of about fifty people qualified to go on this mission. He gave a furtive glance at Garan and the others, wondering how many they could protect with ease. Anyway, a familiar ping soon sounded in everyone''s heads. [Caravan Mission to Altera, now open!] "Won''t it be too slow?" Garan said right beside him. He looked very antsy and the aura around him was getting extremely cold. Michela sighed. He should''ve known. Taking so many people with them¡­ they''d be lucky if this guy didn''t leave them behind midway. He looked at Ron and Spike, who were watching their interaction with interest. "Join Garan and the others for the advanced party." sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ron and Spike were really looking forward to seeing that magical territory again, so they were very happy at this order. "Yes, Lord!" ¡­ As expected, the mission was indeed very popular. Most especially because they found out that the ultra strong Terran soldiers were going there, so they felt the trip would be especially safe. Juno, their own aborigine guard, was also coming with them this time, to ensure minimal losses on the way back. However, because of the pacing requirements, Beany and Gaudi volunteered to leave with a caravan at Bright and meet up with them in Altera later the next day. Five soldiers would also be accompanying them for safety. While this was ongoing, Garan and the others were already ready to leave. They had long prepared to travel, buying more stocks from the stalls. They also took a quick bath as they didn''t know when the next one would be. They haven''t slept yet so that they would be able to finish their part of the deal within a day. The luxury rental house was basically unused. At the very least, they could use it to freshen up. Especially Garan, who was a bit of a neatfreak. He also knew his wife was the same. He had not only cleaned up, but he had also shaved. He had also eaten ample amounts of papra, the peppermint alternative he brought a lot of. How could he wrong her by hugging her with all the grime, dust, and blood? Anyway, the team hadn''t taken a shut eye before heading out again. Fortunately, with their level, they could really go without a few days of sleep. The soldiers were a bit tired, but they couldn''t ask the captain to wait for them right? Not when he was missing his wife so much that he was borderline murderous! Fortunately, Eagle leaked what they talked about with the other lord. The territory they were heading towards was apparently even better than Bright, so they didn''t have to feel so sad about leaving this wonderful place too soon. "Actually, aborigines houses weren''t that bad considering they seemed similar to the Terran dark ages." Ryo, the group nerd, couldn''t help but say. "I read that there were basically no toilets at the time, you could have chamber pots if you''re rich. "Others just threw their feces anywhere, even on the street." He paused, looking at them seriously, "One theory is that this was the reason why heels were invented. It was so that the nobles who wear it don''t directly step on all the shite." "Eww!" "Gross!" "Why did you have to say that?!" "Nobody asked for this information!" Ryo shrugged. Garan just shook his head and ignored them, walking quickly to their destination. Their pace increased, though not to the point that it would quickly consume their energy. It was just at the right, but fast, pace so that they didn''t need to take a lot of breaks. A few hours later, they reached the resting spot between the three territories and they couldn''t help but admire the territory that set it up. "This¡­ is so thoughtful." Luis said as he opened up a rough stone box. It was as tall as his knee and covered with a stone slab. Opening the lid, he realized that it hid some non-perishable food inside. Mao, the one with the sharpest nose, immediately appeared over his shoulders. "Instant noodles!" "Seriously?" Eagle went to them and saw the dozen or so servings of instant noodles wrapped in thin wood. "I heard someone in Bright sells it too! But they didn''t have stock anymore. Now look at this!" Mao unapologetically took it out and raised it high above his head. "Cheers!!" He yelled, scooting away to prepare it for consumption. Eagle ignored him and looked at what else was in the box. Other than the noodles, there was also a complete set of condiments and even rice. They really didn''t expect it. Anyway, they had a comfortable lunch and a short rest. After eating, they began packing up and cleaning up their trash according to the resting place''s rules (literally written in stone). They also put the remaining condiment back into the box, with Mao taking out expensive parchment paper A3 paper in size and doodling a few words of thanks on the first line. He left the paper down as well as an ink and its accompanying writing quill. His companions stared at him, impressed. "You''re being quite generous." Mao blushed a bit and cleared his throat. "Well, people share their food. I don''t have much else they''d be interested in." The others nodded, adding a bit of their own small items in the chest as well. They were nothing too luxurious¡ªthere were some clothes, some basic medicine, and the like¡ªbut it was all with the heart of helping others and giving back. If Rowan would see this, he''d be amazed. It seemed everyone was like this? Chapter 341 - 341: Reaching Althea They shut the box closed, not knowing the piece of parchment would be a tool for at least a dozen people to find their loved ones. It also saved even more lives by virtue of giving hope. The group soon finished cleaning up the resting place, making sure that it was as near as to how it was when they got there. However, they had not finished packing up when they heard running footsteps coming in their direction. There were no yells or screams though, and their pace indicated they were simply in a rush and not being chased. So, although the soldiers were guarded, it was not so tense. A group of about fifty people were running to their location and they flinched when they saw it occupied. "We''re just using a small part." One said from the get-go upon seeing their physiques. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The soldiers didn''t mind of course, but they were a bit surprised at the naturalness people arrived here with, despite their apparent tension. It seemed that this place had been used a lot, and people had an unspoken agreement on how to handle it. It was just that someone from Bright frowned and walked towards the new group. "Aren''t you from Vismont?" Ron asked, he was on the tour with him back in Altera. The tense man relaxed when he recognized Ron. He lightened up like seeing an old friend. "Ah, yes, we escaped. Barely." He paused, "It was so scary. So many monster groups of levels four and five kept attacking the wall. "If the lord hadn''t chosen to upgrade the wall again after everyone''s help, we''d have fallen an hour in." "How is it now?" Ron asked. It wasn''t that he really cared about another territory. He cared more about the fact that it could easily happen to Bright as well. "When we escaped through the other gate, the wall was still going strong." He said, "We also encountered monsters on the way, but thankfully we were rescued on time." Another skinny man nodded, eyes filled with admiration. "Thank goodness we encountered the people of Altera." Everyone in the mercenary team froze. "Altera?" The man obviously did not notice what was wrong. "Yes, our lord requested their help and they came. That fireball was so.. magical." "Ms. Althea is as beautiful as always." "Althea?!" The skinny man squealed like a girl as his thin shoulders were held by a strange man''s iron grip. "You mean she''s there?!" The man asked, low voice reverberating, and the thin man nodded wildly in terror. "Where?" The man shakily pointed at the path he was on. "A-about a few h-hour r-run from here¡­" "I''ll go ahead," was all Garan said, eyes fixed in a direction. The next moment, he instantaneously disappeared everyone''s from sight. ¡­ When he arrived at Vismont about half an hour later, the battle was almost over, with the initial batch of level 5s long dealt with and now a new more powerful batch was being killed. They were level 7s and 8s and Matthew was thankful they only arrived when the Alterans were already there, otherwise his new level 3 wall¡ªwith extremely sparse sentries due to the lack of funds even after so much solicitation¡ªwould definitely have given way early on. At this time, there were only about a dozen monsters left being dealt with by more than a hundred people. This was what Garan and the others saw when they arrived. It wasn''t difficult to see where his wife was. She was standing gallantly over the battlement, proficiently using her bow and arrow. She was still so beautiful, like an angel, continuously firing arrows and accurately hitting monster after monster, saving a lot of people by the way. Although her level wasn''t enough to kill them in one shot, it caused considerable damage. With her cooperation with the guards, they managed to deal with various level 7 and level 8 monsters. But more than anything, he observed her carefully and made sure she was truly healthy and safe. "Wife." He whispered breathlessly, his cerulean eyes fixed on her figure, following her every move. His eyes stung as he did so, his cold empty heart filling up again. ¡­ Althea heaved a sigh as she watched the final monster fall down with a flop. Finally over. She had brought twenty guards with her, including Rowan, to deal with the monsters. The levels were just perfect to train with. Rowan helped the Vismont guards deal with half of the monsters, and then she and her twenty guards worked together to deal with the remaining ones. This time she was in charge of the long-range support and backup, as she was not allowed by Rowan and the guards to do close combat. ''They wanted to train''. they said. Then the stronger batch came and she brightened. She took out the three level 8s by herself despite consuming all the mana food she had in stock. She watched with a smile as the citizens cheered when they saw the last monster taken down. After confirming there were no more attacks, she finally relaxed her stance. Now that it was calm, Althea finally felt the heated stare that had been directed in her direction. Puzzled, she turned her head and froze. Her heart stopped as she saw the face that she had been dreaming of for months. His skin had become a bit darker and coarse but he was still so handsome, charming, and reliable as he always was. "Husband?" She whispered, her ears ringing from shock, but she soon remembered where she was¡ªsoon realizing that she was not dreaming! Her tear ducts broke instantaneously at the realization. "Husband!" She yelled again, voice cracking, and she skillfully jumped down the wall and sprinted to him with open arms. Garan, who had been holding back tears, also succumbed and opened his arms to meet her. When they were only a meter apart, he quickly lifted her up so he could embrace her tightly. In response, she hung on him like a koala. Garan expertly angled his face to meet hers for a heated kiss, which Althea met with similar enthusiasm. Everyone blushed and either looked away or covered their faces, understanding that these two had completely forgotten where they were. Only Ansel would ever have the guts to tell them off. He glared at the two most inconsiderate people ever! "Get a room, damnit!!" Chapter 342 - 342: Husband and Wife Holidays, holidays, so busy!I was only upload one chap for today, I''m sorry! if things weren''t so haggard I would''ve pushed for one more, especially since I got a supergift! Speaking of supergift, I would like to mention LotusLin for giving my first castle~ Thanks for letting it get exposed to more readers! Got 500 collections from that castle! *Hugs* She is also a writer guys, if you wanna read fantasy stories based on Chang-e, her bunny, and their men, check out her book! ___ Aberdeen City, two years ago On top of a rolling set of hills, hundreds of kilometers away from the bustle of the city stood a quaint church, dipped in a warm glow by the setting sun. In contrast to its usual lulled atmosphere however, the church was now bustling with activity as guests of all types arrived one by one to what would be one of the most important events in a young couple''s life. It was no surprise that the bride was looking very worried as she stared at herself in the mirror. She was currently inside the softly lit bridal suite deep inside the church, alone with her mother and her own swirling thoughts. "He''ll be fine," Alicia¡ªdressed in a beautiful chiffon gown¡ªsaid next to her. The woman smiled, embracing her. "He always is." A mother''s touch always had something magical, and a lot of her tension dissipated. When she softened, Alicia let go a bit so she could stare at her daughter''s glimmering emerald eyes. "He wouldn''t miss this for the world," she said, gently patting the girl''s cheek. Alicia couldn''t help but admire the beautiful young woman with teary eyes. Her Althea was really so beautiful, like an angel, especially now in preparation to the special occasion that marked the next phase of her life. Althea''s features had always been very delicate, but now they were further emphasized by the color of her makeup, framed beautifully by her shining auburn hair arranged in a complex arrangement of curls and braids. The young woman''s wedding gown naturally wasn''t inferior either. It was a gorgeous masterpiece of silk, satin, and lace. It had an off-shoulder design with its bodice hugging her figure perfectly, extending downwards to create a long trail of silk adorned with intricate floral patterns. It was absolutely the most beautiful gown Alicia had ever seen, fitting her daughter¡ªwho also happened to be the most beautiful bride ever. This was a bespoke wedding dress commissioned from the world-famous fashion designer Andrei by Winona. "Mother¡­" Althea sniffed, pretty eyebrows still crunched in worry, and Alicia couldn''t help but smile at her. "You know how strong he is more than anyone." "But¡­" Althea mumbled but said nothing else. She forced herself from saying anything unlucky. She just pursed her red lips and tried not to think anymore. Althea sighed at the timing of everything. Garan had actually asked for a long leave in preparation for and after their wedding. Sadly, a couple of days ago, he was called on a mission against an infamous terrorist group. She knew it was dangerous. His safety weighed heavily in her heart, and she worried for him so. But¡­ mother was right. Garan was so strong and he always came out safe. Alicia saw her daughter''s mood calm and smiled, adjusting the veil and handing her the gorgeous bouquet of flowers on the side table. It was a pretty arrangement of fresh lilies, roses, and her favorite wild daisies. And Althea held on to it tightly, as if it would help her stabilize her mood. Sigh. And now¡­ all they had to do was wait. . . . The clock ticked slowly and torturously, but Althea just hoped her fiance was okay. Fortunately, Winona¡ªwho had planned the wedding (grudgingly) with Ansel¡ªran to her room a few minutes later. Her eyes were bright, and Althea''s heart lifted¡ªknowing it was the good news she had been waiting for. "He''s here!!" Hearing this, Althea gave the most genuine smile she wore in days. ¡­. "This is really happening," Howard said, sniffing, looking at his daughter warmly and with pride. Also a bit teary, which made Alicia laugh out loud. "Come on now, it''s time." Howard made a face. "Garan would have her all to himself. Surely he can wait a few minutes." The two women laughed and the remaining tension Althea was feeling was blown away. A few minutes later, they finally stepped in front of the entrance. With two men opening the large doors, they entered the massive hall. They had been here before, of course, but somehow it felt bigger now, more¡­ sacred. The church had a high vaulted ceiling, intricately carved with complex patterns and shapes. The sight was enhanced by the lights from the orange sun outside, and the reddish rays lit up the aisle as if leading her to her future husband. Satin ribbons of their wedding colors adorned each pew. Each row had similar flower arrangements to what the bride had on her hands, and it rounded everything visually. Their footsteps echoed softly on the stone floor and the entire church seemed to hold its breath at her appearance. The walk felt long but also short, she passed pew after pew with a complex combination of nerves and excitement, and she could hear her own heartbeat beating against her chest. The regal altar in front soon appeared closer, its arch shape framing her husband-to-be and the golden light from the resting sun lit up his figure as if emphasizing that he was heaven-sent to her. Her eyes never left him and she stamped his image into her heart. He was wearing the most formal military uniform for the occasion. It was cut to fit his good shape, successfully showing off his figure of regality. It also had a midnight blue coat adorned with shimmering epaulets. His chest wore a row of medals and insignia¡ªa testament to his achievements and bravery¡ªand she couldn''t help but be proud of him at the sight of it. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His raven black hair was neatly combed, but his strong jawline was tense as he stood. She knew he was just as nervous as she was. Althea soon got close enough so they were only an arm''s length away and, when their eyes met, she couldn''t stop her eyes from watering. Similarly, Garan''s eyes which were filled with longing met hers, and she could see his breath becoming irregular as he looked at her. Time stopped at that moment. This was it, they thought with pounding hearts. They were going to embark on a new chapter of their lives. Garan extended his hand to her as their father let her go. She smiled, taking his hand. "I''m glad you''re safe, my love." But she paused a bit at a realization that his hand was cold and a bit sweaty¡ªabnormally so. She blinked and raised her head, looking at him in concern. However, nothing showed in Garan''s face as he simply stared at her warmly, only having her in his eyes. He raised their entwined palms and placed the back of her soft hands against his lips. "I wouldn''t miss this even if the world ended." ______________________ A few kilometers from Altera village, present The couple was so sticky that it hurt everyone''s eyes. Garan even said his wife was tired and insisted on carrying her bridal style the whole way. The shamelessness was beyond them. What was even more amazing was that because of their sprint, the travel that should''ve taken at least an hour was reduced to a fraction. As for how Garan moved across the forest so smoothly at this speed, not falling even with him staring at the woman in his arms 80% of the time, they didn''t even know. Throughout this time, the couple was just staring at each other while steadily traversing the forest, with the captain occasionally leaning down to give her a peck on the face, on the cheek, or on the lips. Althea''s face was flushed as she stared at her handsome lover. It seemed the blood crept all the way to her brain, that she had lost all thought and just wanted to look at her husband. She stared. She... seemed to have forgotten something? But then Garan leaned down again as he jumped over an overgrown root, giving her a soft peck on the lips. Ah, nevermind. Anyway, the others were so blinded and tired by the cheesy sight that they weren''t able to appreciate Altera until they entered the bustling streets inside. Their feet stopped as they absorbed the sight in a bit of disbelief, then saw what was being sold, and what the so-called guides were selling them¡­ The soldiers were quickly attracted by, well, everything and were completely separated from the lovey-dovey couple. After tasting the food, they were very happy. Sanity: Restored! ¡­ Not far from the entrance, Ansel looked at the blonde man who was staring blankly at the direction the sticky couple had just disappeared to. It was Oslo, who had gone out of his ''cultivation session'' to welcome her back. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of said woman being sweet and loving with another man. Ansel saw everything. Seeing the poor guy so pale that he seemed to have lost all blood, Ansel couldn''t help but sigh. The redhead walked over and patted the guy''s shoulder, taking out a big jar of alcohol he got from Althea. "Drink?" Oslo stared at him blankly, before nodding. "Okay," he said, following Ansel''s lead, his eyes darkening a bit as he looked at the pathway under his feet. "Thank you." ¡­ Althea, who had her arms wrapped around her husband''s neck, gave instructions on where to go. They entered the villa''s gate and she added her husband to the access list. "Our room is on the right side of the house after entering the door." She said, feeling her husband''s heat and knowing what he needed immediately. She, too, was eager to feel his warmth¡ªhis entirety. "Hmm," he said with a hoarse voice, the pace of his powerwalk doubling. They were so engrossed with each other that they breezed through the living room, not noticing Harold and the two children in the room at all. Harold and the kids had been playing on the carpet floor and they froze at the realization that someone had just zoomed by. Harold: "..." Little Meatball: "..." Little Pepper: "..." Chapter 343 - 343: Meet Your Children Aberdeen Hotel, Two years ago Inside their honeymoon suite, the atmosphere between a certain newly wed couple was far from expected. Althea glared, but at the same time she looked heartbroken at his bandaged chest. It was huge and covered his entire chest. She could also see dabbles of blood and it was obvious it wasn''t even near getting healed. Her petite hands landed on the taut skin just outside the white bandage. "No wonder you were so cold!" Then the heartbreak expression turned to one of determination. This man must be taken to the hospital! Their honeymoon can wait! "This won''t do, we have to¡ª" She gestured to stand up to go to the phone, when she was pulled down by strong arms. Any more words were stopped by his mouth on hers. Her eyes widened and she gasped, with him taking advantage of the opening and entering with his tongue. He immediately began consuming her sanity. Her back rested on the bed as he kissed her, her hands creeping up to wrap around his wide shoulders, making her slowly forget about her worries. "Nothing can stop this." He told her, gasping, burying his head on her neck. Althea''s eyebrows furrowed, touching him tentatively. "Your wound¡­" "No. I''ve been looking forward to this for years." He said, his serious face filled with determination. If one didn''t know what he was referring to, people might have thought it had something to do with saving a country. Under his deep stare, Althea''s face flushed in embarrassment and she couldn''t help but send him a glare. In Garan''s eyes, however, it just lit up the beast inside even more. A bit morbidly, it wouldn''t be just her virgin blood on the cot that night. __________________ Altera Village, present As soon as the door closed, their lips met again with an explosion of repressed passion. Garan quickly brought her to her comfortable mattress, hovering over her with his whole mass. He placed some of his weight on her, just enough for her to feel his¡­ everything. His free hand wandered from her legs to her waist, continuing north to her plump chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck as his warm tongue entered her mouth, exploring her long-missed taste. He soon parted from her to kiss her cheek, her temple, her ears, and her neck, leaving as many traces as he could. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was rewarded with her soft mewl and it drove him crazy. His movements became more frantic and Althea''s moans became more and more pronounced, until¡ª The sound of children''s heartbreaking cries exploded outside the door. Althea''s eyes widened and her mouth shut. Meanwhile, Garan was too engrossed in her softness to mind anything else. "Wait!" Althea yelled, patting his shoulders repeatedly to stop him from devouring her. He seemed to have taken the patting as encouragement and she almost gasped with what he did next. With a flushed face, she bit her lips to stop a moan and grabbed his hair to stop him. But he was level 20 and she was only level 8. What could she do against such a wide gap but pull repeatedly, hoping for the best? Garan''s eyebrows rose in puzzlement and he stared at his wife''s face, eyes asking if there was something else she wanted him to do or somewhere else she wanted him to kiss. "I''m serious," she mumbled, face flushed, "Stop it." It took a while for Garan to realize she really wasn''t being coquettish. He gave her neck one final peck before lifting most of his weight from her. Suddenly, Althea stood up and went to the door, puzzling Garan to no end. It was only now that he heard the cries of children outside. He frowned, deep azure eyes staring in the direction of the sobs, eyes filled with puzzlement. He had never been affected by children crying, but why was this so heartbreaking? ¡­ On the other end of the door, Harold was at a loss of what to do. The white hair that had disappeared since upgrading metaphorically came back within the last couple of minutes. "Oh no¡­ babies, hush¡­" he uttered trying to lull them both, each snug in his arms. It was no use, however, as the poor little things continued to sob. At this time, Maya and Horus were playing with their new friends outside and Theo was with Eugene, so there were no other presences other than the three of them. This made the couple''s arrival¡ªand ignorance¡ªmuch more noticeable. Hence, it wasn''t so surprising that the babies were now crying desperately after being ignored so blatantly by their mother. Obviously, whenever their mother came to where they were, her attention was all on them! Why did she walk straight past them?! Old Harold really, really, didn''t know what to do! First, he was still in a state of disbelief that the boss suddenly brought a man home and they went straight to her room. And now, he was in dilemma of whether to disturb the boss'' good deeds. Fortunately¡ªthank goodness, gracious Lord, bless the universe¡ªthe door soon opened revealing a very red Althea with a guilty face. Without another word, she took both babies and took them in her arms. She felt their softness and smiled. They quickly stopped crying, snuggling closer to their mother''s warmth and scent. Garan watched as her wife approached an old man with two babies and brought them to her arms in order to stop them from crying. He watched as she calmly lulled the two children¡ªso naturally¡ªand he honestly had no idea what to make of it. Did she adopt babies while he was away? Maybe? After all, his Althea had always been very kind. When the babies completely calmed, Althea''s head turned to his direction and froze, as if just remembering him there. She cleared her throat and walked to him, smiling awkwardly. "I¡­ forgot to tell you." She said, extending her arms a bit so he could see the two extremely beautiful children closer. The two infants set their huge eyes on him, babbling and drooling, confused and curious. He felt his heart was hit. But it didn''t compare to the shock that Althea''s next words gave him. "Meet your children." "..." Chapter 344 - 344: Children At this time, Althea and Garan were not the only ones dealing with children. Currently Eugene was on leave and comforting Melissa in her home with Theodore, whom she also fell in love with. Little Theodore simply had a special calming effect, a natural talent to comfort broken adults. "I''m sure your brother will be fine, boss and Rowan alone could deal with those monsters easily." He said as he patted her shoulder as she leaned against him. Although was still in pain from the death of his lover, he couldn''t bring himself to avoid his first love. She only nodded and sighed, picking up little Theo who was finally finished playing with his toys and was asking for hugs. Or knowing him, rather than asking for hugs, he was giving it to those in need. It was Eugene before, and now it was Melissa. She embraced the child''s warmth and patted his soft little head. She slightly turned her head to look up at Eugene. "Can I adopt him?" Eugene''s eyebrows rose. Well, could she? As he pondered, Melissa placed a soft kiss on the baby''s cheek. She was heartbroken to learn of the child''s story. He must''ve been traumatized that he could no longer speak. However, she believed with care and love, they''d be able to heal the child, as he was healing them. ¡­ In another area, a mother and son pair also met, their eyes brimming with tears. "My son¡­" Mathilda voiced out, not expecting to see her son as soon as she finished a meeting. "Mother¡­" Gill uttered with a warm smile, embracing her. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When he saw Ansel who told him about his mother, he immediately rushed to her office. The two excused themselves and Mathilda led him to her villa, with her holding his arm tightly the whole way. On the veranda with cookies and tea, they talked about what they had gone through. Gill smiled and much of the weight in his heart let go when he saw his mother living well. There was only one worry left. "If only Gwen was here¡­" his mother said, echoing his thoughts. He sighed, holding his mother''s hand tightly. "She''s a strong girl," he told her reassuringly. She not only learned self-defence from him, she also inherited their mother''s EQ (which he reckoned was all their mother could pass down, seeing as he barely had any). "She''ll be fine," he said, "I believe so." ¡­ And finally, back in the Gaea Team''s villa, the air was still. There was only the family there at this time, with Harold excusing himself long ago with the excuse of checking the restaurant (note: Run to get help from Sheila). Garan''s azure eyes fixed on the two children, who were looking back at him, their pretty colored eyes filled with wonder. His heart felt like it was about to explode and he wouldn''t even mind it. "My¡­ children?" He asked again, just in case. Althea held back a giggle. "Yes, your children." Garan had no idea how to react. He was obviously just happy he finally found his wife, and he suddenly found she had given birth for him? Still two? However, the first thought that managed to enter his mind was how Althea must have suffered. How a pregnant Althea survived those 24 hours in Terran, how she suffered in this unknown world¡­ His free hand that had never left her waist tightened his hold, the other one wrapping them inside. He leaned down and buried his head in the crook of her neck, enclosing his whole family inside his warm embrace. He was careful not to smother the babies and he could hear their puzzled coos in his arms. "I''m sorry I''m late." He whispered, voice cracking a bit. Althea chuckled and shook her head. "We''re fine now and we''re all doing well." On the contrary, she felt he had probably suffered more. Garan had indeed suffered more. More than the endless wounds from his fights, he felt emotional and physical pain every night from missing his wife. It was like he had missing limbs¡ªlike his heart was taken away, unknown when it would return. At least Althea had her children, which anchored her sanity. In any case, it took Garan a while to absorb the news and he only held the three of them in silence. When he finally rose from his daze, he lifted his head, his deep eyes staring straight to hers. "Tell me everything." He said, taking one of the babies in his arms¡ªthe little girl that shared his eyes. The child didn''t make a scene and cutely buried her head into his strong arms, very comfortable. It effectively turned his heart into mush. Althea watched this and chuckled. "Well, she probably understands who you are." She said, "She usually makes a small scene when being held by strangers. Look at her now, actively making herself comfortable in your arms." Garan smiled and kissed the baby''s forehead. "Well, my daughter is of course very smart." He then turned to the other child¡ªthe beautiful boy who inherited his wife''s eyes¡ªand kissed his cheek. In response, the child blew saliva bubbles in response and laughed, splashing saliva all over his face. "My son though¡­" he said with a stern voice, but his eyes were warm. "...Needs a bit of training." This earned him a pinch on the cheek. "Oh, stop it. He''s a baby!" "He''s a boy. Boys ought to protect the women in his life well." His own words struck a chord in him and he stared at his wife filled with guilt. If only he was with them, maybe he could have protected them all from harm and pain. But there were no what-ifs in this life, only reality. The fact was things already occurred and he was determined to do better from this point on. "Tell me what happened," he said, voice gentle. "From when I left, please." Althea paused and stared back at him, feeling his emotions. She nodded with a smile in the end. "You, too." She said, and each holding a baby they told each other what had happened the past few months, intent on understanding what the other had to go through. Chapter 345 - 345: Catching Up She spoke of when he left and went missing very mildly, and Garan¡ªwho had heard the actual story from Beany¡ªdid not call her out. He only listened, gently patting her back or her waist as she spoke out. But she got to the disaster, Garan flinched¡ªstartled by the fact that she was all alone. "What?!" He exclaimed, not considering Ansel wasn''t with her until recently. What was that brat doing?! "I wasn''t alone," she told him, "I had Sheila and the others. More importantly, I had these two." On cue, the babies babbled cutely and the anger in Garan''s heart dissipated like smoke. "It''s your turn," she said, smiling at him. His eyes softened even more and nodded. "Hmm." He started in their transfer and he also glazed over all the tragedies and hardships, skipping over to their property in Ferrol. Like Garan, Althea¡ªwho could imagine the horrors he faced¡ªdid not call him out. She only kissed his cheek. "My husband is amazing," she said, earning herself his handsome smile. They spoke for hours without noticing and it was only interrupted by the babies'' soft cries. "Oh no, they''re hungry." She said, while telling him the type of cry babies do when they''re hungry for educational purposes. Garan nodded dutifully, taking note. Then¡­ he watched as his wife took down the upper hem of her shirt to let the babies get their milk. His azure eyes widened a little, laser focused on the sight. He wondered¡­ would he be able to taste it later? Althea blinked when she felt a heated stare beside her. She turned to see her husband watching the babies feeding very deeply. Too deeply. She knew him her whole life and had been married for years, how could she not know what he''s thinking? Unfortunately both hands were occupied so she couldn''t turn his head away. "Don''t look." She said, regretting not making him leave out of habit. "Hmn?" He asked absentmindedly, eyes still fixed on the same place. This pervert was even gulping unconsciously!! At this point, her face just burned red like a baboon''s butt, a mix of anger and embarrassment filled her head. "GET OUT!!!" ¡­ A kicked-out Garan went out of the room with a sheepish expression. His shy wife was so cute. ''No matter; She''d face it tonight,'' he mused with a determined light. He then saw the old man from before with another woman waiting outside the door. Garan''s borderline-perverted expression quickly disappeared and the duo only saw the cool, serious, and intimidating soldier everybody else knew of. "You must be Harold and Sheila," he said, "My wife has said many good things about you." Harold was embarrassed and a bit scared, while Sheila, who ran over as soon as she heard Althea was carried to the house, only smiled in relief. She ran over because she had thought Althea could be injured, now it looked like they were just a passionate couple. "Thank you for taking care of my wife," he told them, knowing that in his place, they had been taking care of her needs. He slightly bowed his head to show his gratitude, and the two flinched like startled cats. "No! No need!" The two panicked immediately. "Boss helped us way more than we helped her!!" "Yes, yes, we''d have died a long time ago if it wasn''t for her!" They started blabbering how Althea saved their lives and Garan was just glad Althea found loyal companions. Harold then led him to the living room and served him tea, earning him a compliment from the ''master'' and it totally made his day. "This is really good, what ingredients did you use? Does my wife like it?" "Yes, Ms. Althea''s sweet tooth was working overtime when she was pregnant." He said, and proceeded in telling him the ingredients. Garan''s eyes sharpened a bit and he got scared. "Tell me more about the dishes she particularly liked traveling here." "A-Ah, yes sir!" ¡­ Althea soon got out of the room, a beet red, and Garan smilingly took the children to help her out. Then he felt their adorable softness and his heart melted into a puddle. He then turned to his beautiful wife that was pointedly ignoring him. He chuckled and just placed a peck on her head. "I''m sorry." Her shoulders slumped and she stared at him, looking a bit pouty. His eyes sharpened, feeling hot, but didn''t show it lest he made her angry again. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The group went back to the living room and placed the children on their play-carpet. They watched their children play, and Garan saw that they developed a bit faster. Not even one month old and they were already starting to crawl. Althea said that she could only hope that they didn''t age in advance or she''d worry they''d look like small kids when they were only toddlers. To Garan though, this was a good thing. This was because it meant that the children would be able to handle themselves earlier. Speaking of handling themselves, Garan paled a bit at a memory. He had heard from married comrades that the wives paid much more attention to the children and were much less attentive to their husbands, especially when they were young. At this thought, he looked at his wife playing with the children. Althea shivered a little at his heated gaze. "W-What is it?" "The children wouldn''t stay with us tonight, will they?" "Is that all that''s in your head?" He shook his head. "I''m thinking of the children too." He said with all seriousness. "You''re very loud, what if they wake up?" Althea rolled her eyes¡ªPDA completely natural to her¡ªwhile both Harold and Sheila wanted to cover their ears. Sheila coughed to clear the awkwardness, and just went on to reassure them. "Don''t worry, I''ll take care of the children tonight." Garan looked at her appreciatively. Sure enough, his wife could choose smart companions. Althea, on the other hand, just couldn''t help but worry for her poor waist. Chapter 346 - 346: Honeymoon Aberdeen City, 2 years prior Inside a messy hotel room, Althea and Garan, a couple of newly-weds, snuggled and delved into each other''s warmth. Garan looked down at the fluffy head of his wife, soft and all tangled from all the activities of the previous night. She raised her head and he admired her beauty shining in her afterglow. "Wife¡­." he uttered, looking at her with deep eyes and couldn''t help but place loving kisses all over her skin. "Husband¡­" The woman''s soft voice rang in his ears, igniting fire. He placed her under him, placing some of his weight, allowing their bodies to flush against each other. He leaned down and kissed her, his tongue parting her lips to explore her mouth. His hands touched her soft skin all over, sending electricity down her spine. Her mouth parted as she moaned, triggering deeper kisses that took them both to another world. He felt the heat in his body reach the boiling point and he opened her legs wide, placing himself in between. However, before they could do anything further¡­ his phone rang. He wanted to ignore it and was about to enter but the ringing was blaring and his phone was¡ªby law¡ªnot allowed to be set on silent unless on a stealth mission. He heaved a deep breath and reluctantly parted from his wife, taking out the phone in the discarded coat''s pocket. He placed the headpiece against his head and a loud announcement rang in his ears. Code 1837! Code 1837! Calling to all personnel: A magnitude 8.1 earthquake had hit the west coast. Calling all personnel. Assist to rescue. He froze, head facing his wife who was watching his every move. He truly didn''t want to leave this warmth, but his principles wouldn''t let him rest either. Althea saw his reluctance and made the decision for him. She stood up in all her glory but Garan felt too sad to get aroused. "Go¡­ I''ll be alright." She said, her soft hand patting his chiseled jaw. Garan frowned and took her in his arms, burying his large head on her delicate shoulder. After a moment, he lifted his head and looked at her apologetically. "It''s our honeymoon and I¡ª" "Your heart wouldn''t be able to rest." She said, "I understand. You were already a soldier way before we started dating, you know. I know what I''m getting into." It would be a lie to say she wasn''t a bit sad, but she wasn''t lying when she said she understood. Garan paused for a while, wondering if there was a way to stay. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There wasn''t. But looking at the understanding smile on his wife''s face, his heart was hot. Garan leaned down to give her a deep kiss. "I love you. So much." He unwillingly parted from her and got dressed, his eyes sharpening as he closed the door. Someday, he''ll find a way so that they would never, ever, have to be apart from her ever again. _________________ Altera Village, Present "I have you all to myself tonight." He whispered, warm breath blowing on her ears. Their arrangement had been that he and Althea would have the entire house to themselves. Now that the husband was there, everyone settled in the second house, even Ansel. Of course, at the husband''s request, the children also stayed with them for tonight. Garan took a quick bath to clean himself up, because Althea refused to sleep with him if he didn''t. She had already taken a bath before he did, with her refusing to let him join in. She told him sternly that the bathtub was not like in Terran; who knew if he¡ªa level 20¡ªdestroyed it by accident. She was dressed in a conservative nightdress when she came out with that after-bath glow and he wanted to throw himself at her. This was when she demanded he take a bath before touching her and he made sure he was clean efficiently and quickly. When he got out wearing only a flimsy cotton towel, his full muscles were exposed for the person in the room to see. Althea, who had never been shy in showing affection, indeed appreciated him openly. Garan liked her stare very much. He, too, sent her a heated gaze, looking at her body. She was covered only by the thin nude-colored silk nightdress¡ªsomething he knew she had in Terran. It was short and showed just enough skin, but its form followed her curves very tightly, making people desperately want to touch. Extremely sexy. He had bought this for her¡­ and it was probably one of the few she had left. So¡­ he took note not to rip it apart like he usually did. ¡­ The next day, Althea woke up very late. Fortunately, they designed the modules with very, very, good insulation supposedly against the harsh weather¡­ or else a lot of people would''ve suffered last night. It was also fortunate that their furniture had a woodworker professional (stamped by the system) working on it otherwise the legs had given way early into the night. (Baron had the foresight to create a line of premium beds, which they bought for a high price since they had no lack of money anyway). In any case, Althea woke up when the sky was high in the sky. She rolled around the sheets, stretching her arms to push away the lethargy. "Morning." Garan said as he entered the room, his azure eyes tracing the gorgeous woman splayed naked on the messy sheets. On his hands was a wooden tray filled with her favorite breakfast: hashbrown with his special omelet, waffles, and fruit. He always did this when he was home and Althea had unconsciously taken it for granted. But after being apart for so many months, she couldn''t help but kiss his side face and say, "Thank you." Garan gave a wide happy grin. "Anything for my wife." Looking at her husband''s stupid look, her heart softened. She touched his face and gave him another smack on the other cheek. "I''ll cook lunch later, okay?" Garan''s eyes widened a little, quite startled. "Really?" Garan was very surprised at her proposal, but he was extremely happy. His wife was making him food, after all! No matter how it tasted, he''d definitely love it. "Yes, really." She smiled, and her heart felt guilty by how happy he was. She was really not a very good wife. If Garan knew her thoughts, he would vehemently disagree, but this wasn''t something they talk about out loud. Well, anyway, Garan was so happy that, after Althea finished eating, he immediately jumped back into the sheets again. They would not get up until many hours later. Chapter 347 - 347: Sweet Lunch Lunch time. The two of them were apparently alone in the house that day. The empty house made her look at Garan, who¡ªdespite his stoic face¡ªactually looked smug. "Your teammates are very smart. I ought to reward them." There was apparently a silent agreement to leave the couple alone for a full day, to enjoy a honeymoon even for just one day. Althea rolled her eyes. Garan smiled and pulled her to sit on his thigh. "Let me show you some things I bought back in Ferrol," he said and she brightened, quickly forgetting her annoyance. She wanted to see what a town offered. Garan held down a smile as he seriously introduced her to his gifts. First, he showed her the tanner products from hides. There were bags and shoes, all fitted for her. "Wow, I love this! Thank you!" She said, kissing his cheek. He stopped himself from capturing her lips again and willed himself to focus on the gift-giving. From his space, he took some cloth he bought for a high price. It was very smooth and soft, and her delicate hands grabbed it to study. "It''s really silk!" She used her ability and whipped her head to him in awe, "And it had a bit of defensive properties! "This must''ve been expensive." Garan shook his head and just handed her the final box. They were seeds. "Kyaaa!" And she smacked his face with kisses. He smiled as he looked at her so happy. He wondered how she''d react when he gave her ''that'' gift in a few days? Anyway, his attention was pulled by her kisses and he quickly captured her lips to take them as his own. She drowned in his warmth, and she wrapped her delicate arms around him as she accepted his plunder. The atmosphere quickly heated up again. Then¡­ her stomach gurgled. "..." ¡­ The preparation for lunch came a little later. Fortunately, her body at level 8 was very strong, otherwise Garan would have had to carry her to the kitchen. Not that he hadn''t offered, of course. Garan watched lovingly as his wife prepared all the ingredients¡ªrefusing his help. His wife was cooking for him, His wife was cooking for him, His wife was cooking for him. What to do¡­ he wanted to do her on the countertop.. If there was a way for them to be conjoined forever¡­ As if feeling his thoughts, Althea threw an vegetable peel on his face. It did not wipe the smile on his face though and he just continued to watch all her movements with hyperfocus. He didn''t even notice all the errors she was making, he was too happy. Althea, who was experiencing the brunt of his heated stare, tried very hard to focus on the task at hand. She wanted to throw noodles at his face, but that would be food waste and she''d have sinned, so she stopped herself. Fortunately, she did manage to finish the dish and she proudly brought it to the table. She made him a simple noodle dish, which was barely within her trained capability at the moment, but Garan ate it like it was the tastiest thing. It was indeed what Garan thought. The dish didn''t use the most sophisticated techniques or materials, but Garan thought it was the best meal he had ever eaten. If he hadn''t been out so much.. perhaps he''d have tasted this earlier. If he hadn''t been out too much, maybe the children would be all grown up and capable of taking care of themselves by now, rather than Althea carrying them on her own for a year. (If Althea heard his thoughts she''d look at him weirdly. They had only been married for 2 years right? Did he expect one year olds to defend themselves??) Anyway, Garan couldn''t help but recall the tortuous pain in his heart a while back. It was probably when she gave birth, right? Didn''t that mean she almost died? The very thought placed his heart and mind into extreme turmoil. "Don''t like it? Was it too salty?" Althea asked, seeing his distraction. Garan shook his head, pulling himself together. He put the thoughts aside for now and they began feeding each other like they usually did. After they ate, however, he silently carried her back to their room and he buried his face on her neck. However, instead of doing something perverted, he just laid there unmoving. Then she felt¡­ liquid? "Are you crying?" Althea flinched a bit, but Garan only tightened his hold on her and buried himself deeper. During their time apart, he had a lot of thoughts. He regretted missing so much time because of his obsession. The other duties of a soldier was one thing¡ª but there were plenty of missions he volunteered for, particularly those related to Fargo and his regime. "I''m sorry." "Why?" "I wish I spent more time with you." He did not regret becoming a soldier. But he regretted how much time with her that he lost. "Our time together has always been more on quality rather than quantity." She told him. This was especially true after he became a soldier. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His jaw clenched and looked at her in the eye. "I found Fargo," he said. "I''ll end him soon." Althea sighed. "I know part of it is for me, but you didn''t have to be so obsessed. I don''t even remember what happened." Garans large hand slid to her back, tracing the scars from that year. "It is also mostly selfish," he told her, "Because as long as he existed he reminded me that I almost lost you. "I did it mostly for myself." "I understand my obsession made us miss out on a lot." After all, she was just unlucky to be there, she wasn''t being targeted in particular. In exchange, a lot of time together were sacrificed. He had always been guilty about this. "I took for granted you would always be home, waiting for me." But he had almost lost her again. The belief he''d find her again was the only thing that kept him going. He leaned down and met her lips, tasting every inch of it, and engraving the taste into his soul. Never again. Chapter 348 - 348: Heartbreak A/N: Thanks again Lin-chan | LotusLin for another castle!!! *Hugssss* So awesomeeeee huhu Back to the story~ ____ While the couple was having fun in their own world, the others'' world continued on. The streets were as lively as ever, the industries were working in full gear, and everyone was working for themselves and for the territory. Even the river had activities now, and there was an unexpected duo bonding there. It was Ansel and Oslo, sitting back to back in a small rowing boat, in what they would call ''Reel Relax'' sessions. They were fishing in the newly built fishing port, now complete with rentable boats care of Bull''s new company ''Altera River Voyage''. After the drinking session the previous night, Oslo and Ansel became best friends. In moments of drunken stupor, they even called each other twins from another world. Since then, when Oslo wasn''t studying the materials for his upgrade, he''d definitely be hanging out with Ansel. This healed the bit of heartbreak and made it a little bit more bearable. This fishing thing was also very new to Oslo, who was used to philandering or getting drunk whenever he felt sad. The river was very slow moving, nearly still, and was quite suitable for boat fishing. Of course, it still had a stone anchor, just in case. Anyway, when Ansel told him of the activity, Oslo thought he''d be bored. Oddly, he felt very relaxed instead. There was also a very good sense of accomplishment every time they got a catch. "See? Fun right??" Ansel asked, placing another live catch into the earthenware jar filled with water next to him. Like in land, the resources in the water were rich and an hour of fishing would definitely be enough for a meal or two, three for sissies who didn''t eat much. "Hmn, it is," Oslo said with a smile, his blue eyes fixed on the unmoving fishing line. Ansel nodded, relieved. Ansel had been used to seeing Althea with another for years, so he adjusted quickly. Although there were tingles of pain, he never dwelled on it anymore. Not to mention, although his feelings for Althea were not entirely platonic, he never dared to have wet dreams about her, ever. Oslo was completely different. Although he had countless lovers, this had been the first time his heart was moved. All his swag and suaveness disappeared in front of her. And Oslo didn''t hate it one bit. "Emotions are a transient thing¡­" Ansel mumbled like an old man, breaking Oslo''s reverie. "Says the guy who''s been pining for over a decade¡­" "This is pining? Tsk. You should''ve seen me when I was a teenager." "Share?" "No," Ansel said dismissively, focused on the line that just shook. Unfortunately, it was Oslo who managed to get one first. "Oh, caught another one." Ansel sneered. "Plenty of fishes in your sea, I see." "Don''t underestimate my love!" Oslo said, narrowing his eyes. "I heard you didn''t have a few fishes in your pond." "I kiss them at most. Not like you¡­ how many illegitimate children do you have?" "I have no such thing!" He stood up abruptly that the boat rocked a bit. Then¡­ there was silence again. The two stared at each other, settling back down, and sighed at the same time. "Drink again later?" Oslo asked. As he said this, he gulped as if relishing in its aftertaste. He didn''t know if the alcohol the Lord made was amazing or if it was because the lord made it. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It''s both," Ansel said. He was apparently thinking out loud. "But it can''t be that drink. That has been my weekly ration, you know." He said, "Wasn''t I so kind to share it with you?" This was not even a lie. Althea was afraid he''d become an alcoholic and limited his supply of the drinks she made. One must know after drinking Althea''s wine, others would only be so-so, definitely impossible to get addicted to. So this move of Althea definitely worked, because most other alcohol became basic to him and was mostly drunk in moderation, exclusively in social settings. Oslo, who had supposedly drunk the best alcohol Xeno could offer, agreed with him. "Yes. Very gracious." His shoulders slumped a bit though. When would he be able to taste it again? "Don''t be so sad. A tavern owned by a vineyard owner would open soon. Although it definitely wouldn''t be as awesome as Althea''s, it would still be better than what you''re used to." "When?" "Either today or tomorrow, I didn''t monitor too closely." All he knew was that Baron''s fit-out team had been in the finishing stages the past few days, so the store should be opening any day now. "Shall we see?" "Hm," Ansel agreed and they finished up the fishing trip with a grand total of six fishes (3 each). The two of them bonded along market street after that, earning a lot of stares from the ladies. Oslo, by habit, winked at them and they squealed. Ansel rolled his eyes. The blonde met the redhead''s eyes and froze. Ansel sneered, "Cheap." Oslo looked offended and was about to explain himself when Ansel''s steps paused and he stared at a surprising view in front of him. "Hey, we came just in time!" Ansel was surprised. He was going here to ask when it would be opened but lo and behold¡ªit was opening! When they got there, they saw a crowd in front of it, with beat boxes, and dancing stars-wannabee performing. Since the supermarket''s opening program, such performances or other types of opening gimmicks became customary. There was a little show pretty much every day because of this. Then the owner went up to make his speech. Something about a place to relax was essential to people''s spirits¡ª "That''s why we call alcohol ''spirits''!" He said with open arms and background drums, receiving boisterous cheers from the middle-aged men acting like fangirls. Ansel wanted to correct him that not all alcohol could be referred to as ''spirits''¡ªcertainly not wine or beer, which were his primary products¡ªbut¡­ whatever. Anyway, that afternoon, just before dusk, the new tavern officially opened¡ªplacing itself as another feature of Altera. Ansel''s lips twitched when the owner uncovered the sign. ''Heartbroken Tavern'' was its name. Oslo couldn''t read their alphabet yet so Ansel kindly explained it to him. Oslo''s wide blue eyes stared at the sign in amazement. "It''s uncanny. As if they know our needs." Ansel almost cackled. Chapter 349 - 349: New Arrivals At this time, just at the entrance of the territory, Beanie and Gaudi gaped at the sights. "Is this still a village?" Gaudi asked, looking around in awe. Beanie gulped as he stared at the wide well-organized streets, the lively abutting shops, and couldn''t help but marvel at the overall vitality of the place. Most prominently, he couldn''t help but focus on the happy smiles of the citizens. They were lively and filled with energy, in their hands were baskets filled with produce from the market. Even from afar, he could tell the variety was amazing. There were fruits and vegetables¡ªsome familiar, some unfamiliar. There were even¡­ fish?! Why would there be fish in the middle of the mountains?! What else was here?! Micheal definitely wasn''t lying when he said Altera was much better than Bright. He was fascinated. Must explore! Anyway, he had an agreement with Garan and the others to meet up at the Altera village center within three days of separating. That was to say, he still had time to explore by himself for the rest of the day, so he already planned to separate from the group later to check out the place on his own. After he announced his family''s name in the Village Center, of course. Gaudi, on the other hand, was feeling an odd mixture of utter fascination and heartbreak. The old man couldn''t help but compare it to when he and his people were just taken in this place. How much did they suffer every day? However, none of them complained because, at least during the protection period, life was indeed better than their home planet. In Xeno, they didn''t go hungry. But comparing to how these people seemed to have handled this new world with ease, he couldn''t help but feel envious and sad. "Old man, old man! Come take a taste of my new product!" A teenage child smiled bright as he approached him. Hanging on his neck was a small board laid horizontally, and on this board were bite-sized slices of hard bread with a bit of jelly fluid on top. The boy seemed to have noticed his daze and explained, "I know they may not look it, but these are tarts! I have strawberry tart, Gouji fruit tart etc. Try one for free!" For free? Gaudi gaped, unsure if he heard correctly. On the contrary, the soldiers turned their heads to them and brightened. "Oh, oh! Free taste!" Some of the masters went to where he was and took one bit each. "Hmmm!" "This is nice!" "Delicious!!" They then asked the boy where to buy some and pointed at a store a few meters away. They scuttled to buy a few, leaving a befuddled Gaudi in front of the boy. There happened to be just one sample left. Gaudi, curious, took one and gingerly placed it in his mouth. His eyes widened as it melted in his mouth and healed his soul. "O-oi. Why are you crying??" Another vendor who was lining up to sell to the group exclaimed. "I¡­ I didn''t do anything!" The boy yelled when he got weird looks. Gaudi shook his head. "It''s nothing," he said, but he was shaking in pity and longing. He wiped his tears and smiled, looking at the other sellers. "May I see?" he asked, and the puzzled salespeople brightened, offering him their products. Then a few more hawkers approached, trying to get him to taste and he met with their bright, hopeful, eyes. A thought emerged in his mind then. When his own people transferred, how nice would it be to have such a home? ¡­ Beanie, Gaudi, and the others separated after checking in one of the inns. They were amazed by the facilities and the affordable prices, and they couldn''t help but explore it intimately. "It''s amazing¡­. this place is amazing!" Sam yelled as he admired the now-ceramic toilet bowl while Ryo rolled his eyes at his uncoolness. However, it was notable that his slitted eyes were just as bright as he looked at their accommodation. They rented a few of the largest dormitory room types with six beds. The beds were made of wood and the mattress was comfortable and cushy. There were also complete sets of pillows and blankets. So cozy! "Hey, check this out!" Turbo yelled, catching everyone''s attentions. He looked up at the ceiling and on cue the ceiling fan began to move. "Wait, what?" Sam blinked and Brandon immediately went to study it. "You can use a pulley system to operate on it manually, or¡­" he paused, following a couple of mechanisms he could see from outside. "Use windcatchers." His eyes brightened, "I did see to see some on the roof." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Turbo took a deep breath. "They don''t have electricity, but they managed to do all these ingenious things for comfort." "Less than a month. All of these." Plaridel whispered in disbelief as he laid on a bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. The others nodded. "I wonder who the Lord is¡­" Luis mumbled as he chewed, sitting on a bed. Turbo saw his food crumbles on the blanket and frowned. "That''s your bed." Luis grinned. They had just been fighting for this window position. His crudeness actually got him what he wanted for once. Ah, the little happiness. Turbo''s eyes twitched and ignored him, walking over to the window. He looked and touched the translucent material that covered the fenestration. He pushed and found out it was an awning window. "Cool," he said and his sights fixed on the lively streetscape below them. There was a lot they have yet to see. This much was obvious. At this thought, Turbo combed his spiky blonde hair, and faced his teammates. "I''m¡­ gonna explore." "Me too." "I''ll come with you!" "I''m gonna go check out the market!" "I heard there''s a bathhouse¡­" "I wanna see the farms! My ancestors were farmers, you know!" Anyway, the entire team decided to go out and explore, very excitedly doing their own thing. Of course, this was not without everyone going to the Village Center first and announcing their names and their relatives'' in hopes of finding their loved ones there. A lot of people from the caravan went there as well, in case new people came to Altera while they were away. Beanie, after announcing his wife''s name in hopes of finding her, also hurried out to explore. It was just that he used her full name, Priyankakesh and his own name¡ªJeremiah¡ªin the announcement. Those who could place their names didn''t exactly put two-and-two together after hearing the announcement. And¡­, for better or for worse, his mind never allowed itself to dwell into the worst possibility there could be. It just refused to. It was as if the thought would never come true if he didn''t think of it. Chapter 350 - 350: Father and Son Beanie perused the territory alone with bright eyes, though his attention was half waiting for an announcement to come or someone to call his name¡ªideally his wife. Of course, now that he was here, he wouldn''t miss trying to look for them himself. So, while he was looking around, he was also showing off the photo of his wife and child. Quite a few paused on Theo''s image. It was just that the photo was taken over a year prior and Theo looked very different now with a small growth spurt, a small scar, and longer hair, so no one recognized him. But he didn''t let it put him down. Instead, his eyes were just wide open as he explored this new territory. Especially now that he was basically studying his family''s future ''home''. As a reporter, he was a natural explorer. He had a fascination with discovering new things and information, particularly about people and events. Although a guided tour was good, immersion was the most enjoyable for him, so he didn''t choose to get one. Sometimes, he followed where the crowd went, sometimes he went the opposite. He admired the various parks and amenities. There was even a public restroom one could use for a few coppers. The greening was really well-planned. It provided shade to pedestrians, while also providing resources. Because degeneration of dropped fruits was apparently slower within the territory, there were specific jobs to pick these up, used for fertilizers, seeds, and the like. "Such a wonderful place~" he said, "Priya and Theo would love it here." Those two liked to garden, he mused with a smile, continuing on his perusal of the territory greenbelt. But his feet stopped as he heard a familiar bell-like laugh of a child. His feet moved on their own, taking him to the playground in one of the parks. It was quite quaint until his peripheral vision saw something small zoom near him. He followed the movement and he froze when he saw the child. The little boy was running and playing in the wooden playground, a happy smile adorning his cute face. There was a small scar there now though, and it felt like his heart was stabbed. Beanie thought he was hallucinating at first, but as time passed no disillusionment occurred. It was really just one boy, clearly his baby Theo. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Immediately, Beanie''s feet moved, increasing pace, and the next moment he was already rushing towards the boy''s direction. However, before he could get close, a man stood guardedly between. Beanie frowned at the intruder, but his annoyance softened a bit when he saw through the pant shape. He realized that the man''s lower legs seemed to be made of sticks. "What is it?" He asked with relative politeness, all things considered. Though as he asked, his eyes was fixed on the little boy taking the slide with a happy smile. The dark-skinned man followed his eyes and looked at him guardedly, and his next words raised all of Beanie''s hackles. "Why are you running towards my son?" "YOUR son?!" Beanie was naturally triggered by his words. "Theo is MY son!" He yelled, now looking at the other man as an eyesore. "What? You are¡­ Theo''s father?" The man asked, surprised that he knew the boy''s name. It was at this point that a woman came and stood beside the man. Beanie watched the man''s stance soften as the woman held his arm. The man smiled sadly, and just patted her hand before turning back to him. "Do you have proof?" Beanie paused, thinking about how to prove something like this? "He has a moon-shaped mole on his left hip." Melissa looked at Eugene hopefully but he shook his head. "I didn''t take a close look." He said. That''d have been creepy. Melissa also realized this and looked at Theodore who was now playing in the sandbox. "We''ll check later when he''s done," she said, "He¡­ we don''t want to disturb him in the rare cases he acts like a child." Her words calmed Beanie a bit, and now that the hostility passed a bit, Beanie looked around, wondering where Priya was. He shifted his head to look at the couple, his worry deepening. "Wasn''t there an adult with him?" Eugene looked at him, jaw tense, and the dread in Beanie''s stomach intensified. "What about¡­ my wife? Where''s my Priya??" He asked again, hoping to be proven wrong in his thoughts. His business trip was actually tracking down the terrorist group of Fargo. Because of Garan, he had gotten clues about this group, and he chanced upon a clue. He took a risk partly for the memory of his missing friend, but also for himself. After all, tracking the terrorist group had been a real big break for him. He could finally give his wife the fabulous life she deserved. Then the damned tragedy happened. He hadn''t seen his wife for months, never would he imagine that it could''ve been the last time¡ª Seeing him like this, Eugene could only shake his head. "I''m sorry. Your wife¡­ is gone." Beanie felt like he was submerged in the arctic. Priya¡­ is dead? His brain refused to accept it, thoroughly in denial. It was here a soft voice rang, catching all the adults'' attention. "Papa!" The little boy yelled and he zoomed to their direction, directly to his father''s¡ªwho was, at this time, frozen in a daze. Because he was still, the boy could only hug the man''s leg. This surprised the other two and approached the little boy. "Theo can talk, after all!" The two leaned down to the boy''s level. While they were sad because their destiny with Theo as family was truly cut short, they were relieved for him. Not many people could find their relatives in this place, after all. "Our little Theo can speak after all!" Melissa smiled at the baby boy, "Why didn''t you speak all this time?" The boy blinked at the question, before answering her honestly. "Mama says I can''t talk or the monsters will eat me." Beanie shook at his words¡ªthe image of his wife in despair vivid in his mind¡ªand his legs gave out in horror. Eugene was quick to pull Theo back and they watched as Beanie fall down the grass, arms hitting the soil, and his whole body trembling. "Papa! Papa!" Theo yelled, struggling to get out of Eugene''s hold. Because of the little one''s struggle, Eugene had to let him go. Theo immediately ran to hug his father. Shaking, Beanie lifted his head¡ªrevealing a pitiful expression¡ªand embraced his son tightly as soon as he came in contact. And only at this time, did Beany sob his heart out. Chapter 351 - 351: Theo and Beanie It took a while for Beanie to stop crying, not caring if he was being stared at by people in the park. Eugene and Melissa looked at each other and sighed, extremely uncomfortable. He gently patted the larger man''s shaking shoulders. "Uhm¡­ can we talk in my house? I''m sure you have a lot of questions." Beanie sniffed, "A-Ah, yes." He said, standing up, though without letting go of baby Theo at all. When Eugene brought Beanie to the secondary house, he was shaking and not letting go of Theo. Theo was obviously uncomfortable with his hold, but the little angel just sat still on his father''s arms as if he was. It was evening and almost everyone was already home and it so happened that Harold was there. Seeing Eugene coming with an unfamiliar man holding Theo, he had an idea what it was about and he immediately recalled the announcement from earlier. Harold felt heavy and sighed, just going to the kitchen and doing what he could do. They served him some comfort food and extra dessert for the children. Althea, coming from the main house, heard that Theo''s father was there and hurried out of their honeymoon phase, to her husband''s gruntlement. But then they saw who it was and their hearts dropped, especially Althea''s. Then Priya and the baby¡ª She froze at the threshold, not knowing what to do next. She hadn''t been paying attention to the announcements earlier, so she was completely unprepared for this news. It was around this time that Sheila got home and saw the boss blocking the doorway. "Hey boss, what are you doing here?" Althea didn''t answer and just stared in front of her. Sheila followed her sight and blinked. "Oh? We have visito¡ª" The nurse stopped when she finally noticed the somber atmosphere. She belatedly noticed that even their boss, who had a blank face, was visibly pale and was being supported by her husband. Instead of asking, she just pursed her lips and did not ask any questions. She simply went to the kitchen to help Harold out. She certainly wouldn''t be able to handle this awkward atmosphere if she stayed. The atmosphere was depressing even after dinner came, and no one spoke much, each drowning in their own thoughts. Althea didn''t speak much either and Garan looked at his best friend in concern, before turning to his wife again. Garan held her hand, azure eyes asking her if she was alright. She shook her head, expressing she would tell him later. Eugene wanted to take Theo so they could eat and Beanie reluctantly let go, but only if the boy was seated right next to him. As he ate, Beanie''s tears and snot flowed nonstop. "It was a daughter." He mumbled out of nowhere, sniffing. "We named her Thalia, after my wife''s late mother¡­" He started sobbing and food went to his air pipe, making him cough. He tried to face away from the table by habit but he lost his balance and fell down his chair instead. Harold and Garan, who were nearest, stood up to help him, but the man remained unmoving as his face touched the floor. "Hey," Garan uttered, patting Beanie''s shoulder. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Instead of lifting his head, Beanie''s shoulders shuddered, followed by heavy breathing and cries. His chest heaved in erratic gasps as his tears flowed, and he soon struggled to catch his breath. "Priya¡­ my Priya¡­" "I should''ve been there¡­." "I''m a bad husband, a bad father, I deserved to die¡­" he said, bumping his head on the floor with such force that he started bleeding. Garan sighed and held his shoulders to stop him from killing himself, but Beanie just sobbed even louder, as if Garan had wronged him by stopping him from doing what he wanted. Garan did not bulge, eyes shifting to the little boy held back by Eugene. "Do you want the boy to lose another parent?" This made Beanie freeze, and he looked at the boy being held by another man¡ªsomeone who would be a better father, no doubt. The thought just made him cry even harder. "Papa¡­" The little boy called, and Beanie looked at him in a daze. Except for his lighter skin, Theo looked so much like his mother. And it only broke Beanie''s heart into pieces even more. "I¡­ I don''t deserve to be," Sniff, "A father!" "But the fact is that you are his father. That''s something you cannot change," Garan said, deadpan voice as direct as ever. "What you can change is how you''ll accompany your child after this." As he said so, Garan couldn''t help but turn his head towards his family¡ªto his beautiful wife and lovely children. "As long as you''re alive, there''s a chance to make up to them, don''t you think so?" ¡­ Garan took Beanie to the verandah for a drink. The poor man was grovelling in his seat for a while, just sniffling, unmoving. Garan was patient and just placed a glass next to him. "You''re a father now. You have to be strong. After this, you can''t be breaking down again¡­" Beanie tried wiping his snot with his shirt, but it was flowing non stop. Garan frowned and just took some cloth from the space and threw it at him. "I wasn''t even able to give her the fabulous life she deserved," Beanie told him. "She was born rich you know, but she was disowned for falling in love with me." "I¡­ I wanted to give her the life she was born with¡­" "And my daughter¡­ my baby daughter¡­" "I wish I could''ve called her name¡­" This time, instead of trying to get himself killed, he just drowned himself in alcohol. Garan sighed, allowing the man to have this this moment to let go. Instead, he also downed a shot, joining him. "I''ll straighten you up tomorrow." ¡­ That night, upon Garan''s request, Althea spent one more night with just him alone. Althea agreed because her mood was a little lour and she needed the comfort of her husband. "How¡­ How is he?" She asked, ignoring the overwhelming smell of alcohol. "He''s sleeping in the other villa with Theo and Eugene," he said, gently caressing her smooth cheek, a little drunk. "He''s in pain, but he shouldn''t do anything regrettable. His son is right there¡­" "I had a choice to bring Priya with me. I should''ve forced her," she mumbled, burying her head in her husband''s generous arms. She had told him about Theo''s mother before, but now she had a new identity¡ªhis best friend''s wife. And, to Althea, this made her feel so much guiltier than she already was. Garan quickly tightened his hold, placing her head against the crook of his neck, making sure no part of her was untouched my his warmth. "No one would have foreseen the beast tide, and you couldn''t guarantee their safety either. You were a pregnant woman yourself!" He held her tighter, his heart constricting every time he thought of how she must''ve suffered when he wasn''t by her side. "I would''ve been the first one to disagree with them coming if I knew and wasn''t there with you." He held both of her cheeks. "None of it is your fault," he said, "You simply took the best decision you could take, considering everything." He leaned down giving her a soft peck on the lips. "And I am thankful for that." He told her, his mind refusing to think of the possibility of his losing her like Beanie lost his wife. "Thank you for coming back to me, Althea." He said, eyes dark with heavy emotions. ''Because I would''ve destroyed the world otherwise.'' Chapter 352 - 352: Comfort Althea rubbed her head on his strong chest. "Don''t say that." Althea closed her eyes and just felt her husband''s warmth for a while, before tilting her head up to look at him. "Do you think he''ll hate me if he finds out?" The thought broke her heart a little. Although they drifted apart, Beanie was still a good childhood friend of hers¡ªan important part of her happy memories. Garan sneered, looking at the direction of the adjacent house where Beanie stayed. "He dares!" He said, firm, and then he looked down at his precious wife with a comforting smile. "Although a lot has changed these years, Beanie''s core is the same. He may feel a little resentful at first, but he''ll get over it." He didn''t want to lie to her and simply comforted her, placing his huge palm on her head. "Don''t worry about him." Althea pursed her lips, wondering if he was just saying that to make her feel better. "You''re not saying this to comfort me right? If you were in his position¡ª" She stopped herself immediately, recalling the extreme reaction he had when she said something similar before. She paled and looked at her husband, who had a dark expression on his face. His eyes were reddish in anger and his jaw was clenched. She shifted and supported her weight on him with her arms, looking down at him with wide eyes. She placed her soft palm on his clenched jaw, comforting. "I didn''t mean it that way¡ª" Garan was indeed very angry, but he saw how her doe eyes were wide in apprehension and his heart was struck, realizing how bad this was. His own wife shouldn''t be scared of him or his reactions. She shouldn''t be walking on eggshells. So, he just heaved a deep breath, gently pulling her back to rest against him. "Hmm, I know." He said, voice croaking a bit, but his hold on her went a bit tighter. He had been refusing to think in that direction, but his wife wasn''t helping. It didn''t help that he was a bit drunk. Garan''s eyes darkened and he rolled them over, with him hovering over her. He leaned down and captured her lips, intent on feeling her physically with his whole being. His hand moved from the side of her face, to her curvaceous spine, and creeping down and stopping at that soft mountain climb just above her buttocks. His head slid down to meet her dainty neck, placing chaste kisses to her ears, before capturing her lips again for a heated kiss. He needed to feel her heat while she needed his comfort. Even if it was just a kiss, it meant the world as long as they were beside each other. Their lips parted after sufficiently releasing some tension, with Garan resting his forehead on hers. The two of them stayed peacefully like this for a while, letting the moon be their only source of light. However, Garan was a virile young man with the love of his life in his arms. How could he not push it? But Garan still knew it was best to go slow and make her relax. His eyes opened and saw hers closed, relaxing, simply feeling his presence above her. It was not easy not to do anything. He couldn''t. Not after suffering for all those months. So Garan began to sample her again. Even, pushing his luck a bit more, he lifted her shirt up above her head so she was left in her underwear. His eyes darkened as he dipped his head, tasting her supple skin. Her arms wrapped around his shoulder as he did so, humming in comfort as she unconsciously rubbed against him, sending electricity down his groin. She moaned as she felt his hot tongue leave wet traces on her skin, focusing on her erogenous zones. It was slow and sensual and he didn''t do anything more, just as Althea needed at this time. "I just feel¡­ so bad for him. His wife and his daughter¡­ gone, just like that," she said, massaging his head in encouragement. He lifted his head to speak to her. "We''ll handle him together," he said, looking at her with glazed eyes. "As husband and wife." She nodded, guiding his face back to where it was and Garan happily cooperated. "Husband¡­" she mumbled softly as she tilted her head to give him better access of her neck, one or her favorite areas. "The babies still didn''t have names." . . . Garan paused and raised his head, giving her a weird look. ''You''re bringing this up now?'' Althea''s lips twitched and placed her hand on the side of his handsome face, caressing it. "I was actually late in bringing this up, you know." This was brought up out of nowhere because she couldn''t stop thinking about Beanie''s unborn child. "Don''t the children already have names?" He asked her. They had been calling them Meatball and Pepper so far. Garan clearly didn''t have a naming sense either for him to think those were serious names. Anyway, as long as it was a name given by his wife, he thought it sounded good. "Those are nicknames!" She said, pinching his cheek. Oops, he''s growing stubbles again. Garan smiled fondly in understanding. "Did you want to wait for me?" She nodded cutely. "I wanted to wait for you." "The names they already have are really good though," he said, about to lean back in. She stopped him by holding his forehead with her palm, and it stretched his face a bit. He looked quite funny like this. She held back her smile and looked at him seriously. "Don''t you know names reflect the parents'' wish? Do you seriously want them to think we named them after food?" Garan blinked, realizing the importance. So he gave her a small smile. "Okay," he said, "Let''s give our children formal names." He smiled. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We have a lot of hope for them, after all." Chapter 353 - 353: Names Althea smiled and pulled out her tablet from the space. She had really missed this tablet of hers, which had been borrowed by various experts¡ªmost especially by the Engineering team. Fortunately, Oslo¡ªwith the help of other architects and engineers¡ªhad basically transcribed most of the e-books they found important to keep a copy of. So, the tablet had just been returned to her hands. This was another group that became die-hard fans of Althea. Without her, these references would''ve been lost. Even if it was their specialty, who remembered every detail? A small library was then built in their office containing these transcribed books, among others, and they called it ''Althea''s Nook''. Anyway, as one of Althea''s hands was buried in Garan''s hair, she took out her tablet from the space and started to choose baby names. It was a weird position, but it relaxed her a lot. "What do you think we should name our¡ª" It was just that she felt Garan''s movements turning hotter, his tongue reaching her bra and she gasped when he pulled it up for better access to her breasts. She gasped and frowned, tapping his head. "Focus!" Garan nodded, but how could he think straight when his fragrant wife was so tempting? However, he also knew his wife just wanted his warmth and not to do anything else. For now, anyway. He was about to reluctantly let her go when he saw her blushing, her pupils dilated, and her pretty face in a daze. Even her hold of the tablet was already loosened. He held back a smirk. His large warm hand slid under her skirt, and she could feel each and she could feel every one of his calluses against her skin. "H-hey!" She exclaimed, lightly slapping his hand to behave. "The children are a month old! They don''t even have proper names yet!!" "Their names are already very good." He said, lips tracing kisses along her shoulders, his other hand trailing somewhere more¡­ private. "Meatball and Pepper? We talked about this! That''s not¡ªHusband¡­!" Followed by a moan. And the figurative curtain fell, covering another round of spring happening behind it. ¡­. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The next morning, they finally decided on the name. But not after a very intimate wake-up call. She glared at her husband. He was so annoying! She even almost forgot to take her medicine. She did not want to get pregnant again! Not now. Ignoring him for the rest of that morning, she took out her tablet to search for names. "What do you want to name them?" "If I knew, I wouldn''t be searching, would I?" Garan was not annoyed with the rude quip. Instead, he smiled and placed kisses on her cheek¡ªwhich she tried to avoid, though to no avail. She wanted to nag him but he started to (finally) speak on-topic, "I want the children''s name to remind them of what we want for them¡ªto be safe, to be happy, and to be strong." She paused, meeting his deep azure eyes, and nodded. "Hmn." ¡­ They had a shortlist and, after an hour of choosing (extended because of Garan''s annoying hands), they finally decided on the kid''s names. Little Meatball was Alphonse Witt, meaning ''one of Noble Birth''. Although the little rolling ball of meat didn''t have the temperament yet, he would probably grow up to be one. Hopefully. It also meant ''prepared'', the state they always wanted him to be in¡ªthey wanted him to be able to handle whatever may come, protect what was important to him, and protect himself. They would not raise him in excessive safety, as that would be detrimental to him. It would be hard, but they needed him to stand on his own much earlier than his peers. And Little Pepper was named Nathalia Witt, in honor of Beanie''s dead daughter. It also meant the day of birth, a happy event. They want their baby girl to be happy, to bring other people happiness, and making herself happy¡ªno matter what circumstance, and this could be achieved, in this place, only if one had the ability. Satisfied with their choices, the couple looked at each other with a smile. "Done?" Althea nodded cutely. "Done." Garan smiled brightly, and he pulled her under the blanket. They decided they''d announce the names at lunch time, anyway. *** ___________________________ !IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! Dec. 31.2023 Dear Alterans, First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS! Thank you for supporting the story the past few months! Half a year of daily updates have passed and I would first like to say THANK YOU for accompanying me in this long journey. The past six months (ave. 2 chapters/day!) had been a challenge and it required a lot of hard work, especially since I still have a day job. But¡­ it was worth it because I had you guys. Anyway, the point of this is that, after bursting chapters every day I¡­ have finally lost much of my stockpile. *SOBS* FEAR NOT! I still have some, but I definitely have to slow down for the next few months to ''regenerate''. As such, I will TEMPORARILY reduce my update rate to one a day, maybe two if I can but don''t count on it for a while. What I can promise you though is that when I do resume the 2 chaps-ave -a-day upload rates, it means that I have already polished the rest of the story and I WON''T EVER HAVE TO GO TO A SLOW-DOWN until the story ends! Finally, to be fair to my lovely beloved PATRONS, I will temporarily reduce the prices for Privilege by about 30% to 40%. Please continue supporting the story during these hard times. Silver Patron (10 adv chaps) 199 coins ¡ú 149 coins Gold Patron (25 adv chaps) 799 coins ¡ú 499 coins Ruby Patron (40 adv chaps) 1299 coins ¡ú 999 coins Diamond Patron (50 adv chaps) 1599 coins ¡ú 1199 coins Again, thank you for your unending support! Don''t forget about us okay? Please continue supporting the storyyyyyy! We love youuu! Don''t break up with us! xDD Once an Altera, always an Alteran! >:D Chapter 354 - 354: PDA Aberdeen City, a few years ago Along the beautiful, well-maintained cobblestone path, a gorgeous couple could be seen walking along it. They were all smiles looking at each other with googly eyes, their contrasting hands intertwined as if it was meant to be. It was her soft, dainty hands with his large calloused ones, except the couple only felt each other''s warmth. They were framed by the trees and the scrubs as they ambled. Most people around would end up sighing in admiration at the sight of them. Of course, the world would never lack dissatisfied people, and it so happened that there was one nearby. "TSK!" A grumpy voice entered the leisurely couple''s ears, "Kids nowadays have no shame!!!" Althea blinked, unconsciously loosening her hold on her boyfriend''s hand. However, Garan immediately tightened his grip and he gently pulled her as they continued to walk. "No, don''t listen to them," Garan said, guiding her forward, back to their leisure walk in the few public green parks in the country. "We have such limited time together now. How can we care about others?" She blinked, thought about it, and nodded a moment later. "Hmm, you''re right." Garan grinned, leaning down to kiss her hair. His (future) wife is so cute. "But¡­ I don''t want them watching our kisses though." She told him, very seriously, and he chuckled in response. "Of course not. We don''t want to be spectacles right?" He then gently pinched her nose. "Our kisses are left behind closed doors." _____________ Present. The couple didn''t announce the children''s name in the end, as they decided to hold the babies'' one-month celebration instead. It was within a few days anyway, which was just in time. As they sat down at the table for the midday meal, they couldn''t help but look at Beanie. The man had made considerable improvement from yesterday, as seen by how stably he held onto his son and not sobbing his heart out. For lunch, they had several dishes a la carte. There were various meat and vegetable dishes, plated nicely by the talented team chef. They also had a number of fish dishes, the catches courtesy of Ansel. He was quite smug about this. He said he stayed long hours under the sun to catch this meal for them and they ought be thankful. It was just that his smug monogue was cut abruptly when he caught sight of Garan who was staring blankly at him. He didn''t even say anything, but Ansel bitterly shut up. Unexpectedly¡ª "Good job," Garan said, voice deep as always, "A fish could feed two people." Ansel''s eyes brightened like the sun. He immediately schooled his expression though, pretending to be nonchalant. Except¡­ it was too late because Althea and the others already saw the exchange. They had to stop themselves from chuckling and embarrassing the poor lad. Back to the food, this ''special'' dish was delivered in grilled fish form, tender and perfectly seasoned. It was also glazed with the local citrus fruit (as their own lemons were still flowering). Next to it was the bluish nutritious mound of steamed local rice. It was fluffy and fragrant. It was also shaped into a half globe, as if promising their stomachs would be this shape after a while. This was topped by scrambled Gugu bird eggs, mixed with Terran tomatoes and mushrooms, adding a delightful contrast to the fish. And finally, there was a vegetable mix stir-fry to add a burst of freshness. It looked very sumptuous. More prominently, Harold had successfully made half the dishes to have special effects for the spirit, which was very fitting for everyone. "This looks really good, Harold," Althea said and Harold smiled widely. "Thank you. I''m just doing my part," he said, and the group began to start eating. Garan carefully deboned the fish and placed it on the rice, allowing it to absorb more flavor. He then scooped it up with the ceramic spoon with a wooden handle. But instead of going into his own mouth, he placed it in front of Althea''s. Althea blinked, but otherwise naturally took it into her mouth. The others stared at the ceiling, wondering when they''d get used to all this PDA. Althea then wiped the milk on the children''s faces as she chewed, promptly refilled by Garan as she swallowed. "You eat as well." She told him, unable to reciprocate because she was taking care of the babies who were drinking from the baby bottles she got from Terran. Garan regretfully went to serve his own food and was about to eat a spoonful when Harold leaned forward and mentioned village gossip. "Have you heard? A group of powerful people gathered and were waiting around the village center for the past few days." He said. "They all look very powerful, like soldiers. Garan, who just remembered he had people with him, froze a little and his spoon hung in the air for a second before he awkwardly finished the move. Althea, who was also reminded, turned to look at Garan. "I''ll go see," she said, and Garan cleared his throat. "I''m coming with you," he added, his baritone voice as monotonous as ever. The couple then rushed to eat their food and excused themselves, standing up to prepare for an excursion. They placed the two babies on the stroller and Garan naturally pushed them out. The others were puzzled, but Ansel saw all this and cackled. He really liked it when Garan was the Idiot. ¡­ It could be said that a beautiful couple casually walking together with a stroller was an unusual sight in itself, catching attention everywhere, let alone half of the pair was the well-known Miss Althea. "Who is that?" They asked, eyes shifting to the extremely dashing and tall man pushing the specially designed stroller of the twins. The ladies couldn''t help but gasp. "So handsome!" "It must be the mysterious husband!" "Wow¡­" "Maybe it''s not her husband. She''s so beautiful, she can have whoever!" "Ssshhh! What if people hear?! You don''t know how scary that man is!" "You know him?" "Yeah," the man nodded. He had just moved from Bright, but he had made plenty of friends here beforehand. However, he happened to be one of the people who ''trained'' with the guards of Bright as part of the deal, and he saw the stark difference in strength. "Very strong. No less than Rowan." "Whoa¡­" "What??" A pause, "How is that possible?" "Eh, not only is it possible, but he''s not the only one," Gossipmonger #1 said, "Do you know those soldiers hanging around the square? Those are his men." "Ohhhh~" "You mean they''re settling right?" "Oh my~!" Then another voice came, quite smug. "I tell you he is indeed her husband. I saw her being carried home!" A stall owner helpfully said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. This made a small crowd gather around him, wanting him to tell them more. "Well, there was a friend of a friend who was one of the people sent to Vismont," Gossipmonger #2 said, "He said that Ms. Althea was being cool and beautiful as always, beating the monster that was destroying the village when time seemed to stop. "It was quite dramatic like imaginary cherry blossoms floated around or something. "My friend described the turn as something in slow-mo. Ms. Althea apparently felt a heated stare from a direction, her beautiful emerald eyes widening at an unexpected sight. "She saw her husband there, and the two ran into each other''s arms without care for others! "It was said it was more romantic than Juni''s top romcom ''I Will Always Love You''!" "Wow, I cried in that movie!" S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The customer swooned. "They found each other! How romantic!" Gossipmonger #2 was not yet done with his story. "I heard¡­ he carried her all the way to her villa!" "Oh my~" "Kyaa~" Someone even whistled. Then, Gossipmonger #1 looked at he couple again, narrowing his eyes, and paused. "Are those¡­ kiss marks?" "What?" As if a signal, everyone''s heads turned in a particular direction. Gossippy citizens level 2 and above had naturally good eyes. Even several meters away, they could see the woman''s skin. They all looked closely and their eyes widened to saucers. Ohmyy. Those were definitely kiss marks! Big news! It seemed that Ms. Althea didn''t even bother to cover her multiple hickeys!! They knew Ms. Althea didn''t care for others'' opinions, but they didn''t think she''d be this¡­ inconsiderate! If Althea could hear this gossip, she''d pout in annoyance. Skin-safe powder required special soft minerals currently unavailable to her. How was she going to cover them? Not to mention: she wore a comfortable high-neck cotton shirt today. But who told Garan to mark so high when she saw he saw her shirt? She could only send sideways glares at her husband, the true inconsiderate one. She was really¡­ misunderstood! He then looked and met her eyes, blinking as if innocent. Her lips twitched, but it wasn''t because she was smiling. This man definitely did it on purpose! Chapter 355 - 355: Still PDA Garan''s lips twitched under his wife''s very cute glare. He did it on purpose, of course, he did. He knew how many eyes followed his wife''s movements everywhere. He didn''t blame them¡ªwho wouldn''t find his wife beautiful¡ªbut how could he not show his position? He pretended not to see his wife''s adorable stare and just held her hand a bit more tightly. He then nonchalantly pushed the stroller along the wide sidewalk with his other hand. Like before, they walked along the tree-lined avenues, garnering attention wherever they went, though this time¡­ they had their little babies with them. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Mwhamammm¡­" Little Pepper cooed, and Little Meatball gurgled. "Googghmmnghwgh¡­" Althea chuckled as she looked down at the stroller. She saw her children''s eyes wide with wonder, taking in their surroundings. They went on walks every day, but they have yet to lose interest in the same scenery even after so many days. It was very cute and it honestly felt hopeful. She lifted her eyes and met Garan''s who were staring at her and the children warmly. They stared at each other for a while, their minds recalling the adventures they had to go through before finally arriving in this¡­ peace. It took a while, but their family was finally complete. At this thought, they smiled brightly at each other, hearts full. ¡­ While the couple was walking leisurely, forgetting why they rushed out of breakfast in the first place, the Terran Mercenary team was waiting around in the restaurants abutting the central plaza. As they waited, a few team members took turns watching the people coming to the Village Center across the street. It wasn''t that they didn''t know where the captain was, but they dared not disturb him. Not to mention¡­ this place was heaven! They were totally in vacation-mode the past few days! Sammy lied lazily on the chair of the restaurant, sipping his lemonade with a noisy gurgle. "Ahhhh, this is the lifeeee!" Of course, it would''ve been best if they found family like the Captain, Gill, and even Ryo (all of whom were currently with their families). Luis nodded as he ate cookies one after another like a hamster. "I think the captain forgot all about us." "With a wife like sister-in-law, anyone would forget everything else¡­" Sammy mumbled dreamily, making the others'' heads turn to him. Except for a few who happened to be near when she visited the barracks, the others had never met Althea. The Captain''s wife, the woman he loved more than the world. The mysterious woman who could actually tame such a man. But more than being the Captain''s wife, they were also very curious about the Miss Althea in the citizens'' mouths. They had heard the Lord of Bright say sister-in-law held a high position in Altera, but they couldn''t have imagined that it was to the degree that she was revered by everyone. Regardless of which Althea they were more curious about, those who didn''t know her surrounded Sammy for some gossip. They surrounded him so quickly that some of his lime juice leaked and he glared at the men in abhorrence. "Shame!" "Ah, no, sorry," Luis asked, leaning over, though he didn''t look particularly guilty at all. "How is she? Is she really so beautiful?" The image of the woman in memory deflated Sammy''s anger and he became a little dazed. "Hnmm~ Like a fairy, an angel, an elf, a goddess," Sammy said dreamily, hearts in his eyes. The captain took sister-in-law to the shooting range for date night, he happened to be there. Maybe because they were so immersed with each other, or because he had dark skin that he blended in the night¡ªmaybe both¡ªthey did not notice him in their flirting. In all fairness, they did not do anything improper and were really learning to shoot. But the sweet atmosphere between them was palpable. And sister-in-law¡­ was so beautiful and charming. When she smiled, the whole room lit up, her every movement let your eyes follow her. People might wonder how such a woman would fall for such an ice block like their captain, but the captain was a completely different person in front of his lover. He almost believed the man was not their captain, he just wore his skin. "The captain really lucked out!" Luis could still remember how scary the captain was, especially with women who had designs on him. He could still remember the many, many times the women-averse captain made women cry with his harsh words. Even beauties like Vanessa were no exception. It was a mystery how such a woman didn''t get scared off! In fact, Garan was an Idiot as early as Vismont. It was just that he sprinted to Altera too quickly no one really saw his expression. Sammy looked at their disbelieving expressions and cackled. "You''ll see," he said, "You''ll find out later." ... The team continued chilling in a restaurant for a couple more minutes, ordering yet another batch of food. This time, they were eating desserts. Some ordered fruit platters, some ordered pastries, and some a mix of both. It seemed they did nothing but eat the past few days? Mao noted he seemed to have gained a few kilograms! They also did a lot of shopping. They had bought a bit of everything, to be honest. Their space had been filled the day they even stepped in this place, let alone now after so many days. Even Eagle''s large space had almost been filled. They also saw the parks! They were so well-made and well-maintained. They had never seen a territory that had incorporated nature so much and so well. Even the bathhouse was so special! Everything was customized! They weren''t close enough with Jonathan to know how much things cost, but they knew any modification wouldn''t be cheap at all! There were also medicines from a Pharmacist¡ªwho was apparently sister-in-law! Although its effect would be limited when they reached level 20, for now, it was still very amazing okay? It was unbelievable. Was it really done by Terrans in a month? Too amazing right? The lifestyle here was clearly better than the towns outside! "We''ll definitely settle down here, right?" Luis mumbled after a pause, feeling a bit apprehensive. "Yes yes yes yes. Definitely." "What about the base in Ferrol?" Plaridel mumbled. He also wanted to stay, but they really worked hard for that property. "I''m sure the captain will figure something out." Mao shrugged, absentmindedly looking in the direction of the village center by habit. This time though, he flinched. "Hey, look! I see the captain!" Mao yelled, running to the balcony facing the village center. Sammy stood up and followed his line of sight. "It''s my sister-in-law!" He yelled, looking dreamily, and every other man took a peek. They practically piled together on the window, with someone almost falling. The poor guy though, couldn''t express his annoyance when he saw sister-in-law, and he gasped with everyone else. "Beautiful!" Luis said, elbowing Sammy. "She''s really an angel! Such a pretty smile¡­" Some had sharper eyes and looked at what the captain was pushing. "Is that a stroller?" "What?" Someone pulled out a scope from his space, getting a glimpse of what was inside. His mouth made a wide ''o'' in shock. "Babies!? Human babies?" Chris, who had been the major investigator, seemed to have remembered something during one of his trips. "I seem to have heard Ms. Althea gave birth? I didn''t absorb it though since I was busy eating. I thought I was just imagining things." They gasped. If this was true¡ª "Captain not only found his wife, but also his children!" "..." "..." The group couldn''t absorb things for a while and they just stared at each other until someone told them to go down to greet them. "A-Ah, right!" "I wanna see sister-in-law closer!" "I wanna see the captain''s smile! Is it creepy? I couldn''t see clearly¡­" "I wanna see the baby!" Chris stood up and corrected them, "Babies," he said, walking ahead to the stairs. Shaking off the shock, this seemed to signal everyone and they all filed down the stairs. Their feet were quick. They were not running but they reached the square very quickly. It was just that their approach was halted by an unexpected sight. The sight of the captain''s massive grin as if teasing sister-in-law about something. It was a blinding sight. "Is that really our captain?" Luis asked, narrowing his eyes. Sammy chuckled. "You should see them (when they think) they''re alone," he said, although he''d argue that the couple were partially forgetting they were in a public space already. Then they saw sister-in-law pouting as she stared at the captain, but their perennially-cold captain just grinned brightly and said something that made sister-in-law blush so, so, beautifully! He then took the woman''s hand he was holding and lifted it up. He placed it against his lips, kissing it, and then he leaned down and placed a wet kiss on her cheek. In public. The soldiers almost fell down. "...!!!!" Then again, they made out when they met back in Vismont, right? They really ought to stop being so surprised! Chapter 356 - 356: Settlement Their female-allergic Captain actually kissed one in public! It was just a peck, but still!!!! Ohmygosh! Will they encounter another apocalypse?! S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sure, they made out (and even cried!) when they reunited, but they pegged that as the couple forgetting the place due to extreme happiness of finding each other again. This was different! They were just strolling around a place with so many passerbys! The soldiers watched dumbfounded as their usually ice-cold captain performed PDA without any sense of shame. Even the locals couldn''t help but sneak peeks. If their identities weren''t so revered, it was estimated the people started hooting. Anyway, the captain lifted his head, as if unaware of the looks around them. The soldiers watched as the Captain grinned looking at his wife, eyes filled with love, before turning to face them. They watched the captain''s sunny expression change almost instantaneously when he looked at them. He now looked like the captain they knew, but darker because they now had a comparison point. They shivered in fear. "Gather!" Their bodies automatically reacted and they stood in an organised line in front of the couple. They did not dare stare at the wife and the kids anymore. The citizens around watched in interest as well-organized soldiers made a formation in the park. To be honest, just the sight of them¡ªeven if they were busy filling their mouths until just a few moments prior¡ªmade the territory feel even safer. It was like they had additional sentries, only alive and silly. Garan stood tall and looked at his men, aura heavy with gravitas as it always was. "I''m sure you have taken your time to get to know Altera Village¡ªwhich will be our new home." The soldier''s eyes sparkled at his words, relieved, and they listened excitedly to what he would be saying next. "We will be purchasing permanent residencies here. I will be buying a villa for our team, with the open space used for training." Of course, at least half of the farm would still be used for planting for self-sufficiency. The soldiers happily agreed. Although they had land in Ferrol, this place was really too good!! They were not only surrounded by their own people, they were surrounded by a good environment and, most importantly, good food! Garan let his men absorb the news for a few seconds before continuing with his announcement. "We will be shifting our main power here, and will be maintaining the other place as a branch instead." They paused, nodding. Indeed, this makes sense. Why would they waste good land in a town? In fact, a few business people watching from afar (note: eavesdropping) were already calculating a few things. What would it be like¡­ to sell in a town? Would they make even more money than what they did in the other three villages? "How exactly the branch will be handled would be up for discussion in the future," Garan said, "In the meantime, I hope you continue working hard to get stronger¡ªto protect all these. After all, you know more than a lot of the people here how¡­ attractive Altera is." The final line made the soldiers tense, and immediately serious. Indeed, the territory was so good. Too good. It would definitely be coveted!! Immediately, their lax expressions immediately hardened, standing even more stable than before, as if ready to attack at a moment''s notice. Garan looked at his soldiers in satisfaction, "I know the monsters around aren''t strong enough, so you will be divided into two teams. "One team will stay here and the other will station in Ferrol town to train with stronger monsters. The travel time will be included in the time of the Ferrol team." "Rotation is every two weeks," he said. It would take more than an entire day to get to Ferrol, and this was without any breaks. He considered the travel time as synonymous with training time. After all, they would definitely be encountering mobs. "The people who stay will apply as guards. Although there are no openings yet, there should be soon," he said, and he said so with certainty, making more than a few look at him curiously. "Your daily task would be to strengthen the territory, including its guards and its people. "I will also allow you to take trips in the allied territories of Bright, Belluga, and Vismont, but you must never halt in training." The soldiers brightened at this, knowing what the Captain meant by this instruction. This was giving them the chance to look for their loved ones in these allied territories! (Speaking of which, they were still amazed that the territory got 3 allies in less than a month!) Garan paused as he stared at them. Knowing the men had already absorbed his words, he nodded and ended his instructions. "Except for working hours, the rest of the time is yours," he said and some soldier''s faces cracked in joy. "For now, settle down and your jobs will begin early tomorrow morning." Garan did not call them out and just nodded at everyone. "Dismissed!" "Sir, yes, sir!" They said and they waited for the captain to leave before letting loose again. Garan turned to his family, immediately showing warmth, as if the serious face from before was a mere illusion. He casually took his wife''s hand and placed his free hand on the stroller. They then went somewhere to continue their date again. The soldiers looked at the sky. They would seriously, never, ever get used to this. ¡­ The Terran Mercenary Team members in Altera all became permanent residents that same hour. They went to their new home, the pace of their walk betraying their excited moods. After a couple of minutes of a power walk, they reached the Farmvilla area, looking for their house number. "Here it is, FarmVilla #31." The house given to them was among the new farm villas built just the day prior. It was also built with the team in mind so the rooms were already combined to make for comfortable dormitories. That same day the soldiers settled down their new home, absolutely proud of their new abode, much more than gaining their own land back in Ferrol. Even if it was smaller¡­ it felt more like home than Ferrol, which was more like their own safe base. After all, that base was their own attempt to make something as close to home as they could. Now that they were here, they were so relieved, and they truly felt like they had finally reached home. Of course, not everyone stayed in the villa. Gill was pretty well-off and could afford a single-detached house. He bought one for himself. It was just instinct for men his age to buy a house when a value-for-money opportunity presented itself. Ryo''s family here was amazingly comprised of an old man and a middle-aged woman. They had already begun paying for their own house, even before Ryo arrived. Apparently, the old man was a hoarder and kept all his money in the form of non-diminishing items. It was due to a bad experience in his youth, during some economic upheaval in his home country, where paper money became useless in the blink of an eye. This was very lucky as they were able to afford permanent residency from the get-go, with their stalls in the market¡ªone of which sold his special sticky rice¡ªwas letting them sustain payment terms for the unit. Both Gill and Ryo were still the subject of envy until now. They not only found their families, but they were also doing well! Everyone wondered where their families were, and they could only pray they were holding on until now and living at least like decent human beings. But a lot of them would be peeking in Bright, Beluga, and Vismont soon enough. Maybe someone would really find family and friends! At this thought, all of the soldiers exchanged information about family and friends they wanted to find. This was especially true for those heading to Ferrol who, unfortunately, wouldn''t be able to see other Terran territories any time soon. They would also ask the elders to send some guards in advance to give the list of their loved ones to the allied territories, so they could at least focus on their jobs for a while. Anyway, back to the new villa, the rest of the soldiers studied their new home and looked at its every nook and cranny. The younger ones immediately went to explore, admiring, and in awe. It was said that the Lord of Bright bought the template from Altera. It seemed that it was true and still better! Not only was it bigger, but there was also a verandah. They also heard there was a level 2 system farm in here. Even if they didn''t buy food outside, maybe they''d get to plant and harvest their own food! As for the interior, it was naturally void of anything. Although there was no furniture yet, there was no lack of shops selling furniture, decorations, rugs, and others so there was no problem making the house their own. "I want a large sofa¡­" "What do you need such a large sofa for? It''s not like we''re hanging out often here." "Yes, there are no televisions¡­" "For meetings!" "You don''t need something so space consuming¡­" Anyway, the soldiers discussed the bespoke furniture that they would buy. Although there were standard sets, they had a lot more savings than the people here. Anyway, after three months of suffering outside, they deserved some luxury! Chapter 357 - 357: Team A and Team B They couldn''t help but remember the suffering they encountered in the past three months. Sure, they did well getting a base in Ferrol, but it was like a perennial and ultra-dangerous mission for a few straight months. At the time, what made everything worse was that they didn''t know if their families were okay! Now that things had somewhat settled down and their messages had been sent to other territories, it was time for them to finally get a breather. While doing their respective tasks and jobs, they still deserved some luxury! They also wanted to taste more food, sleep a bit more, use the bathhouse some more, and also earn Contribution Points! They also wanted to try out the bathhouse again (which needed a lot of money if one didn''t have Contribution Points yet), and they also wanted to check out the Training Hall as well. There were so many places they had yet to explore! Anyway, they gathered together and made plans, soon separating to do their respective tasks. They were intent to make this their home in all senses of the word as soon as possible! This would start with having their own bed to sleep on! Eagle and Gaudi were in charge of purchasing the furniture and food stock, while the others were assigned to build their training yard as well as the planting area. Mao patted his chest as he volunteered to be assigned in the farming team. "My ancestors are farmers. I can do this!" He looked stupid as he tried though but, live and learn. The next issue to tackle was who was going back to the other base¡ªthat was, on who would be returning to Ferrol. No one naturally wanted to be in the first batch. After much in-depth discussion and calculations, they¡­ decided to draw lots. "But we just got here¡­" Luis pouted, glaring at the sticks, mentally threatening it not to choose him. "Oh please, you''re fine, but many of us won''t get any experience killing monsters here anymore." "Still sad though." "Right?" "I haven''t explored everything yet¡­" "I want to be here if news of our relatives gets back¡­" "Who doesn''t?" "But I heard the allied territories are much better now thanks to Altera, we don''t have much to worry about." Overall, it was a bit sad but not too much, because staying in Ferrol meant that there were stronger monsters, and their levels would definitely get higher than those who stayed. They would definitely stock up on food with long shelf lives, of course. Anyway, now came the draw lots for the 6 unlucky souls to be sent to Ferrol. This team would be led by Gill, who was automatically assigned to be in the team. Most of the soldiers prayed to their respective gods not to be chosen. Anyway, they would still go in two weeks, which was plenty of time to explore the territory. Naturally, half of the prayers would not be heard as six short sticks were picked. Someone even lost his footing and kneeled in depression (e.g. Luis). To sum, the ones who had to go back¡ªhereby referred to Team A¡ªwere Gill, Eagle, Luis, Sammy, Chris, Plaridel, and Mao. "Ahh¡­" In contrast, those who stayed like Turbo, Jake, Loki, Brandon, and Ryo¡ªhereby referred to as Team B¡ª heaved out a sigh of relief, and they were already thinking of how to hoard CPs (Contribution Points). Especially Ryo, who wanted to spend more time with his grandpa and aunt¡ªthe only family he had left. The atmosphere really varied in that room for a while, but Team A fortunately did not stay down for too long. In fact, not long after realizing they were getting assigned to the ''branch'' far away from their home, team A already had made various plans in mind. While a bit regretful, they understood they needed to continue getting stronger. Eagle, who had a huge space, already had a money-making plan which would soon be discussed with the captain. It was also a plan that would inevitably place Althea in a lot of people''s maps. ¡­ Seeing Team A scuttle out to stock up, Team B stayed and stared at each other. They started pondering when the guard team would start hiring again, lest they be left behind by those going back to Ferrol. No matter what, they could not remain stagnant! They also want to go see the other territories to look for their loved ones! But they did not have to wonder for too long, because a familiar ding soon sounded inside their heads. [Special admission! Every member of the Terran Mercenary Team had been approved to join the guard team as special members. [Special members: Can retain the double identities of territory guards and mercenaries. [Wages: 10 silver/day [Tasks: Protect the territory, rescue Terrans, and become the main force against strong enemies.] "Whooaaa!" "It must be sister-in-law''s doing! Isn''t she an elder?" Luis said and the others nodded, thinking it made sense. Except for Gill, no one else was privy to the fact that the territory could be connected to Althea that intimately. Regardless, the soldiers just admired her deeply. "This is amazing!" "We''re allowed so much flexibility!" "Our salaries are also much larger than others," Loki said with a smile, having investigated deeply. "Well, we are much stronger, so¡­" "Hehe, anyway¡­ nice, nice!" This was amazing because, although guards were mostly associated with teams (for example Jesse and Angelo to the Woodworkers), they generally could only do their job¡ªthat was, to guard. Giving this flexibility meant they still had their freedom as mercenaries. No matter what, this was too kind and preferential to them. They could only be given this much trust by the ''territory'', no doubt, because of the Captain''s nepotism. "Suspicious though¡­" A person said. Another nodded, "Even if Ms. Althea was an elder, she shouldn''t have been given so much power. We''re not weak, you know, most people who don''t know us would be guarded." "The Lord probably fell in love with her," someone said out of nowhere. It was Jake. He said so with a nod, as if certain of his theory. This made everyone pause, thinking it really made sense. Turbo though, just have him a pointed look. "A love triangle?" he scoffed, "You should write a novel." "Well, we can think of it as you practicing romance skills for Yiyi," Sammy added with a deep chuckle. This was followed by a few hoots that caused Jake''s face to flush red. "YOU!" But Turbo chuckled as he chewed on his chips. "Who knows, maybe he fell in love with the captain!" They laughed. "Idiot! Impossible!" The captain may be handsome, but he was too scary! But it didn''t matter. All they knew was that they finally were officially hired! ¡­. At this time, scary-Garan was smiling softly at his family. Similarly, the lord-that-couldn''t-have-fallen-for-him was staring back with a warm smile. They were each holding a baby in hand, with Althea carrying baby Alphonse and Garan carrying baby Nathalia. Garan''s heart was warm as he imprinted the image of his wife and children in his heart for the nth time. If Garan''s brain was a hard drive, there''d have been hundreds of thousands of new images saved by now. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were currently having a family outing in the view deck area, overlooking the wonderful territory his wife created. It was an incredibly beautiful sight, even better than those tourist spots back in Terran. The buildings were themed and congruent, the roads were wide and comfortable, and the greenbelts meshed everything together into a holistic piece. From an overlooking point of view, one would feel that it was not a mere village, but an organism. "My wife is amazing," he said smugly, carrying little Pepper closer to the railing, pulling Althea with his free hand. Althea chuckled and kissed Little Meatball, who was also squirming, wanting to get a view. "It''s amazing alright." Garan looked at her and then the territory. Indeed, it was a territory so amazing that people would definitely covet it. The mere image of Althea and the territory she worked hard for in danger made his mood turn dark, his grip on her soft shoulder getting a bit tighter. [Congratulations! The territory has determined you are qualified to become Altera Village''s Elder in Military affairs. [Wage: 5 gold/day [Would you like to accept? [Yes | No] He turned to look at the smug face of his wife and his dark mood was easily swept away. He couldn''t help but lean down again. "So, accept or not to accept?" She said and he grinned, placing another peck on her luscious mouth. Of course, he accepted. This was the happiest arrangement. What''s more, there was no conflict between family and ''country'', because they were more than just citizens, his wife owned the whole thing. "Don''t worry about this," he told her, stupid face gradually turned solemn, his deep eyes looking at her full of promise. "I''ll make the territory so strong¡­ "...that no one would be able to shake it." Chapter 358 - 358: Bank Later that night. Now that much of the worries in the territory could be passed on to her husband, brother, team, and the Departments, she could finally focus on the things she liked! Research! Product Development! Speaking of, three major manual constructions have been completed in the past few days: Her research building, the school, and the government office. Her research building and the school were located in the Education zone, a new area formed after expansion, just north of the Southeast luxury areas. As for the office located near the village center¡­ She turned to Ansel, who was eating his after-dinner snacks on the couch. "Have you been to the new office? How''s the fit-out works?" Ansel swallowed the food and answered, "Should be done by tomorrow," he said. "The departments can move to the new building the day after that." Then he changed to a pandering face again, scooting closer to Althea. "Hey, sister~" but stopped at a distance when he met Garan''s scary eyes. "We can hear you well from where you were," Garan said, bringing Althea¡ªwho was sitting beside him and lulling the children in her arms¡ª closer to him. "Tsk," Ansel tutted, before looking at Althea again with a gentle smile, "Do you have any plans for the second floor?" Althea blinked, "Not in particular." Before, she just wanted to make it into an extra meeting room of sorts, just to make use of it. But if Ansel could find a better use¡­ "Then¡­ can I have it?" The couple looked at him curiously, "What''re you planning?" "It''s time for us to make a bank!" The two''s backs straightened, eyes bright. Indeed! It wasn''t that she hadn''t asked the Aborigines if there was this institution, but they were all puzzled by the concept, even Oslo. She had to explain very thoroughly, and she could tell they hadn''t truly absorbed the concept. This was probably because the system and the existence of space were so convenient that there was no need to ''hide'' your money and valuables somewhere else. This world was also so unstable. Who would place their wealth in a place that could get destroyed at any time? And finally, the wealth disparity was large. Very large. Commoners generally didn''t have excess money to think big. "One of the major blockages before was that there was no paper so we couldn''t make ledgers and¡­ well, I needed someone who actually knew these things." "So you found one?" "I found two!" Ansel said, looking quite proud of his accomplishments. When he was trudging through the boooring day filled with interviews, this pair of brothers definitely lit up his day. The men''s names were Ramil and Raj, siblings, Ramil being older than Raj by about three years. They were people who used to work in a bank, albeit different ones with different scopes of work. What none of them knew at this time was that the forty-year-old Raj was one of the managers in the bank Althea robbed back in Terran. He was hiding in a storage room for a long time. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her clearing up the place gave him enough respite and a better chance at life. He even managed to find a few more things Althea didn''t bother with, allowing him to have a decent amount of gold when the Migration came. Anyway, seeing the brothers reminded Ansel of this institution, and how it could be used despite the existence of the convenient and omnipresent system. However, Althea couldn''t help but be a bit worried. "They are siblings?" Placing family members or people in close relationships in sensitive positions could get a bit risky. Ansel though had already thought this through. "Yes. They already signed a contract with the system, so we don''t have to worry about betrayals of the sort." Ansel said, "It''s really convenient, the system." "They should have clear tasks then, to avoid any conflicts." "Yep, considered! I''m responsible for the major decisions while Ramil is the Chief Financial officer responsible for the bank finances, overseeing loans, investments, and financial records. "Raj is assigned to Risk Management, which is in charge of the evaluation of credits (which shouldn''t be difficult with the oath system). He would also handle the Legal Compliances of the deals. Finally, he will spearhead the record-keeping department. "We will also be hiring other officers in charge of client relations and Security and the like." Althea and Garan looked at him, impressed, and Ansel saw this clearly. In fact, if Ansel had a tail like Fufi, it would be wagging very much. "Well, it seems like you''ve got it planned," Althea said, amused at his proudness. "Do you have a proposal?" Ansel grinned smugly, taking a rim of paper from the space. "Done!" Althea and Garan looked at the proposal, turning pages with apt attention. This was a very important institution and, judging by the contents, the three had thought about it decently enough. Basically, the proposal could be summarized as the following: Subject: Proposal for the Establishment of Territory Bank, a vital institution to promote economic growth, stability, and prosperity of the territory Dear Elders and Esteemed Village System, In response to the growing needs of the residents and businesses in Altera Village, we propose the establishment of the ALTERA BANK, a modern and comprehensive banking institution. The absence of such an institution presents an opportunity to provide essential financial services, fostering economic growth, and financial stability within our beloved community. Further, as the territory engaged in new endeavors and trade, the need for the institution will soon become apparent. Mission Statement: ALTERA BANK is committed to providing accessible, secure, and innovative financial services to the residents of Altera VIllage. Our mission is to contribute to the economic development of the region. After all, the Bank is the cornerstone of economic stability, and we hope to be able to provide this foundation. OBJECTIVES: 1. Wealth Preservation - provide a safe and secure environment for the storage of wealth against theft. While this may seem particularly unattractive with the available system space, this could be promoted by promising high-interest rates. 2. Trade Facilitation - we can act as a central Marketplace for merchants to deposit, exchange, and withdraw currencies. We can charge lower conversion rates than the system. 3. Business Support and Economic Growth - offer loans and investments that support the growth of local businesses, entrepreneurs, and artisans. We will also support local businesses through financial education programs and workshops. 4. Community Development- invest in community projects, infrastructure, and charitable initiatives to contribute to the overall well-being of Altera Village. This will also promote the sense of belonging of the citizens, as they could contribute to the territory''s development in another way. 5. Employment Opportunities - Create job opportunities for the residents of the village. 6. Provide Financial Projections - Provide detailed financial projections for the years of the territory, outlining anticipated revenues, operating expenses, and profitability. This will not be limited to the banks, but also financial projections to the entire territory based on information made available to us through the institution. CONCLUSION: The establishment of the Altera Bank represents a significant step forward in promoting the territory''s financial stability, growth, and citizen welfare. We humbly request the system for the approval of the pivotal institution, which will play a vital role in the territory''s bright and prosperous future. Sincerely, -Ansel Witt, Elder of Economic and Finance -Ramil Kuthra, Finance Officer -Raj Kuthra, Officer for Risk and Legal Management. ¡­ Althea nodded, impressed. "This, indeed, looks promising." She turned her head to her husband, "Right?" Garan nodded. "It will definitely help those who weren''t able to bring money but had so much to offer the territory." Ansel nodded. "Loans will also allow buying property possible even when you increase the prices¡ªsomething natural with every upgrade." Ansel paused and leaned back, suddenly looking a bit serious. "Actually, the citizens need this now more than before." The couple looked at him in interest and he continued to speak. "Except for the new people from allied territories, almost every one of the newcomers is a legitimate refugee," he said. "This means that they had likely lost everything when their territory was destroyed." Althea nodded. "These people¡­ they had to start from scratch." She then turned to her brother, feeling a bit proud. "Okay, good. I will send this to the elders as well to see if they have anything to add, but I don''t see any reason they would not recommend its implementation," she said, "Expect to receive your rewards tonight." Ansel brightened, heart filled with pride. "Yes!" ¡­ That night, both Ansel, Ramil, and Raj received the same notification. [For proposing the Bank system thoroughly, the system rewards you with 5000 contribution points each] [Congratulations. The Territory expects a lot from you. May you lead the territory''s financial literacy well.] Ramil and Raj sat up in shock. They were living in the dormitory at this time, and they immediately went to face the other at the announcement that rang in their ears. "Did you receive a note?" Ramil asked, though he limited the volume lest they wake up their roommates. His brother nodded and after a long pause of staring at each other, they grinned. It was finally their time to shine! Chapter 359 - 359: Research Items Later that night, Althea and Garan settled the babies in the crib next to the bed. The two of them looked at the adorable soft pumpkins in the breathing softly without a care in the world. They admired their children for a while, with Garan wrapping his strong arms around her stomach and placing his chin on her head as they did so. The back of her head naturally rested on his generous shoulder, feeling relaxed and protected. It was just that Garan''s hands started to move under her night dress¡­ Althea frowned and turned her head to glare at the man. "The babies are here!" But he chuckled instead, leaning down and lapping her sensitive ears. "I can keep quiet¡­" he whispered, "Are you not confident?" She blushed. "You¡ª" But she stayed strong. Pushing his lips away from her ears, she looked at him sternly. "No, I need to plan my research building. It''ll be available for use in a few days." Garan blinked and stared at her, wondering to what degree he needed to flirt to change her mind. However, he saw her emerald eyes looking quite stern despite her blushing cheeks, so he knew that Althea was really planning on finishing her tasks as soon as possible. As a good husband who respected his wife''s wishes, he didn''t push it. "Okay," he said with that baritone voice of his, placing a gentle peck on her forehead. "How may I help?" Althea narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously and Garan just found her adorable. "I may be able to input some ideas," he told her. "Even if I don''t, uttering them out could help you organize your thoughts." Hm, made sense. Seeing that her husband wasn''t thinking of perverted stuff anymore, her guard lowered and they moved to the room''s sitting area. Garan couldn''t help but take a few advantages and make her sit flush with him, though fortunately he didn''t do anything else. "I want to finalize my research team," she said, "What we lack in sheer power¡ªwhich we will still aim for, of course¡ªand I want to overcome this lack with everything else. "The fastest way to safely integrate was through the aborigines. Not only are they strong, they are also loyal while they''re associated with the territory," she said, "But this had its limits, especially when we aren''t at Town level yet. In the meantime, other level 3 villages have guards with average levels of 8 to 10." Garan nodded. "Okay," he said, "What particular items do you wish to see?" "There''s a lot." "Such as?" "Well for one, improved Metallurgy. We also want to do techniques like tempering and quenching. My goal is to create metals like steel or any other stronger metals than just iron." Garan brightened at this. "Indeed. That would take our military might and the industries to another level." As everyone knew, even the most impure iron sword here could give more damage than a steel sword from Terran. They could only imagine the damage that could be made by weapons made of aether-infused steel. Definitely superior. Just the thought made military man Garan look quite excited¡ªat least as excited as his cold-by-default face could get. Of course, this also meant the processing might also change, as it could be different from what was done in Terran. Althea nodded and listed that down. She opened the tablet to search for what to watch out for when making steel and alloys. They didn''t have a lot of Iron to experiment on after all, they had to plan ahead as thoroughly as they could. One of the main differences to watch out for was the atmosphere in Xeno. Handling aether was one thing, but even the air here was different. It was likely there would be some modification in the refining and reduction process recorded in her tablet. There would also be differences in the crystal structure of the steel atoms, which could result in enhanced (or subpar) physical properties, in addition to whatever aether itself could change. They could use wind and water to generate power now as well, and these would be helpful to use in bigger processes like steel production. As Althea wrote down all she could, Garan thought for a while and wondered what he could suggest. "We will need more for innovations of long-ranged weapons." Althea nodded. "Gunpowder, according to my tablet anyway, requires three primary components: Saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur." The first two were no problem at all and they could even produce them themselves. Saltpeter could be taken from decomposing organic matter¡ªsomething they had been doing all this time for biogas and fertilizers (and bombs). They had been planning on saltpeter for a long time, determining the exact methodology applicable in Xeno to create ice, but that was something that needed a bit of trial and error first. This was one of the first assignments given to her Research Team. Charcoal was easiest in such a wood-rich place as well, and they only had to process it. This also needed a bit of trial and error due to the differing atmospheric conditions of this place, but it should still be easier than creating saltpeter. Sulfur was the actual challenge and they had yet to find some. There didn''t seem to be a lot of volcanoes in this place (which was usually a plus, except for cases like this), so they''d have to find a place to mine it. At least, they had to find an alternative somehow and somewhere. She had already long sent a mission for thisbut there was no luck so far. "You also don''t have to limit yourself with gunpowder," Garan said, "I heard of a power source found in cities called Aether Crystals." This made Althea pause and look at her man. He looked at her curious expression and smiled. "From what I gathered, they are rare and are used to form teleportation arrays, barriers, and the like. I also heard it was used to destroy half a village infested with monsters before." This was one of the things he found out during his months of looking for a way home. It was too far and unimportant to him at the time, but now¡­ "Indeed, if we could harness it, not only would we have another power source, but maybe something like a plasma gun could be made." Her emerald eyes sparkled so much that Garan couldn''t help but kiss the eyelids over them. Althea smiled and accepted the show of affection before continuing her soliloquy. "I also want to develop electricity. So we need energy sources and ways to convert them to energy," she said, "If we could get this crystal, maybe we could use it as well." Garan nodded, "I''ll find a way," he said, "And we should also ask Oslo. He should be from amongst upper tier in a city." "You could tell?" "Hmn," he said, patting her head. "What else?" "Communication. Although I can send messages to everyone, no one else can do this except for announcements¡ªwhich are also very expensive if used too often. This isn''t including Matilda''s special skill, of course." "What about private messaging? We don''t have that yet." In fact, Oslo mentioned something called aether letters before. He promised to bring some back when he went home for a break. "Transportation is already ongoing but I do want to see some cars. Hopefully sustainable ones¡­" And hopefully, the types that could traverse the rough terrains of this world. If they could develop flying ones, then they''d be welcome. It was just that something simple like hot air balloons was risky, as they heard that there were high-level flying monsters that existed, especially around towns and cities. Hot air balloons¡­ were basically sitting ducks against these monsters. No one would commercialize on this unless they wanted to be ready food for flying monsters. Putting this issue aside, Althea proceeded to the next item on her list. "I want to develop glass-making mostly for my greenhouse and experiments," She said, "A lot of the materials have been found. All we have to do now is find the right process." Like what happened with the salt before, she doubted that the processing of glass here would be exactly like in Terran. She expected to have a lot of trial and error in this¡ªexpensive ones. Most raw materials like silica and soda ash were easy because of their location, but limestone was a bit harder to harvest because of the distance. Limestone had yet to be found after many many days of adventuring, and she had promised 10000 contribution points for the discovery of a good stock. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, until they develop the logistics, the cost of transportation would not be low. Not to mention, generating that amount of heat was no joke, so the research for that had to be done in parallel to save time. Garan nodded, "When you do, please develop optics and telescopes as well." There were also other things like glass ballistic shields, glass-ceramic armor, and the like. Glass could also be used to create solar-powered glass structures, though that needed to wait until they found the correct power sources. "Got it~" She said, smiling. Hm. The world was so big, they''d need all the tools they could get. There were plenty of things to do, but the fact that they were possible and implementable¡ªwas a source of hope in and of itself. It was quite exciting, and she was looking forward to what Altera would look like after all these were implemented! Chapter 360 - 360: Research Team (Part 1) Garan looked at her still-long list and rubbed her soft cheek. "Tell me more," he said and she happily continued with her chatter. "I also want to do printing for mass production of books now that we have paper." With the printing press, the education system would flourish, and with it countless other unquantifiable things. "We also need to fast track the handling of resin¡ªsomething that could''ve been available ages ago, if there weren''t so many wars¡­" For a start, she wanted to develop resin products such as rubber which could be made into tires, gaskets, seals, and other components. Rubber had been one of the essential material developments during the industrial revolution due to its importance in machinery. Other products like wax, waterproofing, footwear, improved bowstrings, and adhesives could also stem from this. She also wanted some improvement of ink, as the current one was really low quality with so many blots it was killing the over-compulsive her every time she wrote. There was also too much wastage as it was now, making ink still very expensive to make and more expensive to buy, should they be made commercially available in its current state. "There are also calculation devices other than the abacus, for everyone''s convenience." There were already plenty of abacus being sold in the wood-workers shop. It was fine now, but the territory population would increase. The territory lands would get bigger and bigger. The ancient methods would soon be obsolete. One of the calculating tools that could be done without electricity was the Analytical Machine, the precursor of modern computers that needed electricity. This was entirely a mechanical device and would theoretically (if done correctly) be able to do automated calculations and general-purpose computing. And when they figure out how to incorporate electricity, they would need this to create the electric prototypes of computers as well. This was really getting ahead of herself, but there was not much to lose. "When the basics are done, I also want to develop astronomy and navigation including accurate time keeping¡­" "I also want to develop weather prediction and meteorology. I want to know the changes of weather in advance¡ªI don''t want to depend on luck and wait in stress." She didn''t believe that the weather was completely unpredictable as the aborigines believed. According to the Aborigines, there were a few elders in certain cities who could determine an approximate timeline of the extreme weather changes, but it was up to their mood and how much a territory was willing to pay before they even gave a hint. How could Althea allow herself to be dependent on other people¡ªpossibly quacks? For a start, they needed to create non-electric tools to help the future meteorology department. For instance, there was the barometer, hopefully, a sensitive one, so they could immediately get alerted if storms arrived. They had already done wind vanes and anemometers a long time ago, but there were too many tools needed to be able to predict weather with some accuracy. For example, they would need thermometers, hygrometers, rain gauges, sunshine recorders, ceilometers, et cetera. The sad part was that a lot of these needed glass¡­ so that would definitely take a while. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Further, when electricity became available, there were dozens of other tools to increase accuracy as well. "And then¡­ after all these are done, I also want to develop more everyday and lifestyle items like hygiene products, other types of cloth, even musical instruments." Lifestyle items were essential for the psyche, especially for those who had just arrived in this new place. Since they could do it, why not do it? Garan blinked at her long, definitely still-ongoing, list. His wife really had a lot of plans. He felt bad that she had been delayed for so long. Well, no matter. He was here to handle things she didn''t want to deal with. "That''s¡­ indeed a lot." He just said, kissing her cheek. Althea nodded very seriously. "Right?" "Well, know that you''re not alone," He said, "Do you already have people to work in the new research center?" She pursed her lips. She had forgotten about it. Fortunately, the research center had just been finished, otherwise, she''d feel very irresponsible. Garan chuckled, making her pout. Obviously, this was partially his fault for being so distracting right? The man naturally noticed her cute blaming eyes and smiled, distracting her (again). "Then why not make a general hiring notice, then?" "Ah! Yesyesyes." She opened her lord''s tab to send out an announcement to everyone. She included the visitors even if there was a bit of cost. As Ansel mentioned, most refugees at this point didn''t have much money in their pockets anymore. Receiving this notice would be more life-saving than it would be for others. And so, a couple of minutes later, a new notification would arrive on everyone''s screens. [Hiring! Seeking talented and driven individuals with technical knowledge in any field to explore, study, and contribute to the development of the territory. [Including but not limited to the following fields: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Medicine, Materials Engineering, Industrial Engineering, et cetera. [Wage: 300 copper/day, plus 1-20% profit share on individual invention, dependent on contribution] Satisfied, she then shifted the luminous powdery screen and ended up on the population list. Her emerald eyes stayed on a couple of names as well as their skill sets. Her dainty arms raised, she sent direct invitations to a couple of people. These people would be parachuted to leading positions: supervisory at the lowest, and team leads at best. That night, Alterans would be staring at their screen with hearts filled with excitement. As expected, the new announcement sent another shockwave in the territory. Not only to those who were qualified, but also to the citizens who would have nothing to do with the research center. This was because they knew that the territory was improving again. In time, this meant their lives would be even better! Another day, another proof that their territory is the best! Chapter 361 - 361: Research Team (Part 2) Althea would hire a few dozen people per team, with the leads receiving 1 gold per month salary. The leads would also have their own offices and laboratories. Eugene, the elder of Research and Development, would have the largest one for sure. All elders now received 5 gold a month like Garan did. This was actually a lot considering the cost of living in Altera and the benefits of ''employees'', but she didn''t want her elders receiving lower amounts than those hired through the Chancery of Appointments¡ªregardless of whether they could take home a smaller gross amount. Back to the team leads, the first to be invited was, unsurprisingly, Winona. She was set to spearhead the materials study team. As someone who knew materials the best, Winona would definitely help her out the most with maximizing the local materials. She would also be one to push for a great lifestyle in the territory¡ªat least the basic ones expected of Terrans¡ªso Winona was definitely one to depend on about those research items. Then there was Melissa. Melissa was Eugene''s coursemate back then. Although she dropped out after only after a year in university, Eugene told her that the woman was objectively talented and would be worthy of training. Melissa had a lot to learn, but she was booksmart and would really be able to help put theory to reality, at least some time in the future. The woman would be Eugene''s apprentice and assistant, hopefully triggering a similar job as soon as possible, even if it wasn''t the rare Creator job. Althea also sent an invitation to someone from Mathilda''s team: Belinda the antique appraiser, albeit on an on-call job. In a sense, they were also a type of scientist themselves, and they could definitely find projects to do with their own expertise. For now, her most likely use would be the study of local instruments. While they had the Aborgines, having another set of eyes¡ªone with an entirely different background¡ªcould help. Oslo promised to take back various tools and equipment¡ªeven if they seemed useless at first glance¡ªto bring back to Altera for study. The other aborigines, especially those from towns, also promised to bring back what they could when they decided to take a vacation and go back to their hometowns. The next one to be invited was Yen, one of Drake''s suitors. She was actually an electrical engineer who worked for Winona''s family, still in a supervisory position. Winona herself asked her to recruit the girl. Despite her questionable off-work habits (partying a lot, and having different boyfriends every few weeks), she had good professionalism while on the job, and it left Winona impressed. Winona said that she was lucky to get this one in her territory so early, so the study for electricity could start immediately. In fact, the invitation was a formality, as the girl had already submitted a proposal on what would be needed to get electricity. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this thought, Althea fished out the proposal from her space and looked at it again, sighing. For a start, they would definitely have to maximize their location¡ªwith the availability of strong winds and a natural river to create windmills and watermills. Then the tricky part¡ªthe actual conversion to electricity¡ªcame into play. In Terran, this was done with electromagnetic induction. They would need copper and magnets for this¡­ which were also raw materials they had yet to find. They found their iron on bogs after all. Magnetite didn''t exist there at all. Sigh. Seeing his wife like this, Garan frowned, absentmindedly patting her head. If he had taken goblins with him, would they have been able to help with their raw material problems? He should''ve kidnapped them and tied them up real good to stop them from killing themselves¡­ How regretful¡­ Althea had no idea what morbid thoughts were going on in his head and just continued to run through her list. After electricity, there were plenty of other considerations prior to implementing it. They had to do load calculations, infrastructure planning, transmission and distribution planning, and many more. Next were the medical aspects. She sent an invitation to a young man named Gus. He was a pharmacist student who came with Drake''s team. Characterized by his freckles and brown hair, he was actually quite well-known as the dude who ''saved people from plants like Ms. Althea did.'' He had applied for Lily''s assistant position before but Althea saw his potential for the research center instead. Lily was also training her replacement, as she would be assigned to an actual health center when it was built. He would be helping Gru, who would have an office there as well. They would naturally focus on agriculture and plant research like she would. They would also help Clutch out with the combining plants and weapons/armor project. Clutch really wouldn''t be able to do it on his own, he''d need a bit of help from her and from others. And finally, for the weapons research, there would be quite a few people. For the Aborigines, there was Brenda and Troy. For Terrans, there were Jake and Brandon. The four of them would be spearheading this department, each with their own special teams to handle. The difference was that they would still be working in the factory. The area dedicated to them in the Research Center would mostly be for testing and optimization of the weapons they created. Sigh. She had a lot to do. Fortunately, she had a team with her. Anyway, the Research Center was large enough for all these projects studied together. It might take a while for most of them, but it was a step to progress, and that was what mattered. Garan smiled when he saw his wife finally take back her list to the space. He leaned down and kissed her, lifting her up back to the bed. "Now, it''s time to relax," he said as he hovered over her, using that low voice of his that seemed to make her heart beat faster every time she heard it. This time, she didn''t fight him. Chapter 362 - 362: Mass Level Up The next day. The Terran Mercenary Team villa was completely renovated the day after settling in. At this time, the farms were also tilled and the training ground was fully set up. It was amazing what they finished in less than a day. They were even linked to a part-time farmer to care for their future rations. Of course, they would pay for the fees themselves. As for the house itself, it was also basically completed. With Althea''s help, the team managed to hire the Interior Design firm under Baron''s company and the villa was quickly set up. It was set as a priority project by Baron as a favor to the new Elder, though it was also in exchange for a bit of training for his team. Of course, Eagle and the others gladly agreed. The house was also designed to maximize space, designed to fit everyone. The rooms were all dormitories with double-deckers, capable of comfortably accommodating all of them thrice over. They also had their own cabinets and storage areas, fixed for their personal use even if they were rotating to Ferrol. Even if the rest of the Mercenary Team¡ªTerran or not¡ªarrived here at the same time, they could easily be accommodated. The Captain also said he reserved the lot behind them, in case they needed to expand. As for the rest of the public spaces, they left just enough space in the remaining area to be a multipurpose room. This main sala would function as a dining room, a living room, and a meeting room adjustable according to needs. (More accurately, it was a large control room of sorts that could also be used to eat and relax after a meeting). What was also notable was the quality of the furniture¡­ Terrans had great adaptability, especially when they weren''t being hunted by monsters, so the quality of the products¡ªwhether it was wood, clothing, hides, earthwares¡ªwas improving at a straight line. For their purpose, they even made custom furniture for their unique needs. Even the Aborigines who had lived in cities were amazed by the increasing variety and quality of products. The soldiers were quite proud, someone was even a little teary. Sniff. "At least I was able to see the house completed before I left," Luis mumbled. It was also the day that Team A was set to depart for Ferrol. It was necessary, but they felt super reluctant. "I agree¡­" "Well, we have the advantage of earning more¡­" Eagle said, sighing. And it did make the others feel somewhat better. The previous day, they filled up their backpacks¡ªspace or not¡ªwith a lot of everything. They even took advantage of nepotism to get access to products not yet available in the Terran Market. They even purchased rickshaws. Some rubber products and shock absorbers had already been installed, and they were quite honored to be the first to use them. Eagle was also with them, but because of his space, he was flexible for both teams. After settling in Ferrol back them, the team signed a contract to keep the existence of the space stone and never to speak of it. This included Gaudi and everyone on the team, so he could use it within team premises without worry. Of course, because there were so many of them, the ''admin fee'' charged by the system was also quite large. Speaking of space stones, Eagle wondered if the captain had already given it to his wife. He looked at the Captain who was seeing them off and telling them some last-minute reminders, but he didn''t bring it up in the end. Garan watched Team A seriously, "I hope this trip is fruitful. Of course, your safety is Priority. Always." "Yes, sir!" "Good luck," he said, "Earn as much as you can." sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The soldiers nodded, eyes sparkling at the prospect of funds. They planned to sell the items for ten times the price, or even more, to make sure that the team had ample funds to operate. Each individual could also sell their own items, similarly to enhance their own¡ªand their families''¡ªlives. This was true even for Garan. He couldn''t financially depend on his wife right? What if some bastard who made good money swooped in and tried to shame him? It wouldn''t be the first time that happened. Back in Terran, when they were just dating, Althea had an obnoxious suitor coming from a big family. How many times that bastard referenced his being a poor soldier as a reason for his unworthiness of Althea, he couldn''t even count. Since then, he hadn''t refused the huge rewards reaped when they dealt with criminal gangs and terrorist groups. He had made quite a fortune, enough to give Althea the occasional jewelry that she liked. Before he left, he even constructed a villa in Aberdeen¡ªa low-level Green City. Too bad he wasn''t able to take any of this wealth. He was brought back to the present when Gill went forward¡ªafter saying a heartfelt farewell to his mother¡ªto greet him and Althea. "It''s time for us to go now," He said, "I will also try to get in contact with Bart and the others, as well as investigate that warning." This was to investigate more about what Bart mentioned before they entered the fog: Forces were congregating in this area. They also needed to know who was already nearby, so they could prepare. They saw the seven people off. Not only with filled space but also with filled backpacks and a couple of rickshaws they bought. There were plenty of goodbyes between the soldiers. After all, they were basically together every day, surviving life-and-death situations. OCD Ryo also mentioned to his friends for good measure, "I will make sure to clean out your beds once in a while." There were also a few hugs and Garan sighed at how dramatic big men were. They were only parting for less than two weeks¡­ But he didn''t say anything. After all, this world was too unpredictable. Although they were strong and careful, they could still lose their lives in unexpected situations. Anyway, Team A soon disappeared from their sights and he turned to the remaining soldiers: Turbo, Jake, Loki, Brandon, Ryo, and Reuben. For Team B, they were scheduled to integrate with the guard team later that day. Garan and Althea distributed them into four teams, referring to four shifts, with 8 hours each leg. One shift rested, while one shift stayed in the territory to guard it. The remaining two hunted outside to train. Once in a while, the shift would increase because they''d be going to other territories for visits as well. Other than that, they''d be taking weaker guards and training them, helping them level up. The territory now had over 300 well-fed and well-trained guards, but this was only in comparison to other Terran territories. Guards from aborigine villages averaged at around level 9 or more. Hence, along with Rowan, the remaining 7 soldiers were distributed to assist in the leveling up of the other guards. They would only take the last hit if the monster could give them experience points. While it seemed unfair to the mercenary team, they were promised contribution points so none of them grumbled at all. Of course, it wasn''t blindly giving the last shot, the mercenary team and aborigines made sure the guards also fought to the best of their capabilities. They would only weaken the monsters to the manageable level of the person and do nothing else except for when life was threatened. The following week the guards were set on training desperately, and everyone was working hard. For the two shifts of hunting outside, all sixteen hours were used, and they tried to minimize travel time by running far from the wall, making noise, and eating well during camping breaks. After this shift, they would be either resting or stationed in the territory as respite, and the people originally assigned to these tasks would shift and go hunt outside. This led to the guards increasing several levels within a few days. The upgrading was understandable to the aborigines, considering the kills and assistance, but every guard had also awakened a fighting occupation which baffled them to no end. To their knowledge, people could only awaken one occupation at most and not everyone could awaken it. There was their Lord who got the archer occupation and the rare pharmacist occupation, but it seemed like she wasn''t alone. No one noticed the aborigines'' bafflement though because everyone¡ªincluding the citizens¡ªwas inspired to level up. This was especially because they saw fellow Terrans being so incredibly strong¡ªsome even stronger than the Aborgines they admired! Even if they were soldiers, they were still Terran humans in the end. Like they were! This meant that they could definitely catch up to the Aborigines if they worked hard enough! Most importantly: They could do magic! This prospect inspired the guards and citizens without limit. A lot of citizens also joined in and followed them. This triggered an unprecedented mass level up¡ªguards and normal citizens alike¡ªbringing the territory''s strength to a whole new level. Chapter 363 - 363: Level 9 During this time, the admiration and gratitude received by the soldiers and the aborigines who helped others level up was absolutely massive. Every day, some citizen or guard would be treating them to a meal, giving out supplies, and sending groceries. They saved a lot of money with all the treats. The citizens also loved feeding the soldiers. Most of the time, they also asked them about the elements, what their experiences were, and requested for some tips. It was as if they already activated their elements by their questions. The aborigines couldn''t bear to tell them that less than 10% of people could awaken elements. They could only smile awkwardly and make subtle hints along the way, trying to be as gentle as possible. For example: "You''re working hard, occupations should be within reach. It doesn''t matter if you become an Elementalist." This was Gauis speaking. "Yes, having an occupation is already amazing. Elementalists are overrated sometimes because of the mana issue¡­" However, many citizens had bright eyes and optimistic faces, quickly shutting them down. "No, no. I already have names of my techniques: Wind blade, Tornado Lift, and Breeze Distraction." "..." On the other hand, the soldiers had an inkling that everyone who survived to get here probably had the potential to be Elementalists, though they never said so out loud. Anyway, this went on for a few more days, with each soldier gaining their own fanbases like the aborigines did (known as the Golden Girls for Oslo and the Fiery Squad for Rowan). The Alterans watched in awe as fellow Terrans produced fireballs in their hands, throwing them into quick projectiles. They were accurate, hitting the monsters in critical places. They whistled as fellow Terrans produced water whips that floated gracefully around them. Amazingly, they used such a gentle element to create serious damage to monsters who could eat their heads in a single bite. They clapped as another soldier stomped his feet and tens of earth spikes emerged from the ground, skewering monsters in one shot, debilitating them for the others to kill. And they gasped in awe as fellow Terrans swiped their hands and created small tornadoes. Someone even flew for a few seconds. Anyway, it was all very inspiring. After all, this meant there was a possibility they could do it as well when they reached level 10! Many of these citizens and guards were victims of the stronger waves of monsters, each one lost a friend or loved one in these beasts'' jaws. Memory could get blurry, but the emotions of the moment were clear: They felt scared, hopeless, and extremely weak at the time. To see them being handled so easily by brethren who arrived not too long before them¡ªhow could they not be fired up? How could they not want to take revenge by themselves?! The very thought fired everyone up and the training got even more intense. Day after day people trained. The average level of the territory shot up to level 5 that week. For soldiers, it was level 7. Even Althea, who received solo assistance from her husband, became level 9 before the week ended. She was currently going against a level 8 monster with reptilian skin and sharp claws. She was visibly much more relaxed now than when she handled a monster a lower level before. This showed her exemplary growth at this time. Garan had barely weakened the monster beforehand. Of course, he did send ice walls to guard her as needed, but in terms of damage to the monster, it was basically all Althea. Althea narrowly avoided the monster''s sharp claws, rolling on the ground, and quickly regained her balance. She took advantage of its lagging movements due to its injuries and pulled out her improved katana, slicing the area under its neck¡ªits weakness. [Killed! Madara (Lv8): +220 Experience, +220 Copper] Althea heaved a deep breath but remained alert and standing. Garan walked over, congratulating his wife for another clean kill¡ªher tenth so far for the day¡ªbut her body was still tense, looking around for more enemies. The man looked at her, "It''s time to rest." "No, one more," she said, and there was no room for discussion. Garan sighed, heartbroken. But what could he do? He could only follow his wife''s wishes. ¡­ They stood on a mountain apex within the territory line after the training that day, setting up a picnic cloth while watching the sunset. They prepared a lot of fruit, sandwiches, and the like. They sat down, seemingly relaxed, and it was worth noting that Althea did not have a pint of blood on her even when they went straight from training. It could be seen that Garan protected her well. Of course this didn''t mean that it wasn''t much of a training. On the contrary, it was quite effective. The main focus of today''s training was how to handle the monsters directly¡ªideally maximizing their weak spots. Althea actually did more damage than just the last shot, which meant she also got more actual experience than most of the other guards. The only reason she didn''t have bloody injuries was because Garan covered her with his ability when she was hit by monster attacks. It was estimated she still had a number of bruises from the impact. So now they decided to have a picnic to reward her for a job well done. They set up at the apex of the still-undeveloped luxury community #2. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The homeowners would have access to a branch of the mountain spring. She''d find a way to create an outdoor hot spring, and turn this into a resort area. They were having their picnic on a small plateau in this area. It was cleared of invasive trees (transferred somewhere else), leaving just enough cover for those relaxing, and the whole area was framed by beautiful canopy trees on the side. This area was planned to be a luxury view deck in the future. Well, someday. Its altitude was also high and the view of the territory was even better than the existing view deck. Coupled with the reddish hue given by the resting sun, the view was absolutely gorgeous. "Ouch!" She yelled as Garan gently wiped an ointment on one of the more visible bruises. She almost spat out the sandwich she was eating. "Bwe gentle!" Garan chuckled at her childish look and took a second look. As she grew up, she naturally showed less of this. But in front of him, he could still see glimpses. Of course, he was even gentler with his massages and he shifted to the bruise at the back of her arm. "Take off your jacket," he said and she maneuvered herself so he could help her take her jacket with minimal pain. Her eyelids twitched a bit but she didn''t say anything. She didn''t want to suddenly start acting like a baby as soon as her male lead appeared. A few moments later, the gentle Garan successfully took off the leather cover leaving her wearing only a sleeveless top. He frowned when he saw the large bruise¡ªas large as his palm¡ªat the back of her arm. The contrast between the bluish-green mark against her white skin hurt his eyes and pained his heart. Of course, while painful, he never stopped her from wanting to get stronger. It was for her own good, after all. His hand was as gentle as it could be, massaging the bruises skillfully that Althea moaned a little. The associations of the sound sent heat to his body and his eyes darkened a bit. If she wasn''t so full of bruises, it was estimated Garan had already touched her with perverted thoughts. But the comfort of his wife was always above his own so he pushed back the desire. All these tangents did not affect the gentleness of his massage at all. Althea closed her eyes in relaxation, reviewing the fights of the day by habit. However, she couldn''t help but think about how it was for her husband and his team back then. They didn''t have the luxury of the protection period, and they must''ve been thrown at such strong monsters from the get-go. How much had he suffered? She suddenly turned her body to face her husband, which surprised him. But he was shocked when he saw a line of tears in her eyes. "Oh no¡­ did I hurt you?" Garan said, obvious panic on his face. Althea''s heart warmed and she just sat on his leg and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her chin on his wide shoulder. Garan, though puzzled, hugged her back, trying not to touch anything lest he hit a bruise. "It must''ve been very dangerous, when you were thrown to this place all of a sudden." Garan finally knew what she was crying for and was relieved she wasn''t hurt. He gently wrapped his arms around her, though without any pressure, and placed his chin on the top of her soft head. "The thought of returning to you kept me going," he said and smiled. In response, Althea hugged him a little tighter to further feel his presence. It was a wholesome moment that lasted for a while. It was just that the warm atmosphere was broken when Althea moved a little and¡­ felt something hard poking at her leg. "..." "..." Chapter 364 - 364: Team As Side Ferrol Town, a few days ago For the first day or two after arriving in Ferrol Town, the team had been predominantly training, and using the rest of the time to study the market and investigate some news. So far, it seemed that no unusual territories have gathered their forces in Ferrol yet¡ªat least not suspiciously en masse, and there was no one who only stepped on Ferrol right before or after the Protection Period ended. As for the activities of other territories, it was difficult to say for sure if they were doing anything suspicious. After all, there was an event in Ferrol and it welcomed various territories and visitors at this time. It was not wise to investigate these territories too closely either, as they were not arrogant and thought they wouldn''t be found out. They would definitely be found if they weren''t careful¡ªand if they attracted hostility to Altera because of this, then they would have sinned. This didn''t mean they dropped their guards, of course. They always kept a sharp eye and ear about what was happening around them, assigning most of their members in spying tasks (rotating) while the rest made money for the group. Other than these, they were also asked to further solidify their knowledge of the indigenous market and analyze whether it was worth being put on their radar with their strength. After all, selling Alteran products would naturally put the village on the map of the aborigines. Not to mention: They were planning to debut at Ferrol''s annual market festival¡ªwhich was a conglomeration of various territories. In Terran terms, this was like a massive multi-territorial Expo, and they would definitely get exposed to all kinds of people. This was both a risk and an opportunity. As people who had stayed in Xeno for months, they had a better idea of how charming Altera was to the aborigines. They knew how innovative Altera''s products were. Even fellow Terrans were amazed by how quickly things were made¡ªlet alone the aborigines who were completely clueless about what they were at first. But sister-in-law said there should be more gain. She was confident they could beat territories around the same level anyway. There was also a level limit in wars to prevent strong territories from sending ultra-strong professionals to wars of subsidiaries. This was a very kind rule, as it minimized heartless massacres of entire territories. Although the current generation of Aborigines wasn''t born yet before the wars were established, they had heard plenty of stories passed down from their families. It was truly a horrid time back then, and there was no one who could truly sleep in peace. At the time, it was said that even with long lifespans, no one really lived beyond 100 because they''d have either been killed in a war or killed because of the injuries accumulated after battling their whole lives. The exemptions to this rule were extremely protected individuals¡ªoftentimes at the expense of other people''s. When the Territory War limitations were implemented, everything changed. This relative peace, followed by the appearance of the System, allowed most territories time to grow. It was just that war, selfishness, and one-upmanship were still the main instinct against each other and against other territories, so even if resources were ample, growth remained slow. In any case, the Territory War Limitation was only positive, and they were thankful for it. Interestingly, there was no formal ''document'' on what the rules were. People just¡­ found out through time and experience¡ªreceiving warnings and punishments every time they did something wrong. Eventually, an unwritten summary of rules was formed and it was passed from generation to generation. This became quite long, with differing details. What was interesting was the fact that knowledge about these ''rules'' had some variances from person to person. For instance, Oslo (unsurprisingly) knew more rules than everybody else. This added a lot of dynamics in wars because there could be rules and loopholes that certain territories kept to themselves. Anyway, the major rule that everyone agreed on was the level limitations that took into effect during wars. This was the level of the citizens allowed to actively participate in wars¡ªthat was, to attack and kill. For villages, a maximum level of 15 was allowed. This meant that even a lot of the members of the mercenary team would be unable to join in. At best, they would only be able to defend within the territory line, and nothing beyond that. For towns, the maximum level was 30 and, for cities, there was none. The point was, even if Altera got exposed, they didn''t have to worry. The territory was strong enough with all these limits in place. The bigger pity would be to hide and miss this opportunity when they''d be found out sooner or later anyway. It was better to show oneself to as many people as possible from the get-go, showcasing what Altera could offer them¡ªthis way, attacking Altera might risk offending others, because people''s interests would be affected. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was definitely easier to become a helpless victim when there was only the assailant who knew about your existence. Anyway, after a few days of training during ''work hours'' and studying the market during their rest times, the soldiers finally had a rough idea of the situation. In particular, they had an idea of the initial markets they would be exposed to (which were predominantly towns and villages) as well as the market prices of similar items¡ªwhich were much more inferior in appearance, quality, and function. Eagle estimated they could even charge much more than 15 times the buying price back in Altera. This was very good news because it meant that they''d be rich! And the Mercenary Team will be rich! Better, the captain would never be thought of as ''eating soft rice''! After all, sister-in-law was really too rich in comparison to everyone else! Then again¡­, as the original source of these items, their selling of the products would also make Ms. Althea richer! Ah, so complicated! Chapter 365 - 365: The Rest of the Terran Mercenary Team Inside the Terran Mercenary Team Ferrol Branch "What do you think is going on?" Essed, the bald-headed spear-user, asked the others as he looked curiously at the masters. They had just gone back from a day of training and investigation, immediately going to the storage and taking out the large baggages they brought before. Madon followed their movements as well and offered to help, only to be rejected. They couldn''t help but remember that not even a week ago, the masters were extremely antsy and panicked. Look at them now, all smiles and very giddy¡­ "The somber atmosphere from before the masters left turned lively." Madon paused, "I''m very curious about what happened." More and more staff arrived to watch the fun, and they nodded at Madon''s words. It wasn''t that they hadn''t asked. It was just that when they did, all they received were sly smiles. "Well, it was definitely a good trip. They all looked so serious and worried before they left¡­" Essed said and smiled, watching as Luis cackled by himself. The young man was looking at the covered rickshaw as if it was his beautiful wife¡­ Speaking of rickshaws, the aborigines had been pondering about them for a while, though they couldn''t be used by them yet as the tools were stored along with the other things. Those rickshaws were really high quality. Their towns and cities had this, but they had never seen one done so well. They had seen it move when it got here, it ran so smoothly. Somehow, even on bumpy roads, they saw the items inside received much less shock than they should. It must be quite comfortable to use. There were quite a few people outside who knocked on their gates, asking who made them¡­ But¡­ the masters were being so mysterious and they were often outside, and they could only say that the masters got it from another territory. The aborigines continued to chat a bit before going back to their posts, only they didn''t have to as the deputy had already called on everyone. "Meet up!" Gill yelled and his sharp eyes watched as they filed the hallway one by one, looking at each of them. Other than the Terrans, a total of 21 aborigines were hired. There were 8 in logistics and 13 were fighters. The eight people on the logistics team were Pipa and Sasa, who were regular seamstresses; Roana and Yoyo, the regular cooks; Koli regular tanner; Jessi, a regular gardener, and; Furong and Semi, regular carpenters. None of the logistics officers received system occupations, so their skills were extremely limited. However, this was fine for the simple Mercenary team and they never believed in limiting people so strictly. They even had hope that maybe their people would upgrade if they worked hard enough. Perhaps they could even go study in Altera to get inspired. As for the fighters, there were plenty, most of whom were just normal people who had experience in fighting and without occupation. The most notable of which were four men: Kleid, Klaus, Knauff, and Thorance. Klaus and Knauff were one of the first fighters hired by the Mercenary team. They were both level 14 and were left in charge of the team of level 12s-13s. There was also the level 21 Kleid who had taken the helm while they were gone. All of the masters left and left them such a big place to care for. This level of trust was unprecedented, even with the contracts. Leading a team was something they never thought that they could receive in a big town at their levels. They naturally worked hard and so far they had not disappointed the core people. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The next one, Thorance, was a newcomer. He was hired just before the soldiers left for the fog. He was also a bit good-looking with lustrous chestnut hair, pale skin, and lazy eyes that seemed as if he didn''t care for the world. He was also the only elementalist outside the core people. After all, Elementalist were rare and important, they generally went to strong forces instead of small budding ones like the Terran Mercenary Team. Let alone, he was a wood Elementalist. It was not the rarest element, but it was surprisingly on the less populated spectrum. As for why Thorance, a rare wood elementalist, joined the Terran Mercenary team was a long story that was not to be discussed in detail. To summarize, the wife of a lord fell in love with him and he suffered hell because of it. It got to the point that he had to relocate to the nearest town. He was scared to enter larger groups lest he be targeted so he chose an unknown entity to make that lord feel like he really fell from grace, finally leaving him be. However, seeing the light-hearted interactions between the group, a small smile graced his lips. It seemed like he landed in a very good place. ¡­ Next to him was the semi-bad Madon who was also very, very, curious and was just itching to ask for more information. Also¡­ where was Jake and Brandon?! WHERE ARE THEY? Madon had been steadily improving his craft. Although he was still far from upgrading, his pace was much much better than before¡ªwhich could have been said to be hopelessly stagnant. However, in the past weeks, he had experienced unprecedented growth! A lot of this was due to Jake and Brandon and he still had a lot of questions! So¡­ where were they?! While Madon was being confused, the logistics and back-of-room people like Pipa and the others were eager to prepare food and others for the masters. Especially the women, who were shamed for working at first, but then they gave their families their first partial paycheck and their position in the household was suddenly elevated. It was amazing. It was like money made the world go round. Anyway, the aborigines whose paths had been limited were given new roads by the Mercenary team, tightening the hold on their hearts and loyalties. And¡­ each one of them was looking forward to its growth. Chapter 366 - 366: Stepping into the Map Gill stood in front of the twenty people standing side by side with the rest of Team A. From this, one could see the slight differences in physiques. The aborgines were generally larger than they were, with most of the males at least a head taller than the average Terran. "You may be wondering what we''ve been up to the past day or two," he said, and the aborigines couldn''t help but nod. "Well, we went to a place to look for our people¡­ and we found them." He paused and their aborigines wondered what this implied. "It means that we have found our homes and had already set a base there. Half of us had already stayed." This made them flinch and looked around. They were leaving? What would happen to this place? They had grown to like this place and were quite proud to say they lived here when they were asked. In their families, it was a point of pride for them to say their team ''owned'' land in a town, which was indeed a great feat. "This will be a branch of the mercenary team," he said, "Our place there is actually a bit smaller, but we were given access to the territory''s barracks and other amenities like training halls. "Like I said: The rest of the team stayed there, and they (probably except the captain) will switch up with us after two weeks." Gill let that sit for a while, and it took a couple of minutes before anyone started asking questions. "Can we ask where this is?" Thorance asked. "Altera Village." "A village, sir?" Thorance asked, startled, and everyone was just as baffled. Why would would shift from a stable and large place like a town to go to an unknown village? Not to mention, they had the rare honor of owning their own place, and having close partnerships with the lord! How many Mercenary teams had this advantage? Gill and the others understood their unvoiced questions, and they couldn''t blame them. They could see their visible pride when they saw the base being built, and how they were a member of it. Of course, they would be worried. It was Luis, the friendliest one, who spoke up. "It''s not just a village." He said, looking quite smug and dreamy. "You may not believe it, but people''s lifestyle there is much better than here." He told them, "You''ll see. Some of you will come with us there." Eagle then stepped forward. "The reason we called you here is for a different reason, however." He then turned to the secured items and nodded. With his signal, the flimsy fabric covering the bags and rickshaws fell, revealing its contents. It was a variety of odd items and produce, most of which unfamiliar to them. Eagle pointed at the items and turned to the aborigines with a smile adorning his aquiline face. "We will be joining the bazaar!" Aborigines: "...???" So¡­ the core people came back from hard training and called everyone in to announce that¡­ they would not only move base, but they''d also start¡­ selling in the market? "????" The soldiers looked at each other with grins. It was Sammy, the part-time salesman, who walked forward and fished out a piece of flatbread in one of the pretty jars. He also took another ceramic plate (which was also pretty) and placed the flat hard-looking brown bread there. The dark-skinned man then turned to them with a smile. "These are pseudo-cookies. Sweet, crunchy, and heavenly. Well, compared to what you guys must''ve had." He grinned, lifting up a piece and breaking it to bite sized pieces¡­and then he divided it once more. In the end, there were tens of small pieces on the plate. By ''small'', it meant the pieces were as small as a child''s fingernails. No way they could give them a sample each. A piece of this could be sold for a lot of money¡­ The puzzled aborigines took the tiny-sized brownbread, looking at it closely in puzzlement. They lifted it up near their eyes even and saw a lot of crumbs. They stared at it for a long time, and Sammy''s eyes twitched a bit in impatience. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Eat it," Sammy had to order and the aborigines reluctantly placed the pieces in the mouths, not really knowing what to expect. But the instant it touched their tastebuds, they froze. What is this¡­? They found themselves drooling for more, numming, trying to taste if there were still uneaten crumbs left in their mouths. There was none. And they felt their hearts fall. "Would be great if there''s chocolate," Luis¡ªwho had been watching enviously from the side¡ªsaid, gulping as he imagined it. "Milk, too," Chris said and Plaridel nodded. "I heard the chocolate and coffee trees would flower in about a few more months or so!" Mao flinched, whipping his head to them. "Seriously?! We had those trees? I want to go back!" "I said it''ll take a few months!" "But I want to see them!" Mao said with such determination in his eyes. It was as if he was being taken away from his babies. Plaridel just crossed his arms and whistled in his usual suave way. "I''m just amazed people could still make cookie-like food with limited ingredients..." They nodded, with more than a few enumerating some ''dream products'' they hope to see in the future, as if visualizing would make them come true. Anyway, while the soldiers were dreaming, the aborigines were in a daze. It took some time before their souls returned to their bodies and they looked hungrily at the rest of the items. The soldiers were amused. "They aren''t all food," he said, "Some are ingredients, some are tools." One by one, they called the logistics team, and they began to introduce the items to them little by little. Mao looked at a middle-aged woman. "Roana, Yoyo." He gestured for them to come as he stood next to large jars of earthenware. "Come here." "Yes sir." He waved at the jars with exaggerated motions as if they were magical things. "These are culinary treasures," he said, "Eagle will teach you how to use them later. Mao then opened them one by one, revealing different colored liquids with different scents. Because of the nice surprise the so-called cookie gave, she was just excited to explore this new thing. Mao opened the jar to show it off. Yoyo was a huge guy and was afraid to hit a jar by squeezing in, so he let Rona study it first. She looked closely, even sniffing. Some were nice while some were too strong. She twitched, almost coughing. What was this horrid thing? Mao¡ªwho was prepared to cover the jars with his body in case she really coughed or sneezed¡ªbreathed out in relief that the precious babies were safe. He couldn''t help but appear unusually reprimanding though, and Rona and Yoyo immediately straightened their spines. "These are treasures, you know! Contaminating them would cause succhh a loss to humanity! Each of these seasonings and sauces is not inferior to what captain made, y''know!" The words ''captain''s sauce'' made everyone flinch and look at him in disbelief, before whipping their heads to look at the vats, eyes bright with renewed light. What? Sauces like the Captain''s?! They are definitely treasures then! After all, the food added with the Captain''s special sauce was heavenly! The lot of them walked closer, trying to get a closer look, and Mao had to warn them many times not to squeeze or else they could damage the jars. Upon closer inspection, they realized that there were weird writings on the brown jars. Quite correctly, they assumed the texts referred to the names of the sauces. Terran universally adopted a phonetic system of the alphabet, and it was unfamiliar to locals, for now, so it was up to them to translate it a bit. Especially eager to learn were their cooks. Neither Ramona nor Yoyo awakened the cooking profession, but they showed some talent in the dishes they described. This was why they were hired. After all, the only ones who could cook among them were the Captain and Eagle. How dare they ask for food often? Maybe they''d get those dry bread from the restaurant shoved down their throats instead! Anyway, the two cooks naturally knew the potential of these new ingredients and could foresee a whole new world in their cooking. Maybe they''d get to awaken a profession! ¡­ In another part of the room, Luis also went to other items to introduce them to the pertinent aborigine. Pipa, an old woman of nearly 70 years of age, looked at the bolts of cloth in front of her, shaking. Since she was let go from the clothing factory due to her age, she had not touched another bolt of new cloth. She only repaired old ones. "We will have a lot of supplies of this?" The pale and thin asked, unsure but eyes filled with anticipation. Then she looked at them worriedly. "Will it be too expensive?" "Of course not," Luis said, with a proud grin on his face. "We got the dealer''s price!" Pipa didn''t know what ''Dealers price'' was, but it seemed to be a good thing so she nodded with a smile. Sasa was also beside them, her curly hair covering much of her face and as quiet as always. However, if one looked closely, one could see her eyes were also bright. These were just a few of the many introductions that occurred at that time. There were a lot of other things in that pile: wood utensils, wood toys, food like jerkies, and instant noodles, and each of them heavily piqued the curiosity of those who had never encountered them in their lifetimes. The soldiers looked at the aborigines'' reactions with sharp eyes and amused smiles, gauging how the outside market would take the items. Needless to say, even if no one said anything, they knew that any of these would definitely be a hit! "Gah! So excited!" Luis yelled and a few were already making calculations in their heads. Others had already started planning the booth, and others planning the marketing. No matter what kind of preparation they were doing, one this was for certain. For Altera''s debut to the world outside was inevitable, and it deserved to go with a bang! Chapter 367 - 367: Fair Booth Preparations! The Town of Ferrol was especially lively at this time of year, with every inch of its land filled with chatter and activities. It was the annual Ferrol Market Fair, after all. At this time of the year, the town was characterized by bustling activities and the sound of transactions as people from various territories and places merged together at the prospect of money. The stalls were lined up relatively neatly, leaving a pathway of about two meters wide in between blocks. Each one was occupied and each one was filled with products and people trying to attract customers traversing along the street adjacent to them. "Basset Town products available here!" "Poli Village meat here! Please buy!" "Seafood from the famous Masusa Port City!!" "Kilpo City time-limited fabric available here! You can''t find these colors anywhere else!" "Special spices from Holt City! Add a bit and you''re taken to Elvendell with every bite!" Watching the lively market from a distance, from inside the large Lord''s Mansion located smack in the middle of the town, was Lord Jonathan. He was looking down from his room above eye level, and he nodded when he saw the event was as usual before turning his head back to his guests in the sitting room. They seemed antsy as they sat, unable to sit properly¡ªlacking the dignity that lords ought to have. Jonathan sighed and walked to them, with the two bowing a bit in greeting. He sat down and looked at them. He didn''t say anything and for a while, he just tapped his fingers on the wooden armrest. He sat unmoving as he looked at the two old men who finally gathered the courage to look back at him. It was just that they were pale, embarrassed, and very guilty. "How is your village?" Jonathan asked Gen, the Lord of Poli Village. He had a rounded physique, almost as rounded as his curls, and he looked down at his hands, feeling guilty. "We didn''t find the fifth son of the Golds. He must''ve been hired somewhere else." He said. Jonathan sighed, and turned his head to the tall pale skinned man next to Gen. The man''s name was Kona, the Lord of Kona Village. Kona in turn shook his head and apologized. "It is the same with my, my lord." Jonathan sighed. Pity. When he heard the fifth son of the Golds Family was sent to the Chancery of Appointments for training, he, who had always wanted to hug this thigh, quickly contacted all his affiliated villages to hire anyone with golden hair and blue eyes. As for the Lord of Guia village, he didn''t bother to invite him. He was just an affiliate of Ferrol Town in name anyway. He then excused the two lords and slumped down on his chair, a bit disappointed. In the end, he decided to do some shopping outside in hopes of feeling a bit better. Before he could relax though, Cassandra and her friend strutted into the room and sat naturally on the sofa. Cassandra, Veronica, and Jonathan had been extremely close since they were children. Cassandra could let go of her lady-like upbringing around with him in private. "I saw the old men." "And?" "I heard what you called them here for." "So?" "You don''t seriously want to hire that guy? He''s useless!" Cassandra asked, looking very disappointed in her cousin''s brain. Jonathan massaged his temple. "He may be somewhat of a prodigal, but his blood isn''t. Don''t forget: he''s the Gold''s favorite son." "Favorite son to spoil." "Loved nevertheless. And aren''t they trying to straighten him up?" He said and looked at her. This time it was him looking at her with disappointment. "You should''ve introduced me before you broke up." Cassandra rolled her eyes and Veronica laughed. Jonathan sighed and decided to change the topic. He looked at her in puzzlement, "Anyway, when did you come back?" "Just today," Cassandra said as she pushed back her volumic purple hair. "I really don''t like staying home. All they do is nag. I think they already found me a fiance." Jonathan''s eyebrows rose, curious. "Who?" "Some only son of some town lord," Cassandra said, shaking her head. "Anyway, imagine my reaction when I saw those lords and found out what you called them all the way here for." "Of course, that wasn''t the only reason," Jonathan corrected her. "It''s my annual trade fair, don''t you remember? I have a share in their stalls." Cassandra didn''t bother responding. Of course she knew! She was here at this time every year. Looking at his cousin''s mocking stare, Jonathan smirked, knowing full well what could wipe that arrogant look off her face. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Gill is also back." Cassandra''s back immediately straightened at the mention of Gill''s name. A few days ago, Jonathan sent her a letter that Gill left, so when she rushed here she thought she''d have to wait for him, pining helplessly until he returned. Fortunately, she didn''t have to suffer for so long. "Really?" She mumbled softly, unconsciously showing shyness and lady-like glee. "Excuse me." She strutted away with poise like usual, though those who knew her would know that she was walking much faster than usual. Veronica also brightened and gestured to stand up and follow. Seeing this, Jonathan couldn''t help but send out, "Brandon isn''t though." "Eh? Why???" Veronica looked pitiful, as if she was betrayed, but Jonathan rolled his eyes, completely unaffected. Jonathan shrugged, "Go ask them." Then he stood up, joining the two women in the end. "Nevermind. I also want to know where Garan is." Since the great success of their previous deal, he kind of wanted to do more projects together! ¡­ Ferrol Market Ferrol Market was a hectare-large open space in the western part of the territory. This place had always been kept open for different events. There would be an event held there every few months and, without exemption, each one improved the town economy a few days before and after the event. For example, three months prior there was a fighters'' tournament with rich rewards. Plenty of towns did this particular event, with Ferrol being one of the favorites. ''Professional'' fighters¡ªthat was, men who fight in public for money¡ªtravel from town to town in an attempt to win prizes. The street fights were the wildest during this period, but these fighters paid well so few people bothered with them. The ongoing Market Fair was set three-fourths into the year. It was also the biggest annual event, primarily because only Ferrol had this honor in the area. It was to the point that guests rented out houses so they had a place to stay. It lasted for an entire week. The next and final event of the year was set in two months. This was called Beast Tamers Plaza, where certain beast tamers would auction off their beasts for high prices. As a town, it was good to be able to host these events usually only found in cities. The Lord Jonathan was obviously quite capable. Back to the market, the Terran Mercenary team''s stall was located at a relatively good location not too far from the center. The team rented out three stores, and each one of them gathered quite a bit of attention. The group worked together to prepare the booths, completing it just in time for the event''s opening. One of the first things people would see here was the signage. Eagle and the others commissioned their signages with Houser, the woodworking aborigine that Baron hired. It had the special effect of attracting bystanders who stared at it for more than 5 seconds. It was like a medieval neon light, except it wasn''t lighting up. Of course, to ensure people actually stared at it that long though, there naturally had to be something interesting in the signage from the start. For this purpose, with text artistically carved in Xeno universal language, they made the lettering of their store name intricate and eye-catching. They even added more imagery to the lettering. For instance, one character was like a miniature person standing up, welcoming customers in. Speaking of alphabets, the Xenoan alphabet was composed of logograms which was a little difficult to learn in the beginning, but intuitive once the basics were mastered. Altera in Xenoan language was composed of two characters, with the highly literate aborigines helping them out (primarily Oslo). The first character was an elongated character that looked like a rectangular tower with a few crisscrossing lines inside and a little dot on top. In Xenoan, it meant either mighty, tall, or prideful. The second was more horizontal with a large semi-enclosed box surrounding the character. There were also two commas inside, connected at the bottom, forming a sort of dual-leaf shape. It signified peace and prosperity. It was a very fitting choice for what they wanted Altera to be. And now, the name became an inevitability they recorded on stone. Or, in this case, wood. It was also the name that would eventually resound across the world. Chapter 368 - 368: Ferrol Annual Market Fair They remembered when they first saw it. They thought that the sign was very good and admired it a lot, unconsciously engraving it in their hearts. It wasn''t even because of the signage''s effect. The Terrans watched as people would stop to stare for a second, stare some more, and then feel some subconscious attraction to check it out, to come closer and view it more closely. Without knowing, these people already took a step closer to their signage, before finally realizing what happened. It was an amazing skill and, if used by enemies, a little scary. However, the people here seemed to be more focused on fist and brute strength. Auxiliary skills like this, except for those related to healing, tended to be ignored. Well, it was their loss. A lot of potential customers soon approached, realizing they had plenty of novelties that also demanded attention. From this, one could see that the purchase of the signage was definitely cost-effective. Of course, Baron claimed to have given them a discount, in the face of sister-in-law, which was an added bonus. Anyway, from their judgment, the positive branding of Altera was a sure bet. The group divided the stall they rented into three: Food and seasonings, Cloth and other Household Items, and Toys and other paraphernalia. They asked Baron''s woodshop to customize several slanted shelves for these items, as well as counters and seats. Each section had their own shelves, with enough emphasis¡ªi.e. larger spaces¡ªon the featured items. The arrangement alone attracted attention before, more so when they finally put up the signs, and now their stall was slowly being filled by curious citizens. "What is this?" "How interesting¡­" "It looks clean and nice¡­" Another said, comparing their arrangement with other stall''s haphazard ones. Soon, more and more people gathered in their shops. Fortunately, everyone was mobilized so on the whole the sales were organized. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Luis, Sammy, and the other thick-skinned Terrans had trained the aborigines on what to say the previous night. Some were a bit shy and aghast at first, but the brainwashing was strong and they managed to gather some courage in the end. Not to mention, they were truly amazed by the products themselves! Wise business people often say: The best salespeople are the ones who believe in the products they sell! As such, the aborigines, who were better aware of the needs of their fellowmen, actually sold with more passion. "Try this! It will take you to Elvendell!" Yoyo said, pointing at an area of sweet crackers. "This is not something you''ve tasted before, I guarantee! We will refund you if you don''t like the taste!" His passionate guarantee gathered a lot of people to buy despite not being able to taste it. It was expensive, but they took the risk due to his promise. When they got it, they immediately tasted it out of curiosity. There was also the factor of being able to refund quickly, should they dislike the taste. However, the instant they took a bite, they didn''t speak much, just munched and munched until the snacks were no more. Safe to say that there was no refund that had to be given that day. There were also other food the aborigines were assigned in and sold with gusto. Most of the items they sold here were those with longer shelf lives, as they pretty much ate things like rice cakes on the way to Ferrol. Knauf was selling minty snacks. "I am a fighter, and although there are no special effects, I felt reenergized when I ate it!" He said, "My breath also smelled very good! Like papra!" A lot of women hit on him when during his tavern trip after work hours. Of course, women who were open enough were naturally of a certain industry. Women like Cassandra and Veronica, who could be forward without being misconstrued as women of that industry, were quite rare. The aborigines were shocked and a bit distasteful at first though, a natural reaction for people who grew up with certain worldviews about feminine behaviors. Kleid was assigned to the food section, and he was selling crispy rice snacks, and the display had already been bought off. Of course, the Terrans were not to lose in marketing, "You should taste this! It is enough to pull my soul out because of happiness." Mao said, pointing at the cookie. Just pointed though. They were too stingy to give out free tastes. The reaction by the buyers was quite strong and someone moaned as he chewed. It was also bought off quickly, despite being much more expensive than most of the other snacks. Another area had a small cooking stove, where Roana invited people to help them cook their own meat and other food with the seasonings for a few copper coins. This would allow them to avoid the hassle of having to store perishable meat and deal with its smell, and also increase the turnover rates because only the grilling part was left. They were even luckier that there were a couple of stalls selling meat around them. All they had to do was yell, "Do you want to cook that to perfection?" or "Do you want to eat normal meat in a special way?" This was a never-before- seen model so there were a lot of doubts at first. But once one or two were attracted, the good feedback snowballed. "Oh my goodness!" "So juicy, so tender!" "Ah, I''m in Elvendell!" As such, the cookies and other snacks basically sold out after a couple of minutes. The seasonings took a while because of the packaging problem, but then after tasting, people just bought the whole vat. There was also the fact that most cooked with it first in Roana''s BBQ area. Similarly, these customers also bought vats if they could afford them, Next, with the reputation made, jerkies, instant noodles, and biscuits were introduced. "These are food with very long shelf lives! Leave them in a dry place for a year and they''d be good as new! More importantly, they''re delicious!!" Mao introduced with gusto, making a demo of how to eat the instant noodles. "You simply put these seasonings here and then add hot water to the line of the mug. See this?" He asked, showing the process, and his audience nodded in understanding. "Then you cover it like this be wait for two minutes!" Two minutes was the optimal time for noodles in Xeno, according to various experimentations. It probably had to do with new materials, as well as the new atmospheric conditions. Either way¡­, it was delicious! And a shorter waiting time yay! While waiting for the two minutes, Luis also introduced the various flavors. "This is Sagada flavor, very refreshing! Best in hot weather!" "This is spicy! To liven up your lives." "This is the aromatic Gui, for relaxed eating." And so on¡­ Anyway, Mao had a flare for show and he even made small diamond-shaped stones float around him as he spoke, catching everyone''s attention. He then lifted the cover and placed the chopsticks in the bowl, showing the delicious soft noodles. There were plenty of gulps heard. "I will choose three lucky audiences to take a taste!" He said, revealing three smaller cups, and distributing the sample noodle in equal parts. When he was dividing the soup, they heard a couple more gulps. The crowd almost lunged at them, except there were guards in front who kept it all in order. The crowd stopped at the invisible delineation and pretty much volunteered as if their lives depended on it. "Me! Meemmememeee!" "No, choose me!" "I will tell you good reviews I promise! Choose me!" "I am a very good eater! Let me taste!" Mao grinned. Instead, he announced. "To avoid any trouble, I will first ask the people in front." He then looked at the first row of about ten people. "The first three people to show me a handful of things bought from the other areas of our Altera store will taste!" Pretty much everyone in the front row had bought something, but there were people faster than others, and the others could only sob, and promise themselves they would buy to the maximum they could buy. The three chosen ones then went forward with a bit of anticipation, gulping when the enticing whiff of aroma entered their noses. They took the fork¡ªas chopsticks weren''t a thing here yet¡ªand took the noodles. They also drank the soup as they ate, as per the advice of the seller. Without exception, the three men''s eyes widened and they went into a daze, before someone nudged them awake. Immediately, praises flew. "Delicious!" "I''ve never tasted something so good!" One immediately manifested gold, almost throwing it at Mao''s face. "More! Let me buy all of these!!" It triggered wild reactions from everyone nearby. "WHAT!" "NO!" "Don''t sell all of them!" It could be said that chaos ensued. If they lacked just a little planning, things would definitely go insane. Fortunately, they did plan so with the help of the stronger aborigines like Kleid, they managed to continue keeping the people in line. Anyway, in order to reach more people, they also imposed the dreaded purchase limit. This calmed a lot of them down. Other than these, more and more products were introduced. There were also cooked items like corn dogs and finger foods, which was also incredibly popular and novel. Without exception, they were pretty much swept away as soon as they were introduced. No free taste was even needed anymore! Cha-ching, Cha-ching sounded in their heads. They sold these things for tens of times the cost! Rich! Definitely rich! Chapter 369 - 369: Other Products! (Part 1) Meanwhile, the cloths and wood utensils were not as hot, but the sales for these were also very good. After all, the cost was higher for the cloths products, and the wood utensils, while convenient, were not exactly a necessity. However, thanks to Plaridel''s demo of how to use the utensils, the popularity also increased. A female customer held a triangular-shaped thing with a hook on top. "This is called a hanger? How convenient, I can hang different articles of clothing." He said, remembering the demo of placing coats and handkerchiefs from earlier. She then couldn''t help but blink her eyes at tanned Plaridel who, while smaller than her, had charisma to attract females. He wasn''t even that handsome, but he had a confident poise that women loved. Next to the Captain, Gill, and Brandon, he was the most popular person in their team. Plaridel only smiled politely at the coquettish woman, used to it. She was a middle-aged woman though and it was a bit creepy, especially considering the lifespan here. A middle-aged woman, even if it was a commoner, was probably even older than she looked. Fortunately, she could only buy so much with the money she had and had to reluctantly go away. She did promise to return soon, though. Internally, Plaridel said: No, thank you. Nearby, there were also other customers admiring other tools like wooden spoons, bowls, stands, and the like. "Chopsticks? Can it also be used as a hair tie?" It was another woman who asked (because the men generally just bought what interested them without a lot of questions) Plaridel smiled and thanked heavens this one was a bit younger. "How?" She asked, obviously asking to demo on her. Goodness, he thought women here were demure? Why so many forward women? Eh, he couldn''t be blamed for his own charm, right? But he realized she was shy and that it probably took much of her courage to ask of this. It inexplicably softened his heart and nodded, making her brown eyes brighten a bit. It helped a lot that she was smaller than other aborigine women, so he didn''t have to look up to her. It made her look even cuter. Plaridel cleared his throat as he raised his hand, holding a chopstick. "Well, excuse me," he said, walking behind the woman to tie her hair. It was an odd shade of brownish-red, albeit leaning towards the red side. It was smooth and silky, which was really good considering the lack of maintenance products in this world. His fingers were gentle as he gathered her hair into a loose ponytail. His touch was surprisingly skilful, and deliberate. If one looked at the girl who was looking down shyly, one could see how much she was blushing. Plaridel couldn''t help but smile a bit and decided to lessen the tension. "My name is Plaridel, by the way," he said. She flinched a bit turning her head a bit, and he realized she had cute freckles on her face. "Nida." He nodded with a small smile, continuing his skilled hair-tying, also garnering other women''s admiring looks in the end. While there were a few judgy looks (both for the borderline-public flirting and the fact that a male was doing something so feminine), the two didn''t seem to mind them. While romantic bubbles happened on this side, old-man energy permeated another. "Back scratcher! How nice! It''s always difficult to reach my back¡­" an old man said with a happy smile, holding the new contraption. Semi smiled and pointed at the middle of the handle, where there was a little textured wheel that rolled as needed. "You can also use this part to massage. See?" "Oh?" The old man said with many others watching in interest. He tried it out and his eyes widened. "Amazing! Let me buy two! Another one for my wife!" sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Good sir, you''ll get a discount for buying a pair!" The aborigines in the stall with him were the two carpenters: Furong and Semi. Although they weren''t system carpenters, they were quite skilled and they already studied how to do much of these products. It was estimated that they would be able to recreate it, especially since there was no special effect required. They already set aside a woodworking area in the base for them, refurbishing a few bedrooms, since the main base was moved anyway. Of course, because Baron was sly, he had managed to get patent even in these simple items, so they had to share some proceeds with him automatically. When the soldiers found out, they were so bitter. They were here three months earlier! Such a horrible miss of money! Anyway, the massage scratcher among many others was also swept away, mostly by aging men. The cloth was also very popular. Pipa and Sasa really knew their materials well and enumerated the pros and cons of each item. "This is cotton, a new material. You can see it is much much softer and breathable than what we use," she said, letting the customers¡ªmostly housewives¡ªtouch it. Next to them, Sasa smiled, also selling another type of cloth. "We also have very affordable hemp cloth, not inferior to Kilpo commoner cloth!" "This is rougher." "Yes, and the cost is much lower." Pipa piped in, "They both have their own advantages and could be used in different articles of clothing. For instance, our hemp could be made for outerwear, while cotton for interior and housewear." She also showed some ready-made, convenient clothing. They chose some general and simple clothing to sell this time, as they were mass-produced. For example plain t-shirt and hemp pants. The masters also introduced something called denim, a derivative made from cotton, though it might need a bit more marketing as it was relatively uncomfortable at first, it was much, much, more durable than just cotton pants. For more designer items, they couldn''t be brought. For these, they''d have to go to Altera themselves. There were also belts with unusual patterns but both men and women loved. There were already belts that existed and of various materials, but they were always just tied together, not adjustable like the those with belt buckles that were seen now. And the buckles were so delicate! Some of carved wood and some of iron! The higher costs were worth it! It also looked good and sleek, like they''ll be more handsome when they wear it. (Something the salespeople implied many times). There were also small Bento boxes, which were a novel type of plate. They taught the customers how to use it, especially for trips, and it was well-received. If they had space, they''d also be selling Barrels and Tubs, chests and trunks, and furniture, but alas! Anyway, they were making enough of a killing now and they all had smiles on their faces. Chapter 370 - 370: Other Products! (Part 2) And finally, the smallest¡ªbut most intimate¡ªsection of their stall was the toy and paraphernalia store led by Luis. Most of the clients, naturally, were kids. Although levels of aborigines were higher, especially in cities, people generally started to ''fight outside the walls'' after the age of 12. So the children they saw now were all in their level 1s or, at most, 2s, a consistent level among children unless they came from those big families. This meant that the laughter and smiles were genuinely from children. What was even lovelier was that there were children who had trained early, but they were pulled back to what acting genuinely like a child by their products. It gave this stall much more meaning. Furthermore, everything looked so fun that a lot of grown men and women acted like they were children as well. Anyway, this booth could be said to be the most unique. In normal terms, they would also be seen as useless, but Luis and the others were very good salespeople. "Don''t you know? Wise men¡ªlike our Elves¡ªsaid that relaxation is part of productivity! Not getting rest and fun will just make you weak!" "Really?" "Really." And then they proceeded to introduce the products, which really did entice the interest of anyone around. Baron''s company was composed of many many interesting people. There was someone who worked in a toy store back in Terran, and there was also someone who was a retired toy designer. They had a whole department (in Baron''s company) for themselves. They recreated games like Jenga, chess, snakes-and-ladders (aptly named kongworms-and-stumps for Xeno locals), and spinning tops. They were decorative and entertaining and when demoed, it amazed many children¡­ and grown adults (though they tried to hide it). There were also toys like swing horses for smaller kids, and the sweet mothers asked their husbands to buy them for the children. For the little girls, there were wooden dolls with jointed limbs, stuffed toys, and even marionettes. Although girls had lower status in this world, children were loved universally, especially before they came of age, and were expected to perform their roles. For instance, there were plenty of little girls looking at their fathers and mothers, begging to buy them a toy or two, which a lot did get in the end. "Wow! So fluffy!" A little girl yelled grabbing a stuffed toy and fondly touched its mane. Her heart felt comfort just hugging it. She loved it so much! The girl''s mother also found it very cute and turned to ask Luis. "What animal is this?" "That''s called a lion." Luis said with a smile, "It''s a¡­ fantasy creature." He added. "We don''t want the kids approaching monsters outside thinking they''re friends!" "Oh right, very true!" sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were also little boys fascinated with the wooden toys. There was a miniature warrior and they manipulated it to swing his sword. They even mumbled out sound effects, like Terran boys would with their action figures. Very cute. Toy swords and shields were also sold. It wasn''t that they weren''t being made already by Aborigine businessmen, but they were never done with intricacies. "It will train your little kids for the world outside! While having fun!" "We will also have a custom service for toy swords as well!" Safe to say that even the more common toy weapons also sold out. ¡­ On another side of the stall, other types of toys were being sold. "Oh? What is this?" A teen asked, pointed at weird-shaped pieces of flat wood, and there were carving and a bit of color on them. "It''s called a puzzle! You just assemble them like this, and you will see the final picture when it''s complete!" "This is so amazing¡­" "How novel¡­" Other than these, there were puzzle boxes that fascinated teens and young adults, and there were whistles and flutes that fascinated everyone. "Wow, what''s that noise!" "It sounds lovely though?" "Hmm¡­ you just blow?" "Oh, I know this! I''ve seen this in cities!" "Good for you for seeing cities." "Hehe," one visitor said, "Anyway, these are really expensive in there!" What was more, these were much more elaborate and had fuller sounds. Then he saw the price of the offerings here and flinched. So cheap! But as a businessman, he would naturally not show it on his face. He cleared his throat and looked at Thorance, who was manning the booth with Luis. "I''ll buy ten!" Then he''ll sell in cities! "We can only sell 1 per person, sorry." "Eh?" "It''s so more people could buy it." The man frowned but he hadn''t even opened his mouth when people nearby poked at him. "We want one too! Don''t hoard it!" "Yeah! Stop being selfish!" The man''s eyes twitched and had no choice but to succumb. Anyway, regardless of which section, the place was extremely lively, especially with children''s (and children-at-heart''s) laughters. The interactiveness of the booth was very popular and it just attracted more and more people to all three booths. It was still full of activity when the other two areas had closed due to stocks running out. Luis'' booth stayed because it took a while for people to buy, as they loved the space too much to move out. Regardless of which booth though, it was estimated that the people who managed to buy would be trendsetters. All in all, the profits today were massive. While the Terrans were grinning, the customers were also very happy with their new buy. As they walked out though, they couldn''t help but turn back, not only to look at the booth and the people, but also¡­ at the sign. They couldn''t help but give the large signage a second look¡ªwanting to remember the shop name for next time. "Altera?" Someone voiced out and Sammy, who happened to be nearby, twinkled as if he had been waiting for someone to ask (note: he was). It was just that the people had been so immersed with the novelty and awesomeness that they forgot to ask. The soldiers were also so busy with all the activities that they, too, forgot to introduce themselves. Fortunately, someone did ask in the end, otherwise they''d be scratching their heads of stupidity when they remembered the issue later in the night. Sammy looked at the very curious faces of their customers and grinned. "Yes! It''s our territory!" He said with his chest puffed out. "Altera: Proud, Prosperous, and Strong!" This was the first of the many waves that the name would cause, and later¡ªin retrospect¡ªthey would be proud to be a part of it. Chapter 371 - 371: Gills Messy Lovelife? (Part 1) The unknown name made every customer look at them, very intrigued. "Wow, Altera sounds like an interesting place! Is it a new city?" Another one nodded, thinking of towns that could''ve upgraded, "Although I''ve never heard of a town before, I assume it''s just somewhere a bit far¡­" The soldiers couldn''t help but look at each other before correcting their customers. "It''s still a village. A very good one!" Luis answered the woman, who gaped in response. "Really?" "Yes~" She turned to her husband. "How curious¡­" While they were dubious as to how ''good'' a village could be, they were intrigued enough by the materials they offered. The man nodded, "Maybe I''ll visit it someday." Luis looked at the couple curiously. Only him? Not even thinking of bringing his wife? And the woman only seemed a bit disappointed, but otherwise accepting. Then they left and he noticed the woman was always a step behind, like about 90% of other couples around. Because they were so preoccupied before, he admitted that he had never taken notice of such an obvious thing. In contrast, there was also another couple nearby, who seemed to be shopping for stuffed toys for their child back home. They were very giggly and unusually sweet in Xeno local standards. The couple left lovingly holding hands. Luis and Mao couldn''t help but look dreamily, "How nice¡­ didn''t know there were still such couples among aborigines." Mao nodded, chewing on something, "Well, even when culture is a problem, some ways to show love is the same." Gill, who was standing nearby, couldn''t help but go deep in thought about various memories. One of which was in the outskirts of Ferrol Town, over a week prior¡ª Two lumbering creatures with sharp scales and claws stared at him with ravenous malice. Gill tightened the hold of his spear, watching for any sudden movements. There are only a few days until the Protection Period is over, he must get stronger! The silence snapped as one of the monsters lunged forward, taking down a couple of trees in his trail. Gill jumped to avoid an attack, but it suddenly shifted its attack and opened its mouth. Gill immediately raised his spear to block it, the strong momentum pushing him back a bit. He manipulated the earth below him to keep him stable, and he couldn''t help but look at his sole ''audience'' a couple meters away. "What are you doing here?" Gill asked, tone a bit annoyed, as he dealt laboriously with the level 15 monsters three levels below him. Damned monsters and their hard skins. In his momentary distraction, he was almost bitten by the monster''s partner that suddenly attacked from the side. He used his spear to stop each of them. He sent a glare in a direction. He was not in the mood for her right now. Cassandra ignored him and waved her sword, gesturing to assist him and taking on the other monster. It was just that Gill stopped her, telling her she was a burden. She looked absolutely offended by this. "Don''t forget: My level is higher than yours~" "Tsk. Not for long," Gill snapped back. He never really took these levels as seriously as aborigines. What was level if one didn''t have the combat ability? This place had way too many fighting balloons. He placed his attention back to the fight. In a swift motion, Gill jumped back and pulled his spear from the two monsters. He immediately thrust his spear into the ground, sending a shockwave through the earth, and then pulled it diagonally, sending earth spikes in the direction of the monsters. One monster was successfully put off balance for a few seconds while the other lunged at him, blocked by his poor spear. He struggled to push the damned thing, stopping its big mouth from eating half of him. He had to endure seeing its disgusting mouth, saliva, and breath that reeked of sulfur. Cassandra saw that she was being ignored (again), and decided to take matters into her own hands¡ªthat was, join him in the fight. "I''ll show you techniques passed down in my family~" She said confidently, strutting to the monster. "Don''t be too mesmerized." Gill sneered at her, acerbic as always, and just focused on the monster on hand. As he dealt with the monster, barely avoiding its bite, his peripheral couldn''t help but notice the girl gracefully swinging the sword. The monster was around her height even on all-fours, but she didn''t show much fear. He watched as she evaded the attacks, lunging at the creature with fluid motions, trying to hit the weak spots as best she could. But he frowned and focused on the task at hand¡ªwhich he was almost got distracted from¡ªand his hit was even stronger due to venting. He swung the spear with expert movements and various angles, the soil below keeping him balanced as needed. It even lifted him up instantaneously, allowing him to avoid an attack and at the same time allowing him to get a better angle of his enemy''s weak spot: Its eyes. Now! [Used Burning Spear (C). -50 Mana] S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He yelled internally as he raised his spear and surrounded it with fire, stabbing the weapon at the monster''s vulnerability. He let fire surround his spear to form a fiery weapon of doom. Immediately, he let his magma flow in and melt its brain, finally taking its life. [Killed Orgroi (Lv15), +420 experience, +420 copper] Heaving a sigh, he turned his head to look at the other, still ongoing fight. He was planning to kill the thing but his feet paused as his eyes fixed on the movements. She was very graceful and¡­ valiant? To be honest, his impression of her was just an entitled lady. Very pretty, but nothing special. But now, he couldn''t help but watch her closely. It was like she was dancing, her violet hair flowing with her movements, her curvaceous body unbelievably flexible. That instant, he wondered what it''d be like to trace his hands over them. The moment he realized a scowling expression appeared on his face. At this moment, weaker mobs of about level 10 appeared and he was actually glad for the destruction. Slash! Bang! Pack! As he massacred the mob though, his eyes more often than not ended up in her direction. It got to the point he was almost¡ªalmost¡ªbeaten and he just burned them all in his lava to get it over with. He heaved a sigh as he made sure there were no more mobs, his attention once again fixed on the ongoing fight beside him. Cassandra was fighting valiantly as before, even when she now had plenty of small wounds, her body now filled with sweat and grime. She struggled a lot and fell down a lot, with a lot of almost misses that made his heart skip a beat. But she stood up every time, with her movements improving as time went on. It was, indeed, better than expected. Of course, his expectations weren''t very high at all, but her technique was impressive compared to what he had seen locals perform before. Even the local men at her level had slower and less effective moves, it was embarrassing. She was able to avoid the monster''s attacks using her flexibility, hitting it at difficult places. If he didn''t know she wasn''t an Elementalist, he''d have thought she had a wind affinity. His dark eyes looked at her deeply. He knew the status of women here. It must not have been easy for a woman to learn such a technique so deeply. When she finally gave the monster a lethal blow, it fell down on the ground with a flop. She was filled with sweat and grime, her hair was all tangled up from the fight, but she whipped her head proudly to his direction, violet eyes incredibly bright. Gill couldn''t help but stare in a daze. "How was it? Was I very good??" She grinned, approaching him with her usual grace, trying not to show her shaky legs. She also had dirt on her face and her hair was like a Gugu bird nest. Gill''s lips twitched. If she knew what she looked like now he wondered if she''d cry and run away? However, as his eyes followed her approach, he saw the monster behind her twitch. "Watch out!'' He yelled, instinctively pulling her to him. He immobilized it by softening the earth around its feet, and he raised his weapon to give it a finishing blow. [Used Burning Spear (C). -50 Mana] [Killed Orgroi (Lv14), +420 experience, +420 copper] He heaved a sigh and then turned to the woman in his arms, belatedly feeling her softness. She was very soft and felt good to touch. Her body against his felt¡­ right, and at the back of his mind he thought it would be good to stay like this for a while. His jaw tensed and pushed back the thought. He was about to push her away by instinct, but then his eyes met her large purple orbs¡ªfilled with love and admiration. His hard heart beat erratically then. Chapter 372 - 372: Gills Messy Lovelife? (Part 2) Bright Territory, a few days ago sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill followed Juni to a place, observing the territory further. They ignored the many heads turned along the way, the two of them silent and seemingly focused on the destination ahead. A few minutes later, the former couple sat inside the only tea shop in the territory. Of course, the tea offered by Bright Village was only two relatively bitter varieties of indigenous edible leaves. They were also consumed in small cups because potable water was quite costly. They sat there silent for a while, looking at the wooden table in front of them. Gill looked at the crude workmanship but still felt a bit proud a Terran territory could achieve all this in a few weeks. He knew it must not have been easy. Several minutes of silence later, Juni finally broke the silence. And she was very direct to the point. "Can we try again?" "What?" He asked. Gill genuinely thought he was hearing things. The beautiful woman took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. "These subsequent tragedies¡­ they changed a lot of people. All the other things were rendered useless in a blink of an eye, and I am reminded I only truly loved one thing." She raised her head, her beautiful brown eyes meeting his dark ones. "I want to try¡­ to mend my relationship with you." Meeting the actress'' familiar brown eyes, his mind turned to another set of orbs. Purple ones. If the others knew what he was going through, they''d want to beat him up. Gill didn''t know this, however, nor would he care. He frowned and looked at the woman, arrogantly crossing his arms. "Why?" "Why not?" Gill massaged his forehead. Their breakup was somewhat amicable, but it was not painless. Seeing her being gossiped about on the news with different men still brought him stings until they were transferred here. After all, they basically grew up together, and they were each other''s firsts in pretty much everything. She was his first love, his first kiss, and she took his first time. She had been patient with him, loving him purely even despite all his flaws. He had been acerbic since he was young and he had hurt her many times with his words and his frequent absences. It was why he never blamed her when she broke up with him. But things changed when their relationship ended and she became a completely different person from the sweet innocent girl that he knew. She even took some racy projects, modeled in skimpy outfits, and the like. It was like he was the one who broke her heart. Heh¡­ Also¡­ he didn''t want to judge her, but staying in that industry with her background. How could she be clean? It wasn''t that he was judging her blindly either, he had called her once in a drunken stupor a week after the breakup, only for the phone to be answered by a man¡ªwith her soft and seductive voice in the background. He mused he must''ve completely given up on her then. The thought of the innocent girl he knew serving men for profit made his stomach churn and it served as a reminder of how stupid he''d be if he fell for it again. "If you think I''ll happily agree with your proposal then you''re sorely mistaken," he said and stood up, knowing he didn''t want to continue this conversation "Gill," Juni uttered, calling out to him. She saw his indifference and bit her lips, looking at him with a complicated expression. "Things weren''t that simple." "Regardless. Those things have passed." He remembered saying at the time, sounding extremely cold. "Move on." But as he walked away, a deep hidden wound reopened, and it ironically closed his heart even tighter. ___________________ Ferrol Town. Present. When Cassandra arrived, she saw how popular the Terran Mercenary Team''s stall got. The line was long and everyone was chatting excitedly, many of whom were holding products they just bought. In fact, everyone who got products had relieved smiles on their faces. Considering the shop''s popularity, they could''ve missed it after all! Luis even organized a small puppet show. The puppets were modeled after Althea and Garan, and he was showing their reunion. "Oh my¡­ what a touching story!" A woman exclaimed, unable to hold back tears. "Are they really back together?" A wistful teen asked, very seriously. Luis grinned. "Yes! They''re living happily with their two babies." "Amazing!" "Amazing!" Not far away, Gill watched the booming business with satisfaction, until he saw a couple holding hands and tasting the corndog together. An image of a young him and a young Juni flashed by his head, doing the very same thing. He frowned and he massaged his forehead as if it would wipe off the annoying picture. He lifted his head in a bad mood, but the beautiful face of a violet-haired woman occupied his entire sight. "Amazing! Where did you get all these things?" She asked as she approached. Without him noticing, his darkening face softened a bit. "Altera," he said with his usual deadpan tone of voice. Cassandra was used to this though, and she knew he was generally like this. She turned and looked at the sign and her balmed mouth made an ''o'' shape as she studied the symbols. "Good meaning," she said and he nodded with a shrug. "It must be an interesting place¡­" she mumbled and then turned back her attention on him, her purple eyes reflecting all of him. "Are you back for good?" Gill shook his head, not bothering to explain more. Cassandra pouted and crossed her arms, but she didn''t move away from him. Instead, she just watched the activity in their stall and, while curious, her upbringing told her not to squeeze in the crowd, so she simply stood by and watched like a lady that she was. ((Her upbringing also told her not to be too forward with men, but she had a selective memory.)) It was quite fun and even if she didn''t join in, she found a smile on her face. Her eyes couldn''t help but be attracted to the toy section the most, surrounded by many happy little kids. She had always wanted siblings, but her mother didn''t like her getting close to any of her dad''s illegitimate children. She was actually quite fond of kids. "Our children would be just as adorable," she voiced out without thinking, making them both flinch as soon as they uttered it. Gill couldn''t help but think about what his mother told him before leaving. "Garan is a year younger than you but he already has twins!" She had said, "You better get me grandchildren soon or I will die with regrets!" His pale face was now red as a monkey''s butt. "W-What are you talking about!!" He could vaguely feel he was a little different from this woman after he saw her wield the sword with skill. Unfortunately for her, his defense mechanism¡ªafter the previous failed relationship¡ªwas high and very, very, reactive. "Stop with the nonsense, it''s annoying." Cassandra frowned at his words. She knew she was being improper, but it shouldn''t attract such mean words from him, not after the last time she showed off her ''skills''. Because she was the only legitimate child, she was the only one allowed to learn the techniques, probably in hopes for her to teach her future ''son''. She had practiced it vehemently to gain the approval of her parents, though she never got it. When she realized this she gave it up, though she found it again after falling in love with Gill. She had practiced her sword skills again to impress him. She practiced so hard that the soft hands she took care of got calloused! Before he left she felt that he had finally softened up a bit, but what was this now? "You obviously have a good impression on me!" "I won''t like showy women like you!" He said, ignoring his own acting like a brat. "It''s like you can''t live without a man!" He blurted out without thinking and frowned when he realized what came out of his mouth. He raised his head and wondered whether or not to apologize. But he saw her reddish eyes, holding back tears, and his voice died. Inexplicably, his heart hurt a bit. He refused to admit he had been moved by Cassandra. "Fine! Who wants to make babies with you anyway!!" She said and ran away. Gill didn''t know how to react, so he just didn''t. He turned to see the disapproving gazes of his team. "Can''t believe boss Gill had such a messy love life!" "Wasn''t my goddess Juni his ex? She specifically looked for him!" "I thought they were back together?" "Anyway! Boss Gill''s love life is definitely colorful!" "One violet and one blonde?" "Complementary colors?" "Now that you mention it¡ª" "Anyway, they''re both angels sent from above." "They''re supreme beauties, too!" All the noise made his head hurt. "Buzz off!" He yelled, making everyone flinch in shock, and walked away. But¡­ unconsciously, his phoenix eyes gravitated to the direction a certain girl left crying. Chapter 373 - 373: Making a Killing The next day, nighttime. The Altera shop was already packing up while the others were still hawking. They closed much earlier than others because they easily sold out the stocks they had within 2 days, several days faster than others. During the first day, they already sold a bulk of their stuff. With word of mouth, they became even more popular and it bordered on chaos. All the Aborigine guards had to be utilized to guard and keep order rather than help them organize and sell stuff, which was a hassle. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A wonderful, fun, and satisfying type of hassle though. Anyway, the early sell-out was a very good thing because that would mean they had more time to train and investigate instead. It still felt pitiful to waste good market space they rented for the event. So they decided to increase the stock in whatever way they could. For now, they could only get the carpenters Semi and Furong to do what they could (like bowls, chopsticks, hangers, and the like). As for the other things, they had to come from Altera. They also promised their avid customers that they would set up a permanent shop in the territory so they could have ready access to these resources whenever. Speaking of this, they took down a number of fences in their property, turning them into small buildings to use as roadside shops. Of course, it was still undergoing construction but they were in no rush. The next stocks would arrive in a couple of weeks anyway. "Ah, so much gold¡­" Sammy mumbled, his dark skin reflecting the goldish shimmer of their wins. They really made a killing in those sales and Eagle was writing on the logbook with a very happy smile¡ªwhich was so scary that it actually made a few of them flinch. Eagle was a softie, but his aquiline features made him look like a villain. Gill looked at the team who were gathered around, also with smiles, they were eager to know how much they made. "Now we shall proceed to part 3 of our mission here," he said, and immediately the others'' backs straightened up as if they were about to hear orders. The mission this time was actually a four-part mission. Part 1 was to keep their training, Part 2 was to gather information, and Part 3 was to sell out for good prices to regenerate the team treasury as well as their own pockets. For the final part, they were tasked to maximize this annual event and get exposed to the products of other territories, making sure to take note of the characteristic product(s) of each one. Of course, this also meant to purchase what they needed. They were also instructed to buy necessary resources back to Altera, if there were any. Hence, on the third day of the event, the group was set to be buyers. The captain specifically told them that if they found any useful resources in whatever form, they could buy it with the earnings from the sale. The team was divided into three in order to maximize the event. The first group was Gill, Knauf, Kleid, and a few other aborigines. The second group was led by Eagle, Chris, Mao, Roana, and others. And the last group had Sammy, Luis, Pipa, Plaridel, Madon, and the rest. Eagle''s team walked along the eastern side of the market, though not really seeing anything remarkable for a while. It was mostly food, and who among them would want the indigenous food? Altera spoiled people''s taste buds to an unprecedented degree. However, they soon came across a huge booth about two to three hundred square meters large. It was selling domesticated animals like Gugu birds and another creature called Broat, at a lower cost than the former. Eagle observed it and saw that it was a little taller than the Gugu bird. However, it was a bit thinner and had less meat. It looked similar to a wild goat, but a little larger, and instead of horns they had small antlers. "Can you say more about this?" He asked Thorance. Salespeople weren''t a common practice here because service wasn''t a thing. Not to mention, territories tended to have anti-theft alerts within their walls, so theft wasn''t an issue. Hence, as long as the creatures didn''t get out of their corralled, the person watching wouldn''t care much, especially if the item didn''t need much selling. "This is called a Broat, raised by some territories as source of meat. But because it had lesser amount of meat than Gugu bird, along with its hard-to-chew meat no different from the violent monsters, their costs is much lower." Eagle nodded pondering, whether to buy it or not. Anyway, they could handle the tangy monster meats, Broat meat wouldn''t be a problem. However as he walked around the animals, he couldn''t help but notice the obvious females among them. He realized that they had a large udder and teats! His eyes widened and his feet moved to it. These characteristics were something from dairy cows and other milk-producing animals in Terran! Milk! Would they finally have milk after so long?! But¡­ they seemed to not be popular? It was sold only for its little meat! Eagle''s eyes widened and he turned to the person selling. "Does this produce milk?" "Milk?" Mao and the others beside him perked up at this. "The white liquid that comes out of that," Eagle asked the shop owner patiently. "You mean the White Juice!" The person looked at him like he was an idiot, while his Aborigine teammates looked at him worriedly, obviously worrying for his brain. "It''s no good. You''ll get sick." The man just rolled his eyes and went to the other customers already purchasing. Seeing him left alone, Roana stepped forward and explained. "People only drink that thing if there''s no water. Though everyone gets sick afterward." Eagle paused for a bit in thought. Even in Terran, raw milk was indeed risky if consumed untreated. However, another concern was that their bodies were obviously much better than their Terran counterparts. If the improved bodies were affected, then the bacteria from this milk were probably much more potent than what they were used to. Eagle hesitated a bit. What if he bought it and it was useless? If it could still make people''s improved bodies sick, then could it still be consumed? But he calmed down soon after. He still believed in the knowledge and ingenuity of Terrans. They''d find a way to treat it. Even if they didn''t, an alternative source of meat shouldn''t be a loss. He looked at the stocks and at the price. The mercenary team captured nineteen, ten of which were female. As for the cost, a small part of the profit yesterday was more than enough. Of course, how could he not bargain? "Hm¡­ little meat and gives out poison juice¡­ why would you sell it for so high?" He said, taking advantage of the innate intimidating factor of his facial features. The shop owner flinched. "High? That''s not¡ª" "It is," he looked around, "It''s already the third day, how many have you sold?" The man''s shoulder slumped down and Eagle''s eyes sharpened. From his reaction, he knew it probably wasn''t much. The two stared at each other for a while, one frowning, while the other apprehensive. Eagle let the silence brew for a moment before sighing, and then he looked at the man. "How about this, give me half price and I''ll take them all." He said so as if taking pity. The salesman flinched. "What?" "I''ll buy all of them," Eagle repeated. "H-How many?" The shop owner asked, just in case the potential idiot couldn''t count. "Nineteen," Eagle said, manifesting a few gold as he was starting to get impatient. At this, the shop owner''s stance softened and he looked at Eagle very kindly. "Well, but half-price is a bit much¡­" "A third off at least. Otherwise, I''m not interested¡ª" "Ah, yesyesyes, a third off it is!" While all this was happening, the aborigines couldn''t help but stare at Eagle in worry, especially Roana. Mao elbowed Roana when he saw the middle-aged woman pale. "Don''t worry too much, he knows what he''s doing." "Ah, yes, but¡­" "Actually, I know someone who drank that liquid when they found a broat in the wild. There was no water and he had no choice. His stomach hurt not long after and he was almost killed the monsters due to his distraction. She paused, looking at all of them in concern. "He lost an arm." She said so as if they''d lose an arm if they drank the ''white juice''. The Terran''s lips twitched, and Luis smiled comfortingly, "Well, we will take special care. But don''t be so dismissive. There are so many food that just need to be handled correctly to be consumable," he said comfortingly, and many other Terrans nodded. "You''ll see. You won''t be able to imagine the food you could cook with this!" Roana looked at the young man with a complicated expression. She really couldn''t imagine it. She wouldn''t be asked to cook poison, would she? Chapter 374 - 374: More Shopping While one team had already zoned in on a large purchase, Sammy and Luis'' team were still perusing around the southern part of the fair. Most of the items here weren''t very cost-effective, but they did find unfamiliar plants and seeds¡ªwhich sister-in-law would definitely love. She gave them the budget for them anyway. "This is a seed from the far eastern side of the continent!" The seller said, pointing at the various seeds onhand. "This is a rare specimen from the south!" "This is a mystery seed from the orc region!" He showed the party various other seeds of various shapes, sizes, and colors, presenting them as if they were treasures from another world. "So you don''t know what they are," Luis said, a statement. Seller: "..." It was true. These were basically ''trash'' he collected from other people who brought these out for sale. He knew there were a lot of rich people in annual market festivals like this, so he had hoped to make a killing. But he looked at the men looking very unimpressed. "Well, but they are indeed from far away." "Hm, sure, if you say so," Luis said with a shrug, "I wonder who would buy seeds they don''t even know how to grow¡­" "..." Sammy, knowing that it was time to bargain, finally spoke up. "We''ll consider taking them off your hands!" he said, "We like to collect weird stuff. But you can''t charge too much!" When sister-in-law found out they were joining a market festival in a town, she gave all five of them a whooping 110 gold each. That was to say, even if their group didn''t hold much of the profit from the sale¡ªwhich was mostly in Gill and Eagle''s hands¡ªthey would still have some money on hand. After all, the Ferrol Market Fair was done once a year; It would be such a pity not to maximize it. As for what was given to boss Gill and Eagle, they didn''t know, but it was definitely a lot. In their case, 110 gold each was already more than enough. 100 gold was to buy some goods for her and the territory, and the remaining 10 was their commission, provided they used it strictly to strengthen themselves. Their hearts almost fell and they went to heaven. Ten gold coins was a month''s salary for a well-off aborigine in a town¡ªand it was more than enough to buy a very good level D weapon! Although the captain bought them weapons, their durability had been quickly deteriorating due to all the fights. In fact, ten gold coins could even buy an inferior second-hand level C equipment, let alone a D equipment or two! While they had level C armor and weapons makers aborgines in the territory there was still plenty of equipment they couldn''t make, primarily due to how the World Knowledge distributed techniques. A weapon or armor maker usually specialized in a few types of equipment at most, and this was why the aether buildings were so special¡ªas they could automatically mass produce these weapons, and even improve class as they leveled up. Anyway, the way knowledge was distributed really wasn''t very good in terms of looking at the development of civilization. It was understandable how most aborgines treated each inheritance like treasure, oftentimes even more important than lives. They heard some villages even sacrificed people in an attempt to be awarded knowledge. This wasn''t effective to Terrans, as they tended to innovate on their own. The aborgines that ended up in Altera could be said to be very lucky to be able to meet innovative people, otherwise, they''d definitely still be stuck making one or two types of equipment for the rest of their lives. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In any case, they bought several bags of each of the seeds they encountered (for very good prices!). They put that didn''t fit in their space into their water-resistant backpacks (available for purchase at Gaea Supermarket). They also made sure they were packed well and protected from the elements. And then they ran to the western side, where most of the equipment was being sold. In terms of arrangements, it was much like their side, but the customer type was very different. This place was heavily occupied by men of all sizes¡ªmostly large ones. This market demographic made sense because, after all, not everyone could be a fighter, and they had only ever seen one woman warrior before¡ªthe fire shield woman with Silas. Each store was also guarded by big men with sharp eyes. Although theft was automatically detected and punishable by the territory, there had been cases where rivals just tried stealing their enemies'' items, just to make trouble. Anyway, they could see various displays of different sorts of weapons. Men being men, just the sight of shimmering chunks of metal made their blood boil¡ªin a good way, of course. There were longswords, broadswords, arming swords, rapiers, lances, pikes, long bows, etc. There were also various shields like rounded shields, kite shields, and even the buckler (which was awesome for mobility). There were also various armor and helmets. There were rare ones made of metal like chain mail¡ªbut those were understandably quite expensive. There were a lot more and they were itching to finally buy their equipment. So without further ado, the gang immediately went to do some shopping for themselves. Sammy was a wind archer and he bought a Class C quiver that added a 2% chance of adding burn to arrows that it cased for longer than 6 hours. Meanwhile, Luis was a fire swordsman, so he chose to buy defensive equipment. He bought a superior class D Gauntlet with reinforced knuckles and fingers which not only provided protection to his hands, it also provided better grip. It was purely made of metal. So when he used his ability, the gauntlet got a burn factor as well. Plaridel took a buckler which he could use on-the-go, adding more defensive properties to him even with its smaller size. He also bought a helmet. Hours later, while they were admiring their new equipment (for the nth time), they couldn''t help but exclaim: Sister-in-law is almighty!! Chapter 375 - 375: Auction House Meanwhile, Gill''s team had also completed their purchase, not having to spend much of Althea''s allowance due to the hefty profits from the trade the previous day. Gill was a bit disappointed that there was nothing particularly special sold. Of course, they did still buy a lot of things that could increase the comprehensive strength of the territory. Althea gave him and Eagle 500 gold each, hoping to find unique and helpful products to strengthen the territory. However, except for a few class-C weapons and equipment unavailable in the territory, there wasn''t much gain for their team. What they did do was buy a lot of class D and a few class C equipment for the rest of the territory. These weapons would be primarily used by the guards'' team and also sold in the Contribution Store to be opened in the territory soon. Here, one could buy good weapons and other equipment with contribution points. They also maximized their purchase limits in shops like the pharmacy. Although sister-in-law''s medicines were great, they didn''t really produce fast enough for everyone to be able to stock up. Not to mention, sister-in-law''s Pharmacy skills had limited effects on people above level 20. It so happened that Ferrol had a level 2 Pharmacy, which could produce medicines for the level. They would not only stock up for their own team, but also stock up supply for the territory. They continued to peruse the stalls, hoping to get more finds. It was just that Gill''s feet paused as he caught a glimpse of familiar violet in his peripheral vision. Inexplicably, he felt a little distracted. "What''s wrong boss Gill?" Kleid asked and he flinched, a bit surprised. After a thought he just looked at them, "Go ahead and do the task," he said, before he disappeared into the crowd to the confusion of the others. Gill didn''t really bother with them though, as his eyes was focused somewhere in the crowd, trying to find that familiar shade of violet again. Fortunately, it wasn''t hard to find her and he soon saw her enter a building. It was a large 3-storey building with grand decorations. There was a banner made of expensive silk with intricate patterns draped at both sides of the massive door. It gave a special feeling of attraction, as if entering would somehow elevate one''s existence and status. The entire facade was like an upgraded, more special, version of Houser''s sign. Gill followed her in with not much thought, a little startled when the familiar ding sounded in his head. [You have entered the Auction House. Entry Fee is 10 silver per person. Minimum Wealth in Space: 100 gold. [Proceed? Yes | No] Gill paused. He had heard of this building, newly built just before they left for Altera. It was apparently a building available for high-level towns. Everyone knew system buildings had special functions, and he wondered what kind of function an auction house available at a Level 2 Town would have. It even had a minimum wealth requirement for entering. Curious, he decided to pay the entrance fee of 10 silver, though his eyes unconsciously looked for that trace of violet as he did so. As he entered, he encountered more and more well-dressed ladies and gentlemen. He also caught a few looks both for his plain clothing and his handsome face, though people were mostly busy shopping to care too much. Regardless of all of these, Gill tried to follow where he thought the trace of violet went. The building seemed to have two levels: A massive lobby on the ground floor¡ªwhich was now lined with expensive-looking booths¡ªand then the auction house proper above. Interestingly, it took him a bit of willpower to pull his sights off the booths. It was odd because he normally wouldn''t care for the items sold¡ªwhich comprised mostly of luxury items like silk, jewelry, special beast horns, et cetera. Thinking about it for a bit, he mused this must have something to do with the building''s special effects. Fortunately, the building''s effect was really just an improved version of Houser''s ability and it wasn''t so invasive as to actually force people to buy. Only a bit of head shaking and self-control was needed to break off from the ''charm'' of buying luxury items. He followed the crowd (most of which had bought a few things from the special stalls) upstairs to the main auction hall. Soon, he ended up in a massive hall with hundreds of seats and a stage, and his eyes started to peruse the seats for that shade of violet. However, his sights¡ªagain¡ªwere attracted to the stage in front, the building''s mysterious force demanding everyone''s attention. The stage was large, around 200 square meters. At this time, there was a line of clean but dull people chained together, with the emcee pointing at them as if they were products to be sold. Immediately, Gill knew that they were selling human slaves. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Cassandra herself had been bidding. It seemed that she had already won a few slaves during the time he was looking for her, seeing two relatively good-looking but pitiful young men standing on the aisle next to her. Gill looked in her direction, a bit complicated. Although she was a bit annoying, he had always pegged Cassandra to be straightforward and tomboyish. He didn''t think she''d be buying slaves. However, this was a common practice here and he didn''t judge, just a bit disappointed. Maybe¡­ a little angry. But he frowned, quickly catching himself. How could there be disappointment if there were no expectations? The carapace of protection he surrounded himself with hardened a little at this realization. At this time, there was someone being pulled in front of the auctioneer, and the host''s excited voice once again attracted his sharp eyes back to the stage. His eyebrows rose at the sight of the new ''display''. It was a young man, half-naked and chained and his appearance caused loud excited murmurs around him. Gill pulled himself back to the present and observed the newcomer. He was quite handsome, but it wasn''t what was special about him. His most striking features were¡­ tails and ears. Chapter 376 - 376: Half-orc (Part 1) Gill had been here for four months and this was the first time he encountered this¡­ curiosity. Of course, looking at the amazed crowd it seemed he wasn''t the only one. He had heard of orcs before. Next to Goblins, orcs were the race the humans had the most contact with. And by ''contact'', it didn''t mean the friendly sort. Gill''s dark eyes stared at the newcomer on the stage, both curious and apprehensive. The man was a humanoid creature except he had a lot of furs and it gradiated towards the side of his face, like long sideburns. His most particular feature though was his pointed elongated ears with red fur, which twitched involuntarily whenever there was a particularly loud murmur amongst the crowd. Behind him, right below the base of the spine, was a slender bushy tail. It hung low and his shoulders were hunched, as if unconsciously showing submission. It reminded him of foxes. What a peculiar sight¡­ Gill''s eyebrows rose and he walked a bit closer and took a free seat, sitting down to see what happened next. With his sharp eyes, he could see the creature''s¡ªno, the man''s¡ªeyes. He had green irises with an imperceptible ring of gold. The orcish man was looking around with apprehension, though he was obviously trying his best not to show his fear, his weaknesses, though he wasn''t being particularly great at it¡ªnot in his experienced eyes, anyway. The man also had plenty of scars and was a bit dirty. He was pitifully emaciated but Gill could see the rich men and women still admiring him¡ªthough in the sense of looking at a new toy. Of course, no matter how pitiful, it did not touch the hearts of most. If anything, it was too normal and taken for granted. Not caring for the non-human man next to him, the chubby auctioneer raised his hand to flashily introduce the ''item''. "Now, for the finale!!! "This is the half-orc captured in the remote village of Hoskle, on the border between the human and orc kingdom!" The auctioneer said with great enthusiasm. "When the territory was defeated in last month''s territory war, how surprised the victor was when they found not one, not two, but FIVE half-orcs living in the village!" The man dramatically paused, making the audience scoot forward from their seats in anticipation. Then his shoulder slumped, looking disappointed. "Sadly, one of those half-orcs died fighting us, another went missing, and the two women were taken very early on, so¡ªThis is the only one! This is a once-in-a-decade chance to own your own half-orc!" The flabby man yelled, his golden teeth shining on everyone''s faces. "Starting price is 100 gold, increments of 1 gold!" He announced, raising his arm theatrically. "Bidding, begins!" "110!" "115!" "150!" "155!" Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "160!" "165!" "200!" Silence. "I''m sure my cousin would love this specimen." A familiar voice slurred and Gill realized it was Cassandra. "I''m sure he''d be happy to share the view." She was talking to one of her new slaves. It irked Gill to no end. Also, who didn''t know her cousin was the lord here, let alone her father was a lord of a big town? And¡­ Jonathan was a well-known queer. He may not want to show off his lovers to others. Long story short, no one fought with her for the half-orc. "200 gold! Going once!" The thought of Cassandra winning a handsome fox made him feel a little uncomfortable. More importantly, while he was not sure how strong half-orcs were, he had heard of the impressive strengths of orcs. If he could bring him to Altera¡ª "Going twice!" Gill raised his hand. "210 gold!" Silence reigned in the massive room and all heads turned to him. Their eyebrows raised in curiosity, mostly with faces of watching a good show. Who would go against the lord of a town so openly? Who was he? "215!!" It was Cassandra, and Gill continued to bid. "220!" This went on until it reached 350 gold which was already way out of budget. Cassandra narrowed her eyes, but she reluctantly put down her bidding paddle. She didn''t forget to send a glare in his direction though. The auctioneer looked at them in alteration, interested, before bellowing the announcement. "Going once! Going twice!" Pause. "SOLD to the handsome gentleman over there! He clapped his hands, looking at Gill very carefully. "Congratulations! You now own your own half-orc!" ¡­ When the auction ended, the crowd started to file out of the building, but not without major discussions about what had happened. "I wanted that half-orc!" "Ah, we stood no chance." "Who won it anyway? He dared to go against Ms. Cassandra¡­" "I''m not sure either." "He probably has a decent background though," one said. There was no other explanation. Maybe he was someone from a similarly large town. Maybe even a city. "I agree," his companion said, "And few people would spend that amount of money for a half-orc. "Sure, they''re rare, but that''s it, right?" "Right," another laughed, "Those things would be great fighters, sure, but they''re belligerent in nature. And judging by how meek that one was, it was probably just waiting to die a violent death, ideally with the owner." "Hm, it wasn''t the first time that happened." There was once a city in the far west that captured a half-orc (as orcs in general couldn''t be tamed, only fought with). They were amazed by how calm it was, and they thought it must''ve retained a lot of its human calmness. It was quite famous and even inspired an active hunting of half-orcs (albeit to no success as they were much rarer at the time). The half-orc was also very beautiful and seduced a lot of powerful men. In the end, the damned thing lead the entire party¡ªa caravan¡ªdown a steep cliff. No one survived. "How did Hoskle do it?" Another one asked. They heard that half-orcs actually lived with humans. "Who knows," the man shrugged, but he wasn''t naive enough to think he could mimic it even if he had the gugu brain to buy the thing. There were similar discussions all around the territory. Other than Altera products, there was now the half-orc, Cassandra, and Gill. And at this time, the two of these major points of discussion were looking at each other. Their paths had crossed as they exited, with Gill holding the chain of the slave¡ªnow kindly covered by him with a robe¡ªand Cassandra being framed by her two new male slaves. They were both frowning as they stared at each other, not speaking. Gill did not expect Cassandra to not pay him any heed. She just pulled her two new slaves away and walked past Gill as if he wasn''t even there. Cassandra held her head high, refusing to look back to see his face. And he didn''t say anything else either. The two didn''t speak all the way until they were far apart, still silent even when the other was no longer in sight. It was just that as they were walking, Cassandra overheard something. Her feet paused a little, her ears perking to listen. "Who was that guy who won the half-orc?" "I don''t know, he wasn''t wearing any emblems!" "But he''s rich!" "Hehe. Just what we like." "Let''s plan this carefully just in case he has¡­ friends." "I know someone who wants that orc, too, he could smuggle him out without anyone noticing!" "Good, good." It was all quite maddening but, still angry, Cassandra did not speak for prick. With a frown, Cassandra just walked away. Hmpf! Who cared about him! ¡­ Returning to the headquarters, everyone was surprised to see Gill holding a chain of a slave. The person was super tall but hooded and they looked at him curiously. Gill gently took off the chains and pulled down the hood to show their new friend. The aborigines were shocked and the Terrans looked amazed. "It''s a half-orc." Kleid said, eyebrows raised in surprise. "What?!" The soldiers yelled, making the poor orc flinch. "Amazing!" They said, knowing how rare it was to encounter other races. "You definitely won this task!" Gill shrugged and walked away, allowing the others to surround the newcomer in curiosity. "This is amazing," Luis exclaimed, making the half-orc''s ears involuntarily twitch¡ªwhich in itself also made the childish soldiers gasp. "That''s so cool!" Sammy tried his best not to touch the man''s tail. "Are you a fox? Are you sly? Do you swipe??" The orc looked at them in fear, unused to this kind of enthusiasm. "Aww don''t be scared." They said and they pulled him to the living room, handing him some cookies. "Eat." The fox looked at the guardedly, but he shakily took the cookies anyway, subconsciously following orders to avoid pain. The two didn''t know this though, but they just thought he was scared of the new people and the strange environment. The knowledgable aborigines were even a bit surprised at his meekness, and someone was guarded because he had also heard the story of the minx orc. But the fox in question didn''t know about the various thoughts about him. He just took a bite and his unique green-yellow eyes brightened, his tail unconsciously swinging back and forth It felt sweet and filled up his empty heart. His eyes softened a bit and he couldn''t help but look at his new masters. Their eyes met and he immediately looked down, knowing slaves weren''t supposed to meet their owner''s eyes so blatantly. Luis looked at him like he was a new pet to be loved and cared for. The young lad pulled out another cookie and handed it to him. "One more. Just one, these are very expensive." The orc couldn''t help but stare. Expensive? But given to him? Inevitably, his eyes still met theirs, and he realized there was a stark absence of what he was used to. He didn''t show derisiveness, disgust, or superiority. All he saw was curiosity and¡­ kindness. What kind of masters bought him? Chapter 377 - 377: Half-orc (Part 2) "It''s delicious right?" Luis said with a smile. The orc blinked and nodded. "Well, you can''t have anymore." "..." Gill ignored the fools and turned to the aborigines who were gaping at the new creature. "What do you know about orcs?" He started asking about the creatures from the aborigines, primarily because the orc''s eyes were dead and he didn''t seem to like speaking very much. Although he softened up a bit, he felt it wasn''t the time for a thorough questioning as of yet. He could see the difference between human slaves and slaves from other races. At the very least, even Gaudi wasn''t as pitiful and they could still talk to him. For other races, it could be said they were treated worse than animals. This was true for the goblins, and obviously the same for the orcs. Of course, because the goblins were intrinsically weaker, they were still much more pitiful than everything else. It was Kleid who moved forward and spoke to him. They walked a bit farther from the others, just out of earshot of the creature. "What do you know about orcs, sir?" "Orcs are humanoid creatures that share the features of both humans and certain animals." Interestingly, based on what he saw as well as the descriptions, the animal blood of these orcs seemed closer to Terran species of animals than Xeno''s. For convenience, their animal forms would be referred to as such. He then looked at the new guy, "He seems a bit different from what I imagined. Are half-orcs so different from the pureblood ones?" "Pureblood orcs are creatures known for their physiques not inferior to beasts. They have slightly humanoid shapes like the half-orcs and they also walk on hind legs, but their shapes and skin (i.e. fur, scales, etc) are closer to that of beasts. "They are also stronger than beasts, not only physically but also because they know more than just blood lust." "Mixed-bloods are basically any creature that had orc blood in them," he said, "There had been a handful of cases of human-orc hybrids, but there have also been a few sightings of troll-orc hybrids and ogre-orc hybrids." "Of course, there could be more, but deeper into other races'' territories." Cross-race procreation was incredibly difficult, however. It could be seen that Hoskle was a territory that may have been open to Orcs, otherwise, five half-breeds would not have been created and lived to their age. "It is more likely the half-orcs were also captured by Hoskle, or perhaps they were rescued from Orc territories after their mothers got kidnapped for their fertility and better brains. Kleid paused, eyes twitching at the imagery, "I can''t imagine orcs and humans walking together, let alone them performing intercourse¡­" Orcs were very strong, though their brains weren''t very good. An emerging group thought cross-breeding with humans would improve the minds, which was true in a way. But their method of kidnapping women just exacerbated the conflicts between humans and the orcs to the point of no return. Gill and the others listened to all these aptly. Still, Gill looked at the orc in interest. Kleid saw this and couldn''t help but give out a warning, telling him about the story of the minx orc. Gill''s eyebrows rose and took note. However, he still wanted to think that he spent 350 gold for an ally and not a liability. Otherwise, he wouldn''t know how to face the captain, sister-in-law, and¡­ Cassandra, though for a very different reason. His dark eyes looked at the newcomer, hoping to find out more directly. ¡­. That night, Gill had a hard time sleeping. Although he had a lot of things to ponder, somehow he ended up intermittently dreaming of two very different women. He couldn''t help but recall Cassandra''s violet eyes in annoyance then pain and anger earlier that day. He couldn''t help but remember Juni a bit as well, although the memories traced back all the way to their teens, when they were still so young and innocent. The entire night, his mind involuntarily shifted to the two women¡ªone whom he associated with innocent love in a peaceful world, and the other to an explosive attraction from another realm. If his teammates learned of this¡­, would they call him Scum? ¡­ The next day, the team went out to go shopping again, hoping to gather good finds for the territory and for their own strengths. The orc stayed on their property safely and they didn''t worry much. Owning or renting a property in the system meant that no unauthorized personnel could enter. As one of the people who held authority in the property, Gill could also control who could exit. Except for the lord, of course, though he didn''t peg Jonathan as someone who would break into their territory for a half-orc. Overall, this place might have very low standards of lifestyle, but there were plenty of magical conveniences. This time, Plaridel managed to find himself another good thing. He was a fire shieldsman and he found a nice Level C coat in the market. It had the effect of increasing his defense when it was damaged. Of course, level C effects were limited, but this was already amazing on its own. "I finally have my own armor!" The man exclaimed raising the coat. He looked at the woman who sold it with his characteristic suave smile, and white teeth contrasting well with his mocha skin. "Thanks pretty lady." The girl blushed and couldn''t look at him. Plaridel might be small even by Terran standards¡ªand was smaller than the women here¡ªbut he never failed to catch a couple of hearts anyway. Luis and Mao cackled, though internally they thought they also wanted to be more charming. The group continued to peruse and buy, often times adding to the goods for selling in the Contribution Store. They also managed to get some cloth from Kilpo and Makita, as well as some spices from Holt City. While most of the spices weren''t very special, there was one that got their attention. It was called Puring sauce, which was slightly viscous and black in color. It was a sauce that gave a special umami taste, much stronger than what they had now. Their territory chefs would love to study it. As they shopped around, Gill''s sharp ears couldn''t help but overhear some whispers, primarily because it was obviously related to them. "That''s them," A man said, looking at them with scrutiny. "Who?" "You don''t know? They''re the people who bought that half-orc." "So rich?" "Yes, I know." "The Goliath Mercenary team wanted to steal the half-orc, but Miss Cassandra got her guards to beat them up." Gill froze when he heard it, his hands clenching into a fist. "Boss?" "Ah, it''s nothing." He said so, but Gill was in a daze for a while after that. He just blankly nodded when a teammate showed him interesting items for potential purchase, his mind inexplicably attracted to the image of a woman instead. Then, his eyes caught sight of violet¡ªin reality, this time¡ªand he turned his head to follow. He saw her strutting around with the two new slaves following her around. She was buying them clothing, and they looked very peachy. It was an annoying sight. "Hey." "Hmn." "Why do you buy slaves? To show off?" He asked, acrid as always. She frowned. "What''s wrong with buying my men clothing?" He didn''t know how to tell off someone with a completely different worldview, but he badly wanted to do so. Also, those words irked him very much. He dragged her to a relatively less populated alley, with the two slaves frantically following. "What are you doing?" she asked forcefully taking her hand away. "They''re humans! You shouldn''t treat them as slaves." Slaves in this world had no rights, their lives were completely within the controlled of their masters. They could be beaten to death on the street and no one would care. "What? Who said they aren''t human?" "It''s not right¡ª" "The slaves¡ª" "They''re not slaves anymore!" she yelled at him, "I set them free, you imbecile!" "What?" "I already hired them as household help!" "They''re not slaves anymore!" "I''m a weirdo!" She paused, blushing. She had always been seen as eccentric. Although she was beautiful, her unconventional thoughts had turned many suitors away. Not that she liked any of them, of course. Gill kind of wanted to apologize, but the words refused to come out of his mouth¡ª Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Cassandra saw that he didn''t have anything else to say. She turned and gestured to go back to her companions. But she was stopped when her arm was grabbed by a strong grip. She frowned and tried to pull her arms, though to no avail. It was so irritating; He had a lower level than her so why was he so strong? Annoying! "Prig! If you have nothing better to say, leave me alone¡ª" But she didn''t have the chance to tell him off anymore, as Gill''s lips ended up on hers, effectively shutting her up. Chapter 378 - 378: Anniversary (Part 1) Aberdeen City, 1 year prior Inside a high-end hotel room penthouse, something of a special occasion was being held. This could be seen in how the dim candlelight lit the room in a soft glow, how the soft sound of classical music hummed in the background, and how well-decorated the room itself was. There were even flower petals splayed all over the floor, on the cushions, and on the bed¡ªtheir scent occupying the senses of the couple in the room. All this, with the beautiful backdrop of the beautiful city below, made for an incredibly intimate ambiance. Other than these, the couple also dressed themselves well, showing the importance of the occasion to them. Althea wore a beautiful emerald evening gown that matched her eyes. It was a beautiful art piece of silk and lace. It was one of her more expensive dresses that her mother bought with her a few weeks back. Her auburn hair was curled today, giving her a different look than usual, and adding a bit more softness to her. She was also wearing some of the shiny jewelry he gave her¡ªone beautiful necklace that framed her swan neck, a set of pretty earrings that made her face shimmer and, of course, their now-one-year-old wedding ring¡ªcombined, making her even more ethereal than usual. Garan, on the other hand, wore a suit with an undershirt with a light shade of lime. He also wore special cufflinks that Althea gave him during an anniversary they had as girlfriend and boyfriend back then. It was very different from the monotonous colors he usually wore and he was an incredibly handsome picture of sophistication. They stared at each other''s eyes, warmth oozing out of their orbs. In between them were several plates of wonderful-looking food. Garan himself cooked the meal using the built-in kitchen in the suite, and they were absolutely a feast for the eyes. He cooked a mix of fancy dishes as well as Althea''s simpler favorites. Among others, there were Caprese salad slices of ripe tomatoes and mozzarella arranged in a beautiful platter, dressed in balsamic reduction. Althea really liked salads, and she liked to eat them in different mixes and sauces. There was also a succulent lobster tail bathed in garlic butter. It paired perfectly with his seared fillet mignon. It was very savory and filling, each flavorful bite satisfying to consume. Along with these, there were many viands accompanied by a medley of roasted vegetables, completing the meal. Of course, everything was wrapped in a carefully chosen bottle of red wine. He bought the sweeter kind, as Althea liked. He also knew the velvety texture of the wine enhanced both the flavor of the food and the atmosphere. "Time to eat~" she said, smiling, and he nodded, smiling back. It was a wonderful dinner and they talked about various good memories. In retrospect, each one of the other''s best memories had the other there. Soon, their dinner wrapped and they started eating their sweets. The dessert was chocolate fondue. Next to it was a platter of fruits dipped in chocolate. They looked very succulent, each bite promising a sweet symphony of taste. Althea loved milk chocolate the most. And although Garan wasn''t particularly fond of sweets, he didn''t mind eating them with Althea. He particularly liked tasting them when he took them straight from her mouth. Tonight naturally was no exception. "Hmm¡­" Some time later, the two found themselves out of the table and onto the sitting area. At this time, Garan was hungrily tasting all that dessert from his wife''s mouth, his tongue passionately exploring the inside of her mouth. Her arms wrapped tightly around him as he rested part of his weight on her, feeling her softness as he plundered her lips. He parted from her lips and kissed her cheeks, moving wet traces on the side of her face, her ears, and down her neck. She arched her body to give him better access to her neck, and he ate her up with more hunger every time he heard her moan. But when she heard the rustles of clothes getting taken off, Althea immediately snapped out of it. She patted her husband''s back to stop him from going lower, and she had to pull his hair a bit when he misunderstood the gesture as asking for more. "Later! I want to give my gift now!" Garan blinked, as if blinking away the lust, and remembered that he too had a gift he was looking forward to giving her. She used this dazed moment to escape from his hold and went to her bag, cutely scooting back to his side with a smile on her face. "Happy anniversary!!" She said, handing him a small box just larger than his hands. Garan smiled and looked at the meticulously wrapped package tied with a satin ribbon. He slowly unraveled it and his eyes brightened in admiration at what was inside. His wife gave him a bespoke Swiss knife, made of platinum, alloyed with a couple of other very valuable metals. It was expertly contoured to fit his hand, very ergonomic. He looked at her curiously, wondering how she did it, then he recalled she made him place a handprint on a plaster of Paris mold, saying it was for a project. He never questioned her, but he should''ve known she was planning something. His lips twitched upwards as he released the razor-sharp blade and stood up, expertly starting to manipulate it so she could admire it (note: him) at a safe distance. The other tools in the toolset included serrated blades for cutting through tough materials and a bottle opener that could be used not only for celebration, but also in opening rations. There was also a small saw for wood crafting and various precision tools, which would prove useful in survival situations. Garan raised the knife and admired it from different angles, marveling at its practicality and elegance, his heart filled by its every sheen. This tool would also save him many times, even in another world that they had yet to find. He smiled and closed it, shifting his eyes to look at her as she watched his reaction. He extended his hand and she took it, before he pulled her flush to him again, embracing her with all his warmth. "Thank you, I love it." He gave her a long kiss on the cheek, and it was ticklish so she ended up giggling. His breath turned heavier but he didn''t jump on her. He lifted her from his thigh and gently placed her back on the sofa, standing up to get her gift. He sat down next to her, placing his warm palm on her waist as he pulled her to him. He handed her a box as well, and she blinked as she looked at its contents. It was an intricately designed package and she opened it to reveal another beautiful gem. It was an ultra-rare emerald diamond much bigger than the pink ones he gave before. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He really liked giving her gems, though he said it was mostly because he couldn''t beat Winona for seeds, plants, and formulations. Garan had specifically traced this treasure and found out a foreign syndicate had it. Although the syndicate did nothing to provoke him, he proposed their hunting. Anyway, they were really an evil group. He also almost died, but he thought it was very beautiful and was close to fitting his wife''s beauty. Close. Just close. "Someday I''ll find you something that could match your beauty," he said, baritone voice full of promise. It melted Althea''s heart. "Aww, Garan, you didn''t have to¡­" she said, patting his chiseled chin. She loved whatever he gave her. "I want to," he told her, "I wouldn''t be able to rest well if I don''t give you the most beautiful things." Her emerald eyes met his extremely heated gaze¡ªone that never failed to make her face flush in embarrassment. And without further ado, he lifted her up in the air, carrying her like a princess. The next thing she knew she was gently thrown back first on the soft bed, under a husband intent to continue where they left off. "..." ________ Altera, present "Ha¡­ ah¡­" In another world, familiar sounds of sensuality echoed inside a room. It had lasted for hours on end, and it reached its end when the moon was already halfway in the sky. "Ah¡­ husband¡­!" A coquettish moan sounded, closely followed by a breathless, very masculine, groan. "Wife!" Garan''s eyes squinted in pleasure, large drops of sweat dripping on his wife''s body. Althea gasped as she gripped her husband''s back for dear life, her head arched back as she swallowed the sensations. With a huff, Garan fell down beside her on the bed, and he placed his strong arms above her, enveloping her in a hug. He tightly wrapped his muscular arms around her sweaty waist, feeling her warmth and heartbeat, engraving into his soul. It was something he''d never tire of doing, over and over. Then he felt his wife''s breathing soften, obviously about to fall asleep. Garan looked at the sky and made a rough calculation, deduced that it was exactly midnight. "Wife," he said, gently waking her up with a noisy smooch on the cheek. "Hmmmnnn???" She mumbled, eyes half open. She looked so cute that he smiled and smooched her other cheek. "Whwat ish it?" She gurbled as she buried her head in his wide chest. He chuckled and guided her to a sitting position. He held her shoulder so she didn''t fall down, and it was here Althea finally woke up a bit. She looked at him in confusion but also very patient and his heart melted. He rubbed his palm against her cheek and grinned. "Happy anniversary." "..." Chapter 379 - 379: Anniversary (Part 2) Althea stared blankly, absorbing, and Garan waited patiently for her to do so. When it occurred to her, her eyes widened. "What?" He laughed and repeated, "Happy anniversary." He kissed her cheek as he took out a beautiful wooden box, obviously bespoke from Baron''s specialty craftsmen. Althea was startled, she had completely forgotten! She didn''t open the gift immediately, feeling guilty. Although it was always Garan who celebrated it more back when they started dating, she had at least never forgotten about their anniversary. And this was only the second year after marriage! "I''m sorry, I¡ª" Some tears lined up her eyes, feeling heavy, and Garan kissed her eyes to stop it. He truly didn''t mind. "It''s fine, my love. Besides, the dates here are different," He said. Garan had calculated this date according to the Terran years, and they would celebrate their next ones according to the local calendar, which would be in about a couple of weeks. He shifted to sit behind her, placing his protective arms around her and holding her arms, encouraging her to see her gift. "Open your gift." Althea tried to push down the guilt and sadness, knowing it was rude to the gift-giver to show a frown when opening the gift. She sniffed, slowly opening the box to see its contents. Her eyes dilated at the unique gemstones the size of her thumb. It was amazingly beautiful, shimmering and endless. It was like a universe was inside. Immediately, she used her ability to see what it was. [Space Stone (Lv3): A stone that naturally contains compressed space. Gives 50 cubic meters unmerged and 25 cubic meters if merged with existing space] "!!" Her eyes widened into saucers and she whipped her head to look at her husband, who had been watching her reaction with an amused smile. Space stone!! She had heard of these treasures! She thought only Eagle got lucky! And it was just as she needed, too! After all, the warehouse was only accessible within territory grounds. She often had to go outside! She looked at her husband with so much wonder and admiration that Garan''s body had a reaction. It had to be said: Receiving admiring gazes from the woman they love is very, very, useful to men''s ego. Althea gave her husband a sweet peck on the cheeks and a loving hug, before parting with him and looking down at her hands, returning her attention to the stone. [Would you like to merge Space Stone (Lv3) to your current space?] Yes. As she selected the option, the dusty screen exploded and expanded around her. Soon, a faint image of a bigger box overlayed over her existing space. She saw the arrows indicating the axis of expansion. She naturally chose to merge with her integral space. She mused what items she''d be placing to maximize the space and what axis she needed to prioritize more. For instance, there would be times when she''d need to uproot trees and shrubs and it would be lovely to get them in the space. Of course, she knew she couldn''t keep them there for too long before they died. Terran trees could more or less last without light, water, or carbon dioxide for a couple of weeks at most, so she reckoned a day or two in the space would be fine for the local vegetation. In the end, she settled for a floor dimension of 2.5 meters by 5 meters, with a height of over 2.5 meters¡ªwhich was just about enough height for young trees. With this, she could fit in 3 or 4 small trees, and even more smaller plants. As for why she chose the exact dimensions, it was because she wanted to be a nerd and wanted to apply the golden ratio. Anyway, it seemed to be just about what she''d needed anyway. Without further ado, she absorbed the stone and felt a slight force surround her, immediately compressing towards her. Her emerald eyes watched as her small 1 cubic meter space slowly expanded to a 25-cubic-meter one, and it was fascinating. She excitedly looked at a random large item¡ªthe chaise lounge¡ªin the room and placed it in the corner of the new space to test. Her eyes widened in amazement when it settled without any problems and her naked self jumped into her husband''s arms. "My husband is amazing!!!" She yelled, giving him continuous pecks on the lips, which he enjoyed very much. "That''s not all," he said, struggling not to jump at her. He dare not disrupt his own gift-giving. "There''s more in the box," he said with a smile. Althea paused and turned to look at the box and opened it. She saw a beautifully crafted metal ring. Embedded on it was the most beautiful gem in the universe¡ªthe space stone. Another one? !!! "H-Husband, I¡ª" This is too precious. And this detail¡­ she wondered which craftsman he got¡ª But the thought stopped as she recognized this particular type of steel with her appraisal skill. It was her husband''s. Immediately, she knew that he must''ve crafted it himself. Tears lined up her eyes and she immediately felt herself being embraced. "You''re more precious," he said as his chin rested on her head. He then parted from her and she looked up to see his warm smile. He took the ring and placed it on her other ring finger. She buried her head in his arms, incredibly touched. She sat comfortably on his leg as she raised her hand to look at the stone. Her hands were very beautiful and well-sculpted. The gorgeous ring and stone complimented it too well. Garan stared closely and thought in relief that he finally found it: The gem that could complement his wife''s hands. Garan grabbed her hand and placed it against his warm lips. His other arm wrapped around her naked torso, hugging her tightly. "It can be enclosed like this," He said, showing a little contraption to cover the gem. "To guard from coveting eyes." Indeed it was a treasure, it could be dangerous to show it off. With this thought, Althea decided to try to place it in the other space, just in case. [Unmerged Space could not be integrated] Alas. So it was a very good thing that she could hide it as needed. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Then, she seemed to have realized something. "Space stone¡­what about yours?" "My space is enough for me. You having it is a relief to me." "But¡­" He chuckled and kissed her lips, "My space is rarely full. It would be a waste on me." Althea looked at him and determined he wasn''t lying. She still felt guilty, though. Althea changed positions so she could straddle her husband and she wrapped her arms around him. She placed a soft kiss on his lips. "I wish I prepared a gift," she mumbled, absentmindedly placing several pecks on his face. "Don''t worry, I will¡ª" Before she could finish, her back was already on the soft bed and she was staring up at her husband. He leaned down and licked her ears. "You are already the greatest gift," he said, voice hoarse from lust. His hands slid to her thighs, opening them up. He didn''t do anything for a while and only looked at her in her most vulnerable form. She covered her face, embarrassed, and unconsciously tried closing her legs. Garan just found it so cute and he chuckled as he bent over to hover over her, supporting his weight with his arms, keeping her legs open with his thigh. He freed a hand to take hers off her face, and he admired her shy beautiful face. They had always been open with their affections and they had made love so many times, but she still showed her occasional shyness like this. He lifted both hands above her head,and leaned down to taste her lips. He took it slow, as if sampling, and they just felt each other''s simple presence like this before allowing things to heat up more and more, until Garan couldn''t take it anymore. "Hnng~" She moaned as she was skewered, and he groaned as he felt his wife''s warm folds take hold of him, sucking out his soul. Garan just thought he could stay here forever. "Wife¡­" he panted, burying his head on her soft shoulders as he drowned in pleasure. Her arms wrapped around his wide shoulders for support, squeezing her softness against his hard chest. She shut her eyes as she felt his length throb inside of her, sending pleasing electricity down her spine. She could only gasp and moan as he started to move his hips in plunder. Very soon, the erotic sounds of groans, moans, and slapping skins would echo across the room¡ªthe symphony made by a beautiful couple performing nature''s most intricate dance. They wouldn''t get out of the room until well after sunrise the next day, with a level 8 Althea''s hips¡ªto her gruntlement¡ªfeeling quite uncomfortable the whole time. In annoyance, she thought: Body upgrading is a scam! Chapter 380 - 380: One-month Celebration [44 days after The Migration] The time for the children''s one-Xenoan month birth celebration had finally arrived. It was a relatively big celebration, especially since it was for more than one event. One was to officially welcome the children''s first month into this world, and the other was to celebrate the reunion of family and friends. They invited all their friends, including the elders and the aborigines, to a small but wondrous gathering in their villa. They set it late afternoon when the sun was cool and was about to set. They decorated the place well, very much an intimate but well-prepared celebration. The setting sun bathed the villa with a warm golden glow as the guests walked around and admired the tranquil oasis¡ªfrom the intricately-decorated house to the gardens that framed it. The house on a normal day was already very beautiful, with its front and rear gardens, swings, and ponds. But today, it was especially beautiful with the new colors, flowing colorful fabrics, and decorations added to its facade. In the garden, the plants that hadn''t flowered before were now in full bloom, adding an amazing mix of colors to their sights. Further, their combined scents enveloped the guests in a warm, relaxing, embrace. The empty pond that reflected the orange hues of the sky was now with fishes¡ªcaught by Ansel himself. The fishes glided gracefully under the water''s surface, creating fascinating movements under the water, never failing to attract audiences to just watch them swim. They only came in silver colors, however, even if in different shades. There were plenty of times Ansel jokingly said to paint these dull-colored fishes orange or yellow, to make them more ornamental. There was also a small wooden platform extending above the pond, allowing for a more intimate view of the fishes as well as the young waterlilies¡ªfound in the warehouse as a random resource sold¡ªslowly creating a tiny ecosystem in the pond. Traversing the entire gardens were stone pathways that wound their way through the shrubs, trees, gardens, and meticulously maintained flower beds¡ªdedicating the path to maximize their appreciation. The trees¡ªthe pre-existing ones¡ªwere strategically placed and maintained, providing a comforting canopy to those underneath it. The newer smaller trees, on the other hand, were still growing and each one provided hope for what was to come. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was all so well put that it amazed all the guests, especially the aborgines who weren''t used to such arrangements. Gaudi, who had been to two worlds, was also admiring. It was like they entered another world after passing through the gates. The party was set up within these beautiful gardens. There were flower arrangements and tables integrated with the beautiful sight of plants and flowers. One of the first things to notice upon entering was the elegantly set tables, the pastel-colored cloth that covered them fluttering lightly with the breeze. Keeping the cloth in place were colorful ceramic vases adorned with fresh flowers. Because it was set near dusk, some lighting had been turned on in advance. These were lightings covered in partially translucent youli stone, hanging down from posts, trees, and trellises. They cast a warm enchanting glow to the set-up, adding to the otherworldly feel it was already exuding. Even Oslo, who grew up in the city, had never seen such a thing. Parties also had flowers and plants, of course, but they were never arranged so beautifully. "This is beautiful. Who arranged it?" Oslo asked, his pale hand extending to touch the beautiful pink flower. "I did," Unexpectedly, it was Ansel who spoke up with a smirk. Oslo blinked. This was really unexpected. Other than gardeners, mostly it was only women¡ªspecifically, ladies of noble houses¡ªwho would care for such details. "Ansel should start an events management company." Althea laughed, entering the venue with little Pepper. Garan, who followed closely behind with their son, sneered. It seemed throwing him in the barracks didn''t fix his sissiness. Don''t get him wrong, he didn''t dislike soft men. He disliked Ansel being a soft man, because that meant he would definitely act like a baby when his wife was there! Sure enough, Ansel sauntered towards his wife with a huge smile. "You think so? You''ll sponsor me right, older sister?" He asked, pinching his voice a little and leaning down so his height was near hers. Althea laughed and patted his head. "Of course." Garan''s eyes twitched, but before he could extend his hand to hold his wife''s, Ansel pulled back and put an arm around Oslo''s neck for a brotherly tug instead. The aborigines seemed to have a relatively open culture, so this little touch didn''t offend them. "Friend!" He said, "Let me show you more about this event." Oslo, who had been curious, nodded, and the two lost-brothers went out of their way. Ansel effectively saved himself a few hours of harsh training that day. ¡­ The food was buffet style courtesy of both Harold and Cooke, who had become close friends (and went to morning exercises together with Clutch and Gru). They also learned a lot from each other, with Harold learning more technical techniques, and Cooke getting more understanding of the subtleties of homemade food. Combining their two old heads together, they came up with a menu comprising of eight viands of various meat and fishes, a salad with two dressing options, rice, and tomato pasta. There were also three types of desserts. One was the classic fruit platter, but the other two¡ªtart and pie¡ªused the new sugar that had been discovered and had yet to be readily available in the supermarket. Each dish looked absolutely alluring. Anyway, this buffet was already open and a lot of eyes were fixed in its direction. Althea smiled, "It''s an open buffet," she said, "You can take what you want before going to your seat, and you can come back there at any time. "Sit where you wish, and I hope you enjoy the event!" "Yes, Miss Althea~ Thank you~" They said in near unison, and without further ado, the small crowd gathered in front of the buffet table, trying not to drool on it. The tables were slowly filled up with people and their plates and soon words of praise echoed in the gardens. "Delicious!" "Amazing.." "I need to go back in case they run out!" "Me too!" Safe to say, the reviews for the food were stellar. As the guest ate happily, the family of four went up the makeshift stage. "Family, friends, and partners. Thank you for coming to our little gathering," Althea began to speak with a beautiful smile. Next to her, her handsome husband stood dutifully, like a guard. "Today is my children''s first month since arriving in this tumultuous world, a month since these new symbols of hopes for me, for us, were born." "I would like to thank my friends and husband for helping me raise these angels. Also thank you to Betty, Sheila, Oslo, Helios, and Hugo for bringing me help when I was about to give birth." At the sound of new men''s names, Garan''s eyes faltered and he stared at the aforementioned men. His sharp eyes ended on Hugo, and realized it was one of the many (many) men looking at his wife differently. Their eyes met and they frowned at the same time, but quickly shifted their attention to the woman speaking. "It was not easy," she said and smiled when she felt her husband''s warmth next to her, "But we got through it and it is such a blessing that has to be celebrated many times." "Not only this, but we also celebrate the reunion with families and our brethren lost many months ago. Now, they would build this new home together with us." She said this and she looked at her husband, who smiled with her. The audience clapped in agreement, many of whom smiling with each other, looking forward to their contributions to the territory. Althea let the applause calm down before speaking again. "I know this is a bit off-topic, but my husband and I would like to take advantage of this time to introduce the names of my children." She turned to her husband who stepped forward, holding the two little puddings. As if knowing this was all about them, the two children lifted their heads from being buried comfortably in their father''s embrace and stared at the audience. The people admired their cute faces, happily melting as they saw their large rounded eyes. They were also adorable in their matching clothing, except Little Pepper''s was reddish, while Meatball''s was blue. "Little Meatball is Alphonse Witt, in Terran language, meaning One of Noble Temperament," she said as she watched the boy drool all over his father''s arm. "Well, this is what we hope he''d grow to be." The audience giggled. She turned to little Pepper, and Beany was already a little teary. "My firstborn¡ªLittle Pepper will be named Nathalia Witt, in honor of Beany''s daughter who had left us too early." She paused, "In Terran, it means the day of birth, a happy event." "Their names would signify their completely becoming part of this world, and what we hope for them. Thank you for witnessing it with us, and we hope everyone will find the happiness that we found." From the crowd, Beany raised his cup. "Cheers!" Smiling, everyone else raised their glasses, "Cheers!!" Together, everyone gestured to down their glasses. The babies giggled along with the atmosphere, and the couple couldn''t join the cheer immediately because of it. Unexpectedly, the couple saw¡­ that Little Meatball was floating, like a helium balloon. "..." Chapter 381 - 381: Together Garan immediately pulled the boy back to his arms, and he behaved there like the baby that he was¡ªinnocently giggling and decidedly not floating. Garan and Althea''s eyes met but saw that no one noticed, likely because Meatball floated only a few inches and that it happened during the drinking. It was even made less obvious by the angle of Garan''s hold. The trio''s eyes met, the baby blinked, little Pepper also blinked innocently, and the moment passed just like that. The couple just smiled awkwardly and pretended nothing happened, waiting for the cheering to die down. The audience continued to clap their hands and the aborigines followed the custom. Ansel saw that it had now become familiar with them after so long. However, he did know it wasn''t like this before. This made him curious, and he turned to Oslo. "How do you show your celebratory mood?" Ansel asked the blonde, who blinked at the question in response. "We don''t," he said, "We just say ''hail!'' if we agree to someone of high status. Otherwise, none." "Oh¡­ (that''s boring)," Ansel said, "Then our clapping and jumping must have shocked you guys." Oslo laughed awkwardly, because it did, especially with the crazy high-pitched screaming. He remembered unconsciously running away when he was the target of said scream. It came from girls (and men) who called themselves ''The Golden Girls''. It was around this time that Harold¡ªthe host¡ªannounced the last leg of the event. It was a performance, done while the audience ate their fill. Most of them were already eating dessert, looking like they were having orgasms. As always, Fable had been hired, but instead of just his upbeat songs he chose to do his ballads as well. There was even a flute player (using a new makeshift recorder-flute, courtesy of Baron''s Woodworking Shop) as his accompaniment. Even if it was just a single-tone instrument, Fable''s ethereal voice made up for it. He sang two songs first, more upbeat ones, and the audience nodded their heads to the beat. The set was ended with his ballad, a special happy birthday song he wrote for the babies. He looked at the two adorable children snug in their father''s arms, their large eyes staring at him and melting him to puddle. They were the first two Terrans born when they arrived in this place, and that meant too many things. /In a world of dreams and laugher, in a world where magic take flight/ /The children''s heart dances, bathed in birthday light./ /Happy birthday little ones, may your days be painted with various colors of gold./ The audience was silent and barely eating during the performance, engrossed. Oslo asked, pointing at the small tube producing sounds. "Is that a sound tube?" He asked, impressed. "You people really have everything." "You have something similar?" "What I know doesn''t make such a full sound though." Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We call it a flute, well kind of." Ansel said, "You guys listen to it during parties?" "Yes, though they''re mostly played by noble girls specializing in such," he said, "It''s often done when girls wanted to attract husbands." This was the first time Ansel heard of anything related to entertainment in this continent. They couldn''t continue with the topic though as Fable also took out his own wind instrument, resonating with his accompaniment. It had its flaws, but it was great considering everything. And looking at the aborigines'' fascinated appearance, Ansel remembered his plan on setting up an entertainment company! No way, everyone''s too busy levelling up lately, how could he still remember this auxillary concern. Well, he''d discuss it with Althea later. If simple recorders could fascinate them, he could imagine what string instruments could do! Would it create a revolution? Wow, very exciting! Anyway, they would definitely welcome aborigines soon, and that meant money! He should really set these things up very soon! ¡­ In the after party, with most of the guests¡ªincluding the aborigines and elders¡ªleaving the core Terrans behind. They moved to the interior of the house, with the set up outside cleaned up by temporary workers they hired for the day. If they did well, then Ansel would definitely hire them to work as labor for his new company. This was low-key implied by Ansel, making the temp workers move with ultra efficiency. Even the flowers would be as it was before the party started. The couple got Sheila and Harold take the babies inside while they saw the guests out. This made them, especially the aborigines who were aware of her status, extremely flattered. They thanked Althea and Garan for the food and fun before going their way. "Oslo, wait," Althea uttered, "Stay behind for a bit." The guests nodded to them again before leaving, so now only Oslo was left within the gates, and they lead him to one of the sitting areas nearby. The couple looked at each other and looked at him, asking if there had been many cases of children exhibiting elemental skills. . "In theory, I suppose children at level 10 can indeed awaken. I haven''t heard of this however, as most people reach level 10 by 15 years old. It''s a little earlier in cities but not too much¡ªthe earliest I heard was someone from Holt City, who reached level 10 at ten years old." Althea looked at Oslo who had a bit of a sneer at the mention of the lad. But she wasn''t in the mood for gossip at this time. "If the children are not level 10?" "Elements can only be used at level 10 because of the development of human physiques," he said, pausing. "Why, is there¡­?" "No¡­ we, will see." She said, "We¡­ could''ve imagined it." In a magical place like Xeno, anything could be possible. "We would appreciate if you also look into it, especially when you go home." Oslo nodded, "Anything for you, milord," then his blue eyes shifted and met another''s. "And your family, of course~" ¡­ While the adults set up the more intimate after-party in the living area, the children were cleaned up and put to bed. For the babies'' case, it was both their parents who lulled them to sleep.Or were trying to. At this time, they were poking Meatball. "Float," Althea said, and Garan even lifted him up, then put him back down and said "Float". He did this three times, saying ''Float'' after each time. Like training a dog. It was just that Little Meatball was not showing any sign of floating again. Was it really just their imagination? The couple looked at each other and sighed, just arranging the children to finally go to sleep. They took each edge with the children giggling between them. They looked quite energetic and they wondered how long it would be to get them to sleep. Garan smiled and looked at his wife, "Why don''t you sing for them?" he asked, making her giggle at old memories between the two of them. She was in no way a singer, but she did have a nice voice, at least in the ears of her loved ones. She really liked Fable''s song, so she sang its continuation, and the children cooed adorably at each note. /As the youli lamps, flickered, and the cake''s sweetness unfolds, my babies, our love and delight, let your joy unfold/ /On this special day of yours, may happiness never grow old. In a symphony of moments, where memories are bold./ The couple watched lovingly as their children eventually drifted to sleep, each kissing both baby''s chubby cheeks. Before leaving the room, however, Althea couldn''t help but turn again and sighed, staring at the small figures on the bed. . "Should¡­ we be worried?" she asked, pretty eyebrows furrowed in anxiety. Garan sighed and kissed her head, "Whatever it is, we''ll handle it together." Althea smiled and buried her hand on his broad shoulders. She really, really, liked the word. "Together." Chapter 382 - 382: Beany The core group sat around the living room, some sitting on the couch, some lounging on the carpeted floor. They were in a celebratory mood, with a lot of them drinking a bit of alcohol to further loosen up. What made it better was that they were drinking Althea''s special brew. "Darn! That was good!" Beany said with squinted eyes, downing every drop. After cleaning his pint, he suddenly dropped his wooden mug to the table, catching everyone''s attention. Fortunately, whoozy Beany had a smile, so what he was about to say was likely good news. "What is it?" Garan asked, rubbing his temple. Beany smirked, looking smug. "I had awakened an occupation!" He yelled, raising his glass again to Ansel, who was holding the bottle. "More!" Ansel''s eyebrows rose as he very slowly filled the other man''s cup. Some of it leaked though, because Ansel, too, was whoozy. "So, what is it?" "It''s the life occupation of Newsbringer." Althea looked at her old friend, "Oh? What does it give you?" Beany, a little dizzy from being drunk, explained very smugly, "My senses of sight and hearing doubled those of the same level. "I also gained a skill that basically gives me conditional eidetic memory that lasts for 1 day." This was likely given if he needed to have time to transcribe the news he obtained. It was very fitting for a passionate reporter. They all congratulated him and he blushed to the skies. "Oh, please, it''s just so-so~" he said, and his head was already drooping a bit. But he proceeded on telling stories about how he used the skill¡ªmostly gossip, and they just let him drone on. They just let him speak most of the time, but occasionally he mentioned some familiar names and they couldn''t help but react. "There''s this dude¡ªAlon, I think¡ªwas stalking Lily! The doctor!" "Oh? What happened?" "Got rejected! But he couldn''t take no for an answer, he even said his brother was a captain and she shouldn''t be too arrogant." "Oh?" This made everyone look at him. This was important news¡ªwhat if anyone was already taking advantage of their position? And Alon¡­ Amos'' brother? That boy had very high potential. "Amos already explained," he said, "Though it was obvious he''s very much under his leech family. So you''d have to take note of that when he''s actually promoted." "Speaking of failed lovelives¡ª "Baron got rejected¡­ AGAIN!" Beanie had not been here long, but he had really caught a lot of gossip, including Baron''s long list of rejections. He then continued to mumble on, though no names rang a bell anymore, so they were basically just waiting for him to run out of stories. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Meanwhile, for some reason, the discussion sparked an argument between the very drunk Ansel and Winona. They were arguing with faces very close to eact other¡ªjust a little push and they''d be kissing. "At least I have an occupation!" Ansel said, sneering, "Might Swordsman!" "PFF¡ªFighting occupation? Everyone who can defend themselves awaken that!" Winona slurred, arrogantly, not knowing how many bad looks from aborigines she''d have received if they were there. "I, on the other hand¡ª I''ll awaken a pharmacist occupation soon, you''ll see!" Winona said, rubbing her face. "And STOP spitting on my face!" Ansel sneered, not believing he was sprinkling saliva. He crossed his arms and looked at her derisively, heckling all of Winona''s pretty blonde locks. "You! Well, just so you know, Althea believed in me so much she gave me a department even before I activated an occupation!" "They say overconfidence goes side by side with failure." "What kind of brother are you! Your sister is the Lord!" The chubby man beside them blinked, and blinked again, before turning his head to Althea''s direction without changing expressions. Their eyes met and the thought finally sunk in. Beany''s eyes widened, gaping at her, inebriation partially kicked away. "You''re the Lord?!" She shrugged. "It''s a secret though." "Of course!" Wow, wow, as a reporter, he had always dreamed of connections to higher-up people. He got himself linked to the strongest person here! ¡­ Later that night, people had slowly succumbed to drunkenness. Surprisingly, Beanie, who had looked drunk since the beginning of the party, was one of the few people awake. At this time, he was staring at Althea, a bit teary. "You didn''t have to name her after my dead daughter¡ªI¡­ "I''m really touched by the name choice." Althea looked at him with a complicated expression. Could she tell him this also had a hint of selfishness? In the end, looking at his extremely appreciative stare, she couldn''t bear to hide it from him. "I am also guilty,," she said, and Beany blinked confused. Althea took out the pearl bracelet she has been keeping safe for Theo when he grew old enough to care for it. Beany, a little unstable as he stood, stared at the bracelet for a while, not entirely certain what he was seeing. He narrowed his eyes to focus more, leaning dow na bit to see it better. "It''s Priya''s." "What?!" he yelled, shakily taking the accessory in his hand. Althea pursed her lips as she looked at him. "I¡­ we met Priya even before the beast tide." "What?" "We could be said to have formed a little¡­ friendship." She said, tone mild, and Beany looked at her in a dazed look. "She''s very beautiful, smart, and an amazing woman." "Hmm¡­" Beany mumbled, though his head was slightly bent down, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. She told him more of their encounter, and¡­ how she could''ve saved Priya if she forced her to come. "Maybe¡­ maybe I should''ve dragged her with us, but I didn''t. I couldn''t risk it, not for someone who didn''t want to come. "The thought haunts me to this day. "Do you blame me?" "No, I¡ª yes." Beany mumbled, dizzy, from alcohol and the information. "I''m sorry, I need space." Althea''s face softened and nodded. "I''ll let Theo stay with Eugene tonight." He didn''t answer and turned away, going somewhere far away from her. She stayed there watching the direction when she heard familiar footsteps approach her. Warm arms wrapped around her shoulder and she let her head rest on his broad shoulder. "Will he be okay?" She asked her husband, eyes watching their old friend''s fleeing back. He held his wife''s hand and kissed it comfortingly. "People change, but their cores rarely do." "He''ll be fine," he said softly, kissing her head. "It may take time, but he will be fine." Chapter 383 - 383: New NPC Later that night, Althea finally had the time to check her luck for hiring aborgines. Territory-related things were effective distractions from the worry of potentially destroyed friendships. Of course, another distraction (Garan) offered to ''help'', but she put a hold on it for a while. She was determined to do something productive for the territory today. She pecked on his lips as he reluctantly watched her go. She pinched his cheek, "It''s only half an hour." He frowned and his face didn''t change, it didn''t help that he was a bit drunk and was thus a lot more pouty. She found it adorable and placed a few more pecks on his lips. His eyes darkened but he was holding the babies in both hands¡ªto move to the crib, apparently¡ªso he couldn''t pull her to him. She knew this and chuckled, before turning to look at the babies snoozing peacefully in the comfort of their father''s warmth. She giggled and placed soft kisses on their chubby cheeks, before placing another one on her husband''s. "I''ll be back soon," she said, whispering, "You can have me however you want tonight." ¡­ Before Garan could do anything, she teleported to the Village Center''s third floor. She stood in front of the teleportation circle and paid the fees. As always, the activity didn''t start very positively. The first four weren''t useful to hire¡ªone was a mere labor worker, and another was a beast poop cleaner. The other two were women with that occupation again. Why were there so many? She didn''t haven''t much hope for the last one. Since the first batch, decent hires had become rare. She really wanted to become a town, so the options for hiring wouldn''t be so limited. With low expectations, her delicate fingers pressed the generate button once again, and a portly man appeared on her ''screen''. [Name: Tronie Woods Level: D Abilities: Construction Materials Expert Wage: 15 gold/mo] "...!!" Of course, she hired him. She watched with a little excitement as another old man appeared on the circle, surprised to see her (a reaction which now she found to likely be because she was a woman), and bowed down respectfully as soon as he caught himself. She nodded. "Have a seat," she told him as she went up to the cupboards to get some snacks. She was half-expecting no decent options today so she didn''t bother preparing beforehand. Tronie awkwardly followed instructions, body language oozing with tenseness and apprehension. It was like he was waiting for some punishment or something. Althea pursed her lips, wondering what was going on in this aborigine''s head this time, but she shrugged and simply took out a box of cookies and arranged a couple on the plate. She also heated some water via a fire-powered portable stove made of metal and Youli stone Eugene and the others had developed. Interestingly, every sound the utensils and equipment created made the new aborigine flinch. Tronie''s head was indeed running wild. His previous territory had an eccentric lord. He didn''t dare look up to see what was making all that noise. ''Am I going to die? Or tortured, maybe?'' ''Nonono,'' He shook his head, ''Lords aren''t allowed to make us do what we don''t want to do,'' he chanted. It was why he spent so much getting hired through the Chancery of Appointments instead of going through direct channels. How to escape? Is he really going to die? No, right? His wild thoughts were abruptly stopped when a whiff of Elvendell entered his nose, followed by a gentle tap of the food platter. "Here, have some snacks and drinks," the lord said, "Be careful of the tea, it''s a little hot." Tronie couldn''t help but gape at the beautiful and steaming brown cup. He gulped, thinking no matter what he thought, he ought to follow the Lord''s order. So, very tentatively, he raised his hand to get a piece, letting it enter his mouth with dramatically small movements. A bite was all that was needed to remove all his tension. ¡­ A couple of minutes after taking in all the pastries on the plate, the aborigine''s soul finally returned to earth. "Welcome back," Althea said, making the man flinch and almost kneel down to beg when he realized he had spaced out IN FRONT OF THE LORD! Goodness elves! "It''s fine, don''t kneel, calm down." "Y-Yes!" "Calm down," she repeated. "I won''t hurt you." "I never¡ªyes, milord." Althea waited for the man to calm down before speaking, "I saw your job. What are your skills?" "My passive is to decrease construction time by 10-15%," Tronie said and paused. Although, despite all the nerves, his eyes gravitated hungrily towards the empty plate. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea''s lips rose a bit as she saw this, but she simply continued with her questions. "Hmm, interesting. What else?" "I also have a skill to be able to locate any construction material, milord." Althea brightened at this. "Any material? What if you''ve never heard of it?" "Yes," he said, "It''s a possibility." Althea already had hundreds of ways to use this skill, and not just in construction materials. But he quickly added a caveat, dismissing her thoughts. "But the condition was I must understand the principle behind its use, and know its use as a construction material." Well, never mind. However, this alone was already very good. One of the primary things she hoped to find was enough material to make cement enough to create strong and tall buildings. They did find some limestones in the river, but it wasn''t enough to build anything beyond a shed. Although without reinforcing steel and their height was limited, there were still too many uses for concrete and she did not want to waste them. She looked at Tronie, curious. "How¡­ how does your passive work? How do you decrease construction time?" After all, there were plenty of ways to hasten this time¡ªbut a lot of it was to compromise on the quality of the building. For example, Clout could also decrease construction time, though she felt the principles behind their skills were different. Clout could automatically determine the best way to fix the available materials to each other, but Tronie here was allegedly a Materials expert. Tronie blinked, a little taken aback by the question, and it took him a few moments to answer her. "When we''re within 150 yards from an ongoing construction, the materials would be in their maximum constructionable state." Very interesting. But¡­ "Isn''t wood your basic material?" She asked. If so, how would his skill affect it? "Yes, wood and stone. For wood, when my passive is activated they become much easier to handle and would become as is after being settled. Stone, on the other hand, would either be lighter or soften up temporarily." How magical. Althea thought for a while and mused that it was likely that, should concrete structures be implemented someday, this construction NPC could hasten the setting of concrete! If they could settle the source of iron, they would eventually get steel. After that, they would be able to build high-rise buildings on their own, saving space. She made a mental note to increase manpower on steel research. This would probably be on Eugene''s team, partnered with Kimura. She looked forward to the time her territory would be filled with high-rise buildings¡ªbecause that would mean they would able to use the space below for a lot more things! In towns, generally, only 3 floors of buildings were seen except for a level 5 town center which would have 5 floors. In cities, according to Oslo, buildings were only up to six floors, 5 floors mostly. The cities also had the max level City center, which could have 7 floors. The third and last custom building, available in cities, apparently wasn''t a building either, so she could only do manual work if she wanted to go higher. She nodded and spoke to him a bit longer, but more of an orientation for his sake, which left him extremely honored and touched. "Basically, as long as you have the heart to contribute, you''ll fit right in," she said with a smile. "As for accommodations, hired people have their own units in Community 2," she said, "You can ask anyone below for its location. You can also ask some locals and guides for other amenities. Our village has a lot. "And also, my being the Lord is a secret. Please don''t tell anyone, and don''t call me such outside." Although Tronie was puzzled, he nodded dutifully. "Yes, milord." "Tomorrow, you will be joining the research team, located east of the Village Center. Look for Kimura and Belinda." Both of them could also learn something. Kimura in relation to materials, especially local ones, while Belinda for assessment of them. Perhaps¡­ they might even trigger a similar occupation. "I''m looking forward to what you can offer us, Tronie," she said, letting out a mysterious smile, "I assure you the territory will not disappoint." The old man nodded, his heart beating in both apprehension and excitement. Whatever he encountered, he had a feeling he would be surprised! Chapter 384 - 384: Welcoming Heartbreak Tavern "They should be done talking by now," Oslo said, estimating the time and the others nodded. The lord had alerted them that there was a new hire today, which made them happy as it had been a while. To show this, they decided to celebrate the coming of a new person. The aborgines got inspired by the Terrans to welcome new hires, so when the lord told them of a new arrival, they already started to prepare to greet him well. By this time, wine and beer were already available in Heartbreak Tavern, ready for consumption. In fact, Oslo and Rowan had already taken quite a few drinks during one of their increasingly-often bonding sessions. It was around this time that Mimi arrived, her little feet entering the pub. Children weren''t prohibited from pubs, they were just not served anything alcoholic. Anyway, fights weren''t allowed in the territory so the classic dangers in pubs were more or less easily avoidable in Altera. She scuttled and paused right next to their table. She stopped and looked up, her large eyes meeting theirs. "He''s gone to Community 2!" She said, reporting. Very cute. They asked the children to monitor the aborigines that come out of the Village center for a bit of money. It seemed that Mimi, Jun''s daughter, got this honor today. "Oh thank you," Oslo smiled charmingly, "Can you describe him?" "It''s an old man!" Mimi said, "He was tall and bulky with a bald head." "Very good little newsbringer," Oslo said with a smile, handing her a silver as a reward. The little girl glowed and thanked them, hopping out of the pub with a happy smile. She''s rich! Her parents would be so proud! Anyway, now that they know the new hire, the latest hire Gauis-the-gardener was tasked to escort the newcomer. "Why me?" "Because you''re the latest hire," Clutch explained, "And also because you''re the oldest." "..." Should he be offended? And why was this guy so rude? The others laughed at him and waved him off, "It''s fine. You''re the one who will probably make him feel most comfortable," Oslo said, "Be sure to bring him in here!" Gauis sighed and followed, heading towards the door of the tavern. Before closing though, he heard Oslo yell in reminder, "You can kidnap him if you have to!" "..." ¡­ Shaking his head, Gauis went out to greet the newcomer, greeted by the wide roads lined with trees and shrubs. He sighed in adoration. He would never get used to this. As he walked to the community, Gauis couldn''t help but admire the roads, as well as the plants strategically placed and the flowers wonderfully added. This was something he had been seeing for days, but it never failed to improve his mood. He saw plenty of people admiring them, or using them somehow like as a backing or a cover. Then they would use them to go to various destinations, and a lot of these pathwalks would lead towards various parks¡ªthe most admirable of which was Altera Gardens. Together, all these created a wonderful ''organism'' that protected them, gave them food, sheltered them from heat and winds, and lifted them up spiritually. He had a part in this. Back then, even if he was given a lot of exotic plants to work on, there had never been a sense of accomplishment like this. It wasn''t that the variety was inferior to what he had now¡ªthose were noble families with a lot of resources¡ªbut the soul of the garden, the people, weren''t there. The gardens he painstakingly arranged could only be enjoyed by a handful, and still so perfunctorily¡­ simply to ''show off''. At the time, he didn''t know any better so he just worked hard as he was asked. He was extremely honored to be hired by nobles, to be trusted of such important tasks as maintaining ''face''. Then one day, when he was arranging a flower bed¡ªunintentionally hidden underneath the bushes¡ªhe saw something scandalous. If he was hired through direct means and was not protected by the rules of the Chancery, he had no doubt that he had already been buried in the same flowerbed he had been working on. Of course, this meant that he was blacklisted everywhere and those people used their connections to keep him from applying to ''good'' cities and cities. At the time he was in despair. Villages and most towns generally don''t need people like him. But, miraculously, he was hired not too long after¡ªby a little village no less. He thought it was the best thing that happened to him. ¡­ On another side, coming from the central village center area, Tronie was walking around in awe. Was this really a village? Then again, didn''t he actively choose villages for their potential? Towns and cities had fixed structures and thoughts. It just so happened he got lucky and got to a village with a very very high potential. He awakened very late and he had to do a lot of unconventional things to learn the skills that he had. Besides, he was also passionate at this and he truly enjoyed exploring new realms in this field. His eyes got brighter and brighter as he looked around, even walking closer to owned buildings like a creep who stared at the stone, wood, etc construction on the streets. Fortunately for him, Altera was a very open-minded community and they only found his idiosyncrasies cute. They even felt a bit proud, because their territory made others crazy for it. Anyway, the old man continued admiring the building and well-planned infrastructure until a pair of feet stopped near him. "?!" He paused, turning to the sound of a familiar voice. He brightened at the sight. "Gauis?!" Birds of the same feather flocked together. They both awakened their professions quite late. They happened to have been hired by the same town and they spent years together as coworkers. When Gauis was kicked out because of some scandal, he was very sad. "You''re here, too?" "Yes," Gauis said and wrapped an arm around his old friend. "Come!" Tronie had no idea what to expect of this and he could only get dragged along, catching a few curious gazes in their direction. They soon arrived at a building with a lot of people, tables filled with wooden and earthenware mugs, mostly of alcohol. He saw different colors and types, and the scent was nothing like he''d encountered. The entire atmosphere promised a night of fun and relaxation for those who entered, and Tronie was captured immediately. It was obviously a tavern, but it seemed more like a warm and inviting haven than somewhere men could be as boisterous as they want. Seeing him in a daze, Gauis dragged him forward. The lunge brought him back to the present, and he soon realized he was being taken somewhere¡ªto a table with smiling faces. As he was dragged to the table, he couldn''t help but look around. He blinked as he looked at the flickering youli lamps that created shadows on the walls, making the space even livelier. The air was thick with the aroma of fruity drinks, and alcohol, as well as the savory scent of freshly-baked bread and grilled meat. There were also some crunchy snacks that seemed to really fit well with alcohol. He gulped, wanting to try them all out. "Hello, newcomer! It''s been a while since we had a new one!" Oslo said as soon as he was near, pointing him to a chair. Tronie couldn''t help but give Oslo a second look. The lad was handsome and graceful and was obviously quite well-off. It intimidated him a bit. Gauis sighed and just dragged his old friend to a chair and the others proceeded to introduce themselves. "My name is Oslo Gold, Class D Architect." "Clutch Fos, Armoury." "Rowan Houz, soldier." "Houser Road, wood artisan." "Clout Stone, Construction!" Trion blinked. A village had so many professionals? Then it was the womens'' turn and he got even more shocked. "Brenda Smith, weapons maker." A beautiful woman smiled, "Betty Ging. I''m a Healer." She said and then nudged the woman who was sipping some ale beside her. "Lenny Miss," she said, "Seamstress." Then they all stared at him and gulped. "I''m Tronie Woods, Construction Materials Expert." They paused for a bit, eyes bright, before nodding. "We understand why the Lord would choose you," Oslo said patting his shoulder. "You''re quite lucky." "Anyway, time to welcome you!" They then handed him a piece of thin wood, carved with writings and drawings. It was quite amusing and he found himself staring a bit. "Choose your drink!" Gauis said, patting his back. Tronie wasn''t entirely sure what was he supposed to do, so he just looked closely at what was handed to him and started reading the contents. Gaudi, excited to see his friend, even introduced it to him. "Here we have Ale with golden hues and frothy top." The old man said, pointing at the top of the list, sliding down. "Then we have Mead for something sweeter. I learned that it''s enjoyed best in small goblets. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This is Cider for a lighter alternative refreshing tang. Then Wine for a touch of refinement and Whiskey for a taste of strong spirit." "So many options!" Tronie mumbled, brown eyes fixed on the list. It was hard to choose! He never liked alcohol, but somehow he was drooling. "You will love this place, as we have!" Gauis said with a grin and Tronie smiled, eyes ending up meeting the group''s amused sight. He felt a little shy, but then their next words couldn''t help but make him a bit teary. "Welcome to Altera!" They said, "Welcome to your new home!" Chapter 385 - 385: Sports and Leisure (Part 1) Witt Residence, Three years prior It was a very quiet night in the community and an intense atmosphere permeated a quaint classically-decorated living room. The room crackled with anticipation as the big game was about to begin. //THE ONCE-IN-A-DECADE EPIC BATTLE BETWEEN THE BELOVED THUNDERBEARS AND STALLIONS IS FINALLY UPON US!!// The loud voice of the announcer echoed in the room, transferred to them from miles away using high-end surround sound audio systems. The television screen was also bright, (every other light was off) and the audience was brought very intimately to the scene¡ªalmost as if they were there as well. /Are you ready for this?!/ The announcer asked and two people yelled in unison. "YES!!!" They yelled, though they whipped their heads to look at each other in a frown, not liking to be in sync with the other. Althea, who was sitting behind, sighed. She chewed on some cheese popcorn as her two companions¡ªAnsel and Winona¡ªhad their eyes glued to the unfolding spectacle on the screen. It was the national finals or something and the atmosphere (at least in the small area those two occupied) was electric, to say the least. At this time, the snacks and drinks filled the room. There were bowls of crunchy popcorn, crispy nachos, various-flavored chicken wings, and a cornucopia of cold beverages. The room was adorned with flags and banners from both teams. Even Althea found herself amidst the fervor and was forced to wear merchandise from the two teams. She looked very¡­ eclectic with her current appearance, being forced on a Thunderbears blue jersey by Winona and a Stallions'' red hat by Ansel. She sighed and just ate her food. /The two teams are entering the field!! AHHHHHH!!/ "Ahhhhh!" "Ahhhhh!" She flinched as the two followed the hyper announcer''s yell, and she pouted when she saw some of the popcorn that had been on her hand on the floor. Althea was about to nag them when she saw that they had calmed down and just stared as the two teams met each other on the field. The tension in the room was more and more palpable as the game started, with the two''s eyes never leaving the screen. Then the whistle started and the two¡­ exploded. "Stalliooons!! Yes, Ben, crush him!" "Thunderbears gogogooo! You can do it! AH!!" The two cheered passionately for their respective teams and voices rose in unison against each other. It was as if whoever cheered louder would have their team winning the game. The game went on and Althea swore her ears was already ringing. Soon it was half game and the game was tied. The stakes were at their peak, and it also meant the two''s lungs were also working overtime. The two were also leaning forward and she worried for their eyes. "Ha! Did you see that! Our Stallions soaring high!" "Oh, you mean the donkeys, right?" "My Thunderbears have a secret weapon tonight!" "Oh please, they''ll need a miracle to beat us " Then there was something that happened in the game¡ªAlthea really didn''t understand these things and terminologies¡ªthat made Ansel laugh. "Nice defense, Winona." Ansel said with sarcasm, "''Going hard into the paint'', you say? Hehe." The blonde pouted, her large eyes glaring at him. "It''s called strategy!" Then another scene happened¡ªagain, Althea had no idea what was happening¡ªand this time it was Winona who raised her hand in cheer. "Your donkeys are tired! They''re taking a nap on the court!" Winona yelled with a smug smirk on her face. Althea looked at the screen and saw no one napping. Ansel sneered in response, "They''re just resting for a victory celebration." Then¡­ whatever. Althea just ate and let them duke it out on their own. Actually, Althea just ended up watching the two passionate audiences instead. "If only the Stallions were as great as they trash-talk¡­ "If the Thundercubs played as well as they celebrated too early, maybeee we could actually be in trouble but alas!" She watched the two''s interactions with interest, eating popcorn. Their banter was as much part of the game as the plays themselves. Eventually, the so-called secret weapon¡ªa new player, very tall and quite good-looking¡ªappeared on the courts and the game tilted a bit in their favor. She could tell that it was an intense game, because there were plenty of times that Winona sobbed and Ansel just tapped the floor in despair. It went to and fro, sometimes with Winona celebrating, and other times it was Ansel. It was quite fun to watch. Not the game, but their reactions¡­ Soon a buzzer-beating three-point shot was made, sealing the game. Thunderbears won, apparently. And Althea only knew this because Winona screamed in glee. Winona pumped her fist in victory while Ansel looked like a betrayed housewife. But then he looked bitterly at Winona, "We could''ve gotten that." Winona blinked and pursed her lips. Sadly, that last shot was really based on luck. So she sighed and reluctantly had to give credit where it was due. "Well, you guys fought well. A little." "Che," he said, "In the rematch next quarter, I''m sure you wouldn''t be so lucky." "Hmph!" "Hmph!" "Your ace''s shot wasn''t bad." "Your guard was also very fast." Althea didn''t really know when the conversation turned, but it did. The next thing she knew, the two were shaking hands like the opposing teams on the field. Sports enthusiasts were so mysterious¡­ Anyway, it was a good game (based on the reactions). Althea couldn''t help but look at the crowd live on screen as well. Friends or foe¡­ they were united in the appreciation of that thrilling game. The camera panned closer to the audience, and the scene captured the excitement, camaraderie, and friendly rivalry of the fans of the sport. As the people filed out of the stadium, blue and red mixed. There were sobs and frowns, but they were all united by the same passion: Sports. This was a unity, a community; She saw in this. And this was why she still watched with them even if she didn''t appreciate the sport herself. _________ Altera Village [47 days after The Migration] Ansel visited his sister as she played with the kids on the rug. The kids, surprisingly, could now crawl very well. It was only a matter of time before they sat up on their own. At this moment, the twins were circling around each other. It was snails'' pace, and there were plenty of times their little butts moved them more than their small arms, but it was something. "Good morning~" "Morning," Althea said, taking Little Pepper¡ªwho happened to be closer¡ªon her lap. She then held Pepper''s little hand to make a wave gesture directed at him. "Say hello to your uncle." "Mwahwhywaah," The little girl purred out, opening and closing her palm as if to greet him. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His heart melted and he quickly leaned down to give her a smooch, which made her laugh adorably. Little Meatball on the other hand was, as usual, ignoring him. He even crawled away from him so all he could see was the dumpling''s butt. Ansel suspected Garan taught something to this little guy. "Where''s Garan?" He asked, watching Althea also take in Little Meatball¡ªwho had successfully crawled near her¡ªin another arm. "Training," she said as she smooched the baby boy''s cheek. "There''s a lot to do in that aspect¡­" Garan was also developing the barracks, in addition to the personal property of the mercenary team, into the best model in Terran. He had been improving them with Terran, as well as local techniques and technology. Especially¡ªthose who handle elements well. And it should also be big enough to handle non-guards as well. Although it wasn''t confirmed yet, it was very likely every Terran that was transferred were elementalists! Ansel nodded, unsurprised. When he found out that guy became the leader of military affairs, he knew there''d be a revamp. He had already seen him working with Rowan and Drake, and he was a bit excited what they would do. Anyway, hearing about that block of ice wasn''t what he was here for. He sat down on the carpet with the family of three and faced Althea with a sycophantic look on his face. Althea''s eyebrows rose immediately. "What do you want?" Ansel smiled at the question. In order to facilitate his request for setting up an entertainment company and an entertainment facility, Ansel decided to begin with the development of the basic amenities first. After all, having a stage was weird when there weren''t enough playgrounds! Or, at least, some basic leisure areas that were NOT the peaceful garden! "Now that the basics have been considered¡­" He started, referring to the defense and economic aspects of the territory. "I think it''s time to add more on¡­ the spiritual needs." Her eyebrows rose at this. She was pretty sure she added a lot of leisure amenities in her village already. Some people would even say they were already excessive. "I mean¡­ the more active ones," he added, "You know, not everyone can be satisfied with leisurely walks in your garden!" Althea sighed and waved her hand at him. "Fine," she said, "Tell me more." Anyway, she was still a good lord who listened to others! Chapter 386 - 386: Sports and Leisure (Part 2) Ansel straightened his back, adopting somewhat of a professional pose (as sitting on the floor with crossed legs could look, anyway). "People have entered habits now: Go to work, train, make money. Risking their lives outside had been normalized. Although we don''t scream or complain much anymore, it didn''t mean people aren''t bottling things up." He told her, scooting over to pander more effectively. "They are starting to need a few more¡­ outlets." "I''m talking more than landscaping," he added. "Gardens are cool and all, but we''re an energetic bunch now¡ªwe had to. "Not to mention, there are more and more reports of spats. Maybe we should build an arena of sorts?" He was not even exaggerating. The more people there were, the more disagreement there would be. Combined with the stressful environment, scuffles were inevitable. The territory automatically sent yellow cards to people who fought to hurt others outside the barracks, so how would these people vent? Althea might never understand this aspect of men. "Why don''t they just express anger on the monsters outside?" "It''s more likely they''ll go out and attack each other there," Ansel said. "A number of manly men were rushed to the health center the past few days because of this, you know?" "Really?" "Of course, I''m thankful you have Mathilda and her team there because I guarantee¡ªthe fights would have been 10 times worse." At the very least, a lot of fights and bitterness had been dispersed by the team. Mathilda also had a very useful skill to calm people a certain distance from her, enough for logical talk. It was an active skill which was good because there were times when Mathilda would want the person talking to lose their cool. For instance, during some negotiations. In fact, he may or may not have sweet-talked the mother figure to tell him this active skill could do the opposite effect¡ªthat was: To agitate the people around. He was very curious when that''d be needed. "But¡­ they could only do so much¡ªyou didn''t notice Mathilda''s hair was regaining some of the white hair she lost during her upgrades, did you? Not to mention, our population is getting bigger." He looked at his sister very seriously, "Have mercy on our peacemakers, they''d lose lifespans in this world where it should''ve been longer." Ansel took his little pudgy ball of niece into his arms to play with. The baby happily made bubbles with saliva. She drooled all over Ansel''s long sleeve shirt (Alteran product) and the man only laughed in cuteness. "My niece is so cute!" He uttered, poking her chubby cheeks. "Mwajhwama!" "Hmmm¡­ yes, your uncle is indeed the coolest." Althea smiled and just held her baby son, who was busy¡­ slobbering on his toy. "..." Althea''s lips twitched before turning her attention back to Ansel while taking away the toy from the baby''s toothless mouth. "We can make a fighting arena, but there should be better alternatives, like sports." More than venting, sports had historically given way to more unity as well. Although there would be rivalry, there would be a lot less bitterness in the end¡ªwhether it was winners or losers. Although she never truly understood what the excitement was all about, she had seen its effect very closely. Particularly to her own brother and her best friend. Although they were often at each other''s throats, it was during these events that she felt them closer together than ever. "In fact, I think we should focus on the sports, with the arena being an addition." Ansel''s eyes brightened. He nodded wildly at this. It wasn''t that he hadn''t thought of it, but he wanted to go one at a time. At this point, arenas were better to have because people had too much violent energy to vent out. It also had some training aspect to it, too. Fortunately, his sister was awesome as always. He watched as Althea looked at the space in front of her, and Ansel knew it was likely the territory map. Althea was indeed studying the map. Her territory was now much, much, larger than before, not just 4 times. What doubled during upgrades was not the area, but the diameter, which gave her huge amounts of space. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, she always had a bias towards greeneries¡ªwhether it was due to her profession, her passion, her childhood, or whatever else¡ªshe always wanted to increase the ratio of softscape to hardscape even more. For instance, even come the time when the territory would fully develop, she wanted the open spaces and the greens to comprise half of the land. It was why she was so obsessed with building vertically¡ªassumming she could consider everything safely¡ªno matter what nature threw at them. Safety was specially a concern since anything higher than 4 levels would mostly be manual construction. Anyway, back to the open areas, she marked the sports developments to be done by the construction team in the future. For the fighting arena, she decided to place them near the Training Hall and the barracks. She allocated about 3000 square meters in total to the area. She decided to designate 2 small arenas of about 200 square meters each and a bigger one with 1000 square or so in the area. They were arranged in a way the large arena was on one side and the smaller ones were side-by-side at a sufficient distance from it. Surrounding the arenas would be the benches that should be able to seat a few thousand people comfortably, and more if they were jam-packed. It was too large for her current population, but she didn''t want to expand again when the territory became a town, so this was just right. She would also specially outfit the 1000 sqm arena of about 30x30m dimensions to be capable of handling large fights using elements. They would awaken elements and skills, after all, and they also want to accommodate fights between small teams. Small arenas were for basic scuffles. Anyway, if people needed to vent, Fist was still key. Apparently. She would really never understand men. Chapter 387 - 387: Sports and Leisure (Part 3) As for the details of the rules, they''d finalize that later on. Those would also be very expensive on her part, as it was extremely specific. For instance, in the sparring area of the barracks, because people were allowed to fight there, she had to pay extra to make specific regulations. However, it was not too much because she simply had to say fighting was allowed in that space. Arenas would definitely be more specific. For instance, she needed to stop fighting before they killed each other before they caused too much damage, etc. When considering the elements, then the costs of special regulations would spike as well. After all, she needed to limit how much of the arena Earth users could use, how much Elementalists could destroy, et cetera. "I will charge more than maintenance cost for this¡­" She mumbled, making Ansel laugh. "Don''t worry about profitability. I''ll handle that." "Hmmn," she said, completely trusting him. "I don''t want people getting too deep into gambling though." Ansel flinched and a couple of imaginary gold in his mind lost a few ingots. "Ah, yesyes, just for fun," he said with an awkward laugh. "I''ll control it well, don''t worry." Althea smiled and shook her head, refocusing her eyes on the map only she could see. In the new parks, she developed space provision for courts to be built by the construction team even before it was completed, now she thought it was finally time to build on them. At first, she thought that people would be too tired running for their lives to think of exercise, but she realized that she had still underestimated her people''s needs¡­ "Non-life-threatening exercise is still a need," Ansel reiterated, and Althea just shrugged. "What sports do you think we should pioneer?" "Soccer''s my favorite." She shook her head, "No, that takes up too much space." "Tennis? Basketball? Badminton?" "Hmn. Okay. Add volleyball and¡­ " She paused, marking at least three of the larger parks to have their own courts. "Two of each should be enough." If a particular sport was more popular than others, it was easy to use the other courts for its purpose, as long as the players weren''t too over-compulsive and were just playing for leisure. "We''ll charge for the maintenance cost though," Ansel said, and Althea agreed. They would also add rules to ensure the areas would be maintained at minimal costs. As for the balls and other equipment, they would sell those in the supermarket, and the players would provide their own items. Looking at the layout of the sports facilities again, they confirmed that they should be more than enough for the current population. She stared at the bird''s eye view of the territory again, thinking activities could also be done under the shades. "We''ll also add some chess and game boards to the park," she said, They''d also add canopy and root controllers to manage the growth of the plants to make these spaces better suitable for human activities. "Also table tennis." "Oh, yes." "Squash is also intense but only requires small space." "But that''s better for interiors¡­" "Interior¡­" The two looked at each other and immediately came up with an answer: A Building dedicated to indoor games. This building would have indoor sports like table tennis, bowling, billiards, and squash. Although they had only experienced trickles so far, there had apparently been cases of continuous rains. Indoor hang-outs (should they not be fighting outside) should still be provided. Of course, the research needed for the gaming materials still had to start first. They didn''t want billiard balls that didn''t bounce so unpredictably, right? There wasn''t that much pressure, however, as they still needed to build the actual building first than anything else. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "How''s the development of rubber?" Ansel asked. He knew that the trees would soon mature and combined with the resin they got from outside, they already had enough raw materials to make a commercial batch of rubber. Other than some reserved for bikes, carts, and rickshaws (so they could finally be used in rougher terrains), they could use the wastage to make balls and other toys. They were very green, okay? Minimal wastage allowed! "Winona is leading the team," Althea said, "The rubber team''s progress steadied and even increased when she started leading it. As expected of her." Ansel nodded, although Winona was grumpy and had a weird temper, even he had to admit she had real talent in this field. Especially, Winona was an avid sports fan too, so he knew she would definitely expedite the process for these things. One of the very, very, few positive aspects of the rabid woman. Summarizing the plan, the two siblings smiled in satisfaction. A lot of people might think they were putting too much effort into leisure. However, she not only ensured that the other aspects were also being developed and perfected, but she didn''t disagree with Ansel''s point. In fact, she saw more than he did. Aborigines. It was a fact that weaker territories¡ªespecially villages¡ªattracted weak people because it was surrounded by monsters that couldn''t give strong individuals a bit of experience and copper. There were also fewer resources available and the convenient building types were limited. One of the ways to attract and keep strong aborigines despite being a small village was to offer unique features that they''d love. Leisure facilities were definitely one of them. This way, they''d have more and more stronger people, upgrade faster, and attract more resources to themselves in turn. It was a good cycle. In Xeno, anyway. As for the other features¡ªmost of them would be a variety of unique building types. At this, Althea looked in the direction of the village center, where Oslo''s department had been drawing the past week or so. After giving them the reservoir of knowledge (care of her tablet) she had, she had given them the mission to determine various ways of creating sturdy tall buildings. They were also tasked to design buildings that would be useful to the territory in their current context. The Engineering department..., she wondered if they''d surprise her with their progress. She hoped they would succeed soon¡­ Chapter 388 - 388: A Glimpse of the Engineering Team Bleulle City Bleulle City, the famed City of Blu Powder, was as prosperous as always. Guarded by the tallest eight-meter wall and watched over by intimidating sentries, the city was a testament to the civilization of this world. The largest building¡ªthe City Hall¡ªwas seven-stories high, towering over the rest, as if watching over every citizen. It was a panoptic and omniscient presence in the city, and one way or another, people would always find themselves looking at it at least a few times a day. Seen from above one, could see the various organic roads and the dense buildings. Everywhere¡ªevery street, avenue, or corner¡ªpulsed with life and activity. The markets were lively and the streets flowed continuously with people. Money flowed like water everywhere. There were narrow winding alleyways that led to several charming squares for pedestrians. There were also plenty of avenues several yards wide, allowing for two beast carts to run side by side without bumping into each other. In the middle of blocks and blocks of dense houses were patches of open spaces. At this time, as it was most of the time, these spaces were filled with stalls. In the square, merchants haggled over the prices of various products. Whether it was the spices from Holt City, the salt taken from Sea Cities, or the clothes from the three Cloth Cities¡ªthey could all be found in the marketplace here, more or less all year round. However, while the rest of the city was as lively as always, the atmosphere in one of the city''s largest mansions was quite somber. It was a large mansion in the Blu''s most exclusive neighborhood, its grandeur only next to the city lord''s. Inside it, a good-looking middle-aged couple were gravely discussing their problem with the children. Well, one to be exact. Their youngest son, Oslo. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This all stemmed when pretty much every friend''s child his age had started new phases in their lives¡ªwhile only a few got married and even fewer had children, nearly all of them had started massive ventures or businesses. Whatever it was, there was something the parents of these young men and women bragged about! What was their youngest son doing? Philandering! Would be fine if there was a grandchild that popped out somewhere, but there was none! It wasn''t that no one claimed to carry his child, it was just that they were easily discredited upon swearing oath in the City Center. "I just¡­ I don''t know what to do with that boy! It''s my fault! I spoiled him too much!" A beautiful red-headed woman said, fanning herself as if to cool herself down. It was as if the wind could blow the anger away¡ªto no avail, of course. "He''s already thirty and his level is still twenty!" She said, tone a little higher than her usual calm tone. "Do you know what my friends are saying?" The man, a mature handsome man looking about in his late 40s, gently taking the fan and helping her out. "You didn''t spoil him, wife. He''s just a deviant." In this world where women were generally looked down upon, this interaction was considered incredibly rare. The woman pouted, looking at her husband in annoyance. "So what if he''s a dual element! He could barely use anyone well!" "At least he''s an architect," the man said, comforting his finicky wife. "Considering everything, having an occupation is really good enough." "Architects only have value at Class C!" She told him, "When would he get to class C? In 50 years? 80?" "We sent him to a village, where his level is considered top-notch." He told her, as if it was the answer to everything. The woman looked at her husband with cynical eyes. "Would that really help?" At this, the man''s expression turned a bit more serious. "Perhaps," he said. "But it could go two ways: Either he gets lax and starts thinking highly of himself, or¡­ "He''d realize how his able peers actually looked at him, and change." ___________ Altera Inside the second floor of the newly-built Government Center, in one of the rooms dedicated to the construction team, a small group of professionals had been producing drawing after drawing for so many days, creating piles of paper at the side. Fortunately, a few people were over-compulsive and organized these stacks as well as they could, otherwise, it could take hours for them to find whatever sheet they needed when they needed it. It had been a week since Oslo called for a Knowledge Exchange with the Architects and professionals they called Engineers. This was something the Lord suggested, as open forums and discussions were one of the best ways to gather and exchange knowledge. Both knowledge bases¡ªwhether it was Terran or Xenoan¡ªhad their own advantages and disadvantages. The goal was to combine these knowledge sets to build a uniquely amazing and efficient territory. It was quite productive and enlightening for everyone and everyone was inspired to work, even if there were plenty of questions. At this time, Oslo was immersed in drawing like many others, leaning down for hours on the drafting table. It was just that, at some time, he saw that the table was filled and he moved to the side to get a more comfortable position. Flop! "Ack!" he exclaimed as he hit a stack. He thankfully manifested metal in time to keep it from falling. It was here that he noticed the stacks and stacks of paper¡ªsome nearly as high as his waist! Oslo looked at the piles with a bit of guilt. One of the main reasons the paper, ink, and graphite hadn''t been available in public had a lot to do with their team. They¡­ simply consumed too much. One person could make a rim every day or two, and consume a couple of pencils, and bottles of ink. They didn''t even notice how much they used until they had to request for more. The bright side was that this wasn''t papyrus or hide or the same amount of drawings would''ve drowned them inside the room. Speaking of these inventions, Oslo still marveled at them. This so-called paper was not only lighter and more convenient, they was also easier to prepare than papyrus or hide. It was available in larger quantities and less volumic, making them easy to stack and carry around as well. Not to mention graphite that could be erased and redone with something called an eraser. In fact, he had heard of graphite before, albeit it had a different name. Its easy erasure, however, was a very new thing to him. Now, they could make various changes and corrections in a single drawing with a run of a finger. Even their ink was so different from what he was used to. There were nearly no impurities and clumps at all, just smooth lines that made him love it very much. It also made sketching a lot more fun. Anyway, the past week, he and his small team of a dozen people had been recreating buildings from their homes, with specific focus on certain building types like the so-called hospitals, exhibition centers, theaters, and the like. It was very fascinating. He was enlightened about so many considerations that he¡ªor anyone else¡ªhad never cared for. He didn''t even know hospitals¡ªtermed Healing Building in his language¡ªwould need so much thought. For instance, the architects had particular care for the so-called layout workflow. They aimed to optimize the flow of patients and staff as well as to minimize the distances of related departments to enhance efficiency. For instance, the so-called emergency room was pretty much the center of activity with ready access to all the important rooms like operating rooms and the like. And when he asked what operating rooms were, he¡­ was perplexed. People got opened up to get healed? Baffling. Putting these aside, the designers basically considered the distances between each room, and they even had a table¡ªa proximity matrix, they called it¡ªto show how important each connection was. He had seen nothing like this before. To his knowledge, as long as a building could house an activity, then it was good to go. There were also safety measures like slip-resistant flooring, fire exits and paths, and fire stoppers. The latter was a special powder the Lord made and placed into a sphere that fit in a hand. It just needed to throw on the fire and it would die out. It was amazing and he tried it on Rowan. Hehe. There were also ''accessibility'' concerns like ramps for people in wheelchairs. They told him it was something for people who couldn''t walk. This was something that was incomprehensible to him, even now. He grew up in a world that valued strength above everything else. Being an invalid was a shame and people generally didn''t care for them at all. In his world, if one could no longer move on their own, they would more likely kill themselves. Because of this, Eugene was one of his most admired human beings after the lord and his mother. In any case, the fact that disabilities were even considered so holistically¡­ It was confusing and, inexplicably, heartwarming. It just made him love the territory even more. Chapter 389 - 389: Importance of Users Oslo looked at another sheet of paper, detailing different aspects of the building. Drawings like these were called section drawings, which was like making a clean cut along a building and then looking at it from that side. From here, one could see how high the ceilings were and how space played according to height. For instance, the ceilings were high for lobbies and common areas, which created a sense of openness. Hospital rooms, on the other hand, had half the ceiling height of the main lobbies. Because they had lower ceilings, they tended to create more sense of intimacy. Ventilation was also controlled per area, both to provide air to the patients and also for ease of control in case of contagious diseases. If necessary, the air flow for certain parts of the buildings could be completely locked. They called the several sections ''isolation facilites''. At first, he thought it was a prison-like section, which didn''t really strike him much because all bigger territories had some. These places were made to handle rabid patients who had good families, which meant they couldn''t easily get rid of them. But he was very wrong. In these so-called isolation facilities, the people who were ill would be separated from the rest, albeit in a way comfortable and humane. They would still have their own bathroom and source of food, designed in a way that no one who sent them food or assistance would catch the disease. For certain harsher cases, walls were built up, to further isolate per individual. He remembered the plagues that happened in his lifetime¡ªespecially the two most famous ones. There was the Fire Plague about ten years ago where people smoked from their mouths, bodies burning from within. Anyone who smelled the smoke would be affected. And then there was another plague that turned the inflicted completely blue. This happened in the sea cities back when he was a child and he heard a third of the population of these places perished. These all happened far from him and none of the people he knew personally were affected. However, even after years, he could still hear of its effects and the damage they made. In retrospect, the many plagues could''ve been contained simply with these facilities. These were just a few of the things considered with the play of space. In his previous knowledge, the floors were all the same height, with very minimal play of space. After all, it was the fastest layout they could think of. Who had the time to think of changes and innovation when there were so many other things to worry about? They not only had to worry about monsters, but living in a society where power was key inevitably made people walk in eggshells. For rare Level C and above architects, this could even be worse. Of course, this didn''t apply to every special professionals, but he knew sufficient enough cases to know that it wasn''t all sunshine and butterflies on the top. Don''t think having special ability automatically granted financial freedom¡ªit didn''t. This was especially true if they get attached to certain powers. Oslo shook his head of the thoughts, resuming his studying of the creative works of art he so luckily had access to. He went back to the associated floor plans, reviewing the new rooms he learned about. One of the previously-unknown functions was the surgery room. One of the architects helpfully described it in full detail, and even after so many times, he still couldn''t wrap his head around it. He ended up staring at the rooms with a weird expression on his face. Interestingly, the person drawing next to him saw his flabbergasted expression. He cleared his throat and pushed down his embarrassment. "You mentioned people may need to get opened up to get healed." The (Terran) architect''s name was Santos. He was short and had tanned skin. He was a very distant cousin of Plaridel, though they weren''t very close. "Yes, that''s right." "Then how do they avoid the internal organs then?" As someone who lived in this world, Oslo had naturally seen a lot of internal organs as well as their rough locations. Of course, this was mostly the organs being pulled out of the human body by monster teeth. The concept of purposely opening up people to help them was admittedly quite confusing to him. Santos paused in thought and told him what he knew. "They carefully move it out, fix the problem, and then put it back." He said thai a matter-of-factly. "I think a lot of sucking and sewing are involved." If he hadn''t been fighting monsters brutally since young he''d have vomited. He shook his head and moved on to the next observation (this was a daily habit of his because he realized he learned a lot from doing this, especially when he had an ''expert'' next to him to ask questions to). Anyway, other than those functions, the aesthetics for the hospitals was also considered. The building was designed with various light sources including natural light. It helped in mood and, in turn, the mood helped in healing. It was still a wonder to him that mood and health were so intrinsically interrelated. There were also gardens above the ground, which was similar to the sky gardens the lord introduced with the new custom buildings. These were ''healing gardens'' and rooftop terraces. Even until now, it was still a wonder to him how this was done so cleanly. He had heard of hanging gardens before, but most of them were in mountains¡ªusing terraced farms¡ªbut never on actual built construction. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The hospital also used soothing colors¡ªthey called them pastel colors. The paint was finally created after various trial-and-error of the paint factory (another marvel). Although the colors were too soft for him, he could understand the rationale. Finally, there was comfortable furnishing all around. Even waiting areas were ''ergonomic'' as they would call it. They said all these had contribution to a healing environment. Even waiting rooms for the families were designed to be soothing. Eventually, Oslo realized the designers were always thinking of the humans¡ªthe users¡ªfirst and foremost. Back then, nobody cared for the users like this. As long as the building was functional, then it was a good building. "Any more questions, Master Gold?" Santos said with a smile, obviously enjoying his many child-like questions. Oslo''s lips twitched and shrugged. "No, I was wondering how you guys decided to focus on the people rather than on the building." This made the tanned man blink a bit, musing. After a moment, he looked at Oslo to answer him. "It''s not really a matter of just ''deciding''," he said, "It''s a necessity. After all¡­ "What is a building if not for the people using it?" Oslo felt like his brain opened up so many avenues, and his level took another step toward growth. Chapter 390 - 390: C-Class Architect Santos blinked and shook his hand near the aborigine''s face. Oslo eventually came back and smiled. "Thanks." "No problem," the tanned man shrugged and went back to drawing. Soon, the man entered a zone of sorts and Oslo, who was used to these people entering their own world as soon as they started drawing, only smiled and shook his head. He then proceeded to observe the other finished drawings of this one building type¡ªthere were a lot. The Hospital had a lot more than others since it had more ''intricate requirements''. Of course, with the time they had, they could only create so-called ''schematics'' for certain buildings, which seemed to be considered rough drafts by the Terran architects. However, to Oslo, this was already well thought-out and much more detailed than what he grew up with. It was just that none of the Terran professionals agreed. To draw the target or ''completed drawings'' was to thoroughly part every part of the building¡ªthey still needed to draw every detail, every connection, and every interactions of spaces and elements. For a while, it was all quite mind-boggling. After all, a building would be built anyway, so why bother? Manual buildings in Xeno naturally had to be planned, but because there was already a set knowledge of how to do things, people did it by the ear. They only used ''tried and tested for hundreds of years'' methods, so to speak. He had never encountered a group of people exploring so much. He remembered it took a full day just to determine what kind of foundation was best for their soil. He didn''t even know there was so much difference. He just knew if the soil was soft, then put a deeper and wider foundation, that was all. As for the effectivity¡­ it was live and learn. People here could fight monsters on a daily basis, how could they be afraid of a ceiling falling on them? Anyway, communication between territories regarding this wasn''t very deep or often, so they didn''t really know what was going on in other ''soils''. This was unacceptable to these people. They used papers and papers filled with numbers he didn''t understand (yet), and it highlighted their ''alien'' line of thought. To be honest, he learned more about his field in the past week than the earlier parts of his life combined. He didn''t know how the heads of the Lord and her countrymen, but they never failed to amaze him. Speaking of professionals, he couldn''t help but look around the room to the people working hard for the territory. Someone even reminded the others to exercise their hands to avoid them being over-used. "I dunno how carpal tunnel could attack our ''improved'' hands, but better be safe than sorry!" "Yeah, wouldn''t it be a horror if we have trouble holding our weapons because we drew too much?!" His lips twitched, and he couldn''t help but observe the others. The Engineering team was comprised of a score of people, including him. There were two licensed architects and six engineers of different fields (though Oslo was still unclear about the differentiation) to work with him. There were also a few students. The Vismont trio Crow, Dog, and Sunny were third-year students in Architecture and they also joined in. Of course, like everyone, they made sure to spend time every day keeping up their physiques and strengths so they were also often found outside, right by the sentries. It happened that it was the trio''s day-off today (the day offs aren''t all on the same day, as it would overwhelm the soldiers'' training). Today, they went with the training regime far from the walls, likely hanging out in their favorite spot. There were now new hot-spots for ''kiting'' mobs. These were the corner areas created by the Level 5 and Level 3 walls. During the entire 28 hours of the day, there would be people in this area. Some people even set up stall in the gap between the two walls. Anyway, back to those in the office. Whether it was the professionals or the students, the lord had strong hopes that they would also trigger the occupation someday and, fortunately, she had not been disappointed. Actually, the speed they triggered occupations shocked Oslo very much. So far there had already been two people who had triggered it: The first one was the architect, Brianna, who became a Class-E architect a week prior. The other one was just today. After they detailed an operating room at the Hospital drawing, Brianna''s brother Brian, also triggered the occupation. "Why am I an architect?" "In the old times, architects and engineers are all just called Architects." "Oh." Santos was estimated to also trigger the occupation within the next few weeks. It was still a wonder to Oslo and the others how quickly these people triggered occupations but, at the same time, he was not really surprised, because their brains¡ªin their terms¡ªwere ''wired differently''. Oslo also swore to train them to the best of his abilities, as a payback to the territory''s kindness to him. Anyway, as the day continued, the polishing of the plans went on, adding details and often changes that would scrap hours, if not days, of work. But these people didn''t mind¡ªthey wanted perfection. "We should put the gynaecology department on the ground floor." "You forgot we don''t have elevators here." The other did not answer immediately, looking at the speaker with narrowed eyes, "Don''t we, really? Ever?" "..." "..." The two staff turned to the sound of a cluttering chair being pushed back. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was Rocky, the mechanical engineer, who took several rims of paper, stood up from the meeting room, and went to lock himself up in his cubicle. "Safe to say, the possibility is there," one said, and they proceeded to do their tasks. Now, Oslo had no idea what an elevator was, but it should be something very good. In any case, he guided the designers and technicians to building types specified by the Lord. He was currently very very fascinated by the Cinema. Ansel had told him about this, and he wanted to see it happen, so in the past few days he has been studying. He also studied the complicated technology with them, while he didn''t understand much of it, he understood enough to know what the building needed to be. It needed to be large and comfortable. It needed to be able to absorb the sounds, to allow every seat to see the ''screen'' properly and the like. To be honest, only the last point had been conventional knowledge among local Architects. Most of these things he simply had never considered before, nor were they taught to matter at all. Like what happened with the hospital and many others, Oslo''s mind felt so very open and¡­ enlightened. Interestingly, the new learnings in the cinema were the last straw for his imminent ''growth'' He just felt that there was so much more to learn and Oslo thought that the light in his profession had never been so bright. Ding! [Congratulations! You have upgraded to Architect (C)!] [Activated Passive Skill: 10% Chance of successfully creating Aether Blueprints] His gorgeous azure eyes widened in glee. Finally!! Chapter 391 - 391: Aether Blueprints Finally a C-Class Architect!! In his surprise, he stood up all of a sudden, the force making his chair fall to the ground. "Ei, golden god, what''s wrong?" The teammate asked, shocked by his abrupt movements. They saw the man''s blue eyes wide in glee, totally uncharacteristic of his usual suave self. "I upgraded!" he said, like a happy idiot. His words, though, made everyone flinch. "What?" "I am going to tell the lo¡ªthe others. Bye." Oslo immediately ran to the Lord''s house to tell the news. He felt elated, like he could finally look at the Lord in the eye. His smile was wide, habitually flirtatious, and effortlessly charismatic. His smooth, beautiful face and golden hair were illuminated by the reddish light of the resting sun, making him appear a bit ethereal. And his sky blue eyes¡­ they were as bright as the sky itself, one that a person would want to stare and willingly get blinded by. Oslo could be said to be a very, very beautiful man, and the sights of the women he passed by followed all his movements until he disappeared. With very few exemptions, every one of them was swooning. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Minutes later, this very shining sight was approaching Althea very happily¡ª ¡ªuntil he felt a sharp warning gaze that could kill directed at him and he quickly stopped, almost falling down. Garan sneered. Oslo cleared his throat and gathered himself, returning to his poised self. He found them on the East Avenue commercial street after asking around, so he could not greet her as he should. "Elder," he just said respectfully, sweating a little under Garan''s sharp stare. "I have good news. May Invite you somewhere more private for a meeting?" Ansel watched his friend sweat in nervousness under Garan''s stare. He felt both pity and amusement. Fortunately for Oslo, friendship weighed more to Ansel than a good show, so the latter decided to save him. The redhead tapped the blonde''s shoulder. "Just in time, we''re having dinner at Cooke''s tonight!" "I¡­" He paused, unsure. "I want to hear this news as soon as possible," Althea said, reassuring him that he wasn''t disturbing anything. Around them, onlookers looked curiously. Also, in fascination. After all, the group of them really was a pretty sight. No one thought anything of an aborigine being so respectful and secretive with Althea at all. Anything Ms. Althea did just made sense to them. Besides, hired aborigines should be respectful to elders by default, anyway. "Let''s go~" Ansel said, dragging his friend''s neck. The small group headed to Cooke''s restaurant¡ªthe Terran Gastronomique Haven¡ªfor a much-awaited lunch. Although the line wasn''t as long as Harold''s due to the much higher prices, it was still fully booked, some of whom were visitors from the other three allied territories (who also paid exuberant protection fees to get to the territory). However, their group did not need to line up as they had a fixed private room in the building. Their room had bespoke furniture with a table that could fit ten to twelve people. On the side, there was a small relaxing lounge by the window, which people could relax in as they chatted and observed the lively streetscapes below. They settled down and a waiter arrived with their menu¡ªa new addition with the addition of paper. What''s more, because paper had not yet been made commercially available, this also added a bit of prestige to the restaurant. Each of them chose an a la carte meal, to be shared at the table, as well as the dessert to be served later. They watched as the waiter left and looked at Oslo, who promptly started to explain what this was all about. First, he started with the progress of the team and then with his upgrade. The more he said, the brighter the others became. "Good!" Ansel smiled. "This is enough reason for us to get another bottle of Althea''s special booze!" Oslo smirked. That was indeed a good reward. Althea rolled her eyes. "The next batch is still fermenting." "...oh." Althea shook her head in amusement, "Congratulations, Oslo." Oslo found himself staring at her before his eyes shifted a bit when he met her husband''s eyes. Tsk. Obviously so many levels lower, but so damned intimidating. In any case, his attitude became more serious and he looked at Althea, bowing his head. "I have now upgraded to C-class thanks to you my Lord." She smiled, waving her hand. "Congratulations. But don''t underestimate your own efforts. "Tell me more about the upgrade," she said. Although she had an idea, she hadn''t explored it too deeply as of yet. Oslo was happy to explain to her, of course. "I now have a chance to create Aether Buildings." Oslo was now a level C architect and could design buildings with effects, albeit only with 8-10% chance of success. As long as he kept working in her territory, this was a good thing for them. Of course, Althea knew that Oslo would stay. His character was one thing, but they signed a contract before she let him learn so much Terran technology and designs: He could not apply them anywhere else, not unless Altera had a share with all of his creations inspired by what he learned from them. Althea nodded. "But¡­?" she asked, urging him to continue. She understood that creating system buildings, locally known as Aether Buildings, was not simple. "Each attempt requires a special papyrus as well as an ink called Blu." "Tell me more." "The special papyrus was made specifically by Papyrus Makers¡ªa system-given occupation. It''s like the typical papyrus, but is incorporated with special arrays, available only through inheritances of that profession." "The Blu is a special mineral that is harvested in very few places¡ªmy hometown happened to be one of the biggest producers of this, fortunately." "They must cost a lot," Althea said after a moment of silence. "Tell me honestly how much it would cost." Oslo thought for a while, thinking about the usual market price. "A set typically costs about 120-160 gold. But with my connections, I can get it to about half of that." "Ten tries means a successful blueprint would cost around 800 gold," Althea said. She had the money but, obviously, the original plan of turning every functional building into aether Buildings wasn''t feasible. Money was one thing, but these materials were also rare. They may not be available at all. There was also another limitation of the blueprint: most blueprints could only be used a few times at most, depending on the quality and the architect''s level. "Only Level A architects could create blueprints that could be used an unlimited number of times." "Like certain system buildings?" She asked, referring to the ones they could build from the Lord Panel. Oslo paused, the thought not really occurring to him before. "Yes, like so." Oslo couldn''t be blamed for this. There were some things that had integrated into people''s whole lives that they were just not thought about any deeper than it appeared. It was like words in a language. Most people simply wouldn''t think of how words were coined. They were just¡­ there. In any case, Aether buildings were still something to aim for for various reasons. If successful, buildings made from the special blueprints would be constructed extremely fast and durable¡ªwithin a few hours, instead of weeks, months, or maybe even years, using manual construction. Furthermore, it would only require basic wood and stone materials to build. Those resources were basically unlimited in Xeno and she only needed to mobilize the population to get what she needed. And, most importantly: Aether Buildings had very, very, convenient special effects. Although what these effects were, they could not guarantee, they''d definitely be able to produce magical effects, not inferior to system-provided aether Buildings. She didn''t forget how fascinated she was with the system buildings and their special effects. System Restaurants, Snack shops, and Juice Bars were buildings that could produce food or beverages as long as they had raw materials. For instance, the System Bakery would only need a certain amount of Flute to work indefinitely. It could also clean itself up afterward. Equipment Stores like Weapons and Armory stores could continuously produce equipment that could damage the monsters here. Note that this was something that ''technologically-advanced'' Terran weapons struggled with. Like others, it only needed a certain amount of stone and wood (Iron, for higher-level buildings) There was the bathhouse that could change the temperature of the running water that flowed through it and the Territory Center which functioned so well as an administrative building for the entire territory. Her current favorite was the Training Hall, a building that could manifest monsters that actually gave experience points in turn. Not to mention, the damage received only targeted certain stats and generally wouldn''t kill people either. She really couldn''t imagine the intricacies of this particular building type, and it fascinated her so. If this was developed¡­, then the limitations of building slots wouldn''t be a problem anymore! It was really curious and she looked forward to what the effects of their first aether building would be. Very exciting! Chapter 392 - 392: Bicycle Oslo saw how Althea''s beautiful emerald eyes brightened at the mention of building special effects and he couldn''t help but smile a bit. "I will sponsor the first drawing. It''s the least I can do for you, milord." Feelings aside, the information she shared with him that led to his upgrade was invaluable. To be honest, before knowing Altera, he thought he''d stagnate at Class D¡ªlike pretty much every other Architect out there. The lord''s kindness was immeasurable and he was sure his family would agree for him to spend a bit to repay her. Of course, he''d try to get a lot more, but he didn''t want to raise their hopes up too much. Blu was, after all, an increasingly scarce resource, even for them. At the very least, he''d fight to get twenty sets at least so he could¡ªhopefully¡ªcreate two aether buildings. To be honest, giving away 1600 gold still felt stingy. But¡­ what else could he do? When he came back from his daze, he realized that the others were looking at him, impressed. Even the Lord''s husband was appreciative. He knew this because he felt decidedly not freezing all of a sudden. Oslo held back a smile. This was actually more than enough of a reward. Back home, he never had such a feeling of accomplishment. Although his family loved him, they never expected anything of him. "Are you sure this is alright, though?" "I¡­ this is nothing. I would do more if I could. Again, what Altera had given me is invaluable knowledge, some of which is probably inaccessible to even the most powerful cities." He smiled, deep blue eyes fixed on them. "I want to do this, please don''t be burdened." "Thank you," Althea nodded and didn''t reject his kindness. She knew the transfer of knowledge in Xeno was extremely stringent. This wouldn''t have been an easy decision to implement and it was impolite to question the gifter too much. So, instead, she gave him a beautiful smile. "I''m looking forward to your work." ¡­ Later that day, Oslo already asked for leave, which was usually taken every month, to be renewed at the lord''s prerogative. He also gathered some materials to bring back to his family by the way. So by the time he finished packing up, not only was his space filled, he also had a large backpack. If one didn''t know him, he really looked like someone who was about to run away from home¡ªwith all the furniture he could carry. Seeing this, a certain redhead couldn''t help but feel really reluctant. "You better come back!" Ansel told him; placing an arm behind his neck so they could speak more closely. It was rare to find someone to jive with so much. "The things I told you I''d build? I guarantee you would love them." He was referring to the entertainment industry¡ªsomething Oslo was really curious about. At this statement, the blonde laughed good-naturedly. "Of course. I love it here, how can I not come back?" Ansel nodded, very seriously. "There''s still so much you haven''t seen." Oslo smiled, "Yes! I know that." To be honest, two charming young men so close together made a few women''s imaginations grow wild. Some distance away from Althea and the others, there was a group of women biting handkerchiefs to stop themselves from squealing too loudly. A new pair name emerged that day: Sunset Pair, the glorious combination of red and gold. When paper and pen became commercially available, fanfictions would flood the territory. When Ansel found out about this much, much, later, at first he was aghast (with Winona laughing at his face for a long time) but then he decided to get a great share from whoever was making money using his goodness. None of the core people knew of this, however, and even if they did, they''d probably just laugh it off. At this time, they were busy sending the blonde off to even notice their audience had grown. They looked at Oslo who was so well-equipped and even brought backpacks with him. They looked a bit worried. "Can''t you use the teleportation array in the village center?" Oslo shook his head. "It''s only one way." It was also very expensive, but money wasn''t a problem for Oslo. Anyway, this meant that Oslo had to go back home by himself, and he would also have to return to Altera manually as well. Knowing this, everyone felt a bit of pity and gave a few more things to increase his convenience. Just¡­ a little more to carry, but Oslo didn''t mind it at all. For instance, Althea gave a few bottles of energizers and Harold gave more of his special biscuits. They also gave him a special waterproof cloth using waxed fabric (mass release currently under development) in case of rain. He felt extremely touched and had he not been habitually suave, he''d have shed a couple of tears. He once again expressed his gratitude and successful return and finally turned away. "Wait," Ansel stopped him and took something out of his space. It was relatively big and definitely filled up his small space. Oslo wasn''t exactly certain what contraption Ansel took out at first. It was made of wood, metal, and something else. Ansel pulled one side to reveal its whole form from its contracted state, transforming within a couple of changes. This was the first time Oslo saw such a contraption. He watched as Ansel let the wheels touch the ground and rolled it towards him. "Although I know people of your level can sprint fast, I also know it takes a toll on your energy. "I''ll lend Barbara II to you. Anyway, we already used rubber for this, so it should be fine to use outside." "This is?" And¡­Barbara? II? "Barbara II is a bike. It''s a new Alteran invention. Only a few has been released, though," he said, pointing at the middle of the so-called Bike. "You remember that chain?" Oslo blinked and followed where he pointed. His blue eyes ended on the smallest but most intricate permanent chain he had ever manifested. Not that he manifested a lot of them, of course. "This¡ª" he created this himself, taking him a day''s worth of mana due to its relative complexity. He didn''t know what it was used for. Seeing it now, it seemed to be part of some mechanism in this contraption. But in retrospect, he had heard of the term bike many times before. It was just that in his mind it was a type of carriage. Ansel climbed up and showed him how to use it. "You just sit over here. Swing your leg over this crossbar. Hands on this place. When parked, keep your feet on the ground." He lifted his feet and Oslo almost stepped forward to stop him from falling. Only¡­ it didn''t fall at all and even started moving. "Find your balance and relax. Anyway, you''ve probably ridden a beast monster before and this is much easier because you''re in control." Oslo watched as Ansel pedaled expertly and glided along the path. Oslo was very interested, determined to learn to use this two-wheeled contraption. Ansel stopped and hopped down, gesturing for Oslo to try. "Try it¡ª" Only Oslo was already sitting down. "..." Ansel kindly repeated the instructions, a bit slower, and pointed at each part that worked in each step. "Understood." "Really?" The blonde nodded, immediatly starting to try it out. He lost balance a bit, but he was quick to recover. It was a bit wobbly at first, but he eventually managed to glide for a longer period of time. Soon, he got used to it and became increasingly stable. The slight worry of losing balance was gone and he began to feel the exhilaration of movement. The wind hit his face as he glided, making him feel refreshed. Oslo smiled at the nice feeling. "This¡­ this is amazing!" He yelled as he pedaled farther, gathering more attention than they already were. "It''s a bike!" One said and another nodded. "Our research team is too awesome, right?!" "I bet people outside all struggle by walking, and we¡ªwe will soon have bikes!" The discussion outside did not affect their little group. In fact, there was still a question that had been bothering Althea. "Why can''t it be two-way?" She asked him. Oslo knew her well enough to know she was referring to the teleportation array inside the village center. He knew it would bother her a lot. The lord cared about every one of her people. She naturally was never comfortable with sending them out to danger, even if it was a necessity. Oslo calmed down his childish fascination and climbed down his bike. "Teleportation is very expensive. We actually had to deposit 1 gold before submitting as fee for the one-way teleportation. "This is already shared costs. The normal arrays would cost two to three more times." Althea caught on to his words. "There are other ways to teleport?" "Yes, cities have this building type." Althea and Garan, who were habitually holding hands, looked at each other in surprise. Because Garan had never been in the city, he hadn''t encountered this yet. It''s generally not something discussed in towns either, due to its accessibility. Teleportation arrays¡­ How magical. This unique world lacked the luxuries the Terrans enjoyed, but it also had luxuries they could not have imagined. What were cities here like? She heard of some descriptions, but what did they really look like? What did they offer, what kind of people lived there? Althea was very curious. Garan saw his wife''s eagerness to travel, and felt a bit sad. Except for family trips and that honeymoon cut short¡­ they seem to have never really travelled for leisure before? He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "We''ll go on a trip someday," He told her, very seriously, "I promise." S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 393 - 393: Intersection "I''ll miss you, bro," Ansel said as they saw Oslo off in the gate. Oslo laughed, copying him and placing his hand on the other''s shoulder. "Likewise," he said with a smile, his sights moving to the rest of the crowd seeing him off. His eyes somehow fixed on the beautiful woman with green eyes. "I will miss all of you." And he turned back with his bike, heart filled with gratitude, looking forward to what he could possibly give them back. As Oslo went out, another group was heading in from the southwest direction. It was Gill''s group, still much larger than the seven people who left Altera a few weeks prior. The group brought a couple of new people with them, all with various emotions, unsure of what to expect of this new territory¡ªa new village. For example, in the Terran Mercenary team, there were the five aborigine team members they brought. They felt complex and were really unsure of what to expect of¡­ a village. After all, growing up, they had known villages as the lowest level existence among territories. The difference between typical villages and towns was as start as the sky and the ground. However, they had seen the products and felt this one was different. How different though, they really couldn''t tell. The soldiers chose members of the logistics team for this batch, including Pipa and Roana, in hopes they learned something from the Alteran locals. The primary goal here was to improve the life of the members staying in Ferrol and perhaps guide them to triggering occupations themselves. Of course, the Aborgines signed a bond with them, where they''d have to work for the Terran Mercenary team for at least 5 years, depending on the value of knowledge and improvements they received. It would also lessen the inevitable reluctance the people assigned to Ferrol would feel. After all, they would still be able to eat delicious fresh food even when they were far from Altera! Other than their own team, another group was an uninvited one. They literally just caught wind of their leaving and randomly decided to tag along. This group consisted of Cassandra, her friend, their maids, and their guards. The bright side was that Cassandra''s group had rented some beast carriages for them, lessening their travel time, so they didn''t mind the intrusion. One must know that because of the blood-thirsty nature of the beasts, it was technically impossible to tame them. Beast Tamers, a rare occupation, learned a technique to get into beast''s minds and make them believe the tamer was one of them¡ªthat the Tamer was the undisputed leader, and whatever he said was to be followed. Even if the drivers of the carriages were not necessarily beast tamers themselves, they had to have the special whistle bespoke for that monster by the beast tamer. Excluding the exuberant fees of tamers themselves, the whistles were also extremely expensive. This was why carriages, on most occasions, could only be seen in cities or high-level towns. Anyway, during territory wars, special teleportation circles could be activated at a discounted cost. The need to improve transportation wasn''t too critical so it never really developed beyond the rare carriage or slave-pulled rickshaws. Hence despite being so expensive (and risky), it remained to be the most sought-after mode of transportation. But rich-girl Cassandra brought three. Although her town wasn''t a city yet, it was obvious it was not far from upgrading. She bribed their team with the free use of her carriages and they agreed. Anyway, the woman brought a few guards with higher levels than they did, so they didn''t think of her as a burden at all. As such, the men were divided into two carriages, and the two women and their respective maids stayed in one. Speaking of maids, their names were Cicy and Vivi, respectively. They were both in their late twenties, around their age, and they had served the two ladies since they were children. Even with the wide gap between nobles and commonfolk, the two ladies still treated the girls like sisters, at least more than the norm. So while the two ladies chatted, the maids often joined in. The four of them usually chat around a lot while traveling, but this time Cassandra was being unusually quiet. "Did anything happen to your lady?" Vivi asked Cici who shook her head with a similar expression of puzzlement. Veronica pouted, crossing her arms, but patiently waited for the other girl to open up like she usually did. So, uncharacteristically, the women''s carriage was a little more quiet than usual. Thanks to the carts, the few-day travel time was reduced to less than a day, and they were nearing their destination when Veronica couldn''t hold her breath anymore. At this time, Cassandra was still glaring at the carriage in front¡ªsomething she had been doing for hours. It was amazing how her purple eyes were still lubricated with all the staring. Veronica looked at her friend with a lot of eagerness. "Still not going to tell me?" Cassandra blushed. "No!" She said, but her mind inevitably went back to that day of her first ''real'' kiss. They were obviously arguing a few moments prior, but the next thing she knew their lips were locked, electric currents passing between them. It was also very hot and she wondered whether Gill used his ability on her. Cassandra''s breath hitched as she felt his lips grind on hers, and her heart filled with a mixture of surprise and anticipation. She gasped in his lips as he pulled her closer to him, making their bodies flushed, and she relished in his warmth. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She closed her eyes as she absorbed all the sensations. ''So this is what a real kiss feels like¡­'' she thought, but her mind was quickly turned to mush as he parted her lips with his tongue, gingerly entering her mouth and tasting every bit of it. Their lips and tongues clashed, expressing what couldn''t be said in words. Her fingers buried in his long hair, mimicking him, taking an active part in the sensual exploration of each other''s mouths They were still in an alley, but they forgot they were still in public. Then they heard chatters nearing and Gill immediately separated from her, walking away without another word. Present¡ª She could still remember his toe-curling kiss that straightened her spine and struck her soul like it just happened. How dare he skitter away without a word after giving her the best kiss she''d had so far! Prick! It was just that her upbringing prevented her from demanding an answer after that. She still had her pride! She was curious about Altera itself this time, and she was not following him at all! Veronica''s eyebrows rose and leaned over, trying to get her to spill, but the other woman was deep in a heated soliloquy with herself. It was just that before Veronica could pinch her to catch her attention, the carriage stopped abruptly. "Halt!" She heard her guard yell. Veronica nodded at her maid who sneaked her head out the curtain. "What''s going on?" She asked, Cassandra was finally pulled out of her trance and looked around. "The carriage up front suddenly stopped," Cassandra mumbled, making Veronica roll her eyes. "Yes, I can see that." Cassandra missed the quip and looked out as well. "Is it another mob?" This made Veronica and the maids worry, "No, right?" Fortunately, they weren''t left steaming in worry for too long. Soon enough, instead of yells and monster growls, they heard discussions and exclamations instead. They soon realized that they were made by the familiar voices of the Terran members. "What is that?" One asked, and they recognized the voice as Luis. Sammy soon answered him after a moment of pause. "Looks familiar¡­" "Is that a bike?" "F-Fudge! Seriously?!" "Cool! They finally finished it! Where do I order?!" A similar discussion about the ''bike'' exploded from the soldiers, while everyone else was just puzzled. The girls were very curious and were about to go out when they heard another yell. "Hey, it''s Oslo!" Cassandra and Veronica paused their movements, eyebrows raised high at the mention of the familiar name. "Our Oslo?" "Probably just the same name?" The two quickly got out of the carriage with their two maids following closely behind. They walked forward to see that it was indeed the handsome blonde, riding a weird contraption with two wheels. "Oslo?" She voiced out, though without the usual tone of annoyance. Although she talked about him behind his back with family, she never actually did so outside. One reason was that they were actually friends and it was just her hobby to mock him (he really, really deserved it anyway). Another reason was that his family was much richer than hers¡ªeven if they weren''t lords themselves. In terms of network and riches, the Golds surpassed her family''s many times. And even if he was useless, the guy was both a dual elementalist and an architect. A waste. The biggest waste of talent Xeno had ever seen¡­ She also knew that he had been sent to villages via the Chancery of Appointments for training. Heh¡­ it must''ve been torture for him to be a hired help at some random village¡ª But her purple eyes looked at his handsome face which was all bright with smiles. Er¡­, probably? He¡­ probably lost it after all the stress, perhaps?? Chapter 394 - 394: Exes Meet Oslo was enjoying the bike ride too much¡ªaddicted, really¡ªthat he only noticed a group coming to the territory when he was already in the vicinity. The bike screeched to a halt and was a bit surprised to see familiar faces¡ªmany of which he didn''t expect would ever be together. For one, there was the Terran Mercenary Team (he knew from their stances) with a few unfamiliar faces, definitely Aborigines. There also seemed to be nobles, considering how everyone was riding beast carts. What was this about? He had no idea¡­ Looking past them, he also saw¡­ herds of animals? "Broats?" he uttered, but instead of asking, he just looked at the rest of the crowd. Finally, his blue eyes zoned in on a rare humanoid creature with red ears and tail¡­ ''Is that a half-orc??'' A species that was relatively uncommon to see even in cities was taken home by a group who went out for a couple of weeks? He should really stop getting surprised by the Lord and her people. Before he could ask however, a familiar voice sounded nearby that pulled him back to the present. "Oslo?" They asked, tones filled with inquiry. He turned to see two women with rare shades of violet and pink emerge from the crowd. He almost lost his balance at the sight of them, really not expecting to see them any time soon. "Cassandra? Veronica?" He asked, tone expressing his disbelief. "You guys are here?" The two women nodded as they looked at him up and down. "Where are you going?" "Back to Bleulle, I need to get some stuff," he shrugged and paused. "You?" "We''re curious about a Territory," Cassandra said. Oslo looked at the direction they were heading. He then looked at their guards again¡ªwearing Ferrol Town crests¡ªand an explanation finally dawned on him. "You''re going to Altera?" "You know it?" Oslo smiled, immediately warming up. "Altera Village is very good. You will like it there." It was like a son proudly talking about his great ''father''. It really surprised the two women who knew him well prior to all of this. It was around here that Cassandra realized something and she stepped forward until she was a foot away. "Is that the territory that hired you?" He smiled smugly and she kind of wanted to kick him. Seeing that there were no more words exchanged, the Terrans could no longer hold their curiosity at the contraption they had been staring at for the past few minutes. They quickly surrounded Oslo, looking very excited. "YO¡ªGolden god," Sammy yelled, patting his back in a friendly manner. "Are the bikes finally out? I thought I''d wait longer!" Oslo smirked. "This is Ansel''s, he just lent it to me." Luis jumped over. "Can I try?" "I suppose?" Soon the Terrans crowded Oslo in a friendly manner, especially as they played with the bike, except for Gill who only watched. He was always like this of course, so no one saw the difference. Gill had never met Oslo, as he had been hiding away studying during his short stay in Altera, but he had heard of him. The territory''s architect. His eyes couldn''t help but shift to Cassandra, walking over with crossed arms. She was standing at the side and watching the men play around in interest. "How''d you know him?" Cassandra scoffed. This must be the first time he took the initiative to talk to her after the kiss. "My ex." The two were silent for a while until Oslo excused himself to finally go on his way. Cassandra gestured to saunter over to him. Gill frowned, grabbing her arm. "Where are you going?" "Seeing him off of course," she paused and stared at him, before giving out a mocking smile. "Kisses are meaningless, right? Then I should give him a goodbye kiss since we''re old flames, anyway." He held her hand, and his face looked struggling uttering a few words. "I''m sorry," he breathed out. "And I never said it was meaningless." Her eyes widened and she gaped at him, but she didn''t buckle easily. "You didn''t have to say it." "I¡­ was just a little confused and shocked at what I did," he said, heaving a deep breath. "Again: I apologize for hurting you." Her eyes shook and she pursed her lips. "I still have to see him off though¡­" Gill saw that she softened up and his shoulders immediately slumped in relief. He nodded. "I''ll go with you." The two approached the golden-haired man as he climbed up his bike, to the utter envy of every man¡ªTerran and aborigine alike. Oslo''s eyebrows rose when he saw the intertwined hands of his ex and the infamous poison vampire. He hadn''t met him before, but his description fit to the tee: wavy black hair, pale skin, and acerbic temperament. Then he looked at Cassandra, who was absolutely blooming. Heh¡­ His stare made the two people feel a bit awkward, but their hands didn''t part. Oslo was very interested, but he really needed to go. He looked at Cassandra. "Got to go," he said, "Maybe I''ll get back and you''re still there." Cassandra blinked, surprised. "You''re coming back?" She thought he''d go back there for good and resume his philandering ways. Oslo just looked at her as if she asked a stupid question. "Of course," he said as if it answered everything. He then said his farewells to everyone again, pedaling away, humming. Cassandra couldn''t help but follow his form with heavy curiosity. Oslo Gold, this prodigal son without fixed interests, said he would return to a village with such certainty¡­ Very curious. "Until when are you going to stare?" A low voice beside her pulled her out of her trance. She blinked and turned to Gill, who was frowning as he stared at her. But¡­ her heart felt giddy. Was he jealous? It made the man''s eyebrows furrow. "What are you smiling about?" She chuckled but didn''t say anything. Who knew if he''d get triggered again? "I''m just really curious¡­about the territory that could make that guy love it so much." Gill nodded and sighed, looking around them and realizing their interaction was being watched with apt interest. His eyes twitched in annoyance. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Not going?" he asked, sending them a deadly glare. They all flinched as if they''d been poked by something sharp. "Yes, sir!" As everyone got back to their respective carriages, Gill kindly walked Cassandra back to hers. It was only a couple of meters away, but she felt happy the entire time. He was also a gentleman and helped her up. Before heading in her carriage though, her feet paused. "Wait a minute¡­" She paused, eyebrows furrowed. She looked at Oslo''s direction again¡ªtowards Ferrol to the West. Wasn''t Bluelle Southeast? ¡­. The group walked for a few hours and reached the stopover. "Let''s rest here," Gill said and everyone settled to set up a small camp. The aborigines looked around the simple but thoughtful arrangements. There were shelters and areas to cook. They even saw the soldiers open a chest to get some¡­ ingredients? So generous? Weren''t they afraid it would just get wasted? Not to mention, because everything was done with simplicity, it was easy to rebuild should a beast tide unfortunately pass through. "Something like this was built in the middle of nowhere?" Veronica asked in wonder. "Yes, Altera made it so the allied villages could travel back with ease," Mao said with pride oozing out of him. "Those supplies¡­" "Everyone leaves something for others after using it. It isn''t required, but it has become a culture of sorts." The aborigines couldn''t help but look at each other. The girls'' eyes were bright, especially curious about the place their ''men'' called home. "Really exciting. I''m glad I tagged along with you," the pink-haired girl told her friend, who just smiled in response. Veronica was also becoming more and more curious about this place. At first, she just wanted to see her Brandon, but now it seemed there was so much to explore. "What''s this entire place for?" "We want people to travel as comfortably as they could, especially our own." "Don''t you worry they''d get stolen?" "Our people probably won''t. That''s enough." The aborigines¡ªespecially the girls, as the others were servants and underlings¡ªshowered the soldiers with their questions. The more they knew, the more it piqued their interest, even if they didn''t quite understand some answers. For example, what was ''trekking for leisure'' and what was a slide? The questions stopped when the aroma of barbeque entered their noses. They sat around the stone chairs to eat, eyes shut when the deliciousness touched their taste buds. The group ate relaxedly as they chatted, knowing the monsters in the area weren''t very strong, completely unaware of the emotions of the Half-orc nearby. ¡­ Gochi watched all these with his green-golden eyes. He was still amazed at how effortless it was for everyone to just get along with each other, and¡­ with him. He remembered his first meal with them. They shared their mouthwatering food so generously, their smiles were wide and their hearts were kind. If he didn''t believe his instincts, he''d have thought he was given poison. It was also the first time Gochi tasted something so delicious. Of course, as an orc slave, he naturally didn''t have much to compare with. As an orc, his instincts toward danger and goodwill were unmatched by humans. The orc radar was next only to Goblins and their weird abilities. These seven people were truly good to him, and he didn''t sense any disgust at all. They even let him get clothed and fed properly, allowed his wounds to be healed and fixed. They treated him like an unfortunate comrade. He looked at the aromatic meat handed to him and felt a little warm. He hadn''t even eaten anything yet. He wondered: what kind of place would people like this call home¡­? Chapter 395 - 395: Half-orc Gochi Hoskle Village, a month ago Inside a dilapidated house with leaking roof and whistling walls, a group of oddly-shaped men and women with unusual appearances gathered in a somber atmosphere. The sound of an alarm echoed across the village. A territory war was about to happen within 14 hours. The announcement was followed by another, stating that everyone must prepare either themselves or resources to assist the territory. "Another war?" Baku asked with a frown, his tiger ears perked up, guarded. His large build was tense, his long tail was upright, his mood turbulent at the imminent danger they''d be facing. Gochi, who was kneeling beside him, sighed and looked at the person lying on the cot. In his hand were a couple of leaves known to help with wounds. It was all they could afford. As he applied both the leaf and the crushed plants on his friend''s festering wounds, the man flinched and frowned, while the others couldn''t bear to look. The one on the bed was Kuma, a half-bear orc. He was the oldest and the strongest one of them all. He had brown ears and a massive build. Kuma was still suffering from injury since the last war a few weeks prior, which added to the injuries of the wars before that. Hoskle village was one of those villages that got attacked at least once a month. It could be against either humans or orcs but, fortunately, Hoskel had enough background to supply them with professionals to defend the village. Further, some other allied territories would occasionally send support because Hoskle served as a shield between the human and the orc territory. This also meant¡­ that a lot of citizens died every month. No, not just ''a lot'', as the deaths often came in hundreds. It was fortunate the decomposition of corpses outside the walls was fast, otherwise the smell of rotting corpses would stink for miles. And¡­ several territories often sold people they didn''t like to Hoskle to keep up with the population, so they never ran out¡­ of shields. Since they were won as spoils in a war ten years ago, this was all they knew what to do: to be shields. In that war, Hoskle''s enemy was an orc territory. This was a notorious neighbouring orc village that had taken down several human settlements and several nearby territories sent assistance to finally get rid of it. After a bloody war, the orc territory perished, and the orcs either died or fled deeper into orc region. They, little half-orcs, were taken in by Hoskle as spoils of war. Less than half managed to be kept in Hoskle, while the others were taken by other territories to sell. They could still remember the greedy faces of the humans as they looked at them. They had been so scared¡ªit was almost as scary as when they were in the Orc territory, threatened by bullies that they''d eat them someday. To be honest, they didn''t really feel too sad after becoming slaves in the human territory. Life wasn''t easy in the orc territory, especially for half-bloods. They had to forage for their own food as soon as they could crawl, they had to endure whatever nature threw at them with bare skin, and¡­ they were never welcome. Not to mention, because they were only half-orcs, it was impossible for them to get the rare orc-exclusive Skill of True Beast Taming. Obviously they were created on purpose, but when they were born they were looked at in disgust. Did the orcs think they''d look exactly like them, just with better brains? But then again, orcs were known to be stupid¡ªmaybe they really thought this way. In any case, from a young age, he and the others had to witness their mothers slowly lose their wills to live there, only their memories of how it was before keeping them alive. Their mothers told them of how much better life was in human territory. After all, even if everyone had the aether screen, orcs weren''t very smart to maximize them. This was when their mothers didn''t look at them in disgust, of course. Except for a few who had kind mothers, everyone else''s treated them like monsters. Unwelcomed by both parents and both clans, the half-orcs could only find solace in each other and themselves. They, innocent children, believed that life would not be worse, and they accepted human slavery without question. Since then, they have been willingly helping out on the front line. By ''helping out'', it meant being the vanguard. They were taught to fight for the territory, using their bodies as shields. After all, they had stronger skins. This didn''t matter because even in the orc territory, the vanguards have been expected to take in injuries, if not die, for the territory. After all, territories were their home and protection¡ªit was only right to protect it at whatever cost, even at the expense of their own lives. The half-orcs didn''t really question this ideology because, unlike their lives in the orc territory, they had enough to eat and a roof above their heads. This was something most uncivilized orcs could not provide because they couldn''t maximize the Lord token in their hands at all. Their lives were like this for years, except slowly their numbers dwindled, until one day another war occurred, a very different one from what they were used to. The original group of half-orcs in Hoskle, after a little over a decade, was now down to just the five of them. "Well, we just try to survive," Kuma sighed, as he stood up preparing to go to the battlefield. He took his wife Nana''s, hand, his large eyes hovering over his wife''s large stomach. "You take care of yourself and our cubs." S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Nana held back her tears, her long white ears shaking, and the injured Kuma tried very hard to comfort his pregnant wife. Baku looked at this scene in sadness, closing his eyes so he didn''t have to see anymore. Kuma shouldn''t have had to go to war, he thought, but they never had a choice. Maomao sighed and plucked her loose feathers, twirling them absentmindedly in her fingers. Maybe she could blind people with them¡­ What they didn''t expect was that the enemy in this war¡ªa human territory¡ª was strong, very strong. Although there was a limit on the levels of and quantity of fighters, this seemed to have been maximized by the enemy. Not too far into the war, the citizens of Hoskle realized this. After all, more and more people died helplessly, and there was no hope of winning at all. "Aren''t the nearby territories assisting us?" Several people asked, confused at what was happening. Although many people died in wars, they had never been so¡­ hopelessly crushed. After all, if the territory fell, another human territory would replace Hoskel as the shield. "I don''t know," another human slave cried in despair. Still, the slaves fought with whatever as they knew escaping meant something even worse than death. But they couldn''t handle the enemy in the end. It was a tragic fight, a massacre, and pretty much all of the vanguards perished that day. They didn''t know it yet but, apparently, the backer of their territory lost against the backer of the enemy¡­ in a bet. The deal was that the loser could not call on any rescue or assistance during the war. What their lord didn''t expect was that the other party would go all out in the war. Even those behind the walls were affected. By the time the war entered the territory, the only surviving vanguards continuously fighting were the half-orcs. It was just that the half-orcs might be much stronger than humans, but there were only a few of them. Most of them weren''t even fighter orcs. He was a weak fox, Nana was a pregnant rabbit, and Maomao was a little dove who could barely fly. It didn''t take long for them to succumb. Kuma sacrificed himself to save them, while Baku was disabled somewhere on the road to escape. They managed to run for a while, trying to escape with the citizens who didn''t want to become slaves. If a territory fell, it meant a certain amount of people inside would automatically become slaves for the winning territory. In the case of the slaves, even if they were outside the territory, they wouldn''t be able to escape at all. They would either remain slaves in Hoskle or become slaves of the winning territory. But¡­ they wanted to run anyway. It was as if they were hoping for a miracle that would never come. Gochi carried the two women as he ran, his whole body aching. However, they were easily found by guards of the winning territory and, as slaves, they could not do anything to fight back. They could only get hauled back obediently, following them to their territory. The winning territory, Sumar Village, made a lot of money by selling them off to different territories. Nana and Maomao were sold much earlier than he was, since they were women. He was especially worried for Nana, whose due date was very soon. Gochi sighed. He wondered where they are now¡­ ¡­ Present. "Hey! Focus!!" Gochi found himself a bit imbalanced as he was pushed back. He was startled when a firewall went ablaze in front of him all of a sudden. Another guard appeared with an iron sword and attacked the monster that had apparently targetted him, soon taking its life. Gochi gulped and calmed his heart, shaking his head to gather his wits. This was not the first time he was saved by them¡ªin stark contrast to being pushed forward as a meat shield. And he still couldn''t get used to it. Chapter 396 - 396: Companion He saw that the humans had resumed the fight and Gochi immediately shook his head of the distracting thoughts. It was shameful to be saved by the masters, and so many times! Immediately, he lunged and attacked a nearby monster. It was around his level, but he was unafraid. He raised his hand and his claws transformed, becoming lethally sharp. [Used Swipe (E)! -2 Mana] [Used Swipe (E)! -2 Mana] He jumped at an odd angle and used his tail to keep his balance. He landed smoothly on the monster''s nose¡ªshowing great control over his body. His hands moved fast as he continuously landed hit after hit. [Used Grab (E), -5 Mana] With a swift slash of his arm, he stabbed its eye to its brain. He then pulled it out, its brains dragged out of its head. [Killed! Orgoi (Lvl 13)! +370 Experience, +370 Copper!] If humans needed 5 trained men to deal with a beast of the same level, orcs could take on one on his own or even two. In terms of physical strength, half-orcs were a bit weaker than pureblood orcs but they had bigger brains, so they might not necessarily be weaker in battle. Heaving a deep breath, Gochi watched as the humans bravely stood against the mob, head-on. He watched as they killed off the monster without even looking at him for help. Before, when there were mobs, there was no lack of humans¡ªmostly nobles and rich citizens as they were ordered to save nobles during battle. In these cases, the nobles and rich humans often yelled for them to come and save them, even if it meant they had to let themselves get slashed on the way there. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, he noticed that while the Alterans often looked to his and the others'' direction, including his direction, it was not to ask for help. In contrast, their stares were inquisitive with traces of concern. It was as if to check¡­ if he was alright. He didn''t know how to absorb the changes so he simply did what he had done best: Fighting. He quickly ran to another monster, raising his arms up high, stabbing the monster at its weak spots. He did this over and over, killing as many as he could, hopefully as fast¡ªif not faster¡ªthan the others. He was determined to be impressive. They treated him more than just a meat shield, so he must show them that they weren''t wrong to do so. ¡­ The fight ended half an hour later, with them panting a bit due to the sheer number of the mob. "That was easily a hundred right?" Even Cassandra''s level 20 guards got tired. To be fair though, that was a mob with leaders over level 10. They might be so much weaker individually, but together they would really be able to take their lives if they weren''t careful. "That was a strong mob, I thought there should only be level 8s around?" Gill asked with furrowed eyebrows. "Well, while it''s rare, it''s not unheard off. It seems that some stronger monsters do occasionally go to the areas of weaker territories, usually if it is a new area as if to check it." The aborigine explained, "This is rare, usually monsters didn''t bother with weak aether." Gill and the others looked at each other worriedly, hoping no such mobs found Altera. Of course, Altera''s strong wall could defend it, but there might still be losses. They sighed, knowing what they could do was just get back and help. Before they proceeded, Gill went to Gochi to acknowledge his large contribution. He patted the man''s shoulders¡ªa few inches above his by the way¡ªand nodded coolly. "Good job." This made the half-orc flinch and look down in shyness. "...thank you, master." Gill shook his head. "I told you. We don''t keep slaves. Just companions," he said, and looking at the glazed look, his lips twitched upwards. "You''ll see." Gill didn''t say anymore and turned away, heading back to the front of the party to lead the movements. Gochi watched the leader''s back, still with the same dazed look. A companion? He had heard this several times now, but he couldn''t wrap his mind around it. It didn''t help that from the corner of his eyes, he could see the guards from Ferrol looking at them weirdly. He bent down his head by instinct. Indeed, that was how people looked at them, at best. This was already very kind. The looks he was used to receiving were either derision or disgust from common folk and perverted looks from the rich people who could afford to buy them. Anyway, the group traveled a few more hours, dealing with mobs that were, fortunately, weaker¡­ and sparser. "We hadn''t encountered a mob for almost an hour now," an aborigine said, and a nearby Alteran soldier answered with a shrug. "Altera probably cleaned up," Mao said, "Poor guys probably had to travel a bit to get mobs now." Cassandra''s guards just blinked and looked at each other. Mao didn''t bother explaining more, as he was already thinking of what food to buy at this time. The group walked further and eventually, they could see a massive wall not too far away. As they approached, the Aborigines couldn''t help but look at the five-meter wall in surprise. "I didn''t know there was such a big town he¡ª [Welcome to Altera Village! Please pay 5 copper coins as Visitors'' fee. [Temporary Residency: 3 silver and 100 Contribution Points. [Permanent Residency: 10 Gold and 1000 contribution points. [Please pay according to your needs. Please don''t forget to register in the Village Center for more information! [Do familiarize yourself with Altera Village''s Rules and Regulations below: ¡­] The Aborigines were shocked. So cheap! Even lower than the villages with level 1 walls! In contrast, the Alterans looked at each other with raised eyebrows. The prices for Residency costs had increased, and there were still contribution points required on both! Many people must''ve been regretting not buying residences as soon as possible! Good thing they registered as soon as they could! Hallelujah! Of course, the territory probably announced it before increasing prices, which meant that the residency probably also spiked in the past few days. This made sense. Altera was too good to charge so cheaply. Anyway, they didn''t change the prices of visitors pass, allowing the true poor to maintain decent living inside. This was the perfect compromise for everyone. ¡­ All newcomers couldn''t help but look at their surroundings in interest. The locals also turned to look at them, greeting the locals, while giving the others not-so-subtle stares. "Welcome back!" "Was the trip successful?" Someone grabbed Luis'' shoulders and gave supposedly subtle stares at the unfamiliar faces. "Is that them? The aborigines?!" Luis placed a hand over his face. "Stop blowing on my ear it''s disgusting! Also, everyone can hear you." "..." He awkwardly waved at the aborigines who were staring at him, "Hello~" The aborigines nodded, and some awkwardly followed his greeting and waved their hands. The man smiled at their cooperation. "Welcome to Altera! You''ll definitely love it here!" With his example, a lot of people surrounded the aborigines. They primarily asked how was their trips (the polite alternative to ''How strong are they?'' and ''Are they from afar?''), and the aborigines answered as they could. The guards and the maids couldn''t help but look at their bosses¡ªnobles who sometimes had a snobbish attitude¡ªbut fortunately, they didn''t seem offended. On the contrary, they seemed to be having fun. Veronica even took advantage and smiled at a man, making him enter a daze. "Do you know a handsome blonde named Brandon? He''s part of the Terran Mercenary Team." There was a second of silence before more and more people converged. They knew there was definitely tea here. "OHHH~" "Brandon''s got a love life!" "KYAAA~" The aborigines were a little surprised, especially the nobles, but they all felt the positive energy and just couldn''t help but chuckle with them. On the other side of the party, Gochi was also surrounded¡­ by children, and he had no idea what to make of it. "..." He looked at the people staring at him in curiosity. He was both intimidated and shy but not¡­ scared. It all felt very new. Although the soldiers were similar, such stares coming from weak humans felt different. As they traversed the avenue, the children loved to follow him around and touch his tail, unlike those children back in Hoskel who were either scared of them or threw stones and wood at them. Well, at least they could sell those resources in the village center... "Are you a dog?" "No, it''s a cat!" A little girl said. "Right, Horus?" "It''s a fox, Maya!" The boy said, "Look at his tail!" "Ooohhh! So cool!" Even the adults were whispering. "I hear he''s a half-orc." "...bestiality?" Someone asked, but he had a weird smile on his face (which promptly earned him a slap on the head). "You pervert!" A lot of girls couldn''t help but look at him dreamily. "He looks so fluffy¡­" They said, "He''s also handsome¡­" "Can I pat him?" No matter what they were talking about, he sensed no hostility. They were even warm and friendly, and it made him truly understand Gill''s words. ''We don''t have slaves, only companions.'' For the first time in a long time, Gochi finally smiled. Chapter 397 - 397: First Aborigine Visitors (Part 1) The Aborigines were extremely surprised about too many things. Just seeing just how they dealt with the half-orc was shocking, to be honest. Gill and the others being so friendly and not tying up the orc was already inconceivable to them¡ªespecially after finding out they didn''t register him as a slave¡ªbut now they saw little kids fearlessly approaching the half-orc as if it was an old friend. First of all, instinctive reactions generally didn''t lie, especially not from children. From their interactions with the Half-orc, they were genuinely only curious and friendly. It was far from what they knew about how such creatures interacted in human villages. Because orcs and half-orcs were so much stronger than humans, they were greatly feared in human territories. If they became slaves, then they were hated, abused, and revenged on for acts that had nothing to do with themselves. It was simply not in the aborigine''s concept to see a half-orc walking around leisurely around a human territory. The atmosphere in the territory was quite different, too. They could see these people''s temperaments were happy and even a bit carefree. It disoriented them who were used to gloomy atmospheres¡ªespecially in villages without backing. Gill and the others'' cheerfulness was understandable as they were strong and were Elementalists, but these people¡­ they had the level of children. How do they look so¡­ happy? "What kind of territory is this?" Veronica asked, and Cassandra smiled in response. "A curious one," she said, "To be able to produce so many novel things, their heads must be full of weird ideas as well." The two friends looked at each other in excitement. How long had it been since they''d seen something interesting? She turned her head to Gill, wondering if he could guide her around. The man naturally saw this and blushed a little, clearing his throat. "I promised my mother I''d go to her when I return." ''Can I meet her?'' she wanted to ask, but seeing that he didn''t offer, she kept her mouth shut. However, she did tentatively hold the side of his palm, which he didn''t pull away. The two of them just stared at each other for a while and Gill opened his mouth to say something. Cassandra''s purple eyes dilated and her heart lifted, waiting for his next words. However, almost immediately he retracted and gently shifted to turn away. "Well, I¡­ uh, I''ll go now," he said, turning to the other soldiers. "I''ll leave them to you," he said, scurrying off as if he was being chased. And he left like this, leaving poor Cassandra behind. Eagle sighed. Despite his caustic personality and playboy looks, he knew Gill was not really smooth with women. He was quite awkward and it was both pitiful and amusing to watch. Anyway, the man with aquiline features turned to the guests with a smile, "We have a travel agency here," he said, pointing in a direction. The aborigines followed his fingers to a small building abutting the wide main road. ''Did roads have to be so large?'' The aborigines thought. But¡­ it looked good and was comfortable to walk in, so they didn''t speak out. Also¡­, what unique buildings. They had never seen such a streetscape before. For one, such a combination of wood and stone was something they had never seen before. The structures looked both stable and light at the same time. The streets were framed by the uniform trees and plants that lined the avenues. There were shrubs and flowers located in equidistant spots, matching well with the colorful passage. The intricacies were fascinating. Eagle smiled and explained the function of the guides. "See that building at the intersection? The one with ''Glorious Hospitality'' written on it." He paused, making sure most knew what he was referring to. "They can give you the sort of guidance around the territory that you like. For a price, of course." On cue, several people emerged from the building, heading towards the entrance to greet them. "Welcome, Guests!!" There was a group of them, moving toward different people in their team. They came in a bit strongly that the guards were just about to put out their weapons in defense. Fortunately, the newcomers stopped about a meter away, just far enough for the Aborigines to feel comfortable. There were people who talked to the girls, the guards, and there was also a group that went straight to the half-orc (note: the animal lovers). "We have various tour packages!" They said to varying ''targets'', "Would you like the food tour, the garden tour, the luxury tour, or the Altera Grand tour?" The novel terms definitely piqued the guests'' interest. "What is the difference? How do we choose?" "Tell us what you want to see and we can help you~" One said and another nodded. "You can even choose more than one! It''s totally up to you!" sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A cute young lady walked forward and looked at them amicably. The two women stared at the girl who was definitely was no lady, but had the confidence that was so charming to see. "My name is Lulu, and I''m your guide today!" The two looked at each other before looking back at their guide, and introducing themselves. "Let me tell you a little something about the tours: "The Food Tour focuses on taking you to a culinary adventure of our village! We will take you to our various restaurants and food stalls¡ªguaranteed to give different tastes. "Even if our village is small¡ªI assure you: This place could bring your tastebuds to nine heavens!" "The Garden Tour focuses on the beauty of nature in our village. As you can see, our territory takes good priority with trees and plants. We will take you to explore meticulously manicured gardens, lush parks, and vibrant botanical gardens! This is perfect for those who just wish for a serene escape!" "The Luxury Tour, on the other hand, is tailored for those with especially discerning tastes. We will take you to the upper-tier facilities of our village¡ªguaranteed to bring novel experience, even if you are from a town!" "And, of course, there''s Altera Grand Tour, which comprises all of them~" "Wow, that is so interesting!" "It is, it is!" "Actually, there are still a lot of things still being erected, but we have a lot to offer even at this time!" At this, a lot of the guides slumped and looked at each other. "Too bad our hotel is still under construction." Another person sighed. "Would have been great to welcome our first Aborigine guests there. How awesome it would''ve been to greet our first Aborigine guests that way?" "Well, we''re already going fast enough, don''t be too choosy." "That''s true, that''s true." The person beside him also sighed, "Premium Inn is fine," he said, "At least it''s right next to the Master Cooke''s restaurant." "Hmm. Made sense." "Hotel?" Veronica asked, quite curious. "Restaurant?" A restaurant of Gill''s people, she knew, must be quite good. Even simple barbeque was heavenly, what more for properly-prepared food? They couldn''t help but recall Mao''s ''thinking-about-food-out-loud'' sessions. He was very very descriptive and their stomachs often grumbled after his soliloquy. "Yes, we have various restaurants to choose from. Some of them offer various themes, while some specialize in certain regions of our home countries. There are also restaurants that use mostly indigenous products! We have built a partnership with a few and you''re sure to love them!" "Hotels are a more exclusive accommodation for guests," Lulu answered, "It''s difficult to explain for now, but all facilities are upgraded. I''ll be glad to give you a tour when it''s done!" "Sure." Lulu smiled. Secured: Return Client! "So¡­ have you chosen your tour?" "Yes. We choose the Altera Grand Tour." The purple-haired woman said, "Can you tell us more about it?" "Of course, beautiful miss!" The guide smiled, making the other two women smile back, "It''s a tour combining all the packages and would last a couple of hours for three days. "Included in your package is your accommodation (Premium Inn), the lunch starting tomorrow and the next three days, and a guided tour with a personalized guide (me). "The charge is on a per-person basis at 20 gold!" This was, of course, the non-Terran rate. Must milk these rich aborigines well! Sure enough¡ª"It''s not that expensive." Cassandra mumbled and Veronica nodded. "Considering the inclusions¡­" "Please note that because the Territory is still in development and a lot of buildings are still under construction." "When we can offer more buildings, the fee is naturally more expensive." The two girls nodded in understanding. Indeed. No matter what, it was still a small village after all. How many places could it offer? Although they were curious, they both lived in good towns and had even experienced cities, their expectations for a village were not too high. At best, the place had great food and was very beautiful in a quaint way. And they would be proven wrong very, very, quickly. Chapter 398 - 398: First Aborigine Visitors (Part 2) While most of the Aborigine guests were left to explore the territory, the Terran Mercenary group went to their base villa with everyone. It was technically smaller than the property in Ferrol, but the details were much richer, the training area denser, and a lot more considerations were made. However, this was not immediately appreciated by the newly-arrived Aborigine members, primarily because they were still reeling at the sights they had seen before heading here. The minds of Pipa, Roana, and the others were still focused on the markets they saw on the way¡ªwhich was so attractive it felt like they were being called. It took them a lot of discipline not to separate from Eagle and the others. Their stomachs were churning the whole time and their own feet were gesturing to go to these shops without their knowledge! What the bosses said was true: What they had seen in Ferrol was not enough! Eagle was naturally aware of the ''tension'' these aborigines were feeling. But he thought it was better to tell them the plan before letting them go wild on their own. He met the antsy aborigines in the living room while everyone else went their own way¡ªsome to report to Garan, some to handle their sales, some to meet friends and family, while some to goof around in general. Whichever case it was, they were subject of envy by the aborigines withheld by Eagle. Eagle''s lips twitched upwards and began speaking. "I''ve arranged for you to learn from certain experts for a month, after signing a confidentiality contract, of course." He turned to the thin and pale seamstress Pipa, and then to Sasa, a curly-haired woman who specialized in making clothes. "You two will be assigned to help with Letty," he told them. "She is a system-stamped seamstress, and we hope you awaken an occupation under her." The word ''awakening'' naturally caught the two women''s minds and their eyes brightened. "Sir?!" Eagle just smiled as he turned to Koli, a large male tanner with only a handful of hair on his head. "You will be going to Sassy," he said, "Her occupation is not system-stamped, but she is definitely an expert. Who knows, right?" Although tanning was a more common practice here, Sassy knew a lot of intricacies that this guy could learn. Of course, they had to pay Baron''s team a set amount of gold for this. For the cooks, he turned to the dark-skinned chubby Roana and the ultra-tall cook with a strong metabolic rate, Yoyo. "You will be joining sister-in-law''s restaurant, under her person named Harold." The two nodded, eyes bright. Not only for the opportunity to learn, but the fact that they''d be doing it under Ms. Althea! They had heard of the ''sister-in-law'' the bosses admired so much. The Captain''s wife! How curious they were to see the only woman who could get close to their ice-cold captain. And also not be scared! Eagle paused and let them remember the instructions. They were naturally chosen because they were the best employees with the greatest potential. Further, they had enough social skills to teach the others back in Ferrol about the craft they had learned. (Of course, this was all after signing NDAs as well to protect Altera''s interests). "We are investing in you, in hopes that our Ferrol base would be sustainable enough not to fully depend on the main branch. "Am I clear?" "Yes!" Eagle''s stance softened then, and what he said next made the aborigines nearly jump in joy. "You may explore Altera on your own. I will endorse you to your trainers tomorrow. Meet me here tomorrow morning at sunrise." "YES!!!" Finally! ¡­ Inside the Gaea Team''s villa, a certain auburn-haired woman looked at the space in front of her with curious eyes. "Our first aboriginal guests¡­"Althea said as she looked at the population screen. They were now in their lounge area in her room. She had just woken up from a nap, and Garan¡ªafter arranging the day''s training regimen and tasks¡ªwas there to keep her company. She needed some sleep as she had been very focused on her experiments the past few days. They had already completed the first batch of rubber, and now she wanted to mass-produce wheels and shock absorbers to apply to more bikes, rickshaws, and possibly carriages. Things like gaskets, ball bearings, and rubber seals were essential for many machines. Although there would still be a lot of research, these would be used in various machinery like improved waterwheels, windmills, clocks, the printing press, crank mechanisms, improved looms, and even catapults and trebuchets. Especially crank mechanisms used for hand-crank generators, crank-in machines, windows, (eventually) music boxes, manual pumps, and sewing machines. There were also more ''everyday'' items like rubber boots and cloaks. One could see the importance of this, and she (along with Winona and the others) had been lacking a lot of sleep every night because of it. Garan wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her head, before tilting her head a little to give her a sound smooch on the face. She laughed, wiping the saliva off her face. She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, reciprocating, only Garan didn''t wipe it off¡ªhe licked it. "Delicious," he said and dipped down to take her lips. He lifted her up and threw her to the bed. He couldn''t bear to take her the previous night when she was so tired from studying, but now that she was better rested, however¡ª Garan climbed on top of her and dipped his head again, putting some of his weight on her so they could feel each other more intimately. Before they could go further, however, their sharp ears detected knocks on the main door. Garan cursed and Althea laughed, kissing him on the cheeks. Althea scooted away and went outside the door. At this time, only the two of them were in the house. The children were taken to ''work'' by their respective parents except for the twins, who were next door. The women from next door adored them and insisted on voluntary babysitting duty. Speaking of the babies, they were increasingly expressive now, much more than what should be expected for children a few months old. Little Pepper pouted a lot when attention wasn''t on her, her chubby cheeks appearing even chubbier. Little Meatball was showing more of his troublemaking ways. He often tried to get off his high chair. If everyone didn''t have heightened alertness, he''d have fallen down a handful of times already. "I''ll get it," she said and gestured to get up. Garan sighed, standing up to take the door with her. When he opened the door with a dark face, the other man outside naturally flinched. It was Eagle, shocked by his stare¡ªunderstanding he had just interrupted the captain''s ''very good thing''. But¡­ how was he supposed to know they would go at it while the sun was so high up the sky!? This totally wasn''t his fault, right?! He also took a moment to shake away the fear, and when he did he immediately went to report their gain. "You found milking animals?" Althea asked, eyes bright. "Yes, although I heard that the locals find it unhealthy," he said and explained what he had heard so far. Althea, like him, didn''t falter. She gave him an order instead. "Get Winona and the others to its contents. Determine the substance''s reaction to various items and temperatures." "Yes, Ms. Althea." He said, "May we request a grazing area for them as well?" Among the soldiers, both Gill and Eagle were privy to her being the lord. They therefore had the honor of directly requesting for resources. When they found out, the two almost worshipped Althea, but that was a story for some other time. Now, Althea nodded at their request. "I built a few level 1 farms to be used as grazing area, keeping a lot of the trees and berries where we can. She turned to Garan. "Rent it under your name." This was not just to ''disperse'' the wealth in the territory, but also so that the farms could be maximized and managed best. The Grazing farms of Altera were very kind to animals. The animals were allowed to grow free-range in the farms. Not only were they huge, there was also natural vegetation the animals could eat. They will definitely live happy lives before dying. This should make them more delicious when it was their time to be eaten.. Other than this, Althea also assigned one of the factories being constructed to a dairy factory. A dairy factory would soon be up, set to create all dairy products possible in their current situation. Eventually they would have cheese, butter, and others in their daily meals again. Of course, these would all take a bit longer, due to the massive amount of study and experimentation that had to be done. Not to mention, the machines needed to mass produce these end products had yet to be designed. Fortunately, Soy has also been harvested many times, and the first soy milk would be made available in the supermarket to make up for this need. Speaking of, there are plenty of new items lined up to be introduced in various shops like the grocery store and her beauty shop. She looked at the names of the aborigines with a smile. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You came just in time." Chapter 399 - 399: Before the Tour For some inexplicable reason, several aborigines felt a shiver run down their spine. They halted their steps somewhere on the inn stairs. They had just come from a wonderful meal in the Inn Canteen as they were too tired from their travels to go outside (they ate different flavors of noodles) and the premier restaurant next door was fully booked. Veronica rubbed her arms as she looked around, "I feel targeted." Cassandra nodded, but thought it was just the cold as she continued climbing up, seeing the hallways with large maneuvrable windows letting air inside. After all, the fresh breeze could enter the building and it was quite refreshing. "Hm, you''re right," Veronica said, following the other girl to their designated room. Cici and Vivi followed promptly, also looking around a bit. "Here''s your room," one of the so-called ''bellhops'' arrived and pointed certain doors. "These two rooms are the premier suite, for the two ladies." As noble ladies, they never shared rooms. "These two rooms are the family rooms. One for the lady servants, and the other for the guards." "Thank you," she said and Lulu, their guide, handed a few copper to the man. "Is that needed?" "No, but we like giving a few coppers for people''s service. It shows our appreciation." "I see," the aborigines nodded, duly noting the practice. Lulu saw that everyone was ready to settle in, she smiled and bid her farewell. "Well, we''ll meet here tomorrow mid-morning," she said, "See you tomorrow!" S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Wait, Lulu." It was Casandra. Lulu blinked and waited for her instructions but was instead greeted by shiny currency. Cassandra was a fast learner, and she was handing Lulu some copper. The younger girl immediately flinched, "Oh nonono, at least not until I finish my job!" "I insist¡­" Lulu''s lips twitched and knew it would be difficult to explain the subtleties. "Uhm¡­ I''ll take this as my advance tip. You don''t need to give me anymore!" They nodded and Lulu really said her good nights before scurrying away. Even if it was a bit confusing, everyone took note of this little culture before separating and heading to their own rooms. Cassandra''s room was one the best rooms in the inn, and she couldn''t help but admire the interiors a bit, using a few chairs here and there. The cushions were super soft, the textiles were smooth, and the designs were simple, but the colors were complementary and pleasing to the eyes. Even if it wasn''t gold-plated like those luxury rooms she had been in before, she actually liked this much better. What was a luxury when the person using it wasn''t as comfortable? She was just about to settle down when a knock came. She blinked, expecting it to be Veronica and almost lost her footing when she saw who it was. "Gill?" "Hi¡­" he mumbled, his face a little awkward. Cassandra just found it cute. But she didn''t appear too friendly. She crossed her arms and waited for him to speak. "I¡­ I''m sorry for running out on you like that." "You just realized this now?" Gill rubbed the back of his neck. "I''m¡­ not very good with emotions," he said, "Otherwise I wouldn''t snap at anyone so much." "Well, you''re right about that," she said, "I wonder how any woman dealt with you before." For some miracle, none of his people mentioned Juni in front of Cassandra. However, Gill also didn''t want to hide it from her. "Well, she left me," he said, "I was never there for her, she said." Cassandra was not surprised he had a lover before. After all, in Xeno, many men had many lovers before and after marriage. She was just¡­ uncomfortable, as any woman would be. "Oh?" She asked, trying to appear cool. "And¡­? Why are you saying this now?" Did he want to warn her of what to expect? Because she really didn''t like it. Gill shook his head. "I wanted you to know¡­ that I don''t want to make the same mistake again." He looked at her, so beautiful, so fiery, and definitely deserving of much more than what he was giving her so far. He couldn''t help but step forward, "Let''s talk about that some other time¡­" he said, leaning forward. "I''ve been wanting to do this for a while." ¡­ The next day. "Ah~ I had such a wonderful sleep. I wonder what that hotel would be like¡­" Veronica asked, curious. That would be their ''luxury'' accommodation. A beauty-loving girl like her really wanted to see it. "I heard it''ll open in about a month," Cassandra answered her, a little bit absent-mindedly. "They''re using a different construction method so it took some time." Veronica stared at her friend, impressed. "You got all that in one night? Where? At the inn restaurant?" The tour will start well after breakfast. At her question, Cassandra blushed and unconsciously twirled her beautiful purple hair. Could she say Gill visited a bit last night? Then she recalled the wonderful goodnight kiss that took away her soul. Kyaa! Cassandra covered her face in shyness. Fortunately, Veronica was too busy daydreaming to notice her friend''s eccentricity. If she did, she wouldn''t hear an end to the pink-haired girl''s nagging¡ªwho was still bitter because Brandon was not in the territory at this time. Apparently, the blonde was clearing up paths to another territory nearby with some guards he was training. Unfair!! "I want to go to the noodle shop today!" The pink-haired girl said. They were so tired last night they only went to the inn canteen. Now, they could folly about as they want. The tour didn''t start for a couple of hours, anyway. The two girls arrived at a noodle store, though not without buying several finger foods from different stores along the way. They bought something called French Fries, Gugu Bird Tea Eggs, Hash Brown, Friend Vegetables, and the like. By the time they got back to the inn, where their guide was set to pick them up, they were still bloated. The two women felt embarrassed. The tour hadn''t even started yet! Chapter 400 - 400: Start of the Tour Two people from the Guide company were waiting in the lobby when they arrived. First was an orange-haired man with curly hair and then there was Lulu approached them with a smile. The man was slightly below average height. The Aborigines were just a few inches taller than average, so a relatively tall woman like Cassandra was physically looking down at him. "Hello, Guests!" The man said, "My name is Fred, the owner of our travel agency. You already know Lulu, your personal guide. "I hope you rested well," he said with a friendly smile, "Your personal tour is a relaxed tour to some of the basic accessible facilities and offerings of the territory. It will consist of a food tour, a shopping tour, and a leisure tour. "We will not only guide you to the right places, we will also tell you a lot about these areas. "If you have any questions, just ask Lulu and she''ll do her best to assist you." He then excused himself and gave them the standard salute he learned from the NPCs. Lulu smiled and gestured for them to go out. "The lunch later would be on the premier restaurant. But seeing that you''re still full, we will move it to later. Anyway, the queue will also be shorter." The trio then walked outside, with Lulu chattering about. Because Lulu could sense the aborigines were tired from the long travel, she didn''t talk too much. Now that they''ve rested, her natural gregariousness exploded. Especially¡­ her first Aborigine guest!! And Lulu was really fascinated by their colors. So unique! "So where are the two pretty ladies from? Your hair is sooo pretty, I haven''t seen anything like it! How is the experience so far??" The two looked at the energetic woman chirping. It seemed they had never seen a girl so talkative. And what was this? Her job? She gets paid for speaking? However, even with all the questions, they didn''t dislike it. Veronica smiled and pushed her pink hair behind her ears. "Well, I''m from Hubble town a couple days from here by beast car." Lulu sparked. A town! "Yes, I have seen those!" Lulu said, referring to their mode of transportation. To handle these carriages, the territory set a Beast Car parking near both gates. Besides these open spaces, the territory built the original modules which had a dormitory-type setting for the drivers and beast carers. The drivers could comfortably stay here for 10 coppers a day, and the cars could park for 5 silver a day, food not included. To guests, this was very affordable and convenient. "I''m from Jeronia Town." Cassandra smiled and Lulu brightened again. Another town! "These are Cicy and Vivi, mine and Veronica''s maids respectively. We are really loving this place so far, I can see myself staying for a while." Lulu was really excited to deal with Aborigines, especially ones from towns! It would help her gauge better the market in this world, and maybe they''d make even more of a killing! "Hello, nice to meet you! And glad to hear that!" Lulu said, super friendly. "You will love living here, I guarantee it!" She¡ªalong with others¡ªdared to guarantee because everyone knew Oslo came from the city, and he loved it here. It gave them confidence that even in this new world, even if compared to the better territories they could offer, their Altera Village triumphed! Anyway, the tour soon began, and Lulu''s talent for talking shone. They started out with the shopping trip, and they were now heading towards the Market Street they passed by before. "First we start the shopping tour, introducing some of the places caravans would frequent." The two nodded excitedly. Except for a few essentials, they had basically emptied out her space in the inn to make room. While doing such an inconvenient thing, Cassandra mumbled more than a few times that she should''ve borrowed her mother''s space stone! Veronica scoffed at the time. "No matter how favoured you are¡ªwhich you aren''t, by the way¡ªthat thing cost a good tenth of her fortune back then, right?" Though Cassandra''s mother had earned it back, much of that was due to the space stone investment in the first place. This showed that the space stone would definitely never leave the lady''s hands. "Stop dreaming!" Veronica said, making Cassandra roll her eyes. Of course she knew. It was a figure of speech, okay? Anyway, the group walked along the wide sidewalk, admiring the equidistant trees with benches underneath. It not only provided a comfortable cover from the sun, some people used them as resting areas as well. It was all quite cozy. She could even see people with bolts of blood lounging about, obviously coming from the outside to hunt or train early in the day. How nice it was to fight outside, knowing that you would return back to such a home¡­ Cassandra even saw a couple, still in armor, sitting on one of the benches. They were snacking and feeding each other, with the woman blushing but feeding the man anyway. "I did really good out there, right?" The man asked and the woman nodded, "Yes, the weapons are a success, and you were very manly." "Hehe." Anyway, the two were sickeningly sweet. The girls felt envious. The woman even had a scar on her face, but the man looked at her so lovingly. Cassandra, in particular, was especially hit. She recalled how Gill only showed public affection when Oslo was there. He had always kept a distance other times, showing sweetness only when there was only the two of them. Because public displays was frowned upon when she grew up, she didn''t think much of it at first. But now she knew in this place, Altera, it was quite different, and there were plenty of couples who could show affection even in public. She couldn''t help but feel a little greedy. She looked at the couple again with wistful eyes. She wondered if she''d ever get that. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 401 - 401: Altera Grand Tour They went past the couple and saw a few more couples, families, and friends roaming around¡ªthough many of whom were filled with monster blood¡ªand frankly they didn''t know what to feel. "I thought people were working?" One asked, referring to those who obviously didn''t hunt but are playing. "It''s the weekend! Most people are off this day." "What?" Lulu knew the concept of work hours the Aborigines had on their own. "Well, we are only required to work a certain amount of hours every day and have 1 to 2 days off every week. Of course, we are expected to strengthen ourselves to some degree during this time." "That''s¡­ interesting. Aren''t the owners disgruntled by this rule?" "Oh no. Studies show people are more productive when they get enough rest!" The aborigines looked at each other, unsure of what to make of things. A lot of things weren''t easy to absorb, in fact, so they decided to just go with the flow. As they walked, they noticed that the largest path was mostly empty except for a few people on the sides. There was an obvious delineated pathway with the main road luxuriously being all red stone and was separated by a line of shrubs and trees. The sidewalk was too crowded in comparison to this much larger avenue.. "Why don''t they use that road?" "The sidewalks are usually wide enough. Although we don''t have cars yet, it''s a habit of our people to stay out of it. Of course, while there are no cars yet they can use it." "Cars?" "Uhhhh, carriages." "Oh¡­" Lulu smiled and then pointed in a direction, "Look, it''s being used right now." The aborigines followed where she pointed and saw a group of fast-approaching dots. As they came closer, they soon realized that it was people on those riding contraptions Oslo used when they saw him. The aborigines watched aptly as they passed by and until they disappeared from view. They were going incredibly fast and unhindered, which made the large roads really convenient to ride. "That looks fun¡­" "Hmn." The roads were wide and smooth so the ride was also very fast. It seemed¡­ enjoyable. Lulu couldn''t help but feel smug at their reactions. "They''re called bicycles! They actually have their own lane, which they would have to use if more cars are introduced in the future. "We don''t know if cars will ever be developed though, so bikes will be occupying the roads for now." The bikes were literally just launched that morning (Althea rushed a bit to show off to the Aborigines), and suffice to say it was all sold out even before the morning ended. Eugene and Althea made quite a bit of gold within a few hours¡­ "That looks fun¡­ where can we get one?" Veronica said. In retrospect, she should''ve borrowed it when they encountered Oslo earlier, but she felt shy since all the Alteran soldiers seemed to want a turn themselves. "They can be rented at specific areas in the territory, though only a set number is available, I can''t guarantee you''ll be able to reserve one immediately. The raw materials are still limited, after all." Last night, the guides had a fast-tracked guide on how the whole bike lanes and rentals were going to work out. They happened to all love the bikes and absorbed the rules and regulations very well in that short amount of time. "I can show you where to rent when the tour is over." The two nodded blankly, eyes glued at where they saw the so-called bikes. Soon, they reached a pedestrian-only street. How did they know? That''s because there was a large sign with people and letters saying so. Underneath the text, they could recognize some other weird characters. It was a different language, which they assumed to be the language of their hometown. Cassandra and Veronica were very curious about the place ''their men'' came from, a pity it seemed to have been destroyed. They were also curious about how they got here. They had heard of a few cases of civilizations appearing on the continent, though she wasn''t privy to more information. She didn''t care at the time. After all, she didn''t even know whether she''d encounter the ''aliens'' in her lifetime¡ªlet alone actually fall in love with one. The lively noise pulled her back from her daze. She looked around to see the bustling streets filled with people and smiles. This street, apparently called Market Street, was more intimate and fun than the extremely wide main avenues. Their eyes couldn''t help but be attracted by the shop in the intersection though. It was covered and under construction. "This is Ms. Althea''s store. She''ll be selling some specialty products, I think." "Ms. Althea?" "She''s the Elder for Plant research and the only pharmacist so far!" "Pharmacist!!" The two women exclaimed. An incredibly rare job! Even Cassandra who lived in a high-level town had only interacted with one all these years. And¡­ it was a woman? "When will it be open?" Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh, actually she already has a pharmacy where you can buy her potions." The two women couldn''t help but recall those potions the Terran Mercenary team used. Could it be from there? "Wait¡­ Eagle said the potions are from their sister-in-law." "Does your Ms. Althea have a husband?" "Yes! Also, an incredibly handsome man, who I reluctantly acknowledge as more handsome than my idol." The two nodded in interest. "Then, if she has a pharmacy, what''s she selling in this prime spot?" "I hear she''s selling beauty products!" She said, excited for the shop herself. "Beauty products?" "Ms. Althea was famous for her WittBeauty products back home." She paused realising the aborigines didn''t know about the famous brand at all. "They''re creams, solutions, etc. That could help smoothen skin, fix blemishes, make people more beautiful in general¡ª Lulu flinched when the two girls abruptly entered her personal space with bright eyes. "When will it open?" "I-It should be¡­ in a few¡­ days? I''m not sure¡ª" "Good enough!" The two girls said, beauty products by a pharmacist?! Unheard of! Must buy! After all, women didn''t have much status in this world¡ªthey didn''t have as much power or as much money. There were not many noble women for pharmacists to really consider this market. There was much more money catering to men and things they needed for wars. Pharmacists were also all men. How would they care about women''s needs? But here¡ª Anyway, with high hearts, they eventually moved on further into the market street. Most stores along the main avenue were food-related, mostly having to do with the raw materials for food being more widely available first than the bolts of cloth, so the market there boomed much earlier. Hence, by coincidence, most of the clothing and article stores were concentrated along the market street. It was an unintended, but convenient, zoning. As the party strolled down the street, the air was filled with the scent of freshly tanned leather and the rustling sounds of fabric. The two girls looked fascinatedly at the stores and found several stores of clothing that interested them. Their guards and servants couldn''t help staring as well. The shops were adorned with various textiles and intricate leather products. There were different types. There was so-called linen cloth, the rougher and cheaper hemp cloth, and then there was the soft comfy cotton. There were similar shops selling end products. Some were all-around, but most focused on a certain thing for efficiency. For example, there were shops focusing on simple dresses, there were some selling pants and other lower body apparel, there was some selling exclusively ''cotton shirts'', and the like. There were also different styles of bags, shoes, and other accessories. There were so-called handbags and pretty boots with appearances they hadn''t encountered, but objectively looked pretty! For example, there was what they called the body bag which was something to go over either shoulders, either directly dropping vertically or across the chest. It was small and could hold their necessities that couldn''t fit in the space anymore, while looking nice at the same time. This was just one among the many ''styles'' introduced to them for the first time. They were novel but comfortable and beautiful! It would be better if they had some defensive properties, but pretty ones with good properties were rare anyway and even they don''t wear it much. There were no shiny gems, but in the eyes of the two women, the products were shining. "These prices are three times less for locals," Lulu couldn''t help but say. But the two women, even the servants, thought the ''three times more expensive'' prices were not expensive at all! Even those non-attributed clothes and plain accessories cost much more in their hometown! Trollhair, even the handkerchiefs there were more expensive than a proper shirt here! Anyway, all these are so beautiful and so affordable. How many could they buy with a bit of money, they really really want to see! The aborigines¡ªespecially the two girls¡ªwere extremely bright. Shopping attribute: Activated! Chapter 402 - 402: Encounters (Part 1) Altera Village. The servants went several rounds back to the inn to deposit the things they bought. It got to the point that an entire corner of both rooms was filled with wooden boxes and paper bags (very convenient packaging by the way). The servants wiped their sweat and they looked at the pile, and then to the masters who didn''t seem to be halfway done yet. There was no way, the ladies wanted to buy so many things. (In fact, the guards and maids also wanted to buy more, but they only dared occupy their own magic spaces, which were also nearly filled up as well). "If we continue, the carriage won''t fit the actual target products anymore!" Cassandra said with a frown, crossing her arms. She was glaring at the carriage pile as if it was the carriage''s fault that it all couldn''t fit. Veronica was the same. As someone who especially liked beauty, she bought tons of dresses and shoes. She had already bought several dresses. They were so pretty and unique and easy to wear. She only needed to add her jewelry and she could even wear a few in semi-formal events. She particularly liked the one she bought last. It was very special and there was only one copy of the dress. The person who made the name was Andrei and he was so wonderful that she wanted to kidnap him back! She got Vivi to show it to her again and the fabric draped on her arm, ready for admiration. Although the fabric was nothing special, it felt comfortable, adorned with delicate lacework with thread so fine they didn''t seem real. Her hand traced the gown''s silhouette, admiring the precision of cut and the elegance of its design. The neckline plunged gracefully, exposing a bit of her shoulders, its sleeves billowing like dreamy clouds. It showed a little more skin than usual, but it was nothing too unusual but infinitely gorgeous! Women of her stature had slightly more leniency in what to wear than commoner women and she was determined to maximize it! There were also different types of shoes, boots, heels, doll shoes, etc. so beautiful! "Well, it''s not like you can''t return. I assure you the shops would still be here, with more." Lulu said, forcing a smile. She liked shopping too, but this was too much!! Finally dragging the two women out of the shops¡ªnot forgetting to glare at the playful salespeople who were bright from their imminent commissions¡ªthey finally head to the actual destination in the itinerary: The Supermarket. Due to all that shopping, it took them over 2 hours to get here¡­ Fortunately, the line wasn''t too long and they managed to get inside after a few minutes. All this time, naturally, their group garnered a lot of attention. After all, aborigines were much taller than the locals, not to mention the were two tall beautiful women with unusual hair color, and of obvious good background which separated them from the rest. The locals were overtly friendly with Pipa, Gochi, and the others primarily because they were part of the Terran Mercenary team, which meant they automatically garnered the ''local'' status. Aborigine noble visitors, however, were a totally different thing. They were still very curious though and it was mostly because of their upbringing that no Alteran had approached and asked about the violet and pink hair color yet. As they headed inside, they came across an older woman who had obviously just finished shopping. She was a woman with clear streaks of white hair, who stood with grace and confidence, not inferior to her noble-born mother. "Elder!" Lulu exclaimed with reverence. The woman paused her steps and looked at her, and then to the aborigines. She nodded at them politely before returning her attention to Lulu. "I see you have your first guests today." "Yes! I''m having fun and learning a lot." The older woman laughed, "Well, that''s good." She said, "Well, I have to go now. I am having lunch with my son." "Well, enjoy your lunch!" "Thank you," she said, before shifting her gaze to the two women who flinched a little. She smiled, "I hope you enjoy your stay." Cassandra''s eyes met hers and the atmosphere stagnated for a moment. "A-Ah, thank you, Elder," the girls said and the older woman smiled and walked away. Cassandra and Veronica watched the woman slowly go farther away from them. "Who is that?" "That''s Mathilda. She''s the Elder for Interpersonal Affairs." "An elder?" Veronica voiced out, meeting Cassandra''s wide eyes. To be honest, when the woman was called Elder, they just thought she was being polite. They actually hired another woman for such an important position. They could somehow understand the case of that Ms. Althea, as she was a pharmacist, and her husband was said to be relatively strong among the villagers. What about this old woman? "Yes, she''s a famous politician back in our home." Lulu also rattled about how awesome the old woman''s skills were, but she fortunately managed to stop oversharing in the nick of time. "The amazing thing is that her son found her! Still a very good soldier. He is also very handsome, almost as handsome as my idol." Lulu said dreamily, thinking of Fable. The arrival of the Terran Mercenary Team was such a blessing to the territory. Not just because the overall strength of Altera rose up by a ton, the eye candy level did as well! sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Little happiness to make one''s day~ "Oh?" Veronica naturally perked up at this. Although she loved Brandon, she was still the type to look outside a lot. Just look, of course, never touch. "Yes~ he''s handsome, like a vampire, though he has a poisonous tongue. I heard he made a lot of women and men cry the few days he was actually here. "Ah! He is Ms. Althea''s husband''s right-hand man." At this point, several puzzle pieces came to play. The two women blinked and looked at each other in surprise, before confirming their supposition with their guide. "Could Ms. Althea''s husband be named Garan? "Oh yes, you know him? Oh.. he''s very handsome. The handsomest man, but also very scary when the Miss isn''t around." Lulu cringed at a memory, and it naturally piqued the women''s gossipy natures. Or rather, Veronica''s, because Cassandra seemed preoccupied in thought. "Oh?" Veronica mumbled and manifested a silver. "Tell us more." Lulu''s eyes brightened. It wasn''t a secret anyway. Besides, the more people knew, the better. She cleared her throat. "A few days ago, I had the pleasure of witnessing one brave soul trying to fall down on Sir Garan when they were making rounds." This ''brave soul'' was a showy woman she knew to be named Ramona, because she really flirted a lot. She also broke a friend''s heart. It was crazy. She definitely ran after her friend, but after a new rich guy from Belluga moved in, she dumped him in the blink of an eye. Anyway, Ramona somehow found her way in the soldiers'' path, shakily walking as if weak, and then falling down. The man avoided very handsomely and walked forward like nothing happened, with the soldiers following stepping over her like she was a piece of stone. "WAIT!" Ignored. "How could you just leave me like this?!" Ignored again. "The woman''s eyes and face turned visibly red in shame and anger. When Master Garan was several meters away, the woman snapped, screaming." Lulu then proceeded on acting out the part, and quite passionately too. "Don''t be arrogant! You don''t know! How many men has your wife captured when you''re not here, don''t you even know? She yelled." Lulu''s face morphed to one of cuteness again, rounded eyes looking at them. "This made Master Garan''s feet pause and he turned in her direction. With uniformed steps, the dashing soldier walked over to Ramona. Seeing his approach, Ramona straightened her spine, thinking he would speak to her." It was just that he put on leather gloves on his hand as he walked over and he grabbed her neck, easily lifting her up. "''Speak one more word ill of my wife and I will kick you out.'' He said," with Lulu lowering the timbre of her voice, and Veronica just found it cute. "His voice was low, velvety, and incredibly menacing, and dropped the woman to the ground with a flop." Then, Lulu cackled. "The woman peed in fear." Veronica gaped at the story, cringing at her own experiences, and looked at her friend, who was preoccupied with staring at a direction. The violet-haired woman then turned back to them. Or to their guide, to be precise. "Then what''s the name of the lady''s son?" She asked, looking a bit absent-minded. Lulu blinked and answered her question. "I think his name was Gill." Cassandra immediately whipped her head to the direction the older woman was heading. Seeing she was no longer in sight, she sighed in regret. She missed the opportunity to introduce herself. She pursed her lips, a little depressed. That was Gill''s mother! What a missed opportunity! Chapter 403 - 403: Encounters (Part 2) For a while, Cassandra was a bit depressed from regret, while Veronica was cringing from the Garan horror story. It was as if, if she was just a bit more entitled, she''d probably have been like that. It had to be said that few Xenoan women actually got spoiled to brattiness because the status of women was low. Veronica couldn''t help but imagine herself as the woman in the story¡ª Cringe. Thank goodness for her angel. Where is that bastard, anyway? Anyway, the two girls were quickly pulled back to the present as more and more people walked past them and took a wheeled contraption by the entrance. "Those are shopping carts," Lulu explained as soon as she noticed their souls finally returning. "People put things they wanted to buy there." Fascinated, the two''s curiosity dampened their depression, and very soon the two once again shopped freely. The prices here were even cheaper than what they got in Ferrol, and with larger varieties! Even containers were bought in excess. There was a new section selling decorative earthenware. Earthenware and baskets were not a new thing, but the artwork for them was not. They also bought so-called ''paper bags''. Who on earth used papyrus to carry items? Apparently, a village did! A lot of them were even so colorful and pretty! "This is new," Lulu said, with similar fascination. "I guess they finally figured out several pigments of paint. Our research team sure is amazing." "Research team?" Veronica voiced out looking at the painting on the vase in fascination. It was an image of a famous park in Terran, which Lulu later explained. "Yes, a lot of our products came from them. It''s led by Ms. Althea and Eugene. Err¡­ Elders Althea and Elder Eugene." Cassandra looked at her friend. She knew before setting her sights on Brandon, this girl had a huge crush on Garan. "You didn''t lose in vain." "I''m after Brandon, okay?" Veronica said, crossing her eyes. But inside she was really impressed and a tad in disbelief. The life of this glorious territory¡­, seems to be in the hands of women? To be honest, they¡­ couldn''t help but feel a bit disoriented. And not in a bad way. ¡­ The group decided to eat lunch at the market today, opting to try out various small snacks in lieu of big meals at restaurants. The premier restaurant was moved to dinner time. "The next and final stop before dinner is the luxury area," Lulu said, then remembered something. "Actually, you can also have dinner inside the Bathhouse. I heard there was an additional feature, just added a few days ago." The two noble women liked the sound of it, even the servants and guards who were trained to be apathetic looked visibly brighter. They went towards the luxury area, passing over the gardens. There were arches and beautiful flower arrangements, topiaries, resting areas, etc. There was also canopy archways that were fascinating to walk under. They had seen grander gardens in big territories, but it was nowhere near as intimate and relaxing as this one. They looked around and saw several couples having dates, having picnics, and holding hands. It was very romantic. Should they invite Gill and Brandon here? It was around this time that the girls caught sight of an unusual couple. Unusual because the girl had the familiar tall statute and the man was a few inches shorter. Cassandra also remembered seeing them before, they seemed to have just finished hunting outside at the time. They were clean now so they didn''t recognize them immediately. They were also wearing nicer clothing with the girl wearing a cute sundress and the boy the so-called jeans and colored shirt. They were swaying their entwined hands as they walked, smiling widely at each other. Lulu saw what they were looking at and smiled. "That''s Brenda, one of our first NPCs¡ªerrr, I mean, hired individuals. "The guy is Troy, a weapons ''specialist''. He is also my cousin." "Oh.." "They''re¡­ very lovely." Lulu giggled, "Yes, they''re soulmates." Soulmates, eh? What a romantic term¡­ Anyway, the women continued to leisurely walk along the beautiful path, just relaxing, temporarily forgetting about their worries. They didn''t know what Elvendell looked like when it still existed, but it shouldn''t be too different from this. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Passing through the gates and another garden, they soon arrived at the luxury building: The Bathhouse. It was a beautiful building surrounded by lush pathways and gardens. "A village actually bought a luxury building," Veronica mumbled, impressed. When they heard Bathhouse, a part of them thought they just used the name and developed on themselves. After all, they were lucky and had a river nearby. It wasn''t the first time a river or lake-based territory used the same gig. "It actually had an excess slot for it," Cassandra added. And they could also note that there was also a lot of customization done in this one. Generally, one of the possibilities why territories could afford bathhouses was because they had a strong backing. This meant that the basic needs from essential buildings had other sources. For instance, Astoria City was a tourist city near the sea. They took advantage of the great location and integrated the water sources. They used boats as main transportation, had a number of unique technologies related to water, and they also had bathhouses larger than the highest level aether bath houses by the system. This naturally attracted hordes of tourists¡ªfrom nearby towns, villages, and cities from far away¡ªmaking it one of the richest cities, ever. Because of this, Astoria City became one of the leading cities next to Holt City and Wrathforge City. it was even superior to Oslo''s hometown: Bluelle City, the land of aether blueprints. The other only reason a village could get a bath house was that they were extremely stupid, exchanging the important building slots for luxury construction rather than those with practicality. It was usually this reason as most villages didn''t have rich cities as backing but, in Altera''s case, they highly doubted it. A territory that had such a superior set-up would naturally fall for that trap. "Let''s go?" Lulu asked, and the aborigines nodded and they headed towards the special building. The approach to the building was so beautiful, and Cassandra and the others couldn''t help but admire it. The building itself gave off a relaxed feel, and focused on breadth rather than height. It also had verandas, ponds, flowers, and crawling vines, and colorful trees surrounding it, framing its goodness, and people felt like they were in the entrance towards Fairyland as they headed toward the door. The building opened up with a wall-less vestibule, lined up with potted plants and a small fountain. The flooring was also flowing, not straight, lined up with pebbles and sand and wood. They have never seen such an arrangement before. [Entering the Bathhouse. Please pay the entrance fee of 10 silver, valid for 3 hours. A fee of 5 silver for every hour extension shall be charged.] "In fact, it is much more affordable with contribution points," Lulu added as they entered. They only had to pay 10 contribution points and 1 silver per hour. The girls nodded, but their eyes never left the surrounding sights at all. The interior of the bathhouse was similar to the one they''d been to, but the furniture was a bit prettier and intricate, there were also displays that attracted the eyes. In the center of the interior was a large tree¡ªa bonsai, they called it¡ª and behind it was an intricately designed counter with doors on each side, which would lead to areas for either sexes. The company got a few curious looks but, otherwise, no one cared about them. Most people who used the bathhouse were either rich or strong, and they had more pride than others. "Good afternoon, guests! Welcome to Altera Spa and Bathhouse~ Please choose a package you wish to have." Apparently, the entrance fee was only the entrance fee, no wonder it was so cheap. They looked at the so-called menu and saw there were three packages. One was Bath Only for 10 silver, valid for three hours. The other was with something called a Spa, with various ''packages'', ranging from 20-30 silver. The most expensive one had one meal included with everything else, at 50 silvers. Any extension was charged per hour, automatically deducted in their wallets. The two girls naturally chose the most expensive one. As for the servants, they allowed them to do what they wanted. Anyway, their salaries would allow them to spend a few hours here without batting an eye. This place was really novel and they would definitely explore their hearts out. And whatever ''Spa'' was, they felt it was a good thing. As they were finalizing their package, they saw the receptionist brighten at someone who just arrived. Curiously, they turned to see that it was a newcomer. She was an incredibly beautiful and shapely woman. She entered with a smile, oozing with confidence and seductiveness. She had flowing light-brown hair, white skin, and auburn eyes. She was also quite tall compared to the other locals, almost as tall as the Aborigine noble ladies like themselves. Anyway, the receptionist smiled and greeted the newcomer. "Miss Juni! We''ve been waiting for you~" Chapter 404 - 404: Spa "Miss Juni!" The receptionist greeted with admiring eyes, "We''ve been waiting for you~" The woman chuckled¡ªeffortlessly charming¡ªat the cuteness of the receptionist. "Of course, I wouldn''t miss my weekly sessions here for the world," the beautiful woman said, just as her auburn eyes turned to the other two eye-catching women in front of the counter. She heard that there were beautiful colorful aborigines that arrived with Gill''s party. Juni was quite curious about that other side of the world. "Hello," she said with a smile, "You must be the new visitors." The two nodded, looking at the slightly smaller woman. "Hello, yes, we have just arrived yesterday." The woman looked at them warmly, "My name is Juni, and I often come here, would you like me to guide you?" She had seen Lulu relaxing in the lobby area and knew guided tours would just wait for them outside. The women were a little surprised, but they had seen how welcoming the people here were, so they quickly adjusted. "Yes, that would be nice, thank you." The three women smiled at each other (blinding everyone around, thinking they entered heaven) before taking their specific token. They were handed some sort of wooden bracelet of the same color (as Juni chose the same package as they did), and Juni led them to enter the reddish (note: pinkish shade) arch on the right. As they walked, beauty-loving Vanessa couldn''t help but admire the token. It was intricately designed and she knew other packages had different appearances and it made her want to see all of them to see the differences. Juni saw this and kindly explained. "These are indicators of areas you can access," she said, "Attendants are trained to see them at a glance, especially if they are fake." "Someone had done this before?" "Oh no, not yet. I imagine it would happen eventually though," she said, imagining someone purchasing the most basic package and taking out a fake upgrade in between. Their Terrans could be ingenious, but they sometimes use it for some scandalous things. However, the people behind the bathhouse had foresight and would definitely minimize such loopholes. Anyway, they soon reached the carved door and entered. "This is the locker and changing rooms," Juni said, motioning for them to enter. It was an elongated room with cabinets on both sides. There were three layers of cabinets, with the highest just comfortable enough for an average-height woman to reach. "Welcome!" An attendant greeted them with a smile. She was wearing a green uniform, a two-piece set with a fitted skirt. In every room, there was one attendant wearing a different colored uniform from the staff in front. The attendant here guided them to their designated lockers and handed them some soft cloth they now knew to be called Cotton towels. There was no such feature in the bathhouses they had been to. After all, everyone had a space, and they simply took off their clothing and took a dip in the pools. This was probably an option for those who didn''t bring toiletries in their spaces, or didn''t have the space to do so. Of course, the lockers were completely optional and were given in case they brought or were wearing a lot of things that wouldn''t fit in the space anymore. The women happened to not have such things in their space, as that was in their maid''s space. The maids had not yet arrived and they didn''t want to wait for them, also to give them space to relax without having to care for their masters. Anyway, it was just right for them to use everything the place had to offer for a full experience. The three women took off their clothing and wore the comfy bathrobe, passing by a long corridor with an oddly placed standing place that extended the entire wall of that hallway. Veronica couldn''t help but step into the space, approximating it to be a yard in depth. "What is this area for?" She asked. The hallway was definitely wide enough for two-way foot traffic. Juni recalled the usual layout of spas back in Terran. "I suppose when mirrors are available, they would also place some here." "Mirrors?" "A surface that reflects you, like water." "Hmm, like the copper mirrors that we have." "Oh, yes." Juni was familiar with that they were probably talking about those metallic reflective surfaces that were full of imperfections and gave unclear reflections. However, Juni didn''t know much about the technicalities so she didn''t explain the difference of what she was referring to. "Well, you''ll see when it''s out," she just said, and they continued on their way. Soon they got past the long hallway, entering the main bathhouse through another curtained archway. Like the outside, the interior of the bathhouse was heavily customized. Not only in appearance but also in function. The women, now wearing very comfortable cotton bathrobes with towels in hand, entered an intricately carved stone archway. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The surfaces had carvings of flowers and vines, and its sides were adorned with potted plants. It was all very beautiful. They soon entered the vast chamber resplendent with mosaic tile floors, and they were in awe. Looking closely, these mosaics told of stories, some tragic, but most of which were hopeful. "They are stories about heroism Altera saw," she said, pointing at one of the paintings near the entrance. It was quite small, only a palm in width, but very visible if one stood close enough. It showed off a young lad fighting back-to-back with another. It was all pixelated and abstract, but people passed stories around for them to know some of them. "That is the story of George Yu. He saved his roommates and others, before succumbing to his death." Above eye level, there were also fenestrations lined with translucent surfaces. It used a material unfamiliar to them, but they saw everywhere in Altera. In their hometowns, windows were either covered with wooden shutters or treated animal hides which, while allowed for some light, was not nearly as uniform or as translucent as this material. Cities used a special translucent Papyrus that allowed light inside. It was much thinner than the material they used here though, and had to be replaced after storms. Anyway, these translucent surfaces allowed for a lot of natural lighting to enter. Combined with the torches on the side, it added a special quaintness to the entire space. There were also pools of various sizes and shapes. In the bathhouses they had been to, there was only one pool per type. Two for two differing temperatures of hot, two for cold, and one for lukewarm. Here, each ''type'' had several sub-areas. There was a main pool, but there were also alcoves with smaller pools for a more intimate experience. There were also medium-sized pools for small groups, and several unique furnitures in between. The dried spaces integrated seamlessly with the pools, where the women could go out and lounge, chatting about their lives, work, and men. The air was also infused with delicate fragrances, many of which they couldn''t pinpoint but loved anyway. Even before entering the water, their bodies were already relaxed because of this. Overall, the entire space was not only a testament to opulence, but was also a haven of tranquillity and revitalization. And the women loved it very much. Chapter 405 - 405: Advice to Women Speaking of opulence, there weren''t many people as, with every territory, this was a luxury. At this, the aborigines couldn''t help looking at the woman who seemed to be a regular here, but did not ask. They proceeded to look around to see a fitting alcove for them to soak. They chose a mid-sized one with warm water in the end. It was located near the corners and had couches and tables on the side of the pool. "Want to bathe together?" Juni nodded and took off her robe to hang in the designated racks, revealing her curvaceous form. The other two did the same and they entered the warm waters, relaxed. The women hummed, sight creating a beautiful picture. If men were here, they would definitely fill a small pool with their nosebleeds. The maids and a few others also entered at this time, but they told them to go play on their own, leaving the three women alone again. "Ah¡­ this is nice¡­" Vanessa said, and Cassandra hummed in response, relaxing in the nice fragrant warmth of the place. "Hmm¡­" Juni smiled and looked at the two. "Soon, some of these pools would have herbs in them. "Oh?" "Yes, very relaxing. They could treat stress, body pains, smoothen skin, and the like." "That sounds amazing!" Veronica said, admiring. Cassandra couldn''t help but send subtle glances at the other woman. Or more specifically: her skin. The other woman''s skin was so white and smooth. There was nearly no blemish. Cassandra thought that her skin could not compare to the other women. Cassandra couldn''t help but admire and envy. She had always been tomboyish and the only reason she was only always well-kept was because of her maid. And this was well-kept compared to other women she knew. It really didn''t compare to the woman in front of her. Normally, she wouldn''t care. But who told her to fall in love? "Your skin is so good. How do you maintain it?" Juni smiled at the beautiful Aborigine woman. She had heard that a group visited their territory and Juni, a proud citizen, was determined to sell it. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Actually, up until I got here, my skin has become extremely rough, and even darker," she said. While it was not much worse than how the noble aborigine''s skins were, she was an actress so her standards were high. Anyway, Juni''s skin had returned to its previous smoothness thanks to Althea, whom she contacted and obtained customized goods for a lot of gold. She had to be beautiful again, there was a man she wanted to attract back to her. "I struck a deal with Ms. Althea¡ªshe makes a lot of beauty products¡ªand I obtained advanced samples of her items. She agreed because I paid to be a guinea pig." "Guinea pig?" They asked, unfamiliar with the term. Juni chuckled as she remembered the cultural differences between them. "A trialist," She kindly explained. Cassandra stared at the other woman. "It''s amazing¡­" Veronica nodded adamantly, eyes shining. "The shop should be open in a few days. You can buy it then." "Hmm." "How does Altera compare to other territories you know?" "Can''t compare. Altera is absolutely superior. At least in terms of lifestyle." "Oh?" "I''ve been to a city and dozens of towns¡­ Although the life there was opulent, it isn''t as comfortable as here." Juni blinked, a bit surprised, and smiled in the end. "That''s a relief¡­" There was a comfortable silence for a while, which was broken when Cassandra asked "What was it like in your place?" "What do you mean?" Juni asked, a little confused. "I mean the place¡­ where you come from.." "Oh?" Juni voiced out, surprised at their curiosity. "People''s outlooks are different," Cassandra said, blushing a bit. "We''re curious what kind of lives you people led before coming here." Veronica nodded, "For one, I''m surprised to see two elders were women¡­" "Even women advanced in age could hold power," Cassandra added. Cassandra heard from Lulu that Gill''s mother was in charge of all diplomacy work, and this was an incredibly heavy job that was given only to some of the most trusted people of the lord. Juni didn''t answer for a while, trying to word Terran in simpler terms. "Well, in our world, although there were still a lot of inequality and injustices, most have a lot of opportunities to get out and succeed." "Everyone was free and that helps the psyche, even if nothing happened yet." "Of course, there are still some¡­ injustices," she said, eyes darkening a little at a few memories. "But most of us don''t lose hope in getting out of quagmires, and that is enough." "Hm.." Veronica paused, looking at her. "That''s much more than what other women could wish for in their lifetimes." "Well, in our world, women can have great ambitions," Juni began, finding it in herself to guide these poor women out of the harsh patriarchal brainwashing of this world. "Women are just as good as men," Juni said, "Although we use¡­ different approaches sometimes, it doesn''t mean we have less of an impact in the world." The women nodded, slight inspiration twinkling in their eyes, before they sighed and relaxed again. Veronica stretched her arms in thought. "One problem at a time, at this time I can''t even get a hold of my future lover." The girls smiled, knowing the topic was about to shift to the universal favorite topic of women: Men. Veronica then shifted to Cassandra, "At least you got yours¡­" The purple-haired woman flushed and shook her head, "Yes, I am happy. But I see couples here¡­ and I can''t help but envy them." Juni leaned over, "Your lover is Terran?" she asked, intrigued. "I am familiar with Terran men." The two women immediately looked at her as if she were their master, and the two girls immediately went to describe their situation. Because they weren''t so close, for better or for worse, no names were mentioned at all. The descriptions were very vague either, and Juni wouldn''t have imagined the love of her life had already moved on. Juni looked at Veronica first, "Romance isn''t his priority yet. To get him, you''ve got to help him reach his goals somehow." Then to Cassandra. "It could mean that he''s shy, but it''s likely that means he''s not ready to commit yet. That is his issue, not yours." Women here had low status. Unconsciously or not, they usually take on the inferior take in a relationship. Juni, as a feminist, wasn''t going to let it be easily! The women relaxed and chatted, smiles on their faces, and with quite a few things changed in their minds along the way. Chapter 406 - 406: Massage Meanwhile, while the sky was high above the sky, some ambiguous sounds echoed inside a villa bedroom. "Uhmn¡­ Yes, wife, like that¡­ sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Hmm..." A soft sigh echoed in the room, baritone voice oozing with sexiness. The groan was followed closely by a chuckle. "Who told you not to warm up before a spar?" Althea smiled, continuing to massage her husband''s stiff shoulder. "It''s a bit uncomfortable," he said, looking sadly at his wife. The big man was like a huge dog asking for pity. If his men saw him like this, they would be shocked to the point of aneurysm. The captain they knew would not bat an eyelid when he was covered with blood. Now he was making ambiguous noises for a little stiff arm¡­ However, it worked, because Althea''s heart broke a little and she kissed his cheek to comfort him. She then lifted her head up before he could catch her for a deeper kiss, continuing with the task at hand. Her soft hands caressed his wide shoulder, making him feel hot, but he knew not to take advantage at this time. Althea added a bit more strength, her soft delicate fingers kneading the soft knots that had formed in his muscles. She smiled as the tension in his muscles melted under her touch, and his eyes shut as her skilled fingers did its magic. This magic also sent a lot of heat somewhere else. Garan tilted his head a bit to look at her, obviously concentrating on giving him comfort. He smiled and used his arm to pull her on his lap, immediately meeting her lips with his. "You¡ª" But she wasn''t able to speak anymore as her voice was muffled by his tongue. His large hand rubbed her soft waist and his tongue lapped the inside of her mouth, hungry. Her struggles quickly died down as she surrendered under his onslaught. She was only alerted when she felt his rough hands inside her shirt, creeping up her perk mounds. A breathless Althea glared at her husband. "You¡­" She also held his naughty hands to stop them from moving. "It''s so early in the afternoon!" She stood up before he could do anything. "I need to check the pharmacy! And the kids by the way." She said, and scurried outside the door. Garan chuckled as he stood up, following closely after his shy wife. ¡­ Bath House For the next few hours, the girls passed through the different packages. The first part of the package was the relaxing saunas and steam baths. This was another new feature that was not found in the bathhouses that they had been to. The women were curious and asked the attendant if she had an idea how this was done, and it so happened that she did. Apparently, they used the hot steam from the pool and got it to this room. It was hot, but Juni said it helped soften up the skin. The attendant smiled and continued with her trivia¡ªsomething they were trained to do while being hired. "It is also a good way to detoxify, a way for the body to eliminate toxins. The less dirt, the nicer the skin will be as well," The attendant explained, "The heat also causes blood vessels to dilate, improving blood flow. With improved blood flow, the cells would be more oxygenated and thus promote the delivery of nutrients to the skin." The two girls made a mental note of this. To be honest, even the concept of veins was new to them, let alone whatever ''oxygenation'' was, but they didn''t question it much. What they did know was that this steam was very good for their health and beauty. They also went through a Mud Bath. It was a really novel thing and they genuinely considered whether to go through with it or not. Fortunately for them, there was an assistant who was assigned to them¡ªsomeone sent by the people above, apparently¡ªwho explained the functions to them. "This is not normal mud, miladies, it''s special mud specifically formulated for baths, beauty, and health~ "Mud baths have the functions of skin detoxification, as mud is known to have absorbent properties. When it dries out later, it will take with it excess oils, dried skin cells, and other debris. You will definitely feel refreshed! "It is also great for exfoliation, mineral absorption, skin hydration, and muscle relaxation~!" Anyway, the attendant sold it hard and they were rare adventurous girls so they did try it out in the end. It was a bit gross at first but they really came out refreshed and smoother. "Wow, this is really nice~" Veronica exclaimed as she stretched her arms, feeling like a newborn. Juni chuckled, "There is still a lot to see." "What are we waiting for then?" The girls were guided by the attendant to head somewhere else. They passed the outdoor facilities with gardens for meditation and yoga. "Yoga?" They watched as a few women followed the leading one, stretching in odd ways. "Looks painful." Juni laughed and didn''t force them to try. Yoga¡­ was something that had to be eased into. However, the attendant had a special mission from ''above'': Entice the rich aborigines with everything! Imagine how surprised all the staff were when a system mission appeared on their screens a few hours ago! She cleared her throat, "We can choose the milder exercise, but I suggest you take on yoga~ It''s really good for you! "First of all, the poses will help your body improve flexibility and strength. It will also help with balance and coordination, posture improvement, and joint health. Certain dynamic styles also help with cardiovascular health!" she paused, "For the psyche, yoga had been known to reduce stress and anxiety and overall just worth it!" Who could say no to such a passionate hard-sell? Cassandra was fine due to her skill exercise since young, but Veronica obviously struggled. However, while a bit sore, they really did feel refreshed in the end. "Finally, massage! This is best because you just did yoga, which is a great combination!" The attendant continued to chipper, "It''s been studied to be complementary ways to enhance relaxation, reduce muscle tension, and promote overall well-being!" "Are you fine with massage? Complete strangers will touch your naked body. Female of course." She said, worried the culture here is conservative. The two girls looked at each other, before nodding. So far, everything had been really good! They didn''t think this massage was horrible! The concept was indeed very new and they were intimidated. But it would be such a pity not to experience it. And they were right. Although it was really awkward at first, when the women touched the knots in their bodies, gently squeezing them out, the women couldn''t help but moan. Again, if men were here, they''d create ponds with their nosebleeds. Anyway, the massage successfully melted away the stress, relieved their muscle tension, and left them feeling like new women! It was amazing! Juni giggled and felt a bit proud, "There are also plenty of benefits in massages. They improve circulation, reduce anxiety, and give better sleep." "It''s amazing." "There are also plenty of massages, this is just the basic aromatherapy. You can explore the others on your own." "Hmmm~" Speaking of aroma¡ªthese were really good! They were so intimidated by the new experience that they didn''t notice. Now that they were relaxed enough, they finally noticed the subtle fragrance that surrounded them. They had no doubt their current states had a lot to do with it. "Wow¡­ this smells really good," Veronica said, and she noticed a lot has been coming from her own skin! "It''s essential oil, formulated by Ms. Althea," Juni said, relaxing as the massage woman focused on her shoulder "She had a factory line solely dedicated to these¡­" "Amazing¡­ I hear her name everywhere." Veronica said with a voice filled with awe. Juni nodded, feeling proud that a woman was doing so much for humanity, much more than her male counterparts. "Altera¡ªwouldn''t be the same without her," she said, "In my opinion, she''s the most well-deserved elder." The two turned their heads to Juni as they were being massaged, voices a little muffled as they were facing down. "Are you close with her? You mentioned you were a¡­ trialist? I truly want to meet her." Juni didn''t answer immediately and her eyes glazed a bit in thought. "Well, we''re just acquaintances for now. However, to get to my goal¡­" she began vaguely, "I''ll need her approval." Gill saw her as a respected sister. If she were to gain her approval, Gill would definitely soften his attitude to her. The other two didn''t really understand and they didn''t care anymore when the massage women hit particularly sweet spots. "This feels so good.." "Uh-hmnn¡­" Cassandra gasped, "Ohhh~" "Oh my.. Hnn~" This must be the most relaxed they had ever been. Especially Cassandra who had been going through stressful months¡ªfrom the issue with her family and her ambiguous relationship with Gill. Massages are amazing! Chapter 407 - 407: Undercurrents (Part 1) While some women spent the day relaxing and chatting with overall good vibes, another one spent it in tears. "Danny. Please!" The woman sobbed, grabbing the man''s hairy arm. "Please listen to me¡­" "Get out!!" The middle-aged man yelled as he pulled away his arm. He pointed at the door with a livid expression on his face. It was just that his unattractive face and thinning hair made him look a bit funny. Well, except for Ramona who was definitely depending on him for her current lifestyle¡ªone incomparable to the life she had been living since arriving in this hell. Ramona knew this very much, so she kneeled down to his feet, sobbing, and looking very, very, pitiful. She had finally lived comfortably again¡ªshe could be clean, she could buy what she wanted, and she could eat whatever she felt like eating¡ªhow could she let this go?? "No, no, no! I just hated Althea so much! I wanted to irk her! It doesn''t mean anything! I didn''t mean to offend Garan!" She yelled, grabbing his flabby arm, but it only irked him instead. He sneered. "You idiot!! That was an elder! The main helm of the military power! The husband of the richest person in this place!!" He yelled, sprinkling saliva all over her face. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What were you thinking?!" He asked, looking at her as if the answer was that she wasn''t¡ªthat she didn''t have a working brain! At this time, he truly believed so. "I just moved here to live a good life!!" He said, continuing to rant. "How dare you try to ruin it?!" He yelled. If there wasn''t a ban on fighting here, based on how livid he looked, Ramona thought he''d be hitting her by now. "No, please," she sobbed, over and over. She wanted people to hear and pity her, to pressure him to ''let her go''. "I''ll be good! Please! I love you, please don''t kick me out!!" Unfortunately for her, every building, Aether or not, had very good insulation. No one heard her cries at all. Eventually, Ramona did realize this and she just flushed in shame. Instead of blaming herself or the man in front of her, however¡­ the image of the glamorous woman passed by her head instead. ''This is all your fault!!!'' ¡­ At this time, Oslo was resting in Belluga village. Yes, Belluga village. He still couldn''t believe he had taken the wrong way! Apparently, he should''ve taken the East gate! Ansel''s horrible sense of direction definitely rubbed off him! (To be fair, even if the Map showed them where they had been, his home city was too far off, there would be no indication of the connecting path at all.) As for how he found out the way in the end, it was because he finally remembered that many moons ago, his father snuck him a magic tool called the Fixed Compass. It was a compass pointing to their home. It didn''t mention the distance, but it showed the direction of that place. The condition for it to work was that it would only activate one month after he entered the signature teleportation array of the Chancery of Appointments. It was a very special item with added special restrictions. It could be said that his family really invested a lot in his ''training''. So, here he was, heading to the eastern allied village instead. He was too ashamed to go back to Altera to pass through there so he took a slightly longer and rougher terrain instead. ''Ah...Belluga village'', Oslo recalled with a bit of dread. He knew this to be the village with its eccentric Lord¡ªthe man-hungry one. Because of the status of women, it was very very rare to see women in position of power, and it was unheard of to see a woman with so many men. Even if the girl wasn''t bad at heart, Oslo didn''t want to be near her at all. To be safe, he had worn a handkerchief mask¡ªcotton, bought from Altera¡ªon his face. Feeling a little safer with the ''armor'' he went ahead and walked along the small village. Like Bright, Belluga also adopted a lot of rules and products of Altera. Life, he heard, had really improved since the Lord and her party returned from a trip. More and more caravans had been going to and fro Altera, buying many goods that made everyone''s eyes shine. He heard one caravan made over ten times his cost. They had sold food items, cloths, potions, and others, which improved the lives of many people in Belluga, buyer and seller alike. These items were sold locally in high prices, and each time the marketeers sold out within the day. Of course, life in Altera would also be passed through word of mouth. He heard some people had been planning on moving. It just took them a while to move because they invested much of their wealth in Belluga. Most of the caravan members who made money had already started liquidating. Anyway, the comfort was nothing compared to Altera but it wasn''t bad compared to villages in general. The woman also bought the blueprint for the custom building, so he stayed in a decent abode. The food was also better than the food from indigenous villages. Things were good, for sure,at least until the Lord spotted him. She happened to be making rounds then. Even if she was somewhat busy, how was she to turn a blind eye at an obvious catch swimming so blatantly in front of her? It was still a mystery how she found him! Didn''t his disguise work on her? How would Oslo know Kimmy had razor-sharp eyes when it came to handsome men? Fable, who was much better disguised, couldn''t escape, let alone him who only had a piece of cloth on his face! What''s more: He had a good bearing and was much taller than the locals, so he was still pretty visible. This was not to mention his good shape that couldn''t be hidden by robes! She followed him around in his few hours of stay, asking him to join her damned harem. The woman''s audacity baffled him to no end. If he hadn''t been used to the forwardness of his ''fangirls'' back in Altera, it was estimated he''d have grown hives in shock. However, he knew this lord''s acquaintance with his Lord and could only maintain decency. In the end, he was forced to shorten his rest time. "Are you really going?" She asked, looking heartbroken as they saw him off the gate. Oslo sighed, internally saying, ''Yeah, no thanks to you.'' Externally though, he was very polite. "Yes, Lord Kimmy, I have to go back. I have a mission from the elders." "Can you at least tell me what this mission is?" "I will be going to the city to gather some materials," was all Oslo said and it made Kimmy and the others brighten. It was Raine who stepped forward to ask the decent questions, "Then¡­ is it possible to get some as well? We will be paying to pay." "They may be too expensive and may not be of use to you," Oslo said a bit bluntly. "However, I can try to get a few more magic tools to sell your territory. At least, give you priority to sell after Altera." Raine smiled and nodded, "That''s good enough for me." However, Kimmy shook her head. "No! It''s not!" She said, pouting at Raine and then whipping her head to stare at Oslo. "You''re going to a city right? How curious! Can I go??" Oslo''s eyes twitched. The Lord had so much time prancing around, it was amazing the territory was still going strong. It probably had a lot to do with her harem. Her favorite, Raine, specifically. From his short stay, he could see how this harem, led by Raine, kept the territory running smoothly. Basically, except for a few elders, almost all of Kimmy''s men held important positions in the territory¡ªand so far they had been performing their jobs well. She had an eye for people, at least, which was in itself a talent. He met Raine''s eyes and they sighed at the same time. Raine then walked forward between them, looking at the female lord with pleading eyes. "We can''t risk your safety Lord," he said, voice soft and gentle. "You are very important to us." His sweet words successfully calmed Kimmy, who held his hand and hugged him, "Awww, so sweet! Okay, I will not leave." Then she ordered him to kiss her, and he dutifully did so. It was a short kiss and they parted, but the atmosphere between them was soft and fluffy anyway, and Oslo was relieved to know he had been forgotten. As such, Oslo could finally sneak out and chose a good time to take out his bike and skittle away, heading toward the first Aborigine village he''d been to in a long while. Chapter 408 - 408: Undercurrents (Part 2) Khlack Village Khlack village was a village about 35 miles from Southwest from Belluga. On foot, the trek would take at least 15 hours of travel. If he sprinted, at his level, it would take about 7 or 8 hours but that would be in exchange for a lot of his health which made it a non-option. But with his bike¡­, the travel comfortably took less than ten, and he saw minimal reductions to his stamina. He admired the contraption and praised the ingenious minds of Altera. But he saw that the so-called rubber was already dirty and already showing signs of wear. In the end, he decided not to use it anymore going forward. It was too novel and eye-catching to use outside anyway. He sighed and collapsed it again as per Ansel''s instruction, but much more carefully than necessary, afraid it''d break with one wrong move. Oslo continued to walk a couple more kilometres (killing a small mob by the way) and, eventually got past the dense forest to a level 2 wall. The wall was not in good shape. It was a wall that had holes and parts where the stone was falling down. There were too many areas that hadn''t been repaired. It didn''t look like a reliable wall from the outside. What''s more, he could see the guards napping a bit from where he was. Oslo sighed, walking forward past the threshold. [Welcome to Khlack Village. Please pay 25 copper for the visitor fee.] His eyes twitched as he went past the gate. He still paid the 25 copper, of course. This was actually the standard entry fee for villages, but now he just thought they were ripping people off. He entered the village and to a street just fit for a human-pulled cart. He walked around and looked, seeing the dilapidated houses and unkempt people walking around. Many of the buildings were also in poor condition. Some were due to wear and tear, while others were damaged by the occasional monster that got past the fence. The streets were also incredibly dirty¡ªfilled with dirt, mud, and feces. It was now that he got a whiff of the stench (as the smell was going downwind prior) and he almost vomited. "What!!" He gasped, ignoring the looks of the people around. Some were admiring his noble air, while some just looked at him weirdly. It was only now that he recalled that this was how villages really looked. Oslo pursed his lips in bafflement. How long had he been to Altera? Why did it feel like he was in a different world altogether?? ¡­ "Ah, and I thought my upbringing spoiled me," Oslo said after a while of adjusting. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The houses were plain and uncomfortable, the shops were purchased as it was, and the walls were level 2 and unrepaired and would probably only be able to handle a level 5 mob for an hour. Obviously also a village, but he couldn''t help but show distaste¡ªeven more when he had just been ''demoted'' from a city. He couldn''t imagine¡ªhow would it be if he had been hired by a village other than Altera? Granted, villages who could afford to upgrade their Village Center were indeed better off than this, but it was probably not by much. He cringed, not daring to imagine the suffering. In any case, he was really tired after being unable to rest properly in Belluga. After a thought, he (reluctantly) decided to rent a house for a shut-eye. He walked through the narrow stone streets in search of a decent place to rent. He ignored the inquiring gazes of the people. How could he not feel how they looked at him and his ample packages, in particular, with great interest? He decided it was less troublesome to just find out more about the territory by himself, rather than to ask any of these people. However, at least for now, no one stepped forward to bully. Although plenty of people had odd hair color, his bearing made it obvious that he was a natural high-born. He eventually found a small bungalow to rest for a few silver. It was just a square with the only separate room as the standard bathroom. This bathroom was, naturally, the one with a hole on the floor. He already missed his nice porcelain seat where he read a small handbook of architectural notes he had while waiting for his stomach to cleanse itself. He also bought some perfume from the lord as well, so even when he was doing business, the stench wasn''t so bad either. He sighed, realizing he had truly been spoiled. Anyway, Oslo walked to the only furniture there: a bed. It was wooden and could fit just one person comfortably. There was no cushion at all, and it was hard and uncomfortable to even sit on. There were even splinters here and there, making him suffer more. Fortunately, he had some blankets from Altera. While he couldn''t get those comforters (it was very space-consuming), the blankets were enough to cover the particularly uncomfortable surfaces. It was just that he had to cover his nose as he slept, for fear of not waking up due to the horrid smell that occasionally whiffed up to his area. Disgusting! To be fair, even the cities weren''t exempt from these smells, especially the relatively poorer areas. But who told Altera to be so clean! Even Belluga was clean because of the people''s habits, so going to this place was like a massive slap of smell! Anyway, he rested for a few hours and ate his food from the space. After over a month in Altera, he would definitely have difficulty stomaching the food outside, so he prepared some ''adjustment food'' for himself. For this meal, he was eating buns and noodles. It was simple compared to the usual, but it tasted like ''home''. He reluctantly drank the limited tea in a jar, wishing he could take more, primarily because he had a headache from the horrid smell. In the end, he only took a few sips before putting it away. It wasn''t enough to drink of course, and he recalled the juice shop in the village, deciding to buy a few pints there to save up what he stocked. He had limited space and he didn''t take enough water. At the very least, juices in stores were made from natural fruit so they didn''t taste too bad. As he queued, he couldn''t help but overhear a chatting group of burly men approaching the line. There were about four of them, very tall and filled with scars. From this alone, he knew they were mercenaries. They also had menacing auras about them, their tones as they spoke were oozing with annoyance. The people in front of the line of them immediately cleared, and they grinned, proud of their effect on the ants. With smirks on their faces, they sauntered towards the front of the line to order. They continued chatting and it was careless enough that Oslo could hear what they were talking about even when they were several people away from him. Of course, it could also be that Oslo had a much higher level than anyone else and the men probably didn''t think anyone in his distance was strong enough for them to care. "Why did the master ask us to go all the way here?" one person asked his companion. "How many days we had to endure to even travel to this back country." "We need to investigate what''s inside the fog now that it''s lifted," one man said, "Geez, what a hassle!" "Heh. What''s there worth of our Lord''s trouble?" One man asked, genuinely curious, while his companion shrugged. The other one cackled, "Well, they did just say to scout it out right? Then we''ll deal with it later." "Ah, yeah, that''s what he said." The largest one sneered though, "What''s the need to study? Do we need to prepare to deal with these weaklings?" The others chuckled at this, obviously agreeing with him, but not daring to outwardly speak against their lord. Behind them, a certain blonde looked at them with narrowed eyes. These people¡­ weren''t friendly. For a while, he didn''t do anything and just stared, his fist occasionally clenching. He watched as they bought their drinks and walked back to the door, apparently not planning on staying at the tables. This meant he could no longer eavesdrop with ease. Taking a spontaneous decision, he furtively gave a glance and walked towards them, as if heading to one of the tables. He purposely bumped into them, making the person slightly imbalanced. "Oof, sorry." Oslo said, his masked face not showing guilt at all. "Watch out!" "I"m sorry," he repeated, manifesting gold. "Here." he said, "I''m in a hurry you see." "It''s all I have," he said, trying to block their mouths from asking for more. After all, even this village had a rule against outright theft and philandering. Oslo then walked away without looking back, making the men look at each other. The man nodded, and followed him. They planned on robbing him as soon as he left the territory. ¡­ Their plan was destined to fail however because, later that night, the two men would have very painful stomachaches. When Oslo bumped into them, he sent some mild poison he bought from Althea (who had a very private and inclusive market for her poisons), hoping to debilitate them. Unfortunately, at their level, this definitely wouldn''t kill them. However, at the very least, these guys would be incapacitated for a few days. A few days in Altera, after all, meant a lot more people had time to level up. And that was already plenty compared to others. Chapter 409 - 409: Bathhouse Restaurant Altera Village "Mngmamwa¡­" "Gogrgomamwa¡­" "Stop moving too much, Little Meatball," Althea mumbled, moving her head a bit as Little Meatball moved his hand and splashed soapy bubbles all over. A large hand settled him down the tub. It was Garan, and his sleeves were folded all the way up his arm, showing off his very well-defined forearms. "Behave," Garan said, his low voice was naturally full of gravitas that Little Meatball was a little intimidated by. One word and the baby''s flailings went from level 10 to level 1. The baby boy was pouting a bit, but he was definitely watching his hand splashing, a little sad that it wasn''t creating as big a wave as he wanted. Althea giggled at the adorable sight, all while washing her daughter who was so cute and well-behaved. Garan smiled, but his eyes couldn''t help but end on his wife''s body and her clothing dampened thanks to their hyper-energetic son. His eyes darkened inevitably, but he was holding his son so he naturally couldn''t do anything about it. "We will take a bath together later," he said, mumbling. "I wish the Bathhouse had private rooms¡­" Althea blinked as she looked at him, and then looked at the sun high in the sky. She then flushed and glared at him. This pervert! Anyway, when the Mountain Spring Villas was built with indoor private pools, Garan absolutely had a hand in it. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ Back in the bathhouse, the three women decided to meet up again and have a meal together. They had already asked the servant to inform Lulu that they''d be eating dinner here and she could go for the day. Of course, not without handling a generous tip. The two aborigines followed Juni to the indoor restaurant not knowing what to expect. They went past the intricate wooden door that served as the main entrance. This was obvious due to its large dimensions and the rare translucent panels that it had, which gave them a glimpse of the other side. Like other things, these small panels were made of the same materials used in windows and lamps in the territory. It was quite intriguing. "A table for three please," Juni said, approaching the female host outside the door. "Oh, yes, right away," the woman said, checking their bracelets to see if they''d be paying. Seeing as the meal was included, the host opened the door and guided them to a designated table. The aborigines couldn''t help but look around as they walked, side and above, admiring. It was a large one room hall of brown, green, and some rustic color palette. There was a small waterfall in the center, with water going down like a column. It was surrounded by various flowers, some familiar and mostly unfamiliar. There was ambient lighting on every meter of the wall and above each table, setting up a romantic relaxing mood. The entire room was circular in shape, with the walls with plants and wood, leading up to the very interesting ceiling above. It wasn''t like anything they''ve seen. It was slightly domed in shape, and there were diamond framings, and every few ''diamonds'' there was a translucent panel allowing natural lighting from above to enter. The skylight filtered lighting through the day, creating a stunning play of light and shadows with the frames and vines. At night, it would show the darkness, letting the ambient lighting have a different atmosphere. In fact, if Althea had a choice, she''d have covered the whole roof with the translucent material. The material limitation of Youli stone was that it couldn''t be made into panels larger than a meter in either dimension, or it would be very brittle¡ªno different from crackers that could easily get destroyed with a simple punch. It was also a problem with her larger greenhouses, so she was really hoping glass could be developed. But these things the people didn''t know about, they just found the whole setup incredibly charming. Anyway, as the trio reached their table, they realized that the air was infused with the relaxing scent of flowers. A little different from those in the spa, which promoted relaxation, this scent was a bit stronger. It promoted¡­ exploration. Hunger. "Here''s your table," the waitress said, pointing at a comfortable-looking round table with a curved sofa (as Juni called it) abutting it. They couldn''t help appreciating it too. The table was not only intricately designed with motifs that matched the building, the cushion of the chairs also looked very cozy. The tables were also placed far apart, very comfortable, and they could relax as if they were really the only people in that space. There were also partitions that partially blocked direct eye contact and the traveling of sound for added privacy, which needed more care because everyone had heightened senses now. "This is amazing¡­" Cassandra said as she relaxed on the plush chair, eyes not leaving her surroundings. Veronica, the lover of beauty, was quiet and just gaping at the whole place. Also, how did they make a waterfall there? "Did you build the restaurant around it?" Juni blinked and looked at the centerpiece. It was a meter radius column of waterfall, as if the water fell from the shrubbery above this ornamental column. "I''m not familiar with the technicalities, but it should be using the same principles as the fountains outside, as well as getting water into the rooms." "Amazing¡­" Soon, the waiter arrived with their menu¡ªalso paper now¡ªand they couldn''t help but touch it a few more times. "This is really smooth. I feel like the pen will flow beautifully." "It seems a bit thin though?" Juni watched her new friends fascinated by something they had taken for granted. "It''s paper. Like the papyrus you use, but much lighter and cheaper." "This is very nice¡­ why haven''t I seen it in the shops?" "The production is still a bit low, so only the territory office and a couple of individuals could use it. But, as you can see, it shouldn''t take long." The two nodded, adding this paper as something they would inquire about as soon as they got inside. In the meantime, they decided to look at the so-called menu, which was a list of available food and drinks they could order. Their package included two viands, a salad, a drink, and dessert. They could choose as they wanted and the two girls were very curious as to the offerings of this place. The menu was also bilingual, with the familiar language of the aborigines as well as the Terran Lingua franca. The offerings here were called ''healthy'' meals¡ªa new concept to two people who just knew ''meals''. "Basically they''re meals that cleanse the body, making it feel lighter, rather than heavier." It was a little unclear, but they got the idea. For their meal, Juni ordered for them. With the waiter ready to take orders, Juni enumerated some food that newcomers would likely love. When the food arrived, the women gulped. "This is the vegetarian delight," the waitress said when Juni asked her to explain some of the choices to the guests. "It''s a salad of mixed greens, little tomatoes, and organic herbs, and then drizzled with lemon-infused Caesar salad." Then the waitress pointed at rounded flat white bread-like things with various colors surrounding them. "This is a Mezze platter with hummus, roasted red pepper dip, and freshly baked pita bread." She then proceeded to an even more colorful plate. "This is Stuffed Bell Peppers with grain, roasted vegetables, and tangy yogurt sauce." "For meat, we''ll have free-range Gugu bird breast with vegetables and herb-infused sauce." "We have Stormdoer beef burger topped with caramelized onions, mushrooms, and cheddar." "For our drinks, we''ll have freshly squeezed juices with herbs." She paused and looked at her companions, "You don''t mind it a bit minty, do you?" The two were a bit startled they''d hear terms like minty in food, but they were open-minded girls, so they shook their heads. "For dessert, as requested, the fruit-based sorbet will be served later upon completion of the meals." She smiled, standing up straight. "Enjoy your meal." The girls nodded and focused on their delicious-looking meals. Juni realized a lot of her terms were unfamiliar so she explained what they were, and if the other two weren''t raised as ladies, they''d have drooled. Whatever the case was, they didn''t know that meals made predominantly of just plants could be so delicious, refreshing, and filling! As they ate, the three women continued chatting amicably, mostly about the territories of this world and how it compared to Altera. For example, they found out that it had been less than two months since they arrived, which meant people here leveled from zero to about the average of level 6 or 7 in the span of two months. This also meant that 2 months ago, this was all just forest like the ones they passed by going here¡­ They built this entire thing in that time frame. They also compared the cost of living and lifestyle. "Altera did a great job at both," Veronica mumbled as she chewed on her salad. She had never thought such a mix of vegetables could be so delicious. What did they call this ''dressing''? Caser? Cousar? "It''s Caesar, sweetie." Juni corrected her. She was apparently thinking out loud. A bad habit of hers that got her into plenty of trouble. "Don''t they sell these in the supermarket?" "Not yet," Juni guessed it had to do with the short shelf life, but she couldn''t confirm it. Regardless, the topics were endless and the three became fast friends. Luckily or unluckily, they seemed to have never landed on the topic of their love lives again and their names, or the discussion could''ve been very different¡­ Chapter 410 - 410: Worldviews (Part 1) At this time, the man in the women''s minds was talking to his mother. The mother-son pair was drinking a special tea blend Althea occasionally sent to all her elders, partnered with Lola''s sublime snacks. They were currently sitting on the verandah, looking at the small farm of her team inside the fence. The peacefulness calmed their hearts a bit¡ªsomething much needed considering the heaviness of their current topic. "Any news?" Mathilda asked, eyebrows furrowed in worry, her temple forming more wrinkles than before. The more time passed, the more the aging lost by her upgrade returned. Gill sighed and shook his head. "I already put out a mission in the Ferrol Mercenary Hall as well as those going to the allied territories, but I doubt there''d be news so soon." Unlike Garan and many others who had already stopped buying information¡ªso fortunate¡ªGill had to continue in his ardent search. They still hadn''t found his sister, Gwen. "I''ve already commissioned artists to paint a lot of portraits, as well." Although paper wasn''t commercially available, he''s the boss'' right-hand man and an elder''s son, so he naturally had easier access to new resources than others. There were a number of artists he got for this. He would soon have a handful of her portraits to distribute and assist him in the mission. He didn''t even need to pay them a lot. The artists just requested rims of paper, pencil, and ink in exchange. He promised them twice the amount of what they used to do the task. As one imagined, they were quite¡­ productive because of it. Mathilda nodded, sighing heavily. That child had been traveling around with her friends when the disaster happened. The two of them had been trying to find news of her as soon as they were capable. Mathilda believed the child was fine. After all, both she and her son didn''t become one of the undead, and there was a high chance her daughter didn''t either. She just hoped the child wasn''t suffering¡­ Gill saw his mother getting depressed and tried comforting her. "She''s fine. I taught her self-defense since she could walk." Mathilda smiled at the memories of the girl destroying their backyard with her ''practices''. The girl was the biggest tomboy in their community, but at this time it was such a fortunate thing¡ªit definitely improved her chances in this volatile new world. Mathilda shook her head at the memories, deciding to move on to a lighter topic. Since she couldn''t do anything about her younger child, she shifted her focus to the one in front of her instead. "I heard of some rumors¡­" Mathilda began, looking at her son with a smile. "How true is it?" "Which one?" "You know what I mean." Gill didn''t answer, feeling a bit embarrassed at being found out. Mathilda looked at her acerbic son''s increasingly red face and felt a little better. "Well, I hope it works well for you this time," was all she said, gently and understanding. Gill was silent, unconsciously rubbing the middle of his palm, before finally uttering a light, "Uhmn." "My advice to you is to learn from your mistakes and give more time to those you hold dear, not just duty," she told him. To be honest, her son¡ªand her, for that matter, as well as every one of the soldiers¡ªsacrificed too much for their nation. They ended up sacrificing their own lives, and their precious time with those they hold dear. She hoped her son allowed for a bit more happiness to himself. "Yes, mother." Of course, as a woman who had seen many things, she also had to give enough caveats to her son. "We don''t know how their culture is like, I hope you keep that in mind." She said, "Only when you accept your partner as a whole would the relationship work long-term." "Yes, mother." Mathilda smiled, taking her son''s hand and patting it. "Be happy this time." ¡­ Gaea Pharmacy. In contrast to the worried family, another one was complete¡ªa mother, a father, and two children¡ªhappily walking around town. The children had just ended their ''daycare'' session with a couple of thanks to the nurses next door, so now they joined their parents in the excursion. At this time, they were currently in the Pharmacy, with the mother doing her job while strolling around with her family. Althea checked on the stocks to determine the production rate of each one, making some calculations on what they would need to focus on. She made a mental note to increase the supply of Bandade and Sprite, as well as to improve the mass production of the inferior versions. After doing this, she said her goodbye to Lily and Don Lee. Don Lee was a trainee and Lily-the-doctor''s replacement as she had been officially reassigned to the other clinic near the East gate. He was a first-year pharmacy student who will also be working part-time at the research center as a learning experience. He came from Belluga Village, primarily attracted to Altera due to Fable, but quickly decided to stay as soon as he landed. Anyway, Althea volunteered to push the babies'' stroller this time, while her husband decided to feed her some snacks they bought on the way there. They exited the building and it happened that Garan decided to feed her a few bites at that moment. So when Althea caught sight of the colorful visitors, she was chewing on the snacks, Gouji Berry Cookies. The two Aborigines, Cassandra and Veronica, happened to be with the former actress Juni. They looked quite cozy with each other. The two aborigine women and Juni¡­? Althea, as the Lord with eyes everywhere, naturally knew these women and the¡­ similarities among them. Especially, the violet woman and Juni who apparently had very similar taste in men. They seemed to have become sincere friends? She wondered what would happen if they found out about the other''s relationship with Gill? Did Gill have an idea what was happening here? Althea couldn''t help but stare, watching the two smile at each other like soul sisters. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When they find out about their rivalry, will they fight? Or¡­ will they share? Chapter 411 - 411: Worldviews (Part 2) The abrupt thought was so sudden that the food she was chewing entered the wrong pipe, causing her to cough violently. "Wife! Are you alright?!" Garan exclaimed and immediately rubbed her back. He took out an earthenware bottle of water he had in space, carefully guiding her to drink. When she was still coughing he paled and yelled at Betty. "Heal her right now!!!" Innocent Betty, who was literally just there to buy some medicine, flinched. "A-Ah, yes!" she uttered, immediately using her ability to help Althea out. Of course, there was really not much damage for a healer to heal, so the action was mostly for Garan''s peace of mind. Soon, the bout of coughing halted, and Althea gently patted her husband''s arm to calm him down. She smiled apologetically at Betty, who was ashamed of the lord''s humbleness to her and wanted to cry. She very quickly excused herself to leave the couple be, and Althea turned her head to the husband whose eyebrows furrowed deeply in worry. "I''m not a porcelain doll, my love," she told him, which made him pout. It was adorable and Althea softened, and she patted his cheek. Garan was about to lean down but Althea covered his mouth, stopping the excessive PDA. Nearby, Veronica and the others were privy to the whole thing. They saw everything from the feeding to the gentle back rub to the almost kiss! So this was the famous Althea! She was indeed beautiful. But¡­ what the heck was that¡­ thing?! Veronica''s eyes twitched seeing the cold murderous guy they knew now pouting like a baby. She cringed. So much. "That''s a twin, right?!" She said, aghast. "That can''t possibly be him, right?!" "..." Cassandra just gaped while Juni giggled. "Well, that man is indeed the paragon of ''wife slave''." Wife slave¡­ sounded too apt, right? However, jokes aside, they¡ªespecially the Aborigine women¡ªhad never seen a man so caring and humble, let alone such an impressive man. They had only seen one get close¡ªOslo''s parents¡ªbut that had a lot to do with Mr. Gold''s extremely timid personality and Mrs. Gold very fiery one. This was Garan, a strong man who could defeat fighters higher leveled than him! There was no way he was meek! However, no one pointed this out nor did they ask. The two parties just nodded at each other in greeting when their eyes met, but no words were exchanged. Who told Garan to act like a baby and then turn scary at the same time! How dare they interrupt the family date with their inquiries? ¡­ When the couple had disappeared from view, the trio safely entered the pharmacy to see what was available for purchase. They saw the person behind the counter talking to a pretty woman with a small stature. She was giving directions to a young lad much taller than she was, obviously in a superior position to this work setting. There was a line of about five people in the queue, but the service was good, the product selection wasn''t too much, and the waiting time wasn''t very long. "Betty!" Juni smiled, greeting a woman about to exit. "Oh, hello, Ms. Juni." Betty then nodded to Cassandra and Veronica, who politely did the same. "This is Ms. Cassandra and Veronica, our latest visitors," she told BEtty, before turning to the other girls. "This is Betty. She''s a healer." Cassandra and Veronica were a bit surprised. A beautiful healer should still have good status even in a city, but she seemed to be settling quite well in a village. After a bit of chatter, Betty excused herself, saying it was time for her to get back in position. A few minutes later, it was finally their turn. They bought what was in stock to the maximum purchase limits. Although they hadn''t tried any of her medicines yet, Ms. Althea wouldn''t be so famous if her products were subpar. "Your orders are noted, thank you," The woman behind the counter said, and looked at the young lad beside her, who was gaping at the beautiful women in front of him. Lily rolled her eyes and elbowed Don Lee. "Aren''t you going to get their orders?" "O-Oh! Right!" He yelled, very loud, making everyone flinch. When he gasped and turned red, just before scurrying to do his job, the women broke into laughter at his expense. Lily shook her head and looked at her gorgeous customers. "Forgive him. He doesn''t see angels very often." Juni laughed while the women smiled. They didn''t know what angels were, but it was obviously a compliment. After a bit of small talk, Juni introduced them to the small woman. "This is Lily, she watches over the pharmacy. She is also a doctor." "Hello." "Hello, nice to meet you." "I''ve been hearing a lot about you two," Lily said, "You have very beautiful hair. Did you get born with it?" The women nodded, and Lily looked absolutely fascinated. Their chat was interrupted by Don Lee finally arriving with the medicine on hand. After a preliminary check, the two women placed the items back in their spaces. They packed up, and it was here that new people entered the pharmacy. They were young people in uniforms¡ªguards¡ªand a third of them were female. At this point, the aborigines thought they should stop being surprised. One of the female girls nudged the man''s head carelessly. "Angelo! I told you, I can beat you!" "Yes yes master Cassie," one of the young men said, nodding passively, making the other teammate¡ªJesse chuckle in amusement. "I haven''t played ball in so long!" he said, "But really Cassie, where''d you learn to shoot hoops like that?" They not only had a ball thanks to their neighbors (the Gaea Team), but they played with other teams to win time to use the court longer. Cassie actually won! Fortunately, it was still a lot of fun. And even if they lost the bet, who said they couldn''t use the courts anyway. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Nearby, Cassandra and Veronica looked at each other as they saw the interaction between the guards. They were born well, so they didn''t suffer much, but they were old enough to have an idea of how this world treated women. In Altera, however, it was just¡­ different. Altera was not just unique in its products and buildings. Its entire worldview was unique¡­ Chapter 412 - 412: Bird Encounter A/N: Dedicated to Lin-chan, my first castle-giver~! It took a while to find a place where I can squeeze your request but it''s finally here LOL. Thanks for the castle Lin-chan~ (Guys, for LotusLin is also a writer~ If you''re into fantasy stories with gods, check hers out!) Castler Request: "More Ansel and Fufi, please!" Anyway, back to the story~ ¡­ _____ "Eww, Fufi, don''t eat that! Just bite it, BITE it!" Ansel yelled as he pried the dog''s mouth open. When the dog finally did, the head of the gross poisonous-looking reptilian monster rolled down straight to Tom''s feet. The big man turned pale immediately. Fortunately, this time, he didn''t embarrass himself by vomiting the contents of his stomach. Fufi and Ansel were now training near Bright Territory, along with a few others. He was helping out Tom, Artie, and Bruce with their levels. He arrived here with a couple of other soldiers and guards as part of the weekly routine of going to other territories, primarily to check if they had loved ones there. Because Ansel''s family was already complete¡ªthe greatest subject of envy¡ªhe decided to ''give back'' to society, starting with helping out old friends level up. "You''re really nice for doing this," Tom said, taking down a monster only a level lower than he was with a swipe of his large axe. "Well, what are friends for," Ansel said with a smile. Tom was particularly in need of this because he wasn''t a guard like Artie or Bruno, who managed to get a slot with training with Garan''s team and, now, the aborigine hires. He lived with them so he felt a little left out when he saw their levels shoot up while he leveled up very slowly. Ansel offering to help was really heaven-sent. "Thank you, I really owe you a lot." Bruce and Artie tagged along and also thanked him a lot. Although they had the advantage of being guards, Ansel''s help allowed their slots to be given to newer guards who needed the training more. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were quite ''patriotic'' in this way, believing the combined strength of the guards, and not just their own individual strength, mattered the most. Ansel shrugged, "Well, it trains both of us too," he said, pointing at the dog who was now eating something though, fortunately, it looked like it was something from his space. WOOF! "So cute¡­" Tom chuckled and Fufi, who had heard that he was being complimented, felt goodwill to these people. He immediately stood up and ran towards them, making the ground shake a bit in his movements. At this time Fufi was already level 8, and he was almost as tall on all fours as Ansel standing upright. Although it didn''t bother Ansel at all, it made Tom drop a sweat. Who would feel calm when you see a car running straight at you? "Who''s a good boiii!" Ansel cooed, rubbing the large dog''s head. The dog was obviously enjoying it as his tail was wagging fast enough to serve as a fan. Ansel only rubbed his head and chin even more. "Who''s a goood boii? You areee, you areee!" WOOF! He laughed, taking out a few dried and flavored Gouji berries to place in the dog''s mouth as a treat. (He always had some in his space for Fufi''s treats¡ªFufi really liked it and Ansel liked how scary the dog looked when red juice dripped down his sharp teeth). WOOF! However, while the dog and man were ''flirting'' the dog suddenly froze and stood up, startling the others. He then growled, looking in a direction. The four men naturally increased their guards until Ansel realized the footsteps weren''t monsters. It was human''s. "Hide," he mouthed and immediately the lot of them climbed up the tree. Ansel and the others stopped breathing while they waited for the humans to pass. Soon they heard rustles of leaves and a large group of about ten people passed by, one of whom was even an Aborigine! ba-dump, ba-dump Ansel stopped breathing, afraid to be found. He wasn''t naive enough to think all humans were friends, let alone they were outnumbered and outpowered. What if they were perverts and found him pretty?! He shivered. Clutter, Clutter¡­ The various tangents in his mind were interrupted by the slight sound near his head. Ansel blinked and stiffly turned his face to his side to look at the branch beside him. He almost fell down the branch when he realized that he was face to face with a bird. Small birds like this weren''t actually that uncommon, but they were rarely seen. To survive in this world, they had to be extremely fast and almost invisible. They evolved not to make any sounds as well. In theory, they should communicate via another way. For example, like ultrasonic methods. This was the first time Ansel saw one up close. They really looked a lot like the Terran birds except for some features. They had zoologists in Altera who had just joined the Research Center. The guy''s name was Reddit. He was a foreigner from another continent, but it happened he was in Eden studying the endemic species there, not that there was much biodiversity in their country. One of his favorite features of this land (Xeno) was the birds (other than Fufi, which was the reason why the dog was adventuring more outside lately). As for why he was limited (for now) to the milder species, this was because Reddit still shivered at the mention of the beasts. He was a scientist and had no fighting ability and he had seen death in the mouth of monsters too many times to count, leaving him traumatized. This was a pity because it would be great if he could study the behavior of the beasts. Fortunately, he could still handle the carcasses which was why whole bodies of monsters tended to be brought inside the territory. To the terror of many. Of course, he still forced himself to frequent the training hall so he could meet the territory requirements of fighting. He was still a weak stick though. Anyway, for birds, Reddit had some theories they went along with until they were proven wrong in reality. The creatures theoretically had specially-shaped feathers to dampen the sound of their flight, much like owls back in Terran, though even more pronounced. The texture should be velvety, and their bodies sleek. He looked at the subject in front of him and he had to say that Reddit guy really knew what he was talking about. To be honest, Garan had already mentioned the fact that it would be great to take advantage of birds to send messages, since they were extremely fast and difficult to catch, but so far they hadn''t encountered a way to attract them, let alone train them. The bird looked at him (very creepy without the chirping sound) and he heaved a deep breath. He wasn''t naive to think that he was Snow White who was loved by birds. Birds here were unlikely to be gentle if they were to survive. It tilted its head again and Ansel swore there was a glint of red in there. He realized it was a drop of red as it was eating a red fruit¡ªthe ubiquitous Gouji Berry. The fluid between its beak made the red droop and made it look extra creepy. He wanted badly to go down to the ground, but then the damned group decided to frickin stay there for a bit! There happened to be a small clearing where they were and the group also decided to take a rest there. He was focused on how to not make noise for a while until he began to hear some familiar names from the mouths of the newcomers. "That Vismont place isn''t bad," One man said, "I''m so shocked about the products available!" "The food, custom house, everything is¡­" he whispered, "Even better than back in Fargo¡­" The term made Ansel freeze immediately. Fargo? That horrid territory? They came to Vismont? Ansel knew his sense of direction wasn''t very good but he at least knew that Vismont was somewhere northwest of Altera and Bright. Fargo¡­ according to Garan, was somewhere West. It should have somewhat of an equal distance between Vismont and Bright, much like how Altera was. "What do you think? Are we going to attack it first?" "We should wait until the team who went to Bright finishes up." "Well, I kinda wanted to stay there. The food was really nice." "Well, if we overtake it, we''d have as much as we want!" "My food had been consumed already. Should we just go back to buy more?" One said, "It''s not like it''s far away." "Please, if the level 12 Aborgine isn''t here, you''d be eaten." The two men cursed at each other a bit, obviously having some sort of rivalry going on. Another man sighed, used to their conflict, and decided to shift the topic instead. "Hey, I heard they''re under another village. Named Altera." "Ah, I heard about that too," one said, "Apparently, much of the products came from there." "What? Really?" "Should we go check it out as well, then?" The group looked at each other, greediness glinting in their eyes, and it made Ansel''s blood boil. Altera? So they''re going to Altera now? He was very annoyed, but he kept his body frozen. He was barely even breathing. Unfortunately, luck was never on his side. He felt a bit of wind at the back of his neck. He flinched, turning to see what it was, only to see that there were more creepy birds staring! It was as if waiting for him to mess up! Weren''t birds supposed to be well-hidden? What were they doing watching a good show?! Clutter Clutter "WHO GOES THERE!" Ah, shit¡­ Chapter 413 - 413: A Little Skirmish He immediately threw the pitiful gouji berries he had in his hands to the people below. "What!" He jumped down as the birds dived onto the men, they were fast and when they dived in, it caught every one by surprise. "WHAT!" they yelled, surprised by the red bits on them. But then they felt strong pecks they couldn''t see and they couldn''t help but curse and yell. Immediately they waved around their weapons, not even touching a single avian. Even the level 12 aborigine didn''t hit one. Ansel took advantage of this chaos to go behind the trees and meet up with Tom and the others. He found them when Tom loud-whispered in his direction, otherwise he''d have gone elsewhere. They were apparently behind a rock, barely breathing. It was arguably a better hiding place, but who told him to always take the wrong direction? As for Fufi, he wasn''t there. The dog was very fast, he definitely had gone much farther than they did during this time. Ansel wasn''t worried about him at all, and just looked at the three men who were waiting for instructions. "Let''s go!" he yelled, and he led the group in a direction¡ª Which happened to be nearer the Fargo group of men. "There!" "Shit!" Ansel yelled while the others cursed at their own stupidity. They should''ve known better than to let Ansel take the lead! Immediately, they ran back. To their surprise though¡ª BANG! Tom squeaked when he saw a familiar tiny mark smoking on a tree near him. The others saw it too and cursed. "Fuck! They still have guns!" "Damn!" Although Xeno weapons technically dealt more damage to indigenous species, especially monsters, guns were still better for most Terrans because it was much easier to handle. Humans¡ªeven a high-leveled one¡ªdidn''t have the armor-like skins of most monsters here. Guns¡­ still had a lot of damage against humans after a while. The jerks here were the Fargo men for sure, keeping such weapons that would''ve been almost useless to the current level of monsters. Obviously, the weapons were kept specifically for dealing with humans! Scum! They were definitely up to no good! They should die already¡ªit would save a lot of people the pain of having to deal with them! They wanted to do it themselves, but¡­! BANG! BANG! But how could the four of them go against a dozen men¡ªwith guns no less? Although most of these men were not above them in level, they had an Aborigine with them! A level 12 one! "Damnit!" "We can''t handle them¡ªlet''s go to Bright for help," Ansel said, panting. The others agreed, gesturing to escape with their lives. But how could these men¡ªa lot of whom were bleeding, someone even had his eye bleeding after being pecked by a bird¡ªlet them go unscathed!? They all raised their guns, intent on just shooting regardless of wasted bullets! These intruders had to pay! BANG! BANG! BANG! However, a large figure suddenly appeared in front of them, barely bothered by their guns. Without warning, the creature lunged towards the nearest man, eating his head with a snap of his mouth. CRUCH! The people paled as they watched the headless body fall down, and the head getting chewed then¡­ dropped. It was like it was the most disgusting thing. Then the beige critter attacked another one, but with its paws, and threw him straight to the tree without his consciousness. With the angle of his fall, probably without his life either. "WAIT, WHAT IS THAT!?" "A monster!?" "Ah!!" Immediately, they showered the creature with bullets, while the aborigine took out his Level D weapon. However, the creature was fast and avoided his hits. He ignored the others and focused on him. While he did get a bit injured, no bullet went through all the way. He squeaked a bit though, and he was already bleeding a little from the barrage of bullets. It was around this time that another figure¡ªa silvery one¡ªarrived, taking down several men who were barraging Fufi with bullets. "A wolf?" The commotion naturally reached Ansel and the other''s ears, and just when they were about out of earshot, they heard someone yell "That looks like a giant dog! And a wolf! AHHH!" They paused. Dog? This made Ansel and the others pause and turn around, knowing it was Fufi. Fufi was strong, but he wasn''t invincible! They immediately went to help him out, their weapons raised. It was just that when they arrived, Fufi already had the aborigine below him bleeding profusely. When the Aborigines said they needed to be 5 levels higher than a monster to fight them one-on-one, they really weren''t kidding. They then saw the few other Terran there still shooting in panic, though most of them had no bullets anymore. There were also two men using Xeno weapons to deal with the mystery wolf. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was a beautiful wolf but it was only a little bigger than they knew from Terran. It was obviously not that high-level yet, and it was being damaged a lot by the two Fargo men. They also saw how bloody Fufi was and Ansel and the others cursed, immediately running towards the other Terrans to kill them. Because they were distracted, they were beheaded with ease, not even knowing they were dead until they realized their head was detached from their necks. Then they looked at Fufi who was still fighting with the heavily injured aborigine and watched as he opened his mouth to bite the man''s head off. CRUNCH! In classic Fufi fashion, he then dropped it off his mouth and turned it into a ball again, making it roll down Tom''s feet. Tom gagged and ran to a random shrub. The big man then vomited the contents of his stomach, making Ansel roll his eyes. Two months in this place and this dude was still a softie! However, no one had the mind to tease him, because their attention immediately went to the two bleeding animals. Artie almost cried. What brave cute doggos! Chapter 414 - 414: Girlies "Hello girl, how are you?" Ansel asked the wolf who was shaking and bleeding in a corner, back against a tree. At this time, they already fed Fufi with Althea''s premium potion and because the bullets didn''t embed too much, he healed fully in no time. When they saw this, they were relieved and shifted their attention to the new creature. The wolf growled at him as he approached and Ansel knew it might lunge at him in self-defense. He felt conflicted. He felt bad, but he certainly didn''t want to be bit by those sharp teeth¡­ Fufi made a small sound beside him and he paused, eyes following as the dog approached the wolf who was still growling. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They watched as Fufi took out a bowl of potion from his space and placed it in front of the wolf. Fufi''s ''bottle'' was special for obvious reasons. The potions he had in space were in bowl form, with a cover easy to slide to the side with a boop of his nose. They watched in bated breaths as the wolf just stared at the potion for a while, before it licked it bit by bit, consuming until it was gone. Ansel smiled and wanted to approach but then the wolf suddenly stood up and looked at them guardedly, even at Fufi, though its body language was just a little more submissive. Then¡­ it turned and disappeared, making people wonder how it survived so long in her with its level. ... They arrived to Bright filled with blood about an hour later. It shocked everyone and a lot of gathered around them, Alteran or local, looking at them in worry. "Oi! What''s wrong with you!" A few guards yelled. Turbo ran to them and used his ability, and was relieved to find that none of them were gravely injured. It was other people''s blood. "So, gonna tell us?" "Eh, just a little skirmish," he said, shrugging. "You should''ve seen the other guy." "And the other party is where?" "Dead," the redhead said with a smug smile, patting Fufi''s head, before sliding to the side of his stomach. Knowing a belly rub was about to come, the dog then laid down on his back, welcoming the much-awaited belly-rub. Fufi was huge so Ansel needed his entire arm to have an effect. He didn''t mind though, because Fufi deserved it. "Fufi ate the strong one." "He''s really like a beast and guns didn''t work on him anymore, which is just as well," Tom said next to him, "It''s really¡­ interesting." Ansel nodded, patting the dog''s betty even more. "Good boyyyy¡­ Who''s the best killing machine out there??" WOOF! WOOF! (Translation: Kill! Kill!) Turbo sighed and just shook his head, while Brandon couldn''t help but chuckle. Micheal, who had just arrived, also heaved a sigh of relief. He could not imagine what could happen to him if Ansel got in trouble in his territory! Anyway, seeing as everyone was okay, Micheal looked around and gave Dig a look. The big man nodded and clapped his hand. "Let them have their space now, nothing to see here." With the lord''s orders, the curious crowd dispersed a bit. Ansel thanked them for their worry and said their goodbyes, heading toward their house of stay so they could get cleaned up. Before going, he realized there were a few teens who were staring at them, following their movements every so often. He smiled, looking at the adorable opportunistic teens who were looking for jobs. "Fine, I want at least 5 pails of water from the well," he said, handing them the pay for water, and a few more bits of copper as extra. "I''ll pay more upon successful delivery." "YAY, Thanks, Mister Ansel!" One said. "As handsome as always!" Another one nodded. "We''ll get them to you with little waste!" The last one said, and the three teens scuttled away to do their ''business'' (though not before greeting their half-amused lord as well). Ansel chuckled and they just headed to their home. As he waited for his and Fufi''s water though, he decided to open the topic to the lord while he was here. It was just that before he could say anything, a knock sounded on the door. It was a young woman. She seemed really shy and her face was red as a baboon''s butt. She was a bit familiar, and it took Ansel a while to remember she was one of his good customers back when they were ''pirating''. "Are you alright, Ansel?" she asked, gentle, and he smiled, blinding the girl with his ''beauty''. She only noticed the lord there and gave him a polite greeting as well. "Yes dear, thank you for asking," he said, looking at the potion the girl was shakily holding. "I already healed thanks," he said, "You can keep it in your space for emergencies." "But, I¡­" then she looked at him again, just to make sure. "It''s true," he said, his beautiful eyes fixing on her, making her heart beat even more erratically. "I''d be more at peace to know you have one with you." The girl almost fainted at his words. Fortunately, she didn''t in the end. She just nodded and obediently put the potion back in her space. Before she went away though, she turned again to him, "Uhm¡­ be careful on your w-way back¡­" "Thank you." "I¡­ I''m moving there soon." "Oh?" Ansel brightened, though it was primarily because he was looking at a new taxpayer to fatten his sister''s wallet. The girl misunderstood though and she blushed even more. Unable to handle her heart, she just quickly said her goodbye and scurried away. Ansel chuckled, used to this reaction from women, before turning to the others who were giving him sly smiles. He shrugged (irking some people) and turned to look at the perenially smiling dog next to him. "Anyway, speaking of pretty ladies¡­," he mumbled, looking at Fufi. "What''s with that pretty wolf, eh? What do you think of her?" "Woof! Woof!" Although Ansel couldn''t quite understand what he was saying as Althea could, he could still have a sense of it. He said something along the lines of ''Pretty! Beautiful! Gorgeous!'' "..." He laughed. "Anyway, let''s go get cleaned up and run back to Altera immediately, eh?" Suddenly, his joking expression morphed, and he turned to Micheal who was just about to leave. The man flinched a little under his stare, unused to the sudden serious expression on his face. "Be careful man," he said, "You''ve got enemies in your midst." Chapter 415 - 415: Reporting Altera, a few hours later. When Althea and Garan came home from another training session, the Terran Mercenary team was already there, waiting to report the progress. It so happened that they got back for reporting at approximately the same time, so their villa seemed a little crowded. They waited a while, but they gave the babies some company. For example, sometime before the couple''s arrival, the soldiers playfully passed the kids around, making them laugh althroughout. The soldiers even used their abilities. For instance, the wind users Sammy, Chris, and Brandon made a small breeze that was strong enough to make the babies lift off the ground by a few inches. They giggled and giggled, very much enjoying themselves, and everyone''s hearts turned to puddles. The three happily spent their many making the babies float for a while, making the adults happier in turn. It was just that some time in between, it felt like there was a lag in¡­ gravity? Sammy¡ªthe only one who saw¡ªblinked. He could''ve sworn the baby boy unnaturally stayed a little longer midair, but he shook his head in the end. it must''ve been his imagination. The scene the couple arrived to see was the kids riding a makeshift earth wave made by Mao and Jake. It was like a large piece of slab but was actually segmented every inch or so. It changed heights progressively, like those incremental curves in calculus, mimicking the moving form of a wave. It let the children roll back and forth the edges as if they were on a boat, except their entire body was spinning. It was very cute, and the children rolled happily and was a wonder how they were still not dizzy. Obviously, the kids earned a few godfathers in their team. Garan lowkey wondered when he could throw Alphonse in there. "Ah~ babies are so cute. We need more in the territory!" Mao said, dreamily looking at the babies as if he could get one himself. "I wonder when the twins will have playmates from our side?" Luis mumbled out loud, giving Gill a furtive look. Gill ignored him and went to give the follow-up report for Team A''s Ferrol trip a few days back. "Ferrol Town was filled with visitors, but we made note of territories that would be more of a threat based on observation," Gill said, handing them a list of aggressive territories that were present in the fair. It took them longer because they could only list down the territories back then. A lot of research came from post-research, i.e. information from Oslo, Rowan, and the other aborigines. They took particular note of the territories whose interests Altera may touch based on their products. For example, the Cloth Cities like Makita and Kilpo, as well as the Spice Cities like Holt City. "This is noted, thanks." Next to report was Jake and a few others who went to Belluga. It was quite the good news, too. Apparently, Jake found his young cousin, a twelve-year-old boy named Percy there. Sammy also found Gian''s sister, Samantha. One of the perks of the guards was that up to three direct family members were entitled free stay in the dormitories as well as meal access to the barracks canteen. But, because Gill, Ryo, and Garan''s families had their own homes, it was Percy and Samantha who were the first among the Terran Mercenary Team to have used this benefit. No news about anyone else''s relatives, but as far as they were concerned, no news was not necessarily bad news. The others reported their own findings, like what level of monsters they had encountered in the area and what was the status of the other territories. They were just about to adjourn when the door aburptly opened. "We''re home!" It was Ansel, Turbo, Brandon, and the others. Ansel grinned, smiling at his sister and gesturing to hug her. Garan''s sharp eyes passed by him and he redirected to hug Eagle instead. Eagle: "..." Althea shook her head at him and smiled, "How was Bright?" "The usual," he said, sitting down on the sofa nearby. "Except¡­ Fargo went to Vismont." "What?" Everyone tensed at the mention of the name and they looked intently at Ansel, asking him to continue, "They went to Bright, too, apparently, but we couldn''t tell who they were yet. I did warn Micheal though, and it''s up to him to deal with those buggers." The other soldiers looked at him, "What are they planning?" "They were definitely studying which territory to attack," Ansel said, "I happen to have overheard them before they discovered me." Gill cursed under his breath, while Garan and the others clenched their fists in anger. "It''s just like them to take advantage of this situation." Fargo definitely wouldn''t let it go. They loved chaos, fights, and deaths¡ªwhat better way to maximize this than in wars? What''s more¡­ "Fargo is near the edge, near aborigine territories. It wouldn''t take long until we see Aborgines in the area." "Oh, you''re right." A moment of silence passed. Although they had been preparing for it, Fargo''s appearance was an indicator that things were going faster than they had hoped. They¡­ would probably be going to war very soon. "How long has it been since we transferred here?" Althea asked. "It''s been 48 days¡­" Ansel said, counting. "Why?" "Once the fire of war touches our territory, unless we establish ourselves immediately as superpowers in our ranks, war would be continuous." The flames of war were slowly creeping in their direction, and they were aware of Altera''s attraction. They''d be coveted for sure. After a thought, Althea spoke up, "I just think that 50 days¡­ seem like a milestone." Ansel sat up, absolutely bright. "And enough reason for a celebration! Althea nodded. "We''ll need to ask the other elders about this first though. If approved, it''ll be our last party for the sake of a party." The other ones would be held during major milestones. Ansel was already planning for it, and maybe thinking when the next one would be. For instance, the 100th day (maybe?), the 1st year, and so on. Maybe¡­ every after winning a war? Okay, he admitted it: He just wanted to party. Althea nodded, "Correct." The others didn''t disagree. "They''d need it for sure." Having to fight with brethren wouldn''t be easy¡ªno, it would be painful and disorienting. Some may even meet relatives in the fights. What would happen then? Let this be the calm before the storm¡ªa time of fun and peace for people to look forward to every time they go to war. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 416 - 416: 50th Day Survival Celebration [50 Days since the Migration] It was the fiftieth day since their transfer here, and the entire territory now was in full gear, excited for an upcoming event. These few days of peace passed by without a hitch¡ªeverything went smoothly and, even if there were injuries during training, no one was lost. Of course, Garan''s team had made sure that no one in their team or any of the guards laxed their training. They knew how strong people were outside. Life was good now, but how long would that last without the necessary strength to protect it? Speaking of, the next batch of guards¡ªand not just the soldiers¡ªwas set to leave for Ferrol in a few days. It was actually delayed by a day or two. One, they were really reluctant to part with the goodness of Altera, and another, they heard the territory would hold an event. An Event: This meant parties and food! How could they miss it?! Look: there were even punch bowls where they could get drinks for for FREE! They just had to bring their own cups! Fortunately, the Captain wasn''t too strict or else they''d feel green with envy! A certain beautiful pink-haired woman was also relieved, because it meant she had more time with Brandon. He was finally back ''home''! How torturous was that wait! So now, she was entering Brandon''s personal space, confusing him with her approach. "Let''s eat together!" She said with a bright smile, her pretty pink hair shimmering under the morning sun. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Brandon gave her a weird look. "Why?" "..." The people around them bent over, trying not to laugh out loud. It could be said that despite his handsome and dashing appearance, Brandon only had fighting and weapons in his mind. Nearby, several of his fellow soldiers moved on from his spectacle and started to focus on the food being set up. "Gosh. We could''ve missed this!!" Jake said, judging Turbo who was drooling at the sight of the food getting prepared for the party several meters away. "Naw. Even if the captain disagreed, we just need to beg our sister-in-law to let us stay a few more days." They cackled. Ah, that was true. The wife always got the final say, after all! ¡­ It was the 50th day since the Migration and the Elders jointly agreed to hold the celebratory event. They wanted to make the people celebrate their accomplishments: For surviving so far, for not giving up, and for building a life for themselves. There were also celebrations as the soldiers who came from the other three territories had just returned and had some good news. Other than Jake''s cousin and Gian''s sister, there were in fact a lot more relatives found in other territories. This was because each team brought with them a list of relatives among the Alteran civilians and guards (the former of which had to pay a small amount per name on the list), which in turn was announced in the territory centers of the allied villages. Anyway, back to the celebration itself. The party was organized by Ansel and the twins, with the help of the people from the entertainment industry including Juni and Fable. There was also Danny, a former producer, who volunteered to help¡ªand he was extremely passionate about it. And¡­ more than once he reiterated that he had nothing to do with Ramona and her stupidity. Anyway, within another hour or so, the entire venue was finally completed. They held the event on the large square in front of the village center, setting up a temporary stage lit up by limestone found by Tronie. (They found a bit. Not enough for actual big construction, but fine enough for other uses). The research team made a tube filled with limestone and heated it to a certain temperature. It caused a natural reaction that created some strong lighting produced by the heated calcium oxide. This allowed for some luminescence to light up the stage. They made different tubes. At this time, four ''spotlights'' focused on a single spot on the stage, and one was directed to the person walking towards it. Plenty of awed murmurs echoed throughout the area at this. "So that''s what ''under the limelight'' came about¡­" Leo mumbled, and his twin nodded in agreement. "Learned something new today¡­" Ansel shook his head at the twins, egging them to go listen to the talk. Like that, all those in the backstage watched as the speaker climbed up for her speech. Mathilda stood up on stage, dressed in a beautiful, relatively intricate garb by Andrei, the fashion designer from Bright who had just moved to Altera (and now owned his own store, mind you). "Alterans¡­ thank you for coming to our celebration," she began with a smile. "With a heart filled with gratitude that we are all here, together, we shall celebrate the 50 days of our survival since we have been thrown into this world." Since finding out that most nobles knew about migrations of entire civilizations, they didn''t really bother hiding anything. "I know you have suffered a lot, and everyone has a story. We all had lost people, some even lost a limb or two, but we are alive and well and that is all that matters. Mathilda walked over to another spot on the stage, the lights following her. Her eyes looked into the crowd as if talking to each person individually. "I know everyone has someone they lost. It could be as early as back when we were in Terran, perhaps we lost them here.." "Let us not forget those we lost, their memory lives on¡ªour very lives a reminder of the lives theirs had touched. "However¡­" Mathilda paused, changing her tune, "I know for certain that they are happy to see us finally live stable lives. "In the face of unimaginable uncertainties¡­ we did not just survive, we also thrived. Now we come together as a community, we gather to celebrate this growth. "Let us cherish this moment, savor our camaraderie, and look forward to a future here where we will continue to thrive. "Hence, the territory decided to sponsor this gathering to celebrate life." "Raise your cups to fifty days of survival¡ªto our resilience and indomitable spirits. Raise your cups in memory of those we lost and the past we left behind. And¡ªperhaps most importantly¡ªto that unwavering hope carrying us forward. "Cheers to our future, and whatever it May hold " "CHEERSSS!!" Cheers and a few cries resounded around the stage. Mathilda waited patiently for it to naturally die down. She continued speaking when silence returned. "We are now living life incomparable to how we suffered getting here. "Altera is doing its best to give everyone a stable and comfortable life, all the while doing its best to keep our lives and safeties to the best of its capability." Cheers echoed once again, but this time she raised her hand to stop it. "However¡­ we have to be strong enough to keep it." And, just as quickly as it exploded, the applause paused, leaving the venue in utter silence. She looked at the audience with deep, dark, eyes. "Are you certain? That you, a citizen, an Alteran, would be able to protect our beloved home¡ªwhatever come?" "War is coming soon." She paused. "Is everyone ready?" Chapter 417 - 417: Warnings and Celebrations "Don''t think you are already strong, don''t think that what you''re doing is enough¡ªchances are, it wouldn''t be in the long term, especially when we finally upgrade to Town¡ªan inevitable stage in the territory''s development. "With me is our Elder for Military Affairs. As someone who had led the team for three months upon their arrival¡ªwithout the advantage of a Protection Period¡ªto tell you exactly what you will be up against." Althea watched as Mathilda called Garan onto the stage. Garan decided to take this opportunity to bring everyone in the loop about what they could face. While the aborigines undoubtedly answered honestly when asked and the territory was never stingy with information, there were stark differences in their perspectives that their people may not have truly absorbed. There might also be cases where the Aborgines simply didn''t think it needed to be said. For instance, they might think of some dangers as common sense and didn''t think to make a warning. Primarily, aborigine territories. There were things and concepts they had been born with, which their Terrans would struggle to understand by instinct. People generally knew about beast tides by now, and a lot of people had been privy to the existence of territorial wars. However, not enough people understood the implications. For Alterans, the journey had been much smoother than others. For those who arrived early, they''d argue it was too smooth. This was a double-edged sword. Even with all the warnings and training Altera implemented, these people would understandably be a bit complacent in their cores. Garan and the others doubted they truly understood how weak they were against the outside world. Perhaps they ''knew'' they were weaker, but how much did they truly understand? It was still the best to hear from the perspective of fellow Terrans. Especially¡­ they had already welcomed their first Aborigine guests. There would only be more. The ones they had now were friendly, sure, but it was only a matter of time before they welcomed hostile parties. They had not forgotten Bart''s warning at all, and they could only prepare so much against unknown enemies. While her eyes were on her husband, Althea looked at the current status of the territory, determining how much they still had to do in order to prepare for the inevitable conflicts with strong aborigine territories. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 1915 (503 permanent, 1412 temporary) Total Population: 4324 Base Resources: Wood: 12300/20000 Stone: 9200/15000 Money: 13731 Gold, 19699 Silver, 998699 copper Reputation: 190 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx2 Building Slots: 7/9 (+2)] She also made a mental summary of the top levels in her territory, not including the aborigines. Level 22: 1 Level 19: 4 Level 18: 8 Level 17: 2 Level 15: 1 Level 9: 8 Level 8: 78 Level 7: 315 Level 6: 843 "Just a bit more.." she mused, and their levels wouldn''t be too far from fellow villages. Against towns though, they''d need a bit longer. She ought to determine ways to keep herself from upgrading until they were ready. Her attention was brought back when she heard his familiar voice echo across the area. Garan stood tall, gravitas keeping everyone''s apt attention on him. He was handsome, tall, firm, and very very intimidating. The people were reminded what kind of man led the military strength of the territory. After all, when the public saw him, it was outside the barracks with Ms. Althea. How approachable he was with her, how scary he was when he stood as a soldier. "A lot of you already know my team and I have been struggling in this continent for a few months¡­ and I am here to tell you what we will be facing next. He told them the horrors of territory wars. While the population had been informed about its existence, it was never really detailed. The Aborigines saw it as a way of life already, not seeing much worth to tell. "In wars, we will be going against fellow humans¡ªintelligent creatures with similar features, walking on two feet, two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Unlike beasts, they had brains, strategies, and the accompanying sinister minds. "It could be harsher because you may lose your life under the hands of your own kind¡ªas if the monsters outside was not dangerous enough for them. "They will aim to kill you, if not turn you into slaves. I''m sure you know that the losing territory would give up part of its population, all of whom would automatically be designated as slaves¡ªhumans with no will of their own." "It could be once a month, once every few months if we''re lucky. But¡­ if a territory is attractive it could be as often as twice in a month. "Look around you, brethren, see what you have. Tell me: Is it¡ªour Altera¡ªnot attractive?" Silence. No one could speak for a while, absorbing his words, the implications slowly dawning down on them. Because Altera was, indeed, attractive¡ªincredibly so¡ªand they would definitely be attacked often. "Villages generally had level 10 forces, level 8 at best. For towns, it is twice of this. "If they target our home, would we be able to defend if?" Garan did not speak, and let the listeners absorb this information. After several beats, he finally opened his mouth, a baritone voice echoing across the square. "Do you like Altera?" "YES!" "Then together, we will protect it." Wild cheers echoed in the square. This time, there was no cold water dousing it. Their propaganda inspired all the guards, aspiring-guards, and citizens alike. "We will be hiring another 100 guards and every guard above level 10 will receive more benefits and wages than the others." As he said so, the familiar ding resounded inside everyone''s minds. [Hiring! Guards [Wages: [Level 5-9: 500 copper/day + 100 contribution points Level 10-15: 1000 copper/day + 300 contribution points Level 16 and above: 50 silver/day + 500 contribution points + conditional Permanent residency (after 3 months probation) +Automatic promotion [One set of complete and well-fitting equipment per month is provided for free.] More and more cheers resounded. "In addition, we will also be pioneering a new program for everyone. If you wish to increase your pace of growth, the territory has established teams to assist you." "Some of you may already know. The lifespans of stronger people would be much higher. Level 10s tend to have more than 150 years, as long as they didn''t have an accident, and this will only increase as one leveled up." On cue, another announcement sounded in their minds. [Level-carrying Program Level 1-5: 10 silver for every 8 hours Level 5-10: 1 gold for every 8 hours. ] "This program will let non-guards strengthen themselves as well," he said. After all, the current program focused on the guards. Now that all of the guards had spiked in levels, it was time to distribute their time to the others as well. "We expect everyone to grow stronger¡ªonly when every one is stronger, will our Altera be strong as well." ¡­ Mathilda smiled at the atmosphere, and after allowing some moments of solemnity, decided to lighten it up due to the occasion. She took the amplifying cone again, this time with a smile. "But before we go full force in strengthening our home¡­ let us celebrate it first!" The party went in full-swing the next moment, with different prototype instruments sounding. Although the quality was not nearly as good as they were used to, the effect was enough. The aborigines were absolutely fascinated by the combination of sound, light, and energy. They even started moving a bit, and Troy immediately guided Brenda to dance in a little corner. On another side, exclamations about the food were the ones resounding. "Wow, this food is delicious!" S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Amazing!" "I need more!" "HEY! Line up!" The food was of controlled buffet style, with around three starters, six viands, rice, pasta, and two desserts. They didn''t put out a lot of alcohol either, just some juice, afraid people would get too drunk to keep the next day productive. While the party was ongoing, Cassandra unconsciously went to look for a figure to see him watching her as well. Their hearts stopped and they both blushed a bit, looking back to their own groups who were celebrating in their own way. The only difference from a moment ago was that there was a little tilt in their lips now. Gill''s group¡ªthe soldiers¡ªwere mostly eating while the more upbeat ones like Mao, Sammy, and Luis were doing weird dances. Sammy was doing something like the robot (except it was more awkward) while Luis and Mao were doing hip hop (or something of the sort). The new aborigines were much more modest, with the maids and guards nodding with the sounds, while many of the older ones like Clutch had already danced with the Terran locals as soon as the music started to play. Their eyes were wide as they listened to the opening songs, admiring the lights in stark contrast to the night sky. It was fascinating. They wondered if there were people outside the territory that could see it. In towns and larger territories, an infrastructure option of prolonged torches was introduced. These towns could also build towers with fires that only needed wood or gold to maintain, and there was also the optional luxury lighthouse. But their current territory¡ªa village¡ªwas able to build something similar, without having to buy these luxuries. They also had never seen something like a spotlight before, and they were all staring at it with fascination. Ansel and the twins'' smiles widened at their reactions, knowing that their future plans for the Entertainment Industry would rake them some money. Of course, the Terrans were no less amazed. "We could place this on the sky sometimes¡­ like Batman." They heard some people mumble beside them. "It would definitely attract more people to come." "Batmen." "He-he." "I wonder how many people is required to trigger the Town upgrade." "I heard the requirements to become a Town is huge! Fortunately, anyone who''s been to Altera is likely to stay." They didn''t know how things would change when they became a town, but seeing the village celebrate like this¡­ made them feel incredibly hopeful! Chapter 418 - 418: Dazed Soon the music turned more and more upbeat and deafening screams resounded, with everyone turning their heads to the stage as they filled their mouths with food. "FABBBLLLLLEEEEEE!! Kyaaaaa!!" "We love youuuu!!!" "Wook hwere Fwabbleee!!" "HEY! Don''t splatter food on me!" "Oh sworry." "Be my husband!!!!! I promise to feed you. Kyaaaaa!!!" "JUNI!!" "Goddess!!" "Juni! Juni! Juni!!" "Fable!" Understandably, it was quite boisterous. The finale among the line of fun shows was a duet of Fable and Juni, some of the biggest stars in Eden before the Apocalypse. It was also interesting how, before performing, they reiterated that they were never a couple, and never will be. "He''s like a brother to me!" Juni said and Fable quipped very quickly. "She''s like a scary snake to me!" Everyone laughed. Their song was a famous piece back in Terran. It won the songwriter¡ªbless his zombiefied soul¡ªa handful of awards. It was a lively song with a soft ballad at the bridge. A lot of people sang the songs and even the Aborigines, who could not understand a word, hummed along. It was quite nice and the atmosphere was amazing. Even Gill was nodding his head a bit. But then the woman on stage set her eyes on him, staying there, before looking at the rest of the crowd. Gill didn''t think too much about it and just watched. "This next song¡­ I want to dedicate to all those who loved and wished to love¡­," she said, and on cue, the music became slower. Fable played the flute in a less-center position on the stage, leaving most of the spotlight on the beautiful auburn-haired woman. The song was a lovely ballad that spoke of a couple''s life together, the endless promises, and the happy family to be built. It was a memorable and familiar song to him, so unconsciously Gill''s eyes softened a bit as he listened. It was an old song most were familiar with as well, so a lot of people sang along. When it ended, applause resounded, and they asked for more. "Encore!" "Yes, Encore!!" "Juni, pleasseee!" "Hmm¡­ well, if you say so," she said with a pretty smile, receiving hoots and cheers from the audience. "This one though, I want to dedicate to a specific person." The woman sang another love song¡ªbut a decidedly sadder one. It started with one of happy memories, to bittersweet ones, to finally the day it ended. /I never meant to cause you pain, but I messed up and I take the blame/ /I know I let you down and I broke your trust, I''ll do what it takes to make it right. Just give me one more chance¡­ and I''ll make it right./ Gill''s eyes narrowed a little at the lyrics, a feeling of dread suddenly occupying his gut. Sure enough, as soon as Juni stopped singing¡ªand before the applause exploded¡ªher sights fixed on him and yelled into the cone amplifier. "I love you Gill! Come back to me!!" There was silence, and then a roar of cheers and hooots. "Whooooo is that lucky bastard my goddess sang to?!" "Wowwww!" "Wait¡­ boss Gill!?" "OHH, wait! A roommate of mine is a guard and he seems to have overheard somewhere that boss Gill was Juni''s ex! I didn''t believe him before! Damn!" "HOLY GOUJI BERRY!" But all these cheers rang muted in his ears as his eyes automatically looked for another woman¡ªa woman of unique purple hair and eyes. His heart dropped when he saw Cassandra, who had gone completely pale, not noticing the woman on stage was the same. ¡­ Shortly after the end of the party, Gill found Cassandra in her room at the inn. She was bitterly packing up her luggage. She did not halt despite the noise he made opening the door entering. It was either she was too engrossed in her task or she was purposely ignoring him. It was definitely the latter. Although the rooms had their safety access requirements, Cassandra had fortunately allowed his access during the duration of her stay. It could''ve only been him or her maids who entered. He heaved a deep breath and walked next to her. He stood an arm''s length away. "It''s been over between us for years." She frowned and packed the cloth in her hand with much more force. "I saw how intensely you watched her sing. She¡ª" "Let me explain¡ª" "Go! Go away!" How she ran after him like a classless woman¡ªhow heartbroken she was now to see him watch a beautiful woman sing to him! If he said it was a force of habit, would it make her feel better? It wouldn''t! His heart broke at her reddish eyes and he just wanted to simply dip his head to capture her mouth instead of explaining. And he did. Slap! "Do you think a kiss would make me forget?" She yelled, "Did you think that because I love you, you can just do whatever and I will not mind?!" To think she learned this from that woman¡ª But it didn''t matter: Because she was right. She didn''t deserve this! "You''re too arrogant!" She spat, pointing at the door with teary eyes. "GET OUT!" ______ The next day, forests East of Altera "Help! OI¡ªHELLPPPP!" Baron yelled, with a monster''s smelly mouth near his face. He squeaked like a pig and it was only now that Gill''s attention was taken back. Gill shook off his distraction and threw a lava ball at the monsters. It roared loudly in pain, soon becoming debilitated enough that the civilian team killed it with relative ease. "Gill, I know your love life''s a bit messy right now, but I don''t want to die!" Baron yelled, unafraid. He was a man who had been doing business for years. Not to mention, next to Althea, he also held a huge pie in the economy of Altera. Most people may be intimidated by Gill, but he wasn''t. Hey, especially when he found out about the interestingly messy love triangle this guy was currently embroiled in. ''He''s no mythical vampire with an acerbic tongue! He''s just like us!'' he had said to his cousins when they found out about this tea-worthy news. Gill was obviously guilty, and Baron definitely hit home with his guess. So instead of a snide remark, Gill actually apologized to him. "Ah, sorry." Baron almost fainted. Ah, he made the acerbic vampire apologize! He would treat his people to some barbeque later. His cousins Bianca and Joe, who were training with him, couldn''t help but poke him with their elbows. "Should you annoy him so much?" Who didn''t know how this dude destroyed people with his words? There was a girl who wanted to date him, and he told her bluntly that she was ugly. That girl cried for days. Baron, however, was unfazed. "It''s fiinneee." He turned to look at the aforementioned man and almost laughed. "Look, look!" He whispered to his cousins, pointing at the handsome Gill staring into nothingness. "He''s in a daze again." ¡­ As soon as there was no danger and there was no fights, Gill''s mind immediately floated to the events of the previous night¡ªreplaying, wondering what he should''ve done differently. He admitted that he was very bad at relationships and he truly liked Cassandra and did not want to end things with her at all. He should''ve held on her shoulder and stayed, no matter how much she yelled at his face to buzz off. He should''ve looked her in the eye and explained. Women tended to overthink things¡ªhe should''ve explained more rather than shut the conversation with a kiss! If anything, that might''ve made it worse! But could he be blamed? If it was the other way around¡ªif he was the one kissed¡ªhe''d have definitely lost a lot of his anger! But¡­ he shouldn''t have thought that way. He shouldn''t have made assumptions about her¡ªnot only was she a woman, she was a woman from another world. He should''ve understood there was still much to learn about her. ¡­he should''ve known what could hurt her, instead of thinking she''d be fine with whatever he gave her. He should''ve told her: the first song Juni performed was my parent''s favorite song. His father often sang that song to his mother when he was still alive. It was always played during their anniversaries and birthdays. He should''ve admitted to her that looking at Juni reminded him of his happy, innocent, youth¡­ which was something he unconsciously gravitated towards after all this chaos. But¡­ that was like watching a show from one''s childhood¡ªa little nostalgia for his past. That meant nothing else. It was like smiling at a childhood show because it reminded you of the carefree times back then, but it didn''t mean he would give up everything he had and achieved to return to those times Most importantly: He should''ve told her¡­ that their lives was still so long¡ªstill a hundred years more at least¡ªthat he wanted to try exploring more of it with her. But it was too late, because Cassandra already ran away to Ferrol. ... ____ Announcement (Feb 22 2024) Hi guyss I dunno if you noticed but, for now, I wouldn''t be doing the update reduction to 5x/week! Why, you ask? Because you angels are too awesome! S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Despite my lowered update rates from last year''s 14-16 chaps/week to this year''s 8-10chaps/week I''m still getting so much support from you! I still get golden tickets and still achieve some win-win/privilege goals (though the ranks have understandably lowered a few). So... Thank you! Because of this, for as long as I can, even if I have to crawl-type, I will NOT be reducing the updates any less than now. Love you, Alterans! Chapter 419 - 419: Team B back to Ferrol [51 Days after The Migration] At this time, a group of guards with about 20 members was heading to the nearby town of Ferrol as per their mission. Ryo swung his water whip against three monsters, tiring them before he released his weapon to finish it off. Similarly, the non-aggressive water wielder Turbo, assisted the others by suffocating monsters with his skills, before using his own weapon for damage-dealing. Jake thanked him and stabbed the monsters in their weak spots, dealing with multiple low-level monsters with ease. After clearing up their area, the men heaved a deep breath, before turning in the direction of a certain aborigine castaway, who was stabbing monsters to her heart''s content. Stab! Stab! Stab! The cringed. "Are you sure you''re coming with us? Alone??" Jake asked, though slowly stepping away from this side even if there were a few more monsters there. "We''re only an hour away, perhaps¡ª" Without answering, Cassandra swung another sword, beheading the level 5 monsters right in front of her. He cringed again. The woman was definitely venting. She wasn''t even gaining any experience or copper from these monsters anymore. Anyway, neither Jake nor Turbo could talk further as more and more monsters approached them. They continued to clear out the monsters except for the weaker ones who were given to the guards and civilians they were with. At this time the Terran Mercenary Team B¡ªconsisting of Turbo, Jake, Brandon, Ryo, Loki, and Reuben¡ªwas heading to Ferrol with about ten guards including the uncle-nephew duo Helios and Hugo, and about a dozen well-chosen civilians. By well-chosen, it naturally meant those who could somewhat defend themselves and would be able to interact well with the aborigines from Towns. One of them was Bull, who was one of the leading businessmen in Altera. He owned one of the water transportation companies and made money with tours as well as transportation of items from each end of the river chord within Altera grounds. At this time, he was also garnering a lot of experience with this mob and he was about to level up¡ªthey hadn''t even reached Ferrol yet! He was so very happy. His Lulu would be so proud of him! Anyway, during the fighting, one or two of the Terran Mercenary Team had more or less tried to convince Cassandra to go back. They happened to have seen the depressed state of boss Gill last night. They ought to help him out, right? This was mostly due to the goodness of their hearts and loyalty to their friend. It has nothing to do with Gill being so annoying at all! (Jake couldn''t help but remember the previous night when everyone was called for a little after-party in the villa, Gill pretty much insulted quite a few people¡ªthat jerk called his hair Gugu bird coop!) "We''re still a few hours away¡ª" Jake added, insisting, but was cut off by Cassandra stabbing a monster with a lot more strength than necessary. She stabbed it again for good measure before turning her head in his direction. "Do you think I''m an idiot?" she asked, the light of her Class C sword particularly sharp. The men cringed. "...no, of course not Miss Cassandra." Jake mumbled as he blocked an attack with his earth spike, "It''s just that boss Gill didn''t sleep at all last night¡­" "Liar!" The violet-haired woman clicked her tongue before turning her head back to the monsters. As they fought though, Cassandra''s mind couldn''t help but float a bit, the words echoing in her mind as she slashed. "Then why do you think he¡ªnevermind. I should know better by now¡ª" She stopped herself and just focused on the fight at hand, her sword swung to another monster that unfortunately came her way. She even turned the creepy things into eunuchs, before ending their suffering. Everyone cringed for their lives. After venting, she heaved a sigh, partially calming down, "Rather than me, Brandon should go back." The blonde flinched. "Huh? Me?" Cassandra gave him a look. She had planned to go early that morning but, by coincidence, she found out that the men would be going to Ferrol. She asked her guards to accompany Veronica, while she joined the Terran''s party. She didn''t want her own guards anyway, she felt freer without them. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, when she saw everyone heading to Ferrol she was startled. Imagine her surprise when she saw Brandon among them! If Veronica found out her Brandon disappeared again, she''d be so depressed! "Veronica!" "What about her?" Cassandra looked at the clueless prat and she wanted to groan in depression! Stupid Men!! ¡­ The group moved on and continued to travel towards Ferrol, encountering more monster mobs along the way. Naturally, the closer they got to the town, the stronger the surrounding monsters were as well. As they traveled, Cassandra showed off that she wasn''t just the demure (and an avid Gill admirer) that they thought she was. Despite being a woman, she really could fight to some degree, definitely miles ahead of most Aborigine non-fighters at this level. At this time, she jumped sideways to avoid an attack, flexibly handling her sword to take down its weak spot, killing it. It was only six levels lower than she was, and it was impressive for a normal woman to kill it with one shot. The soldiers knew this and after dealing with their own enemies, whistled, impressed. The other guards also worked together, and they often expressed their admiration. "Amazing Ms. Cassandra!" "If you don''t want sir Gill, be mine instead!" Cassandra, despite everything, found herself smiling a little, her anger subsiding just a little bit. All these compliments felt good. Not only for venting but also for attention. Before, it was only her beauty and status that attracted men, now it was the skills she worked hard for! It felt so much better receiving them! Of course, her heart was still on Gill (unfortunately), but a woman sometimes needed some validation! Some more experienced soldiers saw this and knew the woman softened a bit. It could be said that this chaos could''ve been avoided. "Wow, Gill really wasn''t able to handle it well, huh? This got so much bigger than it should''ve been." Turbo said and Jake nodded. For some reason, he missed Yiyi a bit. "Well, boss Gill really had low EQ. His default was to say hurtful words." "Elder Mathilda must''ve taken all the EQ in the family." They cackled, taking down a few monsters that came their way. On one side, the uncle-nephew duo were also dealing with their own small mob. They were already at the peak of level 8 and maybe they''d reach level 10 after staying in a town for a bit. Hugo used the "Cyclone Guard" skill and Helios followed it with his "Aetherwave slash" and together they dealt with the small mob with relative ease. At some point, the duo ended up near Cassandra. It so happened that Cassandra''s techniques fit well with Helios'' attack. She would parry and Helios would swing, and the monster would be especially confused and easily dealt with. "Thank you¡­" Helios said and she smiled, and the slight chemistry sent alarm bells to the pro-Gill party. "Ohhh shit!" But alas! They couldn''t go between there at this time, right? Turbo let out a water rope and tied up several monsters at once¡ªeven for just a second¡ªbut it was enough for his companions to behead the monsters only a few levels lower than they were. Brandon threw his shield propelled by his wind element to kill one, Ryo waved his spear, which let out a sharp fountain of water to extend its reach even further, and then the bald Reuben also took down one with a similar technique with his sword. Loki was on a tree shooting any leaks, all the while making sure to be aware of their surroundings, and giving out appropriate warnings as needed. The group continued to fight and clear the mobs they encountered. Sometime later, they heard a rushed voice approaching them, and they naturally went on a defensive stance. However, it was soon revealed to be a friendly party. "Cassandra!!" The familiar voice yelled and everyone''s tense shoulder relaxed. Except for Cassandra''s which got tenser instead. The two of them just stood a few meters apart and stared at each other, completely oblivious to their team that was clearing the surrounding mob, splashing some blood on their shoes. While they stayed in their own universe, they observed every detail of the other. Gill saw that she was still so beautiful and unharmed, and he could tell the blood on her wasn''t hers by her stance. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Similarly, Cassandra stared back. She could see that he was a bit injured as he went to follow them in a rush, and her heart softened into a puddle. Of course, she didn''t say or show this. At least, that was what she tried to show. It was just that Gill saw how her shoulders slumped and how her lips tilted upwards. He smiled and walked over, gently holding her hand. "Come back with me, okay?" She frowned and tried to pull her hand away, something she failed to do. "I''m sorry, I''ll explain everything okay?" Cassandra blinked and looked at him, as if considering. After several tense moments, she finally nodded. The others watched on, hooting. This was totally drama-worthy! Boss Gill was definitely the male lead in his own sappy novela! Chapter 420 - 420: Teams to Allied Territories In Vismont, the Terran Mercenary team members were also receiving quite the excitement from the locals of Vismont. After all, they had seen very few Elementalists¡ªonly Rowan¡ªlet alone fellow Terrans! How inspiring that was! It all started when a group of monsters started attacking the walls again. Naturally, Vismont had learned from the past and hired all NPCs they could, regardless of their occupation. After all, even the most useless occupation would have levels higher than theirs. This was how they managed to defend the territory somehow, albeit not as effectively if they hired fighters. Anyway, they were struggling and were running out of wood and stone to repair the walls when a group of about 30 people came and killed the monsters. It was incredibly valiant. It was led by two unfamiliar men¡ªone with auburn hair and gentle eyes and a chubby black-haired man with slit for eyes. However, they could tell that they were Terrans¡ªincredibly strong ones, too! This was Chris and Mao of the Terran Mercenary Team, already out and about after coming from Ferrol. Although Team B had indeed gotten there to get information, there wasn''t much drama at the time and none of them saw their skills. Not to mention, they were very low-key because they were in a rush¡ªthey just wanted to find their relatives and friends. Now, Vismont was being attacked by mobs and their citizens now had the fortune of watching fellow Terrans use their skills. It was the first time the people of Vismont saw Elementalist Terrans! They watched as Chris waved his sword and a slash of wind was created, cutting a level 8 monster in half! Too amazing! Anyway, their assistance naturally increased the momentum of Vismont''s fighters. One of them happened to be an aborigine, a newly hired carpenter named Koli. He was a level 12 and was asked by the lord to fight for some extra gold. He happened to really need money. He was one of the strongest there too so he could really feel the pressure. Now, with more fighters around, he could fight with less worry. Unfortunately, he became complacent too quickly, because soon he found himself surrounded. "AHH!" he yelled, trying to go back but there was already a monster there. He was fortunate that he was still near a sentry so one was killed before it ate him up, but there were soon many more surrounding him. "Oh my gosh! Help him!" Someone from the battlement yelled, trying to fire an arrow but it simply didn''t reach far enough. Koli swore his life passed by his head¡ªhis lackluster life of going village to village, single, with no children¡ªand the many regrets that came after. However, Chris came and created a wind blade before running to the monster and stabbing it in the eye. "WOW! AMAZING!" Unexpectedly, the excitement made the archer lose his damned footing and he fell down the battlement. GYAAAAA!! He heard screams from the other archers near him yelling, "HELP HIM!" Though the wall wasn''t even that tall, he naturally fell down early. Bam! He felt himself hit a surface but not as hard as he expected. He then realized he was sliding down¡ªhead first¡ªto the safety of the ground. He lifted his head and saw an earth slide that seemed to have caught him. "Focus!" Mao yelled, adding another wall to give him enough time to catch himself. He squeaked immediately running to the gates which was fortunately not too far away. This was all seen by the people in the 3-meter tall battlement. "Amazing!!" "This is too awesome!" The non-elementalist guards from Altera were also impressive. Even the relatively new ones like the dark-skinned Joe and the yellowish Lee¡ªClutch''s neighbors¡ªwere impressive. At this time, they were fighting monsters of the same level without gaining substantial damage. It was hard to believe that only a couple of months ago, Joe was an accountant and Lee was a sculptor. Of course, their former fields weren''t wasted. Or rather, the management didn''t let it. Joe was one of the people in charge of the military''s accounting matters, while Lee was noted to have a part-time job of sculpting once material was available. Most of the civilians who came for the leveling program were also mostly on the brave side. Led by the crow trio, the adults didn''t have the face to act too spoiled. "It''s the Alterans! I know them! Hey! That one immigrated when we visited Altera!" S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Everyone is so strong now¡­" "Did you see that? Isn''t that Dog? He''s handling a Level 5 monster by himself!!" "What!" "I was obviously stronger than him before!" "I told you we should''ve moved to Altera!" "But we already bought a house!" Anyway, there was a mix of regret and admiration in the commentary. One thing was a constant thought: Altera is really amazing! ¡­ After the mobs were settled, the Alterans who went to Vismont naturally didn''t miss the chance to earn easy money. They set up stalls in practiced efficiency, and their items were sold out quickly after. They even got more than they asked, because the citizens were so thankful for their rescue. As they packed up, Crow couldn''t help but notice a middle-aged woman walking around in a daze. She had dirty clothes and uncombed hair. But she was holding bread in her hands and nibbling on it as she walked absentmindedly, seemingly dazed the whole time. Crow looked at the woman, thinking she looked quite familiar. "Oi, what are you staring at? You look creepy," Dog said which earned him a pinch in the stomach. "OUCH! You¡ª" But Dog ate his words when he saw Crow''s face was still serious and he pointed at the woman he was staring at in particular. "Don''t you think she''s familiar?" he asked, and it just confused Dog, who really didn''t know the woman. And¡­ looking at her closely, the woman didn''t seem to be in the right mind? "It seems like she''s a bit¡­ you know¡­" Dog mumbled, subtly pointing at his head. Crow rolled his eyes and Sunny kicked him for being insensitive. Anyway, the conversation also caught Sunny''s attention who also came to take a look. "You''re right. I just think I''ve seen her somewhere." Crow immediately grabbed an acquaintance''s arm, pointing at the woman. "Do you know her?" "Her name is Jane Yu, I think. She''s got to family here¡ªyou alright?" Jane Yu¡­ It took a second for it to dawn on the three young adults and they stared at each other with wide eyes. George and Koo''s mother! Chapter 421 - 421: Finding More Relatives "Tell us more about what you know!" Dog said, grabbing the friend''s arms. "Alright, alright, fine. Calm down," he said, patting his shoulders, "Ah, it hurts, I might not be able to go hunt today¡­" A few silver pieces manifested in front of him and he took them all with a smile. "I know her because we were refugees together. She was fine and sane, but then Higson''s men took interest in her and tortured her to the point she became like¡­ that." The man mumbled with a sneer. Dog shook his head. "The lord really has a lot to make up for." Sunny looked at their friend, "And then? How has she been living until now?" "She just wonders around, basically. We just feed her occasionally but who can care for her beyond that? Everyone else has their own problems. "That''s all I know," he said, before going away. The trio looked at each other with extremely heavy hearts. She was familiar because she reminded him a lot of Koo. They looked a lot too. They didn''t know Koo or George before so even if they did encounter their mother in the rescue, they wouldn''t have placed her at all. But now¡­ What a tragic family¡­ And Crow¡­ couldn''t help but think that everything would''ve still been a happy ending had George been alive! It was his fault¡ª "Hey man, what are you thinking about again? I could feel your dark atmosphere from a meter away." Dog said, patting his shoulder. Similarly, Sunny also wrapped her arms around him in comfort. "It''s okay," Sunny said, very gentle, knowing that Crow had been fighting depression since George''s death, and he was only still alive thanks to his sense of responsibility with Koo. "There''s us! We''re taking care of Koo, and it''s only right to take in their mother as well!" This indeed shook Crow out of his dark thoughts, some light finding his eyes again. That''s right: it didn''t matter. They would take care of her, too, in place of George. With decided hearts, they approached the woman who was slowly walking around the territory without a particular direction. However, as they approached Sunny immediately stopped her two friends. "Wait!" She said, and they both looked at her in puzzlement. She heaved a deep breath. "You''re strangers! Strange men!" "Ah, right." So, in the end, it was only Sunny who approached, as they knew victims of abuse didn''t do well with interacting with men¡ªespecially strange ones. Sunny increased her pace so she could stand well in front of the woman, as if they just encountered somewhere along the way. "Hello there, Miss!" Sunny said with a smile, but there was no response. "Hello, we''re friends of Koo!" Sunny said, "Would you like to come with us?" There was not much response, but the mention of the name did make her head tilt up a bit. Sunny saw this as a good sign and continued speaking, "Koo is our roommate! We actually already moved to a very good house in our very good territory. We would love it if you joined us! The woman just stared at her, blinking, but she could tell there was a slight light in her eyes. It was heartbreaking to look at. Sunny slowly placed her hand on the older woman''s and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn''t pull back. Sunny smiled and looked at her friends, who had been watching the whole thing from the side. She then brought the woman to them, gently introducing them as Koo''s friends, not daring to mention George at all. The woman looked at them, lips ever-so-slighty tilting upwards. Crow sighed, looking at the woman in pity. If she had landed in another territory, would she have been fine? Would she rightfully shout at him for causing her son''s death instead of smiling at him like this? So many people, including him and the lord here, had wronged this woman. He could only pray she recovered somehow, for the sake of her only son. ¡­ Similarly, Billy the Mason also found his brother via the village center. It was a super dramatic reunion. Ben was a newly arrived refugee and was barely making ends meet in the slums. After all, he invested all his money in that other territory. Now, he was dirt poor. He was gathering some wood to sell when his brother''s announcement came. [Billy Kim from Z City Community A Building B is looking for his family and friends. Please come to the Village center. I will stay here for 3 hours] He dropped everything he was holding, and he ran even faster than when he was escaping from monsters. ¡­ Another find was interesting because the relative wasn''t with them at all. They found Chucky, Honey Guevara''s son. The man saw how the newcomers made announcements and found their relatives in Vismont. Chucky felt envious and spent all his remaining money to make the announcement as well, hoping to find a relative¡ªwhether it was in Vismont or in Altera. Of course, since he knew the Alterans didn''t know him at all, he specified his mother''s name instead, hoping the visitors had heard of her. As for why he didn''t just approach them in person, he had a major case of social anxiety and he could barely talk directly to people at all. Fortunately for him, she was indeed familiar with the newcomers. His mother''s name was relatively well known in Altera due to her contributions¡ªand the Alterans were quick to contact him. He had asked very worriedly how his mother was¡ªa very torturous task for someone with his condition. He hoped for the best, but his pessimistic self couldn''t help but imagine his mother''s suffering. He¡ªa big, adult, man¡ªsuffered so much. What more of his mum? Unexpectedly, though¡­ "Your mom¡­ is pretty rich now. Don''t worry about her." "What?" "Eh, it''s hard to explain. Just know she''s doing well." "What do you do?" "My mother and I had a farm back in Terran. I was often tasked with training the cows." Was this someone who could train the broats to pull carts?! The male ones, at least! It wasn''t that no one tried. But the broats¡­ were incredibly stupid!! No one could train them at all! They couldn''t do anything but just stand there and be milked! S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They even tried to get Gochi, the half-orc, to make it follow (because in movies they thought orcs could handle beasts better). They were apparently racist assumptions because, sadly, the critters ended up running for their lives instead. Obviously, orc blood had a very distinct effect on domesticated animals. Anyway, with this guy, maybe this time they could finally get some luck?? Were they finally gonna get animals of labor? Chapter 422 - 422: Teams to Bright Territory At this time, the Terran Mercenary''s Team A-2 was on its way to Bright Territory with 20 guards and civilians for training. Team A-2 consisted of Luis, the pretty boy fire swordman, and Sammy the wind archer. Well, technically, there was also Eagle. But he was somewhere else, having a private training session somewhere East. Anyway, the two of them were enough for today''s purpose, especially as the twenty guards with them weren''t bad, and for the most part they were training hard and gaining a lot. One of the guards with them was Amos, who was a rare A-potential guard, and was a subject for special training. It was estimated he''d have enough merit to climb to captain by the next beast tide, which was saying a lot for such a young lad. Everyone knew this, and his family had already tried to take advantage of it. Thus, the only peeve with bringing him: He brought his family as part of the civilian team! They were oriented very clearly that this was training and not babysitting but, apparently, they didn''t get the memo. "I have a wound!!" A slightly chubby man yelled, lifting his arm that had a small slash with a bit of blood. Considering where they were and how weak he was, this gash was absolutely nothing. His name was Alon, Amos'' step-brother about two years younger than he was. The chubby lad was showing it to Amos with an indignant expression on his face. "Why didn''t you make it weaker?!" "It only had 1 working limb left. If it couldn''t move at all when you deal with it, then you wouldn''t have grown," Amon answered impassively, "I protected you enough." It wasn''t even a lie. The amount of protection and carrying he did could''ve helped a small child. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. To Alon, however, it sounded like Amos didn''t want to help. "Useless!" "When I join the guards¡ª" he began, but two of the guards immediately appeared next to them, each one on each side and draping an arm around Amos''s neck. They were his two good friends among the guards, the Woodworker Team''s Jesse and Angelo. "We don''t need guards like you," Jesse said and Angelo nodded. "You think the territory would hire useless trash?" "YOU!" Alon yelled and the cousins rubbed their poor ears. They turned their heads to the guy between them. "Dude, you know that even if we opened a formal channel for civilians to join, it didn''t mean we could let useless pigs join in. "Altera is such a good territory, it doesn''t use cannon fodders. So it''s useless to keep this one, yes?" They were saying so as a matter-of-factly and the veins in Alon''s head metaphorically popped one by one in his head. He didn''t dare to fight against the strong guards though, and he glared at his own brother¡ªstrong, sure, but a pushover¡ªinstead. "Are you going to let them talk to me like this??" he asked with an indignant tone of voice, as if he wouldn''t dare answer the affirmative. Amos pursed his lips and his fists clenched. The pause made Alon very angry. "Mother will hear about this!" While Amos was silent, his friends spoke for him. "Mehmehmeh~" Jesse said, mimicking mocking baby voices. "Oh nooo I gotta booboo gotta call mommmyyy!" Angelo ''cried'' with him, "Wuwuwuuwu they''re bullying mere! Wuwuwu!" Alon''s flabby face turned red and he squealed. "YOU!!! Just wait til we get back home!!" He yelled at Amos as he walked away, trying to steal other people''s kills. Idiot. That was one of the best ways to get hated, right?! The two looked at their unfortunate friend and couldn''t help but ask, "He''s useless, and you''re so good. Why is your mother still so biased?" Theoretically, wouldn''t selfish people be kinder to those who served them well? "Mum loved his dad, she hated mine," was all he said and somehow it really explained a lot. Jesse and Angelo came from a very kind and close-knit family. They never understood families like this one. "Oh¡­ what a bad mum," Angelo said, patting the lad''s shoulder. "Have you considered finding a new family?" Amos blinked and looked at the grinning lad, and Jesse couldn''t help but laugh. He rubbed the tanned lad''s head. "Our Woodworkers happen to be open for adoption." Amos'' heart warmed and he smiled. Even if there was no way he would abandon his mother and brother, it still felt good to be wanted as family¡­ even if they weren''t blood relatives. Their warm brotherhood moment though, was disintegrated when a little ember exploded in front of them. "Hey! Stop reneacting a BL Scene here! We got a mob!" Luis yelled, and someone behind them cackled. Luis had a good knack for destroying moments! ¡­ The guards dispersed and went to different zones to protect and guide the civilians. The civilians with them were those who paid for the program. There was a disclaimer in the program of course: their own safety was still dependent on them. The soldiers would only weaken the monsters in an attempt to carry their levels. There were very few civilians like Alon, fortunately, most of the 25 civilians that were taken in this session genuinely worked hard for their own strengths. One of them was Beany, who was also desperately trying to distract himself from all the pain of losing his wife and the urge to snap at Althea. He knew, objectively, that Althea was innocent. She was only doing her best for her own safety and her children''s. It didn''t mean, though, that he could face her head-on at this time. Especially, when he thought that Althea was the Lord and she saved so many lives. Just not his family. If only Priya¡ª "HAAAA!" He yelled, swinging his axe with maximum gusto. Although his accuracy sucked, his repeated attempts did manage to finally kill the monster three levels weaker than he was. [Killed! Kooi (Lv4)! +100 Experience! + 100 Copper!] Finally done! It was just that he was already breathing hard, and didn''t notice another monster behind him until he heard a flop of its corpse dropping on the ground. "Be smart and don''t expend all your energy so early. We''re still a distance from Bright." Sammy said and he nodded reluctantly. Could he say he really, really, needed to vent? Anyway, the team cleared out mobs that they encountered, with the soldiers and guards handling the strong ones. While bloodied and injured, they fortunately had ample stock of medicine so there was no one who got critically injured. They also helped Bright a lot by killing the surrounding mobs, though they didn''t know this at this time. They would just think they were extremely lucky not to have encountered a mob today. About an hour later, they arrived at the territory, paying the standard visitors fee. They went back and went to make announcements in the Village center again, immediately setting up individual stalls afterwards. How could anyone say they were born in a capitalist society without grabbing the chance to make money? Hence, pretty much everyone in the team had their spaces filled with products, and they would be making several folds of their investment for sure. There were some who didn''t set up stalls though, and just walked around in the territory as it was their first time in another territory after settling in Altera. One was Loa, the creator of sour sauce. She went first to the restaurants and food stalls, and her heart felt proud when she saw her bottle there. She saw how much people from other territories loved her invention, and felt such sense of accomplishment that she had never felt before. Another one was Danny the farmer. His announcement said he would be waiting in front of the center for whoever knew him, not forgetting to say I love you to his wife, wherever she was. While he was waiting, the Alteran-salespeople had settled in the marketplace with a queue already forming. There were also plenty of people coming from the other side of the territory, running over as soon as they caught wind of their arrival. "It''s the Alterans! Did they bring stuff?" "They didn''t bring backpacks! The products shouldn''t be a lot!!" "Damn! Hurry!" Watching all these commotion with impassive faces was a pair of men. They were sitting in the small tea house of the territory. They had an intimidating aura around them. Even in the tables next to them, the people were scooted as far as they could, and only a portion of the table was maximized. Their names were Eli and Eso, siblings working closely under Amon Fargo''s reign. "Those people are from Altera?" One asked. They had heard about them. In fact, it was after a group from there visited that the lord here suddenly started to become a lot stricter. They had to be a lot more low-key in response. It was really annoying, particularly because their progress was seriously slow. For instance, all they knew about this Altera was it was an allied territory, and a lot of the impressive products Bright had were actually imported from there. "Well¡­, I''m interested in the products," Eli said, "We should go check it out so we can give more information." Eso strongly agreed as gulped, imagining all the delicious food he could get. They also saw how the people were excited to see the members of that team and knew that this territory was definitely¡­ interesting. Well, the decision will ultimately be the boss'' but, for now, let them enjoy their investigation! Chapter 423 - 423: The Collective [53 Days After the Migration] Grasslands East of Altera. "Are you alright?" The gentle Eagle handed a bottle of water to his companion, whom he was accompanying in training. "Ah, thank you." Sheila smiled at him gently, blushing a bit, feeling both thankful and ashamed. Sheila needed to be level 10 to even have a chance to become a healer, and when the soldiers arrived, she was only a pitiful level 5. Although she worked harder than others, her talent¡­ was just not in the fighting area. So¡­ Althea asked for a favor with the barracks, especially assigning her to the guard team to level up. Since Eagle arrived a few days prior, Sheila had partnered up with him. They had been together every day. Sheila shyly looked at the man who was barbecuing for her and felt incredibly guilty. She didn''t want to be selfish. After all, Eagle was one of the stronger soldiers, training with her like this was such a waste of talent. Eagle, who had been low-key watching her with his peripheral vision, saw her shoulder slumped and immediately went to face her. "Hey, what''s wrong?" "I¡­ I just feel bad," she told him, blushing, "I feel like I''m wasting your talent." "I¡­ you guys should assign another, lower ranked, person to me¡­" "Eh, no," came his immediate reply. The answer was so quick that it took her aback. "?" Eagle blinked and smiled, clearing his throat. "Nono, I mean¡­ I''m best at this," he told her, tooting his own horn and hers by the way. "The investment on you, a potential healer, is worth it." Sheila blushed, "But¡­ it''s not even a guarantee." "That''s how important your potential is," he said, handing her the barbeque." "Stop overthinking your worth and focus on increasing it." Sheila looked at him before finally nodding, opening her mouth to taste. This time their lunch was deliciously cooked Sansha meat and vegetables kebabs. There was also Gouji berry powder with spice every few bits of meat, adding a special tang to it. Eagle¡­ was quite a good cook, she mused, unlike her. "Thank you," she said. She also felt bad for making him cook when he was already training her. She had offered to cook before, but he said she was tired from training. She was embarrassed to cook inferior food anyway, so she agreed. The two sat next to each other on a rock for a bit of rest, knowing that the corpse in front of them would soon attract another mob. Sure enough, a new monster group sauntered in, it was just that they were in the middle of eating so they had no choice but to put some sticks aside. The mobs were ugly feathery green monsters with sharp beaks. He judged them to range from level 6 to 7 by their size. Eagle stood up and partially incapacitated it, the degree of which depended on the level. Sheila also decided to put to use Althea''s sleeping powder, which she sprinkled on them while they were being handled by Eagle. It was just that the wind blew a bit and a good part of it was redirected to the food¡­ "..." sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "..." Eagle''s eyes twitched. Pity. And he felt ashamed as a wind user, too, for not sensing that just on time. Anyway, the few monsters were only level 6, so only minor injuries were given. The powder did fortunately work on the monsters who inhaled it so Sheila only had to deal with two at a time. Eagle stood aside to give way to Sheila, who was using a bespoke Iron axe the weapon store made for her, swinging according to her past days'' training. [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] She swung and defended herself against two weakened monsters. But they were still fast and she was almost grazed. Before the sharp beak touched, a gust of wind passed and pushed the monster a meter away, allowing her to regain her balance and wave her axe again. [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] She sliced and axed a monster, sidestepping to avoid its claws. Even if it was slowed down, it was still quite quick for her, so her dress was a little nicked. Annoyed at the waste of cloth, her attacks became wilder, with her even yelling every attack. From the side, Eagle watched the petite meek girl yelling as she waved her axe around. He found it adorable. Anyway, fortunately, Sheila did grow as a fighter and beat the monster up in the end by herself. [Killed! Gnomeos (Lv6), +180 Experience, +180 Copper!] Sheila gasped and was breathless, but her eyes were bright. Eagle, seeing as the monster was taken down, stopped pushing away the remaining monster, allowing it to attack Sheila. This time the girl killed it faster. This was not only because the monster got tired from repeatedly being pushed back by Eagle''s gust of winds, but it was also because Sheila was really improving. [Killed! Gnomeos (Lv6), +180 Experience, +180 Copper!] [Congratulations! You have now been upgraded to Level 7!] "KYAAAA~, level 7! I''ve now reached the average level!" She exclaimed, so happy she hugged the warm body next to her. "..." "..." The two awkwardly looked at each other, feeling each other''s warmth for a while before realizing their inappropriate positions. The two''s faces blushed like monkeys'' butts, and Sheila was quick to step back. Eagle cleared his throat, a little regretful when she let go. "Congratulations on your level up." She shook her head and blushed. "Well, it''s all thanks to you." Eagle chuckled and couldn''t help but pat her head. "No, you did it yourself with a bit of help." Sheila blushed and looked at anywhere else but Eagle. Her eyes then ended up on their abandoned barbeques, and she blinked in confusion. Eagle saw this and followed her line of sight, also blinking in shock. There was still their kebabs alright but, a lot of it¡ªespecially the fruits and vegetables¡ªhad already been eaten. Then, surrounding the weakened fire pit were small feathery masses, breathing oh-so-lightly. The two carefully walked over and checked what they were. "Birds??" Sheila mumbled looking at Eagle, who checked very carefully before nodding. They were definitely the legendary Xeno birds, and there were about a dozen of them sleeping¡­ "..." Did they just capture something interesting? ¡­ This upgrade scene (not the hug scene) was seen in various forests and plains around Altera. The days that followed the celebration found an upsurge of people trying to level up, whether it was outside or within the training hall. Even if they weren''t fighters, they didn''t want to be left behind. What''s more, strong levels meant longer lifespans! Who didn''t want to look like in their twenties when they were in their forties?? Who hadn''t seen and admired Betty!? Who didn''t want to live longer? To be honest, this was what inspired them the most. There was also a certain fear of same-aged people who came with them would start looking younger as they as time went on, while only they aged. Someone even had a nightmare of greeting someone of the same age, but the other called them ''grandpa''! Cringe! How could they allow it to happen?! It had to be said that the peaceful and shallow happiness of Alterans was still there. As such, the new training program allowed citizens to witness massive increases in awakenings and levels the next few days. Similarly, guards level 8 and above had already accompanied the party going to Ferrol. Like Hugo and Helios, among others. They were expected to return with more massive returns in experience. In a span of a few days, Altera, a level 3 Terran Village, which had a population of just above 4000 people, had grown to have an average level of 7¡ªnot much inferior to the aboriginal equivalents. Althea and her husband were naturally happy to see this. The new training program, where the guards could be hired to help carry citizens who wished to become stronger, was intensified, with the guards generously giving fighting tips and guidance at the same time. Not to mention, most of the people who went out to train had awakened some sort of fighting skill. This amazed everyone, especially the Aborigines who absolutely did not have this concept. Rowan had noticed that Terrans leveled up quicker, at least those with a military background, primarily because the techniques they used were efficient and powerful. What''s more, they were willing to teach. Whether it was techniques or skills, the capable weren''t stingy with passing on knowledge to their countrymen. This wasn''t limited to the fighters, they had heard of life professionals sharing knowledge as well. In fact, every Aborgine had experienced Altera and had learned a lot, contributing to the movement in their previously stagnant levels. The aborigines, even if they were born here, didn''t have easy access to skill sets and knowledge. People had to go through the eye of a needle to even get a chance to become an apprentice. By instinct, wouldn''t people want to keep things that kept them at an advantage? But these people¡­, even if they kept their own set of knowledge, shared so much. Sometimes, it was even more than what those stingy teachers passed on to their apprentices. After so long, they could vaguely understand that this was because everyone had such an intense sense of unity that they could be and act as one: A collective. It was an atmosphere that surprised them, but also inspired them. If their world had been like this years ago, how far would human society have gone? Chapter 424 - 424: Forest Training Outside the walls, in all directions, there was plenty of activity, with hundreds of Alterans experiencing improvement every single day. However, the magic wasn''t just happening outside the walls, but inside as well. For instance, the Training Hall was occupied all 28 hours of the day. And, without knowing, the Hall finally met the requirements for the upgrade! [Congratulations! The Training Hall (Lv1) could now be upgraded to Training Hall (Lv2)] "Oh?" When this notification arrived, Althea and her husband were kilometers away from the village, deep into the southern mountains, training. They were more or less closer to the aborigine territories now because the monsters were stronger in this area. As for why they would travel so many hours just to do this, she had no choice in the matter. After all, three or more levels below her didn''t win her anything anymore! This was actually worse than before, where she could get experience from monsters 4 levels lower! Obviously, other people could get experience as long as they weren''t five levels weaker than they were. Very unfair! It was apparently the same with Garan, and nobody else. For now, they didn''t know for sure what had caused this. If they had to guess, they''d say it was a balancing act of nature though. For some reason, the stat increase of both of them was much higher than others of the same level. Ansel was very bitter when he found out. In any case, all the monsters around their area were no more than level 6 or 7¡ªand this was when they got lucky¡ªand it simply wasn''t efficient to stay there anymore. At least, not when she wanted to reach level 10 as soon as she could. Anyway, along with leveling up, today they set on fixing her weaknesses: Close combat. Or rather, they hunted for monsters that were so strong that her passable fighting skills from before were no longer of much use. She couldn''t be dependent on her archery either. Even if the bow was powerful (for now), what if the enemy was so quick that she couldn''t even draw her bow? "What is it?" Garan asked, seeing her staring into nothingness as she walked. He extended his hand to push away a branch that was about to nick her. "The Training Hall just upgraded! I''m looking forward to seeing it," she said and turned to him, and he pulled her closer so she didn''t trip on a stone. It had to be said: Althea could get really careless when her husband was around. If her friends were here, they''d shake their heads. ''Letting Down Your Guard'' was one thing, but this was too much, right? It was fortunate they weren''t together when this all started, giving her time to grow in this environment. Otherwise, it was estimated Althea would be spoiled useless! Neither Garan nor Althea saw this as a problem and even if they did they wouldn''t mind. Althea, despite all her flaws, always adjusted accordingly when she needed to step up. Otherwise, her entire group would have long died. Anyway, before Garan could ask the details of this good news, the two of them paused and raised their guards, facing a direction. They stepped back a bit to a more stable cover, eyes and attention on the rustles of leaves approaching them. Soon a group of four monsters appeared. Judging by their size and aura, they could see this was a mob of predominantly level 9s. They were of the avian family with long talons and beaks. They were flightless birds like the emu, only uglier, bigger, and much more lethal. Non-domesticaed Birds of this world (i.e. not Gugu Birds) only went two ways: Retain their small sizes but develop extreme speeds and stealth, or turn to monsters themselves like this one. However, as always, using the principle of respecting life, they never took the first shot. They would always be in the defensive, at least at the start, unless they were absolutely certain that the monster was aggressive and dangerous. However, the thing about monsters here was they really didn''t have sentiment at all. They just have a thirst for blood, no different from the zombies back in Terran. So far, they had yet to discover a non-aggressive monster, not including specially-bred species like the Gugu Bird or the Broat. The group of four immediately attacked, and Garan immediately raised his hand to cause them some damage. Althea stopped him. "Just corralle them except for one," she said, and Garan immediately changed his attack. "Yes, wife," he said dotingly. [Ice Wall (D). -40 Mana] Following his hand movements, a wall made of hard ice appeared, surrounding the other three. He also added a freezing effect to restrict their movements. Caw! Caw! The remaining monster didn''t even notice its companions had been trapped, however. Its red eyes focused solely on Althea, the meat in front of it. The monster sprinted to her, quick with its long legs. Althea managed to dodge a hair''s length. She somersaulted to the side, revealing her renewed katana, courtesy of Garan and the weaponsmiths. There still weren''t new effects, and the rank was the same, but the attack was slightly improved and the durability was brought back to 100. Garan nervously watched the fight but did not move. More than once had his wife been angry at him for prematurely interfering. On his third time ''ruining her good deeds'' he was even kicked out of the bedroom, thrown to the cold and lonely guest room bed! Althea didn''t bother with her husband''s thought process at the moment as she was focused on the battle at hand. The monster''s level was the same as her own, which meant it would be a challenge to beat by herself. Fortunately, she had sharp senses and a brave heart, so she didn''t feel intimidated to the point of freezing when she saw its peck impale the trees behind her every time she dodged. The damned thing was not only strong but was also very fast. For a while, Althea just dodged its attack, albeit with increasing ease. It was just a pity for the poor trees whose trunks were more or less destroyed as collateral damage. Bang! A tree fell backward, a thump echoing in the forest, but it didn''t do anything to deter the two fighting. The weather was nice and temperate, but Garan was sweating. Covering himself with his ice at this point probably wouldn''t help. When she tripped a displaced root, his heart stopped, and his arm and legs automatically moved. "No, don''t help me!" He stopped, gritting his hand and teeth, and reluctantly froze in place. He should trust his wife, that was his duty. Back to the battle, Althea rolled around to avoid its hit, and her sharp emerald eyes saw an opening. Althea swung her sword and hit the skin exposed from its attack¡ªa weakness¡ªtaking advantage to do some serious damage. Slash! The bird screamed, eyes turning redder. Caw!!! Caww!!! She avoided its berserk attack, slashing at opportune times, conserving as much spirit as she could. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As she got used to its attack, she soon became more aware of her surroundings and she started moving in accordance to it. In her mind''s eyes, she mapped a virtual image of the surrounding forests, the trees, the rocks, the boulders. She tried to shield herself with these as she could, also using them as distractions. She heard a light crack near her and, while avoiding a beak, flitted to another direction, before suddenly moving to another. When the monster lifted its beak off the wood, half of the tree trunk was taken with it. Althea moved around and led the monster around as she ran, her emerald eyes focusing on the tree barely standing. She timed everything as accurately as she could. When she saw the flimsy trunk move slightly in a direction, she immediately ran to where it would fall, before abruptly moving to another spot. Caw! Caw! She moved and the monster stood where she did. A moment later, the damaged trunk fell down, directly on the unsuspecting monster. Caw!!! The tree could trap it only for a few seconds of course, but it was enough to distract it enough for her to hit its vitals. [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] [Slash (E), -2 Mana!] [Killed! Emalau (Lv9). +250 copper, +250 experience!] Her legs weakened a bit as she received the notification, with Garan immediately walking to her. He wrapped an arm around his wife''s small waist, pulling her to him. Althea was shaking and she flinched at his movements. "Husband?" But he didn''t speak and just lifted her head, dipping his own to catch her lips¡ªimmediately changing the angle to gain access inside. Althea let him do what he wanted; she knew he was scared. She knew he needed to do this¡ªto feel her¡ªto calm down. And she was the same. So she just smiled and wrapped her arms around him, with him hugging her even tighter in response. Just like that, all her fears disappeared and she was relaxed again. Chapter 425 - 425: Level 10! It took one of the trapped birds to create cracks in the ice walls to get Garan to pull back. He frowned, wanting to end the birds for disturbing their kisses. But then he felt his wife tap his shoulders, pulling back his attention. "I''m ready," she said, and he could only sigh and follow her wishes. The monster that had first gotten out of his coralle was naturally the strongest. It was a level 10 monster and judging from how it got out of its hold¡ªin stark contrast to the other two who were still snugly trapped¡ªshowed how much stronger it was. "I will need to weaken this one a lot," he said and Althea nodded, not arrogant enough to think she knew better than her husband on this. And thus, Garan weakened it a bit more than others. Eh, no, it was so weakened that Garan left a pitiful 20% in its life. Despite this handicap though, it was in no way weak¡ªnot against a human a level lower than it was. It yelled in anger, lunging towards Althea¡ªthe easier target¡ªclearly aiming to get her head. Althea flinched, not expecting this speed, and she only managed to avoid its hit because it was slowed down at the last second by Garan''s ice shackles. She jumped back as she watched the shackles break, allowing it to attack her again. She raised her arms to deflect another attack¡ªBANG!! ¡ªand her peripheral vision saw its damage on the tree next to her. Obliterated. Making a rough estimate, she could tell tha the damage its sharp beak did was twice that of the level 9. She was shaking¡ªphysically from the hit and in intimidation due to the strength disparity¡ªand could only run and avoid. One time she couldn''t run on time and could only defend, the weapon on hand lost a significant amount of durability. She tried to deal with it by herself for a few rounds but she quickly realized this one was out of her league. She looked at Garan, who nodded in understanding. He immediately trapped the bird again to its neck and Althea shakily stood up, beheading it only after several free slashes. She heaved a deep breath at this. Even slashing a monster fixed on the ground was much more difficult than she had anticipated! [Killed! Emalau (Lv10). +300 copper, +300 experience!] "The difference in level is not small," she told him, tone breathless. Garan didn''t answer immediately but instead took out a face towel from his space. Level 8 and Level 9 naturally had differences, but the gap between 9 and 10 was a gorge. She closed her eyes as her husband wiped off her sweat. "Is it just me?" He shook his head as he answered, "After level 10, monsters'' physiques make major improvements. Just as humans can begin controlling elements, if they had the predisposition." She lifted her head at a thought. "Are there monsters that could use the elements?" "I haven''t heard of it yet, but so far only humans, elves, and mermaids are known to be able to control elements." At the mention of these other races, Althea''s eyes sparkled, forgetting the scare she just experienced. To think she''d be talking about elves and mermaids in such a serious context, "This world is so magical¡­" Garan''s cerulean eyes were filled with warmth, and he knew his wife''s sense of wonder was at its height again. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Well, as long as we''re together. We''ll explore it someday." She chuckled, "Hmm¡­" She was very curious. Just¡­ how big was this world? ¡­ Heading back to the battle at hand, Garan reinforced the cages of some monsters, letting go of two more. Garan looked at Fufi, who was ordered to stay put on the side. Like Garan, he struggled very hard not to intervene. Fortunately, the torture was over. "You can join in." WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! The dog bounced up immediately at the order, his tail wagging wildly in excitement. He wore his perennially smiley face, though it was now adorned with palm-long teeth. When he pattered next to Althea, he was looking both scary and amusing at the same time. "Well, let''s work hard," she said with a smile, booping the dog''s nose (which was now almost as large as her palm¡­) Woof! Woof! (Translation: Kill! Kill!) They simultaneously turned their heads toward the remaining monsters trapped in the walls. Judging by the cracking sound of the ice, it was obvious it wouldn''t last very long. "Are you ready?" Garan asked, and the two immediately entered an attacking position. Althea gripped her gleaming sword tightly as the monster got out of the icy fence. Fufi''s happy smile turned ferocious, his hackles raised, ready for battle. The two grotesque emu-like monsters were soon released from the coralle. Their sharp beaks reflected the light and their scaly feathers rustling ominously. With a resolute breath, Althea charged forward, her katana slicing through the air. The monsters responded with screeching, their beaks snapping menacingly as they ran towards Althea. The first monster lunged but Althea sidestepped, avoiding its attack. As she did so, she raised her sword to hit its body, slicing a bit of its feathery hide. Fufi''s teeth were bare and sharp as he handled the other monster a level stronger than him. To keep him from getting too injured, Garan weakened the bird by wounding one of its legs. A ferocious battle ensued between the animals. Canine fangs clashed with razor-sharp talons of the monster, and they could hear the mix of differing growls and howls. On Althea''s side, she was also dealing with a monster on her own, defending as needed, attacking when she could. This was a weaker monster at level 8 and after the previous one, she had gotten much used to its pacing. Her movements were calculated and precise, and even with her drained spirit she managed to stop getting herself injured after a while. ''CAAWWW!'' the monster yelled, sprinting to her abruptly. She instantaneously moved out of its way, so that the monster hit the rock behind her. Using the rock exploded by its beak, she kicked a part of the stone to its mouth. It choked only for a moment but it was enough time for her to raise her sword and cause more damage. In its anger, it completely dismantled the rock on its beak a second later. It ran after her, its beak and talon aiming to strike her down. She deftly avoided its attacks, causing it damage little by little. Sometime in between, her peripheral view looked over to the other ongoing battle. Fufi was a bit bloody now, but otherwise still agile. "Fufi!" She yelled, "Come here!" Woof! The dog barked, heading straight in her direction. Doing a precise calculation, Althea led the monsters to each other, using the beak of one monster to damage the other. BANG!! CAWWWW!! It was really loud. It had to be said: Birds that become monsters were the exact opposites to their smaller counterparts¡ªthey were noisy as hell. Finally, her sword found its mark, piercing the monster''s heart. It let out a guttural screech before falling to the ground. Similarly, Fufi killed the wounded monster by biting its neck, pulling out what seemed to be its esophagus. It was a bloody scene. [Killed! Emalau (Lv8). +220 copper, +220 experience!] [Killed! Emalau (Lv8). +220 copper, +220 experience!] [Fufi upgraded to Level 8!] [Fufi learned Bite Smash (D) : Automatic combo of bite and smash. +10% attack. CD: 20 seconds] Althea heaved a deep breath as her legs weakened, Fufi was quick to help her to a nearby surface and she immediately found the only ''good rock'' remaining in the vicinity and sat there to rest. Her husband handed her a bottle of water, while Fufi had a bowl of food, water, and medicine ready in his own space for his consumption. "Let me check," Garan said, referring to her katana. She unceremoniously handed the weapon to him, taking in all the special food and medicine she had remaining. As they rested, Garan reinforced her weapon again, consuming some mana to increase its durability. "Thank you," Althea said as he handed it back to her, though not without a sweet peck on the lips. It didn''t fail to make Garan''s eyes darken but Althea already stepped back and raised her arms to the corrale, silently asking him to let the final enemies go. With a sigh, Garan took down the final walls, with the duo killing the enemies using similar strategies from before, albeit with much greater ease. Further, both kills were given to Althea, as Fufi had already leveled up. [Killed! Emalau (Lv9). +250 copper, +250 experience!] S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Killed! Emalau (Lv8). +220 copper, +220 experience!] The moment the monster fell, the familiar aura of upgrade surrounded her again. This time though, it was much much stronger, to the point that both of them shook a little. An instant later, the force compressed to her and she felt her upgrade complete. Ding! [Congratulations for leveling up to level 10!] Finally! Despite her low spirit, she jumped up and climbed her husband like a koala, placing a smooch on his smiley tanned face. Of course, the massive upgrade naturally attracted a large horde. Unfortunately for them, Althea was in a very high mood for a fight right now. After all¡­she can finally use elements! Chapter 426 - 426: Arrival to Bleulle City At this time, Oslo finally arrived at Bleulle City. The city had a proud level 8 wall nearly thirteen yards in height¡ªrelatively rare as most cities only had level 7 walls, at most. The walls were well-guarded by sentries every few hundred meters or so, with the battlements occupied by many guards and archers, ready to defend as needed. There was a long line of people waiting to come in, and he lined up patiently this time¡ªuncharacteristic of the prodigal who used to wave his family emblem everywhere. He stood along with the others, ignoring the curious stares of many people around. However, his noble bearing intimidated anyone¡ªas any one who lined up were commoners¡ªso no one dared talking to him. As he entered, the message [Welcome back to Bluelle City!] flashed since he was a permanent resident, and therefore didn''t need to make any payments anymore. Going past the gates, he was immediately greeted by the lively streets and the cacophony of sounds. Bluelle City was one of the oldest cities in the area. It had a permanent population of hundreds of thousands of people¡ªnot including the visitors and tourists. He walked past and observed for any changes. While there was none, it was still as beautiful as before. Although Bluelle was much denser and less aesthetic than Altera, it was still home after all. He admired the five-story buildings that abutted the streets, and also the various stores and stalls that announced their presence in hopes of sales. They were also not afraid of the sun at all, because the tall buildings protected the streets by projecting their shadows onto them. He smiled at the painted white buildings predominantly made of stone byproducts after quarrying the city''s main industry¡ªThe Blu. The Blu was a mineral found in the mountains within the territory walls. It was a primary ingredient in creating aether blueprints. It had been supporting the economy of the city since it was discovered. Blu was a renewable resource, but it renewed slowly¡ªincreasingly so. Hence, there would always be a limit to the amount released every year, no matter what. This drove up its already sky-high price further upwards. Of course, the visitor industry¡ªcalled Tourism by Alterans¡ªwas also very good, with the tourists being people who hoped to buy the mineral. During the off-seasons, when the city wasn''t supplying, this naturally died down. There were several problems with this. Although the Blu was renewable¡­ the consumption was still too large. Even if they tried to control it, along with the fact that the refresh of the resource seemed to be getting longer, Oslo felt it would no longer be sustainable¡ªa concept he truly understood only in Altera¡ªto depend on it. Eventually, this production would become too slow, and the other industries depending on it might also die down. Oslo hoped to help his city to develop other industries, so as to not be too dependent on something that could disappear at any time. This thought was also inspired by his stay in Altera. While he was pondering on how to help his hometown with the knowledge he learned (oblivious to the stares he was getting), a bit of a carriage drama exploded nearby, pulling him back to the present. BANG! He blinked his glittery blue eyes (as the girls around would whisper) and walked over to where the commotion was. "Hey! Watch out!" One of the carriagemen yelled when he was almost bumped by a Siloh monster carriage. The other man was driving a Byul monster carriage¡ªmuch bigger¡ªand he was therefore much more arrogant than the other. Unfortunately for him, the driver of the Siloh monster wanted to ignore him and whistled for it to go past it. Unfortunately, this was seen as aggression by the monster and¡ª ROAR!! Oslo (and a few other bystanders) watched in interest as the monsters lunged at each other¡ªnot as uncommon as anyone would want¡ªknowing it would make for a good show. The advantages of getting a strong monster as a mount were that when traveling, not only would the carriage go fast (assuming the carriage was built for the speed and bumps), but monsters of the same level or below wouldn''t bother attacking. The disadvantage, not including the previously mentioned ones, was that similar-level monsters also tended to fight when placed too close to each other. The hold of the whistles loosened when this anger state was activated, especially at first. During this time, more often than not, the skills of Beast Masters would be required. It was why there was a distance requirement between carriages and there had to be several yards distance between converging traffic. In towns, one-way traffic was also a common practice. From what he could tell, the Byul driver wanted to overtake the other in a fork, the monsters got too close, and now they were brewing. Soon, the monsters did attack each other. ROAR! Going berserk enough not to listen to the drivers, the two monsters slapped and lunged and bit at each other, and he could hear the yells of the people in the carriage. It happened that the family crests in the carriages were from families he didn''t like, so he chose to turn a blind eye to the suffering but his apt attention on the good show. However, some stalls were damaged and this naturally triggered the regulations, immediately kicking the monsters (and their drivers) out. This meant that the carriages remained and the momentum let them fall uncontrollably. Oslo blinked at the fact that they were falling over two people. They were two motherly women who were obviously just doing their pre-lunch shopping. Sadly their groceries were now all on the floor, and their wide eyes stared as they saw the carriage the size of a small shed was barelling towards them. Unexpectedly, a large earth wall reinforced by metal appeared in front of them, catching the debris in time before it hit the pedestrians. The people in the carriage gasped, looking horrid with chicken nests for hair, and Oslo finally decided to sneak out of the area. He stepped back and didn''t wait for people to absorb what happened or figure out who created the earth wall. He simply sneaked away and continued to walk ahead. It was just that as he walked along the streets, appreciating the sights, a beast cart suddenly stopped next to him. "Master Oslo?! It''s really you!" He said, "That earth wall was yours, right?" Oslo blinked and watched as the man immediately went down the cart to greet him, revealing his appearance. It was a tall bald bearded man with tanned skin, and he immediately went to Oslo and assisted him with his heavy backpack. It was quite large and the old man paused his steps. The bald man turned and looked at him strangely, ''Doesn''t master Oslo have space, why does he bother to carry so many things?'' he asked in wonder. ''Is it a new fad?'' Sensing the man''s stare, Oslo only smiled. "Thank you," He said, entering the cart. He remembered this person as one of the leading managers of the beast cart business, one of his late grandfather''s¡ªnow his brother''s¡ªbiggest businesses. He entered and the cart started moving again, joining the dozens of carts traversing the road. Unlike Cassandra''s town, Bluelle had a lot more beast cars available. This was a city that obtained a lot of resources by exchanging Blu. His grandfather, decades prior, made a deal with the Lord of Beast City. They have been exchanging resources since. Of course, even if his grandfather did all the work and did all the risk, over half of the proceeds still went to the lord. By his generation, he heard they only retained 10% of the profits, and they were still in charge of every single aspect of its operations. Ms. Althea would never be so greedy. She would support her people with open arms. Heh, before, he really didn''t think much of the Lord here. He even admired him. But there was no way¡ªMs. Althea set the bar very high. "Welcome back, young master," the man said as he closed the door of the beast cart, and Oslo nodded in response. "I''m glad to be back Uncle Liu." The middle-aged man smiled and, using the specialized whistle, ordered the beast under him to start moving. The carriage lunged forward and he opened the curtains to look out the window. He wanted to see the place he was born in, passing by the lively streets lined by its three to five-story buildings, feeling a little melancholic. He recalled the various memories he had here, some happy, some sad, and some banal¡ªbut all of them felt¡­ so long ago. Had it really only been a few months? "How was your trip, young master?" Uncle Liu asked, seeing the young lad looking deeply outside, feeling¡­ different, more mature. "It must''ve been enlightening." Oslo''s light-colored eyebrows rose. "So obvious?" "Well, it wasn''t that it was so obvious," the man said, answering his question, "You seem more¡­ adult." sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Olso laughed. "Well, thank you?" Indeed, when he left, his attitude about everything was¡­ lax. He reckoned it could be because he got everything so easily¡ªeven women''s hearts. But not long after he stepped into that then-small village, meeting its beautiful Lord and her people, something stirred inside of him. The fire of challenge; the spark of growth. Ah, what to do, he missed them again. Chapter 427 - 427: Oslo’s Home Oslo felt very melancholic all of a sudden, realizing how that ''spark'' of growth flourished in a village built two months ago. Not only did this spark lack in his personal life, it lacked in his atmosphere here. Bleulle¡­ had been stable for too long that it, too, became lax. Of course, it wasn''t that no one attacked Bleulle. The city also experienced the occasional Territorial War. But very few dared to do so. After all, the rare resources allowed Bleulle to gather a lot of strongmen to work and reside in it. The last most dangerous war was before he was born, when several territories partnered together and supported another top city to attack them, in exchange for a good piece of the pie. Fortunately, the city''s foundation was strong and it won. Gathering allied territories, and defeating those territories in the process. Since then, territories with brains opted to cooperate with Bluelle rather than attack it. Of course, it wasn''t an easy fight¡ªthe battle of giants never was. According to the stories, the lord back then¡ªthe current lord''s grandfather¡ªlost many of his allies, friends, and even family. "You seem to have had a good time outside," the old man said, pulling him back to the present. He seemed to have gotten into a deep topic and he turned to the old man, responding with a smile. "Well, I hope my change looks good." S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The old man laughed in response. "The Master and Lady would be very happy," he said. No one who knew the Golds didn''t know how their youngest son was¡ªa great talent but one who couldn''t quite push himself to do greater things. It was a pity for his friends and family, and a good show to their enemies. As the young master grew older, the more worried his parents became. But now it seemed like their intervention finally bore fruit. At the thought of his parents, Oslo felt a little excited. "Hmn, I hope I make them proud, too." ___ Some minutes later, the carriage slowed down. Noticing where they were, Oslo opened the curtain to see the gates of their estate open, revealing the home he grew up in. It was one of the largest properties in the city, with two stories and wide floors, located smack in the most sensitive area of the city. It was a custom building like the villas in Altera. He assumed that their lord here used a Level 2 Custom Building to create a two-floor building, maximizing the large floor area into two floors, in contrast to Altera''s two smaller floors and a basement. To his knowledge, the lord only built 20 such houses, occupied by the top 20 families of the time. These top families also changed up, so this also meant that a family would not necessarily stay in their ''mansion''. For instance, if a family lost favor, then they''d be kicked out. This was seen as an extreme humiliation if happened and often led to family conflicts and even deaths. Of course, his family, the Golds, had since the territory''s establishment never lost its place as the #1 family next to the lord''s. This had always been a point of pride. Anyway, the Golds'' mansion was located near the mountains where the Blus were extracted. After extraction, the Blus were then brought to a specialized handling area where it was converted to ink. The family was given charge of not only harvesting the resource, but also handling it. It was an honor, and also signified a lot of their responsibility to this territory. His family happened to be one of the families that was trusted by the Lord to handle this. This, along with the fact that his great-grandfather was one of the first Lord''s supporters, earned them the title of nobility. From when the territory was a village to what it was now, the Golds saw it all. Next to the lord, the Golds also handled the most money and power in the territory. This was amazing, and some people think that the Gold family was even more prominent than lords of low-level cities. Speaking of which, historically, Bleulle City was one of the fastest-growing territories in history because of its unique industry and good location. It took less than fifteen years for it to be transformed into a town, and only five decades to become a city after that. Most cities took twice or thrice that amount of time. The especially slow ones even took a thousand years. Bleulle was hailed as the paragon of fast development. It was just that looking at how Altera was growing, this seemed¡­ slow? "We''re here, young master," Uncle Liu said even though he knew the young master had been looking outside for a while now. He obviously seemed in a daze. He didn''t fall asleep with his eyes open, did he? Oslo blinked, chuckling, before heading back down. "Thanks." Oslo got off the carriage with his luggage. He politely refused uncle Liu''s offer to help, and went through the specialized iron gates. The moment he entered, lines of servants lined up, greeting him. "Welcome back, fifth young master!" ___ "He''s back?" Gaia looked at the butler with bright eyes. She arranged the headdress on her fiery red locks, lifted the side of her dress, and left the papyrus book she was holding. Her husband, Zaol, was similarly excited and stood up and walked to her, rushing to the salon together. Then the woman paused, looking at her husband worriedly. "Do you think he hates us? For sending him there?" Oslo was used to the lavish lifestyle after all. "I mean¡­ did he suffer?" she paused, pale. "Oh, he must''ve lost a lot of weight!" The blonde man smiled gently. "He wouldn''t have come back here if he was¡­" "Yes, yes, you are correct," she smiled. "I should control this tendency to bloviate." She sighed. "But our youngest makes me so worried." Zaol smiled and gently held his wife''s hands. "Well, let''s believe he has some sort of growth." The servants, who were already used to it, were still a bit taken aback by the doting. After over sixty years of marriage, they were basically unchanged. In Xeno, seeing a man being so humble in front of his wife¡ªand not having a single mistress¡ªwas an unusual occurrence. The dynamic was extremely rare, but it so happened that a strong woman handpicked by the former patriarch happened to truly fall in love with the meek only son. Gaia was the only daughter of the richest merchant in Bleulle. It was a partnership that solidified their family''s power¡ªas the Lord''s right hand¡ªand wealth. Not to mention, Gaia gave birth to many children. This was a rare genetic trait of her family, making them extremely attractive marriage partners. After all, the higher the level of an individual, the more difficult it was to procreate. And yet Gaia gave him five children, which was unprecedented. It wasn''t that there were no third parties wanting to go between them. There were plenty of people vying for both of them. Despite Zaol''s meek personality, he was very handsome and very very rich. On the other hand, Gaia was a bit headstrong, but she was also wealthy and most importantly her fertility was one of the best. In fact, their relationship with a lot of the top families had become strained because of this. At this time, the Golds were alone at the top, with their ''friends'' comprised almost entirely of insincere sycophants. As for why his mother chose his father, she said she saw loyalty and kindness in him absent in every other of her suitors. This was a value she taught to her children, and it was really a miracle that she didn''t throw Oslo away after he showed the first signs of womanizerhood. Anyway, the couple scurried down gracefully and went to meet their spoiled son with a mix of worry, anticipation, and glee. And a lot of apprehension. Did he really lose a lot of weight? ¡­ As soon as he arrived, Oslo stood and placed his items on the salon, instructing the servants not to move them. Except for a few baskets of ingredients he took out, he kept the others mum and hidden for a surprise. He naturally didn''t expect their cook to understand the use of novel ingredients, but he wanted it presented well to his family. He had discovered treasure¡ªAltera¡ªand he naturally wanted to share it well with his family. Due to the length of travel, the food he brought were ones with very long shelf lives. For example, he brought a lot of jerkies, instant noodles, and ready-mixes that could go with anything. He also brought various other items as a surprise, with each family member¡ªand even the in-laws¡ªto be getting a little of Altera for themselves. Anyway, after securing his stuff, he gestured to go greet his parents, but they were already downstairs when he did so. The handsome middle-aged couple looked at him with relief. His mother went to him to hold his hand, while his father patted his other shoulder. Oslo smiled at his father while patting his mother''s hand. "I''m back." Chapter 428 - 428: The Gold Family (Part 1) "Oh, my son!" Gaia immediately ran to the handsome Oslo, looking him up and down for any injuries. No matter how big the youngest baby became, a mother would always treat them as a baby. She was also expecting him to have gotten much thinner, so when she touched his arms, she thought she''d confirm her fears. It was just that¡­ as she patted him down, she couldn''t help but pause in puzzlement. Her eyebrows rose in puzzlement, whipping her head to look at him. "You¡­ gained weight!!" Oslo rubbed his nose, a tad embarrassed. Did he get so fat? No, right? "I''ve been eating well," was all he said, before giving a mysterious smile. "I''ve been eating very well." Gaia knew her son well enough to know there was a longer story behind the statement. "Are you going to tell us more?" "Of course." Gaia clapped her hands with a smile, turning to a servant. "Call the other children," she said, "We have a lot to catch up on!" "Yes, mam!" They said and forwarded instructions to various servants, who in turn scurried over to different parts of the massive city to call the other young masters and the young mistress. Fortunately, although they all had their own abodes, all of Oslo''s siblings were currently in the city. This made them more accessible to their parents, more often than not. Gaia had wanted to ask him more questions when she saw him heading towards the kitchen with the cooks. She didn''t notice the chefs had been waiting nearby. Zaol looked at them curiously. "What''s going on, son?" Oslo smiled proudly, "I''m in charge of dinner today," he said, "I guarantee you''d love it!" The old couple (who appeared to be in their early 40s) looked at each other in curiosity. One must know that despite Oslo''s shortcomings, he was well-known for his pickiness. If he said they''d like dinner, then they probably would. "Oh?" Gaia said with a curious smile, "Well, we''re looking forward to it." ¡­ sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A few hours later. The younger generation and their families arrived early that night, very much looking forward to the stories Oslo would tell. Although¡­ knowing them, they''d probably be expecting some sob story of suffering to make their day¡­ The first to arrive was the oldest, Orion, the most responsible one. He was still super tall and had that stoic expression on his face. His pale¡ªalmost white¡ªblonde hair combed back to perfection, as always. He was still as strikingly handsome at 50 years old, barely not aging at all after turning 30. He was the only one that inherited their mother''s reddish-brown eyes. Although he had more of a quiet confidence, he definitely had the most respected place after the parents. Growing up, Oslo was most intimidated by this brother. Because he had been spoiled by his parents, this brother of his was the one who would give him¡ªas Alterans would call it¡ªtough love. Their eyes met and the man nodded. Gulping, Oslo nodded back. There was no doubt Orion had just come from work and might continue some of it here, seeing the amount of papyrus he brought with him. Next to him was his wife Hilda¡ªa mild-mannered brunette with soft curls. She was a quiet demure beauty, the one that looked like she was blooming all the time. Next to the beautiful couple was their eleven-year-old son, Honda. He was somewhat of a meek kid, but he tried to emulate his father''s coolness often. Of course, that was when his dad was in the room. He was much more relaxed with just his aunt and uncles. The two smiled at him, in contrast with his brother who went straight to a seat. Oslo grinned as he greeted them back, "Beautiful as always~" But he flinched when he felt his brother''s stare. It was very similar to how Garan and Ansel interacted, except Oslo wasn''t actually very close with his sister-in-law. Speaking of, Hilda was still pretty. However, because her level was markedly lower than Orion''s, some signs of aging have began to show. It was not much, so it usually didn''t matter, but there was some contrast when she was next to her husband. When next to Orion, Hilda did look a bit older despite being 5 years younger than her husband. This was a source of worry for Hilda and she had quite a bit of obsession with anything that could make her beautiful. Oslo personally thought she didn''t have anything to worry about. Orion was a bit of an ice block anyway, and was never the passionate type who would go after younger girls. "Well, my brother is very lucky to have such a wonderful wife," he said, turning to the adorable boy with large eyes. As for Honda, the blonde hair showed that the trait was definitely strong in their lineage. He did, however, also inherit his own mother''s eyes which were the color of amber stone. They sat around while waiting for the others, and the women started discussing some gossip, particularly about high society in Bleulle. "I heard about what happened in the lord''s party¡­" Gaia said. It was a time she was having those headaches after remembering her troublesome younger son, so she wasn''t able to attend. Oslo, ever the lover of gossip, leaned over to listen. Hilda must''ve been bullied in the gathering again. It was always something difficult to make an issue of¡ªfor example, whispering from a distance, or weird looks. If Hilda did make trouble because of it, they''d just call her oversensitive. Before, Oslo didn''t really think too much¡ªit came with the territory of being married to his brother. But after being in Altera, seeing women have the same position as men, he had slowly morphed this way of thinking. "It''s fine¡­ really," Hilda said, shaking her head. "I know what I was getting into when I married Orion." Hilda was also the Bleulle Lord''s niece, which would make people think the marriage solidified the relations between the two families. But that wasn''t true because Orion was actually being matched with the lord''s daughter, Lady Octavia, instead. Orion though fell for the visiting niece and Orion, being a stern man who inherited marital ideals from his father, couldn''t be talked out of the courtship. His parents believed in true love so they never forced them apart. It caused an additional strain between them and the lord¡ªwho was apparently visiting somewhere with his family at this time, thank goodness¡ªand they had talked a lot less since then. This was the first time this happened since grandfather''s time when someone tried to induce a fight, making it seem like the Golds wanted to usurp or something. They chatted a bit about the party and how boring it was and it was broken when new people finally arrived at the salon. Soon came Otto, the second brother, and his twin Olga. They had just celebrated their 40th birthday before Oslo was sent on an ''excursion''. Of course, due to their levels, they looked even younger than people in their 20s. Otto was with shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes. He had a suave temperament similar to Oslo, except he was really hard working for his field¡ªmoney making. Olga was basically the female version of him and had inherited their mother''s strong personality¡ªa very rare trait in women outside Altera. So, even with her beauty and money, there were plenty of men that had been intimidated away. This was amazing because most would think Olga was also a great ''birth machine'', but she somehow managed to scare away even her bravest suitors. Neither of them was married, and Oslo heard they weren''t planning on marrying either. The twins had their own businesses, inheriting the acumen from the maternal side of the family. Both businesses were also quite successful, though they unfortunately¡ªas with every other business¡ªhad to share half their proceeds with the lord. However, they were still quite well-off. Otto''s business was mostly a middleman of products. He noticed early on that Bleulle had been ignoring other industries, so he had created various caravans to sell various goods in the territory. Rare goods plus rich customers equals a lot of money, and he quickly became one of the leading caravans in the city. Olga initially had to partner with Otto for everything, even the products only she had taken an interest in. This was because she was a woman, and running a business in Xeno as a woman was like asking oneself to be bullied. This was why she was so adamant about making a beauty shop, and so was Hilda, so she could grow somewhat independent. At the very least, the customer base would be fellow women, so they wouldn''t have to tolerate the mean-spirited men as much. The last one was Obi, just two years older than Oslo. He arrived in his guard uniform, showing off as usual. He had very short hair and a larger build than the others. His eyes were dark green, inherited from his grandmother''s side. This guy was also the most villainous sibling to Oslo, bullying him everywhere. How many maggots Oslo found inside his clothes growing up, he couldn''t even count. "Yo, you''re back from banishment!" Obi uttered as soon as he saw him. Oslo rolled his eyes. And so, their family with consistent gold locks, except for his mother, who had fiery red hair characteristic of her family, was finally complete. Obi looked at him up and down, and frowned, before turning to his parents. "Did he already finish crying?" He glared at the servants. "Why didn''t anyone call me earlier?!" Oslo''s eyes twitched. "Sorry to disappoint you but I didn''t cry. "It''s more like a vacation, to be honest." This made everyone''s curious eyes fix on him. His eyes twitched, standing up and headed to the kitchen. "I''ll tell you over dinner." They curiously entered the dining room and were met with a striking aroma that automatically made their stomachs growl. "What¡­ what is this¡­" Otto, the family glutton, asked in a daze. Oslo smirked. "New delicacies I brought back." He paused, "I''ll tell you more if you say please." Otto immediately dropped his ''big brother'' air and held Oslo''s shoulder. "Please!" Chapter 429 - 429: The Gold Family (Part 2) Oslo looked at his brother being sincere and hummed in satisfaction. With an imaginary tail of pride wagging, he led the family to the ''delicacies'' one by one. The table was a beautifully arranged masterpiece that attacked the family''s senses and stomachs. They struggled to listen to Oslo''s every word because they felt their tummies were growling too loudly. Didn''t they eat, like, a few hours before? Already so hungry? However, they still had strict upbringing so they still listened and didn''t jump to sit down as they wanted. Oslo started with the center viand, placed on a massive plate. It was luscious-looking beef shimmering with unknown sauce and garnished with colorful vegetables, some of which were unfamiliar. "This is a special seasoned Hog beef. It is the usual meat you eat, but softened and infused with a special sauce that would bring you to the Elves." He then moved to an odd-looking dish at the side. They were like greenish worms on a plate? But they were long and tangled and¡­ chewy-looking. "Next one is special beef noodles. It''s a special pasta found only in the Altera area. It is chewy, sumptuous, and flavorful." It had a special shimmer and aroma to it, but it had to be said that the appearance was definitely unique. They had never seen anything like it. Obi opened his mouth for snide remark like ''Did you start eating worms in the village?'' but he was shut up by Oslo with putting a small hard bread in his mouth. He chewed on it and raised a brow. The texture was similar to what was offered in restaurants. It did have a bit of flavor though. What''s more, because it was crunchy, it shut him up, which was why it was shoved into his mouth in the first place. "It''s crutton," he said, "An addition to the salad." The blonde then moved to colorful greens, coated with an unknown yellow sauce. "This is a salad with special Altera salad dressing, making grass a delicacy." Although Xeno people naturally ate a lot of greens, they never really innovated. This was especially true because there was an abundance of them (for now), which exacerbated the culture. Ms. Althea said it had something to do with complacency. Because there were too many food resources, people simply didn''t find the need to be creative. At the same time, especially in villages and towns, too many things threatened people''s safeties¡ªhow could they have the mind to think beyond what they knew? Anyway, back to his show-off session, he also introduced some other common delicacies in Xeno, but using different ''seasonings'' and ''sauces'' he brought. When he finished, no one asked questions as the family sat in their places and started eating. They moaned as the flavorful meat and soup entered their tongues, bringing them to gastronomic heaven. "This¡­!" "So good!" "My tongue is with the Elves!" Even Gaia, with all her poise, couldn''t help but make an enthusiastic comment. She looked at the plate that should''ve been familiar, but so different. "Is this really my favorite Hog broth?" "Yes, Mother," Oslo said with a smile, "We added several condiments and sauces, I already taught the chef some ratios." His mother''s eyes widened, obviously loving the gift. "It''s delicious, thank you." Seeing the woman like this, his father patted his shoulder with a proud smile. "You brought us good things, son." Oslo smiled graciously, but he was extremely complicated inside. He was extremely loved, yes, but they were never proud of him. He was also aware of the fact that food alone made them so proud. Was the expectations of him so low?? It was only when the plates were cleared out that they remembered to catch up with each other''s lives. Obviously, the first person to be ''interrogated'' was Oslo. But he shook his head. "I want to hear everyone''s stories first," He told them, "I have been away for too long." Everyone was in a good mood today, especially chewing on something delicious, so they humored him without much question. It started with Orion''s latest achievement¡ªa partnership with the cloth cities. This was actually the reason there was a new building type, the Clothing Store, in the system, when it wasn''t there a month or two prior. Of course, because he was not one to speak long sentences, Hilda spoke for him. He had apparently entered a deal to supply the cities with necessary Blu and Papyrus in order to create the building type¡ªwhich was a lot, because even Level A Architects could not create Level A Blueprints each time. On the contrary, they were quite rare, and most top architects could only make a few top-quality plans every year, even if they drew every single day. Then there was the twins'' latest venture, wherein Otto got special exclusive goods from Holt City and made a killing. Olga opened a beauty shop, partnering with Hilda. By beauty shop, however, it meant selling some plant combinations with very expensive help and commissions from pharmacists, who could only be directly accessed via this channel. This was a new concept and they were confident the noble ladies would love to try it. Oslo knew they''d particularly love to go to Altera after he told them his story. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There was also Obi''s latest victory, where he was sent to assist another city in a war, gaining a lot of kills and prestige. Even little Honda had a story to share. He was twelve soon, and he would be going outside the walls to fight monsters. In that reserved way of his trying to mimic his father''s stoicness, he told of his training with low-level monsters and how he was looking forward to fighting stronger ones. People of their class trained their children early, albeit that was just catching weak beasts, taking them to the training grounds, and assisting the children in their kills. The true training, that was, going outside, was set for another month. The little lad was quite excited, thinking he''d be as cool as the guards the moment he stepped out. When it was Oslo''s turn, everyone looked especially interested. Hey, he felt a bit shy. In retrospect, after his silly imagination-filled storytelling as a child, it seemed that he never had particularly interesting stories to tell anymore? But now, everyone was listening so aptly. He felt a certain sense¡­ of pride and relief. He gathered himself and cleared his throat. "Well, it''s a long story," he said, "As you know, I''m a level D professional with dual elements, so hiring me is very expensive. "And then you limited my hiring to villages, so no one could afford me for a while." His parents smiled awkwardly at this, not really considering it until after realizing he was not being hired. However, they were stubborn and refused to pull him out. "So, I did indeed suffer until I got hired." This was true because he was sent to a chancery of a very small and poor town. In every Town and City, there was a Chancery of Appointments. They had to stay in their facility (with them paying additional dormitory fees, of course) so they could be summoned at a moment''s notice. However, in the spirit of banishment, his family sent him to a nearby ultra-poor town to settle in the Chancery there, instead. "Basically, I have only been hired about a month ago. "What?" It was Obi, of course, it was. "What were you doing the months before that?" Then he proceeded to answer his own question, "Philandering, no doubt." Oslo ignored the annoying older brother and faced the more ''mature'' family members instead. "So¡­ this village that could hire someone with my fees... naturally wasn''t like any other." "Still, I didn''t have much expectations¡ªnot really, who would? But then I saw the l¡ªthe territory. How beautiful it was, how strong for its level, and the fact that it was only established for several days when I was summoned was incredible to me." "What?" Obi shook his head, "Is that what they told you?" He asked with a mocking stare. "You''re a Gold, they could just be saying that to impress you." Oslo ignored him (again) and continued with his story, "It had unique buildings, facilities, and food. The citizens were extremely open-minded and free. The culture is unlike we''ve ever seen." "That good?" They said, "What about the military strength?" "Have you ever seen a village with Level 5 walls and sentries even denser than cities?" "Seriously?" Oslo tried to paint as accurate an image of Altera for them. It was just that Altera was so unique it was unlikely it had done it any justice. Fortunately, he had a skillful tongue, especially in sweet talk, so he managed to paint it accurately enough that it riveted the family. Although some were a bit cynical, like Orion and Obi were, they were mostly extremely curious, even fascinated, with the unknown territory. He clapped his hand. "Well, storytelling is over for now. I happened to have brought everyone gifts!" He looked at them, quite proud. "I''m sure you''d love them." Chapter 430 - 430: Gifts "I''m sure you''d love them," Oslo said, "My gifts, I mean." "Oh?" Obi asked, crossing his arms, "So certain?" Olga blinked, "Are those the massive boxes and odd bags you placed in the salon?" Oslo nodded, a bit smug. He then asked the servants to bring the gifts closer to them, and one by one the boxes were taken next to Oslo. While this was being done, some other servants were holding trays with finger food like some biscuits and dessert. "Here, have some snacks as I show you guys the gifts." "Oh? How interesting," his mother said, and the women looked particularly intrigued by the snacks. They were very adorable and curious to look at. They wondered if they were even lovelier to eat. Otto-the-foodie naturally went there first, even before the women, and took a bite. His expectations were high because of the amazing dinner, and he was not disappointed with this one! "Holy Elfhair! This is delicious!" So crunchy and so¡­ sweet! Like all of Oslo''s other items, he hadn''t tasted anything like it! It felt his soul was flying though the clouds and these clouds carried sweetness that no Sousa fruit could compare. Seeing his uncle almost sobbing a little, little Honda also stepped in and took a bite. He was followed by his mother, and then everyone else. Without exception, each one showed an expression of bliss. No one spoke anymore, just focusing on eating lest they run out of snacks while they blabbered. They closed their eyes, savouring the creamy chewy goodness in their tongues. Silence echoed in the room and only the sound of crunch and chewing was heard. Oslo chuckled as he watched his family look like they were finally eating good food after being trapped in an ogre mountain for decades. He turned to the boxes. "Now for the gifts," he began and put out several things for sharing. He had brought them a lot of souvenirs. First to receive gifts were the women. Each of them had bolts of fabric, as well as some customized beauty products he bought from the Lord. Olga''s sharp eyes caught a pretty bottle and admired it. It took a moment to figure out how to open the soft-looking lid, and when she did a soft scent permeated their noses. It was a bold and invigorating scent and Olga loved it very much. The women were particularly bright as they surrounded Olga, getting a whiff of the scent. "This is so fragrant!" Olga looked at Oslo, "Is it a perfume?" In cities, such things had been sold for a high price. These were made by apothecaries (or their apprentices) and were sold to nobles as status symbols. It was a fairly new thing, and Olga was just setting up plans to get a partnership! In fact, she was already in talks with one. It was just delayed for so long, despite her excitement for the product, because the pharmacist made the condition that she must marry his son! If the son was a decent human being, maybe she''d seriously consider, but the guy was a fat stallion! Gross! Oslo was unaware of the various thoughts in his sister''s head and just taught her how to use it. "Yes, just put a little on your neck and you''ll smell like so a whole day." The other two women also curiously looked at their own ceramic vials, which were also pretty in their own way by the way. They had never seen bottles so glossy and clean and prettily designed before. "I chose different scents for the three of you," Oslo said with a smile, "Olga''s is a blend of spices, wood, and others. Some I''m not familiar with, and some trade secrets. Sister-in-law''s is more floral, fit for her demure personality, and mother''s is similar to Olga''s, but a bit more mature." Hilda blinked in curiosity and sniffed, her eyes shut as she was surrounded by the lovely scent of of florals and¡­ something sweet. Hilda''s face lit up with a serene contented smile. Similarly, Gaia''s perfume enveloped her senses. It was like timeless elegance and wisdom were made into a scent. The women immediately took out some items from their space (they were already full) and handed them to their servants, placing the bottles securely inside. It was as if Oslo would suddenly decide to take it back¡­ With the good example of the perfume, they shifted their attention to the cloths. "What is his fabric?" Hilda asked, gently touching her own. "It''s very different from ours." Xeno fabrics were either too rough or too smooth (available for nobles). Most of the former types were uncomfortable, even after a long time of use, while the latter was extremely expensive and scarce. Seeing so many bolts of decent cloth fascinated them so. There were also various beautiful patterns on it, which was absolutely unique. Even the simplest clothing would be special using these¡­ "They''re cotton cloth, very comfortable to wear!" The women''s eyes brightened and they already wondered what to do with it when the less mature men had become antsy. "Ours, time for ours!" Obi intervened, impatient, and Oslo rolled his eyes. He turned to the side and nodded his head and the servants opened another one of the boxes. Obi couldn''t wait and was already next to the box by the time it opened. It was a special type of¡­ bow? Obi didn''t know exactly how it worked, but had a special aura and he knew this was a good weapon. It looked to be only a level D or C weapon, but he wasn''t unimpressed with the quality and the sleekness of the design. It was also nothing he had seen, so of course, he was curious! He immediately extended his hand to get it but it was suddenly pulled back. Obi frowned and raised his cerulean eyes to meet Oslo''s, who was grinning smugly. "Say please." Obi''s eyes twitched. Normally this would lead to a fight, but the charm of the weird weapon was too much. "Tsk," Obi tutted, "Please?" Oslo nodded with a smile and gestured to hand it over, only to pull it back again, making Obi''s eyes twitch. "Don''t test it inside," Oslo said, fortunately handing it over afterward (or it would''ve really been a fight). Obi scoffed. "Of course, do I look like an idiot?" "A fighting idiot, yes." "Tsk," but Obi took it as well as the interestingly small quiver outside to try. Next was Otto, and he took out several bottles from the space. "These are the spices I gave to the kitchen. I figured you''d want a set in your own house." Otto brightened and laughed, patting his little brother''s shoulders, "Very good! You know me well!" And finally, it was Orion''s turn and he gave a rim of thin paper and the pen. It was made of carved stone and was designed to retain a lot of ink. Oslo had found this invention incredible, but in Altera everyone seemed to have taken it for granted. Some even said there were much more convenient designs that didn''t need refills after weeks of usage, but they didn''t have the material yet. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, for Oslo and the others, it was already amazing. Orion''s usually stoic eyes showed a rare glint and he took the gifts (not before giving a very succinct thanks) to the nearest table to try it out, writing out his next tasks. The family chuckled when they saw him enter his work zone again. "Where''s mine?" "Of course little Honda," he said, handing over the puzzles and big-kid toys. "Oh? What is this?" Otto asked as if it was given to him, curious. "I''ll show you," he said, opening the puzzle first. "You have to move this red piece, to this place." Honda nodded, trying to slide the longer blocks, but he couldn''t seem to get the red square to the edge. "Aw, this is harder than it looks." The gift was for the kid, but it tickled the other''s curiosity. For Honda''s third try, he found his puzzle taken away from him. "Let me try," Otto said, sliding it around. To no avail, of course. Otto looked at Oslo, looking doubtful. "This is a joke right? The red box couldn''t be moved there, right?" Oslo smiled smugly and went over, showing them a few points and techniques he learned, earning a few impressed ''awws''. (He would never tell them he was exactly the same when he found it.) It was around this time that Obi returned, looking energetic. He was waving the crossbow around like he was a kid who was loving his latest toy. "This is amazing!" He yelled as soon as he got back. "The best bow and arrow I''ve seen for its level!" It was only a level D weapon, but it definitely rivaled the C-class weapons he used as a teen! While at his level¡ªlevel 43¡ªthis didn''t do much, he had plenty of guards under him who could use this. The shots were not only lethal, they were swift and needed less time to reload! The Golds looked at each other, impressed. The products they saw were already impressive, but a good weapon meant something different. "This can''t come from a village?" "Well, it won''t be a village for long," Oslo said, "It will be a town very soon. They would need a few resources to prepare them for an inevitable upgrade though." "Ah, how curious~" Olga said, leaning over. "Is it really very good?" "You women would love it too," he said, "Cassandra even stayed there." Gaia brightened at the mention of Cassandra. "I quite liked that girl," she said before giving Oslo a pointed look. "Better than every other woman you philandered with." Oslo felt a bit of pain in his temple. "I did not philander¡ªcan we resume with our previous topic, parents?" "Oh yes, continue." He cleared his throat. "I would need to request at least 30 sets of blueprint materials. I promised the Lord to sponsor 10." "Why would you do that?" It was Gaia who caught the implications in his words first. "You are coming back." "What?" "What?" Unlike the others, Otto shrugged. "Well, if he brings more of this stuff¡­" "..." "..." That was sufficient reason. Most of the relatives calmed down by then, already wondering when the next batch would come. Obi, who was now relaxedly drinking, looked at Oslo weirdly. His request¡­ was not cheap. "What''s the need?" He asked. "It''s not like a village could get a C-class architect¡ª" "It''s me," Oslo said, making everyone turn to him. "What?" Oslo smiled, repeating his words. "I am a C-class architect now." The family gaped at him in disbelief. Even Orion, who had been focused on writing, dropped his pen in shock. Chapter 431 - 431: Training Hall Level 2 (Part 1) [55 Days after The Migration] Altera. A new day had begun and the morning sun gently filtered through the curtains. Althea stirred in her cozy bed and, in her half-daze, she heard the soft and melodic giggling of babies that eventually pulled her from the depths of sleep. Slowly, she opened her eyes and stretched her arms to completely remove the slumber out her system. She slightly turned her head to the side, realizing her husband and the babies were on the floor cot, playing. Her husband was wearing a comfortable cotton shirt and pajamas, but his back was straight and he had a stern expression on his face. It was as if he was studying a battle plan while cross-legged on the floor. However, the difference was that even with a stoic face, the warmth in his eyes was overflowing. Near him were the two babies giggling and crawling around him, their tiny hands carrying them everywhere on the cot. They were super adorable and she wanted to pat those butt and poke their chubby cheeks just because. She shifted on the bed to get a better look, but Garan heard it instead. He turned and he immediately stood up when he saw her awake. With his masculine strides, he reached her a second later and sat next to her on the bed. "I''m sorry wife, did we wake you?" He asked, patting her head. She smiled and rubbed her face on his palm. "It''s fine. It''s just the right time to wake up," she said, "What were you doing?" Garan smiled in response, his arms finding their way behind her neck and legs, lifting her up without warning. She habitually wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders. They went to the cot and he settled her on his strong thighs as he sat. Seeing their mother near them, the babies immediately called to her with their baby language, crawling to approach. Their little butts were shaking as they passionately went towards her. "Mwaahhmwahhh¡­" "Googuumghu¡­" Althea giggled as she let go of her hold on her husband, albeit she was still comfortably sitting on him. She excitedly turned to Garan, "Husband! They''re crawling so quickly on their own now!" It was as if they forgot little Meatball actually floated, but that was a matter for the future¡ªespecially when the baby boy never did it again. It got to the point that they thought they both drank too much and imagined the whole thing. Anyway, at her words, Garan nodded with a smile. "When I woke up, I saw them in their crib, on all fours and staring at us," he said, "I decided to help them exercise." Althea''s lips pursed at the image and she watched as the children crawled to her. Slowly, and a bit unstable, but progress was made. They were only a few months old¡­ To be honest, her heart squeezed a bit whenever she saw them behaving in ways too advanced for their age, but no one could answer her doubts. And, again, Little Meatball had actually floated (assuming it was true). But whatever it meant, they loved their children and they''d figure it out together. Garan watched his family warmly and the couple looked at their unstable son, who lost his footing er, no, arm¡­ing? He fell down cheek first on the soft cot, and Althea almost sat up to help him. Strong arms wrapped around her torso though, and her husband''s warm breath blew on her ears. "No, my wife, let him get up on his own." The couple watched the babies crawl to them without any assistance. At some point, Little Pepper had already reached her, her soft tiny hands patting her legs. Althea''s heart melted as she took the baby to her lap and sent multiple smooches on her chubby face. Little Meatball was also crawling towards them, but a lot less stable than his older sister. Garan pursed his lips. "Alphonse Witt, You ought to train your arms more¡­" S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea rolled her eyes and pinched her husband''s cheek. "He''s a few months old!" He looked at her dotingly¡ªbut it was that look he had when he thought she was being silly. "He''s the man of the house after me. He ought to learn how to protect you and his sister." Althea knew there was no talking him out of this. She could only thank the heavens little Meatball couldn''t walk yet, or else who knew what kind of training he''d be thrown to. Speaking of training, they hadn''t been able to go to the training hall yesterday. Garan rubbed his wife''s curvaceous waist when he noticed her in a daze. "What''s wrong, wife?" "I forgot because the fight yesterday was so tiring¡­ but¡­ the Training Hall could finally be upgraded!" She paused and looked at the baby boy struggling to climb her thigh, only to fall back down the cot again. The momentum made him roll like a ball. So cute. She giggled, taking the babies in her arms, and gently squeezing their noses. "After eating, of course." ¡­ After having breakfast with the children and depositing them next door, the couple went to the Training Hall (Lv1). To upgrade a building, for now, she had to access the hall herself. This was in contrast with normal system buildings which could now be done via the map. To appear inconspicuous, the husband and wife simply lined up with everybody else. They also politely refused the offer to cut the line. "Thank you, but we can wait," she said, smiling beautifully and mesmerizing the random man. Garan placed his hand on her hips to pull her to him for a half embrace, which cut the random man''s thoughts and he awkwardly turned back in front and waited in line. Althea gave her husband a small frown. Was it necessary to intimidate a poor passerby? All she got was a smooch on the cheeks making everyone around them blush. Another one in the line coughed, "Are you sure you don''t want to go ahead Ms. Althea? I''m sure you guys can use your time for more¡­ productive things." She almost laughed but shook her head in the end. Although they normally would take up the offer, it would be too suspicious for the building to upgrade as soon as they entered it. "No thank you, my husband and I decided to go through everything by the book today." "Ah, ok!" "Very admirable," another said, earning a couple of nods. The line moved a bit and they stepped forward a couple of steps, fortunately, the upgrade trigger did appear. [Would you like to upgrade the Training Hall (Lv1) to Training Hall (Lv2)?] The price was, unsurprisingly, much more than the cost of building it. However, it was not just the usual three times. This seemed to be almost 5 times the cost of building it! But the Training Hall was far too important, and she really didn''t lack money¡ªespecially when the territory''s safety is on the line. [Yes.] And, like every other upgrade, there was a minuscule change in the air. Interestingly though, not everyone could sense this. So, when the building was upgraded, the people around were just shocked as all those inside suddenly appeared outside. What''s more, the building suddenly couldn''t be accessed. "What?" Someone in front of them yelled, followed by another. "What is going on?!" The people who were kicked out finally got out of their disorientation and were shocked to see the crowd. "What¡­??" "I was about to beat that level 5 Stormdoer damnit!" "What in the¡ª" "I thought I was going to dieee¡­" Anyway, it was all very confusing. They were unable to absorb more of what happened, and just got more confused when several people they were acquainted with grabbed them, asking what they saw inside. "????" Mao happened to be one of these people. He blinked and ran to the captain when he saw him. "Captain!" He exclaimed, sending his standard greeting. Then he looked around in a confused expression, unsure whether to ask his superior for what the heck happened. "Look back," was all the reticent captain said and he did as he was told. In front of their eyes the two-story building slowly increased by twice upwards. Slowly, brick by brick, the building started to change. Mao''s slitted eyes widened a millimeter more and gaped at the sight for a while, before turning his head back. "I¡­ I see." From his reaction, the ones inside during the upgrade¡ªexcept for being kicked out¡ªwere obviously unaffected by the changes outside. "Do you feel anything?" Althea asked and the man flinched, shaking his head to answer. Althea sighed in relief, while Garan nodded and looked at Mao. "Go back to the barracks and report this change." "Yes, sir!" After about half an hour, the ''construction'' stopped, revealing a new four-story building made of stone. At the same time, an announcement pinged in everyone''s heads. [The Territory Training Hall has been upgraded! All guards will be given priority use for a period of 3 days! [All permanent residents shall be given a discount of 50% of the usual rates for the first 10 hours of usage, 30% for temporary residents.] [Let''s increase the territory''s strength even more! Let''s work hard together!!] Chapter 432 - 432: Training Hall Level 2 (Part 2) [The Territory Training Hall has been upgraded! All guards will be given priority use for a period of 3 days! All permanent residents shall be given a discount of 50% of the usual rates for the first 10 hours of usage, 30% for temporary residents.] [Let''s increase the territory level even more!] "WHOA." The announcement naturally made a lot eyebrows rise, and those who had applied for the guards but didn''t pass (for now) were particularly envious. So lucky! They wanted to try it too! Of course, while the citizens didn''t get this benefit, they still had the extra discounts, so they weren''t too disappointed. "It upgraded! It really upgraded?!!" yelled many voices around the territory. Most of the people nearby rushed to see the upgraded building. It was done by the time the announcement was made, and the newcomers could only look at those who were already there for more details. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This is the first time I''ve seen a system building being constructed!" One said. "It''s too magical!" Another nodded. "I want to see what''s inside already!" Another one exclaimed. It was Hubert. It was his day off on guard duty, but he was still using it to train. Despite his idiotic personality, the guy worked very hard. Anyway, the ones kicked out during the upgrade were the first to enter, with the rest queuing up with anticipating hearts. After about half an hour, it was finally the couple''s turn to enter the building. They saw that there weren''t many changes at all except for the signage at the entrance. Apparently, the lower rooms remained the same, except monsters up to level 15 were available. This meant the soldiers staying could also improve their levels. Of course, people would still go to Ferrol simply because there wouldn''t be enough rooms in the Training Hall for all of them. There were no monetary rewards for killing a monster either, only experience (and discounted from the real thing). Another shortcoming of the training hall was that it only simulated monsters, not settings, which meant the actual fighting situations, including training to take advantage of the terrain, couldn''t be simulated. However, for the purpose of safe training, this was naturally a very very good thing. His soldiers would really still need to use this occasionally to master a few techniques they were practicing. The couple passed by the ground floor and went straight to the stairs to see the upper facilities. The upper two floors had completely different setups. On these floors were rooms dedicated to duos. The third floor was divided into two rooms for duos and trios, while the highest floor was only 1 room, and was dedicated to team play, with a maximum of 5 players. Garan nodded, thinking such a setup made sense. They paused in front of the room they were taking¡ªa room for duos¡ªand Garan looked at his wife. "I told you before that humans experience massive powerups at level 10 due to the elements while monsters'' bodies undergo major change at this level. He paused and continued. "Their bodies would become so strong and quick, much more so than before breaking that threshold. Generally, aborigines would need 5 strongmen handling a monster of the same level." Althea flinched. "So bad?! Is it always the case?" "For Elementalists, this could be reduced to two or three, which was the main reason we''re so revered here. However, it was still extremely difficult to deal with monsters of the same level, even for us. "Although us soldiers had learned several techniques and required a lot less manpower, it was generally not possible to deal with the same level alone. "This is probably why the training hall has more emphasis on teams after level 2." Althea frowned. This was very bad news. She made a mental note to hire more people to draw and document the monsters and create an even more comprehensive encyclopedia. It would not only show details of monsters, it would also have a list of weaknesses, strengths, and other data. There was already one in the works, but that one only did a basic introduction. She would also increase the remuneration for comprehensive information on monsters level 10 and above. Fortunately, level 10 and above monsters were rare in villages, and prevalent only in Towns. This made her even less inspired to try to upgrade into a town, whatever the requirement for that was. Their life was already very good, it was very reluctant to enter that tier with stronger enemies everywhere¡­ With a bit of a heavy heart, she entered the training room with her husband. Before picking monsters though, Althea checked her stats again. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 10 (1120/40000) Life: 3500/3500 Spirit: 3500/3500 +50 Physical: 600 +40 Agility: 629 +10 Defense: 606 +134 Mana: 4500 Physical Potential: A Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1), Triple Shot (D), Curved Shot (C) Passive: None Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Medina Robe (C): +40 Defence Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] She didn''t miss the massive increase of experience requirement for leveling up. "Would the experience requirement always be so much higher after level 10?" "Yes, it''s definitely much more difficult to level up after level 10. We only leveled up so fast because we were in danger every day, fighting against strong monsters." Althea patted her husband''s cheek as she was reminded of the dangers they faced. It wasn''t Garan''s intention, but he didn''t dislike the attention. Althea gave him a light peck on the lips before turning back to her stats. "Husband¡­" she asked, "Does everyone''s Health and Mana increase so much after level 10?" Garan nodded. "They do. From my observation, people''s Life and Spirit generally increased 100 every level up, and a larger increase of 300-500 during level 10. "I got a bit more than that¡­" "Mine got twice." "Mine¡­" "Thrice?" She nodded. "Then it is likely due to the amount of elements we have affinity." She nodded, but she furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms, looking at her stats again. "I don''t feel stronger¡­" Garan chuckled, "Unless you''re a fighter, you wouldn''t notice the changes until you''re in an actual fight," he said, "Before we summon, let me check on you first." Because Althea lost too much spirit the previous night, Garan didn''t allow her to practice elemental skills, he simply described some of the skills he had seen. He promised to take her to the barracks to watch his soldiers. For now, they would be fighting with monsters below her level, and get a feel of the elements by the way. "Considering the available surroundings you could use only water." People could control the elements, but only if they existed in the surroundings in some amount. In her case, wood could not be used because every surface in the room was rocks. The team had also determined during their training that the earth element couldn''t be used here either. This was unless one brought their own dirt, which was understandable to maintain the integrity of the surfaces. "Elemental skills are upgradable the more you master it. This is my Ice Spear at level 1. It consumes about 30 Mana," he said, manifesting a little spear of about a foot long and an inch wide at the middle, tapering to a sharp edge. He then manifested another spike. "Compared to my Ice Spear, Level 2, it would consume about 40 mana." She looked at it closer as he handed the spike. Not only was it larger¡ªabout half a meter long now¡ªit was more durable and lasted a lot longer. Garan then showed off a bit more and manifested a few more small spears around him. Althea watched as her husband handsomely manifested into ice weapons, looking super dashing. She looked so admiring that Garan really wanted to make out with her. But he didn''t, because he was a very disciplined man. "Feel the elements with your spirit. You should''ve practiced the meditation technique, right?" Althea nodded. She closed her eyes, recalling the exercises they had been practicing for a while. The difference this time was that when she opened her eyes, sparkly particles of different colors were visible. Her eyes widened and she looked at her husband, who had been watching her fondly. "Husband!" She exclaimed, emerald eyes filled with light, "It''s so beautiful!!" Garan smiled and patted her head. "Imagine them as part of your experiments. It would be like handling them, except you do not have other tools other than your power." Althea blinked, absorbing his words. Garan watched his beautiful wife wave her hands, feeling the water elements in the air. It didn''t follow her will at first, but soon the sparkles followed the set path she decided on, soon weaving strands of energy that were visible to the naked eye. Garan nodded. He knew his wife could do it. She had always been very talented. As a scientist, Althea was very aware of the composition of the elements, so it became more intuitive to her. Soon a small ball of water appeared floating between her palms, suspended in mid-air. The ball defied gravity, hovering in front of her, and it looked like it had a life of its own. It was shaky and couldn''t hold the most stable spherical shape, but it was at least a pretty oval. Her beautiful emerald eyes brightened with amazement and pride. She did it! Her first water ball!! Chapter 433 - 433: Elemental Skills (Part 1) [Warning! Please begin your training within 00:01:00 or else you will forfeit your turn and be blacklisted for 28 hours] [Countdown begins. 00:00:59] Althea, who was playing around with a water worm: "..." Garan''s lips twitched and he activated the aether screen. Althea, on the other hand, pouted. "How stingy. It hasn''t even been 10 minutes yet." She mumbled. Of course, she knew it was fair. After all, there was a long line outside. If everyone had fun as she would''ve, it was estimated only a few people would be able to use this facility every day. Garan smiled as he patted her cheek. "We''ll practice your elements after," he said, before looking at the screen. Garan then finalized their choice. For now, he chose one level 10 monster with high speeds. This was for Althea to realize the differences in her fight before and after she reached level 10, regardless of the elements. They watched in interest as glowing golden dust compressed, slowly forming a figure that became more and more solid. They had come to learn that this was a form of aether, and it was fascinating. As the monster¡ªan unfamiliar one¡ª completely materialized and began to move, Althea immediately released her weapons, ready to fight. Come! ¡­ Fifteen minutes later. Garan''s sharp eyes watched as his beautiful wife made several attacks against the aether monster. Her ponytailed hair was wet from sweat and she was breathing heavily, all signs that she was struggling a bit. It had been a quarter of an hour since the fight began, and she had yet to make any progress. However, it was miles better than the completely one-sided helpless fight from before. [Use! Perfect Aim (Lv2)! -10 Mana] Althea used her ability, but this didn''t mean her Bellagio could be used¡ªit still couldn''t. She didn''t even use a lower-level bow-and-arrow this time, because Garan wanted her to train her close-ranged skills, which was necessary if she didn''t have a lot of teammates around her. What she found out during this time was that she could use the skill for close-range attacks. There was a little difference in application though, similar to how one had to redirect water in a multi-level canal¡ªthat was, blocking one path to give entry to another. She didn''t know if the aborigines knew this. Even if they did, she never trained like this in front of them so it wouldn''t have occurred to them to inform her either. Her observant husband, however, did. He knew that this was certainly not public knowledge at all. Anyway, with the skill, her slices and jabs became much more accurate. Even with its speed, she managed to time her hits and she hit its eye. Sadly, a level 10 monster''s defense was still top-notch and it barely embedded. Huffing, she cracked her knuckles and tried to reenergize herself. She looked for other spots she could focus on while she avoided its attacks. Eventually, she hit the softer-looking skin under the neck¡ªanother likely weakness. Slash! Rooarrrr! She did it! Finally hit! ROARR! "Oops," she mumbled, barely avoiding a swift attack from the berserk beast. The attack that normally damaged a monster didn''t even scratch this one! She internally cursed, panting heavily and trying to wipe her dripping sweat while she avoided its nonstop attempts to hurt her. Although she had fought a level 10 before (and suffered), now that Garan hadn''t weakened it, she felt the strength gap much more intensely. It seemed like she still grossly underestimated enhanced monsters! Garan watched her movements carefully, ready to move any time she asked him to. It was normal for her to struggle. Perhaps in the whole of Xeno, Garan was one of the handful of people who could take on enhanced monsters by himself and come out with complete limbs. After all, Garan had a deep foundation in fighting, dual access to two aggressive elements, and had higher attribute increases during upgrades. For Althea, she may have triple elements but they were all of a relatively peaceful nature. At best, she could handle an unassisted fight for a while by virtue of her higher stats. Not to mention now, she couldn''t use any of her elements in battle just yet. Back to the fight, Althea once again stared at the monster whose fur had a metallic sheen, trying to look for more weaknesses. It lunged at Althea as it let out a sharp roar, its jugged claws aiming for her throat. Her hands gripped at her sword and, with improved reflexes, she sidestepped and raised her arm, defending herself against its attack. Her sword hit its metallic coat. Her eyes twitched when her katana rubbed against its hard skin, creating that annoying metal-to-metal screech. To her surprise, there were a few sparks lit by the friction. This moment of distraction was enough for the monster to be able to land a hit on her. The monster was too fast so she couldn''t avoid it. She was thrown to the wall by its strong paws. "Althea!" Garan yelled. He was so quick that he basically teleported to the wall, catching her before she hit it. The force was not weak and they slid together due to the momentum, but Garan managed to stop it after a few feet. "Thanks." "I can debilitate it¡ª" "Not yet," she told him, "I want to know how long I can last on my own." Garan frowned but saw the determined look in Althea''s eyes. He sighed. "Be careful," he said, reluctantly letting her go and taking down the ice wall he used to block the monster from her. Althea just continued to use her normal physical attacks, because she didn''t even have the time to use skills. Another half an hour passed and Althea saw her spirit was less than half. Although the monster would disappear if any of them had health less than 10%, she didn''t want to waste this opportunity to learn more. After some scuffle, she finally hit its eye again, this time with more precision. The blade stuck on its eye as it ran after her. She jumped and kicked the katana, hammering it deeper in its eyes. By a few inches anyway. The defense inside its body was unlike what she had encountered so far. Fortunately, it did damage it enough to make it shake its head in confusion for a few seconds. Taking advantage of these few seconds, she took out another blade¡ªa level D one made by Brenda¡ªand sliced the sword at it, creating more of those sparks. To Garan''s surprise, Althea decided to use her ability and drenched her sword, a small pond of water dripping from her hand to the connection. The water successfully conducted the bit of electricity, stinging the monster even for just a milli-second. It wasn''t much, but it was a distraction. She then hammered the arrow that was stuck on it, further stabbing its end, finally reducing its life to half. Garan stepped in at this time, understanding Althea was at her limit. He debilitated the monster by damaging all four limbs, with Althea taking a breather on the side. She approached the weakened monster and slashed repeatedly, finally killing the damned thing. [Killed! Simulated Kronic (Lv10). + 150 experience (reduced).] Seeing her meager earnings, she still smiled, finally losing her footing. This time, her husband was right behind to catch her fall. ____ Garan carried her out the training hall, gathering some worried stares. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She had lost the feeling of her legs during the battle and could no longer stand so she could only get carried like this. She didn''t really mind this PDA, but the show of weakness was embarrassing and she buried her head on her husband''s generous chest. It was as if she couldn''t see them, they couldn''t see her either. Garan smiled and only shook his head at the voices of concern, as it would only make her even more shy. As such, the two reached home some minutes later without anyone bothering them. The two went home for Althea to take a nap before lunch time, with Garan preparing her favorite dishes. The children were once again ''kidnapped'' by Betty and the nurses to play as mascots. They said the recovery rate, especially the Spirit, increased when the babies were there. Such cuties would make everything feel better. Anyway, the children were extroverted, and it would be wrong for them to stay at home all the time. Garan stared warmly at his wife snoring in the lounge. She didn''t want to dirty the bed, and she refused to have him bathe her ''so early in the day''. Anyway, he did promise to wake her up for lunch so here he was, even if he was reluctant. "My love," he said, "Time to wake up now." "Hmmmm¡­" her eyebrows furrowed and she made a cute pout. Garan couldn''t help himself and he leaned down to meet her lips. Althea was woken up shortly after, because of the¡­ heat. She glared at him. "You didn''t have to be so¡­ passionate." He just gave her an innocent smile in response, "You made me promise to wake you up." Chapter 434 - 434: Elemental Skills (Part 2) Flirting aside, the couple had a satisfying lunch with a bit of dessert squeezed in. They went to the barracks after a short rest¡ªwhich turned to over an hour because of Garan''s incessant flirting. Frankly, it would have lasted longer if Althea wasn''t so vehement in her practice. Anyway, Althea absolutely would not rest until she practiced more so Garan could only give way. The new formal barracks arranged by Garan was a large 3-hectare barracks and military area near the west gate. It was close to the industrial and agricultural areas, so it was much quieter than the rest of the territory. It was too big for the current forces at this time, but it was big enough that even if Altera hired another thousand troops, it could house them comfortably. It also had complete sets of dormitories (using intermediate Custom Building), canteens, and training areas. Because of the completeness of the construction team and experts, this place was far better than the one the soldiers built in Ferrol. When it was completed, it made the soldiers'' blood boil so much that they trained extra hours to ''baptize'' the place. They were quite diligent and she asked Garan to treat them in her restaurant as a reward. This raised Althea''s already-high status even higher in the soldiers'' hearts. The Territory''s first fighting Arenas, ball courts, and other leisure courts were also built here. It would serve as an after-work benefit and more leisure exercise to the soldiers. The couple checked on these facilities and their statuses before heading to the main training grounds. As before, the teams were divided into three rotating teams: Guards training, guards outside the territory, and guards handling safety and security within the territory. The ratio they decided for this was 3:6:1 during peacetime. The system was already extremely convenient that it could handle a lot of the basic transgressions and punishments, making the job particularly light. For the most part, they''d be assisting Mathilda''s team in handling the rest of the problem. Mathilda and her team worked relatively low-key, but when they were gone, it could easily lead to chaos. This would be especially important during wartime, when most regulations would be null. Anyway, this meant that a pretty good ratio of the soldiers was now in the training ground. They occupied various places and training spots, some in the obstacle courses, some in the tracks, others doing the training courses arranged by Drake and Rowan, and others in the fighting arenas for spars. This area was naturally one of the larger places fighting was allowed for sparring. In the barracks alone, there were around five 100-square-meter arenas and three 300-square-meter arenas for Elementalists fights. At this time, the Terran Mercenary soldiers in Altera were Gill''s group, with the other team estimated to get back in another week or two. They weren''t really strict with exactly how long each turn was due to the excessive amount of variables. Anyway, they trusted their people wouldn''t be lax, and would find a way to strengthen themselves wherever they were. At this time, Gill, Sammy, Mao, Eagle, and Luis were in the barracks because Garan asked them to stay for the day. The group met them as soon as they approached and they headed towards the special elemental training hall. In the huge barracks, there was an exclusive warehouse-like reinforced structure with stone statues. Here, the guards could practice their spells without being watched. Civilians could also use this place, albeit they would have to pay some contribution for maintenance fees. Garan called the soldiers here to show the skills they learned so far, especially Mao, who was used Earth¡ªan element she had herself. For water, she would be going to Betty later on, but she didn''t have any luck with the wood Elementalists. Speaking of which, for some reason, wood Elementalists were relatively rare. This was a bit counterintuitive considering the lush vegetation of this world. After all, if an Elementalist had the ability to control the elements around, shouldn''t wood be one of the more common elements? The only ones in Garan''s group before were Leo and Sean, but both were not with them at this time. Leo was among those who stayed in Fargo while Sean was one of the five people who went West. Anyway, because they''d be focusing on her affinities later on, they decided to show her the other elements first. Althea was very smart and could always find something to learn in whatever. They might even learn something themselves. First to show off was the fire elementalist Luis and then the wind elementalist Eagle. Although she didn''t have these affinities, it was good to familiarize herself with them, ideally in relation to her own abilities. She was also very interested in how the other elemental skills worked. "Wife, before anything though," Garan said before anything started, "Note that, as low-level Elementalists, we are limited to one ''type'' of skill per element¡ªsupport or aggressive." This was something they learned during their time in towns. "We think of it as a sort of calibration, where our bodies adjust to the elements. After this was mastered, only then could we proceed to the other type." Except for Vanessa and Turbo, everybody else in their team chose the aggressive aspect of their elements first. This was natural. After all, they were thrust into danger the moment they got there. Althea nodded in understanding, earning Garan''s fond pat on the head. His expression then turned to his usual stern ones as he looked at his soldiers, nodding to proceed. First to deal with the stone dummies was Luis, who had just reached level 13. It was much, much, harder to level up after level 10 so it was understandably more difficult for Luis to catch up with the others, considering he lagged behind for weeks due to injury. However, with the addition of the upgraded Training Hall, he should be able to up his training. Anyway, Luis had been practicing for a long time and could finally control bigger fires so as to not get teased as a walking lighter. First was the fireball. Luis threw it to the statue, damaging its head. He could also make a firewall¡­ or, more accurately, a fire fence, that could last for about a minute. It wasn''t a bad improvement. "Not bad," Garan said, making the young man twinkle with pride. "Thank you, sir!" he said, before looking at Althea. "Do you have any questions, Miss Althea?" He asked politely, with that toothy grin of his. "Or suggestions¡­?" Althea smiled, thinking if she did have anything to say. Everyone knew that fire required three things: Fuel, Oxygen, and Heat. For wind, it also had to do with the air outside. For water, one would just need to find a source for the element. In the absence of obvious sources, they could get water from the air, albeit with much more effort. "I suggest to always bring fuel with you. It doesn''t have to be crude oil, but you can just dry some leaves and have it with you." For better or for worse, the plants here were more difficult to ignite with fire than in Terran. This was mostly a positive to avoid widespread forest fires, but this also meant the effect of fire damage using wood would also be limited. However, this higher fire resistance would be null if the plant was dried. Not only was the moisture in the plant gone, but the magical attribute of the plants themselves had also dissipated at this time! Luis'' eyes widened in enlightenment. "Oh! Makes sense!" Next was Eagle who could throw continuous wind blades and assist his own movements using wind. He taught her how to sense the air and use it to propel himself. Because she wasn''t a wind Elementalists, she couldn''t control the wind at all, but she did understand the concept of controlling air molecules. Learning from a wind elementalist would certainly help with her foundations. Next was Mao, a fellow Earth elementalist. He was naturally the one they would spend most time in. "First off, sister-in-law, we will do the Extract Soil Technique." "Is that how it''s called?" "No, I just named it that way," Mao said with a shit-eating grin. Althea giggled and just watched him do the job. It was relatively straightforward: She just had to feel the earth and the elements embedded inside them. Because they already existed/formed, she only had to control it¡ªwhich was plenty easier than elements like fire which had the formation stage. He also taught her how to make pot holes, primarily to trap enemies, and make a wall. Making a wall was a bit more difficult. She not only had to go so against gravity¡ªwhich was much higher in Xeno¡ªbut she also had to compress and reinforce it enough to serve as proper defense, and not just a wall of sand that would fall down with a poke. Finally, Gill was the only other person other than their family to have more than one elements: Fire and Earth. From him, Althea learned how to combine two elements, to create a new attack. In his case, it was Magma. It wasn''t as easy as it sounded, because you had to feel the differences of the elements and combine them. For instance, he had to be able to control the temperature precisely, otherwise, it would either burn the soil too much and create a crisp charcoal-like thing or he could heat it too little that the soil wouldn''t be flexible enough to move viscously. "Don''t worry, sister-in-law, it took me a couple of weeks to perf¡ª" The earth in front of her turned to mud, then to quicksand. "Oh, how nice~" she said, while Gill and the others could only gape. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "..." Chapter 435 - 435: Young Plants After a few hours, the two finally left the barracks. Hand-in-hand, they headed to the clinic to pick up the kids. All throughout the walk, Althea was chattering passionately. She was very excited about the new sea of knowledge she had taken a dip in. The whole time, Garan just listened and looked at her dotingly. "I really liked the drowning people technique. It doesn''t take much power, but is super effective," she said. Although there were no water Elementalists in the barracks at this time, they did mention how Turbo handled his elements and inspired her. Especially, like Vanessa, Turbo was a healer. This meant he chose the support aspect of the water element to master first, but he still figured out ways to find attack techniques using the element. She practiced the theory of it and did get the hang of it after a bit. (Mao had to be the poor soul to determine whether she could really drown people with it) "Earth seemed to be the least consuming power in most cases," she said, "I just open up the earth on the ground and poof! I have a trap." "Pity we don''t have wood Elementalists among the soldiers though." She paused. Wood was also fairly rare, numbering just a bit more than the metal Elementalists. Like Garan, she also thought it was odd. If Elementalists could use the elements in the air, then wood Elementalists ought to be much more common. But this seemed to be something beyond their level at this time, so they could only move on and temporarily put this to the back of her mind. They arrived at the clinic before they knew it, with the children having their own elevated and railed space near the counter for everyone to dote on. It was relatively big¡ªmore than 2 square meters¡ªand occupied a big part of the reception area. It also had a detailed railing about half a meter high, which would''ve been enough to block the babies even when they started to stand up. Well, theoretically. Although it frankly looked too much like a zoo corralle¡ªwith the passersby (they even had some visitors who didn''t need to use the health center) looking like zoo goers¡ªthey seemed to genuinely admire the children anyway so they didn''t mind. Looking at the smiles on the injured and bandaged people, Betty and the others didn''t seem to be exaggerating when they said the children helped with lifting up spirits. At this time, the babies'' ''corralle'' were surrounded by patients and their families (and a few guests) alike. They were all gasping and cooing. They were all talking excitedly but in muted tones, so they weren''t shouting. "They can crawl now! They''re so young!" "Ohmygosh look at their cute butts bonking as they crawled!" "Such small hands and feet! I wanna touch them so much!" "As expected of Miss Althea and Sir Garan''s children!" "Too cute, too cute!!" "Stop yelling! Do you want to damage the babies'' ears?!" "Oh, rightrightright," she mumbled, considerably lowering her volume. "I''m sorry babies, forgive brother, okay?" "C''mon little Pepper, call big sister!" Another one cooed, making Pepper tilt her little head in wonder. She didn''t do anything, but said woman almost fainted from the cuteness attack. "Little Meatball make a saliva bubble for me, PLEASE!" Little Meatball seemed to have understood and made a bubble. Pop! "GAH! Soooo cute!" To be honest, the couple was a little taken aback by the attention when they first saw it, but they eventually got used to it. As long as they didn''t come on to the children too much or give them stuff, it didn''t matter. The babies obviously reveled in the attention, anyway. They would later find out that the children had grown their own fan groups with their own names. For Little Meatball, his fan group was called ''the Munchkins'' and for Baby Pepper, it was ''the Spices''. When more stationary became available, even merchandise would be sold. Of course, Ansel would find a way to monetize it somehow because forbidding it would just create a black market of sorts anyway. Of course, when it was Althea''s turn to get merchandise, Garan stopped that with strength (while keeping a few in his own space, of course). Overall, it was safe to say that the children would grow up surrounded by love. "I hope they don''t get too spoiled¡­" Althea mumbled worriedly. Frankly, she wasn''t confident she wouldn''t spoil the children. "Don''t worry, your husband would straighten Alphonse out." "...what about Pepper?" "She ought to be spoiled," He then turned to Althea, "You turned out quite well." She pouted. Was she spoiled? Was she?? Garan chuckled but didn''t answer. He only took the children, one in each arm. They were greeted happily by the audience but also felt sad that the babies were getting taken away. "Come again soon, babies~" one said, cooing at a safe distance from the scary Garan, but loud enough to catch the babies'' attention. "I promise I''ll be here~" This earned him a knock on the head. "Spend your own medical bills!" "Ah, I''m sorry mother." Anyway, some hilarity continued inside the clinic, even when the family was on their way home. The couple smiled as they left the premises, giving their cute children a few kisses on their soft faces. "My babies are really making so many people happy," she said, "Blessed babies indeed." ¡­ They went back home with the children just before dusk, and Althea after eating dinner went straight to her fenced experimental fields. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Except for the flower fields, the rest were now dedicated to the Endemic plants Garan and Team A brought back. A lot of them had begun to bloom and some easier-to-grow ones like some tubers had already been harvested. For now, all she and the plant research team had of the harvested endemic plants were their compositions and some uses known by some of the aborigines. She managed to summarize a few, but she knew there was still so much to explore. Fortunately, she had a research team to back her up and they could gather so much information in such a small amount of time. Of course, if they had complete equipment, they''d have much faster progress. Their assessment skills (a skill almost all of the researchers had awakened) could determine a lot, but not everything. Anyway, the edible ones were sent to Harold to study. The past few days he had been in the kitchen of their villa, passing the helm of the Restaurant to Joana (lawyer Jun''s wife) and the others. The same plants, if there was enough growth, were also sent to Cooke for him to do the same. For example, there was one plant called Plopo which, according to the assessment skill, had a sweet peppery taste and was used to put in food. They had yet to know how it would be processed, however. When they tried traditional processing, the product was just bitter with minimal nutritional benefits. Hopefully, they''ll get more information within the week. Anyway, while there were plants already growing, there were those that had already sprouted but would still take a while to bloom. For example, trees. She had two new kinds, both of which were fruits from other regions of Xeno. One of them, the Bouti, was even a common fruit tree in the orc area. According to Gochi, this was the Gouji fruit equivalent in the orc lands, only much less tasty and nutritious. She continued to try and raise it though, because she wanted to know if there were other uses for it. Another one, now knee tall, had the composition of corn, only of smaller kernels. She didn''t have seeds for corn before, and she hoped that this was an okay alternative. Finally, there was a plant called Goldenroot, which had no use via her appraisal skill, but through her latest study, it had high amounts of polyphenols which could boost energy, reduce fatigue, and vitality. She would try to use it to improve Sprite, especially as it would lose decent effect for people above level 20. Her husband was beyond this threshold. She wasn''t comfortable knowing her medicine wouldn''t be able to help him as much anymore. As for the other plants, most of them were still in the nursery requiring a bit more care and attention. Some plants were also placed in the greenhouse, so they had yet to be analyzed. Actually, over half of the seeds from Garan and the Ferrol market festival had yet to grow¡ªno, most of them had yet to sprout. Because of the strong refresh rate here¡ªplanted all of them in level 2 farmlands in her villa¡ªshe knew that for many of these plants, she was doing something wrong. If there was only a way to determine their status while they were still seeds, she wistfully mused. . . Then¡­ she remembered: she was a wood Elementalist. She knew that most wood Elementalist tended to choose the aggressive route of the element, primarily due to the dangers of this world. It made sense if one were to think of the fact that they were surrounded by lush forests everywhere. She understood why some would choose the aggressive route of the wood elements¡ªbut with her profession and the various other options for her to cause damage, she naturally chose the auxilary. There was no one to guide her though, so she''d just have to study this on her own. She raised her dainty hand and hovered them over the plants, wondering how much it could do with it. Chapter 436 - 436: The Wood Element Althea stared at her hands and concentrated her eyes, activating the meditative techniques she had been practicing for a while to feel the abundant wood energy in the area. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see the amount of wood energy, especially around the farmlands. She narrowed her eyes and walked outside, to observe the densities around the plants. She couldn''t do it inside the farm; it was too bright. Outside the farmlands, the wood energies were much less, but it was unsurprisingly much greater around the plants, especially trees¡ªmore notably, deciduous trees. Then going back to her farmland, the wood energy was so bright that it was almost blinding. This was quite amazing, especially since she doubted most of the other building types made use of elements at all. She wondered how it was done¡­ While she put aside her curiosity for now, she did make a mental note to study it more in the future. There were more pressing objectives of study at this time. Althea mused on how to use it for a while, analyzing, and thinking what should be the first point of experimentation. She then recalled the differences in how to handle various elements, and came up with an experiment. [Used Elementary Appraisal (D)! - 10 Mana!] She activated her skill and saw the information she already knew and had checked before. However, she looked at the floating green glitters floating like dust and willed some of them to gather towards her. Or more specifically, collected them in front of her eyes. Slowly, but purposely, more and more emerald sparkles floated and condensed, creating a sphere in front of her eyes, dying her sights green. Then, she reactivated her skill, as if trying to look through the ''screen'' of the assessment skill to see if she could see something else. Unexpectedly, the familiar ding resounded in her head, instead. [Learned! Eyes of Wood (D), a special ability to analyze wood beings. Wood Elementalists only. Cost: 30 Mana] "Oh?" Her eyebrows rose and, interested, used the skills on the nearby plants. [Used! Eyes of Wood (D), -30 Mana!] She almost jumped for joy at what she was registering. There was no text, not exactly, but it was more of an instinct on what the plants needed. She stood up with bright eyes, going through the ''problem plants'', immediately consuming her mana just studying them. She stared at a plant through the Eyes of Wood and she would just know, as if she felt it herself, what the plant needed and what she needed to do. The results were amazing! For instance, she would know when a plant needed water or if there was too much. For instance, she would know if it was getting too much sunlight, or if it was too damp. She reckoned Gru''s farmer skill must have similar results, but to a much lesser effect. There were two plants¡ªnotably bought from Ferrol¡ªthat required cool, dark, and damp places to grow. At this time, they were in the greenhouse, receiving ample sun. No wonder they didn''t want to sprout! Maybe it would be a plant like horsetail or some ferns, both having some medicinal properties that could prove useful to her. There were also plants that apparently thrived on water which could be used as food and medicine. They were planted to damp soil, but it kept giving her signals of ''more water, more water'', which she naturally complied with. After a few experiments, she realized it didn''t just need to be watered, it needed to be in the water. She thought that perhaps it was a water hyacinth which was known to improve water quality. A part of her also hoped it was something like duckweed and maybe the gugu birds would taste better eating it. Watercress would also be good for its various medicinal properties, and she was looking forward to the plants'' growth so she could study their uses more efficiently. There were also plants that needed open air and had to be hanged. Like the water plants, they were also planted nicely in the soil. They sent her signals of ''Suffocating'', so she naturally let it ''breathe''. It was all so very fascinating. Reinvigorated, she went to return to her Terran plant experimental fields, though not without consuming a lot of mana cookies along the way. Her Terran field was unsurprisingly the most vibrant, with various colors and types and scents abound. It made Gru cry every time he went to visit. Anyway, they were all healthy and properly maintained and a lot of seeds had already been produced and placed to the agriculture team for planting in the fields outside. In fact, a lot of the previous crops had already been transplanted to the fields outside. Just last week, several fields dedicated to specific plants had been fully planted.. Among the flowers, Lavender was the most common. It was perennial and drought-resistant, making it the ideal flower to invest in. It was also great for perfumes and other scents, by itself or mixed with others, so it had the largest plots among the flowers. The herbs had their own plots of land but, because they needed a long time to truly age enough, it would more or less take several more months to be really usable. Barley and Maltose were also transplanted to their own fields. Soon enough, maltose sugar, maltose beer, malt extract, maltose milk, malt syrup, and other products would be made available in the supermarket. Soy and peanuts were already harvested in bulk, and had been sent to their respective factories for processing. It was the trees that still needed some time. Her orchard was fine, because the grapes, strawberries, and the like had short cycles, but the rest would take a while. Roughly, Terran plants took 1/15th to 1/10th of their growth cycle when grown in the level 2 fields, further reduced by her fertilizers and other agricultural techniques. Oranges and Cocoa had a Terran cycle of about 5 years, Coffee and apple trees had three, while mango trees could take 5-8 years. This meant that, planted in Xeno Level 2 fields, she''d still need several months for each of them. It was still a long time, if one asked her. She looked wistfully at the cocoa and coffee trees. More than the fruit trees, she was more looking forward to these. After all, there was no lack of fruit in Xeno, just different types and tastes. Coffee and cocoa, on the other hand, were totally different raw materials. From the timeline, they should be ready in a few more months. She also had a few fields outside dedicated to these plants and only kept a few seeds in her space for safekeeping. Too bad she didn''t have too many seeds (yet) so mass production of chocolate or coffee would still be perhaps a year away... Too long¡­ She wanted to taste it again, even if it was just for her group for now. She pursed her lips and stared, a little idea dawning on her, but it was not quite clear yet. She went to the cocoa tree. She remembered craving for chocolate in her pregnancy. Was it because she wasn''t unsatisfied at the time that she was getting these cravings again? Instinctively, she touched one chocolate tree and closed her eyes. She filtered out the natural wood elements in the fields and focused on the ones in and around the plants. With her mind''s eye, she saw virtual green dots floating. Their density varied, focusing on where the plants were. Among the plants, the herbs had the densest, unsurprisingly, which could be seen in their strong contents and healing abilities. She focused on the cocoa tree, feeling every cell in its body, as well as every ''green spot'' that integrated with its being. With her mind''s eye she could feel and understand how the matter was composed, how it worked. She guided the green sparkles to the tree, combining them with certain growth cells. It didn''t quite succeed immediately. The cells fought a little before the green spots passed through its ''guard'' and integrated. She could feel the cell becoming stronger, and more vibrant. [Learned! Growth Control (C): Increase a plant''s growth rate by 1-2%. Mana: 50] Oh. My. Goodness! Gulping and very excited, Althea immediately used her skill, over and over. [Used! Growth Control (C)! -50 Mana!] [Used! Growth Control (C)! -50 Mana!] [Used! Growth Control (C)! -50 Mana!] She stopped only when her mana and mana potions ran out. Studying the tree and its current appearance, she noted that she reduced the growth of the tree by a few hours. She smiled. Vaguely, she felt that she could also direct the plant''s direction of growth. "Direction of growth, eh?" She went back to the corn-like plant and zeroed in on two or three crops to experiment on. Of course, this was not before she brought back some more mana cookies from Harold. For this experiment, it was best to choose something not too hard but with obvious differences. So she decided on the corn strain that could make popcorn! But¡­ she had already consumed all her mana cookies before she could succeed. She stood up to goad Harold to bake her a box-full. Unfortunately, it was already dark and she turned to find her husband staring at her. "Husband?" She uttered, a bit startled. His frown remained as he approached her. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You''re working too hard." He told her and then leaned down¡­ to carry her back like a sack. "Hey!" He gently patted her buttocks as if not hearing her, "The children will be staying with their auntie Sheila tonight." She blushed a bit, her eyes ending up on her farm that was getting farther and farther away from her. Her popcorn!! Chapter 437 - 437: Mauin Village While in Altera the citizens were worrying about what to eat for dinner, where to train next, or even what the new products in the supermarket would come out, the status of other villages had very stark differences. One example was a small village hundreds of kilometers Southeast of Altera. It was called Mauin Village, after the original lord. Here, there were moldering houses, brackish waters, and an atmosphere seemingly bereft of all good things It was also a Level 3 village, but looking closely at the people and the territory, it was as if they were poorer than the standard Level 2 village! Not only were the buildings in poor condition, the people were even worse. Its people had totally different temperaments from that of Altera¡ªthe opposite, in fact. The people here wore ripped clothing and had dirty faces, barely bothering to care for themselves. They lived in unmaintained houses, abodes no different from abandoned property, but they took no effort in changing it. As if they had no reason to do so. However, it could be seen that they still didn''t want to die considering how they were now scrambling around the dirt roads and grassy squares in a panic, in an attempt to safeguard one of the few things they had left. That was: their lives. This was because, a few moments prior, the too-familiar sound of an alarm¡ªthe alarm for war¡ªresounded across the territory. [Tome Village has attacked your territory. Please prepare for war.] "It''s them again?!" A man yelled, screaming at no one in particular. "How many times will they attack us this year?!" Another screamed, disbelieving. Unkempt women and children sobbed, trying to find a place to hide. They didn''t want to die, not like their sisters, brothers, and friends¡ª How long would this last? Older people asked, while the young people, who had known this sort of life all of their existence, simply sobbed, not knowing any better. It was that damned village again¡ªTome Village, a village built too close, only a few hours away on a leisure walk, persistently hitting them at their weakest. The previous lords were said to be friends, helping each other obtain a lord''s token for their own use. This was the ultimate show of brotherhood. Although obtaining a token a hundred years ago was not as impossible as it was now, it was still not easy. The two Lords could be said to have gone through fire and used up several lifetimes'' worth of luck in order to obtain two. It was just that, for some reason, they broke away from each other and became enemies. Legend said it was because one got too greedy and regretted sharing the token with the other. It had been a fair fight until a few years back, one lost this time, and the next month the other one won. Lose some, gain some back. Further, the battles generally happened every few months, leaving both parties some recovery time. For both parties, this was fair because they saw the other as a source of resources, which naturally had to be given time to recover. The back and forth lasted for decades until the lords passed on the tokens to their respective children¡­ who wanted to end the battles¡­ ¡­by attacking to completely destroy the other, which was not an uncommon ideology in Xeno. At the time, the food provided by nature to their village was nearly unlimited, as the population couldn''t grow too much due to the beast tides and multitude of wars. True wealth had become those obtained through wars. The attacks soon became monthly and things tipped to one side when Tome allied with another village¡ªa wild tribe, a tribe they heard ate people! They found out about this when one of the attackers place tokens of their kills along their belts. Some of them were bones! Someone even used human bone to clean his teeth! What they had done to the captured slaves from their village, they did not want to imagine. It just got worse and worse for Mauin and somehow, during the past few months, the two villages had been maximizing the wars and attacked twice a month. Their poor village had to face these two villages every lunar cycle. Because of this, every month, they lost huge amounts of resources, properties, and people. Every time, the village lost half its current assets, and until now they only had debts and a fraction of the population left. They also lost many strong men to food and a lot of women to the enemy. Their food had to be taken deep in the wild every day, in contrast to being able to stock up a bit due to the ample resources within the walls. Now, it was no longer enough. The resources would always be taken, so everyone had to go outside the safety of the walls to hunt and forage every single day. It was also because of this new practice¡ªwith them being so closely exposed to the outside every single day¡ªthey soon came to notice an anomaly: The regrowth of the plants was getting slower. A few years back they could at least be full even if they didn''t have the restaurant, now¡­ they struggled for a meal. Slowly, it was getting harder and harder to gather fresh fruits and vegetables, and going farther from the usual gathering spots was too dangerous. As for the mobs, the mobs had somehow been manageable because they were relatively weak. Fortunately, their people had been so used to fighting that the occasional mob could be dealt with even in their state. It was also the only reason they hadn''t been completely destroyed yet. But not for long. If this went on¡­ Maoru settled his wife and children in the cellar they dug up. "It''ll be alright," he said, and his wife sobbed and patted his short hair. "Daddy¡­" the little boy, Maumi, wrapped his little arms around his leg. "Scared." He patted the boy''s head, a little teary. He felt heartbroken that the child had never learned of a happy childhood. Although his own was hard, he and his wife still experienced some peaceful times, albeit far and few, and their childhood friends were now mostly dead. "Dad will be back." sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Please be alright," his wife said, whispering, unable to speak clearly as she held back her tears. "I will," he told her, comforting. He kissed his wife''s forehead and patted his son''s head before climbing up, his smile immediately morphing to a dire one. He went to the square where his guards were gathering, looking uninspired and scared. The atmosphere was heavy and the momentum was low. This was unsurprising, but this was in no way the correct way to face the most important war they would encounter so far. If they lost this, then¡ª Mauru refused to continue with that thought and he looked at his men, waiting for them to arrange themselves. When he saw that they were still busy arranging their own things in a flurry, he finally bellowed. "You think you have a chance if you''re scared? You would run rather than fight!" He yelled, and a lot of people just looked down in shame. "They eat people! Don''t you think death by fighting is more honorable than being eaten?! Maoru yelled at his guards. "Quickly get ready! "WE WILL FIGHT TO THE DEATH!" "We will win this time!! We will take back what we lost!!" "Yeah!" the people yelled in response. The crowd showed varying levels of enthusiasm but with consistently high levels of stress and fear. He sighed and saw the Lord watching them with an unreadable expression. Maoru''s back straightened up immediately and he approached the man, saluting as soon as he was a couple of yards away. "We are ready, my Lord. As ready as we could be¡­" "No." The lord''s tone was dismissive, but he was silent. Mauru, confused, looked closer at the man¡ªstill young, only fifty years old¡ªand realized that he was shaking. Mauru patiently waited for instructions, because he obviously had something to say. The man closed his eyes, looking as if in pain. After a while, he finally spoke. "Go. Get away." "Milord?" Mauru asked, almost certain he had misheard. "We wouldn''t be able to win this fight¡­" the lord said, voice shaky. "They will defeat us this time." "My Lord, we can''t give up! Even if there''s a slightest chance¡ª" "Rather than let everyone die, I''d rather be the Lord who gave you a chance to live." He said with finality, before walking away with his limp, something he had endured for years. He was tired. Very tired. Mauru stared at the Lord''s back, still shocked at the order. He took a deep, deep, breath to stabilize himself. He turned his head and he looked at the people scurrying around with a complicated expression. Go away? Go where? They lived their whole lives here¡­, where else would they go? Where else could be ''home''? Chapter 438 - 438: The Fall of Mauin Village (Part 1) "What''s going on??" Juna asked when her husband got back to the cellar with an even heavier expression than before. Her husband has always been optimistic. What was this now? "The Lord asked us to leave, right now. While we still can." Fourteen hours were given as forewarning before an attack. In this period of time, no territory can attack the defending side. It was, indeed, it was the time to flee, should one hope to do so. The reason why so few actually fled during wars was because they didn''t know where else to go. Not to mention, the dangers outside the walls were not to be underestimated. They were a weak group¡ªmost of the strongmen died during wars¡ªand the citizens couldn''t handle mob after mob of monsters on their own. However, did they have a choice? At least they had a bit more hope going outside now, right? So, hurriedly, everyone prepared to leave, albeit with worried faces. As Mauru tried to figure out the direction to go, he counted the people. There really weren''t many fighters left and many of the survivors were children who they managed to hide away in small spaces. There were less than a thousand people left in their territory after all this time. A third were men, a third were women and old people, while the rest were teenagers and children. Less than an hour later, their spaces and baskets were filled up with whatever they could get¡ªthey didn''t own much, but they took whatever resources they could find just in case. As the scurried around, the Lord watched them all. Mauru paused in his tracks, signaling for his wife and son to continue gathering before going to the lord. "My Lord?" He asked, eyebrows furrowed. "Are you not coming with us?" "No, they will hunt you if I did," he said. And at this time, the Lord token was still integrated into his body. He couldn''t give it up even if he wanted to. "But¡­ milord¡­" Mauru uttered, guilty, and so did many others. The lord shook his head with a smile. Despite his uselessness, he was still loved like this, and that was more than enough reason to do what he ought to do. The people made tearful goodbyes to their kind Lord¡ªa very rare type of person, according to what they learned through the years. There were even a few children that went to hug him, and many adults left him a bit of their little resource for him to take. His eyes stung and he hurriedly pushed them away. And they did leave, albeit not without stinging eyes and heavy hearts both from guilt and fear of an unknown future. They stared into the dark forest right outside their flimsy fence. It was even more menacing than usual. With bated breath, one by one, they took a step outside the gate. It was terrifying, but a necessary step. Several people held the torches for the party. Step by step, the group went forward, with more and more people stepping outside following the others. But as they exited, a flash of sharpness passed in a different direction. This was followed by simultaneous flops around them. Three people fell down, each with arrows in their bodies. "WHATT?!" S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "ARE THE ENEMIES HERE?!" "NOOO!!" Screams were heard and the people immediately ran to the interior of the village. "What''s going on?!" They yelled and, soon, menacing voices echoed from the forests. This was followed by sinister laughter that sent shivers down their spine. One by one, dozens of men emerged from the forest with mocking grins on their faces. They were looking at them arrogantly, particularly proud that their forecast was accurate. "Hehe, I see you''re trying to escape!" One said, and another cackled. "Our lord is so smart to have foreseen it!!" The Mauin citizens'' eyes widened. What they did not expect was that the enemy would attack before the countdown! "How?!" "Hehe. Didn''t you know that Territory Wars are only triggered if more than a tenth of the territory forces are deployed?" He looked at the few scores of able men left in the territory and sneered. "We didn''t even have to go to a formal war to kill you all! So weak!" It was in these cases they had wished they were only a level 2 village. A wide power discrepancy between two territories of the same level easily led to the crushing defeat of the other. Even with all the rules of the territory wars¡ªthey wouldn''t be able to avoid this massacre. Mauru and the others looked at the hundred men surrounding them. "A tenth of our two territories!" one of the men said with a smug smile, and it made their hearts fall. Tome and Hasa village got together this time, and this meant they would really die. "Tsk, they''re weaker than I thought, I didn''t even enjoy the fun of the hunt¡­" Another man emerged from the shadows. He had tanned skin painted with weird patterns, and his eyes looked rabid. He licked his lips as he looked at them¡ªespecially the women and the children¡ªas if they were delicacies. It made everyone''s stomachs churn. This man was Hemepo, Hasa Village lord. "I told you this would be easy. We spent months weakening them so they could easily be dealt with without wars." "But you still triggered it." "It was fun to watch them scuttle about¡­" Tongo said, and then he gave him a weird look. "And if I didn''t, how would the Token be separated?" "Oh, right." Tongo shook his head, knowing that eating humans must''ve burned this man''s brain even more than it had. Anyway, the two lords went all the way out here, and it showed just how confident they were in taking down Mauin Village. Meanwhile, the citizens of Mauin Village could only cry and sob in place, surrounded by stronger guards. Tongo reveled at the suffering he caused. He even walked over to Mauru''s direction, gripping his chin forcefully. "Next is you, Mauru," he said, "This is what you get for killing my son!" He then raised his sword, intent on finally beheading this bastard! "STOP!" A familiar voice yelled. It was filled with urgency, but it shifted to a more comforting tone right after. "Calm down, crying won''t save you." It was their lord. He was limping and looking weak even by normal standards, but it lifted the hearts of his people anyway. "Milord!" "Ohmy, look what we have here¡­" Hemepo grinned, "You finally showed up." "Ready to die?" Tongo added, showing off his disgusting grin and his rotting teeth. The lord ignored the snide remarks, focusing only on his citizens. "Calm down, my people," he said, "It will be alright." The other two lords were never fond of ''uplifting'' messages, and cut it off. "Any last words?" Hemepo said, "I mean, I''m still polite like this." "Thank you for everything," he said, "My last wish¡­ is for all of you to survive," he said, before turning to the enemies. "The war has not yet started. This means the token is still integrated with me." "I promise not to kill myself now, if you let my people be," he said, "Everyone." "Heh¡­ interesting," Tongo and Hemeppo looked at each other in thought. "Fine." They then grinned at the citizens who were sobbing as they looked at their lord. "Run, as fast as you could," Tome said with a cackle, "Don''t trip!" "Milord¡ª" Mauru said, standing up and walking over to him. The lord frowned and strongly waved him away. "NO! It''s useless! This is the best way," he said, waving, pushing him away. Mauru was pulled by his wife, with them giving slight bows to the lord. While many had already fled, Mauru wasn''t the only one reluctant to leave. There was actually quite a few. The lord could see the people''s conflicts and, for the first time, he yelled to the top of his lungs. "GO! KEEP THE SPIRIT OF MAUIN VILLAGE ALIVE!" Chapter 439 - 439: The Fall of Mauin Village (Part 2) They naturally had no choice but to run for their lives. They could only look back as their lord was held up by the enemies, barely avoiding falling in their distraction. Hundreds of people flowed out, some slightly separating in their panic, but otherwise, all heading in a direction.. It was just that, after some time, they heard flops and yells and people falling, in increasing frequency. How could they not realize what was happening? "WE''RE BEING HUNTED!" They yelled, trying to run as fast, knowing they had no chance of battling it out. Of course, there were the guards who tried blocking the attacks and they did manage to take down a few, but it wasn''t enough¡ªthe enemies were too many, and many people were still taken down, attacked like prey to be eaten. Perhaps¡­ they really were. As the citizens of Mauin ran desperately, a loud ominous ding sounded inside their heads. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [The war between your territory Mauin Village (Lv3) and Tome Village (Lv3) had begun!] Then¡­ not even a moment later. [Your territory Mauin Village (Lv3) had lost the war to Tome Village (Lv3)] Everyone''s hearts fell. That was it?! Their home had fallen, just like that? ¡­ The Mauin lord looked on as a level C spear went straight through his heart. It was his Hemeppo''s weapon, rather than Tongo''s. He knew this because he had been showing it off many times. He had apparently bought it in a town¡ªusing the proceeds he got from his village. His life long rival stood beside him and watched on. It was as if iife draining out of him was the most entertaining thing. "Finally ended!" Tongo yelled, just before frowning at the man still holding the spear, "I wanted to be the one to do the honors of killing this guy but¡ªin consideration to your contributions¡ªI guess I could give it to you, for now." Hemeppo grinned and then pulled out his spear. The body fell down on his back, without any signs of life anymore. Laughing, Tongo immediately kneeled down to try and get the token away from him. But he frowned as he realized. The Lord token was gone. "That''s not possible," he said. He couldn''t have hidden the token before meeting them because they saw the separating light of the token the moment the war started. It was weak and would only be visible when one was near, but they saw it for sure. A hint of realization dawned on him. His eyes widened immediately holding his weapon as he whipped his body, intent on attacking the person who just killed his rival. But it was too late as a blade passed through his neck, stabbing. His wide eyes eyes turned red as he looked at Hemepo who was smiling widely. Obviously, they made a pact not to harm each other. What happened? Hemepo laughed at him as he tried to speak, but no voice could come out. He relished at the sight, and he laughed when he saw him pale more and more, until he turned blue. "Idiot. I said I won''t harm you as long as we remain allies," he said, "When did we specify we will remain allies?" At this time, Tongo was already gasping, feeling his life draining. In the back of his mind, he could indeed remember their deal. They would be allies until the Mauin token was in their hands. The heavy regret was what he last felt until he finally succumbed to death. Hemepo looked greedily at Tongo''s corpse, rummaging his disgusting body for his token. It was only after completely undressing him that he found the token in his underwear. Hemepo sneered and spat to the side to express his disgust, but he merged them anyway. Another burst of energy passed and he looked at his one Lord Token, much bigger than what it was. "HAHAHHAHA! Finally!" he said, "I''ll keep my last slot for a town," he said, his ambition suddenly spiking after gaining two tokens. His eyes shifted to the shaking men and women in front of him. These were the citizens recaptured by his people. As for the Tome, they were given a choice: Eat or be Eaten. Naturally, every single one of them chose the latter. "Now¡­ for a feast to celebrate~" ¡­ Mauru shook as he held his wife and child, who were sobbing messes. All throughout, he kept himself straightened himself up¡ªknowing he could not show weakness now, or else it would really be hopeless. They tried to tune out the desperate cries not too far from them. With him, there were almost two hundred other survivors. They were all covered in blood and grime, many of them seriously injured. They had killed all the hunters that came after them, but it was at the cost of half their people. But, at the very least, there were still over a hundred of them who held their lives. His eyes met with the other surviving guards, nodding. They ran as fast as they could, apologizing, but also hoping not to join their fallen comrades too soon. And so began their treacherous journey into the dense and deadly forest. Trees closed in on them, their branches extending as if they were claws. There were also dozens of mobs they had to deal with, losing numbers bit by bit. They struggled with poisoned plants, their hunger getting the best of some. There were also many poisonous bugs that lurked beneath the underbrush, their makeshift repellents long losing their effectiveness. They could only watch as the bugs'' bites and stings sent their fellowmen into fits of agony. In the worst-case scenario, where they had no idea how to heal them, they could only end the person''s suffering with their own hands. Only a few hours had passed and so many of them had already lost. By the time the sun rose, there were just a hundred of them left. The atmosphere became more and more dire, and more and more hope was lost. Mauru noticed this and shook his head, looking at his comrades. "We''ve come this far. Let''s not give up," he said, pushing down his own hopelessness and tears. "I believe¡­ that somewhere out there we would be able to find a home for ourselves." If he believed it, he mused, maybe it would come true. Chapter 440 - 440: Fargos Next Step [55 Days After The Migration] Fargo Village At this time, nearly two hundred kilometers west of Altera, stood one of the strongest level 3 villages in the region. It was already dark at this time. The torches around the room were flickering, and the shadows casted an eerie glow amongst the people within. The intimidating man looked at his men. He listened to their reports, looking leisurely and relaxed, but everyone knew he was remembering every detail. The reports this time had one focus: Determining which territory was most efficient to attack. Amon had always been warlike in nature. If he didn''t commit some major violence in a while, he would feel uncomfortable. At the same time, this was an entirely new world and, for now, even he had to follow rules, including only being able to attack one territory a month, so he planned to choose wisely. The first month after the Protection Period had almost ended and he still hadn''t waged a war. But the world was so big and the Terran territories alone took some time to investigate. Now, his village had reached level 3 after raising taxes and receiving refugees all over. He had gained more confidence in the wars. After all, for his ''tier'', he believed was at the top. He wasn''t being overconfident either as Belize, the aborigine, also expressed his admiration. He also doubted other villages would be able to have more force value than he had. He had hundreds of guards, a lot of whom were loyalists, some even from his Terran days. He also had a few strong Aborigine fighters and professionals¡ªsomething those inferior territories didn''t have. Belize also managed to hire some good characters, when some of his henchmen tracked him to Fargo after much time. Although there was a level limit in wars, these people were allowed to defend as long as it was within territory walls. They could also take down people outside the walls, weakening them bit by bit. Not to mention, he still had several guns in stock. Before the Migration, his group had managed to take as many guns as they allowed. A pity for the collection of plasma guns he had, sadly left behind to waste back in Terran. Anyway, the guns they had might be useless to the new monsters, but even level 10 humans could be killed by what they brought. He knew this because he almost killed an annoying aborigine. He was not even a fighter, a mere Class E life professional, and the bastard dared to look down on him because of his low level! Belize stopped him because apparently there was still a certain standard of safety that Lords must guarantee the hired individuals. Lords attacking them himself was absolutely prohibited. It was only because of a non-disclosure pact that this aborigine wouldn''t be able to do anything in return even after being let go that he managed to leave with his life. "There are a total of four villages our people had investigated: Bright Village, Vismont Village, and Diana Village. All of these territories are less than 100 kilometers from our Fargo village. Juno Village was a bit farther away, almost 150 kilometers, but it was near Diana so we checked it out as well." These people who went to investigate were trusted loyalists, so the information could be trusted. "There wasn''t anything special in Juno or Diana Villages, as they both chose standard buildings. "There''s nothing worth occupying there They barely managed to deal with the improved mobs and it would only be a matter of time before one or two of them fell." "What about resources?" "Diana village had dense forests and they had to take down all the trees inside." Uzon and a few others sneered, "Stupid." After all, resources within the walls were practically free, without fear of poisons or bugs. They pretty much took down their own easy food source. "About Juno¡­" He paused and gave the bosses an awkward stare. He was obviously conflicted about what to say. It was Uzon, one of his close confidants, who ordered the man to finish speaking. "What is it?" The man flinched a bit and looked at Fargo. "I did learn that the refresh rate of plants has become a bit slower than when we first came¡­" He found this because Juno village was built in somewhat of a barren land, at least compared to the majority of the territories. Because the plants were scarce, they felt its slower refresh rate even more significantly. Belize paused for a while, his face morphing to a frown. "Indeed. When I was young, the regrowth of resources felt twice as fast as it is now. It had been steadily decreasing since then." Amon turned his head to him, sharp eyes staring deeply at the aborigine. "Why are you only telling me this?" Belize flinched and bowed a little by instinct. Even if his level was more than thrice that of Fargo, his instincts as a servant dominated when faced with someone who had a great sense of presence. "I didn''t really notice before it was pointed out." In his previous city, there were plenty of restaurants and taverns that source out food. Furthermore, he stood at a high place where resources weren''t too scarce, just a bit more expensive. Not to mention, cities generally had subsidiary villages focusing on farms, so there had never been a shortage of food. How could he take note of these problems? Amon habitually tapped his heavy finger on the table, and his men waited patiently for him to speak. "What about the other two territories?" "Vismont chose farms as soon as the slots were made available upon upgrade, while Bright chose to build some manually." "Sadly, the team who stayed in Vismont didn''t return," the man reported, The first batch of scouts had already returned, though their function was more to add territories to the map and send the information to the lord''s party. Half of the scouts per territory would stay in there for a longer time in hopes of getting much more information, should Fargo choose to go to war with them. "They probably got unlucky." "Wasn''t Grok with them?" "Well, there had been sightings of mobs that even he''d find troublesome," he said, "Just a pity for so many of those people." "Are they really dead?" "They are," Amon said, as he could find this out easily to see his population list. Of course, it could also be that they changed their residency status to another, but he doubted they did so. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, Amon didn''t care about the dead and ruminated on the four territories. This news narrowed down the choices. "Tell me more about these two territories," He said, pointing at Bright and Vismont. "Tell me their exact locations." In order to declare war on a territory, they had to know its location first. When the war started, they either had to travel directly with their forces or pay a reasonable discounted fee of 10 silver per person per way. In terms of war, teleportation was the best bet because the factor of meeting mobs in the way was eliminated, as well as the factor of time. However, in order to get the option of teleportation, the place must be found on the lord''s map. To do this, the standard transfer of maps must be done, hence his own people had to land in these places first before he could do anything to them. However, in the Lord Token screen, there was also an ''Other Territories'' tab which would show the locations any permanent citizen had landed on after becoming one. The names and levels would be visible here, though nothing else. But he, at least, had an idea of what territories were in his region. However, Beliza gave him a treasure, a magic tool specifically created for the purpose of knowing more about territories in this panel. It was called Fief Visionstone, which was a small attachment the size of a fingernail that could be integrated into the lord token. It was supposedly a bit rare and very expensive. Although Amon couldn''t confirm this for now, he still decided to show the aborigine some goodwill. So, as a reward, he gave Belize a small plot of land to set base on. He also built him modular buildings in sets, letting him live in his own mansion. It was very much like his own estate, and the man loved it very much. This had become their own base¡ªa large one with completed facilities. It was also a place where he and his men could do whatever they wanted without repercussions. Amon knew this person and his men loved playing with women, and he had allowed him to choose amongst the thousands of women in his territory. Speaking of, he did hear this man had just taken in a dozen women of all shapes and sizes. Of course, it wasn''t just for him, but also for his people and friends. What would be done to these women was obvious and Fargo couldn''t care less. Amon smirked satisfied. He liked men like this. This was because even if they were smart, could easily be dealt with. As long as you give them what they want, of course. Chapter 441 - 441: Visionstone His cronies looked interestingly at his token and the special tool. "Can you tell us more information about the territories, Milord?" They asked, eager to know where their next catch would be. To be honest, when they found out about Territory Wars they were¡­ excited. Bombing and mass shootings were fun and all, but there was something more¡­ endearing¡­ about killing with medieval cold weapons. The feeling of slicing people''s skin, seeing them bleed up close, was a different sort of fun. At this time, Amon was looking at his Lord Panel screen, which had additional columns indicating the visionstone''s information. With the Visionstone, as long as the territory was in his panel, he would also find their level and population. He could even see their wealth and resources! It really was useful¡ªtoo useful. It might even be illegal. Which territory would allow such intimate information to be released? He wondered whether Belize got it from legit channels at all. But no matter, it was his now. Other than these, he would also be able to see the mysterious stat: the Prestige. According to Belize, the exact way to measure prestige was still unclear. However, it could be approximated with the number of population, the number of recurring visitors, and the variety of locations the territory attracted. Most of all, the territory''s influence on other territories and their citizen also seemed to have a bearing on this so-called prestige. For example, there were cases where one individual had gained massive fame, and it somehow boosted his hometown''s prestige as well. As a territory with a lot of Aborigines and huge amounts of population within a short period of time, he naturally had a higher-than-average prestige for his tier. Fargo was currently a Level Three village with a population of 14978 with Prestige at 145. Prestige was a requirement to upgrade to become a Town, though the exact amount was still unclear. According to Belize, based on the growth of the territory, he should take only a few more years before he could upgrade. This was already extremely fast according to the aborigines, even superior to the records of this world''s top cities. There were others who were not too far behind him, however. Bright was a Level three village with 11890 population. It had a prestige of 90. This was impressive and truly captured his attention. He also had around 120 gold and ample resources. Next was Vismont, also a Level Two village with 9870 population and a prestige of 52. Gold was at a pitiful 50, and his resources average. The others seemed to be as expected with Juno Village as a Level Two village with 5879 population and 0 Prestige and Diana Village, a Level Two village with 6566 population and 0 prestige. He didn''t even bother with their resources. From this alone, one could see how far superior Fargo was to others. However, as he looked at the list, another name appeared. It was an unfamiliar name. Altera Village. Level 3 Village. 2000 Residents¡ª But¡ªas if losing a signal¡ªthere was no more information. He turned his head to Belize and asked why this was so. The aborigine paused and thought for a while before coming to a conclusion, "It likely means that the scout passed before he could stay the required amount of time." This amount of time varied, depending on how far the territory was. Belize couldn''t be certain, simply because such detailed information wasn''t public knowledge even if he had been a lord''s confidante. Not to mention, to his knowledge, it hadn''t happened to his former lord before. This was actually correct. The scout was killed before he was given enough time to ''register'' the data long enough to send it back. But this was a story for another time. As Fargo entered a short daze, the scouts continued to report. He snapped out of it and stared, making the man flinch under his sharp stare. "What other resources are available?" "Juno and Diana Village had the usual vegetation of their area, though the former was with much scarcer numbers. On the other hand, Bright and Vismont was definitely much better. "The lives of the people in these two territories were¡­ good." The man paused, flinching. "But not as good as our Fargo." "Tell us more." "Yes, milord." The person assigned to Bright spoke first. His name was Eli, and they were one of Fargo''s best scouts. "Bright Territory also had level 3 walls and even denser sentries than we have." sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What?" "It''s not that different, but I heard that the lord solicited a lot of money to be able to afford it. In exchange, he gave a lot of benefits to the donors." "Some of his power would be distributed with this." "Well, if one''s resources are limited, this is not a bad move," Fargo said, looking at the reporter again, "Continue." "They also have aborigines though not nearly as many as ours. They also had guns and good fighters. From their auras, I''d say they had some background in gangs." The room was silent, knowing this one was a hard stubble. "What about lifestyle?" "Everyone has enough to eat and drink. Many Terran cuisines, and delicious food have also been made available. They can also have new clothes¡­" "What?" Everyone turned their heads at the man. The person from Juno walked forward, asking them to repeat in case they misheard. Belize looked out in thought. Recreating cuisines was one thing, but new cloth was a very monopolized industry. "This is a¡­ very interesting place." They nodded, but their eyes filled with greed for this place and what it offered. "Vismont had similar items, but it is much poorer," another continued. This was Eso, Eli''s brother. He was one of the scouts to check out Vismont but had to return immediately, unlike the others who stayed to investigate deeper. He was a bit bitter at first, but seeing as everyone else was dead, he could only heave a sigh at his luck. "They suffered greatly from mob attacks. They were only rescued by an allied territory named Altera Village." At the mention of Altera, Eli flinched. "It seemed a lot of Bright''s items come from this village¡­" With this information he had to pay a lot of gold. The people of Bright were all moneygrubbers. "Have you been there?" "I already sent some people to take a look," he said, "But I heard it''s also a Level 3 Village." "Altera, eh?" Fargo paused, remembering that scout that probably died too early. "Well, they should have experts in the food or in the botanical industry to be able to produce these." This must be the reason how it reached level 3 with such a small population. It must have made money from selling. As for prestige, he wasn''t able to see it, but it should not be lower than Bright''s seeing as a lot of the products came from there. As for how they obtained the knowledge¡­ he was sure to find out, and obtain it for himself. Anyway, he knew the limits of the wars and he was bent on maximizing the limit. Now that he knew the foraged resources could possibly be reduced in the future, it only added more reason for his wars. "Shall we target Altera then?" Eli asked, gulping at the prospect of food. It seemed easier and with more gains. It was good to use their only attacking slot for the month. It was just that they didn''t have enough information, in contrast to the two. The month was ending and they ought to decide now. Amon did not agree immediately however. He was arrogant, but he still knew that this planet was not his turf. Unlike in Terran, there were too many variables here. "Vismont is the nearest territory to us," another one said, but another shook his head. "Vismont is nearest in terms of straight-line distance, but it isn''t necessarily easier to access due to the terrain. "But aren''t we going to teleport there, anyway?" "Then do we take Bright? Aren''t they a hard stubble?" "Yeah, but we don''t have to battle so directly, right? If we get those guns¡­" "Eso is right." At this time, another one spoke. It was Uzon, also one of the people who had gone to Bright. He was a tall tanned man with plenty of tattoos. "I have a friend with a good position in Bright. He says he can deal with the guns, but he has to lead the satellite territory. "He claimed that they had also begun preparing raw materials as well." Obtaining a lord token would give control to another, a satellite so to speak. Although control is with the lord, how could they see everything from another territory beyond the Lord Panel? Naturally, there was someone assigned to care for it. Anyway, if Vismont was poor and depended on a village with 2000 population, then it might not be good to spend their month''s slot there. Bright, while a little riskier, seemed much more worth it for the guns and farms alone, let alone those products. Amon Fargo also liked a good challenge, anyway. "Bright Village it is, then," he said, "Prepare for the most efficient takedown." "YES, SIR!" Chapter 442 - 442: Impending Attacks (Part 1) Another chapter dedicated to Lin-chan! Thank you LotusLin for the castle! *HUG* ... Fargo. The meeting adjourned with the battle plan and Amon sent people to Bright ahead of time. Aborigines would come in different groups from Terrans and they would pretend not to know each other. While technically aborigines beyond the level cap couldn''t directly participate in wars, Amon could think of at least a dozen ways for them to cause damage despite this limit. The next few days would be very busy, and Belize watched as they strategized, and determined the best part of action for occupation. The aborigine couldn''t help but look at this Lord in admiration, then his eyes sharpened. He could already see the territory in their hands. Although it was just a village, he had tasted the products the spies brought back. They were very special. As someone who came from the city, he knew how much money those people were willing to spend for some enjoyment. If they obtained the production method, they would really be able to rake in money. With that, upgrading to Town in less than a few years was really no dream. It was amazing. He had never heard of a territory upgrade so quickly. "You like what you''re seeing," Amon uttered as he stared at Belize, who flinched a bit as he nodded humbly. "I admire the potential of your land, milord. It is unprecedented." Amon obviously liked what he said, as his body language lounged and he nodded at him in approval. "Well, would you like to personally oversee how we''d take over that territory?" Although his level would prohibit him from attacking, he could still be plenty of help. Amon also wanted to show how Terrans, despite their current low levels, were not as weak as they seemed. Belize''s eyes brightened, unaware of his thought process. "Yes, milord." He was looking forward to this trip to Bright Village, curious, feeling that he''d learn something from a war between villages. ¡­ Amon, now alone, looked out the window and saw his citizens acting like decent pieces of his machine. Bright would be his, he was certain. However¡­. His sharp eyes couldn''t help but stay on the name Altera, with information cut before he could see what he could. Judging by how the data was already in his panel, it meant that there was already his person there, but that person died too quickly. The current information told him that his person died within the territory walls of Altera, otherwise no information would be sent to his panel. So he was either found out¡ªwhich was already worrisome as this was one of his best scouts¡ªor something triggered the suicide mechanism in him. Either way, it put Altera on his list of territories to watch. After Bright, he mused, you are next. ¡­ Altera, a few hours prior. It was a standard day for Alteran guards, with everyone doing their jobs in different parts of the territory. It so happened that today, Plaridel was assigned to the group making rounds. The soldiers were rarely assigned to the territory as they were far more useful outside, but in rare cases they were assigned to the group making rounds. This would become increasingly more often as they start to receive stronger guests. Although no new aborigines had found their way to Altera yet, it was estimated that Team B would have some tagging along. Garan decided to start assigning at least one soldier to this team. Anyway, the guards had been trained properly and could start handling themselves better outside. The ones in charge of internal peace would also be assigned to the Guard Station, in contrast to the Barracks. While a lot of guards from the barracks would have their rounds here, there would be fixed employees in the Guard Station. They would also closely cooperate with Mathilda''s Team. Those making rounds were further divided into pairs. They went around different streets in the territory, keeping an eye out for any disturbances that were troublesome enough but not big enough to trigger regulations. Today, Plaridel was partnered with the territory mascot, Fufi. As always, he greeted a couple of guys and (mostly blushing) girls who greeted him along the way. Fufi was strutting right next to him. He had been endlessly training outside the past weeks, and they thought it was time for him to get a little break. He was now at the start of level 9, and the experience requirement was much higher than before. They were very much looking forward to what he''d be like when he finally upgraded. Anyway, Fufi was basically Altera''s mascot next to the Captain''s twins and his (huge) presence naturally increased happiness in the territory. "Fufi! You''re so cute!" "Kyaaa~ Fufiii~ Catch!" "Woof!" he barked, catching the piece of cooked meat slab thrown at him. Nomnomnomnom "Fufi, catch!" The dog jumped up to catch another piece of meat slab, eating it within a couple of bites. He drooled a lot as he ate, and he ate it deliciously. When it was over, his tail was wagging very wildly as he wore that smiley face of his. Fufi was now bigger than a Terran Lion, but a dog would always be a dog. The passerbys couldn''t help but pet him, some booping him on the nose (i.e. whole palm on his wet nose), while some outright hugged him.. The atmosphere was soft and fluffy for a while. The dog definitely enjoyed being drowned in attention and his tail was wagging strong enough that someone was using it as a fan. To everyone''s surprise though, Fufi''s expression abruptly turned from smiley to dire, and he started growling lowly in a direction. Before they could absorb the change, he suddenly bolted in a direction. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It happened so quickly. He basically disappeared in front of their eyes. The next thing they knew, screams abounded where he went. Plaridel rushed in the direction. He didn''t catch up to them immediately, but he did see Fufi running after a person. "WOOF! WOOF!" "Oi, Fufi!" The tanned man yelled, running after the massive dog. It was fine when they were going through wide avenues, but they soon reached the denser pedestrian street and then all the way to the marketplace. They were very fast and Plaridel was only able to catch their tracks because of the chaos they made. He frowned when he realized the person Fufi was chasing used Sprint. Although Sprint was a skill that theoretically any level 10 or above could use, it still required some talent. Who was this person? That person¡­ was definitely suspicious! . . However, Plaridel thought with some amusement, the suspicious person may have been able to escape if it was a human chasing after him, but¡­ He was unlucky he got chased by their monster dog instead! Chapter 443 - 443: Impending Attacks (Part 2) Anyway, chaos ensued in one of the Market Places. Squeals of surprise and yells of aghast abounded. It was happening in various places, showing how fast the two were ''playing tag''. "KYAAA!" "What!" "What''s going on?!" More yells echoed as people tried avoiding the fast-moving barrell of weight. Fufi was trained well and avoided the people, but he didn''t care enough for the material properties. CRASH! Several stalls crashed as Fufi went through them, leaving shocked store owners at its wake. Plaridel''s eyes twitched. He wondered who''d be charged with that? It wouldn''t be Fufi¡­ right? Then again, if he had a space maybe Fufi had money too. Hey, with a master like sister-in-law, maybe he''s even richer than most of them. However, his random wonderings were cut off when a pig-like scream screeched at his ears. "YOU! GET HIM OFF!!" Plaridel blinked and realized that Fufi finally caught the man, and they weren''t too far away from him. He weaved through the crowd, saying his polite excuses, finally emerging from the dense weekend-Marketplace-crowd to the sources of the disturbance. Fufi at this time was standing on the man, his large paws as large as the man''s chest keeping him in position. The man struggled to get Fufi off of him, but this wasn''t easy because Fufi was twice the weight of any man, plus he had the strength of a beast. "GET OFF! GET OFF!" Fufi got annoyed with all the struggle and sat on him. "YOU!!!!" The man gasped in pain, losing his breath. He maybe felt a rib or two about to break as well. Guards, including Fufi, would only get warned by the system rules when they got physical. While this could be prone to abuse, Matilda set up a reporting system to avoid this. Anyway, for now, it just meant the suspicious man was being hurt without consequences to Fufi to all. Plaridel took this time to walk over them, "Who are you?" "I''m a guest! Is this how you treat your guests¡ªOH! F¡ª" Prooot¡ª Fufi let out gas¡ªprobably from all the running¡ªas he was sitting on the man. "AHHHH!!!" The man yelled while the surrounding crowd immediately stepped back. A few even escaped altogether, aware of how bad Fufi''s gas could get. "AHHHHHHHH!!!" In his anger, the suspicious man immediately tried to attack Fufi. Plaridel''s hand lit up and he sent a small ember to warn the man not to do anything suspicious. "Fire?!" The man yelled, confused, eyes ending at Plaridel. "YOU! But you''re not an aborigin¡ª" His voice was cut off as the small ember reached him, spreading all over his body. "GYAAAH!" It so happened that he was much weaker than Plaridel, so this little fire spread could really cause him damage. People screamed and walked farther and Plaridel''s lips twitched. He forgot Fufi farted, so the little ember was a bit¡­ explosive. "GAHH!" Plaridel had already asked people to get some buckets to help the guy out, and soon he was doused with water and saved from being burned to ashes. He looked horrible and had third-degree burns all over his body. Instead of thanking them though, he just felt angry and humiliated. He wanted to kill! "BASTARDSSS!!" he yelled, immediately taking out his gun. Instinctively, the people around scurried in panic, afraid to be hit by a stray bullet. It was just that before he could press the trigger, a flash of light came and he disappeared. Whoosh~ "What?" the people froze, realizing they were scurrying for nothing. A lot of people came to the realization, and some rubbed their faces in embarrassment. "What happened?" "The Regulation activated!" "Oh?" one asked, obviously the type not to read the rules. "Where did he go, then?" "The prison, of course!" Altera''s Regulations, unlike many others, actually didn''t automatically kick people out the territory¡ªthe default maximum punishment. This was because simply kicking people out meant letting potential threats escape instead. She''d rather keep them in prison instead of causing damage outside! She even placed zones in the prison. The largest ones would be for minor transgressions like scuffles. But there were also zones and cells for highly dangerous criminals, like this one. Althea paid a huge sum to change this up. This one addition to the regulations required a whooping 500 gold fee. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, the marketplace burst into chatters, most of which were excited because something so thrilling and ''dangerous'' happened in the territory! Very exciting! Their friends would definitely beg them for some ''tea''! Althea and Ansel, who were strolling with the babies, were nearby when this commotion happened and they were surprised to see so many things happening. "What happened?" She asked, and the people immediately turned to her with wide eyes, though she got the feeling they just wanted to share gossip. "Miss Althea!" The man nearest them spoke ahead of the others. He told them of what he saw (and how little he knew). Fufi was already next to them then, sitting like a behaved dog, tail wagging and looking at his master. However, one must know that he was almost as tall as Althea sitting like this. "Woof! Woof!" he said, the babies giggled and cooed, as if talking to him. "Woof! Woof!" "Mwamghaammaa¡­" "WOOF!" "Googomawma¡­" "Woof! Woof!" "What did he say?" Ansel asked, curious. Althea looked at him for a bit before returning to stare at the dog, who kept barking with a smile. It was adorable at first, but what Fufi ''said'' later wiped the smile on Althea''s face. In turn, this also alerted Ansel. "What is it? What''d he say?" He asked again, this time with more urgency in his tone. Althea looked at him with a serious expression. "He said that guy had a similar smell to the people who attacked you." Ansel didn''t understand it immediately until he remembered¡ªthe only time he was attacked with Fufi was when they were in Bright! He almost gasped. "The one from Fargo?!" "Yep," she said, making a mental note to discuss the implications of this with her husband. She, of course, didn''t forget the large dog''s contribution. She took a specially cooked meat (by Harold) from her space, which Fufi happily slobbered on. "Good job Fufi," she grinned, "More treats for you tonight!" "WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!" The dog jumped in joy and the babies giggled again, extending their hands as if wanting to touch Fufi. Althea didn''t allow them for now and just headed home. Ansel followed with bright eyes. "So cool," he said, "I wanna have a battle pet." He looked at the dog. "Fufi, haven''t you found a wife yet?" Woof! Not yet! ¡­ Later, while Althea and the family went home, Fufi was asked to stay in prison as a ''witness'' to the crime. "So, any information about that guy?" Garan asked, as he patted good-boy-Fufi''s head. He was looking at the lifeless body on the floor of their makeshift prison. The man arrived lifeless, with foam bubbling in his mouth. He had a massive bite on his thigh and they later found it was Fufi''s. But Fufi didn''t have rabies¡­ nor did he have poison as a skill. Gill looked at the man and observed him more, "He''s been poisoned." "It''s not from the bite," he added, observing the clear skin around the wound. This likely meant that he had a poison in his mouth, activated when he was in distress and tortured. That made the guy even more suspicious. Reuben just scratched his bald head, "Well, at least we stopped one spy from passing information." They nodded. No matter what, this was still a win. Plaridel looked at the massive dog with tail wagging. He was so large that one could position near his tail to get a little wind. "Who''s the good boiiii!" Fufi barked. Woof! Woof! I am! I am! Chapter 444 - 444: Golds’ Trip At this time, Altera''s blonde heartthrob¡ªOslo¡ªwas rushing over to Altera, having left his home city a day prior. Counting down, he still had a day of travel. Fortunately, he got a beast carriage for himself, otherwise the trip back would''ve taken even longer. The Chancery of Appointments teleportation array could only be used once during the hiring. Unless Altera fired and timed his rehiring, which was a tough bet, he wouldn''t be able to come the same way. Of course, there was another way to teleport without a portal. That was: to join an enemy village that would attack Altera. Heh¡­ Maybe he''d get skewered by ice picks first. "Are we there yet?" Obi asked loudly from his own carriage. He asked this question precisely 10 minutes ago. Oslo rolled his eyes. How old was he? Wasn''t he already in his mid-30s? Why was he like a kid? "A bit more!" he yelled back, "And don''t you travel often to assist in territory wars? What are you doing so impatient!?" "..." Obi crossed his arms, realizing the validity of his point (not that he''d admit it). However, he was the youngest next to Oslo and was also relatively spoiled for a while. This attribute was activated often when he was with family. Otto, who was in the carriage behind him, cackled. "So much for being a grand guard!" Obi clicked his tongue, "This place better be worth it!" "No one forced you to come!" A feminine voice from another carriage responded. This was Olga who was, at this time, lounging about in her own car with her maids, eating some dried gouji fruits she bought from a specialty store back in the city. She didn''t seem particularly satisfied. "This used to be your favorite¡­" The long-haired Ogro said, worried for her. The short-haired Oren shook her head and tried getting other snacks from her space, which also didn''t seem particularly appetizing to her anymore. Ogro and Oren were twins who served as her guards and maids since she was a child. They knew her preferences and she did usually like what they brought her. Olga sighed, "Well, the snacks Oslo brought spoiled everything else." At the recollection of those delicious snacks that got consumed too quickly, a lot of her ladylike training went down the drain. "Can''t we just hurry up! I want to get there already!" Oslo sighed, hearing the interaction from his own carriage. Their windows were opened so everyone could talk to everyone else as needed, but Oslo was very tempted to just close everything to get his peace and quiet. Obviously, they were all raised to act with grace and poise, why was everyone so immature when alone together without parental supervision? Obi, Otto, and Olga had insisted on coming with him to Altera. He tried to warn them of the long and tiring trip¡ªas they had never gone to this mountainous area before¡ªbut they were vehement. They were smitten with the products he brought and they refused to wait another month for his return. Of course, he also brought with him some magic tools the Lord would definitely love. He also bought tons of potions for her to study¡ªsome of which available only in cities. For example, there were the Beast Repelling Potions which could let one avoid certain levels of monsters (something doused in their carriages as well) and the Beast Attracting Potion, which had the opposite effect. It was a bit more expensive with absolutely secret ingredients. Sadly, he wasn''t able to get an amputation potion from their city pharmacist because he was locked by the Lord to do stuff. Next time, he mused, he should be able to procure the potion, even if it cost hundreds of gold¡­ This brought an image of her smiling face and he ended up smiling goofily in response. It was just that it was promptly wiped out by the image of her husband''s dark face. Speaking of her husband, Oslo also brought some items for him. They were mostly equipment. For Garan himself, he brought a Class B sword and there were others for his team. These equipment were mostly Class C with the lowest ones at Class D. These were really varied and it would definitely raise the guard team by another level. He also brought some gadgets Ansel would definitely like. For instance, the Magic Sound Amplifier, which could allow a voice to travel farther distances. It was much better than their cone. And, of course, he also brought the children''s toys. He had to admit the Alteran''s toys were really fun and creative, but the special toys he bought¡ªusually available only for city nobles¡ªwere magic tools that used aether! They were also very expensive, but seeing those cute little babes chuckling just made him¡ªand everyone else, for that matter¡ªso happy! Similarly, he asked his siblings to bring items themselves to trade. Although they had money, Altera lacked these magical things, and it was his way to add these novelties in circulation. Considering how innovative people there were, who knew, maybe they''d figure out how to build them. That way even his family could purchase these things from Altera, which would definitely be much more affordable than purchasing them from other territories that charged too much. Inevitably, his mind moved to his happy days there. The nights at the tavern, the shopping, the bonding with the citizens¡­ At the thought of the beautiful days in Altera, he couldn''t help but worry about it. He could still vividly remember his talk with his father before he left and immediately his nostalgic mood turned dour. He remembered being taken to the man''s office for a bit, with the older man looking a little worried. It was not long after the gift-giving when his siblings asked how they could think of so many novel things. At the time, he then mentioned that they were like those territories that were from another world. His father looked at him worriedly, though he didn''t really understand at first until he was asked aside for a serious chat. "Son, you mean it''s one of those territories from another world?" Oslo looked at his father and his somber expression. It was quite unusual for him to look like this. "Yeah?" It wasn''t like this was the first time that happened? He still remembered hearing a lot about it as a child. "You¡­ like this place very much?" Oslo frowned, looking at him weirdly. Was it not obvious yet? "Quite a lot, actually." The man looked at him with a complicated expression and sighed. "Not many people know this, but Lord Tokens are limited in number, fixed." "And?" "While they would form and become available, they are few in number and definitely didn''t make up for the territories that fall due to various reasons. "Through time, fewer and fewer tokens would be available, and wars would have higher and higher stakes. "But when new civilizations appear¡­ new tokens would become available¡ª" Oslo almost stood up, realizing the implications. Everyone knew that when a territory disappeared because the Lord died outside the wars, the token would take a long time to be replaced. Various internal fights, accidents, and inability to defend against beast tides and other tragedies led to decreasing number of territories. This was especially true for budding territories, villages, and it was estimated that more than a few villages fell from beast tides alone every month. Similarly, if the lord token was stolen during the war, the new lord would have the option to merge it with theirs, allowing similar control to territories far away. One Token was already big, even if it was just a village, let alone combined tokens. This amount of power was no joke. However, after so long, how many territories could really crush others of the same level to the point they''d get their Lord Tokens? Very few, right? At most they would just win, weakening the territory bit by bit by taking their resources through the victories, eventually gaining the Token. But this would often take years, especially if one didn''t have backing. But the arrival of ''new people'' meant something different. When new territories¡ªpossibly thousands¡ªappeared, it would equate to hundreds or thousands of lord tokens becoming available. Many lords who had yet to fill up their merge slots would definitely want a piece or two! This fact would undoubtedly cause a sensation. If this was made public¡­ Just the thought of it made Oslo''s stomach churn. Wouldn''t people surge to attack their territory to get the Lord Token? The only bright side was that this secret not a lot of people knew of. Even if there were rumors, this was suppressed by the interested parties. It must not have been publicized by those who knew because they wanted the loot to themselves. Otherwise, millions of people and thousands of new territories appeared 20 or so years prior, how could the common people not even hear rumors? S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They didn''t even know, nor care, about that civilization''s name. They must have been attacked for their tokens back then, barraged by wars as soon as they were exposed. Silently, the newly-arrived aliens just became slaves, having no control over their lives. Would this time be the same? It was estimated subsidiary villages of the privy people in power would be arriving in their territory soon¡­ Was Altera ready for such a surge? Chapter 445 - 445: A Little Stowaway "HEY!" A yell came from a carriage in front, pulling him out of his trance. Then the carriage stopped so abruptly that he dropped from his seat. Oslo patted his shocked bum, peering through the curtain. "What?" "What is going on?!" Olga also yelled from the carriage behind. Instead of an answer, they heard a bit of a scuffle and some panicked and angry voices. He walked out of his carriage and saw Olga and her maids getting out as well. Their eyes met and they turned to look at the front carriage. They looked at Otto and his sole guard, the handsome Silva, who stood protectively next to his master. At this time, Otto was looking at the carriage with a complicated expression. He should''ve stayed in his carriage! But who told him to be a social butterfly and couldn''t live without chattering for a couple of hours? He randomly chose Obi''s and now he regretted it! Would he be collateral damage?! "What''s going on?" Olga asked her twin, who was looking very pale as he watched Obi''s carriage shake a bit in what seemed to be a scuffle. "Should we go help?" Oslo asked, though he partially didn''t mean it. Obi was many levels higher than he was. If he was having trouble with whatever was inside, then it could definitely kill Oslo. Otto shook his head to answer though, "It''s not what you think," he said, and soon the door burst open. Obi stepped out, with a very dark face at that. With a sneer, he extended his hand back to the interior of his carriage, pulling out a small arm¡ª A young boy around ten or eleven years of age headed down, ashamed, and looking a bit scared. His blonde hair was now frizzled and dusty, and his eyes a bit red. This made everyone else gape in shock, their stomach dropping at the implications of the kid''s appearance. "Honda?!" Oslo exclaimed, looking at the boy. "Ah, Orcshit!" They were so dead. So dead! "He must''ve hidden in one of the chests." Obi sneered, crossing his arms in annoyance. He was even more scared than Oslo was. This brat hid in a chest in his carriage! Would older brother beat him up for not noticing? No, he definitely wouldn''t! However, he would say, "What kind of guard could let a living person into his carriage without knowing?" It wasn''t wrong¡ªtheir brother had always been brutally blunt¡ªand that was what made it more depressing! At this, he couldn''t help but give an annoyed look at the little boy with reddish eyes. "Speak!" "I¡­ I wanted to come¡­ mother won''t let me¡­" "So you decided to sneak out?!" Obi squeaked, before forcing his low and manly voice back and trying to appear more of an authority figure that he was. The twins sighed though, already thinking of the implications. "Now we have to find a territory with a post office," Olga said. After all, aether letters wouldn''t be able to reach so far. Behind them, Oslo looked at the sky. And they said that he was the Headache Child¡­ ____ Basset Town, 180 km East of Altera They arrived at a small level 1 Town named Basset Town north of their city. It was just a few tens of kilometers out of way, but not too far. It had the standard level 3 walls of towns and two to three-storey buildings. The distances of sentries were above average at around 300 meters apart. It was a relatively new town that had just been upgraded a couple of years prior, but the development was somewhat steady. They found the square-shaped Post Office and entered, paying a certain amount of silver to deliver a letter to their city. It was very nerve-wracking and they didn''t dare go too far in case they received a letter back. The group of them stood by the lobby. This was a normal set-up, but Oslo got spoiled in Altera, so he couldn''t help but mumble a couple of complaints here and there. For example, he would say something along the lines of "Tsk. No hospitality at all!" Or, "Adding no character to the building is akin to just putting walls and roofs anywhere." It only made the others impatient, especially the already antsy Obi, who went to ask the clerk if they got a reply every few minutes. The clerk was getting annoyed, but Obi was so handsome and regal that it felt excusable. There was also the fact that the recipient of the letter was from Bleulle City, so he didn''t dare show any dissatisfaction at all. He just checked when asked. He opened his mouth to say the negative, as he had been saying the past few minutes, but his lips shut when he saw that a reply actually went through! Obi flinched, and the others immediately went beside him. "Already?" S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Was his older brother hanging out in the post office? The Clerk tried to remain calm as he suffered the nervous energy from high-leveled individuals from the City. He cleared his throat and shakily handed them the sealed papyrus. The blondes hurriedly took it from him, huddling in a far corner of the building. Nervously, the siblings stared at the delivery, slightly shaky. They saw that it was two letters based on the seals. One was from their parents and another was from their brother. In order to facilitate their mental health, they decided to open the letters from their parents first. The parents'' letter could be summarized into ''We hope you are well, be safe, keep Honda especially safe, and bring back a lot of things especially those sauces, and perfume, and¡­.'' Et cetera. This made them heave a breath of relief, but only for a moment, because their peripheral view immediately reminded them of their brother''s letter. "So¡­ who''s gonna open it?" Otto asked, looking at the letter in Obi''s hand. "Not me," Obi said, trying to hand it over to anyone else but himself. He tried to shove it at Oslo, who stepped back and raised his arms. "Why are you looking at me? You''re older." "You''re younger. Listen to my orders!" Oslo rolled his eyes. "It wasn''t my carriage he was found in." At this, Obi couldn''t help but send a glare at the little boy, who went to hide behind his aunt. "Why did you choose my carriage anyway?" The boy looked at him with those innocent and large eyes. He pursed his lips before answering, with a very serious expression on his face. "Because it has the strongest beast¡­" He said. It was his favorite Kola Beast. "..." Chapter 446 - 446: Letter from Orion [Chapter dedicated to Air_Ace for the castle~! Thank you, lovely girl! BTW guys. She''s a new writer both for FL (Contract Marriage) and ML (Adventure)! If you''re into those tropes, you could check them out~ ] ... Obi looked up at the sky, slapping his forehead, trying very very hard not to explode. In the movement, the letter fell off Obi''s hand, but when he realized this, he made no effort to reach out. Olga sighed, wondering why all her brothers (except Eldest brother, of course) were all idiots before she leaned down to take the sealed parchment in her hands. Oslo''s lips twitched and just looked at the letter in Olga''s hand. "It''s already in your hand, you do it." "What?" "You''re most neutral and wouldn''t get in trouble." Olga was the favorite sibling after all. Olga rolled her eyes and shoved the letter to Obi. "Read it." Obi respected his sister and his mother a lot, so he had no choice but to take it back. If there were other aborigines in his position, even if the female sibling was older, they may actually get slapped for it. The postal office clerk, who was watching them from the distance, certainly expected it to happen. Anyway, no such drama happened, and Obi just slowly unsealed the letter and opened it in front of everyone. As expected, in contrast to their parents'', eldest brother''s letter was much more¡­ detailed, and very passive-aggressive. /Hello Siblings, I trust that this letter has arrived in your hands as soon as I sent it. After all, I assume that you understand the urgency of the matter at hand. Imagine my surprise when my only son, lured by your promise for excitement and adventure, decided to accompany you on your trip. First of all, I would like to express my bewilderment in your trip as you go on completely oblivious to the weight you now carry on your trunks. I say this for your own good, but I suggest increasing your alertness training. What if it was a spy or an enemy who snuck into your carriage? Are you going to lay there like an idiotic Gugu bird? Frankly, I am uncertain whether to congratulate you on your newfound job or throw you a potion bomb for your gross negligence, but I have decided to send a bit of both. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Let me be clear, my siblings. You are now completely responsible for the well-being of my child, the only one in his generation of our entire Gold clan. I expect his safety will be your primary concern and I expect nothing less of perfection in this matter. If a single hair on his little blonde head is harmed during this escapade of yours, I promise to unleash a reign of terror that will make your previous nightmares seem as if they''re lovely daydreams. My vengeance will be swift and painful, I can guarantee. Best of luck, and may the odds ever be in your favor. Warmest Regards, Orion Gold./ Obi let go of the letter after reading it. "Well, Orcs'' shit." "Language," Oslo said, picking up the letter to read it himself. "What is it?" Olga said, trying to read the letter herself now. Oslo shrugged. "Fortunately, we were not verbally abused. It''s just some passive-aggressive comments from the eldest brother implying doom should something happen to the child." Obi''s eyes twitched. "The threats were pretty direct." Oslo shrugged, and Obi really wanted to punch him. Instead, he heaved a deep breath and looked at his more reliable older siblings. "What do I do now?" Fortunately for them, Oslo was now the resident ''expert'' in villages, helping them calm down. "Actually, this trip could be good for the child," he said, making everyone''s heads turn to him. In retrospect, he should''ve added it to the letter, but he really didn''t think of it before calming down. "They could treat this as Honda''s training," he said, "The monsters here would be perfect for his age and level, plus he wouldn''t be under the strict protection of his parents, preparing him for the real world." This calmed everyone down. It made sense. Although most children began fighting at 12, his family started a year or two earlier. Honda was no exception and he was now level 5. It wasn''t a bad level as they were just going to villages. On the contrary, it would be the perfect place for him to train. Obi looked enlightened and almost hugged Oslo, to the latter''s chagrin. Obi immediately composed a return letter stating this. The letter specifically mentioned all the pros and whatever good things this would cause for little Honda¡ªincluding but not limited to: Strength, Willpower, Independence, and Self-confidence. It had to be in his handwriting, to buy himself a ticket to absolution. Obi owed Oslo now though, and the latter noted this as something to rub on his face in the future. They then looked at the child, who was holding a cute bunny rabbit stuffed toy he got from Altera (he wasn''t told this was a girl''s thing back in Terran) and just thought Honda would like the toy (he did). Oslo patted the little boy''s head. He was sniffing and looking very pitiful. This side of him was something he only showed when his father wasn''t around. He was obviously well-protected, likely by his meek mother. If his father was there, he''d act like a little adult unperturbed by everything. If he was just with his uncles and aunt however, all his childishness that seemed to be held back release like flood. Oslo''s eyes softened and he kneeled down so he could see eye level to the little boy. "Well, you have to man up now. The journey forward wouldn''t be easy, and no one would be taking care of you but yourself." he said, "This is the start of your adulthood journey!" Of course, while he didn''t want to child to have an absent childhood like his dad, it was still a fact that he was the oldest of this generation and he was next in line for the family patriarch next to Orion. He ought to toughen up, and genuinely, not just when his father was there! Little Honda sniffed, hugging his new stuffed toy tighter, "Yes, uncle!" Chapter 447 - 447: Basset Town (Part 1) It was late and they decided to have a rest in Basset Town instead. They would leave early the next morning. While Honda and Olga settled down, the brothers decided to go have a bit of a drink. Not too much, of course, but just enough to push down the headache that they call their nephew. Also, it was a way to study their surroundings by the way. Basset Town was around halfway to Altera. It was just an average town with the standard building types: the weapon shop, armory, restaurants, houses, and the like. It had the post office that they used before, and it also had a tavern. What was special with the tavern here compared to that of most towns was that this tavern was upgraded to the maximum level 3. Level 1 taverns had one floor with about 3 available drinks, its raw materials would vary depending on region, but basically they were all common plants like Flute and Gouji berry. Level 2 Taverns had two floors with 5 varieties. And level 3 had 3 floors with 10. The final levels would often use rarer and more expensive raw materials, so unless a territory had good source of these, most towns wouldn''t bother to upgrade to level 3 taverns except for maybe an added space/ floor which was usually not worth it. Apparently, Basset Town had a decent source of raw materials, which they later found out to be among its subsidiaries. Anyway, the three of them entered the tavern and ordered the best sellers, receiving a few interested stares along the way. After all, it was rare to find three very handsome blondes together like this. Inside, there were plenty of servicewomen who were accompanying the men, and all of them sent them blinking eyes. Obi, like many Terran Soldiers, grew up in a masculine-filled environment. Although he had heard of a lot of talks, they said it so in a way that women didn''t really appeal to him that way. Anyway, It was not surprising he turned out to be the romantic dunce, in stark contrast with most of his siblings. They looked for a spot and found the lower two floors were too rowdy, so they headed to the third floor which had a much more exclusive feel. There were much fewer people here with few tables and chairs further separated by partitions. These partitions also had some insulating properties as well. Although it wasn''t completely sound proof, it would provide enough privacy as long as the adjacent table wasn''t purposely snooping or the guest weren''t being too loud. There was a host by the stairs to both welcome and also delineate the area. They had to pay a few extra silvers each to get an access to the top floor. At the height of drinking time, it was also only half occupied, which was very much to their liking. The women here were also much more high-level and graceful. They declined the offers of course, but they could see all the other tables had a few who were serving them drinks. Among the drinks was the famous Glurgle which was a blue spirit with a cool feel. It was great for slightly warm night air. Then there was the Crimson Horizon, which had a smooth and subtle sweetness. Finally, there was the Golda Drink with a special kick. It was said that if you drink a cup before reaching level 20, you''d likely lose consciousness after a shot. It was also why the Golda Drink was also dubbed the ''strength test'' because those who could handle more than 1 shot were level 20 or above. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. These were all some of the best drinks this world had to offer, but none of them could compare to the Lord''s which was a totally different level altogether. However, they were still pretty decent so the trio still enjoyed their drink. "So you''re telling me¡­ this is the standard of drinks in Altera?" Oslo nodded, sipping some crimson. "The ones commoners drink are already very good. The special types are even better." Obi gulped, "Interesting." He smiled. He might have given a bottle to his father, but it was just a bottle. He definitely didn''t share with his sons. Mother would''ve guarded it with him, so they would have a drink together. The drinks he gave them were the better quality ones from Heartbreak Tavern. Next month, he''ll try to get some of the lord''s. It wouldn''t be easy though, because even the lord''s family members didn''t get to taste it often. As they consumed their drinks (sparsely of course), they talked about usual boy things. For example, who got the best beast car in Bleulle, who among his peers reached level 40, et cetera. Their chatters were cut when the whole tavern suddenly quieted down. They saw another small group enter and the people bowed a bit, "Milord," they said, and the Golds watched them curiously. It was a middle-aged man with black hair. He was with two other men, obviously close friends and cronies. They happened to sit next to them, so it wasn''t like they eavesdropped on purpose. Of course, when the so-called lord activated an anti-spy tool¡ªsomething called Voice Blocker¡ªso they knew some important topics would probably be discussed. Oslo''s eyebrows rose as he looked at his siblings. It so happened that each one of them had a tool to nullify it. The other party must not have expected someone in their territory to have this tool on-hand, let alone 3. They had no excuses for eavesdropping, but privacy wasn''t a thing in Xeno. People''s lives were always in danger, such luxurious expectations were usually not practiced. Furthermore, if you were weak and the strong wanted to know something, then they could very well do whatever they wanted. Similarly, the happened to have an eavesdropping tool handy, so why not take advantage to listen to some important information? Perhaps they could even be handy someday. Otto smirked and placed the tool under the table, inputting his aura in order to activate it. They wondered what gossip they''d hear. Chapter 448 - 448: Basset Town (Part 2) Anyway, the topics varied from their own people, interesting women, and then some news. They talked about some villages fighting. "Is it done?" The lord asked the one on his right, who nodded. "Yes, milord, Hasa had taken down Mauin, with Tome soon after." "Very good," he nodded, a sharp glint in his eyes. The brothers'' eyes met, understanding. the lord here definitely instructed one of his subsidiaries to wage war on other villages, to take their tokens and resources. It was none of their business, and this was normal practice in their world, but it did make for some interesting gossip. One of the men sneered, tapping the table in annoyance. "Milord, I heard Hemeppo seemed to have merged the two territories." The other cronie shook his head. "Heh, I knew that one couldn''t be trusted." Although the disassociation of the Lord token was not common knowledge, the lords, who could see the actual tokens separating from their own bodies during wars, naturally knew of it. It was an open secret among lords and their most trusted confidantes. "What do we do now, milord?" "Let him be, for now." He said. Subsidiary villages weren''t slaves, after all. "We''ll just increase his taxes to 50% or else he''ll face my other subsidiaries." Anyway, subsidiary status lasted a year. He would have no choice but to follow this until the contract expired. The cronies naturally know this as well and they grinned. "This is noted sir, I will forward this to him." At this, their other companion looked at him in mirth, "When you visit, be careful of what they offer you." The man made a face, knowing Hasa Village''s questionable diet. "Those people are insane. Obviously, there was no lack of food, but they still decided to eat people! But then again, as long as they gave money and resources, who cared what other people eat? At this point, the brothers had decided to stop eavesdropping and just go on with their day. However, the topic suddenly shifted to one they cared for, very much. "Have you heard? There are many forces congregating in this area," one said, and the other nodded. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Of course! After all¡ªthere are so many new territories ripe for our picking!" ¡­ The next day. The Golds got up early and continued to travel, hoping to get to Altera by the next sunset. Honda obviously had an uneasy rest after doing his first act of rebellion, Olga looked tired after not sleeping on her soft bed, while Oslo and his brothers had a slight headache due to drinking, but thankfully not too much. They just drank a bit more than planned because they wanted to eavesdrop a bit more. Anyway, the siblings decided to share the carriage for the last leg of the trip. They wanted to hear more about the territory from Oslo so they could better be ''prepared'', whatever that meant. They applied a bit more of their stock of Beast Repelling Potion¡ªwhich worked best in towns or villages due to the level limitations of the potion. This lovely invention allowed them to travel through with ease. Some hours later, however, the carriage halted all of a sudden. "There''s a mob sir." "Does it matter?" Obi asked. After all, there should be no beast stronger than level 20 in the area, and the Beast repelling potion could easily repel until level 15 for a relatively good distance. "No, sir," the driver said, and they decided to ignore the mob which would actively avoid them anyway. But then they heard screams and yells of despair around. Judging by the sound, there should be dozens of people out there begging for help. This time though, the driver didn''t bother asking and just continued on their way. This was a common sight in Xeno and people generally wouldn''t bother with them. It was nothing personal. It was just how it was. Obi, a guard, naturally had a bit more heroism in him, so he looked a bit conflicted though. "Can I see?" He asked, making his siblings look at him. "We should," Oslo answered, making the siblings'' heads whip to him instead. Altera softened him up considerably. He cleared his throat. "It''s not far, let''s go and check anyway." "So kind?" "Well, the Alterans once said ''Helping others is an investment in yourself'', and I personally think it makes sense." The siblings'' eyebrows rose and they looked at each other with mixed emotions of surprise and puzzlement. They shrugged in the end and just let the two youngest brothers go down the carriage and go to where the scuffle was. They found a group of people was being mobbed, and there were easily a hundred humans in there! What was more notable was that there were more women, children, and older people in there than strong men! Everyone was trying to fight, but they could see how the men were still carrying much of the burden¡ªhow they still did their best to protect the families behind them even if it meant they lost flesh. "Help!" "Please help!" They immediately jumped in, touched by the image of sincere protection the men were showing. The mob wasn''t very strong, only level 8 at most, but there were a lot so it was understandable people would suffer. The men surrounded the weaker ones behind them. They were all bloodied and tired. Their eyes were brighter when they saw their rescuers, but no one dropped their guard, afraid of losing someone else at this juncture. With Obi, Oslo, and a few guards leading the way, they cleared out the mobs with relative ease. Both siblings were Elementalists, and the sparkle of various elements also exploded, lighting up hope in the refugees'' hearts. Obi pressed his fists together and a strong ember formed. He waved his hand a a massive flamethrower was fired, and for a while the line of fire seemed endless. When it died, it took about a dozen monsters in its wake. Oslo was not to fall behind. He immediately raised the soil near the refugees, raising it so the monsters were pushed back. His whole body turned and spikes emerged from this small hill, skewering a handful of monsters. He then took out his sword to get rid of the monsters who shifted their attacks to him, and he also easily beheaded each one that approached him. It didn''t take long for them to clear the mobs, with the guards finishing off the ones in the periphery while the brothers took a closer look at the refugees. The people were all injured and blooded and there were plenty who had lost an appendage or two. However, they all had bright eyes as they stared at them as if they were gods. It didn''t matter if they lost an arm or a leg. To the village folk of Mauin, this was already a blessing. After everything they had been through, they just felt extremely blessed to be alive. Chapter 449 - 449: Nourishment Days passed and Althea entered another activity into her daily habits: Using her Growth skill on a few important plants (Note: Cocoa Tree). Of course, she still trained, meditated, and the like for several hours every day, she still spent time in the lab and research center and, most importantly, she still spent time with her family. It was really busy but she couldn''t bring herself to slow down at all. It was the same with her husband, who barely slept as he dealt with the various military affairs of the territory. Well, not tired enough to forgo intimacy, but fortunately he stopped after a few times a night, letting them have some semblance of rest. Today though was a little different. She had felt the progress in her farm and she decided to focus her day entirely on it. She went to the farms with the goal of making good progress with the task, so she brought a lot of mana cookies (which Harold already knew to prepare and had stocks of). She went back to the experimental cocoa to use her skills again. It didn''t matter if she could only deal with one plant for a long time¡ªshe just wanted her chocolate! [Used! Growth Control (C), -50 Mana!] [Used! Growth Control (C), -50 Mana!] She used it over and over until her remaining mana for the day was gone. Every day she did this after everything, and she would hasten its growth by a few hours each time. It wasn''t much considering the mana and the mana cookies she spent, but she didn''t really feel bad. After all, doing this would let her have her chocolate days earlier so she still thought it was worth it! Oh, and she could also train the skill more. After caring for her cocoa, she then went to the experimental corn. She had chosen a small plot about 1 square meter in size for this. There were six stalks of corn there, and they would serve as her experiential corn to turn to another strain. She used the Eye and concentrated, focusing on the plants'' make. The strain of corn that could make popcorn had a hard, moisture-resistant hull that surrounded its endosperm. It also had a starchy interior. When the heat was applied, the moisture trapped inside would pop, creating the snacks that generations of Terrans loved. This was also the quality she needed to cultivate. With the Eye, she could determine which plant would have the traits she needed. This would save her at least months of breeding because she didn''t even have to wait for them to grow to determine which subjects she could use. What''s more, with the Growth skill, she could encourage this sort of mutation. Although it wasn''t able to make stark changes (yet), she could enhance these desired qualities. She would use this skill to the plants with the desired properties, making the experiment much more efficient. On the contrary, it was much harder than just speeding up the plants'' growth and aging. This was understandable because speeding up growth was simply pushing the development to its natural path. She was now doing quite the opposite. And she was having quite some fun. Anyway, for much of the day, she just sat there with the corn, doing trial and error to the different stalks, seeing which seemed to fit the strain she wanted more. It got to the point that she no longer had mana cookies left. Sigh. She stood up and went back to the house. At this time, there was already food prepared for her. Harold was in the kitchen, also experimenting with the new plants. So far, he had created two dishes, one of which managed to have an effect (albeit with only 10% success rate) Her babies were apparently next door, an opportunity won by the ladies against the clinic folks through a dangerous game of volleyball. It was amazing how Lola played. She was apparently a pro back in the day but stopped due to an injury. However, after leveling up, this minor injury was no longer a problem, and she could crush anyone in volleyball. Hey, maybe she could be a human trebuchet someday. In any case, the way people floundered to take care of her children was both amusing and made her feel guilty. Considering how busy she was lately, she mostly only saw her children when they were asleep. Sigh. Well, if they tasted chocolate she hoped they would understand the sacrifice. ¡­ Althea returned to the farms after about an hour more of rest, allowing her mana to heal naturally. She also took several bales of mana cookies, which Harold baked during her break. She was determined to make some big progress today! Eventually, after a few hours, she finally saw the needed hardness of the hull. The sky was already dark and the farm slit up by youli lamps. Harold tried calling her for dinner, but her momentum was high and she couldn''t bear to cut it off. There was still some time to go but she mused that the progress today was very good. In a few days, she would be able to make the type she needed. In another week or so, the corn fields would be ready to harvest. She couldn''t wait to taste popcorn! Best, she already has salt and sugar, which could give the popcorn''s characteristic salt and sweet taste¡ªthe so-called bliss point. Very exciting! However, before she officially clocked out for the day, so couldn''t help but recall an observation that she kept to the back of her head. It was just that it didn''t really become clear. It was probably because she was hungry. "Finally hungry?" A familiar voice said, making her flinch. She turned to look at her husband who had been looming over her. "When did you arrive?" She asked, but Garan didn''t answer her and just kneeled to her level so he could lift her up. "You work too hard," Garan said, patting her bum. She smiled and kissed his chiseled chin. He smiled and carried her all the way to the dining table already set up and just waiting for her. Althea turned to look at the table, and the first she saw were the children in their high chairs drinking milk from their bottles. The moment they saw her, the two let go off their suckles and called to her with their toothless grins. Her heart softened and she went down from Garan''s embrace and walked over to kiss their soft faces. "Aww, I''m sorry my babies," she said, gently touching their chubby cheeks. "Mummy will play with you for a whole day when this is over." The two babies made cute milky sounds as if talking with her, and they all laughed, marking the beginning of a lovely dinner. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 450 - 450: Skill from the World Knowledge! Thankyou Foxiidust for the castleee! If you have chapter requests just tell me~ .... _____ Dinner was nice and they chatted about their day and accomplishments. Althea asked them first and she listened well. She had heard stories about the new hires, and the new inventions, as well as some suggestions that could really help with their side''s efficiencies. Soon it was finally her turn to speak, and everyone leaned in to hear. They were all looking forward to knowing her progress. "What about your experiments?" Althea was chewing on her fruit salad when Harold asked this. "Chocolates are in process, but while I managed to hasten their growth by a few days so far, it probably wouldn''t be mass-produced for a long time." "Aww¡­" "But¡­," she paused with a smile, putting her audience at the edge of their seats (literally). "We should still be able to eat some as a group in another 2 months." Sheila clapped a bit and the others grinned. Chocolate! It was finally within reach! But Althea wasn''t done with her story. "Other than that, I can tell you that popcorn is much more possible." "Popcorn!" This obviously excited the others very much, with Sheila''s mind immediately going to those nice times she''d watch movies alone with her large-sized popcorn. Harold beside her also nodded. He immediately made a plan for the inevitable commercialization of popcorn. "I''ll get the Spice-and-sauce factories to come up with different flavor powders." Inexplicably, his mind moved to the various flavors¡ªfrom cheese, to barbeque, to sour cream, and to many other flavors. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A moment of silence passed, followed by gulps. They looked at her and curiously asked for her process, which prompted Althea to speak more about her elements and new skills and how the interlaced together as a single concept. She mentioned how she activated skills by combining them both, and how she combined their functions and uses. Althea explained it in a way she thought they''d understand, but geniuses simply didn''t think the same wavelength as the others. However, the others did take note of her methods and mused, perhaps they could do the same when they awaken their respective elements. "It''s amazing," Sheila mumbled. She wondered more about how her water element related to healing primarily because the human body was made mostly of water. As a nurse, she also had a more intimate knowledge of the going ons inside the human body. She reckoned the healing ability was also related to this. "It''s amazing how everything just seemed¡­ connected," she said, Eugene nodded. "Maybe everything that had to do with aether are interrelated somehow." Althea paused a bit as their words echoed. Connected, eh? However, the light of idea didn''t really connect for now, and she didn''t go after it either. Dinner was for family and relaxation, not for work. Anyway, dinner ended soon after and everyone went to their respective abodes. Althea and Garan spent time with each other and the babies in the living room. "Mwamhammma¡­" "Gugumamwghhh¡­" The couple watched fondly as the children crawled from point to point, getting a block there, getting a yellow ball here, and then trying to put them together. The couple also played with the babies, filling that night with simple but warm memories with the children. Eventually, the little things'' eyelids began to feel heavier. This was followed by the babies yawning, showing off their toothless gums. The couple chuckled as they lifted the babies and put them to bed in their crib. She couldn''t help but admire their adorableness for a while longer until she felt warm hands over her stomach. The warm hand naturally crawled to more sensitive areas and she moaned when she felt his tongue tracing the back of her neck. "Husband¡­" His large hand groped her mounds as his mouth traced more of her skin. "The babies¡­" "They wouldn''t hear as long as we''re quiet," he whispered hotly against her skin. She flushed, really worried. If there was some kind of tool that could block the sounds for the babies¡­ It was around here though that Sheila and Eugene''s words finally rang a bell. Everything connected to Aether is connected. She immedaitely gestured to go back to her farm. "No. It''s time to rest," Garan said, almost pouting in bitterness. Althea''s heart softened to goo, but she really couldn''t let this eureka moment pass by. "I want to try a few more things¡­ please, husband?" She asked, her emerald eyes large in plea. It made Garan gulp, but his frown didn''t dissipate at all. She tiptoed and kissed his cheeks repeatedly. "Please, please, please¡­" She mumbled as she kissed his cheek, and Garan''s eyes stayed on her the whole time. Emerald eyes met azure ones and a battle of grit began. "Pleassseee?" She asked again, eyes so large and shiny it reflected him. Garan could only concede defeat. . . For now. ¡­ Back to the farm. There must be something to learn from the system farm itself, she mused. Everything was connected, and this very much included the place where her element was the strongest. One of the things she realized in her success was that the Eye had a lot more uses. She looked at the system farm closer using the eye. With it, she could pinpoint more accurately each of the green spots amongst the bright clusters. She looked closer and saw the green dots congregate on specific paths. It was an unfamiliar pattern, but it reminded her of the teleportation array in the Village Center. Her eyes widened. Of course! An array! It made sense! This meant that the farmland¡­ was just a giant, complicated, array. The arrays were formulated to create these magical effects! Immediately, she used her ability to look at the patterns closer. She traced them, trying to understand. It was difficult and mind-boggling, but even when she didn''t understand, she memorized them, trying to find a pattern of sorts. Everything had some logic in it and these patterns definitely had some rationale, some meaning, and some effect to the world as they interacted with it. As this realization dawned on her, the familiar ding rang in her head. [You have received World Knowledge Magic Tool Creation (C) Level 1: Gain the ability to integrate arrays to create Class E to D magic tools. Mama Requirement: Varies] !!!! Then¡­, she remembered: She didn''t know anything about arrays! Chapter 451 - 451: Earth Element The Next Day S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The entire territory was doused with renewed energy for training after it was popularized that Althea had awakened an element! Before, only the closest ones, particularly the barracks, were aware of it, but such big news naturally couldn''t be contained. The previous night, during one of the nightlife parties in the territory, someone got drunk and mumbled how nice it would be to awaken an element like Ms. Althea. This news was passed on from person to person, naturally injecting another douse of inspiration for everyone to work hard! After all, rather than the talented soldiers who arrived months prior, someone who transferred with them had awakened as well! Who knew? Maybe they could really be next! At this time though, this aforementioned source of inspiration was kilometers away from the territory with her husband. This time Althea took a break from the Training Hall and her experiments, deciding to stay outside the whole day. She couldn''t do anything about her lack of knowledge in arrays except self-studying, but she didn''t think she would be able to get too far on her own. This was very worrying because she knew how stingy local people were with their expertise. Anyway, Althea didn''t wallow in depression for too long, and just decided to focus on the other skills she ought to train more. For example, her elements. She and her husband were currently in a rare clearing they found after some exploration. It was a large space with sparse trees, likely a product of some erosion a long time ago. They chose the least demanding element to train this time¡ªEarth. The element simply needed to control the elements already available and ready to use around them, unlike water which she still had to condense from the air as there were no water sources nearby. They also announced she could use wood and earth, leaving water behind in order not to be too unusual. "Have you chosen which direction you hope to take?" Garan asked and she nodded to tell him her choice. "Aggressive." As mentioned to her many times, Elementalists also tend to focus on a certain type of techniques to activate. For instance, if one chose aggressive techniques, they would most likely only learn such, at least not until the element had been mastered to a certain degree. Similarly, auxiliary techniques would inspire the same. For wood, she had chosen to use the auxiliary aspect of it so she wouldn''t be able to learn the more aggressive techniques for a while. She didn''t need to. As for water, because of her predispositions, she would be more likely to choose auxiliary as well. She''d be learning more from people like Turbo than Ryo, who used water aggressively. Anyway, she was also an archer so she could focus her attacks there. For Earth, there didn''t seem to be a lot of differences between auxiliary and aggressive skills, primarily due to its stable nature. However, she would still focus on attacking skills to balance things out. Garan had learned what he could from Gill and Mao to teach his wife. As for why he didn''t just ask an earth elementalist to go with them, it was naturally so he could bond with his wife. Gill was also very busy. Besides, those other men couldn''t talk straight with Althea and just gape at her. Very annoying. Not to mention, their children stayed with them most nights, and combined with their busy day schedules, their alone time had been greatly discounted. What if his place in his wife''s heart lowered because he hadn''t been satisfying her enough lately? Last night, they only did it thrice! (If Althea could hear his thoughts, she''d glare at him. Although they didn''t do it as often, their sex life was still very active, okay?) Fortunately, Althea had no idea at this time so she was just very eager to learn. "Husband. Teach me!" She said, very excited for what she would be learning. Although she had a short introduction back in the barracks, she still had a long away before actually using them to the degree that they could be used in battle. She couldn''t bear take the guards'' time either. "Let''s start with what Gill and the others call Geokinesis, the art of shaping the terrain," he said, moving behind her to give her a place to practice in front of them. Garan, of course, didn''t forget to take a bit of an advantage and settle nicely behind her. A step back and she''d be resting on him. Althea felt his large hands on her waist as he spoke. "Focus on the earth beneath you." He told her, very close, and she could feel his warmth as he spoke. "Imagine a piece of clay, ready to be molded." Althea closed her eyes and extended her hand towards the earth, channeling energy. It took several minutes to get a decent hold on to the earth elements. "Feel the connection between your energy and the Earth''s all around," Garan said, his hand on her waist caressing ever-so-gently. Garan wasn''t even trying to seduce her now. He was simply trying to keep her still, as the earth seemed to require a lot of stillness from their user as if they were part of the rocks themselves. Althea concentrated harder, and she started to sweat as she tried to manipulate the earth as she imagined. Garan looked concerned and wanted to wipe the sweat off, but was afraid he''d distract her. "Go away. You''re distracting me." "..." It was now he realized his hands had crept just below her breast. He cleared his throat and stepped further away. He waited patiently at a distance as she tried over and over. Many minutes trickled by and the ground beneath her began to change. The surface shifted a little, and the barren soil had become small hills that could trip people. It was very tiny, but it was a change and she immediately went to hug him, a radiant smile gracing her face. She practiced for a few more hours until she made a bigger bump as well as larger potholes. It wasn''t enough to trigger an actual skill, but it was enough for now. "This is amazing! When I master this, I can dig an entire field in a couple of minutes!" She said. Obviously, she didn''t choose auxiliary skills, but she still connected them to her gardening nevertheless. Her smile was so bright that Garan had to his throat, trying to focus on the lesson at hand. But, he wanted to ask. "Do you want to continue? You worked hard, you deserve to rest." "No, more!" He cleared his throat. "Next is the seismic vibration lesson." Althea watched eagerly and her apt attention with tinges of admiration distracted Garan a bit, wanting to do inappropriate things. But Garan had very strong self-restraint (when it was needed) and knew that his wife really wanted to learn some earth techniques. He manifested a fork and made it ting. "Earth users can apparently sense vibrations within the ground used to detect dangers ahead of time." Although she wasn''t manifesting anything, this skill also took some mana. This skill was to attune to the Earth''s subtle movements. Garan hit the fork and Althea tried attuning to it. She closed her eyes and tried to feel the small rhythm of the soil. It was hard and she felt her mana draining. Garan''s help was also limited because he wasn''t an earth elementalist himself, but he did study it well enough that he could try. Fortunately, eventually, Althea did, and it was like a mental x-ray map. [Learned! Earth Mapping (D)! Level 1: Able to feel vibrations at a radius of 2 meters. Lasts for 1 minute. Mana: -10] "I finally got a new skill!" She said with a smile. It was upgradable too and she wondered how far a high level could go. "Congratulations," Garan said, and Althea quickly jumped on him, placing several pecks on his cheek. "It''s all thanks to you!" She said with a smile. At this, Garan''s eyes darkened. "How will you reward me then?" He asked, hand creeping on her curvaceous waist, to somewhere else. She gasped. "We''re outside!" Outside the territory, no less! "Didn''t you always say you were curious?" About making love outside? "I never said that!" He definitely dreamed it! Garan did, indeed. To her surprise, he manifested metal spikes around them creating a fenced area of about fifty square meters. To think he''d use his powers like this! "I know you have a tent in your space." It was a very good tent he commissioned himself. Large and comfortable, bought it since she had the space for it anyway. She pursed her lips. She didn''t have any mana left to practice any more, and the sky was still high up. Garan saw his wife was softening to the idea and leaned down, licking her lips to part them. The atmosphere heated up between the couple, with Garan''s misbehaving hand crawling under her shirt. Althea''s soft hand held them in place before he could go inside. It was still embarrassing in the end though! In her embarrassment, she ran away. A little cheesy game of tag between lovers and Althea unconsciously used what she had learned. For instance, she used the bumps to help propel her forward, over and over because she really didn''t want to be caught by him. Unexpectedly, after some time, a soft ding sounded in her head. [Learned! Earth Spring (D) Level 1: Increases Agility by 4 points, lasts 5 minutes. CD: 5 minutes. Mana: 10] Eh, flirting could give birth to such a good thing? Chapter 452 - 452: Encounter with Blondes The two of them flirted a lot before deciding to head home, hand in hand. At the same time, Althea wanted to train a few more times now that her mana had recovered. They decided to run back home. Garan was naturally fast, while Althea made up for it by using the Earth Spring. She wanted it to be so instinctive that she didn''t have to thinking about using it when she had to. After some time, they reached about a few kilometers or so to the territory and Althea was getting a bit tired. "Shall I carry you?" Garan asked, very naturally. She pinched his cheeks and shook her head. Garan wasn''t too disappointed though, as they would still be walking holding hands. It would be like a stroll they took during their dates¡ªthe occassional mob or bugs irregardless. Althea noticed this and sprayed on insect repellents. "I wish we could get Beast Repellant potions too," she mumbled. She had tried using the grass from the bog, but while they annoyed and had some effect, they weren''t enough, at least for now, to create a bona fide Beast Repellent potion. "It seems nice," Garan said, smelling the bug spray. Althea smiled smugly, "Of course, I added a bit of lavender there," she said, but formulating it in a way that the scent wouldn''t attract the insects instead. After this, Garan entwined his hands with hers again, and so resumed their leisurely tour around the supposedly-dangerous forest. Some time along the way though, they heard the familiar vibrations and hooves. Althea immediately used her newly-learned skill¡ªanother habit she was training to form. Although she could only see clearly 2 meters away, she could still get impressions of what was coming. It was big, and there were quite a few of them. To their surprise it was about five carriages with strong beasts. She led her husband to the side to see more closely as they passed. Garan could naturally sense something similar at his level, but he was more than happy to get led around by his wife. The beasts carriages used beasts they hadn''t encountered yet. There was a particularly strong-looking one, which the appraisal skill named ''Kola Beast'' and she saw it was a powerful level 12 monster. One must know that level 15 was the record of the strongest monster tamed. Level 12 was among the elites. Anyway, the couple stood farther away so they wouldn''t disturb the monsters. From what they knew about tamed monsters, as long as there was a bit of distance around them (the ballpark figure was the width of their head), tamed monsters wouldn''t mind their presences. Surprisingly, the caravan stopped midway. "Stop!" The carriages halted and the one in front opened its doors, revealing a familiar handsome blonde. He was wearing noble silk robes that was partially opened as its design, revealing his well-shaped chest. If any of his fangirls were here, they''d definitely have nosebleeds. Oslo had a very bright expression on his face as he looked at her, his azure eyes reflecting all of her. . "Mi¡ªMs. Althea!" He greeted with a smile as he went down to greet her, but immediately froze when he felt literal chills surrounding him.. He paused, giving the other person a polite nod. "Mr. Garan." The couple was very surprised to see him here, and on Beast Carts, too. "Oslo? You''re back?" "Yes, Ms. Althea," he said, looking at the carriage. "Get down here." A few more figures emerged from the carriage he was in. First were two young men with similar golden hair to Oslo''s. One had dark green eyes and one the same shade as Oslo. Then, there was a little boy about 10 years of age. The young lad also blonde but with auburn eyes, and was definitely a handsome embryo not inferior to the other men. Finally, a beautiful blonde with blue eyes came out. She had curvaceous figure and had a strong temperament around her. "These are my siblings Obi, Otto, and Olga," he said, pointing at them. "And this is my nephew, the only one in his generation." The couple looked at the newcomers and they couldn''t help but give each other some furtive glances. Goodness Gracious¡ªOslo even brought family. "Nice to meet you," Althea gave a welcoming smile, and Garan gave a polite nod. They hadn''t particularly invite aborigines to the territory yet, but it didn''t mean they didn''t want them. Organic visitors like this was very welcome. In fact, if people decided to go with Team B back here, they''d be glad to have them. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Especially when the people of Ferrol found out Gill and the others were gone, it started quite a bit of commotion in their base. Team B, when they arrived, received quite some welcome. Helios even got himself laid inexplicably¡­ but that was a story for another time. Back to Althea''s side, the architect also proceeded to introduce the couple to his family. "This is Ms. Althea, an elder in Altera. She is pretty much responsible for a lot of the development in te territory." The siblings couldn''t help but look at the beautiful woman. Other than their own mother, they had only heard of about a handful of women in leading roles in a territory. And such a tiny pretty one¡­ Olga, in particular, looked a bit fascinated, and Garan held Althea''s shoulders to pull him closer to him, as if guarding. Oslo''s lips twitched when he saw this. "This is her husband, Sir Garan Witt, Elder of Military Affairs. He is also the head of the Terran mercenary team, and also a dual elementalist." The siblings'' eyebrows rose again. So amazing? They haven''t even been to the territory but they were already met with such individuals? "Ah, before I forget, we also found some aborigine refugees looking for a home. "I left most of our guards to guide them. They should be able to arrive in the territory within the day or early tomorrow." Althea blinked, a bit surprised, but quite relieved. "Well, thank you," she said, and it made Oslo''s day 100x better. He couldn''t wait to tell her what he got for her! Chapter 453 - 453: Magic Tools Oslo looked at the sky already reddish skies and led them to his carriage, which was the car behind the one they were in. He didn''t want the lord to squeeze in with all of them siblings. "Shall we ride on my carriage back home, Ms. Althea?" he asked, and the couple didn''t reject his offer. Unexpectedly, every other sibling except Honda followed them to his carriage instead. Whether it was curiosity or just wanting to gossip, they didn''t know, all they knew was that there were now six adults squeezed into the carriage. Of course, their carriages weren''t small, so they weren''t really uncomfortable. Their private spaces got breached though. Althea''s lips twitched. Oslo looked at the couple apologetically, really wondering where his siblings'' upbringing went, before shifting attention to them. "What are you doing all the way out here? Training your element?" Olga leaned down a little across the aisle, "So you are an Elementalist as well? Me too, I use water!" "I''m training my earth element today," Althea answered with a smile. The official statement of her elements after awakening was wood and earth. "However, I''d love to watch you practice sometimes." "Deal!" The woman said with a big smile. Oslo also brightened at her mention of the earth element. "Miss Althea, if you need some guidance for the earth element¡ª" "She''ll manage, thanks," Garan said, because of course he did. The two''s eyes met, and their blue eyes collided. Oslo''s eyes though, were blue like their skies, while Garan''s eyes were as blue as the deep sea. ¡­which was kind of intimidating. "Ah, of course," Oslo said after a pause before he turned to look out the window. If one looked closer, one could tell he was pouting. Beside him, his siblings stifled chuckles at how cowardly he was being¡ªespecially in front of a man obviously several levels weaker than he was! Their careless brother changed so much! It just made them more curious about this new territory! ¡­ "So was the trip productive?" Althea asked she felt the carriage lunge forward. Oslo nodded, excited to report. "Very, I''ll report to the elders later," he said, knowing the process. "In the meantime, I''d like to give you some of my gifts in advance." He then handed her a small treasure box-like chest around a foot in width. "We managed to get magic tools!" He said, opening the box. "First of all, I would like to show my gifts to the babies," he said, first lifting a toy that resembled a frog, but was bluish and had six legs. "This one is the crawly toy, which the babies could throw to about a meter away and it would always crawl back." He then lifted a ball with various patterns. "This is a float ball, but it''s only useful when they can already walk," he said, putting some aether into it. They watched as the ball floated a few inches above Oslo''s hand and the two were surprised. "Both toys would require some rest time, but I doubt the kids would use it every single hour of the day." "This is amazing. Thank you," Althea said, admiring the tools. Oslo smiled. "I also bought gifts for all of you, but let me focus on the aether tools first." Althea and her husband''s eyes brightened even more at this. First, Oslo put out a few pieces of papyrus. The difference from what they''ve seen from normal papyrus (in Althea''s case, observed from papyrus from the Terran Mercenary team and Oslo''s spaces) was that this one had somewhat of a golden luminescence to it. It was quite similar to the sparkly quality of the system screen. "These are aether letters," he said, "Basically, an aether letter could communicate with a set number of other letters it connected with, even from a distance." "The number of other sheets one could connect with will vary in quality of the letter. The safest assumption is 3." "Another limitation is that they could only work within ten miles of each other." The couple looked fascinated. This meant that they could send letters to each other in a relatively far distance, fixing their problems with communication to some degree. Of course, ten miles (or a little above 15 kilometers) was not far enough if one wanted to communicate with other territories, but this was plenty enough for its convenience and its various uses during wars. "How to use them?" "Every letter will have an assigned symbol, determined or drawn by the owner. In order to link two letters, you''d have to draw the assigned symbol of the other letter in your papyrus, while they were placed on top of each other. If the connection is successful, then the drawn symbol will stay. If not it will fade. "Directing aether to the symbol is to send messages to that letter. Keep in mind that each letter consumes some mana, and that they''re consumable¡ªthey would eventually lose effect after about a thousand uses, depending on the quality." "Amazing," Althea said, making Oslo very proud and happy. Garan was also very impressed that he didn''t remember to glare at the blonde. Instead, he looked at the other man inquisitively, "How many do you have?" "My family''s toolmaker specialized in aether letters so I could provide quite a few, around a hundred, but that''s about it for now." "That''s already really good Oslo, thank you," Althea said and Garan nodded. The siblings couldn''t help but look at the couple who had such an impact on their usually arrogant brother. Aether letters weren''t actually easy to create. Those hundred letters¡­ were the family''s stock for trading for a whole month. However, Otto managed to cut losses by temporarily raising prices for it, which was a huge favor on Oslo''s part. Oslo was obviously very sincere to this territory and this couple. Anyway, Oslo happily rummaged the ''treasure chest'' to explain a few more things. It was like he was a little boy eager to show off. It was quite amusing to watch for his siblings. Oslo pulled out and took a small token about a few inches in diameter. "This is called the loyalty faker." The two''s eyebrows rose. This was what Gingo used to fool Micheal before. Fortunately, it only added 50, at most, with more inferior versions only adding a score. This meant citizens with loyalties above 60 were definitely non-hostile. Not to mention, people with some loyalty would generally not need to buy such questionable equipment. "Interesting," she mumbled. Not for its function to fake loyalty but¡­ for its potential. Could it possible be tinkered to hide/show some other stat? It was a curious thought, one that was still far from her but still hoped to explore. "Magic tools¡­" Althea mumbled, staring at the aether toy in her hand, low-key using the Eye on the toys. Her eyebrows rose as she looked at the arrays there, though interestingly there were only a few on the toys. This was good because this meant she could study arrays with very clear-cut samples, unlike those she had encountered so far. They had so many arrays overlaid that just looking at them hurt her head. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She paused raising her head to look at the Golds, followed by a question that surprised them all. "What do you know about arrays?" Chapter 454 - 454: A Little about Arrays "What do you know about arrays?" She asked, making the others look at her, startled. The aborigines seemed surprised at the question, as very few people actually know or care about arrays beyond their name. It was just something that was ingrained to them growing up. However, after thinking about it, this was likely because the woman was curious about the teleportation arrays, which they''d encounter during wars as well as in the Village Center. It was Oslo who answered her. "Arrays are special aether paths designed to make certain effects," Oslo said, "Of course, this is a very simplified explanation and it''s much more complex in reality." The others nodded. Although their knowledge of the subject was limited, they still knew much more about it than other non-array masters. "If something has an array, it would definitely have some special feature," Olga said, "This is what we''ve learned from our teachers, but we haven''t exactly received a thorough understanding of it yet." As nobles, they naturally went to special schools with people of their stature. Basic knowledge about various things was taught here, but the specialized knowledge was still tightly held by the experts. Of course, as people of high society, they still had much, much higher chances of getting apprenticeships. "Hm, thank you. I was just curious," Althea said, and raised one of the gifts, "The Toolmakers are they also array masters, correct?" The aborigines were surprised by the insight, nodding. "Yes." "Can you tell me more about the toolmakers and the magic tools themselves?" "It''s a very very special occupation. These people have the ability to control the aether to function as something else entirely." Although there were separate occupations, basically, as long as one mastered a few arrays, they could be considered as array masters. If they were applied to tools, then they''d be Toolmakers. "Magic Tools are highly specialized equipment made from combining several arrays together into a single item." "Are they very rare?" "Most magic tools could be found in cities, with a bit leaking to towns." That was enough to show how high-level this resource was. "Because of the complexity of each tool, basically a Magic Tool Maker is limited to a few types, probably only one. A toolmaker could only create multiple types of tools if the arrays they mastered could be applied to another type of tool." That was to say, knowledge of specific array sets was also limited. She understood this. Even she had trouble with the concept, with most of the arrays causing her headaches. How many can a person master in a lifetime? "Is there a skill that could be activated to read arrays?" At this point, how could the sharp Otto not notice an oddness? However, he didn''t point anything out and simply answered her questions. "Not to my knowledge, there is no such thing. Arrays are a special skill with a language an array master had to learn, one by one." "So array masters would always master just a few, and in turn have a certain specialty when it came to tools and others." Otto looked at her with a serious expression. "There is no such thing as an array inheritance from the World Knowledge." Althea nodded. No wonder she received an inheritance for tool making, but no sign of array mastery at all. Array masters were counted as one of those mysterious occupations that could not be inherited through the system. Even if one mastered the craft, it would not trigger a title, nor would inheritances specific to them be given. This was in stark contrast with the system occupations that triggered as long as there was potential and some knowledge. The world knowledge would also supplement the person with related knowledge, one way or another. What did this imply? She wasn''t sure, but she could surmise it had to do with the array having special functions to this world''s make, and thus couldn''t be integrated so easily with the ''system''. Anyway, Althea listened intently to the information she was getting. This meant that whatever she needed to learn in the field¡ªunless she found herself a master¡ªhad to be completely self-taught. "You mentioned that your family employed one?" She asked. She wondered what she had to pay in order to learn a bit from this person. She hadn''t told her husband yet because she was planning on surprising him. "Well, my family employs one for their business," Oslo said, nodding. "Otto uses them a lot, I heard." They turned to look at the blonde watching their interaction closely. In retrospect, all his siblings were giving him weird looks and he knew his affections had been exposed. Obi did not even bother to stifle his laugh though. Oslo blushed furiously, but he kept a straight face. "Answer the elder''s question!" The couple didn''t seem to take any heed though and were just curious about the information. "Yes, but that old man''s really anti-social. Even we communicate with him through letters," Otto said, tapping down Althea''s hope for learning through that route with one hand. "My dad said that someone talked to him once, and he almost died of hives." She pursed her lips, continuing with her inquiries. "Do you have a way to obtain these knowledge about arrays? Some rough information will do." "Array masters would rather die than reveal it. Most actually don''t keep copies of it lying around, it''s always all inside their heads." "Similarly, even if normal people get ahold of array patterns¡ªwhich I heard wouldn''t be easy to decipher anyway¡ªthey wouldn''t be able to do anything with it." It''s the reason why array masters still hadn''t been kidnapped and forced for information. It was also why they were still so small in number. The couple looked at each other in interest. This was just another one of the many things to explore in this massive world. She could feel it¡ªthere were still so many things to learn! She wished she could divide herself, that way she''d have enough time to do everything she wanted! S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 455 - 455: Gold’s First Steps The trip was bumpy but fortunately not very long. By the time they arrived, the sky was already a little darker so the torches were already opened. When they lifted the curtains to see, the Golds were a little surprised. Did the village buy the luxury light tower? Why was it so bright? While the aborigines looked outside in curiosity, Althea was in a daze as she stared at the wall, passively allowing her husband to squeeze her soft hands. ''If something has an array, it would definitely have some special feature,'' she remembered them saying before. Juggling that around, it could also mean that everything with special functions might also have an array. With this thought, her emerald eyes fixed on the wall. She activated the Eye, but using the earth element as a filter, and soon the magic on the wall''s surface revealed itself. So many different arrays, with a plethora of patterns and of differing sizes, constantly rotating in various speeds. "What''s wrong?" Her husband asked as he squeezed her hand. She looked down and realized that she had held tightly on his palms. "I''ll tell you later," she said with a smile, turning her head to look at the walls again. They were gorgeous, and even more so as they went closer and closer, and she could see it in more detail. The lines were similar to the luminescent powdery microscopic bits that made their screen, but they continuously ran along a set path of complex lines and shapes, differing densities, and of inconsistent thicknesses. Her eyes brightened. Interesting! ¡­ Since Cassandra''s arrival, the Beast Carriage Parking Lot had further been improved to handle new guests. The place was not only bigger with sturdier amenities, it also had added well-trained staff who didn''t pee at the sight of monsters! It had only been yesterday since the renovation was completed, and the inn owner was extremely surprised to have new customers already! And they''re four huge carriages! Much bigger than Miss Cassandra''s. The carts are also gorgeous! Made of wood material unfamiliar to him! And¡­ the contents are also gorgeous! The Golden god! He brought his family!! Golden gods? Golden Family? Oh, Ms. Althea and Sir Garan were inside! Their lucky stars! "Welcome to our Beast Inn!" The inn-keeper yelled with enthusiasm. His name was Balzy (Real given name on his birth certificate, really!) and he used to own a pet hotel with his veterinarian girlfriend (bless her zombified soul). Other than the cutie Fufi, and the Gugu Birds and Broats, there was no sign of true domesticated animals so he was set for the next best thing: Tamed beasts. He was aware of the dangers though, but when he received the offer from the territory bank¡ªoffering him great terms to start this business¡ªhe didn''t even have second thoughts! He thought, that if he was specifically asked for this, it meant that the territory needed it. Even if he didn''t want to (which, luckily, wasn''t the case), he would still follow it for everyone''s sake. He guided the drivers as they parked the cars, and set each one in their own large shed. Each shed was quite large, and even the biggest Kola Beast was comfortable. Each shed was also designed very well, used with special iron construction that should be able to hold back a monster to some degree should they decide to go berserk. Belzy also had plenty of paralyzing and tranquilizing shots accessible to him everywhere in the inn. One of the reasons Belzy was chosen was not because of his exposure to a pet hotel, but because he was also a veteran who would be able to hold himself well in case of emergencies. Of course, while the beasts were being treated well, the human drivers were also given good rooms. The inn for the drivers was similar to the dormitories but with separate rooms. It was also just a little cheaper than the main inns inside. They also had a canteen there, for drivers who needed to be by their carriages at all times. "What about our items?" Olga asked. She brought a lot of luggage. At this, Balzy guided them to the adjacent building. Next to the Beast parking was the bike rental, and there was also a public transportation route where bikes were designed with passenger cars. The designs for these cars were convenient, letting one person drive a car even if it was filled with a handful of people and their luggage with minimal effort. They climbed up one and watched their stuff be loaded onto another, heading to the Luxury villa areas where Oslo''s house was. As the biker pedaled, everyone looked around in awe. They had never seen so many greens and arranged so beautifully, especially in public spaces and on such a scale. After a while, they arrived at a row of gated houses and they could see some different colored plants creeping above the level 2 walls. It stopped somewhere in the middle of a house with pretty vines with yellow flowers on its walls. "This is my house," he said, proud. Even if their houses in Bleulle City were larger, he loved this the most. Not only was it in Altera, but he loved it because everything he used to buy it was his own hard work. Whether it was his salary, extra rewards from the lord, contribution points, and even royalties, he used them all to buy himself his own abode. "Rest first," he said, opening the gate to reveal a small but quaint front garden with a pretty path leading to the front door. They had been traveling nonstop. "The territory won''t go away." "Aww¡­." Honda mumbled, earning himself a soft flick on the forehead. "I''ll guide you myself tomorrow," he said, "Right now I got to report to the elders, you know?" "Okay, uncle¡­" "Are you going to sneak around?" "No¡­" S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oslo smiled, "Be patient. I promise it''ll be worth the wait." After settling his siblings, Oslo immediately went to the Village Center where all the elders, pertinent construction aborigines, as well as the leads of the Engineering Team were already called in. He would report the amount of blu he had, and they would discuss which Aether Building to focus on developing. With their arrival, the territory had a lot to look forward to. Chapter 456 - 456: Milk [60th Day since the Migration] While the undercurrents in different territories were brewing, excitement was boiling in Altera. After all, today was the day looked forward to by the entire territory. Not only would there be new items in the supermarket, there would be a lot more shops would also open! That morning though, a certain soldier was sampling something else. He was still half naked and his muscled body currently hovering over his snoozing wife. Althea¡ªwho had been tired the previous night of frolicking and a bit of theorizing what to do with arrays¡ªwoke up at the sound of gentle sucking and some tingly sensations on her chest. It felt a bit nice and she only laid there for a while, until a spark of pain and pleasure jolted her awake. Her wide emerald eyes opened and she looked down her chest, seeing her husband sampling her milk. She flushed and her hand immediately tried pushing his head away. "You''re going to drink the babies'' food!" It didn''t stop him at all. On the contrary, because she was already awake, he suckled even more. Her breath hitched as she felt the pleasurable tingles, and then she gasped when he groped her free breast. Garan''s eyes shifted to look at her in the eye as he shifted to her other breast. She moaned when the flat of his tongue wiped the milky leaks and gasped when he took it in his mouth to suck. "Y-You!" She gasped, shakily trying to pry him away. "The babies¡ªI''m serious!" This finally made him lift his head a bit, his blue eyes filled with seriousness that felt very different because of the sexy line of liquid that connected his mouth and her breast. "No, I researched. A healthy mother always produces enough to feed the children 8-12 times a day." Althea gave him a blank stare. "So you count yourself as a baby¡ªah!" She was shut up when Garan dipped his head back down again, continuing with his suckling. Althea could only cover her face as she moaned, wondering if it was time for her babies to try the milk alternatives. This man would be in big trouble if they couldn''t. Lucky for Garan, he was right, or Althea would''ve banned him completely. It had to be said that the body of a level 10 was really strong. She still had ample milk despite having to feed three people¡ªerr¡­ two babies, and one grown man. ¡­. The couple came to the dining room and saw everyone there already. Although the insulation was great, it could be seen with how nourished they were that they had a lot of fun the previous night. Althea ignored the stares and went straight to her babies, who were drinking her pumped breast milk. She needed to refill those¡­ Of course, she was also exploring the alternatives as soon as they were old enough. In Terran, this was one year old, but in Xeno this should be much earlier. Her alternatives so far was Soy Milk and Broat Milk. Soy milk was tested safe long ago, even for her children after a few more months, but Broat Milk was still undergoing stringent testing to ensure safe consumption for babies. So far, Broat Milk will soon be made commercially available and safe for adult consumption. In fact, it even had a higher amount of calcium and protein. Its structure also allowed it to be consumed by lactose intolerants¡ªassuming there were still such conditions after upgrading. Anyway, she leaned down and placed wet kisses on her babies'' chubby cheeks. They giggled and she did as well, "Did you have fun with Auntie Sheila?" "Did anything weird happen?" She asked, still half-wondering if the floating incident was real. If it was, then everyone had to keep an open eye. Sheila shook her head, "No, why?" "It''s nothing," she said, "Just report any anomalies. I''ll tell you later." S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Got it~!" With this, the group ate their meals with gusto, especially when Harold improved on his craft again. Althea watched her children eat lovingly. They were so cute, though they have grown quite a bit and she knew it was definitely not normal. They were not even two months old, but their sizes could rival those twice their age. She had wanted to ask Oslo''s family in case they knew more, but it wasn''t the timing. She wanted to know whether they could be trusted or not. "Mnggmwahmahh¡­" The babies cooed, as if noticing her distraction. Her eyes cleared and she laughed, leaning down to place a few more kisses on both their small faces. Ah, so cute. Similarly, the other children¡ªMaya, Horus, and even Theo¡ªwere also finishing up their food. They were dressed to go out though, and there were backpacks in the living room. "Are you children going on a field trip?" "YES!" Maya cutely looked at her, "We''re gonna watch the shows today!" She said, and Theo nodded cutely, making everyone chuckle. "Shows!" Today was the 60th day since The Migration and Althea had decided to launch several new products today. Similarly, a lot of shops used the ''milestone'' date to open, thus giving a lot of activities around her land. She watched as the third-youngest baby bravely climb down his chair and tottered to her direction. He looked up with those adorable rounded eyes, framed by his curly hair. "Yes, little Theo?" She asked, smiling, also looking forward to hear his voice. Beanie¡­ still couldn''t face her. He was now busy assigning himself going from territory to territory to train, only meeting with his son whenever he was here. "Can Pepper and Meatball come?" She chuckled, "Of course you can." "Yay!" "Who can babysit though?" She asked, and everyone looked at each other. Everyone was busy with preparations for the war now. Even Harold had to be locked in the kitchen to try out the experimental plants and also to find improvements for his health and mana foods, ideally increasing his level and his success rates as well. Ansel looked at everyone. He was just supposed to go hunt today, but he was a bit reluctant to go outside the territory due to the events. Now, with the kids, he had more excuses to slack off! It was just one day! Great people needed rest! "I''ll do it!" he said, "I''ll take care of them all!" As such, Ansel became the baby sitter of quite a few children that day. Chapter 457 - 457: Start of Play Dates Later, just around the Village Center Plaza, a group of eye-catching aborigines walked around. They were a very beautiful group that literally sparkled ''gold'' in the eyes of the locals, and more than once had they been pulled to various shops to buy. They had only been out for a couple of minutes, and they were already full. Was there some tool that could increase their stomach capacity? They really needed it. Anyway, the new guests continued to observe and admire, stopping only when they saw various floating bubbles going around, gracefully carried by the wind. It so happened they were downwind and they were soon surrounded by pretty bubbles. Olga and Honda raised their fingers, popping a few with bright eyes. "Seems familiar. I think it''s soap bubbles?" She asked. Back home, she had a large tub, and her servants often made bubble baths for her. They were made from special bathing soaps bought for a very high price. Obi looked at her, "So many? And outside?" Olga sneered at him, "I''m just trying to guess." Oslo shook his head and continued to lead their party to the source. There, they saw various children laughing, and holding some small contraptions. They just blew on it and many bubbles were made. Don''t mention the young Honda, even the adults were fascinated. Oslo watched and realized the kids were familiar. Mimi, Horus, Maya, and even the twins! He then looked at his nephew who was looking at them, curious, but at the same time trying to act cool. They had told him to man up even without his father around, but they didn''t want him to forget his childhood either. Oslo''s lips curled upwards as he patted the boy''s head. "You can join them." "Can I?" "Of course," he said, voicing out one of the things he learned in Altera. "Being serious and successful doesn''t mean you have to be devoid of fun," he said, wishing he knew this compromise early on, though to be fair what he found fun in his youth was very skewed. Anyway, his words made the little boy''s round eyes brighten and he turned his head to look at the children playing. But before he could go to them, he paused, suddenly shy. In Bleulle, there were also many children, but they were no fun. He didn''t like them at all. The things they found fun were cruel and made him uncomfortable. Once, he was taken to a gathering of children his age. There, they made hungry slaves run around for bits of food they threw. They would watch them fight for a tiny amount of food for amusement, and they would make bets with their own or their parents'' money. He was called names when he didn''t play with them, calling him a snob and a know-it-all, saying he wasn''t even as amazing as his father, why was he acting like him? The thought of his few experiences with peers made him metaphorically curl back into his shell. "I know them. Just politely ask them if you could join and they will let you." The little boy nodded, running towards the kids. His pace obviously got slower when they were in their vicinity though, and his steps suddenly filled with doubts. The boy paused and looked back, and Oslo smiled, waving at him to continue walking. Oslo''s shoulder slumped in relief when he finally reached the kids and smiled when they handed him the toy, and happily taught him how to use it. When Honda successfully made his own bubble, the smile on the boy''s face was as bright as the sun. Very cute. "Wow¡­ you''re like a proper uncle," Olga said as she crossed her arms, smirking. Oslo shrugged with a smug smile. They watched fondly as their nephew quickly integrated to the group, being the kid that he was. "So¡­ what do you think of Altera?" "This¡­ is not what I expected¡­" Otto mumbled as he looked at the surroundings. The walls were tall, the buildings were beautiful, people were smiling, and there was so much greenery. They had left the inn early to do a bit of exploring. They had their breakfast in the inn canteen first, eating some simple but even better versions of what Oslo brought back to Bleulle. After that, they went ahead and perused various shops and were pulled in all of them. While most of the purchases were food, they also bought a lot of non-perishables like clothing, bags, and shoes. Other than these, they also noticed the temperaments of the people. Life in villages, to their knowledge, was always very difficult. They had never seen such a universal atmosphere of happiness in a city, let alone a village. There was also an atmosphere of growth. Like, while people were enjoying life, they were also running after¡­ something. This was something they realized when people went outside early to go hunting, with how the Training Hall never ran out of a queue, and how every so often they would have topics of conversations related to fighting techniques. Everyone had a purpose, and that purpose was not only to improve their lives¡ªit also had more or less something to do with contributing to the territory. It was a fascinating case study. Oslo chuckled, feeling a bit smug. This time, they knew their brother was right so they didn''t feel the need to punch him. For once, this playboy little brother of theirs was actually onto something big. It was around this time a new voice sounded, calling him. "Hey, Oslo!" The siblings looked in a direction, seeing a handsome redhead waving his hand at them, Oslo smiled, raising his arm to wave back, before looking at his siblings who were curiously looking on at the interaction. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He looked again at Ansel who was walking towards them. "This guy happens to know many of the features of Altera. Maybe we can get him to guide us," he said, grinning at his brothers and sister. "You haven''t seen anything yet." Chapter 458 - 458: Reunion of Sunset Pair While the day had just begun for their guests, much of the territory had been awake, a lot of whom had already been hunting outside. In fact, a lot of these hunters had already returned to sell their loot. One of them was the new guard and half-orc Gochi, who was now in the Village Center with his team. "I¡­ do we sell these for the same price?" He asked, looking at the bulk of plants that were placed on the platform. He took out a couple of plants, as if unwilling to sell them for the default price. Angelo, his teammate at this time, nodded, not sure what he was so reluctant about. "That''s what we always do, yes." Gochi frowned, really not wanting to place the plant back on the platform. "But this is more valuable than other plants¡­" Angelo blinked and mused, "Then, if you think it''s worth it, use the appraisal skill¡ªwhich isn''t free by the way¡ªand then sell it to the pharmacy." "We can do that?" "Sure." Althea happened to be nearby at this time. She was not in a very bright mood because there were no good NPCs today. How many questionable women would be suggested to her, anyway? She was walking back when she overheard this conversation. There weren''t many people in the center yet, so their conversation was particularly easy to hear. She walked over and saw the plant. It was the guigorgon, one of the first plants she studied here, and also the main component of her hemostatic medicine. "Hm, Angelo is right," she said, making the two flinch a bit. "My pharmacy does indeed buy this plant." She turned to the half-orc with great interest. "You know a lot of plants?" It wasn''t that they didn''t know people were nearby, they just didn''t think it''d be an elder. They flinched and flushed when they saw it was the beautiful Miss Althea. "I¡­ I tinkered a bit with plants near Hoskle. We don''t have clinics there, so¡­" She nodded. As for why she didn''t know of it, it''s because it didn''t show in his profile. He did not awaken any occupation, after all. At least not yet. As for why no information about that was included in his registered profile, it was because he wasn''t confident enough to declare it as an expertise. However, there was interest, and even if there was minimal talent (which was something to be determined), Althea hoped to hone it anyway. She looked at the young half-orc, who blushed a bit under her stare. "We''re compiling a book of basic information about plants," she said, "I hope you can take a look at it." "I''m sorry Miss but I¡­ " He paused, face completely red in shame. "I can''t read." Oh, right. "No problem. Find Rosalind," she said, "She will help you." It was still an ongoing project and he still had a long way to go to master reading, but it was a step forward. The half-orc looked at her with wide eyes. "I¡­ really? Will learn to read?" And then learn more about plants? "Of course. Everyone can, why not you?" If he showed enough talent, she might even teach him more. Gochi''s heart shook and he held back his tears. "Thank you!" ¡­ Back in the park. "Oslo!" Ansel said as he approached them. He was pushing the twins in their stroller towards them. He was carrying Theo in one hand, and the baby was looking quite comfortable there. The big children continued to play where they were, being adorable. Oslo couldn''t help but look at him in amusement. They actually just met yesterday, but he couldn''t help himself. "I see you''ve fathered a lot of children." The two gorgeous men cackled at the joke, and to the eyes of many girls camping around and watching them aptly¡ªthey were downright sparkling. A lot of them happened to be ''shippers'' of the Sunset Pair, and seeing them together again made them so very happy. Golden god has finally returned (bringing more with him!) and their longing to see this pair of eye candies would finally be sated! Would they hug? Would they kiss? The two halves of a pair were unaware of the fantasies that ran about them, proceeding to just introduce their families to the other. "These are my siblings, Olga, Otto, and Obi," he said, before pointing at the blonde playing with the other children. "That''s my only nephew so far." S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel greeted the adults and proceeded on introducing ''his'' own children. "That is Maya and Horus, as well as their friend Mimi, one of our lawyer''s daughter," he said, since they were looking at the children anyway, before turning to the ones he was holding. "This is Theo and this is my niece and nephew." Olga''s eyes hadn''t left the children since they approached. Her eyes stayed especially longer on cute babies in the stroller. Then, as if feeling her stare, their eyes met hers and they smiled, and Olga felt her heart was hit. Gah! Too cute! Oslo saw his sister''s fascination and wondered if she would finally agree to get married. He quite liked kids as long as they weren''t his responsibility. It was why he really liked Honda and he assumed he''d like his other nephews and nieces would be adorable as well. (He was wrong, but that was a story for much later.) Speaking of nephews, he turned his head in a direction to watch Honda, who was now blowing bubbles and giggling with the older children. The Golds smiled and felt relieved. That little boy was always very somber back home, trying to emulate his father but had the predispositions of his mother which ended up just making him miserable. Unlike his father who was genuinely unamused with people, Honda actually really liked them but was just very shy. This disconnect would eventually lead to depression, and it wasn''t something they wanted him to go through. "That child really needed to loosen up," Olga said, chuckling, though her hands were already sneakily pinching baby cheeks. "To think he''d need just a day here." "Hmn," Oslo said in agreement, subtly pulling away his sister''s hands on the babies'' cheeks (they could get inflamed if not gentle enough!), "Altera is very special." A magical territory, indeed. ¡­ On the children''s side, innocent meet-cutes really were happening. "This is nice. Are these bubbles?" Honda asked his new friends. He knew this because he once took bubble baths with his family. But they didn''t quite float like this and they weren''t so many. "Yep. We can make bigger ones!" "Ohhh!" At this Horus revealed an even larger plate and circle. "What is that?" "You don''t have to blow, you just move it like this." Horus, although younger and much smaller, took it upon himself to teach the larger boy how to use it. At this time, he just gently waved the bubble wand and a big bubble formed. "You have to be slow though, but not too slow." Honda was sparkling when the toy was handed to him. If one didn''t know what it was, they''d think he was given a real magic sword or something. Anyway, the young blonde tried it and failed a few times, but with Horus and the other kids'' patient guidance, he managed to make it in the end. It was a wonderful big bubble as big as his face, reflecting his happy face. His eyes was bright with pride and the other children clapped their hands in congratulations. "Very good," Mimi said, handing him a milk candy. It was a cute wrapped thing. "Here''s candy." Honda blinked and wondered what it was. But then he saw the other children unwrapping the outer layer to eat their respective candies and did the same. His round brown eyes went wide as the sweet touched his tongue. "Wow, delicious!" He yelled. There were sweets in the city, but they weren''t so delicious and¡­ pure tasting! His chubby cheek puffed though. "Too bad Long Ears couldn''t eat¡­" "Long ears?" Honda took his stuffed toy from his space. Maya and Mimi brightened, "WOW, so cute!" Mimi, in fact, had the exact same model, and she immediately pulled it out from her space, too. "I have similar bunny! My dad won it for me!" To be more accurate, Jun got Tom to do it for him, but he had taught Mimi that convincing people was part of one''s skills, so the credit ultimately went to him. Anyway, the children looked awed at the twin dolls, which were really just bought/won from the same store. "WOW" "WOW!" The simple happiness of the little ones made the adults around them smile. Ansel shook his head and looked at his friend, "You came back just in time! The supermarket are putting out new products! And a few other stores are opening to celebrate our 60th day of survival!" "We''ll be there, thanks." "Come on kids," "Honda will be going with his family to walk around." "Ehhh¡­" Maya pouted. "Can''t he come with us? Or can''t we come with them?" "We can guide them around!" "Yesyesyesyes!" "We know all the best foods!" "Yesyesyesyes!" Ansel''s lips twitched and he looked at the guests, "Well¡­" Oslo laughed, patting his shoulder (enticing squeals from different groups of girls stalking not too far away). "We would love you guys to accompany us!" He said, "We''ll treat all of you with all the snacks you want to eat!" Ansel laughed. "Deal!" ¡­ As they went to the supermarket, they encountered some passerbys, a lot of whom greeted them casually¡ªsomeone even patted Oslo''s shoulder loudly, and he didn''t seem to mind at all. Most of all: he looked really, really, happy. The Golds recalled their time back in Bluelle. Often times they had to watch what they said and did. It was the primary reason why they were always out on business trips. They had never really felt being in such a close-knit community before... And they felt kind of envious. Chapter 459 - 459: Golds at the Supermarket Oslo could feel his siblings'' teasing grins. Oslo cleared his throat. "Everyone here is very casual." He said, "Try to be arrogant and you won''t get anywhere." He said, looking pointedly at Obi, who sneered at him. "What are you looking at me for?" Obi asked. He was obviously very polite! Olga shook her head at the idiot little brothers, but she was quickly distracted by the shops abutting the sidewalk. They had been through a few of them, but there were just so many shops she reckoned a week wouldn''t be enough! She looked at Oslo, wondering if the place they were taking the was really all that. "Where are we going again?" She asked. She wondered if maybe¡ªmaybe¡ªthey could go look around these shops first! "The supermarket," he said, "It sells most of what I brought you." This effectively pulled the others'' attention from the shops and their pace quickened to the market street. On their way there, they saw the corner store being prepared for an opening. They knew this because there were beautiful flower arrangements being set up. Also, there was a large sign saying ''Grand Opening'', so there was that. "Oh? This is a nice location," Otto said, admiring the prime piece of real estate. Their pace slowed down a bit as they looked at the preparations, and the babies in the stroller started shifting as reached out in a direction, as if trying to reach out to the shop. "Mwamamama¡­" "Googmamaaa¡­" The babies cooed passionately from the strollers as if calling for someone. Ansel smiled, poking their chubby faces. "So you know your mama is often here, eh? Smart babies~" he paused, "Sadly, she''s not here today." "Ah," Oslo mused, suddenly remembering, "Miss Althea''s beauty shop would open later in the day, right?" S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Yep!" Ansel said, before shifting to the only woman in the group. "They sell beauty products¡ªwhether it is for smoother skin, lovely fragrances, you name it¡ªI guarantee you''ll love them!" Olga was naturally very interested in the shop and they promised her they''d pass by later during its opening in another hour. Speaking of women-friendly stores, they also had to drag Olga (and Otto) from the fascinating clothing stores on that street. They had released new designs and the twins were hell-bent on having a few copies. Anyway, after many adventures, the group eventually arrived in view of the supermarket, albeit having to stop a bit far because of the queue. New products were out today after all, and everyone wanted to make sure there were some stocks in their houses¡ªwhatever the products were! As always, opportunistic stall owners brought their products near the customers and they happily ate the finger foods while they waited. "Here, here! This is delicious!" Mimi said, putting something in Honda''s mouth. He flushed a bit, but he forgot about his shyness when he tasted a different type of sweetness. "It''s mini gouji fruit tanghulu!" Mimi said with a cute smile. "It''s delicious! "Do you like it?" She asked and the little blonde boy nodded in response. Yes, he did. ¡­ The group entered the building and the newcomers were immediately hit and fascinated by the plethora of products. It was their first time with such an arrangement and they immediately followed what the others were doing, taking their own carts and getting what they wanted. There was a new products display area up front though, so they ended up there first. Otto looked at the sign, which was written in Xenoan Universal Language, but odd alien symbols were right below it. "Soy and Peanut products?" There was someone manning the new products area, and he had a small table with leaf cups in front of him, there were also bite-sized breads with light brown jam on top of them. "Peanut products! Peanut snacks and peanut butter! Free taste~!" People loved free taste, so his yell naturally attracted even more shoppers to congregate where he was. The Golds followed curiously and took a bit. It was a curious taste, the jam was soft, but very addicting, especially when placed on a small piece of bread. The chewy snacks had a similar aftertaste and were a pleasure to eat. It also had a mixture of sweet and salty taste, an interesting combination. They all bought several sets of each. Right next to the peanut butter section was the soy section, which also had a stall for free taste. The queue was long by this time, but they patiently waited. Oslo told them many times their noble status meant nothing here (except maybe they were rich and were more attractive to merchants), so they shouldn''t expect a lot of special treatment. Anyway, they wanted new experiences, so why not do stuff like everybody else? "Soy milk, soy cheese, soy butter!" the salesman yelled and they looked at Oslo, who also shook his head because he had no idea. Ansel chuckled, though he didn''t know how to explain ''milk'' or its different kinds to them. "Just taste it later. It''s delicious and healthy for you." Not far from them, people in the queue also began to chatter. They were especially easy to listen to because most people in the line were ogling at the Golds, Ansel, or the children. They were enjoying themselves for the most part but it was getting a bit awkward since they had to stay in place to line up. The best way to take away their attention was to eavesdrop. "I hear the bloats are also producing every day," someone said. His companion gasped and looked very excited. "Really?" "They only supply Harold''s restaurant for now though¡­" Otto''s eyebrows rose and he looked at Ansel. "Bloats? That animal with barely good meat?" "Hmn," Ansel said, "You''ll see it when it becomes available, but we know how to handle the infamous white juice." "The white juice?" The Golds exclaimed a bit, surprised. Even Oslo looked at him weirdly. Altera was really creative, but was the white juice really edible? Chapter 460 - 460: New Products Ansel was unperturbed. "Sure. It''ll be sold soon, and you''ll see what you''ve been missing. The Golds looked at each other a little reluctant but decided to give the benefit of the doubt. After all, from what they''ve seen so far, Altera seemed perfectly capable of exceeding all sorts of expectations. The aborigines really couldn''t be blamed for their reluctance. To them, white juice was akin to drinking tree resin directly from tree trunks. Anyway, this wasn''t discussed anymore as it was finally their turn to taste. "Free taste for cheese! Take a bite to know what our new products are like!" The clerk said, handing them a thin bread¡ªa cracker, they called it¡ªwith a tiny cube of yellow-white thing. The gorgeous thing touched their tastebuds and it melted in their mouths. "Yum!" Honda exclaimed and the adult''s eyes were also wide, impressed. They also tasted the other products and although it wasn''t as special as the so-called cheese, they were also interesting and they bought a few sets as well. "You like that?" Ansel asked, "Well, Broat Milk Cheese is several times creamier!" The imagination alone made them gulp a bit. They also passed by the tea section and took a bit of everything. They didn''t know what some of them were but considering how the locals were sweeping everything, they must be good. Soon, they arrived at the long-awaited condiment areas and saw a dizzying array of sauces and condiments. There were signs in front so they knew what was in the vats. There were vats of salt, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, chilli, and so much more. Otto''s eyes stayed on the salt and sugar in particular. These were very important condiments that could be traded as if they were gold! And here¡­ they were so affordable! Then he remembered the residents would also get huge discounts and his urge to just register here was tickled. Olga though had a different focus. "It would be great to know how to use them all!" She said, looking dreamy. To their surprise, someone shopping (a random person with a cart, really) suddenly turned to look at them. "Hello there! I couldn''t help but overhear¡­ there is actually a way to learn, but for a price." "We''re interested!" "There''s actually there''s a cooking class that opens from 18:00 to 20:00 every day and they teach about how to use these. The price is very cheap! For foreigners, it is only 10 gold per person for a week, 3 lessons of 2 hours each!" Of course, locals could get it a little cheaper, but still expensive. Only basics would be taught. After all, everyone in Terran knew some recipes, so might as well make money off of them. However, while expensive in the Terrans'' perspective, this price was already unbelievable to the Aborigines. After all, everyone kept their knowledge to themselves in Xeno! "Really? So affordable?" "Yes!" The woman said, telling them the address of the class. They made a mental note to take a look. The random passerby then excused herself and continued with her shopping, and the Golds looked interestedly at Ansel. "So generous?" Ansel shrugged, "We don''t mind. Back in our home, most people know the basics, but the business of restaurant owners remained to be strong. The market is huge, we''re not worrying at all." They nodded. In fact, this was really smart. This meant that more food stalls or restaurants could pop up. When Altera received more Aborigines, then it could easily become one of the culinary capitals in the region! S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The party stayed on the ground floor for a bit longer and, after perusing the food aisles, they went to the upper floors to look at the non-food items. The products here were a bit different from before, though. The cloths were moved to a different fabric shop, which was opened a week prior on the new Market street. The floor was now mainly for the so-called hygiene items, and there was someone introducing the products, albeit it wasn''t needed unless there were aborigines. Either way, the items were just being swept away by Terrans, like everything else. The person brightened at the sight of obvious aborigines, and¡ªfinally with some sense of existence¡ª she friendly walked towards them and explained the products. "Welcome to the hygiene section where everything you need to clean your house, your clothes, and yourself are available!" Her name was Sisa, and she was known for her very tanned skin and perennial smile. Otto stepped forward, "Tell us more," he said with a smile, and Sisa almost melted then and there. However, she was a professional! She gathered herself quickly like re-hardened melted soap and introduced the section she was in charge of. She began by showing them a section of translucent bars of different colors and shapes. For the most part, they were plain shapes like rounded rectangles but with odd curves. "This is soap! It will clean anything! This one though is formulated to be gentle on the body, but also kill bacteria! It also smells nice!" She said, though at the back of her mind, she added ''I don''t mind becoming your soap though~'' "The shape is ergonomic design to stay in your hand and minimize slipping out~!" She then proceeded to elongate ceramic bottles with odd nozzles on top. "Shampoo is like soap, but for hair. It also smells very nice and comes in different scents! It will make your hair smoother, healthier, and smell lovely!" Then she would add in her mind ''May I also become your shampoo who comforts your scalps and tangles with your blonde locks'' "We also have detergents to clean your house, and some to clean your clothes," she said, "We also have fabric softeners to keep your clothing soft and lovely!" "This is a toothpaste, to keep your teeth healthy and white!" She didn''t know what aborigines used though. Magic? Can she ask? How do they clean their teeth? Sisa didn''t ask in the end (she was afraid the illusion of perfection would be pierced) and she just pointed at small pieces of cotton, folded into squares. "There are also sanitary napkins. The one that women wear when bleeding¡­ Very comfortable and convenient!" She didn''t know how much Aborigines bleed, but this was a superior product to Terran because Ms. Althea feared their stronger bodies would also release more. As the woman babbled, the Gold siblings listened intently, as if trying to memorize everything she said. Oslo laughed at his siblings'' silly appearances. Ah, he didn''t love Altera in vain. He could actually witness his overachieving siblings look stupid! Chapter 461 - 461: Brewing Wars (Part 1) Altera wasn''t the only Terran territory receiving Aborigines guests. It was just that, unlike Altera''s guests, these aborigines were not friendly. It was the surviving Terran territories at the border¡ªthat was, the delineation of the Protection Period¡ªthat were the first to experience this. One of these territories was Belluga Village. At this time, a group of 10 people ambled around the streets, looking down on everyone else. In fact, they had been here for a couple of hours, observing, and studying and, without exemption, they were extremely arrogant as they did so. If Oslo was here, he''d recognize these men as people he poisoned. Sadly, their stomach pains only lasted a few days. Bummer. Anyway, the men did nothing to hide their thoughts, just blurting out whatever came to mind. "Wow! So weak! Everyone are like Gugu birds here!" a man said as he looked around, looking at the civilians like ants. "Goodness, middle-aged people look like they''re not even level 10 yet!" Another one sniggered, thinking it was the funniest thing. "How did this become a level 3 village with sentries?" "They probably had money," another chuckled, "What a waste on them!" They weren''t even subtle in their comments and this naturally caused a lot of locals to give them bad looks. However, they were self-aware enough and knew not to humiliate themselves by provoking strong Aborigines either. It wasn''t like it wasn''t true¡­ "But damn¡­ the facilities are pretty impressive for a village," one said, whistling. "Isn''t there a bathhouse too? Even the boss town didn''t have one, right?" One licked his lips, "Not a bad loot." Their tone was like they already had the entire territory in the bag. This finally made several nearby men snap, and they surrounded the aborigines. With that comment, they confirmed that these men were definitely not just arrogant but also hostile. They knew they were no match, but they couldn''t do anything with such an obvious declaration! They could only glare in hopes of intimidating them. "Stop it already!" "Leave!" "We''re not as weak as you think!" Soon, there were at least twice the number of locals there than the guests. It was very intimidating. Well, in theory. In the end, how could a group of men at least 5 levels stronger even be a bit intimidated? It was like being glared at by cute kids, except they weren''t cute. Although their conditions had become much better than before they connected with Altera, they still looked small and even a bit pitiful to the eyes of the large aborigines. Grinning, two of the aborigines grabbed a nearby man and easily raised them up. "WHAT¡ª" The men struggled obviously, but their low levels rendered them useless against the strong enemies. The Bellugan regulations only automatically kicked out people who purposely injured citizens. What''s more¡ªthere was a default threshold in this world as to what counted as a true ''injury''. After all, people couldn''t get kicked out by tripping by accident or people just pushing each other to the ground, right? Anyway, there were a lot of loopholes in the current regulations and these men¡ªscouts for war¡ªknew how to take advantage. Through some minor investigations, the new aborigines figured out many of these loopholes. Belluga was not a small village, and there were plenty of skirmishes abound, especially in the poorer areas. The Aborigines very easily deduced how far they could go before getting kicked out. Not many lords could afford to add restrictions to ''attempts''. For instance, Altera, where a civilian even taking out a weapon would transfer them directly to prison. The two men were played around, dragging the locals on their hands like dolls. They were lifted, dragged, and thrown until they were red from being suffocated. However, they would survive and were not injured so the rules didn''t trigger at all. A lot of the locals had long run to their own abodes, while most remained nearby, watching their movements but far enough into safety¡ªor at least, that''s what they thought. The two men treated like dolls had felt their consciousness slip, and they truly wondered if they would actually be able to wake up. At some point, however, the torture was finally interrupted. "Stop it!" A loud feminine voice resounded, and soon Kimmy, her husbands, and a few guards¡ªa few of whom were also aborigines¡ªarrived in a relatively grand manner. They didn''t show any weakness for now, as they couldn''t, knowing the enemies were very arrogant. Kimmy looked at the aborigines on her side and they stood forward, most of which were a bit shaky. Belluga had also managed to get hired aborigines but, like Vismont, they started hiring late. This meant that their options were mostly less-than-ideal, even after so long. The strongest fighter they got was a level 9, while the rest did jobs like carpentry, cleaners, and cooks (though without the occupations). Instead of getting even the slightest bit intimidated though, the guests brightened at her appearance. The small group grinned and threw the dizzy locals to the side. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bang! Unfortunately, while painful, it still didn''t kick out the men. They must''ve tormented weaker territories like this often for them to have such perfect calibrations. No one could think more deeply about this as the hostile guests'' attentions had focused on their lord. "It''s here! The female lord! You''re prettier than I hear!" One said, another cackled. "A bit on the fat side though." "Well, she has the curves to grope." "I heard she''s experienced. My type!" A few more cackles and every word gritted on the locals'' nerves. Although their lord was often unsatisfactory, letting her be talked about like this was a shame for the entire territory! Kimmy turned red and her fist clenched. She also saw some of her husbands and guards move forward in order to deal with them, but she was still self-aware. She could see the enemy levels: They were no match. Instead, with shaking fingers, she summoned her Lord Panel, intent on kicking them out and blacklisting them. She couldn''t do it directly before because they were in such a hurry and she wanted to try to fix it diplomatically first. What if they were just arrogant but suddenly decided to launch a formal war because she kicked them out? Although Raine and the others advised her to do so, as a woman she naturally wanted to avoid war more than men did. Either way though, was useless, because they had already entered the radar of the aborigines simply because of being inside the ''fog''. War was inevitable, and it was only going to get worse. Chapter 462 - 462: Brewing Wars (Part 2) Trigger warning: Rape, Violence. Very brutal, and may even be too shocking. You''ve been warned!!! (Summary in the comments) Definitely SKIP SKIP SKIP if you want sunshine and rainbows. This IS the darkest chapter in the story, at least in terms of sexual abuse, so I hope you manage your expectations if you want to get into it. (Explanation in author''s notes) ... ____ "Oops. She''s gonna kick us out!" One said¡ªa man named Patt¡ªand the next thing they knew the man lunged to them. "WHAT!" One had to know that the speed of someone five levels higher was not something weaklings like them who had no formal training could handle. The attack was practically unavoidable. Before they knew it, the lord was pulled and thrown towards the enemies, with the person who lunged placing them all down the ground, before leisurely going back to where they were. All this happened very quickly, much faster than anyone''s reaction times. What''s more: They were in pain, but it was apparently not enough to trigger the automatic blacklisting! They had to watch as the lord was held down by three men, right in the middle of the streets. They saw red at the humiliation and they growled, ready to fight to the best they could. However, Patt took out his sword and pointed at the lord''s neck. Everyone paled, and their hearts dropped for many reasons. Even if most didn''t like the lord, her death could mean everyone else''s! Even if they survived the destruction of their territory, most of their assets were here! They could lose everything! "Stop! What are you doing!" Raine yelled, eyes completely red in anger. The man grinned, swinging the sword over the lord, and split! Her upper clothing was swiped open, revealing her plump skin inside. The men whistled, someone touching her milky skin¡ªat least compared to Aborigine women. This utter humiliation made every Bellugan red in anger. "Milord!" Kimmy screamed, tears lining up her eyes. But her legs were held by large hands, and so were her arms, now fixed above her head. At this time, all she could do was yell. "LET GO OF ME!" "Ah, ah, ah~ We''ve only been here for a while," Patt said, "We''re guests! Powerful ones! Is this how you welcome us?" "NO! LET GO!" But they naturally didn''t listen. The guests groped her everywhere¡ªin public. "LET GO OF HER!!" Raine and the others yelled and gathered themselves, standing up to attack At the very least, even if they get beaten, they could force them to attack and get kicked out! "I wouldn''t do that if I were you~" As soon as he said this, a few knives revealed one over her neck, and another over her heart. "Do you think you''re faster?" Their hearts were cold and they felt helpless. Raine, who was the next in power, heaved a deep breath and tried to cool himself down. "What do you want?!'' He asked, voice cracking, making Patt and the others grin just imagining what they wanted. "I quite like the products you have. Those sauces, those cloths, everything." "We want all of them." he said, making an imaginary cross with his feet on a spot in front of him, "Right here." "Don''t take too long¡­" The sound of more cloth ripping, going further south, made Kimmy squeal to the top of her lungs. "STOP IT!!!" "Don''t take too long or else she''ll be eating many dicks right now." The people immediately scurried to find products. Soon bottle after bottle, bolt of cloths, and other things piled up in front of them. By visual inspection, they were enough to fill the ten men''s spaces. "There," Raine said, panting from the rush, "Let our lord go." "How nice¡­" Patte said, placing some in his space, and so did the others. However, not a moment did the now-naked Kimmy go without a knife on her. "We gave you what you want!" Raine repeated, "Let her go!" "Sure," Patt said with a sly grin, "Let us have our fun first." "WHAT?" Immediately, many of the men surrounded the lord, keeping them away. Some were even tied down in the most humiliating way, and eventually, fewer people tried to get past the human barrier. Another man looked at the crowd and smiled, "We won''t kill her don''t worry," he said, "But we don''t know if the knives miss if you keep distracting us." "So no one yell either," Patt said with a huge grin, showing off his disgusting teeth. "We like only the sound of sex, you know?" Everyone froze, feeling afraid, humiliated, and just hopeless. The citizens, guards, and her own husbands could only watch as Kimmy was raped right in front of them. "Take so many husbands, shameless bitch?" Patt yelled as he opened her legs. Someone was keeping her mouth open to keep her from biting her tongue either, should she decide to do so (it wasn''t the first time a woman bit her tongue when they played with her, after all). "NOOOO! NOOOO!!" Kimmy yelled through the disgusting palm on her mouth. Her eyes lined with tears, begging. "A woman has no right to get so much power! HAHA!" Another yelled, groping her breasts. "HWELP!! NWOOOO!" Patt looked at the woman with such greed and he entered her without any foreplay. Her body arched in pain of the intrusion, and it only got worse. Patt''s eyes widened in disbelief, paused, and laughed out loud. "ORCSHIT! She''s a virgin!" "WHOA!" Another one¡ªthe man who was holding her arms¡ªexclaimed in awe. "Plot twist!" To think the woman who had many husbands would actually be untouched?! How did that work?! The man who was holding her mouth open was temporarily distracted by the surprising news, and Kimmy immediately yelled for help. "KYAA! HELP MEEE! HELP MEEE!" "Milord!!" The citizens, especially her ''husbands'' yelled. But no one could move, afraid even worse would happen. The men took turns, everyone with perverted smiles as they plundered her with force a man 5 levels higher had no business using. When they were done, they looked satisfied. More than the sex, it was the despair and hopelessness of an entire territory¡ªespecially its lord. Heh, a woman! How dare she overstep! The woman was filled with tears, no longer able to speak after screaming so much. Her citizens could only shut their eyes in despair, seeing the usually bubbly woman like this. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "YOU BASTARDS!" Raine yelled as he crawled to Kimmy and took out whatever cloth he could find in his space. He touched her tear-filled face, his own tears lining up his eyes. Kimmy''s other husbands couldn''t even look, some in despair, mostly of guilt. Patt and the others didn''t seem to care about their feelings at all, only laughing at their faces. "Heh.. you should be thanking us. We''re reminding everyone what women should be for¡­" And then they immediately attacked random people, including Raine who was nearby. Patt and the others knew they''d be kicked out anyway, so might as well kick a few people. It would also save them a walk to the gate. The level difference was no joke. A single kick before they get kicked out was enough to leave the victim half-dead. A flash later and every one was outside the walls, staring at it from the inside. "Tsk, blacklisted." They also saw some people looking over the battlements, some even throwing stuff at them. They easily avoided them of course. The men sneered. "HEH! Don''t think you can escape! You better prepare yourselves!" "Let''s go report this!" The locals could only try to throw more things in an attempt to ease their anger. They even tried to lead them towards the sentries. When they saw them moving towards the scope of the sentries, their hearts heated with excitement. SWISH~ "Oof!" The man yelled, and for a moment they thought the sentry hit an enemy! However, the man crouched down lifted his head with a smile, then waving the sentry arrow around like it was nothing. "KIDDING~!" Everyone in the battlement gasped in shock. They beat the sentries! "Hehe, do you think we''re monsters with no brains?" He said, revealing a pretty good equipment underneath his shirt. "Besides, your sentries aren''t very strong! Naive!" "Naive of you to think there''s no problem!" Level 3 sentries could easily deal with level 10 and below, and had decreasing damage as the level increased, especially with some equipment. These men were definitely well above level 10. Even if the sentries did hit, it wouldn''t have been able to kill any of them! The men enjoyed the pale faces of the locals and laughed, waving in a friendly manner. "Well, see you soon~!" Chapter 463 - 463: War Declared Another border Territory, at least one that survived the initial burst of stronger mobs, was Fargo Village. However, it had developed a good relationship with a mercenary team, Rongo Mercenary Team, which Belize co-created with a few childhood friends of his since they lived in a small town. Right now, the Rongo Mercenary Team made a home in his territory, occupying a good plot of lot he gifted as their own place. This was also a ticket to safety from Aborigine attacks, at least for a while. As one of the Terran Villages closest to many aborigine villages, Fargo had already received more than one visitor. Each one expressed their interest in doing deals with them as well. Inside the highest room in the Village Center, their lord was having a meeting with his confidantes. He looked at one of his best people¡ªSen, a tall man next to him. The man''s hair was combed and converged to a curved back, and at this time, he was the point person for the imminent takeover of Bright Village. "How''s the mole there?" he asked, and the other responded with a nod. "He has been informed and ready to move, milord." "What about the other things?" "We''re ready," he said. "Our men are now in close coordination with our¡­ partners there and we only need to declare war, milord." Fargo''s lips twitched in satisfaction and opened the Lord Panel. He raised his hand and pressed the interesting magical dust that created the image. [Would you like to declare a territory war on Bright Village (Lv3)?] A sharp glint in his eyes. Yes. ¡­ Bright Village. [Fargo Village (Lv3) has declared war on Bright Territory (Lv3). The war will begin at 13:59:50] Micheal''s jaw clenched as he saw the announcement, immediately sending an announcement to all his trusted confidantes. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He sighed, looking at them, and telling them about the news he had just received. They had varying reactions of course, most of which were worry and apprehension. "Should we announce it to the rest of the territory?" Bruno asked, already counting their own guards and formulating plans as the territory''s head of security. Micheal didn''t answer and looked at his military advisers. Not just Bruno, but also his trusted treasurer Gingo and also the aborigine Juno. "What do you think?" The two''s eyebrows furrowed, also conflicted. Micheal sighed, knowing what everyone was considering. If they announced it now¡­ it was more likely the citizens would just run to Altera, instead. This was understandable, but who''d want to give up their own territory? Not when they didn''t even know if this Fargo village was even a true threat? But Micheal thought for a moment, "It''s not right to withhold this information, however, and they will become angry when they find out we released the news late." "We need preparation though." Micheal mused, "Then I will give you 2 hours. Prepare what you could for two hours, and I will announce it." Bruno nodded. "We also need to think of good incentives so people wouldn''t think of moving away during such an important time." Micheal agreed, thinking about it. He should''ve added another clause with his alliance with the others¡ªthat they could accept refugees, but they shouldn''t accept deserters. But it was too late to open this out now. Dig''s eyebrows furrowed. As Micheal''s bodyguard from childhood, his priority had always been the lord''s safety. "Should we¡­ ask assistance from Altera?" Although it was premature, asking for more forces would only be good for everyone''s safety. This was another issue he had to think about. "It''s not that straightforward," Micheal said. "When the alliance was formed, the Alteran Elders made sure they''d never be in a loss." "To call on to them, we''d have to share half of our winnings," Micheal said with a sigh, "If we lose, we''d still have to pay them a fixed amount of gold, depending on how many forces they sent us." What Altera didn''t mention was that half of the earnings in these types of wars, win or loss, would be divided among the citizens and guards who participated in the rescue. This was why the rescue and assistance missions would all be completely voluntary, so they couldn''t promise a fixed number of forces, and thus could not guarantee that the odds would truly tilt towards them. Anyway, the allied villages couldn''t say no to their conditions. After all, they really had nothing to offer Altera except for a bigger market. Besides that, why would they help them? Why would they risk the lives of their own people without any gains? Of course, there was also a factor of pride, albeit not the major one. How could Micheal feel comfortable asking for help from Garan''s territory? Especially after he had just milked him? "What if the enemy is strong?" Juno asked, this was received with a sneer from Bruno¡ªwho had been plenty threatened by this aborigine since he was hired. "Don''t underestimate us. Not only are we superior to most of our peers, but we also have weapons still deadly to humans much stronger than we are." Juno frowned and the two glared at each other, tension between them rising. It was here that Gingo finally spoke, sighing. "Have you so little confidence in our territory?" He asked, obviously siding with Bruno. "I also checked the treasury, and we really would need more resources. The winnings of this war might just be what we need." Micheal naturally had a bias towards Bruno''s opinion, especially since they were going against a fellow Terran territory. He honestly doubted there was another Altera in their level right now, so the level difference shouldn''t be too wide. With their gun stocks, they could even be stronger. In the end, he agreed with the majority¡ªdeciding to fight this war alone, without asking for rescue that would probably not be needed anyway! It would easily be the worst mistake Micheal would ever make as the lord. Chapter 464 - 464: Another Sneak Attack Trigger warning: Rape, Violence. You''ve been warned!!! (I''m sorry, considering how these people are, it''s just not natural not to include these themes. BUT I assure you, they''ll get their punishments) .... ____ In the outskirts of Bright Territory, a group of 10 young adults traveled around along with one of the new Aborigine hires, Badjau, who they commissioned to guard them. They were training to increase their strength and skills, hoping to be as cool as the soldier group. Most young adults tended to prefer this to doing any of those jobs. After all, many youngins'' longed for adventure and a life of thrill. They were still filled with optimism characteristic of people their age, and it was really refreshing to be with for a similar-aged Aborigine like Badjau. Badjau was not very handsome, but he was quite strong. He had very curly hair and very dark skin. He seemed to be younger than others, only in his teens, though was in fact around their age at 23 years old. He was also a bit shorter compared to the other aborigines¡ªonly about average Terran height. He was also a bit disproportional with his short neck, slightly oblong build, and pudgy fingers. And he was also a level 12 spearman who liked going around half-naked. "I''ve always been wondering¡­ Badjau," one of the young men asked, holding out his sword in case of an attack. "Why do you like going around naked?" Wasn''t he concerned about lacking equipment? The man shrugged, "I dunno. It''s just how we are back home." Sera, one of the girls with them, blinked at him. Badjau was not traditionally handsome with his flat nose and not-so-prominent features, but he was a very very good spearman and he happened to have saved Sera many times during this excursion of theirs. "Tell us more about your home." It was an obvious flirtation and Badjau flinched a bit, flushed, and looking around in shyness. However, he forced himself to do his job and observed their surroundings, only speaking when he was sure that there was no enemies. "We live near the sea and we have taken our livelihoods there. Some of our houses are even in stilts." This made the young men and women look at him in wonder and nostalgia. "Sea?! I wonder if it''s near here¡­ I miss it so much." Another one rolled his eyes. This was Inigo, one of the more practical lads. "Hey, you think the sea here is as peaceful as Terran? There should be monsters here right?" Badjau nodded at this. "The lowest level sea monster I have encountered is level 10." Cringe. Their looks of admiration didn''t budge though, making the seaman even more shy. No wonder Badjau was so strong despite only being from a village and with his young age. "What about food then?" "Our main source of food is fish," Badjau answered. "I am surprised to see some in the market." "It''s from Altera," Inigo said, eyes with a bit of longing. "Altera?" "Ah, we forgot you''ve just been hired." It was Sera who answered with a smile. "It''s a place where we get a lot of our goods. It''s not actually so far, just a couple of hours away. We should go there someday. There''re a lot of fun things we can try!" "Deal!" "Deal!" Badjau smiled at them. "Yes, I''ll protect you guys." "No, we''ll be strong enough to protect ourselves by then. You.. are going with us as our friend." "There are so many fun things to do there!" Inigo said, "I heard it from Luis and the other citizens when they were visiting. A lot of new facilities got opened!" "How exciting¡­" Another girl couldn''t help but comment. "I wanna see the golden god again¡­" Another girl sighed, "Ah, how handsome¡­" At this, someone at the back cackled, poking a shy-looking girl beside him. "Lani''s saving up so she can move to Altera and see her prince." Everyone laughed at this, most of whom knowing the inside joke. When Altera first showed their presence in the territory, Ansel was there and Lani was one of his great patrons! She pretty much used up her savings to buy a bit of everything! Of course, fortunately, they were all good buys so she didn''t die of her impulsive decisions. She even made money by reselling. Badjau looked at the others with a smile, curious. "Prince?" "Prince Ansel~" "Oh, you know of a prince?" "Well, not a noble prince, but he''s as close as it could go." Badjau was very confused. The jeering continued until the shy Lani couldn''t take it anymore. "He smiled at me!" "Yeah, cuz you bought everything he sold." Laughter erupted again. Badjau couldn''t help but laugh with them. He had never been like this with his other peers. After all, everyone was focused on surviving¡­ It''s nice. However, he stopped as he felt some droplets fall down. He frowned, lifting his hand and catching a droplet on his palm. "It''s raining¡­" he said, voice low. He didn''t know why, but it felt like a bad omen. "What!" Inigo and the others cursed. Some who had money took out their raincoats, while others could only take some big leaf to cover themselves. "Oh, mann!" Immediately, they rushed back to the territory. The aborigines had told them of the effects of rain. Colds and flus were, unsurprisingly, not common here, however, the rain was a part of the cleansing of this world. Everyone''s health gets consumed much faster and recovered much slower during this time. The thinner, more absorbent, the skin, the bigger the effect of rain, and for this they naturally could not compare to beasts. There was no advantage of fighting in the rain, especially against monsters with thick skin! They ran back with Badjau having his weapon out to protect his watches from beasts as they came. It was just that the beasts they encountered this time weren''t something he could handle. BANG! They gasped and screamed and watched as Inigo fall down, blood pouring out of his chest. It took a beat to realize what happened, and the lad''s closest friends yelled at the top of their lungs. "INIGO!" "WHAT THE F¡ª INIGO! OI!" However, they couldn''t approach their friend''s body as more bullets went in their direction. Hitting and grazing a few people. BANG! BANG! "What? It''s really a gun?!" They screamed, immediately scuttling about to find some cover. Some of them ran as far as they could, while most did not dare, knowing if the guns didn''t take them, beasts would. Badjau''s ears still rang as his cheek bled, the bullet just grazing him. He looked around, his watches were now segregated and much harder to protect. However, he did go away from the scene, skillfully hiding in one of the bushes. Fortunately, the gunshots stopped, and soon the footsteps got nearer and nearer. They could also hear their discussions. "Wow, you''re right. This is pretty amazing." One of the men said. Judging by his height and features, he was an aborigine. "There''s more where that came from." They stopped right by Inigo''s bloody body. "So one of those three shots hit someone, eh?" "Hm, as expected of an expert archer. You got the hang of it quite easily." "Anyway, our lord is so smart, to start hunting prey so early. At least if we''re outside the territory, we won''t be triggering any punishments¡­" Inigo gasped and caught the attention of the men. "Still alive, eh?" One of the men took out his spear. "We don''t want to waste bullets," he said, stabbing and finally ending his life. This caused a lot of gasps and screams and the men grinned. It wasn''t that they didn''t know there were people hiding around, but why put so much effort when they could show themselves with a single move? The man immediately pointed his gun in a direction. Badjau''s eyebrows furrowed. "RUN! They''re enemies going to war with us!" He yelled, having experienced a number of wars himself. "War?!" Sera exclaimed. "How come we didn''t¡ª" And, as if on cue¡ª [Your Village Bright Village (Lv3) will go to war with Fargo Village (Lv3) in 11:59:50 hours] BANG! Badjau felt a sharp pain and fell down among the bushes. "No, Badjau!" He could hear their yells, and he felt the pain cloud his senses. "Sorry! We''re so sorry!" He could hear some people tell, running away. They did run for their lives, of course they did, and Badjau didn''t blame them because he''d have done the same. However, it was still too late and they weren''t able to run. In fact, even Sera, who had been one of the people who ran away early, had been caught. They were already dragging the captured young men and women back to the small clearing. A lot of them cried, outwardly sobbing when they saw Inigo''s body. "We got them!" S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Kyaaa! Noo!" "Lani?!" "HELP!" "Sera!!" The men were killed one by one, the corpses thrown in with Inigo''s body. The women sobbed harder, losing hope. An aborigine held Lani''s face and his face immediately filled with lust. "Wow, your women are beautiful!" The aborigine exclaimed and the Fargo man laughed in pride. "Of course!" The next thing that was heard were ripped clothes and screams. Badjau, weakening and unable to move, could only listen to the screams of his friends, losing their lives one by one. Even after everything he had been through, he couldn''t do anything at all. And he could only lose consciousness in despair. Chapter 465 - 465: Beauty Shop In very, very, stark contrast with the world outside, Altera was doused in a happy atmosphere. Other territories were on the verge of war, and Altera was celebrating the opening of a beauty shop, which was now filled with women of all shapes and sizes. Other women were suffering, while the others were here leisurely enjoying themselves. The women of Altera¡­ were also significantly stronger than the peers who came with them. They had higher average levels and stronger mentalities. The difference was not just luck, but also in strength. This was Althea''s beauty shop¡ªWittBeauty. It finally opened at noon of that day and scores of women poured in. In fact, early that morning, there was already a queue which showed just how much awaited the store opening was. Waves of awe followed as everyone either marvelled at the place itself or the products, or both. The shop was a combination of three modules at 360 square meters per floor. The concourse was wide and well decorated with plenty of chatting spaces. There were also display areas with wide spaces around for maximum observation and¡ªof course¡ªchatter. The beauty shop used the model called ''experiential retail'', an approach that focused on creating an engaging and interactive environment for customers, encouraging them to spend more time in the store, and ultimately make a lot more purchases than they planned. The shop''s interior had an interesting and aesthetic handling of wood, stone, and plants. It was like a mini, more luxurious version, of Altera Village itself. There was also a mix of various indoor plants, Terran and local, and the combination was unlike anything they experienced. There were clusters of vibrant potted plants, hanging vines, and botanical arrangements that created pockets of life and color inside the building. The building was also dotted with a lot of fenestrations covered in transluscent material, allowing a lot of natural lighting inside. Walking along the concourse, one would also see wooden shelves displaying a dazzling array of beauty products. They weren''t massive as it would take away from the naturalness of the space, but rather at a good height just below eye level. Displayed here were beauty soaps and washes, masks, creams, perfumes, essences, and others. There were also comfortable sofas and cushions girls could chat in. On the second floor, there was also a more exclusive lounge for future VIP customers. Here, they could also order some tea as they chat and snacks. There was also a natural delicate fragrance all around as if embracing them, relaxing anyone who stayed inside. It was sublime. "Wow, this is amazing!" "This is like the spa¡ªno, it promises us to bring home a spa!" "Kyaaa~" The girls naturally went crazy for it, and the shopping spree began. The Terran women who knew which was which and immediately prepared their wallets. The aborigines though still needed some moment to adjust. Cassandra and Veronica were fascinated. No, that was an understatement! There were so many unfamiliar products too. However, since there were so many women and the staff seemed to have their hands full, they decided to just observe for now. Soon, they followed a small crowd to a corner. They saw that there was a wall of reflective surface there, and a lot of women squealed, turning around to look. "Do we finally have mirrors?" They said, another quickly answered after touching the surface. "They''re not, they''re just polished metal." "Good enough!" the woman said, "It''s still better than not seeing how you looked at all!" The girls nodded, and so did Cassandra and the others. They did have something similar as nobles, and they''re incredibly impressed there was such a huge ''mirror'' here, accessible to everyone. Metal, and such large sheet, and such a quality sheen and reflectiveness, was definitely not cheap. "Ladies~" A voice sounded not far from them and there was a uniformed lady holding some hand tools the aborigines weren''t familiar with. "I''m going to introduce our make-up line, who wants to volunteer?" This caused a few squeals as the girls raised their hands. The salesperson flinched, "Please girls, we''re ladies here, I will only choose behaved ladies." The small crowd calmed down and many except the two of them raised their hands. Naturally, they weren''t chosen. The one with the most eager face was. It was an acquaintance, too. It was Lulu, their guide. "Oh my, isn''t this Ms. Lulu?" The salesperson¡ªa thirty-year-old woman named Jenna¡ªsmiled as he led the young woman to the seat. It was a turning seat made of wood, another masterpiece from Baron''s team. Jenna had worked at a family salon before. Although her team had started a formal salon along the Market Street, when she saw the opening in Ms. Althea''s shop, she naturally jumped at it. Anyway, her team was skilled enough and Ms. Althea''s benefits were just too awesome! For instance, she would get a complete set every month! The rationale was that salesladies ought to know how to use the products and what their effects were. Their own appearances must also reflect the goodness of the products. Miss Althea was obviously very confident in her products, and rightfully so! And considering how much these were sold, how much money was that!? It was like a monthly bonus! Anyway, in front of everyone, Jenna did her magic. Of course, as a proper salesperson, she didn''t forget to do a bit of storytelling to entice everyone''s sense of wonder. "First we will use cleanser and hydrating serum!" She said and spoke of the various benefits and instructions of use. This shop had redirected the pipes so there was also a face washing area nearby. "Then, we will dive into the world of color!" Jenna put on the Wiitbeauty special foundation fit for the girl''s skin tone and type¡ªsomething much less sensitive now with their current physiques and Ms. Althea''s prowess¡ªbefore beginning with her painting. When she was done, there were awed gasps all around. Lulu was adorable before, but now she was transformed into a big beauty with red lips and her features made prominent. Well, it was still her, but she became so beautiful! "Ms. Lulu! Your boyfriend might just propose!" The girl blushed, "Then he better find me a good gem!" Everyone laughed. Cassandra and Veronica loved it. So much. They already went ahead and bought a set (okay, a few sets), and Jenna helped them find their specific color. Cassandra had a fairer physique while Veronica''s was pale, so their makeup had differences. Jenna kindly gave some tips and tricks for using their makeup which the girls dutifully noted. After getting a couple more tips, the girls finally moved on to the next section: The Perfumes. Like everywhere else, this was a section of sensory delights. The perfume section was designed as a sort of alcove surrounding one of the columns. There were several tiers of bottles with samplers, and they just needed to ask the saleslady for the actual copy, should they wish to buy one. There was also special ambient lighting around, adding to the atmosphere, and making people think they entered another world. The women looked in admiration, even the shimmering bottles. "Wow, even if it''s just ceramic they made it shimmer like glass." "Our business teams are amazing¡­" Obviously, as this section was surrounded, many women were trying out the samples as well. This infused the air with a variety of lovely blends of floral, citrusy, and woody aromas. Both women chose a random bottle to test, pulling out the large stick from the bottle partially protected by some sort of fabric or material. It happened that a salesperson found herself there, as they had been given instruction to take care of the aborigines¡ªwho were very rich and were bound to bring them a huge market. Also, they didn''t know enough about the products so they ought to be guided very well. Cassandra inhaled hers and was surrounded by a sophisticated scent, and the saleslady immediately explained what it was. "That is our perrywood¡ªan alternative to Sandalwood¡ªand vanilla. It is sophisticated and relaxing." Veronica sniffed hers with her eyes shut. "Ah~ how nice¡­" "It''s a symphony of exotic spices and velvety musk," the sales lady said, and Veronica opened her eyes with a new sparkle. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "These are so lovely," she said, "I wonder if Brandon would like this." Then they went to test a few more and Cassandra found one she particularly liked. She didn''t recognize the scent but it was sexy and relaxing. "Gill would love this smell on you!" It was Veronica and her thinking-out-loud attribute. Their eyes met and the pink-haired woman immediately sent a teasing smile. "Imagine, Gill leaning down and smelling¡ª" Cassandra blushed, covering the other woman''s mouth. "Veronica!!" Veronica giggled a bit but froze when she saw someone approach Juni''s other side. Then a voice next to them hummed. "Yes, this is the fragrance that Gill likes¡­" They turn to see a beautiful woman, smiling with an unfathomable expression. Cassandra''s coquettish blush subsided and she nodded at the other politely. "Juni." "Cassandra." All of a sudden, the atmosphere on this side of the shop turned just a bit more¡­ electric. Chapter 466 - 466: Rivals in Love "How nice of you to give advice," Cassandra quipped as soon as she gathered herself. Juni''s face didn''t change, "Of course. I want Gill to be happy, you see." Cassandra''s lips pursed. As a tomboy who avoided women drama by running away in parties and hiding someplace filled with peace and quiet, she was not equipped for verbal fights like this. But she pursed her lips and her rare violet orbs meeting the other''s. "Gill is mine to make happy, you don''t have to worry about that." Juni''s face didn''t change, in contrast, she even smiled a bit. She walked over and looked at Cassandra. Cassandra was taller physically but she felt a bit smaller than Juni at this time. "We''re not sure how long he will be happy, right?" She said, "After all, you two came from different worlds. Do you know of a couple who had done well?" Of course not! How many times do transfers happened? But it was enough to cast doubt on Cassandra. Just a little. But Orcshit¡ªshe wouldn''t let it get to her! "Well, it''ll definitely be exciting. There''s a reason Gill chose me, even if we are from different worlds." "..." "..." Veronica watched the two with complicated expressions. She couldn''t help but remember the short but happy times in the spa. Their friendship was real and it was so much fun! She had very, very few friends (only Cassandra) because of her reputation. She was so happy to have found another one here, and was similarly heartbroken when she was lost. She felt sad. She really, really, wanted them to be friends again. Then, her mind churned and her eyes brightened at a bright idea. It was so ''bright'', her pink eyes sparkled in pride as if she was a genius who had just thought of the most ingenious idea! "Hey, you two, listen to me," she said, and the two turned their heads to look at her. She cleared her throat with a smile, "Can''t you two just share?" "WHAT?" The two exclaimed and although they weren''t screams, they were a lot more high-pitched than their usual tone and it shocked Veronica. The pink-haired girl immediately raised her hands in surrender. "I''m sorry." Juni looked at her with crossed arms, "Unlike in this world, we don''t share our men here." Cassandra''s eyes shook and she also crossed her arms. "What made you think I''ll share Gill with you?" Silence and some imaginary electric sparks exchange between the two women. They didn''t even notice the small crowd of onlookers, very happy to be there for the gossip. It was at this moment that the Golds entered the store. They were a little surprised by the atmosphere and their eyes zoned in on unusually colorful hairstyles in an area. The siblings watched the tense atmosphere with interest, particularly when they saw familiar faces. It was Cassandra, staring down at another equally-gorgeous woman. They didn''t know who the other was, but she really matched against the beautiful Cassandra. The atmosphere didn''t last as the other woman soon excused herself, buying the basketful of items she had been holding. Just like that, she left gracefully, as if nothing inside bothered her at all. "Are you going to take it?" Veronica asked Cassandra, seeing that she had been holding onto the special earthenware bottles a bit tightly. A bit more and she could damage it. "No," Cassandra said after a while, putting it back. She turned and their eyes widened at the acquaintances. "Olga?" Olga crossed her arms and looked at the younger woman. Although they were a decade apart in age, and living in different places, they were easily in the same generation with their lifespans. Cassandra''s Town was Bluelle''s subordinate town so she was often in their city growing up. Cassandra''s parents wanted her to hook up with the more esteemed city nobles and while she didn''t put much work into that, fate still brought her to the Golds. Instead of boys though, she admired the fiery Olga much more. She often followed her around since she was a child. It was how she ended up befriending the profilgate brother Oslo in the first place. The two women were genuinely happy to meet. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It took a while but Cassandra did notice the other of the Gold siblings. They raised their hands in greeting and then resumed to observe the surroundings. Unlike the women though, their reaction was milder and even a little scared at the borderline-rabid women who were way too excited when they looked at bottles. And those stuff¡­ weren''t cheap! The women here seemed to be so rich they could throw their money on face paint? They knew for sure Olga would stay here a while and they were already antsy with impatience. Olga saw this and rolled her eyes. "No one''s forcing you to enter!" As an only (legitimate) child, Cassandra had always been envious of those with siblings. Olga was definitely the big sister she yearned for. In retrospect, she probably tried dating Oslo so she could legitimately call Olga her sister. But the encounter from before was still fresh, and she couldn''t mutter her usual enthusiasm. Olga could see the usually-strong woman shaken and she smiled, distracting her. "Guide me?" Cassandra nodded and the two separated from the men. As for the men, though curious about the feminine wiles (well, not really), they were more curious about plenty of other things outside. "Wanna go to the gambling building?" Ansel asked, Oslo nodded, and every other man in their party brightened. Of course, if Garan knew Ansel was bringing the babies into a gambling house, he''d definitely throw him back to the barracks. However, this wasn''t something Ansel thought about at this time. First, he was really excited to guide his new friends. Second, the gambling houses in Altera were naturally not like those of Terran. And so, the men and boy separated from Olga, planning on meeting up with her in the inn, and having their own little adventure. Chapter 467 - 467: New VIP Members Veronica also excused herself and left the two alone. Her Brandon''s rounds were around this time so she''ll go see him. She would also be wearing her perfume and maybe even get her makeup done! Anyway, back to the two girls, they continued perusing the shop, smiling at the salespeople and locals who greeted them. It was all very friendly. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Olga looked around at the beautifully designed shop. The color choices were soft and wonderful, and their combination was harmonious. She wondered how they got the pigments¡­ In the city, there were naturally a lot of colors, with a few expensive ones like blue and violet. Such soft colors though¡­ except for the pink one, perhaps, wasn''t very common. She had also seen a lot of dresses with the color before, though they were being rushed so she wasn''t able to find out more. "They call them pastel colors," Cassandra said, obviously fascinated with the same thing before. "They''re very pretty and there are various combinations I couldn''t have thought of before." Olga agreed, taking note to find out more about the pigments, or at least procure more variety of fabrics. A uniformed lady¡ªthe uniform was also lovely, by the way¡ªapproached them to be a guide. The duo soon followed her for a more in-depth explanation of each item, their hearts moved by each one. The first was the most basic, the soap. Different from the ''standard soap'' sold in the supermarket, this was not only benign to the female skin, it will also soften it and make it smoother after some time of use. They bought several packs each. There were also skincare items like masks, which the girl taught them how to use. They also bought several packages. There were also the fragrant essential oils and perfumes that softened their legs. Soon, they went to the makeup section and demoed how to use each one. This time they tried it themselves. There were blushes, powders, and lipsticks and they truly enhanced anyone''s stubborn quality. The lissom women looked fascinated as they looked at each other, and then to the reflective surface to see themselves. They looked so beautiful! "Amazing. You two were already so beautiful, but now you are bonafide goddesses!" The makeup artists said, genuinely complimenting them. The two women giggled, blushing a bit in shyness. "This is also amazing," Olga said, touching the surface a bit. She only had a handheld one, as did the other noble ladies. Such a big one was really nice as they would be able to see their entire bodies. It wasn''t that no one tried to do so, but it was difficult to make such a reflective and smooth metal "This is nothing to mirrors¡­" "Mirrors?" "A thing from home," she said, "It is completely reflective and produces a much, much, more accurate image." The women looked at each other, nodding. Another interesting thing, and they had a feeling it would be appearing in Altera within a few years at most. Soon, the duo moved on from that section, passing by all the others, and buying several copies for themselves. They also considered buying a lot to gift and sell, however, they found out it wasn''t that easy. "I heard there''s a limit to the quantity we could buy." "There is a purchase limit, but you can sign a deal with the owners of these shops to get more quantity. The price was the same, however." "Most of the stores had some sort of deal with the manufacturers, though I''m not privy to them." "That''s perfectly fine." Around this time, a different-uniformed salesperson arrived next to them. She had been busy with the rest of the shop¡ªthey couldn''t abandon them just to focus on the aborigines, right?¡ªand now she finally settled everything enough so she could handle the women herself. Too bad the pink one had gone, but oh well. "Hello, Guests!" She said, "We are happy to announce that we have a VIP card open! It''s valid for one year! If you can give out 50 gold you can get a Village-Level Card and 100 gold for a Town-level card!" They thought long and hard about what to name the tiers. There were plenty of local gemstones, but none of them were familiar to Terrans nor could they absorb their value. In the end, they decided to use something everyone could recognize: Territory levels. "This membership fee will allow you to receive specialized sets perfect for your own use every month. Town-level would even allow you to customize your own perfume, and will also receive discounts at the spa!" "If you are interested, please come to the second floor with me," she paused and looked around, knowing a lot of other women were interested and very much eavesdropping on them. "Everyone who is willing to enter the program, please come with me." The women would naturally not disagree. Curious, they followed the woman towards the nice stairs with a pastel-colored rug. If the ground floor was lovely, then the second floor was even more special. The decorations were intricate, the cushions were soft and smooth, and there were live flowers hanging on the walls. She didn''t even know plants could grow vertically without wood elementalists. They ended up on a rest nook with beautiful red flowers, and Olga couldn''t help but touch it. They settled themselves into one of the comfy couches as they waited for the others to climb up. Olga couldn''t help but look at the younger woman. At this time, Cassandra was silent and just staring at the plants, though her palm was touching the cushion softly. Cassandra was reminded of the nice couches in the spa, where the three of them¡ªshe, Veronica, and Juni¡ªhang out for a long time. "Who''s that woman?" "A former friend." "Oh?" "She was the former lover of my man," she said, "And she wants him back." "Oh." "But I won''t lose to her. Not ever." Olga smiled, patting the younger girl''s head. "Yes, I believe you." Cassandra blushed. "Geez¡­" she mumbled, then looked at Olga. "I didn''t expect to see you here." "Oslo seduced us with the food." Cassandra laughed and Olga smiled. "How long have you been here?'' "...a few weeks." This surprised Olga a bit. "You stayed here for quite a while. Do you think they''d be worried?" "I''m a grown woman!" she said, "I can stay here for as long as I want!" She really can''t bear to go, not until she secured everything and completely felt her freedom. Also, how could she leave when there''s another woman eyeing her man? As a woman of this world, her expectations of men¡­ were low. She didn''t believe that Gill would remain loyal to her if he was seduced by such a beauty, especially not one he had once held feelings for. At her cuteness, Olga laughed. "Well, I''ll accompany you." Chapter 468 - 468: Terran Mercenary Team Ferrol Branch Ferrol Town Jonathan was indeed very worried. How long has it been? If Cassandra didn''t send a servant to bring things back to him, it was estimated he''d hunt for her himself, lest her parents pester him for her location. It would''ve been fine if they were pestering him out of genuine concern, but based on the posts he had been receiving, they were just looking for her to make her do something for them! Because of this, he was in a very bad place, stuck in the middle of two parties. He was a lord, for elves'' sake! The only reason he was even doing this was that he was kind-hearted and he actually liked his cousin. Besides, she sent him a carriage full of good bribes, so his annoyance was somewhat mitigated. He looked to the side of his room filled with boxes and boxes of the bribes and he smiled. They seemed to be products from the Terran Mercenary Team, but there was a lot more variety. He knew very well about the purchase limit of the team (as someone who maximized it every time they sold something), and this was decidedly much larger than that amount. His hand ended on the bolts of cloth and he admired it, rubbing it between his fingers. It naturally couldn''t compare to the luxury cloths he managed to get as a Town Lord, but these seemed practical and comfortable and, from what he heard, very affordable. Unless it was handled by a professional seamstress, the attires made from cheap and expensive fabric were minimally different¡ªat least, the gap was not nearly as wide as their prices. At this time, except for the cheaper varieties, the massive cost of cloth was not proportional to the merits. This would definitely revolutionize the clothing market targeted at commonfolks¡ªwhich comprised much of the market. He then looked at the other products, specifically at the jars after jars of sauces. They even came with instructions, to ensure they''d be used to enhance food effectively. Jonathan turned to the messenger, one of the men who guarded Cassandra during the trip. "Where did you say these things came from?" He asked, perusing the items again. "Altera Village, sir. It is about a day of travel from here by carriage." "How was it there?" The person paused, reluctant to speak, and Jonathan''s eyebrows rose. "You can be honest," he said, leisurely resting his chin on his knuckles. The guard thought for a moment and said, "Very good, milord." "How good?" Jonathan continued to push. "The best place I''ve been to." He flinched and so did the guard, immediately regretting his slip-up. Jonathan was no dictator¡ªon the contrary, he was very kind¡ªbut which lord would want to hear his subject praise another to the skies? "What?" He asked, "Are we talking about a village here?" The guard nodded slowly. "Stop being scared," Jonathan said directly, "Just tell me more." The guard saw that their lord really didn''t seem to mind, he nodded and told him what he saw. "It is very small, of course, but there are many interesting things. The miss had yet to explore everything until now, and there are also many novel products. They¡­ are fascinating and innovative." Jonathan nodded. He ought to visit that cousin of his to ''check up'' on her, naturally as a concerned cousin. "Does this place have something to do with our Terran Mercenary Team?" The Messenger nodded. "Yes sir, that is their home base." He paused, "The land they have here is bigger though, milord." "However, I did hear they''re treating Ferrol as¡­ their branch." "Ferrol is just a branch to them now?" He chuckled and the Messenger felt a little scared. "I want to visit them now!" ___ Terran Mercenary Team Ferrol Branch At this time, a batch of Terrans had just returned from a hunting session outside. This included the copper-skinned uncle-nephew pair, who couldn''t help but look around at the well-developed base, even if they had been there for over a day. Of course, this had a lot to do with them being dead tired when they arrived, but seeing it now in a leisurely pace felt different. The facilities were relatively complete and the training grounds were amazing. There were even gardens with gazebos, and they had a feeling they knew who it was built for. It had to be said: That couple was really not normal. The Terran Mercenary Team also made a business by converting this branch in Ferrol not just to be a branch of the team, but of the entire Altera territory. They created more dormitories for Alteran citizens who wished to train and/or visit a town. They also had a civilian caravan with them, selling things along with the team. The civilians only needed to be concessionaires in the Terran Mercenary Team shop, for a very affordable price. So far, it looked to be quite profitable for all parties, and they could see this system becoming bigger and bigger in the future. For one, this first batch of merchants had gotten very rich. They had also received a lot of questions about the source, obviously appreciating the products the more they used them. The Alterans were asked to just go with the flow regarding this, so they had always been honest when asked, telling the approximate direction and distance of Altera by the way. This would lead more rich aborigines to their village and maybe invite strong ones to settle. There were also plenty of advantages to Ferrol, despite the risk of competition. If Altera rose and more and more people traveled to it, Ferrol Town, as the nearest town, would also get boosted. In turn, it was estimated that the Ferrol economy would also boost. Combined with the friendly relations between the administrations of both, Ferrol Town could develop into one of their backers. This was something for the future. At this time, a certain uncle-nephew duo was just admiring the amenities. "To think they built something like this in a couple of months all by themselves¡­" Hugo said, absent-mindedly touching a shrub. It was trimmed and maintained. His nephew agreed very much. "They''re really something else, especially Ms. Althea''s husband." "She naturally deserved the best," Hugo said, looking melancholic. Helios pursed his lips, feeling sad for his uncle. "We have a longer life here, uncle, you''ll find your soul mate." Hugo''s eyes twitched. "Stop spouting nonsense." Helios sighed and didn''t hear him, "It''s so sad. You were finally moved after reaching that ripe age of yours, but she turned out to be happily married with cute children." Helios paused at the image of the twins, still wondering if he was more Team Spice or Team Munchkin. Both babies have their special charm, so he decided to be part of both fangroups. "Ah, such cute, angelic, children¡ª" He was unable to continue because his uncle dragged him to the sparring arena for some ''training''. Half an hour later, the younger one was lying on the floor, beat up and panting. However, Helios was naturally not reconciled. He glared at his uncle who was coolly walking away. "Stop venting on me!" He yelled. "At least I got laid!" Hugo''s jaw clenched as he turned to his idiot nephew. "You got raped! That is nothing to be proud of!" "It''s not rape if it''s by a beautiful woman!" he retorted with passion. "Even if her level was higher, I''m still a man with fighting experience! I could''ve fought that if I wanted to!" Hugo shook his head, knowing there was no talking sense with this guy. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Helios though stayed on the ground and stared at the clear bright skies, thinking of that fateful night a few days ago. Chapter 469 - 469: Helios’ Adventure into getting Laid They arrived when the Ferrol Annual Market Fair was already over, but there were still plenty of territories that stayed. For the civilians, this meant an even bigger market than expected, for the guards, it meant more parties to investigate. They had been tasked to go on rotation to investigate these territories, as they had higher chances of going after the Terran territories than others. For their team, half would always remain in the town to roam around and investigate and monitor the happenings. When it happened, Helios was making his rounds after dark. Ferrol Town was a rich town. While it didn''t buy a lighthouse, there was still a relatively high number of street lights, especially in the main parts of the town. Because of this, there were areas that had decent activity. Helios was, unfortunately, not assigned to these places. He pulled the short stick and was assigned to the less dense areas with minimal lighting. Fortunately, it was nothing Helios couldn''t handle. Helios and Hugo actually came from a line of modern mercenaries. Unlike most though, they (mostly) worked within the confines of the law. Back then, they were often thrown into the dark forest as training. This was really nothing. He looked around to find any suspicious activities. While the rules forbid him from entering inside the buildings, he could still record who met who, where this and that went, et cetera. Sometime in the middle of the night though, he heard of a subtle commotion. His eyebrows rose as he immediately went in that direction, jumping from roof to roof until he finally got to the source of the noise. There, he saw a woman being dragged, inebriated with something, and his heroic side couldn''t help but want to help. Helios took out one of his knives from space, throwing it to the beast with accuracy, hitting it right in the eye. ROAR! It roared, jumping up due to the pain of the sting. It didn''t really embed deeply, but it definitely shocked it. Its roar successfully distracted everyone, and the tanned man took full advantage of it. Next, Helios sent another knife to one of the men and he had no choice but to let the girl go. "AH!" "What?" His companion asked, but immediately yelled when he was also stabbed. "AH! WHO?!" They weren''t able to pursue it though because the beast had already gone berserk. It wasn''t even in that much pain, but this reaction was a testament to the quality of the monster and the quality of its taming. Helios took advantage of the dark. Wearing dark-colored clothing every guard had, he jumped down to ground level to carry the woman. He pulled her in, covering her sufficiently in its cover. He sprinted for a few seconds until they were sufficiently far, carrying her to the nearest inn. He paid for the room and carried her upstairs. He was planning to leave her there to let her pass the night on her own. However, when he laid her there, he couldn''t help but stare. He ended up hovering above her, quite inappropriately, though he didn''t really notice this for now as his attention was fixed on the woman underneath him. She was very beautiful. She had a pretty face, and pale skin¡ªvery smooth compared to other Aborigine women¡ªand she had lustrous sand-colored hair that reflected shimmeringly in the little light they had. Her face was completely flushed and she was squirming, her eyebrows were furrowed as if she was in pain. "Hot¡­" she mumbled, pushing out the robe, trying to open up her dress. Helios immediately looked away, knowing the girl was doused with aphrodisiac of sorts. Then he felt mad when he remembered how he found her. His body felt hot in anger when he imagined whatever those men were trying to do to her. Scum! However, he wasn''t able to dwell on his anger as he was pulled down the bed. The next thing he knew, he was lying upwards and staring at the beautiful woman who straddled him on the stomach. Her pale hand touched his face, contrasting with his tanned skin. He gulped and held her cheek. However, he knew she was on something and he couldn''t do anything to her in good conscience. He pursed his lips as she caressed his cheek, her hand slowly crawling to his neck and to his clothed chest. He gulped and held her waist, aiming to get her off of him so he could actually think of a proper way to help her. "No!" She yelled and he realized he couldn''t move at all! "..." He was not even a level 10. This girl had to be at least 5 levels higher than him. However, despite this, it wasn''t impossible for him to push her out if he used enough strength and technique. However, when she rubbed herself on his hardening heat, over and over, Helios found his self-control (and self-respect, for that matter) shattered. She just rubbed on him, her face flushed in lust and need, "hot¡­" she mumbled, "Help me." It was the last straw that broke his control and he immediately pulled her over to meet her lips. He groped her breast and lifted her clothing, taking them off bit by bit while he was taking her to a higher realm with his lips. "Ohh~" She mewled and soon they were both completely naked. Helios was already gasping in tension. His tanned hand groped all over her supple body as she lined her slit against his shaft. Then she sat down without warning, and their bodies arched as they felt each other''s heat. She cried a bit, and he felt a barrier broken, but she kept riding him like no tomorrow. It went wilder when the pain subsided and it had become mostly pleasure. That was just the start of a passion-filled night between strangers, and Helios was finally enlightened about the wanders of sex. Like his uncle, he was very very choosy, and this was also his first time doing the deed all the way. However, he knew that this was easily the best night of his life. Sadly, when he woke up, she was gone, and he wouldn''t see her again for a long time. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 470 - 470: Mercenary Co-Op Shop Ferrol Town While some were busy training, and some were busy dreaming about a one-night stand, a lot of the others were basically on vacation mode after earning so much money. It was early in the day but they had sold out already. At this time, they were just counting money! The arrangement was like some sort of Co-op shop located in the Terran Mercenary Team''s commercial area, except the mercenary team has the final say should there be disagreements between the ''members''. This was located on the ground floor rooms abutting the streets. Basically, it was like a shophouse located on their own grounds, but accessible to guests. The whole commercial area was around 300 square meters which could accommodate a few small shops. It was on a first-come-first-serve basis, and they limited the slots for the civilian caravans to avoid conflicts. However, based on the turnover, it seemed they could add a few more citizens on the next trip, so they could sell in batches or when the first batch sold out. The renovation had actually just been completed a few days before their arrival, and they had the honor of being the first ''shop owners''. And it was an ''honor'' indeed! Bull was among these people and he counted his earnings (for the nth time that day) with a smile. Combined with the profits from his boat business back home, he was really rich! He ought to propose soon! His Lulu was so nice and pretty, who knew who would sweep her away if he didn''t tie her down! While he was daydreaming, the others had also begun to pack up, and a few of them were dealing with the bitter aborigines who had missed the last stock. "We will come back for sure. Well, maybe not us, but our brethren!" Nina said with a smile. Her smile faltered when she saw a little boy among them, looking very disappointed. "No more toys?" A little boy mumbled, looking at his dad who was shaking his head. Nina blinked and took a toy house from her space. "Here," she said, handing him a detachable wooden toy from her space. It was a 3D puzzle toy where pieces would slide together to build a simple house with a hip roof and a chimney. She, a first-year architecture student, made the model herself. It was not for sale and something she just made as a hobby, but who knew it''d be useful? "How much is it?" The boy''s father asked. He was wearing typical commoner clothes with rough fabric, and then she looked at the young boy who also had simple clothes, but obviously new ones. She wanted to say it was a gift, but she knew men liked a sense of accomplishment. "It''s an experimental product, so I''m asking 1 silver." "Just 1 silver?" The man and the others looked surprised. They also wanted one, but they knew there was no more. She nodded. "You have to tell me how it is after though. Customer feedback." The man blinked while the young child happily took the toy. He watched as Nina taught the boy how to detach and reattach it, fascinating him. The boy''s eyes were wide and cheeks flushed in happiness. The father''s eyes teared up a bit. "It''s¡­ it''s his birthday today," he said, "We are celebrating for the first time. Thank you for making it a happy memory for him." ¡­ For a while, the citizens were busy comforting the future customers. This was especially true for the Terran Mercenary Team members who were acquainted with a few people. Turbo and Jake sighed and looked at each other, elbowing the other to go to the girl who had been looking around shyly. "You go tell her." "No, you do it." Somehow Turbo was the one pushed forward. He approached the Aborigine girl and cleared his throat. "Uh¡­ Plaridel''s not here," he said, watching the girl''s shoulder slump in disappointment before lifting her head to look at him. "Uhm. Can you tell me where he is?" Other than Nida, there were also plenty of Aborigines who had wanted more of the products after they bought them. Sadly, stocks ran out too quickly! They weren''t fast enough! No, they hadn''t been packing enough! Hearing the conversation made them even more curious. "Where did you go?" "Home." "Where is home?" "It''s a village a few days away. You can come if you want." "Village, eh?" Then someone''s mouth made an ''o'' at a realization, recalling the name of their stall. "AH! Altera, right?" "Yes~" They continued to sell the territory, planting seeds after seeds of curiosity in the hearts of the aborigines. Of course, as people who were comfortable in towns, it might take them a while to actually take the step and go out to a small village. However, the idea was brewing and it was only a matter of time before it bloomed. When everything was done and they finally saw the last of their guests off, the Alteran salespeople looked at each other with bright smiles. "Shall we go take a look?" Bull asked, referring to taking a closer look at the territory. The idea excited everyone. "Yes!" S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I wanna see how our home fared in towns in this crazy world." A group of a dozen or so then gestured to go out with excited faces. However, their path was blocked by Turbo. "This isn''t Altera. Fighting isn''t prohibited here." "Huh? Why?" "But¡­" "We''re already here! How can we not¡ª" "I''ll come with you," Turbo interrupted him, tone as if giving in, "But you have to sponsor my shopping." "DEAL!" As such, the group went out to study the territory, hoping they could learn more things, and perhaps help Altera integrate better. They looked around interested, hoping to learn more, and they did. To be honest, Altera was still really amazing even compared to a town! Of course, the buildings were smaller and there were plenty of interesting new buildings in towns¡ªbut the lifestyle, the products, and the cost of living were really inferior. Even hygiene! It was a good road compared to the horror stories they heard but there was still an occasional poop, especially when right outside a residential unit! The legends were true! This was really similar to Terran Medieval period! But maybe even more gross because people''s physiques here are different! Or were their noses stronger? Either way, it was all very gross! They happily roamed the town for about an hour, taking note of what they saw, until they encountered their first bump. It was no other than people from the Goliath Mercenary Team! Chapter 471 - 471: Tensions Rising "Well, well, well, What do we have here?" A man with orange hair and a smug smile. He was along with four others, looking at them arrogantly as they blocked the road. This was a classic bully line. "What do you want?" "All your earnings today," he said. "Just today''s (maybe). We''re really kind, aren''t we?" When this started, they would be taking more, and they''d have a ready source of income! This naturally triggered the Alterans. "DREAM!" Bull yelled, lifting his fist. He knew his level was nothing compared to these people, but he sure wasn''t going to show it! "Whoa so scared!" The newcomers yelled, laughing. Worse, they looked at the women and licked their lips, making the poor girls shiver. Turbo narrowed his eyes and recognized them. He wasn''t here but he did investigate the town as well as his team''s history with different powers here. This guy happened to have a match. Goliath Mercenary Team. A team who had wanted to steal from Gill, but was blocked by Cassandra. "They had some conflicts regarding that orc back home," he said, informing the others of the history. This made everyone look at him. "Cute Gochi? What?" Gochi was big, but he had an innocent heart. He also saved a lot of asses during hunting sessions and won a lot of favors. "They wanted to steal him and make him a slave." "WHAAAATTT?!" They looked at the mercenary team, their previous apprehension gone and they went straight to trash-talking. "Ugly men! How dare you try to take cutie Gochi!" "Ugh! I dunno why people take slaves. Don''t they have their own hands and feet? Ptooey!" And there were people who just tried shooing them away. "Go away! Don''t bother us!" The Goliath members twitched, shocked by how a bunch of weaklings were so brave to go against them. However, they soon shook it off and grinned. "Well, if they''re so excited to die then we''ll entertain them." The civilians gestured to defend, led by Turbo who already took out his weapon. His eyes looked at the enemies, analyzing them. The other team only had 5 members while Terrans were twice that number. Although the level comparison was the opposite, they didn''t want to run away! The Goliath mercenary team flinched a bit under their stares but laughed a bit when they recalled their levels. Tension rose and both sides prepared to duke it out¡ª "Oh, what''s going on?" A new voice next to them appeared, diffusing some of the tension. Everyone calmed when they saw it was no other than the lord of the town. "Milord." "Hmn," he nodded coolly, looking at the two parties on the verge of a match. He didn''t prohibit fighting¡ªas in most other territories¡ªbecause everyone had an instinct of respecting the strong here. In their minds, it was a bit counterintuitive to prohibit the way to show it off. For the first time, he may be reconsidering it, just a bit. He looked at the team of five with a deep frown. "You realize I have business relationships with this team, correct?" He was actually serious about this. Before, when the team had just started and his cousin went with them, he made an announcement that a deal was being discussed. People making trouble with them now was a disrespect to him. The aborigines realized they annoyed the lord and had no choice but to back off. "Tsk." Goliath glared at the Alterans before stomping away. The Alterans looked at him admiringly, making him feel embarrassed. Jonathan cleared his throat. "Am I not going to get invited?" Turbo and the other flinched, before leading him inside. They led the lord and his loyal guards to the living area of the base. Because it was designed for the comfort of them and their families, the shared living area wasn''t small. However, everyone who was hanging around saw Jonathan and politely went out. The leader of this excursion was Turbo, and right next to him were Jake and Brandon. "Where''s your captain?" "Back home with his wife, milord." Jonathan''s eyebrows rose. "Oh? Are they planning on visiting again?" "Perhaps," they said, "But not any time soon. The territory isn''t very stable yet." Jonathan nodded and, for a while, they discussed some light topics. For instance, how their travels were, and if they encountered a lot of trouble in their ''home'' territory. He also asked about his cousin, though he already had some information from his guards. He couldn''t help but recall the many new faces who seemed to sell the items. "The people with you are your citizens?" "Yes, sir. We partnered with some caravans and they could sell their goods in our spot in exchange for a fixed rental fee for the spot." "I noticed that you created a good business model here¡­" he said, analyzing. Even when there were no events, his inns were still occupied. Sure, it could have something to do with those territories that stayed, but he still felt this group had a lot to do about it. "Thank you. We hope to keep doing this," he said, "Perhaps provide Ferrol with more variety in the future." Jonathan smiled, "I know you will." "Speaking of variety." Jake smiled and took a few vats from his space. "The captain wants you to have this." "What is it?" "Sugar and Salt." "Sugar and salt?" This made Jonathan abruptly stand up to check closer. His guard opened the vat and his eyes widened at the contents. These were still under limited production in the territory and were thus only sold in some quantities within the territory. The amount was just enough for the citizens to use personally, how could they have a surplus to sell outside? This was especially true for salt, where raw materials were a rock salt mine¡ªwhich would eventually deplete¡ªand not the endless sea. In fact, foreigners even had smaller purchase limits, and this was why Cassandra didn''t bother sending him some. She told her maids, ''What he didn''t know won''t kill him'' and kept what she could buy for herself. Anyway, Jonathan didn''t know about this. And with this amount, he didn''t care either. He was just blinded by the quality of the condiments. "This¡­" Sugar! That sweetener? And Salt! Especially salt! Salt was expensive! And he had never seen such pure salt! He blinked and looked at the mercenary team members who had small smiles on their faces. He really underestimated them! ___ Jonathan went back to his mansion in a good mood, already planning his trip to that interesting village. However, before he could settled down for the day, his butler knocked on his door. "You have a visitor, sir." S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Jonathan''s eyebrows rose and he sat down in his chair, "Let him in," he said and soon a familiar large man appeared. The man''s steps were heavy as always, and he had a deep frown. There was no sign of respect for someone who was supposed to be his subsidiary. It was Baltimore, the Lord of Guia village. Jonathan frowned, sitting on the couch. "What are you doing here?" "Passing by," the other man said, sitting unceremoniously on the adjacent seat. For someone who was supposedly a subsidiary of his, he spoke to Jonathan as an equal. "I heard new territories have appeared," he said, "The Lord had asked us to check. What information do you have?" Jonathan gave him a bad look. "I may have allowed to pretend you''re under me, but I am not under them " "I''ve already done enough of a favor by pretending to own Guia. Do you have any idea how many territories have been trying to approach me for good deals with your metal?" "I''m sure the master will compensate you well," he said. "We want information about the new territories. I''m sure you have some with you." There was silence between them and Jonathan frowned. He wasn''t clear about how the city he was associated with and the city he was truly connected to were interacting, but he had low-key received instructions to assist in some capacity. Even if he didn''t like how he was being spoken to, he still had to comply, at least to some degree. He sighed, "Fine," he said, "I only have a bit." Of course, he would only give the bare minimum, but he was sure this man would be able to gather more on his own. Alas, so that was starting again. Chapter 472 - 472: Bright in Trouble [61 Days after The Migration] The first rays of the morning light gently filtered through the curtains and entered the room, illuminating its occupants. Instead of the bed, however, a certain couple was currently near a wall, facing it. Garan sat on a sturdy wooden chair, back straight, and a cotton towel draped over his shoulder. Crawling on their crib were the adorable babies who cooed as they saw their parents looking away from them for a long time. The audacity. At this time, Althea was helping her husband get a haircut, and their babies were their reluctant audience. "Mmhmwawa¡­." "Ghmghmn¡­" They continued calling on them making noises until Althea finally couldn''t take the milky voice attacks. She went to the babies to give them smooches on their soft faces. They looked at her with those large eyes and made more noise, as if asking for more. They even cutely pouted their lips to tell her. Her heart melted, smooching their incredibly soft faces a few more times before finally lifting her head. "Behave," she told them before turning back to her husband, who looked at her with a blank stare, though she knew he also wanted a smooch. She rolled her eyes, but she gave him a peck anyway. "You, too," she said, turning his head to make him look in front. "Don''t move." "Yes, wife," he said, being very well-behaved. Their children also watched their parents, making mild baby noises, as if communicating in their own language. If one looked at how their cute expressions changed here and there, they''d think that this was indeed the case. Althea stood behind Garan, and in her hand was a pair of scissors Garan manifested himself. She combed through his hair, gently untying knots, and soon the scissors resumed action. Her emerald eyes looked at the reflection of her husband in the mirror, making sure everything was nice, neat, and symmetrical. The mirror in front of them was something she managed to take away from the hotel back then. For now, it was the only large mirror in the territory, and it was now witnessing a simple but tender moment between a loving couple. She carefully trimmed his hair, fingers moving with precision¡ªpracticed, and she couldn''t help but purse her lips at the amount she was cutting. "I know it had gotten a bit long," she said. She then cut it to the length that suited him best¡ªpractical and aesthetical¡ªwhich was well above the ears. They actually noticed this because she held on to too much of his hair in their lovemaking the previous night, and her fingers actually got tangled there. Even when she wanted to pull out her hand, it got stuck, until she was plundered so wildly that she lost her mind and it just stayed there¡ªtangled in his locks¡ªuntil the next morning. Thus, it led to the current scene. As for the babies, no, they weren''t there last night. They had been deposited back early that morning because Sheila had to go to the clinic early due to a particularly large mob that found them in the middle of the night last night. Anyway, back to the haircutting, because he was never fond of others touching him, Althea really was the one who did his hair. The only exemption was during the three months here in which he had to do himself. Althea felt a little guilty for forgetting about this, while he felt very guilty for making her work because he knew he had been very¡­ hard¡­ on her the previous night and she must be very tired. "It wasn''t that painful my love," he said with a smile, looking at his wife via the mirror. "I like it when you pull my hair." This earned him a shy knock on the head. Blushing, she proceeded to nag him. "Yeah, but your hair is still too long. Didn''t you see Little Meatball grabbing things with his whole being? Want him to pull out your hair?" She snapped a few more locks with passion. "Do you want to go bald?" "Oh no, I know you like pulling hair when making love. Hopefully, I will never get bald." She rolled her eyes and just continued her job, making sure it was perfect. Her husband was so handsome, how did she bear let him cut it himself! For a while, only the sound of scissors snipping and their soft breathing (and the baby mumbles and coos of course) was heard in the room. When it was done, Althea smiled and she looked smugly at their reflection in the mirror. "Hm, very handsome," she whispered, and it made Garan''s eyes darken. He gestured to turn around to pull her to his thighs, but then their sharp ears heard some subtle sounds outside. Althea blinked and walked away (avoiding Garan''s claws by accident) to the Youli window. She opened it to see raindrops falling down. She looked at the people below who had either taken up their umbrellas (made from oiled cloth), put on their hats, or just ran for some shade before closing her windows again. "The past few weeks the weather was really nice. It''s been a while since we saw such a downpour¡­" "A great excuse to stay indoors¡­" Garan chuckled, unable to help himself he pulled her into his lap. He carefully took the scissors and placed them in his space, leaning down as he held her stomach with his large palm. She gasped when she felt his calloused hands creep up her shirt. "The children are here!" This made him pause and he immediately wondered where to deposit them next. However, before Garan could ''donate'' their children elsewhere, a loud ding resounded inside her head. [Ding! Your allied territory, Bright Village (Lv3), is asking for assistance!] S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ Bright Territory. BANG! "Cough!" Micheal coughed blood as he was kicked down from the Village Center platform, his entire body sliding down until he hit a panel with his back. He groaned as he opened his eyes, trying to push himself up with his elbow. However, he immediately froze when he saw the headless corpse of Bruno. His jaw clenched and his hands formed a painful fist. Bruno had tried to block the enemies as he sent his message to Altera. It seemed that as he was doing so, he also lost his life. "Heh¡­ did you think they''d still be able to save you at this point?" Gingo asked, crossing his arms and looking down at the lord of the territory. Micheal looked at him without any expression, the former confidant now covered in the blood of his loyal comrades. "Milord!" Immediately, Juno kicked the person he was dealing with and ran to him, going between him and Gingo, protectively holding his weapon. Micheal couldn''t help but look at Juno, who had still been staying with him all this time. Juno was the last confidante around him. They were either dead or¡­ Micheal had prided himself as someone who grew up in the underworld. He never would''ve thought he''d be betrayed so badly. To think that the man he had trusted for years betrayed him, and the man he hired a few months ago was now protecting him. When the announcement that they would be attacked rang, he was a little worried but he didn''t ask for any help. One was for pride, but also because he didn''t think it would be a fight that needed others. Most of his confidantes also went against it, so he went through it with increasing confidence. What he didn''t know was that he would be attacked from the inside even before the war. His infrastructure was sabotaged, the wells were poisoned, and people¡ªmany of whom were his guards¡ªgot sick. And when the war started. In wars, all rules and regulations became null. This was something that hadn''t been publicised, but somehow everyone in the territory found out about it during the war. There were many citizens who caused chaos even before the enemies got past the walls. With the leadership of a few people, the shops were ravaged, houses broken into, and many more. It was chaos in the territory and when he realized something was wrong he went straight to the Village Center to call for help. However, he was stopped by Gingo, who he now knew was one of the people responsible for all the losses. Fargo was a very strong territory, not weaker than Bright at all. They were trained and had guns. What was worse was that there were plenty of powerful Aborigines that didn''t go beyond the level cap. If there was no rule limiting the number of external forces¡ªthat was, it could not exceed a percentage of the hiring territory''s strength¡ªhe''d have been crushed into a pancake a few hours in. No, they really were crushed, because a trusted person hid all the weapons. Not only were his guards poisoned, but his weapons were stolen as well. They stood no chance at all. He looked at Gingo with dead eyes. Unlike the comrade who grew up with him, one who had been so supportive and always had his back, this man was just a familiar stranger¡ªno, an enemy. What a miscalculation, he mused, eyes looking at the blood¡ªthe blood of his comrades as well as innocent citizens who just happened to be there¡ªthat surrounded him. His heart was unimaginably heavy. This miscalculation cost so many lives. Chapter 473 - 473: Flow of Blood (Part 1) His eyebrows furrowed and looked at Gingo, trying to think where exactly it all went wrong. Sure, the enemy was well-prepared, but Bright Village was in no way weak compared to other villages. Even if it was defeated, it shouldn''t have been this¡­ crushing, this helpless. He looked at the man in front of him. Just how much of the chaos that happened before and during the war his doing? Micheal opened his lord panel to see the list of population, his blue eyes scanning the names, as well as the loyalties. The average was still around 60s. And Gingo''s¡­ was as is. This made his blonde brows furrow. "How¡­ your loyalty¡­" "There''s a treasure that was lent to me by my friends, allowing me to add 50 to my loyalties," Gingo kindly supplied, obviously not caring what he heard at this point. Juno frowned at this. He had heard of it, but he had never seen such a tool himself, as it was something mostly found in cities or higher Towns. It simply didn''t occur to him to mention it to the lord, and he blamed himself for it. "My lord, don''t blame yourself. They are too cunning. No one would''ve predicted it," Juno said, weapon out and ready to fight the others as needed. It was also Gingo who was the main voice against calling Altera for. After all, he had been in charge of the Treasury and he had one of the biggest voices regarding what they could afford. How could they have known he was against the call for help because he was planning something so sinister? "On the contrary, I should apologize, my Lord," Juno said, heaving a deep breath. "This information should have come from me." Micheal shook his head. This really couldn''t be blamed on their side at all. "So loyalties in the panel may not be trusted, then," Micheal mumbled, though internally thinking of what to do with the aftermath. His people among the military force were either dead or had turned. What of the people? Perhaps, he should''ve let them run to Altera? However, he shook his head in the end. They had noticed a number of people went missing right before the war. In retrospect, considering how early they made a mess of their infrastructure, they might have been pruning their forces outside the territory early on as well. Micheal only looked at the level 16 Juno before turning to the enemies. Unfortunately, Fargo had for some reason plenty of that level as well. However, the advantage of being the defending territory was that enemies beyond the level cap weren''t allowed to enter the walls. They could cause chaos outside, sure, but inside was a prohibited area. This meant that Juno was the strongest within the walls at this time, and they naturally couldn''t be careless. Of course, it wasn''t that they didn''t try to take him down before the war, primarily through poison. But Juno had always been distrusting in nature and he always took care of his meals on his own, making that plan fail. It would''ve been a hard fight if they fought fairly, and now that there were so many attacks from all directions, Bright couldn''t fight back at all. There were barely any deaths on the other side, while on his side not only Bruno, but also Dig died brutal deaths. Dig even received a bullet from Gingo himself. Micheal heaved a deep breath, looking at Gingo. "Why?" The man looked at him without emotions, "I was promised to lead this place when you''re gone." "Do you really think they''d do that?" "Sure. Their territory was placed in a really good spot, not inferior to Altera. I heard they even found limestone deposits there. Heh." "Well, now that you got it, now what?" Micheal asked, "Are you going to kill me?" "No, of course not," he said, "First, give us the token." Micheal gripped the token in the middle of his palm, eyes filled with reluctance. "If I give this out, what is your guarantee that you won''t kill us?" Gingo looked at him before laughing. "Heh, funny how you say that. Speaking of which, we also want a lot more than just the token, and we prepared something to ensure we get that." The next thing they knew, he and Juno were being dragged out, all the way to the plaza. The bloodied Micheal looked at the plaza that had been littered by his guards and citizens. There were many citizens who were held at gunpoint. "Look at what you did," Gingo said, "If you had let go of that pride of yours, maybe they''ll safely be in Altera." His words triggered more sobs filled with regret and a few bad looks. Micheal had his reasons and knew that it wouldn''t have been so simple, but what use would it be to explain now? Besides, with the enemies around the territory even before the war was announced, how could they have arrived in Altera safely? Gingo and the other people of Fargo seemed to enjoy the despair in the air, relishing it. But it was broken by screams when a few people were pulled into the open spaces with guns on their heads. "YOU!" Micheal yelled, eyes contracting as an even darker omen gripped his gut. "What do you want?!" "In fact, we want more than just the token." During wars, Gingo learned from Fargo that not only would the token dissociate with the Lord, but the building functions would be greyed out and the execution of all rules and regulations would be temporarily halted. All these had the obvious goal of hastening wars. With the right mind, it could also easily be used by enemies. "We want everything." Even if the Lord token was taken, the money remained with the Lord. They wouldn''t be able to recover whatever gold or inventory a person had when he died. What could he do with zero gold? "You can buy people''s lives with the token and the gold you have," Gingo said with a grin, "What do you say?" Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 474 - 474: Flow of Blood (Part 2) Micheal stared and then looked at his people who were in despair. Gingo watched as the former calm man''s eyes turned red and he then turned his head in a direction and nodded, signaling for the next move to stab the nail on the head. A second later, a young girl''s screams echoed. "DADDYYYY!" They took a little girl and pulled her to the open space in the middle, pointing a gun right at her head. "LILY! LILYYY! STOP IT!" A bloodied man yelled as he dragged himself to where his daughter was. It was one of his few surviving guards¡ªBruce, a former policeman¡ªand the girl they were taking hostage was his nine-year-old daughter Lily. "PLEASE! LET HER GO!" The man yelled, trying to get to his daughter. His arm was bloody and unusable at this time though, so he was held back by Artie. The younger lad pulled him back and held out his weapon, ready to fight. "Gingo! Stop it! Lily is just a little girl!" He yelled, trying to reason out with them. "She called you cool uncle! Don''t you remember?" However, Ging just rolled his eyes and raised his gun. "BANG!" Artie fell, shot right in the head. To think just the night prior, they were still drinking together. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "ARTIEEE!!" The people gaped in shock as one of them fell to the ground, lifeless. "I''ll give you!" Micheal yelled, tears forming, "Just stop it!" Gingo smiled and Micheal heaved a deep breath, realizing his mistakes. He forced himself to calm down, knowing that losing his cool now would only mess him up even more. Micheal heaved a deep breath. "I''ll give you all my money¡ªbut you must sign a contract not to harm any more people as long as they stay in the territory. As for me, I will leave and you must let me leave." Gingo arrogantly patted the gun on his shoulder. "Now, what makes you think I''ll even negotiate with you?" "Because I will destroy the token otherwise!" Micheal said, a determined light shining in his eyes. He then turned and looked at the camera. It was one of the newer models that could get charged with the sun. Their lord didn''t want to bother going, but he certainly wanted to watch the chaos his men made. "You won''t get anything," he said directly to the lens. He knew it was recorded and not a live feed. He just wanted to get the message across. The token wasn''t indestructible. There was a chance Micheal would destroy it if it meant not giving it to him. With that bastard Juno guarding him so closely, they may not be able to stop him at all. Juno raised his weapon, making his point. Gingo frowned. That damned rule that kept their strong forces outside was seriously inconvenient. However, he wasn''t one to compromise so easily. He rose up so high in the organization because of his ''negotiation'' skills. He then looked next to him and several guns were pointed at several citizens, enticing their screams. Using this time, Micheal lifted a little sphere, refusing to show any more weaknesses than he already had. It was already a mistake that he did, and that put him on the losing end of this deal. "It''s a bomb," he said, "Altera gifted each of us one each, for emergencies." Just a few days back, when her people were roaming around, Ansel went to him. At the time, he did mention Fargo, but they visited Vismont so his efforts investigating weren''t that focused. Ansel left them 1 bomb as a gift, though he specifically told them they wouldn''t sell anymore to outsiders in the future. Micheal was just thankful at the time, even more so right now. Regardless, the word bomb sent alarm bells to everyone. "Is it real?" "If it''s from Altera, it could be." "Damn. I wonder how the others are investigating." Gingo narrowed his eyes and then glared at the bomb, before nodding. They guided Micheal to the Territory village, signing the so-called contract and Gingo looked at the lord token greedily. Unfortunately, Fargo''s man was there and took it from him. "You''re only the housekeeper. Don''t forget it." Gingo sneered, "Of course I do," he said, handing it over, but his eyes couldn''t help but stay on it a bit longer. ¡­ Sandra watched all this chaos from a safe distance, smiling. She felt proud, knowing she had major contributions to this. She was the person who poisoned the wells. They found out from their sources that the well itself may have had a self-cleaning function, but the pails did not, and they had taken advantage of this loophole. It was she who gathered plenty of poisonous plants outside. Or rather, organized it. She had seduced someone who knew about plants to unknowingly help her with her plans. She also hired people to secretly pick them up, though for the most part, she didn''t tell them the plants were poisonous. As for how it affected these pickers, that was not her concern. Anyway, this helped them minimize their losses and she knew she''d definitely be rewarded. Even if they didn''t have the token in their hands, this whole place was basically theirs! That meant that she would become the legitimate queen of this place! Even more than Althea, who was a mere elder! Finally! Her daydreaming was cut short by a yell right below her. "BITCH! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" She turned her head to see a man sobbing over the corpse of his one-armed friend. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO SPIKE?!" Ron yelled, sobbing. "That''s what you get for annoying me so much." "Bitch!" He yelled, bravely looking at her through the nozzle of the gun. The young man, heavily bleeding and in pain, knew very well no one would come to rescue them this time. So he could only look at the woman in the eye, uttering the insult he knew would affect her the most. "You will NEVER compare to her!!" he yelled, intent on having the last word. Bang!! Sandra''s eyes turned red, not satisfied with killing him. She shot him several more times, his body flinching in the small explosions. Her eyes turned red as she looked at the corpse. Liar!! Chapter 475 - 475: Rules of War Other than Althea, there were only about ten soldiers below the level cap who accompanied her to Bright. She wasn''t being stingy, but there was a limitation on how much external help a territory could get¡ªand the precise amount was something they didn''t know yet. Not even the aborigines knew and she was not going to risk her own resources when she could help it. Besides, attacking low-leveled individuals during wars, especially within the walls, was not only punishable by experience or gold... there was a small possibility of losing life, too. She would not risk her people for that. Still, to maximize their trip, she took the soldiers that could fight back during wars, for the most part anyway. In Garan''s group it was only Luis, who was level 14. However, she did bring those above, though they''d be staying outside as reinforcement. This included Mao, who had just upgraded to 19, Rowan who was not far past the limit, and her husband. There was a limit on who could cause chaos within the walls, outside was free reign. One of the things she had learned about this world was that the Lord Token was more than just the right to create and control a territory¡ªit was also the right to be protected by whatever ''system'' enforced. This made sense. How much energy would''ve been needed to apply all those rules everywhere? Having certain focal points¡ªthat was, territories¡ªwas much more logical. Anyway, as Althea and a few soldiers went to Bright, she decided to review the rules a bit in order to avoid any penalties¡ªwhich were apparently not small and certainly not worth all this hassle. As mentioned, the rules of the territory wars were never shown explicitly and were found out after decades of warfare. There were many cases where people would just find out in the middle of the war. Sometimes it caused losses, sometimes it saved lives. This also meant that different people had different depths of understanding of the war, wherein some people could even find certain loopholes to take advantage of. In any case, what she knew about territory wars was as follows: One, territories could only attack territories of the same level or above. This was something everyone knew about. This would minimize the massacres and was a very good rule. There were plenty of territories that had been heavily punished by failing to do this limit, though to be fair a lot of earlier losses were because they didn''t know the level limits yet. She had gotten a couple of stories from the Aborigines. There was once a town that wanted to attack a village. They were punished by paying a thousand gold, which was far more than what they could''ve earned by winning that war. Of course, if the level differences between same-level territories were wide, a massacre was still unavoidable. This was what happened to Mauin Village, whose refugees had just arrived in their territory. They would comprise the first batch of official Aborigine residents¡ªa historical move¡ªand she felt a little sad that she couldn''t welcome them with Mathilda''s team. Similarly, there were also territories that had attacked stronger territories. However, unless the lord was stupid, this move was limited to territories with strong town or city backers. These territories simply had resources that couldn''t be matched by typical villages of the same level. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Interestingly, this leap fight had been limited to differing levels of the same ranks. That was to say, villages could only attack villages and towns could only attack towns. After all, the requirements of different ranks were much too high. In her case, she knew for certain that even after she had upgraded to Level 3 village, it would still take a while for her to upgrade to a Town. As for what were the requirements to Towns, none of the aborigines were actually certain. Lords generally didn''t broadcast what they knew, whether it was about the Lord Panel or Territory Wars, though they may mention it to trusted people when they were asked. With the history of withholding information in Xeno, this wasn''t anything surprising. However, Gill did say that he and Cassandra would ask her cousin, the Lord of Ferrol Town, about it when they got back. Another rule was the limitation of forces that could participate in wars. Wars would automatically trigger after a certain percentage attacked a territory. Generally, Village levels could allow a maximum level of 15, towns at 40, and cities without any limits at all. This included allied forces as well. Of course, citizens above this level could defend the territory, but in no way would they be allowed to commit any aggression. If they did, they would also be heavily punished. The punishment varies from gold to experience or even something in their spaces. This was fair for most. For those with stronger forces, they could be used to defend effectively while the others attacked, which wasn''t a bad approach. There was also another limit to outside forces allowed to join the war, with ''outside forces'' defined to be non-residents that were sent from allied territories, ideally within the level limit set by the system. These people must also be residents of the allied territories sending help. "This could be easily circumvented as long as the helpers would buy residency in that territory instead, right?" She asked Oslo, who also joined them. "Yes, Ms. Althea. But while a common practice for stronger territories, it''s not much seen in others," Oslo said, very gently and naturally suave, ignoring the sharp stare of her husband. "This is because the allied territories generally charge a lot more money, about twice the cost of permanent residency, as additional cost." Simply put: It wasn''t worth it. "Are there any other limitations?" She asked. She worried for when they''d have to face an aborigine territory with plenty of allies. "From what we know, in terms of both quantity and quality, a territory could not call on help beyond a certain percentage of the comprehensive strength of the entire territory since its establishment. This includes hiring Mercenary Teams through the Mercenary Hall." They knew that Mercenary Halls would become available once they upgraded to Town. It was a lot like the village center''s hiring function, except the mercenaries could use the teleportation array to be summoned from one territory to another every few days. It was also much more expensive, and hiring many members of Mercenary teams every war was not something many territories could afford. Comprehensive Strength was the slightly mysterious thing for all of them. The comprehensive strength of a territory seemed to include population, resources, and overall military capabilities. This meant that Altera''s comprehensive strength was probably really good for a village. Oslo even said it was not inferior to small towns. This meant that, in the worst-case scenario, she could call on town-level forces, simply because her current forces were around that level. Of course, this also meant she could not be stagnant, or the comprehensive level would just even off eventually. "But as for the exact number, territories have their own ways of calculation, and I don''t think anyone has perfected it yet." It was because they hadn''t quite mastered what ''overall strength'' actually comprised exactly. It was why she didn''t risk bringing too many people with her this time. Should she build a mathematic team, she wondered? Chapter 476 - 476: Fall of Bright They sprinted for about another hour when Althea remembered a question. "I''m also concerned with betrayals," she said. "It''s not impossible, but not as common as you think, Miss Althea," Oslo said. "Once the territory lost and the system randomly selected the half that would be slaves, these slaves would not only lose their residencies but also all their money in the ''wallet'' to the Lord of the winning territory." This was the main reason why it was unlikely for people to betray their territories, even if it was bad to them. The only reason for betrayal in this scenario would be if they were promised a way out. It also had to be noted that anyone within the territory walls who didn''t have residencies from stronger territories would receive equal risks of becoming slaves. That was to say, everyone including visitors could become one. The only bright side of this ''slave'' business was that system-stamped slaves would only be ''created'' during wars. There was no known system where people could just kidnap people, take their money, and decide to turn them into slaves. "When turned to slaves, they will still have to travel to get to the winning territory," Oslo added, "Sometimes, they''re taken through the teleportation array at the cost of the territory (because the slaves themselves would no longer have money), but if the territory was near they''d have to traverse the distance themselves." "Speaking of that¡­" There was the issue of transportation. While not exactly a rule, a teleportation array apparently appeared somewhere outside the gates of an attacking territory and randomly on the defending territory. For a price of 1 silver/person for a one-way trip. This was a convenience that was only during the 28-hour war. "This means that should I attack a territory, I can send forces continuously during these 28 hours?" "Yes, Milord," he said, "As long as it was within the 28 hours, even when the war is over." So territories would strive to finish the war even before this time, otherwise they''d have to walk back home. This could also be taken advantage of if one wanted to travel around a bit. Of course, the timing was wrong, but still¡­ "Is this one-way or two-way?" "Two-way, Ms. Althea, but you''d have to pay again." This was why most territories avoid choosing attacking territories too far away. This way they could save on the costs of the return trip. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan''s eyes sharpened at this. "Can the defending territory use the same array to go to the attacking territory?" Oslo blinked and nodded, "Yes, Sir Garan," he said, pausing, the question opening up his mind for possibilities. It had probably been done before, but it was so rare because defending territories were often busy minimizing the damage to their own territory. After all, the defending territory counted as the winner if the attacking territory failed to breach the walls¡ªthat was for the majority of attackers to get past the main walls¡ª within 28 hours. If they also managed to kill more than half of the attackers (excluding slaves, which didn''t have an ''identity'') they would also win automatically. Similarly, the attacker would win if the majority of the attackers passed the main wall of the territory. This was definitely biased towards defenders. This wasn''t surprising as, after all, the rules of Territory Wars were made to minimize them. One had to admire the intricacies done via the system in order to safeguard lives. As for the winnings, she knew that the winner would receive of assets within the territory. From her husband, she had long heard that the defender could also keep the attacking forces, should they be captured. "Half of assets include people right?" "Yes, they are chosen randomly¡ªamong visitors without residencies and territory residents¡ªand are designated as slaves by default. It is the lord''s prerogative whether to free them, for a price." Though, to be honest, he had only known this happened when the slave was beautiful or had made great contributions. "I''m curious. What do citizens do during wars when they know they''re losing?" She asked. She was afraid the people would just run away, right? "Well, if they''re not contracted to protect the territory, most people would run and go outside the scope of the territory before the counter stopped or the territory surrendered." There were plenty of stories where a territory that still had a chance of winning, but got crushed just because the momentum lowered a little, thereby scaring the citizens. It also had to be said that during wars, all prohibitions in the territory are lifted. Even the smallest ones like anti-thievery. One could imagine the chaos brought about by wars if the citizens decided to be selfish. "However¡­ I don''t think this would be a problem for Altera," he said, with a reassuring smile¡ªbut in no way was he simply comforting. The solidarity of the territory was something he had never encountered. To this day, it fascinated him. Althea smiled, a bit smug, because she knew this was the truth. The men found it cute and Garan squeezed her nose a bit. "Then what about tourists?" She asked, "You mentioned that visitors would be were safe as long as they were citizens in a stronger territory. How was that determined?" "Nothing too complicated, fortunately. As long as the tier was higher or the same level, they''d be safe. "However, most visitors would leave before the war starts. However, some people have special emblems that may exempt visitors and others from becoming slaves even if they were in stronger territories." "Oh?" "They''re very expensive though." "Of course they are." Then Oslo proceeded to show one. "..." He handed it to Althea for a look. "All of us siblings have one." Ah, yes, of course they did. Even if their City, Bleulle, was a top city, they still had it just in case. Anyway, Althea and the others looked at it curiously as they trekked. Ansel whistled. "It does look expensive." It was a carved gem of sorts with some unusual patterns. She recognized some of them¡ªarrays, though what they meant and what they could do still evaded her understanding. How fascinating. "Would you like to keep it?" "What?" Oslo flinched a bit, realizing the inappropriateness. After all, he had just mentioned it was very expensive. "Well, for study¡­" Althea blinked and thought for a while, before nodding. "Lend it to me for a while," she said, "I''ll return it to you in a couple of weeks or so." Oslo smiled, ignoring the sharp blue eyes on him again, "You can take your time, Miss Althea." She smiled, and they continued on their way in silence. As they walked along the path, Althea couldn''t help but think of ways to do surprise attacks should they need to. Her husband had mentioned their enemy was nearby, she''d rather defeat them with minimal losses. Also, she wanted to know all the loopholes enemies could make. Fargo and his men weren''t normal people. They definitely figured out a lot by now. After all, from what they know of Micheal, he wouldn''t ask for help unless necessary. They had guns and relatively strong forces. How could they have so much trouble? Somewhere along the way, Althea''s feet suddenly stopped, making everyone look at her. "What''s wrong my love?" Althea pursed her lips as she stared at her husband, throat a little dry. [Your allied territory Bright Village (Lv3) has now fallen to Fargo Village (Lv3)] Chapter 477 - 477: Observers Altera Some time prior, just after Althea left, its citizens went on with their lives as usual within the safety of Altera''s walls. It was morning and about an hour or so before the standard working hours. Some people were hunting, some people were preparing for their work, and some were on a break for their ''spirits''. This type of lifestyle by the way was something the Golds had only seen in nobles¡ªthere was no such thing as ''balanced lifestyle'' for commoners at all. Of course, people knew of the assistance alarm¡ªthough because it was so rushed and it was the first time, the territory didn''t call out a mission for others to join in. However, they all knew who was going there so they weren''t really worried at all. If anything, they didn''t want to slow down progress because of worry. This was what the Golds observed while they hung around happily. Of course, when Bleulle was also called for assistance, the citizens also handled it similarly. However, this was because Bluelle was already highly established and their guard team was one of the best (as Obi would remind them every so often). Altera was a village. And it was amazing that it could already give such a sense of security to its citizens. At the same time, it made sense because the force and defense level of this place was really town level and it might even be meeting the requirements for upgrade much sooner than anyone thought. Regardless of what the requirements were, this meant that¡ªat least for a while¡ªAltera would be stable. They knew this because Bleulle had been historically one of the fastest Villages to gain Town status, and it gained it only after a couple of years after its establishment. This was because they had a very important resource sought after by everyone: The Blu. This allowed the territory to develop rapidly and gain important backers. But how did Altera do it? With ingenuity, innovation, and unity. Anyway, seeing such trust at the Village level was unprecedented and it was quite novel to witness it. The people were so relaxed that children were still running around. Even Miss Althea''s baby-mascots were being strolled around by two old women as if their parents weren''t going to war somewhere else. Speaking of kids, Olga could be said to have been attached to them, especially the children. When she saw them with Ansel at that time, she often looked for them and actively joined in their morning walks. The past few days, they met Beany, Theo''s father, and the lovely Winona, who was Ms. Althea''s Best friend and one of the leading proponents for the Research Center. The Center was something that fascinated them so, though they didn''t have access to¡ªat least not yet. They did get word that Ms. Althea wanted to talk about partnership with them. It was just that the war cry happened and it was delayed. "I wonder how they''ll handle their first war?" Olga mumbled, drinking something called soy milk. It felt new, refreshing, and filling. Partnered with the softest bread with so-called meat floss, she moaned a bit as she ate. She had just finished a short walk around with her new friend Winona, with her brothers buying some other breakfast somewhere nearby. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "They''ll do well," Winona said, drinking juice after her morning run, "They always do." At this time, the group was hanging around in the park with a couple of other families in the park. This park had a couple of standalone concessionaire stalls rented out to business folks. Beanie was getting better psychologically and had joined Theo in the mornings to play and then he got acquainted with Jun and his daughter Mimi. Maya and Horus were also around, running, and socializing everywhere (note: Maya was dragging little Horus around, forcing the introverted child to socialize). The Golds merged in quite nicely, as the Alterans were really great in hospitality. Whether it was pride of their territory or the promise of wealth aborigine tourists gave, there were plenty of reasons for the Golds to get special treatment. The Golds were nobles and were naturally used to special treatment, but this kind without the insincere bootlicking felt very refreshing. They watched as the two old women set up a thick fabric on the grass and then placed some toys. They then took the babies from the stroller and carried them to the fabric to play. They watched as the babies crawled happily¡ªto their toys, to their watchers, and then to their friends¡ªtheir cute milky giggles entering the air and poking their hearts. Olga couldn''t help but go there and join them. "Why are the kids here so cute?" Olga mumbled with hearts in her eyes, gently poking their cheeks and tummies. "Wanna give birth to one?" Obi said from a distance away. This earned him a glare from his sister. "Shut up." "Well, whatever," he said, shrugging, before turning to the other men he had been chatting with. Somehow the three men¡ªObi, Otto, and Beany¡ªstarted to chat around, though low-key trying to get information (and gossip) from the others. Beany was very good though, and they only realized the ''juiciness'' of what they said either after they already said it, or after the chubby man asked a follow-up question. The women''s side was much more carefree. At some point, Winona had lain down with the babies, while Olga watched them fondly. Lola chuckled and extended her hand to reveal a ceramic bowl filled with her cookies. "Want some?" "Oh, thank you," Olga said, nibbling on the delicious snack as she gracefully sat there. "You are so beautiful, I wonder how you''re still single." Lola had a very kind face and gentle voice, it made younger generations like talking to her. Olga awkwardly scratched her nose, "I haven''t found a man who interested me. If they do express their interest in me, all I see is greed for my money and status." In fact, most women would be fine with this¡ªeven flattered¡ªespecially if they were praised for their beauty. It was just that Olga was Gaia''s daughter. They were rare strong women who wanted gentleness and loyalty in their men¡ªthe type who would look only at them. Their conversation was cut when the loud giggles and yells of children resounded nearby. "Oh, oh, it''s Gochi and the others!" There was a guard team making rounds, checking this area in particular at this time because there were a lot of people. The Golds were surprised to see the half-orc right next to the leading guard¡ªwho was quite handsome by the way. At this time Maya and Mimi were playing tag, and Maya miscalculated a small slope and fell down. She happened to have fallen near the guards and the leading man immediately went to her to guide her up. "Be careful," he gently said, patting the dirt off. "Thank you, Drake!" "No problem, Maya." From afar, while chewing on her cookie, Olga couldn''t help but make a thoughtless comment. "He''ll make a great father," she said but froze when she realized what she just said. She flushed when she saw the two old women looking at her with mysterious smiles. "That''s not what I meant!" "That''s Drake, he gets very intimidated by beautiful women, so I suggest easing into it very gently." "That''s not what I meant!" Yana nodded, "Judging by his body proportions, he should have good body strength and strong seeds." "YOU!" Olga was aghast. How could they discuss this so openly?! "Is it Drake or not?" Winona asked, blinking, uttering the right questions. Olga blinked a bit. In fact, it wasn''t entirely just Drake. She found herself attracted to the manly and stable quality about them. Like true strength that came from within, one that didn''t need to hover their power over others. She pursed her lips and uttered it out, making the gossipy women make ''owh'' faces, nodding in understanding. "I see you have a type." "Well, our guard team have plenty of those. Shall I arrange some blind dates?" Olga''s eyes twitched, though she wasn''t as against the idea as she usually was. Soon the bell rang, signifying the working hours started. Immediately, most of the people stood up and scuttled, heading to work or hunt or to train. The Golds looked at each other and smiled, continuing in their vacation. Otto stretched his arms. "I''m gonna go back to the Casino." Obi immediately stood up, "I''m coming with you!" Olga shook her head and looked at her maids. "We''ll go to the spa later," she said, though she looked at the babies crawling and laughing and the children playing around and making the most of their ''school-free'' time while it lasted. Unbeknownst to many, it was not only the Golds who were observing the uniqueness that was Altera¡­ there were also other men, though they were obviously hostile, looking at everything in amazement and greed. "This is really a great target," One said to his companion, who was observing everything as if they already owned it. "It''s time to go back to Fargo." "Eh, maybe later," the other said, chewing on his barbeque. "I feel that we could still see so much more." Chapter 478 - 478: Escape Bright Village. The war was over and, as agreed upon, Micheal and those who wished to leave were allowed to leave the premises¡ªif they wanted to¡ªwith their lives. However, as they signed an agreement, Micheal and the others also had to sign an agreement wherein they would leave all their aggressive weapons in the territory¡ªincluding the bomb. They were also stripped of anything that could defend them outside the territory. This was basically still killing them. So it wasn''t a surprise that not many people came with Micheal in their exile. At least they were much safer within the territory walls, compared to the outside filled with monsters, bugs, poison plants, and a hundred other dangers. It had only been a few months since the Migration. Their experiences when they got transferred were still fresh in their minds. They simply couldn''t find the loyalties to risk their lives like that. This was just human nature and Micheal didn''t blame them at all. What''s more, the ones who stayed just felt lucky enough they weren''t like so many of the other survivors who were taken to the enemy territory to become slaves. Slaves. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Slavery was such a distant concept they had only encountered in history books. But now it was so real and so very possible, like a branding iron hovering over them, ready to mark them as such at any time. Their concept was a little abstract, but they had heard of its horrors. They would have to follow whatever was asked of them, to do whatever, to act however their owners wanted to. If they were asked to eat shit, they would, if they were asked to throw themselves in front of sentries, they still would. It felt like they gained a new life by retaining their freedom. How could they risk that? They would rather stay with these men than lose their lives or become slaves. At least these people were strong, and the ''master'' territory was stonger. However, most of them were humans who had friendships with the people ''heading to their deaths''. They felt sadness and guilt as they watched their former lord¡ªwho used to be so handsome and unattainable¡ªdrag himself out of the territory. There was a pitiful number of people who came with him, including Tom and little Lily. The only comfort was Juno was with them, at least. It was amazing that an Aborigine followed the former lord when he was technically not hired by him anymore. The other aborigines either left during the war or stayed behind to continue with their jobs. Anyway, to them, it didn''t matter if the person at the helm changed¡ªthey just needed to continue with their jobs. An Aborigine like Juno was extremely rare, especially in villages where people were ''nothing''. Eventually, the small group of people headed out, towards the dangerous forests without anything to defend themselves with. The crowd of their former allies felt guilty, sad, and regretful¡ª But¡­ they all had to live too right? ¡­ "Be careful, my Lord," The handsome Juno held Micheal''s weak arm as they trudged through the paths. "Thank you¡­" he said, "For everything." Micheal was really touched beyond words for this man''s protection. He didn''t think Juno would gain anything by staying with the current him. Juno was already in his late twenties. He had just turned Level 17 some time ago while defending the village from the strong mobs. It wasn''t a bad level and he could find better jobs in towns, yet he remained loyal to him for some reason. But how could Micheal know that Juno genuinely admired him? In his former territories, the lords were all greedy and selfish, and he had witnessed a lot of evil during his time serving them. He had witnessed lords kill people because they crossed his path and he had met lords taking money from his people¡ªincreasing taxes¡ªjust so one of his mistresses could buy an expensive dress in a city. He had met too many. In fact, his family died in the hands of such a lord. Seeing a lord like Micheal¡ªkind at heart but difficult to bully¡ªwas too rare. Juno stared at him before shaking his head, "It''s my duty to protect you. It is what I signed up for." Micheal stared at him. He knew that he could''ve gone away when they lost, but he didn''t. Juno protected him with his own body¡ªhis high level being the only thing that protected his life. Micheal smiled at this loyal Aborigine, and then looked at the others who were trudging along the dangerous forests with them. They were all very careful, lest they hit or get wounded by a poisonous plant¡ªin which case, there would be no helping them. The group comprised of about two dozen people. These two dozen people, who were among the lucky ones who weren''t pulled back as slaves, went with him not because they were extremely loyal to him. Rather, it was because they would rather die than stay in there. Some of them suffered too much during the war, and a lot of them lost loved ones. They left the safety of the walls due to the stark refusal to have anything to do with people who destroyed their homes and killed their families and friends. Similarly, there were also some who simply refused to live in fear. These people would rather risk everything and head to Altera, even if they had to start from scratch. Speaking of wealth, Micheal looked at his system wallet which had nothing at all. Not even a single silver or copper. The Lord''s wealth was tied to the territory. When they lost, he automatically lost half. Then Gingo threatened to kill his citizens in order to get his remaining money. The oath was very straightforward as well¡ªjust give them all his possessions¡ªand even he couldn''t utter a leeway. Even if they arrived to Altera, they would have to take massive loans in order to survive. No territory, lost allies and friends, and a head deep in debt¡­ Sigh. Micheal Berti had certainly never been in such a low before. Chapter 479 - 479: Badjau Soon, they started to encounter monster mobs after monster mobs. If it weren''t for Juno, they''d definitely be massacred by the monsters. Juno looked at them without speaking, but his actions told them everything. His presence gave them time to adjust to the shock, giving them some time to think of ways to protect themselves. Using whatever branch he could, he managed to defend some of them. Similarly, those who went with the lord were generally much braver than the others. So, following Juno and Micheal, most of these people also took up their weapons¡ªwhatever they were, sharp branches, rocks, and others¡ªto try and fight their way through the monsters. Juno really tried his best, doing much of the work as necessary as twigs really wouldn''t be able to do much, but at least most weren''t burdens and they were able to defend themselves until he arrived to rescue them. He continued to fight against the monsters, using skills as needed, getting a little injured along the way. Luckily, the stronger mobs had been cleared out before the war that the mob was on the weaker side with the strongest being a level 6. Otherwise, they''d have no chance without their weapons at all. As for how it was cleared, a lot of the strong monsters were killed when Garan''s team was with them. They also knew a lot of the hunting teams from Altera (and their own) had been weakening the mobs in the place, making the areas around Altera much safer than anywhere else. After that, they''d only encounter monsters in the weaker spectrum, no stronger than level 6 monsters. If other villages saw this, they would die in envy. Losses were still inevitable without weapons, however, and for the next hour or so, they did lose a few people. However, for now, they could only fight through it, hoping no more would be lost. At this time, they were fighting against a pair of level 7 monsters. Their cloths had been ripped and most of them had a lot of skin exposed. The only clothing intact were the undershirts Micheal, Juno, and Tom were wearing. They bought the clothing from Altera''s clothing maker. Lenny''s products provided good defense and wouldn''t get destroyed by monsters easily, especially not such ''weak'' ones. Nearby, Tom was also fighting hard, making sure Lily was protected. He was swiping a large branch, which really couldn''t handle a level 6 monster at all. All it took was a little swipe and Tom was off fighting it bare-handed again. Although he had a higher level than the monster, its physique was far superior to him. When it swiped at him with its clawed hands and he raised his hand to block it¡ªhe heard his bones crack, adding to his many injuries. "AHHHH!" S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He felt intense pain in his body and he wanted to run away from this hopeless battle. However, Lily was behind him, hiding in a shrub nearby. He was the only one in the team left to protect her, he would naturally use whatever he could to save her¡ªeven his own body. ROARRR!! The monster opened its mouth, preparing to eat him. Using all his strength, he captured the monster''s mouth with his bare hands, keeping them open for a few seconds. They scuffled for a while and his hand was soon punctured by its sharp teeth. He gritted his teeth as he kept it open to save his life. However, he could not foresee how its tail would move and it immediately tried to imbalance him. Tom saw this and somehow managed to avoid it. However, the following movements were so swift and big that it ended up hitting the area where Lily was hiding. "LILY!" He yelled and seeing the easier target the monster immediately shifted. Tom lunged and held its neck with its body, using all his strength to keep its mouth closed. "RUN, LILY!" The sobbing Lily could only cry, but she did not run. Instead, she carried rocks and threw whatever she could at the monster, trying to hit its weak spots. Despite her age, her father, Artie, and the other uncles tried to train her to defend herself. She still knew to target weak spots, and with great accuracy. Of course, throwing rocks would not do anything against monsters immune to bullets. ROAR! The annoyed monster shook its head wildly, and Tom was unable to hold on, flying against a tree. "OOF!" he yelled as his back rammed onto the tree. However, he didn''t even notice the pain as his wide eyes reflected the monster, opening its wide mouth to eat the little girl. "LILY!" Before the little girl was eaten though, a spear launched and went past the monster''s head. Immediately, a figure went to pull out the spear, taking down another monster after a couple of stabs. He turned to look at the young dark-skinned man who emerged from the bushes. It was one of their newest hires. He looked unsightly, bloody, and barely standing still, but he was alive and strong enough to kill the monster with a few shots. "Badjau!" Tom yelled, dragging his feet to get to Lily, who immediately ran to meet him instead. They watched as the man waved his weapon, assisting the others with the monsters they were facing. As soon as the monsters went down, his legs finally gave way and he fell down. Juno managed to catch him by the shoulder and guided him to rest against a tree. "What happened to you?" The man pursed his lips and tried to keep his tears at bay. "I''m sorry, they¡ª" "Tell us." Badjau pursed his lips, wiping his tears with his arm. His words confirmed that there had indeed been a number of people who had been camping near their territory. It was precisely their doing that so many people missing before the war started! He tried to follow them when he woke up and did find them. Their group was mostly dead, with the women raped to death and the men tortured. It was here that the people realized that even if the former lord didn''t withhold information, it''d have been useless. They''d have met an earlier death just outside the territory. No, they''d have met an even worse death! ¡­ They only allowed a few minutes of respite before they headed out. It happened that there were a few weapons in Badjau''s space, some for emergencies and some were his old weapons kept for storage and hoarding. He handed them to Micheal, Juno, and Tom. A lot of them had low durability and were barely holding on, but it was miles better than going against these monsters barehanded. With this, their chances for survival were much better, and they managed to deal with the next mobs¡ªa small group of around level 5 monsters¡ªwith no more losses. However, it couldn''t always be smooth¡ªit never was. Because then, somewhere along the way, they encountered a group of five level 8 monsters. By this time, their health and spirits had become dangerously low. This fight¡­ would definitely show some losses. But, what choice do they have? Micheal, panting, raised his sword and looked at the monster mob with sharp eyes. "FIGHT!!!" Chapter 480 - 480: Rescue They fought as valiantly as they could with whatever they had. Those with weapons were naturally the vanguards, and the rest tried to damage the monsters as they could. However, the few weapons they had had very low durability remaining. One by one, they gave way, leaving many vulnerable again. The first to give way was Tom''s. He was fighting a monster when his weapon finally broke. Fortunately, Badjau was right beside him, stabbing the monster before it could eat him. Only Juno''s, which was an unused spare, as well as Badjau''s, were showing no signs of degeneration as of yet. Unfortunately, without proper weapons, it was impossible to cause damage to such monsters and soon a handful of people perished and more became unable to fight. Micheal and the others who had weapons did their best to protect everyone else, regardless of their own wounds. This was especially true for Micheal who still felt guilty. Although intellectually, he knew it was not his fault, his heart clenched at the recollection of all those citizens¡ªpeople who had trusted him as their lord¡ªperished because of his shortcomings. This made his attacks grander and defenses stronger, saving many lives. Until his weapon also lost its remaining durability, that was. He gaped as his sword disintegrated into nothingness. His heart probably stopped then, and he could only stare as the massive mouth of a monster gestured to bite off his head. "Oh no!!!" his teammates yelled, but they were too busy with monsters in front of them to even move elsewhere. They sobbed a bit. They did respect Micheal to some point, and his death would be one of the biggest blows in their already-dwindling momentum! Just as they were about to lose hope though, a massive fire sword appeared like a flash, beheading the level 6 monster with its head dropping on the ground in front of him. Similarly, another monster was about to eat Lily¡ªwho was promptly shielded by Tom with his body¡ªwhen a shield appeared in front of them. It seemed to have a life on its own, pushing the monsters back, and leaving a trail of soil. It pushed the monsters away from the two. After a few meters, the beast was taken care of by the same fire slash that killed Micheal''s. They looked at the fights in amazement. Even Juno, who was an aborigine, was impressed. Tom''s protective arm around the little girl loosened and he raised his head to see the soldiers from Altera. They watched as the newcomers easily took care of the monsters that had been haunting them for so long. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. To their surprise though, even Althea and Ansel were using elements. Ansel''s was still a very small spark, but he was going against a hairy monster. Added with oil from space, he managed to give it a burning damage while dealing with it. Althea was even more impressive. Under the watchful eye of her husband, she created craters on the ground, destroying the balance and momentum of the monsters. She then used her katana to end the monsters with a couple of slashes. The mob was cleared in no time and the people could finally breathe. Everyone lost the feeling of their legs, finally succumbing to the debilitating exhaustion they had been keeping at bay the past few hours. "What happened to you guys?" Ansel asked with a sigh, ending up in front of Tom and little Lily. The others immediately fed healing potions to the refugees with a breathe, even if it seemed hopeless. Seeing an old friend, all the tears Tom had been holding back exploded. "ANSEL!!!" He sobbed making the man step back for fear of getting saliva and snot on him. The others who knew them also sobbed, "Ms. Althea!" "Sir Garan! Sir Luis!" Among them, only Badjau wasn''t familiar and he could only gape as one of the soldiers¡ªa man they called Sir Luis¡ªhanded him a potion to drink. "Can you drink by yourself?" "I¡­" Luis'' eyebrows rose. "Should I feed you?" Badjau flinched and shook his head, shakily taking the bottle into his hand. He knew this as a ceramic bottle, something he had seen back in Bright, and he knew that they weren''t cheap enough to just hand over to anyone. Badjau looked at it with a complicated expression and looked around, seeing the others received the same. Seeing them drink it, he did the same. He didn''t have much expectations, thinking it was something to help ease the pain or his hunger. But he realized his wounds were healing and how much lighter his body felt. "!!!" He had heard of this potion, but it was always out of stock! They just gave it? How much would he owe? He raised his head to thank the man and ask him how much he needed to pay (maybe even beg for a partial payment for now), but Luis was already feeding someone else. He blinked, putting the issue aside for now. Instead, he observed his team and the renewed atmosphere around them. All of the tension seemed to have disappeared as if they were certain that everything was going to be alright. His team now looked dependent on these newcomers, like kids finally with their parents. He had often heard of Altera and the various words of admiration to them. He had also looked forward to seeing what such a good territory like Bright couldn''t compare to, but¡ª These people had a lot more impact than he thought. ¡­ On another side, Garan also handed some potion to Micheal, who looked at him with a complicated expression. "Thanks," Micheal said, but he handed it over to Juno instead. This made the man flinch, not daring to take it. "Milord¡­" "Call me Micheal, Juno. I''m no lord anymore." "But¡ª" "You deserve it more," he said, "Just take it." His tone was that of an order and Juno leaned down, trying to hold back tears. "Thank you." Micheal nodded and looked around his party and saw there was only half of them left. He closed his eyes in pain. "You take one, too," Garan said, releasing another potion as if it was nothing. Micheal''s lips twitched. They¡­ really brought a lot of these. He then thought of how they went here on such short notice. He knew a lot of these potions were meant for them in Bright and his heart warmed. "I''m sorry¡­" he said, but there were plenty of unspoken words both men somehow understood. ''I''m sorry for the trouble'' he thought, and ''I''m sorry for being a useless ally.'' Garan sighed, "Some things are unavoidable," he said, shaking his head. "You did your best." Chapter 481 - 481: Shame The Alterans and the mobile refugees took a moment to gather the corpses and give them a proper burial. As always, they burned their corpses until they turned to ashes, dedicating moments of silence in prayer for their souls. They solemnly watched the bodies slowly return to the earth, their hearts heavy. Althea held her husband''s hand, resting her head on his shoulder. He held hers, rubbing it comfortingly. Her husband''s warmth never failed to calm her down¡ªto make her feel that things were going to get better soon¡ªthat these problems were temporary. After some time, Althea felt her shirt being tugged. She looked down and saw a pitiful-looking girl looking up at her, eyes lined with tears. She was biting her lips and looked a little intimidated as if fighting herself whether or not to bother her at this time. It was Lily. "Lily?" she blinked. "What''s wrong?" Her words of concern seemed to have triggered the held-back tears. "Sister¡­ help me¡­ wuuuu¡­" Althea flinched, immediately kneeling to level her eyes with the girl. She immediately wrapped her arms around Lily and the little girl buried her head on Althea''s soft shoulder. She sighed, patting the girl''s head as they embraced, "Oh, my poor Lily¡­" she mumbled and her motherly voice seemed to have opened a few more tear ducts. The girl sobbed for a while until Althea gently held her shoulders. Althea kindly wiped her tears and snot from her face with a clean handkerchief from the space. "Now, how can I help Lily?" Althea said, very gently, afraid the girl would sob again. The girl held her hand tightly, eyes filled with begging. "S-Save my father, please!" "What?" Althea uttered, looking around. Her eyes ended on Tom, who stepped forward to explain. Tom looked at the girl in pity, "Bruce¡­ was one of the people sent to be a slave," he said, and it made everyone''s faces darken. Although they had heard a lot about slavery here, this was the first time they heard their fellow Terrans becoming slaves. What''s more: It was fellow Terrans enslaving fellow Terrans. It made the tragedy feel more concrete and, unfortunately, too near their lives. "I see¡­" Althea patted the girl''s head. "Yes, we can help him." This made the girls'' eyes brighten with hope. Althea''s next words dampened it a bit, but it was still much more than she thought when they were still just escaping. "But we have to prepare," she told her, gently squeezing her nose. "We don''t want any more deaths, do we?" ¡­ After a short rest, the group finally gestured to go back home, eventually reaching the stopover. They camped in the intersection camping grounds, with Luis and the others making dinner for everyone. "It''s sad that us Terrans are fighting amongst ourselves. Worse, it even happened within my own circle." Micheal said, sighing. "What happened?" Garan asked, "The strength difference couldn''t have been so large?" After all, Bright had plenty of Aborigines as well as strong Terrans. What''s more: They had a lot of guns. "Well, they''re very powerful and they also had a lot of Aborigines," Micheal paused. "However, they¡­ they pretty much took away our legs even before they attacked." Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to detail the events. Micheal heaved a sigh to speak. It was him reliving the tragedies, but he knew they ought to get this information. "First, they poisoned our wells, so many people¡ªmost of our guards, even¡ªwere ill when the war happened." "Doesn''t system wells have self-cleaning functions?" "I''m not sure how they did it, but our investigations narrowed the source to the wells." The Alterans looked at each other in worry. This meant that system wells may not have cleaning functions. This was especially true for manually made wells like theirs. "They also made chaos during the war. There were stampedes and fights everywhere, and the remaining guards'' energies were drained as early as the war began." "The fact that all rules and regulations were null during wars was something not a lot of people know about¡ªit was something we hid just for this type of situation. But somehow, they found out and people started committing crimes. Stealing, mostly." Luis sneered as he turned the barbeques. If he wasn''t handling other people''s foods, he''d have spat on the floor to show disgruntlement. "It must be their people, causing chaos before the war." "I thought so too." "Fargo is also very strong. They were trained and had guns and even stronger aborigines." "The Village Center couldn''t have hired so many¡­ right?" Althea asked, wondering if she was just unlucky with her options. "It must''ve been Belize," Garan said, making everyone stare at him. "He''s an aborigine, but a powerful one. I think he is also an elementalist. It''s easy to assume he got his people in after the protection period ended." They could imagine the chaos arrogant aborigines caused¡ªespecially after looking at their low average levels. Micheal nodded. "That''s true. They had many people within the level limit, and the amount of pain those people caused us¡­" He closed his eyes and didn''t speak anymore. Juno beside him wanted to pat his back, but didn''t dare to. Juno, in the end, still believed Micheal was his lord. It was Tom who continued with the story, mentioning how Artie died and how they got Lily as a hostage. Realizing his words made him flinch, and he immediately whipped his head and looked at the girl, who was now shaking in Althea''s embrace. They sighed, feeling very sad for the girl. "They also weakened us by sabotaging people training outside," He added, and they looked at Badjau who looked like he''s in pain from the memory. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The young man then detailed what happened to them then, and it just made people''s blood boil. "They even gave Aborigines guns!" "Guns are useless against monsters here," Althea said, "They kept all that gun to deal with humans." "But¡­ even so¡­ Bright wasn''t weak," Garan said and the Alterans nodded. Indeed. They were the defending territory and their sentries were much denser than other villages. Belize and the others couldn''t have mobilized so many forces¡ªespecially not those within the level cap. In theory, it should''ve been a fifty-fifty battle. This¡­ was a crushing defeat. Micheal nodded, his eyes showing some hurt and a lot of people who knew him couldn''t help but feel pity. "Of course, there was the betrayal. My right-hand man, Gingo, had switched sides, willingly sacrificing all the people who saw him as a brother, just to become someone''s steward." "He stole my guns and killed some of my greatest fighters when they weren''t paying attention," he said. "They took advantage of our weakness to cause maximum damage." "Many people died. We couldn''t defend them well." "A lot of women were raped in the open air. It was horrible. Our own people helping those aborigines do their way with our women¡ª" Micheal gritted his teeth so hard that some blood came out. "Wars didn''t have to be so brutal. Yet they made it so! Maybe this happened in Aborigine villages, but this is a Terran territory!!" Micheal also looked at Garan, looking at him complicatedly. "There''s also something you need to know." "What is it?" "One of your people, I think his name was Gian," he said. "He came along with them." "What?" Garan and Luis looked at him in disbelief, and Micheal told them what he had seen. Gian actually stopped a lot of the open-air rapes and torture, but he didn''t do anything else. As a soldier, this was an extreme shame. Garan''s vein popped as he listened. They had so many enemies, but that guy decided to point guns at his own brethren. And Gian¡ª Why would that young man decide to switch sides? To such a horrendous human being? Gian was immature, but he was not evil. What did Fargo do to him? Garan raised his hand and punched the nearest tree. It cracked, soon falling down backwards. Amon Fargo! That bastard!!! Chapter 482 - 482: Back to Fargo (Part 1) Fargo Village Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Inside one of the villas in Fargo Village, an urgent meeting was being held. In the center was the former general Henry, and on each side were his children. The group of them, since Garan left, had fortunately only lost a few. The person they lost, a young man by the name of Jack, died because Gian decided to move to the other side. It was unfathomable to them and they almost died trying to kill him. However, Gian was strong, and those who could take him¡ªLeon and Santos¡ªwere unwilling until they heard of an explanation fro him. Why risk exposing themselves after holding back for so long? It was fortunate that everyone had signed strict oaths of non-betrayal, and Gian wouldn''t be able to leak any plans to Fargo at all. However, just in case, they did decide to shift their plans just in case so even if somehow Gian said anything, they wouldn''t be compromised. This wasn''t impossible primarily because of their new ''players''. During this time, there was also a small group of refugees from the north, led by soldiers. However, after what happened with Gian, they also got the newcomers to sign a non-betrayal oath for security reasons. With this their group even got bigger and, with Leon and Santos'' help, they had only gotten stronger in level. The two slowed down in level due to the weakness of the monsters around, but they were still strong at level 19 and 20, respectively. Obviously, Fargo couldn''t have been blind to the threat they could give. As for how they kept their lives despite this, it was because Fargo mostly depended on them to defend the territory. Fargo''s own guards pretty much just relaxed and did what they wanted. It was difficult, but they had to close their eyes to what was happening. In exchange, Fargo and his men would keep the lives of the people. It wasn''t a formal agreement, but happened through threats and actual murder whenever they showed any signs of rebellion. This was a silent agreement between the two parties, and it was how they kept their lives despite being possible ''threats'' to his reign. Or more accurately, he may not see them as threats at all. At this time, they were discussing the war Fargo started against a fellow Terran territory. "The war is over, I see," Henry, who was sitting at the center, said with a sigh. One of the reporting soldiers, Leon, told what he had gathered so far. "Yes, the teleportation array had just closed. It seemed to have been an easy win, considering the differing state of Fargo''s men compared to the slaves they brought with them." Heavy silence reigned in the room at the term. Slaves. There were Terran slaves now. And this was just in their territory, what else for many others? Not everyone fought against fellow Terrans, did that mean their people had become slaves to Aborigines as well? The thought sent heat to their heads, and more to their heart¡ªespecially due to their current helplessness about it. Victor sighed and looked at Leon, "What else?" He asked, "How¡­ were they treated?" Leon''s hands clenched as he reported. He couldn''t help but recall the poor state of the ''slaves'', saying what he had seen about their condition. First, they arrived bloodied and pitiful, showing signs that they had definitely suffered during the war. He noted the differences between the injuries of the men and the women. The men had their faces beaten up, and their bodies were full of bruises. The women¡­ looked relatively clean, but the way they walked¡ªhow they dragged their bodies¡ªwith some of them bleeding just down their legs, gave them an idea of what happened. Their wounds remained untreated the whole time and their paths traced a line of blood. They were taken directly to the slum area near the other gate. It was a place of makeshift houses with no amenities at all. There were no toilets and their food was placed in troughs¡ªvery much like what would be seen in a pig sty. Further, all of them were obviously exhausted but pushed themselves to not be left behind. Why? Because being left behind would mean they would be whipped by the Aborigines! Worse, they also saw their own Terrans¡ªthough mostly Fargo''s men¡ªdo the same. What the heck! Benny outright punched the ground, while another blonde soldier¡ªa middle-aged man named Ken¡ªjust cursed his heart out. "Those are our people! How dare they allow those Aborigines to treat them like that! And even do the same!" The others cursed as well, regretting how they couldn''t take away the token during the war. The plan was, during the war, they would take advantage of the chaos to take Fargo''s life. A lot of them were fully prepared to sacrifice for it. It was just that not only did Fargo stay in the territory¡ªhe pretty much stayed in his abode with his harem. He also surrounded himself with strong guards. It was basically impossible to get to him even if they killed themselves. Silence reigned the room for a while until they felt a shift in a soldier who was lying down the bed. He shifted, suddenly sitting up with red eyes. "My son! How could they do this!" He yelled. The man''s name was Rasso, one of Victor''s men. When he looked around and saw it was just them, he sobbed outright. He had just woken up from being fainted by one of the others, as he had gone a bit insane when he saw Fargo''s bully his teenage son. The others stopped him of course, even if they were dying to fight alongside him. Attacking the guards now would just get them incarcerated, and incarnation meant uselessness in the overall plans. They had so many things to achieve, so many people to meet again, how could they compromise that? Victor and Henry looked at each other and sighed, feeling heavy. Not only had they missed the opportunity to get rid of Fargo, now they had to watch him enjoy his regime through the suffering of thousands of others. But they gathered themselves quickly¡ªa quality of good soldiers¡ªand looked at the men who went to watch the progress of the war. "Detail what happened." "They defeated a pretty strong territory, it seems. It''s just that they did some underhanded tricks to win so cleanly." Victor nodded, "What are they using all the captives for?" Terrans didn''t use slaves, for the most part, and it just felt¡­ wrong to still be using the word ''slave''. In any case, the ''slaves'' were taken directly to an area near a new gate, and he just knew they were going to be used for something. "They found a lime deposit a few days back," Santos¡ªanother one of Garan''s members, an earth swordsman¡ªreported. "It seems like someone had fallen into a sinkhole, realizing there was a huge network of caves underneath." "There were monsters similar to bats¡ªonly much larger, and poisonous¡ªand a lot of people died. However, one of the survivors happened to have worked with lime before and reported his findings." "After careful study, the experts in the territory determined that it was indeed, limestone." The soldiers didn''t speak for a while. Limestone¡­ was indeed an important resource in the hands of those who could manage it. This was basically a treasure chest if they sold it, and if they decided to use it in the territory, too many things could change. "In their mind¡­ the Slaves¡ªthe captives¡ªcame just in time." "What do we do now, then? Wait another month? And what are the chances we could get to him by that time?" While they bide their time, the enemy was only getting stronger. How could they even rest? The room was tense. What could they do? Chapter 483 - 483: Back to Fargo (Part 2) Meanwhile, while his enemies either despaired, sobbed, or worried, Fargo was admiring his new riches and resources. It was just that he looked at his ''wallet'' and was sorely disappointed. "So little gold?" he asked, no one in particular. On his arm was a gorgeous tanned Aborigine woman he hired from the village center and another was a beautiful blonde Terran in her twenties. At his question, the reporting men quickly explained themselves. "The sentries were relatively plenty at around 300 meters apart. They also developed the territory and it could be seen that the lord invested in infrastructure. "Hm¡­" Fargo relaxedly watched the video recorded in his hand. The aborigine woman looked at the ''magic image'' in awe, while the blonde looked curious. The camera was taken from a poor teenager killed early on. This was chargeable with a solar panel they took from another poor bloke that was now similarly part of the soil. He had always liked chaos, but he didn''t like to get dirty. It gave him the feeling of being a god¡ªgiving orders here and there and then seeing the news, the videos, of what his words created. However, seeing this, it was no wonder people liked going to war so much. He made a mental note to watch it in person next time. In any case, although it was a pity he wasn''t able to see it for himself, it was enough to know he held a new token. As he admired the sufferings captured in the videos, he also observed the state of his new territory. "This is impressive. Did they buy custom buildings?" The video also showed farms, shops, and a variety of food products. He really made money. "We got them. They''re richer than I expected." "Those goods," he asked, "Where are they?" The men looked guilty, and Fargo''s eyebrows rose. The food was basically consumed by their men as soon as they got them. There was no way¡ªthey had been enduring horrible food for two months!! Of course, they left enough for the lord (and a few favorite women) to enjoy for about a week. So this was what they presented. It wasn''t that Fargo didn''t notice, but he (and his women) were fascinated by the selection. The men felt guilty and then terrified when they saw the nozzle of guns pointed at their heads. They immediately flopped down to beg. "We apologize, milord! We apologize!" "You stole from me, don''t you know what happens to people who stole from me?" "Milord¡ª" BANG! BANG! Fargo looked coldly at the reporting men. Anyway, there were plenty of people who went to Bright and these two had been underwhelming. They probably fought for a chance to report to him to show off. Turned out to be one of the last decisions they''d ever make. The other people seemed unperturbed by the murder that just happened. Umi, the aborigine pleasure worker he hired, looked very interested as she sauntered towards the items. Her tanned hands took a ceramic bottle. It took a few moments for her to figure out how to open it, but her nose caught a whiff of something sweet as soon as it did. She put her curly hair behind her ears as she looked closer, sniffing. It''s an astringent smell, but she didn''t dislike it. Around this time, another soft hand took it, doing the same. The owner of the hand was a bombshell blonde from Eden named Becky. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This is jam," she said, eyes looking at the other items. Her face brightened in amazement as she found a box of crackers. She took one and placed a few drops of the viscous goodness on the cracker. Umi¡ªa female pleasure worker and therefore had a status just above slaves¡ªcould only watch with envy. She couldn''t be like this presumptuous woman at all! Becky tasted the goods and sexily moaned. "So good!" She exclaimed, genuinely surprised. "This was locally made? Amazing!" Fargo stood up and went to them. Becky smiled and made another one, feeding Fargo himself. After feeding him, she couldn''t help herself and took a few more. He was also impressed, and he looked at his men for more information. "How did they make so much? Do they have a food expert? Where is this person?" They shook their head, which made Fargo frown. Before he said anything though, they hurriedly explained, afraid to find the next bullets in their heads. "The expert is not in Bright." "They''re all from Altera. Bright just got some techniques and seeds from them." "Altera, eh?" Amon uttered, recalling when he first encountered the name. "Has the person who investigated returned?" When he saw the first spy die, they sent a few more. They should have arrived by now. "Not yet, milord," the man said, answering his question. "But he should be getting back here within this week." Amon nodded before sitting back down, taking out Bright''s lord token. The appearance of the lord token was identical to his. He looked at it for a moment before deciding to merge it, willing it to join his own. [Would you like to merge your Lord Token with Bright Village (Lv3) Token?] Yes. The light of the merging appeared in his hand and soon a bigger token with a new crown on the side appeared. He looked at the additional stats and he saw the facilities with a glint. With this, he could also use the custom building he got from Bright. The lifestyle of his upper community would only improve. Of course, how could Fargo be satisfied with this? What he got from Bright was already very good. The goods from the original territory would definitely not be inferior. Maybe¡­ they have even more varieties that couldn''t be sold to others. Just the thought of new finds made his blood boil in excitement. He looked at the Visionstone panel and saw there was still no new information. He knew it''d take time, and he was quite looking forward to what he''d see... simply because it''d be his soon. "Get Ready. Study Altera well," he said and his eyes darkened as he looked at the name. "We''re going to take them next." "Yes, boss!" Chapter 484 - 484: Suspicious Smell Altera. That afternoon, while Althea''s group was carefully heading back with the injured, the rest of the territory was doing their usual lunch routine. Those on their lunch break were lining up or exploring around, those who hunted near the territory during mornings were now heading back for a break, and the batch of guards who were preparing to change shifts was about to do their rounds inside the territory. One of the guards was Gochi, the half-orc, who was walking towards the square with his team members. They were laughing and smiling, as if it was the most normal thing, and to be frank Gochi was still not used to it. Speaking of, the fact that he could get a job and make good money with his own job, and have his own choices¡­ this was something unimaginable to him. He wished the others were with him. "Okay, our shift starts now," Their team lead¡ªReno¡ªthen showed them a hand-drawn map of the territory. "Although a lot of the main rule execution is done by the system, I want to remind everyone that our shifts is still important. "For one, we are needed for emergency situations and to handle cases where the system¡ªor the sentries¡ªcouldn''t or didn''t need to be deployed." "This is also a chance to let our people feel the presence of the guards even within the territory." He then assigned a few of them to their own areas. Because there weren''t many of them, they were only assigned in pairs to go around in a specific scope, each with their weapons prepared. Gochi was assigned with Amos this time and they were assigned to go to the Southern Market Street area. Some of the others looked at them in envy, and they only smiled as they headed towards it. The market streets were the best assignments! Of course it also meant a lot more work than others. Especially, because it was lunch break, most of the food stores had queues. There were also a lot of ''mobile stores'' that were carrying some snacks on a board tied to them. "Gugu Sticks for sale! Comes in three flavors!" "Dried Gouji Berry! A great appetizer AND dessert for the whole family!" And so on. Gochi smiled as someone who sold special flavor jerkies approached them. The two bought a handful each to snack to consume while they walked. He didn''t eat immediately though, still relishing in the fact that he just bought delicious food and also bought it with money he earned. "Not gonna eat that?" Amos asked, pointing at his food while chewing on his. It was super delicious and he wondered if their half-orc friend just bought some to be polite. In which case, he would also not be polite and take it off his hands. Gochi flinched but handed it over. Amos saw his facial expression and chuckled, knowing he didn''t want to. "I''m kidding," he said, handing it back to him. "You know, you can tell us No." Gochi stared at him, a little surprised, though he really shouldn''t be after staying here for so long. "A-Ah," he said, though not saying anything else as he ate his food in a partial daze. The two made their rounds, all while watching if any chaos was happening or would happen. It was peaceful of course, because not only were the regulations extremely specific, but people just behaved better in general when there was ''law enforcement'' in the vicinity. However, sometime during their rounds, they passed through a large crowd who were going from the Market street and back to their respective workplaces. Gochi''s steps halted and he abruptly turned his head in a direction. His eyes narrowed somewhere in the crowd which was slowly getting farther from them. "Gochi?" The half-orc didn''t say anything, concentrating, until eyes narrowed at a couple of men, quickly gesturing to follow. "Oi¡ª" Amos tried to call to him, but Gochi turned to him with a serious expression. His eyes had a different lightness to it, too, and somehow he was far more intimidating than before. "They''re a bit suspicious." Amos blinked, following his sights. "Where?" Gochi nodded, certain. A half-orc''s instincts with emotions and intent was next only to goblins. Those two men¡­ were extremely hostile to them. Gochi''s eyes sharpened and shone a sharp light. He wouldn''t allow anything to pose a threat to his current life. ¡­ Althea and the others soon reached the outskirts of their territory. The entire time, they couldn''t help but wonder about that poisonous territory. They had been allies with Bright for a long time, they inevitably knew a lot of things. They worried if they managed to get information about them from the Bright citizens. Even if not immediately, they''d eventually come across the information. "They must know of us," Ansel said, referring to military strength. Garan shook his head. "Our elements are indeed public knowledge, but we never revealed our levels. "Even if we did, most of us can''t participate anymore." Only Luis could participate in the wars now, actually. The rest could only defend. "Wow. Didn''t know our leveling up so fast worked against us." "Well, the territory is already much stronger than others. While we can''t be complacent, with enough preparation we should be able to manage it." "The target is to minimize the losses as well," Althea added. "It is likely Fargo had already deployed spies in our midst." "That jerk." "We will find them for sure! And torture them to death!" More curses abound and Althea looked on, sighing. "We have to be very careful," Luis said. "Their forces are very strong. I know that they have a lot of level 20s on their side, and even if they didn''t participate directly in the war¡­ they killed a lot of my people outside." Hopefully, she would get more useful hires by then, even if they were relatively low-level. As much as possible, she didn''t want to lose anyone and, with the number of strongmen Fargo had, it was likely they would lose a lot. She looked at Garan who was in an obvious bad mood. It made Althea a little anxious, too. The man noticed Althea''s worried look and his face eased. He held her hand, massaging it in comfort. "Don''t worry, my love," he told her, "It''s nothing we can''t handle." S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 485 - 485: Following the Spies Althea, Garan, and the others arrived back to the territory, feeling heavy. Althea didn''t even bother fighting when Garan carried her to the bathroom so they could bathe together. The lovemaking was particularly wild in the bathroom and she reckoned it had to do with him being reminded of that accident again. He had been trying to comfort her, but it was no doubt he was a little anxious. It had to be said that Althea knew her husband well. Garan was indeed anxious¡ªreminded of his childhood helplessness¡ªand he wondered if Fargo was as big as he was to the young him. Even if he was big and strong now, a part of him worried if the strength gap was still just as big. Inevitably, he also looked for comfort, and he also wanted to feel Althea''s presence more¡ªcausing a very strong libido. About half an hour later, Garan calmed a bit, gently washing her legs under the water. Relaxed, Althea''s neck rested on his generous chest, and she looked at her panel to see what she could prepare immediately. She looked at her many golds and how much she probably earned from the aborigines alone. With this, the husband and wife planned the max defenses in her next upgrade. There was a limit in the manpower they could mobilize, but she could make the territory and buildings themselves as powerful as they could get¡ªat the very least, as impenetrable to their enemies as possible. She even decided to add level five walls on small spots within the territory. This way she would have sentries in the middle of the territory, acting as watchtowers. But¡­ looking at her husband, hugging her tightly, particularly in heat, she decided to defer it until later. Fortunately, she would remember to put them out before a war. ¡­. At this time, Gochi and Amos were following the mysterious group of people. Amos was actually thinking that Gochi was maybe overreacting at first, but then they followed them long enough to see that it wasn''t the case. One of the notable things about system buildings was that they had much better insulation than others¡ªprobably due to everyone''s improved hearing¡ªand was therefore made it much harder for them to eavesdrop. It was just that Gochi had very sharp hearing and Amos could read lips¡ªa skill he developed growing up in his environment¡ªso they could actually catch parts of what these people were saying. They soon confirmed that these people were hostile, speaking about where the wells were and which parties seemed greediest. They also spoke of when to cause chaos and how to maximize their kills. Then they heard the word Fargo a few times and they knew exactly where these people were from. Speaking of, the two of them had to wear large cloaks bought at the fabric store because they¡ªespecially Gochi¡ªwere just too eye-catching. They listened well, thinking they were very subtle. For a while, they seemed to have succeeded, until¡ª "Gochi! Amos!" The two flinched when they were called. It was Mimi, being energetic as always. "Shhhh!" "Shhhh!" Mimi blinked, mimicking the two men, "Shhh!" She had seen her favorite fox tail below the table, and immediately recognized the two. She liked Gochi very much and, because they were in a restaurant, she thought he was on a break or something. "Quiet," Amos said, quietly, as he covered her mouth before she said anything else. The little girl nodded. Such secrecy excited her very much. "Watcha doin?" She asked, but in a semi-whisper she thought was quiet. Amos tried to hold down an exasperated sigh. "Don''t talk anymore," he said, "I''m trying to catch bad guys." The little girl''s eyes widened at the word, extremely excited. "Bad guys?!" She squealed behind his hand, but then immediately shut her mouth when she realized what she said. They heard a clutter and saw the men had already stood up and left, probably hearing the commotion. The men were very fast, expertly waving through the crowd. They very quickly disappeared from their line of sight and Amos cursed a little. Unfortunately for the suspicious men, Gochi also had a very good sense of smell and the two immediately ran out to follow to the right direction. "Here¡ª" Gochi said, though he just went straight in the direction. Amos immediately ran after him, though struggling to follow. It took Gochi a couple of minutes but he soon found them among the crowd. With a soft growl, Gochi immediately lunged¡ªpretty much teleporting above them. The enemies noticed too late when a shadow already loomed over them. BANG! S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The next thing they knew, they were already stepped on by a massive ''man''. "WHAT!" "AH!" They tried getting up but they were all punched down, and they felt too dizzy to do anything. Then they felt a massive impact and they realized they were punched dizzy before they could absorb what was happening. BANG! BANG! While the spies were being confused, the move fell under many bypassers'' eyes. "So¡­ cool." "I didn''t know you could beat people up in the territory," said a new arrived person, and he was answered by the stranger next to him. "Guards can, apparently." "Another reason to aim for it." They were not wrong, and Althea paid a hefty sum to add this exception in the rules and regulations tab. Of course, there were plenty of others who were alarmed by the show of violence. "It''s a little scary though?" "Yeah¡­ what if a guard decided to hurt someone?" While the crowd whispered, Amos finally appeared in the scene. Amos'' eyes twitched as he looked at Gochi beating up the men (holding punches, obviously) and he looked at the bystanders who donned different expressions on their faces. He cleared his throat to explain the violence. "They''re spies from Fargo!" he said, "They were planning on poisoning our wells!" "WHAT?" At this, all the doubts were gone and if food wasn''t so precious here, they''d have thrown some to the men''s faces. Someone even wanted to join in hurting the men when he was held back. "You''re not a guard. Wanna go to prison?" "Ah, right." "Let''s get those slots this time!" "Yeah!" In the meantime, while citizens fantasize on beating them up, the men could only passively accept the beating. Gochi was holding back his punches a lot, otherwise they''d be dead by now. At the same time, he also knew how to hurt them most and the men were dizzy in pain. Even when they were hauled up, they could barely absorb anything, and only snapped out of it a bit when they were already being tied. They were specialized ropes (since metal was still too expensive at this time) that were knotted in a way that''d get tighter the more one struggled. "WHAT?!" "LET US GO! PTOOEY!" Another one yelled, then spitting out loose tooth. "WHAT IS THIS?" They lost their voice when the big man from before loomed over them. Then they saw his sharp fangs and tails, his sharp beastly eyes sending shivers down their spine. Not a human! They hadn''t been in Altera long enough to know most of the details. They didn''t know there was an orc here, and seeing such an odd creature naturally shook them. They were pulled towards somewhere in a daze, for some reason unable to move as if paralyzed, except their feet were moving. Some people thought the men were just scared, but they forgot these were terrorists who had blood on their hands. They could be shaken by Gochi, but scared to utter obedience? Of course not. This was thanks to Gochi''s orc skill¡ªPartial Paralysis. Orcs and half-orcs would gain one Orc-skill after reaching level 10. This was Gochi''s, though it hadn''t been very useful before. It was a skill that had a success chance of 20%, but for some reason, it worked well at this time. He might not be able to decide what would be paralyzed, but since the men were so shocked at his appearance, it was their mouths or their will to fight that had been affected. While they were being hauled somewhere, the men could only watch their own bodies move, unsure what fate would meet them. Chapter 486 - 486: Freezing Torture Prison. Gochi''s ability lost its effect when they were already near the prison. When they did, it was only then when Gochi fainted them. As for why he didn''t do it from the get-go, he was surprised to see his ability really working and wanted to see it. That said, he would feel if it lost the effect and therefore he was prepared to off them as needed. The two were thrown like sacks in their cell, with several guards looking at the unconscious men in distaste. "So they''re from Fargo, eh?" Drake said, and the two mentioned what they overheard. "They are definitely suspicious," Luis said, drinking his juice as he was still resting from that run to Bright. "They''re here a month before they could attack us. They''re definitely planning on causing a lot of chaos like they did in Bright." The guards immediately made a face and kicked the damned spies until to vent. They dare try to threaten Altera! Pal! Bang! Pow! The men were eventually jolted awake by the pain, making them pause. "Ah, they''re awake now," he said. The men flinched and tried to bite something, but realized they couldn''t, having sticks in their mouths. The guard team learned quickly after that previous loss. Gochi was a little confused. "What is the stick for?" "Spies sent by Fargo have special poisons hidden in their mouths. They were about to consume it to take their own lives. Gochi was very surprised. He didn''t think of this! He looked guilty. If they had managed to bite while he was taking his time with them, then they''d have lost a lot of information! It was lucky they believed they could escape, otherwise they''d be dealing with corpses now. "I apologize." "No, you already did very well," Reno said, patting his shoulder. "You may go back to your post. We will call you once we need you." "Yes, sir," he said, heading out. The soldiers and guards that remained watched the prisoners struggle to get out. The soldiers looked at each other, a sudden tension dawning on them. "So¡­ who''s gonna call the captain?" One asked, and another looked away. "He carried sister-in-law back home¡­" They paled at his words. "Damn¡­" The tension between them became palpable until someone immediately headed out the door. "I¡­ have something to do," one said, disappearing from the room. "Me too," said another. "Yes, me also." And another. The next thing Luis knew, he was alone with the suspects! Luis''s eyes twitched. Traitors!! _____ While the couple really planned their intimacy to be very short¡ªthere were too many things to handle¡ªthey didn''t expect it to be cut so short. So, when Garan was asked to go to prison, it was not surprising that he was oozing with a dark cold aura. The two spies locked up in the Guard Station shivered for their lives as he approached, cold creeping down their feet. Althea had come with him to the prison though, so he was still much milder than expected. "You don''t have to come here," Garan said, turning to her, his cold expression calming down. He looked a bit worried. "I wanna see," she said with a non-negotiable tone while crossing her arms. "Don''t hold back." Seeing his wife stubborn like this, he had no choice but to torture them in front of her. First, he froze their bodies. He also froze their mouths open as they yelled. All of a sudden, large metal needles as long as a palm appeared, stabbing their cheeks with it. A single move made a good patch of cheek skin fall off. He skillfully avoided much of the splatter as he stepped back, considering the men yelled for their lives and a lot of their saliva splattered. Gill walked over and looked at the displaced skin on the ground, using a stick to study it. "They''re suicide pills." Eagle looked over and shook his head. "To think people are so loyal to Fargo that they''d rather die¡­" Gill shook his head. "Not necessarily. These were surgically placed in them. If they took it out by force, it could''ve been activated." The only way to have it removed was like how the Captain did: taking it away with the flesh. Garan''s azure eyes watched as the encased men who were looking at him with wide eyes. He raised his hand, which emitted some kind of smoke, except it was heavier than air, and crawled down instead. Garan walked over to the men who were shivering both from cold, in pain, and in fear, placing his hand over their heads. And the scream that followed would make it seem like they would vomit out their own intestines. ¡­ When Garan emerged from their temporary prison, the spies were basically half-dead¡ªthey were still shivering from cold and pain, and maybe a little insane¡ªand they got quite a bit of information. Althea watched this in interest. They were lucky that Garan was great a¡­ interrogator, but what if the person was harder to crack? These two were quite difficult already, and if it was done by others they might not have succeeded. Although people could swear in the Territory Center, there would be plenty of cases like this one where it wouldn''t work. Except maybe if they forced the person to speak the exact words they needed, which was pretty much impossible to do for men who were willing to take their own lives to keep a secret. This whole thing inspired her to experiment on another potion¡ªsomething like a Truth Potion of sorts. For example, chemicals like Oxytocin and Serotonin could be tapped, or she could create a formulation that would cause havoc in the prefrontal cortex. Well, she added that to the long list of things to research in the Research Center. Garan looked at the others and gestured for them to follow him to the meeting room in the Barracks area. It had been a couple of hours or so since they arrived, so they ought to have rested enough. Garan''s face immediately morphed into a gentle smile as he walked toward his wife and stood in front of her. "I''m sorry it took so long, they were a bit tough." Althea shook her head and took a clean handkerchief from her space, wiping a bit of blood that splashed on the side of his neck. "You did very well, my love." She also made water balls for him to wash his hands, and they went to the meeting room while holding hands. Garan''s face was calm and happy, and no one would think he was coldly torturing two men an hour prior. Micheal and Juno, after receiving some preliminary treatments, were also called in. Garan stood in front of the room, looking at them with a dire face. "It''s confirmed. Fargo will be attacking us next." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Let''s just kill him," Sammy said, punching the air as if Fargo''s face was there. "At worst, we''ll just take all his citizens." Many others agreed. "Devils like that shouldn''t be walking on the same ground as us." Of course, there were some who were also reluctant with the plan. For instance, Eagle. "That''s more than 10000 people¡­" "Altera could take that easily." "It may not want to," the man said, and Garan nodded at this. As Micheal listened in, he suddenly recalled some talks of Fargo''s men. He was half dazed in pain, but he was fairly certain of it. "I''m not sure if this is the time for it, but I recalled some information about Fargo Village." "What is it?" "I heard they found large limestone deposits," he said. He knew for a fact that Altera had been actively looking for limestone, promising higher contribution points for it. This naturally caught everyone''s attention. "What?" Micheal shut his eyes, hands gripping his arm. "They said that the slaves came just in time." "Damn them!" Luis yelled, and Sammy almost got some hair as he pulled out his own hair in annoyance. "Shit!" "Those bastards! How can they do this?!" Oslo and Rowan looked at their reactions, and then at each other. "This isn''t anything new in this world. Those enemies of yours just fit right in, ensuring their survival." But they flinched when the Terrans whipped their heads to look at them, "Of course we know that! That doesn''t mean we won''t get annoyed." "A-Ah, I apologize." Althea frowned, feeling angry inside as well, but outside she remained impassive. Her continuous tapping on the table eventually echoed through the room, and one by one the arguing men stopped talking. "That just gave another reason for this war," she said, and the others stared at her. Traditionally, wars happened as a fight for resources and, to be honest, Althea never imagined them waging war for it. How funny life was sometimes. She looked at Mathilda and then at Garan, who nodded in agreement. It was Garan who spoke up, finalizing their next move. "We will be attacking Fargo Village, instead." Chapter 487 - 487: Plan They all looked at her a little startled, but at the same time not really shocked. "They would definitely target us next," Garan nodded, agreeing. "We should attack them before they could attack." This was not an easy decision on Althea''s part. She never thought she''d actually ever be an attacker¡ªshe had always only wanted to be the defending party as it was much safer for their people¡ªbut their current enemy forced their hand. "They already used their attack slots and, although they didn''t receive much damage, they wouldn''t have guessed they''d be attacked so soon." It so happened that Garan and the others had already landed there and it was already on her map, so it was no problem to attack them as soon as they were ready. "Now that we''re on the attacking side," Garan began to speak, shutting up everyone else. "It complicates a lot of things." "On the defensive side, we only had to maintain our walls and keep most of the enemies out." With strong men on the defense, the sentries, the walls, and all the preparations, their position was basically guaranteed. "As long as we watched the internal workings and prevented them from damaging our people and infrastructure, this would not be too difficult." This was an understatement, of course, but he didn''t want his men to be complacent. "Now that we''re on the attacking side, the planning would be much more thorough. We also have to complete all preparations quickly and catch them completely off-guard. Finally, we need to find a way that wouldn''t unnecessarily risk anyone. "Attacking head-on, especially a territory like Fargo with strong guards, guns, and sentries, would be dangerous. Even if we win, we''d suffer a lot of losses. "Loss of life is rarely worth it." The Terrans nodded¡ªtaking it for granted¡ªwhile the aborigines stared, their hearts pounding. They felt these people weren''t even pretending, they truly didn''t want to sacrifice anyone at all. Even if it would be troublesome and expensive, they would choose the safest path. This made the aborigines'' hearts feel full, Altera showing once again that it was a territory worth fighting for. To the Terrans, though this was common sense, so their discussion had quickly shifted to the modes of attack. "We already have people there, but with the entries of those strong aborigines, I highly doubt they managed to make enough waves." "That''s fine, it''s good to stay low-key, they would be hunted down otherwise." Garan nodded, proceeding to take out a paper and pen to sketch what they knew about the territory. They had always wanted to fight Fargo one way or another so they naturally researched a lot, and so did Henry and Victor. "Fargo is located in a valley, further surrounded by cliffs." "What a good location¡­" Mathilda mumbled, nodding. It was easy to defend and difficult to attack. "Well, fortunately, we have the teleportation array." "Yes, but we won''t be depending on that. As Fargo did with Bright, we''d be placing plenty of people nearby even before the war." Garan said, immediately coming up with a plan. "We can try to weaken their forces one by one. The risk was that Fargo and the others would realize it eventually and get prepared." This excited a lot of people. They also wanted to hunt Fargo''s men. The plans became more and more concrete, some were scrapped in the middle due to the high risks, but with many heads and a passion to kill, they came up with a pretty decent plan to minimize their losses. It was quite expensive, especially for their weapons makers and¡­ Althea''s team. Garan looked at her again, confirming if she could really, really, do it, and she nodded for the nth time, assuring him of her abilities. "We should also send people to get closer to him," Gill finally said. "Who, though?" They put this matter aside for a bit, discussing other areas such as the timeline and the resources required. Their discussion was cut when a knock on the door sounded, revealing one of the guards. "A civilian is here, wanting to talk to anyone in position," he said. "She said it''s regarding Fargo." They looked at each other and nodded. However, when it was the beautiful Juni who entered the room, everyone was surprised. Gill stood up with furrowed eyebrows, "Why are you here?" he asked, a little guarded. "I heard about the spies," she said, her eyes shaking a bit when she saw him. However, she didn''t say anything inappropriate. If anything, she actually looked past him. "I suggest sending spies there as well." "Why do you know that?" Gill asked, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows. She pursed her lips. "I was there when the spies were captured. I¡­ have been following them." She wasn''t sure what she''d do, but she wanted to learn more. She had used her acting skills to lower her presence. She even wore some disguise while following them, and she had indeed heard of some questionable things. The guardedness in Gill''s eyes dissipated a bit¡ªhe was aware that Juni had liked doing detective work back then¡ªand to be frank Juni felt a bit broken-hearted that his suspicions were there in the first place. Mathilda cleared her throat, clearing the awkward atmosphere. She walked over and held Juni''s hand¡ªholding the hand of someone she had once believed would be her daughter-in-law. "We were just talking about that," she said with a gentle smile, "Do you have a proposal on how we''d go about this?" Juni nodded. "Me. I hope to give it a try." She felt Gill''s warm hands on her arm, pulling her closer to him, whispering. "Why?" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I need to get some fresh air." "What??" Gill exclaimed, pausing, trying to calm himself. "You¡­" Behind Gill, someone whispered to the person next to him in a gossipy tone. "She''s not going to betray the entire territory because of Boss Gill, is she?" A woman''s ire knew no bounds, after all. He thought he was whispering, but everyone had better hearing now after all. Even Juni heard the side comment. "I will sign a contract. I want to contribute. I hope to receive a good contribution for this, that''s all." Althea and the others looked at each other, wondering if this was the good way to go. Then, they looked at Gill, who knew the woman best among them. "What do you think, Gill?" Chapter 488 - 488: Juni (Part 1) Trigger Warning: Hints of Rape. You''ve been warned! ¡­ ____ Z City, a year prior Inside a posh hotel room reserved only for the elites, signs of passionate activity abound. Upon entering, one would be met with a room oozing in the smell of sex. Inside, one would see the messy sheets, ripped clothes, and signs of blood in different parts of the room. On the bed was the lone figure of a very beautiful woman. Her body was filled with bruises and dried fluids. There was even a loose handcuff on her hand, and reddish marks on the other appendages. Her eyes were red and dull, looking at nothing in particular. It took a long while for her to absorb the reality of everything, realizing that this wasn''t just a nightmare she was so unlucky to have. She ran to the bathroom and opened the shower, drenching herself for a good ten minutes before she shook out of it. Feeling it wasn''t enough, she ran to the sink to open the disposable loofah, scrubbing herself harshly. She rubbed and rubbed until her skin turned red and it stung when the water touched it. "Dirty¡­ dirty¡­" she sobbed, trying to clean herself from the filth she was forced into. "No¡­ so dirty¡­ so dirty¡­" But no matter how hard she scrubbed, it felt useless. In a daze, she went out of the bathroom all wet, looking at the messy room, wondering what to do next. Inexplicably, her eyes ended up on the broken bottle on the floor, right on the side of the bed. It was broken while she tried to escape, desperately yelling for help, but no one came. She struggled for a long time until her cuffed hands bled but, obviously, she wasn''t able to escape in the end. There were three men who vented on her body the entire night, and recalling even a single scene made her skin crawl in disgust¡ªfeeling as if she had ants under it. It dominated her mind, much more than the pain under her crotch or the many bruises she had on her body. It was too much. She just wanted the discomfort to end. Her feet moved on their own, and she soon found herself right above the broken bottle. She flinched a bit as she accidentally stepped on a broken piece, but she moved forward anyway, her feet leaving a trail of blood on the velvety carpet that witnessed all her sufferings. She leaned down, taking the biggest piece on her hand. It nicked her soft hands a bit, but she didn''t mind. On the contrary, she found the pain and blood a little fascinating. However, before she could do anything else with the shrapnel, her phone rang. It was thrown at one of the walls back when she was just pulled into the room, but it happened to be a very quality one Gill got for her. Gill¡­ The ringtone was their couple song, and she immediately knew who was calling. She let go of the sharp object and ran to her phone, shakily holding it up with her bleeding hand. However, she could not bring herself to answer it at all. Her Gill¡­was finally calling after nearly a month of absence. She knew that he must''ve returned from his mission. Normally, she would be jumping for joy, excited to finally hear his voice again. Now¡­, she could only sob in despair. ______ Altera Village, Present "So, what do you think, Gill?" Althea asked, and the man in question turned to Juni. Gill''s sharp eyes met her gentle ones, and for a moment it seemed they were communicating through them. "Can we talk? In private?" She nodded and the two excused themselves to talk in one of the private rooms. Gill sighed as he closed the door, looking at the woman who was standing gracefully on the other side of the room. "Look, there are plenty of ways to handle this." "I want to do this, it''s not just because of you," she said with a seductive smile, walking towards him. "However, if you decide to get back with me, I might change my mind indeed." Gill frowned as he caught her hand which was about to touch his face. She shook her head and took her hand back. Could she blame him? Of course not. At that time, she broke up with him in a hurry after her infidelity. He tried to talk to her, to figure out what happened, but Juni couldn''t face him at all. She did something stupid then¡ªwhen she saw he was calling, and she happened to have been at a party, she seduced a man. She let him hear their flirtations, just so he could give up on her completely. When he hung up, she also left the man alone, just locking her up in her room to cry. But after experiencing so much life and death in the two subsequent disasters, she didn''t want to have any more regrets. She just wanted to be with him again. But that too, was too late now. But she still wanted him to know everything. She didn''t know what would happen in this mission. At the very least, she wanted her story to be known¡ªat least by Gill. "That night we broke up, there was a company party." S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What is this about?" he asked, impatient, though Juni just went on and told her story. "It was led by a man named Cain. It started pretty standard, a little flirting that I had to endure, but nothing serious," she told him. Gill''s eyebrows began to furrow as he looked at her, though not interrupting her anymore. "But I started feeling groggy, and I soon lost consciousness. The next thing I knew, I was doused in aphrodisiac and chained to bed." Gill turned pale as Juni looked at him. "I broke up with you because I was molested, chained, and taken advantage of by several men." "What?" Gill exclaimed, eyes straightening as he looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. He looked at her to see if she was joking, and when he figured out she wasn''t¡ªhis eyes turned red in anger. Juni raised her head to look at his red eyes. The wall was of a strong system building so it was undamaged, but she had felt the vibration signifying its strength. She met his eyes directly, looking at the anger¡ªthe anger for her sake. Even if there was no romantic affection in his gaze anymore, at least, as a friend¡ªas a person¡ªhe felt for her. That was enough. "What''re their names? Who were the bastards?" He asked, his voice deep in anger, but he caught himself. "Why¡­ didn''t you tell me?" "Shame," she told him. "I was too ashamed." Gill''s lips pursed, understanding her movements a bit. Silence passed by them for a while until Juni gained enough composure to speak. Juni pushed down her tears and looked at him, stance still filled with poise. "I don''t know where they are, but I''ll deal with them myself." She looked at him, pleading. "I really want to do this. It makes me feel more powerful, more significant. I feel that if I can make those bastards¡ª who had done the same with countless other women¡ªsuffer, I can move on. "Let me do this," she told him, her words gaining some sternness. "I can do this." Chapter 489 - 489: Juni (Part 2) Half an hour later. "You don''t have to do this," Gill said with crossed arms, looking at her with a complicated expression, asking for the nth time. Juni looked at him warmly, "Are you caring about me now?" Gill sighed and didn''t bother with her and turned to discuss the plan with the others. She had just gotten approval from the village center and was now being oriented in the barracks. On paper, she was bitterly running away from being dumped. Which she was, in a sense. But more than anything, doing something heroic was definitely a great way to distract yourself from heartbreak. She looked softly at the man who was now giving her some advice for her safety. "Always have these weapons in your space," he said, giving her some handy weapons. Then he showed her Troy''s hidden arrow weapon. "Keep this with you at all times." Her eyes were full of him as he taught her how to use the small weapon. She nodded and listened well, knowing how annoyed he would get if she didn''t. "What if he got so close? What if he notices?" She said with a calm smile, but everyone knew what it implied. Gill''s eyebrows furrowed and looked at her. He pursed his lips. "You don''t need to go¡­ beyond necessary to get information." She looked at him, "Like using my body?" "Juni¡ª" "I know what people think I''ll be doing," she said, "But I can get plenty of information without having to resort to that." Her serious face morphed into a teasing smile. "Don''t you remember? When we were teenagers¡ª" "Here are a few aether letters you can use to contact us." Gill cut her off, clearing his throat, and handed her a huge parchment. "There should be someone nearby to help you out." A limitation of the aether letter was the distance limit, but they had planned on staking out a few days before they attacked, so the distance shouldn''t be a problem. Juni''s lips twitched upwards. To think Gill would soon camp out, waiting for her message as if his life depended on it¡­ Thinking of it this way, it sounded quite romantic¡­ "Drake, who Fargo doesn''t know, would be with you along with a couple of others. They wouldn''t enter at the same time as you, but you will figure out a way to contact each other covertly. Since they were new, Fargo wouldn''t be expecting much loyalty from them. However, in the event that they get close to him somehow, they''d need to appear loyal. For this, Oslo lent them a loyalty faker. However, after everything was ready, a certain acerbic man couldn''t help but sigh, "Are you sure you''re going?" Gill asked again, "It''ll be troublesome to get you out of there." This just made Juni smile, knowing he was being harsh on purpose. Regardless of whether he still had romantic feelings for her, he still cared for her very much. "I still remember the self-defense moves you taught me. I practiced them a lot in some roles." She said. Sadly, she wasn''t able to defend herself when she should. She mused she should''ve learned poison-testing from Gill, but when she entered the industry, their already sparse time together was reduced even more. How could they spare the time for such lessons? Gill was unaware of her many thoughts, turned to look at Drake. "When you''re there, find a way to covertly contact the general and the others. Drake nodded, taking note. "The plan is for you guys to be able to safely cause chaos when the war started. You need to prepare a hiding spot, so that Fargo and his men won''t be able to hunt you down when they find out what is happening. Mathilda nodded. "Hopefully, we could end it with the Lord token in our hands and with minimal bloodshed." The meeting finally shifted to the next points of action, some codes in writing¡ªthey knew a lot of situations would be too urgent to write full messages¡ªset several reminders, as well as give some knowledge of Fargo that they already knew of. For one, there was a lot of strong aborigines in there. Second, they had a lot of guns. And third, they could choose to kill a random citizen for a message and were very much willing to pull them as shields. Drake and Juni listened well, with the latter showing unexpected focus for someone they just saw as a star who pined for Gill. They solidified a couple more plans before adjourning. Gill couldn''t help but hold of Juni''s arm as she passed by him, asking her one more time: "Are you sure about this? "It''ll be very dangerous for someone like you¡ª" At this, Althea rolled her eyes, finally couldn''t handle it. "She''s the peak of level 8," she said. "Don''t underestimate her." The woman was way above average, even in their village. While the higher leveled people naturally knew, the lower leveled ones were quite surprised. After all, very few people had reached that level¡ªmostly just guards. Althea had heard of Juni from her gossipy teammates. The woman chose the wee hours to practice, and she practiced hard¡ªharder than any other civilian. She also paid a hefty amount for the carrying service. It was no surprise she got to her current level so much faster than most people. Althea looked at Juni in interest, before staring at her data in the Lord Panel. Her emerald eyes zoned on the other woman''s element. Now that she had thousands of citizens, more and more unusual elements had appeared. There were more metal Elementalists, and there were also the rare ice types like her husband''s and a few electricity wielders. Other than these there were odd elements like a mutated earth element¡ªsand¡ªand a mutated wind elementalist, Oxygen. The one who got the latter was interestingly also an acquaintance¡ªthe dark-skinned man named Hugo. And then¡­ there was Juni. Her element? sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Mutated Water Element: Acid Chapter 490 - 490: Departure of the Spies (Part 1) A/N: For those who read chapters 488-490 yesterday, they got messed up lol. I guess the solar eclipse made a mess in the WN Servers too KEK. There was a bug and it uploaded chapters in advance lol and it also messed the arrangement up in the process. Speaking of which, my vacation got ruined cuz I had to upload more chaps. REWARD THIS POOR AUTHOR WITH VOTES PLS. ¡­ _______________ Georgan City, Ten Years Ago "No, don''t¡ª" "Oh hush love, trust me," Juni said, placing a dainty finger on her boyfriend''s lips. "I can do this." At this time, a certain couple was staring at each other at their table in a high-end restaurant, whispering. It was their anniversary, and the man had reserved a table weeks prior. From other people''s perspective, they were just being sweet, but if they looked closer, they''d see that the man''s eyebrows were furrowed, uncomfortable, at whatever the woman was telling him. After a while, the woman stood up, and the man could only watch in worry as she approached the target. Gill''s hands formed a fist under the table, before settling very close to the gun he always had in his waist. He was prepared to shoot if needed, consequence be damned. It wasn''t supposed to be like this. They were having a date¡ªincreasingly rare now that he had begun to get deployed in far away places¡ªbut he coincidentally saw someone from a wanted notice not long ago. This wanted notice wasn''t public because the authorities worried he would flee too far to be found. But here they were, eating at the same restaurant. Was he lucky or unlucky? Now his girlfriend was even approaching the criminal and he couldn''t stop her unless they made a scene! He had told her about the dangerous man in their midst. He was trying to warn her and tell her to be careful. She lightly gasped when he told her, and for a moment he thought she was scared. "You gave me a tracking device before," she had said. "We can use this." She had always loved spy movies since they were kids. Years later, after entering the industry, she would also make a ton of them. So when Gill found he could procure a few gadgets in his position¡ªthough they were mostly outdated models they could take home¡ªhe gifted her a few. To think she always brought them with her, and it still helped him out¡­ When she came back to him a few minutes later, her beautiful face was adorned with a smug smile. She then handed him the tracker and smirked. "You''re welcome." ______ Altera Village, Present The group was set to leave by dawn the next day. The spies had already been killed at this time, and they had gathered as much information from them as they could. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill made sure that she had everything she needed on her trip. He filled her space with medicines, gauze, and other first-aid kits. He also asked sister-in-law for some paralysis bombs. He might not love her that way anymore, but¡ªas someone he had been close to his entire life¡ªshe was an integral part of who he was. He wouldn''t want her in danger in any way. Cassandra was seething somewhere, but she didn''t stop him. First, the women of Xeno were raised to accept whatever their husbands wanted, so she actually had a more accepting attitude toward this. She idolized Olga and her mother and their independence and pride, but men''s promiscuity was an indisputable fact in her world and it was a concept that had been open to her since childhood. When she had walked out on him before because of jealousy¡ªback when Juni confessed to him on stage¡ªit was a very brave move for her and something she didn''t know was in her. But she was just so angry at the time that she forgot the decorum she had been raised with. Altera must''ve already affected her deeply since then. Anyway, although she felt a bit insecure, she at least knew where Gill''s heart was at the moment, and that was more than enough. Along with Juni on this trip was Drake, who was still blushing, and was assigned to lead the team working within the Fargo territory walls. His ginger suitor Jona also came with them. Yen (his other suitor) also wanted to come, but the research her team was assigned to was at its peak at the moment. Finally, there was also the young Amos. Drake was chosen because he was strong among the guards who could participate in the war, especially after awakening his element: electricity, a very aggressive element. Speaking of which¡ªYen, who was working on the electrical works department in the research center¡ªwould never miss a day in reminding him how fit they were to be together. Anyway, Drake was really reluctant to part with Altera but who told him to be a loyal guard. Also, he wanted to see how much his element could be used in battle with humans. Contrary to what people thought, electricity wasn''t actually that powerful. Xeno Monsters had thick skin and a lot of them had insulating properties¡ªprobably to adapt to the extreme weather here¡ªand therefore his ability had limited effects because he was still weak. Similarly, other elements had to be used well in order to cause a lot of damage. Specifically, the still had to find weak spots every time. Against humans though, this was very different. He couldn''t test it out to Alterans, but he definitely didn''t have much to worry about to enemies who wanted to attack their home. Amos, on the other hand, wanted to be away from his bloodsucking family, even for just a bit. Also, he had always wanted to be a soldier. He took this ''mission'' with open arms. And as for how the woman-shy Drake would handle a bombshell like Juni¡ªand Jona at the same time¡ªthat was his problem. Perhaps it was why his suitor insisted on going with them and even the other one, Yen, agreed to it. "It''s guarding him together," Luis commented on the side and he cackled with Mao and the others. This earned them a look from Drake, but knowing his weakness, they found no intimidating power in it at all. However, they all tingled a bit. The level difference was high so it didn''t really hurt as much¡ªit was just like a little static electricity passed through them. However, it did make their hair stand out. Luis, Turbo, and a few other victims looked at Drake, who had long turned away and pretended nothing happened. Darn it! No fair! Chapter 491 - 491: Departure of the Spies (Part 2) Before leaving, the spies stood in front of Althea, who was watching in silence at the side with her husband as well as the other elders. It was very low-key, of course, in case they were being watched. They were outside the territory early in the morning, saying their goodbyes and making sure everything was as ready with them as it could be. The four people were honored by the send-off by the elders. At the same time, they also felt pressured to do their jobs perfectly. Other than the elders, the four were also sent off by friends and family. In Amos'' case, it was his guard friends Jesse and Angelo, with no sign of his mother and brother. Of course, he didn''t tell them what the mission was, but he did tell them that he was going to go somewhere on behalf of the territory. They frowned when he said this, but¡ªunsurprisingly¡ªthere were words of concern, no ''be careful'' or no ''eat well while you''re away'' like everyone else probably received. Instead, they just asked him for a lot of money because he was going to be leaving for a long time. With a clenched jaw, he did give them a lot of silver¡ªmuch of what he had¡ªbecause he was truly unsure when he''d return anyway. Jesse and Angelo saw that no one else had seen him off and just gave him a one-arm hug each. "Well, friend, be sure to come back in one piece eh?" Jesse said with a smile, and Angelo nodded. "Preferably alive." The three young men laughed and Amos'' heart immediately lightened. Obviously¡ªalthough it was not his blood relatives¡ªthere were people who would still be welcoming him back with a sincere heart! And that was good enough for him. ¡­ For Drake and Jona''s, interestingly, it was Yen who saw them off. She expressed her want to just come and she even came with a pretty good excuse, targeted to Althea. "Boss, limestone deposit means there''s a sedimentary rock formation with loads of calcium carbonate. This meanssss that there could be some important metals nearby." Althea paused in thought, looking at the woman with eyes wide as she begged. It made sense, although limestone itself couldn''t produce metal, the geological formation that formed it could. For example, there could be either lead and zinc, copper,or¡ªin some rare cases¡ªiron nearby this place. Regardless of which ones, they would all prove useful to them. She looked at Yen, who brightened under her stare, obviously thinking she would change her mind. How funny a woman older than she was was acting like a baby. "No, the people there are strong. You''re too important to the territory." The compliment naturally made the woman shy, "Aww shucks." Althea looked at her. "Besides, can''t we use copper as the currency?" This was what a team had been studying for a while now, and¡ªwhile there was no way they could produce electricity now¡ªthis was where Yen was assigned. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea thought she had too much copper. While this was the main currency in circulation, she felt she had an excess. Maybe they could use it for something else? "We have been trying, indeed, but it has mixtures of various metals, some of which have properties we don''t know about yet. "We still couldn''t segregate them, or it could also be our temperature isn''t hot enough." Althea nodded, "So you have a lot to study in the territory, then." "..." "..." "..." A lot of push and pull happened before Yen finally gave up, tearfully saying goodbye to her love and her rival. Seeing as everyone had finally finished their farewells, Althea said the final goodbyes. She then gifted them exclusive medicines that were not available anywhere else. These were all pharmacist-made and were invaluable in the market. She also handed each of them emergency paralysis bombs. . They teared up a bit but only said their heartfelt thanks. Seeing the bombs, Micheal was immediately drowned with guilt. He walked over to the soldiers and mentioned something that passed by his head. "Fargo knows about the bombs, or at least the fact that Altera made one," he said, "It was the only way I could think of so that they didn''t just kill me or the people around me before they could take an oath. I apologize." "It''s fine. They''ll find out on their own." Ansel sighed, "They''re probably sending more right, especially when the spies couldn''t get back." "I wonder if Fufi could still smell them¡­" Turbo asked as he was still combing his hair from Drake''s abuse. Luis was much more ''confident'' with his hairdo and didn''t even bother. "Possible, but they might also have washed up already." "Gochi was really helpful." "Let''s assign him to the anti-espionage department." "We have that?" "Now we do." "..." Jokes aside, it made sense. Gochi was strong and agile, and he had a very sharp intuition and special senses¡ªone simply not present to anywhere else. While the discussion about spies was happening behind her, Althea took out the final bottles she''d be asking them to bring. "Here," she said, handing each one a bottle with a spray nozzle. "One of the new developments in the Research Center." "What does it do, Miss Althea?" Jona curiously asked, raising it a bit to eye level. "It''s Beast Repelling Potion." "What?!" Drake immediately caught the bottle Jona let go off due to the shock. This time, everyone stopped whatever they had been discussing and turned to her. Althea flinched under their stares. "Oslo gave us a copy and we only analyzed it and did something similar," she said, as if it explained everything. Oslo, who was right there with them, was very impressed. How many days has it been since he gave those samples to her? In fact, some of the materials weren''t the same due to their availability, but the research teams found some passable alternatives. A component of the potion was actually from the grass found near the bog. They enhanced whatever quality it had that served as citronella for monsters. Interestingly, it wasn''t limited to the smell of metal at all. There was a component¡ªsomething they temporarily called the Citronella scent¡ªthat they enhanced to create an all-out potion. "Theoretically, it only works for level 10 monsters and below, and it only has about five to six hours of effectiveness," she told them. "It also won''t work on monsters already used to the smell of metal." They nodded, mentally noting it down. Even those not going on the mission did the same. However, even with the caveats, everyone was in awe of what it represented. "This is amazing!" Althea smiled, "Well, thank you. The Research Center is out to make improvements for sure." She then turned to Juni and the others with a smile. "I hope everyone returns to witness them together with us." "Be careful and avoid unnecessary sacrifices. Under most circumstances, I hope you still prioritize your safety," she said this solemnly and sincerely, and the targets of her reminders nodded, looking at her with sparkling eyes. "I wish you well and a safe return." Chapter 492 - 492: Slavery (Part 1) A/N: Would like to take this chance to send my love to the Alterans who sent votes, golden tickets (some even sent large bulks, huhuhu thank you), and gifts! The story has been in a decline the past few months, and your support gives me sooo much encouragement. Love you, Alterans! .... ____ The couple went home very late that night, and they decided to have a proper rest with the children that night. The two babies slept peacefully (and adorably) on their father''s chest, and Althea''s head rested on his broad shoulder. Garan felt extremely warm, surrounded by his family like this. The depression of the possible deaths and the upcoming war dissipated a bit. The Elders scheduled the war to happen within 7 days. This was because there would be the element of surprise but, knowing Fargo and the others, a lot of people would be dying in between. The longer they took, the more civilians would suffer. At the same time, they couldn''t risk their people''s lives by rushing, so they gave themselves some time to prepare everyone. As they lay there, the couple''s minds went to various places. Garan thought and analyzed their strategies, thinking of loopholes, while Althea thought about the various rules of war. "How does slavery here work, anyway? I mean, with the added variable of the system." Althea asked, and this made Garan pause. They indeed needed to be clear on this, as they could have some bearing during the war. Garan thought of what he had gathered during this time. The first thing to mind when it was his wife asking was: "I heard that slaves'' wealth would automatically go to the lord''s pocket." Althea''s eyes twitched. So other than half of the lord''s and the territory''s money, they would also get the entire wallet of half the population. No wonder people still waged war despite all the rules. She couldn''t help but think of a situation where they visit a stronger territory and a war began. Wouldn''t they risk becoming slaves if they were unable to get out? She should get more of those exemption tokens from Oslo in case they had to go adventuring someday. Or even better¡ªfigure out how to make them! "Official Slaves are also system-bound to follow whatever their masters wishes, though in case of territory slaves, any citizen could order them around," he said, gently patting her curvaceous waist as she laid on him. "If they were asked to jump, they would be compelled to do so." This only applied to territory slaves though. System slaves could only be ''created'' during wars. The other slaves, like most of the goblins caught in Guia back then, weren''t and so they had to be monitored and ordered around closely. This made Althea flinch and looked at him. "Hadn''t there been cases of slaves fighting back?" "There are," he said, "But none have succeeded. Slaves could not hurt people¡ªor citizens, to be more accurate¡ªwithin the territory, not unless ordered by the lord." "If they found a loophole from the orders, they could fight to orders for a while, but I heard the punishment was draining a person''s lifespan." They had asked this of both Gaudi and Gochi before they got freed, though in Gochi''s case, it seemed like it never really occurred to him to try. After all, he grew up in such an environment and it was a difficult thing to break away from. "So pitiful¡­" she mumbled and he sighed, embracing her closer to him. It so happened that the movement made the babies turn in their sleep and they entered deeper into their shared embrace. "Don''t worry," he said, hugging her and their babies tighter. "There will be no such thing in Altera." ¡­ Fargo Deep into the night, an oppressive sight revealed itself. Hundreds of slaves worked to create a crater into the mountains, dig, hit, and dig again, without stopping, no matter how exhausted they were. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The cool night winds hit their wounded skins, making them shiver, but they couldn''t even pause to warm themselves no matter how much they wanted to. The slaves continued to work with their makeshift weapons, whether it was axe or swords, as there weren''t enough experts to create a sufficient amount of digging tools like pickaxe and shovels. It didn''t help that they were outside the territory¡ªthat was to say, there could be monsters or poisonous insects abound. In one day, there had been a dozen people who had been made sick by insects and even more bitten by monsters. In both cases, if a slave was injured enough to be unable to work, then they''d be disregarded. By disregarded, it meant that they would be asked to block the way of monsters¡ªto sacrifice themselves for the others, so to speak. Hence, at this time, the number of people bleeding profusely while working was not small, but they had no choice but to continue lest they encountered a worse fate instead. Anyway, the air of the mines was thick with the acrid scent of sweat, dried blood, and the muted sounds of labor. Of course, overwhelming all these sounds were the yells of the so-called slave drivers. "Limestone is awesome, but it wasn''t important enough for us to spend so much manpower on. These slaves¡­ are really useful!" A man said. His arms were crossed and he watched his fellow Terrans¡ªwithout a hint of guilt¡ªslave away despite their tiredness and injuries. "Move it!" one yelled, kicking a slave whose legs had buckled. He dropped his axe and left a bit of work undone. The slave had no choice but to stand up, legs shaky, and he could only push his body to the limit. After a few swings, the emancipated man fell down again. "Stand up! Work!" A guard yelled, and the man had no choice but to do as asked, no matter how many times he fell down. This was all to the amusement of the guards watching. "HAHAHHAHA!" "Wow, this slavery thing is really amazing." "It was like using those electric necklaces, but much more effective." "Heh, I remember you having quite a bit of fun from those," another one said, teasingly. "Ah~ good times! But this place isn''t bad either," they said. They missed the modernity for sure¡ªthey missed the good food, their TVs, and porn, in particular¡ªbut this place was freer. Here, they were truly top of the food chain! They didn''t even need to worry about the police or the soldiers. Here, as long as one had strength, their will was the boss! While the guards were having fun, the slaves could only force their bodies to move and do their jobs. Occasionally, when the ''bosses'' would get bored, they would even make a few slaves do odd things like dance or lick their shoes while smiling. It was as if they were testing the limits of their orders, and so far none of it had failed. The slaves were dying inside as their bodies were giving way on the outside. They couldn''t even kill themselves unless the ''master'' would give permission. It was humiliating! They would really just rather die! Someone¡­ please help them! Chapter 493 - 493: Slavery (Part 2) TRIGGER WARNING! Rape, but it will be the LAST ONE from what I gathered. I''m sorry for detailing them so often. I felt it was necessary, but I promise that now that the tone is set, there shouldn''t be any more. The scene is located in the beginning or so. Try not to skip the other parts though, they''re important~ ¡­ ____ The guards continued their shift, playing with one or two slaves at a time. At some point a few people buckled, their bodies pushed beyond the limit. The guards sneered and one of them stood up, kicking the man. "You better stand up now or we''ll throw you to monsters as bait!" He yelled, and the man could only groan under his hits, unable to move an inch. "Please stop it!" The voice of a woman sounded behind them. It was a pretty young woman with short hair. She was holding a small box. She obviously wanted to run to the man, but then she saw the intimidating figures of the guards between them, and her feet paused. The man on the ground flinched. He couldn''t move, but he heard the familiar voice and his already-dying heart fell even more. "No, honey, get back!!" The woman''s eyes lined with tears, but she gathered herself quickly. She looked at the men with poise, trying to hide the fact that she was shivering. "I¡­ I''ve come to bring my husband food, as we agreed upon. "Please, don''t torture him anymore!" The men looked at the woman with smiles on their faces. "How brave. You wanna be a slave too?" One man said, and the other one laughed out loud. "We''re already kind enough to let you feed him!" Of course, this was also at the cost of paying the guards a ton of money for every meal she sneaked in. The woman sniffled and she looked heartbroken as she saw her husband struggling to move his body, no doubt to warn her away. Knowing she wasn''t doing anything to help, she just stepped forward and handed over the food like what she had done the past few meals as soon as she found her husband. Although he came to her territory as a slave, at least he was alive, and that was what mattered. But she saw how he couldn''t move anymore and pursed her lips, gathering courage. She looked at the men as she manifested a couple of silver in her hands. "Let me feed him, please." The men grinned and took the money, nodding their heads and she immediately ran to her husband, trying to hold back tears. "Go. Please go¡­" he mumbled, voice cracking. "No, let me feed you," she said, "You''d need energy to keep working," she said. For now, it was the only way he could retain his life! The man watched her patiently as she fed her husband, patting his head gently and then wiping away her tears. "I''ll be back tomorrow," She said and her husband sobbed as he looked at her. "Please, just go," he said, and she stood up, leaving the place with a broken heart. Unexpectedly, her arm was grabbed just as she passed the group of guards. "Eh, nevermind," the leader¡ªa man named Peko¡ªsaid, licking his lips. "I already showed enough favoritism to my favorite news anchor! Loved that segment you showed with the spaceship that had never been used!" In fact, the woman had been brave enough to repeatedly ask for favors because of this. However, she still overestimated herself in the end. Peko looked at her, his eyes greedily tracing her body. "Now I wanna taste ya~" "What¡ªNo!!" She yelled and the next thing she knew she was on the ground, surrounded and being groped by various men. "KYAA!" "Honey!!" The man yelled, trying to crawl to them. It looked extremely pitiful and the guards who saw only laughed at him. The other slaves around flinched and shut their eyes, doing their jobs and pretending nothing was happening. There was one man though, who was bleeding from gritting his teeth. The man was Bruce. At this time, he was covered with dried blood, but silently enduring. With gritted teeth, he swung the axe¡ªmodified by himself to serve more like a pickaxe¡ªtrying to ignore the cries around him. Trying to stand up to others could only get them killed¡ªas were many of the now-corpses nearby. He couldn''t die. He still needed to get back to his daughter! Pak! Pak! Pak! "STOP IT! WUUU¡­" The desperate yells echoed across the cave. "HELP ME! HONEY! THOMAS! HELP!!" The man sobbed as he crawled towards where his wife was being violated. "STOP IT! YOU BASTARDS!" The men laughed and continued doing what they had been doing, only with more gusto. They had already destroyed much of her clothing at this point. "Vivian! Vivian!!" The man yelled, repeatedly and to the top of his lungs. It was the only thing he could do with his body refusing to move at all. His yelling annoyed the guards and he immediately received a strong kick¡ªone that pushed him a meter away. "So noisy!" Vivian¡ªnow naked¡ªsaw what was being done to her husband. She temporarily forgot her own pain, begging desperately. "NO DON''T KILL HIM! Wuuu¡ª" The men didn''t actually plan on killing him. They were instructed not to kill slaves at will¡ªafter all, they needed the labor. At least, they had to make them useful as cannon fodder, never kill them uselessly. "Then be quiet!" Vivian pursed her lips and could only shut her eyes as a man positioned himself above her. A guard licked his lips, before glaring at a couple of slaves that had been distracted. "Hey! Aren''t you going back to work?!" The slaves who stopped working in the chaos were yelled at. The slave driver looked at Bruce, who was holding his axe tightly. "Why? You wanna hit me? HUH?" He pointed his finger on his forehead, pushing. "Huh?" Bruce''s fist clenched, trying not to do anything. Of course, as a slave, he wouldn''t be able to, but he sure wanted to try. "Your face is annoying. Go back to work!" Peko yelled. He then kicked the husband to the wall, making him lose consciousness. Peko spat on him, though not before kicking one more time. "Tsk. Too noisy. We should cut your tongue." This comment sent shivers down every slave''s spine and they resumed working, ignoring the yells of the poor woman behind them. On the contrary, they worked even harder¡ªas if in attempts to drown the woman''s cries with the noise of their jobs. As such, amidst Vivian''s cries and sobs, the sound of working mixed in. In the ears of the slave driver, it was the sound of efficiency. Pak! Pak! "Wuuu¡­ wuuu¡­" After what felt like forever, the men finally felt satisfied, releasing with heavy grunts. The woman slowly rose up with a tear-stricken face. She looked in the direction of her husband but immediately looked away, ashamed. She ran away then, unsure if she would ever be able to face her husband again. This didn''t matter at all to the satisfied men who turned back to their slaves, some of whom stopped working again. They could give orders to continue working indefinitely, but apparently, that had the unfortunate limit of the person''s physical strength. So, occasionally, they had to reiterate orders like how you''d tap machines that stopped working properly. "HEY! GET BACK TO WORK!" The mining resumed in ''peace'' where the slave drivers were happily watching them suffer again, all while producing the rocks for them. However, some time later, one miner hit a very hard surface. Ting! The man paused, eyebrows furrowed. With shaky arms, he tried to hit the area again, although at a slightly different spot. Ting! He was confused and it wasn''t helping that he was dead-tired and hungry. "Hey! What are you doing?" Peko yelled when they realized the person hadn''t moved for a while. The man looked at them with a confused face. "It''s too hard," he said, raising his axe and hitting the spot again. Ting! "I¡ª I can''t!" "Bump your head through it, I wanna see how hard it is." One laughed and the others followed. "HAHHAHHAH! You''re so funny!" "Seriously though," Peko said, looking at the pale slave. "Do it." They made him bump himself, over and over, until he was bloodied and his body could no longer take it. His knee buckled and fell down, bleeding on his head. "Tsk, weakling." One of them looked closer at the bloodied wall. "Hey, boss, I think there''s something underneath." Peko''s eyebrows rose as he looked closer. There, they saw streaks of vibrant green and reddish-brown. Someone nearby gasped and he looked at him. It was a relatively old man who had been handling a nearby area. Peko narrowed his eyes. "You!" he said, "Stop that and come here." The old man shivered and looked at the piece of rock again. Seeing recognition in his eyes, Peko immediately shook him. "Say! What is it?" The man shivered. "Reddish brown with green hues¡­ a metallic sheen¡­ it hints at the presence of copper minerals." sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This made the men flinch. Copper?! Peko immediately looked at the nearby slaves, making them move to this spot. "GO! DIG MORE!" He yelled and the slaves obediently lined up to do as told. Ting! Ting! Ting! It was naturally much harder to get an ore and the slaves worked extremely densely for a while before a piece was extracted. He then showed it to the old man, who was temporarily exempted from digging since they needed his knowledge. They showed him the ore and the men watched him closely. The man did his best to concentrate and, after a while of torturous study, he confirmed that it was, indeed, copper. At this, the men brightened in celebration. "COPPER!" "SHITT! "WE HAVE COPPER!" Although they were not highly educated, they still knew the value of these resources. How lucky! Chapter 494 - 494: Before Entering Fargo A little over a day later, Drake, Jona, Amos, and Juni arrived at the outskirts of Fargo. It was already late into the day, but their travel was more or less safe thanks to the Beast Repelling Potion that really worked wonders. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, they didn''t abuse it, in case they needed to use it for other emergencies. When they felt too tired but needed to go on, only then would they reapply it. Most of the time, when it lost effect they just let it be. Rather, they would use the few mobs that managed to come as training blocks to help the women level up. By the time they got close enough to the vicinity, Juni had upgraded to level 9, while Jona had landed on level 8. Fortunately, the monsters around were never more than level 10, mostly level 7 or 8, and the new Elementalists Drake and the strong peak-level 9 Amos were able to handle them well enough. Drake had also been practicing his element¡ªthe rare electric element¡ªalong with his shield. He had an iron shield made by their armory, and he naturally used its metallic composition to increase the damage of his element. As before, he still needed to find weaknesses, especially if the monster had great insulation skin, but when he did breach this weakness, then the damage was really significant. It was akin to burning a monster inside. Speaking of his electric ability, many people thought it was very cool and tried to charge their precious devices with his help. Someone was brave and decided to sacrifice his phone as guinea pig. Sadly, Drake lacked control and ended up burning the phone, and that poor person lost the contents of his phone (spoiler: It was Luis). Since then, no one dared to beg for him to charge their phones again. Next to him, Amos also showed his spear-wielding skills. He had only been here for a couple of months and had no formal training before, but his movements were very natural¡ªalmost as if he had been training for years. It could be seen how he had a level-A potential. Since as far as Altera was a level 1 Village, he and Reno had pretty much taken this kid under their wings, and his improvement was indeed very good. Although he was young, Drake really felt reassured by him. Amos felt this a bit and his attacks became more and more passionate, and at some point the girls were clapping their hands. He was very shy though and almost hid behind Drake, who was not much better than he was in dealing with the women. Anyway, after another day of travel, the group stopped at a distance away from Fargo. They would be separating ways here into pairs. Using Drake''s Terran binoculars, they took a closer look at the territory they would be attacking soon. "Wow¡­ they''re really in a valley¡­" Jona said after borrowing it. Juni nodded, looking at the good location. "How nice¡­" "Altera is still so much nicer though," Amos added and everyone else agreed. "If the Altera¡­ system¡­ got this place, it would have been a fairyland by now," Amos mumbled. Nobody still knew if there was a lord or if it was really a system, but whatever the ''being'' was, they only had admiration for it. Drake frowned and looked at them, "You can''t be mentioning Altera here anymore, especially not in such a tone." "A-Ah! Yes." Amos said, lightly slapping his own mouth in embarrassment. It was hard to stop; he really liked Altera so much. Anyway, they didn''t arrange themselves or even take a bath during this time so their refugee status was believable enough. "Let''s separate now," Drake said. At least if one of them was suspected, the other pair could still do their jobs. They had also been given rough instructions on what to do if one of them was caught so that the more critical tasks would still move despite it. "Amos and Juni would be entering first," he said, looking at the two. Amos blushed in shyness. He was really not great at social interactions¡ªnot surprising due to his upbringing¡ªand he really couldn''t handle someone with such a strong sense of presence. Juni looked at the kid. Very cute. "So¡­ what''s our story?" She asked. The kid had been protecting the two of them women, but he had stuck with Drake every other time. Drake wasn''t very good with beautiful women so, except for those times when she and Jona were chattering, one could imagine the awkward silences that pass by the group when there was no monster attacking them. At her question, the boy flushed even more. "I¡­" Juni giggled, deciding to stop teasing the kid. Anyway, as an actor, she had become a bit of a writer as well. "So.. since we know I was running away after being dumped, I encountered a lot of dangers. I was rescued by a young lad of great talent," she said, "The ex-actress was then charmed by him and decided to take him on as a younger brother." She then looked at the young lad who had been admiringly watching her concoct a story. "Call me big sister." "B-Big S¡­" he breathed in, "Sister." Jona laughed at the interaction, while Drake shook his head. However, if one looked close enough, one could see the upward tilt of his lips. Jona slyly looked at Drake, leaning over. "What''s our story?" The man''s eyes twitched and he scooted a little bit away from the clingy woman. "I''ll think about it," he said. They had time because they couldn''t be arriving too soon after Amos and Juni had. After some lightheartedness though, the four people could only look at each other, atmosphere suddenly doused with heaviness. They knew what came after could get dangerous, after all. Drake sighed and looked at each of them. "Be careful, everyone. Like I said, your life is the priority. As long as you don''t intentionally put the lives of other Alterans at risk, we will understand whatever you decide to do to ensure your lives." They nodded and started to move¡ªstarting one the most important missions of their lives. Chapter 495 - 495: Fargo Clinic Inside the walls, a certain beautiful woman walked about, gaining the attention of many men. It was Vanessa¡ªstill beautiful, especially compared to other women. The men greeted her with kindness and she smiled back, and such a smile could make quite a few men''s days. Vanessa and the others had a very good reputation here. After all, they did save many lives back during that massive beast tide. Of course, Victor''s and the other''s reputations had been marred by Fargo''s movements, but it had been softened by the Terran Mercenary''s good movements. At this time, Vanessa was heading to a makeshift clinic she had a major hand in. She created this in partnership with various medical professionals she gathered. They pooled funds and rented out one of the better buildings¡ªa custom building¡ªin a good community. The custom building had two floors with a 150 square meter floor area. They designed it to be similar to the open plan of clinics back in Terran. It really wasn''t much, as none of them were able to bring a lot of hard money at all, but it was better than having none. As such, this venture was ignored by Fargo and his men so far, as long as injuries and requirements of the Team¡ªas well as the Rongo Mercenary Team''s¡ªremained the priority. So¡ªno matter how reluctant¡ªthey had to treat a guard''s tiny stomach ache first before handling someone who was bleeding to death. "Miss Vanessa!" the patients greeted her, followed by one of the doctors nearby. This was Dr. Cynthia, one of the doctors though she specialized in Ob-gyn and pediatrics. Behind her was the de facto leader of the doctors, Dr. Volohov, a white-haired old man who had won many awards back in Terran. Interestingly, Fargo had quite a number of doctors by virtue of a medical conference happening somewhere in Eden. However, despite all the doctorates and masters of these people, their use had become limited to injuries and first aid. After all, Xeno was an entirely different land and their bodies had become very different back then. Not to mention, the raw materials were also different, so they had a similar starting point as most people when it came to knowledge of medicinal plants. Even with their identities back in Terran, they now all look at Vanessa, a young 28-year-old woman who only had some medical experience, for advice simply because she was here earlier than they were. She had also interacted with Aborigines and therefore had a lot more local knowledge. Vanessa quite enjoyed the status quo. "Could you send us some homeostatic medicine?" Dr. Cynthia asked politely, telling the number of patients that needed it, as well as the projections she had for future use. Vanessa nodded, noting to send missions for various plants among her ''contracted'' foragers. Of course, the patients had to pay a good amount for the medicines, and a lot of the profit went to Vanessa''s pocket. Rightfully so, she mused, as the clinic was her idea. It was her brother who protected their people, and they depended on her local knowledge as well. Dr. Lu, a fifty-year-old man specializing in orthopedics, walked to her at this time. "Is it possible for us to write a summary of plant life so far for easy reference?" After all, it was too inconvenient to wait for her to arrive each time. There were too many emergencies. Vanessa frowned, but didn''t reject too quickly. "Well if you can find enough paper and pen, I''ll consider," she said, though her tone was extremely noncommittal. The doctors looked at each other and sighed. As inconvenient as this made this to be, Vanessa wasn''t wrong. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although sometimes¡­ they felt Vanessa was dragging her feet in sharing knowledge. But what could they do? She was their closest way to understanding this world. Further, her family and suitors were the only ones strong enough and willing to help them out when they needed to explore the forests outside to study the plants. Their backing also softened the doctors'' fear of being uselessly bullied by the lord and his men. So, for now, they could only follow the woman. The episode passed quickly, and a few more patients entered. After paying the accountant for the basic consultation fees, they were then guided to either a doctor''s consultation room upstairs or to the emergency room on the ground floor. The day went on as usual, with a patient coming in here and there, some from injuries against mobs or poison from the plants or bugs outside, while some were injuries from the lord''s men. The day was much lighter than usual though, because none of the lord''s party came by and acted important. Sometimes they came with the most minor ailments, and oftentimes some would come in an attempt to flirt with Vanessa. She always managed to get out by virtue of her brother''s strength (not that they were afraid, rather it was not worth the trouble) as well as her expert flirting. It was soon broken when a nurse yelled for an emergency, however. "Doctors! We have a couple of patients coming in!" Vanessa saw that there were patients¡ªa lot of whom were bloody¡ªand she headed to her office on the second floor. As the only healer in the village, she naturally enjoyed a great status. She had her own office and she could charge higher than others. As she headed up, she ignored the newcomers, not caring about them at all. Fortunately for them, plenty of the doctors and nurses were there to assist. First to be handled was the bloody group of teenagers, each handled by trauma experts and the like. It took a while and a group of medical experts to stabilize the three teenagers. When they were taken care of and stabilized, only then did the remaining patients ask for assistance. "Excuse me¡­" a man asked, and the nurse turned¡ªimmediately blushing at the sight of his handsome face. It was a better-off couple and they didn''t seem to have a lot of injuries. In fact, it seemed that it was only the woman who had a problem. At this time, she was being carried by the man. She looked very uncomfortable, continuously rubbing her head on the man''s shoulder. "Please! Help us!" The man said, looking a little pale, and the doctors and nurses nearby looked at the woman who indeed seemed to be very week. "Drakey-honey¡­" the woman groaned wrapping her hand tightly around the man''s neck. He paled in turn, but everyone just assumed it was because he felt heartbroken for his woman. He looked awkwardly at the nurse, eyes filled with a desperate plea. "Please¡­ help us." Chapter 496 - 496: Patient (Part 1) The nurses looked at the handsome man pale ''with worry'' and their hearts softened, the younger ones even falling a little in love. "O-Oh yes, of course." One of the doctors said, pointing the newcomer to the bed. He gently placed the woman there and she shifted, looking at the man with a teary face. She was so pitiful. Although the man didn''t show it, he probably felt heartbroken too¡­ right? "Drakey-honey¡­" she mumbled. "I''m in so much pain¡­ hold my hand please." The man flinched and he even shivered, though the doctors assumed it must''ve been from too much heartbreak. The man slowly took the woman''s hand and the female doctors couldn''t help but sigh at the ''young love'' blooming even in this hellhole. At the same time, some more patients had been brought in. They seem to have been injured from hunting, so the more minor cases were moved deeper into the clinic. Before the nurse left though, Drake cleared his throat. "Can we have a female healer with her, please? I heard of a name, Vanessa?" Jona immediately opened her eyes as she realized that Drake knew one of the doctors here. The nurse looked awkward, "Miss Vanessa only takes very important patients," she said, "She''s the only Healer in this village, after all." Jona pursed her lips, recalling the good-looking healer they had, the gorgeous Betty. Even Turbo was quite handsome. The pretty Sheila also seemed to be on her way to trigger it, too! Was this a requirement? How pretty would this Vanessa be? Drake didn''t seem to notice Jona''s discomfort at all and just looked at the nurse with a serious face, making her blush. "We can pay a hefty amount," he said and the nurse nodded. "I¡­ I''ll call her," she said though Jona noticed she was blinking a lot more than before. She extended her hand to hold Drake''s hand tightly and the woman awkwardly cleared her throat. "I''ll be going now." Drake''s eyebrows rose as he looked at their intertwined hands. He pulled it out, "No one''s around anymore." Jona pursed her lips and glared at him, before looking away. Drake flinched, a bit unused by the annoyed look. They sat in silence until Vanessa went down. "I''m here," a pretty voice said, and Jona turned to look at the newcomer. She immediately saw Vanessa and her heart dropped. This woman was so beautiful! But then she guardedly looked at Drake who didn''t look at the woman any differently and she heaved a sigh of relief. But then she paled: This meant that her position was just the same as this one! Jona''s pale face didn''t bother the two who were catching up. "Drake?" Vanessa exclaimed with wide eyes. "It''s you?" Drake nodded. "We are refugees and our territory just fell from a beast tide," he said. "We are now looking for a new home." "Well, it is a good thing you arrived in this territory," Vanessa said with a gentle smile. "At the very least, there''s a lot of us here." At this, Drake appeared surprised. At least considering how stiff he had been. "How''s your father? Your brother?" "They''re fine," she said. "Both of them are healthy and we''re all together." Hearing everyone seemed fine, Drake smiled a little in relief. Drake, despite all his flaws, was really a bit handsome. Vanessa couldn''t help but look at him a bit deeper. This sent many alarm bells in Jona''s mind and she immediately moaned pitifully, catching the two people''s attention. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Vanessa stared at the woman on the bed. She was a little pretty, but not the type she thought would ''enlighten'' Drake at all. "Is she really your girlfriend?" Her tone irked Jona and she whipped her head to Vanessa, grabbing Drake''s hand in the process. "Yes, so?" Vanessa''s eyebrows rose and her feminine sense of challenge was raised. What''s more, Drake was handsome and she naturally appreciated him a bit. So, she smiled as she looked at him, taking a chair next to him. It wasn''t overtly flirtatious, but most men would feel a spark. She kept some distance though, because she knew of Drake''s weakness regarding women. Studying them closer, Vanessa found a few things. Drake was obviously awkward getting held by the clingy woman¡ªas if they weren''t really lovers. At the very least, only the woman thought they were. Vanessa''s eyebrows rose at this realization. Drake did seem to have asked for her specifically. Was there more to this visit than she thought? Either way, she felt that this woman was trying to challenge her and she couldn''t help but want to answer. "You need a healer, right?" She said, gentle, using her ability on Drake''s ''girlfriend''. Soon a gentle blue light surrounded her as well as the other woman. Vanessa had been told she looked ethereal when she used her ability, so she was especially confident with her aesthetics. At this time, Vanessa indeed looked especially beautiful when she used her ability and it sent threats to the ''girlfriend''. Jona looked at Drake who was just staring blankly without much emotion and she heaved a sigh of relief. But then she thought: Would Drake even show any differences if he really got touched?! "There, do you feel better?" Vanessa asked, staring at her, and Jona looked back with a bit of guardedness. She also felt a hint of superiority in the other woman''s look and it irked Jona very much. Jona looked at her, recalling the fact that she was the only one here. She looked around and saw everyone was busy with the bleeding newcomers. Not as good as Betty, she whispered, but it was loud enough for Vanessa to hear. Vanessa frowned and looked at her and Drake. Drake gave Jona a reprimanding look (which was unusual, and she found it sexy). Drake sighed and looked at the healer. "Don''t mind her. She''s just a bit irksome due to the pain. Now that we''re here, I would love to reminsence old times with some old friends." he said in what was probably one of the longest sentences he said the past couple of days. "Can we meet your father and brother after this?" Chapter 497 - 497: Patient (Part 2) Back to the main activity in the clinic, the trio of bloodied young men were treated quickly by the doctors there. They didn''t have EMTs and there was no stretcher so when they were transferred there, everyone had to make do with several people carrying the young men to minimize the movements. The worst of them all was Tacky, a curly-haired blonde. His body was now filled with bandages and he looked incredibly pitiful. He also had a cast on his arm made of wood and wrapped with some rough bandage they made from the leaves of some plants doused with some ointments Vanessa sent. It was very inconvenient and had limited effectivity, but it was much better than just covering it up with leftover cloth. Next to him were his very injured friends, Juan, who had very short hair but had a tiny tail-hair behind his head. He mostly had bandages from minor wounds and he also needed a stitch on the side of his head. And there was Baka, a pale-skinned brunette with one hand. Fortunately, his other hand remained attached in this ordeal otherwise it''d be a real tragedy. At first, one would think they were injured from a hunting accident. Judging from their faces it seemed that there was more to this story. They happened to be acquaintances of one of the doctors there¡ªDr. Lu¡ªand he knew this because he was quite familiar with their usual personalities. Dr. Lu looked at his neighbors who looked at their poor states in pity. They were a group of friends who had transferred all the way from Terran. He heard they were a group of 10 when this all started, and there were only 3 of them left now. He had known them as lively young men, and they were very friendly to him as well. Occasionally, they would send him excess from the meat they captured, saying it''d just go bad. However, Dr. Lu still knew there was no lack of a market to sell these things. He never embarrassed them by pointing this out, of course, though he silently swore to help them when he could. So when they arrived here, he led their treatment himself. Another reason he remembered them well was because, despite all the suffering, they always found something to laugh about. For instance, when one of them¡ªBaka, was his name¡ªlost an arm, after the initial mourning, they could make jokes about it. Baka himself would joke and do a one-hand stand, saying he was a tree trunk. He would also say that he''d make a bionic arm one day. Now though, there was little to no sign of that optimism. They were already awake at this time. They had no anesthesia and no one would be able to sleep peacefully with those wounds for a long time. Dr. Lu heaved a sigh as he looked at the boys. "What happened to you?" he asked and the boys'' faces turned even darker at the question. "GRRR¡ªThose bastards!!" Tacky cursed outright. If he could move his arm, he had no doubt loudly hit a surface by now. "How could they!" Seeing as Tacky couldn''t answer properly, it was Baka who did it for him. "We say his sister today." "Sister?" The doctor blinked. He didn''t remember any of the trio had family members in the territory. "She was captured as a slave," Juan added, eyes twitching a bit from the pain of the stitches. "They were using her as bait!" What made everything worse was that the men were stronger than the monsters, they didn''t even need bait! "You see Doc, we were on one of our hunting trips, right? Then somewhere along the way, we encountered some of the guards with slaves. "We saw Tacky''s sister there¡ªbeing one of the many used as baits." They would order them to lead monsters in certain areas to kill. Sadly, most couldn''t run faster than the monsters and, more often than not, they would succumb. The three of them didn''t hesitate to attack the jerks, of course. While it seemed to have saved Tacky''s sister from getting eaten somehow, the guards beat them up good and threw the three of them to the mob, leaving them there to die. "Our levels were decent and the mobs were relatively weak so we survived." Tacky cursed again, eyes turning red. "I don''t even know how my sister is doing now!" A doctor sighed, "Calm down. Being more injured isn''t going to help your sister. Is it possible to check up on the slaves?" At the very least, they could check on the remaining slaves and see if the sister was there. "We will probably pay a hefty fine¡ªwe¡­ we can''t afford that now¡­" "I can lend you some money," Dr. Lu said and the boys looked at him as if he was a messiah. "I heard we can send food for a price," Tacky said, "Can we¡ª" "Yes." "THANK YOU DOC!" They said, with Tacky going an extreme mile, "I promise I''ll do errands for you for a month¡ªno, a year!" Dr. Lu laughed awkwardly and shook his head. Their conversation though was loud and there were plenty of other nurses as well as a small audience around who overheard. The topic soon shifted to the slaves and everyone had deep frowns on their faces. "But didn''t you hear? Sometimes they play with people as well." "I think I saw my nephew there¡­" Another one whispered. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I saw a neighbor." "Someone¡­ someone even saw them violating the women¡­" Another said, whispering, but everyone''s hearing was sharper now and they heard it. "Sometimes they would force them to do the most humiliating thing¡ª" And so on. Like the three, a lot of them had seen family and friends among the slaves. After all, there were thousands of them who came in. However, while they didn''t seem to famished, they did seem injured and pitiful. They all looked at each other. Normally, they would be ecstatic to finally see these people alive and breathing. But¡­ what was this now? Chapter 498 - 498: Meeting the Other Soldiers With Jona tightly holding Drake''s arm for ''support'', they walked towards the General''s abode. "Is this necessary?" He whispered, and Jona pouted cutely in response. "Honey, if you don''t want to carry me¡­" He sighed awkwardly, moving and following Vanessa to their destination. It didn''t help that Vanessa was talking along his other side, except at about half a meter distance, so Drake''s attention was taken away from Jona again. When Vanessa wasn''t being obsessed with Garan, she was actually quite nice to talk with and a little charming. Drake appreciated that she kept his distance and kept their chatter on-topic. For instance, she would tell him more about the current state of things like what they had been doing so far (like clearing up the mobs that attacked). She also gave a rough estimate of the current forces owned by the lord. They talked the whole time until they reached their target neighborhood, barely noticing the ''ill'' woman attaching herself to Drake''s arm. Jona bit her lips, but continued to hold on tightly to him. They reached the house after a grueling walk, reaching the ''base'' of Edenian soldiers in Fargo. Drake looked at the custom house that was so unlike Altera''s and entered. At the time there were only two people there and they flinched when they saw Vanessa coming in with guests. She smiled at them, asking to get her father and brother as soon as they could. "An old friend came to see them," she said and the curious soldiers went on their way. About ten minutes later, the door opened again revealing several dashing men. "Drake!" Victor said, smiling. When the soldier found them, he had just gotten back with Santos and Leon, dealing with a small mob outside. Early that morning, the guards had the audacity to barge into their home, ordering them to deal with the mob. He was already level 9 now, and very close to level 10, but he could''ve actually upgraded days ago. He couldn''t rise as quickly as he wanted though, as they could be targeted by Fargo''s men instead of being partially ignored by him. Soon, his father also arrived, and he came with three unfamiliar soldiers. Like Victor, he was also very near level 10, while the other three newcomers were around the peak of level 8. The family, along with Drake and Jona, were left in the room, with the others leaving to give them some privacy. They settled in the living-slash-meeting room. They did a bit of small talk as they settled with the father and son, who in turn also asked how his life was after being forced to retire back then. "Didn''t you work for a politician?" Drake nodded, "Mrs. Mathilda Cruz," he said, "I transferred here with her, sadly we got separated at some point." "Mathilda Cruz¡­" Victor''s back straightened. "Gill''s mother, right? Well, I can''t say I''m surprised." It was natural Gill found a good job for an old friend, and this skilled old friend would also closely guard his mother. He hoped they were alright, and that¡ªin some fortuitous twist of fate¡ªshe reunited with her son. Drake looked at them. "How about you guys? You seemed to be doing fine," he said. "Barely," Victor said, shrugging. "The lord here¡­ isn''t friendly with us. It''s Fargo¡ªthat terrorist that had been top of the International wanted list for a while. "He''s keeping us to deal with the mobs, but the moment we increase our strength, it''s likely he''d start¡­ pruning." "Father and I could actually upgrade but are holding back," he said. "We''re afraid that we would attract Fargo''s attention again." "You don''t have to hold back in your training anymore," Drake said, and everyone lifted their head to look at him. Drake didn''t immediately speak, however, and he looked at the people in the room. He recalled that Henry had come with unknown soldiers before. "The other soldiers from before, can you trust them?" "They''re from another country and they found our Eden soldiers up north. They found our place recently." "Everyone can be trusted. Everyone swore an oath," Victor said. Drake looked at him, his face soon morphing from a friendly to a more serious expression. "An oath didn''t stop us from losing Gian." The mention of the name roused various emotions across the room. It wasn''t that the core members of the mercenary team didn''t take an oath¡ªit was required during the formation of the team. But he didn''t make an oath with Victor and the others¡ªprimarily as it would alarm Fargo¡ªand that was a loophole that lost Victor a good soldier. "It came as a shock. We asked why, but he never explained," Victor said, before turning to look at Drake. "You didn''t come here for a greeting, right?" They should''ve realized that there was more to Drake''s approach than just a reunion or perhaps refuge. Drake nodded. "Garan sent me." They flinched looking at him, their eyes were bright. They should''ve known! Maybe Mathilda had really met up with her son! Henry clapped his thigh. "It''s finally time!" What a relief, he thought. They were already on the edge¡ªthey were already on the verge of moving on their own during the next war, whenever that might be! And with Gian''s betrayal, their trust in Garan''s words had also fallen a lot. At this, the atmosphere around them changed and they leaned over. Victor leaned over, "What''s the plan?" "It''s better not to be aware, but just continue training. Be ready to cause chaos whenever we need to." The soldiers were a bit disappointed, but they understood the decision. Drake looked at Jona and together they revealed much of the contents of their 1 cubic meter space. They couldn''t fit a lot of big weapons, but the soldiers weren''t many in number. "Don''t show these to the others until we start." S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They showed crossbows, paralyzing and smoke bombs, and others. There were also plenty of healing potions. The family''s eyes widened and brightened as he explained the functions of the resources. "This¡­" "This is from Garan?" Vanessa blushed at the mention of her obsession''s name, but she paled at Drake''s answer instead. "Sister-in-law Althea''s to be precise." "What?" It was a long story and Drake didn''t tell them much anymore. At this Vanessa looked at him, looking a bit wronged, and most other men would soften their hearts at the sight. Jona blocked her line of sight though and her eyes twitched. Jona, as a sharp woman, naturally saw how this woman''s face changed at the mention of Sir Garan. Tsk. Delusional! "Hmm~ Miss Althea''s living very well with Sir Garan now, and they''re responsible for a lot of these things." A more intense electricity passed by the two women, but this time Jona finally had the upper hand. The three men seemed completely unaware, however, and continued finalizing the plan before adjourning. "Well, I can''t stay for so long," Drake said, wanting to be low-key as possible. He hoped that this visit would only appear as a greeting for people outside. "And don''t use these things before the war." Victor and the others nodded, with the former seeing them out. Just as they exited, however, they were met face to face with none other than Amon Fargo himself. The aura around him was still a bit sinister as he had a gentlemanly facade, and he was smiling at them. "I see we have interesting new faces," he said. "Would you like to introduce us?" Chapter 499 - 499: Infiltration The atmosphere immediately stagnated. They knew they were being watched, so they already assumed Fargo knew of their guests. However, the press release was that Drake was an old colleague. While it was something worth checking out¡ªespecially with Drake''s stats¡ªwas Frago so free to check on them himself though? Fortunately, all of them did well under pressure, so there was basically not much change. If there was any stiffness, it was understandable considering the history between the two groups. It was Vanessa who smiled and stepped forward, "This is Drake and his lover, Jona." "Yes, he''s an old friend of ours." "So he''s a soldier?" "He was. He was honorably dismissed due to injuries before though." "Hmm.. how pitiful, but I''m sure it has improved with our physiques," he said, looking at Drake up and down. "You have an interesting ability." Drake looked at him. "I''m sure a few others would awaken the same, milord." "Hmn," He then shifted and looked at the beautiful Vanessa, "You should come visit my villa sometimes. We added a pool." Vanessa flinched a little but showed nothing else. Instead, she put up her standard gentle smile, nodding. "I''ll be honored." ¡­ Fargo and Belize walked along the streets, turning several heads, some of admiration, but mostly of fear and apprehension¡ªtheir favorite emotions. Fargo was actually just making rounds when one of his people alerted him of the new guests who seemed close to the soldiers. He had them monitored, just in case, though he never really saw them as much of a threat. How could he? His guards were no weaker than their strongest men, they were far superior in numbers, and¡ªperhaps the starkest difference¡ªwas that the soldiers were still bounded by their uselessly soft hearts. Even if they were planning something, he saw it as useless struggle and perhaps a good show to watch. He believed that as long as the movements happened inside his territory, then they''d just be bugs waiting for him to crush. He hoped they took a while to cause trouble though, as having them there to kill the mobs was extremely convenient. After a bit of walk, they ended up in the new community¡ªone that used to be a shanty area that was destroyed during that beast tide. Instead of a disgusting hodgepodge for poor people, it was now a beautiful area with nice custom houses and gardens. He had moved here, creating a multi-module villa smack in the middle, surrounded by level 3 fences all around. He also added a deep pool he could cool down, using the spring waters from the nearby mountains. He entered the house and went straight to backyard. Inside the pool were his two current favorites, swimming. Because they didn''t have swimsuits, the two just decided to swim naked instead. "Wow, this is amazing! Like a bathhouse but outside~" The dark-skinned woman said as she relaxed at the shallower end. The blonde chuckled as she swam effortlessly from one end to another, looking at the other one as she floated on the other end. "Don''t you have pools?" "I hear some territories do, but I lived in a vllage so¡­" "Ah." Watching the two women swim around, he turned to Sen, who wasn''t looking (because the last time a guard gaped at his current favorite, Fargo shot his eyes). "No news about our spies?" "No, sir. I''m afraid¡­" Fargo frowned, looking at the panel and saw that they had indeed perished. This meant not enough of Altera''s information was sent to him again. He narrowed his eyes. He didn''t believe any other village could get near his level, but it was getting annoying that his plan wasn''t working out. "Send more people to check on Altera¡ªbring some of the Rolan mercenary team with them." He said, baritone voice resounding across the area. "While they''re there, start attacking those citizens of theirs outside the territory walls." By estimate, they should take a few days to arrive to Bright. They could rest there or even stay there as a base while they gradually weaken the other territory. In most territories, those who went out of the territory were the main forces while the citizens hid away in the territory. This meant that cutting down the explorers bit by bit was to cut down on the actual forces of the enemy, which would definitely make things easier for them during the war. There would still be a few weeks before he could attack, but it didn''t mean he couldn''t start terrorizing the other as early as now! The meeting lasted a few hours, determining who would be going to Bright and Altera. They decided to start with 10 people first, five within the level limit, and another five beyond it. They would be increasing it every week or so until the war, and by that time Altera should''ve already been weakened sufficiently for an easy win. When the meeting adjourned, a few guards immediately entered to report to him. Interestingly, one of them was carrying a woman. "Boss! Boss! Look at who we found! It''s Juni!!" "Oh?" He uttered, "The actress?" "Yes! I wanted you to know in case you wanted to taste her first." "Where did you find her?" "We found her fighting with a small mob. She was with a young man." "Oh? How were they faring?'' "Fairly good. The lad was a good fighter. Lad''s name was Amos, but he''s injured and is currently in the infirmary." "I see," he said, opening his Lord Panel, likely about the newcomer. Seeing her name and stats, his eyebrows rose. "We sure have a lot of special newcomers today." There were hundreds of refugees that came to the territory every day, but for some reason, they got electricity and acid on the same day. Was it his lucky day, he wondered? That Amos kid was also a wood elementalist, which was also quite rare. "How is she?" "She fainted a while back." "Bring her to me." The men excitedly took her there, letting her rest on the sofa. Several men were already undressing her with their eyes. She slowly opened her eyes, her long lashes fluttering and inevitably hitting the men''s hearts. She flinched at the sight of strangers, immediately looking around. Her eyebrows furrowed, looking a bit panicked. "Where''s my brother?" "You have a brother?" She nodded, "He saved my life. He is my brother." "Ah, we''ll send him to the infirmary, don''t worry." Sen said, "What happened to you?" "I am from a village called Vismont Village. A few days ago, I was training. I wanted to be strong, but my lover left me in the middle. I have been traveling ever since." She spoke of her experience and the men looked at her in pity and lust, while Fargo''s expression was unchanged. Through all this, Fargo spoke out. "My rooms are full, take her to the Rongo Mercenary Team''s abode." "Sir¡ª" Juni''s eyes faltered, though just a little. They were oriented before leaving and she had heard of this Rongo Mercenary Team. It was Belize''s¡ªa relatively powerful aborigine''s¡ªteam. According to Micheal, they had a great monopoly in Fargo and were given free rein to do whatever they wanted. However, in this role, she was not supposed to be in the know. Juni''s hands clenched, but she didn''t show anything on her face. A true actress. This was a test, she could feel it. Her eyes lit a sharp light. She looked up, innocent and trusting. But also worried. After all, anyone with a brain would feel apprehensive seeing strange men around her. "Rongos¡­ aren''t bad people are they?" She said, "Why do they look scared? Please don''t send me there!" Interestingly, while Belize claimed to have been from the city, their levels seem to be powerful only in Towns. His claim to be a confidante to a city lord seemed to not fit well with his level. If she could, they asked her to find out more about him as well. Fargo''s large hand found her face. "Whether the Rongo team is good or bad will depend on which side you are," he told her. "What can you do for me, love, to be on our good side?" Juni''s pretty eyes met his sharp ones, and it took Juni a lot more to keep a straight face. In fact, Amon, was quite handsome in a matured sense. However, Juni knew what he had done and tried not to shiver. Fortunately, her control of her body was exemplary. She frowned and pursed her lips. "Will you¡­ promise to give me a home?" "That''s an interesting proposal," he said, droning with the low intimidating voice of his. "But I need you to do something for me." . sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. . . "Swear loyalty to me in the Village Center." Chapter 500 - 500: Last Preparations (Part 1) Altera, a few days later "What if one of them were asked to swear an oath?" Althea asked, thinking of it out of nowhere. She was currently playing with the babies¡ªfor the first time in so many days¡ªin the living room. They were just so busy. In her case, she had to improve various formulas and improve the production line of medicines. Every other elder and expert also had their hands full. "It''ll depend on the wording," Garan said, lifting Meatball upwards in a floating motion. He did this a few more times, mouthing ''Fly'' as he did so. Little Meatball: ??? Althea didn''t see this as she gently poked her daughter''s plump tummy, making the baby giggle. She smiled a little, but even her babies'' adorableness wasn''t enough to distract her worry. She sighed. "We didn''t think to orient them on that." "Well, believe in your people," he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek as he held Meatball. "We''re sending an advanced party to map out the area as well. That way, they would be nearby in case something happens." "They also need to be able to determine where Fargo would be during the war. I really hope to get that token." Garan nodded with a determined look on his face. "And you''ll get it." Althea blinked, knowing her husband''s propensity to do some extreme things to give her gifts. "But if there''s too much trouble or risk, just kill Fargo. That''d be fine." At worst, Fargo Village would dissipate and they''d just have to travel farther to get the limestone. It would be a challenge, even if they tap Eagle''s space as well, but it was doable. Days had passed since Juni and the others left and it was finally nearing the time of war declaration. During the past few days, everyone had been preparing, but in a low-key manner. Although Fufi and Gochi were tasked to go around the territory for spies, they were still not a fool-proof way of finding them so they didn''t dare be too open with their movements. For instance, they''d have a difficult time finding spies if they had no real malice against Altera, as in the person was only doing his or her job. They would also have trouble if there was no scent related to Fargo anymore, which could easily be fixed by a good bath. In fact, only core people and guards knew about the upcoming war. At least until the day itself. The rumor going around was that the territory was preparing for a huge beast tide, and thus everyone was preparing for it. During this time, dozens of people had also awakened, with the soldiers focusing on training those on the verge of upgrading. These guards were also given focused training for their elements, pretty much sleeping in the elemental training room in the barracks. Of course, the result was a group of relatively well-versed elementalists superior to others of the same level. As for the civilians, they were also allowed to go out and hunt, but with certain conditions. It wasn''t that they had not considered what happened to Bright before their war. That was: the enemies would attack their people while they were outside the territory. They didn''t want that to happen but, at the same time, they refused to force everyone to hide within the walls out of fear, growing stagnant in the process. So, for civilians, each group needed to be at least 20 in number with an average level of 8. A group was also required to bring a paralysis bomb and a smoke bomb each, just in case (to be returned to the barracks after, with a couple of silver bonds). For weaker ones, they''d have no choice but to use the training hall. Speaking of the hall, the cost was temporarily lowered for low-level individuals so there was a nice spike of strength among all levels. The production of the factories had been increased and, fortunately, the research center had also managed to increase their efficiency by improving the machineries. This way, they didn''t have to hire too many temporary workers, who should''ve been focused on raising their strengths. Now, about three to four days before the set date, several groups of people were set to go to Fargo in advance. They also left in groups at varying days and times to remain low-key. The mission of these teams varied, but were very important to lessen the deaths during the war. Some would be assigned to check on their team, while the others would start weakening the enemies from the outside. Though in contrast to what Fargo¡ªwho targeted citizens¡ªdid, they would be dealing with their legitimate forces. The team leading the ones to sneak inside would be Reno as well as a few other members within the level limit. They would be sneaking in a day or so before the attack and this way, even if their strength gathered attention, there wouldn''t be enough time for the enemies to prepare. They would be cooperating with Drake and Vincent''s teams to create chaos inside, especially during the war. There was no anti-violence implemented in Fargo, which meant they could also hurt back whoever. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Specifying regulations was very expensive, which was a good thing, otherwise Fargo would''ve definitely set things up in a way anyone of his men could inflict pain while others could only watch. At the same time, for most territories, specifying regulations weren''t worth it either. First, during wars, they''d be null anyway so they didn''t really hold value during the most important times. Second, because Fargo''s men would always resort to violence, it would be too cumbersome and expensive to make exemptions for them. That said, it was quite expensive to set up something similar for the guards back in Altera. After all, Altera''s guards could hit people but people who even attempted to hit them back would go straight to prison. The system would also determine which criminal was a high-risk one, sending them to the more advanced and better-built area of their prison. It was definitely an investment, but it certainly served their peace and the citizen trust to Altera very well. Even during the many wars that would come after. Chapter 501 - 501: Last Preparations (Part 2) While the majority of the strong soldiers were heading out, a good one-third of the guards would remain in the territory. There were, after all still beasts outside, and the very real possibility of the enemies going to them as well. As such, they would also be guarding the teleportation array very closely, in case of leaks. The team heading to Fargo would be led by Gill. There would be most of the soldiers outside the level cap there with him, including top guards like Rowan. They would be divided into several groups, setting up camp in all directions outside the territory. Some of them would also be looking at the limestone deposits, mapping the area and distance, and determining the threats. Although they hadn''t won yet, it was good to plan ahead so they knew how much of Fargo they could destroy in the process. They were also given some collapsible tents (patented by the research center, of course) for comfort in the days-long camping. These tents would not be much inferior to the ones in Terran (considering they didn''t have synthetic materials yet) and it came with comfortable flooring to allow a good sleep even if the soil was rocky. They also had plenty of food and resources, so even if they stayed a week there, they wouldn''t have any problems. Althea wanted their soldiers to be on top shape at all times after all. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. All teams also had aether letters for ease of communication. They were thankful Oslo had the foresight to buy bulks, which was fortunately accessible to him. When asked, he mentioned that he heard Terrans whine about ''communication'' every single day. How could he forget it? Anyway, three days before the war, the final group of guards to leave was finally deployed in full-gear and followed the others to Fargo. As they trekked, their hearts were filled with a mix of nerves and excitement. The contribution point out of this was no joke! Besides, this was their first war. They must make Altera''s first war end with a bang! ¡­ Back in the house, Althea couldn''t help but feel worried. "I hope it all goes well," Althea said. Her family looked at her and sensed her mood. The babies gurgled and crawled to her across the play cot, extending their little arms. She smiled and took them both in her arms, giving them a loving smooch each. Garan smiled at the sight and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Deaths in war are unavoidable," Garan said, holding her as she rested her head on his chest. "While we planned the best we could to safeguard everyone''s life, if we do experience losses, promise me you won''t be depressed." "How is that possible?" She asked, burying her head on his generous chest. "Especially, it feels heavier since we''re the ones waging it¡­" Because they weren''t just defending, all the deaths that happened after felt like it had something to do with the person who made the decision¡ªthat was: Her. Garan sighed and patted her back. "We all made that decision," he said. "And we made it to protect even more lives long-term. You did well." Althea pursed her lips and sighed, feeling her family''s warmth. They stayed like that for some time until the doorbell rang. "I''ll get it~" Maya said, running over to the door. She then ran over a minute later. "It''s a guest! He said his name is Raine." The couple looked at each other before looking at the children. Sensing the tense atmosphere, Maya and Horus¡ªwho were in charge of babysitting duty that day¡ªcarried the two babies and went to the playgrounds outside to pass the time. Garan stood up to let the man in while Althea sat properly from the cot to the sofa. Raine arrived, androgynously handsome, followed by two aborigine guards. They didn''t seem very strong¡ªone of whom was even a lower level than Althea was¡ªbut they were enough to deal with the daily-weakened mobs around Altera. Garan sat down next to her as she looked at the young man. She had known he had arrived just the previous night when they were resting. As for why he was there, exactly, she didn''t know nor did she have the time to care. However, the man didn''t even fully enter the living room when he had immediately adopted the humblest attitude. "Miss Althea¡­" he said, immediately kneeling down. "Please help us!" This made the two aborigines flinch. "Sir!" they yelled, and he raised his hand. "We¡­ our Belluga village will need your help." Althea stared. They were busy with their own war, but telling it now would defeat the purpose of being low-key. "Tell me what happened first." Raine''s jaw clenched, angry as he gave an account of what those bastards did to them. He told of how hostile aborigines found Belluga, how they managed to take advantage of all the loopholes, and even take advantage of their lord in front of everyone. Garan frowned at its implications on Altera. It seemed that aborigine territories had found their area, and it was only a matter of time until they encountered more of them. Unlike Garan, Althea didn''t focus on this, however. Instead, she looked at Raine with eyes filled with concern. "Kimmy¡­ how is she?" Althea couldn''t imagine the trauma of that poor girl, especially when she was untouched. Althea was surprised Kimmy had been a virgin, but that wasn''t the point. She had been violated so badly. Her mind¡­ was probably not right at this time, would she be able to handle a territory? "She''s actually an innocent, despite what she showed," he said, sighing heavily, "She¡­ was an avid doll collector. We¡­ were her dolls. She would sleep next to us, but she didn''t bother with more." Althea sighed. "I can''t tell you much¡­," she paused. "But we will also be entering our own war very soon," she said. "It''s against a strong territory, and we needed all the forces we can have." Raine and the others flinched at this news, faces pale. However, it made sense, no matter how unfortunate. Altera couldn''t send a team when Raine wasn''t even sure when they''d be attacked, right? "When our war ended in a good victory and you haven''t started yours, I can give my word that a strong team will be sent to assist you. For a price, of course." Raine heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you." He knew of the price they had to pay asking for help, and this was something they were willing to do. "There are 14 hours of warning. Don''t go outside your territory during this time." However, she couldn''t let them leave empty-handed with a clear conscience. She handed him a smoke bomb as well as a beast-repelling potion, teaching him how to use them. Not only Raine, but also his guards were shocked. "Distract enemies with this and spray yourself with this," she said, giving rough instructions and saying their limitations. "We will send some assistance to you when the time comes, as we agreed upon, but please know if anything becomes too dangerous, then they will pull out. "This is all we can do for you." Raine bit his lips, eyes glistening and looking at her full of admiration. "It is plenty, Miss Althea, thank you. "Belluga Village thanks you." Chapter 502 - 502: Watchers "Do you think he''ll be alright?" Althea asked as she watched the Bellugan representatives disappear from view. Garan leaned down and kissed her hair. "He would have to if he wants to survive," he said and he patted his wife''s head as she rested on him again. "Soon enough, aborigines would come for us," she said. Oslo had confirmed what that Bart person had hinted at Garan before. There were many aborigine territories interested in their tokens. They would soon be flooded with war. "It''s like enemies would be coming from all directions¡­" Garan nodded, not lying, but he kissed her cheek in comfort. "We will consider as many things as we can so that, at the very least, we would feel secure in our own home whatever happens." Althea giggled, kissing his cheek. "You''ll be like Altera''s watch tower¡­" she mumbled, then she flinched at the recollection of something. "Speaking of watchtowers¡­" She opened up her panel and Build tab. She then took out her hand-drawn map from her space before turning to her husband, who in turn was curiously looking at her. She handed it to him with a pencil. "Can you help me choose some locations? "Of?" "Watchtowers! In the middle of the village!" She added so many conditions for her sentries at such high costs, so why not maximize their use of them by letting them help out within the territory as well? Garan''s eyes lit up at this and leaned down, kissing her cheek. "My wife is so smart," he said. "Hehe." "Tell me more." The smallest enclosed wall she could create had a diameter of one meter. She planned to build sentries on top of each one. She had studied the current sentries and, theoretically, it should fit. If it didn''t, then she''d have weird walls, but she could just demolish those later. Garan nodded, analyzing the map. Althea was also detailed enough to place a very rough topography of her village, just enough to know where the slopes and depressions were. They didn''t plan to place them too densely¡ªas that would be too ugly, too costly, and impractical¡ªbut they did choose some important locations like plazas. She chose a level 5 wall and sentry, creating a narrow circular floor plan to minimize the ugliness. After a thought though, she decided to spend some more gold. She took her tablet and found some pretty tower patterns that matched the theme of her village aesthetic. She added carvings, embedded benches, and the like. Overall, she could imagine it would be quite pretty. Don''t call her too squeamish, but she could imagine seeing an ugly tower among the pretty stuff and felt quite stressful. "There!" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, before she pressed the build option, she paused. "But what if enemies prepare for them?" She asked her husband. Their effect would be much higher if enemies weren''t aware there could be sentries in the middle of the territory. Although enemies would eventually figure it out once it was used, she wanted to maximize their surprise effect even if it was only during one war. In the end, they decided to defer construction until the war happened. There was still a lot of ongoing construction and she may need to change up the locations of the sentries nearer some buildings anyway, depending on what actually went on in wars here. She was looking forward to seeing them in action though. Nod. Garan chuckled at her cuteness, leaning down to give her a deep kiss. "I will be heading out soon as well," Garan said, caressing her curvaceous waist. When the war started, he would be outside Fargo, ready to support as he could. Althea looked at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, accepting the intimacy. However, before their kisses could turn more passionate, they abruptly parted and shifted their heads to look in a direction at the same time. They felt a sudden new presence there, and immediately raised their guards. Garan already had ice picks floating and Althea had her bow and arrow out. Obviously, no one should be able to enter the house due to the regulations but one couldn''t be too careful. But they saw no one, at least at first, and their eyebrows immediately furrowed. They worried they might be against a strong enemy until they heard milky mumblings just below their line of sights. They looked down and saw their daughter crawling on the floor towards them. "Baby Pepper?" Althea voiced out, immediately putting away the weapon and rushing over to carry the little bun. Garan also approached and patted the girl''s head, but otherwise also confused. The baby giggled as she hugged her mother. Althea leaned over to place a kiss on the baby''s soft face. "My, what are you doing here alone? Where''s Maya?" In response, the Little Pepper just smiled and waved her hand, as if telling her something. The couple just chuckled and nodded as if they understood. "Hmm," Althea uttered as she kissed the baby''s cheeks again, "My baby is indeed very smart." Little Peppe giggled and opened her tiny arms, embracing her mother''s face with her entire body. The couple laughed and Garan leaned down to give her¡ªand Althea¡ªa few kisses as well. It was around this time that a frantic little voice, followed by little footsteps, approached them in a hurry. It was Maya, holding Meatball, with Horus holding Theo. "Sister Althea! Sister Althea!" Maya called out, even before she saw them. "What is it?" "Little Pepper, she''s gone! Wuuu¡ªoh, you''re here?" Maya blinked, confused, "How did you get here?" Althea walked over with Baby Pepper comfortable in her hold. She leaned down to look at Maya. "What''s going on, Maya?" She asked and the little girl proceeded on telling the story, with much gusto. "Hmm¡­ we were all playing in the playground for a while, right? It was very fun. Horus, Theo, and I were playing tag, and the babies were rolling on the ground in the field. "We always check on them and we run around them and they always laugh at us, especially when Horus gets tagged!" "But then one day, when I turned around, poof! Pepper is gone! "We looked EVERYWHERE! We were so scared!" From behind, she could see Theo and Horus nodding in agreement. Althea''s lips twitched and just patted the children''s heads. "Well, the old people said never to underestimate babies'' speed¡­" "Ohh¡­" "Ah¡­" They looked adorable, looking as if they had enlightenment. Althea giggled. "Well, you go along now. Let me have Pepper for a bit, she''s tired from super-crawling." "Ohh okay!" Maya and the other kids nodded, gesturing to go. It was just that Meatball whimpered all of a sudden. Seeing his sister hugging his soft mother and being left there, Little Meatball was naturally not reconciled. He raised his little arms, struggling in Maya''s hold. "Gwhgfwhheggmawmaaaa!" Althea smiled and extended her hand to take her son, and soon the two children were rubbing on her comfortably. While she felt her babies'' warmth and softness against her though, her heart felt a bit heavy as she was still figuring out the events. Just¡­ what is going on? ¡­ Althea temporarily put down the worries and looked at the other three children who were watching them, waiting for instructions. "Go ahead kids, have fun," she told them with a smile. "Better enjoy your vacation, school is starting in a few days!" "Yes, sister Althea~" She and Garan watched the kids scuttle away before turning their attention back to the children. There was silence for a while, all the way until they went to the bedroom. She gently placed the babies in their crib while they studied them. The couple stared at the two children in the crib. They mumbled and extended their little paws towards their parents, who were oddly just staring at them. "Mwammwaaahh??" "Goggoomammaa??" However, the couple was still deep in thought and they barely noticed their babies'' pleas. After a while, Atlhea made a bit of an exclamation, making Garan turn to her. "Wait, their data could be in the panel now!" She said, a bit excited. It wasn''t there before they got officially named, and when they registered the children for permanent residency, there was no other information available except for their names. Before, she had asked Oslo how babies were given identities¡ªwhich was apparently automatic as soon as they were named. Similarly, if they were visitors, she wondered how they paid for visitor''s fees. Apparently, the parents had to pay for the children through the centers. The babies were still developing until a certain age so there wasn''t any information there other than their names and age. They didn''t think to look again, because there wouldn''t have been any point. But now¡­ Althea was a bit excited as she opened her panel, but her shoulders slumped when she saw there was no change. "Still none." She couldn''t help but look at both her children, who were looking up at them with adorable innocent toothless smiles as they finally gained back their parents'' attention. They couldn''t be imagining everything, right? Chapter 503 - 503: Bruce and Rebi Somewhere on the outskirts of Fargo While the smoke of war was slowly rising, most of the citizens¡ªespecially Fargo''s¡ªremained completely unaware. The citizens were doing their daily activities. Most were hunting and working hard to survive, some¡ªmostly those who had allied with Fargo¡ªwere dilly-dallying, while others were busy bullying their fellowmen. At this time, a good portion of the activity was fixed in the mines. "Work harder!" A man said, kicking another poor slave to ''wake''. He didn''t move anymore though and someone checked his breathing to be extremely weak. "Tsk. Another one broken," Peko sneered, spitting out in disgust. He looked at one of the guards and gestured to get rid of the body. One man carried the near-corpse to the edge of the cave system. It wasn''t exactly a cliff, but the slope wasn''t gentle either. The guard carelessly threw the man there, watching him roll to the bottom, hitting a few trees by the way. He watched until he was satisfied before nodding and turning back to the gossip. Rolling down and hitting rocks and shrubs, Thomas didn''t care anymore. He didn''t even feel the pain of being thrown down. He doubted he''d feel the pain if a monster decided to bite onto his flesh. He just wanted his life to end so Vivian didn''t think about him anymore. How sorry she must feel to him, and how guilty she must feel to be touched like that by those men. But he couldn''t even tell her he didn''t blame her at all, and that he would not be disgusted with her. But it''s alright now. With his death, Vivian would eventually forget about him, moving on with her life. Eventually, the seemingly-endless rough roll downhill ended, and he heard various rustles of shrubs around him. He closed his eyes, feeling his last breath slowly leave him. From the back of his consciousness though, he realized he wasn''t hearing the familiar growls of monsters. Instead, it was voices. "Hey, it''s a corpse!" "No, he''s still alive." Another voice said. "Pull back now. Back to the temporary base!" "Yes, Boss Gill!" Thomas didn''t know what happened anymore because he completely lost consciousness. *** Anyway, back to the mines, the guards were lounging as they watched the hard-working slaves, completely unaffected by the fact that they threw away yet another one to the monsters. "We found copper, why are we still mining limestone?" One asked, wondering why most of the slave labor still went there. He was a little annoyed as one of the people who ''found'' the copper, because it made his ''contribution'' less cooler. "Idiot, sure copper is awesome, what do we do next?" "Make money?" S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Nah, many people tried to take it in their spaces to see if it could be converted to money, but it didn''t work." "Damn!" "At least we have construction experts here, we could at least make concrete!" One said. "That''s a huge thing, okay?" Most of the gangsters weren''t highly educated, so they didn''t know much about concrete except it was a good place to throw people in. However, from the various conversations and actions in the territory, they could surmise limestone was needed to create it. "They tried putting it over a section of the wall to make it stronger." "And?" "It didn''t stick." While the men were chatting, Bruce was working hard nearby. They chatted without care around slaves thinking that they couldn''t reveal anything automatically as long as they were enslaved. They thought wrong this time though. Unless slaves were explicitly ordered not to say anything specific, they had no prohibitions at all. In terms of computer, the residents had to program a command each time, and each command had varying effectivity. However, none of this mattered because there was no one to tell at this time. Clack! Clack! Clack! Bruce diligently worked on his area of the mine, also for the little girl around 10 years old right next to him. After all, if their sector didn''t meet the required productivity, the slave drivers tended to be harsher on that group of people. On the girl''s other side was Rebi, a man his age, with copper-colored skin and a strong body. He was also doing the same thing as he was. The girl reminded him of his daughter, and it was the same with Rebi¡ªwho was taken away from his own daughter by the disaster. Bruce was still much luckier because he knew his Lily had a good chance of survival due to Tom and the others, but Rebi''s daughter got separated from him during the transfer. Bruce had known Rebi arrived at Bright about a day or so before it got attacked. He had used his remaining savings to announce his daughter''s name¡ªFiona¡ªoffering a bit of reward for valid news of her. He was saving up to pay the caravan to do the same in the allied territories, but sadly the war happened and there was no chance anymore. Bruce sighed. He couldn''t imagine waking up in this new world, suddenly not finding your precious daughter. Most people who were together in Terran mostly transferred together. Rebi was very unlucky in this regard. However, his hope was that she was in a nearby territory because that was how it was, and that had been his hope for living all this time. The girl between them was named Lina. She was a ten-year-old orphan who hadn''t lifted a finger until the disasters. Her parents died as early as in Terran, where her father ate her mother right in front of her eyes. By luck, she managed to survive by hiding in their pantry. She was lucky to have been transferred with Micheal and the others¡ªhaving lived in the same rich neighborhood as he did back in Terran. She traded protection and other resources with the food she managed to stock up and she had lived decently in Bright for a few weeks until the war started. At this time, she was absolutely unsightly with blood and grime¡ªRebi covered her up¡ªwhich was the only reasons why she hadn''t been dragged out to become a different kind of slave. Her slow productivity certainly wasn''t helping her out, so the two fathers could only work harder to cover for her. Bruce and Rebi had also made it a point to always work next to her, using their own largeness to cover direct sight of the girl. They thought: what these bastards couldn''t see, they wouldn''t remember, and so far it had worked in their favor. Unfortunately, the men today were particularly deep in heat. "Damn, all the women are either occupied, too boring with their coo-cooness, or dead!" They yelled it with so much disgust it gritted in the slaves'' hearts. Of course that happened. They took advantage of the female slaves too much! The slaves gripped their weapons, gritting teeth, using the stones in front of them to vent. They had to endure more of their dirty talks, talking about this woman or that woman, and what they did, as well as the woman they were now pining for. "Damn, when will the boss get tired of my goddess Juni! I want to have a taste!!" "Eh, she seems special, even the two favorites got kicked out!" "Damn, I also want those two! Just one, just a taste!" "Too late! Boss Uzon already got the blonde and Boss Sen already got the dark-skinned one!" "Ah, pity!" As they chatted, the bored guards walked around, checking the status of their work. But then one stopped right behind Lina. He looked at her profile, looking at her up and down, with his eyebrows rising in a pleasant surprise a moment later. "Eh, hey, we have a girl here." At this, everyone''s blood turned cold. Chapter 504 - 504: Unexpected Help The others looked over and were disappointed it was a small girl. "Nah, I like mine voluptuous. I don''t like kids. It''s yours," one said, another one shrugged and continued their rounds. As such, only one of the guards was left, who was glad he didn''t have to share. Bruce moved to block the way but he was easily pushed away. His heart dropped, looking at the other men. "Stop!" He yelled, but his body refused to move and he could only watch as the little girl was pulled away. "NOOO!" Bruno turned extending his hands to grip the girl''s arms. "Please, she''s so young!" Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was pushed and kicked down instead. He coughed up blood, already weak from all the tireless work. "Don''t bother me right now," the guard said, grinning and showing off his yellow teeth. Lina''s eyes widened as the man loomed over her. She whipped her head to look at both Bruce and Rebi. Bruce was down, while Rebi was shaking as his back was turned to her while he continued with his work. Lina''s heart fell. Rebi was intending to ignore her now that she was found. Bruce couldn''t blame him. He was also reluctant to do something to risk his life. If he died, what would happen to his own daughter? However, when he had to watch the girl being groped right in front of him¡ªhis eyes turned red. Bruce could see his daughter in the girl, and like hell he''d allow anything to happen to her! He wanted to yell out for them to stop, but his body didn''t listen. He gritted his teeth, trying to move, but the orders were clear: ''Don''t bother me right now.'' Bruce cursed himself for his weakness, but at the same time, he also prayed for the little girl to be alright. "No! Please! No! Not there!" The little girl yelled, trying to push his hands away, making the man laugh in amusement. "Not here, not here?" he said with a grin. "Oh? You''re shy? Aw how cute." "Okay, I''ll take you elsewhere," he said, pulling the girl by the hair. He grinned as he heard her cry. He could''ve easily told her to shut up and she would, but he didn''t, because where was the fun in that? "Noooo! Wuuuu¡ª" "Noo! Pleasee!" Finally, Rebi couldn''t handle it anymore and ran after them, holding his arm. The moment he realized his actions, he shook in fear. But he gathered enough courage to speak. "Please¡­ don''t. You''ll¡­ break her." The man looked at him with dark eyes, and punched him without warning. "A slave dare to touch me, eh?" he yelled, punching him again so he lost his footing. The man kicked him, repeatedly, and he was unable to fight back. "UNCLE REBI!" Lina yelled, sobbing, and could only cry louder when she was pulled away to someplace else. "NOO! PLEASEEE! HELP ME! UNCLE BRUCE! UNCLE BRUCEEE! Wuuuu¡ª" He dragged her further into the forest and Bruce felt that he could move already, meaning the order had expired. The other guards were busy and he took advantage and followed them deeper into the forest, dragging his body. When he arrived, the man was already hovering over the girl and taking off her clothes, and his movements hastened further¡ªnot that it made much of a difference because he was already so weak. The tragedy of slaves was that they really wouldn''t be able to fight or hurt anyone on the ''master''s side'', unless specifically ordered to by someone above in the chain of command. However, he could try to convince them otherwise. "Please don''t," he yelled, voice raspy, making the man turn to him, "She''s so small, her body wouldn''t be able to take it. Why don''t you wait¡ª" This made the man stop his actions and turn to him with a sneer, though his eyes was filled with hostility. "Heh, why are slaves getting so brave lately?" The next thing he knew a huge palm was on his face and he was dragged to the nearby tree, his head pounded there repeatedly. He held onto the man''s hand. "Don''t fight back," he ordered, and his arms fell to his sides as a response. He couldn''t fight back and had no choice but to receive all the attacks raw. BANG! BANG! BANG! He kicked him to another tree, and kicked his face, before kicking his stomach again, over and over, and Bruce felt that it wouldn''t take long until his ribs gave way. Bruce''s eyes filled with tears in pain and hopelessness, his sights ended up on the little girl lying down, looking at him, also sobbing. She was too terrified to speak now, but he could see the hopelessness in her eyes. As he slowly felt his consciousness wane, his daughter''s image superimposed on the other girl. If he perished now, his Lily would be violated. But what could he do? He couldn''t move at all! Not only was his body heavy as led, his status as a slave also held him back. Such a heavy feeling! "My Lily¡­" he mumbled, tears lining up in his eyes. He was expecting more pain to come, and maybe then he''d finally succumb, however¡ª AWOOOOO! They heard a howl nearby, and it was followed by rustles, slashing sounds, and the man''s screeching that reminded him of a pig being slaughtered. "WHAT!? AHHH!!" He could see the man fall down, but he couldn''t move enough to see what was happening. He saw him being dragged him a little farther that he couldn''t see anymore. Soon, he could hear tearing sounds, followed by a squelching sound, and the screams eventually ended. They were at a distance far enough from the caves not to alert too many, but still audible. However, such sounds weren''t uncommon and people just thought a small mob came, which would be dealt with when they came. More often than not, such screams were associated with a lone weak slave thrown to the beasts, so no one bothered to check. This was also what Bruce thought, thinking that the monsters would probably eat him next. But when the man sounds ended and none of his pain followed, he was puzzled. He heard a howl and he struggled to turn to look at what happened, only to see the man was killed¡ªnot eaten¡ªby none other than that wolf from before! The one they encountered near Bright Territory! The wolf walked over, having a little limp, before using its nose to move his hand. He raised his hand to pat her nose. "Thank you," he mumbled, tears lining up his eyes. The wolf howled again and left, and for a moment Bruce thought he was imagining things. But then more rustles sounded. Bruce''s heart fell and he crawled in the girl''s direction. He imagined it was probably Fargo''s men checking on the noise. In which case, he in his current state could be tagged as useless and therefore thrown to a mob as bait, and Lina would be unprotected. "It''s here, it''s here," A voice said, pausing as they absorbed what they saw. "Oh wow¡­ how brutal." Bruce turned to look at the men who arrived. They were all dashing and didn''t look like any of Fargo''s guards at all. They looked at Bruce and Lina, both of whom were shaking both in fear and in weakness. The men''s stances softened immediately, and one of them walked over, kneeling down to their level. It was a man with aquiline features that would appear sharp, but his gentle smile softened it a bit. "Hello, my name is Eagle," he said. "Do you want us to help you out?" Chapter 505 - 505: Tea Culture While Alterans were quietly preparing for their first war, the aborigines from the city were relaxing their hearts out. They would peruse the interesting territory, buy what they wanted, and get special treatment for their money as ''very rich customers''. Other than this, they were also approached for advice and knowledge, and in exchange, they would also receive some purchasing tips and often a free meal here and there. The past few days, there had been elders or positioned guards who would ask them a couple of questions, some surprisingly acute, while some were just odd but they answered anyway. For instance, a man named Vino¡ªthe owner of Heartbreak Tavern¡ªonce asked them if they, aborigines, were generally fond of alcohol during the night. When they said yes, he then asked if a tavern was available and would it definitely have business at all hours. They answered him with their opinions and he looked like he was taking notes. He left after saying his polite goodbyes to them and leaving them a nice bottle of wine¡ªwhich Otto really, really, liked. Anyway, the Golds were currently in the newly opened tea house along the main East Avenue, right next to that park. The tea house was nestled in the heart of the unique avenues, serving as the sanctuary of tranquility among the lively streets. The exterior of the tea house was adorned by climbing ivy, its emerald leaves created a waterfall-like wall of green. It added a special ''relaxed'' feel, more so than the shops adjacent to it. There was a special hand-carved sign bearing its name: Tea Haven, located right at the top of the building, visible from about a hundred meters away. This shop was composed of two modules, so it had a 250 square meter floor area for each story, which allowed for a spacious area of relaxation. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The centerpiece of the ground floor was a massive wood bar adorned with beautiful ceramic teapots and bowls of dried herbs. It was then surrounded by intricately carved tables scattered across the room, topped by plush burgundy cushions. The patrons conversed in hushed tones, dipping from delicate porcelain cups. Steam billowed from them, carrying the scent of fresh leaves and flowers. There was a spiraling wooden staircase to the second floor to the open-air area that blurred the interior and exterior. Its upper floor also had movable walls, designed to create some private rooms as needed. When the floor was fully opened, the entire floor opened to the overarching balcony adorned with potted plants, making it seem like there were no walls at all, as if it was a roofed elevated area to eat in the middle of the bustling activity. There were nicely divided from the outer space by the ivy walls crawling on a specially designed mesh. There were also balustrades looking over the streets and walkways below, providing some privacy and peace, but at the same time having access to the bustle at street level. Here, there were chaise lounges with plump cushions as well as various tables designed for comfortable use at varying chair heights. At this time, the Golds and friends were lounging here, willingly submersed in the gentle fragrance of herbs and flowers. "This is amazing," Olga mumbled, almost moaning as she took a sip on the lovely porcelain cup with even lovelier contents, its flavor dancing in her tongue. The tea was vibrant pale green with hints of color. The flavor was crisp, clean, and with a hint of sweetness. "Of course! These are certified products of Ms. Althea!" The Tea master said, "I am one of the very few people who managed to secure distribution deals." Soa was a teahouse owner with balding hair and a kind smile. He had moved from Vismont during the first wave of immigration, very willingly so as his late wife had been one of the victims of Higson''s men. He was also Loa''s¡ªthe creator of the sour sauce¡ªolder brother. Through him, he managed to borrow capital to manage his own tea house, which was the family business he handled before the planet was destroyed. He cut a deal with Miss Althea to distribute exclusive 3 tea varieties for a very good price. He also got a small discount for teas that wasn''t exclusive as a bonus so he could sell them a bit cheaper than other teahouses. With this, he had become a very good taxpayer¡ªwhich Altera seemed to really like. Anyway, he was in a happy mood in front of very rich customers. Soa smiled widely. "Would you like to know the health effects of this tea?" The Golds looked at him curiously, nodding. "Sure." "We call this Golden Tea. We added various complimenting plants similar to golden root and arctic root, which is an adaptogenic herb. They are known to enhance movement, reduce stress, and improve cognitive functions." He then pointed at another cup that Otto had been drinking, "That is special green tea with L-theanine which indirectly affects dopamine levels by triggering brain patterns that induce relaxation. We also added vanilla extracts." The Golds stared at him as he droned on passionately about the drink. L-theanine? Dopamine? Could those be eaten? The tea owner seemed unaware of the aborigines'' cluelessness and continued to blabber on. Back in Terran, those who asked for details were tea lovers and they understood most of his technicalities. "I see¡­" was all Otto said, pretending to understand. He had wanted to ask about the other variation, but was afraid of the new words that pop up again. However, they had rarely seen so many varieties for sure. Teas were uncommon in lower territories because it was usually bitter. Tea mixes were even rarer because mixing herbs and plants together could sometimes create something poisonous for consumption¡ªeven when the plants mixed weren''t poisonous at all. There were only three tea houses in Bleulle, two of which only specialized in a few teas, and none were so big because¡ªother than the fact that land was insanely expensive in Bleulle¡ªthe patrons were also limited so there was no point building such a large shop. At this time, it was an industry that was still gaining traction and wasn''t particularly popular in places outside the city. However, it so happened that their mother Gaia was a tea-lover and she passed this to all of the siblings, and this was why they were among the few aborigines who would be frequenting this teahouse. They wondered if they could get these back home¡­ how happy would their mother be? Chapter 506 - 506: Gossip Over Tea Because of the rareness of quality tea, one could Imagine the siblings'' surprise when they saw such a large tea house with such an array of choices. "You have interesting mixes," Olga said, reading the ''menu''. A lot of the plants were unfamiliar to her until she went to Altera, but some she knew. She just had no idea they could be mixed safely! "These are but a few of the many mixes Ms. Althea offered. It so happened that we are one of the two accredited tea houses who could deal with her!" "Miss Althea again, eh?" Olga mumbled, recalling that beautiful woman with bright green eyes. Obi nodded, also remembering. "She''s everywhere." "She''s really very beautiful and smart. No wonder Oslo fancies her so." Cassandra said, and she was a bit surprised when Olga nodded with a smile. "You''ve seen her?" "Yeah, we encountered them on the way here," she said, "She''s definitely a one-of-a-kind beauty. Her husband was also quite handsome and dashing." "Oh, be careful of him. He''s very rude to other women." Olga gave her a pointed look, "Do I look like that kind of woman." Cassandra raised her hand, "I''m just saying¡­ that guy is very charming, after all. Can''t blame anyone." Obi looked at Cassandra, curious about what she had to say. When he met with Garan, although his level was very very low¡ªalmost half of his¡ªhe still felt intimidated for some reason. It tickled his curiosity as a fighter and it triggered his competitiveness. At the same time, he couldn''t have it in him to challenge someone with a much lower level than his, so one could imagine how the curiosity was eating him up. "He''s definitely the strongest one here," he said. "Though I don''t think he had fought with Oslo, I think people said even he wasn''t confident in taking him on despite the level differences." "Oh?" Otto looked at them, nodding, his mind also remembering the man. "He had a special aura about him¡ªand that Miss Althea¡ªthat is for certain." They had been here less than a year, yet their strengths had caught up to many locals who had been surviving here for decades. Soa was very happy to hear Miss Althea being complimented. It was even better that it was high-level aborigines who were doing it¡ªthis meant that Miss Althea, Sir Garan, and the entirety of Altera, were doing extremely well. "If you want to get good deals it''s definitely through her. She basically owns a third of the economy here," he said. It was also around here that Soa finally excused himself, seeing as more guests had climbed up the lounge. The Golds barely noticed him leaving, and kept to their thoughts for a while. "The woman''s not just married to the strongest person here, she was also a force to reckon with," Olga uttered after a few moments, looking a little wistful as she said so. It was amazing. In fact, a woman having a superior husband was already good enough, but she herself established herself to be a force in such a high-potential territory¡ªand this amazed them the most. Further, Althea herself had become an elementalist only after a few months. And she wasn''t just an elementalist¡ªa rare dual one, as well! Olga, in particular, couldn''t wait to chat with her for a longer time. "I really want to meet her already, but Oslo said we couldn''t bother any of them at this time." Otto nodded, "They said it''s for an upcoming beast tide," Obi scoffed. "Do you believe them?" Otto shook his head. "I doubt it''s the upgrade beast tide as the village should still need a bit more to be qualified as town. I think it''s something else." This made the group look at him. Anyway, most of the other guests were downstairs, and the second floor was a lot more private. Even the partitions had insulating properties. "I think¡­ they''re preparing to attack." They were a bit startled, but then thought it made sense. Of course, they wouldn''t be able to confirm it without Oslo himself. "Where is Oslo?" Olga asked, looking around. "He''s practicing making aether buildings. I heard he already wasted two sets. Tsk." "Well, just two sets after so many days, I think it''s okay?" "You spoil him big sister," Obi said, shaking his head, though not without taking another sweet snack in his mouth. The group relaxed for a while, buying several boxes of tea for their parents along the way. The shop owner was extremely friendly, even adding a can of free tea as bonus. When he realized they were finally purchasing more for takeaway, Soa had appeared next to them again with a very happy smile. "These cups are very beautiful. Mother would live these. Where could we get more?" Olga said and the owner smiled, telling them of the ceramics factory¡ªwhich Miss Althea''s team happened to co-own. The Golds noted this and checked the menu again, afraid to miss something good to buy for home. "I particularly like this flowery tea," Olga complimented the man. "It''s sweet and fragrant, like it relaxes your soul with a sip." "Oh yes, it has extract from flowers Ms. Althea grows herself!" Her again. Olga leaned over and asked, eyes filled with curiosity. "Do you think your Ms. Althea would be open for deals in our territory?" "Of course!" "Not only tea, but plenty of bars and alcohol have entered dealership with her," Soa helpfully added. The richer Ms. Althea got, the better it was for everyone! They hadn''t forgotten that a lot of the people who worked with her during the start were now all rich people themselves! Besides, the bigger her businesses was, the better the territory would be, and everyone''s lives followed. "Okay, thank you," they said, and continued to explore the rest of the territory. "Come back soon!" Soa said, "And enjoy your stay~!" ¡­ For the next few hours, the Golds would indeed be walking around and enjoying their stay. Although Oslo was currently indisposed to guide them, Cassandra and Veronica had been in the place for quite a few days and were able to guide them to a comfortable degree. "What''s that shop?" Olga asked pointing at a shop painted in white. It had similar elements as the other buildings, but for some reason it was painted with very light colors, making it extremely visible. "It''s a clinic," Veronica said. "I heard that certain incentives are given to shop owners offering services the territory needs. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "For example, clinics," Cassandra said, recalling what the guides told her when she asked. She tried to remember as much as she could, as she wanted to blend into Gill''s home as quickly as possible. "They give Preferential treatment like in payments, taxes, et cetera." Otto''s eyebrows rose. He was the one who understood these things best, and he explained it to his siblings when they asked. Although it seemed like a loss, this was a long-term plan of keeping talents. This and a plethora of other regulations spoke loudly about the wisdom of the lord here. Too bad they had no idea who it was. Chapter 507 - 507: Gaming Hall After filling their spaces up again with this and that, the group continued to walk along the streets, ending at the last shops. Even when the entire territory was low-key preparing for something and people seemed to work a few more hours over time, they would still have time to rest and play. At this time, a lot of people who had just gotten off work were heading in a direction. Curious, the Golds¡ªwho were winked at several times by the way¡ªfollowed the crowd. Most of these were women, too, and the Golds were very taken aback by the women''s forwardness here. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Speaking of forward women, they seemed to have themselves a fan group here. Golden god # 2 was Otto and #3 was Obi¡ªwhich was something he was very bitter about because Oslo was #1. Olga (a.k.a. Golden Goddess) really found this all amusing. She looked at a girl who was openly admiring their ''golden gods'' and asked, "Where are so many people going?" "The Gaming Hall, Miss Olga~!" "A Gaming Hall?" she uttered, feeling it sounded familiar. This place was something Ansel wanted to show the Golds at some point, but suddenly things happened and he just forgot about it. There were also so many things to explore in Altera and they somehow missed this newly-opened entertainment building. The girl wasn''t surprised the Aborigines still hadn''t been there. Altera was not as big as a town for sure, but one simply couldn''t see everything it had to offer within a couple of days. "Yes, it''s a place where people can play games. Usually after working hours, of course!" The Golds looked at each other. Did this seem like a territory going to war and/or Beast Tide? What they didn''t understand at this time was that people played because they knew and felt a big fight was coming. They had already done their work and trained. It was time to relax and balance their psyches! Unlike the Aborigines, the Terrans were well aware of the need for balance. In Terran, there were various studies indicating that working too much had diminishing returns! Breaks were important for an efficient society! Ahem. Anyway, the Golds soon arrived at the building along with a small crowd of people who immediately went in, knowing where they were going. It had three stories with plenty of color and activities for all ages. It was the preliminary development of Ansel''s entertainment plan. It was only one building for now but, eventually, he would expand it further. Maybe it could extend to an entire street, but that needed a bit of begging-the-sister-lord on his part. Back to the Game Hall. First off, there were a couple of indoor activities like that game they called squash, as well as a few fun games like hoop games and darts. The newcomers were amazed by the vibrancy inside. Not only the color, but the energy was wild. There were plenty of cheers and laughter, usually centered around activity spots. "Wow¡­" Honda uttered as he entered the building. His eyes widened at the sight. He didn''t know many of the activities but based on the laughter he was hearing, they seemed quite fun. Little Honda found himself in front of a board where there were two people playing against each other. They were sliding a circle thing with a handle and they would get a point when the smaller flat circle entered the other''s slot. "What is this?" Honda asked no one in particular. Unexpectedly, a cute little girl turned to him and he blushed a little. "It''s you!" "Ah, yes." They were the kids he met with Uncle Ansel before. He had always wondered when he''d encounter them again¡­ but he was too shy to ask uncle where they were. But the little girl¡ªMimi, he remembered her name¡ªas well as her friend Maya saw him and greeted. "Hello~ You''re Uncle Oslo''s nephew! Honda, right?" "H¡­Hello¡­" he said shyly, but internally reprimanding himself for not being more confident, like his dad. The little girls weren''t privy to the various thoughts in his head though and just pulled him closer to their group. He already knew most of them, except for a tall girl around his age. He blinked as he looked at her. She looked very sad and out of place. The younger kids saw where he was looking at and saw Lily, one of the newcomers and someone they were asked to bring. "This is Lily!" Mimi said. "She''s a little worried for her dad right now, but it''ll be okay, and we''re trying to distract her." "I¡­ see¡­" "Anyway, this game is called Table Hockey! You shoot them all and you''ll gain points. Win enough and you can get prizes!" Then, the girl looked at him and smiled, "Wanna play?" As such, little Honda was pulled by the little girls to play with the others. The moment they started, laughs and giggles abounded. Even little-adult Horus chuckled. At some point, Honda had started losing badly. He puffed his cheeks and his other hand blocked the puck from getting to the slot using his palms. Maya gasped. "No! Stupid! You''re not supposed to touch it!" "S-Stupid?" "Silly goose!" "Is that a bad word?" Honda asked, looking at them. "It''s endewment!" Maya said and Mimi, daughter of a lawyer, corrected her. "It''s endearment." "Oh." Anyway, after a few fun games playing table hockey, they traveled from game to game (politely waiting for their turn, of course), and had lots of fun. In fact, a lot of the games for kids were designed to low-key train them. Other than indoor sports like Squash to improve reaction time, there were also mini-games that could improve skills. For instance, there was a mini archery area where they could be introduced to the art of archery. There was also a pressure-matching game where the players (played by kids and kids at heart) would have to guess what element was being used and what to use against it. The games were not free, of course, much like how arcades worked. It was pretty amazing. They didn''t have electricity yet, but with the cooperation of the woodworkers and Houser, they came up with a way for the mechanisms of the games to be blocked after a certain time of use. They had to use special carved coins by Houser to make them work again, and powered by mechanisms (via water or wind) that would match with the patterns in the coins. It worked much like a key. While it could be cheated by creative people after a year or two, hopefully they would have thought of better mechanisms by that time. Regardless, even this ''basic'' thing was extremely novel even to the Golds. Maya showed Honda and Lily how to use the tokens. "You just put this token over here, and it''ll work!" Honda blinked and held the cute little wood token, placing it in a slot of sorts. When he did, he heard some sounds inside the box and it started working! "Amazing." They played a lot and Mimi and Maya were definitely the noisiest. The other kids were just following along with smiles on their faces. Mimi looked at the others, realizing the differences in interactions. Her father had taught her a lot about people. There were extroverts and introverts and then the people in between. She could tell Horus, Honda, and Lily were introverts. She knew that while they were not too fond of people, it didn''t mean they couldn''t enjoy it. Her father told her of something like a social battery. The people who like to talk a lot seem to have an inexhaustible social battery¡ªrather, they were energized by talking and playing¡ªwhile introverts had limited amounts of it. In any case, the two girls were determined to make their quiet friends enjoy this time together! And so, the kids ran around¡ªdragging the shyer friends¡ªand having a blast. The laughter of the children brought smiles to the adults with childish hearts roaming around. Soon enough, the adults would be doing the same. "It looks simple but fun," Otto said with a smile, then turned to Obi who was gaping at the game in front of them with apt attention. Not only was that coin thing impressive, but the games themselves were really interesting. Soon, enough, they tried the games as well. They bought just a handful of coins at first, trying some random games, finding something special in each one. To be honest, it could get quite addicting! Would they get in trouble? At this thought, they looked at the various machines and games they had yet to try and they felt a little giddy. This was a unique place with novel machines and games¡ªit was a place where everyone would have the heart to play. This was fun to Terrans who had seen all sorts of entertainment, one could imagine the waves it would cause among aborigines! This was what characterized Altera''s Game Hall, which would eventually be known throughout the region. Further, these games were patented by the Elder of Economy, Ansel Witt, and would thus make a lot more money when people bought rights to them. Hey, he needed his own money, too! Chapter 508 - 508: Gambles (Part 1) At some point, the Golds ended up in a game around 2 meters deep and a meter wide. There was a basket target moved around randomly, and they were given a little ''catapult'' which had a button of sorts. They had to time and calculate the angle well if they wanted to shoot the ''rock'' to the basket. "Oh, how creative!" "How do the people here think of these things?" One must know that cities did indeed have catapults¡ªthough for most parts, they were technology taken from when the dwarves were still human slaves. It seemed that Alterans also had this concept! Would it appear in a village, too? It took Obi about ten tries to get closer, but still did not manage to shoot. "UGH!" Obi gritted his teeth, a little annoyed. Otto looked at him. "Be careful of destroying anything. I heard you''ll get transported straight to prison." "Seriously?" "Yep." At some point, Obi and Otto also started watching stranger''s games, and they were even cheering along with the locals. They then played a game called whack-a-trudge-rat where a caricature of said monster¡ªa good digger beast¡ªwould appear in random holes and they had to hit it. The mechanism wasn''t simple. First, it had to be durable enough to handle the strength of strongmen. This was done using a lot of rubber and resin. Of course, they had to place a sign of what power level could be used. For example, for this game, a maximum of level 10 strength was allowed. Further, it had to be much faster than back in Terra due to the people''s improved reflexes here, but also not too fast that it''d take away from the fun. The two aborigines found themselves addicted. At some point, they bought pockets full of wood coins and somehow they halved it with just that one game alone. Olga laughed at their antics. "Stupid." But she did have a large smile on her face. ¡­ Some time later, a man in an official uniform entered, looking around for someone. The person manning the coin exchange booth saw him, and immediately smiled. "Hey! Sir Jun! Looking for Mimi?" The man smiled as he looked around. "Yes." "She''s by the wood coin machine," he said, pointing in a direction, and Jun followed. He went past a couple of games until he found a group of kids huddled around some sort of translucent dome. The material wasn''t youli though, but rather a nearly-transparent mesh supported by wooden frames. The game was like that Coin Pusher game in Terran. As for how the mechanism inside worked, he only knew it used the wind turbines above the building as the mechanism. However it worked, he knew it must be ingenious. Of course, the mechanical games were limited to simple ones like this which only needed one or two main movements. The other games would need electricity first, which meant they were a long time away. Jun stood behind the children, watching his daughter have fun with friends. To be honest, when the disaster happened, he didn''t think they''d have any semblance of normalcy anymore. But look at this now. His daughter was playing arcade games! However, all good things must still come to an end, and he did call on her a few moments later. He gently tapped her little shoulders. "Mimi, time to go home," he said, and the little ones all turned to him with furrowed eyebrows. "Awww¡­." she mumbled and looked at him. "But it''s still so early daddy!" "Five minutes please!" His eyes twitched. "Fine." This made the children''s frown morph to one of relief and they continued to play their little game. "..." Jun shook his head and saw the Golds, who were half-playing and half-watching the others. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Hello," he said, greeting. They nodded at him, doing the same. "Hi. Jun, right?" "Yes, I''m happy you remember me." They smiled at this. Of course they remembered not only the elders, but also the people next to them in their respective departments. For Miss Althea, it was Winona; for Sir Garan it was Gill, Drake, and Reno; for Ansel it was the twins Leo and Luke; for Sir Gru it was a man named Dennis; and for Miss Mathilda it was Jun and a woman named Silvia. Jun also looked at them being friendly with him, feeling a bit flattered and relieved. He naturally knew them all and wanted to give them very good times while also assisting them in ''contributing to Altera''s GDP''. At this, he looked at his daughter who still seemed to be having fun, and then to the Golds. A few minutes of introduction should do fine. "Actually, this is an all-access floor, but there are other floors you may want to check." "Oh?" "On the upper floors, there are games like billiards, mahjong boards, and darts." There was less mechanism (without electricity, the mechanism needed a lot of space and could only be built on the ground floor) and the focus up there was socialization and maybe a bit of friendly gambling. "What''s that?" "Well, you''ll find out soon," he said, gesturing to go to the stairs. Olga looked back at the children. "What about our nephew?" "He''s with my daughter. They''ll be fine." For good measure, he called her in. "MimI!" "Daddy!" "It''s fine, you can stay longer," he said and smiled when the little girl (and her friends) brightened. "But you stay inside the building and on this floor okay?" "Yes, daddy!" "Good girl," he said, handing her a few more silver. "Now, go buy a few more tokens." "YAY! DADDY IS THE BEST!" she said, hugging his leg, before pattering towards her friends (who were already heading to the coin booth). As the group turned and headed to the stairs, they could even hear a few kids mumble. "Wow, your dad is so cool!" "Your dad is the best!" Jun choked, before chuckling. Well, he is indeed very good. ¡­ The group climbed up the stairs, passing by the second floor and heading straight to the third. "What''s this floor for?" Otto asked, looking at the couple of people also playing there. "Those are billiards, darts, and other games. There are also lounge areas there. Most of its for teenagers and young adults to hang out." As he said so, Jun saw that Amos'' brother Alon was also there, no doubt spending away his brother''s hard-earned money. He frowned, thinking of proposing some minimum amount of contribution points for non-tourists to enter the building. They didn''t need to spend the contribution points, but a baseline should be required. He could tell the other people playing there were there to relax after a long day of work. Alon looked like he had been there the whole day. The Golds beside him weren''t privy to his various administrative thoughts. They simply followed him up the stairs, curious about what they could find. Then they would soon arrive on the third floor, and although there was a guard in front, they could see some of the activities behind him. Terrans would recognize this was a casino of sorts. And it would be paying a lot of taxes to Altera in the future. Chapter 509 - 509: Gambles (Part 2) Ansel was naturally aware of the negative connotations of a casino, but there were also a lot of positives¡ªprovided that the practice was regulated well. For one, it would definitely add to the tourism and economic growth of the territory, and it would provide huge tax revenues. Ansel swore to donate half of the proceeds to the territory, which was public knowledge. Altera required a lot of capital, and it could use all the sources of funds that it needed. Most importantly: It was the fastest way to milk rich aborigines! War happened to need a lot of funds. While he heard Altera was still very rich, it would be a good feeling to know a war barely put a dent in the treasury. That said, they added strict regulations about this¡ªespecially for non-tourists. For one, minors were absolutely forbidden to enter the third floor. There was also a contribution point requirement for residents (tourists were naturally exempted) as well as a minimum amount in the wallet before entering to ensure that people weren''t spending beyond their means. Of course, the tourists had much less stringent limits. For instance, their spending cap was around 3 times more than the locals. The Golds didn''t know how much more money they''d lose at this time. At this time, Jun was showing them the massive floor space with various tables of differing appearances. Like the Ground floor, this also had a high ceiling of about four to five meters. The Golds entered in curiosity. Obi''s eyebrows rose when he looked at the massive writing on the wall. There were rules and regulations and there¡ªincluding the minimum requirements for entering¡ªand there was a sentence larger than any other. ''Gambling is for fun only and shall not make people poor'' "Heh¡­" There were plenty of tables with different games, and they could see some silver and gold manifested on the table. People seem to be emotional, but mostly having fun. There seemed to be a different atmosphere than below though¡ªit felt to have more stakes, and therefore more thrilling. They were just amazed by the leisurely lifestyle of the people here. They knew they were preparing for a ''beast tide'' and yet they still had some time to relax. In other territories, at least in villages and weaker towns, only the rich could relax like this while everyone else had to work hard or suffer in case of a difficult war coming. "Ah! I lost!" "Hehehhee! 10 gold! I won ten gold! NYAHAHAHAH!" From this, they realized it was a gambling den¡ªsomething that existed in some Cities and a handful of high-level Towns. However, the games seemed different. The games they knew were simple guessing games, and it was usually boring¡ªas Otto knew a lot about them as someone who had participated a few times. More importantly, the regulations here told them that the territory was dedicated to keeping people from falling into bankruptcy. The group walked over to one of the tables. There were only a few open seats per table so they would have to be separated. Jun smiled and gave them a quick lesson before they separated. "This is the roulette. Players will bet on where the ball will land. This is completely randomized." The casino swore never to manipulate games, and this was something they planned to uphold for fairness. The Golds watched as the wheel was spun in one direction, and the ball in the other. Their hearts raised as they chose guesses in their hearts and, as the wheel slowed down, they felt a thrill even when they hadn''t bet anything. "This is Craps," he said. "Players will bet on the outcome of rolls of two dice. Bets can be placed on specific numbers, combinations, or even whether the shooter will win or lose." Jun continued to show them around, showing them the intense but fun atmosphere around, and they soon got into the mood. It didn''t help that the men and women¡ªcalled dealers or croupiers¡ªwere also very passionate¡­and showy. Someone was even juggling the ball before throwing it down to the roulette. "This is the blackjack table. There are a lot of rules and things to learn, so we''ll push that for later. Actually, a lot of these games require our card knowledge." Jun would kindly teach them basics of the cards before heading down, and the Golds separated to play different games. One of the rules in the casino stated that the maximum amount spent shall not exceed 100 gold a month for residents and 300 gold for tourists. And the Golds would later be thankful for this limit, otherwise they would''ve stayed here a lot longer inside than proper. ¡­ ______ At this time, one of the last teams¡ªled by Mao and Chris¡ªheading to Fargo was already nearing their destination. With them were Gaudi and Gauis the gardener. They also had a handful of guards for support, but not many as most of them would be going through the array. They had been chatting for a bit, some discussing some casual things about their lives, all while keeping alert with their surroundings. They were assigned to an area southwest of Fargo, primarily to hunt down Fargo guards they would encounter. It was relatively peaceful for a while. After all, the mobs around were not threatening at all to people of their level. Mao would even whistle a song here and there out of boredom, which would get some wind slaps from Chris telling him to shut up. This leisurely atmosphere stopped when Chris suddenly raised his hand and made a couple of hand gestures. Immediately, all of them climbed up trees, lowering their presence. Soon, a group of people¡ªabout ten in number¡ªpassed by. They seemed a bit strong. The majority was over level 15 and a few of them were even in their level 20s. Lastly, except for maybe one or two of the weaker ones, the rest seemed to be aborigines. The soldiers and guards looked at each other. What would they be doing in a place like this? And¡­ they seemed to be heading in the direction they were from! Mao and Chris looked at each other and made a few more hand gestures. Without further ado, Mao sprinted in the direction they were going much faster than they did, so by the time the men encountered him, it seemed like he was sitting alone on a rock, drinking water from an earthenware bottle. The men''s guards rose immediately, looking at him. Mao looked at them and appeared relieved. "Hello, friends. I am a little lost," he said, patting his flabby tummy. "May I know where you''re going?" They looked at him up and down. "You seem strong for someone who''s lost." Chris smiled. "Thank you. I''m glad to hear you think so." The men''s guards didn''t lower at all. Even if the monsters here were weak, mobs of them could still easily kill people of their level, especially if they were alone! The leading person, Impo, stepped forward and looked at him. He was a level 21 Swordsman and his instincts was telling him not to underestimate this man. And as someone who had always liked violence, he immediately lifted his sword to attack him¡ªjust deciding to kill him for peace of mind. However, before he could move close, an arrow went past his cheek. He stepped back, wiping the blood, whipping his head in the direction of the arrow. His eyes widened, realizing this man had a few more people around him. They also saw some, as some were weak, but most of them were similar in level. They dared not underestimate the enemy. In particular, that archer seemed a little foreboding¡ªlike he really wouldn''t miss next time. It''d be fine if he wasn''t the target¡ªas that could mean he could get closer to him in time¡ªbut unfortunately, that wasn''t the case at the moment. He would never risk his life for a mission. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Mao kept his smile and stood up, looking at them. "Answer the question. Who knows, maybe we''re heading in the same direction." Impo frowned and stared at him. He did not like the tone, but the chances of losses in this fight were too high. He didn''t care about most of his team, but he didn''t want to get hurt when he wasn''t gaining anything. "We''re not here to fight. We''re just going to Bright Territory." Mao looked startled at his answer. "Bright? The one that just fell?" At this many of the men looked smug, thinking it''d intimidate. "Yes, our territory beat it! With minimal losses on our side." Instead of pandering to them as they expected though, Mao and the others'' eyebrows rose high in interest. Ohhh? Chapter 510 - 510: Adding Defense [10 hours before D-Hour (Declaration Hour)] A few more days passed and it was finally the day of the declaration. During this time, the elders tried to rack their brains for whatever could go wrong, adding restrictions and others to increase the safety of their people¡ªregardless of the costs. Team A was divided into five teams, along with the guards and the citizens who would be participating in the war. Team A were the soldiers that remained in Altera, in contrast with Team B who were still on their way back from Ferrol Town. This meant that the group was composed only of a few people, so they naturally had to be divided well for efficiency. The first would have the soldiers that could still participate in the war. Well, rather than a team, the only one who could join in by virtue of his level was Luis. Next to Althea, he would be leading the hundreds of guards and citizens who would be joining in the war. He and the others would remain and train in the territory until the array appeared. They would train the best they could, with the elementalists getting focused training for their skills, but of course asked to make sure they had enough rest for the big fight ahead. How embarrassing would it be to die because one was asleep? Because one had sore legs? The next three teams were comprised of those already in Fargo, with the soldiers going with a couple of strong guards and aborigines to assist. This included Garan, who had already left a day prior. This included Sammy, Chris, Mao, and Gill. Almost everyone beyond the level cap wes in this group, including the aborigines Oslo and Rowan. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their first task was mapping at first, wherein they would determine the rough sketch of the terrain, where the mines were, and if there were places they could sneak into. Through aether letters, the groups¡ªalong with Drake and Amos'' updated information¡ªhad managed to consolidate what they had found, ready to be forwarded to the Ms. Althea''s team as soon as they got near enough¡ªthat was, when they went through the teleportation array. The final group, led by Plaridel, would remain in the territory along with the newest guards to defend it. This was in case of surprise mobs or some enemies sneaking in. They were also in charge of handling the peace during this time, and making sure there were no enemies to cause trouble within the territory walls. They also had to watch refugees¡ªshould they come¡ªlest there were enemies in there that had snuck in. Althea didn''t want to block refugees for the small chance of enemies mixing in. She believed in the territory and its preparation. Even if enemies did manage to sneak in, they shouldn''t pose too much of a threat to them. They also considered the off-chance that the enemy would find the teleportation array and go to Altera, so there were guards monitoring every movement of the array. Of course, the walls and sentries were to do much of the defense work, so they didn''t retain as much manpower there, compared to those going to war. That said, the territory was huge and it wasn''t possible to densely station a guard in all parts of the walls. Hence, there would be a chance that the sentries were activated and the guards wouldn''t be alerted. This could be fine if it was just a beast mob. The activation and subsequent stop just meant that the beasts had been killed. But¡­ what if it was a human? What if it was a human who was strong enough and/or had a lot of defense equipment? A level 5 wall could one-shot a level 20 monster and an even higher-level human, but its effects would be discounted the higher the level. What if there were strongmen who could shield trespassers? Wouldn''t that mean they could get past the sentries? After some brainstorming by the couple, Althea ended up adding another function to the sentries¡ªwhich ended up costing her 2000 gold. It was understandably costly due to the detail that had to be put in. This feature? It was to sync the sentries with a rough map of the territory¡ªand the Guard station would be aware of where the sentries were activated. She would have access to it in the Lord Panel, but she had to get creative to give access to others. In the end, the map was drawn in a modified aether letter. It was rough and limited because Althea could only modify the array a little, but it would do¡ªfor now. (Althea was unsatisfied, but the aborigines gaped at her when she showed it to them). Anyway, this would mean that whenever a sentry was activated, it would alert a guard stationed nearby. They would check the threat and throw a different colored flare depending on what type of threat it was¡ªBeast or War enemy. They would double it if the threat was a major one, in which case someone would be ringing the bell to alert everyone of the danger. The Guard Station''s Aether Letter room was also improved, adding a few more people to ensure swift rescue in case Fargo''s people started attacking their own. They had, after all, been expecting that people from Fargo would start attacking them bit by bit on the outside¡ªlike what they did with Bright¡ªbut oddly there was no sign of them at all. It puzzled them at first and some were even thinking that the enemy had some heinous plans for them, but after so many days there were no sign of them at all. Those who were overthinking started to rest their minds, just preparing the best they could without overstressing. Later, they would even laugh about it and joke: ''Hey, maybe they were unlucky and got eaten by a hungry beast or something'', they would say, completely unaware that they weren''t too far from the truth. . . Somewhere a few hundred kilometers away, a certain soldier sneezed. Mao sniffed his nose, looking in a direction. "I feel that someone is complimenting me." Beside him, Chris rolled his eyes, before turning to the bloodied men in front of them. That was: Fargo''s missing men. Chapter 511 - 511: Weakening the Enemy 7 hours before D-Hour. Speaking of hungry-beast-Mao¡­ A few hours before the declaration, the teams outside Fargo had entered the next step of the plan: Weakening the enemy. Sure, Fargo had thousands of forces¡ªbut the aborigine members as well as the main fighters didn''t account for a small fraction of that. Taking down even just a few dozen of these men would discount Fargo''s ''main'' forces by a lot. Mao and the others luckily encountered a few of them early on¡ªwhich they later found to be the team sent to ''weaken'' Altera! Bastards! Naturally, they suffered a lot for their answers. "JERK! JERKJERKJERK!" Mao mumbled as he kicked the stomachs of a random enemy, and then proceeding on kicking the balls of another one. "!!!" They coughed wildly, swallowing some of the dirt that was on their face, making them cough even more. For the past few hours, their kidnapped victims also had dust on their faces making it hard for them to breathe without pain. However, other than the fact that they had use for a few of them alive, Mao and the others couldn''t kill everyone yet as it would be too alarming. They had kept a few people, slowly killing them off bit by bit so it wouldn''t alarm Fargo¡ªwho was just likely to think they encountered mobs. They killed most of the weaker ones first, and greatly weakened the stronger ones beyond the level limit. All members of the Rongo mercenary team though, had to be kept alive for now. It would be too odd to lose so many high-level fighters when the monsters around were just village-level. Not to mention: Not only would Fargo be able to see if his citizens died (and who died), but a perk of being in a mercenary team was that when a member died¡ªevery other member would be alerted of it. Included in this alert was the location of death. They didn''t want that type of attention right now. It didn''t mean they weren''t tortured though. And they were tortured very badly. Mao looked at the men tied up and bloodied, with their bodies tied and barely able to move at all. They had set up camp here, and they had made these men suffer very badly. They were dripping with their own blood, saliva, and piss. It was absolutely disgusting. They used a lot of the torture lessons they learned back in the military academy. Mao admitted he was a bit vindictive. When they got into the fight with the ten people, a few of them were in the level 20s. In his team, only he and Chris were at that level so they did sustain a few injuries. They had to use a paralysis bomb in advance! Ptoeey! What a waste! It was their fault he lost 10 gold! (Mao had a bet with Sammy from the other team: Whoever used fewer bombs before they reunited during the war would receive 10 gold from the other). Mao kicked the man, which happened to be the leader, Impo. "Darn you! You owe me 10 gold!" Impo: ???! Anyway, when they could, they definitely made these men suffer lots of pain before most of them would get killed off when the war started. Mao wished they could keep them for their victims to torture and see, but these people weren''t weak enough to let go like that. "I wish I had a video," he said, very regrettably. He was one of the people who tried egging Drake to charge his phone, but fortunately Luis¡ªheh!¡ªbeat him to it, otherwise his precious phone would have been burned by now. Chris sighed and shook his head, looking in Fargo''s direction. He then left Mao venting and went to look for their next target. It so happened that a few of Fargo''s people were training to reach level 10. The moment he found them and predicted their direction, Chris went to get the team. Mao buried the survivors with his abilities, leaving just their noses above ground before leaving to meet their new targets. This group was fortunately far weaker than the previous ones. The next targets were also led by two aborigines, but their levels were just above the level cap. They were menacing and at least a foot taller than the already-tall gangsters. They had obviously been out a while considering their blood-covered clothing and grime-filled faces. "Target training eight people," one¡ªnamed Uko¡ªsaid, "Sigh. So troublesome. Be thankful we''re getting paid for this." The gangsters, obviously Fargo''s men, looked at them with a bit of bootlicking. "We are honored to get the time of the very amazing Rongo Mercenary Team." The sycopant attitude evidently put the aborigines in a better mood. "Good that you are self-aware." S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Another man¡ªa Terran¡ªlooked at his own screen and grinned. "I''m almost level 10!" He said, waving his fist around. "Heh. Just a bit more and I can handle the earth! The Lord and the others had already awakened, we''re going to be next!" The aborigine sneered, "You people speak like everyone''s going to be an elementalist. Naive!" The lord and his closest confidantes awakening was already unbelievable, did these ants also think they were the same? The Terrans frowned at this; they had a feeling that they were indeed elementalists. However, it was true that this wasn''t confirmed and the people insulting them were so much stronger, so they could only shut their mouths. "Anyway, assuming I do awaken, I will so bury people alive!" Another one of the terrans laughed at his companion, "Well yours is indeed convenient. And fitting. Because you''re always the ''cleaner'' of our messes." The man glared at him, "Obviously, this is my time to shine! I am one of the first Terrans to be elementalist! I don''t have to be reduced to cleaning up corpses!" "But your power¡­" "SHUT UP!" "Mine is water. I can do those water tortures at the flick of a hand!" The aborigines looked at them in interest, obviously liking their attitude, but still disdainful for their wishful thinking. Basically, the conversation shifted to how they''d use their elements to show power and bring terror to other people. Chris and the others looked at each other and nodded. Next Victims: Confirmed. Chapter 512 - 512: Kidnapping The other teams had similar progress. Interestingly, each one had encountered a few members of the Rongo Mercenary team which made dealing with them a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, the soldiers were strong, had elements, and they were blessed by a variety of weapons and defense equipment a village had no business of having so many of. A few paralysis bombs had been used at this time. While a bit of a pity, at least none of them were seriously injured, very much ready for several more battles to come. Rowan and Sammy dragged the unconscious men to a makeshift camp they made. They had sprayed the area with the beast-repelling potion¡ªwhich wasn''t very expensive especially since the main ingredient almost had no value at all and they could take as they take out iron. Their research center was really amazing, churning out these things one after another. It could be said that as soon as Ms. Althea got decent assistance, her productivity spiked at an unbelievable rate. They couldn''t wait to see these things¡ªas well as many others¡ªbeing commercially available soon! They patted their hands in satisfaction before kicking the damned men for good measure. They were definitely out cold, not just physically but also due to the sleeping potion they put, set to last for a while. Of course, they also tied them up real good with special ropes made from fabric doused with resin (soon to be available at the Gaea Grocery Store) to keep them from escaping even with their improved physiques. Anyway, the group went out again to hunt for new victims and got back about an hour later with five more men. They threw them down without care and kicked them again. They were filled with smiles, quite liking capturing these evil men as if they were prey. Like Mao, they also tortured them a lot beforehand. It was a pity the women they abused couldn''t do it them, but it was the price of strength, safety, and convenience. Maybe they''d get the Terran and weaker aborigine abusers to them to vent their anger after the war. However, as they stared at the men, Sammy couldn''t help but mumble. "This practice is fun and all, but what if our people are targeted?" Mao had sent an aether letter that they caught a group set to do just this. But what if Fargo sent more? What about the next wars? Wouldn''t their next war likely be against aborigines? How worrying is that? Rowan, who was standing beside him, paused. This was indeed a common practice during wars. Although most of the time, the ones hunted in the end were just normal civilians. This was because they were the ones often gathering for goods outside, while guards and lords'' cronies were safe within the walls. However, he still knew that Altera wouldn''t like anyone dying uselessly under their watch. "That is how this world is. We did what we could with the level requirements and the bombs." This was already much, much more than what any other lord bothered to provide to their people. Sammy sighed, but nodded in the end. "Now everyone just has to become stronger." ¡­ Another ''hunting team'' though, encountered quite a bit of conflict. They were not only twice the number in people as the others, but this one had an unexpected member. "Gian!" Gill called, his sharp eyes looking at the man opposite to him while his other teammates dealt with the others. Gian seemed distracted and pale and was about to help them out but Gill blocked his way with an earth wall. They watched as Oslo threw large metallic spikes as big as an arm to Gian''s team, stabbing more than a few people. The rest of the Alterans lunged, taking advantage of the help. As a team with a lot of level 15 and a few level 20 mercenaries, it naturally wasn''t an easy battle. However, with Oslo and the others there, the enemies were taken down, bloodied to pulp. Gian paled. "Stop it! Don''t hurt them!" before lunging towards Gill. The man raised his fist, sending continuous attacks. Gill avoided them all, but he was angry. He could attack him relentlessly but run to the rescue of those men? Gill avoided his attacks and cursed a bit when a part of his long hair was singed by his fire. Gill immediately raised his fist, pebbles congregating and congealing around it. With a snap, it hit Gian directly at the face. BANG! Immediately, Gill lifted his feet to hit Gian''s stomach, sending him straight to the tree. BANGG! "Cough!" Gian groaned, trying to stand up, but Gill arrived above him, kicking him back to the tree again, its leaves falling on them like slow dropping rain. Gill stared down at the man who was shaking, glaring at him, and glaring at his team. Gian''s level wasn''t much lower than his, and the reason he was in the special forces was because of his very high talent. However, his major flaw had always been his impulsiveness. In this case, he was especially reckless to, what, save those terrorists? "What the heck are you doing with those men, huh?" He asked. For shame. How could he ally himself with terrorists?! Unexpectedly, Gian suddenly lifted himself up and swung his feet. He used his momentum to get back up, immediately lunging towards Gill. All his extremities were enflamed and he wasn''t even using his weapons anymore as he sent a barrage of attacks towards Gill. "I''ve had enough of being weak!" He yelled back, "What is strength if we still have to bend?" Gill looked at him strangely, avoiding his attacks, though with increasing challenge. "So you decide to join terrorists?" He narrowed his eyes, "That can''t be it¡­" he said, summoning a whip of fire that Gian relatively nullified. "What will your sister say?" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This made Gian''s eyes redder and fire surrounded him as he lunged at his former teammate. "Don''t speak of my sister!" Gill''s eyebrows rose a bit but he wasn''t in the mood to talk. How dare this brat be angrier than he was! He was the one who betrayed them! Gian''s enflamed hands shook as he sent hit after hit at Gill. He had been maintaining this state for a while, and judging by his sweating, it was taking a toll on him. Gian''s jaw clenched and he kicked, his feet enflamed with hostile flame. He sent kick after kick, nullified to some degree by Gill''s stone element. Gill''s eyebrows saw him use the flame''s ignition to jump higher. One of the special things about Elementalists was that their attacks would cause damage to monsters of all levels as long as they gain a certain strength and proficiency. This was unlike weapons which had such obvious limitations¡ªfor example, level E weapons would be completely useless for level 10 monsters and above. Elementalists could actually forgo weapons after a certain level. This was the case with their Captain, who barely used weapons now. Most of them though, still needed the assistance of weapons to channel and control their aggressive powers, and this was a normal thing until level 30, or even 40. Gian had obviously been training this aspect of his skills very thoroughly. Gill could imagine this guy training hard alone in order to deal with the conflicts that serving under Fargo inevitably brought. But¡­ Too bad he''s still an idiot. Chapter 513 - 513: Gian’s Pleas While Gill and Gian''s fight was ongoing, the rest of the team cleaned up the battlefield and tied down their new victims. In fact, there were a lot of people in this team, about 20 fighters being trained by about half a dozen level 15 mercenaries and a few level 20s. If it was another team, they''d definitely have a lot of trouble. But their team had Oslo, who also happened to be a dual-elementalist. He dealt with half of the level 20s and at the same time assisted the others. They also used a few of their weapons here in order to save energy for the main battles, but also to test out their weapons. The enemies definitely did not expect the rain of crossbow arrows they got showered with. The level 15s were not unhurt, let alone the weaker ones who were skewered like those styrofoams poked with hotdog sticks in kids'' parties. While only a few died though due to the enemies'' improved physiques and high levels, it sure made it easy for the Alterans to contain them. Although they were fewer in numbers, there were minimal injuries on their side, which was a miraculous thing. By the time the weaker ones were tied up, Oslo had also stabbed the level 20''s legs until they were basically amputated. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were alive, yes, but they would literally have to be dragged through roots and stones moving forward. It was torture for the men, which was good, but it could also be a bit troublesome for their side as well. Oslo looked a bit guilty. "I overdid it, didn''t I?" "Hmn," Tronie mumbled. "You seem to be in a violent mood today." Tronie came not only to join in the fight (his level was certainly higher than most locals), but he was also sent to look at those new materials the bosses seemed so excited about. Oslo cleared his throat at the answer, a little embarrassed. Could he say he got inspired by the arrows'' skewering that he wanted to join in? "Ahem, well, then we''ll make them pull their disabled comrades. Ahem, time to tie them all up," Oslo said, walking towards their new prisoners with new smaller spikes of metal. Some glared in anger while some shivered in the pain that they knew would come to them. Fargo''s men were utterly shocked at the level of their enemies, and knew they had grossly underestimated Altera. Now, no matter how unreconciled, they could only watch themselves getting brutally tied up because refusing would mean amputation! Their hands were put together by some enemies and the blonde put a stake of metal, passing through their flesh and bones there. "AHH!" One yelled, and the others experienced the same. These people were tied by metal stabbed on their palms and locked with a small plate at both ends. It had similar mechanisms to screws¡ªsomething he learned in Altera. "ARGHH!" "MY HANDS!" "AHH!" Aborigines were basically used to bloody sights here, and most of the Terrans there were soldiers. They didn''t really mind the gruesome sight. "Don''t worry, you won''t need your hands again," Oslo said, stabbing yet another one. It wasn''t permanent metal and would disintegrate with time. After all, permanent manifestations were too time and mana-consuming. But, it would last long enough even after the war started. The leader, Shau, gritted his teeth in the pain, glaring at the useless Gian who was still fighting. "GIAN! Is this what you call help?! You¡ª" Slap! Shau was slapped and a tooth fell out. He whipped his head and looked at Oslo, a man 10 levels above him. "Stop talking. You''re spewing saliva on me," he said, before shifting to tie up a few more, just a few meters away. Shau was a prideful man and even if this was an obvious strongman, the pain he was subjected to made him rebellious. His sharp eyes looked at the blonde who was looking away. "Bastard!" He yelled, leaning down and hoping to headbutt the man. However, as he stepped forward, spikes appeared in front of him and it was too late to stop the momentum. Squelch! "AHHHH!" Shau yelled as he stepped on the sharp spikes that appeared on the ground. Oslo looked back and sighed, but also quite happy at his own improvements. He had learned many many things in Altera, and creating such things with lesser mana was one of them. At some point, they learned that using a little of two elements was far more efficient than doing something with similar effects in one. For instance, this spike was a combination of earth and metal. The same sharpness and damage on either element would''ve cost twice or thrice the amount of mana. Oslo ignored him and continued with his tying, followed by screeching screams of pain. The yells seemed to have affected the only ongoing fight left, however. "Don''t kill them!" Gian yelled as he saw this, making Gill''s eyes twitch. "You are fighting ME," Gill said, sending a massive boulder of lava in his direction. Gian gasped as he tried to push it back with fiery hands to minimize damage, but it wasn''t enough and he gasped as he was directly hit. Cough! "If anyone of us dies, Gian¡ªyou know what will happen!" Shau yelled, still on the ground even after the spikes had disappeared. Gill''s eyebrows rose and his spear came out. Suddenly it enflamed and he slashed at Shau''s leg. "GAHHH!!!" The man yelled like a pig in slaughter. The other attacks were painful enough, but this was amputating him like the others. The added pain of the magma eating away his skin was also making him insane. "Stop it!" Gian yelled, genuinely afraid. "I''ll consider," Gill said, "If you stop being an idiot and tell me what''s going on." "I will save my sister!" Gian yelled, shakily standing up. "You have seen what those men do! I can''t risk angering him¡ª" At this, Gill had an idea of what was going on with this idiot. Gill heaved a deep breath, and a pothole appeared right at his feet, making the hot-headed young man lose his balance and back to the ground. Gill stopped attacking and stared down at Gian, who was trying to get back up. Gill sneered and kicked him again, sending him back to the soil. "Have you seen her yourself?" "I couldn''t risk it!" "She''s in Altera!" This made Gian pause his struggles. "What?" He gulped, looking at him with wide eyes. "I¡­ you''re joking¡ª" "She''s a girl with shoulder-length colored hair, right? She seemed to have colored a few streaks violet, but it had faded a bit now." Gian''s jaw clenched, looking at him, waiting for him to tell him more. "We found her in a neighboring village. She''s working as a saleswoman in the Grocery Store. She''s living perfectly fine while her own brother assisted terrorist and rapist in breaking other women." Gill''s words seemed to have doused water on him, causing all his fire to go out, and his shoulders slumped in confusion. He had tried to minimize the victimizations in his own way, but he knew that was not enough considering he still sided with those men in the end. He even swore an oath not to harm any of them. A wave of shame and regret drowned him, overcoming the relief of the knowledge that his sister was okay. What¡­ had he done? Chapter 514 - 514: Convergence The kidnapping went on for a few more hours in different areas around Fargo, and the various teams soon converged as their captain¡ªGaran¡ªhad finally arrived in the area. Through the Aether letters, they had mapped out each others'' locations and determined where to meet up. For safety, every one of their ''victims'' had sacks on their heads (made from cheap hemp cloth¡ªvery rough¡ªwith a quality they usually used as mops in Altera). There were even a lot of dirt and bugs in there, just to make things harder for the bastards. Garan decided to set the meeting in Mao''s camp, which was most mature due to Chris'' OCD and Mao''s convenient earth abilities. Eagle''s was also nice, but they camped very near the mines and, due to the number of people there, there were also more mobs. They cleared some to lower the death count of the slaves, but now that the team had to meet up, it was not practical to be there anymore. Speaking of mines, they looked at the three new rescues they had. One was a poor thin guy named Thomas. Next to him was a former policeman named Bruce and finally a little girl named Lina. They all used to be from Bright, and they naturally had a lot of questions about what happened to them. Anyway, when they got rescued and were treated, they told Eagle and the others about what these men did to their people. While the Alterans couldn''t touch those stationed in the mines (yet) to remain low-key, they certainly vented a lot on the ''kidnapped'' men. Naturally, Eagle forwarded the info to Garan and the rest of them. Considering what they knew, every and each one of these bastards¡ªperhaps except Gian¡ªhad violated other people in that way. Whether it was man or woman, adult or child¡ªthey had done something gruesome to at least one of them. The imagery burned everyone''s stomachs into acid, consequently adding several more bruises to the Fargo men. Sammy, in particular, was very passionate about torturing the bastards more. They would kick, punch, and step on random balls, enticing many many yells around. They would scream and sometimes a bug would enter their mouths and then their souls would die of disgust. The bugs they put weren''t lethally poisonous, but a few of them did have some very painful effects on the men, especially when their immune system was down due to their various injuries. There were plenty of men who asked to be killed because it felt like they were being bitten by ants from the inside. They weren''t, but the tingling paralysis effect of the bugs was something they''d note for future reference. When someone was especially annoying, Mao would get more bugs¡ªthey had learned a lot about these things through Althea¡ªand then placed them in their clothes, before kicking them again, yelling at them to ''stop dancing''. The others watched the show in interest, and Mao looked at the ''slaves'', pointing at the bastards currently being tortured by Sammy. "Would you like to try? It''s very therapeutic." Thomas and Bruce looked hatefully at the men on the floor, but sighed in the end. "Unfortunately, we cannot hurt them even if we wanted to," Thomas said, and Bruce nodded. "But we are happy to see them suffering like this. Thank you, for everything." Sammy smiled, "No problem. We''re kind of indirect old friends, after all," he said and the policeman smiled. Bruce had already heard about Tom and the others from Eagle¡ªit was the first thing he asked when he realized they were from Altera. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His baby daughter was doing well in Altera. He heard they had also enrolled her to the school there. He also heard from Sir Garan that she even played in the arcade. Bruno couldn''t imagine what kind of arcade they could build in a place like this, but they said Lily was smiling and that was more than enough for him. Regardless, the largest weight had been lifted already and he could smile so widely despite being a lowly slave because of it. Thomas, on the other hand, looked at the men suffering vindictively. While there was none among them who had taken advantage of his wife, he knew these people had done similar things to others so he still hated them to the core. Seeing them suffering like this made his eyes water a bit. Ah, he wanted to stab them too, but unfortunately he was still a slave. ¡­ Garan and the others soon started a formal meeting, consolidating their maps and their plans, ensuring the ''main force'' participating in the war would be as prepared as possible. As for the kidnapped men, they were handled differently. Overall, the Alterans had taken about a hundred strong men from Fargo, who were stored differently according to their uses. A good fraction of which were aborigines from the so-called Rongo Mercenary Team. Gian was also there, tied and for ''trial''. Most of the ones that they''d keep alive longer than others were buried by the earth users like Mao, Gill, and a few others. Only their nose would be outside to keep them breathing, which also meant they could discuss things as needed because the men wouldn''t be able to hear it. They also added some insect attraction potions in them (Althea thought of many things) and they would be suffering insect bites from the underground insects and be unable to scream well because they''d be underground and doing so would make them swallow dirt with who-knew-what inside. "So Althea and the rest of them should be going through this spot. This area would be the second choice if it was closer to wherever the array would take them," Garan said, pointing at the weak areas in each side of Fargo. They proceeded on analyzing the walls. "The outer wall is easy. It''s large in diameter and is only level 2¡ªeven lower than the buildings inside. The inner wall is the problem." The group continued to chat and strategize. Beside them, Eagle couldn''t help but comment. "Walls were probably very expensive. I can understand why Fargo is pushing concrete." Other than the men''s crimes, they also got some other news from the two ''slaves''. One was that the slaves were divided into two groups. Less than was left in the mines, while the rest were in charge of processing it, turning it to concrete, and the like. "Pity it can''t be used to reinforce walls," Mao mumbled, earning him a soft thump on the head care of Sammy. "Don''t you mean ''luckily''?" After all, adding that could cause a bit more trouble to them as the attacking territory. "What? I believe Altera will get this place! Believe it til'' it''s true." After all, he believed they''d get limestone and be able to mass produce concrete¡ªhe naturally wanted it to be as useful as possible! "Ah, makes sense." "They also found copper," Bruce added beside them. There were so many things they had to discuss before so this particular detail passed by their heads. He didn''t think too much of it because, like Fargo, he didn''t think they''d be able to use it very soon. Unexpectedly, the Alterans whipped their heads to him, almost at the same time. "What?" Bruce flinched, a little scared of the apt attention. "...What?" "You said they found copper?" "...they did. In the Southern part¡ª" Mao almost jumped at this. "Hey! Isn''t that one of the few materials left before we can get electricity?" This meant he could finally charge his phone! He can finally videotape the evil men they were torturing! "You''re right!" Sammy said, nodding, eyes also bright, mind already wondering what their research center would come up with! As if a signal, a discussion exploded, and for a moment they focused on this particular development. The two slaves gaped at them as they chatted. Were they seriously discussing electricity right now? Chapter 515 - 515: Planting Chaos For hours, they hung around like this, preparing, dealing with mobs, and relaxing in their tents while the men suffered underground. As the time for war closed in, however, most of them were then taken out to do what they were set to do. They also killed a couple of people for easier management and gravely injured the rest. They were groaning in pain, definitely in the most pain they had ever been in their lives. The soldiers weren''t psychopaths, but torturing these men was very satisfying. They knew the war was starting soon and this part would end, so they decided to make them suffer for the remaining hours of their lives. And some people enjoyed it more than others. "GAHHH! STOP ITTT! AHHHHH!!" Mao and the others flinched, cringed, and died a little as they watched Gill stab several manhoods to pieces. "I heard you people like to misuse the man''s instruments. As a fellow man, I would like to return some balance to the world," Gill said this with a blank face, as if he was just stating facts. He continued to stab the manhoods of the already-half-dead men that were sprawled in the area. Worse? He did not just stab them. He added magma, and every man there had to watch balls steam as they were burned and melted. "GAHHH!" "AHHHH!!!" Mao¡ªthe most empathic one despite all his flaws¡ªwas so cringed his whole body shook like a slug was added inside his shirt. "S-So uncomfortable!" he yelled. To distract himself, he asked Sammy beside him (whom he really lost 10 gold to, by the way). "What time is it?" "It''s time." "The exact time?" "Does it matter?" Sammy said, crossing his arms. "We base on the sun remember? We don''t have electric watches!" "Ah, right. Anyway, it''s time." At this, a certain part of the group took some of the weaker members and Terrans. Particularly, those who could still move. As they got dragged, their feet felt heavy. Were they finally going to get executed? The thought of death terrified the men and they struggled, only to be met with very painful attacks and very real threats to any of their remaining extremities (or manhood). They were dragged apart from the others who could no longer move. These men were confused but they were in so much pain they couldn''t think too clearly anymore. After walking some distance and reaching a small clearing, the Alterans settled them there. They also may or may not have replaced the special ropes with normal ones, and used relatively loose knots as well. There were more than 30 people there with varying degrees of injuries, a lot of whom had burning crotches. They were pale and bloodless as they were set up by Mao and the others. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At some distance, a few other Alterans stood by, watching as the next phase of the plan was settled. "I think Gill overdid it," Chris said, "Would they even be able to go where they should?" "He probably fears his own sister was experiencing something similar," Garan said. "Gwen? Nah." Sammy shrugged, recalling the woman. It was easier to get Chris in a drag queen skirt than to imagine Gwen succumbing to that kind of abuse. Garan thought it made sense and nodded. "Well, a brother''s a brother," he said, "Just imagining it would''ve made him want to kill." Garan couldn''t imagine what he would be like if he had seen these things but was still unaware of where his wife was. The unease would''ve made him crazy, and he''d have definitely done far worse to these men than what they were going through right now. Anyway, the time drew near and Sammy, Mao, and a few others walked over and approached the kidnapped men who were shivering for their lives. Sammy grinned and opened the bottle, sprinkling them all over a couple of enemies. This one had the opposite effect from their favorite Beast Repelling Potion¡ªa low-level Beast Attracting Potion. It was something the aborigine teammates still marveled about. These were things they knew to be sold¡ªat very high prices¡ªin level 3 Pharmacies. Hence, it was usually available in towns, but Altera could just produce them and make them so available that they could douse their enemies with it¡­ Of course, Ms. Althea would definitely put some sort of control over this substance, but still¡­ The men realized they were all drenched and he looked at the soldiers guardedly. "What did you bathe me with?!" "My pee." The man gasped when he realized it did indeed smell a lot like pee! While a lot of them pissed on themselves due to the torture, this liquid smelled much more potent, more acidic, and more disgusting! "WHAT THE FU ARE YOU DOING!?" he yelled in anger, but realized his rope had gotten loose. He stopped moving, trying to appear subtle. The Alterans saw this pause and hid their smiles. "Well it''s because you people are annoying as heck," he said. "I was hoping it would shut you up." They doused a few more and when someone tried to shake it off he was met by a kick and an extra bottle of the ''piss''. After a while, the Alterans seemed satisfied with the bath and turned, ready to leave them there. "Ah, I''m hungry!" Sammy yelled, turning around. "Let''s eat!" The others nodded and they settled several meters away, just within their vision, but too far away for people who were supposed to be watching over them¡ªleaving their surviving hostages in the open to eat. The hostages, still reeling in pain and disgust, were very confused, but they couldn''t have it in them to think too much. They simply wanted to get away from these psychos as soon as they could! They watched as the Alterans started eating their food some distance away, just leaving them there drenched and disgusting. They flinched when a few people started moving. "What are you¡ª" "We could get out!" One whispered, "Wait until I get ahold of those bastards¡ª" "Come on! Let''s go! Don''t! They''re too strong!" Another said, but he didn''t wait for them. He just wanted to get away! They immediately ran, though in a random direction. When they heard an Alteran''s exclamation, their hearts fell. "Ah darnit! They escaped," Sammy yelled, with very bad acting. "Oh! Wait they''re heading opposite of their territory maybe we can catch them?" Immediately the men turned, running in the other direction. When they were out of sight, the soldiers relaxed immediately, resuming their meals as if nothing happened. Chapter 516 - 516: Juni’s Status Fargo Village At this time of night, it was dark and most citizens were already preparing to go to bed. After all, although they had torches, it was still dark. Fargo quite disliked the lack of productivity at this time. He couldn''t help but feel irked that his citizens, sans the slaves who only got a few hours of rest every day, were not working on something for his territory and just sleeping for at least a third of the day. Should he get a Lighting Tower? With this thought, he opened the Lord Panel for Bright to see if he could get additional funds for a special building. However, he was simply reminded of how poor it was. Even if he did know that they were poor because they invested in infrastructure, it didn''t make them any less disgusting. He continued to peruse and study his new territory. He saw that the population had grown considerably since the last time he checked. He then shifted to the People Panel. "New refugees have found Bright as well." As he perused, his fingers paused. "They just welcomed a group of strong aborigines¡­" "Oh?" He looked at the beautiful Juni, who was sitting on what he called a throne¡ªan elevated portion of his bedroom¡ªsinging. "Don''t stop." The woman continued to sing and he listened to her, his eyes staying on the Bright panel population. Juni looked at him as she sang, and Fargo noticed this. He was in a curious mood so he decided to answer her question. "How do I know? Because they had a group of level 20s to 30s, some even stronger. They also had some unusual names," he said, "And don''t stop singing." Juni continued to sing, as ordered. She sang a few more songs until her voice cracked. This made Fargo pause, lifting his head to look at her. "You don''t want to join the Rongo Hall, right?" She shook her head. Rongo Hall was a special hall where many women resided, much like the king''s harem, and Belize and his men chose whoever to pick there. "Of course not," she said, "I''m reserving myself for you." "So you will be taken tonight?" Juni shook her head, revealing the scar she got from the monster attack getting here. "It could open up," She said, "Please spend more time with your other women please." "And miss out on you?" he said, looking at her darkly. "You''re lucky you swore an oath." Juni''s face didn''t change. She kept her smile. "Of course. I fully believe in my oaths." ''I swear that I, Juniffer Howards, promise not to cause Fargo Territory any harm,'' were her words at the time. This worked because she genuinely believed surrendering it to Altera was good for it. Fargo narrowed his eyes as he gripped her chin. "What if I say I want you now, regardless?" "But I''m afraid you''ll grow bored of me." "Heh, and so?" he said, leaning down. Juni flinched but forced herself not to react in disgust. Before their lips touched, an urgent knocking sounded. "Sir!" S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was Sen, and he arrived with a heavy expression on his face. "There''s trouble." Amon looked at the intruder with a blank face. Sen shook a bit, but continued with his reporting. "It seems like the members of the Rongo Mercenary Team that went out hadn''t returned yet. It''s been a day, even longer for some." "What were their tasks outside?" "They''re all out to train our members on the verge of upgraded to level 10, milord," Sen said, "Those people¡­ also hadn''t returned." Fargo''s eyes narrowed and he let go of Juni, who hid a breath of relief. He then opened the population panel, sharp eyes perusing the list. He had too many people, but because he could arrange by level, he could still tell that a lot of level 9s had disappeared from the list. It was either they shifted residencies or¡­ they died. Sen heaved a deep breath. "A few hours ago, the team also sent out people to look. But they¡­ also didn''t return." Amon seemed to look out in thought, before he turned to Juni. "What do you think happened?" Juni pursed her lips and looking away. "Perhaps they encountered an accident somewhere? And isn''t it possible that they simply quit the team to join another?" Fargo looked at her for a beat, and Juni''s heart was tense. She clenched her dress¡ªsubtly, hoping he wouldn''t notice. But Fargo did notice. "Send her to Rongo." "What?" "Whether they quit or died, the remaining members need to be comforted," he said, "It so happened they had been asking me for you." This order made several of the guards drool and they already queued for whoever to take her next. It was indeed like Rongo to be so cheeky to ask when the boss would start sharing his favorite woman. It was likely they got bored of the others they had disposed of. And after the Rongo Mercenary Team, it was their¡ªthe guard''s¡ªturn. Goodness knew how long they had been drooling after their goddess! Juni looked pale as she was carried like a princess by the man. She squealed and struggled. "Don''t¡­ wuu." she turned to look at Fargo who wasn''t even looking at her, "I¡ª" Afraid the lord would change his mind, the guards'' feet hurried so they went out. Under the dim lighting of the street and the moon, he looked at her in greed. "We''ll be very gentle, I promise!" The guards pretty much carried her to the Rongo Base. It was quite dark and they could barely see a thing. The man couldn''t help but her as he carried her, with one of his hands on her breast and his other one sliding nearer her nether regions. She whimpered, asking him to stop, but naturally he was relentless. On the surface, Juni looked helpless and sobbing¡ªa natural for a woman who had been disposed of by their lord. However, if it had been a bit brighter, one would be able to see the sharp light that passed her eyes. Chapter 517 - 517: Rongo Mercenary Base At some point though, the guards paused, looking at each other through the sparse lighting around the territory. Their feet halted, eyes showing a bit of greed. "If she gets into the Rongo area¡­ would we really get a taste?" someone asked the question that had been in all the men''s minds. The mercenary team had scores of people in their territory. Juni was so beautiful. Everyone would want to have a taste, and she''d definitely keep them happy for a while. Juni''s eyes narrowed at this and looked around, before she pulled out a needle from her space, inconspicuously poking him with it. "Ouch!" the man yelled, his eyes twitching and cursing in wonder if there was a mosquito that entered. He couldn''t utter a word though because a moment later he lost consciousness, falling down, and shaking as if he had epilepsy. For a territory like Fargo where the leading class relished in violence, adding rules and regulations against it was incredibly impractical and costly. Altera was determined to use it against them. "Ouch!" Juni yelled as they fell down. She moved just enough for the man not to fall on her, but she did still fall down. The other guards put the torch near the other to see closer, and were shocked to see him bubbling on the mouth. "OI! What''s going on with you?" "He must''ve eaten something weird outside damn." No one suspected her at all. After all, she had ''sworn an oath''. Besides, what could a vase like her do? Instead, she just sniffed, "Take me to my room please," she said, "I''m afraid the team would be angry if we take too long." The guard flinched at this and shook in fear, obviously remembering whatever heinous thing the mercenary did. How dare they want to get a taste at this time? So in the end, one of the guards just dragged the man to the clinic, while the rest took her to the Rongo Hall. They were in a rush so no one carried her anymore, just letting her run with them. The Rongo Mercenary Team base was a relatively large complex in the inner circle. It was surrounded by level 30 walls and composed of dozens of custom houses. It also had a lot more torches than most places and Juni took this time to map out her surroundings. She took particular note of the areas that seemed to be guarded the most, adding it to her mental lists of things to remember. She didn''t even take heed of the various men who looked at her hungrily until a few blocked their way. "That''s the woman right? Is she finally ours?" One asked, looking at Juni up and down while licking his lips. Obviously, he was very satisfied with the ''merchandise''. The guard looked at him guardedly. "Yes, but isn''t your boss Belize the priority?" "Eh, he''s a bit busy now. You know? One of the lord''s old women¡ªthe dark skinned one¡ªseemed to be serving him well." The guard looked at them to see whether they were telling the truth. He shrugged in the end and handed Juni over, not really caring anymore. Juni looked at the men who looked at her hungrily, but she avoided their hold¡ªsurprising them a bit. She kept her head up high and looked at them. It irked them a bit. "Didn''t you see how I was escorted here?" She asked. The men paused and looked at her. She was escorted on foot and at a good pace, not dragged, and she looked proper. "I was sent here by the lord to reward your boss Belize. Not you." The man''s eyes met her defiant ones and twitched. He spat to the side as a bubble of annoyance filled his stomach. "A slut dares to talk back at me?" he asked, raising his hand, intent on teaching her a lesson. His hand was fast and intent to hurt her. Slap! Juni moved her head just enough to avoid the bulk of the force, but enough for the man to feel the hit. She willingly fell down on the floor and didn''t move, but internally took note of the man. The men felt pity for the beauty¡ªwho, in their minds, would become their woman sooner or later¡ªand stepped forward before she got more damaged. "Tako, stop it. She''s so beautiful. What if you destroy her face?" The man named Tako sneered and walked away, while the remaining man dragged her up. She didn''t speak and appeared weak from pain. The man chuckled, seeing her like this. "You should learn to behave well," he said, dragging her to one of the corner villas there. She was taken into the room with the other women. She was pushed inside and the door closed and locked behind her, but her face didn''t change as she studied her new ''room''. It was just a large dormitory hall that housed dozens of small beds each. These beds were small. It was just enough for a small woman to lie in, but a tall woman would have to bend her body to fit. The arrangements were also incredibly dense and there was no private space for each woman. At her entry, some stared at her, but most didn''t even flinch. Some of them were just lying down and staring above them, waiting to be called. Some were scared and shaking, refusing to meet anyone''s eyes. Most of them had blank looks on their faces and some were tied to their beds. Juni also noted that there was a young girl who was hugging her knees on the corner. She seemed very thin and small, and she looked very pitiful. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If Jake was here, he''d recognize this girl as his suitor, Yiyi. Juni''s fist clenched but she kept her head low as she approached a free bed. It was unsightly, just a wooden frame bed with a board. Thankfully, she had a blanket in her space so she could sleep in comfort. Some of the girls looked at her in envy, and she knew that if any of these women still had a fight in them, perhaps they''d have tried to bully their way into getting the blanket. Juni would''ve preferred it like that to be honest, but at least she didn''t have to think of how to deal with them. She laid down like a behaved woman and waited for everyone to go to bed. They didn''t have much to do anyway and their senses had nulled, so Juni didn''t encounter much tension in what she was about to do. She looked around and hid under her blanket, taking out a thicker one to cover the dim lighting the aether letter gave off. She pressed the inkless pen on the paper, writing. /They have begun to move./ she said. And the message appeared on the five other sheets, signaling the next phase of their plans. Chapter 518 - 518: Suspicions Back in the meeting hall, lit by various torches in the dark night, Fargo''s leading team gathered in a tense atmosphere. Everyone would usually be asleep or in bed at this time, but they had to be called on an emergency meeting¡ªwhich was truly irksome. The huge Uzon sat on the side, arms crossed, and he was facing the twins Eli and Eso on the other side of the table. There was also Belize, who was sitting next to the head, an unreadable expression adorning his face. Finally, on the head of the table was Fargo, whose face was incredibly dark, and they knew saying the wrong thing now could easily get them a bullet in the head. "Report," Fargo said, his finger tapping on the table in thought. "We have 129 men unaccounted for sir, 23 of whom are members of the Mercenary Team." The morbid tapping paused. That was a lot of his guards at the brink of the major upgrade. Not to mention 23 mercenaries were half of the people they stationed in Fargo at the moment. Let alone Fargo, even Belize also darkened at the value. After all, he went to a village, while the others went to Towns. It was natural the manpower assigned to him was far less than the others. "And why is this reported only now?" Fargo asked, pulling up the Lord Panel to look at the names there. As he perused the names, the reporting men continued speaking. "We apologize, milord. We just thought they got a bit far and ended up camping outside¡ª" "Most of our people are dead," Amon interrupted him, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the panel. "The members of the Rongo mercenary team, however, are all alive." "Sir?" Uzon and the others asked, shocked, before turning to Belize¡ªthe representative of the Mercenary Team. They all looked at him guardedly. They were all suspicious people by nature. They hadn''t trusted this guy despite all the oaths, and seeing something like this exacerbated it. "Explain, Belize. What did you do?" Uzon said, slapping the table in front of him. It shook, but fortunately, it was well-made and kept standing. Belize looked at him and Uzon met his gaze with a glare. Could this be the start of a rebellion? Could they have missed anything in the non-betrayal oath!? Belize heaved a deep breath, rubbing his forehead. "We have no reason to do this. Do you doubt me, my lord? My entire team made various oaths¡­" The others looked at him guardedly and his jaw clenched. "I swear, milord, I nor any of my team members would go out of their way to harm your people." Fargo looked at him. "Can you blame us for thinking negatively?" Belize shook his head. "I was born in a town and had worked in cities," he said, "We have settled comfortably here. We have no reason to ruin things." Uzon looked at him. "Maybe you want the token for yourself?" "I can make an oath specifically to ease you of your worries regarding this." Belize was calm outside, but inside he was still thinking about his teammates. To be honest, he had minimal patience for such questioning. It was only because he had been trained well in the city that he hadn''t snapped yet. He especially had to walk on eggshells because of his low level. In cities, level 30s at his age¡­ were basically commoners. However, despite this, Belize had managed to serve a City Lord. This was because of his element and his skills. When he was kicked out, he was still plenty rich and had managed to take a few things without people knowing. Rather, he did so by framing a few of his enemies. At the same time, his Mercenary team¡ªone he had formed long ago with a couple of friends¡ªhad been tired of being the bottom tier in a city and looked for a good base. They divided into teams to look for various bases, though they had shortlisted a couple of Towns. For his team, he decided to enter the Chancery and chose any territory other than the City, and was surprisingly hired by a village instead. Being able to hire a level 30 elementalist as a village said a lot about it, and he was not disappointed. On the contrary, he saw the great potential in this Village so he remained obedient and helpful. While they didn''t completely dispel the possibility of them taking over, they had seen the power of this village and they lived comfortably. With enough power, his team didn''t see a point in taking over and reducing their numbers even further This was especially true now that a huge bulk of his men had been missing. It''d take a while for the rest of the mercenary team to arrive. He couldn''t harm the lord and his people due to the oaths, but some people weren''t, and he was already formulating an alternative plan in case his relationship with the ruling party here turned dour. Fargo looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Isn''t there a way to determine the last known location?" Fargo asked. Belize shook his head. "In theory, except for some announcements that came with great costs, the lord token only works within the territory." He didn''t know more about the token, nor did he know how merging or controlling other territories worked. After all, to a lord, asking such questions was suspicious. He didn''t even know the token would detach during wars until he saw it by accident. He was almost killed then, and had to swear never to say so to anyone. He, of course, naturally used papyrus to tell his current lord. This was how Fargo knew in advance what he could do and the advantages of war, letting him have a large head start ahead of the others. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Belize believed that he had given so much to a lord much weaker than he was, but now he was obviously being doubted. Belize''s dark eyes looked at the men in the room. Was it time to make another plan? Chapter 519 - 519: The War Declaration The room was silent, and a lot of it was in doubt of the Rongo Mercenary Team''s movements in the territory. Fargo looked at him, before looking away to enter his own thoughts. Something was obviously going on, and a sense of foreboding occupied him. He narrowed his eyes, his mind calculating what he could do at this time. "Assign teams to go look for them tomorrow morning," he said. "Be fully armed and make sure each team has at least a few powerhouses. Form teams at least twice as large as you used to. "Call in all the slaves, be sure to check for stowaways," It was regretful that such important jobs had to be halted, but something was obviously going on and he wasn''t willing to risk hundreds of working slaves at this time. The cronies nodded. "Yes, milord!" They were about to adjourn when¡ªall of a sudden¡ªBelize stood up. It was so abrupt that his chair fell and it raised an alarm in everyone else''s hearts. At this, everyone¡ªsans Fargo¡ªabruptly stood up as well, taking out their weapons, and pointing them directed at him. They were guarded and prepared for a hard fight. After all, this was a man at least twice their level! They didn''t know what loophole he would take advantage to attack them¡ªif any¡ªbut they weren''t taking any chances! However, instead of a fight, Belize was pale as he stared into blank air¡ªor rather, his panel. Belize''s mind was in a whirl. He was utterly confused at what he was seeing. It was the first time he had seen something like this¡ª Belize gaped at the long line of announcements in front of him. [A Mercenary Team member, Impo, has died. 1.1 miles South.] [A Mercenary Team member, Shaw, has died.1.1 miles South.] [A Mercenary Team member, Uko, has died.1.1 miles South.] [...] There were at least a dozen of them. "What''s going on, Belize?" Fargo asked, his baritone voice shaking the aborigine out of his daze. Belize''s eyebrows furrowed, voice a little dry. "Milord¡­ they''re dead. A lot of the missing teammates died at the same time!" This made the other men in the room look at him in shock, a few even dropping their weapons. "What?" Uzon asked, followed by the twins. "What do you mean by that?" "Hey, explain more!" S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fargo didn''t speak, but he looked at him with deeply furrowed eyebrows. Belize took a deep breath to keep his eloquence. "I have mentioned before that members of a Mercenary Team would always receive notifications when and where a member dies." He took a deep breath, fist clenching. "Almost all of the members who went missing¡ªthey all perished at the same time, and at the same location!" A tense silence passed by the room, and they recognized it what it was: An Attack. "This is a sign¡ªa prelude," Fargo told them. His jaw was clenched as the thought that had been dawning on him finally concretized. There was really an idiot that decided to attack them. No, if they managed to damage them so much¡ªthen it was well planned. However, none of them had the time to think of a counterattack when the mercenary froze again. This time he couldn''t help himself and hit the table, easily disintegrating it. Uzon flinched a bit. This guy had been so submissive that he forgot he was strong! Fargo seemed unfazed by the show of aggression, looking at his hired aborigine. "What happened this time?" Belize didn''t answer immediately and stared at his screen as a new line of deaths appeared in front of him. [A Mercenary Team member, Inuk, has died. 0.9 miles Northeast] [A Mercenary Team member, Penro, has died. 0.9 miles Northeast] He gritted his teeth. "Those assigned in the mines has also perished." Fargo''s frown deepened while the others looked at each other, a bad feeling overcoming everyone''s guts. "What''s going on?" "The mines¡ª" "Shut up." Fargo''s low voice resounded and everyone shut their mouths to let Fargo think in silence. He immediately sent a firm instruction to all the slaves. [Attack all non-residents. Aim to kill. If you can''t, kill yourselves.] He frowned, unsure if it would have any effect at all. But they were too far from them and it was the only way to cause immediate trouble to whoever killed his men. He began to formulate on what to do to smoke out the bastards, but he wasn''t given a lot of time because the system resounded in his head. [Altera Village (Lv3) has officially declared war on Fargo Village (Lv3). The War will begin at 13:59:59.] Fargo''s eyes widened a bit, things falling into place. So it was them! Of course! It was probably Garan himself hunting for his men! Had they grown so strong after a short time? "Milord?" Uzon and the others asked worriedly. At the same time, the ground shook, followed by a couple of distant screams. "What''s going on?" the guards asked, gesturing to head out, not knowing this would be the beginning of a restless night. The group went out to see that many guards were running towards the gate battlement, looking out. Fargo and the others climbed up the walls through the stairs they manually created. From the distance, they saw a small mob banging on the outer wall, and it wouldn''t take long for them to breach it. When it did, the outer circle would fall into chaos, and the inner wall wouldn''t be unaffected, especially with its increased sizes. Fargo narrowed his eyes at the monsters aiming to wreak havoc in his home. Judging by the subsequent trouble, they would be kept up all night long. Including the time needed to prepare for the war proper, it was obvious what the enemy''s strategy was! He had to admit, he was a bit taken aback by the appearance of problem after problem. However, Fargo was never one to back down from a challenge. Fargo''s sharp eyes turned and looked at his men. "Wake everyone up, gather all the forces!" he said. "PREPARE FOR WAR!" Chapter 520 - 520: The Mines (Part 1) Limestone Mines, 1 Hour Prior Late at night, the activity at the mines continued without pause. Slaves continued to work overtime, even when their arms were shaking, even when their bodies were exhausted. The slaves of Fargo were divided into two shifts. One part was dedicated to mining, and the others would be handling the harvests, as well as their transfer and processing. At this time, there were only a few hundred slaves outside the territory, and watching there were about two dozen guards. Clack! Clack! Clack! Rebi just relished in the numbing activity as he was left alone among his group of friends. Every friend he made as a slave had passed, and he couldn''t help but want to cry for Bruce and Lina. His heart was heavy every time he remembered them. If he fought harder, would they still be alive? A part of him knew that he wouldn''t have made a difference, but there would always be a ''what if'' that would lurk in his heart as long as he thought of their deaths. Clack! Clack! Clack! Hard labor just happened to be a good way to numb that intangible pain and guilt. He was filled with bruises and dried blood¡ªas most were¡ªand they had been hungry and parched for so long their bodies seemed to be in the state of perennial shock. They were also extremely dirty. They hadn''t had a bath after becoming enslaved. Worse: some people were beaten up until they pissed or shitted on themselves and they had no choice but to live with those hanging on them. They not only had to endure pain, hunger, and thirst, they had to get used to smelling their own feces, too. However, while the slaves struggled to keep standing, the slave drivers struggled to keep awake. The Terran guards didn''t dare sleep during this time, but the aborigine ones¡ªthe members of the mercenary team¡ªwere naturally different. An aborigine guard''s head bobbed up and down, and he flinched awake a moment later. "AH! I''m so sleepy¡­" he mumbled, but then he saw the person next to him was already snoring and he kicked him awake. The man on the ground cursed, glaring at him. "What was that for, Inuk!" "We were asked to make sure not all the slaves die, idiot." "Why do we have to even guard these trashes," The man¡ªPenko¡ªmuttered under his breath as he got back up to his chair. "What''s the use of having guards when we need to keep them alive at this time! I want to get a woman by my side!" "Don''t we have some here?" "Tsk! That little girl was a pity. Too bad!" "You said you didn''t like flat." "But a woman''s a woman, especially now that we had access to so few of them in this place.!" This made the slaves shiver, but they continued to work as if they didn''t hear anything. Penko looked at the Terran guards, giving them a bad look. "If you people weren''t so weak, would we have to suffer like this? We could be hanging around our base right now!" At this time, if he was in the territory, he''d definitely have one or two women from the ''roster'' serving him! They said so as if they were prepared to beat them up, making the Terran guards pale. The Terran guards went over to them, looking respectful. "Sirs¡­er, If you want, we can go look for some," he said. "We still have a few here¡­" "So there''re few?" The guard looked awkward. "Well, not many women survived the subsequent disasters, so we¡­ reserved a few stocks." The good ones were kept by the lord''s party or the Rongos, they naturally had to keep some decent ones ready for themselves. "Oh?" Inuk said, looking at the Terran who shivered under his stare. He gasped when a huge palm found his neck, lightly strangling him. "Next time you dared to hide such a good thing for me, this will be meeting my sword." The guard nodded urgently, face becoming blue, and he gasped as he was let go. He heaved a deep breath and he lifted his head, maintaining his pandering expression. "L-Let me take you there, sirs¡­" he said, and they nodded. Before heading out, the aborigines looked at the other guards. "Better guard this place well or else¡ª" "Yes, sir!" Inuk grinned, satisfied with their obedience, before following the guide deeper into the cave system with Penko. While the limestone mine cave system was not too deep compared to other mines¡ªfor instance, mines handled by goblins¡ªit was naturally not small. After all, thousands of slaves had worked hard on it for many days and, even with the reduced manpower, there were still hundreds of them currently doing the same. The Terran guard led them deeper into the cave and they arrived to their destination after about ten minutes of leisure walking. It was a cavern the size of a room, and it was obviously created after being abandoned or fully harvested¡ªthat was to say, all the resources had been taken away and this had effectively become a ''dead spot''. Well, not exactly, because there were two very beautiful ''resources'' occupying it now. At this, the two men couldn''t help but study them well. One was a cute one with relatively pale skin and bountiful breasts. She had a short hair and a little unsightly, but clean compared to the other slaves. The other one had long dark tresses and darker skin. She had longer legs than the other, and her eyes were rounder but a lot more defiant than the other one. The two women were tied up on a makeshift bed, and there were earthenware pots next to them. Judging by the smell, it was probably their ''bathroom'' during their stay here. The two women saw the newcomers entered and frowned deeply. The terran guard smiled and looked at them. "These are Master Inuk and Penko. They''re from the great Rongo Mercenary team. Serve them well." At the confirmation that the newcomers were, indeed, aborigines, the two women paled even more, shivering. "Aww, are you cold?" He asked, "Don''t worry, the bosses would warm you right up~" He stood up, giving way to the other two men whose eyes never left the women. They were not naked but they were flimsily dressed, as if they were just covered for the sake of covering. It certainly didn''t do much to hide their generous features. The sight made the two aborigines heat up down below. "Not bad, not bad at all!" Penko said, licking his lips. The Terran saw this and smiled in relief. "We reserved two for our own use. One was a slave from Bright Village, while the other one we just kept." "One isn''t a slave?" The guard nodded. "It''s the darker-skinned one," he said. "But don''t worry. She''s weak and signed a contract to work for us." "Okay, okay, leave us be," Penko said, looking at his companion. "Which one do you want?" "The brunette is prettier," Inuk said, and Penko nodded. "Hmn, I like the breasts of the other one." Seeing as there''s no conflict, the two went to their respective women, dragging them to each side of the room to taste. The two women''s eyes met, a little panicked, especially the short-haired girl. After all, she was a slave and she could do nothing but do whatever was asked of her. The dark-skinned woman, on the other hand, was a angry, but otherwise a lot calmer. She glared at the man who was approaching her, gripping on her ropes. Aborigines? She did not plan for this! But¡ªshe has had enough! Inuk just smiled at her glare and approached, immediately taking her lips. At first, she seemed to be reciprocating and Inuk was being taken to Elvendell by her superior kissing skills. However, a few moments later, his instincts as a level 16 tingled and he bent backward, seeing the woman holding a sharp edge to where he just was. His eyes twitched and his smile turned malicious, immediately grabbed her hand. "Yo! I got a really feisty one!" he said, pressing it just a bit, but it was enough to shake her due to the pain. Crack! "AHHH!" She screamed and let the blade go. Inuk listened to its clanging and kneeled to take it, realizing it was one of those good knives a few locals here had. Of course, it didn''t do much damage as it wasn''t infused by aether, but he found it to be a good material anyway. "And I got a bonus," he said, placing the blade in his space. Nearby, Penko shook his head. "Good for you," he said, before touching the slave''s legs. She struggled a bit but unlike the others, he liked them well-behaved. "Don''t move," he ordered. "Open your legs as wide as you can." The short-haired girl sniffed, unwilling, yet her body moved on its own, following the man''s order. Meanwhile, the other woman''s legs were also dragged and opened. She wanted to struggle more but the pain of her strained arms was too much. The women''s eyes turned red as the hopelessness of the situation dawned again, and they could only look at each other in sadness. Was this truly their fate for the rest of their lives? No¡­ right? S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 521 - 521: The Mines (Part 2) Limestone Caves, 50 Minutes before the Declaration The two women had been here since the mine started its operations. One could imagine the suffering they had to endure during this time at the hands of these men. One of these women was a young artist named Penny. She had short reddish-brown hair with streaks of gold. She wasn''t a beauty, but she was pleasing to look at¡­ at least before the disaster happened. She managed to survive the first few weeks in one territory doing the basic jobs like cleaning up the meat and cooking something palatable. The village still fell though¡ªlike countless others¡ªand she became one of the poor refugees along with thousands of people. They got separated due to various mobs, insects, and the like, and her group of hundreds¡ªafter being reduced to at least half¡ªeventually found their next territory. When she and a few survivors arrived at Bright, they thought they had finally found a home. She was so happy to find a decent home with a proper toilet¡ªto finally have a decent meal after so many weeks. But then the war started a few days later, and she was also ''lucky'' to have become a slave as soon as it ended. As another man approached her, she couldn''t help but feel melancholic. To think she was just hanging around with her roommate when the disaster happened. Had it only been a few months? It literally felt like a lifetime ago. What a pity. She and her roommate, Samantha, had joined an art contest and were set to win awards. Too bad they wouldn''t ever know who won! She had such a bright future. Now she was put aside to become a toy like this in exchange for some food, drinks, and less manual labor, but to be honest she''d rather hit her head on the limestone rocks than endure these men! It wasn''t that she hadn''t tried either, but she was a slave and a mere order would change her tune. "Hello, love," the man said, grinning and showing off his disgusting teeth. "Ready for some fun?" She whimpered and looked away, not wanting to look at him at all. Beside her, the other woman crawled backward, even if just to delay the inevitable. Aditi was a beautiful woman with mocha skin and dark-brown hair. Her situation was very different from Penny. She wasn''t a slave in the system sense, but she was treated no differently. It was her stupidity that got her here. She was naive, growing up overprotected by her parents and her two brothers, and she ended up signing an employment deal that had a lot of loopholes she missed. She thought she signed an employment to be a writer¡ªher job back in Terran. They claimed they had a lot of paper and they needed someone to write the History of the village. She was so tired of hunger, thirst, and running for her life that she jumped at the chance of a ''safe'' employment opportunity. She ended up signing something she belatedly realized was very near slavery. It was disgusting and there were too many times she wanted to end her own life, but what if her family was still alive? How sad would they be to find out she died like this? They were so good to her, she couldn''t do that to them! Someday she''d figure out a way out of here. Someday she''d stab those men in the heart and cut off their dicks! But still, physically, both women couldn''t do anything but fantasize at this time, trying to numb themselves as the men forcefully opened their legs and hovered above them. But before the men could do anything, they heard screams outside. It was a bit muted because they were so far, but their hearing still managed to catch a bit of it. They were screams of horror but, to the women''s ears, it was the most beautiful sound. "AHHH!" "No! Don''t¡ª" "GYAHHH!" "What''s going on?" Penko¡ªwho had much better hearing than the two women¡ªasked, cursed, and begrudgingly put his pants up. Inuk sighed and also let go to check. "It must be a couple of beasts getting in," he said with a shrug, "Hopefully not too many slaves are lost this time." But as they went out, going back to the main tunnels with their weapons out, they realized that there was the lack of growls and scratches they were used to. Further, after the initial screams, there was nothing else. When they emerged, they immediately saw the guards on the ground, bleeding and flinching, while the slaves were gaping from the side. They were all holding some pieces of hard bread and passing around a bottle of something to drink. There were even three familiar slaves among them! People who were supposed to be dead! In the middle of them all were a few men with various features, and the common thing was that they were strong and were being friendly to the slaves. How could they not understand they were being attacked?! Penko immediately lunged and opened his mouth to yell orders to the slaves. "Attack th¡ª" but before he could yell out orders, he was held back by an arm and thrown to the wall. He then heard cracking sounds and the belated shock of pain made him realize it was his own bones! He gasped at the suddenness of it all, but only muffled sounds came out of his mouth as it was covered with smelly cloth that immediately made him want to vomit. "Whwattt!" he yelled but felt like vomiting as more of the foul smell¡ªand taste¡ªreached his tongue. "Enjoy the smell of soiled clothes, trash." Inuk also went to attack the nearest one, but before he could react, he was immediately kicked on the spinal cord. "GAH!" His knees immediately buckled as his joints were stabbed from behind, and he fell down head first. "Ooof!" Like Penko, Inuk also found fabric stuffed into his mouth. It had a different acerbic taste and no less disgusting. They looked down and realized it was a soiled cloth of slaves who pissed and shit on themselves! S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were promptly beaten to a pulp by one or two soldiers, and rendered completely useless after a few minutes of play. They could only passively accept the onslaught of attacks, the pain numbing their brains, making them unable to counter at all! Penko and Inuk were already around level 16, but they were no match against these newcomers!! What in the orcshit is going on?! Chapter 522 - 522: The Mines (Part 3) Trigger Warning: Don''t worry, it''s NOT rape. Rather, it''s literal mention of shit (it''s part of the enemy torture). Anyway, it''s gross, so be warned. Try not to skip the chap though cuz'' I wouldn''t be writing a summary in the comments for this one. Just don''t read while you''re eating. LMAO ¡­ _____ Limestone Caves, 40 Minutes before the Declaration "Whwowar you?!" Penko yelled through the fabric, ignoring the piercing pain in his body. However, his yell pushed the fabric deeper in his throat, giving him a more intimate taste of the fabric. He coughed loudly in disgust but it was tied to him and he couldn''t do anything about it¡ªnot when all his appendages were broken. It took several bouts of coughs before he managed to tilt his head to look closer at the attackers. Belatedly, he realized they were familiar faces! It was those men from the what''s-it-called? Terran Mercenary Team! They were strong and were all elementalists! They dared attack them so openly?! Aren''t they afraid to be hunted down by their mercenary team?! Inuk had a similar reaction. Unlike Penko who was more reactive, Inuk had a bit more of a leveled head despite being drowned in pain. He tilted his head to the side and bobbed his head, trying to use the momentum to get rid of the fabric. It was to no avail of course and seeing his efforts another enemy (Mao) even stuffed another one in his mouth so it got as wide as it could be¡ªfilled with disgusting fabric. His eyes were red as he glared at the men, cursing them through muffled yells. This earned him a couple more kicks to the stomach, and the reflex was to gulp and cough so more of the smell and the solid came in. Inuk badly wanted to vomit and his body gurgled puke, filling up his mouth with the disgusting bile. It got so much he choked with a bit leaking out through the fabric. "Eeh, gross," Mao said as he looked at the paling face of the aborigine, proceeding to kick the other one''s stomach. BANG! Gurglegurle¡ª The other one also vomited and Mao cringed, body wiggling as if ice was just placed at the back of his neck. Eagle sighed and shook his head. "Stop playing, it''s almost time." "Ah, yes, yes," Mao said and along with the others they either dragged or kicked the slave drivers in one place for better ''management''. As such, the two dozen or so slave drivers were lined up neatly on the floor, surrounded by the slaves they tortured. There were hundreds of slaves there so they naturally couldn''t fit in one cavern, but they cooperated in a way among themselves¡ªallowing people to look at the poor state of the men in turns. They might not be able to hurt them physically, but after some experimentation they could still exact a bit of petty revenge. Most who passed spit on them. Some even peed and some shit directly on them. "Ah, I held it back for too long it''s black now!" One said, literally shitting on a person''s face. He targeted this Terran a lot, and it was obvious he had been tortured during his stay there. The former slave driver could only scream as¡ª "Too graphic! Too graphic!" Mao yelled, effectively cutting the imagery. Anyway, it was all very disgusting but the Alterans just let them be. They couldn''t imagine how much these people suffered during this time. They must want to do more, but this was all they could do, and they would give it to them. Sammy sighed. "Too bad they couldn''t torture them any other way." "Seeing them eating my shit is good enough," one of the slaves next to him said. The others nearby nodded in agreement. "Thank you so much for rescuing us." "Meh, Bright is our ally, but we won''t go out of our way unless it has advantages for Altera," Eagle humbly said with a smile, looking around them. "Like this place." The slaves smiled lightly, some still chewing on the small pieces of bread given to them¡ªtrying to make them last as long as possible¡ªwhile some sipping the water bit by bit. "There should still be some more inside," Chris said. He knew these two must''ve come from somewhere, but seeing that there were no slaves coming out of that direction, he decided to take a look himself. He was a scout so it wasn''t difficult to trace where they just were. After a few minutes, he found the two half-naked women on the floor. He immediately gave them his remaining blankets to share and untied them. They looked at him like he was their savior and he flinched under the attention. "Can you stand?" He asked. "Come with me," he said without waiting for their answer, afraid to ask him to carry them. He saw that they could stand up on their own and nodded, handing them a few pieces of bread and water as well. The two women gaped at him, looking disbelieving, and he couldn''t help but clear his throat. "I don''t know if you''ve heard of Altera, an allied territory¡ª" "You''re an Alteran!?" Penny yelled and when he nodded, her eyes brightened. Since she had just arrived in Bright before the war happened, she hadn''t really encountered an Alteran before. However, she had heard plenty about them. Just the name itself gave her hope. She immediately took a bite of the bread, tearing up a bit as the taste of flavored bread touched her tastebud and healed her soul. She also drank a gulp of the water given and she immediately felt so cleansed that her tear ducts opened a waterfall. "Wuuuu¡ª" She sobbed, her legs buckling as the intense relief and emotions flooded over her. Rescued! They were being rescued! Aditi heaved a deep breath, also taking a sip of the water and the bread. Hearing her companion sob, her eyes also couldn''t help but feel teary. Chris looked at the women in pity. He handed them both clean handkerchiefs, which shocked them, but they could only say their gratitude in the end. He waited a couple of minutes for them to calm down. "Let''s go join the others," he said, and the two women followed him shakily. Chris slowed his pace to match the women''s and the two women looked at each other as they traversed the small tunnels in the cave. They didn''t want to expect too much from another territory¡ªassuming he was who he claimed¡ªbut this cute guy didn''t seem to be a bad guy? He certainly had the wide shoulders that would make a woman feel protected¡­ Anyway, they arrived at the main area to see the slave drivers lined up, tortured, and in absolutely poor states. The two women''s eyes widened as they walked closer to get a better look. Penny outright sobbed again at the sight of them, heaving, shedding tears of relief and joy, while Aniti chuckled, but otherwise just stared at them. "Tell us what torture you want us to do them in your stead," Chris said kindly, but to his surprise one of the women shook her head. "I''m not a slave," Aniti told them, catching them by surprise. "I.. I can torture them myself!" She said. "Please! Let me!" The Alterans'' eyebrows rose and Chris stared at her, before summoning a knife he had in his space, and handing it to her. The woman pursed her lips and held back her tears before turning to the men. In particular, the men who touched her. The men''s eyes widened as the blade came closer to them. However, they couldn''t move at all as they were tied down to the soil by various abilitilies. In the end, they could only stare as the woman raised her blade, ready to stab them. "AHHHH!!!" The slaves and Alterans watched in morbid fascination as the girl stabbed each one, specifically on their manhoods, over and over. It looked painful to watch and Mao couldn''t bear to look without cringing. She stabbed and stabbed, killing those men who violated her. She then turned to the aborigines, who flinched and wildly shook their heads as they looked at her. Before she could do anything though, she felt a warm calloused hand on her shoulder. She looked to see it was Chris. "Don''t kill the aborigine yet." She nodded, stopping, but then an exclamation sounded behind them. It was Mao, looking at the aether letter. "Hey! It''s time!" At this, Chris'' let go of his hand and said, "Ah, never mind." Aditi''s eyes brightened and she looked at the two men whose eyes were wide in terror. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You should''ve know this would happen to you after all you did to us," he said, stabbing the two in their hearts as well. And so, Inuk and Penko were no more. Chapter 523 - 523: Monster Breach (Part 1) Fargo, Present BANG! BANG! BANG! The eerie sound of the monsters banging on the walls and the gate echoed in the territory, waking everyone up even before Fargo could announce the upcoming war. "What''s going on?" The guards yelled, and it so happened that a few dozen men had entered the territory. They were guards, for sure, and they had been looking for them for a while! "Hey!" They come back after going missing for so long, and even bringing along a mob with them! The bastards! But the newcomers¡ªall bloodied and terrified¡ªwere only shaking. "Kill them! Kill them!" They yelled, before pushing themselves up and running in various directions. ROARR!! This seemed to have made the monsters even angrier, banging on several sections of the wall with all their might. At first, the guards around could not be bothered by the newcomers and gathered together to stab down the monsters. The guard captain in the area happened to be Peko, who had just been promoted from guarding the mines. He stared at one of the guards, yelling at them. "Where''s Victor?! Call them!" This had been their default move the past few weeks and it had always served them well. However, some minutes later, the guards returned with pale faces. "Their house is empty!!" "What?!" Peko yelled and the other guards gaped at them. Victor and the others weren''t here? Were they supposed to kill all these monsters¡ªaveraging level 8¡ªall by themselves? They tried to stab down the monsters, but their levels weren''t very high¡ªthose who were level 9 and above were precisely the people who brought these beasts here¡ªand soon more and more guards were pulled down the wall to be mauled by the monsters. What''s worse, they noticed that there were more and more monsters getting attracted and they were starting to feel the wall crumble. "SHIT!!!" Anyway, they didn''t want to risk their lives for the monsters. One by one, the guards either fell to the monsters'' mouths or left the area. They ran away, leaving the wall completely vulnerable! BANG! BANG! CRASH! ROARRR!! As such, it didn''t take long before several sections of the wall gave way, the monsters who had managed to squeeze in immediately ran in specific directions! That was¡ªoddly¡ªtowards the bloodied newcomers they had been following! "WHAT THE¡ª" One yelled as he dragged himself. He was one of the heavily injured ones who had used all his strength to get back to the territory. But, for some reason, even when there were so many houses with so many people, the monster somehow found him! He was thrown up, landing straight to the monster''s mouth. Squelch, squelch, squelch One of his companions saw this and cursed, running in the direction of the smaller houses in hopes of getting it off his tail. "SHIT! SHIT!" He ran as fast as his body allowed. He went through the streets, damaging a few houses, and eventually reached the shanty areas full of unprotected people! The people from the shanties had run away as soon as they realized the walls were breached. They had learned the hard way that their homes would be the first to be destroyed during a breach. "KYAAA!" Screams abound and everyone went away, looking for new places to hide. "HELP ME, PLEASE!" "HELPPP!" "QUEIT!" Vivian yelled, trying to keep her calm as she saw the corner end of the area had monsters running through. "They''re not here yet! Do you want them to go to us?!" This shut the people up and many followed Vivian, who seemed to have kept her head. Vivian was a journalist who went through various things to get a scoop. She naturally had a better reaction than everyone else. As for why she was living in the shanties, Vivian had spent all her money trying to send her husband some food. How could she afford a house? As they ran around as quietly as they could, hoping for the monsters flowing in not to go to their area, to find a place to hide, some doors opened up. "Here!" A young lad said, behind one of the doors. Vivian''s eyes widened and nodded gratefully, and several people entered the house along with her. With his lead, more and more doors opened and the people hid inside with bated breath. Fortunately, most of the people in system houses opened their doors to help them out, one of the few hopeful things to see even in such a situation. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, not everyone could be saved, especially when the men were desperate to shake away the monsters. The monsters somehow still found the bloodied guards a lot more interesting and¡ªwhile there was plenty of collateral damage by monsters barrelling towards the people¡ªthey were always after the same men, so the deaths were far less than one would expect. ROARRRR! A monster passed by and they felt the ground shaking. People held back their gasps as a few walls took direct hits, and to be honest it felt like directly hitting on their hearts. "GET OUT YOU BASTARDS!" They would hear the men yell as they passed, but of course, no one did. ROARRR! The monster passed by, intent on following specific people for some reason, but no one dared to feel relieved just yet. When it turned quiet, the roars and screams becoming farther away, several people finally let out their sobs. "Wuu¡­" "Another breach¡­" "How long will this house hold up?" "Not again, not again¡­ wuu¡­" They were reminded of the sufferings during the previous breach. Many people sobbed and prayed, hoping for them to get out of this alive. Anyway, while the chaos from the mobs was going on, they all hid inside the houses. Even the lowest system house was still relatively durable. In another area, the doctors immediately called all their patients inside, locking the openings as well as they could using the commissioned beds. The windows here could swing open outside, which would be difficult to open by the brainless monsters, but it was one of the vulnerable spots that would break first in case of direct monster attacks. "Aren''t Victor and the others around?" Dr. Cynthia asked, patting a young girl shaking in her embrace. Dr. Lu sighed. "I''m not sure, they mentioned they would have to go into hiding because Fargo is killing them off." At this, several people cursed at Fargo and his men. "Those bastards!" "Are they stupid? Controlling such people and making them guard their territory for them was one thing, but to kill them off?" "They probably got too strong." "Our lord is really cursed!" At this point, everyone was just afraid not to survive the night with this mob, and decided they could let go of all their bitterness. They suffered for so long already, and they could manage to hold on due to various hopes¡ªthe soldiers being one of them! Now, that was gone too! Now, Fargo would have free reign over them again. If so¡ªwhat was the point of living? But they didn''t want to die, so what could they do? They could only curse the lord and his cronies in their hearts, wishing them the worst. This was a sight that happened althroughout the territory. Whether it was people finding places to hide¡ªknowing that no one would be fighting for them anymore¡ªand also some who whispered their bitterness towards the ruling party. This was just like the last beast tide breach. The guards ignored their pleas, locking them out to die outside. Their saviors died one by one, and now it was happening again! [Announcement: Kill the monsters and gain 10 extra silver per monster slayed] An announcement resounded across the territory, but no one went out. Curse them! They would hide to survive as long as they could, but there was no way they''d protect their territory just so those bastards could hide away while they risked their own necks! They''d rather try their luck inside the safety of their homes. Even if the lord offered rewards to fight outside¡ªit was likely they''d just be thrown as meatshields if they went out now! Fargo¡ªfuck you! Chapter 524 - 524: Monster Breach (Part 2) Fuck you Fargo, Kill the Mobs yourself Fargo, Go Kill Yourself Fargo¡­ These were the prevalent thoughts in the heads of the citizens as they hid well inside their homes, hoping for things to pass¡ªif it would. It could be seen as just prolonging the agony as monsters would still be able to breach the houses after some time, but they just hoped the monsters would skip their houses by virtue of them being quiet. They would fight it if it reached their location, but the problem with that was that the blood¡ªwhether it was theirs or the monster''s¡ªcould attract even more beasts. Most of them could barely handle one, let alone a handful! However¡ªdespite the apparent carefulness of most¡ªa few people couldn''t help but take a look through the windows and peek outside, opening just enough to see what was going on. "Oi, Baka, come here!" Tacky whispered urgently, trying to pull his friend''s remaining arm. "Do you wanna lose an eye, too?" "Wait, look out," the young man said as he stared at the monsters flowing in, seeming to particularly interested in watching more. "Hell no," Tacky mumbled. He was about to go deeper into the house when the chaos neared and they could hear screeching screams akin to animals being slaughtered. "GAHHH! HELP MEEE!!" "AHHH! GO AWWAY! GO AWAY¡ªGAHHH!" The yells would occasionally be followed by the familiar squelching of body parts and the cracking of bones. "COME OUT OF HERE!" "HELP USSS!" Tacky paused, finding some of the voices familiar. Against basic logic, he opened the gap just a bit more so he could peek, and Juan followed. The other roommates gasped when they saw the three idiots risk their heads for curiosity. They shivered and hid farther into the rooms, deciding to ignore them. These young men were stronger than they were and they knew they couldn''t be pulled back if they didn''t want to, so they could only find better places to hide. They wished they had chests or cabinets here, but alas, most didn''t even have proper beds, what of other furniture? However, there were also a few who stayed with them. They were the ones from the shanty their group let inside. They stayed with the trio to pull them as soon as they had to. Anyway, the trio was focused on peeking to notice they had people ready to drag them back as needed. They just watched the chaos outside as more and more monsters came in. Normally, they would spread out and attack houses, focusing on the easy-to-destroy shanty areas and low-level houses. However, this time, they seemed to just be going after a few people. The night was eerie and they could hear various screams around and a few muted screams farther away, but otherwise everyone knew to keep quiet, and luckily so because the monsters seemed hellbent on these particular men. It so happened that one monster chase seemed to head towards their street. Tacky''s heart dropped, about to close the window. "Shit! Close it!" "Wait!" Juan mumbled, patting his arm. His eyes were fixed towards the man the monster seemed to be hunting. "Don''t you find that man familiar?" The other two looked at each other, before taking a peek. They gaped when they realized that it was one of the people who beat them up back then! "HELP MEEE! GAHH!" He yelled, getting nicked at the back, the heard the ripping sound of fabric and skin, but the man''s adrenaline was on max and he still managed to continue running despite part of his back getting ripped off. He was in intense pain though, his eyes turning red as he saw the silent houses. "GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSES RIGHT NOW!" He yelled, roughly tapping random doors he passed through in hopes it broke and attracted the monster instead. But it was no use, and the monster soon caught up to him, with one of its teeth embedded on his leg. "GYAAAA!!" The trio''s hearts paused as they watched the man get swung with his legs as pivot, hitting a random wall. He was swung around like this because he got stuck on the teeth, and the monster was trying to take him off to eat him properly. BANG! WHOOSH! BANG! The trio covered their mouths to keep themselves from screaming at the horrendous sight. Eventually, the monster managed to bend his body enough and scratched, eating half of him. Some of his innards fell, staining the floor, but otherwise the monster didn''t miss any part of the meat. However, the momentum of the monster shaking the corpse made the top half fly¡­ ¡­into their direction. Their hearts stopped as they saw the half-body fly towards them. Oh, shiiiiiii¡ª The trio immediately closed the window as they heard the bang of the disgusting half-corpse hit it. They crawled¡ªor rather, were dragged¡ªas far away as they could, looking like idiots, but at this time they didn''t really care. They stopped breathing when they heard some clutter outside and knew the monster went to retrieve the body, eating the rest of it up. The three shivered, trying very hard not to piss. They only let go of their held breaths when the peace returned, apparently, the monster leaving in a direction. They heard more and more monsters enter the territory, and could tell that several areas were in the same situation. Soon, the mobs around their area stopped. However, Juan, who had sensitive ears, determined that they were all heading in a direction. He slowly opened the swing windows and saw that the monsters were either just following certain men or heading straight to the inner walls, ignoring whatever was in their paths. "They''re all heading towards the inner walls!" Juan said and the others soon peeked with him. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Do you know why?" "No idea." But it was a relief. They even felt a bit vindictive. After all, most of their enemies were in the inner walls. Whenever there were monsters, they would be left to defend themselves. It was like those from the inner walls had them as the shield. They would barely help when there was a breach at all. Now, the monsters were going straight at them! "Heh," Tacky said, grinning."Go deal with that problem yourself!" Chapter 525 - 525: A Little Chaos (Part 1) At this time, every guard in the interior walls was mobilized to guard the wall and the gates, which were now being mobbed by monsters. The monsters congregated in the area even when they had to step over each other. It was a scary sight, and everyone tried to stab them down, afraid they''d go over the gates on top of trying to destroy it. The wall was 3 meters high and most of the monsters were about a meter smaller on all fours, and some could reach up when they were on twos.If a monster got killed by one of the two sentries that could reach them, then the other monsters would just step over its corpse until it stacked. The sentries worked nonstop, and so did the guards, but there were a lot of monsters, and the walls just received more and more damage. The aborigines would also stab the monsters down along with the guards, but no one would go down the walls to kill them more efficiently. Don''t look at some of them a few levels higher than the monsters, but they could only one-shot monsters after using skills. Who had that mana? Who could use those skills fast enough before a monster could take them? As for Belize¡ªthe only one over level 20 in the group¡ªhe could indeed handle most of them, but he told the lord he''d need to reserve his strength. Fargo looked at him then, but didn''t question too much. He just noted to figure it out later when the trouble had been handled. In any case, the guards would stab the monsters down, but they would also lose some health every couple of shots due to the density of the monsters. They also had archers, but how many weaknesses could they hit with the monsters clumped so closely together? However, just stabbing the monsters down was a defensive move¡ªthey couldn''t damage the monsters too much like this. To do this, they had to handle the hundreds of monsters directly on ground level. Normally, Fargo and his cronies would push people into the mob, and they would be forced to handle it from there. However, with the upcoming war and Victor''s absence to deal with the mob, they could use all the forces they could get. The more time passed, the more the gates were damaged. While Fargo could rebuild outside of wartime, the original gate had to be destroyed first, and that meant a few monsters would be able to get in. To be honest, the number of monsters wasn''t even that much, considering their levels, the sentries, and the relatively small area that it protected. However, it so happened the monsters were focused on specific places, which were accessible only to one or two sentries. The guards were also squeezed in, reducing their effective areas. "Why are they so focused on the gates?" Fargo asked with narrowed eyes. The monsters, while they would indeed focus on the weakest spots¡ªi.e. the gates¡ªthey would normally still attack other parts as well. Now, for some reason, they were completely focused on it. "We''ll figure it out, milord," Sen said, narrowing his eyes at the monsters, and trying to determine the pattern. Before, they could think more though, some screeching screams finally took their attention. It was a few men who they noticed had been running around the territory with monsters in tow. It wasn''t that they weren''t aware of them, but the people in the interior wall just didn''t care enough. That was until the runners had gone close enough for them to see. "HELPPP! AHHHH!" sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "PLEASE LET US IN!! HELP US! PLEASE HURRY!" They yelled, screaming to the top of their lungs, which to be honest felt like it was coming out of their mouths after all the running. They couldn''t approach the gates seeing the mob there and they could only continue running around the walls while waiting for rescue. It was horrible and they were tired and in pain, but they knew stopping would cause their deaths¡ªas it did dozens of others. "Is that them?" Uzon asked, narrowing his eyes. It was dark so they didn''t see too clearly before. They thought they were just random citizens that the monsters found attractive. As soon as they got closer, Uzon and the others realized that these were some of their missing members. There were only a few of them now, and these three had survived so long by going around the territory, hoping the dense houses would provide obstacles for the monsters¡ªwhich it did, to some degree¡ªtrying to make the monsters shift to another target. "GAHHHH! PLE¡ªGYAHHHH!" They frowned when another one was eaten, reducing the survivors to two. It took Fargo one look to have an idea of what was going on. "All of them were followed by the monsters here?" "It seems so, milord." Fargo looked at Belize, who nodded, jumping down to rescue the remaining men, using a bit of mana to quickly kill a couple of monsters in the way with his sword. A few were also asked to assist the other guards to help out, but they didn''t jump down, only attacking from a safe distance like everyone else. Meanwhile, the two of the 30 or so men released by the Alterans were currently at the last straws of their strengths. The terror they went through after escaping those psychos, only to find out they would be mobbed and killed one by one was horrendous. When they entered the territory and they still died, they felt their last bit of hope was eaten up as well. They felt their hearts about to jump out of their chests, and they could only push their bodies beyond the limit, trying to last until rescue finally came. But no matter how many houses they passed though, the monsters were still after them. WHY?! "WHY?!" A man yelled as he just passed a shanty area the monster destroyed. He saw some people running around, and yet the monster still chose to target him. He didn''t have time to question his life anymore, however, because the next thing he saw was a monsters'' mouth. "AHHHH!" Another one died, leaving only one. The remaining survivor¡ªa man with only an arm left¡ªsaw his remaining teammate perishing inside the mouth of monsters. He watched as he was shared by two monsters, eaten as if he was delicacy. The man pissed on his pants as he continued to run, going through alleyways to lose the damned thing, only to be found again a couple of seconds later. His body was numb with pain and he was pale, knowing he was already losing too much blood. He gasped, hiding, running, over and over. But he fell down, his knees finally buckling from weakness. He yelled, cursing. Why didn''t the monsters choose these trashes instead!? While having these dark thoughts, he had the audacity to yell for help. "SOMEONEEEE!!! HELP MEEEE!!" ROARR!! He could only stare as the monster approached him, and the image of him being shared among monsters made him shit in his pants. Before it could approach closely though, he felt a sharp force pass by, making a line that divided the monster. SLASH! "Master Belize!" He yelled as he saw the thin man appear, dividing the monster by half with a sword. He seemed pale though, but the man just thought Belize must''ve rushed to rescue him. Sadly, his vision turned dark immediately after that from the loss of blood. And he never woke up again. Chapter 526 - 526: A Little Chaos (Part 2) Belize cursed as he realized the man was dying. He carried the man on his back, disgusted by his state, but didn''t use his ability to hasten his speed. He couldn''t risk it¡ªnot when there were bigger fights coming. Before, he told the lord he only needed to keep his strength, when in reality¡­ he discovered that his mana recovered too slowly. He only noticed it recently when he tried taking down the first batch of monsters that attacked the walls. [Mana Recovery: Temporarily Reduced] He had no idea when it happened and the only time he had ever encountered such a thing was when a strong city-level monster poisoned him. His eyes darkened when he thought of anything odd that had happened and couldn''t immediately pinpoint it. When he thought more deeply about anything even slightly a bit atypical in his recent days, the first memory to appear was Juni. At the time, she brought the goods from Vismont, a territory similar to Bright, which happened to be her old territory. She was beautiful and seductive and his mind may have been a bit blurred, but it was delicious and he didn''t feel anything wrong as he consumed them. Could there be something else in it? He remembered her words then. "Master Belize," she said with that velvety tone of hers. "These are special goods I managed to procure. It''s the only one I have. As someone who hadn''t eaten our food before, I''d like to give it to you. Would you like it?" And, like a fool, he took it. In any case, by the time he had dragged the disgusting body to the interior wall, the man had already bled too much and had taken his last breath. "It''s too late, milord," Belize said and Fargo only looked at him before looking at the maimed corpse on the ground. Fargo turned Sen who immediately kneeled in front of the corpse to study him closely, checking for any signs of life. He shook his head in the end. "Call a doctor," Fargo said and a few guards went to get a doctor and set up torches to light up the area. Belize was the one to take a doctor¡ªwho was in the outer wall at the moment¡ªand he also recovered two more corpses by the way. They were all mangled up and filled with blood, but who knew if they could find more clues about what happened to them. The doctor dragged here was Dr. Lu. He shakily inspected the corpses, hoping to find something that''d ease the obvious dark atmosphere around the lord. Dr. Lu studied them for a while, rubbing his fingers when he felt a sticky substance. He smelled and tilted his head. He made a face at the acerbic quality of it and thought it was piss, but not only was it far stronger than humans'' they shouldn''t be present in the hair and shoulders either. "They all have a common substance doused on them," He said, looking a little curious, recalling the mens'' situation not too long ago. "Could these have attracted monsters?" Looking at the doctor, Fargo''s eyes shone with light, and so did everyone else. Not to mention: he wouldn''t be surprised if the gates were doused by the same substance! And who else would be able to douse the gates with so much of this mysterious substance but those people! "Where''s Vanessa? Check the soldiers!" He yelled, "I prepared a torture chamber just for them! Heh, it looks like it''s going to be used soon!" "Yes, milord!" The guards said, immediately scattering to look for more clues. Although she disappeared with Victor and the others, they now had more reason to find them than ask them to be willing cannon fodders! As several guards left the area, Fargo couldn''t help but look up at one of the moons that lit up the night. Was Garan and the others finally coming? sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But¡­ what could he do at his level? ¡­ At this time, Drake and the others were inside very good hiding spaces. It was located underground, somewhere they wouldn''t be able to find any time soon. They were very lucky that, unlike Altera, Fargo didn''t have a rule against such construction. Altera had a rule of not allowing the building of anything outside the property they owned. This meant what they were doing right now in Fargo was not possible in Altera. Similarly, squatting wasn''t possible there either. Back home, the stalls along the streets or plazas always had the necessary permits. This was proposed and organized by Mathilda''s group, and turned into formal regulation within a day of the proposal. It worked without a hitch in Altera because of the dormitory system and cheap visitor rates. Simply put, there was absolutely no need to squat. Why would people become informal settlers when they could have a better choice, anyway? "How fun to create something like this literally under their noses," Santos said with a smile. He was the main person to have created this as the best earth user in the party. He also had some assistance to the newly awakened Benny as well. "Well, people can''t think of everything. Not arrogant men like Fargo and his men who believe they''ve instilled fear into everyone''s hearts." Even if Fargo decided to hunt them down, they would spend too much resources and time¡ªwhich they didn''t have with the mob and the war. If they decided to give up, then good for them. Either way, there was no loss hiding at this time. They only had to hide¡­ for several hours, which was just enough for a good rest. "Fourteen hours of sleeplessness¡­" Jona giggled as she laid down with the others. It was a little cramped, but otherwise comfortable enough considering they were underground. "The elders are geniuses for choosing this time to declare war," Leon said. After all, this meant that the enemies would not have a few hours of rest! "Hmn, the elders are very reliable, indeed." The accepted knowledge about the territory decisions was that the elders made the decisions together. Some even assumed that there was a special panel for them to communicate and make decisions¡ªsomething that the elders neither confirmed nor denied¡ªadding another haze to the profession. Anyway, unlike the people of Fargo above ground, the soldiers (and Jona) were all sleeping very well underground. ¡­ While the Alterans were hiding away safely in enemy territory, the aforementioned enemy territory was fighting off the mobs. It had somehow even gotten bigger (because someone from Altera threw a spray bomb with the potion on a small mob, attracting an even bigger mob). It had to be said: It was easier to attract the devil than to shoo them away. The Beast Attracting Potion could only attract level 10s and below¡ªbut it so happened they were villages, and these were the monsters predominant around them. To think such a good thing had a very special, but accessible, ingredient! This was a secret ingredient only Gochi could provide but fortunately provided in pints. They just had to supply him with loads of juice. Either way, right now, it''s causing Fargo a lot of trouble. And a little chaos¡­ goes a long way. Chapter 527 - 527: War Begins (Part 1) Altera. The next morning. In contrast to the people of Fargo''s decided lack of sleep, the citizens of Altera were full of energy. They were woken up early by a gentle bell and everyone assumed that there was a beast tide coming and it was big enough to alert everyone. However, while they were easing awake, a new announcement sounded in their heads. [Altera Village will be attacking Fargo Village in 6 hours. Please prepare well for an important battle!] The citizens: !!!! So, at this time¡ªa little over five hours later¡ªthe territory was bustling with activity, a mix of tension and excitement abound. After a good night''s rest and ample time to prepare, the attacking party was prepared in terms of tools, equipment, and overall energy. Other than the announcement, the contribution points were also announced, enticing more people to join in. In fact, Alterans lived a good enough life to willingly join a war with a smile, even if there was a bit of apprehension. The need to contribute, get contribution points, or explore ''another realm'' were all very common reasons for those who decided to join. Of course, the level requirement was that they could not be lower than level 6 and must have full equipment and with a ready amount of potions, weapons, and secondary weapons as well. They would also be paying for their own ''fare'' in the teleportation array. This one, no one minded at all. Everyone wanted to try being teleported at least a few times! Who didn''t dream of experiencing that kind of magic before? They were also asked to vow not to betray Altera before they were allowed to join in. Of course, with all these conditions, the contribution points were naturally not low either. At the least, just joining would earn 500 contribution points, reaching the requirement of breaching the main territory would give another 1500. Further, the territory sent ''prizes'' towards relevant enemies, with a party sharing the points if they worked together for the kill. Fargo himself could take a whooping 10,000 contribution points by virtue of the high risks. The aborigines with high levels would get 8000 contribution points, while Fargo''s Terran men would get 2000-5000 points depending on level. Altera also tried its best to prepare not only its guards, but also its citizens. For instance, there was a major sale for equipment, weapons, healing potions, and the like for those who registered to join in. Team leads were also given vials of Beast Repelling Potions, aether letters, and the like. During the past few days, Althea had also managed to hire 3 aborigines. One was a weaponsmith named Kia, who was immediately sent to Brenda and Troy after she signed her conditional bond to Altera. The two were guards, though not elementalists. They came by the name of Tanod and Tambai, a level 13 swordsman and a level 14 spearman, respectively. They were hired a day apart, but interestingly they knew each other. And then there were new-minted guards from their first aborigine group¡ªthe former Mauin Villagers. It was led by a man named Mauru, who was already the peak of Level 13. Compared to the others, they had a lot more experience in wars. They were also the most serious ones. After all, they had nothing when they got here. Getting those contribution points would elevate their and their families'' lives! Finally, the Elders also highlighted the dangers of going, as well as the advantages of doing so. That was to say, while there would be risks, not going was an almost guaranteed way to be left behind in terms of strength and resources. Anyway, the hundreds of people gathered in the plaza, waiting for the fateful announcement with mixed emotions. [The war between Altera Village (Lv3) and Fargo Village (Lv3) has begun! Teleportation array activated and will close on 27:59:59] The bell rang and there was silence for a while as they determined the location of the array. Soon, a battlement guard shouted, "The array is here!" It appeared not too far from the eastern gate. At his announcement, many people¡ª-even those not joining the war¡ªscuttled outside to see the magic sight. And it was indeed a magical sight. Even Althea''s eyes sparkled as she looked at it. The entire array was a giant, more complex, version of the one in the village center. It was around 50 meters in diameter, moving slowly in a clockwise direction. More magically, instead of chalk-like marks, the lines were composed of millions of luminescent powder similar to what their holographic screens were made of. Althea looked at the array in front of her, her emerald eyes tracing over it, trying to imprint it into memory. "Would they be able to determine where the teleportation array would appear?" She asked Brenda, one of the people who would be staying in the territory. If so, would they be able to prepare for their arrival? The thought of teleporting only to be met with a rain of arrows irked her very much. This made Brenda blink, the thought never occurring to her at all. "Not to my knowledge, no." Althea looked on in thought, studying the patterns, the similarities, and the energy flow in whatever capability she had. There was definitely a pattern they could predict here, somewhere. If there was a way to calculate¡ª It was just that, even if it was possible, it would be hard to do by herself. She should really form a Mathematician Team. And maybe get a computer as well¡ª "Miss Althea?" "Oh, yes¡­" Althea mumbled, pushing this curiosity to the back of her mind. She had a war to finish, first! Anyway, the group surrounded the array, waiting for the leaders to enter as instructed. Althea moved forward along with Luis and the others, her emerald eyes observing the people preparing to go to war. Those beyond the level cap weren''t allowed to enter the array, so the high-level people participating¡ªincluding Oslo¡ªhad already left. So on this side of the array, Althea and Luis¡ªalong with Gochi and the new guard aborigines¡ªled the teams as they were the strongest there. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were hundreds of them going, around a quarter of the total population of Altera. "This should be enough," Brenda and Betty nodded. In wars, there was naturally a minimum amount of forces that went through¡ªotherwise, what if it was only a small group of individuals highly skilled in stealth? Would the war be over once they got inside the main walls? Of course not. The requirement was not extremely clear, but the ballpark was the amount that would trigger an automatic war in the first place. Her emerald eyes shifted to the rest of the attackers, specifically the non-Alterans. A lot of these people were from Bright, and understandably so. They had a lot of people who were taken as slaves¡ªsome were friends and even family. However, even those who didn''t have relatives also joined in for the sake of vengeance. Micheal and Juno were even given a team, assigned with their own tasks. She looked back at her own people seeing her off. There was her team, including Winona, and then¡ªof course¡ªher children who were in their strollers. Their eyes were red and their noses were leaking snot and she sighed, walking towards them. She leaned down to give their soft faces a long smooch. "I''ll be back, my babies," she said, giving them a few more kisses for good measure. "Mwamhmmm¡­" "Gogghmmmm¡­" Their eyes were rounded and lined with tears, breaking her heart. She immediately turned back at the sight, however, refusing to turn back again at her babies'' mumblings and sobs. If she did, it was estimated she''d take a long time to go¡ªwhich would be dangerous for the entire territory. She looked at Luis who was the main lead beside her and nodded, heading towards the ethereal pattern floating on the ground. "Let''s go!" Chapter 528 - 528: War Begins (Part 2) While Altera was heading to war, Team B was also on their way back home, with a lot of guests. These people were visitors from Ferrol who had grown so attached to their products that they pushed to come with them to visit. In consideration of their guests, the team had taken a rest in Bright Village for a while. They noticed some differences, but they were too looking forward to going back home that they didn''t stay for long. However, the differences were so stark it was impossible for them to miss even if they didn''t bother to investigate at all. For one: The new leader was Gingo¡ªsomeone they recognized as Micheal''s right-hand man¡ªand his woman, Sandra, who didn''t lack the ''subtle'' reminders of who was the highest ranking female there. For instance, when greeting them, Sandra would introduce herself as the Lady of Bright Territory. She would also have plenty of followers, and even more admirers. At this time, she was seeing them off with her followers. She looked quite proud, with her chin tilted high. "Are you sure you''re not staying? We can give you a tour¡­" she asked, gentle, looking at the strong aborigines. Her eyes especially fixed on Jonathan¡ªa handsome middle-aged man¡ªand, more importantly, the lord of a big Town. Unfortunately for her, Jonathan didn''t swing her way, so her subtle flirtations had been ignored the whole time. She was also particularly gentle with the handsome Hugo, who rubbed his temple at her advances. "No, thank you, we will go back to Altera," Hugo said, before turning away. This made Sandra flinch a little, giving him a bad look. Helios looked at the subtle changes on the woman''s face, and decided to soften the atmosphere. "We wanna go home to finally be comfortable, after all." "A-Ah, yes." Helios nodded and he followed the rest of them to Altera. The Town Lord''s party then hopped on their respective carriages, to the awe of many people. They were large and fast. Not to mention, how amazing it was to ride monsters! There were a lot of greedy eyes towards these carriages, but no one made a move. Who told Jonathan''s party to have an average of level 30! Sandra stared at their disappearing silhouettes. Externally, nothing changed, but internally she was cursing. They dared look down at her territory. Just wait until your Altera was destroyed! ¡­ The soldiers chatted as they headed back home, the atmosphere a little tense. "Bright Territory seemed to have lost to Fargo village," Turbo said, and Jake looked dazed at this, recalling a cute childish face. "A lot of things happened in our absence," was all he said in the end, but everyone who knew him understood he was uneasy. The party continued to move forward, with the soldiers and Ferrol guards easily dealing with the mobs. Some of the guards sighed wistfully, "How I miss having to just deal with this level¡­" "Yeah, but they don''t even give us anything." "That''s true." The soldiers nodded at this. It had indeed become difficult to level up around villages, especially considering it was more difficult to level up after level 10. After some time, they reached the intersection where they decided to eat their lunch. The aborigines couldn''t help but look around while the Alterans prepared food for themselves and the guests. "This is made by Altera for the convenience of travelers," Hugo said, handing over a stick to the lord and his noble guests. The guards just took some for themselves after. "Very thoughtful," Jonathan said, eyes brightening as the warm meat touched his taste buds. "This is the kind of territory I want to partner with," he said, kindly looking at the Alterans (a demeanor very rare in lords). "Do you think Altera would be willing to be a subsidiary for Ferrol? We will provide a good backing for its growth." "That''s¡­" The Alterans awkwardly looked at each other, as if they could see the proper reply on other people''s faces. Could they say they wouldn''t take too long to upgrade to town? Baron cleared his throat, squeezing between them. "That''s for the elders to decide milord. What we can decide¡­ is a business deal between us." This softened the slight offense Jonathan''s party felt when they saw the Alteran''s dislike for the offer. Baron knew this and he passionately said more about their products. "Most of our products are too big to fit in space, but they''re amazing." They knew they lost the monopoly of the Ferrol market but it didn''t matter, especially if they got Ferroll as a backing. "Our people even figured out ways to make simple mechanized games!" Jonathan and the others didn''t know what he was talking about, but they listened, feeling it would be interesting to see in real life. "The Lord Jonathan appeared personally, I''m sure the other businesses would give you great deals." Jonathan smiled, "I hope so, too." The atmosphere was soft and full of anticipation by the time Baron was done with his sales talk. The aborigines also had plenty of questions as they continued their way to Altera. They soon arrived at the Southwest gate, entering, and the aborigines looked up the tall wall and wondered whether the so-called Altera Village had already upgraded to town. [Welcome to Altera Village (Lv3)!] S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Then they looked again at a level 5 wall usually only found in towns. Then they proceeded on going to the so-called Beast Inn where their cars were deposited and their drivers were checked in. This was a novel concept and it made sense, especially for a small village which could not risk a beast going wild at all. Then they entered deeper into the territory, looking at the beautiful wide avenues abutted by interesting buildings with the same theme. The amount of capital and planning that went into this territory was¡­ definitely not normal. More and more, Jonathan was liking this territory even more. While the aborigines admired the sights, several people saw their arrival, several people running to them for greeting. "You''re back!" "Welcome back!" "How''s the trip? Are you rich? Are you going to treat me?" Various questions exploded among the Alterans, with the aborigines a little taken aback and a bit interested in what they were talking about. From here, they could tell that this territory often sent out civilians for trade, and many people had gotten rich through it. However, before more questions could be asked, the bell rang all of a sudden. The returnees looked at each other before turning back to the others. Turbo asked, a bit worried. "What''s with the ringing?" "The bell rings every half-hour during wars!" He said, "Though the number of bells would tell how long it had been going on." "War?!" "Excuse me?! You didn''t think of opening with that?" But then they looked around and everything seemed peaceful. Not to mention, when they arrived here they only encountered small mobs. The newly arrived Alterans were very confused. Jonathan, who was watching everything with interest, was surprised by their cluelessness. "That''s because you''re the attacking territory." Turbo and the others turned their heads to him simultaneously, making Jonathan drop a sweat. "Altera¡­ actually attacked?" "That''s¡­ oddly cool." "Shall we join in?" In contrast to the other''s interest, Jake''s eyebrows were furrowed. "What territory did they attack?" he asked the nearest person¡ªwho happened to be Dennis¡ªand the man flinched when he turned pale at his answer. "The territory we attacked is called Fargo¡ªAh, there he goes¡­" His eyebrows furrowed and he looked at Turbo. "???" The soldiers didn''t answer. They simply looked at Jake with complex faces, a bit worried for him. He had already sprinted to the gates at this time, no doubt heading straight to Fargo. As he ran, his heart couldn''t help but beat excessively loudly. Fargo was a territory that didn''t care about the lives of its people. He had deferred checking on her because one, they technically had no relations with each other and, second, he knew she blended very well there. He believed that she would keep herself safe, but it would be very different during wars. Fargo would definitely be able to sacrifice whatever life he could use in order to get what he wanted. During wars, this meant a lot of lives sacrificed! Sure, they didn''t know each other well enough for him to be so fond of her¡ªto go all the way there just to pick her up. But¡­ infinite regret doused over him at this moment, a single thought running through his head: Yiyi, be alright! Chapter 529 - 529: Nowhere in Sight (Part 1) Fargo Village In the outer wall gates, all the guards were on high alert, pointing at the ground and ready for whoever attacked. Well, however ready they could be considering how tired they were. They had only managed to deal with the mobs a few hours prior, and then had to prepare for the war afterward. Excluding the forces that fell and hunted down before the wars, Fargo still had over a thousand guards along with the scores of Rongo mercenary team members remaining in the territory. It wasn''t that Fargo didn''t want to require the citizens to fight for him, but Belize said it could make them betray and help Altera instead. After all, becoming a citizen didn''t guarantee loyalty at all¡ªthey would know that by heart. Historically, it had happened plenty of times. So most territories just made the guards fight, as asking everyone to make specific oaths was too expensive. It was why slaves were so important during wars. For attackers, they would become meatshields that could die and not affect the ''numbers'' needed to win, and for defenders, they were unconditional blockages to enemies. However, among this large number of guards, there was only about a few hundred of the Terran guards who were truly experienced in battles like Fargo''s men. The others applied to get the salaries needed, most of whom spent their tenure enjoying the taste of power¡ªsome even abusing their own people. These guards weren''t very efficient either because they were so used to Victor and his team''s clearing of the mobs the past couple of weeks. There was definitely a huge adjustment phase for everyone. During the first part of the mobs, they even lost a few people. It wasn''t even a super mob! But, because they were spread thin and didn''t have much training, a lot of the outlying monsters from the mob still managed to do a lot of damage to their forces. They also lost a lot of slaves during that time. After all, they needed some bait in order to keep the lives of the guards. Anyway, at this time, the majority of the guards were spread around the exterior and interior walls of the territory, guarding the battlements. The area that had to be guarded closely was the inner wall, so most of the remaining forces stayed there. It was also much more cost-efficient to guard a small place. The inner walls occupied the land where Fargo stood back when it was still level 1. That was to say, it was only 1 kilometer radius with an area of 3 square kilometers. On the other hand, the outer wall was erected when they upgraded to a level 3 village. While Fargo didn''t bother covering the entire territory¡ªit was too expensive, also he didn''t care enough as long as he was comfortable in the inner circle¡ªhe still did cover almost 20 square kilometers of area using the sentryless level 2 wall. The difference in area between these two circles was not small, but the guards left on the outer walls were half of the total, so they were spread thin. The outer walls still had to be guarded of course. After all, they needed to be aware of the forces that entered as soon as they could. But they were spread very very thin, and it was inevitable that they would become tired much more easily. Since the declaration, they had been ordered to keep guarding early, even well before the war started, in case some people within the level limit managed to sneak in. Now the war had started, with no one attacking, and they had to still keep guarding¡ªtheir focus as high as they could be for hours on end. It was just that¡­ the war had already started half an hour prior and the Alterans were still nowhere in sight. They waited in tension the whole time, but there was no one suspicious in the outer walls at all. Did people declare war and disappear? Did that mean they would win half a territory''s asset without trying? It had to be said: The Fargo guards'' wishful thinking was top-tier, probably because they were so sleepy they were dreaming half-awake. They had no idea¡­ that there were actually Alterans already within the walls, ready to cause chaos at a moment''s notice. ¡­ Uzon walked around with an assistant, making sure the battlement was well guarded. The outer wall was a sentry-less level 2 wall. Even the battlement shouldn''t be called such because it could only allow one person to stand at a time. Fortunately, there was a little alley next to the walls he could use to peruse. No one dared to build squatters in these spots because it was so near where the guards would be walking. He looked up, checking if all the guards were in position. The outer wall occupied a good portion of the territory with approximately 15 kilometer perimeter which would take hours to jog around. However, Uzon had no choice but to run and do a quick checkup as ordered. Annoyingly, there was a section where the people seemed groggy and there was someone even outright sleeping. He cursed, taking out a gun, and hitting the man at the shoulder. The man yelled and immediately fell down the narrow wall. They fell off head first, definitely fully awake. "What¡­!" The man cursed and gasped when he saw who shot him. The other members of his ''team'' paled, looking down. "B-B-Boss Uzon!" Uzon looked dark. If they didn''t need as many people as they could get, he would''ve killed this trash as soon as he saw him sleeping. "How long have you been asleep?!" "W-We just fell asleep, sir!" No one had gotten sleep yet, and they were very antsy in tension and anger. They couldn''t wait to slash and stab those Alterans!! Uzon''s jaw clenched and he looked at his assistant. "Go and tell the guards to do a blanket search of this side, just in case. Capture any suspicious characters!" "Yes sir!" The forces on the battlement thinned even more to do the carpet search of the large area. It was already quite nice of them to even place guards there as they used to barely guard the outer wall¡ªthey had Victor and the others do that for them. But they were gone and they couldn''t set aside resources to look for them right now. Uzon narrowed his eyes and looked at the houses. People didn''t dare go out at this time. The houses were dense so it wasn''t easy to see things from above, but from ground level it should be easier to see suspicious movements. Uzon joined the search, looking at random houses, and asking if they saw anyone. They immediately shook their heads, swearing that no suspicious activity happened all around them. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He went and ran to the clinic to check on the doctors, who were shivering in their respective corners, and he also went again to check Victor''s base, in case they came back, though it was still as empty as before. However, at some point, on clear skies above their heads, smoke started to rise from various areas of the outer walls¡ªspecifically the west and southern areas. "FIRE!!" He could hear, "FIRE!" from these directions. Uzon frowned, about to bellow out an order to handle it. However, before he could do so¡ª BOOM! A muted sound of explosion sounded and he looked around to see where it came from, realizing it was from behind the inner walls. His guards also noticed the same thing and paled. "It came from the inner walls!" Uzon''s eyes darkened as he gritted his teeth. "Are they already inside?!" Chapter 530 - 530: Nowhere in Sight (Part 2) The people coming from Altera had, in fact, not yet traversed the level 3 inner walls at this time. However, it didn''t mean that a couple of allies were unable to. At this time, the houses of the main members had caught fire, especially those with a lot of wood. In the interior walls, some fires burned brighter than others. One of the gangsters managed to get out, with some of his teammates putting out the fire. "There''s someone throwing fire inside the houses!" He yelled. "Damn! How do the fires spread so quickly?!" Weren''t system buildings supposed to be more durable? They weren''t even done speaking when an area of another house burst into flames. Worse, when they tried using water it to calm the fire down, it spread instead! Sen, the man in charge of the team guarding the interior wall, paled at the realization. "Oil! They''re using oil!!!" They knew that system buildings were much sturdier than the Terran wood houses, but the fact that these people still managed to burn them meant they were using some very good oil and strong fire. He looked around like his guards, but there were no traces of the arsonists at all! "Where are they?!" ¡­ In another part, Ken and Benny¡ªsome of Victor''s men¡ªpoured some oil around the houses. The houses in Fargo were relatively dense, even in the interior walls. There were plenty of alleys, cartons, and the like to hide in. The civilians here were also so scared of joining the war that they just hid in their homes, missing the chance to ''contribute'' to their Lord Fargo. nyway, as people who could afford to live in the inner walls, they had some sort of entitlement. Those people outside could handle it! They would muse, and proceed on hiding and minding their own business, just hoping for the best. Of course, this was just a generalization and there were a few outliers. For instance, on the second floor of the target''s neighor, there was a young woman blankly looking at them. It made a couple of them flinch when they noticed, and they were expecting a scream to explode. Benny looked up to see a young woman with big eyebags staring down at them. Seeing as she was just watching, he felt a little hopeful. "Shh.." he said, and the woman simply sat back inside as if she didn''t see anything. It had to be said: If Fargo decided to summon every citizen outside, it might not have necessarily helped them out. At least in the interior walls, at this time, they could not only use the ensuing crowd and chaos to hide¡ªthey were all special forces soldiers with spy training¡ªbut the soldiers could even take it to advantage. What happened in the outer walls could be different, but they had their own mission and they trusted the Alterans already had plans in place. "How do they even have so much oil?" Benny asked, amazed, before proceeding on dousing a couple of things. "And it feels much stronger than we''re used to¡­" "Don''t underestimate Terran ingenuity," Ken shrugged, quite enjoying burning the place down. Of course, it wasn''t as easy as it would''ve been in Terran¡ªsystem buildings seem to be extra sturdy¡ªbut the non-custom buildings (which was only available for the top communities) were made of wood, and therefore weren''t immune to a lot of attacks. They wanted to burn whatever they could down. After so long, they naturally had an idea of how many women suffered in these houses. But they had to keep a low profile. It wasn''t even like before when they were against stronger aborigines, so they had no choice but to endure. Fortunately, not anymore! The team moved in small groups, using their stealth skills as soldiers to get past the hundred or so guards congregating in the area. They weren''t invisible though, so it was inevitable some of their movements would be found. For instance, at a narrow street, a small group of guards finally saw them. "Y¡ª" Whoosh! He fell down, paralyzed. Whoosh! Whoosh! One by one, the guards¡ªsome of whom were aborigines¡ªfell down and Benny couldn''t help but gape at his weapon in his hand. "Amazing!" This was a tranquilizer gun that could take down a level 6 monster! Of course, it would be effective to humans which much smaller body weight and metabolism¡ªeven if they had much higher levels! "They fell at different times. I wonder how fast it would usually be¡­" Benny mumbled, envious. He didn''t have to wait too long for his answer, because new groups of guards had arrived to test the tranq gun on! ¡­ On another side of the interior walls, Drake saw that most of the guards had headed to where the smoke was, leaving this area a lot less guarded. "Let''s go." Drake signaled to his team, which also had the proper ''chaos-making tools'' at hand. They ended up in an exclusive-looking area with a level 2 gate and custom houses inside. They knew that this was the complex gifted to the mercenary team by Amon to keep them here. "We''re here, in Rongo." "Has Juni moved everyone?" He asked and from their tiny corner Amos took out the large glittery parchment paper. To be honest this tool was really large. For people who were used to the convenience of phones, this was really hard to use. There wasn''t even a password function. So the messages were always normal talk. However, they did have some internal code in case they would be intercepted somehow or, worse, the letters being stolen from one of them. For example, Amos asked, /We miss you. Still there?/ There was no answer for about a minute. It was quite tense for everyone, and they couldn''t help but feel worry for Juni. It was only until the text finally started fading in the large parchment. /No. At the side, playing with the kids./ /Be careful of the fireworks on the right side of the gate. They''re quite dangerous. Fortunately, the houses are customized to handle strong attacks./ /Oh no, I think I left a window open. Can you close it for me?/ Amos checked the aether letter again, nodding. "It''s okay now," he said, pointing at the eastern side of the property. "The weapons are over there." They didn''t underestimate the strength of a customized building¡ªone that could handle the conditions of this world¡ªand only targetted the so-called openings. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Big windows wasn''t a common design here so the target was incredibly small from where they were. Fortunately, Drake was a soldier with exemplary accuracy. This naturally meant that it was not a problem to throw a bomb through a window. Clink, Clank, the special bomb made by Althea went over the head of the guards, entering that small opening Juni managed to make¡ªwhich had almost cost her her life by the way. Clank! A few seconds later¡ª BANG! The bomb exploded and the loud sound and the subsequent force ripped through the air. The men nearby¡ªthe guards¡ªlost their footing and found themselves on the floor. The force destroyed the windows, with the roof partially damaged. However, most of the building itself was mostly okay, which was something the Alterans ought to report for future reference. The Fargo guards soon came to consciousness and coughed as they turned back, trying to make sense of what was happening. When they saw how the fenestrations were smoking and how the roof was on the verge of collapse, they immediately paled. "Oi!" They yelled, approaching the building. The smoke hadn''t settled yet but they could see the rubbles and the remnants of their weapons. "DAMN IT!" They couldn''t even mourn when another ball reached them. They stared at the ball, not knowing what it was¡ª BANG! Outside, Amos, Drake, and the others watched in satisfaction as the roofing finally collapsed, taking the guards'' lives in the process. "So two bombs inside to get the roof and windows, though the structure itself seems okay," Drake said, mentally taking note. Anyway, the subsequent noises naturally caught attention of various guards¡ªbut how many could they be. After all, their forces were spread thin and were distracted by the various fires, let alone due to the fact that they were in the middle of a war! Drake nodded at the others, immediately scurrying to hide somewhere with satisfied smiles on their faces. The Bosses asked them to cause chaos, and chaos they shall create! Chapter 531 - 531: Fargo-Altera War (Part 1) Uzon immediately bellowed out orders for the guards in the outer circle. Those assigned in the southern areas would look at the fires nearby, and those in the western areas would do the same. But on second thought¡ª "NO. Those in the walls will remain there! Only the guards assigned on rounds will go!" What if it was only a distraction? So, in the end, the few hundred guards immediately mobilized. Uzon ran to where the larger fire was, and he looked back to when they saw smoke in the interior walls as well, closely followed by a small explosion. "Damn it!" ¡­ Fargo looked at the black smokes floating from several areas in his territory. Most of them could be seen from his window. They were all in different areas. It was fine if it was in the outer area, but it was happening even in the interior circle of the territory. He liked chaos, but not in his own backyard. However, he was the type not to fret no matter what. He stood coolly and looking at the guards passing by his street, his mind went to analyze. Altera, according to that Sandra, was said to be the base of strong Terrans. Judging by the descriptions, he was fairly sure she was referring to Garan. They were strong, all elementalists, and overall a threat even if Altera was weaker than they were. When he found out about this, he had indeed been planning on attacking after weakening them a bit. He already planned some action with Belize, a level 30, to especially target the soldiers. It was just that they moved too quickly¡ªattacking within a few days after he got Bright. However, regardless, he still did not fret. At the very least, he knew there were only a handful of soldiers, while he had dozens of level 20s and above. In terms of forces, he believed he was still far superior to them. So, Fargo wondered, attacking them¡ªwere the Alterans brave or just stupid? However, it was a fact that they had taken down a lot of his forces outside the territory. He also assumed that they were also the ones responsible for taking over the mines, so they at least had some plan in facing him. But¡­ losing those people didn''t mean that he lost. Winning a war on the defense side was many times easier than being the attacker. He just had to defend the territory well¡ªin particular, only the inner walls¡ªkeeping more than half of the attackers outside until the war was over. Garan and the others were useless in the in-territory battle, and he was planning to maximize that. Speaking of, why haven''t there been traces of the enemies trying to get inside? Did the Alteran forces get lost after being teleported? Did they just plan to depend on the few people attempting to cause them trouble with a few fires? No, that''s not possible. Whatever happened, he was ready. Even if the outer walls had less dense guards due to its massiveness¡ªit was the inner circle that mattered the most. There were hundreds of guards settled around the inner walls alone, this wasn''t including those who were making rounds. Most of them were equipped with guns to handle any trespassers, and so far there had been no reports. As for the people causing chaos inside, there shouldn''t be too many. Though it''d take time, the guards he assigned should be able to handle them soon. It wasn''t that he hadn''t thought of making an announcement to everyone to hunt these people down. But he had thousands of people in the inner walls alone. Aside from Belize''s warning, there were plenty of other reasons why forcing them out would be useless. Not only did people not know everyone¡ªwhich could cause them to attack each other¡ªthe tresspassers could also blend in. With the threat of Alterans coming in, he simply could not use so many of his guards to fix the trouble that will happen after. As for the outer walls, it was too large to be able to do carpet searches. Instead, he decided to make use of the remaining slaves. [To All Slaves: Clear the outer walls of all enemies! Attack outsiders on sight, even if it will cost you your lives.] After making various orders, he sat down on his chair again, drinking the delicious tea he obtained (note: forcefully taken) from Juni. He should also make trouble to Vismont soon¡ªthis tea was very good. He relaxed a bit, his mind calmed. However, not even a few moments later, rushed footsteps came to him. "Milord!" the man yelled as if everyone he was talking to was deaf. "Our weapons have been compromised!" His eyes widened, rubbing his head at the headache that attacked his mind. "What?" ¡­ Fargo''s eyes turned red as he saw the weapons stockroom in the Rongo Mercenary Team area. Because only lords had access to warehouses, it was impractical to store most weapons there in case of emergencies. Worse? There was no sign of the perpetrators! What were the guards doing at this time? Sleeping, apparently. His eyes turned red as he looked at the long line of guards¡ªeven mercenaries¡ªwho were sleeping soundly. He kicked one repeatedly but he didn''t wake up, then he shifted to an aborigine, who groaned, rubbing his head of lethargy. He opened his eyes and flinched. "M-M-Milord!" Sen immediately grabbed his collar and lifted him up. The man''s eyes twitched as he looked around, then at the other guys on the ground, soon having an idea of what occurred. "What happened?" "I¡­ we were running after the people who destroyed the weapons. Some were familiar, some were not," he said, "And¡­ the next thing we knew, it was black and we lost consciousness." "They seem to have tranquilizer guns," Sen mumbled as he heard of their descriptions. Next to him, Eli nodded. He had studied the ruins closer and confirmed what caused the damage. "And bombs, milord!" They knew that place had bombs from what they got from Micheal, but because they only had one due to their spies'' failures to return, they couldn''t put them to use. However, when the war declaration happened, they had rush prepare some concave shields in an attempt to ''reflect'' such bombs. It was the reason why there were fewer slaves outside when they got attacked (they were busy rushing the production of a few shields), which was also a sort of luck. Further, if they were really bombs, they also knew making them should be a challenge and that Altera shouldn''t have too many. However, they now knew they still underestimated that place. But... could they be blamed? How long had it been? Three months? How could a territory create so much in a short amount of time? S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 532 - 532: Fargo-Altera War (Part 2) "Bombs! Altera seems to have a lot of it!" They looked at the damage and knew that it was a powerful enough bomb to cause real damage! Belize was also attracted by these weapons. Hopefully, when they win Altera, the lord would give him several. "Has anyone found the trespassers?" "Not yet milord, we''re looking for them!" The guards said, a little nervous. In fact, they¡­ didn''t have many leads. Not to mention the unconscious people, but even the guards who came later weren''t able to trace a single one of them. There were thousands of people inside the interior walls alone, how easy could they track those bastards? Not to mention, the people who lived in the area were so cowardly they didn''t dare look out their windows during the chaos. That meant they had no witnesses! But Sen knew he couldn''t say so many excuses if he wanted to keep a bullet out of his head. Hence, he simply excused himself to continue tracking the bombers. Fargo''s face remained impassive, but if one looked closer one could see the many veins. He turned to look at Eso, who was among the people in leading the battlement forces. "Hasn''t anyone seen their main forces?" "There''s no news from the outer wall, milord." Belize observed the interactions. "Milord, they hadn''t even gotten past the outer walls, how could they be a threat at this time?" At this, Fargo calmed a little. Indeed, even if they got past the outer wall¡ªwhich they hadn''t¡ªthey would still have to get past the inner walls first with its sentries and denser guards. Fargo''s eyes sharpened, his eyes on the damage they had done. Altera, I will get you! ¡­ Inside the interior wall, there was a group of guards walking parallel to a section of the interior walls. They were making rounds now, primarily looking for those bastards who burned down their weapons. It was all quite banal, but then at some point, they felt¡­ small things were falling down? An exclamation of pain sounded as he was hit with a small thing. He touched his bloodied nose and cursed. "What the heck, is this hail??" he yelled before extending his hand to capture one. "Wait, what¡ª" Not ice? Soil? Bang! Bang! More and more pebble fell down and they immediately scurried about to avoid getting hit too much. They covered their heads with their hands, only looking up when they finally got some cover. They blinked. It was raining¡­ rocks?! . . . Wait. "It''s really raining rocks?!" At his exclamation, everyone looked up, and they immediately gaped in shock. A gorgeous woman was falling down on them along with a few pebbles. One was so mesmerized that he was hit straight at the face by a pebble and he didn''t feel it¡ªhe just felt the nosebleed from a broken nose. Before the woman fell to the ground though, a figure dived much faster, easily catching her. But it wasn''t just an ordinary tall man¡ªhe had¡­. Animal ears and a tail? "What the f¡­" She got off gracefully and stood aside, easily shielded from falling pebbles by her human-animal guard. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She then ran towards their direction and for a moment they thought she''d attack, but instead, she waved her hand, creating tall spires of earth plateaus. With another wave, she then created a slide. The men gaped. It was an earth elementalist! And a proficient one! The next thing they knew person after person landed there, easily sliding down, and soon dozens of people had entered the inner walls!! "What are they doing!!" The guards finally caught themselves and went to attack, those with guns even raising it to the beautiful woman. However, before they could pull the trigger, a mass appeared in front of them¡ªthe half-orc¡ªand he raised his claws and beheaded two people in one move. "GYAHHHH!" The remaining team members shifted their guns to him, pulling the trigger repeatedly. But the half-orc, like high-level beasts, were almost immune to Terran guns. He easily received a few bullets before taking the rest of them. Before their vision went black, the last thing they saw was more and more enemies filing in, entering from the sky, and using the earth platforms to safely land on the ground. ¡­ During this time, the gunshots naturally alarmed the nearby guards and they went to their area in droves. Hundreds of guards filed in, some from the battlement and some from the interiors. Those from the battlement naturally blocked the way in, but the Alterans weren''t weak at all. Not to mention, the battlement of a level 3 wall wasn''t wide¡ªless than a meter wide¡ªand this meant pushing a few guards strong enough would mean pushing a few others. There were two strongmen who guarded the enemies. One man who could control hard stones and the other one could control fires. The fire was not just the embers they were used to, but this guy was basically throwing mini-flamethrowers. These were Reno and Luis, respectively. "AHHHH!" Victim #69 yelled as he avoided the flame and ended up falling down the wall along with many others. Hopefully, they fell with broken necks, though it was unlikely considering their new physiques and the fact that the wall was actually just a little over 3 meters tall. Despite this, enough trouble was caused. Using this delay, more and more people managed to enter through the inner walls. From dozens, to scores, to a hundred or so. For the Fargo guards on the ground, they gathered and looked around for the enemies. Due to the arrangement and heights of the houses, it wasn''t straightforward to see where the enemies were entering unless one was in a nearby street. How they zoned in on the location was primarily due to the ''traces'' of battlement guards falling down the wall. They simply ran to the edge and follow where the battlement guards were heading forward. "AHHH!!" "GYAHHH!" This meant they not only had to avoid falling teammates but also deal with the enemies that had managed to enter and separate, intent on causing chaos to the home base! But very soon, the Fargo guards would realize: What''s the use of finding the enemies when they couldn''t find a way to deal with them? Chapter 533 - 533: Helpless? [Announcement: Citizens who could kill the enemies would receive 1 to 100 silver per kill depending on their level of difficulty. Applicable to citizens and guards.] This announcement naturally excited a lot of people, especially the guards. Before, there was no such thing¡ªwho would want to risk their necks? But now that there was an extra reward, they would naturally be more determined to make the kills. However, while Fargo had the numbers going for them, there were still plenty of other factors that would cause them trouble. One was the haphazard planning and dense buildings. While it was still better planned than most, the streets were still quite narrow. Even if there were plenty of forces, what was the use if it would have a few clogs here and there? Another was that they (Fargo guards) were uncoordinated and did not expect the enemies to enter this way. They had been prepared to guard from the battlements, but they didn''t think the fight would be brought inside so early on. There was no organization, unlike the Alterans who moved in groups and seemed to have a ready formation. This showed the stark contrast to their own haphazard arrangements! Unlike the Fargo teams who just aimed to find and attack, ideally killed, the Alterans moved cohesively even if they were broken down into smaller teams. The teamwork was superb, with people having a clear role or two, and it was obvious that they had battled together at least a few times. For instance, there was a team of 15, led by sheildsmen with large metallic shields. They would be followed by spearmen and swordsmen who would stab enemies that went near, occasionally pulling them into the group to gang up on them. They would also be supported by archers and elementalists who caused long-range damage from behind. The Fargo citizens and guards were very shocked to see that the newcomers were not only strong, but so many of them could actually use elements! In one area, one would see earth stones thrown around, in another, you''d see fireballs. Then there would be people pushing them back without touching them¡ªwhich was definitely a wind skill. "So many elementalist!? HOW!?" "And why do they already know so many skills?!" "This isn''t normal!" The guards were shocked. They already thought they were spearheading this development among Terrans¡ªwith their bosses awakening and about a dozen others in the threshold¡ªbut they thought too much! Anyway, that was beside the point and hundreds of guards that filed in naturally went after the enemies. They formed small teams to deal with the trespassers, entering the narrow roads. This was quite inconvenient when hundreds of guards filed in from different directions. "There!" One of the new arrivals yelled, pointing at a group of people who were taking down a hapless guard still shocked by their appearance. To be more accurate, he was running away from the gruesomeness Gochi created, only to fall into a trap himself. The Fargo guards shivered as they watched as they stabbed the man on the stomach and another hit with his shield. Of course, the team captains were mostly high-ranking members of the Fargo empire back in Terran. They were level-headed enough to calm down and think of the next step to counterattack. The captain immediately took out his gun, pointing at them. Without hesitation, he pressed the trigger repeatedly. BANG! BANG! BANG! But the metallic shield appeared between them. Clank! Clank! The shield blocked the bullets, and the Alterans flinched at the sound, immediately filing out to another street. The Fargo guards frowned. "They''re escaping!" "Don''t let them!!" The captain yelled, and it so happened that there was another enemy team¡ªin another perpendicular street¡ªand he decided to point at them as well. He tried targeting the people as far from the shield as possible. BANG! BANG! Clank! Clank! The sheildsman here had good reflexes and managed to cover for his team, protecting them as they went to another direction. His eyes twitched. At the very least, he knew the wooden Class E shields were still weak against Terran guns! This meant that their shields were of a higher class! The other team members gaped both in annoyance and envy. "Do they all have Level D weapons and shields?!" "That''s not the problem right now!" The captain yelled. "They''re escaping, damnit!" "But which team do we follow?" "BOTH OF THEM!" Their team was large and comprised of a hundred people. The captain divided them into two to follow the two directions the enemies took as soon as possible. One of the streets was going East, and the other was somewhere Southwest. The Captain saw the one heading east had more number and decided to follow that. "Don''t let them find places to hide in!" he yelled and the guards ran to the streets to find the targets. They were a little panicked and hurried as they followed. Most of them were not really fighters and a lot of the true forces had been killed already. Overall, it could be said that hundreds of these Fargo guards weren''t ready to handle a strong enemy like Altera at all. All this time, they relied on the high-level people, on the huge amounts of guns they supposedly had, and they could also count on Victor''s team to clean up the mobs. Now, all of those had been compromised¡ªit was natural they had a lot of adjustments to do! Eventually though, the team southwest caught sight of the enemy tail, increasing their pace. However, at some point, they moved too quickly, causing the street to be blocked. "AHHH!" "Don''t block my way!" Some people accidentally elbowed the others, and some accidentally stepping on people''s feet. They naturally weren''t stupid enough to be held back by this, but this few seconds of pause was enough for the Alterans to do some major damage. Then one of the guards saw a thin earthenware bottle coming at them. "What is that?" Then the next thing they knew an arrow filled with fire hit the bottle, causing it to explode. BOOM! "AHHH!" They yelled as a small explosion caused widespread damage to the ones in the alley. The damage was exacerbated by the fact they were so dense and those who took direct hits were twitching, as good as dead. "What happened?" The captain asked as he looked in the direction of the sound. Everyone else stared as well with furrowed eyebrows, but they didn''t have the time to care for them as they soon caught up with the enemies. The captain¡ªas one of the few people who were allocated guns now that most of them were burned down¡ªimmediately pointed at the targets as his teammates lunged after them. Sadly for him, the Alterans had shifted streets. Not only did his bullets just hit the walls of the buildings, he hit plenty from his own team instead. He yelled for them to suck up the pain and run after the enemies. "Don''t you want your money?" he asked and soon his group moved forward turning into a dead end¡ª ¡ªonly to realize the enemy had been waiting for them! The next thing they knew a lot of people had been pulled in, immediately followed by stabbing sounds and screams. When they left, they would leave either corpses or half-dead people on the floor. The Fargo guards were in a rush to hunt though and had no time to deal with the injured, some even running over them. Anyway, it was complete and utter chaos. Similar sights occurred in various streets against different teams. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At some point, those with little observation skills would realize the stark differences between the two sides. Was it normal to be this helpless inside their own territory!? Chapter 534 - 534: Entering the Inner Circle Before the war declaration, Oslo created a stable stair over the outer wall. They chose an area that wasn''t particularly guarded due to the terrain, with them thinking it''d be difficult to climb. It was like the enemy totally did not consider the enemy could have high-level earth elementalist in their midst. Of course, they couldn''t be blamed too much for this. The outer wall was too wide and it was impossible to assign a human guard every few meters. The coverage of the outer wall of a typical level 3 village would be tens of kilometers long. This area definitely wouldn''t be a problem if they were battling other villages, but who told them to go against Altera. Further, the guards were already reduced in numbers thanks to the Alteran''s hunting outside. These people were tired due to the mobs and were already spread thin, it was inevitable for them to find loopholes. In such conditions, any lord would focus on guarding the inner wall instead and place most of the guards there. In any case, Oslo''s level was relatively high. He had built and used his ability a lot during his stay in Altera. The staircase along the steep mountains was pretty simple to him. Upon reaching the outer wall, building higher than the wall height was even easier. After all, the outer wall was only level 2¡ªwhich meant it was only two meters tall. That was not even one-story high, considering Fargo chose a residential unit with two floors. The stair Oslo made was a slightly arched shape, ending less than a meter from the wall edge because they weren''t allowed to build on the walls themselves. Other than the fact that walls could not be manually or elementally built upon or modified, another feature of system walls¡ªand buildings, for that matter¡ªwas that they were unscalable and could not be dug underneath. It was why back in the Guia war, even goblins would use their digging skills just to avoid head-on battles outside the walls, but would still have to attack it head-on in the end. One option to get through a system wall was to destroy it by brute force which would not only take a while¡ªeven if the outer wall was only level 2¡ªbut it would also capture the enemy attention too quickly because of the noise. The option was to go over it¡ªwhich was what they opted to do in the end. They quietly entered this wall as soon as the war started, with Althea adding sleeping formula in the area to minimize the chaos. She had dedicated farms for the raw materials of this medicine, so her space had tons of it. They entered as fast as they could so that even if Fargo noticed that the number of high-leveled people in his territory spiked, they had already either found a place to hide in the outer circle and/or found a way to the inner one. Everyone in their hundreds of forces easily managed to sneak in the outer wall, safe and sound, grouping into several teams because they knew they''d be separated by the sheer amount of enemy guards¡ªand possibly citizens¡ªonce they were detected. It was the inner wall that would be a bit more of a challenge since it had denser guards and some sentries (which, fortunately, were still decently far from each other and easily avoidable). However, they opted to use a similar method with Oslo''s which would be faster in terms of getting the most people inside. The interior wall was only a level 3 wall, so it was just a little above 3 meters tall. The house type Fargo chose was the two-storey one, and the custom building he activated was also built into two floors but with wider floor areas for his villas. Either way, in terms of height, this would mean that the normal houses in were taller than the interior walls, so they simply had to secure an area (mostly by putting the citizens in the adjacent buildings the sleep) to be able to create a comfortable ''stair'' without being too obvious about it. The guard there¡ªwho was falling asleep from sleeplessness¡ªonly noticed an anomaly when it was already at the height of the wall. Before he could yell out an alarm, he was promptly shot down by Althea, right on the neck. As for the fall on the other side, it couldn''t be as simple as just jumping down willy-nilly. First, they couldn''t have people jumping down 3 meter walls and ending up stepping on each other, right? Jumping directly down would be too slow. The streets were narrow and there were hundreds of them, they would have to do so a few at a time. That would be too slow and also cause a lot of noise. So they decided to add a slide of sorts to catch a long and continuous line of people, for efficiency, though they would still be spread out to jump down several adjacent streets if they could. The only earth users in their team were her and Reno¡ªwho had a variation of earth that had adobe-like sturdiness. It was just that neither of them was as strong as Oslo and the wall they made was much flimsier, so a lot of debris fell down on their way across the second wall. It was up to Reno to keep it stable for the others while she created a slide on the other side. It was not easy as her level was still low, but she pulled it off. And it also took the enemy by surprise. While Gochi and those who had managed to enter dealt with the guards attracted by the noise, more and more people filed in. Of course, Fargo wasn''t a normal village and had thousands of guards. Regardless of their skills, the quantity was there and was therefore troublesome. More guards filed in from inside and the battlements. Fortunately for the Alterans, the buildings were built densely and there were plenty of places to hide and shield. It was the battlement guards that simply had to traverse the walls through to eventually zone in on their entry points. At this, Reno and Luis tried to handle the first batch, but they would soon notice from their height that some guards were also approaching their area from the other side. They had to go back down to their teams, and another group went to deal with the battlement guards. It was the Mauin team that settled in the battlement this time, expertly attacking the newcomers with their swords and spears, and guarding themselves with shields. Bang! Bang! "Class D shields!" "Damn it!" The battlement of a level three wall was barely enough for two people at the same time. Mauins were experienced in fighting¡ªthey fought wars every few weeks¡ªand easily swiped the coming guards and made them fall down the ground, letting more and more of their people inside. The few guards with guns also pointed at them, no longer caring whether they hit their own people. The sheildsmen mostly managed to block, while some did get past and slightly injured a few people. One time though, someone was about to land a headshot and his eyes brightened in bloodlust, about to press the trigger¡ª Whoosh! He fell down, an arrow straight through the neck. The person next to him turned in the direction with wide eyes, seeing a gorgeous woman with a shimmering set of bow-and-arrows. That was the last thing he saw before he, too, pummeled to his death. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. On a roof was Althea, watching people as they filed in, also shooting arrows whenever she had to, protecting lives, and watching over her people as more and more of them entered. So far, there seemed to almost be a quarter of them inside, making them already halfway to winning the war. Her emerald eyes sharpened. Just a bit more! Chapter 535 - 535: Chaos in the Inner Walls (Part 1) Anyway, chaos ensued with the battles of hundreds of people through the streets, with some already entering the buildings. The cowardly citizens screamed and hid, with the guards yelling at them to help out, though most didn''t dare after being easily knocked out by the enemy. The Alterans really used the ''terrain'' well, hiding behind sturdy system walls, hiding in houses, and making traps and ambushing them in alleys. These alleys were often places a lot of the guards would drag women in to have ''public'' fun¡ªbut now it would be the places of their deaths. Elements and Class D weapons abounded. They had teamwork and also skills. Even if they were outnumbered, they''d definitely get out of it in one piece! They also had good equipment that Fargo''s level E weapons and their Terran guns had minimal effect on the enemies! The Fargo guards were all very depressed. Why were these people so strong? What''s more, it wasn''t that the Alterans didn''t get injured. With the quantity differences, of course there were! There were plenty of cases where they''d land shots, or stabs, or both! But¡­ they seemed to have so many healing potions! And such good ones, too! The Alterans wouldn''t abandon their teammates either. Those with gravely injured ones would disappear somewhere and they had a feeling they were getting treated! More and more Alterans were entering and joining the ''hunting'' while Fargo''s hundreds guards were slowly being chipped off, bit by bit, and it wouldn''t be long for them to overcome this place! This chaos was what Sen, the leading man within the inner walls, ran into. "How are they filing in so quickly?!" Sen asked, looking around with furrowed eyebrows. It wasn''t easy to find their location with all the chaos. The enemies were filing in and there should be at least a hundred in their area now! His eyes tried to find the pattern and pointed to an area. "Go check it out!" "Yes, sir!" And the rest of them tried to capture and kill whoever they could. However, they were always in teams. Even if they were outnumbered, they were tight and had each others'' backs. If someone was rendered disabled, the teammates would guard, fight, and move together until they found a good hiding spot. The scouts returned with a bloodied head, apparently hit by a stray stone floating. "We found it sir!" he said, taking them through a couple of streets. There!" Sen frowned and followed the location and his eyes widened at the sight. "What!!" There was an arch over the walls where there was no sentry. Sen''s eyes sharpened. System Walls were unscalable, so these bastards decided to go over it?! And it was like a bridge, allowing people to pile inside! "Go! Send more guards to the other side, quickly! We can''t let anymore people enter!" He yelled, pulling out his weapon to try and demolish the damn thing. His men also tried doing the same, but how could the Alterans let them do so? Those who were filing in immediately had their weapons out to defend the slide. Sen had no choice but to stop to defend themselves. When he saw his team struggling with the barrage of attacks, also being taken down bit by bit, he cursed. He yelled at the houses. "PEOPLE! GO ATTACK THE TRESSPASSERS! DO YOU WANT TO BE SLAVES?!" "GET OUT RIGHT NOW OR THE LORD WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS¡ªOOF!" He got hit by a random stone on the face and he cursed, spitting out some blood from a displaced tooth. He gritted his teeth and waved his sword, hitting a few with each swing, but somehow they were still standing. One group of citizens tried to get out with their weapons out, shakily trying to attack the nearby intruder, but an arrow from the enemy went past him, hitting a post right next to his head and they all went inside like cowards. Sen saw this of course and his eyes twitched. "Damnit!" "Cover me!" Sen yelled at his men who immediately surrounded him. He took out a gun¡ªone of the last of this model remaining¡ªand started pointing at people. Bang! Bang! He hit a few at good places, but sadly no headshots because a lot of them had helmets and armors on, and he cursed when they get blocked by shields. After things going smoothly here for so long, he had forgotten their Terran guns had limited effect against things in this place. However, Sen was a pretty good shot¡ªhe was part of a world-class terrorist group, after all. How many people had he assasinated during his 40 years of living? So, after calming down, he settled, his sharp eyes aiming at the openings of the armors¡ªfor example, the eyes and the mouth. He smirked, confident, knowing he would get this shot. Before he pressed the trigger, however, his instincts tinkled and he moved his head. He felt heat and realized a part of his head was singed. He gasped when he realized he just as he barely missed a fireball. Then more attacks flew in his direction, forcing him to use his gun as a shield. Terran guns were weak against Aether attacks and it was half-melted after a couple of attacks. He cursed and let go of the useless piece of metal, also throwing his own fireball in the direction. It was much smaller than the young lad as he had just awakened a day prior. The enemy didn''t know nor care about this, he just looked at him smugly¡ªand it annoyed Sen very much. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This lad was Jesse, one of Baron''s many surviving cousins. He had this default smug face that had definitely earned him a lot of punches. Growing up, he had learned to make use of it and his mocking skills had reached a very good height. "What a cute ember! I don''t have a cigar with me though, what a pity!" he said (tho he didn''t really smoke). Sen''s eyes twitched and lunged with his sword instead, but he was immediately blocked by another sword¡ªit was made of iron and looked to be a Class D weapon¡ª Now that he saw it, why did they have so many iron weapons?! Didn''t a Level 3 Weapon House require iron ores to work? Did they somehow have a mine near them? This must be reported to the lord! The thought was cut as he bent back by instinct as another fire ball barelled to him, and swiftly followed by a blade. It was only due to his experienced that he had avoided such a fast sequence, though he barely avoided the sharp blade. He felt a slight sting on his face and realized that it nicked a part of his already-flat nose. "Yo, don''t be distracted. It can cost you your head," the swordsman said. It was Angelo, Jesse''s other cousin. "Ah, wait, you already lost your non-existent nose." Sen''s eyes twitched. These bastards!! Chapter 536 - 536: Chaos in the Inner Walls (Part 2) Sen lunged, raising his hand and feet and the two entered a pretty impressive one-on-one. Well, two-on-one, because Jesse was definitely targeting Sen when he got the chance. The two swords clashed. While Angelo was in no way more talented than Sen¡ªthis was someone who had killed hundreds with his bare hands and massacred thousands with weapons in Terran alone¡ªhe was able to hold on due to Jesse''s assistance, as well as his weapons and equipment. There were plenty of close calls, with Sen almost hitting him at his few openings. The dude was really fast and was a legitimate martial artist, in contrast to him, a civilian before the apocalypse. At some point, Angelo realized he could only defend himself and depend on his equipment to keep alive. In fact, if he wasn''t fully clad with armor and defense clothing from Lenny¡ªa couple of extra equipment he could afford being one of Baron''s cousins¡ªhe probably wouldn''t be able to stand up right now. Further, he had his other cousin Jesse nearby, shooting arrows whenever he could, giving him some breathing time whenever things got too close. He did lose his sword at some point though, but fortunately he still had a few copies in his space (also a rich guy benefit). Sen''s eyes twitched when he saw the man let out yet another Class D weapon. "Annoying!" He yelled, his attacks hastening, and Angelo''s eyes twitched when he felt the durability of the equipment take a lot of hits. Jesse tried to assist him but the man was quick to block his attacks with his sword. Angelo wasn''t fast enough to take advantage of the openings that happened while he did so. However, other than Jesse, there was also another archer in the area helping the fighters there. At some point, they luckily hit Sen''s hand and forced him to let go of the sword. The two archers immediately pointed at the man, but he ran to an alley and off their line of sights. Sen took out his remaining gun¡ªan emergency one left in his space¡ªshooting at the other archer which happened to be easier to target. "AH!" He yelled. Fortunately, only his hands were visible but it was hit and he was rendered useless. "Sorry!" "It''s okay!" Angelo yelled, "Go get treated!" Angelo lunged at Sen to disable him as fast as he could. Sen didn''t want to lose his remaining gun and put it back, focusing on fighting against the young man with his fire. "HYAAA!!" Angelo yelled as he raised his hand and attacked, using his wind element to assist in his movement at inopportune times. Angelo was passionate and used all the skills he learned here. However, it only took a few minutes to be reminded of the gap between the truly skilled and the amateur. Even Jesse''s shots which had slowly focused on their battle weren''t much use, because Sen''s superior instincts would have (increasingly bigger) fire blocking the way. While it couldn''t completely burn the arrows, it was enough to weaken and even deflect them, rendering them useless against Sen. Sen''s fire would grow a little bigger learning from him and Jesse. Soon, his swift movements were unable to be blocked by Angelo''s armors anymore. His armor had taken a lot of hits due to his inability to catch up and defend from the barrage and he started to feel a couple of cracks forming. Class D weapons were far superior to Class E weapons, but elementalists'' damage would still have some effect on it. Done enough times, it could still cause major damage. Sen had entered a groove of beating him up and the poor former-civilian could only depend on his equipment to survive. Sen had started using him as a shield, so the archers couldn''t target them anymore without hitting Angelo. The next thing he knew, Angelo was already thrown to the floor. "OOFFF!" And, before he could sit up, a strong force pushed him down, and he was kicked repeatedly. BANG! BANG! Angelo felt dizzy, soon losing power. He was continuously kicked to walls, hitting a few people¡ªAlteran or from Fargo¡ªbut Sen focused on him. He grabbed his neck and dragged him around like a sack, throwing and kicking him, and Angelo''s eyes started to darken from the pain. Sen grabbed his neck and raised his arms, flame surrounding it. "Lighter, eh?" Sen grinned evilly, grabbing his face with it. "AHHHH!" The others wanted to help but they were either too far away or were surrounded, and they could only call on him to wake him up. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I''m getting bored of playing," he said, intent on finally ending this brat for real. However, at that moment, his trained sense of danger alarmed again and his palm left the lad''s face, catching an arrow just before it hit him. He caught Jesse''s arrow. He glared in the direction it came from and saw that one of the archers had already gone down from the safety of the second floor to help the brat out. Sadly for him, there were plenty of ongoing battles and it wouldn''t be easy to get to them. Meeting the other fire-user''s eyes, Sen smirked. Jesse''s heart turned cold. They were too confident! "Eh, thanks for the weapon," Sen raised his hand with the sharp tip of the arrow, intent on stabbing Angelo''s eyes with it. Jesse and the others nearby gasped, calling out to Angelo, hoping for a miracle. "ANGELOO!!" However, before the young man was stabbed, Sen stepped back, avoiding another blade and letting Angelo''s twitching body to the ground. He stepped back several steps as he saw a massive man came between them, holding up his sword in a defensive position. No, there were two, and from their features and height, he could tell they weren''t Terrans. "An aborigine, tsk. Two," Sen said, using the time to pick up Angelo''s Class D sword with brighter eyes. Good weapon! On the other side, one of the two men turned to Angelo, whose eyes were wide in surprise. "Are you alright?" "Mauru! Meroun!" The lad yelled, the tears pooling in his eyes finally flowed down. "Thank you!" This made the two men smile lightly, looking to comfort. "We''re here," they said. "And no problem¡ªafter all, Alterans always help each other out." Chapter 537 - 537: Battle in the Inner Wall (Part 1) Mauru had been in charge of keeping the battlement guards from attacking the Alterans entering through the bridge. However, Miss Althea realized they were needed more on ground level so they devised a way to lessen the labor requirement in the battlement. What they did was to use the bodies of the guards taken down to block the way of the oncoming ones. This way, they''d have to climb over half-dead or dead bodies to get to them, which was in no way easy. It was more likely they''d slip down. Their walls were so thin that it wasn''t even difficult to do so. They simply had to lay them down in whatever way, arranging it in a way the short ''wall'' wouldn''t roll in their direction instead. There was also Miss Althea who assisted them. She would shoot people skillfully and let them fall right at the surface to cause an obstacle. Back to the battle on the ground, Angelo sobbed a bit and willingly got dragged by a team to an alley to be treated as quickly as possible. Elementalist''s fire was special and would take a lot more to treat than conventional burn treatments, and he had to be handled as soon as possible Sen grinned and skilfully waved his sword. It so happened that his mana was a bit consumed, so it was time to get back to sword fighting¡ªone of his fortes¡ªespecially now that he got a nice new weapon. He looked at them. Unlike the kid, these two definitely had killed a lot more and would also be more skilled with the weapon. Maybe he could get more equipment from them. He licked his lips, seriousness and bloodlust combining in his gaze. "This''ll be fun." ¡­ The two aborigines prepared to fight Sen, who they acknowledged was extremely skilled. They had known these people had special techniques they were unaware of, but they had the advantage of being in wars here, and the Terran guards also taught them a lot of techniques during their stay. This allowed for a massive growth in them. They had taken advantage of their foundation as frequent war soldiers, maximizing so they would learn as much as they could in a short amount of time. It was amazing how much they were willing to teach for free and it was something that was beyond their imaginations before they encountered it themselves. Other than these, every guard had very good equipment on them, definitely saving their lives many times. When it was given to them the first time, how touched they were. They hadn''t heard of any other territory that would invest so much in their people''s safety. It was definitely a territory worth serving, and they wanted to contribute to its growth! They would not allow enemies to threaten it! Mauin and Meroun looked at each other and nodded. The latter heading to the fight next to them, while the former lunging towards Sen. The terrorist finally turned serious, raising his new weapon with sharp eyes. BANG! CLASH! SLASH! An impressive fight began then, and it was Sen versus Mauin, while the other supported the Alterans nearby, doing his best to minimize the injuries. He also kept near Mauin, ready to help when he can. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sen was only level 10 and Mauin was level 13, but they were equally matched. Sen''s movements had become even faster and more fluid as he got used to the weapon. And, as time went on, even the aborigine 3 levels above him was pushed back. It could be seen from this fight that Sen had indeed been ''playing'' with Angelo before, much like how carnivores played with their food. To be fair, it was also to observe other elementalists more, and he couldn''t have killed Angelo faster by virtue of his equipment. Now though, he had stolen Angelo''s Class D weapon and was thus much more lethal. Seeing the trouble, Meroun berserked a bit to reduce the enemies of the other Alterans before heading straight to help out with Sen. They didn''t dare underestimate him. This was a man with a similar level of skills to their strong soldiers! If he was allowed to grow, how much more trouble could he get? The fight turned the tides and the Alterans were relieved this enemy was being taken care of. With this change in momentum, the Alteran''s attacks intensified, and more and more Fargo guards fell down. Soon, Angelo had rejoined the fight although from a relatively protected fight. He seemed shaky, but otherwise okay. Jesse¡ªwho had been targeting people near where he was treated¡ªheaved a sigh of relief, pointing his arrow elsewhere. He hit the enemy guards here and there, and helping out their team from above. More and more guards arrived, and immediately saw how their side was being crushed. Those at the ground were definitely their people! The numbers were so different, how could it get so bad? Due to their distance though, they came to realize there were a lot of archers shooting their people down! "THERE! ARCHERS!" A man pointed, just in time to show how a pair of their own guards got showered by three different archers. They fell down, life and death unknown. The newcomer''s feet halted, stopping a distance away, afraid to be targetted by the flying weapons. "Where are ours?" The captain of this team asked, narrowing his eyes at the battlefield before him. Last time he remembered, each team had a few archers! Then a few more people fell and he glared at his own archers. "HEY! ARCHERS! KILL THEM!" he yelled, pointing at the windows with the said professionals. The two archers shivered and walked forward, closer and closer so the archers were within range. They took advantage of the enemies'' apparent distractions as they targeted the others so they could make a good shot. It was here that they realized that the archers were shooting very quickly. Too quickly. Were they even using the same weapon? But it wasn''t the time to wonder and they stabilized their hands, ready to take down the nearest archers. To be safe, they also waited until they took another shot so they wouldn''t be able to counteract with another one against them. However, before they could even shoot¡ª Woosh! Woosh! The next thing the archers knew, they had arrows either on the neck or the chest or both¡ªand they realized the same archers they were targeting contributed! Why do they shoot so fast!? Were those¡­ freaking crossbows?! Anyway, the teammates nearby paled when they saw their archers fall down, bleeding to death. So this was why all the archers seemed MIA! Chapter 538 - 538: Battles in the Inner Wall (Part 2) Of course, Fargo also had their archers. But even the sniper Sen failed to kill them, let alone these guys? Before they could make a good shot, they died! Even if many of the Fargo archers were former marksmen, the Alterans were trained with medieval weapons and many were also provided with crossbows! Not only that, but there were also Alteran archers above the roofs, so the Fargo guards who had thought the same¡ªwould most likely get shot down even before they could settle on a high surface. One of these archers was Althea herself, among a few others. They had used Althea''s now-destroyed plateaus to get so high up. In contrast to those on the houses'' second floors, they were busy clearing those coming from the battlement. They didn''t have a good angle of the streets, and their main attacks were those above it. Most also had some clear shots of the second-floor windows, so that was another reason why Fargo archers got taken down fairly early on. As for the Alteran archers who had occupied the second floor of the nearby houses, they had far better vantage points of the battle in the streets. Thus their main task was to assist in the close-range combats happening below. As for what happened to the people who owned the room¡­ well, it varied depending on their reactions. Some Alterans tied down the occupants, while other occupants just let them be. They just left when they realized who they were, even sending goodlucks and other words of encouragement to them. Overall, other than the teams efficiently killing Fargo guards on the ground level, their archers above eye level provided a safety net and a double-insurance to make sure the enemies that reached this area would really be taken down. It got to the point that the Fargo people saw that they had 100% chance of getting injured if they got close. Even if they had a chance to take down an enemy, they didn''t want to get any more hurt than this! That said, many of the people who arrived left with the excuse of finding more intruders. Anyway, this area was ''taken care of'' by Master Sen and the others! Similarly, some of the guards already fighting also saw that they had no chance and ran away. Sen saw some of them and if he wasn''t so preoccupied, he''d have shot them down. Traitors! Cowards! In fact, if they had the slightest of loyalty, they wouldn''t flee so early, but alas. Fargo''s side promoted those who were evil and selfish. How could they expect undying loyalty from them? "COME BACK HERE!" Sen yelled, and the Maumi Village duo took advantage of his distraction to finally landed good hits on him. He managed to avoid the lethal shots, but he was still hit in the end. He gasped as he felt his stomach stabbed and his leg slashed. He just glared at Mauin and his partner, yelling. "I''M GOING TO KILL YOU!" ¡­ While most of them fought off fellow Terrans, there were a few who had to go against aborigines. The weakest among the stationed mercenaries were level 13. Cassie happened to be facing him. Cassie gasped as she barely avoided his swift stab. She used her own iron sword to block him, but the man also had a Class D weapon he got from a town. "Eh, how heroic," the man said, licking his lips as he pushed her. She spread her legs to maintain her balance. At this time, she was shielding her two teammates who had been taken down by this bastard. They were both injured and were struggling to take potions, and she was blocking his way while they recovered. The man''s eyes turned red as he saw her still standing steadfast. "Give. Up. Already!" "NO!" She yelled, suddenly maneuvering to the side. Her blade slid against his creating that gritting metal-to-metal sound. She used her remaining mana and a burst of air appeared behind her, causing her blade to approach faster than usual. The man''s eyes widened as he barely avoided the stab, cursing. He then used his swift stab skill to get to her as he did with her teammates. She was hit but fortunately not stabbed due to her armor. However, the force was enough to throw her to the wall. "Kyaa!" S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. BANG! "Cassie!" "TSK!" The man sneered, happy with her struggling state. "A woman shouldn''t be holding weapons. You ought to learn that." He walked over and took her weapon that dropped down, studying it. "This isn''t bad. Did you guys upgrade your weapons shop already? Where did you get your iron? From Guia?" "Well, whatever," he said, raising the weapon and stabbing her a bit in an attempt to undress her. After all, he had already destroyed her outer armor, and he was expecting it to just rip easily to show him some skin. To his surprise, the ripped clothes revealed a layer of conservative undergarments¡ªone that wasn''t easy to strip unless he attacked for real. Apparently, the clothing underneath was quite sturdy. Lenny gave it to her and all the women going to war for free. She had seen how women were treated here, and she had an idea of how harsh it could get for fighters. Female fighters... were inconceivable to most territories, especially Xenoan villages. They would target these women harder just to ''put things back at the right place''. Lenny''s theory was proving to be correct at this moment. "Eh, it''s more fun to undress with a challenge," the man said, raising the blade, prepared to attack again. "Cassie!" The teammates yelled, crawling to her. It was chaos all around and the other Alterans must be busy with their own fights, let alone see them in one of the more isolated streets. It was nearby some of the houses Drake and the others had burned down before, and the people here had either fled in terror or were still hiding in fear. The sharp edge threatened to thump down, targeting Cassie''s joints when a small ball of fire was thrown at him. The man''s instincts let him avoid the burnt of it, but his armor was hit and its remaining durability gave way, causing cracks. "Damn!" He gritted his teeth, glaring at the newly arrived woman. It was a relatively tall woman with good curves and fiery red hair. It took the aborigine aback, but it was a sight that made Cassie and her teammates brighten. They looked at the woman with teary eyes. "Jona!" Chapter 539 - 539: Battles in the Inner Wall (Part 3) Cassie took this time to sit up, taking out yet another weapon from her space, which in turn made the man''s eyes twitch. "Another one? Where do you get all these at your level?" he asked, eyes greedily looking at the weapon, though Cassie didn''t bother to answer him. This was the third weapon she took out. Her grandmother used much of her savings from working under Lenny to give her an extra weapon, which indeed ended up becoming a saving grace. She also used this time to drink a health potion and a mana cookie, which also made the man''s eye twitch. Beside them, Jona took this time to take a breather. Jona rushed when she realized there were Alterans in there. She was in the area they burned down and was tasked to burn a few more to add a few more trouble (they had excess oil anyway) to distract the enemies for their teams. She was the only one here though, as Drake and the others had spread out to assist. Most of them, in fact, found a way to get out to the Outer Crcle as well, using the distraction and openings of the battlement guards to do so. Because they didn''t go through the array, their ''numbers'' weren''t counted. That was to say: it didn''t matter whether they were in the interior walls or not, so they''d be much more useful assisting the others to get inside. In any case, this had nothing to do with the current enemy who was just giving the newcomer a one-over. "Another woman?" The man commented, looking at their bodies¡ªand equipment¡ªwith greed and distaste, thinking they didn''t deserve so many good things. Then he noticed the little spark on Jona''s sword and, recalling the fire ball from before, knew that it came from her. "And an elementalist too!" "I''m really curious about your territory. Hey, you two would really be worth a lot of gold." The strongman stood before the two women, a smirk danced on his lips, his gaze oozing with arrogance and interest. It irked them very much. "Underestimating us will lose you your little brother!" Jona yelled, referring to his crotch. The man looked at her. "My little brother is already dead," he said, shrugging. His arrogant gaze was not mitigated. The insult obviously went over the man''s head. With a derisive snort, the man lunged forward, his sword swinging in a vicuous arc, very much intending to cause pain. Anyway, he was also particularly annoyed today after seeing his own house burn! His woman disappeared, and he happened to be in need of new women to vent on! Looking at the two women, he thought they arrived just in time! Maybe he''d even get to keep them both! Cassie sidestepped to avoid his attack while Jona parried. The man jumped back to avoid the attack, swinging in Jona''s direction, all while sending Cassie a kick at the same time. Cassie twisted flexibly to avoid the kick, immediately joining Jona, who had entered a sword fight with the man. The harsh sounds of clashing swords occupied the place for a while after that. The women were all sweating from tiredness and they knew they had to end this soon if they wanted to help the territory more. The two women''s eyes met and they made subtle nods. A second later Cassie jumped at the enemy, waving her sword, but this time there were swirling winds attacking him on command. This was swiftly followed by Jona''s flames, which were strengthened by the wind. The man frowned, swinging his sword wildly to kill the fire, though he did burn a bit. The man''s smirk disappeared at this point, looking at the two women with darker eyes. The two swordswomen stood side by side, and immediately lunged, refusing to let him get a breather. The fire wielder danced around them, her movements fluid as she summoned more of her flames. She sent him relentless attacks, one after the other, with Cassie joining in. The man was forced to the defensive as the two women pressed forward together. It was fortunate they had actually teamed up a few times in the Training Hall so their teamwork was good. Bit by bit, they chipped away at his defenses, and more and more wounds appeared on his body. His eyes turned red when a deep gash slit his cheek. "DAMNIT!" He yelled, his pride crushed by being wounded by damned women. He couldn''t help but go berserk in anger and pain. He sent them blind attacks, which were in no way weak or slow in his level. At some point, another scuffle had gotten closer to their area. The women saw this and they moved toward an enemy group while avoiding his hits. Sure enough, he didn''t care and stabbed them as well. The level difference between this guy and the Terran guards wasn''t low and his hits critically injured a few. Slash! "HEY! STOP IT!" Stab! "GYAHHH!" They used the enemies as meatshields while they also threw in their attacks¡ªtargetting his face in particular¡ªwhich annoyed him even more. "BITCHES!" Slash! "What are you doing!?" While they avoided, the two women couldn''t help but look at each other. The fact that he received no repercussions after hurting citizens of the ''master'' territory either meant he didn''t make an oath, or took advantage of a lot of loopholes. They turned when they saw it was nearing fellow Alterans and they shifted directions again, the aborigine following them. Meanwhile, many of the Fargo guards cursed at the damage on them, with someone very much almost dead from bleeding. But in their distraction, they were easily taken down by the Alterans, clearing up the threat this team caused. The Alterans watched the women''s battle for a breather and also to rescue them when needed. A few crawled to Cassie''s teammates, helping them out as well. The team and the watchers were alert in case the women needed rescue. Joining in now would just make this crowded and they would be more likely to hit each other rather than the sole enemy they were ganging up against. They watched in tension as the two women got hit¡ªa lot¡ªbut fortunately, due to their various equipment, they received nothing too dire. Even if the enemy was also holding a Class D weapon, their superior and multi-level armor and clothing protected them well enough. Seeing the performance of the equipment compared to other territories, the Alterans swore to invest in them a bit more. Anyway, the battle continued and more and more wounds appeared on both sides. However, the women had much better pain tolerance than men. A few gashes wouldn''t make them lose their cool, unlike this arrogant jerk still swinging. He also seemed to become even more berserk when they hit his face. At this, a light of idea entered their heads at the same time. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Hey, why not use this guy''s narcissism against him? Chapter 540 - 540: Battles in the Inner Wall (Part 4) As if communicating, the two girls nodded. The next moment Cassie braved through the aborigine''s relentless attacks, summoning a strong wind with most of her remaining mana. With this wind was sand collected from the ground that landed smack on his face. "TSK!" he cursed, though he didn''t lose his cool despite partially losing vision. People his level had slightly higher senses, and this little thing wouldn''t blind him. However, contrary to what he thought, Cassie smiled. "It''s a new poison we developed," she said, barely avoiding a stab. "It''s used to destroy¡­ faces!" "AH!" The man yelled and he immediately rubbed his face with his free hand. He didn''t let go of his sword of course, but his movements allowed for a blind spot Jona took advantage off. She arrived right behind him and poured him some oil¡ªoil that was supposed to be used to burn for another house¡ªlighting it up with her own flames. "GAHHH!" He yelled and he swung his sword blindly in front as his face burned. Elementalist fire had a much deeper effect than normal fire, and it also spread much quicker. Cassie maneuvered so she stood behind him, stabbing his joints and his spinal chords, making his body buckle towards Jona''s direction. "AHHH!" "Go, Jona!" Cassie yelled, kicking the man to her with her remaining strength. The redhead lifted her arm and the sword abruptly dropped down, stabbing his neck, and finally killing him off. As the man flopped down, the two women looked at each other with wide smiles, giving each other high-fives. The bastard finally died! They really won! ¡­ The Alterans cheered and hugged each other, and Cassie''s Teammates¡ªwho at some point could stand up again¡ªimmediately went to assist them and their recovery. Surprisingly, they also heard a few claps above their line of sight. They looked at some of the windows. Their archers didn''t occupy every house and it seemed that, at some point, the residents who had been hiding had started to watch the fight. They saw many women clapping, some sobbing, and they felt proud. One of these women was a 21-year-old blonde named Shannon. She was a forced woman of the very aborigine that had just been killed. One of the houses that got burned was his, and she kept quiet when Victor and the others burned it down. They couldn''t take her with them, but they asked her to hide out until the war was over, and that was what she did. She was also one of the people who had been scared to death when the enemies entered the walls. She refused to look out the fight, shivering at the thought of the violence happening there. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But the aborigine kept yelling profanities associated with women and she couldn''t help but look out. She gasped when she saw who they were fighting and sobbed when she watched them win. "Amazing!" She clapped, looking at the corpse of the man who had been torturing her for so long. "Thank you! You are so amazing!" She said, tears incessantly flowing down her eyes. She had never been so relieved in her life. ¡­ Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! On another area above the eye level, a certain hidden lord was shooting guard after guard in the battlement, protecting those who were jumping inside. Because the level 3 wall only had a narrow battlement that only fit one person at a time, it also made things easier for her to protect those filing in. Every arrow meant a guard would fall down from the battlement. If they were especially low in level, it also meant they dropped as corpses. She had also built another wall made of bodies on the battlement, and she watched as enemy guards tried to climb over the mountain of half-dead people and corpses, only to fall down without her wasting mana. However, at some point, the people filing in finally stopped. Even the guards in the battlement stopped coming. This was followed by some scuffles from behind the walls with the people going to various directions. From this, she had an inkling that the Fargo guards had arrived to their entry area as well. Luis, Reno, and a lot more others were there, and she hoped everything would be okay. She jumped from roof to roof, jumping over straight to the battlement. Not everything was visible due to the denseness of the buildings, but she could see the hundreds of guards and slaves had started blocking the Alteran''s ways. Fortunately, they had planned for this and there were still many leaders outside¡ªwhether it was Luis, Reno, or others¡ªwho would take lead. Victor and the others would also be helping out, so she believed they''d be alright. Of course, she still lifted her arrow to hit the particularly strong guards that she had clear sights on, hopefully saving a few lives. There was even an aborigine there and they looked for her¡ªthe archer shooting down their top players¡ªbut they were immediately distracted by the teams of Alterans coursing through the alleys, taking them down one by one like guerillas. She pondered whether to get out and assist, when her peripheral vision saw a group of people she had been waiting for. It was a small group of powerful men, and in front of them was a tall middle-aged man with a dark atmosphere about him. Her green eyes widened, before morphing into a dark expression. She watched as each of the men within the level limit attacked one of her people each time. Fargo and his men weren''t weak, and they pretty much kicked or punched the nearby Alterans to the walls, making them cough blood. Fortunately, their equipment were good and they could still stand up. When they saw the victims were still alright, several of Fargo''s men immediately lunged at them, annoyed, trying to finally end their ''cockroach'' lives! Althea immediately turned, raising her magical pair of bow and arrow. Fargo! You''re finally here! I won''t let you touch another one of my people! Chapter 541 - 541: Fargo Arrives (Part 1) Fifteen minutes ago. Fargo and his main guards¡ªa group of seven including Belize, Uzon, two level 13s, a level 14, and a level 17¡ªmightily traversed street after street, striding in a direction. He had a dark expression on his face, the slight tingling of the familiar headache not making things any better. "Those bastards!" Uzon beside him gritted his teeth, "So sly!" They went out as soon as they found out that the interior walls had been breached. Putting aside the fact that they had no idea when the bastards got past the outer wall, it took a quarter of an hour for them to find out the enemies had breached both walls! While they heard of gunshots and had planned to check, they assumed the guards found the people who was causing trouble inside. They cursed at the difficulty of communication in this place, making them lose some important timings. Belize had Aether letters, of course, but they were just enough for a few members of his team. One of whom happened to have been killed before the war by Garan and the others. The man had tried to access it in an attempt to contact Belize, but he died without an inch of skin clean. Fargo''s face didn''t change as the men around him ranted, just continuing on his strides. He looked at the three people following his group. They were all from Sen''s team, and they were the ones to run to him to tell him the enemies were inside. "What happened?" "They¡­ they built slides over the wall. They came in one by one but did it fast. They handled the battlement guards with ease so many people could come in." At this, Fargo opened the panel to see how many new powerful names appeared and how a few of his own high-leveled people had also disappeared. He did not look for twenty minutes¡ªthis damned headache¡ªand so much had changed. He looked at the siblings Eso and Eli. "Go outside and assist with blocking the rest of them." "Yes, Milord!" The two exclaimed, running towards the gate to do their tasks. Everyone knew the rules. Even if they dealt with those inside the main walls, if even a fraction of those remaining people went in, then they could lose. "Where are the slaves?" "They''re on standby in their sty near the gates, milord," Uzon said, referring to their no-better-than-pig accommodations located by the outer wall. Fargo then shifted to his panel to send out an order. To all Slaves, he said, block the inner walls with your life. After sending the orders, he directed his attention to the three reporting guards. "What else?" This made the men flinched but they hurried to report to him what happened. "There were many elementalists, and a few proficient ones. They had Class D weapons and equipment. From what we saw, they all had it." "What?" One of the mercenaries looked at him. "Impossible! Hundreds of people in a village can''t have that many!" "B-But that''s what we saw!" Fargo didn''t seem to care about this discussion. "So you ran straight to me, right?" "Yes, yes, sir!" "So many of you?" They paled and the next thing they knew they had bullets exploding their brains. "Shame," Fargo said, continued walking forward as if he didn''t just shoot a few people. He knew they probably ran to him not simply to inform him¡ªbut because of fear. He didn''t need cowards feeding off his hands. ¡­ The headed towards the area of the breach, striding quickly, expecting to reach within a few more minutes. Unexpectedly, they encountered a group of enemies so early on. They were a group of about a dozen people with weapons out and they met each other''s eyes. There was a short standstill, their twelve people facing his seven, and it was a moment later that one of their leaders yelled: "It''s Fargo!" he said, "I saw his handdrawn portrait on our announcement board!" "WHOA!" His teammate nodded, "I saw! They also posted on the board outside our community!" "He''s worth so many contribution points!" "Those beside him must give good points as well!" "We''re gonna get rich!" Fargo and the others were unsure how to feel about this conversation. Either way, it seemed the fact that they won easily even when they were very outnumbered got into these Alterans'' heads. Without another word, they lunged forward to get their ''prize''. "Attack!" . . A minute later¡ª "FUCK! Too strong! Run! Run!" the bloodied Alterans yelled as one stabbed the strong aborigine to let go of his teammate. He prompt caught him and carried him farther away, kicking so the aborigine didn''t follow him. Fargo''s sharp eyes stared at them darkly, and the men (and women) gestured to escape. Uzon sneered. "You really think you can escape?" he asked, but the Alterans didn''t answer. Instead, their leader threw a greenish small ball in their direction. Their eyes widened. Although it looked a little different, it was similar to the sample they got from Micheal! "Is it another bomb?!" Uzon yelled, and the others also ran away, taking cover. BANG! SPLURT! Fargo and the other Terrans immediately covered their noses with whatever fabric they had by instinct. They raised their heads to realize that there was only greenish smoke that spread in a small area. It so happened that the wind was blowing in their direction, letting the smoke travel towards them. It turned out to just be some sort of smoke bomb. Fargo and the others felt a bit relieved that it wasn''t an explosive, immediately gesturing to move to get out of the smoke. Of course it was not an explosive bomb. How could Althea make so many and hand then hand some to random citizens? While she did give a few to a couple of leaders, the rest would have smoke and paralysis bombs for a temporary purchase in the store. It wasn''t cheap either, and the thrower''s heart bled when he heard the bomb explode. Price of learning, he would tell himself later. It''s the price of arrogance. "Shit, that scared me," Uzon said as he stood up, only to kneel down as if his legs got weakened. Fargo also felt the slight trembling of his hands, apparently failing to completely cover himself as well He also felt it a bit more difficult to move, but not impossible, and he immediately walked out of the smoke. More and more people followed his lead, shaking their hands and, after a couple of minutes, the numbness indeed disappeared. It was fine now that they were inside the territory, but the amount of damage this could''ve done if they were near a mob was high. Obviously, this was another type of weapon Altera had and it was both intriguing and annoying to think about it. The smoke soon passed and they looked down. The aborigines didn''t know what a smoke bomb was and weren''t able to cover their faces. Fortunately, their stronger physique allowed them to be immune to its effects. For the most part, anyway. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. While the stronger ones didn''t seem particularly affected except for feeling a bit numb, the weaker aborigine, the level 13, was still on the floor, struggling to move. Uzon narrowed his eyes, while another mercenary kicked the other one a few times. "What are they doing so deep in the inner circle? Hadn''t they dealt with the trespassers?" Fargo stared in a direction. "Let''s go," he said, and the others dutifully followed him. He also summoned majority of the stronger guards assigned to other areas. While it could leave those areas vulnerable, he didn''t think too many Alterans¡ªif any¡ªwould be able to breach the walls after all the forces he assigned there. "Ready your weapons," he said, eyes sharp with a bit of bloodlust. "We''re off to a murder spree." Chapter 542 - 542: Fargo Arrives (Part 2) Fargo looked at the massacre and felt veins popping¡ªit wasn''t even just anger. He felt the annoying headache attack his head and his eyes turned red in annoyance. While he had always had a slight headache back in Terran, it disappeared when they migrated here. Now that it was recurring, he couldn''t help but curse a bit. In any case, the sight of the fight still ongoing and seeing that the corpses were all his men was exacerbating it a bit. He swore that Altera would be in his hand and all its citizens would suffer under his rule for causing him this trouble. As they arrived, the group also saw what the now-dead guards were reporting to him. To be honest, they thought they were exaggerating, but they soon realized that they weren''t. Everyone truly had Class D weapons. They also had weapons unavailable to them like crossbows and certain types of armor and shields. And, of course, the Elementalists. There was a Terran who breathed fire, made stronger by the oil-filled torch he had in his hand. He created a small area of effect damage that created openings for his team. Then there was an earth elementalist who made holes that imbalanced his men, and then they''d be stabbed by Class D weapons everyone seemed to have. This was Altera? So powerful? Did he miss something? It had been less than an hour since the war started, and this was not the image he was expecting. He knew there was chaos, but he didn''t imagine it to be an outright massacre¡ªnot when he knew Garan and the others couldn''t have entered here. After all, according to the rules, those beyond the level cap entering enemy territory during wars would equal punishments usually not worth the effort and the reward. In the same vein, he had wanted to force the stronger aborigines beside him to move and massacre the bastards but he knew they wouldn''t risk it for him. In any case, their own guards were no longer that much of a threat that the Alterans'' attention could easily be taken by their arrival. Someone nearby exclaimed. "Is that Fargo?" "Yes, I saw his drawn image!" another said, "I think there are several copies posted on various bulletin boards. There''s one outside our dorm." Fargo and the others frowned. This again. It might sound simple but even the simplest of art was indicative of many things to Fargo. One, things were good enough in Altera that the literary professions like artists could thrive there. Second, they seemed to have enough paper and drawing materials to make a copy of his portrait. And, finally, it told him that their ruling party knew him enough to assign a bounty on his head. They didn''t think so much because they were immediately showered by fast arrows from all directions. His guards frowned, and the shieldsmen activated their shields and abilities, while the others took cover. "They''re using crossbows!" Uzon said, gritting his teeth as he hid from the rain of weapons. "Someone''s shooting fire arrows, too!" A shieldsman yelled as he looked at the dip in the durability of his Class E Sheild. He had barely managed to cover himself from that attack! "Darn, I missed!" the archer yelled. Someone below him shook his bandaged head. "It''s okay, Jessie! Just keep em coming!" And that was what the archers did. Fargo and the others didn''t waste equipment though. They immediately went to get cover using the buildings, with the strongest shieldsman¡ªthe level 17 Froi¡ªtraversing to grab a random person though not before kicking another one or two people nearby. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Even if the enemy had good coordination, the sudden arrival of such brute force was bound to imbalance them. As the aborigine held onto the bandaged man''s neck, the rain of arrows immediately stopped. "ANGELO!!" "DUDE!" "Why are you so unlucky?!" Angelo was indeed unlucky. Now he was taken to the enemy''s side and other than the scuffles around, everyone else stopped. No one dared get close to Fargo, lest they put the poor bandaged newly-burned Angelo in danger. "Heh, idiots," Uzon said as he looked at the man dragged here by the mercenary. One of the things they found out through observing the previous attackers was that they refused to leave someone behind. This weak mentality meant they could take hostages! Of course, it wasn''t that these idiots completely gave up on attacking. There was another one of those paralysis bombs that were thrown at them, supposedly using these as distractions while a few people appeared behind them to rescue the lad. However, they were ready this time. Uzon jumped and waved his sword, batting it away like playing baseball. He tried to throw it to the Alteran crowd, but someone used his damned wind ability to blow it upwards. Bang! It exploded above their heads, soon to be blown away by the wind. "Che. Pity." As for the men who tried to rescue, they immediately entered a fight with Fargo''s guards. Even if the bomb''s distraction wasn''t there, they didn''t backtrack anymore. This attack was also a signal to the other Alterans who weren''t dealing with their own enemies to join in. All of a sudden, Fargo''s newly arrived party of over a dozen were surrounded by Alterans. Obviously, they noticed the level differences, and some were genuinely afraid, but they pushed through to fight against them anyway. Many of them were already injured but apparently, as long as their team was working, they had little to fear. "Naive!" Froi, although he was beyond the level cap, could still shield and redirect attacks among many other things to influence the fight. For example, he could shield his team from a barrage of attacks, consuming a lot of the enemies'' mana. He could grab a shoulder and throw them towards his own people, imbalancing them, and so on. Although it had only been an hour since the war began, the Alterans had gone through a lot of battles and were understandably a bit weakened. Hence, some were helpless against Uzon and the stronger aborigines'' attacks. Even Fargo himself would make a move if anyone got close to him. His moves were dire and lethal. He even used the sharpness of his soil ability, compressing them into bonafide rock-like blades. Elementalist attacks had a larger impact to equipment than weapons of the same level. Further, Fargo''s attack was definitely not weak. "AHH!" "EEKK!" "Watch out!" Before he could behead one, however, two Alterans kicked him. He let go of the man and avoided their attacks. There were various several cases, and some even went directly against the few remaining level 14s and 15s. The reason why the Alterans survived was due to their equipment and the number of times they worshipped Altera in their minds when they realized it was innumerable. Of course, considering the level differences, the amount of hits they had received, and with Fargo and Uzon''s relentless use of elements, it was inevitable for a few cracks to appear in their defenses. At some point, a few people just buckled and were easier to drag around and beat up. Fargo watched in satisfaction as several were thrown against the walls. Too bad they didn''t die¡ªthey had excessively good equipment for their level¡ªbut it just meant they had to hurt them a little more to completely destroy their defenses. And that was what they attempted to do. The momentum didn''t last a minute, however, because a moment later Fargo would hear screeching screams coming from his own people. "AHHH!" Fargo, Uzon, and the others turned to look at the mercenaries that had been torturing the Alterans a few seconds ago. They were suddenly in much poorer states than the Alterans they had just been pummeling. They were shot in various parts of the body and they all gritted their teeth in pain, with someone directly on the floor bleeding. He could see a few arrows passing through their bodies, the sharp arrowheads visible on the other side. His eyebrows rose. The Class E bow and arrows had diminished effects against these people. Why were their defenses completely punctured after a few shots? Then, his danger instincts sounded and he heard Belize beside him yell. "Milord, watch out!" The next thing they knew, an arrow encased in a special aura was flying straight to Fargo''s head. Chapter 543 - 543: Shooting Them Down A/N: Extra chapter sent just this morning by Lotuslin ~ xoxoxoxoxooxoxo!! Your ¡­ ____ Suddenly, a gust of wind blew in front of him, followed by Belize''s hand gripping on something, a bit of blood dripping on the floor. They realized that Belize had caught an arrow. Even if Fargo had managed to lean back a bit by virtue of his instinct, he saw that the arrowhead only missed his head by an inch. The adrenaline shook them all and they didn''t move for a few moments in shock. Although it was just an arrow, it had a special aura about it. Their fighter''s instinct told them it was dangerous. As if that one shot could''ve really been lethal. No one noticed how Belize''s hands shook and bled and they looked up to find the shooter, not expecting to see a beautiful woman on top of a roof, her hands on a glittering bow and arrow. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What the¡ª" Uzon yelled, looking dazed at the woman before regaining his senses and looking guardedly at her. It was the same as with the other men. She then gestured to take another shot, and everyone''s alarms went off. "Don''t get hit," Belize said, his jaw clenched, his hand still shaking¡ªand even bleeding¡ªfrom the force of his catch. "It''s a level B weapon." "What?" They turned to look at the gorgeous woman targeting them from the roof. The wind made her ebony hair flow gently, and the shimmer of the weapon made her already delicate features glimmer even more. More than on the woman, however, the men''s eyes glinted in greed for the equipment. Without another word, the woman shot and everyone flinched to take cover. "Dammn! Get down!" they yelled, some hiding behind a wall, some taking out their best shields, while some grabbing a human¡ªa teammate or Alteran¡ªas cover. Whoosh! They heard the fast-moving arrow approach, hearts beating out of their chests. "GYAAH!" A yell exploded and they turned to look at the poor victim. It was actually Froi she targeted this time, with the arrow actually puncturing his Class D shield and hitting his shoulder! Fortunately, the woman wasn''t able to maximize her weapon yet and the man was only injured. Another one flew and it hit a lower-leveled guard, this time, taking his life with a single shot. "GET HER!" Froi exclaimed, mostly directed at his fellow mercenaries. They nodded, quickly kicking away the Alterans they were facing to change targets. Froi glared at the woman as he painfully gripped on the arrow embedded in his shoulder. He gritted his teeth in pain, gesturing to take it out so he could consume one of his last bottles of healing potion. But¡­ he was unable to even pull it. He frowned and he realized he was losing feeling to his limbs. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at the woman, who was still shooting her heart out. "She¡­ she put something in her arrow!" he yelled, just before he lost the feeling of his legs, falling down head first to the ground. "OI!" "What''s going on?" "Don''t care about him! The arrows are poisonous!" Seeing as Fargo and his party were preoccupied to not get hit by the beautiful Miss Althea''s arrows, the Alterans took this chance to rescue their injured comrades¡ªespecially Poor Angelo¡ªto safety. Uzon saw this and wanted to follow, but he didn''t dare in case that woman targeted him. It was obvious that she was primarily shooting at those who hurt the Alterans. Obviously, the level was much higher, but they weren''t the ones half-dead. At this time, yet another one ¡ªa level 12¡ª was hit. He wasn''t dead but the effect of the poison on him was much faster. A few seconds after taking out the arrow¡ªwhich disappeared as soon as it was pulled¡ªhe shook on the ground with mouth frothing. Althea looked at the effect of her poison and nodded in relief, before dousing the manifested arrow with the poison in a cup hanging on her waist, pulling the string again for another shot. She naturally knew her limitations. Although the Bellagio was a Class B weapon, its power in her hands was much lower than its potential. It would be difficult to one-shot enemies above her own level without consuming too much of her mana. Regardless, the enemies she was targeting weren''t weak. The mana consumption of each shot was large and she couldn''t afford to waste two shots on one target, so she added some very strong poisons in her shot for good measure. These poisons could affect monsters her level, let alone humans with less defense and immunities. Uzon, who was standing beside the lord and defending him, never took his eyes off the woman. He felt his blood pressure rise when he saw her taking something out of the space¡ªrealizing it was a cookie! She looked particularly irksome as she carelessly chewed on her snack while killing them off one by one!! Uzon gritted his teeth as he glared at her. They would definitely make this woman suffer! "KILL HER! KILL HER!!" Similarly, Fargo''s cold eyes looked at her, sending an announcement to the people nearby. [Kill that woman and receive a custom house for yourself.] The guards nearby saw their lord and followed orders to get to her. But the walls were unscalable and it wasn''t easy to get to her. On the contrary, the enemy archers would just use them as open targets instead! Fargo looked at the men beside him and nodded, and with his ability he created smaller plateaus to assist them in climbing up. Of course, while Fargo was naturally talented and didn''t need a teacher to make this, it would still require a lot of mana. Fortunately, the platforms didn''t need to be too dense or too high as these people could jump at least 2 meters at their levels. Immediately, several mercenaries and guards ran towards her, eyes greedy for her, her weapons, and the promised house. They watched her whistle before gesturing to shoot again, but didn''t think much of it. They were extremely fast-moving, but the woman didn''t even flinch. A lot of people from below could see her static state. Some Alterans looked worried, while the enemies smirked. "Heh, did she freeze?" One of Fargo''s men smugly said, body filled with blood from an attack from another. However, they quickly found out how she could still be coolly shooting her arrows and eating cookies despite the imminent threat coming her way. Just when their men were an arm''s length away, two figures flashed in front of them, swiping them back to the ground with such force they vomited blood. One of the men¡ªa level 11¡ªeven landed without his heart. "What the¡ª" "Cough!" "What happened?!" One of the men yelled, gasping when he saw large claw marks on his stomach. He lost his consciousness when he saw his innards flowing out. The others shook as they saw this, a bit shivering as they tilted their heads to look at the newcomers. GRRRRRRR¡ª Everyone gaped at the sight of the looming figures that appeared before them. They were large and threatening¡ªblocking the way between them and the woman. For a moment, they couldn''t quite absorb what they were seeing and, when they did, they couldn''t help but gasp. It was a massive dog and¡­ a half-orc!? Chapter 544 - 544: Fox and Dog Fufi and Gochi had been ordered to help out in various areas, but they came running back the moment they heard Althea''s whistle. Fortunately, they had already taken down a lot of the strong enemies so the Alterans left behind adjusted quickly when they left. In fact, the two had killed almost every person level 9 and above in their area. It was why they were covered with blood, making them even scarier than usual. "What the fu are these things?!" One of the attackers yelled as he looked at the looming figures that coincidentally made eerie shadows on him. He met their eyes and he shivered, standing up to run. Sadly, before he could do so, the next thing he saw was sharp teeth. GRRRRR¡ª SQUELCH! His own blood splattered on his face, and he was no more. This sight made all the enemies around pale a bit, and the Alterans cheer in joy. "WOOO! GOCHI! SO BADASSS!" "You weren''t this cool when you''re with me!" A girl yelled. "FUFI! FUFI! WHAT A GOOD BOIIII!" Gochi cleared his throat and blushed a bit, a little embarrassed, while the dog''s tail wagged automatically at the sound of ''good boi''. He was still covered in blood of others with some dripping off his teeth, but apparently the Alterans had long been used to it. Of course, even if the beasts'' stances softened just a bit, their alertness did not. Anyone who threatened the safety of the woman above them was sure to receive a sharp claw on the face. While the beasts were protecting her, Fargo and the others watched the woman continue eating her snacks. Her attacks had slowed down and had turned weaker¡ªlikely from the lack of mana¡ªbut her shots were still dangerous considering the level of her damned weapon. Fargo took a deep breath. "Shoot them with guns," he said and those with the weapon immediately took it out. He didn''t worry about his men''s accuracy, they had been through a lot of gun fights and assassinations back in Terra, after all. He had been trying not to use them because they lost such a big bulk. And how many guns could each of their spaces have? Not to mention, they needed other things in their spaces. But this battle was worth using them. Similarly, those who were fighting the beasts also took out their remaining guns, sending barrages of shots at them. They were shooting in fear, even, and pressing the trigger wildly as the monsters approached them. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Guns won''t work!" "SHIT!" "Why is this dog as hardy as beasts?!" A guard yelled, but then he felt something sharp against his neck. He didn''t even realize his head was detached from his body when he lost consciousness. The beasts continued taking care of the unfortunate souls who were nearest them¡ªguards who wanted to get contribution¡ªkilling them easily. "ORCSHIT!" one of the remaining mercenaries yelled as he attacked him with his weapon. However, the dog just swiped the Class E weapon down, opening his arm and detaching the man''s arm from the rest of his body. "AHHHHHHHHH!!!" Fufi had been training in the barracks and was very aware of human attacks. He didn''t even have to take the attack head-on, he simply had to pull it out of the man''s hand before he could use any skill, and Gochi immediately jumped down and beheaded him like cheese. "So strong! Are they still in the level cap?! This isn''t fair!!" One yelled as he backed away, and the others were also confused. No one could afford to think too deeply though because they were too busy surviving! Fufi was actually not yet level 10 but he had a lot of comfortable armor on to further enhance his defense. It was a special cloth that Lenny spent days making. Further, Fufi was essentially still a beast, and people of the same or similar level were of little match for him. Gochi''s case was also very interesting. He was actually not even 20 years old, and his level was just within the level cap. Most of the half-orcs were kept below level 15 during their stay at Hoskle. After all, Hoskle was a village and would have the most use of them at this level. The only exception was Baku, although he was made to guard with his body even when he couldn''t attack in wars. The two ''beasts'' had similar conditions wherein they''d require twice the experience requirement to level up, but they had a much higher attribute increase each time. This seemed troublesome at first, but extremely useful in wars because this meant that they had the force value equivalent to humans several levels above them, but would still be able to fight in wars unlike them. Fargo watched as the Alterans took the chance of this boost to get rid of the remaining Fargo guards in their midst. At this point, Fargo had already summoned every guard within the inner walls to their area. They had arrived¡ªonly about a few hundred left in the interior walls¡ªand it made him want to kill. Now it seemed like there were two sides with equal numbers of people. There was Altera with their complete couple of hundred attackers, and then Fargo''s side comprised mostly of the newly arrived guards¡ªall of whom were shocked to see that the war had already turned so dire after such a short time. Fargo naturally didn''t want to strip the other areas bare, but there was no point keeping guards in other places. He didn''t believe that those Alterans outside the wall could defeat the forces there, so this was not the time to hold back. He looked at the woman with the Class B weapon, to the people who all had Class D equipment, and then to the two beasts far stronger than should be allowable¡ª If he wanted to grab hold of this fascinating territory¡ªhe needed to go all out. No, he had to go above and beyond. And that was what he was planning to do. Chapter 545 - 545: Targets Fargo''s sharp eyes looked at the Alterans who were taking full advantage of the ''terrain'' and located in easily defensive spots. Even those on the roof only had to step back to avoid the projectiles. His eyes twitched. He didn''t think housing density would be used against him. In contrast to the Alterans, the beasts were well outside. It so happened that they had entered a plaza area he built around the inner walls to show ''exclusivity'' in contrast to the extremely dense outer walls¡ªa good portion of which were shanties. Of course, to say the Plaza was large was an exaggeration¡ªit was probably only a lot or two big¡ªbut it gave his side a clear vantage point of the two beasts, rather than them squeezing into a street and shooting blindly in front. "Attack them," he said to the newcomers, pointing at the beasts as if he didn''t see how strong they were. However, he didn''t believe these things were invincible at all! Otherwise, they wouldn''t be allowed to participate in this war in the first place!! Further, Fargo didn''t know if they could become slaves once they won Altera, but he couldn''t allow these beasts to be moving and culling his people. At this, all attacks¡ªeven by the newcomers''¡ªfocused on the two beasts. Those in front kneeled down to avoid getting hit by those behind them, and soon a rain of attacks entered the area. Or rather, the exposed part¡ªjust to the beasts. After all, targeting the Alterans who could just hide behind the walls or houses was a waste of mana and bullets. It rained chaos of course, but the Alterans naturally didn''t hide away when they saw their brethren getting targetted. They didn''t lose with their attacks and they also rained arrows on the other side. The Elementalists who still had a good amount of mana would also throw a shot here and there, and more often than not would hit someone. Similarly, Gochi and Fufi naturally didn''t just stand by as they were attacked, but the force of the barrage was effectively pushing them back, with the two only occasionally managing to swipe one or two. "Don''t falter! FIRE!" Fargo saw the effect and yelled, and soon the Alterans would occasionally hear Fufi squeak and Gochi groan, and they knew they''d soon be getting some serious injuries soon. Fargo was right about them not being indestructible. They weren''t so overpowered that they couldn''t get hurt at all by such a barrage. It reddened the Alterans'' eyes, and their attacks turned much fiercer than ever. Those above the roofs were also raining down their arrows, though there weren''t many of them. Althea was shooting as much as she could. Her mana was still recovering, but a shot from a Class B weapon was enough to greatly damage enemies weaker than she was. Several smoke bombs were thrown in, though most of them would always be deflected. There would also be many short-range fighters going out with their sheildsmen to attack head-on. They didn''t hold back and treated this as the final fight for the sake of Gochi and Fufi. Gochi realized this and his tears pooled. The war was still long, he mused, they shouldn''t be expending so much energy like this! The half-orc seemed to have been injected with a renewed energy and his eyes turned red as he lunged towards the middle of the enemy crowd, swiping, kicking, and stabbing whoever he could. "AH!" "GAH!" Soon, the two beasts breached the formation. Unlike the brave and consolidated Alterans though, the other side were innately selfish people who could push other people down. And some already did. The lack of trust combined with fear and panic caused the formation to break, and no amount of announcements calmed them down. They couldn''t focus their attacks on the enemies and a lot of people perished under the Alteran''s onslaught of attacks. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fargo and the others gritted their teeth, joining the fray. The difference between the two groups was that Fargo''s was focusing on brute force¡ªespecially with the higher skill level of Fargo and the others¡ªwhile the Alterans were focused more on teamwork, which was easier now because the number of enemies had been greatly reduced the past hour or so. Fargo, Uzon, and the others used their lethal skills to handle a few enemies at once¡ªshowing how they were so feared back in Terran. "GAH!" Two Alterans yelled simultaneously as two spikes appeared underneath them. Their armors, having no time to change to their spare, had already showed cracks from the long-term battle royale and the spike happened to be the breaking point. "OOF!" One yelled as it stabbed his leg, and the other one fell as it stabbed his stomach. Their teammates yelled and tried getting to them, but Fargo and the others took advantage of this to get more people. For instance, they''d allow the teammates to get closer, only to prepare a deadly attack just for them. Before they could inflict even more lethal attacks though, another powerful arrow flew in their direction.. "AH!" Uzon yelled as he barely avoided the arrow, creating a gash on his arm. "Damn that woman!" He took out his last shotgun and pointed at her. Althea didn''t pause and continued to shoot at other mercenaries. Belize was there to guard the lord from attacks so Althea didn''t bother to waste ammo on Fargo and focused on other people instead. Fargo punched another Alteran who appeared behind him. Sadly his mana had to be maintained so he didn''t use another skill. As he jumped and kicked two more, he couldn''t help but look up at the beautiful woman targeting his strongest guards. She was drenched in sweat, obviously overusing the weapon, and he wondered if it was their chance. Fargo''s instincts told him this woman was the key to all of this! Was she one of the leaders of this attack? The best way to kill the morale was to take down a commander. Fargo kept his cool despite the damned headache, looking at Uzon beside him, who was cursing as the beast once again blocked a shot while killing one or two guards in front of him. "Damnit! Does it know how to calculate my projectile?" "That''s because you''re in the wrong position," Fargo said, and the man''s eyes brightened, sprinting in another direction. It so happened that there were a set of houses directly adjacent to each other. The walls couldn''t be scaled, but the various surfaces could be manipulated. Meanwhile, several guards shakily blocked the beast, trying to attack him. As the fight went on, with Fargo protected well from attacks, he soon caught sight of Uzon on a roof behind her, just out of her sight. He quickly positioned himself, pressing the trigger as soon as he settled. Uzon targeted her head. BANG! They were expecting the woman to finally fall down, if not receive lethal damage to the head. Even if it was unlikely to kill a level 10 like her, it could imbalance her and let her fall down the roof¡ªat least! It was a pity for the beauty, but maybe they could keep her corpse! However, she stood tall, even freaking pointing arrows at them. "AH!!" Another one fell down. "What?" Uzon shook and made two more shots. BANG! BANG! And it was the same. Belize looked at the woman in disbelief. "She has a very good armor, milord. I can''t tell the level as it seems hidden, but it can''t be inferior to her weapon." She was obviously not wearing anything on her head, but it was so well-defended. Only Class B defense equipment (or above, but unlikely) could have the so-called ''total defense'' quality. Fargo and the others''s eyes shone light at this. That meant that the woman had at least a class B weapon and armor on her! He looked at Belize, who was easily redirecting the attacks headed towards him, deflecting them towards their own team. Sometimes it was successful, more often the person was pulled back by his team. How these people find the time to rescue their teammates was beyond them. That woman, with her equipment, had to be dealt with by someone far, far, stronger than she was. While he didn''t know what Belize was hiding while refusing to use his skills, he was the best chance they had to take her down. High-level individuals attacking during wars would cause great losses to the attacker, but from what he knew as long as the ''victims'' weren''t killed, they had no risk of losing their lives. At most, it would probably be a lot of money and experience. He needed her alive anyway. First, he wanted to find out how she got those equipment. Second, it was no fun torturing a corpse. "It''s time for you to bring her here and take her down," he said. "In exchange, you can have one of her weapons as well as another portion of land when we upgrade." His words made Belize look at him. "Milord?" Fargo stared, all while throwing a sharp rock to stop an Alteran from bothering their conversation. "What do you think?" Chapter 546 - 546: Versus Belize (Part 1) Belize looked at the beautiful woman who was continuously shooting arrows in their direction, with someone from their side falling each time. Even if it wasn''t from direct damage, they''d be down due to some sort of poison or paralysis. She must not be more than level 10, yet she was causing his side so much damage. Normally, he''d be offended that a woman would be holding such a good weapon but oddly it just fit in her hand. She was so beautiful and fascinating. There was something in the way she held herself that stood out, and it was difficult even for enemies to look away. He could tell there was no other woman like her. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. That, and combined with the charm of Class B weapons and armor, he found himself nodding at the lord''s offer Class B weapons were very effective for beasts level 40 and below. Because the human physique was much weaker, it could provide massive damage to humans until level 50 or even more. Class B equipment also had extremely high durabilities versus Class C weapons, with the lowest of the same kind being 10x more durable. Not to mention, that weapon was especially colorful. It seemed like it was of the superior sort. While Class B weapons and armors wasn''t extremely rare in cities, they were still very expensive that even nobles might not own one. This was because the gap between Class C and B was not small¡ªmost weapons and equipment makers would peak at the former. The difference between Class C and B weaponsmakers were farther than the moon and the ground, not to mention the material requirements which increased with rarity and cost. As architects tended to stagnate as Class D Architects, majority of equipment makers would peak at Class C, even after decades of practice. This was why many level 40s or stronger might settle for Class C weapons, which had diminishing effects against monsters above level 30. Class B equipment also had extra effects and damage that Class C weapons would not have. For example, the full armor effect of this woman''s defense or the special penetration effect of her bow and arrow. At his level and proficiencies, such a weapon was extremely useful, especially when dealing with fellow Elementalists. After a certain point, a lot of Elementalists could start doing away with weapons and still cause major damage to beasts and humans equipped with aether gears. Similarly, the effects of non-elementalist attacks on them were also reduced by a bit, unless it was a class B weapon and above. Belize''s proficiency hadn''t reached that level yet, so such a weapon¡ªhe happened to also prefer bows and arrows¡ªwould be extremely useful to him! A little excited, Belize didn''t attack immediately and looked at his own stats. He only had about half of the mana remaining and still hadn''t recovered much after all this time. He frowned but decided it didn''t matter much. He simply had to end it fast! He lunged forward, jumping up the plateaus the lord made, reaching her area within a few blinks. He immediately summoned winds in an attempt to imbalance her. She frowned as she was blown away, taking out a sword and stabbing the roof with it. Unfortunately for her, system buildings were quite durable and the low-level Sword wasn''t able to embed enough to stop her momentum. Belize''s eyes sharpened and he jumped to her, intending to take her down while she was imbalanced. Unsurprisingly, the massive half-orc arrived in front of her, swiftly kicking him and holding her arm. Belize turned and maneuvered, landing on the neighboring roof a few meters away. He watched as the half-orc lifted her back up to stability and a moment later they were ready to fight together with him. Belize narrowed his eyes. He didn''t want to use aggressive techniques from the get-go in case he could deal with them without having to receive the penalties¡ªwhich would definitely not be small¡ªbut it seemed like it would be unavoidable. He raised his hands and soon, wind began to congregate around him. He wasn''t able to develop his close-range fighting as a talent limitation. He would have trouble engaging in a hand-to-hand combat with a half-orc half his level. Using his bow and arrow would also be useless against the half-orc''s speed and the woman''s defenses, so he could only use his elements. He frowned, looking at his mana again, before quickly summoning wind blades. Unfortunately, the half-orc carried the woman and managed to avoid the slashes. Belize didn''t follow up, opting to strategize and maximize his remaining mana. Seeing him have such reservations about using his skills, Althea smiled. Hey, she mused, the experimental Mana Reducer seemed to have worked this time. Of course, she only managed to make one so she asked Juni to choose the target well. While risky due to the man''s high level, it seemed that this one paid off. The man was in his level 30s and still saw some effects. In her estimate, if it was given to weaker jerks, they might not even be able to use their skills at all for days. Too bad the ingredients were difficult to obtain¡ªmost of which were dried plants from the Ferrol Fair¡ªand it took too long to make, otherwise she''d have given hundreds to distribute to the guards here. Of course, she didn''t feel complacent despite this. Belize was still a level 30 elementalist¡ªthrice her level and twice that of Gochi¡ªso it was in no way an easy fight. Further, a level 30''s slowly recovering mana might still be bigger than what she had. In the end, Belize opted to be more conservative¡ªit was unsightly to give so much against a woman so much weaker than he was¡ªand only used his ability for support. Belize might not have such great skills in close-ranged combat, but his level made up for it a bit and he would sprint in her direction¡ªusing his ability to add speed¡ªwith a knife, aiming to hurt her. He raised his feet and aimed to kick away the beast. Unsurprisingly, the beast was fast and was about to take his leg when he used wind to turn himself at an awkward angle, aiming straight for her body. CLANK! His eyes twitched. He had hoped his Class D knife could have an effect but it didn''t do a thing. He was hoping the Terran gun was just useless, but it seemed the woman really had very good defense equipment. He leaned back as he avoided a sudden attack¡ªunexpected because it wasn''t coming from the angle of the half-orc¡ªand stepped back to avoid another. The third one was faster and bigger and it hit him straight at the stomach. "OOF!" he coughed, surprised. The damage wasn''t too large, but it was a nuisance and he had no choice but to move roofs again. Looking back, he saw several rocks floating around the woman, and he belatedly realized she was controlling it. His eyes widened a bit as he gaped at her. An elementalist! And¡ªlooking at how stable they were orbiting around her¡ªit made him wonder if level 10s were supposed to be able to control elements so proficiently? Not only did she have high-level equipment, she was also a proficient elementalist even at such low level. Who was she?! He shook his head, knowing this was not the time to be in a daze. He heaved a deep breath as he looked sharply at the woman. The half-orc stood next to Althea, as if awaiting for her instructions. Gochi didn''t defend her from the bows and arrows that would occasionally target them anymore. This was because he realized her defense equipment was far superior to what he had ever seen. He still stuck to her, of course, knowing full well the enemy this time wasn''t weak. He turned to look at the thin man guardedly, as if he wasn''t a few heads shorter than he was. "Should I attack him, Miss Althea?" he asked, extremely respectful. The woman then looked at Belize, emerald eyes peering analytically at him. Belize, to be honest, found it a bit unsettling. "We''ll attack him together," she said. "He''ll lose fuel soon." Belize''s eyes widened a bit at her words, turning red in anger at the realization. "So it was you!" So it was her who messed with his mana! Althea smiled a bit, looking at him inquisitively. If the timing was okay, she looked like she would bring out her notebook to record his answers. "Can you tell me more about its effect? How slow are you recovering? If you use a skill now, when will mana start to recover??" His eyes twitched, completely insulted and angry¡ªfeeling as if he was being played with. How dare she! He no longer cared about his limitations. Anyway, if he damaged her fast enough, he wouldn''t need so much mana! Suddenly, sharp wind blades surrounded him. And this time? They were aiming to maim. Chapter 547 - 547: Versus Belize (Part 2) Altera, a week ago One morning, Gochi was doing his standard rounds around the territory, looking for refugees, clearing monsters, and at the same time taking note of the plants there. His teammates were not too far away. They didn''t mind him ''slacking'' occasionally to check out plants because that meant a short break for them, too. In fact, at first, even if it didn''t take too long, he did feel a bit guilty. But his teammates convinced him that it was good to have someone who knew more about plants and that maybe he''d trigger the Pharmacist occupation someday. Gochi couldn''t bear to tell them it didn''t work that way, but he smiled for their well wishes anyway. His ears moved when he heard distant rustles, guardedly looking in the direction of the sound. Immediately, his teammates stood up, alert, and they immediately softened when they saw who it was. "Miss Althea?" Then they also stood straight, recalling her position. "We''re doing our rounds, Miss Althea!" "Yes, Miss Althea!" Their silliness made her smile. "So you guys are here," she said. "Hello, Gochi," she said, and then turned to greet the other people behind him, mentioning their names, which made them all feel a bit giddy. "Don''t mind me, I''m just looking for a few things," she said, continuing to peruse the area and her eyes ended up on the plant Gochi was holding. "Where''d you get that?" Gochi blinked and pointed at a cluster of plants nearby, partially hidden by the shrubs. "Ah, thanks," she said, walking over. Her eyes brightened and she immediately kneeled down, a small shovel appearing in her hand. They watched as she gracefully dug up a whole plant including its roots. She took out a small pot from her space, planted it there. As she settled the plant to its new ''home'', she began to speak. "This is called Amerie," she said. "It''s a fire retardant and we''re experimenting on its various uses." "Fire Retardant?" "It''s something that would slow down the spread of fire," she said. "It''s also the main ingredient for the fire killer ball." Gochi happened to be there when they tested it out. His lips twitched. "I see¡­ it''s amazing." She smiled and looked at him, telling him of the various signifiers as well as characteristics found in certain plants. This would give him an idea of its potential uses¡ªeven without an appraisal skill. Gochi shook, flattered at the selfless giving of knowledge. "T-Thank you, Miss Althea." "No problem. I hope you awaken a pharmacist occupation someday." His eyes widened and he blushed, shaking his head. "A half-orc''s use is in their physiques." "Aw, don''t limit yourself like that." Gochi shook his head. "I mean, as a natural rule of nature, we do not receive inheritances from the World Knowledge." It simply didn''t work that way, much like how humans suddenly couldn''t grow claws and tails like they could. This made Althea pause, and everyone else looked at him in pity. But then she opened her mouth again, and Gochi''s eyes widened at her next words. "Who says the system has to tag you for you to become a pharmacist? ¡­ ____ Fargo Village, Present. The air around them moved sharply, converging around Belize. The next moment, they condensed into sharp blades. With a wave of a hand, the slashes were barrelled in Althea''s direction¡ªarriving in front of them in a blink of an eye. Even before the attack was thrown, Gochi moved to place himself in front of Althea, but she pulled him back, placing herself in front of them instead. "Miss Althea¡­!" he yelled, but it was too late to change positions again. The wave pounded on them like as if a car hit them¡ªor rather, Althea¡ªstraight on. Gochi caught her back to cushion the movement, but the force was still there and they were carried far, all the way to the adjacent roof a few meters away. . sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The wind blades were composed of many smaller wind shrapnels and Gochi, who was behind Althea, was still punctured and stabbed a lot. His armor had also given way under the relentless attacks. The damage, if he had stood in front of her instead, could''ve been debilitating. But Gochi didn''t notice his own wounds as he was focused on the woman in front of him, heart warm and eyes tearing a bit as he looked at her. Althea''s outerwear was also damaged a bit, revealing a silky white camisole inside but, otherwise, she didn''t seem particularly damaged at all. However, she was showing a lot more skin than proper because her outer clothing was shredded, revealing the few layers of cloth underneath. If a normal human man was in Gochi''s place, he''d have had a nosebleed. Fortunately for him, he didn''t feel attraction to another race so he was safe from Garan''s future hunting. The air settled, revealing the roof area they were just standing in. The attack made most of the wood shingles detach and fly. Considering that her low-level bombs could cause similar damage, this attack showed the damage a higher level elementalist could create. Belize heaved a deep breath, panting and sweaty. This was not surprising. After all, he used one of his premier¡ªand most mana-consuming¡ªtechniques. Despite the tiredness though, he had a smile on his face. He was confident that they''d come out of it damaged. After all, how many people of the same level had he killed with this same technique! When he received the inheritance for this, he felt that he had finally been blessed with strength after struggling for so long! Elementalist attacks also had special strengths against defense equipment, especially if it was against a weaker opponent. If Althea was wearing Class C defense equipment, she''d have indeed been greatly damaged by that attack. If it was a B class, she would also get some damage because of her level. This was because like with her weapon, she wouldn''t have been able to maximize its defensive properties either. This was what Belize had been counting for. Too bad for him, Althea had Class A undergarments she received from the World Knowledge. Obviously, such rules would not apply to such equipment. Belize''s eyes constricted when he saw the two of them still standing stably, more or less still okay when normal enemies would''ve been shredded! "IMPOSSIBLE!!" Chapter 548 - 548: Gochi’s Battle "IMPOSSIBLE!" He yelled, and a few others watching also gaped. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Some Alterans had taken down many of the guards and had the time to watch. "Miss Althea is so OP!" "I knew she was strong but¡­ that''s a level 30 elementalist! Does that mean she can take on even stronger? She can totally fit in towns, then?" Of course, while it was miraculous for a level 10 to survive a level 30 elementalist''s continuous attacks, it wasn''t that easy. A moment later, Althea coughed a bit of blood. "Miss Althea!" Gochi yelled, positioning himself in front of her, not noticing his own wounds. She waved her hand. The armor was an armor to block attacks, but if the level difference was high¡ªespecially if it was elementalist attacks¡ªthen she''d still feel some of the internal impacts. So she would still try to avoid them lest she get internal injuries. "It''s fine," she said, "Focus on the enemy. He shouldn''t have much mana left after that." Gochi nodded, turning, immediately lunging to attack the man. He didn''t want to give him a chance to use whatever mana he had left. At this point, Belize was just shaken seeing him being pushed like this by people half and a third of his level! With red eyes he raised his hands, he called the wind elements around him, slashing them to meet the half-orc. "AH!" Gochi yelled as a strong gust of sharp wind passed him. Deeper scratches appeared on his strong skin, and he was thrown far away. Belize was filled with bloodlust and he actually started targeting the half-orc, determined to kill one of them as soon as possible. "Gochi!" Althea exclaimed, raising her hand and a boulder 1 meter in diameter appeared above Belize. It fell down and he had to step back. When he saw a small part could still land on him he used a little mana to push the location of its fall. He turned to look at Althea, who was still a few meters away. Belize had no idea where she got the boulder, but at least she got his attention. In fact, the boulder came out right from her space. She always had a boulder in her space. It wasn''t any bigger than 1 cubic meter though so as to not betray that she had space stones. As for how far they could make them appear, it would depend on how far the ''image'' of the magic space overlaid with their dimension. Since her space was larger than others, this meant that she could make it appear from farther than others as well. Similarly, she didn''t have to touch things before putting them in space anymore! She called the pieces of the stone that broke into many pieces to surround her, and Belize¡ªnot expecting her to be able to control stones so far away¡ªwas hit by the stones. Bang! Bang! Bang! It didn''t really hurt him much, but it did ache and his pride was once again stomped on, making him very angry. He was an elementalist so much stronger than she was! She shouldn''t even be able to touch his shoes! At those thoughts, he took out an expensive-looking bottle from his space and gulped it down. It was his only bottle of mana potion left and, in anger, he threw the bottle away in a random direction. Althea''s eyes were partially distracted by the bottle he threw away, but quickly concentrated on the battle at hand. At this point, Belize didn''t seem to care about his mana and was determined to just take her down swiftly before he ran out of it. The same blades from before surrounded him, but he pushed himself, making them appear even larger than the one before. He was pale and sweating, but he counted on this attack to weaken her equipment. The rotating stones clashed with his wind slashes, chipping them away quickly. After all, how could a low-level earth user like her fight against such wind? Of course, Althea would never uselessly waste her own mana. The earth dropped on the surface, immediately creating spikes on the floor between them. Belize''s armor equipment was only weaker Class C, and his footwear was even lower. He felt little tingles in his feet, and this slight distraction made him almost miss a sharp earth spike that went straight to his face. Almost, and he used a wind skill to block it. It was sent at a tricky angle though so it still hit and grazed his arm. He frowned. If he was sure he wouldn''t be hunted down due to the Visionstone, he''d have sold it off instead of giving it away. At the time he thought that if Fargo was unsatisfactory, then he''d just take over. By that time, the Visionstone was already integrated to his own token so it wouldn''t have mattered. Now, he was regretting it a bit. He should''ve sold the Visionstone in the black market to get a couple of good equipment, instead. This moment of melancholy lasted a second and Belize threw all the blades in Althea''s direction the next instant. The wind blades reached Althea, hitting her like a truck. Althea blocked herself from another attack, but this one was stronger and there was no Gochi to catch her back. She coughed, being thrown to another roof. Belize ran forward and didn''t give her time to stand up. "Miss Althea!" The people below yelled, with quite a few people long trying to get up the roof (tho sadly blown away by Belize''s raging winds). They could only watch as Belize hovered over Althea, who was lying on her back. He extended his hand upward, the flow of his hair and shirt indicative that the wind surrounded him, concentrating on his arms. His eyes were red and everyone knew this was his final shot with all of his remaining mana. Before he could stab her with the invisible wind blade, a shadow rushed in. "MISS ALTHEA!" the newcomer yelled, eyes at the woman he admired¡ªa woman who believed in him and had taught him so many things¡ª He was a bit bloody but his eyes were red, blocking the aborigine with his body, sharp golden eyes looking straight at him. "FREEZE!" Gochi growled, summoning his low-success skill in his desperation. [Used! Partial paralysis skill!] Belize''s eyes widened as¡ªeven for just those few seconds¡ªhe couldn''t move at all. "Miss Althea!" Gochi yelled and Althea flinched, realizing what he had done. Althea knew that the effect of the skill would be limited due to the high level difference. She didn''t hesitate to attack. As she laid down, a little weak, she took out the Bellagio and used all of her remaining mana to aim it at his head. Whoosh! Splack!! Everyone watched as the magical arrow embedded on Belize''s skull. The effect of the paralysis was over, but Belize couldn''t move. He just stood, shaking, and soon lost the feeling of his body and falling down head first, all the way to the ground. Several Alterans converged to see his dying body, looking at the sky, still absorbing what was happening to him. Never in his dreams would he imagine that he''d fall in a small village. But he did. He let out slight croaking sounds as if trying to speak, but nothing came out in the end. And, just like that, Belize was no more. Chapter 549 - 549: Rewarded There was a metaphorical silence all around them, Belize''s death naturally causing shockwaves among those who saw him perish. A few moments after Belize breathed his last, a familiar ding sounded inside Althea''s head. [Killed! Level 31 Wind Elementalist! +1100 Experience Points! +16000 Experience Point Level discrepancy bonus, +30000 experience points Elementalist bonus!] S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Levelled up! Congratulations, you are now Level 11!] Her eyebrows rose as she took out a few healing potions and handed half of them to Gochi. She allowed herself to rest on the roof, taking the moment to look at her stats. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 25 Level: 11 (13020/45000) Life: 2700/4000 Spirit: 2500/4000 +50 Physical: 760 +40 Agility: 739 +10 Defense: 726 +134 Mana: 1140/5000 Physical Potential: A Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1), Triple Shot (D), Curved Shot (C ), Earth Mapping (D), Earth Spring (D) Passive: Mana Reduction (C) Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense Synthetic Vest +3 Defense Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit Medina Robe (C): +40 Defence Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK Leather Gloves +1 Defense Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ] Althea''s eyebrows rose. There was not only experience point for the level discrepancy¡ªwhich so far seemed to be 1000 for every level beyond 5¡ªbut also extra for taking down elementalists. Killing humans, like when in Terran, would only give them experience points. As with beasts, nothing would be gained either if the level difference was too far below the killer either. Although she had barely leveled up, this was still a huge jump in experience. It was simply more difficult to level up as one grew, with a person having to kill more and more monsters of the same level compared to when they were weaker. One could only receive experience, in general, if one was no more than 5 levels stronger than a monster (even less for her and her husband). Speaking of this, her husband and his team reaching their levels only after 4 months was indicative of just how much they fought to be stronger¡ªand her heart tinged again at the thought. How easy would it be to kill a level 20 monster at the same level as a human being? For most people, especially aborigines, it was easily a life-and-death situation, especially if it was a one-on-one. In any case, with this kill, she had received quite a bit of experience. Too much, actually. According to her husband, killing a level 20+ monster wouldn''t even get a 4-digit experience. So¡­ getting 10,000 in one kill was extremely attractive. Hey, she was curious. How much experience would killing her, a person with 3 elements, give? ¡­ She didn''t dwell on this curiosity for now. After a brief rest, she stood up and took out her normal arrows. Although much, much, weaker, this wouldn''t take so much mana. Anyway, there were weaker men here and a class D set would suffice. She looked down and saw most of the men around Fargo had weakened. There were still a few hundreds, but they hadn''t increased in numbers so far. They were probably focused on the remaining Alterans outside the walls. She looked at Fargo, who was now fighting the Alterans as well. However, he happened to have a massive amount of contribution points on his head so he was definitely being mobbed by the ''greedy and brave'' Alterans who wanted to get those points. At this time, he was fighting against five people, being defended and shielded by his people beyond the level cap. Interestingly, even if the attacks got dangerously close to Fargo, none of the aborigines'' bothered to do lethal attacks. Obviously, they didn''t think it was worth being punished to save Fargo''s ass. However, her people were still losing mana and sustaining some damage so she turned to Gochi, who had also partially recovered. "Help them out, will you?" The half-orc nodded, jumping down to assist against the fight with Fargo. His entrance added a major momentum in the mobbing of Fargo, with Gochi dealing with the stronger individuals. Not only were their levels not too high, but many of them had been poisoned by Althea, making them much weaker than usual. She couldn''t help but watch Gochi as he fought, her mind recalling the skill he had. It was powerful even though it was a bit difficult to activate. She had asked him about it when he first used his ability as an Alteran and found out that their half-orcs also had various unusual skills that they would begin to exhibit at a certain age. Gochi mentioned his old friends that he was with back in Hoskle. First, there was a half-orc named Baku, which was similar to tigers according to his description. He seemed to have a roar skill that shook all the surroundings. It was an area of effect skill that could make everyone his level and below freeze for a few seconds at the minimum¡ªlonger if the enemy was weaker Then there was Nana¡ªapparently pregnant when they separated¡ªwho seemed to have likeliness to a rabbit-human hybrid. She had super speed skills far superior to human''s speedster types. She could also jump high and dig holes, apparently with speed superior to the goblins (not that Gochi knew of any Goblins, but that was what the rabbit told him). Finally, there was Maomao, an avian half-orc, who could fly. Her skill was similar to wind elementalist of summoning strong winds with her wings. She could also fly fast, though sadly her wings were clipped because she was too small to carry a man and was therefore useless with flight. (Althea also noted that Gochi''s eyes softened at the mention of this one and her lips couldn''t help but twitch in amusement because a fox and a bird was an odd combination no matter what). They didn''t have classes or skill levels like humans did, either. They just either had it or not, and it''d increase in proficiency the more they used it well. There also seemed to be hereditary factors on the specific skill sets, wherein a child was more likely to receive a similar skill to that of his or her parents than any other skills. This was why they wouldn''t ever receive inheritance from the World Knowledge because they wouldn''t have been able to contribute their own skills. Hence, Gochi never thought he would be a pharmacist in the conventional sense of the word. With this, she could conclude that half-orcs, and of course orcs, must have a totally different power system than that of humans. It seemed that different races had their own? For humans, it was the elements (and also those of enhanced physiques her husband encountered before). For goblins, it was apparently an innate sense of special stones and other things on top of their digging skills. For beasts, it was their upgraded physiques, while orcs and half-orcs seemed to have something entirely different. What of the others? ¡­what of her babies? Why were their abilities so¡­ different? BANG! Her eyebrows rose as she was pulled back from distraction by an attempted assassination. They probably thought a headshot could eventually get through if they did it often enough. She looked down to see it was Fargo himself, who had somehow managed to hide between three guards and took advantage to shoot a large shotgun at her. It was probably the strongest gun they had right now. Too bad it was still useless. Her emerald eyes were dark as she looked at him. She changed her mind, pulling back her Bellagio bow. "You''re next." Chapter 550 - 550: Targeting Fargo A/N: For those who read the previous chap on 05.10.2024 I edited it a bit lol. I realized I messed up the total experience requirement (Total EXP requirement to pass Level 10 was 40k, rather than the 60k originally listed). I''m sorry. Forgive the old lady. ... ___ "Another one! Milord! Watch out!" Another guard yelled. It was an aborigine sheildsman assigned to guard Fargo and he pulled up his shield to protect him from the new shot. CLANK! And another. CLANK! His eyes twitched as his entire arm shook. They looked at the shield''s stats and saw that it dropped the shield''s durability to only a fraction! This was a Class D weapon that had barely been used before this damned war! And now it wouldn''t survive another shot. He wasn''t able to think more as another looming figure reached him, passing everyone else. It was the tall half-orc who raised his claws, repeatedly pounding on him and his shield. "GAH!" CLANK! CLANK! CRASH! His eyes widened as his shield cluttered and the next thing he knew, the claw had already appeared above him, striking down. Fargo had long stepped back as soon as he saw the half-orc come near. Althea naturally didn''t want to waste her mana on the small fry, and had been targeting Fargo the whole time. It was just that she had to distract him a bit and take down more dangerous elements for her people. Now, more of her team had neared the area and dealing with Fargo''s men, she could resume targeting him again. "Damn, my lord! She''s targeting you! It''s best you get out of her line of sight!" At this time Uzon was pushed back by Fufi. The man gritted his teeth and continuously tried to stab, but Fufi was strong and swift and he was barely able to damage him at all. "Hey, you people! Help me out here!" He called several mercenaries who twitched at the bloody sight of his enemy. Uzon, now free, immediately raised his hand¡ªnow with only a couple of bullets left¡ªaiming right on the woman''s head. He refused to believe she was invincible¡ªespecially in their turf! If he shot a few more times, maybe it''d go through! S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Bitch!" Uzon yelled, targeting his gun at the woman. He saw that the beast and half-orc were distracted, and he doubted they''d reach her in time! However, before he could pull the trigger, he was forced to step back. Just in time, too, as a sharp sword swiped right where his arm was. His thick eyebrows furrowed as he turned to look at his attacker. Uzon''s eyebrows rose when he saw who it was, seeing a handsome blonde looking at him. "You!" "Remember me?" Micheal asked, eyes dark, very unlike the poor battered man from Bright, and now completely like the mafia boss that he grew up like. "You¡ª" Uzon gathered his cool and just sneered at the man who lost his token to his friend. "You''re like a cockroach." "I have to say thank you, I never would''ve been pushed to my limits if it wasn''t for your¡­ friendships." The man sneered hiding his gun and taking out his sword. Uzon immediately jumped back and raised his weapon. However, Micheal was a trained fighter and he ducked, lunging towards him. The two entered an impressive swordfight that created a vacuum around them. It was a very tense fight. While Uzon was a little bigger, a level higher, and was much more experienced in cold-blooded killings, Micheal still managed to hold his ground. This was because, unlike Uzon, who was trained mostly in hot weapons, Micheal was also trained with various cold weapons¡ªthis included fencing and kendo¡ªand this leveled the fight between them. At some point they had gotten farther and farther from the main battle, entering their own world. The sounds of swords clashing abounded and Uzon''s eyes twitched as he felt the durability of his sword go lower. He also had a class D weapon bought from the Rongos, but for some reason, the blonde''s seemed a bit more¡­ durable? "Tsk," he gritted his teeth when a particularly deep gash appeared on his leg. He sent the blonde a bad look. "How can you even fight with me in the first place?" The blonde didn''t hold back, continuously parrying. "Luckily, we vowed not to harm Bright, but not Fargo." Uzon frowned. They didn''t really take notice at the time because in their minds, it was impossible for him to make a comeback. While in terms of power they were equally matched, in terms of equipment Micheal''s was superior. He borrowed some money to equip himself to the teeth and it was saving his limbs many times. He also borrowed some money to get a bit of that paralysis potion. Uzon''s eyes twtched when he realized the places where his wounds were starting to feel numb. He glared at Micheal, having an idea of what he did. "I see you used some potion like a coward," he said, trying to avoid another hit, only to get a small wound on his face. He stabbed his own leg with a small knife to enduce physical stimulation¡ªa decisive move to lessen the effects of the paralysis on him. Micheal continued to stab and parry, unaffected by his words at all. "Nothing more cowardly than taking advantage of the weak," he said. Uzon sneered as he attacked with all his might, pushing his limits despite the wounds and the poison. Obviously, Uzon had been trained in poison immunity so the effects were much lesser to him than others. At some point, Uzon would take advantage of the major adrenaline rush and barrage him with attacks until Micheal was just as bloodied as he was. The more they exchanged hits, the more Micheal recalled the damage and death these people caused them. Adrenaline flowed and his attacks came even faster and harder¡ªbeyond his usual level¡ª [Learned! Berserk (D) Level 1: Increase all physical attacks by 30% for 1 minute. Cost: 30 mana, Cooldown: 30 minutes] His eyes sharpened, using it to the max, and soon a flurry of attacks pummeled Uzon, Crack! Breaking his sword. "Shit!" Uzon cursed as he felt a stinging pain in his arm. "OI! HELP ME!" He yelled at the nearest guard, but sadly they had their hands full with the Alterans¡ªwho were, frankly, as durable as cockroaches! Uzon immediately ran backwards, holding his gun, immediately shooting at him. Uzon''s hands were shaky due to the injuries and the poison. His first two shots missed and hit collateral damages, one Alteran and one was a teammate. But the Alteran had an armor so while he received some internal injuries, he survived. It was not the same for the other guy, however. Uzon''s heart beat loudly as panic dawned on to him, and he immediately used the remaining bullets. Micheal tried avoiding, but he couldn''t avoid everything. BANG! BANG! BANG! Micheal''s eyes twitched as two of the bullets hit him. One almost made him lose his footing but he pursued, and the other hitting his minimally armed arm, making it bleed. But Micheal didn''t feel anything. He yelled, using the final second of his skill to finally land the kill. STAB! When Uzon received the fatal stab through his heart, his knee buckled as he held on to the blade. His fallen figure reflected on Michea''s blue eyes. "I''m going to take back Bright." he said, gritting his teeth. "Your friend is next." And Uzon was no more. Chapter 551 - 551: Abandonment It was chaos all around the territory, whether it was within the interior walls or the outer ones. After all, the condition of winning the war was to keep most of the attackers from entering the main walls. In the outer wall, two aborigines were already preparing to leave prematurely. While the regulations would allow them to leave without repercussion if they had lost enough health during the war or a mob, they really didn''t want to stay for much longer¡ªeven if it meant their month would be unpaid. The people here certainly left nothing to miss. They didn''t want to be ordered around by these jerks any longer. And these people got worse when they caught up with their levels. While it was shocking¡ªhow relatively fast these people leveled up¡ªthat was all muted by how arrogant they became afterwards! Those who were at the bottom of the ladder back when they first arrived now acted as if they were lords in whatever area they were assigned to! Of course, they had seen worse in the other territories they''ve been in¡ªso that couldn''t be the reason for their premature abandonment. It wasn''t fear of becoming slaves either. Both of them were residents of towns (they still paid for it monthly), even if they didn''t live there. Rather, they were leaving because of¡­ curiosity. At this, they turned to look at yet another fight going on in a nearby street. The enemy team still had teams comprising of hundreds of people going around, looking for ways over the wall and away from the sentries. While it wouldn''t be easy, their solid teamwork and camaraderie had prevented any deaths even after so long. If anyone was injured, they''d be healed and protected. During battles, they would defend each other, and their attacks were well-timed and powerful. This was in stark contrast to the guards hunting them. They were at least twice or thrice the number, yet dying one by one. And more importantly, the two of them had seen the attackers. There were a few familiar faces there. Those were their heroes! How could they fight them? And¡­ they couldn''t help but think: what kind of territory did these heroic figures serve so wholeheartedly? "Where are you going?" Mogi asked Rona, who was also fully packed and ready to go. Rona pursed her lips, awkwardly looking at the fight, eyes brightening a bit when someone pummeled a guard she found particularly annoying. She actually didn''t have a home. After registering in a town to protect herself from slavery¡ªpaying the monthly temporary residency fee¡ªshe just went from territory to territory that hired her. Going to another village would also just risk of the same. Besides, due to their premature abandonment, they would no longer be under the employ of the Chancery, at least for several moons. This would expose them to various risks that the lack of the chancery''s protection might cause. The two aborigines watched a bit more before looking at each other. "I''m curious about a place. What about you?" "I am." S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Shall we take a look?" "I''m¡­ not sure," Mogi said, conflicted. After all, he could just wait for the war to be over and then take a look after this month''s tenure was done, right? However, in Xeno, there was a stigma of working for a territory another went to war with. While the territories themselves wouldn''t see this information, the chancery would and then they''d be tagged as questionable hires. After all, it would mean they had likely betrayed the former territory, and the chancery didn''t take kindly to this at all. "Shall we go look for their array?" "And then?" Mogi looked at her, "What if someone was waiting to greet enemies there? Wanna get shot?" "I¡­" Rona paused. "I¡­ want to see." Mogi sighed, "Well, I get your point." This made the woman look at him with brighter eyes, knowing she was very near convincing this workmate of hers! It was at this moment that they heard screams from the fight. They saw their guards take a person, as if by hostage, and immediately the attacks on him halted. Mogi and Rona were a little startled, but not too surprised considering what they''ve seen of their characters so far. They weren''t pushovers either. Before the enemy could take advantage of the lull, Luis'' palms immediately emblazoned in fire as he lunged forward, rescuing a teammate¡ªwho was obviously not a guard¡ªfrom the hands of an enemy. He was immediately surrounded, but his team immediately attacked¡ªwithout hesitation¡ªand started a battle royale. Their steps paused and they couldn''t help but watch in fascination. Not only were they learning a lot, they were also a bit enlightened. Many times, they would think, ''Ah, so there was this way to fight.'' The Alterans coordinated very well and they had each other''s backs althroughout, and this was something they had not seen in such a large scale before. Sure, there were teammates or pairs that worked well, but an entire population? No, never. In fact, there were more aggressive Alterans who seemed to be about to get hit in their rush to attack, but immediately they would be shielded from harm, and then they''d handle that enemy with the newcomer. In any case, the more the aborigines watched, the more they realized a lot of the aggressive people weren''t being stupid and careless. They could attack their hearts out¡ªin an attempt to cause as much damage as they could¡ªonly because they trusted that their teammates had their backs. It was all quite fascinating until, somewhere along a fight, an Alteran was thrown in their direction. BANG! "DOG!" A woman yelled, worried. "I''ll be fine! Continue!" he yelled and the teammates reluctantly turned back to deal with the enemy as fast as they could. The man they called ''Dog'' landed on a street next to where they were watching, so the aborigines curiously walked over to see if he could still stand or if he was just being brave. They flinched when the lad then immediately sat up. They watched as he heaved a deep breath and took out a potion. He turned in their direction as he drank, looking at them guardedly and very much ready to attack the moment they made their move. "Enemy?" he asked, gulping the potion down carelessly. "No, we''re going away," "I see¡­" he mumbled, absorbing the effect of the potions and slowly stood up. Mogi, a guard, looked at him with narrowed eyes, looking at the young lad''s figure and stance. He noticed that the particularly skilled and strong people among the Alterans had the uniforms on. "Why don''t you have uniforms? Are they only given to the strong?" Dog looked at him weirdly. What a weird question to ask. "That''s for guards." Also, did he just imply he was weak? Jerk. The man didn''t seem to realize he had offended Dog. They just flinched when they realized he wasn''t a guard. "You''re not a guard?" "No," the man looked at him weirdly again, and they couldn''t help but feel a little embarrassed. "Most of us aren''t." "That''s¡­" Rona couldn''t help but count the many Alterans in their area alone¡ªwhich were apparently comprised mostly of civilians. "Why don''t you use slaves?" "Altera doesn''t use slaves," he said as if it was the clearest fact, before turning to ignore them. He lunged forward as soon as he felt somewhat recovered, and rejoined the fight with renewed passion. The aborigines'' eyes fixed on the fight once more, hearts beating fast, their decision to go through the array cemented to stone. They wanted to see what kind of territory would have its citizens so willing to go to a war for it! Chapter 552 - 552: Fighting Back (Part 1) Hired aborigines aside, there were also plenty of Terrans citizens who aimed to make it harder for their own ''ruling party''. There were plenty of locals trying to help out the ''enemy'' their own way, so to speak. In one area, a group of about a hundred local guards were against a smaller group of enemies. Because of the number discrepancy, the Alterans would seem to have no chance at first glance, but then they would explode in power every time they had to. Combined with their superior equipment as well as the certain elements flying here and there, the Fargo guard team encountered deep trouble despite outnumbering them several-to-one. For instance, a small blanket of fire would appear in an area and the Fargo guards would naturally try to avoid it. Those who couldn''t be burned, while those who did would hit and even step on their other teammates because of the narrowness of the space. The Alterans would take advantage of the imbalance to stab and attack. Slowly but surely the guards were taken down one by one. The watchers would also see that they never seemed to run out of strategies! For example, they''d have a formation when they were in relatively open space, and another when they were using the narrow streets and alleys. Many of the cowardly guards would give up trying to fight and would abandon the battle. It so happened that a few people passed by the alleys where several vindictive watchers lived. These very injured guards would be hit with various things as soon as they entered, some of which with surprising accuracy. One time it was stone, mostly displaced from the ongoing fights, sometimes it was a shoe, or a belt, or whatever. The current victim was a Terran guard at the peak of level 7. He was in pitiful condition. His arm was dripping blood, and his face was full of bruises and wounds. He was limping a bit as he walked, but he was definitely running away from the chaos with all his might. He was already suffering so much, cursing, and he was mentally ranting about how the world was unfair. Unfortunately or not, he was suddenly disrupted when he was hit with various little things. "AH!" He yelled when a rock hit his head, followed by another, and another. "STOP IT!" He shouted when an old shoe hit his face. His eyes turned red. "Leave me alone!" He yelled, "See what I''ll do with you when this is ov¡ª" Whoosh! An arrow flew straight to a tendon on his leg. "AH!" He yelled as he lost his balance and fell smack on the ground. He groaned. He was already in so much pain before, but now a freaking arrow decided to bury itself in his leg! Not to mention the new massive bruise on his face caused by the fall. He groaned, listening to a few footsteps coming in his direction. He cursed, shifting to get up, but a foot kicked him back down the ground. BANG! "OOOF!" The owner of the foot was none other than Kyle, a high-potential young lad that the soldiers rescued back when they reached Fargo the first time. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was worth noting that, even with his young age and mild temperament, the others seemed to look at him for support. Today though, his mood was particularly darker. Unlike the bubbly young man Gill and the others found, it seemed that the lad had grown several years after staying in this place for a couple of weeks. He glared at the man under his feet. "These hateful bastards!" he yelled with gritted teeth, kicking him back down over and over, releasing a lot of pent-up anger he was holding back the past few weeks. "You people made us suffer so much, this is our chance to return the favor!" The others around him had various expressions on their faces. Some were reluctant and worried about the repercussions, but most were nodding strongly¡ªnot really caring about the consequences. In any case, they pulled the bastard back to the house, whether it was to kidnap him or to avoid enemies altogether. Fortunately, the people nearby also saw what they had done, and also did the same. In each house, there were at least a few people who participated¡ªthere were no exemptions. Pretty much everyone with some moral compass had been victimized by at least one or two of Fargo''s men¡ªwhether it was Terran or someone from the mercenary team. And the hate was not small. They were too weak to try before, but now¡ªwith these bastards extremely weakened and alone¡ªthis was their chance to finally get their revenge! Unlike people hired through the Chancery, citizens of a territory could hurt their ruling party during the war unless they signed an oath of sorts. They could even hurt them outside of it, if there were no rules against violence. A lot of territories that felt they had absolute power would not bother with regulations, and Fargo was among these places. This lack of regulation that made many people suffer would also be the very reason why his men would be tortured to death! During this time, more and more enemies had trickled in, some even coming in small groups. They had no choice but to let the groups pass by. Even if the enemies were injured, they were only weak civilians! However, there were still a lot of lone or pairs who would pass through their streets, and the vengeful civilians would target these ''outliers''. As such, dozens of deserters ended up becoming victims of the bitter citizens they tortured for a long time! "What?!" "STOP IT!" "AHHHH!" Various yells like this echoed along alleys and streets in this area, and a lot of deserters that ventured in would no longer come out. After about an hour, Kyle''s group had half a dozen guards tied up and with broken limbs. On top of the damage caused to them by the Alterans, they were also badly beaten up by their captors. They were covered in blood and grime and snot and tears¡ªvery much unlike the arrogant pricks they were on a normal day. If one had no context, they''d even have pity on this evil men. However, sadly for these men, there was no one who felt so in that house. Kyle had about eight roommates (all of whom came here as refugees with him) and he took in about 10 refugees from the shanties during the earlier mob. Every and each one of them had beef with at least one person there. For weeks they endured the suffering these people caused them, and there was no amount of beating up felt enough! So they didn''t stop venting until they were tired, they didn''t stop hurting these people, finding their screams and cries addicting to the ears and healing to the heart. They beat them up by destroying their limbs and their crotches. Some would even outright stab them. It felt¡­ cleansing, and a few people even sobbed in satisfaction. One woman from the shanties had been abused by at least two of these men, while one of the men lost his daughter to them. There was also one whose brothers died as bait during the level 3 upgrade beast tide. He would never forget the smirking face of the men who threw him in the mob! And now he was going to destroy it! Kick! Bang! Slash! Stab! "GAAHHH!" "Stop itt!" As they heard the screams of pain of these psychopaths, they also prayed for the souls of the people lost in their hands. "My little princess! I hope you see this!" A man yelled at the sky, sobbing, and shaking as he stabbed the man a few more times. Another was crying as he continuously kicked a particular man, hoping he suffered for as long as possible. "We''ll see you rot in hell!" he yelled, finally taking out his sword and aiming for the bastard''s heart. "May you not cause any more pain from now on!" Stab! At this signal, the others looked at the rest of the men, shivering, and begging for their lives. But no one''s heart was softened at all. They acknowledged it was time to rid the world of these bastards. One by one, the six people died horrible deaths fitting of their crimes. Chapter 553 - 553: Fighting Back (Part 2) While this was ongoing, a certain former-reporter had been looking outside, her orbs looking sharply for something. She was completely unaffected by the yells behind her¡ªyells that resembled pigs for slaughter. She did not care about those men¡ªshe needed to find someone else. She was aptly watching outside, hoping to find that bastard! She had been following his assignments even before the war, and she recognized two of these men as his teammates. This meant that he must also be in an area! Maybe he''d even pass by here as well! Knowing him, he would definitely save his own ass¡ªeven if it meant bringing down everybody else! Minutes passed and the woman frowned, considering going outside and hunting for him herself. She might not be very strong, but maybe¡ªjust maybe¡ªshe''d find her half-dead somewhere! Maybe the heavens would hear her wish and let her take his life with her own hands! She was just about to lose hope of stumbling on him when someone emerged, entering their narrow street. Her eyes widened and she immediately ran to Kyle. "One more," Vivian said, shaking. "Please. Let us take that one." Kyle''s eyebrows rose as he looked outside to see the person she was referring to. It was Peko, one of the stronger individuals who had reached level 9. He was dragging himself across the streets and he had a major injury on one of his arms. Wasn''t he the captain? What''s he doing abandoning his men? Ah, well, no one can expect anything from him. Kyle narrowed his eyes and watched the man, trying to find the best way to deal with him. "Well?" Vivian asked. She looked apologetic but also impatient. Kyle understood her completely. "Well, I can''t guarantee we''ll get him," he said. Kyle looked at him, worried. After all, this was not like the ones they had been dealing with. Not to mention, Kyle himself was only level 7. "But we can try." Despite the worries, he took out his bow and arrow anyway. One less jerk like this on the street meant countless of lives saved. Kyle pulled the bow, following his figure as he traversed. He had gone past their house now and Vivian was naturally getting worried. Kyle didn''t dare shoot willy-nilly. As a captain, he naturally had more equipment than others. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He could tell his shirt was a Class D equipment and his pants were Class E equipment. He probably got them from pandering to the mercenaries. Or worse, selling or pimping out citizens for favor. His eyes zoned in on possible weaknesses and¡ª timing perfectly¡ªhe hit him right at the heel. Before the apocalypse, Kyle was in the running to join the national team for archery. His coach and more than half his teammates became zombies before the event¡ªso he didn''t know if he even made it to the team¡ªbut he was still way better than the others. Swoosh! "GAHHH!" They watched as Peko dropped down the floor, yelling, and trying to get the arrow off. Whoosh! Another came and hit his hand, keeping him from doing so! "AHHH! MOTHERF¨C" Vivian''s eyes brightened as she went out with a few big men and dragged him back with others by holding his feet. Peko gasped as he was dragged along the rough floor, his face rubbing on the surface below. "Whwat! ARGHH!" The next thing he knew the surface changed to the standard wood flooring and when he was turned, the first thing he saw was a blade held to his face by his favorite news anchor. "You¡ª!" "Hello, Peko," Vivian said, eyes red. "How nice to see you in that state." He was held down on both arms. He struggled and had freed a few arms, but was quickly held down by another. One even focused on his wounds, making him scream. "Stop struggling, Peko," Vivian said, and started with her attacks. He could only watch as she stabbed his only good hand left. She then proceeded to stab several more parts of him, including her most hated part¡ªhis crotch. "GYAAHHHH!" Vivian''s eyes turned red as she tortured him, hurting him not just for herself but also for her husband who must have suffered a lot under him. They had no access to the slaves for now, but she knew he must still be suffering now! Stab! Stab! Stab! "AHGH! BITCH! STOP! AHH!" Peko felt his unconscious slipping due to the extreme pain and as he lost pints after pints of blood. He glared at Vivian, unreconciled he would be killed in such an embarrassing way! Using his remaining energy, he spoke words that he knew would hurt her. "What''s the use of this?! Your husband is dead!" This made her pause. With red eyes, she looked at him. "What?" She mumbled, shakily pointing the knife on his neck. "Don''t think you''ll escape this¡ª" "Oh I know," Peko said, shivering from the stinging pain he was feeling. However, seeing the last bit of damage he could cause gave him some energy to grin. His teeth were chittering against each other, and he was completely bloodless, but he was determined to hurt her. "He got useless quickly, we had to get rid of ''em," he said, shivering. "I saw him roll off the cliff half-dead, just waiting to be mauled!" Vivian''s eyes turned red, wanting to shut him up! Stab! "AH!¡ªHow hopeless he must''ve felt¡ª!" Stab! "To not be able to¡ªmove and¡ªjust wait for death! HAHA¡ª" Stab!! He didn''t speak after that, but Vivian didn''t stop with her stabbing. After letting her vent a few more minutes, someone held her shoulders and someone else took the knife. "Stop it Vivian." Vivian looked unreconciled. "No, not yet! Wuuu¡ª" Peko was dead but Vivian couldn''t find the satisfaction of killing him at all! "No fair! No fair!!" She yelled, wanting to resuscitate the man just to torture him again. "Wuuuu¡ª" Then it felt like she just lost energy¡ªher anger deflating, replaced by anguish¡ªand she covered her face with her palms. For a while after that, she could only sob in despair. Chapter 554 - 554: Fighting Back (Part 3) This was a scene that was witnessed in all parts of the outer territory, where the people who suffered the most resided. Sometimes, it came in different forms and strategies, but each had the same goal¡ªto finally get revenge against these men. In another area, this was led by the young trio Tacky, Juan, and Baka. They were also located near the battles and had a similar strategy. The difference was that they were denser and had tighter camaraderie because everyone had been neighbors for longer, and had suffered under Fargo and his men''s rule for much longer than others. "Are you sure about this?" Juan asked Tacky, who was preparing to head out¡ªto directly join the battle. A lot of the others seemed particularly worried. "What if they attacked us instead?" This made Tacky pause, looking at the others. "Then¡­" He tore off some of the fabric from his shirt¡ªwhich wasn''t a challenge considering how many tears all their clothes already had. He wrapped the strip over his head. "I guess it could be seen as surrender." He then looked at his friends. "I know it''s risky, but I don''t want to miss this! I''ve been holding back for so long¡ª" His friends looked at him with worried expressions, but when they recalled the things they witnessed, suddenly a layer of bravery coated their hearts. "You''re right!" Baka said, raising his only hand. Juan nodded, eyes sparkling. "Let''s go!" As such, when no citizen went out to fight when the lord asked them¡ªeven for some reward¡ªthe lot of them ended up going outside to go against them instead. ¡­ Interestingly, the battle nearby was actually led by the Crow Trio. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The remaining Alterans were cut off from the entry when Fargo guards came in from all direction, especially near the wall. They blocked the way and pushed them back. The team decided to divide into three. Anyway, having too big groups wasn''t ideal in dense villages. It wasn''t like Althea with wideass avenues and plenty of open space near the walls. The big teams had diminishing returns for sure and it even risked of hitting their own teammates. The Alterans were pushed back by the forces, and they fought hard to defend themselves from the barrage. Thanks to their equipment, formation, and the fact that there were so many alleys in this place¡ªmuch denser than the inner walls¡ªallowed them to have minimal injuries even when they were being mobbed by a large group of enemies. However, the quantity differences inevitably still forced some of them to separate from the bigger groups, rendering them more susceptible to danger. The crow trio and their small group were among these people. There was an instruction taught to them in such cases though: to prioritize their own safety. That was to say, if battling head-on would get dangerous, they would even be asked to run for their lives. Even if they hid out now until things settled down, it was within Altera''s standards of acceptance and no one would blame them. But¡­ how could they just hide around when everyone else was fighting? So they tried to use the chaos as a shield to at least sneak themselves to the inner walls. Even if they couldn''t merge with the groups there, their numbers alone would add to the win! Crow, the strategist, led the way along the alleys, using his sharp hearing to avoid the scuffles or the enemy guards. They knew for sure that the Alterans were heading someplace else so they didn''t bother checking whether it was their own. They managed to successfully traverse a couple of blocks. Unfortunately, at some point a door opened, revealing a couple of guards looking at them with greed. "Well, where are you goin?" The man asked and more and more people from the houses¡ªincluding the one behind¡ªgot out. They were all obviously Fargo guards judging by their temperaments, but their way was blocked so their small group had no choice but to stay still until they found an opening. These men were bloodied and injured, some were limping. Crow narrowed his eyes at the realization, slightly turning to a couple of team members and knew they thought the same: These jerks were hiding out, weren''t they? As more and more of the guards exited the house, they could see the scene inside the house from their angle. They could see several people lying down, bloodied, and those who seemed alive were shaking, sobbing, or just in a daze¡ªbut everyone seemed to have just been recently beaten up. The Alterans could imagine these guards¡ªguards that were supposed to be protecting their population¡ªforcing themselves into a house in order to hide from the ongoing war and rest, but they decided to beat up their own citizens as they did so. Bastards! Obviously, seeing their small group of 10¡ªwhich was half of theirs in number¡ªthey went out the ''safety'' of the house and aimed to vent on them next. Crow was very correct about this. The de facto leader of this group of deserters was a Terran named John. He worked as a factory worker back in Terran. He got the lowest-wage job there and he had been looked down on a lot. No one said so in his face by virtue of his large body, but he could tell by their eyes and smirks that they were. His whole life, this had been his experience. At night, he would dream of looming over these people and stepping on their heads, but he would wake up to the boring reality where he was too poor and powerless to do anything. When the disaster happened, his physical strength gave him an advantage over others¡ªespecially during the zombie apocalypse and even during the Protection Period¡ªallowing him to gain a few more levels than his peers. That was the first time he felt true power. The seed of greed was planted, and he trained more, killed more to get more power¡ªeven if he had to steal kills, and even if he had to push people to become bait to do so. When he found Fargo Village, he immediately applied as a guard when he realized what the ''arrangements'' were. He got accepted and soon even got promoted to team lead, and he had been loving his situation ever since. Of course, loving the advantages didn''t mean loyalty to the place. Earlier during the war, their group encountered a group of enemy strongmen and elementalists, and their team of hundreds was reduced to about a score. It was humiliating! But what could they do? Their lives and limbs would always come first! They immediately ran away when they realized they couldn''t fight the bastards anymore¡ªnot without getting gravely injured. At the same time, they couldn''t get back to the barracks either. As such, they had no choice but to pick a random house and hide out until things calmed down. They got a bit bored though and their attention went to the actual residents of the house who were kneeling down, shaking in fear. Some had bloodlust and beat people up, while some just had lust and took advantage. Their ''fun'' was interrupted when their lookout alerted them of a small group of enemies approaching their area. When they realized it was just a small number of Alterans¡ªa lot of whom looked quite young¡ªpassing by, their eyes immediately brightened. They thought, it was finally their time! And so they went out, very much intent on venting on these bastards! Chapter 555 - 555: Fighting Back (Part 4) Soon, they were surrounded by Fargo guards and their team immediately raised their weapons. Crow narrowed his eyes at them, analyzing. Because their level differences weren''t high, it wasn''t easy to determine their levels accurately. There was no guard in their temporary team, and he was the strongest one at level 8. Crow then looked at the enemies and the highest seemed to be around level 7, though most of them ranged from level 5-6. Crow looked at the others and nodded at them, gesturing towards a narrow alleyway. They understood what he was talking about, and they immediately moved upon his signal. They went back to back and targeted a random side to open a path to them. Sunny was one of the shieldsmen in the team and she held out her Class D shield, pushing forward along with others. Behind her were the spearmen and swordsmen who would stab through the gaps between the shields. The plan was to weaken them a few at a time. The enemies had been damaged from the war, anyway. Even if they were outnumbered 1 to two or three, the Alterans didn''t falter at all. And because everyone was so cramped, the hit rate was 100%. "AH!" "BASTARDS!" Dog, a swordsman, was right behind Sunny. "Hya!" he yelled as he stabbed and stabbed. When he was sure there''d be a critical hit, he''d even spend a bit of mana and use a skill. [Used Stab! -2 Mana!] "GAHH!!" [Used Stab! -2 Mana!] "AHHHH!" [Used Stab! -2 Mana!] "GYAHH! DAMNIT!" Dog, along with the others, debilitated more and more people as the minutes ticked by, making it easier for them to go to where they wanted. They hurried and pushed towards a better position, stepping on the men who fell along their path (tho not without a few Alterans stabbing again for good measure). They pushed hard until they entered the alleyway, the prevalent type of pathway in the outer walls. Although still dangerous, at least in alleys, their sides would be covered and they only had to defend the front and back. With this, they could focus less on defense and more on the attack. Combined with the dripping momentum of the enemies, this turned the fight completely to their favor. John glared at the damned Alterans. "Bastards!!" he yelled as more of their people fell. How humiliating! To think he was struggling with a bunch of kids on the bottom rung of the enemy forces! Unlike the others, there wasn''t even a single elementalist here! Would those bastards from the other team mock him when they found out! However, it''d be more embarrassing to lose track of them so he yelled at the top of their lungs. "HELP! ENEMIES HERE!" he yelled and soon his other teammates did the same, though mostly out of fear. They didn''t want to be in the vanguard where you''re 100% sure you''ll get hit! Crow and the others cursed as they heard a couple of footsteps, with another dozen guards heading in their direction. Soon after that, another small group arrived on the other side, and suddenly their attention had to be divided. "Shit!" Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Clank! Clank! The enemies mobbed them from both sides. It was fortunate that they were in the alley so the enemies who could attack them at the same time was limited. However, after a brief period of confusion, John and the others snapped out of it. "Wheel battle!" He yelled, and they pounded on the small group as hard as they could, simply exchanging hitters when they got too tired. The Alteran group was compressed more and more, but they stood strong, stabbing those outside the shield with their Class D weapons, and defending themselves with their shields and equipment. At least at this point, they were far superior to their enemies and they held out even when the enemies had rotated. They were still far too outnumbered and many of them received more and more damage, with some of their equipment showing signs of cracking. Despite all this though, the enemies were still losing more people. One of the top killers was Crow himself, who was now standing on a wooden stool he had in his space to give him a better vantage point of enemies farther away. Crow was the only archer in their group so he was also shooting away, targeting those who were farther to ruin the enemy pace. He was using a crossbow, too, so the amount of shots he could send in a minute was far superior to the Fargo archers, whose hits were often caught by the shieldsmen. If they fell, then either they''d be kicked out of the way or stepped over. The enemies saw that this could not go on. John couldn''t assume more of their side would find this place. The outer wall was so large and the guards were spread out thin. Most of them would be hunting for the bigger groups, for certain. This was especially true for those who hadn''t encountered those people''s strengths, and they''d be far too enticed by the lords'' rewards to use their heads. He looked at his companions and gave a rough order before sending glares at the enemies. It''s not over yet! ¡­ The battle went on for a while longer, with everyone''s mana was slowly getting consumed. However, the Alterans still stayed strong. They knew that if they maintained their pace, they would eventually finish this off. But not everything would happen the way people wanted it to. Crow''s ears twitched and he looked up to see the lone window of a house with a Fargo guard. He had a bow and arrow, directed at the back of their shieldsmen. "Look out!" Crow yelled and immediately raised his shot, killing the man with his crossbow. Sadly the arrow was still released. Dog immediately went to catch it, but his sword was buried in an enemy''s body so he had no choice but to let go of the weapon and cover Sunny with his body. "AH!" "DOG!!" Sunny sobbed as Dog''s weight rested on her. She couldn''t let go of the shield or else they''d be in more trouble. Further, there was no space between them to care for Dog. She sobbed, yelling and pushing back the men. She was a woman and ended up with shieldswoman not because she was super strong, but because she could angle well¡ªthat was, she could determine where the more efficient path of force was. "HYAA!!" She yelled, adding pressure on the bottom, imbalancing some enemy up front, and immediately pushing the top to hit his face. Bang! She and the other shieldmen on her side took advantage of the inertia, pushing more and giving their side more space. They laid crow down as he was hit on the shoulder. Their armors were fine for now, but it didn''t have full-body defense, hence any visible opening was really an opening. They did the first aid¡ªsomething the guards were trained for¡ªbut he definitely needed a lot more space. Sunny and the others worked hard to hit and push more. But unexpectedly¡­ new footsteps arrived. Their hearts dropped. They had a rough idea where the other Alterans were heading and it was definitely not here. This meant that people coming were from Fargo! Should they run already? HOW!? Crow frowned and saw that another group of people were rushing in on them from one side of the alley. They had roughly-made bandanas on their foreheads and very serious looks on their faces. Their hearts turned cold, but they kept fighting. The more he looked, the more Crow noticed the difference. He realized they were not guards! Citizens? Did the citizens start attacking, after all? They had heard Fargo put up a good reward for killing them. When no one went out, they were relieved and thought citizens wouldn''t be a problem. The territory also had to pay a certain fee for oaths. The way things worked here wasn''t like in Terra where governments could draft people and force them to fight. Here, the power play was too variable and unstable¡ªthere was no unified ''government'' over all the territories. But¡­ seeing the citizens go in their direction with aggressive expressions out and waving their weapons, it seemed that they were still too complacent! It was just that¡­ when they were mentally preparing themselves to handle the new injection of force¡ªthe newcomers started attacking their own (Fargo''s) guards!! Let alone the Fargo guards, even the Alterans were very confused. What¡­ is going on? Chapter 556 - 556: Merge The battle entered a new stage at the entrance of dozens of new citizens, all of whom had their various weapons out. It was led by a group of young men¡ªone of whom even had one arm¡ªand they started attacking their own guards from behind. "AH!" A guard yelled as he was stabbed in the back. He kicked by instinct and the man managed to avoid it mostly. He was imbalanced but was helped out by the others. "What are you doing?!" he yelled, looking at the familiar faces in anger and disbelief. Instead of the usual suppressed facial expressions, they were now extremely aggressive. "We''ve had enough of your faces!" The guards'' eyes twitched, pushing them, trying to swing his sword but they all stepped back and avoided it. It didn''t help he was bloodied and whoozy at this time. Instead, he just yelled at the bastards. "IDIOTS! Don''t you know you could become slaves?!" "Anywhere is better than here!" Tacky yelled, spitting at him, and with his yell, the group started mobbing the few guards at the rear, lightening up the load on the Alterans. The Alterans looked a bit surprised when the newcomers headed towards their own guards instead of them, and with such passion too. Sunny used this time to get to Dog, dragging him towards a wall, and burying her shield in front of them as cover. She religiously fed him potions and wrapped his wound up with their bandages. Seeing her like this, the delirious Dog couldn''t help but smile. Sunny raised her head, her eyes meeting his smile, and she almost cried. She slapped him. "Don''t die!" "Ouch! What makes you think that!?" "You got that dazed look on your face when people succumbed to death!" "..." Back to the battle, although the newcomers attacked only the outer layer, it successfully distracted the group of enemies. The enemy forces were further divided to deal with them and soon more guards were heading to them. The differences in strength showed as many citizens were pushed back, and were about to be stabbed by angry guards. "KYAA!" Some of them could only close their eyes, knowing their reflexes wouldn''t be able to do anything for them at this point. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The painful hit never came as the guards attacking them were injured or dead a few moments later. They looked over and saw a somber-looking man standing a few heads taller than the rest of them. They realized it was an archer with a cool crossbow (where did the Alterans get those weapons?!) and he was probably standing on top of something. Of course, the enemies were distracted only for a second before the nearby guards saw that those handling them had been taken down. They headed towards them instead. Anyway, it was easier to kill them instead of the Alterans! Tacky and the others also gathered themselves, adopting a similar stance to the Alterans¡ªback-to-back¡ªfor efficiency and protection. Of course, unlike in Altera, most people in Fargo¡ªas with other territories¡ªhadn''t awakened even the basic fighting occupations. It would take a longer time before most people could do it. After all, the monsters were too strong for the typical villager. They would have to work in big teams and thus the accompanying experience would be distributed, lowering the proficiency training. Altera managed to do so only because of their system. If people didn''t want to go to the Training Hall, they could hunt around outside with stronger individuals who could guard them from death. Even the most ''budget-crunched'' people could just camp around the walls near the sentries and lure monsters in. This way, as long as they got the final kill, then the experience and copper were theirs. The popular ''golden spots'' (the corner made by the level 5 main walls and the level 3 extra wall) were always filled, so people started positioning on the now-called ''silver spots'' . The term was coined and popularized by Fred''s team, referring to the spots where the scope of two sentries overlapped. However, while the newcomers swung their swords without the advantages of skill, they were still decent considering everything. Crow, though targeting enemies attacking on both sides, decided to lighten up the load on the newcomers as well. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The group soon headed closer to them and they placed themselves near the Alterans so the enemies would be attacked from two sides now, while minimizing their side''s exposure. Stab! "AH!" Slash! "BASTARDS!" While the Alterans didn''t put down their guards against the newcomers, they cooperated decently enough. Attacking together, but at the same time not exposing their backs at them. More and more Fargo guards fell and the others were tempted to run away again. It was humiliating to run from a group of kids without elements¡ªbut life first! John saw several people on his side had ran away again and cursed. "BASTARDS!" he yelled going berserk at whatever opening he found, pushing someone in front of him as a shield to be stabbed by the formation. Clack! Clack! Clack! The guy was not weak and a spot indeed buckled. "Ah!" This was among the newcomers¡ªto the one-handed guy. His eyes glinted in bloodlust and he gestured to at least get a kill. "Baka!" Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Swoosh! An arrow buried into the man''s neck and they turned to see it was that emo-guy, who then ignored them and continued to target other people. Tacky and the other widened a bit. "T-Thank you¡­" He whispered though the man didn''t seem to hear nor care. But the admiration in their eyes didn''t dissipate. And their admiration was not just to Crow, but also to everyone on their team! Many of them had seen the ''enemies'' even before, and they knew they were incredibly strong! More importantly, they had seen how they interacted with each other: how strongmen protected the weak and how they didn''t leave anyone behind! How these people dealt with their companions in emergencies told a lot about what kind of territory they lived in. It was a type of territory that encouraged camaraderie and a territory that valued lives. So, even if they knew nothing of Altera, their hearts couldn''t help but side with them! ¡­ As for the Fargo guards who ran away, they actually weren''t able to in the end. They didn''t even get far before another group of people arrived and mobbed on them! First, no other Fargo guards went to this area of ''small'' scuffles. After all, there was far more chaos happening elsewhere that needed their presence more. This meant that the guards nearby were already in this place. On the contrary, more of the citizens around started joining in, exacting their own revenge. There weren''t a lot of them, but they were consolidated in their desires for revenge. Ironic how they didn''t move when their lord was calling for help, but went out on their own to help the enemy! At the time, they thought that since they had the option of not moving, why would they help these people who only knew to abuse them? They were too afraid to get hurt, and they knew it wasn''t worth getting hurt for the territory for a bit of silver. What was the use of that if they didn''t have their lives? Even if they didn''t die, what if they got injured? Worse, got debilitated to work in the future? Fargo never sponsored healing the injured and they would certainly not care if they starved to death because they could no longer move! Now, however, they fought for themselves, for their sanity, and for their pride. They joined Tacky and the others and soon started pushing the enemies back¡ªeven without Altera''s help. Crow saw this and his dark eyes brightened a bit, the light of an idea coming straight to his head. There must be thousands of citizens angry at Fargo and his guards, right? What if they got even more of them to fight? Chapter 557 - 557: Instigation Among the new group of people happened to be Kyle, Vivian, and the others. Vivian looked particularly bloodthirsty with her Class E sword she stole from Peko. She wasn''t very skilled, but she had the energy to stab people to her heart''s content. After sobbing her heart out, her mind cleared a bit¡ªeven just for a bit. She needed to see for herself if her husband was really gone! And to do this, she must help end this war¡ªand hopefully not in Fargo''s favor. It was why she convinced the others who wanted to punish their torturers to go out with her. It so happened that the guards had their weapons out and they managed to take them, so everyone had Class E weapons. The team had also gained some confidence after successfully killing 7 guards¡ªpeople they so feared in the past. One of them was even a team lead! They couldn''t help but recall the suffering they had to endure because of their weaknesses. Although they weren''t deluded to think that they suddenly became strong¡ªthey still wanted to get back the sense of agency they lost since coming to this place! Of course, they still had plenty of voices of reason so they made sure to go about as safely as they could, only targeting lone or pairs weakened by the war. Anyway, those who deserted the battle wouldn''t care for their companions. Some of them fled together, but when they saw someone get pulled into an alley, they just ran away without turning back. At some point, they encountered a small group who were bloodied¡ªsome even with arrows sticking out¡ª The group of them¡ªwhich had now increased in numbers by virtue of neighbors joining in¡ªtook down the latest deserters. As they did so, they couldn''t help but examine the men''s pre-existing wounds. "These are crossbow arrows, there must be Alterans nearby!" Kyle said, and their team went in the direction the guards came from. This meant there were more people to target. And, also¡­ they wanted to see the enemies more. To see what kind of people they were! They tracked the path by encountering a few more escapees and eventually found the narrow street where the battle was going. They also saw familiar faces there and joined in. And so, with the combination of these three ''teams'', the scores of guards in the area were finally cleared out. ¡­ At some point, the only ones left standing were the Alterans as well as the ''betrayers'' They awkwardly looked at each other, not quite sure where to go about this. Do they just part ways? Do they merge? Crow looked at the Fargo citizens, who were also injured and he looked at his team who had already drunk their medicine. "Do you guys have extra?" Some nodded and they looked at the fellow Terrans who helped them out in their own way. Of course, to save on resources, they decided on diluting the potions. The least injured Alterans were tasted to distribute the potion. The citizens flinched, surprised, when they realized what was being handed to them. Shakily, they took them with a bit of disbelief and a grateful heart. "Thank you so much¡­" "We''re brethren, we just help each other out," the Alteran said with a bright smile, making the fargo citizen tear up a bit. On another side, an Alteran gave a few Fargo citizen some of his old clothes. The Fargo citizens'' clothes¡ªeven all their change of clothing¡ªwere mostly ripped after being here for so long. This battle had rendered them practically naked. There was no clothing store available to them at this time, where could they get a change of clothing? To be honest, because everyone had the same situation, they didn''t really notice this before. But now that things had calmed down, it seemed every one of the ''enemies'' were well clothed? And they could even hand them a few. They looked at the Alteran, a little disbelieving of his generosity. "You¡­" "I still have plenty," the Alteran said, adorning a friendly smile on his face. "But I can just buy new sets. I needed to get new ones anyway, I''ve gotten fatter." "..." Suffice to say, the Fargo citizens looked at him in shock. Buy new Clothes? Got fat? And then there were also Alterans who were distributing some extra crackers they had in space. They looked unbelievable by the fact that pretty much every Alteran seemed to have ample enough to share to others! Rich ones even gave out a bottle of Gouji fruit Jam, making the citizens just gape at her in shock. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, they didn''t stay in shock for long because the food could be eaten by others while they were in a daze! Shakily, the citizens took a bite and ended up sobbing. Everything was delicious! How long had it been? The only food with taste they could get was the raw gouji fruit, but how many trees of that were there, and how many thousands of people were vying for it? Because there was no rule against violence, people started to fight amongst each other! Fargo''s men also encouraged it¡ªeven adding betting businesses! In the past few weeks, the people who died fighting to get a taste of decent food were in the dozens! But these people were just handing it over to them! They ate the crackers deliciously, licking their fingers, unable to stop their tears from flowing. Crow looked at the various similar interactions and then to his best friends, Sunny and Dog, where the latter was obviously enjoying the attentive care of the former. "They must''ve suffered a lot here," he said. Sunny nodded as she looked at everyone''s reactions to things that they had started to take for granted. "I can imagine, especially the women." Crow nodded. "So we''ll help them out," he said, making his two friends look at him with a raised eyebrow. Crow took out an amplifier he bought from the Research Center''s Store. For a moment, they thought he''d be speaking, but then he just handed it to Sunny. Sunny: "..." Fortunately, they had been friends for a long time, and she had an idea what Crow was up to. Heaving a deep breath, she internalized her inner cheerleader, sending out a lovely-but-loud announcer voice. "Thank you for your help, everyone! We will apply you to receive contribution points when we win!" The people looked at her, confused, but also listening aptly to whatever she wanted to say. She smiled. "In Altera, Contribution points are as good as money!" "To us Alterans, it could even be more important than money." "What do we need to do?" One of the men near her asked, not entirely convinced but hopeful. Sunny paused and she looked back at Crow, who nodded at her. "Help us win." She said. "Help us win and you can have the right to own new clothes, get access to more food, and live like humans again! "We don''t even ask you to risk your lives," she said. "You just need to tell everyone else what awaits them if we win this war." Sunny gave them her brightest smile¡ªan encouraging and shining light that hit many hearts. "So¡­ will you help us?" Chapter 558 - 558: Guide "Do slaves have the same rights as you do?" A pretty feminine voice from the side said, making everyone turn to her. It was Vivian, the former reporter, unsurprisingly asking the sharp questions. Her question hit the realization in the others'' minds and they looked at the Alterans with inquiry and maybe a bit of guardedness. Sunny''s smile didn''t change. "Altera doesn''t keep slaves." This made everyone look at her, some in disbelief and some in hope. "Really?" "Altera doesn''t need to," Crow stepped forward and added. "For one, it''s against our code of ethics as Terrans." "Altera''s citizens aren''t forced to do anything. We are completely willing to join forces to enhance it, to defend it, and to go to other territories to fight for it. "You should''ve noticed that none of us are guards. Citizens like us are willing to risk our lives to go to war. Why?" "Yes, why?" Crow rarely smiled, so this came out as a bit of a smirk. Only he and his friends knew how sincere he was. "Because Altera is worth it." ¡­ The Alterans were patient with the various questions thrown at them after that. Although they wanted to get back to war, they understood what Crow was trying to do¡ªsomething that would be more impactful than just the few of them pushing through. It was a bit odd with the corpses of the enemies around, but after so long in this place, few people were queasy. In fact, the topics somehow even ended being a bit¡­ commercial. "Do you have¡­ anymore?" one person asked an Alteran. "I mean¡­ I can pay." "Oh?" Alteran #1 said, blinking, "Oh, okay." He then took out a piece of crackers and the man handed him a few silvers! "This¡­ you can have a few more." This time it was the man''s look of disbelief. "This¡­" "It''s fine." In another spot, a few people went to another Alteran. "Do you have another cloth? Any will do, it''s just that I¡ª" "Hmn, I happen to have an old pair of pants. Its hem is a little damaged tho, and I just used it as pajamas." "I can buy it!" And so on. It had to be said: Alterans, even during wars, could still make money. Crow and his friends watched this in amusement. Of course, this couldn''t last long. After all, they had a war to fight. He looked around to see everyone in his team had already rested, and he clapped his hands. "It''s time for us to go now," he said. This made the Fargo citizens look at him in a bit of panic, their stares making the Alterans shiver a bit. "What?" "Wait, don''t go yet!" they yelled, standing up. Even those who were limping crowded around them. The Alterans sweat-dropped, feeling a little suffocated. Some paranoid Alteran even thought they fell into a trap or something. "What about us?" "Yes, what about us!" The Alterans were very confused. "What about you?" "You mentioned contribution points. How could we make sure we''re listed?" Ah. At this, Crow and Sunny took out some writing tools to list down the names of those who helped out. "Tell me your names and what you did." "Pencil and paper? Wow you guys really preprared before the Migration." "This? No, Altera produces this." Though to be fair, they had a lot because they were part of the Architectural and Engineering team. Either way, the Fargo citizen''s eyes twitched at his words. So¡­ other people could make clothing, food, and paper now? Didn''t the refugees say Fargo was already very good? How come the gap was so big to others? Anyway, the citizens rushed to get listed, afraid to be missed out. Those at the back of the queue made sure they were visible to the Alterans as well. Of course, some people hiding inside their homes saw this and tried to get listed too. Instead of ignoring them (which was what they''d have done, had they been in their own territory), they just listed their names, promising to add points when they actually did something. Soon, it was the more prominent young men''s turns. Crow took special note of these guys¡ªyoung, brave, and resourceful. They''d be good additions to their territory. "So, what are your names and what were your accomplishments?" The leader¡ªthe curly blonde¡ªspoke first. "My name''s Tacky Brat. Killed/assisted in killing approximately 10 Fargo guards." "Juan Moon, killed/assisted in killing 8 Fargo guards," said the short and tanned lad with horsetail hair at the back. He was followed by the pale-skinned friend with narrow eyes. "Baka Hapon, killed/assisted in killing 7 Fargo guards." And so on. They ended many minutes later and the few conscious ones felt guilty for taking so much of their time. "Let us guide you to a wall," Tacky proactively offered and the Alterans naturally appreciated this. Seeing the favor of the Alterans, a lot of Fargo citizens felt envious. However, they obviously couldn''t all go, so the group separated from the others with the promise that their contributions in the war would be heard. Similarly, if they could, to bring the message to others as well. Anyway, the group continued towards the wall, but¡ªafraid they''d encounter big groups of Fargo guards¡ª had to take a few detours due to their small numbers. Unlike the inner circle, there were a lot more shanty areas in this side. It was a much worse maze than what Althea encountered. Fortunately, the locals naturally knew a lot of ''alternative'' pathways. As they passed a few houses, the people who dared peek through the windows were surprised to see familiar faces guiding enemies. However, they didn''t really dare ask or go out at this time, so they just kept mum. The Tacky trio took the Alterans through several alleys, a lot of which were just as wide as a person. It was relatively uneventful for a while until a strong stench made them stop in their tracks. They thought they had become relatively immune (although distasteful) to the smell of this place. But, somehow, the stench in this spot was so strong that they all stepped back and gasped at the sudden burst of¡ªfor the lack of a better phrase¡ªa miasma of grossness. Dog and a few others barely stopped their gagging. "What¡ª" Tacky and the others were a little embarrassed when they saw their reactions. They forgot to warn the Alterans about this. It was just that they were so used to the smell that they didn''t think the Alterans wouldn''t. However, the more they knew about these people, the more they realized that these people had lived a good life, even in Xeno. They were definitely queasy¡ªeven if they wanted to believe otherwise! Tacky stopped and cleared his throat. "This is why few people go through here, and which is why it''s safe. It''s also one of the fastest ways directly to the walls, otherwise we''d go through a lot of detours in other places and run the risk of encountering groups of guards." Speaking of which, Tacky knew this path because he often made enemies with the guards. He naturally needed places to run and hide. "But if you want to go to another path¡ª" "No, this is okay," Crow interrupted, though looking even paler than usual. "We''ll take this path." Tacky saw they were serious and headed towards the ''miasma''. "Er¡­ follow me," he said, and headed to the disgusting alley that was probably filled with filth. The Alterans saw the three young lads jump up, using the walls as a surface, pausing after a few climbs to turn and look at them. The Alterans were, understandably, a bit reluctant. It was narrow and dark and long¡ªprobably a few blocks in length. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This must be what the river Styx is like," Dog said, earning him a bump on the back of his head. It was Crow, who led the way to follow them, jumping up and opening his legs and using the two opposite walls as support. With this, more and more people followed them, every one with green faces from trying to hold their breaths. Seeing as they were following, Tacky heaved a sigh of relief (tho coughing a bit at the smell that entered). "Be careful, you know what you''ll fall to." As the Alterans approached to follow the rest of them, they couldn''t help but look at the floor filled with feces, thrown from the windows facing there. Their eyes twitched at the obstacle but fortunately they had improved physiques so it wasn''t impossible. Led by crow, the Alterans traversed the disgusting alleys one by one, trying not to breathe. Dog, who was still feeling a little sting from the earlier wounds, flinched a bit. The little movement caused him to slide down. "Ah!" "DOG!" "AGHH!" he yelled, doing his best to stabilize and avoided the floor by a few centimeters. Looking at how pale he (and the others) was, one would think he almost fell into lava. Dog''s eyes lined with tears as the stench attacked his nose because his nose clip got dropped from the chaos. He had a very strong nose and it was making him puke. Anyway, after readjusting from this episode, the group continued to laboriously go through this way. When they were halfway through, Tacky paused as he saw something. Those nearby would see that he was looking at a long line of blackish-brown marks on the wall in front of him. "Ah, be careful, some people who throw their things sometimes miss and the stuff hits the wall." This time Dog really couldn''t hold it back anymore. Bleurgh! Curse this damned place! Chapter 559 - 559: Status of the Slaves After a long torturous travel, they arrived near the walls a couple of minutes later. They kept behind a few houses, slowly looking up if there was a guard nearby. "This spot doesn''t have a sentry," Tacky said, "But there could be guards." They learned from befriending some aborigines like Rona that when war came, people had to get past the ''main'' walls in order to win. The Lord knew this too, so it wouldn''t be a surprise if he set guards everywhere in the inner wall battlement while keeping their outside area minimally guarded. However, to their surprise, there was no guard¡ªat all¡ªnearby, which alone was surprising as they would expect Fargo to focus on guarding this area. "Miss Althea and the others must be causing havoc inside," Dog said smugly, and the others agreed. "He has thousands of guards. How can there be no one hunting for us when we''re already so near the walls?" Tacky and the others looked at them being so confident and their hearts raced. They wondered¡­ was their freedom within reach? Then they stepped forward, quickly realizing that Fargo did, in fact, set up obstacles for them in the form of slaves. They looked at the line of slaves there, distanced a few meters apart. They knew Bright lost thousands of people to slavery and, looking at this, they probably used most of them as secondary walls here. The slaves were lined up in a single line. They stayed in place even with some of them having shaky legs. Their states were extremely pitiful, extremely dirty and filled with wounds. They had bloodless faces but their bodies had bloodstains all over. To the passerby, it seemed like they were barely holding on to life. Their hearts broke when they saw their expressions of surrender and pain, and things just got worse when they saw some familiar faces. "SISTER!!!" Tacky yelled, immediately running forward. He lunged so unexpectedly that no one was able to stop him. "Ooi¡ªTACKY!" His friends yelled, but Tacky didn''t hear anything. His eyes was focused on getting to his poor sister. Tacky emerged from the ''safety'' of the dense houses and entered a 3-meter distance from the slaves. Without warning the handful of slaves nearby¡ªincluding his sister¡ªlunged towards him. Their expressions were helpless but their bodies were like fast-moving zombies aiming to get him. Juan and Crow caught up with Tacky and held an arm each, pulling him back as fast as they could. "ENEMY! ENEMY!" The slaves nearby screamed at the top of their lungs, much like human alarms. Their voices were raspy and croaky¡ªobviously too parched and tired to yell so loudly¡ªbut apparently the order didn''t care whether or not they destroyed their throats. The slaves stopped following after a certain distance. They returned to position parallel to the wall, but their mouths did not stop yelling¡ªlikely to continue doing so until Fargo''s men arrived. Tacky sobbed as he was pulled, seeing his sister''s poor state. Even now, he could hear her voice among the various ''alarms''. She was yelling with a croaking voice, almost wheezing. If Lani continued to do so, maybe her throat would be damaged! His little sister always liked to sing. She drank various healthy drinks to keep it healthy! What was this now? Then Tacky recalled her appearance. Lani was bloodied and had no good skin around her. Her body was filled with wounds, some parts of her clothing ripped. Her wounds and appearance was similar to the women who were¡­ abused. He had been trying to find a way to rescue her, but who told him to be so weak and got sent to the hospital half-dead instead! During the time he was being treated, what had she experienced?! They let go of him as soon as they entered a relatively safe alley. Tacky fell helplessly to the ground, shaking. He buried his face in his palms. "Those bastards! Those bastards!!" He sobbed, punching the wall until his hands bled, crying as he did so. "Bastards, bastards! I''m going to kill them¡ªI''M GOING TO KILL THEM!" ¡­ Crow went out of their hiding place as the ''alarm'' calmed down. There were no guards that came their way, likely too far away, but he did hear some new voices. He found an inconspicuous place and looked to see the status of the wall. There were a few battlement guards that arrived. Obviously, they were spread thin and the slaves also functioned to pinpoint where they ought to focus. Logically, this was not a bad idea¡ªconsidering the other more immediate threats elsewhere¡ªif it wasn''t so¡­ inhumane. His jaw clenched as he looked at the poor slaves. They could barely keep themselves standing. Some were already half naked because of how poor the state of their clothing was. All of them were injured to some degree, but they couldn''t move away from their positions at all. He also looked at the surroundings, his sharp eyes studying what they could use. After noting what he could, he went back to where the rest were hiding. By this time, Tacky had calmed down somewhat. "A few battlement guards have arrived, but they aren''t getting down the wall. I assume there aren''t many guards in this area at all." Hence, the guards kept the most advantageous position. Tacky lifted his head and looked hopefully at Crow. "Is there a way to save her?" Crow looked at him and thought for a while. "It''s not impossible, but we can only save very few." "That''s enough for me!" Don''t blame him for being selfish, but of course his sister would come first! Crow looked at him and then at the others, who nodded. They only had a few knockout potions left with their party and they would of course keep some for emergencies. This meant they only had a bottle to spare. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were only civilians, after all, they weren''t like those cool TV protagonists who needed to hit some part of the neck and the person would lose consciousness. Who knew what they''d hit instead? Besides, the ''slave orders'' could push people beyond their limits. What if they couldn''t be knocked out easily? A knockout potion, even if diluted, was still safer. "Okay, we''ll do what we can." Tacky looked at them with wide, teary, eyes and kowtowed. "Save her and I will owe you for the rest of my life!" Chapter 560 - 560: Rescuing Slaves There was about 2 meters of clear area around the walls. It was narrow, but it was wide enough to see anomalies from the perimeter of the wall. There were only about 4 guards on the walls. However, because of the arrangement (or non-arrangement) of this place, it wouldn''t be easy to target the guards. First, three meters above was way above eye level. If they wanted to have a chance of a good shot, they had to be on one of the houses. However, there were few windows in system houses¡ªlikely in consideration for the extreme weather¡ªand those they had happened to be facing the streets. This made sense as the houses were built right next to each other. However, this also meant there was no direct place to target the guards from. The best the archers¡ªCrow and Juan¡ªcould do was position on the ''front'' windows, hoping for the guard to pass whatever limited line segment they could see. Crow looked at Tacky and Juan, who nodded as they opened the doors to said homes, revealing the apprehensive stares of the people inside. Each house had about a dozen people squeezed together, paying several coppers a day for a night. The Alterans quickly captured their hearts with their stories, and soon they were asking what kind of rooms Alteran Dormitories had. Anyway, they managed to get permission to use the houses both as vantage points as well as places to hide the rescued slaves. Another challenge was the slaves themselves. It wasn''t that the force value of the slaves was a threat. On the contrary, they were weak and easy to push down. The challenge was what to do to minimize their injuries. At the same time, the guards who would definitely be shooting relentlessly. They would not care who they hit, and this certainly included the slaves. What was the use of rescuing them when they''d be riddled with arrows in the end? S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The plan was for an Alteran¡ªwho had good equipment¡ªto lure in Tacky''s sister (and as many slaves as possible) to the nearest cover (the house) and then immobilize them. "Try to lure as many in here," he said, pointing at the delineation. "They were probably ordered to stay within a certain distance from the wall." When they got back Tacky earlier, they weren''t able to see clearly when they stopped following because it was such a rush. It was safe to assume that they stopped before the building line, just to be safe. It was shieldswoman Sunny who went to assist Tacky and Baka to lure in slaves. Another sheildsman started further away, and he was followed by a few slaves along the perimeter, confirming the theory that their order was to stay within a certain distance from the wall, not from their positions. This was good because this meant they could gather a few before leading them to the ''capture area''. "ENEMY! ENEMY!" The slaves yelled as they followed as if they were afflicted by some virus from an apocalypse movie. There were only over a dozen, but it was still a creepy sight. "HEY! HERE!" The guard took out his bow and arrow. He didn''t hesitate to shoot, and his companions quickly did the same. Only one of them had awakened the Archer profession though, and everyone else just had arrows for convenience as battlement guards. The guards this time were former citizens who applied for the position. The heavily trained men who were under Fargo back in Terran were either dealing with Althea''s group, or Reno, Luis, and Ansel''s group somewhere else. They got lucky this time because this meant none of these archers were sharpshooters. The shieldsmen only had to deal with a few shots, while the rest badly missed. "Hey! They''re running away!" One said as they realized the groups were heading in particular directions. He cursed shooting as fast as he could though definitely not as fast as he''d have wanted. "Too slow! I miss my gun!" "Damn it! It''s that darned shield of theirs!" "Just shoot and shoot!" The guards continued to shoot arrows at them, not really caring if they hit slaves in the process. As they said, try and try until you succeed and it happened that someone was really about to hit a slave. Unexpectedly a shield came right in front of the slave, though she quickly avoided the slave''s desperate grip on her, continuing on her way as ''bait''. "Why would she shield the slaves!?" "Damn!" One yelled as they saw them enter a street. "Should we go down?" "We got orders never to get down the battlement unless the enemies got inside!" The other three nodded. They didn''t want to go down and risk their lives anyway. This place was still the safest! They watched as the Alterans moved from area to area, seemingly without direction, and two guards shifted position to shoot. "Shoot at the same time," one said. "For some reason, they''re shielding slaves. Target one near them, and I''ll hit the person when the shield is down." "Ah, good idea." However, before they could make use of this plan¡ª Whoosh! Two guards fell down with crossbow arrows on their head or neck. !!! ¡­ Back to the ground level, Alterans and the Fargo citizens waited tensely as the slaves entered their area. "There!" Dog yelled and immediately Alterans and Fargo citizens wrapped the slaves in ropes, pulling them back to the alleys and houses in time before the surviving guards could gather their wits and shoot. The slaves struggled but not very effectively, and those with some more strength were immediately sprayed with knockout potions. They wrapped them a few more times with Altera''s ropes¡ªeveryone had it in their tool set¡ªand the people heaved a deep breath once they were certain no amount of struggling would free the slaves. And just like this, more than two dozen slaves were saved. And just in time, too, because the slaves'' bodies had been pushed too much. If they waited a bit longer, more than a few of them would''ve crumbled. Including Tacky''s sister. Chapter 561 - 561: Count Back at the battlement, the two guards immediately hid behind the balustrade. Like this, they wouldn''t have noticed the missing slaves at all. "Has it stopped?" Survivor #1 asked #2, worried that an arrow would come flying in as soon as he checked. Survivor #2 just furrowed his eyebrows in wonder. "Where would it come from?" After the onset of panic calmed, Survivor #2 soon realized what could''ve happened. At this, he whipped his head to #1 and pointed in a direction. "Crawl!" "What?" "Crawl to any other side! Just do it!" And so they did. When they lifted their heads and no arrow came to them, they heaved a sigh of relief. By the time they stood tall and there were still no attacks, they felt a bit smug. "What happened?" #1 asked, still unsure what just happened. #2 smirked. "Idiot. They could only get a limited vantage point from the second floor," he said. We''ll be safe here." "I see," #1 said, shrugging, before looking down to see how many they got before the other two were taken down. He frowned at the fact that an entire section was¡­ empty. "There seems to be¡­ a lot of slaves missing?" ¡­ Back at the houses, the two archers had already packed up, knowing their fluke wouldn''t be happening again. Juan wasn''t an archer either and his shot missed. He looked admiringly at the other archer on the other side of the street. Crow had actually only activated the archer profession lately. But he had good eyesight and attention to detail, and after a long time of focused training every day he activated the profession. He had good talent too, and he awakened a skill called ''Precise Eye''s a few days earlier. The two of them met up downstairs with Juan staring. "What is it?" "You''re amazing. Did you use bow and arrow before?" "Not really." "Your skills are really high! You hit them straight through their necks!" "I just used an inherited skill." At this, Juan gasped in amazement, Crow''s light in his eyes adding another halo. "So you''re a professional!" How rare! There were not many in the territory, and almost all of them were recruited by Fargo! Crow looked at him weirdly. "Pretty much everyone awakened a profession in Altera." "..." Okay, fine. He was just excited on his own. ¡­ Back to the house, the slaves were being handled with as much care as they could. One of the house occupants happened to be an EMT and he checked the now-unconscious slaves that were laid down on a line. The Alterans decided that before they gave diluted healing potion, they wanted to see their states first. This way, they''d have an idea whether to give undiluted versions instead. Resources were limited, after all, and they couldn''t just give them away willy-nilly. The EMT was called Gamut. He was on-duty when the zombie apocalypse happened, and it happened when he was in an ambulance en route to the hospital. The patient he was doing CPR on suddenly tried to eat him, and they crashed to the sidewalk shortly after (with the driver apparently becoming one as well). He survived through nit and grit, using a lot of his professional knowledge to help himself and others. He didn''t join the clinic because he saw how the ruling party was. They''d always have to prioritize them no matter how minor the injuries were compared to the citizens. As such, he only made a subtle partnership with the doctors, gaining similar knowledge they were getting and getting a bit of the medicine they had to help out the citizens in need. Of course, it wasn''t so many and only the people in the house and some friends could actually take advantage for a while. Even now, when he had lines of patients, he had nothing. All he could do was to check on their situation and perhaps do some first aid as needed before they could take them to the actual doctors. It was just that the more he saw the slaves, the more dire his expressions became. "Their bodies were beaten up, they were parched and hungry. Their bodies were filled with bruises and wounds¡­" he said, voice low, as his hands checked another patient. "I''m surprised how they could stand up for so long," he said. "Their bodies were strained beyond their limitations. I''m no doctor, but I can tell this will definitely have long-term effects on them." "Bastards!" Tacky cursed again as he paced around the room. He paused when he reached his sister''s unconscious state and sniffed. Baka sighed and patted his shoulder, looking at the ''slaves'' with eyes full of pity. "We should get them checked by the doctors soon." Gamut shook his head. "I bet there are many guards in there. The ''slaves'' would not have a chance to be treated. Worse, they could even put them in danger." No one spoke after that, knowing what he said was correct. Before they could think of an alternative though, suddenly many of the slaves flinched awake. They started flinching and struggling immediately, and they had to be held down on all limbs even as they were tied down. "What''s going on?" "Didn''t we use a knockout potion on them?" This puzzled the Alterans a bit. Although the knockout potion was greatly diluted in fear of damaging them anymore, that amount should still work seamlessly for the levels of the ''slaves''! The only reason these people could once again be pushed beyond their limits was if they were compelled to. "Did they receive a new order?" Crow couldn''t help but wonder out loud. It was around this time that Juan, who had been among those monitoring outside, barged inside with wide eyes. "Guys! The slaves were being called in!" He yelled. "...why?" This made them silent for a bit in thought, and it was the Alterans who immediately came to a conclusion. "The fact that they''re being called inside and risk lowering the defense outside meant our team caused them a lot of trouble!" It had developed to the point that, perhaps, the lord''s life was in danger. What was losing a territory when the lord himself was at risk? The citizens may not agree, but the person who could send orders would. At this, Tacky and the others couldn''t help but worry for the other slaves as well. It also had to do a lot with guilt. After all, they could''ve had a chance to save them, but they didn''t. "Doesn''t that mean they''d be in more danger?" If the ''slaves'' were going to be used not just as an extra wall alarms, but rather legitimate meat shields, then a lot of those ''slaves'' were going to die. "The strongest people are there, don''t worry," Dog told them. "The best way to lower the risk of the ''slaves'' dying is to end this war as soon as possible." Crow nodded. "Well, at least now that the slaves are gone, we can get through the wall easier." He then turned and looked at the Alterans. "Let''s go," he said, and then looked at the other Alterans. The Alterans then stood and gestured to leave the young lads alone. "Will you be alright? You''re not lightly injured." S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Let alone the accumulated wounds, the war and the rescue alone contributed a lot to their wounds. The Alterans felt a bit responsible because they not only helped them out during the fight, but they also guided them here. "Don''t worry about us." Tacky shook his head. "You''ll need it more. We can go to the clinic." At the very least, they were citizens and wouldn''t get too much attention. They could also assess the situation of the place as well. "Focus on winning this war, now," he said, with pleading eyes, holding his struggling sister''s hand. "We''re counting on you." Crow and the others turned to leave, soon adding to the number count that would ultimately help win them the war. Chapter 562 - 562: Status of the Clinic "Let''s give them all a more concentrated knockout potion, at least," Crow said, and the Alterans gave every one of the captured slaves that woke up, calming them down for a bit. In this way, the ''slaves'' wouldn''t be pushing themselves anymore and getting legitimate rest. This was in addition to diluted healing potions that stabilized their conditions, with particularly hurt people like Lani getting a bit more. The Fargo citizens knew that such potions must not be cheap¡ªat the very least, they didn''t have access to it no matter how much silver they gave. They didn''t know everyone who participated in the war had a small vial of the knock-out potion, let alone the healing potions which was available for purchase. In any case, this made the gesture have an even larger impact on their hearts. "Thank you. So much," Tacky and the others said, sobbing, and looking at them as if they were messiahs. The Alterans sweat dropped and waved their hands. "It''s not a big deal, really," they said. With how Althea and the others were causing trouble, they doubted they''d need so much for themselves in the end. Tacky shook his head, not allowing them to downplay their roles in this. If they didn''t arrive on time, after a few more hours¡ªeven if nothing happened¡ªmany of these slaves would''ve just dropped dead out of nowhere. How terrified his sister probably was! To yell and stand until one died, with no control over her own body! Tacky thought, they must win this as soon as possible! His sister wouldn''t last any longer! "If we help you get the word out¡­ would you give us more of those contribution points?" Crow''s eyebrows rose. "Of course. Earn enough, and you and your sister''s livelihood would be guaranteed." Tacky nodded, wiping his snot. "Then we''ll do our best," he said, and he would indeed do as he promised. It had to be said, that there might not be social media anymore, but the younger generation was still very apt with how to emulate it! ¡­ The clinic was, unsurprisingly, one of the busiest locations other than the battlegrounds themselves. After all, there had been injuries everywhere and they had been busy since the war started. At this time, the clinic was over the maximum capacity with fifty or so patients, with the second floor also filled up. What''s more, the patients were all guards, though this didn''t come as a surprise for them. They thought the citizens were probably also hurt but left out to die. Sadly, Victor and the others¡ªwherever they were¡ªweren''t here to bring those people to the clinic for treatment. From the mouths and rants of the guards in pain¡ªwho they would later find out to just be deserters¡ªthey were actually being crushed by the enemies despite their relatively low numbers. The more they heard, the more worried the doctors and nurses were. It seemed that the enemy was stronger than expected? What would that mean for them? Would they become slaves? Anyway, after a couple of hours of war, the medicine they stockpiled so much in case of a large-scale monster mob disappeared. The wounds were made even worse when the guards fought for the limited beds, even those who had minor wounds, as if they were terrified of going out and having to fight again. "My arm''s in pain! Why is it taking so long?" One man yelled as he lay down on the bed, glaring at the shaking medical professionals who were just trying to get their jobs done. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Sorry, sir, we already did what we can¡ª" "Shut up! Do your job!" he yelled, but then he saw the nurse was a little pretty. The nurse shook under his stare and he extended his uninjured arm to grab her. However, an old woman stepped in between, irking the man quite a bit. "Sir¡­ please understand." It was the head nurse who moved forward, standing firm, and appearing extremely professional. "Our medicine has run out. The person who knows is missing in action¡ª" "I DON''T CARE!" The man bellowed. "HURRY UP! BITCH!" This made the doctors walk over with deep frowns. This was especially true for Dr. Volohov, the husband of the head nurse. The man continued shouting on the woman''s face and the doctor immediately stepped forward. He wasn''t young and had white hair all over like his wife. "We would appreciate it if you don''t speak to us that way¡ª" BANG! The old doctor''s sentence was cut when a fist hit his face, and he was thrown barrelling to the wall, hitting a few other people on the way. "Doctor!" the people yelled and his wife urgently ran to check on him. "Honey!" The man¡ªa man named Rip¡ªdidn''t seem to care at all. He was just annoyed at the interruption. "Dare talk back?!" "YOU¡ª" The man lifted his head and looked down at them. "What? What do you wanna say?!" This made them shut up and look down, angry. This man was a few levels above them. They naturally didn''t want to go head-on against him. Rip found himself smiling a bit at his effect, the despair and helplessness of the previous fight being buried. This was how it should be, he thought. He couldn''t help but recall the fight he had just escaped an hour before. They were against a small group of Alterans but, surprisingly, their own bastards decided to join in! He had seen some familiar faces! He had beaten them up a few times because their faces annoyed him! Then they dared to attack him?! He could still remember the sting of a sword slashing his arm and a spear poking at his legs¡ªboth of which coming from brats he thought of as trash! How dare they! How dare they! The annoyance created a dark murderous atmosphere around him, making the nurses and doctors really fear for their lives. They were scared. Now that there was no medicine and there was little they could do, would they be tagged as useless? Would these men vent on them too until they died like so many others?! After struggling for so long, would that still be their fates in the end?! Chapter 563 - 563: Doctors Conflicts In the end though, despite all these worries, their professional instincts prevailed over their fears and they headed to the people¡ªespecially the old doctor¡ªwho had been hurt by the attack. However, before they could do anything to help, various things like bottles or whatever small item was around were thrown at them instead. Clack! Bang! Clank! "AH!" "Ouch!" Rip and a few others looked badly at the nurses who now had additional bruises, one of whom even had blood dripping down his forehead. "Don''t you dare treat them before me!" The old nurse, Liana, turned to glare at them with teary eyes, her hands trying to support her husband. "But we really don''t have medicine!" "THEN GO FIND THEM!!" "T-They''re mostly available outside the territory ¡ª" "Do I look like I care?" The doctors and the nurses paled. This meant that they would have to get out of the territory and find the plants themselves! Rip pointed at the male nurses. "You, you, and you. Go." "What?" "No, I¡ª" "It''s final," Rip said, looking at their reactions. He liked the terror on their faces and his eyes stopped at the Doctor who was being held up by his wife. Rip pointed at him. "Let him join." "What?" Liana let go of her husband and stood in front of him. "No! He''s injured!" Rip glared at her, "Shut up, old hag! If you don''t want to be thrown to the monster''s mouth like the pig that you are, then keep your mouth shut!" More than the woman, the Doctor was more angry. "YOU¡ª!" "No, don''t!" Liana yelled as she held on to her husband. "It''s not worth it," she said. "Just get out." Volohov froze. He knew his wife well. Liana was implying that he should just take this chance and escape. But how could he really do it? Rip looked at the couple and then at the nurses. "Until you get the medicine, the rest of these people will be at our mercy. Be careful, we might get impatient! You know how horny we can get!" The men clenched their fists and gritted their teeth, while the women shivered at the threats. "As long as you get them within an hour, they''re safe. So hurry up! Time starts now!" At this, several doctors had no choice but to get out to the streets where scuffles would abound, with one of the male nurses helping Volohov move. They knew time was of the essence though, so Volohov pushed himself harder no matter how much pain he was in. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Volohov almost fell down at one point, held up by the male nurse Raffy. The other two nurses flinched as well, prepared to catch him. "I''m alright," he said, "We have to hurry, there''s no time¡­" They continued moving forward. They considered leaving the old doctor somewhere safe, but he was the one who knew the plants best. Besides, it was war, how safe could anywhere be? Though they were surprised at how¡­ peaceful things seemed to be, considering the injured in the clinic, they weren''t naive to think they wouldn''t encounter one. Would they even be able to get out the gates? But then, as they travelled they got pulled back. Their hearts dropped for a moment but then they looked at the kids with sly smiles on their faces. The doctor''s eyebrows rose high. "Tacky?" ¡­ Seeing them like this, to be honest, the old doctor just thought they finally lost their minds. It wasn''t the first time someone lost it. Volohov looked at the young men, filled with pity. Tacky Trio: "..." "Doc, why are you looking at me like this?" Volohov saw that they seemed okay, if not a little wounded, and changed stance. "I''m sorry, we ran out of medicine." "That''s not why we''re here," Tacky said and pulled them back to the house they were in, which happened to be a few blocks away. Tacky saw Volohov''s injury and lifted him up, leaving them with no choice but to follow. Raffy looked at them worriedly, before turning to Juan who was walking beside him. "No, we have to go¡ª" "No, trust us," he said. "You wouldn''t need those plants." The certainty in his tone made the nurses purse their lips, and then their eyebrows rose when they saw whose house it was Gamut was actually waiting outside and they felt relieved, thinking that they were brought in because Gamut had managed to somehow keep some medicine in stock. Soon they realized they were wrong. Instead of giving them medicine, Gamut led them in to see something inside the house. There, they saw a line of unconscious people. They weren''t very familiar with them, but they were all tied up even while they were sleeping. "Please check on them," Tacky said, "They''re slaves." "What?" At this, the doctors and the nurses immediately kneeled down to see their states. The doctor and nurses were shocked at the status of the ''slaves''. Gamut and the others didn''t feed them information immediately, nor did they tell them their conditions had actually been improved alredy due to the Alteran potions. He wanted them to see for themselves and perhaps diagnose if there were more things he missed. Regardless of whether their situation had improved internally, the slaves'' bodies were still battered up. Volohov looked at Gamut with furrowed eyebrows. "What¡­" he paused, voice a little breathless¡ªwheezing. "So it was this bad?" The common citizens didn''t have access to the slaves at all. They were either in the mine or in a special handling area Fargo made to process the things they found in the mine. Both places were prohibited to the citizens except if they paid a large amount of money to bribe the guards. Not to mention, there were plenty of ''bribery'' cases that only caused losses to the giver, but in the end, were not given access to the slaves at all. At some point, most people who didn''t confirm they had a relative inside simply gave up. Everyone had too many problems in their own lives. It wasn''t like in Terran wherein the biggest problems were breakups, mortgages, scandals, or an annoying boss at work. The problems now had too much to do with survival. Here, one wrong decision could literally take their lives. Who could have so much mind to bother with strangers? Out of sight, out of mind, so to speak. But now¡ªseeing their situation firsthand¡ªthey only felt heartbreak and guilt. "They went through a lot, not just physically, but also psychologically," Tacky said, particularly concerned about his sister. "What we had suffered so far was nothing compared to what they experienced in the past few days. Dr. Wais has her work cut out for her." Volohov and the nurses looked at each other, hearts frozen. Just yesterday, their psychologist, Dr. Wais, who had been focused on helping the victimized girls, had also been pulled to become one of them. They couldn''t bear to tell them this and only nodded. Unaware that his sister''s future psychologist would probably need therapy herself, Tacky continued with his orientation. "Actually, they were even worse before." "What?" "The Alterans lent us their potions. It''s diluted, but I could see that it strengthened their bodies somehow. They were literally at the end of the line before." This made the newcomers flinch and stare at them. "Alterans? Our ENEMIES?" The doctor and the nurses were completely confused, even aghast. They felt pity for the slaves, but they didn''t want to join them!! Tacky and the others expected this reaction. They quickly summarized some of the events so far. It was only then that the doctors realized¡ªit wasn''t that the civilians'' injuries were ignored, but there were few civilian patients at all! They didn''t even join the war and hid, how could they get injured? "The enemy is good! We have observed them for some time. They don''t keep slaves!" "Do you trust them so much?" Volohov asked, naturally dubious about it. "And don''t tell me they don''t keep slaves because you don''t see them! This could just be their first war, so of course they wouldn''t have slaves yet!" Tacky shook his head. "How they interacted in life-and-death situations can''t be faked. Besides, don''t you think Victor and his team''s disappearances¡ªwherever they area¡ªare weird?" "You mean they''re¡ª" "I think so." The doctor looked at the other male nurses, who seemed just as conflicted. But then they remembered the people inside the clinic and knew they simply didn''t have the time to be indecisive. After heaving a deep breath, the old doctor looked at Tacky. "What do we need to do?" Chapter 564 - 564: Doctors’ Revenge Less than an hour later, the doctors came with various plants to place on their wounds. "About time!" Rip yelled, spraying saliva all over their faces. "I thought you wanted us to eat first before you arrived!" He said with a grin, looking at the shivering nurses with amusement "Sorry, it took time because there''s a war going on, after all," he said, heading towards the small preparation area in the clinic. "Let us prepare the medicine for a bit, please." "Fine. Hurry up!" He yelled and he watched the doctor and the nurses proceed to prepare, refusing help from the others. No one thought this was odd. After all, the preparation area was only so big to fit a few men. Another thing they didn''t note was that the doctors seemed to have some makeshift cloth over their hands as if to serve as gloves. After a while, the group of them came out with a medicine in their hands, using small wooden bowls and flat sticks sold at a high price by the local carpentry shop (owned by Fargo, of course). The doctor and nurses went ahead to the fifty or so guards occupying their clinic, adding the paste to their wounds. "AH! It stings!" Patient #1 yelled, punching a big nurse. He was naturally imbalanced but he desperately turned so the small medicine container would not spill. At this, the other guards looked badly at him, as if it was his fault. "Don''t spill the medicine!" Patient #2 yelled, before glaring at the guard who kicked. "Are you an idiot?" "But it stings!" "Sissy!" "Pussy!" Another one yelled. This made Patient #1 very annoyed. "You do it, then!" Patient #2''s eyes twitched but he kept his expression. Raffy headed and applied it on him immediately, and the man immediately flinched. "HISSSSS¡ª" However, even if the application stung like hell, the men had to keep it in lest they be mocked. Seeing their enduring red faces satisfied the nurses very much, rewarding them with a bit more of the paste. "DAMN!" Raffy was more experienced now and could avoid most hits, while the rest held it in lest they be mocked as well. Rip was also hissing at this time, gritting his teeth as he endured the intense sting. It was very much like dousing alcohol straight to an open wound, but worse. Volohov himself was applying it to him. At some point, The doctor looked at him appearing conflicted. "What is it?" Rip asked with gritted teeth, red eyes ready to rip out throats if triggered. "I¡­ I actually have some anesthesia-like solution, but I only have a few drops." "Add it to me!" "Yes!" he said, taking out a small vial from his space and adding it to the bowl. He mixed it well until it was completely integrated into the paste. Volohov shakily applied the rest to the wounds, and Rip immediately felt the difference. He felt that the sting was indeed a bit less and calmed down a bit, asking Volohov to apply more on his minor cuts. Volohov was surprisingly obedient this time and applied as ordered. Some guards saw this and pushed aside the nurses assigned to them. "Use that on me, too!" "No, me!" Volohov shook his head, conflicted. "This is only good for a few more people." At this, several of the stronger ones immediately yelled, demanding it be applied to them. The weaker ones could only endure the torturous sting, looking at the team leads with bitterness It was peaceful for the next couple of minutes, with the ''patients'' laying down on the makeshift hospital beds and waiting for the medicine to heal their wounds. The medical professionals stood at the side as if ready to be called, and some people started complaining about the sting. The limping Dr. Volohov sighed, looking to be truly apologetic. "I''m sorry, we really didn''t think it''d still hurt so much. This formula was fine when we used it on young girls." The passive-aggressive comment made a lot of big men shut up. For a while, there was relative silent in their clinic, sans the stifled groans and hisses around. It was broken some minutes later, when someone started flinching wildly in his bed. "AHH!" Patient #1 yelled. "ITCHY! WHY IS IT SO ITCHY!" "FU¡ªWHAT!" Another yelled, scratching his whole body, unable to pinpoint where he should scratch to feel comfort. It was so itchy that they could barely even sit up, as if every movement would just make the discomfort even more intense. The others soon yelled the same with various intensities in their reactions. Some of the female nurses seemed confused, but seeing the others coolly watching, the realization immediately struck. The doctors watched them in blunt fascination. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They might not know a lot about the plants here, especially with Vanessa''s gatekeeping, but they did try to study on their own. They happened to know that some plants, while not poisonous, could still cause extreme itchiness, especially when combined with certain plants. Dr. Lu was the unfortunate person to know this by experience. They got the plants so quickly not because the plants were in the territory. After all, poisonous plants were moved outside. Rather, they had such plants in their spaces for study! They happened to have a bit and they would gladly use them all to deal with these bastards! It wasn''t that they hadn''t considered doing it before for petty revenege, but they knew these people wouldn''t die by doing so. Rather, they would just trace the ''prank'' to them and thus adding targets to their heads. But now, with some external support, it was different! In addition to their itch poisons, the Alterans lent them something important! While they couldn''t add it to everyone, they chose the targets well, and soon they''d know it would work wonders. "AHHH!" Another man¡ªa man lying on one of the more comfortable beds in the corner¡ªyelled. His body was red from itching, but suddenly he couldn''t even scratch it. "WAIT, WHY CAN''T I MOVE?" This man''s name was Tin, a level 7 swordsman who deserted very early on. He was one of the battlement guards that had fallen down due to the chaos on the walls and was fortunate enough to not be targeted by the enemy arrows. "I CAN''T EITHER!" Rip yelled, feeling the itch switch to numbness until he could barely move his limbs. He noticed that the others who had similar afflictions had that anesthetic medicine! Under the duress, his eyes turned red and he looked at the doctor who didn''t seem surprised by the effects. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Chapter 565 - 565: Traversing Fargo Village (Part 1) The man''s roar still made the people scared. Even when he couldn''t move, the associations¡ªtheir fear, their weaknesses¡ªwere there. They had never met the Alteran people nor had they tested the effectivity of the potions either. What if suddenly it didn''t work anymore? Fortunately, Volohov still remembered the plan, and he looked at his companions, nodding at them. At this, the nurses and doctors immediately went outside. "HEY! DON''T RUN!!" The guards yelled, the men standing up while scratching their whole bodies. Some people fell down on the floor though, unable to handle the itchiness, only ending up trying to grind themselves on the floor like idiots. The others were a bit stronger and shakily followed the nurses outside. They were very slow because their feet were too damned itchy! "BASTARDS!" "They definitely have the cure!" One by one, the guards filed out with gritted teeth and reddish skins, leaving those who were paralyzed behind. "HEY! DON''T LEAVE ME HERE!" Rip, Tin, and a few others yelled out. They shook their bodies to get out, but those who managed to move enough simply fell down the bed, moving like disabled worms. "HEY! COME BACK!" "OI!" They yelled and yelled, but none would return, leaving them there. ¡­ Outside the forty or so guards who were extremely uncomfortable with their own skin, murderously looking for the doctors, found themselves separated into different alleys and houses around the area. By the time they got out of the clinic, there was no sign of the doctors, the nurses, or anybody else. Their strategies were to break into various houses to check if they were there or if the people knew where they were. In their extreme discomfort and arrogance, they had forgotten that they were extremely weakened and could barely move other than to scratch their own bodies. They separated into certain areas. "LET US IN!" He yelled, shakily knocking on the door as intensely as he could. "LET US INNN!!!" And the door opened. With gritted teeth, the group entered, eyes filled with bloodlust. They didn''t even question how easily they entered the houses in their muddled states. Before, the citizens would at least question or beg for them not to enter¡ªprimarily because this meant someone was going to get hurt. It was completely suspicious they entered without even a bit of that, and when they realized it, the door shut closed and they were already surrounded by various citizens, all looking at the hatefully. "What¡­" Soon, the dawn of understanding entered their muddled heads and they ran towards the door, barrelling and pushing aside whoever tried getting in their way. However, most of these guards had no weapons anymore, were extremely weakened, and were very uncomfortable. They were no match for the groups of citizens who were out for their blood! In each group, it was the same. They ganged up on the trespassers, kicking them, punching them, and doing whatever attack they could do at their pitiful levels. "What¡ª" the man yelled as he received several kicks on the body. "Do you not know you could also be slaves if we lost, huh?" "Slaves in other territories are probably better than staying under your rule!" One yelled, proceeding to kick him on the groin. "AHHHH!" his body twitched in pain and the others continued beating him up until he was unconscious if not dead. This happened in a few houses and alleys. Of course, there were also those who noticed the aberrations and turned back in time¡ªas they always did¡ªand even ran back to the clinic to get the stronger teammates they left to die. Too bad they were still mobbed to death¡ªmobbed to death by the very people they used to step on. ¡­ The screams and yells of men naturally entered the clinic and the ears of the men helplessly frozen in place. "What¡­ what''s happening?" Tin asked, forcing himself to move. He happened to be one of the people on the floor, and he was trying to crawl somewhere else like the worm that he was. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Seeing as another person was getting near the exit¡ªeven if it was at the rate of an inch per minute¡ªRip started to panic a bit more. Obviously, this was a trap, and there were people who would deal with them should they stay! "Shit¡­ shit¡­ shit¡­" He cursed as he tried to wiggle out of the bed. One of the other two had managed to do so and fell down on his face. He groaned for a moment before sucking it up and started crawling as well. Rip was in a corner and he was positioned by the wall. It was much more difficult for him to do the same maneuver. "Ah, don''t try to move too much. It''d just cause internal strain and may even cause permanent damage," A new voice said and they turned their heads¡ªsome with great difficulty¡ªto see who it was. It was the Tacky trio, of course, who entered with smiles on their faces. "It really works. So great," he said and his friends chuckled. Baka even went ahead and poked one on the floor. He wiggled wildly, but otherwise couldn''t do anything about it. "Amazing. As expected of them." Crow had lent them a few drops of a paralysis potion they all had in emergencies. Crow didn''t want people to be hurt for the mission and thus gave them some tools to safeguard their lives. Fargo''s men were hateful, but many of them weren''t exactly weak against normal civilians like they were. Anyway, seeing a few drops work wonders was already amazing and it raised Altera''s place in their minds even more. Of course, Crow did say the effect was limited, especially to stronger individuals so they decided not to dilute it and targeted those level 7 and above. Rip, in particular, looked particularly mad at them. "YOU! What are you doing here!?" His eyes turned red, recalling how these kids and those enemies destroyed his group! How did they find him here so quickly?! Chapter 566 - 566: Traversing Fargo Village (Part 2) Tacky actually didn''t see him there. His reddening eyes were focused on the bastard right at his feet. However, he thought, that he might as well clear this one up so he could focus on torturing his target. "Hey, Rip!" Tacky said, looking a little bloodthirsty. He stepped on the person on the ground and walked towards him, waving around his sword, making the previously-arrogant man to pale. "I knew there was someone missing back there," he said, referring the their skirmish from before. There was actually something a bit different with this Tacky, and it was obvious something had changed since they last saw him. Rip gritted his teeth, shivering from anger and nervousness. "Traitors!" "What lies did they feed you, huh!?" Tacky almost laughed. "Lies?" he asked. "Even if they did, it wouldn''t have mattered. "We have low standards of acceptance after what you put us through," he said, raising his sword. "You tortured us so much. Didn''t you think you''d ever get retribution?!" Slash! Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Tacky stabbed the man straight to the heart. He was panting heavily as he slowly let the blood flow to the floor. To be honest, Tacky never thought he''d be able to kill people in cold blood before this war. The three of them used to play games a lot with some other friends. A few of the games were violent, but he remembered cringing a bit when the graphics were particularly gruesome. But their experiences had hardened their hearts¡ªmaking it so much easier after the first time. How quickly people changed. And after what he heard not long ago, he wanted to see more blood. He then turned to the man who was very nearly crawling to the door. He looked very silly, but he didn''t care. The bastard crawled like his life depended on it. And it did. Baka and Juan saw that he was heading to Tin and proceeded to deal with the remaining ones. They knew Tacky had a deep beef with this one, and let him have the satisfaction for revenge. Tacky raised his sword and stabbed the back of the man''s knees, and a loud squelch was heard followed quickly by a pig screaming. "GYAHHH!!!" Tin yelled as he laid down head first on the floor. He was then turned back, shivering, and he was stabbed again, this time on the stomach. "W-What are you doing?! GYAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Tacky didn''t answer and stabbed him right on the crotch. "STO¡ªKYAAAAAAHHH!!!!" Tacky relished in the suffering of this man in particular. He was glad he wasn''t mauled by the monsters like many of his companions. This meant he could make him suffer now! This was one of the guards who beat them up, leaving them to the beasts. But this wasn''t what made him so crazy. More importantly, this bastard was one of the people who touched his sister! He found out about it from Raffy before separating for this task. Apparently, he had heard them bragging about it while they were confined! Raffy''s eyes were a little red when he told him this, obviously holding back a lot of anger as he listened in. Raffy did not know his sister, but he felt extreme injustice for her. They had bragged about how they took her no matter how much she cried, and then how they continued abusing her until she had no tears left to cry! They did it every single day since she arrived. The thought made Tacky''s anger boil so much he continued stabbing the man, over and over, and only came to his senses when his friends patted his back, telling him it was over. Seeing the man dead, Tacky punched the floor, disatisfied. "You died too damned easily!" ¡­ When it was over, Tacky and the others went from house to house, joining the other citizens and the doctors in the hunt. With the low momentum of Fargo''s guards, there would definitely be those who would run away, and they were intent on taking advantage! It so happened that one of the houses they entered was owned by Kyle''s group. How shocked they were to see several men being tortured inside! Since they returned from talking with Crow, it seemed that the group had been very busy! In the next hour or so, more and more people joined in, and they taught them several strategies on how to safely trim Fargo''s forces. In a short time, a good fraction of the guards outside the main walls had been taken care of by the people they bullied. It also allowed the Alterans who had yet to reach the inner walls run much more smoothly than before. It went smoothly that the Alterans, who had been expecting a few deaths by now, hadn''t encountered a single one! . . . At this time, Ansel''s group was traversing the maze-like layout of Fargo. They were very quiet and were subtle, with the queasy ones having cloth on their mouths because they squealed too much at the sight of feces on the ground. However, mysteriously, they hadn''t encountered a single guard! Fargo''s outer wall was huge, yes, but to not encounter one? Were they all in the interior walls? That couldn''t be it, right? For them to win this war, they still had to guard the wall regardless of the chaos happening inside! They traversed a few more alleys, signaling some brave people peeking in to be quiet¡ªand they did¡ªand some even pointed them in the right direction. Soon, they reached the section which wasn''t too far off from their ''target'' area. Throughout all this, they still hadn''t encountered a single hostile force. "So lucky?" Beanie asked, tilting his head. His axe was out and ready to slash, but after the first batch of enemies they ran away from¡ªthe one that broke their path inside¡ªthey hadn''t encountered many of them anymore. Luke behind him shook his head. "Don''t question the blessings!" He said, saying another weird superstition he heard somewhere. Ansel chuckled, but shrugged in the end. "Meh, the universe must be blessing our awesomeness again." Chapter 567 - 567: Status of the Rongo Estate (Part 1) Rongo Mercenary Hall, Not long after Althea''s Entrance Fargo Village was not small and the chaos happened all around it. Inside the interior walls, some distance from where Althea was, the Rongo Hall was no different. Victor and the others attacked the hall as soon as the war started, with them throwing their only smoke and paralysis bombs at the men who were about to get out to assist. A lot of these men were stronger than they were in level, so they had to use a lot of tools in order to handle them with minimal losses. They only had one of each on hand, and they decided to use them early because a group of seven mercenaries were heading out and they didn''t know if the enemies would still be moving in groups further in. One of their missions was to trim the enemy forces when they could and this felt like the perfect chance to do so. Of course, they knew that men of this level may not be taken down by a few smoke and paralysis bombs¡ªnor did they think all of them would be in the area in the first place¡ªso they opted for the more silent approach, hoping to kill as quietly as they could to ensure control over the situation. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Things happened so quickly that the mercenaries weren''t able to react and alert the others. First, just as the mercenaries opened the gates, two balls simultaneously landed on their feet. This was closely followed by the soldiers who had handkerchiefs on their faces, lithely running to the interior of the gates, closing it by the way. Although it was a bit risky, they didn''t want the outside to know they were cleaning up this place. At least not yet. The mercenaries'' eyes widened as they were attacked, but while they defended themselves the two balls emitted different colored gases. Dirty rags found their mouths before they could yell out. This also forced them to inhale more of the gases through their noses, increasing their effects somehow FWOOOSHH! The two balls released smoke that was about two meters in diameter¡ªjust enough for the five men to drown in. Unsurprisingly, the effects of the smoke bombs were limited with people at this level and they didn''t fall down like others would''ve. At best, they were just a bit groggy and disoriented. However, this was enough for Victor''s team. Victor and the others attacked like the special soldiers that they were¡ªsilent and shooting only when needed. They used their weapons to weaken the enemies. The crossbows were also Class D and managed to kill one, but those with shields and shieldsmen managed to keep themselves alive. Knowing they couldn''t let these men recover behind the protection of their shields, Victor and the others opted for close-range combat. With the assistance of Amos and his wood ability, he used his only skill to tie up the mercenaries'' feet. It wasn''t strong, but with their current grogginess, it still managed to cause them imbalance. Even if it was only for a few moments, their distraction allowed the soldiers to sneak next to them, aiming at their vitals. Using their Class D weapons, the soldiers used assassination techniques to end them as quickly and as quietly as possible. Whether it was a soldier grappling a mercenary and stabbing his neck, or someone outright stabbing a person''s chest¡ªthey made sure to take these people''s lives as quickly as they could lest they recovered enough to counterattack. These people were a few levels higher than they were. They would not underestimate them. The most talented in assassination technique was a man named Rasso. Not to mention the mission, he had particular hate for these people for enslaving his son. His knife was very quick, stabbing different exposed areas where the main arteries were. His movements were fast and people were reminded why he was at the top of his class in this subject. His victim, in particular, literally drowned in his own blood. They took down all seven, one of whom was level 14¡ªprobably the leader, currently dead by suffocation of his own blood¡ªwhile the rest of them ranged from level 11 to 13. Although they had the element of surprise, this was still an amazing feat because they were a group of a dozen people who were level 10 or even weaker. The level gap was not small. Everyone was panting and sweaty from tension, but their eyes were bright as they looked at each other and then at the corpses. They didn''t know where they were assigned, but they knew they saved many lives today. They were correct. These dead mercenaries were summoned to assist the outer walls and would never be able to assist, which was the only reason why Fargo didn''t notice their absence during the height of war. Had they been able to get to the outer wall¡ªthey definitely would''ve been able to take several Alterans'' lives by virtue of their levels. Of course, despite the success, the mission would never go perfectly as planned. The slight scuffle still got attention of some nearby guards in the end. Victor and the others hurriedly dragged the corpses to hide, and they also stopped breathing just in case the enemies had extreme senses. Soon, a pair of men emerged from the interior of the base, looking at the events by the gate. They were not weak¡ªboth of whom were at level 15. Victor mused they should be the people in charge of the base while the rest were gone. "Did something happen here?" One asked, looking at the small open space by the gate to see no one was there. There were a few blots of blood on the ground, some relatively new, but it was not an unusual sight there. Rather, there was always blood in this area¡ªa lot of their victims struggled near the gates¡ªso neither of them thought much about the current sight. It didn''t even occur to these people that the enemies would dare attack this base at all. These peoples'' bias against villages was deep-rooted and they would not be able to comprehend how much of a threat the enemy could actually be. And this would quickly turn into their most lethal mistake. Chapter 568 - 568: Status of the Rongo Estate (Part 2) Instead, they just relaxedly stretched their arms, looking around and seeing the previously bustling estate completely empty. "Are we the only ones left here?" "Nah, there should still be a couple of people inside," the other said. "The enemy is just a village, after all." "I think they still moved too many of us," Mercenary #1 said in distaste. They heard that the enemies had yet to show up. He thought it was an overkill to get almost everyone moving. More accurately, it''s offensive to make everyone from the Mercenary team¡ªone that generally mobilized in towns¡ªmove for a mere village. Even if there were only a few of them here, it didn''t mean they were less than their companions currently in towns. The other shrugged. "Must be fun to go massacre outside." How could they have so much fun, if the people here weren''t so weak? In towns, they still had to walk on eggshells! Here, they can do whatever they want! Mercenary #1 looked at him. "You really wanna join?" "I''m kidding," he laughed. Who wanted extra work when they can have fun just ''watching the base''? "Let''s just go have fun with the ladies~" Hearing this Victor and the others had the urge to just attack and kill. The men immediately turned, one even with his weapon out, narrowing their eyes in a direction. "Did you sense that?" "What?" "I swear I felt violent energy." "It''s just you being horny." The man''s eyebrows rose. "Ah, you think so?" And they turned, looking forward to another fun night with the pretty ladies. Victor and the others gritted their teeth as they watched the two mercenaries leave, feeling heavy and finding it extremely difficult to hold themselves back. The main goal here was, naturally, for them to help out the victims trapped in the place. The job was especially fitting for them to do as they had been staying in the territory for a long time and may even know of the victims. It was not the time to rescue directly because they didn''t know exactly how many enemies there were and, from the mercenaries'' conversation, they definitely still had a few companions inside. The only thing they knew for certain was that the location of the women''s dorm was at the edge¡ªpassing through various modules to get there. Without knowing how they''d get mobbed, it would be foolish to barrel forward¡ªno matter how much they wanted to. They no longer had paralysis or smoke bombs, and they definitely wouldn''t have much effect if the enemy was strong. Putting aside the fact that the two mercenaries they saw were also higher in level than the previous ones, what if there were people beyond the level cap within the area? Those people might not be able to attack the trespassers, but they could definitely stop whatever plans of rescue they had. It was simply too risky. Even if there weren''t, if they went to the women first, the chaos would be much bigger and the enemies could even capture hostages. It was best to weaken the enemy before they rescued the women. But¡­ what would the women suffer in the meantime? They couldn''t guarantee how long they''d take¡ª "I''ll distract them," Amos said, "At least delay their access to the women." "What?" "I¡­ I used to run and hide a lot growing up," he said, "And I''m not as strong as you guys." The soldiers looked admiringly at the young man. This was a risky endeavor, but they knew it was the best course of action. The boy didn''t wait anymore nor could they stop him. He immediately emerged from their hiding spot. "WHERE''S MY SISTER!!!" he bellowed, eyes red from anger. This made the men turn, shocked. "Oi! You¡ª" The soldiers watched as the young man ran away in the opposite direction, extremely fast, and was quickly followed up by the two men five levels stronger than he was. Victor and the others immediately went to work, their hearts only praying the boy ran fast enough. "Let''s go purge their personnel there and take the women," Victor said, quietly so only they could hear. The others nodded in agreement, completely ready to fight. They entered the interior of the halls and checked room to room. They had the shieldsmen in front and at the back, with the archers ready to shoot whoever appeared. There were unsurprisingly not many guards, but it wasn''t that there wasn''t¡ªat least after a couple of rooms. Keeping someone in those rooms meant there was also something or someone important inside. Victor made a signal for everyone to stop. They immediately stepped back when the man looked. Holding his weapon out, he walked over to check. He did not expect a shield to suddenly appear in front of him, with a few weapons immediately taking his life the very next moment. This man was relatively weak at level 10, and when they checked the room he was guarding, they saw it was some resources. Some of them were a little familiar. "These are Alteran products," Benny said, being one of the people who focused more on what Drake and the others brought in. "They probably got it from Bright." It was obvious that the mercenary team took importance of these things. They didn''t stay long, of course, immediately moving to the next areas. They quickly traversed the hallways, ready to defend and attack. Realizing there weren''t many, they favored speed over stealth, attracting the few remaining men in there. At some point, they ended up in front of the damaged weapons storage room. They went past the smoking room that had been destroyed by the bomb. Victor looked at Benny, who had been stationed outside before everything happened. "The weapons were all taken care of?" Benny nodded, "It''s entirely smooth. Miss Juni really helped a lot." After all, without her figuring out where the weapons were and giving them access, their mission in this area would''ve been a lot harder. "The actress?" Victor asked, pondering. He had heard that there was a new woman¡ªa very famous actress¡ªbeside Fargo. Was that her? So she was an Alteran spy? "Bombs, huh?" Their group wasn''t given explosive bombs and, while it probably wasn''t as big as the bombs in Terran, they could see their damage was still not small. "The more I know about Altera, the more impressed I am," Ken couldn''t help but whisper as they gestured to go to the next place to clear. At this, Rasso couldn''t help but look back at the damage with particularly hopeful eyes. "When this war ends, we''ll be sure to get your son," Ken said, patting his shoulder. Rasso''s eyes watered at this. They had been trying to get to the slaves, but after several strategies they found out it''d more likely risk the slaves'' lives instead. The best strategy was to end the war as soon as possible. His son had always been his only family since his wife died in childbirth. He would die if he lost that boy. Thinking of their reunion was the main thing that was keeping his sanity. That, and¡­ He paused as a pretty face entered his mind, his eyes warming up unconsciously. The group continued to clear the area, making sure there would be no surprise attacks when they rescued the women. As expected and fortunately, not a lot of men remained at the base. After all, there was a war going on and the guns were already destroyed anyway, so there was no point in keeping too many guards in here. After traversing the area for a few minutes, they only encountered a handful¡ªall of which were handled skillfully by their group. The strongest one they encountered so far was a level 13 mercenary who was guarding what was probably the boss'' room. That was to say, Belize''s. Further, judging by how he held on to his sword and the special aura, this person had the profession of swordsman¡ªwhich wasn''t something every mercenary had. This was a pretty strong man to guard a room, and they didn''t hold back with their attacks this time, with the elementalists even using some mana to deal with him. "WHAT!" The man yelled, "WE''RE BEING ATTACKED!" He screamed as he defended himself, but was shocked to see no one was coming. Someone was quick to cover his mouth with a dirty rag (due to lack of clothing, everyone had a lot of dirty rags which were their old clothes) that muffled his voice. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The mercenary''s hands couldn''t be freed to take it out because he was too busy defending himself. Clank! Clank! Clank! Anyway, even if the Aborigine was a few levels stronger and had a profession, how could he go against a small mob of skilled soldiers? Suffice to say, he succumbed after some time, with a few soldiers gaining a few minor wounds, but fortunately nothing serious. A few guards stayed outside the room to see if there was anyone attracted by their fight, while Victor, Rasso, and a few others checked what was worth guarding in the room. It was a corner room that had better furniture than others. They looked around to clear, and their hearts stopped when they saw a half-naked woman tied to the bed! They gasped when they saw who it was."Doctor Wais!" Rasso was especially pale, immediately running to her. "JULIET!!" Chapter 569 - 569: Rasso’s Problems A few days ago. "Let go of me! Let go of me!" Rasso yelled, struggling as he was pinned down by his teammates. "Calm down, Rasso!" Ken yelled as he held the man''s arm. "Going there now would not help your son!" "But what could they be making him do while I rest here?!" He roared. His worries were completely valid, but going berserk now would only endanger everyone! Rasso did not seem to care at this point, his mind triggered by the sight of his son''s poor state. "LET GO OF ME¡ª" he yelled and the wildness made the others have to let go. Realizing he was free, Rasso immediately ran to the door¡ª BANG! Rasso was thrown down to the ground. He looked up at the attacker, glaring at him with red eyes. It was Victor, standing tall, with veins showing in anger. "Are you a fool?!" He exclaimed. "Showing weakness to Fargo would only make him exploit it!" "You don''t have a son! How can you understand me?" At this, Victor only pursed his lips. His eyes sharply looked at him. "What if he asks you to betray us for him? Will you do it?" This made him pause and the others looked at Rasso guardedly. "No, I¡ª" But he couldn''t answer, because he truly wasn''t 100% confident that he would not. They had naturally all made a non-betrayal oath¡ªmade even stricter after what Gian did¡ªbut Fargo was a slick man. Who knew if he could find a loophole somewhere? "I¡­ I can exchange myself¡­ since I made an oath, they shouldn''t be able to get anything out of me, they shouldn''t be able to make me betray you¡ª" "Do you really think Fargo would let any of us go? I bet he''d torture your son right in front of you until you do." This made Rasso lose all blood on his face. That was just what Fargo liked to do, and Rasso knew this too well. What''s more, even if their oath was tight, he''d definitely torture his son just for the sake of it! "Then¡­ what am I supposed to do?" Rasso yelled, covering his face with his palms. He had been suffering anxiety for a while now, and some of his symptoms had been flaring up since seeing his son. It was around this time that an announcement sounded across the territory. [Announcement: Slaves are now open for purchase. Go to the plaza to join the auction.] His eyes widened and he looked up, wondering if he was hearing things. Victor and the others also had startled expressions, confirming that it was real. This injected hope into him. Although they were suspicious, if it had to do with money, then it was possibly a legitimate transaction. It definitely wouldn''t be cheap, however. Several people just felt relieved that there was an alternative. Benny smiled as he helped Rasso up from the floor. "Let''s go, I have a few gold¡­ I can lend you some." "I can, too," Kenny said, and so on. Rasso looked at them in shock. Obviously, they were just exploring the possibility of his betrayal earlier. Looking at him like this, Victor sighed, patting his shoulder. "You''re still our companion, after all." Rasso''s eyes teared up, and he was drowned in a mix of guilt and gratitude. His body shook and he bent down a bit to make a slight bow. "Thank you," he said. "So much." Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ Fargo held the ''auction'' in the plaza, showing off the various slaves who had relatives. Fargo stood in front with his right-hand men, settling on the chairs at the front. Sen stepped forward to lead the event. "For anyone who wants to buy a slave. It''s 100 gold for the weak ones, and 500 gold for the better ones," Sen said with a grin, making everyone there pale. "That''s too expensive!" "Lower it, please!" "I have 10 gold. I''m willing to work hard for the rest! Please give me back my wife!" Sen''s face did not change. "Do you think freeing slaves from the system is free? Idiots!" Sen wasn''t lying. Freeing slaves from the ''system'' cost 10 gold. Even if Fargo decided to give the slaves for free¡ªwhich he never would¡ªthe citizens still wouldn''t be able to save the slaves by virtue of paying 10 gold. After all, who still had 10 gold after so long? It was estimated that most of their money was drained during the first month in this place! The citizens pursed their lips but tried to haggle despite feeling scared for their lives. After all, this could be their final chance to get back their loved ones! A middle-aged man ran in front and kneeled down. This was Basil, the person who determined the locations of the well and oversaw its construction. "That''s my father!" he said, "I only have 10 silver. Please give me my father and I will continue serving you." "What makes you think I''ll accept that. Aren''t you already working for me?" "In exchange for my loyalty¡ª" He was being very respectful and was terrified, but Fargo took it as a challenge to his authority. "Oh?" Fargo asked and the looked in a direction. Basil watched as his father ran to the wall, willingly bumping into it, again and again. Bang! Bang! Basil gasped, but was held down by the guards. Bang! Bang! "STOP! STOP IT PLEASE!! I''M SORRY! PLEASE¡ª" By the time the old man stopped, he was already twitching and full of blood. It was a horrible sight. Regardless, no one could afford their rates, but some did manage to strike a deal. In the end, except for one or two people who managed to strike a deal, the rest of the slaves were sent back to the mine to be exploited. Ugo even proposed a rent-a-slave program but, obviously, Fargo wanted to make use of them for a while. In Fargo''s words, the force was needed for the mines and after they managed to get enough resources, only then could they be sold¡ªand for a higher price. The citizens didn''t have money anyway, it was time for them to save up to buy their family. In any case, one could imagine the hopelessness a single father was experiencing. His nightmares had become too painful to watch and Victor recommended him to see the psychologist, Doctor Wais. She was usually busy helping out the girls who suffered under Fargo''s reign¡ªconvincing them not to end things¡ªbut she always managed to find time for him. Rasso''s impression of her was that she was an angel¡ªeven with a huge burn scar on her face. She was so gentle and kind and it made a big man like her soften up immediately. He would listen to his problems, extremely patient, and she would tell him words of wisdom that would calm his anxious soul. She told him that his son was stronger than he was, that he raised him well and he had to believe in him. The past few days, her sympathetic ear and kindness entered his heart. They were not lovers, but his heart began to beat for her. Now, seeing her like this, he felt it breaking into pieces. Chapter 570 - 570: Rasso and Juliet Rasso pulled the woman in his embrace. They were both shivering. However, he still had the mind to cover her up well and try to make her drink the Alteran healing potion he had. "Drink this, Juliet, please," he said, gently pleading, and the dazed woman blinked, looking at him. "Oh, Rasso, is that you? Where have you guys been?" She asked, her soft voice raspy¡ªno doubt from screaming so much. Guilt flooded his body and crushed his heart¡ªhis entire being enflamed in anger. Before the war, they had to hide underground because Fargo would definitely have hunted them. It was obviously to save their lives, but he couldn''t help but feel heavy at the fact that this woman was treated like this while he hid! He gritted his teeth and held back his tears, shakily trying to get her to drink. "Drink a bit, please, Juliet," he said, letting the bottle''s rim touch her dried lips. "My body hurts¡­" He sniffed, voice croaking. "Yes, this will help." Finally, Juliet opened her mouth to drink, and he followed it up with water to hydrate her. To be honest, he had heard of the aborigine men''s bias against women and he knew that many disliked women with scars. He thought that she''d be safe, like she had been for so long¡ª He was wrong, so wrong. "I''m so sorry¡­" he said, sniffing. In response, he found her gentle hand on his face instead. "It''s not your fault," she said, that soft voice of hers that always comforted him trying to do so again. And it only made him sob even more. ¡­ S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. While Rasso handled the female doctor, giving him a bit of time, the others rummaged the room with heavy hearts. Benny was outright sobbing with them. He wasn''t close with the doctor, but he admired her work. If not for her, there were definitely would be a lot more girls who ended their lives prematurely. Of course, time was of the essence and they knew they wouldn''t be able to stay long. Just as they were prepared to leave, they noticed some items at the side. Some of them were unfamiliar and they knew these must be some of the items Belize had been guarding. While his most important things must have been in his space, they didn''t underestimate whatever item he had and decided to confiscate them. No one''s spaces could fit everything, but they could take a few each. They also did not expect to see a piece of device they thought they would never touch again. "It''s a video camera!" Benny said, shocked. How long has it been since he last saw one of these! "It''s completely solar powered, too, I guess it still gathers solar energy from another sun." A few of the others also gathered around him to see. He clicked randomly and the video opened. Then the video played and their intrigued expressions changed very quickly, soon turning dark, and then livid. The video captured the events of the war with Bright. It showed the deaths¡ªalmost all of which were unnecessary, considering the level gaps and poisons¡ªas well as the abuse that came after. Then the film continued to show a bit more gruesome clips, the sex videos, and the torture. Among the earlier videos, there were also a few familiar men being tortured. It was their companions who went missing earlier on! They asked a lot about their group and goals. They went through inhuman torture, and the men had no choice but to tell whatever they could beyond the limitations of the oaths¡ªwhich, with the right questioning, wasn''t few. It was no wonder Fargo seemed to always know what could make them succumb! "Hey don''t destroy it," Victor said, with similarly tense expression. He immediately put it in his space, afraid Benny destroyed it due to emotion. As much as they wanted it destroyed, it was still a core technology and there might be an advantage to keeping this evidence on hand. Victor took a deep breath. As the leader, he couldn''t show anything that didn''t show stability. He looked at Rasso, who was definitely not in the state to fight. "We''ll come back here later," he told him and patted his back. "Take care of the doctor." He then walked to the door, followed by the rest of them. "Let''s go kill the remaining scum." ¡­ At this time, a certain wood-user Alteran was being dragged by the feet. Although he managed to avoid them for a while with running and hiding skills he developed growing up with the family he had, he still was no match for the senses of men 5 levels higher than he was. He realized that the only reason they didn''t notice their party hiding by the gate earlier was due to carelessness. When they focused, their senses were really very good. Amos'' final hiding spot was a beam in one of the rooms. He didn''t breathe then, and as soon as he did he was caught. "Stop it! Where are you taking me?!" A bloodied Amos yelled as he groaned, dragged on the floor like a sack. At this, the man slightly turned to look at him. "Wouldn''t it be fun to see your sister having fun with us first hand?" "YOU!" Amos gritted his teeth and used his remaining mana to summon tiny vines from his arm. It was so small but he managed to wrap it around on foot and pull back with all his strength, making the man trip just a bit. Of course, a level 15''s strength was not small so the elemenatlist''s vine broke as soon as a bit of force was added to it. The man managed to catch himself quickly enough, and just in time to take back the feet that were escaping. "Ah!" Amos yelled as he was dragged back. The other mercenary laughed and kicked him for good measure. "Oof!" Amos puked a bit at the force, using his remaining mana to gather more vines around him. He had just awakened and it really wasn''t much, but it did soften the blow of the kicks. The men saw how he was wrapping himself with vines and their eyes widened in interest. "Whoa, an Elementalist!" he grinned, "Interesting!" Chapter 571 - 571: Fall of the Rongo Mercenary Hall (Part 1) Victor and the others finally arrived at the final, most interior section of the place. They passed by the few guards they shot, some people kicking them more, regretting killing them so quickly. But what could they do? They couldn''t afford to underestimate these people! When they arrived, the door was wide open, and they could see what was happening inside without alerting the enemy of their presence. At this time, Juni was bravely trying to defend several women behind her. Next to her, there was also a bloodied Amos lying down on her feet. Benny almost ran to rescue them but was held back by Victor. He also signaled everyone to be quiet while he figured out the safest way to handle these bastards. At this time, Juni was waving her sword against the aborigine men, as if to keep them at bay. Instead of being intimidated though, they were laughing at her. "Pretty lady, let us have a taste. I heard about what''s going outside. We wanna have some fun before we have to risk our lives out there. I promise it will increase our chances," he said as if he wasn''t above the level cap and was just assigned to guard the place. Juni kept her glare, waving it again, though her unskilled waving was obvious. Juni was not a swordsman. Her little talent in fighting laid more in gunmanship and therefore long-ranged fights. "GO!" She yelled, while the women behind her either shivered or didn''t move at all. The men didn''t see her as a threat at all. Rather, she was a pretty little bug struggling uselessly. However, they were the type who liked playing with food and decided to play with her emotions a bit. "Yes, yes, we know you''ve been reserving yourself for the boss," they said. "So we won''t touch you, just them." This made the women behind her flinch, expecting to be left behind. However, Juni remained unchanged, her weapon stable even if her hands weren''t. The aborigines saw this and laughed, with one of them stepping down, and it was met by Juni waving her sword. The aborigine stepped back, the smile on his face unmoving. Juni shook but kept her stance. "Don''t go any step forward," she said with gritted teeth. Victor watched her firmly hold her weapon despite seeing fear and apprehension in her eyes and felt a little admiration. He then turned to the aborigine men, two were the ones from before and there was another mercenary probably assigned to the area. Other than the two level 15s, the other one was probably level 13 according to his aura. The dozen of them wouldn''t be able to handle them head-on without losses, and the women would be especially vulnerable in whatever scuffle that''d happen. He looked at his men and nodded. Except for a few, the rest moved away and hid away from direct vision. Benny looked at some of the debris he took from the crumbled areas where the bombs exploded. He raised his palm and the debris floated. He had worried he wouldn''t be able to manipulate debris of system buildings because he heard they couldn''t manipulate the walls at all (and he may have tried his ability on buildings, though to no avail) . However, it seemed that once the bit detached from a larger structure, it was free reign. It was, of course, much more difficult to handle but Benny was a talent and with a determined wave of his arm, the debris swiftly flew to the feet of the guards, keeping them at bay. They made sure to hit all three with force, so none of the arrogant pricks would think of taking a woman hostage. Benny didn''t hold back with his throw. While he wouldn''t be able to seriously injure any one of them with his move, he could certainly shake their heads a bit. "What?!" Mercenary #1, Kok, yelled as he felt his head shake, whipping his head in the direction it came from. He moved so fast he got even dizzier, but he was quick to gather himself. "There''re attackers!" He yelled, taking his weapon out and strode outside. Three rocks at the same time told them they were dealing with another elementalists! As far as he knew, only the lord awakened Earth in this territory, and this meant there was another one going against them! "Be careful! There''s an elementalist!" he yelled, making them extremely careful. First, they found a rare wood elementalst (tho he was half-dead now) and this was closely followed by an earth elementalist! What''s going on?! Another set of rocks hit at them then, provoking, and preventing them from thinking logically, making them just rush outside to deal with the bastards! As soon as they exited to go after the attackers, the door closed, and immediately class D weapons appeared right below their eye level, targeting their legs! Slash! Slash! S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The soldier''s assassination techniques once again shone. Though they couldn''t attempt directly trying to kill them, they slashed and stabbed their ankles, wounding them, and causing them to kneel on the floor. They felt they were doused by something and then they felt the atmosphere heating up. Immediately after this, the fire users¡ªincluding Victor and Ken¡ªimmediately waved their arms, and a flamethrower released from their fists. It naturally wasn''t too large or strong¡ªthey had just awakened, after all¡ªbut it caused enough damage to the men who were taken by surprise and had injured legs. "GYAAA!! AHHH!!" Although the level difference was high, they had higher skills than these men, and their elements had special damage that was superior to weapons. The others also tried throwing them attacks as they were burned, pushing them back down to passively receive the rain of attacks. The men were absolutely shocked at the barrage of attacks that came over them. This was especially true for the Level 15s, who were also struggling. They were totally blindsided by the attack. Of course, they weren''t weak so despite the pain they gritted their teeth and struggled out of the barrage, only to get pushed down again by the lower momentum when a familiar ping sounded in their minds. [A Mercenary Team member has died¡­ [A Mercenary Team member has died¡­ [A Mercenary Team member has died¡­ [...] While they were being burned their hearts turned cold. What the heck was going on?! Chapter 572 - 572: Fall of the Rongo Mercenary Hall (Part 2) The soldiers didn''t hold back, giving their best. Their mana was limited and the mercenaries were not weak, and they couldn''t afford to hold back as they had been doing. More importantly, although it would be risky to have less mana in case more enemies arrived, they couldn''t risk the women! These people had to be taken care of immediately! At this time, the mercenaries had every equipment they had out to defend themselves. They were gritting their teeth in anger, glaring at them, but at this time they couldn''t do anything else but to shield themselves. Of course, even if they were in pain and bloodied, the mercenaries were definitely not easy to take down even just by virtue of their levels and the decent equipment that they had. They even managed to shakily stand up even when their ankles had been stabbed, showing that higher-level individuals really had different bodies from the rest of them. Spears and swords sent slash after slash, but they were mostly blocked by the enemies'' weapons and shields. Those with elements immediately sent a barrage of attacks, while the fire users focused on the aborigines'' heads¡ªwhich did not have any helmet of sorts at all¡ªattacking at hard-to-defend angles. The men struggled desperately while they were being roasted, even managing to nick a few soldiers with their swords and spears. However, the soldiers were relentless as if they didn''t feel any pain, leaving the mercenaries with no choice but to focus on guarding themselves¡ªinevitably receiving a lot of damage head-on regardless of level or equipment. Clank! Bang! "AH!" "ORCSHIITTT!" CRACK! Soon, their defense equipment broke and they screamed in anger as more and more of the attacks began to damage them directly. It was all good until this point, but how long could elementalists who had just upgraded keep up with this pace? When Ken''s mana started to falter, one of the level 15 mercenaries¡ªnow with 2nd degree burns¡ªimmediately took the chance and lunged at him. Even when the man was limping, burned, and bloodied, he was strong and fast enough to catch them off guard. Ken gasped as a quick fist met his face and Benny beside him caught his arm, jumping to kick the mercenary away while keeping his teammate from being thrown out. It had only managed to kick the mercenary by a meter or so, however. The aborigine recovered quickly and¡ªyelling at the top of his lungs¡ªwent berserk on them. The opening allowed another to escape the barrage and attack the nearby enemies, breaking their formation. Ken and the others immediately took them on, starting a rather intense brawl that would cause people to get thrown right at the walls. Bang! Bang! However, the soldiers were also given defense equipment, and they stood up even after they were stepped on and thrown to the walls by the strong aborigine. This made the mercenary, who was incredibly annoyed in pain, even more annoyed! On the other side, Victor ate his remaining Alteran Mana cookie to keep firing at the remaining mercenary while two others were keeping him at bay with cold weapon attacks. Kok had been defending himself with his weapon from all three attackers. Now that his armor had broken, he only had his sword to capture the damage. He gritted his teeth as intense pain spread over his body. He was already using much of his strength to even keep his stances. His eyes turned red at the fact that he was suffering so much by people with much lower levels than him! The man moved side by side while screaming at the top of his lungs due to anger and pain. Victor sadly didn''t have enough control to follow his movements, and the man quickly broke free, revealing a very angry man with no hair and third degree burns. The man looked like a character from a horror movie at this time, with his burnt flesh, and partially exposed eyes and teeth. The man''s aura changed as he obviously used a skill¡ªprobably a berserker skill¡ªand his attacks became so fast that the three soldiers surrounding him were taken off-guard. He raised his big sword and slashed at a soldier who immediately fell down after a short barrage, life and death unknown. The second one managed to defend himself for about a few seconds, and he was saved from death when Victor appeared in front of him, directly taking on the enemy''s sword with his own. Victor had let his last bit of spark enflame it, maximizing the remaining mana he had. It was also how he could handle the berserk attacks of a man five levels higher than he was. Clash! Victor was shaking and pale, but fortunately the man''s skill had already expired, leaving a further-weakened level 15 mercenary. Their swords met with sparks, and the man''s weakness leveled their differences, allowing Victor to stand his ground in a direct fight against a man a few levels stronger. Clank! Clank! Clank! Although he was a few levels higher, Victor had been technically trained since he was a boy, and his techniques were something the aborigine had never seen. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bit by bit, Kok''s body filled with more wounds, making his already burnt skin even more painful. "Argh!!" He went berserk¡ªthough this time without the Skill¡ªwaving his word around with less and less expertise, focusing on anger and brute strength. On the contrary, Victor¡ªwho was also filled with wounds, drenched in sweat, and risked losing his arm many times¡ªkept his cool. Although his health and spirit was draining, Victor didn''t show it on his face at all, making the man send barrage after barrage of uncontrolled attacks whose forces Victor could redirect with exquisite sword techniques. By this time, announcement after announcement of their companions'' deaths had resounded inside their minds, making them lose even more of their cool. But it was one announcement that made the level 15 aborigine flinch and freeze. [A Mercenary Team member, Belize, has died. Location: 0.15 miles Southwest.] "What¡ª" Victor saw this distraction and immediately took advantage, finding a slight opening in his defense¡ªright at his stomach¡ªand¡ªslash!¡ªstabbed him straight through it. Chapter 573 - 573: Fall of the Rongo Mercenary Hall (Part 3) "GAHHH!" Kok yelled as he felt his insides being sliced, unconsciously dropping his weapon to the ground. His eyes turned red and he held on to the hilt of the sword inside him, keeping it in place as he bumped his head against his attacker with much of his remaining strength. BANG! Victor gritted his teeth as he felt stars explode in his eyes, losing his balance. He closed his eyes and followed his instincts, lunging in a direction and using his body to bump against Kok who, at this time, was struggling to get his weapon. Kok was pale and shivering from the blood loss, but his natural survival instincts took over his body, allowing him to move despite literally being burned and skewered all over his body. However, he was still unable to keep his balance when Victor rammed into him in the end. His knees buckled and he was forced to kneel down. Victor heaved deep breaths and saw that his neck was finally exposed. He raised his sword, ready to behead the man once and for all. But before he could do so, Victor had to step back by instinct, narrowly avoiding a blade that stabbed where he was just standing. Victor frowned and looked in a direction to see Ken and Benny on the ground, struggling to get up. Most of the soldiers were also down, with a few handling the remaining mercenaries together. When he saw them drinking the healing potion, he felt relieved, and fully focused on the new aborigine who was dealing with him. This one was also in a poor state, but his wounds were far less lethal and his attacks were still faster and more alert. The two level 15''s eyes met and a dawn of understanding was exchanged between them. Kok, who was gasping for breath, looked at the ongoing fight with dark eyes. He turned to look in a direction, forcing himself up and dragging his feet towards it. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and it let him move even when he was dripping blood and losing lifespan for each step that he took. Victor and the others naturally noticed where he was going and cursed. Before they could follow him, the other two guarded the way, seeming to be determined to kill whoever interrupted. The mercenaries had been taking advantage of the soldier''s kindness and softheartedness all this time. How could they not take advantage of it!? While Victor and the others tried to get past the obstacles, Kok heaved gasping breaths and trudged across the lawn. Leaving a trail of blood, he reached the door to the women. His hands were shaking but he managed to open it, and immediately he heard the gasps of the women inside. The women, who had been scared by all the screams and sounds outside, were already incredibly tense. When the door abruptly opened to reveal one of their torturers, their bodies naturally reacted in fear. This was made worse by his horrible appearance of burnt skin and blood, making him even more terrifying in their eyes. Those who had the mind huddled even tighter in a corner, while the dazed ones only shook unconsciously. This was with the exemption of Juni, who remained standing, as if frozen, and looked at his poor state with dark eyes. "Come here!" he yelled as he dragged himself, thinking that these women would come if he yelled¡ªas they always did! Instead, Juni immediately jumped on to him with her weapon. Of course, even if he was weakened, he was still five levels stronger than the woman who didn''t have any experience in fighting. He gritted his teeth as he caught her hand and pulled her, throwing her down the floor with much of the strength he could muster in his current state. "Ah!" She yelled, coughing, and a few of the other women gasped at what happened, some shivering, while most wanted to go to her. But then they saw the scary burnt face of the man and they all froze, painful memories making their bodies shiver in terror. Kok was very hostile and in pain, he looked down at the woman, heading there with his limp, very much intent on torturing her. Unexpectedly, a vine appeared on his feet again and he fell down. Bang! His eyes widened as he felt the impact of the ground, his dying body unable to react in time. His head turned to the side and saw that young wood user, who was still half-dead on the floor, but with finger raised up. Amos gasped for air, obviously using more than what he could, and he lost his consciousness a second later. The man gritted his teeth and tried to get himself up, but then he heard clutter and looked up to see a sword already hovering above him. Juni was in pain, but the strength given by the thought of ridding the world of scum like this fueled her movements and, with her entire weight¡ªwith the weight of her past bitterness¡ªshe stabbed down! "GAH!" She stabbed him again and again, making sure the blade sliced through as much of this trash as it could. She did this over and over until he could no longer move. No, in fact, she kept stabbing her heart out until the familiar ding resounded in her mind. [Congratulations! You are now upgraded to Level 10!] Her eyes widened and she raised her head to look around. She looked at the women who were sobbing, though not of fear but of relief. Juni ignored them to go to poor Amos. She crawled to the young lad and opened a healing potion to get to him. She then turned to the other women and considered giving them some as well, but the war had just begun and she knew it''d be foolish to do so. Speaking of the war outside, the intense battle was ongoing outside. They could hear the yells and the explosions, and even the cracking of bones from where they were. Her feet moved on their own to check, the sword in her hand. She wanted to help if she could. When she got out, she was a little shocked. It was basically ruined except for the buildings themselves. The soldiers¡ªat least the ones still standing¡ªwere working together to defeat two mercenaries who were in extremely poor states. The most remarkable person was the leader, a handsome man with short hair. Although he barely spoke lest their strategies would alert the enemies, she could see his subtle signals to his remaining teammates. They coordinated extremely well and it got to the point where the two enemies were completely on the defensive. She could tell he was also a fire user, but he used his ability sparingly and with skill. She then watched as he gestured to get in her direction¡ªno doubt to handle Kok¡ªbut when he turned, their eyes met, and his eyebrows rose when he saw her and then the bloodied blade in her hand. However, he wasn''t distracted for long as he turned and skilfully redirected the enemy''s attack to the ground. The man lifted his sword and it was surrounded by flames, immediately burying to his enemy''s flesh. Using all of his remaining stretches, he strengthened the fire, burning the man from the inside. "GYAAAHHH!" Next to him, the other fight was also wrapping up with two bloodied men¡ªJuni realized there was a handful more on the ground¡ªstabbed the remaining one at the same time, and finished him off by beheading. Victor panted heavily as he saw the corpses of the enemies, not taking down his guard at all. When he saw it was all clear, the other two immediately ran to their companions around, giving them the healing potions they had. Victor saw that the team was handled and he turned to the women to check on them. His eyes gravitated to the beautiful woman standing, gaping at them with an indescribable expression on her face. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He sighed and approached, wanting to tell them it was alright now and they ought to leave in case more guards returned. However, just when he was a meter away from her, her legs buckled all of a sudden. She lost her footing and he strode to catch her. She landed on his chest and unconsciously buried deeper into his embrace, as if looking for the comfort of a reliable shoulder. Seeming to have found it, she softened and rested her entire weight on him. Victor felt a little awkward but didn''t push her away. He just looked at the others to gather the girls. They would be taking her in the underground base to hide. They had already mapped a good way to minimize encounters with enemy soldiers and, hopefully, every one of these rescues survived. He said his orders with the woman in his arms, with a few of his men giving him a few looks. His eyes twitched and he was about to bellow orders for them to start moving, when then he felt wetness on his chest, wiping all the annoyance away. His heart softened a bit, and he couldn''t help but pat her back "You did a good job," he said, whispering in a gentle tone he hadn''t used in a long time. "Well done." Chapter 574 - 574: Former Mauin Villagers (Part 1) Brave fights happened all around the interior walls of Fargo. At this time, the battle of the Mauin duo and Sen, one of Fargo''s right-hand men, was at its peak. "Little low-lives," Sen mumbled as he waved his sword that was riddled with flames¡ªa technique he had mastered in this fight. With a couple of controlled slashes, he soon successfully hit Mauru''s leg. The man gasped in pain. Their equipment had long been compromised, and even more so now that more Elementalist attacks came their way. It had to be said that even if Sen was a few levels lower than even one of them, his experience, natural bloodlust, decisiveness, and elemental abilities evened out the field. Rather, the only reason both of them were still standing was because of the defense equipment the territory gave them. The three men were now bloodied as they stared each other down, exchanging a few more blows before having another stand still to catch their breaths. The aborigines were now shaking, barely able to stand up, especially Mauin who had been targetted for a while. In contrast to the two, Sen¡ªeven if he was similarly injured¡ªimmediately lunged forward, as if fuelled by the blood that flowed out of his enemy. The two men looked badly at Sen, his red eyes, and his evil smile. He was in pain, but he loved inflicting it more to others. The amount of hurt that would come out if this guy survived would not be small. They didn''t have to look behind them to know that the various battles in different streets and maybe even houses were still happening. If they let Sen get away from them, there would definitely be casualties on their side. How could they let that happen? Of course, they had to block him¡ªeven if it meant having to risk their lives. Anyway, in this world, when have they never risked their lives? They had grown to love Altera during the short time they had been there. Everyone had been so welcoming of them, helping them adjust to a new place and a new life. They helped settle their families and showed them camaraderie they didn''t think they''d ever receive from people they only met. With the noble thought of protecting the people behind, the two sprinted forward to face Sen directly, no matter how intimidated they were. Meroun sent him a barrage of attacks with his sword. Even if Sen was more skilled, Meroun had been through so many life-and-death situations and he also developed his own techniques. Clash! Clank! Clash! Clash! Meroun focused on attacking several spots that had already been wounded, some succeeded, some didn''t, and he received similar blows on his own body. For a few exchanges, it seemed to be an equal match, but one could see with how Meroun was slowly stepping back that he was being pushed. While the two were exchanging blows, Mauru appeared at Sen''s side, in what they determined to be his blindside after fighting for a while. He waved his spear¡ªan experimental model made by Troy and Brenda¡ªtowards this side, hoping to get a lethal hit. As before though, Sen''s instincts were superior, and managed to avoid it with a grin. "You never learn!" He yelled, but Mauru''s eyes sharpened as his fingers slid to a hidden button. Immediately, a hidden portion of the spear shot out, stabbing right at him, and straight through one of the wounds Meroun had been focusing on. Slash! "Aaahhhh!!" Sen gasped as he looked at the spear that entered his ribs. "WHAT!" Mauin heaved a deep breath, clicking the button again, and squelch, more of the man''s internal organs were stabbed. The design was not yet perfect, and it would take a lot of effort to set the weapon back, which was why he¡ªor the others who had the blessing to get one¡ªhadn''t used it all this time. After all, what if the attack didn''t work? Would they have to go without a weapon? Spears were too big to carry in the space, so they didn''t have a lot of extra! However, looking at how Sen was finally skewered¡ªit was a risk that paid well. Sen''s eyes turned redder, adrenaline still pumping hard, ready to use his last strength to go berserk. However, in his pain, he did not see how the swordsman jumped up and raised his sword, aiming straight at his exposed neck¡ª Slash!! S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Meroun gasped as he looked at his sword with wide eyes, and then at the body without a head, realizing he finally beheaded the enemy. His eyes met with Mauin''s which were similarly wide, as if unsure whether they were imagining things. Soon, the body fell down the floor, blood pooling out of it. Sen''s head was still groaning for a few more moments before finally stopping, and it was only now that they felt he was truly gone. Their eyes shook and they stared at each other, bodies filled with relief. Dead! Finally! At the confirmation their enemy was finally not a threat, the two aborigines lost all energy¡ªfalling back on the ground with a flop, and no longer moving. . . . "Ei!" The Alterans nearby had been rushing their own fights when they realized the two had been struggling. But they were overnumbered and surrounded, how easy could it have been? In any case, as soon as they dealt with their own enemies some minutes later, they ran over to them with medicine at hand, and their hearts dropped when they saw them on the ground. "Hey! Are you alright?" One asked, shaking their shoulders, and he twitched when he saw his hands were bloody. Their armors were all dark-colored to hide the color of blood from the enemies. Unfortunately, they hid it from each other, too. Their hearts dropped, cursing, with a few trying to force-feed them with potions. The others surrounded them, more and more coming in after closing their own battles. They felt incredibly sad at the pitiful appearance of the two and a few women sobbed a bit. "Are they dead?" one asked, and another almost cried while looking at their faces. "They''re smiling," he commented, sniffing, his heart touched by the sight. Did they die peacefully? He mused. Pak! "Ouch!" The man gasped, glaring at the person who bumped his head. "Stop overthinking," he said. "They''re breathing¡­" "Oh¡­" Some newcomers heaved a deep breath and touched their chests. "Shit, that scared me." The relief made them laugh a bit, focusing on getting the two''s states to stabilize so that they really remained breathing. The people made them drink an entire bottle by elevating their necks, and saw they stabilized a bit, most of their wounds healing. The Terrans looked at the two aborigines who had apparently fallen asleep with smiles on their faces, unable to stop their own, before carrying the two to an empty house to rest. It was owned by a group of guards that had been killed. They knew this because a guard once escaped inside to get some more weapons after consuming all he had in space. They settled the two and took a moment of breather as well. Of course, this only took a few moments before they headed back out to rejoin the last segment of battle in the inner wall. Before going though, a few people patted the aborigines'' heads. "You did a very good job, Alterans." Chapter 575 - 575: Former Mauin Villagers (Part 2) While Mauru and Meroun fought and defeated Sen, the rest of their teammates were also around the inner walls, battling their hearts out. They averaged at level 11 and were very passionate in this fight. The leader while Mauru wasn''t around was a bald man named Massan. He was a level 13 archer and positioned himself above eye level, giving him a better view of the battles ongoing and having a good spot to support who needed it. On the ground, the main vanguard was a man named Ento, a large level 13 swordsman with curly hair. Like Mauru and the others, most of them had lived their entire lives in the war-torn and poor Mauin Village. Few of them knew any better. This was why when they arrived in Altera¡ªa supposed fellow village¡ªto say they were shocked would be an understatement. There were over a hundred of their brethren who survived and reached Altera. Most didn''t know what to expect as they had only been to Mauin village their whole life. While a few may have had some adventures and traveled, it was only to fellow villages as well. They just assumed Altera wouldn''t be much different to the ''richer'' villages they had been to. For example, Massan had gone to two other villages. One was to beg for an alliance and another was to get deals for resources, both of which didn''t work because Hasa and Tome had already allied by then. These villages were doing much better than their Mauin village, a village that had been experiencing war every few weeks, so they just had a rough image that Altera was probably like these villages. But Altera¡­ was nothing like those villages at all. It ended up something way beyond their imaginations. No, even now, there were times they found it hard to believe such a place existed in this world. The comfort and conveniences were one thing, but the most important part was that they didn''t have to fear for their and their family''s lives every single day, dreading that they''d be attacked again. They even felt¡­ seen, as if every life had high value worth to protect. They knew this was their home, and¡ªeven if they had nothing¡ªthey believed that they would be able to carve out a good life there if they worked hard enough. This was the type of hope Altera naturally emitted. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Then the war call came and they knew it was their time! They had been through wars every few weeks. Basically, it was all they knew what to do! Such harsh conditions of survival meant that the Mauin fighters who lasted so long weren''t weak at all! This showed during the war, and it was quite impressive. At this time, they were fighting against another team of fellow Aborigine guards composed of the lower rungs of the Rongo Mercenary team, along with some weaker Terran guards. In terms of numbers, it was about the same, and experience-wise shouldn''t be too far either. The enemies didn''t worry too much. After all, even if the other team were also aborigines, they were just villagers. At least, that was what they thought. How could a group of mercenaries who choose weaker territories to terrorize be so strong? They might''ve had guns, or at least they had, but it couldn''t compare to the daily life-threatening situations the Mauin Villagers had to go through. Ento looked at his companions, giving a slight nod, and immediately they sprinted into position with Massan covering their backs with his crossbow (which he religiously named Mauinbow). Ento bravely lunged to the middle of the group, fearless, and the few people who had guns shot at him but missed, one even hitting a companion''s legs. He held out his sword, swinging around as impactful as he could while his teammates followed behind him. The imbalance made the enemy lose formation, some even attacking recklessly and hitting their teammates instead. Ento and the others surrounded them, taking shots as if unafraid of whatever attacks the enemies would throw at them. Perhaps, they really weren''t. After surviving so many wars, one just became calloused towards death. What more if the one backing them was such a powerful territory like Altera? A home that would protect their families while they were gone? A territory that would invest so much to increase their chances of survival? Massan narrowed his eyes as he shot at the enemies with impressive accuracy, using much of his mana for his skills. His bare head felt the wind''s direction and he slightly changed his angle a bit, hitting one enemy straight through the eyes and into the brain. "Ahhhh!" the enemies yelled, and some even wanted to run away. Their formation completely shattered then, with Fargo guards adopting a ''to each their own'' attitude, and many even hiding behind teammates hoping for an opening to be available for escape. However, the former Mauin Villagers continued with their relentless attacks, making it appear as if they were the wild dog group among Alterans. This fearlessness combined with experience made them almost unstoppable against a larger group of enemies. Clack! Clank! PAK! Repeatedly, the Fargo guards were hit. They were being mobbed so wildly that they didn''t even have the time to wave their weapons before they would get attacked from the side! Of course, Fargo guards weren''t entirely helpless, waving around their weapons, soon without care on who they were hitting, but the vanguards didn''t falter even when they got a bit injured. It was as if they didn''t fear injury or death, unlike their enemies, and they would take advantage of every moment of hesitation amongst the enemies to take lethal shots. In terms of contribution, each one of them was certainly garnering a lot more than the average Terran. It was really quite impressive. ''For a better life!'' they chanted, over and over, attacking enemies with blazing fire in their hearts. After all, they firmly believed this was the way to improve their and their families'' lives and stature. And they definitely weren''t wrong. Chapter 576 - 576: Tanod and Tambai In contrast to the Mauin Villagers, the hired guards Tanod, a level 13 bald swordsman, and Tambai, a level 14 balding spearman, were actually less experienced in wars even when they were already in their early 30s. They were siblings born in a town, to cleaner parents. They grew up at the bottom of society, but at least they weren''t slaves. For that alone, they felt they felt blessed. The siblings though, as they got exposed to more things in their youths, had seen the stark contrast of the lives of those people with strength compared to people like their own families who passed day to day with a meal or two. At some point, the two of them decided to find a way to grow strong so they could change their stature. It wasn''t easy, of course, but they found a way to get low-rung jobs at the Mercenary Halls to expose themselves more to that world. They started early, around their tweens, doing various odd jobs there like cleaning rooms, scrubbing floors, cleaning equipment, and the like. They worked for more than a decade without much movement to their ''careers''. When they neared 30 years of age, their levels were not even level 10. First, they were poor and had no connections. They didn''t have a decent starting point as others. After all, most monsters in towns were strong. On average, the ''weak'' monsters were at least level 10! For level 1s and 2s, even trying to kill a weakened one was practically impossible with low-leveled weapons, let alone the fact that they had no access to people who could weaken monsters for them in the first place¡ªat least not at an affordable price. They got to this level by improving their hunting skills and determining where the weaker monsters were, but it was still dangerous and wasn''t very common in their area. They also learned some fighting skills after tagging along with mercenaries, promising to clean up after them, and even using their space to store emergency tools for others. Occasionally, there were some people who''d take ''pity'' on them and allow them to get the last hit of a dying monster, though they''d laugh at them for taking so long. Still, they would thank them graciously for the opportunity. However, life was still hard even then. In Towns, to have a proper life with such a high cost of living, one had to be at least level 15 as an adult. How easy would this be to achieve for poor people? Hence, this created a massive wealth gap where there were people who lived decently, while there were people who lived at the bottom with a small meal or two every day. It was so ironic because their world was rich in resources, yet they had to work hard every day to even pick a few Gouji fruits inside their territory walls. They got to their levels through knit and grit, but their levels weren''t very high for a town so no one hired them as fighters. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Later, they triggered their occupations after years of observation as lackeys to the warriors and mercenaries they were assigned to serve. They were so happy that they decided to push and fight against a level 10 monster together¡ªalmost dying in the process. They had to drag their bloodied bodies through the gate, barely keeping all of their limbs. When much of their¡ªand their parents''¡ªsavings had to be used to treat them, they knew it was time for a change. They went to get hired in a Chancery to get away and, ironically, get other ''opportunities'' in villages. First, the levels of monsters were weaker and more conducive to their leveling. Second, only villages would hire people of their aptitude from the chancery¡ªwhich was generally more expensive than just hiring home-grown ones. Also, villages would only take 5 gold a month, which was half their salaries there, while towns would take 10. Their levels would only have a standard rate of 10 gold per month, so getting hired in towns was basically working for free in their case. So why don''t weaker people from Towns just go to villages, in the first place? There were various reasons why most chose to stay in Towns despite the possible ''opportunities'' elsewhere. First, it was simply not in people''s psyche to want to ''lower'' themselves. By instinct, people thought villages were inferior and didn''t want the shame associated with moving to one. For most people, ''demoting'' themselves was the worst-case scenario. Of course, this was more than just related to people''s pride. By default, Villages were simply much less stable than towns. They would be much more likely to fall from mobs or wars. Who would want to build homes in such places when they were already in relatively stable towns? Life in Towns might be hard, but at least they could hold on to their lives! Another reason was that getting hired in the chancery meant they wouldn''t be home for a long time, what about their parents? Getting hired there was also a game of chance. They could be hired to the other side of the world. If they didn''t like it there, they''d have to travel all the way back, which could maybe take years. But¡­ they didn''t have a choice this time. It was better than becoming a meat shield in wars along with the slaves¡ªwhich was basically the only option their level had in towns for decent money. Hence, after spending a few more months to recover and to earn a bit more money for the teleportation fees, the two finally went to the Chancery after tearful goodbyes to their parents. They didn''t know when they could see their parents again, but they promised them a better life so they better hold on to it. The brothers, at first, got hired at different places and they immediately went through a lot. However, their treatments there were levels different to how they were treated in Towns. They received respect for the first time. But things flowed and ebbed and nothing lasted, with both territories falling in wars. By coincidence, both their territories had nothing special about them, and only experienced wars once every couple of months. They were attacked by experienced territories and they had no choice but to escape after receiving some wounds, as allowed by chancery regulations. After that, they went through a few more territories, and they were more or less the same in terms of situation and quality. Regardless, the monsters fit their levels and they fought hard during mobs, eventually reaching their current levels after a few years because they still had to share the Experience with the lords and their cronies. Still, leveling up after level 10 was extremely difficult, and they¡ªironically¡ªcouldn''t imagine reaching the current strengths in towns! However, they also learned how truly unstable villages were during this time, and their current territories also fell, leaving them no choice but to once again look for another. Tanod''s final territory before Altera was a village near the Southwest deserts. The heat and aridness was intense there and he didn''t last a month. It wasn''t that he was queasy¡ªhe couldn''t afford that¡ªbut it was really too risky to stay. He couldn''t imagine how much worse it would be if there was an extreme weather change which¡ªby estimate¡ªcould be happening within the next few months! What was worse¡­ after staying there, he heard that there were occasional Undeads who escaped from their own areas, attacking the people they came across! Cringe. As such, he went to the nearest town¡ªa place called Dune Town¡ªto get hired there, hoping to be placed anywhere else. Anyway, places with relatively harsh weather year-round in the human realm wasn''t so common. All he asked for was a normal territory, that''s all! Chapter 577 - 577: A Glimpse of a Bigger World Dune Town was one of the only towns in the area¡ªunsurprisingly so. The resources outside of the vast desert were nice, why would anyone build something here? When he arrived there, it so happened that their ''princess'' was about to leave. She was very beautiful and graceful. She also had lustrous hair that was of similar color to the sands that surrounded them, shimmering under the sky. She was being sent off by her family, and they seemed genuinely reluctant to see her go. It was rare to see women so loved, so he couldn''t help but watch until the woman entered her beast car, heading who-knew-where. Anyway, that episode was soon at the back of his head as he had to spend his salary of the previous month to get hired again in the Chancery. He prayed to the late Elves to bless him. Really, a normal village would be fine! ¡­ In contrast to his brother, Tambai''s final territory was a village located on the snowy mountain ranges of the Southeast territories. This part was an area near orc territories, but unlike the orc-adjacent human territories in better terrain, humans were at an even deeper disadvantage in the mountains. The number of human territories on this side was very few and somehow Tambai luckily ended up there. Fortunately, the temperature in Xeno was generally temperate for most parts except for areas like these, because they were affected by the extreme terrains. Hence, the coldness wasn''t so debilitating that no one could move year-round. The nearest town was farther though so he sucked it up and decided to stay for a while longer, unlike his brother who went to the nearest town as soon as the month cycle ended. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for him and they got attacked by an orc less than a week after he got hired. Rather, it attacked every so often, and he was hired to deal with the damned thing! The quality of hires for villages wasn''t very high, and he was apparently the strongest one they found! His stomach fell to the bottom but as someone who signed a contract, he had to at least do his best, and his heart was beating loudly as he faced the beast. Orcs'' fecundity may not be very strong, but a single one was no less scary than a small mob. Orcs were huge with an average height of 2.5 meters, and their force values were equivalent to at least 5 men of the same level. And these were the weaker orcs¡ªfighter orcs were much more formidable. Only one attacked their village and he could cause so much chaos already. Anyway, Tambai was, unsurprisingly, beaten up after a short fight. He survived due to the Class D armor given to him (and his brother) by their parents using the remaining lifetime of their savings. It was broken now though, and to be honest his heart broke along with it. When Tambai shook off the dizziness of the hit, people were already screaming and fighting. He was shocked to find that five more orcs had arrived. He didn''t know how many orcs would take to trigger wars, but apparently five was not enough. In any case, he woke up to a horrible, horrible, sight of limbs flying and bodies getting mutilated. Unlike mindless beasts, Orcs wouldn''t eat people directly but they could definitely dismember them with a flick. The lord was hiding in the Warehouse¡ªthe most secure place for a lord¡ªbut it wasn''t the orc''s first rodeo and they decided to attack it directly. Because he and his brother practically grew up in mercenary halls, they had learned quite a few things that were not common knowledge. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For one, Tambai knew that the Warehouse was extremely safe for lords because not only were they the only ones who could access the building, but even the low-leveled ones were also said it be as sturdy as level 3 walls. Basically, before enemies could damage it, they would''ve been found by the defending guards and be dealt with. The orcs were probably very hungry and looking for more resources in this cold place. Half of the orcs didn''t eat meat, and he wasn''t surprised that three out of the five orcs seemed to have the herbivore appearance (something he also learned in the mercenary hall). They targeted the warehouse for some time, but the guards and citizens were too busy protecting themselves to care about it. After about half an hour of continuous pounding at the doors, it finally gave way. The special aura around the warehouse disappeared and it slowly crumbled, revealing the resources their village lord had been guarding. He didn''t quite know what happened when a warehouse was breached before, but now he knew. "AHHHH!" The lord yelled as he was suddenly exposed to the world, extremely shocked by the development. "NO! NOOO! HELP MEEE!" He yelled as he ran away, as if being so noisy would magically make the orcs not see him. In fact, the orcs wouldn''t have cared about him as long as they got the resources, but the lord was an idiot and screamed at the people around, pointing at where the orcs were gathering resources. "KILL THEM! KILL THEMM!!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He was so noisy and ''threatening''. It made one of the fighter orcs walk over him and raise his hand and¡ªSLAM!¡ªdetaching the top of his body with a wave of his paw. His upper half body''s projectile stopped when it hit a building, making the people nearby scream in terror. First at the horrid scene, and then at the realization of what it implied. And so, the lord died, destroying the whole village in the process. Tambai took this chance to run away as far as he could. Anyway, the orcs were too busy with their loot to care for him. It took him a full month of perilous travel and many near-death experiences before he got to the closest town to get rehired. Once again, he had to use much of the month''s salary to register, praying for blessings while he waited to get hired. Hopefully, the next village was decent. He didn''t expect much. They were used to bad lords and monster mobs, but¡­ Please, just please, nothing too weird! Chapter 578 - 578: A New Perspective Tanod hadn''t been rehired again for a few weeks, so he had no choice but to dorm in the Chancery, paying for the accommodations while waiting to get a job. This was another risk in the chancery. If no territory chose to hire you, you had no choice but to pay for not-so-cheap accommodations in the Chancery. After all, they had to be accessed quickly if a territory decided to hire them. It was taking a lot longer than usual though. Typically, fighters would be hired within 1 to 2 weeks, and much longer for auxiliary roles like cleaners, etc. After all, it was much cheaper for territories to just hire local people and just get them to sign an oath rather than hire people they couldn''t punish or hurt when they wanted to. At the same time, after some thoughts (while he stared at the ceiling waiting), it wasn''t hard to see why it was harder for him to get hired this time. Although territories would not see their records, the chancery definitely prioritized hires with ''cleaner'' records¡ªthat was to say, lesser turnover rates¡ªthan others. So, he ended up just accepting he would be staring at boring walls and ceilings in this small room for a few more days, or even another week. His brother Tambai, on the other hand, didn''t have to wait as long. He entered the chancery of the nearby town to him when his brother¡ªhundreds of miles away¡ªhad been rotting for weeks. It so happened that a certain woman had been perusing all the options the past few days and the options before them had been passed over, soon reaching them. It was Tanod who had been hired first, and immediately after his brother was hired. He didn''t even have the time to absorb the new room when he felt the teleportation array behind him activated again. He found himself turning his body to watch, and his eyes widened when he saw who was standing in the circle. He froze in place, unable to comprehend that such a good thing happened to him! Tambai emerged from the array and looked out to see an unusually decorated room. However, the first one his sights zoned into was a man who was standing in front of him. "Tanod?!" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Tambai?!" The two brothers immediately ran to each other to hug, tears crawling down their faces. It had been a few years since they last saw each other! How unbelievable to see family again! Althea¡ªwho was sipping tea on the sofa¡ªwatched with interest. When she had unlocked the possibility of hiring more, she naturally decided to use all slots so she didn''t have to repeat instructions. However, this was the first time she actually found 2 decent hires in a day, and they even knew each other! She let the two sob their hearts out for a bit before speaking. "Have some snacks while you catch up," she said, making the two men flinch¡ªremembering that not only were they not alone, but the other person was probably the lord! They bowed a bit, guilty. Although a lot of the lords they encountered were idiots who were weaker than they were, they still knew to show their respect. After all, annoying the lords could get them blacklisted from the chancery! She shook her hand and then pointed at the seats beside her. "Stop bowing and come eat with me," she said and it was only now they absorbed the sound of her voice¡ªwhich was too feminine compared to what they were used to. It was only now that they recognized the lord¡­ was a woman? Although they existed, they were very rare! The brothers lifted their heads to look, and they couldn''t help but gape. So beautiful! "How long are you going to stare?" "AH! WE APOLOGIZE!" They yelled almost kneeling and Althea rolled her eyes. "Sit down before I get annoyed." "Y-Y-YES!" they said, in sync, and appearing very much like brothers. As they sat, the woman then pointed at the drinks and food. They were unlike what they had seen before, and they wondered what they were. "They''re snacks," she said, taking a bit and eating. They couldn''t help but gulp at the sound of the crunch, seducing them to try as well. And they were easily the most delicious snacks they had ever tasted! Was this how nobles always ate? Now they knew! They still had the mind to take only one each, appearing to have tasted enough even when their eyes would always gravitate towards the plate in longing. Althea shook her head, not wanting to force them. After all, they would be able to eat similar snacks if they explored Altera enough. But seeing grown men look longingly at cookies didn''t sit right with her, so she cleared her throat. "Eat what you want, I don''t mind," she said and the brothers looked at her admiringly. So kind! So generous! They looked at her with teary eyes as they started munching on the sweet savory snacks as if they had been famished for months. Ignoring the big men''s admiring looks, Althea then began her orientation¡ªwhich was really kind of her, considering her position and schedule. However, she always made a point to know more about the people she hired. After all she experienced, she considered herself a pretty good judge of character. She wanted to know if a person would be bad for Altera or not early on. After judging that they would do no harm, for now, she then explained where they would go, where they''d sleep, et cetera. By the end, the brothers were in a bit of a daze¡ªnot only because of the unique and new things they had been hearing¡ªbut also because their tongues relished in the sweet aftertaste of their food. Sadly, there was no more and they wondered what they had to do to taste it again. They thought they could do whatever mission the lord asked them if those desserts were the reward! Althea had no idea people were willing to follow her orders to a tee for cookies, but she just maintained her relatively professional stance. "And as for the final and most important tasks, I will ask of you¡­ "I hired you here to assist our territory in an upcoming war. We''re the attacking party, so there are a lot of risks." "Pardon?" War? Attacking party?! Who wouldn''t be taken aback after what they had been through? "Don''t worry, Altera prepared the best it could. We just hope you do your best as well," she said, standing up to leave, and they also stood up by instinct. The brothers entered a daze again as they walked out, but their worries were temporarily mitigated when they saw what the village was like. They had both been in handfuls of other territories, and those villages had looked extremely similar. Their people also had similar stances and appearances, most of which were a little dreary. But here, they saw the wide bustling streets full of activity and smiles, then they looked at a distance to see the walls and dense sentries standing tall, acting as guardians to those inside. They couldn''t help but wonder: Did a town actually hire them instead? Chapter 579 - 579: Swears The brothers just stood there in front of the Village Center, not quite sure where to go. "Hey, new hires!" They turned to see a few people greeting them. They were a pair of an old man and an old woman with baskets hanging at their backs. The bags were filled with wood and stones¡ªresources to sell in the Village center. They unconsciously stepped away as if they were blocking the door (they weren''t, not really) but the old man and woman just stood next to them in the end. "You two seem a little pale," the old man said after a while, concerned, and then looked around. "Where''s Clutch and the others anyway? They''re usually the first to greet newly summoned people¡­" "Silly old man, everyone is busy preparing for the war," she said. "Well, we are too," she said, patting the resources they managed to carry¡ªdoing what they could for the territory. "Oh, right," he said. Instead, he took out a fruit from the space and handed them each. "Here, have some. You seem tired." The brothers stared. So welcoming? They couldn''t help but look at the unfamiliar fruit with complicated expressions and the old couple just thought they didn''t know how to eat it. "It''s a berry. Just eat it directly." The brothers didn''t know what to expect but ate it out of politeness. Their eyes shut as the juicy sweet taste attacked their senses and they couldn''t speak for a while. "T-Thank you," Tambai said. "How much?" "Ah pssh, it''s a little welcoming gift from us." The old man waved his hand and they knew he wasn''t being humble. They really didn''t expect anything in return! Their hearts were touched. They had never received such kindness before, but now they received it twice within the span of minutes¡ªthe first time coming from the lord herself! Afraid they''d tear up, the brothers decided to excuse themselves. Tambai looked at the old man and woman and cleared his throat. "I¡­ well, the lo¡ªsystem simply asked us to go to Community C. Can you tell us where to go?" Before the old people could answer, a new voice appeared. "I can guide you." It was another old man the couple seemed to recognize immediately. "Oh, it''s Clutch!" The old couple said and patted them, before heading inside the village hall to sell the resources. "Well, we''re going now, good luck!" The brothers could only nod passively as they watched the newcomer approach them. "Hello, my name is Clutch, I''m one of the new hires here," he said. "I''ll guide you a bit. We don''t have much time for leisure right now, unfortunately. But we should be able to hold your welcoming party for you two after the war." Leisure? Welcoming party? Clutch guided them to the basic amenities of the territory¡ªdeeply shaking the brothers'' hearts¡ªwith the tour ending up in their new home. It was a lovely two-storey house with a small garden. "You can have a floor each." "How¡­ how much?" "It''s free while you stay as a chancery employee." "What?" It wasn''t Clutch''s new rodeo so he explained the benefits as well, amazing the brothers even more. Before Clutch left to get back to his job, he couldn''t help but look at them. "You two seem worried about something." The brothers looked at each other before reluctantly answering. "We heard there was a war." "Ah, don''t worry, we''ll prepare what we can," Clutch said and waved his goodbye, letting the brothers explore the rest on their own. The brothers looked at each other worriedly. The thing was, the brothers'' experience with wars also wasn''t much, because most of the territories they joined fell during mobs (or an orc attack for that matter). As for their experience for the first 30 years of their lives, it wasn''t much either. Towns didn''t go to war as much as villages would. There were a lot fewer towns¡ªwhich were also much, much, farther apart¡ªso it was much costlier to wage wars at that level. The losses during wars were also exponentially bigger. After all, half of a village''s wealth was not comparable to half of a town''s. From what they heard, well-off towns would only experiened wars a handful of times a year. In their old Town, they only had about three to five wars a year, and only because their town was not very rich to care for. However, there was a common thing in wars in villages and in towns: Territories usually only used guards, hired fighters, slaves, and mercenaries in wars. They could also hire some citizens for a price, though it wasn''t done as much. After all, most territories¡ªweak ones, at least¡ªcouldn''t force people to join without them being slaves. Citizens could not only escape before the war ended to avoid the risk of becoming slaves, they could even betray for whatever gains the other party could offer. However, citizens were generally not very strong and it wasn''t an efficient way to use money so the pay wasn''t that large either. In the end, most citizens choose to be cowards who simply hide behind the walls. Those who usually risked war for the rewards were usually poor people who had nothing to lose. Because they were too weak back then, their parents begged them not to participate in the wars. They didn''t reach that point yet, after all, they could at least have food to eat at least once a day unlike others. So, like most, they hid inside their homes in hopes that the enemies who breached wouldn''t find them. Their town was also always on the defensive, so it was easier to win by simply sacrificing meat shields to keep the enemies at bay¡ªkeeping them from entering the main walls. A few times, they would peek and notice that the first ones to die were slaves, followed by the citizens. There were plenty of slaves, so there were a lot of meat shields. At the time, they wanted to tell their parents they could join the next war for the rewards. Anyway, there were a lot of slaves to block the way with their lives. But¡­ this territory¡­ didn''t have a single one! They learned about this less than an hour after Clutch left them to explore and they had decided to continue exploring the village at their own pace. Clutch basically just introduced them to the important buildings they passed by, and then told them the general direction of the others in other streets and area. It was because the streets were so, so clean and nice. They were shy to ask Clutch before but their curiosity eventually got the better of them. In the end, they asked someone ''how many slaves would it take'' to keep the streets clean like this. At the mention of slaves, the people around them turned and looked at them weirdly. The two shivered and they didn''t dare ask again. However, the next day, they would find out that they didn''t have anything to worry about at all. This territory didn''t have slaves¡­ because they didn''t need it! Despite having no meatshields, they were trained thoroughly (it was a ''crash course'' considering the few days they had). They were also provided with good weapons, shields, and potions, and a good place to sleep. These were all default items for all guards, and their salaries were good enough to buy extras. Rather, the salaries technically weren''t as high, but the amount they could buy with a bit of money was a lot! The cost of living in towns was extremely high and they couldn''t sustain a decent lifestyle with their strengths. But here, they could live well with the same amount of money! It was unbelievable! They found it! A good home! Maybe they could even bring their parents here someday! Altera was such a good territory: Neither of them wanted to lose it! Now, at the height of war, this was the thought that energized them as they swung their weapons, rendering the enemies around them half-dead. They were assigned to the peripheral streets to keep away any new guards¡ªif there were still any in the inner wall¡ªaway from the main battlefield (which was also about to end, by the way). After all, it wouldn''t do for Alterans to beat the enemies, only to find new enemies appearing to take advantage of weakness! Theirs was a small team, but their levels were high and the new enemies weren''t particularly strong. This helped them create an impenetrable ''wall'' that helped the Alterans secure the momentum in this war. They would do their part and become bonafide Alterans¡ª S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They swear to it! Chapter 580 - 580: Shaken Micheal and his team comprising of people from Bright were particularly passionate about the torture of Fargo''s men they could get to. They didn''t bother taking hostages though, as they knew Fargo wouldn''t care. Gochi and Fufi were also causing major damage. They took advantage of the loss of momentum caused by Belize''s death, closely followed by several others like Sen and Uzon. Fargo''s eyes turned red as he was left with a few higher-level aborigines, but otherwise surrounded by Alterans. He sent earth spikes around him stabbing several people, but his attack had been weakened after so long and those hit were only a bit injured. Most of his men had fallen and never would Fargo imagine this war would go in this direction¡ªever! Except for a handful of mercenaries that found their way there, the only strong ones remaining were men by the names of Aka and Okra, level 17 and a level 20 mercenary, respectively. They had been doing the bare minimum all this time¡ªsimply defending and blocking serious attacks from Fargo. While they enjoyed pushing Alterans and were indeed itching to hurt them, they knew the penalty for doing so would be too heavy and they didn''t bother to risk it. Alterans knew they wouldn''t attack (for now) either so they focused their energies on the more direct threats, which slowly but surely trimmed the forces around him until they were surrounded. Worse, that woman was also targeting them! Fortunately, she didn''t have any mana anymore and her attacks were basically normal, allowing the men around him to still defend him against the attacks. But what would happen when she recovered? Even if it wouldn''t reach him, it could reach his guards. If this kept up, their remaining part of agreement would be null and he had no doubt they would abandon him at a moment''s notice! Damnit! Fargo saw they were useless, gritted his teeth, and opened up the panel, and a few moments later, an announcement echoed across the territory [Anyone who gives the lord a head of the enemy would receive 10 gold each!] Then, he added with a dark glint in his eyes. [Anyone who kills enemies can free a slave of their choice!] This was far higher than the previous offer and, unlike the chaos outside, the ones in the interior walls were less likely to go against Fargo as well. The people flinched and some reluctantly emerged from their houses. However, most didn''t want to join death and remained hidden. There were still hundreds of people who emerged though. All houses had several people living inside, and it would only take a few to inspire the others to go as a group¡ªafter all, it was less terrifying with other people. They looked terrified and held on to their weapons shakily, but their overall number was not small. Group by group they emerged from the houses, giving the Alterans a closer look at the people they''d be dealing with. They looked much worse than the leading party with their thinness and tattered clothes, but they were still doing a bit better than those outside where most people lived in shanties. Among these people, there were those who jumped at the chance because it meant saving their family! After they left the threshold of their houses, they immediately went to attack the closest Alterans, shaking the formation by virtue of their numbers. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea looked at the ''battlefield'' below her. The battlefield, except for a small plaza area, was basically a network of streets and avenues. Those people who went out could basically enter their formation, some of whom coming from the back. Of course, these people were weak and scared and didn''t stand a chance against hers, but it was still a distraction Fargo and the remaining enemies used. The number of people Fargo''s men stabbed while Alterans were distracted was not small. There were also some who were on the second floor, refusing to get out of the safety of their houses, but they still threw things down in hopes that it could kill someone. She didn''t have a view of the other areas, but there should also be other people going out of their houses to take their chances as well. There were also others who got a bit creative with their attacks on them. For instance, she saw a door open with a middle-aged man with a crew cut leading it. With his housemates, they tried pulling in a few weakened Alterans. Unfortunately for them, Alteran''s teamwork was strong and they were immediately kicked back. However, they kept standing up to fight¡ªespecially that middle-aged man, and he was obviously desperate despite feeling extremely heavy in doing so. This was Basil. He knew the Alterans were not bad people as he had been watching them for a while, but what could he do? He was only fighting to get his father back. Althea didn''t know this yet, but she had seen their expressions¡ªthey were just¡­ helpless and trying to survive. She cursed at how low Fargo was¡ªhow could he push people to go against their conscience like this! Not to mention: She didn''t know what the announcement was, but she could bet Fargo was not planning on keeping his side of the deal. She took out a non-electric amplifier, which worked well enough in the area as everyone had improved hearing anyway. "People of Fargo, we are from Altera Village! We will take down this territory that made so many of you suffer," she said. "Don''t fight us! You will be free!" "There will be no slaves in Altera!" She knew it would be difficult to convince them about this. After all, they would lose their freedom and their money once they become slaves. "I don''t know what Fargo promised you, but you should know by now what kind of man he is! Would he really meet his side of the deal?" This made a lot of people pause. 5 gold per kill or the freedom of a slave was not cheap. They doubted Fargo would be willing to let go of that money if he had it! It was more likely they''d die ''mysteriously'' so they didn''t have to be ''paid''! However, they were truly afraid of Fargo. If he saw them back out, he''d definitely torture them once this was over! However, her words definitely weakened the enemies'' attacks and the Alterans made sure not to hurt them too much. Still guarded heavily from whatever attacks came his way, Fargo frowned at the lack of momentum on his side. "Releasing a slave from the system cost 5 gold! Do you really think anyone would free you?!" Althea frowned, not to lose. She had heard of this condition and¡ªwhile she definitely was not willing to pay tens of thousands out of her own pocket to free slaves from the ''system''¡ªit didn''t mean she wouldn''t be able to give them freedom in her own capacity! "In Altera, you will be able to afford it! Even if you are slaves in name, you will not be treated as such¡ªyou will be given agency so you can buy your own freedom!" "As an elder in Altera, I can swear to it!" Obviously, listening to the enemy was never wise, but Althea simply had the quality that made people want to believe her and believe in her. At some point, some people stopped attacking completely. They wondered: Would it really be alright to just... believe? Chapter 581 - 581: The Arrival of the Slaves Fargo looked darkly at Althea, as if sending daggers and dismembering her with his eyes. Althea''s eyes looked at the number of people and knew that they''d be reaching the winning requirement soon. That was: For half of the people who passed the Teleportation array to breach the main walls of a territory. However, if they left without getting the token, Fargo would lose yes, but it would just lose half its assets and people. She didn''t dare underestimate Fargo at all! She couldn''t give him the chance to get back up after this. She looked at her stats. Her remaining mana wouldn''t be able to do much damage against people level 20 and above. It was fortunate that all they could do was block attacks for Fargo. Similarly, such a pity her husband and the others couldn''t enter either, so at least they''d be able to block hits for the other Alterans. Injuries were inevitable, after all, the enemy aborigines were not weak. It broke her heart, but there had been lethal shots that had hit her people. There were unfortunately some deaths on her side already. Most of these deaths were directly under Fargo''s hands. While shots towards him were blocked by strong mercenaries, he would either use the crossbow he stole from one of her people, or he would throw sharp rocks with incredible aim. Only she had the full-body defense equipment. Fargo simply had to use his well-honed assassination skills to take down her people. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The only reason he couldn''t get more was because they still had a lot of shields to block his attacks and that Fargo was¡ªfortunately¡ªstill a new elementalist and his control and mana were still limited in the end. Regardless, she had to trim those guards down! She must take Fargo down as soon as possible! Heaving a deep breath, she raised the Bellagio as she chewed on her mana cookie. [Used! Perfect Aim! -10 Mana!] [Used! Triple Shot! -30 Mana!] Swoosh! Swoosh! She couldn''t afford to waste any now so she targeted those that could be killed. She tried hitting as many as she could¡ªfocusing on those doing the most damage to her people. There was aborigine with a massive axe swinging around like no tomorrow. The only reason the people he hit were alive was their decent defense equipment which was already on the verge of breaking. Using her skill, she looked for an opening and let go of the bow. Woosh! Hitting him straight through the neck. "OI!" "He''s dead! GYA¡ª!" Whoosh! "Dead as well!" Two of the three shots managed to kill people. Sadly, her mana was also draining very quickly. However, the less power there was on the other team, the more leverage her team had to safely take care of the rest. Eventually, all of Fargo''s men below level 15 were all taken down¡ªat least those around Fargo at this moment¡ªeither dead or injured, and they were surrounded by hundreds of Alterans. The few people from Fargo''s side felt heavy, with Fargo''s eyes so red it could drip blood. Seeing him like this, Althea''s eyebrows rose. Was her poison working? That''s right. Like the mana reducer, she also sent a little poison that affected the brain. She hadn''t tested it enough though so she only knew it would give some serious headache to a person even with the improved physiques. She couldn''t test it on an Alteran, so she went on a limb and gave it to Juni to see who it could affect, ideally someone with impact in the war. Like the other one, she also gave Juni the prerogative of who to give it to. There were too many variables to instruct her of a specific target, and Althea was very impressed she got it to Fargo himself. Of course, the fact that it could only cause headaches for now meant that Fargo was still intrinsically very strong. The main component of this poison was the common louj plant¡ªone of the first plants she had studied in this world¡ªbut the synthesis required was cumbersome so she wasn''t able to create a lot either. She wondered what else it could do, but for now, Fargo was obviously not in the mood to answer any of her inquiries. Fargo had no idea that he would become another victim of the future Poison Queen (or that she was even considering to interview him as a test subject), and simply ran his aching mind as to what he should do to get out of this situation. It was around this time that Aka looked at the side and then to the lord. "The slaves are here." Oh? Fargo looked in a direction and saw a mob of people dragging themselves to where they were. He had long ordered all the slaves to go inside when he saw the shift in momentum. He was even tempted to take back the rest of his fighting force outside but decided against it. If they weren''t there, more Alterans would get inside and they might as well accept they lost their war! The slaves took a while to get there because they were extremely weakened¡ªas one could see with how they were dragging their bodies like zombies, some with blood trailing in their steps. But none of this affected Fargo at all; he didn''t care that they were already pushed well beyond their bodies'' limits¡ªhe just needed his meat shields! Soon more and more slaves came in and some citizens who had been wanting to join for the gold saw the cannon fodders coming in, getting out to join them. [ATTACK!] Fargo''s order resounded in every slave''s mind and they poured in like a swarm of ants, suddenly increasing their pace¡ªthough for some they could even hear bones creaking and muscles being sprained. More than a thousand slaves immediately lunged toward them like zombies and for a moment the Alterans were a little at loss. Imagine several hundreds of people squeezing in a small space, pushing them aside like a tsunami! There were too many and they might literally drown their forces with their numbers. But more than that¡ªthey could see the slaves'' poor states! That bastard Fargo!! Chapter 582 - 582: The Slave Mob (Part 1) [ATTACK! ATTACK! KILL THEM ALL!] This was the order that resounded repeatedly in the slaves'' minds. This naturally made them much more aggressive, though from their face one could see despair and apology instead of anger. These people weren''t very strong, they were weak and tired and seemed to be at the end of the rope. While this was mostly a good thing for the Alterans, it meant that a little force in retaliation could kill them! Imagine being mobbed by people who had no control over their bodies¡ª who acted like zombies¡ªbut you couldn''t bear to attack them back?! That was how it was for the Alterans who had each other''s back and focused on either immobilizing the enemy or just pushing them away. However, the orders were clear to the slaves and they obviously aimed to take them the Alterans) down no matter what. It was really reminiscent of zombies with how ''mindless'' they were trying to get to them, regardless of physically stepping on people in front of them. Things got way worse for those who could recognize people around them¡ªespecially people from Bright who were acquaintances with many of the slaves. "Rodney!" Micheal yelled, gritting his teeth as he saw a person he recognized¡ªone of the new guards back then¡ªamong the slaves. Rodney came with Garan to Bright back then. If Gill was here, he''d recognize this person as the kind-hearted man who stopped to warn them at the risk of his own hide. Micheal remembered him because he worked very hard¡ªmuch more passionate than the younger guards¡ªand he had a bright personality that inspired the others. This time though, he had no good skin left and tears flowed down his face. "So painful¡­" they could hear him whisper as he clawed on them, "Kill me please¡­" They couldn''t bear to do so¡ªhow could they¡ªbut they did do their best to immobilize them as safely as they could. In Rodney''s case, Micheal used his ropes to immobilize them. He actually bought ropes from the shop after seeing all the guards had them. Now he understood what they were for. Micheal and the other people of Bright had to deal with former comrades like so, along with dozens of others. They were filled with bruises and could barely walk straight, but they kept moving. It felt like a bit more movement and tendons would break and their legs would be irreparable. On other sides, there would be many times wherein Alterans had no choice but to hurt the ''slaves'' to defend themselves. "I''m sorry, I''m sorry," they would say as they attacked, hoping it didn''t kill anyone. This was what they believed as the guilt might consume them otherwise. They even saw an old man who could barely walk. When the old man fell down unable to get back up, they felt a bit of heartbreak, but no one dared get into this mob if they had some brains. However, the door of a house opened suddenly and a man jumped into the sea of slaves, squeezing in and¡ªunsurprisingly¡ªabout to drown. "DAD! Please help him up! PLEASE!" Basil yelled and it so happened that Angelo and Jesse were nearby. The cousins looked at each other and then at a few shieldsmen teammates. With this force, they waved through the ''zombies'' and dragged the old man (and the man) after much effort, throwing them back to the house. Basil sobbed loudly at the poor state of his father. "DAD!! Wuuuuu¡ª" The old man was barely breathing at this point and Basil could only cry in despair. He stopped abruptly when a little bottle was given to him. He looked up to see it was one of their rescuers, who was apparently still with them, with their shieldsmen were blocking the door with their equipment. "It''s not much and it''s diluted, but it should somehow improve his state¡­" Basil''s eyes exploded in tears and he bowed repeatedly as he fed the potion to his dad. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" Angelo and Jesse sighed and just headed back and made sure to close the door, hoping to rescue as many lives as they could. Most people, unfortunately, couldn''t get rescued. For instance, there was an Alteran man who saw family among the slaves. "BROTHER!" he yelled as he used his sheathed sword to try and deal with as many slaves as he could. His level wasn''t particularly high to do this effortlessly, and even with the assistance of his teammates, he was filled with wounds and bruises every step he took. Still, it felt like he wasn''t walking fast enough! By the time he reached his baby brother, he had already stepped on by the mob¡ªseemingly with no breath anymore. The man''s body moved on its own and gestured to get to him regardless of the consequences, but he was pulled back by teammates lest he leaned down and be stepped on by dozens of people at the same time! Nearby, there was another sob of recognition. "HONEY!" A man on their side yelled as he saw his wife crying, holding up weapons with no choice. "Don''t do it!" he yelled, refusing to attack his wife. Slaves did not have weapons, but she had access to a fallen weapon from a Fargo guard and she took it to use. She wished she was far from it so it didn''t end up in her hand¡ªat least then she wouldn''t have had a weapon. She was sobbing as she raised her hands in an attempt to slash, but her husband could only stare, still in shock at seeing his meek wife there¡ªlet alone attacking him. This one, too, had to be pulled back by teammates. However, they had the mind to pull the woman as well while taking away her sword, and tying her up with their rope. The man cried as he hugged her, thanking his teammates as well. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, in order to protect the Alterans, the captains and Althea had no choice but to yell out an order: "Fall back! Fall back!" She yelled, strategizing while regaining her mana. "Group together!" While most people followed, she could see the reluctance in many people¡ªparticularly from those who recognized someone amongst the mob. Her heart broke for them. "I know it''s hard, but we have to keep safe first before saving others," she told them, soothing while not losing the sense of urgency in her tone. "We''ll get them back one way or another, I promise!" Chapter 583 - 583: The Slave Mob (Part 2) The Alterans grouped tightly together with the shieldsmen out, trying to stop the hundreds of slaves and citizens from successfully mobbing them. In terms of numbers, the enemies had outnumbered them several to one, and this was not even considering that many Alterans had already been weakened from the battles¡ªsome were even carried by their teammates already! Fargo relished at the sight of them being pushed back. With the wave of slaves, their way had been cleared of Alterans, clearing the path for them. They decided to take advantage of this distraction to get to someplace safer. Althea, who had a bird''s eye view of the battle, naturally saw this. However, she couldn''t abandon her people here to run after him. She simply sent an order for Fufi to take note of Fargo''s scent so they could run after them as soon as they could. Anyway, standing tall at a height and looking down at the scene on the street level, she had to take on the commander role. Hundreds of slaves squeezed together to fit along the narrow streets of Fargo. Even if the slaves were weak, their sheer numbers could suffocate them. Their force value simply wasn''t enough to handle so many¡ªnot to mention the fact they had to at least try not to kill these ''slaves'' in the process. With a sigh, she took out three small balls that rolled in her palms. She had been saving up her remaining 3 paralysis and sleep bombs, but this seemed to be the time to use them. However, three bombs might not be able to take down everyone if not used well. She still had to properly plan on where to throw them. She looked down and saw that the shield walls were sturdy enough for the most part, but others were relatively flimsy. They could use some earth walls to properly coralled the ''slaves'', especially if they received an order to disperse. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She looked at the low-level pathway of Fargo. While the main avenues were made of system stone paths, the rest were not and could thus be used for earth manipulations. This would be her last bit of mana though, and it would take a bit longer for her to be able to use any techniques again after this. Harold''s Mana Cookies were great, but they were slow to recover mana and could get dangerous in more urgent situations. She really hoped to get ahold of those mana potions soon. Pushing these thoughts down, she jumped from roof to roof (not difficult at all, considering everything was so dense) and added some flimsy walls in certain areas. On the ground, Fargo¡ªwho had already neared the edge¡ªsaw that the Alterans were not being pushed hard enough. He also saw the woman jumping from roof to roof, but he had no time to explore what he was doing. So, before leaving, he made one last order. [Attack them even if it causes death. Bump your head to whatever obstacle you encounter until it breaks.] Anyway, if they did lose this war the slaves would go to Altera anyway¡ªthere was no point keeping them. At the same time, if they won, then it meant he would gain new ones! Losing a few hundred slaves didn''t matter to him at all! When the Alterans saw the movement and realized what the slaves were set to do, their hearts dropped. "NO!!" They yelled, especially those who knew people among the slaves. Althea''s eyes widened as the slaves did as they were told, bumping into the walls and shields as if the walls didn''t pain them. Bang! Bang! Bang! But they were corralled and the only way to stop was to take down the walls themselves. There were also those who bumped on the building walls which would definitely not be taken down by such little force. As for those far from the surfaces, they would bump against each other. Even if they didn''t die from concussion, they could die from suffocation! Everyone''s bodies shook at the sound of skulls pounding repeatedly, one after the other, and how blood flowed to the wall. Some slaves had blank expressions on their faces, as if surrendering to their imminent deaths, while some were just sobbing, probably of regrets, but thinking no one will hear of them. Althea couldn''t wait any longer and threw them to the corralle of hundreds of people. For the farther ones, she used her earth ability and placed a bomb above it to increase its reach. Bang! Bang! Bang! The Alterans flinched at the sound and saw the smoke at a distance. "Smoke bombs!" "Of course, Miss Althea still has some!" "I wish we saved our team''s¡­" "It saved our lives, no need for regrets." The Alterans had already covered their mouths and noses by instinct with the cloth face masks provided to them by the territory. They watched it spread amongst the suicidal slaves. The three bombs naturally couldn''t spread through all the hundreds of slaves, so the few with wind abilities also directed it, making sure the precious smoke bombs were not wasted. They heard the bumping slow down to a stop, and by the time the smoke settled down, there was no more noise except for breathing. The slaves had fallen down, either paralyzed or asleep, though because they were squeezed together they looked more like sardines standing upright. The good thing that came out of their weakened states was that the effect of the smoke bomb was very good¡ªbetter than expected¡ªand even a whiff was enough to knock them out. The shieldsmen took down their guards and they slowly guided the slaves down. Even the citizens of Fargo had gotten out to help, making a few Alterans smile (though they didn''t completely put down their guards, of course). Seeing the situation calm down a bit, Althea assigned a few team captains to handle the rest, immediately jumping to go after Fargo. "Fufi!" she yelled and the dog barked, immediately heading in a direction. The dog jumped and ran on the wall to avoid the sea of slaves with Althea following closely behind him above eye level. She had to find him before the war ended, or else he would be able to keep the token. Even if their money and people would be halved when they lost, she didn''t dare underestimate Fargo¡ªespecially not with the Rongo Mercenary team as an ally! They would remain a hidden knife that could jump at whatever chance they could to attack Altera! And Althea wouldn''t let anything threaten her family and her way of life! Chapter 584 - 584: The Battles of the Outer Wall (Part 1) At this time, the outer walls were no less chaotic than the interior. Maybe even more so because there were a lot more people there. The majority of both forces were in this area added to the chaos created by the citizens themselves. There were still three large teams outside, who were blocked in time before they could follow Althea''s footsteps of smooth sailing to the inner walls. If even a portion of these teams passed through, then Altera would''ve won this war. However, no one was complacent. They headed to the walls with the attitude that the other two teams were blocked. Two of these teams were already by the walls, just waiting to get past. Drake, Henry, and the others were also there. When the Alterans started causing chaos in the inner walls, almost all of the guards were summoned in that area, leaving a lot of openings for them to sneak out of. Even the redheaded Jona, after seeing that Althea had gotten the situation inside under control, also went out to assist. Anyway, their ''number'' wasn''t counted to the winning quantity so they knew they''d be most helpful assisting the Alterans in. Everyone knew what the requirement to win was. They didn''t even have to defeat everyone, they just had to get a certain number inside the inner walls and that was it. This was actually quite humane, and they were planning on taking advantage of it to minimize the damages they had to commit. It was easier said than done, of course. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Excluding the hundreds of guards that were in the inner walls, there were still nearly a thousand Fargo guards on the outer walls. However, although there were more guards outside the territory, the outer wall had a far larger area and scope than the inside. This meant it was much more difficult to defend. This was why the remaining Alterans opted to divide into three groups, targeting to go to specific areas to go through. Before the war, Santos and Leon¡ªas the Terran Mercenary Team members who had been staying in Fargo a lot longer than others¡ªhad been assigned to study the city wall, as well as determine the blindspots. Though aether letters were handed by Drake, they had forwarded this data to Garan''s team outside, who then forwarded it to the Alterans who entered the array. One of these teams was in the Eastern part of the territory. It was composed of more than a hundred people. It was led by Reno, Jona, Santos, the crow trio (who had found them at some point), and many others. They were guarded by Santos as one of the people on their side beyond the level cap. Santos might not be able to attack due to his level, but as someone in the territory walls before the war started, he could still assist their side in whatever way he could. This team had the fastest progress. They were ready to climb up the wall using earth stairs similar to what Althea and the others did. This time, it was made by Santos and Reno. Jona and the others began to climb up, weapons out in case they got noticed. About a handful had managed to cross before Santos'' eyes widened and he abruptly turned to face a direction. "Watch out!" Santos yelled, immediately throwing an earth rock to block an incoming arrow. He wasn''t able to stop it completely, but it did skew its course so the target only got grazed. The woman¡ªJona¡ªscreamed in pain and lost balance, falling down the few-meters-high bridge. She had climbed up to help guard the battlement from guards who could find them at any time. While the fall was only 3 meters high¡ªnot lethal for people of their level¡ªit would still hurt. The expected pain didn''t come as she was caught by strong arms. She opened her eyes in surprise, looking up to see the tanned man who had saved her. "You okay?" Santos asked. She nodded blankly and the two stared at each other for a second before he put her down. Santos immediately turned around to shield the woman from yet another attack, joining the others who had already faced the group of guards who found them. While the two were having a moment, Henry and the others had already begun to defend. In contrast to Santos though, Henry could attack the enemies. The old man''s fist lit with fire, and he threw it at one of the aborigines. The mercenary frowned but managed to avoid it, turning his head to look at him. "Heh, didn''t know you''re an elementalist too, old man." Henry looked at the mercenary. This was one of the people who taunted them a lot. They would be asked to clear mobs while these guards would ''cheer'' from the walls. This mercenary had a higher level than they had, but he just refused to do his job and guard the wall as he should''ve been doing. Before, they had no choice but to just guard quietly lest the monsters breached the outer walls. In that case, rather than Fargo''s guards, it would always be the citizens who would be sacrificed first. Before, they could only shut their mouths, now they could teach them a lesson like in their dreams! However, this didn''t show in his expression at all. This had been a habit of his after decades in the Military: Never to show emotions during a fight. Despite his age, Henry was still a general and his stance was very different from others. He was silent, but there was a quiet confidence to him that gritted on the man''s nerves. The man spit on the side and lunged forward, followed by the others¡ªwho were, in turn, met by the Alterans as well. Henry''s eyes sharpened as he looked at the arrogant guard. His experienced mind made instinctual calculations on the man''s position, the forces, and others for maximum effect. All this was happening in fractions of a second, and he raised his fist in position as the man came closer. "HYA!" Henry exclaimed as another ball of fire¡ªa bigger one¡ªemerged from his fist. It came quite quickly and the mercenary was taken aback. The mercenary could only step back and Henry took advantage of the opening this created. Using the fire as propulsion, he instantaneously increased the force of his punch, and BANG! Throwing the other man straight to the opposite wall. The man coughed in shock and shakily tried to stand up, but the General had already arrived above him, once again using fire to propel himself, increase his speed and force, and threw him to some of his teammates blocking the way! Henry''s face didn''t change as he stared down at the mercenary before taking out his weapon. "Don''t underestimate this old man." Chapter 585 - 585: The Battles of the Outer Wall (Part 2) Behind him, the other members also assisted with the guards. After all, it was best to finish this trouble as soon as possible and then just rush over when the coast was clear. At the very least, they had to weaken the enemies enough so everyone could cross. This team of guards was mostly below the level cap, including that archer. Santos helped block several attacks until he saw one of the remaining Level 20 mercenaries leave and rush over the stairs. Due to the level restriction, he couldn''t do anything to hurt the Alterans, but he could throw them away as if they were trash. The man raised his fist to destroy the stairs. Santos spent much of his mana there, how could he allow that to happen? He immediately ran to him with his sword, stopping him. Clank! The man blocked using his own weapon, and he pushed forward, pushing Santos a few steps. Santos was only level 18, two levels lower than his enemy. However, he still believed in his training and his skill and he did not hesitate to lunge forward to meet the man''s attack. Fighting between people beyond the level cap was, technically, allowed if they were already within the territory. The caveat was that if a bystander was hurt, then that counted as attacking below the level cap, and the punishments would be implemented. This made sense because system regulations always got triggered by specific conditions. This was how people beyond the level cap wouldn''t be allowed inside during war, yet those already inside wouldn''t be affected. This was how people could still get attacked outside the wars, but at the same time, a war would be triggered after a certain threshold was met. Anyway, the two of them exchanged blows, slowly getting farther from the ''weaker'' ones to avoid heavy punishments on themselves. While a high-level fight was ongoing above the roofs, the people on the street level were in no less tension. More and more enemies flowed in and Reno used his ability to block a few pathways. This created choke points so it was easier for the Alterans to take them down with less effort and injury to themselves. He also had to block his side of the easement around the wall to keep people from blocking their way up. After all, the few meters around the wall were clear and it was the fastest way for the enemies to become their obstacle. Fortunately, despite all these troubles, the situation was somewhat manageable. This was until Eso, one of Fargo''s right-hand men, arrived with about a dozen others. Reno wanted to handle him himself, but his ability was needed to stop the flow of another hundred or so enemy guards from mobbing them. Eso, like his companions, was a tough nut to crack and even a few Alterans together couldn''t take him down. He also had Class D weapons bought off from the mercenaries, adding up to his already impressive repertoire of physical attacks. "Ahhh!" An Alteran yelled as his hair was burned by the man''s fire. The Alterans beside him immediately took out water from the space to douse him. While this was ongoing, Eso had already grabbed another one. "Gah!" another yelled as he was thrown down. Eso held up his sword and was ready to stab when a weapon and a shield headed in his direction and he had no choice but to pull back. This was Dog and Sunny, and together they waved their weapons at him to the best of their abilities. They knew this person as one of the worst people in this territory, and they could not afford to hold back at all! Clack! Clack! They never did land a hit in the end and instead received the damage. Fortunately, they didn''t receive lethal injuries, though this was only because of their equipment. Clack! Clack! BANG! At some point, Eso managed to catch Sunny''s shield and pulled her abruptly towards him. He grabbed her waist and hugged her flush, making her pale. "Sunny!!" Dog yelled as he lunged forward, waving his sword but the man suddenly turned so he would hit Sunny and he had to stop abruptly. Eso smirked and kicked Dog in the face. It was so quick he wasn''t able to avoid it. Their helmets and armors were only class D and didn''t have full body armor effect. That face kick was a direct hit, and Dog felt his nose, at least, was probably crushed. "Dog!!!" Sunny yelled as she struggled. She was dragged to the groaning Dog and he raised his hand to stab him, intent on showing the girl how her friend died. "DOGG!!!" Before the sword landed though¡ª Whoosh! Clank! Eso sneered and looked in the direction where the arrow came from, seeing the dark-haired young lad who was staring blankly at him. Crow once again raised his bow and arrow. This had been improved by Brenda and Houser¡ªand looked at the bastards. "Hey!" The special ability of this bow and arrow using Houser''s skill? It would make the target stare at it! If the level of the enemy was low, they could even be sitting ducks! However, this time the enemy wasn''t weak, so it only distracted him for half a second. But it was enough. What''s more, he was using a crossbow and even if he missed a few shots, there were still a few that hit where it mattered. "Ah!" Eso felt the arrow partially buried in his neck. He managed to instinctively catch its shaft before it went deep, but it still hurt very much and his eyes turned red. He threw down the girl to lunge at the bastard, but before he could get to him he was surrounded by Alterans again. He narrowed his eyes as he looked around. The fact that there were so many blocking him now meant a lot of the others had been dealt with. They didn''t hesitate to mob him, hitting him willy-nilly and he had to get into a defensive stance. He roared as he waved his sword wildly, hitting as many as he could, though unfortunately not able to kill anyone because of that damned equipment of theirs! Clank! Clank! Clank! The Alterans soon saw that more guards arrived and increased their attacks, hoping to get rid of Eso before having to deal with the others. He was pushed back by the group of attackers, stepping back bit by bit, not noticing a shield weakly thrown at an angle behind him, and landing at where he was stepping back. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His feet slid and he fell back, imbalanced. "GYAH!" He yelled, but his instincts gestured for him to turn to catch himself. But how could the others let him do this? Crow''s eyes immediately sharpened, using his distraction to finally shower him with lethal shots. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Except for one that missed, another hit Eso''s neck¡ªthis time going through the throat¡ªand another one around his eyes. At that exact moment, Santos would also take down his own enemy, and they would clear out most of the immediate threats. However, the delay was enough to gather more and more people around them, specifically going along the wall perimeter. Reno could only block so many and soon there were a lot more people between them and the wall. The Alterans cursed as the new enemies arrived, blocking their victory. Darn it! They gritted their teeth, eyes looking longingly at the 3-meter-tall threshold. The wall was so close! Chapter 586 - 586: The Battles of the Outer Wall (Part 3) The next team was led by Luis and Drake, taking the rear areas, and they were still doing their best to get through to the walls. Although Althea couldn''t make System announcements as this wasn''t her territory, she could still send them through aether letters. However, she opted not to do so after a few moments of thought, even if it risked winning the war prematurely. She didn''t ask anyone to slow down their pace because she couldn''t risk lives just to get the token. In the worst-case scenario, they''d just have to prevent him from gathering strength for revenge by barraging him with wars until they get it. This was why all three teams were still going strong, barrelling towards the walls as fast as they safely could. It was fortunate that this place was basically a maze. The widest street was 3 meters wide and the rest were super narrow and the wayfinding was rarely straightforward. Worse, the pathways near the various shanty areas were just as wide as one person to go through at a time. However, while Luis'' team was small enough to traverse and avoid most of the chaos, they did encounter conflict. Fortunately, Luis and Drake were there to deal with relatively stronger enemies, assisted by the others through guerilla tactics, among many other things. Another convenient aspect of this place was that anyone who was taking advantage of Fargo''s power was all in the interior territory. That was to say: Every citizen here was victimized to some degree and abhorred Fargo and his men to death¡­ and they would do what they could to bring them down. The amount of assistance they received was mild but they never lacked it during this time. For example, when a group of guards was nearing where they were, someone would make a cheesy bird sound to warn them. Their only gripe was that the places¡ªespecially the narrow alleyways¡ªwere disgusting. Shanty houses were all manually built and had no toilets. For those who couldn''t be bothered to even make a chamberpot¡ªunlike proper, well-raised, modern Terrans¡ªwhere would they throw their stuff? In public places of course! Ugh. There was also the frenemies Troy and Fred on this team, so it wasn''t easy to be low-key with these two bantering all the time. Imagine someone suddenly bursting into cackles when the other one accidentally stepped on shit. Fortunately for them, the duo did work nicely when it was time to fight, which was why they were placed in the same team in the first place. Anyway, after some sneaky traveling, they eventually found the spot Santos and Leon mentioned (via aether letter) to be a good place to enter through. They picked it for various reasons. One, it was naturally a spot where the sparse sentries wouldn''t reach. Second, it was on a slight incline so they were a bit harder to spot compared to being in the depressed area. They would also be able to see if there were battlement guards who spotted them and therefore be able to react aptly. Although a few battlement guards were kept in other areas, they were definitely not as dense as Fargo would''ve preferred. This would allow them to deal with the enemies they encountered as low-key as they could. Finally, the spot was directly opposite to where Miss Althea and the others entered. This meant that they had very little chance of encountering guards (at least on the interior) at all! They settled down under it and immediately crafted their ''stairs''. The earth users they had in this team weren''t particularly amazing, so they opted on them just handling small boulders each. They would then tie sturdy ropes on each of the rocks to serve as weights. The ropes were quite sturdy. Every guard and many citizens had lots of sturdy coated ropes, as instructed by Garan. This was something inspired by what happened in Guia with the goblins. In any case, the two earth users coordinated well with their limited capacities, lifting the rocks over the 3-meter wall, creating a nice little ladder for them. It was stable enough to support one or two persons at a time, and their people had started to sneak inside in hopes of contributing to the numbers. Based on what had been reported via aether letters, the other two teams had yet to traverse the wall. Every one of them counted in this war, and there was no time to waste! One by one they entered, with Luis standing on the wall to guard in case people would come from the battlements or below it. Drake was also on the foot of the ladder, prepared to face whatever could block their way. While it was relatively smooth sailing the first few minutes, their movements still alarmed guards in the end. Despite the ladder being made of camouflage colors, it was hard to miss a consistent line of people jumping down the wall from the other side. A couple of battlement guards soon found them, yelling at the top of their lungs to alert the guards nearby. "ENEMIES!! ENEMIES!!!" "OI! HELP USSS!" They yelled at the top of their lungs, though they didn''t dare attack head-on, allowing a few more Alterans to go through. Luis had been aware of the Fargo guards'' cowardice and took advantage, throwing a ball of fire in a direction, making the guard scream. "OIII! COME HEREEE!" Obviously, they wouldn''t bother sacrificing themselves for Fargo, so they were waiting for more allies to deal with them. Fortunately, the enemies'' communications were still very archaic and there weren''t a lot of them alerted. However, even if there were only a few dozen enemies that arrived, it had to be noted that Luis'' team was predominantly on the other side already, so those left behind had to deal with the newcomers. Luis narrowed his eyes, but he wasn''t too worried. After all, for three months, he had handled strong monsters. What could these humans with lower levels do to him? S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 587 - 587: The Battles of the Outer Wall (Part 4) At this time, there were only two battlement guards left and Luis just threw fireballs at them. He knew he couldn''t take them down with just one hit, but he angled it in a way that would be efficient for him. "Ahhh!" the guard yelled, instinctively grabbing the nearest surface¡ªwhich happened to be his teammate. "Ahhhh!" Bang! Luis nodded when he saw the two battlement guards had fallen and immediately jumped down, raising his sword and emblazing it with fire, killing them while they were down. However, dozens of new enemies had arrived, and they immediately rained them with arrows (well, as many arrows as a dozen archers-or-not could shoot), with the swordsmen and spearmen ready to attack as soon as the arrow rain, er, drizzle, was over. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, although this was nothing compared to what Alterans could do with their crossbows, a drizzle of arrows was still a drizzle of arrows. Many of the team couldn''t help but look back at him in worry. Luis even saw a few team members gaping and gesturing to help. He immediately shook his head when he saw this. "Just continue doing what you''re doing," he said, "I''ll handle this!" The group of enemies that came wasn''t very big, it was better to get the team inside the wall! Swish! He threw a fireball, blocking an arrow. Swish! Another one, blocking anothe with his sword. Swish! And he blocked a few with a fire wave. The attackers soon saw their already limited arrows were just getting blocked and some smartass decided to target those climbing up the wall. While the others were busy, they sneaked at the back and changed positions, targeting the people who had their backs on them. Because they weren''t particularly skilled¡ªthey were civilians before the Transfer¡ªthey went a bit closer to ensure their targets got hit. "We got you now," one of the archers said with a grin, shooting his arrow, closely followed by his companion. Whoosh! Whoosh! One missed¡ªthey weren''t archers by profession¡ªwhile another one was about to hit someone, though purely by luck. The man grinned, already seeing the body falling at a height. However, just as the arrow was a meter away from the target, a thin spark hit it, making it lose its momentum. "What?!" they yelled, but they couldn''t react in time when sparkling palms found their way on their faces, electrocuting them. BUZZ!! "AHHH!" The men yelled as their bodies shook, falling to the ground, unconscious. "Don''t forget about me," Drake said with a small smile, and Luis grinned. Together, the two warriors guarded the rest of the team, ensuring their safe passage. Drake was still a little weaker though so he was set to be the secondary line of defense while Luis took bulk of the attacks. He would take care of the few leaks, and their hearts lightened up the more people entered the other side. One person inside was a step closer to the war ending! Adrenaline pumped into their veins, wanting to get this war over with. Fortunately, Luis had Class D equipment¡ªincluding the Class D Gauntlet he bought in Ferrol¡ªand so did Drake, and they maximized their equipment and skills to just get this over with. Luis waved around his fiery sword as the close-ranged fighters finally lunged forward, and they came in droves. Soon, the two found their hands full. It was nothing dangerous because the strongest person among the enemies was level 9, but there were more and more of them coming and it was getting challenging to keep them from the ladder. It got to the point where there were only a handful of people from his side left, but more guards arrived to mob on him. The few Alterans still climbing up turned back in worry and¡ªseeing their captain getting mobbed¡ªthey gestured to turn back. "Luis! Drake!" "I''ll be fine! Go!" Although they would still need a few more from the other teams to get through, getting his entire team in the interior was a great achievement. Besides¡ª "I can''t focus if I have to watch over you, too!" he yelled and the others could only reluctantly follow his orders. They looked at Drake who also shooed them away, though he fortunately had to deal with a lot less than Luis so they didn''t worry too much about him. In any case, the cowardly Fargo guards naturally preferred to attack the person mobbed by more people to minimize the risk of injuries, so Luis was surrounded by a wave of enemy much faster than Drake was. "Haaaa!" Luis yelled as he was mobbed, some attacks getting past his defense and just blocked by his equipment. He swung his sword and hit more though and the cowardly guards stepped back, not wanting to be the vanguard against him. Still, he underestimated their shamelessness because, at some point, they just carried those he had already taken down and used their bodies as shield! His eyes twitched as they pummeled at him from different sides. He gritted his teeth as he defended himself, feeling the heat of his own fire. "GRRR!!" Unexpectedly, he felt a force released from his body and a circular hoop of fire whipped around him, hitting everyone around, burning those with no equipment at all. "GAHHH!" "AHH!" "BURNS!" The enemies directly around him yelled as they rolled around, while those behind immediately stepped back, afraid he''d repeat the skill. Luis'' eyebrows rose as he looked at the new notification that floated in front of him. [Learned! Fire Hoop (D) Level 1, creates a whip of fire around the user, 150% damage of normal elemental attack. Cost: 30 mana] His lips twitched. He thought it was super cool but pushed down the need to admire himself to focus on dealing with the rest. The Fargo guards'' momentum had dropped and even if they outnumbered the two of them, they turned tails to run away, making it easier to target their backs. Drake had also cleared up his own battles, joining him in dealing with the remaining forces. The two of them immediately stabbed their legs and tied up the stronger ones. The order was to not kill if it wasn''t necessary¡ªthese men deserved harsher deaths, and too many people needed closure. They secured the bastards before climbing up the ladder, taking it back to his space as soon as the two of them got past the wall. They jumped down with a smile on their faces. The two were immediately surrounded by the team and handed over several potions in case they needed it, making them chuckle. Luis looked around, seeing that all of them entered safe and sound. No new guards arrived either and they knew they were all called to where Miss Althea was. Anyway, they all landed and this meant the other teams only had to get a small portion of their members inside¡ªand Altera would win! Luis punched the air in happiness, while the others tried to hold back their cheers, making their faces red. In the end, some of them couldn''t hold back and cheered. Anyway, they doubted the potential newcomers would be a threat! Come if they wanted to come! Anyway, they also headed towards where the main inner battle was, hoping to help out. Almost there, Altera! Chapter 588 - 588: Ansel’s Team The third team was led by Ansel. Along with him were Hubert, Beanie, and the twins Leo and Luke, among many others. Their group was the largest among the three with a few hundred members. Because it was big, they naturally encountered a lot more enemies than the others, hence their slow pace. Fortunately, they also had a lot of strong members and even someone who was beyond the level cap¡ªLeon, the rare wood user mercenary who stayed in Fargo before. Like how Santos was, Leon''s role was there not just to defend, but also to provide a quick and efficient way to get them in. However, much like how earth users wouldn''t be able to build anything on a system wall, wood users like him wouldn''t be able to crawl vines up either, at least¡­ not directly. Their strategy was to manually build ladders of sorts, reinforced by Leon''s abilities. A few had managed to get in and jump to the other side, but it didn''t take long for someone to see the ladder being held up a wall from a distance. It wasn''t hard as long as someone was monitoring the perimeters and, while they timed the time of the rounds, there were more people there than expected¡ªprobably added just recently¡ªso they were caught a bit earlier than they anticipated. They were immediately surrounded after that. They also got unlucky because, for some reason, this group of guards was large. From what they could see people were coming in on all directions and their quantity was probably more than their own numbers. The enemies started attacking the ladder''s base and they had no choice but to jump down. "Eh, ladder? Should I say creative or flimsy?" One bulky man said, then answered his own question. "It''s stupid. Stupid for attacking our Fargo Village in the first place!" Leon saw who spoke and understood why this group of guards was as big as a battalion. This team happened to have some of Fargo''s confidantes¡ªthe other brother Eli and two mercenaries beyond the level cap with them. One was Fero, a level 16 swordsman, and Gron, a level 17 spearman. They were actually under Fargo''s main guards, but they were assigned to the outer wall after the monster mob. Other than those, there were also two mercenaries just within the level cap of levels 11 and 13. At first glance, this was a tough enemy¡ªmuch tougher than the other teams¡ªand Ansel and the others had two choices. One was either to rush towards the walls but risk those who would be left behind. The second was to finish off these people as quickly as they could in hopes of clearing the trouble¡ªideally before more enemies get to them¡ªthough at the risk of delaying the win and risking their own lives. Ansel and the others who had not yet climbed up opted for the latter. As for those already inside, even before the war, everyone had received instructions not to get out anymore once inside. This was considering the chance that their supposed win could get backtracked or delayed because of it. Once they won the war, around half of these people would become ''slaves'' and they could just order them to fight the others! At least for the duration of this war, they would definitely take advantage of ''slaves'' if only for the safety of their own people. Ansel and the others bravely faced the enemies. The number was about the same. Although the level differences were a bit stark, Alterans still had their good equipment and training to even out the field. Ansel immediately went head-to-head against Eli, while Leon blocked the way of the two strongmen beyond the level cap. "Oh? A brat being so brave?" Eli uttered with an arrogant smirk as he raised his weapon to block the attack. He pushed him off, and Ansel countered strongly, hitting some Fargo guards nearby. Seeing this, the guards around stepped away, afraid to get hit by accident. Of course, with how careless Eli was with his swinging, he was bound to hit collateral damage even from his own side, disrupting the flow of people somehow. It didn''t help that they were on the street and some people were trapped next to them. Some tried to crawl along the walls to avoid damage, while some directly ducked and crawled away from them. Of course, they could help and attack Ansel from behind, but Ansel immediately activated fire around him, making the cowardly guards afraid to approach. At the very least, they didn''t want to be the ones to approach first and risk their hides, even if the fire wouldn''t be able to kill them as it was. Ansel was only level 10 and they were not too far below him in level, but the guards were selfish and didn''t want to experience pain, so they just opted to avoid this battle. Eli sneered when he saw this, but he knew there were still hundreds of Alterans in front so he just ordered the rest to hunt for them instead. Eventually, the two ended up in a relatively isolated street to focus on their own fights. On the other side, Leon looked at the two strongmen''s eyes, wondering what they''d do in this situation. The guards pretty much just waved around them, knowing very well the level differences were so stark and no one was foolish enough to provoke Leon. While they could just get out of each others'' ways¡ªnone of them would use physical attacks against the enemies anyway¡ªthere were still plenty of ways to hinder the other side. For example, blocking attacks. For example, pushing people away and imbalancing them, making them vulnerable to attacks. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Leon raised his weapon¡ªa sword¡ªand some vines appeared around it, subtly surrounding its hilt. He didn''t do anything for now, silently warning the other two not to move or he would attack them. As such, the three people beyond the level cap entered a standstill, while everyone else''s battles began. Chapter 589 - 589: Twins’ Battle The twins Luke and Leo took on the level 13 aborigine, while the level 11 aborigine was handled by a few of the others like Hubert and Beany. The level 13 aborigine looked at the level 11 one. "I''ll take care of these brats, Ply, the usual deal?" The level 11 shrugged, looking at the couple of weaklings who were ready to attack. "Whatever you say, Dung." "Dung? His name is Dung?!" Luke said, looking around and wondering if he was hearing it correctly. When he saw the others were holding down smiles, he burst out laughing. "Pwahahahahahah!" To be fair, Dung''s name didn''t mean the same in the local language, but the aborigine didn''t know that. Anyway, he was being mocked! Dung''s eyes twitched as he looked at the bigger twin, laughing and not paying attention to him. Offended, Dung waved his sword ominously before lunging. "I should teach you to keep attention¡ª" He yelled as he swung his sword, using the momentum to pummel Luke. However, surprisingly, the young lad caught his attack with his spear, only pushed back by a bit. Dung sneered. "Not bad," he said, looking at his Class D spear. "Pays to be rich, right?" Just entered level 10, but already had a Class D weapon! "Naw, just with a backer," Another lad appeared next to him¡ªright by his blind spot. Dung''s eyes twitched as he barely avoided a stab, though he did get grazed and his much-used Class D armor lost another bulk of its durability. He gritted his teeth and glared at the brats. He was not able to glare for long because they immediately sent him a barrage of attacks. How could a man many levels higher accept that he was being pushed back? His eyes turned red, and he immediately used one of his few skills. He directed at the weaker twin because he had a lot more openings. "Super Slash!" He yelled, and a fast slice of aura emanated and hit Leo directly. BANG! "Ah!" Leo flew to the ground. He groaned, definitely getting some internal injuries. Fortunately, his armor was still good and it blocked most of the attack. "Brother!" Luke yelled, heading towards him, but he was blocked by yet another ''super slash'' attack. The larger twin''s eyes turned red in anger as he skilfully waved his spear. The spear suddenly burst into flames, attacking him repeatedly. Clank! Clank! Clank! Eventually, Dung wasn''t able to block and the flamed spear managed to burn his hair. "AH!" he yelled, taking the remaining water in the water bag to douse himself. But the expected relief did not come¡ªon the contrary, the water never touched his head. Instead, the water freaking floated away from him! He saw it was the brat he hit, now standing up though with shaky legs. The lad whipped the water back at him, but rather than his hair it was on one of his wounds. Slap! Slap! Slap! "AH!" He struggled and could only defend against the twins'' attacks, more and more attacks connecting as they entered their own pace. At first, he just thought he was pushed back because he was taken by surprise, but as time went on he realized the brothers had extremely timed coordination. He was pummeled by the fast hits of spears and the slashes of the sword¡ªall of which did not interfere with each other at all! He was also distracted by the small-but-painful whips of water, followed by sparks of fire on another part of his body. Dung quickly found himself overwhelmed! "DAMNIT!" he yelled as he waved his own sword, hoping to hit someone. However, the brothers were agile enough to avoid his hits, just making him extremely angry! Slash! Swoosh! Clank! He gritted his teeth as he felt another small wound appeared on his arm. He couldn''t think too much though, because he was too busy handling the continuous attacks from two elementalists! He turned to look at Ply, maybe to get him to take one, but the guy was being mobbed by four people! Even a fat man with an axe was causing trouble! Orcshit! During this moment of distraction, the water that had been stinging him crawled and rose to his nose. "What th¡ªGrglegurglegurle¡ª" His eyes twitched and he shook his head, breathing with his mouth. He heaved a deep breath as he got rid of the water, but when he raised his head, a fiery spear was looming over him, ready to stab. ''ORCSHIT!'' he cursed and barely managed to catch it with his weapon. "GRR!" He yelled, pushing it back. However, it was at that exact moment when¡ª Slash! His eyes widened as he looked down at the sword that went through the crack of his armor. He turned aside and the next second a spear found his neck. Dung fell down, shocked at his sudden death. Before he completely lost consciousness, he looked up at the sky and at the twins who were looking down at him. "There," Luke said with a smile. "We taught you to pay attention." ¡­ ____ [AUTHOR''S NOTE] HAPPY END OF THE MONTH GUYS~! Thank you for your support so far! As always, extra hugs to the lovelies who vote, gift, comment, and the like! They energize me soooo much! Ahem, now for the announcement. Sometime this year (I hope) I''ll try to upload a new story! I will make sure I have enough drafts for this one before uploading anything so don''t worry about this one entering a hiatus or anything. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. I''ll defer the planet-building I mentioned before for the future. I''m planning on writing for ML, but with very interesting female characters (not a love interest of ML) for us girlies to identify with. Which tropes would you be more interested in? 1. Apocalypse + System + Base Building + Dungeon : Basically, aliens would come and it''ll be survival of the fittest. ML has light personality and is a loving father. I''m thinking the relatable female will be the ML''s reborn daughter or smthg. 2.VVMORPG Fantasy World + Apocalypse + System : Starts with VVMORPG that leaks to an apocalypse in the real world. ML is probably a stoic nerd. Relatable female is the ML''s badass sister. What do you thinkkkk~! Chapter 590 - 590: Leon’s Battle Ply and the others were handled by Hubert and the rest of them. They adopted their usual formation with the thick-skinned warriors up front, and the archers and the like protected well behind them. There would also be a few elemental attacks getting thrown at them. Partnered with superior equipment, they soon entered the pace where the Fargo side was slowly getting plucked down while the Alterans were going as strong as ever. The two men at a standstill with Leon saw their side was losing, they frowned and looked at each other. They had been dealing with these people for a while now, and they had seen them with back-up equipment in their space. Normally, they wouldn''t care much¡ªmaking them work for a mere village was degrading enough¡ªbut they had unfortunately signed contracts with Fargo. They weren''t entirely certain what Belize¡ªnow he was dead, for shame¡ªwas thinking but they were expected to do their best as was expected of hired people from the chancery. Now, they had to do some work unless they wanted to lose a lot of money, as per the agreement with Fargo. To be honest, they still found it difficult to believe that Belize and so many others had perished inside the walls! They assumed the Alterans just did some shady things and cheated, because there was no other way! Neither of them mourned though, because with Belize and several others dying, it meant a lot of higher positions in their group were vacant! However, if they lost this battle as well, not only would it be humiliating, but their position in the group would also be affected! At this thought, Fero and Gron immediately made a move. Gron lunged to the enemy side, taking on the attacks of the Alterans which had little effect on him, and allowing the guards behind him to increase their attacks against the enemies. The Alterans fought bravely and swung their weapons, however, many of their attacks were blocked by the darned aborigine. Their good pace of taking down enemies had slowed down, and more and more guards had arrived. If this lasted anymore, they''d be exhausted and who knew when they could cross that damned wall! Similarly, Fero immediately lunged towards Leon¡ªknowing a battle was inevitable. They stepped back and distanced themselves from the main fight to avoid collateral damage¡ªwhether they cared for the people or not, failure to do so would ultimately cause them to get punished. Leon waved his sword to block the enemy''s attack, his ability stabilizing his hold, helping him angle it, increasing control and power, even if only by a bit. This was a skill he learned back when they were in Twinwave Town: Wood Assist. Basically, it was to use the wood ability as a weaker arm. On its own, it didn''t have much power, but when used by someone with skill and timing, it could really increase power. Clank! Clank! Fero''s eyes narrowed as he swung. The more hits they exchanged, the more tired and wounded he was. But he soon realized that the enemy was barely sweating. The pace was completely the other man''s! At this point, he was just keeping him company! Their levels weren''t even far apart! Leon immediately saw the minuscule opening and used his ability to pull his feet and imbalance him. BANG! Leon immediately raised his sword to stab¡ªnot to kill, but to debilitate. "AHHH!" He yelled as he saw the sword buried right in his knee! His eyes widened even more as he saw the man raise his sword again, targeting his other one. "AHHH!!! STOPP!" he yelled, but he couldn''t struggle. One, he was weakened by the deep injury and, second, he was being held down by vines! Splack!! He could only watch helplessly as he was amputated by the enemy, watching his blood flow out, the pain numbing his senses. His mind went to memories of him doing the same thing to countless others. He remembered them begging for mercy, and someone even had the audacity to curse him the same fate. Was this it, then? To his surprise though, the man stopped and wrapped dirty fabric around his cut leg and arms. "AH!" he yelled as the man tightened, stopping the bleeding. Leon looked coldly at the pale man. They were given the orders to kill the mercenary members that were too powerful, but slightly weaker ones could be kept. One, they should be used for torture of those they made suffer. Second, also for torture, but for more information about their mercenary team among many others. They were aware that the Rongo Mercenary Team was much larger than just Belize and the group here. With so many deaths, it was likely for those people to trace them here and maybe even cause Altera some trouble. They had to be ready for everything. ¡­ Gron saw what happened to his companion and paled, immediately concluding that he had done enough for the contract. Staying here would make him lose his limbs! He turned and gestured to sprint, alarming the others. "He''s escaping!" Leon immediately ran after him, using his ability to wrap around his leg. He still couldn''t use it to lift people up, but it was enough to immobilize people. In fact, his vines were sturdier than conventional ropes and could do the job well enough. However, the man was agile and managed to avoid the vines, using Alterans as shields. Leon''s eyes twitched as he manipulated the vines to get to him. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Eventually, he did manage to wrap on his ankle, but it only made the man more desperate. In his mind, no matter what, he must not be captured by this psycho! His eyes looked around and zoned in on the fat man to attack. He chose this person because he was largest and therefore easiest to attack. Using his remaining energy, Gron jumped at the man. Beanie''s eyes widened as he held up his axe to shield himself, but the man was still much more powerful than he was. BANG! "Oof!" Beanie flew to the wall with a bang, the force shaking his entire body. Everyone paled at the sight. "BEANIE!" Before anyone could react though, the familiar ding sounded inside Gron''s mind. [You have failed to follow the rules of war. You are hereby prohibited in joining three wars with legitimate. -600 gold, -60000 experience. Permanent Reduction: -600 health, -600 Spirit, -600 Mana. Debt: -492 Gold and -29822 Experience] All the punishments didn''t mean anything now. He grinned, and looked at the Alterans who watched him disappear in shock. "Damnit!" Leon cursed when he realized the man had been kicked out of the territory. However, instead of chasing, he immediately ran to Beanie along with a few more. Many others were also concerned, but there were still enemies and they couldn''t leave. Their hearts paused when they didn''t see him move for a few moments, and heaved deep breaths when he finally flinched. Hubert kneeled down to pat some dust away. "You alive?" Beanie''s eyes were wide, still shocked, and he looked around, absorbing what happened. He immediately touched his body to see if he was still alive. His armor that had long been damaged had cracked and was therefore vulnerable, but his inner clothing was fine! And so was his body! He laughed, lifting his arms as a sign of victory. "Thank goodness for Lenny''s underwear!" Chapter 591 - 591: Wolf Returns "Thank goodness for Lenny''s underwear!" Beanie yelled, immediately flinching afterward. "Okay, I admit that came out wrong." Leon and the others shook their heads, with the others jumping back to the battle. Hubert though paused and looked at Leon worriedly. "What about that escaped guy?" he asked, only to realize the latter had the huge-ass aether letter out. His eyebrows rose. Oh? ¡­ "Oof!" Gron looked at the wall and the forests surrounding him and laughed. Success! He was outside the territory! He had never been so glad to be punished and blacklisted!! Immediately he ran in West, to the nearest territory. Maybe he could get to a town with a Post Office and he''d report everything that had been happening in this damned place! However, before he could even get a hundred yards away from the walls, he felt his steps getting heavier and he realized the soil had softened. His eyebrows furrowed and he walked faster, almost running, but then he stepped on something liquid and hot. And it was so hot that it burned through his shoes! "AHHHHH!" he yelled, falling down, only to find that the place he landed on was also filled with liquid fire. "GYAHHHH!" He screamed, feeling the liquid fire crawl on his skin, burning through. It felt horrible and he wondered if this was how those men and women felt when he threw them alive in a fire. He suffered like this for what felt like forever, and even after the earth cooled a bit, he felt the insane stinging sensation in his bones. By the time it completely cooled, his face was filled with tears and snot. His skin remained in extreme stinging pain and he struggled, realizing he couldn''t even get out of the ''trap'' at all! It was here that he heard footsteps approaching him and he struggled to see who it was. He looked up and saw several powerful-looking men looking down on him. In the forefront was a handsome man with shoulder-length black hair and pale skin. He knew they were enemies and pushed himself up, only to realize the ground was once again filled with molten earth that burned through his skin! "AHHHHH!!!" The next thing he knew, he was lifted up, already without any strength to struggle. Slowly, he felt his consciousness blackening from the pain. However, he was woken up by a burning hand on his face. "GYAHHHHHHHH!!!" He screamed like a pig and continued to whimper even when the fire stopped. "Don''t die so fast," the man said. "You still have a lot of uses." ¡­ Back in Fargo, Leon began to help out the others in their fights. He used his ability to manifest thinner vines to conserve mana while still doing its job. Using it, he tied down the feet of the particularly troublesome enemies, letting the team take care of them with more ease. Beanie, who had felt like he just gained another life, was particularly swinging with gusto. He joined the war not only to help out, but he also wanted a lot of contribution points. While the leaders of the territory were good friends, he still didn''t consider depending on them too much. Theo''s food and clothing had to be good. He should have a nice room especially when he grew up. He should have complete learning materials. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He would also want to be his mother and cook for him, teach him emotional aspects, teach him about girls, and things like that. Beanie had many plans, and gaining from this war also meant a new life for him as well! "AHH!!" yells echoed and there were Alterans ready to take down those who desert the fight as well. Soon, a pile of Fargo guards was placed on the side, some on top of each other, in various states of injury. The Alterans didn''t really care who would be suffocated and they wanted them to suffer more. ... While many of the fights were over, Eli and Ansel''s was still at its peak. Eli was a water user. While he wasn''t as proficient in his element as Ansel was with his, his physical skills and experience were far superior to playboy-Ansel. He was also among the ones focus-trained by the Rongos, so he was already level 10 as well. "AH!" Ansel coughed as a water attack hit him on the chest and he was pushed back by the force. This was followed by another water attack and a weapon attack that almost beheaded him. Ansel gritted his teeth as he waved his weapon, making it explode at inopportune times. Ansel would also use his skills to weaken the enemy bit by bit. Eli gritted his teeth as a hit landed, but it only made him angrier. Ansel wanted to take this chance to maybe hit him a bit more but Eli was an MMA Champion back in the day, and Ansel stood little chance if they focused on physical attacks and techniques. Eli then shifted to avoid a direct hit and Ansel gasped, legs buckling and he couldn''t stop himself from falling a bit, imbalanced. Eli didn''t give him a chance to recover, raising his weapon to go for the kill. "Ansel!" The Alterans nearby yelled, and they ran in their direction, some blocking the remaining enemies, while the rest ran over to assist. However, they couldn''t get there fast enough! There were still enemies to take care of, still many blocking the way, and their hearts dropped at the thought that they could lose Ansel! "Say goodbye, pretty boy!" Eli said with an ugly grin, already imagining how his neck would detach and how blood would splurt up! However, before he could make the kill, his instincts sounded an alarm and he immediately jumped back with his heart raised to his throat. His instincts saved him because where he was¡ªbetween him and the redhead¡ªa white wolf with sharp teeth stood, growling straight at him. Ansel¡ªwho had already apologized to his sister and maybe even Garan for making them sad¡ªblinked when the expected white light didn''t come. White fur though, was what he saw, and he immediately brightened at the sight. "It''s you!!" Chapter 592 - 592: White Wolf The wolf had been traveling for months, alone, surviving by eating fruits, plants, or carcasses of monsters that had lost in fights. The wolf''s journey to this place was actually quite interesting. When it ended up near Fargo from Bright, it had actually just followed the scent of blood. Somehow it ended up near the caves, and felt malicious energy from the man, making it want to kill him. So it did, inexplicably saving two lives. It also recognized the person it saved, but not too well, and it just left to resume meandering again. After leaving the areas near the mines, it just went around and round, resuming its banal lifestyle. This changed when after a few days, it felt a special force. The wolf followed its direction, finding a circle with many people coming out. The wolf found them special, and it decided to stay there. For some reason, there was nary a human who sensed its presence. It watched in interest as more and more people came out of the circle and was a little confused when they stopped coming. It turned its head in the direction the people went, following, eventually reaching the walls of the territory. Fargo''s outer wall was two meters, but it wasn''t low enough for low-level monsters to jump over it. However, the wolf was different. It was not high-level but it had a very high jump. From a certain distance, it bolstered itself, jumping over the walls and straight towards the streets below. The wolf shook its head as an especially pungent smell reached its nose, but it adjusted and moved on, avoiding such places. It traveled and watched as humans fought humans, though it did give a bit of help here and there. For example, when he saw a small group would encounter a bigger enemy, it would howl. Those men would come in its direction, while the small group would think it was fellow humans who made the sound. It would also pull a few injured people to the side, though it would leave the humans confused as to what happened in the end. Eventually, it ended up in this place where it saw a familiar person with a familiar scent. He was weakened and bloodied, a murderous human looming over him, ready to kill. Knowing the human was about to die, it jumped over to assist, hoping to bite off the person''s head. Back to the war, the wolf lunged at Eli, who immediately jumped back to avoid the wolf''s sharp claws. The man raised his weapon to go against it, blocking its fast attacks. Eli had been a bit weakened and tired by Ansel. So, unable to match its speed and strength, Eli found himself being pushed back. GRRR¡ª The wolf''s pace increased as it continued to try and bite off a part of Eli, and it had been succeeding to nick off bits of skin, each of which was getting very painful. Soon, its teeth managed to bury on a part of his hand, making him lose his grip on his sword. Clank! "Damnit!" he yelled as his sword flew in a direction due to the inertia. He didn''t have time to mourn as he once again jumped back, pulling out his strongest gun¡ªa super shotgun¡ª-and pointed it at the monster while he avoided its deadly claws. This weapon was not inferior to the one the lord had. This was the strongest gun they could take before the migration, and a lot of them managed to secure one. This was his last one, and the remaining bullets were limited because they had dealt with a lot of mobs before settling with the current status quo. However, although he had to waste the few remaining bullets, he would have to! This could still damage a monster until level 5! Judging by the wolf''s appearance, it was definitely lower than that! Ansel''s heart dropped when he saw the guns pointed at it. This wolf wasn''t very high-leveled¡ªnot like Fufi or Gochi¡ªand guns would still have a lot of effect on it! Ansel immediately ran to Eli to stop him from shooting Bang! Bang! Ansel''s eyes widened as he turned to look in the direction of the wolf¡ªrealizing it was gone! "WHAT?!" Eli yelled, looking around. Ansel and the others were also surprised. Surprisingly, the wolf suddenly disappeared. Rather, it went on a stealth mode! If one looked closely, one could see a little distortion in the atmosphere but partnered with its speed, it was really not obvious. BANG! Eli shot where he thought the wolf would be. BANG! Another shot. His eyes twitched, knowing his bullets were limited. An idea came to mind and he manifested water, spraying it around him. He couldn''t make ponds yet, but whatever changes in the damp floor were enough for his experienced eyes! Whoosh¡ª BANG! A whimper sounded and it made Ansel''s heart fall, and Eli grinned widely. "HAHA! FINALLY!" he yelled, his manic eyes pointing in various directions, trying to get that lethal shot. It should be much easier because not only would the beast be slower, but this time there was an occasional nick of blood dropping on the floor. Eli laughed. Sure, it was fast, but Eli had a strong instinct. It was his last bullet, but it was worth using it to deal with this animal! "HEY!" Ansel yelled, appearing near him with his sword. "You didn''t forget you were against me, did you?" "Tsk!" Eli tutted as he avoided the slash, and took out his spare Class E sword from space. Clank! Clank! Ansel pushed him with continuous bursts of attacks and skills. Eli''s Class E weapon soon started showing cracks, unable to handle the barrage from a Class D weapon. Eli gritted his teeth and looked around. He saw his weapon was already gone¡ªlikely taken by this bastard redhead! He saw that he had been isolated, his own teammates slowly getting taken care of, and wouldn''t have the mind to help him out! On the contrary, the redhead had a lot of options. It was humiliating but he had no choice. He turned tail and sprinted, cursing, and swearing he''d definitely get his revenge!! GRRR¡ª "Ah! He yelled as he felt sharp teeth bury in his leg, making him fall face first to the ground. It appeared right next to Eli, and Ansel immediately lunged at Eli at the same time! Eli''s eyes widened and he immediately kicked the wolf repeatedly, barely avoiding Ansel''s attack which stabbed his ear! Kick! Kick! GRRR¡ª "GAAHHH!" Eli screamed as the dog''s bite sunk past his bones. "AHHHH!" Ansel immediately recovered and raised his sword, a blanket of fire concentrating around it. STAB!! And the fiery sword sunk at the man''s neck. Just like that, Eli joined his twin in hell. ¡­ Ansel smiled as he approached the wolf, though he was careful not to be too abrupt in his movements. He took out a little doggy bowl he had in space. It was Fufi''s but surely the wolf wouldn''t mind using it. He added potion there and left it in front of the wolf, staying a meter away. This wasn''t the first time they gave it a potion, so it was aware what it was for. It so happened that Ansel''s legs was also begging to give way, and he ended up sitting where he was, resting his chin on his palms. He happily watched the mysterious wolf as it slowly consumed the potion. "You''re really amazing, girl!" He said with a gentle smile after the wolf consumed the potion. "Did you come to rescue big brother?" The wolf raised its head and stared at him for just a moment. There was something in its stare that made Ansel feel¡­ that he was being looked down on! However, before he could open his mouth, it turned, disappearing out of his view. "..." S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 593 - 593: Altera’s Quality Outside Altera. At this time, a few hundred meters away from the walls, two aborigines were holding their hands up. They weren''t entirely sure what the gesture was for, though. When they went past the array, people on the other side yelled "Hands up!" And they had no choice but to do so¡ªnot with all those arrows pointed at them! They recognized the special-looking bows as the fast-working ones the attacking parties had. An arrow shower alone was dangerous, especially if they shot so fast like that! A tall man with aquiline features walked over along with a few others, looking at them suspiciously. "Who are you?" Eagle asked, looking at the two up and down. He had a special guardedness to Mogi, and was ready to attack him at a moment''s notice. Fargo didn''t have uniforms, but it was obvious who had some force value. It wasn''t just physique and level, he also invested in equipment more compared to normal civilians. The two aborigines looked at each other, a little pale, but gathered themselves enough to answer the man lucidly. "I¡­ we were hired through the Chancery in Fargo, but we decided to go away prematurely." "And?" "Nothing. We would just like to live and work in Altera." "Why?" "To make a living." "..." "..." It took several seconds of staring for Eagle to realize they weren''t being snarky. "You realize you''re not making a very good first impression," Eagle said, crossing his arms. Not to mention, even if they pressed them for information about Fargo to ''prove their worth'' they wouldn''t be able to give him anything. After all, as people hired through the Village Center, they wouldn''t be able to disclose information about the former territories as long as they existed. "We can swear oaths of non-betrayal." Eagle looked at them and sighed. To be honest, while the first impression wasn''t stellar, there was no reason not to take them in. They weren''t particularly strong, but they must''ve been through a lot of territories. Not to mention, when the former territory falls, the agreement would be null, and thus they would be able to disclose more information to them. "Come with me," Eagle said, gesturing for the two to follow him. The other guards stayed in position, no longer aggressive, but still ready to attack. Mogi and Rona looked at each other and heaved deep breaths before following the man''s tracks. Only then did they finally have the mind to look forward, and soon the large level 5 wall emerged from the forest. Then they looked at the sentries which looked to only be more than 100 yards apart! A level 5 sentry had this length as the range. This meant some areas had two sentries guarding! How much did all this cost?! While they weren''t aware of the exact amounts, they knew from how their previous lords would solicit money that a few sentries wouldn''t be cheap, let alone all of these! No wonder the attacking force alone was so strong! Even their ''home ground'' was like this! Just from this, they knew: Fargo stood no chance against this place! ¡­ While new aborigines were being eased in, a few visitors from a Town were lounging in the tea house. They sat on the edge of the balcony, near the nice ivy walls, having a good view of what was happening below. They were sipping their tea relaxedly, with various food platters on the table between them. At this time, there were very few people walking on the streets. Most of those in the territory, except for the guards, were the old people or the disabled. There were also medical personnel and children. "I heard that they didn''t have slaves nor did they have as many guards as most Level 3 Villages, but a good amount of their citizens willingly joined in the war," a man with dark skin and curly hair said as he chewed on a sweet and juicy watermelon. He moaned a bit before continuing his sentence, "I''m amazed how much force they could get from the citizens. I heard they didn''t get paid much either, just the so-called ''contribution points''." The person next to him, a narrow-eyed man with light skin, was only nodding while continuously eating various fruits in front of him. Disregarding his posh clothes and items, one would think he had been famished for a long time. One of the features of Altera was its massive variety of sweet fruits. Sweet fruits weren''t very common in Xeno. In fact, this was not surprising. Even in ancient Terran, it was a similar case. The majority of the sweet fruits known to modern men were products of breeding. The original forms were far from what modern people knew, and few were naturally sweet. In Xeno, other than the Gouji fruit which was found in most places, there were only a handful of other sweet varieties that were spread across the continent. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. People in cities¡ªwhich had a lot of subsidiaries and access to distant territories¡ªhad more access to these fruits, but even nobles in Towns had limited range. One could imagine how amazed they were to see this ''fruit platter''! Jonathan, chewing on a lovely luscious strawberry, saw the platter was almost done again. He wanted to kick these people but then he recalled his upbringing. Instead, he turned to the owner who was standing on his counter with a wide smile. "Can we have another platter, please?" When he asked, he was actually a little nervous. What if there was no more stock? Surely, such good fruits were rare! "Yes, sir, of course!" His group heaved a sigh of relief with his answer, almost drooling when another platter came out. Sao smiled. He earned huge amounts of money with this order! "Can''t we really buy everything?" Ping, the narrowed-eyed man, asked Sao for the nth time that day. "We will buy for twice the market price!" Sao shook his head. "We implement a purchase limit here, sir. In fact, I already made an exemption serving this much to you. This is because most of our citizens are outside right now, so we had some available." "I see¡­" "Well, we came at the right time, then," Jonathan mumbled, cleared his throat, and ate another piece. Sao then excused himself and returned to his counter while the aborigines looked at each other, afraid to miss much of the platter. "Before, I was hoping the war would end quickly so we could talk business with their Elders, but now I''m reluctant," Ping said, moaning at the taste of a different fruit. "It''s only been a few hours," another one said, rolling his eyes. Wars typically used the entire day, if not the majority of it. "We should just take our time and enjoy," Jonathan said, earning various approving nods from the people around him. And enjoy, they shall. . . . A few minutes of relaxation later, Soa suddenly stood up. It was a bit abrupt so they ended up looking at him. He had already gotten out of his counter, apparently up to greet a new set of customers. This made the townsfolk''s eyebrows rise. They didn''t get that big a welcome. When they entered, the man only stood and smiled, guiding them politely to their table! Before they could get offended however, they saw the group of men and women with golden hair climbing up. Everyone gaped, looking at the newcomers in disbelief. COULD IT BE?! Chapter 594 - 594: Three Old Men An Hour Ago. Because all of their local friends had been busy with the war, the Golds with Cassandra and Veronica were left exploring on their own. The streets were mostly empty except for a few gardeners and hawkers, while the rest of those remaining were inside buildings and factories doing their jobs. Altera set a limit to the level of participants to a relatively higher level, which was really considerate of them. However, they also felt those left behind wanted to do their parts for the territory¡ªwhich was why even when working hours were over at this time, no one had timed out. Normally, people would be coming out of the buildings in droves, looking for a place or somewhere to eat. Somehow, they ended up in an alcohol shop with a very colorful sign¡ªVino''s Alcohol Shop. This store had been hyped up for a while, especially in the tavern and the boys had brightened at the sight of it. The boys immediately entered and the girls had no choice but to come with them. Right behind them were also a few passerbys who¡ªif one was watching them earlier¡ªhad actually hanging around the alcohol shop as soon as the normal working hours were over. Of course, the Golds didn''t know this, and they simply entered the shop in curiosity. It was just 1 store with no tables as well as some drawings as decorations on the wall. The room was divided by a counter in the middle, extending through the shop''s entire width. There was understandably no one around except the muscular man behind the counter¡ªwho they also recognized as the owner of the Tavern, Vino. And the man brightened at the sight of them. "WELCOME GOOD GUESTS!" he bellowed, making them flinch a bit. They cleared their throats and approached the counter, looking at the displays meticulously arranged behind the muscular man. They couldn''t help but appreciate the wide array of drinks behind the counter. There were various jars with different names and colors. There were also some descriptions with font big enough so the customers could read. The language used was very flowery, and it got them very curious. So, they asked a few questions and, surprisingly, the man offered them a try. "For you sirs and madames, we can give free taste," Vino said, giving them small cups each. This made the other people behind the line gasp. They were actually three old men with varying physical features. "GASP! NO FAIR VINO! You never give me free taste!" One dark-skinned old man said, looking him in the eye. The pale and thin old man behind him nodded. "Me neither!" And behind them both, there was the smallest one with a hunched back. "Do you only like handsome men!" Vino''s eyes twitched. "SHUT UP! Buy a big bottle from me and we''ll talk!" Of course, Vino wouldn''t normally give free taste. The line of products sold here was much higher end than what was sold in the tavern! This was much, much, more costly and cumbersome to make¡ªalso consisting of more expensive and rarer raw materials¡ªand therefore much more expensive as well. Hence, considering this, many people would just get a free taste and be happy with that. For instance, most of the people from behind were just there to ''abduct'' whoever bought his product, asking them for a taste! From what he heard, they would only ask for a sip, but who wanted to share expensive alcohol? At the same time, who could reject old men so coldheartedly? This group of old men was well-known. They survived so long because they found Altera early, coming with Mathilda''s group. They came from a retirement center and survived so long due to pure luck. When their physiques somewhat improved due to leveling up, they realized they could move, and were passionate to do some work done. They had been one of the pioneers of gathering resources for the territory as much as they could. If anyone wanted to go fight in the war, it would be them. Unfortunately, even if everyone improved physically, the improvement of a negative was still zero, so in terms of strength these men were left behind. Further, they had white collar jobs in their youth which were completely obsolete in Xeno¡ªso they were stuck with resource gathering or cleaning. Anyway, they now apparently wanted to drown their stress with superior-grade alcohol, but they definitely did not have the money to buy a pint. So¡­ them asking for free taste? DREAM! But the Golds, on the contrary, were rich aborigines! His smile resumed as he looked at his fat sheep. He took out three bottles of his most expensive products. The Golds noticed that it was also wet outside, which they would later learn to be ''condensation''. Otto''s blue eyes fixed on the nearest bottle. "May I? He asked, touching the surprise. He was a bit surprised. "It''s cool." Vino smiled. "Yes! Saltpeter has now been made commercially available so cool drinks are no problem!" One of the old men clapped.. "Wow!! We can make more ice now!" "Very good, very good." "Our drinks can finally be cold!" Obi and the others had some idea what ice could be used for, but they had no idea the vastness of its use in these people''s imaginations just yet. Behind them, the old men expressed their excitement very much. "How refreshing! They said you got to put ice on your eyebags to lessen them." "Old man, if the skin is loose there''s nothing we can do about it." "Really?" The dark-skinned old man ignored them and just looked at the ceiling in an excited daze. "I don''t have trialphas anymore! I can eat ice cream again!" "Yes! Although I don''t have teeth anymore, that creamy goodness will be heavenly!" Vino''s eyes twitched at the noise the old men were making. But then he looked at the Golds who seemed amused, but he didn''t dare think they''d keep feeling that way when the old men started bothering them directly. Vino imagined the worst-case scenario. They were so old¡ªa push could injure them. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. So Vino waved his hand in the end. "Shoo! Shoo!" he said. "Go wait at the tavern," he said. "I''m hiring some labor and I wanna test you guys." "What?" "Really?" "Yes, yes, now go before I change my mind!" And the three old men rushed to the tavern¡ªnot that they were very fast. Because life in Altera was getting better, the demand for his product had indeed been increasing. While the old men''s productivity wouldn''t be as big as younger people''s, he just thought he would be ''giving back'' to the needy or something. Besides, maybe back in Terran, those old men shaped the world they knew or something. Vino''s job wasn''t that demanding. They could still gather resources as a side hustle, even. However, in order to meet the men''s alcohol demands, he decided to add a bit of perks to their job in exchange for lower pay. The Golds saw his defeated expression and smiled. "That''s very kind of you," Olga said, chuckling. He could only smile weakly at them. "Well, Alterans help Alterans out." Chapter 595 - 595: Meeting of Future Business Partners "Anyway, enough of those old men. Let me introduce you to my three most premium products¡ªthe ones in my tavern cannot compare!" sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "First is my King Malt Whiskey¡ªcrafted with meticulous care and secret techniques using the finest barley Altera can offer. It is distilled in special pot stills and aged in seasoned oak barrels, rousing a special flavor that can be quite addicting." He specifically rented a Level 2 Farm not for the planting, but for the enhanced fermentation! He continued to tell them more as he poured down a bit on each of their samplers."It is rich amber color and rich of sophisticated flavor¡ªfeaturing notes of various kinds of dried fruits, warm spices¡ªadded with a hint of smokiness, leaving a smooth and lingering finish on the tongue." People of Xeno had enhanced senses, and the whiff of the aroma that entered their noses was already an experience in and of itself. The men curiously lifted their personal cups, tasting, and their eyes brightened at the richness of it! It was also extremely refreshing, as if it cooled down her entire body. Otto, in particular, tasted the layers of flavors, and appreciated it on a deeper level. "Delicious!" The taste was really special! They had of course drunk in the Heartbreak Tavern. But there seemed to be something different this time. It was also cool¡ªadding to the refreshing feel. Vino proceeded on introducing some more wine¡ªmany of which were apparently not available in his tavern! Next, there was what he called the Pineapple Brandy, a golden brandy made from the finest pineapples¡ªa fruit that was not yet as commercially available as the others. It was fermented and double distilled to create this smooth and potent spirit. Finally, there was the Plum Amaretto, a sophisticated mix from rice plums and almonds, fermented and blended to taste the delicate almond essence. The techniques for both these liquors were special and not available to most, even to those working with liquor. Hence, Vino was confident in this extremely ''premier'' line of products of his! "These are so rare, it''s better for me to make exclusive lines of products from them," he said, smiling at them. "But because I know you''re big customers, I''m going to give it to you at a promo: 3 bottles for just 50 gold!!" Note that the bottle wasn''t even that big. But Otto didn''t seem to falter. "I''ll buy as many bottles as I''m allowed!" "Yes, yes." Anyway, they easily added a few bottles in their space, only to realize that a few didn''t fit anymore! Note that some of them had space stones! And they were all filled up after a few days in this place! Anyway, seeing as some bottles couldn''t be stored, they decided to taste a bit. The girls were all hungry for fruit, so they decided to have a drink in the teahouse instead, which lead to the current scene of Cassandra gaping at the newcomers. "Cousin?" She asked, surprised to see the man here. "Oh! My beautiful cousin, Cassandra¡­" Jonathan said with a smile that made Cassandra''s eyes twitch. The man then turned to the Golds, sporting an even wider smile. "I¡­ My name is Jonathan, Lord of Ferrol Town." "Ah, yes," Otto and the others nodded. "Nice to meet you." While the Golds were civil, Cassandra couldn''t help but feel worried. She looked at Jonathan up and down. Her parents didn''t send him here, did they? "When did you get here? And why?" Although Towntown lords could easily and safely travel around villages due to their strengths, it didn''t normally happen. For the most part, they would see it ''below'' them, so it was almost impossible to see a Town lord visiting a village at all. Jonathan shrugged, unashamed. "Well, the mercenary team seduced us." "Ah, makes sense." "And the Golds¡­" "Oslo brought them here." "Oslo?" "He got hired in Altera." "OH¡­" So Altera was actually the one who got the Golds? And it had been more than a month. This meant he not only returned, but brought his siblings with him! It ended up being a blessing that his affiliates didn''t get him. After all, if it was his subsidiaries'' villages the Gold landed at, it was likely he''d have just gone home after the 1st month, never to be seen again! Anyway, Jonathan and the others naturally served as hosts and started pandering a bit. Although the lord of a town was considered a noble, a top noble in the city was still superior¡ªespecially one as rich as the Golds. Anyway, it was naturally a little awkward between the two groups except for the cousins, but the ice was broken when Soa arrived with their orders. As such, few more fruit platters were served and the groups started to talk to each other. "I had been to Ferrol Town a few times in the past for an event," Otto said. "Good job." For a Town, Ferrol Town was definitely well-managed. Jonathan flinched and almost cried. "Thank you!" he said. "If there''s anything I should improve, I would be open to suggestions." Otto blinked and looked around. "Well, I think watching Altera would be enlightening for all of us." At this topic, everyone''s spines straightened. Jonathan looked at Otto, the top businessman of Bleulle, inheriting his maternal bloodline''s prowess, "Speaking of Altera Village. What do you think so far, especially since you''ve been here a few days." Otto''s eyebrows rose at the question. He smirked, though he answered honestly. "Though I have only been to cities and towns, it''s safe to say Altera Village is far superior than others in its ranks. "It has novel ideas, amenities, products, and the like. Its people are happy as well, even if they weren''t rich. After staying here, I''ve come to realize that the role of each individual was far greater than we thought. "Overall¡­ It has a growth potential superior to Bleulle." This made every man''s business senses tingle even stronger. They knew Altera was good from what they''ve seen so far, but words from the expert definitely had much more weight! Altera¡­ was definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with! If they won this war, of course. Chapter 596 - 596: Fargos Warehouse At this time, Althea had already jumped down to ground level, meeting with Fufi as the rest remained to clear out the enemies and handle the fallen slaves. Although the smoke bomb was effective to their level, she had seen how the slaves had been pushing themselves despite virtually being incredibly weak. She had also heard that ''orders'', especially from the lord, could make slaves perform far more than what their bodies would allow, so they didn''t dare feel complacent even if they were asleep now. However, they obviously didn''t have enough ropes for hundreds of people, so they could only keep them in the coralle until the war was over. She followed Fufi as he traced the man''s scent. Where would he hide? Would he go to his home? Did he build a bunker there? It wasn''t that they didn''t think of it, but so far there was no signal flare from the people who were tasked to monitor it. Where was the safest place a lord could go? Boom! She looked up to see that a flare did explode, though it was in a different direction from his home. She blinked. The Warehouse! Althea and Fufi hurried to the location, hoping Fargo hadn''t entered yet. Although she assigned a few people there, she also knew the warehouse was guarded by a number of guards, some of whom were mercenaries. Although most of these guards had been called to join the fights, Fargo would never leave it completely unguarded. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. From what she knew, Fargo had upgraded his warehouse, and it would probably take them hours and massive amounts of energy before they could destroy it¡ªthat was granted the remaining guards (if there were any) didn''t arrive on time to handle the threats! Too many things could happen during that duration. Their remaining hundreds of guards could recover, the slaves could wake up, and many other things. At this thought, the two''s pace increased. Althea truly hoped it was not too late! ¡­ At this time, right outside the warehouse, two groups of people were at a standstill. Fargo and his remaining guards were a couple of meters away from the warehouse, outside the walls of the warehouse. Unlike Altera, the buildings here were relatively dense. The exterior circle was filled with shanties, while the interior looked a lot like a dense downtown area in modern Terran rural towns. For the warehouse, Fargo opted for a design like Terran where there was some space around the warehouse and then surrounded by a Level 2 wall around it. The space around would be used as standby area for the items to be placed in the warehouse. Only the lord could take items in and out of the building¡ªwhich felt a little below him¡ªand it was his way to lessen his own workload. At this time, the gate was opened and the two guards remaining assigned to the area were down pn the ground. Victor and a few were blocking Fargo''s way. They were all bloodied and injured, but impressively their stances were stable. From another angle just outside Fargo''s line of sight, one would be able to see Juni and a few other girls hidden in an alleyway, with Juni holding out her sword in defense, but otherwise safe. Victor''s mission was in the Mercenary Hall, which was near the warehouse and the Village Center as part of the core area of the territory. Victor and the others were traversing the inner circle, taking care of the few guards¡ªdeserters¡ªthey encountered. But then the flare exploded nearby and they quickly hid the women as they checked on what was happening. When they realized it was Fargo and two guards rushing to the warehouse, they didn''t hesitate on using much of their energy to take care of the two guards at the gate. The two guards were just below the level cap at level 13 and 14, which meant it was not an easy fight. But they chose to do this because they saw the guards next to Fargo were beyond the level cap¡ªat the very least, with two down, they only had to worry about attacks coming from Fargo himself. Fortunately, the two people assigned by Altera to the warehouse¡ªJoe and Lee¡ªjoined them so they could handle the mercenaries as fast as they could before having to defend against the three strongmen coming¡­ and they did so desperately. Even if the two strongmen pushed them away repeatedly, they would immediately stand back up, making sure to block Fargo''s way inside. Victor and the others actually didn''t know the extent of which a warehouse could actually save a lord''s life. They just thought the enemies could still have weapons inside, so they did their best to block their way. This had only been going on for about a minute but Fargo''s eyes were red with impatience. His sharp eyes looked around to see if there was anything they could use. He looked at the second floor of the nearby houses and saw a few people looking over to see what was happening. Most of these people were Fargo sympathizers¡ªwhich was how they could afford houses in core areas¡ªand seeing it was their lord and powerful mercenaries, they finally found the courage to look out their windows. Fargo found a few very familiar faces. He recognized one as Jall, a middle-aged man who had deep pockets and a knack for gossip. The man actually had the money required to be a lord himself, but did not have the potential (he only had Class C potential) needed. Fargo made sure to ally himself well with the man, easily getting much of his wealth in the process. This was in exchange for some perks, of course, in the form of slaves. Through him, Fargo also found out about a lot of people who wanted to cause him trouble, all of whom were¡ªwith the exception of Victor¡ªpromptly ''taken care of''. The man was waving at him, and then pointing in a direction. He turned to the aborigines, who immediately lunged in the direction that made Victor and the others pale. "NO!" they yelled as they watched the two high-leveled people rush over to the helpless women, who could only scream in shock. Chapter 597 - 597: Hostage Situation Victor and the others paled. Most of the soldiers and Alterans rushed to block while Victor and Ken continued to block the warehouse, forcing their eyes not to leave Fargo''s figure for a second. However, despite the soldiers outnumbering the aborigines, they were still weak from the previous fight and the level gap wasn''t small, so they were pushed away with some effort. The aborigines cursed with the amount of force they had to unconsciously use though, afraid that they''d get punished. From what they heard, the punishments for breaking the level cap rules were really harsh and permanent! Hence, the two lowered their forces even more, so Benny and the others didn''t get injured even if they were pushed around a lot. Of course, even if there was little injury, getting pushed around so much was tiring and dizzying, and the aborigines took the chance to finally get a hold of the women. Aka and Okra arrived at the alley a second later, eyes glinting in interest as they saw the group of women there! They knew these women! They quite liked the taste of them! How could they let them get away so easily? Seeing the two men there, many of the women shook in fear. It did not help that these two men had abused most of them¡ªmany at the same time! Memories of the abuse attacked their psyche and many of them fell screaming, even when nothing had been done to them yet. "KYAAA!" "No, please, no¡ª" "Please don''t¡ªwuuu¡­" In front of them, Juni pursed her lips, thinking of what to do. She was only one woman in the end. Her eyes lifted to the man on the second floor¡ªhe was unsightly, both in appearance and in conduct¡ªand she could tell how he fit well with Fargo''s group as a citizen. He seemed to be amused by the show, even a little proud he ''contributed'' to this war. She couldn''t give him much thought for now, her eyes shifting back at the amused men in front of them. Okra smirked and headed towards the women while Aka blocked the way. The women stepped back in panic. Those who had some mind pulled the ones too traumatized to move. One of the few who could guide the women was Juliet, the psychologist. Many of these women had been her patients in this place, and her soothing voice did help in their movements. However, the alleyway was narrow and they couldn''t move fast enough in the end! Their hearts dropped as Juni''s neck was grabbed on one hand, and the free hand gestured to grab another. "WOOF!" Suddenly though Okra and Aka had to duck, letting go of the women. They barely avoided a fast slash, and the next thing the women knew, a large figure appeared in front of them. WOOF! Juni looked at the golden creature blocking the way. Because of his size and the narrowness of the alley, he really appeared like a large wall creating a protective barrier between them and the abusers. Her heart softened, her eyes brimming with tears at the sight of a familiar ''brethren''. "Fufi!" WOOF! At the same time, Fargo''s eyes widened at the sight of the canine and immediately ducked by instinct. He felt the whoosh of an arrow barely missing him again. "Come back here!" he yelled, and immediately Aka and Okra stepped back, appearing next to him after the humiliating block. Fargo cursed and he turned in the direction of the arrow. That woman''s appearance made things even more complicated. Althea walked forward, reaching the women''s area so Fufi would have easier time guarding the women. She also looked up to look at a higher floor. The women were hidden well, and there was no reason for Fargo to know where they were exactly unless someone pointed him in the right direction. Unfortunately, there was no one there now, but it reminded her that there were still plenty of sympathizers around¡ªespecially in this ''prime'' inner circle. Those people would definitely have to be rounded off as well when Altera wins this war. Those bad apples had no place in her territories! "Give it up Fargo," she said. "Just give the token and I promise not to make you suffer (too much)." S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fargo did not grace her with an answer, his sharp eyes simply looking around, looking for a way to increase his chances. At this point, every one of his forces was either down or being held back by Alterans. He was alone with two aborigines who, while strong, weren''t willing to make aggressive attacks lest they be penalized. The sympathizers had also gone back to hiding, knowing that helping him out at this time could put them in danger. Ungrateful trash. Fargo looked at the warehouse that was so close. However, seeing as the woman was here, it could be said that the damned useless slaves failed to keep them at bay. There were still so many hours before the war could end and just hiding in the warehouse would be useless. The Alterans definitely still had time to destroy the warehouse while he hid in there like the coward that he was not. Fargo''s mind ran, despite the headache, in an attempt to find a way to get himself out of this situation. His eyes ended up on Rasso, whose arm was bloodied, but was valiantly holding his weapon out with the women behind him, protecting them with the stupid dog. "I have your son, you know, shouldn''t you be helping me?" Victor and the others looked at Rasso guardedly, but the man pursed his lips, glaring at Fargo. "We''ll save him when you''re dead!!" Heh. He looked at Okra who nodded and headed in a direction¡ªwhich they would soon know was the direction of his house. Althea watched as the signal flare light up and everyone''s heart dropped when Okra brought in a young boy with him. At this, Rasso''s steadfast attitude immediately faltered. "RIAN!!" Fargo smiled at his face and then looked at Althea, who had gone a little pale. "Other than the kid, you must know there are still thousands of slaves out there waiting to move. I don''t know how you dealt with them, but I can assure you my orders would inject incredible power in them¡ªeven if it meant destroying their bodies. "What do you say? Are you open to making a deal with me?" Chapter 598 - 598: The Deal They looked at the poor boy, only 11 or 12 years of age, thin and messy. He was covered with bruises all over his body and his eyes were brimming with tears as he looked at his father. However, there must''ve been an order for him not to speak, because all he could do at this time was whimper. The boy came from Bright¡ªa good territory that treated its citizens well¡ªand yet the boy looked so horrible even after just a few days. It was obvious he suffered a lot. Just the imagery made their blood boil in outrage, but at the same time, they couldn''t attack recklessly lest they accidentally take the boy''s life. "I heard about your outburst when the slaves arrived... Of course, we kept this card safe and sound for you. Aren''t you thankful?" Okra chuckled as he handed the boy over to Fargo who had a dagger ready in his hand. He put the blade threateningly on the boy''s neck, making everyone pale. A millimeter closer to the boy''s skin was a stab to his father''s heart. "RIANN!!!" he sobbed, wanting to approach, but could only freeze when the dagger was pushed a bit deeper as he moved forward, making the lad bleed a bit. His feet halted so quickly that his knees buckled. Juliet walked over to him to pat his shoulder, silently asking him to calm down, though how could a parent truly calm when his child''s life was being threatened right in front of his eyes? Fargo and the others loved seeing such sights, making their dour mood a bit better. "I happen to know the human body very well," Fargo said, "I know exactly where the carotid artery is, and I assure you I will not miss." "No¡­ please don''t¡­" Rasso pleaded, looking at him. He did not bother standing up, so now it seemed like he was begging Fargo. ¡­which he was. "Help us convince the Alterans to take the deal. Maybe your son can keep his life." The man flinched and he looked to the side, meeting Althea''s eyes. Although they didn''t know each other, the woman had a certain stance and aura around her that told him she was someone whose words had weight. Not to mention, Fargo himself seemed wary of her. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Without hesitation, Rasso¡ªwho was already kneeling down¡ªcrawled to go near Althea, rubbing his hands together. "Save him please, please. I''ll do anything." Althea looked at everything in deep thought. Alterans'' mantra had always been ''life first'', so this was indeed a heavy dilemma for her. While she didn''t want to give Fargo leeway into a discussion, the boy and the other ''slaves'' were thousands of lives depending on her decision. It was really not much to consider. Not to mention, it sounded so¡­ concrete when there was one person directly begging for her mercy. Fargo looked at Althea. "I''m getting impatient," he said. "Do you want this kid''s head to fly or see an unknown number of slaves destroy their limbs?" He knew these people had soft hearts. He had been taking advantage of Victor and the others through this, and he shall continue doing so. Sure enough, Althea''s shoulders softened, signaling that she was about to succumb. "What do you want Fargo?" "Let me go!" Althea narrowed her eyes as she looked at him, taking a beat before speaking. "Not possible," she said. "Not unless you give me the Lord Token for both Fargo and Bright." This naturally heckled a few feathers but she raised her delicate palm to continue speaking. "I also want everything you own in your spaces. Only then can I let all of you go, what do you say? Oh, and you''ll need to swear on it as well." Fargo''s headache immediately worsened. "Dream!" The standstill continued for a few moments, with Fargo seriously just considering killing the kid. On the other hand, Althea had been chewing mana cookies all this time, actually trying to delay the conflict while she recovered her mana. A second later, she took down her normal bow and arrow and replaced it with the Bellagio. She pulled it back, ready to shoot. It could only make one good shot and she''d be spent, but she had little choice right now. The sight of it made the three enemies flinch, understanding its power too well. However, they had their pride and didn''t show anything on their faces. On the contrary, they were prepared to do whatever to avoid getting hit by the damned weapon. "I forgot to tell you I recovered some mana," she said. "I can kill you now. And maybe even them," she said, looking at the two aborigines who immediately flinched. Fargo growled. "Lies!" "Wanna bet?" She tried not to show any doubts. In fact, a shot left would only gravely injure if it hit¡ªassuming that it hit¡ªFargo, let alone one of the aborigines. If she missed, a lot of lives would be lost. Fargo''s eyes turned red as he saw the glimmering weapon. Then he looked at how they were surrounded by the enemies. He might have strong guards, but they weren''t willing to kill! Rather, he had seen how they both flinched at the sight of the weapon! In their minds, if it hit, it could really kill them. Maybe they were already planning their exit at this moment! Before either of the two men abandoned him, Fargo had no choice but to¡­ compromise. The mere thought made him feel like he was boiling in anger and shame. He had never compromised in his life, but look at him now! His whole body was physically in pain with how everything was just not going to plan! His red eyes turned to look at that woman who was standing still, ready to attack at a moment''s notice. "FINE!" he said. Even if he loses the village¡ªfor now¡ªat the very least, he could get the rest of the Rongos to attack this place! And, most importantly: Destroy Altera! Chapter 599 - 599: The Loss of Fargo In his mind, he was already torturing this woman and her people to death, looking down as they pleaded and begged for mercy. However, before he could even be a slightest bit happy with this plan, the woman''s voice resounded in his mind again. "Swear to never attack Altera Village or any of its affiliates." "What?" "Do you really think I''m an idiot?" Fargo''s eyes twitched as the damned headache broke into his mind again, and it felt like a long needle stabbed his eye straight to his brain. "The war is still ongoing, and my mana has more or less recovered," she said, lying with a straight face. "I''ve been dying to test out a few skills with humans. Why don''t you die for science?" "I always wanted to know how painful your head is right now." His eyes widened and he looked at her. "YOU!!" At that moment, he felt another sharp bout of pain attack his head. However, Fargo was still someone who had been trained thoroughly in tortures¡ªand this included undergoing them himself as a child. How could a little headache shake him? The knife on the boy''s neck remained stable to Althea''s disappointment. He glared at her, his eyes seeming to drip in blood. "HEAL ME!" "I can swear to alleviate your pain if you take the deal," she said. "Otherwise, it can go so much worse." Althea was actually not sure about the effects of the thing. In fact, it was thoroughly possible for the effects to disappear or get muted when he leveled up, but she certainly wasn''t going to tell him that. At the same time, she didn''t want Fargo to use the boy and his father to prematurely give him the antidote (which she didn''t have by the way). "And don''t think I''m as soft-hearted as these soldiers. I''m still a scientist at heart. I may be more interested in seeing how my poison affects your body." At this, Fargo had no choice but to succumb. "FINE!" he said in the end. However, he was not a suicidal idiot either, modifying the agreement to what he needed. "But you, too, must swear an oath, to take away this headache without further damage to me. You will also allow me¡ªas well as all the surviving members my guards and of the Rongo mercenary team¡ªto leave the territory safe and sound. "And you must also allow us to leave us with all of our belongings." He wasn''t an idiot who would allow himself to venture out without weapons! "That is my minimum request. Otherwise, we might as well all die here!" Althea thought for a while. Leaving them out without their belongings was indeed almost akin to death, and there was no way Fargo would agree to it. Even if there were a few strongmen left, they would still fall if mobbed by hundreds of monsters without anything. Althea nodded and, after several moments of peace, the two of them entered the Village Hall. "You''re doing the oath?" "Yes." He looked at her with narrow eyes. "You sure are powerful enough to represent your territory." Althea''s face remained unchanged. "The system assigned me to lead this war," she said and hopped to the platform without another word. Fargo also did the same, leaving the boy to Okra''s hands. Althea stood tall and firm, telling them the contents of their oaths. She repeated it a few times, ensuring they wouldn''t miss a thing. She watched them do their oaths, watching their wordings and correcting as many loopholes as she could. Victor and the others watched with complicated expressions. Would they really have to let go of Fargo like this? However, they also knew they weren''t strong enough to risk otherwise. After the oaths, Fargo raised his head to look at her, as if remembering her face¡ªprobably so he could vividly dream of her torture. Althea felt this, but she didn''t show anything. "Your turn," he said, similarly listening to what she said. Anyway, his oath was valid only if he agreed to hers. "I swear that I, an elder of Altera and its representative during the duration of this war, will give Fargo the solution to take away the pain I caused and tell him the way to keep his condition from worsening." Fargo looked at her suspiciously at this and Althea ignored him, continuing with her oath. "I shall also allow Amon Fargo and his surviving and ambulatory allies to leave the gates of Fargo Village¡ªexclusively on this date." That was to say, anyone he decided to leave and plant could be hunted down after the day. Fargo internally cursed at this and looked at her. "Ambulatory?" "You''re not going to take the ones who can''t walk anymore, right? Besides, we cannot hurt any of you after this." Fargo looked coolly at her. If one didn''t look at how bloodied he was and how his normally meticulous hair looked now, one wouldn''t realize this man just experienced a crushing defeat. "Add you, your people, or anyone else can attack us, even outside the walls." Althea''s eyes showed a glint of sharpness then. "No one participating in this war, including citizens of Fargo left behind, can attack you today, even outside the gate." After a few more tweaks, they locked the agreement. What he didn''t know was that a lot of the guards had their legs damaged as an instruction early on. How many men could really come with him in the end? Even when they get out, how many could really help out in the end? At best, they''d only be meatshields. They stood to the side so Fargo could fulfill his part of the deal as Althea took out a bottle of diluted healing potion to help him out. Immediately, Fargo felt the headache subside. "What about the rest?" he asked. "I can tell you believe it will have lingering effects." Althea shrugged. "Just level up," she said. Fargo''s dark eyes looked at her before taking out the two tokens hidden in his clothes. "I''m surprised you didn''t put it in the space," she said, lying with a straight face again. "Or is it that they couldn''t be placed in the space?" "Take this token for yourself and you will know." "Not interested," she said. "I prefer just poisoning people than leading a territory." Fargo didn''t answer her anymore and simply extended his large palms to hand the tokens over to her. His large bloodstained hands lingered on her clean and soft ones a little longer than proper. Althea pushed down the disgust, knowing that it wasn''t the time to push this man''s buttons, and simply used her assessment skill to confirm the validity of the tokens. [Used! Assessment Skill! Lord Token of Bright Village (Lv3)] [Used! Assessment Skill! Lord Token of Fargo Village (Lv3)] She nodded, feeling a bit relieved, but her guard still didn''t drop by a little, afraid Fargo found a loophole somewhere. Fargo and the two aborigines then gestured to finally leave, though not forgetting to look darkly at everyone else in that room. There were definitely dark thoughts in their mind but the Alterans and their allies couldn''t have the mind for them. When the three exited the center, the long-awaited announcement coincidentally echoed in her head. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Ding! Altera Village (Lv3) had met the conditions of winning against Fargo Village (Lv3). (The rewards would automatically be added to your system). Speed Bonus: +20% Rewards] [Gained! +625 Gold, +58422 Silver, +2431190 Copper from the territory!] [Gained! +812 Gold, +26232 Silver, +992111 Copper from New Slaves!] [Gained! +5932 New Slaves, +2612 Old Slaves.] [You have chosen not to Merge at this time.] Her eyebrows rose. Just in time. Chapter 600 - 600: Gathering Survivors Her emerald eyes looked at the two tokens in her hand in deep thought. Although they had already won, the token wouldn''t automatically integrate into her, just as the teleportation array wouldn''t dissipate until the 28 hours were done. It was also how Althea could choose not to merge yet, because doing so was basically telling people she was the Lord. She had automatically received more than half of Fargo''s property though (he wasn''t very rich) as well as the money of the new ''slaves''. As for the new ''slaves'' and their money, she''d handle that later. She knew freeing them from slavery needed some money, so they naturally had to let go of some of their wealth as well. Pushing all these aside for now, she looked at the other notification she received. [Would you like to announce the news to all citizens in the vicinity?] She smiled. Of course, yes. ¡­ A moment later, a similar pinging sound resounded in the Alterans'' minds. [Ding! Altera Village (Lv3) has won against Fargo Village (Lv3)!] This was received only by everyone in the Fargo territory because Althea didn''t pay for the extra costs of sending it to everyone outside the territory. After all, she could just announce the same when they returned home in a few hours, let alone the fact that they could send messages through aether letters to those nearby. Anyway, at the announcement, the Alterans looked at each other with wide grins and cheered. "WOOOO! FINALLY!" Beanie yelled and raised his hands. "I heard a ding when I landed! The announcement was delayed a few minutes, but wasn''t the ding the signal? Did I get the Honor?!" Hubert beside him shrugged as he wiped the sweat off his face. "We gotta ask the other team if they had the same." Beanie calmed down a bit, but was excited nevertheless. Even if there were other people who got the honor, he''d still get some rewards! Who didn''t like bonuses? Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Before the war, a couple of richer people like Baron added a prize for whoever had the honors of being the ''winning entry''. They pooled a reward of a whopping 100 Gold! Of course, if there was more than one, then they would share it, but it wasn''t a small amount at all! They had oath system here in Xeno anyway, so they didn''t have to worry about liars! In any case, this little prize made a lot of people desperate to get through the wall, which definitely helped in the speed of this war. On the main battlefield, the Alterans were also celebrating. They looked at the sleeping slaves and heaved a deep breath of relief, finally relaxing a bit. "I wonder who got the honor?" Jesse asked, drinking another potion. He was definitely planning on kidnapping said person to treat him in the tavern! While he was in a daze, however, he did not notice a bloodied Fargo guard¡ªone with bent legs¡ªflinch behind him. As if using his last bit of strength, he jumped up with a low-durability weapon on hand, ready to take one last kill. Angelo was laughing with a few others when his peripheral vision caught this movement. His heart dropped. "JESSIE!!" he yelled, gesturing to run to his cousin. However, the Fargo guard had already raised his weapon, the blade only an inch away from Jesse''s head. SWISH! SLASH! "AHHH!" Jessie yelled when he found a detached head thrown at him. The man''s eyes were still twitching. "GYAHHH!" he screeched again, like a little girl, throwing it away by instinct. Angelo bumped his head in relief and pushed him to thank the half-orc who suddenly appeared next to them. Apparently, just before the blade could touch Jesse''s neck, a claw suddenly appeared and beheaded the perpetrator. "Thank you¡­ thank you¡­" Angelo said, and Jesse immediately followed, realizing what happened. His heart dropped. Did he almost die (again)?! "Don''t be complacent," Gochi said, and immediately everyone''s guards strengthened again. "Although we won, people can still attack within the duration of the 28 hours." At this, the Alterans once again raised their weapons and proceeded to beat up the Fargo guards. Before they could do more damage though, a resounding voice echoed, yelling for them to stop. "STOP!" They paused, turning to see it was Fargo and the two strong aborigines still guarding him. "Every ambulatory survivor among my people will be coming with me." "What?" They exclaimed, disbelieving until they saw a few more people arrive. It was Althea, Victor, and the others. "Miss Althea? What he''s saying¡ª" "It''s true," Althea said, shoulders slumped a bit. "I don''t have the power yet to make an announcement, but I confirm this. This was to prevent Fargo from making any more orders to the slaves who, frankly, wouldn''t be able to handle anymore." "In the same vein, Fargo''s men can no longer attack us." If she didn''t make that deal, they could still be attacked. There would be no other rewards than petty revenge, but losing your life after the victory was much worse than losing it during the war. At this, the Alterans'' shoulders slumped, annoyed at the guards, but also understanding of the compromise. They could only look guardedly at Fargo and his men as they ''collected'' whoever would be useful on their side. Realizing this, the injured guards rushed to stand. They knew full well that they would only get tortured by the citizens who suffered under them if they stayed, so it was not surprising the men were desperate to follow¡ªeven if they had to crawl. On the contrary, those who could not move anymore begged and cried, only to be ignored by Fargo and his men. Althea looked at all this with watchful eyes, her eyes following Fargo, determining what else she could do except write on the aether letter. While this was going on, there was another type of tension brewing around the territory. This had to do with the ''new slaves''. Many of them had received the notification of slavery! Were they slaves now!? They have to know! Fortunately, the people who spearheaded the questions were rational people who were biased toward Althea, Vivian, and Kyle. Kyle walked over to Crow and the others, who were also watching the Fargo men group together with dark eyes. "Uhm, you mentioned Altera doesn''t take slaves?" A few more murmurs resounded around, some worried, and some questioning. Crow and the others, unsurprisingly, had no idea about how slavery worked so they could only shake their heads. "We''re not sure how the system slavery thing works," Dog said, "But I can guarantee Altera doesn''t need or want slaves." Vivian sighed, "To be honest, it''s a little worrying." Sunny nodded. "We understand," she said. "But we really don''t know much about the system. However, you should''ve seen with how we handled each other and the Fargo slaves." Vivian looked at her in the eye. As a former reporter, she naturally had the knack of finding out truth versus false. So far, the young girl was sincere. Of course, not all encounters were calm. Some were demanding answers outright, while some just sobbed directly. After all, they had seen how the ''slaves'' from Bright were treated. Although Alterans looked kind now, who knew what they''d be like after everything! No one was naive to think the best out of strangers anymore! This happened in various areas, some of which were near where Fargo was currently walking around. Fargo chuckled when he saw this, turning arrogantly at Althea. "Over 5000 people. Do you really have an excess 25,000 gold to free everyone?" Althea frowned. Even if she had that amount¡ªwhich she didn''t anymore¡ªshe wasn''t planning on spending that amount at one time. "I will be discussing it with the elders, but I assure you that while you may be a slave in name, you will not live as such." There were naturally plenty of questions, but Gochi found his way back next to her, and everyone had seen how scary he could be, so they could only hide back to their houses. Althea sighed. She was not much of an idealist, so she knew fixing everything wouldn''t be instantaneous. But¡­ She looked at everyone who was watching Fargo''s movements like a hawk, hoping for the worst for them, stabbing them with their eyes. Althea''s lips twitched. They were, at least, in the right direction. Chapter 601 - 601: Out of the Gates There was a complex atmosphere in the territory, with the Alterans and the citizens watching as Fargo gathered tens of ambulatory mercenaries and a few Terran guards eager to come with them. Counting, there seemed to be almost 100 of them, though most of them had to drag themselves to move an inch. The former guards and mercenaries looked quite pitiful until they remembered the hideous things these people did. Including¡­ what they could do once they recovered. It might not be in Fargo or in Altera, but they''d definitely be making people¡ªespecially women¡ªsuffer somewhere else. As Fargo and his men exited, a lot of people went to the outer walls to see them leave. Their hearts was heavy in anger to see them just leaving like this, but what could they do? They could only hope they die some horrible death before they start ruining someone else''s life! Behind them, Althea spoke. "My oath includes not attacking them even outside the walls for a whole day," she said. "However, we know how the system determines what is considered an attack." It took a while for the hint to dawn on some, but it did come faster to others. "Please die a horrible death!" Tacky yelled, throwing some random trash he had in his space (he happened to have a few). "Don''t come back okay?! Do the world a favor!" Juan added. "Bye~ We pray the monsters will eat you whole~" Baka bellowed, taking the mysterious stock of trash in Tacky''s space and throwing it to Fargo''s group. More and more people joined in. Rocks were thrown, some other wet things, and there was even poop (a few were just lying on the ground anyway), a few of which hit some men straight in the face. They glared back, ready to curse and threaten, but they saw several arrows and their own guns pointed in their direction. Some arrows were even released, but they weren''t targeted at them. Instead, it sprinkled piss on them! "There''s still more where that came from!" One yelled from a distance, followed by mocking laughs. Afraid to get rained down with more filth, Fargo and his men could only scurry away, cursing, and swearing to take their revenge someday! sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ "BASTARDS!!" Aka yelled, paving the way with his sword as he wiped the shit on his face. "See if I get a hold of those bastards!" The other tens of people were silent, also feeling angry, but they were in so much pain from their injuries that they had to use their remaining energy not to faint. They knew very well what kind of people they were following! If they fainted, they''d definitely be left behind! They didn''t even have the energy to clean up whatever was dropping on their heads now. Of course, this had nothing to do with the people walking up front, not caring if there were people being left behind. They were taken for numbers and as cannon fodder. They had no use for meatshields that had to be carried. Fargo moved along Okra and Aka, looking at the surroundings. He estimated they were going South or Southeast. With a nod, he looked at the other leading aborigines. "Tell me where we''re going." Aka and Okra looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You sure do know how to keep ordering people around, Fargo." How easily they dropped ''milord'' made Fargo frown. However, he knew he didn''t have leverage anymore so he only noted this annoyance for now. When he regained some power, he''d exact his revenge on them. Okra and Aka did not know his thoughts and only sneered at him. "Don''t forget you''re no longer the lord." Fargo''s expression didn''t change as he took out a crossbow. This made them flinch, looking at him guardedly. That was until they heard his next words. "I can make this too." "What?" Okra exclaimed, looking at the damned weapon. How much trouble it caused them! "As long as I have some resources, I can recreate this in time." He actually had Sen study some medieval weapons from memory. However, because they were all used to using modern hot weapons, it hadn''t been easy. But now that they had a model they could dismantle¡ªit was a very different thing. Fargo smiled when the respect returned to the men''s eyes. "So tell me the plan." Okra toned down his arrogance, just a bit. "We''re heading to the nearest Town south of here to report what happened to all our branches, before heading to the nearest base." There are still hundreds of members of their mercenary team¡ªthey could all assist in taking back their territory. "Where''s the nearest base of your mercenary team?" "It''s in Basset Town, some Southeast of here." "Let me join you." He nodded. A strong high-potential elementalist would be welcome, and they continued traveling with dark thoughts of how exactly they would exact their revenge¡ªespecially on that woman! The best thing about getting that woman was not only her beauty and her body, but her equipment as well! However, they didn''t even get far when they heard a few rumbling sounds of a monster mob! Immediately, they entered an attacking posture and soon the monsters revealed themselves from the foliage. It was not a big mob, nor was it too strong, but it wasn''t like they were in the condition to deal with them properly! DAMNIT! ¡­ A small mob naturally couldn''t threaten their lives. Along with Okra and Fargo, they could deal with weak mobs of level 8s without much injury. However, they did lose a dozen people when they hadn''t even gotten far from the damned wall! It was humiliating! "It must''ve been that piss from before!" Aka yelled with gritted teeth. "Damnit! I knew it smelled familiar!" Fargo''s jaw clenched but he was silent, already torturing more Alterans in his mind in an attempt to calm down. However, as he thought deeper, he felt the familiar pressing sensation in his head. His eyes turned red in anger at a realization. That bitch! What did she do this time?! In fact, Althea only promised to take away the pain she caused back then and promised to tell him what could lessen its future effects on him. The oath did not include the new side effects of some plants she added in the healing potion given to him. It was much milder and pretty much non-poisonous, easily healed after leveling up or less, but Althea was petty like that. Anyway, unaware of the former lord''s state, Aka continued to curse as he led the way. "Damn! I''m going to get back to them stronger! I''ll kill that woman! But not without tasting her to dead bod¡ª" Before he could finish his sentence, however, his head fell down, making everyone gasp. "WHAT?!" Chapter 602 - 602: Scuffles Fargo and the others raised their weapons in tension, ready to defend as they heard the soft sound of Aka''s head rolling down to the damp soil, leaving a bloody trail in its wake. When the aborigine''s head stopped rolling to the foot of the tree, the rustles of plants sounded around them¡ªsoon revealing several figures. This was Garan, Mao, and a few others, totaling to about 20 people. As for the rest, they were either guarding the other gate (Sammy) or guiding and protecting the hundreds of slaves from the mine back to Fargo''s wall. Now that it was safe to go back, they naturally didn''t want to keep them outside. Anyway, when they received the aether letter, they were already separated into groups with Garan''s and Sammy''s teams were in-charge of capturing the escapees at different gates. They were not surprised to know that they had won¡ªthey weren''t being arrogant or complacent, but they knew the strength of Altera. What surprised them was the following sentence saying that Fargo was going to exit the territory alive with approximately 60 people. They were a little shocked, but they adjusted quickly. It wasn''t difficult to trace their tracks since they were in the area anyway. Of course, Garan and the others watched them struggle with the monster mob first before making any moves. They watched undetected the whole time because they were using their binoculars and a tool from the Research Center called Parabolic Reflector. This functioned as a non-electric sound attenuator (which works opposite the sound amplifiers), which allowed them to hear clearly hundreds of meters away. It was a little bulky, yes, but they had space for it. The mob that attacked Fargo''s party wasn''t a very strong one. It only averaged at level 7 or 8, but Fargo''s team had been greatly weakened, and the soldiers knew they had a good show to watch. At the same time, they also took this time to study their enemies, ready to call on the others if they were needed. They were greatly outnumbered, after all. Fargo''s team comprised mostly of level 10s and 11s, not including the Terrans who managed to tag along. There were also two people beyond the level cap walking right next to Fargo as well, one of whom was a level 20. In contrast, the Alteran team was much smaller. Gill was with the ''slaves'' heading to the safety of Fargo, also tasked to help out with the cleanup there. Sammy and Chris were leading the capture team in another area (which was fruitful by the way, with the capture of 20-plus citizens and 10 mercenaries). This meant only Garan, Mao, and Rowan were the Alterans beyond the level cap in this area, with the rest at level 10 or below. Them versus a 50-or-so team of level 10s would definitely be a challenge. "Should we get some help?" Mao asked, and Garan paused in thought. "They would take a while to get here." There was no real-time pinging yet. They could ''pin'' a spot on the map, but they wouldn''t be able to mark the varying locations of people like in Terran. They still sent Sammy an aether note though, but they doubted they''d arrive here on time. If they waited, Fargo and the others could be gone. Anyway, they watched a handful of weaker mercenaries and Terran died early on in the mob, while the rest of them managed to fight back. This was not surprising. After all, most of the people who managed to get enough energy and strength to come with Fargo were all relatively high-leveled men. This meant that the mob could be dealt with with ease. By the time the mob was cleared, another handful had perished, leaving several men gasping for air before continuing on their way to a town, heading towards a place called Basset Town. This was apparently one of the nearby bases of the Rongo Mercenary Team, and Garan recognized the place because he bought an updated map from Oslo. They had apparently gone through the town heading back to Altera. This also meant¡­ that the place wasn''t very far. They noted this and listened for more information, but then they realized Fargo was heading where they were! In the end, they stayed put and waited for them to approach, ready for battle at any time. But then one of the men started to badmouth a woman¡ªa woman who could only be sister-in-law! It wasn''t a surprise that the captain just beheaded the guy without another word, preventing him from desecrating sister-on-law''s name. Mao cleared his throat and appeared, crossing his arms and looking quite smug. "Funny of you to decide to throw yourselves in our paths," he said. He looked arrogant but his eyes assessed their enemies closer. Except for Fargo and a few others, the rest were very injured. Sister-in-law and the others really hurt them! How satisfying! While Mao and the others looked at the mercenaries, Fargo also did the same. Seeing Mao and Garan, he had no doubt that these were the people who took down so many of his strongmen even before the war. Fargo''s headache worsened but he kept his cool. How could he have not thought about this?! No wonder that woman let them go so easily¡ª They had been waiting for this! Fargo and the rest of them naturally weren''t stupid enough to stay. They all sprinted in varying directions but Garan and the others had foreseen this, immediately blocking their way. The men gasped and gritted their teeth, some bumping into each other as they tried to get far from the attackers. Fargo looked around at their disorganized state, and looked at the number of the enemies around them. "Calm down!" he yelled, "We''re more than they are. If you want to survive, attack!" These men were all selfish and didn''t want to be the vanguard and Fargo knew this well. "I will use my ability to stab whoever doesn''t contribute!" he said, and everyone knew he meant it! "It''s better to fight for your life than be killed by me! I assure you!" Although they weren''t certain how it''d be worse, Fargo had shown enough prestige and strength back when he was the lord for the people to follow him in a moment of panic. The next instant, the men immediately lunged to attack the Alterans. They were superior in numbers, they realized, and hope lit as they thought this fight might not be hopeless. As long as they finished the battle sooner than the others, then they''d have a higher chance of escaping! Okra immediately targeted Rowan. It was either him or Mao, and he naturally chose the weaker one. However, to his surprise, he was met with a sword wrapped in fire. "Another elementalist!?" he yelled as he stepped back, barely avoiding a lethal slash of sword. Rowan had been learning a lot in Altera and he wanted to see how he''d fare with a fellow aborigine a few levels higher than he was. On the other side, Fargo used his bit of mana to propel his body backward, avoiding a stab. He took out the crossbow, shooting against the enemy with impressive accuracy. Sadly for him, the men''s equipment was good and they had great instincts and, while a lot of them were greatly hurt, nothing lethal hit in the end. Fargo frowned but continued shooting, targeting the people he knew would get some damage¡ªfor instance, the common guards. Unfortunately for him, there were shieldsmen in this party, and with only Fargo having a Class D long-ranged weapon, he wasn''t impossible to defend against regardless of how skilled a shot he was. Still, Mao and the others frowned at the fact that Fargo got a hold of a crossbow in the first place. Jake or Brandon weren''t here but they felt offended in their stead! How dare this bastard use his filthy hands to hold their baby! Of course, they knew they wouldn''t be able to gatekeep the technology (at least they''d be earning royalties in such cases) but it didn''t mean they were fine with it landing on the hands of men like Fargo! At least, they wanted to keep it away from him for as long as possible! S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Mao met Garan''s eyes, and when the captain nodded, Mao immediately lunged forward to grab it, starting a little brawl with the man. They all knew the captain had beef with this person, but there were stronger aborigines in this party that the captain would have to take care of himself. Mao sent Fargo a barrage of attacks. With their level differences, Fargo should''ve been of little match, but the man was sly and easily determined direct fights would not be in his favor¡ªadjusting accoridingly. For now, Fargo skillfully dodged and avoided the attacks, occasionally hiding behind the other people from his team or in the Alterans''. There were plenty of times he stabbed a former Fargo guard, and there was a time he almost distracted an Alteran. Mao''s eyes twitched. "Stay still, you damned loach!! Chapter 603 - 603: More Battles While Mao and Fargo were fighting, the others were busy with the rest of the enemies, with the Alterans at an obvious advantage. The Alterans may be outnumbered, but Fargo''s men were not only weakened from the war, most of them also lacked the technical skills the Alterans had honed. On average, Fargo''s team had a higher level and numbers, but the Terrans had superior techniques, equipment, and momentum. Garan, at this time, was taking care of four level 12s and a level 14 who was nearby him, keeping them from troubling the team and allowing them to fight one-on-one or one-on-two at most. "HYA!!" "Stay still!" "Die already!" These were just a few curses the five men yelled as they tried to pummel the ebony-haired soldier. Although the mercenaries were inherently selfish, their superiority in numbers gave them some confidence to battle him relentlessly head-on. They knew how much they needed a win after all the horrible losses they experienced today! With a fierce war cry, they yelled, attacking him together with their various weapons. Garan kept his cool under the barrage, deflecting blow after blow with grace and power. He shifted to the side as he avoided the spear of a level 12, immediately followed by the avoidance of another blade stabbed by level 14. Because it was close, his body was hit by the blade, and he heard the scratching sound it made against his defensive armor. Garan raised his sword to retaliate, pushing the level 14 back and the attacks from the others with one swift move. The men looked at him, a little shocked as to how effortless he was dealing with them. However, it was not enough for them to push their pride away again to escape. This time, they believed they had a chance! It was one-versus-five, for elf''s sakes! The five immediately lunged at the same time, not holding anything back. When Garan was forced to take a step back, they were energized, sending barrage after barrage of attacks, not caring about grace or technique at all. At some point, some metallic spikes appeared around him, moving to capture the attacks as well. Even if he was alone against the five people, the sound of clashing metal was intense and many, making it seem like a large battlefield if one wasn''t looking. His eyes hadn''t left Fargo while he did so, however, and he saw the man escaping Mao''s attacks, slowly learning more from him despite everything. Still as slippery as a loach. Avoiding another attack, Garan decided to use his ability to immobilize his enemies. The air around them cooled with Ice expanding from his feet, radiating outwards. It captured the enemies'' feet one by one. They immediately struggled as they realized what was happening, stabbing the ice to get out. However, the creeping of the ice was not slow and the weaker ones were trapped to the knee a few seconds later. The level 14 though managed to escape early on, running to attack him. In his mind, distracting Garan now could make him stop using his troublesome ability. But he was very wrong. While the level 14 was swinging his sword at him, Garan raised his hand and the ice crept further upward until it was to their hips. Soon, no amount of stabbing would be able to break the ice fast enough. At some point, some internal spikes even stabbed into them, making them bleed through the ice. It was a gruesome sight. "SO STRONG!" The level 14 yelled, realizing his companions were useless. Like a typical Fargo guard, he immediately stepped back, leaving them be. But how could Garan let this happen? "Take care of them," he ordered the nearby Alterans, who seemed to be finishing off their enemies. Anyway, they would barely be able to move. He opted to let the others get the experience from the kill since he would gain nothing from killing these people. The Alterans didn''t hesitate to attack them¡ªtheir enemies were getting weak, anyway¡ªand one even used the semi-frozen mercenary as a shield! "DON''T!" the frozen mercenary yelled, seeing as his own teammate''s sword about to reach him and helplessly unable to avoid it. The man was unable to stop his momentum even after realizing the Alteran had escaped, stabbing at his teammate''s head in the end. "AH!!" he yelled, and he would be finished off by a stab in the neck, adding experience to his killer. The other three were also dealt with a couple of moments later before resuming to their actual fights. Someone even reached level 10 thanks to the kill, making him very happy, and his current enemy aghast. Seeing this, the other people battling also paled, and their distraction made it easy for the rest of the Alterans to take care of them! Garan was headed to Fargo and Mao''s fight when he turned to see Rowan and Okra''s fight at its peak. Clack! Bang! Slash!! Okra was relatively undamaged except for a few burns, while Rowan had many slashes on his body, particularly in the areas without the armor. Obviously, the relatively big level difference was still there. However, for his situation, Rowan had done really well, and he held on long enough. If any other aborigine was in his position, even if he was an elementalist, would''ve already been killed. At some point though, Okra managed to hit Rowan''s hand, making Rowan let go of his weapon. He immediately shifted his attack to a stabbing motion, targeting the redhead''s unguarded eyes. This was an attack that would''ve injured, if not kill, Rowan. Fortunately, Garan appeared next to Rowan at this time, using the tip of his sword to deflect Okra''s attack. The blade slid against his and he bent his arms, making Garan''s elbow point at the man''s neck. With a flash in his eyes, a metal spike extended from his elbow heading straight to the man''s neck. However, Okra''s instincts as a fighter and mercenary were still very good and he barely managed to avoid the abnormal attack! The close call shook him though, and he could only stand a few meters away with his weapons out, glaring at them to save himself. Rowan looked at the ebony-haired man in front of him, a little ashamed at how little damage he had done despite his equipment and the element he had been training for so long. "I''ll handle this," Garan told him and for a moment Rowan thought he was just too slow and disappointed the man. However, Garan turned his head to face him at an angle. "You did well," Garan said. "Go help the others." S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Rowan looked at him with slightly wide eyes, just before doing the standard salute to show his respect. "Yes, sir!" Chapter 604 - 604: Escaped Garan looked at Okra, the only level twenty aborigine they had to deal with. He also had good equipment and skill, and it was obvious he was among the upper tier among the mercenaries in Fargo. He was definitely a skilled mercenary and it wouldn''t be so easy for Garan to defeat him quickly. However, Garan had no will to delay the battle and he immediately threw ice picks at the man, who swiped them away with his sword. Garan saw this and he knew this person must''ve caught a lot of the shots towards Fargo, maybe even Althea''s shots. By extension, this guy must''ve annoyed his wife very much during the war, and his attacks unconsciously became harsher. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! BANG! "AH!" Okra yelled as he was unable to block one, then two, fast-moving ice picks. "HYAAA!" The aborigine yelled, sending him a barrage of skills to keep him from using more of his skills. Garan waved his sword, skillfully deflecting the other man''s attack. Immediately, he shifted and did a stabbing motion, which Okra avoided by jumping back. Garan had predicted this though and immediately sent a metal spike with his other arm, successfully stabbing Okra. Garan would''ve preferred to extend his sword with his ability, as it would theoretically take less energy. However, like how walls and system buildings couldn''t accommodate elements, it was the same with equipment. Okra looked at the massive stab in his stomach, gritting his teeth in pain. He couldn''t believe it! Sure, he was a bit tired, but obviously, his level was about the same as this man''s. But the longer their spar was, the more he realized he didn''t stand a chance at all! "GAHHH!" he yelled, lunging at him with all the brute force he could carry. Garan''s eyes sharpened, ready to finally end him. ¡­ Nearby, Mao and Fargo''s battles were also at its peak. The two of them exchanged quick and impressive blows, both with weapons and their mutual elements: Earth. Mao had used his element a lot the past couple of hours (with all those men he had to bury alive and all) so he had to hold back a bit. This leveled the playing field with Fargo, who had an even more sophisticated hand-to-hand combat skill than he did. It had to be said, that even if Mao was a few levels higher than Fargo, the latter wasn''t being pushed too much because of sheer talent. In fact, the more he fought with Mao, the more he had an idea about earth techniques. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was also how Fargo was personally responsible for half the casualties Altera had, despite having mercenaries higher level than he was barely managing to kill any. As for equipment, he had bought Class D ones from Belize, including armor and weapons. In fact, Fargo had two Class D weapons¡ªone taken from Belize, and another taken from the Alteran battlefield. However, just as Althea couldn''t maximize the Bellagio, Fargo''s use of the same weapon was inferior to Mao''s. The durability went down much faster and it broke down. He cursed and started avoiding the fight again, sometimes pushing his own people or an Alteran in front of him to block Mao''s way. Soon, fortunately, Mao finally caught timing and created a small spike on the ground which ultimately caught him off balance. Some nearby Alteran who had taken care of his enemy saw also gestured to attack. Thinking quickly, Fargo used the sword on his hand to stabilize himself and threw some items he had in his space to the Alteran. He barely felt his fall and took out the next thing in his space to throw at Mao¡ªwhose weapon was a few centimeters away from him. He had several low-level blades in his space and this was what he threw, taking advantage of the pause to regain his bearing and raise his final weapon¡ªwhich also had limited durability, unfortunately. Fargo knew that that the crossbow was important to this person so he threw it straight at Mao, who caught it by instinct. Fargo''s eyes glinted as he created a spike behind Mao and as his sword swung in for a stab. However, Mao yelled and a thin block of earth appeared behind him, and he used it to roll and change directions, using the momentum to kick him. BANG! He coughed blood, falling down to the floor after a large impact against the tree. "You remember I''m still a few levels higher than you are, right? Bastard¡­" Mao said, kicking him again. He shook and he felt that his enemy was ready for the kill. He instinctively rolled in a direction to avoid the next attack but he gritted his teeth to hold back a scream as he felt the blade bury on his shoulder. Mao immediately turned it and then swiped in a direction. This time, Fargo couldn''t hold back his scream anymore. "AHHHHH!!!!!" he gasped for air as he turned his head to see that his arm was now detached to him! Fargo looked in a direction to get some help, only to see Okra just beheaded by Garan. Beside them, he also realized the others were either dead or captured already. In this short moment, Fargo also saw that the Alterans¡ªexcept for Garan and Mao¡ªwere standing together, gathering those they captured. "I wanna save you for the captain, but I don''t think you deserve to breathe another second longer in this world," Mao said, raising his sword again and quickly stabbing it down to his heart. Fargo gritted his teeth and refused to be taken down! He yelled and suddenly several small rocks surrounded him, quickly exploding with him as the source. At first, they thought they were just rocks and prepared to avoid the last-ditch effort of the man. However, the earth user Mao saw it, feeling something was different with one of the rocks. In that instant, he used his ability to scan and stop the projectiles, but it was too quick and by the time he slowed them down, they had already reached the areas of the Alterans and the captured mercenaries. However, he was able to ''scan'' it a bit to realize what the anomaly was! "A BOMB!" He yelled, gasping. There was a bomb inside one of the rocks! Darnit!! The Alterans'' eyes widened and immediately took cover, leaving the captured mercenaries behind¡ª BOOM! They forgot about it¡ªthe bomb he took from Michael back then! It seemed like he didn''t deconstruct it in an attempt to replicate it but kept it for himself! It naturally could not kill people of their levels and equipment, but it made them disoriented and their ears ring. There were also a few injuries among the weaker guards, but otherwise no lasting damage to Alterans who managed to react on time. On the contrary, the gangsters they had tied up were burnt and bloodied, while the others were barely breathing. The weaker ones were also¡­ well¡­ exploded, their innards all over the area. Mao and the others coughed, feeling the shock in their bodies. Garan was quick to recover and immediately walked through the smoke, his dark azure eyes looking around. "Where''s Fargo?" This question raised the alarm in everyone. They looked around and saw he had escaped and¡ªunsurprisngly¡ªhe left no traces in which direction he went to! "He''s gone," Mao said, pale. Garan''s fist clenched. Lost again! Chapter 605 - 605: Vanessa’s Healing Garan and the rest entered the territory with dark moods. They were greeted by Gill and the others who had the ''slaves'' like Bruce and Aditi with them, ready to reunite with the rest of the territory. Their smiles dropped when they saw the dark atmosphere around Garan, however, and they didn''t have to ask to know things didn''t go as well as they''d have hoped. Anyway, their group naturally had a strong sense of presence by virtue of their training and their strength, and as they traversed to the inner wall, they really caught a lot of eyes. They also shocked everyone by how bloodied they were. "Shit!" Beanie yelled as he ran towards them, "Are those intestines?" Garan frowned and looked at one of his boots, which indeed had a piece he missed. He used his ice to pry it away. Beanie''s eyes twitched, opening his mouth to ask what the heck happened. However, before he could do so another person spoke over him (how rude). "Garan!" a feminine voice called, tone oozing with concern. "I mean¡­ Captain," she mumbled with a blush, as if just correcting herself. The woman stopped just outside his private space, looking at him with worry on her face. It was Vanessa, and she slowly approached him closer in order to check in on him. From various angles, she looked like a shy woman concerned for her lover. If people didn''t know better, people would think they were really close and were doing some secret relations of sorts. Vanessa watched Garan turn in her direction, and her heart stopped when she saw his eyes shine. Vanessa''s heart beat wildly until a figure went past her towards him. "Husband!" Althea eyes became teary as she saw the blood and she immediately took out medicine to help him out. Its effects were limited on someone at his level, but they still did have some effect. Garan''s eyes were warm as he looked at Althea. In the eyes of Vanessa who was near them, it couldn''t be any more gritting. Vanessa had actually been waiting in their hiding place throughout the duration of the war. The rationale was that she was a healer and the injured would be brought to her. She waited for hours and hours, with the end of the war getting announced before she did anything! While this meant she didn''t have to lift a finger, it felt humiliating when she emerged and heard of Althea''s achievements! She was all most people talked about. Even if there were other topics of discussion, it would always lead to her somehow! ''Did you see how cool Miss Althea was?'' ''She was so strong!'' ''A proper Goddess, that one!'' At this time though, the aforementioned woman just looked like a soft lady in front of Garan, and it gritted her nerves! "The blood isn''t mine, my love," Garan said, gently pushing the bottle back."Save that for yourself. My wounds are very minor." "But¡­" "I can heal you," Vanessa''s voice cut next to them. Garan frowned at the interruption but Althea nodded, stepping aside to let the other woman approach closer. Vanessa held her head high, subtly looking down at Althea. However, neither one of the couple noticed because they were so focused on each other. "..." Vanessa bit her lips and stepped closer, "I''ll heal him now," she said, pretty much using all her skills on the man. This was not just to help Garan out, but to show to this other woman who was more ''helpful'' to him. Vanessa''s thoughts didn''t matter to them, with Garan just going with the flow to calm his wife, while Althea hoping for Garan to heal as well as to possibly gain some more insight to the profession. Vanessa''s hand lit up an azure light as the water elements surrounded her hands. She raised her hand and put them a few inches from Garan''s skin. Althea watched the process closely, noting the difference between Vanessa''s and Betty''s skills. This was understandable as they had completely different concepts of science so they could also have received different inheritances. For instance, Betty''s water healing seemed to congeal the water elements in large clusters, while Veronica''s was tinier¡ªalmost molecular. This made sense because Betty did not have a concept of molecules at all. In this way, Vanessa had a much bigger potential than Betty. Further, she found this more helpful than watching Betty, probably because she had similar foundations to the former. Anyway, as she did with Betty, Althea asked a lot of questions in hopes of triggering the occupation as well. Not that Vanessa knew of course. And if she did, she would scoff, thinking this woman was dreaming. Even medical professionals who got water elements weren''t guaranteed to trigger the occupation! "How much energy do you judge is needed?" "Would it ever be too much?" "People don''t get shocked, right?" Vanessa''s eyes twitched, annoyed, and glared at her. "Please let me concentrate." Garan frowned at her tone, but Althea shook her head, intent on observing the process instead. It wasn''t that she didn''t know Vanessa''s affections for her husband¡ªthe woman had never really hidden her hostilities and gossip during gatherings and events¡ªbut she knew her husband''s health was the priority. Around this time though, Vanessa''s hands moved a bit closer, only a few millimeters away from Garan''s skin¡ªparticularly focused on his ripped shirt. Althea''s lips twitched. She didn''t really mind some proximity before because of the healing process, but look at this now¡­ Did this woman think she wouldn''t notice or did she just not care? Every soldier around either looked at each other or at the sky, partly wanting to see the show and tension between the two women, but at the same time not really daring to. Garan''s jaw clenched in annoyance but Althea held his hand, soothing him, "Don''t mind, husband. Unlike Betty, who is an expert, Vanessa still needs a bit more practice. "She probably needs her hands so close to do a spell that could be done much farther away." Vanessa flushed at her comment and it got redder when she heard a few laughers and snickers behind her. Her hands shook and her ability faltered. However, she refused to be humiliated anymore and did her best to finish the task. When she did, she was sweating buckets, and she raised her head to look at Garan, who was now just chatting with his wife! sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I''m done¡­" she said, voice soft in a way that would attract many men''s attention. Sadly, the man she was after was a bit blind to these things, particularly if it wasn''t related to his wife. "Ah, thank you," Althea said, manifesting a gold to pay for her service. Vanessa pursed her lips, offended, and wanted to slap it away. Fortunately, she still had some reason not to do so in the end. "No, he is my captain after all, it''s my duty to serve him." That sounded very suggestive, though Garan (and a lot of the soldiers) didn''t really absorb it. Althea, however, did. She narrowed her eyes at the woman, though her face didn''t show any other changes. "Hmn," she said, as if agreeing, "As a soldier, it is indeed your duty help out your comrades¡­" she then turned to the many injured people around. "Don''t you think it''s time for you to do your job?" Chapter 606 - 606: Recovery Vanessa had no choice but to go around and heal people. It wasn''t that she wasn''t planning to, but she was planning to work alongside the captain and the others and show off her beautiful side. At this Victor walked over, a little embarrassed. How could he not see what was happening? "I apologize," he said. "We spoiled her too much." Althea didn''t make a comment. Instead, she went straight to business. "Where are the ladies?" "They''re all getting cleaned up and treated with whatever we had," he said. "Those potions, even while diluted, had been a great help." "Will you and the General be open for a meeting later on?" Althea asked and Victor blinked, nodding in the end. "Rest well and handle your affairs, let''s meet on the top floor of the Village Center," she said, and walked towards it with her husband closely following in tow. Victor nodded then, but when he realized the meeting place, he blinked. The Village Center?? ¡­ Clinic At this time, the doctors were working round the clock to help out as many as they could. Of course, with thousands of injured they had to give priority to those who were critical. The ones in the most critical conditions were naturally the slaves. Their conditions were so bad that it was akin to people being thrown around in a car. It was amazing how they could still stand up for so long. Then they heard about how ''orders'' from the master could basically make their brains override the bodies'' limitations, allowing them to go beyond it. To be honest, it worried them a lot more than proper. After all, since Fargo Village lost, at least half of them had become ''slaves'' themselves. "You''re a slave?" Volohov asked Raffy, who nodded as he placed some paste on the skin of the patient. Volohov sighed and looked at his wife, who was also treating a couple of people. Raffy followed his sights before moving to the next patient. "I heard Auntie Liana¡­" "We''ll just trust that they act according to their promise. Isn''t Master Garan serving that territory?" "Ah, yes." They could only hope they didn''t misplace their trust. Anyway, the clinic was full and there were plenty of makeshift beds outside as well. They were made of woven leaves made by several citizens as an industry product even back then. Fargo also commissioned a lot of these before so the industry was booming. They thought it was already amazing to have such mats, but then they learned Altera had legitimate cloths like cotton and hempcloth, and they realized they still had a lot to learn. Those who could help also did so. Whether it was in placing the patients on the mat or just carrying them there, most people did their parts. As for the medicine, there naturally wasn''t much at first, but at some point boxes of medicine and gauze arrived at their doorstep, shocking them. The doctors were shocked. With this, they didn''t have to dilute the medicine too much! Giving them so much for their recovery, they mused that Altera¡­ must really be a good place, right? "Altera sent through the array," was all the delivery men said. Before leaving, they couldn''t help but add, "We also have a healer coming in to help," he said. "But she can only do so much, so please handle the minor injuries by yourselves." Another healer? They thought only Vanessa could do that! ¡­ S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Other than the doctors, the doubts also lingered in the heads of many people. Interestingly, there were also optimistic individuals who weren''t worrying too much. For one, there was Tacky and the others, who had smiles on their faces, despite the Slave status hanging above their heads. Of course, a part of them still worried that an Alteran would order them out of nowhere, but they tried to be optimistic. Things would be too hard to deal with otherwise. On the mat near them, Lani and the others had already woken and recovered somehow. Everyone was still a slave, but at least there was no voice in their minds asking them to attack the enemies at the expense of their own lives. At the very least, they knew it couldn''t get any worse! ¡­ One of the people helping out around the clinic was Juni. She had seen that the ladies were all cleaned up and getting treated. For their comfort, she let them stay in two adjacent houses that were appropriated to shelter them for a while. She was doing all this despite having injuries of her own, in fact. She had bandages (from Altera) wrapped around her bigger wounds which were on her hands and legs. She was also limping a bit but, otherwise, she was fine. As for the rest of the bandages, she gave them to the doctors to use on the highly critical patients inside. After settling the ladies, she then went outside to see where else she could help. As she walked, she heard her name being called. "Juni," the voice said, and she turned, finding a smile creeping up her face. It was Gill, and he was holding a Fargo guard on both hands, escorting them someplace. "I''m glad you''re okay," he said. From the reports, he had an idea of just how close Juni was in all the action. "It must''ve been scary," Gill said, sighing. He didn''t have romantic feelings for Juni anymore, but she was an integral part of his youth¡ªit was inevitable to be a little heartbroken at the image of her inside enemy territory. Juni though shook her head. Although it was dangerous¡ªit felt¡­ cathartic. To be able to damage that kind of men in whatever way she could felt refreshing and it felt good and relieving to think they wouldn''t be able to damage anybody else. "I''ve been through too much¡ªI''m much stronger than you think, Gill," she said and he chuckled. "Yeah, I can see that." "Anyway, it''s good you''re okay," he said. "And you did a good job." "Thank you. I am happy to contribute," she told him, and that was that. After nodding at each other, they continued on their way, moving forward and walking past each other as they went about their tasks for the place they mutually called ''home''. Chapter 607 - 607: Initial Plans (Part 1) Village Center Top Floor, an Hour Later The territory settled for about an hour before some key personnel were asked to meet up at the Village Center''s top floor. This was all done manually (with attendees just telling each other¡ªbecause none of them had control of Fargo''s ''system'' at this time, even Althea, because she chose not to merge the tokens yet. Fargo Village was, essentially, ''ownerless'' at this time. At the same time, because the territory was ownerless, the amenities that would usually be blocked for the lord alone¡ªincluding the third floor and even the warehouse¡ªwere accessible to all. In theory, if no one merged with the token and just left it in a secure place, what would happen when the war timer ended? There was the possibility of obliteration, but somehow she doubted it. There was no reason to set it up that way as the token was¡ªfrom observation¡ªlike an anchor to the system. The system''s regulations were most powerful here and the only reason a territory would be obliterated was because the lord¡ªto whom the token attached to¡ªperished. Rather, the more likely scenario was that it would either try to merge with the nearest qualified individual or the territory would become truly ''ownerless'', instead. While she wasn''t planning on doing it in Fargo Village, she did wonder how an ''ownerless'' territory would work. Anyway, back to the meeting, Althea looked around to see if everyone was there. On Altera''s side, it was her, Garan, Oslo, and the other soldiers. On Fargo''s side, it was naturally a bigger party with Victor, Henry, and his team. At first, Victor and the others thought they''d be meeting in one of the meeting rooms on the second floor, and they were surprised to find out they were heading towards the previously restricted floor. "We can access? How could that be?" Victor asked, looking around. "Probably because this place is ownerless now," she said as they settled around the table. The table in the head was purposely left blank. However, consciously or not, everyone turned to Althea for instructions. It wasn''t even to Garan, primarily because he was obviously there to agree with whatever his wife proposed¡­ The first topic was, of course, what to do now that the former lord was gone. Before that, Althea asked how the situation was before the war, including the situations during the upgrade mobs. This would give them an idea as to the defensive strength and performance of the territory. Soon, they would come to realize that Altera''s mob upon upgrading to level 3 was at a very different intensity than what Fargo experienced. "This is natural, Miss Althea," Oslo said, "In fact, from what I heard, the upgrade mob of Fargo was the relatively normal standard." Of course Fargo''s upgrade to level 3 was not comparable to Altera''s. First, Altera''s aether was far stronger despite the lower level average at the time (compared to aborigine villages) and, second, Fargo upgraded many days earlier and the cloud was still working at its peak. Fargo did not encounter a single level 5 monster at all. Lucky. Next, Leon and Santos reported on the current state of the infrastructure. They reported on the ratio of the squatters area to the developed land, the hygienic considerations, and the like. Basically, there was a lot to improve¡ªand this was something that required a lord. "What are you planning on doing with the tokens?" Henry asked, genuinely curious. A lot of them thought Garan or Althea would take it for themselves, and they wouldn''t mind it at all. Garan was one thing, but it was Althea who was behind so many inventions that helped them improve their lifestyles and helped them in this war! Either one becoming their lord would only be good for the territory! "The elders and I would wait for instructions," Althea said, showing no interest in the token at all. "Otherwise, we would vote for it." Vanessa sneered, internally commenting about her ''pretentiousness'' but was tactful enough not to be obvious about it. "For now, what can we do to ensure Fargo Village¡ªto be renamed soon¡ªwill be able to stand strong even without those aborigines." She looked at Henry''s side at this time. After all, they knew the situation of the territory before the war. "Actually, it''s not as worrisome as you think," Victor said. "Fargo''s men didn''t really work much against beast tides, it was all our team, Santos, and Leon who handled things. Henry nodded in agreement. "To be fair, Santos and Leon were the primary force against the mobs, even the stronger ones." Gill blinked. "Oh? That''s convenient then¡ª" but he paused when he felt the two flinch, and they looked at him as if they had been wronged. Gill: "..." "What is it?" It was Leon who cleared his throat to speak. "We¡­ would like to request a change of assignment." This wasn''t insubordination. They also wanted to see Altera! Whenever they thought of the imagery that Luis and the others gave them, they would compare to the suffering they had to endure here. They couldn''t help but feel green at the possibility that they would still be assigned here when there were obviously other options! Seeing them like this, Gill''s eyebrows rose, and then looked at Vanessa. After all, these two only stayed because of her. Now, they barely even looked at her. It seemed that her appeal had faded already? S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Vanessa blinked, feeling a stare. She couldn''t tell whose it was but, for some reason, she felt offended. Althea and the others didn''t take the small exchange in mind and simply proceeded in the planning. The territory wouldn''t be experiencing another war in at least two weeks, so this was the best time to reconstruct. In the end, they decided to make a few soldiers (not Santos or Leon) stay and train the guards here as they did in Altera. Everyone prayed to their gods not to be the one assigned to it. Sure, the place was new and interesting, but how could they be happy getting pried away from the comforts of Altera? Chapter 608 - 608: Initial Plans (Part 2) They also determined some changes that had to be done in the territory itself. First was the actual inhabitants. Their primary concern was the fighting within the territory. "We would at least like to feel at peace when there wasn''t a war," Santos said. After all, back when the Rongos were around, one could see some violation of human rights in a corner or two. Althea nodded and turned to Oslo. "Would merging automatically implement the rules in Altera to the new territories? "I am not certain of that, Miss Althea," he said. He hadn''t been around much, only in cities and then the town he was ''deposited'' in for hiring. At the time, they didn''t even go to war much, let alone manage to take over a territory. "Well, we''ll find out soon enough," Althea said, already thinking of the possibilities, and whether there would be rules to add specifically for Fargo. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She would later find out that she would be given an option whether to ''copy'' the rules of Altera and implement them. This would save her time and effort to input the rules one by one. However, she had to pay the same amount all over. Fortunately, money wasn''t a problem so the new Village would soon enjoy the same safety rules in Altera. The next to report were the Alterans who stayed there a bit like Drake. They knew Altera well and had a better idea of the differences. "The sentries can be a bit denser," he said, "And the dormitories would help remove the need for slums." Many people nodded at this, particularly those who traversed the slums. For example, there was Ansel, who looked at his sister as if he had been molested. "It was so disgusting! It''s like we were back to the medieval ages¡ªand these are all modern Terrans, mind you!" It seemed that even if people were educated, some people could go back to the medieval ages in a blink of an eye! "It''ll be costly, but I''m sure the people living here would appreciate it and do what they could to help." Althea noted all of these, as well as the costs. There was no such thing as ''utilities'' in the system options. Like in Altera, everything would have to be built manually, and that would be a huge amount of work. The discussion continued with various points and proposals coming across. At each point, Althea had something to contribute or correct. One happened to be Vanessa''s, who proposed to keep slaves to gather resources for medicines. She proceeded to say they would be treated humanely. Besides, a lot of the slaves didn''t deserve to be freed! "That won''t do, we already promised them freedom during the height of war," she said. "Except for the former guards and other ''criminals'' who either be executed or become prisoners of war, the others should live freely." Vanessa wasn''t there so she missed a lot of promises. Failing to achieve this would lower the citizens'' trust to Altera, and Vanessa could only shut her mouth. In the entire discussion, Victor and the others'' respect for Althea had increased another notch. Vanessa felt very uncomfortable the whole time. "Can we see the lord token?" She asked, making everyone turn to Althea. Vanessa wanted to see the look of greed on the other woman''s face. However, Althea''s expression didn''t change as she showed the two tokens which would merge automatically until the 28 hrs were up if they remained in her hands. She noticed something different about Fargo Village''s token though. It appeared a bit bigger and thicker, with a small gem embedded at the side. She used her assessment skill to take a look. "A Vision stone," she said, but her assessment skill was apparently not high enough to know more about it, indicating the level of the ''tool'' was not low. She looked at Oslo, who walked next to her to get a closer look. Oslo looked very interested when she mentioned the name, and was happy to help. Vanessa, who had always been watching closely, could see the affection and reverence in the man''s eyes. This made her eyebrows rise. "This is quite rare," he said, tone gentle. "I heard¡­ one was stolen in a city. It caused a bit of a stir and a lot of people died. How could a village have it?" "What does it do, exactly?" "You''d be able to see a territory''s population, prestige, and the like," Because of the lack of openness in information, the things he knew about certain tools were limited, even for him, a city dweller. "I did hear that after some time, one could also see a territory''s wealth and resources, though I can''t say this for certain." "This is good enough, thank you." "Anything for Miss Althea¡­" He said before sitting down on the chair. He blinked when he felt an eye stuck on him and turned to see it was a beautiful woman. A womanizer by habit, Oslo smiled and the woman blushed a bit, looking away. Oslo shrugged and continued to listen to the meeting, unaware of the woman''s stare on him and increasing bitterness at the person leading the meeting. At some point, it was Victor and Henry who spoke. "What about you? Will you be staying here for a while?" "No." "Then¡­ what do we do in the meantime?" Henry mumbled, worried. This time it was Garan who spoke. "You will be affiliated with Altera, and we hope you will lead the population. "If Altera decided to merge, then we would need a trustworthy person to steward the place." "Me?" Henry uttered then everyone nodded in agreement. To their surprise, however, he shook his head. "I''m too old and tired. Have my son do it." The past few months¡ªincluding the time when his daughter went missing¡ªhad taken a toll on his health. Followed by the migration and all the fighting¡­ he simply didn''t have the will to add so much stress anymore. Victor flinched and looked at everyone who was watching him. He then looked at his dad who was smiling at him, absolutely not planning on changing his mind. Victor looked complicated and¡ªafter a few moments of consideration¡ªsighed in defeat. He rubbed his forehead, not particularly fond of politics himself. "I''ll¡­ do my best." Chapter 609 - 609: Reunions and Aftermaths On another side of the territory, Alterans were also helping out injured citizens and the slaves. A lot of the slaves had woken up around the clinic, and some woke up with a friend or family there waiting for them to wake up. There were plenty of sobs as they realized they were freed from Fargo. There were reunions abound, but also sobs of losses. Not everyone had been placed in placed in the clinic yet, this included the hundreds of corpses around. After all, they had to handle those who were still breathing, and this unfortunately meant some corpses were just lying around for now. For one, there was a woman crying on the corner, holding a man''s corpse. "Nooo¡­. My love¡­ wuuu¡­" It was Shannon, hugging her boyfriend tightly as she sobbed. After the female Alterans got rid of her abuser, she watched their battle very closely, hoping to find a way to help out. She happened to be near where Fargo''s battles were and she wondered if she could get one of those fallen bows and arrows to assist. However, she wasn''t able to do so in the end because Fargo called in the slaves¡ªand she saw her fiance in it! She didn''t even think much and opened her door, hoping to rescue him somehow. However, she ended up being pulled into the crowd. She thought she''d drown and get stepped on, but she was lifted up and pushed aside by an Alteran fighting nearby. She was still elbowed a lot, but she was at least upright with the wall as a cover. This Alteran was Cassie, she knew, as she had been watching her a lot since her defeat of that bastard. What they didn''t expect was for Fargo to send earth spikes around as he stepped back, targeting the Alterans who had somehow gone over the slaves to attack him. It hit some of them, while others missed, and Shannon saw one go straight to her. She didn''t have any equipment at all¡ªand she knew there was no way she''d survive it. But her boyfriend¡ªwho seemed to just be going after the Alterans near her¡ªhappened to enter its path, getting stabbed by it instead. People might think it was just him being unlucky, but she knew her fiance to have extremely strong willpower¡ªshe instinctively felt he stepped on his way. Which, to be honest, was even more heartbreaking. How¡­ how was she able to live through this? Cassie, who was limping and had a lot of bandages all over, sighed at the tragic sight the girl created. She walked over, offering to help out, and together they carried the man to the side, letting his head rest on his fiance''s thighs. Cassie was nearby when this man died as one of the Alterans who was after Fargo at the time, though they couldn''t get too close because of the strongmen around him. She had seen what happened and, like Shannon, she believed that the small move was on purpose. She looked at the poor girl with red eyes, hoping she would get through this and move on. "He was a slave with orders, but he managed to save his lover in the end," she said as she looked at the man''s face, "No wonder he''s smiling." Shannon blinked and parted a bit to see. It was true, he was smiling and he had a peaceful expression on his face. Shannon sobbed, but at the same time, she understood¡ªshe could not waste his sacrifice. Even if it was hard¡­ she knew she had to live well, regardless. ¡­ She wasn''t the only one who had tragic reunions. For instance, there was Chucky, who held onto the corpse of his baby brother. He had been too late to rescue him, allowing the other slaves to step on him, crushing his weak body. They had already started to create a cremation area and he¡ªno matter how reluctant¡ªhad to bring his brother''s body. He was only fourteen years old¡­ How would his mother take this news? "Just live well," a teammate said, patting his shoulder. "You don''t want your mother to lose both her sons, right?" Chucky heaved a deep, shaky, breath as he patted the boy''s head. "I''ll take care of mum for the both of us," he said, sniffing, before finally letting the others take the body for cremation. "Rest well." ¡­ While there were many sad reunions that resonated across the territory, there were also happy ones. For instance, Tacky and his sister Lanni, who had just woken up in the clinic. As one of the main participants of the war, he naturally managed to get his sister on the ''priority list''. Tacky felt so fortunate that his sister was okay. At this time, the two were sobbing in each other''s arms, happy to find each other. They asked each other about what happened during the migration, and she told him her first territory was Bright Village. It was really nice, comparatively, but it all ended because of the war. She told him about how they were attacked, and how she was the only one who survived because one of the men liked her mole. "What about mum?" Tacky asked Lanni. They were shopping together at a mall when the disaster happened. The mention of their mother made her sob even more. "She... she became one immediately," she mumbled, sobbing, recalling how her own mother tried to eat her. Tacky sighed, patting her back. "At least she didn''t suffer anymore. Dad¡­" he paused, "We actually managed to survive all the way here, we fought so much¡­" His eyes turned red, "Who''d have thought¡­" sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His voice faltered as his sister looked at him with teary eyes, unsure whether she wanted to hear it. But they both knew she should know, so Tacky told her what happened anyway. "He¡­ he saw how Belize and the others were taking girls¡­ and he¡­" Lanni had stayed long enough in Fargo and heard of stories. She broke into tears and her brother saw her like this and couldn''t help but do the same. They both broke into sobs. It got so loud that it caught the attention of the others. It was like they went back to being children¡ªthat, in a sense, they actually still were. However, despite the noise, no one stopped them, and some people even joined in. Like dominoes, more and more people couldn''t stop their own tears and before long a whole area was crying. They cried loudly, some to the top of their lungs, releasing heaving sobs they didn''t know they still had after puberty. After the migration, a lot of them had¡ªalbeit quietly¡ªcried a lot, but after a while their tears had dried and their hearts felt tired. After witnessing a few more deaths and brushed with it themselves, no one really cried anymore¡ªthey didn''t have the time nor the energy to do so anymore. But now¡­ it felt like a dam had gone loose, and they let out all their emotions, as if yelling of how they had been wronged¡ªas if they were throwing tantrums at the world. Maybe they were. Either way: It felt so, incredibly, refreshing. Chapter 610 - 610: Reuniting with Old Friends In another street, Bruce, with Rebi and little Lina had separated from the other slaves from the mines to peruse the rest of the territory. They knew for sure that the Bright Territory folks were around here somewhere, and they hoped to encounter them. Not to mention, they might find people they knew among the locals! They encountered a few people on the ground and they would help them get to where the Alterans set up some minor treatment hubs. These places were located in various houses spread around the territory, near where the battles occurred. Here, Alterans would give some diluted potions to those who needed them, but only once and they would vary the dosage depending on how harsh the person''s injuries were. For now, this was all for free, and it really added prestige to the territory that took over their own. It took Bruce and the others a while to find Bright Citizens who joined in the attack but, when they did, they encountered the former lord himself! Micheal was helping out with the injured slaves at this time and, as Bruce and the others approached him, they immediately became respectful. "Milord¡­" "I''m not the lord anymore," Micheal said, patting his shoulder as he looked at him. He was thin and bloodied but somehow all his appendages were working well and his drive to survive was strong. "I heard you guys were rescued from the mines?" "Yes, sir," Bruce said, looking at the Alterans¡ªexcept for the seriously injured¡ªevery one of which was busy helping someone or a group. "The Alterans, they¡­ they''re really so good." Micheal smiled. "We are lucky to have them on our side," he said, looking at him. "You did well, too." Bruce nodded and looked at him. "I heard my daughter¡­" "She''s safe, Tom and the others are raising her well," he said. "She''s living very well right now. She even made friends." Although the Alterans had told him about her, it still felt different coming from a fellow Bright Villager who had traveled the whole time with his daughter. A part of him thought that the Alterans could just be comforting him. Besides, they didn''t know him that well. What if they mistook him for someone else? What if the girl they were talking about was another Lily? Of course he hoped the best for his daughter, but he couldn''t help but worry endlessly for her. As such, when Micheal himself confirmed their words, Bruce couldn''t help sobbing as if it was the first time he heard of it. "Oh¡­ god, thank you¡­" he sobbed, sitting down on the floor as he released all the tension he had in him. Behind him, Rebi''s eyes glazed with tears, happy for his friend and also feeling melancholic for his own situation. On the other hand, little Lina watched both of her uncles look like this with glazed eyes. From most angles, one could see a little girl looking a bit worried for her guardians but, if one looked closer, one would be able to see an incomprehensible expression on her face¡­ And it was one that resembled annoyance. ¡­ At this time, the other ''slaves'' from the mines were also looking around for family and acquaintances. Among them were Penny and Aditi, who was also observing the Alterans roaming around, knowing they were technically their new ''masters''. They were still slaves (Aditi had officially become one after Fargo lost), but they felt these people would not break their promise of treating them as free people despite it. Although there was a lot of work to do, they at least had hope of freeing themselves. The two were walking around in hopes of finding more acquaintances. Some were familiar faces from Bright, but they didn''t really know them well, and continued on. It was not easy to traverse these streets as there were still so many people, and they had to be careful not to step on anyone. They tried to help others sit up, but their energies were still limited, especially since they had been weakened for so long, and they only helped a few at a time. At some point, however, Penny froze in place, seeing a familiar person doing the same as they were. "I see someone I know," Penny said with bright eyes, looking apologetically at her companion. Aditi smiled in understanding and nodded, separating from her. "Good luck," she said, wishing for the same to happen to her. Penny smiled back. "You too," she said, and went on separate ways. Penny looked at the dashing man who was helping a few slaves out. Her eyes brimmed in tears as she finally found someone she knew¡ªand it was someone she depended on a lot since she was a child! "Brother Gian?" Gian blinked and looked at her, a little startled but not too surprised. "Penny." "I¡­ I''m glad to see you here," she said, her rounded eyes looking at him as if she were his hope. Gian lips formed a thin line, staring at her with a complicated expression. If she knew that he knew that she was here¡ªwith Fargo''s men¡ªbut didn''t save her, how would she feel? He did ask for them to keep her life like his sister''s in exchange for his service, but he didn''t have the power to truly save them in the end. He couldn''t imagine what she had been through, and the fact that he didn''t do anything made him unable to face her with a clear heart. "Well, it''s good you are well," he just told her, not meeting her eyes. "The Alterans are very good. They helped me out a lot," she said, unaware of the awkwardness that surrounded Gian''s body. "You really have a good team." Gian smiled bitterly. If she knew he was lurking around because he was waiting for his punishment, what would she say? She didn''t know he had betrayed his faith, did she? The imagery of the girl''s wide eyes that had always looked at him in admiration turning to disgust was painful, but he had no one to blame but himself. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I''m a little busy," he said, not really wanting to talk much at this time. Penny blinked, a little hurt, but she also knew he was helping a lot of people so she didn''t push for anything. But she felt a complicated tinge in her chest as she looked at his back, not looking back at her. She bit her lips. Did he know? Did he know what had been done to her? Did he find her¡­ disgusting? "Move to Altera. Samantha is there," was all he said, before walking away, and leaving the poor girl standing standing amidst her own thoughts. Chapter 611 - 611: Happy Convergence Aditi didn''t know her friend was left heartbroken only a few minutes after they separated. She simply continued perusing the alleys, subtly checking the faces of everyone she passed, and helping those who asked for it. This was in stark contrast to how it was before the war. Back before she got scammed to serve, she was a normal citizen as well. At that time, even when there were thousands of people in the territory, they were either busy gathering supplies and resources to sell outside the territory or just hiding inside their homes, afraid to be targeted by the guards who were roaming around the streets. Now, there was a lot of noise. Whether it was people talking to each other, or people looking for others¡ªand thus yelling out their names¡ªthe noise pollution that surrounded her was something she hadn''t experienced after the Disaster. Fargo Village had essentially become a marketplace outside the clinic and village center and, to be honest, Aditi found it comforting. "ADITI!" a voice yelled and she whipped her head in the direction. There were a lot of people walking about and a lot of people talking over each other and she was half-certain she was hearing things. "ADITI!!!" the voice called again, this time closer, and she could see a few people giving way to someone. After another yell, a mocha-skinned man revealed himself. "Brother!?" she yelled and met up with him, immediately breaking into sobs as soon as he was in arm''s reach."Brother!!!" "Aditi¡­" The man smiled and sobbed at the same time, embracing his baby sister tightly. This was Raj, Ansel''s Financial and Banking officer. He and his brother went to war on his team, too, and had been helping with the cleanup. "Do you know what happened to the family?" Raj sighed and shook his head. "We don''t know where our parents are," he said. Though his instincts told him they were already gone, he still kept up some hope that they were fine. "But Ramil is with me." Aditi blinked looking around. Raj smiled and shook his head. "Ramil is in Altera now." Ramil had been injured in the fight. There were too many injured on Fargo''s side and the Alterans had preferred to get treated in Altera. Betty was there, anyway, and she would only be transferred to help Fargo citizens after the first wave of Alteran injuries had been settled. In fact, Raj had wanted to carry his brother, but the other insisted he stayed. This place was entirely unexplored by them with new sets of people. What if they could''ve found family? And he did! His older brother was really so smart! "Come," he said, holding the girl''s hand. "We have much to talk about!" ¡­ Near the clinic, Vivian watched the various reunions and meetings from the side. What was happening now was the convergence of three territories, and it was inevitable that there would be many happy news. Vivian though, just stared blankly at the slaves being treated in front of the clinic. She knew she wouldn''t find her husband there¡­ but she wanted to see to keep her sanity. As time passed, there were more and more people who found family, and it was making the women feel complicated. So many people had met their family, why couldn''t she? Others could find multiple family members, but her only one was getting taken away from her. There was only her and her husband in their family. They were both orphans who were raised together by relatives in the countryside. Growing up, they only ever had each other. All this time, Vivian had survived thinking she would be reunited with him again someday¡ªbut what could she do now that she might not? Vivian had always been a strong, career woman, but now that the love of her life was gone, she couldn''t help but question her own choices. She should have spent more time with him. She shouldn''t have missed all those anniversaries in favor of scoops. She should''ve given him a child he so wanted¡ªbut she didn''t, because she was busy chasing what she wanted. She even made him move to the city with her, when his passion and talents were obviously rooted in his farm in the province, where his precious herbs were taken care of. She had seen how much he loved the little garden they had on the balcony, but what could she do? Her own passion was in the city, and she could simply be apologetic and say a lot of promises to him¡ªsome of which she couldn''t do¡ªwhile he left everything behind for her. "God, if you let me get my husband back, I promise to become a better wife for him," she whispered, still holding on to miracles. "Even if he¡­ hates me after what happened, I will do what I can to give him a better life¡ªeven if it wasn''t¡­. with me." She just wanted him alive and well. At this thought, she decided to go and look at other places, heading in a direction until a familiar voice called for her. "Miss Vivian! I finally found you!" It was Kyle, who was running to her, panting. "Miss Vivian! Go, look! The soldiers brought in slaves they rescued from the mines! There are hundreds of them!" Her eyes widened as she followed him. Although Piko had said her husband died, she couldn''t help but hope for miracles. Sure enough, there was still a long line of people walking along the main avenue. There were only a few hundreds¡ªwith others opting to explore on their own¡ªbut everyone looked closely, hoping to find the person they were looking for. Vivian looked at every one of them. They all looked pitiful¡ªas all slaves were¡ªbut they looked much healthier than the ones used to mob fellow humans. However, as more and more people passed¡ªand still with no sign of the person she wanted to see¡ªher heart began to feel heavier and heavier. As the crowd walked past her, it felt like they were stepping on the little hope she had left and it made her legs feel weak. She had to use the wall of the building to support herself, slowly dragging her legs to head back to the house she was staying in. Her body was shaking, as if she was having a withdrawal symptom of sorts, and her breath was becoming a little sparser, more challenging. However, after a street, a familiar voice yelled out to her. "WIFE!" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She froze and turned in the direction of the voice, and all the tiredness was suddenly swept away. He didn''t look very healthy, but he looked much better than his battered state when she last saw him. Most importantly: he was alive and well. Her feet moved as she ran to him, wrapping her arms around him. "HUSBAND!!" Thomas smiled and embraced her back, burying his head on her shoulder, rubbing as if to make sure everything was real. As they felt the other''s familiar warmth, heard the other''s voice and their heartbeats¡ªit was only then that they confirmed they were not hallucinating. The couple broke into sobs¡ªhearts filled with happiness and gratitude¡ªjust happy to be in the same space as each other again. Chapter 612 - 612: Becky While various movements appeared all around the territory, there were also a few who simply didn''t have a sense of urgency. For instance, there was Becky who was walking around and observing the aftermath. Rather, while she did feel a little sad for the victims, for the most part she was just happy to walk around without feeling someone would pull her every two alleys or so. It wasn''t like they''d appreciate her help, anyway. Although she never did anything to anyone, just the fact that she was once Fargo''s woman naturally made her an evil woman. As she walked, she would only receive looks and frowns. If she walked closer, those frowns would be deeper. So¡­ she didn''t bother helping anyone out, thinking that she''d be spat on or mocked instead. Don''t blame her for being selfish. She had suffered too much to risk her own skin for others, and it had never worked her way. Hey! She almost got gang raped when she tried helping other women! She was lucky she was pretty and the leaders were possessive, so she was fortunately limited to one at a time. When she felt she was going to get shared, she would act coy and make the man feel extremely special¡ªlike, her wanting to sleep only with him and him alone¡ªthus causing him to change his mind. Anyway, because she was smooth, she managed to escape the fate of becoming a sex toy for the Rongos after the lord got tired of her. Rather, she also found another use for herself under Fargo''s protection. How? She immediately showed her knowledge in industrial engineering¡ªyes, that was her major in college¡ªand was assigned to various tasks. As for why she didn''t do this in the first place, there simply wasn''t a chance to. How could she use her knowledge on a bunch of weeds? There was no one willing to support her ''useless'' field and her only ''value'' as a woman was to bring the men pleasure. It was only when Fargo found out that they were actually technologically behind another territory¡ªthe incredibly intriguing Altera¡ªthat they decided to add manpower in this area. Anyway, she really wanted to move to Altera but she hoped to find acquiantances this time. She was among the unlucky to have gotten herself a ''slave'' status, and she needed to know for sure what she was getting into. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She looked around for a couple more minutes, and she couldn''t help but brighten at the sight of familiar faces! They were fellow engineering students¡ªthough all of different fields¡ªand she had shared a few subjects with them back then. She squealed and raised her hand, waving at them. "Crow, Dog, Sunny!" "Hey! It''s me~!" They turned to her almost simultaneously. Becky made a beautiful sight, but the trio cringed and ignored her, going away and dealing with the clean up of another place. Becky: "..." She pursed her lips, and crossed her arms. How rude¡­ ¡­ "Whew that was close!" Dog said, patting his chest with his unbandaged hand. He looked pale and nervous, as if just escaping death. Sunny pursed her lips and nodded, while Crow shrugged, not really caring for gossip. Becky had a horrible reputation back in college due to various rumors. It was cemented by the fact that she was, apparently, one of Fargo''s women back then. Anyway, they didn''t want to be associated with her at all!, so they ran away for fear of her trying to attach to them! Good riddance! ¡­ A bit more time passed and the clean-up was nearing its end, with most of the heavily injured Alterans already gone back through the array. Amidst the busy streets, there were two doggos energetically walking around. They followed the medics around, helping with the transfer of the injured to the makeshift clinic. While they were helping people out, making them happy with their fluff and smiles, it had to be noted that Fufi was often turning his head to the gorgeous white wolf. The dog''s tail was wagging wildly, showing his emotions. Luis, who was nearby cleaning up the last of the Fargo guards on the streets, looked on with a complicated expression. "Wow, Fufi''s got a girlfriend already. How old is he? Two years old?" Mao stared at him, helping out a ''slave'' safely transfer to the stretcher using his ability. "Just find someone to court too." As strong soldiers, they actually shouldn''t have trouble finding women. It was just that they were really ill-equipped for the romantic missions and often times offending the women in the end. The worst among them was actually Gill. It was still incomprehensible to them how he found such a good girlfriend who could tolerate him! Then again, Boss Gill was very handsome. The tolerance for such a handsome jerk was probably as high as Mount Nispedana. Anyway, Luis shrugged the envy in the end, continuing on settling the injured and the like. However, at some point, he felt a body fall nearby him and he instinctively pulled the person up. It went fast and his pull wasn''t weak and it ended up pulling the light weight straight to his body. He blinked, awkwardly staring down at the woman whose softness rested on him. "Thank you¡­" she mumbled, making him freeze as he heard of her soft voice. His eyes widened a bit as he looked at how her eyelashes fluttered as she blinked. It tickled his heart like feathers. "No¡­ no problem," Luis mumbled (note: gulped). "Do you want me to carry you to the clinic?" She laughed at him as she separated from him and stood up properly. "No, I just tripped." Luis looked at her and the space behind her, seeing locals who didn''t seem to give them¡ªor rather, the woman¡ªany good looks. She saw his confusion and smiled, but Luis could see the hint of bitterness there. "They hate me because I used to be Fargo''s lover." "Eh?" He exclaimed, a bit loudly and also a little pale. She looked at the surprised man with a deep frown and her eyes glazed a bit. "I¡­ thank you for your help," was all she said before turning away. Luis followed her as she disappeared into an alley, immediately getting pulled aside himself. He turned to see it was the Crow Trio, looking at him in worry. "LUIS!" "Oh, it''s you three." "She''s bad news! Stay away from her!" Luis looked at them with pursed lips, just shrugging noncommittally, and went back to work. However, his eyes couldn''t help but occasionally gravitate towards the place that woman went to, unsure what he was thinking. Chapter 613 - 613: Yiyi’s Situation At this time, a few hours after the war ended, Jake finally arrived at had been Fargo Village. He was drenched in sweat and heaving deep breaths. The Alterans outside the walls did not receive the announcement, though knowing the war ended wouldn''t have changed his speed at all. The straight distance between Fargo and Altera was only about 100 kilometers, and even longer if one avoided the more dangerous trecks. Normal people would take more than a day, even if the pace wasn''t leisurely, and high-leveled individuals could sprint this for a fraction of that. However, this was in exchange for a lot of health which Jake had no problem spending. He looked around, mind a bit muddled, and a little confused about where to start his search. In the end, while looking for a familiar guard, he couldn''t stop himself from asking random citizens as he traversed the village. "Has anyone seen a girl named Yiyi?" he would ask and they would shake their heads. It wasn''t surprising, because Yiyi always kept low-key. Jake naturally didn''t waste time doing so and just asked where Alteran guards were. They looked at him up and down with smiles and admiration, before pointing him in a direction. It so happened that Sammy was there with a few others, helping with the cleanup along with everyone else. Specifically, handling the guards and a few other ''criminals'' for joint punishment. "Sammy!" he yelled, and the dark-skinned man looked surprised to see him there. "Back from Ferrol? How was it¡ª" but his words stopped when he saw Jake''s sweaty face and hair akin to a bird''s nest. You know, Jake had taken care of his hair a lot. He also bought lots of gel from the supermarket to maintain it. Sammy had the suspicion that a small portion of the guy''s space was filled with gel. But look at him now, completely haggard. "What''s wrong?" he asked, worried, but instead the man just asked if he had an idea where Yiyi was. "Yiyi?" Sammy uttered, immediately brightening up, "Ohmy, finally admitting?" "I''m just worried she got injured or something!" "Suresuresure." Jake looked a few more times with his friends also helping him out. At this time, no one had the time to list down thousands of names, especially when there was so many things to handle, so even they had to look manually. At first, they had teasing grins, but as they asked more people who seemed to have no idea where Yiyi was, the mood became more and more dire. "Yiyi did say she kept to herself, very much," he mumbled. She survived so long because she kept to herself, and they truly shouldn''t be surprised that no one knew her. However, Jake''s heart couldn''t shake off a bad feeling of foreboding. Did something really happen to her? It was around this time that a familiar woman approached Jake. They looked at her and was a little startled. "Juni?" "I know where Yiyi is," she said, her face impassive, not explaining any more. Jake saw Sammy and the other pale and it made his heart drop. "Where was she assigned?" Jake asked Sammy before he went to follow her. Sammy looked at him with a complex expression, before finally opening his mouth to speak. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Rongos." *** Jake''s face was practically bloodless as he followed Juni to one of the villas they expropriated for the women. It was a relatively new one, in hopes of not triggering any bad memories in any of them. Juni''s feet halted when they reached the living room filled with simple wood furniture, before pointing at a couch. "Stay there," she said, "The girls¡­ they don''t really like a lot of testosterone in their midst." Jake nodded in understanding. However, before Juni turned, he couldn''t help but ask. "Wait¡­ can you tell me more¡­ first?" He wanted to know so he could react properly. Juni understood this and decided to be frank with him. Anyway, a man like him would not appreciate sugarcoating. "As you could guess, she was one of the dozens of women kidnapped and used as a sex slave," she paused, looking at the man who shook as he stood. "Although Yiyi is thin, she has a cute face. It was actually a perfect target for those... monsters, especially now that there were barely any children among thousands of people¡­" Jake''s fist clenched tightly, to the point that his skin was bleeding. Juni sighed and let him be, going inside to get Yiyi. However, when she came out about a quarter of an hour later, there was no one with her. Juni looked at him with a bit of an apology. "She doesn''t want to see you. I''m sorry." Jake pursed his lips, clenching his fists. "I¡­ can you tell her I will stay here and not eat until she comes to talk. I promise not to get closer to her by more than a meter." While he knew the girl needed space now, he was afraid if he just let it be, she''d completely float away. His mother was just like that¡ªjust before she took her life. Juni sighed. "I will try." "Thank you," Jake said, waiting patiently in the living room. He hadn''t known Yiyi enough to be in love with her, but he definitely cared for her. Eventually, Juni came out again, this time gently holding a younger girl. She was thin, wan, and her eyes were glazed as if they couldn''t focus anymore¡ªin stark contrast to the bubbly optimistic girl that he had met. When she was gently brought to his space, Jake didn''t dare get closer. He simply sat in silence with her for a while, letting her adjust to his presence in the room. "I¡­ I know you don''t want to see me right now, but¡­ "I know it''s too late but I want to tell you we will punish everyone who did this to you," he told her. "I¡­ are you mad at me? I''m sorry for leaving you behind. We didn''t know the dangers¡­" "I just want you to know I will be there for you from now on, so I hope you ask for my help whenever you need it. I can even be someone you can beat up if you want," he said with a smile. As he spoke, his eyes couldn''t help but end up on her hands on her thighs. They were thin, unmoving, and had a lot of gauze, showing she had a lot of wounds. Jake slowly took her hand with the least bandage, ready to let go at the slightest signs of fear and discomfort. He was very gentle and tentative, making sure she knew he was trying to comfort her and not anything else. Soon, their hands entwined. Yiyi blinked as her eyes stayed on their connected hands. She raised her head to look at him, tears lining up her eyes. "I''m sorry¡­" Jake''s heart broke as he wrapped his arms around her. "Why are you apologizing?" "Dirty¡­ if I wasn''t so useless, I¡ª" "You have nothing to apologize about," he told her, patting her shoulder. "It''s all them. All them! "We''ll squeeze out an apology from those bastards together, okay?" he told her, tone gentle, but his eyes cast a murderous glint. Those bastards would pay for what they''ve done! He will make sure of it! Chapter 614 - 614: Punishment While Fargo was getting cleaned up, bit by bit, a few more people were invited to the Village Center. These were the respected citizens of Fargo other than Henry, who were the doctors. Their representative was Volohov as well as his wife, Liana. They also called some of the erudite citizens who had seen and experienced the events, but would still be able to help with the objective and logical decision-making. Among these people was Vivian and, by extension, her husband Thomas. While the confessions and the recording of accounts with the local citizens were going on below, Althea and the others still hoped to find other perspectives as well. After all, most citizens were at the height of emotions, and they might miss or exaggerate a few things. However, what they would hear still made their blood boil. The type of abuse and oppression was so medieval¡ªit was a shame that modern Terrans propagated it! The Alterans also looked at Henry and the others in pity. Having to endure such oppression while trying to protect citizens must not have been easy. No wonder the old man wanted to retire. Considering everyone had longer lifespans here, the old man must''ve felt he still lost a few years. After much discussion, they decided to divide the punishments into two: Execution and Prisoner of War. Execution would be the painful and prolonged deaths of the Thousand Slashes, where their victims would be allowed to damage them, to contribute to their painful and imminent deaths. The Prisoners of War would be the exception to the ''no slave'' rule of Altera. They would basically be ''slaves'' in a sense, where they''d be punished by doing hard labor jobs for Altera or its satellites. As for the duration of this sentence, it would depend on their transgressions. Besides, it so happened that Fargo had limestone and copper deposits that Altera needed. As they said so themselves: Slaves were convenient to dig! There were naturally some ''idealistic and humanitarian'' voices around, of course, who had voiced their opinion against such blatant ''disrespect for human rights''. For instance, there was Vanessa, who wasn''t comfortable with not having a bigger part in the discussion. "They''re human beings! We shouldn''t be deciding life or death like this, nor should we allow for slavery!" she said, a bit meekly but with chest out as if she was a kind-hearted woman speaking her mind against some oppressive force. Oppressive-force-Althea looked at her. "So, what do you suggest?" "I¡­ we let them go," she said, "Surviving out in their states¡ª" "Haven''t you heard that cockroaches live forever? What will you do if someone survived and caused harm to Alterans? You might not care, but I do." "That''s not what I meant¡ª" "You think just because people are injured, they wouldn''t be able to cause damage? Vanessa, don''t be naive." "I''m not!" Vanessa said, voice rising a bit. Her upbringing and the fact that she had an image to maintain in front of Garan kept her from losing her cool. "I''m just saying we shouldn''t be playing god¡ª" "In a world where strength is language and killing is everywhere, taking a life is not playing god¡ªit''s a means of survival." "You can''t possibly say that if those men did what they did to you, you would be able to let them be?" "I¡ª" "Will you?" Vanessa pursed her lips, eyes teary, and then she looked around for help, looking as if she was being bullied. However, no one felt pity for her. Garan didn''t even look at her, his eyes were fixed lovingly on his wife. Althea heaved a sigh as she saw her like this. However, in consideration of her brother and father, she wasn''t too harsh on her. "This is no longer Terran, where the biggest problem is if the president you voted for gets elected or if you get a job, or if you will get to buy that luxury bag you wanted. "Any wrong decision here could equal lives or a massacre," she paused, emerald eyes looking straight at her. "And we, as people in power, could only do what''s best for our people." ¡­ A few hours later. At this time, the surviving Fargo guards and a couple of inner wall citizens were gathered into the plaza in front of the village center. It was the only plaza Fargo had and the Alterans jointly decided to do the punishments there. The masses gathered around to see, and everyone was filled with emotions. They all knew what would be happening to these people, and they wanted to be there to witness it. The Alterans based on testimonials of victims and witnesses to determine who was to be put to death and who would simply be imprisoned and become war slaves. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was done using a strict oath, so they weren''t worried about wronging anyone. Anyway, this public display was necessary to calm some of the wrongs. After all, the victims had to carry the ''damage'' these people caused¡ªwhether physical or mental¡ªfor the rest of their lives. The least they could get was to punish the perpetrators themselves. The prisoners naturally struggled. Many of them couldn''t walk anymore with broken or amputated legs, so they were dragged to the plaza. "NO!! LET ME GOO!!" "STOP IT!" "DON''T¡ªGAH!" During their procession, the prisoners received rocks and trash thrown at them. The citizens didn''t throw feces, fortunately, because they knew the Alterans needed to touch them to set them up on the stake. There were dozens of stakes there with those to be executed staged in batches. There were plenty of struggles, pleas, and yells, but what could their weakened selves do against the strong and healthy Alterans? Each person was tied to a stake, and several Class B knives were lined up on a table in front of them. People who wished to punish the men queued up. The direct victims were allowed to stab how many times they wanted, while the others were limited to a few. The weakened guards could only watch as people lined up to stab at them. In front of the line, there was Jake, holding Yiyi''s hand. He gently placed the knife on her hand, and she raised her head to look at him, eyes contracted in fear and apprehension. Her hands were cold, shaking as she felt the hilt of the weapon. Jake''s heart broke but he knew this was a necessary step. If she didn''t do this¡ªshe might regret it. So, with a smile on his face, he comfortingly patted her hand. "Come," he said, gently pulling her to the platform. "We will take revenge together, okay?" Chapter 615 - 615: Executions The two of them halted in front of two specific men¡ªand they were known to be very active in bedding the women in the mercenary Hall. One had no legs, while the other also had no arms. They were both bloodied and cursing. "BITCH! LET US GO!" "GO AWAY!" They yelled when they saw a familiar sight. They actually looked happy to see her¡ªas if remembering the time they had power and were looming over her. Yiyi also remembered¡ªher body did¡ªand she let go of the knife and immediately shivered. Before she could scream, Jake immediately took her to his arms, patting her back. "You can do it, Yiyi," Jake said, encouraging. She had to face them now. If they died before she could do so, a shadow could remain in her heart. He took a deep breath and separated the two of them. He gently patted her head and turned her to face the monsters, who spit at them, hoping it reached Yiyi. He wanted to see if she''d react as if she was burned. Jake frowned and BANG! He punched them both in the face. It was not so strong, but strong enough that their remaining teeth fell off! "AHHHH!" "YOU BASTARDD!!" "DIE, YOU¡ªHNG!" Jake covered their mouth with a random dirty cloth, and the other Alterans took the signal and did the same with the others. This way they couldn''t taunt or spit at anyone anymore. They should''ve done that before, but they wanted the victims to hear their perpetrators'' pleas and screams. Anyway, Jake held Yiyi''s shoulder as he put her in front of him. He had the knife in hand, placing it on her small palms once again. Only those who were fit to do so by the Psychiatrist Doctor Ward (who didn''t queue because her perpetrator was Belize) were allowed to hold the knives, of course. They wouldn''t want anyone slashing at their own wrists, after all. "Yiyi, I know you''re scared, but doing this would help other girls avoid the same fate as you did. You can help them," he said and his peripheral view caught sight of the crowd. "And look behind you. If you don''t take this leap, many others wouldn''t, too." "But¡­" "I believe you." Yiyi pursed her lips, holding tightly at the knife. Jake smiled and arranged her hold of the knife. At first, he would guide her on how to do the thousand slashes. "The trick was, not to stab them too much," he told her. "It''s always just to make gashes all over their body so they would be covered in wounds, much like what their victims had to endure." Yiyi nodded, tentatively making a slash. At first, her heart pounded in nervousness and fear, recalling the horrendousness she had been through. Yiyi was soft-hearted and in no way a psychopath, but there was something refreshing about this type of revenge. It was like slowly, she was getting her agency back¡­ Anyway, these men weren''t human. What could anyone feel empathic for? Seeing Yiyi like this, more and more victims moved forward, bravely taking a knife and facing their fears. After a few minutes, pools of blood had appeared under the men squirming in pain as they were slashed everywhere, bit by bit. In their intense struggle, some mouth gags fell off, letting the audience hear the screams of big men. "GYAHHH!" "IT HURTS!!" There was like a pig squealing while they were being blooded alive. Slash, stab, slash again, the prisoners could only yell and scream as they were tortured one by one, without any hope of freedom. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Hundreds of captives were tortured in a similar way, their curses and pleas resounded. To them, it was hell on earth filled with blood but, to the audience, it was an oddly reinvigorating sight. Only those who were truly victimized were allowed a stab, but everyone else still felt vindictive happiness at the sight of their suffering. The Alterans were also there, guarding closely in case anyone managed to make trouble, and the Fargo men knew there was no escape. They yelled and struggled, cursing the world and the Alterans, wishing them the worst of fates, all the way til they lost their strengths. First, they stopped screaming, then they stopped struggling, and then they eventually stopped breathing. The prisoners still ''queued'' could only look as the first batch of men were checked for life, one by one. Surprisingly, one or two were either still alive or just pretending, and the Alterans had their throats slit for good measure. Drake, seeing as those were settled, nodded. "Next batch." The prisoners in line peed their pants, all their arrogance stripped off after watching their old teammates die such horrid deaths. Would they suffer the same fate? Especially in the hands of the people they had called slaves?! HELL NO!! At this, a few people looked at each other, and in an instant those who could run darted in different directions, while those who couldn''t move anymore could only yell at them, begging to be taken. A lot tried to escape¡ªsome crawling away¡ªbut were quickly blocked. The Alterans didn''t even have to move, the citizens themselves kicked them back. BANG! "AHH!" The fastest man yelled as he was pushed back by several people¡ª people he used to beat up when he wanted to! How dare they¡ª But before he could react, he was slapped and kicked and basically mobbed. He tried to struggle off his ropes and gasped when he felt it loosen a bit. His eyes turned red, prepared to make a full run for it! He wasn''t able to in the end when someone decided to pummel him with a fist. He was greatly weakened at this time, and that one punch from a person several levels lower than he was was extremely offensive! "BAST¡ª" before he could curse, an Alteran already walked over to drag him back to the execution platform. He shit on his pants, disgusting everyone. "No! NO PLEASEE! Don''t kill me!!" he screamed, all arrogance drained to the ground, though his words only fell on deaf ears. The person who was now dragging him happened to be Jake. "Did you hear those women''s pleas when you did the same to them?" he asked, eyes dark. "You did not. No, you tortured them even more when they did. "We''ll just call this, implementing the Circle of Life." Chapter 616 - 616: The Betrayers’ Punishment Similarly, while the major perpetrators were being tortured and killed, the Alteran guards had also rounded up several normal citizens in the interior territory. "I''m not a guard! Why am I getting punished?" One yelled as he was dragged along the alleys. He looked around and saw a few others were being pulled as well. He paled when he recognized most of them, and a deep foreboding entered his gut. He kept his mouth shut, hoping he was wrong, but he did know annoying these guards now would only strengthen their case. The others though were not so mild. In particular, there were those who were rich or well-off in Terran and enjoyed a decent life here by pandering to Fargo. They had been extremely used to being arrogant, and they wanted to kick the faces of everyone looking down on them now! "YOU BAST¡ª" He was kicked down before he could complete the sentence, and he was pulled back up, no longer having the energy to be so noisy. Others were not so stupid, trying a more diplomatic approach. "This is not fair!" he yelled at the Alterans. "I saw you people going around, I didn''t say anything!" Some of the locals nearby spit at them. "You were just too scared the Alteran would kill you!" "It doesn''t mean I can be contained for cowardice¡ªAH!" "Shut up!" Mao yelled as he bumped the person''s head. The man felt his sights blur as he was dizzy, and he glared at the man. "Is this what a soldier should do?!" he yelled, and Mao''s eyes darkened. Jall smirked, thinking he affected the man, instead he was thrown to the wall. "You do know there''s no rules here about killing, right?" The man coughed in shock and gasped when he was lifted up. "It''s nothing compared to the shame you should feel¡ªheh, selling your own brethren for a bit of shelter? I heard you, in particular, even took part in the abuse." "Various reports came to light. But¡­ don''t worry we won''t kill you," Mao said. "Altera''s not planning on keeping slaves in the usual capacity, but we''ll make an exemption for you." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ... Back to the torture plaza, the torture continued. Whenever the criminals were on the verge of losing consciousness, Drake would send a little spark in their bodies, ensuring they were awake to feel all the pain¡ªto feel their lives slowly being drained until their bodies lost their functions. Several soldiers stood by as they watched with complex emotions. After all, it was against their psyche as modern soldiers to do something so¡­ primitive¡­like this. However, they also acknowledged that a good revenge was often necessary for a victim to truly move on with their lives. The one who felt heaviest was Gian, who had received predominantly silent treatment. He just stayed to wait for his punishment from the captain. He was there when the citizens were making their confessions, their oaths, and their stories, and he knew some, but some were new, but none failed to make him feel deep remorse. Gian had worked for Fargo but he basically just assisted them in fights, in leveling up, and the like. He had never participated in the abuse and even low-key attempted to stop some of them, but in the end he couldn''t risk his sister or her friend. So during the times he couldn''t stop Fargo''s men without using force, he would just look away and leave, pretending not to hear the cries for help. By helping Fargo, he helped them do this. He looked at the people lined up, seeing a few familiar faces there¡ªafter all, a lot of these people begged for his help before. And because they limited the slashes mostly to the main victims, they saw almost most of them were females. A lot of them were his sister''s age, too. He felt heavy as lead, his whole body feeling like it just wanted to melsh with the earth below him. His mind was only brought back to the present when he felt a tap on the back. It was Luis, who was looking at him with a complicated expression on his face. "Captain is calling for you." "A-Ah¡­" They met up in the forest outside the territory. There was a small clearing there, though the ground was mostly soil and stone. There was Garan, Gill, as well as a few others standing there, dire expressions on their faces. "Gian, what would you like to say for yourself?" This set up made him think he was going to get the harshest of punishments. And he was willing to receive it. "I should die." Gill sneered. "Useless¡ªtaking the easy way out." Gian raised his head and looked at them, realizing there was no murderous aura around them. He¡­ didn''t know what to say. However, he met the Captain''s sharp blue eyes and it made him feel like kneeling down. "You have betrayed our oath and you have succumbed to your selfishness and cowardice. As a soldier, you are more than a disgrace¡ªyou are a stain to what we stood for¡ª" Each word pounded into Gian''s head and heart, making him drown in shame. "However¡ªit is not worthy of death." It made him look at them with wide eyes, and Garan continued to speak. "Your life will be spared, but you have already broken the trust of the Team. You shall swear an oath never to betray an Alteran or their allies again, but at the same time you will never be able to step into its territory." Gian''s heart clenched, but he also knew he deserved much more. Garan looked at him. "I can give you a chance to say goodbye to your sister, giving her a choice to come with you." Gian shook and kneeled down for real. "No! I¡­ I can''t face anyone now¡ªespecially not my sister¡­ "Please¡­ don''t tell her I was here or what I did." In fact, the more he saw of the aftermath, the more difficult it was for him to face the others, and their brethren. He obviously had a narcissism problem, and he knew it would be difficult to change. Garan and the others saw him like this and sighed, walking past him. Gian didn''t move and listened to them leave him behind. His heart was in pain when he recalled he would never be part of their team again, but he understood it was the consequences of his actions. He kneeled there for a long time, thinking deeply, and he didn''t notice a few rustles of leaves sounding around him. Unconsciously, he surrounded himself with fire, and the low-level monsters that tried to attack were immediately burned. He waved his weapon to kill them, all without standing up. His mind ran swiftly as he calmed his heart, thinking of what to do next. When he stood up a few hours later, his eyes were clear, and he looked in the direction of what was Fargo Village. For the next month or so, Gian would guard this territory¡ªwithout entering its walls¡ªall the way until he was certain it was strong enough. Later, he would leave to travel, saving every brethren he encountered along the way. But that was a story for much, much, later. Chapter 617 - 617: Dust Settles A few hours later, the criminals for execution have all died. Their corpses were carried in a makeshift hand cart that they got the local carpenters to do. These carpenters had been oppressed by Fargo to make the furniture in their houses, and they had barely enough sleep from overwork even until the war. However, when they found out what the handcarts would be used for, they did everything at record speeds. Group by group, the corpses were taken out of the walls, each batch guarded by a soldier as they were thrown some hundred meters away from the walls. Anyway, the decomposition rates in this place were much higher than Terran, so they didn''t really care much about it. The earth users just dug a mass grave and threw it inside after making sure no one was accidentally alive. Back in the territory, while the cleanup was ongoing, the remaining criminals were being tried. Now, they were determining what exactly their punishments would be. There were more than a hundred of them rounded up, some of whom had actually escaped during the war but were blocked by Sammy and the others. Their transgressions ranged from assisting Fargo and his team, causing harm to brethren by malicious reporting, and to heavier transgressions like joining the abuse. Those who had murdered their brethren had already joined the executed people, so the ones being tried didn''t have blood in their hands¡ªat least not directly. Interestingly, there were also a few guards who didn''t have anything reported against them¡ªeither they were too new to the job or they had actively avoided the dirt. One of these men was a big man named Ghetto, who had been a guard for a little over a week. He landed in Fargo not long ago with some other refugees after their old village had been destroyed. Back then, Fargo was hiring a lot of guards and he happened to have been a security guard back in Terran. When the opening came, he applied immediately¡ªthinking it was likely the best job in the territory¡ªonly to regret it soonafter. Rather than help protect citizens, the guards in Fargo¡­ were the harshest monsters the citizens had to fear. Of course, he wasn''t naive enough to fight when he saw the abuse on his own. He was a weak level 8. He''d definitely die if he tried getting in the way of the other guards'' ''fun''. Hence, he volunteered to guard the outer wall, saying he didn''t want to remain stagnant. The ruling party gladly gave him the assignment¡ªthough he fully knew they were laughing behind his back, calling him an idiot. Regardless of this, Ghetto was extremely dutiful in his job. He bravely guarded the outer wall with the best of his abilities, shooting his arrows at the mobs, and getting close to the outside as needed. When Victor and the others were there to deal with the monsters, he might even jump down with them to assist. However, he was captured because he was still a guard and there were still plenty of times he still had to follow orders, making him an accessory to the abuse. For instance, more than once he was asked to pull a woman the other guards were interested in. Could you imagine pulling a helpless woman, taking her straight to hell with your own hands? There was no day after that that he had managed to sleep for more than 2 hours. The people who had gotten to Fargo with him had tried to appeal but he was afraid Altera would have a bad impression on them, so he asked them not to bother. So now, they¡ªthe remaining Fargo guards and sympathizers¡ªwere being judged in front of everyone, awaiting the judgment lead by the Alterans. The representatives for the politics were Jun and Silvia, who were part of Luis'' and Ansel''s teams, respectively. They were in-charge of handling this aspect of this war. In front of them was a bunch of paper where a summary of transgressions was written by the interviewers and investigators before, listing down everything under oath. The duo would serve as the facilitators of sorts, determining the duration of their punishment based on what they had done. For the most part, the ''slavery'' would last for years. Silvia looked at Ghetto, "According to our records, you didn''t have a lot of sins to your fellowmen, though you did bring a lot of girls to the enemies." Ghetto pursed his lips, remembering those moments, and his shoulder slumped in guilt. To be honest, he didn''t mind getting punished¡ªhe knew he deserved it. The two saw his remorse and looked at each other, deciding to be lenient on him. "Six months." Ghetto''s head whipped as he looked at the two. He was startled. The others before him had at least 5 years. Someone even got 15. For example, Jall, who got Juni into trouble back then. Speaking of Jall, his face was unrecognizable and bloated after being beat up so much. He could only curse at his sentence in silence, because speaking would just let out a fountain of saliva that would just humiliate him even more. Jall received the highest sentence because he participated in a few abuses. It wasn''t as harsh as the mercenaries and he didn''t injure anyone, but it was still forced in the end. The women he had dealt with probably wouldn''t be able to approach men for a long time to come. Anyway, hearing his light sentence, Ghetto felt teary and bowed a bit. "T-Thank you." "It just means you will have to work for a minimum of six months. If you were designated by the system as a slave, you would still have to work to free yourself after that." Ghetto nodded in understanding. Luckily though, he was not a system slave, and this meant he was a free man after six months! His former teammates heaved a breath of relief to see him get past the ordeal, and he went to them to watch the rest of the punishments dished out. There were very few people who had less than 1 year like Ghetto. The average was around 8 years of service¡ªlikely in the mines. The prisoners dreaded this, recalling what they knew about the state of the slaves in the mines before the war. When all prisoners had been assigned punishments, the duo stood in front of the crowd. "These people will be prisoners of war, basically slaves. They will be the only exception to Altera''s no-slave rule." At this, many of the citizens'' immediately stepped forward, voicing out their concerns. "What about us?" S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Altera doesn''t keep slaves, and for those who were unlucky to have been assigned the role, you don''t have to worry. "Altera will never use you as slaves. We are still studying the limitations and requirements, but there will be a rule that the citizens would not be able to order anyone as if they were a slave. "Your money will be returned to you after you sign a detailed oath. If you don''t remember the exact amount of your money, we suggest you take an underestimation, because the punishment in the oath is harsh." "Other than this, you will be able to live freely, get jobs, hunt, et cetera." After the initial ''stealing'' of property (that was, the automatic withdrawal of all the slaves'' money), the ''slaves'' would be able to keep new resources and money that they earned afterward. The only difference would be in status. Slaves were not counted as entities in various senses of the word. They could not even avail the most basic residencies. If they didn''t have friends or teammates, then they would be stuck in dormitories for an indefinite amount of time. Of course, the dormitories were far superior to the average living conditions in the current Fargo, but they didn''t know this at this time, so they could only be worried. The only bright side was that they wouldn''t have to pay the daily fees. "When you gain enough money, you can officially buy your own freedom and residency. "In fact, if the money you retrieved was enough, then you can free yourself immediately." Of course, they didn''t want lazy people taking advantage of Altera''s goodness as well. Lazy people would always find a way to be lazy. For instance, because there was no entrance fee for slaves, some might just lounge around the territory, becoming beggars for some food and other resources when even disabled people could perfectly well find a job. So, they still added a limitation regarding this. "However, if you do not have the ability to buy your own freedom within a year, the territory will pay for your freedom, but you will be in debt amounting to thrice the amount." This made a lot of people talk, but they also found it fair. At this time, they couldn''t imagine anyway willingly becoming a slave for Altera! Other than these, the citizens also had a lot of other inquiries. "Are we staying here?" "If you choose to stay, that is also perfectly okay. Fargo will be merging with Altera, making citizens here Alterans as well." Most slaves would be unable to transfer to Altera by the array. After all, that needed some funds. At the same time, they also knew a lot of the victims would want to be away from this place. The normal citizens would be able to afford it, while the others would take a while. "Regardless of whether you choose to stay or transfer now or at a later date, you are welcome," Silvia said with a gentle smile. "Altera is open to everyone. And, as long as one wasn''t lazy and did not cause harm to Altera''s peace, you would definitely love a good life. "So consider everything carefully, and good luck to everyone moving forward." Chapter 618 - 618: Heading Back Althea and the others were finally heading back home with the couple of Alterans left behind, and a few locals who''d be coming with them. While the Alterans didn''t stop the migration of Fargo citizens to Altera, they didn''t strongly recommend it. For one, Altera didn''t need such an influx of population at this time. If anything, such a huge scale of migration could bring about a lot of inconveniences to them. Second, Fargo Village would essentially become part of Altera soon. It would also be needing it for the resources that it had¡ªparticularly, limestone and copper. Taking away too many of its people and talent would hinder its use. Hence, the Alterans were asked to discourage the locals'' immigration unless the person had a relative in Altera or had been thoroughly abused in Fargo. Of course, there were still a few hundred citizens and slaves who insisted on going, absolutely not wanting to stay in Fargo for another minute! Anyway, the remaining Alterans and immigrants heading to Altera lined up to go through the array, the latter with various expectations in their minds. Considering how their territory had been crushed, Altera must be even better than Fargo! No, even if it wasn''t, it was still infinitely better than this place! The teleportation array back to Altera was open for a full 28 hours. After studying this new territory, a lot of Alterans had already gone back hours prior. There was nothing interesting in Fargo anyway and a lot of them felt they had seen enough during the war! Unfortunately, the array was still inaccessible to everyone beyond the level cap, so Garan and the others had no choice but to travel back on foot. "I''ll come with you," Althea said, feeling pity for her husband who would still be traveling for some time. Garan smiled and kissed her forehead, "No need," he told her, "You don''t need to suffer. At our level, it''s only a day of leisure travel at most." "But¡­" Garan shook his head. "You also need to discuss what to do with the token amongst the other elders," he paused, gently rubbing her cute nose. "And most importantly: Our children miss you, I''m sure. We haven''t been hanging around them lately." The two of them had been very busy in preparation for this war. He didn''t want to delay their reunion with at least one parent. Althea pursed her lips before nodding, heading into the array with many others. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Other than Althea, there weren''t many Alterans who had stayed behind after the initial round of cleanups. A lot of them had long gone back to Altera to get treated or just go home already. This included Yiyi, so Jake, who had to walk back, was particularly antsy. By this time, there was a small mob of people, along with Henry and the others seeing everyone off. They all had worried expressions on their faces though. "Can one of us come with you?" Henry asked, "We would like to see where the home base is." One representative to see would be fine. After all, there was a tacit agreement that their group would be under Garan''s. It was natural they would want to see more of its capability. Beside her father, Vanessa nodded. She had seen how unimpressed Althea and the others were with Fargo¡ªwhich was arguably already very good. She wanted to see¡­ what kind of life this woman had been living! Unfortunately, Garan shook his head in response. "This place would need everyone. We''ll deploy more forces to assist soon." Victor and Henry seemed a bit disappointed, but they understood. "Well, next time then," Victor said, before saying his goodbyes. "Be careful." "Let''s go," Garan uttered and everyone turned towards Altera. However, before they could leave, all the soldiers'' senses heightened and immediately entered attacking modes. They felt some strength in the oncoming party, so their guards were raised high. It immediately deflated like a balloon as soon as they saw who they were though. It was Turbo and the others, sweaty and panting, obviously rushing to get there in record speeds. They didn''t go as hard as Jake, but they also went on a rush. They thought they still had some time before the war ended, and there could still be some use for them! However, they saw the peace and quiet and they realized the war was already finished! "Wait, over already!? There''re still a few hours though!" Turbo gasped, panting. Sammy sighed and wrapped his arms around the man''s neck, leading him back in the direction he was from. "Well, we can still get attacked one more time this month so just go back and prep the territory." "But I''m so tired!" Garan looked at the newly arrived Turbo and the others, and then to the citizens of Fargo and to Henry. "Then you can rest here." "!!!!" And so, Team B was tasked to stay in Fargo, delaying their stay back in their precious homes again! "Didn''t you say you were tired?" Sammy said, grinning smugly. This made Turbo glare at him. "I want to rest in my comfy bed and pillow! I wanna go to the bathhouse! I want to go eat my delicious hot and sour noodles, damnit!!" Comfortable bed? Pillows? Bathhouse? Hot and sour noodles?! The barrage of enticing keywords made the others quite curious, realizing there was even more to Altera than they thought. Except for the slaves taken back and the few relatives found by Alterans, the Alterans didn''t really stay and chat. Most of them had sustained a lot of injuries and didn''t want to stay outside too long¡ªespecially at the risk of having to walk all the way back. That said, all those who were left in Fargo were really unaware of the difference, except that Altera had very strong soldiers and citizens working for it. While watching Garan and the others leave, they couldn''t help but focus on the soldiers forced to stay. They were very curious! Maybe this time, they could find out more about the territory that crushed theirs! Chapter 619 - 619: Taking over Fargo Village Altera. In the Village Center, Mathilda stood in front of the rest of the elders, set to lead a very important meeting. They had received an order from ''the Village System'' to decide on some very heavy decisions while the rest of the territory recovered and handled the injured and the casualties. Other than the elders, Oslo, and a few other aborigines were also there to provide some advice. Mathilda looked at her companions in the elder positions: Althea, Eugene, Ansel, Gru, and the new add-on Rosalind, the Elder of Education. She had gained a very important skill during her tenure as an officer, and they judged it was high time for her to be promoted. This Skill was called ''Wisdom Amplification'' which can partially clear the minds of the people in the room, temporarily increasing decision-making and learning abilities. In classrooms, this was a great thing to have, but in meeting places like these where critical decisions were made, such a skill was invaluable. "We have been called here by the system for various discussions," Mathilda began, "But it will primarily be regarding what the territory would want us to do with the two lord tokens." There was still so much they didn''t know about this world, and Mathilda could understand Althea''s reluctance to merge recklessly. The old woman turned to Oslo and the other aborigines, asking them more information about the tokens.The aborigines put together what they knew, filtered the inaccuracies, and presented them to the elders. They didn''t know that much of course, as knowing too much about things only lords knew¡ªwithout being one¡ªtypically caused suspicion in Xeno. So, even if they were curious, few aborigines actually tried exploring its functions and nuances. "As you know, the tokens detaching from the lords during wars is not common knowledge, however, there are still plenty of people¡ªespecially lords themselves¡ªwho capitalize on this." During wars, if it wasn''t the lord himself, then it was a confidante who swore various oaths that would be sent to assassinate the enemy lord, aiming to take the token before the war ended. "There are many things one could do with a token. One was to sell for a very high price. Becoming a lord, even of a village, would elevate a person''s status in this world. The village could not be moved though, so whoever would win the bid would have to manually travel to the village. "Another was to merge with the territory. The extent to what merges during such a thing is beyond our knowledge, but we do know that the ''master'' territory had direct control over the new ones, as if it was an extension of it. "Each territory could merge with a maximum of three territories," he said. "There have been cases where a lord had decided to ''throw away'' a territory he no longer needed. If this was during the war, then the token could be detached and then be sold later on. However, this would have a massive cost." The information regarding this came from Betty. In one of the territories she got assigned in, the lord was greedy for expansion and had merged the tokens he had (at the high price of hiring mercenaries for assasination works). But when he encountered a rich village and managed to get ahold of the token, he was forced to separate one of his old ones. He had been so excited with the new village, but whatever he saw on his screen made him backtrack. In the end, that lord didn''t continue to merge and simply sold the token for a high price. This told Betty that the price of separating an existing merge must''ve been astronomical. The Alterans were enlightened with the new knowledge, thanking them for their contribution. They blushed, waving their hands, saying they were being too polite¡ªthey were Alterans, too, after all. Mathilda smiled before she continued speaking. "Now that we will be going into this with informed minds, now we must make the decision: Whether or not to merge our territory." "There are various factors to consider here," Mathilda said, "And I hope everything is considered. Although tempting, merging recklessly might not be in Altera''s best interest." At this, various discussions exploded in the territory. They tacitly ignored Bright Village, for now, and focused on their bigger win: Fargo Village. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "They found limestone there, right? So we can start from there," Ansel said, chewing on one of the snacks on the table. Eugene looked at him. Although he wasn''t there, he had heard about the resources that were found there were. During the war, Kimura was dragged through the array to check the metals as well. They thought he needed more courage, and they did get some good findings before they had to go back before the array closed. "There is also copper, zinc, and lead," Eugene added. "Though he did mention there are some slight compositional differences from what we know in Terran." "Wow. I heard that they found trace amounts of copper, but it seems there''s a lot more than limestones over there," Ansel said with raised eyebrows. Eugene nodded. "Actually, finding different types of minerals in a single deposit is common. There are plenty of cases where such metals had been found near limestone mines." The redhead whistled. "Wow¡­ we really hit the jackpot," he said. Although there were still a lot of things to study, this was a major step forward! Althea was also very pleased with the findings. This was probably the only war they started themselves, and it really paid off. It was really tempting to start wars, but Althea was no typical power-hungry man so the territory was¡ªthankfully¡ªspared from this type of war-mongering existence. In the end, after a few more minutes of discussion, the elders decided to merge Altera with the new village. Only with Fargo Village, anyway. Before they could move on to the next topic though, Ansel couldn''t help but ask. "So¡­ do we change its name?" Chapter 620 - 620: New Name Oh, yes, of course. This topic made the Elders and aborigines look awkwardly at each other. Some had names in their minds, while others had no idea what to suggest at all. "I prefer if we could name them straightforwardly." "I agree. Maybe we can have something for people to know it''s Altera''s." "Do we add ''Altera'' somewhere?" "Like, what, Altera Mountain Village?" "Too long." "Does the system even have word count limitations in naming?" "I think something cooler like Rocky Mountains is better." "No, I think¡­" And so on¡­ Anyway, naming something so important¡ªAltera''s first satellite¡ªwould inevitably cause a couple of disagreements. Hence, they decided to choose the new name¡­ by draw lots. Well, kind of. They decided to pick by drawing lots wherein everyone there could suggest what they wanted. If it was picked, everyone could vote on whether it was acceptable or not. At the same time, no one would really disagree if the option wasn''t too bad. After all, the people who suggested the name were in the same room. Basically, unless the answer was a troll answer, then whichever was picked first would likely be the endgame. Mathilda gathered the papers and picked one, with a few people confident in their naming sense hoping to get picked. After all, it''d be an honor to name Altera''s first satellite! What kind of bragging rights would they have during drinking sessions?! It was an honor they could brag about for generations! Mathilda opened the paper and flinched, but voiced out the contents in the end. "Limestone Valley?" "Could''ve been cooler like my Ascension Valley," Ansel said, making Eugene roll his eyes. "Limestone Valley, eh?" some asked, wondering who suggested it. "A little simplistic, but functional," Althea said, as if explaining, and they immediately knew whose idea this was. Althea had a vision of merging territories only if it had major resources, so naming them after their main resource would make things straightforward. Anyway, there was no need to hide what the territory could offer¡ªanyone who could get to the village would know what it could offer. In any case, seeing as it was Althea''s choice and it wasn''t too bad of a choice, no one strongly disagreed with the new name. And so: Fargo''s new name was decided just like that. If Fargo knew how his name was ''desecrated'' would he have an aneurysm? Anyway, the discussion continued about the other token that they had. It was Mathilda who opened up the topic. "What about Bright Village?" "We can only integrate 3 territories at most. Using it on Bright is a waste." "Agreed." "Agreed." If Micheal was here, he''d feel very complicated. But, it made things easier for him so¡ªeven if he knew how he was being discussed¡ªhe would be thankful for it. *** Sometime later, when Micheal was helping some of the slaves from Bright settle down, he was called up to the meeting. Everyone knew this was an important call and couldn''t help but be nervous, even Micheal. Of course, nothing showed in his strict upbringing. From the perspective of other people, he looked cool and calm, and this made his former citizens¡ªincluding Juno¡ªlook at him admiringly. "Well, I will be going, I''ll update everyone on the news," he said, turning away to head to the center as instructed. The former Bright citizens looked at his back with complex emotions and varying expectations. "I wonder what their decision was¡­" "Will we get Bright back?" "Do we have to get it back?" "..." "Of course!" However, internally, they really hoped to stay in Altera! This line-of-thought was something Micheal was aware of, but tacitly never mentioned. Most people would definitely choose Altera over Bright, and he could not blame them for it. However, he believed he would also be able to build a good home, so¡ªwhile unlikely¡ªhe still hoped to get his territory back. Micheal stood in front of the large door, taking a deep breath before entering. "Ah you''re here," Mathilda said with a polite smile. "We have something to discuss with you. "We got your token right here," Ansel said, direct to the point. Micheal''s eyes widened a bit and he stepped forward, though his feet stopped when Ansel lifted it up again. "Of course, the token shouldn''t just be given out without any conditions." Micheal nodded. "I expected as much." In fact, he was half expecting them to decide to sell his token to others for a large price. After all, he really couldn''t afford much as it was now. So he was a little surprised when Ansel told him of their decision. "We decided to charge you 1500 gold for it, as well as turning you to a subsidiary." Subsidiaries would have to pay tribute for at least 1 year, which was automatically deductible in the treasury. If they wished to break the relationship, it''d be after the year ended. "I am honored, but¡­ I don''t have money." In fact, counting the losses from the previous war, he was even in debt! "You can borrow in the bank, use your territory as collateral," Ansel said, making a few look at him. ''Wow, so modern'' they''d say, and Ansel felt a bit smug. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "However, if you are unable to pay the amount before the subsidiary contract ended, we reserve the right to sell the token to others." According to Oslo, a lot of aborigine territories would be targeting them for the tokens. The worst-case scenario was to strike a deal¡ªin which case, having extra tokens on hand would be advantageous. With this, two of three of her allied territories¡ªVismont and now Bright¡ª became her subsidiaries ... After settling Bright, it was finally time to merge with Fargo¡ªerr, Limestone Valley. Mathilda, as instructed, simply left the Lord Token on the highest floor. The moment they closed the door, an announcement rang inside everyone''s ears. [Altera Village (Lv3) has officially won against Fargo VIllage (Lv3) and obtained it as a satellite, hereby called Limestone Valley.] [To celebrate the overwhelming first war, the territory requests 50% off on all items from all stores within the day. Store owners shall receive a partial rebate through contribution points.] [Congratulations, Alterans! Let us witness the growth of our home, together!] Chapter 621 - 621: Celebrations and Mourning The people who got back from the array as soon as the war ended naturally mentioned that they won, but they had to deal with the critically injured before anyone could answer to the gossipers that surrounded them. On the contrary, everyone mobilized to be able to rescue as many as they could, making sure that everyone still breathing when they got back home would remain that way. Even now, several hours later, a few casualties had been confirmed, so the atmosphere was still a little muted. This was why when the announcement of Altera taking over Fargo resounded across the territory, there wasn''t much of a fuss. This actually baffled the guests very much. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "They really took over?" The aborigine visitors looked at each other as they chewed their food in the restaurant. This was Ferrol Lord Jonathan and his guests. They were treating the Golds¡ªa dream come true, really¡ªto a meal and they chatted a lot about the interesting territory they were in. He didn''t forget that he came here for trading, so he ought to solidify this heaven-sent connection. "They even received it as a satellite!" Kory said, combing back his dark curly hair. "For their first war, that is very impressive." Actually, it was very, very, rare for a territory to take over another. After all, the differences in strengths usually weren''t too different. The more realistic goal was always to just win. But look at this place: A takeover during the first war. It was considered a miracle! "Have you seen how many elementalists they had?" Ping couldn''t help but say, recalling many of the newly arrived individuals who had come from wars. In order to facilitate the injured, a few abilities were used. For example, when rickshaws were full, some earth users would create wheels from rocks and place platforms there to help with the injured. There weren''t few of them either. "I''ve seen villages where elementalists were legends!" Ping said, impressed, and the rest nodded in agreement. However, they were all distinguished people and they tried not to show too much disbelief. It''s just that they couldn''t help but look around to see the Alterans'' reactions because they were so quiet when the announcement sounded. They were the only customers there, which wasn''t surprising, though the workers and waiters didn''t seem much affected by the news. This was really¡­ an interesting place. When they were hanging around during the war, the people''s time and actions were as it was. They didn''t seem too worried, but they just did their jobs, collected resources, cleaned, and the like. When the war was over¡ªonly after a fraction of the usual time¡ªeveryone cheered, but the atmosphere dampened again when they saw the injuries. To be honest, according to the reports, most of the injuries didn''t seem critical. But looking at the atmosphere around, perhaps it could''ve been more serious than they thought¡­? However, this was an absolutely common thing during wars¡ªwars generally had a lot of casualties¡ªand none of them thought too much of it. Instead, their minds went to how it would be for them after a couple of hours. "I assume many of the commercial areas will resume the high activity soon¡­" Ping said, a little wistful. Kory nodded, sighing. "It was fun to get them all to myself." They hadn''t been here for long, but what they had seen so far¡ªthey had seen a lot of places because there were only a few people around¡ªwas really making them excited. Jonathan''s favorite place was the Alteran Gardens with its unique plants, colorful foliage, and interesting amenities. The others had their own favorites, but without exemption, they were all incredibly impressed. Altera was definitely set out to become one of the most unique places the human territory has ever seen! ¡­ Back in the Village Center, Althea looked at the new announcements that came with the merging. [Gained! Satellite (1/3) Limestone Valley] [Gained! +1000 Gold, +100 Prestige] [Gained! Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv2), Barracks (Lv2), Custom Building (Small)!] [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 2615 (813 permanent, 1802 temporary) Total Population: 6324 Base Resources: Wood: 12300/20000 Stone: 9200/15000 Money: 19731 Gold, 1262199 Silver, 6598699 copper Reputation: 320 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1) Bonus Building: Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv2), Barracks (Lv2), Custom Buildingx3 Building Slots: 7/9 (+2)] First of all, the new buildings were a pleasant surprise. Although Oslo mentioned that they would gain the buildings of merged territories, it still felt special to see them added into her panel screen. It was like a cheque finally cashed in and entered her bank account. The changes in the money weren''t much, but she knew most Terran territories wouldn''t be well-off at this point. As for the population, because most of the ''slaves'' were still in Fargo and they had temporarily discouraged immigration, they didn''t have a spike in population just yet. Every Alteran was injured after all, except for a couple of ''slaves'' from Bright and the women from Fargo Hall, most of the others who couldn''t walk by themselves remained in Fargo. Their people were plenty tired and injured, who could still carry strangers hundreds of meters each time? What they did do for them was a few people went back and forth the array before it closed, bringing in medicine, gauze, and the like in order to help them out. They had plenty of medical professionals there, anyway, so the supplies were not wasted. They also brought other tools that could help out the doctors. Anyway, they had much more medical professionals than Altera did and they ought to be maximized. There were still plenty of things to fix and settle in both territories. However, they were all set on-hold when Gill finally arrived. His arrival doused the room with a bit of direness, with everyone knowing what he was here for: Gill was there to report on the casualty rate. Chapter 622 - 622: Death Count Gill had arrived, and they knew what this meant: The Death Count was here. Although there were deaths during the war itself, there were more in critical conditions. They had to take them to the doctors and the healers, before they could be transferred back to Altera. However, they had lost Alterans both in Fargo and in Altera due to complications. "A total of thirty-four Alterans died," he said. "About twenty-seven died during the war, while the others passed due to the critical injuries later on." Almost all of these casualties were directly attributed to Fargo himself as well as the strongmen in his team like Sen, Uzon, and a few stronger mercenaries. Although Altera had superior equipment and potions, they were still primarily civilians. How many could truly fight against well-trained terrorists? The depressing atmosphere in the meeting room deepened. Before the war, they had expected a lot of deaths¡ªeven more than this¡ªbut actually hearing the number of lives lost was still incredibly difficult to stomach. Plus, this number was just the Alterans. There had been hundreds more deaths among the slaves, though their burial was left to Victor and the others. As for the burial of the Alterans, it naturally had to be grand. The bell rang coinciding with the number of lives lost, each with several moments of silence dedicated. The cremation was to be held in the park. For now, this was the only option as the space in the territory was limited. They were placed in separate areas so their ashes wouldn''t mix, protected by covers from the wind. The bereaved would have the option to either keep the ashes or place them in the cemetery park located at the edge of the territory. Althea was also studying the Tree Pod Burial, where the body would be placed in a biodegradable pod that would nourish a seed. The tree, in turn, would be the person''s natural gravestone. There were still plenty of complications in this, however, and she still had a lot to study before they could use it as a formal way to bury the dead. Almost every citizen came to see the funeral. Almost, as some superstitious old folks didn''t want to join and simply gave alms to the bereaved. There were also the children, who they didn''t want exposed to such an atmosphere just yet. The Alterans bowed their heads as the bodies were cremated. People who didn''t know the dead felt pity for the loss of life, while their family and friends sobbed their hearts out. Among these people were the Mauin villagers. At this time, they were standing near the burning corpses, sobbing for their lost comrade. Meroun was among the people who perished after the war. He was stabilized after defeating Sen, but he suffered a lot of internal injuries and broken ribs, which unfortunately punctured his heart. Everyone handled the injured with care, even using a carrying bed to make sure they were stable, but fate had its way of taking people away. Mauin and the others mourned for another lost brother. In fact, he was the only one who perished¡ªwhich should be a relief because they were expecting at least a third of them might not make it. But¡­ it was odd; they felt even sadder. Was it because he was the only casualty that made things more painful? Maybe it was because they were actually given the chance to grieve this time¡ªunlike in their old lives, where they were just forced to move forward head-on in order to survive. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Or perhaps¡­ It was because they were living good life in Altera, even if they had only stayed a while. They finally found hope of living decently. Before, dying could be seen as the end of their struggle. They were humans; they get tired, too. Now, it was different: Everyone wanted to live. And everyone wanted to live long, long, lives. Meroun''s death ignited a renewed will inside of them. "Brother," Mauin mumbled, as if he could still talk to his cousin. "Please rest well." We will live well in your memory. ¡­ Somewhere at a distance from the pyre, Garan rubbed his wife''s small shoulders and she buried her head on his. She didn''t want to feel too sad and blame herself¡ªshe knew she had done her best¡ªbut emotionally, she felt drained and guilty. Althea pursed her lips, mind still swirling. Had she managed to make more powerful formulations, would the death count be even less? The weight of these deaths felt heavier than the others. After all, she was the one who waged this war. "If you were not here, hundreds or thousands more would''ve perished," he whispered, gently comforting her. "You have already done so much." Althea still felt like crying as she buried her head on her husband''s chest. Garan sighed and patted her back. "We will grow, but our enemies will also get stronger," he said. "Please don''t put too much pressure on yourself, wife." "More," she mumbled. "I want to do more." She felt that she could, but she had yet to tap on that potential. A bright glint passed her eyes, then. She and Altera had so much more room to grow¡ªand she would be sure to achieve that, even for just the sake of her people and her family. *** Behind the crowd were the aborigine visitors, watching the ceremony. It was a little novel to them, holding such a funeral for the commoners. In their knowledge, while nobles would indeed have grand funerals, the commoners usually didn''t bother. At most, the family would send them off to be burned or buried, but nothing too grand. As they waited, they observed the crowd. They saw the Alterans'' dark expressions, as well as the many people sobbing their hearts out. "How many people died?" Jonathan asked his guard, who was always gathering information. "Thirty-four." Only thirty-four? With how gloomy they were, he thought they''d lost half of the people who went through the array. Of course, he had the tact not to say so out loud. However, the atmosphere was extremely solemn and they couldn''t help but also feel heavy, despite not knowing these people¡ªdespite not really bothering with the lower class before. At some point, an old woman stepped in front of the funeral pyre, facing the bodies that were slowly turning into ashes. It was Mathilda who, as before, had been asked to deliver a short speech in remembrance of the people they lost. "Your sacrifice is not in vain, brothers and sisters," she said. "You saved a lot of lives by losing your own and, for that, we are eternally grateful." She then looked at many of the people in the crowd, her eyes meeting with the bereaved, family, and friends of the fallen. "I hope you can be proud of these brave souls. Live well, and Altera will strive to do its part to protect you and make the lives of its citizens a bit better." The aborigines couldn''t help but be touched and also confused, their world views subtly being affected by what they were witnessing. How many citizens died during their own wars? How many people have they left behind to fend for themselves? Most of these people didn''t think about that. It wasn''t that they were bad people, it was just how the worldview was: People only cared for strength and riches¡ªbecause that was the way to survive. However, this was incredibly enlightening, especially for the lords like Jonathan. He couldn''t help but look at the crowd. The solidarity they exuded was something unprecedented to him. A territory that placed so much importance on the lives of its people. How could it not garner such loyalty? Chapter 623 - 623: Hallucination? Inside the Gaea Chamber of Commerce home base (i.e. Farm Villa #2), the group was preparing to do a minor celebration, waiting for the rest of the team members to get back home. At this time, other than the children, there were only two other adults in the house, one of whom was Harold, who looked awkwardly at the mountain of mana cookies he made while dazed in worry. In the past few weeks, his success rate had improved to about 50%, so he ended up with a lot of stock. He sighed, packing them up in containers, and putting some in the space. Anyway, the boss alone could consume huge amounts of these when she was experimenting, so he wasn''t worried anything would go stale. Harold was left to care for the children. They were a bit superstitious and didn''t want to expose the children to the funeral, so they stayed at home. As for the others, they were all attending the funeral. By estimate, it should be done by now and they should be going home in about an hour or less. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Realizing this, he immediately shifted to prepare for a meal. He knew everyone would be hungry but, at the same time, he couldn''t make too heavy or overly savory food either because he was certain they hadn''t eaten anything heavy since the ar began. "Do you need help, Daddy?" a little voice sounded by the door and he turned to see his daughter and Horus looking at him. He smiled and patted their little heads. "Go and do your homework," he said. "Ask Auntie Winona if you have any questions, she''s very smart." "Okay~" the two kids yelled, scurrying back to the living area where all the children were staying during this period. The kids went back to their seats next to Winona who, at this time, was smiling, poking the babies'' stomachs and making them giggle, showing off their adorable toothless smiles. She couldn''t possibly work properly knowing her friends were at war, right? She really wanted to go with them as well. It was just that her grandmother threw a tantrum, yelling if she went to war, she would die. The old woman threatened to go out the wall to follow. Winona knew that although a lot of it was due to selfishness, her grandma''s tantrum was still partially in care of her, so she didn''t push it. So at the peak of the war, she could only hang around the children while they waited for news. It was a tense couple of hours, and she felt itchy from stress. If she didn''t have the babies with her, it was estimated she''d be red from her own fingernails. Now that the war was over, Althea was still busy¡ªwith Althea sending a letter that they were Okay¡ªand Winona decided to wait for their return alongside the children. Now, she was even helping the older children with their studies, which was a welcome distraction if she was to be honest. Holding the twins, she guided the kids about some basic arithmetic. Winona was an extrovert and had a way with words, so she actually made quite a good teacher. When they ended, she allowed the kids to take a breather and go to the playground outside. They celebrated, with Horus carrying baby Theo with him, leaving Winona alone with the cuddly babies. It was just that, a bit later during playtime, Winona noticed that they were biting their toys more often. In fact, she had long noticed that the babies were drooling a lot more, even Pepper, but they were babies so she didn''t think too much about it at first. "Nono, don''t do that¡­" Winona said, gently prying Little Pepper''s drool-wet hands from her mouth. She also took out another rattle from Meatball''s mouth. "You shouldn''t put just anything in your mouth," she said, very seriously. "Don''t be like your mother, okay?" This went on for a while until Winona was genuinely concerned they''d come home poisoned someday. Harold, who had cleaned everything and already set the table, came out and saw their particular love for eating strange things. He looked at the babies in thought, but he couldn''t say anything because the aether letter in his space had heated up. "Ah, it''s a letter from boss," he said, making Winona¡ªand the babies, by extension¡ªturn to him. He cleared his throat to read and he couldn''t help but grin at its contents. "The meeting is over. We''ll be home soon," it said and it made Winona brighten. She looked at the babies who were obviously antsy to move. "Let''s go meet your mama now~" she said. The world ''mama'' seemed to have excited the two babies and their mouths made cute ''o''s followed by giggles. "Ah, so cute, so cutee~" "Your mama is sooo awesome~" she said, tickling their tummies and making them giggle. Winona looked at the two adorable cuties laughing and felt relieved in her heart. They had been extremely quiet when the war was ongoing. They didn''t even cry, they just looked like they didn''t have any energy to do anything at all. It was extremely heartbreaking. Now they were giggling loudly, as if they understood. "Okay, let''s go greet them~" she said and the babies'' eyes dilated and their cheeks seemed to flush with excitement. Winona''s heart was soft as she placed them on the stroller at the side of the room. She then prepared to go to the pantry room to get the baby bottles and other necessities for the trip. It was just that when she turned¡ªliterally two seconds after she stood up¡ªshe saw Pepper suddenly crawling to the door several meters away. And Meatball¡­ he was floating as if swimming like a frog towards the exit. Winona blinked, rubbed her eyes, and stared again. Pepper was still by the door, this time close enough to touch the door leaf, while Meatball was still ''swimming'' though not very well. Winona: "..." Huh???? Chapter 624 - 624: Reunions Back outside, the daily activities of Altera had resumed for most people. Those who joined the war had mostly gone to rest, while those who found their loved ones would have days-worth of things to talk about. The slaves from Bright sobbed as they reunited with family and friends, though a lot of them arrived much later than the last batch of Alterans. After all, a lot of them were seriously hurt and the Alterans didn''t have the manpower to help them travel through the array. Hence, they had to go through on their own after they received some treatment, assuming they had the money for the transfer. In any case, people camped outside the teleportation array, and a lot of new people arrived now that the funeral was over. They sat on the benches set near the arrays. The benches were erected there as soon as the war started. For the most part, it was for the comfort of the defending parties. But now that the war was technically over, other than the guards, there were also plenty of citizens who camping. They were waiting for more people to go through¡ªhopefully people they knew. There had been people who went to Fargo to look for relatives, but it was discouraged at some point because they could get stuck there until a team returned to Altera by foot. When those people had yet to return, it really did serve as a deterrent to those who wanted to do the same. So, the best thing they could do was wait for more people while it was open. Of course, with people camping out and concentrated in one place, money grubbers also appeared to sell some goods. So, at least for a while, the place was really lively. However, after another hour or so, most of the people had already gone inside with only a few more remaining under the heat of the sun. A voice of disappointment echoed. "The array is about to close, no one else is coming in?" Tom asked, a bit whispering, but the little girl holding his hand still heard it. She sniffed, heart clenching in pain and fear. What if her father really didn''t come? Did something happen? Unfortunately, everyone was too busy and no one thought to specifically find Lily or Tom to say they found Bruce. When they found an acquaintance who knew them, it was already too late. Tom couldn''t risk running over there with Lily lest the array closed in on them! However, just before the array completely closed, it flashed¡ªrevealing about a hundred more people before it completely dispersed from their view. Bruce and the others had to undergo emergency treatment in Fargo''s clinic, with Ansel leaving the few of them some funds for the array. Some minutes ago, they were forcefully woken up in order to ''catch the ride'', so to speak. Everyone still felt like they had been hit, ran over, and then squished by a truck, but they knew Altera and were determined to settle there for good. Waiting for the next caravan would take too long! They didn''t know if their bodies would be better by then, either! So, by nook or by crook, these former Bright citizens practically crawled to the array. The only reason they didn''t have to was some carpenters felt pity for them. They didn''t care that the rickshaws held corpses a few hours prior, they just wanna get to Altera! Fortunately, they got in just in time. "We made it¡­" Rebi said, breathless, touching his stomach which was still aching a bit from earlier injuries. He had never been to Altera, but he had heard it was definitely the place to be. Bruce''s eyes were similarly bright. He looked forward, already pondering about how to find the territory since he knew the walls were still a distance away from the array. What he did not expect though was for a small crowd to be there! It wasn''t a big crowd anymore, but there were a lot of seats around and he could tell there used to be a lot more before. He was just startled at first and was prepared to just ask for directions, but then he heard a familiar voice just outside his peripheral vision. He didn''t even have to look for his tear ducts to break. "DADDY!!" Bruce''s heart lifted and he sobbed, opening his arms so he could take his baby into his arms. "Lily!" sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Rebi looked in envy at his friend who finally found his daughter. He wished he could have the same fortune, and the hope it would happen to him lit up his fire to keep fighting. Lani beside him, however, was frowning a bit. She held on Rebi''s hand, which caught the man''s attention. "Uncle¡­" she mumbled, her large eyes lined with tears. Rebi''s heart softened, thinking the little girl was scared. "Everything will be alright. Altera is a good place¡­" She nodded, her eyes shifted towards Bruce and his daughter. She frowned when he started talking to the other big man, and they gestured to go away. "Uncle Bruce has forgotten about us¡­" she said, frowning. Rebi blinked and looked to see they were heading away. He chuckled a bit, patting the girl''s head. "Nonsense," he said. "He''s just very happy to find his daughter. We''ll all be a big family, don''t worry." Lani looked at him with her large innocent eyes and nodded. She looked very obedient and it just made him more fond of the girl. "Such a well-behaved girl," he said, and Lani smiled in comfort. "Can I call you dad?" Rebi blinked, before his heart turned to a puddle.At this time, he couldn''t help but really think of the girl as his offspring. "My daughter calls me Papa," he said, patting her head. "You can use that too." Lani looked at him, eyes full of dependence, and¡ªat that moment¡ªit made Rebi swear to provide for her and protect her as he would his own daughter. "Okay, Papa." Chapter 625 - 625: Daughters "Okay, Papa," she said and the two were holding hands as they followed the Alterans'' leads back to their territory. But by the time they reached the tall wall, they could only gape. "Wow¡­" Rebi and the others said, gaping, not expecting for Altera to go beyond their imaginations. Little Lani''s eyes were also wide, staring at the big village with a strongly beating heart. "This place is so¡­" Rebi mumbled as they entered, speechless at the clean and functional arrangement of, well, everything With wide eyes, he looked at Bruce. "You weren''t lying when you said Altera is amazing." Tom, who was walking beside them, smiled. "Well, there''s much more to Altera than just this. But you can explore at your own time later. Let me bring you to my house so you can rest." "A-Ah, yes. Thank you, Tom." "No problem," the big man said, leading them towards their new abode. Bruce though couldn''t help but look at the massive cast on Tom''s arm. "Your hand¡­" Tom looked at his arm and sighed. "Got into an acccident yesterday when I was training," he said, looking a bit bitter. In his hopes to take revenge for the friends he lost during the previous war, he trained very hard to get stronger. Sadly, he overdid it a bit, ending up quite injured along the way. The only good thing that came out of it was that Betty herself helped him out, a move that ultimately kept him from suffering permanent damage. Anyway, other than the cast, he didn''t have any other problems. Sadly, the injury was on his dominant hand which rendered him unable to join the war despite wanting to do so. After a couple of minutes more walking, they arrived in one of the duplex communities in the area. This time, Tom only had Bruce, Rebi, and the little girls with him. The rest were guided by a few locals to the Village Center. Although they didn''t have an identity in the system, they could register in Altera, which was honored in the same way. Tom advised Rebi and the others to do so after resting. There was a long queue in the village center now, after all. Soon, they headed to Tom''s rented house. "I am not a permanent resident yet so I can only rent, but it''s fair and doable." "Who are you renting with?" Bruce asked, worried. He didn''t want to get Tom in trouble. "I rented this during the war," he said. "I knew some of you would need a home, so¡­" The two big men looked at him with wide eyes, looking as if they wanted to cry. Tom''s eyes twitched, immediately raising his hand to keep them from crying. "Please don''t." "We promise to pay you back." Tom smiled. He wasn''t planning to ask for rent during the first few months at all, but he didn''t disagree, knowing it was the only way they''d feel comfortable staying in the house. Tom then said goodbyes to leave them be, and Rebi and Lani gestured to enter. However, they realized that Bruce and Lily weren''t entering. They turned to see the two looking in a direction. Lily was smiling and waving her hands, and it was obvious she saw her friends. Bruce chuckled, willingly led by his daughter to see her friends. "Lily wants to introduce me to her friends. I''ll go ahead for now," he said. Anyway, seeing his daughter had effectively made the tiredness disappear. If they took too long, he probably wouldn''t be able to move the whole day tomorrow, but it''d be worth it. As such, the father-and-daughter disappeared out of their view shortly after, leaving the other two behind. Lani pursed her lips and held Rebi''s hand tighter. "You''re my Papa now, right?" "What''s wrong, little Lani?" "You are, right?" She asked again, as if looking to hear a particular answer. Rebi was a little confused. He kneeled down to look at the pouting girl and then looked at the direction where Bruce and his daughter left. It took a while, but he was eventually enlightened. The girl¡­ she was envious and worried, probably fearing she''d be left behind. "Of course," he said, answering her question, and the little girl gladly entered to give him a hug. It didn''t last long however, when another small voice echoed in the area. "PAPA!" Rebi''s eyes widened, recognizing the voice. He turned to see a familiar little girl with a few other kids, looking at him. There was also Bruce behind them, and it was obvious that the friends Lily saw before was this group. Anyway, he couldn''t think too clearly and let go of the little girl in his arms. "F-Fiona? FIONA!" Rebi yelled, immediately running towards his daughter, leaving another little girl frozen in her position. ¡­ Outside the Village center, there was also a group who was waiting around. At this time, Winona was walking back and forth as she carried Little Pepper, while Harold was awkwardly standing there, looking a bit apprehensive. "Are¡­ you sure about what you''ve seen, Ms. Winona?" He asked. When Winona screamed in the house, he almost tripped in his rush. But then he just saw her pointing at the door in shock. Harold was very confused because all he saw there were the babies crawling in that direction. Then she went and said some unbelievable things the babies supposedly did and Harold couldn''t only look at her weirdly. "Really?" "Of course I saw it!" "Have you been drinking?" "I HAVE NOT!" She yelled, but she calmed down when she looked at the pudgy softness in her arms, looking at her with her wide innocent eyes. "OH, baby," she said kissing her cheek, "I don''t mean it lke that. I love you no matter what, but who knows if some spell is cast on you right?" "Olga had been looking at you wrong! I think she wants to kidnap you!" Winona was talking about Olga Gold here. She had been admiring the babies a lot and had been saying how she wanted the same. Of course, she and Olga had formed some friendship of sorts, so this was partly joking. Partly. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway¡ª "What''s taking so long?!" Winona groaned, glaring at the door of the Village Center. Althea and the other Elders were personally handing over the ashes to the bereaved and handing them the inheritances, and Winona could only wait outside with a bit of a restless atmosphere around her. Fortunately, they didn''t have to wait too long or Winona was sure she''d have hypertension. One by one the elders (except Garan, who had to travel on foot) came out and exited the door, with Althea and Ansel coming out several minutes later. Winona ignored the redhead and went straight to Althea. "Girrllll~!" "Missed you! Glad you''re alright!" "Winona¡­" Althea smiled as she shook her head. In the end, Althea just took one of the children, with Ansel taking the other one. Ansel and Winona''s eyes met as he did so, and they just gave each other a cursory nod. Like ''hey'' and ''yo'' of awkward bro-acquainatnces. Anyway, Winona''s eyes were fixed on Althea. "There''s something I need to tell you!" She said, looking around. "No, not here," she said, and basically dragging Althea back to their abode. When they entered the house again, Winona told them of what she saw. Ansel looked at her weirdly, "Have you been drinking?" "I haven''t!" Ansel turned to look at Harold. "Did you see?" He shook his head. This made Winona panic a bit, scared that no one would believe her. "I''m not making things up!" Before Ansel could tease her though, Althea, who was now touching her children''s cheeks, spoke up. "You weren''t imagining it." Chapter 626 - 626: Visitors from Towns Everyone naturally looked at her, hoping she would say more. Before she did though, her stomach rumbled a little, making the baby in her hand giggle cutely. "Ah, time to eat. It''s already dinner time!" Harold said, leading them to the dining area. They focused on eating for a while. Although there were some light snacks during the meeting, they still missed their savory foods. Anyway, the topic was put on hold until the elders finished their food. As soon as they finished, Winona leaned forward. "Tell me again how I''m not crazy." Winona was particularly Antsy the whole time. She wanted to make sure she wasn''t seeing things! The curiosity killed her so much that when they went to greet Althea back in the Village Center, she was maybe a little half-tempted to throw Meatball to his mother to see whether he would float. Of course, that was an intrusive thought that didn''t win. Althea didn''t know the weird stuff going on in her best friend''s head and just answered with a shrug. "There''s not much to tell, truly," she said. "We don''t know how it triggers either. It just happens." "Nothing?" "Nothing." The adults looked at each other and then to the little babies who were playing with their toys. "We can only hope it won''t put them in any danger." ¡­ The next day. The entire territory was allowed for a slow day that day. That was to say, working hours started a bit later than usual to allow the citizens some rest. Some time after breakfast, the doorbell sounded, startling those inside. This doorbell¡ªa new add-on made by Baron''s party¡ªwas literally just a bell with a string system. They partnered with Kimura from the Research lab to get the right process and tuning, and Althea''s team happened to be one of the first houses to get this. Harold and the others were a bit puzzled, wondering who it could be. "Maybe Boss Garan has arrived?" "He wouldn''t need to use the door bell. Plus, it should still take a few more hours." "Ah, right." However, Althea was still the one to take a look anyway, just in case. They opened the gate to see it was Oslo, but with a ton of guests. "Ms. Althea¡­" he said, with an awkward smile, "I''m so sorry to bother you, but we have guests who hope to discuss important business with you." A lot of people looked at Oslo, a bit startled. Even his siblings who had seen him like this just couldn''t get used to his humbleness. Even if it was a lord¡ªif it was only a lord of a village¡ªthere was really no reason for Oslo to appear so humble. How could he act like this towards a mere village elder? A woman, at that? Unless, there were really a lot of particularly special things about this beautiful woman that met the eye, and they couldn''t help but give her a few extra looks. She was very beautiful, yes, but what was most charming was her demeanor, stance, and aura. At first, they thought the results of their investigation were exaggerations¡ªafter all, how could a woman get so much sincere admiration? But, seeing that even the Gold''s spoiled son admired her, then they knew much of it must be true. Olga, in particular, wanted to be acquainted with this woman for a long time¡ªand on a personal level. There were only a handful of women who made a name for themselves and, to be honest, Althea seemed to be the only woman she knew who triumphed over all the men in the territory. There had been a few women in history who had gotten close, but their journey was fraught with a lifetime of conflict, unhappiness, and isolation. Her mother even told her of a friend''s story¡ªa female lord, who was hunted down by her own people simply because they believed a woman should not be leading them! At the time, her own husband was the very person who led the rebellion and killed her! It was one of the reasons why she was so averse to marriage. But this woman was so beloved by men and women alike. She might not be a lord, but her power was more than most in this territory. Contrary to those other women, she had a loving husband, a complete family, and such angelic babies! How did she do it? Althea seemed to have noticed the intense stare and looked at the taller blonde, who flinched a bit and blushed, making Althea chuckle. The others didn''t seem to have noticed the interaction and simply headed inside as they were invited in. As they entered, Oslo introduced the guests to her. "You already know my siblings," he said, before pointing at the new faces. "This is Lord Jonathan of Ferrol Town and these two are Kory and Ping, his two close friends and rich men from Ferrol." In fact, Team B actually brought a lot of guests with them¡ªsome even from other towns. They were extremely curious about the territory, but no one dared to directly contact them after the Lord of Ferrol announced his interest in a partnership. Fortunately, the locals assured them that Gaea would still likely partner with them, though the degree would depend on whatever agreement they would have with the Golds and Jonathan. Ansel and Althea led their guests to the veranda, while Harold prepared the snacks and tea. Winona took care of the children and went to the neighbor''s house to play. Of course, Olga and her siblings didn''t forget to say goodbye to Winona and cute-byebyes to the babies. The babies had become familiar with them the past few days, and they giggled showing off their cute gums¡­ which now had bits of white. No one really noticed this though and the babies went ahead to Lola and Yana''s new playpen. The aborigines entered the gates and they couldn''t help but admire the gardens as well as the house a bit. "The villa is a little small compared to ours in the city, but this is so¡­ comfy." "I want to buy that villa in Luxury area" "You have to be a permanent resident first." "Even if we pay a lot more money?" "Yes." This made the guests'' shoulders slump. "Hmn." After all, many of them lived in towns, while others owned a village. Becoming a permanent resident was definitely not an option, no matter how much they liked the place. Still, internally, they couldn''t help but complain a bit. So stingy! However, after a few months, they would completely understand the territory''s decision to gatekeep so much! S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 627 - 627: Deals with Ferrol Anyway, this was a discussion for much later. At this time, the party simply traversed the property and settled themselves on the verandah, admiring the gorgeous view of the well-maintained gardens as they did so. "How nice to wake up to this¡­" Olga said, looking dreamy. "Our house has a garden too, but it never felt so¡­ vibrant." The difference was a bit subtle. In Xeno, most gardens were used only for aesthetics¡ªas a cosmetic accessory for the nobles. In Altera, they meant and functioned so much more. Althea let the guests absorb the place first, and nodded at Harold to serve the snacks. Some already took a bite and closed their eyes. They had naturally eaten a bit around the territory, especially the Golds, but there was a special sweetness and quality in the snacks and tea Althea offered. "I''m honored to have been visited by such esteemed guests¡­" She said, and the others smiled. The lower ranked guests were even a bit flattered. "So¡­ how may we assist you?" Jonathan looked at the Golds who motioned for him to go first, as they wanted to observe everything first and foremost. He nodded and looked at Althea, the obvious leader among these people, and then at the redhead. Jonathan naturally attempted to study the most prominent people in Altera. However, they hadn''t been here for too long so they focused on information that would help the deals. For instance, who had the most say in the territory''s money matters. Fortunately, as long as their questions weren''t too intrusive, the people themselves didn''t seem to gatekeep information too much. They even got the vague feeling of bragging from them. When it came to money matters, it was the redhead¡ªwhich some people referred to as the handsome fire nymph¡ªwho held much power. While it seemed like he would listen to whatever his sister would say, Jonathan still knew not to bypass the necessary people and risk offending them. "We want a good deal like the one you gave to your allies. We will manage the logistics ourselves," he said. "We have already spoken with Baron, now we only need yours." "Which parties are we going to partner with?" Ansel asked in return. "And what kind of deal are we talking about here?" "Ferrol Town would be the only party you deal with in Ferrol and the surrounding area," he said, before looking at his dark-skinned companion. "Kory here specializes in the food industry and would like to gain some exclusivity in your sauces," he said. A lot of the deals with Garan back then actually profited so much thanks to this guy. He then shifted to the man sitting by his other side. "Ping here, on the other hand, owns a significant amount of inns in my territory. He was greatly interested in your furniture, fabric, soaps and the like." It was their first time staying in a place where small pieces of ''toiletries'' were provided with the room. The room wasn''t cheap of course, but it was a new concept to them over all. Ansel gave them a sharp look. "Obtaining exclusivity in that area would definitely increase your economy as a whole, even beyond the events." The events¡ªwhether it was the Ferrol Fair or the others¡ªmade Ferrol a lot of money each year. Alteran products being available exclusively to them in the area would boost this up even further. Jonathan''s eyebrows rose. "You know us well." Ansel crossed his arms. "Well, I''d like Altera and our people to get as rich as possible, so I studied various scenarios. "So, do we have a deal?" "You know, what you''ve seen so far is nothing compared to what we can truly offer¡ªespecially in the future. Your town is only a few days of travel away. We can lose some market going to Altera by making the products readily available in yours." Ansel turned to look at his sister. "Personally, I''m reluctant to offer exclusivity so easily. What do you think, sis?" Althea smiled and looked at Jonathan. "You realize that I can make much more if I sell it to anyone who comes, right?" Instead of selling to a distributor for a lower price, she was confident people from afar would come to Altera and buy in bulk. She could charge a lot more then, and she¡ªand the business owners¡ªcould also make a lot of money from the tourists who come in. Altera''s products and their continuous innovations would definitely ensure their special place in the market for years to come. Anyone with a brain naturally would want a piece of the pie. The others were taken aback, as no one generally rejected a lord of a higher level territory, let alone when Jonathan was being so kind. However, Jonathan was not angry. On the contrary, he found it a bit refreshing. "We can offer you information and protection. We will also buy the items at market cost." It had to be said: Growing up with women like Cassandra and admiring the likes of Olga and her mother¡ªand being a queer¡ªmade Jonathan quite open-minded. Fortunately for him, it was this quality that made Althea truly consider partnering with him. Years later, he would pat himself on the back for a job well done. Of course, again, this was a realization a long time in the making. At this time, a rather sensitive partnership was still in its infancy, forming its foundation. His words made Althea and the others look at him. "Altera won''t become a subsidiary to anyone¡ªthis was something sent to all elders." She said, lying with a straight face, while proceeding to send the message to all elders for consistency. Jonathan smiled. "Yes, I understand. That is not what I''m offering." S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When he stepped into the village, he realized how naive he had been offering it to the mercenary team before. Judging by the village''s growth, it could become a town within a year. A year! This was unheard of!! "Even if you aren''t my subsidiary, as long as our partnership remains, you can have my backing." This made his side look at him, a little startled, but they also understood. In fact, their instincts told them this was the best decision! Of course, Jonathan was still one to try to get as much advantage as he could. "I also heard that your territory is gathering information about Lords, despite not having one." Ansel and the Golds looked at him in curiosity. Althea''s eyebrows rose but, otherwise, her face didn''t change. "Well, we would like to know everything, even if we don''t need it." "And you shall have it, partnering with me," he said, before turning to the Golds. "The same applies to the Golds." "We''ll definitely be asking a lot of things that lords may not want to be public knowledge. Will that be okay?" Jonathan looked at them for a moment, before nodding. "As long as it wouldn''t be to the detriment of my own territory of course." "Yes, of course." Ansel stared at them with a smile, deciding to throw them off a bit. "We may also start our own events. We may need your guidance." "..." "..." Althea chuckled, shaking her head. "Stop scaring them," she said, before looking at the others. "We''ll do events that you do not have, and we will schedule outside your peak seasons," she told them. "We can mutually advertise each other as well." If they did events in alteration, perhaps the visitors would just go to and fro the territories. Either way, money would be going in their pockets. Jonathan heaved a deep breath of relief. For a moment there, he saw his yearly income half. Now that he knew it could double or even more instead, the blood returned to his face and he raised his hand to do finalize the deal. "Glad to be working with you." They smiled, with the siblings successively taking his hand for a handshake. "Likewise." Chapter 628 - 628: Deals with the Golds Next to deal with was the Golds, who seemed to be enjoying their snacks while watching a few deals form in front of them. They allowed them to watch such a sensitive topic because one, the aborigines wouldn''t feel comfortable kicking them out, and second, it would save Althea a lot of time in the discussions. She missed her children very much. Anyway, although the Golds had been here a while, Althea had been so busy with the war, her various experiments, and training that she just couldn''t find the time to mind them at all. She looked at the group of beautiful blondes, looking at the information available in the Lord Panel at the same time. Jonathan was already pretty strong for a town citizen at level 35. According to rumors, he was already in his late 40s though he looked to be a decade younger. The Golds'' level, on the other hand, was amazing. Obi¡ªwho was only in his 30s¡ªwas already level 43. Olga was at level 39, which was amazing for a woman, even if she was a city-dweller. And then there was Otto, who was already at level 50. She couldn''t help but look at Oslo and his level. His siblings were so far ahead of him in terms of levels; It was no wonder people said he slacked off a lot¡­ The Golds didn''t notice Althea''s judgy stare and continued on with the topic. "My brother advised me on the things you lack," Otto said. "I''m sure he told you that our family had in-house magic tool makers." Immediately, the Alteran''s backs¡ªand even the other guests¡ªperked up at the mention of magic tools. The Golds smirked, fairly confident in their offers. Of course, the values were not the same, but they should be able to buy a lot of local materials with a few magic tools. Althea leaned forward a bit, extremely interested. "Tell us more about the tools you can trade us with," she said, and Otto gladly entertained her. "We can give you our tools for a much lower price than the market cost. We have an in-house toolmaker you see, and his specialties are aether letters and aether boards." Aether boards were like aether letters, but were much larger, and had a larger network, but they had a one-way use. There would be one or two ''main'' boards where the contents would be written, and all the other boards in a large area would present it. The use of this was limited due to the system''s announcement function, but it could be used for areas outside the territory and, because it was only one-way, the tool could handle arrays that could make it work for far longer distances. For instance, they could not only place them outside the gates for people to read before entering, but they could even put them in the camping area dozens of kilometers away. It was understandably not a very popular tool, but Alterans would find a place for it somewhere. And, of course, a larger supply of aether letters would be most welcome. "Do you perhaps have more access to other types of tools? We are willing to pay, of course." The aborigines had mentioned that magic tool makers were limited to tools with similar functionality, so she wasn''t surprised the in-house toolmaker could only make the two tools. However, she would like it if they had a bit more variety. "We indeed have various channels for other tools," Otto said with a confident smile. "We can exchange these things for you for the exclusive rights to distribute in our city and the surrounding territories," he said and naturally the Alterans agreed. "Will we be dealing with you, Miss Althea?" To their surprise, she shook her head. "Not me, per se. The territory is about to open a Contribution Store selling special items. If you want, you can propose a deal at the Village Center to become a steady source of magic tools for the territory. "Give a fair price to Altera and you have the exclusivity you want for my Gaea products''." ¡­ The group finalized the deal, with Ansel tilting the advantages more to their side with a couple of words (this was something difficult to Althea who always preferred things straight to the point). For instance, increasing the prices, manipulating the terms, the interests, et cetera. This was Ansel''s specialty and Althea was glad to give the helm to him. By the time the discussion ended, the Golds'' eyes on Ansel had an elevated light of respect. They had indeed been acquaintances before thanks to Oslo, but seeing this side of him made them think more of him. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. To summarize, Altera first and foremost increased the purchase limits for all the parties involved. Of course, she was only speaking for her own products and shops, though she told them other companies would likely follow her model. As for the selling costs, Ansel made it so they didn''t even need to lower them at all. The aborigines gladly paid for the market price! For non-locals, this was a huge expense, but apparently not much for these nobles and the market they were planning on selling the goods to. The different parties also chose a field to focus on, as it was much more efficient and profitable to do so. Plus, there would be minimal conflicts among parties. Jonathan basically took the distributorship of nearly all items for Ferrol and surrounding villages, with his two companions piggy-backing on his deal. Jonathan had a share in both Kory and Ping''s business¡ªfood and hospitality, respectively. While Kory took the sauces and food products, Ping took items like pillows, duvets, uniforms, and the like. Even Cassandra and Veronica, who weren''t initially planning on making big deals, managed to get the distribution rights for beauty items in their respective towns. They had seen how Olga and Althea worked and they thought, why couldn''t they? For the Golds'' side, it was Otto who took the dealership for most items except for the fabric and beauty products. Olga took monopoly on the beauty products to distribute to her and her sister-in-law''s shop back in the city. She had also taken the fabric business, inspired by the various clothing stores she saw here. Obi wasn''t good with business but he did buy a lot of the novelty weapons. While they were only Class D weapons, they were really useful and superior weapons for those around level 20. Anyway, it was an overall productive deal, and should be able to bring Altera to another level of prestige and wealth! Altera would only become more powerful and more beautiful from here on out, and the aborigines could already foresee it. It was here that the women¡ªOlga and Cassandra¡ªlooked at Althea with shining eyes, "Is there a way to purchase a luxury house without having to transfer residency?" Althea mused for a bit before answering. As it was, only permanent residents had the right to own their properties. Temporary Residents could lease, while visitors would require a rather stringent list of requirements in order to rent a commercial or residential unit. However, her business partners naturally had some perks. "Well, you can lease it," she said, mentally deciding to add this option as soon as the aborigines left her house. "The minimum lease is 1 year, however. "It will not be cheap either as the territory typically only allowed for residents to have such benefits." "That''s fine," Olga said, "I will definitely lease one!" Although they wouldn''t buy the residency, they knew they''d be here often. They should live as comfortably as they can! Somehow, it felt like they needed to claim a part of it while they could. Cassandra nodded in agreement. "Me too!" she said, with a little blush on her face. "I will buy a villa. There''s one I love in the luxury area." Oslo couldn''t help but tease her, "New love nest?" "Shut up!!" She yelled, face red from embarrassment, making Veronica and Olga to giggle at them. "Me as well," Otto added, before looking at her, "We can rent a shop, is this alright?" Althea nodded. "As the territory''s business partners you should be allowed to lease a store for a favorable price," she said, turning to Ferrol. "That is the same with you." She then looked at Otto, with a bit more seriousness. "We would need to delineate which tools would only be available in that store, however," she told him. "There will be tools available exclusively in the Contribution Store." Otto''s eyes lit a bit, understanding why she chose to do so. "I understand." There were plenty of tools in this world, some of which no one would want on their enemies. While others could find alternative channels, they wouldn''t want it to be too easy¡ªespecially when it could be used against Altera. There were also tools she needed to request for, but that discussion was best left to the Golds alone. This was also a good thing for the Golds, especially now when they didn''t have their own physical stores yet. At least for a while, the Contribution Store would be their only channel to sell in. In any case, even with all the worry they needed to iron out, Althea and Ansel couldn''t help but give subtle looks at each other, their eyes sparkling at the possibilities. Magic Tools! Chapter 629 - 629: Town Upgrade Requirements Now that the small talk and business deals had been settled, it was time for Althea to know what she had always been meaning to ask. However, she looked at the Golds and wondered if either party would mind the other learning too much. It was fine before because they were all, essentially, a network of business partners now, but her questions had to do with the integrity and safety of the lords themselves. "You can ask what you want," Jonathan said, sounding very generous at this time. Her lips pursed, tentative. "My final question, this is especially targeted to Sir Jonathan, the lord of a town," she began, "But I can ask you later if you mind." "I assume you want to know the requirements of a Town?" he asked, and Althea nodded in agreement. The Golds also looked on in interest, wondering if they''d be hearing this as well, even if only for curiosity''s sake. Jonathan didn''t mind the Golds hearing at all. Anyway, it would probably add his good impression on them, so he wasn''t stingy with this information. Anyway, there was no way it would damage his town. "According to our records, you''ll need 20000 population, 15000 residents, and 1000 prestige to upgrade from Village to Town." A normal village would take decades to achieve this, and the fastest ones were probably Bluelle and Holt which¡ªaccording to tales of the previous generations¡ªtook a few years to develop into a town. When he heard this, he was very amazed. After all, other villages took decades to accomplish the same. The population wasn''t the difficult part in the requirement. After all, Xeno was a dangerous place that never seemed to lack refugees. Further, because of the long lifespans, the population of the world wasn''t exactly small. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The challenge in upgrading to a Town had always been the prestige. The average prestige for a village that had been established a couple of years ago seemed to be a hundred or so according to his subsidiaries, but he reckoned that was already above average in number. After all, his subsidiaries theoretically should have relatively higher prestige because their backer¡ªhis Ferrol Town¡ªwas rich and had a good influence. If anything, he estimated the standard prestige of a new village to be less than 50. His late father was very smart to hold all those events and then partner up with cities, ensuring the continuous flow of people in his town. Among Towns, Ferrol was definitely among the better ones. But Altera, which should become a Town in about another year or two, may not take too long to catch up. In any case, Jonathan was very curious what Altera''s current prestige was¡­ so he asked. "It''s 300." "..." Jonathan couldn''t speak for a moment. "What?" "Is it very odd?" Althea asked, pretty eyebrows furrowed in worry. The others similarly looked at Jonathan in curiosity. "300¡­ uh, no¡­ it''s very good. Very high," he said, heaving a deep breath to gather himself. "Very much above average, and I project Altera''s upgrade after another year." At this, the others on the table couldn''t help but look at each other with wide eyes. Becoming a town less than two years after conception¡­ it was a miracle. Altera''s potential¡­ was even higher than he thought! Speaking of potential, most other towns would feel threatened by Altera''s development. If other lords were in his place, it was more likely they''d send subsidiaries to weaken Altera rather than hang around the place like a guest. Especially¡­ Altera was a bit close in distance. If it became a Town, it had too big a potential to take his citizens, his customers, and his money. In fact, Jonathan as a lord actually considered this. However, he had a glimpse of its strength as they investigated and especially during the war. He was still self-aware¡ªnone of his villages stood a chance. Worse, the relationship would''ve only soured and the goods he liked so much might become inaccessible! He couldn''t risk it¡ªhe liked those noodles too much! Ahem. None of these thoughts was obvious on his face, however, and he cleared his throat to say a few caveats. "This is the requirement for upgrade gathered during my town''s upgrade many years ago," He said. "Add some tolerance as this was done by my father back then, so I am not sure of its accuracy." Althea nodded at him, smiling. In fact, this was also partially a test. She wanted to see if she''d feel any hostility and threat from Jonathan. She was expecting it, but surprisingly he was much more open-minded than she thought. "We thank you, on behalf of the Elders. It is very helpful to us already." "If I gather more information from the other lords, I will be sure to send them over to you." At this, Althea''s eyes shone. "Thank you lord Jonathan, this will certainly be taken as a show of sincerity." Jonathan nodded, agreeing that he was indeed being very helpful. Overtly so, but he always believed in his instincts¡ªbeing helpful now while Altera was not yet so strong would be the right decision! "May I ask what is your population now?" Althea asked, curious. "We are over 300,000," he said, a little smug. This was peak among towns, which would usually have around half or even less of that. Populations in Cities, on the other hand, could go to a million or two. Althea noted this, hoping to be able to plan accordingly. She wanted to keep a comfortable density in her territory, and to do that she had to carefully calculate and plan the future expansions. "Finally, I have a number of questions. Anyone who knows the answer can answer," she asked, including the Golds in her questions. "Ask away, Ms. Althea." She pursed her lips before asking, before finally doing so. "Does anyone know about the special child from Holt City?" "You mean that brat?" Obi mumbled, turning to Otto, "Aren''t you acquaintances with the lord there?" "That''s a misconception," Otto said, but answered anyway. "Oh, the child is around 4 years old now, and he''s the treasure of the entire territory. Unfortunately, this turned him into quite a brat." "Is there anything else special about him?" "Other than his ability to make a calm person crazy?" "...yes." "I heard that he was very smart. He also started walking very early, in less than 8 months, from what I heard." Typical babies in Terran took 12 to 15 months to stand, with the fastest record at 9 months. Eight months was basically half the time as Terran children. "What is the normal age for children here to walk?" Olga was quite interested in baby news so she also knew something about this. "I think children here typically walk at 12 months." "Hmn, the child is very impressive then." Olga nodded. "He is also very cute, but¡­ like they said, he''s a little devil that can turn the calmest maids crazy." Althea nodded and pursed her lips, but she did her best not to show too much emotion while she asked. Outwardly, she only seemed curious. "What about powers?" she asked. "Is there anything different in terms of strength?" She hoped that she could get an idea about her children''s powers! Chapter 630 - 630: Garan’s Return "I''m curious because we''re so new to this world¡­ our village also needs to have more children, so we want to know more." "Well, it is more difficult to have children as one''s level increases," Olga said. "So I recommend making more babies while the average level in the territory is still low." There were a few exemptions¡ªlike her mother¡ªbut it was better to be safe than sorry. "As for powers¡­ Children generally start battling outside at 12 years old, because it''s the age most people would be mature enough to hold a legitimate weapon and not just drop it to the ground. "However, some noble children would receive some training from captured beasts much earlier," she said. "Regardless of the circumstance, the chance to see if one has special abilities is still level 10 for everyone." This meant that if a child reached level 10 early on, then they would still have the chance to exhibit power. This was the case with that guy from Holt City, who exhibited an element as early as 11 years old. He might be younger than Oslo, but he was really much more talented in terms of fighting. The only reason he hasn''t reached level 40 was because of an unfortunate accident that delayed him for ten years. "I see¡­ thank you." At this, Althea was both relieved and troubled. She was relieved to know that her children seemed to have a guaranteed ability¡ªwhich equated to a layer of protection for them¡ªbut at the same time, she was also troubled because they seemed to have no idea how to deal with it. Before she could go deep into worry, the door opened abruptly, making everyone turn their heads with raised guards. It was Garan with red eyes. He strode forward and grabbed her shoulders, immediately shielding her from the others. "Are you alright?!" He was sweaty and panic-stricken. They had obviously rushed to get back. There should still be a few more hours of travel left. Since he said they''d do a leisurely pace before, then he must''ve consumed a lot of energy during the last leg of the trip to get back here so soon. However, it seemed like Garan went on full-on panic mode that she couldn''t ask. Althea was very confused. "Of course. What makes you think otherwise?" "I received the announcement to the Elders and¡­" Oops. He meant that announcement to all elders to keep a consistent story while she was dealing with the aborigines. She couldn''t have everyone saying different things, right? In retrospect, the notification saying ''Received an order: Never allow Altera to be a subsidiary'' was indeed a little misleading. He probably thought she was ''held at gunpoint'' or something. She sighed and handed him a bottle of water and potions to heal him. "Calm down, everything is okay¡­" The drenched Garan heaved a deep breath, taking the bottles to drink. While he was doing so, Althea cleared her throat, looking at her guests with an awkward smile. "This is my husband, father of my children." Garan turned to them, guarded, and although the man had a lower level than, well, all of them, they still felt a chill. It was here that Garan realized there were acquaintances in the room. He nodded, cool as a cucumber as if he wasn''t just super fazed earlier on. "He''s your husband?" Jonathan blinked. They hadn''t been in the territory long enough to gather such gossip, nor would they put two-and-two together even if they did. But his shoulders relaxed in the end, and he couldn''t help chuckling a bit. "Well, thinking about it," he paused. "No one else would suit each other more than you two." ¡­ They decided to finalize and formalize all their deals later in the day in the village center, especially since a number of them would be selling items for the soon-to-open Contribution Store as well. There were still a few more things Althea had to discuss with the Golds, so Jonathan''s party had to excuse themselves. With that, only the couple and the Golds remained in the verandah. Althea entered small talk with them while her husband changed clothing. He arrived some minutes later with a clean, refreshed, and very handsome demeanor. "What would you like to discuss with us?" "It''s mostly about tools," Althea began. "Let''s start with that tool maker of yours. "Can he create something that could block ''unregistered'' aether letters?" The Golds looked at each other, a bit puzzled. "What do you mean?" "Aether letters are extremely convenient to whoever uses it. I want to be able to control the enemy''s use of it, particularly during wars. Similarly, we need to regulate their use within the territory." They were against villages and those territories were unlikely to even get ahold of aether letters, but even so, they dared not belittle them. A few messages could affect the tide of war. This was even truer if they were against Towns. The Golds'' eyes widened a bit at this, a little enlightened. They¡­ had never thought about this before. "We don''t know, actually. I can''t imagine how it''s done." "We can." "What?" "Well, in theory. We have several directions, but we couldn''t even test out any of them unless someone could actually create the special parchments." She didn''t even try to ask if they could get the masters to teach her about the arrays, judging by how stringent things were here. At least not until she could prove herself with her own skills. "We had similar tools back in our home, but the medium is different. If we could partner with your tool makers¡­" Althea began, "Then we can control and block the flow of aether letters around the territory, keeping the enemies from using it. "Of course, if we receive enough assistance from you, you will also get a share of the product we''d end up producing." The Golds brightened at this and they immediately agreed. But the discussion did not end there. They also asked about the tools they got from a person named Belize and explained their uses. They weren''t particularly special, but the couple seemed to have found a lot of use for them, even if it wasn''t the intended use¡­ Then they continued with several other discussions and the Golds quickly found themselves a little lost. Obviously, they were the ones who knew about tools, why did the couple have so many ideas? Although some of the ideas went over their heads, one thing was clear: Altera was becoming the land of innovation¡ªand their growth was inevitable! ¡­ Outside, the cousins Jonathan and Cassandra chatted a bit, left alone by their friends and companions to do their own thing. Now that the deal was about to be finalized, Jonathan knew he would have to get back home soon. Speaking of getting back home. He looked at his cousin. "You really overstayed here, Cassandra." The girl gave him a pointed look. "Can you blame me?" "..." No, he could not. In the end, Jonathan sighed and took a piece of fancy-looking papyrus and handed it over to her. He¡­ had actually forgotten about it until now. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Cassandra''s pretty eyebrows furrowed at the sight of the envelope. It was sealed in wax with a stamp of her town''s characteristic flower¡ªthe Isatis. "Best read in private," Jonathan said, turning away to give her some privacy. "See you in the Village Center in a few hours." He hadn''t opened it, of course, but he knew her family. Such an official letter would definitely entice some emotions to the girl¡ªfor better or for worse. Cassandra rushed over to her room and opened it. She dreaded doing so, but she was raised to prioritize family over everything. Her hands shook as she looked at its contents. Unsurprisingly, it was another authoritarian letter. And she was asked to go home, at the soonest. Chapter 631 - 631: Family The Golds left the villa with enlightened minds, leaving the couple alone in the verandah. She looked at her husband''s profile and sighed, raising her hand to touch his chiseled face. "Was the trip tiring? I''m sorry you had to worry like that," she said, and Garan''s demeanor immediately softened as he leaned into her touch. "No. I wanted to see you as soon as I could anyway." sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Warmth surrounded the air around them, with Garan''s arm finding her backrest and pulling her chair closer to his. The next thing she knew, his strong arms had wrapped around her waist, pulling her to sit on him and with his lips capturing hers. Their mouth and tongues rubbed together as their bodies did, and immediately the cool air of the veranda was not enough to cool down the heat. Before things could get too heated up though, they heard the door open, immediately making them flinch. It was Harold, who was very innocently heading towards the verandah. "Lunch is ready in the other house, Sheila and the others have also arriv¡ª" His voice died down when he saw the boss sitting on her husband''s thigh, and he froze at the sight of Boss Garan''s sharp eyes "I¡­I¡­!" "Stop scaring him," Althea said, standing up though her husband''s grubby hand was still stuck to her waist. "And behave," she said, kissing his cheek. "It''s time to go check on the children." ¡­ The couple walked towards the other villa with entwined hands. Garanrubbed her palms with his calloused fingers, tickling her. This got him a pinch on the cheek. Sadly he didn''t have any baby fat to pinch, so she just ended up touching his face. This just made his eyes turn dark and he looked down at her, and she immediately parted from him to rush to the other house. Garan looked at the children crawling to and fro the play pen, enjoying their toys, and making the adults around smile. They rolled and crawled and, when they saw their mother, their expressions immediately morphed to one of excitement. "Googhmammmm¡­" "Mwammmuummma¡­" Althea smiled and she took a baby on each hand, giving them smooches on their soft faces. She then turned around towards Garan and the babies also looked while in her arms. Their cute smiles widened even more at the sight of their dad, extending their hands to get ahold of him. He smiled and took them into his arms. Their tiny hands touched his face, and he leaned down to kiss their faces, making them giggle. Together, the group sat down around the large dining table, with Garan placing the babies on the high chair between him and Althea. "Better tighten the seat," Winona mentioned as she served rice to her plate. "Meatball could float out." This made Garan flinch. Eyebrows furrowed, he looked at Althea."Their ability¡­" "It manifested again," she said. "In front of Winona for now, fortunately." The atmosphere was a little muted as they ate lunch. It was fine if it was just Winona, but what if it was a stranger who saw? "I asked the aborigines about that Holt kid," Althea said, telling her husband what had been discussed. "The aborigines don''t know much either." "Even that case Betty mentioned didn''t seem to have awakened powers early." Ansel turned to his sister with a serious expression on his face. "I think you''re correct not to tell them about the abilities. I think we should all keep mum about it. If the babies are unusual, who knows what could happen. "This is a world where slavery is accepted, after all." Even the imagination that something could happen to the children made their stomachs drop, and each adult was already thinking of ways to keep the children safe in their own way. The atmosphere was a little tense, but the babbles and giggles of the children made people''s hearts go soft, immediately improving the atmosphere. They all looked at the babies who didn''t have any idea what was going on. The children were currently sipping Broat Milk (now tagged safe and very healthy) with added fruit flavor to ease them for soft foods. Also, it was really tasty. Sip, sip, sip Chup, chup, chup They were just so adorable. Their cheeks were plumper while they were eating, and their eyes a little more watery as they enjoyed their meals. Winona had also changed the baby''s clothes to their sleeping clothes. Since the advent of cotton, the children now wear different animal-themed onepiece baby suits (which was suuuper cute) every day of the week. A lot of these clothing Winona actually commissioned herself. And, if it was up to her, the babies would not be repeating clothes at all! But alas, they were being sustainable right now. Today, Little Pepper was wearing a baby onesie with a kitten theme, while Little Meatball was in a puppy-themed onesie. They were also playing around with their toys as they drank. Sip, sip, sip Chup, chup, chup Interestingly, they could also determine the babies'' preferences early on. Pepper obviously liked strawberry flavor the most, judging by her sipping speeds, while Meatball was fond of pineapple flavor. To be honest, they could just watch the babies all day, and their presence made the food even nicer. Lunch was nice, as always, and Harold was showing steady growth in skill and creativity. Although the meal was simple¡ªa hearty stew, a side of garlic bread, and a salad with her favorite vinaigrette dressing¡ªit was very satisfying. As they ate (with the couple occasionally feeding each other), they couldn''t help but hear some rustling and sucking sound, realizing both kids had started to bite on their toys. "Stop biting that¡­" When Althea took it out, their rounded eyes lined with tears, eyebrows showing discomfort and irritability. "They''re doing that more often," Winona commented, and it made Harold look at the babies again. "Boss, can you check their gums?" Althea blinked and looked at little Pepper, who was seated closer to her. She asked them to open their mouths, leading by example, while her fingers also guided them. Babies made ''o'' with their tiny mouths, and it sent cute attacks around the room. Althea looked closer and saw that their gums was reddish. "Their gums are swollen." Harold also walked closer to take a look. He, as a single father, was the only one who had real experience with taking care of babies. "They seem to be teething already," he said. "They''d be biting their toys soon. You need a teether." Harold knew what he was talking about. After all, he raised his daughter closely as soon as she was born. Shiela and Winona found it adorable to imagine one or two teeth growing on the babies. "Wow sooo cute~!" "Aww, ohmygosh must take a photo!" Winona, whose phone was always charged using Althea''s solar charger, immediately took out her phone and added a few more photos in her already large collection of baby pictures. Althea though, was just concerned. "Already teething?" Garan nodded. He had studied a lot about babies in the tablet as soon as he found he had children. "Most children start teething at 6 months, 4 at most. They''re only 2 months old¡­" "Would they grow up older faster?" "I don''t know." Looking closer, their hair had also grown enough for them to see their approximate color. As with the case of their eyes, little Pepper inherited her father''s ebony hair as deep as outer space, while Meatball inherited her lush auburn ones. "Mngwahwah¡­." Little Pepper mumbled. "Gooooglugh," Little Meatball garbled. They seemed to have noticed her mood and were making adorable weird faces to comfort her. She giggled, placing kisses on their cute chubby cheeks. While apprehensive, there was no point worrying too much about things they couldn''t control. Her intuition was telling her it was nothing dangerous. But¡­ she still hoped to get answers sooner rather than later. Chapter 632 - 632: New Family Member Ansel, knowing that discussing it more would just make them worry, decided to change the topic. He turned to Althea with bright eyes. "I heard you defeated a level 30 elementalist. What''s your level now?" he asked, and this made everyone turn to her. She cleared her throat. "First of all, I had a lot of help from Gochi. And, second, I only leveled up once." "..." "Seriously?" "Seriously." To be honest, when he heard that Althea defeated Belize, he was half-expecting her to suddenly rise to level 20 or something. "So¡­ you defeated an Elementalist 20 levels higher than you were, but you only leveled up once? And didn''t you already have a good amount of experience before killing him?" he asked. From what he knew, she already had around a third of the experience requirement filled before the war! When she nodded, Ansel looked at her with a face full of disbelief, wanting to shout injustice to the world. WTF However, Althea didn''t seem to be too affected by this fact. She was quite rational about it. "According to our data, a monster will only give 20-30 more experience points than a monster with a lower level. The only exemptions are monsters in milestone levels, which can give slightly higher rewards, but overall it''s more or less the same." That was to say: Even if they defeated a monster 3 levels higher they''d only receive extra 60 to 90 experience! WTF WTF WTFFFF Ansel almost cried at this analysis, and the others were also pouting. "Such small experience for fighting against monsters that could kill us in a few bites! What''s more: Our experience requirements every level up is, like, 5000 more than the previous level. That''s so not fair! What the heck is with this world?" It wasn''t like the monsters were getting weaker! Annoying! Then he looked at Garan with renewed admiration. Going from 0 to 20 in four months? They probably grinded day in and day out, right? And, considering their levels, they probably grinded around towns! Did he really still have complete limbs? Garan caught his stare and an eyebrows rose. "What is it?" "Nothing." While Ansel and the others mourned for their future, Althea thought a bit more. "It''s very inconvenient, but it''s not like it''s completely a bad thing. For one, if monsters can level up faster, how screwed will we be? We can''t think humans would get some sort of natural advantage over other races, right?" There were so many races in this world¡ªsome of which were stronger than humans. Unlike in Terran, they simply couldn''t afford to assume humans were the ''central race'' of the universe anymore. This made them look at her, pausing in thought. Looking at them like this, Althea told them a few more theories she had. "One of the things I noticed about the system is that it doesn''t promote killing." "Think about it. What if some organization decided to hunt powerful people? Especially, powerful people but at the end of their lifespans and has become weak. If the bonuses were even larger, I can imagine a lot of people stuck at their levels would begin hunting these poor people. Ansel looked at her. "You know, the fact that you can think of that makes you a little psycho, sis." Garan glared at him, and then turned to gently look at Althea. "I love you regardless." Althea: "..." ¡­ Their in-depth discussion was cut short when they heard some scuffle coming from the verandah. They stared in its direction, listening as it went closer to where they were. They were a little guarded, but they didn''t react too harshly. After all, the people who could enter the house without them being led inside were only members of the group. The scuffles and scuttles got closer and closer and¡ª Woof! Their shoulders slumped at the same time as they saw the large dog entering through the verandah door. Fufi was big but as adorable as always, his tail wagging wildly as he stared at them. Surprisingly, a sight of white fur appeared behind him. It was then that they realized: Their mascot actually had a guest. It was the white wolf from before. A very beautiful one with a good form and silky fur. It wasn''t much bigger than the standard Terran wolves, but it was majestic. Ansel immediately sat up, laughing at the sight of the wolf. "Hey! It''s you!" He exclaimed before turning to his sister, "You know that wolf we found near Bright? It helped me out a lot during the war!" Althea''s eyes brightened at this. Then she looked at how well-behaved the dog was¡­ and how much Fufi''s tail was wagging. Hey, that rate of wagging is even faster than when he was with her. "You like her very much, eh?" Woof! Woof! She''s pretty! Althea''s lips twitched and she shook her head, turning to stare at the wolf who was standing proud at a safe distance from everyone. Ansel had detailed the fight earlier. While her defense and attack wasn''t nearly as strong as Fufi''s, it had rare stealth skills. It was even better than Horus, and it was no wonder it managed to survive so long with its (currently) low level. A light of idea flashed by her head, and she looked at Ansel. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Why don''t you try to turn her into your battle pet?" She asked and Ansel''s back straightened at this. "Right!" Ansel had always been envious of Althea and Fufi. He also wanted a battle pet! He stood up and approached the wolf who just stared at him. He put out his hand with a friendly and handsome grin. He was wearing his usual seductive grin, wearing his favorite cologne for good measure. "Come on, bite it," he said, waving the palm in front of her, as if not afraid the wolf would just open its mouth and eat it. However, the wolf ignored his ''sacrifice'' and turned around to ignore him. "..." Althea laughed, Garan''s lips twitched, and everyone else cackled. Ansel was taken aback, but he wasn''t one to give up easily! He immediately recovered and smiled again, this time with softer voice and smaller movements. He went around to stand wherever the wolf was facing, ''wisely'' presenting his hand as ''something delicious to bite''. "Come on, pretty girl, take a bite." He even got a jerkey out. This made the wolf pause and look at him. Ansel''s heart was raised, excited when the wolf began approaching him. "Good girl, that''s it¡­" The wolf opened its mouth but it only took the bacon, before immediately turning away. Ansel almost lost his footing. He was very depressed. Unexpectedly, the wolf went to Garan, jumping over Ansel''s hunched body, and nibbed the man''s hand instead. The next thing they knew, light surrounded the two critters, finalizing the contract. Ansel gasped when he realized what had happened. "WHAT! TRAITOR!" he yelled, glaring at both Garan and the wolf as if he had been cucked. "Why? Why choose him?!" The wolf growled and howled and they all stared at Garan, knowing that the pets'' masters could understand what they were talking about. Garan''s face didn''t change as he looked at the wolf, likely absorbing the answer. He nodded before turning to Ansel. "She said you smelled." And they all cackled, laughing at Ansel for his bad luck. Chapter 633 - 633: Wolf’s Name Ansel was very sad and he sat on a corner looking like he was growing mushrooms. Winona cackled the loudest and went to him, poking him repeatedly with her fingers. "Hahaha¡­ oi¡­ you lost a battle pet because of your cologne¡­ hahahha.. I told you it''s too strong." As people close to Althea, they naturally could get a custom scent from Althea''s lab if they wanted to. Both Winona and Ansel tapped into this right, and they even fought for the first slot. Ansel won by rock-paper-scissors and Winona was there to mock the scent he asked for. Ansel believed in his taste and pointedly ignored her (he couldn''t in good conscience mock her scent, because he actually really liked it). Althea smiled at their antics, before turning to the white wolf that appeared so gracefully. She extended her hand and the wolf tentatively walked over. At first, it was just her nose touching Althea''s finger, until she was allowing her to pat her head. "Good girl¡­" Althea smiled, turning to the bickering duo at the corner. "Come on now," she said. "It''s time to choose a name." This made the two walk over to her with determined faces, instantaneously creating names. "Wolfsbane," Ansel said, crossing his arms in pride. This was a cool name and would''ve been the wolf''s name if she had the foresight to choose him as his master, instead. Winona rolled her eyes, "It''s female, idiot," she said, turning to Althea with a smile. "Serephina." Ansel scoffed and this earned a glare from the blonde, and soon began yet another banter. In the end, after much discussion, they decided to formally name the wolf Snow Phantom, because of its appearance and its skill. "I''ll call you Snow~" Winona said, admiring the wolf''s white coat. Ansel sneered at her. "Phantom is much cooler." "She''s a girl, she would prefer pretty names." "You can understand her? No, right?" he said, tone mocking and it heckled Winona''s feathers. And so¡­ another topic of argument began. Althea rubbed her forehead, which was replaced by Garan''s hand while he glared at the idiots who caused his wife''s headache. This naturally made the two shut up, just looking away from each other in annoyance. Althea gently tapped her husband''s hand and smiled at him, before facing the two to make an announcement. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It''s a nickname and she''s smart, just call her whatever you want," Althea said and Garan nodded. "Yes, my wife is wise," he said, followed by the wolf howling next to him. Awoooo! The wolf howled, as if agreeing with her. Yes, very wise. ¡­ The group continued to bond and chatter in the living area, with the babies crawling about. Fortunately, Baron''s team really loved the babies and they already sent teethers even before they could crawl. It was made of rubber from the Waol tree, and they were shaped in various adorable shapes like baby cartoon pandas and stars. Silicone was another one of the for-development things in the Research Lab¡ªand one of the better materials for teethers¡ªbut that''d take a while. In the meantime, this would do. "Tell us more about what happened in the war," Winona said as they fondly watched the babies in onesies play. She felt very proud of their cute animal ears and the puffs on their bumbums acting like puffy tails. Althea smiled and told them of the adventures in summary. How they entered so quickly, how the enemies reacted, and how they won. "Wow.. how exciting!" Harold said. Of course, he wouldn''t want to be there either. Not because he didn''t want to join (he wanted to contribute in some way), but he knew he''d only be a burden anyway. "How much money did you take from Fargo?" "I didn''t take it, we put the money in the warehouse." After all, it was too suspicious if she easily took them all. It was funding for Fargo¡ªno, Limestone Valley now¡ªanyway. "I got a few thousand, but that includes the money taken from the thousands of slaves we received." "Can that buy a lot?" "It can buy a bit," she said. She knew most villages could only dream of that money after developing their territories, but her standards were high and she naturally needed a lot more for her vision. "It is the resources that make me happy." That was: Limestone and the Metals. "Does that mean we can build tall buildings soon?" "Soon, for sure." "And copper! Do we finally get electricity?" Winona, one of the main proponents of the research center, naturally thought deeper than others. If only they could convert their copper coins¡ªwhich they couldn''t¡ªthen they''d have the resources much earlier. Fortunately, they still found the related resource so it wasn''t hopeless. "Possible, but it''ll definitely take a while. As we know, the usual formulas and processes needed to be modified after going here." While they really won a lot though, Althea''s shoulder slumped in the end. Garan immediately felt her change and brought her for an embrace. "I want to say these resources would make the war worth it, but¡­" In her mind, the resources wouldn''t equate equally to the deaths, even if they were considered ''few''. "We''re doing our best to prepare the entire territory, to give everyone the best chance," he told her and she nodded, understanding this, though it was still too soon for her to feel less depressed about the people they lost. Seeing her like this, Winona couldn''t help but wonder. "How would wars at town level be like?" This made everyone pause, thinking. For the most part, the imagery wasn''t pretty. "We will be able to participate fully in that war," Garan told them. This was both worrisome and relieving. Worrisome because it meant the enemies were strong, and relieving because he could be with his wife the entire time¡ªeven if they were the attacking territory. Eugene blinked, an idea teasing his brain. "If wars could be won by the defending territory simply by keeping all of the invading troops outside the highest level wall, what if an enclosure too small to keep the enemies was built?" Althea laughed, "I asked something similar to Oslo before," she said, "Apparently, there was a territory that built a level 5 wall but only around his house. It was also extremely easy to guard." "Well, that''s one way to not lose a war¡­" "Well, not necessarily. A small wall meant concentrated forces would have a higher overall damage. Even if the people can''t get in, they can just destroy it instead." "Oh¡­" From here, the group continued to review the events of the war. They would mention their own POVs and they integrated the knowledge together to record and analyze the events, hoping to avoid mistakes to lessen the casualties in the future. Of course, this was only an advanced session and a more detailed one would be done with everyone. This was mostly Garan''s job, but Althea and Ansel wanted to share what happened to their side of the war. Garan planned to make an even more detailed analysis of the war. They would analyze the key battles, the pivotal moments, critical mistakes, and the like. To be fair, Altera did very well considering everything, but they naturally wanted to minimize damage as they could. This was Garan''s main goal, and what they''d be working towards. Other than the fact that it was his duty¡ªboth as the military leader and as a human¡ªhe also¡­ just didn''t want his wife sad anymore. Chapter 634 - 634: Fargo’s Warehouse Next, it was Ansel''s turn to tell his side of the story. He started with their entrance (and subsequent blockage), the travel back, and then the fight with Eli. "Speaking of, Snow really helped a lot as well," Ansel said, "It saved a lot of people''s lives for sure." They looked at the wolf who was now lying down and behaved on the floor, right outside the play cot. Fufi was next to her, though his eyes were often on the babies crawling. The babies giggled as they crawled towards the dogs, wanting to snuggle though Winona held them back, lifting them with a palm on each tummy. Their cheeks puffed as they pouted, sending cute attacks to Winona, who softened as they looked at her with their large eyes. However, for their sake, she stayed firm. "Nono, wait til they get a very good bath," Winona said, her light-colored eyes shifting to the two dogs, who flinched by instinct. Fortunately, they''d find out later that Snow didn''t mind taking a bath (they knew Fufi loved it) so it wouldn''t be hard to keep them clean. "What''s the next step for Fargo, er, Limestone Valley?" Ansel asked, pulling his eyes away from Winona. Althea¡ªrelaxedly using her husband''s shoulder as a backrest¡ªlooked at the two of them in alteration, smiling, though she didn''t point anything out and just answered the question. "As for Limestone Valley, we will turn it into a rich village in its own right, but at the same time elevate Altera''s development even more." While it would primarily be the village for sourcing limestone, copper, zinc, and lead, she would naturally want it to stand (and make money) on its own. Of course, not to the detriment of Altera''s¡ªwhich was set to have massive improvements in the future, especially when concrete was perfected. However, she may have to use her own funds to increase its defense at least, as it barely had any sentries on its outer walls. The deposits were also not within the territory walls, so she''d need to find ways to protect the miners and handle the logistics of everything. "We need to get the basic amenities working, as well." "And utilities," Ansel said. "They had wells and we can add more. Unfortunately, adding piping like in Altera may be too much work, but we should still be prepared for future improvements." They could also build system buildings everywhere, especially dorms, which would fix the shanty and the shit-on-street problem over there as well. "We also need to send the occasional researcher there to see if there are new plantlife," Winona said. Although Fargo was only a day away and the biodiversity here was limited, who knew if there were still finds, especially since the geology was different from Altera''s. The team continued to discuss boring stuff and only paused when they heard a soft sound. Their attention shifted to a little yawn, followed by another. It was the babies, looking very sleepy. Their eyes were about to close, their little mouths making small ''o''s as they yawned. Little Theo, who was playing closely to Pepper (though usually very quiet), also yawned, and this was followed by the ''big kids'' Maya and Horus. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was adorable and they put soft smiles on everyone''s faces. "Well, there''s still a lot to decide on, but we''re not in too much of a rush¡­" Althea said, adjourning the casual meeting. "I''ll leave the event tomorrow to you," Althea told her brother, referring to the small carnival held the next day to celebrate their first win. As always, since they had the money, why not improve the morale upwards on a straight line. So, they decided to turn it into a thing¡ªcreate a carnival for every big victory the territory experienced. This would not only boost morale, it would also strengthen the sense of unity and sense of self among the people. And¡­ who said such events wouldn''t be profitable? Certainly not Ansel or Althea! ¡­ Later that night, before going to bed, Althea habitually went to check on her warehouse. Her husband was already in bed with the babies and she teleported to her warehouse to check on it, as was her habit every few days. She cleaned and organized the vague items the system couldn''t organize itself. There was no interesting new find, which was understandable because of the lack of biodiversity in this plane, but she couldn''t help but want to explore further anyway¡­ When Winona said more researchers should be sent to Fargo, she definitely wanted to be one of them. No, she wanted to reach more, farther, but right now she was the lord in an unstable place, and she knew it wasn''t the time for her to go exploring, at least not yet. Exploration¡­ Warehouse¡­ Somewhere along the way, just before she headed back to her room, she came to an idea and her feet paused. "Warehouse, eh?" She mumbled, an experimental idea dawning on her. The space in the warehouses was very special and its ability was incredibly convenient for moving around things in the territory¡ªeven her own body. So¡­what about¡­ other warehouses? With this thought, her whole body suddenly felt wobbly, and she belatedly realized that her surroundings had shifted. She blinked, looking around. It was a warehouse, but one a level smaller than what she was used to. There was also a limited variety of things¡­ none of which she had been looking at a minute prior. After a second of thought (and disbelief), she realized what happened. This was not Altera''s warehouse¡ªit was Limestone Valley''s!! This meant that, to some degree, the warehouses were also merged¡ªaccessible to her! Her eyes were bright as she looked at the piles and piles of money and resources (well, nothing compared to Altera but still). Most of the space was unsurprisingly occupied by readily-needed resources like stone, wood, and the Flute Plants for their restaurant. There was not much of anything else, not really. While a little disappointed, she was still in a very good mood. After all, this meant she could easily transfer the limestones, copper, and other resources back to Altera with a lot less effort than she thought! She could also transfer important resources from Altera to Fargo! And more importantly, this meant she could teleport to Limestone Valley whenever she wanted! How Happy!! Chapter 635 - 635: Celebrations (Part 1) Later that day After the usual day of hunting, work, and rest, that night marked the formal celebration of Altera winning their first war. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were too many things to commemorate. Not only did they win the war, they also received another territory with great resources. There were hundreds of reunions abound in the territory, and those who had well-off relatives were immediately settled well. Luckily, a lot of these people also shed their slave status very quickly. The only regret was that residency required contribution points, which could not be fixed by loans. Those who had not yet found their loved ones settled nicely as visitors and slept comfortably in dormitories. Their hearts were settled and in peace, to a degree, even if they still had that slave status hanging on their heads. In any case, they were already planning their next step to improve their lives even further. For the Alterans, on the other hand, it was to celebrate an immense accomplishment! Winning their first war was no small feat after all! And through this war, the territory showed its strength and ability to protect them well! Altera proved to be their guardian angel and worthy of their loyalties, and that alone was worthy of celebration! In any case, the elders opted to not have a formal program for this celebration. It would be more like a carnival arrangement (except without the rides). This was also to show off to the aborigines, and also give them hints about how some of their ''events'' would look like. They started setting up the pseudo-carnival very early that day with the help of Baron and his team. They placed it in the main plaza to accommodate as many attractions as was comfortable. There was also a stage with various programs like raffle draws and talent contests (which shall be used by Ansel and Fable to find talents for their new talent agency). There were also rows and rows of carnival game stalls built, targeting Alterans of all ages. They would open at around the same time¡ªafter working hours. Anyway, dusk and night would be brightly lit with various torches and Youli lights, especially along these streets. More importantly: They had a Lighthouse now! It was something that appeared a few hours ago out of nowhere, and it brightened the whole territory by another level! As the sun slept, colorful banners were raised, flapping with the wind and reflecting the lights. There was a festive atmosphere all around Altera, and the joyful laughter of youths echoed across the streets. In front of a stall, a gorgeous blonde admired the prize displays as well as the activities. "This is adorable¡­" Betty mumbled, looking at the bunny plush toy displayed on one of the games. There were plenty of game stalls on this street, most of which were unfamiliar to the aborigines. Most of the prices were plush toys with various Terran animals. To Terrans, they were nostalgic, to the aborigines they were novel and cute. Somehow, a lot of the men were alerted by her words and pretty much appeared next to her. "I can get that for you, Miss Betty!" "No, I will get it for you!" "I used to do hoops back in High school" "I have this in the bag!" Without waiting for Betty''s answer, the few men already lined up to try, making the stall owner very happy. Realizing what happened, Betty covered her face in embarrassment while the other aborigines smiled (and cackled, teasing). Betty naturally couldn''t just go so impolitely so they stayed behind to see who won. However, as she and the other aborigines waited, the men never quite gained enough points to get the large bunny¡ªwhich was the grand prize for that store. "Darn!" "TSK!" Betty cleared her throat. "I.. thank you everyone for your effort," she said. "Now, let''s go explore the rest of the events, yes?" She meant this so everyone could adjourn, but it was misconstrued as an invitation instead. "Together?" "Of course, Miss Betty!" "..." Betty fell into an awkward situation. She turned to her companions who were only smiling and looking like they were planning to watch a show. Fortunately, the attention detracted a bit when a relatively big guy arrived to try the stall they had just been in. After all, they had all failed in getting the shot, they naturally wanted to see other people suffer, er, try it out. The man was tall and muscular, but he had a kind face. Next to him was a friend and a little girl whose huge eyes were fixed on the same prize Betty was looking at. "Wow, what a cute bunny!" She said and she turned to her father, but saw his dominant hand was injured. Immediately, her shoulder slumped, and didn''t talk anymore. The large man with a kind smile patted the girl''s head, "I''ll do it," he said and bought several tries from the get-go, as if aware he''d need them all. And he did need them all. He pretty much embarrassed himself for the first dozen tries, but he was unfazed by the chuckles of the previous participants. Unlike them, since he bought so many at once, he could try until the tries had run out. And because he was targeting the major prize so closely, not even his dozens of attempts landed on the minor prizes at all. It was all or nothing with him, it seemed. He tried until a few more dozen of shots missed. He was down to about a handful, but his focus seemed unperturbed, determined to get the bunny for the little one. He tried and tried, until finally¡ª Whoosh! "Score! FINALLY!!" The stall owner yelled with raised hands, finding himself cheering for the big man as well. Speaking of the big man, he adorably cheered as well, practically jumping. The other men groaned in disappointment, while the others approached Betty and offered to try for some other prize. She shook her head and said her thanks, but her eyes stayed on the man and his large goofy grin as he handed the doll to the little girl, smiling proudly. "Here you go, Lily," he said and the little girl jumped in joy. Very cute. "WOWWOW!! THANK YOU UNCLE TOM!" Then there was another little girl, a bit older than Lily, gently tugging Tom''s shirt. Betty recognized her as one of the newcomers from Fargo, as she had treated her wounds before. If she wasn''t mistaken, the little girl''s name was Lina, a ten year old ''slave''. She remembered her because she was a very pretty girl, but she somehow lacked the innocence of the other little girls of Altera. Tom smiled and patted her head, "Does our Lina also want a toy? There''s only the duck toy though," he said, but it was much smaller than the bunny one. The little girl seemed a little unreconciled, looking around for bigger prices. She held the man''s hand to drag him someplace else, and the entire group soon headed out of view. And so they went. Inexplicably, Betty''s eyes followed the figures, her blue eyes fixing on the big man with a goofy smile. Chapter 636 - 636: Celebrations (Part 2) On another street, a father was trying to pull his daughter back. The man heaved a deep breath, obviously exhausted. He wasn''t fully healed yet, okay? Even with their improved physiques and daily drinking of healing potions. "It''s time to go Fiona," he said, just stopping himself from carrying the girl back home. They were currently in a carnival game called Micro Ring Toss. It was basically Ring Toss, but with much smaller rings and targets. The stall owner said that they had better senses now, so it was only right to make it more difficult. However, Rebi would argue it was too difficult. The ring was as big as his pinky finger for goodness'' sake! And the target? A glorified needle, that''s what it was! Unfortunately, he not only had zero talent in this, but his body was still weak from the sufferings during slavery. There was also the stupid fact that he may have gone outside in an attempt to earn money, and getting lotsa bruises. He thought he could just stay around the sentries, but he still overestimated himself. Fortunately, a big hero saved his life or his ghost would cry from regrets! The little girl looked at him with teary eyes. "No! One more try!" Sigh. "Papa''s tired¡­" "But you have energy to go out and find monsters to eat you!" "..." At this, Rebi had no comeback and just did as she wanted. Sadly, they failed again! It was fortunate that each try was only a few copper each or else his empty wallet would sob. At this time, the Golds happened to be nearby. They saw that the girl (and the big man) looked so pitiful. Oslo couldn''t help but step forward, hitting the target for her. The owner looked at him and pointed at the sign. It said "Level 15 and below only" and it made Oslo''s lips twitch. However, instead of embarrassing himself, Oslo just subtly took out a handful of silvers, and only then did the stingy stall owner allow the little girl to choose her prize. The little girl gently tugged at his shirt. "Thank you!" Oslo smiled and walked away with his siblings, joining them to watch and join the various festivities all around the territory. Basically, other than the plazas and park, the avenues¡ªwhich were lined with shops¡ªwere lively and there were activities everywhere. They still had much to explore! The father-daughter watched the Golds walk away with eyes of gratitude before turning to the stoic-faced store owner. The shopkeeper asked the little girl, "Which toy do you want?" "The fox!" She yelled, and then she squealed when she finally had it in her arms. Rebi sighed in relief, already seeing his precious bed. "Now it''s finally time to go home." "Wait, wait! I must give this gift to Gochi!" Without waiting for her dad''s response, the girl bolted in a direction¡ªstraight to a certain half-orc doing his rounds. He was eating a large stick of seasoned monster meat. "Thank you for saving my dad, Gochi!" She yelled, handing it over to him. The half-orc blinked and then looked at her in puzzlement, before lifting his head to look at the father. Rebi''s eyebrows rose as he saw his daughter''s gesture, and he broke into a smile. He nodded at Gochi to take it. "My daughter still has more sense than I do," he said. He did say his thanks to Gochi, but it didn''t occur to him to give anything. After all, as a major contributor to the war, the half-orc was actually pretty well-off now. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gochi remembered them. Rebi was actually one of the newer ''slaves'', but he was a bit eager to earn money and went out prematurely. Just this morning, he almost lost his life, barely keeping it until Gochi arrived to the rescue. And now, the half-orc was getting such heartfelt thanks. His eyes teared a bit, and his eyes followed the little girl and her dad as they walked away, though not without looking back occasionally, sending him a friendly wave. He smiled. How nice¡­ ¡­ This interaction landed in the eyes of the newest aborigine hires, Rona and Mogi. Although their jobs hadn''t started yet, they had been hired by Gaea Restaurant and by the guard team, respectively. They were scheduled to start the next day, and they were instructed to enjoy the festivities because there was a lot of work to be done when they started. They had been here for a day, but the number of times their minds were blown were already innumerable. First, the place itself didn''t fit their images of villages at all. The activity, the wealth, and the beauty were superior to many towns. Speaking of towns, they had also seen people from Towns¡ªand Cities¡ª enjoying their time here. It was really unimaginable to their previous selves. Normally, people from ''stronger'' territories would look down on villages. Many would even think it was below them to step on one! But here, they were not only happily roaming around, there was even a level of mutual respect in their interactions! Of course, the typical response of townsfolk and city dwellers towards Villages wasn''t anything abnormal. This was because most villages really were backwater. The houses were small with barely any features, the streets were narrow and dirty, the people were weak and poor, and most walls were not particularly reassuring at all. Another thing they had a clearer view of was the mindset of its citizens. They had a peek of it during the war, but they realized almost everyone in Altera thought differently from them. For instance, just now, a child was showing unabashed admiration towards a half-orc¡ªone that had been conventionally seen as slaves or enemies. In their world views, there was no in between, but that little scene put a big crack into it. In any case, the two continued to peruse the festivities, buying some food and drinks to go¡ªenjoying what they could while absorbing this new entire world at the same time. While they were walking along one of the avenues, some voices called on to them. "Hey, new guys!" They turned to see it was their seniors, who were walking around together as well. "Hello, Miss Betty, Mister Clutch, Mister Gauis, Miss Leny." "Come, join us," Clutch said, as friendly as always. The two approached, feeling honored. The ''old hires'' looked at the new arrivals with friendly smiles, as they would any of their coworkers. "How are you finding Altera so far?" "Amazing," Rona said, for the lack of a better word. Mogi nodded, agreeing fully. Clutch and the others felt proud of Altera being complimented. It was as if they, too, were being complimented. At this, Clutch laughed, encouraging them. "Work well enough," he paused. "And this could be your home." The two aborigines thought: that isn''t a bad idea at all. Chapter 637 - 637: New Hires A lot of establishments also joined in the celebration and held promos. Pretty much every shop was open at that time, all with lively decors (in Xeno standards, anyway) and various activities each. For example, Heartbreak Tavern held a little event on the street in front of it. At the price of buying a small bottle of his most common alcohol (and downing it immediately), they would have the chance to shoot a tiny ball into a small basket. Not only was the ball tiny, but this basket was placed over a wobble board, so it wasn''t even still. Each shot cost a bottle, so it''d be more difficult each time because the shooter would be inebriated. The prize? Depending on how many balls they shot, they''d receive rewards in the form of premium bottles of beverage from the Vino Alcohol Shop! It was no surprise, then, that his shop was particularly rowdy. It was too worth it to win, though sadly no one succeeded for some time, giving Vino quite a bit of profit. This liveliness before the sun even set shocked the two newly-hired aborigines named Saul and Seal Jo. At this time, the two brothers were staring with wide eyes as a certain inebriated man shot his own head on the basket, causing boisterous laughter all around. "Brother¡­" Saul mumbled, looking at the well-organized streets, consistent building and aesthetics, and the bright surroundings. "This is really¡­ a village?" "Yeah¡­ apparently¡­" Speaking of these two, Althea finally heaved a sigh of relief when she saw some new hireable aborigines. Don''t look at how she had five chances to choose and hire 2 a day, there wasn''t anyone worth hiring the past few days! These two happened to be cousins from a family of Armor Makers. Saul was a Class D armor maker while Seal¡ªfifteen years younger¡ªhad just been awakened at Class E. As for how she got another pair of relatives, Althea didn''t read too much into it. She was just relieved to add force to her territory. The happiest was, of course, Clutch who finally got new helpers! He was so happy he met them personally. He was still reeling from the happiness of getting an Armor Shop from Fargo, but he now had new assistants! Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It wasn''t that Clutch hadn''t been training Terran apprentices, but people who had intimate knowledge about this stuff¡ªlike Eugene and Troy¡ªwere very rare. It would take a while for the others to actually be useful. Anyway, at this time, he held out a few sticks of delicious barbeque and handed a few to each. "Thank you, sir." "No worries," he said, smiling at them. "To answer your previous question, Altera is indeed a village. It''s a level 3 village that had just upgraded a month prior." The cousins looked at the bustling streets at night, the lovely smell, and all the smiles. "This is too¡­ lively," Seal mumbled. In his memory, villages were mostly poor and backward. While he did have higher expectations for villages who could afford to hire him, he didn''t think it was too¡­ far off. Saul nodded, "This is akin to a town." He said, "A very good town." Clutch felt so proud. He was a bonafide Alteran now. "Go, eat them, I''ll show you where to go and you can explore on your own." "Where are we going?" Saul asked, reluctantly looking at the barbeque stick. But when the aroma reached his nose, he gulped and his hand moved on its own, guiding the unusual meat into his mouth. His soul left his body for a moment there. His cousin saw this and took a bite, joining the momentary death. Cluth was smug, having fun watching others experience what he did. He cleared his throat, resuming his cool and respectable expression. "Anyway, go eat while we walk to the equipment factory." First, they went past the weapon and armor shops, and the two thought they''d be going here. Surprisingly, they literally just passed them and headed elsewhere. "We don''t stay there anymore. Those are for supplying the common weapons. Our Altera produces better ones, though for a higher price." Of course, these two buildings were still essential. After all, there were thousands of hard-working citizens in Altera. Although their population was fewer than others (for now), the ratio of people fighting outside was still higher due to the atmosphere and the policies in place. Having buildings that could automatically churn out equipment in exchange for some resources was too useful! They headed to the industrial areas which was, even at a distance, awe-inspiring. The factories were pretty large monolithic buildings that could appear intimidating to someone unused to seeing such arrangements. And there were rows of them!! As they entered the industrial park''s street, they walked past human-pulled carriages with various items at the back. "Hurry! Hurry! We gotta deliver these to the clinic soon! I think the pharmacy also has an event going on!" "Do you think they''ll be using these items?" "Possibly? Then I want in!!" the other yelled, though they were soon out of earshot to hear what else they were talking about. Anyway, the trio went on their way, with the newcomers also looking forward to walking around the territory. This curiosity though was quickly put at the back of their heads when they reached what was the Main Equipment Factory. The weapons, armors, and other equipment took two factories but were combined. This was because many of the steps were shared and it was much more efficient to combine them. "Working hours are over so there''s barely anyone here," Clutch said, looking around the quiet factory. There were plenty of machines, forging tools, furnaces, and the like, but only a few people were around. The cousins looked at him. "Working hours?" "Yes. In Altera, we only work a certain number of hours." The two wanted to ask more when Seal accidentally stepped on a rock that had rolled on the floor. "Eh, what''s this?" The younger one asked, leaning down to get the black rock. Saul, the older and more experienced one, blinked. His feet moved to look closer, eyes blinking in disbelief. His eyes then ended up in the large mountain of that same rock. "These¡­ black metal¡­" he muttered, speaking to himself. "Why are there so many in a village¡­" "Oh, I forgot. We have two Class C equipment makers here." They gaped at him. "Class C?!" A level C armorer and weaponsmith in a village? But looking around¡­ they felt they shouldn''t jump to conclusions. The brothers looked at each other. They were already happy that they were hired together, but it seemed like they got hired somewhere¡­ very special. Chapter 638 - 638: Friendly Bonding The carnivals continued and the activities continued on until the two moons shone brightly in the sky. The laughter of people, especially children, echoed across the streets. Unsurprisingly, due to the effect of the disaster, a lot of these kids were aborigines¡ªspecifically, from Mauin. These kids had been exposed to such festivities for the first time, and one could imagine the enjoyment they were feeling. One of these children was Maumi, Mauru''s son, and his best friends Pongo and Gururu. Maumi was a mini version of his father, while Pongo was a short kid with dark skin and curly hair and Gururu was a skinny kid (for now) with a bald head. He was often (endearingly) called Little Monk by the locals. In order to have some fun on their own, they separated from the adults (Maumi''s parents, as the other children''s parents had died years prior), and now they were running around to and fro, exploring new things every block they went to. They had been in Altera for a few days and they had not been idle. They had been used to working alongside their parents to earn a few bites, but now they could buy SO MANY THINGS with the same (or even less) amount of effort! Today, they jointly decided to splurge! They found themselves on one of Baron''s many shops¡ªa smaller branch of the woodwork''s store, though only selling toys and paraphernalia. "Ohhh! This is cute!" Maumi squealed, looking at the wooden horse toy displayed as a prize. Pongo pointed at the beautiful wooden sword with intricate carvings. "I want to try this!" Gururu''s excitement was much more muted than the other two, but one could see his large eyes fixed on the origami displays¡ªnot for sale, but very pretty. Not far from them, the adults watched with smiles on their faces. Seeing the children so happy and carefree¡ªit was something they never could''ve imagined before. In fact, before heading to Altera, they didn''t know any better. In their minds, the children were thin as they were, suffering as they were, and that was what they grew up knowing. When they landed here, they saw how the children were, how happy, chubby, and adorable they were. They wanted their children to be like that, too. In Altera, they were certain that they would. Even the dormitories¡ªwhich was supposedly where the poor people were¡ªhad much better conditions than they were used to. What more now? Here, they could eat well, dress well, live well. They watched the children enter a play area with melancholic smiles. Their former lord often told them about the Gift of Life¡ªhow bright one''s future could be, as long as they survived. Before, they just nodded, thinking of just surviving a day at a time, not really absorbing his message. Today¡­, they finally understood it. ¡­ The Gaea Team, at this time, was also hanging around the festival and having fun. At some point though, the group separated to spend the festival on their own. For instance, Sheila encountered her fellow nurses, and was encouraged to go with them. Theo and Beany were somewhere playing on their own, Harold and Maya explored the carnivals together, and Eugene went on a date with Melissa. Ansel was busy organizing the whole thing, so they would encounter him (with Fable and the twins) walking around here and there. Of course, Althea, Garan, and the babies were also lounging around on their own. Today the couple was wearing simple couple clothes with Althea wearing a lime-color shirt and classic fitted denim, while Garan was wearing a pastel green shirt and pants that didn''t hide his well-built form. Their children were wearing similar color onesies as well. They now had cute pacifiers in their mouths, which they chup-chupped on constantly, making their cheeks look even chubbier. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The babies were looking around the nightscape with fascination. They must be particularly awed now because they had never been out for so long after it got dark. It was also the first night the Lighthouse was in operation, its brightness alone adding a level of energy in the territory at this time of night. The children were really antsy and excited. The dropped their pacifiers on their blanket many times. The couple had no choice but to retract the stroller and place in her space, while they carried a child on each arm. The family naturally received a lot of looks and greetings, with a few giving toys to the kids, claiming to be members of their fan club. They took the children to play (and get doted on) for about an hour before their energies started to wane. Soon enough, their little mouths made tiny o''s as they yawned. The couple chuckled, taking it as the time for them to rest. Althea took out the stroller and placed the children there, but to Garan''s puzzlement, she didn''t move at all after that. He saw his wife looking at him with a mysterious smile. "You should go hang out with Gill and the others tonight." Garan''s eyebrows furrowed and shook his head. "No, we should head back home now." He walked forward to get the stroller, only to find Althea''s soft hand on his chest, stopping him. "It''s still early, I''ll put the kids to bed," she told him. Her convincing tone was making Garan a bit confused. "But¡­" Sure, she was on a day off today, but he thought they hadn''t bonded enough today because she was locked in her laboratory¡­ He was very reluctant to leave. "Oh come on now," she giggled, "Contribute more GDP to the territory, will you?" "But¡­" "I actually already called your friends." "What?" Garan frowned, pouting a bit. Was she planning on kicking him out early on? Althea chuckled and pinched his cheek. "I want you to bond more with your friends, not just with me." "But¡­" he just wanted to stay with her¡­ Althea naturally knew what she was thinking and used her signature technique to convince him. She wrapped her arms around his torso, looking up at him with that cute look that heated him up. "Husband¡­" she mumbled, voice a little softer than usual. "Please?" . . . That was how, about half an hour later, the four of Garan, Gill, Eagle, and Drake faced each other at a circular table of the pub. However, they didn''t join the hustle and bustle of downstairs and chose the more private rooms. The Heartbreak Tavern was making a lot of money and bought off the next store for almost twice the market price. However, under Vino''s hand, business was definitely bustling and it wouldn''t take long for him to get back his investment. Anyway, they now offered a number of private rooms upstairs, which was where they were at. They also heard that other than the drinks Althea''s factory made, this team also had their own farm. Adding the fermentation rate in the farms, as well as his alcohol shop, the owner of the tavern was doing quite well in his industry. The group drank around the thematic wooden table they were using. They weren''t speaking much, simply passing the time together. Garan fidgeted his tankard uncomfortably, unused to spending this time without his wife. He looked at the newly-filled cup, azure eyes deep in thought. "My wife insisted I spend time with you all." He paused, eyebrows furrowed. He then looked at them with a very serious facial expression. "Am I too sticky?" Chapter 639 - 639: Men’s Night Out The three held back their laughter, forcing themselves to remember his stern image so they didn''t break into cackles. Gill, who was talked to beforehand by Althea, twitched his lips. Instead of answering the question, he filled up his cup. "Come on, Captain. Sister-in-law wanted you to have fun! Let loose for once will ya?" Eagle looked at the captain in awe. "Never would I think I''d get to drink with the Captain in a legit pub." They did drink a bit during those lull times in their missions, but that was when they were camping. And even when they did drink, they couldn''t drink too much either because, after all, they were on the job. On the other hand, when they were not on missions, the captain was either strategizing, making reports, or simply spending time with his wife (mostly, it''s the latter), so they never really got to drink their hearts out together. In any case, the conversation fortunately did begin to take form. It was led by the more gregarious Eagle, followed up by the others. They chatted about their current life and roles in Altera. However, as workaholics, things naturally shifted to some work stuff. But Gill was sent on a mission by Althea: Distract the Captain well and let him enjoy the night with friends. "Let''s not talk about work!" Gill said, drinking up. He turned to Eagle with a grin. "I heard you''re finally getting cozy with sister-in-law''s nurse teammate." They were so surprised when he volunteered to help the girl, and refused to switch out. Eagle flushed. "Did you ask her for a date tonight?" Eagle flushed even redder. He had indeed asked the nurse for a date. He went around to look for her earlier. It was just that she already had a previous appointment with her workmates. He remembered his shoulder slumping and, considering his angular facial features, it must have looked a bit scary. However, at the time, Sheila looked at him as if she was heartbroken instead. In her soft voice, she added, "Uhm¡­ but I am free tomorrow¡­ we can¡­" Eagle felt like he just died and resurrected within the span of a few seconds. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "YES!" he yelled with a shit-eating grin. Sheila flushed and ran away though, and it made Eagle think he could''ve scared her off¡­ He was only pulled out of his daze when he saw a hand waving in front of his face. "He''s definitely remembering something," Gill grinned, making Eagle want to bury himself under the table. Eagle cleared his throat, "Ah yes, I have a date with Sheila tomorrow. Probably." Several eyebrows rose at his admission and they looked at him, making him feel even more shy. "Have you decided where to take her?" As special forces soldiers who were always on the go and doing dangerous missions, too many of them were extremely inexperienced with women. At this, Eagle couldn''t help but look at the Captain and Gill. "Where did you take your ladies on the first date?" He asked Gill, not daring to ask the captain. The question triggered some very good memories for Garan though. Back when he confessed to Althea, she had such a lovely flushed face¡­ Their first date was in an aquarium, with Althea saying some random fact she knew about the sea critters there. It was adorable. Not knowing their ice-faced captain was reminiscing romance near sea life, Gill and Eagle continued on with their conversation. "Juni and I started dating in high school." He was the type to like being independent and he refused allowances from his parents as soon as he entered High School. He earned some spending money by taking a part-time job in a nearby convenience store. He worked with Juni, who was also a working student at the time, albeit out of necessity. Of course, with his personality, he offended a lot of customers. Fortunately, Juni was working with him and managed to always ease the situation. Eagle leaned forward. "So.. are you going to get back to Juni?" Gill looked at him. "No! I''m officially dating Cassandra now!" "Tsk tsk. How messy!" Gill shook his head. "I''m not the one with the messy love life." He pointed at Drake, who was being fought over by two top suitors: Jona and Yana. It was very¡­ public. It never quite turned to an all-out cat fight (though it may or may not have to do with the strict regulations in the territory), but it was quite verbal and out-in-the-open. The latest gossip was that the two (physically and mentally) sandwiched Drake when he arrived after the war. "We played lovers in Fargo!" Jona said with a smug smile, "We had to play the part." Yana paled, but quipped, "Played! Even after all that, you still didn''t get his heart! Right, Drakey?" At the memory, Drake flushed in shame. At this, Eagle looked at him with a teasing smile. "Did nothing happen back in Fargo?" "No¡­" The topic somehow resurfaced some past things. "Speaking of women, I remember when Drake was so afraid of women that he almost botched a mission?" It was a couple of months before his injury. They were on a mission to obtain information about a mercenary group. They wore their own disguises and acted like they didn''t know each other. Drake happened to be a customer in the bar where one of the witnesses worked. What they didn''t know was that this witness was extremely flirtatious and he almost gave himself away trying to avoid her advances. Fortunately, the woman was a bit of an airhead and completely missed the mark. After some recalibration, they were still able to get the info they needed. Their mission had a lot of bumps, but it was fun. "It''s good to have you back to the team," Gill told Drake, and the latter sniffed a bit, touched. The four continued to chat and hang around with soft smiles, though Garan''s mind couldn''t help but fly to their villa and his soft wife. While he did like these friends of his, he was quick to miss his Althea. Sigh. Why did she want him out of the house so much anyway? Chapter 640 - 640: Working to Create Back in the house, Althea folded her sleeves with a smile as she raised the intricately carved wooden amulet in front of her. While her husband was out, she could finally finish her job! After so many hours the past few days and today, it was still not yet done, but at least she had progress! She happened to have been inspired while studying the new magic tools she received from Ferrol''s aborigines and the Golds. She ended up locking herself up most of the day trying to ride the inspiration. This was the anniversary gift that took so many weeks to prepare. She started when she got the skill, but only recently had she seen real progress. She was super ashamed she took so long to finally be able to put it into practice, but she was optimistic¡ªat least she understood it in the end! If the aborigines knew what she was thinking, they would cry. Most people would take years to even understand the first step! Magic tool knowledge came from the elves! It was super difficult to comprehend for normal humans! But Althea had no idea of this detail and focused on finishing her pendant. Hopefully, she could complete it before her husband came home. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The primary inspiration for this one was the walls of the territory. She had spent a lot of her time outside hunting without her husband just¡­ staring at the walls. Fufi was always around to guard her, of course. She also chose hidden areas so people wouldn''t see her. What would she do if they get concerned by her stiff staring at the wall and then report to her husband? She drew whatever array she could see in her new array notebook, which would probably be as thick as her plant book someday. Before going home before the war, she also took note of the level 3 walls in Fargo and noticed the differences between a level 3 and a level 5 system wall. It wasn''t just the size that varied, but also the arrays embedded in. For the Level 5 Walls, the arrays were bigger, more numerous, and much more complicated. The difference was like elementary and university level, except she barely tapped into the elementary level at this time. There were also several new lines connecting parts of the circle and chords. It was all quite complicated and even her big brain had a hard time finding the relationships between the lines, circles, and patterns. In fact, after so long, she knew for a fact that she didn''t understand the arrays yet. She had a vague feeling that it would take years to master the craft, and frankly she was looking forward to it a bit. Other than the walls, she also studied the arrays under the farms¡ªthe ones that could increase the growth rate and survivability of plants¡ªbut she could only draw it (for now) as it was too complicated and mind-boggling. She also studied the other tools a lot and learned some patterns that appeared in some similar functioning tools. For example, there were patterns of chords and segments that appeared both in the aether letters and aether board. There were also similarities between the aether letter and the sound stone (a stone that could record a few seconds of sound at a time, sold to her by Otto). Anyway, there was still plenty of trial-and-error and experimentation that went on the past few days, which went a lot slower when she had to shift her attention to the war. The Magic Tool skill she received had the inheritance of integrating arrays onto the tools, so she focused on studying the arrays first. Of course, the level and effectiveness of the arrays varied greatly. She also had to practice a lot of the past few days (before the war) about how to make arrays in the first place. For now, this was something that had to be completely self-taught. It wasn''t easy. She had to ''summon'' specks of aether with her elements and create a desired line. After this, she''d have to keep them stable. This was the most difficult part. It was not easy to keep the complex forms uniform and stable for a long enough time so that her inherited skill¡ªthe integration skill¡ªcould work. Even after a few seconds, the forms always softened and disintegrated. This was what she was left with that morning and she had to force herself out of the laboratory¡ªwhich was against every fiber of her being¡ªto participate in the festivities outside. She had been focused on keeping form stable¡ªand had been doing so¡ªsince she got home. During this time, her mana and health would reduce a bit, so she always had a cookie nearby as she did so. Each failure, she would learn her weak spots¡ªwhich was mostly in the intersections of the lines¡ªand added a bit more effort there. She wiped the sweat from her brow with her sleeve, mumbling about how difficult this was¡­ However, if any of the more informed aborigines were there, they''d be gaping in shock. They didn''t know much about arrays or tool making, but they were certain the masters were having a harder time than she was in creating something!! Anyway, Althea was not aware of the differences in her techniques. She was just focused on her job. Time ticked by, bit by bit. She tried to create a stable pattern, over and over, until¡ª [Used! Magic Tool Creation (C)! -250 Mana!] The pendant released a special light, as if softly exploding. It was similar to how binding with Battle pets appeared, except it was an item that kept glowing for a while before it calmed down. The whole time, the light was reflected in Althea''s emerald eyes, and when it faded¡ªrevealing the end product¡ªthe sparkle in her orbs brightened even more. [Created! Pendant of Protection (E). Capable of blocking 100 attacks from level 10 monsters.] Althea squealed, the long hours of work finally paid off! It''s here! Her first Magic Tool! Chapter 641 - 641: First Magic Tool She looked at the pendant nestled in her palms. The wooden pendant was a simple circular token about two inches in diameter and a few millimeters thick. On both sides and edges, there were various notches and patterns, each one with its own use. It was also a bit warmer now, and it gave a reassuring feeling of sorts which was difficult to describe. If she used her skill to look at the patterns, there would be various lines of energy traveling in each line and around the engravings. With a heart beating loudly in excitement, she used her appraisal skill to determine its functions. [Pendant of Protection (E). Capable of blocking 100 attacks from level 10 monsters. [Passive: Increases defense by 10% when health is below 10%] If other tool makers were here, they would be shocked. She really made a Magic Tool within a few weeks! Althea was unaware of the blown minds she could''ve caused. She just admired the pendant. Although it was much weaker than what she would''ve liked, it was a great first try! While it was nowhere near the value of a space stone, she would definitely make more and more, better and better ones for her husband. At the very least, he could focus on stronger monsters while not bothering with the weaker mob surrounding him. If she could make a few more, then he could go in a mob if he had to and could come out unscathed! She smiled, barely noticing how her eyelids were becoming heavier. Her husband would love this!! ... It was very late when Garan came home, feeling a little inebriated. Although his metabolic rate was fast, Gill bought a lot of strong alcohol for the group of them. He managed to get back home without incident though, thanks to his training. What he didn''t expect though, was to see his wife sleeping on the sofa. "Althea?" he voiced out, though his feet had already moved to get to her. Without another word, he carried her to their bedroom. Amazingly, even in his inebriated state, he was completely stable even when he carried the weight of another person. In Terran, if he was caught driving under the influence, he wouldn''t have failed road sobriety tests. Now at his own home though, his guard was down. His eyes were glazed and heavy-lidded as he watched her pretty slumbering face as she rested in his arms. He gently placed his wife on the bed, careful not to wake her up. She shifted a little in the movement and she opened her eyes a bit. When she saw who was in front of her, she flinched. Althea blinked repeatedly to push down the lethargy, which Garan found very cute. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He smiled as he placed his palm on her shoulder to keep her from sitting up. "My wife," he said, "You didn''t have to wait for me." When he wasn''t on missions, Althea would often fall asleep in the living room while she was waiting for him to go back home. It both touched and broke his heart, and he felt complicated that the habit was carried over in this world. He looked around the bedroom, realizing it was only them. "Where are the children?" "The babies are with Sheila," she said as she patted his hand to let her sit up. Garan saw she was really awake and let her, not expecting her to lift her hand in front of him as soon as she did so. She took out a box from her space, letting it appear on her hands. "Gift!" She smiled at him smugly. In Garan''s eyes, she was being seductive and coquettish, making him heat up even more. "It''s late but, counting months in Terran months, I''m just in time! Happy Anniversarry!" She said, explaining to the somewhat confused Garan. He smiled, leaning down to kiss her. "Thank you." She accepted his peck but she covered her mouth with her palm when he started licking her lips. "Take a look at it!" She said, pouting. She worked hard for it! Garan chuckled and did as he was told, opening the box to see a token of sort a few inches in diameter. It was roughly carved but his instincts told him it was special. "It''s a tool!" She told him, "I made it myself!" She excitedly told him of its functions."This here is a Class E magic tool. With practice I should be able to improve, so bear with this for now." "It also has a passive effect of protecting your health to some degree when it''s below 10%!" His eyes widened as he finally realized what she had been up to. No wonder her callouses had been getting bigger. While she was treating them with her medicine, Garan knew every inch of her. How could he not notice? At the time, he just thought whatever farming or potion experiment she was doing caused the callouses. His heart felt full and he immediately leaned down to recapture her lips. He pushed her down the bed, and this time Althea didn''t avoid it. Garan didn''t forget to place the token in his space of course, intending to cherish it forever. His kisses were deep from the start, his whole body relishing in her warmth. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her beautiful hands in his hair. "Thank you, I love it," he whispered, his hands creeping up to the inside of her nightdress. Althea flushed as she heated up, whimpering when he started to touch her nether regions. "Hmmm¡­." she moaned, and Garan ate them up before he started kissing southwards, licking her neck, her collar, and then going down to the valley of her chest. "Your husband is so happy that he''ll make sure to serve you especially well¡­" he told her as he completely lifted up her nightdress over her head, diving down to eat her precious mounds. "Oh~!" Althea gasped, body arched a bit, each lick sending intense sensations down her spine. Her mouth parted and her dainty fingers buried in her husband''s hair as if to anchor herself down, lest she fly away due to the pleasure. In any case, spring night was very warm that night. Chapter 642 - 642: Morning After The next morning, Althea was woken up by her husband sensually ramming into her. "Did I wake you?" he asked, his baritone voice sounding raspy as he moved. Althea''s watery emerald eyes met the man''s lustful ones, opening her mouth to answer. "What do you thi¡ªahh~" Althea wanted to utter something sarcastic, except her mouth parted involuntarily as moans escaped from it. The sound of her voice seemed to energize the man, encouraging him to add speed and pressure into his movements. Clap! Clap! Clap! Althea, in the end, just enjoyed the love making, and after about a hundred more thrusts they climaxed together, with Althea letting out elongated moans as she was filled with his seeds. The couple felt each other for a bit longer before they finally decided to get up. Rather, if it was up to Garan, he''d have kept her in bed for a while longer (note: the whole day). Sadly, his wife missed the children (he did, too) so they dragged themselves out of bed to pick them up. When they got out of the room though, they realized that they didn''t have to do so. At this time, they were already crawling around their play area, playing with their new toys with Little Theo. The pair smiled and went to them, each lifting a child to smooch. "Mwah!" "Hmhmgmama¡­" "Googhmama¡­" Althea giggled at their cuteness, not forgetting to patting Little Theo''s head as well. "Hmhmgmama¡­" "Googhmama¡­" When the babies realized that one parent hadn''t kissed them yet, they went and tried to reach for the other with their tiny arms and hands. Althea laughed and Garan smiled, kissing the smooth face of the child in the other''s arms. The babies seemed satisfied and settled down, making the couple laugh. Anyway, it was a nice and peaceful prelude to an otherwise very, very, busy day ahead. ... In another abode was a scene a lot less wholesome than Althea''s household. A certain soldier woke up with a bad headache. He shifted in his bed, rubbing his face with his well-sculpted hand. Gill opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, realizing it was already well into the morning. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He groaned, rubbing his head as he sat up, the blanket sliding down and showing off the sculpted body it had been hiding. He was in the single-detached house he bought for himself. He lived alone so he could only blame himself for waking up late. No one else would be moving to alert him of the time. Except there was. When someone shifted beside him, followed by a soft moan, his eyes widened. He turned to see a gorgeous naked woman with purple hair. "Cassandra?!" he exclaimed, waking the woman from her slumber. Gill gaped at the sight. The previous night wasn''t a wet dream, after all? Memories of last night immediately came over him, hitting him like a truck. He had just gone home from his drinking session with the captain, entering his newly-furnished house. The ground floor was basically a guest room, a small gym (one couldn''t have too few places to train), and a living room. A little groggy, he went up the stairs and belatedly realized someone was there. He didn''t really become aggressive though. After all, there were only two other people with access to his home. His mother and¡­ "Cassandra¡­" The woman was sitting peacefully on his bed, wearing one of the night dresses she bought in Altera. It was figure-hugging and so thin that it looked flimsy. Cassandra had a very curvaceous body and such an attire made men curious if the fabric would rip with a little tug. It didn''t help, of course, that he was a bit drunk. One could imagine the heat sent down his groin just by the sight. She lifted her head and stood up, sauntering to him. "How was the night?" She asked, wrapping her arms around him. His eyes darkened as he felt her soft curves rubbing against him, clouding whatever control he still had. He cleared his throat, "It was fun," he said, "I enjoyed myself." "Hmm, that''s great," she said, her cheeks resting on his strong chest. Her stance was soft and dependent, and his heart clenched a bit. His hand found the back of her waist, caressing. "Is there anything wrong?" She shook her head and lifted her head, staring at him with her large purple eyes. "Nothing. I just want to enjoy the night, too," she said, as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down to meet his lips. "What¡ª"His eyes widened but he didn''t reject. Rather, when she parted his mouth with her tongue¡ªsomething she learned from him¡ªhe reciprocated with equal fervor. Their tongues danced as their hands felt the other''s skin, feeling the other''s heated presence as closely as possible. Gill''s hand was on her supple buttocks, caressing, before lifting her up so he could feel her more intimately, while Cassandra''s arms wrapped tightly around his neck, as if afraid he''d pull back. He followed his instincts and walked forward towards the bed, but even as they fell, their bodies didn''t part, continuously rubbing on each other, desperate for more. The next thing they knew their clothes were almost gone and both their faces were extremely flushed. Gill''s mind even got more clouded when he saw her bra already above her breasts, revealing her bare gorgeous body to him. She was really beautiful, and ready for picking. His already broken breathing stagnated even more and his hand moved on its own to touch more of her. She moaned beautifully, and he leaned down to meet her lips again, his warm scorching hand sending traces of pleasure all over her body. "Ha.. ah¡­" Gill wanted to hear more of her moans, so his hands moved even more intensely, more purposeful, and by the end, Cassandra was panting so much she could barely breathe. "More¡­ Gill¡­ please¡­" she mewled, hugging him tight. At this point, Gill''s brain was already turned to mush, and there was no going back anymore. Chapter 643 - 643: Cassandra and Gill Her begging made him rock hard, but he still paused, lifting his head to look at her. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Are you sure about this?" He asked, sweat dripping on her skin. The women of Xeno were much more conservative than they were, especially girls with her background. What she was doing¡­ could be considered extremely scandalous in her world. He couldn''t do it. With this thought, he gestured to get back up, but she was held in position by Cassandra, who was a level higher. "Why?" She asked, pained, and it broke his heart. He leaned down to give her a peck, supporting his weight with his strong arms. He parted from her, and rested his forehead against hers. "That''s unfair to you. What if you get in trouble?" "I won''t," she said, "Please?" She looked up at him, her large purple eyes looking at him, begging. She wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer to her, moving so he felt her naked softness. He could feel all of her curves rubbing against him, and each touch was sending boiling magma down his groin. "Do you not want me, Gill?" She asked, her hot breath on his ears. With this, his reason went down the drain. Who could reject this? And so was the current scene. He took a deep breath and turned to her, trying not to get distracted by her ample cleavage and beautiful face. "Are you¡­ okay?" he asked, and Cassandra looked at him as if he asked a weird question. "Of course," she said, "You were a little wild, but fortunately my level is high." This made Gill blush a bit, but he looked at her with a bit of seriousness and apprehension. "Do you regret it?" This made her frown. "No, do you?" "No, of course not," he said, laying back down to wrap his strong arms around her. "I''m just¡­ now that I''m thinking about it, I realized that it''s so sudden," he said, "Wouldn''t you get in trouble? Is it worth it?" "I don''t mind, I wanted to give my first time to you," she said. His eyes widened a bit at this, surprised, but seeing her determinated face, his heart softened and he patted her cheeks, "I''m not stupid Cassandra. What happened?" She paused, looking away, and unable to look at his eyes. Cassandra was in such a rush because of the letter from her family. They were forcing her to wed a man she didn''t like, though Cassandra knew it was for the sake of her Town. According to the letter, it would lift up the territory''s current slump, making it great again. Women¡­ simply didn''t have much say in their own marriage, especially a woman of her position. Rebelling wasn''t a default in their worldview. Even Cassandra, who was much more feisty than her peers, didn''t even consider it. Regardless of what happened, Cassandra simply wanted something to remember by. She loved Gill and although it was impulsive¡ªfor once, she just wanted to do what she could for herself. But none of these was spoken out loud, and she only buried her head into his generous arms in silence. Gill knew she wouldn''t say, for now, but he knew there had to be a reason for her to risk being potentially vilified by her society. He just pulled her tighter into his embrace "Whatever is in your mind, know that I am willing to listen." Cassandra buried her head on his generous chest. "Thank you, Gill. I love you." ¡­ After the celebration, the daily lives of the citizens resumed. Whether it was people hunting, going to factories, gathering resources, or others, they were all out and about and contributing to the overall strength of the territory. Micheal watched the hustle and bustle of the village, and then stared at the few hundred people who would be coming to him to Bright, which was already much more than he expected. These people were all slaves, most of whom had some friends and family still in Bright. He also announced a free residency program to anyone with enough skill, which enticed a lot of people to come with him. They knew Bright was a subsidiary to Altera anyway, so life there wouldn''t be too bad. At least in Bright, they were proper residents! He had also gotten a hint that the costs of becoming a resident in Altera would only increase by a steep line. Where was the next best thing for people who wished to have residencies? The nearby villages, of course! He also had to think about his huge debt to Altera. He needed as many working citizens as he could in order to pay for that. The memory of how he milked Garan''s money came to mind, and he shook his head. Oh, how the tables turned. Still, a part of him hoped Altera would just merge them, but he knew that it was wishful thinking. Altera still had too large of a room to grow¡ªthere was no place for Bright, at least not more than as a subsidiary. Micheal requested for some guards to escort him, which the Elders allowed just this once. These guards were not few and well-equipped though. After all, there were rebels in there and they would have to be ready for a confrontation. Anyway, Bright was their subsidiary and the war punishments would not be triggered with just this amount of guards ''attacking''. As for the other guards, they would continue guarding Altera, while a few would be sent to check on Vismont and Belluga as part of the usual rounds like before. These villages were extremely close to them, and they made a point to monitor what was happening there, especially when they found out aborigines had already reached and caused chaos in one of them. Other than these, Althea and Garan finally started planning for their newly obtained territory. A new satellite! It was a new scope, a new area to handle, and a whole new adventure to fix. It was a lot of work, but the couple was sure it''d be worth it. Chapter 644 - 644: Limestone Valley (Part 1) A day later, the couple arrived in Fargo. Or rather, to Limestone Valley. They traveled with just the two of them this time, though they did task a couple of soldiers to go to the valley on a later date after the missions in other territories. They were set to switch with the pitiful Team B. They used a fairly good pace so that their health wouldn''t be affected to get there. However, Garan felt bad that Althea traveled with him through the forest when she could just teleport via the warehouse. "No, I like it," she said with a smile, and she was not just comforting him. She pointed at a plant with oddly-shaped pinkish flowers. "I haven''t seen this one before," she told him. "It''s been a long time since I encountered a new species." She immediately went to the new plants to study them closer, putting on her handy gloves for safety (which made Garan nod in approval, feeling proud of her). Anyway, although Limestone Valley wasn''t extremely far way from Altera, the soil composition was different enough that she would have one or two new flaura to study. It was very nice. She looked at the low-growing plant with clusters of pink and purple flowers. It formed dense mats of elliptical leaves. It was quite aromatic too. She used her assessment skills to take a look. [Thymus (Lv2). Adds flavor.] Xeno was not entirely running on tasteless food, they still do use aromatics. They just used it in a minimal capacity, which was such a pity. There would also be people who would experiment more and use more¡ªparticularly in towns and cities¡ªbut they would definitely not popularize the recipe and keep the knowledge for themselves. Anyway, noting that it was safe to handle, she took out a few of her hundreds of pots in her large space, uprooted a few plants, and planted it to take back to the space for transport. She also took out Tori as she took a few samples, studying its composition a bit more. All this while, Garan stood patiently by, prepared to deal with whatever threats came their way. "It seems like there are limestones nearby even in this side," she said after a while, "Plants near Limestone deposits are alkaline and have high calcium content. This plant fits the bill." She then wrote in her notebook that Thymus could also be used for digestive problems. They''re not common afflictions with their improved physiques, but the components that could relieve stomach tension could be useful for others. They then moved on about a few hundred meters West until Althea stopped again, head turning to a dense foliage with yellow pea-like flowers. She went closer and determined it was a legume of sorts. [Trefoil (Lv1). Broats love this] Althea nodded and also took live samples back in her space. She studied it with Tori to determine that it had high protein content and palatability to grazing animals. Then, finally, when they were within sights of the Limestone Valley walls, she found an evergreen shrub around half a meter tall, its leaves covered with fine hair. [Helian (Lv1). No known uses.] The Helian was characterized colorful flowers with high drought tolerance. It also had an extensive root system, which was great for soil stabilization. It also had soft leaves that seemed nice to lay on¡­ This would be a great add on to her mountain areas to keep the soil stable and make wonderful picnic spots. When Althea finally seemed satisfied with her finds, the couple headed to the walled areas. They were leisurely holding hands, walking towards the level 2 outer walls in order to observe it more from the outside. She recalled the summary reports of the wars and all groups had no problem getting past the level 2 walls. This wasn''t a surprise, but she only got a few thousand gold from Fargo. She wasn''t willing to spend too much of Altera''s funds on it. However, considering level 2 walls couldn''t even have sentries, she knew she wouldn''t have much of a choice but to use her own funds. Sigh. "So¡­ poor," she mumbled, looking at it with a pout. Garan chuckled, patting her head. "I assume this is already well off," he said, thinking of the other Villages they encountered. "Not many people can be as smart as my wife." This made Althea feel a bit better and she smiled. With a slightly better mood, the couple continued to survey the area with a critical eye. If she upgraded this to level 3 fence, it would cost her around 4000 units each of wood and stone, as well as over 600 gold. Adding sentries outside would also cost a bit. In Altera, when it expanded more, she would probably use the optimal distances because over-designing would be too expensive, even for her. The cost of adding sentries to the outer walls alone was 2520 wood, 1260 units of stone, and another 630 units of gold. As for the inner walls, there were existing sentries, albeit they were placed approximately 300 to 400 meters apart. Although this was the standard distance in the villages, it was easy for them to find loopholes. Further, because of the scopes Altera had, they easily determined where the guards were, so they took them down with long-ranged weapons. Combined with the various distractions around the territory that they set, those sections became vulnerable very easily. It was great when it was still Fargo who suffered due to this, but that can''t happen now that it was her Limestone Valley at risk. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In the end, she decided she would just add another sentry in between. In fact, the optimal distance for sentries was 200 meters since the sentries could reach 100 meters each, she just felt safer adding them every 100 meters to feel more reassured. This got her to spend a bit more money. She would also spend a lot building here, so the money she won from the war was very little compared to what she was planning on using it for. The gold loot she counted was only the ones she got from Fargo himself, as she had to keep the ones she got from the slaves. This meant she only got¡ªconverting all the silver and copper¡ªa little over 1000 gold. So poor. Fargo should be ashamed to call himself a terrorist lord. Chapter 645 - 645: Limestone Valley (Part 2) She had long decided to keep the accounts of the two territories different, but it seemed like she''d have no choice but to invest a bit of Altera''s funds here. Of course, when Limestone Valley stabilized, then she''d take that back with interest. Speaking of which, they''d need trustworthy, capable, and sincere individuals to handle the village in their stead. While she could remotely see the status of the village and access the warehouse, she couldn''t divide herself, right? Even with Altera alone¡ªalong with her babies (husband included) and experiments¡ªshe couldn''t find enough time, let alone managing another territory. "Do you think Vincent and the others would be able to handle the territory?" She asked. Although they were granted temporary stewardship before, it wasn''t anything final yet because she technically ''didn''t have the power'' to decide that, let alone the fact that it was agreed upon before the two territories merged. Regardless, that group was really the best option for now. They knew the place well and had already been somewhat attached to it. Garan nodded, "They should. They told me they''re joining the Mercenary Team, so we can add several layers of oath." This was really great news for the Mercenary Team. Victor''s team was comprised of more than 20 soldiers. Though most of them came from other territories and countries, they were confident to increase solidarity. There was no Edenian or other countries here anymore, only Terran. Rather, just Alteran. Anyway, they really needed more soldiers. Although they were indeed strictly training the guards, they needed trained individuals to handle the current threats. Putting a deeper discussion of that into the agenda, the couple continued to peruse the surroundings of the village to reach the limestone mines. Since the war, the operations here had naturally paused, leaving empty cave systems all around. They also had to clear quite a few beasts as they perused the place. They were apparently attracted by the dense smell of humans in the place. There were not a few monsters there and they could imagine that monsters often haunted the workers while they mined. "This is not near the territory," Althea said, looking at the terrain. It wasn''t too far either¡ªonly about a few kilometers from the territory¡ªbut a lot could happen in between. She reckoned a lot of slaves perished during the travel to and fro alone, let alone dealing with the damned beasts when they were already here. They couldn''t build anything with the system and it would be impractical to build defensive walls manually as well. "This would''ve been easy for goblins," Garan said, sighing, "I''m sorry wife." Althea''s eyebrows rose as he looked at him. "What for?" "If I had kept the goblins¡­" The goblins were not only great diggers, they could also create a tunnel system of sorts for the logistics. Garan told her more about Guia VIllage, and about how he had a choice to bring goblins. They''d have been useful if he captured them instead of letting them go. He looked so remorseful, it made Althea giggle. She patted his chiseled chin. "Based on what you said, forcing them could''ve ended with them taking their own lives, instead. "If we encounter them again, great, if not we can manage on our own." While she was indeed very curious about the goblins, her people were plenty skilled. They wouldn''t get slaves (maybe except for future prisoners of war) but they would hire workers. Back in Altera, she had already gotten Ansel and the other accountants to help her calculate the labor costs for the mining. They didn''t need too much either¡ªat least for the first few week. For now, they just need enough samples of each resource for the Research Lab to be able to experiment and determine as many uses as they could. The minerals here would definitely be differences from the ones they knew in Terran. The iron was different, and the others would too. This meant they still had a lot to study to determine whether or not the item would really be useful to mine. How depressing would it be to start mining in bulk only to realize it would be useless? Hm, so many things to do, she mused, and the couple continued to analyze the surroundings of the village and valley, planning what to build and what to do with it. They arrived at the entrance of the village when it was already getting dark. It was still bright thanks to the lighthouse though, which was something Fargo purchased recently with some blood money he got from the citizens. The story was, he was annoyed with the low productivity of the people and he bought it so he could push everyone else even at night. In any case, the couple went to sleep in one of the new custom houses Althea secured when she was there. She also wanted to summarize more of what she had found so far in her head before meeting the leading party. Even if she didn''t, Garan wouldn''t agree. He believed in her sleeping well when she should, especially right next to him. The villa was in the newest community Fargo made and it was expensive so, by the time the war started, not even a third had been bought. Not many were rented either. However, after the war, she saw that a few had been sold immediately after the ownership changed. It was obvious that quite a few people had been holding back in the purchases because of Fargo and his men. Althea was very accurate in this. There were indeed a few people with some wealth who refused to invest in the territory and were just waiting for a way out. They were also very lucky to be well-off but not rich enough to catch Fargo''s attention, otherwise they''d have been milked a long time ago. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When Fargo''s party was out and they were taken over, some of these people who weren''t comfortable with leaving decided to invest and buy off properties, and quite a number of houses were occupied since then. Anyway, the couple settled down and they prepared the house so they could rest. Garan immediately went to the well to get her some bathing water, filling the bathtub she had in her space. She thanked his efforts with a kiss on the cheek, before turning to the water and mixing some of her relaxing fragrance in. When she entered the tub though, a certain soldier decided to get in with her. To save water, of course. Chapter 646 - 646: Miner Hiring After a long (and sensual) bath, the couple settled down on the bed, with Garan just unable to keep his hands off. Fortunately, this time, it was in the form of a massage. It started with Althea jokingly telling him her back would hurt if they didn''t leave the tub soon. "It would be great if you just teleported here¡­" he said, massaging her back. Althea didn''t mind the massage so she played along. They were lying on a mattress and blanket she brought herself, really appreciating her massive space more and more. Garan also looked at the surrounding interior of their current abode. Fargo had his own architect (who had unfortunately died as collateral damage during the war) and the custom house indeed managed to get the basics. However, Altera''s custom house was still far superior in terms of the systems that were added in. For example: the rainwater catching system, the biogas system, and the like. "I wanted to spend more time with you. What can I do here anyway, and how do I explain my sudden appearance?" Garan smiled as he continued his massage, moving from her back to her arms and her legs. His wife''s skin was really so smooth that his calloused hands just glided through. But how could such a massage stay innocent for long? The moment moans escaped Althea''s mouth, Garan''s movement started being erotic. She would be attacked for a different sort of ''massage'' soon after. It had to be said that even if one was in a new place, as long as you were with a loved one, it was almost as good as home. ¡­ The next morning, an announcement resounded across the territory. Altera had allowed all Elders to have announcement capabilities in both territories, allowing her to do this without suspicion. [Hiring! Job: Miners Job Description: Gather limestone and various metals in the mines. Job Requirement: Physical Stat of at least 100 Salary: 10 silver/day Slots: 0/20] [Hiring! Guards Job Description: Protect the territory (Altera and Limestone Valley), its people, and its interest! Requirements: Minimum Level C Potential. Minimum level 7. Salary: 15 silver/day Slots: 0/100] In Altera, the standard of salaries had been increased just recently, to the chagrin of the business owners, but it was mandated so everyone had to follow. However, Ansel made sure to provide subsidies and incentives to avoid resistance from them, even when the program was implemented too quickly. The salary for elders, for instance, was changed to 50 silver/day. This was in contrast 500 copper or 5 silver back when they were a level 1 village. Supervisory positions would get 15-25 silver/day, the standard employees would get 10 silver/day, and the minimum wage jobs were 5 silver/day. For their military, it was naturally higher. Except for Garan''s ''salary'' which was the same as the other elders, supervisory positions such as ''captain'' position would have a salary of 30 silver/day. The normal guards would get 15. Why would they do this? And in such a rush? With the lifting of the protection period and the arrival of many aborigine visitors, Altera had officially opened up to the world. According to the studies, the standard salary per month was around 3 gold per month for Town-level territories, and a fraction of that for villages. If they kept the salaries so low (although more than enough in Altera before) how difficult would it be if they had to travel outside? In Terran, with globalization, everyone also used a universal currency. However, its value varied from place to place. For example, one could buy a lot of things with 10,000 in a remote province, but it''d barely manage to buy anything in a top city. This would be the case of Altera and others, even if Altera was considered a luxurious and special ''remote province''. Before, they couldn''t do it because the money circulating was of resources taken from Terran. They were new and the wealth they got from mobs was limited. But now they had been around for long enough and they had opened their borders to rich aborigines, so they could afford to balance things out a bit. With the new salary scheme, standard employees would get the average salaries outside, but with the added bonus of the low cost of living. This meant that the ''average'' citizen in Altera would be much better off than their counterparts outside. Of course, they raised the prices for everything, at least three times as to how it was before they received their aboriginal guests. However, it was still much more affordable than how it was in aborigine territories. The tax she''d receive would also be much higher, but it would still take a few days before she really felt it in her pockets. In any case, this was another step towards integrating into this world. The next step would be to take advantage of it! ¡­ After getting ready for the day, the couple walked around the territory to study its workings even more. Of course, they were still lovey-dovey, with Althea holding her husband''s strong arms as they strolled. While they received a couple of stares, a lot of which were admiring as they were recognized, they did hear a couple of conversations about the latest announcements. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Did you see the announcement?" "Of course I did." "That''s a large salary! I think I''m going to try!" "As a guard? You?" Obviously, the other man''s potential must not be very good to receive the sarcastic comment. "As a miner! The salary is also not bad, okay?!" "Remember, the mines aren''t within the walls!" It was estimated that they''d only be able to incorporate the mines well after Limestone Village became a mid-level Town or something. This was something far in the future as Altera would require much of the resources. For now, they would just have to limit the miners (at least until the uses for the resources had been fully determined) to avoid any waste. Guards needed to make their rounds and hunt, anyway, they''d just let them guard miners by the way. Althea sighed, wondering what else she had to consider. The plans for the walls, sentries, as well as the guards were already outlined. But she still had a lot to think about in logistics as well as the processing of the items. She also had to wonder about her next enemies, whoever they may be. Terran Villages might be weak against Altera, but what of Aborigine territories? "Most don''t even see the functions of limestone or copper to wage war, and those who do¡ªTerran territories¡ªare unlikely to be stronger than Fargo or Altera," Garan reassured her. "Of course, we will do everything to make sure that remains the case." Altera was Althea''s territory, but he didn''t want her too burdened by it. If she did, what was his use? "I wonder what I should prioritize to build. Budget is tight, after all," she said, pursing her lips. She really wanted to send more funds to research and other amenities, but she wondered if she should save up a lot more money to pour into the defenses. Garan chuckled, poking her nose. "Just build what you want, I''ll handle the rest. His words warmed her heart, and she rubbed her head against his arms. "My husband is so awesome." Chapter 647 - 647: Settling Limestone Valley As they strolled, Althea also studied the current planning of the village. While much better than others, it still lacked the greeneries and overall efficiency she would''ve wanted. It was just that one could not move buildings anymore and if she wanted to improve the planning, she would either have to demolish a lot of things or decentralize to another area when it expanded or upgraded. Either way was a little costly so nothing too major would happen for now. She also decided to hold any building and upgrades like sentries until she went back to Altera. After all, she can set other elders to be able to make announcements, but they definitely should not be able to build anything in either territories! As they walked, they saw a group of acquaintances approach. They came to them with a sense of urgency, very much relieved to see them here. "Captain! You''re here!" Turbo yelled, almost crying. The other teammates also looked wronged, which was very funny. Victor could only smile awkwardly as he greeted them. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Garan," he said, and his sister also stepped forward. "Captain¡­" she said, tone gentle as a flow of water. She opened her mouth to say more¡ªnot that Garan would care¡ªbut she was quickly overcome by Team B and their pleading. "Captain~!" "We wanna go homeeee¡­" "When will our replacement arrive?" "I want my soft beedddd¡­" "I earned a lot of money¡­ I was going to treat myself to Cook''s restaurant!" "Captain¡­" "Captain¡­" Garan sighed, rubbing his forehead. "They should be here in a few days." Turbo and the others sighed. Well, they can wait a few more days. While the team was asking when they''d be rotated back, many from Victor''s team¡ªwho would also be allowed to go to Altera¡ªwere also looking forward to it. During this time, Turbo and the others had naturally bonded with the dozen other soldiers under Victor and had shared how Altera was. The more they heard, the more excited they were to check it out! Of course, a lot of them were a bit cynical and thought they were exaggerating but they were quite curious about the territory no matter what. "Another team should come here to support, but we need fresh blood in the guard team." After all, the guards from before were mostly either dead or had become prisoners, so the defending of the territory was dependent on the soldiers and the few remaining guards. As of now, contribution points wasn''t a thing in Limestone Valley, nor were the citizens particularly loyal to the territory, so they couldn''t assume they''d jump in and help when needed. Garan looked at Victor, the de-facto leader of the base. "As you have seen, I already sent the hiring announcement earlier this morning. I hope you take charge of finding good hires who would truly help the territory." Victor blinked, nodding sternly and respectfully. After all, Garan was technically his superior now. Garan nodded in satisfaction, looking at the soldiers surrounding them. "Now¡­ it''s time to settle this place." ... Vincent''s team moved in to one of the new communities after Fargo''s fall, finally graduating from their poor living conditions beforehand. They had to buy it according to the previous market price, of course. Even if the former lord was gone, there was still an owner, so people still had to pay as is. They chose a villa that could easily house them all. Each room was arranged in dormitory-type rooms, but it was overall comfortable. It was definitely much better than where they used to stay. They also had a big meeting room now, and that was where they''d be talking about the next steps. The Village Center was available and open to them, but the house had a bigger place and they had to involve a lot of people in the discussion. As they entered the house, they were greeted by a familiar beautiful woman. The stance and tone reminded Althea of a housewife welcoming her husband home. "Welcome back," Juni said, looking warmly at the newcomers. Althea''s eyebrows rose. She didn''t really monitor every member and was a bit surprised to see Juni was still here. Or rather, she decided to stay on her own accord? "We''re back," Victor answered in return, and the others did the same. However, Juni''s expression was particularly soft when looking at Victor and Althea couldn''t help but look at them back and forth. Oh¡­? "Miss Althea," Juni greeted as soon as she emerged among the big men who blocked her view. Althea sent the woman a teasing smile. "I see you have found a home here." Juni flinched, blushing a bit. "Yes, I have decided to stay. Amos did as well, but he was asked by some members to help them train. They should be back within a couple of hours." Juni stayed for many reasons. One, she needed space away from Gill. Although her feelings had lessened, there was still lingering pain and it would not heal if she kept seeing him with another woman. Second, he knew this place still had a lot of growth and would need a lot of trusted individuals in key positions. She wanted to be a bigger part of Altera''s empire¡ªwhich she believed would be inevitable. And finally, there was Victor himself. She knew he had been thrown into a heavy responsibility he didn''t want. Inexplicably, she wanted to help him out somehow. "Good job, Juni," Althea said, referring to her contribution in the war. "Congratulations on leveling up as well." Juni nodded with a smile. "A pity I wasn''t able to burn Fargo''s face," she said with a straight face, "Maybe next time." Althea couldn''t help but laugh good-heartedly. "I like your attitude." "Your contribution point should be sent within the day," Althea said, "Not sure when it would be implemented in this new territory, though." "It''s fine. I''m living decently," she told them. "Victor and the others got me a home." Victor scratched his cheek, a bit embarrassed. "She helped us out a lot. It was the least we could do." Althea''s lips twitched and looked at Victor and Juni and saw the very subtle chemistry there. Vanessa also saw but she only rolled her eyes. Althea sighed. Too bad her maize had only just been harvested. It''d take a few more days at least to finally get her popcorn! Chapter 648 - 648: More on the Oaths Before heading inside the meeting room, everyone in the team signed a non-betrayal Oath in the Village Center. And, as with others, the loyalty oath would be completely voluntary. The oath was a standard perpetual non-betrayal oath made by Mathilda and Lawyer Jun to ensure there were no loopholes. This was something every territory employee, Terran or Aborigine, had to do before they get hired. They would be given a choice to continue with the employment after seeing the oath, and so far no one had refused to do so. At the same time, Altera wouldn''t demand a loyalty oath asking for people''s lives. Altera wanted to ensure its safety present and future, but didn''t want to take away people''s freedom. Hence, the oath still guaranteed the territory could trust these individuals with sensitive information, while giving them a choice to undergo it or not. It was also insurance that the individuals would in no way undermine the safety, interest, or well-being of Altera (or any of its satellites) in any way or form. Even if the damage was genuinely by accident, they would be receiving some form of punishment proportional to the damage they did. This was still under discussion, but the punishment could be monetary or even forced labor. This would ensure proper care and quality in the work of the officials and the employees. Henry and the others didn''t react much with the oaths, knowing it was necessary. There were a few frowns¡ªafter all, even if they weren''t planning on betraying, getting so many rules imposed did not feel good. Finally, the oaths were also perpetual¡ªthat was to say, like the hired aborigines, they would not be able to cause damage to Altera even when they were no longer associated with it. The wordings were also much more detailed than what the aborigines signed back in the Chancery¡ªsomething Jun and his team interviewed aborigines a lot. For one, they included indirect damage, so they couldn''t send people after Altera in their stead (as what Belize would''ve done, if he was alive). This would also control the entry of future spies in key positions of the territory. At the very least, most territories would hesitate to plant spies in their midst, because it''d have been useless¡ªmaybe even counterproductive. They even added ''perpetual beyond the grave'' in order to avoid unnecessary leaks even if the employee, or even the territories themselves, fell. As it was now, they could take the hired aborigines of fallen territories (like Rona and Mogi) and get everything they knew about the territories that were no more. Speaking of this, when they found out about this (Jun was asking a lot of questions about the existing oaths), Mathilda and the others also got more information about the world. Interestingly, most of the ''fallen'' territories were exhausted villages overpowered by mobs. Fall from wars, and more especially getting taken over, was actually uncommon. This was not entirely a surprise because, technically, wars could only be among territories of the same rank. So, while there was a 50-50 chance of losing the war, it was a rare case for a territory to actually fall from it¡ªnot unless they were specifically targeted. Sadly, Fargo was a deeply untrusting individual, so what they got from Rona and Mogi was nothing they didn''t already know. Leny and most of the others'' experiences were similar because the villages they were hired in before Altera were all unremarkable. The fall of these territories was also typical of this world. For instance, in Leny''s case, out of the dozen or so villages she had been to, about two of them fell while she was there. One was targetted¡ªthe lord apparently offending someone from a town¡ªand the other one fell under beast tides. At best, they found out that most lords would choose to hide away when the momentum fell out of their favor, leaving the citizens to fend for themselves. Anyway, as long as they kept most of the enemies out for 28 hours, then they''d have won. Tambai and Gochi''s information, though, was new and interesting. For one, they got to know more about orcs and half-orcs. For one, orcs were a lot bigger than half-orcs, which amazed them because Gochi was already towering even among the aborigines. The weaker class¡ªthe herbivores¡ªwere at least twice as strong as Gochi. The fighter class was far superior in fighting and was much more troublesome. From Tambai''s story, it didn''t take long for a group to take down the lowest level warehouse. By Althea''s estimate, a group of humans would''ve taken hours before doing the same feat. Anyway, Altera will never fall, but its citizens sure would appreciate getting to know more about those who did. This was something they''d discover more in the future. For now, they were in a meeting about the future of a territory. The leading party then sat around the large table. Garan took a seat on one side side, while Althea sat next to him. Vanessa, who had wanted to sit next to Garan, sent a bad look to Althea''s direction. "Do you have to be here?" Vanessa asked Althea, who blinked. Althea held her husband''s hand when she felt that he was about to speak. She stopped it because she didn''t want any tension between Victor, Henry, and her husband¡ªnot when she could handle it herself. Althea smiled at the woman. "Of course, I''m an elder in Altera after all." "An Elder?" Vanessa asked, disbelieving. "What kind of Elder?" She knew the woman probably had a good position by virtue of the respect she was getting, but¡­ Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "A useful one," was all Althea said before turning back to the table, effectively ignoring her. Vanessa gritted her teeth. "You¡ª" "Stop," Garan said with a deep frown, unable to help himself anymore. "I assure you, Althea has more to contribute in a single meeting than you can in years." He turned his eyes and Vanessa met his striking blue eyes that made her heart beat, though now in intimidation. "Now, seat down and be quiet," he said, his baritone voice flowing across the room. "Or else we will kick you out." Chapter 649 - 649: Meeting at Limestone Valley Vanessa flushed, reluctantly sitting on an available chair, not forgetting to send subtle stares in Althea''s direction. The discussion then began, led by Garan, telling Victor and the others of Altera''s plans for them, their faces brightening the more they heard. "As you may have noticed in your panels, the name of the village has been changed." Victor and the others nodded. Although the name was a little too¡­ simple, it did fit what the territory was meant to be. Althea also brought out a piece of paper with a rough schematic of Limestone Valley. She drafted the current location of the walls, the outline of the valley, and the outline of the cliffs. Limestone Valley had a very interesting terrain. The cliffs on certain areas outside the territory would make it easily defensible. Inside, there was a shallow valley that not only could create a magnificent vista of the territory. It would''ve also created good basins if the current planning didn''t become so chaotic and haphazard. "For now, this is what we''re proposing," she said, crossing out certain areas, and clearing certain buildings. "We will be creating avenues here, and here," she said, drawing two obtuse intersecting lines. They followed the terrain for minimal work, avoiding the valley and the steeper slopes. "Doing a complete overhaul is impossible and we don''t know how much the territory will be willing to spend, so for now we''re proposing to build our dormitory buildings in these areas," she said, pointing at certain areas where the shanties were located. Of course, while she had won certain building types from Fargo Village and could therefore use them, it was not the same the other way around. Instead, she''d be converting Fargo''s existing custom building, and turning it into a dorm. Althea also told them she would be proposing upgrading the walls, but that wasn''t guaranteed and don''t let their hopes up. "It''s okay," Victor said, though he still hoped for the best. "We managed to defend even with those short fences, we will continue managing to do so." Althea and Garan nodded in approval, liking his optimism. On the other hand, Victor and the others also sent their requests. For example, if sentries weren''t possible in optimal areas, they hoped to at least build watch towers so they could station people there. Like Garan and the others, Victor had some tools in their space like scopes to be able to see better. Anyway, having a watch tower was a practical alternative if they couldn''t afford dense sentries. The next topic had to do with what Altera could take early on. "Can you tell us about the professionals you have here," she said. Since she didn''t disclose that she was the lord, she naturally didn''t have the access to the population list. Not to mention, Terran occupation and other details like that were available in Altera because they required a registration process under oath. Fargo, er, Limestone Valley, did not have that. Victor and the others looked at each other, making Garan frown at their reluctance. "Limestone Valley is now under Altera. Don''t hold back." "But are you going to strip the territory of good professionals?" "Of course not," Althea said, reassuring them. "The migration would be completely by choice. Not to mention, we would definitely assign professionals here regardless, like a rotation, as how the mercenary team was assigned to guard." After a moment, the general who spoke. "I can''t claim that we know everyone, but we have professionals in engineering, agriculture, medicine, and the like." She had seen a lot of medical professionals here. From what she heard, this happened because there was a medical conference and a lot of them ended up transferring together. Similarly, the people who were even invited to the conference were all pretty accomplished individuals, so the quality of the medical professionals here was actually very good. One person, a person named Volohov, even had a green tag in his name. They really needed more medical professionals in Altera, though they didn''t pull them so soon because there were thousands of injured during the war¡ªand most of whom were still being treated. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As for the others, most of the Fargo people stayed because the Alterans didn''t bother to ''sell'' the territory, unlike what they did with Bright and the other places. What if they let the population spike and suddenly they upgraded prematurely? The people actually thought too much this time. Even if Altera did meet the population requirement¡ªwhich would require thousands¡ªthe prestige was still lacking. Althea would also have to find a way to hinder any upgrade as long as she judged the territory unprepared for it. At least, she wanted Altera to breeze through challenges as it did so far. Although Altera sent an order to temporarily discourage immigration, it wasn''t really a difficult order to implement. As for why the population themselves stayed, it was because a lot of the people were so used to their own land and they¡ªif they weren''t refugees themselves¡ªhad heard from the refugees about the territories outside. Although Fargo''s leadership was horrible, the place itself was much nicer than the others. It was easily defended, had two layers of walls, had sentries, strong guards (though a lot of it had to do with Victor''s team who guarded from mobs), and the resources were ample enough with the wells and the dense interior forests. In their minds, the people of Altera could''ve gone to war with them to get their good land so they just had to stay put and maintain it, ideally get some good assets before another influx of population arrived. Hence, except for the rescued slaves and those with acquaintances in Altera or Bright, not a lot of people went through the teleportation array. They knew it was technically a (not-so-cheap) one-way trip by that time, how could they risk not being able to go back if they wanted to? Of course, after talking to Turbo and the others, a lot of people had begun to ponder whether their decision was wrong. Later, the ''influx'' of Alterans really didn''t come and then they found more about Altera and its amazingness from the guards and those who visited it. Only then did they yell out in their hearts, full of regrets. Alas! Chapter 650 - 650: Mining Discussion "The next direction we were asked to discuss was the mines." "Since the properties of the minerals can be different from what we know, we fortunately don''t need to go all-out for now. We still need to study their composition and actual use, after all." Victor nodded. "I saw the announcement only asking for 20. Did you make that?" "All Elders can do announcements," she said. "You will also have as well. They have a limit, though, so better not post too many." Victor thanked her, but his fist was clenched. The more power given to him, the more his new role was becoming concrete. To be honest, he didn''t think he had what it took to lead an entire territory. He simply wanted to defend his people, the politics would always be beyond him. Juni, who was not at the table but sitting among the audience, happened to have a clear view of Victor and his expressions. She pursed her lips in thought, though no one knew what she was thinking. Garan discussed the logistics of the miners, including the specifics of the storage and subsequent transfer to Alterra. Victor and the others were very surprised to know what he had to say. "You mean to say... that we only have to place the items in the warehouse and Alterra will receive them?" "That is correct," Garan said, and the people paused in amazement. The warehouse was basically only accessible to the lord¡ªeven if the lord wanted it accessed by others. They could place items inside at best, but they would not be able to enter at all. They knew this because Althea had tried to get her husband inside and maybe push her luck and get them both to teleport to Fargo. The couple had done a lot of things to test the limits of Altera''s warehouse. To summarize: In order to place the items, they still had to open the door, but they could not get past the threshold nor would they be able to see what was inside. From his perspective, the view of the warehouse was clouded, similar to what the Fog that protected the newcomers back then looked like. From what they saw during Fargo''s war, the warehouse was still safe even during the war. Unlike other system buildings which would be affected by the no-regulations period during wars, the warehouse was safe. In that case, the warehouse was the absolute safest place even during wars, even for the lords themselves, and it was imperative to add additional layers of defense around it¡ªhere and in Altera. They then discussed the safeties of the miners, where the guards making rounds outside would simply shift their areas more around the mines and the pathway there. "Now, before we go," she said, "We need to finalize what to do with the aborigine hires¡­" This meant that the hired people from the village center. "If you have any one you hope to keep." "Only Rona and Mogi were worth keeping but it seemed like they left during the war¡­" "Ah, they''re in Altera now." "..." "What about the rest?" "We don''t need them," Victor said, almost immediately. Other than the few fighters who had now ran away, the rest were mostly pleasure workers¡­ S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea, who had access to the People Panel, naturally knew of this. However, she didn''t want to make the women suffer by prematurely kicking them out (it wasn''t even allowed by the system without good cause) so they could only wait it out until the contract expired and let them leave on their own. The meeting adjourned with all the necessary topics discussed, and the people separated to their specific tasks. For the couple, it was to walk around the territory one more time and finalize the plans before finally heading back home. However, as they left the Center, a certain fly couldn''t help but follow them. "Captain¡­" it was Vanessa who looked soft as always, pointedly ignoring Althea who was right beside him. "The doctors are willing to be assigned wherever you ask." She said this as if she was the one who convinced them. Clearly, it was because the doctors¡ªthrough the medicine and tools they sent as war subsidies¡ªsaw Alterra''s capabilities, right? Althea watched this all in interest. She didn''t report at the height of the meeting. What could her husband, the person in charge of military concerns, do with the news? Henry and Victor who were nearby sighed at this. Before, they didn''t know Althea was here, so they were fine with Vanessa going after Garan. He was the man they would be most relieved to hand her over. However, the man was obviously happily together with his wife. They had to give her a good talk later on. Garan looked at her and nodded, though it wasn''t his scope so he didn''t have much to say. He simply nudged his wife so they could go ahead on their trip. Vanessa pursed her lips. "Can I come to Alterra with you? I''d like to prepare their place before they settled down there¡ª" "You say that as if that''s what they asked of you," Althea said with a muted smile. The slight change of tone finally alterted Garan of the feminine tension. At this, he gave Vanessa a worse look (which had already turned bad the moment she asked to intervene in his alone time with his wife). "I''m their leader, so¡ª" "Did they agree to that?" She asked. "I''m pretty sure they didn''t." "You¡ª" It was at this point that Victor finally stepped forward. He had hoped the conversation would end without things being awkward, but he was apparently too naive. "Be careful on your trip home," he just said, pulling his sister''s arm. "Rest assured this place will be handled with care." "Brother¡ª" "Let''s go," he said, with a stern tone and Vanessa could only tearily go with him. Henry looked at his children go and sighed, before turning to Garan. "There''s something I''ve been meaning to ask you alone." It was just that everyone was so busy and he couldn''t find the chance¡ªnot for such a question. "My wife can hear it," he said. A statement. "Of course, she can," he hurriedly said. "I¡­ I just thought that¡­ you binded yourself too tightly with that territory," the general said, sincerely worried. "What if the lord there¡ªand don''t tell me there''s none¡ªdecided you''re a threat?" Historically speaking, wasn''t this the likely scenario? "It''s fine," Garan said, his low voice adding gravitas to his words. "Our interests are binded tightly. He would not think of getting rid of me." When he said this, he gently squeezed his wife''s hand and teasingly rubbed it. Althea had to hold back a smile. Henry''s worry though was not uncalled for nor was it easy to reassure. "Really?" "Yes." "Then¡­ do you know the lord, by some chance?" he asked, eyes watching Garan closely. Garan though, did not even flinch. "I can only guarantee that we can trust this person," he said. "Rest assured. This place is in good hands. You will see when you get to Altera." The general met his eyes and saw that he had unwavering trust in the mysterious lord. After a few moments, the older man just shook his head¡ªdismissing his worries. He was too old for this. "Very well," he said after a brief pause. "I''ll trust your judgment." ¡­ Garan sighed and held her hand. "I''m sorry you had to endure that, wife," he said, referring to Vanessa. He wanted badly to destroy the woman with his words, but Althea kept stopping him. He knew she was afraid of creating tension between him and the ruling party here, which would not be practical for people in their positions. It didn''t mean he didn''t hate it. Looking at him like this, Althea couldn''t help but giggle. "Do I look like I''m bothered by insects?" With all her problems and all the things she had to pay attention to, someone like Vanessa wasn''t even at the periphery. Garan''s shoulder slumped in relief, and he leaned down to kiss her head. "My wife is wise." ¡­ Anyway, the couple finally headed home to their family. Althea really, really, missed her softest bed, her lovely and large bathtub, her gardens and farms, and¡ªmost of all¡ªher children. Of course, before leaving, Althea made sure to send the announcements all throughout, which caught a lot of citizens off-guard. By the time they passed the threshold, the entire Limestone Valley Territory would be brewing with excitement. [Fargo Village (Lv3) has officially been merged with Altera Village (Lv3) and is renamed Limestone Village (Lv3)! Congratulations on officially becoming Alterans!] [The new rates are as follows¡­ [Please note of the Rules and Regulations¡­ [Contribution Points are valid for both territories.] [Citizens, temporary or permanent, would automatically be temporary citizens in Altera. Rules of Permanent Residency be the same as Alterra''s.] [Paying Entrance Fees would have shared validity between the two territories.] [Housing within Limestone Valley will also be 30% lower, valid for 1 week.] Citizens of Fargo er, Limestone Village, gaped at each other. They had to reread the rates, the rules, the benefits, and the like in order to fully absorb what they were reading. So good? Chapter 651 - 651: Rearranging Bright Village. When a master territory was attacked, and most especially when it lost, subsidiaries would immediately get informed about it. What more when Bright territory was not just a subsidiary to Fargo, but a satellite? This was why by the time Micheal and the others arrived, Gingo, Sandra, and the others had already fled. They didn''t leave without causing damage though. A lot of innocent people were killed before they left. It was like the bastards just open-fired in random directions as they headed to the gates. There weren''t even people who were blocking their path on purpose, but they shot around anyway. What Micheal stepped into as he entered Bright were streets filled with blood, corpses, and wailing people who had lost their friends and loved ones. Worse, there were more people who didn''t have relatives in the territory, nor did they have friends nearby, so their corpses just laid there without anyone to even mourn for them. As for those who were injured but alive, Micheal''s team immediately ran to them, preparing diluted healing potions as they did so. Micheal looked at the extremely low momentum in the territory. At this point, Bright was still standing from the occasional mob only because of the sentries. Michael''s throat felt blocked, blaming his own incompetence. Losing the territory to traitors was one thing, but he allowed them to still cause damage when they had already lost!! It was at this point that a large palm touched his shoulder. It was Juno, his loyal guard. "You couldn''t have prevented this. We didn''t even know we were going to get the territory back, let alone them doing this." "You''re right," Micheal told him after a pause. "I can''t reduce my productivity because of those bastards." He heaved a deep breath, facing his people. "People of Bright!" The people around turned to look at him, surprised that he was there. "Fargo was defeated by Alterra. And we have our freedom again! "I know you are not in a celebratory mood, but we have to get back up again if we want to survive!" "We have been through so much to live. Are we going to let those bastards ruin everything?" Then a small mob arrived and they felt the ground shaking a little. Soon, the walls were pounded on, making a lot of the citizens gasp and sob. Micheal looked at the others, and then at the Alterran guards who had accompanied them. They immediately went outside and dealt with the small mob. Sammy was the lead soldier of this team, and he bravely served as the vanguard against the mob¡ªonly level 7, at the most¡ªtaking down a good portion with his wind blades. Next to him, the other guards didn''t hesitate to jump into the mob, even those who weren''t even level 10 yet. Considering what Alterra was used to¡ªconsidering the type of monsters it attracted by virtue of its vitality alone¡ªthis weak mob was really nothing to them. Micheal and Juno also joined in, bravely fighting against the monsters that surrounded them. Sammy stopped attacking then, though he made sure to send the convenient wind blade here and there to ensure no one would get seriously injured. Even without Sammy, the mob wouldn''t take too long to clear. However, it was enough time for several citizens to gather themselves, slowly walking towards the wall to see what was happening. They watched the fight with beating hearts. Every hit against the monsters slowly shook them, their wills slowly being built upon and slowly helping them regain some confidence. By the time the small mob was taken care of, Micheal and the others reentered the territory to see hundreds of citizens waiting for them. There was no cheering, but their eyes and stances were hopeful and alive¡ªand that was enough for Micheal. As such, Micheal¡ªstill covered with the blood of monsters and his own¡ªlooked at them with a stern face. "People of Bright! It''s time we stand back up again," he said. "We have suffered enough." Then he gave them a reassuring smile, eyes a little teary. "It''s time to do well in our side of the world, alongside Alterra." ¡­ Limestone Valley Later that day, Victor and the others implemented the rules and oversaw the hiring process. The slots were limited, and they ought to be a little stricter in the selection. By this time, over half of the slots had been filled. At first, they thought the slots for guards were too few¡ªthey were thousands of people, after all. However, they felt the comprehensiveness of the rules very quickly. Every time someone broke the rules, they would receive punishments fit for the crime. The makeshift ''prison'' ¡ªone of the combined custom houses, refurbished to fit their needs¡ªalso had a few occupants already. It was amazing. Obviously, the bulk of their job would be to deal with beast tides, rather than handle the chaos within the walls (though of course, they would still be needed inside, to some degree). S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As for the miners, it was fine. They had been told they would be starting slow. Plus, this number did not include the couple dozen prisoners of war who''ll be used for mining. For the guards, the ones quickly accepted were the ones who had contributions during the war. One of them was Kyle, who was now happily doing his duties as one of the guards keeping peace in the queues and stuff. He was working and trained by Amos, who stayed in Limestone Valley as well. When asked why he stayed, he only gave a sad smile. "I wanted to feel just a bit more freedom," he said, though he didn''t explain anymore. Kyle would later find out Amos'' family were parasites and him staying in an ''inferior'' territory was his way to breathe. On the other hand, Tacky and the others didn''t apply, hoping to migrate when they got the chance. Lani had really told them more about Alterra and, most importantly, the poor girl couldn''t sleep well in this place. She might be smiling and generally more cheerful than the other victims, but she was traumatized. She needed a new environment, and they all knew it couldn''t be anything else but Alterra. Chapter 652 - 652: Status of the Female Aborigines The people interested in the job openings were now lined up in the Village Center, hoping for a bit of stability in this dangerous world. For one, that salary was really good! They could finally live decently if they got those jobs! Secondly, Victor and the others promised to train them well¡ªwhether it was the guards or the miners¡ªso they could defend themselves. This was worth more than any salary! Of course, there were still a few people in the line who were a bit more cynical. "So far less than half of those who came in got accepted. Obviously, the standard isn''t low this time. I don''t think I''ll pass." Before, as long as one had a decent level, they could get hired as a guard. They would get booted (or maybe even killed) if they were slow to follow orders though. The number of former guards who refused to join in the abuse and died right after was not few. In fact, it was fortunate the people weren''t as queasy or as sensitive as before¡ªwho could afford to do so?¡ªotherwise the number of applicants for the Guard position would be much lower, as they would be affected by ''trauma''. "I have low chances, too, but it''s worth a try." "For sure." "I also heard those who fought during the war had much higher chances." This made a few people eavesdropping to grumble. Some people even slapped themselves, nagging for being a coward. Anyway, the queue was well-behaved, but it was also very lively. ... The hiring lasted a few more hours before the slots were filled. At this time, a certain group of aborigines looked at the activity with complicated moods. They pondered whether to apply for a future job, but they knew they wouldn''t even be considered. They were women after all, and for the longest time they believed that women were only good for specific things. These were a group of women, led by Umi, Fargo''s former favorite. "What do you think will happen to us now?" One asked, though no one answered. They were also wondering the same thing, and it was the question that lingered inside everyone''s mind soon after Fargo lost the war. They knew they were not needed anymore in the new ''Limestone Valley''. There were a few men who still used their services, but they could tell the ruling party couldn''t care less for them. This was very bad for them. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Despite everything, Fargo Village was still much better than most villages. This was true even when Fargo was in charge, because they had been through much worse. "What do we do, Sister Umi?" Wana, one of the youngest, asked. She was very worried. She wanted to stay here. They were really reluctant to part with this place, especially now that life seemed to be improving for everyone. In all territories, they were treated as if they were slaves. There was no case outside of Fargo Village that they did not get seriously hurt during the act. The question was just how bad it was. How many bruises they got? Did they get slapped? Punched? How many times? How long before they could stand and walk normally again? While most of Fargo''s men still hurt them, it was mild compared to what they had been used to, at least outside the Rongo Mercenary Hall. To be honest, back at the height of Fargo''s reign, seeing the Terran women fight and look so tortured when touched by the other men¡ªor when the men fight in an attempt to ''rescue'' the women¡ªwas completely new to Umi and the others. However, they thought they were stupid, because the rebellions caused them their lives in the end. It was even better now after Alterra took over. Here¡ªalthough there was an obvious dislike for them and although there were barely any customers¡ªthe locals wouldn''t do anything to them at all. At worst, they''d be ignored, but that was that. Here¡­, they were treated as human beings. Disliked ones, but human beings nevertheless. It had also been the first time since starting this ''profession'' that they had not been pulled into an alley for an entire day. They were used to getting pulled anywhere to do what they were ''supposed'' to do, to accept whatever was thrown at them, and yet there would be many times when they wouldn''t be paid for their work at all. It was why, for them, it was best to invest in getting hired in the Chancery, because they''d have at least a guaranteed salary on top of some bonuses from ''customers'' if they got lucky. Another problem that''d arise if they didn''t get rehired was the fact that they''d have to pay a few gold again in the Chancery. Most of them couldn''t afford that anymore. Their worried thoughts were interrupted when the people around them moved towards the center. They saw a woman and others bringing over tubs of tasty gruel. The movement wasn''t slow, with a few men holding a large pot (which they would later find out to be made of condensed earth (by earth users), and then fired to a certain temperature to harden and waterproof by fire elementalists. The group was led by that beautiful woman, who had a special attractive temperament about her. Umi recognized her as the very cause of her ''fall from grace''. Umi didn''t have much hate for her though. After so long in her industry, she had seen how prevalent it was for men to feel tired of the old¡ªno matter how beautiful¡ªand look for something new. It was nothing personal, it was just their way of life. They watched as Juni and the others settled at the center of the square. Immediately, a lot of people gathered nearby, stopped at a distance by several guards. "This will be food for everyone," Juni said with a gentle smile. "This will be done twice a day for 3 days¡ªand only for three days. "This is the territory''s way to help feed you when most of you are too weak to go outside and fight." The people cheered and congregated to where she was, and for a moment it seemed like chaos was inevitable. "Wait!" Juni said, appearing cool. "Please form a proper line, otherwise you will be disqualified from taking anything for the entire 3 days." A lot of murmurs resounded but they lined up properly anyway. The guards next to her assisted in their proper arrangement. Umi and her companions watched in fascination as they watched everyone follow her orders, most of whom were willing and with smiles. Seeing women fight in the war was already shocking to them, and then they saw that ''Miss Althea'' was so loved and respected, which came as a bigger shock. Now, there was even this woman. "That''s who they called Ms. Juni right?" Wana said, looking at Juni with sparkling eyes. "She saved a lot of girls from Rongo." "She''s not very strong, but she''s quite admirable." Umi''s eyes were bright, enlightened. She walked over and queued up. "Where are you going?" the other girls followed. "Oh, so we''re getting food. Of course we are." "Well that''s one thing," Umi said, smiling. "She''s so beautiful yet so powerful. I want to follow her!" Chapter 653 - 653: Some New Alterran Innovation Another day passed by in Fargo, and the long-awaited replacement team from Alterra has finally arrived. It was Plaridel and Mao leading the team, this time. Along with them were about 10 more guards, set to be some of the main forces while the local forces were being trained. The accompanying Alterran guards were not the strongest, but they all had above average potentials and being assigned to lead their own teams should improve their strengths as well as their leadership skills. Included in this group was the cousins Angelo and Jesse. This mission was basically a shortcut for captainship so no one who were offered the opportunity declined it¡ªno matter how reluctant they were to part with the goodness of Alterra. They also kinda missed their friend Amos, who had decided to stay for a while. As for how the soldiers Plaridel and Mao were chosen, Plaridel picked the short stick, while Mao was there to assist with the mining operation. Of course, this didn''t mean he''d mine himself. Rather, he''d use his ability in an attempt to find the weak spots in the caves and therefore find the best places to mine first for efficiency. Another notable thing about this group was: They arrived on bikes. The rides were specially outfitted not only to handle the rough terrain but the very fast pedalling speed of level 20s. For this, even the professional equipment makers were tapped. Now, even if it was through denser forests, it could totally traverse it! Sprinting without the skill or equipment was something everyone could use after a certain point. It was just that it consumed health and required focus. That was to say, not only would they have low life, they might not be able to defend themselves when a monster, possibly a speed monster, were to eat them for real. The bike also had a sleek design, and strong appearance, which was just cool in and of itself. Anyway, it was very impressive and the people of Limestone Valley were in awe. "These are made for heavy terrain and had the string pedalling force of reinforced bodies!" "AMAZING!" "Where can we get one?" However, the newcomers weren''t able to detail anything, as Althea and the others arrived to see them. They almost saluted when they saw Garan and the general. They excused themselves from the audience and went to talk with them. Before separating though, they yelled at the crowd. "It''s available only in Alterra Village, but it''s still expensive, a couple of gold!" "Can we buy them please!?" "The bikes are territory property and we''re just borrowing it!" "The bikes are up?" Althea asked as soon as they got near. They were really surprised with the bikes to be honest, because they weren''t ready back then. "Yes, the factories wanted to send these to you." Mao excitedly told them that the research center had been rushing to finish it. It was too health-consuming to sprint from territory to territory and, now that they had a satellite, it was needed more than ever. Althea chuckled at this while Garan was straight to the point, as always. "How''re your missions?" he asked, referring to the missions checking on Vismont and Belluga Villages. "Vismont seemed fine for now," Plaridel said. "Belluga seems to be on track," Mao added. "Though they did request to buy a lot of medicine to stock. They''re requesting to temporarily increase the purchase limit for them." Althea nodded at this, taking note. The two also mentioned some information they gathered. Other than Fargo, they concluded that other Terran territories would be unlikely to attack another Terran territory. This was something they got from the new refugees. Other Terran territories were just struggling to survive as it was. As for the aborigine villages that Oslo warned them about, they''d have to watch out more. For one, Belluga had been attacked before and it was only a matter of time before they started targeting the nearby territories. By estimate, the first ones to get attacked would be the territories near where protective cloud was. Alterra was a few territories away from that place. Further, while they weren''t shielded from beast tides, aborigines would indeed find them more difficult to find than, say, Bright and Belluga, which villages on relatively flatter lands. Of course, while it was unlikely for them to be attacked earlier than others, they didn''t dare to feel complacent either. Anyway the group, along with the soldiers Leon and Santos, as well as General Henry and Victor, came along to meet up at the Village Center Meeting Hall. Garan assigned Vanessa to recruitment duty (of highly-skilled professionals) and didn''t allow her to enter another meeting until she finished the job. She didn''t have much to contribute other than made him and his wife annoyed anyway. They talked about the next step of action, as well as what to do with the new hires. Victor would also have the right to send announcements, but they were limited and could only contain so many words... Mao sighed, "Communication is really hard¡­" Speaking of this, Althea looked at them. "Has there been progress with the birds?" When Eagle and Sheila, and then Ansel, told her more about these birds back then, she had been fascinated. When they told her that they actually caught some, she was pleasantly surprised. These birds had evolved basically undetectable in order to survive. For the past few weeks, they had been trying to train them to send messages like pigeons did back in Terran. "Well, our Zoologist Reddit and natural-animal-friend Chucky had been working on it since before the war. "Before we left, we heard both Reddit and Chucky triggered ''Animal Trainer'' occupation," Mao said. "It shouldn''t be long before we get some progress." At the time, they wondered if it was like beast masters, but it turned out to be a bit different. The aborigines said they may have heard of the profession, but it wasn''t common¡ªprimarily because there was little need for it. Broats and Gugu birds were weak and easily hunted. They didn''t go extinct because of their fecundity and ability to hide and be low-key. The locals wouldn''t bother training them to be anything else. The mention of birds alone though intrigued Victor and the others, especially when they were discussed in the context of communication. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Birds?" Victor asked, "They have non-monstrous birds here?" "Yes, we found them by accident. They''re very fast and small, ideal to becoming messenger birds. "While we figure out the usual radiowaves and towers, they seem to be a more viable option for now, so we decided to research on this," Althea kindly explained, and the man couldn''t help but be flattered. From what Althea knew, the birds'' training had a lot to do with the ''loft'' or the birds'' abodes. They had the instinct to find their way back to the loft after training, much like how pigeons were trained. "There''s still a lot to study, of course, but I believe we''re on the right track." Victor and the others couldn''t help but gape at what they were hearing. First, it was superior-looking Bikes and now it was messenger birds? It had only been a few months, right? What kind of place is Alterra, really?! Chapter 654 - 654: Travel Back Before the meeting ended, Vanessa arrived with the report of how many professionals were willing to go with them. She claimed that she had convinced the doctors to come, leaving a few people specializing in emergency treatments in the valley. Many of the doctor''s specializations were useless anyway without equipment, and Alterra had shown they had the capability to provide them with better tools. However, Vanessa implied that the doctors would only come if she led them. Althea looked deeply at the woman. Her husband owed Henry and Victor a lot, with the former being his mentor, while the latter saving his life. But Althea didn''t have such gripes. "Vanessa, to manage your expectations, Alterra is not like Fargo. Unlike here, you''ll be an employee like everyone else," Althea said, "You''ll be one of the two healers already there, and will not be treated more specially than they do." Vanessa looked at her, "I know more about the medicine in this world¡ª "You think you know more than I do?" Althea asked, and the certainty of the answer made Vanessa blush in shame. Althea had heard from Drake before that Vanessa had been monopolizing knowledge here, keeping the doctors under her. This was not a practice she''d encourage in her territory. While people had the right to gatekeep knowledge, she didn''t want them too stingy. For one, she would be giving contribution, commissions, or the like to those who contributed to the ''pool of knowledge'' Alterra had. She certainly wasn''t going to entertain gatekeeping for the sake of keeping power and at the expense of the territory. "What I mean to say is, what you know¡­ will be something everyone knows there," she told her. "So don''t use it as a leverage¡ªnot against me." ¡­ The people heading back to Alterra were: the couple, Team B, Vanessa, Benny, and Henry. The next batch of migration would happen when the health of the people had been improved. For one, a lot of the professionals and migrants had been injured during the war, and another was that the doctors were still very busy with handling them. The doctors were given a few days to properly finish handling their current patients and do turnovers. Anyway, the people traveling back were set to use some of the bikes that arrived. They only took what was needed, and Mao and the others used to draw lots to determine whose bikes would be given back. Mao and the others were understandably very reluctant to part with them. In the end, Mao''s, Angelo''s, and a few other''s bikes were taken, making their moods drop a lot. They hilariously already named the bikes, saying their sweet goodbyes as they handed them over to the others. Poor guys. Unfortunately for them, Althea and the others didn''t want to get back home too late, hoping to get back home at least before midnight, so Mao and the others didn''t have a long time to say goodbye to their ''babes''. Before leaving, Althea sprayed every one of them with Beast Repellant potions so their trip was relatively uneventful. The group rode on their respective bikes. Well, except for Vanessa, who apparently didn''t know how to do so. For a moment there, Althea thought Vanessa would ask if she could ride with Garan, saying it was bigger than others. Unfortunately for Vanessa, the bike designs were standard and that excuse wouldn''t have flown. Vanessa backtracked before she humiliated herself and got Turbo to give her a ride instead. Garan wanted to ask Althea if she wanted to ride with him, but the latter rejected. It had been a while since she took a long bike ride, anyway. Anyway, the group finally went on their way, enjoying the breeze and the quickness of the travel. By estimate, with these heavy-duty bikes, they could travel almost as fast as Sprinting, except without the accompanying cost of health. Speaking of Sprinting, Garan had taught her how to use it. It was something that every level 10 and above could do, regardless of whether they were elementalists. It was basically using aether to trigger a special aether rush¡ªmuch like a magic adrenaline rush to push one''s body to the limit and traverse distances quickly. The downside was that the health would suffer every few seconds it was used and it would take longer to replenish as well, even with potions. Any skills could also not be used, and anything that would consume mana could not be activated. This was why it could not be used in fights and could only be used when traveling swiftly in emergencies. Now, they didn''t need to do so! "This is so fun! I really missed this!" Benny yelled as he pedaled. The others followed with similar faces. They rushed forward, hoping to get to their destination as quickly as they could. The only time they rested was when they reached the camping site. Henry and Benny openly admired the arrangement, thinking how thoughtful it was. At the same time, they also admired the effectivness of Althea''s Beast Repellent. Although they had to spray every few hours, it wasn''t as disgusting as the Beast Attracting potion was, so they fortunately didn''t suffer too much. They reached the vicinity of Alterra deep into the night, their path lit up by the powerful solar-charged flashlight Althea had. When she turned off the light seemingly out-of-nowhere, Henry and the others were a bit puzzled. "We''re here," she said, and they turned to look at where she was pointing. From afar, they could see the bright lights of the lighthouse (something Fargo bought recently, though in retrospect that could''ve been a response to the mobs and the war). However, they also noticed that it was brighter and more¡­ dynamic somehow. "What''s the difference?" Benny asked, and the Alterrans just smiled. "You''ll see soon enough." S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The newcomers could only follow and soon saw the tall five-meter wall that surrounded the entire village. They had heard how it was from Turbo and the others, but seeing it in person was surreal. They didn''t even notice they had walked through the gate until the familiar ding sound of the system sounded in their minds. Because they already read the announcement in Limestone Valley, they weren''t surprised by the fees as well as the extremely specific rules and regulations. What shocked them was the amount of activity there was still on the street. There were still stalls, friends, families, and lovers walking around leisurely. This was a proper nightlife! The brightness of their surroundings reflected in their eyes, reaching straight to their hearts. So this is Alterra!! Chapter 655 - 655: Building Limestone Valley The group separated to do their own thing, with Turbo and the others bringing them to the base, while the couple went straight home. Back to the villa, she immediately went to work as soon as they settled down. It was night, which was the perfect time to do construction works as most would already be asleep. Anyway, those who lived in the ''for demolition'' buildings had already been evacuated, so no one was gonna get kicked out while in bed. She took out the map and, along with her husband, she began to implement the plans she had for her first satellite. Limestone Valley was located in a relatively sloped area. However, Fargo was no urban planner so he applied a gridiron-like arrangement similar to Alterra, albeit with much narrower streets and denser buildings. This was improved with time, probably because he finally found an architect, but the remnants of the gridiron remained in the original area, that was, the inner walls, which was predominantly a valley. The problem with such an arrangement was that it didn''t follow the terrain so the flow felt unnatural and forced. Althea didn''t want to rearrange the entire place¡ªher money was better spent elsewhere¡ªbut she could rearrange the zone around the village center at least, heading towards the new community where she had a house in. She also took down overtly awkward and dense housing in favor of commercial areas or parks. Other than the new main avenues, she also created wider roads in strategic areas, though they''d mostly be following the terrain, opting for a more organic arrangement of roads. A lot of buildings had to be wasted, but she didn''t like them anyway. Although it was far from perfect, it was better in the eye and in use. Clean energy would enter rather than the stifled atmosphere from before, and the value of land would also increase. She also built a lot of dormitories in the location of the shanties, though she used Fargo''s existing custom house because she couldn''t use Alterra''s buildings and copy them in Limestone Valley. Since the regulations had been implemented there was well, shanties and other unauthorized constructions would no longer be allowed. A few sections of the shanty areas and a few neighborhoods were also taken down to make way for open areas like parks, playgrounds, and the like. She added wells every few blocks for easy access. After all, they couldn''t add the utility lines here. She would also use system buildings exclusively in Limestone Valley, otherwise sewerage would be a problem for her. She also added the Level 3 walls and sentries as planned. The outer wall was changed to level 3 walls, while interior walls retained the same level, but now had sentries at the optimal distances of 200 meters, finally tapping in Alterra''s funds. She also upgraded both the Village Center and the warehouse. The former in order to give herself a total of 10 chances for the hired aborigines (for both territories), while the warehouse was a given, considering all the advantages. The Village Center and the Warehouse were not adjacent though, so she had to add two buildings in between to grant herself anonymous access to the mysterious floor with the teleportation array. With these few developments, she not only used up the gold loot she got, she also had to spend a few hundred of her own. But recalling the limestones and copper, her mood lifted up again. When the Research Center researches the material enough, she would definitely capitalize on the findings! Althea stretched her arms, only to find a strong arm wrapping around her flat stomach a moment later, obviously waiting for its chance to strike. "You worked hard enough today," her husband''s low, baritone voice reached her ears. His warm breath enveloped her sensitive lobes, sending pleasurable shivers down her spine. She smiled and slightly turned, staring up at his handsome face. "Hmn, we have," she said, agreeing, and willingly allowing her husband to carry her to bed¡ªmarking the beginning of another spring night. ¡­ While the couple was being intimate, Henry, Benny, and Vanessa were wide awake and walking around the territory, learning more about Alterra. The more he saw, the more Henry was tempted to just retire and relax there. Vanessa held his arms, "Don''t worry dad, brother will lead Limestone Valley very well. We will try to get our territory to catch up with Alterra." This made Henry frown, giving his daughter a warning look. "Change that mindset, child, we are basically just hired managers, and we are honored to have the position. "But¡ª" "And please show Miss Althea more respect. You investigated as well, didn''t you? Her position here is unshakable, it''s best not to annoy her too much." Considering the power the girl held, it was only due to his and Victor''s faces that Althea hadn''t made harsher moves. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea was known to be kind, but she was also the main force in the wars. She was an elementalist with superior weapons, not even including her overall strength and skills. He had seen it himself in the latter part of the war. He heard she even defeated Belize! Belize! A Level 30 elementalist! His daughter didn''t, however, and this likely gave her the illusion that she was at least stronger than the woman. After all, she was several levels above her. Vanessa probably thought the rumors of her defeating a level 30 man were either false or exaggerated. After all, even Garan couldn''t do it! She could still remember that handsome man who defeated him¡ª "Daughter," Henry said, tone a little reprimanding. "Serve Alterra well. That is our way for a good life. Don''t get any ideas¡ª" "Hmph. If all you''re gonna do is nag, then I might as well enjoy the place on my own." She said moving away from him with a frown. Henry sighed, but he followed her tracks anyway. For now, he could only hope the child would mature on her own, without causing any harm to herself as well as to others. Chapter 656 - 656: Other Ongoing Wars While Alterra was settling the aftermath of their first war, several other territories were still experiencing theirs. Juno Village. BANG!! "NOOOO! HELP ME!" a middle-aged woman yelled, trying to shield herself from a blade with nothing but her arms. The woman sobbed as she saw her life ending before her, but¡ª SLASH! A long sword appeared in front of her. It nicked her pointy nose, but feeling her head still attached to her neck, she definitely didn''t mind. The blade that would''ve been on her skin was now guarding against another blade. The woman gaped as the familiar guard pushed away the aborigine enemy with all his might. He was the captain of the guard in their territory¡ªsomeone greatly respected, perhaps even more so than the lord himself. Especially now that said Lord was missing, hiding somewhere. "Gurnam!" the woman yelled, and he took a moment to look at her, though he was focused on his fight. "Get away from here, auntie!" he yelled and the woman frantically crawled back to find the nearest cover. Gurnam''s appearance added momentum to the various fights nearby. It wasn''t much¡ªand definitely not enough to turn the tides¡ªbut it was enough to give more ''fight'' to several teammates in the area, saving a few more lives in the process. Gurnam was not particularly handsome but he was well-built. Most of all, the citizens knew him as their protector. All this time, he had been one of the many valiantly guarding the gate to minimize the enemies coming in. It was impossible to win, but he didn''t run, hoping to save as many lives as possible. He was a soldier from the country of Abu before the apocalypse hit. After so long, he alone survived among the people he had transferred with. Now, he was contributing to mankind by being a guard. Gurnam used his entire weight to push the aborigine back, finally stabbing down at the man. He didn''t have the time to check if the enemy was dead and he immediately rushed to the fight he left to save auntie. "Come here!" A teammate yelled, struggling to defend himself. Unfortunately, the level difference was too high and he wasn''t able to do much in the end. Slash! "GYAH!" he yelled, though he was able to avoid a lethal hit. Gurnam arrived just in time to shield him. The duo slashed and waved to the best of their abilities, trying to avoid lethal shots though the number of injuries on them inevitably worsened still. These aborigines were too strong! Each one of them had a much higher level than them! The highest levelled person in their territory was Gurnam at level 9, but this a level considered below-average among the enemies! It was depressing. They had just won against a major beast tide. There, they had lost so many brethren¡ªwith Gurnam losing the remaining soldiers he transferred with. Half of the wall had also been destroyed, along with several establishments. They had barely managed to hold on to their territory, but they did, and for a few days they were relieved. They also strived to rebuild, even if it did use much of the remaining funds. As they watched the reassuring wall get repaired, they felt hope and they told themselves they would recover soon¡ªlike the wall did. But what was this? After a week, they suddenly got the notification of a war declaration. They didn''t even know what that meant before! Juno was one of the territories that upgraded the village center a bit late. They also didn''t have the money to hire or maintain useful aborigines because of the lack of funds, which was worsened by the beast tides, so the hiring had always been deferred until now. Or more accurately, the lord didn''t understand what it was for. So, all this time, they knew very little about this world. Even when there were aborigines that landed some days prior, they were simply intimidated by their strength, not knowing what was to come. SLASH! "AH!" Gurnam held out his sword to shield himself from an aggressive attack. He was pushed back and for a moment he thought the man would attack him and he was prepared to defend himself. However, instead of going after him, the enemy turned his body, stabbing his only companion right at the chest. "JOHN!" He cried, pushing himself to continuously stab the enemy until an opening appeared. The enemy''s level was higher than his, so he also received a lot of damage. With his grit, he managed to make the enemy lose grip of his weapon for a second, taking advantage to damage the bastard. John was one of the last guards who could fight along with him! Stab! Slash! Stab! He led the aborigine in an alley, afraid that his companions¡ªwhich outnumbered them¡ªwould come and help. The aborigine was busy guarding against Gurnam barrage, surprised by the strength a low-leveled man like him could make. There was also the problem of pride. The aborigine thought: How dare he push him back like this! He waved his weapon high for a massive and swift attack, not thinking Gurnam would be able to avoid it. This arrogance would prove to be his downfall, as the larger opening created by his attack was taken advantage by Gurnam to finally slash his neck. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "!!!" Gurnam didn''t bother with him anymore and turned to find the next fight or rescue the next person. At this point, the defending guards and citizens were focused on running for their lives, how could they possibly take down enemies? For a while, Gurnam took advantage of his relatively hidden position in an alley, pulling weaker enemies that was a little away from his team, weeding them out bit by bit. He would pull and kill them as fast as he could, using his skill ''Swift Slash'' for nearly every attack. However, he soon lost energy and mana and knew he had to stop. He looked over at the gate and saw that the guards assigned there had been taken down. Other than the sparse sentries, there was no obstacle for the enemies to enter anymore. Gurnam knew he wouldn''t be able to focus the fight, however, and judging by the swarm coming through the door, it was a moot effort to try and fight them off. They didn''t even know what counted as winning or losing in this war which suddenly alerted everyone! Might as well save as many lives as he could! Chapter 657 - 657: Fall of Juno Village Gurnam tried moving at the periphery of the battles, helping those he could without sacrificing his own life. He did notice that while the enemies were enjoying killing a bit, things didn''t turn to an outward massacre. Harsh torture yes, but at least most people were kept alive. Except for those who caused even a bit of trouble, anyway. Even if it was just a bit of struggle, as soon as they annoyed the enemies, they would get killed immediately. As a result, the citizens could only fear for their lives¡ªchoosing to either run away or freeze in place, begging for mercy. Gurnam gritted his teeth at the sight, but he couldn''t just jump over and try to shake the cowardice away from his fellowmen, right? Was that even possible at this point? Might as well throw himself to a slaughterhouse! Despite all this though, Gurnam continued to rescue the companions that he could, trying not to alert the enemies¡ªwho, by the way, seemed to be rounding people up. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" A middle-aged man yelled as he got dragged in a direction. He was struggling to go to the opposite side, trying to stretch his arms somewhere beyond his reach. "My daughter!" He yelled and Gurnam turned his head to follow his sights, seeing a woman being pulled by the hair. "Daddy! Daddy!" She screamed, similarly reaching her arms. This annoyed the man pulling her, who then raised his arm to ''settle her down''. SLAP! "QUIET!" the aborigine yelled, making the woman sob. Seeing her like this, her father growled and screamed¡ªintensifying his struggles to get back to his daughter. The man was obviously the type ''causing trouble'' and the annoyed aborigine raised his sword, prepared to kill. The woman¡ªwhose eyes were fixed on her father¡ªsaw his inevitable death and her heart clenched in fear. "DADDDDYYY!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, barely noticing another slap coming her way. It was at this moment that Gurnam appeared like a hero, stepping forward with his sword, slashing while he pulled the man towards him. Gurnam pushed him to the corner so he could focus on the aborigine, though when a few more noticed him, he immediately stepped back, ready to run. His peripheral vision caught sight of the man he just rescued and realized he was following his daughter regardless. Gurnam cursed, but he knew he had already done his part, focusing on defending himself instead. In fact, being able to defend for so long against many aborigines was already extremely impressive. But as a father, William naturally couldn''t stay still while his daughter was being dragged away. He found a broken sword and desperately ran through the fights to get to her. They were rounding up women at this time, his daughter merely one of them. As soon as he was near, he immediately threw one of the weapons with low durability in the direction of his daughter''s kidnapper. William happened to be very good at darts. "AH!" the aborigine yelled as the blade successfully hit him. Of course, it was only a shallow wound¡ªbut it sure annoyed the heck out of the man, at least enough to let go of his daughter''s hair and target him instead. William watched as the enemy approached him, shakily prepping for a fight. It was just that the man didn''t take out weapons at all. He just punched him with his bare hands. In a close fight, William stood no chance. Not only was William a typical middle-aged man with the classic beer belly (despite the fact that he hadn''t had a decent meal for days), the enemy was 3 levels higher than he was! The man was at level 11, which seemed to be the slightly-above average strength in most villages. BANG! Pak! Bang! The aborigine continued to punch and kick William until his vision blurred, but he was helpless to even shield himself with his own arms. "DADDY!" His young daughter yelled, sobbing. William''s heart clenched as he heard his princess'' sobs, and suddenly none of his wounds was quite as painful. This energized him a bit more, willing him to stand up despite the incessant punching and kicking all around him. It was just that¡ªjust before he could even sit up¡ªthe familiar ding sounded inside their heads. [Your territory, Juno Village (Lv3) has lost to Inko Village (Lv3).] "FINALLY!" The aborigines yelled with evil grins, while the citizens of Juno could only freeze, and frankly it felt like their lives were passing by their heads as well. However, a few were partially relieved. At least now, these people would leave¡­ right? This war was finally over, right?? Another ding echoed right after the announcement¡ªbut this time, only an unfortunate half could hear it. One of these unlucky people happened to be William himself. [You have been designated as one of the Inko Village Winnings. You have now become a slave.] The incessant attacks on his body stopped then and everyone was at a standstill. William''s mind reeled at the announcement. He could read it, but his mind refused to understand. He was frozen on the ground, unable to stand up for now, and he didn''t even notice he wasn''t being hit anymore. He looked up to see an aborigine looming over him, staring at him in interest. "You a slave?" he asked, but without waiting for an answer he gave out orders to test directly. "Punch yourself." And it was like he was compelled to do so¡ªwithout meaning to, William felt his hands move, and he did punch himself. Bang! "Again!" sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. BANG! "Again!" He did this over and over, and the aborigine''s smile was wider than when he was attacking him himself! William''s mind was very confused, feeling that he had lost control of his body! Tears pooled in his eyes. He had been trying to fight no matter how weak he was, but what was this now? He couldn''t even have his own body? What is going on?! Chapter 658 - 658: Becoming a Slave "DAD!" His daughter, Sheena, crawled in his direction. It was just that he was too busy punching himself to notice. The aborigines around were watching the show in interest. Someone even whistled and pointed at Sheena, as if a new performer had arrived. "Yo! Shick, someone''s coming! Er, crawling! HAHHA" "Aww, poor thing¡­" another yelled though he was cackling a lot, obviously amused by the whole thing. "You''ve come crawling back, eh?" Shick said, coolly looking at the woman. "Did you get lucky too?" he asked, though once again not waiting for an answer. "Lick my feet." The woman sobbed, but did as she was told. William''s eyes widened, but then he was ordered to do the same, licking the other feet. Gurnam¡ªwho had managed to escape the aborigines and was trying to sneak near where William was¡ªsaw everything, falling into confusion. He was thinking of how to save the father and daughter pair, at least, but he did not expect him to punch himself so passionately and definitely not lick the aborigines feet without a hint of hesitation. He also observed the other citizens, some of which were hiding in buildings or in corners, hoping not to get noticed. Some seemed to have just lost hope, openly discussing their current predicament. He would overhear some mumblings, and some more sobs. "What?" Another person yelled next to him, "Slave? We''ve become slaves?" No? Gurnam looked around. Some people seemed to have gotten the notification, and those who received it were now¡­ slaves? Slaves, as in those people who could only follow orders? He couldn''t help but pale at the treatment that father-and-daughter was receiving. He couldn''t even ponder too deeply as the aborigines soon felt bored with torturing their new slaves. Gurnam had no doubt they did it too often to feel so. Shick, the apparent leader of this attack, clapped his hands. "Slaves! Come here!" As such, more and more people headed in his direction. Those who didn''t receive the notification could only watch, some holding on to each other as if to make sure they didn''t move. Hundreds of people nearby arrived, though Gurnam had a feeling it was only because they were the only ones in earshot. They were very obedient, heading towards Shick and the others, though one could see from everyone''s expression that they were terrified. The aborigines seemed to never tire of seeing fellow humans feel terrified of them, and they were smiling as many slaves gathered. They waited for more and more people to approach, and started chatting among themselves. "I wish lords aren''t exempted from becoming slaves. Would''ve been fun if they just followed our wishes, y''know?" The man beside him excitedly nodded. "It takes a while when they''re hiding. Anyway, we''re definitely getting the token!!" This earned him a slap on the head, before he got pulled closer as Shick whispered harshly at his ear. "Shut up! You want to announce to everyone that the token can be taken?" Gurnam, who eavesdropped by instinct, couldn''t help but be shocked at what he was hearing. Token? The Lord''s Token? It could be taken away?! Then did that mean, Juno Village as a whole¡ª Gurnam was still reeling from the news and he was only shaken back to reality when he heard Shick bellow. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Now we need to find that damned lord!" Shick yelled, grinning, his eyes fixed on the slaves around him, including those who had gathered around the narrow streets, filling up several blocks. "Go hunt for that former lord of yours! No matter what the cost!" "Go get him even if you have to die!" Shick then turned to his companions. "Go round up the slaves! Make sure we get everyone!!" "Yes!" they exclaimed, similarly dispersing in different directions right behind the mob of slaves hunting for their lord. After a distance, they would yell out orders for the slaves to come to them. Gurnam could see some entering nearby houses and yelling, making sure they didn''t miss a corner. This indicated that they needed to be heard in order to be followed. Gurnam made sure to hide well, and he pondered if he could get more information. He watched as thousands of slaves disappeared from view. Gurnam pursed his lips, wondering whether to intervene. However, he sat still in the end. There were still thousands of enemies around. Intervening would be to expose himself, not to mention that a word could get the enslaved to mob him. That lord was cowardly, hopefully he would stay hidden for long enough until these damned aborigines left them alone. Sadly, there was no such luck. Before long, he would see the lord being dragged by several slaves, some of whom happened to be his confidantes. They looked conflicted but their bodies were extremely obedient. The cowardly lord yelled out, trying his best to struggle. "NO!! Let me go! AHHH!" Gurnam''s eyes widened as he was brought nearer, and he stood up in an attempt to run to him. It was too late though as the man was stabbed right through the heart. Gurnam immediately froze, subtly hiding himself amongst the slaves and pretending nothing was happening. Just like that, the lord of Juno Village was no more. However, because it was still within the 28-hour span of the war, the village remained standing, waiting for the arrival of its new ''owner''. Of course, none of the locals knew this yet. Gurnam saw them walk away from the mob, and he slowly moved across to get nearer, lowering his sense of presence. He peeked a bit to see, but was worried of being exposed so he couldn''t see much at all. What he did see was a special box of sorts with a lot of carvings in Shick''s hand (tho he couldn''t see the details clearly), while the token was on his other. His companions looked at the token, crossing his arms as he looked around. "How much would the lord be able to sell this token? This place isn''t particularly special." "Even the Sheilding Box that we need to keep the token in was more expensive than the token itself, right?" Shick shook his head. "A territory is a territory. Nobles could kill just for the status of becoming a lord." At this, his confidante chuckled. "I''m half-tempted to just keep it outside the box and see which among us the token would attach to after the war." "Sure, if you wanna die." "Hehe." Shick ignored him and placed the token into the box, placing it to his bag. Gurnam saw this and realized the token probably couldn''t be put in the space, which was understandable if one looked at how the system worked. "Anyway, it''s time to go," Shick said, heading towards the gate. Gurnam pursed his lips and used the dense houses as a cover for his pursuit. As he got closer, he could hear the other aborigines emerge from various parts of the territory, also heading towards the gate. Gurnam could hear the occasional yells "ALL SLAVES! COME WITH US!" and like obedient ants hundreds¡ªno, thousands now¡ªof his fellowmen followed the enemy''s heels. More and more people came to them, with eyes and expressions filled with horror. Gurnam''s head rang as he looked around. There were several thousand people in their territory, and thousands of people were coming with the enemies. There were various people, men, women, and children, while the ones who remained could only sob¡ªsome of sadness and fear, and some of relief. At this point, Gurnam had a choice of staying and just let those thousands of people be. There were still thousands of people here he could protect, or at least try to. They who remained would at least have the walls and the sparse sentries. Most importantly, they would still have some control over their lives. In contrast, the enslaved would be very different. They would be thrust to the unknown, without much control over their own bodies, let alone their own lives. Gurnam had never forgotten his oath as a soldier¡ªto serve his countrymen and humankind. His uptightness had become a flaw¡ªat least it had occasionally gotten him into trouble in Terran and in Xeno¡ªbut this was the code he had been following. Gurnam thought long and hard, until his feet moved towards the gate to follow the slaves¡­ as if he was one of them. Chapter 659 - 659: Inko Village The Inko Villagers soon reached the gates, with thousands of unwilling followers right behind them. Gurnam was walking alongside these people as he looked around, taking in as much information as he could. He made a rough calculation that this was more or less 2000 people, which was easily half the Juno population¡ªincluding those who could only afford visitor''s pass. The new ''slaves'' shivered as they went past the threshold of the territory, stepping into the dense forests outside. With every step they took, it felt like they were leaving a piece of themselves behind. This felt even more exacerbated as they realized they had gone farther and farther from the walls and sentries. The sentries may have been sparse, but being able to see them¡ªeven from a distance¡ª still brought a sense of peace. Losing sight of it naturally made people feel imbalanced. Gurnam''s breath hitched when he realized they were completely away from their walls. He was feeling like this, what about the others who had no control of their bodies? His lips pursed as he slightly turned his head to a young lad next to him. He was very young, probably around 10 years old. The lad was sobbing, mumbling helplessly. "Sister¡­ sister¡­" He recognized this kid. He was one of the refugees who came a few days ago from the North. Scores, if not hundreds of refugees came to Juno every day after the protection period ended. He could remember him because he was brave. While many of the adults ran away, he tried to help the guards get rid of the monsters. When Gurnam asked why he was so brave, the kid had told him that he needed to be brave and strong to find his sister. Seeing him sob like this now¡­ his hope must''ve broken. He must''ve realized that he had truly become a slave without freedom, so how could he find his sister? Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "QUIET!" The guard yelled and they all flinched, and the child could only pitifully shut his mouth. Gurnam frowned, gazing blankly in front of him in thought. How did slavery work? Would every one of the enemies be able to control them wantonly? Before he could ponder deeply about it however, one of the fearsome sounds echoed in the area, sending shivers down their spines. ROARRR!! The slaves flinched and soon the ground vibrated, soon revealing a small mob of monsters. Because the slaves were asked to shut up, they couldn''t even scream. You could just see their faces reddening in terror. ROARR!! Soon a group of about a hundred level 6-7 monsters arrived. They had thousands of people there and it naturally attracted a relatively large mob. This also showed how uselessly aggressive and bloodthirsty these beasts were. Any beast with some cognitive ability would''ve avoided a group many times larger than they were, but these monsters just looked at them hungrily. By any standards, with their numbers, this mob should''ve been no problem, particularly to the Inko Villagers who were at least level 9 and above. But the enemies decided to have a bit of fun. "Hey! Slaves!" One said, "Stand. Still." Gurnam''s eyes widened as he whipped his head towards the bastards. They were all laughing so they didn''t notice any oddities in him, and if glares could kill, they''d have died under Gurnam''s right now. Soon a few monsters reached their group and a few were immediately taken into the monster''s mouths! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! Gurnam immediately gestured to move¡ªit didn''t matter if he was discovered! It didn''t matter if he wasn''t strong enough to defeat the monsters at all! He needed to save who he could!! However, before he could jump at the monster, an order from the front of the line resounded. "STOP MESSING AROUND! THE ARRAY WOULD BE CLOSING SOON!" At this, the guards around them sighed in disappointment, but otherwise gesturing to follow orders anyway. "Okay, time to stop! Kill the monsters already!" Although it was notable that the aborigines level 11 or 12 still worked together to handle the monsters, they had the advantage of numbers and no one else died during the fight. Gurnam''s heart was still beating out of his chest and all he could hear was his own heartbeat the entire time they traversed the forest. It took a couple more minutes before the crowd stopped moving, and he raised his head when he realized something was different. His eyes widened when he saw a glowing circle of magic about a hundred meters in front of them. He gaped when he saw the crowd of people ahead of them enter it, disappearing from view after a flash. It would''ve been a magical sight if they didn''t dread for their future. He followed the line until it was finally his turn to stand at the magical circle. His heart shook, not knowing what to expect. Flash! It was quite disorienting. One moment they were in the middle of a dense forest, the next they were right in front of a level 3 wall. "Let''s go!!" the guards yelled, and the thousands of them were herded through the gates. [Welcome to Inko Village (Lv3)! Please pay 50 copper for 1 day entrance.] Gurnam shakily paid the fee¡ªhe was still disoriented from the teleportation¡ªbut it was apparently different for others. "The one good thing about being a slave is that you don''t need to pay entrance fees!" A person nearby said, mockingly. "Which is very lucky because you all don''t have money anymore!" He could hear some muted gasps from people around him, no doubt looking at their own Wallets. He watched as the people around him fell into an even bigger pit of despair. They didn''t think it was possible to fall even lower! Seeing them lose blood on their faces, the guard laughed out loud. "What? You don''t know? Slaves lose their money to their new owner! Thank you for contributing to our treasury." Gurnam pursed his lips in an attempt to calm himself down. There was no gain in losing his cool. After heaving deep, deep, breaths, he looked around to observe his location. Inko village wasn''t much different from their own village, it had low-level housing, narrow roads, basic stores, and amenities. In terms of lifestyle, their Juno people were still superior because they had lived a good life a few months prior, and they tried to at least elevate their lifestyles even in the new place in any way they could. Juno at least had a well, wider roads, cleaner houses, and not as much shit to be stepped on every few meters! But they could only cry inside because they were ordered not to make any noise, so their cries were stopped so simply, and it felt incredibly suffocating. The slaves were herded deeper into the territory, then past the small plaza, and onto a zone near another gate. They were led to a massive shanty-like structure that gave off a horrid stench even when they were far off its doors. The walls weren''t even covering the interior all the way up. It reminded them of farm animal corrales but were several hundreds of square meters in size. "This is where you''ll live from now on," the aborigine said with a grin, before turning to leave while laughing. The Terrans looked at each other, faces pale and eyes filled with hopelessness. What happens to them now? Chapter 660 - 660: Diana Village Inko Village. The Terrans reluctantly settled down their new ''home'' which was, to be honest, no better than a sty. The air was thick with horrid stench of neglect and feces. There were several slaves there, though not many. However, judging by how dirty everywhere was¡ªwith at least a few pieces of shit in a few corners¡ªit was obvious that the other ''slaves'' were just working outside. How dingy this place was, and they couldn''t imagine how everyone would fit. There were thousands of them already, what more with the rest of them? At night, they''d be like sardines, right? They couldn''t even bear sit down and they just stood by, staring at each other, and wondering how they could live in a place like this. Their daze was broken about an hour later when some people called them to go outside. "Line up, new slaves!!" There was a large open space at a side and they obediently lined up like the sardines that they were. They were then ordered to arrange themselves in rows spaced about a meter apart. This distance allowed the newcomers to comfortably go into the crowd and closely study each of them, as if they were livestock. They would quickly realize that they were asked to line up neatly because the ''owners'' were there to study them. Even those who didn''t seem particularly rich seemed to be looking at them like products. It made Gurnam truly wonder if anyone from this village could treat them however they wanted. He would later find out that human slaves were indeed relatively inexpensive¡ªunlike those of other races like the goblins and half-orcs¡ªbecause¡­ there was no lack of them. The only difference was if the human was an elementalist or had other skills, and this was something they would find out later. Shick smiled and summarized their status. "There are 2320 new slaves, which is a good number as we lost a couple of hundred during the previous war, and even more when we lost against that jerk Lopi." "This batch of new blood seems good, too, even if they''re a little short," he added. "Will the Lord come and check them himself?" The other men shrugged as they continued to study the slaves. "He''s hanging around the Pleasure Hall, as always." Then his feet stopped, realizing the people in front of him were beautiful women. "Speaking of the Pleasure Hall," he said, extending his hands to grab a few soft arms. "You''ll be great additions." "What? No, please¡ª" Many of the Terran men, including Gurnam, wanted to move and help them. But the moment they did, the aborigine bellowed an order. "HALT. Stay there." And they did. It was humiliating. Gurnam froze as well, shaking, though he did memorize the faces of the people who took the women. He had wanted to move, but he knew each and every one of the guards here had higher levels than he did. He was no help to anyone dead. His anger couldn''t be expressed outside at all, and it felt like his insides were getting destroyed because of it. So this was what being a slave was like. Even Gurnam felt there was only a little difference with his current status. He may not be a system slave, but he was just as powerless. Anyway, the ''assignments'' continued on. Some were assigned for manure cleaning and more for¡­cannon fodder duty. Gurnam happened to have been assigned to this. His job¡­ was to be a meatshield for the guards and citizens whenever there were mobs or wars. Heh¡­ what a life. He looked beside him to find the freckled young boy shivering in fear, tearing up in silence. He was assigned to this job as well. He raised his tanned hand and patted the boy''s head. The boy turned to him with wide eyes, and it struck pity in his old heart. He was reminded that a lot of people were dependent on him, and that he had to get ahold of himself as soon as possible. Gurnam found himself smiling a little, "I am Gurnam, what''s your name?" "Milo¡­" "It''ll be hard," he told the boy. "But let''s hold on, right?" ¡­ Diana Village In another Terran Village, another war was at its peak. Diana Village was located in flat lands. While building was easier, it was also easier to find. Furthermore, they were placed near aborigine villages, so¡­ they were actually in their second war at this time, just a week apart. Diana Village had managed to hire an NPC right after the Protection Period. However, even before they hired them, the Citizens of Diana were somehow made aware of wars. This was because of the kind soldiers who arrived to save them from a beast tide. The soldiers¡­ they were incredibly strong. Sadly, when they found out they had no living relatives in Diana, they still left in the end, though fortunately not without plenty of warnings about the aborigine villages and the wars that came with them. Diana Village won its first war even without the soldiers, because of all these warnings. One of the soldiers, a curly haired dark-skinned soldier named Ben, even gave them some higher level weapons and a little money to create two sentries, now placed by the gate. Everyone then pooled enough money to build sentries every 300 meters at least. Everyone also made sure to have stocks of weapons. They also tried to hire aborigines no matter what, as per the advice of the strong soldiers, and although the choices were limited, it was better than nothing. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The first attacker was named Suka Village. It was apparently a village just outside the ''cloud'' that the soldiers said protected them. The soldiers had also gone there before ending up in Diana, which showed how nearby it was. They did everything in order to defend the territory, and the 28 hours passed with most of the enemies remaining outside. The second war, however, was much more difficult. They were still recovering from the previous war. Not only that, the enemies this time were much stronger than before. They also had stronger weapons and they did not hide the fact that they had a town that they served. However, despite all the challenges, the Terrans fought hard and bravely. They had gone through so much, how could they fall so easily? One of the brave fighters was Sarah, a pretty brunette with shoulder-length hair. At this time, she was kneeling on a roof, shooting her Level E bow and arrow to damage as many people as she could. Sarah was a member of her country''s national archery team. She had just graduated and hoped to do this professionally for the rest of her life. She was just about to sign a contract when the coach became a zombie and tried to eat her. Using her skills, she survived the zombie apocalypse, almost dying several times at the hands of mobs or upgraded zombies or both. However, she refused to hide away. She was far away from home¡ªfrom her brother¡ªand she tried to find him before they got transferred. Unfortunately, she got trapped and now she could only pray that he was okay. Sarah, despite all the worries, did not stop shooting arrow after arrow. At some point, she even saved the lord and his favorite, a woman named Klara. Other than Sarah, there were also many others who valiantly defended their territory. But¡­ it was of no use in the end. Their average level was only level 6, but they were going against an army with the lowest level at level 8. Their hired aborigines¡ªlevels 9 and 10¡ªweren''t enough to handle so many enemies. They weren''t willing to risk their lives for them, either. After all, after their health went down a certain percentage, it was considered that they had already done their jobs. They couldn''t blame them for leaving at the height of the war. As such, after a few hours of bloody struggles¡­ their village fell. [Your Village, Diana Village (lv3) has lost to Lopi Village (Lv3)] And when she thought things weren''t going to get any worse¡ª [You have been designated as one of the Lopi Village Winnings. You have now become a slave.] Sarah pursed her lips, her hands shaking a bit. She had heard of the horrors of slavery, and it was worse than what they had known through history books. "Oh dear Milo¡­" she whispered, voice a bit shaky. How was she supposed to find her baby brother now?! Chapter 661 - 661: Calming Village (Part 1) Special Mention the my latest Castle Giver Lenaleia ~ Thank you for your support! Hahaha Btw, she''s the current queen of werewolf stories in Webnovel~ if you''re into that genre, you can''t miss it! ... ____ While the majority of Terran villages failed in the war against aborigines, it wasn''t all hopeless for everyone. For instance, there was the Level 2 Calming Village. Here, the Terran Mercenary Team members who had separated stayed as they looked for their loved ones. After looking for a long time, after passing by a few territories, they finally did. It wasn''t easy to find anyone''s surviving relatives at all. After leaving Fargo, this was the third territory they had been to and this was the first territory most of them found anyone they knew. Well, at least the first territory to bear them some good news. In the previous village, Minko and Sean had actually caught leads regarding their own families, but they weren''t updates they''d have wanted. Minko''s wife, Klara, was in Diana Village¡­ but she''s become the woman of the lord there. She naturally tried begging for reconciliation but Minko felt sick when he looked at her. Anyway, she was with the lord, so she''d be fine. Sean''s was a bit more tragic. He found his parent''s neighbor in Diana Village, who happily greeted him. He looked at him as if he was a savior, shocked that he was still alive. But when he asked where his parents were, the man just looked at him pitifully. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When he went missing and was eventually presumed dead, the old couple wasn''t able to handle the heartbreak and passed soon after, a few weeks apart. Sean pursed his lips and held back his tears, but every night since then he would let out heaving but silent sobs, and the heartbreak would lull him to sleep. The only comfort was the fact that his parents didn''t have to suffer through this hell anymore. In any case, the group temporarily settled in this village the past few days. They took this time to catch up with the loved ones found, the unfortunate ones not daring to rush the others. For one, this world was so dangerous, it wasn''t easy to take their relatives with them to the unknown, nor was it comfortable to just leave them in a weak territory while they traveled. They decided to take a breather and plan ahead, hoping to keep their loved ones safe, even if they resumed their search for others. In Calming Village, they found Orz''s younger brother, a 28-year-old young man named Ouli. Inspired by his brother, he had grown fond of martial arts but didn''t want to serve so he owned a dojo instead. He transferred with the surviving members of his dojo, now down to two remaining students after so long. They were a brother-and-sister pair named Tiara and Ton, respectively. They also found Ryan''s uncle, Ricky, and they were currently catching up after a long (but manly) sobbing session. Ricky was a forty-year-old man who had been together with his family when the disaster happened, so Ryan was also aware of what happened to the rest of their family. He unfortunately got news that his parents had passed, with his mother turning into a zombie and taking the woman Ricky was dating with her. His father was transferred here with him and they survived for a while after that. Ryan''s father was also a veteran and was the reason why both brothers had survived all the way past the protection period. However, he was unfortunately killed in one of the mobs that came right after it was over. This was the first mob with strong monsters and they were completely unprepared for it. The only comfort was that he died in a bang. During that mob, there were dozens of level 6 monsters¡ªwhich was above the average level of guards¡ªthat managed to get past the walls. Ryan''s father was a leading guard, and he also consolidated the small group of soldiers who were also there. With strategy and skill¡ªeven if they couldn''t afford any more than a few sentries¡ªthey managed to guard the weakest areas of the territory, especially the gate. The other areas were also guarded by civilians who were inspired to fight along with him. Unfortunately, the defense wasn''t impenetrable and a few beasts got past and destroyed a good portion of the village. It was Ryan''s father who was the first responder there. It was a famous story in Calming Village, how the old man took down a few monsters not much lower in level¡ªmeaning, much stronger in overall strength¡ªbefore finally succumbing to his wounds. To honor him, the lord renamed the village¡ªwhich was previously named after him¡ªto Calming Village, after their surname ''Calma''. Ryan took comfort in the fact that his father died protecting others. It had been what he wanted ever since then. The old man was honorably dismissed back in Terran due to an injury. Ryan remembered it had broken the man''s heart when he thought he''d just die of old age without contributing any more to the world. When they told him his facial expression as he met death was nothing that resembled sadness, he fully believed it. Ryan pushed down the heartbreak and he looked at his uncle. "What about my sister, then?" He asked. "Sunny? Have you forgotten? Your sister went for an exchange program in Eden." "..." That''s right. Before he left, it seemed that his sister had just bought tickets? "Eden, eh? So, East or Southeast." Minko mumbled beside them, looking at Ryan. "Where the captain was going, right?" This made everyone silent. "What should we do, then?" "The captain and the others had likely settled down and found their relatives, if we could take the ones we found there, then maybe we could settle them there as well," Sean said, his delicate fingers tapping the table surface. This overly-pale guy, despite all the heat, barely got a tan. Speaking of which, do they still get skin cancer here? Anyway, the fact that they were deciding to head East already made them feel closer to the rest of the mercenary team. Ben sighed, a little longingly. "Getting back together with the captain and the others¡­ seems like a dream¡­" "Well, it won''t be for long," Ryan said, blue eyes fixed on his companions. "Get ready, guys! We''re reuniting with the rest of the team!" The rest of them smiled, feeling a bit of weight lifted from their shoulders. "YES!" Chapter 662 - 662: Calming Village (Part 2) "After we reunite with them, we will be able to look for more relatives and friends in peace," Orz said, combing back his unruly black hair. "So¡­ where are we, anyway?" Ben took out their rough map. It was something that he drew based on their combined system maps. Although they had ''digital'' maps, it helped to mark them on paper, so they could add notes and details. There was also no distance function in the system maps, so they needed to draft it in order to triangulate their location accurately. Ben''s hand traced over the papyrus bought from Ferrol, his dark skin contrasting with its pale color. "Mapping things out, we are approximately almost 150 kilometers (10 o''clock) north of Fargo." "That''s a few days of normal travel, then." "Assuming the terrain is decent and the mobs are manageable," Sean added. "Plus we have civilians with us, so it''s best to assume it''ll take twice as long." "Hmn, that''s true," Ben said, doing rough calculations. He also looked at the still empty parts of the map and was curious what else to fill it up with. He was also curious if the curve of the protection fog was an oblong, a circle, or something completely irregular. From their travels, they had determined that the delineation of the ''protection area'' was curved, at least from where they were. They figured this out because when they went almost directly west of Fargo, they found an aboriginal village instead. It was a small territory called Suka Village, and someplace they didn''t even bother to stay for more than ten minutes. However, when they went north from there, they found the Terran Diana Village. They decided to go further northwest from there, ending up in the level 2 Terran village they were now in. When they arrived, the territory was being attacked by a big mob, which was easily taken care of by a handful of them. This got them a good reputation from the get-go, making the task of gathering information much easier. What was more, when people found out Ryan was his father''s son, he became the de-facto leader of the guard group. Even the dozen or so soldiers¡ªfrom different countries¡ªfollowed his instructions. Of course, this had more to do with their show of strength than anything else. While this made things easier for them to move, they certainly wouldn''t be comfortable in just leaving it vulnerable, and this was another reason why they had stayed for so many days. Anyway, they planned for both increasing Calming Village''s defense capacity before they left, determining their potential route back to the captain by the way. The discussion was cut short when an urgent knocking sounded at their door. "Sirs! Please help us!!" they yelled, and the soldiers immediately let them in. It was a few citizens bringing a few weak bodies over. "Please cover your mouths and noses with cloth!" they yelled, forgetting to mention in their flurry. The soldiers'' eyes twitched but did as they were asked, before looking over the patients. The Village didn''t have a surviving doctor or nurse and¡ª although Minko''s water element took the aggressive route¡ªhe did have some experience assisting medics. Among the five, he was the one with the most knowledge of this and people of the territory depended on him a lot, even if he had said plenty of disclaimers. "What happened?" Minko asked, looking at the men. They had covered their mouths and noses with cloth, which were basically rags as no one had excess cloths anymore. They brought in five people, and each one looked like they were gonna die. Minko frowned, gently looking at the patients'' faces and exposed skin. Everyone''s skin had been dry for a while, but theirs were even a little flaky. Someone even showed signs of eczema on his neck and elbows. "Since when were they like this?" "It''s been a while. Actually, it''s like this for many. A lot of people are also vomiting, and the low level ones are showing worse symptoms like muscle cramps and spasms." "What have you gathered so far?" Since everyone was busy, it was an agreement not to bother the soldiers unless they did what they could. So it was assumed they had researched the source on their own before heading here in a panic. "We couldn''t find the connection between all of them!" The man said, sniffing. They had wells, but one of them had just been built and was used exclusively by a few ''victims''. "Is there a new virus going around?" Someone asked, looking worried, and it also made everyone else fall anxious. They didn''t even have doctors or medicine. How would they be able to handle a pandemic?! For the next few minutes, they waited tensely for Minko to finish studying the patients. When he stopped and heaved a deep breath, everyone else''s stopped in nervousness. "It''s just salt deficiency," Minko said. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What?" "I saw the exact symptoms during one of our missions back then." His words made the ebony-haired man beside him kneel down and look closer as well. "Damn," Orz said after a few moments. He was on the same mission and had indeed witnessed similar cases. "You''re right." That mission had to do with a rebel group hiding in the deep mountains. They encountered villagers there with the same problem. It was pretty much an obsolete illness back in Terran, but here¡­ Speaking of which, salt deficiency wasn''t much of a problem to the soldiers because their levels were raised high from the get-go (or else they wouldn''t have survived). Then, they found towns with richer varieties of food soon after, allowing them to get their minimum required salt intake. Terran territories didn''t have that luxury. Not only did the people level up much slower (primarily due to the protection period), their resources were limited to a few types. "So what do we do with them?" "It''ll be a lot of work and I lack professional knowledge to do it safety, but there can be various sources of salt even without the sea or salt mines. "It''s only in trace amounts and I''m not sure how much can help, especially the harsher cases, but until we find someone with deep knowledge about this, it''s all we can do." The others nodded in understanding. After so long in this place, their idealism and sense of entitlement had been worn down. Rather, the stubborn ones had likely died already, perished from their own arrogance. "Animal blood, some plants, and even ashes can be sources. But, like I said, it''ll come with risks." "They''d die if we don''t, so do we even have a choice?" Minko sighed, nodding. Before they could mobilize for this, however, another group of frantic people arrived to look for them. Then another alarm, making them shake their heads. It was as if they didn''t have enough problems¡­ "Aborigines! They were here and just got kicked out after causing chaos!" "Now they''re making a scene outside the territory!" This made everyone''s back straighten and stood up, prepared to deal with the problem. A lot happened during their meeting time, it seemed. Especially, the visitors were hostile aborigines. This meant that they were looking at a war heading their way¡ªand soon. Chapter 663 - 663: Gwen (Part 1) The soldiers headed to the sentried level 3 wall, reaching it within a couple of minutes. One of the advantages of Calming VIllage was that its scope wasn''t maximized. They only built on the area they needed, so they could afford to surround everything with the very expensive level 3 wall and sentries. They might be a bit cramped inside, but at least they were all protected by the best walls they could afford. They could just go outside in groups near the sentries when they foraged if the resources inside weren''t enough for them. This was one of Ryan''s father''s legacy. He led the movement of solicitation¡ªeven donating a lot of his own money¡ªto build the level 3 walls. They could only build a few sentries in the end but it was hundreds of times better than how it was, when everyone was vulnerable against the weakest monsters. The territory was now saving up to upgrade the village center in order to get the hired aborigines as well. This was something they only found possible (and vital) after Orz and the others arrived. There were only so many of them, and it was impossible for the current forces to be enough to handle what was to come¡ªespecially when the soldiers were beyond a so-called level cap. Hiring aborigines was the fastest way to get some force value. However, before they could do so, the situation the dreaded arrived¡ªin the form of hostile aborigines, currently taunting them from the other side of the walls. "Let us back in! We haven''t seen enough!" they yelled, though their words were polite, their stances and tone reeked of arrogance. At this time, the aborigines held massive shields, blocking the few arrows that came their way. They were also just outside the scope of the sentries, as if mocking them for their sparseness. Ryan narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, answering them with a bland tone of voice. "Sorry, but we can''t let anyone blacklisted enter." "Hey! I''m willing to pay the entry fee again!" the man said with an angry grin. They noticed the men''s faces were bleeding a bit. Looking closer, they seemed to be¡­ small claw marks? In retrospect, these people seemed to have been kicked out prematurely. Whatever they were in Calming Village for, something must''ve gone awry. It happened quickly too, since the bastards got kicked before they (the soldiers) were even alerted. Ryan looked at the reporting soldier next to him. "What did he do?" "He found interest in a woman who slapped him. He slapped her back." He frowned. "How''s the woman?" "Alive, but a bit injured. The men were distracted by her pet cats." "Cats?!" Minko blinked, while the others also looked on with interest. Ryan in particular, though his expression was mild, also seemed interested. His eyes were sparkling a bit more than the others, in fact. He really liked cats. "Yeah, it''s our first time seeing Terran animals here," he said. "I thought they all died. "Anyway, her cats were the ones that scratched their faces, just enough time before they got kicked out by the system." "So the woman is fine, right?" Ryan asked again, and the reporting guard nodded. He turned to his companions who exchanged knowing glances at each other. At this, the archers¡ªled by Minko¡ªtook out their bow and arrows, targeting the aborigines. This made the aborigines pause and look at them. Normally, they''d cackle at them but they realized one or two bow and arrow was a Class D weapon! "Leave," Minko said, and the others had similar expressions on their faces. The aborigines narrowed their eyes at him, and then at the others, eventually realizing staying like this was useless. Tsk! Geez! Before leaving though, of course they had to leave a few jabs. "What are you guarding anyway? Such a poor village! All you had going for you were your walls! Anyway, you''ll be under our feet soon!" "They''re such cowards! Kicking us out with a little slap!" S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Are you sure you''re not called ''Clamming Village'', instead? Hahahahaha!" And they left, leaving the citizens of Calming Village a bit shaken. This confirmed what they feared¡ªand it was only a matter of time before they get attacked by an aborigine village. However, there was nothing they could do about it¡ªthey couldn''t follow the aborigines outside the safety of the walls, right? At least inside, they could get protected by the regulations. Ryan looked at the citizens. "There''s no use worrying too much, let''s just prepare the best we can," he said and then proceeded to send instructions to different people, jumpstarting the preparation for the imminent war. He then turned to look at the guards. "Can we go see the woman?" He asked. "She may have gotten more information about those aborigines." Orz nodded, "I wonder if she''ll be able to answer our questions though." The reporting soldier, Mart¡ªa curly haired tanned soldier from Ryan''s country¡ªcouldn''t help but reassure them, "She should be fine. I saw her put back her own shoulder when it was dislocated¡­" "..." Put back her own dislocated shoulder? Ryan and the others were a little looking forward to meet this person. A few minutes later, the group arrived at the woman''s abode. They were allowed inside after they knocked and for a moment they thought she was probably bedridden somewhere and was unable to answer herself. However, when they entered the house, they saw a beautiful ebony-haired woman sitting on a roughly-made wooden couch. It was furniture characteristic of their village handiwork, and it cost a few silvers to buy from their artisans. At this time, she was lounging relaxedly with her two cats resting on her lap. One, the female cat, was even pregnant. She was very pretty. She had short wavy hair framing her delicate face, her peach-blossom eyes were both sharp and seductive. More importantly, the girl¡ªat least to Ryan¡ªwas an acquaintance! His feet moved forward, eyes a little wide, and his heart pounding in a mix of disbelief and excitement. "Gwen?!" Chapter 664 - 664: Gwen (Part 2) "Gwen?!" Ryan exclaimed, feet moving forward to go closer, to make sure he wasn''t hallucinating. The woman''s eyes also sparkled at the sight of him. "Ryan," she said, though she couldn''t move up, because her cats were resting contentedly on her lap. Someone behind Ryan cleared his throat and only then did the woman''s eyes separate from him. She blinked. "Brother Orz?" As for the others, she didn''t recognize them, so she only nodded politely. Ryan''s feet stopped a step away from Gwen and he couldn''t speak for a while. Gwen was someone they met during a mission in a foreign land. They met about a year ago, not too long before they were deployed in the mission that brought them here. She was a tourist and they were undercover customers in the hotel. It was just that she had recognized them as soldiers¡ªsomething about her brother being one¡ªand saw that they were hunting a bad guy. She ended up helping them fit in and helped with the success of that mission. "No one would believe two handsome men would be in a hotel together if they weren''t lovers," she had said, "Sadly, you two simply don''t have the chemistry." Ryan was a little flustered with how the gorgeous woman sat so close to him and Orz noticed this very much. In the end, they decided to make Ryan and Gwen pretend to be a couple. (Orz had a girlfriend at this time and there was obviously chemistry between the two, anyway). They naturally didn''t disclose any information except that they needed to fit in, and the girl didn''t ask. She helped them out and the mission finished without another hitch. Ryan was a shy dude and didn''t dare ask for her number. Orz low-key asked her and blatantly showed it off to Ryan. The latter then confiscated it, claiming he shouldn''t stray from his girlfriend. Orz didn''t know how these two progressed but seeing how they were looking at each other, it was safe to say there was some communication after that mission. Orz smirked as he looked at the two. Where was the popcorn when you needed one? ¡­ The moment was quickly broken by a sudden announcement that rang in everyone''s head. It was an announcement from the lord. [Gocki Village (Lv2) has declared war on us! Prepare for war!!! ] They all flinched and the soldiers looked at each other. Ryan pursed his lips and gestured to go with them. Orz was quick to hold his shoulders though. "You stay here and get the info we went here for. We''ll handle the planning," Orz said, making a wave to Gwen. The others also sent their greetings and goodbyes, before leaving the two alone. "..." Ryan cleared his throat and looked at the woman who was still sitting relaxedly with her cats. "When did you get here? In this village, I mean," he asked. He also wondered when she got the cats? Gwen traveled a lot, how could she have pets? "I arrived just yesterday," she said. "My territory fell from an aborigine attack as well. The lucky thing is that I never bought real estate there, or else I''d be drowning in regret right now." She looked at him, and he felt a little nervous. She patted the area of the chair next to her. "Come, sit with me. We have a lot to talk about." He blushed slightly and scratched his nose, choosing the spot farthest from her to sit on. She giggled and casually extended her arm, resting it on the backrest as she propped her chin on her knuckles. Calming village might be poor, but it had interesting artisans who could make some furniture for the sake of their lifestyles. "So what information do you want to find out from me?" "Ah, about that¡­" Ryan began, but his eyes gravitated to her shoulder. Before, he didn''t know who the ''injured'' woman was, so other than the standard concern, he didn''t think too much about it. But now, knowing it was Gwen, his heart stung. "Did you get hurt a lot? How is it now?" "It''s fine. My brother taught me a lot of first aid," she said, and he failed to notice a sly smile that came after. "It''s bruising a bit though, wanna see?" He nodded, genuinely wanting to see, but when she started unbuttoning her blouse, his face turned completely red. "WAIT! "I¡ªI¡ªI believe you." Seeing him flustered like this, Gwen laughed out loud, her chime-like laugh hitting the man''s heart. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He listened the whole time, patiently waiting for it to die down. When it did, she looked at him with a smile. "Anyway, what I know about the aborigines was that they were definitely not planning anything good. They were arrogant the whole time and tried taking advantage." She said this blandly, but the events were actually quite tense. At the time, the aborigines were very irksome as they walked along the streets with arrogant faces. They didn''t do anything yet though, so people only watched them closely. After all, they had been warned about wars. However, the aborigines walked around as if they owned the place. They gave off the feel of looking down on Calming Village, as if they had a fight in the bag. Of course, no one was stupid to make a move just based on this. It was not easy not to say anything though, and it made things even more annoying! However, it so happened that a young man nearby couldn''t hide his expressions, and the aborigine smirked, grabbing the man''s shoulder which he couldn''t escape no matter how much he struggled. Gwen went over to stop them, which just pushed her into their line of sight and poked at their interest. In fact, they outwardly assumed she''d be a slave. They started to harass her and she slapped them in response. She was slapped back, though she avoided it just enough so she minimized the damage. Sadly, the impact still got her shoulders displaced and it was damned painful. "It''s alright now though," she said, gently patting her feline friends. "I had good assists." Chapter 665 - 665: Before the War "I''m glad you''re alright," he said, looking at the cats, who apparently helped her a lot. Good kitties¡­ "What about them?" he asked, gently extending his hand towards the felines on her lap. The cats, unsurprisingly, ignored him. He didn''t mind at all though. He was used to the cats'' ''kingly demeanor''. "When did you meet them?" Ryan actually really liked cats. He and his sister had one when they were young. Too bad it got hit by a car. They couldn''t bear to get another pet after that. He had told this story to Gwen back when they were talking. At this, his mind couldn''t help but go to those memories. Thinking about how he acted back then, he couldn''t help but feel embarrassed. It took him quite a long time after getting her number before he actually pressed ''send''. His opening line was ''Checking if you''re alright. Mission was dangerous'', which now made him cringe quite a bit. However, Gwen gracefully played along with him, telling him she''s alive and well, though she thinks someone was following her. She then asked if he wanted to go and check it out. He was a love idiot and didn''t notice the flirtation at all, thinking it was serious. He was assigned in the barracks at that time so it was easier to ask for leave. He called to ask where she was so he could go there. She laughed and it was only then that he realized what was going on. Still, he was willing to go see her but sadly she said it was her brother''s homecoming and the family would be spending time together. He was sent to a mission closely after that and their correspondence was purely by message, which eventually turned to calling each other when they could. Then that fateful mission came and he never saw her¡ªor his family¡ªagain, not until now. This was the first time they met face-to-face after that, and he felt a bit giddy seeing her now. His pondering was interrupted when he felt a soft hand hold on to his. Ryan flushed but didn''t pull out his hand, and he flinched when he realized she was pulling his hand so he could pet the feline. "C''mon, he''s your dad, greet him well." Ryan froze until his face turned red, and he didn''t even notice when one of the cats¡ªthe male with black pelt¡ªjumped onto him. The cat settled on him, though his mind was on their entwined hands. Gwen smiled and looked at him. "I''m happy you''re okay," she said. When he went away, all she knew was that he was sent to a secret mission. She hadn''t heard from him since. It so happened that her only possible source of information, her brother, went missing so she was clueless for both cases¡ªwhich to be honest didn''t do her psyche any favor. Seeing him now made her so happy, and it was partially because it gave hope that maybe she could see her other loved ones again. Ryan smiled, finally gathering his wits to hold her hand in return. "I am too. I never thought that¡­" he shook his head, diverging for the dark topics. Instead, he chose to discuss the happy ones. "Did you always have the cats?" "They transferred here with me," Gwen said, "They''re called Kat and Raffy. They''re small, but they''re feisty. They saved my life quite a few times. This one is even my battle pet now." "Battle pet?" Ryan exclaimed. He had heard of it, but hadn''t seen one before. He then felt a slight sting in his fingers and he looked down, realizing the cat bit his other hand! [Would you like to take Raffy as your battle pet? Yes | No ] "What?" Huh? Gwen laughed, kissing his cheek and making him blush all over again. "Go ahead." Ryan said ''yes'' in a daze and he didn''t even notice the light that surrounded them both. He was brought back to the present when Gwen giggled. "Aww, look our pets are a couple too." ¡­too? The wording just made Ryan all red and stand up abruptly. He gently handed her the cat, "Stay here," he said, and he looked at Gwen. "I¡­ I need to help with the war preparation¡ªI''ll talk with you later," he said and then he left, without a sign of the capable leader other people knew him to be. It could be seen as a man running away after the woman confessed, but Gwen knew better. Gwen''s eyes were warm as she followed his figure, and her smile stayed even when he already left the room. She was a fun-loving girl who traveled around. She didn''t really run after love, believing it''d come. But when she got a bit older and seeing her parents being so loving after so many years, she got curious. She also tried to go out with men, but she never felt a connection with any of them. For some reason, this boring turd of a blonde made her think that having a partner was really good. It was odd. Obviously, she wasn''t the type who people would think would fall for someone she chatted ''online'' with, but here she was. She tried to analyze why though, and came to a theory she was attracted to him because he wasn''t like the other men who just wanted her beauty, her body, or her status as the daughter of a Minister. He was the first one she was attracted to who didn''t know her identities and it felt¡­ refreshing, to say the least. It also helped that he was very cute, of course. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, now he was going out to war, she obviously wasn''t going to sit down and hide away. She looked at the bruise from the earlier attack. Thankfully, she had fast reflexes and managed to jump back in time before she could take on harsher damage. It still hurt a lot though¡ªtoo bad she couldn''t hurt the bastard before he was kicked out of the territory. She slowly stood up with the cats, sitting cutely on the wood couch, no, bench. She went to get her Class D spear that was resting on a cabinet. Her previous territory, like most, only offered Class E weapons. However, the territory that attacked them crushed them easily. The level differences were stark¡ªat least 5 levels higher¡ªand the leader had a Class D weapon. One of the things she realized about the aborigines was that they really, really, looked down on women. They never thought they could amount to anything at all. When they were hunting for ''slaves'' and new victims in the territory, the girls were touched wantonly and carelessly, as if they wouldn''t fight back. Gwen took advantage of this by teasing that leader, allowing herself to be captured, letting him care less about the weapon in his hand. She used the various techniques her brother taught her and managed to steal the weapon and she ran away, also using the survival and stealth skills she learned since young. So now¡­ she was the one who got the Class D weapon. Hehe. She took the weapon into her space and sauntered to the door, smiling teasingly at the cats. "Come on, babies, let''s go kill those bastards." Chapter 666 - 666: Gwens Brother Calming Village The territory went into preparation mode. The war naturally scared the heck out of everyone, but then they remembered they had strong soldiers in the midst. Even before the war, in fact, there was a training area built, started by Ryan''s father. It was like the seed form of a budding barracks. With the arrival of Minko and the others, this had been polished and now, half a day before the war, they were training the guards and the citizens to be able to defend themselves well. "May I join?" Gwen asked, looking gorgeous and fortunately without a spear. Gwen stood next to Ryan, looking pretty and petite. In fact, Gwen was not even 5''3" in height, which was below average even for women in Terran. People just tended to forget because of her high heels and massive personality. Her appearance made Ryan blush a bit, but her words made him pale. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked at her with disapproval. "Gwen? You¡ª" "I want to fight too." After their first encounter, they entered a texting/online dating phase for the next few months. Ryan was always on missions after all and oftentimes could not be contacted at all. There were times when Gwen offered to go to him, but their schedules just never seemed to meet. This went on until that fateful mission where they believed they would never see each other again. Sometime during this correspondence, Gwen vaguely told him her brother taught her some moves, but he didn''t have the impression she could fight. Gwen could see this. In fact, she relished people''s faces when they get shocked at what she could do. Of course, it didn''t happen often, and she was particularly curious of Ryan''s face. "I can! Really, let me spar with someone my level." "What level are you?" S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I''m peak of level 9." "Oh? That''s really impressive!" It was Orz, who wrapped his arms around the very reluctant Ryan. "Well, that''s great! I''m sure our men here would wanna see the techniques from another land!" They knew Gwen was from Eden, a country east of where their countries were. "Peak of level 9, then¡­" Orz grinned, looking at the guards with varying expressions on their faces. "Mart!" "Yes, sir!" "You''re also level 9, go spar with her." "But sir¡­" "Don''t underestimate people, idiot. It could kill you." "A-Ah, yes." After a few words, the two entered the makeshift sparring ring. In Calming Village, they couldn''t really detail the rules and regulations so they could only go with the cheaper ''no killing'' policy. There was no problem with placing a sparring ring here, or anywhere else for that matter. The news of the fight quickly spread around (the territory was small, so it spread faster). Besides, in the last few hours, there had been dozens of people looking for reassurance in the barracks. After all, they were already told the strongest soldiers couldn''t participate directly¡ªsomething about everyone going through the array couldn''t be attacked by them¡ªso much of the burden was still on the locals. Anyway, the civilians training as well as the civilians who came for reassurance had heard of the fight and stayed to watch, some even pulling over some friends. So by the time the fight started, there was a large audience, filling up the space around the arena with several rows of people. Mart felt a little shy, while Gwen stood with poise a few meters away from him. Her arms were crossed, unbothered by all the attention. The people couldn''t help but worry about the small woman, especially compared to her enemy who was probably above 6 feet in height. This included the 6 feet man himself. "Are you sure about this?" Mart asked for the nth time the past 10 minutes. Mart was a relatively mild-mannered man, but he wasn''t weak. He even worked harder than others because he was still young¡ªstill a cadet when the disaster happened. Gwen nodded with a smile. "Don''t hold back," she said, "I sparred with special forces." This made a few eyebrows rise, and¡ªrealizing she seemed serious¡ªMart really didn''t dare let down his guard lest he humiliate himself. "Ready. Start!" Both fighters start with their stances on defensive. Neither of them moving, just circling each other. After a while, Gwen still didn''t move. "You should go and attack me, instead," she said. After a moment of thought, Mart decided to follow her whims, thinking to get this over with. However, a very swift kick kept him at bay, and he barely blocked it with his arm. It was a clean kick and had he been slower, it''d have connected with his stomach. The audience let out a few whistles. Orz elbowed Ryan, who was watching in worry as if ready to shield her before she got hit. "Yow. Stop worrying too much. She survived this long and reached such a level, she probably wasn''t lying about sparring with special forces." At this, Minko''s eyes narrowed, some thoughts brewing in his mind. "Where did you say she was from?" he asked Orz, who blinked at him. "Eden." Ryan recalled their conversations, "She said her brother''s a soldier." There was no mention that he was special forces though. "So¡­ special forces from Eden." "..." "..." Sean waved his hands at them, asking them to shut up and watch the fight. The fight continued and so far their forces seemed equal. Both were sweating a bit as they threw repeated attacks with accuracy and expertise, at least compared to most of the fighters there. Mart adopted a defensive style while Gwen sent continuous spinning kicks, much like dancing in ballet, but with the force of a hammer. To Ryan and the others, it also felt very, very, familiar. "This fighting style¡­" Minko mumbled, trying to place it. An image of a particular soldier superimposed with the woman, and the realization hit them all at the same time. They looked at each other, eyes wide. "Boss Gill!?!" Chapter 667 - 667: Prelude to Calming Village’s War Like her brother, Gwen preferred to use her legs. She may not be particularly tall, but she was blessed with long legs. Normally, men would like to touch these works of art, but when they tried, their faces were likely to meet with it instead. Gill would repeatedly tell her since she was young that men cannot be trusted and she had to keep a sharp eye on them. He taught to always employ critical thinking, regardless of how ''good'' a man seemed. (She''d argue he didn''t really use much of his critical thinking when it came to his love life, but at least he used it on life-and-death situations.) Anyway, his teachings made her very choosy growing up (beating up quite a few men in her lifetime) but, fortunately, she did find a good one in the end. At this though, her sights swiped across Ryan''s very worried face and she couldn''t help but smile. The sight seemed to have sent energy to Gwen''s hits and she sent flurries of swift kicks and swipes towards her opponent. Mart wasn''t weak, but she was fast and she used her size quite well, avoiding the man''s attacks with impressive flexibility. Her brother taught her a lot about handling bigger opponents. After all, with her size and the fact that she was female, bigger opponents comprised 99% of her opponents. Eventually, Mart''s movements turned a bit sluggish after her barrage of attacks and she took advantage of the minute opening to finally land a good one at his stomach. "OOOUGHHF!" he gasped, slightly pushed back. Gwen''s eyes sparkled and she didn''t take a pause at all. She jumped and raised her legs 90 degrees from the ground¡ªfinishing the fight with a beautiful axe kick. Bang!!! The next moment, Mart''s face was on the ground, and his suffering was followed by boisterous cheers from the crowd. "Amazing! Amazing!" "So awesome!" "Beautifully done!!" Mart immediately stood up, though he seemed to have surrendered already. He was looking at her with admiration and a wide grin on his face (which was funny because he had a lot of soil on his face and teeth). "That''s really good," he said, extending his hand. "Hope you can teach me some moves." Gwen giggled, about to nod, but suddenly a familiar blonde appeared between them. "You okay?" he asked, looking at her in concern. Gwen smiled. "Of course." Ryan heaved a deep breath of relief before he turned to look at Mart, who was still standing there. He was probably waiting for him to leave so he could continue his conversation with Gwen. This irked Ryan very much. "Dismissed," he said. "Sir?" "You may go now." "..." Mart had no choice but reluctantly leave, his shoulders slumped in disappointment. Ryan nodded and then turned to look at Gwen again, only to see her staring at him with a sly smile. His heart thumped and his face turned red in embarrassment. "W-What is it?" "You''re very cute," she told him¡ªquite frankly¡ªand Ryan could only scratch the back of his neck in shyness. "Men aren''t particularly fond of being called cute." "But it''s true." Ryan, unable to handle the embarrassing topic, decided to shift it. "Is your brother¡­ Gill, by some chance?" Gwen, who was prepared to ignore the topic shift, was successfully distracted. "You know my brother?" She was very surprised. Their two countries weren''t close. Did they meet in a mission? "He transferred with us," Ryan said. "We''re actually planning on meeting there." Gwen''s eyes were wide and lined with tears, and Ryan had the inexplicable urge to embrace her. She gripped his arms. "Let me come with you!" She yelled, "After the war." He met her eyes and his heart clenched, his body moving on its own. Ryan''s hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her to him. He hoped to reassure her somehow. Their moment lasted for several moments, just feeling each others'' warmth, when a whistle sounded next to them. Ryan shook, opening his eyes to look around, and his sights met with dozens of faces sending them teasing looks. "...!" Only then did he remember: They were still in the middle of the sparring ring! And they had rows of people watching them!! ¡­ A few hours before the War "Are we really going to be alright?" Lord Cassas, the Lord of Calming Village, asked, utterly anxious and put the name to shame. Calming Village was a level 2 village, but the level limit was still level 15. Besides, Ryan and the others were beyond the so-called level cap and wouldn''t be able to attack at all. Enemies that went through the Array were protected by the war rules and could not be attacked by those beyond the level cap. The War rules might be a bit vague, but they were strict. Minko shook his head. "Have more confidence in your territory, old man," he said. The fact that a level 2 village survived so long after the protection period was still worthy of appreciation. Besides, though none of the five could actually participate in attacking, they could definitely be used to defend, distract, and shield the weaker guards without a problem. Keeping the enemy outside the walls was a lot more doable than he''d think. Their wall wasn''t that big¡ªjust a little bigger than the scope of a level 1 village¡ªand therefore much easier to guard. They just had to be brave, unified, and consistent. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, it didn''t mean they would be complacent, especially not when family members were here. In the end, they advised everyone to get decent rest, and also to remain within territory. There was also a no-entry rule at this time, in case they got visitors. Fortunately, there weren''t, and even if there were, they were obvious aborigines that''d have to wait outside. Ryan looked at him. "Winning wars isn''t difficult for the defending territory unless there''s a huge level gap." He said, "Just keep strong and unified¡ªand we''ll be fine." Ryan took a deep breath and looked at the guards and the lord. Everyone did their best, and they would help them defend their home! Chapter 668 - 668: Gocki Village Attacks An hour before the war, the alarm¡ªor more accurately, just hired people yelling¡ªalerted everyone that the war was starting and they ought to get in position. Some time later, Minko, Sean, and Orz jumped down the wall and ran around the territory, separating directions for maximum efficiency. They maintained their energies, of course, especially since they had no idea where the array was. They wanted to find the array, hopefully to take down a number before they go and attack the walls. While they couldn''t do anything too aggressive, they could cause a lot of trouble and that was enough. In fact, it wasn''t that Fargo and the others didn''t think of this loophole. They did, with Belize''s guidance. But they realized a lot of the stronger aborigines they could send to look for the array were all¡­ gone. It was at that moment that they confirmed the Alterrans had been preparing for the war for days. Anyway, the current enemy had no such preparation. So when the time started, the enemies went into the array with just the alertness of handling small village-level mobs. [War with Gocki Village (Lv2) has begun! Array Closes in 27:59:59] It has begun! They all thought, running faster around the territory. Now¡­ time to figure out where that damned array was! ¡­ It was Minko who had found the light and he immediately shot his arrow to the walls. This arrow had a cloth tied, which was a cloth of the most colorful old fabric they could get. He shot at an angle high enough so that even if it accidentally hit someone, it wouldn''t injure them, but not too high that the air resistance would distort his direction. This was a signal to tell everyone where the array was. With his signal, a few of the more powerful soldiers went to join him. Sean and Orz also found him shortly after. The teleportation array always appeared in an instant, with no warning at all. When the soldiers grouped together, about a hundred had already gone past and headed towards the wall. These people they just let pass, trusting the citizens to deal with them. Although they were strong, they were still self-aware and didn''t go against thousands head-on, especially when they couldn''t hurt them directly. For this, they decided to use guerilla tactics, subtly redirecting smaller groups from the main mobs, and taking them down without getting punished. One method of redirection was creating earth walls. The appearance was natural so the enemies thought they had always been there. Groups of hundreds would head in a direction away from the wall, further separated and heading to where several soldiers were waiting. Each soldier was tasked to take scores at a time, or even more depending on luck. For instance, a group of about 100 people, half of whom were slaves, ran towards where the walls were. However, there were various obstacles they naturally avoided. The crowd was too large or dense to see anything odd, and they only realized something was wrong when the didn''t merge with a bigger crowd anymore. At the end of the line there was a man who stood. A handsome pale-skinned man. "Who are you?!" "Someone assigned to take care of you." Sean immediately waved his spear, and thin vines surrounded their feet, reaching their waist, making them fall down. The little vines reached their necks, as if ready to snap it. Sean specifically chose this place because there were so many bushes with thin branches. Of course, the trap was also not indestructible. At his level, he could create a trap for hundreds of people, but it wouldn''t be strong enough to make them helpless. If these people fought hard enough, it could still break. So, he would terrify them psychologically¡ªanyway, in this world, people didn''t have ''patriotism''. They wouldn''t actually sacrifice their lives for the territory. He looked at them threateningly, lying with a very straight face. "Don''t move, and don''t open your mouths either. Otherwise, I will kill you." ¡­ This was the case with the other soldiers, and together they managed to hold down a few hundred enemies. For example, Orz buried their bodies to the ground, leaving their noses above. Minko, on the other hand, would try to drown them by putting water in their noses. He did this just long enough and stopped when he felt he was about to be punished, but it made the opponents fall anyway, greatly weakened. Some also tried to experiment and hurt them a bit. They saw that they weren''t punished, so they made a mental note for the future. Of course, they didn''t push the limits too much. The punishments for hurting war participants when they were at their levels were very high and permanent. From what they heard, it was almost always never worth to do so. Anyway, the soldiers could only handle so many opponents and soon, at least a few hundred reached the walls. Half an hour after the war started, there were already thousands clawing the wall. The chaos common in wars exploded, with thousands of people¡ªmostly slaves¡ªtrying to either get up the walls or force the gate open. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Because walls could not be scaled, some of these slaves served as human ladders people stepped on to get to the battlement. The structure looked flimsy and incredibly creepy. They could also see how thin the slaves were¡ªthey were practically skin and bones¡ªand how they were pushed beyond their limits to be stepped on by hundreds of people. "Shoot them! Shoot a few arms and legs¡­!" the captain ordered, being rational. "But¡­" the archers mumbled, conflicted. These were humans, and many of the guards were reluctant to shoot them. Ryan arrived soonafter, and the captain ran to him, asking for help. He pursed his lips, but he also knew what had to be done. "Shoot the legs and arms of those at the bottom," he said. "If you shoot well, you wouldn''t have to kill them. "However¡­" he paused, looking at the archers with dark eyes. "As much as we don''t want to kill fellow humans¡ªif we lose this war, failing to do so could mean earning the same fate. "Do you want that?" Chapter 669 - 669: Calming Village War The Villagers shot at the human structure with heavy hearts, understanding this was an eat-or-be-eaten world. They could only watch in guilt as it fell, with people falling on top of each other, yet they had to continue hitting to keep them back down¡ªat least try to. Some ''ladders'' continued to rebuild, some with new slaves, and some over the corpses of others. Others also tried breaking through the gates, but they would be killed by arrows or spears, but the slaves were relentless in their attacks. The Villagers felt pity, but the sight also strengthened their need to win! If they lost, then the next ones pitifully clawing on gates with bare hands¡ªeven when their fingers were bleeding¡ªwould be them!!! A few hours passed, and the war soon reached a peak and, while most teams managed to guard their section of the wall, it was inevitable for some weak spots to appear. "Gyaaa!!" a man''s voice rang out in agony as enemies managed to climb up and attack. The nearby guards panicked, shooting wantonly in an effort to fend off the invaders. "Shoot!! Shoot!" one yelled frantically, fueling the others'' panic. "Ahhh!" another cried as he was hit by an arrow¡ªfrom an ally. Ryan, who was in another area, immediately rushed towards them, using the dull edge of his sword to slash and push the enemies off the ledge. After so long, they had noted that just the act of pushing¡ªeven if it was to their deaths¡ªwas not punishable, likely because it was not the push that killed them, but the fall. Of course, the wall was only 3 meters. The only time the enemies died was either they were too weak, got flattened in a stampede, or they were lucky enough to fall on their heads and break their necks. Ryan sliced several more people almost at the rim. Though he couldn''t unleash powerful attacks, he was adept at pushing enemies back and using his elemental abilities to assist the others. His appearance calmed the surrounding fighters. "Don''t panic, don''t waste your arrows and your energies," he said, immediately taking down whatever the enemies were using to get up. "What!!!!" an enemy yelled as they were pushed back, the ladder getting destroyed by fire. However, in this one and a few other spots, hundreds still managed to get in. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Reuben on the other hand was by the gates, making the gates, walls, and people slippery so the people trying to climb over the other had a bit of a struggle. By the time they could be a threat, they were already very tired and easily taken down by the rest of the citizens. Ryan and Reuben were the only Mercenaries left within the walls at this time, with the others dealing with hundreds of others on their own far from their sight. The other citizens were busy attacking those trying to go up as well, for the entire length of the territory. Despite their efforts, more enemies still breached the walls in other spots. After all, the level differences were there, and it was inevitable for a few sections to fall. The battlement wasn''t very big or wide and not many could use it, so a line would have one person, and how could they go against dense enemies a few levels higher than they were? Not to mention, the enemies would literally use their slaves as shields in these areas. Anyway, the enemies climbed up one after the other with wooden ladders they built after arriving there. They seemed to have dedicated people making them, because when it was destroyed, another one would get propped up soonafter! Gwen was among the people guarding the interior. At this time, she was walking along the perimeter, watching out for any sort of leaks on her side of the territory. She had already dealt with a few enemies along with others the past couple of hours, but with Ryan''s appearance the entries on her side had slowed down significantly. She purposely moved away from where Ryan was, knowing the new weak spots would be there. Screams of pain and the commotion resounded throughout the walls¡ªas it had been the past few hours¡ªand she had to keep a sharp eye to determine where a breach was actually about to happen. Suddenly she heard thumping sounds of bodies falling down inwards. A torrent of enemies began pouring over an area and she immediately ran over to there. "HERE!!" she yelled, calling the attention of the other people, as she and her super cats sprung into action. Fortunately, there was a small group of guards and civilians there and they immediately joined in with their own weapons. Most of them were scared because there seemed to be bigger leaks this time. However, how could they live the shame down if they left the woman alone? Her spear flashed as she took down several opponents in a few swift and clean strikes. Although they were higher level than she was, her skill and the fact that she was using a Class D weapon were enough to balance the discrepancy. Her cats, agile and fierce, darted between the attackers, targeting their eyes, making them easy targets to stab for everyone. ¡­even their own teammates. Hehe. The enemies didn''t even notice she was a woman as they were met with either her stab, her kick, or her cats'' claws. The rest of the team was also there to finish them off, rendering them helpless. Some people decided to run away, but how could Gwen let them go? Using, the spear as a bolster, she lifted her body and kicked the damned bastard down, while the others took advantage of his imbalance to end him. Together with the rest of them, Gwen fought valiantly. Her kicks were formidable and impressive, and her stabs were sharp. However, it was inevitable for them to struggle after a while, especially when the enemies kept flowing inside! While many of their own people arrived, it was still troublesome, especially since the enemies were much stronger than the majority. Among the enemies that got in were the bastards who caused trouble earlier, and his eyes turned red at the sight of Gwen. Her appearance alone made him mad, let alone witnessing her killing so many of his teammates!! "BITCH!!" he screamed and immediately ran to her for the kill! Chapter 670 - 670: The War that was Won This man was among the leaders of this war and he was at level 13, several levels higher than Gwen. While the rest of the team fought against the enemies, Gwen knew she had to focus on this one. She was the highest level in this area and was trained the most. "HYA!" She yelled, lunging forward with her Class D Spear. The man had a sword and met her attack, creating a clashing sound. The man had a Class E sword though, and it already showed a great decrease in its durability with a few attacks. The man showed greed for her weapon and his attacks increased in fervor, fueled by his need to get her and the weapon. They exchanged blows for a while and his eyes widened when he barely avoided a stab, with a deep gash forming on his cheek. His eyes turned red. How dare a woman wound him! "BITCH!" he yelled as he lunged forward, sending a barrage of aggressive attacks. Slash! Stab! Slash! How could Gwen deal with someone much stronger than she was? No matter how she trained, she was still a civilian in the end. Gwen was soon pushed back, struggling, with the weapon slowly slashing at her clothes, revealing bits of skin with every jab. The man''s eyes turned lustful and his successive hits were doused with a bit of lust. MEOW!! Kat and Raffy jumped at the man, clawing him in succession. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "AH!" He yelled. Although they only gave scratches, they were plenty and they stung. More importantly, they stung his pride. GRRR¡ª In his anger, he managed to grab on Raffy, making it screech in pain. "You damned creature¡ª" "No!" Gwen yelled, immediately jumping at him without thinking. The man grinned and sparkled, using the woman''s desperation to throw away the cat and grab her neck instead. There were others who saw and wanted to rescue, but they almost died instead. Sadly, they were not even strong enough to defeat the enemies in front of them¡ªhow could they be strong enough to rescue another? The man saw this and laughed, gripping her neck tighter. He added pressure, forcing her to let go of her weapon and grab onto his arms, in an attempt to break free. However, every time she struggled he would tighten his grip on her, weakening her so all her strength was focused on keeping herself from dying. She struggled and tried to kick him, but his free hand held her legs in place, caressing it by the way. "I realize I may not mind feisty women like you. You are very beautiful¡ª" "Gwen!" A familiar voice yelled somewhere away from them and it was swiftly followed by a wall of fire. The man barely managed to avoid the attack, though it singed some of his hair and clothing. Ryan appeared between him and Gwen, eyes red in anger. He lunged forward and grabbed the man''s neck as he had grabbed Gwen, ready to break his neck, his palms heating up to add extra¡­ sizzle. Before he could do any damage though, soft arms wrapped around his abbed stomach, making him freeze. "Don''t do it!" Gwen yelled. She had been oriented and she knew the punishments were not low! This bastard was not worth it!! "I''ll kill him myself!" Gwen said, using his body to stand up, immediately going to grab her spear. She was weak but she trudged through, stabbing the bastard straight in the heart before Ryan could! Slash! They watched as the corpse dropped on the ground and their eyes met. Before running into Ryan''s arms though, she immediately ran to poor Raffy. They heaved a deep breath when they saw that he seemed fine, though just a bit shaken. Ryan patted her shoulder. "Go get some rest with them, you did well," before running over to the rest of the scuffle, creating firewalls all over to redirect the enemies, making it easier for his side to target them. "AHH!" "DAMN!" "HURTS!" His fire was not made to be strong lest he get punished, but it was enough. Anyway, the main killers were the citizens, and redirecting the enemies on certain spots made it easier for arrows and stabs to hit. They defended hard like this for hours on end, blocking entries and taking care of leaks. As the war neared its end, Minko and the others arrived and joined in. This was the time the hundreds they trapped wouldn''t be able to recover fast enough so they decided to help in the defense. The arrival of the three added a devastating dimension to the defense. Even if they couldn''t hurt people, they simply used the skills they used to trap the hundreds and weaken hundreds more¡ªmaking them weak enough so the others could deal with them with minimal losses! For example, Orz created large craters near the gates, making people fall in and step on each other, on another Minko would join Reuben in taking down the ladders propped around the walls, running around the perimeter to make sure no one else was making it in¡ªor, at least, minimizing the numbers. Seeing them like this made plenty of the opponents pale. "Elementalists!!!" "So many!!" And they were so strong, too! Just seeing so many threw the enemy''s momentum down several pegs, and the tide completely turned to the defenders. Time trickled slowly for the citizens of Calming Village, and they wanted to get things over with. Every minute that passed was a hard-earned victory and, finally, they could see the end. Safe to say, the village won that war. The Lord yelled, celebrating their wins. "We can finally afford to upgrade our village center and add sentries!" he yelled, and everyone around celebrated while handling their wounded and casualties. Ryan walked over to him and nodded. "Don''t forget to keep some money in case you upgrade." "Oh, right right right." And so, their first war ended on a happy note, the celebrations muting the exhaustion and the pain of their wounds. The sense of relief and accomplishment was obvious in their stances, even when they were covered in blood, sweat, and grime. It would be great if they could celebrate with booze! But alas! Getting alcohol in this place was probably impossible at this time. However, for now, they''d have to make do with the sweet taste of victory, hoping for a more secure future. Chapter 671 - 671: Protective Charms (Part 1) Alterra Village "Shit¡­ booze¡­ so happy¡­" Benny mumbled as he shakily sipped his drink. They arrived last night but they could only appreciate the lovely streets and maybe buy some food from stores they passed through. They were also a bit tired from traveling and saw the neat and comfortable facilities of the Mercenary Team living areas, so they hadn''t really gone out yet. When they did, damn, they were so surprised!! "This place¡­ is unbelievable," Benny said in what was probably the tenth time since they arrived the previous night. He remembered the first time he said it: It was when they went to the Terran Mercenary Team dormitory. Even if it was a dorm, it felt cozier than the ''superior'' houses back in Fargo, er, Limestone Valley. The facilities, the bath, and the lovely toilet seat felt like heaven. These were ''luxuries'' they didn''t think they''d experience in a long while! Anyway, they all took warm baths and they fell asleep after. The next morning, Garan and the others allowed them free time that entire morning before they started at their posts. They were planning on enjoying this time as much as they could! They deserved it!! Thus, the booze, but in moderate amounts. Just sips. Quite a few ones, but still. Benny bought the mildest ones, but it was still heavenly. "Ah¡­ Booze¡­" he whispered, absorbing the savory taste of the drink, letting it warm him up as if he had been trapped in an ice age. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Henry chuckled and sipped his drink as well. He was parachuted to a captain''s position and was assigned to lead the training of the guards later that day. When they arrived seeing the massive walls, dense sentries, and the liveliness and advancements of the territory, they were in utter disbelief for a while. How could the difference be so stark? Especially Vanessa who looked bitterly. How much less would she have suffered if she had gone with Garan early on? And¡­ that woman was an esteemed woman even in this place? The seeds of jealousy inside her festered even more. Why does that woman always have everything working for her? "Vanessa? Why aren''t you eating? Is there anything else you wanna eat?" Her father''s voice shook her back to the present, and she smiled innocently. "No, daddy," she said, taking a few bites of her salad. "I just missed having these food." At her words, Benny nodded passionately. "Right? For the longest time¡ªmy tongue felt like it got numb from the tastelessness of food from the restaurant in Fargo¡ªI feel like I''m in delicacy heaven right now!" Although Garan was kind enough to give a bottle of their sauce, how far could it go with the group of them? They ran out quickly and went back to restaurant food. Speaking of System Restaurant, Alterra didn''t have one¡ªever. Rather, they didn''t bother with building such a ''waste of space''. It was so interesting. Did the mysterious lord¡ªnone of them believed that there wasn''t one¡ªforesee the current development of their food industry? They were now having lunch in the market place. It had a food court situation ongoing and they got their booze in one of the stalls, apparently owned by the owner of Heartbreak Tavern, which opens late in the afternoon. Lunch was barbeque with rice and vegetable side (with sides of liquor) for Benny, Shawarma rice for Henry, and Salad, Baked Gugu bird with Gouji Fruit Shake for Vanessa. The group ate happily, getting a few snacks before they spent the rest of that morning just appreciating the place. Of course, their free time eventually had to end. Specifically, they were tasked to go to the barracks after lunch break. Like everything else, they were surprised and impressed by the place. Alterra had somehow, except for the equipment requiring advanced technology, managed to recreate the barracks in Terran! The arrangement, the training areas, and the like were mimicked, and even improved according to their changed physiques and¡­ elements! Speaking of elements, there were already so many elementalists! They had so many level 10s! They were all strictly trained and had the consciousness to protect¡ªunlike the guards in Fargo back then, who just abused their power everywhere! Alterra¡­ also had a lot of unique weapons! The equipment shops from the system were basically just there to support the demand, but innovation and production of higher level products were still prioritized. And they had so many unique buildings, too! The most impactful for them was that Training Hall¡ªwhich no doubt had a huge part in allowing so many to level up so quickly! This difference in strength between villages was heaven and earth! No wonder Fargo was crushed despite the stark differences in numbers! Looking at the tall walls and dense sentries at a distance, how reassured and safe everyone inside must feel. These protective charms were enough to make everyone feel stable¡ªand this was the starting point for a person to strive for the best. ¡­ While chaos ensued outside, life went on in Alterra, with every part of the ''cog'' doing their jobs. The people who hunted hunted, the people who guarded did the same, every one trained, and every tradesman did their own parts as well. For a whole day, Althea locked herself in her lab again. However, rather than chemistry, she focused on creating more of the protective charms. She did have a couple of rejects, but she just became more and more proficient as time passed by. After all, the arrays, arrangement, and details were the same. The more she did, the more amazing she was at it. If other tool makers were here though, they would cry. Although it was true that the principles were the same, it was still extremely hard each time for most because it needed intense concentration. One of the uniqueness of the array was that the energy was always moving in that path. Drawing an array with the exact same energy signature each time and keeping each millimeter of movement stable every attempt was near-impossible! Althea was not at this level yet, but she was certainly on the way there. More importantly, Althea was growing obsessed! And it was only a matter of time and a little guidance before she achieved much more. Chapter 672 - 672: Protective Charms (Part 2) She was obsessed with making the tools for the days after that. The team was a little worried, but they knew how Althea was when she was like this. They had seen it when she was experimenting with her potions, and they had seen it with her farms. In the end, they could only make sure she was eating well and having somewhat of a rest (the latter of which was completely Garan''s responsibility, which he did without exception even if he had to carry her like a sack). After days of partial seclusion, Althea managed to create a couple for the group and family, and she reckoned she''d be able to make a few extra to sell in the Contribution Store. She looked at her small pile with a smile, heart feeling full. After all, each one of these could save her people''s life, and that made her feel the happiest. ¡­ One day¡ªwell after dinner¡ªshe gathered everyone in the team to their living room. This included Winona, who arrived ranting about her intolerable grandmother. "She''s so insufferable!" Winona said with her fist clenched. "She just lazes around all day like she were still the matriarch of a rich clan! She doesn''t even help me clean up! "It was fine if her body was weak, but that woman was still as strong as a bull with the voice of a dinosaur!" Ansel looked at her with a mix of amusement, mockery, and pity. "I''d hate to sound unfilial, but you can just do enough for her to survive and live well. Do you have to live with her?" Winona rolled her eyes. "And endure her telling everyone how bad a granddaughter I am?" "Idiot. Anyone could tell who''s right or wrong. People aren''t as bored as they were in the peaceful Terran. People have less time for nonsense gossip." That was not to say, of course, that people didn''t like gossip. They just started to easily tire of useless and false ones. They did, however, love gossiping about Althea, Garan, Gill, Cassandra, and Juni¡­ What was the best-selling mode of entertainment at this time? It was the puppet show about Althea and Garan''s reunion, the events leading to it, and how it ended behind the closed doors of her villa¡ªleaving the rest for imagination. There was also the love of Gill and Cassandra, as well as Juni''s apparent rise as a boss-woman. She even made herself a harem in that story. As pioneers of the entertainment industry, Ansel and Fable naturally encouraged little shows and stuff, though focusing on those showing solidarity. It was a great way to educate and integrate the masses. Also, it was a way to make the people less bored and gossipy during their lull time. Maybe, probably. For instance, Fable and another writer wrote several scenarios that could be turned into plays and puppet shows. They nudged Ansel a lot and requested a lot of papers from him, since paper was still exclusively for admin groups. The stories they made were quite interesting. For instance, how Alterra saved so and so''s lives. How it let so and so reunite, etc. It was all good fun, and Ansel could see the rise of the industry as soon as paper became commercially available. Anyway, Althea cleared her throat and gathered everyone''s attention to her. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Garan smiled. Before calling everyone, she had already showered him with charms. His space alone had at least a dozen. She also gave some to the children as necklaces and put them on their favorite toys, so he knew what this was about. The group looked at her with curiosity and she felt a bit shy. She cleared her throat again to make her announcement. "You see¡­ I''m officially a magic tool maker!" Then, thinking they didn''t know what it was, "I can make something like aether letters or the voice blocker¡ªbut with different functions of course." "WHAT?!" "Again, I can only make one type of tool though." The audience naturally didn''t care for it. They leaned over, curious as to what she made. "What is it, what is it," Ansel asked, scooting closer. He stopped a distance away though, seeing Garan protectively right beside her. She took out a dozen in front of her. "These are called Protective Charms. They''re not that high level, but they can protect you well to a certain degree." She then repeated its functions and everyone brightened even more. "Here I''ll give everyone," she smiled, handing one to each of them. She even gave Eugene another one for Melissa. This touched everyone''s heart and Harold even teared up a bit. "Thank you so much, boss!" "Sis, you''re so awesome!" "You''re the best boss!" Sheila exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the woman. When she separated, the nurse stared at her protective charm with warmth. She was very touched, however, the image of someone who was much more exposed to danger popped into her mind and then she looked at Eugene who got one for Melissa. "Uhm, Boss¡­" Althea smiled, "I''m making one for all the Terran Mercenary soldiers," she said, "Eagle''s will be given to you. You can give it to him." Everyone looked at her with knowing looks and she blushed in shame. "Boss!" They all laughed, though their thoughts were still on the magic tools themselves. Their heart filled with warmth, knowing Althea thought of them as she made these things. They recalled how she locked herself in her lab the past few days¡ªworking non-stop and barely eating¡ªand they felt extremely guilty for putting her through such an ordeal. Althea could see their thoughts on their faces and laughed. "It''s what I wanted to do, and for my own peace of mind," she said, "If you really feel guilty, then just take care of yourself well, and contribute to the betterment of our home!" This made the others pause and added a couple of tears in their eyes. However, their smiles were bright and proud¡ªhappy to be part of this family. "Yes, boss!" Chapter 673 - 673: Departures to Ferrol The next morning, in contrast with most others, some people''s moods were a bit dour. First, there was Vanessa, who was extremely envious of the nice place. She had barely slept the previous night despite hanging out in the spa for hours. She relaxed in the spa after the ''working hours'', which was something she really missed. However, the experience got muted because she kept hearing that woman''s name in various discussions! First, there was a group lounging in the pool area who kept talking about how amazing that woman''s beauty products were. They would exclaim how smooth their skins had become, and how it had recovered to their pre-apocalypse luster. They would call her the beauty goddess, not just for her face, but also for her ability to elevate women''s beauty! Then, in the restaurant, there was a group who talked about her medicines. One woman fawned how good they were, saving her son''s life! Then there were envious chatters of how lovely her family was, how perfect her children were, and what a great match she made with her husband. Couldn''t these women be quiet?! She had mused with gritted teeth. However, she was still raised well so she didn''t show a hint of it on her face. They''re like shrews, chattering like they want everyone to hear their discussions! However, wherever she went, there would always be some mention of her somewhere. Couldn''t she just relax?! The bitterness attacked her even after she left and went to bed, entering a foul mood as soon as she woke up. Then there was Jonathan''s party, who had already extended their stay and were no longer able to run away from their responsibilities. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, a lot of the civilians and other visitors who came with Jonathan would remain in Alterra for a while longer. So, even if Jonathan left, Alterra still had dozens of aboriginal visitors, not including the Golds, spending good cash in the territory. Jonathan and the rest felt very reluctant and melancholic, knowing he''d really miss this place a lot. At the same time, he was also looking forward to how he could improve his own place based on what he had seen. He had always thought his town was the best, but he now knew that his vision was still too narrow. Of course, he could do limited amounts because his town had already been built and integrated. However, he could still implement some policies like increased garden spaces (he may have two or three lots he could clear out), as well as the strengthening of the citizens themselves. He would also consider implementing his own contribution point system, allowing for territory-exclusive perks for those who contributed to the place. For one, it would improve the lifestyle in his territory. Second, it could lessen the amount of people who would be too tempted to move to Alterra once it became a Town¡ªwhich, to be honest, was an inevitable thing. "I''ll miss this place," Kory said beside him, twirling his dark curly hair. Beside him, Ping nodded in agreement. "Well, with the deals we secured, we can bring a bit of it back home." "That''s true." It was too late for them to completely mimic Alterra, but they could definitely mimic a part of it. Anyway, the party grouped together and prepared to go, bringing in a lot of chests and items that could no longer fit in their space. It was estimated that even the top of carriages would be occupied at this rate. Jonathan looked at the party setting up and raised a brow, realizing there was someone missing. He looked at the guard next to him. "Where''s Cassandra and Veronica?" ¡­ Cassandra and Veronica were indeed coming this time. To be accurate, Cassandra had to. Although she could just write a letter, she didn''t want her family to send forces to Alterra to push her out. Although she knew Alterra could handle whatever subsidiary Jacoba Town would send, she didn''t want unnecessary trouble to this place that she was slowly thinking of more as ''home'' than Jacoba. It was amazing. How long had she been here? But for the first time, she felt truly free, that she had the power to shape her own self and her own future. She truly wanted to return. Hopefully, she could manage to handle things at home in her favor. The two women waited in the barracks for the men. Their training extended so they were a bit late for the gathering time of Jonathan and the others. When the training was done, the men were immediately informed of their guests. It also seemed urgent so they went to them as soon as they could. Gill and Brandon arrived a few minutes later, a little sweaty and very sexy with how their shirts clung to their muscles. Gill saw Cassandra and approached. He was puzzled at first, but it was replaced by a frown when he saw her expression. She raised her head to look him in the eye. "I need to go back to see my family." "What?" He exclaimed, surprised. However, a moment later he forced himself to calm down. Of course, she would go see her family. What was he thinking? Instead of asking too many questions, he just asked one. "When will you be back?" Before she could answer though, the interaction next to them caught their attention. "Aren''t you going to say anything?" Veronica just stared at Brandon who looked at her blankly. "I''m going to visit my family," Veronica repeated. "But I''ll be back." "Okay." Veronica pursed her lips, and looked at the side. Her expression morphed to one of shock and amazement. "What a big crossbow!" Brandon immediately whipped his head in the direction. His eyebrows furrowed when he saw none, immediately turning to look at Veronica with a puzzled facial expression. Choo! The next thing he knew, something soft met his lips. "..." Face flushed red, the woman skittled away, forgetting about her companion. Cassandra shook her head. Although Veronica was flirtatious, she had always only held hands with the men she found fancy to. This was actually a new thing¡ªkissing, still on the lips. "Good job," she told Brandon who just blinked, as if in a daze. He left then, leaving the two of them alone by the receiving area. "I''ll come back to you for sure," she told Gill, belatedly answering his question. She played with his large, warm palms that never failed to reassure her heart. "I really like it here, after all." He nodded, gripping her palms on his. "Well, if you don''t then I''ll come and find you." She whipped her head to look at him. She wouldn''t want him to venture out for her, but the thought he''d be willing made her happy nevertheless. Gill leaned down to meet her lips, already expressing his longing. Cassandra wrapped her arms around him and they felt each other''s heat, as if remembering each sensation. They didn''t say so out loud but¡ªconsidering the distances and circumstances¡ªthey both knew they wouldn''t see each other again in quite some time. When they parted, the two of them were lacking breath. Placing their foreheads against each other, they smiled. "See you soon." Chapter 674 - 674: Encounters on the Way While the territory saw various farewells, a very thin man with a lisp was in a very good mood. "Ohhh my goodneth! Thith ith increthible! Finally managed to get thith jerk to deliver a methageth!" he yelled, looking at the small birds perched inside their cage. They were looking at him, looking adorable, as if they didn''t almost blind him! This person Reddit, the zoologist in-charge of training the birds. He had a bandage on his head. He was almost blinded by the birds a few days back. Fortunately, the food in Alterra was great so he still had his eyes. However, not all was lost in his case, because he and Chucky had finally made a breakthrough! Although it was still within the territory, they had managed to get the budgers to finally deliver a message! And they were super quick too! It only took a couple of minutes for them to get from point A to point B! They still needed to try larger distances, but they were confident it''d work! Contribution points here we come! ¡­ An hour later. Jonathan and the others were finally leaving, and Gill, Althea, and the others saw them off. This time, no Alterran would be coming with them as there were too many going-ons in their area. Instead, they asked Jonathan to send their team back in Ferrol a sealed letter so they didn''t worry about anyone coming. On the contrary, the aborigine members were asked to recruit a few more warriors. They also sent them a ''loft'' but without a bird, as well as some vague instructions on how to use it. This would be targeted by the bird (that''s still ongoing training) when it was sent there. It should be ready by the time the ''loft'' gets into the hands of Kleid and the others. Jonathan nor his team had any idea what it was for, of course. "We''ll definitely come back soon," Jonathan said, "Hopefully with the new luxury villas already built." Speaking of the luxury villas, he was still a bit bitter about it. Sad to say, the luxury houses had already been leased out before he came (with his cousin, Veronica, and the Golds taking a few sets). He was still too slow! Althea smiled, "It''s still being discussed, but the mountain villas should be built within the next... several months," she said, "They''re designed to have small pools like the bathhouse." These houses would be even more exclusive than the current villa community, designed to have their own pools and maybe even hotsprings. Though there was no volcano nearby, they determined that the groundwater was very warm, and they knew there was still geothermal activity. They planned to maximize that. Of course, a lot of digging was involved so she estimated they''d take some time to build them. Jonathan and the others didn''t have an exact image, but the mere word that it would be even grander than the current villas made their eyes shine. They even offered to pay a bit more than the leasing price, as long as she guaranteed them a house. Althea agreed, wanting to have a closer relationship with this rare open-minded aborigine lord. Speaking of this, she stepped forward with a smile, handing him a token. "Oh, Lord Jonathan, here''s a gift from me." The man looked at the piece of carved wood, and its aether signature told him this was a tool. A Magic Tool. An eyebrow rose and he looked at her. It was a low-leveled one, but magic tools were not common in these parts. "It''s a protection amulet. It may not be much for your level, but there''s no such thing as too much protection," she said, smiling. "I got a few as loot from Fargo, and I thought of giving you one." Jonathan nodded, appreciating the gesture. "Thank you." ¡­ ____ It took about a day of leisure travel on a beast cart before Jonathan''s caravan entered the vicinity of his hometown. They could soon see Ferrol from a distance, and Jonathan couldn''t help but look to his side, staring at his cousin. "Can you handle them?" he asked, referring to her family and her situation. If she asked for help, he could see what he could do. It wouldn''t be much¡ªbut he was still a lord, after all. He''d like to think he''d be able to help his only cousin. Cassandra didn''t speak, pondering. With a sigh, she patted her neck to feel the outline of the protection charm given by Gill. "Of course, I can," she mumbled, but her voice was soft. Jonathan looked at her, confirming. "If you need some support¡­" "Thank you¡­" Cassandra said, but she didn''t dare take so much of his time again. Jacoba Town was much farther to Ferroll than Alterra was. She''d effectively be taking Ferrol''s lord¡ªor an important person in his forces¡ªfor at least two weeks. Besides, she didn''t want to risk tension between the two towns for her own cause¡ªespecially when she felt he wouldn''t be able to do anything for her anyway. Jonathan looked at her and confirmed whether she was being sincere. He sighed. "Actually, before going to Alterra, I did hear a few rumours¡­" "Just say it." "I heard that your father is trying to make that illegitimate brother of yours legitimate and the heir." "What?!" If it proceeded, then she wouldn''t have a choice, not really. The fact that her family was trying to marry her off probably had a lot to do with this! Speaking of, there were two husband candidates. One chosen by her father, and the other by her mother. One was a good-for-nothing but with a weak family, while another one was relatively decent with a good family. Both were womanizers with houses filled with women. One was to finally rid of her, while the other was to use her to retain control of the family¡ªat least just until she gave birth to a son. Heh, what a life she had. But her hand found the necklace again and she immediately felt calmer. The atmosphere in the carriage stagnated, with the two people entering their own thoughts. Veronica could only watch, low-key eating a nice candy she got from Alterra. Soon, the carriage entered the cleared pathway heading to the gate. This signalled that they''d be entering the walls in a few minutes. However, midway there, they went past a beast carriage that had just been to Ferrol, and it immediately halted at the sight of them. Jonathan narrowed his eyes. "Guia Village?" Baltimore went out of the carriage to greet him. He did some basic show of respect but his expression was bland and bored, as if just going through the motions. "What is it?" "We were tasked to study the new territories. You came from there?" "Yes, I partnered with one." "Oh? Is it the one associated with the Terrans? Alterra Village, correct?" Jonathan paused at this, and the girls also narrowed their eyes. "Why do you ask?" Baltimore''s face didn''t change. "I''m simply curious, Lord Jonathan. "Alterra," Jonathan began, "is my ally." Baltimore paused at this and looked at him. "Your warning has been noted," he just said, before turning to head back to his carriage. "Now, I will excuse myself, I wouldn''t dare hold the lord away from his territory for too long." Jonathan nodded, though his suspicious eyes didn''t part from him until his carriage disappeared from view. "Cousin¡­ are you¡­?" Jonathan shook his head. "Nothing happened yet and, even if I did, I may not be able to stop anything," he said, feeling a little powerless. He heaved a deep breath. "For now, we can only hope for the best." ¡­ As the Guia''s beast carriage breezed through the dense forest, the lord sat still on his bench, mind reeling in thought. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Baltimore''s eyes sharpened as he recalled his findings not too long ago. After torturing several goblins, he found that there was a space stone in one of the goblins the Terrans took! Space Stones!! The Goblins were one thing¡ªquite a loss in and of itself¡ªbut Space Stones were also another matter. That was a rare treasure that even nobles from the cities may not have! And more than its value, it was a status symbol that he believed he deserved! Those bastards dared take it away from him¡­ The man''s jaw tightened, and an atmosphere of vindictiveness surrounded him. And it was time to take it all back. Chapter 675 - 675: Contribution Store (Part 1) Alterra. At this time, the Gold siblings were walking around, eating and drinking various juices with bamboo straws. They still looked like tourists even after so many days. Well, except for Honda, who was playing with his new friends somewhere¡­ Apparently, a so-called school will start the next day, and the children''s time to play will be limited. So now, the group of youngins were running around, doing every game they could think of. To be honest, it was a heartwarming image. They had never seen Honda so¡­ carefree before. Other families might see this as too loose and improper, but the Golds had always been open-minded. In fact, the more they stayed, the guiltier they felt that the other family members were not here. It really felt like they were slacking off¡­ After walking around for a bit more, their feet paused when they saw a crowd in front. They seemed to be forming in front of a store by the plaza. There were sounds and music and cheers and they knew for sure the was a new shop opening. This was one of the larger shops left unused for quite some time, which was really obvious because the rest of the area was very lively. It seemed like it was finally put into use. There were also plenty of stalls and walking merchants around, selling food and drinks to the people watching the show and waiting for the store''s opening. They were selling typical food that the Golds had tasted many times (not that they''d stop anytime soon) but this was why when an unfamiliar snack appeared, they knew it was a new one. "Popcorn! Popcorn!" they yelled. "Celebrate the opening of the new Territory shop with POPCORRRNNN!!" Many people turned to the shop with sparkling eyes. "Whoa, wait! We have it now!" "FINALLY!" These shops were immediately mobbed, the citizens practically throwing money. Popcorn kernels had been made available in the grocery store (in limited quantities) a few days back. Now, a few days later, at least ten stalls all around the village had begun selling the goods. There were some classic flavors like cheese (made from Broat Milk), barbeque, and sour cream. There were also innovative flavors like Gouji flavor and the minty Papra flavor, among many others. "GAH SO COOL!" The excitement naturally made the guests very curious. They lined up with everyone and they soon got close enough to be seen by the person manning the stall. "Oh my, it''s our gorgeous golden guests!" The stall owner yelled, very sincerely, and it made the Golds blush a little. There was something about loud sincere compliments that made even the thick-skinned Otto shy. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The owner''s smile was wide as ever, selling his products with pride. "Try our soft chewy snacks that you would never get tired of! Various flavors available! Taste one to see which one you''d like the most!" He waved his hand over the various bowls attached to his shop sill. The Golds looked curiously at the different bowls with small puffy things of differing colors inside. The Golds tentatively took a piece of each and tasted. They blinked. It was nothing really mind-blowing at first¡ªnot like the other food with an explosion of flavor that characterized most Alterran cuisines¡ªbut they found the taste and texture very, very interesting! They could see the appeal, especially after a few specific flavors. Its flavours were lovely, and its texture soft and chewy at the same time. There was also a great combination of salty and sweet that could be very addicting. "I can eat this all day¡­" Otto said in wonder. The salesman caught his comment and brightened. "Indeed! That''s what is so special about this food. "It doesn''t have a strong taste and it may even be underwhelming at first, but it captured the so-called bliss point: the balance of salt and sweet, soft and crunchy." The Golds had definitely tried all flavors and had decided on their own favorites. Each one took a bucket and they mindlessly placed one after another, watching the program in front. The program was even livelier than standard performances which usually had a simple singing or dancing number (the Golds made it a point to watch every one during their stay). The ''production number'' as locals would call it was quite big¡ª one that included the biggest ''star'' Fable. With just this, one could tell that this was a very, very, important shop. They watched the performance aptly, incredibly curious what the shop was about. Fable was magnificent as always. His strong yet flexible movements were in the beat, and it was matched by the dozens of dancers moving in-sync with him. Fable had already translated his songs into the local language, so now the Aborigines could sing along and he already got quite a number of fans, especially those who came from Ferrol. When the program finished, boisterous cheers resounded. The Golds were already used to this and had long joined the applause. Some of the other aborigines who hadn''t seen enough programs weren''t though. For instance, the Ferrol guests and the new aborgine hires. However, their hearts beat loudly at the energy and it excited their souls. Safe to say, they''d be joining the boisterous cheers very soon as well. The program soon ended and Fable raised his arms, signalling another set of wild applause to resound. (He was panting a bit and a little sweaty, so in response a lot of his fangirls threw handkerchiefs at him, hoping it would be used.) "Welcome to the newest addition to Alterra!! This one is not like any others¡ªand it will be found only in Alterra!" he yelled, before putting on a mysterious smile. "What''s the shop, you ask?" "It''s the contribution store~! Where very specialized items would be sold." The Golds looked at each other. They had naturally heard of this store¡ªa lot of their products would be sold here. This increased their interest in the store, wanting to see what else was available as well as the market reaction to their products. Will Alterra surprise them again with this one? Chapter 676 - 676: Contribution Store (Part 2) The program ended and the people began to queue in front of the door. Everyone had been in Alterra for long enough to know it liked things organized. Everyone was well-behaved, especially since the punishments for violations now included a deduction in contribution points! They could handle a bit of money lost, but not their contribution points! Interestingly, the Golds received quite a few kind offers for them to go ahead. Alterrans were very hospitable, especially to people who greatly increased the GDP¡ªwhatever that meant¡ªof their village. After a while, it was their turn, and they watched the bright eyes of those who just exited the store. "It''s decided! I''ll camp outside during Beast Mobs! I must! I need to get that weapon!" His companion nodded at him. "Same! I need to get those boots!" Interestingly, another pair walking right behind them increased their pace to catch up, tapping their backs. "Same with us! Wanna form a temp team?" "SURE!" One yelled, his smile wide. And he shook hands with the stranger he literally just met. "Teammates!" "Teammates!!" And they left, energetically planning on what ''spot'' to take and what the composition of the team would be. They sounded to be looking forward to it. This made the Golds look at each other with raised eyebrows. Never in their lives had they heard civilians do this. Civilians would often be forced to fight in wars or go against mobs, of course, but for them to be so willing and even excited was really something they had only seen in Alterra. Anyway, the group entered, finding themselves in a large hall with a long counter, displaying various items. This was in contrast to the grocery stores with a relatively open plan. This set up was much more similar to a lot of aborigine stores. Although there were ''no stealing'' rules in Alterra, the higher-ups all knew the regulations would be null during wars. The objects in the Contribution Store, the Medicine Store, and many others were too important, and it was designed to easily be defensible come wars. Perhaps, when the forces were larger, the shops would be open during wars, and there would be dedicated guards to keep order. Anyway, the Golds saw some familiar items like aether letters, sound stones, and there were other items not available in the other shops. Some were familiar items found in towns like certain types of potions as well as Class D and even a few Class C equipment. This naturally excited the locals, whose exposure of the larger world was limited. The Contribution Store would not only provide a medium for the locals to afford new equipment, but they would also get a glimpse of what else was ''out there''. "WOOOO!" "AMAZING!" "I WANT THAT WEAPON! Thank goodness I saved up on points!" Anyway, the people in front of them seemed very passionate. If it wasn''t for the large ''Causing Chaos Loses You Points'' warning painted on the wall, it was estimated people would fight for the items. Otto felt a bit proud of how well his stuff was selling. After all these years as a merchant, this type of fun had long faded. If it sold well, very good, but it didn''t¡­ tingle anymore. Now, he was reminded that he built a caravan not just for money¡ªbut to explore new lands, and help others do the same in his own way. They reached the counter and saw there were two people behind to help out their customers. The larger bulkier man with a limp smiled. "Hello there~! My name is Macky," he said and then he pointed at the middle-aged woman next to him. "And this is Gierra. We handle the store!" "We are open during working hours, sir and madame~ Unless there''s a war or beast tide, in which case we''ll be closed as we''ll be contributing with everyone." When they decide to open, they''d go in shifts, and there would be a guard to keep the items safe. "Hello, there," Otto said. "So you sell some special items here? Can we only buy using contribution points?" "Yes, it''s a strict rule," Macky said, pointing at the other rules on the wall. "I see, I see," Otto said, blue eyes tracing over the various items. As a city dweller¡ªa merchant at that, he recognized all of them¡­ except for one. His sights fixed on three identical flat pendants displayed together in a special way. "What is this?" "They are Protection Charms." "A Protection Charm?" he whispered. "I don''t remember selling these¡­" sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Maybe Jonathan did?" Olga asked, crossing her arms. Otto looked at Macky. "Can we see it?" Macky handed one to the aborigine, letting him study it closely. Next to him, his siblings also leaned forward to check it out. "It''s really good quality," Obi mumbled as he rubbed the surface. "Quite costly, too. Only 3 are sold." He didn''t know how the value of contribution points was calculated yet, but it was priced along the Class D tools and equipment. Otto used assessment skill, eyebrows rising a little. "It''s level E Magic Tool. Not bad." Although it could technically handle level 10 and below for 100 times, it means it could handle stronger monsters for fewer hits. Like so, it could still save lives of higher- level individuals. "I''m interested," Obi said, chewing on his barbeque-flavored popcorn. "Too bad we don''t have contribution points." Contribution points were generally not transferable unless the person died, in which case the points would be transferred to the bereaved. "Eh, they''re not really that common, but I did encounter a few back in Holt City and in Wrathforge City," he said. "Well, yes, but this is a village," Olga said, before turning to the clerk. "Any idea where these came from?" "I think Gaea Chamber of Commerce got it," Maki answered, though Gierra next to him tilted her head a bit. "Ah, I heard a lot of them went to the Ferrol Annual Fair." "Either way, that makes sense," Olga mumbled, feeling admiring. "The leading parties really care for the people a lot, to procure so many tools and equipment accessible to everyone who worked for the territory." They nodded, sticking to this conclusion in the meantime. It was the only logical explanation for new magic tools appearing in a new village! Imagine their shock when they realized¡ªa long time later¡ª that it was someone from a village who actually created it! Chapter 677 - 677: Messenger Birds After the past few days of their stay, Benny and the others had fallen in love with Alterra. And this made their imminent departure that much more heartbreaking. However, they still knew they were sent here because they asked to¡ªbecause they wanted to see what the ''main territory'' was like. Sadly, now they had seen it, they didn''t want to leave. Anyway, as reluctant as they were, responsibility and duty still emerged over temptation (they were real men). After all, they would be the mainstays in Limestone Valley, with some of the original members of the Terran Mercenary team assisting with their leveling until they hired aborigines who could do so in their stead. Benny didn''t bother hiding his reluctance though and Sammy, an old friend, patted his shoulder. "Relax. Limestone Valley is now part of Alterra. Just wait for it to change positively under us. Besides, maybe they already improved things while you were here." "Hmn, you''re right," Benny said, feeling a bit better. Even if they couldn''t be as good as Altera, even getting a bit of its quality was already infinitely better than those other territories outside. This time it was Luis'' turn to bring them there. "This will be the last time we''ll escort you. Please train harder," he said and they blushed a bit, though agreeing in their hearts. They were soldiers for goodness sakes! They couldn''t be escorted to and fro every time! Garan and the others sent them off, and Vanessa naturally couldn''t go without sending googley eyes at the captain (which was, of course, ignored). She was particularly blatant now that Althea was nowhere in sight. Before they went away though, Eagle ran to them. He was closely followed behind by a tall, skeleton-thin man with medium-length hair. "Wait!" "Eagle? And who''s this?" "This is Reddit, our Animal Trainer." Luis couldn''t help but take a closer look at Reddit, feeling that he''d be blown away if a monster sneezed on him. "Oh? Can you train beasts, then?" Reddit shook his head. "No, at leath not yet. My inheritanth doethn''t thay anything," he said. "I can only influenth and train non-aggrethive creaturth." "Including Broats?" He asked, as if not hearing the lisp at all. "I''ve already taken Chucky ath my apprentith," Reddit said. "Hith focuth ith on Broath and other livethock." They nodded, quite curious as to what this implied. Heyhey maybe even milk quality could get improved. Who knows. "Anyway, we stopped you to get you this," Eagle said, revealing a small cage with two birds inside. They blinked, even Vanessa stared. They were very little, and very very adorable. Their size was smaller than the palm and they had unique velvety feathers. They went by so fast that they were basically invisible to the low-level people there. "They''re very cute. These are the legendary non-monstrous birds?" "Yes, we''ll be using them to communicate, for now." Allied and subsidiaries could send some short messages via the VIllage centers, but it ironically wasn''t like that for satellites. After all, satellites didn''t have lords, which were required to access the messages. The Elders could make announcements via the centers as well, which was what Althea told them she did, but they had to be in Limestone Valley to do so. Speaking of this, one had to be in the village center to send the message. What if they were outside the territory? Aether letters had a limited scope and could extend not too far away from the territory. They still needed an alternative way of long-ranged communication. Cellphones were far into the future¡ªif ever¡ªso they had to find another way. Messenger birds were the most viable option they had. "Wow they really move fast," Benny said, blinking when the birds practically disappeared in front of their eyes, only to reappear again somewhere else in the cage. "What are their names?" Eagle smiled, introducing their new teammates. "These cuties are called Uno and Dos." "..." Who named them? The captain? "Can they really be used as messengers?" Henry asked. "How do they work, if you don''t mind us asking." "To a certain capathity, yeth they can thend methanges," Reddit said. "Ith can travel much father than aether letterth and they are altho very fathth. "How do we use them?" Henry asked, looking at the two birds curiously. "OH, and bring thith with you," he said, taking out a few sacks of food which Benny took. He couldn''t help but open and take a peek at its contents. They were dried and seasoned Gouji berries, and Eagle smiled at his reaction. "These fruits are apparently these birds'' favorites." They confirmed this because the ones they captured¡­ ended up bring their families as soon as they could. Reddit then continued to teach them how to use the birds. "You juth have to feed them a handful every day, and give extra when you''re sending it on a mission. "Thpray this perfume on whoever ith thet to receive it. You have to thpray every hour though ath it dithipateth quickly." Benny opened the bottle and sniffed. "Smells nice," he said. It was also notable that the birds stopped moving so quickly when he opened the bottle. Instead, they looked at him with those large eyes and he squinted at the cuteness attack. Reddit didn''t notice this and continued to explain the potion more. "It hath thpethial Gouji berry exthract. Be careful when you uthe outhide territorith, becauth you may attract a lot of bugth." Then, he paused at a realization. "Well, the birdth can altho clear thoth up, tho do whatever you want." "..." As he finished, Reddit looked at Henry and the others with deep seriousness. "Pleath take good care of them." These were practically his children, after all. Rebellious brats, but his children nevertheless. "Ah, yes, we will," Henry said, looking gently at the little critters. Benny did the same and Vanessa also found the things very cute. Eagle nodded in approval and, seeing as Reddit didn''t have anything else to say, he proceeded to add the final caveats. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "As you can see, there''s a lot of imperfections with this system. We''re still studying it. But it can serve our purpose for now. For one, a bird (unless it gets distracted) can travel from Alterra to Limestone valley in a few hours." "We also had to limit the people who can ''control'' them to about 1 or 2 per territory. This is to avoid confusion on the part of the birds," he told them. "Fortunately, birds here are a bit smarter than were used to, so it''s unlikely for them to fall for obvious traps. "We''re not underestimating humans, especially Terran ingenuity though. If other people developed the technique, then it''s possible to intervene, so we don''t recommend sending super sensitive information. At the very least, make a habit of sending messages in code." Benny and the others looked at the birds with particularly sparkly eyes. "Well, our communication problem is not a big issue anymore with these babies." Sammy chuckled at this. "Hmn, yeah. But don''t be surprised if our research team churns out phones one of these days." Benny laughed, "Well, I certainly won''t be surprised." Chapter 678 - 678: First Edition Newspaper "Oh, and there''s another thing we hope to bring with you," Eagle said, releasing biles of paper filled with texts from his space. "These aren''t much, but please place them in your village center for public reading." Some of the youngins weren''t particularly familiar with it, but Henry was shaking a bit when he took a set, opening it with wide eyes. "It''s a newspaper!" As the only one in the group to have actually used this outside a museum, this meant more to him than others. "This is amazing¡­" he said, unconsciously starting to read one. The others also took a copy, curious about what it contained. The texts seemed to be printed, too. "You already have the printing press?" Henry asked, very surprised. While everyone else was struggling to survive, Alterra was advancing too fast! His reaction made the locals grin proudly. "Alterra is really heading towards modernization at the speed of light," Sammy said, but looked around the large number of greeneries. "Well, with some lessons learned." They couldn''t help but read the articles and the Alterrans didn''t rush them to go, understanding the need to read. When they saw it, they also put everything aside to read every single article. A few of the articles were written by Beany, some by the famous newscaster Vivian, and some was by Rosalind. Beany''s focus was on the territory itself. It included the rescue and assistance of Bright (with its subsequent entry as a subsidiary), the upgrade of the Training Hall, and the opening of the Contribution Store. There were also mentions of some special cases who managed to take high advantage of the Training Hall, like those who reached level 10 with it. This was posted to entice other people to maximize the Halls as well. Beany also gave a few peeks of what was available in the Contribution Store¡ªas well as some hints of what was to come. Of course, he also included some information about Limestone Valley nee Fargo Village, including the upcoming upgrades, though most of his information was fed by Althea since he wasn''t there when the planning was happening. Vivian''s article was the Grand battle of Fargo. While a lot of information was kept hidden for security''s sake (they didn''t want to feed too much info of their skills to potential enemies) the way it was written was still extremely attractive, as if the reader was taken to the battle. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Several heroic figures and their deeds were listed without mentioning their techniques. Of course, they asked these people if it was okay to publish their name or if they''d like to use codes. Some were fine with their names being published, while some were not. This caused an already-interesting article to be made even more fun. Names like ''Sly Rat'' and ''Master of Doom'' were sprinkled in, and it made many readers chuckle. The list of the deaths¡ªmostly from the slaves¡ªwas also listed. If they made contributions, they were also mentioned. There was also a heart-wrenching Collective Obituary for the Alterrans who perished during the war. There would be several copies per edition kept by the village, to be added to a future library and be immortalized in history. This way, the future generation would see how many deaths the peace they had was built upon. Rosalind''s article was about the importance of continued education, followed by the news of the school opening. "Education and Strength is key to molding a younger generation," the article stated. "They must grow to be able to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their homes. They are malleable minds and must be guided towards the right path from an early age¡ªthat is what a school is for." It also indicated the classes available and what parents could expect their children to learn. For instance, there was nursery class, though Theo seemed to be the only student for now. Next was the elementary school, where Maya, Horus, Mimi, and most surviving kids would go. Other than literacy, history, values classes, and the like, Foundational fighting and exercise would also be taught here. The High School (for tweens and teens) would include real training against low-level monsters. There was already a plot of land near the barracks where monsters level 5 or below were held for training. A couple of animal advocates naturally tried to free them, but they were quickly shown that these weren''t sentient animals (by throwing them into the cages, rescued at the last second). They were mindless beasts and this taught these people that they ought to adjust if they wanted children to be able to do well in this world. Anyway, these were all public knowledge among Alterrans but seeing them in print naturally helped with people''s sense of pride. They would also help recruit more people who would see this, having a better understanding of what Alterra could offer as a territory. Anyway, now that everything was handed over, the group finally gestured to set off. However, a certain woman didn''t move. Vanessa felt her feet were too heavy. She had been trying to imply she wanted to stay for the past few days, but it was never discussed. She had to say something! Henry looked at his daughter, puzzled. "Vanessa?" She pursed her lips and looked back at her crush. "I want to stay," she said, making her father frown. "Why?" "I¡­ Alterra is getting bigger, it needs more forces¡ª" Before Henry could reprimand her, Garan''s low voice resounded in their area. "Limestone Valley has twice the population, and much less defensive abilities." "But¡ª" "Are you disobeying orders?" "No, I¡ª" "You swore to follow orders," Garan said, "And I assigned you to Limestone Valley." "But¡ª" Garan frowned, asking bluntly. "Do you want to stay in the group? This type of insubordination with an obvious agenda is not welcome in our mercenary team." Vanessa''s eyes widened and she looked at him in disbelief. Seeing he was serious, she looked at her father who wasn''t saying anything! "If you continue making foolish decisions, I cannot make any more excuses for you," was all he said and it made Vanessa want to cry. Benny saw the tense atmosphere and tried to diffuse it by laughing at Sammy. "See you again, old friend!" he said with a forced smile, before nodding at the boss. "We''ll go now, captain." Henry nodded and followed Benny and Luis after saying his goodbyes. Vanessa had no choice but to follow, her head bent down a bit in embarrassment. She couldn''t open her mouth to say anything anymore. She knew for sure she''d get kicked out if she said another word! She simply wanted to stay in Alterra! It wasn''t like she wasn''t going to do her job! Was it too much to ask? Chapter 679 - 679: Concrete While a mosquito was targetting her husband, Althea was very very busy in the Research Center. At this time, she was in the building materials research center, looking quite satisfied. Why? Because Concrete was almost finalised! Fortunately, when they got enough of the ingredients, they could easily experiment on the optimal conditions. They soon zoned in on the ideal formula, at least for the temperature and humidity of Alterra. They also had to consider the atmospheric composition, gravity, and even the soil properties. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Now, they had to test its performance in extreme temperatures. It happened that Tori had a thermostat so they could do it scientifically. They were experimenting with Bento, a Materials Engineer from the Eden government and his team. "Gravity is stronger, so we need to make the concrete more robust¡­" one said, and his assistants¡ªmostly students from different fields of science¡ªadjusted the proportions of sand, gravel, and crushed rocks. This went on and on for a while. "Expansion rate is¡­ "Elasticity¡­ "Coefficient is acceptable, but I think it could be improved." "Maybe if we add rebars¡­" "That''s true. What about structural fibers?" She watched the scientists work on data and came up with a thought. She took out her aether letter, calling her husband. /Husband, where are you?/ /About to go home now. Why? Where are you?/ /Research Lab. We need you here./ she said, closing it after he answered the affirmative. They continued with the experiments until the handsome man arrived. The shy scientists froze, their movements getting affected just by his appearance. They couldn''t get used to his strong presence at all! Miss Althea also had a great presence, but she was gentle and kind and made people feel relaxed. Her husband though, had suffocating coldness. Why would Miss Althea even call him here? As if hearing their thoughts, Althea answered the question, "Didn''t you want to test in cold temperatures?" She asked, pointing at him. "He can simulate the cold. He can also create metal similar to steel." Oh. They looked at her with enlightenment and their attitude toward Garan shifted from one of fear to one of admiration and cooperation. Anyway, they did similar tests with Sir Garan. Garan manifested a small bar of metal to test after they determined his metal element was very close to steel. Althea was there to soften everything up (i.e. calm down the atmosphere by softening her husband up) and the scientists fortunately managed to get the data they needed. They calculated and determined the best compositions, regardless of the extreme weather conditions thrown at them. They had reformulated the admixtures to be able to trap enough air to handle extreme cold, but also used special improved fly ash to handle the extreme heat. After hours of trial and error, the test results were optimized and the scientists quickly recorded the ration and components. The system buildings could handle the current situation of Xeno on their own, but their manual constructions needed this study. Speaking of the system buildings, they studied the materials it was made of (using the broken pieces found in Fargo), and determined that their special durability was due to something else¡ªprobably aether-related. This wasn''t something in their current capability to study, but they confirmed that as long as the material was of this world, then it''d have traces of aether, so just as well. Further, they tested and their manual construction with the current concrete and were confident it wouldn''t be inferior in strength at all. Althea also determined that the arrays embedded in system residential buildings were not defensive ones like that of the walls. It was likely only related to its non-scalability, as if it added a spiritual slippery coating on its surface. Anyway, after a bit more recording and testing, they concluded this round of study was a success. "With this, we should be able to create up to 4 floors without a problem. If we find reinforcements to increase tensile strength, we can go twice that." That was to say, reinforcement as in steel. They also found some fibers, but that was limited to a few floors. Garan had limited energy and making permanent metal was much more energy-consuming than just manifesting it for a while as a weapon, so his metal was out of the question. For now, they had to find a ready source of iron¡ªan actual mine¡ªand go from there. The next direction of this lab then was to improve the strength of the reinforced concrete¡ªwhether it was by reinforced steel, fibers, or other types of reinforcements. She deemed it worth the tedious manual construction if it was 10 floors and above. With the advent of concrete, they could now improve infrastructure. She decided to defer on the high-rise building as the customized building was still enough for now. At the very least, it wouldn''t be worth so much time if the end product was only 6 floors, which could be achieved somewhat by the Level 2 Custom Building. Besides, would she want buildings too tall? In retrospect, the skyscrapers of Terran weren''t particularly attractive, and it was too dense. However, she''d still want more freedom than custom buildings could make. As with the other custom building, since she set it to be of residential use. This meant that commercial and other uses were limited, so she could use concrete construction there. As for the concrete construction that would be done for the next phase of infrastructure building, they would mostly be for the horizontal. For instance, they could create an actual path of concrete blocks to go from Alterra to Limestone Valley, in order to better facilitate travel. Aqueducts and water systems could also be improved and be made more efficient. Cisterns and septic tanks for non-custom buildings like the public buildings and the inevitable manual residential buildings. And they could also make dams. Who knew, maybe they''d be able to harness hydroelectric energy soon. Even without it though, they still opted to create dams. While miraculously, the weather so far had been tolerable¡ªonly a bit of rain, a bit of hotness, a bit of coldness¡ªit didn''t mean it was like that forever. A dam would let them have more control over their part of the river, but only as needed. She had also hoped they could reinforce the System walls somehow, but the concrete just refused to stick. However, while this was puzzling to most, Althea easily understood the reasons. Adding it would''ve interfered with the arrangement of the arrays which was extremely sensitive. It could be changed when the surface varied by even a little. Just as elementalists couldn''t build on the walls to climb up during wars, the defending territory wouldn''t be able to do anything about it either. It was fortunate the whole formation didn''t crumble when a part was destroyed, otherwise, life here would''ve been extremely difficult and expensive. Perhaps they could find a way for concrete to strengthen Alterra''s defense in some other, still efficient, way. They no longer lacked materials, so they could experiment as they wanted. Well¡­ there was still much to study, she mused, but at least they were certainly in the right direction. Chapter 680 - 680: Unexpected Finds Anyway, after summarizing their findings, Althea finally excused herself, to the relief of her husband. As they exited though, Althea started mumbling about what to do in her lab. This made Garan frown (or pout, to be more accurate) and look at her with furrowed eyebrows. She blinked in puzzlement. "What is it?" With a deep frown gracing his handsome face, he spoke. "You promised date night." She giggled, giving him a soft peck. She was just teasing him. Of course, she didn''t forget. How could she? He repeatedly reminded her this from this morning, afraid she would. She playfully avoided him when he dived back down to claim her lips. She smiled and placed a dainty finger over his lips. "Let''s check the other laboratories as well," she told him. "It won''t take too long, promise." Garan looked at her and sighed, letting her be. Of course, this earned him another peck which wiped away the bit of bitterness. They went to the adjacent laboratories, some studying the other mined materials, and some studying the other uses of lime. The amount of zinc and copper was actually a lot more than anticipated. In Terran, while they could be found together with limestone, it was typically in a small amount compared to limestone itself. It was why, while fortunate, they had to do a lot of checking. After all, any inconsistencies with Terran were a sign they were not exactly the same in composition. However, when she used Tori to check, there were minimal differences! Anyway, when they went to the labs, most of the tests had already been completed so Althea only asked for the summaries. The copper was tested for its electrical conductivity and the like, while Zinc was taken under a bit of mechanical tests. From here, they found the performances of these minerals and metals were even superior to that of Terran! If the theory was correct, then they could make twice or thrice the length of effective copper wire with the same amount of raw materials! For Zinc, the main use would be either galvanization or battery production. If it was really a better product, then they could make even more powerful batteries and the like! And finally, of course, they also studied other uses for limestone¡ªwhich was a lot. Speaking of, lime was also used as flux to clear impurities in steel, so their new resources would also assist them in their quest to mass produce steel. What''s more? Limestone¡­ was another material used for glass! Now lime and soda ash were done, all they needed was silica. They had a riverbed, but it was freshwater and the silica content wasn''t enough. However, they could still find them¡­ somewhere¡­ as long as they focused on looking for them. Besides, didn''t they have hired-aborigines specializing in finding materials? Finding concentrated silica in a river should be easier than finding limestone mines! With that, she sent Tronie as well as another member of the Research Lab to go look in sandbanks or riverbed sediments where the materials were most likely to appear. They would also have dedicated guards to protect them, of course. She felt particularly excited to get those. Once they had glass, the laboratory equipment would soon be complete, increasing productivity and accuracy at a straight line. They would also have transparent windows and highly-controlled greenhouses, which would allow them to grow even more sensitive flora. There was also plenty of war equipment that''d need it like scopes. They were planning on creating scopes that could see many many kilometers away, especially a big one that''ll be set in the towers of Alterra. Finally, another use of lime was in papermaking. With this, they could finally produce more and not just available to certain groups! Her book-filled library and bookshops were finally in reach! Taking over Fargo was really one of the best decisions she had made! Of course, the access to new materials just added to the long line of research items the Research Center had to study. The Research Center definitely never lacked anything to do. Rather, the queue of things to study¡ªwhether it was an order from the elders or a public request¡ªseemed to be hundreds in number already. Fortunately, they enjoyed what they were doing¡ªespecially falling in love when they saw their inventions being used by their brethren¡ªand their remuneration was also very generous. The shares for popular inventions, more or less, could set them up for life. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In fact, quite a few had gotten quite rich already. Not counting Eugene, there was Winona who had gotten a bit of wealth from her rubber (Althea also had the share as the person who found it, of course). There was also Shenti, the mastermind behind the mechanical Printing Press. However, none of them retired and just did what they loved for the territory they called home. "Ah, Winona''s office is two doors away," she said, holding her husband''s arm. "Let''s check on Winona before we go. We''ll just greet her and go." Garan nodded, though internally hoping the two women wouldn''t chatter for hours like they usually did. Althea, used to just barging in (Winona told her she didn''t have to knock), really did so. Usually, Winona would be buried in paperworks on her desks. She was really professional, and all her childishness was reserved outside the Research Center. That was the image she was expecting to see. What they didn''t expect to stumble upon was Winona being in an inappropriate position with Ansel. It wasn''t like ''they just fell into each other by accident the exact same time they opened the door'' kind of thing. They were outright making out¡­ They were currently on the sofa, with Ansel over Winona, passionately lapping her lips. The curvacious Winona wrapped her arms around the redhead''s neck very tightly, as if holding on to him for oxygen. It took them a few long seconds before they realized they had an audience and they stopped trying to eat each other''s faces. They froze, simultaneously looking towards the door. "..." "..." Chapter 681 - 681: Frenemies (Part 1) A few hours ago. Ansel mightily strutted inside the Research Lab, steps filled with purpose and annoyance. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A lot of women were naturally staring at him, but in contrast to how it usually was, he didn''t even greet them back. His handsome face had furrowed into a frown, his teeth gritting, and his teeth clenched. Ansel¡­ was very mad! As an elder and the lord''s younger brother, he could naturally access most of the Research Center. He was also updated about the ongoings and could even influence which items were to be prioritized. His request, the phonographs¡ªwhich was already approved, by the way¡ªhad been pushed back! He knew that Winona''s team had been developing it until yesterday. They changed to insulation cups. Why the sudden change? How were insulation cups better than the phonograph, anyway? Sure, it can keep cold and hot drinks, right? While its main use was for his entertainment industry, with phonographs, they could record trainings and educational materials! They would also be able to record some music and the like! Well, okay, both weren''t that needed for survival, but he requested first! He abruptly opened the door to Winona''s office. She was currently on her desk, finalizing something he probably didn''t like. Ansel couldn''t help but pause as he looked at her. When Winona was working, even he had to admit she was particularly attractive. However, this little daze was quickly shooed away and he slammed the door closed to get her attention. She lifted her head to look at him but went back to whatever she was doing. Being ignored was one thing, being ignored by this woman was a different level of annoying! With gritted teeth, he romped his way through her 50 square meter office. He walked past her sitting area and to her desk, pretty much slapping the table with his palm. "What are you doing developing that insulation bottle before my phonograph?" "My research team, my decisions!" She said. "Besides, the tools and machines needed for your phonograph is too time-consuming. It will also need glass, which is still under production. "What about my Lithography! I was sure that was next to the line." With that, their printing press could have images! "Insulation cups are much more useful to do now." "How?" "It can help with extreme weather changes!" Winona said. "Think about it, you brat, if sudden cold or sudden hot weather happens, imagine having hot or cold drink ready in your space? Plus the technology can be used in building materials, too!" "..." Ansel''s annoyed stance calmed a little, but his pride didn''t really allow him to completely let go. In retrospect, if he was calm, he would''ve thought of it himself. However, being disregarded¡ªespecially by this woman¡ªreally irked him. "Noisy old hag," he muttered under his breath before planning to go, lest he humiliated himself even more. Winona gasped and stood up, fisting his head. "I''m only a few years older than you are!" Ansel annoyedly rubbed his head, glaring at the woman who was now right next to him. "Still old!" "At least I don''t have a sister complex! Disgusting!" "You!!" Ansel exclaimed, gritting his perfect teeth. "You''re no less clingy with Althea than I am! You go to her and always rub your overly big breasts against her arms! Are you lesbian?" Winona gasped. She had a few lesbian friends, but she wasn''t going to let Ansel taint her pure love for Althea. "It''s called showing attention! I am straight and I have had a few boyfriends." "Heh," he sneered. "Those scumbags after your money and sex?" Of course he knew her story, she sobbed to Althea with all the details whenever she was visiting. She sobbed loudly too so he inexplicably knew about them as well. He didn''t listen on purpose! Even if he did, it''d be for the fun of gossip! Winona flushed in shame, and it made Ansel pause a bit, suddenly feeling guilty (just a little) for running his mouth. Winona had dated a total of two other men other than that fiance (another scumbag, arranged by parents) of hers. One had tried getting her to buy a lot of things, even a car, and she did give a few until Althea and the others told her to be careful. Because Winona revered Althea so much, she hired a private investigator to check on him just to reassure her. But what they found was that he was really using her for money! He even had a girlfriend he had been dating for a long time. The other one was a handsome sunofabeach too. He was a nouveau riche and Winona thought that she wouldn''t have the problem of gold diggers this time. However, his family started using her own as leverage in business deals. He had also been trying to get her to bed, apparently in an attempt to baby trap her. There was almost a time he almost raped her and she escaped by using her mostly-unused self-defence skills. That was when she cut things off, and Winona was single once again. The thing was, that guy had apparently taken her half-naked photos and saved them on his phone. These were taken during the few times she tried to give him what he wanted, albeit she backed out halfway. That guy was vindictive and shared the photo with his circle of friends, which then spread to more and more people. It was a huge scandal and for a while, Winona became a laughing stock in the upper circles. Of course, she got her family to destroy his so there was that. And finally, there was the fiance her family set for her. He was a douchebag she never liked, but she went out with him anyway as per request. "At least I was sincere! I''m not a shameless casanova like you who plays with girls'' hearts while pining for his sister! Gross!" "YOU!" At this time, their faces were only an inch apart. They didn''t have the mind to react to the body heat the other was emitting. They just thought their heads were too hot that everything else was! "Those men must''ve broken you so you ended up swinging the other way, right?" He loomed over her and they stepped back to the sitting area without noticing. "You probably like girls! I will tell my sister you''re having impure thoughts! Better yet¡ª I will tell Garan." This made Winona gasp loudly. "You dare! Then I will tell him all the advances you made to Althea when he''s gone!" This time Ansel gasped. "I did no such thing! "I never had perverted thoughts for my sister!" He added with a passion. It was a bit ambiguous, but in retrospect¡­ it was more like an imprint than anything else. However, being questioned like this repeatedly still gritted at his nerves. It was time to put this old hag back to her place! Chapter 682 - 682: Frenemies (Part 2) "Besides, I''ve kissed dozens of women and they said they liked it! I also liked it!" he yelled, leaning ever so closely to her. Winona flushed a bit, but she wasn''t weak! How could she be intimidated by this womanizing idiot?! NEVER!!! She looked at him up and down, a smug smile gracing her pink lips. "Pffft¡ªyou think you''re a good kisser? I think it''s disgusting!" How many different germs are in there? She rudely pointed at him. "With your bad mouth, I don''t think anyone would want to kiss you!" Winona was well-bred and was very much leashed, but when she went wild, then she really went wild. When she discovered gaming and sports, her adoption of the potty mouth was not to be underestimated. "Oh, yeah?!" "Yeah!" The two of them continued to hurl insults at each other, their increasing need to win getting them closer to each other. It was as if closer meant louder and was therefore more effective. But then somehow¡­ for some reason¡­ their near-touching lips really gravitated towards each other. They touched for a bit, sending electricity down their spines. Surprised, they forgot they were in an argument and froze in shock. They ended up shifting, rubbing their lips against each other. Whether it was to feel more or to part, they weren''t really certain. Either way, the friction they felt was glorious. The atmosphere was stagnant and they moved, but it just brought them closer in the end. They wanted to say it was an accident, but it was like their bodies moved on their own. In the end¡ªas if their brains died for a moment¡ªthey just chased the pleasure that they had not yet felt before. Ansel pulled her up to be able to get a better and comfortable access to her mouth, while Winona wrapped her arms around his neck to support her weight because her legs were buckling. "Hmm¡­." Winona hummed as Ansel began to plunder her. His hand touched the curve of her back, pulling her flush to him. He felt all her softness, and he had to admit he had long been curious how it felt. It did not disappoint. Ansel parted her soft lips with his tongue, entering. He ate her moans as his tongue danced with hers, and soon their exchange made their legs soften, and they fell back to the sofa. They didn''t even know how long they were making out until the door opened and someone cleared their throat. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ~End of (Embarrassing) Flashback~ Althea tried to stop herself from giggling¡­ but she couldn''t. Garan smiled as he patted her shaking back. "Don''t hold back, it''s bad for the body." As such, Althea laughed right at their faces. It took a while for her to calm down, and the two just wanted to bury themselves into the sofa. "Well, I always knew you two would end up together," she said after taking a sip of water Garan offered. She just never commented for fear that they''d go the other way just to prove her wrong. This comment naturally made the two look at her in aghast and offense. "WHAT?!" "HELL NO!" they yelled, and Ansel even added: "I love you sis, but this time you''re blind!" This earned him a glare from Garan and he quickly shut his mouth. Anyway, the two looked at Althea with flushed faces, intent on proving her wrong. Winona pointed at Ansel, face looking like an apple. "I don''t like ambiguous casanovas like him!" "Who wants duplicitous women like you!" Ansel snapped back, face also as red as a baboon''s butt. Althea smiled, knowing they were both being duplicitous. However, she was also afraid they''d run and sleep with other people just to make their point. She mused for a while before ending up with a plan. During this silence, the two didn''t speak either, trying to make sense of what had happened. The continued tingling in their bodies¡ªas if urging to find that pleasure again¡ªwas not helping them at all! Althea looked at the two of them for a while before speaking. "What about we do this? I''ll give you two a challenge. If you participate, you would get a hundred gold each, plus another 100 for the winner." Winner? As in there was a loser? Also, the amount rang nicely in their minds and they looked at her, "I''m listening," they said, quite in-sync, too, and it just agitated them even more. "Whoever gets the other to ask them for a kiss wins." "WHAT?!" "I see what you''re doing¡ªNO! I''m never going to be with him!" "Ptooey! I cringe at the thought of kissing her!" Althea and Garan looked at the fools in denial. It was as if they weren''t kissing each other''s face out off a few minutes ago¡­ "I see¡­ you''re afraid for falling for the other. It''s a pity, but okay." "I''m not!" The two yelled simultaneously. "Fine! I take this challenge!" She smiled, relieved. Althea loved her best friend and knew she was looking for love. At the same time, she wasn''t clueless about Ansel''s ambiguous affection, but she also knew it for what it was. She simply didn''t point it out lest things get awkward. Anyway, he knew he''d grow out of it someday, and she was relieved to see the chemistry between him and Winona as soon as they met. They would always banter, but they failed to realize how immature they were only towards each other. At the same time, despite hurling the occasional insult, they would still show low-key ways of caring for each other. For example, when Ansel got a lot of bruises from a training session, Winona would magically always have some ointment in her bag (which she would proceed to throw on Ansel''s face, in the guise of testing if he learned anything). Similarly, when Winona would go to her and cry about another failed love story, there would magically be a lot of apple products (Winona''s favorite fruit) like apple juice, apple ice cream, and the like in their fridge. They never saw this but she, an outsider, could see it clearly. It was years in the making, but they finally took a step forward. If they proved to be good for each other during this time, then she''d do her best to make sure they''d end up with each other. Chapter 683 - 683: Oslos Special Buildings Engineering Department While certain people''s love lives were being discussed, the construction design team had reached a massive milestone. At this time, the Architectural and Engineering team surrounded the large connected tables, admiring the three A1 size glowing blueprints in front of them. It had a special aura around it, and it filled the team with so much pride. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Amazing¡­" they whispered, some under their breath, and some were quiet but their smiles were deep and from the heart. Oslo was the one with the brightest eyes. He had to admit he was even a little teary. They¡­really did it! They made aether blueprints!! He managed to secure eighteen sets of blu and special papyrus after spending a lot of money. However, he was expecting to get only 1 successful blueprint even after all those tries. After all, creating even one was extremely hard, let alone he had never attempted to do so before! Back home, he heard that even experienced Architects would take at least a dozen sets to be able to create a successful product! But with the help of his team, they actually managed to create THREE aether buildings! This was unprecedented!! Even a team of Class C architects wouldn''t be able to do this! Anyway, the team admired the pieces of paper for a while before they were used and turned to magic dust. "I''m still amazed at what we made," Santosh mumbled, looking to the side to look at the remaining Blu and papyrus they had. Speaking of materials and ingredients, they didn''t use everything because there was too small a small chance of them creating another blueprint, so they opted to retain the rest for research. The papyrus was a special type of writing material made with several layers of secret ingredients, but the Blu itself was more mysterious. It was precious dust with a gorgeous shimmer. Someone called it Fairy Dust. From those magical ingredients, they created the magical blueprints which would then turn into actual buildings they''d use¡­ it felt a little surreal. They looked at the three aether blueprints, especially at the glowing lines that felt like they were floating above the paper. "It''s like 2D holograms¡­ but better." Oslo grinned. "It gets better," he said, spreading his palms over a drawing. "Us architects have another skill." He abruptly raised his palms and the glowing 2D drawing turned to a 3D one! Like a hologram!! "Wowwww!" "Whoaaa!" "Beautifulll!!" The siblings Brianna and Brian were particularly high because someday, as system architects, they''d also be able to create the same! How exciting! Anyway, as for which building the team ended up drawing successfully, well, the Architecture and Engineering Team actually had a shortlist of what they could try and build. There was the Hospital, the Library, a new wall, a Dream Forge (where, in theory, equipment makers could create stuff fast), a Cinema, an Observatory, and a Clock tower. They were also asked to create a better prison compared to the system, but there were too many concepts there that eluded them. In the end, they chose the Hospital as the first and priority building to create. When they finished it and¡ªby some miracle¡ªstill had more sets to spare, they chose the library. And when they still had more, they pushed their luck. They tried the Dream Forge once but failed a few times. They quickly realized that they didn''t have enough understanding of certain concepts to be able to create one, so they moved on to more doable ones rather than risk wasting the remaining bluelle sets. They had also wanted to explore the walls, but they were reluctant to waste sets when there were perfectly good options available in the system. Then there was an upgraded prison. The lord didn''t want the current one as it stole the life out of people. However, it would take a bit for them to make a prison that could withstand strong enemies, especially elementalists. Even for Oslo, he didn''t have the understanding of how to keep powerful people trapped inside a room and unable to get out. Their current makeshift prisons could be fine for now, but when they went against strong enemies, the lord may have no choice but to spend a building slot for a prison in the end. It broke his heart a bit to not be able to meet this need, but sometimes people would just have to adjust to where they were. In the end, they built an Observatory, which was mainly to study the skies, but it could also double to see extremely far distances on land as well. The buildings were chosen not only because they were most practical, but Oslo had better understanding about these than others. The hospital was obvious and one of the building types Oslo studied a lot. The Library, with the advent of books, would also be useful. Maybe someday, they could develop it in a way they could maximize the World Knowledge as well. Of course, this was still far from their capability. Finally, the observatory was chosen because it could help them handle the inevitable extreme weather here and could also serve as a hyper-effective watch tower. Oslo shook his head and looked at his team with big ''panda eyes'' as they called it. Since getting the sets, they had only taken the bare minimum rest. While it was hard work, he had also seen the love for the craft, and it was something that definitely helped him keep going. They had also taught him so much, and there was no chance he could''ve built more than one without them! Class C architects and above had the skill of creating these things without having to learn arrays. However, they still had to have a deep, deep knowledge of what they were building if they wanted a small chance of putting the design to life! This was all credited to these people. "Good job guys! The territory promised us good contribution points for this!" he said, "And I, myself, will treat you all to the Premier Restaurant for Dinner!" The people cheered. "Also, an all day pass to the spa is on ME!" The people screamed. Oslo laughed, letting the cheering die down before rolling the blueprints to carry. "Now, time to present this to the elders," he said with a wide smile on his handsome face. "Let''s shock all of them!" ¡­ The Elders were asked to convene in the third-floor meeting room about half an hour later. At this time, there were only Althea and Oslo, with the latter excitedly showing the blueprints. "My success rate is really high, and I hope to give much of my contribution to my team. It was only because of them that I had seen such success." Althea smiled and nodded, looking down at the blueprints splayed out on the table. Althea stared at them in fascination, not expecting an aether blueprint to be so¡­ pretty. While waiting for the others, Althea decided to study the plans in detail. She wasn''t planning on critiquing the space planning¡ªthat was not her field¡ªrather, she saw that there were arrays embedded inside and she was absolutely hooked. Oslo didn''t seem aware of it, however, and Althea surmised that the Architect occupation had a passive to just integrate arrays in the drawings. This was similar to her tool maker inheritance that allowed her to integrate arrays into whatever item as long as they understood the array. She was curious. Perhaps, was it because the arrays were not clear to the Architects that their success rates of creating a successful product generally weren''t high? Then¡­ just as the success rate increased when the architect understood the functions of the building intimately, wouldn''t this increase even more if they learned more about arrays? Oslo mentioned that there were certain buildings they couldn''t even touch. Althea felt the limitation of that was determined by everyone''s knowledge of arrays. Of course, she didn''t know exactly what arrays to learn for those nor did she understand much, but it was a rational thought. At the same time, she also took advantage of the easy-to-see arrays (convenient because they were still small and could be seen more holistically) and jotted them down into her array notebook. Oslo beside her couldn''t help but peek. He thought that she''d be writing would be critiques or things for him to improve on, not expecting the notebook to be filled with familiar-yet-unfamiliar patterns. Oslo shook, whipping his head to look at her in disbelief. "Are those¡­ arrays milord?" "Yes." Oslo couldn''t help but gape at her. He knew she had been studying arrays, but¡­ to such a degree? Also, it seemed like his work had a lot of it. "So my drawings have arrays..." Oslo mumbled in amazement. These things¡­ weren''t explored much. As long as things worked according to how they were taught, they didn''t explore things too deeply. How amazing was Alterra, the lord, and her people to have such inquisitive minds. At some point, Althea turned to look at him deeply, making him blush. "I have a feeling that your success rate will increase even more when you learn of this," she said, showing him the notebook. "Wanna try?" Chapter 684 - 684: Blueprints and Arrays "Milord?!" Oslo''s eyes were wide, realizing the implications. "I have a theory in mind, but it''s unclear," Althea said. "So during the meeting, please describe the functions of the buildings as deeply as you could." Oslo still hadn''t recovered and could only nod in the end. "Yes, milord." "For now, let me tell you about the arrays I do know," she said, and Oslo obediently sat next to her. More than the prospect of learning more, the fact that it was the lord herself teaching him so closely made him the happiest. The two discussed the arrays and functions together for a while. The more the minutes passed, the more Oslo was shaken by the new knowledge that was being introduced to him! In such a short time, Oslo felt like he was learning so many things and he was extremely fascinated. He would also tell her some stories, buildings, and tools that had such functions, and she would be able to surmise a few things from there. Garan arrived to see the two of them sitting so close together and talking about things he did not understand. However, while Garan naturally didn''t like another man being so close to his wife, all he needed to look at was her smile and the brightness in her eyes as she learned new things. He stared for a while, and he found himself calming down a bit, sitting on the other free seat next to his wife. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He may or may not express the discomfort later at bed time, of course. Anyway, the rest of the elders started arriving one by one and the meeting started as soon as everyone arrived, with Althea and Oslo promising to meet again to discuss the concept a bit more. The Elders also looked at the blueprints in fascination. Oslo, a bit smug, gave them a detailed peek of what it was. "The first building is the hospital," Oslo said, showing the large detailed drawing with luminous ink. When he turned it into a 3D model, everyone ''oohed'' and ''ahhed'' and it was quite fun. "I studied this building for a long time before I even upgraded to a Class C Architect. It was the building we were most confident in achieving." It went so well that they got it after a few tries. "This is a 1000 square meter building with five floors," he said, waving his hand, and the holographic image of the building changed angles. He then expanded it, allowing everyone to see more details within. It was absolutely fascinating. It was a very beautiful structure with open plans and breezeways, carefully integrated with nature. It was big, but not massive¡ªits mass was skillfully broken down by various visual elements and plants. "The interplay of spaces would also allow for soft aesthetics, natural play of light, and maximization of natural ventilation." Ansel couldn''t help but notice a vertical block at two ends of the building. "Is that¡­?" Oslo nodded. "It''s an elevator." "An elevator?!" "Yes," Oslo said, very proud. Rocky was amazing. The older man pretty much drilled into his head the basics of how it worked¡ªespecially one without the so-called electricity. Fortunately, as someone from the city, he was familiar with the pulley system so he wasn''t completely lost. It was the so-called hydraulics that took him a while to absorb. "Interesting, Interesting," Ansel said, already thinking of how to add elevators in some other buildings. Oslo of course didn''t forget his promise to Althea to detail the special effects of the buildings as closely as he could. "This building could not only improve regeneration rates by 10-15%, but also improves mood and clears the minds of the professionals." "Amazing¡­" "This is very helpful¡­" Althea nodded, noting it down. "This is just level 1?" Oslo said the affirmative. "I can''t say for sure what improvements it could get upon upgrade, but it certainly has the potential to improve healing rates by 30%, at least." Another magic of aether buildings was that they were ''growable'', hence the levels. Of course, this was still limited by the architect''s imaginations and the provisions they left in the original drawings, so there were plenty of aether buildings that might not have an upgraded version, or had a lackluster one. "That''s already very good, Oslo." "Thank you," he smiled, walking over the next blueprint. "Next is the library." The case for the library was quite interesting. Although it was technically a simple building, Oslo didn''t have the concept of a public library. Fortunately, there were scroll collections in his house that the concept wasn''t completely alien, but it was difficult to picture at first. However, when he absorbed what it was for¡ªaccessible knowledge for everyone¡ªhis heart was lifted, very curious, to the point he even dreamt about it. "The Library would be filled with collections of books, a lot of which we got from your tablet, Miss Althea." "The Library can also multiply certain often-used and non-restricted books on its own," He said. He had also studied the so-called printing press a lot for this. "Further, people would also be able to learn better inside the library." This wasn''t difficult because the Hospital had a similar passive. The Elders admired and showered praises, though Garan commented at this time. "This is very good, but we''ll need to limit access to people who contribute." This made everyone pause and agreed in the end. "Indeed. We don''t want outsiders taking advantage¡ªpossibly using the knowledge against us." Someone took note of this, and Mathilda even added some regulations to effectively let them control and facilitate the library''s use. "And finally, the Observatory," Oslo said, heading towards their final blueprint. "It is able to see at extremely far away distances." He had seen what a scope could do. A small one could let them see a kilometer away. Although the large telescope would still need something they called glass to create, they told him it would be tens if not hundred times more powerful than what could be held by hand. They did not have glass yet, but the fact that he understood its functions and how it worked was amazing enough to create a magical alternative in the building. There would also be a tube inside that could function as a telescope of sorts. In retrospect, it must be covered with magnifying arrays in order to work. "Another special effect is the increased energy of those inside, allowing them to stay awake without health risks for a long time," he said. "We also added a large clock at the request of the team." After everything, a clock was actually simple. He simply needed to copy the patterns of the gears, and connect it with a wind turbine above, which works much like the water wheels they had along the river. "As for the remaining set, it has been sent to the Research Center to study." Although he really couldn''t imagine what could be extracted from them, Oslo had learned not to underestimate Alterra¡ªespecially not its research team. The elders looked at each other with bright eyes and, after some discussion, everyone stood up, placing the blueprints on the array. Those in-the-know pretended that the territory absorbed the drawings and decided the locations of the building by itself. Either way, the territory was in for a treat today. Chapter 685 - 685: Built! The next moment, a resounding ding sounded across the territory. [Congratulations! Your territory has unlocked special buildings!] People froze and stopped talking, before whipping their heads to look at each other. "Special Buildings? Did I hear it right?" Although it wasn''t announced, a lot of people knew what the Architecture and Engineering department was up to. It wasn''t a secret and there were many members of that team. It took a moment for them to absorb that it was really happening, though. "Wait, whaattttt?" "When are they building it?" "I wanna see!" At this, someone tapped his friend. "Look, look!!" They turned in the direction of the plaza. "WHOA!" Soon, three areas around the territory witnessed the magical creations of buildings and people swarmed to watch a good show. First to be erected was the Observatory, which was located above the mountains for a maximum vista. This also allowed a lot of people to see it even at the foot of the mountains. There were a few people having a picnic near the view deck though, and they were lucky enough to be the first to see it up close. It had a square floor plan and relatively ornamental side decorations extending all the way up. The ground level was also very pretty and designed to be a hang-out place. The territory would definitely improve the park amenities in this place. It was also located far from the lighthouse because the light pollution would interfere with the observations. They might even dim it a bit when they had to. Speaking of the lighthouse, it really made Alterra visible at night, even at dim settings. They got quite a few refugees since the time they had it operational. As for enemies, it didn''t really matter if they saw them. Wars generally required people to land inside the territory before a declaration could be made. There were staff members given access to monitor everyone who entered that day and how long they stayed. Of course, they couldn''t watch out for all spy activities with this, but they would strive to be as prepared as they could be. Besides, Alterra was Proud! They definitely wouldn''t adjust their goodness because they were afraid of new enemies! Next to be built was the Library, located next to the manually-built Research Center. This place had plywood surrounding it for quite some time. There was a massive hole inside this wall and they would now know what was meant to be there! The structure was around 400-500 sqm in floor footprint area, expanding another three floors upwards. Further, it also had 2 floors underground, thus the need to dig it up beforehand. "A second one?" Otto mumbled, looking at the building slowly being built, dust by dust. They were no less fascinated than the others to witness this. After all, cities were already built up even before they were born. How often would they see a building being built from scratch? "Oslo really made two with 18 sets?" Olga asked, very impressed and a little in disbelief. Obi was even more cynical, "Maybe there''s another level C Architect in here?" "A village? It was already amazing it had gotten so many good hires at this level, you think they could get 2 level C architects¡ªsomething only seen in high-level towns?" "Who knows, right? Maybe some lord''s wife fell in love and the said lord wanted to¡­" "You could start writing stories." "Should I?" Olga rolled her eyes. The siblings had just gotten out of the stadium to watch a very fun game of basketball. Otto and Obi, in particular, were very invested. It so happened that Ansel was the one to patent the game so they had already reached a deal with him. They did not expect though, to get such a surprise as they went to get their after-game snacks. To their shock though, they heard another building was being erected. "Another one?" they looked at each other in disbelief. "No, right?" S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Without further ado, the family (now including Honda who had reunited with them after crossing paths sometime in between) went to where this new building was, half-expecting it was a manual construction. But, to their surprise, it was another aether building! "This is¡­ three? I didn''t expect him to finish one!" "Orcshit!" "Language!" Olga yelled, covering little Honda''s ears. Amusingly, the half-orc Gochi happened to be in the vicinity, and he turned to them as Obi yelled the expletive. An awkwardness passed as the Golds met his eyes, and every one of them just looked forward as if nothing happened. Olga cleared her throat, guiding the topic back to where it was. "So¡­ really three?" Otto looked at the building being erected, the construction reflected in his blue eyes. "Maybe Oslo took 50 sets?" "That''d make much more sense," Obi said. Not considering the enormous cost and difficulty of procuring 50 sets, it still made more sense than Oslo making 3 buildings out of such a small amount of tries. The siblings couldn''t help but want to look for their youngest brother to get some confirmation of this. Well, all were curious except for Honda, who was perfectly happy to leave them again and go adventuring with his friends. After a few hours, all three buildings had been erected and people scattered to try them all out. The Golds found Oslo after asking around, and they decided to drag him so he could personally guide them. He was with his entire team, witnessing this historic moment together. "Come, guide us!" Olga said, dragging her little brother to check out all three buildings. What Oslo could say was naturally limited but the show was fascinating enough that they didn''t beat him up because of his smugness. While many people went straight to the library, the Golds decided to climb the mountain and admire the towers. Anyway, there were thousands of people in the territory. No one wanted to miss the chance to see the new buildings. The tower, which was far from the hustle and bustle, was naturally less busy. The details were really amazing and the multipurpose function was inspiring. To be honest, a lot of the time-keeping in Xeno heavily depended on the system (which appeared during countdowns like in wars), while more approximate estimates were done with tools similar to sundials. To see time accurately portrayed outside the system, and at all times, was new even for city dwellers. In Xeno, working hours were arbitrary. Basically, as long as the workers could see, they were expected to work with minimal breaks, if any. Slaves didn''t get breaks at all, and they would even work even if it was very dark. Oslo didn''t tell them about the massive telescope as it counted as a territory secret, but he did tell them some tricks about the clock. "It''s a difficult concept to explain as I still don''t fully understand it," he said, "The team taught me about many mechanical concepts that made them work with available technology. For example¡­" When he explained and saw them dazed¡ªalthough he hadn''t mastered the principles himself¡ªhe still felt smug for finally knowing more than his siblings. Seeing his smug face, Obi wanted to punch him, but he was too curious. "What about the others?" he asked, looking forward to pointing at the large building by the plaza. They were at an altitude so they could easily see the territory. Oslo followed where he was looking at and nodded. "That''s the library." "Library?" "Like the papyrus library we have at home. But it''s accessible to the public. Or at least those who did something for the territory," he said. "Here they would be able to learn many things like what the territory knows about the monsters, as well as basic knowledge about plants, etc." "What?!" They exclaimed, but immediately calmed down. They had been here for so many days now, they had naturally realized the culture here was just¡­ different. Still, it seemed like Alterra would never cease to surprise them! Chapter 686 - 686: Library Knowledge was shared much more in Alterra, because people knew it would be good for the territory. This was still something the Golds hadn''t completely comprehended but had seen in many forms. Not even counting Oslo''s upgrade, they had witnessed stores selling specific spices that demoed several recipes for free. While they found out it was a ''great marketing'' strategy (Otto learned a lot) to sell the product, most aborigines normally wouldn''t be willing to share recipes just by instinct. They had also learned a lot about apprenticeships and the like, and they knew it wasn''t anything like the apprenticeships that they knew. An apprentice here would learn years ahead of his peers under another master! They had also read the so-called newspaper (Oslo brought one home) to show that a school would be opening for an affordable price. In the city, going to a similar establishment was something commoners could not afford nor would they even have the right to enter. Here, by the way people were talking about it, it seemed that there was no stopping anyone¡ªas if anyone who wanted to go would have a way to do so. A school was like the paragon of sharing knowledge already, and now¡­, there was a library, which was an accessible place of knowledge. The closest the nobles had to a library were rooms within their respective family estates. These rooms were also rarely accessible to outsiders. Oftentimes, even family members might not be able to get inside. Rich families would even employ array masters to protect their libraries, setting it so only specific conditions had to be met in order for it to open. For example, in the Bleuelle Lord''s house, only the lord and his heir had the right to enter this library, no one else. It was a tradition of sorts and they heard a few siblings would scheme against each other to get the right to enter. This wasn''t actually indecipherable. After all, noble families tended to have a lot more access to papyrus and recorded knowledge. Some important knowledge that would likely increase a person''s strength was inside. Oslo let the idea brew for a bit before pointing at the final building along the Southwest Avenue, near the gates. "The last building, which should finish construction in another hour, is the hospital," Oslo said. "We''ll go there later." It was placed near the gates for easy access during mobs and beast tides. He also told them of its effects, as well as the rates discussed. "Employees of the territory would have a certain amount of free use," Oslo told them. They were told nothing in the meeting earlier was top secret, anyway. "Private companies would also have the option of providing the same to their employees, though they''d have to pay for it." The concept of employee benefits was still new to Oslo, what more to his siblings, but they could tell it was the territory caring for its citizens. "Unbelievable¡­" Otto looked at his brother. "I''m impressed." "Yes, so please help me get more drawing sets," Oslo said, unable to help himself. "Should we sell aether blueprints, then?" Otto asked, as business-minded as always. "I can find a way to make deals, provide the raw materials and the like." Oslo looked intrigued, though he did not answer definitively. "I''ll ask the territory, but they should agree as long as they obtain some shares." The two brothers looked at each other, their azure eyes bright as the skies above. In the future, a single blueprint of Oslo''s unique buildings (except for sensitive ones like libraries) would sell for tens of thousands of gold each. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He would give most of the proceeds to Alterra, becoming one of the great sources of liquid funds for Alterra. Of course, this was a story for much, much, later. ¡­ The Golds excitedly joined the queue to the library, looking forward to this new building type. It was just that¡­ they couldn''t enter. [Please pay 100 contribution points for 2 hours of stay] "So Library accessible only by Contribution Points." They looked at Oslo, who obviously knew this but didn''t say anything. Look at his smile, he was teasing them, watching their reactions closely¡ªno doubt to make fun of them. This time, someone (Obi) really did kick him. The level difference was no joke and Oslo pretty much flew several meters away. They were lucky Alterra''s rules were so specific. Playful Horseplay like this didn''t equate to prison time. After all, somehow, the system could determine hostility as sentries could determine (as long as it was specified). So, if there was no real hostility, chances are, it''d pass. Olga ignored this little scuffle and just wistfully looked at the people coming in, "I really want to be a resident here¡­" she mumbled. But who''d give up citizenship of a city¡ªlet alone such a powerful one? For the most part, they would pretty much be immune to slavery even if they stayed in war-torn territories throughout the year. Oslo, who was grappling with his brother (turning to ''wild eye candies'' to the female population around), stopped as he heard of this. He looked at his siblings and smiled, deeply understanding their dilemma. "You don''t have to be residents, you can just stay here," he said. "Didn''t you lease houses? It would be a pity if you don''t use them enough, right?" That way, even if they didn''t have permanent residency, Alterra was still be getting their money! Other than teasing them, this was another reason why he didn''t tell them about the requirements to enter the library. He wanted them to feel this longing emotion even more. He had really thought a long time about this, especially during his time visiting Bluelle back them. The city was stronger for now, sure, but it didn''t feel as vibrant as Alterra. Alterra also had higher potential. More importantly: They didn''t have to deal with that kind of lord who seemed to live to exploit his family! When Alterra became a City, then they could easily shift their residencies! By that time, he believed the contribution points they accumulated would be enough even if the lord increased the requirements! The other siblings didn''t answer but, internally, a part of them was feeling the same. Regardless, they did not dare such a big decision on their own. This was something they had to discuss with their parents. Not to mention, now that they had already seen Oslo''s buildings, they lost our final excuse to stay. This was the excuse that they told their parents¡ªfor them to stay long enough to see what Oslo would achieve. This was so that they''d be there to congratulate him if he succeeded, and¡ªin the likely event that he failed¡ªthey would be there to tease, er, comfort him. But alas¡­ they mused. Obviously, it was them that''d need comforting. Chapter 687 - 687: Books While the Golds were undergoing some mini identity crisis, a new voice from behind them sounded. "Would you like to take a peek?" They turned to see it was the beautiful elder, who was looking at them with a half-amused smile. "Miss Althea!" Olga looked at her gratefully, but she also couldn''t help but ask. "Will it be alright?" "Actually, I proposed some contribution point system for you guys after deals are made. After all, fruitful deals with partners were a major part of Alterra''s growth," she said, making them brighten. "That''d take a while to implement though," she paused. "In the meantime, come with me." The Golds nodded, following closely behind her. They reached the massive double door with carved motifs, and finally entered into the space that had been poking at the curiosities for hours. As they stepped inside, they were greeted by walls filled with rectangular objects. The building spanned four floors, with a massive atrium at its center, allowing light to cascade down from above, illuminating the whole space. The people moved about, selecting the rectangular objects and opening them to reveal piles of paper filled with symbols, some of which were recognizable, while some were not. They realized it was made of that thin paper bound together at a side. The room was filled with various types of seating arrangements. There were large tables to accommodate groups of people, but there were also individual desks for those who wished for solicitude. In addition, there were also plush and colorful sacks¡ªthey called them ''bean bags'' ¡ªwhere people could recline in and sit in comfortably even after hours. Otto curiously took one book from the wall and the others followed. For the most part, the contents contained symbols they did not recognize. This was probably the written language of their home. Olga took another book with a different cover and realized she could read it. She blinked. It was a story about a girl who pretended to be a boy and sneaked into the army. The others obviously saw her reading and peeked, realizing it was in their written language. Before they could read more though, they were distracted by a few other people taking books nearby. It was different in appearance for the most part, but there was a similar green mark as the one in Olga''s hand. "Wowww¡­. Who wrote these?" he asked, seeing as it was written in the Xeno lingua franca. Her companion peeked and grabbed it as soon as she saw the content. "It''s my favorite book!" "Oh, I know this! Alterra must''ve gotten its name in the hero there!" "Cool! There''s a Terran version, but also the local one," One said, pointing at the logograms Xeno used. The Golds looked and realized there was a special color code on the book if it was written in their language. Basically, if it had a green mark, then it would be written in their language. "May I?" Otto asked, and the female Alterran happily handed it over while swooning, making sure to touch a bit of skin. She swore she would not wash her hands until tomorrow. "It''s true," Otto said, looking at the book on his hand and then at Olga''s. "Very interesting." These were all translated manually, for now. Perhaps they would get a translation feature, possibly during an upgrade, but for now, that was not an option. Of course, the works they translated were ones they didn''t mind aborigines seeing. For example, story books, some basic elementary knowledge, and so on. The Golds couldn''t help but look at similar books, finding some after a bit of perusing. While they took a look at the stories, they would also hear some exclamations around them. "OH CRAP. I know this! It''s Basics of Astronomy! I read this before in Terran!" "Wait, what?" "There are also some basic geometry and other subjects!" "Some psychology and science are here, too!" "Oh my goodness¡­ I didn''t think I''d even encounter a book of those! I used to curse seeing them, but now I want to hug them in my sleep!" "Not just Terran knowledge¡­," one said, showing them another thick book. "We also have several copies of flaura and fauna!" Other than Terran knowledge, there were also several copies of flaura and fauna books¡ªone that Althea had been working on with a team for a long time¡ªas well as the advanced Beast Guide Volume 1 she asked experts to compile. It included the name, the habits, weaknesses, and the like of monsters that they had encountered¡ªsome of which were strange because the information came from the soldiers or the aborigines, who gave information about monsters from distant lands! Regardless, this was information they ought to stab in their own heads! How many times it could save their lives?! "This is so helpful!" "Is that the last copy?" "No! There''re dozens more!" "There were also restricted access books of course, those with secretive knowledge they''d like to thoroughly keep to themselves. However, all these were already amazing to the aborigines¡ªthe Golds, the hires, and everyone else. For example, the hired aborigines like Brenda and the others. They couldn''t understand the Terran language but there was plenty of content for them to consume. Brenda, Letty, and the others were particularly fond of books with strong women. It so happened that there was a vast collection of stories with female heroes and the like. "No wonder Miss Althea and the others are so strong. The women in her world are strong." "Not necessarily," Mathilda said. She happpened to be nearby when she saw the group of women and approached them. This was the topic she came into earshot with, and she couldn''t help but want to correct them. "It hasn''t always been that way. There were just a few women who made small changes¡ªthey weren''t particularly big acts in front of a large world, but they were something they dedicated their lives to. "Ripples after ripples of changes echoed through generations, until something or someone would finally trigger the massive change that could define that era." She handed them a few more books depicting strong women, some of whom had to be strong amidst a world that hated them for it. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There was even one where women were burned as witches for having any opinions. This one made the women gasp, shocked at the unfairness of treatments. From here, one could see that back in Ancient Terran, women actually had it worse than the women here. So, it was much easier to make changes for themselves, and Mathilda hoped these books could help tell women what they were capable of. The aborigine ladies sat down and absorbed the contents of the books with apt interest, making Mathilda smile at the side. Mathilda was gifted with very good observation skills. Staying in Alterra changed a lot of aborigines, especially these women as well as their outlooks. Being aware of what the Terran women¡ªwomen these ladies admired¡ªhad been through in the past could serve as a catalyst for even bigger change in them. She wondered what kind of changes Alterra would bring to women around the continent. She was looking forward to it. Chapter 688 - 688: The Benefits of Knowledge Anyway, all around the library were exclamations of wonder and glee. This was especially true to the Terrans who frankly thought they would never see a library again¡ªor be so happy to be in one, for that matter¡ªespecially not so soon and not with such a big selection! With this, they could retain a lot of the knowledge studied for thousands of years back in Terran. They didn''t have to start from scratch anymore. Instead, they could build over what was already known, to find more knowledge, to find something more to improve their lives with! "Holy Crow¡ª" Dog exclaimed, raising a book. "It''s my favorite novel!" He had learned a lot about warfare here. It was usually a boring and dark topic, but it was told in a way that was super fun. He didn''t read a lot of books, and this was one of the handful. How nostalgic! "Be quiet!" Sunny said, pinching his cheek. "You''re the type always being glared at by librarians right?" "You''re the type loved by them, right?" "Of course!" she said proudly. Crow beside them only shook his head, just perusing the library at his own pace. Such massive amounts of knowledge were accessible at one''s fingertips. It was something very difficult to believe. While Althea watched the library being used with smiles, some people couldn''t help but gather their shamelessness and surround her. When her husband wasn''t there, Althea was much more approachable so they were planning to make the most of it. "So many books~ are papers and pencils finally available, Miss Althea?" they asked. They had known the sets had been available for a while now, just not commercially available yet. Oh, the things they could do with it!! Althea smiled at their curiosity and nodded. "Yes. Papers, pens, and pencils would finally be commercially available within the week." "YES!" "FINALLY!" "HUSH! Quiet! Don''t you know this is a library?" "Oh right sorry." Althea giggled, looking at them with a slight seriousness on her face. "We''re looking forward to what everyone creates with these new resources," she told them. A few of the people around looked at her with confidence, minds already brewing with endless ideas. It helped that there were so many books here that inspired them. "You won''t be disappointed, Miss Althea!" And she indeed won''t. ¡­ The library was extremely impactful, even more so than Althea and the others thought. After all, they knew it could be enlightening for some, but the Library was primarily built to handle information and knowledge within the territory. They didn''t expect that it''d have a lot of worldview impact even on the adult aborigines. When Olga returned home not long after this, she would definitely bring about a change among women in their class, and it would trickle down until the commoner class would feel it. Other than the Golds and the hired aborigines, there were also the aborigine members of Terran Mercenary team, particularly the first batch of arrivals. They lived like Terrans the past weeks or so, hence they also fought and hunted outside as everyone did. It had to be noted that their average levels were higher than the locals, so they could also handle themselves against the mobs. They were intent on taking advantage of the current weakness of the monsters and gathered a lot of contribution for themselves. Anyway, they also worked hard for the territory and they definitely deserved the rewards. The ones currently using a lot of the points in the Library were Roana and Yoyo, the Terran Mercenary Team''s cooks. They had been training under Joanna¡ªHarold''s assistant and Jun''s wife¡ªwho was also there reading with them, prepared to answer their questions about their readings if they had some. At this time, they were reading the various translated ''cookbooks'' with apt interest. If they were leaning down so much they were practically kissing the books. "This is amazing¡­" Roana mumbled, eyes tracing the various words on the paper. A lot of this had the recipes taught to them, while many were new. "Don''t they worry people would take away business?" Joanna only smiled. First of all, a lot of secret recipes were still kept, and second, there was a reason why there were so many restaurants in Terran using similar recipes but people still found ways to be unique and make money. "These are all just basic recipes to us," Joanna explained. "It''s still up to the chef to make things special¡ªto add their own expertise and flair." They looked at her waiting for her to explain, and she gladly did so. "Business owners need to ask, what will make the customers choose them? What can make them special? "Without competition, there is no growth," she said. "Publishing this would only make people want to innovate it, make it better." The two nodded, understanding her words but still absorbing her meaning. However, there had been a change inside of them that slowly sprouted from her words. On another corner, there was Koli, the Mercenary Team''s leather expert, who read about the history of Tanning in their homeplace. He had also been learning a lot with Sassy, though learning its history was fascinating. He could see at what point in their history was at the same level as what he knew, and he could see that they were several hundred years behind. Learning how the techniques grew to what they called ''modern'' was fascinating because he understood it more. There were also the Mauin villagers, who had a lot of contribution points due to the war. They were relatively well-off now and had decided to see everything that could be accessed exclusively with contribution points, one of which was the library. Sadly, they¡­ couldn''t read. It didn''t mean they didn''t enjoy the place though, because there were several people around who were willing to read a book or two for them. For instance, at this time, a woman named Evelyn was holding a children''s book reading session in a corner with a lot of bean bags. There were adults and children around, listening to the fun story of a little orange fish looking for his son. They clapped when it was over with the kids asking adorable questions. Some were related to the story, while some¡­ were of wonder when they''d be able to read themselves. "Don''t worry," Evelyn said, "We''re teaching people how to read in school. Just make sure to attend." This made the villagers and other illiterates brighten. They had heard of a school opening and that it only needed contribution points and a bit of money to enroll in. Even adults could learn literature and other things, and this meant they''d also be able to learn reading. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. To think that a month ago, reading anything wouldn''t even be in their list of wants or could do¡ªthey didn''t even have anything to read, just monsters to defend against¡ªbut now it was so close to reality that it still disoriented them a bit. "In a short while, we''ll also be able to read these ourselves!" Little Maumi mumbled as he looked up to his parents. His rounded eyes were filled with determination and certainty of his goals. Mauru chuckled, rubbing his little head with pride. "Yes," he said. "Yes, we will." Chapter 689 - 689: More Farewells Later that afternoon, the Golds would meet up in Cooke''s restaurant, as they had a reservation there. They savored the delicious offerings, ordering a variety of viands, side dishes, and others. In addition to enjoying their meal, they also placed takeaway orders for the next day and even secured another reservation. ''Takeout orders'' ¡ªas they were called¡ªweren''t usually allowed in Cooke''s restaurant. However, the Golds paid a lot of premium so they were allowed to do so. Ansel also sold them a preliminary version of what he called ''insulation box'' which was designed to increase a food''s shelf life, especially when it was inside the space. They didn''t understand how it worked, but they trusted the guy and if what he said was true, then that amount of money was too worth it. As for why they had to do so, it was because they were finally going back to the city. Ugh. "We''ve stayed for too long already," Otto said, regretfully looking at his lovely piece of sauteed meat. "The family could get worried." They had been out for a long time when they joined caravans (or even wars, in Obi''s case). However, at most, they''d be gone a couple of days to a week. They never overstayed in a territory, not unless it was absolutely necessary. They had no reason to. But now¡­ The longer they stayed, the more they didn''t want to leave anymore. They seriously considered extending their stay but, unfortunately, Alterra was still a village and didn''t have a post office yet so they couldn''t send letters to keep the parents from worrying. If they stayed a bit longer, they feared the parents would send out mercenary teams to look for them. "You should''ve designed that first," he told Oslo, who shook his head. "We did, but the connection between territories is out of our capabilities," Oslo retorted. "Besides, it''d be available after the next upgrade. It''d have been a waste of blueprint materials." sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He said this, but he truly wanted to create one. The locals had been complaining about long-ranged communication for as far as he knew them. Sadly, even with his skill and knowledge, he couldn''t do anything. However, he recalled the Lord''s knowledge about arrays. They were probably basic, but the fact that she could know so much on her own would say she could learn much more within the next few decades. Who knew if another miracle would happen? "Sigh, I''ll miss this place," Obi said as he stretched his arm to rest on his neck, his eyes looking around the room and the interesting decor, and then to the unique translucent panel that allowed light to go in, making it feel open even if it was completely enclosed. Oslo crossed his arms as he looked at them. "Well, it''s not like you guys can''t come back." This made everyone brighten, feeling a bit silly. It was just that they had never been attached to a territory and its people so much before. Anyway, they could just bring various products back to the city, give them to family and friends, sell the rest, and then return immediately as soon as they ran out. Olga smiled as she took another bite. It was a nice roasted beef drizzled with some wine. It tasted incredibly savory and comforting. Her parents would love this. "Next time, we''ll bring our parents." The boys nodded in agreement, though feeling a little guilty soon after. In retrospect, they had never taken their parents out on ''trips'', and it hadn''t really occurred to them to do so. However, they had befriended a few people here who had their parents or even a grandparent with them. For instance Cassie with her grandmother, and there another Chucky with his mum. They would often meet one or two of them in a restaurant or a leisure area, with the child saying they were taking the parent around to make them happy. Anyway, they were set to leave the next afternoon, and the rest couldn''t help but fall into melancholy again. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we can come back, right?" Otto said. "So let''s just get this over with." Otto, as the richest dude among them, had the largest say. Wise men said that pain should be done quickly, rather than prolong it due to reluctance. He believed this was one of those moments. (How dramatic¡­) "We''ll leave in the afternoon tomorrow via Beast Carriage and rest later that night in Basset Town some hundred or so kilometers away." Although the carriage was so shaky compared to their awesome bikes¡ªeach of the siblings managed to get one of the ''First edition Super Hardcore Version Bike'' for a hefty amount of 100 gold each¡ªBeast Carts were still much faster and reduced travel time by days. "In the meantime, we can enjoy the rest of the time on our own. I, for one, will be buying everything I can," Otto said, "We''ll meet here for lunch tomorrow." He looked at his twin as he said so, and she nodded at him. Time to fill up their space stones! ¡­ During the remaining day they had left in Alterra, each of the Golds really did their own thing, maxing the time they had there. Olga went to get her orders from the beauty shop''s warehouse in the industrial area, while Otto went to the supermarket''s. Obi also went to finish up his deal with the equipment factory, while Honda was running around with his friends. His friends Maya, Mimi, Lily, Fiona, and Horus were with him. Lily also brought in her new sister, Lina. He didn''t really like her much though. She reminded him of those little girls back home who kept trying to make friends with him, even when he tried to avoid them. Anyway, the group of kids had as much fun as they could, spending the day playing. They ''stall hopped'' a lot, targeting various snacks and drinks to consume while they played. Anyway, they were so active and they definitely burned the calories they ate shortly after eating. There was also this lovely new dessert they called cotton candy which was like clouds but super delicious. The kids walked around with different snacks on hand. "Too bad you can''t join us at school. It would be very fun." "Hmmm¡­" Little Honda mumbled, chewing on the fluffy candy with slightly glistening eyes. They looked at him like this and were sad as well. "It would be so much fun if you''re there¡­" they said, also feeling a bit teary. Honda''s eyebrows furrowed a bit as he mused. Male Nobles like him did have a school back in Bleulle. They were taught the grand history of the lord''s family, etiquette, as well as some basic combat. Female children would have a tutor of sorts who would teach them girly stuff which he would never understand. But the school in Mimi''s and the others'' mouths seemed so much fun. He would also miss his friends, especially¡­ the pretty and smart Mimi¡­ very much. Mimi held his arm when she saw him pause, making Honda blush a bit. "Can''t you ask?" Honda''s eyes widened a bit at the question. Well, could he? Chapter 690 - 690: The Golds’ Departure The afternoon was approaching and Olga headed towards the plaza at a leisurely pace. Because she had finished her orders early, she only had to pick them up and put the items in her space now. She spent hundreds and hundreds of gold, yes, but seeing those gorgeous beauty products line her space felt exhilarating! Now, she was just using her remaining time to experience this unique place more. She was particularly fond of the garden, and she stayed in a gazebo in the large flower garden until it was time for her to go. Somewhere along the way, however, her eyes stopped at the family having a picnic. It was Miss Althea''s. She was with her husband and children, and they were all smiles. Olga was familiar with the Alterran working hours now and it was obvious the family took advantage of it to bond for an hour or so. At this time, they were sitting in a large blanket draped over the well-maintained grass. There were simple easy-to-eat food at a side, which they consumed as they bonded. Sir Garan was lying down, resting the back of his neck on his arms. Their two babies were sitting adorably on his chest chupping on their pacifiers (which were of very unique material, though the locals just said they weren''t available yet). Chup, chup, chup They obviously weren''t doing anything and just sitting there, but it sent cute attacks everywhere. They were such adorable little things! Anyway, Miss Althea was feeding her husband with some fruits as he laid, and she could see the babies feel envious and open their mouths to try and get some too. They were too young to be given such food, but fortunately Althea seemed prepared. She smiled and brought out something from her space. It was a little spoon thing that seemed to have containers attached to them. When she pressed a button, a bit of food came out, which would then be eaten by the cuties neatly. So convenient. Anyway, watching the family, Olga''s heart felt full and envious at the same time. To be honest, she indeed had a dream of building a family. After all, she was a woman of this continent¡ªshe was raised in a way that her main value was in creating heirs. But she felt it was wrong and couldn''t entirely agree with that, albeit for a long time it wasn''t clear to her what she ought to do. She had also seen how her parents were. They were happy, and she wanted that. But she didn''t find the connection to the men she met, and she would never settle for a man she didn''t love. She wasn''t naive to believe any ''decent'' man would do either. She had seen how most marriages were, how trapped the females were, how limited their movements and views had become. Her mother''s case was rare. As for most other women¡­ they seemed to be trapped in their families, whether it was maternal or what they were married into. She would never want that for herself. However, this was too big of an issue to ponder in one sitting. She simply shook her head in the end, proceeding on her way. However, at some point, her feet stopped as she realized there was another person watching the family so intently. She recognized him as someone who went back with her cousin back then, though she didn''t quite catch his name. He was quite handsome with chiseled features, light-colored hair, and tanned skin. He stood strong, proud, even if his eyes lingered too long on a married woman. He was wearing the guard uniform and it made him look particularly dashing. "Hmn," Olga mused. It seemed like she really did have a type. ¡­ While Olga''s love life had planted its seeds, her brother was busy with their own concerns. At this time, Obi was currently buying out the highest-level weapons the equipment factory could produce. The quantity was still limited but, as a partner, he could get a lot more than other merchants. The equipment he got was only level D or E for the most part, but even in cities, there were plenty of young soldiers in their level 20s. In Bleulle, soldiers were divided into classes, similar to how weapons were. Each year a competition was held and he, as one of the youngest captains, also had the youngest troops. One could imagine that they were still looked down upon, and the only reason his troupe wasn''t bullied was because of his background. However, he prided himself on making a name for himself, so how could he be comfortable to still be protected by his parents'' name at this age? The higher the rank, the better the resources, and he naturally wanted that for his team. Sure, he could ask the family for monetary support, but where was the pride in that? Anyway, these weapons would definitely help his team rise up! ... Finally, there was Otto who was staring at the small mountain of purchase. Ansel guided him himself, and he was very very friendly. Ansel also found that the man had a small space as well. It was not as high a level as his sister''s but still pretty cool. As for why Otto didn''t seem to mind Ansel knowing about the space, it was mostly due to trust and instinct, and also due to his confidence of his strength. The redhead couldn''t help but look at the intimidating silverhaired guard next to Otto. He was tall, buff, and looked very strong. Ansel wondered what level he was. "Silva," Otto said, slightly turning to the aforementioned guard. "Yes, Master?" "If you were to choose, would you choose to get more healing potion or mana cookies?" He asked, looking at the two boxes around a feet in dimension. His space had been filled up, and he was wondering whether to get extra boxes of cookies or potions. "I would choose a healing potion as I like the instant effect more, " he said. "You don''t have to choose, Master. I still have some space left. It''s not much, but¡­" "No, keep it to yourself and go buy what you want as well." "Yes, Master," Silva said, and he also chose a few things to fill up his own space. When all was done Otto sent the payment to Ansel, whose eyes sparkled at the amount of it. Ansel didn''t make it obvious of course, he was not a newbie in commercial deals at all. Otto didn''t miss it though. However, instead of seeing it as off-putting, he just saw it as amusingly honest. He raised his hand for the customary local handshake. "Nice dealing with you, Ansel." Ansel grinned, taking the hand to return a firm handshake. "Likewise." ¡­. Soon, the time for departure arrived and everyone went to the Beast Inn to get to their now-filled carriages. The boxes looked beautiful, and they thought of how wonderful and fruitful this trip turned out to be. To think they mostly went here just out of curiosity... However, not everything was smooth sailing because¡ªjust when they were about to head out¡ªa certain little boy looked like he didn''t want to get in. Olga looked out to see the boy standing a meter away from the door, and the other siblings also looked out, wondering what was wrong? "Honda?" She asked, voice gentle. The little boy raised his head with furrowed eyebrows, obviously having an internal battle of sorts. After what felt like a minute, he finally opened his mouth, and it was not what they were expecting. "Can I stay?" . . "What?" The boy flinched at their reaction. However, albeit intimidated, the little kid actually pushed through. If it wasn''t for the implications, they''d have felt proud of him. "Can I stay with Uncle Oslo?" he said, little milky voice saying words that could kill them. "I''ll be good, I promise!" Oslo, who was seeing them off from the side, gaped, unsure whether he wanted this particular responsibility. "I can start training here! The levels of the monsters here are perfect for me!" The boy added, making the others pause and look at him. He obviously prepared for this speech, didn''t he? In retrospect, that seemed to be the excuse they sent? So¡­ they could let him stay to keep consistent? Would they still have the life to explain though? But what if anything happened? The consequences to them didn''t even matter¡ªthey happened to really care about this boy, very much. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "If he causes trouble, let''s just say Oslo asked him to stay." "HEY!" Anyway, a bit of back and forth between the siblings was exchanged, with little Honda looking quite nervous. However, despite his slightly teary eyes, his expression was cool and serious. It was really cute. Honda was really a mix of his parents: His father outside (or at least he tried to) and his mother on the inside. In the end, they all just looked at Otto. He was the oldest among the siblings and had therefore the biggest voice. He was also the most liable regarding this. Otto stared at the boy who was trying to be brave. The entire time, Honda struggled not to flinch and not to show weakness. He knew that if he appeared helpless, then his wish would not come true! In the end, Otto sighed helplessly, turning his head to look at the side. "Silva," he said, and the man sitting in front of the carriage went down, bowing a bit as he stood outside Otto''s door. "Stay with Oslo and Honda." "Yes sir." This made Ansel, Althea, and the others, who were also watching at the side very curious. Ansel elbowed Oslo, who seemed a little shocked at the new developments. "What level is he?" "Much higher than me. When I left a few years back, he was already level 39." This meant he had likely landed level 40 by now. Ansel''s eyes sparkled at this. Did that mean Alterra just got a level 40 in their midst!? Chapter 691 - 691: Belluga Village War (Part 1) At this time, a small part of the guard team led by Jake and Reno went to Belluga village for their rounds. Like with other territories, Alterra guards have made a point to check on allied territories once a week. It wasn''t exactly for welfare checks¡ªthey weren''t that nice. For the most part, it was done to train the guards and also serve as a way for the Alterrans guards to check for family and friends. A lot of citizens and some caravans also followed them, though they paid some protection fee (monetary or contribution points) to the territory. They also wanted to take advantage of the momentary peace to find their family and friends. After all, there was always someone to find a family, friend, or acquaintance during these excursions. To kill two birds with one stone, they also brought products to sell to fatten their wallets up by the way. Anyway, unlike Vismont and Bright, Belluga was also the one amongst the allies that was most likely to enter a war next. Everyone hoped to find their relatives¨Cif they had some there¡ªbefore that. One of the reasons why Vismont was untouched so far was because it was a subsidiary. Aborigines said that few territories were willing to waste their monthly slot on subsidiaries because they were likely weak and poor. Subsidiary status was also done for a minimum of one year. If the occupiers chose to take a subsidiary, chances were, they''d have to pay tribute to another territory regardless of where their alliances lied. Anyway, time passed and the Alterrans reached the vicinity of Belluga. They were not expecting a lot of changes. Since Bright Village had been settled down, not much happened to any of the allies. Until now, apparently. They noticed stark differences as soon as they entered. For one, the guards were moving back and forth quickly, weapons out, and their faces and stances tense as if ready to attack at any moment. As for the civilians, the Alterrans had been used to receiving admiring gazes from the locals. At the very least, they''d get curious looks from those who didn''t know them. However, it was all muted and they usually looked at them respectfully from afar, with the exemption of stars like Fable who would definitely get mobbed. This time though, the Bellugans didn''t hesitate to enter their private space, and their eyes on them were filled with tears. They didn''t know if it was their imagination, but it looked like they just found their messiah. (Unconsciously, Jake checked his hair if there was anything amiss.) "The Alterrans are here!" One said, and another one nodded while sobbing. There was a middle-aged woman who held a random Alterran guard''s hand with a grateful smile. "Thank you!" Alterrans: ? "You''re finally here!" Alterrans: ?? "Our saviours!!" Alterrans: ??? The Alterrans¡­ were very confused. And it didn''t help when more and more people joined in, practically mobbing them. Fortunately, familiar voices stabbed through the crowd and order resumed. "Let us through!" the strong masculine voice said, resounding in the area. The crowd immediately parted, revealing a familiar brunette, followed by a man with pale-blonde hair and sleepy eyes, as well as a dark-skinned man with a large build and sharp features. The dark-skinned man looked at the others and opened his mouth, telling them it was this person who shouted before. "Give our guests some space," he said as he followed Raine to approach them in greeting, dutifully standing just behind him. Jake and the others nodded at them, relieved, while the citizens also looked at them with teary eyes. "Mr. Raine¡­ Mr. Suide¡­ Mr. Orland¡­" the crowd greeted with respect and the Alterrans couldn''t help but look closer at them. While they had heard that Belluga was actually managed by the lord''s men, they didn''t think it was to this degree. "You''re here¡­" Raine said in greeting, "I apologize for the¡­ excessively enthusiastic welcome but¡­ there''s a reason for this. "About twelve hours ago, we received a war declaration." The Alterrans flinched, listening closely, and Raine continued to explain. "Now all the citizens are trying to prepare. We tried to stock up on everything¡ªwhether it was resources, weapons, equipment, or medicines we bought from you¡ªbut it''s natural for us to be worried. "The enemies¡­. They are not weak. Their average levels would be powerhouses for us." "That is indeed a bit of a challenge," Reno began, looking at them. "How many left?" "None." "Well, you''re fortunate no one abandoned." His words made a few frown bitterly and Jake raised a brow. Raine shook his head at this. "Kimmy¡­ she made an announcement that anyone who leaves the territory before or during the war automatically renounces their belongings." "You can do that?" "Well, we''re not certain, but no one wanted to risk it." "I see. How is she? Your lord, I mean," Jake asked. While he waited for answers, he heard a lot of people around whisper their own. While most seemed sad and angry for the woman, some seemed more bitter than sorry for her. Some said ''probably sleeping'', another said ''not doing her job, that''s what!'', and there were also some perverted ''Well, since she was awakened for sex, she must be doing so much now''. Jake and Reno frowned, exchanging glances with eyebrows furrowed. They knew what happened to their lord¡ªshe was raped in public for goodness sake. Had they been so scared of the war they had forgotten to be tactful? Raine only shook his head. "I''m sorry but she''s¡­ indisposed at this time." "It''s fine," Jake said with a shrug. "So the war is starting in two hours, then?" They nodded. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Jake and Reno didn''t answer immediately and looked at his team. They were a team of almost 30 people, ten of which were guards and the others were civilians. As the team lead, he had the right to make choices for the entire team, as long as he deemed it fit for everyone''s goods and safety. This choice, however, would need everyone''s consent. "Vote! I''ll give you a few minutes to think about it," he said and the others looked at each other with various complicated expressions. Jake knew they needed some time to think about it and he didn''t rush them, While waiting for a response, Jake looked at Raine and the others. "And you know you''ll be paying right?" Raine nodded. "We are aware of Alterra''s conditions, yes." Jake looked at him. "You''re not the lord," he said. "What if she denied it?" Raine''s eyes darkened a bit as he clenched his fist. "I''ll convince her," he said. "We''d be willing to pay for our lives!" As long as they survived and were alive, that was what mattered, he thought. The question was: Would their Lord understand this? Chapter 692 - 692: Belluga Village War (Part 2) The Alterrans borrowed a house to discuss their opinions. Who could decide logically when they were being watched by people looking at them as if they were there to save them? Jake and Reno looked at their companions. "We need to know who''ll be joining in. For those who didn''t want to join¡ªshould the majority decide to go to war¡ªyou have to either go back to Alterra on your own, or find a hiding spot in this place." Separating at this point was unsafe. There were only 30 of them, after all. However, they couldn''t force people to join in a war if they didn''t want to. "So, basically, Alterra will be paid if we join in, according to the winnings in the war. If you don''t know, a portion of this pay will be shared amongst us, the participants¡ªif we choose to join in," Jake said, and it made a few people perk up. "At the same time, the enemy isn''t weak. They''re aborigines who had lived here for decades. Their average level is probably higher than yours. "There are real dangers here, and don''t expect we''d go out of our way to protect you¡ªjoining in this war would imply you''re ready to protect yourselves." "What do you think?" The other people paused and looked complicated. The rewards were really tempting, but would they be willing to risk their lives for another territory''s war? Jake looked at the Crow Trio, who happened to be with them this time. Among them, Crow had already awakened as a wind user. He was also an archer, making him much like Loki and Sammy, though his style mirrored more of the former. Speaking of which, before leaving, Crow had somehow gotten Loki to promise a little apprenticeship with him, though with a lot of promises to treat him food for years. "I''m up for it," Crow said, also wanting to test out what he had learned the past few days. One of the advantages of joining in other territories'' wars was not only the learnings and strengthening that could come out of it, but they would also be able to leave if things got too much for them. At the same time, they would still get rewarded somehow because there was a minimum amount of payment Alterra would receive, regardless if they won or not. In this group, Jake was the only one outside the level cap¡ªeveryone else could participate directly. However, Jake was reluctant to join in. Yiyi would be waiting for him, after all. However, it was still understandable that the others would take advantage of this opportunity to grow. They would also know better what it would be like to be on the defending side of a war. The discussion lasted for a quarter of an hour, with mixed opinions all around. In the end, more than 20 people joined in, while the rest chose to hide in the inn¡ªmade from custom houses, though the concept was inspired by Alterra''s. "I think it''d be worth it," Reno said after a while and the rest of them agreed. Jake and the others waited for the counter to end, nervous but also a little excited! ¡­ [War between Khlack Village (Lv3) and Belluga Village (Lv3) has began!] "Ready?" Reno asked the archers as he stood on the thin battlement of a level 3 wall. Unfortunately, only half of these were true archers, even among the hired aborigines of Belluga. After all, those type of experts would choose to get hired in towns instead. But it was still more than enough, for now. Soon, they heard the sound of hundreds of people yelling, quickly approaching the gates. From a distance, they looked like a creepy swarm emerging from the dense forest, and for those who saw such a mob for the first time¡ªit felt heavy to the stomach and creepy to the spine. The arrows rained down on the crowd, with Reno telling soldiers to be aware of leaks on the other sides. Although not many would do it, their first war¡ªled by Althea¡ªwas abnormally smooth because they sneaked around. Soon, more and more of the attackers emerged from the forests and Reno looked at them as they attacked the walls head-on. It was like a monster mob filled with brainless beasts, except this one was filled with people. They attacked with no weapons other than their bodies, and they headed towards the gates in hopes of destroying it by virtue of their numbers. Reno narrowed his eyes. Although the sentries weren''t as dense as Alterra, there weren''t few, and he just felt stupid they were throwing away their lives like this. That was until he realized a lot of these people''s expressions were either blank, dazed, or sobbing. Meat shields. Slaves. He wasn''t the only one who saw this and he realized a lot of people stopped shooting. Reno frowned. "Don''t let pity be your downfall! If you can''t kill the slaves target their legs!" He yelled, taking a few of his stones from space, and manipulating them so he would take out a few vanguards. "if you lose, you''ll join them in their next war!" This seemed to have woken them up and they raised their weapons again. "Yes sir!" The battle continued for a while, and it felt horrible to massacre helpless people like this, but what could they do? The Alterrans also focused on just injuring them, using as little energy as possible. One, to keep energetic when the real enemy came and, second, this was technically not their fight. Why torture their morality and conscience for a war they were only assisting on? Both Jake and Reno were earth users, and they used their abilities to create little craters in the ground, imbalancing the slaves. Some would fall and imbalance a bit more. While people could still die from suffocation, their chances were stil higher than taking direct hits from sentries and arrow rain. This went on for a while until Jake saw Raine go down the battlement. "Where are you going?" "I''m going to see the lord," he said, "She needs to participate in this. We need her." Jake looked at him for a moment, before nodding. He was right. As a lord, although what happened to her was tragic, it was not an excuse to just leave the people¡ªwho were depending on her¡ª hanging. ... Raine walked past the hallways and went deeper and deeper into the house¡ªmade with several custom modules¡ªsoon reaching the room at the farthest. He opened the door to see Kimmy curled up in a corner again, trying to scratch herself. This had been a habit of hers ever since that happened. He sighed, heart stinging, slowly approaching the girl. "Kimmy¡­" he uttered, leaning down next to her and patting her head. Kimmy gave no response, however. "It''s time to join us," he said, and to be honest the number of times he had said this the past few days were innumerable. Kimmy remained unperturbed, hugging herself tightly as if she was guarding against everyone. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He sighed. "Kimmy, you need to be outside. We need our lord." This finally got Kimmy to move. However, to his surprise, she handed him something. It was a small piece of carved stone. "What is it?" "Lord Token," she said. Very bluntly. "What?" Raine exclaimed, but calmed himself. He cleared his throat as he shakily held her shoulders. "May I have it? Do you want me to have it?" "I know you want it." This made Raine pause and his eyes widened. He pursed his lips as he looked at Kimmy, who was staring at him with her dulled eyes. His lips pursed and he looked at her with a complicated expression. He didn''t answer for a while, his eyes glazing as various memories passed through his mind. However, after a few minutes of silence, Raine''s hand gripped tightly on the token, as if suddenly unwilling to let go. He raised his head with a renewed, more authoritative aura about him. His eyes reflected the intricate wooden amulet on his hand. It was slightly shimmering, exuding a magical aura about it. "Yes, you''re right¡­" he admitted and he looked at Kimmy, whose expression hadn''t changed at all. "Thank you." His grip on the token tightened as he stood up, a more powerful aura seeming to emanate from him. His pretty lips parted with a smile, whispering: "Finally mine." Chapter 693 - 693: Raine Berry City, Many Years Ago The rain poured relentlessly down the city, with each drop seeming to echo the despair that hung heavy in the night air. At this time, a young androgynous brunette tried to look tough as she glared at the man in front of her. He was large and bulky, though he was wearing a sleek black suit that added to the menacing aura around him. Her sharp eyes flickered to the envelope in his hand, bulging with money. Because of the rain, it also got a little damp, and one could peek at the bales of money inside it. To most people, this was an enticing sight. But for the girl, it was nothing but disgusting pieces of paper filled with her father''s blood. "Take it," the man said, looking down coldly¡ªlooking at her as if she was a bug he was about to get rid of. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You think money could bring my father back?!" she spat, her voice trembling with grief and rage. How dare they?! How dare they try to buy her silence! They ran over her father!! "Raine," the lawyer¡ªher lawyer, mind you¡ªtried to talk her into taking the deal. His voice was kind, but his eyes showed no warmth, "The young master is already very kind giving you this." She whipped her head to him, looking at him in disbelief. "You!" "Even if you don''t take it, nothing will change. Only you''d be hungry." "No! I will put that young master of yours in jail!" She cried out, voice cracking. The lawyer''s lips curled into a cruel smile. "You realize his mother is a congresswoman while his father is a billionaire, right?" "No! There is Justice! People will see¡ª" The lawyer sighed and looked in a direction. This small look sent alarms to her instincts and it sent shivers down her spine. She wanted to turn and run away, but it was too late. The next thing she knew, Raine was taken out of the rain and into an alley. They beat her mercilessly, the pain of broken bones and the sting of open wounds mingled with the rain and her tears. She struggled hard no matter how painful, hoping someone would hear her pleas. But she felt her hair pulled strongly, followed by a harsh hiss on her ears. "Make a scene and it''ll be so much worse," they told her, and they proceeded on beating her up again. BANG! PAK! When it was over, the men spat at her, though not without kicking her again. She could only groan as she felt the patter of rain hit her body. It wasn''t even strong rain, but each drop felt incredibly painful. For hours, it rained, and no one passed by the alley. Even if there was, they would be too busy or distracted to avoid the rain. She was woken up from her painful daze when the rain stopped and the ray of the first light reached the narrow alley. That was when she realized: In order to have a better life, you always had to grab the power yourself. At the very least, find a way to take it away from her enemies. That young master was a queer, this she knew. It so happened that she had always been androgynous, which was also comfortable and convenient when she was doing a lot of part-time jobs. So, she had been dressing up completely as a man. She also pulled her few connections and got a job at a host club. With her appearance, she quickly gained popularity and entered the high ranks after less than a year. Her appearance happened to be his favourite type, and after a lot of hard work and scheming, she got into his circle. In less than a week after that, she would get him drunk¡ªso drunk that he and his friends would be found in a ditch, all dead, the very next day. She also released some incriminating video evidence of him confessing of his murders. Except ''confess'' was not the right word¡ªbecause he was smug about getting away with it. It went on the news as the biggest scandal of that year¡ªaffecting his entire family. She watched it repeatedly on the television as she held her father''s ashes. Only then did she feel that he finally rested in peace. ¡­ ____ Present. Belluga Village. Raine looked at the token in her hand, various emotions simmering inside of her. To be honest, the power she had before wasn''t bad. She basically had the power of the lord, without the direct control of the panel. She managed to do this by becoming the perfect doll for Kimmy. Similarly, Raine realized that Kimmy had a few ''husbands'', but these husbands were handsome but wouldn''t want to have sex with her, like the couple Suide and Orland. There was also Tugo who was pretty much a eunuch, and another one named Virgo who was just an asexual man who only knew to draw random numbers. When Raine found out that Kimmy didn''t want anything sexual, she nourished it along with the others. They played with her and acted as she wanted, making sure she was spiritually satisfied and distracted enough not to want more from them. For the others, he would gently guide them away, for their own safety as well as for herself. For instance, the famous Idol Fable. The main reason he could get back to Alterra so smoothly had a lot to do with Raine. However, Kimmy was also very spontaneous. What if she grew tired of them? What if she decided to change? It always felt like walking on a thin ridge¡ªthat she could roll down a steep mountain at a blow of the wind. And this token felt like an anchor. She looked at poor Kimmy whose eyes were glazed, but red from crying. Her heart tingled in pity for someone she saw as a friend and he patted her head. "Don''t worry Kimmy, I will protect our home." Chapter 694 - 694: Belluga’s New Lord Meanwhile, war raged outside, with more and more slaves trying to destroy the gates with sheer numbers. They didn''t care about anything else but to damage Belluga''s walls and gates. This was why there were a lot of deaths so early on the enemy''s side. Only a few hours after the war began, there were already hundreds of corpses and injured people lining up the walls. It was a nauseating sight. What''s more, Slaves weren''t counted in the numbers¡ªit was as if they had no identity. That was to say, even if they comprised most of the enemies, and even if they all died, the attacking territory wouldn''t lose. It was the main reason war slaves were so sought after. They could cause so much damage to a defending territory, yet they were basically risk-free. However, seeing so many deaths, Jake and the others were naturally boiling. But this was the way of the world and they weren''t powerful enough to change it. At least not yet. Regardless of whatever internal issues they struggled with, these slaves would just try to consume the forces here and try to damage part of the walls, which wouldn''t be easy. Instead of wasting energy (and question morality) with these slaves, the Alterrans focused on the stronger people who had managed to sneak in, causing damage. Some time ago, a few enemies managed to enter by creating ladders on another part of the wall while the slaves distracted the rest of the territory. There were others but about a dozen were already visible from where the Alterrans were. As soon as they entered, they slashed away at the guards and civilians alike. Even from their location, they could see a few aborigines stabbing people with massive grins on their lips. "Tsk," Jake cursed and he turned to the other guards. "Spread out," he said, "Half of you stay here, the others find where they''re climbing from and get rid of those inside." "Yes sir!" He jumped down and sprinted towards the nearest scuffle. Here a few enemies were terrorizing guards and citizens, some of whom dragged people from inside their homes to either kill or injure. This was actually not necessary to win the war¡ªthey simply had to be inside¡ªbut they seemed to relish in the screams and terror such actions gave. Jake cursed as he lunged, using his ability to push the enemies away from their victims. He was beyond the level limit so this was all he could do. Reno, also an earth user, was right next to him. However, unlike him, he could actually do damage. Jake created a little slope for him, and Reno used it to lift himself up. Rocks floated, surrounding his fists with hard rock. With the additional force of gravity and his entire weight, he barrelled down on two enemies'' heads with the makeshift weapon he created. BANG! "Ahhhh!" "Damnit!!" The two did not allow the enemies to get their bearing. Jake trapped them to the ankles with his abilities, while Reno raised his sword to behead them. Just like this, the couple of leaks in the area were taken care of¡ªswiftly and cleanly. The locals saw how powerful the Alterrans were, and those who were new gaped in shock. "Amazing!" "So these are Alterrans!" "No wonder everyone depends on them so much!" Meanwhile, the victims they had saved sobbed as they looked at them. "Thank you!" they yelled, some people even holding their hands to express their emotions. The others echoed the words of gratitude, their eyes filled with dependence. This wasn''t the sight they wanted to see, however. "No, everyone!" Jake yelled, "Raise your weapons! The guards and sentries wouldn''t be able to guard you here! "PROTECT YOUR OWN HOME!" they yelled, but there were screams on another side and the two of them shifted there, not waiting for the locals to be enlightened or anything. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. While the other Alterrans took the leaks, Jake climbed up the battlement and ran along the perimeter to find the enemies'' entry point. As he moved, he noticed how many of the attackers were within the range of the sentries. Sadly, there were too many houses that blocked the way, shielding the enemies and the sentry didn''t even open fire. It was such a waste because sometimes there were no enemies on the outer side. That was to say, that sentry was being wasted when there was an enemy right under its nose. For those cases, he stomped his feet and raised the soil underneath the enemies, raising them high enough that the sentry had a clear view, finally attacking it. The sentries, even at level 3, can cause significant damage to this level of enemy. Basically, if they were hit, if they weren''t killed on the spot, they were as good as dead because it was either someone would take advantage to kill them or they''d just be left there bleeding. On the other hand, the others weren''t raised too high, but he managed to do enough to imbalance them. He watched as local guards took advantage of the imbalance to attack and Jake left this place to them. Anyway, they fought and took down many of the leaks, all the while trying to get the local citizens to fight with them. Leaks were unavoidable due to the average level differences and their guards wouldn''t be able to handle every enemy that went through. They were successful to get a few, but most preferred to hide inside their homes and pray the guards and the Alterrans would fix their problems for them. It was a little disheartening, to be honest, and the Alterran''s motivation in fighting had become more to train and get stronger rather than help brethren out. It was around this time that a ding resounded in everyone''s heads, including the Alterrans''. [This is Raine. I am holding the new Lord of Belluga Village.] It began, and a lot of people froze at the announcement. [I implore everyone capable of fighting to please do, Beluga Village is not only the guards'' home, it is yours, too.] [While our friends from Alterra help us, this is not their home. They can leave if it gets dangerous for them, which is understandable¡ªthey don''t owe us anything.] [Do you not feel shamed outsiders¡ªeven if they are our friends¡ªare the ones killing our attackers?] [Join us¡ªlet''s fight these enemies together!] Like this, a lot of those who hid behind doors went out, holding their weapons. They were shaky, but it was an improvement to how it was before. Soon, more and more people came out and although the enemies had higher levels, the locals could overcome them in numbers. Jake''s eyebrows rose, relieved. Hey, it looks like Belluga finally found their lord. Chapter 695 - 695: End of the Bellugan War (Part 1) Seeing as the interiors were relatively settled, Jake decided to block as many enemy entryways as he could. Jake ran around the perimeter soon seeing where the enemies were getting in. It was obviously in those areas without a sentry, and they simply made ladders. Or more accurately, climbable ladders, like those scaffoldings in construction sites. However, it was obviously weak due to the rush, seeing as how it shook even if they were going in groups of ten or less. However, those who got in would wait along the interior side of the wall to form bigger groups before attacking. By the size of those groups and their average levels, they''d definitely be wreaking havoc. By estimate, the average level was level 9 or even 10. How could people around level 6 fight against them? To be honest, if the Alterrans weren''t here, he couldn''t see how they''d win this war at all! Jake got close enough to see the events clearly. However, he stopped after a distance so he wouldn''t be so visible that he''d be attacked immediately. Although his level was much higher, he''d probably get injured if he got mobbed¡ªespecially when all he could do was defend. He leaned down a bit to make himself less obvious. He focused his sights on the scaffolding-thing, studying the best place to hit. Using his ability, he added one little bump under one leg. He then added several spikes around it. It couldn''t have gone unnoticed of course, but before the people who noticed could react, the scaffolding cracked and imploded into itself. "Shaky!" "GYAAAA!!!" "HOLD IT DOWN!" "AHHH!" BANG! The scaffolding fell down with a bang, making those climbing up fall down on their faces. Hehehhe. Who said they need aggressive skills to help out? Of course, a little fall was nothing. After all, the wall was only 3 meters tall. Although no one could scale the walls, it was estimated that powerhouses could just jump over them. There was no such powerhouse here, but such a fall wouldn''t be able to kill too many people. There were also people who got stabbed, yelling like pigs being slaughtered. This also confirmed the fact that they wouldn''t be punished if they used their abilities to indirectly hurt people, and would thus be reported to the others so they could maximize it. As for the group of dozens already inside, he threw giant rocks at them. It was not to hit, but to make them run. He would rain down a lot of rocks and they would head in a direction to avoid them. "What''s going on?" "Run!" "It''s an elementalist!" "Where?!" "How would I know?! Ah!! Just run¡ª" Jake chuckled as he ran along the battlement, having fun making the enemies run like this. He made sure they were squeezed closely together as they reached the scope of the sentry. Fortunately, there were a number of them and some were within range of the sentries. Without warning, strong arrows cut through the air, killing or seriously injuring an enemy. "AHHH!" "WHAT!?" "When did we reach the sentries¡ªah!!" It was in these cases that Sentries felt particularly powerful. A Level 3 sentry could one-shot an enemy level 10 and below, with decreasing damage as the level of the enemy increased. A group of weaker locals wouldn''t be able to fight against someone who could get killed in one shot, and this was something irreplecable in a territory. In fact, Belluga''s sentry placement wasn''t bad considering their budget. They had maximally-distanced sentries in several areas, while those with minimal or no sentries were set with guards, so manpower was focused on certain areas and they didn''t have to travel around so much. It had to be said the person who planned this was still thoughtful, maximizing the limited resources they had. Unfortunately, the enemy archer took these stationed guards down already, leaving this area extremely vulnerable. Anyway, Jake focused on the group of leaks that was gathering themselves after a few were hit by the damned sentries. They saw him and gasped, but he made sure to coralle them there. The sentry would shoot every few seconds, and the unlucky ones who couldn''t hide fast enough would be hit. "HEY! OVER HERE!" Jake yelled, catching the attention of guards and citizens nearby. Soon, the corralled group was found and the locals were surprised to see easy targets ready for picking. They positioned themselves so they could attack enemies as soon as they escaped the flimsy coralle. By that time, they were already greatly injured¡ªeither by the sentries, or by the others as they tried to get out of the corralle. Seeing as this spot was settled, Jake then continued to go around the barrier to the other end of the susceptible areas. Unsurprisingly, there were another few hundred people trying to get in this way as well. Unfortunately, the enemies took advantage of the fact that this area had sparse guards due to the chaos in the gates. By visual estimate, hundreds should''ve already entered and causing havoc in the area. They entered houses pulled out people and killed them. In panic, some of those who go out of the house would be shot by arrows. There were two enemy archers settled in their battlement. They shot their hearts'' content, perverted grins on their faces. "HELP!" "No!" Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Kyaaaa!" Jake cursed. Small boulders of earth floated around him. He couldn''t attack them directly lest he get penalized, but he sure as hell could make them fall. The rocks were thrown with speed and precision, making the targets yell out. They fell down beautifully, one outside the walls, the other inside. The dude who fell inside screamed. "WHAT IN THE ORCSHIT?!" Jake admired his work only for a second, continuously shielding the civilians who needed it. He would also push a few he could to the paths of sentries (this area was close to one), using them to take a few more lives. This went on for several minutes until someone finally noticed the aberration. "Someone''s making trouble!" he yelled. It seemed like the captain of this team. He narrowed his eyes, looking around. He saw where most of the damage was done and he soon zoned in on him. "OVER THERE!" "It''s an elementalist!?" "It''s a strong one, too!" Another added, taking note of how many rocks and spikes had appeared around them. This got many of them afraid. Jake smirked and took advantage, making several rocks float around him. He would use it to scare and imbalance, letting their victims either run away or even land a few allowable hits. He also used the sentries to kill a few, which was honestly his favorite move so far. The team lead though, had been through many wars, and was relatively quick on his feet. After a few attacks, he realized something. "But he''s not attacking harshly! He might be over the level cap!" he yelled. This made sense because he was really too powerful! "ATTACK HIM! He can''t do the same to you!" They yelled and swarm of enemies decided to focus on him instead. Jake twitched as he watched the mob run towards him, intending to take advantage of his limitations. Ah, darnit! Chapter 696 - 696: End of the Bellugan War (Part 2) Jake jumped back to the interior, running away. Fortunately, the buildings here were dense so it was easy for him to jump roof to roof. The others saw this and thus started a game of chase. Worse, since the houses here were only two stories, some enemies would make a makeshift stair and get a few people up to the roof with him. "Tsk," he cursed, mentally looking at the rocks he kept in space. A lot of them had been used and he needed to ''refill'' it soon. Most of the buildings here were system buildings so he couldn''t use them for his ability, however, Belluga idolized Alterra and made sure to have a lot of patches of green. As he jumped over another roof with a park nearby, his hands formed a fist and several pounds of little rocks and balls of earth floated towards him. He''d keep a few in space and the rest where he had just been standing. His pursuers would then slip and lose their balance. If he was lucky, maybe they''d break their neck in the fall (spoiler: it never did, due to the enhanced reflexes of the people here). Then, among those, one managed to keep up with him. It was a level 15 swordsman¡ªthe team lead from before. He was furious to see so many of his team felled by this bastard! However, before he could even grab ahold of Jake, something flashed before his eyes and he could only instinctively lean back to avoid it. It was a friggin wind arrow. "Thanks, Crow!" Jake said with a chuckle, leaving his final pursuer in the dust to deal with accurate wind arrows that were coming his way. They had apparently run so far that they reached the area where the majority of the Alterrans were. Crow was already there, shooting away, though he did choose his targets due to limited mana. He primarily targeted stronger people who had landed inside the walls. On another side, a group of jerks were slashing about carelessly while fighting against the Bellugan guards. One of them saw a civilian nearby and escaping, but he was close enough for him to hit. He grinned, shifting targets to stab the poor guy. However, a weird hard piece of earth suddenly appeared. It was Reno, who apparently controlled earth several meters away, all while handling a few enemies with his sword. "Why do they have elementalists?!" He yelled. "It doesn''t matter, there''s only three of them!" Another yelled, proceeding on causing chaos all around. Before he could make another move though, another slash of sword came after him. He wasn''t able to avoid it on time and it still stabbed his arm. "AH, damnit!" he yelled, swinging his sword towards his attacker, who easily redirected it away. "Who is it!?" "Me," Raine said, stabbing his weapon to take advantage of the opening, successfully stabbing him through the heart. "You!!" he yelled and gasped when Raine turned the Class D sword, ensuring his death. "They''re not the only ones you need to worry about!!" Raine said, pulling her sword back, defending against another attacker. Raine had two of the other husband¡ªthe couple Suide and Orland¡ªaround to assist her. Together, they created a small vacuum of safety that went wherever there were distraught groups of citizens. Interestingly, after rescuing, a lot of these citizens would join in the encirclement, strengthening its attacking force. Raine was never formally trained, but she lived a rough life definitely not fit for a woman. Anyway, the people who breached were taken care of by the Alterrans and Raine''s group, allowing the local guards to focus on keeping the rest of them out. Hours flashed by, and the last of the more powerful aborigines¡ªall of him had entered the territory¡ªwere finally taken down. Jake assisted by immobilizing them while the rest took either the kill shots or debilitating ones, depending on the damage they did to Belluga. Most of these people were gathered in the plaza, with Raine and the others looming over them. She was looking at them one by one, as if trying to find a familiar face. When she didn''t find it, Raine walked over to the most powerful one, kicking him on the face. "Where are those bastards?" "Who?!" Her eyes were red whenever she remembered that day! "Those bastards who attacked us before!" Her words seemed to have added ember in all the local peoples'' hearts. They were once again reminded of the deep humiliation from that day. The man didn''t answer immediately. Raine frowned and took out her sword, the sharp edge hovering right above his crotch. "T-They''re not from Khlack!" The man snapped almost immediately. "They''re from our master territory, Basset Town!" This made everyone silent. A town? Jake and Reno took note of this with narrowed eyes. Other than Ferrol, the nearest Town to them was Basset Town! ... [Your village Belluga Village (Lv3) has successfully defended against Khlack Village (Lv3)!] The array eventually closed and the war ended¡ªofficially letting Belluga win the war. Wild cheers and sobs resounded across the territory, a renewed momentum flowing in its veins. Jake and the others smiled, helping out the injured and even donating some healing potions to dilute. They learned a lot in this war and they were glad they joined in. For example, the likelihood of having meatshields, the methods of aborigines in sneaking in, how much they could actually do as people beyond the level cap, and the like. As they cleaned up, the enemy people were pale. There were also a few guards who had been watching the people outside the territory. They came running as they realized that the enemies outside had all become their slaves as well. "What happens to us?!" the enemies yelled when they heard the report. "Are all of us slaves?" There were hundreds of enemies gathered in the territory, not counting those outside. Apparently, all of them actually became slaves this time. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Raine looked at the notification of winnings that she received, and then at the evil people who caused chaos to her territory. She had heard of Alterra''s approach to slavery, and she also admired that. But¡­ what would she do? What did she have to do? Chapter 697 - 697: Belluga’s New Slaves In this war, Belluga Village received thousands of slaves, all of which Raine immediately ordered to enter the territory. They obediently did so, regardless of whether they were limping or if they had to crawl. Many of them had bitter faces, though those who were already slaves didn''t have much change in expression. This was understandable. To them, their life was the same, except the set of people causing them hell was different. The citizens looked at the procession of slaves with varying expressions. Some locals threw rocks at them, some spat, though most just felt victory that it wasn''t them doing the procession. Raine looked at the mobs of slaves coming in, following her orders to a tee. When a territory lost, half of the population would become slaves, whether or not they were in the attacking force or not. All citizens within the territories had the possibility of becoming one. Even if they were not¡ªfor example, the people outside the walls at this time¡ªas long as they went through the array, they could also become slaves. It was like even if they were outside the walls, going through the array would leave a mark on them, which would ultimately cause them to be branded as slaves as soon as they lost. However, because not everyone in a territory went through the array, there was the problem of getting the other slaves if the war ended late. For example, in their case, the war ended after the 28 hours were over. This meant that the array had closed before they could order the other ''slaves'' to enter it and head to Belluga. How were they supposed to get them? Anyway, because of cases like these, the system ''evolved'' to prefer choosing those near the defending territory to turn to slaves instead¡ªi.e. In particular, those who went through the array. "So many new slaves," Jake said as he approached the new ruling party. "What do you intend to do with them? "We received few thousands," Raine said, eyes sparkling. "We will keep them." "Oh?" Jake asked, surprised. To be honest, he had the impression that most ''good'' Terran territories wouldn''t be pro-slavery at all. It wasn''t off-putting though, he was just a bit surprised. Raine saw this and gave a weak smile. She knew her choice was a bit shocking. She expected the various types of looks she was receiving now. Unlike Alterra, they wouldn''t free the slaves. She didn''t plan to. "To be kind needs strength," Raine explained. "And that¡­ is something we don''t have yet." S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She was fully aware they couldn''t have won this without the Alterrans. Rather, even if they didn''t, the amount of casualties would''ve been debilitating. These slaves¡­ came just in time for them to solidify their forces. "I won''t let them do anything inhumane, but it will help in Belluga''s defense and growth overall. At least that''s what I''ll aim to do." Reno and Jake didn''t have a say about that. Besides, it wasn''t any of their business. They weren''t humanity police or anything. They were simply Alterrans who wished the best for themselves, their loved ones, and for their fellow citizens. What they needed though, was the rewards. After this topic passed, Jake approached with a smile. "As agreed, a portion of the winnings." In the rules, they would get a big fraction of the winnings as long as they provided sufficient assistance. Of that portion, at least a third was distributed among the people who participated! Raine nodded, not even hesitating to give what was due. "Thanks for your help," he said, transferring the gold and Jake''s eyebrows rose a little at the 0s. This Khlack Village was richer than he thought. At the same time, they also knew this money must''ve been built at the blood of the villages they attacked. Anyway, making a rough calculation¡ªthe shares were determined according to the damage to the enemies¡ªhe knew that his share was not bad! There were not many of them who had to divide it, after all. There were only a little over 20 of them who joined the war, and some of them joined in at the latter part of the fights. With this money, he can buy a villa (or, at least, pay the downpayment for it)! Although most had been leased by the aborigines from Towns and cities, he had insider information about a new community that''d be built within the next few months! Yiyi would love it there! Suffice to say, Jakey was in a very good mood thanks to the earnings. "No problem," he said, chuckling. "Feel free to ask again." Like this, the Alterrans gestured to leave. They didn''t have to stay and rest anymore. The war had been settled a few hours prior and they just had to secure the prisoners and keep the already half-dead and weakened mobs outside until the 28-hour line was reached. At that time, the Alterrans took advantage to rest. Before they left though, Raine and the others saw them off, though not without asking for another favor. "I have a favor to ask." "You''re asking for a lot of favor, Lord Raine," Jake said with crossed arms, though he was half-teasing. "Is it because you paid us off?" Raine smiled at him a bit, but then she stepped aside to reveal Kimmy standing behind her. "Can you take our former lord with you?" Naturally, this made the Alterrans look very surprised. "What?" "Being here isn''t helping her recovery." Reno and Jake looked at each other, and then at Raine, wondering if he had some suspicious plans. Did they want to be involved in a potential power play in another territory? "There''s another one," Raine said, pointing at a pale man standing nearby. "This is Virgo," she said. "He''s a mathematician. He had always expressed wanting to move." Virgo was an intellectual through and through. When he heard paper was being produced in Alterra, he wanted to live there. (Later, he''d find out there was a research center filled with intellectuals, and he would practically beg to join in¡ªeven offering his services for free as long as he was provided shelter and food). Reno and Jake looked at each other in thought. In the end, they didn''t have any reason to refuse. As they left, Jake couldn''t help but steal a glance at their new members before turning to Reno. "You think he''s sincere?" He asked, he could already imagine some scenarios where the man would usurp the queen and take the throne for himself. Don''t blame him. There were really cases like this. "I think so," was all Reno could say. Politics was not his thing. He was a muscle head through and through. Speaking of, all the interpersonal talent went to his sister, Silvia, who was also making a name for herself in that field. They headed deeper into the forest, and soon the walls were out of sight. As it disappeared, Jake¡ªa species of men who liked gossip¡ªcouldn''t help but wonder. "I wonder if he''ll keep his mind with that power." "Does it matter? As long as he protects the people well." "Hm, that''s true," Jake shrugged, arranging his quiffed hair by the way. Anyway, although Kimmy was a good girl, she was no leader. In this world, they needed a lot more to be able to protect their citizens. Somehow, Jake had a feeling that Raine would do just fine. Chapter 698 - 698: An Unpleasant Encounter Days passed and the team from Limestone Valley was finally set to return, along with the first batch of migrants from the place. This was a group of a few hundreds, mostly professionals and their families. In fact, half of them were unsure of moving to Alterra. After all, although they suffered a bit in Fargo, life there was getting better. Like many others, there was doubt about whether it was a wise decision to move to Alterra¡ªwhich could''ve been after Limestone Valley''s resources and not a very good place itself. This was especially true for the non-medical professionals who didn''t participate closely in the war and had an idea of what Alterra was capable of. For example, there was a young couple Marco and his wife Renya. Marco was an industrial engineer while his wife was a linguist. "Are we sure about this?" the woman whispered, gently pulling her husband''s sleeves. She had reddish brown hair and a large scar on the side of her face. The man looked reluctant but nodded in the end. "It can''t be that bad, right?" he asked, rubbing his blonde hair. At the very least, they knew Alterran''s moralities were miles ahead of Fargo''s. At the minimum, in Fargo, he was afraid someone would pull his wife into an alley every single day. Now there wasn''t such worry. Even if there were bad apples that remained lurking around¡ªnot everyone was openly bad¡ªthey were quickly handled by the automatic rules and sent to the manual prison. Such rules were promising and he heard it was just copied from Alterra, and that said a lot about that place. Even if they would be a little poorer in Alterra, then it would be worth it. Probably. However, the couple¡ªand most of the others¡ªstill felt reluctant to leave. They had survived the zombie apocalypse together because they were celebrating their anniversary in a high-end restaurant. The number of people there was very few, and there were also plenty of supplies. Somehow some other people also caught the attention of the zombies¡ªhe distinctly remembered a man with red hair¡ªso they were safe as long as they were still. However, there were still plenty of battles afterwards, especially towards the end of the 24 hours timeline and some survivors had found the restaurant. Rather than help each other, these people ended up only leading more zombies¡ªupgraded ones¡ªnear them. Renya had unfortunately gotten burned in the fights. They almost died trying to get to the first aid kit in the administration office, but they pushed through. They ultimately kept the upgraded zombies away by hiding in the freezer. Those were a horrendous couple of hours wherein they just hugged each other and shivered, fearing for their lives. They almost got hypothermia then and maybe they could''ve also lost a few fingers. Maybe they would''ve, but their physiques were improved by their upgrades, and that was at least one good thing that came out of all these. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When they got transferred to Xeno, they had each other''s backs and attached themselves to the soldiers who would later join the current leading party¡ªVictor''s¡ªteam. Their first territory held strong for a while until the protection period ended, and it was back to fighting for their lives every minute again. Then they found Fargo Village, which had much more resources and better infrastructure than their previous one, and they felt so relieved. Sadly, Fargo and his men were extremely violent and horrible. It had become a lawless place where violence ruled. Renya had never felt so lucky that she had such a large burn scar on her body. The period after Fargo''s fall was the most peaceful time they had after the disaster, so it was not surprising that both of them were reluctant to leave that behind. It was like they suffered so much to finally find that home, how could they risk going to an unknown territory? However, they were specifically recruited for their specialties. Even if there were doubts, who didn''t want to make use of the education they worked so hard for? As for the perks, Alterra promised them and their families free dormitories and a temporary residency for 1 month. After all, their skills still needed to be checked. Not to mention, Sir Henry and the others also brought in Newspapers! There, they saw sneak peeks of Alterra which was ultimately the tilting scale of their decisions. "What if the contents weren''t true?" Renya couldn''t help but wonder. After all, the contents can easily be manipulated. Marco patted her arm comfortingly. "The fact that their territory had paper and printing press is enough to convince me they''re much better than others. "I think¡­ it''s okay to take this leap," he said. Although he also had doubts, as the backbone of their family, he could not show it. Renya looked at her husband with glassy eyes. She didn''t speak for a while before nodding. She gripped his hand tighter, finding comfort in his warmth. "Well, whatever happens, at least we''ll be together." ¡­ On the other side, Victor received some details from the Alterran representatives this time. "Limestone Valleys will primarily focus on mining," Victor repeated, reading the letter with long bullet points of instructions. He took note of them, thinking of the best steps for efficiency. "They said to give you freedom in most cases, including how to execute the basic orders," Luis said with a shrug. "We''re counting on you." Victor felt a bit pressured, but nodded in the end. Alterra''s side was led by Luis and Sammy, and they were assigned to fetch the large group of immigrants filled with professionals. They also discussed how to protect the miners¡ªwho were rightful employees¡ªand how they could maximize the output considering they weren''t going full force with the mining just yet. Luckily, they had Bazco, a retired miner who did have some knowledge in mining several materials. He would be staying in Limestone Valley semi-permanently. This, combined with some handwritten notes from sister-in-law (researched from her tablet and based on their observations when they visited), they compiled and finalized some plans. "Contact only when important. We hope that you handle this place well." "We will do what we can," Victor said and he said his goodbyes as the two headed back to the immigrants. While the two talked with the leading party, the other guards prepared the civilians and oriented them on what to do, especially during emergencies like mob attacks. Vanessa watched as the part got ready with a bit of bitterness. "Can''t I come with them?" Victor looked at her with a complex expression. He wanted his sister to have a good life¡ªof course he did¡ªbut he saw how unhealthy her affections were. Having her so close to that couple wouldn''t do her any good at all. "Not yet, sis. Maybe after a few cycles," he said, baritone voice filled with finality. He then turned to focus on the other team members to discuss their plans further, effectively ignoring her. Vanessa bit her lips. No fair! ¡­ The team left and traversed through the forests and hills, placing civilians between the guards. Of course, everyone had their weapons out. While a lot of them preferred to be protected, none of them would''ve survived this long without fighting at least a few times. It was a lot smoother than they anticipated though. Before going out, they were asked to spray bug repellants and monster repellants, though to be honest they were a little dubious at its effectivity. They weren''t expecting it to work so well! They hadn''t felt any bites at all! More importantly, they hadn''t encountered many mobs after a few hours of travel! The guards cleared the path as they traveled, placing the signs in strategic distances from each other. While it had some risk of attracting strong enemies, helping out brethren and refugees remained their priority. Their vision was that Alterra would always be much stronger than territories that could attack it, so it didn''t matter if they found the signages. "I wish more of my family would find these¡­" a guard said as he attached a sign to a tree. His friend agreed with him. "Same¡­" This went on for another half an hour and it was quite peaceful. Even the immigrants felt like smiling as they watched the interactions. It also reassured them a lot. A territory that could think about ''miscellaneous'' things like this must be powerful, right? It was peaceful like this for a bit longer until Luis¡ªwho was placing a sign against one of the trees¡ªabruptly let go and jumped back. Clack! The sound of metal against metal as a flash sparked and Luis was pushed back by a force. "Enemies!" He yelled. Strong ones! Chapter 699 - 699: The Next Enemy A blink later, they saw Luis had his sword raised, shielding against another man''s sword. What''s more? The blades were both on fire. "OH? Same type, eh?" The man said, grinning as he showed off his yellow teeth. Luis almost barfed at his bad breath. Fortunately, he managed to shakily maintain his defense as the man increased his power. Swish! Luis was pushed back further until his back hit a tree. The stranger grinned and increased his fire more, a little bloodthirsty, but paused when he felt a blade on his neck. "I advise you to back off," Sammy said, pointing right at the man''s head. He added a wind element and the breeze made the man''s eyebrows rise. "Eh¡­" The three went on a standstill, with tension so palpable the bystanders could almost touch it. The fighters were prepared to intervene and rescue at a moment''s notice while the civilians shivered in fear, thinking they made a mistake for coming on this journey. Such a strong enemy was probably not alone, right? They wondered: Were they about to die? Marco immediately stepped in front of his wife as she tried to hold back her sobs. If a fight happened, he was ready to pull his wife back. Whether or not they''d be heading towards safety, he couldn''t tell, but they certainly wouldn''t be collateral damage so early. The others were also prepared to escape, though where exactly they should be heading in¡ªthey weren''t so certain. They all watched in tension as the three elementalists maintained an equilibrium of sorts, though one that could explode the moment a little movement was made. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Even Sammy was tense and serious. This guy must have a higher level than him!! Fortunately, nothing happened as a new voice emerged from the forest. "Stop it, Ero," he said, making the man frown but the bloodlust was indeed controlled a bit. It made Sammy''s eyes narrowed but his attention refused to leave the other fire user. On the other hand, the rest turned to see the source of the voice. A middle-aged man emerged from the forest with several people. The most notable was that he had a strong aura¡ªrelative to theirs, at least¡ªand the people around him were not weak either. It seemed like more than a handful were beyond level 20! Who were these people? Were they from towns? In the end, the man named Ero clicked his tongue before stepping back, looking a lot milder than he was a few seconds prior. "Yes, milord." The Alterran guards did not soften and their weapons remained ready for an attack. It was just that the soldiers faltered a bit when they recognized who the leader was, as well as the couple of people around him. They were acquaintances! And not the good kind! Luis and Sammy shared a look, feeling a little heavy to the stomach, already thinking of how to handle this with minimal losses on their side. Who were these people, you ask? It was people from Guia Village! Not just people from Guia Village¡ªthis was pretty much the ruling party, right? Why were they here?! The man seemed to have recognized them as well. "You seem familiar," he said. Though rather as an inquiry, it sounded more¡­ irksome. A few other men arrived behind him, immediately glaring. Someone was even gestured to attack at the sight of them. He was held back by his companions, who were also eager to lunge at them but were stopped by their Lord''s calm demeanor. Sammy and Luis recognized these men as the unlucky few who happened to be fainted and left in the forest back when they were rescuing the goblins. They spent a lot of money on those sleeping powders from Bart you know, they should be flattered! Anyway, the two of them noticed that these people had huge scars on their faces, obviously made by beasts. Uh-oh¡­ The man being held back struggled. This man was called Roy, a level 18 swordsman. "They tied us up!" he yelled, earning himself a kick. "Do you have to announce so loudly?" A bald man said, looking at him badly. He looked even more scary with all the scars he had. "You were angry at them too, Seto! How could you, a level 24, be pushed around so much by such weaklings?" He then turned to the lord. "They humiliated us, milord!" "Oh calm down. It''s not like you died," Baltimore said with a mysterious smile. And the men had no choice but to step back. He looked at Sammy and Luis. "Where''re the others?" he asked, and this sent alarm bells in both their minds. "Not with us," Sammy said and Baltimore''s smile faded. "I see," he said, knowing the information from them would be limited. "There seems to be a territory nearby?" He asked. They had been through a couple of local territories the past few days, and they went East as soon as they found out it was the location of the fog. "Did you come from there?" Sammy and Luis struggled a bit. They could tell the Guia Villagers were definitely up to no good. They were straightforward soldiers, they couldn''t handle guys like Baltimore well! They were just good with fists, which unfortunately was too dangerous to use against this group! More importantly, they had civilians with them, so they couldn''t fight! Seeing them reluctant, the lords'' cronies jumped to interrogate them. "Where are you heading? Why leave?" "Why so many people?" "Are you refugees?" Before they could use this excuse, Baltimore interrupted the questioning. "No, they are not refugees. Their current states and temperaments don''t fit. It''s more likely they''re just traveling from one territory to another." At this, Ero turned and looked badly at them. "Don''t lie to us. If you do, I don''t know what we''ll do." Luis'' eyes twitched, almost jumping to attack the man''s ugly smug face, but he was held down by the arm by his tanned companion. Sammy thought for a while on how to answer. If they went to Limestone Valley, they would definitely still hear about Alterra anyway. Not to mention, Limestone Valley wouldn''t be able to fight against Guia Village, but Alterra could. So, in the end, he didn''t bother to lie. "Yes, but we''re heading towards someplace else to settle down," Sammy said. This made Luis and the others stare at him, but they didn''t interrupt. Baltimore saw their reaction and smiled, asking the following questions. "Interesting. What''s the place''s name?" "Alterra Village." "I see," he paused, "You don''t mind if we come with you, right?" This made the Alterrans flinch. Sammy plastered a smile on his face. "Sure," he said. However, as he went to lead the way, he signaled something to Luis with some subtle and obscure gesture only they understood. Luis excused himself saying he seemed to have dropped something some distance away. As soon as he was sure the coast was clear, he then went someplace to write on an aether letter, directed at the bird holder back in Limestone Valley. Aether letters could not send to Alterra, but it could still reach the Valley. Hopefully, Victor and the others reacted fast enough. At this, he made his letter look particularly urgent. /Enemy Alert! Enemy Alert! URGENT! Send a letter to Alterra. Guia Village! Heading towards Alterra now!/ He then returned to the crowd a couple of minutes later holding a stool he sat on when camping. "Left this behind, hehe," he said, before joining the crowd as if nothing happened. Baltimore''s sharp eyes could naturally see that Luis lied, but he didn''t mind much. It just made him more curious about the territory they were heading towards. "Alterra Village, eh?" Chapter 700 - 700: School Opening Meanwhile, in Alterra, the citizens were still unaware of a new enemy coming in. Instead, the atmosphere was jovial and exciting. After all, the first day of school had finally begun! The school was a lovely manual construction surrounded by large open space for plants and playgrounds. It had several classrooms and provisions for every class found in Terran (of course, adjusted according to local conditions). Other than this, there were naturally new classes like fighting classes, monster class, and Xenoan Flora and Fauna class. The school was a four-story building with an open plan to allow for natural ventilation to go throughout. Like every other building, it was designed to be naturally cool and refreshing, but with easy maneuverable walls and features to handle harsh winters. All around it, trees with wide canopies served as shade for the students and the teachers. There was plenty of ivy crawling on certain walls, the gardens were dotted with various flowers, and these added a sense of beauty and tranquility to the campus. It was a wonderful campus that encouraged growth, camaraderie, and loyalty to the territory, and in time it would be one of Alterra''s many sources of pride. When they get more of those Blu stuff, a school building would be one of the next special buildings they''d do. If she were to choose, it would either be the school laboratory or the school library. After all, a school was not just to a place to listen and learn, but also a place to learn through action, experiment, and mistakes. This was what was going on in Althea''s mind as they watched the students enter the low gates of the school by groups or by pairs. The people watched with warm hearts¡ªwhether or not they had children in there¡ªas they saw children off to do something they had taken for granted all their lives. "Bye, everyone~!" Little Maya said, hugging all the adults in her family. Horus also waved at them, but otherwise still very shy. Maya then grabbed his hand to drag him to the gate and meet their friends. Near them was Oslo and his nephew, Honda. Oslo leaned down and patted the boy''s head. "Remember, learn as much as you can, but also enjoy your time here," he said. Honda looked at him with those large amber eyes, exuding trust. "Yes uncle," he said, though he didn''t move immediately, a little intimidated by a new school. Then he heard his friends'' voice calling for him and all the tension disappeared. With a smile, he turned and ran to join them. Nearby, there was also an odd family saying goodbye to their children. It was Bruce, Tom, and their new brother Rebi and the three girls Lily, Fiona, and Lina. "Be good, girls," they said. "Always help each other, okay?" "Okay Dads!" they said and the three girls held each others'' hands and went together to find their friends (and their classroom, of course). They joined Mimi, who was waving her little hands to her parents nearby. It was notable that Alterra''s top lawyer was a little teary at this time. And then, while most Terrans adjusted fast enough considering it wasn''t anything new to them, there was a good portion of the students who were huddled together, appearing a bit nervous and lost. They were all from Mauin Village, for whom the concept of school itself was something alien and therefore a little scary. For instance, there was Maumi and his best friends Pongo and Gururu. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Do I really have to go?" Maumi asked quietly as he held on his mother''s hand. His father patted his head, "Don''t you want to be with your friends?" They had been here for many days, and the children had already played freely in the parks. They had met with the other children, and befriended them somehow. However, the concept of school was extremely new to them. What if they failed? What if they embarrassed themselves in front of their new friends? Mauru patted his son''s head. He understood how confused the boy was. Even he, an adult of several decades had only heard of schools and academies. They were exclusive to nobles and were very expensive. But here, the tuition was very affordable, could be paid in contribution points, or could be ''loaned'' in the bank as well as long as they secured a good source of income. Speaking of Mauru, he and his family were adjusting well. For one, he was already a captain after his contributions in the war, while his wife had applied to be one of the cleaner-gardeners of the school, primarily to be close to their child. "Go," he said. "Otherwise, your friends will leave you behind. Do you want that?" Little Maumi shook his head and soon a renewed determination was seen on his cute face. After a bit, the trio began to brave steps towards the gates, not sure exactly what the expect. But then their friends waved at them and they ran to them, forgetting the tension. The former Mauin villagers watched as the children joined in the locals and their shoulders slumped in relief. "They''re all so welcoming¡­" They had a bit of an inferiority complex coming here. After all, everyone was so¡­ cultured. There were so many elementalists, too. They were all smart and had novel ideas. It was hard not to feel a bit inferior. However, despite all that, they were never made to feel that way. In contrast, they were welcomed as brethren almost as soon as they arrived. "Even a half-orc could integrate, why can''t we?" "Hm, that''s true." "And it''ll only get better," Mauru said, looking at his wife with a smile. "Has our loan application been approved?" The woman nodded. "We''ll be able to receive it within the next few days." Mauru brightened even more at this. "That''s great!" With this, they''d be able to raise their standard of living even more. In fact, they had been confused by the concept for a very long time, but after observing other people, they came to realize how magical the benefit was. Of course, they had to be temporary residents first and swear payment under oath, but that was understandable. Fortunately, the temporary residency here was affordable, especially with the contribution points Mauru saved up, making his savings enough for their entire family. Anyway, the adults watched the children and teenager enter the gates and disappear from their sights with various emotions in their hearts. However, Althea and her team felt a bit bittersweet seeing the number of students. This was because counting the little ones who entered, they could see that while the the number of children increased, it was still not much overall. In the entire territory, not including her twins, there was now a grand total of¡­ 100 kids, a lot of which were from the newly arrived Mauin villagers. Out of these 100 kids, only a portion were small children less than 10 years old. "It''s a bit sad," Ansel said, shaking his head. Thousands of people, yet less than a hundred youngins. "We don''t have enough children, it''s fortunate people''s lifespan had lengthened, otherwise Alterra would be in trouble after a few decades," Althea mumbled, noting to go to Mathilda later to discuss policies to encourage birth. She looked at the educational edifice with deep eyes, uttering with a serious expression: "It''s time to make more children." Chapter 701 - 701: Beloved Children of Alterra Her words were completely professional, but it made Garan turn to her. Althea felt his stare and she looked at him. It took a moment for her to realize what the heated stare was about and she wanted to pinch his cheek. "Pregnant women can''t make love for a certain number of months, apparently. It''ll be bad for the baby." Garan''s face was unchanged and he nodded, "Yes, there are so many people in the territory, we should implement policies that would encourage couples to procreate." Her lips twitched. Her husband can be very easy to talk to. Mathilda, who was standing beside them (and watching them in amusement), giggled. "I agree with Garan. We can add incentives for couples to create families." In Terran, plenty of countries saw declines in their younger population because the young adults simply didn''t want to make families. This created a major problem of a declining workforce but an increasing number of senior citizens. In those countries, incentive schemes were implemented, as well as some guarantees. Although not all of them were applicable in their case, Mathilda already had a few policies in mind that may mirror a couple of those policies. For instance, they could introduce child benefits and tax breaks. They would offer financial support to families who had babies until, say, the age of 3, which should give enough time for a family to adjust. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They could also lower the costs of childcare items and the like. They would provide some monthly copper allowance for the couple and guaranteed free ob-gyn care and baby supplies. "This is a good time to implement policies," Althea said. "We are not only among the top in our tier¡ªwhich may not be the same after we upgrade to Town¡ªbut I also heard it''d be much harder to procreate after a certain level." This certain level varied from levels 25 to level 40, depending on the individual. Gaia, Oslo''s mother, seemed to have given birth to him around the latter level. However, most people''s limits were much earlier and they didn''t want people holding back their own upgrades because they wanted children. Mathilda smiled, taking it as an official instruction. "Leave this to us," she said, mentioning a few of the policies she had in mind. "I can tell you that in a few years, we would have thousands more children gracing our territory." Althea and the others smiled at the image. Ah, how lovely. ¡­ Back to the school, the first day of classes was now about to start!! The hundred children varied in age, but were divided into three classes which would eventually have tiers should the educators deem them necessary. The three tiers were nursery, elementary, and high school. Only Theo was in the nursery class for now, but Beany decided to enroll him anyway. When they found out about this, Garan and Althea also decided to enroll the twins as honorary students in the following days. Despite their age and since it was only three children, it should be easy for the teacher¡ªa lovely young lady called Evelyn¡ªto care for them. Speaking of Evelyn, she was a pretty girl with curly reddish-brown hair and pale skin. She was also Turbo''s childhood sweetheart and quite a mild-mannered girl. Turbo found her when he and a team of guards (as well as a few civilians training) cleared out the surrounding areas of monsters. According to witnesses, she and a few others were unsightly, but Turbo recognized her immediately. They had just escaped from a fallen village west called Juno Village, which was taken over by aborigines. When they bought their map, they found that the former territory was really a long way West, even beyond Fargo. They really traveled for more than a week before ending up in their area. Her group of more than a hundred was down to about a dozen by the time they were rescued. According to the spectators¡ªer, witnesses¡ªTurbo immediately hugged the woman as soon as he recognized her, not even noticing all the grime on her. The two just cried in each other''s arms while the rest cleared out the mob their large group attracted. As for how she survived this long, she had awakened a skill similar to Horus'' stealth skill, but milder and could easily be noticed if one looked closely enough. It was something that she¡ªas someone who lived her whole life as a super-introvert¡ªcould control well. She called the skill¡­ ''The Wallflower'' and it was practically a passive skill and required minimal mana. This skill was pretty much her default mode, and it made Turbo''s finding her so quickly even more special. It was quite romantic, and it became another material for the puppet show writers to base on. The titles? ''Turbo finds his Wallflower'', ''Turbo''s Hidden Gem'', and ''Water Chronicles: Silent Heart, Loud Love''. Anyway, Evelyn might be a very quiet and introverted lady, but she was very nourishing and motherly. Turbo would often get teased about how he found himself a perfect housewife and mother of his children. The nursery class would comprise primarily of the basics like shapes, colors, and the like. As for the elementary tier, this was where the rest of the 30 children were assigned. The remaining ones were teenagers aged 12 to 18. For now, each was one class. The elementary class was held by Rosalind¡ªthe Dean of this school¡ªherself. She would teach them basic living and literacy, while also introducing them to the world outside. For Literacy, Terran language class would be an elective that Terran children could take if they wanted to, just to keep their old home alive, but the Xeno written language was mandatory. Unlike Xenoan spoken language which was programmed in with the system, the written language had to be learned manually. At this level, it would focus on their alphabet which was mainly logograms, which would take a while to teach. Still, she pushed for it. After all, to truly understand a culture, one must not only learn to speak its language¡ªbut also be able to read its stories. Chapter 702 - 702: Raising them Well The teachers for literacy were just the previous hires taking this as a part-time job. Or rather, they were asked to help create some guide books, and then the rest of the teachers based on this. It wasn''t that she hadn''t considered getting another random hire in the village center, regardless of what they were applying for, but the thing was¡ªliteracy really wasn''t much of a thing here. Among the people she had hired, only those from the city like Oslo and Betty, with a few exemptions like Brenda (thanks to her hardworking father) and Rowan could read. The others just learned from them as time went on. There was a long way before they achieved 100% proficiency in the Xeno written language, but with her people''s brains and yearning to learn, they would adjust in time. The Physical Education class, on the other hand, would be led in rotation by the guard team. They would teach basic health and stances. They would also be training the children''s foundations at this stage. By ''foundation'', it was not just limited to the Physical. Rather, it included mental and practical skills. They would be subjected to endurance training to build their endurance and prepare them for long periods of physical activity later in life. Strength exercises were also important, though they would vary according to the child''s age. They would also be training their mental resilience, hoping they would be able to handle stressors and stimulants productively. This would be done by using challenge-based activity for young kids, and stress and pressure stimulation for older ones. If they had the predisposition to be elementalists (which all Terran children seemed to be), the meditation exercises would also be taught to them early in order to form a habit. Other than these, the children would also be taught some basic plant and animal knowledge, as well as camping and survival knowledge from an early age as well. The teenagers would comprise the high school class. This one had fewer class hours because they were already expected to fight during mobs and would be starting to hunt/clear out enemies at least a few times a week. Their classes were advanced versions of those learned in elementary. Advanced fighting and survival classes would also be part of their curriculum. Advanced survival skills were also taught at this age. They would be taught proper foraging techniques and food preparation. They would even be taught basic shelter making. For instance, if they found themselves in the middle of a forest on a mission and it rained, they should be able to make a temporary shed to protect them from it. After all, the rain here was different from Terran. It could literally weaken them¡ªand that was a dangerous thing in the wild. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They would also be taught basic first aid and how to make impromptu bandages and the like, hoping to prepare them for the inevitable injuries they''d experience in time. The kids had no books for now, but they could at least buy some notebooks in the school bookstore. The paper factory allocated a certain amount of paper to schools. When books became more readily available outside the government institutions and the library, they would also be sold in the school bookstore on the ground floor. Other than these, there were also adult classes like Xeno language literacy, Pharmacy, Basic cooking, and the like. There would also be specialist classes like paper making, ceramics, et cetera, but they would be on bond with the territory for at least 2 years. Although there was tuition¡ªwhich was much more expensive than the kids''¡ªit actually wasn''t expensive considering everything. To be honest, it was practically subsidized and the tuition was just there in order for the system to not be taken advantage of by lazy people. Who would want to train people but just have them work for others? They should at least get their ROI. Mauin citizens had heard of the adult classes mentioned in the newspaper, though they couldn''t read yet so they depended on others to read for them. They were still a bit cynical about something so good happening to them, but when they saw how the Terrans discussed it they couldn''t help but believe. Speaking of this, after the students settled down and began their classes, several adults also entered to school the to inquire about the adult classes. "Can we learn to read?" "Of course." Some would ask about the life knowledge. "Can we really make ceramics after graduation?" Some would also ask about future employment. "Did Baron say he''d hire those who graduated from woodworking class?" "Can we really apply for the Research Center if we get good grades?" Anyway, it was quite lively and the administrators tried their best to answer. Soon, they finished the question and answer session by asking everyone interested to register. When it was his turn, Maui couldn''t help but pause. First of all, he couldn''t write yet, so he embarrassedly had to ask the administrators¡ªwho were understanding, gentle, and helpful by the way¡ªto do it for him. As he watched his name being jotted down, he cleared his throat. "How¡­ does the classes work?" "It''s just a few hours a week, so you could keep your jobs and your training schedules. Schedules available are listed here," he said, handing over a piece of paper with a list of schedules. Then he remembered they couldn''t read yet, so he asked his teammate to read it out loud. While this was ongoing, Gochi and the others were outside, watching as more and more adults entered the gate. He was frozen on the spot, drowning in various thoughts, reluctants, and doubts until a voice sounded next to him. "Why don''t you enter?" The voice was familiar and he flinched as he turned to her. "M-Miss Althea!" "There are also courses like Basic Pharmacy, you know," she said. "Why don''t you try and enroll?" Gochi stared at her with a complicated expression. This made Althea (and her husband closely next to her) stare at him. Why wouldn''t he try? Gochi asked himself. It was because he¡­ didn''t think he could do so¡­ "What''s wrong?" He shook a bit and felt shy, but his eyes met Miss Althea''s pure green eyes. She smiled, nodding in encouragement. "Go," she said, "You definitely have the talent for it." Looking at her full of trust in him, he couldn''t bring himself to decline. He couldn''t bear to disappoint her either. So, following the crowd, he tentatively entered the school to enroll. From then on, after his duties as a guard, he would go straight to school. After a couple of months of training, Gochi would then be the first half-orc military medic in Xeno history. Chapter 703 - 703: Doggo Date While the first day of class was ongoing, a certain pair of canines were going around doing their rounds. "Fufi, catch!" one yelled, and the large golden mutt turned and barked, his tail wagging playfully. Woof! He opened his large mouth to catch a mouthwatering piece of Mooselion steak. His movements were large and when he landed after a jump, the nearby people would feel a slight shift in air due to his mass. Meat on mouth, he turned to his companion, who was also called somewhere else. "Snow, Snow! Here!" Another yelled, but threw the slab at a higher angle. The wolf''s agile form glided through the air, gracefully jumped, and caught it with its mouth¡ªlanding gently on the ground as if she just floated. This was in stark contrast with Fufi, who could cause vibrations when he lunged, forgetting how big he was now. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, seeing his girlfriend was fed, he started to taste the nice meat already in his mouth. Nom, nom, nom After that was gone, another slab of meat flew towards the two, which they also caught with contrasting finesse (i.e. with Fufi decidedly lacking any of it). Snow though was as graceful as ever, and one could not see even a bit of stain from the meat in her fur. "Gorgeous!" The thrower yelled, and some bystanders clapped their hands. Don''t look at them slacking off. Everyone there was actually doing their usual activities, whether it was shopping, selling, exercising, or the like. However, when the two dogs passed by, they would pause and just watch them with smiles. They also always had some food in their space, not only for their own emergency supply but also for treats. Anyway, they hunted a lot, and no one lacked meat with the amount of beasts outside. If they could make the doggos happy, then their days were made. Anyway, the two dogs had¡ªalong with the babies¡ªbecome the official mascots of Alterra. They were greatly loved, getting fed every few blocks they passed by. Like the kids, they also got their own fanbases. If Pepper had ''The Spices'', and Meatball had ''The Munchkins'', then Fufi had the ''Golden Paws Squad'' while Snow had ''The Snowflakes''. Anyway, the doggos'' metabolic rates were great and they had a high rate of activity so they didn''t really get too flabby despite their consumption. Also, Althea had started a program to teach them what was poisonous or would cause their bodies harm. She rarely did it herself lately due to her busy schedule, however one of her assistants like Gus or Lily (the doctor) would do it for her. This way, if some evil mind decided to try to harm the dogs with treats, they wouldn''t succeed, and would even be caught immediately. The lessons were taught in the barracks so the soldiers would also be taught. This was not to say the soldiers were afterthought, of course. Ahem. The pair moved a couple more blocks, getting a few more treats, even from aborigines like Betty. The aborigines were very shocked about it too at first, as Battle Pets were relatively uncommon even in towns, but now there were two roaming around freely in the territory with their own matching collars as their ''uniform''. Sometime in their rounds though, the two dogs paused almost simultaneously, growling in a direction. They howled, and everyone around looked at them with furrowed eyebrows. "Oh, what''s wrong?" The dogs didn''t move though, just looking in a direction. Then the alarm bell shortly after, followed by an announcement. Apparently, a mob of about a hundred or so monsters had arrived. This was followed by the bell ringing. It only rang three times to announce and then¡­ nothing else. This meant the threat was, well, not much of a threat and they could continue as they were. It was enough for everyone to know they were being attacked without having to endure the constant noise to distract their every day activities! Anyway, the bell alerted all the interested fighters. They converged towards the gate, ready to get out as soon as the gate opened. Meanwhile, the rest of the territory just went ahead with their day. ¡­ On the battlement, Chris looked through his scope, soon seeing a team who were trapped outside by the mob. They were probably outside when the mob attacked and escaped getting surrounded by finding high ground and dosing themselves with beast repellents. They had probably been exhausted so they hadn''t fought their way through the mobs. One of the members outside saw the reflection of the scope and flinched. He then waved around his hand, signing with his hands. He was saying that they were fine and to just get rid of the mob already. With a shrug, Chris signaled for the gate to be opened, both the interior and the minor coralle outside, letting some monsters in to handle. As such, people who were eager to get some meat, money, and contribution points filed out the gate. They were holding out their weapons, shields, and the like. If they were awakened, then their elements could be floating around them. Spearheading this group were, amusingly, the Mauin Villagers. They had nothing when they arrived, and they knew nothing of the industries here so they couldn''t get good jobs inside the territory. What they had been doing their whole lives though was fighting! Even the women who weren''t able to secure jobs like cleaner and gardener jobs joined in. They had experienced a lot of wars, though they were usually tasked to protect the children. Before, they were both too scared and biased. They didn''t think it was an option for women to have a job outside the door after marriage. However, after going to Alterra and seeing female guards and leading figures¡ªespecially the respected leaders like Miss Althea, Miss Mathilda, and Miss Winona¡ªtheir perspective on their limitations suddenly got overturned. The group charged towards the mob, hearts filled with the fire of battle. They will fight! For a good life! Chapter 704 - 704: Minor Battle with Another Mob Outside the territory The group ''trapped'' outside was led by Ansel. In this group, he was with the twins, as well as about a dozen civilians who joined the hunting team. It started out quite nicely. They hunted monsters, defeated them, gained fair amounts of experience for each team member, and also got a lot of loot. By the end, everyone had their space filled with resources. Sadly, a mob of hundreds arrived, and many level 7s, which was a bit dangerous even for them. Loki was there with them but he was only allowed to help them level up and save their arses from death, so he refused to clear the mobs for them. Fortunately, Ansel had bottles of Beast Repellant potions and they managed to avoid the bulk of it. Of course, Alterra''s potions couldn''t yet be compared to that of the city''s, so there were monsters that still went to attack them, but it was manageable. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They fought their way until they caught sight of the main walls. It went relatively smoothly until someone got injured and the smell of blood attracted more and more monsters, which led to their current predicament of defending-but-can''t-move-forward. "Yo¡ªAnsel~ Been a while since we last fought a mob together, eh?" Luke said and Leo nodded, all while shielding themselves against the monsters. Luke waved his spear and stabbed a monster in place, while Leo waved his sword to stab it through its eyes and through its head. "I heard you got a new girlfriend." "You already heard about that already, eh?" Ansel said, sneering, a blaze of fire burning a weaker monster to crisp. "Also, she is not my girlfriend!" The twins would''ve raised their hands in surrender if they weren''t busy defending. "Yes, yes, whatever you say." At the same time, both of them were eager to try out their new skills! Luke and Leo both activated new skills during their rounds, with Luke getting the Fire Whip technique similar to Luis'' while Leo got a technique called Water formation, which was a faster and more efficient way to condense water from air. In Alterra, all water users had a little water sac in their spaces, earth users had small boulders, fire users had oil, wind users had fans, and the like. However, there were plenty of cases where the water wasn''t enough, and condensing water from air took a lot of energy as it was. This technique was very useful in such cases. With it, the normal energy consumption would be halved or reduced even more. Luke couldn''t wait to test out his skills. He even had the audacity to grin at him, "Imma try some techniques, help me practice later, okay?" Ansel''s eyes twitched, "Being in the middle of a monster mob is not the time to practice!" Anyway, they continued fighting their way until they finally found an opening to move forward. It was small and they could only move slowly, but eventually they did reach the walls. Immediately, they took advantage of the sentries¡ªwhich was basically instinctual now¡ªto kill several monsters from the get-go. Ansel took an extra step and jumped up, his back on a sentry that was about to shoot. The twins gasped but then Ansel immediately turned away. At this level, at the right angle, a single shot from the sentry could skewer 2 monsters no problem. Like so, within the next few minutes, Ansel alone took down a handful of monsters just with sentries. The twins looked at him with a smile, and he shook his head. "Backs near the walls," he said, "Cover your backs well, I can only watch so much." "Aye, aye, Ansel~" ¡­ When the people found out about the mob''s manageable level, a lot more joined in. This was an easy level and would give decent contribution points to a lot of them. For those who were stuck in level 8 or 9, this was the perfect time to try and hit level 10! So many people had began to awaken, and they were feeling left behind! The two dogs also joined in and went around near the walls and killing what they could. Fufi was right by Snow though as the wolf''s level was limited. They were definitely working well together though, with Fufi dealing brute force and Snow killing off the remaining leaks or weakened monsters. Fufi was willing to give most of the kills too, like a good gentleman dog, so that Snow''s level would at least be high enough to handle or escape from higher levelled monster. Meanwhile, in one of the corners, the good-looking Trio were fighting a small mob while practicing their elements. Leo had long given up because he didn''t do as well under pressure. He couldn''t even make a drop before almost getting bitten. He decided to just practise the skill more in peace first. Luke was different, plus he had the guidance of fellow fire user Ansel, so after a while of swinging his spear, he decided to try out the skill he just ''inherited''. It wasn''t easy to do at will though, and he practiced so much so that after some point, his mana reduced so much that his fire whip could only be super small. It would then get put out by a monster breathing on it. Simple-minded Luke was still very happy though. "Whoo! That was a total fire whip!" Ansel''s lips twitched. Rather than a fire whip, that was a fire worm. They continued to fight until the mobs had become visibly few. With the help of sentries and the dogs, the weight wasn''t heavy on anyone with a decent level. It got to the point Luke recovered enough mana and finally created a fire whip the size of a kid''s belt! "OHY¡ª" But then¡ª Drip, drop, drip A single drop of rain killed it. "..." Ansel laughed as he swung, though his eyes twitched when he felt a few droplets on his skin. Fortunately, the mob was almost finished so they didn''t have to worry about the rain too much. It was just that with rain came mud, and mud meant muddy dogs. The beast mob was dealt with but the massive canines ran to the familiar people¡ªespecially Ansel¡ªand they shook their bodies to rid of the mud, splattering all over Ansel. The redhead felt uncomfortable all over. "FUFI! SNOW!" ¡­ Back in the villa, Althea and Garan looked out the window of their home to look at the sky, now a little darker from the rain clouds. They were currently in the living room having a meeting with Eagle, who was discussing the plan for continuous exchange with Ferrol. The bell on the veranda rang. "A messenger bird has arrived!" Eagle said, standing up to take the bird, and placing it on its birdhouse to get dried and fed. "It''s from Limestone Valley," he said, and the couple nodded at him to read. The man paled immediately as his eyes traced over its contents. This made the atmosphere a little stagnant, the couple waiting for him to speak. Eagle heaved a deep breath, looking at the other two with a serious expression. "Guia is coming!" Chapter 705 - 705: Unfriendly Visitors (Part 1) There was silence in the room for a while, and Althea looked at the two men whose guards had gone to the highest level. She had heard the village mentioned in association with an interesting new race¡ªGoblins¡ªbut they didn''t really discuss the place''s force value. "Are they very strong?" she asked and the two men nodded. "Guia Village could easily be the strongest village in our region," Garan explained. "Their lord is at least level 30 and the average level of guards there are strong, but they always keep a certain number within the level limit to make sure they can cause real damage during wars." That was to say, they had plenty of guards level 20s and above, but they also had forces at level 15 or below. This average was way beyond the level 3 village, which averaged at level 12 or so. Garan and the others knew this clearly because this was public knowledge they gathered after investigating the place. It was their point of pride and was a great way to discourage enemies from causing trouble. Baltimore was also the type to prefer people getting intimidated just by his, or his territory''s, name. "Don''t their guards upgrade?" she asked. The other two shook their heads. "I think they never run out." "Must''ve been sent by their backer," Eagle said. If the guards upgrades beyond the level cap, they could send the stronger ones back to the ''master'', which was not a disadvantage at all, especially when the master would send younger ''new blood'' within the level cap to replace them. At this Eagle flinched, remembering something. "Isn''t Guia a subordinate village of Ferrol?" This made the couple frown and look at each other. Jonathan didn''t seem like someone who''d attack them. There was no point. Garan shook his head in the end. "Subordinate territories are still free. For a bit of clout, they simply have to pay a good amount of tribute to the other territory until the contract ended." Subordinate villages separating from the ''master'' territory¡ªat least after the year ended¡ªwas nothing new. Of course, getting into the bad side of the master, unless a better one was found, was a stupid move that would just place a target on the territory''s head. There were also some cases where it was likely to happen. For example, when a subordinate village lost ownership of the token. The new owner naturally refused to be under a backer they didn''t acknowledge and would not renew the contract after it ended. This would often lead to the backer sending other subordinate villages to wear it down, getting the territory back in the end. This was, of course, unless the conquestor had a backer. "Would he target Alterra specifically?" Althea asked, eyebrows furrowing in worry. "The lord is the vindictive type," Garan said, telling her more details about what happened with the goblin slaves. "Since he found Luis and the others, he''d definitely consider attacking us. "However, as long as we defend well, we shouldn''t lose, not on my watch." He said, reassuring her. "It''s just that¡­ there would definitely be losses." There was silence in the room, and Althea''s heart clenched. Human lives naturally had great weight in all their decision-making. Even if it would cost more and need more effort and resources, they would definitely choose options that would save more lives. "That will indeed be a problem," Althea mumbled, gripping her skirt. Garan''s large hand immediately enveloped hers, calming her down a bit. "Well, we''re not sure if he will really attack," he said, baritone voice soothing her worries. "If he does¡­ then we will be ready." ¡­. As such, they called the soldiers within the territory to start discussing what they knew about Guia Village. Led by Eagle and Garan, Althea knew more and more details about the village. She had roughly known about Goblins and their situation in this world was¡ªeven before, from her husband. That was where she first understood the reality of how harsh slavery was in this world. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, this was the first time she had heard of the detailed account of the enemy''s strength. Garan and the others only If anyone said they were the strongest village in the region, she would believe it. She was also reminded of the¡­ resources available in the place. "You said they had an Iron mine and goblin slaves, right?" Althea asked, eyes a little dazed as she entered a deep thought process. Garan nodded. "Do you want it?" he asked, deep azure eyes staring at her as he waited for her response. If she said yes, then he''d do what it takes to get it. She didn''t answer immediately. "Rather than hunt for it, I just thought it''d be a convenient loot if we get our hands on it without extra losses." The soldiers nodded at this, though at the same time also hoping to achieve the best case scenario. The Iron bog could only give so much iron, and it was public knowledge they were running out. They¡­ really needed that mine. Althea had vowed not to be the attacking territory unless there was no other choice. They weren''t even entirely sure if Guia would attack. What if they could be talked to? Maybe a deal could be made? Money could fix a lot of things¡­ Besides, even if Guia did attack, it''ll be difficult to get the token as the lord was very strong. Not to mention, he might be in his territory during the war. Garan wouldn''t even be able to attack him then because he wouldn''t be able to go through the array in the first place. Even if he did, he might not win. Althea would never risk her husband''s life. "We won''t be attacking," Althea said after a few moments. "But if he decides to attack us, then we''ll just make him regret it." Anyway, there was also some new stuff from the Research Center that quite needed a few ''subjects''. If they were stupid enough to try and hurt them, then Althea would not mind turning them into guinea pigs. Chapter 706 - 706: Unfriendly Visitors (Part 2) Among the guards, an announcement was made, and it really surprised them all. [Potential enemies will arrive soon! Try not to show your prowess too much. We prefer being underestimated.] This startled the guards a lot, but they quickly adjusted and followed as ordered. Althea didn''t really bother doing the same with the citizens as it might give a few people the idea of selling the information to the enemy instead. There were thousands of them now, they obviously had a couple of bad apples already. Speaking of bad apples, a certain leech family was waiting around the gates when they heard people from Limestone Valley were entering the territory. They had been stalking the guard stations a lot and they happened to have overheard it. When the Limestone Valley party soon arrived¡ªwith the ''guests'' in tow¡ªthe aforementioned family ran to greet them. "It''s them!" they yelled, and went to Luis and the others. Sammy and Luis looked at the mother-and-son pair and were just confused. It was only when they started looking for a fellow guard that they remembered who this unsightly pair was. Amos hadn''t been away for long, but these two already looked like beggars. "Where''s my son?" "Where''s my brother?" Luis couldn''t handle pests very well so he cleared his throat and said he needed to bring the guests and the newcomers in. Sammy had no choice but to deal with the two, though he silently swore to spar with Luis later. They then saw Angelo in the group. Jesse stayed in Limestone Valley, but when Luis sent an urgent letter to them he and a few others immediately came to follow them back, catching up after half a day since the party was going slow with civilians in the team. Although war might not happen, they naturally wanted to be back home when it happened. Jesse would''ve gone back as well but he was already assigned a team. Angelo was an archer and was assigned to station the walls and was a bit more flexible. Anyway, because he was close with Amos, he knew these two very well. They were eyesores and he didn''t bother to hide his expression of disgust. "He stayed there." "WHAT?!" "What about us?" "What about you?" he asked, feigning ignorance even when he knew exactly what they were talking about. Even after all this time, this mother-son pair remained to be leeches, sucking Amos'' blood. No wonder he didn''t want to return here. The woman and her son glared at him, but they were weak¡ªbarely even level 5, and this was all because of Amos'' carrying them. Without Amos, if they somehow managed to survive, they would definitely not pass level 2. Sammy would be enlightened by the shamelessness of some people that day though. Seeing as he was the boss, the mother-and-son pair ignored Angelo and went to him instead. Amos'' mother¡ªBalon¡ªpatted herself, bossily ordering him. "Send us his paycheque instead!" Sammy had to stop his eyes from rolling. "That''s not how it works." "Then don''t we get support as his family?" "That''s completely at the guard''s prerogative. Besides, your other son look perfectly healthy," Sammy said, pointing at Alon. "He can go hunt outside. In Alterra, anyone willing to work wouldn''t go hungry." "NO!" "Well, then go hungry." "NOOO!" The woman yelled like a shrew. "He''s my son! He''s supposed to feed us! Unfilial bastard!!" Sammy patted his own shoulder as if massaging himself. It was a poor attempt to prevent him from getting down their level. His patience was running thin though. As one of the few extroverts in the team, this was already saying something. He looked at the guards stationed by the gates. "Send them to prison. Let them stay there for 1 day for disturbing public peace." This made the two flinch and glare at him. The guards surrounded them and they naturally tried to struggle. "This is unfair!" "Tyranny!" "HELP! HELLLPP!!!" Balon yelled which got her a tape¡ªsomething new by the research center, the cheapest one was made from thin elastic recycled paper with animal glue¡ªeffectively shutting her up. "What?! Jerks!!" Alon tried to fight back and attacked. Unfortunately for him, he was a weak chicken and was easily taken down. His mother screamed like a pig¡ªshe practically ate that tape¡ªwhen she saw her precious son hurt. "My son! How dare you!!" she yelled. She also tried to attack, though this also got her on the ground. They were then dragged to Prison to serve their short sentence. They screamed like shrews the whole way to prison, cursing everyone they encountered. ¡­ Baltimore and the others watched the interaction outside the gate in interest until Luis walked over. "Lord Baltimore," he said, "We''ll leave you here." This made the aborigines look at them. Luis pretended to be unaware of their looks. "Our territory is small and straightforward, you''ll be able to find more about it on your own." He didn''t look at them again as he smiled at the doctors and their other new citizens. "Let''s go get you registered first." And they left without looking back. When he said he was guiding the newcomers, it apparently did not include them. Some of Baltimore''s cronies sneered, "Disrespectful as always." They also swore to beat them back to their place someday. Sadly, the rules showed to them when they entered were abnormally detailed so for now they had no choice but to hold back. Baltimore didn''t say anything, he simply moved forward along the avenue. The Guide companies were ordered not to guide the Guia villagers. Although they would be able to find out a lot on their own, at least it wouldn''t be spoonfed to them. It was also a way for them to check if anyone would be willing to sell strangers sensitive information. The group moved together at first, looking around the wide streets, the buildings, the amenities¡­. They also saw the resources, the food, and the products. They tried a couple of things and they felt like they were brought to another world, each store asking them to eat more and more. These things could easily mark this place as a culinary capital! There were also some novel methods of transportation that went fast along the wide avenues. Some only had one person, and others had another small cart on the side. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The more they saw, the more they felt like ''country bumpkins'', and slowly they forgot the disrespect they suffered. To be honest, they were a little in awe. And Greedy. Very greedy. "Boss¡­ this place¡­" Treck uttered, gulping, with his eyes sparkling as he looked at the place. Baltimore nodded, understanding. "Investigate," he said, and all the men around him separated, to study this territory as thoroughly as possible. Each one of them would later report to him and then they could plan on the best course of action in taking over. He had a feeling that this territory¡­ might be the most surprising one yet. They had to be more careful with this one, however. Not only was the force value much stronger than others¡ªthose sentries alone weren''t something found in villages¡ªbut they would also needed to preserve the interior, unlike destroying and plundering wantonly like they usually did. Most importantly, those other villages they had gone to war with didn''t interest him at all. He only liked the added resources and gold. For this place, it was very different. He wanted the Lord Token! Chapter 707 - 707: Result of Investigation Baltimore''s team met up later that night after going around on their own. After all, they were all big men, how odd it was to see big men going around together as if on a leisure trip? However, this investigatory trip that should''ve been straightforward lasted much, much, longer than expected. Baltimore looked at his men who were now facing him in the private room of the premier restaurant. They were standing by the door while Baltimore alone sat on the table. Everyone was silent for a while and didn''t speak. When the waiter arrived to deliver their food, he flinched, not sure what to make of it. Baltimore sighed, rubbing his temple. "Enter." "A-Ah yes," he said, entering, and arranging the beautifully-plated food on the table. Even from just the appearance, one could tell this was superior to the food outside¡ªwhich was already mouthwatering in and of themselves. Baltimore frowned when he saw his men shift attention towards the food, looking greedy for it. "Are you idiots?" Baltimore asked as soon as the waiter left. The men flinched and kneeled, apologizing. He had waited here alone for almost half a day. As a lord, he naturally never did the investigation himself. He went to ask where the best restaurant was and waited there after paying a premium amount for not having a ''reservation''. He was annoyed at first for being treated like everyone else, but he was too curious¡ªespecially when he saw the food being placed on the tables¡ªso he did not make a scene. In the end, his slave-servant Piko paid the people in the queue a hefty amount so he didn''t have to line up. He had to admit the food was indeed mouthwatering, and he couldn''t help but start ordering as soon as he was seated. It was easily the best meal he had eaten. There were even special effects for a majority of the meals! Surprisingly, when he asked to meet the chef, he was too busy to appear in front of him. "How rude¡­" Piko mumbled, swearing pain to the entire restaurant. "Now, now," Baltimore said calmly, but the darkness in his eyes betrayed his sadistic tendencies. "Didn''t you read the rules? The lord here obviously invested a lot on the rules." Piko sneered, "Which are useless during wars, milord." "Exactly," he said, eyes looking at the empty plates. "When we wage war, nothing will stop us from doing whatever we wanted." He didn''t speak for a moment and looked out the translucent window made from youli stone. He didn''t even know it could be used like this. "I''ll stay here, you go order your food outside." Piko''s eyes brightened, looking forward to this order since they entered. "Thank you, milord!" he said and went out, eating his heart out. This was several hours ago. While Baltimore enjoyed the food, it didn''t mean, however, that he was willing to wait beyond the stipulated time. These men better have a lot of things to report. And when he saw them stealing glances at the food, he wanted to throw them to monster mobs then and there. "Report." "Yes, milord!" It was Treck who spoke first. Among the men around Baltimore, Treck was actually the weakest one at level 15. However, he was the leading man during wars, at least until he remained at this level. In fact, Treck should have leveled up a long time ago, but he enjoyed wars where he could crush his enemies and wanted to participate actively in them. "First of all, there seems to be¡­ no lord." Baltimore frowned as he looked at him. He saw the others'' reactions and knew they gathered the same. "How did the rules and changes come to be then?" "The general knowledge is that there was the omniscient ''Village System'', as they called it, who makes all the changes." A man nodded beside him. This was Seto, a level 24 and one of the guards who were ''poisoned'' by Garan back then. He also had a lot of scars because of this. "They also have an Elder group in charge of different things. They are assigned by the system for their skills. They also have the right to ask this system directly of what they hope to change in the territory." "And you believe them?" "Of course not, milord." The concept of the elders was not unheard of, but because of the system not everyone adopted them. Very few lords would be willing to distribute so much power, after all. Baltimore''s fingers tapped rhythmically on the table as he thought. "These Elders¡­ what do you know about them?" "We know that there''s someone in charge of the internal peace¡ªwhatever that means¡ªcalled Matilda. "There is an elder in-charge of the farms called Gru." "The elder of Military affairs¡­ is Garan." Baltimore''s eyes sharpened. "He''s got a really high position from the start." "We''re still trying to investigate more about this." "Still? You were out for half a day." The men paled. Not only had they been a bit distracted by the goodness and ended up buying a lot of things, it was also really difficult to gather the information they wanted! In pretty much everyone''s experience, when they were investigating, a lot of people chattered with them for an hour, droning on and on, but without actually answering the question! For example, Ero, a level 23 cronie, was trying to get more information about the source of the sauces. Obviously, it was common knowledge, but the people droned on and on about how the sauces changed their lives, how it helped them make livelihoods, how they were able to afford the children going to school, et cetera. But then¡ª S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh, excuse me, I have customers! Bye~" He wanted to throw the table over, but they had read the rules and he knew he''d be fined. Being fined would get him a record, adding some more difficulties in his looking for information. "There is also an Elder of Economy, whatever he does." Whatever economics does was still vague to them. "This person is a man called Ansel, though I''ve seen him just leisurely walking around with food¡­" "There was an Elder of Research and the Elder of Pharmacy. I''m not certain what exactly they did, but I could see people idolize them." "You couldn''t gather anything?" Trek and the others looked embarrassed. "When I started asking, people started¡­ being guarded." "Same here." "I had a similar experience." "It''s like the more we went around, the harder it was to gather information¡­" They would also notice a lot more bad looks coming their way. Some of them were outright ignored. They would only be entertained if they were paying customers, but even then they would deflect the answers to something wholly unrelated to what they wanted to hear. How these people never lacked stories to tell, they would never understand. What they didn''t know was Althea and the others, especially the guard stations, had recently received a lot of reports of ''suspicious activities''. This made guards watch them closer and make sufficient warnings. Baltimore didn''t speak for a while and his cronies genuinely feared for their lives. "Find out more about those Elders," he just said after a moment of silence, making the others heave sighs of relief. "The Lord¡­ is definitely one of them." Chapter 708 - 708: Greedy Eyes Baltimore could tell that they didn''t know anything else about these Elders¡ªthese men would''ve jumped at the chance to show off otherwise. It seemed like this place was really more difficult than any other territories they faced. In fact, in previous wars, they never found the need to truly prepare beforehand. No matter. It would be a refreshing change of pace to find the occasional challenge. At the very least, the people here could tell his men were not particularly friendly. He wondered how they could take action so quickly. They just arrived, did they not? At this, the memory of that guy separating from them came to mind. Did they send a message? How? Aether letters¡ªassuming they had such a good thing¡ªdidn''t have such a large scope. Anyway, he''ll find out soon enough. Baltimore''s expression didn''t change. "What else?" "Milord¡­ this territory¡­ is really much more than I expected," Tacky said. "The food is amazing, the arrangements, facilities, and many more." "The streets are so¡­ clean." They were just so used to the status quo of dirty streets that seeing Alterra''s streets was almost¡­ imbalancing. "They even have a bathhouse and Training Hall." Speaking of which, just the thought that this place would become theirs soon made his blood boil with excitement. "They have complete facilities sir, they had a village center, farms, and factories that produce all these goods themselves." They couldn''t enter the area without almost getting into a skirmish with the guards though. "Have you seen everything?" "No, it''s tightly guarded," Seto said, "Don''t worry milord, these are the places we''ll definitely be looting during the war." "There are also other buildings unfamiliar to me," Ero said, "There are so-called libraries, schools, and hospitals, though we could not enter them for now." Baltimore narrowed his eyes. Were these among their manual constructions? Speaking of those, there was plenty of manual construction in this territory. He would also have to figure out their methodology of building¡ªmaybe he could sell the technology to the cities and towns for a high price. Anyway, moving away from these topics, Baltimore asked the reason they went to this area in the first place. "Any news about the goblins?" "No sign of them, milord." Baltimore frowned, making them flinch, and he looked at the others. Immediately, the others nodded and told him their own findings. "It seems that they never even landed in this place." This wasn''t difficult to figure out because they simply asked the locals where the goblins were. They were either really curious or were really unaware of the creatures. Someone even thought goblins were referring to children and pointed at the kids playing after that school thing they had. Ero thought he had a lead then, but after fruitless hours and investigations, he really wanted to throw the chair at the informant''s face. "They must''ve sold it early." "The Mercenary Team¡ªthey went by Terran Mercenary Team now¡ªare doing very well here. I assume they sold the goblins for a good amount." Baltimore frowned, wondering if Garan and the others encountered the space stone. Regardless, he''d need to talk to him to know where the goblins were sold. "What else? We went here to get those goblins, and you''re telling me you have nothing?" Seto and the others flinched at this. Treck cleared his throat. "I haven''t checked deeply yet. I will resume tomorrow." How could he admit he got distracted by the food? Looking at them so useless like this, Baltimore felt his temper rising. "What did you find out after so long, then?!" They flinched in fear, but they really couldn''t be blamed. Even if Alterra didn''t explicitly tell the people to withhold information, there was word of mouth that enemies were coming. People here were surprisingly silent even when offered some money. Baltimore''s fingers tapped on the table, and each sound felt like it was tapping on the men''s heads. "What about the military might?" "Garan and the others seem to be the strongest here," Ero said, with confidence. "Whenever they''re mentioned, the people would have admiring faces¡ªheh, they''re barely in their level 20s, right?" "Don''t underestimate them. They can handle people with higher levels," Seto said coolly, making the other man look at him. "So? They won''t be able to participate in wars anyway." "But they can defend, which could get a bit troublesome as they have so many elementalists." "Elementalists. Why do they have so many? In an average village, a handful was already a superpower among villages." There should at least be a dozen in this one! "What about the walls?" Ero then looked at the lord, "I checked the perimeter my lord, the dense sentries and tall walls¡­ it''s all around the territory." Silence. So rich? "This level of lifestyle and safety¡­ is far superior to other villages, milord. Even¡­" Even Guia. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ero sneered. "It''ll be ours anyway. Didn''t you see their levels? Except for the mercenary team mostly beyond the level cap, they''re all weak chickens." "What else?" "That''s all we know, milord, we swear to find out more tomorrow," Seto said and the others nodded in agreement. It was around here that Baltimore''s eyes suddenly sharpened, and he whipped his head in a direction. "What was that?" The others flinched and looked at him. Seto was about to ask what was wrong when Baltimore raised his hand, eyes staring at the wall. He took out a tool from the space and suddenly, the room went silent. At least outside of the invisible bubble the tool created, there was no sound that came out anymore. If they were allowed to destroy property, then they''d have punched a wall through there. But it wasn''t the time to gather too much attention to themselves. That could happen later. ... "Damn, they had some magic anti-bug magic tool." Chris breathed out, sweating profusely as he reported his findings to the captain. They were currently at his home, with several people listening to what he had to say. "They investigated, and they will find out more, especially about our military might later on." They wanted to try feeding the incorrect information but it was too easy to find out, not unless they put a gag order or make everyone swear under oath. Not only would that not be worth it, but it would just alarm the enemies even more. "They''re really blatant though," Eagle said, reading over all the reports sent by the citizens to the Guard Station. Because paper wasn''t such a common consumable yet, the ''report papers'' were small pieces of paper smaller than a palm. At this time, Eagle was reading them one by one. Suspicious activity, attempted bribery, Suspicious activity, Suspicious activity again, being an ugly ass¡­ "..." Althea and the others didn''t know what Eagle was looking at, but they were more concerned about when they would move. "It must be the Voice Blocker," Althea said. Otto gave her a few of those, but she didn''t sell in the contribution store. If anything, she''d rather use it as a reward for the higher ups in the territory. Anyway, it was clear a war was inevitable. But what else could they do¡­ but just become stronger? She took out her aether letter, sending a message directed to the Research Center. /Perfect those weapons. We have until tomorrow./ Chapter 709 - 709: Target A/N: Before anything I''d like to advertise the first fanfiction of this story! Title: The Life of a Botanist After the Apocalypse by Mingxingxing (Kurarachan in WN) jeheheheh <3 ... ____________________ Baltimore and his team stayed in the Premier Inn that night. "I heard they''re building a high-end place," Ero said, looking around the nice place. "But it would be finished after a few more days." "Hm," he said, though his eyes were observing the place, wondering how they made it feel so comfortable. Anyway, the group rested well and comfortably. Even Baltimore was impressed by the facilities and the comforts the place had. The beddings were incredibly soft, the utilities were convenient, and they even had the option to fan themselves, bring wind inside without much effort. A Village could think of such luxuries only because the basics had been met¡ªand from what they had seen so far, they had met the basics well and beyond, even better than the average Town. Baltimore was someone who grew up in a town. He was then recruited by the lord there and, after intense competition with others, he won the chance to obtain the lord token. He was only in his 20s then. Now, he was well into his fifties, and his level way past 30, his village had grown to become the strongest village in the region, if not the world. However, now, this rank was being shaken, and he disliked the very thought of it. He had taken note of the many marvels here, but not really to improve his territory, but rather to note which slave he''d target and which professional to recruit. It proved to be a challenge today, but he refused to believe there wouldn''t be anyone who''d be tempted with a bit of money. ¡­ The next morning, Baltimore sent his men to not only study the territory more deeply, to determine its military strength, but also to determine the professionals behind these innovations. Also, who the lord was. He didn''t believe there was no lord here, but he was simply hiding and had the identity of an elder. Now that he knew people did this, he realized the advantages of hiding their status. He never acknowledged another''s superiority however, and instead looked down on this hidden lord for being a coward. Putting aside these issues for now, the group started with having their morning meal. They had their breakfast in the inn''s restaurant. Of course, Baltimore didn''t table with the others. He was alone in a corner with his men on another table positioned to guard him even as they ate. Today''s breakfast was noodles with Gugu chicken. He also ordered some of those salads and soft breads. While it didn''t have special effects, the cooking was naturally superior to what was available outside Alterra. It was also because there were no effects that they could tell the difference of the meat here compared to what they had been eating outside, especially when it was something so common like Gugu Bird meat. "The meat here is much more delicious," Seto said, looking deeply at his food. Piko nodded in agreement. "And it''s not just the sauces. It''s the meat itself." Piko was a cook by profession before becoming a slave. In fact, Baltimore promised him freedom if he had served him well for 10 years. He only had 1 year left¡­ Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, his profession gave him a reliable voice when it came to food. This caught Baltimore''s attention. "Improved Meat?" "Yes, milord," he said, "I feel that the raw meat produced in Alterra is also superior to those outside." This made his teammates look at each other with furrowed eyebrows. How could a fellow village have so many good things?" "How did they do it?" Ero asked, seriously wanting to know. They wondered for a while but, at this time, even if they did successfully bribe people, they wouldn''t be able to answer this either. This was because most Alterrans¡ªwho ate the meat every day¡ªweren''t aware of the difference. Alterra achieved this by growing meat free-range inside system farms. Similarly, fishes would also taste more special than normal river fishes. But this wasn''t something that had been announced yet. There was no real need to, because they were all eating similar things. Anyway, the Guians separated after breakfast, intent on finishing the mission. The Lord gave the order of handling things more sensitively. Unlike in other villages, Alterra wasn''t much weaker than they were. Being arrogant would definitely not get them the information that they needed. The group parted then to do their respective missions. Okay, maybe eating a bit more by the way. Treck ate first until he was full before he started his job, Ero continued to listen and hang around the gossip centers, and Seto went to pertinent stores, detailing the offerings as well as who the primary expert was behind them. Sadly for them, there hadn''t been many aborigines in Alterra and the friendly ones were all known already. Like the previous day, it''d be harder for them to gather information. Rather, it was harder now because the locals gossiped about them. A lot. A few hours later, they still hadn''t learned a lot, causing the Guians to be in a very bad mood. The only thing keeping them from exploding was the delicious street food. Treck¡ªafter about an hour of globbing his comfort food¡ªcame face to face with the half-orc. Gochi was doing his rounds alone at this time (his partner was getting them food at the side). When he walked past and did not even acknowledge him, this made Treck even more annoyed. Seeing an inferior race there just happened to appeal to him very much! Even if for¡ªsome incomprehensible reason¡ªthe half-orc was a guard who enjoyed the same rights as humans, it felt like he was overreaching and ought to be pushed back down! It so happened that he needed to vent after being humiliated over and over by these weaklings! Chapter 710 - 710: A Little Spat Treck was actually being over-sensitive, of course. The Alterrans were pretty respectful as long as he wasn''t being an arse¡ªwhich he was, by the way¡ª but even then, they were quite civil. For an analogy, they were more like secretaries who were tasked to hide the boss from an annoying customer. Distracting, but still respectful. However, Trek only saw offense. Being played around by people much weaker than he was naturally triggered the arrogant man. Treck looked at Gochi with greed, already seeing the money. This guy would sell for hundreds of gold in cities! This¡­ thing¡­ though was now walking with pride, smiling, and it irked him to no end. Trek followed him to a street with less activity, wanting to make him suffer. While he could not attack him directly, it didn''t stop him from intimidating the thing. Anyway, even if he did do anything physical, these weaklings wouldn''t dare go against them¡ªthe superior Village of Guia! "HEY YOU!" he yelled, walking over with an arrogant smile. "What''s a wild animal doing roaming around a clean place?" Gochi paused and looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. However, he couldn''t find the words to respond and Treck continued with his ''teasing''. "Amazing how a slave like you can hold his head up," he said with a hostile laugh. "Is it thick skin no, er, thick fur?" "Have you forgotten how you should act?" he asked. "Was this how you were raised? Shame!" He was only using his words for now, but his tone reeked of malice¡ªaiming to hurt. Gochi froze in place, ears ringing. His body reacted on its own and shook in fear. This tone was something he commonly heard from Hoskle villagers and their guests. It was usually followed by some rocks thrown or some kicks sent and¡ª because they were slaves¡ªthey couldn''t do anything about it but take everything on without a sound. This was, of course, unless their attackers asked them to make sounds for their hearing pleasure. This was because, while there was little hunger in this place, the sufferings and uncertainties were endless. Having something strong like half-orcs under their feet made them feel in control of their lives again. Treck rudely pointed at his chest, smugly poking at it. "Don''t think for a moment that your life here will remain the same." While Gochi was frozen and Treck barraged him with words, what came after were little voices, aiming to protect. The kids came faster than the nearby adults¡ªwho lagged because they had to plan before lunging forward. After all, although the prison would take anyone who aimed to hurt even if they hadn''t caused damaged yet, they could still be dragged around and taken hostage¡ªprovided that the perpetrator was not planning on hurting the hostage yet. It wasn''t that Althea and Mathilda didn''t think about implementing rules related to this, but it seemed that the rules were anchored in damage and its direct potential to do so, which was a loophole that couldn''t be filled yet because there were too many implications. For instance, if the rule against this was established, then it''d be troublesome to use rickshaws or even bicycles with passenger side cars. They also feared bringing people in case of emergencies would also be prohibited. Anyway, all these thoughts didn''t matter to the kids who bravely went forward while the adults were just about to move. "Leave him alone!" Mimi yelled, and the others backed her up with admirable bravery. They were having their lunch break at this time, and this area was the nearest eatery outside of the school (cafeteria was scheduled to open in another week). They had just finished eating and were taking a shortcut to school when they saw Gochi, immediately running to him (cuz he was one of their favorite big guys). But they realized he was with another person who wasn''t his partner and they were very angry when an ugly ass started to bully him. The kids immediately jumped to his defense and this made Treck both annoyed and mocking. "Heh¡­ protected by little kids?" He spat, "Shame." Fiona was especially mad. "Who are you!? Ugly! Leave Gochi alone!" "YEAH! Jerk!" "Smelly Poop!" And so on. At this point even the adults around were cackling, though they were close enough to defend the kids if they had to. Trek had to be attacked by a barrage of verbal insults, each one making him more and more livid. "YOU!" Treck''s eyes turned red. How dare these brats¡ªmostly girls, even¡ªinsult him!! His hands extended to grab the little brat by the neck when strong arms kept him in place. He raised his eyes to meet the inhuman orbs of gold and green. "Alterra¡­ is not a place for you to do whatever you want," he said, slowly tightening his grip. "The life I live¡­ it is up to me to protect it." Treck''s eyes twitched when he realized he couldn''t pull his arm back anymore! "YOU¡ª" It was only now that Treck realized that he was surrounded by the locals. He frowned and tutted, forcefully taking his hand with all his strength¡ªonly for Gochi to let go, causing him to fall down. He gritted his teeth, feeling the mocking and laughing faces of those weaklings. However, he still had the rationality not to attack at this time, and he simply stood up and went away. However, he was seething for every step he took, and he specifically wanted to go back and explode whenever he heard insults targeted at his back. "Sorry Gochi you had to hear that from an ugly turd." "We''ll defend you well next time!" "His breath is so smelly. I should''ve shut him up even if he didn''t say anything¡ª" And it just got worse and they didn''t bother to lower their voices. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "DAMNIT!" Treck cursed, using all his willpower not to explode, dragging his feet so he could get as far away from them as possible! They will pay for this!! Chapter 711 - 711: Targetted Meanwhile, Ero mapped out the sentries and gathered as much information as possible about the level of people here. Seto had just found where the Research Center was and wanted to get inside. However, the security clearance was high and he couldn''t even enter the premises. "Tsk," he mumbled. He then moved to the library and found out it was exclusively accessed with contribution points. "..." Baltimore was also curious, looking around, and remembering details by the way. Walking here felt light and clean. When he took over, he would probably walk through here a lot. He went to hire a guide, who then showed them the viewing deck as they requested. However, he only answered questions very simply. For example, Piko would ask "Are those farms?" The guide would say, "Yes." "How many are there? What are the crops?" "That''s confidential, sorry." It was not confidential. The person was quite quiet though, without the gregariousness he heard these guides had from the reports. Baltimore knew that they wouldn''t be able to get more information from this redhead. "Go, leave us." "Ah yes, enjoy your stay," Fred said and left, thinking he was cool except his steps had a spring to it, showing how relieved he was. Baltimore and the others narrowed their eyes, though they knew it was not the time to teach locals a lesson, but they definitely took note of poor Fred''s face. They were really not used to encountering obstacles everywhere in fellow villages. Even lords pandered after them because they were strong. Even if they were beyond the level cap, it didn''t mean their threats were gone. "Wait," he said, making Fred freeze. He awkwardly turned, body filled with tension. "Y-Yes?" "That guy, Garan, is an Elder here?" "Yes, milord." "Get him to meet me." "Yes, milord," Fred politely said, before scurrying away. He almost lost his footing as soon as he was out of sight. Damn, too tense! He almost peed himself, damnit! ¡­ Baltimore and Piko stood there for a while. In the meantime, they memorized the whole place as they could, their hearts fiery with what would be theirs soon. However, as the minutes passed their mood slowly turned dour. They were expecting Garan to arrive within a couple of minutes. The bastard arrived an hour later. "Garan," the older man said, his sharp eyes tracing over the man who had undoubtedly looked fuller and cleaner since he had last seen him. Much more powerful as well. "Lord Baltimore." "Where are the goblins?" he asked, direct to the point. "Who did you sell it to?" Garan, who was aware of the line of questions the Guia people had asked their citizens, naturally surmised what they were looking for. "They escaped," he said, voice low and cool. "Sigh. We endured such a loss." "How?" "A few distracted us and they escaped by digging deep tunnels." Baltimore narrowed his eyes. "Are you telling the truth?" "If I sold them anywhere, I''d have told you," he said, "I do not have any reason not to tell you where they are if I knew. There is no advantage to me." Baltimore frowned because he was right, but somehow he couldn''t help but feel something was off. Well, he''ll find out eventually. ¡­ At this time, a certain mother-and-son pair had finally been released from detention. They looked even more horrible than they did 2 days ago, and their hearts were incredibly vindictive. Apparently, instead of realizing their mistakes, they were wholly convinced they had been wronged and those people who did so ought to be punished!! "Bastards bastards I hope they all fall to hell," Balon yelled like a shrew, while her son nodded, punching his fist to his palm as if it was the face of his enemy. "I swear, I''ll teach em a lesson myself someday!" This happened to have been heard by Seto, who grinned, realizing it was finally his chance! He followed the pair as they dragged themselves and headed towards the dormitory. At the very least, they had enough money (much of which were taken from Amos'' salaries while he was here) to ensure they had a roof on their heads. However, the cost of the food and other things had risen since the first aborigine guests arrived. Something about balancing things out to the outside world, but they didn''t understand it nor did they care. The month salary left by Amos was gone in a day. They were hungry and they wanted to smack those jerks to pieces!! They neared their dormitory while cursing, with the few people stepping away¡ªnot in fear, but in disgust. They were too immersed in their annoyance to notice though. In fact, if the people didn''t give way, they''d have bumped into them. Before they entered the dorm premises though, a whisper came from a small alley, making them halt their steps. "Hey, what about we give you a deal." ¡­ After a bit more study, the Guians met the others in the viewing deck At this point, Garan had long left them after a non-productive talk. They rented a gazebo there to discuss, though some couldn''t help but admire the designs. "This is pretty cool," they said. After all, such an aesthetic thing wasn''t normally found in villages, or maybe even in towns. Even if it was, it wasn''t accessible to non-nobles at all. It didn''t help that the sun was setting and the view in their area was magnificent. They couldn''t bear to destroy this. But then they knew the lord wouldn''t either¡ªafter all, it would be his property, so they let go of their worries. But then he met the lord''s eyes staring at them and tensed. "What have you found about the lord?" he asked. "There is no one who has claimed the lordship since it was established," Ero said, making Seto look at him. "Why would they do that?" "Who knows how these inferior creatures think." Seto looked at the lord and told him of what he discovered. "It was Ms. Mathilda, the elder of Diplomacy, who is the most likely target. She had been here almost as soon as it was established and her influence is palpable." "What about professionals?" "There are an amazing number of professionals here and elementalists," he paused, heaving a deep breath. "I have never seen so many milord. It''s like every one of them triggered something." "They''re weak, but that''s because they have just awakened." There was silence around them. The longer they stayed here, the more their arrogance got toned down. Baltimore''s eyes were dark. "We have to attack before they gather strength." The men nodded at this, already imagining the win. Imagine defeating this place. At worst, they would get half as slaves. How many elementalists would that give them? The greed in Baltimore and his men''s hearts heated up. "What about the people behind the unique things here?" "The main person to target, milord, is a woman named Althea Witt," Seto said. "Oh?" Did they finally get some information? "She is the elder of Plant Studies, and is responsible for a lot of the things we see in Alterra. Also, milord, she''s the most beautiful woman I''ve seen." Baltimore looked on with interest. Although he could just force her to work for him, especially after the war, after so many years he had come to realize those who were not forced¡ªor more accurately, those who believed they were not forced¡ªworked best. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the very least, they were the ones who didn''t kill themselves. Look at Piko here. The first few years he became a slave, the number of times he tried to take his own life was innumerable. He usually didn''t complete it or survive by some miracle. But Baltimore realized the slave''s worth and made a promise he may or may not keep. That was what he planned to do to that woman. "Find out more about her," he ordered. "Find her weaknesses. "I want her." Chapter 712 - 712: Babies’ Skills At this time, the aforementioned ''target'' was trying to figure out what abilities her children had. After all, they showed it in front of Winona already, which not only showed they were not imagining things, but there was also the fact that the children could show it to anyone, anywhere. There was the option of just hiding them inside the house until they figured things out, but how could they bear to do that to the kids, really? So, the past few days, they had been trying to test things out little by little. For example, Ansel would place some cute hanging toy on the ceiling, teasingly throwing Meatball up and down. There was no floating that occurred though. They only got the baby boy''s endless giggles instead. Ansel would also ''imprison'' Pepper''s favorite stuffed toys in an inverted crib, making it seem like Pepper had to find a way to rescue them. "Don''t you want to save them, Baby Pepper?" He would ask, putting his face close to the little girl while acting distraught about the ''kidnapped'' toy. It earned him a slap, instead. Every day, there''d be something, though it''d just end in someone''s embarrassment instead. They had been taking their time though, making sure not to make the babies uncomfortable at all. However, now with the arrival of obviously hostile forces, they needed to expedite things. Work hours had just ended and pretty much everyone in the team was in the living area. Winona was there as well, though she made a point of sitting the farthest from Ansel. It was just that the farthest was still in the man''s line of sight, making him sneer at her. He even said something like ''If you really want to ignore me, then get out of my sight''. Winona raised her chin and looked arrogantly at him. "Why? Can''t keep your eyes off me?" Ansel''s eyes twitched. "DREAM!" Their spat apparently amused the little babies as they started making fun gurgling sounds as the two reluctant-lovebirds fought. This immediately dissipated the mix of annoyance and shyness between the two and they turned their heads to the cute babies to distract themselves. The twins were adorable as always with their large eyes and chubby cheeks. Now when they open their mouths, one or two little teeth were showing. Ahhhhh! Too cute, too cute. Winona went over to poke their cheeks. "Go, do your stuff already babies! Show off!" She really wanted others to see it for themselves. It was only when both Althea and Garan said they had seen the abilities, that everyone else believed Winona wasn''t hallucinating. Winona was quite offended when she realized this. Did she seem like the type to create drama without reason!? Sheesh. So now she had made it her mission to see it again, but with other people as witnesses. In fact, she and Ansel had turned it into a competition, though obviously to no success for either one of them. It was just that it was never observed again. Since the 50th Day of Migration, the two children had only exhibited their powers twice each. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Maybe it''s a glitch?" Ansel asked, making Winona roll her eyes. "You think we''re still a game? Stop being childish." Ansel sneered. "Heh, says the girl who made a scene." "You¡ª" "So you''re playing lover''s quarrel now, I see," Althea said, making the two glare at her with flushed faces. "NO, WE''RE NOT!" But then Garan''s deep blue eyes shifted to look at them¡ªdaring them to raise their voices at Althea again¡ªmaking them flinch. They simultaneously froze, and suddenly became very well-behaved. Althea shook her head and looked at the children. "What did these two cases have in common?" It was Eugene, the analyst, who spoke first. "Little Meatball''s first known show of power was during the 50th day party. It was a happy event with everyone cheering for their names." Winona supplemented, "The second one is your return from the war." "Happy events then, one that included him?" "Perhaps," Harold said, very curious. "What about Little Pepper, then?" "First one was when she was playing with Maya and the others, suddenly appearing next to us." "Next was also when we returned from the war." "So, to summarize, the babies might exhibit their powers during moments of high emotions, whether it was happiness or excitement," Althea said and the others nodded in agreement. The group thought deep and hard, trying to think of ways to mimic those conditions. "Let me try," Ansel said and went ahead to lift the little bun. "Hweeee~" He yelled as he threw Meatball up, over and over. It wasn''t that Ansel didn''t try it before, but this time it was with the goal of just making the kid excited and gleeful. The baby boy giggled, obviously liking it. Everyone just smiled, hearts warmed by the adorable innocent laughter from the child. He threw him up again, "Fly, already! Hweee~" "Googomwamwah~" "Gwammmwammm~" But nothing was happening. However, Little Meatball cried when he stopped and Ansel was forced to play until his arms¡ªa level 10, by the way¡ªgrew tired. "Hweee~ "Hweeee~ "Hweee¡ªAH!" BANG! The people rushed as Ansel fell down, with Meatball right on top of him. Althea kneeled down next to Ansel as she brought the baby up. "Oh my baby meatball, are you alright?" she mumbled as she lifted the baby, checking if he was hurt by the fall. Winona gasped and also looked at the baby, worried, before sending a glare at the careless man. "What the heck are you doing, Ansel?" "HEAVY! Ugh!!" Winona shook her head at him. "What''re you going on now?" "I swear! He was really heavy!" he yelled, gasping, pointing at baby Meatball who was held along the underarms effortlessly by his mother. The baby was now facing him blowing bubbles, splattering some saliva on his face. "..." "Let me try again," Ansel said as he sat up properly. He extended his hands to get the baby again, but Althea lifted him back. "No," she said, "What if you fall again?" "I won''t, I promise," Ansel said. "Please? I think I''m on to something!" Althea pursed her lips and slowly put the baby on her brother''s hands. She didn''t let go immediately until she was certain Ansel''s hold was stable. Satisfied with their trust, Ansel nodded with a smile, his sights fixed on the pudgy baby in his hands. Ansel lifted Meatball up and saw that there was really no problem. Even after several minutes of this, nothing happened. The others looked at him weirdly and he felt a bit red. "He was really heavy!" Garan looked at him, "You need more training." "!!!" Ansel''s face was completely red and he shifted his attention to the little boy. "C''mon Lil'' Meatball! Work for your uncle!" Winona rolled her eyes, but, like the others, she just carefully watched lest the idiot drop the baby. Ansel began to throw him up again and, like always, the baby boy just laughed, showing off his little gums and teeth. Ansel''s lips twitched in amusement, varying the height and speed of his throws, adding excitement to the baby¡ªas evidenced by the adorable mix of giggles and squeals. For a while, Ansel continued lifting the baby up and throwing him to the air, though the adults were watching carefully lest he fall down again, ready to act at a moment''s notice. Because of the risks, the adults were all focused completely on Ansel and Little Meatball. While all this was happening, a certain baby girl was watching not too far from the safety of the cot. "Mwamwmaammm¡­" Little Pepper called, as loudly as she could. Little Pepper was not amused by all the attention her brother was getting while she was barely getting any! Hearing her daughter call, Althea turned a bit, but at this moment, idiot-uncle-Ansel fell down again, making her turn her attention back to them. The redhead fell head first, but Garan managed to catch the boy with a hand before he fell down with Ansel. Ansel fell face first and wasn''t able to get up due to the humiliation. "Mwamhaaa¡­" Little Pepper mumbled, but everyone was busy fawning over her little brother carried by her dad. At this time, they just looked at the boy whose tummy was on his father''s large hand. Their attention was completely focused on the boy that they did not notice the little muscle tension on his father''s arm. "Baby! Are you okay?" Everyone asked Meatball, not noticing Garan''s eyebrows were furrowed until he spoke. Althea narrowed her eyes when she saw the arm unnecessarily stayed in place for several moments. She looked at her husband whose eyes were fixed on the boy in his palm. "Husband? Is there anything wrong?" "He''s heavy," he said. "As heavy as a big sack of rice." "What?" "A big sack of rice was as heavy as small person!" Ansel brightened and was about to lift his body from the ground and say ''I told you so'' but¡ª "MWAMWHAAAAA!" Little Pepper yelled, finally fed up with the inattention! Filled with emotion, the baby girl appeared right on her uncle''s head, right by the center of attention, her sudden appearance made his face smack back down on the wooden floor. Everyone: "..." Chapter 713 - 713: Another Betrayer At this time, their ''guests'' were still on the view deck, studying the territory and planning routes. Baltimore also listened to the rest of the information Seto managed to obtain by giving out a few golds. Heh. They had so many problems the past day or two and it only needed two bad gouji fruits to spill so much information. "The top candidate for Lord, Mathilda, lives right next door to that Althea, Garan, and Eugene," Seto said, pointing at the farmvilla area near the farms." It made sense for the leaders to be near each other, showing the farm villa was one of the areas for the elites. At the very least, they had seen the luxury villas and it was definitely a later addition. They also saw that Althea''s home was much larger, combining two house-and-lots. Her garden was also incredibly rich, and it was likely she did a lot of her experiments in her own home. It just made Baltimore all the more interested in her. They then turned to the tall tower located at the apex of the mountain ranges within the territory line. It was taller than the light tower and it had a clock embedded into it. It had intricate patterns around it that were both unique and allowed it to blend beautifully with the surrounding gardens. On its foot were seating arrangements, but he couldn''t help but think it served a bigger purpose than aesthetics. The locked door was further proof of that. Anyway, from the apex, the group continued to memorize the place for a while longer as they waited for everyone to get there, hopefully with new information they could take advantage of. "Where''s Treck?" Ero asked after a while. "It''s past deadline." "Maybe he''s lost track of time again," Seto said with a sigh. "I suggest to wait in the inn, instead." Thinking Treck was an idiot and would definitely get punished later, they decided to go down the trail. At some point though, a woman suddenly appeared in their path. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was a woman who looked a bit unsightly compared to the other women in the village. The villagers here generally appeared clean and proper, this one''s dress was a bit ripped on the top, revealing a good part of her breasts, and it made a few men''s eyes¡ªespecially Ero''s¡ªdarken in lust. She still had a good form and flesh though. Obviously, at least until recently, she had been quite well-fed. Regardless of her history, at this time, her eyes were panicked and obviously desperate, and she looked at them as if they were her saviors. A couple of days ago, Ramona had been kicked out by Danny. The old bastard had been hired by Ansel for his entertainment company in the works, and he didn''t want to risk such a good opportunity, so he cut ties with Ramona as if she was a bug. Well, that wasn''t entirely incorrect, not that Ramona would ever realize this. Anyway, since she had been kicked out, Ramona had been trying to clutch to a new man, but all the good men knew of her reputation and steered clear of her as if she was a plague, while those who would make moves would only like her body. She would bed them for one night and they''d give her money, before leaving her and rarely care for her again. Like a prostitute. The realization hit her and it made her a little crazy, giving her some crazy ideas, especially when these newcomers entered her line of sight. She had been following this group for a while, seeing how they looked at the territory and how the guards seemed wary of them. Also, she has overheard one of them mumbling, ''When we get this territory I''d live in the spa and relax all I want.'' Ramona knew that they were very strong and that alone was enough reason for Ramona to attach to them! She had also seen them give money to that useless mother and son pair for a bit of information and she immediately knew what they wanted. "Please help me! Take me away please!" She yelled, approaching them. She held Baltimore''s hand in desperation. Baltimore may be in his 50s, but his appearance was only in his early 40s or even in his late 30s. Danny, who was not even 50, looked much older than he did. Plus, he was a strong man and had a good body for his age. Most importantly, this man was not only attractive, he was also a lord. Baltimore nodded at his cronie to open the soundblocker again. And they pulled her deeper into one of the more hidden gazebos off the trek. "What can you do for us?" "I have been here for a long time and I know a lot of information! Ask me whatever and promise me a place next to you!" Baltimore looked at her in interest. She was a bit good-looking so he really did consider adding her to his group of women. Ero saw this and sighed, knowing he wouldn''t be able to touch this woman for a while¡ªat least until the lord grew tired of her. However, Baltimore''s brain was far from being lust-addled. He looked at the woman¡ªwhose breasts were threatening to leak out of her flimsy dress¡ªwithout much emotion. "What else do you know about Althea Witt?" "What?" Althea, again?! Baltimore''s eyes sharpened as it looked at her. "Why?" Suddenly, Ramona felt scared and she blurted out everything that she knew. "Elder of Pharmacy, she is one of the richest people here. She owns the grocery store, the supermarket, and various farms. She has two children¡ª" This made Baltimore''s eyes to sharpen. "Two children, eh?" "Yes yes, Althea loves them to death," she said, continuously blabbering on. "She is also the wife of Garan, the elders of the military!" This made everyone flinch a bit, and Seto clicked his tongue. That pair of mother and son he bribed forgot that detail! (To be fair, the two just thought it was common knowledge¡ªconsidering how often the couple appeared together and do some PDAs¡ªso it didn''t occur to them to say so.) Unlike his cronies, Baltimore''s face didn''t show much, but his eyes sparkled in interest. "Really?" he asked. "What a¡­ coincidence, don''t you think so?" This made Baltimore all the more interested in Althea¡­ and her children. Chapter 714 - 714: Dealing with Betrayers At this time, a certain mother and son were happily shopping around and showing off their newfound wealth. They were even planning to buy a house! The market prices of the houses had skyrocketed and they could only afford downpayment, but that was good enough for them! They only saw the money they got as well as the combined money Amos gave. They totally forgot about the contribution point requirements. It could be used to buy residencies for family members, but said family members could not use other people''s to buy properties named to them. But these two don''t even read the rules, let alone truly follow them, so they were just basking in their newfound wealth. "Who''d have thought all those gossip so useful!" Alon said. Alon and his mother, depending fully on Amos for livelihood, spent their days gossiping and lurking around the territory. Baltimore''s team was very lucky to have found them. Most of the other citizens who could be bribed wouldn''t have had half the information that they gave. They grinned as they stared at the lovely marble platform where they were choosing their next abode! Good bye dormitories! They can finally be among the people who had a house! Anyway, the two had chosen a house¡ªjust one of the duplexes, but they could find more information to sell¡ªand happily went to purchase it. [Transaction Failed.] "WHAT?!" "NO!" Balon gritted her teeth, while Alon glared at the innocent platform. "This damned thing!" Alon yelled, tapping the platform with a lot of his strength. Fortunately, Alon was very weak and his wild tapping didn''t damage it at all. Before Alon could ''damage'' it a bit more, new voices arrived near them and they realized there were guards nearby. It was no other than Reno, who had two other guards next to him. They were staring at the two, making them intimidated. "W-What is it?" Balon said, though she flinched when she remembered what her son had been doing. "D-Don''t mind him. He doesn''t have much strength. He can''t damage anything." Sad for them, it wasn''t why the guards were there. "We received report of suspicious activity, specifically, you two." This naturally made the two guilty people sweat a lot and panic. "W-What are you talking about?" "We''re doing nothing suspicious!" The old woman yelled, but her feet were moving weirdly, as if preparing to run at a moment''s notice. Alon was much more aggressive. "Leave us alone!" he yelled. "Don''t accuse us innocent people willy-nilly!" They were being so obvious that if a child was there, they''d point at them and sing: ''liar, liar, pants on fire~!'' The guards naturally did no such thing. Instead, they only crossed their arms, with Reno looking at them with an unchanging expression on his face. "We''d like to ask you a couple of questions." The two guards stood firmly next to them, and they knew they had no escape. Fortunately, they calmed down enough so they didn''t run in the end, realizing it would''ve made them even more suspicious. They forced themselves to keep cool. "L-Let us finish this first!" Balon said, eyes desperate to spend the money. Her instincts was telling her she could lose it if they didn''t hold tightly to it! Reno saw this, his expression not changing. "You can''t buy a house." "What do you mean we can''t!? We have the money!" "It requires a high amount of contribution points, something you don''t have yet. Go outside and kill some monsters." "No! I have money!" "Yes, yes, we have money!" "Where''d you get the money?" Reno asked. They were here specifically because they received a lot of reports about this pair. The citizens of Alterra had a sharp eye and proactiveness when it came to guarding their home. After all, they were living so well, and they naturally couldn''t risk anyone from endangering it! So, even that time where they were seen heading with the aborigines somewhere, this already sent alarms to many others. Even if they were low-key, the housing here was relatively dense, and people cared enough to report them! Of course, at the time, the report was relatively objective with just ''two people are talking with the suspicious visitors!'' and they entered the radar since then. Also, the pair had really been gritting on people''s nerves even before, let alone now that they were being excessively smug about something! The fact that they suddenly went on a shopping spree when they were practically destitute a few days prior was the final straw that confirmed the suspicions. Reno looked at them and then looked around. It so happened they were already in the Village center. "Then take the oath and admit where you get the money. If it''s legitimate¡ªeven if it was loan or overpricing services¡ªwe will let you go." This heckled the leeches'' feathers. "Pay us 100 Gold if you wrongfully take us!" They yelled, hoping it''d scare them off. Unexpectedly, Reno nodded. They lost all blood and stupidly bolted away. Reno looked at the guards next to him and they both stepped forward, easily stopping the two by capturing them. They started screaming like pigs as they struggled. "This is a violation of human rights!" "Let us go! Let us go!" Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Alterran guards are scammers! AHHHH!" No one believed them of course, and all they got was shaking heads and gossipy stares as they were once again dragged back to prison. Here, the guards would be interrogating them. If they didn''t spill, then they might have to do torture. Not that it was ever needed, of course. The soldiers practically just pinched them a bit and they spilled. The more they heard, the more livid they became. Alon was punched in the face by a guard. "SHAME!" he yelled, before throwing the two back to their cells. Immediately, the guards reported to the Elders, who held a meeting to decide on what to do with the first ever major betrayal the territory experienced. The atmosphere in the meeting room was grim. Mathilda tapped the table, showing a rare expression of annoyance. "We have to make an example!" Mathilda said. "They must be punished harshly!" As a public servant her whole life, she had always found it incomprehensible that citizens who lived good lives would endanger others like this! Gru looked a bit worried. "They''re a guard''s family member." He knew Amos well enough. He was a good kid. "That''s exactly why they should''ve known better than others." In Terran, something like this could mean expulsion or even imprisonment of not only the family member, but also the soldier regardless of whether they had anything to do with it. In Xeno, the guard only needed to swear an oath, should he still want to serve. But the punishment for betrayal¡­ cannot be light!! And so, some minutes later, a loud announcement resounded inside every Alterran''s mind. [Balon and Alon Tim has betrayed the territory. Their citizenship has been revoked and are now designated as prisoners of war to work for the territory until their sins have been paid for.] Some would argue that the term ''prisoners of war'' was technically another term for slave. Maybe it was. But, at the very least, they could earn their lives back through this. Who knows? Perhaps they''d learn their lesson. And if they didn''t? At least they had cheap labor. Chapter 715 - 715: Reporting Functions Ramona shook at the announcement. But then she thought, it didn''t matter. Glorious Hospitality had her ex Louie''s back and had networks all over, her reputation was so low someone even threw rotten eggs at her! Then that bastard Danny, during his tavern runs, would often rant about her when he was drunk! Although Alterra was amazing, her reputation was so bad here she couldn''t hang on to anyone. A place where she can''t live a good life was not a place worth keeping! She just couldn''t stay here anymore! It had to be said Ramona was incredibly naive. Not to mention, because she had never participated in wars nor had she ever cared about others, she had no idea just how bad women had it in this world, especially in aborigine territories. She always had the default ideology of ''the grass being greener on the other side'', making her blind that the land she was on was the best place she could be in. "Well, okay," Baltimore said, "I remember your contribution." He said, then manifesting a few gold pieces and handed it to her. "Reward, for now, come to me if you have more information." Her eyes brightened at the gold. Silver would already get her far in Alterra, let alone gold! She knew her decision wasn''t the wrong one! She looked at him with dazed and bright eyes. "Yes, yes, thank you," she said, her voice soft. Baltimore looked at her and nodded. "When we obtain this place, you''re going to live better than now," he promised and Ramona almost hugged him. She knew that she couldn''t compromise herself yet though, so she stopped herself and Baltimore didn''t do anything either. The group separated from her and left, set to start the next phase of their plans, while Ramona was left there already dreaming of her new life, completely unaware that someone was behind the bushes about a hundred meters away, blinking, and witnessing the whole thing. ¡­ One of the things about the Sound Blocker was that it not only blocked sounds from within, it also blocked sounds from outside. Toktok was an eighteen-year-old who found most of her living in the maintenance team, not including the hunting part where she basically hang around the Golden Corner with many others. The Golden Corner was the safe place between the level 5 main walls and the angle it made with the level 3 secondary wall. Here, they had two sentry walls covering their backs, leaving a small 90 degree opening to guard. At this time though, she was running to the village center with a purpose. Not only was it for contribution points, but she really liked Alterra¡ªshe couldn''t let anything threaten its safety! She immediately went to the Guard Station near the barracks. This Guard Station was the equivalent to the police station where people could make reports. They could report suspicious activities here. They would be taken to take an oath in the village center, and then get contribution points depending on validity and usefulness of the information. There happened to be a guard currently heading inside, probably just coming back from his rounds. She went to him and grabbed his arm. "WHOA!" He seemed quite surprised to be pulled so suddenly. Angelo was a little ashamed to not notice, but the girl''s sense of presence was really low! "W-What is it?" He asked the girl, though he found his voice lowering unconsciously. She was overtly thin, but a bit pretty. The girl didn''t notice this. She took his hand, eager to report. "What!" he exclaimed, flushed, but didn''t pull his hand away. She began to write characters on his palm and his eyebrows furrowed, but a dawn of understanding came to him when her mouth opened but only minor sounds came out. He cleared his throat as he looked at the girl with large rounded eyes, her heart-shaped face framed by her wavy black locks. "Write it again," he said and she nodded, doing as she was told. Her hand once again held the back of his palm, while the dainty fingers on her other hand moved along its surface, tickling his heart. /I have something to report./ S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Angelo''s eyes widened as he was finally shook back to professionalism. He held her hand, leading her inside the guard station where they had stocks of paper. He ignored the raised eyebrows of his fellow guards, who watched them with interest. Angelo took paper and pencils, handing it over to the girl. The girl''s eyes widened in admiration, definitely missing the feeling of such tools again, before gathering herself and telling them the whole story. At the time, she was leaning down, maintaining a few flowers in the mountain trek when she saw a local talking with the guests. There was a reminder sent to all the residents¡ªtemporary or permanent¡ªto keep a sharp eye on any suspicious activities at all times. Toktok judged that this seemed like a very suspicious activity indeed. Because of her current condition, she not only had very very good eyesight, she had also learned a little skill called lip-reading. However, it wasn''t as straightforward because they were using Xeno language. Lip reading didn''t come with the automatic translation as spoken language had, so she had to learn from scratch for the past few months, and she had yet to be proficient in the language. She couldn''t catch everything, but she did manage to gather a couple of keywords. For example, Althea, for example, her husband Garan, their children, and the term ''monitor''. Angelo''s eyes widened a bit at the report. Seeing that her job was done, Toktok nodded, ready to leave. Angelo flinched and grabbed her arm, making her turn to him, blinking, and he immediately felt shy under the stare of her large innocent eyes. "Here, take these," he said, handing her a thin rim of paper and sharpened pencils. "As thanks," he said, a bit awkwardly. "They''ll be commercially available in a few days, anyway." Toktok blinked but then looked at the new set, heart beating loudly. To others, it was just writing materials but, to her, it was the means to express herself! Reluctant to use it so quickly, she just held Angelo''s palms again, heart filled with gratitude, and eager to express it. ''Thank you.'' Chapter 716 - 716: Guia Leaving A few moments later, Althea received a notification from the guards. This was done through a specific aether letter connected with the guard house. Before she could read the more detailed report, she saw the suspect in question. "Ramona?" she uttered out, shaking her head. She had forgotten about her. "What is it, love?" Garan asked, habitually wrapping his large arms around her stomach and giving her a kiss from the side. She kissed him back and then turned to the two babies side-by-side in his other arm. The children were being carried by Garan''s strong arm, so now they were cutely hanging between his arm and stomach with their little feet hanging down. They were watching their parents be lovey-dovey with those rounded large eyes. Her lips twitched and she leaned down, kissing both their cheeks. They smelled nice, having that newly-bathed baby smell, and she couldn''t help but smack them with a few more kisses. Garan smiled as he watched his family with fond eyes before speaking. "Why were you shaking your head?" "Just got a report that our old neighbor Ramona is unusually close to our¡­ guests." "Oh?" "Would she make a difference?" "Of course not," she said, shaking her head. "It''s just that¡­ we lost 3 people in one day¡ªthat we know of. Her shoulders slumped at the thought. "I''d like to believe Alterra gave them a good enough life for them not to consider betrayal, but¡­" Garan sighed and kissed her forehead, "It''s not your fault. Some people are just never satisfied." The babies also made cute noises, their milky voices comforting her heart. That night, the family of four slept peacefully, knowing they had done their best. ¡­ The next day, Baltimore and (most) of his cronies had prepared to leave the premises. Admittedly, they felt very reluctant, but then they remembered it would be theirs soon so they were energized again. If the people around knew what their looks meant, they''d definitely mob them. Anyway, they bought what they could, mostly food items, and placed them in their spaces. Although they were relatively confident they''d get this place, they didn''t know how much damage would happen. So, they bought a lot of good things like the sauces and spices, as well as some medicines they could access to. Although the medicines weren''t applicable to a lot of them anymore, some pharmacists in cities might want to take a look. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They also wanted to get the pharmacy-level medicine, but apparently those needed contribution point requirements on top of money now. They were most interested in the Contribution Store, which apparently had magic tools! Guia had tools used by the ruling party because they had deep connections with superior territories; Alterra could afford to actually sell them! These things and places that could only be accessed with those contribution points just made Baltimore and the others hungrier for Alterra. When the war started, then they could just take what they wanted, including the entire place. Garan, Gill, and Eagle saw them off. After all, they knew he was the lord of a ''superior'' territory and followed customs. To some degree, anyway. "I''ll see you soon," Baltimore said to them. Garan''s eyes met his and a tense atmosphere surrounded them. "Well, we''ll be ready." Baltimore just smiled before turning away with his team. Counting, it seemed that most of the people who came with Baltimore also left, but Garan and the others weren''t naive. How could they not know that he didn''t leave his own people inside, ready to cause chaos during the war? They stayed by the gates until all of them disappeared. "They finally left," Eagle said as he put down his scope, confirming Baltimore and his cronies had really gone. They headed back to the Villa where Althea was waiting. Garan sighed and held her hand, and it basically confirmed Baltimore''s plans. "Did anyone remain?" Garan asked the others. "Yes," Gill mumbled, crossing his arms. "We''re also monitoring the locals they had close contact with." He recalled the greed in Baltimore''s eyes and really wanted to punch it away. "They will attack for sure," he said. "Baltimore was relatively poker faced, but his cronies didn''t bother hiding their greed. It was practically palpable." At this, Garan looked at Eagle, "Send a message to the branch and have them ask Jonathan what he meant with Guia." "Yes, captain!" Althea also looked at her announcement panel, paying her gold to send a message to all of her citizens outside the two territories. Even if Guia wouldn''t declare war as soon as they were gone, it didn''t mean they couldn''t cause chaos outside the territory. At the very least, the people couldn''t go out on their own whenever they wanted anymore. They had to establish some policies to keep everyone safe as much as possible¡ªeven if it was Baltimore himself attacking them. [All Alterrans must return to the interior of the walls immediately¡ªwhether it is Alterra or in Limestone Valley. You have been warned. Stay outside at your own risk.] She also sent instructions to all the elders, with Mathilda setting up rules and preparations to keep peace in wars¡ªespecially when the very expensive Rules and Regulations were voided during the time. The fact that things were so peaceful internally during the previous war, other than the good life Alterra promised, was almost entirely due to Mathilda and her team. Mathilda''s team was in-charge of keeping the order, as well as calming down any chaos and nip them in the bud. It was a low-key department, but an essential one. They didn''t dare be complacent however, because this enemy had been here for a day and three confirmed people had already betrayed. Underestimating an enemy meant Alterran lives could get lost, and she wasn''t having it. The group adjourned with specific tasks on hand, with the couple standing up as well, heading towards their respective departments¡ªwith Garan to the barracks and her to the Research Center. Alterra must be equipped well! Whatever come, come! Chapter 717 - 717: Another War Preparation Preparation for yet another war had begun and stricter rules for those going out were implemented. There were also a number of changes witnessed within the territory itself that both relieved and worried the citizens. One of these changes was the sudden appearance of sentries in the middle of the territory, located in more sensitive locations in the territory. These were the minimum level 5 walls and their sentries, specially designed and could be used as hang-out places during times of peace. For example, they added seating areas, potted plants, and some motifs. They would also not look like watch towers but would look like aesthetic features of the territory, which was great if they wanted to be underestimated. The appearances of the sentries baffled many people who came to watch their construction. They would never tire of the magical sight, though their stomachs felt a bit heavy at the moment. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After all, there was that alarming announcement to call back everyone back to the territory walls. How could they not have any idea what adding sentries meant? It was definitely another war, and it was much more dangerous than the one in Fargo. Of course, there were still some who didn''t think of wars, mostly just beast tides. After all, most people actually had not gone to Fargo. Their concept of war was not that deep¡ªespecially not one that would be entering their own territory. To them, the sentries were for monster mobs. "Sentry towers in the middle of the territory?" One such person asked, "Would beasts manage to get in?" Many people around him shivered. The very thought was terrifying. After all, the monsters outside now we''re extremely strong. Those things finding a way inside the walls would mean that their guards and sentries had their hands full! While the citizens had various assumptions, the people in the barracks were also discussing the same. This was especially true among the new recruits. Reno was in charge of the new recruits today, and they had been doing the standard training before they could be qualified to lead a hunting team. "Really for mobs?" One asked, and Reno answered. "Possibly, but it is mostly for humans." "Makes sense. Many enemies are probably lurking among the citizens right now." Even if those who stayed noticed the towers¡ªwhich wasn''t widely discussed by citizens outside of their private homes¡ªit wouldn''t have mattered much. After all, how fast would word travel to Guia? They doubted a lot of aether letters were available, even for Guia. They were also unaware of just how detailed the sentry commands were. They were likely to believe the towers were just for mobs. Reno looked at the recruits, explaining more. "The Prohibitions would also be null during this time, so the territory hopes to have some immediate punishing power ready." The fact that rules become null was not exactly public knowledge and its secrecy was part of the oaths the guards took. However, if the public found out¡ªlikely to be done by enemies¡ªMathilda and Althea made it so it wouldn''t have mattered. This was new knowledge to the recruits though. And they paled, just at the image of it. "What? It would be null?" Another nodded with furrowed eyebrows. "Wouldn''t some people start stealing or attacking then?" How much chaos would that cause¡ªat the height of war, even? That would be the last thing they''d want while fighting strong enemies!! They looked at each other worriedly, but Reno clapped his hand. "That is indeed a normal occurrence during wars¡­ in other territories." "However¡­ are you going to let Alterra go into such chaos?" His words shook every new recruit. Most of the men and women here became guards not only for the benefits, but because they had grown to really love Alterra. This was their home! Of course, they wouldn''t let anything threaten it! Even a new guard thumped at his chest. "No sir!" he exclaimed, and the others followed. "We won''t let them!" ... On another side of the barracks, Garan and the others were also preparing the territory as much as they could. Most of the people in the Ferroll team were called back, including the aborigine fighters below the level limit. Garan had already sent the letter there along with the inquiry of Ferroll''s stand with Guia Village. They needed to know where the town stood between Alterra and Guia. Although they had already signed a deal with Ferrol, that was with the condition of neither territory would put the other in danger or in great disadvantage. A subsidiary village attacking them definitely broke this section. Other than these, Garan and the others also set various plans depending on the situation. For instance, what to do when the enemies got inside the walls¡ªwhich they inevitably would, or what to do when they started taking hostages, et cetera. The factories were also working overtime, though only for an additional two to three hours in order to fill up the warehouse. In wars, only the warehouse was safe because of its condition that only the lord¡ªwith or without wars¡ªwould be able to enter it. It could get quite inconvenient as she had to handle things on her own (thankfully the warehouse had some sorting functions) and she couldn''t teleport anyone else to Limestone Valley via the warehouse, but in these cases it was really a blessing. The two new armor makers Saul and Seal were already working very hard to keep up with the need, though they had fascinated smiles even when their eye bags were large. They hadn''t been here for long, but they had already fallen in love with Alterra. They were learning so much and they really felt appreciated here. The two cousins were hired in different territories before Alterra, but their treatment was the same there. That was to say: Work nonstop for the salary, get minimal rest, eat bland food, go to sleep for a few hours, and then do it all over again. If there was war, it''d be much worse because even if they started bleeding, the lord wouldn''t care. That was the life they grew up with. They had never questioned it before, so they just went through the motions. Here, work was balanced and even during wars, they wouldn''t die from overwork because there was a stockpile. They also had great food, sometimes even with effects, as well as comfortable places of rest. The life here really couldn''t be compared. So they really didn''t want this place to suffer! Chapter 718 - 718: New Healer A new weapon maker was also hired just earlier that day. He appeared as the second option and she jumped at the chance to hire him. Fortunately, she did so as the rest of the options weren''t very good. The guy''s name was Kia, a Class E Weaponsmith with crew cut hair. When he went out to find out people were preparing for war, he was scared and a bit regretful. However, the more he walked along the territory, the more he realized it was a unique place. Everyone seemed to be moving towards preparing the territory, no one was lax! The faith they had¡­ it wasn''t something he had seen before. And when he was led, not to the weapons store as he expected but to a manually constructed factory, he was shocked. The weapons shop was treated only as a commodity shop that produced weapons automatically, while this manual construction was treated as the center of weapon and armor making in the territory. At first, he just thought the territory did this in order to get a larger workshop. However, Kia knew from previous experience that the buff the shop gave the professionals was not comparable to just simply increasing the space of production. At the time, because he had grown to like this new village, he decided to warn the lord about this. But then he was flabbergasted by the contents and he knew he would never leave! He realized he was still too naive! ¡­ As for those who wished to go outside at this time, new rules were implemented. Not only was there a high-level requirement, but they could only be a kilometer from the walls, at most. The level requirement was 9 and above only, and this was chosen in order not to hold back those about to upgrade. Otherwise, only level 10 and above would''ve been allowed. Those who could go a little farther had even more stringent requirements. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The first requirement was that the parties needed to have a level 20 fighter or stronger, and this level twenty must have an aether letter in their space. This was in order to quickly alert the territory of the emergency and, hopefully, come to rescue them. In the case of a certain pair, it was Eagle who had it. Eagle was training with Sheila, trapping a few monsters with his ability and releasing them one by one. At this time, they were already done with the second-to-the-last monster. [Used Slash (E), -2 Mana!] Sheila slashed away at the level seven monster, focusing on killing it without any other worries. Eagle sharply felt the wind around him, ready to intervene as needed. He watched with tense jaws as the grotesque hulking creature with jagged teeth lunged at Sheila, its claws outstretched to take her head. Sheila leaped backward, her axe flashing as it met the monster''s strike. The impact made her flinch but she held on to her axe for dear life, standing firm. This was one of the last monster of this mob, and she wanted to deal with it with as little help from Eagle as possible. However, the monster quickly lunged at her and she could only block it, her hands still a bit shaky from the previous attack. Sheila was pushed back and she could feel the hold of her weapon slipping away. Eagle frowned and immediately intervened. Using his wind ability, he pushed the monster back a few meters to give Sheila time to breathe. Three, two, three, two "It''s okay now!" Sheila said, asking Eagle to stop holding the monster back. The man nodded and stopped his ability, and the monster immediately attacked as soon as it was freed. The monster let out a guttural roar and it leapt to Sheila, who had her axe raised, ready to take it on With renewed vigor, Sheila launched herself at the monster. Her axe cut through the air with practiced accuracy. They had been fighting this type of monster for a while and she already knew the weakness of this species. It was in an area behind its ears, and she twisted her body to avoid its hit, using her inertia to target this weakspot. The battle raged on with her hitting many of its known weak spots, eventually slowing it down. Finally, her axe buried deep into an area, finally taking its life. After the notification of her kill, the long-awaited news finally came! [Congratulations! You are now level 10!] "Level 10!!" She yelled, jumping happily. Eagle, who had been many meters away, had magically appeared right next to her, just close enough for a hug. "I''m level ten now! Thank you!!" She yelled, turning and running straight to his arms. Then, she realized his closeness and blushed. Shy, she stepped away, accidentally heading to the final corralled monster. It was only being held by Eagle''s wind, but somehow it had entered a berserk state and broke through while he was distracted. "Watch out!!" He yelled, immediately embracing her, and guarding her with his own body. Slash! He flinched in pain, but immediately used a bit of mana to slash it into two. "Eagle!!" Sheila yelled, eyes teary in guilt and heartbreak. She took out a healing potion and forced him to drink it. He was smiling when she fed it to him and it made her want to slap him. However, the blood distracted her from her annoyance and she could only see that he was hurt. The wound was deeper than she thought, and it took her last two healing potions to help stop the bleeding. However, the wound was still deep and she couldn''t bear leave it like this. "Oh no¡­" She frowned, looking at him in puzzlement. "What are you doing? Didn''t you wear boss'' talisman?" Recalling that magic tool, Eagle pursed his lips. "You gave it to me," he said. "And?" "I didn''t want to use it." "YOU IDIOT!!" Sheila yelled, showing that rare annoyed-mother-hen attribute of hers that Eagle found so cute. She took out water from her bottle to wash the wounds at least, so it would be faster to deal with when they get back to the territory. As she did so though, her eyes stayed on the water, recalling all the knowledge she had from Betty. She recalled how water was used to accelerate healing, though as a modern Terran she thought deeper. Althea said that, in theory, the water could heal by the water molecules to interact with the body and its tissues. She was a nurse, so she had a better idea of this theory. Something stirred inside her, exacerbated by the real need to heal this man! She raised her hands and tried to control the water according to theory. "Sheila?" Eagle asked, looking worriedly at her. After all, she had slowly gone pale and sweaty! "SHUT UP!" She yelled at him, and Eagle immediately shut his mouth. Minutes ticked by and Sheila continued to experiment, trying to get the correct resonance. She was wasting a lot of water she stocked in her space, but she didn''t really care right now. Eagle was really concerned but he also saw her concentration. He couldn''t bear to distract her at this time, even when his pants had gotten wet from all the water she was using. Fortunately, their hardwork and patience did not go to waste. After half an hour of continuous use of her power¡ªconsuming the last of her mana cookies along the way¡ªSheila felt something snap inside of her, like a switch of change. [Congratulations! You have triggered the Healer (E) occupation!] Chapter 719 - 719: More Training Similarly, with many water-user soldiers around, Althea had also begun to train her water abilities. Unlike the original plan, she decided to learn the aggressive forms of water first. As mentioned, if one had just awakened an element, it was recommended to choose a path of techniques to learn. It was why Turbo could only use the drowning technique and other low-attack moves because he was a healer. Ryo, on the other hand, focused more on his aggressive attacks like water whips, jets, and other techniques. Spreading out too much wasn''t practical, no matter how talented, because then they would likely be stuck with the most basic techniques for a long time¡ªeven for the rest of their lives. Althea naturally didn''t risk it and decided to choose one path to focus on and master before crossing over. However, while she felt she''d fit better with auxiliary types of skills at first, they were going to war now, and she hoped to have as many weapons as possible. This was why she spent more time learning from Ryo instead of Turbo or Betty. Anyway, Althea had her potions with her and was more concerned with the aggressive capabilities of water than healing skills that she might not be able to awaken anyway. "Water is good for either path, though a lot of people tend to underestimate the strength of water," Ryo told her, a fluid ball of water dancing around his hand. "Water might seem like a mild element, but people forget how many people die from floods and tsunamis, or how a few inches of running water could make a person fall down." When teaching something, Ryo''s shyness was temporarily alleviated. He didn''t want to have a bad impression on the great sister-in-law! He couldn''t embarrass the captain in front of his wife! Althea had no idea the complicated mind of the man, and she only nodded in agreement. She was also intrigued by Juni''s water mutated element: Acid, which in its essence was a water element. When Juni could control he abilities more, Althea thought to study her skills thoroughly to determine the difference. There was no way for her to awaken it, but she might be able to develop skills inspired from it. For now, Ryo taught her a few moves though she was still analyzing it. The lesson had to be fast-paced because everyone had too much to do, so basically Ryo was just asked to demo and then give some aid, but the rest was on the students themselves. Along with her in this class were the other water users like one-half twin Leo. There was even Turbo in the group. While it was unlikely for him to be able to activate the skill for some time, knowing more couldn''t be harmful. Who knew when he''d activate it during a life-or-death situation? She didn''t hide this third element of hers anymore, but she didn''t announce it either. Anyone who cared would shut up and pretend not to see, which was what had been happening so far. Even if people find out, what could she do about it? It was better to equip herself with as many weapons as she could rather than hold back. Anyway, she already had many targets on her head. Having a third element was just an added feature to her at this point. Anyway, Ryo diligently demoed the Water whip and water slash to them, damaging dummy dolls in front of them. If one practiced, they would be able to form whips even if they didn''t awaken the skill. However, the damage was limited. For example, if against a similarly-leveled opponent, Leo''s whip was just as painful as if hitting someone with a belt. It was good to distract someone, but who didn''t want to be a bit deadlier when they wanted to? This was the difference of an actual Skill¡ªand this was what they hoped to achieve someday. Ideally, someday soon. Ryan extended his arm and a tendril of water elongated, as if following his movements. "The focus is to maintain the cohesion, as you probably already know. But the challenge here compared to the usual water ball and other techniques, is also to allow for flexibility while doing so." This would require great concentration. If one activated the skill, this would become much more intuitive¡ªalmost thoughtless. But, for now, they had to go through this if they wanted even a chance of awakening a skill. The Water Slash had a similar process, though its focus was more on damage than on flexibility. The next technique was the Tidal Surge. This was a technique that would produce a surge of water. It wasn''t exactly a tide and could only create a few inches of water over an area of effect, however it was enough to make people fall down. This effect was much higher if there was a water source nearby. Without a skill, it was just flooding, but with a skill, it could definitely take people down. In Althea''s case, she could only do a few inches and maybe imbalance someone of a much lower level. She would need to practice to activate the skill would be at least 10 times stronger, but for now she needed to understand the concept first. Another technique demoed to them was the Aquatic Blade, though most of them wouldn''t awaken it, though it''d be a good thing to know about, in case they encountered enemies with the same skill. The Aquatic Blade was awakened in relation to Ryo''s other occupation: Spearman. It was to create sharp blades from water, using the blade of the spear as a sort of controller. The point also increased his accuracy and focus. Aquatic Blades was basically pressurized water, so much of the Skill was in control. It naturally had limited damage so one had to be able to target the weakspots well. If one could control it in a way to keep its shape, fine, but if one awakened the skill then the brain effort would be much less, the transparent blades would be much more stable and would only require a bit of mana. Initially, Ryo was able to control a few blades up to two meters away from him. After using it for months and leveling it up, he had managed to extend it to 3 meters with about 10 blades. Unfortunately, the enemies he always went against were level 20 or so, and his blades could only serve as distractions and make some minor injuries here and there. In Leo''s case though, it was different. He was a swordsman, so the technique was useful to extend his reach, so he was particularly passionate about it. After about an hour or so, Althea was able to create little balls around her that stayed for about a minute. As they were now, they could only damage people by going straight up their noses and giving them a little headache, but it was very impressive for a couple hours of work. Finally, the non-aggressive Turbo taught her Mist Shroud. It was unlikely she''d learn of this any time soon, but it was also good to know. At least she would be able to tell when someone was about to do so by determining the change of humidity around her. Basically, it had to do with changing the state of water from liquid to gas, which was relatively doable if one had intuitive knowledge of the sciences. [Learned! Mist Cloud (E) Level 1. Limit visibility of an area 3 meters in radius from user. Mana: -5 Mana] "..." She looked worried, "Would this affect my learning of aggressive attacks?" "..." To see if it really affected her aggressive skills, they asked her to practice the water whip. She was already able to create balls float around her. The problem was to be able to elongate it, keep its form stable, and wield it with force that could actually damage, not just splash. With a determined gleam in her eyes, she stood by the water''s edge. She kept the limit of the water into 1 liter. After all, they didn''t always have ready water sources and condensing that much from air took a lot of energy. The best technique was to hold water with them at all times. While she had a huge space, people didn''t know this, so she decided to practice with limited ready water. She took a deep breath, feeling the stagnant water. She felt its ebb and flow forming little by little with her abilities. She imagined the water coalescing to a whip-like form, but when she waved it to the tree it was more like she just splashed it with water. Could it be it was really affected? How disappointing. "Keep trying, my love," Garan said, "Unlike most of us, you have integral understanding of what makes an element," he said, "Perhaps the delineation of aggressive and auxiliary for newbies may not apply to you." She nodded at this, still hopeful. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It took her about a quarter an hour for her to get to the level of a fast whip going around her. She lashed it out, sending a narrow torrent to the tree, and it ended up leaving a deep marking on it. It was not enough to completely cut it down, but it marked, and that was enough show of damage. Soon, she would be practicing on the precision, and the water danced to her will obediently. One must know, that when the water users were practicing techniques¡­ it took them at least a day to get the control right. For days, all they''d be able to do was make little splash. "Damn. As expected of sister-in-law¡­" Ryo mumbled as he watched her eventually cut down a small tree. "This talent¡­" His voice died down, not daring to say his thoughts out loud. It''s not human. Chapter 720 - 720: Half-Orc’s Duties On another side of the forests, there was another group hard at training, and they were led by the very strong orc. Going outside the walls was allowed, even if they didn''t meet the level requirements, as long as they were within the visuals of the sentry towers and watchmen. Speaking of, Gochi was a very popular hunting partner to hire. Not only was he very strong, but he was unique and just hit all the curiosity buttons of the Terrans. He also had some knowledge of plants and had stronger senses, so no one would get poisoned when they were with him. Gochi also got his own fan group. They called themselves¡­ the Furries. At some point, it got as large as Oslo''s and Fable''s fangroups. Gochi only found out when he was summoned to handle a commotion at the market, only to find out it was a¡­ fan war. It was mostly girls, but there were also plenty of boys. There were no physical altercations either, but they were yelling a lot, and their noise got so annoying that a few bystanders ended up calling the guards. "Does your husband have cool-colored eyes?" "My Golden god has blue eyes!" a Golden Girl yelled with sparkly eyes. "So handsome! So suave!" In response, a Fable fangirl, calling themselves ''Fableous'' squealed back. "My Fable can dance well! Shakes his hips so well¡ªKyaaaa~!" "My Gochi has cute ears and tails! Imagine! Having a pet and a handsome husband at the same time!" Then he arrived to calm down the commotion, only for everyone''s heads to turn and he found himself running away for fear of his life. Anyway, that was many days ago and Gochi had somewhat gotten used to the attention (in the sense that he didn''t run away at the sight of the frantic stares). S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It would take a while to absorb that this all stemmed from love for him, however. Up until now, it was hard to believe. Fortunately, outside the territory, everyone would adopt a relatively professional stance. After all, danger lurked at every corner (tho some would argue it was an honor to die while fangirling). At this moment, Gochi was handling two low-level monsters on his own, debilitating them with his own hands, making them slow enough for the Terrans to deal with them. "So cool man!" Troy yelled, sending a thumbs up in their direction. Brenda was accompanying them today. Although her level and strength were a bit lower than Gochi, she was able to accompany them well through mobs level 9 or even stronger. At some point, a monster lunged forward and Gochi kneeled down, his hands ending up on the monster''s belly. He threw it up and it landed between a few Alterrans, though upside down and struggling to get back up. "Amazing!" Fred said, promptly joining the people attacking the monster, hoping to get the last hit. Gochi watched as more people leveled up, and he knew later he''d receive a few bonuses for doing his job well. Gochi earned enough contribution points to be a permanent resident, and with the money he had been saving as a guard and from the war, he would soon be able to buy his own residence. It was estimated that within the next month or two he''d be able to move out of the dormitory to buy a unit. Don''t get him wrong, he was enjoying his stay in the dormitory. He had never thought of a concept like ''sleepovers'' before. In his mind, people slept in a room because they didn''t have money to buy their own space. However, it was the instinct of every creature to have their own abode. He¡­ he also wanted to have his own space in case more of his kind appeared. It was an unlikely thing, but he couldn''t stop himself from hoping. They fought the small mob like this for a while until only a few were left. However, at some point, his ears moved a bit. His unique eyes sharpened, sensing more enemies had found them. "Ready," he said, and the party immediately entered a battle stance. A minute later, another small horde of monsters appeared, immediately attacking them without further ado. It was a group of level 8 monsters and Gochi immediately lunged at them to hit two legs. He also kicked them back to give the others some preparation time, before he jumped up a tree and let them handle it for training. The humans separated according to their roles, with the ''soft'' ones like archers in the middle, guarded by the tanks and close-ranged fighters. Troy took out his new weapon, the Arbalest. It was a type of crossbow but with a steel prod (well, technically, improved iron) which was even more powerful than the previous crossbow. He crouched behind a boulder created by an earth elementalist. His breath was steady but his heart was pounding. He loaded the weapon, taking aim at the creature''s weak spot (which was something he learned at the monster encyclopedia back in the Library). He squeezed the trigger and unleashed the steel-tipped ¡ªer, iron-tipped¡ªprojectile. It sliced through the air, and hit the monster''s hardened coat with a twang. It missed though and it only angered the monster, but there were a few close-ranged fighters dealing with them. Fred happened to have just finished his own enemy and was helping other people out. "Hold them down!" Troy yelled and Fred cursed at him for ordering him around, but he did so in the end anyway. Troy once again took a shot and SWOOSH! The bolt struck the monster straight at the chest, going through its body. "Yes!" "Killed! Wohoo!" "I killed mine faster, and without help," Fred added with a shrug, though turning to defend against a new monster that arrived. Troy rolled his eyes. "Sure, cuz it was stupid and got more damaged from Gochi''s attack than mine!" Lulu rolled her eyes, while Gochi and Brenda chuckled. They trained for a whole day and with his help, two people¡ªTroy and Fred, had finally hit level 10! "OHYEAH!" Troy yelled with raised arms. "FINALLY I can build my own covers!" Troy was an Earth Elementalist and this meant he could create his own boulders to hide in or his own plateaus to elevate himself. Fred looked at him, wanting to say he levelled up first but then he thought to let the poor guy have this one win for now. Anyway, he was officially a fire user now. All men love fire powers, and he thought that his power was far superior than the boring ability the other guy got. Anyway, he excitedly tried to make something but he didn''t even make a spark. His eyes twitched. This so happened to be seen by Troy who was showing off a little rock floating on his palm. Fred gritted his teeth. Earth ability was much faster to learn because they just had to control existing elements! "I will enroll in elementalist class!" he told him. See how your little rocks will do against my flames. Troy sneered. "I will enroll, too!" Alterra opened up an elementalist class in the barracks where citizens could learn how to control their elements for a fee. In time, it had become a low-key brag to say "I can''t hang out today, I have Elementalist class later." Anyway, this happy thing would take a lot longer without their awesome assists. At this, they looked at Gochi and Brenda. "Come! We''ll treat you to a great meal!" "YEAHH!" They dragged everyone including Gochi to the Tavern, with the two frenemies treating everyone for a sumptuous meal. Gochi smiled as he ate and drunk, watching his Alterran friends with misty eyes. "I wish the others were here¡­" Chapter 721 - 721: Bart’s Unexpected Encounter At this time, some hundreds of kilometers Southeast of Ferrol Town, a team under Rolan Mercenary Team was finally getting back to civilization after completing their mission. Their mission was to get the Rush flower. It was a rare plant that could only be found in Cape Rushless. It took them a long time to find it in such a huge place and they even lost someone. They ultimately found it after weeks of searching a tall cliff, with all their supplies gone¡ªno more healing potions, no more of those expensive beast repellants, none of the previous sauces they got from Garan. It was horrible. Rather, they had been to longer missions before, but they didn''t have a taste of good food back then, making the absence of it all the more torturous. Horrible, it was horrible. However, getting this mission done was still worth it. With this, their upgrade to B Level was finally in reach! "Finally heading back!" Bart said, stretching his arms. With this mission, his section would be among the top of the mercenary team, and it would elevate more when they moved to a city! Generally speaking, Mercenary Teams that could do decently in cities were Class B and above. They had settled in towns¡ªalbeit powerful ones¡ªso they could focus on their growth. Now, they could venture in cities and still do well! "Finally!! Our barbecue sauce had run out long ago," one of the younger members of his team, Bulgogi, mumbled. "My tongue is going numb from the tasteless meat!" This earned him a knock on the head, "Stop being a sissy, you could even eat charred meat before." Bulgogi shrugged. "There''s no way¡ªthey spoiled our taste buds!" The imagery of the food they were missing passed by their heads, making them sigh. They didn''t disagree, even the strict Eloi, whose high hairline went even higher at this time. They walked, alert, and paused somewhere. Sipa, the Rolan Mercenary Team''s scout and archer, leaned down to look at the floor. "This is unusual." "Footprints of animals¡­ but they are far apart¡­" he mumbled, thinking. When a theory came to mind, he whipped his head towards Bart. "It seems like it''s a two-legged beast?" Bart narrowed his eyes. "Two legged beasts? There should be few in this area." However, they didn''t put much thought on this especially since it started to rain. It was a bit of a drizzle at first but then it poured, making them curse out. What luck! "Ah darnit, what a strong rain!" "Tsk." This also made them miss some of the markings and scents nearby, which were indicators to all trespassers to leave and that this was someone''s territory. At this time, they just focused on avoiding getting hit by the rain. Although Xeno bodies were naturally strong and wouldn''t catch a cold easily, prolonged exposure to strong rains wasn''t recommended either. Strong rains in Xeno was a way for the land to ''cleanse''. The rain calmed down any excess or turbulent aethers with what was called anti-aether¡ªa vague concept¡ª letting it be absorbed by the ground. Being exposed to this for a long time would literally lower a person''s health and would take longer to recover than usual. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, this applied to all creatures so unless the prey was right in front of them, a lot of monsters would actually avoid getting into fights during the rain. Anyway, being in a weakened state could mean life or death in the wild, and this was why they were running away from it so desperately. Sepa immediately looked around for signs of a cave, with the rest of the small party following him. Soon, they found a well-hidden cave located in dense vegetation. Before they could open though, they immediately scattered around as a sudden figure appeared with sharp claws, aiming right at them. CLANK! Bart shakily shielded himself with his sword, realizing the attacker had sharp paws. Bart''s face turned red as he tried to push back on the sharp claws that were getting too near his face. It was fortunate they always had their weapons out or else his heart might''ve been pulled out. His team went to his aid as soon as they gathered themselves. They swung the sword at the monster, studying what they were up against at the same time. It was a much taller creature a few heads above them. It had humanoid features but large white ears and a strong tail ready to assist in its maneuvres. It also had white striped fur extending down the hairline to his back, all the way to the back of his hand. It was a half-orc! What''s more? The more orc features a half-orc had, the stronger it usually was! The team was alarmed, not daring to prolong the battle. Orcs and half-orcs had far greater stamina! The longer the battle lasted, the more at a disadvantage they would fall! Slash! Stab! Slash! The creature maneuvered itself flexibly, avoiding all their blades. It jumped up, using gravity as its additional force. They all raised their blades to block his attack, but they were all pushed back. "It''s so strong!" Bulgogi yelled, raising his spear again in an attempt to poke it. Its tail wrapped on his handle, pulling him towards it. Bulgogi gasped as he was unable to let go of his weapon in time, so now his momentum caused his body to head to the half-orc, straight to its sharpened claw. "Ah!" he squealed almost seeing his life pass by. Bart lunged forward, barely managing to save his life, but the weapon''s already limited durability after so long was lowered even more. Their hearts beat so loudly they could hear it. Combined with the heavy patter of the rain falling on them and the forest, their own heartbeats added tension to the battle. It was only a half-orc, but it was a fighter type. Its size alone was testament enough for that, let alone how it dealt with Bart, a level 30 mercenary with ease! The half-orc didn''t seem intimidated by being surrounded by a dozen humans. Instead, he increased his force towards Bart. Bart struggled to defend himself, but the force still pushed him back. His team tried to get up, and lunged towards the critter, releasing their weapons to deal with him together, but he waved his tail and made some lose their balance, and he raised his hands to slap and kick them towards the trees. BANG! BANG! BANG! It was only in this short pause that they had noticed the monster had a slight limp but otherwise, he was OK. In contrast, there were about a dozen humans with an average level of 25, but they were having a hard time dealing with this one half-orc! Could they really win? Even if they did, how many of them would be lost?! At this, some of the younger ones couldn''t help but curse out. They were already heading home after torturous weeks in the middle of nowhere. They had already imagined their own homes, good food, and just getting enough sleep without fearing the mobs! Now, they encountered this kind of problem? One that could very well mean some people would die when they were already so near civilization! What did they do to deserve this!?! "Orcshit!" Chapter 722 - 722: The Other Half-orc The mercenaries fought valiantly, sadly they gained more injuries from the damned monster''s claws than they could inflict it. The situation worsened when the half-orc grabbed one of them by foot and hurled him against a tree. "Gyaaaa~!" BANG! "Oi! Bulgogi!" the team yelled, glaring at the half-orc. "YOU DAMNED BEAST!" they yelled, lunging at him together. However, the half-orc just continued to push, kick, or throw them. Some would find themselves crashing into rocks, some onto underbushes. Soon, fewer and fewer had enough health to stand to confront him. Their groans and cries of pain filled the air, but everyone was alive thanks to their experience and relatively good level. But there were still a lot of them and the years of fighting alongside each other honed their cooperation. They moved with precision, exploiting every opening they could find. They managed to weaken and slow him down after a lot more injuries among themselves, but the half-orc''s resilience was getting really annoying! Eloi heaved deep breaths, looking at the tired creature as well. However, it was obvious that he was still in a somewhat better state than their group. "This won''t do, we may lose energy before he would give in." "Weaken him more," Bart commanded, his eyes fixed on the half-orc. "I have a plan!" The team trusted Bart and lunged forward, sending barrage after barrage of attacks. The orc mostly defended but he also hit back before he was forced to a defensive stance again. They could feel their defensive equipment giving way, making them want to get the half-orc even more. The violent scuffle continued for several more minutes and a few more mercenaries were thrown out. Their defense equipment had given way at this point and if the beast decided to target them¡ªthey''d be dead for real. Of course, the half-orc was also exhausted. It was heaving deep breaths, though it was mixed with ominous growls. Bart''s eyes sharpened as he saw the slight change in the half-orc. He immediately ran to him, revealing a high-level tool¡ªa magic rope¡ªfrom his space and created a loop with it. "Now!" he yelled, and the remaining mercenaries surrounded the monster, keeping it in place. The loop surrounded the monster and with a pull, it was finally tied up. ROARRR! They did not dare lower their guards as they tensely watched the half-orc struggle and roar as it was trapped. It felt like the ground shook as he did so. ROARRRR!!! However, even after a while, the rope held on, and the tense atmosphere lessened just a little bit. "Did we get him?" Bulgogi mumbled, groaning as he struggled to see closely. ROARRR! "GYA!" he gasped in shock. "YOU JERK!" He yelled, kicking the damned creature. He tried to bite, but a pull from Bart kept him down and for now they were sure he was really contained. Finally! This was a very expensive tool designed to hold level 40s, let alone a beast that had a lower level than that! Bart bought it with a bulk of his savings when he encountered it on an auction in case they encounter great beasts so they could sell them to tamers. It was a pleasant surprise to use it early! The others also recognized the rope. After all, it really cost a lot! "That rope! I forgot about that!" "Those hundreds of gold was worth it!" "We''ll sell him for a very good amount!" "If he''s alive by then." "Oh, right." "This bastard, injuring us so much," Eloi said, sending the tied half-orc a kick to relieve his annoyance. "Jerkjerkjerk!" Bulgoi said, kicking as well. He was already in so much pain, what the heck! Bart heaved a deep breath and spoke. "Calm down," he said, "It''s still raining. Let''s go have some rest." After tying up the monster very very nicely, they headed back to the cave. They left the monster there to weaken it a bit more, at least until they found it a buyer. Judging by the looks of the cave, the half-orc had been here for at least a few weeks. It wasn''t as smelly as they feared either, so it at least knew not to shit on his own floor. Anyway, the ambulatory members checked the others'' states. Fortunately, everyone was alive¡ªthough the same could not be said about their equipment. As Mercenaries who traveled a lot, they naturally had a small stock of weapons in their spaces. But how many could fit in the space? Besides, a lot had been destroyed in the various battles, with the half-orc consuming the rest of them. They were also injured in various ways. They could only sigh when they recalled they barely had any potions left. Their higher-level medicine had already been consumed, except for a bottle. They had no choice but to dilute it and share it among the heavily injured ones. As for the open wounds, they had no choice but to destroy a couple of clothing to serve as bandages, hoping nothing would get infected. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Tsk," they cursed, glaring at the half-orc outside, thinking most of their troubles at this time were due to it. He better be worth it! Speaking of the rain, it didn''t seem to show any signs of stopping. Combined with their current weaknesses, they really couldn''t help but worry for themselves. "We could lose more people if we encounter a mob." "We''ll need to find a territory to rest and restock again," Bart said and this made everyone look at him as a certain thought lingered inside everyone''s heads. "This is near the fog isn''t it?" Eloi asked, and this made everyone think of Garan''s team. "Wanna check what''s behind?" ¡­ The Mercenary Team waited for a few more hours until the rain calmed, immediately heading out to their destination. Sipa led the way again but he paused when they showed him the way¡ªthe location behind the ''fog''. "That area? Wasn''t that the Dying Lands?" "What?" Bart paused. "Wait, now that you mention it¡ª" The Dying Lands was a massive area where the resources had refreshed in much slower rates. Sometimes, a simple Gouji tree that bloomed daily would bloom once a month in this place. There were also a lot of monsters that made bases there because there were few people to fight for territory. For decades, there was no territory here simply because it wasn''t worth it. Bart seemed to vaguely remember that event 20 years ago with similar circumstances. Anyway, there were plenty of reasons to check it out. "Well, let''s go take a look." Chapter 723 - 723: New Arrivals Alterra Village. A few days later, about a hundred tourists from Ferrol found their way to Alterra. This group went with people from the Terran Mercenary Team who were called in. A lot of the visitors were under Jonathan and his cronies, set to pick up their orders. They were sent so soon because the items¡­ really sold fast and well. However, Jonathan''s people actually comprised only half of the current caravan. The thing was, a lot of people got wind of the deals and that they were heading to the ''source'' of the items. Immediately, they decided to follow suit. It was all quite the ''coincidence'' that, about a kilometer from Ferrol, the Mercenary team and Ferrol Caravan had a number of ''serendipitous'' encounters with the merchants from various territories. For example, there was a caravan who would act surprised to see them. "Oh, where are you going?" Then, no matter what their answer was, the other party would say something along the lines of "What a coincidence, us too!" Then there was another that was even more blatant, saying "We were bored staying in Ferrol and decided to check out the nearby territories." Anyway, it was all quite obvious they wanted to cut Ferrol, the middlemen, and make the deals directly. But¡­ they couldn''t kick them out right? Especially when these people could just follow them anyway. A lot of these people were from various territories. Ferrol was not about to make enemies needlessly. Besides, the lord made a deal with Alterra for exclusivity in their area. This meant their interest would be guarded. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was how a massive group of 200 aborigines entered the gates of Alterra, looking around in interest and awe. They heard it was a village and were just expecting something like Guia, but what was this? This was a proper town! Anyway, the 200 people segregated to travel by group and Fred''s Glorious Hospitality company became quite busy. Of course, the territory told them not to overshare some information that they didn''t need to know. For example, the average level of their strengths or the detailed information about the Research Center was relatively sensitive and shouldn''t be spread willy-nilly. Although the intimate information about the territory could be found out through other channels, it was advantageous to delay it as long as possible. From a side, Gill and a few other soldiers sighed as they watched the new injected activity in the territory. These newcomers were sure to increase the GDP of the territory by a lot. Not to mention, they had already raised prices to balance with the outside, so the profit was even better than before. However, it was not entirely a good thing that they appeared at this time. "Hmm, while I''m happy for the tourists, it would be harder for us to determine if Baltimore''s people snuck in," Eagle said with a complicated expression. "It doesn''t matter," Gill said, a little absentmindedly as his eyes perused the newcomers person after person. "We''ll be prepared for them." He sighed in disappointment when he didn''t see the person he was waiting for¡ªwhat did he expect? That Cassandra didn''t really go home, just went to Ferrol? "Gill. Let''s greet them," Eagle said, gesturing to meet the remaining part of the caravan¡ªtheir own team members. There were a few people who came. The strongest fighter was Klaus, who was beyond the level cap at 18. There were also the level 15s Knauf and Essed who could join in the war. Thorance, the wood elementalist, was also there, albeit he was already level 16. However, he had auxiliary abilities. He was there to help Althea and Gru. For the other back-of-house personnel, there was Semi and Furong, the carpenters, who would be arranged as apprentices to Houser for a bit of gold. Just a bit, because what Houser could teach was limited to the basics. After all, he specialized in signage skills, which had limited use to their own carpenters. Anyway, all of them were surprised at the beautiful scenery. It looked like a happy place to be. They immediately straightened up when they saw the bosses Gill and Eagle walk towards them with smiles. "Welcome home." ¡­ As for Gu¨ªas'' side, the number of people traveling to Alterra naturally wasn''t missed. They had indeed snuck in somewhere behind with their members. These people hadn''t been to Alterra yet and had just arrived in the vicinity, so Alterrans should not doubt them any more than the rest of the caravan. These people were equipped with aether letters for ease of communication, ready to report to Baltimore and the others whatever useful news or information they could gather as ''merchants''. At this time, Baltimore and the others had set up camp a few kilometers away from Alterra. They set up in the mountainous side for more subtlety, and they waited for few more hours before they received their first letter. Seto reported the contents of the letter to their lord, who was sitting silently at the head of the table. "They''re guests from Ferrol," he said, looking a bit worried. "Would they interfere with our plan?" "No, they''re guests, even if they don''t leave before the war, they wouldn''t care enough to intervene." "What about the other plan?" he asked, referring to killing off the enemy forces bit by bit, hunting them when they went outside. "It''s a little difficult milord¡­" Eloi said, a little embarassed. "The way they grouped up meant risking our people''s lives." The Alterrans seemed prepared for war in the sense that no one was allowed to get out of the territory on their own¡ªnot without strongmen in their party. This meant it would not be easy to thin them out. "...it is impractical to risk injury right before the war, milord." "Do I look like I don''t know that?" Baltimore asked, tone low, and it made Eloi fear for his life. "No! I mean¡­ we''ll weaken their forces who go outside when we can. We will group to bigger groups to increase our chances." Baltimore nodded. "Do whatever it takes to weaken them," he said. "We cannot lose this war!" Chapter 724 - 724: A Little Tension "Tsk! I wanted to torture them bit by bit already," Eloi mumbled. He was looking forward to torturing anyone they could grab, one for information and also for the heck of it. The others agreed with him, and they began discussing torture methods and which ones to apply first. Pity they had to think so much before they could do so. In the previous wars, this was as easy as picking prey, dragging them towards camp, and having fun with ''em. Baltimore ignored these people, turning to look at Seto. "How''s the progress inside?" he asked, referring to their people planted inside. They had new people entering with the caravan, but some people from their party also stayed. For instance, Treck. Because they believed Alterra was much weaker than they were, Treck decided to stay in order to cause chaos before and during the war. He was in the best position because not only had he investigated beforehand, but he was also within the level cap. "What did he say anyway?" Ero asked, looking at the aether letter on Seto''s hand. "No reply. I assume he couldn''t access his space at this time." Ero shrugged and no one else thought much of it either. Although Treck was arrogant and could be emotional, he still knew when to step back for the bigger picture. So¡­ they weren''t too worried about him. ¡­ At this time, Trek was walking around with arrogance in each step. Although he gained a little loss, people were still afraid to butt heads with him in general. Many people would still shiver when they met his eyes, and he figured out their arrogance from before was short-lived. It didn''t matter that these people were newcomers and refugees. In his eyes, they were all the same. Anyway, wins aside, he had a mission right now and he ought to do his job! Guia was waging war soon and he needed to start planting the seeds that''d make things easier for them during the war. First stop was the food court during meal time. While chewing on delicious barbeque, he looked at a crowd to leave bits of comments and questions, expecting that they would brew and spread among the population¡ªlike it always did. They called this¡­ planting some knowledge or tapping awareness for the purpose of (Guia''s) greater good. "Where''s your lord?" he asked. "I''m really curious. If you don''t have one, why hasn''t anyone taken the lead? "Such a good place, how could be no one hailed as the leader?" "Hey, do you know how the rules and regulations disappeared during wars?" he said to another group, "During wars is the time for the citizens to get rich!" He''d go queue after queue, mumbling similar things, ending it with "I''d say save your money now and just wait for your next war!" He did so quite a few times and with various topics. He was subtle enough too, at least that''s what he believed. However, his actions caused him to be reported instead. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For the past hour, he was reported 8 times. So when he moved to another market to repeat the ''planting'', he found himself surrounded by the assigned guards in the area instead. Luckily or unluckily, it was led by Gochi. Treck was a bit nervous when he realized there were so many guards, but immediately gained confidence when he saw it was the half-orc. He didn''t know what this damn territory was thinking making this guy a guard. It was disgusting! He sneered, crossing his arms. "Ehh¡­ you again?" he asked. "I was just walking around. What are you doing here?" Gochi''s expression didn''t change. In fact, the reason why they didn''t deal with him the last time was because it could''ve turned to a real scuffle that might hurt the citizens and the children. Not to mention, the Guia lord and the others were still there. The trouble of imprisoning him for a few words of insult was not worth it. However, now that they were certain Guia would be waging war soon, there was no reason to be polite anymore. "Please stop causing chaos. It''s unsightly." His tone and stance made Treck surprised, and immediately very angry. His eyes red in anger, fist clenched and very much wanting to hit this anomaly on the face. How dare this animal tell him off?! "You''re brave since you have people with you?!" he yelled, though he wasn''t stupid enough to attack. At least not yet. Instead, he kept consistent with his mission and looked at the guards behind Gochi. "Heh," he paused, an annoying arrogant grin plastered on his face. "You''re letting this beast in two legs order you guys around? Disgusting!" Gochi''s fist clenched but he didn''t show that he was being affected. Since the last insults he came to learn how sincere Alterra was to him. There was no need to feel insecure. Instead of being intimidated, he looked at Treck with an apathetic expression on his face. "We''d like to ask you to come with us for questioning," he said and grabbed his arm. "You dare!" the aborigine yelled, immediately trying to escape. But Gochi was the same level as he was, except he was much, much, stronger. The next thing Treck knew, large hands found his face and his head was hit smack on the stone floor underneath him. BANG! His vision blurred and he felt intense pain in the head. He was dizzy and his sights saw double of the beast. Treck was livid, insides boiling with madness. "YOU BASTWARD!!!" He screamed behind the orc''s rough palms, gesturing to take out his weapon to retaliate. Flash! He wasn''t able to hit before he was teleported elsewhere. The next sight he saw was a plain dark place in stark contrast with the lively streetscapes he had just been in, decidedly without his weapon on hand. The fact that his head hurt, his vision blurry, and his heart beating loudly in anger was not helping him absorb what had just happened. He could only gape for a while trying to recover his bearing. Some minutes later, he heard some footsteps on the side and he turned his bloodied head in a direction. He saw the thick bars keeping him in a tight space, and he quickly realized that there were some uniformed guards behind the bars. They were looking at him without expression, but he still felt a shiver run down his spine. "Welcome to prison, bastard." Chapter 725 - 725: Break "The new prison welcomed its first strong prisoner," Althea said, reading the real-time reports on the Aether letter on hand. Garan sighed and patted her shoulders. She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder to feel relaxed. When she confirmed that Guia was going to attack, Althea reluctantly used a building slot to finally buy the Prison. It was located deeper into the territory near the barracks and the mountain areas, so few people had witnessed its construction. There was no way, the manual construction couldn''t have taken strong enemies, especially elementalists. They needed a place that could truly contain strong enemies¡ªwhich Guia Village undoubtedly was. ¡­ While the undercurrents of the oncoming war brewed, many people still remained blissfully unaware. For instance, the new aborigine visitors who were just there to buy things, explore, and be tourists that they were. Although as citizens of Towns, they didn''t have to worry about getting enslaved, they still would''ve preferred peace during their excursions. Alterra had just gone to war, how could they know it''d undergo another one so soon? These people happily spent the day roaming around and shopping. Among them, a nice-looking blonde and his partner went to the weapons store, surprised to see a familiar face there. "Brenda?" He said, startled. The woman flinched and turned to the direction of the voice, becoming similarly surprised. "Rapthen? Oh my elves!" she yelled, going out of the counter to go to him. They greeted each other arm to arm. It was a casual friendly greeting, though a bit touchy-feely for Troy''s eyes. He cleared his throat as he followed her out, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "Who is this?" "It''s a childhood playmate from back home." "From Glaston?" Troy asked, feeling a little jealous. Brenda looked at him being all salty and realized what it was about. She giggled, amused and warm. "He likes men," she gently explained to him, pointing at the other man who was standing to Raphten. The man looked awkward though he greeted her with politeness. Brenda smiled at him. "That is his partner, in dual senses." Troy blinked, his hostility calmed down immediately. "Oh." Raphten though was a little startled and a little hurt. Brenda noticed this and immediately explained herself. "No, no, your... situation is normal here." In Xeno, the treatment of homosexuals varied greatly depending on one''s power. If one was still weak, it was greatly frowned upon. After all, procreation was still important and most humans by instinct disliked the situation because it hindered procreation. At the same time, if one was powerful enough¡ªwhether in terms of abilities or position¡ªit was much more flexible. For instance, in Jonathan''s case. After all, procreation was harder at his level and there were fewer expectations for him regarding that. Xeno was essentially still a place that put the most importance in power, and a Lord of a powerful town naturally could do whatever the heck he wanted. Raphten and his partner were among the former, so they were forced to keep things a secret. "They don''t promote it, but they''re accepting of everyone who wants to contribute to Alterra''s growth." "I¡­ see¡­" the men said, albeit not quite absorbing her words. However, their surprise was pushed down by the gladness of seeing a friend. "You seem to be doing well here." "Yes, I am," she said, a bit proudly. Though her stance turned a bit serious as she the image of their home passed by her head. "How''s my dad?" "Missing you," he said. "He was hoping you''d be home." This made Brenda feel a deep pang of guilt. She hadn''t been home for a while. She usually took some day off every six to twelve months or so, depending on her location, so she could visit him and stay there for a few weeks. In fact, before getting to Alterra, she had been planning on staying only for a month before leaving. But she got too attached and there were so many things that had to be done, so she couldn''t bear to leave. After a few moments of thought, she looked at her old friend. "Can you tell us your itinerary?" "Well, we just went to this area to sell our stuff in the Ferrol fair. We got curious about this place and tagged along. Otherwise, we''re heading back home." "Ricky¡­ so you''re going back to Glaston aren''t you after this, right?" "Well, yes¡­" "Can you please send a letter to dad?" she said, going back in the counter to get a paper and pen. "I want to ask him to move here¡­ but I know it won''t be easy." The old man was a bit¡­ stubborn, for the lack of a better word. She looked at the blonde. "Go to the guides, they will let you know the place well, and be sure to tell my dad." Raphten was very surprised. Everything they had was in Glaston, and Brenda was asking her father to move? But then again¡­ from what he saw, Alterra was really a unique place. He felt there was still a lot more to discover. "I will study and tell him what I saw with honesty." Brenda smiled. "That''s good enough for me." ¡­ Speaking of letters, certain mercenaries also received one each. One was for Gill, from Cassandra, and another for Brandon, given by Veronica. It was delivered to him by Knauf. Brandon wasn''t sure what to do with it, so the other teammates dragged him to a corner of the dorm in the table, and asked him to open it up with them. It was followed by hoots and teasing and a very confused Brandon. In fact, Veronica had only even kissed a few men and nothing else. It was just that a noblewoman holding hands with different men would give them a reputation similar to that of a harlot. She was actually quite innocent and her letter was sweet and pure. Amusingly, it had to take a few explaining of her metaphors before Brandon''s face found a tinge of a blush, which successively got him a few more hoots and teasing pats. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill shook his head and went to his own private area to open his own letter. He did not expect it to only have one sentence. /Let''s break up./ Someone dropped a thing behind him and he realized a few people were peeking. "Wow¡­ Boss Gill got broken up¡­ in text," Luis gulped, looking pale. Another one shook his head and stepped back, as if it clear himself of the crime of peeking. "I know Sammy got broken up through text before. He could barely get up from bed the next day¡­" This earned him a knuckle on the head. "HEY!" Beside them, Jake whistled. "Well, it was about time. I''m surprised he hadn''t been dumped sooner¡ª" "SHUT UP!" They all flinched when Gill yelled and they immediately separated to do their own tasks, leaving the aborigine who delivered the letter in place. Knauf flinched, raising his hands. "I had no idea what it was!" he said and also walked away to give the boss some private space. Alone, Gill crumpled the paper in his hands, his dark eyes sharp with annoyance. "That woman!" he yelled, gritting his teeth. "Wait til this war is over and I will spank you myself!" Chapter 726 - 726: Wood Element (Part 1) While the others were training outside, the lord was also practicing her own elements. This time she was focused on an element: Wood, and she was practicing in the comfort of her own gardens. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They summoned the newly-arrived Thorance for his knowledge of wood elements. He was called to the gardens to help her out, and was soon brought in to meet with the couple. The handsome Thorance with his light-colored curly hair and sleepy eyes couldn''t help but appear more awake as he was faced with both the captain and his famous wife. Leon, the only wood soldier user remaining, used the element as an aggressive element, which wasn''t applicable to her. Thorance, a support, was called for the purpose of training her. He looked startled when he saw her but he couldn''t look for a long time because he felt the captain''s stare. "Hello, Ms. Althea," he said, "My name is Thorance¡ª" His voice died when he saw the garden behind her. His eyes widened at the beautiful sight and he was very tempted to leave the other people and just be with the plants. He didn''t of course. He had worked under many nobles, and not one would be forgiving if he did so. He was overthinking things of course. Althea could naturally see how his eyes brightened at the sight of her plants. She smiled. This was actually good. After all, this meant this was his passion, and that was the best type of employee. "Have you gardened a lot before?" She asked. He flinched under her attention before gathering himself to answer. He nodded. "I was born and raised in a small town south," he said, "When I awakened, I immediately applied as a gardener in the Chancery. I was hired by a bigger town, also South, which was great because I can visit my hometown relatively often. "In such a big town, there are plenty of wealthy nobles. My skills were often used to maintain the sensitive gardens of nobles." In such towns with a lot of nobles, they took status symbols very seriously. One of these symbols was a healthy garden with exotic plants. One would think that gardening wouldn''t be hard in a place like Xeno with amazing refresh rates. However, this was not the case. Althea herself knew too well that plants wouldn''t grow well if not in their proper environment, even if they were planted in system farms. On the contrary, they were a bit more ''picky''. They would grow extremely well under the right conditions, but wouldn''t sprout at all if it wasn''t. In Xeno, unless one had either specialized knowledge of plants or a support-type wood elementalist, it was too difficult to care for plants not endemic in a place, and so his services were very popular in Towns. Unfortunately, one (or a few) ladies fell in love with him and it caused quite a bit of ire among their fathers and husbands, so he was forced to resign and find a new place to get hired in. "Why do you choose to focus more on the milder side of the wood element?" It was understandable in her case as someone who dwelled and studied in plants, but this was an odd choice for others¡ªespecially in this world where all aggressive skills could save your life. The young man''s eyes softened and he smiled. It was such a gentle smile that hit the maternal instincts of women. "I have loved plants since I was a child. My father was also a gardener, and so was his father." It was such a great honor for the family to have him awaken as an elementalist¡ªmuch more so as a wood elementalist. How could he waste such a good element by using it for aggression? This answer impressed Althea and she immediately turned to her husband, looking at him with those large emerald eyes of hers. "Husband, can I hire him? My garden could really use a bit more of his kind." Garan didn''t answer immediately, looking at the soft-looking man in thought. He wasn''t a fighter and the plants with Althea were much more sensitive than those in Ferrol, so he didn''t have much reason to refuse. Anyway, it would make his wife happy. He nodded and his wife giggled, letting him get a nice smooch as a reward. "You''re hired," Althea said with a smile. "You will be helping me attend to my experimental gardens and farms, greenhouses, as well as the Gaea-owned farmlands outside." "Thank you, Miss!" Althea nodded at his story, wanting to know more. "Tell me more about your skills before you go¡ªonly if it''s alright with you," she said, belatedly remembering that aborigines were usually very hush-hush about their skills. Thorance was very happy for the job and didn''t mind letting her know more about it. "My skills are Woodland Camouflage¡ªwhich allows me to blend in with plants completely undetected for about 10 minutes¡ªas well as Plant Sense, where I could have an idea whether a plant is healthy or not." Althea was intrigued. She already had the latter, so she was particularly interested in the Camouflage skill. Thorance paused and thought of how to explain it. "Hm, it''s a skill that had to do with one being one with the plants." "Can you tell me how?" He nodded. "You need to feel like you''re the plant," Thorance said, "Surround yourself with wood energy and then melsh with the tree you wish to camouflage on." "To do this, you got to combine with the tree with your whole being as someone who can control wood." "How?" "I will show you," he said and proceeded to find a nearby tree, which happened to be a young one they had transplanted there. The young man then bent his hips and buttocks, raising his arms and closing his fingers, curling them in a weird pose that was apparently reminiscent of a young tree with lots of bends¡ªapparently to mimic the tree''s "pose". Althea''s eyes twitched. "..." He looked too silly; Althea suddenly didn''t want to do it anymore. Chapter 727 - 727: Wood Element (Part 2) However, this was a potentially life-saving skill so it was good to learn it someday so she listened to his explanation. ¡­it didn''t mean she''d try it now though. They watched as Thorance virtually seemed to disappear in front of their very eyes, making their eyes widen. The two immediately walked over to take a look, with Garan lifting his feet to light nudge where he remembered the man''s ankle was. "Ough!" "...sorry." "It''s alright, captain," Thorance said, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Basically, the slightest distraction can ruin the entire thing." "It''s still a good skill to have. Thank you for showing it to me," she said, putting down the theory in her mind probably for future use. She then excused him and he went away, leaving the couple alone in her precious garden. Now, it was time to get back to her plants~ However, as she turned, she saw her husband blocking the way with crossed arms. He was looking seriously at her. "What is it?" "Try it." "What?" "That skill," he said. "You cannot do anything else until you have mastered it." "What??" Althea flinched and she looked at her husband, realizing he was dead serious about it. No, she didn''t want to! Too embarrassing! Garan frowned and stepped over, holding her waist and lifting her up effortlessly. "You!" He then placed her right in front of a young tree in the garden. She looked back and saw how the branches were really varying. Did he have to choose this tree in particular?? She pouted and looked at him, her large emerald eyes looking straight at his. Garan gripped his arm a bit tighter to keep his serious face but otherwise he didn''t show anything. "You need this skill." "..." "..." After some minutes of silence, Althea could only sigh in defeat. She was flushed, knowing there was no getting out of this, so she sucked it up and attempted to do it. Her arms were raised and bent in strange ways mimicking the branch. It really looked stupid! "You''re very beautiful, wife, don''t be too self-conscious." She pursed her lips and glared at him (which he just found adorable) and she closed her eyes in concentration. For a while, she stayed like that. Thorance mentioned she had to be completely still. Whenever she would flinch or move by even a millimeter, she could tell she was thrown back to the starting line. Deep breath, Althea, she told herself, before she tried again. Thorance mentioned they didn''t have to hold their breaths, but Althea still decided to control it somehow. Taking shallow breaths, she concentrated deeply while gathering the wood elements nearby around her. She closed her eyes, concentrated, trying to do the theory. She failed many times by virtue of being unable to be completely still and combine with the tree behind her. After a while, the finally felt the synergy point and remembered it, applying it everywhere. [Learned! Woodland Camouflage (E). Stealth Skill to be completely undetectable to all levels below Level 30 without Perception Skills. Limits: Subject must be completely still.] Finally! She smiled and looked at her husband with a sparkling look in his eyes. "You really disappeared," he said. As a high-level man, he could still tell she was somewhere, but he couldn''t pinpoint where, exactly. She kissed him and ran to her gardens, excited to get back to her plants and also afraid the husband would make her do silly things again. During this time, she found out more about the plants the soldiers got during the Ferrol fair. After all, every one of them finally sprouted. That meant she¡ªusing her skills¡ªcould get more information about the plants that had been eluding her. One of these was Silkwood trees, which could produce a silky fabric. It was different from the products of silkworms, but it was a good alternative. While she got silk from Otto, she still needed to study the differences. Anyway, the plant didn''t grow before because it needed damp and dark places to grow. She placed them with the mushrooms, and it grew out quite quickly inside the Level 2 Farm. Speaking of which, if this was really the material used for the cloth, then this was obviously a seed that happened to end up in a pile, because Cloth City wouldn''t sell these things so easily and cheaply. There was also Silver Leaf Willow¡ªnow a feet tall¡ªwhich she determined to have something like analgesic and could be used like aspirin and other pain relieving functions. She had also been studying its bark and found trace compounds of alkaloids like which could be used as anaesthesia. However, plenty of alkaloids were dangerous so she''d need a bit more study on this. There was also the Ferverbloom which could be used to calm respiratory inflictions and Moonlit lavender for insomnia (which would also make for great tea). She had used a lot of her mana to hasten the growth of these. Even it wasn''t much, if done everyday, there really was an effect. She habitually nourished select plants until her mana was gone and went to the Greenhouse. Unfortunately, only select plants thrived and she would still need glass to be able to completely control the situation inside the greenhouse. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Glass was already being developed in the research center. Thanks to Tronie, they really found out the sand deposits from the freshwater river. From her tablet, glass from Terran sand would need 1700 celsius, which was just about the temperature their ceramics needed. It was just that the composition was slightly different and they had to do a lot more experimentation to produce glass that would be used in everyday life. It wasn''t easy. After so long, the glass they produced was so thick and incredibly brittle¡­ If they found a professional glass maker, then they''d be able to expand the research further, but there was no such luck just yet. Putting aside things that were out of control, she resumed focus on the plants that she could handle. She also touched her coffee and cocoa trees. Judging by their appearance, they should only take another 2 months or so before some of them bore fruit. She smiled, already thinking of the chocolate and coffee products. "Just a little more~" Chapter 728 - 728: Softness before the Hard "Time for lunch," Garan said, coming out of the house. He had come home during his break from the barracks, a habit now since moving in Alterra. After all, they were apart so often back in Terran, and he couldn''t bear being apart from her for too long now. In his arms were the two babies, taken from the neighbor''s house on his way there. This was probably to force her to leave her plants. This wasn''t needed though as she had already ran out of mana. Althea smiled warmly and placed a chaste kiss on his lips, before turning to smooch the babies'' cheeks. "Mwahhmaaa~" "Gugughhhmmn¡­" She chuckled and gently pinched their soft cheeks, before taking one of the babies into her arms as she looked at her husband. "How''s the training?" "Very good. Everyone''s making steady progress," he said. More and more elementalists had awakened thanks to their focused training. With the soldiers'' help, they were also able to learn a skill or two at a relatively short amount of time. "What about you?" He asked, gently leading his wife to the dining room. She smiled and told him of the plant stats which she spent half a day on. He was a little surprised at the Silk trees though, and similarly mused that perhaps it was a stowaway seed. He wasn''t wrong. The Silk Tree was indeed from one of the Cloth Cities. Specifically, Cloth City which was known for its smooth fabrics targeted for nobles. By some careless mistake, a few were dropped and eventually ended up in various markets. Because they were so controlled though, no one recognized them for what they were, and were simply sold as an unknown seed for a discounted price. Of course, the Cloth City wouldn''t have minded either way because the trees required special, often counterintuitive conditions to grow. Not only that, even if by some miracle it did grow, who''d know how to turn them into cloth? Too bad it ended up in Alterra. Eventually, they''d even create superior kinds from the same raw materials. Of course, this was something for later. Anyway, back in the Gaea team villa, the family of four headed to the dining room to eat their meal. To save time, Harold always sent them some food from the restaurant, and the meat and soup were still piping hot. Today, they were having a bowl of fresh salad composed of Terran vegetables combined with the Tutu berry, the fruit that was bigger and less sweet versions of grapes (and a lot of seeds). It was one of the very few fruits in Xeno that actually had taste though. It was nicely seasoned, and covered with special dressing made from the fruit seeds. They partnered well with the taste of tomato and lettuce, adding a special crunch. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For the meat it was grilled Gugu birds, its tender meat promising a burst of flavor in every bite. "The Gugu bird here are definitely better, I also confirmed with the Mercenary Team cooks," Garan said. He couldn''t comment on the others, including meat from broat or fishes, because they weren''t available to him before Alterra so he couldn''t compare. She nodded. She had heard similar comments, though the changes weren''t instantaneous so no one was certain. However, her husband was a great cook and had a sensitive sense of taste. Him saying this meant there were really differences. "Maybe it''s because their food is from system farms?" "Possibly, and there''s also the fact that they grew and were grazed in these farms." This was very interesting. If true, then this meant even this raw material had a premium! As for the babies, while drinking broat milk, they extended their cute little hands towards their food too. They opened their mouths making small o''s, as if asking them to feed them the same thing. The babies were now nearly two months old, but they looked at least three or four months old. At this point, more little teeth had appeared. She sighed. However, they were so tiny and cute, though she couldn''t help but feel worried. This was usually found five to six months in, even amongst aborigines born here. The couple just smiled and ignored them at first, continuing to eat their meals. However, at some point the kids pouted and refused to drink from their bottles, eyes fixed on the hard sumptuous food in front of their parents. Althea saw this and turned to her husband. "Do you think they''re ready for some soft food?" She searched and it was typically at six months, but conventional knowledge no longer applied to her babies. If they continued like this, then breast milk would no longer be enough either. Garan looked at her with an unchanging expression, but his eyes brightened. Did it mean he could have it all for himself? If Althea knew what he was thinking, she''d pinch his cheeks. Anyway, at ''six months'', the gag reflex that automatically pushed away food was gone, and from the way her children played with their teether, they could at least gum food. Before, they had been adding flavor in their milk, now she could try adding bits of the real thing. She pursed her lips and went to crush them some food. She chose Gouji berry (unseeded, of course), crushed them, and added milk before giving some to the babies, who seemed very curious about the new food. She put the spoon and made an o with her mouth, and the cute babies soon followed her lead. They adorably took in the spoon, and a lot of the goo escaped. Garan wiped their mouths with the bibs. "Mwamhmmm¡­" "Googhmnnn!" The babies made os with their mouths again, occasionally numming as if they were still tasting the sweetness. The couple smiled and carefully fed the babies, though with much less in a spoon. They ate everything. "Should we be concerned?" "Not even Oslo knew what''s happening¡­" Then again¡­ they found out Meatball could control his weight while Pepper could teleport¡­ what was eating soft foods a little earlier?? Chapter 729 - 729: Refresh Rate Meatball could control his weight and Pepper seemed to have the ability to teleport. Thinking of those, the babies eating soft foods a little earlier seemed to be the least of their concerns. These were unique and dangerous powers and when they told the hired aborigines¡ªwho were under oath¡ªthey were all shocked, all unaware of what was happening. Not only were the powers unheard of, but they were being exhibited by babies! S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Generally speaking, powers were only exhibited after Level 10. Even if a rich family trained their kids and let them get last kills to get them to level up early, their bodies usually weren''t strong enough to support the level and they fell ill even before they reached level 9. It was the primary reason why the bulk of the training kids get¡ªat least those that give experience¡ªwas after 12, which was after the aborigine pubescence age. For Terran children, if the requirements were the same, then the age would be 13 to 14. The aborigines'' surprise worried the couple more than anything. The mysteries surrounding their children felt like a sword over their heads sometimes. However, they agreed not to overthink when no one knew about it. They just decided to aim for strength so they could handle whatever it could mean. For Garan, this mostly meant strength, while for Althea it was to make Alterra unbeatable¡ªto be the unshakeable backer for her children. She rested a bit and ate Harold''s mana cookies to regain her mana, deciding to explore the outside of the territory. Of course, her husband was with her and she didn''t go far from the gate either. She hadn''t studied the plants outside for weeks, as she had plenty to study inside. Not to mention, she had to use a lot of energy to figure out how to make those seeds bloom, so she had ignored the existing plants for a while. She wanted to see the difference now that she had awakened her element. The couple settled at a relatively isolated area at some distance from the wall. It was a small clearing lined with a variety of plants. They set up picnic blankets where both of them sat down. Althea closed her eyes and concentrated, using her abilities to check on the surrounding vegetation. For the most part, it was what she expected. Except¡­ she couldn''t help but notice a slight difference in the amount of wood energy that surrounded the plants. After all this time, she had studied the plants in her gardens, even those outside the system farms but within the territory walls. She still had some impression of their ''health'' compared to those outside. Was it her imagination¡­ or was the wood energy less outside the walls? Her eyebrows furrowed. She recalled the reports that refresh rates of plants seemed to have slowed down a little compared to before¡ªparticularly to the plants outside. Any unsual observations were reported and never underestimated. Their initial hypothesis was that there was just some sort of climate aberration, which¡ªafter much observation from the meteorology team¡ªwasn''t enough. However, the refresh rate was indeed slowing. Before, a typical Gouji tree outside would average about 44-50 fruits every day. Now it went down to about 43-48. There was also a slight lag between the blooming of the plants and the flowers too. Was there a correlation if some kind? Her population was steadily growing. She feared this might also be happening inside, but it was so subtle no one noticed. They also never lacked food due to the farms so they hadn''t really felt much changes within the walls. If it was really as they feared, then she would eventually have to lower the free resource harvesting for residents and increase the prices of harvest. She told Garan she''d take a while and not to stop her until she was done, knowing this would need her full concentration. Garan nodded. Although he looked worried, he trusted his wife fully and didn''t push for answers at this time. For the next few hours, she settled there, observing the wood elements around. Wood energy, like any other, underwent the rule of conservation of energy. If it wasn''t floating around, then it was integral to the plant and its functions. That was to say, nothing should just disappear in the real sense. She focused on the specs around her, using much of her mana to keep track. She observed the surrounding plants and their energies, and any changes that she had to note. Then, after a few hours, a change happened. A speck was gone! It was only a spec, but she couldn''t trace it anyway. It didn''t go in a plant or wasn''t absorbed by the soil. It was just¡­ gone. After another hour, there was another one. If this was a constant event, then the total disappearing specs weren''t small. She thought hard as various hypotheses formed in her brain. Back inside, the situation was much better, especially so on farms. The higher the level of the farm, the denser the energy, and the faster the regeneration rate. Based on this, it was safe to assume that the density of the wood energy was connected to the regeneration rate. This meant that the disappearing energy particles were really a cause for concern! However, she decided not to give herself a heart attack and decided to study the situation for a bit longer. She stayed for a few more hours and witnessed a few more disappearances, and her heart dropped every time. This confirmed it. The refresh rates of the plants¡ªat least outside of the territory¡ªhad been slowing down! What could this mean for them? And was it only like this in Alterra? In this area? Or was it happening everywhere else as well? Was it something that happened to the whole continent? Was it seasonal? Permanent? "Wife? What''s wrong?" Garan asked, patient even after hours of waiting. His eyebrows were furrowed as he worried for his wife and he patted her cheek. Althea looked at him with a very serious expression. "I have bad news." Chapter 730 - 730: 14 Hours (Part 1) Vismont Village At this time, one of the more relaxed territories happened to be Vismont Village. When everyone had experienced their first¡ªwith some even on their second¡ªwars, Vismont hadn''t even received a threat. They actually had a few aborigine guests from the West. They were extremely arrogant when they came, but they had barely entered when Matthew made the fact that they were subsidiaries slip. When they found out they were subsidiaries of another village, they lost interest. The advantage of being a subsidiary was that it was really not attractive to attack because it was likely poorer than others. They also had somewhat of a guaranteed assistance from the ''master'' territory (should they request for it), which meant attacking it was usually not worth it. There was also the fact that if a territory won theirs, they''d have to serve the master territory as well during the duration of the agreement. They had just entered the contract with Alterra for a month. This meant there were still 11 more months to go and the attacker¡ªif they won¡ªwould just serve in their stead. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Further, their visitors were also unaware of the only advantage in taking them, which were basically just Alterran products. At the time, Alterra had just been in a war so their exports had been limited the past week or so. So the stocks for Alterran goods in VIsmont were only available in a few homes and a few establishments. Matthew made sure to keep information amongst themselves¡ªwhich also saved Alterra from a visit from a possibly hostile territory. It was a bit rushed, but when the people were told that being too attractive could send a war in their direction, everyone cooperated. Anyway, except for the custom houses being a bit special, there was nothing worth taking at all, the aborigine scouts went North. They did beat up a few people to get ''shortcuts'' to the gates, but fortunately no one died. Matthew and the others took advantage of the peace to regain their strength after the successive tragedies. Matthew also implemented his own contribution system, giving everyone who stayed in his territory an ample amount. This was the reason why the couple Okuri and Ronny stayed longer than they anticipated and hadn''t moved to Alterra yet as planned. They wanted to spend the contribution points¡ªwhich would be nulled if they changed their citizenships¡ªfirst before moving. At this time, the couple was shopping in the territory-owned grocery shop selling Alterra products, buying their supplies for the next couple of weeks. It had just been restocked after a few hours, and the queue spanned streets. They were just planning on filling up their space, ready for their travel to Alterra when the Alterran guard team and caravan arrived, though they weren''t clear when exactly that''d be. Okuri was dictating what she wanted to the clerk, spending their remaining contribution points. Her boyfriend tapped her shoulder, making signs to tell her what to get more of. "Do we need more flour?" She asked and he nodded, signing that it could be made into many things. Okuri nodded in understanding, ordering the items. He would also hand signal or write down other things and Okuri followed his wishes. They made sure to buy as much as they could, even if they had to carry some outside the space. This way, they''d have a good starting point even after they left to move to Alterra. They left the shop, excited to get to the next stage of their lives. When they went out, they happened to encounter the lord making rounds. "Milord," The couple greeted and he nodded, leaving with old man Yao following closely behind him. They seemed to be talking, so they didn''t do small talk (a characteristic of the socialite Matthew). The two pairs separated and into their own conversations. "What did the people who just got back from Alterra say?" Matthew asked the old man. He was referring to the few people who brought stocks from Alterra (for a large markup) and had just gone ahead without staying for an hour. He was hunting outside when they arrived and he just missed them. "Alterra seems to be preparing for another war." He flinched, feet stopping. "What? Another?" Didn''t they just end one a week ago? Yao nodded. "Well, it is a very good territory. It''s not surprising it''s so targeted." Matthew frowned and, although he knew the territory was strong, he couldn''t help but worry because his sister was there. He headed towards the Village Center to send a message to Alterra. However, before he could go far, a ding sounded in his head. [Alterra Village (Lv 3) has been attacked by Guia Village (Lv3)] "We must send help," Matthew said, and Yao nodded albeit internally he was wondering if their arrival would change anything. But he also understood the sentiment. Not including Miss Melissa''s issue, Vismont wasn''t able to do anything during Alterra''s first war. If they didn''t prove their worth early, what would stop Alterra from not renewing the subsidiary contract after a couple of months? With the rate Alterra was going, the tribute they''d be giving would soon be chump change¡­ Matthew proceeded to send announcements to his guards¡ªwhich had tripled since they had gotten rid of Higson. He told them that Alterra was going through a war soon, and they should send help. Anyone who participated would receive ample contribution points, especially those who truly contributed to the war. It was just that, a few moments later, Matthew also received an announcement of his own. [Shrao Village (Lv3) has declared war on your village, Vismont Villlage (Lv3). War will commence in 13:59:59] It felt like a cold bucket of water was doused on him. Old man Yao turned to look at him, confused by the sudden change of aura. "Is there anything wrong, milord?" Matthew''s shoulders slumped, a little pale, but didn''t show anything else. He was unwilling to show any more weakness at this point. "Nevermind," he said, voice slightly coarse. "It seems like we''ll have our hands full as well." Chapter 731 - 731: 14 Hours (Part 2) Alterra. [Guia Village (Lv3) has declared war on your village, Alterra Village (Lv3). War will commence in 13:59:59.] The declaration happened almost as soon as Althea realized the bigger problem they were having¡ªthe declining refresh rates. Of course, if it would just return to rates similar to how Terran was, then it wouldn''t be too big of a problem. They were used to that productivity even before, and they could calibrate themselves accordingly. Further, their current population could easily be supported by the current farms, even if they get much slower. They would just need to slowly reduce their exports. After a certain amount of deals with other territories, they might have to slow down. It''d be troublesome if they changed the prices too much because of the reduction of surplus. Anyway, Alterra itself would be fine. But¡­ what would that mean for the rest of the world? Wars were prevalent even now when the resources were plenty, what more when they were lacking? However, she put all these worries aside as Baltimore had finally sent their formal declaration. Deal with him first. As soon as the declaration was passed, all elders met in the village hall to strategize, including the top aborigine officials. It was Garan who led the meeting this time. He knew most about the territory and was as detailed as he could be. "Guia Village is easily the strongest Level 3 village in the region. If we''re not careful, we will have a lot of losses," he said, and the others nodded solemnly. "We know that many strongmen from Guia have been lurking around our territory in a while, while a few within the level cap are already within our walls." "We will contain them all," he said, "Including those who had suspicious contact with them." They might not be able to get everyone¡ªincluding those who snuck in with the visitors¡ªbut they needed to contain who they could. And when they fought back, heh. They might think they''d end up just banned in the territory and therefore kicked out, but they''ll be in for a surprise¡­ The prison this time was the system one. They had been reluctant to build this prison due to its unfortunate side effect of taking some lifespan for prolonged periods from prisoners. However, it also had the weakening capability, even if the prisoners used elements and skills, which made it too attractive for them to be stopped by some minor moral issues that these people might not deserve. At level 1, it could easily contain an elementalist level 20, and would need a few more guards if they were stronger. Since they were only a village, a level 1 prison was enough. "We need to add guards to the prison as well," he said, in case people would try to rescue their captured comrades. Anyone attacking the prison outside of wars would be placed in cells, but during wars such rules were void. "We expect a lot of injuries, but we naturally hope to minimize them," he turned to an old man at the edge of the table. "Doctor Volohov, lead your team well. If you trigger the occupation, please inform us immediately." Volohov was not yet an official Elder, but he was the most senior medical professional. He also had a green tag, and it was only a matter of time before they promoted him officially. He also served in a war in his youth, giving him some experience in the field during wars. One must know, wars were uncommon in Althea''s generation. It was difficult to find doctors who had accomplished their field whilst undergoing the pressure of wars. "Yes, I will do my best," Volohov said, with a determined look on his face. He knew that his promotion was dependent on his performance in this war, so he was set to impress. His wife, Liana, was also there with him. She was also a highly trained and experienced nurse who could handle pressure very well. She was the head nurse of the hospital and with her skills and knowledge, no one questioned her at all. Since they arrived, the old couple had pretty much lived in the new hospital, and not just because of their jobs. It was a special building, and it was something they loved the moment they stepped foot in. The building itself also had healing effects on patients. It also helped to clear the minds of professionals. It allowed them to keep their cool better under pressure that even newbies could be depended on even if there were dozens of patients getting thrown at their faces. Anyway, it was so magical! The medical field of Alterra was not limited to the building. There was ample medicine and equipment, there was endless research to get more. They also just had to submit a request for certain medicines, inputting as much information as they could, and their request would be queued up for the Research Center to study. There was a special pharmaceutical team in the Research Center. It was led primarily by Althea, but she also had assistants who focused on that department alone and had been churning out medicine formulas since its inception. First there was Gus, who had arrived at Alterra fairly early on, and then there was Dr. Abdul, the immunologist from their team. There was also Dr. Noa Benjamin, a biochemist, though he arrived with the latest refugees from the West. The medicines they developed would be sold in the pharmacy of the hospital, separated from the pharmacies outside. Other than the consumable medicines, there was also dedicated research for medical equipment! The atmosphere of innovation was not slowing down and as lovers of science this alone would light fire in them. They truly wanted to prove themselves¡ªthat they were truly worthy to lead a side of this great territory. If their life meaning as medical professionals would be met in Xeno, it could only be in Alterra. More importantly, it was here that they''d be able to help and save most lives, feeling the impacts of their professions to the fullest. In Alterra, they could spend the rest of their lives contributing to humanity and, with their old age, that was a formula for a life well lived. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 732 - 732: Prelude to the Attacks A/N: Our precious comrade Leezertje has volunteered to make a spoiler-free character list! XDDD THANK YOUU! ... _____________ The meeting continued and various more concerns were raised. One of which was regarding the large number of people above the level cap that Guia had. "We cannot do much against the enemies camping outside other than to defend against them," Garan said. "We have to make sure they cannot damage us." Guia had a lot of people beyond the level cap and a lot of them would likely just be waiting outside to kite them, thinning their numbers little by little. They couldn''t send scouts out because the chances of them getting caught and killed were too high. They could check out the surroundings with the observatory scope, but the forests were dense so they had limited view due to the foliage. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If the number of people was high, they''d be able to detect them, but if it was only in groups of dozens, then unless they hang around in clearings for a period of time, then it''d be difficult for the watchers in the observatory to notice them. "Everyone will stay within the walls, training either in the barracks or the training hall. We will temporarily open the barracks to the public¡ªat least those with a certain minimum amount of contributions; this will allow more people to train in close proximity to the guards." Although there were fighting arenas, the growth there was limited to the number of fights. Not to mention, one''s techniques could be pulled out to display unnecessarily. What if the enemies were watching the show? Other than this, they also had to make sure everyone had decent rest before the beginning of war. They also cannot do excessive activities and training before this time. "The guards must be in top condition during the war," Garan said. They actually formulated a regimen for the guards in the event of wars. That was, during the 14 hours prior to it. In that regimen, the guards would be given specific body strengthening exercises, and they would not undergo harsh fights and spars. They would be given very good energizing food, vitamins, minerals, and decent rest¡ªensuring their top shape during the fights that could take their lives. "We want as many people to survive as possible," Garan said, before turning to the medicine team. He turned to Sheila, who was manning Althea''s pharmacy factory. "We''re counting on you to up the production," he said, "But prioritize hiring those unable to fight or contribute more. Of course, the skill you require will still be considered." "Yes, Elder Garan." Gru was also to ensure that the raw materials for their food were unhindered. For this, they had to use the majority of their fertilizer stock and Althea''s team also made improved versions to add to the most important crops. Other than medicines and food, the territory would also be buying resources like wood and stone for higher prices so Alterra could stock up on them. They cleared up an open area near the warehouse for the overflowing resources. "The weapons and other equipment have also been stocked," Brenda reported. The custom weapons factory now had enough stock to equip the fighters a few times over. The weapons and armory stores from the system were also maximized, with dedicated people buying everything for stock. This way, it would continue producing as long as there were resources in the warehouse for it to consume automatically. Blacksmiths were also in full gear and prepared to continue producing endlessly (in shifts) even at the height of war. Other than these, they also had other weapons. Althea turned, looking at Eugene. "Eugene, get those ready," She said, and Eugene nodded. Looking closer, his eyes were sparkling. A team was assigned to Eugene, but most were still building weapons after weapons for the citizens to use. While they still had some ways to go before creating proper guns that wouldn''t explode to their faces, they had alternatives that were guaranteed to still cause damage to the enemies. Anyway, everyone except the visitors was given roles in the war. They had to invest in making everyone do oaths, but it''d be worth it in the long term. Every industry would also be running steadily during the war, even industries like clothing. Speaking of, a number of people had already awakened the profession during this time, including a few cloth makers, so it could be said that production was quite high. Other than the fact that they didn''t have to worry about fighting naked, this meant that they could get light equipment that added defense. The most popular product was Underwear because it was not visible and could serve as the final line of defense. As for the peace and order within the walls during the war, a guard team was assigned to Mathilda to keep the peace. There would be a special focus on sensitive areas like territory shops that''ll remain open during wars. The warehouses, the factories, the farms, and the water sources were also well-protected. Although there was a regulation from the get-go that anyone who caused chaos in the war would be punished, this would mean nothing if the person was an enemy in the first place. There could also be more turncoats so they didn''t completely depend on the ability of the rule. After everything was discussed, silence reigned in the room, with everyone feeling tense. The battle with Fargo had seen quite a few deaths, this one could very well had been higher. But they would definitely do their best to safeguard their people as much as they could. It was no use to be paralyzed with worry. The meeting adjourned and everyone went to do what they did best at this time, making sure to maximize the 14 hours. Althea locked herself up in the bomb laboratory again. She was making potion after potion, bomb after bomb. Of course, most of the bombs she made were smoke and paralysis bombs. As much as possible, she wanted fewer lives taken. Guia had a lot of slaves, and they would definitely be helpless cannon fodders in all of this. After long hours of work, she was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. She sighed, reluctantly opening the door to see it was Harold, carrying her little ones sobbing their hearts out. Althea ran to them as they cried pitifully, their large round eyes glistening in tears and their chubby cheeks red in emotion. "It''s time for you to rest, Althea," he said, raising a baby on each arm. "The babies wouldn''t stop crying." This made her heart flinch and she leaned down to give them small pecks. Her hand was dirty though so she couldn''t hold them. "Aww¡­ my babies," she mumbled, giving a few more smooches. "I''m sorry, I''ll finish this in a couple of minutes, okay?" The babies calmed down a bit and Harold took them outside after they really settled down, allowing Althea some space to resume her work. She hurried up and decided to end this session after one last bomb. While she was busy on one of the tables, she was distracted by a noise on another. She thought she just left something out of balance and it slipped, but then she heard a giggle. Her heart dropped and she lunged to the table, taking a dangerous ball from her baby''s hand. It was only a smoke bomb, but it still released some force that would be dangerous for such a small little thing! "PEPPER! Don''t play with that!" she yelled, placing it in her space. "Mnggmawamaaa," she mumbled, raising her hand to her mother who hugged her to calm her own heart. It was still beating loudly, and the baby buried herself in her arms. A moment later, the door suddenly opened, revealing Harold who was obviously half-panicked trying to look for the baby girl. "There you are! Gracious Gugu Bird!" he yelled, heaving a deep breath as he walked over. "Hmnnnmanmm¡­" the little girl mumbled, rubbing herself against her soft mother. Althea''s heart softened and decided to postpone everything, walking out of the room after cleaning up the work desk. Harold followed, still a bit shaky from the previous nervousness. When the baby lifted her head a bit to turn to him, only then did Harold heave a breath of relief. He gently booped the baby''s nose. "Naughty baby," he said with a smile, only to scream a moment later when he saw Meatball floating like a helium balloon, just stopped by the ceiling. "OH MY BROAT! MEATBALL!" He yelled, running under the baby boy and jumping up. He heaved a deep breath as he dragged a chair to get to him. The little bun had the audacity to laugh at him as if he was the stupidest thing. "..." Harold could already imagine the headache this one would cause when he started walking¡­ He just saw more white hairs and wrinkles on the horizon. Althea was still reeling at what could''ve happened to her daughter. She sighed and looked at her daughter, who was comfortably snuggling in her arms, completely unaware of the danger she just put herself in. Then there was also her son, who could float to the skies if they took away their sight for a couple of moments. He also seemed to be happy to cause them headaches. "Such naughty children," she mumbled with furrowed eyebrows, a little confused. "I wonder who you take after?" Chapter 733 - 733: The Array is Here! Guia Village "The time for war has arrived!" Benjo yelled, yelling at the people who stood outside their walls. He believed they were the strongest village there was. With their requirement to be guards was at least level 10, and there was more than a thousand of them. He looked at the guards and fighters participating in the territory, the mercenaries, and other participating citizens believing that like every other war, they would destroy this one. Other than the slaves, a lot of the people here came voluntarily. In their minds, this was another fun money-making activity. In fact, when they received the territory announcement, they cheered. Because wars meant loot, gold, and slaves! They waited for the array to appear, already excited for their wins and the sufferings they would cause. ¡­ Alterra Village. At this time, several aborigine guests and a few citizens were surrounded by guards. First was Ramona, who had been eagerly waiting for the result of the war. To her surprise, a female guard approached, asking her to come with her. "We''ll need you somewhere first, Ms. Ramona," the female guard, Cassie, said. The guard held Ramona, gesturing to tie her up with their handcuffs. "What?! No, let go of me!" she yelled, "You can''t do this! This isn''t legal!" "We''re just putting you under investigation," she said, "If you continue shouting I will yell the allegations back to you." She shut her mouth, guilty, but then when she realized her gaffe, she continued to reject. She was no match for the other woman, who was already level 10 herself. Similarly, some other guests Baltimore left behind (that they knew of) were also being apprehended. "What?! I''m a guest! How dare you!" The man yelled. "What are your grounds for taking us away? We are guests! Do you want to be marked as an enemy of my territory?" another said. "You have been caught causing chaos," the guard said with a deadpan expression on his face. Unlike Treck, they were much more subtle in their discussions. Sometimes with each other in bars, but loud enough for many of the people to hear. Too bad for them, not only were Alterrans generally loyal, but there was also the reporting system that gave Contribution Points. The number of reports directed at them in the past few days¡­ was staggering, to say the least. They even got a few people stalking the elders, no doubt planning some evil shit. More and more people got apprehended and those at the back realized there was no going back this time. However, they weren''t about to go down without a fight! The anti-fighting rules by default only applied when a certain amount of damage had been created. They were planning on hitting a few people first and then getting kicked out of the territory¡ªthis was what they always did for territories that actually had rules. The men looked at each other, sneered, and then lunged toward random passersby who looked like they could die (or at least very very seriously injured) from an attack. To their surprise though, they hadn''t even hit the victims when their sights lit up and they found themselves surrounded by dense walls and metal. "WHAT¡ª" "What? Where am I?" He looked around and saw a familiar place, with some differences, but they knew a prison when they saw one. It was just that, before, they were usually the ones sneering on the other side. When did they have a formal prison? Wasn''t it just a manual-constructed one before? Did they still have excess building slots?! "LET US GO!" "Oi!" They continued to yell and bang against the cell walls, though all they heard were their companions doing the same elsewhere. This was when they realized: They were transferred here even with just the attempt to hurt people. They were also led to specific holding cells! Orcshit. How rich was this territory to have so many specific rules? What else didn''t they know?! They continued punching and kicking the cell walls, though nothing happened. "TSK." "This should only be a level 1 prison right?" A level one prison could only safely contain a level 20, it would have discounted effects and even allow for the possibility of escape if stronger prisoners were contained. It so happened that a few people here were beyond the level cap, and someone was even at Level 20. Anyone this level from the Lord''s party would''ve been apprehended early, but they snuck in with merchants from a town so their levels were nothing too eye-catching. What they didn''t know was that Garan and Althea adjusted the Prison according to the threats they''d face. It might only be a level 1 Prison, but¡­ Suddenly, the noisy ones were sprayed with some water. It startled them and they coughed when some of the water crept up their noses. "What¡ª" They didn''t even have the time to absorb what was happening when they felt strong shocks that shook them to the core. "GYAAAA!" "What the heckkk!" "AHHHH! MAKE IT STOP! AHHHH!" It felt like they burned from the inside. The shock and pain continued until they could no longer utter anything. The others held the gates of their cells, wanting to know what made their strong companions scream like slaughtered Gugu birds. "Oi! What did you do to them?!" "OI! TELL US!" At this, a handsome man who was holding some red thread walked forward, looking down at them. "Shut up. Do you want to experience the same? That was only a few seconds. Imagine if we decide to use it more." He looked threatening and domineering. If any of his admirers were there, they''d squeal. Anyway, the water was there to make it more painful, but it only had to be used because the prisoners were strong. The other ones were not even level 15. His electricity with the wires would be enough for them. Those who were electrocuted were half dazed from the pain, the stronger ones were still able to move and had the mind to see what surrounded them. They looked down and saw meshes of reddish metal on the floor. Leading to the outside. Drake was there, electrocuting them as needed. Better was that the metal was copper, one of the best conductors of electricity. The water also had salt dissolved in it, making it more conductive to electricity. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The prisoners didn''t know any of this at this time. All they knew was that it sure hurt like heck!! Chapter 734 - 734: Start of the War "GYAHHHHH!!!!" they yelled as they felt intense pain spread all over their bodies. Their bodies twitched and their mouths frothed a bit with saliva. When it stopped, they felt dizzy, forcing themselves to glare at the guards outside their cell. "Bastard!!" Stronger ones forced themselves up, kicking and punching at the metal. However, a System Prison weakened whoever was in the cells and it disallowed the use of skills and abilities, so how could they succeed? There were also those who tried destroying the reddish mesh that surrounded them, but they were very ductile and the weakened prisoners could only do so much. However, for good measure, Drake and the other guards decided to punish them for misbehaving. A mesh fell down on the particularly ''rebellious'' ones, so now they were completely surrounded by the cold, ominous, metal. They were even splashed with a bit of water again. Without further ado, Drake used his ability again, sending a strong voltage, the subsequent pain embedding into everyone''s memories. "ARGGHH!" "STOP IT!" "You bastard¡ªwait til I get out of h¡ª AHHHH!" They peed and shit themselves due to the pain, humiliating themselves even more. It looked a bit pitiful, but any Alterran who knew what they were here for would spit at them. The other ones who had wanted to fight froze and kept quiet. They could only grit their teeth as they glared, but they were too afraid of pain to do anything else. They tried to be subtle in their rebellion. But because the prison forbade them from using any skill, and considering how they were weakened by just being in the Prison, it was difficult to just destroy the flexible copper mesh that ominously wrapped around them. It would just stretch and be drawn out instead. The meshes were well-made, made to maximize the natural ductility of copper. The laboratory was also experimenting with creating an alloy or combining it with other discovered metals to make it even better, but that was a story for later. Eventually, the prisoners learned to behave, and they could only lie down in their own sweat and pee. It was disgusting and horrible and it made their bodies hot with anger, but they had no choice but to keep it in. They never had to keep their anger before! They were used to beating people up to vent! But they maintained their sanity just by the thought that the situation would be reversing soon. ''Just you bastards wait!'' they would whisper amongst themselves. ''I will make you suffer a hundred times more than I did!'' Soon, it was quiet, with the prisoners waiting in anticipation of the screams. Maybe their companions would come and rescue them soon! Their eyes went red in bloodlust just thinking of it. However, the minutes passed and they heard nothing. It was too quiet. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Another flaw of a low-level prison was that it didn''t have much insulation. So people outside would be able heard the screams from the inside. If there was chaos outside, they should also hear it. This was one of the many reasons why the Alterran prison was built mostly underground. They had to dig up a large area at the side of the mountain before overlaying the prison building there. After so long, they knew how the building worked and it would be building directly at the natural ground line of that spot. Similarly, if they would expand the prison someday, they would have to dig more before it could actually do so. Of course, that''d be a problem in the future. Either way though, even if the prison was smack in the middle of town, they still wouldn''t hear the noise they were expecting to hear. "Aren''t they still attacking?" one asked with gritted teeth. It was time for the attack! So¡­ why was everything so silent? ¡­ Outskirts of Alterra Baltimore frowned. He and the other people beyond the level cap had been waiting just outside the sentries'' reach. They were prepared for whoever came out, eager to take down people as they weren''t able to do anything before. "They''re really cowards, calling back people before we can do anything to them. COWARDS!" "Where are the others?" "They should be attacking by now?" Baltimore looked around. "Go look for the array as well," he said, and Seto nodded. He went to the other side though, as they already sent people to find the array even before. He walked around the perimeter, until a kilometer away from the gate. The Teleportation Array of the attacking territory was always in front of one of its gates. In contrast, the Array at the destination area would vary and was completely randomized. Now, he was tasked to find it and assist the group to go through the walls. Usually, it was shielding them from the sentries, which was going to be difficult because this place had level 5 sentries densely packed together. He didn''t worry too much though, because they had a lot of meat shields for that. Eventually, he heard screams and a few ground vibrations, making him smirk. "Finally!" he yelled, sprinting towards the commotion to join in the fun. Besides, they were outside the walls now. This meant that he could join the torture. However, before he could do so, he had to avoid a few monsters. He killed them effortlessly due to their low level, but he realized the quantity wasn''t few. "A monster mob?" he mumbled but just killed the monsters anyway, not thinking much about it. He simply followed the sound of the fighting, realizing the density of monsters was increasing. He frowned, having a bad foreboding feeling about the situation. Sure enough, as he arrived near the array, he saw their people coming out were mobbed by monsters as they appeared. And, because they were level 15 at most, the mob of monsters naturally caused them a bit of trouble, directly taking a few as soon as they exited the array! Seto paled, barely avoiding a few teeth heading in his direction. One managed to nick him, but he didn''t have time to be angry¡ªjust confused. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?! Chapter 735 - 735: Guia-Alterra War (Part 1) Chris smiled, panting breathlessly but his chin was held up with pride as he watched the result of his suffering. How long did he have to run with those damned monsters running after him?! It was very hard to collect a mob, and it wasn''t easy to read the aether letters reporting to him where the array was at the same time either! Those damned letters were huge! He almost let it fly away due to his speed too many times. There were also times when the inertia would make it flop straight at his face! He almost tripped and fell, getting his leg bit. He thought he was gonna die of exhaustion! He ran a long time to collect so many, not to mention that Beast Attracting potion was disgusting! But when he saw the plan was a success and the mobs had indeed found the array, he almost kissed his speed boots in glee! S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Done! He yelled, going back to the section of the wall as agreed on. He didn''t forget to get rid of the coat filled with piss, er, magic beast attracting potion, and threw it straight to the array. He was guided by Luis back up the battlement, and he was congratulated by the guards (and citizens) for a job well done. "Good job!" They said, laughing. Someone even gave him juice and some snacks. Someone also massaged his back. Somewhere next to them, people were fighting for the limited number of scopes. "Let me see, let me seee!" They wanted to see what was happening to the array, and those who got a hold of a scope focused in its direction. Back in the array, it was a bloody and chaotic mess. The newcomers were expecting to be greeted by forests, not monster mobs! They came out to hear the sound of monsters growling and eating, as well as flesh and bones being torn and chewed. "GYAA! HELP MEE!" "Ahhhh!" A lot of people tried to get back to the array, but the thing was it could only work one way for that moment. Because it was still being used by the other side, they couldn''t escape this predicament at all! More and more beasts came, attracted by the noise, meat, and blood, and soon the newcomers drowned either in the stampede their fellowmen made or were attacked by one or two monsters. From the safety of the defending battlements, the Alterrans watched as the enemies arrived through the array, only to be met with mobs of monsters. Even if the mobs weren''t super strong, their quantity was not to be trifled with. The surprise alone was enough to imbalance most, and some were even eaten by monsters at least 5 levels weaker because of it. Luis, who was watching the show with his own scope, whistled. "Wow, you really got a lot." "Sammy doused me with several bottles of the upgraded Beast Attraction Potion," Chris said, bitterly glaring at the dark-skinned man who had the audacity to smile at him. He even made a thumbs-up. "Well, safe to say it worked better than expected." "You!" "I''m sure the captain will award you with lots of contribution points." All Elders were given a certain amount of contribution points they could distribute in a month as bonus, and this was something everyone would love to receive. Chris was reminded of this and shut up. Okay, fine. Anyway, their attention went back to the array and the suffering caused by their first move. Of course, the mob was not big enough to truly deal with a group of thousands levelled 10s to 15s, but they did still take down and injure a lot of them. Further, the momentum was damaged and that was good enough. It wasn''t that Althea had finally cracked the formula of determining where the array would appear. However, their new observatory building played a major part in easily detecting where the array was. Although the forests were dense and the tree canopies were wide, how could they miss the disturbance made by hundreds, if not thousands, of people? Soon they got a clearer visual estimate and determined that the enemy sent a few thousand guards, fighters, and meatshields. It was indeed a lot, and a few times the total amount of guards Alterra had. Fortunately, the mob (and the stampede) seriously injured or killed about a few hundred, which was really a good start. The only misfortune was that almost all these injuries were done to slaves. Through the scopes, they even saw a couple of little green creatures¡ªgoblins. Not only was it sad for the slaves, but there was also the fact that slaves weren''t counted as entities. Even killing all the slaves, which had about the same number as the other enemy fighters, wouldn''t make them win the war. They watched the enemies deal with the small mobs, with the stronger ones (Seto also arrived) eventually clearing it up. Although the mobs were killed, so many corpses of their own forces mixed with the beasts. The sight alone was enraging. The Guians heaved deep breaths and gathered themselves, before mightily (in theory) heading to the wall. They stopped right outside the 100 meter scope of the sentries. It was level 5 but fortunately for the enemies, their reach didn''t increase, only the damage. They could now see the people in the battlement and they had a feeling they were laughing at their misery, and imagining that made them boil in rage. They looked closer and they realized they weren''t wrong¡ªthe Alterrans really were laughing at them! "YOU BASTARDS!" They yelled, bloodied from their own injuries as well as blood from monsters and companions. "WAIT TIL'' WE GET IN THERE!" "But you won''t!" Luis yelled with their manual sound amplifier, and well from the safety of the battlements. "Just stay there and behave until the war is over and you''ll get to keep your lives!" "DREAM!!" "And are you just sending slaves? Where are the others? So weak! "How could you have the gall to attack our territory with just slaves? Are you idiots??" This naturally made the angry enemies even more livid. "YOUUU!!" Seto glared at them, losing much of his composure. How dare these weaklings mock them like this!! "DAMNIT ALL!" Chapter 736 - 736: Guia-Alterra War (Part 2) While Luis was busy taunting the enemies, the others were doing the next step of the plan. They waited until more of the main force appeared. That was to say, fewer slaves and more bastardly guards to kill. It was easy to determine because, after all, the slaves really looked pitiful. They also noticed that there were no more goblins amongst the slaves this time. They knew Guia had a lot of goblins, but it seemed like they didn''t put them into wars too much. This was correct. Unlike humans, Goblins weren''t cheap slaves and were better left in the mines to maximize their uses. The few who were sent in the first back were there to dig tunnels to escape sentry shots. As for where these goblins were, some perished in the stampede and the subsequent beast mob, while some managed to dig and hide there until one of the masters would take notice of them and ordered them to resurface. The Alterrans didn''t know this for now and they just focused on preparing to finally make a dent on the main force. "They''re precisely 150 meters away," Loki said, looking at his scope, and making rough calculations for the Bombards placed right behind the wall. The Bombard. One of the latest products of the research center and the weapons factory. When the guards saw it, they almost had orgasms. When they heard handguns were still a thing of the future due to various technological constraints, they didn''t have much hope for cannons. But look at this, now! The Bombard was among the earliest forms of cannons made by humans. It was a massive siege weapon (several people had to push it) made from wrought iron brought together by iron hoops. The ammunition was large stone balls that may or may not have explosives inside. Sammy nodded. "Already within reach," he said. The historical bombard could reach 400 to 700 meters, though these initial products could only safely reach 300 because their sulfur was limited, making their bombs not as strong as they could be. Further, considering they had to be placed some interior distance from the walls to avoid the battlement guards (and the walls, of course) from being hit, the safe range was only about 200 meters outside the walls. "The question is accuracy though." Loki looked at the mass of people in an area and shrugged, "It''s bound to hit someone." Fortunately for them, Loki was an excellent marksman¡ªwho also had the power of wind by the way¡ªand he instructed the bombards, able to maximize them more than others. With that deadpan voice of his, he set the three bombards up as accurately as possible. "Okay, freeze. Aim some 4 degrees counterclockwise¡­ yes¡­ no, don''t target me, asshole. "Raise it up 2 degrees. A bit less. THERE." Loki nodded and looked at Sammy, who then ordered to fire. Sammy felt the wind, and although the rock was heavy, but considering its trajectory a bit of wind still had the chance of changing trajectory a bit. Calculating air resistance¡­ er... Nevermind, he wasn''t good at math nor is his ability enough to affect such a large area, so he''d just have to trust Loki on this. "Wait, let me add something," Luis said, waving around a small ball. A bomb. The artillery for the bombard could be explosive or not. Unfortunately, they did not make enough to have too many explosive ones. For instance, only one of the three bombards had explosive shells and the only one designed for it. To maximize the effect on the enemy''s momentum, they naturally wanted to use explosive shells from the get-go. With this, they could attach a bomb to a non-explosive shell and add a bit more damage to it. The explosion wasn''t as strong as the cannon, of course, but it should do its job. The hand bombs were also pretty rare, so Luis was looked at with envy. "Why do you have that? I WANT ONE." The young man grinned. "The bombs we got needed fire for it to trigger, so we fire users got some instead of others." "No fair!" A few others mumbled, but they also knew they didn''t have much say to this. They could, however, watch it explode! They all watched in anticipation as the three bombards were fired. Of course, some younger guards couldn''t help but wonder: "Since we have bombs and cannons, why don''t we have guns?" "It''s being developed, spearheaded by Jake and Brandon," an older guard said. "However, the iron from the bog isn''t good enough to handle the power. It also needs a lot of precision so it''s taking a while." Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were also a lot of metallurgical requirements they didn''t understand, but they trusted the Research Center would figure it out eventually. "They also need a lot more sulfur for more¡­ UMPH, y''know?" Anyway, the guards watched the shells fly over the wall and hit right in the middle of the crowd. BOOM! ¡­ Inside the Inn BOOM! Several people hunched by the window flinched at the sound, looking at each other with wide eyes. "That must be them!" "Finally!" "Took long enough! I was getting nervous!" These were Guia Villagers in Alterra who had managed to escape detection. They had smuggled themselves as interested merchants from random territories along with the others. They also separated into a few groups, just in case. They got really lucky with that. There was a huge variety of territories that came¡ªwhich was unheard of for a village¡ªso the few groups blended in well, unlike their other companions. When they found out many of their companions and spies had been captured, the rest of them immediately hid and acted low-key until the war began. They waited in tension for quite some time but hadn''t heard much chaos, which was puzzling, and they heaved a sigh of relief when they heard a massive boom, thinking it was their team destroying the gate or something. Their role now was to further the chaos inside and they went out to see, smirks wide with malice and anticipation. They went out of their floor balcony to check the state of the streets, only to see¡­ peace and quiet. It wasn''t that there were no people around. On the contrary, there were still a lot, though they were walking with purpose, prepared for the war. This was not just the guards, but also civilians. "What''s going on, don''t they know the regulations are null?" one asked. They were certain a lot of people knew of this. "Yes, I''m pretty sure everyone knows before most of our people got captured." They all looked at each other with furrowed eyebrows. Why was it so peaceful? Chapter 737 - 737: Assasination Attempts A/N: The lovely Leezertje sent fanarts! heheheh. She drew some of the earlier monsters that showed in the story! Check em out in my facebook or discord page~! .... ____ One of the underlings looked at their leader in worry. "So¡­ what do we do now?" he asked. In their previous missions, it wasn''t so risky because everyone was panicking. The people themselves were causing chaos, they were just there to harvest the frantic prey. This¡­ was something they had never encountered before. The leader didn''t answer immediately, only signaling for the others to calm down and stay low-key. This team was led by a man named Heso, a level 15 guard of Guia Village. He had the occupation of a spearman, so he was promoted to the Captain of his own team. His team was one of three who snuck inside during the surge of tourists. So far, the other two teams had mostly been caught, leaving them alone in this mission. There were only about a dozen of them left uncaptured. While they were far stronger than the average, they didn''t want to be mobbed and killed by numbers. At this time, it seemed a lot of the civilians were indoors, but most seemed to be doing their jobs as usual. Those walking around outside were a few guards, fighters, and officers. How much internal damage could be done with this? If they made any suspicious moves, how easily would they be found and mobbed? Even if they didn''t die, they''d be injured, and they were not willing to bleed for this war. They sat down on the balcony floor, inconspicuously watching the events on the ground level. "What''s taking them so long?" Another asked with furrowed eyebrows. After the first few booms, there was nothing else. "Maybe they''re being careful with the sentries¡­" "The cannon fodders are there to distract the sentries while they get past right?" "Maybe they''re looking for ways to minimize the losses. They''re meatshields, but they''re more useful inside," Heso said, making his own assumptions with gritted teeth. Damned territory and their dense sentries¡­ This was the problem with a level 5 sentry. If by some chance a territory was rich enough to maximize them, it meant they were placed densely and the loopholes were minimal. This territory¡­ was just troublesome all over. And it had too much money. But on the optimistic side, taking over this place was as good as taking a town! In any case, as much as they didn''t want to put themselves in danger, they couldn''t do nothing either. After all, in the small chance that they''d lose, there was a chance they''d become slaves! So they had to find a way to help out, as long as it wouldn''t put their own butts at risk. "There''s still about a dozen of us under the level cap. We can do damage," Heso said, narrowing his eyes at the streets below. "We just need to figure out how to make the most of it." "What about kidnapping them one by one and killing them, one by one?" One suggested, making a lot of people nod. This way, they were not only stronger but they would mob smaller and therefore weaker groups. "There are still a number of guards around." "Not that many anymore," another said, formulating a rough plan as they hid behind in the inn. They waited around to study the patterns, but the soldiers were always in groups of 5s. Although there were many of them, most were still within the level cap, they weren''t confident of taking care of groups without making any sort of commotion. It was more likely they''d be found and mobbed. The group ended up getting stuck and, as time passed without chaos ensuing, they felt more and more anxious. However, luck seemed to be on their side as an elder herself went on rounds! "There, that''s Mathilda," Heso said, eyes finally finding hope. "She''s the leading candidate for lordship here." At first, they didn''t really understand the woman''s functions. But during wars, she calmed everyone down, and ensured everything was organized even with the rules null. This baffled the visitors to no end, and unsurprisingly so. This behavior wasn''t something easily adaptable to aborigines who had grown with the rules of power in this world. In contrast, most Terrans had lived as law-abiding citizens without such an omnipresent system. In their minds, killing Mathilda now was guaranteed to cause the chaos they wanted. At the very least, if they were to take down an elder, it would definitely affect the enemy''s momentum by a lot. "She has several guards around her," another said, looking worried. "I''m afraid we wouldn''t be able to get close fast enough before she escaped." "I can shoot her," their archer said. Heso thought for a moment and nodded, and the archer went to position in a hurry, afraid to lose his good vantage point. The man stood up by the edge of the balcony, raising his weapon, targeting the woman''s neck. Swish! Instead of shooting an arrow though, Heso and the others watched with wide eyes as their man fell down with a massive arrow on his chest. "What!!" "Where did it come from?!" Immediately, everyone hid back to the rooms, peering out carefully to see what happened to the corpse. Heso gasped when he recognized the arrow. "It''s a sentry arrow!" "What??" S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was still unclear how sentries could so accurately determine who the enemies were, but when done correctly, its potential was much higher than people thought. "WHAT THE HECK!?" "WHERE DID IT COME FROM?!" They peered and saw nothing much at first, until they noticed one of those beautiful towers in parks. It was very beautiful and felt like a large ornate tree made of stone. It was apparently much more than it appeared! "That was a sentry?!" They looked around to see a few more similar towers they could see from their position, and they were certain there were a lot more! "Orcshit!!" Not only did they have dense sentries outside, the interiors also had plenty of them! What the heck is with this territory?! Chapter 738 - 738: Confusions ... ____ At this time, the enemy''s leading team was waiting not too far away. "There''s no news yet, milord," Piko said to his master, though internally he was already a little shaken. It had already been more than an hour, but no progress had been made. This had never happened before. They had a multilayer plan for this territory, which was already a lot more than what they usually prepared. After all, they had seen a good part of its strength and they didn''t underestimate it. At least, that was what they thought. For the first part of the plan, there was Treck''s team who would cause some disturbance. First was to cause chaos while¡ªin Alterra''s case¡ªalso determining who the lord was. In the midst chaos, the lord would be the most guarded. Even if he tried to hide himself, his fear for his own life would make his identity obvious in the end. After all, why else would the Lord hide his identity so tightly? Wasn''t it just to protect himself? They would also attempt to entice the power-hungry people by telling them of the Lord Token''s detachment from the lord''s body during the war. This was a taboo, actually, but Guia never cared for that¡ªas long as they could usurp the lord even before the war began, then they''d consider it a win. Historically, this often succeeded with varying effects, depending on how much power the other parties had. This place had so many Elders and the power was distributed so much. They had believed that it could succeed. They had sent papyrus letters to all the elders except the person who was likely the lord¡ªMathilda. In the letters were information about the token''s detachment, and the fact that whoever held it by the end of the war would become the new lord. They did so right after the war announcement, but there had been no movement at all! Was it just because they didn''t know who the lord was? Normally, people could just kill every other elder during the war right? They also planted seeds of chaos by announcing the rules were null during wars, seeing as most of the citizens hadn''t known at the time. The people were worried for the territory but they were certain a few people had seriously thought of taking advantage. But obviously, now that the war was ongoing, no one seemed to have taken the bait¡ªor at least no one succeeded in causing any effect¡ªand Treck got imprisoned so early for naught. Speaking of Treck, the rules and regulations of the place were much more stringent than he had anticipated. Even attempts for hostile violence were to be sent to prison, and Baltimore had no choice but to tell the others to lay low. Although their overall level was higher, the gap was narrowed because of the level limitations, and he couldn''t lose the insiders even before the war happened. Not to mention, there was an extremely high amount of elementalists there for some reason. Speaking of that, when they took over¡ªor at least win¡ªthey would get hundreds of elementalists as slaves. When he did so, he swore to get to the bottom of it. Maybe those experts and intellectuals back in the master city would be interested in these¡­ subjects. "The last time we received the report, the people were too peaceful and they had to be low-key in taking down important people," Piko told Baltimore, a little shaken. "There is no update as of yet, I can''t tell what the reason is for now." They didn''t know this yet, but the reason no update had been made was because the aether letter on Heso''s team was dropped in the balcony, near the archer''s side. Now, they were too afraid to go out lest there were other rules they weren''t aware of, that would get them hit by the damned sentries. So, the small team inside the territory was at a standstill, completely useless for a while until they confirmed it was safe to go out. Baltimore narrowed his eyes, disliking how nothing was on-schedule. However, he thought of how much resources and money they''d be able to win in this war and¡ªwhile his thoughts weren''t obvious on his face¡ªhe was fuelled by excitement and bloodlust again. "Has Seto returned?" Piko shook his head. "I followed his tracks a bit and heard an explosion in the direction he went to. I assume the war had begun there." Baltimore''s eyes sharpened at this. "Did we have explosives?" Ero''s eyebrows met and he shook his head. "We used them up during the last war. Those buggers are expensive." "Then what exploded?" There was silence amongst their team for a while and when no logical answer came, they immediately traversed the periphery of the territory, running in the direction of the sound. They eventually reached the location and they were shocked by what they found. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Not only were their numbers down by a good fraction, but¡ªexcept for those very confused people who had just gone through the array¡ªeveryone had some injury! "What''s going on?!" Baltimore yelled, no longer able to keep his cool. Ero pulled one up, and saw the person''s ears were bleeding. "HEY! SPEAK!" The man only stared at them, disoriented. He obviously damaged his ears a bit and could only hear ringing. Unfortunately for him, Ero didn''t care and just shook him. When he couldn''t be of any use in the end, Ero threw him away and picked another random person, though he was similarly disoriented. "DAMNIT!" he yelled, but was stopped by the Lord''s deep voice. "Stop it," he said, though anyone who had been with him long enough would be able to tell he was livid. Baltimore took a deep breath, his sharp eyes analyzing the chaos around. So much loss in just an hour, and they weren''t even close to the sentries'' scope yet! He turned his head in the direction of the enemy territory, eyes red with anger and humiliation. How long has it been since he felt so humiliated?! How dare they!! ''Alterra¡­!'' he mused with gritted teeth. ''I will take you down!'' Chapter 739 - 739: A Few More Booms Eventually, his eyes saw one of his cronies lying on the floor, groaning. Seeing as he wasn''t dead, he looked at Piko, who immediately ran and guided Seto up. He wasn''t injured, but he was filled with dust. "What happened?" He asked and Seto shook his head, forcing some lucidity. "And why are there fewer slaves than I sent?" By estimate, even if they received this damage, it should''ve been mostly slaves. He saw a lot of his guards amongst the injured! Seto took a deep breath before he answered. "A lot of them were eaten by mobs, milord." "What?" "A beast mob was waiting right outside the array. Our people did not expect it, so even if the mob wasn''t particularly strong, they caused sizable damage to our forces." "We haven''t even gotten near the sentry scope!" Ero yelled, while Baltimore was quiet, deep in thought. Around him, people had tried to regain their bearings with the leading team trying to analyze what to do next. Guia Village had thousands of population and due to the nature of its industry, most of these people were guards and their families. Slaves weren''t counted as residents, but he also had thousands of them. He had already mobilized a big part of his forces to deal with Alterra, thinking it was better to be safe than sorry, but what was this? "These aren''t monster injuries!" Ero said, looking around. There were many injuries that were characterized by burns. Lower leveled individuals were burned to crisps. The explosives? Alterra really had explosives! Why would another village have one? Did they have the backing of a city?! This made sense! How else could a village be as good as a town!? But, during their investigations, there was nothing of the sort came out. They had only heard some hired individuals coming from the cities, but that was it! Did they still underestimate their connection with the cities? Which was it?! He wasn''t able to analyze further because people around him started screaming again. At this, they paled as they looked at the sky. "Flying rocks! More flying rocks!" they cried, struggling to stand up and run. "They''re here again! AHHH!" "There! Another one!" "Two!!" "Gyahhh!" Baltimore and the other strongmen moved by instinct, far from the landing spot. In their shock, they could only watch as the flying rocks landed on their people. Some exploded, while some did not. BANG! BOOM! BANG! They watched as dozens more of their people were hit, the weaker ones died under the explosion and a few were injured by the non-explosive rocks. He noticed that the explosive ones were made of black rock, while most of the others were just earth. A few more flew towards them and Baltimore immediately gathered himself, using a lot of his strength to create a boulder to meet the rock, catching it and softening its fall. He had to do this because the rocks came with such force that it wasn''t possible for him to use his ability to catch it directly. Fortunately, there were really no more explosives, just rocks. BANG! The people watched as their lord took care of the damned things, feeling that things were finally gonna get put in place! "The lord is mighty!" "Amazing!" Several more words of praise flew around, though it stopped abruptly as another one screamed. "More!" Baltimore quickly gathered his strength to push the large rocks aside. He did this a few times and he frowned because it was consuming too much mana too early in the game. Finally, there was one last rock and Baltimore did the same. Because the space around had been occupied by people (with some more coming in from the array) as well as the rocks he had already taken down, the last one landed right next to them. It settled down nicely and a few people started to relax, but the strongmen''s instincts suddenly flared and they sprinted several meters away before¡ª BOOM!! Another explosive!! Why? Was it hidden inside the rock?! Their ears were ringing and they realized that a few had bleeding ears. Baltimore looked around. The rest was fine, but they were imbalanced. In battle, this could mean life or death. "Get up!" He yelled, "Another one!" This time it was of black iron and he was sure it was an explosive! He could not control metal and his earth would not be able to hinder it at all! He could only run, leaving his people behind. BOOM! sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After this explosion, everyone ran back out and separated, terrified of where the next one would land. They didn''t know there was no more, however. So Sammy added a little something in the last shot. Baltimore and the others walked back, hopefully far enough from the reach of their weapon. However, before they could take too many steps, the ground shook again, and realized all the noise attracted a mob! DAMNIT! Baltimore took care of those that attacked him easily, but a few Guians who were still weak from the explosion got eaten. Even those already level 14 or 15 were eaten by level 5 monsters! TRASH!!! He looked at some of the less injured men. His teeth gritted a bit as he bellowed his order. "You. Go back to the array and call everyone within the level cap. Get them ALL here!!" he yelled. "And get more slaves!" "Y-Yes, milord!" he exclaimed. At first, he was shocked, but seeing as how they were being crushed¡ª "Are you just going to stand there?" "N-No milord!" he yelled, running back to the Array with a few others, spreading out the territory to gather as many people as they could. Soon, a few hundred people arrived. On top of this were also a few hundred slaves. There were even dozens of goblins¡­ Seto looked at the men with a deep frown. "You realize goblins are expensive right?" They also added a minimal force in a war. Not to mention, due to the losses they suffered from the last goblin war, many people enjoyed torturing a lot of goblin slaves to death. These people were charged with the cost of the goblins with interest, of course, but one could see how they lost a lot of goblin resources during this time. The productivity of the mines halved compared to before the war and had yet to recover! The injured man looked at the shaking goblins and then to the Lord, who was being eerily quiet. "S-Should I¨CI bring them back Milord?" Baltimore paused in thought, shaking his head in the end. "No, let them. Get them to dig a path," he said. "It''s time we get closer to that damned wall." Chapter 740 - 740: Goblin Slaves’ Entrance There were about a dozen goblins assigned to do the task. They chose an area about a few hundred meters away from the walls, hidden from the line of sight of the unfamiliar weapons. After a bit, the goblins began to dig a tunnel towards the wall at an unprecedented pace. The little ones were small and perenially frowning. Their backs were hunched from working so much, making them appear even smaller, but their arms worked fast as they dug. They also knew where the weak spots of the soil were as if they could see it clearly, so even if they weren''t so strong, the soil tended to appear softer than it would if a human was doing the same task. Goblins were fast diggers, let alone dozens of them, and they were able to create meters-long tunnels fit for a few people twice their size within several minutes. However, when they neared the walls¡ªless than a hundred meters in¡ªthey seemed to have hit small threads or something, followed by the sound of distant bells. The Goblins flinched. They were generally jumpy creatures and anything out of the ordinary would make them sweat a lot. "What do you think that was?" Yut asked the other leading goblin, Iko. "I don''t know," Iko said, nervously clenching back his digging tools, crumbs of dug dirt dropping to the ground on his feet. "But we''re in a hurry¡­ so we can only do what we''re asked." He said this, but his body refused to move anyway. Their pause, unsurprisingly, was not appreciated by the humans behind them. "Hey! Why did you stop?!" "Hurry up, you rats!" "We don''t have all day! Do you want us to throw you to the beasts?!" The little green things shivered, their fear of the humans behind them overcoming the apprehension of what lay ahead. "Y-Yes!" they yelled, their little raspy voices echoing across the makeshift cavern they made. They continued to dig for a few meters more and were confused when they ended up in an opening underground. They looked and it was a predug tunnel more or less perpendicular to their own. It was much smaller than theirs too. Looking at the side, there were also some sturdy-looking stilts as if to make sure they were stable. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Regardless of what it was, this wasn''t something they expected to see here. "What is this¡­?" Iko asked, and the others behind him shook their heads. "OI! KEEP MOVING!" The poor green things had no choice but to reluctantly step forward. Most of them entered the other tunnel, gesturing to continue digging across it. However, before they could start digging, they heard a weird rumbling noise coming in a direction. For a while, they didn''t know what to make of it. "Do you hear that?" one asked and the others nodded their heads, looking very worried. Anyway, goblins were far more sensitive to sound and vibration than humans. Soon, some of them realized what it was happening. They gasped and paled, immediately gesturing to run back. "WATER!" Iko yelled and the group hurried back to the first tunnel. "RUNN!" However, there was a congestion and the scary humans behind were definitely not backing away. They were wearing those scary faces too and were already gesturing to slap them. They tried to avoid it. Before they could explain, the water got too close. It was too late to run, and the strong wave of water enveloped their little bodies as if intent on drowning them. The humans were far enough and big enough that they weren''t directly hit, but the water did enter and they immediately pushed each other back. "RUN! DAMNIT!" Some slow-witted ones could not react in time and fell down, unable to get up because they were stepped on continuously. These people were also taken by the water, though most of them got stuck midway, particularly due to the smaller sizes of the other tunnels. The same could not be said for the goblins, however. Amidst the current, some muffled cries abound, though they were soon swallowed by the churn of water. Yut tried to reach out to his brethren, but except for one he couldn''t hold on to them. Most of them tried to hold someone, but no one could fight the current and they could only be blown away helplessly, losing consciousness one by one. "No¡­" Iko mumbled, gurgling water and feeling the intense headache that came with accidentally breathing a bit of water. His small hands grasped at the water as if he could grab anything else but each swipe only sent him deeper into the current. At some point, he believed it was finally his time. Iko cried as he felt his consciousness slip by. Yet, oddly, he didn''t feel a thing anymore¡ªnot fear or terror, nor sadness. At least the suffering was over. ¡­ "Are they captured?" Garan asked, looking down from the battlement. Chris and the others opened the manhole and pulled the unconscious goblins one by one. Garan and the others had seen wars with goblins, so of course they made some preparations to handle them. Just beyond the secondary Level 3 wall, they dug a deep moat. Well, not as deep as they wanted. After all, the elementalists could only do so much in a few days, and they didn''t have any mechanical help to help them dig. For now. However, for this purpose, it was enough. It was a small tunnel dug 1 meter below the ground. The tunnel itself was just over a meter deep, which was really to deal with digging goblins. They didn''t care if they got humans anyway. These tunnels were connected to the river on one end, blocked by dams, with the other ending on a concrete prison of sorts. Of course, this was limited for now so the prisons could only be so big. The north side of the river was downstream, with the south going upstream and they took advantage of gravity and the direction of water flow to determine the location of the ''prisons''. As soon as the trigger was activated, the dam would be opened, flushing those underground toward the desired location. With this, they could not only flush enemies, but also trap people¡ªand goblins¡ªin. Chapter 741 - 741: Meat Shields As for the other ones in the tunnel, they had quickly run back as fast as they could, not caring who they stepped on in the stampede. They were lucky that the tunnel descended a little, so the water stopped following them at some point after gaining a bit of elevation. However, no one dared be complacent and they ran as fast as they could towards the exit. "Go back! Run!" They yelled to the confused people who were just entering. They literally had to push people which almost caused a few brawls, except the perpetrators looked genuinely scared and they wondered what they saw underneath. The water had, in fact, long stopped being a threat, but they still ran as if their lives depended on it. When they got up to safety, they were barely breathing from exhaustion. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Baltimore, who had been losing his patience, was on the verge of skewering these losers. "What''s going on?!" "Milord!" One of the men said, gasping. "Water! Took goblins! Gone!" "What?" Ero lifted the man by the neck. "Speak clearly!" The man shook and forced the words out of his mouth. "They''re gone!" He cried. "Water suddenly appeared, strong water took all of the goblins!" he cried. "I thought we were gonna die!" A sharp spike of earth passed by his neck and everyone looked down to avoid the sight, shaking, afraid the next subject of venting would be them. Baltimore looked at the hundreds of slaves they had, and then to the damned level 5 walls a hundred meters away. His patience was growing thin. Baltimore was very angry. He had wanted to go with minimal losses as direct confrontation would do. Human resources, even slaves, were resources he spent money on. But he had no choice anymore. For the first time in probably a decade, he''d even be joining so closely as well. Alterra will pay for this humiliation! "Move forward," he ordered, and a line of terrified slaves started approaching the walls. None of those long-ranged projectiles were used anymore and Baltimore narrowed his eyes. "They don''t have any more of that." He said, and even if they did, there shouldn''t be too many anymore. "Separate. Do not make yourselves easy target by forming clusters." He looked at the shivering slaves. "Go, do whatever it takes¡ªdestroy those walls." Sobbing for their hopeless lives, the slaves could only run towards the walls, targeted by sentries. However, as they entered the scope of the sentries, they noticed that the sentries weren''t hitting most, and only injuring the others! "What?" "What''s going on?" What they didn''t know¡ªand would not understand¡ªwas that Althea and the others really felt for slaves. Even if the cost was high, she applied really detailed the programming of sentries, though with a lot of semantics help from Mathilda, Jun, and even IT professionals like Mao. She didn''t want slaves to lose their lives uselessly, so she programmed the sentries to choose well. There was now a rule that, as long as the strength of the slave didn''t pose a threat based on their levels, they wouldn''t be attacked. Her walls were level 5. Even monsters level 20 would barely be able to damage it, let alone human slaves with cheap weapons (if any at all). And if they were, they would only be injured, except if the slave truly had malice. Anyway, the sentries somehow knew when an enemy was hostile. She didn''t have the resources or time to explore why or how it was like this, but for now, it was to her advantage¡ªeven if it cost a lot to implement. After all, someday, they could be encountering Terran slaves. What if there were family and friends in there? They could''ve been reunited, but how heartbreaking would it be to find out they were killed by their own sentries instead? Not to mention, slaves weren''t counted as population. There were even cases where they had no effect on the results of war. For instance, if they were weak. This was something that was completely unfathomable to the aborigines and it left them completely confused for a while. "Did their sentries break?" one asked, hopeful. The others watched a bit more and saw that their section of the wall was now lined up with slaves clawing for it, yet none of them were attacked at all! Some guards laughed, assuming that the sentries were really somewhat ''broken'', and they ran straight to the walls. Whoosh! A large sentry arrow immediately attacked a guard, and after the cool down, the sentry shot at another guard a few meters away¡ªthis one skewering two in one shot. There was also a slave or two who got injured by the shot, but otherwise, it did not target them specifically. "What?!" "Does it work or does it not?!" "What''s going on?!" Baltimore, like the others, was also quite confused. However, his brain was faster than others. He was also a lord himself, so he had an idea about setting specific rules for sentries. Alterra¡­ set up a rule not to attack slaves! So¡­ idiotic? Why would people spend so much for such a modification? Like a snake, he already determined the next step and took advantage of this ''useless'' rule. "Go forward," he said, grabbing a random slave who happened to be standing nearby. He handed him over to one of his guards, who flinched in confusion. "Grab a slave, use them as shields," he said, and the others'' eyes widened in enlightenment. However, they were still reluctant to be the first ones to try. What if it didn''t work? The slaves were so weak, that the arrows could go through them. Baltimore''s eyes darkened and they flinched, immediately moving forward. They knew they''d definitely get killed if they continued to be frozen! And, unexpectedly, it really worked! While holding a slave in the direction of the sentry, they really weren''t targeted anymore! They had often used meatshields, but it had ironically never been so effective! Chapter 742 - 742: Finally Inside! Each goon grabbed the biggest slave they could get, using them as shields moving forward. "HAHAHAHAH!" The Guia guards laughed as they entered the scope of the sentries, but without an arrow heading towards him. "The Lord is a genius!" With a few people leading the way, more and more people grabbed a slave each and used them to safely head towards the walls¡ªat least to a degree. Sentries worked by sight, so if a target was blocked it would not attack. But could the body of a small slave really cover a hostile force effectively? Despite the relative success of the plan, there were times when it failed. Even, because many felt overconfident the plan would work, they ended up exposing themselves more to the sentry on another side. This was especially true in areas where two sentries shared a scope! Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They tended to forget about it, because territories generally didn''t have the money to have overlapping sentries! Rather, they had never encountered a territory that had them all over! Of course, Guia wasn''t hailed as one of the most powerful villages for nothing. First of all, there were plenty of level 20s in this group and while the sentries could cause them some injury, it generally wouldn''t kill them unless they hit a critical spot. They continued with the plan and just caught the arrows directed at them with slave bodies (wasn''t the first time they did so, they just had to time it more closely in Alterra). Some even caught the sentry arrows or used their Class D shields to block them. The higher-leveled ones¡ªthe ones above level 20¡ªalso deflected a few for the rest of them. When hundreds of people neared the walls, Baltimore created massive earth walls that blocked the sentries'' views. The slaves also managed to distract the battlement guards (and sentries) enough so Baltimore managed to create such a large stair in a short time. It was wide enough for a few men and their meatshields to pass through. It was also done at an angle that''d block arrows from humans from certain directions. Something created by Baltimore, a level 30 earth user, was naturally on a different level than the poor flimsy ladder/bridge created by Reno or Althea. It was even better than Mao''s. Baltimore couldn''t enter due to the rules, but he could definitely help hundreds of his people get inside. Anyway, this amazing display of skill increased the momentum, and the Guians yelled as they charged forward. "Go inside!" he yelled, and his men started climbing up the stairs. Baltimore''s eyes reflected the image of his people as they climbed up, ready to cause chaos inside the territory that humiliated them so! VENGEANCE! ¡­ "Damn, disgusting¡­" Luis and the others, who were guarding this side of the battlement, saw as the large block appeared, giving access to the enemies to enter the walls. Their archers were shooting at it, but it was at a difficult angle where the soil practically blocked their shots. For those at the side, they did have some vantage point, but the Guians would just hold a slave as a shield, retaining their equipment. Anyway, humans could recover, their equipment could. The Alterrans would remain in shock by how these people treated fellow humans. They were being used as literal meat shields, for goodness'' sakes! Then when the slave was hit, they continued to be used as shields, they were ruthlessly thrown down when they were useless. Some died, some seemed to be alive¡ªafter all, they had improved physiques here; a little fall rarely killed anyone. Still, it still affected them so much that a few newbies had to get down and vomit. They would all come back up with stronger willpower, however. They knew it was the reality of this place, and they could only do their part in defending their homes. Luis then used his ability to set a small flare, signaling to everyone that there had been a breach here. While the rest of the battlement wouldn''t be unguarded, at least half of them would rush over to where the leak was. While the earth ladder was built up overhead, the team used their weapons and elements to attack the bridge. Luis took out his remaining bomb and threw it at the base of the ladder. He wanted it to explode from the inner side so it would fall backward instead of deeper in the direction of the territory. However, Ero saw this and threw a fireball at him, making him lose his aim a bit. BOOM! "Ahhh!" "They still have bombs!" The bomb exploded on the ground. While it mostly just injured people, there were a few deaths. Most importantly, it blew up a few meters from the stairs so it shook, causing several people to fall down the over the bridge. Baltimore gritted his teeth and used a lot of mana to continuously reinforce it. The bridge remained stable because while Baltimore couldn''t enter the territory line, he stayed at the tip of his bridge, creating walls to keep Alterrans from destroying it. A lot of people fell and were hit, but with the guarding of the level 20s, they managed to deflect a lot of attacks that could easily kill their lower-leveled counterparts. Baltimore was strong and it was inevitable that his people would manage to enter with his help. More and more filed in and the soldiers could only take down so many at a time. Several people landed on the other side of the wall, with more and more coming in. They took out their shields to hide from the arrows coming from the walls, immediately running to the buildings. Without exemption, they had violent expressions on their faces. They were all injured a bit to some degree, and each sting added vindictiveness to their bones. "FINALLY!" They yelled happy to finally enter, swearing to cause damage and havoc. Alterra will pay! They chanted. And it will be theirs! Chapter 743 - 743: Blockage Baltimore looked at his people pouring in with an evil glint in his eyes. He further reinforced the pathway with much of his remaining mana, making sure the various attempts to take it down wouldn''t succeed. But then he felt danger approaching and he immediately jumped down. He felt that the danger wasn''t over and he immediately raised the soil below him to block it. BANG! He watched with wide eyes as the sharp ice went past the wall and was stopped just an inch away from his face. It vibrated and he could tell more force was put so it''d continue to stab. By instinct, he rotated the earth so the spike pointed away from him¡ªand he did so just in time before it stabbed deeper. Slash! FLOP! He turned to see one of his men fall beside him, skewered by a large piece of ice that was meant for him. This person was a level 16, and he was killed with a single ice spike. Baltimore clicked his tongue and sent a sharp glare in the direction of the intruders. It was Garan and beside him was a tall man with silver hair. The latter was unfamiliar, but Baltimore knew he was strong. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When the silver-haired man jumped down to block a few of his cronies¡ªall of whom were all past level 20¡ªby himself, it confirmed his supposition. Could they really have the backing of a city? But that didn''t matter¡ªthis place will be his! "You," Baltimore heaved a deep breath, looking coolly at Garan, who was standing there ready to block him. "I''m impressed. We have never encountered such trouble before." He took a deep breath, settling his anger, as if turning it into a sharp edge directed at Garan. "You even made me move¡­" Garan only looked at him, not bothering to give him a response. Not long ago, this guy was still respectful! Baltimore sneered and looked at the useless slaves either trying to climb up the bridge or trying to scratch the walls with their fingers. Baltimore''s dark eyes looked and thought. Seeing that the Territory invested so much money in making such rules for the sentries to follow, it could be seen where their weakness lay. They had soft hearts. So, he sent an order to the slaves on the ground. "Attack them." Garan wasn''t shaken. He simply jumped down and waved his arms around. A circular shield of floating ice surrounded him. With a move it expanded, pushing the slaves out, giving them hundreds of square meters area to fight in. Garan looked at him without any respect that he should have, irking him. "To think a level 30 elementalists would get behind weak slaves." Normally, Baltimore wouldn''t let such taunts get to him. However, it so happened that Garan and his territory had been causing him trouble everywhere. His pride was hit and he didn''t bother using the slaves anymore. His feet stomped on the ground, and large boulders floated around him, swiftly flying towards Garan. Garan lunged forward using a ramp of ice to heighten his bearing, launching himself towards Baltimore with surprising speed. On his hand was his extendable sword made of his own ice element, while Baltimore¡ªwhose eyes fixed on Garan¡ªwaved his spear to meet his attack. CLACK! The blades gleamed, showing their sharpness and teasing the damage it could do if hit. The skirmish unfolded in a blur of motion, with both parties attacking the other relentlessly. Baltimore was sweating heavily and so was Garan, but the longer it lasted the more the former lost his cool. He summoned sharp spikes of earth around him, throwing them one after the other to Garan. He did not even care if it hit any of his people by accident. Garan jumped over a rock and kicked the other one back to him, which he avoided by having to use his ability. "TSK!" He tutted, continuously barraging the man with a shower of his earth spikes. At the very least, he should have the advantage of more mana by virtue of his level! Ice surrounded Garan''s body and created a wall in front of him. Baltimore''s eyebrows frowned. Did this man not care for his mana? Or did they somehow get ahold of mana potions? The last time they checked, it didn''t have some yet. However, the ruling party could''ve hidden it, so he didn''t dare assume. He took this chance to drink a low-level mana potion for himself, ensuring he was in top shape for the next round. They took this chance for a quick breather. There was silence between them for a few moments, punctuated by the various battles that went on around them. Baltimore floated rocks around him, immediately directing them to smash Garan''s wall of ice. The many projectiles hit it with a thunderous clash, and ice shards exploded everywhere in response. There was no one behind the wall, and a flicker of realization crossed Baltimore''s face. He immediately moved by instinct, but it was too late. Garan suddenly appeared behind him, and the shards from the broken wall flew toward their direction. There were many, coming from different angles. Baltimore was unable to avoid everyone, causing his arm to be nicked. "Impressive. Using your element to this extent," Baltimore said. His words were complimentary, but tone venomous. It usually took years to master an element to this degree. What is he? "You people got strong very quickly," he said, as he sent more boulders in Garan''s direction, drinking a health potion while he was distracted. He wasn''t able to finish it as yet another ice spike headed his way, forcing him to let go of the expensive bottle. He cursed, waving his spear as his mana recovered. Clack! Clank! They exchanged blows, with his spear against Garan''s weapon that was made entirely of his ice. The more blows they exchanged, the more Baltimore''s stomach dropped. How long has it been? Not long ago, they were several levels lower than this. Even he couldn''t replace a Class D weapon with his element, let alone a Class C one. Yet this man''s ice sword remained intact while his Class C spear was losing durability. More importantly, he was several levels higher than Garan, yet he was being pushed like this! This potential¡ªit was too high! This man absolutely cannot live! Chapter 744 - 744: More Battles Outside As if there was an unspoken signal, the battle went up a notch between the two, exploding into a new level of intensity¡ªliterally. BANG! Whether it was boulders or sudden trenches, ice spikes, slippery ground, or the like, the area around them had become dangerous. It got so intense that every other fight that happened nearby moved several meters away, leaving them a clear area to fight with minimal collateral damage. During this time, Garan had eaten a number of mana cookies while Baltimore had drank another mana potion. Baltimore frowned, surprised at the fact that Garan could still use his elements after so long. His eyes zoned in on the cookies, and realized they must recover Mana somehow. It was not unheard of, especially for towns and above, though definitely rare in villages. The two continued to exchange blows, with those surrounding them going farther and farther for their own safeties. At some point, another ice spire headed straight to Baltimore, and he¡ªas always¡ªblocked it with a condensed rock. What he didn''t expect were sharp and long needles to go through! Baltimore''s eyes widened a bit, barely avoiding it. His survival instincts activated and he moved his body, but he still failed to avoid a needle. "AH!" he groaned as he pulled out the needle that was buried in his arm. It was a palm''s length and the part that was embedded in him was as deep as his thumb. Gritting his teeth, he yanked the needle free, blood seeping from the wound. There was no time to recover however, and he immediately bolted to the side¡ªhe had to because the bastard started attacking him again! This time he used varying ice and metal techniques and it really caught him off guard, getting an ice pick and another needle to hit him. "AH!" He also noticed that inside his ice blade, there was metal that seemed to act like its skeleton, increasing its strength. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Another thing Baltimore didn''t know was that the metal was a good conductor of heat and cold, and it distributed the freeze across the blade, making it even more durable. What Baltimore did know was that Garan was proficient in both elements! Dual elementalists were rare even in cities, let alone such experts! Seeing this simply confirmed his supposition of Alterra being backed by a city! Most people would feel regret going against a territory backed by a city, but not Baltimore. Their master city was among the most powerful city in the human territory, and taking over Alterra would mean getting connections to whoever it served. He waved around his sword, knowing he wouldn''t be able to sustain such endless use of his abilities. Similarly, Garan was also experiencing the same problems. After all, mana cookies recovered mana bit by bit with time, let alone he was already level 20 so the food''s effects were limited on him. The ebony-haired man resumed just using his sword which was reinforced by his abilities, which was still impressive and still did consume some mana. However, the difference between his sword and the others was that he could control it at his will. Others would not be able to build on the weapon. After all, equipment couldn''t be built upon as walls and buildings couldn''t. Solid elements were different from skills like fire, which could be used with the weapons though the weapon acted as a point of control than anything else. The two continued exchanging massive blows, the sound of clashing blades resounding in the area. They were also going quite fast, and equally skilled with the weapon, even if they did have a huge level gap. Clack! Slash! At some point though, Baltimore did feel a bit shaken. This was because he saw that Garan didn''t have any injuries yet! How? He hadn''t notice it before because their battle was so messy with the elements flying around, but now that they had resumed the close combat battles, he could see it clearly. Did he have a full-body armor that he couldn''t detect? Or perhaps a magic tool?! This fact irked Baltimore very much, and it was evident with his attacks becoming harsher and harsher. It caused Garan¡ªwho always maintained a clear head¡ªto see an opening. The ebony-haired man immediately sliced the sword at his enemy, and Baltimore used his ability, adding movement to his feet so he was pushed backward, barely avoiding the slash. Garan''s eyes sharpened and his blade extended another meter, managing to bury in Baltimore''s chest. It was on the right chest, however, it was not that deep. The attack was unlikely to be deadly¡ªnot at Baltimore''s level¡ªbut it sure snagged a good part of his health. "ARGH!" He screamed, eyes red. "Milord!" His cronies yelled, realizing the lord was in real trouble. A few headed forward to help out. There were several level 20s around Baltimore and they immediately went to his assistance. Before they could get close to the ice corralle though, strong wind delineated them, forcing them to step back lest they receive its sharp edge. "I''m pretty sure you were dealing with me," Sammy said, and next to him were Gill and other soldiers, similarly blocking their paths. Gill waved his spear and a small crack filled with magma lined the way. Anyone who had gone against him knew that he would be able to control the molten rocks, and it would stick to their skins and burn them! The others were not to be underestimated either. They were not only elementalists, but they were all proficient with their powers. It didn''t matter if they were a few levels lower, it was no problem to them at all! The cronies gritted their teeth. Most of these people had reached level 20 as well, or at least near it. This average level was too high for a village! Guia had a few dozen level 20s and a level 30+ lord because they had the backing of a city! What was Alterra? Why was it so troublesome?! Chapter 745 - 745: Other Fights They couldn''t really ponder much as a sharp wind blade headed towards them, making them step farther from the lord''s fight. They frowned, glaring at the damned Alterrans getting in their way. Although their loyalties¡ªas with everybody''s¡ªwere not unbreakable, they still lived a good life in Guia Village, and they were getting a lot of perks. They preferred to keep the status quo, thank you very much! Furthermore, who knew what''d happen to the territory with the lord gone? What would happen to their jobs? There was also the possibility they could lose, and then they''d be slaves! This reminder added fuel to their attacks, and everyone ran towards the Soldiers blocking the way. Eloi lunged forward with his sword, only to be blocked by a shieldsman¡ªJake. Eloi gritted his teeth, continuously hitting the shield. Shieldsmen weren''t particularly common outside because it was seen as useless. After all, who would want to only get defensive skills in this world? Sure, they could get teammates, but few people in Xeno actually trusted anyone else. However, this guy always managed to deflect his attacks, either pushing him toward his own allies or him toward his allies'' blades. There were many near-misses and it just made Eloi extremely angry! "GRRR¡ª" he yelled, fire exploding on his arms as he continuously threw Jake fiery projectiles. Jake''s shield was a Class D shield made by Brenda and Troy, and this meant it was far superior to what was sold in the Equipment store by the system. For one, it had higher durability, for another, it had very good insulation. Other iron shields might feel hot after getting hit continuously like this, but Jake was fine. He sneak peaked and saw Eloi still throwing fire and saw his pattern. He waited until the fire user threw another fire ball, before stomping on the ground behind the shield. He created a little incline on the ground where his feet would land, and he immediately pushed it back and he went straight to Seto and Gill''s Battlefield Slash! "AHH!" "DAMNIT!" Eloi yelled as he gasped for air. He held his wound and took out a health potion. Before he could drink much of it, he was hit by a splash of molten rock. "GAHHH!!!" "Get out of the way!" Seto yelled, kicking him aside as he waved his spear toward his enemy. The other''s spear met his, and its contact not only had a clamping sound, but he also saw some steam coming out of it. The other man didn''t take a moment before he sent a barrage of attacks. Gill wanted to take him down as fast as possible. He needed to get this war over with. He had a woman to go after, after all. On the other side, there was aborigine Silva. He was dealing with several men beyond the level cap, coolly waving around his skill and using exclusive skills. For example, there was the [Blade Resonance] which, when used, would use intense vibration to defeat weapons of inferior materials. Silva was using a Class C sword, and if he used his weapon against most of the enemies, chances were, he''d destroy their weapons. Add that to the fact that he was level-freaking-40, it could be said that he was handling himself very well even if he was being mobbed by at least a dozen level 20s. He was quite cool. They liked him very much. High-level Archers like Loki and Sammy had also settled outside the territory because they weren''t allowed to kill those inside anyway nor would they be able to hurt anyone who went through the array. Before, they had to use arrows without the arrow tips¡ªwhich was also a product of their weapons factory for cases like theirs¡ªso they could at least shoot down whoever got too near the walls. When they saw that the battle outside the territory was heightening, they also passed their post to others in order to help out. Mao had already created a platform from them outside the walls, but still at a relatively safe height from others. Bit by bit, they thinned out the enemies, with some warriors below guarding them. The enemies weren''t weak after all, and they really had to do their best. Back to Garan''s fight, the two had slowed down a bit in favor of budgeting their mana, hoping to take down the enemy before it was completely consumed. Baltimore was happy to see that Garan had finally shown some injuries. This meant the durability of his equipment had finally been compromised! He was looking forward to taking over this place, maybe he''d be surprised by what he could find in the warehouse! At this time, quite a number of people had managed to get inside. Other than the Stairs Baltimore made, they had also created a number of access during this time, setting them up at various places. Using the slaves as a shield, a lot of people managed to get in. Not too much yet as Alterra didn''t lack defensive tactics, but Baltimore refused to believe they would lose. When they heard screams inside, Baltimore smirked. "My people would massacre yours," he said, fairly confident because he knew the more powerful people were outside with them. They couldn''t win the war in the most common way anymore¡ªthat was to say, by making the majority of people who went through the array land within the main walls. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A lot of people who went through the array had fallen even before they reached the walls. The only way to win the war now was to find that cowardly lord and kill him. From what he knew, he still had a number of people there who should be hunting, and the people who managed to enter should provide enough chaos and distraction while the spies took action. "We will defeat you¡ª" he said, feeling vindictive and looking forward to seeing the man''s cool facade crack under his words. "Crush you from within." Garan looked at him. Unexpectedly, he appeared unshaken. "I would not be so sure about that," he said and proceeded to send him spikes of ice. Baltimore''s eyes narrowed, wondering if he was pretending. If so, he couldn''t see any signs of it. So confident? Chapter 746 - 746: Battle inside the Walls There were hundreds of guards and slaves (and counting) who managed to flow inside from various points of the territory. Naturally, except for some skeletal forces in other areas, the guards and brave citizens headed to the area to deal with the intruders. Inside the walls, chaos ensued as the intruders entered the territory, aiming to destroy as much as they could. Before, when torturing other villages, it was just fun. But now, they were extremely vindictive. They hated this territory to the core! However, how easy could it be? Would the Alterrans let them enter deep into the territory? Of course not! They had only managed to get in due to sheer numbers¡ªalso of slaves, who they could just use as literal shields. They couldn''t even get past 100 meters safely! The others gasped and some of them were also hit by the arrows. Some were from sentries while some were from archers. The sentries were still more formidable though, as at the right angle it could skewer two or three people at a time! Because the roads were so wide, the damned weapons also had clearer paths to them! Within this area, there were also archers from the houses'' balconies! The intruders were practically showered with weapons! Unlike the programmed sentries, the humans could target them even with slaves up front. The Alterrans felt guilty for killing poor slaves like this of course, but they could push the feelings down if it meant taking down an enemy aiming to destroy their home! Either way, the human archers were still lower in level than their enemies, so unfortunately they couldn''t kill a lot. It was still the sentries that managed to take lives. However, even if the more powerful ones didn''t die, their equipment was losing durability. They knew that if they stayed here, they''d be destroyed before they could even do damage to the territory! "Get out of the range of the walls!" the team lead yelled, running deeper into the territory, hoping to get into more houses and out of the line of fire. They used their numbers and charged forward, some were hit and some managed to hide within the crowd and the wall of slaves they surrounded themselves with. The fact that they were mostly in avenues or on wide roads meant there were a lot of people left open, and it was incredibly annoying! However, there were still many people who managed to escape and they gasped in relief, finding cover. While some were still hit by some citizens shooting from their balconies, the Guians were still stronger on average and didn''t die. They celebrated too early though. SWOOSH! "Ahhhh!" One yelled as he was pierced by an arrow. Because they didn''t know where it came from, the ''slave shield'' didn''t work, thereby killing him. The people next to him immediately backed away, looking around to determine where the heck it came from. Someone with sharp eyes studied the angle and saw an aesthetic tower not too far away. He paled. "Sentries! They have sentries inside the territory!" They had such a hard time getting past the ones outside, only to find out there were still sentries inside?! Just how rich was this damned territory?! The team lead cursed but he kept his cool. "Calm down!" he yelled. "They aren''t as dense inside! Find some cover or areas without them!!" This seemed to have woken up the panicked Guia citizens and their moment of panic only made them angrier to Alterra. They quickly located the sentries by sight and avoided those locations as much as they could, but they had their shields with them the whole time. It made them slow but it saved their lives in the end. More and more enemies entered and several streets¡ªwide and narrow¡ªbecame battlegrounds between the intruders and the guards, as well as many brave citizens. The guards formed a sort of defensive line to protect the heart of the town, trying to keep the enemies as close to the walls as possible. The citizens were not idle as they all had their weapons out, prepared to mob anyone who passed the impromptu ''barrier''. There were also archers all around, some in the battlements, and some above the roofs. However, there were many enemies, and it wasn''t an easy task to clear them out at all. "GO!" The enemies yelled, and the surviving slaves soon headed towards the barrier of guards, sobbing, believing it was finally their time to die as everyone else had. They didn''t understand how they managed to get past the sentries and it was torturous not knowing when you''d die. But now it was finally their time and, at this thought, they felt a complicated mix of terror and relief. One of them was Liga, thirty-two years old, who had been a Guia slave for about a year now. His job had been to clean the higher-class areas every waking hour, which was all the time except for the two or three hours of rest that he was given. It was so tiring and oftentimes the guards would bully him and beat him up just for fun. They would even make him put his face on the stuff he cleans¡ªmostly feces. He had always wondered why he was alive and what was so good about it. There was also Hoku, a young goblin, who had an unfortunate accident a few weeks ago and lost the feeling in one of his hands, rendering him unable to dig up mines with hard rocks like the others. He was designated as a cleaner slave as well, but the type with a lot of digging in the ground to bury corpses in. Not long ago, he had to dig a lot for his own brethren. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Both were ready to die and, frankly, they weren''t too reluctant to face it. What they didn''t know was that the guards were ordered to simply faint the slaves¡ªas long as it didn''t endanger their or any Alterran''s lives¡ªwhile obliterating those who weren''t. The fights continued and soon the main forces began to attack as well. The enemies had higher average levels but the Alterrans, with their wit, equipment, and courage, were not pushed back. Although many of the guards weren''t as formally trained as the soldiers, they still knew more and were braver than the stronger guards of Guia who had no sense of loyalty at all. They would fight together even in the face of a Goliath, and this was something incomprehensible to most aborigines. Rather than the sheer strength Alterra had, this was the point that truly made its forces formidable. Chapter 747 - 747: Picking Off Enemies In contrast to this, the Guia Villagers were generally stronger physically and in level, but that was about it. As soon as their lives were truly threatened, it was easy for them to just want to run away. A lot of Guia guards were already looking for hiding spots, while some were already thinking of ways to get out of this alive. For example, what information could they give¡ªwithout failing their oaths and getting punished¡ªin exchange for their freedom? Sadly, none of them could think of loopholes or sensitive information they were privy to, so the option left was to run. Guia Village was the strongest in the region and its people had a sense of pride in that. When outside, they acted a lot like they were nobles, as if other villages were beneath their feet. Before this, they had never encountered a challenge at the village level, so Alterra¡ªwhich had dropped obstacle after obstacle¡ªwas something really new to them. Obviously, they couldn''t handle it well. This was in contrast to Alterra''s soldiers, even those who had been civilians their whole lives. When injured, they would still fight, if the injury began to hinder their movements, then they would drink medicine. In the eyes of the Guian forces, they were bugs that could not be killed. "Damn! They''re endless!" Tae, one of the team leads there, yelled out. He was panting heavily with many wounds on his body. He was fighting against two people several levels lower than he was, but just when he thought he could get rid of one, he proceeded to drink another freaking potion! This was the third one since their fight started! How many potions did each of them have?! They should torture them to give them some healing potions, but the enemy was too strongm and most of their energy was left to defend. They were also shocked by the number of elementalists. Although many were still adjusting, just the fact that everywhere one looked there was at least one element floating was extremely baffling to them. As time passed, the hope of overcoming these people was wearing thin, more and more doubts occupied their hearts, and the need to escape was getting stronger and stronger. Did they¡­ make the wrong choice? ¡­ Time passed by and more and more people from Guia¡ªdied or were taken down. Their momentum had been dipping a lot and some were too occupied to find ways to escape that they not only failed to contribute to their side, it also distracted them enough and ultimately caused their losses. However, at the same time, more of them also managed to enter from the outside, replacing the forces that were lost inside. In the end, things were still not so easy. After all, the Alterrans were still a fraction of the Guians in quantity and in level. At the same time, the strongest forces were keeping Baltimore and his cronies at bay outside the territory. Fortunately, this only made the Alterrans a bit tired but they had yet to see a single casualty. After all, even if someone was gravely injured, some logistics officer would just pull this person straight to the hospital to get treated by their expert doctors and Healers. Of course, with the sheer number of enemies, it was inevitable for some to get past the initial line of defense and head towards the interior of the territory in hopes of finding a place to hide until the war ended. However, despite the guards and citizens being less dense there, it didn''t mean there was no line of defense. Ignoring the sentries, there were still citizens who were looking out of their homes. Most Alterrans had kept up with their training and had the best weapons they could afford at the moment. So even if there were no guards, the citizens themselves tended to take care of the trespassers. A bit deeper in the territory, there were Althea, Ansel, and the others, who were kiting and clearing enemies bit by bit, trying to control them in one area. To minimize casualties on Alterra''s side, they naturally always took the route of weakening the enemy first. When she saw that the enemies were clustered enough, she would throw a paralysis bomb here and there, with the wind users keeping the ''poison'' on the enemy side. Because the enemy had no wind elementalist, no one could try to blow it away. Luckily or unluckily, the victims happened to be mostly slaves, and a lot of them fell, leaving many of the enemies more vulnerable to their attacks. Scores of low-leveled people fell down, while some higher-leveled ones felt dizzy, and were therefore easier to deal with. Minutes ticked by and an enemy fell every couple of seconds that passed. One of the team leads forced himself to look around him, realizing what the situation had become. "WHAT?!" Tae screamed as he saw half his team was already taken down. In his anger, he went berserk and turned, targeting a group of obvious civilians helping out the war. This group was made of farmers including Dennis, who was holding inexpensive but had a strong Class E weapon made of bones, innovated by their armory of course. Basically, Class E weapons that the custom armory churned out were made of monster bones, which was superior to the predominantly wood equipment Class E weapons available in the system Weapon Shop. Anyway, this helped the group¡ªwho were all below level 10¡ªstand on their own, though they usually would have to group together to deal with fewer enemies. Tae was a level 15 individual. How could a bunch of level 6s and 7s deal with him without getting hurt? Clank! Clank! Stab! "Ah!" Dennis yelled as his grip on his weapon loosened after a single wave of the enemy''s hand. With another wave, he was blown back, his defense equipment losing durability very quickly. "DENNIS!" his teammates yelled, but Tae''s own people appeared to stop them. They immediately attacked and punched and kicked. Although they were not as strong as Tae¡ªonly level 11 or so¡ªthey were still far stronger than the civilians they were dealing with. It was only because the Alterrans were wearing defense equipment that they could still stand. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Tae, who had been livid, was determined to vent on someone. He was ready to stab Dennis to death when a long blade suddenly appeared between them. It sliced the front of Tae''s chest, though it was not lethal due to the level difference. Similarly, metallic spikes appeared in front of Tae''s teammates, forcing them to step back and take a look at whoever was stopping their much-needed venting. It was two tall and handsome men with tanned skin, and they stood tall in front of their fellowmen. "Helios! Hugo!" Dennis yelled, almost sobbing. No, he was crying as he was hurriedly pulled back by his teammates. "My turn," Helios said with a smile, his uncle was still and silent but he appeared like an unsheathed sword ready to attack. Tae spat at the side, waving his weapon. "Your turn to die, you mean," the aborigine said and he immediately lunged forward. He would give it his all from the get-go. He could tell: These men were not easy targets! Chapter 748 - 748: Helios and Hugo’s Fights Holding his Class D sword, Helios lunged at the enemies and Dennis'' team zoned in on an enemy or two at a time while Helios held back a few of the stronger ones, mostly with his abilities. Their appearance naturally strengthened the momentum, and the weaker Alterrans bravely started to mob the enemies several levels higher than they were. Meanwhile, Hugo took care of Tae himself, significantly lightening up the load in the area. Hugo actually had activated a wind mutation¡ªOxygen¡ªbut he had no idea how to use it, so he could only settle for his spear. Clank! He was doing well, but his enemy was a level 15 after all. Some of his teammates would also try to land hits on him before an Alterran could come in time. This caused Hugo to get hit a lot, and his defense equipment was losing durability very quickly. He waved his spear skillfully, using various skills to defend himself, though he found more and more wounds on himself. He gritted his teeth when a deep gash appeared at an opening, and he could feel his movements turning a bit sluggish. Unfortunately, he had no time to take a healing potion at this time. He just needed a little space¡ªeven just a second¡ªto give himself time to drink and recover even by just a bit. He wanted to clear out the enemies here. He wanted these enemies cleared from the citizens and the elders as soon as possible. At this thought, he felt the air around him explode a bit, pushing the men surrounding him. Hugo was not quite sure what happened, but he was not given the chance to think either. The level 15 stood up quickly, rushing towards him. "So you''re an elementalist too! But seeing your expression, you seem not to have mastered it yet!" Tae yelled, immediately sending a barrage of attacks as if afraid Hugo would be given time to learn more. Hugo defended himself, heavily sweating and garnering more and more shallow wounds. "HAHAH! So it''s true!" The man laughed maniacally as he continued to attack. The level difference was there and, along with his teammates'' cooperation, they slowly got him to lose energy. Hugo gritted his teeth and waved his spear, using skill after skill to push the other back. The man was injured and displaced, thrown several meters away. Hugo wanted to run to him but his peripheral saw Guians very nearly stabbing a few civilians and Hugo had to turn to help them out. His arrival let the Alterrans gather their bearings before he could turn to find their team lead again. At this moment, many of his teammates had been taken down and Hugo could see the man gesturing to make a run for it! Hugo''s heart dropped. A level 15 would be able to outrun him. He couldn''t let such a strong man deeper into the territory! This fear surrounded his heart and body and he extended his hand to reach the man. "ACK¨C!" The man held his neck, mouth parted, as if he was struggling for a breath. "WHA¡ª" Hugo''s eyes widened, his feet taking him closer to the suffocating man. At first, he was a little startled, but when he realized what happened his normally stoic face brightened in excitement. Finally! He still knew he couldn''t use this for long, so he held up his spear, finally taking down his enemy. ¡­ A few hours after the war had started, Guia summoned most of the people within the level cap from his territory, even those who were just normal citizens and weren''t fighters at all. They cared less about the sacrifice and more to just make this place suffer. It was humiliating and they had never been pushed down like this before, but it made them all the more determined to take this place down! Everywhere in the territory, the brave citizens fought to protect their homes. Some fought from the safety of their homes¡ªwhether it was shooting people from the balcony or stabbing through the windows¡ªand it made passing through alleys and streets as a group a bit dangerous. There were also plenty who had gone directly outside their houses to fight, especially those who lived far from the leaks. This was not their first war, so they knew what to do. If they saw some old teammates from the first war, then they''d group together to take care of their ''guests''. They were not only protecting their homes and lifestyles, taking down the enemies also gave contribution points! Angelo was tired from the previous wind fight and could only use his sword as he regenerated his mana. Most of the guards were in the areas of the leaks, and they made a sort of line to keep the enemies from getting too deep into the territory. His teammates this time were the dark-skinned guard Joe and pale narrow-eyed Lee, who had grown to a good partnership in battles. He and his teammates took down a few of the trespassers looking for places to hide. For the slaves, they simply knocked them unconscious when they could, but they weren''t above killing them if they had to. However, at some point, another person came in while he and the others were dealing with another group. Normally, he wouldn''t panic¡ªit was just one person, after all¡ªbut then he saw a familiar girl with her body turned back from the main fight! The enemy saw this and¡ªwanting to vent his anger¡ªran to her, weapon raised high and ready to kill! "Toktok!" he yelled, though because she was deaf she couldn''t hear him or the attacker behind her at all! "Damnit!" he cursed, using a minor wind blade skill he learned, halting the enemy''s steps. The man gritted his teeth and turned his head in his direction. When he saw Angelo was also weaker than he was, he didn''t mind changing targets. The slight breeze finally caught the girl''s attention and her eyes widened a bit to see someone so near her. She blinked and flinched, but when she realized his attention was no longer on her, she immediately took out a weapon¡ªa Class E bone dagger¡ªand targeted the man''s ears! Slash! S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "AHHH!" the man let out a bloody scream. "DAMN YOU!!" Chapter 749 - 749: Whetstone (Part 1) Angelo appeared between them, blocking the man''s attack on Toktok. "Get out of the way!" he yelled, pushing her to safety, before waving his sword to the enemy, using his element to add a bit of a slash. Clank! The two blades met with a loud sound, exchanging blows for the next few minutes. This enemy was level 12 though, a few levels higher than he was, so it definitely wasn''t an easy battle. Unlike the soldiers and Hugo/Helios who could leapfight due to their training, backgrounds, and skills, Angelo was a civilian not long ago. Though all Alterran guards received intense training, he still had some ways before he could do the same. Still, Angelo did his best to take him down at the soonest before any other leaks could come through. Fortunately, even when they did, his teammates had managed to finish off their enemies and properly guard this street while he focused on defeating his own enemy. Soon, some of his teammates got their hands cleared (after mobbing enemies one-is-to-three or four) and joined him. After a bit of a struggle, they finally took the enemy down. Angelo''s legs were a bit shaky and he found the wall to rest his weight. Then he found someone next to him. She held his arms and pulled him to sit down on a nearby bench. He blinked when he realized who it was, and he felt annoyed. "What are you doing outside?!" She took a pen and paper in her space to write down her words. ''I want to help,'' she wrote down. ''I already took down 2.'' His eyebrows rose and followed where she pointed, seeing two enemies lying on the shrubs she was just facing before she got attacked. He walked over to see one was a slave and another was an enemy, level 8 and level 9 respectively. He looked at the level 7 girl and asked, "How?" She happily showed him a crude-looking gel and then wrote. ''Paralysis Gel''. It had similar effects to Miss Althea''s Paralysis bomb though with lesser scope and lesser effect, but obviously still useful. Toktok made it herself. Basing on the Flaura and Fauna handbook in the library, she had built upon the knowledge she had gathered on her own. Angelo looked impressed and nodded, and he didn''t stop her from wanting to contribute. "Then¡­ make sure you don''t have blindspots," he told her, "Be careful." Of course, he still positioned himself nearby, a portion of his attention always on where she was. ¡­ In another street, Reno''s adobe walls blocked attacks as needed. After using, he would wave his upper body and these blocks would get thrown at the enemies. Cassie was next to him, bravely fighting, using her own Olympic expertise and element to take down men a level or two higher than her. There was also Fufi and Snow who were beheading people here and there. Gochi was guarding an entire street by himself with no problem either. Not far away, Beany waved his axe around, hitting these bastards threatening the territory''s¡ªand therefore his son''s¡ªsafety! He teamed up with another axe user, Tom, and his spearman friend Rebi to take down a level 12 aborigine. The enemies admittedly had a much higher average level than they had, but they could definitely level up the playfield with strategy¡ªlet alone they were in their home ground! After some time of cooperating, they had found their synergy and attacked without interfering with the other. Their personalities allowed them to work together without one-upping or relying too much on the others. Their battle moved from the wide avenue to one of the parks nearby, and this gave them some more space to increase the intensity of their attacks. Sadly, the fight got so intense that a playground was destroyed. Beanie got angry! His son loved that slide!! He didn''t let the annoyance get the best of him, but sadly his weakness did. Their enemy was, by now, filled with wounds and blood. The moment Beany lost his balance a bit, he lunged towards him. Clank! Bang! Beany couldn''t handle the barrage and fell down. It happened so quickly that none of them were able to react, and the next thing they knew the man had already slashed him. "Beany!" S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There was a flicker of light that came so quickly that no one noticed it, and it was then that Beany realized he was undamaged. His eyes widened, realizing. It must''ve been the protection charm Althea forced on him! He remembered the time she gave it to him. She gave one to all her friends, and she gave him one, telling him he was still one of her best friends. Beany felt a bit teary, and he snapped back up, swinging his axe with even more vigor than before. The other two were relieved and immediately attacked as well, and they snapped back into their previous pace, finally taking down the enemy via beheading him. The momentum in various parts was completely the Alterrans, and a lot of the enemies just focused on wanting to hide. The thing was, in the perspective of the enemies, as long as they stayed within the walls until the war was over, it was counted. While most of Guia''s fighters were evil and wanted chaos, some were just cowardly and some were just forced to join in this war. To them, it was better to hide than fight. For these people who were just forced to fight, including the slaves, they were mostly just made unconscious by the fighters and citizens. They would then be thrown to the original manual prison by the logistics team who were going around with rickshaws. Basically, the Guian momentum was low, even if hundreds more of them managed entered. Guians continued to enter the array, even the normal citizens¡ªevery hour or so, yet no Alterrans were lost at all! If anything¡­ these Guians entering just served to make the locals stronger in skill, strength, and mentality! Chapter 750 - 750: Whetstone (Part 2) On another side of the territory, there were various fights ongoing. For example, there was Balzy, the beast hotel owner, who used his tranquilizer guns on the enemies. It was expensive of course, so he chose the stronger enemies to target. One must know these tranquilizers could faint monsters past level 10. It was definitely much more potent against humans, even if they were higher level. With the strong enemies gone, the civilian citizens would go out to battle and attack the remaining forces. On another place, there was the Crow trio, Bull and his girlfriend Lulu, and a few others. They were assigned to areas with less dense enemies and less dense guards, so it was¡ªin a sense¡ªa bit more dangerous. So they had to get a bit creative. "Lead them here!" Crow signaled to his teammates, and they nodded, purposely allowing a group of enemies to go a bit farther into the territory. The enemies gladly followed with a grin on their faces. They didn''t even question why these people were running. After all, their levels were so low! Of course they''d run away! The Guians thought they finally found a weak spot in the territory. Sadly for them, this group laid traps. The traps naturally weren''t anything that would deface the territory nor would it be dangerous if fellow Alterrans came upon it instead. For instance, there were strings made of super sturdy string that they would raise if an enemy appeared. It wasn''t just normal string, they were made by their sewing experts made with special spinning and twisting techniques. They were thin but they were sharp and would definitely hurt the leg or ankle if they ran into it with enough force. They were attached to the sturdy metal on each side and could be anchored to the ground, keeping it safe for those handling it. "Yes, few people are here," one Guian whispered as they ran. "We have to reach the central areas¡ªfind the lord!" The teammates nodded with grins on their faces. "Yes! I wanna stab on that person mys¡ªAhhhh!!" They fell down, feeling the sting on their feet. This naturally couldn''t do anything gruesome like cut off their legs, but it definitely hurt a lot, especially since most people''s defensive equipment was in the upper body! A lot of people fell and more fell on top of the other, forming a little barricade made of their bodies. The Alterrans would then stab and shoot arrows at them, creating punctures in their bodies here and there. Basically, those above would bleed while those below would struggle and feel suffocated below. Whenever someone would get up¡ªwith much effort¡ªthe attacks would focus on that person. It got to the point that some people just refused to get back up and hope for the best. The hundreds of intruders couldn''t go past this barricade for a while, limiting the damage on one side of the territory. The enemies couldn''t believe they were being held down so much. They knew the guard team there was only a couple of hundred in number¡ªand this was not even a fraction of theirs! Yet they were dealt with so much, even the citizens were so strong! And elementalists! So many! At some point, a new group arrived and saw how the earlier groups were struggling to get up. "GET UP, DAMNIT!" he yelled, and this group was immediately attacked by nearby Alterrans. The Alterrans who had awakened immediately sent barrages of elements, effectively lowering enemy momentum. The team lead growled, and fire exploded in his arms and flew from his palms, hitting an Alterran right in the chest. "They''re not the only ones with elementalists!" he yelled, glaring at the enemies. This had been a pride point for Guia. Generally speaking, a village wouldn''t even have an elementalist. But they had a handful! However, that pride was crushed in front of Alterra wherein at least a third of the citizens could wield it! Fortunately, the Alterran was wearing defense equipment, though sadly the attack had caused it to finally break. The team lead continued to send another burst of flames, but this time the Alterrans were ready and blocked it with a shield. He gritted his teeth and sent fires to the trees and whatever could catch flames. They had tried to burn down the buildings here, but they were particularly difficult to catch fire! What he did not know was that not only were most of the construction fire retardant, but even if the fire was made¡ªfor instance, when he used his ability on the vegetation¡ªit wouldn''t have done much damage. Alterra had, after all, a lot of anti-fire inventions. For example, the fire suppression ball. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He would also be showered with what the locals called ''fire extinguisher'' and suddenly he couldn''t use his ability as smoothly! The locals took advantage of his distraction and promptly took him down, with a mallet on the head no less. In another spot, there were even Jona and Yana, Drake''s suitors, working together. They were fighting near the Research Center with many others and a few guards. They had predicted that the place in particular would be targeted and sure enough, quite a few enemy teams really did appear. They were brave and were quite beautiful. Some of the men could only sigh in pity. That lucky bastard Drake didn''t know the good thing coming at him! Another place that had been targeted a lot was the industrial area, which was particularly sensitive as it was particularly important during the war. There were a few more guards assigned here. There were also a few more interior sentries than others, so there was that. In various spots in the territory, pretty much every Alterran worked to protect it. Whether they were working in the government, in the factories, or fighting head-on, everyone was contributing nonstop and with complete willingness. There were plenty of aborigine guests looking out the window of their inns or rented houses, watching the good show. Their faces were mostly leisurely, though their hearts were on fire with various emotions. They¡­ had never seen anything like it! Chapter 751 - 751: Whetstone (Part 3) Back at the battlements, it was mostly well-guarded, but the enemies weren''t weak. The guards were quickly occupied by the stronger ones, allowing the enemies to enter as long as they had enough shields (inanimate or human) to get through safety. Luis waved his fiery sword at them, keeping them from his side of the main barrier. He would also throw flames at the ladders he came across, but it felt like the enemies were endless in numbers and a new ladder would pop up soon after. He didn''t get tired of doing it though. He had mana cookies in his space and he had been chewing on them for a while. Fortunately, there were a lot of mana cookies in circulation amongst the guards. Apparently, Harold had figured out that he only needed to personally do certain processes in order to add the special effect on the cookie. Hence, the cumbersome material preparation was left to a factory line, allowing a lot of cookies to be available outside of Althea''s party. Whoosh! "DAMN IT!" the raiders yelled as they saw their access burn up while they were climbing up. Luis never targeted the whole thing to save mana, but he always did choose strategic spots so it was sure to work. The makeshift stairs cracked and buckled, causing the intruders to fall into the crowd of their own people. This went on for a bit and he travelled along the battlements. A signal flare lit up on another section and he rushed towards there to help. The signal flare was only set if the ratio of the enemies versus the number of guards there was too different, so Luis immediately knew where to prioritize. He arrived about a few minutes later and saw a certain group composed mostly of Guian guards enter with their slave shields. He rescued a few guards who were battling against people with higher levels, kicking them off the walls. He took a closer look at their access and his eyes twitched. It was still a makeshift ladder, but it was much sturdier and thicker. It reminded him of well-made fire exits. Obviously, they had worked on this a bit. Too bad (for them) it''ll get destroyed soon. He took fragile balls from his space. It had a lot of excess oil inside and it would shatter at a bit of contact. Similarly, many citizens also tended to have some bottles of their preferred oil in their space. Everyone had them for personal use, but also because they could get useful in fights. I.e. making the floor and the access slippery. They also had some to assist with fire users, who were the most common type of elementalists. "Now!" Luis yelled as he nodded, and from behind him, several citizens threw thin bottles toward the men. "WHAT!" For a moment, it puzzled the enemies, but then they started mocking them for throwing random liquid. This was, of course, until Luis threw his flames at them and watched them burn. "GYAAAHHHH!" "AHH!" S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They happened to have a water elementalist who had been trying to whip away the blockage on his side (to little effect). He had to shift attention towards his teammates and doused them with water. Unfortunately, the fuel was oil and pouring water¡­ did not help at all. On the contrary, it help them spread out. HISSSS "AHHHH! NOOO!" A lot of people lost their footing, with the weaker ones soon unmoving as they burned alive. ¡­ The fights continued for some time, until the sky darkened, and soon droplets of water from the sky fell down. "Ah damn¡­" several people cursed under their breaths, though no one really had time to react too much with the battles ongoing. Rain could mean different things in this battle. Rain could be good for water users because it gave them more materials to work with without working too much, but it would make things difficult for fire users, as they would be limited to their weapons. The rain continued to pour down on the region and soon their health would take a toll. However, it was generally the same for everyone so the playing field didn''t change too much overall¡­. Right? Well, not exactly. Because, unlike the Guians who had to get drenched by the rain the whole time, the Alterrans had raincoats! Although they did get damage from the scuffle, the debuffs caused by the prolonged exposure to rain were minimal. The Guians cursed. "What the heck are they wearing?!" ... Althea was on a rooftop somewhere just beyond the scope of the outer sentries. Her bow and arrow prepared to take down whoever was about to seriously injure her people. Below her were Ansel and Gochi who made sure there was no one who could distract or hurt Althea. There was also Hugo, who had found his way there. Even Winona was there, to Ansel''s annoyance, because now he had to look after her too! "Jerk! I can handle myself well!" She took self-defense classes and she was good! How else could she have survived so long without them? To prove her point, she jumped over a hostile level 11''s knee, using it as a bolster. She wrapped her legs around his neck, taking him down to the ground to be easily taken care of by the sword of nearby Alterrans. BANG! Ansel: "..." Above eye level, Althea didn''t move unnecessarily. One was to keep energy in case of emergencies, and another was to train the people. Alterra was becoming too peaceful. Although everyone went out to train, they still believed the territory was impenetrable. That was: They may have to fight and be in danger outside, but inside they could be completely complacent. She did not want them to believe that. She watched as her citizens fought for peace and to protect their homes, aghast to the bottom of their souls when the intruders damaged a piece of it. For example, when an enemy fire user burned landscaping, he was immediately mobbed by the citizens. When someone nicked a part of the building, he would get pummeled by a group of people. They also protected each other, having each other''s backs. From here, their cooperation was improved even more, and so were their strengths. This war came just in time to bring Alterra''s comprehensive strength to another level. Guia¡­ was the perfect whetstone. Chapter 752 - 752: Fight of the Strong (Part 1) While the battle inside was extremely smooth due to all the advantageous conditions, the fight outside didn''t have the same conditions. For example, the level gap wasn''t limited outside the walls. The level 23 Garan was going against the Level 30+ Baltimore, with Silva being dealt with by five surviving strongmen on Guia''s side. Other than these strongmen, there were also a lot of weaker slaves who were there to continuously weaken him. The number of slaves in Guia¡­ was not small, and much of the forces of Guia had been called on at this time. As of now, other than the hundreds of Guians still fighting inside their territory, there were still over fifty people beyond the level cap and about a handful of them were elementalists. This was amazing even for a top village. On average, villages didn''t normally have people beyond the level cap at all. The level cap was based on the upper level forces among villages, but Guia had so many! This was a testament to their strength as a village, and confirmed that it had a backing¡ªeven if it might not be Ferrol. Anyway, at this time, most of these people were outside Alterra, making trouble. As soon as Baltimore decided to attack Alterra a few days back, they had naturally called for a lot of reinforcements. He ordered a lot¡ªmost of the people beyond the level cap traveled¡ªthough his main purpose was to keep anyone from escaping. After all, so many people here were elementalists. Losing one was losing money! It was why Baltimore was so angry. He had believed his preparation was an overkill! He was confident in taking Alterra down, and that even if he missed some details, the force discrepancy would be enough to make up for it! Garan''s party also realized¡ªafter seeing so many strongmen attacking Alterra¡ªthat Guia must''ve called in much of their manpower to deal with them. Should they be flattered? In any case, Alterra only had over a dozen people beyond the level cap in contrast. This did not include aborigines like Oslo, Silva, and Rowan, but the quantity difference really was stark. Hence, the battle wasn''t just one-on-one. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Such sending of forces also made for a unique battle situation wherein the most dangerous battles were happening outside the walls. The fight was also beyond the range of the sentries. After a few successful lures by Gill and Sammy, the enemies had raised the guards and fought with them well beyond the areas the sentries could reach. The battles were intense even during the rain, where the high-level duo Oslo and Silva showed off their levels and strengths, pushing back the dozens of enemy forces remaining. Around them, it was certain that someone would get seriously injured at least every few minutes. On Alterra''s side though, there were no casualties as of yet. This was not a surprise for those inside the territory, but for those outside, it was a massive feat. After all, the Alterrans were fighting against people beyond the level cap few-to-one! One of the reasons why no one had died as of now was because they were soldiers and had ample experience and techniques in fighting. It helped that they were all elementalists as well. This shocked the Guia folks who had been underestimating them since they were in their village. It was clear that things were only evened out because their levels and quantity were so much more than Alterrans! If they had held back, they''d have stood no chance! There was also the protection amulet which they all had. Although it could only take a few shots from people their level, those few shots had protected the soldiers from serious injuries, which was ultimately tilting the favor in Alterra''s side. "I never thought we''d have so much trouble," Seto mumbled, wiping his sweat with his bloodied shirt. He fought¡ªand was still facing¡ªGill, who was a spearman like he was¡­ except the bastard could control earth AND fire. His body was still stinging in pain from all the burns he suffered. Even when the rain poured, the man''s magma still burned him and stuck to his clothing and skin. It was torture. Gill''s eyes were sharp as he faced the other man. He was a bit injured, but otherwise okay. He didn''t take another breather and sent a barrage of attacks. He needed to get rid of this cronie so he could help out with the other fights! Sister-in-law''s protective charm had worked wonders. Sadly, he had already seen a crack and knew that it could take one last shot. He needed to be extra careful after this. The tokens of the others were in a similar state. For instance, Sammy''s, though he was certainly not letting any of his anxiety show, irking his enemy even further. Ero''s red eyes fixed on the damned archer who had been kiting him for so long. Sammy smiled smugly, making him even more hot-headed. Ero couldn''t help himself and lunged at the dark-skinned man, reinitiating a battle royale among top villagers. In the meantime, a lot of the level 10 Guians and below heading towards the walls were shot down. Every so often someone would get injured by an arrow above eye level. It was not hard to notice so the team leads gave out consistent orders. Specifically, Baltimore''s peripheral vision saw the situation and ordered several people, including Piko, to handle it. "What are you doing! Take care of those archers!" "A-Ah, y-yes!" Piko shook but he followed, running towards where the archers were. The Alterran archers were protected by fighters underneath these platforms, and it was obvious that no one would be able to get near the archers for a while. Knowing this, Baltimore took time to create a platform for them, and Piko took out his bow and arrow, but he was shaking when asked to do this. He wasn''t even an archer by profession, he was a chef. How could he go against that guy? But the enemy archers had caused damage and the Lord wanted them to do the same. Piko¡ªand the other archers¡ªheaved deep breaths and shot an arrow at the nearest enemy, which happened to be Loki. The man''s eyebrow rose just a bit, before he waved his hand and a gust of wind redirected the arrows to the ground. "..." Chapter 753 - 753: Fight of the Strong (Part 2) Piko wasn''t able to raise his bow again when he felt danger, he moved his head by instinct, barely avoiding a shot to the head. !!! "AHHH!" he yelled, shocked, and he ended up losing balance and falling to the ground where various scuffles was ongoing. He rolled around, avoiding some people, but still getting stepped on in the end. A Guian man accidentally stepped on his feet and they both screamed in pain, Eagle took advantage of his imbalance to stab down¡ªfinally taking down one out of the three people he was fighting against. He didn''t pause as he shielded himself from another attack and then stepped back to avoid another. At this time, Eagle was fighting against two level 17 fighters, one swordsman and another a spearman. It was obvious though, that they hadn''t activated the occupation yet considering they lacked the basic skills. After being in Alterra for so long, he had forgotten triggering occupations was not that common. In Alterra, if you didn''t trigger an occupation¡ªwhether it was in fighting or a life skill or something else¡ªit meant you didn''t work enough. Of course, this wasn''t entirely true as many really took much longer than others to awaken despite working hard, but they would usually gather enough contribution points to either get to the library or use the training facilities, so it usually wasn''t impossible for everyone to awaken at some point. Anyway, although Eagle was outnumbered, the enemies naturally had a hard time dealing with him, a swordsman with the wind element. Eagle slashed his sword, willing the wind elements around to follow, targeting two at the same time. One managed to duck, but the other wasn''t able to react. "Gah!!" one yelled as he received a direct slash of the wind blade, hit even before his spear could touch Eagle. Eagle jumped up, using his wind as a bolster. He immediately slashed down, stabbing at the back of the person''s neck and finally killing him. This was the same sight as many other places around them. Although they were outnumbered, the Alterrans were winning the protracted battles, not just due to skill but also by virtue of their seemingly endless supplies of equipment and tools! Worse, when they ran out, they would head towards one of the archers on plateaus. They didn''t know how they passed resources around, but these people would drop bags of food, potions, and equipment every time! Even if this was their home ground, this regeneration rate of resources was too much!! Baltimore heaved deep breaths fighting against Garan. It had been a few hours, and both were still standing strong. Despite their level differences, Garan was still managing extremely well against him. It was very annoying. This was the first time Baltimore had been so humiliated after so many years! Inexplicably, he was reminded of the past. He was born in a small town to a very poor woman who sold her body for favors¡ªsomething not unusual for his neighborhood. He grew up being bullied and humiliated, and he had to go outside and hunt at the early age of 10. Despite the strong monsters in towns, because he couldn''t kill most of them, it took him another 8 years before he reached level 10. He awakened as an elementalist when he was thrown into a small monster mob simply because he was poor. There were not many elementalists in that small town, and news reached the Lord''s ears. He and his mother were called in, and they found out he was the lord''s illegitimate son! He had received harsh training for the following years, and he was eventually sent to the master city to serve. There, he joined a deadly tournament to gain rights to a Lord Token. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He, who was in his early 30s at the time, became one of the youngest lords to receive a token. The things he did to keep his position were many and immoral, but he thought it was worth it. A little Alterra Villager couldn''t humiliate him like this! "I''LL KILL YOU!" He gritted his teeth as he glared at Garan, who was similarly bloody. After a long game and many wounds, Baltimore had lost the regal cold image he had been maintaining as the Lord. At this time, there was just a thought: He must take this man down! Garan did not flinch under his barrage of attacks, skilfully blocking all of them. He looked him in the eye as they kept each other at bay. "You can try." The two of them pushed the other in an attempt to imbalance, to completely tilt the battle in their direction, but the impasse remained. Baltimore looked at how the other people were also struggling. Some of his men were even teaming up against one of the enemy''s¡ªand they were still losing! If the Alterrans finished their fights and went to help Garan, then he would stand no chance. His dark eyes sharpened as he stared at the bleeding man with rare ice crystals floating around him. "Where''s you buy those protection charms? It''s very useful." The other man didn''t give a response but just threw ice picks at him. Baltimore avoided but the man behind him got stabbed instead. It happened to be one of the four people Sammy was dealing with. "Thanks, captain!" Garan nodded and it made Baltimore even more annoyed. Baltimore took out his remaining health and mana potions, and he saw Garan do the same. How many did that man have?! One of the reasons he had so much trouble was not only due to his skills. This man seemed to have an unlimited supply of healing potions and several protection charms. Based on quality, those were Class E tools! Class E tools were not at the same level or price as Class E Weapons available in the system stores!! He was even eating some hard bread the whole time! Did they call it cookie? The battle resumed to high intensity as soon as the two of them finished their consumables. Clack! Bang! Slash! Because of his ability, Baltimore¡ªwho specialized in long to mid range battling¡ªstruggled a bit when he was put in the battle fist-to-fist. Garan, on the other hand, could handle either method. Garan covered the surroundings with ice, making several men slip. The Alterrans knew this technique so they were prepared, with wind users using their tornadoes to lift them¡ªand several teammates¡ªout. In the meantime, the Guians around slipped down and fell, immediately attacked by their enemies. Like so, a good portion added to the lengthening list of casualties in Guia! Baltimore''s eyes turned red. They can''t lose! Chapter 754 - 754: Almost at the End The fight entered its climax and each fighter could no longer care for the others, focusing on their own to avoid serious damage. On another side of the field near the sentry scope, Leon and Santos (the Soldier), partnered together with five aborigines. They dealt with a group twice as large as theirs, but with teamwork and strategy, they had been avoiding some casualties. While still a bit dangerous, they had bright eyes. It was exhilarating to fight alongside the captain and the others again! Back in Fargo, even if they witnessed grave injustices, they had to hold back a lot. No matter how angry they were, they had no choice but to do so because if they got kicked out, they would leave their allies even more vulnerable inside. Their internal organs got so stressed and, if their physiques hadn''t been improved, they were sure they''d have suffered internal bleeding. Anyway, Santos skillfully swung his sword, using his earth element to aid with his mobility. Every swipe of his sword, there was someone who got injured. There was Leon, also a swordsman, but he preferred to use the surrounding vegetation to trip or even tie down his enemies. They were in a forest, and unlike the others who thought trees were obstacles, to him they were part of his skills. He used his abilities to bind people to the trees to temporarily slow or even disable them, which would then be taken advantage of by him and his teammates, killing the trapped people one by one. It didn''t matter if they were outnumbered one-is-to-three¡ªor even five¡ª they would still win! ¡­ Not far from them, Jake was also fighting with two people. One was a swordsman by occupation and another was a guard who could use swords. Unlike the smooth fights of the others though, his was a bit of a challenge. The enemies this time were level 17 and 16, respectively, which wasn''t that much lower than his own level at 19, and one of them was even an elementalist. Unfortunately, they managed to lead him away from his teammates, though he didn''t mind too much at first because he could really take them on, even if just for a while. Unexpectedly, the jerks would fight dirty (okay, he should''ve expected it). The elementalist¡ªa level 16 wind user¡ªtook out a bag from his space and blew it on him. His eyes widened and he felt his knees buckle, making him fall down. "Heh! I got you now!!" the man yelled, and the other also attacked. "Hurry! That powder can''t work for long at our level!" Jake''s eyes widened, cursing himself. Too careless! Too confident! What will happen to Yiyi when he didn''t return?! However, instead of the expected slash of pain, he saw a subtle flash of light instead. When he didn''t feel any damage, he realized it for what it was! The protection charm! At this point, a lot of the enemies had also realized they must''ve had magic defense tools since their defense weapons weren''t high level enough to have full-body defense. They cursed, trying to continuously attack him while he was down, though Jake quickly rolled around to avoid them. "How many of those do they have?!" "What city is their backer?" another yelled, stabbing at him, though Jake had already gotten his bearing at this point. Jake laughed out loud, using his remaining mana to pull up a small rock plateau to throw them off. Using the soil used in the bat, he let it fall down right on their bodies. He then jumped up and took out his weapon, finally taking them out. He took out his last protection charm, which unfortunately had a little crack already. Still, how many times did it shield him today? It''s amazing! Sister-in-law''s the best! ¡­ Not far away, Rowan was throwing fireballs against his enemy, a level 20 spearman, in a rare one-on-one battle. He was actually weaker in level but thanks to his own talent and all the learnings he had in the barracks, he was actually standing his ground. Most of his injuries happened during the rain, actually, where he couldn''t use his element. He was imbalanced at first but was protected by the lord''s protection charm as well as Loki''s strategic kiting of enemies. But now, his last protection charm had been destroyed, and he had also weakened a bit. Still, Rowan did not back down nor did he let his momentum stagnant. In fact, it even increased because he felt himself improving in this life-or-death fight. Slash! Clank! Bang! "ORCSHIT!" the enemy yelled as he was pushed back. "Why are you still standing?!" "GO DOWN ALREADY!" The man yelled, swinging his spear with brute strength. Rowan was on the defensive during this barrage, and while he obviously struggled, he managed to lead his enemy to the thicker canopies to shield him from the rain. He took out the dried leaves (sold by some stall merchants for very low prices) and then he used it as fuel to help out his fire. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Rowan used his fire as a booster ¡ªsomething he learned from Plaridel¡ªand gracefully avoided a skilled swipe. Rowan used it again to propel himself forward, and his sword finally penetrated into the man''s stomach. The man screamed, letting go of his weapon. He shakily held Rowan''s hands in an attempt to pull it out, but Rowan quickly enflamed his hands, burning the dying man. When the enemy''s lifeless body finally dropped on the forest floor, Rowan smiled. Finally! ¡­ Silva at this time was against three people. He was the only non-elementalist in their side, which was something he never would''ve imagined before, but he was not weak at all. The man''s silvery hair moved along with him, damp from the rain, but shimmering from the remaining sunlight. He was panting a bit after so many enemies. He was level 40, yes, but being mobbed by so many still took a bit of a toll to him. He sighed and looked at his mana, deciding to use another technique to hasten this battle. There was silence in the air and, for a second, it felt like he couldn''t be seen. Then a moment later he had already beheaded two level 20s. The Guians were shocked, belatedly realizing there was a swarm of forces that met on the corpses'' bodies, destroying them from within. They gasped, looking pale. "Damn! That''s a Class C technique, at least!" They heard of techniques like these. Most of them were only found in cities! "Who is this guy!?" Chapter 755 - 755: Baltimores Last Stand Meanwhile, Oslo was also defending against two people at mid-level 20s. They were among the strongest cronies next to Baltimore, and he could sense they even came from cities. Of course, level 25 at their age wasn''t high in cities, but their arrogance definitely showed their superiority complex. Well, not that arrogant anymore, Oslo made sure of that. These two people were aghast as they were attacked with a metallic spike one moment and then defended against an earth wall the next. "Damn! Another dual elementalist!" he yelled. They knew there were two others. Even in cities, this was not common! However, they quickly forgot about these worries as the battle intensified even more, with the two Guians suffering injuries when two spikes appeared below them while they were distracted! "AHHH!" "DAMNIT!" Oslo smiled, continuously waving his weapon to take advantage of their slowdown. Actually, if it was a few months ago, there was no way the profligate Oslo would''ve battled two people not that much lower leveled than he was¡ªespecially not guards. Maybe he wouldn''t even risk injury at all. But the atmosphere of growth in Alterra was really not low, and he found himself vying for it, fearing to be left behind. And growth, he had. ¡­ Several fights were already closing. The strongest remaining people standing were the Lord''s right-hand men¡ªEro and Seto¡ªwho were being dealt with by Sammy and Gill, respectively. Everyone was bloodied and tired, but the enemy numbers that had greatly outnumbered them had gone down and the battles had reduced to one-on-one. Slash! Ero''s eyes widened as he saw an arrow embedded in his arm. He gritted his teeth in pain and anger, grabbing its shaft with his palm. He pulled it out and screamed in agony as he did so, realizing the arrow had a lot of hooks that took away a good part of his flesh! The pain and humiliation were too much and the man went berserk. "DIEEEE!" He relentlessly waved his sword toward his enemy. It was just that Sammy kept jumping back, skillfully avoiding attacks from the side and at the back, while at the same time shooting accurate arrows that brought him so much trouble and pain! "Get him!" he yelled at his teammates, taking their obedience for granted. However, these people were practically dragging themselves, though the slaves had no choice but to follow. Soon, Sammy was surrounded and hunted down by dozens. He was not shaken though, even if he no longer had a protection charm to keep him safe. "You forget I''m not just an archer," he said with a smile. He suddenly stopped in the middle of the battlefield and¡ªjust when the slaves and guards were about to jump at him¡ªa gust of wind exploded with him at the center. The weakened slaves were thrown away, some even reached the area where two spearmen were duking it out. Gill jumped over one, while Seto heartlessly kicked another one that went in his way. Seto was at a higher level than Gill, but the latter was a dual elementalist. The only reason the fight was still going was because Seto used a lot of his own teammates as shields¡ªas seen with the many burned or stabbed people around them. When Gill used much of his remaining mana to create a narrow whip of molten lava, Seto kicked one of the slaves in front of him, and he watched as the low-level slave got sliced, practically cut in half. Seto kept doing this while he recovered, which just made Gill angry! It was disgraceful¡ªusing your own brethren like this¡ªand Sammy and Gill were annoyed, determined to end it! ¡­ Garan''s and Baltimore''s battle was much bloodier, with Garan already bleeding everywhere after consuming the five protection charms. Baltimore was also bleeding everywhere, with an arm nearly detaching after several targetted slashes from the younger man. Garan targeted the area with his sharp ice and it was morbid. Garan threw ice pick after ice pick, blocked by Baltimore''s earth wall. He jumped up in an attempt for an aerial attack. Baltimore saw it as his chance to throw rocks midair, but Garan had excellent control of his body and managed to avoid it even in his position. He landed with such grace that male gymnasts would''ve given him a standing ovation if they were there. What he did not know was that Althea had formulated an antidote that would work on the common poisons found in their region. While some of the binders were rare¡ªplants bought from Ferrol¡ªshe managed to create a few emergency pellets for her family. The moment Garan felt some symptoms, he took one with a healing potion and he continuously took them as needed until it was gone, mitigating the effects of the poison continuously injected into his body. The effect just confused the person trying to kill him with poison, lowering his momentum even more. With a primal roar, Baltimore lunged forward, sending shockwaves with his ability, shaking the ground. A lot of people were imbalanced, very much including his own team¡ªone of whom even died under Silva''s weapon. Not that Baltimore cared about this at all. He hurled boulder after boulder toward Garan, drinking his remaining stock of mana potions while the other party was busy avoiding his attacks. Garan managed to avoid most them, but he was still hit by one. He felt the ground underneath him open and he was quick to put ice at a slope so he could slide towards Baltimore while avoiding the crack underneath him. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He raised his ice sword, aiming to get the battle to a close-ranged fight again. Baltimore was stronger in level but he was at a disadvantage in close range. Baltimore knew this and used his ability to push his body backward. Garan calculated and placed several sharp ice at a distance behind him where he mused the enemy could possibly go next. Luckily, one did hit, and Baltimore gasped as he fell back. Baltimore lost balance but as he twisted his body, using an arm to lift himself high with a plateau. He screamed when he realized this arm was the extremely injured one, and he felt his skin tear open further than it already had. He turned and got to his feet immediately, just avoiding a direct hit of Garan''s cold blade. He threw more rocks and ground spikes, though his mind was dulled with the pain, and Garan easily escaped them. In his distraction, he did not notice that many ice spikes had remained near him. When the spike near him shot up, it was too late for him to avoid it. And so, Baltimore''s eyes could only watch as his arm was cut off! Chapter 756 - 756: Baltimores End Baltimore watched his hand fall to the ground with wide eyes. Up until now, he had been in denial that he was losing. However, literally losing a part of himself was the wake up call that shook his core. Did he truly lose?! NO! "ARGH!!!" Baltimore yelled, using his remaining mana to surround himself with small sharp spikes of earth, exploding around him. Because they were at a distance from the other battles, most of the spikes just hit trees. Some of the people hit were his people, though he did hit a few Alterrans who were promptly handled by their teammates. Those directed to Garan were blocked off by his ice wall, which slid back straight to him with a wave of Garan''s bloodied hands. Baltimore''s instincts flared and he once again used his ability to escape. He moved backward swiftly, but this time with unpredictable angles. As he did so, he blocked the bleeding with his ability. It was unhygienic and was not of much help, but it was the best he could do. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As he moved, his eyes shifted to the walls which had long calmed down. From the outside, they could see the slaves and men were either taken down or captured. He had a feeling the people inside had also already been managed, and there was little they could do to turn this war around. One way was to get the remainder of the population to the array, but considering how his main forces got crushed inside, he doubted there''d be any changes. Furthermore, looking at these people, they weren''t planning on letting them go! His eyes studied the surroundings and also saw many of the fights were closing¡ªnone of which had his own people as victors! Even Ero and Seto¡ª His mind ran as he defended against Garan, who had obviously slowed down his use of elements as well, but was still holding on to the upper hand¡ªparticularly because Baltimore only had one left! He gritted his teeth in anger, but he turned his body, this time no longer intent to go back to the battle with Garan¡ªbut far away from him! When he got back to his territory, he would regroup and report to the Master. This place would then be frought in wars! ''Let''s see how long you will be able to act like this!'' He ran and avoided Garan''s hits, though Baltimore frowned when saw a fight nearby, specifically at the fight nearest the dense forest, and were therefore blocking his path of escape. Baltimore rushed into a direction so abruptly with his sword, heading straight to the forests behind the battle. At this time, Eagle was finishing off the final enemy in his area. The soldier looked pitiful and filled with blood and grime, but around him, there was no more Guian standing. He smiled, feeling the adrenaline slow down, though he still tried not to lower his guard until the war was over. However, he was human and after undergoing such a hard fight, his whole being was just tired. He did not expect that during that one second of a breather¡ª Slash! "AHHH!" Eagle yelled, eyes wide as he looked at his detached arm. Baltimore grinned as he ran past him. "An arm for an arm!" he yelled, shaking those who turned to his yell, and the Alterrans immediately headed to him while ignoring the few enemies they had left. "EAGLE!" They yelled, distracted enough that a few enemies almost hit them. Some of the more level-headed guards fortunately blocked the attacks from their backs, and trusted the others would handle their teammate''s injuries well. The team carried him and rushed him to the hospital. This left the remaining enemies to be handled by a few¡ªwho happened to be very vindictive anyway¡ªand their sense of violence was at its peak. Suffice to say, the remaining Guians in the area would die very horrible deaths. Garan had gone after Baltimore, quickly realizing he was making a run for it! He was very fast and Garan''s mind formulated on how to stop him. The man sprinted, but Garan did not. If they both just sprinted, Baltimore who had a much higher level would be much faster than he was. Further, sprinting would disable him from using his elements. Instead, Garan used his ice to create a path for him, though only wide enough to fit his feet, losing mana. Not far away, small plateaus of rocks appeared where dainty feet landed, before disappearing into the ground again when not in use. She looked like an elf jumping from one pole to another, looking beautiful and graceful as she did so. The woman raised her Class B arrow, using her skills to determine where the man would run. Using her remaining mana, she shot, though he managed to avoid it by instinct. It did graze his remaining arm. Althea frowned in disappointment. That was her last shot. Fortunately, this one second of delay was enough for her husband to finish everything off. A sharp metal spike appeared above Baltimore, spiking downwards. Because he was sprinting and had minimal health and defense, it went through his shoulder and through his heart, pinning him alive to the ground. Baltimore''s eyes were wide open, and so was his mouth, as it let out pitiful wheezes and gasps. He could no longer move, and the shock wore off and he started feeling the intense pain being impaled alive would cause. Such a large spike though couldn''t be maintained for long and it disappeared after a second. The damage was done and the man fell down back first. As he lay gasping on the forest floor, his own blood pooled around him. He breathed heavily, but the water from the rain made him choke. More blood flowed out of him, mixing with the ponds around him, and he could feel his body weaken amidst the agony. Baltimore shakily looked at the skies, watching the patter of rain fall on him, and the shock of the pain occupying all his senses. At the back of his mind, he could hear footsteps approach him, and two silhouettes appeared, looking down on him. That was the last thing he would see, before everything finally turned black. Chapter 757 - 757: Battle Aftermath Inside the walls, the battles had been settled and the Alterrans were just rounding up the enemies who trespassed their land. A lot of the more powerful players inside went outside to assist, and this included Althea. It so happened she had an idea where her husband was stationed, and she had a report from those watching from the battlement. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although there was no clear sight due to the forest canopies, the two were making enough movements that they could approximate the area they were heading toward. Positioning herself in the direction where Baltimore was going, she used [Earth Sense] to have a better idea of what was happening. Her husband was very nearly about to capture Baltimore, but there was still a small chance he would escape by virtue of his level and skills, so Althea opted to help out in whatever way she could. She made a rough calculation and used the last bit of mana she had to hit him. It missed and failed to cause much damage but, fortunately, her husband was close behind, and he created an impressive spike of metal to skewer the man to death. "Dead?" Althea asked as she went to them, though her heart was pained to see her husband so injured. She had fortunately refilled her health potions before heading out, knowing there''d be a lot of injuries outside. "Wife!" Garan uttered as she approached, opening his arms to her. She hugged him and sighed, forcing him to drink a potion. "You should''ve tortured him more for hurting you so much." Thankfully, she and the team managed to create an improved healing potion that could have an effect on people below level 30. If she made it herself with her pharmacy skills, the effect was even stronger. He smiled as he drank the improved healing potion. "Well, I can''t compare to my wife who beat a similarly leveled man." She giggled and shook her head. The only reason she managed to beat Belize was because he was poisoned, she had extremely superior equipment¡ªone that could defend against people twice his level if she had been strong enough¡ªand she also had Gochi, who dealt with most of the close-ranged damage. Without any one of those, she doubted she''d have won. In contrast, her husband went head-to-head with an elementalist lord nearly 10 levels higher than he was. While their equipment and potions had some bearing, those were only to safeguard his limbs and life. Those things would''ve meant nothing if Garan wasn''t strong enough to hold out on his own. Anyway, Althea was just so happy he was all right. It wasn''t that she hadn''t offered to give him her top-tier equipment, but he adamantly refused. He told her he wouldn''t be able to fight his best if he would worry about her getting even a bit injured. After seeing her husband recover a bit of energy, she then turned to look at the corpse below them. Pity for what was inside his space and wallet. There should''ve been some interesting things in there. While Althea mourned for the loss loot, Garan leaned down and rummaged through Baltimore to get the Token. At this time, a few other Alterrans had found them, also a little shocked by the bloody sight. Then they flinched when they saw the Captain pat the corpse down. As the seconds ticked by, Garan''s indifferent face turned to a frown, until he turned to his wife with furrowed eyebrows. "It''s not here." "What?" The Token was not on his body? Why? Gill narrowed his eyes at the corpse. "Baltimore didn''t seem like a person who separated his token from himself." They nodded, agreeing to this. He was the type never to trust anyone¡ªor anything¡ªelse. He believed in his own power so much. He''d have believed the Token could only be safe with him. So¡­ what was this now? "Damn," Sammy cursed, and couldn''t help but kick the corpse again. "We should''ve tortured him!" For doing that to Eagle, he deserved more hell! Of course, he said this out of anger, not really meaning it. Keeping Baltimore alive was simply too risky! Not only was he powerful¡ªkeeping the captain occupied for so long¡ªbut also because of his connections. A few days back, they received a letter from Jonathan when they inquired about Guia. He did not hide the fact that Guia Village was indeed their subsidiary¡­ but he warned them that they were simply their subsidiary in name. Guia''s true master was much more powerful¡ªa city. He could not say any more due to an oath, but it was already plenty helpful. At the very least, they knew that there were more forces behind Guia Village than they thought, inspiring everyone''s growth even more in response. They tried looking for it for a few more minutes, with Garan taking his wife to look away. Sadly, even Sammy and the others saw nothing even after stripping the man off all his clothes, confirming the Token¡ªfor some reason¡ªreally was not with Baltimore at all. "Take the remaining men as prisoners of war," Garan said as he headed back to the walls. "We''d pull it out of their throats if we have to." *** While there were no deaths among the Alterrans, there were a lot of other injuries during this war. This was unavoidable, especially when they were up against the former strongest village in the region. Among the biggest casualty was Eagle, who was currently being operated on by Dr. Volohov. His situation was further complicated by the fact that he had been poisoned! Sadly, the antidotes had been used up so Althea had to rush to make a new one, though it could''ve been too late judging by the state of necrosis. Another problem was that the threads used were not enough. The stock they had was consumed by all the stitches to be done while the war was going! It was to be made of animal gut, but took time to produce more and they had to preserve the arm in frozen solution. Still, Volohov did not give up. He couldn''t guarantee that the operation would be a success due to the limited technology¡ªbut everyone was doing what they could. Regardless, this situation broke everyone''s heart. Such a good friend and soldier lost such an important appendage. Who wouldn''t be heartbroken? Chapter 758 - 758: Justice Hall Eagle''s unknown situation caused deep anger within the Alterran guards and citizens, which ultimately led to the extreme torture of their prisoners, who were used to vent by the soldiers. Anyway, these prisoners were definitely deserving of the pain. The suffering they caused was probably no less than Fargo and his men. The Torture Chamber was located in the new Justice Hall, a manual construction building placed between the System Prison and the Barracks, directly placed at the end of a new wide street called Justice Street. The Building was large and quite intimidating from the outside, its form naturally showing its prestige. There were towering columns that rose majestically from the ground, supporting the large roof above. After a short staircase, they would be led to an expansive entryway and lounge that goes to various ''halls''. Although it was inspired by the imposing neoclassic architecture back in Terran, aesthetically, it was combined with distinctly Alterran elements like stone and wood. The top two floors had several rooms serving as courtrooms, though they were there mostly to handle grey area cases that oaths might not necessarily handle fairly enough. This was also where criminals who would ''graduate'' from their prisoner of war status¡ªwhen they paid up all their atonement points¡ªwould be tried, to check whether they truly deserved their freedom. There was also an underground pathway to transport high-profile prisoners to the other building. Similarly, there was also underground access from the Barracks. This was done not only for secrecy and security but also not to scare people too much at the possibly very poor state of the prisoners. For instance, the Guians, many of whom were being tortured in the underground torture chamber. "ARGGHHHH!!!!" Seto screamed as he was pricked by thousands of needles all over his body by some mechanism. He had been gravely injured during the war, and the needles didn''t choose whether to prick good skin or the broken ones. It would then be lifted, and the mechanism would prick him with random needles at varying intervals, torturing him psychologically too. In another torture chamber, his comrades were suffering no less. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "AHHHHHH!" Ero screeched as his body was heated up like in an oven. Sometimes it would be scorching hot, while other times it would be minor burns¡ªwhich just added contrast to the pain. From here they knew that Alterra was the land of innovation in Xeno¡ªand these innovations¡­ were not limited to infrastructure or daily things. "YOU''LL PAY FOR THIS!!!" Ero screamed at the top of his lungs, "YOU''LL PAY FOR THISSS! GAHHH!!!" Gill raised his spear and heated it up, branding his fat cheek. "How? You''re trapped here, powerless. Your lord is dead. How?" Ero gritted his teeth as he shivered from the pain, but his eyes were defiant. He probably knew about the master city but couldn''t say anything due to an oath. Knowing him, if there wasn''t, he''d definitely drop the name just to ''make them fall into terror''. But, while a good piece of info to have, it wasn''t what they were looking for. And so, the torture resumed. *** Garan went out of the room about half an hour later, going out to see his wife waiting there. She didn''t get changed either. They didn''t have the leisure to waste, after all, they needed to find that token as soon as possible. From what they knew from the Golds, the token would automatically integrate with the person nearest to it regardless of whether it was in the sky or underground. However, there was another¡ªvery expensive¡ªtool that could contain it. Baltimore probably used this. If they didn''t find it before the war ended, however, then it''d be troublesome to find it again. What if the so-called master territory decided to visit? Would they lose Guia just like that? How could they let it happen when it was so near? "It''s probably in a secret room in his territory," Garan said. That was all they could get and they decided not to waste any more time on torture. Those people probably made a few more oaths so torturing them more was no use. It seemed like Baltimore didn''t go back to Guia after being in Alterra. This meant that he had always hidden it somewhere else and didn''t bother integrating with himself anymore. This could actually be very smart, assuming that the place was really secure. Not only was the territory protected during wars even at a loss, but when the lord died outside of it, the territory probably would not disintegrate¡ªat least not until the war officially ended on the 28th hour. However, Baltimore didn''t seem like someone who cared for his people so much, so this was likely the instruction of the master he served, who refused to lose the territory even at the event of his death. Further, even if there was no one who would retrieve the token after his death, it meant that the winning territory wouldn''t get anything from him either. It was quite vindictive. "We have 6 more hours," Garan said, heaving a sigh. They had to find that token, this was obvious, and the couple didn''t waste another minute and headed to the array. The thing about the teleportation arrays during wars was that they were accessible for the 28 hours the war was supposed to last. Guia could take days to get to. It was too practical to get there and¡ªideally¡ªback via the array before it closed. Sadly, Garan was beyond the level cap, so he could only accompany Althea¡ªand a few others like Luis¡ªto the array. "I will go now," Althea said, and the little sparkle on her eyes wasn''t missed by her husband who knew every part of her. She was definitely excited to use the array and go to another place. Garan really wished he could come with her, or at least accompany her to a legitimate trip done just for the sake of travel. But, for now, it was a temporary goodbye for the couple. "Good luck," he said, kissing her forehead, and he could only watch as she entered deep into the array, and disappeared. Chapter 759 - 759: Entering Guia Village Before heading out, Althea put an aether letter telling the elders of her plans and to settle the prisoners well. She also asked to handle the slaves and make them swear oaths to never harm the territory, even after they freed themselves. Of course, she also mentioned that they could not drop their guards until the announcement was received. People could still attack them after all. What if there were still rats hidden, waiting to strike? "Wait," Garan said as they headed out the gate. He brought her to Baltimore''s corpse and took out a long knife, beheading him. He took out a tissue paper from his space to hold the head in, and he wrapped him in some dirty rags to keep his dirty blood from bleeding in his wife''s space. "So people believe they have already lost," he told her. She nodded, placing it in her space. This would be her ''entrance ticket'' if they needed it. Because they hadn''t retrieved the token yet, there was no announcement. Strictly speaking, if the rest of the enemy territory citizens below the level cap would go through the array and get inside the territory alive¡ªif the number somehow reached more than half of the overall participants¡ªthen they could still win. Hence, in their case, until the entire 28 hours were completed, they hadn''t officially won yet¡ªnot unless they got their hands on that token. Although it was only Althea, Luis, and a few others who went in to maintain low-key entry to Guia, it didn''t mean those beyond wouldn''t do anything else. For one, they still needed to send stronger individuals there even if the travel would take days. If they managed to secure the place, then there would be a need for trusted stewards to watch over the place. If there wasn''t, then it was a good chance to get as much Iron as they could (and maybe even get some more goblins) before the Master Territory messed things up for them. Gill also stepped forward. "I''ll go there with a few people, Captain, but I may not go back for a while." After the war, he hoped to get to Cassandra. Judging by the consolidated maps, Guia was on the way to Jacoba Town. Garan nodded, assigning the forces to go to Guia Village as soon as possible. After that, he would go around the place to check for leaks and escapees around the territory. For a territory like Guia, they had to cut all roots they could not control. ¡­ Guia Village. At this time, several guards gathered by the gates. One, to do their jobs, second, to gossip. "What do you think happened?" One asked, recalling the major orders a few hours back. The guards looked bloody and scared and they could tell the enemy¡ªAlterra Village¡ªwas a lot stronger than they thought. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Pretty much all of their fighting forces were called in, leaving a handful of guards to maintain the territory. While the guards looked worried, they comforted themselves. "It''s a challenge sure, but it means the loot is higher." "Ah, that''s true." Guia Village had never lost before, and the people didn''t have the concept of it. They continued chattering until the array lit up. "They''re here!" one said, looking forward to the triumphant return¡ªlikely with new slaves. They jumped down the battlement¡ªa grave mistake on their part¡ªthinking they''d be needed to escort the slaves. Too many died the previous month during that damned Goblin attack, plus the few tortures and venting ended up reducing the goblin slaves they had. Anyway, they really lost a lot of slaves. They needed more and this war was the perfect time to regenerate and get more forces! To their shock though, the people who leisurely came through were all unfamiliar people. There were only two of them, but they came in as if they didn''t take them to mind at all! They gasped and immediately started attacking, but none of the attacks even damaged the woman, while the man was an elementalist who took them down while they were distracted!! They were both level 17 though, so naturally the fire could not kill them so easily. What they didn''t expect was a glittering set of bow and arrows directed straight to their hearts. Their eyes were wide as they stared at the newcomers. Who the orcshit are these people? ¡­ They dragged the guards deeper into the forest for interrogation, with Luis looking at his scope to see if anything had changed around the gates. He saw that it was clear, so he knew the disappearance of two guards was unnoticed for now. "First thing we have to determine is the reason why Baltimore hid it in the first place," Althea said, handing over another protection charm to Luis, just in case. This would help them narrow down the places to look, or¡ªat the worst case scenario¡ªwhether to not waste time anymore. For instance, if Baltimore placed it in his Warehouse. Only the lord could enter the Warehouse at any time. In theory, he could''ve placed the token there. Normally, if the war ended and the lord was dead, then the territory would disintegrate. In such cases, them¡ªthe winners¡ªwould not get anything except a portion of the gold and the people they may or may not have captured on their turf. But if Baltimore truly had and used that magic tool to preserve the separation of the token, then it''d be a different matter. In theory, if the Lord died with its token protected like so, then the territory would become an independent land with no master, for the rest of time¡ªat least until the token was found. However, they knew this was unlikely in Guia Village''s case. They knew from Ferrol''s secret letter that Guia was only their subsidiary in name and it definitely had a master. This meant Baltimore was answering to someone else, and they must have access to where the lord token was even in his death. Perhaps, one of his allies was already taking it somewhere. In this case, they had to get it back. Althea heaved a deep breath as she stared at the wall not too far from them. "Let''s go." Chapter 760 - 760: Hunt for the Lord Token At this time, Althea buried them on the ground with only their heads above the soil. She did it quickly by taking the soil she loosened with her ability back to her space. "Tell us, does your lord answer to anyone else in the territory?" Luis asked, crossing his arms and looking down at them. This was to determine if there was anyone who might know the location of the token. The guards looked at him as if he had asked a stupid question. "How could our lord answer to someone else in their own territory?" The others nodded even as their teeth clattered, shivering, trying to retain whatever sense of control they could. "Even that Lord of Ferrol Town acts like a peer!" This made the two''s eyebrows rise and they looked at each other. However, Jonathan did mention the opponent was a city, so Baltimore must''ve looked down on Jonathan by virtue of the connection. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, while they were reluctant to bump against a city, they stayed firm in the end. While stealing Guia may mean irking a strong enemy, all they''d be able to do was to send village subsidiaries to them. They weren''t dependent on anyone in resources, so nothing could threaten them either. They fought hard. They deserved Guia. Also, they could really use that iron mine and those hundreds of goblins. "Then is anyone close to your lord left behind?" Althea asked. She closed her fist and tightened the earth around them, making them shiver, but they refused to answer on principle. She sighed. They only had a few hours before the war ended and they didn''t have the leisure for long torture. Luis raised his sword. "Since they''re useless, no need to keep them alive." "GAHHH! NOOO!" "Don''t!!!" "Wait, let me try something," Althea intervened and the men looked at her with a bit of hope. She narrowed her eyes at the guards for a moment, thinking. "Their levels should be good enough," Althea said, taking out a bottle from her space. "There''s an experimental potion that could maybe help out,'' she said. "Can you open their mouths please?" At this, Luis and the others pried the guards'' mouths open and they force fed them the suspicious-looking liquid. None of them were certain what it was, but they forced their mouths closed and pinched their noses so they had no choice but to swallow. "HIC¡ª" "ARG¡ªgurgle¡ª" After ensuring the guards had consumed all the potion, they stood up and waited for whatever should happen to happen. For now, though, the guards just looked pale. Obviously, the medicine didn''t taste very good. Curious, Luis turned to the woman. "What is it, Miss Althea?" "Truth potion." "..." . . "Seriously?" he asked, and the others gaped at her in shock. She thought for a moment before clarifying. "Well, it''s more of a¡­ suggestion potion. If we add a few more tempting conditions, we may be able to get what we want" After saying this, she manifested some gold and dangled it in front of them. "If you tell me all you could about your lord, I will give you this." These guards were also in their level 15 or so as well, so her potions naturally had reduced effects (it was why she didn''t bother using it against Ero or Seto), but it was still strong. After a few moments, the men started to look inebriated. They proceeded to ask more about the territory, getting their maps in the process for free. With those, they found out more about the locations of Baltimore''s properties. They also found out that all of Baltimore''s closest cronies had come with him, but he did have servants in his house who could¡­ enlighten them. "I think that''s as much as we could get," Althea said and the others nodded, knowing it was time for them to take the next steps. "We''ll leave you here," Althea looked at the half-frozen men. "Good luck." ¡­ They entered from the side using Althea''s earth stairs without causing a commotion at all. Most people who remained were mostly in their homes, while the remaining slaves continued with their jobs. This wasn''t a surprise. After all, Guia mobilized the majority of their forces to attack Alterra, retaining some low-level citizens here, which was why they hadn''t actually received the winning announcement yet. Anyway, this place was grossly undermanned. It not only had loose sentry arrangements but, based on their scouting, there were very few guards there at this time. Hey, most of them were probably already either dead or a prisoner in Alterra now. However, they were not complacent and still did their best to minimize the danger. Using the maps they got from the guards, the group separated into two, with the other group taking a look at the other possible places the token could be left in, while Althea and Luis headed straight to the Lord''s house¡ªwhich was also the most dangerous place there at this time. Like most other villages, the roads here were narrow and smelly. Of course, it didn''t get the title of most powerful village for nothing. It was still much better than others, especially to Luis who had been to many aborigine villages before. Most people who didn''t participate in the war were in their homes. There weren''t many anymore, mostly women and disabled people supported by family. Obviously, Baltimore made strict orders that forced anyone with some force to the war. "How do we get in?" Luis asked as they headed towards Baltimore''s home. The villa was surrounded by level 2 walls. It was a customized building specifically made to appear more ornate than others. Compared to the simple houses around, it definitely stuck out like a sore thumb. Baltimore didn''t seem like the person who''d prefer this aesthetic, so it was likely chosen by his ''guests''. However, she also knew how it was in Xeno so her dirty appearance was actually more common than proper. Luis gaped as Althea headed to the gate and knocked on it! She did it several times, too! "M-Miss Althea!" Luis squealed through gritted teeth. Althea remained cool though and Luis had no choice but to shut his mouth. Soon, the door opened to reveal a guard, whose eyes sparkled a bit at the sight of her. "What is it?" Althea ignored his disgusting stare and kept in character. "I¡­ I''m a citizen from Ferrol Town¡­ but my caravan was attacked¡­" she said, looking pitiful. "I need to see your lord. Can I talk to him, please?" Chapter 761 - 761: Sneaking In The guard looked at her greedily and Luis behind her was really about to throw a fireball. How dare this trash eye Miss Althea! Who cared if he was a Level 18 or so! "You can come in, but just you," the guard said, heckling Luis'' feathers even more. Althea raised her palm to stop him. "It''s okay, Luis, just go around the place to pass time," she told him, giving him a meaningful stare. Her words calmed Luis down and he nodded, heading out the gate to the satisfaction of the greedy guard. He led her to the servant''s quarters at the side of the main house. Here, the live-in guards and other servants stayed, though when they saw him with a woman, many of the servants who were there scuttled away. "You can wait here," he said, asking her to sit on a crude sofa at the side. "The Lord has not yet returned from the war, but since they went all out, it shouldn''t take long." "Thank you." Althea nodded and took out tea sets, "Do you want some?" she asked. "It''s special Tea from Holt City¡ªaccording to the salesperson, anyway." He grinned, liking her humble attitude and took the pretty cup. "These are good," he said, giving her a deep look. "I bought it from a merchant when the Ferrol Fair was ongoing," she said, smiling gently and taking a graceful sip in her own cup, prompting the man to do the same. He took a sip and felt it bitter. He frowned, but did not show his distaste too much. Holt City was known to have developed and was the main source of various things, including several sauces and special teas. They also owned the developmental rights to several System Restaurants and Tea Houses, which meant they earned money every time a territory bought and used their building. He knew this because their visitors from Towns and cities often bragged about their knowledge and he, an ambitious man, naturally remembered as much as he could. Doubting that the weak level 10 woman would dare do anything against him, he just thought it was a special tea with an unusual taste that catered to high nobles. "Where did you say you were from again? Ferrol?" he asked, as he sipped. "Yes, the Town," she said. "It is your master town, right?" The guard sneered. "Heh, not really," he said, sitting right next to her. "Ferrol Town¡­ is not much to us," he said. She appeared genuinely confused. "I heard Guia Village is a subsidiary to Ferrol. Is this not accurate?" "Well, we serve a higher master," he said. "I see¡­" "But¡­ does your lord answer to anyone? I''m asking because I hope to find someone from Ferrol¡­ or the master territory. A steward, perhaps?" The guard sneered. "Well, there was before, but how could they stay in a little village for so long?" he said, tone with hints of bitterness. The man definitely had some humiliating encounters with these people. Althea continued to fill his cup with ''tea'', and asked him more and more questions about the territory. Her attitude made him like her even more and, as long as it wasn''t a scope of the oath, he would answer her inquiries to show off what he knew. Within the next few minutes she confirmed that there was indeed someone ''superior'' who stayed in Guia a lot. However, after a while, they came back less and less frequently and stayed for shorter periods of time. Apparently, they hadn''t seen the person for a few months now. She also found out that this person also stayed in Baltimore''s main house, particularly in the Central House, so it was likely the token was near there as well. Soon, she knew she could get everything she could from this man, and her softness changed. "Well, thank you," she said, appearing as innocent as she was. The man grinned, leaning over. "Now, I can tell you more if you¡­ stay with me a while. Althea smiled, but unexpectedly she threw some liquid onto him. His eyes turned red and he wanted to grab her neck in response. However, she just casually stepped back and looked at him without emotion. "It''s time for you to die now." "What¡ª" Whoosh! A flamethrower appeared at his side, blowing him straight to the wall. "AHHH!" he yelled, feeling the intense burning of his skin. Of course, it was not enough to kill him. However, when he opened his eyes, a sharp sword was already hanging above him and¡ª Slash! He was no more. Luis waved his hand and the fire died down, and they both looked coldly at the corpse below them. Another side effect of the truth potion was that it nulls a lot of the other senses. This was why when Luis arrived in the house, the level 18 guard was completely unaware, and it was why he couldn''t react fast enough when she threw oil at him. She shrugged, turning to the door. "Let''s go in." S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ They snuck further inside the home and found there were still a few guards there, a few of which were beyond the level cap. Luis frowned and looked at Althea, "I''ll take care of them," he said, bravely lighting up a fire on his hand. "Wait," she said, stopping him. "Do you think I don''t have enough tools in my space?" Luis blinked. A few minutes later a few balls rolled around the house. After a soft poof of explosion, smoke was released, going through various parts of the house. The low leveled servants fell down. The stronger guards weren''t completely affected, but they did feel a bit dizzy and yawned. "Wow¡­ even level 15 got hit," Luis mumbled, wearing a cloth mask, kicking the man a bit. The man moved and Luis squeaked, finally killing him with his sword. "Do we still have a lot of tools, Miss Althea?" he asked, and she shrugged. "A few." She didn''t answer anymore of his questions and stared at the large expanse of Baltimore''s house. "Now¡­ where could that token be?" Chapter 762 - 762: Baltimore’s House After the lack of such tools during the first war, she overprepared a bit on this one. Added to the fact that she didn''t have to use a lot during the war since it was their home base, she still had a few in her space. They also took a few servants, especially the older-looking ones, and made them drink the truth potion. Sadly, they knew no more than the guard they killed. They did it repeatedly in many places and fortunately, the slaves and servants left weren''t particularly strong. Basically, while they sauntered across the lord''s house, they were relatively undisturbed. As they perused the rooms, most of which were empty, Althea also low-key stole some interesting items like unique decorations and cheap tools. Nothing too valuable, but since it was there might as well take it. Maybe¡­ magically the token was hidden in them, anyway. (Of course, even Althea was not that lucky). However, the somewhat happy ''shopping'' mood turned sour when they ended up in a room with about a dozen girls. The smoke didn''t get all the way here, and they were all safe and awake. The smell was strong and the atmosphere was dreary inside that room. Some didn''t move while some raised their heads to meet hers. They didn''t have much life or fight in them, but they were studying them and were a bit surprised to see another woman. Althea pursed her lips and turned to look at the surprised Luis. "I''ll talk to them," she told him, closing the door on him. She turned back to watch the women in thought. She had been wondering who to ask to get more clues to the token, but¡ªsince the use of the servants was limited¡ªshe thought that this might just be the place. Baltimore was an untrusting individual. If there was anyone who would have a clue, it''d be his closest cronies who signed detailed oaths. The other servants here unsurprisingly did not know anything about the token, leaving her with this option. The bed partners. The aborigines had a sort of predisposition to underestimate women. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. To be honest, it could very well be the downfall of many strong men here. "Hello," she said to the nearest responsive woman. "My name is Thea, I just arrived here, I was hired to ''assist'' your lord." They looked at her, some in guardness, while some in jealousy of her beauty. "Does anyone know when he''ll return?" No one answered her at first, mostly either dazed or of dislike. Althea sighed and looked for someone one with the most hostility. "I wonder who knows most about the lord?" she asked, appearing genuinely curious. A few women perked up a little. The most obvious was a woman who was leisurely laying on her bed. It was a beautiful woman, and had some pride in her, indicating she must have the favor of Baltimore or someone in his circle. She raised her head, looking arrogantly at her. "He will return at night, he usually comes and takes one of us. Usually, me." From this, she knew that they were unaware there was a war nor that they already lost. "I see¡­," she paused in thought. "Actually, it''s just between us but I''m actually here to test you girls out." The women naturally looked at her guardedly, obviously anxious. No one dared question her though, because there was a chance that she was telling the truth and losing favor could easily mean death here. "Who here genuinely loves the lord?" she asked. "The war¡­ has taken a toll on him, and he wishes to have a¡­ purer interaction tonight." "Me!" "I do!" another said. "I know all of his likes!" "He loves my voice!" A few women immediately approached her, showing off how well they knew the lord. She observed each one of them, and they showed various expressions. Her emerald eyes fixed on someone though. She was located at the back of the room and among those who did not bother getting closer. She had the strongest negative emotion at the question. "You," she said, pointing at the girl. "Come with me." At this, the women flinched, especially the woman from before. "Why her?" "She dislikes him! I can tell! The way she scowls¡ª" Althea shook her head, "I know," she said. "Sir Seto told me to get rid of the bad grass. He doesn''t want to infect you girls with her negative energy." At her words, the women obviously relaxed. At the same time, knowing the lord would be taking them today¡ªthey would get money or resources or good food when they did well¡ªmany immediately started to prepare themselves. Meanwhile, Althea pulled the girl into a room. The girl didn''t fight much, obviously surrendering to whatever fate awaited her. "How much do you know about Baltimore?" The woman looked at her weirdly. "Do you hate him?" The girl''s jaw clenched but didn''t answer, but her facial expression was good enough. Althea''s eyebrows rose and she pulled out Baltimore''s head out of her space with one hand, and she used her clean hand to cover the woman''s mouth. "WA¡ª" "Calm down. Promise not to scream " Shaky and a little teary, the woman nodded. Althea soon realized the tears were not of fear¡­ but of happiness. "Finally!" She exclaimed, taking the head into her hands and threw it down the floor, kicking it repeatedly. "FINALLY!!" Althea watched. Wow. Baltimore must''ve really messed with this one. Baltimore had indeed messed with this one. Her name was Yllana, a beautiful daughter of a small noble¡ªa village lord. Her territory lost a few months ago and she witnessed all her family either killed during the war or died suffering as slaves. How could the hate be small? This man tortured people for fun. He even buried people alive. He used his ability to enjoy listening to their weakening breath as he deprived them of air! Now¡­ he lost the right to do so as well! ¡­. Althea did not have the time to wait for the girl to complete all her emotional reactions to this. They headed out of the room to see Luis waiting there patiently. Yllana glared at him guardedly, but didn''t do anything else. "He''s with you?" Obviously, the girl had a dislike of men¡ªand understandably so. "He''s a good guy," Althea said. "He killed a lot of your guards you know." For the next half an hour, the three of them rummaged through the house and found a few things, but there was still no token. Yllana tried her best to remember what she knew about Baltimore, though so far nothing had borne fruit, making her feel embarrassed. If Althea had time, she''d have comforted her. To be fair, the other woman really did know a lot about Baltimore. It was likely Yllana had been remembering all details she could, in the hopes of using them someday to deal with him. However, none of that mattered for now. They were running out of time. Althea''s brain ran fast, putting together all the information they had so far: Baltimore was an earth user. He liked to bury people. And he was a bastard. At some point, her eyes brightened, "Where did you say Baltimore''s favourite garden was?" Yllana blinked and thought, pointing in a certain direction. It was a large garden at the back, and it also had a few skeletons. The girl led them to his favorite spot. It had the richest plants, likely because of the number of ''fertilizers'' it had underneath. Althea heaved a deep breath and used [Earth Sense] to peruse whatever was underground. She thought of a place that was not so easily found but accessible enough. It wasn''t straightforward. After all, her ability could only see until 2 meters below her. In the end, she could only vibrate the ground to soften it and place the soil in her space, and then let it out again. She dug like this until she could peruse some 5 meters or so below the ground. She practiced her skill a lot, until she had at least some impression of what was happening beyond her radius of capability. She used her skill to zone in on where aether was a bit denser compared to its surroundings. After a while of searching, she found a rock that had many cavities, and she looked closer at what was inside. After what felt like forever, her emerald eyes finally shone brightly. "Found it!" Chapter 763 - 763: Final Clearing Alterra Village While their Lord was digging enemy territory, the final clearing was happening in Alterra. The enemies were tied and locked, heading towards their prison, while the others were set aside for further interrogations. Fortunately, the rain had been reduced to trickles. "The rain is finally stopping¡­" a citizen mumbled, relieved. "Well, sort of." During this time, they realized the effects of rain during fights. Not only were the fire abilities basically useless, it really affected everyone else as well. They consumed a lot more energy and people had to be taken to the hospitals even when the war had completely turned one-sided. Why? Because they couldn''t recover the energies fast enough. Anyway, now that things had calmed, they rounded up the enemies to be placed in the two prisons, with the strong ones in the System Prison. There were hundreds of prisoners taken in, and they''d definitely have to be squeezed uncomfortably inside. Another awesome thing about aether prisons was that it self-cleaned. They couldn''t imagine having to clean after these jerks! As for the manual prison, there was a proper toilet there, and they''d definitely be beaten up by other prisoners if they dirtied their floor. Bit by bit, they brought people in, waiting for the official announcement that the war was over before completely relaxing. Still, it couldn''t be helped that most would let go of some tension. Their hearts and nervousness had calmed to some degree, and most had time to absorb what had happened. This was especially true for the aborigines who had lived with wars since as far as they could remember. All their lives, wars were synonymous to death and suffering. If a territory like Guia Village attacked them, if they were in any other village, they''d have assumed they''d have lost early on. But Alterra came out as a clear winner. Alterra was only a couple of months old. One of the most shocked was the aborigines from the Terran mercenary team. For instance, Knauf and Essed. They had never been in such a war before. They had watched as the leading team did their best to protect the people, even using those bombs¡ªthose must''ve been expensive¡ªjust to increase people''s rate of survival. They also saw how the injured were immediately taken to the hospitals by brethren, with designated ''logistics'' people dedicated just to rescue people. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They had also seen how people protected and lifted each other up, rather than what they had been used to. What made them most in awe was the results of the war. To their knowledge, no one inside the territory died! There were hundreds of injuries, but no deaths! Unprecedented! Guia was not weak! Even they had heard of it back in Ferrol. It was hailed as one of the top villages in the entire human territory. To be honest, when they heard they had been called to go all the way here to assist in a village war, it felt as if they had been demoted. They had also thought they''d be the frontliners who would be carrying the weaker locals on their backs. But they quickly realized¡­ that they had thought too much of themselves. ¡­ Many of these war achievements were naturally not a secret to the visitors, who had been watching as spectators. Their residencies were in other higher-ranked territories, so they naturally didn''t have anything to fear even if Alterra lost. They watched aside as audiences and ended up learning a lot. While they thought that not taking slaves was unnecessary, they did see a lot about how warfare could go. They saw how good putting sentries inside could be, they saw the advantages of wide roads during wars, and many others. There were even two battle pets, who were both far from their masters, that focused on protecting other people. They shielded them and worked with them well. Judging by their teamwork, the visitors could tell that the battle pets had been training with a lot of people other than just their masters. A lot of the aborigines, especially those from villages, had also seen Half-orcs for the first time. They had heard of their reputation and today they confirmed that were indeed very strong. They watched in interest as the orc was treated as a genuine¡ªand respected¡ªmember of the team. It was a bit incomprehensible to them, but the seeds of the idea had been planted, casting doubt to what they had believed in. Even before the war, their worldviews had began to shake as they were exposed to various products, people, and concepts. After the war, they realized that it was a more enlightening trip than they had thought. They didn''t expect it to be like this coming here. They thought they''d just be making some money! Before¡­ they just thought that whoever won, they were sure to still get those products, the output just depended on who they''d be talking to. If Alterra lost, then a lot of their items would be sent to Guia (because a lot of the resources would go to them), though they preferred to make deals directly as the cost was really much lower. Further, if Alterra got weakened due to the war, a lot of these people had been planning to tell their respective lords about it. That way, they could decide to send some subsidiaries to weaken it further. That way, they''d have bigger pieces of the pie. This wasn''t anything new in Xeno, and it was why high-potential territories would often be cut from the bud. But this was not the case with Alterra. It won such a strong enemy with flying colors and they immediately knew it was not worth losing as a business partner. Besides, it wasn''t like the cost of the items was so high¡ªespecially if purchased directly from the village. It wasn''t worth making an enemy of such a village that could very well rise to a Town in a few years or less. They were also very interested in this show of strength and they wondered if they could get a hold of those hand-held weapons they could see. They were available to some of them, but the costs were high. Speaking of which, the cost the territory accrued just to minimize the injuries of their vanguards was no joke. This meant that it''d spend however much it had to protect its people¡ªand that was something terrifying to go against. Alterra¡­, was definitely the territory to watch out for. Chapter 764 - 764: Rounding them Up An Hour Prior. There was still no announcement because the 28-hour mark was still a few hours away. That was to say, unless the token was taken immediately, anything could still happen. Hence, everyone was still on guard despite having relieved smiles on their faces. The elders oversaw everything, with the guards remaining vigilant for any more unexpected moves. They especially tortured the stronger ones, making sure they didn''t have the energy to cause any chaos. Garan and the soldiers outside had already brought in their own prisoners, all of whom were going directly to the system prison. They were also there to make sure there was no accident. They had basically won. They were at the last step. How could they let anything happen? They had begun to determine which among the enemies beyond the level cap to keep alive. They made them swear an oath to tell the truth about their crimes, and they were judged in the Justice Hall. The sessions were led by Mathilda and the others. They had considered having a jury as well, in order to encourage the public participation in the judicial process as well as to expand transparency and diversify perspectives, but there were also many disadvantages so they withheld that for now. However, they would definitely finalize the criteria for that in the future, when more grey-area conflicts involving their own people could occur. In those cases, varying perspectives would be needed in order to make the citizens feel they had a voice in these conflicts. Anyway, thanks to the Oaths, they could escape the dangers of perjury, and therefore misjudgement by misunderstandings would generally be avoided. On the other hand, when they felt that a person was a total psychopath who lived to kill people and enjoyed it, then he''d be sent down to the torture chambers. More than to satisfy their bloodlust, it was more to possibly get information from them. As for the sinful men they spared¡ªthe people who showed some remorse¡ªthen they were given a choice. First, they must spill everything that they could about Guia and this world, or die like the others. If they agreed, then they''d sign another oath to never ¡ªdirectly or indirectly¡ªhurt Alterra, its population, or any of its associate territories in their lifetimes. They would thereby be assigned as Prisoners of War, with their sentence varying according to their sins¡­ though a lot of these sentences might as well last a lifetime. Outside the Justice Hall, there had not been a few struggles. However, Alterra was strong and, with the lessening of enemies who could fight, it had become easier for them to deal with enemies, even if they were higher level. "SHUT UP!" Angelo yelled, punching a prisoner 2 levels higher than he was. He pointed at the man''s tendon. "If you don''t want to destroy your legs and get dragged to prison, behave." "Am I right, Boss Sammy?" He asked, looking at his fellow wind archer, and also one of his mentors. The dark-skinned man grimaced just shooing him away. "Don''t dilly-dally, there''s still hundreds outside." "Yes, yes!" Other people helping with the roundup were Mauru and his fellowmen, who contributed a lot as they always did. It had to be said: the frequent wars from their previous lives really helped them carve good lives in Alterra. They were especially happy with their contribution points. With this, they''d eventually be able to afford some magic tools. Magic tools! To their knowledge, Magic Tools were something only available in high-level towns for an exorbitant amount of money. But in Alterra, in exchange for contribution points, it could be accessible to them! Mauin was eyeing a nice weapon, while the others eyed a variety of defensive weapons. They had also seen how the protection charm worked, and a lot of them aimed for that as well. Anyway, the contribution points were such happy things, and they practically dragged the prisoners to where they were supposed to be. ¡­ In one of the corners watching the prisoners getting hauled were Winona and Ansel, with the latter approaching the woman with a bit of awkwardness. "Thanks," he said, "For saving me." Winona frowned and looked away, ignoring him. It was notable that her long curly hair had shortened noticeably¡­ by a lot. Ansel awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck with a little blush on his face. What happened between them was not much of a long story. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The fight continued well after Althea left to check on the battle outside. It was just that Ansel was annoyed, particularly at Winona. Even when his sister wasn''t there to protect and worry about, there was still this woman! It was annoying because he couldn''t leave her be and do his own thing! "Go back to your lab already! We can handle this!" he yelled to her back then. Winona looked at him, offended, "Don''t worry about me! I can manage!" Ansel gritted his teeth, how could he do that?! Worse was that she very early got stabbed by a sword and he felt his heart almost die right there! Annoyed, he yelled at her. "You''re no help here, you burden!" In his distraction, he failed to see a spear incoming. He was pulled in, and the spear was pushed away. The next thing he knew, a certain blonde kicked the spear-weilder down. This enemy was then promptly beheaded by Fufi. Other than the Guian''s, there was no blood from their side. However, there was a casualty: Winona''s¡­ hair. Her hair was cut at an awkward angle. It was very ugly and ragged, and it made Ansel''s heart drop. Everyone knew how much Winona loved her hair¡­ And so was the current scene. "Go away," Winona said, glaring at him, definitely not wanting to see his face at the moment. She ignored him the whole time, wearing a scowl that should''ve been irritating. ''But what to do¡­,'' Ansel thought, feeling complicated. He felt that it was adorable. Chapter 765 - 765: New Citizens The hospital, which could hold more than a thousand patients at a time, was now fully working. All the rooms, wards, and even the mass wards were filled with people. This was not just their own people, but also Guians they judged as a non-threat, especially now that their lord was dead. For instance, there were certain wards that were even filled with Guia slaves. For safety, they were in a separate ward from the seriously injured Guia citizens, so that no one could order them there. One of the patients here was the Goblin Hoku. He was the only goblin sent as a vanguard due to his disability. A goblin that couldn''t dig was useless in the mines, and the fact that he was useless even as a goblin slave truly felt like a large weight pulling him down the ground. He wasn''t surprised to be assigned amongst the meat shields. These were the first sacrifices, and it was almost impossible to survive there, at least with all limbs intact. And when a limb was gone, then they''d be even more useless. They''d likely be thrown as bait instead, which was an even more tragic death than dying in a war. At least then, they''d have the illusion of having a higher purpose. He went in this war not expecting to ever get out, but somehow when he lost consciousness from weird smoke that enveloped him and everyone else. He lost consciousness, finding himself in a rare nice dream. In his dream, he was back home, surrounded by fellow goblins with smiles on their faces. They were not covered with wounds and had a good amount of meat in them. They were clean and their clothes did not have a single hole. His parents, who had perished in the goblin war a few months back, were also there. They pulled him for a nice meal¡ªthe bread from the restaurant, but with added plants and fruits on top¡ªand they ate until they couldn''t anymore. In his dream, there was no human to tell them what to do. There was no human to hurt them, and there would be no human making them hurt each other so they could watch and laugh at the side. It must''ve been Goblin Eden, he thought. After this dream, he woke up feeling wonderfully comfortable. He belatedly realized he had really been asleep, and the fact that it was just a dream made him want to cry. But he gathered himself somehow, absorbing that he was sleeping somewhere comfortable. He had never been in such a soft bed before. He opened his eyes and saw lines and lines of such bed with a lot of acquaintances. Some were with him, and others he didn''t think he''d see again! They were both watching him as he eased awake and chuckled when his eyes widened like saucers as he saw them. He flinched and gasped at his sudden movement, but he quickly forgot about it at the sight of old friends. "Iko? Yut?!" he yelled, also looking around to see a handful of other goblins on their beds! "You¡­ where¡­. I thought you were¡­ wuuuu¡ª" They wanted to chuckle at his silly face, but they found tears in their eyes instead. They looked weird crying as they laughed. To be honest, when they woke up, they looked even sillier than Hoku. When they drowned, swept away by the strong flood, they really didn''t think they''d open their eyes again. The others were placed in another room, but the kind nurse said they were fine. Goblins had special senses and they knew the nurse was being sincere. His eyes were full of kindness and pity, and to be honest they still didn''t understand it until now. Anyway, the goblins sobbed for a while before they stopped, hiccuping after crying so much. "Where¡­ are we?" Hoku asked, sniffed, and hiccuped. "Are we really not dead?" "No," one said. "We''re very much alive." He felt complicated after confirming if he really wasn''t in Goblin Heaven. (This heavenly bed certainly felt out of this world though, he thought.) "They saved us and healed us," Iko said, looking around. "Everyone in this room¡­ were slaves." Yut nodded, wiping his snot, eyes wide as if convincing him it was the truth. "They''re healing us¡­ they''re healing slaves¡­" He then looked down, appearing shy. "I¡­ I don''t mind becoming a slave here," he said, voice low as if afraid to be judged, but the other two didn''t deny anything. Beside them, Pency, a human slave, stared at the ceiling. He was in the same vanguard unit as Hoku. Like him, he didn''t think he''d get out of that war alive¡ªmuch like the rest of his fellow villagers who had been slaves with him. They, too, were assigned as vanguards and they were always the first to die in the war. He was a little dazed as he listened to the conversations next to him, having difficulty absorbing anything with his muddled head. So¡­ alive. He could feel both arms and legs, too. And such a soft bed and clean atmosphere¡ªit wasn''t something he could have imagined. Even he before becoming a slave hadn''t slept so well. The slaves soon settled down on their beds, relaxing, and maximizing their time there. They didn''t know when they''d be in such peace again, after all. Furthermore, they were now comfortable and light, as if their injured bodies and old wounds were healing. Was it their imagination? Were they feeling so nice that they also imagined something else was happening to their bodies? The slaves honestly didn''t know what to expect and they spent time just in deep thought. It was interrupted when the door opened, revealing a regal woman advanced in age. They flinched, instinctively knowing this was a woman with power. "Hello," the old woman, smiling at them. "My name is Mathilda, I am one of the elders of Alterra." They immediately sat up, gesturing to stand. "No need, stay in your beds," she said. "You can stay until you''ve recovered a bit more." They gaped at her and her gentle words, unsure whether she was being honest or if she was testing them. Of course, the goblins who could sense emotions had an idea, but their minds still lingered in the negative scenarios. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were afraid of becoming too hopeful. Their current states was already worrying. They didn''t dare wish for more. Mathilda didn''t mind their reactions and retained her smile. "As you can see, Alterra is a very good place that is sought after by many. "It can use a lot more loyal citizens in its midst," she paused, looking at them with deep eyes, making them feel as if she was staring straight at them. "Would you like to join us?" Chapter 766 - 766: Not Over Yet At this time, Ansel and Winona were looking at each other, glaring. They stood at an alley somewhere after ensuring that the designated people fixing and arranging the aftermath were already at work. "I thought you told me to leave you alone? What are you doing stalking me?" Winona asked, giving Ansel a bad look. "And stop looking at my hair!" Ansel''s jaw tensed as he looked at her face, trying to pull his green eyes away from her hair as ordered (though to no avail, which irked her even more). Instead of saying something that made sense though, he let his guilt cloud his brain. "Look, just accept my apology and gratitude already so we can get this over with!" He said this like a spoiled brat who made Winona roll her eyes. "FINE! I forgive you! Now, go!" "What?" Ansel furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at her. "Not enough!" Winona now looked confused. "What the heck are you on about this time?" Ansel was also a bit confused as to why he was acting this way. If he felt bad about her hair, he should just apologize and compensate her somehow! Then he could leave her alone and do his job! What was he doing acting like such a brat for?! Then his sister''s words rang in his ears. ''You two are bound to end up together.'' Ansel cringed. Nononono! NO! Winona had no idea what was going on in his head. She just looked at him like he was a crazy person and gestured to walk away. Ansel snapped out of it and held her arm. She frowned and turned to him, ready to nag, but when she met his green eyes, it showed uncharacteristic seriousness and the words died in her throat before they could be uttered. Her heart skipped a bit and her mouth dried for some reason. Probably from annoyance, she thought. But before the atmosphere between them could form into something concrete, a loud sound caught them both by surprise. BANG! They turned to look at the source of the sound, which was followed by a vertical trail of colored smoke, catching people''s attention. "A rescue flare?" Ansel said, immediately distracted. It was even a blue one. Each member of the guard team had a rescue flare. It was a product of Winona''s team. This one had no need for gunpowder and could be created with the materials they already had available. The flare could be made with potassium nitrate (which they had a lot of, considering their fertilizers and saltpeter), sugar, and cardboard tubes. The only one they needed to find alternatives to was Aluminum, but they found Zinc in Limestone Valley so it was good enough. The challenge was that it required higher temperature, but the advantage was that it had longer visibility. With their current materials, three colors of flames could be made: Blue with copper, Yellow or Orange with sodium, and Violet with potassium. Every guard received a yellow or orange flare, captains would have violet, and the elders would get blue ones. Similarly, the Guards who were assigned to guard the elders and their families also received blue ones during their tasks. To save on manpower, all the families were gathered into one place, which was the Gaea Villa. A blue one, in that direction¡ª They gasped at a realization, immediately rushing towards it and forgetting everything they had been arguing about. THE BABIES! ... Gaea Villa, an hour prior. Heso and the remainder of his team camped near the villa area, taking advantage of the dense foliage to hide themselves. Even when the fight was at its height in front, they didn''t join, because not long after the war started, they received instructions from the lord: S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. /Make sure to hit them where it hurts/ As for why Baltimore didn''t use this as a threat, it was because he knew attracting Garan back inside would just ensure the favor was tilted on Alterra''s side. They couldn''t attack but they could defend. None of his people below the level cap would be able to get past Garan''s ice walls. Even he could barely handle them. Anyway, after leaving their hiding spot, they had to go through various adventures and sentry attacks. It was not easy to get through to go where they had to be in the Farm Villa area. Although there were minimal guards around and the sentries were not that dense inside the territory, there were still a lot of citizens on watch! Everyone was mobilized in Alterra. Basically, if they weren''t working in a factory or weren''t guards, they were still guarding all parts of the territory from the safety of their homes, ready to go out with their weapons (or shoot from their balconies or windows with bows and arrows). This wasn''t a formal order, but there were contribution points attached to the capture or the killing of enemies. At some point, they were showered with bows and arrows and the only reason they survived was because their levels were much higher than the shooters. Still, it alerted the guards who soon hunted them down! Although the Alterran levels were lower, their organization was something else, let alone there were a few elementalists among them! Things got worse when the half-orc joined in. They had to leave four people behind just to deal with him! Fortunately, it rained so their scents were washed away, and the damned half-orc didn''t follow them anymore. Many times they wanted to just abandon the mission. But they knew the lord was a vindictive man. If they didn''t even do this, they could get hunted down! Anyway, by the time they reached the vicinity of the villas, only the level 15 Heso was left with five other members, all of whom were above level 10, and most of whom with some degree of injury. Eyes filled with deep anger, they all glared at the house just beyond the scope of another damned sentry. They would hurt these people so much!! Chapter 767 - 767: Babies in Trouble (Part 1) At the time, the Elders'' families were gathered together for easy protection. There were the children Maya, Horus, Theo, and the twins. Babysitting them were the two old women from next door, Lola and Yana. The other elders didn''t have minors, so it was just them. They were guarded by a level 10 and two level 9 guards, as well as the sentry that covered their side of the farm villas. They were hanging around in the living room, making sure that none of the kids went out. The rules were still void and they were asked not to leave until the announcement of the war''s end was sent out. For the past day, it had been nothing but peaceful, fortunately. The school-going kids mostly studied for school. They were assigned a lot of homework by the teacher, aiming to distract the kids during the dangerous times. At this time, the kids were at a corner table, and all that could be heard in their area was the sound of scribbles and little murmurs. Horus struggled a bit because he didn''t get proper schooling, but fortunately, Maya had been very diligent and helped him out a lot. "Nono, you gotta put this number below this line, that''s the one you''re dividing," she told him, "Imagine 100 gouji berries in front of us, but we have to share it with 11 other people¡­" Anyway, it was a cute image. On the other hand, the three babies either played or slept. Right now, it was the former. "Widdle Pepah, nho eading that¡­" Theo mumbled adorably, taking away a toy from Pepper''s mouth, replacing it with a newly cleaned teether. His plump cheek looked plumper as he spoke and watched, acting like a good big brother. Little Pepper pouted when he took it, but smiled when the new teether was placed in her hands. "Mwammnggamm¡­" she mumbled, happily eating the new toy. Her obedience made baby Theo smile, and he patted her little head with his tiny hands. Meanwhile, the other baby boy was rolling around, trying to test his flexibility by eating his own feet. The two old women: "..." This peaceful time lasted a while more until a loud scuffle exploded outside. "RUN!" They heard a yell, and they all flinched, finding the voice familiar. They knew it was the guard, asking them to hide. The old women sprung into action, and so did the bigger kids. Maya and Horus took a baby each, while Yana carried Theo. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The entire time the scuffle outside was loud, and they knew an all-out fight was happening in the front yard. "GAH!" a loud yell, followed by cursing. "Damned sentry! There''s only five of us now¡ªI''ll handle this, go find them!!" Hearing the scuffles heading nearer to where they were, the group hurriedly ran and headed deeper into the villa, opening the cellar compartment. BANG!! A loud noise of a big man getting thrown inside reached them, making them flinch. "BASTARDS! Where are they?!" they heard a panting yell, just before the door completely closed, and¡ªdue to the superior insulation within the house¡ªthey didn''t hear anything anymore. The women wrapped their protective arms around the kids, guardedly watching the only way inside. Tense minutes of silence passed and the women shakily held the kids, who were looking at them with such trust in their eyes. They were warm and soft, and the old women patted them as if in comfort. Whether it was to the children or to themselves, it wasn''t quite clear anymore. The women''s eyes pooled a bit, and their resolve to fight strengthened even more. It didn''t take long for the door to open, revealing a bloodied man with a manic expression on his face. Cellars weren''t a new thing in Xeno, after all, and when all the other rooms were empty, he started looking underground. They shook but did their best to keep their cool. They watched as the bastard went down, facing them, eyes expressing the hostility they had for them. They''d definitely torture them when they get their hands on any of them! "Run when I say so," Lola said and they didn''t have time to ask as Lola revealed a ball from her space, jumping and making a volleyball spike. BANG! "RUN!!" Yana held the kids and made a run for it, while the ball hit the man straight on the face. If they were of the same level, this would have caused damage. Unfortunately, she was against a man twice her level so she did not even make a scratch. Annoyed by the audacity of the old woman, Heso raised his hand, slashing over at Lola who helplessly got thrown down. The force made her lose consciousness, but the light of protection prevented her from getting hurt any more. The man ran upstairs to get the others, only to hear another bang, followed by dense smoke exploding upwards. "Damn what''s that smoke?!" Heso yelled, gritting his teeth. How many lives did those damned guards have?! "They''re all wearing some tools!" Heso gritted his teeth, looking at the two guards who had been dealing with them until now. They seemed disoriented, but very much alive even after the barrage of attacks they threw. However, tha tool their lord lent them, one that would block the sounds from the area, was useful that no one outside heard of the noise in the villa area. "Don''t let them go!" he yelled, pointing at the old woman and kids who were running towards the gates. The four surviving Guians with him immediately went to block, but the three Alterran guards stood up again and lunged towards them, using their bodies to block their way. "They''re still alive?!" "What in the orcshit?!" However, the Guians were more in quantity and managed to block the way. The old woman yelled, but no one came. She did not realize the sounds outside had been blocked by them, and the Guians just laughed at her in amusement. However, it could not block projectiles heading up. Heso looked up and saw the blue smoke. Three level 10 or 9 guards were naturally no match for the five of them, who had a level 15, but as soon as they let down their guards¡­ they let out a smoke that was dense and flew up high¡ªpossibly visible from all parts of the Village. It was definitely a signal. Chapter 768 - 768: Babies in Trouble (Part 2) Heso cursed, but he immediately sprung into action. With all his strength, he kicked all three disoriented guards, and they all fell¡ªbut still within the scope of the sound blocker. BANG! BANG! BANG! He saw them cough out blood and two even lost consciousness, and knew that the tools that had been protecting them for so long had finally given way. Anyway, he immediately appeared next to the old woman, eyes dripping with maliciousness. "Not so fast, old hag," he said, grabbing her hair and pulling it back. The woman screamed, but rather than due to the pain¡ªthe token only activated when serious damage was to be done¡ªshe screamed because she saw the man''s hands were heading to the crying babies. "NO! STOP IT!" she yelled, hugging the children closer to her, which made them cry louder and the man to tug even harder. "STOP IT! UGLY MAN!" Maya yelled while the boys tried to grab his pants, punching him with their small hands. Heso knew he didn''t have the time to play and he slapped the little children, making them fly in different directions of the villa. The only reason they were alive was definitely due to the tokens, all of which had received significant damage due to the massive strength differences. Heso grabbed the buns with his large hand, without any attempt to be gentle at all. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The babies cried loudly¡ªto the top of their little lungs¡ªand anyone with a heart would be heartbroken. Unfortunately, the only conscious men there didn''t have such a thing. "Mwamawmmmaaaaa!" "Googmmmwwwaaaa!" Before Heso and the Guians could have a sense of satisfaction though, his instincts flared and he threw the two babies to his companions. "There''s another exit at the back! Run there! NOW!" The two sprinted in a direction, and just in time, the guards had arrived due to the smoke. Garan arrived to see the house in chaos. It was stil standing, but the lovely gardens had been desecrated and the people in his team were all unconscious, unknown whether they were alive. The other soldiers, guards, and citizens who arrived went to them first, not caring whether the enemies were nearby, while Garan''s eyes were sharp, and immediately searching the vicinity for his twins. At this time, he was using all his willpower to keep a working mind, to stop panic from overtaking him. He didn''t see his children at all, and the entire area turned cold, encasing the three remaining Guians in ice. "WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN?!" ¡­ The other side of the gate naturally had guards and citizens coming in due to the smoke, and the two fought their way through them, kicking and slashing without holding back. The men holding Pepper and Meatball were separated by the chaos, running in different directions without care anymore. With this baby, the lord would reward them a lot, each mused. They could even sell them back for an exuberant amount! They were determined to bleed these elders! These were the wishful thoughts that occupied their minds, not caring for the angry sobbing uncomfortable babies in their arms. Meatball crawled on his head, annoying him. "Googhrmmmha!!" the baby cried, patting him. "SHUT UP!" he yelled, kicking a few more low-level citizens who came to block his way. "Guugmmwa!" The baby babbled angrily, slapping his face with his little hand, covering his face. "You brat¡ª" Annoyed, he was about to grab the back of his onesie and maybe hit him on the wall to make him lose consciousness when, unexpectedly, the baby crawled on his head. He cursed, but was unable to utter anything when he suddenly it felt like a huge boulder fell on him. BANG!! "OOF!" he screamed as the back of his head hit the floor below him, his body bending at an awkward angle, the cracking of his spine heard through the entire street. The pitiful image of the bent man was what the guards and citizens who came running after him saw, unsure of what happened. "Alphonse!" Garan yelled, appearing next to them and taking him into his arms. He was shaking, but he had no time to let the emotions run wild at this time, rushing in another direction. His daughter was still missing! ¡­ On another street was Baby Pepper, who was seen by many and tried to rescue. However the man was sly and used the baby as a shield (there was even an arrow that hit her, but was fortunately protected by the charm). Since then, no one dared to throw attacks anymore and they just did their best to follow. They did their best to be ready to rescue as soon as an opening appeared, with the others reporting their location to the nearest guards. But this man was level 13 and he sprinted around incredibly quickly, and he soon escaped the sights of the citizens. Unexpectedly, the baby disappeared from his hand. "Where did¡ª what are you¡ª hey come back here!" Little Pepper stared and began to crawl to the opposite direction. He immediately went to her and held her up by the feet, only to realize she was holding something in her hand. "What are you holding¡­" he asked, eyebrows furrowed, and she placed the pellet in his mouth and laughed. Ansel ¡ªwho had also sprinted and followed instructions of the witnesses¡ªhappened to have seen this scene. He was luckily nearby where the commotion was happening. When he recognized what she was holding, he gasped and lunged over. "OH SHI¡ª PEPPER!" BOOM! [Learned! Fire Absorb (D): Absorb 80 Dragonbreath of fire and explosive forces. CD: 10 minutes. - 20 Mana] Holding Pepper tightly in his arms, the bomb exploded inside the man''s body, his innards spraying all over the place. Ansel''s final protection charm had also broken to pieces, but it broke when the explosion hadn''t entirely settled yet, so his back was burned. He fell on the floor, keeping his arms on the side so he didn''t squish the baby girl. Looking at her uncle rather than the strange ugly man made Pepper laugh, showing off those growing little teeth of hers. Seeing her fine, Ansel''s shoulder slumped in relief, but internally he was holding on consciousness. "Ansel!? Are you alright?!" A yell came above him. Ah, it was Winona, he mused with a smile. Seeing her here, his body relaxed and his body fell to the side, his vision slowly turning black. [Congratulations. Your Village, Alterra Village (Lv3) won against Guia Village (Lv3)!] That the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness. Chapter 769 - 769: Fall of Vismont (Part 1) While Alterra''s war had ended, Vismont''s was also at its end¡­ it was just that victory didn''t lean their way. Matthew swung his sword, swiping at an enemy or two, but they shot back at him with equal fervor, injuring him. He was filled with grime and blood, stabbing those who had been trying to get inside the walls¡ªand to be honest, it felt endless. They were swarming in like fire ants. "KILL!" he ordered, slashing continuously even when his arms felt like it was about to give way. For the next half an hour, he and the remaining guards tried to kill the enemies coming in, but there were too many. He knew war would come to them eventually, but it was hard to believe they were losing so badly. They were currently going against Shrao Village, a territory from the West. These people fought like they had nothing to lose. On the other hand, Matthew and the others had everything to lose. Unfortunately, that last enemy did land inside their walls, indicating the technical end of the war. [Your Village, Vismont Village (Lv3) has been defeated by Shrao Village (Lv3).] Matthew felt his head was ringing, his pupils constricted as he watched the enemies celebrate in front of him. "We won, we won!" The enemies cried, outright sobbing. In contrast, many of the locals froze, a lot of them seeing the slavery announcements in front of them. The enemy lord¡ªShiro¡ªsmiled widely as he looked at his people. "WE WON!" he repeated. "Go get our people!" "Yes sir!" they yelled, many heading back to the arrays. Although Shrao had already won, the arrays were still open for the entire maximum duration of the war. He then looked at the rest of the team. "Don''t be complacent! The rules are still null!" "Yes, milord!" Matthew''s eyebrows narrowed. Why are they staying? Normally, once a territory had won, they would leave with their winnings. According to the aborigine hires, most attackers should be going out as soon as they won lest they risked a lot more deaths, especially since it was very rare for the lord to be on the front line himself, so people didn''t usually spend their remaining strength looking for the token. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Looking at this situation, he felt even more unsettled, and he looked around, looking for an escape route. However, he realized there were enemies everywhere and he was left wondering if he could get out of this situation that just kept worsening as time went on. He looked at his people who were all gravely injured, and then at the enemy forces who were even more bloodied due to the sentries. Their average strength was at level 9 or 10, which was superior to them but not by too much, considering that this was their home ground. The main reason why Vismont lost was because these people pushed through, regardless of their injuries. Their tenacity was¡­ insane. He looked at the lord who led people like this. It was a handsome man with ash-blonde hair, not much older than he was in appearance. He was just within the level cap as well. He was a rare aborigine lord who led the attack himself, igniting fire under his people, and making sure they kept fighting, all while leading by example. In other circumstances, Matthew might have admired this man. Sadly, he was the one losing. Matthew raised his sword, "You already won! You''re going to get so much of our people and resources already, leave!" The enemy lord tapped his spear to the ground, "No. We''re taking over this place," he said with sternness, confirming Matthew''s fears. Their eyes met, and Matthew was met with sharp eyes who would absolutely not allow for refusal. "I want ''it''." Lords, generally, don''t openly announce the tokens get detached for their own safety, not unless they had absolute confidence in their own power. Matthew understood and didn''t say anything else. He simply looked at the man beside their lord. He was around in his early thirties and had a devilish aura around him. He recognized him as Cain. "You¡­ aren''t you Terran? How dare you bring enemies here?" Cain smirked, making the scar that covered half his face look even more menacing. "You remember I''m a brethren when you kicked me out the territory!" "You killed many women!" Matthew retorted. How dare he act like a victim?! The enemy lord didn''t seem to care about their drama, crossing his arms. "We don''t have that much time, give it." Matthew didn''t move, and it made Cain sneer. "What? Is your sister just a cover? You just don''t want to let go of power after all?" Matthew frowned. Obviously, he was reluctant because he couldn''t trust them right? Who would trust people who''d ally with a man like Cain? Let alone it was a territory that had attacked theirs! However, it reminded him that this time there was no sister to protect. She was safe and sound elsewhere. She even found a man who would protect her. This gave him a sense of relief¡ªthe only thing that made him feel better after all these. Impatient, Shiro crossed his arms. "Slaves," he said. "Come here." There were gasps all around, including Matthew''s. "What are you doing?" Shiro ignored him and continued his commands. People cried as they watched several of their friends walk without their own control. Some tried to stop them, but they were pushed aside by the slaves, suddenly becoming a bit more powerful than before. At this time, Shiro raised his slave and pointed in a random direction in front of him. "Do you want to see them skewer themselves?" Matthew''s heart dropped, and his eyes widened when one of the slaves was less than a meter away from the sharp edge. "STOP!" he yelled, and fortunately Shiro did stop the slaves from going forward. Matthew heaved a deep breath, "Only if you promise not to hurt anyone else." At this, he found the sharp end of a spear pointed at his neck. "You talk as if we can''t force it out of you." Chapter 770 - 770: Fall of Vismont (Part 2) "You talk as if we can''t force it out of you," Shiro said, turning to his men. "Tap him." Immediately, several guards surrounded Matthew and patted him down, looking for the token. It was humiliating and, by the end, he was practically half-naked. "It''s not here," Fos, one of the Shiro''s right-hand men, said. He was tall and had afro hair, ponytailed at the back of his head. Shiro frowned, narrowing his eyes at Matthew. "Where is it?" Matthew frowned, and he did not speak. Logically, he knew he was just delaying the inevitable, but how could he bear just say it so directly? How could he not be reluctant? Besides, he couldn''t help but hold on to the hope that a miracle would happen. Perhaps, even if they weren''t rescued, time would pass by without them knowing. By then, the token would''ve reintegrated into someone. Shiro gritted his teeth, growing impatient. He also knew time was running out and he waved his spear again, about to slash on the nearest slave. "My house," Matthew spat out. "It''s in my house." "You better not be fooling us," he said, "Otherwise we will destroy everything on the way there. What do you say?" This naturally irked the people around. It wasn''t like they got crushed! They only got beat because they managed to get the majority inside! It just so happened that these bastards barged in so desperately like maniacs! They could still kill these people, including the lord! What would happen then? Would the war be reversed? The enemy lord seemed to have sensed the vindictiveness around him and smirked. "Look behind me," he said, and the several people did so. Their eyes widened as they saw that the gate was open and more and more people were entering their territory. Other than the attackers, hundreds more people came in. They were unsightly but not as bad as the refugees they had seen. There were all shapes and sizes now, with women and old people. At this, Matthew understood. These people were refugees looking for a new home. The capable fighters finished the war, and then pulled out the rest of their population from their array. Judging by the large crowd that looked to be in the thousands, it made Matthew think. Are they planning on migrating here? "I¡­ we can take you as normal citizens," Matthew immediately said. "I can waive the registration fee for all your people¡ª" "You think we''re going to trust anyone over our heads?" Shiro asked and Matthew''s lips formed a thin line. He knew the answer: No one would. Shiro looked around. "Anyone who submits to us will be left alive and treated like a normal citizen!" he said. "That is my promise." Just like this, most people quieted down. Matthew sighed in defeat, and soon he dragged his feet towards his home, stomach heavy in reluctance. Fos grabbed Matthew''s arm and pulled him to his house. At the side, some people looked down, not wanting to see what was next, while others were stopped from interfering. One of these people was Yao, who sobbed and yelled. He was patted by the aborigine Koli, who Chris saved back then. "Stop it," he said. "This is the best way for you to survive." He said this with goodwill. After all, he had seen many wars, all of which were harsher than this. The small group arrived outside his home and Matthew took the token hidden underneath a floorboard. Before handing it over, he closed his eyes, sending a message to everyone before handing it over. [This is your lord, Matthew White. Today, I would like to thank those who did their best to protect our home.] He said so sincerely. He also wanted to curse those who caused chaos, looted, and even killed during the wars. So many of his own citizens did this. They didn''t even have to cooperate with the enemy to cause trouble. [Today will be my final day in this position. I hope you all live well.] He then handed the token over, and another powdery text appeared on his screen. It was asking if he wanted to give ownership, and with a broken heart, he chose ''Yes''. [You have relinquished your ownership of the Lord Token] Shiro nodded and looked at the token in his hand with bright eyes. He turned around, ready to leave him be. However, Cain stepped forward in his path, looking at him with bright eyes. "Can I have him?" "Suit yourself," was all Shiro said before striding out the door and to his new land. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ Inside the house, there were only two people left. Cain''s eyes sharpened as he looked and Matthew immediately stepped back, holding up his weapon guardedly. "Are you really siding with aborigines?!" "I only ever sided with myself," he said, "But you really annoyed me when you kicked me out." He touched his scar. "How many times I almost died, I couldn''t count," he said. His voice was calm, but his tone was venomous. "How many times I had to drag myself with only willpower to get through this world¡ªheh." Cain''s eyes turned red in anger, and he immediately lunged to attack without warning. Clack! Slash! Cain''s attacks were relentless and venting and he did not care how many items he hit in the process. Matthew took his attacks, sending some of his own. Using his earth ability, he took some soil he stocked in his space, throwing them at the other man. Cain''s eyes stung and he yelled, he screamed when Matthew''s sword managed to slice part of his arm, staying embedded there. Cain gritted his teeth and held onto Matthew''s weapon¡ªa Class D weapon Matthew bought from Alterra. Matthew gritted his teeth and tried to pull it out, but his eyes widened as the weapon slowly turned red, originating from where Cain held on to it. Rust. Unexpectedly, Cain had awakened! He didn''t show it before! This moment of distraction was enough for Cain, who immediately moved his weapon towards his enemy. Matthew gasped as he looked down, seeing the blade had stabbed him through the heart. One didn''t feel pain like this immediately as it happened. At this time, the body was still in shock. He started to feel it when his legs gave way and he found himself on the ground, swimming in his own blood. Matthew gasped as he felt life pass through him, and the sight of his pale face made Cain''s eyes dilute in pleasure. "Goodbye," he said, raising his weapon to finally finish him off. And that was the end of Vismont Village. Chapter 771 - 771: Aftermaths (Part 1) Alterra Village. [Your subsidiary village Vismont Village (Lv3) has been taken over by Shrao Village (Lv3).] The announcement rang inside Althea''s head, causing her feet to pause. "Miss Althea?" Luis asked, concerned. The others also did as well. She shook her head and waved her hand. "Go ahead." They weren''t able to discuss anymore as soon as the gates opened. They were expecting celebrations¡ªnot at their arrival, but overall. This would definitely have been the case, except for a few accidents that happened just before it ended. They frowned when they saw that everyone was looking at them seriously. Winona appeared, panting heavily as if she had just run a marathon. "Althea" She yelled, coming to hug her, greeting her with red eyes. This naturally made Althea very worried. "What''s wrong?" she asked, patting the woman''s back. "First of all. Everything is okay," she said, and somehow the serious atmosphere lessened. "What happened?" "Calm down and come to the hospital with me," she said, practically dragging Althea. The others who were with her were fortunately brought into the loop by people nearby, and many of them also headed to the hospital to see some teammates. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What''s going on?" Althea asked as she followed Winona, her pace following hers. "Don''t panic," Winona said. "Just say it already!" "Well, some people tried to kidnap your children. Ansel, Garan, and the others saved them." "WHAT? Are they alright?" Althea exclaimed, her steps immediately hastening to the point that she was already running. "Yeah, they''re unharmed," Winona said as she struggled to follow her pace. "And Ansel?" Winona sneered, but her eyes were a little red at the memory. "In one piece, unfortunately." Winona sniffed and wiped her tears as subtly as she could. She then told her of what happened just before the war ended. "The enemies were incredibly sly. They even used a magic weapon to make sure they were not interrupted. "Obviously, they stayed with the intent of targeting key people." "The old women were lucky and weren''t too hurt, managing to defend themselves. The guards are okay too, though they''re still in the wards. For the most part, it''s credited to your protection charms that they have all their limbs after being beaten up so much. "The trespassers were caught by Garan and were now being apprehended. He''s probably with the babies right now though¡ªhe refused to place them out of his sight again." "As for Ansel¡­ he got injured because¡­ of a bomb which was somehow there." She couldn''t even think of where the bomb came from for now¡ªher ears were just ringing to know someone extended their hands to her children! She couldn''t imagine what would have happened if the bomb exploded with the babies nearby! She arrived at the hospital with a nervous heart¡ªno matter how many times Winona reassured them they''re all fine¡ªand immediately went to one of the private wards. The elevator¡ªpowered by the hydraulics and pulleys¡ªstopped at the third floor. She was guided to the farthest room at the right. The moment she entered the door though, she could hear the familiar smug voice of her brother. "Winona! You''re finally here? You didn''t forget my fruits did you?" Winona groaned and her shoulders immediately softened. She was relieved to see him awake and already joking. "So, he finally owned it huh?" she couldn''t help but say, giving Winona a look. The blonde looked annoyed, "More like he found a slave!" Ansel heard their voices and brightened, waving at them with his head when they arrived (because his arms and back were injured). "Althea!" he yelled but Garan¡ªwho had sensed his wife''s arrival¡ªimmediately came to greet her. Ansel-looking-for-attention: "..." Anyway, the babies'' eyes sparkled at the sight of their mother, immediately extending their little hands. "Mwamwahaaa!" "Gugmawama¡­" Amusingly, Little Theo was also there, hugging Pepper protectively. His wide eyes were a little red¡ªno doubt from crying¡ªand he looked like an adorable little guard. She finally let go of the breath she had been holding, though she couldn''t help but look at her husband, who was surprisingly chill about Theo''s attachment to his daughter. Sensing his wife''s look, his jaw tightened. He did not like this at all, but the babies were comfortable with their friends and he, feeling guilty that the breach happened in the first place, adjusted accordingly. Althea was just happy her babies were completely unharmed, extending her arms so she could hug them. Lola was there as well. It looked like they were confined but didn''t want to be apart from the babies so their teams chose a semi-private ward where Ansel, the old women, and the babies could stay together. As they settled, she continued to ask Ansel for the details about what happened. The old women also heard the tale for the nth time, and they just kept feeling guilty. "We''re so sorry Miss Althea." Lola said, "If we were a bit stronger." "No, it''s not your fault," Althea immediately said, holding the woman''s hand. "It''s ours for being complacent. Let''s just be thankful everyone''s alright." Garan looked down, his fist clenched. This was his fault¡ªhis oversight. What was the use in making the rest of the territory strong, when his own house ended up being vulnerable? "Where did the bomb come from, anyway?" Winona asked Ansel. She was so worried before so she wasn''t able to ask him the question. "How would I know?" Everyone was confused and puzzled. Althea pursed her lips, also confused. She tried to look back, to trace her steps, to determine if there were clues. She then remembered that time in the lab where Pepper suddenly appeared in her lab. Her heart turned cold when she thought of the bomb exploding. Basing on what they told her, they just got lucky this time. She hugged her daughter, her heart wanting to feel her warmth. The baby was unaware of the turmoil she created and just laughed. Suddenly, Meatball was the well-behaved one. Althea couldn''t help but smile a bit, gently poking the baby''s nose. "Oh, dear baby¡­" she said, tone mixed of fondness and exasperation. "What do we do with you?" Chapter 772 - 772: Aftermaths (Part 2) Small talk abounded for a while, and soon they got a few more guests. There was Oslo and a few others, bringing some paper bags with them. "We brought some food." "As expected of my brother!" Ansel said with a smile. He then looked at Winona, "Are you not ashamed?" "Then go date him!" "Are you jealous?" "SHUT UP!" She yelled, blushing. In fact, when he fell unconscious, Ansel heard Winona cry pitifully for him. Carrying the baby in her arms, she sobbed the whole way while he was brought to the hospital. He could hear her shaky voice asking how he was, if he was going to be alright, and the like. At the time, he thought, he couldn''t die. If he did, what would this woman do? Anyway, it broke the last bit of the paper wall between them and he just couldn''t stop himself from teasing her now. Not that Winona appreciated it, of course! "Where are the others?" Althea asked, looking around. In retrospect, all their team members were there except for Eugene and Sheila. "Melissa fainted and hadn''t woken up." "Sheila¡­ she''s in another room," Winona said. "She''s with Eagle." After settling the babies, the couple then went to visit the other teammates. They saw Luis and the others awkwardly standing outside though. Eagle''s arm¡­ unfortunately couldn''t get reattached in the end. Due to the healing potions and the natural improved regeneration of the body in Xeno, the window for reattachment was greatly narrowed down. Combined with the low-technology that they had, even Volohov wasn''t able to save Eagle''s arm. Still, Sheila couldn''t help but keep trying, and she tried to use her ability on him, using as many cookies as she still had in her space to recover her mana. As she did so, she was crying while Eagle was just watching her fondly as if it wasn''t his arm that was lost. Sheila continued to sob, trying to heal him, and the heartbroken Eagle couldn''t help but stop her (for the nth time since she started trying). "Silly Sheila, even if you spend all your mana everyday it won''t grow back." Sheila broke into sobs, and Eagle looked genuinely lost. It was here that Althea and the others decided to save him and knock on the door, making the two flinch. They pretended not to see the red eyes and greeted them as normal as possible. Sadly for Sheila, she was unable to hold back and hugged Althea as she broke into sobs. "Altheaaaa wuuuu¡ª" Althea gave a reassuring smiled and patted her back. "This place is so magical," she told her, "Who knows what will happen in the future?" "Wuu¡­" Eagle heaved a deep breath, his eyes not leaving Sheila''s back for a while before turning to Garan and then his teammates, giving them awkward smiles. "Hello Captain, everyone." "How are you?" Garan asked. "Alive and well, thank you." "I apologize. If I finished Baltimore faster¡ª" "It''s not your fault, captain. I got careless," he said. Baltimore wasn''t the Lord of the most powerful village for nothing. The Captain already did incredibly well. As Sheila sobbed in her arms, Althea watched the men''s interaction as well. Her heart felt heavy. Eagle was a very good soldier, and losing his good arm was a huge hit on him. It was such a pity his potention was cut so abruptly. He was also her close friend''s man and also hers. She naturally felt sad he was hurt like this. Oslo said he could get the potion but it was in Bluelle, so she wasn''t just reassuring Sheila when she said the future was uncertain. Fortunately, regardless of what happened, Eagle seemed to be taking it all in a stride. "It''s fine. I have my other arm. Eugene can do without two legs, why can''t I?" ¡­ Now that the war was officially over, the Guians were led to the Village Center to register, with the ones who weren''t ambulatory yet brought with what was called a wheel chair. The contraption alone amazed the aborigines¡ªslaves, local, or guests¡ªprimarily because of its functions of transporting people who couldn''t move themselves. In fact, even bothering to do so was novel. Generally, these people would be relegated as waste and wouldn''t be allowed to get much resources, let alone something so special. But here it seemed to be taken for granted, as if their lives weren''t useless even if an appendage or two was. The territory was already peaceful, and there were few things to clean up and arrange after the war¡ªand also due to the fact that almost everyone went to help. At this point, people were already going around, some already setting up mobile stalls, and many ready to go out and hunt again. There were even children playing already, whether it was playing tag or just climbing up a random tree to get their share of fruits that day. Anyway, because there were so many people, their procession inevitably got the attention of this crowd. They walked along the ''pedestrian street'', keeping the wider road clear. It was wide, but there were hundreds of them, let alone the crowd that parted to give way to them, standing right at the side of the road, watching their movements very closely. They felt shy at the attention their procession was getting, but it was very different from the type of looks they usually got. For example, when many of them were led along Guia''s streets as new slaves, they would get derisive looks, while the women would get disgusting lustful ones. Here, they were looking at curiosity, and a vague sense of¡­ welcome? No, right? S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Perhaps this territory just really lacked slaves and were showing some gratitude? Then they remembered Elder Mathilda''s words, welcoming them as citizens who had the right to buy their own freedom. At the time, they were cynical, not daring to hope too much. What if it was just a cruel way to crush their hurts? But seeing as how they were looked at by the common citizens, and even by the children, was indicative of the place''s overall attitude towards them. Could they¡­ really allow themselves to fall into hope? Chapter 773 - 773: Walk to Register There were also people who were forward thinkers and already musing about how slave life would be in a place like this. The more they thought about it¡­ the more reassured they were. Based on what they had seen so far, serving a place like this was infinitely better than what they had experienced. One of the slaves was Pency, who was just happy to get out of Guia. Besides, he had seen how clean Alterra was. Even if his job was the same, it would be much better. Actually, looking around, he could just walk around the streets all day long, and it''d be an honor to be part of maintaining this place. He also wondered if¡­ he could be a part of it. Part of that camaraderie, that happiness¡­ What a nice dream. Other slaves were also hopeful. They didn''t really know what to expect and how big the differences were¡ªthey didn''t even know why would they have to go to the Village Center¡ªbut their apprehension transformed into curiosity the deeper into the territory they got. Still, most of the humans were still a bit confused and they looked awkward. Most of them looked down and avoided the eyes of the locals, just sneaking glances here and there of the sights and the people. If the humans felt shy, the goblins were huddling together, shaking a bit, but otherwise couldn''t help but look around in curiosity as well. This was especially true for goblins like them who were used to being kicked and spat on whenever they were in a group of humans. They had sensed no hostility at all and that alone made them feel disoriented. Somewhere along the way they saw something odd, a tall person with odd ears and tails went past the crowd. From their perspective, he was lunging at them. A half-orc?! They shivered. A goblin also peed his cloth. But then they realized he had already stopped and just stood as an audience at a distance from them like everyone else. There were many little human cubs surrounding him. They also belatedly realized that he was not rushing to them, he was simply heading closer so the kids could see! "Gochi! Gochi! Let me see better!" they could hear little voices, happily taking the orc''s attention. He was already carrying a little girl, and there was another little one hanging on his leg. It was an odd unbelievable sight, but it inexplicably softened a couple of hearts even among the aborigines. Their goblin senses confirmed none of these people meant harm and they calmed down. The goblin who peed could only hide his face in his palm, very embarrassed. One of the humans saw this and chuckled. It was a motherly woman who leaned down and handed him a damp cloth and a dry piece of clothing. "You can find a public bathroom near the center and clean yourself up." The goblin''s eyes widened as he saw the cloth. It looked nice and clean and he shakily took it, wondering if his hands would be cut when he did. When nothing happened and he only see the kind eyes of the woman, he pursed his lips. He had never actually gotten clean clothing before. The cloths they had were usually passed on from older goblins, and some from dead ones. "Why do you still look so afraid? Alterra won already, and we don''t hurt people who aren''t our enemies." They already won? They looked at the woman who nodded at them. This was actually Rosalind, the Elder of Education. The lord is dead, as well as most of his cronies." A few guards around nodded, joining in. They had long felt pity for the shy goblins and wanted to reassure them. "It''s true. I saw it myself. They beheaded him. Too bad the lord token wasn''t with him though." The goblins shivered in happiness as they heard of this. They couldn''t stop tears drop from their eyes and it looked so pitiful, they earned a few handkerchiefs to wipe their tears. They cried for themselves and also for their fallen brethren. Not too long ago, each one of them received tortures even harsher than before. So many of their friends died even outside the wars, thrown in a mass grave somewhere outside. Not even considering how their lives were saved, this was enough for them to swear service for years to come. After all, the goblins had always believed in Karma and paid for what was due. They owed this place and they must serve it until they felt their debts had been paid. Soon, they arrived at the center and there they saw the same old woman who visited them at the hospital earlier. She had that kind smile on her face that made every one of them drop their guards. "You may be wondering why we brought you here." "That is because we are allowing you to gain the freedom and capability to rid yourselves of the slaves status. However, for the sake of our territory, we need you to swear an oath of non-aggression. Freedom? "Are you telling the truth?" Mathilda nodded, looking incredibly kind. "Alterra doesn''t keep slaves. Perhaps we would keep prisoners of wars, which are similar, but we will never keep slaves for the sake of it. "Make your oath and you will live freely. Through hard work, you will be able to buy your own freedom." S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oaths cost money and this would naturally be added to their debts, but they didn''t mind at all! They didn''t just swore not to harm Alterra in any way now or in the future, but when they realized they were truly being set free, many of them vowed loyalty outright. "We swear loyalty to Alterra! Never to betray for the rest of our lives!" the goblins said, and the human slaves couldn''t help but say the same. The Alterrans flinched, a bit surprised at the promise. Mathilda and the others looked at each other, a little startled, before breaking into smiles. At this, many people approached the slaves, and some even patted goblin heads. "Welcome, Alterrans!" Chapter 774 - 774: More Recoveries "Welcome, Alterrans!" Other than the woman, a lot of bystanders also said the same. It so happened that Althea, Baron, and many others also came to see the fun. The newcomers felt a little shy but just smiled and expressed gratitude for the compliments. Mathilda chuckled as she went to meet Althea, who also had a big smile. "All of them converted," she said, referring to the slaves. This meant the territory would be injected by a new force desperate to work hard to buy their own freedom. Adding the migrants from the other territories, it was estimated their population would double compared to before the wars. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea was in a very good mood so, looking at the crowd, she said: "To celebrate, the Gaea Stores will have 30% discounts for 3 days!" "WHOOOA!" "Ms. Althea is the best!" Following her lead, the other owners did the same. Baron was the loudest, as always. "All of The Woodworkers'' Stores will have the same!" "WHOOOOOW!" Soon, more and more stores announced the same and the crowd soon dispersed, intent on getting the good stuff before they ran out! Althea and Garan smiled at each other. For now, at least, the dangers are over. Now¡­, they just have to figure out what happened to Vismont. ¡­ In the end, Althea decided to just send a small low-key team to investigate what happened to Vismont. Anyway, the new territory was still their subsidiary and they wouldn''t be able to hurt any resident from her territory, not without some punishment. Things finally settled down in Alterra. It was actually quite a festive mood all around. Especially since they had just been attacked, they had another 14 days of freedom from worry of another war. It was high time for recovery plans as well as the resumption of the production. Betty, who now had her own department (Aether Healers, the locals called them), couldn''t help but sigh as she arranged the bandages in the cabinet. "Alterra is amazing. They won their two wars, and with such¡­ flying colors, too." She kept one bandage outside to use for her patient, Brenda, who got a bit injured during the scuffle. She was fortunately healing quite nicely. She asked Troy, her boyfriend, to stay in the factory to handle things while she was gone. Besides, they were conservatives, and it wasn''t like he could go with her when her bandages were being changed. "I''ve never heard of a territory taking over all their enemies¡­" Brenda said, "I remember not too long ago, the lord was so surprised the lord token could be detached, that the territory could be taken from her." She remembered her arrival here like it was yesterday. The lord barely knew anything about this place, but look at her now¡ªtaking over her part of the world one step at a time. "Yes, it''s incredible," Betty said. Betty came from the city and was the healer of some low-level nobles, so she had heard of a few things. A bit of what comprised Althea''s rule database had actually come from her. It had to do with her being a woman and perceived as non-threat and wouldn''t dare to say anything outside. Female escorts in taverns were common in Xeno because of this. Normally, villages of the same level weren''t too far from each other in strength. Even if they won before the 28 hours were over, they would usually go back to the arrays and receive their rewards, rather than stay and risk losses. Most lords wouldn''t bother hunting for the other lords either. Not only was it risky as the people around the lord were usually the strongest, but loser villages tended to not be worth keeping. Lords could only have 3 satellites at the same time. They had to maintain this, and they had to manage those territories as well. Except for some power and perhaps some image, keeping weak territories didn''t have advantages at all. It could even be embarrassing for the lord. But Alterra took two out of two wars, and they were such good villages too. One village had resources they needed to create various things, though most of which they didn''t understand at the moment, and the other one had black metal! Black Metal! Not too long ago, they were telling how rare this material was, and how villages and even towns paid a lot of money to get them. Now¡­ they had their own mine!! "It''s hard to believe sometimes, how far they had gone." Two months ago¡­ this was unimaginable, more so with a female lord. But Miss Althea accomplished all of this within a few months, and this was far ahead of those male lords who were so full of themselves. The two women looked at each other and smiled. ¡­ Some floors above, a certain blonde was force-feeding a patient. The redhead turned his head away with a face of distaste. "Ehh, you know I don''t like bell peppers and carrots!" Damn it, she''s serving a mix of both! "I feel you''re purposely feeding me things you know I hate!" "You need to eat! Althea said you need the collagen production! And the beta-carotine of the carrots is helpful for you!" "Even I know there are alternatives to that!" "I''m not the pharmacist!" "My sister must not want me healed to send you here!" he said, "Do you want me to starve to death?" "GRRR¡ª" "GRRR¡ª" "Fine!" she snapped, suddenly standing up and put the bowl on the side table. "Go call one of the googley-eyed nurses then! I know you want to!" "What¡ª" BANG! Ansel looked confused as he watched her stand up and get out the door, shutting it loudly. Then he turned to look at the other people in the room¡ªthe neighborhood old women¡ªall looking at him with disappointed faces. Lola looked at Yana, speaking as if he couldn''t hear them. "Didn''t they say he was a smooth playboy?" "I don''t know where that rumor came from. Must be a lie." Ansel: "..." Chapter 775 - 775: Family Dispute (Part 1) "Jerk!" Winona cursed, sniffing a bit, as she strutted far from the hospital. "See who cares for him!" The beautiful curvaceous damsel naturally caught the attention of many men, let alone the one who was specifically looking for her. He blocked her way, making Winona almost bump into him. However, she managed to stop on time and step back, though not forgetting to glare at the damned obstacle. At this time though, she could only glare at his shoe while she wiped away her tears as subtly as she could. "Winona¡­" he said, voice drooping with flirtatiousness. Winona''s eyebrows rose and she looked at the handsome man with wavy ash blonde hair. After getting to Alterra and getting access to the hygiene products, this guy cleaned up well, without any sign of his poor state before getting here. He was still a disgusting scum in Winona''s eyes, however. She crossed her arms, looking defensively at him. "What do you want?" "Does there have to be a reason for a man to see his fiance?" "Ex-fiance," she corrected. "Pretty sure I broke that off when I saw you fucking two women!" "Neither families agreed to that, my love," he said. "We''re still in a relationship, and I can assure you I will not make the same mistakes¡ª" "Shut up." Winona really didn''t need this bug right now! This guy was someone who moved from Limestone Valley, attracted by what they showed in the newspaper. He applied¡ªas did hundreds of others¡ªfor the engineering department when the Research Center announced a mass hiring. It was a dream job for him! Doing office work and only training outside as needed. Best of all, the pay was good and they had royalties for whatever they contributed in. However, unfortunately for him, the Research Center had a high standard of employment. Those accepted were ones who could truly contribute more than the basic clerical and repetitive tasks. He was rejected and had posted a lot of complaints of unfairness¡ªnot only him, but the survivors of his family (who were unfortunately 3, like cockroaches the world didn''t need). This jerk''s nosy mother found she had a good position there, and the family had been bothering her ever since. "I told you, I''m not the only one who decides who gets the job!" she said, using her remaining patience to be civil. Otherwise, she would never hear the end of it from her grandmother. "If I were you, I''d work hard to get contribution points to get in the library. Maybe you''d find some useful information there to pass." She was already being very kind. Although this guy graduated in industrial engineering, he only passed by paying his way through. A freshman probably knew more than he did! "I don''t believe that, wife," he said, apparently unperturbed by her words. She rolled her eyes and turned, waving him away. "Stop it, Eric. I''m not in the mood," she said, finally walking past him. "Leave me alone or I''ll call the guards on you." The man sneered but didn''t follow her. In the end, he smiled arrogantly, watching her figure disappear from view. No, wife, you won''t have a choice. ¡­ Back in the hospital ward, a few googley-eyed nurses were indeed eyeing Ansel. Winona''s forced close apparently made the sliding door bounce a bit so the door was left slightly ajar. The handsome Ansel was staring at the bowl and they thought he must''ve been wondering how to eat! Poor Ansel! The nurses opened the door and tentatively walked to him. "Do you need help, Mister Ansel?" a nurse asked. Another nodded, "We can help you." Ansel naturally refused to be called Elder, even if it sounded cool sometimes. He smiled at them, making them blush. They were already walking forward to help him, but then he took the bowl and drank, obviously not needing any help at all in the first place. "It''s okay¡­" he said with a sigh. "I can actually drink myself." S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ Later that night, seeing as Winona''s not coming back, Ansel checked himself out (earning himself some stares from the old women, who had also recovered enough to get out). Althea and Garan naturally knew that he was healthy, thinking he was just being lazy at the hospital. Althea even supported it, because he really needed some rest, and perhaps it could be a chance for Winona and Ansel to develop more as a couple. She didn''t have any idea that Ansel would botch that chance so horribly. Anyway, he brought the items Winona left in his room. He didn''t know how Althea convinced the blonde to take care of him, but Winona brought some stuff expecting she''d stay for hours, maybe even days. For example, he had her hair brush, toothbrush, toothpaste, and face towels. Winona''s space, he knew, was filled with her other essentials as well as experimental things, so he wasn''t surprised she brought a bag for a change of clothing and toiletries. He sighed and he, with his ''good hand'', carried the hemp duffel bag¡ªmade in the factory by the way¡ªand he headed to Winona''s villa not too far away from theirs. He was wearing a cast on the other arm. It was fake, of course. Winona better feel guilty abandoning him like that. It was just that, before he could ring the doorbell, he heard something knock inside, followed by some yells. His eyebrows furrowed and he wanted to climb up the gate. Unfortunately, the system security for houses outside of wars was impeccable and he would not be able to enter even if he jumped over like superman. Fortunately, he didn''t have to wonder for long as the door opened. His eyes softened a bit as he saw familiar blonde hair, but then he saw her glassy eyes filled with betrayed anger and he froze. "How can you let them in like this grandma!" she yelled as she looked back into the villa. "This is my house! I paid for it with my hard work!" "I''m your grandmother!" "It doesn''t mean you can just let strangers stay in MY house!" She said, "I should''ve known I shouldn''t have agreed to sign co-ownership with you! Now I can''t even kick them out with the system!" Her voice was shaky, filled with the tone of betrayal and accusation. Ansel could tell she was on the verge of crying, and it made Ansel livid. He gritted his teeth. How dare they make Winona cry!! Chapter 776 - 776: Family Dispute (Part 2) "You dare!" Grandma yelled, "They''re our inlaws! They''re family!" "I will not marry scum!" She said. "And how did they survive so intact under Fargo''s reign? Knowing how they are still alive and complete, I can only imagine what they sacrificed!" Winona was quite accurate about this. This family survived by pandering to Fargo. They were basically spies and tattletales among the masses. The number of people who ''went missing'' after information from them was easily a few dozen. Some of them didn''t even do anything wrong. They just annoyed one of the members of the family, and were framed enough to lose their lives. However, they were sly enough not to be open about it, and they were lucky those who knew had perished in the war, so their entire family was safe from the purging Althea did in Fargo back then. Winona didn''t know this but she wouldn''t be surprised if she found out. Whatever the case was, she definitely couldn''t sleep under the same roof as them! At this, a few more people¡ªa good-looking group reeking of bad morals¡ªappeared next to grandma. Right next to her was the so-called fiance, Eric. "Stop being so harsh, wife," he said, gritting Winona''s¡ªand Ansel''s¡ªnerves. "We''re family. Nothing matters, as long as we''re together." He had the audacity to step forward in an attempt to hold her arm. She raised her feet and kicked him in the shin. "OOUGH!!" He yelled and the others reacted, surrounding him in comfort and glaring at her. "What are you doing?!" "How dare you!" The mother even screeched like a shrew, gesturing to take revenge. But Winona had some self-defense skills¡ªmuch better than these damned nouveau riche asses¡ªand she threw him to the back. "OOUGH!" Then another one¡ªa cousin¡ªgestured to get to her, and Ansel was prepared to intervene when the man raised his hand and disappeared. "What?! Where''s my nephew!?" "Prison." "WHAT?" Winona chuckled, though inside she was still boiling from anger. "Didn''t you know? Certain people are exempted from the rules," She said, "I can defend myself very well. I can even beat you up without repercussions, but the same will not be said to you." This was true. Like the guards could hurt people in self-defense, the Elders and her friends and family could do the same. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As for why the woman didn''t get into prison after trying to attack her, it was likely the force value was so small she was tagged as a non-threat. "Abuse! ABUSE!!" They yelled though the farm villas were far apart and no one even heard their pleas. Even if they did, no one would care. Winona sneered and turned back, leaving them behind. "COME BACK HERE!" Grandma yelled, "GET HIM OUT OF PRISON!" "Go bail him out yourself!" She yelled, "I''m outta here!" Winona angrily stomped to the gate and was surprised to see Ansel there. "You¡­" Winona mumbled with a weak voice, and her sudden softening was a stark contrast to the Godzilla she was 2 seconds ago. It softened Ansel''s heart and he approached her. He stopped a meter away though, while Winona looked at him guardedly. Behind her, Eric gritted his teeth and stood up, forcing himself to follow her. He was especially angry when he saw the famed redhead in the vicinity. "You! I heard about you two!" He yelled. Winona pursed her lips and glared back, holding Ansel''s arm. Ansel vaguely felt it was the woman asking for support, in more ways than one. "As you can see, I have a lover now. So scram!!" she said, hugging it tightly. Ansel, who was quiet beside her, smiled. She looked at her grandmother. "Didn''t you know? I''m with an elder! Kick them out of the house or he''s going to be angry!" Eric and his family gritted their teeth, glaring at her. However, Donna, Eric''s mother, sneered at her instead. "Liar! Who doesn''t know he''s a fake!" she said, looking panderingly at Winona''s grandmother. "They''re not really lovers. I''ve heard the two of them deny it plenty of times." Winona and Ansel froze at this, looking awkwardly at each other. Ansel cleared his throat and looked at the family who was so sure of themselves. Seeing that bastard''s smug face looking at his woman with possessiveness and a woman to be taken for granted¡ªAnsel felt very annoyed. His playboy charm tuned up and he lessened the distance between him and Winona. "We''ll get rid of him if I kiss you," he said, tone smooth with temptation. "Ask me to kiss you." Winona''s eyes twitched, not forgetting about the bet. If she did, wouldn''t that mean that she lost to him?! "Well?" he asked. "I''ll share my winnings with you." The blonde clenched her fist as she pushed down her blush. "It''s up to you," he said, and she kinda wanted to smack his smug face. But then she saw Eric''s even more annoying face and she stopped herself from rejecting the offer. Winona''s eyes darkened when she met his seductive ones. "Kiss me," she said and he smirked, leaning down to meet her lips. "I won," he whispered against her lips, before pressing them together, reliving that electric current that passed through their bodies. Eric and his entire family gasped at the sight. Eric immediately lunged forward, rushing to pull them apart. "HEY! GET AWAY FROM HER!" he yelled. However, a meter or so away from them, he fell down face first. "AHH!" he yelled, looking down at his leg and realizing it was burning. "AHHHHH!!" he screamed and the family rushed to help him. While the chaos was happening a few meters away, the two were immersed in their own world. Like their first kiss together, this one was no less electric. Immediately he pulled her closer (with his ''free'' hand, i.e. the one without a cast) and felt her softness against him. The two gasped at the chemistry and almost forgot there were other people, and she wrapped her arms around him as their kisses turned deeper. "HEY!" Eric yelled, "STOP IT!" he yelled, and stood up as soon as the fire was killed. However, he was ignored by the two people lapping each other''s faces. Humiliated, he lunged towards the couple whose lips¡ª for better or for worse¡ªcouldn''t be parted at all for quite a bit. Another light surrounded him and he disappeared, making the remaining relatives gasp in shock! "ERIC!!!" "SON!!" "WHERE DID YOU SEND HIM!? YOU BASTARDS!!" Anyway, it was all very shrewish. And since they were terrified of approaching them, lest they get sent to prison too, they could only yell to get the couple''s attention. At the screeching noise, Ansel reluctantly parted with her, though not without dipping in for a second and giving a chaste kiss. Winona''s face was red and still absorbing what just happened. "You should hurry up and bail those two people," he said, eyes dark, his arms tightening around the woman in his arms. "The prison here¡­ takes away people''s lifespans, you know. He has such an embarrassingly low level, so his life is already very low." "You better run and bail him out," he said, slowly leaning to head back to the woman''s lips. "Or else you might not see him alive again." And then he went in to capture the woman''s lips once again, completely ignoring their audience. Chapter 777 - 777: Heated Night The family had no choice but to rush to the prison, leaving her grandmother behind. The old woman''s eyes were red from seeing her scandalous actions. "You! You! Have you no shame?!" The two reluctantly parted from each other, feeling the residual heat. She turned her head, but Ansel''s sights remained on her. "So? Go bother your new family!" she said, "I''m staying at Althea''s house!" Ansel looked at the things he was holding and the fake-cast that gave way sometime during their kiss. He followed her and sighed, walking back to the second villa area. However, on the way there he saw Winona by the gates. "You have access, right? At least through the gate." She nodded, though she didn''t enter. "But¡­" she paused, looking at the time lit up by the tower. It was already very late. "I''m afraid of disturbing something," she mumbled and pouted. Ansel looked at her flushed cheeks and plump lips, his breath turning a little heavier. "Definitely," he said, "I know the kids are with Sheila right now." Although he didn''t exactly know how active of a sex life those two had, he knew that when the children were not with them, it meant that they woke up a bit later than they usually would. This made Winona freeze, also realizing the same thing. (The couple never shared, but their PDA and states were telltale signs.) ((Garan would also be in an especially good mood the next day, so Ansel knew he could get away with a lot more during those days.)) "Instead¡­ I received this week''s stock of Althea''s wine," he said, tone lowering in timber. "I was planning on sharing it with Oslo, as I usually do, but¡­ seeing as that you lost the bet¡­" "I''ll take it!" If Oslo was here, he would pout. What about bros first? ¡­ Inside Ansel''s room, the two of them were now sitting on the floor with their backs against the bed''s apron. "What were you thinking when you changed the house''s ownership anyway?" Ansel asked as she filled her cup. Ansel knew the house was bought by Althea, as an advanced payment to the good employee. It should''ve been in Winona''s name. Winona sneered at this, sipping a bit. She closed her eyes as she appreciated the sublime taste of the drink before looking at Ansel. "You think I have a choice? "I delayed it for a long time, but she started nagging about how it was her money that supported us in the other territories. "It was true, though we were only able to recover a bit before the territories fell, it was technically still dozens and dozens of gold. "I thought, what could go wrong? My grandmother is not only selfish and definitely wouldn''t be ''kind hearted'' to strangers¡ªshe is also so insufferable she probably wouldn''t make friends." Their shot was consumed by this time, so they refilled their cups. "How could she take in a family then?" Winona paused, a little red now, and drank the entire cup down. "The reason why we got engaged was that our families were extremely close from her generation." That family was technically nouveau-riche, but they definitely got their money piggy-backing on her grandmother and her connections. "That woman spoiled that jerk more than she did to me. It''s like he''s her grandson!" Ansel blinked, filling their cups again. "Maybe he is?" This made the two pause and look at each other. The scandals that went behind closed doors of rich families¡­ if true, this wouldn''t be surprising at all! Then¡ª "EWW! Technically he''s like my first cousin then? She''s trying to make me commit incest?!" she almost sat up in shock, but she got dizzy and fell back down again. Ansel was quick to catch her and his breath hitched when he felt her softness. He gulped. "Your grandma really did seem a little off in her head despite the posh image she maintained," Ansel said, beginning to slur his words, downing another cup. He paused, leaning down in half-whisper, "Maybe¡­ she''s a product of incest too?" Winona paled, imagining the worst. "Maybe I''m ¡ª" "Well, I doubt it. You look fine despite all your flaws," he droned, subtly touching the edge of her newly-cut hair. Winona didn''t know this, but his words made her a little annoyed. "You¡ª" She turned to face him, only to realize that their faces were only an inch away. They could feel each other''s body heat, which got hotter as they got more inebriated. He was very handsome right now, appearing very seductive with his flushed cheeks and deep green eyes that seemed to peer through all of her. Winona found herself a little fascinated. "You''ll need to make sure to have someone not so closely related though, or else your kid would have something wrong¡­" he whispered, not moving a millimeter away from her. "Hmmm¡­" she mumbled with a cute nod. Ansel leaned down a bit, to feel more of her heat and she also gravitated towards him like a magnet. When their lips touched, their entire bodies tingled, and soon their bodies started rubbing each other in search for more. Soon, they started touching each other in intimate ways and the heat was going to their heads to even notice any oddity. "Hmmm~" Winona gasped as Ansel''s hand reached her breast and began kissing her neck. Her fingers buried into his gossamer locks, massaging his soft red hair. She always thought it was annoyingly nice since he was a guy, but now she just thought it was really nice to touch. She couldn''t help but grip it harder when he groped her breast through her thin clothing and she gasped when he tickled its peak. It felt like she was being consumed, and she wanted more. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "More¡­" she whispered, caressing his soft head, and his eyes darkened with lust even more. He lifted his head to look at her face dazed in pleasure. He admired her expression before he leaned down again, though this time to give her a soft peck. "More, it is." Chapter 778 - 778: Consummated When alcohol was said to cloud one''s judgment to make such a big mistake, they actually knew it wasn''t true. It was just an excuse made by the infidel people to pass their actions as involuntary. Alcohol could, though, make one braver, and help people do what they wouldn''t normally dare to do. Like now, with both of their cases, kissing a ''sworn rival'' senseless and using their bodies to chase pleasure unimaginable to them. Their clothing was removed one by one¡ªeven helping each other out to do so. In fact, both of them had been a bit intimate with other people, but had never gone all the way, nor had they felt this much lust for anyone else. They were a bit clumsy in undressing the other but it was part of the thrill. It even became part of their rivalry¡ªwho took the other''s clothes off first without tearing them off. It was just that that play stopped when they saw the other stark naked and suddenly the gravity of the situation became even more real. Their breaths were heavy and their faces were flushed. They gulped as their faces awkwardly got closer again, and Ansel leaned down to push on, parting her lips with his tongue, and soon the heats in their bodies completely consumed their brains. They didn''t need to speak anymore as they consumed each other''s mouths, their bare bodies grinded against each other, chasing the feeling of the other desperately. She moaned as she felt his hardness rub on her, her erogenous zones touched and pleasured, and she gasped when she felt his fingers enter. When her exes tried to do this, she immediately buckled and ran. But Ansel''s hand wasn''t disgusting at all. She even longed for it. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Ha¡­ ahh¡­" While Ansel prepared her for what was to come, he himself was gasping, kissing her neck and her shoulders, tasting her soft skin. She moaned loudly when she got her first real orgasm, her fingernails buried in his hard shoulder. Ansel kissed her neck one more time before he lifted his head, placing his forehead against hers. His strong arms kept him balanced above her, but everything of his was grinding on her, continuously making her gasp and moan. "I''m entering," Ansel hotly said against her ears, lapping it, and eliciting her delicious whimper. Winona closed her eyes and pursed her lips, a little scared, but otherwise she wrapped her arms tightly around his lean shoulders. She screamed when he entered and he gasped as he felt her walls clamp on him. "Winona!" he groaned, burying his head on her soft shoulder. "Hurts!" She yelled, grabbing his soft hair. "I¡­" The pain and the barrier should''ve woken them up if this was a mistake. Instead, Ansel hovered over her, his sweat dripping all over her. He leaned down to kiss her tears, waiting for her to be ready, waiting for her to ask him to proceed. She wrapped her arms around him tighter, lifting her head to meet his lips. She pried them open, her soft tongue tangling with his, as if she was asking for comfort. He gladly did so, angling his head so he could get better access. While their tongues danced, Ansel''s hand moved to caress her curvaceous waist up her perk mounds, pleasuring her where he could to bury the pain. He continued to kiss her face, her neck, and her shoulders. Ansel had also never gone all the way with anyone¡ªhe never felt like the responsibility that came after was worth it. But looking at the woman underneath him, all he wanted to do was feel her entire being with his own, making her completely his. Her mouth parted as he moved slowly and sensually, and soon the pain lessened, and all she could feel was the throbbing length inside of her. Her teary blue eyes met his dark green ones, pleading. "Take me," she said, eyes filled with dazed lust. "Take me completely already!" And he pushed his entire length, and their entire bodies arched, consummating what was a new beginning to their relationship. ¡­. The Next Day. "Can I babysit the babies today?" Sheila asked Althea. The hospital was really well-designed and even had nurseries. "Are you sure you want to take them today?" Her eyes were still red though, obviously tired from Garan''s activities the previous night. Shiela nodded repeatedly. "Of course!" Their job was among the continuously stressful jobs here. The cute babies could really lighten it up. Their presence also lessened what they called ''the grouchy patients syndrome''. The soft little pudgy balls snuggled in their parents'' warmth, unaware they were being passed around. It sent cute attacks to everyone in the room. "Awwww~" Harold mumbled, going over to gently squeeze Meatball''s tiny hand. Sheila also went to take over Pepper, who shifted a bit as the scent shifted. "Mnnnhhmmmh¡­!" Little Pepper''s adorable face scrunched in annoyance, her large rounded eyes glistening. "Aww, baby, its hospital time today," she said, "Watch the nurses heal people and make people happy, okay?" "Mhhmmggg¡­" "Googhmmm¡­" Althea chuckled and kissed her babies'' soft faces before turning back to Sheila. "Take care of them." "Okay, leave it to us!" Sheila said with a smile and she placed the babies in the stroller. They had to comfort them by making toys dance around them before going though. After a couple of minutes, the babies finally felt comfortable and Sheila smiled, about to leave through the door. It was just that before they could do so, Ansel''s door suddenly opened. Unexpectedly, it was Winona who emerged from Ansel''s bedroom, closely followed by Ansel himself. They were fully clothed, but judging by their states ¡ªcrumpled clothes, flushed cheeks, and the standard walk-of-shame posture)¡ªsomething definitely happened in there. Harold dropped whatever he was holding (one of the baby''s toys) causing the two to turn their heads and freeze. They did not expect so many people outside at this time. "..." "..." Everyone else: "..." While the others gaped, the couple cursed in their heads. Since when were there so many people right outside the room? Darned insulation! It''s unnecessarily perfect! Chapter 779 - 779: Caught! Althea smiled as she helped Little Pepper drink her milk. Her hands supported the bottle while the baby''s little hands held onto it. She watched the little girl drink fondly and she couldn''t help but poke the baby''s chubby cheeks a bit. "Gmghmawmaaa¡­" her son mumbled next to her. Althea turned to her son who was held by his father. He had let go of his bottle as he reached out to her. She shook her head and helped him hold it. Little Pepper pouted, about to let go of her bottle. She chuckled and leaned down, giving the girl a smooch, "You''re a big sister, Pepper," she said, and the girl really didn''t let go of the bottle anymore. Little Meatballs seemed to understand and also behaved, making everyone smile. "Awww, my babies are the cutest," she said, giving both infants wet smooches on their chubby faces. She then turned to look at the two other big babies sitting tensely on the sofas. Their body language reeked of guilt, with their heads looking down and their hands on their knees. "Why do you look like underaged kids getting caught frolicking by me?" They didn''t answer. "You''re adults now," she said, "I understand that you are both very capable of making your own decisions." "Yes, but¡­" They felt guilty regardless. Even if Althea was their peer, she took bigger roles than that in their lives. For Ansel, though ambiguous, she really was family, and for Winona she was her friend as she was her counsel, also a sister. "Well¡­ don''t you have anything to say?" Winona asked, and the two looked at her tensely at the question. It amused her very much. "Well, if you want to ask for my opinion, I''d like you to get married." "WHAT?" "You don''t want to?" The two awkwardly looked at each other before shifting their sights away. She still knew Ansel only dated and kissed all those girlfriends of his. The fact that he did the whole deed with Winona meant that she was really, truly, special to him. Similarly, Winona was a conservative and the reason at least one of her previous boyfriends left her was because she refused to go all the way. These two¡­ would never be inebriated enough to break the rules they set for themselves without them truly wanting to. She looked at Harold, "Do we have weddings here?" "We don''t have a church, but Mathilda did mention more than once that it should be done in some shape or form." There had maybe been more than one person who had talked to Mathilda about it. They were planning on proposing, but didn''t know the next step so they put it on hold. For example, Bull. Another, Turbo. The two guilty people flushed when they realized what these people were planning. "Althea¡­" She looked at them, wanting to tease, though not exactly lying. She didn''t support casual sex at all. She hoped they would show more commitment to each other. "Fine. But if it''s up to me, you can''t sleep together again until you do." The two froze. They flushed even more and looked awkwardly at each other. "Ehh¡­." Althea laughed, and so did the others. Seeing how exposed they were, the new couple could not wait to bury their heads in embarrassment for the rest of their lives. ¡­ In the end, they just decided to propose a Civil affairs office in the Government Building for now, the details of which would be discussed with the Elders at a later date. People had different religions and they didn''t know how many of those remained in this new world, so they decided on just doing the secular approach. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They decided to open some land leasing for people to be able to build their own things. Maybe there would be a religion big enough to make their own church. Or maybe just a mercenary team who wished to have their own base as well. Either way, the territory wouldn''t be at a loss since the lease wouldn''t be cheap and the ownership would remain in the territory. The wedding itself could be done in the gardens or one of the restaurants, and there happened to be one or two wedding organizers in the territory. They were working in the hospitality buildings now, but they''d probably love to get this part-time job. Someday, these people might make events planning companies, and soon the territory would not just see the return of weddings, but maybe also large birthday parties and debutante balls. She would have to talk to Mathilda about the laws of marital union as well. It couldn''t be the same as back in Terran as they were a mixed culture now, and they''d also be welcoming aborigines. At the very least, they would probably just be protecting their rights as well as defining what it meant to be husband and wife. They would probably be putting up more laws as well, some copied from Terran like certain family laws and the like. For example, the view that marriage was also an economic partnership might be retained. That was to say, income and assets received after marriage was shared property of the couple. They were encouraging procreation now. This law was designed, historically, in order to protect the less-earning spouse. Perhaps, this would be the spouse who''d stay at home and was assumed to have contributed in other ways other than monetary. Of course, things like prenuptial would also be a thing. There would also be laws wherein parents would be required by law to support their children until the age of 18, and they''d define what counted as a basic need here, including basic education. In the end though, she just decided to handle the infrastructure with the other elders, and let the others go at their own pace. Looking at Ansel and Winona, whether or not they would get married, would be up to them, but as the older sister she''d definitely give them the facility to do a ceremony should they want to. Besides, it would be unfair to Winona to just get married like this. That girl was a romantic, she''d want to be properly proposed to. She still really really hoped Ansel would propose soon though. Chapter 780 - 780: Guia Winnings During the meeting with the elders and the honorary members like Oslo arrived at the 3rd floor, as scheduled as soon as the war ended. It was just that, with the issue of marriages, another agenda was added to their topic. But the more pressing matters were discussed first, of course. First was what to do with Vismont. They decided to send a team to investigate first, and bring back those who wished to go back, low-key, in case the enemies were too hostile and decided to stop them. They had just gone through 2 wars, one attacking and one defense, so even if they wanted to take the territory back, they wouldn''t be able to¡ªshe didn''t want to waste slots on Vismont either. Besides, even if the lord changed, Vismont was still Alterra''s subsidiary so their people wouldn''t be able to harm their residents, at least within the scope of the territory. "It only applies to permanent residents, at least within the territory walls," Oslo said, and it made sense because master territories could take advantage too much if that wasn''t the case. They weren''t certain how detailed the system was and its internal rules, but they were done with the greater good in mind. Anyway, there were plenty of people who became permanent residents in Alterra after the war, and it''d do good to send only them. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Basically, almost all the older guards were now permanent residents because of the contribution points in wars as well as the monetary winnings they received. During wars, she would give a small portion of the ''loot'' to the people who contributed. While Fargo was relatively poor, Guia was very rich. They had merged the territory before the meeting, so she got a bit more. She found out that because the lord''s wealth and territory shared a wallet, even after Baltimore died, his remaining money (the part that was not taken automatically after losing the war) was actually still attached to the territory itself. When he died, all she lost was whatever was in his space instead. The nice contents of the warehouse were also sizeable. It could be said that she really gained a lot from the second war. The portion was a small fraction, but it could do a lot for the individual. From what she heard, a lot of the guards and the stronger members who contributed a lot managed to settle down payment for a house¡ªeven if they were for small units¡ªright after the Guia war. Next topic was what to do with the new territory, now called Iron Mountains. (They decided to follow the straight-to-the-point naming convention). There were no new interesting building types, sadly, because the building slots Guia chose was something either Alterra or Fargo already had. However, they could at least focus on what they took over Guia for: the Iron. Althea was very happy to know that the warehouse was at max level (for villages) at level 3 and was filled with iron ores. She had already transferred a bulk of it to the Alterran warehouse to be taken by the warehouse men later on. Of course, because there was lord-only access to the warehouse, she had to take it out herself. Like in the other territories, she planned to build another manual construction, a foyer of sorts, where she could release the items without being seen. She was very thankful for her massive space because the items she needed to take out could usually be done within a few batches. She sent an announcement to all the elders about how much iron ore they managed to get, excluding those in the mines. Their eyes widened and they looked at each other. "Ohmy goodness," Mathilda said. Ansel whistled. "We can do so much!" Althea nodded. So many tools and equipment could be done with so much ''black metal''. The capture of Guia would definitely elevate the territory''s comprehensive strength for sure. Speaking of which, the two territories they captured were really¡­ good. To some people, it was too good. At this thought, Mathilda couldn''t help but look at the aborigines, "I''m worried for Limestone Valley and the Iron Mountains. They''re both very rich in resources, and each one could be a bountiful target in wars. "Including Alterra itself, we have three bountiful territories. Would we be targeted even more?" "Yes, definitely," Oslo said. His certainty somewhat made them worry. This was until he smiled and added. "But it''s not entirely worrying," he said and spoke of what he knew about merged territories. "The three territories, in a sense, were considered to be connected in many ways¡ªmore than just in ''ownership''. There are many implications of this. "For one, attacking one of the three territories would count as attacking the others. This means that the maximum wars everyone had to cumulatively undergo is even fewer than others." Basically, if one of the three got attacked, the others had a two-week free pass from wars. The elders'' eyes brightened. This was actually not a bad perk! "With this, we can focus more on growth rather than worry too much about wars." "Yes, we have a lot of mining to do." "Those goblins¡­" "We will hire them as staff." "In Limestone Valley as well," Garan said, and everyone agreed. Once they built a tunnel and line it with beast-repelling grass, then the labor requirement to guard the miners would be reduced. Goblins were also incredibly good diggers. In this field, each one was equivalent to at least 10 human men. "Goblins are really nice to have. I wish they stay even after they would buy their freedom." "We''ll just show them how nice our place is, right?" Mathilda said with a smile, recalling what happened not too long ago in the Village Center. "Besides, they swore oath of loyalty. At the very least, they''d stay a while to help us out." Everyone agreed with smiles, even the aborigines. Two months ago, they''d have been very reluctant to agree Goblins would ever do such a thing. But now¡­ they were confident that the unthinkable would happen. Chapter 781 - 781: Various Marriage Customs "Next agenda: Weddings." The aborigines looked at each other, quite intrigued by what this implied. Althea wondered if they had a different concept of what it was. She knew they had it, as there were husbands and wives here. "I''m referring to Weddings as in the official union of man and woman into a single family unit," she said, though she was certain something similar existed since they had words for it. "How are the ceremonies in your places?" She asked. Since places were relatively isolated except for wars, she assumed there would be different customs for weddings. She was right. "In our region around Bleulle, the main ceremony is done with symbolic tying of the hands of the bride and groom, using braided hair from both of them. There are other ceremonies signifying their vows." Bluelle was around the middle area of the Human territory, and it was safe to assume this was one of the more common practices. "In our region, Gouji fruit wine is exchanged in a familial setting," Brenda said, "We also do the hair knots, but it''s done with ropes tied by the couple before the wedding." Brenda''s Glaston Town and Clutch''s Village were more on the far South. "Well, in Terran we simply hold ceremonies inviting friends, family, and maybe acquaintances depending on the couple. "Then a reception party would be held afterward." "I want things inclusive so people would hold weddings as they wanted and simply register to the Civil Affairs Office. "The Officiators would be any respected individual per culture," she said. The aborigines smiled. After being affected by Alterra for so long, it wouldn''t be a surprise if people decided to follow everything Alterran. They identified so much with the place already, after all. Althea didn''t know yet what was going on in the aborigines'' heads and they continued with the discussions. "Now I ask, in Xeno, what''s the difference in dynamic upon marriage?" Oslo thought for a while, "The woman would become a part of the man''s family, as she was in her maternal family," he said. "She would then be obligated to serve that family as its daughter-in-law and make sure the children grow and are raised well." "As far as I know it''s pretty much the same all over," he said, looking at the others, who nodded in agreement. It''s similar to Terran, especially those of ancient times, where women were just following whatever man they tied with. From young, she''d be following her family or the patriarch, then her husband after marriage, and then to her son after her husband passed. The variances between the regions would be the strictness, but overall it was the same patriarchal society. Althea nodded, looking at Mathilda who was no doubt making drafts of family laws in her head. "Adjourned." sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ... The meeting ended early in the afternoon. "Should we pick up the babies?" she asked, wondering if they should fetch the babies in the clinic or if it was too early. When she got no answer, she realized her husband was in a daze. "What are you thinking?" "In this world, we''re not married yet," he mumbled without thought, making her blink. He seemed to have realized what he blurted out and his steps paused. They stared at each other, and silence passed between them. "Althea!" the moment was broken when someone called her name. They turned to see Mathilda approaching. "I have some inquiries about the new rules¡­" "I need to go to the barracks," Garan uttered next to her and she turned to stare at him. She was fairly sure he had already delegated the work done there. "The barracks had an emergency meeting," he said with a straight face, as if to answer her unasked question. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I''ll be late. Don''t wait for me," he said, finally heading away. Althea''s emerald eyes watched the figure of her husband disappear¡ªher mind reeling in thought¡ªthough because Mathilda was there for a short discussion, that topic was pushed aside for now. On the way home, his words rang in her ears and made her blink, so she locked herself in her lab for the remainder of that day, making sure to finish before he returned home. There was something different about Garan when he went home late that night. "How was the meeting?" she asked. She was sitting alone on the sofa, reading on her tablet. "It''s okay," he said, looking at her with such dark eyes it felt a little burning. "Where''re the others?" he asked, voice a little raspy, and she looked at him to answer his question. "Everyone''s in another villa," she said, and Garan''s breath deepened, the ember in his eyes now burning forests. Althea squirmed in her seat, obviously affected. "Take a bath first," she said, though instead of just heading away, Garan approached her and lifted her up from the sofa. "Join me." The entire villa was locked, left for the couple the entire night. ¡­ AUTHOR''S NOTES I found out that the reason why a lot of you hadn''t joined the discord Reader Lounge is because discord is an alien species to you. I was the same. When I first downloaded it for a game, it confused me so much I deleted it immediately. However, after writing the story, it kinda became required to have a discord account (most authors have discords btw, not just me) and I ended up loving it. When I got the hang of it Discord IS the best chat program I have ever used. To use: Enter the invite link I gave in my synopsis/announcements Join! Terminology Guide: 1.Server - the main location/address. By analogy, this is the¡­ er¡­ filing cabinet? 2. Categories - You can think of this as our ''Folders''. In our server, there''s the general area, and then there''s a story-exclusive area. 3.Channels - The pages of that ''folder''. There can be a page for readers and other authors to chat, there''s a page just for the images and reference documents, there''s a page for spoiler content, et cetera. 4.Discord Roles are given to determine which people would receive which notifications, get access to certain channels, etc. -In our case, there''s a role for readers of this particular story, and there''s also an extra role Priv buyers could get, though that channel is too full of spoilers I give the choice to join. xD SEE YOU THEREEE! Chapter 782 - 782: Proposals Warning #1: R-18 scenes Warning #2: Possibly awkward R-18 scenes Warning #3: Cheesy lines ¡­ ____ That night, she let him do whatever he wanted with her body. She didn''t limit him this time, and it could be said that Garan was too happy to take advantage. Althea was very active as well and they made love until the next day, which was possible because of their high levels. At midnight, Garan''s eyes stared at his beautiful wife below him, her face flushed and eyes glazed in lust. She splayed bare and pinned, passively receiving his plunder. Fwop, fwop, fwop "H¡­ahh¡­ h-husband¡­" she whimpered as she clenched on to him, the sound of her moans resonating with the sound of his groans and grunts and the erotic sound of their slapping skin. Her words¡ªas always¡ªsent renewed energy to Garan''s seemingly unlimited libido, and they went on for several rounds before they calmed and just laid down, lovingly embracing each other. Unexpectedly, after a while, Althea crawled above him and impaled herself in his already-upright shaft. His large palms were on her slender waist, and he watched in fascination as she moved up and down at increasing pace. She was using his body to chase her pleasure, and it was incredibly beautiful. They were both drenched in sweat and barely catching their breath as they made love. Unexpectedly, just as they reached their peak, Althea stopped her movements. Before Garan could do anything about it¡ªhis palms on her waist had already tightened¡ªshe held out a special ring from her space. It was a specially crafted ring that functioned as a protection charm as well. She sent him a teasing smile, leaning down to place a chaste kiss on his lips. "Marry me?" Garan chuckled, his body vibrating, and his baritone sound echoed in the room. He suddenly sat up, making her squeal, and then proceeded to take out his own metal ring. "Only if you marry me," he said, and they met each other''s eyes, and they couldn''t help but grin. ¡­ Speaking of proposals, Garan''s proposal¡ªthe one he made in Terran¡ªwas also quite romantic. And cheesy, if one would ask Winona (as if she didn''t sniff a little while she was sneaking peeks). It was after one of his missions, where he didn''t tell her he was back at all to surprise her. He had asked Winona to get her into a cruise of sorts, and the latter naturally agreed with open arms (provided she was the bridesmaid). Althea didn''t question the invite because Winona often took her out, with Althea often paying her back in some way by helping her out with school work. This exchange was something Winona gladly took so Althea didn''t feel like she was taking advantage. The yacht was arranged with beautiful candlelights all over the hull, and the entire venue was surrounded by flowers. It was incredibly beautiful, but also puzzling. Althea was a little confused until she saw a very very handsome Garan in a suit standing in the center. Althea remembered crying a bit because she hadn''t seen her boyfriend for nearly a month at that time. She didn''t think too much about the setup and just embraced the man as tightly as she could. "Sorry for being away for so long," he said, leaning down and giving her a peck on the forehead. He then embraced her tightly and buried his head on her shoulder, feeling heartbroken at her tears. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I wish I could do much more for you¡­" Sobbing, Althea shook her head. "No¡­ I know what you''re doing is good," she told him, hugging his shoulders tight. "I''m proud of you." This made Garan embrace her tighter. In fact, he could afford a grand light show or something similarly grand, but he knew her personality and knew she''d like something more intimate and private for such a special occasion. So, under that beautiful night sky in the middle of the sea, they had a candle light dinner with him taking out his guitar, playing her a song. Garan didn''t have very good tonality but he had a lovely deep voice. In Althea''s ears, it would always be the most beautiful sound. He knew she had always liked listening to his voice even as a child. Without an exception, she would always fall asleep when he told her bedtime stories. This happened only with him, and there was no one else who had the same effect on her. He took pride in this, as if he was the one who could make her feel the most secure. He wanted to be that person for her, for the rest of their lives. She would also ask him to sing her to sleep, but he rarely humored her because he knew he couldn''t sing well and was embarrassed to damage her ears. But he practiced a lot for this one, and for someone stoic and as someone who didn''t really do something so vulnerable, this was a huge step forward. She was sniffling the whole time, leaning and resting her head on his shoulder as he played, wanting to be in physical contact no matter what. He was both touched and sad at her reluctance to part with his body, and his voice cracked a bit¡ªthough Althea didn''t mind at all. She just buried her head deeper in his shoulder. When he finished singing, he turned to her and kneeled down. She blinked, pouting a bit at the loss of physical contact until Garan held her hand with a loving smile. "My love¡­ we had known each other from as far as I could remember. To be honest, whenever I think of the first moments of my life, you were there, like the light to the darkness, as if you were the reason for my existence. "We went through so much together," he paused, remembering all they had experienced since their childhoods until now. "And I am so glad it all happened to me when I am with you at my side¡ª "No matter what happened, I was happy, because I knew I had you with me even if we were far away. " As he said so, his eyes were filled with sincerity and love. "I want to be with you in the next phases of life and for the rest for the rest of time¡ª "Marry me, Althea." This must''ve been the longest time Garan spoke, she thought in awe. However, she knew that the usually-stoic Garan had really pushed himself to do this and say these words out loud, just to make sure she knew and understood how he felt. Of course, she agreed. And now, in another world, they exchanged rings again, but this time she proposed as well, which made it even more meaningful than before. Safe to say, the team would barely see the couple that day. Chapter 783 - 783: The Start of the Wedding As soon as the news was announced, the whole territory pretty much mobilized to hold a grand wedding for two of their beloved elders! Led by Winona, Mathilda, and Sheila, the preparations for the venue, the food, and the like were perfected. The couple wanted an intimate and simple ceremony, which made things easier to prepare when there were so many people helping. After two days, everything was ready, surprising the couple to no end. And so, two days after their proposals, the ceremony was held. The bride was already in the venue''s waiting area-turned-bridal room, getting prepared. "This¡­" Althea mumbled, really shocked by how well-organized things were after a few days. "This is too fast..." "You did specifically say not to make it too grand¡­" Winona mumbled from behind. "So we made it beautiful, but simple." Winona looked very proud¡ª as she should. "As for the dress, Andrei had awakened the Cloth Maker profession, with specialization to speed and quality. You''re going to love it~" she said, looking in the direction where Sheila was. On cue, they revealed a dress on a dress form that supported a wonderful wedding dress. The women''s eyes shone bright whenever they saw it. "He made this by hand with lots of care," Winona grinned. "He was the one who designed your first wedding dress too," she said. "You two are really fated." It was a wonderful lace dress made of soft silky fabric. It was not so grand with a long trail, but it was a simple long dress with complex patterns. It was gorgeous and Andrei and Winona really knew Althea''s taste well. Winona chuckled at her reaction, though she was also admiring the dress herself. "It also has a special effect on adding an ethereal effect to the wearer, and a special effect of a little defense, haha, though that''s a nice side effect of the profession." The blonde paused in thought, before bursting out laughing out-of-nowhere. "Hey, I just thought¡ªHAHA¡ªI wonder if Garan would have a hard time tearing this one?!" Althea blinked in thought, no doubt seriously imagining it, while Sheila next to them just covered her face in embarrassment. On another side of the territory, Garan¡ªwho was also fitting his suit¡ªnarrowed his eyes. Why did his hands feel itchy? ¡­ The time for the wedding finally approached, and people headed to the Alterra Gardens. The Gardens had large roofed events spaces in the middle located in various parts of the area. They were designed to be able to hold events like this, so there were proper back-of-house rooms and places that could serve as waiting rooms for the main characters of the event, in this case, one for the bride, and another for the groom. The Gardens had small venues around 150 square meters large, which could accommodate 20 to 100 guests in wedding arrangements. There were also medium-sized venues which ranged from 200 to 400 square meters, which could accommodate up to 300 guests depending on seating arrangements. They naturally chose the largest one which could seat around a few hundred in banquet table form and much more in pew arrangements. Because not that many were invited, the place was arranged half in pew with the banquet tables in the back so there were little changes to be done for the reception. Hundreds of seats were filled up with family, friends, and guests who managed to get a slot earlier (Ansel made a lottery for it). Amazingly, the gift area overflowed, including gifts from those who weren''t invited. Everyone, basically, wanted to send their well wishes to the two loving Elders. These were carefully chosen gifts, some were handcrafted. After all, what could they give the two elders that they didn''t already have? The rows of chairs were arranged with a small stage in front, emphasized by a decorated archway with intricate flower designs. The archway was a masterpiece, woven with a variety of flower blooms in vibrant colors¡ªTerran and Xeno¡ª and their combined sweet fragrance filled the air and adding to the ethereal feel of the place. The pews and tables were also decorated with the similar blooms, unifying every spot visually. The venue was stunning and wonderfully designed, especially considering it was done in a day. "We got interior designers and flower arrangers work overtime on this," Winona mumbled with pride, dressed in a pretty laced pastel dress as the bridesmaids. She was talking to Sheila, who was the other bridesmaid here, and she also looked very pretty, though her beauty was the shy demure type in contrast to Winona''s vibrant spark. She was assigned to help with the food so she was also surprised with the venue. "So romantic¡­" Sheila mumbled, making Eagle¡ªwho was among the audience but was maybe also perhaps eavesdropping¡ªto turn and look at her deeply. Beside them were the other girls who wanted to know more about the preparations, and they asked a lot of questions. For instance, among the aborigines, the females also swooned, especially the beautiful Betty. Weddings she had been to ranged from simple (for commoners) to grand (by nobles), but this felt so much more intimate than any other. Was it because it was sincere and full of love? "Yeah¡­ very romantic¡­" A lot of men were looking in her direction, taking note. This included Tom, who found himself looking more and more for her since he visited the healer''s department due to an injury from a hunt. Soon, the ceremony began, signalled by the wonderful melody of a string instrument. People were submerged in the sound at first, and it was an entirely new velvety sound in the ears of the aborigines. They were only pulled back to the present when the arrival of the groom was announced and they turned to see the handsome man dressed in white walk down the aisle, accompanied by the first string instrument the Woodworkers created. Garan walked with gravitas, appearing even more handsome and regal than usual¡ªwhich was saying something¡ªand he stopped next to the altar, standing still as he waited for his bride. He stood there like a striking statue, his aura and features made everyone¡ªeven the men¡ªswoon. Garan''s face didn''t show anything more than his usual stoic expression, but his heart was tight and beating loudly in anticipation. They had already married before, but every time felt special. A flurry of emotions swirled within him, remembering all that happened between their first wedding and this one. First, their parents passed away at the same time, and then he had to leave for a mission and also to find out more about what had happened to their adoptive parents. Then, he was forcefully taken out of the world where she was, and forced to defend his life every day in an unknown new world¡ªwith her as his only light and hope, the one person that kept him going. For a long time, they were apart, fighting for their lives in hopes of seeing the next day¡ªin hopes of seeing each other again. Their paths had been fraught with thorns and danger, but despite all these challenges, they found each other again, their love as strong as ever. As he stood, he smiled a little bit, blinding everyone''s eyes. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They made it again, now and forever. Chapter 784 - 784: The Wedding Ceremony The music continued to play a mellow yet striking tune as the groom settled by the altar. With the abundance of metal now, a lot of inventions popped up, and although they were pressed for time, the team managed to make simple string instruments like the harp and guitar. There was also a variety of percussion instruments developed, though those would be used in the reception later on. There happened to be quite a few musicians in their population and one could play the harp. The previous day, rush auditions were held by Ansel and Fable, not only for Althea''s wedding, but also to determine who could be permanent musicians for the territory. They had taken note of what instruments people played, but of course had to focus on the only instruments that were made during this time¡ªthe harp. The man chosen was called Mirka, a twenty-two-year-old college student from a renowned music school. He didn''t do it professionally yet but he was good, talented, and most importantly he loved the instrument. His play brought people to a peaceful and wonderful place. The feeling felt dynamic as he played his piece. The guitarist was Fable himself, who had started out posting social media videos of him covering popular songs at the time. If the wedding itself wasn''t so meaningful and thematic, some of his fangirls would''ve swooned for him. There were also more refined wind instruments and bells and chimes, creating a lovely little band to create thematic music fitting for the event. Fable and Mirka were truly gifted musicians to be able to harmonize like this only after more than a day of practice. Their music made the audience fall into a wonderful daze, falling deeper into this meaningful moment along with the couple. Mathilda stood in front of the pew in another grand official-looking dress, standing so poised as always. Under the sound of the band, they waited for the arrival of the rest of the entourage. A moment later, the maid of honors and the groomsmen arrived in uniform dress code. The first ones were Winona and Sheila, gorgeous in pastel-colored dresses with long sleeves. They had run to the back from gossiping with the guests as soon as the music started. They walked poised and in-sync. They also had matching flowers in their hair as the ones on the groomsmen''s¡ªAnsel and Beanie¡ªchest pockets. The bouquet theme naturally reflected on the adorable flower girl, Maya, and the little ringbearer Theo also with the same flowers on his little breast pocket. Horus was also there¡­ as a flower boy. He was very shy so he unconsciously used his stealth skill which made the glitchy illusion that the flower petals were thrown from nowhere by magic. It was very amusing, and the audience smiled and giggled at the sight. Soon, the music turned more mellow, but at the same time it adopted a more varied rhythm, indicating that the other main character was finally approaching. "The bride is here," The officiator¡ªMathilda¡ªspoke, and they all turned to the back, to see¡­ A fairy. Gasps sounded as Althea entered their line of sight. Their eyes were all fixed on her, and certain pairs of eyes were oozing with meaning. One was Oslo''s azure ones. His heart never stopped beating wildly and clenching whenever the lord was there, but he had learned to push down his feelings, afraid he''d make her uncomfortable. Now, seeing her so ethereal, he fell even deeper. Another was Hugo''s dark orbs, who was following her figure the entire time with deep thoughts in his mind. However, while their gazes stayed on her, Althea''s was fixed on the front, looking at her husband standing at a distance, eyes filled with warmth and love. While the soft melody of the harp filled the air, all eyes fixed eagerly on the radiant bride whose presence was ethereal and captivating. Althea stepped forward with grace. Her simple yet elegant dress was adorned with delicate lace and subtle embellishments. It glimmered along with her, sparkling under the natural and ambient lighting of the venue. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She had no veil, and people admired her beautiful face akin to that of a goddess. As she walked forward, her eyes couldn''t be pulled from her husband, as he was to her. Their eyes overflowed with love, and their hearts were full. Garan couldn''t help but approach and extend his hand to her even before she entered the Altar. If the events planner was a bit more uptight, she''d have palmed her face, but the moment was too good to notice. The two of them stood facing each other in the middle, eyes reflecting the others'' face, hearts bursting with joy and nervousness. They had been married just two years ago, but the adventures and near-misses that happened in between felt like a lifetime, making the renewal all the more fitting. Mathilda smiled at the couple, feeling a little teary herself. She had always seen the two as her son and daughter as well, especially after they transferred here, and it was inevitable that Mathilda would feel like crying like an old mother. However, remembering her role, she quickly gathered herself and looked at the two before turning to the audience, resuming the ceremony. "Good afternoon dear friends and family. We are gathered here in this wonderful garden, one of the many points of pride as Alterrans, to witness the union¡ªor the second union¡ªof our beloved Althea and Garan Witt. "The journey to this day had been frought with various trials and dangers, but through it all you remained steadfast and found each other¡ªbecoming an inspiration to us all." They vowed¡ªdespite this world filled with uncertainty and death¡ªto remain firm in their love for each other, to stand by each other, to protect, and to support. When they kissed, the harp sounded again, and everyone clapped their hands in an applause filled with emotions. The audience had various reactions, but their hearts were filled. It is our honor to witness this moment, they thought, and their minds filled with hope to see more. Chapter 785 - 785: The Start of the Reception The reception was held in the same venue. While the place was being rearranged, the guests were invited to look around the gardens and socialize. While the bride and groom talked with most of the guests, they hang around more with their families and friends. Beany and Althea''s eyes met and they smiled, knowing their gap had narrowed again somehow. He then ventured off to help entertain their guests, knowing what they were like. "This is amazing," Althea told her friends, especially to Winona and Sheila who helped with the program a lot. "Thank you." "It''s nothing. We were happy while we were doing it," the blonde said, waving her hand casually. She didn''t forget to fawn on her dress for the nth time though. "Sigh, it really suits you. Andrei is such a talent¡­" "It''s very comfortable, too," Althea added with a smile. "Fortunately, you wore white, since it''s getting hotter," Sheila added, carefully wiping her face and then fanning herself with the handkerchief. Now that she mentioned this, the others also felt the same. "I thought it was just me." "Anyway, it''s cool enough under the shades of the trees¡­" "You''re right, you''re right." The group moved under the canopy of the nearby tree. They also received a lot of greetings from the guests and they acted like proper hosts under the shadow of the canopy. They continued to chat until everyone started sweating more and more. Garan took out a clean handkerchief in his space and gently dabbed the sweat away from Althea''s forehead, but very gently, knowing it could mess the make-up. He ended up hugging her closer to him with a hand as he did so though. Althea smiled and sighed, thanking him, though she did gently pat his hand, in an attempt to take some of his body heat off her (he was too warm, which wasn''t good in this weather). "The temperature is increasing. Is it summer?" "Is it?" Another mumbled. "Probably, right?" At this, both Althea and Garan couldn''t help but pause in thought. Xeno actually only had temperate weather in most areas. That, or the annual harsh weather. They blinked, certain thoughts on the verge of dawning¡ª Before they could explore it though, they were greeted by Garan''s team, who were smiling widely at them. "Congratulations, captain!" Garan nodded, unable to keep his hands off his wife''s waist in the end, and Althea could only succumb to the added heat. "I hope you enjoyed the party," he said. Garan knew it had been a while. The soldiers knew this and sniffed a bit. "It had indeed been too long," Mao said, heaving a deep breath. Loki beside him looked melancholic as well. "I remember back in Terran, I abhorred events like this," he said, in classic introvert fashion. "I found them boring and a waste of the little time I have in civilization. "Now¡­ I hope there''s more." They smiled, and someone patted his shoulder. "There should," Mao said. "Maybe we''ll get you a wife." Loki rolled his eyes, making everyone chuckle. Plaridel watched his friends and smiled, feeling a complicated mix of melancholy and nostalgia. "In contrast, my family culture''s the opposite," he said. "Our weddings are extremely social, even guests perform in weddings, dancing solo or duet performances just because they could." Mao laughed out loud at a memory. "I remember your sister''s wedding. They forced you to break dance¡ªHAHA" Plaridel gave him a look. "I was good." "Yes, you were very confident." "..." The conversation turned to one filled with sentimentality, and quite a few bouts of laughter. "Your family has a lot of great singers though, even the accountant, the waitress, or the nurse. All of them¡ª" Mao said, still chuckling at the memory of the various performances that night. Plaridel''s family really liked to party. The dude''s family¡ªno, clan¡ªwas so big, too, but sadly there was no clue as to where any one of them was. "Even Boss Gill clapped his hands for you¡ªthat''s saying something." Speaking of Gill¡­ This made the soldiers look at each other. "It''s been a few days since Gill set off for Iron Mountains, have we received a message from him yet?" Garan asked. Before leaving, they got Gill to bring a messenger bird with him. Because there was technically no lord in satellites, the easy communication between two territories via the Center was ironically not as straightforward as, say, between their allies or their subsidiaries. "Not yet, Captain." It was Mao who answered. He had been assigned to lead the Guard Station this week, and included in the scope of work were messages from the birds. "Hopefully, there are no accidents," Althea said. "The other people assigned there have also left, yes?" "Yes, they left before the wedding announcement." Before they could discuss anything else work-related, the events planners (i.e. Ansel and the twins Leo and Luke) called everyone back in for the reception. They went around the gardens, handsome in their matching suits, and gently asking everyone to head inside like expert classy hosts. The guests entered and the area was transformed into a reception area with circular tables and chairs, flower arrangements, with long buffet tables on both sides. There was also a relatively wide space where the altar and a few front pews had been, which would now serve as the stage. They smiled, taking their seats, very much ready to attack the food. However, they stopped themselves because they knew there was still a program. There was a very nice set of appetizers though. The waiters would bring each table a platter of appetizers like chips, french fries, popcorn, and their dips, and everyone had fun eating a few bites while waiting for the Grand Entrance. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The reception began immediately. It started with the classic entry of the entourages and the bride and groom (this time the band also used the percussion instruments, adding lively beats to the music). The thick-skinned entourages would also have amusing entrances. Winona would twirl beautifully and make a clean bow in the end. Ansel made a cartwheel while Beany looked like he was about to do the same, but ended up twirling in the end. Sheila was too shy and just waved her hand, with Eagle practically giving her a strong standing ovation (except he only had a hand to clap with so he clapped on his thigh the whole time). The classic programs with the toasts, welcome speeches, and cake-cutting was maintained. Today''s host was Fable, feeling pity Juni was not there with him, and he thought it''d be more fun with a cohost he had worked with a few times. Anyway, he did very well in leading the program and there was no dull moment. To end the first part of the formal program (before they went into party mode with various performances), the bride and groom were asked to dance to a song. "Now, before we fill ourselves with the delicious-looking food at the side, let''s welcome the gorgeous newly-rewed couple to the stage~!" he said, moving away from the open area in front of the tables. The couple looked at each other and held each other''s hands, heading to the stage, embracing each other under the eyes of their guests. And so, the next section of a memorable night began, which was good because a war was heading their way within the next few weeks, and it had already begun to creep on to them like a virus. And it wasn''t one that they had ever experienced before¡ª After all, it was a war with nature. Chapter 786 - 786: A Sweltering Reception Program Warning: Mature Content Squeezed In~ ¡­ Because the renewal was short notice, the two didn''t have much time to practice their dance. Instead, they just performed the one they did during their first wedding. They danced to the song Garan sang in his first proposal, and they looked gorgeous in the middle, dancing to slow music, and appearing as if they had forgotten they had audience and only had each other in their eyes. In many weddings, the dancing was after dinner so the audience could join in various traditions, like the daughter dancing with her dad, and the groom dancing with his mother. But¡­ they did not have parents¡ªat least not anymore¡ªnor were they fond of dancing, so they changed the program to have this earlier on, then shifting to more of a party for the audience afterwards instead. Still, this was a lovely calm before the lively, and the two entered their own world as they swayed along the lovely slow music. Garan''s deep orbs stayed on his wife, who was even more stunning than usual. When she lifted her head to meet his eyes, he couldn''t help but drown in those deep emerald eyes. Althea was pulled for a bridal shower the previous night, so he wasn''t able to taste her for more than a day which was torture especially when she was so close. Anyway, her softness against his as they danced along a meaningful sound made Garan particularly heated up. "We should do this more often," he said, leaning down to her ear, blowing his warm breath over her sensitive skin. Her eyebrows rose, not expecting it from the Ice King who abhorred moving his body (well, except for bedtime activities). He tightened his hold on her, subtly caressing her back and waist, sending warmth across her body. It wasn''t the type of heat from the bad weather either. She wondered if he awakened the fire element instead of ice. "But only in the privacy of our room, of course." ¡­ When it was done, Fable walked forward, thanking them for sharing this sweet moment together with them. Now that the more solemn parts of the ceremony were over, Fable suddenly took off his coat and turned it around, changing to a more colorful suit. "Now, time to eat!" Fable announced, perking up the audience. "We will be performing while you line up and eat, so enjoy the queue~" On cue, the percussion instruments resounded, adding a lively beat that changed the aura of the entire program. Fable''s backup dancers appeared on the stage, sliding there with such grace people would think they had wheels underneath. "LET''S GET THIS PARTY GOINNNN~~" DundunDUN~ TenenenEN~ When I saw you, my whole body heated up¡ª And it''s not just this damned weather (ad lib) Seeing you standing by my side, I felt the world was all right¡ª The group danced in-sync with his more upbeat romance songs and many of the audience standing couldn''t help but at least nod their heads and shake their hips a little. Anyway, it was a proper mini-concert and everyone enjoyed every bit of it. During this part of the program, nearly no one noticed that the groom and bride had temporarily sneaked out someplace else, instead of sitting down their assigned seats. Those who noticed only smiled and kept the knowledge to themselves. Ah, young love. ¡­ Inside the bridal room nearby, a certain couple could not keep their hands off each other. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The bride was pinned on the wall by the man, who was moving his hips with intense passion, placing chaste kisses on her exposed collar and neck. "Husband¡­ husband¡­" she whimpered, her mouth slightly parted as countless coquettish moans escaped her mouth. Her body bounced along with his movements, her cheeks were extremely flushed, and her emerald eyes glazed in pleasure. She hugged him tightly, as if encouraging his fast and deep movements, which Garan was happy to oblige in. Clap, clap, clap His hand sneaked at the back of her dress and unbuttoning one of the ties. He pulled the dress down a bit, revealing more of her skin and breasts. Garan leaned down to take a mound with his mouth, while his large rough palm that had opened her dress crept up and played with the other, moulding it in his hands. He did all these while his hips were moving nonstop, supporting her entire weight with one hand on her buttocks. Althea''s body squirmed and twitched under his various ministrations, and she could only express the intensity by her moans and grabbing tightly onto him. His tongue wrapped around her nipple, flicking it, before his mouth wrapped around as much of her mound as he could. The slippery tongue and hot mouth on her erogenous zones added a spark of pleasure to the intense barrage he was giving below. Althea''s body could only react by clamping on his shaft, making the man let out a deep groan in response¡ªso deep it sent vibrations throughout their bodies. Clap, clap, clap "Sweaty¡­" she mumbled, mouth parting as she panted. She felt sticky with their combined sweat, and she could tell she''d have to redo her makeup before heading out. However, Garan seemed to heed no mind as he continued his movements. Obviously, two days of abstinence from her was too much for him. "Don''t make marks¡­ uhn~" Althea pulled his hair back, just as he was about to make a love mark somewhere very obvious. Fortunately, Garan was obedient, though he made up for the lack of marking by moving faster. Clap, clap, clap! Thankfully, construction here was very good, even if it was manually built. Otherwise, there''d be cracks on the wall right now. ¡­ At some point, the couple sneaked back in their table, appearing prim and proper as they left, though anyone who knew them would call them ''nourished''. Andrei would also confirm that the anti-creasing properties of his dresses were ''top notch'' that day. The program was at its height now, with Fable doing a backflip to end his mini concert. "Now, time for the other performances," he said, and left the stage to let the band play their ambient music. "AH! Finally time to eat~!" Fable said, running over to the wonderful buffet table that had been calling on him for at least half an hour! Speaking of food, of course it was one of the main attractions of the reception. There were seven viands and a variety of side dishes and finger foods. They ate deliciously for a long time, and it felt like filling up not just their stomachs but also their souls. Most importantly, in the dessert area, there was a new option¡ªand one many Terran had been dreaming of practically as soon as they got Transmigrated in this place!! It was just taken out to keep them cool, and the people around looked curiously at the mystery bucket. When the waiter opened it up, everyone saw the creamy deliciousness it hid within. "ICE CREAM!" Someone yelled and everyone brightened like children, immediately going around the large tub guarded by the restaurant staff. Ice cream is finally here! Just in time! The weather was starting to swelter! Chapter 787 - 787: More Proposals Even while he was eating, Fable made sure every second was enjoyable for the audience. Ansel already thought of giving him a standup comedy gig in the future. As a host, Fable showed his sense of humor with his witty comments that may or may not include the audience. For example, he''d call out Beanie. "Our reporter friend is here by the way, as an entourage no less! "If you see someone taking notes and asking people about their feelings about Gugu bird or fish, don''t mind him¡ª" He was making a jab because Beany had been doing his newspaper job very seriously, and when he was investigating about the superior quality of their raw meat, there were times he asked for people''s "feelings" because he was so passionate about food. Beanie was still embarrassed about this. "Wait til'' I form a paparazzi group to hound you," he yelled back, making the host flinch and the audience to chuckle. Then there''d be times where he''d joke about the circumstances and himself. "I still remembered a time where I looked like a beggar and was one," he said, sighing at the recollection of his entry in Alterra. "I could only eat random fruits at the time, but now we even have ice cream! "The ice cream is delicious by the way, thanks to the great food developers of Alterra," he said. "I estimate there will be obese people soon. Should we start doing zumba sessions to keep shape?" Of course, along with ice creams, with the popularization of dairy products other desserts like cakes, custards, puddings, tarts, and many others have become available. The attendants of the wedding were the first ones to taste at least half of these new offerings and they could brag about it for the next few days. One of the pioneers of the dessert development was a patiessier named Osteo. He was a chubby blonde who grew up with cakes. Although there were plenty of people who knew how to make a few desserts, no one could beat his quality and was therefore chosen to make the desserts for this wedding ceremony. His eyebags were big¡ªthis order was huge and it was placed YESTERDAY¡ªbut seeing the happy smiles of the people who consumed his food, all the tiredness went away. That and he also got a very good deal with the supermarket for his business, so this deal was too worth it! Anyway, the Terrans went wild with the desserts, spouting compliments while filling their faces. The kids were adorable with their chubby cheeks, while the aborigines were fascinated as if their souls were taken. "This is¡­ so delicious!" Clutch yelled, lifting the plate of cake up as if it was made by the gods. "So creamy and just the right sweetness¡ªI haven''t tasted anything like it!" Such creaminess and consistency was so new and so fascinating. They couldn''t have enough! Troy looked at his girlfriend eating a lot. He patted her head, "Too much of anything isn''t good. I''ll let it be for now, but you have to control it next time." "Ah¡­" He chuckled and asked for a cup of ice cream and handed over to her. "Try the ice cream. Be careful, it''s cold. Eat it little by little." Brenda blinked and looked at the creamy ball that seemed to make many of the others¡ªwho had especially sophisticated tastes in her mind¡ªto go crazy. This ball was so amazing? She asked curiously and started digging with her small spoon. "Take on a small one," Troy advised. "Or it could get painful." Clutch who was about to eat a mountain-spoon: "..." Painful? Although he didn''t know why people would go crazy for pain, his curiosity got the best of him. He put some back to the cup so he could eat a small spoonful. Brenda also ate a spoonful and her eyes widened at her first taste of ice cream. "It''s cold! How?" "It''s complicated." Clutch was in a daze before breaking off of it and started to eat spoon after spoon. On the other hand, Brenda''s eyes were closed as if absorbing the new taste in her tongue. "It''s cool, comfortable, and delicious¡ªand it literally melts inside the mouth." The other aborigines followed and tried. There were different flavors and Troy said to choose which one they like best. Some chose Gouji fruit, some chose strawberries, some berries, and the like. Everyone''s eyes widened at the unique taste, texture, and temperature. Even Clutch¡ªwho suddenly had what he''d later know as ''brain freeze''¡ª couldn''t help but feel the same. "The heat dissipated! It''s tasty and comfortable!" Betty said, demurely eating spoon after spoon. "I feel like I can eat this all day¡­" she said, and the others agreed. Without exception, after adjusting to the new taste, they looked like they were having an orgasm. This was too good! ¡­ The final part of the program came and Fable called all the unmarried women among the audience into the clear space in front of the stage. The single ladies lined up obediently, looking quite excited. Even Betty and Brenda were there, though they didn''t quite understand what was happening. "We have a superstition in our hometown," Sheila kindly explained, "Whoever catches the bouquet would likely get married next." The two women recalled the dreamy wedding and couldn''t help but give expressions. Certain men also took note of this. Althea giggled and turned around, throwing the bouquet accurately toward the crowd but high enough that the trajectory couldn''t be exactly predicted. Unexpectedly two figures appeared, intervening. Someone jumped up, a pair of hands almost reaching the bouquet, but before he could get it a wind blew and the other figure ran to it instead. Ansel clicked his tongue, changing direction, and jumping to get it. Eagle was about to get it when someone cleared her throat, followed by his feet encased in ice. It was Althea and the captain, who shook their head and Eagle had no choice but to stop. He realized there was a plan, so he had no choice but to give up (for now). Ansel, a little sweaty from the unexpected glitch in the plan, managed to catch the bouquet under the eyes of many confused guests and a disappointed Eagle. Fortunately, Ansel had the advantage of planning with Althea so he was the winner for this. Ansel asked his sister for advice about the proposal, and she went ahead and asked him to do it during her reception. He was reluctant at first, worried she might think they were trying to make the event about them, but Althea smiled. She said she''d be honored to be part of the proposal, and it would feel like a continuity of sorts. Anyway, his actions were baffling, and people were outright shocked when he walked to Winona and kneeled down, making people gasp. "Winona!" he yelled, still a little breathless. "Will you marry me?" . . . Winona was speechless for a while before she gathered herself (to a degree) and looked at the kneeling redhead with deep eyes. She bit her lips and her eyes started to glaze with tears. However, despite this, she crossed her arms and did her best to look strict. As if she was weighing the pros and cons. "Will you still be mean?" "No." "Who will be the boss of the house?" "You." S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Really?" "Really." Winona pursed her lips, looking as if she was thinking, but her teary eyes, flushed face, and adorably shaky voice were testaments to how happy she was. Finally, she let out a defeated breath and waved her hand. "Fine, if you''re so desperate¡ª" She was shut down by Ansel''s lips on hers and the boisterous cheers of the crowd. Chapter 788 - 788: Iron Mountains While the atmosphere of love was prevalent in Alterra, it was a little more depressing in Guia Village. Or rather, the newly minted Iron Mountains. At this time, Gill was watching a handful of men as they tried to attack him inside the territory. One had gotten particularly close, only to get flashed out of the street and disappear. This was the 9th bloke to get thrown in the territory prison today. It was also the 4th former guard. The other two cursed, and changed their strategy to just contain him instead. Heh, at least after losing a few they finally figured out some rules. Not that it mattered, of course. Gill gracefully avoided their combined attacks as if he had eyes everywhere. He caught the arm of the nearest one and kicked the other. He twisted the man''s arm behind his back, holding him down. Gill then tightened his grip and the man patted the floor underneath in pain. "AHH!!" he yelled, and his companion, who struggled to get up glared at him. "WHO THE HECK ARE YOU!?" he asked, "HOW DARE YOU STRUT AROUND HERE LIKE YOU OWN THE PLACE?!" He yelled this so everyone in the vicinity could hear. They already had quite the audience, all the way since the first guard who attacked him, and most people gave him bad looks. "Like I said, I''m the temporary steward here, cleaning up the place until the new people come in," he said, looking at the normal citizens. "Alterra is definitely a better ruler than Baltimore ever was," he said. "Except for these bastards, of course." He tightened his hold even more and the man screamed like a slaughtered Broat. "By the way, I suggest you don''t send yourself to prison," he said with that droning tone of his. "There''s a bail of 20 gold for violence, and an additional 10 gold for attacking someone from the leading party," he said, voice monotonous, and his face didn''t change no matter how much the locals glared at him. "What?!" "New Rules," he said. "Since it has become a satellite of Alterra, its rules got reflected here, too." Gill was assigned here temporarily, and he arrived just the previous day. He would be staying here while waiting for the actual assigned personnel, after which he was allowed to go on an indefinite leave so he could go and look for Cassandra. When he arrived, there was naturally a bit of chaos after they found out the territory actually lost and the lord and all his closest cronies even died in the process! A lot of the strong guards had perished, and the walls were standing only because of the sentries. The previous day, a few monsters even managed to get inside! The only reason it didn''t go completely bonkers was because Alterra''s rules were mirrored there and some people found that overtly stealing and hurting others was no longer allowed as it had been. Most citizens with some liquid funds had already left, while the people who were stuck were either too poor, too weak, or too greedy. Worse was that during the first few days, there was no one who took the seat and claimed the lordship. After a day of absence, certain groups, i.e. the remaining guards, naturally took on the helm and they were definitely not happy to see Gill there. Althea even gave him Baltimore''s head (which had a few footprints) to show off. This place was made almost entirely of aborigines (except for him) and Alterra did not have the illusion that taking over would be easy even after the place had been successfully annexed. This was overthrowing the established power with a strange new one. Of course, there''d be a lot of challenges. "If you cooperate, we can guarantee you''d live better lives than when Baltimore was here. At least most of you anyway," he said, stopping himself from revealing anything more. He did not say that those who did evil during Baltimore''s reign would be punished but that was when their power was set and he wasn''t doing this on his own. The guards just thought he was trying to soften them up with the promises and gained a bit more arrogance. "Don''t you want to keep us, boy? Do you want the remaining forces to go, huh?" Gill gave him a look. "You say that like we need idiots like you." "YOU!!!" However, knowing there were mysterious new rules that hadn''t been announced, the men behaved a bit, though their glares remained to be scary. They stomped away, no doubt to bail their companion in jail, and probably plan their next step to make him pay for what he had done. Gill shrugged, not caring, and proceeded to go around the territory to observe again. This time, there was no one who dared come his way and start a fight. This was good because the prison was full now and the prisoners were already like sardines squished together. On the bright side, it made them more willing to pay the large amount of bail. Anyway, most people didn''t receive this money through honest means. A lot of these men''s cronies tried to get money from innocents, but thanks to the rules those people just ended up going to prison themselves, squishing them tighter even more. Only Gill was allowed to let people out of the jail, and he took his time walking there. When he arrived he saw them tightly squeezed, very smelly, and was hurting each other to get to more comfortable positions, his lips twitched. "So¡­ who''s paying bail?" Everyone wanted to. Those who did not have the money borrowed from others, though some weren''t entertained. In the end, about a third were left behind and the rest went back home (though not without sending malicious stares in Gill''s direction, all of which were shrugged off without care.) This moment caused all of the remaining guards and powers (who had wished to take advantage of the void in power) to decide to finally leave this place. Not just them, but a lot of people naturally went away. After all, without guards, how could the territory still keep standing? No one forgot about the monster mobs! Anyway, the guards and the others spit on the ground, yelling ''good riddance''! See if this place could survive without them!! They didn''t know that Gill watched them leave the gate with a relieved smirk on his face. Well, less work for him! Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 789 - 789: Aborigines of Iron Mountains (Part 1) It was difficult holding the fort alone, and he was relieved some bad apples had left on their own. As for revenge, although he doubted anyone would be loyal enough to Guia to get revenge for it, he''d try to prepare the territory as much as he could before he left. Speaking of that, the administration team sent wasn''t a lot either. He would have to hire among the current population. Not just for numbers, but also because they knew the place much more intimately. After all, they had to axe everyone with an administrative role in Guia. No one who turned a blind eye to such evil slavery was someone they wanted in their team. There wasn''t anyone who showed remorse either, they all just wanted him out and asked the guards to help them. It was his task to rebuild the personnel infrastructure, and he ought to start so the next guys would have a lighter load. He took out a piece of paper from his space, and it was filled with instructions and detailed ways on how to do this administration stuff. Miss Althea and his mother knew where his capabilities was not, so they wrote him a detailed guide for it. Every Elder had the ability to make announcements via the Center, and so were the upper strata of all the fields, including the stewards like himself. He walked over to the Village Center¡ªwhich was really plain in appearance, especially compared to Alterra''s¡ªand headed in to make the announcements. He wiped the beads of sweat on his face and next, he started entering the announcements. He promised good salaries and benefits. Those who would be accepted would also have a roof over their heads. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was the same benefit as the guards in Alterra, though many of them had left the dormitories in the barracks by now, after earning enough to have their own space. The other benefits like canteen food (free food during work hours) and guaranteed weapons would take a while, however. In any case, he asked people to apply through the village center, also for the accompanying oath. He emphasized that even the current slaves could apply and earn the same rates as the people with the same job. They would keep their earnings and¡ªbest of all¡ª they''d be able to buy their own freedom. Gill promised that they were free to buy their own freedom as long as they paid for their own fees of 5 gold, which was what the system required, but they would still be treated as proper citizens even before doing so. He also finally announced the rules of Alterra, which had many entries preventing anyone from taking advantage of its kindness, including taking advantage of the ''slaves''. The Center was naturally flooded with people, especially of slaves who didn''t have anything to lose anyway. They had mostly hesitant and cynical expressions on their faces, but there were a few hopeful ones. However, later that day, after he closed the applications, he would understand just how much different it would be compared to Alterra. The thing about this place was that everyone was an aborigine. They didn''t know how to fill out applications and such, and most of them couldn''t even read. The literacy rate alone posed a challenge for them to do the administrative jobs, let alone the inevitable differences in worldview. Fortunately, the Village Center would transcribe spoken words¡ªotherwise how could such a big percent of the illiterate Xeno population use the center¡ªand report verbatim to him, the temporary assigned Steward. The compilation was something he could access via the village center as well, with Althea allowing him to gain more access to certain information. Anyway, he stood on the platforms for hours before he made progress. In the applications, he asked to give details of their background and why he should give them the job. However, their submittals were just the basic name and background, how much money they needed, or how many people they needed to support. "Ugh¡­" Gill groaned in annoyance, rubbing his temple for an upcoming headache. Administrative work¡­ was really not for him. However, he did study them as well as he could. He was still responsible for this and he didn''t want to leave this post with problems for whoever was taking it. Besides, he needed the distraction every single second lest he go outside and run after Cassandra instead. After another hour of study, he zoned in on a few candidates. However, no matter how he looked at it, it was not enough. He wondered if they''d have to get some more Terrans here as well. Anyway, for now, he focused on those in reach and whom he hoped that he¡ªand his successor¡ªwould have the least problems with. Some of the local candidates for officers who stood out were a man named Poki, who applied for the head guard position, and a man named Gio, who applied for the assistant/secretary position. Poki''s application was about how happy he was that the previous lord was gone. He had been a slave here for 2 years and he was thankful for setting them free (in a sense). He stated that he now wanted to serve and earn his own freedom officially The big man used to be a guard in his old territory, which had been defeated in a war by the then-Guia Village a few years prior. He had been a meatshield for several wars, and was alive because of his skills and ability, and was therefore given a weapon to be maximized. Gio''s application was similar. He also used to be a slave, though he was ashamed to say that it was in the pleasure aspect. However, before his territory was defeated several months ago, he was a literate in his village and also served as a teacher there. He was very honest with his application and said that he was one of the people in Baltimore''s twisted harem. If Althea was there, she might recognize him too. In the room filled with women, a man with effeminate features was among them. This person was Gio. To think he was actually a scholar of sorts. This was quite good, especially for a village. Xeno was very tight about passing on knowledge, so it was very rare to have schools like that in villages, so Gill was very interested in him. He heaved a sigh and noted down the two candidates. He was disappointed no one else stood out, but it was better than nothing. Chapter 790 - 790: Aborigines of Iron Mountains (Part 2) First thing the next morning, he called on the two applicants to see him. He had to ask someone¡ªone of the servants who cleaned the Lord''s House, which he was currently occupying¡ªto do so. This was the house the new leading team would be using while the new houses were being built. This was the only one with a decent toilet and decent amenities, so they really couldn''t be choosy if they wanted to live with some semblance of comfort. As the occupied territory, Guia''s buildings could be built in the main territory, Alterra (not that any of those interested them), but the same could not be done to the extensions. Anyway, the two applicants were naturally confused as to why he didn''t just send an announcement to them. However, they followed the servant anyway. Elders and Stewards could make general announcements, but ''filtered'' ones or those directed to specific groups of people seemed to be a ''Lord-only'' privilege. The theory was that it required more energy for the system to do so, rather than just an overall announcement which was the default. Similarly, they could not send messages to citizens outside the territory lines either, even if they were willing to pay the extra costs for it. Pushing aside these thoughts for a while, Gill stood up and prepared to head to the Village Center to meet up with the new hires. Before he left the room though, he heard the tapping sound at one of the interior balconies of the large house. The Bird Loft was there and Gill''s feet moved faster to check it out. Sure enough, a Messenger Bird was there, and wrapped on its feet was a piece of rolled paper. He fed the bird its meal and rolled out the letter. His eyebrows rose when he saw its content. /Prepare to send goblins to Limestone Valley. Some guards would get there soon./ ¡­ Gill and the new hires met up in the Village Center meeting room on the second floor. The third floor¡ªthe one with the teleportation array¡ªremained accessible only to Althea. The two were understandably quite nervous. After all, they had heard of how many people Gill sent to jail. If he disliked them, what if they got thrown there, too? S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They tried to appear professional and likeable though, which in Xeno meant appearing strong. So when Gill arrived, he saw the two''s posture suddenly straighten like tense bows pulled back. The two tensely gestured to bow, "Milord¡ª" "I''m not the lord," he said, waving his hand. "I''m just a temporary steward assigned to fix things until a new steward comes in." This made the two a bit confused but they nodded. The taking over of territories wasn''t common knowledge, but it was actually an open secret among the upper class. They assumed that the token was won and had been sold to the new lord, which apparently wasn''t the case. They then returned to their tense postures, making Gill''s eyes to twitch. It looked very uncomfortable. "Relax," he said, "You look like idiots." His words did not make them relax at all. He sighed and sat down, staring at the two men who didn''t seem like they were breathing. He didn''t say much anymore since he knew he couldn''t comfort them anyway. Instead, he took the time to observe them and perhaps get more information about them based on their appearances. Poki was a tall man with tanned skin and light-colored hair, while¡ªas he thought¡ªGio was an extremely effeminate young lad that anyone could mistake for a female. There were no signs of arrogance or complacency in them, which he liked. "I will be hiring the two of you, but there will be a probationary period," he said after a tense minute. "If you don''t perform well for the next month, then you''ll lose the job." This made the two brighten and look at him gratefully. Gill raised his hand to stop them from speaking. "I am very strict." "Yes, we understand!" After making sure they truly understood, Gill then proceeded on sending out his first orders to them. He looked at Poki, "I want you to study and look for decent and strong men and women who wish to protect the territory. You will be paid well, at least 300 copper every day." "Three-Three hundred¡ªsir?" Poki gasped and Gill nodded. "If you do well after the probationary period, you would be entitled to the minimum wage of 500 copper." "Five¨C!" In villages, that''s a very good salary! Poki was very excited. However, when he recalled and memorized the instructions, he couldn''t help but pause. Perhaps he had misheard? "And¡­sir Gill, women?" They were hiring¡­ women? Really? Gill''s eyebrow rose and it made the two flinch. "Is there anything wrong?" "N-No, sir!" Poki immediately exclaimed, doing their standard respectful salute. Meanwhile, Gio stood awkwardly at the side and waiting for his own instructions. "Your job would be administrative," he said. "Your job will be to help ensure everything is in order¡ªin and outside of wars." Gio blinked, then paled, realizing he didn''t know anything about how to do that. "Don''t worry, someone''s coming from Alterra who will be in-charge of the overall organization of the territory. They will also teach you exactly what you have to do. Just do your best to learn as much as you can as quickly as possible." "Y-Yes." Gill looked at him. "Your job may need a bit more sternness than that," he said. "You need some training." He stood up and headed to the door. "You will come with me, we will be going around the territory," he said. "You will tell me what you see, and tell me what is wrong in your eyes." Ideally, he could hire someone who grew up in Guia, but sadly there was no one qualified as of yet. It was less about their skill and talent, but more about their worldview. Growing up in a place like Guia and having its values, it was unlikely for a proper human being¡ªone who could serve a territory with professionalism¡ªto grow. In the end, every person in its leading team was¡­ a foreigner. "I want to know how you truly look at this territory," he said, going down the stairs, closely followed by the two. He was not one for inspirational speeches, but he needed these two to do well, otherwise he''d suffer. "I want to hear what you think we should do to improve it. "For better or for worse, this is your new home now," he told them. "Then why not make it better?" Chapter 791 - 791: Iron Mountains Hiring Notice Before leaving the Village Center, Gill went to a stone platform to make the job announcement. [Hiring! Guards!] [Potential Requirement: Class D] [Requirement: Must be willing to fight for the territory, will not abandon post, and has cooperative spirit.] [Salary: Starts at 300 copper/day] [Register at the Village Center. Exams will be held tomorrow morning at the plaza.] As the trio walked outside, some people had already ran to the Center, as if applying first would increase their chances of getting the job. Gill nodded and proceeded to study the territory along with the other two. Iron Mountains was not a small territory. Although a huge part of it was dedicated to the iron mines, the rest of the territory was built with dense buildings, with a certain portion along the perimeters dedicated to safe resource forests. This wasn''t a surprise because the main component of Guia''s economy was iron and its slaves. It didn''t have as much need for other resources¡ª which it could trade for its iron¡ªand would thus not waste a lot of space for them. It was also fairly rich. So, unlike most villages, this place was characterized by two-story buildings, and relatively complete facilities like restaurants and wells. He observed the alleyways and the commonfolk who were just getting on with their lives. While there were no slaves anymore, he hired the old cleaners to keep things clean, while sister-in-law''s planning team would finalize what to do with this place. "To be honest Guia is far superior to my village and it is difficult to propose its improvement," Gio admitted, a little scared. Piko nodded feeling the same. "It is much bigger and cleaner than mine as well." The two looked at each other and wondered if their uselessness would get them fired. Gill sighed. Well, he should''ve known. Their minds were stuck in what they knew. To them, Guia really was the paragon of a rich village. "It''s okay," he said. "You''ll know better in time." Despite the two''s lack of fruitful suggestions, they continued to peruse the place anyway. Occasionally (very rarely) Gill would utter a few words. "This avenue could be widened," he said, referring to one of the main avenues in the territory. "This is to facilitate trade and traffic." "Oh¡­" the two would say, and they would recall many times when roads were blocked because people would start fighting after bumping into each other. It would also be frequently blocked because of the iron or other things being transferred through it. A few moments like this happened as they walked around, and most of the time the two would nod and feel a little wiser. Although Gill did not speak much, the two would understand his words and their implications enough to feel enlightened. There were many people around, a lot of whom stopped whatever they were doing to watch them traverse the place. Some even sent looks of dislike, but no one dared go against Gill anymore after what happened to those who defied him. At some point though, a woman blocked their way and for a moment Piko was ready to defend. Unexpectedly, it was a woman. She stood very tensely in their way, and it took a moment for her to gather her courage to finally speak. "Excuse me, sir, can I talk to you?" she asked, and Gio blinked as he recognized the woman. "Yllana?" This woman was Yllana, another slave. If Luis and Althea were here, they''d recognize her as one of the women who helped them find the token. Her footprint was still on Baltimore''s rotting head¡ªnow displayed just by the gate¡ªuntil now. Gill looked at the woman, and then to the two aborigines next to him. Although he knew Yllana was not a threat, the fact that Poki''s guard immediately went down when he saw it was ''just a woman'' would definitely get him a beating soon. Anyway, he stared lazily at the woman blocking his way. "What do you want?" "Are you hiring guards? Can I apply?" "I sent the notice earlier." "The hiring notice¡­ it''s a little vague." Gill looked at her weirdly. "No, I''m pretty sure it''s clear." "I mean¡­ you hire¡­ women?" "Look," he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "In my place, women could do the jobs of men." "We will simply be implementing it here," he said, "But of course, the women had to be worthy of the job and be willing to fight¡ªtheir tests would not be less than the men''s." Yllana did not mind the caveats, she was still reeling from his first sentence. "Is it true? Can we really?" Gill was really not the type to comfort or convince people. "Up to you to believe it," he shrugged, walking past her. Poki followed Gill without even looking at her, while Gio gave out an awkward smile. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Yllana did not stop them anymore. She just turned and watched their backs. She had seen how the man cleaned up those jerks, and now with the new job openings she would like to participate, make a life for herself while she didn''t know what better way to go about this. She had considered applying for the administrative jobs, but a part of her wanted to jump at something completely unexpected¡ªsomething she wouldn''t have imagined she''d be doing months prior¡ªas if it would erase everything that happened in-between. Before leaving, Althea told her some things that had been slowly lighting a fire inside her. At the time, she was just happy Baltimore was dead, but when Althea asked what she wanted to do next¡­ she came up with nothing. At the time, death was okay¡ªshe simply had nothing to look forward to. As a woman without a family, what else could she do? "You know, even if men could be physically stronger, women aren''t inferior to them at all," Althea had said, her voice gentle and comforting. "In some areas, we are even better. The world has so many facets, and there is a place for everyone to excel. "Women can also build a good life for themselves¡ªwhether or not they are attached to men. Try it, try many things, and you will find where you belong¡ªwhere you will be happy." Althea''s words rang inside her mind and her heart and she turned away from watching Gill, and faced the direction of the Center. Yllana''s eyes changed to one of deep resolve, and she walked towards the Village Center, ignoring the looks of the other people in the queue. She¡­ was the only woman there. When it was her turn to the platform, more than a few people watched what she was going to do. When they realized she was applying for the same job as they were, they laughed at her. "HAHA! She''s applying?" "Heh, a woman?" "She dares!" Someone even wanted to pull her off the platform, but he was pulled back by his brothers. "Oi! Do you wanna go to prison?" "TSK!" Since they couldn''t be too physical, they ended up just mocking her with words instead. "Foolish! Don''t embarrass yourself, lady!" "Girlie! I''m looking for a wife, wanna apply to my house instead?" Yllana bit her lips and remained steadfast, ignoring the various hoots and voices around her. No, she told herself, this time, she would make a world for herself! Chapter 792 - 792: Goblins of Iron Mountains Gill and the other two were not aware of the growth arc someone was going through. They were just on the way to the mines, to do what was instructed to him by the bosses. "We need to send out some goblins to the other satellite," he said. "So you will determine which ones would be healthy and strong enough for a long trip. We''ll need a few hundred." "O-Other satellite?" "Hmn, Alterra got another territory with mines, and the goblins are needed." Gill told them this very casually, but it made the other two gape. Capturing an enemy''s entire land was rare enough¡­ Alterra¡ªa fellow village¡ªhad two!? The other two couldn''t help but feel more and more curious about the new ''master''. "I wonder what it''s like¡­ and I''m also curious about those who are coming to lead us" Gio mumbled, looking at Gill with sparkling eyes. "Will you tell us, Boss Gill?" Gill''s eyebrows rose as he looked at the androgynous man. "I didn''t peg myself to be the approachable type." Few people would start small talk with him. Gio blushed. He didn''t notice when he started letting down his guard, but he realized it went down surprisingly quickly that he could speak so casually with a man like Boss Gill. "I¡­" Gio was a naturally bubbly person and was raised in a decent family who appreciated him and his talents. He went through a lot but he was optimistic in nature. Gill shrugged, not really caring. "Well, the territory''s in good hands. Learn as much as you can." "Y-Yes!" On the way to the mines, Gill wrote down a few observations and recommendations to submit to Althea, hoping it could help her out somehow. Speaking of papers and pencils, Gio was fascinated. Such a light and convenient piece of papyrus and such a stick that could write and be erased¡ª Back in his ''school'', everyone just studied letters in the soil. They would write with sticks and then erase with their feet. It was convenient and didn''t cost anything, but there were many times he wished he could carry something he could write in. When Gill handed him a few pieces of blank paper and a pencil, apparently giving it to him, he almost fainted from happiness. They reached the Iron Mine after a couple of minutes. It was located within the territory, but had an extra level 3 wall separating it from the rest of the territory. The foot of the mountains was the flimsy housing of the goblins, and also the temporary warehouse for the ores. At this time, it had a small mountain of them, and they would be moved to the Territory Warehouse at the end of the day. Climbing further up was the mine proper, and it was bustling with activity. They watched as hundreds of tiny little things flurried about, working diligently¡ª almost nonstop¡ªdespite looking very tired. They were working too hard¡ªas if they were still¡­ slaves. Gill''s eyebrows furrowed and went to them. He approached normally, but to the small goblins it felt fast and barelling and they shivered in fear. Seeing this, Gill immediately halted his steps, making sure there was at least a two-meter distance between him and them. "Don''t be scared. I''m just curious why everyone''s still working so much. It''s break time now, you know." They looked at him oddly, and Gill looked at them with that straight face of his. They all shivered under his stare. "..." He hadn''t even glared at them yet. He tried to school his face, though how could it be easy?" We already sent the regulations. This time is Lunch Break, and everyone can rest." The announcement was both written and auditory. The goblins could understand his words, so they should''ve been able to understand the rules and regulations. However, they looked at him as if they really didn''t understand his words. "You can understand me, can''t you?" "...yes, sir¡­" they said, their little raspy voices shaky in apprehension. "Why don''t you go and eat?" Gill was expecting them to be having a break and then he''d go and ask who was willing to go to another place. "We¡­ our meal time is only at night." Gill suddenly remembered most slaves only ate once a day, and his shoulders slumped. Eating a midday meal was probably a foreign concept to them. "You should''ve heard from the announcement that¡ªwhether you believe it or not¡ªIron Valley no longer keeps slaves, at least not as unpaid labor," he said. "You can rest and/or eat lunch. You can even buy food outside¡ª "Didn''t you check your wallet? Isn''t your pay there?" The goblins frowned but followed the instructions. They rarely looked at their statuses. There was nothing there, anyway. This was why they were extremely shocked to see there was indeed copper added to their wallets!! "M-Money?" "O-Our own?" "Yes, that is what you earned by yourself." Their already-huge eyes widened and they all whipped their heads to look at Gill. They did it in such synchronization that even Gill found himself stepping back a step, not to mention the other two who lost their footing. It had to be said: Hundreds of goblins could be really intimidating together. He cleared his throat, redirecting back to official business. "Like the announcement said, you are now citizens of Alterra who will have the right to free yourselves." "Alterra?" "Yes, it''s the territory that took over Guia¡ªnow Iron Mountain." "You are no different in rank than the humans now," he said. "So you don''t have to act so humbly¡ªthey won''t be able to hurt you any more than they can hurt other races." They gaped at him, though his words were probably too good to be true for them to truly absorb it. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill didn''t force it. What they knew was something so ingrained in them. Adjusting to how Alterra wanted the place to be would definitely take a bit of time. Speaking of that, another challenge in the Iron Mountains would be the integration of the goblin population with the rest of the territory. Handling a 99% aborigine population was hard enough, but now they had to deal with their integration with another race the locals deemed ''extremely inferior''. There was a mountain of challenges but, while he wasn''t one to be cheesily optimistic¡ªnot like Gio over here¡ªGill had a feeling it would work out somehow. Chapter 793 - 793: New Shrao Village Back in Alterra, the very festive atmosphere didn''t last particularly long because the team sent to Vismont had returned. Fortunately, everyone came back with their lives and complete limbs, but none of them were undamaged. Along with them were quite a number of refugees, who were at an even worse state. Because the territory was a subsidiary, Hubert and the others were not hurt directly by the guards there. Rather, because the enemies knew this, they targeted the refugees a lot instead. Because a lot of the refugees had to be protected and there were only so few of them, it was inevitable they''d be injured by the mobs they encountered afterward. In fact, had they not arrived when they did, had there not been an aether hospital, and had there not been surgeons¡ªa lot of the refugees would''ve died within an hour of their arrival. The guards sent on the mission were those not particularly close to the couple like Reno, Joe, and Lee among others, so they didn''t have to be in the wedding. They brought a few dozen refugees with them, all being treated in the hospital. "What do you think happened?" Althea mumbled, sighing. She was just thankful that no one died. Garan patted her head. "Don''t think too much. We''ll find out more when one of them is ready to speak." The couple was called to the hospital as soon as someone regained consciousness. The first person to wake up was one of the guards, Hubert. The guards and citizens were placed in a nice ward, allowing for comfortable recuperation time. When the couple arrived with Ansel (they encountered him on the way there), not only Hubert, but a few of the guards and the refugees were already awake. Among the civilians, Ansel saw that there were a few familiar faces. For one, old man Yao was there, and then there were a few normal citizens that he remembered because of their disposition. For example, there was the young girl named Okuri and her boyfriend Ronny. He remembered them because they were a young couple joined at the hip. They were always smiling even if the times were rough, and they were the few rays of sunshine in that territory. This made the contrast of their current states a bit heartbreaking. At this time, Okuri had wounds all over her body, while Ronny¡­ didn''t have both ears anymore. Ansel knew that Ronny was a mute and while losing his ears may not affect him much, it was still a very cruel joke to do. "What happened? Just talk if you''re fine. If it''s too painful, we can wait." "We¡ªUgh," Hubert mumbled but then he saw it was Althea, he flinched. If the situation wasn''t so serious, he''d have entered a fanboy daze, but the pain he felt all over his body was quick to remind him of what happened. "Hello, Miss Althea. Our mission started out fine. We reached the place without trouble and we entered the territory smoothly because there were a lot of people coming in¡ªaborigines, to be more specific." "Because we know Vismont, we were able to go around relatively undetected as well." "You mean there were a lot of aborigines moving in and settling?" Hubert nodded. "They called Vismont the New Shrao," he paused, recalling what they had determined before making a move. "I think their old territory fell or was destroyed, and they went to find a place to move." Hubert paused, looking complicated. "I''m not sure I should tell this¡­ but from what we''ve noticed, a lot of the people were innocent. They were just happy to find a new home, and such a nice one too¡­" Althea and the other Elders looked at each other. This made things much more in the grey area than anticipated. If the territory was just belligerent, they might''ve used strong force in retaliation. But a situation like this was much more complex than they''d like. "We left in groups, and when we were together, arrows rained. I used my elements to guard everyone, but the attacks¡ªespecially towards the refugees¡ªwere harsh and we had to work hard to keep everyone alive." It was likely they wanted to scare off other people from escaping as well. It was harsh, but it was common practice, and those refugees were lucky they were with Alterran guards. If it was anyone else, quite a few of them would''ve fallen very early. "Do you know why they chose Vismont in the end?" Garan asked, and Hubert shook his head. The former Vismont citizens, however, did. Yao coughed and a nurse went to him to help him out. They waited patiently until he stabilized. "Higson used to have an advisor named Cain," he said, "He seemed to have purposely led Shrao to our doorsteps. I''m not sure what he planned because I assume he didn''t know Higson fell out of power when he came." "CAIN!?" They turned to see it was Crow, along with his friends. They just arrived and went to check on the refugees. After all, they used to live there and wondered if old friends had made it here. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They did not expect to hear such news as soon as they arrived. Crow was both anxious and relieved¡ªanxious because why was that bastard not dead and relieved because maybe he could kill him with his own hands! "You mean Cain is there?" He turned to Hubert as if to confirm. "Early thirties with brown hair and sharp eyes?" "I suppose¡­" Althea and the others turned to look at the very-passionate Crow¡ªwhich was very out of character for him. "Do you know him?" "Yes! He''s infamous in Vismont. He is handsome and he led many women to their deaths. He murders them brutally, but he usually gets away with it until Matthew kicked him out. "I still think he got off too easily¡ª" Althea frowned, seeming to have heard something similar from Horus. Either way, it wasn''t good to keep him alive. Not including the heinous crimes he had done, he was also privy to a knowledge exclusive to Terrans¡ªand now he was even hostile to them. He was no different from terrorists, and he couldn''t be kept alive. Chapter 794 - 794: Another Unexpected News While Althea and the others were deep in thought, Yao continued to tell them what happened during the war. He looked heartbroken as he said it, but he pushed himself to say the words in case they could be of help. "We were a bit surprised when the war declaration came, but not too much because we knew that it was inevitable. Vismont might be relatively unattractive to others, but we still knew it''d get attacked someday. "We did not expect the enemy to launch such a desperate attack, however. "Many of them weren''t even slaves, but they attacked our walls like there was no tomorrow. There were so many of them and their equipment and levels were superior to ours, and we soon lost when they entered the walls. "A lot of people were still outside at the time, so I can only assume the other people didn''t take the array or were already nearby when they declared war. "They fought as if they had nothing to lose¡ªand I reckoned that was how we lost." No one spoke as they absorbed the news. After a while, Althea looked at Yao with a hesitant expression on her face. "How''s¡­ Matthew?" This made Yao choke on his own tears and everyone''s stomachs dropped, knowing what it meant. "I¡­ so many people died in that war," he said. "The lord¡­" Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Yao wiped his tears. "He gave them his lord token when they threatened to kill the people. He really had no choice¡ªthese people were desperate to get the token. They''d have done anything¡ª" he added, afraid they''d think the lord as foolish for falling for giving the token away. "Still, they killed him anyway¡ª" Silence reigned and everyone felt heavy, especially his former citizens. Matthew had a lot of shortcomings and he made a lot of mistakes, but he was sincere in remedying everything. He was willing to dedicate his life to service. He was young and had so much potential, how could they¡ªas humans¡ªnot be a little heartbroken? "I''m sorry for your loss." Yao held back his tears, obviously remembering the tragedies that had occurred not too long ago. He lifted his head and looked around, looking for a particular face. "Is Miss Melissa¡­?" They paused and looked at Eugene. Eugene''s expression had turned dark the moment he heard Matthew was dead. His heart broke for his lover, wondering what he could do to ease her pain. "Melissa fainted before, I suppose she felt her brother''s loss," was all he said. They sighed, patting Eugene''s shoulder. "Comfort her well. She lost the only blood relative she had left, after all." ¡­ Eugene went to visit Melissa''s ward after the meeting, heart extremely heavy. He just sat there for a while, holding her hand, wondering how he could break the news to her. Various thoughts ran in his head and he truly wondered whether or not just to hide it from her, at least until she recovered. She had been asleep for hours and Eugene patiently waited beside her. However, some time later she suddenly flinched as if having a nightmare. Eugene stood up, though it was abrupt that his artificial stick-leg lost balance a bit. Fortunately, he managed to catch himself on time. He saw her sweaty and scared and he shook her awake. "Melissa," he uttered, repeatedly, and she abruptly sat up as if in shock. "Brother!" She gasped and looked around. When she saw Eugene, she grabbed onto him as if grabbing for air. "My brother¡­ where''s my brother?" Eugene pursed his lips and he could not meet her eyes. Melissa''s eyes widened a bit and she gripped his arm tighter. "WHERE''S MY BROTHER?!" she asked, tone cracking, pleading for him to answer her. Eugene shook his head and Melissa''s eyes glazed, before she broke into sobs. "Noooooo¡­. Nonono¡­" She wailed, and Eugene took her in his arms. "My poor baby brother¡­ wuu¡­" she cried, holding on to him as if he was the last straw she could grasp. "My brother¡­" Eugene''s heart broke, and his arms around her tightened unconsciously, as if desperately trying to keep her tethered to him. She cried for a long time until she lost consciousness from the tiredness, falling asleep in his arms. Eugene didn''t know how long he sat like that. His daze was only interrupted when there was a knock on the door. He opened his mouth to answer, though his voice cracked a bit. He cleared his throat as he patted his lover''s shoulders. "Come in." The door opened to reveal an old nurse. It was Liana, the hospital dean''s wife. She entered to get the usual data and Eugene laid her down properly. However, he never let go of her hands, and she¡ªeven unconscious¡ªsimilarly held on to him as if he was her lifeline. Liana looked at the poor woman''s face and sighed. "She shouldn''t be stressed right now," she said. "Please make this her last venting. Avoid stress from here on out. It is imperative." "I know. Her poor health must''ve resurfaced¡ª" The nurse raised her hand, cutting him off. "Actually, there''s more," she said and Eugene tensely waited for her to continue. "We tested her blood with Miss Althea''s Tori equipment. I can also confirm it based on my own experience," she paused, looking at the unconscious woman. "She''s pregnant. It should be a week or two since it was conceived." "What?" he gasped, but he forced his voice to lower. "C-Can you repeat that, please?" "Melissa is around one to two weeks pregnant," she said. "And stressors could be dangerous to both her and the baby, considering the state of her health." Eugene gaped. It felt like he lost all the blood in his body and yet he was floating in the clouds at the same time. A week or two old fetus¡­ was his. Liana said her goodbyes and left to give them space. As soon as the door shut, he felt his fake-leg buckle, and he sat down on the chair. His heart clenched and his other hand held on to Melissa''s soft and cold ones. He leaned down as if in prayer, resting his forehead on their intertwined hands. And then he cried. Chapter 795 - 795: Melissa In another room, Althea and the others stayed to gather more information from the others. They spent hours there¡ªon their wedding day, mind you¡ªand they couldn''t be kicked out by the others, despite promising they''d handle it for them. "Did a lot of civilians and Vismont guards pass on the way here?" Yao nodded. "There were at least 50 of us who managed to get ahold of Hubert and the others before they left." The Alterrans naturally couldn''t make an announcement of rescue, so everything was extremely low-key and was passed by word of mouth. They didn''t even stay for long, no more than a day, and they scheduled meeting up somewhere outside the territory before heading back to Alterra. It was relatively smooth as everyone just wanted to go to Alterra. Even when they didn''t have the money anymore, they had heard Alterra had a bank system that could be used to take loans as long as they get a stable job or give collateral, so they didn''t have to worry about their lifestyles for long. It went smoothly for a while. Sadly, that bastard Cain somehow saw the signs and pried information from one of the rescues. In their escape, they were hunted down and captured, until less than half actually managed to meet up with Hubert and the others. Even within the territory, arrows rained down on them. Fortunately, the rescuing guards were strong and protected all their lives. Of course, because they were outnumbered, things quickly got dangerous, especially after they passed the gates. It was only thanks to the smoke and paralysis bombs in the guards'' spaces that the rest of them managed to escape intact. "I thought subsidiaries can''t attack our residents?" Crow asked, frowning as to why Cain didn''t at least get hurt when he caused so much pain. "Only in territory lands," Oslo explained, "The power of the system is limited, and they could really only fully work in certain spaces¡ªsuch as territories." This was how most rules only applied within territory walls¡ªthe ''magic'' of the system was limited, so it was focused on specific places to maximize its effects. "That bastard Cain really needs to die¡­" Dog mumbled. "He has caused nothing but suffering." "Well, at least you guys are okay," Sunny said with a sigh, though her eyes stayed on Crow who was clenching his fist tightly. Dog patted his shoulder while Sunny held his hand. Yao sighed. "I feel very sorry for the lord. He didn''t have a chance after the war was lost. "When the enemies came and announced they would not hurt anyone who doesn''t fight back, everyone just¡­ stopped." If any of the elders in Alterra were in danger, it was estimated at least half the territory would take arms. On the contrary, their lord¡­ Yao understood that a lot of them had indeed felt betrayed by the lord''s inaction back then, but it didn''t make it less heartbreaking. He was such a good young soul who could only make do with what was thrown at him. Most men his age would''ve done a lot worse, but few people seemed to see that. Matthew reminded Yao of the child he had lost to an illness back then, and although they hadn''t known each other for a long time, the lord was still somewhat of a family to him. He could only heave a deep breath, trying to breathe out the depression. "Just like that, the lord lost the token and his life¡­" .... Outside the door, Melissa covered her mouth and muffled her sobs. Her whole body shook as Eugene supported her. She could imagine what had happened. After all, she lived there and was privy to what had been happening. How could his people remain completely loyal to him when they found out all of his inactions, all of his shortcomings? But still¡ª "Brother¡­ my poor baby brother¡­" And this was all her fault. If she wasn''t there needing his protection, he wouldn''t have had to betray his people''s trust. How alone he must''ve felt before his death! Eugene was teary seeing her like this. He patted her hand, trying his best to calm her down. He didn''t want her to come here and listen to all this, but she ended up becoming more stressed so he had no choice but to follow her wishes. However, it was enough that she heard all this. He put his foot down and determined that she couldn''t listen to anything else until her condition was more stable. He carried her, skillfully placing her back on the bed despite having sticks for legs. He sat down to the side and gently wiped her tears. "My love, it''s not good for your body to feel so depressed, your brother wouldn''t want that. "You know how he wants you to be happy." Melissa gripped the fabric of the hospital bed. "I just¡­ feel so sad for what he had to go through. He had such a bright future¡ª" "Let''s not think of the ''what ifs'', not now. It''ll only make us sad." She sniffed. "But¡­ how could I not? He''s my brother, the only family I had for most of my life¡­" She looked at Eugene, her reddened eyes filled with tears. "He is my only blood relative." "No, you''re not alone," he told her as he patted her arms. "I''m with you," he said, pausing, and looked her in the eye. "...and our baby''s with you." Silence. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What?" Her eyes were wide as she looked at him, face filled with disbelief. When all she could see was Eugene''s warm, smiling face, hope filled her heart and its broken shards slowly beat again. "...what did you say?" Eugene smiled, wiping her snot. "You''re pregnant, Melissa." The looming new tears immediately escaped Melissa''s eyes. Those were words she didn''t think she would ever hear when she found out how destroyed her body was. In fact, she still couldn''t believe it. The emotions of her brothers loss, she thought, could''ve messed with her mind and hearing. "My love," she said, shaky. "C-Can you repeat that?" He gave her a small, but very teary, smile. He held her soft face, before the threatening tears really fell off his cheeks. "We''re going to have a child." Chapter 796 - 796: Urgent Report Back to the Vismont refugee''s ward, more and more people woke up. At first, many of them flinched as if waking up from nightmares, while others just stared at the cream-colored ceiling in a daze. Without exception, they sobbed when they realized they were finally safe in Alterra. One of them was Okuri, the pretty narrow-eyed girl, who immediately looked around to find her boyfriend. "Ronny¡­" she sobbed, standing up from the bed and went next to her boyfriend whose head had bandages all over. She was one of the people who got pulled back during the war. She was about to be molested then but Ronny went to fight them. The enemy guards cut off his ears while they were undressing her. He went insane with anger and it broke her heart more than what was to become of her body. However, fortunately, the war ended at that moment and everyone received the announcement that they wouldn''t be harmed as long as they didn''t fight back. She had yelled at the enemies who didn''t seem to want to stop their abuse. She screamed, asking if their lord was lying. The enemies begrudgingly listened, and she managed to save her chastity and Ronny''s life. At present, Okuri sobbed as her hands hovered over the area where Ronny''s ears were supposed to be. He opened his eyes as if hearing her heart, and she could only sob even more. "I''m sorry¡­ I''m sorry." She couldn''t help but feel so guilty, as if this was partially her fault too. They should''ve left Vismont earlier, but she got greedy and wanted to save up more funds before they moved. So she convinced him to delay their immigration, with them just joining the caravans to buy Alterran goods to sell back in Vismont. They had just made enough to buy permanent residencies for both of them, including ''buying'' contribution points from Crow and the others. They planned to immigrate in the next couple of weeks, but then the war happened. Even when she was bawling her eyes out, Ronny smiled sadly at her. He held out his hand and she shakily took it. Okuri watched as he weakly raised his finger against her palm, writing: It''s Okay. It''s okay now. We''re Home. It was supposed to be comforting, but it only made her sob even more. ¡­ Althea and Garan sighed as they watched all this. They were still wearing their wedding attire and it was naturally difficult to find the celebratory mood. However, everyone did have the tact to leave them (and the villa) alone. Garan knew she just wanted to rest for tonight and he gently undressed her as they settled in the room. He carried her to the bathroom for a nice, relaxing bath, and they didn''t do anything wild despite it being hard on Garan. They settled down the bed and Althea rubbed her head on his wide shoulders, feeling the lovely comfort his warmth brought. Her heart also warmed with how patient her husband was, always adjusting to her mood despite things being hard on him. She couldn''t bear to deprive him on her wedding day of course, so even when she wasn''t entirely in the mood, her hand on his chest slowly slid down, reaching his hard abs and all the way down his crotch. He gasped and looked at her with widened eyes, "You¡ª" She giggled and gave him a soft peck on the lips. "Well, it''s our wedding night after all." She quickly found herself under him and she could only look up at the overbearing figure of her husband. His azure eyes were blue but they were hot, as if it heated up whatever he gazed on. Althea could only shut her eyes when he suddenly leaned down to capture her lips, fully intent on bringing her to oblivion. ¡­ That night was filled with love, with their room oozing with the scent of sex. However, just as the two of them fell asleep, the bell rang. It wasn''t even just the bell ringing in the middle of the night that was irksome, but it was apparently a very urgent one. Althea shifted under her husband''s hold, half-asleep, and Garan patted her, telling her to go back to sleep. "I''ll take it," he said, though he was taking his sweet time getting up. Althea was really about to fall back to sleep when her eyes opened completely as another familiar ding sounded in her head. [Mathilda Ross and Melinda Bouer requests to enter your property] She blinked. Mathilda coming here at this time was already alarming, and Melinda Bouer¡­ was the lead expert of the Meteorology Team. Her stomach dropped at a thought and sat up, though her husband''s arm was still comfortably wrapped around her stomach. She was about to pry herself free when she felt warm lips kiss her spine. Her back arched in sensitivity, but she patted the strong arms around her. "Mathilda is here, she brought the meteorologist." This made Garan freeze and his facial expression morphed to a similar one of worry. "You don''t think¡­?" Althea sighed. "I hope not, but¡­" In any case, the couple let the guests in after they hurriedly dressed themselves. They greeted the two newcomers as they entered their living room and Althea was immediately met with a freckled woman with fiery red hair, looking at her with wide worried eyes. Althea then looked at Mathilda, who sighed."It''s best to let the expert tell you," the old woman said and the couple turned to look at Melinda, who was near tears. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She mumbled something unintelligible in her panic. Melinda was actually in her late thirties, but she had a baby face. Because she studied too much and didn''t interact much with people, her EQ also suffered a bit. In turn, she was very child-like even at her age. "Please believe me, Ms. Althea!" "Calm down and speak clearly," Althea said in response, her voice soothing. Melinda took a deep breath, hoping to express her worries as clearly and as quickly as she could. "The Extreme Heat will be coming soon!" Chapter 797 - 797: Extreme Heat is Coming! Melinda tried very hard not to cry in guilt, "I''m sorry Ms. Althea. The temperature has indeed been steadily rising for many days now and I was hoping to wait for a week''s worth of data before reporting, but..." She paused and seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating. Althea sighed, taking out a cup of water for her to drink. The girl gulped it down and resumed reporting. "But then the rise had increased all of a sudden," she continued. "Before, it was only a hundredth of a fraction of a centigrade every day, but yesterday it went up by an entire 0.1 degree. So it had been warming up for a while, but like frogs being boiled slowly, they couldn''t notice it. They had known from the aborigines that the weather in Xeno was relatively consistent (per geographical region) except for the massive spikes upwards or downwards of the weather every one or two years. They also confirmed it through their own meteorological teams, who had recorded data ever since its formation. Their area had very good weather and had indeed maintained a certain range of temperature for weeks. This meant changes like this, no matter how minor, were not a good sign. "That''s okay," Althea said, trying to calm the woman down. "You did good coming to us for this." "I¡­ t-thank you¡­" Melinda then excused herself and went away, relieved to finally let it out of her chest. She really couldn''t handle pressure very well¡­ S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, back to the villa, Althea was left with her husband and Mathilda and they immediately knew what to do next. That night, an emergency meeting was held in the Village Center. Including the elders, there were also Oslo and some of the hired aborigines. They didn''t have many people so the third floor was still comfortable even with their number. They went straight to the point, with Mathilda leading the meeting. "We called you here because it''s likely that the extreme weather changes have begun and it is extreme heat for us this year. "It may also happen within the next month, or even within a couple of weeks, even." This naturally made everyone else flinch. "What?" The others looked at each other, their stomachs dropping. Oslo looked at the old woman curiously, "How do you know this Maam Mathilda?" In their knowledge, the changes always happened all of a sudden. Even if there were signs, it was only a day or two prior that the temperatures would drop or dramatically rise. There simply wasn''t enough time to prepare everyone, so only the nobles and the rich (as well as those in strong territories) could pass it with better chances of survival. Mathilda nodded. "Haven''t we mentioned we have a meteorology department?" "Well, you did, but¡­" It wasn''t easy for them to comprehend it. In fact, the concept of molecules alone was something above their heads and it would take them quite some time to understand even a bit of it. "It''s okay," Mathilda said, also realizing this. "Basically, we have a method to understand the weather in a way humans can''t quite sense on their own." Speaking of, not including the new observatory, they had actually tried hot air balloons, though it was for meteorology equipment. They had to pour some beast-repelling potions every day so it wouldn''t be taken down by birds or, when they reached their area, flying monsters, so it was a bit costly. Fortunately, they invested in it. "Anyway, that department found that the temperature had been slowly rising the past few days, but it''s very slow that we adapted to it. It''s like how boiling a frog in boiling water worked." "...what?" They had forgotten that metaphor wouldn''t hit locally. "Imagine a¡­ say, a Juju Toad. Imagine it trapped in an enclosed space with water that can be heated up. "If you suddenly increase the temperature it would naturally react and try to escape¡ªas any living thing will do, whether they are sentient or not. "However, if you gradually increase the water temperature, it is a very different story. "Instead of a sudden spike in temperature, what if the change was much more subtle? "Assuming that there is no lack of food or water, do you think it will try to escape like its life depended on it?" The aborigines shook their heads. If the Juju Toad was comfortable enough, it could stay there for a long time. "Indeed," Mathilda patiently explained. "In fact, if everything it needed was there, it wouldn''t mind staying there at all for an indefinite amount of time. "Even if the water would still come to a boil in the end. It would stay there until it died, not knowing what happened." This made the aborigines silent, understanding the accuracy. Indeed, it was entirely possible there had been subtler signs. It was just that very few people¡ªif any¡ªnoticed. Maybe those famous soothsayers¡ªwhom the nobles paid large amounts for information¡ªsimply noticed these signs better than others! Regardless of those people, this news jerked everyone back to activity. "If it''s true, then we have to prepare at the soonest!" Mathilda nodded. "If it''s extreme heat then we naturally have to prepare all the territories to handle it." Not just Alterra, but also the other two! While Alterra would definitely be better off than others by virtue of the design of the houses and the landscaping, they still needed to do a lot more for everyone to survive. Even in Terran, the urban heat could get reduced by around 15% with just 30% greenery compared to an all-concrete construction. Partnered with the use of ventilation and the water sources around them, the ambient temperature around would be much lower than anywhere else. For the other two, because they were limited to existing building types, they could (for now) modify the terrain instead. She would need to add and move a lot of plants to distribute across the territory, add more parkways, and increase underground constructions. Water for Limestone Valley would be relatively more secure due to its access to mountain spring water. On the other hand, it was the new Iron Mountains that could be a problem. The people in the room looked at each other and sighed. This¡­ was going to be a long discussion. Chapter 798 - 798: Preparing for the Heat Wave They discussed the other two territories first because the issues and concerns for the satellites were much deeper and broader than what Alterra had to fix. After all, unlike Alterra, the resources they could manipulate in the other two were very limited. Other than adding parks, several underground construction was planned, and Althea would be assigning someone from the Engineering team to determine the sustainable sizes and areas for the population and their needs. However, it probably wouldn''t be perfect and they estimated a few losses in the population regardless, but they did their best to consider everything. Then they shifted back to Alterra, where they''d have a lot of control over. "Our water sources must be secured," Althea said, looking at the representatives of the construction team. She looked at Oslo and Brianna, the Terran sub-lead of the construction team, "We''ll need to create more reservoirs or storage ponds from lake water." Of course, the ponds should still be able to have other uses like park ponds. They would also build dams in redirected areas¡ªof course, this was not to stop the river water going downstream for others as well. ¡­this was assuming no one upstream decided to do just that, of course. She looked at Tanod and Mauru, the newest official captains (they were given a lot of contribution points by virtue of their roles in the Guia-Alterra war). "I need you to study the territories upstream." This was, so far, the only problem she could think of in terms of water sources (except for them possibly drying up). Just as the world had a regeneration rate, the water also healed itself after a while, so they didn''t have to worry too much about people upstream poisoning their water. However, they wouldn''t be able to stop it if people decided to stop the water upstream. It was normally not a problem because the river was wide and the people here wouldn''t have the technology, the skills, and time to build large dams, but in case of a drought, when the river would be dryer and narrower, nobody could tell what would be done. Alterra was fortunate enough to be close to not only a river, but also a tributary from the mountain spring heading towards it. When they expanded, they would also cover another tributary from the mountains, which was a very ideal arrangement. Of course, they could also access it even if it was currently outside of the territory walls. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, the main water source remained to be the river, which had an upstream (South) and a Downstream (North), heading to what was probably a bigger body of water. Maybe they''d get to explore that route someday, but now was not that time. The Xeno continent was large and there was still too much of the geography they didn''t know about, but for now, they could only make do with the information they had about the immediate region. "You may need to sprint and you may request as many health potions in the pharmacy as you need." Sprinting was really consuming of health and it was oftentimes not worth it, but this was too important in gathering information She really wouldn''t put it below the people in Xeno to cut off everyone else''s path to survival to keep their own. This surprised the aborigines indeed. They had heard of a few territories losing access to their water sources during droughts, but they just assumed it was because the river dried off. Now, they knew that it was also possible to be cut off by man. They also considered what to do in the event of the river really drying off. Even if their river was cut off, they still had the mountain springs. They would also build massive underground tanks using dense concrete lined with waterproofing membranes (which were improved versions of the material discovered by Honey Guevarra). They would definitely be laborious to make, but they should also be very sturdy and would be able to hold the entire territory''s source of water even if the drought lasted a month. They would place a lot of these tanks around the territory, whether they were underground and elevated, just to make sure everyone had access to enough water, at least enough for survival. It was a huge project, and very much a bit overbuilding, but it was better safe than sorry. "We''d need a lot of ice as well." "We need to make a very large cellar to create enough ice with saltpeter," Eugene said, scribbling calculations on a piece of paper as they spoke. Although saltpeter could lower water''s freezing point, the temperature needed for it to work was still very low. If the temperature went too high, then their current basements wouldn''t be cold enough as it was. Eugene and Winona looked at each other and nodded. "We''ll study it. If not, we''ll just improve the insulation." "Thank you." "A lot of digging and modification would be done," they added. Including improved and expanded cellars, there were also tanks and other things. "The goblins should arrive at Limestone Valley within the next few days," Garan said. The Steward team had left days ago. If they rushed and minimized their rest times, they should be in Iron Mountains by now. They had given instructions to send a few hundred goblins to Limestone Valley. They would just need to ask for a bit more, so Alterra would get a few dozen, perhaps a hundred, as well. Now that the basics of underground construction were on track, she turned to Gru, who smiled at her, already thinking about his own department while they were discussing. "I already listed the drought-resistant plants¡ªTerran or local. I will rank them and show them to you." Althea nodded. "Thank you." "Did we forget anything?" "We should add an article regarding this in the newspaper and send it to all our associates," Mathilda said, referring to their subsidiaries and their allies. "Can people from the Ferrol Branch read Terran though?" "We''ll just send them some instructions," Garan said. Not many members were left there as most were summoned to help with the Guia war. Mathilda nodded. "We also need to propose to the territory some modifications to the rules and regulations as well." The rest of them nodded, with Mathilda taking note of some important considerations. They decided to put out revised rules once the extreme weather changes were publicized. For instance, there would be rules regarding water conservation and the like. There might even be small punishments for those who wasted it. There would also be guidelines and suggestions regarding the use of more drought-resistant crops to farm in the next cycle, even for those who had leased their farms. There would also be guides regarding the proper way to use their cellars, the other ways to prepare, the safety precautions to be taken during such a disaster, et cetera. "We''ll need to impose a temporary tax to those who go beyond the per-person allowance for water." "Agreed." The group spent the next hour planning and formulating the rules and guides, planning on publishing them as soon as the major changes were witnessed. The meeting ended a few hours later, and they knew that none of them would be able to sleep at all for a while. Chapter 799 - 799: Lounging Couple After the meeting adjourned, the couple decided to stay for a bit, though they didn''t really announce it. "Let''s wait until midnight, okay?" She told her husband as soon as the other people left. Maybe they''d get lucky today. Garan naturally complied with a patient smile. "Should I join you guys?" Ansel asked and Garan almost kicked him. Althea raised a brow and looked at him teasingly. "Well, if you''re sure Winona wouldn''t mind." This made him flinch and, without further ado, say his goodbye. Garan nodded approvingly, probably thinking something along the lines of ''such is what a good husband will do'' and Althea laughed at his expression. Anyway, it was true. Although Ansel had a history of dating around, he always treated the women well and never cheated. Althea knew that Winona would be in good hands this time. She didn''t even mind their banter at all. Although those two argued a lot for the smallest things, they surprisingly got along well with every other deeper issue. In the end, having differing quirks or personalities was fine between couples, but having the same core values was pretty much non-negotiable for a happy long-term relationship. The newly remarried couple lounged on the sofa while waiting for the time, with Althea resting her head on her husband''s stable shoulder, and their hands entwined as they sat. "I wish we can get new good hires this time," she said, a little bit wistfully. Since the two armor makers, they hadn''t gotten any good hires again. She didn''t want to hire too many aborigines whose jobs could easily be taken by their Terrans after all. Not only was it not practical, but it was taking away good available jobs from Terrans. "Well," Garan said, "Even if there''s none, our Terrans will handle it plenty well." The two of them relaxed on the comfortable sofa as they waited for the next day. Garan began to play with her hands, rubbing her soft palms between his rough fingers, while Althea chuckled and kissed his cheek. "You''re getting stubbles again," she mumbled, eyes staying on his chiseled chin. His azure eyes twinkled with amusement as he leaned down and scratched his chin on her nose. "Hey!" she yelled and her annoyed look just looked adorably pouty in Garan''s eyes. He chuckled, his low voice creating vibrations around him, and soon enough their play ended up with Althea underneath him on the sofa. The atmosphere immediately heated up, and their breathing stagnated. Garan leaned down and met her lips, immediately parting them with his tongue. She wrapped her arms around him and cooperated until they were grinding against each other. Garan''s large hand was creeping up under her shirt, touching the edge of her bra, when¡ª Ding, dong! The large clock in their observatory sounded its bell, and because it was so quiet at this time, it was highly audible all around. "Ah. It''s midnight," she said, pulling herself away. Garan heaved a deep breath and placed a long sensual kiss under her chin, on her neck, before lifting himself off her with a dark face. This made Althea laugh out loud and give him a smooch on the cheeks. She then went to the array again and couldn''t help but look at it closer, as she did every day. A pity she still couldn''t figure it out. How magical would it be to have teleportation arrays where she wanted them? Anyway, she pushed this aside to start the hiring process, and the room was once again lit up with magical powdery holographic-like images of their options. As expected, the first one wasn''t appealing. A cleaner, which they could easily fill with their local population. The next one was passable, which was actually a level 9 fighter named Emer. It wasn''t that special, a lot of their guards were already that level¡ªand were all future elementalists to boot. However, it was so much better than the empty hires of the past. After choosing this one, a young lad looking around his 20s appeared. He was better-looking than others with good features, rounded eyes, and orange hair. Emer was a little shocked when the first thing he saw was a beautiful woman there. However, he felt a glare from the side and he shivered under the man''s strong aura. Emer immediately pulled himself together and immediately went to him, performing the standard salute. "Milord." He said so with a lot of respect. He was intimidated but also admiring. The man''s aura alone was impressive, and he was definitely a strong lord not like most of the others. "Wrong person." ??? "It''s me," the velvety voice of the woman behind him sounded and his eyes widened. He then looked at the man with an impassive expression and then at the beautiful woman who had an amused glint in her eyes. "M-Milord!" "No need to bow," she said. "And just call me Miss Althea. Civilians don''t know of my designation, so don''t call me like that." She remembered Oslo and Rowan often slipped back then, though always in beast mobs or other dangerous situations so the noise was enough to drown in. She wondered for how long she''d be so lucky. She ought to be more careful. Being an elder already put a target on her children''s heads, let alone what could happen if people found out she was the lord. "Rise, and just treat me as a normal officer in the territory." Emer''s orange eyebrows furrowed, conflicted. He had never spoken casually to lords! "Uhm, do you have a particular task to assign me to, Milor¡ªMiss Althea?" Althea looked at him in thought, wondering the same thing. There was no real need for him, so he was basically there to add some strength and variety to her already growing forces. Not to mention, it was late and her husband was getting a little antsy (judged by how the atmosphere got 1 degree colder), so she just decided to give the most basic instructions. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Emer also shivered when he realized the temperature changed around. This wasn''t normal temperature and he felt terrified when he felt the aura of ice emanating from the strongman! Did he do anything wrong?! Chapter 800 - 800: The New Hires Emer always did feel like he was doing something wrong. In his previous territory, he was fired because he apparently didn''t guard the Lord''s son well. He was tasked to guard the Lord''s 20-year-old son on his trip to a Town (escorted by hired mercenaries of course), but the lad only had play and fun in his mind and didn''t consider anything else. The man was focused on ''tasting Town women'' and Emer was asked to wait outside the inn while the master fulfilled his needs. Emer was forced to just stand outside the door for hours on end¡ªhow could he help him out when the other man fell down the stairs and broke his leg? In the territory before that, he was also fired. There, he was assigned to Gate duty. There were refugees who were extremely pitiful. They were hoping to get inside, but they didn''t have enough copper on them. His heart softened and he gave them a few from his own wallet and for a while it felt nice to help people out. However, those refugees caused a lot of trouble, and some were even spies from a rival village. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Had he not been hired from the Chancery, he''d have been buried with the spies. Anyway, Emer hoped that he''d do well this time! He looked intensely at the lord and her man, afraid to miss any instructions. There wouldn''t be much instructions from Althea, however. Since she found out that the other hires were welcoming newcomers their own way (usually at either the tavern or the restaurant), she forgoed the orientation and let the others do it for her. It was best to come from people of the same culture, anyway. "You can just go straight to the barracks," she said in the end, nudging her husband. "It''s located on the Eastern side of the territory and you can ask around," Garan said as he looked at him with that impassive expression on his face. "Tell them you are a newly hired aborigine that the elders sent. They will assign you to a task or a team from there." At the same time, Althea sent a message to the other hired aborigines, alerting them of the newcomer to welcome. Emer nodded and gave the standard salute before leaving the couple behind. He doubted there would be people around at this time, he didn''t dare to ask more questions. He just thought he''d figure something out along the way. ¡­ Because she actually got her hire today, Althea just emptied out the rest of the three slots without much expectation. Unexpectedly, in the fifth and final summoning, she actually did find someone interesting. [Name: Buggy Pooh Occupation: Insect Finder Remuneration: 10 Gold/month] Insect Finder. Don''t look at it weirdly and think it was useless. While it really had no application for the imminent extreme heat, it could be useful right after. First of all, such rich forests and plants couldn''t have been what they were now without insects like bees. But how come they hadn''t found similar insects? She found out more about this from the bird trainer Reddit, who had developed a skill that could detect where birds were. He mentioned that he also detected small dots that were even faster than the birds. They asked the former city dwellers about this and they did confirm that they had vaguely heard about it somewhere, though it wasn''t something given much thought by most. Apparently, like birds, human-useful insects like those with similar functions to bees had evolved to be¡­ nearly undetectable. It was beyond the sights of low-level humans like them, birds and bugs had their own domain, their own world, where their speed was normal. She had heard of the profession from Oslo and it wasn''t that common because there wasn''t much of a need for them. From what she knew, insect finders'' use was just to find the insects who had entered the territory. Although territory walls had some sort of barrier against harmful bugs and critters, it didn''t block from others. Otherwise, their messenger bird model wouldn''t have worked at all. At the same time, this also meant that the bugs that entered the territory walls were not intrinsically harmful. It was just that, in some territories, there were times they came in droves and it irked the locals very much. Humans here generally did not care whether the bugs were harmful or not. Even if they knew they were harmless or maybe even useful, the associations with the critters were too harmful and it was natural that they didn''t want to have anything to do with it. Insect Finders were generally hired to take care and clean up these critters, regardless of whether it was necessary or not. Anyway, it was an unfamiliar occupation and Althea saw no loss in hiring him. As such, the array lit up once again as the new aborigine appeared in the middle. Buggy had a bald head, large rounded eyes, and flat nose, looking like that middle-aged cleaner commercial popular in Terran. Unaware of the associations placed on him, the aborigine immediately greeted the two of them. Like the other guy, he also confused Garan as the lord. Suffice to say, he was very shocked to encounter a female lord in his lifetime. He was even more confused when he was assigned not to the cleaning team, but to an unfamiliar place. "R-Research Center, Miss Althea?" "Yes, a research center," she said. "It''s a place where we study and experiment with various things. This is where we''d need your expertise. "You will go to the research center and say the territory asked you to find bees," she said. "Bees?" Althea''s eyes twitched, unsure how to explain this to him. The critters here were very different after all. "It''s hard to explain. You''ll know more when you go there," she told him. "But wait until tomorrow. For now, go to Community B and you''ll find an abode there for you." He left and he was more confused than ever. However, at the same time, he was also very curious. He was already in his fifties and had been through at least a dozen territories that asked the exact same thing from him. How different would this territory be? Chapter 801 - 801: Upgraded Bathhouse Later that day. Althea opened her eyes as she slowly slid out of slumber, waking up a little later than usual. The sun was already a bit high, though according to their tower clock, it wasn''t too late. Apparently, the sun just went up earlier that day like how the day started earlier during summers. Of course, they all knew what this actually meant, and it just reminded them that there would be a lot to do. Althea stretched her arms to completely get rid of the lethargy. However, her movements paused as large arms wrapped around her bare stomach and pulled her to him. "Good morning, wife," he said leaning down to give her a morning kiss. Their lips rubbed against each other as they felt the other''s warmth. Before they could do one morning round though, a ding decided to pull Althea out of the moment. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Congratulations, your Bathhouse (Lv1) has met the requirements for an upgrade! Would you like to upgrade your bathhouse for 1000 Wood, 1000 Stone, and 1000 Gold?] Because of the heat plus the massive amount of contribution points given out during the two wars, the bathhouse made an unprecedented amount of customers during the past few days. Today, it finally led to an upgrade. Althea''s large emerald eyes immediately widened. Just what they needed! ¡­ When the Bathhouse upgraded, everyone was notified. The ones inside were given vouchers so they could return and enjoy the services. They were happy because they''d be among the first to enjoy the upgraded bathhouse. What an honor! "Mum, mum¡­" Koo Yu greeted his mother, who had also just left the building. They had been working in the massage section and they had been living very well from the salary as well as from the tips. While Mrs. Yu was still not completely right in the head, she was much better because of her son. She still couldn''t speak much, but she was more or less lucid now and could be talked to. Jane smiled at her son, taking his hand and they went to the gardens and settled there. As they approached, they saw a lot of people there, settling down in a way. "Mrs. Yu, Koo~!" Sunny called with a wave, and beside her were her friends. There were a lot of people settling in the surrounding gardens. There were also a lot of people from other parts of the territory¡ªthat was to say, people who weren''t even in the bathhouse¡ªalso came with baskets. They were going to have a picnic. Although a lot of entertainment facilities had appeared around the territory, to witness the creation of aether buildings remained to be an extremely magical experience and worth dropping everything to watch up close. Every time an upgrade or an erection was announced, most people would go out and watch it. Even workplaces were relatively lax about this, with the workers and employees just off-setting their working hours. It was a sight that the people would never get tired of. One, it was fascinating in its own right and second, it signified their home was getting better! When a building had a park nearby, a lot of people had a habit of watching the show with food, which to some meant enjoying a picnic! The Yus naturally joined Sunny and the others. They had been living together for a while, with the trio sharing ownership of a single detached unit. The two women were on the ground floor, while the men were upstairs. When the Yu''s earned enough for permanent residency and downpayment, then they''d move out, but they hoped to still live nearby the trio. For a while, nothing seemed to happen, though some people did say they heard a bit of noise somewhere. Later, they would find out it was underground digging. For now, the audience did not see this. They chatted for a while until someone yelled from the side, catching their attention. "It has began!" The crowd watched in awe as a blurry light surrounded the bathhouse. For the next few hours, they watched as the building gained mass bit by bit. They watched as more columns were added, as roofs appeared, and as the intricate motifs carved themselves across the walls. When it ended, everyone walked over to see more details. It slightly increased in size, becoming taller in height, though it didn''t seem like a floor was added. However, as they went and entered, they realized the Bathhouse actually expanded more downwards! The new floor¡­ was underground! Passing the grander lobby¡ªwith higher ceilings, more intricate designs, and fascinating scents¡ªand after the dressing room, the patrons would be greeted with a lovely archway to the same floor as well as a wide staircase winding down to a lower floor. The pools were much larger and there were saunas of varying temperatures as well. The rooms were larger and grander, and allowed for even more customization. Another feature Althea appreciated was that she had an option to make the herbal pools automatic (wherein she just had to set the resources it''d consume), so the staff didn''t have to put them manually. And from Althea''s understanding of system buildings, the effect of the herbs might also be improved and absorbed better by the users. The new lower floor was purely for cooler pools (for now), and a good third seemed to even be the ice cold water. They would later find out this would vary depending on the territory''s needs. For instance, it could be a hot spring if needed, though it''d require a bit of energy. "How interesting!" They gasped, with some patrons immediately jumping down to test, though most jumped right back out due to its frigidness. "Cold! Cold!" they''d yell, moving wildly to shake off the cold. "Hngggg¡ª" They shivered, hugging themselves as they shook. Why would the territory build so many super cold pools? It was warm lately, but not that warm. Did such pools become popular without them knowing? However, any change was interesting and everyone enjoyed their time in the improved bathhouse and the spa. Then the territory later announced that Extreme Heat weather was coming and they suddenly regretted being happy too soon! Chapter 802 - 802: News Early that morning, the messenger birds were sent to the satellite territories of Alterra: Iron Mountain and Limestone Valley. The allied territories, on the other hand, didn''t have access to the messenger birds and would have to get access to the news on their own. Because allied territories, and even subsidiaries, could get disconnected from the leading territory after the contract ended, Alterra didn''t dare expose too much of their current mode of long-distance communication to others. So, at least not until they found more advanced or updated methods, sending a newspaper to these places was already kind enough. Anyway, they¡ªBelluga and Bright¡ªalways sent caravans to Alterra at least once every few days so they would get informed by then. Speaking of the Newspaper, there were also a lot of copies in circulation within Alterra. The Newspaper¡ªnamed ''The Alterra Times''¡ªwas created to update the citizens about the events of the territory, as well as to provide some sort of entertainment¡ªmuch like how newspapers functioned back in the day. It could be read in the library for free. It would also be arranged in chronological order to create a sort of historical documentation for the territory. At the same time, it could also be purchased for personal use in the new bookstore on West Market Street. Here, not only newspapers, but also pens, pencils, papers, and other stationeries were sold. Speaking of the new Bookstore, when it finally opened, people naturally went crazy. The queue was long even when the purchase limit was small. Basically, a person was only allowed to buy a bit of everything¡ªwhich was just about the average use of a person for a week. No one complained though¡ªhaving a few notebooks and sets of pencils, pens, and ink was already amazing to them! Terrans were happy some conveniences they had taken for granted before were finally in Alterra. On the other hand, most of the Aborigines were taken to a whole new world. In particular, it was the aborigines who went with Jonathan that were affected the most. Because their social status allowed them to have more access to the papyrus and were literate, they were the ones who could really tell how innovative these things were. One, they had never seen such thin and convenient pieces of paper! They could be stacked up by a lot and were relatively sturdy. The surface was extremely smooth and almost white and the contrast to their writing made it seem like they were popping up! There were also such gorgeous pens that could hold so much ink at a time! And the lines had equal thicknesses! Their hands didn''t even have to be so strained because it was so relaxing to use! And pencil! Apparently, its writings could be erased?! According to the salesperson, it could be used to show ''shading'' (whatever that meant)?! Unfortunately, supply was still limited so the purchase limit was small, and this was why books were still not commercially available for now. Regardless, the Bookstore added to another unique market item for Alterra. For the associate villages, on the other hand, the newspapers were sent to update them of the events around Alterra. At this time, Limestone Valley received their copy, while Iron Mountain''s was on its way. The Loft in Limestone Valley was located on the meeting room floor of the Village Center. The upper floors of the Village Center were guarded by the system and, at least outside of wars, it was an extremely safe place to put the facility. Anyway, when it landed, Victor and his father were discussing a proposal for the development of an area. It flew over them both, with Henry being hit on the head with the larger-than-usual packaging. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Victor looked at the bird standing in front of him in awe. To be frank, although this wasn''t the first time he received a message like this, it felt like he''d never tire of it. Surprisingly though, the birds seemed to be carrying something bigger, a large piece of paper almost their size. The soldier took the ''letter'' from the bird, and it squeaked, flying towards its loft. As if no longer seeing Victor or Henry there, it happily ate the meals and treats there, and it''d rest there for a while until it was sent to do its next task. Victor sat back down to read the contents of the letter, while Henry opened the larger package. They soon realized that, along with the respective messages, there was a Newspaper written in the Terran lingua franca! The father-and-son looked at each other with wide eyes and they hurriedly began reading the contents of the newspaper and letters. They didn''t even have to discuss, Victor immediately called the team for a discussion. A few minutes later, everyone arrived and sat in their own seat in the meeting room. In Limestone Valley, the Village Center was refurbished to function similarly to Alterra''s, so it had its lounges and a few meeting rooms. The top floor with the array remained inaccessible and connected to the warehouse, and no one questioned too much. Anyway, this team included Henry, Victor, Vanessa, Benny, and the others. Now included in the inner circle were the young Amos and Juni, as direct representatives of Alterra as well. "Alterran Times, eh?" Benny mumbled, looking at the piece of paper passed around the team. However, some of the news was disturbing and his joking attitude immediately turned dire. "So Vismont Village has fallen," he said, sighing. The news was primarily to warn them before heading in that area, and to be careful if they encountered people from there. To be honest, everyone thought that Vismont was the most secure village next to Alterra. It was its subsidiary, after all. "It goes to show anything can happen in this world," Henry said as he shook his head. "We always have to be prepared, never complacent." The rest nodded and continued reading the articles. The article was written by a woman named Vivian, a known news reporter back in Terran and were someone from the former Fargo Territory. It was good to know the people who had moved there were making a name for themselves in Alterra. It was written in Terran of course, for now, so it was like a Terran-exclusive news source. More than the exclusivity though, it was done primarily because not everyone could read Xeno language quite yet. Anyway, the article mentioned that the enemy territory had permanently settled there in Vismont, now called ''New Shrao Village'', and comprised of immigrants from a fallen territory. While they didn''t seem to be openly belligerent, it cannot be taken lightly. It even stated that the average level of Shrao Village was quite a bit higher than theirs. Next to Alterra, they had the strongest human force. They were satellites so they wouldn''t be attacked (at least during the duration of the contract), however, the power of the system was reduced outside of the territories. Not to mention, Shrao could break away from Alterra after a year. "So we have a potential enemy so close to us," Victor sighed as he read the news along with the rest of the team. "And they''re not weak." "It''s closer to Alterra and they could handle it better there." "What else does it say about this territory?" Ken asked Benny, wanting to take the paper away but the latter was reading very intently. "They have Terrans in high positions. The most prominent man was a man named Cain¡ª" "What?" They turned to look at the source of the exclamation, a little startled. "Juni?" Victor asked in concern, his hand extending to hold hers. She pursed her lips and held his hand tightly, as if finding strength there. "A-Ah¡­ I''m not sure," she said, "I''ll¡­ tell you when I confirm it, okay?" Victor nodded, before returning his attention back to the newspaper. The group continued to discuss the news, absorbing it and hopefully creating a good plan to adjust. For one, they would be temporarily forbidding passing through Vismont. Limestone Valley was West of both Vismont and Bright, and all their caravans could just go through Bright instead. Victor led the meeting, and included there was the improved training regime for their forces. The discussion went deep, and Victor was completely preoccupied, temporarily unaware of Juni''s internal struggles. The voices faded to the back of Juni''s head, a single thought running through her mind. She grabbed the fabric of her pants. Her eyes sharpened and her entire body boiled in anger. Cain¡­! I finally found you! Chapter 803 - 803: The Meteorology Article The next article was written by a man called Jeremiah. The article was about Alterra being attacked and taking over another village. The headline stated ''Alterra''s New Satellite'', and it made a rough mention of them winning Guia Village¡ªnow Iron Mountains. It was naturally not too detailed for fear of giving too much information, and it didn''t show exactly how the enemy was defeated. What they did say was the strength of the enemy had an average level of level 10 or 11, and they had a lot of slaves including goblins. However, despite this, Alterra won with only injuries and material losses. Their lord, a level 30+ earth user, was beheaded and his head was displayed in the original village for all to see. This was extremely impressive and the soldiers longed to have been part of it. The newspaper also mentioned that all the slaves had been freed in the sense that they wouldn''t be treated as such and they could buy their own freedom. It was actually quite vague, compared to the first article, and understandably so. The largest article however was written by Melinda, a professor in meteorology. Victor and Henry had naturally read this beforehand, and they watched as Benny read it out loud for the others, and they all similarly paled at its contents. It outlined the steady increase in temperature the past few days, and how it was likely an Extreme Heat situation was imminent. "Is this true?" "It didn''t guarantee, but it''s best to be prepared. We all know something like that would happen sooner or later anyway." He put the newspaper aside, which was taken by Vanessa, while Victor read the letter attached to it. They were too taken in by the contents of the newspaper earlier they hadn''t actually opened the letter yet. His shoulders slumped in relief as he read the contents. "They''re sending goblins here." "Goblins? The one we heard about?" The others looked at him, eyes sparkling a bit despite their worries, and he nodded to confirm. "Yes, those goblins." They were very curious. They had never seen other creatures before! Ah, there was the half-orc, but that was a passing acquaintance. "They are supposed to help dig tunnels," he told them, "One was from the limestones to a new gate under the mountain¡ª" "So that''s what that gate was!" Benny said, clapping his hand. When a gate that couldn''t be opened (because it was literally opening towards the mountains) appeared out of nowhere, they were very confused! With this letter, they know why. Apparently, goblins would dig tunnels that would head straight to those embedded gates. "Then they will also assist in creating cisterns and the like. Also attached is the methodology for creating saltpeter." The detail of assistance lifted everyone''s hearts, their momentary fear of the incoming disaster dissipating by a huge lot. Henry stood up and nodded, prepared to work. "We should have professionals here who could do this. Especially since we took in a lot of Terran refugees." Ken and Benny nodded, standing up. "We''ll start hiring right away." As such, the group distributed the work load with urgency but with a lot of hope. "To think we would feel prepared for something like this," Benny said. Although they had yet to implement anything, the fact that it felt they had control over it was already very good. "True. The aborigines said it was always so sudden, most people couldn''t prepare at all." "Alterra¡­ is really something else," the curly-haired man said. "Of course, the mysterious lord as well." "The lord is definitely among the elders." Silence. However, they all just nodded, not really minding anything. As it was, everyone''s a family. The lord''s anonymity was to protect him or her and, by extension, it also protected them. Their discussion paused when they heard the slight sound of paper crumpled just a bit. It was Vanessa, who was still intently reading the newspaper. Or rather, glaring at it. People felt a bit hurt when they saw her hands grip the paper tightly. Not everyone could get acccess to that! That''s still a luxury product! It''s like she''s crumpling an antique painting! sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Victor gestured to take it away from her hands, though it was harder than expected, while the others couldn''t help but look over and peek at her expression. Vanessa bit her lips and her eyes were dark, and they looked curiously at whatever she was reading. On the other side of the newspaper, there was also cultural news and even comics sections. The comics were accomplished because Ansel''s lithography research¡ªusing the zinc from the mines¡ªstill caught up with the publishing of this newspaper edition in the end. For the comics, there was a hilarious skit of Fufi trying to get charm points for his wolf-love. Unfortunately, his perennial smiley face made the wolf misunderstand he wasn''t serious and always got the butt turn instead. Fufi then stole some meat from Cooke''s restaurant to take her and ask her to a date. This made the wolf pause. But when the wolf was turning¡ªwith the panel zoomed in on cartoon-Fufi''s facial expression of anticipation¡ªthe succeeding panel only had a ''to be continued''. "Cliffhanger!" Benny gasped, while the others chuckled. Regardless of whether it was funny or not, the fact that comics were available added levity to the atmosphere dampened by the news prior to it. Anyway, they continued reading the rest of the entertainment article, which wasn''t read even by Victor and Henry. After all, who''d have that energy after seeing the meteorological article? They just called everyone to a meeting as soon as they read the headline! As for the cultural news, it was a bit surprising even for them. It showed the renewal of vows of Alterra and Garan. There were even simple drawn pictures there, showing the very happy couple and the grand event. They looked at Vanessa. It was no wonder her hands were clenched and she was gritting her teeth. Juni''s eyes darkened and she smiled gently, very much like a proper sister-in-law. She stood up and leaned over between the siblings. If it was a man like Victor who did this, Juni was afraid they''d just tear the paper off. She held the girl''s hand gripping the paper, she frowned when she realized she really held it very tightly. They shouldn''t waste precious paper. "Let go of it, it''s crumpling," she said, quite directly, but her tone was gentle like water. To most, it sounded more like she was persuading a child. "The elders are happy and stable, it''s good for everyone, right?" she said, voice gentle and soothing. "Those two are so good and help so many Terrans, they deserve unconditional happiness together, don''t you think so?" Vanessa''s lips twitched and forced a smile. "Yeah, sure." "Can I have the newspaper? Those are still rare, a pity to waste them." "...of course." Juni then pried the paper away carefully folding it. She then handed it to her father as if she were the good daughter-in-law she had been playing the past couple of days. Vanessa''s sharp eyes watched the other woman''s back, and she saw the woman casually touch her brother''s arms. The man then turned and gave a small smile, and the two entered their own world. Vanessa''s expression darkened immediately. Bitch!! Chapter 804 - 804: Iron Mountain Preparation A few days passed after the announcement, and Gill was now standing like the tall person that he was in the iron mines, though this was visually exaggerated since he was surrounded by little Goblins less than half his height. A while back, there was a team of administrators that had arrived. He and Gio had spent days orienting them on the state of the place. However, more and more Alterran teams arrived soon after. They were to safely escort the goblins to the other two territories in preparation for the upcoming Heat Wave. Gill looked at the goblins in curiosity, wondering why none of them had chosen to leave. By virtue of giving people a choice¡ªbecause they''d feel more inclined to help Alterra if they stayed of their own volition¡ªthe goblins were also given the choice to buy their own freedom as soon as they were able. Alterra would never take a loss of course, so the little things were asked to do labor equivalent to how much their freedom costs. Gill had expected that the goblins would be working even more crazily so they could ''escape'' Iron Mountains, but surprisingly there didn''t seem to be much of a change¡ªas if none of them were planning to leave at all. This was a good thing of course, but it felt a bit out-of-character considering the historical conflicts goblins had with this place. "Can you tell me why?" He asked tone sharp as always, but he wasn''t afraid to scare them off because he knew they could sense hostility. Sure enough, their faces didn''t change. Instead, they just bluntly answered his question. "Dangerous outside." Gill''s eyebrows rose. Considering the goblins they first encountered all left them without care, it was obvious that they weren''t talking about monster mobs¡ªwhich they could avoid via their tunnels. So¡­ the Heat Wave then? Goblins could sense special stones and people''s intent, it was not a surprise that they could sense this. "It''s because of the Extreme Heat isn''t it?" he asked, "I''m actually here to ask for your help regarding this." This made them flinch but not in a bad way. Rather, they were shocked to be openly needed and with a human humbly asking for their help. "Is there anyone willing to move to other territories to do digging jobs there?" The goblins looked at him in confusion, before looking at each other. Gill rubbed his nose. Should he have called Silvia in here? She was the better people person. However, they didn''t send any of the newcomers here in the end. They were still studying the territory workings. How could they have the time to bond with the citizens, let alone the goblins? That left the only choice as him, the only Terran who had stayed here long enough. The problem was, he didn''t have a very charming way with words. "You will be hired, as you are here, but with different mountains," he said after clearing his throat. "You will be digging tunnels, basements, and cisterns there. "Of course, this is completely optional, and there are indeed some dangers in the travel, but we assure you we will do our best to protect you." He smiled kindly (well, in his standard) and the goblins looked up at him with various expressions. "Well? What do you say?" ¡­ Waiting inside the newly refurbished lord''s villa¡ªcleaned up very thoroughly by Gill¡ªwas the team, including those who would be stationed there. The leading military men would be Rowan and Reno, so there was an aborigine and a Terran representative in the military. There were also two civilians there¡ªKimura and his new assistant Lin¡ªwho specialized in metals. They were there naturally for the study of the mine itself, and perhaps to find more resources along the way. Diplomacy was to be handled by Silvia, one of Mathilda''s right hand men, er, woman. In fact, Jun was seriously considered for the job but he had a family who were quite attached to Alterra so Silvia, who was single (for now), didn''t have a choice but to agree. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The woman was naturally reluctant to part with the goodness of Alterra. She had heard of the ''horror stories'' of aborigine territories. She remembered Vismont back when they first visited there, with some teammates accidentally stepping on human feces on the streets. Although she remained calm and collected, she actually almost fainted back then. That was already a Terran territory¡ªthe supposed home of ''modern'' humans. She heard that aborigine territories were even worse! Silvia was a clean freak, and she naturally knew this would be difficult for her. Fortunately, her brother was coming with her to this place. And¡­ there was also Rowan. At this thought, she couldn''t help but steal a glance at the man. She flinched when they met each other''s eye, realizing the other was also looking. They turned away abruptly with slightly flushed faces that made Reno, who had been talking with the other guards, look at them in suspicion. "Do you think I''m missing something?" he asked the people he had been talking with. The guards, similarly lacking in the romance department, only shrugged, similarly clueless. Anyway, the escorting guards continued to plan their routes back to the other two territories¡ªLimestone Valley and Alterra¡ªalthough they would definitely travel together as a bigger group for as long as they could. They had to plan well. They would be outside the territories where there would be no rules or regulations to protect them, making it much more dangerous to travel. Goblins were expensive and they wouldn''t just be dealing with monsters in this trip. They could also be dealing with greedy aborigines. This was why stronger aborigines like the silver-haired Silva were also with them on this trip. Other than him, there were also a couple of soldiers. Anyway, this was an important mission. The goblins were integral to the survival of thousands of people from the three territories, and they had to be protected. From Guia, they would travel less than 100 kilometers to Limestone Valley nee Fargo Village, and then the goblins and soldiers assigned to Alterra would move from there. The level 40 Silva would be leading the Goblins through Limestone Valley and take the rest of them all the way to Alterra. In any case, the territory equipped them well¡ªthey shouldn''t disappoint it by showing losses! Chapter 805 - 805: Iron Mountain Barracks Meanwhile, the team assigned to stay was being oriented by Gill, this time they were heading around the territory for detailed guidance. Next to him was Poki, a Captain, as well as the handsome Gio his administrator-slash-secretary. The small group walked around and studied the place, not taking to mind the various looks and whispers of the people around. Fortunately, everyone was busy making a living so there weren''t many people gossiping about them. Outside the mines, the typical type of market found in aborigine villages was also predominant in Iron Mountains. There were hunters, gatherers, and those who process them, and they would do this over and over, day after day. It was bland and boring to Alterrans, but it was the way of life here. The major change that their takeover had caused¡ªso far¡ªwas just the lesser violence and maybe the activity brought about by the hiring notices. It''d take time, but they should be able to improve it. In time, the cultures would mesh better and so would people''s lifestyles, regardless of whether they were aborigines or not. Of course, they weren''t naive to think taking over people''s hearts would be easy. This was a place with aborigines as 99.9% of its population. This meant they grew up and lived with specific rules and world views. Handling this place was a far more difficult challenge than handling Limestone Valley. Soon, they arrived at the barracks area. The barracks in Iron Mountains nee Guia Village was a System Barracks. Like the one Alterra got from Fargo Village, it was more like a place to train specific specializations¡ªsword, spear, shield, or bow. It was nothing that special to them because, unlike local territories, they didn''t mind training others and teaching others techniques. Alterra''s (which they got from Fargo) was connected to the main barracks and added as a feature that people could access using Contribution Points, but they were never dependent on it. In Iron Valley, this was still very useful of course. In fact, at this time, the newly hired guards were there, training. More than 50 people were doing the standard exercises. Some were sparring in an area, while the others were using the barracks'' features. For example, some people were lined up in the archery range, practicing, no doubt receiving System guidance here and there. They were in groups, but the only two women were visibly separated from the others. They stood at least a few meters away from whichever group they were currently in. Silvia saw this and looked immediately concerned. However, she didn''t dwell on to it yet as she listened to the status reports. "We had already hired about 52 guards and are currently under probation. Two of them are¡­ women," Poki said, and his eyes couldn''t help but stick on the beautiful short-haired Silvia. It was purely of admiration, curiosity, and also puzzlement. After all, she¡ªalso a woman¡ªseemed to have a good position in the territory and it wasn''t anything he had seen before. Rowan frowned and stepped forward, blocking his sight. Poki shivered and looked away, once again wondering if he did anything wrong. ¡­ The group except for Poki left the barracks, and a few eyes followed them as they exited. Poki noticed a few people pausing though and frowned. "Go back to training! Do you want me to lower your score?" S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Immediately, the newbies went back to training. The salary was confirmed to be really good, and they naturally didn''t want to lose the chance! In fact, they worked particularly hard today knowing the new leaders were passing by! At some point, it was finally the women''s turn to the training area, and Poki couldn''t help but watch them closely. Before leaving, Miss Silvia said to watch over the women¡ªat least for the first few days¡ªand to ensure they weren''t being bullied. Yllana entered the swordsmanship area, while Mirea¡ª-another one of the former lord''s women¡ª-went to the Archery range. As expected, their performance was really¡­ inferior. They were slow and weak and they barely managed to pass the ''obstacle course'' test they set up. Rather, they tried to pass it so desperately that Sir Gill probably felt pity on them. He sighed, walking over to them after they were done. He was about to talk when he saw a few men stopped their tracks and watched curiously. Some even had derisive eyes, no doubt assuming the two women would be humiliated for their weaknesses. Poki''s eyes twitched and he turned to the women. "Let''s talk elsewhere," he said before turning to look at the others, sneer on his face. "Go back to work! We''re not paying you to gossip!" ... The two women looked nervous as they were put aside to talk by the captain. It had only been a few days, were they going to be let go already? Remembering their performances versus the men, they both felt a sense of dread regarding this conversation. They didn''t want to leave! They liked the feeling of training. It was hard, but it felt like they were growing stronger, and they relished that feeling. Outside the barracks, it was too hard for them to do this! At the thought, they couldn''t help but panic. "Please don''t get rid of us! We''re going to try harder!" Poki crossed his arms and sighed. "I wasn''t. I''m taking you aside to ask you to work harder than others, and if anyone of the men try to bully you, inform me immediately." This made the two women flinch. "Why¡­" "Why am I being so kind?" Poki completed their sentence for them. "Miss Silvia asked me to watch over you. She also told me to recommend action plans that would be good for you." The two women couldn''t believe their ears. "That woman from before?" They couldn''t help but remember the beautiful woman with short hair with Sir Gill and the rest of them. Based on body language, she¡­ seemed to have a similar standing to him? "Yeah. Her name is Miss Silvia, she is in-charge of the administrative aspects of the territory." "What?" The two women couldn''t help but look at each other with bright eyes. It seemed that when Sir Gill said that women could have the same positions as men in their territory, he really¡­ wasn''t lying? Chapter 806 - 806: Longing The group continued to mention things to note, as well as what he was sending the elders for improvement in the future. "I would hope to get a few more Alterran captains in here," he said, "And, perhaps, a mass migration is possible." Silvia nodded. "Policies could be made to encourage this," she said. "This will be especially attractive to those who couldn''t afford a residency in Alterra yet." There were a lot of policies to be done, actually, and some might be added in consideration to the majority aborigine population. Thinking of the challenges, Silvia couldn''t help but think about the two women from before. "Would those two women be able to cope?" she asked. While she could support them, she had too much to do to be able to monitor their progress. She was afraid their progress would be stifled by being in this place. Sure, it would change, and it could even be inspirational, but that would take a long time. Further, too many things could happen in between that would ruin everything. She was afraid that if mobs or wars happened, they''d get thrown towards the mobs. They could even be taken advantage of outside while they were hunting as a group. After all, even without wars, the rules were null outside the territory lines and anything could happen. It was harsh, but she wouldn''t put it past the men here. Although most of the ''bad apples'' had been kicked out or left, it didn''t mean there wasn''t rotten fruit left here. Perhaps they simply weren''t strong enough before and were therefore more humble. But place them in a position of power¡ªfor example, next to weaker women¡ªthey might just show off their true colors. She expressed her fears to the others, and immediately came with a proposal. "What do you guys think¡­ of sending them to Alterra, instead?" ¡­ When it was all over, the group separated to do their own jobs. Silvia was about to go to the Village center when she saw Rowan standing still, looking out the street in a daze. "Guia Village, eh?" he said, mouthing it quietly. "Rowan?" She called as she walked next to him. The redhead''s eyes softened a bit when he turned to her. "Silvia." "You seem to have entered a daze. Is there anything wrong?" She asked, wondering if there was anything about this palace that worried him. Rowan shook his head. "I just know that this is near my hometown," he said. "At least, I have heard that Guia village was only a few days'' travel from there." S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. From what he could estimate, his old home, Voumi Town, was nearer here than Ferrol Town was to Alterra. "Oh?" "Hmn. It''s nothing much." He paused. "At least not compared to Alterra. I don''t have family there either." Rowan said as he looked at her. "But¡­ I''ll take you there someday." Silvia smiled, a small blush creeping up her face. "Hmn, I''d love that." ¡­ Other than these two potential love birds, there was also part of the team who was walking around and exploring their new assignment. This was none other than the uncle-nephew duo, Hugo and Helios. "So this is Iron Mountains¡­" Helios said, casually resting the back of his neck on his palms as they perused the place. The streets were relatively narrow but the population wasn''t as high as other peak villages, so while there were a few people roaming around, it wasn''t as lively as the other territories. This was because its focus was on mining. A good portion was the few thousand slaves in the mines, most of whom were goblins, and then the rest of the village was mostly those assigned to process or guard the place. Also, they took out quite a bit of their forces during the war, so¡­ They had also heard from Luis and the others that the entry and hotel fee here was extremely expensive. So the environment was less populated than they feared. Not to mention, the Alterran Rules had applied here so there was a lot less littering and stuff. As of now, no change has been done in the infrastructure, but it was relatively cleaner than they expected. However, it didn''t mean there wasn''t any trash around. For one, sometime during their walk, they encountered a familiar scene of a man trying to pull a woman. He was dragging her to his house, and he was doing it so harshly that the woman lost her footing and her knee rubbed against the rough ground. The injury was minor, and there was no intent to kill, so it didn''t trigger the rules. Hugo, although angry, was much cooler, ready to intervene with a level head. However, the sight had a parallel and triggered a memory in Helios'' mind, causing him to act a bit more strongly. "Hey, stop it!" Helios yelled, about to lunge towards the man. He was stopped by his uncle in time. Helios frowned at his uncle''s strong grip on his shoulder, but could not ask much because he already placed himself between him and the aborigine. Hugo kept his hot-headed nephew behind him and coolly looked at the man. "Don''t you know you''ll get a yellow card?" "A what?" "You must be new here," he said. "Or is it that you didn''t read the rules?" "Heh, rules. What would puny guys like you talk to me about rules!" This confirmed that this man had just arrived. He was probably a citizen who travelled elsewhere and had just returned, completely unaware about how much had changed. "I''m sorry but we cannot let you have the woman. She obviously disagrees to come with you." Hugo paused and looked at the woman in confirmation. "Am I right? You can be honest." The girl was teary and nodded repeatedly. The man sneered, believing the woman''s opinion didn''t matter. He got livid when Hugo pulled his hand off the girl''s hair and asked her to step away, telling her they''d be able to handle it. The man gritted his teeth. What made them think he could be ''handled'' by them?! Their levels were lower than his! He raised his fist, intent on attacking, and showing them just how different their strengths were. However, before the punch could connect, he disappeared. And so, Iron Mountain''s prison added another tenant. Hugo''s expression didn''t change at all and he turned to the shaking woman who was gaping at them. "You can go now," he said, and the blushing woman looked at him like he was the messiah. She looked him with eyes filled with admiration. "T-Thank you!" "We''re guards, we''re just doing our jobs," Hugo said blandly, and he thought she would scurry away and leave them alone. However, the woman''s sights didn''t leave him. He looked awkward at this and pulled his nephew away so they could continue looking around. Normally, the younger man would be teasing him by now. Instead, he was just silent. Hugo couldn''t help but take another look at the younger man. "What''s wrong with you? That was an unnecessarily passionate response," he said. Guards couldn''t be so emotional in handling scuffles, especially when no one was dying. At his question, Helios blushed a bit. "I¡­ I just remembered some stuff," he said, but without any plan on explaining further. Seeing as he didn''t want to talk about it, Hugo didn''t push him. While they walked, inexplicably, Helios fell into a daze as he thought of that woman. He remembered that heated night, and the feeling of her against him. He could still remember her pretty blue eyes and sand-colored hair, and his heart clenched in longing. Ah, damnit. He missed her. Chapter 807 - 807: Finally Departing (Part 1) Early the next day, the team met up again as scheduled, but this time for some final departure instructions and the like. The whole territory shook as they saw hundreds of goblins lined up neatly¡ªuntied¡ªfollowing Gill. Where are they going? Was the most commonly asked question around the streets that day. Among these looks were naturally greed and Gill and the others tried to take note of as many as they could. This was inevitable. Goblins were really too attractive, but they needed them too urgently to hold back. They already expected quite a few attacks heading their way during their travels. Fortunately, except for a few level 20 mercenaries around, the rest were at the level of villages. Hopefully, whatever scuffle happened, no one would be seriously hurt. Speaking of the level 20 mercenaries, some of the people who seemed open about their greed was the Yutot Mercenary Team. They were watching the parade from the side, and didn''t even bother hiding their discussions. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "That''s a lot of goblins¡­" "Didn''t the lord of Voumi Town express his need for a few?" They were technically locals in Guia Village, assigned by a partnering town years prior. They had been maximized until they were level 15, however at some point they couldn''t handle the stagnancy and travelled to and fro towns (usually Voumi), also to trade and make money. They were given some independence and were registered as Mercenaries in Voumi Town. Voumi Town had better incentives for mercenaries versus Ferrol Town, particularly considering the kind of team they were, so although Ferrol was technically nearer to them, they opted to partner with the other instead. Anyway, they were gone for a few weeks, staying in Voumi and finally becoming a formal Mercenary Team. They did not expect so much to have changed when they returned. The leader, Shon, looked at his companions. "Hey, did anyone see Rod?" Rob was one of their main members. He landed level 20 already and had become even more arrogant. Was he too busy with his women to forget their rendezvous? No one could answer for a while, but no one moved, their eyes focused on watching the line of goblins as they headed to the gates. They memorized the forces with them, analyzing if they could be taken on. Some of the more troublesome people like that Gill and Rowan didn''t seem to be coming with this group, which was good. This left that chubby man¡ªwho was also in his level 20s¡ªto be their greatest threat. Looking at how he was jumping around and teasing his teammates, and seeing how he was being excessively friendly he was to the goblins¡ªto be honest, his level was soon forgotten and so was his threat level. There was also the younger one, but the rest of them were less than level 15, which was easy. The Yotut Mercenary Team was a 50-member group. They had also recruited a few low-level people from Voumi Town looking for a group. They all headed to Guia to settle and rule their own part of the territory there. They had a pretty good deal with Baltimore, and they could occupy a piece of land as base. Towns were out of their league and they were perfectly content to settle in a village¡ªespecially if it was the best Village in the region. When they found out Baltimore''s rotting head right by the gate, they knew things had changed. However, rather than be angry, they were glad. This meant that Baltimore¡ªa level 30 bastard with the backing of a city¡ª was gone and they didn''t have to answer to him anymore. Rather than just occuppy a small piece of land, they could take the whole thing! If the Masters found out about the change in ownership, they would just declare that they took it back from the people who killed Baltimore! They might even get rewarded! They were actually meeting up to consolidate the information they had and make a plan. That bastard Rod decided he was horny and couldn''t think well, so he went away and did his own thing. Shod didn''t mind. That man was more brawn than brain, anyway. However, before they could even start discussing, one of their scouts ran towards them, pale. "I found where Rod is," he said, gasping. Shod looked at him with a deep frown on his face. "Speak." "He was sent to prison!" This made everyone turn to him in disbelief. "What?" "It''s the damned new rules," the scout said after taking a couple of breaths. "We can''t seriously injure people or even have the intent¡ªwe''ll get transported out to the prison directly!" The members all had indignant faces. They were among the strongest forces here in Guia back then, but they didn''t become guards. Baltimore didn''t mind because they always sent him a lot of money, and they helped out when they could. They would also buy Black Metal for a good price, and they''d sell them to other territories like Voumi Town for a much higher price. As they trained, they also earned money, which eventually allowed the group to grow so much. In Guia, the citizens would always look at them with fear and respect. When they returned¡ªas a formal mercenary team, no less¡ªthey expected to receive more reverence. Instead, those who knew them would find a way to avoid talking with them, and those who didn''t didn''t send them a second look! Shon''s expression darkened, and he looked at the humans followed by the Goblins. Goblins were desired resources, especially when they had succumbed and weren''t trying to kill themselves. Voumi Town had been buying those rats for a very good amount, even more than Ferrol Town. If they traded these things for help to take over Guia, then it would be a win-win. After all, Black Metal was also a desired item. "Just in time," he said, metaphorically sharpening his knives. "Let''s go! We will show them their place!" Chapter 808 - 808: Finally Departing (Part 2) For now, Gill and the others were not aware of exactly what was brewing. They were focused on planning the trip home. "I got 490 goblins to agree to go with me," Gill said. "Most of them would go to Limestone Valley, and the rest would head to Alterra." This was a good number and it still left at least a thousand more inside. According to the instructions delivered by the escorts, most of these would go to Limestone Valley, while about a hundred would settle in Alterra to help out with the Heat Wave preparations. They nodded, dividing themselves into teams so the guards would have assignments. This was to make sure that all the goblins reached the destinations safe and sound. The guards, though mostly normal guards within the level cap, were led by a few stronger soldiers like Mao and Luis. Silva went out early that morning to clear the way. Among the guards, interestingly, there were two non-Alterrans there. They were both women, and the only female members of the Iron Mountains Guard team, Yllana and Mirea. They looked a bit tense, surrounded by new people, but also hopeful. The previous night, they were called on to his home by Master Gill. It was pretty late and the associations, considering their experiences, led them to make some unsavory assumptions. A part of them thought they''d be asked to bed him. This made them a little sad, though they didn''t fight it. Master Gill was still a thousand times better than Baltimore. However, they were surprised to see Miss Silvia there instead. She was waiting for them on the dining table, with light snacks and tea for three prepared. "Come and sit. Let''s have a little talk," she said. She was so beautiful and graceful, and the two women couldn''t help but admire her. The two of them reluctantly sat down at the same table. When Silvia also asked them to drink and eat, they followed, though not expecting much. When the drink touched their lips and the cookies melted in their tongues though, the two women went blank in a daze, absorbing what they had just tasted, and started eating the rest of it with gusto. They flushed when they realized what they did, but Silvia just laughed at their reaction. "It''s a common snack in Alterra. As long as you have a job, you can afford to have that every few days. Maybe even every day." The two women blinked, longing but also puzzled. "Now¡­ I called you here because of that. "Rest well and prepare your things, you''re going to Alterra." "What?" "Really?" Silvia smiled. "Yes, really." The two couldn''t help but look at the woman, pushing a few boundaries to ask the question. If it was Master Gill, they wouldn''t have dared, but perhaps because Silvia was a fellow woman, they couldn''t help but want to try. "What is Alterra like?" Yllana asked. "I mean, for people like us¡­" She pursed her lips when she realized her question was vague. However, Silvia understood. "Alterra¡­ it''s a place where as long as you work hard and have the heart to contribute¡ªyou''d be able to live well." ¡­ The time for departure finally arrived and the massive group exited via the Northeast Gate. Before leaving though, the guards couldn''t help but look at the hundreds of goblins they had following them. They were really small and fragile-looking, and it triggered a few protective instincts among the few of them. There were also a few aborigines who wished to come. Some were quite suspicious, but they couldn''t exactly keep them from following either. The Alterrans just made it clear that they wouldn''t be protecting anyone else so they''d be coming at their own risk. There were a few people grumbling, though they followed anyway. The large group headed out like so, and they travelled peacefully for about half an hour. The guards easily dealt with the mobs that came through, though there were few, presumably because of Silva. However, because there were hundreds of them in this party, it was inevitable that quite a few mobs would still be attracted. Fortunately, most of them pulled their own weight. Everyone, when approached by monsters, would fight against it. Well, in the case of the civilians, they''d only defend themselves when it was right next to them, but they would not be putting much effort into it. Sometimes, they''d even direct the monsters elsewhere, likely the guards or the goblins. Fortunately, every Alterran was trained well and in all situations. They always kept their cool and handled it, though they did not forget to remember the civilians who decided to make trouble. Even the goblins were more helpful than the human civilians with higher levels than they had. Though they were small and weak, their cooperation was really no joke. To be honest, it was a bit unexpected because their impression of them was that they were really... meek. At the same time, they shouldn''t have been that surprised. After all, they saw how goblins performed during wars when they were fighting for themselves. Anyway, their fights were quite interesting to watch. Sure, they still needed to be guarded and most of the monsters had to be kept away from them, but for the few monsters that came their way, they really handled it well. For example, a group of goblins would immobilize the monster by taking a leg each, then the rest would mob and attack its weak spot¡ªsomething that was hit with impressive speed. In another area, a group would distract a monster while the rest barraged it with attacks. It was really efficient, and the Alterrans soon realized that the goblins could also detect the weaknesses of creatures! Mao and the others were a bit enlightened by this. It so happened that they hadn''t ''mapped'' the monsters in this area yet so many of them weren''t too familiar with their weaknesses yet. "Watch where the goblins focus their hits, and target that!" he said to the guards, whose efficiency spiked right after that. Slash! Bang! Slit! The small mob was handled after a few minutes with little to no injuries among the humans, and a few on the goblins'' side. When it was over, Mao went over to the Goblins, handing over a few healing potions to the injured ones. Their large eyes looked at him in apprehension and curiosity, but they definitely did not expect a direct compliment. "Good job little guys," he said, smiling. "You really helped us out there." S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 809 - 809: A Small Blockage (Part 1) "Good job little guys," Mao said, smiling. "You really helped us out there." The goblins gaped and they tilted their heads down a bit. Their pointed ears softened a little, and the humans reckoned it was because they were shy. Very cute. Mao and the others chuckled, while the other humans nearby sneered to themselves. The aborigines had always looked down on goblins and found them ugly and disgusting. They did not understand what these people thought when they looked fondly at the critters! These expressions and sneers were not missed by the Alterrans, of course. The trip continued on and a few mobs were encountered, they were dealt with in a similar manner but with more ease. "Let''s work together okay?" Mao told the goblins and somehow a team of goblins would integrate into the human ones. It was quite fun, with the humans dealing brute force while the goblins assisted and even guided where to attack. "Weakness is under the chin, Master!" "Lower¡­" Mao watched them from the side. They had always found chances to train whenever they could and this level of mob seemed perfect. It was also a great way to build rapport with the goblins even before they entered the territories. There were fewer and fewer mobs though, so they reckoned they were getting cleared somewhere nearby by Silva. As far as they knew, he was probably using a minor Beast Attracting potion to maximize his efficiency. With the less enemies, the group was a little more relaxed. At least the ''guests'' were. Some of the ''civilians'' hastened their pace in order to chat with the guards. Obviously, they were there to pry information. "Hey, I''m curious. Where are we going?" One asked, and it so happened that it was Luis that he questioned. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You joined us without knowing where we''re going?" the young man asked. "You must have a lot of free time." "..." In contrast, the goblins couldn''t help but look up. After fighting together with the humans, many goblins got a bit of courage to interact a bit more with them. One of them was Pupu, one of the younger ones. He was born as a slave, and didn''t know anything else but digging. It also made him quite innocent. "Where are we going, Masters?" "We''re not your masters, call us just with our names," Mao corrected. "We are going to two territories, they''ll be needing your help¡ªboth of them." The humans (who were quite offended after being ignored) forgot their annoyance as they heard more about their destination. "You mean to say that Alterra has two villages??" "Yes." The newcomers narrowed their eyes and looked at each other. A village with two satellites¡­ Even the Goblins were surprised. They didn''t know much about the humans, but they knew gaining satellites wasn''t easy. Pupu, as always, couldn''t help but be curious. "What can we do for them?" he asked. "Do they have black metal too?" This question made the civilians'' ears perk up. If there was also Black metal elsewhere nearby¡­ then this was big news! Unexpectedly¡ª "No, we only get our black metal in Iron Mountains," Mao said. "What we need you for¡­ is to help with the Extreme Heat." The goblins blinked and then nodded, a dawn of understanding coming to them. They knew it was coming, and they could surmise what they''d be doing. Well, to some degree, anyway... The humans though couldn''t help but be shaken. "What?" One said, looking at his companion. "Extreme Heat? Is it really coming?" "Do you think they''re telling the truth?" "They''re probably bluffing," another replied, ignoring how drenched in sweat he was from just walking. "Well, whatever. We''ll just ask them later," he said, his expression turning dark. "It''s not like they''d be able to do anything when we get to them, anyway..." ¡­ The trip was relatively uneventful for a bit, with a few mobs here and there, until the sharper soldiers flinched, and so did many goblins. Luis and Mao''s eyes met as they felt a few extra rustles that shouldn''t be there. ''They''re moving!'' Sure enough, as soon as the next mob cleared out, some of the ''civilians'' began attacking the guards'' backs while they were distracted. However, the Alterrans were prepared and suspicious even before, and even those who didn''t react on time weren''t much injured because of their equipment. Bang! Some guards were pushed back, while some held their ground. No one looked panicked or taken aback, however. "Finally showed your true colors, huh?" Luis asked, raising his sword to block two attacks¡ªone of which was headed to the goblins behind him. Counting down, there were about two dozen ''civilians'' that came with them, more than the Alterran guards in number. Another difference was that the Alterran team''s average level was well within the level cap, and the enemies mostly had forces beyond it. It was why they were so confident despite the hundreds of goblins there. Those things were weak, and a person could handle a dozen at least, especially when their levels were high enough. They weren''t beasts who couldn''t guard their weak spots, after all. Not to mention, it wasn''t like they hadn''t been through a war with goblins! They naturally had complete defense equipment to deal with them! The Alterrans watched as their enemies completely covered themselves, blocking all possible ''weak spots'' the little goblins could tap into if they decided to mob them. It had to be said that they were quite a bit prepared for this. As for why the Alterrans allowed the suspicious civilians to go with them in the first place, it was to weed out the greatest threat currently in Iron Mountains. If let be, they''d ask other territories to attack, and it''d get troublesome. This might be something inevitable, but they still hoped to delay it. As it was, Iron Mountain was still on its recovery and reogranization stage and an attack was not appreciated. "This is everyone?" Mao asked, making the mercenaries frown. "Yes, and be flattered," the man said. Instead of thanking him, Mao took out a signal flare and activated it. A burst of colored smoke flew upwards, likely visible for hundreds of meters away. Swoosh! The aborigines had no idea what it meant and they were only curious about the color and its function at most. Some smarter ones surmised it could be to ask for help, but they were already too far from Guia for it to be useful! They no longer delayed and lunged forward to attack. Everyone brandished their weapons, and many even used their skills. The attacks were strong and indiscriminate and goblins were hit as collateral damage. The Guards frowned and defended, and the Goblins sniffed, standing up, hoping to help in whatever way they could. They were prepared to use their own bodies to deal with the humans, but before they could do anything, bursts of earth appeared under a few civilians'' feet, and they were thrown out with a force that dented the trees they landed on. It was Mao, whose hands were extended as he controlled the earth underneath them. "Don''t think that level is all that matters, idiots." Chapter 810 - 810: A Small Blockage (Part 2) "An elementalist!!" one yelled. They were a little surprised. None of the Alterrans actually had to show off their elements during their stay, so the newcomers naturally weren''t privy to it. However, they were mercenaries in the end. Although surprised and intimidated, they gathered themselves and didn''t allow their momentum to lower, otherwise¡ªand they could feel it with their instincts¡ªit''d get too dangerous. As such, the enemy team continued to send a flurry of attacks to the guards and the goblins, with the guards doing their best to protect the little things behind them. "WAAA!" The goblins couldn''t bear being shielded so much, so they grouped together to deal with the men, each one with at least a dozen goblins. Before they could drown the men in numbers, however, the men would wave their swords, stabbing at them. It felt a bit of a pity, as damaged merchandise would sell for less. Anyway, if the goblins didn''t die directly, they would heal fast, and would still be worth something. "WAAAA!" Pupu watched as the sharp sword was about to stab him, but was pulled back by a strong hand. He watched as a burst of flames pounded on the man that were just about to stab at him. Whoosh! "AHHH!" "Another one!" At this point, every guard had their hands full with at least 1 enemy. Everyone sent here was above level 10, so this meant every and each one of them was elementalists. "So many?" They were shaken, but they refused to back down. They had a reason to be arrogant! After all, only Mao was (barely) level 20, while there were a handful of them just in their team. They were all fighting mercenaries too so the weaker Alterrans definitely did have a bit of trouble. However, as a bit more time passed, they came to realize¡­ none of the Alterrans were being taken down! On the contrary, it was their side who was slowly dying off. How could these men be reconciled? And it so happened that he saw a signal from the peripheral of his vision and he couldn''t help but feel relieved, and he smiled smugly at the enemies despite his poor state. "Heh! And do you think it''s only us?!" the man yelled, and after struggling to keep themselves up¡ªbecoming bloodier and bloodier as the minutes ticked by¡ªthe shrubs around rustled as more people arrived. About a dozen of men appeared, and none of them were weak. This was the Yutot Mercenary Team¡ªor the rest of them, to be more accurate. They had been following the group closely, so they arrived shortly after the others made a move. At least half of them were in their level 20s, mostly new recruits from Voumi Town. They were not that special there, but in a village, they were definitely powerhouses. If Baltimore wasn''t in such a rush to take over, maybe he''d have waited for their return before attacking¡ªnot that it would''ve changed anything, of course. They looked greedily at the goblins and licked their lips. They couldn''t be arrogant outside, but here they had the confidence! Plus¡­ so many elementalists! To capture elementalists, it was best to take them while their levels were low! They really won big this time, they thought. The goblins shook at their appearance, instinctively afraid. This was especially so because these people were one of their main torturers back in Guia Village. This made Shon even more arrogant. "Heh, stop struggling and obediently come with us and you will keep your lives." He said so as if level was all that mattered. It usually was because people here¡ªwhen they realized they were inferior in level¡ªwould become guarded and scared. Their momentum would lower and the will to fight was often gone. Sad for them, they went against Alterrans. Mao and the others didn''t seem to care at their arrival, at least they didn''t show it outright. "And you are¡­?" "We are the Yutot Mercenary Team!" Shon yelled, grinning. "We''re actually one of Guia''s forces. Too bad we weren''t there when the war happened, or else¡ª" "...you''d have been buried underground by now," Mao said, completing his sentence. He then turned to Luis. "I''ve never heard of it, have you?" "No," Luis said. "They''re really arrogant even if they''re no-names." "We are newly formed!" Shon yelled back, red in anger and embarrassment. "Soon, our name will resound in this area¡ª" "We are the Terran Mercenary Team, Class D." "You?" Shon and the others looked at them in disbelief. It couldn''t be blamed on them. Class D Mercenary Teams usually had stronger members. Except for Mao, the rest of the people here were only Class E ''material'', if only level was considered. "Who cares, we have buyers from Voumi Town," Shon said after a moment of pause, pushing down the shock and resuming his arrogant stance. "You don''t want to be an enemy of Voumi Town right?" Mao and the others made no move, but they were definitely ready to fight as soon as they attacked. Shon gritted his teeth and looked at his team. "It looks like we''re torturing a few people and rats today!" he yelled, and all the newcomers gestured to lunge toward the huddled party to attack. However, before anything could happen¡ª Whoosh! Flop! Silence. They turned to see a headless Shon, whose head dropped to the ground. "WHAT?!" S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "WHAT''S GOING ON?!" Shon was a level 23 powerhouse!! Soon, there was another rustle from behind him. Silva walked out of the forest, face stoic as if he didn''t just behead someone. "Sorry I''m late," he said. "The Beast Attracting potion worked¡­ too well." At the sight of the silver-haired man, every member of the Yutot Mercenary team gaped in fear. "A L-Level 40!?" Silva had stayed in the house during their stay and didn''t bother looking around (as a City dweller, what could he see in a village that wasn''t Alterra?). Early that morning, he headed out to clear the path of mobs for a faster and safer travel back to Alterra. Hence, the mercenaries were unaware that such a powerhouse was escorting this team. Too late to regret now though. Chapter 811 - 811: Visitations (Part 1) A/N: Special mention to Linlin/Lotuslin who gave castle a few days back~! *HUGS* Got some exposure back thanks to it huhu Again guys if you''re fond of fantasy mythology go check out her story~ ... ____ Meanwhile, while Alterra and the others had been preparing, the allied territories were on their way to Alterra for their weekly visits. This time, the lord themselves came. Usually, it was only the Lords'' representatives who came over. After all, lords themselves going out to danger was a danger to everyone else. But¡­ there was no choice this time. The moment they read the contents of the newspaper, they knew they had to do this as soon as they could. Even if they didn''t see the newspaper, even if Alterra wasn''t kind enough to tell them, they''d have done the same by virtue of the fact that every Alterran citizen who was staying in their respective territories was called back in a hurry, escorted by the strong guards who delivered the newspaper to them. The lords didn''t dare underestimate whatever made a territory like Alterra worried so they went to check it out themselves¡ªbringing along a strong team of course¡ª-and to see what could be done about it. Along with Raine, there was Suide and Orland. With Micheal, there was Juno and Uran, a newly hired aborigine. He wasn''t very strong, only level 8, but he was the only decent choice they had for days. Uran was a stout man with short hair and a short beard. He was apparently in his late 20s already, though in villages being weaker than level 10 at that age wasn''t rare. The two groups congregated by coincidence in the camping area, where one group (Micheal''s) was already preparing to leave when they heard the arrival of people and decided to wait. Micheal was a bit surprised to see Raine as the acting-lord but didn''t pry. Anyway, he seemed to be more fitting than the woman anyway. The two groups greeted each other. "Aren''t you from the East?" "Yes, but a bridge was created direct west to us, and a pathway here," Raine said. "Although there''s a slight detour, it''s easier and safer to pass through it." "I see¡­" So¡­ somewhere along the way, the Alterrans had also created a bridge over the river south of them. When did they do that? Who knew. At some point, they just stopped getting surprised. The two groups headed to Alterra together, and this was obvious because there were noticeably fewer monsters. This showed how Alterra''s citizens hunted out a lot, to the point that most monsters so far away had been cleared. The Alterrans'' frequent clearing of surrounding monsters really helped with their trip, and this was fortunate because they felt much weaker than usual. For one, the air outside was really getting hotter, and it was made obvious because they knew what was coming. Their water was long gone¡ªeven before they got to the camping grounds. They had a water elementalist but how much mana did he have? Fortunately, there were only a few hours of walking left to Alterra so they managed to not die of thirst on the way. When they reached Alterra, they were parched and they immediately went to the stalls to get their fill. While there, someone from the Internal Affairs office¡ªJun¡ªgreeted them. There were staff in the Village Center who watched the entries to the territory. This idea was actually by Mathilda, who knew the information lords had access to. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea made it so, to some degree, people could also access some of it via the panels in the Village Center, so they decided to tweak a few things for their own convenience. Of course, only names were visible. If there was someone noteworthy, they would send the internal affairs office a letter via aether letter. This was how Jun arrived only a few minutes after the two lords landed in the territory. Their office was given instructions to publicize the news of the Extreme Heat as much as they could, as well as how they''d be fighting it, so naturally he''d approach the two lords when they got to them. Jun invited the two lords and one of their main confidantes to Gaea restaurant''s private room so they could begin their discussion. It had to be noted that more people had been fanning themselves though, and somehow the hand fans were running out faster, selling out at records speeds. The windows were also wide open, as well as a couple of doors. Anyway, outside of wars, people still woudln''t be able to enter without permission. People had never been so thankful for the System rules. While waiting for their food, the two lords couldn''t wait to start discussing the contents of the paper. Jun decided to discuss as they ate, in order of mention in the newspaper. First, they had a hostile territory so near them. They were a bit worried about them. While they managed to survive the previous wars, that was only because of Alterra''s assistance and they had to pay a big fee for that. Although this new place was a subsidiary, it didn''t mean they couldn''t attack or harass their people outside their territory. According to Jun, unlike with Alterra, these people weren''t prohibited from attacking their residents. Heck, it wasn''t even prohibited from attacking non-resident Alterrans. They were fairly strong on average too. Its comprehensive strength was probably just next to Guia before they were transferred here. If it was hostile, then that was a lot of trouble coming their way. It wasn''t sustainable to keep asking Alterra for assistance, and the useful aborigines they could hire via the village center were only so many. They also read about the new territory they took over and couldn''t help but feel both envious and relieved. Envious that they had access to such a good thing, and relieved because it was Alterra. At the very least, Alterra could be said to be their backing to some degree, and that was incredibly reassuring. Micheal''s eyes fixed on the wedding article for a bit. Look at that guy, doing vow renewals while the rest of them were focused on getting through the day. Finally¡­ there was the Extreme Heat problem. When it was written, there was still an off-chance that they were overthinking, so it wasn''t in the headlines. Now, with the consistent increase in temperature, it was practically confirmed. "Our meteorology had actually just confirmed that today, the temperature had increased by 0.15 degrees." "It''s even more than what''s stated." "It''s increasing." "What is Alterra going to do?" "Plenty of departments are preparing. For one, improved and non-flammable insulation is being developed by the Research Center. While the cellar is indeed had a much cooler ambient temperature, we need it colder for the ice production via saltpeter. We will also be adding these in the surfaces above ground." This caught the men''s attention and they looked at him eagerly. "Another team is developing a foam-type insulation. It has less effectivity, but it''s easy to transport. They''re being developed precisely for other territories." The superior insulation was, so far, blanket type and not much would be able to fit in the space. While they could carry them, how many could they bring? How heavy it was and how dangerous the travel was for them. This foam-type insulation was really just for them! "Thank you," the lords couldn''t help but say, tone heavy with sincerity. "If you need help in the funding please tell us. We are not rich, but we are willing to invest in this. "I would also like to purchase several, at least a few hundred," Raine said and then looked at him, and they looked at Jun who nodded. "We would also like to purchase your saltpeter," Micheal added. Saltpeter wasn''t actually impossible to manufacture, but the mass production was impossible in their level. "Yes," Jun said and handed over a piece of paper, "This is the new purchase limit and prices of the items. Please discuss and think about it more." The lords and their cronies looked at the list. The items weren''t cheap, but not too overpriced considering it also saved lives. They nodded and discussed with their respective advisors, finalizing the deals. Juno and a few other aborigines couldn''t help but look at everyone with a bit of amazement. Could the Extreme Heat¡­ really be dealt with like this? They were not sure but, inexplicably, it felt¡­ hopeful. Chapter 812 - 812: Visitations (Part 2) After the meeting, Raine went to Kimmy''s house before doing anything else. Her team booked in the inn, while the rest of them understood that she''d be staying in their former lord''s abode like a good ''husband''. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Raine had bought Kimmy citizenship and leased a luxury villa in Alterra, though it was mostly using Kimmy''s own money that she had access to. Sadly, due to the lack of contribution points, the citizenship was only temporary (Raine bought a year''s worth) and the luxury villa was leased for a year. Most people would find Raine admirable, but actually it was just to make herself feel better¡ªfrom the guilt of taking what was the other woman''s, rightfully or not. This would also allow her not to worry about Kimmy so much, even if it was just because the other girl wouldn''t be in her presence anymore. As wise men said: Out of sight, out of mind. Of course, now that she was here, she ought to visit Kimmy. It felt complicated. What was Kimmy to her? A ''lover'', even if only by name? A friend? With a complex mood, Raine entered the house. It was well-kept for the most part, though she could see some of the woman''s personal items all around. "Ah, you''re here Master Raine," a beautiful brunette came out to greet him. This was Thessy, the nanny she hired for Kimmy. She was dressed well, as always, and she looked gently at ''him''. "Sir Raine¡­" she said, voice both soft and flirtatious at the same time. "It''s so good that you''re here." Raine nodded, greeting her before looking around. "How is she?" she asked, looking for the ''wife''. Thessy looked disappointed by Raine''s lack of reaction to her but retained her gentle face. "She''s right here," she said, guiding to the veranda. At this time, Kimmy was in one of the rocking chairs, just staring at the garden. Raine stared for a while before walking over. "Kimmy¡­" she said, but kept a meter away from her. After she was molested, Kimmy couldn''t bear to be touched by anyone except for her. However, Raine was afraid that had changed so she did not approach too closely. Kimmy turned her head at the sound of her voice, her eyes still empty. Thessy appeared right beside Raine, within her private space. "Would you like to have tea, Master Raine?" she asked, voice low and sultry, and she was so close Raine could feel the heat of her. Raine''s eyebrow rose as she looked at the other woman. Obviously, Thessy thought he was a man like everyone else did, and was even trying to seduce ''him'' right in front of ''his wife''. Raine frowned, narrowing his eyes. She hired this woman because of she was a nurse before¡ªthis was something registered in Alterra under oath so he didn''t doubt it. She mentioned she was traumatized by cases in hospitals so she didn''t want to do that job again. Should she reconsider and hire another one? But where could she find someone with similar credentials? "Is there anything wrong sir?" Thessy asked, looking at her with those big eyes, heart-shaped face framed by wavy brown hair. Thessy was very pretty and was actually quite popular. She used to be Baron''s crush and even had the honor of kissing Oslo back when he was relatively new to the territory. Sadly, Oslo got tired of her very quickly and never accepted her advances after that bastard Baron made a scene. Speaking of Baron, it wasn''t that she hadn''t tried to get to him. He was unattractive, but he was incredibly rich. He was also kind and generous, as she had seen him gift his cousins as well as her. However, his cousins had guarded him well. She cursed, thinking he must still be single because of them. Thessy was actually right about this. Because Baron wasn''t particularly attractive and didn''t have anything going for except his money-making skills, the women he attracted so far¡­ weren''t very good. His cousins had made a pact to protect him from gold diggers¡­ and they did it too well to the point that if Baron knew what they were doing, he''d kick all of them and say he was fine with gold diggers! Just let him taste a girlfriend already! Thessy had also tried linking with the guards, but they had strict regimen and a good information channel, including how many boyfriends she had in the territory. The people from other territories though, were much more¡­ gullible to her charms. Even if they investigated, would they spend manpower to look at her lovelife? She could tell Raine did have some affections for Kimmy but a part of him didn''t want her getting any better. She didn''t know if he would return the token to Kimmy if she did improve, but Thessy hoped he wouldn''t. A lot of people from Belluga had also moved here and she knew all about what happened to this woman. She was a virgin before that happened¡­ her husbands must''ve been quite dissatisfied with her! She looked at the handsome lad. He was a bit younger than she was, probably only early to mid-twenties. He was also a bit too scrawny, and not as tall as most men, but he had a good face and had the qualities of a leader. More importantly, Thessy was feeling a bit impatient. There were so many things she wanted to buy¡ªespecially from WittBeauty! She also wanted to spend entire days in the spa, but she couldn''t afford anything! Seeing Raine just staring deeply at her, her heart fluttered a bit, and she continued to update him about Kimmy''s situation. "She''s eating well, dressed well, and well cleaned," the brunette paused. "I''m doing my job very seriously." "I hope to lift the burden from Master Raine''s shoulders," she said, voice velvety and seductive. "I hope he can see that." When Raine slowly turned to face her, she stepped forward a little, reducing their distance to only about a few inches. "Can Master Raine¡­ tell Thessy how good she''s doing?" Chapter 813 - 813: Attempts to Seduce "Can Master Raine¡­ tell Thessy how good she''s doing?" she asked, very subtly going closer. If Raine swung that way, there was a very real chance to get a reaction from her. Most men definitely would. However, Raine didn''t move. Rather, she was curious about what the woman would do. Thessy felt awkward as she stood there¡ªreleasing her pheromones¡ªbut with Raine not doing or saying anything. Shouldn''t he ask her to ''talk'' elsewhere? He¡­ wouldn''t be thinking of doing things right here, in front of Kimmy, right?! She pursed her lips. She wouldn''t be too comfortable with that (yes, she also had her limits) but if that''s what the man wants, that''s what he shall receive. After a pause, she gathered herself and looked up at the ''man''. "Sir¡­, it''s really warm lately," she said, her voice changing timber to a more velvety tone. "Should we go inside? Kimmy prefers the outside, but perhaps you have a¡­ different preference." She raised her hands, gesturing to touch the other''s clothes, but her wrists were held tightly. For a man, Raine''s felt¡­ different. However, her head was too filled with desperation and awkwardness to realize anything. Instead, she just continued with her moves. "Your clothes seem really warm¡­ especially in this weather." This was both truth and a line of seduction because Raine was wearing big and loose clothing, which seemed really uncomfortable in this weather. Since Alterra popularized cloths, various old and new styles also pooped up here and there. In order to hide her gender better, Raine began to wear more clothes, mostly long-sleeved shirts and polos. Raine just stared at the woman, making her more and more awkward and unsure of what to do. This rarely happened! On the other hand, the androgynous woman was seriously considering just kicking her out. In Terran standards, this was definitely grounds for termination, and maybe even a lawsuit. In Xeno though, it was different. How many people with the qualifications could take on this job? They were mostly in the clinics or in good positions now. At the very least, Thessy had been doing a pretty good job handling Kimmy and the house. She had questionable morals in terms of romance, but she had investigated the woman and knew she had not yet done anything too bad. She had not really scammed anyone or hurt anyone (physically). In the end, despite her flaws, Raine decided to hire her. Further, as the owner of the property¡ªeven if it was a lease and therefore temporary¡ªThessy wouldn''t be able to bring a man or anyone in the villa without Raine being notified. Of course, as a system limitation, the notification would not be sent while he was on Belluga, but would''ve flooded him after she reentered Alterra. It had been a while and no such alert appeared, so he knew Thessy did not even try to get someone in. Raine sighed and decided to give her one more chance. She stepped back, waving her hand to dismiss the woman. She gestured to go up to her room, definitely intent on locking it. "I''m tired, just take care of your master well," was all she said in the end. "I''ll give you one last chance. If you make any other questionable choices, prepare to look for a new job." "Oh, and¡­" Raine paused before completely heading in. She turned to look at Thessy with a blank expression on her face. "I like men." "..." Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ Another visitation was Jake''s, who had returned from the barracks to visit Ryo''s family house. It was a single detached house in one of the newer communities. Nervously, he rang the doorbell and soon a middle-aged woman appeared. "Auntie," he said with an awkward smile. "How is she?" "Improving," she said, letting him in. "She eats properly now, and talks back now." His tense shoulder relaxed just a little bit. He actually got Yiyi to live with Ryo''s aunt, with him paying for all her expenses. He also went there every day unless he was on a mission. Whenever he missed a day because he was outside the territory, then he''d make it a point to stay twice as long in his visits. He entered the house to see the old man preparing his rice crisps for the next day. Auntie sat back down, helping him out. Yiyi, too, was doing some labor and helping out with the ''family business''. Jake''s eyes softened as he looked at her figure. "Yiyi¡­" She flinched and nodded without looking at him, just continuing wih her ''job''. In fact, Jake had been paying room fees for her. She didn''t have to work at all, but if she wanted to get some pocket money he wouldn''t stop her. Jake smiled and sat next to them, joining the family in making rice crisps as free labor. They did so for a while, with auntie opening small talk here and there, though the awkwardness didn''t dissipate. The Old man sighed, having his own processes in the rice crisps, he disliked such drama and distractions. So¡­ the two of them got kicked out in the end. "Don''t come back until you two talk things out!" he said, and Jake and Yiyi found themselves outside the house, awkward as ever. Jake rubbed the back of his neck and looked at her. They had talked in Fargo Village before, but how easily could people forget trauma? Until now, Yiyi still believed she was ''dirty'' no matter how many times he told her it wasn''t true. When she walked away in a random direction, he made sure to follow her closely. There was always a meter or two between them, with him watching the girl''s back the whole time. When she noticed this, her pace quickened a bit. However, even if she ran away, Jake would''ve been effortlessly able to follow. Somewhere along the way, she ended up tripping on a rock. "Watch out!" Jake gasped, rushing to catch her. He felt her softness land on his arm and his heart beat loudly. He was nervous. How would she react with this physical contact? When she turned cold and shook, he guided her upright, holding her thin shoulders. "Yiyi¡­ Yiyi... look at me," he said, voice gentle, trying to urge the shivering girl out of her shell. She reluctantly raised her eyes and met his. Jake could only hope she could see that his heart was clear, hoping his intent was expressed. He gave her a weak smile, gently rubbing her shoulder with his palms as if warming her up. She shook a bit, but he realized it was more for him, as if she didn''t want to dirty him. Yiyi was such a selfless girl. If it was for herself, she might not bother getting out of her situation, but if it was for others¡­ "Touching Yiyi brings me comfort," he said, making her pause. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him. "I want to be close to you. See my eyebags? That''s because I can''t." This made her eyebrows furrow even more and she looked at him in concern. He couldn''t help but smile a little, and it made his eyes sparkle. "Can I hug you?" Chapter 814 - 814: Supreme Village Supreme Village Meanwhile, one of the easternmost Terran Villages¡ªthe Supreme Village¡ªwas currently undergoing its second war. "Milord, be careful!" A guard managed to block an attack on the lord, his sword creating a screeching sound with the enemy''s weapon. The aforementioned Lord, on the other hand, just screamed like a pig. "SHITSHITSHIT!" he yelled and he barely avoided another blade from an enemy. Next to him were his cronies, mixed with fighters and cowards. One of the cowards couldn''t help but look at him with a wronged expression. "Why did we not hire more aborigines again, milord?" he asked. "Why did you let the ones we had leave?!" "Don''t you think I don''t know that, you fucker?!" The man cursed. It wasn''t like he didn''t want to hire new aborigines¡ªbut he couldn''t!! This was a territory primarily composed of Yuta Country citizens. The cowardly lord here, Ongko, was the son of a powerful individual back in Terran. Well, he was. This was the son who stupidly exposed his father''s wrong doings¡ªto Mathilda, Gill, and the Edenian party¡ªby accident, which in turn ruined his family''s lives. Well, technically Gill did, but he didn''t know this yet. Anyway, he was on house arrest during the first disaster. Because of this, his house was pretty much blocked from zombies and he survived without a problem. He also managed to take more than almost 2000 gold from his home so when he went here, he was given a Lord Token. How happy he was at the time! How smug! He didn''t have his father, yet he had his own land! Anyway, when he saw all the magical buildings¡­ he splurged. He was confident and hired the strongest NPCs he could at Level 2! After weeks, he managed to get 2 guards at level 7 and 8, as well as a cook (though apparently not ''system''-tagged). He also bought a lot of ''plain'' hires like cleaners and sluts. Anyway, he knew that he was far superior to any of the others around¡ªeven the hired NPCs said so¡ªand this bloated his arrogance to no end. Sadly, the NPCs didn''t renew their contract and left for some reason (note: he was an ass) and he couldn''t hire decent new ones because the options all sucked. He purposely ignored the large monthly salaries he had to pay his hired aborigines, too, regardless of whether they weren''t useful in the end. He refused to accept that he made the wrong decisions. Even when most of them left, he didn''t bother to look at the bill! However, his confidence in his territory was still sky-high. It got to the point that he decided to attack the nearby Level 2 village! Maybe he could get their gold, too! And slaves sounded really great! Unfortunately for him, without the guidance of knowledgeable aborigines (the ones remaining were women who only knew how to use their bodies), there was plenty of worldly knowledge that he missed! So when he decided to attack the adjacent territory without warning, he was suddenly fined 500 gold! 500 gold!! His balance was only 100 gold! What did this mean? The attack left him in DEBT. Thankfully, he won a bit from said territory so his debt was greatly reduced. He was still in debt though so he naturally increased taxes and he did have to kick a lot of people out (because they were being stingy and ungrateful and didn''t want to pay). Fortunately, when the Protection Period ended, there were so many refugees coming in and it didn''t take a long time for him to upgrade! However, he quickly realized that he had been happy too soon because there was a cost in upgrading¡­ and he couldn''t afford it! Why was it so much more expensive than the first time?! Hence, Ongko had no choice but to defer it, hoping to get enough¡ªonly to realize the upgrade was mandatory after 100 hours! So he was forced to upgrade and forced deeper in debt! With interest! When stronger monsters finally took down the outer territories, shifting their target to him, it only got worse and worse and worse. He trudged through this difficult time with the territory almost falling to the suddenly stronger mobs who went from level 2s to level 4s and 5s! They only managed to survive because he was smart and invested a lot in good walls and relatively dense sentries at the start when he was still rich, otherwise he''d be living in monster stomachs by now. But now their greatest challenge was ongoing¡ªthey were being attacked, and by strong aborigines too! The weakest of them was at level 6! Averaging at level 9! What the heck! How could their weakling group averaging level 5 manage them? Again, the walls managed to save them a while, with the enemies taking 15 hours in order to get enough of their forces inside the walls. When they did though, all hell broke loose. Of course, at first, they still managed to somewhat fight against the enemies as there were so many of them in the territory. In addition to the sentries, they managed to hold on¡­ for about half an hour. Soon more and more enemies got inside and more and more people started dying. The momentum fell down really quick. No one was willing to stay on the front line and be the one to get attacked! Even his guards eventually gave up and ran away the moment they realized the level gap. He was left alone now, screaming for people. What''s worse, the people realized¡ªor rather, his aborigine enemies announced¡ªthat regulations were lifted at this time. It was chaos. All of the shops were looted. Everyone wanted to ensure their own survival and supply, and they didn''t care what happened to others! The only safe place was the Warehouse which was only accessible to him. However, the only things in the warehouse were wood and stone resources! Those were useless! "DAMNIT! FIGHT!" He yelled at the citizens who were either running, hiding, or freaking stealing from him! There was no one who listened of course and he could only run away as well, hiding, lest the enemies hunted him down! The way to the warehouse was blocked as well, and the aborigines started targeting it! Ongko had no choice but to hide in one of the dug pits, which was there to throw trash and shit in. While the decomposition rate was higher here, the place still smelled hell! Every sniff he took, he felt like vomiting! However, when he heard screams from above he immediately sucked it up even if he felt like his insides were being burned by disgust and the bad smell. Several other guards had found their own hiding place, just waiting for this to be over. Anyway, while the lord and his cronies hid, the rest of the territory tried to protect themselves and their properties. The stalls were absolutely smashed and several citizens were trying to guard their remaining ''wealth''. One of his richer citizens, Cuppin Farrol, yelled as an enemy took interest in some ingredients he had been selling. "Don''t you dare steal that!" He screamed, taking out his wooden sword. The enemy was injured by a sentry before¡ªjudging from the arrow lodged at the back of his thigh¡ªand it wasn''t like it was hopeless for him! "HYAAA!" Cuppin yelled as he tried to stab at the man. The thief had the audacity to laugh, kicking him with his injured leg. "Not like this has any use for you!" "My brother''s a great cook!" "What''s cooking skills if you don''t know the ingredients?" he said, raising his hand to slash at Cuppin. Cuppin was clumsy and accidentally stepped on an ingredient. He fell down, barely missing the slash by a hair, and he crawled backward before he used all the adrenaline he had to lift his body and gestured to bolt away. Sobbing, he had no choice but to let go of the interesting ingredients he gathered for his brother and escape for his life. Fortunately, the men were focused on looting and Cuppin managed to find an alley to hide in. Fortunately, the war had a time limit. So after a few hours, Ongko, hiding in their makeshift septic tank, would receive a ping. [Your territory Supreme Village (Lv3) has lost to Sus Village (Lv3)!] [You lost 5452 citizens] [You lost Custom Building 1] Ugh! Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Since they were poor and didn''t have gold, there was no gold reward for the enemy, which was satisfying for him. However, the system decided not only to take two-thirds of his people, it also decided to take away buildings instead! Damn this place!! Chapter 815 - 815: Voumi Town Slaves (Part 1) Voumi Town Inko village was located in a dense forest in the midwestern part of the human territory, and now they were taken to the nearest town. At this time Gurnam and the other slaves from Inko Village were waiting in the dark ''storage area'', waiting for their turn to be sold. Inko Village kept about half of them and sold the rest. He and little Milo happened to be sold in the town. As for how the aborigines had yet to notice he wasn''t a slave, not only had they not encountered anyone with the audacity¡ªas the fates of slaves that have integrated in the people''s world view was really akin to death¡ªbut also because they were very complacent. As for the Lord''s list, though they did not know this yet, slaves were just counted as part of the population. That was the only ''entity'' they could have so he, as a ''visitor'', didn''t have a different status than the others. This could be attributed to Slaves ''non-entity'' quality in wars, and therefore did not have a special status attached to them. Perhaps, the ''Population'' stat counted the mass, rather than ''entity'', which was what allowed him to pretend to be a slave after so long. On another hand, the Inko Lord was too lazy with his women to check their status properly. If he had, he''d see all of them were elementalists, and he would drown in regret when he found out later on. In any case, Gurnam just accompanied the rest of the ''saleable slaves'' as they were brought to a town for selling. Voumi Town¡ªthe first town he had been in¡ªwas definitely nothing he had seen in this world before. It had tall two to three-storey buildings unlike the long line of bungalows he was used to. There were naturally more people there. They were quite dense and everywhere there were chatters of people. Though the majority of the population looked almost as unsightly as they were, it was still much better than Inko Village. While many of the Terrans didn''t have good clothes anymore, at least the ones they had had better fabric than what seemed to be low-quality hemp clothing everyone else has. In Towns, they still wore plain clothing, but it was still a bit better than in the villages. And¡ªmost prominently¡ªthe smell of an aborigine territory was really¡­ special. It was worse in Towns because it was so dense. Even in Terran, the fact that feces was a frequent sight on the streets during the medieval was common knowledge. Back in villages, they were used to it, but Towns had a much denser population, and it meant a lot more shit. Sure, there were more dedicated cleaners, but they only pass through a street once a day, how many people take a dump every couple of hours? Not a few, they could tell. His musing was interrupted when he heard people around him gagging. A couple of adult men outright vomited on the side of the street, though no one seemed to care. The slave drivers simply sneered and walked past him. The little boy next to him also gagged, though he managed to hold it in. His face was covered with snot and a few tears though, which was really pitiful. He patted crying little Milo''s head, trying to adjust to the stench. "Can we have fabric to cover our mouths?" he asked, but instead he was hit on the head by the Inko slave drivers. He couldn''t avoid it so blatantly so he only adjusted his head forward to minimize the damage. The force still made him lurch forward and almost vomit his stomach out though. "SHUT UP. NO TALKING." He said and everyone shut their mouths. Gurnam took a deep breath and went back to position. His movement was obviously shakier, but he still followed the order to a tee, just as normal slaves would. He subtly looked around, observing the town, the people, and especially the people handling them. How did the slavery system here work? Anyone can order them and they had to follow? Was that how it was? And how did the transfer work? If they were bought by a Town, would that mean any one from Town would be able to order them around? Imagine walking outside and anyone could order you to do unspeakable things¡ªall while you were completely conscious, yet also completely powerless at the same time? These were all questions they dreaded would be answered, and everyone could only wait tensely as their fates were decided by the people who destroyed their homes. They soon reached a plaza of sorts. There was a makeshift podium up front, with people being presented one by one. It was surrounded by a lot of men, mostly well-dressed, and they were yelling certain amounts and they immediately knew they were bidding. The ''merchandise'' all looked poor and horrible, and the women especially looked scantily clad. They could recognize the features of a Terran in many of them, which just put a nail in the coffin for them. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This really was happening. They were really going to be sold like livestock¡­ "6 Gold!" one yelled, looking greedily at the beautiful woman. "7!" "11!" Someone yelled, and they turned to see it was one of the best dressed men there. He even had his own seating. The audience saw this and immediately started bootlicking. "Wow! Master Hesso is amazing as always!" "Only Master Hesso deserves such a beauty!" The woman sobbed a bit but was ordered down. "We''ll handle the contract later sir Hesso," the salesperson said. "In the meantime, enjoy her service~!" Hoots and whistles abound as they watched the woman approach the ugly man. "Sit on me," he said, and the woman did so. Gurnam and the others could no longer bear to look as they were led to the storage area where they''d wait until it was their turn to sell. It was a small makeshift structure at the back of the stage. It smelled horrible, with people''s body odor and the other scents trapped within a small space. It didn''t help that it was also very hot, and the inside of the building was suffocating. No one could complain and they just sat, waiting for their fates. The cheapest, most useless slave¡ªthe invalids, the old people¡ªwere sold for a mere 10 to 30 silver. The other ones varied depending on various factors as well as the bidders, but on average a human slave cost around 5 to 10 gold in a town. If a village was taken over, they could get a few thousand slaves. This meant that the winning territory could easily earn another thousand gold from the slaves alone. With the resources and the physiques of the people here¡ªwith higher healing rates and lesser chances of illness and infections¡ªmost people would survive wounds as long as they weren''t lethal, making it a worthy purchase, most of the time. From this point of view, it was indeed pretty good to get slaves as meat shields rather than damaging the main force that had required a lot more investments and resources to train. Of course, knowing was one thing, being sold as one was another. Chapter 816 - 816: Voumi Town Slaves (Part 2) Anyway, while the first batch was being sold, the rest remained in the ''holding area''. The place was dark with their sole source of light being the narrow opening in the curtains. It was also very hot¡ªsimmering due to the number of people enclosed in an area. It was getting hard to breathe, and it wasn''t just the smell anymore. They could hear the slave seller hype up the crowd below. When he said "Now for the next batch" everyone''s stomachs churned. The curtain fluttered open, revealing two big men with at least level 20 in strength. They chose whoever was nearest to them, grabbing their arms and pulling them to the stage. One cried, trying to stop him, though¡ªwith their strengths¡ªwhat could they do even if they weren''t ''ordered''? The other one just followed without struggle, having long succumbed to fate. "So she just gave up?" a voice in the room would mumble, tone obviously dissatisfied. A sigh from another side of the room followed the comment. "Who can blame her? As days pass, it seems like things just become more and more hopeless for us," the voice said. "It''s like there''s no end to our suffering." "Perhaps¡­ being a slave to townspeople won''t be so bad," said another, and many people started arguing with him. People listened to the discussions, all with varying thoughts. The two sides had a point in the end. They were Terrans so they had a natural aversion to slavery in general. They just valued freedom above all else. However, at the same time, how much worse could things get? A lot of them had a hard time even back in their own territories, even when they were ''free''. They struggled to get something to eat and drink, and then they had to guard against strong monsters above that. How much worse can aborigine territories be? At least they''d be more adjusted to this world, right? These people were also far stronger than they were, so at least they should live a bit better here. At this time, they still didn''t understand how much worse it was outside their Terran bubble. In any case, no matter what their view was, every and each one still tried to squeeze at the back and corners, hoping to be the last to be chosen. It was inevitable, but most of them opted to prolong the suffering anyway. As time passed, there were fewer and fewer people in the ''storage area'', their hearts beating loudly as they neared their fates. Because they were so cuddled at the edges, the slave owners usually had to open the curtains wide and head inside to pull people up. His eyes zoned in on a young woman. He grinned and extended his grubby arms to pull her up. "Noooo!" S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She screamed and the older man beside her immediately held her back. He was not very high-leveled but he used all his strength to pull her back. "Wuu¡ª" "What the¡ª" The slavedriver pulling looked behind to see what was going on. He frowned when he saw the girl was being pulled back. He sneered and easily kicked him back. It wasn''t too strong¡ªnot to waste decent merchandise and all¡ªbut it wasn''t weak either, considering the level differences. BANG! "UNCLE!!" The man coughed blood, but he turned and crawled. He was in deep pain, but he tried holding on to the girl. "Yulia! Yulia!" he yelled, looking at the girl who was being taken to the stage beyond the curtain. She looked back, sobbing, also extending her hands. "UNCLE!" The girl yelled, and the man''s movement hastened, though not very much. "Please!" he begged, all while he was still on the dirty disgusting floor. "She had been through enough¡ª-" Now that she was near light, everyone could see the girl being pulled. She was just a young girl, probably 15 or 16, but the marks on her indicated she had been abused, probably during their stay in Inko Village. The slave-driver couldn''t care any less, and soon she was outside and headed up the stairs to the stage. "Yulia! Yulia!" "Shut up old man!" the aborigine yelled, kicking him again. But the man held on to his feet. They wondered: Did he still have his bones intact after that kick? "Please! At least sell us to the same masters!" "Well, if you behave, maybe you''ll get lucky. Otherwise¡ª" He motioned for his neck and it shut the man up. The man smirked in satisfaction when the slave let go, heading back outside to continue with the program. Silence reigned as the feeling of dread just got heavier for some. The man on the disgusting floor sobbed helplessly, but they were certain he wasn''t crying for himself. It was here a new voice¡ªvelvety and comforting, Gurnam thought¡ªspoke up. "Uncle Ersat, calm down and listen to the voice who will buy Yulia," she told him. "Maybe we can have clues." Ersat sniffed and wiped his tears nodding. "Thanks, Sarah." Gurnam couldn''t help but take another look at the woman who spoke. The curtain being opened so much allowed him to see more of her. It was a pretty woman with short brown hair. It was probably a bob cut before, but got too long and was cut by some sharp rock. She was looking out with a sad look in her eyes and he had the inexplicable need to comfort her. Surprisingly, the little boy beside him flinched, looking at the same person. "S-Sister?!" The woman froze and turned and Gurnam saw her whole face¡ªquite cute. She had a baby face, but she had determined eyes that made people curious. These same determined eyes suddenly became teary at the sight of the boy next to him. "M-Milo?!" The young lad sobbed and immediately crawled to embrace his sister. The woman also broke to tears, and the siblings held on tightly to each other as if afraid to part again. It was a touching reunion amidst tragedy, and it made a few people smile despite themselves. The curtain closed again as Yulia was sold, though it ended up being partially open so a bit of light still peered through. Ersat concentrated and remembered the voice of the man who bought his only relative left, while the siblings were in their own world. Gurnam couldn''t help but look at the silhouette of the girl for some reason. She just had that calming quality to her that he wanted to approach and, if possible, get close with as well. He would''ve stared for longer had he not been distracted by a chuckle not far from him. He turned to see that it was also a beautiful woman, and she was looking at the siblings with warm eyes. She had wavy blonde hair, wearing a robe to hide much of herself despite the heat. She also had a large scar on her face, though Gurnam''s expert eyes as a former soldier could tell it might not be real. If Gurnam knew Micheal, he''d find her very familiar. After all, she was his sister. "Well, one good thing came out of this at least," she said, feeling happy for two people she didn''t even know. Perhaps it was because it gave hope that something similar would happen to her as well. They were slaves, sure, but at least they were together. Chapter 817 - 817: Atonement Points Limestone Valley During this time, the Limestone Valley guard¡ªand administration¡ªteam set to prepare for the worst of the Extreme Heat. They put into action everything they could do, including the layouting of the digging areas of the goblins even before they arrived. However, in order not to cause panic and chaos¡ªtheir hold in this place wasn''t nearly as tight as the Alterran Elders had on theirs¡ªVictor and the others temporarily withheld the information until everything was ready. Now that they knew about what was coming, the heat had become even more noticeable. Benny sighed and wiped his sweat, looking at the Alterrans who was doing the same. They were assigned to front gate duty now. A shed was built on top of the battlement using some creative carpentry work that allowed for an overhang of sorts. It was basically a cube construction added on top of the battlement to provide cover that''d be much wider than where it was supported in. After all, their battlement wasn''t as wide as Alterra''s and only a few people could fit at a time, how could a support for a shed fit in? "Well, you alright? You''ve looked a bit pale for a while," he said, but paused when he saw Amos looking a little queasy. He assumed it must be homesickness. "Well, Alterra must be so much better." Amos smiled weakly. Jesse, Baron''s cousin who was left in Limestone Valley, looked at his friend and patted his shoulder. He roomed with the guy and he knew what was going on. With the newspaper and letters sent to the ruling party, Amos received a letter as well. It was an official letter from Alterra, and it brought him some news about his family¡ªand they were not good. It stated that his family betrayed Alterra and were now serving as Prisoners of War until they received the required Atonement Points. Atonement Points, it also explained, were like negative contribution points that prisoners of war needed to pay for via labor. In his mother and brother''s case, they were currently digging tunnels for Alterra. The Points could also be received by assisting in mobs (this was completely optional, as atonement points were equal to contribution points), though considering what kind of people they were, this was not an option for them. They could do other manual labor jobs like lifting, cleaning, and the like. This was the safest for them, though in all cases they cursed and complained until a guard told them to shut up. They were not system slaves so they didn''t automatically do so, but Alon did receive a few slaps on the face for ''rebelling''. They had to be threatened with death if they didn''t behave. The letter also detailed the threats, because Alterra believed he deserved to know everything. They also told him that if they really got too much, they would really ban them and throw them out of the territory to fend for themselves. Fortunately, his family were cowards and eventually succumbed to their new manual labor arrangements. They should be glad about it too, because they were never whipped or tortured. They really just had to do hard, honest, labor. Although Amos knew his family would suffer, he agreed that they had to go through with this. He was thankful they didn''t get killed¡ªsuch betrayal was certainly worthy of it. Even he would''ve been implicated. Jesse had been worried he''d be too sad, but was relieved to see him accepting of it. "How long do you think they''ll serve?" Amos thought about this seriously. The atonement points required would depend on the sins of the person. 250,000 points were required for each confirmed murder, 30,000 to 100,000 for injuries, and 10,000 or so for minor infractions. Betrayal though would depend on the damage done or what could''ve been done. Although Ramona and his family''s sins didn''t cause many dire consequences, it was only because the territory''s system was well-planned. If it were others, the consequences could''ve been much worse, and the punishments would depend on this. The three of them had to pay 50,000 each, which was equivalent to earning 50,000 contribution points which would take several years to pay off considering how weak they were. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The letter stated that he could give a maximum one-third of his contribution points to assist with the bailing of his family. However, they would understand¡ªand preferred¡ªif he didn''t do so. This was because¡ªand this was said in verbatim¡ªthat his family members were arses. The letter even recommended that he let them be and earn their freedom themselves. Anyway, if they worked hard enough and even helped clear out mobs¡ªwherein more points could be earned to reduce their debts¡ªthey could be released within a few years. It was guaranteed though that prisoners would at least have a roof on their heads and minimal food and water. If they fall ill, it''d be deducted as extra atonement points, but they wouldn''t be stripped of their right to some health care as well. To be honest, the situation was better than most villages. The writer of the letter seemed to dislike this and wished for harsher conditions but what to do? Alterra was too humane. As for murderers, 250,000 was big but if they were high-leveled enough, they could definitely reduce their sentence length by focusing on dealing with mobs. However, despite this, they would still need a few years to earn their freedom and even then freedom was not entirely guaranteed. They would undergo some sort of hearing at that time, determining whether they would be set free in the end. The Atonement Point was a little arbitrary and they weren''t obligated to free the prisoners even after they filled this. On the other hand, they could offer better treatments like better food and shelter for those who reached this amount but weren''t set free. However, these were all years in the making and they''d cross that bridge when they get there. The letter had a lot of tangents, but it inevitably made Amos a little less depressed. At least¡­ there was hope. If his family still didn''t straighten up after this, then it was time for him to give them up. Chapter 818 - 818: Arrival of the Goblins The goblins arrived sometime later. They formed a small line towards the village center, and many people looked over in curiosity. It was almost like a procession of sorts, though they didn''t mean it to happen. They couldn''t be blamed for this. Other than Alterra''s half-orc, this was their first interaction with a non-human intelligent life! The goblins flinched at the attention, but unlike what they used to¡ªwhere the looks were filled with derision¡ªmost of these stares were just¡­ pure curiosity. Victor and the others came to meet them. "Welcome to Limestone Valley," he said. Because they were no longer slaves (in treatment), the goblins were treated as proper citizens. "I''m sure the others have already oriented you on what to do and what your salary is?" He asked and the little guys nodded. They did so with synchronicity that made a few lips twitch upwards. Aborigines called them rats, the Terrans found them adorable. So cute! ¡­ Benny, Rasso, and a few others were assigned to be their guide, and the groups separated. Victor met up with Silva and the rest of the team heading back to Alterra. They were asked to rest for a day, which they agreed because it was becoming a bit warm and their recovery had slowed down. The Goblins assigned to Limestone Valley came with the locals, while goblins heading back to Alterra were settled temporarily in some houses. There were two small houses rented for them, paid for by Alterra. It was a detached house that was rearranged to become dormitories. The Goblins looked around the nice house¡ªa Custom House from Fargo''s time, but greatly improved where it could be improved. The little ones couldn''t help admiring the nice soft beds as well as the bathroom, some even touching it with some reverence. It was both cute and heartbreaking, and the people guiding them couldn''t help but feel for them. The people guiding them this time was Rasso, another one of Victor''s men, and his son, Rian. They in particular had felt a lot of empathy for the kids, especially after what they had been through. The young boy was naturally traumatized by what had happened in the past and had become less energetic, a cracked shell of the little sunshine that he had been. Rasso was actually moving to Alterra with the boy, hoping a change of environment would be good for him. Juliet was also there now, and he hoped to be with her soon. He''d be joining Silva''s party, and the reason they waited for so long was because there had to be a proper turnover for his tasks, and the boy had been understanding of that. In fact, when the boy heard there would be Goblins, the light of curiosity in his eyes sparkled. Rasso asked if he could help to guide them, and the boy jumped in glee. As they guided the green ones around the house, he could see a bit of the lost sparkle in his son returning. "This is the bathroom, you just have to press this and poof!" he said and the goblins not that much smaller than him nodded in fascination. Although Alterra''s Custom House couldn''t be built in Fargo, the former architect¡ªbless his soul¡ªfortunately designed the basics well so Fargo''s Custom House was really not bad either. Next to Alterra''s, it was the best one. "These are your beds," Rian said with a smile, pointing at the beds. "You get one each," he said, his little voice¡ªnot yet hitting puberty¡ªtilting up a bit as he saw the Goblins'' reactions. "You also get your own cabinets, here." The green ones nodded, again with interesting synchronicity, and he couldn''t help but chuckle. "That''s all," Rian said. "I¡­ hope you enjoy your stay." "T¡­Thank you¡­" the goblins mumbled and watched as the boy shyly scooted away back to behind his father. Rasso smiled and patted the boy''s head. "You did well," he said, and they left after saying their goodbyes, leaving the goblins to absorb what they knew so far. Some goblins sat down on the bed, laying down. "This is so nice¡­ can we really stay here?" "I suppose so¡­?" "This place is really, really, good," another said. "I did hear the place we''re going is even better¡­" To be honest, they really couldn''t imagine it. How could things get better than this? Not much building had been done in Iron Mountains for now, so the goblins hadn''t seen a lot of Alterra''s products yet. When they did, they''d be very surprised. Not just because of the products themselves, but the fact that they''d have access to them as well! ¡­ Meanwhile, those who were assigned to stay in the territory were also assigned to a place of residency. "We already set aside a housing for you guys," Benny said with a smile, voice unconsciously smaller as if it''d scare them less. They showed the goblins one of the dormitories built from combining the local custom houses. Because Goblins were much smaller, a lot more could comfortably fit in inside a single room. Because of this, their beds were customized smaller-sized beds with three layers. It was much smaller than the conventional bed, but there was ample room for each goblin. "This building is where you''re staying. You only need to pay 1 copper per day for a bed space." "One¡­ copper?" Ussu, one of the goblins, asked. He was smaller than the others, weaker, but was loved. Like, one copper? That is, they''d still have so much left after a day of work? To be honest, even when they were free, they hadn''t had so much money! "Yes," Benny said with a grin, stopping himself from patting their green heads. "You can take a rest and go around, we will start work early in the morning." After another lingering look and clenching of fist, Benny finally said his goodbye and ''rest well''. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The little ones stared at each other, slowly entering the room. They, too, admired the comfortable bedding and spacious arrangements. Obviously, this was the cheapest abode, but in the similarly-sized slave houses they were in before would house five or ten times more people. Those may or may not have proper roofs or windows, either. "This¡­ this is our house?" Moki asked, eyes wide. Back in Guia¡­er, Iron Mountains, although the new owners had freed them, nothing much changed (yet) nor did they expect anything to¡ªof course they didn''t. They were surprised they were¡ªtechnically¡ªfreed although they were very cynical about it. They were even given an option to exchange their freedom for a certain amount of productivity. However, they felt a disaster was coming and they didn''t dare roam outside at this time. They also felt the new masters were friendly and decided to see what happened next. Anyway, what could be worse than what had happened in Guia Village, where they''d be whipped and starved and even beaten up on a daily basis? Now¡­ they hadn''t been beat up for days and even had their own bed? It cost 1 copper, but this wasn''t a problem because they had their own salaries they could keep for themselves! How many times they looked at their wallet to check if their own money was really there! And it was! The little guys couldn''t help but look at each other, not daring to hope¡­, but still couldn''t help but feeling a bit hopeful anyway. Chapter 819 - 819: Victor and Juni While the goblins were resting, the administrative team had finalized the tunnel routes the goblins would build from the mines back to the Village. For the tunnels, the plan was to start digging from the gate abutting the mountains. The excess soil would be picked up by human workers and placed elsewhere, ideally within the territory. However, that plan had to be pushed aside in favor of the tunnels within the territory. They just planned the routes so they could avoid an implosion of soil or something from digging too much. They had also determined the locations of the underground cisterns, tanks, abodes, and other facilities they might need to handle the upcoming disasters. To do this quickly, they even hired hundreds of hard labor to help out despite the number of Prisoners of War already in the territory. As for the underground constructions, for now they decided to create communal ones, particularly under the plaza (expanded post-war by Alterra) in front of the Village center. Alterra claimed that the Extreme Heat was likely to happen within a week or two and they had to hurry up, and hopefully the hundreds of goblins would be able to help out fast enough. Juni borrowed the newspaper to reread the article about Vismont. The newspaper was placed in the 2nd floor meeting room and was not to be taken out, but she noticed that it lacked a page. Specifically, it was the page with the Wedding news. Her pretty eyebrows furrowed and she looked at Benny. "Who had the paper before I did?" "It was Vanessa." "Ah, thank you," she said, placing the newspaper back on its stand and going away. She looked around to find her prospective sister-in-law, finding out she was just at her house. Now, she and Victor had not known each other for a long time, and what she was doing could be said to be overreaching. What was happening to them was basically a whirlwind romance. However, they were both adults who had experienced a lot in life so they trusted in their own instincts¡ªthey believed that they knew what they were doing. However, Vanessa was obviously a non-believer of that. Juni understood this sentiment and she knew why the woman would not feel comfortable with her at all. However, it was also because of their relationship that she felt the need to keep the girl from straying. She headed to the team abode in the central community, and she found her reading in the living room with a dark face. She was alone right now, and was not even in her station¡ªthe clinic. The former actress thought for a bit about how to handle it before she walked forward. "Vanessa, that''s not supposed to be outside the meeting room," she said, sounding gentle and non-confrontational. "It''s just entertainment news, it''s nothing," the other woman said, about to put it in her space. Juni was quick and took it back, making the other woman''s eyes sharpen as she looked at her. Juni did not bulge. Instead, she looked at the other girl in the eye. "I had heard of your¡­ fixation to Garan, a happily married man." "It''s none of your business." "I''m advising you as someone who cares, it''s time to get rid of those wishful thoughts. You''re so young and beautiful, you could have any other¡ªsingle¡ªman you want." Unsurprisingly, this made the woman snap instead. "Who do you think you are?" Vanessa asked, tone rising. "Don''t think my brother likes you you''re my sister-in-law. I have the final say in my family!" Translation: Pander to me instead of acting like you''re above me. Juni was not shaken. "Your brother will agree with me." "You met him a few days ago!" Vanessa said, trying not to lose her cool, but it was hard when it had to do with Garan as well as her own position in the family. "I''ve known him my whole life! Who do you think he will side with?" Vanessa''s tone wasn''t good as she said this, and there were hints of resentment. Vanessa truly felt it was unfair. Since those two started going out, her brother had become less responsive to her pleas, becoming stricter. It made her dislike Juni more and more. It was like another bitch came right after the other, making her days harder. Juni shook her head and looked at her. "This isn''t about siding with anyone," she said. "And¡­ "You''re too engrossed in yourself to truly know him." ¡­ S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. That night, under the light of the torch, a half-naked Victor composed a letter to send back to Garan. He sighed, feeling a bit heavy at the responsibility thrust upon him. Hopefully, he would indicate everything he had to. As he wrote, soft arms wrapped around his shoulders and softness rested against his back. His eyebrows rose and he turned his head to look at the woman. "Are you sending a letter back to Alterra?" She asked. When he nodded, her arms tightened around him. He could tell she was nervous. "Can¡­ can you ask them to draw a picture of that man Cain?" Victor looked at her deeply, but he agreed in the end. "Okay, if you promise to tell me what it''s about." After a couple of minutes, he finished the letter to the best of his abilities. When he was done, he stood up and turned, carrying the beautiful woman back to the bed. He pinned her underneath him, her soft arms still around his shoulder. He leaned down to kiss the side of her face, creeping to her ears. "Telling me now?" Before they entered a formal relationship, they were both very upfront about their pasts. They were mature adults who had been through a lot and could only accept complete honesty from their partner. Victor had told her about his ex-fiance who had betrayed him while he was on a mission. She got pregnant with the man''s child no less. On the other hand, she told him about Gill, how she was still after him until recently, and why she broke up with him in the first place. "If it''s the same guy¡­that Cain could be the one who did that to me." He''s one of the sly bastard sons of a politician and managed to get ahold of people with power. She had studied him a lot during the past few years, trying to get back at him as much as she could without damaging herself. This modus sounded too much like him. Sadly, the apocalypse happened before any vengeance was done. Her arms moved and she held his face. She looked at him with a determined facial expression. "If they want to deal with that territory, I want to help." "Okay," Victor smiled, leaning down to kiss her. "And¡­ when it''s all over¡­" he recalled the article, his eyes warming up at a thought. "Let''s get married too, okay?" Juni''s eyes widened and she broke into a genuine smile. "Okay." And she tightened her arms around him, with her shapely legs wrapping around his torso. He pulled her closer to him so their bodies were flush, only kept apart by thin flimsy clothing. "Oh, and about Vanessa¡ª" she said, recalling the woman due to the wedding discussion. Victor stopped her by placing his lips on hers. "Let''s not talk about her now," he said, starting another warm night for the new couple. Chapter 820 - 820: Back to Alterra Village Somewhere in Terran, 2 Years Ago "CAPTAIN!" Gill looked worriedly at the captain who had already stood up, ready to run to another country. He had just been stitched for an unnecessary injury!! That injury was not small! He should be bedridden! The man packed up the basics, like his passport and his wallet. "Captain¡ª-" Gill was, unsurprisingly, ignored and he could only try to talk some sense out of him. "Please captain, you''re not in the condition to fly right now." Garan''s face did not change. He didn''t even send him a glance before heading to the door. He was still handsome, tall, and prideful, but anyone who knew him well enough could tell that he was moving at a much slower than usual. It was clear that Garan was not letting a little injury stop him from going to his wedding. Gill would''ve called Althea so she could convince him herself. Sadly, even those got destroyed during the accident. Gill turned to glare in a direction, making the woman¡ªVanessa¡ª flinch. Her palms were curled over her chest and her eyes were red from crying. It irked Gill to no end. Gill''s acerbic attribute lit up at the sight of her. How dare she act pitiful right now?! "Well, we''re called special forces because no one pulled the others'' legs. What are you? A leech?" "I¡ª" Vanessa was almost crying, but¡­ This couldn''t be blamed on her! Vanessa couldn''t breathe at the thought. Her love was going to get married! The thought had been in her mind the entire mission was that it was going to finish soon and he was going to his wedding and she wasn''t going to have that! Vanessa didn''t think at all. Because of her impulsiveness, she needlessly wasted a lot of effort¡ªwell-planned and funded to meet the schedule¡ªand botched her part. This resulted in the enemies finding them, and causing the captain to get injured. Against all odds though, they still finished the mission somewhat on time. Garan sighed, not wanting to bother about anything that could delay his departure. He opened the door and turned to them. "I''m going now. Take care of the rest." The others trusted the captain and weren''t close enough to even attempt to stop him. They could only salute and do their best to handle the aftermath. "Yes, sir!" Gill just rubbed his hair, but he knew the captain could only be stopped if he was chained to a building. In the end, he just planned on finding a decent international phone so the captain could be welcomed back with an entourage to assist him. Of course, not everyone was so cooperative. For instance, the only woman in the team. "Captain!" She yelled, running to step in front of him, "Your wound! You can''t be travelling at this tim¡ª" But her next words died down as she met his deep blue eyes filled with chilling cold. "Move." Her body followed by survival instinct, but she regretted the moment she did. It was just that her legs were shaking in fear, as if she''d be shot if she dared block his way again. So she could only watch as he left, to be married to another woman. ¡­ Limestone Valley, Present Vanessa woke up crying then. She covered her eyes that was flowing with tears. She was reminded of the pain she suffered that day he got married. It was so painful. She was also suspended for a year, which was fine because she couldn''t function well during that time anyway. Her first mission after her suspension was the one that sent them here, and she tried desperately to finally get to him, though to no avail. No fair, no fair. She loved him so much. That woman just happened to meet him first! If she had more chances, more time with him¡ªmaybe he''d look her way! She swore, no matter what her family said, she''d move to Alterra after the weather change! She looked out the window. The party heading back to Alterra should''ve already left¡­ but she was sure to be on the next one. ¡­ Alterra. At this time, the man the selfish woman was pining about was in the play cot of their bedroom, doing warm up exercises with his children. Well, to be exact, there were two adults stretching and warming up, while their babies were crawling around them. It was a morning exercise for the family. It was healthy and had that small possibility of activating the glitch-like powers of the twins. Occasionally, Garan would carry Meatball with a hand as he stretched, making him giggle as he ''flew''. Althea, would also stretch carrying little Pepper, carrying her up from one area to the next, using positive reinforcement whenever she ''landed'' on the finish spot. "Wheee~ there. Landing. Very good, Baby Pepper." She said, kissing the baby''s soft chubby cheeks. "Ohh, my Baby Meatball is so good at flying~" She said, doing the same to her son. It had to be said: They were really trying everything, but the kids always exhibited abilities at odd times. It wasn''t that they were trying to activate the powers for the sake of activating them. They wanted to see how they could be controlled, so that they didn''t exhibit them unnecessarily outside the house. While there was a running theory of Meatball likely doing it when he was very giddy and Pepper when she wanted to go somewhere, they couldn''t mimic these situations every time, right? They sighed, just tagging this day as one with minimal progress. Then, after the exercise, the family went out to the dining area where the food was already served. The team didn''t eat breakfast together, particularly when everyone was busy. The goblins had arrived and a lot of things had to be arranged. There were much fewer Goblins assigned to Alterra. There were less than a hundred, as the goblins were much more needed in Limestone Valley, which not only had the mines to care for, but also lacked a lot of infrastructure compared to Alterra which needed a lot less digging. For example, most houses in Limestone Valley did not have basements, their farms were also much smaller and less productive, and their facilities needed a lot of improvements. As for why she didn''t send more when there were still more than a thousand left in Iron Valley, it was because the Goblins were also very much needed there. She had already studied the productivity of the goblins with a Research Team and they based their numbers accordingly. Iron¡­ was too important and the goblins were at their peak efficiency there. Ah, her iron. Interestingly, she had gotten a lot of the iron ore samples in the Iron Mountain warehouse and they were very good ores. They could definitely make a lot more weapons for the same mass of raw ore compared to the ones in the bog which had a lot of impurities. What was more? They found magnetite among the ores! Magnetite was pretty much the last thing they needed to develop electricity!! Not only that, they would be able to use magnets for other things. The implications of that were immeasurable! Overall, the arrival of Goblins was extremely timely. Anyway, unlike in Limestone Valley, she wasn''t very worried about the integration of the goblins here. After all, they already have goblin citizens, and from what she heard they were integrating quite well already. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She believed that the newcomers would fit in quite well. Chapter 821 - 821: Underground Tunnel (Part 1) A few days later, this would prove to be true. Days had passed and it did become hotter and hotter throughout the continent. However, most people were unaware of what was happening and wouldn''t be able to notice much difference. It was too gradual. If one asked how hot it was today compared to five days ago, they would just say it got a little hotter. Of course, this was just an illusion that fortunately every Territory Alterra allied with was aware of. In the mountains, in Alterra, there were several simple ongoing underground constructions. They chose to dig the Western faces of the mountain to do this. The streams and tributaries were on the other side so it was better to avoid that area because it''d be much more prone to erosion and flooding. They also studied the wind movements and agreed that the Western part of the mountain range received enough wind and precipitation so it wouldn''t be dried out, at least not more than other places. There were hundreds of people and goblins doing the digging work, with several humans (usually Prisoners) going to and fro to take away the excess soil. The people from the construction team were also there, erecting the necessary permanent construction like columns and beams to keep the tunnel stable even if an earthquake or landslide occurred. They also lined the surface with mesh (fibers for reinforcement and insulation) and lined it up with concrete so it''d be comfortable to stay in. They also added a waterproofing membrane (the one Honey Guevarra found) to make sure the moisture wouldn''t get inside. Everyone was busy and the construction was at its peak. The newcomers¡ªthe goblins¡ªwere particularly hardworking. The two groups of goblins¡ªone of which referred to those who had been captured during the war¡ªhad already meshed and combined and were now working together. Just the fact that they were together was enough cause for celebration for them! How shocked they were to see each other! When the war happened and some were called in to join before others, they knew they might never meet again. The chances of never seeing each other again were too high in wars. But now¡­ they had dedicated dormitories and they all lived comfortably as neighbors. The night of the reunion, the goblins caught up for an entire night and they barely slept, but somehow they were still full of energy the next day! "Iko! Pency!" One goblin said as they dug the mountainside with the humans¡ªnot as slave drivers, but cowokers! "Let me help you in this area." "Sure, thanks!" "Thanks thanks!" And they continued as a team, synergy definitely more than 1 plus one equals 2. As they finished an area, another couldn''t help but sigh in melancholy. "I still can''t believe we''re all working with a nice house and full stomachs." "Same¡­" a goblin agreed. "Same¡­" another one added. "Same." A human nodded. Speaking of, the food here was unbelievable! They had never eaten such food! And with their own salaries, they could buy buy buy! "After this, I will reward myself with Cotton Candy," Pupu, one of the younger ones, said. He was a bit naive and adorable because of his innocence. He was born as a slave, but at the same time because he didn''t know a better life he was surprisingly optimistic. It helped that the adult goblins always protected him, and were one of the few sources of joy they had. "Can we really become proper citizens soon?" he asked an older goblin, who smiled and nodded. "As long as we keep working, we''d be able to save enough to buy our own freedom." It was Yut, one of the ''drowned'' goblins, who answered. He just arrived from bringing the soil outside, and he had paper bags with him. The cost of buying their own freedom was just the default 5 Gold, with Alterra not even adding anything for its profit. It might seem extremely large for slaves who had nothing, but they were getting the standard salaries of more than 3 gold a month here in Alterra. Considering their expenses, if they worked hard (overtime work also paid more) and avoided spending too much, they should be able to save enough after a few months! It was nothing they could''ve imagined before! "I''ll work harder!" Pupu yelled, raising his little green arms and began digging even faster. This made the other goblins chuckle. Their new human friends, like Pency, also smiled. He had melshed together with the goblin team quite well, and it helped that he was a Guia slave along with them. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Here, have snacks," Yut said as he handed the little paper bags around their team. After delivering the stones, he went to the mouth of the cave to buy some snacks. Outside the mines, there were several business-minded folks who set up stalls there. The offerings ranged from heavy food to light snacks and drinks. It was great because the marketplaces were quite a distance away from the mines. Anyway, the workers could just go to the mouth of the tunnels during their break and buy as they wanted. Speaking of which, there was no strict time of breaks here. The workers were just assigned a certain amount of reasonable output a day and they would report it honestly (they took an oath upon hiring). If they were tired in between needed rest, then they were free to do so. The stalls he went to today ranged from barbeques, cool drinks, cool snacks, and others things. Yut ate a bit of everything and bought some sour cream popcorn for the others (his treat). It felt fitting with their hard labor job. The work paused for a few moments as they consumed the bite-sized snacks, pretty much moaning at the awesomeness of it. It was more amazing the more they ate. It was even more special because they were working so hard! It''s like a reward! Who wouldn''t feel happy working hard like this? Chapter 822 - 822: Underground Tunnel (Part 2) "Ah! So delicious!" Pupu mumbled, shoving a handful in his mouth. When he realized this he blinked and looked apologetically at Yut. "I''ll buy some for you when I get my first paycheck later," he said. People were paid daily here, so they had funds for their daily expenses (which may or may not include a food splurge). Yut chuckled. "Nah, I bought the bags for you guys," he said, before heading to the wall and began to dig. Pupu blinked and ate a bit more before joining his friend. Anyway, the goblins and their human teammates continued with their job, now with an even more renewed energy as they went. Taktaktaktak "WOW you''re really going fast. If you continue this you''d go beyond the output requirement for us!" Iko said as he looked at Yut and Pupu. As Goblins, their output was a bit larger than the others. However, they were paid the same per mass so they were probably making a lot more than their human counterparts each day. Added with their excess output and overtime, then their daily salary was really quite impressive. "Wow, citizenship can come sooner for you!" "That''s what I want!" Yut nodded. As one of the first goblins there, and one of the ''intellectuals'' he had studied and understood a lot about the system in Alterra. "The sooner we get the residencies, the sooner we get the benefits." "Even temporary residency can receive a certain level of free health care, more access to resources inside the territory, and we can even rent our own home!" "Wow¡­" It was hard labor, but it was a job and no one really complained, especially those who got used to much worse. Anyway, the miners¡ªhumans or goblins¡ªwere paid as normal workers, and could therefore use their hard work to better their own lives. However, not everyone had this treatment. For instance, the Prisoners of Wars¡ªwhether they were from Guia, or minor betrayers from their own territory¡ªhad quite a different situation. After all, unlike the paid workers, they were paid in Atonement Points, and that meant they didn''t get extra money in their wallet. They could only make do with the shelter and food provided for them as sustenance, and nothing else. It was easier to handle the System Slaves because they just had to order them with words, but it was a bit of a challenge to the others who technically had their freedom from the tethers of such slavery. For example, the Alterran betrayers. "AH, SO TIRING!" Alon yelled for the nth time that day. He squatted down. Sadly for him, nobody but his mother would care, but most of the women prisoners were assigned to other labor work like cleaning or pushing the cart with the soil out. But Alon didn''t care. He wanted to throw a tantrum! "This is so annoying!" he yelled, pushing the soil with his hand, and making a mess in the area. "I DON''T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE!" This earned him a light kick from the guard-on-duty, which happened to be Angelo, who had quite the gripe with him. "SHUT UP!" He yelled. "Work or you wouldn''t be able to eat!" S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Angelo kicked him up. "Clean this up, or we''ll put you on shit duty like your mum." Alon''s mum was among those cleaning the septic tanks and pushing them to the fertilizer farms. Alon shivered. Although it was less hard work, it was too disgusting to access shit! Grumbling, Alon had no choice by to start digging again, though slowly. Angelo sighed. "Well, if you give low outputs, you get low atonement points. Up to you," he said, looking away to check on the other Prisoners. Although modern people like them had a natural dislike of slavery, they felt no pity for betrayers. They even felt extremely gratified that they could contribute to the territory like this instead of trying to cause it harm. Anyway, the rest of the Prisoners could only do their jobs as they had been the past few days even before the goblins arrived. Angelo and the other assigned guards nodded as they entered a pretty good pace after a while. "Work hard. Instead of Contribution Points, you get Atonement Points. Receive a certain amount and you might get pardoned!" he said, though it was targetted to those with minor crimes, marked by the color of the bracelets on their hands. "So work hard and don''t annoy us!" The guards were particularly harsh to the Guia slaves, marked blood red for those who had killed people. They didn''t whip them like those slave drivers they saw in movies, but they did ask them to dig more with less rest. "GYAHH!" "WORK!" The Guia prisoners were System Slaves¡ªstrong ones who didn''t were killed¡ªand could only drag their bodies to do so, no matter how livid they were inside! It got a bit more difficult when the Guia prisoners encountered the tunnels made by the goblins, and therefore the goblins themselves. They saw that the rats in their minds¡ª-rats they had kicked and abused a lot through the years¡ªwere being treated much better than they were! Some were even chewing on jerkies and other snacks! WHAT IN THE ORCSHIT IS THIS PLACE?! "You bastard!" A Guian yelled, glaring at the goblins who flinched at the sight of him. "You dare put me in the same place as these rats?!" Bang! He found himself kicked to the wall, some loose soil fell on him. He gasped and coughed, pushing himself up with his arm and glaring at the person who kicked him. This was Turbo, who wasn''t assigned there, but just happened to be checking on the process. Sadly, this kind of sight was still not rare, and he wasn''t surprised to encounter one from the get-go. "They''re proper citizens of Alterra! You dare insult them! 2 more hours work for you!" Unlike other territories, Alterra was not inhumane. The slaves worked just a few hours beyond the normal working hours. Adding two more was still less than the working hours of slaves outside, not that most slaves¡ªwho were formerly slave drivers¡ª-appreciated that. "Jerks," Turbo said, and he turned to look at the goblins, who flinched under his gentle stare (they were really small and animal-like). "Although you''re still slaves in name, you are Alterran citizens now," he said, kneeling down to their level so they didn''t have to strain their necks looking at him. "We''re all equal here, okay? When someone''s bullying you report it to us!" The goblins stared at him blankly, unsure if they were hearing correctly. The goblins didn''t feel any insincerity in his words, and they understood that he really meant what he said! They knew in theory that they could become citizens in name, but to get sincere treatment of equality was still beyond their comprehension and expectations. Now they were protected so well with such frankness, and some goblins couldn''t help but sniffle a bit. ¡­ Later that night, Gaea Villa. The Midnight chime sounded, and the couple was resting after another passionate activity. Althea rested her head on her husband''s generous chest, entering deep thought. It was the habit of a hyperactive brain, and it had always been one of Garan''s excuses when he went wild. "It''s to get you to fall asleep quickly," he would say, as if he wouldn''t spend hours making love to her. As they relaxed again though, the various worries about the territories emerged again. She worried a bit about the Iron Mountains in particular. It could get attacked again, especially if news came that the leadership had changed. She didn''t want to change too much before it either, so as to add an element of surprise to the next war. That and she felt stingy and she really didn''t want to spend much on the other two territories without perfecting hers first. She hoped every potential enemy would get distracted by the upcoming weather change. That way they could all focus on maximizing the survivability of the populace during that time. They really could use a war-free few weeks. Garan sensed his wife overthinking things and patted her back as if lulling her to sleep. Althea smiled, burying herself deeper into his embrace. However, just as she was about to fall into slumber, a familiar ding sounded in her head, waking her up completely. [Epo Village (Lv3) declared war on Iron Mountain (Lv3)! War will begin at 13:59:59] Chapter 823 - 823: Improving Iron Mountains (Part 1) Sigh. "What''s wrong?" Garan asked, crawling down to kiss her bare shoulder. He placed several kisses to various parts of her shoulders and neck, and his wife buried her soft hands in his hair. "Someone declared war on Iron Valley," she said, making Garan pause a little. He lifted his body a bit and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead before he sat up, knowing they had a job to do. They really weren''t surprised in the end. After all, Guia Village was a very rich village¡ªand everyone knew this. They thrived on this reputation. Alterra earned a lot of resources from winning alone. Unlike the poor Fargo Village that gave her a few hundred gold for taking over, Guia gave her a few thousand just for winning it, let alone taking over its warehouse. What Althea didn''t know yet was that she was very lucky because of her timing. If the war had been a few days later, she''d have gotten even less than what she got from Fargo. This was because, if Guia attacked a little later, then they''d have given much of their resources to a certain city¡ªas it always did¡ªand then give a small portion of the remaining to Ferrol, which was its ''master'' town, at least on paper. Of course, this was something that they''d find out much, much, later. For now, they had to prepare for the war at hand. The couple sat up to get dressed, with Althea turning off the sound blocker (which they used to avoid disturbing the babies) and prepared for a very early start for the day. They didn''t sound the alarm in Alterra, simply because the war was far away to another territory. From where they were, only Althea could really do anything that could affect the other territory. She witheld the announcement in Iron Mountains as well, opting to do what she could first. Anyway, they''d need their rest for what was to come. The enemies that could attack it were naturally strong enough to think it could win over Guia without its Lord, and they didn''t want them too prepared so Garan and Althea decided not to do anything with it until they received the attack notice. They considered upgrading a lot in favor of hoping the enemy would be intimidated, but that would just delay the fight until the enemy felt they were ready enough. When would that be? When they were stronger? During the heat wave? Now that the announcement was sent, Althea immediately sat up and opened her panel, and began with the upgrades. Anyway, she got thousands of gold from Guia, which she''d use to improve the whole thing. She would wake up the citizens in a couple of hours, which was plenty of time for the war that''d happen in the middle of the day. "It''s interesting how they chose to fight in the middle of the day. Did they really not feel the heat?" She mumbled as she pretty much drained out Guia''s money for its upgrade. Hey, this was fun. It was like splurging, but with other people''s money. If the person who was supposed to receive the money was to know about her splurge, they might just pop a few veins. But that was a story for later. Anyway, she amusedly clicked and ordered and splurged¡ªah, so fun¡ªin the middle of the night. The citizens would be quite surprised when they woke up. ¡­ The people of Iron Mountains were woken up by the announcement that they would be attacked in six hours! S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Six hours! "Jerk! He announced when we only have a few hours left to prepare!" "At least they warned, I heard some territories don''t bother!" "But still, our lord isn''t a level 30 elementalist anymore!" The people in the house were silent, and some had indeed begun to pack up again. They stayed because, despite having a much weaker administrative team, the entries and fees had become much more affordable. But what were savings when you were a slave?! It was just that when they went out of the house¡ªwas it just them or was it becoming a little warm¡ªthe territory had changed a lot. Gill and the others had also moved around to see the changes. "This¡­" "Are we in the same place?" They also saw a lot of people just gaping around them in a daze. There were a lot of changes, and it could be said that Alterra really spent a lot of money into the improvements. Of course, Xeno wasn''t some infrastructure game where Althea could just move buildings around. Althea had to retain most of the village. Fortunately, there were plenty of abandoned buildings because they were either occupied by Baltimore''s men, dead people, or people who had left as soon as they realized that Guia had fallen. This gave some flexibility to Althea, giving her the choice to demolish them. In those places, she either took it down for some manual construction later on (she really wished she could at least place her custom buildings there, but alas), or turned them into parks, also to be planted with trees later after the war. She might also add some underground construction underneath a few of them in the future. The streetscape was also changed. The current 6-meter wide streets added a 2-person mountable sidewalk on each side, with provision for trees or shrubs. They could not add trees and islands without planting them manually, but the holes provided were big enough to plant young trees later on. If she blocked the Beast Carts at the peripheries (there were rarely some in villages, anyway), then the road should be wide enough for now. In the future, there would be more dorms and buildings, leaving more and more open spaces to play with, and making the place seem a lot airier. Silvia reckoned that after the war and the heat wave, they would probably have a few more improvements. The most notable changes were, of course, the walls. Many citizens ran to see and touch it in shock. "It''s really a Level 5 wall?!" one yelled and then they looked up to see sentries within eye range of each other! What in the world?! When did such big change occur?! Chapter 824 - 824: Improving Iron Mountains (Part 2) Although Guia had a lot of gold, it naturally couldn''t afford the dense sentries that Alterra had. The walls alone had consumed almost all of the gold she won from Guia. Hence, like what she did with Limestone Valley, she chose to add dense sentries in the more sensitive areas like the gates and added watch towers everywhere else. Anyway, sentries were more useful in beast mobs, which were more active by the gates. In wars, people tended to be more creative¡ªsending forces that would not focus on attacking the well-guarded gates. They''d also be sneaky in trying to get over the gate. In such cases, some human factor would be useful. She, however, added a lot of interior watchtowers for efficiency as well. It used a bit of her own funds, but it was worth it for her peace of mind. Anyway, it was a shock to the locals and they couldn''t help to stare, gape, and admire. When the leading party was in sight, they immediately surrounded them, bombarding them with questions and maybe a few words of admiration here and there. Gill and the others looked awkward. They were embarrassed with the succeeding questions and compliments because they were relatively surprised too. They didn''t think Alterra would spend too much of its own money improving another. Hey, Guia must''ve been really rich to get so many upgrades all at once. Lucky them. ¡­ In the mining area, another dormitory was also prepared. Alterra''s custom buildings could not be built here. She just built the standard houses available and placed them together to create dormitories. They''d have to make manual public toilets, but the living condition was definitely improved for the poor. This was found outside the mines and was also built inside the mine area. In this dormitory, it happened that Kimura and Lin were there, bonding with the goblins. Lin was someone found from Fargo and happened to be Kimura''s student many years back. She arrived literally a day before the war, which was fortunate because she didn''t have to experience the horrors many women there had to go through. Lin shared the same fascination with rocks, allowing her to quickly be promoted in Terran and, similarly, in Alterra as well. The two had a fascination with minerals and more so with the critters who had a special bond with it. It was amazing, it was like the goblins had a special sixth sense! They were both queasy though so they didn''t think of dissecting the creatures, but they were certainly doing everything to observe them as closely as they could. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And they were very close indeed. Literally living together with them, for one. At first, the goblins were a little scared of the two humans being all buddy-buddy with them¡ªto the point they were willing to stay in the same hut! But after so many days of not sensing impatience, but rather fascination and genuine admiration for their skills, the goblins had slowly softened up to the duo. "What''s that?" They asked and the humans turned to look at it. They brightened when they realized what it was. "Oh, finally a dormitory! I had thought Alterra forgot about us!" Kimura exclaimed, patting away some soil on his attire. How long had it been since he took a bath? After getting to do so daily in Alterra, he had to admit he really missed it. Of course, he wasn''t complaining, his field was still most important to him. "Well, they are all very busy," Lin calmly added and it made sense so Kimura agreed. "It''s a bit different though. I guess we can''t build Alterran buildings here¡­" The goblins, though, looked at the building and at them curiously. "What''s a dormitory?" This made the humans smile and led the goblins to the building. "Our new house! C''mon let''s take a look." The goblins looked up at the multistory building. It was similar to what they had seen in the main village, but it had more decorations and was built side by side as if they were just one building. The moment they stepped on the threshold a familiar ding sounded in their heads. [Would you like to rent this bed for 1 day for 1 copper?] "1 copper a day?" The goblins paused looking around to see whether they heard it correctly. Lin giggled. "Yes! That''s what you have to pay for staying," she said. "You can only have a bed for yourself though and the bathrooms, kitchens, et cetera are communal." "Ohhhh!" The green little things nodded and immediately looked at their interface. [Yes] they clicked and they immediately received directions to their assigned beds. Theirs were on the ground floor and they saw that each room didn''t have many beds at all, at least not in their standards. Then when the goblins went to their beds one by one, they realized something. It was Gup, one of the older goblins who asked. "We get one bed each?" They saw more of this as they walked around. Their beds were small compared to the humans, but it gave them plenty of room, still. Anyway, the goblins, who were used to squeezing in huts, naturally didn''t see the problem with this. Rather, it felt like a luxury to have their own bed! It only cost 1 copper to use this. They had salaries now, and this was super affordable! "This is your own home that you pay for yourself," Lin began, leaning down so she could be at eye-level with the little ones. "You will buy your own food, your own clothes, your own lives¡­ isn''t it nice?" The goblins felt a little teary, nodding repeatedly. They nodded a lot, as if doing so would make sure everything was real. There was a special feeling of spending money that you had, and they relished in it. This made them even more worried about the upcoming war. These people were so good, they didn''t want anything to happen to them. They also didn''t want to return to the lives of slaves again. It was cruel¡ªif they didn''t see all this, they wouldn''t have cared as much, but they had and now they were terrified of losing everything. "Will the war be ok?" Gup asked. Kimura smiled and Lin patted his head. "Oh, don''t worry. "Alterra is Proud and Strong!" she said, looking quite proud as if she was there. "It''ll handle everything, as long as every one of us does our part." This made the Goblins sparkle and look at her with light in their eyes. "What can we do to help?" Chapter 825 - 825: Women of Bleuelle Chapter dedicated to Lotuslin''s latest castle~! Love you~! WN decided to move my promotion to October, and the castle really helped keep up the story''s exposure! *hugs* And it''s part of the plot lol, not a filler. Had to clear this out before the Extreme Heat comes in. ... __________ Bleulle City The City of Blu was as lively as it had always been. It was bustling with activity and thrummed with the daily rhythm of its hundreds of thousands¡ªif not a million¡ªof inhabitants. In every part of the territory, money flowed, whether it was direct transactions or taxes, gold and silver were added to the City treasury. At this time, commoners bustled through the system streets. They peddled goods and served patrons. They sold their products or hunted as per usual, each transaction contributing to the city''s rich economy¡­ and the pockets of its nobles. In contrast to the commoners, in more opulent districts, the upper class gossiped about the latest news within their class. For instance, in The Prestige House, one of the upscale restaurants in the city, was currently bustling with well-dressed individuals just passing their day. This was owned by the affluent Trion Family, and one of the nobles'' favorite places to spend their day. Here, in one of the intricately-designed corners, a group of women were chattering about various things. They gathered amid the ambiance of fine drinks and food. They exchanged pleasantries and rumors, bodies with the aura of those used to luxury. They ate snacks and had cold drinks from rare ceramic cups only found in high society. They were also using intricate-looking fans to cool themselves down from the ambient heat, and looking fabulous while doing so. In Xeno, Women might not have much say in front of men, but noble women could still enjoy a lot of perks, especially if their families or the family they married into was well-off. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As for the men, they were in their own ''play spaces'', hopefully not in The Allure, the top-class brothel, but what could they do? At least their husbands went back to them in the end of the day, and that was what mattered in the end. They would often bring each other down subtly, without directly offending, just to feel better about their own lives. One might even raise the topic of a mistress. "Sigh, I don''t know what he sees in that woman when you''re still so beautiful and young," a woman said, appearing genuinely concerned for the other woman. In response, the other woman would reply, "I''m not sure either, but I am relieved it is only one," she said, making a jab at the other''s husband, who famously had his own harem. They drank cool drinks and fanned themselves gracefully throughout, and if an Alterran was there they''d wonder if these women were masochists. However, while there were several groups comprised of middle-aged women with nothing better to do when their men weren''t around, there was also a group of unmarried young women. At their center was the beautiful Estra Trion, one of the Trion Family''s many daughters. As one of the city''s top families, she was naturally pandered on. She had blazing red hair and curvaceous form. She was one of the most sought-after women in the territory and had received countless proposals through the years. Next to her was her best friend Liaroa, or just Lia, who was wearing slightly more revealing clothing of light red to match her pinkish hair. Her clothing and mannerisms indicated she was ''well-bred''. Her sights always seemed above everyone (except Estra, of course). She was the daughter of the Vesto family, also amongst the top in Bleulle. Similarly, every member of this clique had families above the hierarchy in Bleuelle and other cities. At this time, the group was finding particular interest in a young woman who was sitting alone in a corner. She was quite beautiful and had near-shimmering sandy hair. Her back was straight and proud, a quiet confidence emanating from her. She maintained composure, seemingly impervious to any of the murmurs and whispers that surrounded her¡ªwhich was unlikely because some women were not far from her at all. "Who''s that?" The women whispered in hushed tones, though they really didn''t care that much even if they were heard. "That''s Sahara Khan, she''s the daughter of Dune Town Lord." "That barren desert town southwest?" one woman said, not even hiding her distaste. "Why would anyone want to build there, anyway?" Estra shrugged, "Well, except for the beast mobs, no one would bother attacking them in wars," she said. "Perhaps that is why." Several women laughed derisively. "To be fair, I heard it was just barren, not an outright desert, some 100 years ago when the town was created." "Speaking of, isn''t it a bit warm lately?" "Has it? I''ve been drinking a lot more," Lia said. Water wasn''t cheap and she realized in retrospect her spending had risen. The topic died out after a bit, with no one really thinking too deeply about it. They had a much more interesting topic of gossip, after all. "She''s really beautiful," another woman said, but pausing immediately as she said it. "Well, not as beautiful as our Estra, of course." She sweated a bit at this, afraid of offending the woman by complimenting another in front of her. Thankfully her own friend shifted the discussion away from her. "Aiya, Estra what a beautiful dress. Is that blue silk?" This made the redheaded woman turn to her with a gracious smile. "Yes, I''ve asked father to give me purple, and he promised to get me some as soon as it was available." The women around gasped in awe. Everyone knew the purple dye was extremely expensive. Blue fabric was also very valuable of course, and it was impressive to have such an intricate dress made entirely of the rare fabric. They then looked at the woman whose beauty rivaled their leader''s, and then looked at the cheap coat that hid her figure. However, based on the part of the dresses that sneaked out of the coat, they could also see that the dress underneath was also cheap. It was only slightly better made than what the commoners wear and they frowned in distaste. Was she not ashamed of showing herself here dressed up like that?! Shameless! Chapter 826 - 826: The Golds had Begun to Move "Is she not ashamed to show up here dressed like that?" "I heard she went all the way to Ferrol to gain some deals for her town, heh, I don''t know what that lord thought of sending a daughter when he has two sons." "You know a lot," Estra said to the woman, Lizbeth, one of the new members of their little clique. "My maternal family is from Saul Town," the girl said proudly, pushing her dark hair to her ear. "I heard a lot about their family." Saul Town was a level 2 town, and it had the level 1 Dune Town as its subsidiary ever since it was a small village. This made the others turn to her curiously. "How did the deals go? The one in Ferrol, I mean." "If it did, she probably¡­ you know," she said, sending glances at the lone woman. "Well, she is very beautiful." "But she wasn''t taken," Lia said with a sly smile. "What''s beauty when she can''t even capture men? Didn''t Ferrol just hold a trade fair? She didn''t catch anyone from there?" This made the women think. Xeno women would always think in the direction of men. In their minds, men were possessive creatures who loved beauty. If a beauty like that was still alone, then there was something wrong with her. "Perhaps¡­ those men discovered something?" "Maybe she covered herself up?" "Or¡­ is she not¡­ clean?" They gasped and then looked at the woman who was still sitting still, though if one looked closer one could see her fingers shaking as it held on her ceramic cup. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The woman stood up and it was so abrupt they wondered if she''d dare start a confrontation. However, she just walked away, looking like a pitiful woman, though none of them felt pity at all. Not caring of the fact that they could''ve possibly made a stranger cry, the group of young women continued to gossip about her. "Why do you think she''s here, then?" another asked. "Surely, she wouldn''t think of attaching to someone here when she couldn''t do it there?" "Well, desperation can do a lot to a person," Lizbeth said, knowing the dire situation of Dune Town. "Her hometown is really in trouble. I heard more undead have been sighted the past couple of months than there had been the past year." This made the women gasp as they looked at her. "Do the men know this?" "I assume so," Lizbeth said. "My father had been receiving quite a few guests. If Saul Town is like that, then it must be more dire in Dune Town, which is hundreds of kilometers closer to the Undead Mountains." "She''s probably going to try to get some resources as well. That place just lacks¡­ everything." "Who do you think she''ll try to grab onto, then?" "The Trion family?" they asked, looking at Estra, who scoffed but didn''t exactly deny anything. Her brother had a huge harem, she wouldn''t be surprised if this one decided to get in his line of sight. It wasn''t the first time it happened. Hopefully, this one wouldn''t try going through her because Estra was tired of those types. It was here that a thought came to Lia. She looked at her friend. "The Golds had arrived didn''t they? When they started to move, that woman appeared. Coincidence?" At the sound of the Golds, Estra''s eyes sharpened. "The other siblings are fine, but if she dares touch Otto¡­ she''ll regret stepping in Bleuelle." She didn''t care about the others, but Otto was her fiance! The atmosphere around her became a bit scarier and the other girls shivered a bit, afraid, and they looked at Lia who seemed to be watching a show. "Speaking of the Golds, they are really surprising," she said. "I wonder what they brought?" The other girls nodded. A lot of them were hanging out and shopping when the Golds'' small group arrived with their many beasts carriages. All those carriages were full, and even the roof had a mountain of stuff in it. "Who knows, they haven''t shared it yet." The Golds arrived a day prior and they caused quite an uproar. They brought so many things. When they went out as a group, it already caused some interest. After all, so many siblings going someplace at once was extremely rare. They returned as a group again with so much in their bags¡ªit was bound to make a few tongues waggle. "I am so curious!" another added. "They seemed so excited¡­" another said. "So handsome¡­" "You haven''t heard anything?" One of the women couldn''t help but ask Estra, just genuinely curious. Instead of an answer, it made the redhead frown. The girls immediately flinched, realizing they had mispoken. Although the Trions had been telling people Estra was Otto''s fiance, Otto had been going around saying he wasn''t planning on getting married at all. It felt like hitting her face repeatedly, but Estra had looked at Otto as her husband since she was a child. She couldn''t bear call off the engagement. She didn''t want to. Even if she knew Otto had been sleeping with other women¡ªshe didn''t care! Women in their circle always had to push down the bitterness and live with it, but what made things worse was that¡ªin most cases¡ªtheir men were losers! Not only did they have to deal with infidelity, it was to deal with the infidelity of their attractive men with decent level but low skills. In contrast, Otto¡­ Otto was one-of-a-kind! He was extremely handsome, had a good family, and had amazing skills. He an epitome of a ''good man'' in her mind, and such a man was who she deserved. If she was to live the kind of life noble women had already accepted as a norm, then it had to be someone worth it. It was around this time that one of the maids hurriedly went to her master, taking out an aether letter. Estra''s eyebrows rose as it was opened in front of her, her heart clenching as she saw its contents. /The Golds have finally moved./ Chapter 827 - 827: Golds’ Movements The Gold siblings finally revealed their items and immediately affected the market, at least for their strata in society. It got to the point that a lot of parties regretted not following them where they went. No one had the resources to just keep tracking other people''s movements, even if it was the Golds. Plus, being detected could put a strain on the family relations so no one did so. Hmn, maybe next time. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, the shops were flourishing. This was especially true for the ones with the space stones like Olga and Otto, who brought out a lot. For Otto, he opened a special one-day-only event in his store where he would be selling his items. He was selling them for 20 times to price (or more, depending on how difficult it would be for others to procure). It might be a bit much (he had been fondly called by a few Alterrans as the Golden Profiteer), but these were novelties so he didn''t think too much of it. This shop, called ''Land of Curiosities'', was his favorite store. Here, he would sell some of the things he got from traveling around so many territories. With huge markup, of course. It had to be noted that, even after traveling so much, he had only landed on a small fraction of the human territory. Even after years of creating his caravan, this remained the truth, and he did want to explore it a bit more. Fortunately, their lifespans were long and exploring farther was possible to do within his life. His shop was large and expensive, more than 5000 square feet. Before, the place would display something in the middle, usually something from a distant land people here rarely saw. More often than not, it would take up a huge space, though sometimes these things were just unique in appearance, but nothing special in function. People still bought though because of the status implications. Otto knew Alterra''s products were different. They were not only novel, but they were also functional, which made them all the more valuable. He was inspired by the set-up of the stores in Alterra. Of course, it wasn''t that energetic. Rather, he would add something more comfortable to nobles. Because of his selling price, his items were only accessible to nobles and rich people for now. His stock was limited after all (his space stone was the smallest one), and even if he wanted to pick a few lucky commoners, he would feel stingy. Anyway, for his purpose, he arranged the hall into something like an auction house with items displayed in a specific area to be appreciated on their own. There were high-class well-dressed and handsome chefs giving out the free tastes for the sauces, and each section had one good-looking and charming person to explain. Other novelty items like puzzles, stuffed toys, and the like were on another side, and there was also a demo area for the guests to try. He also made a maximum capacity of shoppers who could go in at a time. It was for relaxed buying, so people wouldn''t feel too cramped, and he also implemented a very strict purchase limit. Anyway, his shop understandably was incredibly lively with his patrons practically throwing money at him. "This is delicious!" one said, closing his eyes as he tasted the biscuit with peanut butter. "This is meat I bought, but the flavor was really brought out!" Another said, referring to adding a drop of soy sauce in their dried meat. "The taste has been elevated by several levels¡­" another said, appreciating the taste of the new sauces. It really wasn''t anything they had tasted before! These were just a few of the exclamations and Otto received several compliments as he went around. After the food, he went to the toys and puzzles and even adults enjoyed them. His lips twitched when he recalled these were for kids and, in Alterra, it was mostly small children playing around with them. Seeing adults look at them with reverence was a little funny. "You always bring back the most interesting things." "Thank you," Otto was in a very good mood. He also proceeded to tell some functions as well, and introduced them to the games adults would also find fun like scrabbles, chess, and checkers. For the sake of a quick demo, he chose to play checkers, and they gained quite an audience. It was easy to understand especially because he explained his moves. He would also correct the opponent when he made an illegal move or made a bad one. "This is a wonderful game of strategy," he explained, "And it can also train the mind. Everyone would like to keep their minds sharp, after all. The men nodded, feeling their brains tingling a bit. Even if they didn''t like brain-teaser games, they''d probably buy one for the sake of appearances. Otto could see the gold coming in! He didn''t even need so much money. Just seeing the numbers gave him joy. To maximize the seeds of splurging, he continued to explain a bit more. "Chess is even more complex, but the rules might take a bit longer to explain," he said. "I can hold an event to teach and hold tournaments for it, with special prices." "Ohh¡­" "That''s a good idea!" He smiled. In time, it''d be a good alternative of pass time among the nobles. Not only would he earn money, but he''d also subtly change their perspectives and how they spend their time. In any case, it was definitely better than hanging around brothels. Otto himself never did so. The women he had been with always approached him, and they were always women of some class, even if many of them were in the middle class. Some were also young widows, so they had least expectations of him after the act. Speaking of women¡­ A red head appeared next to him as soon as he escaped the checker-loving crowd. "Otto¡­ you''re back¡­" Estra said, voice softer than usual. She was standing by with a few of her friends. She was looking at him with eyes filled with amorous feelings. To be honest, Otto also found her attractive, however she was¡­ too much. He liked his affairs to be light, breezy, and fun. Although he didn''t touch prostitutes, there were certainly plenty of higher-class women who would willingly let go of themselves¡ªwithout strings attached¡ªto be with him for a night. Estra¡­ was too high-maintenance. He couldn''t even have women in Bleuelle because she would make their lives hell. If they were commoners or even prostitutes, Estra might have done a lot worse to them. However, her family was still in the same strata as his, so he maintained a business attitude in dealing with her. "Hmn, want to buy anything?" he said, smiling. "I''ll give you a friendship discount of 5%." "I¡­" she paused looking around. "I will take a look later." "I see," Otto said. "Just call any one of the attendants and they''d give you their time. Now, if you''ll excuse me¡ª" The woman pursed her lips. "Can we talk? Alone?" Otto flinched and looked at her, before finally shaking his head a little. "No thank you, milady. I''m afraid of we be misunderstood," he said, excusing himself before the red-haired beauty could say anything else. Estra''s eyes lined with tears as he watched him go, interacting with various customers after leaving her alone. "Don''t worry," Lia said next to her ears, though her dark eyes traced over Otto''s extremely charming profile. "He''ll come around." Chapter 828 - 828: Gold and Sand "What if she wasn''t clean?" The words of those women rang in her ears, making Sahara''s strong facade crack bit by bit. She hid herself in the bathroom, covering her face. "I want to go home¡­" she whispered but she immediately pushed it down. There was too much anchored in her success and she could not fail just because of her own weaknesses. Whenever she remembered that night, she felt shame. It was something she refused to acknowledge, yet couldn''t forget no matter how hard she tried. Although the memory was a little blurry, she could still remember that man. She could remember his dark skin, his light hair, his handsome features. More importantly, she could still remember his warmth and gentleness¡ª She shook everything off and her poised stance returned. She headed out, hoping to find the people who could help her out. ¡­ At this time, another shop of the Golds was raking in money. This time, it was of beauty products. Olga''s items were displayed in the new beauty shop she and her sister-in-law Hilda had been planning for a while. This was scheduled to launch in a month when their prospect products and that pharmacist advisor was finally ready, but now they didn''t have to wait! Of course, they still paid the pharmacist the agreed upon money, though he seemed absolutely offended that they started offering other products as well. He even demanded they didn''t sell their items or lose their partnership with him. However, they had seen his products. They were good, but nothing compared to what Alterra could offer. Further, he still wasn''t finished! He was so arrogant. She recalled Miss Althea who was at the same level (and had better skills) yet did not even have a bit of arrogance. Fortunately, they had signed a partnership oath before and he couldn''t back out of their deal, at least providing them exclusivity for certain products, which would be added offerings within the next few weeks or so. For now, the focus was to have an explosive opening! As she had predicted, her items were a hit! She also sold with similar margins to Oslo''s, which was silver and gold raining down. Olga was so happy, that she didn''t even care to look at the judgemental looks from various noble ladies. Although most women didn''t have power, they still had some money. In high society, a daughter or a wife''s spending habits also reflected the pride of her family. That was to say, if a woman could spend a lot, it meant her family was also very rich and therefore prosperous. This was in exchange for a woman''s entire soul and being, but this was the norm in Xeno that few people actually questioned. If there were any questions, it''d be from men asking questions like "why would women have to get anything we worked for?" instead. Further, what Olga and Hilda had been doing wasn''t actually welcome. After all, women generally didn''t do business; they usually didn''t have their own money¡ªat least nothing more than what was considered ''pocket money''. In aborigine minds, what the women showed expressed how well their family was doing, and making their own money seemed to undermine that in a twisted way. Like ''property'' shouldn''t be doing anything more than what it should. It shouldn''t be doing anything that cannot be controlled by men. If Terrans were there, they''d liken the local women as mannequins used to show off, but shouldn''t be having a life of their own. As such, the derisive looks, especially from fellow women, abound¡ªnot that Olga cared, of course. Hilda did, very much so, but being with her sister-in-law softened the tension. These judgemental looks were how jealous women would make themselves feel better. They would mock her choices; they would mock her lack of husband and children, and laugh about it behind closed doors¡ªand yet be secretly envious of her at the same time. They certainly rushed to buy their products. "Have you seen my skin?" a woman asked her friend, admiring the changes in the metallic mirror in front of her. "It has been smoother! And I haven''t been using it for too long. Imagine if I did." They were trying out the Wittbeauty beauty soap. The perfumes were also very popular, and the women were practically fighting over the sampler sticks. Hilda could not believe it. She could only gape as the customers admired and also paid so much for a bit of product. "Nice deal, right?" Olga asked her sister-in-law who smiled weakly, still absorbing the good things. She was also looking very beautiful, especially with the make-up applied to her. Hilda looked more youthful and her already pretty features highlighted even more. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The amount of compliments that came her way let her straighten her back with a bit more confidence. Even her stiff husband stared at her for a few seconds longer than usual! Speaking of make-up. "There''s a final line that will be sold within the next few days. It''s make-up!" she said. "Sister and I are using it. Do you see the difference?" she asked and the two of them twirled for effect. The customers looked admiringly, eyes filled with envy, and a lot of jealous looks also came about. "Would anyone like to try?" The customers naturally wanted to pander to the Golds, and¡ªmore prominently¡ªthey also really wanted to try it! Olga ignored the women who were looking down on her (yet desperately wanted her products) and studied the more innocent ones. Olga''s eyes ended on the sand-colored hair in the vicinity. She was very pretty. Although her skin was a little rough, it was normal, and she knew she could be even prettier. "You!" she said, making the woman flinch. "What''s your name?" "Sahara¡­" she whispered and squealed a bit when Olga pulled her to sit down. She felt tense at the closeness of the other person, and could only stiffly sit down as she waited for whatever was being done to her to be over. Anyway, Olga did her magic on the woman. And, after a few minutes of work, everyone gaped at the result. So beautiful! Safe to say, Olga''s makeup line would be a major best seller. Chapter 829 - 829: The Other Golds While the Moneygrubber Golds were having a blast, there was FightingManiac Obi''s side, whose focus was to strengthen his underdog of a team. At this time, he was giving the new weapons to the level 20s in his team. At first, they wondered what it was until he demoed its use. In particular, how many arrows he shot within a short span of time. His team brightened at the gifts, and they were also touched by his considerations. Even when going on a vacation, he still remembered them! Anyway, the group hurried and took their weapons, trying it out. It was amazing. They could shoot many times more in the same amount of time! "Wow! This is amazing! Thank you, Captain!" This was Leez, one of the newer recruits, and a relatively androgynous young lad. He had just passed level 20, though he was fairly young¡ªonly 22¡ªso his potential was really pretty good. He was also an earth elementalist, which was really lucky for him. Generally, everyone with the disposition to become an elementalist would be trained by the territory and obligated to serve it for a few decades under oath. After basic training, they would be distributed to various guard teams or whatever place the Lord deemed them useful. His underdog team was unlikely to get an elementalist, but Obi had requested a few many times and made a scene for the unfairness. He may or may not have loudly said a few jabs about the bias of the ''higher ups'', which wasn''t appreciated. If he wasn''t a Gold, he''d definitely have been punished. For context, the head of the Bleuelle Military was Morgen Trion, the heir to the Trion family. One could imagine what he had been doing, trying to keep Obi from climbing up the ladder. Not that Obi minded, not really. He wasn''t for the politics of that place, anyway. It so happened Leez was too scrawny and ''weak'',so he was sent to Obi''s team to shut him up instead. Anyway, the lad practiced the weapon a few times. He was an archer so he had talent, perfecting his accuracy after a couple of times. "Amazing! How many shots did I do every few seconds?" he yelled, grabbing the guy next to him in his glee. Aforementioned guy¡ªa curly brunette with mustache¡ªmade a sour face and pushed him off. "Damn man! Go bathe! So smelly! Cough!" "I just did!" Leez gasped. "Not my fault I sweat a lot more lately!" Tener, another recruit, laughed out loud. "Hey, to be fair, our soft boy Leez smells a lot less than everyone else. Everyone stinks lately." Dejel rolled his eyes and just looked at the captain, getting to business. "These really are pretty good for our level, captain. It would be even better if it would have a higher level so we can deal with stronger enemies." Obi looked at him. "I heard the origin territory is working on that, but it''d take a while," he said. "For now, I bought the latest model, which I assume would be useful for the next ranking exams." "Yes, it will!" Dejel said, looking quite sure. "They''ve been trying to take away our resources. You showed them we can do well without them" The younger man looked at the weapon in his hand. "I''m sure some of the weapons makers in the City would be interested in mimicking this design though," he said, immediately looking worried. "I mean¡­," he lifted his head and looked at the rest of their 20-member team who was trying the new crossbow. "It might happen either way." Obi shrugged. He knew that the weapon would eventually land in someone else''s hands¡ª-specifically, someone with resources to attempt to study its design. However, Alterra didn''t seem to mind¡ªit was inevitable anyway. What the Alterrans did say was that it''d be difficult to copy the design perfectly. Even if they did manage to do so, a good portion of the earnings would still go to Alterra by virtue of the patent. "Ah, other than weapons, I have something else to give you guys," he said, getting the servants to take the 20 wooden boxes that''d take a portion of their spaces. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing to see. "This is what we call Emergency box," he said, getting a servant to open one, with the guards looking at the contents curiously. They didn''t recognize most of them though, so they could only look at the captain in confusion. "What are these, Captain?" "Emergency supplies," he said. "I''m not including the healing potions which you already have in your space. Rather, these are food you can keep indefinitely." These were non-perishable foods to keep in their space. There were several packets of instant noodles, jerkies, packets of biscuits, dried fruits, nuts, and the like. "This is for emergency long travels," he said. I don''t have much, so don''t eat them while in the City, those are emergency food!" "Yes, Captain!" "Now, go back to work!" "Yes, Captain!" they said in synchronicity, scurrying back to training, but with renewed energy and motivation. After all, not all captains were as kind as he was. Obi was quite proud of this. See, this is how it should be, with him being treated as a respectable leader. At home, he was still treated as a kid! He couldn''t help but remember the beating he got from his older brother. Who could blame him? After all, they did leave his son in a strange village. However, they did explain the kid was definitely living a good life there. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In fact, Obi was even envious! Not that Orion really listened. No matter what, they were definitely still punished for not noticing the stowaway early enough, and then leaving him in a place so far from home! Obi could still feel the electric current run down his spine¡ªliterally. Shiver ¡­ Inside an office in one of the most premier buildings in Bleulle, a certain Orion was writing on his new paper. He wrote and wrote and wrote, but his pen stopped midway. There was a pause and nothing moved for a moment until Orion sighed, putting down his pen. He took out a letter from his space, made from Alterran paper and writing tools. The penmanship wasn''t perfect, but definitely very good for a young boy¡ªnot that he ever had the chance to compliment it in front of him. This was Honda''s letter to him, given by his siblings when they got home. He and Hilda often exchanged holding it, and they''d read it from time to time as they thought of the boy. He didn''t look like it, but he would think of his son from time to time. Dear Father, Mother, Grandfather, and Grandmother, I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to let you know that I am safe and sound here in Alterra Village. I''m exploring new places, meeting new friends, but I am making sure I have not disregarded my studies or my growth. I apologize for running away, but I assure you it will be for the best. I will make sure of it! Thank you for everything, and please do not worry about me. I am taking good care of myself. When I return, I will be the son you''ll be proud of! Yours, Honda Wilhem Gold Sigh. The note was quite energetic and had a lively tone. It was very unlike the well-behaved son that he knew. The fact that he couldn''t imagine the child being all bubbly as his siblings had described was very telling, and he couldn''t help but feel a little sad. "Missing your son?" He raised his head to see his parents, who were standing by the door. They often visited him in the office every few days, and it seemed like today was one of those days. He rubbed his forehead. "He has never been so far from us," was all he said, though not denying Gaia''s guess. At this, all three of them sighed. Even when all three siblings swore the kid was in good hands¡ªalong with Oslo and even Silva there to guard him¡ªas parents, they would forever worry about the younger generation. In fact, Hilda sobbed the entire night and was only presentable now due to Olga''s products. But at the same time, when the siblings told them of the wanders¡ªwhich made them cynical but also curious¡ªof that territory, their hearts settled just a bit. Besides, they were correct. Honda was being smothered here, and it would be good for his growth to part with them. They could only hope that the village was as good as the children swore it to be. Chapter 830 - 830: Bart and Baku A few kilometers from Iron Mountains. "Are we there yet?" Bart asked Eloi, who in turn scratched his already high hairline. Because they now had a beast, they naturally had to go to a Town or City to get rid of him for a lot of money. You know, a strong half-orc like this could sell for a thousand gold, especially if sold in a city! But the mountain range, Mount Rushless, was best handled towards the West due to better terrain, so they took the path there instead. They were taking even longer than expected though. They got tired much easier than usual lately and they had to go through many stops, looking for water sources. This had to do with many things. One, they were sweating too much and losing their water too quickly. And another¡ª "Let me go!" The large orc yelled and no matter how long they''ve been with this guy¡ªno matter how well they tied the magic tool rope¡ªhis large overbearing frame was still as intimidating as ever. "NO! STOP STRUGGLING ALREADY!" Bart yelled, wanting to kick him, but at the same time, he was afraid that maybe he''d open his mouth and capture his leg instead. He could only cry if that happened. The tool he got could only tie the target. They still had to expend effort to keep him from flailing them around. That was to say, the rope was tied with extensions in front and at the back, with at least one person on each side holding it. Depending on the bastard''s mood, maybe they''d need two on each side. As such, they got tired quickly and they had to take a lot of breaks. At this point, they were taking at least twice as long as they would''ve and their resources were running thin. Not the food¡ªthere were plenty in the forest¡ªbut their weapons were losing durability and they had long consumed their healing potions and the like! Then¡ªas if the skies thought they didn''t have it hard enough¡ªthey even encountered a large mob. They heaved a sigh at this new trouble. Fortunately, the territories around were only villages and the monsters averaged at level 10, so they weren''t too hopeless. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, considering how tired they were and how half of them were holding the half-orc back, it was still a risky venture that would likely cause them some losses. They battled the monsters for a while with those holding the half-orc having trouble moving. They had no choice but to use only one hand to defend themselves, otherwise, they might lose the damned half-orc and even be vulnerable to it. At some point, they had to get creative. Knowing the half-orc had strong skin, they would soon hide behind him when they got too tired¡ªusing him as a shield of sorts. This annoyed Baku very much. ROARRRR!!! The small mob flinched before running away for their lives and it made Bart and the others look at him. They had heard that some orcs could indeed intimidate monsters just by existing. It seemed like this one was one of them? Baku''s sharp eyes glared them down, making them flinch a bit. "LET ME GO!" "Do you think we''re idiots?" "I vow, I vow not to hurt you unless you hurt me!" The men looked at him weirdly. Did he really think they''d let him go because he promised? The half-orc saw this and growled in anger. "Unlike you humans, us orcs and half-orcs don''t break our oaths!" Really? They didn''t know that. Even so, how would they confirm? "Vow not to escape." The orc gritted his teeth. "Unless my own safety is not met, I vow not to¡­ escape." Heh, still smart. But¡­ instead of feeling reassured, it made Bart disagree! "No," he said. If the orc was smart, who knew what he was up to! ROAAR!! The half-orc was very annoyed. He had already made a compromise, how dare these humans back down! Because of his anger, it was a little harder to hold him down, but Bart and the others persevered. Half-orcs like this really sold for a good sum! They endured so much already! They couldn''t bear to lose it now! At some point, they passed through the mountain ranges, and they were now heading northwest to the nearest village to rest. Interestingly, this village was Guia Village, which was also the last village they had been to before entering the deep mountain ranges. According to the plan, after resting here, they''d then go further West back to their home in Twinwave Town. They would try to sell the bastard there but, should the buying amount be unsatisfactory¡ªthey wanted a high price for this one; It caused them so much trouble¡ªthen they''d find the nearest City and sell him there. Unfortunately¡ªnot to mention heading to the towns¡ªeven before getting to Guia Village, they encountered some trouble. "Well, well, well¡­" Sometime during the trek, they encountered a group of 10 people. Judging by their level, they were definitely from a town at least, or maybe even a city. The weakest of these men was level 25, and that was not weak, especially not compared to them. Baku and his team have less than half of their Health Points left. They were barely holding on, and they desperately needed to replenish their supplies. Encountering these strong enemies was the worst that could happen right now. If they went against them head-on, there''d definitely be a lot of losses on their side. The two groups stood still, looking at each other, and analyzing the other''s strengths. However, the orc''s looming body easily caught attention, and the opponents'' eyes drowned in greed at the sight of him. "Oh, it''s a half-orc! The lord would love this!" One said, looking at the orc as if it was already theirs. "It almost makes this extra trip to Guia worth it!" This made Bart and the other''s narrow their eyes. Guia? These people were heading to Guia? "Uh, hello. We''re part of the Rolan mercenary team. This is our catch." The newcomers didn''t seem fazed by the mention of a mercenary team. "Heh, which master do you serve?" "We only serve ourselves," Bart said, looking at the other team and wondering which master they served. Mercenary teams might ally with the lord of their territory, but it wasn''t required. Twinwave Town had plenty of mercenary teams bases due to its location, and only a quarter of them had a formal alliance with the lord there. "So, none, then," they said, looking greedily at the half-orc, and acting as if they had already won. "So¡­ let us have it¡ªif you want to keep your lives, that is." "Ogreshit," Bart cursed, knowing they had no choice now. With this level of the enemy, they all had to move. No one could be distracted with holding down a half-orc, too. On the contrary¡­ Bart paused and looked at the half-orc, and then at the magic rope in his palms. After some thought, he took a deep breath and deactivated it. "Remember your vow," he said, feeling annoyed at his own weakness. "At the very least, we''ll be better captors than these guys." Baku sneered, but his sharp eyes glared at the newcomers. He looked at them as if they were already dead meat. Chapter 831 - 831: Bakus Fight Bart let the rope loose in a low-key way, and it happened that most of his team was in front of him, blocking the view. After Bart took the rope back to his space, he looked at the men. "Is there no alternative where we can just go on our own way without butting heads?" The men sneered. "Butt heads? More like every one of you dying under our swords and our feet, right?" he looked at them up and down. "All of you look horrible. That half-orc must''ve made you suffer a lot." "In exchange for your efforts, we will give you a quick death," he said and looked at the people at his side before nodding. Bart and the others immediately went into the defense, capturing the attacks the enemies sent. They placed their best foot forward immediately, not daring to hold back. Their levels were not only lower on average, they were also weakened by the various adventures (and the damned half-orc) so this was hardly a fair fight. The newcomers grinned, pushing forward, not expecting the large looming beast to disappear from where he just stood, appearing right behind them! "AHHHHH!" Screams from the back echoed in the fight and suddenly the newcomers could only look back and avoid the half-orc''s sharp claws that could literally behead people with a slice. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were very unlucky, Baku was particularly angry from being held down for so long! Even Bart and the others were shocked. "Attack!" Bart yelled, shaking himself awake. "Kill them!" The Rolan Mercenary Team members forced some composure back, ignoring the cold feeling of fear that passed through their spines as they heard the screeches and squelches of body parts getting broken apart. Was the half-orc so strong? If he went hard like this when they were dealing with it¡­ Shiver Instead of thinking of what could''ve been¡ª-or rather, what might be after this was all over¡ª-they just focused on killing the distracted enemies. Bart even ran after someone about to escape, stabbing him straight to the heart. Bart watched as the man fell lifeless under his feet but he shivered when he heard another tortured scream. "GYAAAHH!!" He turned just in time to see one person literally pulled apart into two and then thrown to different directions. And that was the last enemy, every one else finally succumbing to their fates. Silence passed by amongst the survivors. Every one of the Rolan Mercenary Team had survived, albeit everyone was gasping for air. No one dared to put down their weapons though, every one looking guardedly at the half-orc that stood still, now bathed in the blood of their enemies. He was surrounded by carnage, several body parts sewn on the ground next to his feet. Most of them were divided into at least 2 parts. At the best case, the corpse was deformed creepily and it made them shiver to think it could''ve been them. Not counting the few people they dealt with together, the half-orc took care of everyone else. The darned thing killed the men with ease and they were surprised at its ferocity. "So it was kind before when it fought with us?" Sipa mumbled, eyes twitching, gripping his weapon tightly. He was ready to defend against the half-orc should he decide to get back on his word¡ªnot that he believed he''d be successful, of course. "Apparently so," Bart said, his narrowed eyes looking at the half-orc standing completely still. Assuming he didn''t attack them to death now, there was actually an explanation why they didn''t get killed earlier on when the monster obviously had the capability to do so. Orcs, half-orcs, and goblins had a sense beyond what was normal for humans. They could feel hostility and threats, even if the other races would miss it. Although they wanted to sell him, they meant no other harm, unlike those men filled with bloodlust in them. Even if they didn''t harm Baku, they''d definitely cause him to do it to others. Further, Baku was half-human and he was especially soft to humans who didn''t smell evil. Back in Hoskle Village, it led to his downfall in the end because he was soft on slaves and the enemies took advantage of that. Eventually, the half-orc''s shoulders slumped and he looked at them with a blank expression on his face. "When are we going?" he asked, and Sipa and a few others directly fell down, losing the strength of their legs in relief. Bart shook his head and sighed, studying the half-orc to ensure there really was no bloodlust left. He didn''t even make a move to escape at all, as if being absolutely true to his word. If he wasn''t, there was no reason not to go and kill them now, especially since they were greatly weakened. It seemed that it was true, then, that half-orcs were stupidly honest. Now, Bart had no way to confirm this now, but they certainly didn''t have much of a choice anymore. At the very least, with the half-orc out they didn''t have to worry about mobs nor would they have to worry about new enemies appearing in front of them. He then looked at the horrid corpses on the ground again. The half-orc''s level wasn''t far from theirs, but he could take down ten by himself which showed the physique differences¡ªat least for this type of half-orc. "Let''s go," Bart said, walking over the corpses and the others followed. Baku narrowed his eyes and reluctantly followed behind them. He even kicked a corpse blocking his way with a shrug. What they didn''t know at this time was that this massacre also deferred a few troubles Iron Mountain would have to face from Guia Village''s true ''master''. This particular team was assigned to Guia to get their ''due''. Whether it was in gold or in iron. Obviously, they would never make it to Guia. Instead, they prematurely met their end and joined nature in the middle of nowhere. Guia was associated to Ferrol by name and by the system, so it was Ferrol that was notified when it fell. Ferrol had no obligation to report this, and Jonathan preferred the master city wouldn''t know at all. At this time, the true master behind Guia was still wistfully unaware that he had already lost a money-maker territory and more so that an entire team on the way there had perished. When he did¡ªmuch, much later¡ªa few veins would pop and he''d be very angry indeed. By that time though, it was too late, and he couldn''t do much about it anymore. Chapter 832 - 832: Arrived at Guia It was a tense hour or so more of travel. No one wanted to walk in front of Baku¡ªdoing so felt like they had a predator behind them, waiting for a chance to dismember them. When they finally reached the vicinity of what they knew to be Guia Village, they almost jumped up in celebration. They were certain they were in the right place. After all, they had the interface map and they just had to follow it. But¡­ when they arrived at the walls of Guia some time later, the group was quite surprised. The changes since they had last been here¡­ were not small. "Oh, level 5 walls? Has Guia Village become a town?" Bulgogi mumbled, looking around. He was puzzled. After all, the monsters around were still village level. Sipa and the others were also intrigued. "Well, either way¡ª-whether it''s become a town or became an even richer village¡ª that''s good news for us," Bart said, thinking they could finally get a good rest, and maybe they could sell the orc as early as here, if the price was right. This orc was too stressful. Bart felt his lifespan was shaved several years during the few days of travel with this darned half-orc! Anyway, they entered with the intent of finally getting a break and eating decent food. Well, not that the Restaurant food was decent, but it was better than what they''ve been eating the past few days. With relieved hearts, they entered the gate, receiving the expected announcement as they passed the threshold. [Welcome to Iron Mountain Village (Lv3). Please pay 10 copper as visitor''s fee.] [Rules and Regulations are¡­] If they were puzzled before, they were confused now. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What? Did I remember it wrong? Didn''t this use to be called Guia Village?" "And it''s still a village!" "Also, the entry is so cheap!" "Right?" Sipa mumbled, "It has a level 5 wall and pretty dense sentries¡­ isn''t the cost of entry too cheap?" This made Bart narrow his eyes. Baltimore would never be so kind. And the name change¡­ "So many new rules, as well¡­" Bart narrowed his eyes. "No more fighting? That''s really out of character," he said. "Perhaps Jonathan asked them to do so?" The team looked at each other and, knowing they wouldn''t be able to answer anything now, just entered though with a lot more curiosity in their minds than before. As they went in, they looked around to note of the other changes. For one, some streets felt wider, the air felt cleaner. There was a sort of levity he couldn''t quite describe. However, they weren''t able to analyze their new place very well because people noticed their entry¡ªor rather, the half-orc''s entry. Unsurprisingly, it created a bit of havoc, with several people gasping and hiding. Some screamed, and some did the same though they were pulled back¡ªafraid they''d get its attention. "Kyaaaaa! Orc!" "That''s a half orc! I heard Orcs are even scarier!" "KYAAA! Is the war starting already?!" "RUN! RUNN!!!" This made the mercenaries freeze and look at each other. A War was coming? So unlucky? Eloi looked at his boss. "Ugh.. should we go now?" Bart sighed, looking around. He was really exhausted, but it seemed like they had no choice but to leave. While they had no danger of being slaves even if Guia lost¡ªthough not a very likely thing to happen considering all the improvements¡ªtheir half-orc, who wasn''t a citizen of any territory, could still be taken. Further, Baltimore was strong and was an elementalist. If he saw the half-orc and decided he wanted it, it''d be troublesome to pull such a good thing from him. Even if he would pay, it would probably be at a discount. In retrospect, they should''ve thought of that before coming in. They were just too tired and desperate for a place to rest to think some things through. Anyway, how could they just let all that hard work go to waste? So, they decided to leave, hoping the half orc could protect them until the next couple of territories. They left the gate and looked back longingly. Before they could get too far though, they saw some familiar faces they didn''t think they''d see here at all! ¡­ At this time, a small group of people were walking around, seeming to plan as they walked around the territory. Their first stop was the barracks where training was at its peak, though they made sure not to go too hard or they''d be tired before the actual war. Then they made rounds outside the territory to ensure that there was no enemy camping too closely for comfort. Rather, if there was, then it was one of only chances that Gill, who was beyond the level cap, could attack directly. They had a lot of things to discuss and finalize. This was their first war with this situation and there were simply too many variables to feel that their win was guaranteed. At the very least, it was certain they''d get quite a bit of losses. How many reliable guards did they have now? These people weren''t like Alterrans. They wouldn''t brave through a situation especially if it got the least bit dangerous. They were more likely to abandon post instead. This was what Gill worried about the most. While they made plans to deal with as many situations as they could, people''s heart were still incredibly unreliable. As the party traversed the territory though, they were stopped by some familiar faces. It was a group of aborigines. They looked horrid and had obviously not taken a bath for many days, and because a lot of them had grown facial hair it wasn''t easy to recognize them. A few of them brightened at the sight of Gill, waving at him with bright smiles. "Gill!" they yelled. Gill narrowed his eyes, blinking when he recognized the man after a couple of seconds. "Bart?" "Yes, it''s us! We''re just passing by," he said, relieved to see someone. "Why are you guys here? I thought you went elsewhere?" "Also, do you have some of that sauce left? We''ll buy it!" he said, and the others looked at Bart as if he was the most quick-witted and smart leader ever. "We did, and we do have the products," Gill said, answering all his questions. It was just that¡ªat some point¡ªhis eyes fixed on their group changed from recognition¡­ to calculation. He was looking particularly deeply at the half-orc, who was staring back with narrowed eyes. "And you''re just in time." Bart and the others: ???? Chapter 833 - 833: Where is Gochi?! The Rolan Mercenary Team indeed came just in time. Mercenaries could be hired to help with the war, counting as external forces. There weren''t too many of them so they should still be within the cap allowed to assist. Even if it wasn''t, they could use the loophole and get them to camp outside the territory instead. Alterra was too far to help and while the weapons were ample, they would naturally want as many forces as they could get, especially since they weren''t familiar with the attacking territory! The war was coming and they had received a lot of letter instructions from Alterra. First, they asked if they needed help. While more force was available, there was no way a decent force could come to them in less than a day. Instead, they supported them with items, which was much more convenient because this place was a satellite. Of course, she left him a few weapons and special medicine before they parted, but it definitely wasn''t enough for the entire territory in case of war, so they opted to send huge amounts via the Warehouse. It was just that the only way they could transfer items to and fro was through the lord. In order for them to get items from the warehouse, sister-in-law had to teleport here and bring them out, one by one. So, both territories were asked to create a secondary room outside the warehouse doors to receive the items without exposing her. Captain was extremely sorry for this and implied in his letter that great doom would come to those who ask for too much. Shiver. Sister-in-law was gracious and kind though. Although she knew she couldn''t be sending them too much every single hour even during the war, she at least made sure the quality of the things she sent them was superior. She also gave them a box¡­ with bombs. Fortunately, Luis and the others weren''t here, otherwise they''d have worshipped that box like idiots. Anyway, those items were indeed really good, but if the people using them were useless, or cowards, then they''d have wasted such good things. Which brought them back to the present. Bart was a relatively trusted individual they had signed plenty of deals and oaths. A village did not have a Mercenary Hall, but such oaths were sufficient. "We''ll need your help," Gill said, making Bart''s eyes twitch. "In this war. For decent pay of course," he said. "Don''t you like our products?" he said. "We actually have much, much, more than what you know now¡ªand they taste even better." Bart and the others brightened at this. More delicious? Food? However, they weren''t able to discuss more as a certain half-orc made a sudden move¡ªdirected at Gill. A huge shadow loomed over Gill threateningly and he took out his spear by instinct. BANG! Screech! He stopped the half-orc''s attack, but his spear was shaking a bit. Gill was in his early level 20s, and based on aura the half-orc''s level was not much higher. Yet the physical difference¡­ was way more than he imagined. At the very least, this half-orc was far stronger than Gochi! He knew this very well¡ªafter all, he had sparred with the guy a few times before leaving. This should''ve been obvious because of their sizes, but he still underestimated the force difference. His eyes sharpened, and fire surrounded him. Using the soil underneath his feet, he bolstered himself to push back. ROOOAR! S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The half-orc roared and buried his animalistic legs down the ground to keep himself stable. He sent a barrage of attacks at the man. It became a full-on fight from then on. Because they were outside, the rules did not apply, and it was basically a free-for-all. In this case, a free-for-orc. BANG! SCREECH! Rowan and Poki were there, about to rush and help out, but the people of the Rolan Mercenary Team stopped them. Other than to ''keep the merchandise'', it was more like they knew what the half-orc was capable of and they''d rather not see deaths right now. Bart frowned and ran to them, trying to get into the middle. "Hey, hey, stop fighting! We can talk about this!" Sadly, Baku pushed Bart aside with embarrassing ease. "You guys, darnit!" Bart cursed, looking at his space to take out the took again. At the side, he held on to the magic rope, intent to tie up the damned thing once and for all! "Why are you attacking?" Gill asked as he barely defended himself against the half-orc''s barrage of attacks. He was growing tired. He did not need this when there was a war coming! "I smell my friend on you," he said, pushing him back with his claws. "WHERE IS GOCHI!?" His roar so strong wind blew. "Gochi?!" Gill exclaimed, and so did the others who knew. His distraction caused an attack to connect, throwing him several meters away. BANG! "Gill!" Cough! Gill yelled as he got back up again. Fortunately, he was wearing sister-in-law''s protection charm so he was not damaged, but he felt pity at the unnecessary use. However, the half-orc had jumped high, ready to make another attack. Apparently attacking would make him ''talk''. Typical brute. "Gochi is fine!" he yelled, rolling to avoid the sharp attack. "If you attack me now, you wouldn''t see him!" The ''threatening'' words was a consistent show of Gill''s lack of EQ so rather than make the other stop, it only made the half-orc even more angry. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" Fortunately, it was here that the rope had successfully wrapped around Baku. Several members of the Rolan Mercenary Team joined in, holding him down. ROAAAR!!!! "WHAT DID YOU DO TO GOCHI!?" The half-orc yelled, struggling hard, red eyes glaring at Gill who was only holding himself up with his spear. Gill stared, at loss of what to do. He could only threaten, but obviously that wasn''t working with this guy. They were near the gates and had gathered a bit of an audience. Silvia had also gone out, shocked to see Gill being beaten up. She was quickly updated by Rowan about what happened and she waited a few moments for the half-orc to calm down before approaching him. Rowan stuck next to her though. Even if the half-orc was tied by a magic tool, he would not be reassured without doing so. "Gochi¡­ he''s fine. He''s a citizen of Alterra, free and now working as a guard." Her words not only made Baku turn to her, but so did every non-Alterran in earshot. A half-orc guard? Seriously? Baku narrowed his eyes at her. Half-orcs also had a special sixth sense when it came to a person''s honesty, and so far he had not felt any insincerity from the woman. At this, his shoulders slumped just slightly, finally willing to listen. As for why he kept attacking Gill, the man not only had the smell of Gochi''s blood¡ªwhich he''d later find out to be from intense sparring¡ªbut also the fact that Gill just annoyed him very much. "Alterra is our village," she said, making another step forward though it made Rowan stick even closer to her. "He''s a free man living his life. He''s even studying some pharmacy and literary knowledge during his free time. "You''re a half-orc, you should be able to tell I am telling the truth." Baku didn''t say anything and stared at them with those unsettling sharp eyes of his. Whether he was trying to ascertain if they were telling the truth or determining the best way to kill, they couldn''t tell for certain. Fortunately, after several tense moments, his body lost all hostility. He raised his head, looking at them, sharp beastly eyes meeting theirs. "What do I need to do to see him?" Chapter 834 - 834: War Again Epo Village "The time has come, people of Epo!" The newly minted lord of Epo Village, Epo VI, yelled to the hundreds of fighters in front of him. This was the force he was proud of, and they were coming with him through the array! He was fully prepared for the war, and it was finally time to shine! Not to mention, they already had plenty of people left in Guia to assist. Although a few were beyond the level cap, they would still be able to help somehow! "We go to war every single month¡ªyou know the drill," he said, "But this time, we''re gonna go against a superpower amongst the villages! So don''t be complacent! "Want to bring honor to our territory?!" "YESS!" "Want to rake in money in resources!?" "YESS!" "Then this is our greatest war yet!" He yelled. Although Epo VI wasn''t very handsome, he was passionate and the best heir his father could find. He was only 28 years old but had already reached level 15, which was just the level to still participate in this important war. Before heading in the array, he walked to the side to greet the former lord, his father. "Father, I will win against Guia Village." "Yes. We will finally get the crown!" His father looked at him proudly, also excited. This was understandable. They were so close to Guia Village and had always been envious of its growth. Obviously, it was formed at least a decade later than Epo, but its growth was so fast! A strong backer really made a difference! What was worse was the mines they found! His father said that he had wanted to use that place before, but changed his mind because there were too many mountains! Turns out, there were black metals in it! Regrets! His father had been so sour about it for decades, and now it was finally time to reclaim their land! Also, Guia Village never bothered to attack them¡ªwhich, in a sense, was also offensive! Did they think their Epo Village was no good?! How dare they! Anyway, now, they lost against an unknown village, and the Epos knew it was their time! Filled with energy and fire inside of them, they headed towards the array that appeared in front of their gate. From their expression, it was almost like they already won. "LET''S GOOOO!" The little adviser couldn''t help but follow him before he reached the array, attempting to stop him. "Please think twice!" He exclaimed, "Or at least wait a bit more!" "What''s the point?" he said, "We already declared war! If we lose, we''d lose half of our resources!" The adviser looked at him complicatedly. "But¡­ I am worried, milord. How¡­ did they beat Baltimore and the others?" It couldn''t have been all luck right? They beat Baltimore, who''s to say they couldn''t beat Epo? "They probably got too arrogant for being undefeated for so long! They were also the attacking territory. Perhaps the other territory set up tricks in their home base!" Epo looked at his adviser. "Don''t worry, I saw the people from the winning territory! They''re not much!" Before leaving, he naturally checked out the newcomers. To be honest, in terms of level they really weren''t impressive. It was either the more powerful people were left in their main territory or they really used a lot of tricks to handle Baltimore. Well, he wasn''t entirely incorrect with his assessment. The people he saw were Hugo and Helios, who had just turned level 10. Their other investigators also saw Kimura who was level 6 and Lin at level 5. There was also Silvia, who was level 7. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill was mostly planning behind closed doors so he wasn''t seen as often, though he was only in his early level twenties. This, combined with the shaky and almost-nonexistent guard system¡ªwith women no less¡ªit was natural that the territory would be underestimated. Anyway, the attackers went through the array with some confidence. Group by group, they were transferred to the territory a hundred kilometers away. However, when they got out of the array and headed towards the territory, their feet stopped when they were in sight of its walls. Their eyebrows furrowed, looking at each other. "Are we in the right place?" they asked. When Epo, who had come in after the first batch, saw that they were not moving, he immediately yelled at them. "What are you waiting for?! GO!" "But, milord¡ª" Epo was about to curse at them when he saw what they were looking at. He paled. "Was their wall this tall before?!" "Since when did they have so many sentries?" Epo frowned, his temple showing some veins. He looked at several team captains, "Spread out, find a weak spot! I refuse to believe they had good defenses everywhere!" "Yes, Milord!" After the teams left, he looked to the side and bellowed some orders. "Where are the slaves?!" he yelled behind him, and soon hundreds of slaves exited the array and joined them in the dense forests. "They''re here sir!" he yelled, though a few teams had gone to the perimeter because small mobs of monsters had found them. Epo didn''t care for them and just looked at the hundreds of slaves they took with them. These were all from minor villages around them who had lost half of their assets¡ªincluding people. "Get more!" "Milord?" They had never used so many slaves before! They needed a lot of them for the upkeep of the territory! "Didn''t you hear me?" "Yes, milord!" He yelled, going back to the array to get a few hundred more. Once he was satisfied with the number, Epo turned to look at the Level 5 walls and its sentries. Without further ado, he pointed at the wall. "ATTACK!!" he yelled and the mob of slaves, with his guards right behind them, lunged forward en masse. Epo glared at the walls as he watched them go. He didn''t believe they couldn''t make it through! Chapter 835 - 835: Epo Village Spies The people of Epo within the walls had also begun to move. Their levels ranged from level 8 through 13, aiming to cause chaos within the walls. Their goal there was simple: Exacerbate the chaos caused by the citizens themselves. Because they knew the rules were null, so they looted and caused chaos. There were also those who felt they had been oppressed by Gill and the others, so they also started acting up a lot. There were plenty of troubles led by citizens themselves, especially those who didn''t believe the ''outsiders''. They stayed in the village because the other territories were too far. To them, the war was the chance to gain some more money. So, instead of helping protect the territory, they focused on their own greed! Then, there were some enemies who started to attack citizens, focusing on the helpless ones. For instance, there was a man who raised his sword towards a family who had been running away until then. Sadly the ground was imperfect and the mother fell down. One of her two children ran away, while the other sobbed next to her. The mother covered her younger son, expecting pain. It was just that¡ª WHOOSH! Squelch! "AHHH!" The woman blinked and turned to see a large arrow had gone through her attacker''s neck. It was from the interior sentry! Every few seconds, arrows flew from the tall towers, attacking. It also attacked some major looters, though its attacks were specifically non-lethal. "Wow, I didn''t know the sentry towers could also attack locals like that," Helios said, whistling as they watched from a rooftop. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were ordered not to move for a bit, to see how the territory would fare for a while. Now, they were watching the new interior sentries, placed in every new park, at work. They had never seen it do its thing on locals, and it was only now that they had seen it used at its full potential. "Well, our citizens are good. They wouldn''t add chaos," Hugo said, stance tense and ready to move when the time was right. They allowed the troubles to brew for a bit more, allowing the enemies deeper inside, making the citizens see the dangers, before deeming it was time to intervene. "The other guards should be moving by now," Hugo said, giving his nephew a sideways glance. "Now, it''s our turn." "Take down the captains first. You have a paralysis bomb with you?" Helios nodded. All of the main forces had one or two. "Well, choose wisely." "Got it, Uncle." And so, the two tanned men jumped down toward the stronger enemies. Although the enemies were higher in level, they had better techniques and the element of surprise, immediately causing trouble as soon as they made an appearance. "AHH!" one yelled as he was kicked smack on the face and thrown to his own team. The force was so much the people he landed on also lost their balance a bit. "What the he¡ª" Before he could finish his sentence, a strong fist covered in metal smacked his face, and he pretty much fell on the ground head first and rolled around. The people he landed on were then met with a metallic spear, and stabbed straight at the heart, dead on impact. The enemies gaped in shock as three of their teammates were taken down in an instant. Their eyes widened as they looked at Helios, whose arms were covered with metal. "Elementalists!!" Helios'' ability was metal. Although it was not as good as Garan''s, it was still superior to most. And Hugo''s was even more special¡ªa wind mutation. He knew he had wind but for a while, he was confused that no breeze could be created. For the first time, he was hopelessly stuck on something related to strength. He saw the others who reached level 10 learn more about their own elements, while he was left behind. The previous war had given him more insights about his ability, but he had only started mastering it not long ago. It was when he was nearly killed by a monster a level lower than he was. It suddenly flailed around out of nowhere, as if gasping, but it didn''t last too long, only a second. But it was enough for the sharp Hugo to realize he was the one who caused it, and soon he could take it away at will. The limitations was huge for such power was large of course. For now, he could control a sphere the size of his palm, and for a limited time and for a large amount of mana. In the end, he rarely used it. Even if he did, he would usually weaken the enemies first, before finally taking their lives. Like now. "YOU BASTARD!" His enemy yelled as he sprinted towards him. Hugo waved his spear, making the man step back, then he twirled it again to push back two other enemies who were surrounding him. He didn''t give them the chance to gather themselves and expertly waved his spear, causing them to lose balance. Without pausing, he gripped his weapon and stabbed them all. He wasn''t sure if they died though as a swift force pushed him back. He spread his legs to keep his balance, pushing the new opponent back. It was a level 14 swordsman, who immediately sent him a barrage of attacks. Hugo allowed his instincts to take over, barely covering them. He also got hit a few times, but fortunately, he was wearing Miss Althea''s Protection Charm so¡ªfor now¡ªhe had not received any damage. Of course, being protected didn''t mean he wasn''t expending effort. After a couple of exchanges, he heaved a deep breath and he was already drenched in sweat. Hugo was only a level 10 and was naturally struggling a lot with this enemy. At this point, the guards had arrived to help him out to take care of this section with him, allowing him to focus on the strong enemy at hand. "AHH!" His eyes twitched when one of their own guards got injured. These guards didn''t have the loyalty Alterrans had, so the momentum was quickly affected by the injury. Hugo''s eyes sharpened, lunging towards the enemy with his own flurry of attacks, also making sure that some enemies become collateral damage. The two of them exchanged blows for a while, with neither one holding back, and they eventually created a vacuum around them that people avoided. Clack! Clack! Clank!! At some point, Hugo was pushed on the defense, with two hands holding his spear horizontally, stopping the enemy''s blade from slashing at him. "GO DOWN ALREADY!" the man screamed, eyes red and obviously very livid that he was being pushed around like this by someone a few levels lower than he was. Hugo''s dark eyes seemed to change as he gathered energy around him, and it shifted from his own body and directly at the man in front of him. "HCKKK¡ª!" Immediately, the man had to let go of his weapon, palms grabbing his own neck. "HCKKK¡ª!" Hugo knew it wouldn''t last long so he raised his spear, finally taking the man''s life, and thus raising his side''s momentum again. Chapter 836 - 836: Kidnap a Lord While the interior was under control, the outside wasn''t too far from getting settled either. Although Epo mobilized their thousands of troops, civilians, and slaves, level 5 walls and dense sentries weren''t something they could easily take. More and more of their troops fell, but they continued on, trying to get more people inside by ladder or going over each other. However, because the chaos in the interior had begun to settle down, more of the guards and Alterra''s had become available to go around the battlements, preventing trespassers from getting in. What''s more: There were certain people beyond the level cap waiting somewhere, waiting for their timing, to finish this as quickly as they could. It had to be said that a smart territory, unless they were really really certain about the strength of the enemies and their capabilities, wouldn''t attack another territory head on. After all, so many things could happen. For instance, paralysis weapons being thrown in a crowd, making heaps of people fall down and injured or killed by stampedes behind them. For instance, a rain of arrows from unfamiliar crossbows killing even more people than sentries did. For instance, their lord getting kidnapped right in front of their noses. "WHAT?!" Epo yelled as he was pulled back. "MILORD!" The people gasped as they were suddenly surrounded by a fire wall. They didn''t know when the enemy arrived but somehow they got all behind them, even taking away their lord. They immediately lunged to where their Lord was to rescue him as soon as they could. Hundreds of people near the area zoned in to where their lord was. If he died, it would be chaos! More importantly, they could all become slaves! After all, they wouldn''t just be losing the war, but they could be losing the token that would never, ever, part with the lord''s body! However, they were unable to get too close as the firewall intensified on another side, while earth spikes appeared on another. "Elementalists!!" people gasped, but while terrified they knew if they didn''t save the lord, it would only be worse for them, so they gritted their teeth and gestured to mob the enemies. At the very least, they have them surrounded now and although most of the slaves were attacking the walls, they still had a few dozen newly arrived ones around them. "Slaves! Go through these barriers, right now!" Near the main forces, a delineation of molten soil appeared in the way and those who accidentally stepped on it could only scream as they felt their skin burn, feeling as if it was melting. "AHHHHHHH!" "We might not be able to attack you head-on," a deep velvety voice sounded behind the fire wall and the smoky area it created. "But if you step on what we leave behind, it''s no longer our fault." With the slaves all down, few of the main forces were willing to attack head on and be the first to get attacked. In the end, they entered a standstill and waited for the smoke to clear. When it did, they realized that there were only two figures. Two?! So arrogant? One was a handsome man with long dark hair, but then they saw who he was with and it immediately doused fear to everyone nearby. They stepped back, trying to put some distance in between. However, the sudden movement alone caused chaos and a mini stampede within their ranks, taking down several without the two enemies having to move another finger. Baku''s sharp eyes looked darkly at the enemies. He growled a bit, showing his sharp teeth. ROOOOARRR! "A HALF-ORC!!" the enemies screamed at the top of their lungs, following their instincts to run away, only making it worse for the crowd behind them. Even those who couldn''t see panicked and a lot of people ran away. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were scared, forgetting that Baku couldn''t actually attack them directly. Even if they did, they probably wouldn''t be willing to cross the narrow magma moat ¡ªnot even a meter wide¡ªthat Gill created. Everyone who was here, everyone who went through the array, averaged at level 10. Even if there were hundreds of them, his magma alone could cause a lot of damage and none of these people would be willing to serve as the live ''bridge'' over it. Gill crossed his arms as he watched the hundreds of enemies run away from them as if they were plagues, not caring if they were stepping on their own teammates. This was easier than he thought. He turned to Baku, who was carrying the enemy lord on his shoulder like a sack. The half-orc gave him a partially-hostile side eye that made Gill twitch internally. Obviously, he was very disliked, probably because he had the scent of Gochi''s blood on him. Sadly, the guy was stronger than he was and very hot-headed, so even Gill had to tone down his acerbic remarks. Anyway, not much showed on Gill''s face. He simply shifted his attention to the enemy lord struggling helplessly as he was held in such a humiliating position. Epo didn''t know it could get worse though as Baku took his leg and held him up with his head hanging down. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" he gasped, face reddening from the blood going to his head (and also from embarrassment and anger). "YOU BEASTS! LET ME GO RIGHT NOW." Gill and Baku''s faces did not change. Instead, Gill just poked the lord''s head with the dull side of his spear. "Tell your people to stop, or else the next thing they''ll see is their lord''s head." "Doing it or not?" He had no choice but to order the stop on the attacks. This was done by stopping the slaves and the rest would just follow. Gill nodded when he looked at the scope and saw that they had indeed stopped. With a blank face, he turned back to the enemy lord. "The token." "What?! Over my dead body!!" he yelled. He had gone through the array. These men wouldn''t be able to hurt him directly. Gill looked at him. This was obviously the type to love power. "I don''t have time for this." Baku gritted his teeth, growing more and more impatient. He needed to see Gochi now!!! "Give or not?" The menacing look made Epo forget that the half-orc couldn''t actually hurt him directly. He almost peed on himself. "I''ll give! I''LL GIVE!" Epo squealed the instant he felt the grip on his leg getting a little bit tighter, feeling a millimeter of his claws. Epo practically threw the token to Gill in response. And the war ended, just like that. Chapter 837 - 837: Deal with Epo Gill smirked and took it, and Baku dragged Epo forward, his claws threateningly on his neck. The enemy crowd cleared the way like a wave parting, easily allowing the two of them to reach the gates. In fact, considering the sheer number of them¡ªthere were hundreds if not thousands of them compared to the two of them¡ªif they were brave, they might have had a chance to rescue their lord. But they were cowards who only thought of surviving themselves; how could they risk their lives for someone else? "So the war is over now?" Baku asked, dragging Epo a bit more harshly due to his impatience. "When do we go to Gochi?!" "Later," Gill said as he walked briskly, making Baku grit his teeth a bit. Epo could only cry as he tried to keep up with the large half-orc. He at least needed the decency to be walking rather than literally dragged helplessly. Gill nor Baku cared for the man''s psyche at the moment. Epo gritted his teeth as he glared. "The token¡­" he mumbled. "Since you''re going to merge our territories, let me tell you the people will only follow my orders!" Gill rolled his eyes. "Do you think we''ll be interested in your poor village? Please, we''re just taking it to keep you from doing anything weird." "..." S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Epo was so offended. He struggled and wanted to make a bit of trouble but then the hand holding his back felt painful and he realized the half orc was slowly stabbing him with his claws! "Stop struggling," the half-orc said, his voice low and raspy and sent terrified shivers down his spine. When the half-orc''s oddly colored pupils shifted to stare at him, Epo really ended up peeing. "Or I''ll stab you by accident." If it was the victim''s own fault, then the attacker¡ªeven if they were beyond the level cap¡ªwould not be affected. And so, Epo had no choice but to get dragged helplessly, walking with pants wet with pee. ... The group entered the walls and closed the gates, and Baku threw Epo at the plaza in front of the Center. The citizens looked in awe as the war ended up finishing so early. Even the aborigines couldn''t help but admire. Epo gasped as his face met the floor. He pushed himself to roll to the side, only to see his spies were there, all completely beaten up and half dead. The spies he planted here were not few, nor were they weak for the level of villages. However, they all seemed to have been handled? What about the enemies? How much damage had they managed to do here?! "Damn it¡­" he cursed, face red. Gill walked above him and then handed the token to Silvia to handle. She blinked, a little surprised, but she nodded in the end. She looked at it for a moment in thought, before turning to look at Epo with a sly smirk. "Do you want it back?" Epo blinked and many villagers, including the other aborigines on their side, looked at her in surprise. The Alterrans, though, took it for granted. While Alterra didn''t have a rule banning citizens from getting the lord token, not a lot of people would actually strive to get one¡ªat least not after experiencing the comfort and lifestyle in Alterra. Everyone knew owning a territory was a massive endeavor that may not be worth it. If they were the lord, would they be able to make it as amazing and nice as Alterra? No, right? Why would they want such a money-burning thing? Worse, Lords could be hunted down! Cringe. And a poor village like Epo? Eh, no way. This was especially true for Gill. One of the things found out during his stay in Iron Mountains was that Administration work was definitely not for him. Similarly, Silvia and the others liked their current lives. Owning their own territories was simply a hassle to them. Epo looked at her in disbelief. He also looked at Gill and saw his face didn''t seem surprised either. "Y-You mean that?" She nodded. "We can sell it to you for 5000 gold." "WHAT?" he gasped, the bit of hope that lifted his heart suddenly becoming an imaginary heavy rock that hit him from above. "I don''t have that kind of money!" "We can do payment terms for you. You will pay us 500 every month," Silvia said with a sly smile. "Of course, we can sell it elsewhere." Epo bit his lips. He really wanted to cry. What to do now?! 500 every month was still a huge amount. That was most of the revenue of a small village! No, even more now that their manpower had halved! "You will also sign an oath that you, or any other lord getting the token, that you will not harm¡ªdirectly or indirectly¡ªIron Valley or any of its associate villages." "That''s not in my control!" What if his father took it back after this failure? Worse, he might give it to someone else!! "Then, if you don''t do your best to stop it, then you''d die." "..." She was so sly and few people had seen this side of Silvia. Rowan smiled, thinking she''s really cute. "You have 1 minute to decide," she said. "A lot of nobles higher up would be interested in having their own territory¡ªeven if it was as poor as yours." Epo couldn''t speak for a while. Couldn''t they let him think for longer?! "Ten¡­ nine¡­" "FINE!" he yelled out in a hurry. "ORCSHI¡ª" His voice died down when he saw a redhead covering his hands with flames, as if ready to touch his mouth and shut him up with it. "..." Anyway, Epo was taken to the Village Center for an oath, with the other people he had there becoming System Slaves. And so, another source of funds was secured, as added funding for the development of Iron Mountains. Before letting the lord go back via the array, Silvia went over with Rowan next to her. "Before you go, I''d like to add something. "We are still kind," she said. "Your first payment will be next month. You''ll need all the money you can keep the next few weeks." Epo only thought they were referring to money needed because their manpower had halved. Soon, he''d find out there that there was another much more terrifying enemy coming, and they would really be thankful for this bit of mercy. Chapter 838 - 838: Cooling the Territory (Part 1) Alterra While the Epo war was ongoing, the movements in the other two territories hadn''t stopped. Understandably though, the productivity had taken a dive for some industries. For example, some minor sectors focusing on leisure and extraneous industries were slowed down in favor of others. For one, there was a major dip in the sports centers and gambling houses related to them. It was too hot to do sports at this time. To overheat even more? No thank you. Of course, while some industries dropped a bit, others flourished. Baron''s woodworkers house was very adaptable and mass produced items according to need. Their best sellers were fans as well as massive wooden tubs. Cotton was also very popular and the factory and farms rushed to produce a lot of it before the heat struck. On that front, lighter colors like white and beige were also given priority. The aborigines were mystified by this until they found out lighter colors supposedly ''reflect'' the heat while darker colors would absorb it, making the latter impractical to wear during the upcoming heat wave. Interestingly, the kids who had been going to school seemed to absorb this trivia better, and eventually idioms like "I''m so hot I''m black" or "You make me so hot you''re white" began to be thrown around here and there. The Terrans didn''t mind or see anything wrong either. Rather, they found it amusing. Anyway, in their time and generation, racism was a thing of the past or at least kept within minor and niche groups. There was not much sensitivity in certain words. Not to mention, the more popular iterations were in the local language, creating their own implications. Other than clothing, the food had the greatest concern, of course. The food stores including the grocery and the supermarket also upped the purchasing limits for non-perishable food like instant noodles, jerkies, dried fruits, pickled vegetables, jams, and the like. They also increased production and purchasing limits to table salt, which would also help in the preservation of food. In the medical sector, not only were healing remedies increased in production, they also upped the creation of medicine with cooling effects. They dedicated farms for the minty plants like the Sagada Plant and the Papra and created special medicines from them. With these things, a single tablet (chewable, and came in various added flavors~) could lower the body''s ambient temperature to a certain degree. The minty plants also had properties that aid in digestive functions (with less water, it was estimated a few people would get indigestion). They could also assist in fighting infections (which would be worse during heat), and promote oral health. They contained lots of Vitamin A and C, too, which was a welcome bonus. The drinks that were produced with them had exploded in popularity during the past few days and definitely more so during the actual heat wave. A lot of cuisines containing them like salads and as garnish was also very popular. There were also new shops that appeared during this time. Most prominently, there was a big new corner shop in the newest market street. This one was owned by ''the Territory'', and would be set to sell some interesting things. This large store sold some items like household items that didn''t quite fit in the grocery store. More importantly, this also included products from the Research Center, so officially they were products of the territory rather than just Althea''s. Many of the items here had a share for their respective developers, as promised to them when they were hired. This way, everything sold here also added some money to their developers. Among the first products it sold were various types of insulating materials. For instance, there were the slightly more costly but more effective blanket-type insulations. These were glued on walls and increased their insulation capability¡­ by a lot. With this, the citizens could buy insulation materials and surround their cellar walls with it, isolating the space from whatever was going on outside, to some degree. There was also the foam-type insulation that would be sprayed on surfaces and left to dry for a couple of hours. While its insulating capabilities were a bit less than the blanket-type and was also less durable (if people hit it, it could get flaked off), it still worked wonders and could be easily transportable for other territories to buy in bulk. There were even written instructions next to the item displays. The aborigines thought it was very generous and kind to do so, while the Terrans took it for granted. One of the instructions was to coat or cover the cellars with this. With very cool cellar and underground constructions, they could then buy saltpeter and use it to produce ice. Speaking of which, bags and bags of saltpeter (which were not sold in the grocery store due to their unpalatable production process) were made available and could be purchased in bulk. Anyway, this shop had just been opened and the shop was understandably full of patrons roaming around with their large push carts (nearly twice as big as the ones in the grocery store). The queue went up to several streets, reminiscent of what happened when the supermarket was opened. The queue was much hotter now though and people had umbrellas and fans with them. (And, of course, walking stalls selling delicious drinks were abound). Despite the discomfort of waiting outside though, a lot of them had excited smiles on their faces. After all, there was finally a method to cool them down more, of course they were looking forward to it! sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, thanks to these items, people could now not only have a cool basement¡ªthey could create ice in their own cellars! Ice! Everyone with a property could create them! The aborigines, when they realized this, could only gape. With this, everyone could live like nobles outside right? Although there was no more free water for residents, people naturally bought and stocked a lot in preparation, and it was definitely much more affordable¡ªeven during the heat wave¡ªcompared to what the people outside would be experiencing. People excitedly placed buckets in their cellars after insulating it, though a lot of people tended to stay there already because it really was a bit hotter outside even at this time. Anyway, with the commercialization of ice, stalls selling flavored shaved ice, cold drinks, and even ice cream would boom which would amaze everyone to no end. Hey, the Heat Wave probably wouldn''t be so bad, after all. Chapter 839 - 839: Cooling the Territory (Part 2) Even though the territory had temporarily halted the free access to a certain amount of water to the residents, people of course still bought buckets and buckets, some for daily use, but mostly to stockpile. No one knew how long the Heat Wave would last, but no one would feel completely safe if there weren''t ample amounts of it on hand. For Baron''s Woodworking company, their best seller at the moment were buckets for stocking of water. It was mostly for storage, but there were also some who bought small pool-sized buckets. As for how much they had to pay for that amount of water to swim on, that was up to them. "Rich people problems," some of the poorer citizens would say, but they would still stare in envy, imagining themselves swimming in cool pools. Of course, some rich people did this, while some would just splurge in the bathhouse. Even the more common folk continued working harder for the territory, though their use of contribution points had been leaning more towards using the Bathhouse instead of other things. Either way, those industries were definitely booming. Other than that, mother-and-son pair Chucky and Honey Guevarra''s newly-opened Lake Business was also doing very well. It had just been completed about a week prior because it was mostly manual construction, and the construction team had been too busy with the rest of the territory to put much effort into it for a while. However, with the arrival of the cute cute goblins, some manpower had finally been freed to do other projects. (Thanks to this, the construction team and the goblins would receive 20% discounts in the establishment for the duration of the heat wave and the time prior to it). As for how it was possible for ''normal'' people like them to own such a big business, the two had actually managed to secure some funding from the bank after submitting a very attractive business proposal. The bank had a friendly interest rate and profit-sharing deals (with Alterra permanently keeping 20% of the profit, not including the taxes) so even if they were not rich, there was no problem for their project to see reality. And¡ªunsurprisingly¡ªshortly after it opened, it was already raking in quite a bit of money! The Lake business comprised of the artificial lake dug and coated with the waterproofing membrane Honey accidentally discovered back then. Most of the lake was covered with gardens and forests for people to walk and do picnics on. There were benches placed in certain areas and in clusters, and there were also camping grounds dedicated for those who wanted to do campfires and things like that. The winds by the lake were also cooler than other places, making it very comfortable to just be in. Swimming was also allowed here after paying an entrance fee, though they had to mind that there were fishes in there, too. At the very least, it was much more affordable and open than the bathhouse. As for cleanliness, they just planted natural filtration using plants similar to cattails and water lilies. They would be able to filter pollutants naturally and also provide habitats for small critters. They also added a variation in depth to allow aeration, among many other considerations. Further, the zones for fishing and swimming were different, so they wouldn''t interfere with each other. For instance, no one would get caught in fishing hooks by accident. That''d be very embarrassing. If they didn''t do this, it was estimated someone fishing would get someone''s underwear by accident. Would be a great topic for gossip though. Anyway, other than these, several themed establishments like restaurants, boating houses, and the like had been made available. There were also plenty of establishments under development, but the construction of those was delayed until after the Heat Wave. The restaurant by the lake¡ªthe first of many¡ªhad a long pier heading deeper into the waters. They were there to serve as fishing spots as well as piers for the smaller boats, which''d only access the fishing zones, of course. The boats were commissioned from Baron''s Woodworking shop. The plain ones were for fishers, while there were more comfy and aesthetic ones designed for more romantic boat trips (though everyone was too busy to do this for now). This was all managed by Honey with a couple of hired help. Her son would assist her sometimes, but he was also busy with his own business. Chucky rented a system farm near the river veins and redirected a stream (with territory approval of course), turning it into one of the crop-fish farms, though he focused more on the fishes rather than the crops. As someone with a farm, he naturally knew that the quality of meat from the system farms were superior in quantity, quality, and taste than those from outside! The fish he farmed from this could sell for several times the market price. With the Heat Wave coming, his produce started leaning more toward the salted and dried fish, and his sales had not decreased at all! In both cases, the aborigines from Ferrol¡ªwho hadn''t left yet, by the way¡ªwere loving every bit of it. One of these aborigines was Pieto, who came with Jonathan as soon as they noticed movements towards the sources of the goods that he fell in love with. He had fallen in love with the noodles and sauces when it was first introduced during the Ferrol Fair and had been stalking movements from the mercenary team and the Town lord since then. He visited Ferrol Town as someone from Twinwave Town. However, unlike most of his companions who left as soon as the festival was over¡ªthey weren''t able to taste Alterran goods, sad for them¡ªhe stayed with his few guards along with a few others. Now, he was relaxing with the cool breeze in the open air restaurant by the Alterra lake¡ªaptly nick-named Lake Chill by some ¡ªeating his strawberry-flavored shaved ice¡­ with salted fish on top. Ah, so lovely. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He didn''t know how Alterra seemed to be so certain the Extreme Heat was coming¡ªsomething he would have to investigate¡ªbut he definitely wouldn''t risk traveling at this time. Anyway, this place seemed to be a good place to get stranded in. Chapter 840 - 840: Calm before the Heat The citizens knew there was no use in overtly worrying about the upcoming disaster. They could just do their parts to prepare their own households while trusting in Alterra as well. This was especially true for the Terrans who had yet to experience anything regarding the extreme weather. It wasn''t like there weren''t heatwaves in Terran, after all, though those only lasted a few moments. One of the people going around the territory was Beany and his son. It was Beany''s day off from the newspaper and he had picked up Theo from school so they could bond before the world decided to torture them even more. So now, they were doing father-son bonding at the market. Carrying the toddler in his arm, the duo ambled about with little umbrellas stuck on their heads. These were small umbrellas that could be attached to the head, freeing their hands to do other things. It looked a bit silly, but with the duo, it looked adorable, like wearing matching outfits. Beanie had been away for a long time because he couldn''t face not only Althea but also Theo, to some degree. Now, in this heat, he was determined to make up for it. He bought his son all the cold sweets he wanted, though the kid only bought what he needed saying it wasn''t good for the teeth. The little boy also proceeded to reprimand his father as well, thinking he was the one who wanted a lot of sweets. "Not gwood, not gwood!" he yelled, little eyebrows furrowed, and his cheeks puffed up. Beany''s eyes twitched. "Yes, yes." At least they confirmed that Theo was learning something at school. While they walked, they saw a group of guards making rounds. Little Theo''s rounded eyes followed them, reflecting their greatness. "Am I gowing to be stwong like gawd ankles?" This made Beany laugh. "Sure, as long as you study very hard and don''t miss your homework." The boy nodded very seriously and Beany couldn''t help but kiss his chubby cheek. If Beany knew little Theo was thinking to grow up strong so he could protect him, he''d probably sob his heart out. ¡­ Anyway, while the territory was still preparing, the huntings and training¡ªwhether it was in the Training Hall or outside¡ªhad not halted. It was a lot more challenging under this heat of course, but the territory had emphasized the usual training requirements were still required. In response, those going outside had their spaces filled with cool drinks, water, cooling medicine, and the like. There were, at this time, at least two groups of around 20 people clearing the area around the territory. One person had to be at least level 20 in a group and the ones leading the two groups were Plaridel and Turbo, respectively. Plaridel''s group took care of the Eastern part of the territory. They had been fighting for more than an hour already and they were finally about to finish this session, which made everyone thank the skies. "How exhausting!" one said, wiping his sweat with his shirt. "It feels like I''m doing twice the work with how tired I am." "Well, I wouldn''t need a sauna now," one said, the others rolled their eyes. "It''s not like you can afford it anyway." "How rude." Anyway, the group turned to finally head back to the territory. It was estimated that their 2-hour session would end by the time they were in sight of the walls. Their small group would encounter a few monsters here and there, with the strongman only guarding and keeping them alive. At some point though, it really got too hot from the mix of the temperature and their own body heat. "Darn, I can''t take it anymore! GAH! So hot!" The handsome Hubert gasped, feeling suffocated. He felt so suffocated that he took off his already-damaged upper garments, revealing his well-toned abs from all the fighting. "Stop getting naked!" One man yelled, glaring at his 17-year-old daughter who was gaping at the blonde. "My daughter is here!" Interestingly a certain red head reacted the same. "Get dressed!" He yelled. "My fiance is here!" A blushing Winona gently slapped his arm. "That sure rolled down your tongue comfortably, eh?!" S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel grinned and looked down at her, challenging. "Why? Shy?" Winona flushed an even deeper shade of red, though she''d argue it was because Ansel was embarrassing her. "Hell no!" she yelled, about to turn and focus on the path home. Instead of answering her though, Ansel''s eyes traced the few beads of sweat down her cheek to her neck and then down to her glorious valley¡­ His breath became heavier, but it earned him a punch to the gut. Oough! "HEY!" "Focus!" Winona quipped back and sure enough, they heard rustles of leaves around them. A small mob of monsters emerged from the bushes, looking at them hungrily. Unfortunately for the monsters, the heat made the humans irksome and therefore particularly violent that day. How dare these things block their way to their comfy houses!? Their small group didn''t even need Plaridel to move, they pretty much massacred the mob. However, someone was almost nicked because they were so tired, sweaty, and the atmosphere was just not helping. Fortunately, there was Plaridel who managed to push away the monster before it could do too much damage. Plaridel watched the battles closely. He wasn''t to foddle them though, and they could still get injured. His instructions was to just keep them from dying or receiving any permanent damage. He was also there to hold the aether letter in case of emergencies, like other territories attacking them. The rules of going out of the territory were never rescinded. For training, the average level requirement was still high and every team needed to have at least 1 aether letter linked to the Station. The delineation of scope was that the barracks was primarily in-charge of external problems, especially regarding wars and external threats. On the other hand, the Guard Station was still under the barracks, but its focus was on internal peace. Guards assigned in the territory were rotating under the Guard Station. The Guard Station was also where the complaints and calls for help were received, so there were administrative/desk people there monitoring the letters at all times. This way, if an Emergency happened, the Station would be informed, and therefore the Barracks and Elders would as well. Of course, this meant that standard groups with civilians could not go beyond the range of aether letters, at least for now. This was the compromise they had to make. The decent-leveled monsters in Alterra were being cleared and people did have to go a little farther to train properly, but at the same time, they couldn''t go too far lest they wouldn''t be rescued on time. The wars were perennial problems now, but they could not grow stagnant and hide away because of fear. Althea saw all this and felt a little bad. Who wouldn''t? She swore that someday, Alterra''s name would be so resounding that no attackers would dare touch them the moment they find out they were Alterra''s. It was a long way before that would happen, but she''d make sure it would. Chapter 841 - 841: Another Skirmish Plaridel''s team, fortunately, passed their hurdle without any more worries except excessive sweating. The same could not be said about the other team though. While Plaridel''s group was about to reach the safety of the walls, the other group led by Turbo encountered a couple of extra problems. They had a bit of a run-in with another party from the newly-minted New Shrao Village. Actually, because of the strength of the Alterran team members, the other party would have just backed away. Their lord was in the vicinity, also mapping the place, and it''d have been dangerous to get into a skirmish at this time. In contrast, it was Alterra''s side who was in an explosive mood, ready to fight the other party even when unprovoked. For one, the other team had slaves around them. They had weapons and were filled with wounds. They looked weak, but they fought on because that was what slaves do. "You promised not to hurt those who don''t fight you!" Bianca yelled, having befriended a few survivors from Vismont before. She had also heard about Matthew''s conditions back then, and because Shrao immigrated to Vismont, they had hoped that the territory''s owner simply changed while the rest of the citizens remained the same. To be honest, this was also to make themselves feel better. Due to everything that was happening, they had to ignore this new territory. Besides, they knew that as a subsidiary, it couldn''t really attack them in wars. This was partnered with the various wars ongoing at the time and the oncoming heat wave, they simply had too much on their plates. Now, they knew that they thought too idealistically. The Alterrans looked badly at the Shrao Villagers, ready to fight for their brethren. "You lied, so you better give them back if you don''t want to be attacked." In fact, those with clearer eyes could see the slaves weren''t entirely cannon fodders. They were still given decent weapons and a chance at life. They simply weren''t protected. If they were strong enough, they would still survive. It was still more humane than what they heard, but how could they feel comfortable? Anyway, the Alterrans were quite hostile and, if one didn''t have context, people would think they were bullies. Shiro remained still as he stared at them, an arm raised to keep his team from exacerbating the situation. "I did not lie," he said with a passive expression on his face. "These people were the ones who fought against us." At the very least, he didn''t enjoy torturing others. He just did it because he felt it was the practical course of action. "They deserved it," Another voice said, approaching them from behind. This was no other than Cain, obviously looking better than usual. A certain Alterran saw him and immediately exploded. "YOU BASTARD!" Crow yelled, lunging forward, but was held down by a few people next to him. If their team lead¡ªTurbo¡ª didn''t approve of a battle, then they couldn''t start a fight on their own. "Cain!! I''ll kill you!!" he yelled, uncharacteristically livid. The Alterrans who didn''t know him closely were a bit startled. After all, Crow was known for his sombre temperament. At the moment, he was on the verge of going berserk. Cain looked at them in interest. "Do we know each other?" Crow gritted his teeth, and yelled, "YOU KILLED MY AUNT!" "Oh? Your aunt? Which was it?" Cain asked, no signs of remorse at all. This made Shiro look at him deeply, with the Alterran''s hostile eyes turning even more intense. But in this world where the strong were respected and women did whatever was asked of them, it wasn''t particularly appalling for anyone from the Shrao Party. Shiro did not appreciate this added tension, however. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, the other party''s apparent apathy made Crow''s anger burst and he managed to escape his teammates'' hold. "YOU SHOULD JUST DIE ALREADY!!" Crow yelled, lunging towards Cain. The latter frowned and tried to avoid it. However, Crow used his ability to add a burst of speed into his movements and the punch ended up connecting. BANG! No one really stopped him anymore either, and they were also prepared to fight along with Crow the moment he''d need it. Combined with the sight of their brethren being enslaved, they stopped wanting to keep peace completely. BANG! Crow did not take a moment''s breath and sent the other man a barrage of attacks. Cain was so taken aback by the outburst that it took him a few seconds to recover. Someone from Shrao stepped forward¡ªnot for Cain, but for pride¡ªbut Turbo appeared in front of them. Their side immediately froze, looking at them guardedly. "Let him vent," he said. "You cannot kill him," Shiro immediately said. Anyway, in Xeno, if one could retaliate, they would. That was just how the world worked. However, letting Cain get killed would mean he''d lose a valuable asset who knew more about the territory and the people there. He was surrounded by Terran territories, so he couldn''t lose him¡ªat least not yet. Shiro looked at the leader of the group. This man was strong, much stronger than what villages ought to have. Shiro watched all of the other party carefully, then looked at the slaves who were almost crying at the sight of them. The so-called Alterrans¡­ He had heard about them of course¡ªhow could he not? This was the territory they inexplicably got tied to, and would have no choice but to send tribute to for the next 11 months. All he knew about this place was from his new citizens. He had sent spies, but he had yet to get word back from them until now. What was certain was that Alterra was unlike any of the villages they had encountered¡ªit could be even said to be as good as a town! Looking at this strongman who seemed to be a typical sight there¡ªjudging by how the citizens around interacted with him¡ªhe knew that this was the truth. He had been planning on investigating himself, but there was still too much to settle back in the territory that he had to defer it. His eyes shifted to the ongoing scuffle not too far from him. So¡­ what should he do now? Chapter 842 - 842: Shiro’s Decision Shiro was not stupid. On the contrary, he was smart. Respected by his citizens despite his young age, he had led them to the best of his ability, and they knew it too. When their territory fell, most people had chosen another village or even the nearby town to settle, but a lot of them stayed. That was much more than what others would expect in the same situation. Anyway, he had just found a new home for his citizens after the last one was destroyed; He was not about to cause trouble now. They circled the two people brawling, and Cain was obviously taken aback by the younger man''s fighting prowess. Then all of a sudden a small but sharp metal spike appeared about to stab Crow. "Watch out!" an Alterran yelled, quickly pulling Crow back before he could get stabbed. Crow looked at Cain with venomous eyes, while the latter wiped the blood from his cracked lips, returning his glare with dark eyes. "What? You think I''ll just lie there for you to beat me?" "I can make it that way¡ª" Crow yelled, despite not being too superior in level than the other, and Cain sneered and spat out some blood, taking a spare sword from his space. However, before the two could resume their fight, they were suddenly doused with water. Crow''s eyebrows furrowed and turned to the only water elementalist in the area who could make so much water from thin air, and so did the others who saw where it came from. It was Turbo who had put down his hands. He looked at them with a stern expression. "This is not the time," he said, "Mobs would be attracted soon enough." There was silence. They knew he was right. Shiro nodded and looked at his men. "Let''s go," he said, and the men including Cain reluctantly followed, though not without staring down at the opponents. "Wait," Turbo said, pointing at the slaves. "Give them to us." "Why?" "We can buy them." Shiro looked at them. After a pause, he spoke. "10 gold each." "What?" None of them had that kind of extra money to give out. However, looking at the ''slaves'' looking at them with eyes filled with hope, they couldn''t express this openly. After a pause, Turbo sighed. "We will talk to our elders. Don''t harm any of them." The Alterrans left and so did then Shrao Villagers, with the slaves following closely as they sobbed. However, they were suddenly filled with hope this time, unlike before. Cain gritted his teeth and was about to beat one of them up to vent, but he was stopped by Fos, one of Shiro''s confidantes. "Will you be paying for the damages?" He asked. If Alterra found out they beat them, they''d discount the gold and they weren''t confident they could go against them. For one, they couldn''t attack Alterran Residents in either of their territories which was a huge disadvantage already. He could see the Slaves smile and look at each other. From their former hopeless demeanor, that short interaction seemed to have injected life into them. Shiro saw everything, turning to look at their backs and in the direction where the opponents left. "Alterra, eh?" ¡­ When Turbo''s team came back, they immediately went to report that their people had been enslaved. This was common practice in this world and they wouldn''t risk their lives to rescue all their enslaved brethren. In addition to all the wars and preparation for the heat wave, they simply put Vismont to the back of their minds. Their own way of life was threatened, who would have the mind to go out of their way to rescue others? They were not heroes who''d go out of their way and jump from territory to territory with the sole purpose of saving Terrans. At least not yet. At this time, they didn''t have the ability to go against the world. But now that they have encountered them head on, they could no longer, in good conscience, not do anything. How could they sit still when they witnessed them so close and enslaved? Rather, the reality of it hitting them so hard made their hearts hurt in anger and indignance. "Those bastards!" "We can''t let this slide!" "Letting them go now could lower momentum, even by a bit." Althea watched them as they planned the next step, her mind entering a slightly different path of thought. Although Shrao did a lot of wrong, she felt there was another way around this¡­ "We can''t jump into this too quickly," she said. "Besides, we can''t go to war for the next two weeks." Iron Mountain had just been attacked so both Alterra and Limestone Valley could not be attacked. In the same vein, they had already consumed the month''s attack slots with the Fargo war so they would still need to wait a bit to attack. "We will also need to know the rules and regulations of that place." Around this time, Loki, who was the latest in charge of the Guard Station, spoke up. "Didn''t Limestone village say they want to join if we decide to attack Shrao Village?" "Oh yeah, what did Shrao do to them?" Not long after sending letters and newspaper to the Satellites, they received a reply letter from Limestone Valley. First, they reported about the status of the territory, as well as confirmation of their orders (for example, building a permanent extra structure outside the warehouse for Althea''s protection when she was transferring a huge amount of goods to them). There was also the mention that a few people hoped to be part of a war if it involved Shrao village, should they hope to trigger it. Even Crow and even little Horus approached some of them before they entered the meeting. They said that they hoped to be a greater part of the war¡ªif it should happen. They would have to wait another few weeks to attack though. Would the slaves last that long? Especially with the upcoming heat wave? "They''re a subsidiary, can we even attack it?" "Yes. It''s another reason few territories accept being subsidiaries. They not only had to pay tribute, but it doesn''t exempt them from an attack." This was in contrast with official alliances, in which neither territory could attack the other, or they''d be penalized with whatever was indicated in the contract. While Althea was pondering on how to handle it, Mathilda thought of an idea. "Then what about attacking without triggering wars?" The room was silent then, minds whirling with the possibilities and implications. They knew it was possible. After all, they had done this with Vismont before. Rowan didn''t attack but they still managed to cause chaos anyway, to the point that a huge power in the territory was taken down. "We have a mathematician team now, right?" Eugene asked. "Can they calculate what force value would need to trigger a war?" Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "..." Genius! With this, the team immediately started to distribute the work, with Eugene to work with the Math team to determine the formula, as fast as possible. Althea sighed. While she did think there could be alternatives, she didn''t stop them or put any damper in their passion. She wanted to know the threshold of triggering wars, anyway. Chapter 843 - 843: The Magic of Math The Mathematician Team was primarily made to help her calculate the locations of arrays. Everything had some bearing in maths¡ªeven in the natural world. Even if this was a different world, it applied, though a lot of their formulas had to be discovered and studied from scratch. Since they didn''t have anyone who really understood arrays in the territory, they had to figure it out themselves. After the Math team signed a nondisclosure agreement and five-year bonds to Alterra, she taught them what she knew of the arrays¡ªwhich honestly wasn''t much, but it made them cry in gratitude anyway. Since then, these people stayed in the research center unless they had to train as per territory requirements. They practically lived in the Research Center dorms¡ªwhich, by the way, was only there in case of urgent all-nighters. They had to kick them out multiple times, especially during their day-offs. At the same time, she couldn''t really blame them either. Arrays were really a fascinating subject. It was just that they were studying it from the start, basically, like how the ancients studied math. They had to go through too many trials and errors, and what was more difficult was that¡ªunlike actual maths¡ªthey couldn''t create arrays (yet) so they couldn''t test things out. Now, they were given much more concrete¡ªand doable¡ª assignments that could be the application of everything they studied thus far. The team naturally jumped at it. The team was a group of seven people, some of whom were even acclaimed experts back in Terran. Pesto, the head mathematician, was an old man with thinning hair (of course, thanks to his leveling up, it had grown quite a bit). There was also Virgo, one of Kimmy''s husbands. Since he moved here, he practically never left the center. A math maniac, that was what he was. They could only imagine the torture of staying in a territory without paperback in Belluga. He had very thick callouses. They reckoned he must have carved his notes on wood instead. This team also had Melissa. They realized that she had much more potential in the theories, especially since she wasn''t held down by the ''known'' theories¡ªsomething she had limited access to in Terran as a dropout. When she found out they were attacking the people who killed her brother, she naturally got reinvigorated and worked throughout most of the day. Eugene, even if he didn''t like wars, was fine with this type of overwork even if it was for Melissa''s well-being. For the next few days, this team, including Althea, focused on these calculations. Of course, unfortunately, there were a lot of assumptions. For example, while they knew using a certain percentage of comprehensive strength was considered as the war trigger, it was never fully quantified. The variances were too far. How did one truly quantify a person''s individual strength, anyway? They also got information from the aborigines they used as data, but how accurate could a person''s memory be? How detailed would they remember these things? None of them were lords who could see the population number at a glance, and even if they were, who would record this data? The research team therefore had no choice but to play safe for now and use a huge tolerance in their calculations. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In fact, this calculation could easily take months or even years if done manually. However, their research center managed to do it in a fraction of the time. First off, a few people actually had calculators in their spaces. Some were powerful ones, even, powered by solar. Many of these people had run out of resources early on because of what they chose to put in their spaces, and they were blessed by luck to have gone far enough to reach Alterra. Some people just had different priorities. Another reason for their progress was because, a couple of days back, the Research Center already developed the electrical calculating machines¡ªthe ancient computers. As soon as they got the magnetite from Guia, she had asked Winona and Yona''s teams to prioritize the machine. Overall, there were many team members and they received a lot of investments from the territory, allowing the progress to be fast-tracked. She knew that the rules of this world and the arrays weren''t something they could fully study on their own, at least not without taking them years of study, and doing a lot of wasteful trial-and-error. The subjects were far too complicated. Thus, computers were the way to go. Even if it was the ancient ones that worked less efficiently than their Terran calculators, it was still a massive step to getting the data they needed. Speaking of which, when she ordered¡ªvia the ''system''¡ªthe priority to shift to what was loosely referred to as ''computer'', she did get a couple of frowns (i.e. pouts) and minor complaints and whispers¡ªat least for that day. At the time, they had already produced electricity to light a Youli lightbulb, and people were jumping to apply electricity to their own projects. Although what went on inside the Research Centers was generally a secret to the outside world, information flowed freely between teams. After all, one team''s invention could assist in another''s so there was no reason to be so hush-hush about everything. For instance, one team requested machineries and motors. This team was led by Eugene. Electricity could further automate the various factories, leaving the manpower to focus on more subjective and sensitive parts of the production line. Another team requested the creation of medical devices. This was led by Winona. These were all valid requests, but the lord got the final say, and she decided to prioritize the old calculators. This was thankfully so because how depressing it would be to take months calculating. Anyway, they proved that these computers would help with the efficient and fast creation of everything else so everyone accepted the decision eventually (i.e. stop pouting and giving her teary bitter eyes). Speaking of other developments, glass was also being perfected now. It was just that they couldn''t quite create such thin glass as needed in lightbulbs or even her beakers. So for now, the experiments settled with youli lightbulbs which were thick and had very low light translucency. The energy wastage was large in turn, but they''d take what they could get. Regardless, this initial development of electricity opened up a lot of doors. It would take months or years to fully integrate it, but it was already a huge step in the right direction. At the very least, there was progress, even if it was one step at a time. Chapter 844 - 844: Result of Research After a few more days, during the height of the mass research sessions, some people from Limestone Valley, including Vanessa and Juni, had finally arrived. They were armed and ready to fight. Well, Juni at least, Vanessa was finding ways to get closer to Garan while his wife was busy in the Research Center. She managed to join in the training, but Garan always managed to avoid her, as if she didn''t exist. So annoying! Amos had also come in, though he did not dare to check out his family who were one of the very few prisoners of war in Alterra. As the letter author Mr. Jeremiah¡ªwho was apparently just Beany¡ªsaid, it was better for them to learn their lessons. Seeing him now would simply make them misunderstand he was there to help them. Anyway, while the Research Team was calculating, some mid-level personnel had gone to Shrao to spy, and also to determine its rules and regulations. They were also sent to check the status of the slaves, and if they were being treated with decency. There were also some who went openly as Alterrans. This was led by Loki and Chris, and with their levels, the lord should know where they came from, so they didn''t bother to hide it. After all, they were there to buy slaves, and they naturally ought to ''check the products''. In addition to their strengths, they were customers with whom the territory could earn 10 Gold for each transaction, so they were treated amicably. Initially, this was a very good deal for Shrao. Although the cost of freeing a slave was 5 gold, selling normal human slaves was not as lucrative and some would even sell for a couple of silver. After all, there were so many humans that entered ''market circulation'' considering almost every village went through a war at least once a month. The supply was never lacking and there was rarely any incentive to free slaves at all. Alterrans also watched a few aborigines who had come to study the territory. This was mostly done through the reporting system, wherein they also had the citizens as their eyes. A few days after sending Chris''s team to Shrao, the group returned without an accident. Chris and Loki went forward to report as soon as they arrived, and the mathematicians added the info to create a better picture, calculation-wise. They did add, however, that the price was increased to 15 Gold, after finding out all of them were elementalists. Shiro said he was being kind because elementalists could sell for more, and asked not to make things hard for him. Shiro was taking a risk this time, but the price was indeed fair. He was not lying when he said the elementalists could sell for more, and even higher if he took them in cities. Had he been an idiot, he''d go above their heads and sell the slaves, but he did not do so. However, he did decide to increase the price a bit to gain a bit more. The territory really needed that gold, after all; they had lost too much during their migration. He was hoping that Alterra would find them too small or nonthreatening to do anything about his demands. Anyway, it was rare for a master territory to attack a subsidiary because there was little to no advantage to do so. The territory would be paying tribute every month, weakening it would just lower their income in the long run. Shiro had no idea what Alterra was literally planning as he thought this. Chris and Loki ended the report with what had changed in the territory''s infrastructure¡ªwhich was none. This made sense as Shraos seemed to have immigrated as a territory and therefore unlikely to have a lot of money. It was understandable he increased the price as soon as he saw his chance to do so. Not that they''d be paying at all, of course. The rough conservative estimate of the Math Team was that they could (conservatively) send fifty mid-level elementalists or a hundred and fifty normal fighters, and they would not trigger a formal war. "That''s¡­ not bad," Ansel whistled, and the rest of them nodded in agreement. After all, they had superior equipment, techniques, and items. Their ''comprehensive strength'' should be much higher than other villages. "Alterra is very strong compared to other villages." "We can crush weaker territories without triggering wars then?" "They''re still the same rank with thousands of citizens. We can still easily lose a few people," Althea corrected, as if her brother would become a war-monger (which he was not, Ansel would argue). "Besides, they have Terran slaves. How confident are you to get rid of them if they attacked?" This made everyone pause. They really wouldn''t be able to bear it. They didn''t want to experience that time with Fargo. Speaking of slaves¡­ "How are they, the slaves?" Althea asked. If they were being treated worse, then they might expedite their attack. However, fortunately, things seemed better than they thought. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Life there¡­ wasn''t so bad?" Chris said after looking at Loki, who also had a complex expression on his face. He then proceeded to tell more of what he saw, and everyone''s shoulders slumped. It was understandably complicated to get so fired up for a volatile rescue, only to find out things weren''t as bad as they thought. "As long as they didn''t go against the ruling party, the Terran citizens there were mostly just ignored. "They had slaves but they weren''t treated too harshly, compared to what we''ve seen," Chris added. "They would live tightly in the houses, but it had our bathroom and good design. They were also rarely abused." "There are a few exceptions, of course, especially men trying to take advantage of women, but we already talked to the lord about it and he seemed amicable." Amicable. Melissa''s eyes reddened at the word, and Eugene held her hand. Not far from them, Juni gripped her fists. "Whatever happens, I just want Cain dead." Althea watched as doubts casted over the group. They were not doubting their chances of winning, but they were doubting their reasons for attacking. Besides, even if they were strong, they had to keep their forces within the conservative limit. This meant that people would still get hurt, or maybe worse. To be honest, she was willing to buy off the slaves, though they''d have to work to pay it back when they signed a bond to the territory. It would become more like an advanced payment rather than just the territory''s alms. Unlike other lords, if there was a choice to avoid injury to her people, even if it cost a lot, she''d take it. The thing was¡­ there were people there who truly deserved heavy retribution. Little Horus had nightmares every day now. Seeing the poor thing''s state was depressing. He had just recovered and started to act like a proper child with the other kids'' help¡­ and it was heartbreaking to see him return to his somber self. And Melissa and Juni¡­ they definitely wouldn''t be able to rest properly until she had exacted her revenge. Althea massaged her forehead. What to do? Chapter 845 - 845: New Visitors are Here! While Althea and the others were breaking eyebrows in the Research Center, a certain group of aborigines arrived in Alterra, absolutely surprised. Right after the war a couple of days ago, Gill had sent a letter to Alterra asking if they were willing to buy the half-orc from Bart. They agreed, so now Bart and the others came to see Alterra. Bart was a bit curious about how they communicated without the postal office, but he''d figure it out later. As for the price, they agreed on what he could''ve cost at a Town auction, which was twice that of Gochi at more than 500 gold. Remembering that auction battle made Gill fall into a daze, his mind inevitably going to Cassandra. He ended the meeting quickly and went emo in his room then, with Bart ending up being very confused. Anyway, Bart had plenty of reasons for agreeing on that price, which was technically lower than what they''d have liked. Although Baku could''ve been sold for twice that if sold in the City, Bart felt it wouldn''t be worth it. One, he had come to actually like the damned beast. If he was on their side, he was a reliable ally, particularly during fights. The orc was incredibly blunt and honest, too, as if he¡ªBart¡ªwouldn''t ever have to worry about being stabbed in the back. Stabbed in the front, sure, but that was another matter. Second, the sale was also a gesture of goodwill to the mysterious village. Bart and the others looked around. The wide roads, the themed buildings, and the uniform greeneries¡­ were something they had rarely seen in all their decades of traveling and adventuring. Further, even if there were relatively well-planned towns, it wasn''t quite to this degree. Most territories developed organically. That was to say: the buildings were built as needed, placed where there was space available. Over time, a village, then a town, or even a city would be built. Seeing such organized streets was really rare, to say the least. Everyone was sweating buckets though, looking very haggard from the travel under the sweltering atmosphere. Behind them, the half-orc was wearing a hood lest they scared the locals again. Since they knew Gill and this place was their buyer, they didn''t want to have a bad impression. On cue, the tour guides appeared to greet them. "Welcome to Alterra!!" they yelled. It was just that they either had umbrellas or hats on them. There were different styles too. In Xeno, hats were fashion items for women. Seeing this type of accessory worn by men really took them back. Even the manly men looked complicated. It looked comfortable, they mused, all while wiping their own sweat. The one who approached them was one man and one woman. The girl had a cute hat with a large overhang all around, while the man had one only in the front. "Hello! My name is Lulu, assistant manager of the leading guide team of Alterra¡ªGlorious Hospitality! This is Louie, who will be guiding you around~" "Ah, hello, my name is Bart," he said, introducing the other dozen people on his team. He pointed at the covered half-orc. "He''s¡­ someone your territory is buying¡ª" "Where is Gochi?" the large man asked and the bystanders flinched a bit because his voice was really louder and deeper than others. It also had a growling quality to it and the people couldn''t help but look at him. "Gochi?" She asked before answering. "He''s outside. We can tell him to go to you when he arrives." The big guy flinched and Bart cleared his throat. "Anyway, ahem. Can we see your lord?" "We have no lord." "Oh?" The aborigines looked at each other and blinked, but otherwise shrugged. They hadn''t known of any other lord who hid their identities before, but they had heard it being done before. "Then¡­ who are the most powerful people here?" sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You must mean the elders," she said, "Louie will take you to the village center, while I will inform the elders of your arrival. "Ah, thank you," they said and she left, leaving the man¡ªLouie¡ªto greet them. They couldn''t help but look at the hat with the front overhang that casted shadows on his face. It seemed light to wear¡ªas if it could be blown away by little wind¡ªbut it did its job well. It was definitely a new style of hat they had encountered. One of Bart''s secrets to being successful was his shamelessness. Whether it was befriending the then-weak Garan and his team, to various other things. Asking to sate his curiosity was no problem to him. "What are those?" "Hats," Louie said with a smile. "Do you want us to take you where to buy them?" "Yes please." He led them along the avenue and they looked around, admiring the trees and the planning. They were taken along the side of the road protected from the widest lanes by trees and shrubs. Then hordes of people on unusual contraptions passed by them. They were going quite fast along the so-called ''main road''. Some only had one person, some had cars attached to them. It looked¡­ fun. To travel fast in a long smooth road seemed to be quite¡­ thrilling. They wanted to try. "What are those?" Bart asked again, and the others listened closely to his explanation. "Bikes," Louie said with a proud grin. "You can rent them over there," he said, pointing at an area near the gates. "But there''s a slight learning curve so you''d need to learn to use them first." "Ah, I see." A few blocks later, they arrived at the store selling the caps. Baku was left outside due to his size, already a bit impatient. Baku was actually not their slave. The World System allowed slave status during wars alone. Any other ways wouldn''t trigger it, likely in hopes of avoiding mass kidnappings to create more slaves. However, Baku, who was promised to see his old friend very soon, was already near his breaking point. Chapter 846 - 846: The Slaves of Alterra Anyway, back inside the large apparel store, Bart and the others were entertained by the salespersons there. Or more accurately, they were surrounded by pretty ladies (and maybe a few queers) blowing compliments in an attempt to make them buy a lot. "Wow, good sir! It looks soo good on you!!" One said to Bart, while another swooned when Eloi put on another one. "Oh my¡­ so handsome!" "Kyaa! That one! No, that one also looks even better on you," Another saleswoman squealed as Sipa tried on different styles of hats. "Ah, they all look soooo good! It''s so hard to decide~" Unconsciously, the men''s backs straightened and they inhaled their stomachs in. They had never felt so handsome in their lives. "Okay, I will buy them all¡­" "Me, too¡­" There were swoons and squeals that resounded in the room, validating their choice. "Wise choice, handsome sir~" "Would you to choose accessories that will match each hat? It will make your style look more holistic, make you look even more handsome!" a salesperson said, and the others echoed her words, and soon they were dragged down to aisles displaying other things. Suffice to say, they were beloved customers. There were various styles of apparel in this store, selling various accessories like scarves, bags, belts, and the like. For men and for women, and they bought a couple that seemed comfortable and fit them well. There was also a small metallic mirror on the side to check. They were impressed that a store had it, but it was probably rich. Anyway, while they were trying other apparels now (including shirts and pants now), the door opened and the group went straight to a section with odd looking canes. Unexpectedly, the newcomers were acquaintances. "Pieto?" Eloi exclaimed, and the others turned and were startled to see who it was. "Bart?" he blinked. "You''re here! Then again I''m not that surprised. You''re always updated." Pieto was a famous merchant in Twinwave Town. He bought a lot of their sauces back then. He was also a famous connoisseur of various things and could be a bit snobbish at times. Well, seeing him here, now he could no longer charge middleman fees. Pity. The merchant saw his face and smirked, taking two ''staff'' with different colors. "Two umbrellas please," he said and the others looked at him. "What are those?" he asked and Pieto¡ªwho was obviously in a good mood¡ªactually answered him well. "These are umbrellas, you should''ve seen almost everyone outside holding something above their heads," he said. "Press this button¡ªI won''t open it inside¡ªand it would expand into those. At this time a lot of the others were listening in. They had indeed since those and saw the comfortable shadow they made underneath. "Ohhh¡­" "They''re opaque and could protect from heat, and they are also waterproof against rain." "No water comes in?" They could tell it blocked the heat after seeing it used before but, apparently, it was also useful in rain! Rains in Xeno could literally weaken them! Having this lightweight and convenient staff-shield thing would be so useful! "Well, as long as they''re blocked by the surface. It''s a different problem if it''s windy. They have raincoats and boots for those." "We''re buying two big ones because we''re going to have a picnic in the gardens!" he said, looking excited as he said so. "Bye now!" he said and Pietro and his team scuttled away, looking like leisurely tourists just out having fun. Hey, they felt envious. Louie saw this and smiled. "It''s not like you can''t do the same," he said, and the group brightened, absolutely ready to do so. ¡­ After buying bags of apparel, the group finally moved on (though not without a few flying kisses from the happy salesladies and salesqueers. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, Louie¡ªdue to professional habit¡ªended up selling a few stores they passed by. Although he didn''t get commissions for this (they weren''t allowed to), he still felt happy when the guests became patrons of their Alterran stores. He was so immersed in his job that he was unaware of the darkening atmosphere of the large guy behind their group. Anyway, as they walked ahead, they ended up passing by some cleaner women who were sweeping the streets, wiping the benches, and picking up fallen branches. They didn''t think much of it until Louie was suddenly called out. "Louie?" the voice started tentatively, but when he slightly turned his head it turned to an exclamation. "LOUIE!" They turned to the source and saw who it was. Among these cleaner women was an especially pitiful-looking one with the dirtiest cloth and the biggest eyebags. This was Ramona, and when she saw the person who passed, her eyes brightened as if finally seeing hope. When she saw them looking at her, her body language softened and her eyelids fluttered. "Louie! Louie!" she yelled again, this time her voice was soft and pitiful. The man though only frowned. He gave the woman a bad look, intending to ignore her. The woman noticed this and immediately kneeled down. "Please, Louie! Listen to me, it''s a misunderstanding! I love you!" She yelled, grabbing his arms. "Please, help me! I can''t live like this anymore!" Ramona had grown up spoiled with a silver spoon in her mouth. How could she live cleaning up? She was lucky today and got the streets¡ªwhich were usually clean due to the non-littering rule¡ªbut she was usually assigned to the grazing farms! Every day she had to wake up early to feed those animals and clean their shit! Oftentimes she''d lose balance or get outwardly kicked by the damned critters! She couldn''t even count the number of times she fell on feces! Seeing Louie¡ªsomeone she used to see as so incredibly plain and un-special¡ªlooking clean and proper made him look dashing! She had to get out of this life! And she can''t do it on her own! Ramona looked at Louie hungrily, determined to do whatever to regain his heart. No matter what¡ªshe must get him back! Chapter 847 - 847: Where’s Gochi, DAMNIT!? Unfortunately for her, her attention was not appreciated by its target. "Go away, Ramona. Work." Louie heaved a deep breath, massaging his forehead. He honestly didn''t know why he was so in love with this woman before. Every time he thought of it, he couldn''t help but shiver in disgust and shame. Back then, he was just a pure-hearted guy looking for love amidst all the chaos and uncertainty. He didn''t even know she approached him on purpose. At the time, he thought they met by fate. He was in his favorite affordable canteen restaurant¡ªone that he went to every after work¡ªwhen he noticed her for the first time. She was quite pretty, and she was working as a waitress there in-charge of gathering the plates after use to take to the back room. When he asked to clean his table, she smiled at him. But she was a bit clumsy and dropped a bit of the plate on him, messing up his shirt. "Oh no, I''m so sorry," she mumbled, her eyes teary and it lit up the urge to protect in Louie. They saw each other every day since then, and she would often tell him how she wanted to eat this and that, and how sad to see it so close, yet not actually tasting it. He thought the owner was too stingy for a young healthy woman to resort to dreaming to taste his food. At the time, he did not know that employees were entitled to a free meal during their lunch breaks. Eventually, she cried on him, as if she had been wronged. She said she didn''t want to work there anymore but didn''t have a choice because she didn''t have anywhere to go. Louie, already smitten with her, assumed that she was being harassed. Fighting was not allowed in Alterra so he only took her home after giving the owner a mouthful of how shameful he was. In retrospect, that owner was really an innocent. Louie returned back to the present and looked at the woman standing in front of him. That same look used to make his heart soft, now it made him queasy. The woman pursed her lips, teary. "Please¡ª" "I can report you and lengthen your slave sentence, Ramona. Don''t annoy me." At this, the woman had no choice but to follow his orders. She looked at him pitifully, still hoping he changed his mind, but he didn''t even look at her! Although she wasn''t a system slave whose body would follow other people''s words, she didn''t want anything to add to her debts! Every time they misbehaved, atonement points were added! She didn''t want to add another day in this misery! However, Louie was her only hope¡ªno one else would even think of helping her out. She was desperate, so she couldn''t find it in her to move away. Maybe¡­ maybe he would see her desperation and grit and feel pity for her? Louie, in retrospect, was the most sincere among her exes. She found him poor and boring at the time, but now she was desperate for him! Bart and the other saw the interaction. "A slave?" he asked, very curious. They had heard that this territory didn''t accept slaves¡ªwhich was weird to them¡ªbut it seemed like it wasn''t entirely true? "Prisoners of War," Louie corrected him. "She''s a traitor who sold important information to Guia Village back then." "Ah." That made sense, and it was also a good compromise. Louie then continued to explain Alterra''s ''prisoner'' system to them as he gestured for them to go ahead. "She could earn her own freedom in a few years, as long as she works hard enough." "I see, how interesting." Ramona bit her lips as she heard them discuss her like a negative example in a history lesson. Her eyes pooled with tears. When he walked away, she just couldn''t stop herself. "Please! Louie! Stop!" she yelled, running after him. She extended her arms in an attempt to get ahold of him, except something snapped in the air before she could do so. ROARRRR!! The large hooded thing exploded in force and Ramona fell back just by the wave he created. She also ended up peeing herself and crawling back, far away from Louie. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At some point, it seemed like the last bit of Baku''s patience ran out and the massive figure appeared in front of Louie. Louie found himself being lifted from the ground by the back of his collar. ¡­eh? "Where''s Gochi?" Baku asked with gritted teeth. He finally lost his patience and was now determined to get them to take him to his friend¡ªwhether or not he had to use force. In the movement, his coat fell down, revealing his ''menacing'' features''. "Tell me where Gochi is, NOW!" At the sight of sharp teeth, Louie almost squealed like a girl. "G-G-Gochi s-should be h-hunting outs-side Tiger s-sir!" The appearance of the new aborigines and the large coated ''man'' had long captured the attention of the people. It was just that they were still civil (relatively) not to gape so openly, let alone interact. When the coat dropped down though, they saw a large tiger man. He had humanoid features, but he had white tiger ears and tail. He was also very muscular. This made women and a few men want to touch his pecks to see how hard it was. Fred, the boss, happened to be hanging around nearby when he saw the odd new party. Curious, he followed them for a bit, not expecting to witness this! He immediately interfered and went between them, despite being intimidated himself. "P-Please put him down! I can help you!" he yelled, pulling Louie down. Baku narrowed his eyes and let him go, causing the man to fall down a bit. Fred nodded and looked at Baku, trying to appear as convincing as he could. "He has an aether letter. We can ask the Station to message him back." Baku''s eyebrows rose, surprised that such magic tool was in the hands of a half-orc like he was. He was cynical and his slitted eyes looked down at the man as if he could get him to speak the truth if he was lying. Fred was now focused not to pee on his pants. "It''s true! I swear!" he yelled. "Uhm, w-why don''t you come with me and let''s message him together?" "Fine," Baku said after a pause, extending his hands with sharp claws toward him instead. Poor Fred was carried by the collar and headed to where the Station was. Fred could only cry silent tears. What did he do to deserve this?! Chapter 848 - 848: A Half-orc’s Threats They watched as the new guy carried the redhead in a direction, and for a moment Bart''s group was unsure of what to do. Louie, on the other hand, prayed to the heavens for his very good boss. Bart''s eyes twitched. "That guy¡­." he said. "Will he be alright?" "Is he friendly to Gochi?" "Yes, he said they''re family." "Then, they''ll be fine," he said, shrugging. "Would you like to continue with your tour?" "..." "Continue the tour?" "Well, yes, if you want," he said. That was what boss Fred would''ve preferred, bless his soul. Of course, he was still worried for his boss. He looked at the aborigines'' whose attentions were on the direction where the half-orc went. "Should I guide you to the Guardhouse, then?" he asked, and they nodded immediately. Louis smiled, relieved, and he led the way to the place, though their pace was quite brisk. Baku was really conspicuous and there was no challenge in finding him. There were also plenty of people who looked badly at the tiger because of who he was manhandling. However, they saw that he was only carrying Fred to the guard station so they held back. Bart and the team soon arrived at the guard station, a two-story building with a large ''Guard Station'' signage at the top (with Terran language translation subscript just below it). Now, the half-orc was staring down at three guards who were blocking the door. The three were staring at him guardedly, though they remained calm. The fact that the system hadn''t thrown this guy to the prison was because there was no hostility. After all, Alterra was a place wherein people who make threats could get imprisoned even before they even did anything, if their intent was strong enough. These were not privy to the aborigines watching in interest though. "I''m really curious how this will turn out," Sipa said, and the others nodded in agreement. They continued to watch and realized that one of the guards on a standstill with Baku was someone familiar. It was none other than Chris, wearing that regal-looking guard uniform that they found to be really aesthetic. Bart looked at their guide and asked. "What is this place for, exactly?" All he could surmise was that they could somehow contact those outside via aether letters, so he assumed that there were such tools there. Speaking of which, having more than a few aether letters in a village was already impressive enough. Bart knew there were only a few specific cities that sold such tools, and they wondered if this team somehow got connected to one. How? Who knew. The most likely answer was that they somehow found a connection during the Ferrol Fair. Or it could''ve been bought from Pietro, who also had a couple of connections in cities. Louie answered his question diligently and with a hint of pride. "The place where people can run to in case of trouble or if they have something to report." "I see¡­" Cities and High-level Towns have similar functions, though it was a special building. It was a small building where people could write reports that would be sent to the guards. It also had a minute function of very slightly hastening healing the mana of guards. They had never seen it in a village before, so they mused it was a manual construction. Either way was very impressive. "Well, it''s very well made," Bart said, and the others nodded in agreement. Their chatter was cut short with a roar. Apparently, the standstill had been broken. "LET ME IN!" "No," Chris said, and Baku looked at the three guards and the others inside who were also looking at him guardedly. It was not his intention to fight, especially not in someone''s territory where he could really be held down. He just wanted to see Gochi and his temper got the better of him! When he thought about how many delays he was subjected to, he got angry again! It was like an invisible force kept delaying things for him! "This bastard said I can go here! Now tell me," he paused, his low growling voice deepening as he spoke impatiently with gritted teeth. "Tell me where Gochi is!" Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In his anger, he practically threw Fred in their direction. The moment the redhead landed on stable ground, he pretty much crawled several meters away to perceived safety. Chris looked at him and then at Baku. "Gochi is outside at this time, and we will send him a message, though it might take a bit for him to get back. "He''s safe¡­ however, I may not be able to say the same thing to you." "You¡ª" It was in the half-orc''s nature to be belligerent, regardless of whether he was hostile or not. His eyes were red and one could see his sharp teeth. But Chris was not weak and wasn''t intimidated. "Alterra is not a place you can do just whatever you want," he said. "Manhandling one of ours is already warranted to send you to prison." Chris looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Are you going to calm down and meet the elders as scheduled or do you want for Gochi to pick you up in prison?" ¡­. It was only Mathilda who came to meet the group in the Center, to finalize the trade. All the elders were busy with all the things happening, but it so happened that Mathilda was nearby. Bart received a lump sum amount of 500 gold, sparkling, and said his thanks. The Half-orc, normally would sneer, but in front of Mathilda he was strangely calm. This was actually Mathilda''s passive skill at work. "He''s here," Bart said, pointing at Baku who stepped forward and looked at the strange situation. Mathilda nodded and looked at the Half-orc. "You know that we don''t take slaves here, so you will be a normal civilian. However, you will have to pay back what the territory spent on you." Baku was a little shocked. Although he heard they didn''t keep slaves, he didn''t exactly believe it. They just spent 500 gold on him! That was years worth of salary for an average man. There must be a catch, he was sure of it. However, when the oath and contract were finalized, he realized they weren''t lying. Bart and the others stayed in curiosity. When they heard the half-orc was getting freed after being spent 500 gold on, Bart and the others were also a bit startled. Mathilda saw this and smiled. "We believe that you''d be able to pay for your debts with your ability. As long as you work hard for Alterra, you''d be completely free soon enough." She then looked at Jun, who was standing next to her. "Take him to the half-orc dorms," she said. "It''s not free, but it only costs 3 copper a day. I''m sure you''d be able to handle yourself. As he watched the large half-orc lean down to exit the Center, Bart couldn''t help but walk over to Mathilda and ask. "Aren''t you worried about him?" "We signed an oath." "But¡­" what if there was a loophole somewhere? "We believe in Alterra and its charms," she said, looking at him. "Speaking of that, enjoy your stay here. "I''m sure you''d understand what I mean soon enough." Chapter 849 - 849: Rolan Mercenaries Shopping Tour And enjoy their stay, they shall! The travel from that mission, then pulling the half-orc, and then the war, had been excruciating! However, they decided not to rest because their tiredness was swept away by the curiosity of this place. First off: Food. "Where''s the place where we could get good food the fastest?" Bart asked. They ate noodles and dim sum before (which they still remembered to be a spiritual experience) but after being hungry for so long, how could that be enough? "That''d be the marketplace," Louie said, "There''re stalls there with readily available food. There are also a lot of options so there''s less queue. "Sounds good." Louie nodded with a smile. "Let''s go, it''s better to go before the lunch break crowd arrives." They didn''t know what ''lunch break crowd'' was but they hurried up to the nearest Marketplace anyway. They had seen more than a few people eating some interesting things while walking! Their stomachs gurgled just at the thought of them. Soon, they reached the aforementioned marketplace. It was a large area¡ªalmost as big as normal plazas¡ªwith various stalls side by side and back to back. In a few areas near these stalls, there were groups of tables. This way, a group could choose to buy whatever they wanted in whatever stall but still get to eat together. This was an interesting arrangement and it wasn''t something they had seen before, even in cities. After all, the major variety of delicious food was only available for nobles, and they were usually made bespoke to the noble, so how could such a ''commoner market'' be created? Anyway, Bart''s group decided on a table and they hurriedly dispersed to get their respective food. Louie got a simple barbeque-and-spiced-rice meal, while the rest chose to try various things. Someone took shawarma, barbeque, salad, and gouji fruit juice; someone chose rice toppings with sweet and sour Gugi birds and vegetable side dish; someone chose deboned grilled fish with sauteed vegetables. Et cetera. The food could barely fit in their hands, not including the several rounds of queuing that came after. When the was over, the men patted their stomachs in satisfaction. "That was satisfying¡­" "Hmn." "Your order was interesting too. Wasn''t that fish?" "Yeah, I just realized it." Fish wasn''t exactly easy to prepare after all. Untrained people would create food that was extremely oily and bony¡ªnot delicious at all. But somehow even that, people here could make into a delicacy! After some rest and desserts, they looked at Louie to ask where their next stop would be. "Is there anything you want to see?" "We''re a mercenary team," Bart explained. "We hope to find tradeable items." "Ah, yes, of course!" Louie said with a smile, leading the men to the shops. "We will go to the supermarket first." Around this time, just as they exited, a mob of people arrived and they quickly filled up the marketplace. It was extremely lively and they were taken aback by the change. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This is what I mentioned before, the ''lunchtime'' crowd. As you may have heard, we implement working hours here. In between those hours there are break times where people can stop working to eat and rest." Bart and the others nodded. These people really thought of everything. Anyway, they headed to the nearby supermarket. Because of their previous partnerships with Garan and based on what they''ve seen so far, they did have expectations going in. However, even their high expectations weren''t enough and they were still shocked at the array of products that greeted them. The variety of sauces alone was mind blowing, let alone the fact that they seemed to have a supply of salt and sugar¡ªwhich were not common at all¡ªas well as other novel things they didn''t know about. Louie though happily taught them what they were for and suffice to say they were convinced. There were also free taste sessions and they bought a lot of whatever they tried. They followed the locals and got their own carts, placing whatever they could fit in. It so happened that a cart was around one-third of a typical space, so they could estimate better what they could bring out. Everyone filled a cart or two of the goods, hearts beating in excitement. To be honest, at this point, they weren''t planning on selling what they bought at all¡ªthey would be keeping each one of them for themselves. They looked at their loot with pure satisfaction, not really caring if they didn''t fit in the space anymore. Louie had long been used to situations like this. "We still have a few stores, but we can continue tomorrow after you check in and rest." "No need to rest, just let us check in so we can put down our items," Bart said, and then he got a few of his cronies to place their items back in the inn. They were curious about the inn but were afraid they''d fall down asleep if they entered so they resolutely refused to do so. "Next is the Department Store, the Specialty Store, and the Bookstore," Louie said, and the guests''s eyes brightened even more in anticipation. They had no idea what those places would offer, but they were certain it''d be good! "Okay, yes, let''s go." As they went there, they encountered Pieto again. The merchant seemed to be heading back to the inn already. Pieto looked at them up and down, shaking his head. Goodness. They should feel ashamed! As seasoned mercenaries from a big town, they were acting like children! They walked past him after a quick greeting though Bart and the others had visibly calmed down, at least on the outside. Louie laughed as they continued on. "I also guided Mr. Pietro back when they just arrived," he said. "He pretty much slept in all those shops, you know." Bart and the others chuckled at this, tense shoulders softening once again. Heh, that bastard, making them feel immature when he reacted even worse! But still¡­ the longer they stayed, the more they felt that this place had a unique charm. A unique charm that would bring out another side in all of them. Chapter 850 - 850: Discussions with Bart (Part 1) We temporarily made it to Top 1 for Oct 2024 so here''s my thanks to everyone who helped! Hopefully, we can maintain this for 2 more hours *prays* ... ___ Department Store Because the market had gotten larger, the clothing and garments had separated into a new Fabric Store building near the Bookstore. Here, they were introduced to various types of cloth like hemp cloth, linen, and cotton cloth. Having all these at the same time were already impressive for a village without the new Clothing Store system building. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Usually, a village would have 1 choice of fabric, and they were usually rough. If the nobles wanted better clothes, they''d either go to towns or wait for their caravans to return, if they had one. If they didn''t, then they prayed to the skies that a caravan would see their little village and pass by, but that happened very few times a year, especially if there was no town or city nearby for the caravans to use as a destination. "Actually, we also have another¡­ but it''s for super customers only," the salesperson said, looking very hush hush. "Since you''re planning on buying several bolts, I''ll tell you." They ''subtly'' went to the racks at the back, revealing smooth and somewhat shimmery fabric that made their eyes widen. "This¡­" Silk? Although the stock was small and it was much more expensive than the others, this was definitely silk. Sipa looked at his boss with wide eyes. He was one of the ''experts'' of this in their team, so whenever they had to buy fabric, he was always with them. Seeing such a thing here took him aback. "This could rival the Cloth cities¡­" he whispered, lightly touching the fabric with his hands. Eloi looked at them with a complicated expression. "It really is¡­" he said, though he was half-impressed and half-concerned. Those cities held on to their techniques tightly. They had a cutthroat culture, and he couldn''t help but feel a little worried for Alterra. However, the quality was really good and the price was a tiny fraction of what those places sold. To be honest, they could sell these for about the same or at an even higher price than what the cloth cities'' equivalents sold for. "Someone should rent beast carts from Ferrol Town, really," Sipa said with sincerity. "We''ve only been here for a few hours and what we bought couldn''t fit in our spaces anymore." Bulgogi heaved a deep breath and patted his stomach bulging from overeating. "We wouldn''t even be able to fit a couple of bolts on our backs¡­" This made the mercenaries consider it. It was true. There were still so many places for them to go. They wouldn''t be able to hold on all of the products they''d want to buy just by themselves. While Bart mulled on the next step, they proceeded on looking at the other shops. The next stop was the Bookstore. Here, they sold novelty items like paper¡ªan extremely convenient alternative to papyrus¡ªstationaries, pens, and pencils. There was also a large piece of paper they could test out the writing tools, and it really fascinated them. The Terrans nearby couldn''t help but chuckle, reminded of kids in bookstores. The quality was really different from what they were used to. For one, there were no clumps of ink! The pencil could even be erased so well there were nearly no marks at all! "How much these could be sold in noble families¡­" "It''s true¡­" Louie smiled and let them shop around. He stopped when he saw a new item though. "Oh? We also have territory maps now! But they''re not cheap," he mumbled. "Oh?" Sipa, who was nearby, immediately went to take a look. The piece of paper seemed thicker than the others and seemed more stable. It was also Louie''s first time seeing it, so he also observed it with the same interest. It was a semi-cartoonized map of the public-accessible places in the territory. It was drawn in novel interesting ways with text, both local and Terran, titled directly above the buildings. It was quite colorful too, for most part. Rather, most of it had vivid colors which was in contrast to the grey-ish areas where the public could not access to, like Barracks and the Research Center, both of which had vague placeholders to represent them. Bart walked over to study it as well. "We''ll buy one," he said, though his eyes ended up on the Specialty Shop mentioned before. "Can we go here next?" he asked, pointing at the shop on the map, and Louie happily took them there. Most of the items were completely novel, yes, and they''d have been very excited. However, they weren''t able to explore because in a section, there was a massive sign that distracted them completely: [Things to buy for the Upcoming Extreme Heat] and listed below were items they ought to buy and their possible alternatives, the quantity, and their estimated duration to last. "What¡­" Louie looked at them. In fact, he wondered to tell them when they were talking about sending people to Ferrol, but he didn''t want to ruin their mood for the rest of the day. He was planning on telling them when the tour was over. Anyway, since they were here, might as well tell them. "Our experts predicted that an Extreme Weather phenomenon is happening within the next few days," he said. This made everyone flinch and turn to him. It had indeed been a bit hot lately, though the changes were too subtle for them to think too much of it. They actually mostly noticed the changes when they arrived here and everyone had their umbrellas, cool drinks, and the like so there was contrast. After some moments, Bart looked at Louie. "They''re so certain?" "Yes. Besides, even if it doesn''t, it doesn''t hurt to get ready." The group was quiet in ponder for a while until a familiar voice sounded near them. "Why the long faces?" They turned to see a dark-skinned guard with curly hair, looking at them with amusement. This made several of the mercenaries'' eyebrows rise at the sight of their old friend. "Sammy?" Chapter 851 - 851: Discussions with Bart (Part 2) Sammy looked at them with a smile. "Sorry none of us were able to greet you earlier," he said, doing the standard casual salute of Xeno. Naturally, even before Bart''s party left Iron Valley, Gill sent a letter to Alterra that their old friend Bart was coming and he was bringing another half-orc with him. Everyone was so busy though so no one met them before now. So busy, in fact, that everyone thought someone else told Gochi of who was coming, which was one of the causes of the previous debacle. Bart shook his own bad mood due to the news and greeted him with a smile. "So¡­ this is your home?" He remembered when they were struggling to find a place just a few months ago. Now, they helped build such a thing. It was unbelievable. "Yep. Nice, huh?" Sammy said with a proud smirk. "Sorry the others are unavailable; everyone''s preparing for what''s to come." "Let us guide you, and let''s discuss some business along the way," he said. Bart nodded. "Well, discuss this Extreme Heat I heard about by the way." "Of course." Bart asked the others to continue going around the territory with Louie and get as much information as they could. Meanwhile, he went with Sammy along with his right-hand man, Eloi. Sammy brought them to the new pastry shop in one of the avenues. It was a nice two-storey shop with comfortable distance seating with half-partitions. There was a counter up front with a colorful menu pasted on a surface. The design wasn''t too pink or anything though, or else Sammy would''ve felt weird taking two grown men taller than he was in there. He ordered for them this time, choosing flavors for them before based on the Xeno fruit that they liked. It was quite a popular shop and if it was after work hours or during break, there would be a queue outside. Anyway, they settled into one of the more private corners of the shop as they waited for their orders. "So, ask away, as business partners, I will do my best to answer." "How did you know it''s coming, and how are you so certain?" "In our world, there are people who study the laws of nature and weather," Sammy explained. "We can''t 100% guarantee it will absolutely happen in the next few days, but the chances are too big to ignore." S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What are you planning to do? I mean, if you can tell us." "We''re digging a lot of underground areas to keep water as well as to build abodes there," he kindly explained. "Heat is less underground, and this is further improved by our insulating materials." Insulating materials? They then recalled the items from the specialty store. "I saw those in the store," Eloi said. However, they didn''t quite understand how it worked. Again, Sammy explained, which was really nice of him. "They basically keep the heat in or out, so it''ll be useful whichever way the weather goes." "We also added a lot of parks¡ªbecause vegetation was also known to reduce temperature¡ª and our buildings were customized to allow natural ventilation." "That''s so interesting¡­" Eloi said and Bart nodded. "It''s amazing what you guys did in a place like this," Bart said, just more impressed the more he saw and heard. "Not long ago, I remember this area being a no man''s land." This made Sammy look at him. "What do you mean?" "This area used to be a barren place a few years back. I suppose your people''s entry revitalized the place." Sammy paused at this. However, it did make sense. Within the scope of the protection period, whatever shape it was, and however big its scope was, there seemed to be no aborigine territories at all when they arrived. Therefore, this place must''ve been uninhabitable before. "It''s like the direct opposite to the Grave of Villages, right?" "Precisely," Bart said, looking at them. "I heard you stayed for a long time there." Sammy nodded with a shrug. "Yes, we needed to gather strength quickly." "You people are insane," Bart said, shaking his head. Although the monsters there weren''t so strong, Sammy and the others had much lower levels back then. Camping there was like a death sentence for most people at the village level. At the same time, the risk obviously paid off. In a span of a few months, they caught up with the average power level found in towns! The trio chatted, caught up with the events of the past including where Baku was found. Sammy thought it''d be nice to find the other half-orcs, but that was a bit of an overreach so he didn''t think too much of it. He also told them about the deals they had with other territories (that were publicly available), and the Aborigines were shocked to find that even Bleulle City was in there. "Your aether letters must''ve come from there, then?" "Precisely." Bart could only gape at them. Nobles in towns had been trying everything to get connected to nobles from cities. Some succeeded, while most were only humiliated. What was this now? A village directly dealing with cities! What''s next? Dealing with Orcs? Bart and Eloi''s minds whirled, but they were fortunately distracted because their order had finally arrived. "Ah, here''s our dessert," Sammy said, handing them over. "This is Ice cream. It''s sweet and cold¡ªperfect for this weather." The men looked at their cups in interest, seeing the pastel-colored rounded sweet. It was very cool, and they lifted their spoons to their mouths not knowing what to expect. The moment the bit of the food touched their tongues though, their eyes went wide as saucers. "Delicious!" "It''s sweet!" "It cools me down¡ª" Bart said, taking another bite. "I''m happy." Then they got a bit too passionate and took a large bite, making their eyes twitch as an uncomfortable sensation crept up their heads. Sammy said, looking at the big men eating ice cream with such enlightened expressions. "Don''t eat too much too quickly," he said. "You might get a bit hurt." "It''s really cold," Bart said after a while when he finally had the mind to do some analysis. "How do you do it in this heat?" "Trade secret," Sammy said with a grin. "But I can ask if you could enter a partnership with us so you can bring the technology home." The two shot up and extended their hands to him to show their agreement, as if Sammy would disagree. "Deal!" they said and Sammy couldn''t help but chuckle. Anyway, there were many problems they had to deal with, but for now it''d be this heat. "More ice cream please." Chapter 852 - 852: A Half-Orc Reunion (Part 1) Back in the Guard House, people couldn''t help but gather around at a distance, watching the new half-orc sit hanging around the Guard Station. Instead of going to his dorms, Baku insisted on waiting there for news of Gochi. So now there was a 2-meter bulky half-animal sitting by the door of the Guard Station. He was sitting crossed-legged and crossed arms, eyes closed and very still, the only thing moving was his white silky fur as the wind blew on it. There were some civilians who needed to go inside to report something. But seeing him there, they shivered and almost ran away. After some thought though, they didn''t. They knew of Alterra''s very strict rules and regulations. After all, nothing dangerous would''ve been allowed to roam like this and make camp. Still, when they slowly headed to the door, they were comically walking sideways so they were facing the half-orc with raised arms at all times, just in case. Just then, he opened his eyes and revealed his cat-like pupils, darting to stare straight at them. The civilians squealed and ran to the interior of the guard house, amusing the bystanders. Other than them, there were also plenty of bystanders who gathered around and watched in interest. So they had a new half-orc? White Tiger model? So cool? If Baku knew what a zoo was, he''d think people were looking at him as if he was a part of them. It was like this for a couple more minutes until his nose and ears moved at a familiar sound. He lifted his head and saw his old friend approaching him quickly. Gochi''s eyes were wide as he rushed to him, shiny with tears. "BAKU?!" "GOCHI!" he yelled, standing up. The bigger half-orc walked forward with wide steps and the two raised their arms simultaneously, their forearms meeting with such force that it created a small wind around them. "It''s so good that you''re okay!" Gochi said, voice a bit shaky. Baku''s smile was wide, his sharp teeth showing off. Baku couldn''t help but look at his friend''s healthy state and his uniform no different from the other guards. This made him pause. Was it really true? Was Gochi¡­ a citizen? "Come on," Gochi said, guiding his old friend elsewhere. "Let''s talk while I walk you around." "A-Ah¡­" At this point, all hostility around Baku had dispersed, left with some confusion. Before actually seeing Gochi, he had maintained a high level of cynicism. Seeing him all fine and much better than expected imbalanced him and frankly he wasn''t sure what to make of it. For now, he just followed his friend as he personally guided him around the territory. Gochi was quite proud, Baku could tell, and he couldn''t help but look at him and his bright demeanor. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Are you happy?" This made Gochi pause and look at him, golden-green eyes sparkling with honesty. "Very," Gochi said, patting his shoulder which was a few feet above his own. "I know you will, too." Baku heaved a deep breath and looked at Gochi. "What happened so far? How''d you find this place?" Before Gochi could answer him though, the laughter of children sprinkled nearby. They turned to look at the kids running around with smiles. However, when the kids saw the two of them, they brightened even more and they all rushed in their direction. Baku flinched at the group of children fast approaching them. Instinctively, he turned away and put on a slightly defensive position. Back in Hoskel, not only were they thrown stuff by people and children, but when he was young, he accidentally injured a human boy who was bullying the other half-orcs. He was forced to get beaten up more often by other kids then, and he couldn''t do anything about it. He had been beaten badly by children and adults then and it seemed that some of the instincts remained. However, they stopped a meter away, looking curiously at both of them. "Wow! Gochi! Gochi!" "So big! Who is this?" This was Mimi, Lily, Honda, and Horus. The Mauin kids were working (gathering resources) so it was only them running around the territory at this time. Gochi smiled at them. "This is my brother, Baku." The kids looked at the bigger half-orc with their pure eyes. "Wowwww. Hello Baku!" Lily said, though Mimi couldn''t help but ask. "Brother? Can interspecies marry here?" Mimi asked, though it earned her a tiny pinch from Lily. "Ow!" Mimi yelled, pouting at her friend who asked possibly insensitive questions. However, she just smiled at the half-orcs in the end. "Hello, Baku! Welcome!" Baku was taken aback by the pure welcome, and how they were genuinely glad to meet him. He¡­ had no idea how to handle this. Couldn''t they be more violent? At least he''d deal with familiarity¡­ It didn''t help that he was surrounded by most of them, some even holding his calf. "Come on," Mimi said, opening her arms. "Please carry me." Baku''s eyes twitched while Gochi chuckled next to him. "Just do it," he said. "It''d help with your integration." Baku felt uncomfortable but when he looked at the large innocent eyes looking at him with expectations, he couldn''t say no in the end. Heaving a deep breath that''d terrify adults, Baku leaned down and took Mimi''s collar as he carried her to his shoulder. "WOW SO TALL!" Mimi said, her rounded eyes wide from the new perspective. "I wish I was tall! That way I can see everyone''s heads!" Lily could not lose, gently pulling Baku''s hand¡ªwhich was twice as big as her face by the way. "Mee tooo! Me toooo!!" Just like this, a handful of children had climbed up. The contrast of a large half-breed with little kids hanging on him was a hilarious image. The only one left on the ground was Honda. He gaped at the sight. He had grown up with a bias against other races and it was slowly being changed in Alterra. However, he still had ways to go before he could completely adjust to it. He was still on the process with Gochi, in fact. So, unlike everyone else having fun, Honda could only stare for a bit. Gochi saw this and understood, not expecting a fast integration from a child who grew up in a City. The bias in Cities was even higher because the humans were generally much stronger there and weaker village-level half-orcs like them were less of a threat, and more of a novelty among nobles. Kids didn''t know such subtleties though, even the ''wise'' Mimi, who looked at her friend from above. "Honda! You''re so small over here!" Honda pursed his lips, looking at the half-orcs and unsure of what to do. He kinda wanted to join them¡­ but at the same time he couldn''t bear to ask. Mimi obviously had no such reservations. She tapped on the half-orcs mass of hair. "Baku¡­ Baku¡­ can you take Honda too? I wanna show him this view!" Baku''s eyebrows rose and his eyes drifted to the remaining kid. After a thought, he slowly leaned down and extended his arms to get the kid, who could not react in time before he got lifted up. "Ah!" he gasped, though the next thing he knew he was on the half-orc''s abnormally wide shoulder with his friends. Little Honda lifted his head and his hazel eyes looked at the view. Baku was a few meters taller than he was, and it was definitely the first time he had been held up so high. It was fascinating. Suffice to say, new perspectives were developed that day. Chapter 853 - 853: A Half-Orc Reunion (Part 2) The two half-orcs hang out with the kids for a bit longer until their guardians called onto them. Oslo was a little surprised to see his nephew resting on the arms of the new half-orc¡ªwho was quite violent by the way¡ªwhich got him quite nervous. Although he soon realized the new half-orc wasn''t so bad, Baku was definitely uncomfortable around Oslo. Dealing with friendly kids was one thing, dealing with a strong aborigine¡ªeven if he was non-hostile¡ªwas another. "...your nephew," Baku said with that low growly voice of his, handing (a disappointed) Honda back to his uncle. "...ah, thanks." Gochi watched the awkward interaction with amusement before everyone separated and went on their way, with the kids to their own homes, and the half-orc to theirs. The two big critters only walked and did not speak for a while, though Gochi was often greeted by many citizens. They also looked at Baku in curiosity, though he was in a conflicted, confused mood, and it showed in the unapproachable atmosphere around him. Gochi was patient as he guided his friend. He understood: Alterra Village and¡ªmore importantly¡ªits population, was just too¡­ different from what they were used to. Eventually, after walking a couple of streets, Baku broke this silence with a heavy sigh. "This place is¡­" he began, but didn''t say more. It was too difficult to express what he felt. Gochi smiled, knowing what he had been trying to say. "You''ll get used to it," he said. "And eventually, you''ll completely integrate and become an Alterran." Baku nodded slowly, though still not completely convinced he could be one of ''them''. It was just beyond his comprehension at this time. "Let me show you something," Gochi said, bringing him to the mountains, and in one of the parks there. Baku wasn''t sure where they were going until he saw a few familiar trees, lined up around an area. They were still tiny, practically still seedlings, but the circular leaves with this scent were something relatively unique to a certain region. "Bouti Trees?" Although their memory in orc territories was not happy, they had some fond memories of this tree. This was the Gouji Tree equivalent in those parts and although it wasn''t as tasty, it saved them from starvation countless times before. "Yes, somehow they managed to plant a few here," Gochi said with a small smile. "Do you know? They turned it into an ingredient for Beast Attracting Potions. They''re amazing." When combined with, er, their piss, the resulting solution was something that attracted monsters¡ªalmost like a summons. Of course, the amount (of pee) needed was miniscule compared to the Bouti Tree leaves, which was why an acre or so was dedicated to this tree in particular. Speaking of piss¡­ Gochi looked at Baku. His should be much more potent. The huge guy shivered for some reason, which was a shame to his thick pelt. ¡­ Gochi wasn''t the only one who had a touching reunion. Bright Territory caravans had just returned to buy some more insulation and other Heat Wave-related products. After all, they had maximized their purchase limits before so they had to return after everything was sold out quickly. A lot of new people had also come with them to buy their own after realizing how well the items worked, as well as confirming the increasing temperature themselves. A part of this group was the aborgine Badjau, who had technically always been the hired aborigine of Bright Village even during the previous takeover. During Gingo''s time, no one noticed his absence because not only was the ''lord'' not in the territory, the steward didn''t really care much for him and had just assumed he had died along with the rest of them. While the lord and the closest confidantes were closing a few more deals to handle the heat, the rest of them were given free time to buy what they needed or to just go around the place that was just getting lovelier every time they visited. Badjau filled up his space with essential purchases. However, since he only needed to go to one or two shops, he finished his errands pretty quickly. He went to the lake to kill time, which was the closest body of water that reminded him of home. There, he saw a person named Gaudi, who was fishing. He already had a basketful beside him. Badjau was struck looking at him like this, thinking it wasn''t often he saw someone so short and stout as he was. They had actually encountered each other before, but they didn''t know each other as anything more than nodding acquaintances. Gaudi was a member of the Terran mercenary team and stayed in Alterra, and Badjau was usually just in Bright, they simply didn''t cross paths so often. However, they did have good impressions of one another¡ªlikely because of the similarities¡ªand Badjau found himself renting fishing gear and sitting next to the older man. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Lake House Restaurant offered a fixed amount to rent a bucket, and he could stay for an entire day of fishing as long as it fit in the bucket. The two of them sat next to each other and bonded, though their discussion was mostly about each other''s territories than anything else. "Got another one!" Gaud¨ª yelled, pulling the rod swiftly. Badjau was impressed and smiled. "That''s amazing¡­" he said, though his voice died down when his eyes captured a sight. Due to the fishing movements, Gaudi''s sleeves slid down to his elbows and Badjau saw a familiar bracelet on his hand. His eyes widened, unconsciously extending his arm to grab it. "That¡ª" Gaud¨ª pulled his arm and looked at him defensively, protecting the accessory within his stout palm. "What do you want??" "It''s not that. I¡ª "I used to have one, but I lost it during a war from before." "Well, it''s mine, I had it probably before you were even born." "Y-Yes, I understand," he said. "But I know for sure it is¡­ similar to my mother''s." This made Gaudi''s eyes widened, turning to him so fast he almost dropped his fishing rod. Though the lucky fish did manage to free itself from becoming someone''s dinner today. Gaudi found himself a little disoriented, his large eyes looking at the younger man, full of emotions. "Your mother¡­?" he asked, taking a deep breath. "Tell me: What''s your mother''s name?" Chapter 854 - 854: Threats (Part 1) Badjau''s eyebrows furrowed, but saw no harm in telling in the end. "Her name is Bousa," he said, and Gaud¨ª couldn''t help but gasp a bit. Bajdau saw the old man''s eyes reddened as if he was about to cry, but he shook his head in the end. "No, Bousa is a common name¡ª" He stopped talking and stood up. He grabbed his arm and practically dragged him somewhere. "Let''s go to Miss Althea," he said. "She has a way to test." Now, Badjau was really confused, but he couldn''t find it in himself to reject an old man on the verge of crying. The Miss Althea was in the Research Center at this time, helping out with the studies. They waited at the lounge area for a while, with the older man pacing back and forth, while Badjau looked awkward as he sat on the comfortable chair in a large reception room. It was his first time going here. To access, he had to make an oath in the Village Center (paid for by Gaudi) that he would follow all the rules in the Center even during wars. It was very strict, and rightfully so. From what they heard, this place was one of the mysterious places in Alterra. Anyway, they waited for a while and Miss Althea arrived some minutes later. The two of them stood up to greet her, with Gaudi almost entering her private space in his hurry. "Miss Althea!" he gasped, softening his voice when he realized he was being presumptuous. "I¡­ can we ask for a favor? We can pay¡­" "What is it?" "I¡­" he paused, looking around. He realized that he only knew of this because he had stayed with the soldiers for a while. Looking back, he wasn''t sure if it was public knowledge, especially when there was a non-citizen in the area. Suddenly, he felt guilty for being too rash. "What is it?" "I¡­ I heard that the Research Center has a way to determine relatives?" "Well, yes," Althea said. "Want me to test your blood?" She could study components of plants, so of course she (or rather, Tori) could do blood tests. Althea''s green eyes fixed on him, and then shifted to the other lad behind him. Her eyebrows rose when she noticed their similarities, and there should be some other clues that led them to come to her in such a rush. She nodded in the end and took a clean pin from her space to get their blood samples. They were asked to wait in the reception area for about 20 minutes or so, with Althea heading back out with the results. The two of them stood up as soon as she entered the room, looking at her with nervous eyes. She had a blank expression on her face for a while, though it broke into a smile a moment later. "You have 25% shared DNA," she said. "This usually means blood relations like uncle or nephew, Grandparent or grandchild, half-siblings, or double first cousins." The two looked at each other, eyes sparkling. This confirmed that Badjau''s mother was indeed Gaudi''s sister! Immediately, the two burst to tears and ended up hugging, all the tension they had felt the past half an hour or so immediately flowing out. "My mother did mention she lost loved ones before¡­" Badjau said, sniffling. "It was just that she was too weak to go looking for them. I never thought I''d meet any one of them¡­" Gaudi also cried. "My parents died in Nova because of different disasters," he wept. "The only relative I had left after transferring here was my sister¡­" he sobbed. "But we got separated after we escaped from our territory that was just about to lose in a war¡ª "I tried looking for her, but the territory I ended up in lost in a separate war, and I was unfortunate enough to become a slave." He lifted his head, looking at the younger Novan with apprehension. "How¡­ how is she?" "She''s a free woman," Badjau said with a smile, and suddenly all the worries that had been haunting Gaudi were blown away. "And while life is hard¡ª" he said, as it was for almost everyone. "She is living decently in our own corner of the world, at her own terms." ¡­ Althea was glad for these wholesome moments that made her day. Sadly, a couple of hours later, some more serious issues had to be tackled. Later that day, the council met up to finalize the next step to handle Vismont. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They concluded that Vismont¡­ was not a hostile territory, at least not in the sense that they had to get rid of them. At the very least, they had to take away all Terrans who wished to be taken before the Extreme Heat. They also couldn''t be complacent. It wouldn''t do to lose an Alterran during the rescue operations. Subsidiaries would get punished for attacking master territory, but it wasn''t like they couldn''t do it outside of it. "Cain can''t escape," Victor said. "Please assign him to us." Juni nodded. She was tense in both nervousness and excitement. She had been working on her revenge for years, and it was understandable she would feel a bit antsy. She had also actually talked to Melissa as well, and the two of them had a heart-to-heart talk that lasted for hours. Because Melissa could not get away from the territory due to her pregnancy, they had agreed that Juni would kill Cain for the two of them. After various discussions, the people in the room turned to the two leading women in the territory, and Althea and Mathilda looked at each other in turn. "What do you think?" "Based on the status of the slaves there, attacking could be a bit much," one said. After all, everyone just wanted to live. Althea''s fingers tapped on the table in thought, eventually coming to a suggestion. "Well, if we are reluctant to use too much force¡­" she said, pausing. "We can always¡­ threaten." Chapter 855 - 855: Threats (Part 2) Half a day later, New Shrao Village Shiro stood in front of the square facing the widest avenue¡ªthe main street¡ªlooking upwards at the intruders with no goodwill. Behind him were his people, and he was surrounded by guards. "Aren''t you afraid to get punished?" he asked, looking up. He was looking at the handsome man with crossed arms, standing tall on one of the roofs. "Are we going to get punished?" The redhead asked back, and every Shrao villager gritted their teeth in response. The Alterrans caused chaos in the territory. There were many strong guards and even elementalists that attacked the leading team and guards out of nowhere, and they were completely taken off-guard. After the chaos with Higson, Matthew naturally wanted to place more rules, but because of the mobs outside he could only opt to increase his defence instead. This allowed the Alterrans to do a bit of damage without getting kicked out. Anyway, the newcomers were not only strong themselves¡ªmore than half were even elementalists¡ªbut their weapons were also superior. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Even their bow and arrow was special, with one able to shoot a damaging shot every second, in contrast to theirs which took three or more times longer with weaker shots. The Alterrans didn''t make any lethal shots at all, but the damage they showed was enough to lower the local momentum to the negative. Basically, it was a show of strength without the need for blood which was, in a sense, even more humiliating. What was worse was that they¡ªthe Shrao Villagers¡ªcouldn''t fight back without getting punished by losing their hard-earned money or experience. After all, they were still a subsidiary in the end. However, how could they just passively take beatings in the end? They gritted their teeth and endured the blatant threats for a while until they believed they had found an opening. They saw that the Alterrans had become less tense and they took it as their guards lowered. Although there were quite a few of them, there were thousands of citizens in Shrao. If everyone attacked, even if they could get punished a bit, it was better than not doing anything! "You bastards!!" Fos yelled and a small team of guards attacked the nearest one, hoping to hold a hostage at least! Mauru happened to be the one nearby and he raised his hand, catching the attackers. He caught one by the arm, and kicked the others. It was strong enough that they struggled to get up. Shiro narrowed his eyes and also took out his weapon, attacking the closest enemy, who happened to be Luis. "Everyone, attack!" he yelled, and trying to push the young man back, though with a surprising amount of effort considering he was a few levels higher. Luis'' hand lit on fire and Shiro barely avoided a wave of fire that came with a slash. He avoided it by instinct, but a thought enlightened him. "Let the system punish them by using too much force outside of wars!!" Even if they were subsidiaries, a war could still trigger when the condition was met. The system was still fair, and it prevented master territories from performing massacres without heavy repercussions! When that happened, they would be able to fight back without getting punished! All of his powerful guards mobilized and targeted an Alterran, hoping to get them to attack at the same time in hopes of triggering a war. They''d be punished for attacking citizens from the master territory, sure, but because the people''s levels weren''t low, it wouldn''t be debilitating. Like most things, the punishment was always taken in proportion. In the same vein, a bit of a loss in EXP and Gold was worth it because, in exchange, it would take a huge bulk of the enemy''s flesh! Shiro knew this well¡ªthat the punishment given to territories wasn''t a fixed amount, but in proportion to its assets! Even if Alterra was rich, this just meant that the punishment would be even harsher! They felt vindictive at the thought and some just pretended to be dead to avoid any more damage. Most had to cooperate though and attack, receiving some losses in Gold and Experience. It was painful, but they were comforted by the fact of what would happen when the enemies retaliated. However, this feeling did not last long as he was pushed back by a ball of fire. Similarly, his guards were attacked as well, thrown smack on nearby walls. Bang! Bang! CRASH! But there was no war. They received the punishments, yet all of them were taken down in the end¡ªeither by brute force or by superior equipment. Someone was even surrounded, yet some magic tool activated, letting the person remain unharmed while he returned the attacks with even more intensity. There were also Fufi and Snow who intimidated everyone with their teeth and semi-bad breath (they just ate), making sure those who had been taken down would stay down. At some point, Ansel had also jumped down and kicked a few of the Shrao guards, fire surrounding his feet as he did so, making them groan in pain. Despite this, the war hadn''t been triggered. "Why¡­" Shiro mumbled, confused, as he pushed himself up, sending a dark look at the redhead approaching him. "No, it won''t trigger," he said, gossamer hair fluttering with the wind. He gave off a feeling of leisure, but rather than find it handsome, it stung their eyes. It felt like he was looking down on them and they felt humiliated. Looking at them like this, the young man gave a knowing smile. "We didn''t bring enough forces to trigger it, you see." This made Shiro and his nearby cronies to flinch and stare at him in disbelief. Did they find out the threshold? How? Was it even possible? Further, although the quantification of attacking without triggering wars was unclear, it was meant to activate as long as a very small fraction of a territory''s force was mobilized and attacked. The fact that it didn''t trigger despite bringing so many strongmen meant one thing: Alterra was so powerful?! Chapter 856 - 856: Dealing with Shrao Shiro gritted his teeth as he stood up, raised his weapon, and pointed it to Ansel. He was livid, though he remained prideful and poised, which was actually a little impressive. "We are your subsidiary village, was there a need to hurt us so much?" The other guards also got up, their weapons up, also glaring at him and the rest of the Alterrans. If they continued to attack, they''d just keep getting punished bit by bit until they were spent. If it wasn''t going to trigger anything, then what was the point? Ansel looked at them, crossing his arms. "It''s exactly why we don''t want a war to trigger. We''re not maniacs who like to attack random territories." "..." What to do? This was making them even angrier! Ansel was apparently not done annoying people though. "But¡­ we decided we didn''t want to pay for the ''slaves'' after all. We needed to show what we can do first, right?" "What do you want?" Shiro asked after taking a deep, deep breath. He realized these people were just bullying them to get something! "We want all of our citizens for free. That''s all," Ansel said, like a handsome gangster. "Do that without question and we will leave you alone. "We assure you: You don''t want to have an all-out war with us." Althea said it wasn''t ideal either. It was getting warm. The heat wave could happen any time soon. What if they were outside when it happened? Shiro looked at them and sighed. "Very well. We will release all former citizens of Vismont to you without cost." "Where''s Cain?" A somber young man yelled, and he realized him as one of the people he encountered back then. "Oh right, and the man called Cain." This made Shiro hesitate a bit. Cain had long made an oath of loyalty to him¡ªotherwise, why would he keep him? The man promised that he''d give all the information he needed about these people, their culture, and what he knew about the technology back there. How many others would be willing to do so? Even if they were willing, how much did they know? For instance, the current Terran slaves. Compared to Cain, the information they had was too limited and shallow! Cain, on the other hand, had an array of strategies in his mind that even Shiro found useful to learn from. Ansel''s eyebrows rose when he saw this. "You just found a home. Is it worth it to risk it for that one vile man?" he asked. "Choose quickly. It''s too hot and my hands are getting itchy." Wow. This type of bullying was kind of fun, but he quickly shook his head of that thought. Dangerous thoughts, dangerous thoughts¡­ "Anyway, get Cain in front of us now, or we''ll beat you up so much you''d be willing to spend all your gold and level just to defend against us." It wasn''t that they hadn''t investigated the bastard''s location before attacking, but they really couldn''t find him after they sneaked in. He must''ve gotten a whiff of what was happening¡ªthat sharp bastard¡ªand hid himself. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Shiro looked at them with furrowed eyebrows, his jaw clenched. After a moment, his shoulders slumped in defeat and he looked at one of his men. They nodded in understanding and split up, heading to different areas in the territory. Group by group, Terrans were hauled in. These were both slaves and those who weren''t. They looked weak and sad, they were hungry and thirsty (they were fed but understandably not much), but most had their limbs intact. When they saw Ansel and the others they sobbed, some losing strength in their legs as they ran towards him. Saved! Finally saved! It wasn''t entirely smooth though. Some guards arrived some minutes later, pale, sweaty, and anxious. This was Joe and Lee, and they were amongst those assigned to get Cain. Their appearance made Ansel frown. "What''s going on?" They took deep breaths before they could tell him the news. "Cain¡­ he''s gone!" ¡­ Cain heaved a deep breath as he exited the village walls. The moment he saw someone from Alterra, he had a bad feeling and he immediately went to the opposite gate after some basic disguise. Fortunately, Alterra didn''t send too many people and he managed to sneak out. Cain finally stepped out of that place, which was a pity because it was too dangerous to be outside a territory in this world. He had managed to fill up his space with supplies, hopefully this was enough for him to get by. He had always managed to escape whatever came his way. He was blessed and lucky in this way. He believed he could just find another territory¡ª Oof! His train of thought was interrupted when he suddenly lost his balance. He was about to catch himself to soften his fall when small feet kicked his hand. He wasn''t able to react fast enough, causing him to fall down face first. Bam! "Ough!!" He spat on the soil that entered his mouth and he raised his head to see a young boy who was looking coldly at him. Immediately, he activated his ability but was pushed back by a strong gust of wind. "Horus, don''t dirty your hands so early," Eagle said, and he pulled back the boy with his one good arm, knowing that Cain was an elementalist. Cain sneered and summoned his ability again but then he found that he could not move. At all. "What?" Little Horus smirked and showed him a bottle. Whatever was inside had paralyzed him. "Paralysis potion," he said. Horus used his ability to sneak on him, and even douse him a potion when he fell down. He couldn''t go closer though and his collar was held by Eagle. He pouted when he looked up, earning a soft smile from the one-handed man. "Leave the killing to the adults," he said. "So many people want to kill him, after all." Speaking of that, he had also kindly sent a notification for the people inside, telling them where Cain was. It was estimated the people who hated his guts¡ªlike Crow¡ªwere on the way here, as well. Cain gritted his teeth, trying to move, but for now, he was only able to move his fingers a bit. His eyes sharpened, trying his best to move the rest of his body. Sadly, he wasn''t able to do much because dainty feet appeared, stepping on his hand. "AGHHHH!" He yelled, his body flinching a bit as the pain shocked his core. It was harder now that he was paralyzed, because it felt like his body absorbed the pain even more. The feet twisted and sent him more and more jolts of pain, and he was unable to lift his head up for a few moments because of it. He forced himself to look¡ªhis head able to turn a bit¡ªand he gritted his teeth as he did so. He glared at the woman who stepped on him, surprised to see it was an old acquaintance. "Long time no see, Cain," Juni said, her velvety voice cool but her eyes were dark. "How does it feel to be the one helpless and unable to move this time?" Chapter 857 - 857: Juni’s Vengeance (Part 1) Cain shook and gritted his teeth, but his arrogance still flowed as he saw her there. He didn''t know how they found him so quickly, but that didn''t matter now. What he needed to do was to survive, and it so happened that the emotional woman could be just what he needed. His eyes darted to the people surrounding him. There was the one-armed man holding that brat back. Ah, now that he thought about it, he did seem familiar¡­ Beside him was another soldier¡ªhe could tell by his stance¡ªand then next to him was a pale young lad with his bow and arrow out, pointing at him. It was that brat who kept trying to attack him in the forest a few days ago, apparently the nephew of one of his women. With at least three people wanting him dead, he wondered what he could say to keep his life. However, Cain had always believed in his own luck. Back in Terran, his father would clean up after every thing. No matter what he did¡ªeven if his actions inadvertently caused a few lives¡ªhe always got away with it. Here, in this world where there was no law, it was even easier. He had encountered his first obstacle when he got kicked out of the territory. He almost lost his life many times, and gained so many scars, but look: Didn''t he get revenge on the person who did that to him? Anyway, he got lucky and found refugees back then, just when he was at the end of his rope, eventually leading him to the newly-nomadic Shrao people from the East. Even when he was also in danger, he believed things would somehow work out his way again. Still, he couldn''t help but look down at Juni¡ªa beautiful starlet with nothing but her face and body. Even with his confidence, seeing her above him like this admittedly hit several chords and made his heart clench in annoyance and indignance. Combined with the pain and the humiliation, the words that came out of his mouth were a bit unfiltered. Anyway, a little woman like this wouldn''t be able to do anything if he managed to convince the men behind her to do otherwise. "Being unable to move is really an unpleasant feeling," he said. "Was that how you felt back then? I''m sorry¡­ I was immature. I really thought you enjoyed it with how you were moaning¡ª" S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Stab! "AGH!" He yelled as he felt a blade buried in his stomach. If he could move well, he''d have flinched and bent wildly, but he could not. Ironically, he was paralyzed and unable to move well, but the pain was way too vivid¡ªno, it was even exacerbated. His eyes were red as he glared at the woman he had thought of as an ant, a toy to give him pleasure. She really dared to hurt him like this¡­ "Our Juni''s gotten a little powerful eh?" he continued, "Did you pander after a man? Which one?" His eyes turned to look at Victor: Powerful, confident, and handsome. "It''s him, right?" he asked, zoning in on his target. "Hey, I know a lot of things about aborigines, want me to tell you?" he asked. "Keep me alive and in one piece, maybe we can work something out." His dirty eyes darted to Juni. "I can tell you a lot of things about this woman, too. Don''t you wanna know?" Victor didn''t grace him with an answer. He just looked at Juni with a blank face, but his eyes were soft and sad. Juni''s fist clenched but she didn''t show anything else. However, memories of that night rammed into her mind. She remembered how she was drugged, tied, and forced to do their bidding. She was so helpless, with no one coming to help no matter how much she cried. In the middle of that suffering was this man. Her eyes reddened and she raised her arm above him. Her hands leaked seemingly hot liquid that dripped out of her palm. It was so hot that it caused whatever spot it landed on to blow out a bit of steam. Cain''s eyebrows furrowed, his stomach dropping and he gasped when he felt that liquid go through his clothes. That same hand was now heading towards his face. He stared at Juni with wide eyes filled with disbelief. "You won''t dare¡ªGYAAAHHHHHH!!!!" With red eyes, Juni used up all her mana to create as much acid as she could. It wasn''t actually much, just a few milliliters, but it was enough to cause Cain unimaginable pain. She especially wanted to damage his poisonous mouth and burn his ugly eyes that saw horrendous things done to women like her. Hopefully, it could even reach his twisted brain. She released as much acid as she could in hopes of achieving this, and Cain could scream his lungs out. It was very much lke being cooked alive, except in certain spots on the skin, which wasn''t necessarily better than the whole body being boiled, due to the contrast. "GGGAAHHHHH!" he yelled and screamed and due to the high level of pain, he was even flinching a bit. He looked like a pitiful fish thrown in boiling water, slowly being cooked alive. "STOOOPPITTT! AHHHHHHH!" Cain continued to yell as he went through unimaginable pain, his level and element the only thing keeping him alive. ¡­which, with this amount of suffering, might not be a good thing. Horus'' rounded eyes didn''t leave the man as he suffered, trying to burn the image in his own mind. Crow''s bow and arrow were still raised, and his attention never left the bastard that caused so much suffering. However, his heart felt fiery as he watched the man scream. He had hoped to cause it himself before, but Crow was satisfied now because he wouldn''t have caused him as much pain as Juni could. Torturing him like this definitely would not bring those people back, nor was it comparable to the pain he had caused all over, but it was a memory they would remember along with the good memories of their loved ones back when they were alive. They remembered every moment so that in their minds, they could tell them: You can rest in peace now; the devil has fallen. Chapter 858 - 858: Juni’s Vengeance (Part 2) Victor pondered whether it was time to pull her back, but he knew she needed to vent everything to move on. Juni naturally didn''t tell him the specific details of the assault¡ªno victim would be comfortable. He did not want her to relive the experience either. However, he had an idea and it was a lie to say that his heart wasn''t burning in anger for her. If he could, he''d have stabbed the man multiple times with his own blade. However, he knew too well that Juni had to do it herself. She would not appreciate other people fighting her fights for her. To move on, she needed to do this. The man''s face was melted at this time, and they could see the man''s burnt face muscles, and even a few peeks of his skull. His body slowly stopped moving, no longer twitching, and they watched as the life drained out of him in front of their eyes. Juni saw this and finally stopped. She was shaking from overexertion, but tears of relief pooled in her eyes. She turned to look at her man with a smile, who sent her his own. Vanessa, who was right next to Victor, frowned. She didn''t know Juni had a mutated ability and she couldn''t help but feel a bit jealous. It was weak for now, but it was a killer when trained well. This meant that Juni''s place in their party would only increase¡ªand not just because she was her brother''s woman. Her eyes were focused on Cain, and her vision and angle managed to catch the man''s finger move just a little bit. It was extremely subtle and the arm was on the other side of the body, with Vanessa just happened to be at the spot to get a glimpse of it. She blinked at the sight. "Juni!" She immediately called to get the woman''s attention without thinking¡ªthough whether it was to warn or something else, she wasn''t entirely certain herself. Her voice made the other woman turn to her a bit, and she was unable to react on time at the sudden movement that came afterward¡ªno one was. Cain suddenly moved and sat up, releasing a sharp weapon from his space as he did so. Obviously, he was using the last bit of adrenaline in his system¡ªin addition to the pain¡ªto break the effects of the paralysis potion to move at least one more time. Victor''s eyes widened at the realization, sprinting towards her. "JUNI!" Crow, who had been watching the whole time, released his arrow and it went straight to the man''s heart. It caused him to displace the blade a bit, but somehow the bastard still managed to continue moving. Unexpectedly, Cain''s ability¡ªrust¡ªmanaged to create a little zone around him as a final instinct and the arrow head disintegrated before it could kill him. Slash! Victor''s eyes reflected the blade going through Juni''s body. Crow immediately shot two more arrows, aiming at Cain''s eyes each. This time he no longer had any ability left and both arrows went through his head. Victor immediately beheaded the man to make sure the cockroach didn''t rise, catching his lover before she fell down. He immediately pulled out the blade and got her to drink all his remaining healing potion¡ªafter all, the flesh might heal around the object if they didn''t take it out. The blade disintegrated and they couldn''t find the mind to care for it. Everyone surrounded Juni, though giving enough space to breathe. They also took out their own healing potions and got her to drink it, dousing her wound itself. Vanessa also kneeled down and used her ability, though she was extremely pale and shaky, her blood turning cold. Her mind was whirling in thought, panic dawning inside of her, and maybe a bit of guilt and remorse. Was this her fault? Did she actually end up helping Cain? No one was privy to her thoughts, everyone''s attention was fixed on the woman on the ground. In the end, while all the treatments, slowed down the bleeding, it couldn''t stop it. The wound had become smaller and was partially clotting, but it was like a force was keeping the wound open. Judging by how paler and paler Juni was becoming, what they were doing wasn''t helping much. Victor''s cool had already crumbled, he whipped his head to Vanessa and then to Eagle. "Why?!" "It was made with his ability," Eagle said with a deep frown. "It must''ve been a skill of sorts, but I''m not familiar with it. It''s best to get the aborigines to see it," he said. "We need to take her to the hospital as soon as possible." Victor nodded and he grabbed Juni, heart stopping when he felt her getting colder and colder. "Hmnnn¡­" she moaned, and flinched, as if having soft spasms. He carried her up as she gasped, as if finding it difficult to breathe. "Juni¡ªNononono¡­" His voice cracked as he settled her in his arms, preparing to leave. "I''m going back to Alterra," he said, and another guard was assigned to follow after them in order to ensure no mob would get in the way. Victor disappeared, sprinting, using whatever health he had to get to Alterra as soon as humanly possible. As he ran with her in his arms, the symptoms intensified, and Victor could only pray that Juni would be able to hold on. She was a strong woman¡ªthis shouldn''t be able to take her life!! Juni! Please be alright! ... A/N: Let''s have a deal this Oct 13 2024~ For the next two Sundays this month, if the book reaches Golden Rank #2, a bonus chap will get posted, and if it reaches #1, THREE bonus chaps will be posted (for every Sunday remaining this Oct 2024). S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If the book maintains that rank until the month ends (i.e. the final rank for Oct 2024) I will upload extra chaps on the 1st Sunday of November, too! (1 bonus for GT rank 2, and 3 bonus for GT rank 1). Help us guys! o(T_T)o Thank youuuu~ Chapter 859 - 859: Tetanus Limestone Valley, a few days ago On a quiet night, the erotic sounds of lovemaking were heard inside a room. The handsome Victor hovered over the beautiful woman, moving his hips impassionedly. Juni wrapped her soft arms around him to stabilize herself, mouth parted a bit as sensual moans escaped her lips. He moved faster and faster as he reached his peak, both gasping as they climaxed, feeling each other in the most intimate way possible. After their lovemaking, Victor pulled Juni to rest on him, wrapping his strong arms around her supple waist. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, feeling the comfort of her man. They were leaving for Alterra tomorrow, and she felt a mix of heaviness and excitement. However, there were also a few things she was worried about. At this, she turned her head to look at Victor, who was looking at her warmly. "Is Vanessa really coming with us to Alterra?" Victor paused and sighed. He nodded. "She¡­ although she can be selfish, she''s quite talented and had a good potential¡ª" "Victor¡­ I know it''s not my place to speak, but she might cause some conflicts just with her obsession with the captain." Victor sighed, patting her back. "She''s just a bit spoiled, but she doesn''t have a bad heart. She still knows to look at the bigger picture." Juni pursed her lips. "Well, if you say so¡­," she mumbled, before they both fell into uneasy sleep. ¡­ _____ Alterra, Present Victor reached Alterra a few hours later, bloodied, eyes red. Juni was immediately taken to the emergency room for surgery and Victor ran to find Oslo and Garan for advice. "I¡­ it wouldn''t completely heal as expected," he said. When she arrived, they also gave her Althea''s pharmacist-grade medicine that¡ªat their level¡ªshould''ve been able to bring even worse back to life. However, there was still part of the wound that seemed infected and refused to close so the doctors had no choice but to bring her to the operating room. They looked at the remainder of the blade that Eagle¡ªwho had arrived shortly after with Horus¡ªmanaged to recover. They frowned. It was rust. To Oslo, it was simply something that weakened their metals. If one went against a rare metal user that had this attribute, depending on capability, their own metals would be affected. "So he has a mutated metal ability," Garan said, while Victor looked at him. "We should tell them it''s rust, so they could formulate a suitable Tetanus shot." Victor went back to the hospital first to tell their findings to the doctor, hopefully to provide the proper care for Juni. When he got there, Vanessa was outside, nervous and waiting eagerly for his arrival. While she did seem pale, she also seemed disappointed to see him alone. "Garan isn''t here," he said, looking at his sister, lacking the warmth it usually had. Vanessa flushed a bit. "No, it''s not that¡ªI''m here for Juni," she said, catching her brother''s look. "I called her to warn her!" Victor rubbed his forehead, sighing. He didn''t know what happened and no one saw Cain''s ability being so special. In retrospect, the ability could''ve reduced the effect of the paralysis potion on himself, as well. It would be unfair to blame this on Vanessa, whether or not she called Juni to warn or to distract her. It didn''t mean his heart was happy to see her right now though. "I¡­ I''m here to support you, brother," she said, her voice gentle and she tried to hold his arms. He shook his head, avoiding her hold. "I''d like to be alone now." ¡­ Meanwhile, Eagle and Garan went to the Research Center, to the pharmacy section where Althea was, hoping to create a good medicine for it. Althea, who was more fascinated with arrays at this time, was called and she was shocked to know about the development of the attack. She immediately headed to the Pharmacy lab, where Gus, Donlee (who would join them when it wasn''t his shift in the Pharmacy), as well as Dr. Abdul¡ªan immunologist who arrived with Dr. Volohov¡ªwere taking office. "How''s the antibiotic?" she asked, as soon as she entered. It was Dr. Abdul who answered her. "We''re still in the synthesis stage, Miss Althea," he said, "But we should be able to move on to the next step within a few weeks." sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Pharmacy team''s project before this was creating an antibiotic. While they knew the formula in Terran, the needed materials, doses, and types were naturally different in Xeno. In the first place, the risk of infection was lower here. However, it wasn''t that there weren''t any cases. They were doing surgeries, and there had been a few reported cases of infections during the previous wars. Fortunately, Althea''s medicines were there to fix them but how much of that could they have? Althea''s medicine wasn''t a cure-all either¡ªno medicine was. Back in Terran, antibiotics also fixed problems like pneumonia, skin infections, STDs, and the like. Although they were markedly rarer here in Xeno, it wasn''t that they no longer existed. Rather, because they were rare, they came in hard when they appeared. Regardless, the antibiotic was still an important medicine to develop for them. As for how they discovered it, it was quite an interesting story. They found the substances with antimicrobial properties in the Srira Mushroom, one of the fungi brought over by people who went to the Ferrol Market Festival and successfully planted by her after several trial-and-errors. She asked the team to determine where the source was and they said it was from a village South. It was very cheap as mushrooms weren''t particularly popular to eat here. Generally speaking, most of the illiterate population considered all mushrooms were poisonous. "Not fast enough," Althea said after receiving the doctor''s answer. "Someone got tetanus. Other than the tetanus medicine, we may also need antibiotics." The scientists flinched as they looked at her, though some with bright eyes. Don''t think of them as extremely sociopathic, but such subjects were rare to come by. "We''ll do our best, Miss Althea." Chapter 860 - 860: Another Finding Alterra General Hospital Victor walked to and fro the door of the operating room. Vanessa didn''t leave in the end, though primarily to make a point against her brother who seemed to believe she was there superficially¡ªpossibly due to Garan. While she had a habit of looking for the man, she really did want Juni to survive. Whether it was for basic morality or just to avoid the guilt and liability, she didn''t really dwell on it for now. It took another hour or so before the doctors came out. Victor immediately met Volohov and a few assistants. Betty was also there, and her task was to heal Juni as needed. After all, the operation was on critical internal organs and they didn''t have the machines in order to keep patients alive during operations. At least not yet. "Her situation is temporarily stable, but we''re still studying how to completely heal her," the doctor said, heaving a deep breath. "His metal was rust in and on itself. Now Juni has a very bad case of tetanus." Victor''s hands clenched into a fist, but he loosened it to calm himself down. "The Research Lab is already working on its cure." Volohov nodded, "Well, I trust in the team." "Is the rust unusual?" "Rust itself can''t cause tetanus, but the rust attracts the spores of a bacteria called Clostridium tetani. In Terran, there would be an incubation period, but here¡­" This meant that this world''s version of this bacteria was much more potent and dangerous. Further, it was from an elementalist, which had known capabilities to have much more potent effects than anything else. Victor heaved a deep breath while Vanessa stood beside him, acting like a concerned relative. "What¡­ could happen to her?" "Tetanus causes severe muscle spasms, seizures, and difficulty in breathing. If left untreated, she just wouldn''t be able to breathe anymore." "What?" "We implanted a tube on her," Volohov said, "The lack of oxygen in her brain would cause her to remain unconscious for a long time." Although they didn''t have synthetic material usually used to make such tubes and medical tools, they did have rubber which was a decent alternative. "She would likely remain in a vegetative state, at least for a while." "Even in the hospital?" "She''s still breathing thanks to her being here," the doctor explained. However, the look of the doctor on him shifted a bit, and it made Victor even more nervous. "And¡­ there''s something else you would want to know." Volohov then looked at Betty who nodded before stepping forward. Vanessa also gave this one a bad look. Betty¡ªthe beautiful aborigine blonde who was also a healer. They had the same elements and occupations, and it was natural for Vanessa to feel a sense of competition with her. "I have awakened a new skill the past few days, it''s called Bodily Assessment Skill," she said. "The skill would help me see the basic status of a person''s health, though it consumes a bit of mana." The story of how it awakened was a bit¡­ unusual. That man named Tom came to her, saying his chest hurts, asking for her help and she did heal him. She knew this man as her eyes always gravitated towards him when he was around. He was not very handsome, but he had a very kind heart. She also saw him cook for the kids during their picnics and she thought how great a father he would be. Also, seeing healers consumed contribution points so she just did as she was asked. She thought, no one would be willing to waste precious contribution points if there was really no issue, right? However, the ''illness'' just didn''t seem to get better. She felt very very worried, so she healed and tried to understand what was going on, and this went on for many days. She was shocked to trigger the skill in the end. This was a skill that would''ve awoken in Betty sooner or later but, with Tom''s help, it came much sooner. Betty looked at Vincent to state her findings, "When she was healing, I used the skill to make a preliminary check on her," she said. "It''s still in the early stages but the skill managed to register it. In her, I found a little thing." It was very little because it was very, very, young. Perhaps it was only a few days old, or a week at the oldest. Victor''s eyebrows furrowed, confused. "What?" "Miss Juni is pregnant." For the first time in his life, Victor''s knees buckled and he fell down on the floor in weakness. ¡­ Victor held the woman''s pale and cold hand, his sad eyes looking at her greying face. The tubes were barely keeping her and his baby alive, and the sight was heartbreaking. He had already asked a favor from the team to send his father a message to handle things in the valley, as he''d be staying here until they needed to. "Please be alright¡­" he said, looking deeply at her, and the tools that were keeping her alive. He looked at the mechanisms and knew that Alterra already had electricity at this point, though apparently limited to a few places for now. If his heart wasn''t so heavy, he''d be incredibly amazed. "Hang on, Juni, please hang on," he begged, burying his head in the back of her hand. He shouldn''t have let her come. Or at least he shouldn''t have let his guard down when his woman was so close to their enemy. It was his fault. He underestimated that man. A man who could survive so long¡ªa lot of which he was even alone and without backing¡ªwas naturally not weak. Now his love was in danger, and so was their child. He stayed like that for hours, just staring, and he only took away his eyes when there was a knock on the door. It was Vanessa, and she was already cleaned up and was even wearing a nice dress. "Brother, it''s time for you to rest." In fact, Vanessa had been walking around the territory and buying things to distract herself from the worry and guilt. However, as she shopped, she ended up just burning in jealousy at the convenience and lifestyle of everyone. Although Limestone Valley had been greatly improved, how could it compare to the well-planned Alterra? Now, they could even have ice cream as they walked! Then she encountered Garan and her eyes brightened. Sadly, he wasn''t alone and still with his children. Her heart clenched at the picture they made, her stomach boiling in acid. She approached them, wearing her new dress, but Garan didn''t pay attention to her. He was carrying the two chubby babies, and his eyes were on them. In contrast, it was that woman who greeted her. "Aren''t you supposed to be with your brother?" The bitch asked and Vanessa had no choice but to go to the hospital again. Vanessa stayed for a while, but she really couldn''t bear to look at Juni. Seeing her reminded Vanessa of what she could''ve been thinking. Regardless of her intent, there was probably a part of her that had wanted Juni gone for good. Vanessa wasn''t ready to face that thought. What made it worse was that she was apparently pregnant! If something happened, wouldn''t she be haunted by these two lives? Vanessa''s defense mechanisms was denial. And she absolutely could not handle it mentally if the baby perished and if he was truly her brother''s blood. "Hasn''t it been only a week since you''ve been with her?" Vanessa asked, looking genuinely suspicious. "Are you sure it''s yours?" Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Unexpectedly, Victor stood up and went to her. Slap! Her head rang, unable to comprehend what had just happened. She barely noticed the sting on her face compared to the shock her heart felt. "Brother? Did¡­ did you just slap me?" "You''re a grown woman," he said, "You should know when to watch your mouth better." Vanessa was absolutely aghast. No one had ever raised their hands against her, and the last person she expected this from was her loving brother!! "Brother, you jerk!" she yelled, running away with tears threatening to fall down her eyes. Victor sighed and tiredly sat back down, holding the woman''s hand again. "You were right, Juni," he said, looking as if he''d aged a decade. "You were always right." Chapter 861 - 861: Final Preparations before the Heat After some hours of travel, the rest of the party that went to Shrao had finally arrived. Behind them were the surviving Terran Citizen that remained or were kept in Shrao. There were only a few thousand though, which was much less than they anticipated. Obviously, a lot of people died in the war as well as after it. Ronny and Okuri had already recovered and were now watching their arrival with the others. They looked complicatedly at the rescued people, who were now safe and sound. This was a good thing of course, but they couldn''t help but look at their own suffering. "Do you think we did the right thing back then?" Okuri asked, genuinely wondering, her eyes fixed on the molded cover that now hang on her boyfriend''s ears. "If we hadn''t escaped¡­, maybe we didn''t have to suffer so much." "Your decision was not wrong," Yao¡ªwho was greeting the others with them¡ªsaid. "Although a lot of people had been rescued, a lot had also passed. Although it was mostly Cain''s doing and a few of the lord''s citizens, a lot of people were tortured for days." During the initial investigations, the Shrao slaves indeed lived much more humanely than others. However, it was a village with thousands of people. Slaves, unless otherwise indicated, could follow any citizen¡ªtemporary or permanent¡ªfrom the winning territory. In the case of conflicting orders, they would follow the stronger person. After the ''threats'', all of the Terrans were released and they found out about the fraction of slaves who suffered. That was to say, behind closed doors, a lot of people still suffered a lot. Some may be within the lord''s knowledge, while some weren''t. "Many women had been abused. It''s just a normal thing in this world, and things really could''ve been worse for us had we stayed," Yao said, heaving a deep breath. Ronny held her hand tighter at this, no doubt thinking of what could''ve happened to her if they did not leave when they did. Neither of them had doubts¡ªshe would''ve really suffered that way. Yao sighed. "It''s just the way of this world." He wasn''t making excuses for the people of this world, but stressing out and shouting injustice each time was too tiring. This world had too many problems to be focusing on every little thing. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This world was so dark, but what could they do? Until there was a chance for vengeance, they''d just hit them back but¡­ until then, they could only move on with their lives, living it as peacefully as they could. Hopefully, they would create a little patch of life where things were better. To them right now, this was Alterra, and the Region they were slowly forming around it. ¡­ The newcomers were brought to the dormitories. Some went straight to the bank, putting oaths as their collateral. In Alterra Bank, they could pay off their debts by promising their own workforce to the territory. This was something explained to them on their way there, and it immediately injected hope in everyone. Of course, the amount was minimal for now. After all, all they had was their own labor and their promise. Many of them had been captured as slaves, and this meant they had nothing in their names. The amount they could loan out at this point was only a couple of golds, just enough to feed, shelter, and clothe themselves for about a month using the most basic food, dormitory services, and maybe two pairs of clothes. They could also buy a set of basic equipment, though how long that''d last would depend on their usage. Fortunately, to most, it was more than enough¡ªalready very kind. They didn''t believe they''d be useless for an entire month. They should be able to find ways to make money on their own during that time. The amount was payable throughout one year with minimal interests, which was extremely doable as long as they weren''t lazy. If one had the right attitude, things would not get any worse for any of them in economic terms. They were already glad to be rescued, but to think they would have a chance to live well as soon as they moved in was something they didn''t expect. As for Alterra''s side, it was indeed very kind, but it always had a long-term vision in mind. And¡­ it so happened that the territory needed a lot of manpower for the tunnels. A win-win situation indeed! ¡­ The next day, these newcomers started working and the finishing of the mountain tunnels was faster than ever. They were also a team planting some plants and fungi that would thrive in tunnels. In these areas, Althea actually secretly built system farms. Even if it was underground, the arrays should still work to some degree, though only time would tell how the productivity would be. The new workers were led by the team leader to the section they had to dig up. Although it was really hot, especially for manual labor, there were plenty of trees around. There were also temporary stalls rented out by the mouth of the tunnel so they could buy snacks and food¡ªpreferably cool ones¡ªwhenever they had to go on breaks. Also, this was the only easy-to-qualify job in the territory¡ªeverything with great pay, and those ''office jobs'' were all filled. A lot of them weren''t strong or brave enough to hunt every day¡ªespecially in this heat¡ªso this was the best alternative for them. The job was to dig out parts of the soil, working side-by-side the construction team, to create these tunnels and underground construction. They witnessed various earth elementalist work with them, which was amazing, and then they also witnessed a new species digging! "Goblins¡­ really goblins." some would mumble, absolutely fascinated. Some of these people were moviegoers or avid gamers, and they really didn''t think they''d be working side-by-side with another intelligent species in their lifetimes! Suddenly, a lot of them forgot their sufferings the past couple of months, even for just a moment. Also, those cute little critters were REALLY good diggers. A little one a third of a grown man''s size could dig at least twice as fast as one. "Amazing!" "So cool¡­" The compliments were so sincere and although they had been hearing it a few times lately the little goblins couldn''t help but blush. Funnily enough, when goblins were shy, they didn''t turn red, and their upright ears would soften a little, making it look a bit droopy. Very cute. Other than them, a lot of the workers were from Mauin, very happy to be able to get honest and safe jobs. Although they naturally still had to go hunt outside every few days, they felt it was only natural and for their own good after a long session of explanations from locals. After all, as people who had been fighting their whole lives, they were mostly leaning towards just resting and doing jobs within the walls. At the time, they didn''t understand why everyone still had to go outside when there were perfectly good alternatives inside. Even the weaker people went outside and willingly, some were even excited to do so. Back then, they were so confused, and they were quickly enlightened by the locals. "Do you want to be left behind?" "Do you want to be weak?" "Everyone else will look young but you''re looking old!" Mauin-VIllagers-who-looked-their-age: "..." Anyway, safe to say that the villagers, the goblins, and the newcomers had integrated very well with Alterra, becoming one themselves. Chapter 862 - 862: Surprise Proposal? In the hospital, Eagle¡ªas the soldier who had witnessed Cain''s death¡ªwas called by Elder Eugene for a favor. It was a little embarrassing asking such a high-ranking guard to go out of his way to report to a civilian, but he felt Melissa needed to hear a more accurate account of what had transpired in Shrao Village. He told them of how they caused chaos inside the village, with several people monitoring the outside in case anyone escaped. It so happened that a lot of them focused on the areas of the walls that had the least activity, and caught Cain even when he was still climbing the wall. Little Horus, whose sister died tragically in the man''s hand, wanted to be a part of his demise. Fortunately, the child had very good stealth skills and was very brave, and they allowed him to do so. He then told them of how he died under Juni''s hand, literally having his face melted. "He died very painfully," Eagle told Melissa as she laid down the hospital bed again. Her case this time wasn''t an emergency, fortunately. It was just that she was a bit overworked in the Research Lab and couldn''t rest when the mission started. When she found out that the mission was a success, all the tiredness caught up to her and she fainted. Eugene''s heart clenched as he rushed her to the hospital. He had worried for her and the child''s health and was a mess of anxiety when they arrived. Fortunately, the doctors assured her it was just overwork. The current body was strong¡ªeven Melissa also did her training¡ªand she only needed to rest a bit to be as good as new. Eugene almost fell down in relief, and he just stayed with her until she regained consciousness. When Melissa woke up, she wanted to go and see the man''s corpse herself¡ªall the way in Shrao Village. Obviously, this was not possible. However, this made him thicken his face and ask a favor from Eagle. "We saw his muscles and bones, all while he was still breathing and struggling." Melissa listened intently to Eagle''s account of the perpretrator''s death, holding Eugene''s hand tightly. "He was burned with Juni''s acid. I saw how her acid went to his mouth and his eyes, and I think some of it went to his brain. I feel that it was mostly body memory that did the final attack. While he was shot through the heart and ultimately beheaded, his death was extremely painful." Melissa sobbed, feeling a little liberated, but her heart was still heavy from the loss of her precious sibling. "My poor brother¡­" she said, resting her head on her lover''s. "He was never really free. When our parents died, I tied him down because of my health, then we transferred here and the responsibility for me and for the people loomed heavily on him. The guilt and burden weren''t something I would wish on anyone. "Even with Higson dead, it only got a little better. I left the territory and gained freedom, but he couldn''t even enjoy the same¡­" she mumbled, tears running down her face. "No¡ªhe had to live with all those deaths he allowed to happen because of me¡ªand that was a worse punishment than if he was just killed. "He''s so young and so good¡­" She sobbed for a bit more and the two men patiently waited for her to calm. Her dainty hands clenched the fabric of her hospital gown. "It''s good that man is dead. I wish he suffered more." "I''m sorry for Juni though¡­" she said eventually, looking at Eagle with reddish eyes. "How is she?" Eagle sighed at this. "No good news yet." ¡­ Eagle could still recall what happened to Juni and Victor''s despair. Things happened so quickly. Everything was good one second, and everything came crashing down a moment later. He walked out of the hospital with a dark mood. "Eagle?" A soft voice called out, and it was a voice that calmed his mood. Immediately, his eyes warmed as he looked at the small woman. She must''ve been there for her shift. After awakening the Healer occupation, she had become Betty''s assistant. She was smiling gently at him, still so cute and pretty and healthy. Inexplicably, he thought of the events of the past few days. He was reminded, over and over, that life here was so¡­ fragile. "I''m glad you''re back safe and sound," she said. She was about to make some small talk but she noticed his deep stare. She couldn''t help but blush. "W-What is it?" "I''m just happy you''re safe and sound." Shiela blinked. "But I stayed here," she said, looking at him, "I''m glad you are safe and sound." "..." "..." "You know, I wanted to catch that bouquet for you," he told her frankly, almost out-of-nowhere. It startled Sheila, but it was nothing compared to what he said next. "It was because I wanted to propose to you as well." Sheila''s eyes widened in shock, face flushed. "W-What?!" They weren''t even officially together yet! It had to be said: Soldiers were really straightforward. After all, they battled with dangers constantly. Who had the time or the leisure for detours? Seeing her not talking, he paled, but he refused to give up easily and continued to ''state his case''. "I know I lack an arm now, but I assure you that it doesn''t affect anything else!" He swore. He was a wind elementalist; he could figure something out. Sheila paled, thinking he misunderstood her. "That''s not what I¡ª" "Then what is?" sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I-I-I¡ª" He looked at her like this and his heart ached when he thought she disliked him. His eyebrows furrowed, and he looked at her pitifully. "You¡­ don''t want to marry me?" "No, it''s not that!" Sheila blurted out with face as red as a baboon''s butt. It was enough to elevate Eagle''s hope and mood above the clouds. Eagle smiled widely, extending his one arm to embrace her. "I''m so happy!" "I¡ªI¡ª" The two were so in their own world that they barely noticed they gathered an audience. The scene was so awkward-cute and it made the audience want to laugh and cry. "Just kiss her already!" "Yes!" "Seal it with a kiss!" People around them yelled and Sheila¡ªwho had noticed they had spectators¡ªcovered her face in shyness. Eagle blinked and looked at the flushed Sheila in front of him. She was very small, over a head shorter, so he leaned down a little so they were at eye level. He gently pried her hands away from her face with his one large hand, placing them over his beating chest. "Can I really?" he asked and some of the people facepalmed. "Just do it!" they yelled and Sheila really didn''t know what to do anymore. Time seemed to have slowed and she gulped. She felt her throat dry up, the shyness and embarrassment causing blood to run to her brain. However, she saw Eagle''s pure and determined eyes and she couldn''t bear to tell him ''no''. Finally, she nodded, making Eagle''s eyes sparkle even more. When he leaned down to capture her lips, everyone cheered, though neither of them could hear them anymore. All they could hear were their own and each other''s heartbeats, and all they could feel¡­ was each other. Sealed with a kiss, indeed. Chapter 863 - 863: Extreme Heat (Part 1) The weddings had to be deferred though, because the event they dreaded had finally happened. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A heat wave blanketed the entire world. Temperature soared, and the air was thick, heavy, and oppressive. Even the winds felt like hot breaths of a furnace, as if someone was pushing their faces close to the fire. Overnight, a drought spread out the entire continent and shallow water sources immediately dried out. The soil cracked in dryness and plants wilted under the brutal heat. The heat distorted the sights outside, with stones shimmering in the waves of heat and radiating warmth and adding to people''s suffering. The only bright side of this was that there were no monsters attacking at all during this time, but that wouldn''t have mattered because most people wouldn''t have been able to move anyway. The heat drained energy, causing widespread lethargy akin to death. People would sweat, but if they were in open air, it would dry out almost immediately, and they wouldn''t even enjoy the only advantage of sweating. The air was just painful to the skin if one stayed outside for too long, and they could even be burned under the direct sun. Cases of Heat Stress and Heatstroke were abound. Pretty much everywhere in the territory, there was not just heavy sweating, weakness, and dizziness. There were plenty of those suffering from nausea, headache, and even fainting. Alterra was lucky because they were next to water sources and there were still some water available. They prepared the best they could, so they were fine and not dying¡ªunlike many others outside¡ªbut it didn''t mean it still wasn''t hell. "AHHH¡­ sooo hot¡­" Ansel mumbled as he laid down on the floor with buckets of ice surrounding them. There were fans behind them, powered by solar panels placed above their roofs. (Not every home had one now, of course, as they didn''t have time to mass produce them) "Like a child," Winona said, throwing a face towel that had been soaked in ice water. Winona had effectively moved in since the engagement, but she did promise to support her grandmother and keep the other house. However, she did threaten if they did anything to ruin her peace, then she''d take away all that was hers. Since then, her life had been quiet, and those people would avoid her when they saw her. As always, money could fix everything¡­ "Ohh! That''s nice~" Ansel said, grinning, as he wiped his face with the iced towel. "Thanks, wife." Winona flushed and pinched his cheek. "Stop being cheesy!" Althea giggled and smiled when her husband wiped her sweat off. Similarly, she also wiped a cool towel on the babies who were very weak from the heat. They were whimpering in discomfort, and it was heartbreaking to watch. "Mhmnnhmm¡­" "Googmmgma¡­ wuuu¡­" The two babies were wearing minimal clothing already. They sqirmed in position, sleeping with legs and arms open to feel more of the air. Their cheeks were red as apples, which would''ve been cute normally, but they knew the children were suffering. Her heart clenched and she sighed, knowing there wasn''t much they could do but cool them down more. Garan fanned his family and refused when Althea wanted to switch. He had much stronger arms, he said, her arms were so small, it''d be tired quickly. Plus, he had his ice ability, so the air he produced with the fan was cool. "How long is this going to last?" "I heard it lasts at least a week, but more often longer than that." Everyone groaned a bit, but not too loud. They needed to conserve energy after all. Everyone was wearing very thin and comfortable clothing at this time, but it still felt sweltering. They could only imagine how bad it was outside the territory. Harold and the others were in the other villa. They didn''t hang around in the same area. Too much body heat was too much heat. The dogs were with them though and they pretty much slept next to the ice buckets. The poor things were just lying there without much energy, as if conserving energy not to overheat. Ansel turned to look at them. When they realized that it was happening, he almost shaved them. After all, if one thought about it, wouldn''t they be too hot under all that fur? He almost got his head bitten inside their mouths when he was stopped by his wife kicking him. Winona had a dog growing up. She stopped him because both dogs apparently had a double coat that functioned as insulation for both heat and cold. Shaving them could interfere with these functions and was actually counter-productive. Tsk. He still thought they''d be shaved though, and he turned to stare at them again. The two canines caught his stare and stared badly at him, apparently remembering his attempts. "WOOF!" (Translation: Ugly!) Snow howled. (Translation: I''ll eat you later) Ansel sneered at them. "Impertinent brats," he said. "See if I take away your good food¡ª" Winona rolled her eyes and just patted herself with her towel. It was just that the water and sweat made her shirt stick to her skin and curves and Ansel''s eyes darkened a bit at the sight of it. This earned him a smack on the face by a towel. "Ohh¡­" Ansel mumbled as if he was in pain, and Winona just rolled her eyes. Althea shook her head, amazed at their seemingly endless energy to argue with each other. She looked at their group and felt pity for the unproductive day and days to come. They actually converted the basements to have some comfortable sleeping spaces. But it was small and not comfortable for more than 4 people. It was also not good for the children to stay in such enclosed space for so long. If it was going to be used, it was probably going to be used by a few people a few hours at a time and nothing else. Fortunately, they had already had some small electric appliances that allowed some comfort. These fans were completed just in time, though not enough time or raw materials were prepared to make it commercially available. Anyway, it was the best they could do. Hopefully, their bodies adjust soon enough. Chapter 864 - 864: Extreme Heat (Part 2) The other people in the territory were also doing what they could to cool down. Most people stayed in their cellars, converting it into a den of sorts. They would go out at night to breathe some air but, otherwise, they could only be depressed underground. "I feel like I''m in a coffin¡­" Fred said as he laid down in the underground room, feeling like a canned tuna. "Yeah, with other smelly men," Troy mumbled. "I miss my Brenda¡­" S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was mumbling so deliriously that his teammates knew the heat melted his brain a bit. He continued whispering sweet nothings to the woman who wasn''t there and it irked a lot of people who were already hot-headed as it was. "Ugh¡­" "Shut up!" "Someone slobber him with a pillow PLEASE!" After the success of the business, Fred bought the team a luxury villa after getting good payment terms. He took almost his entire liquid funds for the down payment, but he knew they had to get it before the extreme heat. The luxury villas were two residential modules combined, so their cellars were larger than most at 120 square meters. However, he lived with his entire team in there. While it was a lot cooler than above, it still wasn''t comfortable and it felt cramped, primarily due to body heat. "Brenda¡­ my Brenda¡­" Troy continued to mumble, earning several more groans around him. "Yes, go move in with her then," Fred said, wanting to physically kick him out but he felt too weak. He turned to the others, "Anyone else with girlfriends with their own cellars?" "..." "Shit. Someone murder him up already!" And so on¡­ Of course, not everyone could afford residences with its own cellar. There were also plenty among the masses who stayed in the newly dug and lined tunnels, including those who lived in dormitories and midrise buildings. After all, there were too many residents there to use the cellars, let alone those were used as storage for the buildings themselves. There were also the goblins there with them. Speaking of the goblins, they had experienced much worse without protection so they didn''t have any problems. On the contrary, they were extremely comfortable. They also had smaller bodies and emitted much less body heat than others, so there was that. Similarly, the aborigines like Mauin had been through worse, and staying in a cramped cellar was heaven. The last extreme wave was about four years prior. So many people died in their village back then. Although everyone had stronger physiques in this world, many of the aged villagers and many young children still perished, unable to handle the heat. When the extreme cold happened a little over a year later, even more people died. So now, they didn''t even feel the stuffiness the Terrans felt. They just felt cool and nice. It was all in perspective. Outside the houses and cellars, activities had been greatly reduced to almost null. However, there were still some creative minds that saw business opportunities in the disaster. Some knew how to make cool treats and lived off of those. However, they would melt when taken outside the houses so they could only be consumed inside the ''stores'' or in cellars, and it was almost like there were secret drug deals going on. Hence, there would also be some brave souls who would travel across the street to buy the treats. Of course, most people would only come out during dusk or dawn when the sun was weaker (still with paper umbrellas and with ice packs on hand) because going outside at any other time could literally burn their skins! Although umbrellas could deal with some meters of travel, who wanted to feel like melting after a few seconds outside?! Bart''s team was similar but because they were aborigines and had experienced this many times before, their tolerance was much higher. Added to their high levels, as long as they didn''t stay in the direct sun for too long, they would be okay. With umbrellas and hats, they could even go camp in the verandahs of teams who sold ice creams and other ice treats. The Alterrans were savy enough to take advantage and earn a lot from the business that literally came knocking on their door! Today though, rather than shop hopping, the group of Bart, Pieto, and a few other rich aborigines, were in the bathhouse. They had enough money to use it today, even with the added costs of not having contribution points. Even with the added Bathhouse cost of 20 times the usual due to the water shortage. Of course, at some point, they''d be spent, but in this heat it would be a pity not to hang around the beautiful Bathouse. "This Bathhouse is the best I''ve been to," Pieto said, comparing it to the few bathhouses he had been to in his lifetime. The rooms and pools were designed so beautifully and you know a lot of thought was given. Dipping in the coldest pool for hours would cool them down for a while. The super expensive cost was worth it! They chilled for a few hours (literally) before heading out to eat at the interior restaurant. The restaurant, although still a bit warm, was still a lot cooler than many rooms outside because of its design. This was done by various factors. One was the various greeneries inside the building, then the insulation, and then there was also the fact that the cool water vapor below was used to cool everywhere else. It was amazing, actually, and they wondered how these people thought of these details. Anyway, the aborigines patiently waited for their ice cream to arrive (the restaurant was full at this time, all asking for some cool snacks). Because it was owned by the territory, the flavor selection here was even larger. It was also more delicious and formulated by chefs. So although the sweets here were much more expensive, it was worth it for the rich aborigines. Soon, their dessert arrived, and they excitedly consumed their new favorite dessert. "Orcshit!" Sipa cursed as he closed his eyes, letting the dessert melt into his mouth. "I dunno how I''d survive this without ice cream!" Bulgogi sniffled as he welcomed the so-called ''brain freeze'', realizing his masochistic tendencies when it came to the combination of sweetness and pain. "I will eat this every hour," he declared, and it was obvious no one¡ªnot even the Heat Wave¡ªwould be able to stop him. Bart shook his head as he slowly ate his own dessert. "Did you notice how not just the structures, but also the outdoors, are cooler?" he said, with a bit of a teasing smile. Pieto nodded. "And I think it''s actually cooler outside compared to before, and I don''t think it''s just because of the ice cream." "It is." They had seen the preparation for the buildings and their interiors, but what about the open air outside? Was it really cooler this year? Bart grinned in superiority. After all, Sammy had told him of some things that they did to cool the entire territory. What some of them didn''t know was that Alterra had so many trees and greeneries that a good portion of the heat was absorbed by these. If one''s house had a lot of greenery, they would enjoy around 30% less heat than those from other territories. Other than these, the natural water sources were also taken advantage of as much as possible, allowing them to cool down the heat going in. Of course, there were also a lot more techniques, some of which too complicated for their minds at this time. Regardless of what they knew, one thing was for certain: Alterra was, by far, the most prepared territory they had ever encountered. Chapter 865 - 865: Heat Outside Alterra Well, while territories like Bright, Belluga, Limestone Valley, and Iron Mountains¡ªthanks to Alterra¡ªwere better than most, every other territory was doing very badly. Shrao Village. "We already lost a few older people," one man reported to Shiro, who only sighed. This wasn''t their first heat wave and this came as no surprise. In fact, his spies who went to Alterra seemed to have heard that they were preparing for it. They didn''t know how they found it but the entire territory had apparently mobilized so Shrao had decided to follow suit. However, in the end, it was too late to react because it came before they could take action. Although the housing situation in this place was much better than in their old home, there were still many people who ended up in makeshift houses. When the heat wave hit and they were outside for a long time, their skins would burn at the peak of heat. Not only that, the heat in the atmosphere made it difficult to breathe. Their bodies had adapted well to extreme temperatures but the young and the old might struggle to take such direct hits. It had been a day, and they already lost a few. Although it generally wouldn''t get worse because the survivors would have stronger physiques, people''s bodies could only handle so much, so if they remained unprotected, more and more people would just die, even the strong adults. "Burn them cleanly," he said. The heat would make the corpses rot even more badly than usual, and the stench would weaken their wills. So, his people did just that. However, someone in his team was just a bit careless because of the difficulty of movement. When they were burning the corpses, things got even worse. Because the surrounding greeneries were too dry, when a small bit of clothing burned and flew, touching one of the trees, it quickly emblazed into a fire. This was one of the few patches of forests within the walls, and everyone''s heart clenched to see it damaged. "Fire!! Fire!!" "Put it out!!" "Nooo!" Immediately the people tried to put it out, many heading outside from the shade to help out, but¡­ they didn''t have enough water! Using it to kill the fire would be killing them in a few days! '' Fortunately (or not) they had experienced this plenty of times during droughts and fast-thinkers immediately began to move. "Bury it in soil!" Shiro yelled, taking out his weapon and stabbing the ground, throwing the dry sandy soil to the fire. He also asked his men to dig around the fire in an attempt to save the rest of the area. The citizens around worked together to either bury it with soil or stop its spread, but the fire spread quickly and they still lost a lot of trees. By the time the fire was killed, almost a third of the internal forests had already burned down. Such damage killed their hearts. This was a large portion of their limited sustenance during the heat wave, and they dreaded what would happen in a few days. A lot of people sobbed, though a few were dehydrated enough that they could only let out dry tears. Shiro and his people sighed with heavy hearts, just hoping for this to be over. ¡­ Voumi Town In a certain town, the slaves were huddling underground, silently enduring the simmering atmosphere caused by the heat outside and their combined body heat. However, it was still better than burning outside. To be frank, they were alive (for now) thanks to their horrid living conditions. Slaves in Voumi Town were kept in cell-like living spaces partially underground. It ended up saving their lives during the heat wave. When it happened, they were all outside doing various jobs. For the most part, they cleaned up poop, the bits of forests, did hard labor, and other similarly tiring tasks. A lot of the women were also pulled into that industry, and the only reason Sarah hadn''t been touched was because she dirtied herself very well. At first, it was even with feces. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It disgusted the owners very much and the image stuck, leaving her safe to do her laborious jobs for the days that followed. It made Milo cry in pity for his sister, but Gurnam was admiring. Inexplicably, he began to watch the girl more and more. Sarah was a bit embarrassed but pretended not to see. Their situation was not the time for romance. However, she did not reject it when he was being kind to her, and she would occasionally do the same favor. Eventually, she did feel concerned for her own appearance. Fortunately, she managed to keep some money in her space to get a secret bath and only covered herself with mud thereafter. She found out that the money manifested and kept in the space wouldn''t be automatically taken away when they became slaves. Thanks to those kind soldiers, she knew that slaves would lose their money once they were captured so, by instinct, she changed most of the money she had to physical form as soon as the war was announced. Time passed like that and they were slowly getting used to their lives. It was extremely difficult, and dangerous, but they were alive and they were adjusting. But fate decided to play with them. When things changed, the group of them were cleaning up some chamber pots and cesspits. They were to shovel them up (since metals weren''t common they used wood) and hauled them out using buckets. One by one, they were carried to the pits in the few indoor forests the place had. If this was too filled that the stech became too much, they would throw it outside the walls, which added a new set of dangers for the slaves. Even if they just threw it by the gates, there was still a chance of monsters being there. Monsters in Towns were at a different level than in villages. Getting caught by one was akin to a death sentence. Not to mention, they had to do most of this at night in order not to inconvenience those using the gate as well, and there were plenty of times that some slaves fell down due to the darkness, bathing in the feces they cleaned up. Their jobs were like those of ''night soil men'' or ''gong farmers'' which fit the sort of medieval culture this place had. This clearing and disposal were usually done during the night, but the population here was dense so they also had to clean up in the mornings. It was during that time that the wave hit. It was Gurnam who noticed it first. Because Gurnam watched Sarah a lot, he noticed her skin was becoming abnormally redder and even sweltering a bit. He also felt the same but he was dark-skinned (and thick-skinned) so it wasn''t obvious. Suddenly¡ªseemingly out of nowhere¡ªhis instincts as a fighter flared and he immediately carried the two siblings to the dungeons, leaving a trail of pained yells behind. That first heat wave directly killed about a dozen slaves in the territory and injured many more. This was followed by extreme drought and suffocating heat, increasing the torture. At the time, they couldn''t help but think¡ªbecoming slaves wasn''t enough, they also had to fight against nature! At the time, they could only hopelessly cry. What else was this place going to throw at them?! Chapter 866 - 866: Voumi Town Heat Trigger Warning: Dubcon during the last couple of paragraphs (if you skip, read the author''s note) ... _____ Now the heat had stabilized and it was still difficult to walk a few meters outside without feeling breathless or feel like their skin was burning. It was not clear when the next heat wave would blanket the planet, yet they were still tasked to work, especially at night. By now, they all had severely burning skins. They were all extremely parched that they couldn''t even sweat anymore. "Are you okay?" Gurnam asked the siblings, who were both extremely red and dazed looking. They nodded, not having much energy to answer, and just did their jobs. Some of their companions remained vocal though. This was how they could keep their sanities¡ªby expressing their emotions¡ªregardless of whether they had the energy or not. "How could they still make us work in this heat?" one asked, in a ranting tone. One would think that since slaves weren''t so cheap, they''d at least care for the merchandise! "Slaves aren''t expensive either, especially weak ones like us," another one said. "They could replace us by the next war." This was true. A territory that always went to war could get hundreds or thousands of new slaves every month (if they won). What were a few dozens¡ªor even hundreds¡ªlost during annual disasters? Anyway, after ranting a bit they also shut up. Not only were they extremely tired, their bodies were in pain. They were hungry, thirsty, and the smell was also killing them. Speaking would not only consume energy, they would also taste the pungent air. They couldn''t afford to vomit. They had barely even eaten anything! What would they puke out? Their intestines? What was worse was they couldn''t even rest well. There were even corpses rotting in the same room and when they tried putting them outside they were often thrown back down, because it would smell above and be a hindrance to the houses. At night, although it was just a bit cooler, they''d be squeezing their stomachs, as if it was eating itself up in hunger. They couldn''t even gulp in air to fill their stomachs because the stench could kill. That night was a little different than usual. That night, some guards arrived, apparently to take some slaves. Their hearts beat fast in nervousness as the man pointed at seemingly random people. "You," he said, pointing at Glem, one of the major ranters in their group. "M-Me?" The man did not answer him and pointed at Gurnam. "You," he said, and then to Sarah. "And you." He turned to his companion. "They are some of the most mobile among the slaves." "Got it," the other guard said, nodding, and then looked at the slaves. "Come with me." As slaves, they naturally followed without question, with Gurnam following their movements to keep the facade. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Milo sniffed as his sister''s hand left his, but he also knew that if he made a scene, it would only bring attention to his sister. He bit his lips and silently prayed she would be alright, but at the same time he also wondered when he''d be able to protect her properly. The summoned slaves followed the guards silently, nervously wondering what was going to be asked of them. Gurnam looked at Sarah. Sarah, who had always been covered with mud, covered herself up even more. If the owners found her disgusting, then good. They wouldn''t be forcing her to take a bath either because water was a scarce resource now! Their eyes met. Hopefully, nothing too harsh would be asked of them. "The masters are in need of fanning slaves," the guard said when they were halfway to their destination. "The other ones fainted out of exhaustion," he said. He said it casually, but everyone knew that if slaves fainted while working, they''d just be stacked in their cells without food or water. If they managed to regain consciousness then good for them, they could continue their slavery, but if not, then they were as good as dead. The slaves heaved a deep breath. At the very least¡­ fanning work was still better than, say, going outside and becoming bait to the night mobs. ¡­. In the upper class side, the nobles were also suffering, but they had plenty of fanners around them to make it somewhat tolerable. Richer ones also had some sort of blanket bought from Kilpo City, which blocked the fenestrations from the sun. It also helped in reducing the temperature of the room. It also cost a fortune. The effect was not much, but they could take what they could get. Gurnam and Sarah arrived with their large cans, and they were surprised to see familiar faces there. First was Sheena, William''s daughter. She was massaging one of the men there. There was another woman, who was also quite beautiful. She had caramel-colored hair and a heart-shaped face. They didn''t know her, but they knew she was Terran. She was kneeling down and openly pleasuring a man¡ªa relatively plain-looking one, but a bit more fit than the others. "Ah¡­ y-yes¡­ amazing!" The man gripped her hair and thrusted without caring for her comfort. He groaned when he came, looking at her with eyes full of lust and appreciation. "Sasha!" he yelled, voice raspy after his climax. "You''re amazing!" The woman pursed her lips and forced a smile. "Anything for Master Surut," she said, voice soft and lovely, and the man''s member started hardening again. The beautiful Misha, who seemed unperturbed by the degeneracy, was also here, massaging Hesso right next to them. "Hmm, so good at this," the man droned, turning to look at the beautiful woman. "You know¡­ I could make you feel better." Misha giggled seductively. "Are you getting impatient master? You know I can''t right now. I can entertain you in other ways. Isn''t my face good enough? Hesso kissed the woman''s hand. "Yes, so beautiful," he said. "I can stare at you all day." This caused his friends to laugh. Although they were sweating, they still found this entertaining. "You got a really exciting slave," one said, tracing Misha with his lecherous eyes. "I kinda want to fuck her." This made another one glare at him. This was Surut, Hesso''s dark-skinned best friend. "Not before I do!" he said, almost kicking Sasha in front of him by accident. "I asked first!" Misha smiled. "Gentlemen, we don''t want to die in this heat right? "Besides, I am bleeding now. You don''t want to break merchandise, right, masters?" "Hmm, you''re right." However, they were already horny. However, Misha was just making a lot of points and they would be reluctant to break such a perfect slave. So, instead, they took Sasha¡ªwho was kneeling on the ground¡ªto vent instead. They dragged her up the table, taking her there in front of the others, and the woman had no choice but to succumb. However, she had been doing this for a while and was used to it, knew to accept her fate. Her mouth had already parted, and she shut her mouth as moans of pleasure started to escape her lips. This made the men laugh, plundering her even harder. This made Sarah and Gurnam''s hearts to drop, and Sarah was visibly pale. At least, that was what Gurnam saw. In reality, no one would see since she covered herself up with so much mud. Gurnam held her hand, making her flinch and eyes wide in surprise. How could he move? He placed a finger on his mouth to tell her to be quiet. ''It''s alright,'' he mouthed. ''I''ll protect you.'' Chapter 867 - 867: Voumi Nobles Gossip SURPRISE BONUS CHAP~! Not only am I settled in GT Rank 2 (so far) the story also received a Gachapon! That was the story''s first Gachapon, and it even came from the TOP AUTHOR GUILTYTHREE! kyaaa~ *dances* If you''re new in WN and haven''t checked out his story, you''re missing out~ Anyways, back to the story~ ... Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ___ Sasha could only look up at the ceiling as the deed was done, letting out sounds that made men think they were incredible in bed when in reality they were horrible. Not to mention that most of them were disgusting to look at. At this, she couldn''t help but turn her eyes to Misha, who was standing impassively with her eyes closed. She was so beautiful, but how was she keeping herself safe for long?! She didn''t have time to glare at the other woman when a pudgy hand grabbed her face, forcing her to look back up. This man was Surut, Hesso''s best friend. "Look at me!" he said, gritting his teeth as he pounded on her. "Make loud erotic sounds!" he ordered, and she did. As one man took Sasha, the rest who were done with her continued to chatter and gossip as if it was the most natural thing. The latest one to ''use'' Sasha went to get some water, freshly produced by their personal water elementalist. There were two of them¡ªpaid for a very high price¡ªand neither one seemed particularly affected by what was going on. They would occasionally wet the noble men, add to the water in their feet, give them water to drink as requested. Their faces remained impassive or bored as they sat there, even if the sex was happening right at their faces. Here, they also had some cool water, but it was limited and only available to the upper class. They made this by digging very very deep wells. "Ah, only with Hesso can I taste cool water at this time!" one cronie said, tone admiring to Hesso, who was now being fanned by slaves while being wiped cool water by Misha. "Well, he is the heir to the lordship!" Hesso grinned. "Uncle sent these two water elementalists to me, too," he said, proud that the Lord thought so much of him. The cronies nodded in agreement, receiving some cool water to cool their faces. The utter waste of water made the newcomers glare, but what could they do, right? The newcomers didn''t move and waited patiently for the next instructions. When one of the main servants finished watching the degeneracy¡ªno doubt dreaming that he''d get to taste too when the masters were tired of the woman¡ªhe turned to see them there. His eyes traced over Sarah, which made them nervous. He frowned. "So dirty! What are you doing?" "I was on night feces duty, but fortunately I fell on soil this time, so it does not smell," she explained. "No water to bathe." The servant looked at her up and down and then to the empty fanning spot. He accepted her explanation¡ªit was too hot to think¡ªand the newcomers lined up to position, getting their own fans. Some of the fans were made of weaved dried leaves, while some were made of fabric. They were rather large and it would definitely get tiring swinging it around for hours on end without stopping. They did their jobs, listening to the nobles'' rants as they did so and, more often than not, they felt their brains heating up from anger too. "So hot¡­ I feel so sticky! It''s so annoying!" "FAN FASTER!" "Sigh, so smelly¡­" "So many corpses around after all. I dunno what the slave leaders are doing, not getting rid of the bodies fast enough." "Useless¡­" While they ranted like this, the slaves worked hard to fan them as they were ordered to do. With the current heat, it was like making the ''baking'' a bit more comfortable. They had to do this for hours straight, no matter how tired their arms became, all while watching the disgusting men enjoy using water to sprinkle on their faces and even their feet. It felt like their throats were closing in on themselves, and yet they had to watch these people waste it. This torture was worse than having to continue moving their sore arms. "Thirsty," Glem mumbled, making a few people turn to him. This made Hesso chuckle. Using his feet, he pointed at the foot bath. "You can get a gulp." Glem was really so thirsty so he really kneeled down to get as big of a gulp as he could. Sarah and Gurnam closed their eyes, but at the same time, they understood. They could drink dirty water too, but somehow they couldn''t handle it being from these pieces of trash. At some point, another fanner fell down, unable to take the heat and tiredness anymore. The nobles were unfazed as they lay. "Tsk, throw him out." "Waste. Don''t feed him for a day. We need to ration anyway." "We already decided to reduce their food to once every three days sir," the main servant corrected him. Before, they could feed their slaves once a day (most of the time), but with the lack of resources, they were naturally the first ones to suffer. After all, food had become much more expensive now. Towns had subsidiary villages that were required to give tribute, they also had a lot of farms, so most of the earning population shouldn''t starve. It was still costly and they were unwilling to spend too much on slaves. Anyway, people had relatively stronger physiques and could last several days without food or water. They''d be on the verge of death after that, but that was beside the point. "Oh right. Then¡­ no food tomorrow!" He said this as if the food they gave wasn''t just stale bread the size of the palm. The group continued to chatter, not caring about the dark looks of the slaves, especially Gurnam. However, there were guards around and him attacking them with his pitiful level was just pure stupid. It neared the peak of the day and it had begun to swelter. Even Gurnam''s strong arms were tiring, let alone the others''. He looked worried at Sarah, who noticed his stare. He mouthed ''are you alright'' and she smiled, shaking her head and telling him she was okay. Her arms were shaking though and he could tell her hold on the fan was weaker. Soon, another slave fell down, and two new ones were brought in. One was William who gasped when he saw his daughter in a compromising position, rubbing a man''s feet, continuously washing it with water. William wanted to move but his daughter shook her head, her teary eyes breaking her father''s heart. The men were too self-absorbed to notice any interaction among the slaves. They just continued with their chatter, with the slaves silently listening in. This time, fortunately, it was nothing related to them. Otherwise, they''d die due to an aneurysm just by listening. They seemed to be discussing someone they disliked. The conversation went from ''when will the heat end'' to ''how bad the villages had it''. "Wow. That Rowan guy''s not back yet right?" Hesso asked, as if just remembering something. "He really stayed in a village?" Surut laughed at the thought. "Does that mean he''s staying in a village at this heat ? HAHA!" The other men seemed to have imagined this and they cackled to themselves. With their unattractive faces, bad vibes, and generally rotten cores, the slaves really really wanted to punch their faces. "Damn, the image is satisfying!" Surut squinted his eyes in happiness. "Maybe he''s dead," he said, turning to Langot, the favorite son of the territory''s top merchant. "Your idea about sending him out there is really good," he said. "My idea of just getting him killed somewhere was really boring." Langot grinned, showing off those yellowish teeth of his (which just couldn''t be turned white no matter how much Papra plant he consumed, mostly because of his unhealthy diet). "My pleasure." "Heh, he dares one-up us so much when he''s just a commoner." "He thinks because he''s an elementalist, he''s above us," another sneered. "Suffering like this in this heat more than we are makes it all feel better." "Sigh, I hope he''s alive¡ªso that he suffers a lot." Anyway, the conversation ended up being all about the guy and it was obvious that he affected all of them, whether they admitted it or not. The Terrans didn''t know who this ''Rowan'' guy was, but they were very very invested in his survival. Chapter 868 - 868: Heat Waves in the Satellite Villages Rowan at this time was uncomfortable with the heat, but he was definitely not suffering. The associate villages were doing relatively well, thanks to the knowledge and resources Alterra gave them. This was especially true for the extensions: Iron Mountains and Limestone Valley. Both these territories also had the advantage of having their warehouse directly controlled by Althea. That was to say: They had a lot of resources. In both territories, they had set up the Alterra Shop, official shops which sold various products from the Alterra Warehouse. Of course, because Althea had to carry these items herself from warehouse to the outside shed, there was a very huge markup put on each item. ((These items were blessed by getting carried directly by the Lord herself, even if it was just in her large space, so naturally there was a premium.)) Of course, because of the usefulness of the items, people still rushed to buy them all anyway. These materials included things like Insulation materials and saltpeter. She also moved some umbrellas and caps and the like. However, unlike in Alterra where people could take out loans in the Bank in case they didn''t have enough money, the satellites didn''t have this right just yet, so only the better off could actually afford these things for now. However, the leadership in both territories did the best they could for the citizens, mostly by providing relatively comfortable underground bunkers for the masses. Iron Valley with its hundreds of goblins created a great network of tunnels underneath it. Although it was a little stuffy, they had all been through much worse, and being there spiked up their rates of survival so no one complained. These tunnels were placed in some parks, and thanks to the goblins they could dig deep enough so they didn''t have to uproot to many precious trees within the territory. There were also some built by the mountains, but they weren''t too deep as it could risk soil erosion because of the ongoing mining on the other side. The houses here weren''t built like in Alterra¡ªthat was, designed to handle the climate¡ªso it was torture to stay in them, at least in the standards of Alterrans. The dormitories were full as well, and the custom house communities were also full. The dormitories were lined with insulation by the territory, but not every private house managed to secure insulating materials. This was why most of the thousands of people stayed in the tunnels, regardless of whether they owned a house or not. Because Alterra planned well, there were also some minor facilities there like makeshift bathroom areas, community areas, and the like. There were also small rooms created. Syncing it with the system, the people here could rent these rooms for a few copper a day. There were also mushroom and other plant life that thrived in such environment, so they made sure to create ample farm for these crops. Since the planting had started days before the heat wave, the farms could be harvested shortly after it started. The network of tunnels was amazingly done and now that it was the direct reason so many lives were saved, the aborigines couldn''t help but admire the goblins a bit more. The Terrans were not shy in expressing this admiration, of course. "Good job," Reno said and Silvia smiled, making the little things blush in shyness. The goblins had never been appreciated before and it was a new feeling. It made them want to cry. With the Terrans'' leads, more and more aborigines had shown some appreciation to the goblins, though most still looked down on them. Some even had the attitude of ''it was only right for them to serve'', but fortunately they didn''t speak so out loud. Understandably, some directly still hated the goblins as well, primarily due to the war with goblins not long ago. After all: that war killed many citizens and destroyed so much property, some of which was everything people owned. However, it was a good start, and Silvia and the others were satisfied with the progress. ¡­ As part of the daily routine, Silvia walked across the tunnels, examining the places of stay. The hallways were relatively crowded but they were wide and there the walls were not too jagged as to cause injuries. Her brother was right beside her, though he was set to make rounds around the tunnel as one of the guards. He was also there to see early if there was someone who passed, so they could take him out so they didn''t rot in their rooms for too long. Fortunately, there was no such case yet. It was in these cases that they appreciated the improved physiques they received. If they had their Terran bodies in this type of weather, it was estimated a good quarter of the Terrans¡ªat least those outside of Alterra''s circle¡ªwould''ve died by now. While her thoughts flew, Silvia ended up in the small community space. It was basically just a large cavern leading to smaller rooms. This was also nearest to the surface and was naturally much hotter. Of course, the tunnels was still relatively hot due to the number of people inside¡ªthere were thousands¡ªbut it was infinitely better than the heat above ground. They chose this time to make rounds because the people would be holed in their rooms rather than in the hallways, which would''ve made it hard to move around. When dusk came, then people would also come out one by one, going out for fresh air when night arrived. Anyway, since becoming a satellite, Gill had also made it a project to light up the place at night. Alterra got their Lighthouse from Fargo, after all, and Guia had no such thing. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although there were torches before, they weren''t a lot. Even the mines, which operated the entire 28 hours back then, had minimal lighting because the goblins could see well at night. At the same time, the lighting meant it was a bit hot in the hallways. But Silvia wanted to do her job well and endure so she continued with her rounds. At some point though, she found a ceramic bottle near her face and she blinked, startled. She turned her head to see who it was, and a smile crept up her face as she took it. "Thank you," she said, eyes looking softly at the redhead. "Aren''t you hot?" "I''m a fire element. My tolerance to this is a bit higher than most people." Rowan said, his eyes following her movements as she lifted the bottle to drink. If other people were there, they would give Rowan the side-eye. How many words did he just say in a single sentence? But the two of them were in their own world and Rowan watched as she sipped on his bottle. However, frowned a bit when he realized she only took a sip. "You should drink more," he said and she shook her head. "We need to conserve, remember?" she said, and Rowan had to accept it. They went on rounds together after that, checking the status of the tunnels as well as the farms. "Will it be really so hot for weeks?" she asked, wiping her sweat. "It''s not going to get worse, is it? "Well, it''s difficult to say for certain," he said. "Regardless, you guys really prepared well." In the end, Silvia just sighed and looked at a distance, towards the tunnel that was still long and a little dark. "Let''s just hope everyone survives this ordeal." Chapter 869 - 869: Lovesick Fool At this time, Gill was sitting in the cellar of a villa. He naturally felt uncomfortable delaying the search for Cassandra by another week or two, but his sense of responsibility remained. Not to mention, going out when he clearly knew a disaster was coming was idiotic, no matter how much he wanted to do it. The leading team and a couple of ''richer'' citizens bought the insulation materials for their homes (well, the Terrans did), ensuring that they had their own private space even at this time. If they could afford it, why would they endure feeling other people''s body heat and sniffing their body odor, right? Anyway, not long ago, Althea built a large villa for the inner circle and whoever would be assigned to lead the territory at the time. It was composed of a few modules already existing in Guia (albeit heavily modified). It was also fenced with gardens, so they would have their own private parks. While they encouraged integration with aborigines, there were times when they''d just wanted to socialize peacefully in an open space, only among themselves. Gill had long abandoned Baltimore''s old house, which was converted to a massive dormitory and orphanage¡ªthe lower floors also lined with insulation¡ªand had moved to this area. That place was uselessly big and frankly, he couldn''t stomach staying there. In contrast, the wars had left a lot of children and teens making do in the slums. It was quite pitiful and when Silvia saw it she immediately went ahead and made the suggestion. Further, while it was a known fact that conceiving was more difficult in this world, at least among the higher levels, it was much more difficult to support another life when one was poor and struggling. This was why in villages¡ªwith lower-level people who did not have much difficulty in conceiving yet¡ªit wasn''t uncommon to see abandoned children at all. Those children now had a new lease of life. Sadly, they didn''t get to enjoy it fully because the heat wave arrived. Basically, it was like everything turned barren overnight. Even the system farms were mostly dried up except for a few drought-resistant crops improved in Alterra, and this was already a cause of wander to the locals who had never seen plants growing so well in this heat. This fact definitely increased the Alterrans'' prestige in Iron Valley. The improved seeds were sent via the Warehouse as soon as the Heat Wave was foreseen. These were sent along with other things like fertilizers and some portable insulation. Eventually, the excess was sent and sold in the Alterra Shop. Everyone was also asked to stock up for at least a month, just in case, so no one really panicked when it really happened. The stocks though were either in a manually-created warehouse (with guards stationed at all times) or with individual teams/households. The issue of stockpiling was a challenge when it came to the satellites because the warehouse was only accessible to the Lord, who wasn''t even there. The satellites could rarely use the System Warehouse unless they were sending goods to the main territory. They had to store their items in a different place, which was risky, especially during wars, but what could they do? At this heat, everyone was just focused on surviving. Anyway, at this time, Gill was spending the day in the basement which contained their stocks for the month as well as some makeshift but comfortable beds. The underground ''room'' of the villa was outfitted with three bunk beds. Because Rowan was doing rounds, only three beds were occupied for now. During the heat wave, the ''working hours'' were swapped, with the hot mornings as the rest times and most of the activities being done at night. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was fine in theory, but¡­ the thing was, it wasn''t easy to fall asleep and rest in this heat. This also meant they had too much time to think and get agitated. And so¡­ the three grown men stared at the ceiling (or the soffit of the bed above), and they found themselves daydreaming after several minutes more of boring quiet. Gill thought of Cassandra, wondering what could''ve made her break up with him through letter. It was so abrupt and unlike her. Whatever the truth was, he wanted to hear of it from her own mouth. Hugo was also in a daze looking up, using his arm as a pillow. He knew Alterra was far more prepared than they were, but he couldn''t help but wonder how they were there. Was she very uncomfortable? But then he remembered she had a capable husband and his mood was strangely relieved as it was bitter. What about the babies? Because he was there when she gave birth, he was also fond of the twins. In fact, he''d have been one of the uncles who sent gifts to the babies if it wasn''t inappropriate, with ''Inappropriate'' in the sense that her husband definitely wouldn''t like it. He had a lot of similarities to her husband in terms of personality, so he knew what the man would hate. They could sense each other, but they kept it decent lest Althea felt uncomfortable. In the same vein, it was also natural for him to think of ''What-ifs''. If he had met her first, would she have been attracted to him instead? However, he didn''t let that thought fester. He just closed his eyes and willed himself to rest. After all, at night, the mobs could become active. While the two older men were feeling pained and melancholic, Helios was not much different. He was dreaming of that fateful night, as he always did. He could still remember every detail of that night. Her pretty face and how it flushed in pleasure, her hair that cascaded down her shoulder to her breasts, and her sweet voice letting out sensual moans that made him crazy. Where was she? Weren''t women here conservative? Why would she just run away? Did he look like someone who couldn''t take responsibility?! At this thought, he suddenly bolted up and turned. Feet on the floor below him, he faced Gill''s bed with a serious expression. He didn''t speak for a while and the other two noticed the oddity, soon turning their heads to look at him. Helios looked conflicted. However, he heaved a deep breath and looked at Gill. "I heard you''re going away to look for someone after this?" He asked and the two other men narrowed their eyes at him. "Yes, and?" Helios gulped, but he said it anyway. "Can I come with you?" Chapter 870 - 870: Another Lovesick Fool Hugo immediately sat up and his feet slammed on the floor. He looked at his nephew, wondering if he was hearing things. "What?" Helios unconsciously leaned back, but he forced himself to keep stern. "I know this might sound sudden, but¡ª" "It is." "I want to find her¡­" Hugo rubbed his forehead, realizing what this was about. He gave his nephew an exasperated look. "You don''t even know her name." Gill looked at him, "I have a place to go to," he said. "I can''t join you in your¡­ search." Helios knew this and considered this answer. "You don''t have to worry about me. I will follow you until I get news from her." Gill shrugged. As long as it didn''t interfere with his own plans, he''d just have to report this to the Elders so they could send an additional replacement for them. Gill didn''t care, but the uncle naturally did. Hugo frowned and looked at him deeply. "You don''t know anything about her. How do you plan to find her?" "She has such a unique look to her, and I could just ask around in Ferrol¡ª" "You don''t go look for a woman¡ªin a place like this¡ªfor her looks ," Hugo said, bluntly cutting him off. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This world was not a playground. Every corner was dangerous. Did he think that it was as safe as Alterra everywhere? For one thing, monsters farther away were stronger than they were! Did he protect him too much? Did his success so far get into his head? Helios didn''t want to give up. He respected his uncle and his opinions, but doing nothing would be a lifelong regret. He''d rather risk everything than live with that! "I know that!" he said. "I¡­ I already purchased a lot of Beast Repelling potions and other consumables¡­ I also bought spare weapons¡ª" "You''re underestimating the dangers of this world," Hugo said. "You''re literally putting your life on the line for a woman you had met once ! Are you a fool?" "Uncle. Tell me, I have found the woman! Are you seriously going to tell me to just give it up?!" he said, dark eyes filled with determination. "I need to at least know why she ran! I need to know how she thought of me. I can''t rest otherwise!" "If she doesn''t like you?" "If¡­ if I find out she didn''t like me at all¡­ then I will try to convince her, I will court her," he said. "If that doesn''t work, then I can leave her alone. "The point is: I have to try," he said. "Please understand me, uncle." Hugo looked at him, their eyes meeting. He could see the stubbornness in his nephew''s eyes and perhaps he wouldn''t stop unless he cut off his legs. Hugo''s eyes glazed, and he couldn''t help but recall that beautiful woman who saved thousands with her mind and charm. But he also knew he didn''t have a chance, and so he did not try. What right did he have to stop his nephew from pursuing his? ¡­ Just before Dusk. Limestone Valley was even better as a place much closer and more connected to Alterra. It was also filled with innovative Terrans, rather than the stubborn aborigines, so they could get past the differences and started working on how to make their lives a bit better. Kyle was one of the guards here and, at this time, he was bravely doing his rounds. They weren''t required to do rounds at the height of the day, but they were asked to do so starting from dusk to dawn. Of course, it was still very hot during the transitions so he not only had a very durable umbrella, he also bought tons of sunscreen from the Alterra Shop. He was rewarded very generously during the last war, and he happened to have had some extra money. Of course, a lot of acquaintances borrowed money from him. It was just that after the first few borrowings, he decided to adopt the pay-first system. He didn''t want to be an ATM! "I wonder how long this heat will happen," his teammate mumbled, wiping his sweat. "I really hate it. I feel so¡­ slimy and stuffy, even when the sun''s already going down." Like in Alterra, Guards generally came in pairs or groups of 3, densely going around the territory to ensure peace and order. One of Kyle''s teammates happened to be an aborigine. His name was Repo, a swordsman he had been teamed up with for a while. So far, he did his job well as the close-ranged combater partnered with him, the archer. Their other teammate was another aborigine, Lumot, who was actually a cleaner when he was hired in the Village Center. However, his level was 7 so they decided to hire him as a guard instead. It was like a dream come true for Lumot and he naturally worked very hard to keep his position. Despite not having a fighter profession, he wanted to prove himself so he was among the first to get ready for rounds, as if ready to fight. It was also him who, after about an hour of relatively peaceful rounds (except for a few hotheaded spats due to the heat), noticed something was wrong somewhere in the forest. He saw smoke from a distance and ran in that direction. His heart beat loudly, calling on his teammate to hurry up. "It''s a fire!" he yelled, and he and Repo went pale as they got closer to the smoke. They felt like crying a bit. They had seen how much damage a fire in the Heat Wave could cause. Both of them had the experience of watching interior forests burn down, making people''s hearts and hopes die out with it. In Repo''s hometown during the previous heat wave, a fire caused widespread starvation among the poorer folks. Because the inner forest didn''t recover fast enough, and people were too weak to venture outside, so many people died in the end. Lumot''s previous territory had it even worse. The entire forests inside the walls got destroyed by the fire and, because of the winds that passed, the embers flew to the slums, causing massive fires there as well. The slums were mostly made of wood, which had lost moisture because of the weather, and the fire spread quickly in a blink of an eye. Before they knew it, an entire slum area was razed to the ground, taking dozens of lives in the process. They had found such a good territory! It''d be a great pity to see it suffer the same fate. They had to kill this fire as soon as possible, but could they do it fast enough? They had no excess water¡ª Poof! The two aborigines watched as Kyle threw a ball to the fire¡ªAlterra''s patented FireKiller Ball¡ªreleasing an explosion of powder upon impact, killing the fire in a few seconds. "..." Eh¡­ what just happened? Kyle saw them on the verge of tears and looked a bit confused. Did the heat melt their brains? "What is it?" "...where''s the fire?" "Dead." "The fire is dead? Just like that?" Kyle finally understood their shock, and he broke to a smile. "Hmn, just like that." The two aborigines gaped at him and then at the fire that didn''t even become a threat for long. What was this operation? Chapter 871 - 871: Night Arrived Night finally arrived and everyone could somehow breathe. Well, especially in Alterra, which didn''t absorb much heat from morning due to the greeneries and it was quite cool in the evening. In other places, it would still be sweltering because the stones stocked the heat, releasing it at night. In any case, night time was infinitely better than the day, especially since they didn''t lack lighting so activities could go on full-force again, thereby their economy wouldn''t stagnate much during the next few weeks. Althea heaved a sigh, kissing her babies'' plump cheeks. They were now quite active because they slept through the morning. Although no one was used to it, with their endless fanning and her husband''s abuse of his ice ability, she and the babies were definitely much more comfortable than others. Anyway, now it was dark and the heat dispersed, they had all the energy in the world. "Mhgamaaaa¡­" "Ghurgmamaa¡­" She gently touched their soft faces and rubbed their plump tummies, making them giggle. She was so sad to see them so weak in the morning and she was relieved to see them so energetic now. They had naturally already bathed before during dusk to cool off and wipe down the sweat, so they were all quite refreshed at this time. The family hung around for a while, with Garan¡ªas always¡ªlifting little Meatball in an attempt to make him float on his own. The baby would giggle and look like he was swimming while his father''s large hand supported his belly. Sadly, in no instance did he actually end up floating. It was just a running joke at this point but it was cute so Garan could only continue doing so. Little Pepper and Althea just watched the two boys in amusement, with Little Pepper sucking on her pacifier as if watching a show. If Ansel was here, he would poke her cheek and whisper, "You think they''re idiots, too, right?" S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Heh¡­ In any case, the two kids soon got a little twitchy and wanted to move. They carried a baby each and went to the balcony to hang out there. Even from where they were, they could hear the crowds and mumblings outside and they knew pretty much everyone in the territory went out for some fresh air. "We have thousands of people now, probably a few times more than before our first war," Garan noted, looking at the crowds outside. It was already like this in their street, which wasn''t dense. He could imagine the big crowds in the denser part of the village. Althea, cooing on Little Pepper, couldn''t help but look at her stats again curiously. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 6985 (2503 permanent, 4482 temporary) Total Population: 10324 Base Resources: Wood: 12300/20000 Stone: 9200/15000 Money: 25731 Gold, 89699 Silver, 1298699 copper Prestige: 590 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv2), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv2), Barracks (Lv2) Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1) Building Slots: 8/9 (+11)] The population was boosted due to the wars. Fortunately, Alterra was designed to comfortably handle a large influx. Not to mention, their tunnels could hold thousands of people. So¡­ even if their population doubled, they wouldn''t lack a place to accommodate anyone. However, while it increased, it didn''t bloat as much as it could''ve. The territories they won had tens of thousands of people in total, but they did not push them to go to Alterra (well, except for the professionals). This was why the cumulative number of migrants was only in the few thousands, which was already the combined number from Shrao Village and Limestone Valley in the past couple of weeks. Slaves were also considered ''non-entities'' and were thus only included in the total population, but were not counted anywhere else. As for the Wealth, it was a combined of all three territories. She spent a lot on fixing the two territories, but fortunately they earned a lot of money, specifically gold and silver, from the aborigines. She was looking forward to the next deals. As for the buildings, they earned a lot from the previous two wars. When merging territories, the master territory could use the buildings of the satellites, but not the other way around. In that same vein, if she chose to cancel or sell the satellite, then the system building would disappear in her territory. From what she heard, this was one of the many reasons why master territories were reluctant to let go even when they found a better alternative. Anyway, for a village, her stats were really incredibly superior. The next step she''d have to look at¡ªalthough with a lot of caveats¡ªwas the upgrade to Town Level. The requirement for a town was 20000 population, 15000 residents, and 1000 prestige. The first two weren''t that difficult to achieve for most territories. Rather, it was the prestige that was the challenge. For others, anyway. For Alterra, it could be just as simple as getting population. Before the war, her prestige was only 300. In the span of a few weeks, it almost doubled. The prestige spiked because of their partnerships with Ferrol and the Golds¡ªboth superior territories in their own ranks¡ªso influencing them alone gave a sizeable amount of reputation and prestige, let alone the fact that they also had their own subsidiaries and allies that were also affected in turn. Even if Alterra''s name wasn''t used, as with the Golds who wished to hide their source, they still received the prestige regardless. Apparently, the stat wasn''t in the literal sense of people ''knowing their name'', but rather the actual influence they had built¡ªwhether directly or indirectly. Further, this was combined with the fact that they took two territories as satellites, which was the literal expansion of their influence. Every citizen they took over in those places also had some bearing in Alterra''s overall prestige, even if they were hundreds of kilometers away. At this rate, they''d¡­ really reach Town within the year. And¡­ they weren''t ready. Chapter 872 - 872: Night Attacks (Part 1) Anyway, back to the story~! S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ... ____ They were not ready to upgrade to a Town. Or rather, they might be, but she wasn''t satisfied with that. Although the cap was much higher, it didn''t mean every enemy they''d face would have forces at that level. Much like how the village cap was 15, but those at that level were already the powerhouses of Level 3 Villages. Towns were the same. But the thing was: she wanted to be overpowered for her tier. That was the only way she could guarantee her people''s lives and livelihood. She told her worries to her husband. She believed she needed more time to do this, and he agreed with her. "We will delay it," he said, holding Little Meatball''s onesie as he attempted to climb on his shirt and up to his shoulder. The baby boy could not walk on his own yet, but he could climb well for some reason. Garan was so used to this by now, and he spoke like there was no one climbing up on his face. "I also need time to raise the overall level of the guards to ensure their survival at that level." The level cap for Town was now level 40. Although Level 1 Towns rarely had a lot of such high-leveled people, the fact was that there could be such powerhouses joining the war. Not to mention, late level 20s and level 30s were likely prevalent during that time. "Gooogppphhh!" Little Meatball said, drooling all over her father''s shirt as he tried to pat the man''s chin. Despite the seriousness of the conversation, Althea couldn''t help but giggle at her energetic baby boy''s antics. Holding her well-behaved daughter with one hand, she poked his bum with the other. "Mwammmaahh!" Little Pepper mumbled, putting her tiny hands on Althea''s lips. Her heart melted and she kissed the baby''s palm. The couple ended up going back down, to the living room to play with the babies as they discussed strategies. Although it was technically working hours at night¡ªso everyone else was outside working¡ªthe two of them were elders and had flexible time. They had decided to do their tasks after the children fell asleep, so they wanted to tire them out first. The babies giggled loudly, milky voices echoing in the room, as they tickled them both and then letting them play on the playcot, hopefully to use up their energies soon enough. "Should we really modify the residency costs?" She wondered as she handed Pepper a cute rattle toy, and Meatball something to bite on with his single teeth. Each baby was sitting on a parent''s thigh, with Pepper on her mother''s and Meatball on his dad''s. Garan nodded, patting the boy''s small head as he chomped on his toy. The Baby boy soon got bored of it and started to try climbing up his dad again. "Yes," he said and, with a slight sigh, he lifted the baby with an arm again. The baby giggled, trying to ''swim'' again as he flailed his small arms and legs. Meatball, obviously, preferred high places. They were not sure that was a good thing. They could only imagine the trouble he''d cause when he could walk. Worse: when he could fly . Anyway, there were more pressing matters to attend to, so they pushed this thought for now, returning to the topic at hand. "Hopefully there wouldn''t be a backlash if we increased," she said. "Anyway, life is good in Alterra even if the residency is delayed." Before, Ansel had already proposed to add requirements for the residencies especially since more and more people had been buying them after gaining a lot of points and money during the war. They had already adjusted the costs of things as well as the salaries to balance out with the markets outside. This was so their people would be able to live decently even if they went adventuring outside. However, the residency costs themselves hadn''t risen since before the war. This time, they would have to¡ªeven if just for the sake of delaying the inevitable. "I''ll discuss it with the elders after the disaster," Althea said, earning herself a chaste kiss on the cheek from her husband (all while holding out their son). She blinked. "You work too hard," he just told her, eyes deeply looking at her. "You work harder," she responded with a smile. Before Garan could lean down to meet her lips again¡ªall while holding out the excessively energetic baby boy¡ªthe doorbell rang. They blinked and Garan, after handing Meatball to Althea, went down to greet their guests. Althea looked in the direction of the front door and stood up, carrying a baby on each arm. "Let''s go greet our guests, okay?" "Mwammhhaa!" "Googgmmma!" She chuckled and went to follow her husband''s footsteps. When she arrived, she heard the guards reporting with some urgency. "Captain!" he said. "Our Observatory watchers saw a mob heading our way!" Her feet paused, and Garan turned to look at her. His serious expression softened at the sight of his family, and it was as if he hadn''t just been with them a minute prior. Althea looked at them in concern. One of the things about the Extreme Heat¡ªaccording to what they have gathered from aborigines¡ªwas that there were challenges the entire day. In the morning, it was the weather. At night, it was the mobs. The monsters rested in the morning¡ªlike they did¡ªso the damned things hunted at night. In fact, the mobs had arrived late and less in Alterra, likely because they cleared out monsters in their area before the heat. Most other territories had been attacked far earlier. However, now well into the night, they were finally going the experience their first ''Extreme Heat'' Monster Mob. According to the information, they were particularly violent during this period. Whether it was the heat, the hunger, or an overall change in hormones, it was not clear. All they knew was that the monsters were a bit more dangerous than usual. "We''ll deal with it," Garan said, sighing, walking back to kiss his wife''s face, and then leaning down to kiss his children. They both puckered their lips adorably, and the ice-block man couldn''t help but melt again, leaning down to kiss their soft cheeks. "Go rest," he said. "It will be a long night." And he turned to join the guards, heading out the walls to deal with the enemy. And so¡­ began the first of many nights of that period. Chapter 873 - 873: Night Attacks (Part 2) Althea watched his back as he left, but she wasn''t very worried. Rather, she wondered how the others outside Alterra were doing. This was something every territory was probably going through today. While the humans were tired, restless, and had just survived the perilous morning, the monsters became active, looking for food. Alterra and the associate villages were better because they pretty much just rested at home to pass the heat. They just switched their times to nightshift. They were also very aware of what was to come and had created policies and made other preparations against them. What about other villages? Aborigine villages had many experiences with this before and, although there were deaths, they should be able to adapt well enough to keep their respective territories standing. But¡­ what about Terran villages? This was all extremely new to them. She couldn''t help but worry. She could only hope that the Terran Villages that had survived this long had hired aborigines who could guide them through such a disaster. Anyway, while a part of the guard team¡ªas the sentries could defend them well enough¡ªensured that the night would be peaceful for everyone else, Althea spent time with her energetic children. She was usually overworked with either pharmacy or her array studies, and it was rare that she could babysit them like this. They had rushed to finish every research item before the heat wave hit, and this was including finalizing some formulas. So now that that was done, she just had to turn them over to production and now she had free time. The children particularly liked to play with the magic aether toys Oslo gave them. It was a ball that floated about a feet above ground and went in random directions, designed to encourage the movement of children. This one was actually supposed to be given when they could walk already, but Althea couldn''t wait and kinda wanted to tire the kids out so she could join her husband outside. Of course, the energy was not unlimited and had to be placed with some force before it could work again. In their case, an elementalist simply had to direct any elements inside and it would work as new. She placed some energy and watched as the ball floated slowly around the room. She used her ability to study the arrays there as they played. They were quite complex but she recorded them while her babies crawled to follow the slow-moving hovering ball. They weren''t crawling fast enough, however, and eventually it left them. Athea couldn''t help but laugh out loud when two babies mumbled loudly in their cute milky voice, as if trying to get it back. "Mmmmhgaawaaa!" "Grugmawhaaa!" They yelled before crawling after it. They looked adorable in the animal onesie pajamas and she was tempted to poke their bums. She chuckled and shook her head as she added a few more notes in her array notebook. She scribbled a couple of lines for a second and lifted her head to check on the babies¡­ ¡­only to see Little Meatball floating and Little Pepper already on the other side of the room, just waiting for the ball to head in her direction with open arms. "..." ¡­ On the battlement. The monsters during this period were indeed more rabid. In contrast to fear of mobs though¡ªas one would normally think¡ªAlterran soldiers, guards, and citizens were relieved for them. "AH! FINALLY!" Someone yelled, raising his hand as if to welcome the dark ominous wave coming in their direction. Someone was chewing on jerky as he watched the mob get closer and closer. "I had awakened a new skill before that damned heat wave. I can finally practice it!" S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Beside him, Hubert stretched his arms and clicked his knuckles. "I thought I was going to grow molds in there." In Alterra, it had become a habit to train, to keep aiming to become stronger, and to move forward. Just sitting in their rooms eating ice cream was something that was (literally) from another world now. After a bit, it simply wouldn''t feel comfortable anymore. Now came the cool night, and the night life of the territory was at its peak. And then the bell rang one time and pretty much everyone awake went to run towards the gate. They didn''t know how long the heat wave would last but they wouldn''t be able to stomach not training a bit during this time! The sentries had always been powerful and reliable and they had strong guards around also watching them. Mobs like this¡­ were perfect! ¡­ Garan came back home and saw that his wife and children were sleeping peacefully on the bed. He didn''t go down the battlement today¡ªhe didn''t have to¡ªand all he did was throw ice columns whenever someone was in danger. He gently placed the children in the crib, gently rubbing their heads before giving them soft kisses. His movements caused his wife to shift, opening her eyes a bit. He sat next to her and rubbed her cheeks. "Did I wake you?" He said this but his voice was a bit raspy. After all, because it was a little hot even at night, she wasn''t wearing a blanket, and was wearing her thinnest night dress. Althea was unaware that her peaceful sleeping position was seducing a monster. She just innocently shook her head, though it looked more like she was rubbing her head in his palm. "No," she said, "I wanted to sleep lightly until you came back. How was it?" He crawled to the bed and enveloped his wife to his embrace and she settled in his warmth, very comfortable. "It''s not a big mob, nothing the sentries couldn''t handle. However, a lot of people felt like they were rotting in the rooms the whole day and went ahead to clear the mobs out." It wasn''t an exaggeration to say their citizens were hungry for some battle and they welcomed this mob. Most of the aborigines and the other newcomers though were extremely shocked as they watched the people''s attitude¡ªunderstandably so. They would be very confused for days, befuddled with the abnormal territory and its similarly weird citizens. Some newcomers, of course, fit right in. For instance, Tacky and his friends gaped at the unusual attitude. They had heard of the mobs coming from people''s chatters (they lived in the tunnels) and were scared at first. But when the bell rang and many people actually ran out of the gate, they were definitely confused. When they saw that, while dangerous, it wasn''t impossible to deal with the monsters, they soon got into the mood of war-freakiness as well. Garan said everything he knew to his wife. "Even if another mob comes, our territory wouldn''t be shaken even by a bit." She giggled. Unexpectedly, she felt large arms rub her thighs, and soon went under her skirt. "Now that''s settled¡­" She blinked, lifting her head to look at him. "It was very difficult not to touch you the whole day," he said, kissing her cheek. They were together the whole day yet he could not touch her that way. The sweat and grime attached to her skin made everything even more difficult and he knew she wouldn''t be in the mood to do any ''strenuous'' activity in the day. So now, he was actively seducing her while the weather was okay. Althea giggled, tickled by his ministrations. But then remembered what happened with the toy and she held his hand to stop him from moving. She looked at him with wide eyes, though in Garan''s view it just made her look even more alluring. "By the way, there''s something else¡ª" Garan turned them over so his large frame enveloped her against the bed. He leaned down to meet her lips, immediately parting them with his tongue so he could taste his wife as intimately as possible. "Hmnn¡­" Althea let out a coquettish moan as she drowned under his ministrations, and Garan consumed her even more passionately in response. He lifted his head to pull up his shirt, revealing his wide shoulders, abs, and perfect mermaid line for her to admire. Whatever she was going to say, she had already forgotten about it. She entered a daze and her hand touched his chest. He smirked and leaned down to resume kissing her, lifting her nightdress up by the way. "We''ll talk about that tomorrow," he said while his lips hovered on hers, and a palm seductively groping at her breast. His hand slipped southwards and he activated the voice blocker as he did so. And so, the curtains fell for another spring night. The Heat Wave though, would last many more. Chapter 874 - 874: Heat and Starvations While Alterra was having a peaceful rest, almost everyone else was still restless, and it would not get easier for the next couple of days. In most territories, this period was characterized by nothing but suffering. The Heat Wave season was particularly harsh not only because of the weather, but because of the utter restlessness that came after. There was very little adjustment through this time; it was just pure torture for most. The morning could literally kill people, while the night¡ªthe supposed time to fix everything destroyed during the day¡ªwas just as restless. Whether it was to bury their dead, to do their jobs, or to hunt for food, this was the most active time for all territories. The atmosphere was still hot, but at least it was a bit tolerable and their skin wouldn''t burn when they went outside. But there were constant monster mobs during the night, killing more people, especially those who couldn''t gather enough energy. However, such weather was not the first in Xeno. It had been happening every few years or so, and had been happening since the beginning of time. For aborigines, deaths in the morning were nothing new. Their bodies had evolved and physiques had been improved so the deaths weren''t as bad as they could be¡ªprovided that they remained in some sort of shade¡ªbut it still went up to several hundred casualties every season or so. If the village was ill-prepared, it could go up to thousands, especially among slaves. In any case, the aborigines knew to stay awake at night to deal with the mobs, so they did try to catch up on rest in the mornings, but it wasn''t easy due to the extreme discomfort. They could even die of dehydration or suffocation while asleep. It wasn''t an uncommon occurrence, particularly to the lower-leveled individuals. One of the few things that made this survivable was the refresh rates. The drought-resistant plants of the forests regenerated some food every day or so, so if one went out early, one could still find food and not starve to death. However, after a few days of the Heat Wave, people became more and more aware¡­ that the refresh rate had been slowing down. This was especially obvious to the older aborigines who had been through dozens of Heat Waves in their lifetimes. Before, even if they couldn''t move in the mornings, they could at least forage within the walls at night. The produce wasn''t much¡ªnot a lot of plants survive the weather¡ªbut it kept them alive as long as they ate something every few days or so. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Now¡­ there were fewer plants to take, the leaves were smaller, and they bloomed a little slower. It was not obvious at first, but as time went on their harvest was diminishing at a palpable rate. Of course, most people didn''t actually come to this conclusion immediately. Rather, most would think other people foraged before they could, which caused a lot of desperate fights and unnecessary deaths. Ironically, in some territories, there were more deaths caused by the injuries from infighting, rather than deaths from starvation or parchedness. . After days of unnecessary bloodshed, others would just decide to go out earlier than others. People had to go out while the sun was out to forage, just so they didn''t run out. It was death either by starvation or by heatstroke, and even the aborigines had a hard time coping. They came to realize this was not the usual heat wave they had experienced before. As if the usual heat wave didn''t kill enough people, it decided to get even worse! Sure, they could hunt monsters, eat their meat and drink their blood, but they had to have the energy to fight against them first! Without the plants, without ready food sources, how would they be able to do so?! Going against the mobs without any health was suicide! Then people risked going out when the sky was out, no longer caring if they burned their skins. They could barely feel it with their hunger anyway. However, while many managed to keep what they worked for, in most cases they would be mobbed by fellowmen as soon as they got back into shades. Because they were weakened by the heat, they could no longer fight, and many died like this. They were gathering whatever live resources they could. It wasn''t easy as almost everything was dead, but they saw that the plants that were thriving obviously had some drought-resistance and focused on that. Hence, most people just went out earlier and earlier in the afternoon to get food before others could do so¡ªassuming the plant had already regenerated, in which case the timing itself also presented a challenge. They had no choice but to do so, even by burning their skins, and they also ate whatever they could find on the spot so they wouldn''t be stolen. No one wanted to have to go out at night, only to be eaten by monsters while gathering food! It was still safer this way! Further, they also realized that there were far lesser resources outside the walls. That was to say, there were more risks in getting burned because it was a distance away from shades, but also receive a lot less loot. This went on for days more but, unfortunately, when tragedy struck, it always struck in waves. Not everyone could go out midday, and there were still people who had to go out at night in hopes that some plants only ''matured'' during that time. They carried torches to light their way. However, a single flicker of ember could emblazed an entire shrub, and soon a side of the forest was covered with fire. "WHAT!?" They yelled, immediately making moves to contain it. However, it was too fast and they were too slow and weak and it quickly spread across the inner forest¡ªwhich was not that large to begin with. The fiery light of destruction reflected on their faces filled with despair. They could only cry, kneeling down on the ground, with hope utterly lost. Chapter 875 - 875: Fires More and more citizens appeared at the sight of the chaos, some directly beating up those responsible. How could they do this!? Ironically, even when they were weak from the hunger and the heat, they had a burst of energy in order to vent. Whether they were venting the anger due to the fire, or whether they were venting the anger for their situations, no one knew. On the other hand, some saw that it was hopeless and immediately ran to the other end of the indoor forests to pull out what they could. Even if it was dangerous, and the loot was very little, they had no choice. The rest focused on the tragedy in front of them: The blazing fire. The community worked together to at least save a small area. No matter how small, a patch of forest was a patch of forest! Although it would recover eventually, that''d take weeks! Would they still be alive by then!? However, no matter how desperately they wanted to stop the fire, what could they do in the end? They didn''t even have water to stop the fire, nor could they bury it fast enough. Not to mention, they saw how a team had focused on foraging what they could, so some people who had been trying to stop the fire abandoned their tasks to get what they could instead. In the end, everyone could only watch in tears as their remaining source of food inside the walls burned to crisp. ¡­ With the food sources inside the walls gone, people soon had no choice but to go outside to forage. However, they had no chance to do so because night had arrived and the beast mob found them again. They had to focus on defending their home, despite their groaning stomachs, dried throats, and weakened limbs. They had to use all their energy not to become food, barely managing to defend while they were mobbed and eaten by monsters even weaker than they were. At the same time, this also presented with an opportunity for them to gain food in the form of monster meat and their blood. Shinho, the head guard, saw this and he knew something had to be done. "Allow some inside!" he yelled, making the people gape at him. They were all covered with blood and grime, and they did not need their head guard delirious in hunger! "It''s food!" he yelled, as if reminding them of the meat in front of them. "As long as we mob it and kill it together, it is fine!" The people were enlightened a bit. They naturally do eat the meat of the monsters even before. However, at night, they would be too focused on their own survival. What was the point of hunting for food if one was already in the monster''s stomach? Further, during the heat wave, the monsters would also tend to take the carcasses of their dead in order to feed on them. The theory was that humans were not that attractive because of their lack of meat and energy at this time, and they preferred their own kind¡ªalbeit dead, in order not to spend any energy. This was why monsters still attacked territories even during the Extreme Heat seasons¡ªit was not just to collect the ''easy meat'' as per their instincts, but also to use the humans to kill their own kind, because infighting used too much energy and was too risky in the survival point of view. The monsters were not sentient, but they still had their survival instincts developed through generations of evolution. It also made it very difficult for humans to take advantage of this avenue for sustenance. Hence, leading a few manageable ones inside the walls and mobbing those beasts was the smartest move. It might cause damage to their homes, but it was better than the alternative! Shinho led a team to handle a monster that had entered, immediately causing havoc. People screamed and hid in their homes. A little boy ended up in the monster''s path of rampage. Shinho cursed and raised his weapon against it, pushing the boy aside. CLANK! His sword and its teeth collided. The monster was actually a few levels weaker than he was, but the physique differences were more pronounced now that he was weakened by hunger. CLANK! ROAAR!! "CAPTAIN!" yells from the side resounded as he fought against the monster. He recognized the voices as Hero and Rin, his deputies. They also rushed forward to fight a trespassing monster each. Obviously, more than the planned monsters had gotten in, so his deputies¡ªwho had been assigned their own section of the walls¡ªhad no choice but to help out. Their village had a few hundred guards, and they were relatively near other territories so the monster mobs weren''t as big as they could be, because they were distributed in the region. However, there were too few guards and slaves to handle such enemies alone. "HELP! EVERYONE! DEAL WITH THE BEASTS WITH US!" he yelled, hoping to reach those inside their homes. "These are our food! Our sustenance! Even without the forest, we will have our food and drink! "With our numbers, we can take them down!" There were only a handful of monsters that had entered, while there were thousands of citizens in their walls. Even if they didn''t move during normal mobs because they were afraid of fighting outside, then perhaps he could get them to help out this time! However, except for a handful, no one came out. Shinho could not dwell on this and had to focus on the challenges at hand. Clank! Slash! His battle with the monster continued with both of them receiving such injuries from each other. Surprisingly, a projectile flew in their direction, hitting the monster. It was the little boy he had saved before, apparently one of the citizens helping out. He threw rocks at the monster Shinho was facing. It wasn''t strong, but he was accurate, and one of the shots happened to hit the monster''s eye. ROAR! It flinched at the attack and turned by instinct, and Shinho used this chance to finally place the final blow. BANG! Shinho nodded at the boy with bright eyes and turned away to focus on another enemy. One monster down, a few more to go. ROARR!! Shinho and his teammates¡ªalong with a few citizens¡ªfocused on dealing with the monsters. The rest of the guards and slaves blocked the walls against the mobs, preventing more from coming in, and all this while most of the citizens were either hiding inside their homes or sobbing in hopelessness. Shinho and the others fought hard with the thought that they''d finally be able to have a decent meal after so many days. It was not a normal practice to let monsters leak in the walls. It was just instinct¡ªwho''d want enemies to enter one''s home? Anything could happen! However, Shinho believed this was a risk worth taking. They¡­ didn''t have much of a choice anymore! Mastering this was their hope to survive this disaster. Although they were weak from hunger and thirst, this bit of hope lit a fire in them. Don''t give up! They thought. They''d be able to handle this! S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 876 - 876: Heat and Tensions It was a long and hard fight throughout the night, and it finally stopped when dawn arrived and the temperature shot up again. By this time, dozens of the people had already perished¡ªmostly slaves¡ªpulled out by the monsters and divided amongst themselves. As tragic as it was, it was nothing new to them¡ªa daily occurrence during the heat wave, even¡ªso people moved on, and they focused on the food in front of them. After a long night, they got 10 beast carcasses, complete with meat and blood. People surrounded the goods, even those who only hid inside their homes while the walls were attacked. Of course, those who had fought immediately surrounded the food. How could they allow other people to share? There were thousands of people in the territory¡ªthe ten beasts would not be enough! Perhaps they wouldn''t even have a sip of blood! The guards looked as more and more people came out of their homes despite the increasing temperature, all to surround them. Things got even more uncomfortable because of the crowding. The atmosphere was already hot enough, and adding so many people made it even more insufferable. However, the guards didn''t move, surrounding the beasts, regardless of any discomfort. They were tired and hungry, but even if they had been weakened from the night-long fights, they certainly had the energy to defend their food! At the same time, the people had finally seen the ''light'' in the form of the beast carcasses. How could they let it go easily? With people delirious from tiredness and hunger¡ªand now with the temperature going up again¡ªtensions rose until people got physical. BANG! Two men were thrown back to the wall as they tried to approach the carcasses. They were kicked by two guards who were covered with blood and grime. They were exhausted and heaving deep breaths, but their willpower remained, determined to guard what they had fought hard for. Some citizens even had the audacity to look at them as if they were betrayed. The wife of one man cried and kneeled in front of her husband¡ªwho was a bit injured but fine¡ªand wailed as if he died. She glared at the guards, as if they were evil men. "We were just hungry! How could you do this!?" "YES!" "You were supposed to guard us!" another said. "We pay entrance fees every day to feed you!" "Yes! We pay you to get food for us!" "We also have the right to eat these things!" The guards naturally could not believe their ears, their hearts burning in annoyance and indignance. First of all, they paid for the fees as well! Their jobs was just to protect the territory¡ªnot to feed anyway! Hero, the relatively vocal one, stepped forward with a face red in anger and in heat. "We killed it! We worked for it!" he said. "It is ours!" Rin nodded. He was calmer, but his gaze was sharp. "If you wanted food, you should''ve fought with us." The guards as well as the citizens who helped out nodded in agreement. They risked their lives in this, and some really lost their lives, how could they be reconciled to get their wins taken like this? However, it only made the hot-headed citizens angrier. People generally wouldn''t go against stronger people, particularly the guards. However, they had already lost hope, their brains fried by the heat and melted by the hunger, they just didn''t care anymore. Anyway, they only had a couple hundred guards¡ªwho had been greatly weakened and were injured during the long night of fighting. In contrast, there were thousands of citizens, most of which had hidden inside their homes while the territory was attacked. With a bit more confidence, the citizens started piling up and mobbing the guards. The guards looked at the citizens in disbelief. If they could fight like this, why didn''t they do so last night? Did they think that they had been completely weakened from the fight that they wouldn''t be able to hurt them anymore?! The guards yelled and pushed and kicked, no longer caring how much hurt they caused the citizens. They did hurt people, and there were many people who got scared and wanted to back out, but then the momentum had already started and the people were too greedy for the food. They just pushed those in front of them, intending to drown the guards until they were given their meals. "STOP IT!!" Shinho yelled, escaping from the mob. "GUARDS! Get out! Let them be!" Shinho was a respected figure in the territory. Thanks to him, at least half of the guards gave up in fighting, just squeezing and jumping out of the mob. However, even if they followed, their hearts were fiery with anger. They watched as the people divided up the loot, not even thinking of looking at the people who actually deserved them. What was worse? The Lord came out of his days-long hiding. He was even followed by his family, his women, and his children. He smiled and looked happy at the loot that he already assumed to be his. He ordered the slaves to make way, and then threatened to blacklist the citizens who did not move. When they parted, portions of the ten carcasses had already been taken. He frowned, but also knew he could not take back what had been taken. People were becoming crazy with this heat, and he didn''t dare test their limits too much. In the end, he arrogantly took five out of the ten beasts, and ''donated'' the remaining ones¡ªthe smallest monsters¡ªfor everyone else to share. The Lords'' personal guards and slaves dragged the bodies along the avenues to his abode, and everyone else could only watch in bitterness. The citizens were not reconciled, but the heat was rising and getting kicked out of the territory was akin to death! S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And so, the citizens mobbed around the remaining meat, grabbing what they could and some even fighting those who had already received some. In contrast, the guards could only watch as everything went on¡ªas the food they worked for the entire night disappeared right before their eyes. Shinho''s jaw hardened and his fist clenched, his eyes meeting with many of the other guards''. They all had the same thought in their minds: Why did they work so hard?! Chapter 877 - 877: Beast Mob Again Of course, there were thousands of them there and the little bit of food wasn''t enough to sustain them for a day. For most, they had to pass the Extreme Heat in hunger and in injuries, as they had been, but the discomfort and pain had piled up for days at this point. Eventually, it''d be too hard to move even among the higher-leveled ones. However, after what happened, fewer and fewer citizens joined in the fight, and the momentum amongst the guards lowered on top of their increasingly weakened bodies. Shinho''s family, who had been among those who were helping, had been injured in the last one and he didn''t dare ask them to come out anymore. No one dared to get monsters inside the walls as well; it wasn''t like they''d be able to eat them anyway. This received complaints of course, but what could they do if they weren''t fighting out themselves? Shinho even threatened a few citizens he''d throw them out for bait if they distracted the guards mid-fight again. Even the lord. "I will kick you and your family out of the territory if you refused to feed me!" he had said, and Shinho looked at him straight in the eye. "Then do it." Anyway, being inside was only a little better than outside at this rate. At the very least, he only had to worry about his own family rather than these bastards. Seeing him determined like this, of course the lord did not dare to do so and he could only grumble as he headed inside. When more and more guards started to perish during the standard beast mobs, they knew they had to get sustenance before the night arrived. They planned to go out when it was slightly cooler, an hour or so before dusk. However, there was still sun at this point but they could only cover themselves with whatever clothing they had. The stronger men could do it somehow at the expense of burning skin, but it was better than starving to death. Many weaker citizens also couldn''t handle the hunger and followed. Even their lord, who had been hiding inside his house for the entire time, had no choice but to order his people and the slaves to forage (he had been holding back because the thinning slaves were more useful against mobs), so the people had no choice but to forage for him as well. Going outside, even when the sun was going down, was still horrible. Even at dusk or dawn, the surrounding atmosphere still felt like they were getting cooked. If going out at noon would barbeque them, then going out at dusk or dawn was akin to boiling them. It was like their bodies were melting as they scavenged but what choice did they have? However, when they got outside¡ªafter dragging their feet and enduring the heat and pain¡ªthey came to realize that gathering food outside would be even more difficult than they thought. The drought outside¡­ was much worse than inside. To compare, if a person could get a handful of leaves inside¡ªback when they still had internal forests¡ªoutside they could get a few pieces! Some sharper people would soon realize: That not only was the regeneration rate in this drought slower, it was even worse outside the territory lines! Shinho heaved a deep breath as he combed his sticky orange hair with his hand. However, he dared not say so out loud lest people would panic again, and that''d serve no one but the beasts that''d be coming soon. They just continued to gather what they could, even if the plants they could forage were hay that could turn to powder with a bit of rubbing. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They could only get the tree barks, which added something in their stomachs albeit did not assist with their healths or spirits at all. At this point¡­ even a monster several levels weaker could kill them with a slap! They foraged and foraged, going a bit farther than intended. Soon, they found a small field of the plant. It was dry, but they knew it was edible, so they grabbed what they could, also eating them as soon as they could lest it get stolen by others. This went on for a while, with everyone desperately trying to get something . Shinho looked at the sky that had darkened and lit up the torches. "It''s time to go," he said and, although unsatisfied with their loot, they had to turn tail. Unfortunately, even he¡ªin his own quest to find food¡ªdidn''t realize they got farther than anticipated. He was becoming nervous and hastened his pace, asking the others to do the same. However, when the walls were still not in sight, his sharp ears caught some rumblings at a distance, and his heart dropped. "Go, go back now!" he yelled. "RUNNN!!" The others also panicked and felt a little teary as they followed. Everyone ran back to the gate, which was still several minutes away even if they ran with all of their remaining energy. They could feel their heartbeats reach their throats, suffocating them. Along with extreme hunger and tiredness. In the end, no amount of adrenaline could help them run faster than the beasts. ROAARRRR! "AHHH!" A yell from a side, followed by a squelching sound, and they didn''t dare turn their heads and just ran on forward. "NOOO!!" "GYAHH!" They could hear bones crunching and flesh squelching behind them, but they did not dare turn back, just running forward as quickly as possible, hoping not to be the next person to meet the stomach of a beast. Shinho felt particularly heavy. His heart pained as he heard more and more people perish behind him. He should''ve watched more carefully! This was his fault! However, he still had a family and he could not risk his life for others. Such was the horrid way of this world, even if he did his best not to succumb to it completely. It was just that, when one didn''t have the strength to even protect himself, how could they expect any sort of change outside of him? More and more people fell and they could only run, ignoring the screams for help and the sound of crushed innards that followed. However, so many of them had weak legs. They couldn''t run too far at all. "AHHH!" Crunch! "HELP ME!!" They tried to defend themselves the best they could, but not to mention the civilians, many fighters were still taken easily due to tiredness and illness. They soon reached their walls and entered, shutting them down, stabbing the monsters through the gap of the gates and above the battlements. Shinho continuously stabbed his spear at the beasts that were trying to climb up their walls. Their sentries were sparse and had limited effectivity but they had done a decent job of keeping them alive so far. Sadly the people now were extremely weak, and only now were the citizens coming out to see what was happening, when their walls were already on the verge of breaking. Shinho''s eyes widened and he was immediately met with another dilemma. Should he abandon the wall and run to his family instead? Chapter 878 - 878: Fall of Another Territory He stayed for a bit longer in the end. However, he did yell for the others to help and fight, otherwise the territory would fall. Soon, more and more people were pulled down by the monsters. They would either try to climb and grab someone, or bump onto the wall repeatedly until someone loses balance. BOOM! A section of the wall shook and Shinho wanted to cry as another companion fell down, mobbed by beasts and divided among monsters. People in the battlement tried to stab the monsters outside, some were pulled down easily without much of a fight. More and more fell, and the walls¡ªthat had long been weakened¡ªwere finally starting to give way. BANG! BANG! CRASHH! They stabbed and stabbed until it was too difficult to find balance. Everyone jumped down to the interior of the walls, lest they joined the feast as food instead. They could hear their walls crumbling and a part fell down, taking several people on the battlement with them. Their hearts fell along with it, and their bodies cold as the first monster finally breached through, followed by dozens more. Was it finally their time? The remaining slaves¡ªmost had died from starvation the past couple of days¡ª were summoned as meat shields to buy time for the others. It was a gruesome sight but most people just focused on their own lives. The slaves though had no energy and just stood there. The monsters took a couple of seconds to munch and eat the humans, and soon many monsters started looking for other targets. More and more beasts came and they hunted the citizens, even if they were inside their homes. Desperate screams echoed in the territory. Some tried to run, and some to fight, but what could weakened people do against such mobs? How far could they run before getting pummeled? Bang! Bang! BANG! More and more sections of the wall fell, and it was getting too close to where his family was settled. "The¡­ the territory can''t handle this!" Shinho yelled, going to the lord who found him for protection. "Find a way to repair the walls, milord!" "We don''t have resources anymore!" He yelled, gasping when monsters headed in their direction. "AHHH! KILL IT! KILL IT!" Shinho shook his head and bolted in another direction. At this point, he could only focus on family. The Lord, at least, could pull many others to protect him. His family had no such advantage. He had already done his best for this place. "NO! YOU! Continue guarding me!! SHINHOOO!" The lord yelled, but was ignored in the end. Shinho heard his yell grow distant, and also how he yelled for the others to protect them. There were not many slaves left after this, but he got them to cover them for a bit, hopefully enough so they could find a safe house. More and more beasts got inside and it became clear that they couldn''t protect the territory anymore. Shinho made the decision to evacuate everyone they could instead, all while he ran towards his family. "RUN!" Anyway, as long as the lord was alive, the territory would stand. They could run and hide somewhere, and¡ªassuming they would survive the other mobs and the extreme heat¡ªthey could return the next morning in hopes that the beasts weren''t there anymore. But when he turned to check on the lord just one more time, he saw him ditching his family¡ªthrowing a wife to a monster''s mouth¡ªand bolting in a direction. This direction, according to memory, was towards the warehouse. While extremely cold, it was indeed the option that made more sense. However, a second later, a monster appeared from the side, biting his head and taking his body somewhere for consumption. "..." Shinho didn''t have the time to react to this as he had to raise his weapon to shield himself from another beast. It was a few levels lower than he was, but his arms were heavy as lead as it hit. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After taking it down after much effort and almost losing a limb, he went to his family, also kicking or slashing at monsters on his way, saving other people in the way. One of these people was that brave kid who always helped out during the night battles. He just let him and others be when they followed him, using the path he cleared for their own safety. When he saw monsters coming from the direction of his home, he realized there was another breach in this direction, too. He hurried up and the others struggled to follow him. His heart stopped when he saw his father''s head hanging around a monster''s teeth. His eyes turned red and he raised his arms, attacking the damned monster with all his might. But he didn''t have much time to mourn if he wanted to survive. This was how it was in this world¡ªthey were too busy surviving, how could they have the time to mourn? Further¡ªhe still had other family he needed to find. Blood splattered all over his body, he went past the monster and headed to the house. He arrived at his old home and opened the door, yelling: "Ferra! Shishi!" He felt like a mountain dropped down his shoulder when he saw them both alive and intact. They were both injured from the previous battles, but otherwise alive. They immediately ran to him, sobbing. "Father went outside to check¡ªI couldn''t leave Shishi¡ª" Ferra sobbed, tears on her dark-colored face. He felt his throat closing in on itself, but he pushed it down. "Father¡­ is gone now. We gotta survive for him, okay?" The woman shook and paled, but she wasn''t given time to think too much. "Let''s go," he said, pulling his lover and Shishi, his little sister, out the door. "W-Where are we going?" "The lord is dead," he said. "It''s only a matter of time before everything disappears!" It was too late now, this place¡ªtheir home¡ªwas going to disappear soon, and they could only flee. As for where they could go¡ªespecially during the Extreme Heat¡ªwho knew? At this time, they could only focus on how not to get eaten. Chapter 879 - 879: Terrans in a Boil As they left their small home, they would see the topmost part of the buildings slowly turning to dust. This would be closely followed by the walls, to the point that they wouldn''t have to think about climbing it anymore, they''d just have to jump over. He looked around, seeing the same sight: tragedy, blood, death. From the top of his lungs, he yelled. "Evacuate!" he and his family¡ªalong with others¡ªran towards the other gate, swiping what they could, rescuing as many as he could. They focused on running after that, having no choice but to ignore the massacre happening behind them. People¡­ simply didn''t have the energy to fight against monsters anymore. Only the guards could have a semblance of a fight left, but even they couldn''t do so much anymore and had long run away even before Shinho did. Other than him, several guards joined him. Several groups of refugees pulled their families up, while some could barely move now. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He and his family had a bit of energy because he braved through the heat and mobs to get them some bits of food; Others were not so lucky. The panicked crowd went through the other gate with desperation and fear. There were still monsters in this direction but they were much sparser. With the number of them, they could escape while the monsters captured other people. Their group exited with most of their numbers because the monsters were too busy with the thousands of people still inside. They could hear the desperate screams and yells behind them, but they just fled, tuning them out. Their heartbeats were too loud as if they were ringing in their ears, anyway. When they confirmed there were no monsters following closely, with the few that were dealt with by their fighters, some couldn''t help but turn back to see their territory slowly disintegrate after their lord''s death. They could only imagine the terror of those inside. They thought they could still hide in their homes, only to have it disappear right in front of their eyes. They would''ve sobbed if there was still enough moisture in their eyes to make tears. Their home¡­ it was gone now. There was no time to pause, however. It was night and they could travel a bit, and it was cooler outside the territories due to the lack of stones that''d absorb the heat. However, they still had a gorge of battles they must go through to even have a dream of peace. They ran and ran, as far away from their territory¡ªwhich was where most of the nearby mobs were heading toward¡ªas possible. For the next hour or so, they''d fight against some mobs they encountered and there they lost a lot of torches. Let alone fighting with monsters, many were lost due to the panic and darkness that loomed over them. "Where do we go?" They asked, and the atmosphere was heavy as they trekked along the drying forests. Shinho didn''t speak for a while and just continued on his way, until he heard trickles of water. "WATER!" he yelled, and they headed in the direction. They all kneeled down to see the shallow river of water, all just jumping down and not wanting to get out anymore. "Water¡­ water¡­" They cried as they consumed as much as they could. The little boy¡ªMamu¡ªwas also smart enough to immediately get a rough cup made of dried wood in his space, gathering some of it for storage. The space could not hold water in its liquid form¡ªit simply would not store¡ªand it had to have a container of sorts. It could be buckets, pails, or the like. While most did not have this, some people did¡ªfor example, Shinho and his lover. After all, they didn''t have much to store anyway, so there was a possibility of finding water sources when they went out. As they drank, it was as if the water saturated his brain again, making it work again. The light of inspiration hit him as he looked in the direction of the water. "Follow the river!" he said. He was thinking about whether to follow the downstream or the upstream. Logically, upstream was better. However¡ª "MOBS!" The mobs seemed to have either noticed them there or arrived to look for water sources as well. They were coming from the upstream direction, and they had no choice but to go the other way instead. Shinho and the others were worried they''d find it dried up eventually with no territory in sight, but for now they could only do so. At this time, they had no idea: This would be their luckiest decision so far. ¡­ Somewhere farther north. Even the Aborigines¡ªwho were born and lived in this continent¡ªwere having an especially bad time now, what more for the Terrans? The first wave that morning already killed a couple of people. They were shocked when they felt their skins burn as long as they stayed in the sun. These people happened to be outside the territory when it happened, and they were not able to find decent shade in time. They eventually faded as they headed back, not to return again. Most managed to run into their homes, but the sweltering atmosphere was painful, and for lower leveled people it was even hard to breathe. Some were lucky they hired aborigines who told them what was happening when it did, and they did their best to adjust. There was also the fact that their physiques had been improved. If they were still in their Terran bodies at Level 0, they had no doubt hundreds more had perished during the first day alone. There were also a few territories that still hadn''t managed to hire an aborigine. They were lucky and survived this long because of their locations, but that fortune had been used up with this disaster. In such cases, the heat wave completely caught them off guard and confused them the entire time. They scurried to find cover, trying to adjust, though it hadn''t been easy. Even inside their homes, they felt like they were being boiled. When night came, they could finally breathe¡ªbut that only lasted a couple of hours until mobs found their location. Just when they could finally rest from tiredness, they would be attacked, and that would begin a restless night that would be characterized by blood and violence. Then they''d realize their resources were dwindling and now they had to deal not only with debilitating heat, rabid monsters, but also the lack of food and water. Some had also thought about getting monsters inside at the expense of some areas, and some territories were smart enough to convert certain places into a corral of sorts. They would build a low level wall within the territory, in aims of trapping the monsters there. As good as it was, it couldn''t last long because people had grown weak through the days, and the walls would get destroyed. With the lesser resources, these walls could no longer be repaired as well. Days passed by and their population, energy, and resources chipped away in front of their naked eyes. They had thought they managed to adjust in this new world, but it decided to throw them to hell yet again. Without exemption, everyone would ask in their hearts: Would things ever get any better? Or were they just destined to suffer like this until they finally died? Chapter 880 - 880: Rows Village One of the few territories doing slightly better was located somewhere northeast of Alterra, a village named Rows Village. While many territories had fallen, many people¡ªnative or Terran alike¡ªbecoming refugees and having to travel under the burning sun, they had managed to hold on... so far. This was one of the villages that had thought of corralling the monsters to hunt them more effectively. They had zoned a certain less-developed area to create an enclosure. While most of the territory still fought against the monsters outside the battlement, they would leave a section unguarded, allowing some monsters to go through. They also created a gate there because they knew monsters targeted those by instinct, and therefore would pile easily so they could focus their attacks more. The gate would also make it easier for them to get the carcasses inside. They would kill these monsters as a team, and then distribute it strictly amongst those who fought. They had to implement the martial law, and every one who caused trouble would be kicked out of the territory with no exemptions. A lot of territories had fallen, especially among the Terrans'', but Rows Village had lasted a relatively longer time due to its wise lord¡ªa wise old man, and a retired major general¡ªand also because of its proximity to a water source. The man''s name was Faust, an 85-year-old veteran who happened to have old inheritance money in his hands. He had built the territory next to a shallow stream. If he had a choice back then, he''d have looked for the river as well, but it got too dangerous to do so. Fortunately, it wasn''t too bad because the stream was relatively big. However, after many days of the heat, the stream had eventually began to dry up and was unable to sustain its thousands and thousands of population. Anyone with eyes could see that it was only a matter of time before there was no more. They tried to collect as much as they could, though they had to ration their water strictly. Faust also enforced strict rationing that only allowed one person to buy a bucket of water per day for a relatively high price. A lot of people died of heatstroke during the first few days, not including the deaths during the small beast tides. Further, the warehouse had also begun losing the basic wood resources needed to repair the walls. Eventually, they could no longer let monsters inside to farm them, and it was suddenly a lot more difficult to get meat and blood. After all, the beasts themselves drag away the carcass of their own kin to consume. Unless they wanted to risk their lives and limbs to carry a large monster body above the walls, they knew that it was a lost cause. To make matters worse, they soon came to realize that finding edible plants was even harder than they initially thought. The surviving plants inside the walls could only feed so many¡ªat least, the plants which could have an effect on their stomachs. Their health and spirits decreased to a very low baseline, making it very dangerous during battles. For many people, going out to battle at night meant the risk of dying after a few hits. They didn''t even have to worry about the large monster mouth taking their heads; even one or two slaps would get their HP to 0. At some point, a lot of people had to go out to scavenge in an attempt to increase these numbers. However, even at dawn or dusk, it was still very difficult. Unlike aborigines, this was their first extreme heat and their bodies were not used to it, so more people died during the early days. The first ones to die were the low-leveled people and then the few children and old people that had managed to hold on after so long. People mourned for their loss, but no tears would come out. After all, they were too dried out. One of the people dying¡­ was the lord himself. At this time, he was laying on the bed, barely moving under the onslaught of the heavy atmospheric heat. His level wasn''t too high because of the limitations of his age, and he also did not have much time to train because of his position. With a lower average level and old age combined¡­ he was at a gross disadvantage during this period. "Grandpa¡­ please have some water¡­" A beautiful young woman said as she produced a bit of water, controlling it over his mouth. For someone who had just entered level 10, this showed exemplary control over her element. The two hired aborigines they had, Valma and Cree, looked impressed but also sad at the sight. They were the only two aborigines in the place, with Valma as a 50-year-old female cleaner¡ªbut given a chance to become a guard¡ªand Cree as a 45-year-old guard at level 14. Even if they had only been here for a few months, they had inexplicably placed their hearts with them. Seeing the wise and kind lord slowly losing his life was heartbreaking. In fact, this Extreme Heat was the worst they had encountered so far. With slightly better conditions, things might''ve been different for them. Their hearts broke at the tragedy. "Please, grandpa¡­" The young woman mumbled, her face scrunched up as she tried not to cry. "My little Foxii¡­" The old man weakly uttered as he looked at her, eyes filled with heartbreak. He opened his mouth in the end, though to be frank he was reluctant to consume any resources in his current state. But what could he do? If he died, the territory would also perish. He could only hold on the best he could. If he could pass on the token to his granddaughter, he would''ve. But it was attached to his body so he had no choice but to keep living for as long as he could. A long time ago, he had asked what was needed to do this. Valma had no idea, but when he managed to hire Cree he found out that the token would be detached during a war. He didn''t even consider it at first¡ªhow dare he start a war at this time? However, he could feel his time was coming to an end¡ªvery, very soon¡ªso there might not be a choice. After a moment of thought, he turned his head to his most powerful hired aborigine. "At night, gather some of our strongest men and go to the nearest village East and strike a deal," he said, eyes fixed on Cree. "We shall start a war," he said. "Promise them we will return the things we win from them with interest." There were only losers or winners in the war. If no one attacked, then the winner would just be whoever had the higher comprehensive strength. This was the only way to get cooperation. Faye looked at her grandfather in disbelief. She was confused at first, until she realized what he was trying to do! "No, grandpa¡ª" "Please," he said, closing his eyes, his voice weak. "I don''t have much time¡­" His words made the woman''s body turn cold in terror. Her eyes widened as she gaped at him. "Grandpa¡ª" "Take her away, no matter what," Faust said, ordering Cree to do so. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "NO!!!" Cree hit the back of her neck then, and carried her outside. He might not like it, but he still answered to the current lord in the end. Faust closed his eyes as he heard the door close. He took a deep breath, focusing on keeping himself alive and trying not to put energy anywhere else. Sadly, it was still too late. Because Faust would not open his eyes again after that. Chapter 881 - 881: Sergeant Faye They only found out about the lord''s untimely death when the buildings began to disintegrate. Faye had woken up just a couple of minutes ago from the yells and screams all around her. Cree and Valma arrived shortly after with pale faces. Their voices were weak, unsure of how to tell her. "The Lord¡ª" "Grandpa?" she voiced out, confused and disoriented. But as she heard more of the screams¡ªvaguely hearing about the buildings disintegrating¡ªshe immediately bolted out of her bed to go to her grandfather''s room. When she saw him just laying there, without a hint of movement, it felt like she was thrown off a cliff. She gasped as she dragged herself closer to him, heartwrenching sobs escaping from her mouth. "GRANDPA¡ª" Cree and Valma could only watch on, looking heartbroken as well. However, they also knew this was no time to mourn. It was morning and the heat would only get worse; they needed to find cover as soon as possible. Cree moved forward, stopping a meter behind the woman. "Please, Miss Faye," he said. "The Lord wouldn''t want you to perish now." Faye let herself cry out for a few more moments before forcing her tears back. She leaned down hug her grandfather one more time, all while feeling the increasing heat as the roof disintegrated above them. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The sounds of the screams outside were the only thing that kept her from just staying there. "I''ll live grandpa," she said, wiping the last traces of tears on her face. "I''ll live for both of us." ¡­ "Let''s go find cover while there is still sun!" She yelled to whoever could hear her. They had no time to alert everyone or find them all; they''d just have to take whoever was there. Her beautiful ebony hair was cut short now. She should''ve done this ages ago, but her family had always complimented it and she couldn''t bear cut it off before. But now, the last of her family was gone, so there was no need to keep it¡ªat least not in this heat. She did feel a bit of melancholy. After all, she had been told to cut her hair many times when she was on duty, but she just refused to do so. Faye Alexa¡ªor just Foxii according to her family and close friends¡ªwas also a soldier, which was how she managed to compartmentalize despite the debilitating pain of losing her final blood relative. She followed her family''s footsteps of entering the military of her home country: the perenially snowy country of Colfrig. It was why despite their strategies and strength, the heat wave had a higher impact on them than others. Their bodies were too conditioned to the Winter. When the tragedy happened, she was on leave to see her grandfather at the ancestral home. Only the two of them, as well as her dad and uncle, survived the initial transformations. Her father died shortly after the transfer, protecting people. There were too many civilians, and they were soldiers, and their instincts kicked in. He ended up dying while protecting them until they found a decent place to set up territory. She couldn''t help but remember her grandfather''s regrets of rashly doing so. More than their distance from the river, he said that if he had known the token would be integrated permanently¡ªunless some conditions were met¡ªhe wouldn''t have been the one to activate the token at all. Her uncle died after the Protection Period ended, when the monsters had suddenly spiked in strength, leaving just her and her grandfather to lead thousands and thousands of people against various tribulations that came their way. They did very well, considering everything, but sadly they couldn''t hold on in the end. She was 29 years old now, unmarried, and had just awakened the water element just before all this went down. Because her ability was so necessary during the extreme heat, she was forced to train it beyond her limits. Combined with her natural talent, she became proficient at the element in good time. Other than this, she had also awakened the Sheildsman¡­ er, shieldswoman, occupation early on in the Migration. Water and Shield was an odd combination for certain, but it was what she got. "Let''s go!" She said, looking for the stream and its marks. Although it had mostly dried now¡ªleaving only sticky mud¡ªthey could still follow it to a river, which hopefully still had some water. "Yes!" Cree said, and many others followed. Cree and Valma, in fact, could easily just leave now. Their contract was with the territory, and since it was no more they had no standing obligations left for Faye However, they had seen how she had handled herself and her people. They had nowhere to go anyway, and sticking with Faye would still give them better chances than going through this alone. Similarly, there were also a lot of people willingly following her despite the lack of the lord token and territory. There were easily a few hundred of them still there. "We will follow you anywhere, Miss Faye!" One said. It was Tot, a huge bulky man with bald head. He was a territory guard who had a relatively higher level and, therefore, higher constitution than others. He was one of the hired guards and he, along with his team, had long started gathering the survivors and prepared them to leave. The others nodded in agreement, though with little energy despite meaning otherwise. If they still had the energy to talk so much, they''d have cheered for her. Sadly, most of their throats had dried and their vision had begun to feel a bit blurry to do anything else but nod weakly. At this point, everyone was parched and starving. Most of all, they felt like their skins were burning and their bodies overheating. However, even when they were mostly skin and bones, and maybe a bit despondent, they still held on to some hope because they had always managed to go through trials with Foxii''s and the former lord''s leadership. They needed to hold on to her, otherwise they''d lose reason to even move anymore. She nodded, eyes a bit teary from their trust. It was already morning and the heat was suffocating. They had been hiding in the remaining shadows of the slowly-disintigrating buildings, but soon they''d be in the sun''s direct path. Where could they go? More importantly, how could they move with barely any cover from the hot sun? She looked at the stream that was just made of mud in thought. Tot followed her eyes and nodded. "We should head to the river," he said. They hadn''t managed to venture so far as to actually find it, but they knew where the stream was heading, so that was a start. His comrade, Crump, looked at the drying forests that were so vast it went past the horizon. Without a territory, it was like getting exposed to an open wasteland, and it made their stomachs drop. Not that it had enough moisture to actually do so, of course. They had lived here for months, but because of the dangers they had stayed relatively nearby. No one knew how far the river was. Eh, more accurately, they didn''t know which direction to go¡ªupstream or downstream? Generally, streams head toward rivers, but it wasn''t a guaranteed rule. Also, what if the river was hundreds of kilometers away while the springs were actually just nearby? And, even if they found the river or a spring, then what? What if there wasn''t a territory there? It was all quite a gamble¡ªone that hundreds of lives were dependent upon. Fortunately, Faye was a seasoned soldier so she didn''t buckle under this pressure. Instead, she took note of all their concerns, deep in ponder, until she finally gained inspiration. Soil could be used for insulation, and even dried trees¡ªassuming they didn''t turn to powdery dust after some force¡ªcould be used for cover. While there were a lot of risks and a lot of challenges, they didn''t have a lot of other resources to deal with. However, they had advantages that few other territories had: They still had mud and their trees, because of the proximity to a water source, had some moisture that they didn''t break upon a slight impact. She looked at Crump. "Haven''t you awakened as an earth elementalist?" she asked, shifting to stare at Tot. "And you''re a wood elementalist, are you not?" She also named a couple of others to confirm their elements, forming a strategy in her mind. They nodded, looking at her, not knowing what to expect. Faye covered her face that had now been hit by the ray of the sun. It was painful¡ªlike she was touching a heated pan with her face¡ªbut the fact that they had a next step was enough to raise her momentum. She¡­ actually smiled a little. "Let''s build ourselves a portable roof." Chapter 882 - 882: Finally a River The teams immediately went to work, enduring the heat as they hit their skins. They knew that this was unavoidable, and doing this at the soonest was the only way to cut their suffering short¡ªwhether it was death by heatstroke or by actually managing to build some shades. She had seriously considered covering their bodies with wet mud to protect themselves from the direct heat. After all, they didn''t have many workable trees, which meant not everyone could fit in, but at least the stream would provide ample amounts of mud. However, there were too many risks, especially if the mud dried out. Mud had insulating properties to keep the heat out, but it could also trap it in. After it dried, the helpful effects of evaporation would disappear and would just add body temperature instead. It would also hinder their movements, slowing them down, and making them suffer even more in general. Anyway, everyone worked hard and as fast as they could. Granted, their weaknesses made it so they couldn''t move so agily, but their desperation to find shade certainly helped with their speed. More and more people found them and followed their lead. They took down tree after tree, some of which broke down as they landed on the ground, though fortunately many were usable. They used the mud to connect them, strengthened by the thin vines produced by their only wood elementalist, Tot, who really looked like he was on the verge of dying. They also had an architect there, another earth user with the name of Limbo. He made sure to maximize the very very limited resources they had with his heat-addled brain. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The end products were a bit flimsy and would not hold against, say, a beast tide, but it was better than nothing. There were also a few hundreds of them there, and not everyone could fit. Instead, they opted to take turns, with the higher leveled ones in the second batch. They walked along the dried stream, so they could dip in the cooler mud occasionally, and also reinforce the roof when they had to. Those without roof would also be in front to manage the pacing, making sure no one was left behind. Many of these people would occasionally cover their bodies with mud to cover and cool themselves, but they''d immediately take it off once it dried. Regardless of whether they had roofs or not, they were all weak and had trouble to breathe, but they trudged on. The people who had weak hearts had long perished, and those who had been left after so long had some grit, so even if they were suffering¡ªthey dragged their bodies. They went downstream in the end. One, because it was easier to walk on, and second they''d prefer river to mountain springs if they had a choice. Fortunately, as time went on, they''d encounter some usable wood and, after collecting a few, they''d have enough to build another roof. Eventually the majority had some sort of roof above their heads. Thor, a young blonde (though his hair was so dried up it looked white now), looked at the design of the latest-built roof. Because they were in such a rush¡ªit was mid-freaking-day¡ªit was even flimsier than the other ones. The wood couldn''t be finished properly as well, so there were gaps everywhere so some rays would get through. It happened that there were two gap lines that would hit him. "I''ll be getting very weird tan lines¡­" he mumbled, tone filled with distaste. An hour of this and he''d literally have two lines stamped on his face. If the others had energy, they''d have rolled their eyes. Faye smiled a bit and continued to lead the group. "Continue moving! I''m sure we''ll find a territory¡ªsomewhere!" ¡­ The group traveled for another hour, smack in the middle of the hottest time of the day. It was torture. It was hot, and suffocating, and they were parched and hungry as they trudged. "Shit..." Crump mumbled. The rest also cursed internally, but they couldn''t bear to actually open their mouths. Too tiring. Too hungry. Too parched. Since they traveled far, they also managed to hoard some plants to chew on. It was horrible and dry, much like eating brittle paper, but one had to do what one had to do. Anyway, in order to prevent deaths from her group, Faye and the others decided to find a place to rest. They eventually found some rock outcroppings, that provided shade, using their roofs to extend it. They took this break to drink and eat, regaining some of their energy before heading forward. As much as they wanted to stay there for longer, it would get dangerous if they didn''t find a territory soon. "Dusk should arrive in another hour or two," Cree said, voice croaky. Faye nodded, fanning herself with some dried leaf she managed to get (and eventually to eat). It felt horrible but they''ll survive. They forced themselves up and they continued to drag their bodies following the stream. There were a lot of people who had to be dragged, and no one could talk anymore. It felt like making any sort of vibration in their throats would turn it to powder. Eventually, they encountered a bit more plants than usual. They could notice even the slightest change¡ªafter all, they were so dependent on them to live. The vegetation here was also a bit denser and was just a bit healthier, to the point that they could actually taste something instead of powdery grossness. This fact lit a fire in their hearts. This was a good sign, and their dying legs suddenly felt alive, and their pace increased even by a little bit. Squelch! They paused and looked down, realizing the muddy stream they had been stepping on was wetter, their legs sinking a bit deeper than before. Their eyes widened and they rushed forward. The mud soon became wetter and wetter, until there was actual water¡ªand soon a river was finally in sight!! The younger ones immediately ran to drink water, not caring about whether or not they left the roof behind. Everyone sobbed and followed them, rushing towards the strong body of water. However, their feet were stopped as several yells exploded. "AHH!" "Ouch!!" The youngins were fine and alive, but they looked in pain as they raised their hands, which was blistering as if they were just boiled. "Shit!" Thor gasped as he looked at the blisters, almost gagging. Faye also rushed forward, eyebrows furrowed. Because the river in these parts was shallow, even if it wasn''t stagnant, it still reached a boiling point! Faye cursed a bit. It was literally right at their fingertips! Were they supposed to just stare at it? Chapter 883 - 883: Selfish Begets Selfish While Faye and the others had found the river, there was also another batch of people from the Rows village who went the other way upstream. The village was not small and things happened quickly that people just went in different directions. However, since they had access to streams, they''d go just one way or another. Another few hundred people went in this direction. They left the moment they saw the buildings disintegrating. While most had the instinct to wait for the leading party to start moving¡ªparticularly because they had been dependable so far¡ªsome had rushed out earlier when they saw the reaction was delayed. Some had chosen the direction by random, while others did have reason for going upstream. For instance, at the very least, they knew there was really a mountain in this direction. It was more difficult to traverse because there was a slight incline, but at least it was better than hoping to find a river before dusk. One of these people was Perrot. He was just the type not to wait around. So now he, along with hundreds of others who went in this direction, were half-dead from the heat, and a lot of people had already fallen. There were people who tried to take the lead, and they built their own smaller groups with their own strategies. They covered their bodies with thick mud, protecting their eyes with an overhang. They wouldn''t be able to move well, so there was a risk when there were monsters awake, not to mention they''d move slower and remain outside for longer. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, it was better than direct contact with the sun¡ªprovided they didn''t let the dry mud stick for too long, which meant they''d expend energy in restructuring their wet mud shield every so often. They had to do this manually. Their side was not that strong and there were only a few earth elementalists, including Perrot himself, so they had limited options. Perrot was actually an engineer and he had also thought about creating a portable roof. However, the trees they encountered just didn''t work as well, breaking down easily after getting cut. He reckoned it was because they were heading on an incline¡ªtowards the mountains. The winds were stronger here, and it put a lot more stress on the trees that couldn''t adapt fast enough. It was torture walking in the open air during this weather. It was like being ovened alive, but you had no choice but to keep moving. They had been doing this for hours now, until they felt the incline increasing even more. After a long time of looking down to protect their eyes, they finally looked up to see they were in the middle of the mountains already. He looked at the mud that had slowly gained more water and he smiled, his dry lips cracking at the movement. It bled a bit, though he didn''t mind it. "I think we''re close," Perrot said, though his voice was so raspy few people actually heard him. Fortunately, the incline wasn''t too harsh, otherwise they''d have long rolled back. They continued to traverse the place, increasing their pace because the mountain springs were their target and might even be nearby. More importantly: the sky had changed¡ªit would be dusk soon. "Hurry¡­" he said, increasing his steps but having no energy to check how many people were still following him. Eventually, the eerie sound of the arid wind and the rustles of dried wood changed, soon combining with some other sounds, like murmurs¡­ and screams. "Do you hear something?" he asked, looking at his companion who didn''t hear much at first. For the most part, all their brain energies were focused on keeping themselves moving. If they fell, it was unlikely someone would pull them to shade and safety¡ªprimarily because they weren''t certain they''d encounter it! They just continued their paths and soon the voices became clearer. Even, they realized it was the Terran language that was being used, so they knew these were brethren! "Other people!" they exclaimed and immediately headed to the sound. So many people could mean a territory was nearby! They immediately shed their mud shields and not caring much about the hot sun, which had slightly cooled at this time already. However, they saw large pieces of wood in front of them. At first, they thought some trees just fell until Perrot recognized the crude handiwork of humans. It was not just wood carelessly stocked up, it had an actual pile foundation made of wood, and all parts were tied together by vines and pasted by heated clay. It was highly intentional and done expertly, considering their current limitations and resources. He walked around to study it closer and saw it had a u-structure, making sure¡­ that no water would get past this area. Perrot didn''t say anything but his feet¡ªand heart¡ªfelt heavy. He just watched as many of the Row Village folks walked past his frozen self, running forward to see their ''brethren''. They were too focused to notice what he was looking at, so their eyes were still full of hope and potential camaraderie. Anyway, there were indeed hundreds of people running in their direction, and they all had faces of despair and panic. Most of them didn''t even get far though and they just fell down, obviously unused to the raw heat¡ªwhich was already saying something. These people just laid weakly on the ground, hoping to get some shade from the leafless trees, though the heat of the atmosphere was too intense to feel any comfort. "Help¡­ help¡­" they asked, but who had the energy to provide it at this time? Those with some strength headed straight to the stream¡ªwhich was the highest the Row Village citizens had ever seen after the Heat Waves. The Row Villagers also wanted to go there, but those people pushed them aside and they, who had been traveling for hours, were helpless. They just watched as scores and scores of screaming people hopped on the deep stream, intending to swim for their lives. However, the people let out screeching screams as soon as they jumped¡ªif they were even in more pain than before. "AHHH!" "HURTS!" "BURNING! BURNING!! GAHHH!" The people yelled, some fainting directly in the water, while some hurriedly swam to the edge as if their lives depended on it. It confused the Row Villagers too much; it didn''t make any sense! "What''s¡­ going on?" One asked, looking at Perrot who just arrived to watch. Unlike the rest of them, Perrot was without much expression. Perrot looked cold-heartedly at these people. The thing was, because of their own creation, the blocked water became stagnant. With little ''new'' water coming in due to the droughts, the water that had been stored became extremely hot. With the right conditions¡­ it could even rise to boiling temperatures, which was what was happening now. They watched as the people tried to get to dry land, bodies filled with blisters and the low-level ones even looked like part of their skins were melting off. Some didn''t make it and lost consciousness in the water, while those who got out looked horrendous, as if they were deep fried. It was a horrible sight. But Perrot, at least, felt no pity. Chapter 884 - 884: Karma Some more people ran to jump, and the Row Villagers were simply too shocked¡ªand weak¡ªto react. More and more people suffered the same fate. No matter how thirsty, the people of Row Village naturally did not dare touch that water again¡ªmost especially not when there were bodies floating in there! As dusk approached, the locals soon noticed a new set of people were there, standing. "Help us!" Help us!" they croaked, trying to extend their hands to them. "Please!" Some people yelled but they couldn''t do much. Perrot didn''t have to say much, the people didn''t move. They could barely help themselves, how could they bother with others? They had hoped these people would be able to fight alongside them. Now they could only be burdens. No one could afford carrying that. Look: It was already dusk and these people were useless. They also had better conditions than they were in. They looked bad, but they weren''t so pale and parched like the rest of them were. Of course, it had only been a few months since things went to hell, and they did still have their morality. Inevitably, they still felt heavy for not doing anything. "No need to feel guilty," Perrot said as his red eyes looked at the people getting cooked. He walked forward hoping to find parts of the stream untouched by corpses. "Don''t you see? They blocked the stream," he said. "It''s why we had nothing." The Row Villagers immediately flinched, their eyes wide as they looked at these people in disbelief. "What?" Some ran to take a closer look, and immediately felt livid. "They built a dam!" "They blocked our water!" "EVIL!" They couldn''t help but remember their sufferings when their stream suddenly dried up completely. So many people died, particularly those whose levels couldn''t keep up with the times. The stream''s disappearance wasn''t even subtle, it just stopped out of nowhere, and now they knew why!! "HOW DARE YOU!!" one yelled, kicking the nearby local. His mother died during that drought. "Bastards!!" Another screamed. It was a woman who scratched another. Her baby didn''t survive because of the lack of water! These selfish bastards!! sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They didn''t have the technology or manpower to block a river, but they sure took advantage of the stream¡­ but it was at the expense of those downstream! If they actually had the excess energy to move much, they''d have beat these people up even more. However, only those who lost people had vented despite their diminishing spirits, while the rest of them just kicked or frowned, aiming to fill up their crude water bottles as well before leaving. The small amount of water from the stream, at least, was not stagnant and at an acceptable temperature. Those who were venting realized it wasn''t worth risking their remaining energy and moved on to follow the others. They just gave one last kick. "Die here!" before turning tail, no longer caring. They believed in Karma, and these people deserved it! After taking some stocks, Perrot kicked someone. "Is there a territory nearby here?" he asked. "I''ll give you a drink if you are honest." "I¡­ there used t¡­o be¡­ around a hundred kilometers from here," he said, gasping. "But we had a war with them and we won, and they eventually fell due to a m¡­ob." "My water!" Perrot sneered and gave him a few drops, and used this method to get more information. There were two territories less than 100 kilometers from here at first¡ªthere were simply fewer territories near the mountainous areas. Other than the one mentioned, the other was far away from the stream, and its status was currently unknown. Their lord died of a heat stroke. Although the transfer helped all their physiques, he was still advanced in age. It was similar to their own lord. The difference was that this lord was a businessman with great cunning, allowing him and the territory to live for so long all while stepping on others. He succumbed in such a boring way though, which was a pity, because Perrot would''ve loved to kill him himself. Anyway, it was no longer practical to stay here and their only option was to turn back and head downstream, hoping for the best. Since it was dusk though, they could no longer afford to go slow otherwise they''d be completely exposed to the monsters. Drinking in as much as they could, they immediately hurried down, without any shield despite the pain. Seeing the rest of them heading out, many of the locals sucked it up and stood up, hoping to follow, while some of the weaker ones offered a bit more. "Let us come with you!" some said. "I have money! Please!" "Food! I have food!" This got some Row Villagers to stop. "Give it to us first." The man shook and showed his bread. It was from the restaurant. In most places, because the Flute plant dried out, the restaurant was rendered useless due to the lack of raw materials. However, here, due to the proximity to water sources (and their dam), the flute plant lasted a little longer so these people still accessed the restaurant for a few days more than everyone else. Row Villagers gulped at the bread and immediately helped the guy out. They carried him in exchange for the bread. A few others saw that it worked and did the same. Perrot saw some of them were slowing down and frowned. "There''s no time to waste now! If they want to follow, they can, but we can''t afford any more delays!" He turned and rushed forward, no longer caring if they were following or making delays. What was a bit of food if they got eaten by monsters? As such, the group of hundreds of people rushed downhill, enduring the heat and the pain in their bodies, hoping to catch up with the other party who should''ve been going slow as well. This was their main focus and they did not dare to get distracted anymore. Inevitably, dozens and dozens would fall as time went on, unable to handle the conditions. Then dusk came and they were temporarily relieved to finally feel some coolness¡­until they remembered what came with it. ROARRR! Terrifying sounds echoed all around them, and it was followed by minor tremors on the ground. They could only pale. "THE MOBS ARE HERE!!!" Chapter 885 - 885: I See the Light (Part 1) Faye''s team also encountered the same challenges. They had already drunk their fill and filled whatever container they had with water, and were rushing upstream when the monsters appeared. They knew it would happen as soon as dusk arrived, so their weapons were already brandished out and their roofs were left by the river long ago. Fortunately, the mob was smaller than they anticipated and they¡ªa group of hundreds¡ªcould actually manage it to some degree. Cree narrowed his eyes. "This means there''s a territory nearby!" he yelled, and it lit up the hope in them, letting them go beyond their usual limits. They filed along the edge of the river in pairs or in threes, so at the very least they only had to guard aside. There were also a few who decided to cover themselves with the mud just before nighttime. At least there was not as much heat, so it could be done without baking themselves. They did this to supposedly shield their bodies from attacks and also in hopes that the mud could hide their smells, possibly making them less attractive than others. Anyway, the teams fought against the monsters in front of them, all while traversing upstream when they could. They fought valiantly, considering their own weaknesses and pain. Sadly, even when they outnumbered the monsters, some people were still eaten while some fell to the water and carried downstream, fates unknown. However, most managed to deal with the monsters with teamwork and proper leadership. "Team A, focus on the Madara Monster!" Foxii yelled, brandishing her shield to cover a teammate, but her attention was on the screams to her right. With a movement of her free hand, she summoned some water from the river, creating a small whip to hit the monster in that direction. This was another advantage of being near the water! It was not strong enough to cause damage, but it was enough distraction for Team A to hit the monsters'' weaknesses, which were at the side of their necks. On her other side, she stabbed her spear, attacking the monster''s eye. She awakened the shieldsman occupation instead of the spearman, but she could at least handle a lower-leveled monster. Stab! ROAARR! It responded by lunging at her, but she managed to move her shield in time to block it. The force, though, pushed her a step back. She gritted her teeth and held on, and it also allowed citizens to attack it together, eventually killing one. Another monster attacked her though, and this one had a heavier defense. It swiped away several people on its way to her, lunging directly at her shield. She almost fell into the river, but she managed to summon water to push her back, though that took up a lot of her mana. "Team B! Attack!" she yelled, and those from her left lunged at the small group of monsters while Foxii used a good portion of her mana to put water up their noses, successfully distracting them. On the other hand, the aborigines were leading the front of the line, fighting so they could still move forward even while they were fighting. The file moved, and this meant some of the slower ones could be left behind. Some of them were the ones who covered themselves with clay. They gulped when they saw their teammates getting farther and farther, and they could only stand still, pretending to be a rock. When the monster walked past, they thought it worked. However, the critters abruptly turned back and opened their mouths, taking half of the ''rocks'' into their stomachs. Crunch! A lot of the Row Villagers saw this¡ªthe lower torsos of former fellowmen flopping to the ground¡ª and their hearts dropped as their stomachs flipped inside. "Damnit!" S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Well, that didn''t work," a couple of insensitive remarks sounded. No one was friends with everyone else, after all, and they couldn''t get depressed every time someone died. After a point, dark humor was what kept them sane. Anyway, pretending to be rocks didn''t work, as the hungry beasts could still smell them. Thor''s eyes twitched. Thank goodness he didn''t try it for himself. He genuinely thought that theory could work. Anyway, he focused on the battle at hand, with Crump using his ability to create a semi-permanent bowl to throw river water to the monsters, and then Thor would promptly use his electricity to cause some damage. Sometimes it did cause good damage, while some just debilitated them a bit, but they were enough as distractions. However, their energies were all low to begin with and they could not wait until the mobs were cleared, regardless of how small they were. Their priority was still to leave the area and find a safe place. Foxii sighed, knowing this was their limit. She had hoped to clear the mob since it was so small, which would ensure the survival of a lot more people, but their bodies spirits, and HP were too low to do so. "RUN FORWARD!" She yelled, just before using much of her remaining mana to cover a lot of the monsters up front. Before dashing forward, Thor also sent small sparks of electricity to them, and the group used these few seconds of pause to widen the distance from the mobs. They just rushed blindly ahead of them from then on. Those who were capable shielded their own backs, while at the same time no longer having the benefit of caring for the others behind them. They would hear roars and growls behind them, and it would be followed by screams and the horrifying sounds of bodies bitten apart. They didn''t know how long they struggled. All they knew was that they had to go beyond their limits every step they took. Each movement felt like they were carrying tons of metal, but they had no choice but to do so. It was dark and some fell in the water, while some just lost the strength in their legs. No one had the strength to help others at this time, and they could only cry and apologize in their hearts. The longer they moved, the more the energy¡ªthe hope¡ªstarted to dissipate and more and more people fell under the claws and teeth of the monsters. However, at some point, the darkness was broken as bright light shone at a distance. Those up front immediately cried out. "LIGHT!" they yelled, and the energy that had been lost recuperated to some degree, and they rushed forward once more. Chapter 886 - 886: I See the Light (Part 2) "I see it! I see the light!" Tot yelled, eyes wide as they fixed on the only source of light they had other than the eerie two moons. Many others also saw, but they did not dare get too excited. They were hopeful but also cynical. Maybe they were dreaming? However, more and more people saw the light coming from the same direction, and everyone felt like crying. Immediately, they rushed towards it, just the sight of Light adding energy to their otherwise half-dead bodies. However, even after running for a while, the light was still far away, and they realized that it was not as near as they thought. "It''s actually farther than I thought. What could be causing such a brightness?" Tot asked, eyebrows furrowed. Cree was running along with them, and his eyes were narrowed. "It might be the Lighthouse, a special building some richer territories could afford." His words sparked more hope in them, and their hearts burst in both tiredness and in joy. To be honest, they lost the feeling of their legs a long time ago, and it was amazing how they were still moving. "Go! Run!!" However, they still had a small mob behind them. And soon they caught up again, taking down a few more people. ROAR!! "Ahhhh!" "GAH!!!" "Help!!" At this point, Foxii could no longer take it. She stopped running and turned back. They finally saw the light! How pitiful was it to lose the chance to live at this juncture?! "MISS FAYE!" Cree yelled, following after her by instinct. Faye ran back to the crowd, eyes fixed on the monsters in front of her. Using her last bits of mana to summon another whip, she hit the monsters about to bite her people. ROARR!! It did not cause damage, but it certainly angered them. The almost-victims crawled out of their paws, literally seeing their lives pass by them. "Thank you, Miss Faye!" they yelled, running towards and past her. Cree raised his sword to block an attack. However, he also lacked mana and spirit to fight against this mob. "Run now, Miss Faye!" sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Let''s go!" she said, turning away. Cree kicked the monster and turned back as well, ready to run along with the others. However, he overestimated himself. That kick had taken the last bit of energy in his leg, straining it, and he fell down to the ground. "CREE!" Faye yelled and wanted to summon another water whip. However¡ª [Insufficient Mana] "Damnit!" She yelled, throwing her spear at the monster''s mouth, delaying it for a second, but that was not long enough. Her pause allowed a monster to go straight at her and, like Cree, it was too late for her to escape. Those in front also felt sad at the imminent loss, and¡ªafter losing both Foxii and Cree¡ª they were also losing hope of making it, and many just turned back to at least have a clear conscience before they perished. Those who continued running focused on the light that passed through the foliage of the dense forest. Their hearts were heavy with guilt but, at the same time, they also could not be blamed for their desire to live. The Light had been getting closer¡ªthey could tell¡ªbut apparently not close enough!! They were not going fast enough! They were so close! Would they fall here, too?! However, suddenly, flashes of movements went past them and things changed. It changed so quickly they didn''t have the time to absorb what was going on. Even Faye and the others, who thought for certain that she was dying there, could only gape as sharp spikes of earth appeared out of nowhere, skewering the monster about to kill Cree, and a sharp slash of wind killing the one heading to her. Slash! Bang! More and more elements appeared, some of water and some more of fire. It happened so quickly and in most cases, a monster was taken down after one or two shots. To their shock, after a few minutes, all the monsters that had been hunting them were dealt with. It was led by a handsome redhead, followed by a handful of other elementalists. It was not bright in their area but fire was floating around the man, illuminating him. His handsomeness made the few women around swoon, and they looked at the newcomers like they were gods. Ansel looked at the refugees staring at him. Although he was used to getting stared at, the state of these people was just too pitiful he almost thought they were walking mummies (with a little fat). "Hey! You alright?!" he asked, concerned, and helping out the people nearby. They all stood up, though some had it harder than others. They also gave them a bit of water and some crackers. Ansel and the others did not give them more, afraid their stomachs would go into shock and hurt them instead. The refugees sobbed and gobbled it up, thinking these people were so kind to give them so much of their precious resource. This might be one of their last, right?! Were they really human? Too selfless! It had to be said: When people were hurt, hungry, and afraid, their critical thinking could suffer. If they had a bit of mind, they would also recognize the people as Terrans, but they didn''t quite absorb this fact yet. "Hurry, come with us," Ansel said and headed back, with the team placed strategically to deal with monsters as they came. The refugees followed the team with high hopes. They also thanked the skies. What were the chances of encountering a rare group of elementalists on these parts? Almost nil? Perhaps their territory sent them out to do tasks? Would it be a big town? Maybe even a City?! Regardless, it was a bit brave of the lord to send such important people out at this time, but it was their luck so they could only be thankful. Soon, they encountered some monsters again, which they dealt with easily, but then they realized there were more and more monsters as they got closer to the bright territory. The territory was getting attacked! Worse, as they got closer, they saw that a large amount of people were fighting against the mob so far away from the walls! They must be a hundred meters away, right!? Why would they be outside? The only explanation made their stomachs drop. Did their territory also fall due to the mobs? If so, then¡­ where were they supposed to go now? Chapter 887 - 887: Misunderstandings? The Terrans from downstream didn''t have high hopes anymore, but they were thankful to at least find people who could defend themselves. Even if the territory was gone, they could travel with them to find a new home. They also seemed much better adjusted to the current situation, so it was probably a native territory, which was already better than what they could''ve hoped for. After all, not long ago, they were certain they would die. Faye was already thinking of how to integrate well with aborigines. Fortunately, they had Cree and Valma to help them out. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Speaking of that, she hadn''t been able to thank old Cree for his protection. She never thought he''d do that at all, and she vowed to pay him back once things were more stable. Anyway, she yelled for everyone to fight alongside these people. She wouldn''t want them to be abandoned because they were seen as burdens. They must show that they, at least, could pull their own weights! Sadly¡­ they had no chance to show this. The other teams'' rate of killing was too quick. Before they could run to a distracted monster, it was already taken care of. "..." "Go ahead," the redhead said, pointing in a direction. "The gate is that way," he said, before directing a path of fire that temporarily kept a few monsters away, allowing them to follow it. The other teammates followed his lead and pushed back the monsters in that path, creating a relatively safe way for them. "Oh, and if you''re asked who got you here, tell them it''s Ansel and team!" Faye looked at the others and nodded. The Row Villagers could not think too deeply and just followed instructions. They walked at the fastest pace they could. They didn''t want to be so troublesome, and they weren''t sure how long these kind people would be holding back these monsters for them. Soon, the people from the team got preoccupied with the groups of monsters that came at them, and they could only run in that direction, regardless of whether they had elementalists with them. They had their weapons out, prepared to fight themselves, but the journey was surprisingly smooth. Whenever new monsters came near them, some random people would appear, bravely brandishing their weapons to kill the monster. They didn''t come to protect them, they could tell, because their teams didn''t even look at them. These people worked in teams and they worked against a few monsters together, mobbing them. At some point, they even got the impression that these teams were even¡­ competing to get to the monsters first? Hmn, the heat melted their brains indeed. It probably affected their vision, too. Anyway, they continued to rush towards the walls, getting close enough to see its state. Suffice to say, when the Terran refugees really looked at the tall wall with dense sentries, they were quite flabbergasted. So they really were in a Town? It was much more imposing than they thought¡­ According to Cree, Towns and Cities definitely had better measures against Extreme Weather changes. Were they really so lucky to actually encounter one? Didn''t they say the monsters around towns were stronger, though? "Ouch!" Tot yelled when he felt a sharp pain on his arm. He turned to glare at Thor, who not only pinched him¡ªhe also electrocuted him. "Not a dream?" "You¡­" However, before they could argue, the double door of the gates burst open, revealing another batch of people with varying appearances and clothing. They were all holding out their weapons, their eyes and faces filled with fighting spirit. Some didn''t bother with them, eyes focused on the battlefield outside, while some looked at them up and down which made them feel a little insecure about their own appearances. They hadn''t gotten a look at themselves yet¡ªwho had mirrors? Their streams also dried up to use them as such¡ªbut they knew for sure they looked¡­ pitiful. In contrast, these people looked proper and well-fed. It had been a few weeks since the Extreme Heat started, but these people seemed to not have been affected much at all. Anyway, these people leisurely went past them, joining the battle outside. Now that the Row Villagers were near the gates, just next to safety zone provided by the sentries, they finally had the mind to absorb what was really going on. They turned to watch the battles outside and couldn''t help but gape. There were so many people outside fighting against the mob, but no one had terror on their faces. They were tired and challenged, yes, but not scared. They also noticed that many of these people were fighting within the scope of the sentries, which sent attacks every few seconds at the latest. Some sharper people like Faye and Cree could even tell these people knew exactly where the sentry arrows were coming. The civilians fought hard with no fear, even when they were almost eaten. Faye almost went over to help one out when an arrow flew in right on time to skewer it. The person¡ªunshaken¡ªwent to attack another monster with his team. Other than the sentries, there were also a lot of attacks coming from the battlements. They didn''t notice it before because they were so focused but¡­ the battlement was actually full of people. They saw people throwing rocks or shooting arrows in tandem with those on the ground. They would give them helpful assistance like distractions or even making lethal shots. There were also a few¡­ who were just watching, yelling ''moral support''. "Go Team!" "KILL THOSE BASTARDS!" Then there were those who were yelling¡­ random things they really couldn''t comprehend in this context. "Hurry! Kill a bit more so I can join in!" one said. "Hey, don''t hit that part! That''s good leather!" another screamed. There were even people... bickering. "Hey! Look at Dog!" another voice echoed, talking to someone on the ground. "How is he killing faster than you are! It''s embarrassing!" "SHUT UP!" "OI! Hubert! Don''t block the way!" One of the archers yelled. "You never listen! Wait til'' I shoot up your ass!" "HAHA! What a weak attack¡ª" "Then you go down here and let''s see who''s better!?" And so on¡­ The newcomers were very confused. It seemed like they¡­ misunderstood? Chapter 888 - 888: Shock Why did it feel like these people were¡­ enjoying it? Really? No, right? Anyway, one thing was for certain: No one was forced outside. Rather than having no choice, they were out here out of their own free will! None of them could move forward towards the open gates at this time, temporarily forgetting their tiredness and hunger. They¡­ were just too shocked. "Hey¡­" Tot said, seeming to realize something. "What language are they using?" They all gaped, their brains finally started working. Terran language? Their eyes widened at the possibility and they looked all around them in disbelief. In fact, even if the people who rescued them spoke to them in Xenoan like Cree, it had a peculiarity¡ªwas it accent? Who knew¡ªthat indicated the person wasn''t a native. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Now, seeing them mock and encourage each other in their native tongue while facing mobs¡ªtheir hearts were filled in awe. These people were from Terran! These were Terrans for sure! But they were so strong¡ª Soon, more and more people entered the battlefields, some jumping down from the walls, lunging towards the beasts as if it wasn''t thrice their mass. The battles were active enough that it didn''t notice them, the accessible meat nearby, allowing them to watch the battle in relative peace. Faye was also a bit sharper and noticed the differences, particularly between those with uniforms and those who didn''t. Judging by the strength differences, the ones without the uniform were¡­ civilians? Unlike in other territories, the citizens here seemed to willingly fight alongside guards and maybe even enjoy it. This was something they couldn''t quite comprehend just yet. Everyone showed skill and bravery, much more than they had seen in most of their guards. The battle went on for many more minutes, and they watched them take down the monster mobs one by one. They would watch as they''d drag the carcasses back to the wall and where a group of¡­ goat-horse things was waiting¡­? The carcasses were placed on a large cart that was almost as wide as the gates, and the group of goat-horses dragged it deeper into the territory. Similarly, anyone who was injured (which was a not common occurence) would also be placed in another cart, though one cart was only carried by one goat-horse. It also had a blue bandana on its head, as if to differentiate it from others. What in the world¡­ "That''s a broat," Cree said, also similarly impressed. "I didn''t know they could be used that way." In one of the territories he had been to, Broat was a popular source of meat. However, they were either just standing still or running, and it was difficult to use them anywhere else. The Row Villagers had no idea what to make of it; they could only watch for a bit more. They heard a deep bell sound inside though and, like a signal, people started using elements as well! Later, they''d find out that it was indeed a signal. It was a signal that the mob was almost finished and they could play as they wanted¡ªthat there was no need to retain their energies too much! The newcomers gaped as elements flew all over. There were people who threw large rocks to distract a monster while a teammate stabbed them. The same teammate would pretty much float¡ªeven if it was just a second¡ªto go over a monster''s head to kill another one. There was a slight gust there and they had an idea that the person used the wind element. This wind elementalist would wave his hand and create a gust to push back a monster, and right where it was pushed, there was someone ready to kill it. There would also be a lot of fireballs thrown around, all while the people swung their swords or held up their shields. There was also a water elementalist who threw small water balls into beasts'' noses, annoying them, and his teammates would then take care of the distracted monsters with their weapons. There were also plenty of combinations. For instance, the fire users would combine with the wind to create stronger fire. There would even be people using¡­ oil? People had oil here? There would also be small teams of earth users who would corral monsters for efficiency. When they opened up a wall for the monsters to go through, there''d be teams waiting to deal with them. Because they came out in smaller numbers, teams would be able to work together to deal with it faster and with less injuries on their side. There would also be teams that''d bait monsters to either the sentries or some traps. It was amazing how well they could time the arrows, as if they had done it so often that it was instinctual now. They also had various traps. Some were holes dug by earth elementalists, designed to either trap smaller monsters, or imbalance the bigger ones. Their movements were always clean and swift and without hesitation¡ªtaking advantage of even a second of distraction to go for the kill. Anyway, there was an obvious organization amongst the chaos and anyone with combat experience could tell that these people had gone through a lot of battles together. In their territory, with thousands of citizens and guards, there were only a handful of people who had awakened their elements. They were completely newbies who didn''t know what they were doing and could only do the basics. Here, even civilians looked proficient! Other than these, they were also proficient with their weapons. No one below the wall had to be defended. Everyone handled themselves and cooperated with the others, killing monsters so many times bigger than they were! They also expertly knew where to stand, and no one was hit by sentries by accident (in contrast to theirs, sentries were less dense, but some people still got hit accidentally!) This mob was much bigger than what they had been dealing with, and yet they were dealt with such ease¡ª What¡­ where are they?! Chapter 889 - 889: Aborigines from the South While the Terran refugees from downstream fell into confusion about their new home, the Aborigine refugees from upstream of the river were still fighting for their lives. They had been traveling for a long time now. From the few hundred or so people they had when they left their village, they lost about a third. If they hadn''t even accidentally burned a good part of the forest to block the way (with flames also eating up a few of them) there would''ve been a lot less. "No territories yet?" Shinho asked the scouts who were holding the torches to brighten up their way. They continued looking forward along the dense but dry forests, shaking their heads in the end. "No¡­ and the torch is losing oil. We''re running out, Shinho," one said, looking worriedly at his fire. It was then that another gust of wind passed by, causing a few torches to die down. "AH!" "Oh no!" They hurriedly surrounded the ones still burning, barely holding on. They surrounded them well with their own bodies, making sure to keep them lit. If all of their torches died, then they''d be depending on the two moons for light. Although their physiques allowed them to see at night to some degree, it would not be enough if they were attacked by monsters. After all, those things had far superior eyesight than every one of them! Another issue they had been dealing with was that more and more people had fallen into poisonous plants during their travels. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Many were unlucky and chose the wrong plants. For better or for worse, it was the poisonous plants that were most robust during the Extreme Weather seasons. Some people, however, still ate them even if they knew they were poison. After all, they were hungry and delirious and a lot of them ended up eating whatever they could find¡ªrisking poison rather than starving to death. They were all too weak now, too hungry and thirsty, and their whole bodies were in pain. They didn''t even know how they were still moving. At the back of the line, there was even a young lad carrying an old woman, dragging both their weights with his struggling body. The old woman looked heartbroken, asking him to just let her go, but the young man¡ªwan and pale¡ªdidn''t listen to her at all. "Let me go, child," the old woman said, touching her grandson''s thin shoulders, shaking from tiredness. She felt tears line up her eyes. "No grandma," the young man said. "I can still do it." This young man was Bumi, a fairly handsome tanned lad with curly hair. He was one of the few warriors left and he protected his only remaining relative, his grandmother, with his life. Now his grandma was at the end of the rope, and he could only carry her to keep her alive. Not far from them was the ten-year-old Mamu, who had fought a lot for the territory with Shinho before. He was alone, all his relatives perishing from different disasters early in life. He matured very early, and had grown up enough to handle himself. His small legs and weak body only allowed him to be at the back of the line though. At the front, Shinho''s team led the way, clearing whatever obstacle they had to remove. For instance, the monsters, which came in small mobs. Fortunately, most mobs were attacking various territories at this time, leaving the areas in the middle with fewer monsters for them to deal with. He looked at his sister, Shishi, who was so thin that she was as pitiful as the dying tree. He then looked at his lover, who was also pale and weak, guarding his sister from eating whatever plant she saw lest she died a horrible death from poison. This went on for a bit more time, and everyone''s guards were up, expecting to encounter new mobs by now. They were hoping hard that they would never come, of course. After all, most of them simply did not have the energy to deal with another mob, but they were realists and they knew this world too well. They knew what it would be throwing at them at any time. Rustle He heard sobs behind him. Most people were obviously expecting the worst at this time. It was dark and they couldn''t see anything. Their hearts were raised, trying to determine who would be attacked first. Rustle Rustle The fighters were antsy, trying to determine where the first attack would be coming from. The moment a loud crack sounded in a direction, they immediately raised their weapons to attack¡ª "Halt!" A loud voice yelled, making everyone pause. Shinho¡ªweapon up and stance guarded¡ªwas about to open his mouth to ask more questions when he was met with a fascinating sight. Small, focused, points of light appeared¡ªand there were many of them. The refugees'' eyes widened as they saw light after light appeared around them. They were clean and focused¡ªnot like the uncontrollable fires of their torches¨Cand, because of the contrast of light and dark, it felt even more magical. "So many¡­" "Have we entered Elvendel?" Ferra mumbled next to Shinho, holding his arm. He could hear his sister sniff as well. Similar whispers were heard all around their small group. Behind the crowd, where Bumi was, there was a similar mumbling. However, because of their location at the end of the crowd, they could see things clearer. "They''re not monsters¡­" Bumi said, seeing so many lights and then to the people holding them. "What are those¡­" The refugees froze in place as the lights found them, revealing a group of people. They were holding torches, but it was surrounded by a translucent surface. While it was less bright, it was safe from causing forest fires. There were also people who wore the torches¡­ on their heads? Some had them hanging on their waists¡­ Some didn''t have the brain energy to think about it, while some saw that it was indeed a convenient set-up and freed up people''s hands to do more important things. Say, like fighting for their lives. While fascinated and curious, no one dared to lower their guards. More and more people appeared with their weird lighting contraptions. The whole time, Shinho and his people were staring deeply at them. There was obviously no territory nearby here. So¡­ who were these people? And what were they doing so far away? Chapter 890 - 890: Another Misunderstanding The group approached them and, seeing as they were humans who weren''t outrightly aggressive, their group was a little relieved. Of course, they didn''t put down their guards too much. It was led by a large man with massive scars, looking at them up and down, as if mentally noting their states and counting their numbers. The leading person immediately zoned in on Shinho, whose weapon was up as his eyes never left them. "Refugees?" he asked. Shinho''s eyebrows furrowed, and the other man''s face immediately softened. "That''s good." ??? "Where did you come from?" he asked. This man was Mauru and there tens of other people with him. His team had left the territory just around dusk. They were sent on a mission to check the area 1 kilometer from the territory walls. It was a mission by the territory, adding 50% more contribution points for every refugee they rescued. This was a very good mission to brave souls who wanted to gain a lot of contribution points. In fact, this mission had minimal advantages to the territory. It only added population¡ªwhich it didn''t lack anymore¡ªnot to mention they weren''t certain the newcomers would be functioning members of society. Instead, the mission had a lot more to do with humanity. How cruel would it be for the refugees to perish when they were so close to them? The Mauin Villagers, who were new to this concept, were extremely touched and were determined to contribute. They even left earlier, while the sun was still up at dusk. They were protected by special insulation suits created by the Research Center. It was made of material that could shield them from the heat and also had a cooling interior skin, though how it was created was beyond them. It was still a bit hot though, so they took it off and placed in the space as soon as it got dark. They also put on their special torches and lighting hats¡ªalso new products of the Specialty Store¡ªand continued with their search. Today, they ended up venturing a bit farther than usual. They encountered a few monsters already up and about to hunt, killing them, deciding to go farther just in case. And they really did meet refugees¡ªhundreds of them. It was a pleasant surprise, and they were relieved to see more people alive. Also, this meant a lot of Contribution Points. At this, they couldn''t help but look even more ''kindly'' at the refugees, who were more or less creeped out by their smiles. "Where were you from?" Mauru repeated, seeing as the people he was talking with still hadn''t answered. Then he wondered if their hearing was affected. It wasn''t new¡ªa lot of people got damaged in some way when they stayed out for too long during this time. They received a lot of refugees with a lot to ''repair'' in the hospital. It was Shinho, the de facto leader, who stepped forward. He bravely faced these strange people with their strange tools. His body language was still defensive¡ªas everyone else by default due to various reasons. Other than the fact that they did not know these people, they also sensed some ''greed'' in these people''s eyes. Why did they look at them like that? Shinho frowned and clenched his fist. What were they planning to do to them? The aborigine''s sharp eyes then noticed how ''nice'' they all looked. They were relatively clean except for some splashes of blood and dirt in their clothing¡ªwhich were all good-looking. They also had filled bodies, unlike their dried up and withered ones. What if they were slave drivers? Intent to make them slaves? Although they weren''t won in wars, they could still be sold as such after being forced to swear unfair oaths! If so, would they be kidnapped and sold so these people could eat well? But how could they eat well if there was no source of decent food? No matter what, if one only had these dry leaves for a meal, everyone had to be skin and bones by now. Sure, they were near the river so it was possible the restaurants were still in operation due to the survival of many plants, but how many could that support? Then¡­ his heart turned cold at a thought. What if¡­ what if these people had fat because they were one of ''those'' territories¡ªterritories with citizens that ate humans ?! He gripped Ferra''s hand. She herself ran away from that type of place. How broken would she be if they ended up in another one? Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ((If Mauru and the others knew that these walking ''Contribution Points'' believed they showed filthy greed, and even thought that they were cannibals , they''d be very depressed.)) "Who are you?" Shinho asked after a while, and Mauru looked at him and gave him a friendly smile¡ªwhich made him look even creepier, to be honest. "My name is Mauru, and this is my team," he said, making quick introductions. Mauru was captain of his own team, predominantly composed of the surviving guards from Mauru Village. They lived at the edge of death and war their whole lives, and their teamwork was very impressive. The team was kept balanced though, and there were a few Terrans¡ªand therefore elementalists¡ªin their team. It would never cease to amaze the aborigines how all Terrans seemed to be elementalists. Back in Mauin, such figures were basically legendary to them. There were a few Terrans in their team, two of whom were women. One was Cassie, a wind swordsman, and there was Barbara, a spearman with a wind affinity. Barbara (called Barbie by some close friends and family) was one of the soldiers who belatedly arrived in the then-Fargo Village and joined Victor''s team. Like many others, she eventually got assigned to Alterra. This was mostly to train them, but they could also be permanently assigned there depending on the orders of the higher ups. She was quite tall and muscular for a woman, and she looked badass with her short dark hair, tanned skin, and sharp features. Cassie also had short hair, albeit light-colored ones, though hers was a little longer and past the ears. She also had a softer demeanor to her, which was quite charming to a lot of men. Bumi, in particular, couldn''t quite take his eyes away from her. Anyway, the leaders were currently facing each other. One was tense, trying to figure out the other''s dangers, strength, and motives. In contrast, the other was feeling friendly and concerned, thinking of ways to welcome them to Alterra. The misunderstanding was also strong in this one. Chapter 891 - 891: Amalgation (Part 1) Shinho looked around him, mentally counting the number of enemies. Although they were extremely weakened from the long travels and in hunger, thirst, and pain, they still greatly outnumbered these newcomers. Should they just run for their lives? Or should they gamble and come with them? Shinho felt tense, knowing his decision would affect hundreds of lives. Ferra felt it and patted his hand. Not to tell him he was hurting her, but rather to comfort him. This was very subtle and many didn''t notice it, especially with the lack of light, but the women were sensitive enough to see it. They looked at the refugees again and understood that they were not exactly happy to see them. This was a little counterintuitive to them, who had lived good lives, but once they thought about it, they understood. Outside Alterra, Humans were just¡­ not that trustworthy. Even the aborigines seemed to have forgotten that. Cassie immediately stepped forward next to Mauru, who was a little puzzled. "We came from a nearby village," she said with a kind smile. "It''s really not that far, probably less than a kilometer away. "We have a nearby river that passes through our territory, and it''s why we live better lives than most," she explained, waving at herself, before looking gently at them again. "Would you like to come with us?" Her words made the refugees stare at her, some with eyes sparkling with little hope and some with desperation. Many of them were at their last straws, after all. In contrast, there were also a few¡ªincluding Shinho and his family¡ªwho were reluctant. But what could they do in the end? Even if they fought against these people, and even if they won, where would they go next? They would be weakened even further by the fight, even more vulnerable to beasts that came their way. If these people were as they feared, then it would be a question of who or what would eat them in the end. He closed his eyes and gripped his lover''s hand tighter. He looked at his people. "Whether you want to come with them or not is up to you," he said. "I will understand." Everyone looked at him, concerned. "Why aren''t you coming?" "I¡­" Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Before he could explain anymore, their chatters were cut short by heavier rustles of the dried plants around them, shortly followed by heavy footsteps and growls that resonated with the wind. Everyone immediately put their guards up¡ªwhether it was the newcomers or Shinho¡ªready to fight. The growls grew louder, the dried vegetation around them shaking wildly. An ominous atmosphere enveloped them, causing their hearts to beat loudly. There was definitely a mob, and it wasn''t small. Shinho heard sobs around him, the civilians slowly paralyzed with fear again, while the others nervously went on a defensive. After all, it was dark and they didn''t have the advantage of sight to attack first. While Shinho''s team was like this, Mauru''s had already made a plan. They had been trained well and knew what to do in most situations. In situations like this where they had refugees they had to protect, the team would divide up into groups that surrounded the refugees. This was in hopes of shielding as many of them as they could, whilst keeping their own lives and limbs. A small group took one monster each, cooperating with others along the way. They couldn''t see too well because it was dark, but they could see enough by virtue of their lighting and the two moons. The most unbelievable was the two women fighting bravely alongside the men. No, even leading their own teams. The lighter-haired woman stood in front of their archer, taking on a monster directly while her teammates attacked it from the side. They couldn''t see how exactly, but she seemed to have pushed smaller monsters away without touching them. The dark-skinned woman was even more amazing. They watched as she lifted herself up with her spear, landing in the middle of the small mob. She waved her spear and pushed the monsters back, giving her teammates time to kill the monsters before they could tell what was coming to them. "Wow¡­" The aborigines had never seen anything like it, and they all gaped¡ªforgetting to even think of running if things went south. This was especially true for the women, who had never seen women fighting side by side with the men. Then out of nowhere, explosions of fire would pop up here and there, and they realized it was from a fire elementalist! With the added illumination provided by the fire and burning monsters, it was then that Shinho and the others realized: there was an abnormal amount of elements flying! So many elementalists?! They had never seen so many in one team before¡­ Orcshit, most of them hadn''t even seen a single one in their lifetime! Who were these people?! Both women were elementalist, too, and they created strong winds that could stop monsters from moving forward, even temporarily, creating excellent assists for their allies. They even combined their powers, creating small spinning winds that displaced enemies. Those monsters would end up in another team, finished off by either swords, spears, or a sharp whip made of fire. Shinho and the other refugees looked on as the mob was cleared cleanly and efficiently. The team had a few tens of people and no one was a deadweight, each one contributing to the fall of a monster or a few. Although some of them had to cooperate to deal with a few monsters, it was as if they were just one body moving fluidly, creating a combined killing power that shouldn''t be possible with just their individual level. A group like this¡­ wouldn''t stoop low enough to eat other humans. It was just an instinct when seeing the True Strong, and this was a belief that was built up as time went on. The more they saw, the weaker their bodies became. It wasn''t from depression. Rather, their bodies relaxed on their own, and their knees buckled as they fell to the ground. Some covered their faces as tears escaped their eyes, while some just lost consciousness in the middle of the crowd. A woman among the refugees sobbed louder than others. She was unsightly and filled with dried blood. She was pale and sickly, and not long ago she was among those who had given up on life. However, this time, her voice was loud and had a lilt of hope. "Are we finally saved?" She asked, and everyone else looked at each other with teary eyes. Well¡­ are they? Chapter 892 - 892: Amalgation (Part 2) Did a town nearby fall due to the tragedy so stronger refugees were fighting outside? No, even a town would not have elementalists running around like this¡ªnot unless all their elementalists grouped together and abandoned everyone else. Bumi watched as the younger girl jumped up bravely over the monsters head, raising her sword, and stabbing it straight to the eye. He felt his heart beat loudly in admiration. "So strong¡­" he said, his voice raspy from the dryness but laced with admiration. Grandma smiled at this, while the rest of their group could only gape. Shinho and his group watched as the dozen or so monsters were dealt with bravely, with them not having to move at all. In fact, the newcomers were even protecting their small and weakened group! It was too difficult to comprehend, so they could only gape. Even Shinho was prepared to fight the monsters but he was too surprised. The monsters weren''t even that weak, but these people could handle them one-to-one. If he entered the fight, he might even affect their momentum. In any case, the beasts fell one by one, and each one dying added life to their hearts and bodies. At this point, everyone was convinced and willing to be taken away. Even if these people happened to be slave drivers, it was still better! Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They saved their lives after all, even if as slaves, it was likely there was still some value found in their lives. Soon, the mob was cleared, with their leader and the dark-skinned woman approaching them again. "Are you alright?" he asked, and they felt kindness in the question. Without the terrified and suspicious eyes they had before, they realized that these people were really concerned for them. The shift was a bit hard to swallow. "Ah, yes," Shinho said after a while, trying to gather himself, though to no avail. People who could stand up did so and approached them, and they were met with a barrage of questions like ''where is the territory'', ''is it a town'', et cetera. However, the inquisitive atmosphere died down when someone fell down in the middle of the crowd. The woman beside him yelled, dropping to her knees, and immediately began to shake him. "SON! Son!" She lifted her head to look at the people around her. "PLEASE HELP! SOMEONE!" The woman cried, feeling her son''s body turning cold. The others also looked on in concern, but none of them knew how to handle it, and even if they did they wouldn''t have had the resources to fix it. The woman knew this of course, but how could she just accept it? "PLEASE!" she screamed so loudly she coughed up blood, obviously damaging her dried throat. "PLEASE HELP MY SON!" Just when they finally found some hope, it was suddenly taken away from her. How cruel! "Please, don''t strain yourself too much," the dark-skinned woman¡ªwho they would later known to be named Barbara¡ªkneeled down next to her. She gently asked her to give more space and she hurriedly crawled back, though her eyes did not leave them. Mauru walked over to check as well, recognizing the symptoms. "He''s poisoned," he said, seeing this case too many times. Barbara nodded, already taking out a bottle of medicine from her space. "Lift his head up, please," she said, and Mauru kneeled down on the lad''s other side to assist. The young man''s mother watched with red eyes, slowly crawling back to look closer at what was happening. Her son looked like he had lost all the blood in his body, and he was shivering so much as if it was the Extreme Cold instead of the Extreme Heat instead. Her heart was crushed, and she covered her mouth to muffle her sobs that couldn''t help escaping her lips. Barbara''s head slightly tilted in her direction. "Don''t worry too much," she said. "We''ve had cases like this before, and no one had died as long as it was dealt with in time." The woman was still sobbing a bit, but she nodded. She heaved deep breaths to calm herself down, but she saw the young lad suddenly stopped shaking. She realized that his breathing was normal and the woman''s cries escaped her lips once more. "Wuuu¡­ son¡­ wu¡­" Sobbing, she bowed at Barbara and at Mauru, expressing her gratitude. "Thank you¡­ thank you¡­" The two smiled as they stood up, looking at the refugees who were staring at them. They did not notice how the rest of the team was looting the carcasses, getting some good meat and materials from the corpses. Not everything fit in their space, but they were outfitted with backpacks so they could place the rest there. Of course, there was still quite a bit of meat left which would just decay if left there. Mauru and Barbara looked at the refugees in thought. They were really weak and the territory was still an hour or so away at a slow pace. These people were too weak to rush. What if their brittle bones broke along the way? "Let''s camp here," he said, and the team immediately set things up while the others finished up their looting. The refugees were very confusedly standing there, watching them set up. Barbara shook her head with a smile. "Come, sit down," she said, walking to the temporary campfire being built. At her request, a fire user threw a fireball on the campfire and it immediately burst into flames. At the same time, the other brave warriors helped them up, and some even gave them pretty bottles, though for a moment they were unsure what to expect were inside. One couldn''t blame their stupidity. Their bodies were pushed to the limit, and what they had been seeing so far was just beyond what they were used to. Shinho and the others watched as the rescuers took some sticks and burned them just enough to harden the wood a bit. They then skewered meat from the monsters (when did they deal with the carcasses? Those were basically skeletons now) before sprinkling some odd powder and liquid before putting them on the fire. They were all just really confused at what was happening until a special aroma whiffed up their nose. As if by magic, their stomachs rumbled loudly in hunger and their mouths watered in greed. "What¡­" Bumi and his grandmother also gulped, but they paused when they heard a giggle at the side. Bumi lost his tongue when he saw it was that pretty girl with light-colored short hair. She walked past him¡ª ah, she smells nice, he thought¡ªand he watched dazedly as she went in front of his grandmother. She handed her, the only surviving old woman in the group, a colorful bottle as well. It was really beautiful and he hadn''t seen such a bottle before. But¡­ Bumi thought the girl was even prettier. The old woman stared at the bottle in confusion and the girl smiled. "Water," she said. "As for the food¡­ you''d have to wait until it finished cooking." Then they finally realized it: These people were really giving them food and water! Who''d have thought they''d receive such kindness during this disaster? In the end, even when their stomachs were still rumbling..., their hearts were full. Chapter 893 - 893: Bright Light A/N: Have you guys seen the new versions of the song ''City of Two Moons'' by Air_Ace? They''re all really good. Come listen with us~ ... ___ The refugees immediately gathered around the campfire with beating hearts, still a bit in disbelief. More and more bottles were passed around. "Please share with others," they''d say, though there''d be dozens of big earthenware bottles going around, letting all of them drink at least a few sips. It was tempting to just gulp down as much as they could, but they had seen these people''s strengths and did not dare to hog the water. What if they''d get kicked out of the group for causing trouble? Cringe. Anyway, they were all well behaved while the barbeque was cooked, letting them get a whiff of its goodness. It was also the main reason why people behaved. They knew annoying these people would make them lose their chance to eat that. While waiting, many got lucky when the bottles made another round, letting them have another sip or two. It was just as tasty as the first gulp. Objectively, each person didn''t get much water, but each sip literally felt like it injected life into their souls. Then they were given the freshly cooked meat and swore they had died of happiness. Their hearts went on a wild ride that night for sure. "What¡­ this is too delicious!" Grandma mumbled as she ate her meat. Bumi nodded as he took another bite, sniffling a bit. This was the sight all over. They hadn''t quite absorbed that they were actually being fed by strangers when their minds were numbed by the utter deliciousness that touched their tongues. Anyway, based on their looks, if they weren''t dehydrated and had tears, it was estimated they''d be sobbing right now. Barbara and the others were amused. They did worry about feeding them savory meat when they obviously hadn''t eaten decent food in a while, but they just hoped the aborigines'' bodies had adjusted well enough to the conditions here. It was quite a peaceful couple of minutes then. Even when a few small mobs appeared, the team just stood up and worked once again. Fortunately, it was small and only a dozen people had to be mobilized to deal with them. Shinho saw they had no chance to help out again and felt guilty for being treated so well. He approached Mauru. "I¡­ I''m sorry for my rudeness earlier," he said. "It''s just¡­ hard to imagine people being kind." Mauru looked at him in understanding. As an aborigine, he naturally understood where he was coming from. Earlier, he was focused on getting them back and simply forgot about the natural distrust of their kind amongst each other. He stood up and patted the man''s shoulder. "That''s because our backing is strong," he said. "So we can afford to be kind." ¡­ When the new mob had been cleared, everyone had already finished eating and were prepared to make a move. "Follow me," Mauru said, and everyone obediently followed behind him. It had to be said: the kind provision of water and food made them no longer question their next phase of action. Bumi immediately crouched down with his back in front of his grandmother, who was now sitting on one of the rocks. To his surprise, she shook her head. "I want to walk." "Grandma?" Bumi asked, concerned, but his grandmother looked at him. "I rested enough," she said, smiling mysteriously. "And I have a new source of strength." Bumi was very confused and he could only watch as his grandmother walked in a direction with a smile. She went to that pretty short haired lady who gave water. "Thank you for the water," she said. "It must not have been easy to give out something so important." "I''ll survive," she said. "You may not." It was blunt but, in contrast to how many others would''ve reacted, it made the old woman chuckle instead. She raised her late daughter and grandson on her own, after all, all without a man. She never had the predisposition to look down on women. "Young lady, what is your name?" "Cassie." "Are you married?" Inexplicably, Bumi¡ªwho was right behind her¡ªflushed. Cassie was taken aback by the question and tilted her head. However, she had a natural respect for the older generation and answered politely anyway. "No, grandma." "Oh, good good good." "?" Grandma didn''t answer her and just continued to walk along, with Cassie kindly matching pace with her. Grandma fell in love even more, and Bumi could only walk behind them looking flustered. Just like this, the three were in the last row of the line. They were silent for a while, and they took it as a chance to observe the woman more. She was a valiant-looking young woman¡ªand a rare elementalist, too. Despite all these, she walked alongside them, the poor dirty refugees, as if she didn''t see a difference. It was very¡­ curious. They also wanted to ask more, but they feared it would be rude. Could they ask where they came from? What if it had fallen like their own home? So instead, grandma asked: "Can you tell me more¡­ about where we are going?" "Our village," she said and they were relieved to hear it was still standing. "So your village is fine! That''s great to hear." In their minds though, they did wonder if they heard it correctly. Village? Perhaps they misheard¡­ They also wanted to ask why there were so many elementalists, and how could women be so strong, but that felt like an overtly intimate question so they shut their mouths and pushed down their curiosity. In the end, Grandma simply smiled at her reassuringly. "Well, it''s good you guys are strong. Foraging outside is much safer. Unlike us¡­" she sighed, looking at her grandson behind them. "We work hard though," she said. "Although our territory is gone, we held on long enough, a good part of it is because many of our young men are brave. My grandson over there is not as strong as you are, but he is a good provider¡­" Bumi was aghast. "Grandma¡­" Cassie didn''t seem to mind the comment though. She was fixed with the territory comment. "So your home¡­" "It''s gone." "I''m sorry." They shook their heads. "It''s just how life is¡­ we can only hope for a better future." Cassie smiled. "Oh you don''t have to worry about that in Alterra," she said, looking forward. Her eyebrows rose. Time seemed to have passed while they chattered. "Ah, we''re almost there." S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The young woman pointed in front of her and the grandmother-son duo turned their heads to follow her line of sight. Their eyes widened at the sight of a tall wall a few hundred meters away. They weren''t so close, but they could see it clearly. Although they hadn''t been to a town yet, that should be a wall of one¡­ right? And are those sentries? So dense? And¡­ it was so bright! It was like it was a guiding light that broke the darkness in the horizon. At this point, they just couldn''t speak clearly anymore. "This¡­" Cassie looked at their reaction with a smile. "Welcome to Alterra Village." Chapter 894 - 894: Entering Alterra As they went closer, the clearer the situation was, and the more they realized just how dense the mobs were. They realized their journey here was smooth because every mob in the vicinity was targeting this territory. They had never seen so many mobs at night. If it was placed on their old territory, it''d have been crushed after the first few hours. Immediately, they became worried. However, looking at the unbothered expression on their rescuer''s faces, they calmed down a bit. This time, everyone had their weapons out. "It seems like the mob''s still a bit dense on this side," Maumi said, facing the mob of beasts, many of which turned at the sight of them. "..." "It''s best if you can defend yourselves," Maumi added as he waved his sword to push a monster back. "Follow our tracks though, you don''t want to get stuck in the middle of the mob." The rescuers just moved forward, separating into small teams again. They didn''t look at them anymore, as if it was their choice whether they followed or not. Of course, even if they were terrified, they had to take a leap of faith¡ªotherwise, they''d be left behind to fend for themselves. There was comfort in togetherness, right? Even if you were heading into a sea of ravenous beasts¡­ The refugees gulped in nervousness, looking at the well-lit wall at a distance. It was just a bit over a hundred meters away now, but it felt so far away. Their hearts tightened but they had no choice but to prepare for the worst. Fortunately, they weren''t left hanging and Maumi and the others created a sort of V-shaped defensive formation. With this, they cleared the mobs that approached while moving forward toward the walls at the same time. Maumi and the others did handle most of them, but with the sheer number of beasts, there were bound to be a few leaks. When the first monsters reached the refugees, they defended themselves to the best of their ability. "ATTACK!" Shinho yelled, and they targeted the leaks together as teams. They were inspired by the teamwork of their rescuers, and were influenced by their energy. The leaks were surprisingly few¡ªonly a handful¡ªwhich could easily be taken care of by hundreds of them who had finally drunk and had eaten decent food. Rather, remembering the taste of that barbeque energized them. They wanted to taste it again!! S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "FIGHTTT!!" "GAHHH!" "KILL THEMM!" "TO THE WALLSSS!" It would be hard to imagine they were half-dead a few hours ago. Anyway, as they fought, they realized the reason why there were only a few monsters actually reaching them was because there were a lot of people fighting in the area! Because the humans were so much smaller than the beasts, they didn''t see it before. Beyond the zone Maumi and the others created, there were probably hundreds of others in the area, taking the mobs head-on! Shinho and the others gaped at their surroundings. Even dead in the night, they could see everything in the vicinity, whether it was the tall reassuring walls, the dense protective sentries, or¡­ the brave citizens battling the mobs. They saw how these people killed mobs, and then they noticed the utter lack of despair on people''s faces. They were all calm, while some even seemed a bit¡­ excited. More importantly¡ª "Elementalists!" "So many!!" All around them, elements floated around. It was magical and frankly they partially thought they were hallucinating already. They had thought the ones they encountered were the special group¡­ but it seemed it wasn''t quite the case? It had an army of them! And¡­ were those half-orcs? They hadn''t actually seen one before, but those things could be nothing else! There were even two of them, running around from place to place, massacring monsters wherever they were. They saw how the reddish one jumped high, kicking a monster down to the ground, which created small cracks where it landed. Meanwhile, the large one just beheaded a monster, then two, then three, with a slash of his claws!! Shinho and the others couldn''t believe what they were seeing. What the heck was this place?! ¡­ Minutes ticked by and they just defended themselves, trying not to gape at the water whip that passed nearby or the firewall that appeared at the side. By the time they got near the walls, the monsters were far and few in between, and it gave Shinho and the others time to watch what was going on while they walked forward. They reached the gate before they knew it and the familiar ding echoed in their minds. [Welcome to Alterra Village (Lv3)! Please pay 5 copper.] "Five¡­" "Five copper?" Bumi voiced out and looked at Cassie, who was watching their reactions. Bumi flushed and, because his skin was tan, it looked quite red. "Yes," she said, "Alterra is very friendly to anyone. If you''re rich, great, but if you''re lacking then you''ll still live as a human being." Her words struck many chords in their hearts, and they entered the gates to be even more amazed. It was like their minds opened into a new world. They looked in awe at the bright nightscape of the village, no, the town. The sprawling beautiful buildings loomed over them, but it felt like they were enveloped in safety and beauty. The beautiful line of trees framed their views, and the activity that bustled around them made their hearts palpitate with life . There were plenty of people around. By the gates, it was mostly people who were exiting the gates to help out the battles, but there were also¡­ merchants? People settled down near the walls, and in front of them were various products they were selling with passion. They yelled for food and drinks, and sold them for such a fair price too! At least, in their territories, they wouldn''t be able to eat or drink properly without consuming dozens of silver in this heat! "What¡­" They had never seen a livelier night before. Was it still the Extreme Heat? Did it end without them knowing? Was this place even affected by the disaster?? Chapter 895 - 895: Food Stalls by the Gate "This is a village?" Bumi asked, tilting his head in confusion. "Really?" "Is it always like this?" Grandma asked, making Cassie chuckle. "Although our nights have always been lively, it''s much rowdier now during the Extreme Heat. After all, people couldn''t go out much during the day." This confirmed that they were still in the Extreme Heat, at least in theory, though the more they saw the harder it was to believe. For one, in normal situations, normal territories wouldn''t have stalls set up right outside the gate when there was a huge mob trying to get inside. "Gouji Shake to refresh your day¡­ er¡­ night! 90 copper for a small cup~" "Refreshing mint candies~ 100 copper a bag!!" "Have nice minted meat sticks here! 100 copper a stick!" "Lemon juice, only 120 copper for a big cup!" The refugees gulped, and their eyes gravitated towards the various stalls selling food and drinks. Because they killed a lot of monsters, particularly during the past couple of weeks, they did have quite a bit of copper on hand. They had money, but nowhere decent to spend it on. One could imagine the temptations all these stalls were giving. It was like they were seductive voices calling them from the abyss and they''d be willing to jump down. Okay, it was not that dark, but not too different. "You can buy if you want you know," Cassie said, making the refugees-on-the-verge-of-drooling turn to her. "...can we?" When the Alterrans nodded, everyone immediately dispersed towards the stalls. There were hundreds of them so the stalls had queues. At this, the rescuers had to facilitate order otherwise the poor stalls would get mobbed. Anyway, after that was settled, the Alterrans waited patiently for them to get a few snacks and drinks to sate their starvation and thirst. Shinho saw they were waiting though so in order not to make them wait too long, he asked his people to make ''groups''. This way, one person would buy more products for others in one stall and the others would do the same in theirs, so they didn''t have to each wait in line. Bumi asked his grandma to wait on a nice bench while he lined up, teaming up with little Mamu, handing him some money to buy them snacks while he bought them drinks. There were just a few people in front of them, but it felt like a gorge. Fortunately, the actual waiting time wasn''t actually that long and it was their turn a couple minutes later. "Okay, that''s six minted meat sticks for you," the stall owner said with a smile, looking down at the little boy buying food. He looked weak and his clothes were dirty and full of holes. The stall owner''s heart softened, taking another stick. "Here, a bonus for you." Mamu stared, unsure of what to do. "Eh?" He didn''t have extra money¡­ The adult smiled. "It''s free," he said, reaching out his hand so the boy could take it. "It''s a gift for surviving so well." ¡­ Anyway, it was a festive time for all refugees, particularly those who had managed to get a hold of their items. They had killed so many monsters since the Heat Wave began, yet what they could buy was limited. Even if they could, a small bale of plants could cost silvers and not everyone was willing to sell, either! Especially a week into the disaster. How¡­ freeing it was to buy good food with a bit of money! They knew they were being assisted though so they only bought what their hands could carry. They were guided along the wonderful avenue, heading to what was called the sidewalk while they ate and drank. Many people felt weak on their knees at the deliciousness, but they held on, not wanting to be left behind. Anyway, as the Alterrans said, they''d be living here soon. Eventually, these things would be normal to them. Just the thought of the future made their spirits rise up. As they traversed the street though, as they bit their food and gulped on their drinks, they didn''t notice how their tear ducts burst as if they still had so much water in their bodies. Cassie and the others pretended not to see all the sobbing, and acted as though everything was normal. They simply guided them through the avenue, stopping by the intersections to introduce where the perpendicular streets were heading towards. For example, they pointed at the streets heading towards the Market Places, before finally reaching the Central Plaza. The Alterrans also made rough introductions to the amenities in the square: from the large clocks, gardens, and the main shops. The newcomers'' eyes were wide in wonder, sniffing and wiping the tears and snot that filled their faces. They stopped in front of a large village center very different from what they were used to. It looked so pretty and light¡­ Unlike theirs, which was barely lit by torches, this place was bright all over. It was so bright they could see all the writings, which was unprecedented at night. Not that they could read, of course. In any case, the guards guided everyone to register as they wanted. Since most didn''t have money or the contribution points for residency, they simply took the temporary pass and therefore could only rent out places to stay. Anyway, now that that was done, the guards'' duties finally ended here. Mauru saw that Cassie had befriended a few refugees and approached. "We''ll be separating now. Can I ask you to send them to Dormitory #16?" Cassie nodded and Mauru smiled, thanking her, before looking at the others. He pretended not to see all the tears and snot, grinning in welcome. "You are now registered visitors of Alterra Village! Here, unless you''re lazy, you''re guaranteed to have a decent life," he said. "Cassie here will be telling you where you''d be staying until you could afford to move out on your own. "Good luck!" Mauru said his goodbye and the refugees approached them, with Shinho and the others doing a salute to express their gratitude. The guards left Cassie to bring the few hundreds of people to the dorms, which was not that near the center, but felt too close because it felt like the journey was cut there. They arrived at a section filled with big buildings arranged in rows and had shared gardens every few sets of structures. The refugees looked at her worriedly. This place was so clean and nice. Where would they be able to afford to stay? Maybe they shouldn''t have bought so much food, after all? They totally forgot about this problem when they were splurging earlier! She looked at them. "Do you still have a few copper?" she asked, and smiled when they nodded. "You must be tired, we have dormitories here that only cost 1 copper per day. I can bring you there right now." They flinched. 1 copper!? So cheap? They all looked at the buildings, wonderful and nice but, at the same time, they could not bear to take a step forward. As tempting as it was to rest, they shook their heads in the end. "No thank you, we would like to look around for a bit longer." Cassie blinked, puzzled. "Really?" S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Yes." Amazingly, it was a unanimous decision not to step forward (for now), which confused Cassie quite a bit. Bumi and the others looked at her awkwardly, knowing they were being odd. In fact, it wasn''t that they weren''t tired. In contrast, they were dead tired to the point that their legs were shaking. It was just that¡­ they were afraid. They were afraid that if they closed their eyes and slept, they would wake up in hell again. Chapter 896 - 896: Finally Resting Cassie was puzzled, but she didn''t force them to rest or anything. If they wanted to go around, then who was she to stop them? However, she looked at them in thought, knowing they wouldn''t be able to afford a guide. Her eyes ended up on the old woman who reminded her too much of her own grandmother (who was hopefully resting right now), and decided to go an extra mile for them. She pursed her lips, "Then I can guide you to a place to eat before I leave." "Really?" Bumi said, a little louder than the others. When it got Cassie to give him a second look, he flushed in shame, and his tanned face was as red as a lobster being cooked. The girl couldn''t help but giggle at her own metaphor, but the sight made Bumi''s eyes brighten. He made her smile! His grandmother wanted to cover her face in embarrassment. Anyway, unaware of these subtleties, Cassie turned to show them the way to the Southwest Market. It was the marketplace nearest their dormitory so they wouldn''t be so out-of-way. The newcomers were understandably amazed by the bustling area. It was an open area but with a roof and lined with several stalls¡ªall with a queue¡ªarranged in rows and columns. There was also a large area with a lot of tables in several zones near these stalls. Even from the entrance, they could hear some people yell the prices and what they could tell was it was so inexpensive! Some were even more affordable than what was being sold by the gates! "This is our Food Court," Cassie said, "There''s a price hike though, you know how it is in droughts." Price hike? This is a price hike? Other than this, they couldn''t help but notice the citizens were buying, eating, and chatting as if there was no mob outside! Most citizens were also clean and well-kept and they honestly saw no signs of the Heat Wave at all! This made the new group of arrivals¡ªin similarly thin, dirty, and dazed states¡ªmuch more obvious. "Luke! Leo!" Cassie yelled, waving at them. The two men blinked when they saw her before breaking into smiles. They led their group in their direction. "Cassie~ Showing new members around too, eh?" "Hmn," she said. "Mine are aborigines, though." After a bit of discussion, they decided to merge the two groups. Anyway, they were all going to the same dormitory complex and they were bound to meet sooner or later. The other group was also large, about a few hundred or so, and the tables of the entire market were mostly filled with just their two groups. It was awkward at first, especially since one group was Terran and the other was of aborigines. However, similar experiences naturally brought them together. They spoke about the horrors of the heat and the difficulty in gathering resources. This was noted by everyone, and when this was over, everyone would definitely gain a habit of stockpiling essentials. The aborigines found out that the Terran refugees were also like the locals here, with their appearances and brighter dispositions. They also spoke of elementalists in awe but also with ambition, as if it was only a matter of time for them. Bumi''s eyes fixed on how Cassie was all friendly-friendly and touching the other men. In fact, Cassie just high-fived them. It was very platonic, but to the eyes of aborigine men¡ªwho were not used to open and extroverted women¡ªit showed a large amount of affection. Bumi couldn''t help but look at the handsome men and how strong they appeared. He then looked down to see his pitiful self. Bumi''s shoulders slumped immediately. His grandmother saw her grandson''s inferiority but knew there was no fixing it in the meantime. However, she was not too worried. Her decades of living allowed her to have an instinct about their situation, as well as their future. She knew their lives would only get better, and so would this pitiful grandson of hers. ¡­ sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After eating, the groups were finally taken into the dormitory areas, with Cassie decided to guide them back. She had already done so much, might as well finish off the day with them. They were assigned to different buildings, but they were adjacent to each other, allowing the groups to be closer because they knew they''d be neighbors soon. After saying their temporary goodbyes, one by one the refugees settled in their own abodes, feeling warm in their hearts. They admired their nice room, as well as the comfortable bed they could use for just 1 copper a day! Of course, one of the disadvantages was the hygiene. Unless overtly dirty, the fabrics here were cleaned just once every two weeks, and longer now during the droughts. If the bed was occupied, the cleaning costs would be shouldered by the renter, too. This was already very clean by aborigine standards, of course, but it was different for Terrans. Hence, there were actually very few Terrans in dorms except for those who had just arrived and didn''t have much of a choice. "You can get your fabric exchanged for cleaner ones for 5 copper," she said. "After today, I suggest you take a bath and get it exchanged, so you''re more comfortable." Cassie explained the basics to them, which the aborigines really appreciated. When she finally left, the refugees saw her off, promising to pay back her kindness someday. Grandma held her hand. "Thank you, child." The girl smiled, gently tapping the old woman''s wrinkled hand. "No problem, grandma. I hope you live better." "Oh, we will," she said. "Otherwise, we''d have wasted this blessing of a new life." ¡­ In the other building, the Terrans like Tot and the others quickly took a bath. In contrast with the aborigines who were already touching their beds when they saw how soft they were, the Terrans didn''t get close to it lest they get it dirty. They decided to clean themselves up the best they could first, and only then did they dare to get close to their beds. The water was not cheap, but it was definitely inexpensive considering there was a drought. To maximize the cleaning, they bought some towels (there was a store of household essentials on the ground floor) so they could wipe themselves well. They also bought basic soap and shampoo, and the Terrans almost sniffed the heck out of those bars. In any case, even with the few small buckets of water they could afford, they felt cleaner and more refreshed than they had been for months! To think they''d experience this in a major drought was unimaginable to them. After a good cleaning and drying, they put on a change of clothes (some basic hemp shirts and pants were also available for purchase in the ground floor store) and crawled to the soft bed with a soft pillow. As they laid, they thought they wouldn''t be able to sleep¡ªand they were reluctant to do so. Who knew where they''d be when they woke up? It was just that¡­, combined with their tiredness, the comfort the place brought them was overwhelming. After a few breaths, they all fell into a deep slumber, dreaming of happy things and a hopeful future. Chapter 897 - 897: More Wars Alterra had seen quite a few refugees from the heat, let alone the associate villages who were more accessible than they were. After several more days of the Heat Wave, the other associate villages also saw refugees and visitors, adding hundreds¡ªif not thousands¡ªof people into their population lists. They actually had received more refugees than Alterra did, because they were territories easier to reach. The refugees were a great mix of people, Terrans and Aborigines alike. And these people weren''t just refugees due to the heat wave or the starvation that came after it, the refugees were also here due to the explosion of wars. The lack of resources almost always led to war. For instance, Bright Village had increased by thousands of people, surpassing its population before they lost the war with Fargo. Because of their location South of the other Terran villages, they mostly received refugees from two aborigine villages: Got Village and Ugu Village. They were both located south of Bright, which was nearer a place called Mount Rushless, located some 900 or 1000 kilometers South to Southeast of their region. The mountain also seemed to have a bit more biodiversity than the other places, making it a pretty popular destination for mercenary teams who took material-gathering missions. In time, the villages there also flourished by virtue of the market these mercenaries created. Mount Rushless was also the main contributor to the river that passed by this region. Of course, it got big because there were plenty of tributaries that contributed to its growth, including the ones coming from the mountains in Alterra. Logically, compared to others, they''d be the least affected by the Heat Wave due to their proximity to the rivers and tributaries. Sadly, it also meant they were very attractive to wage war with. Not to mention the wars they had to go through the past few weeks, there were also attacks outside the place, particularly near the streams. The water sources were near them but they weren''t inside their territory lines, so it was a free-for-all. As the most important resource, one could imagine the wars that went on along these water sources. Got village had actually won their war, however, the lord was old and the war took a toll on his body. The enemy was in their last straw with nothing to lose, and the war was hard-won, with too many losses. The lord was gravely injured while being hunted to get the lord token. Even when they were near the water sources, it was still drying up and the materials and plants had long dwindled. There weren''t enough medicinal plants available and he perished soonafter. Because they weren''t in a war when it happened, the lord token died with the lord. Ugu village also won and got a good portion of the enemy resources¡­ which wasn''t much. They basically just got famished slaves who couldn''t even move and maybe some silver. But then it got attacked again by a different territory and they lost a lot more people. When they were attacked by a mob that same night, they were helpless and it fell as well. Micheal and Juno gathered all this information and sent them to Alterra via the allied villages channel in the village center. During this time, they had been focusing on raising drought-resistant plants, most of which were bought from Alterra. They also had their own farms, adding some resources to their population. After two weeks, they had managed to survive without anyone starving to death unless they couldn''t work and had no support or family. Of course, due to the strict rationing, everyone was still hungry, but it was still much better than others. They had also noticed that the regeneration within the walls was much faster than outside, almost the same as when they came, and they quickly realized they needed to add more greeneries like Alterra did. They also shared this finding to Alterra. Whether or not they already knew, it was a sign of goodwill. With the surge of the new people, of course, they would have to tighten their wallets a bit more. Micheal immediately sent hiring notices for the farms, though as always most of the movements will happen at night. A lot of people were asked to dig to make the basements bigger as well in order to fit more people. While the smell could get bad, at least they didn''t die from heat stroke. At night, more people would also be needed to clean up the place, though this was required from those who stayed there. "Things can be worse and the smell can''t kill people (yet). Sadly, some people refused to move and help out," Rodney reported. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Rodney was a new guard here. If Gill was here, he''d recognize this man as one of the promising refugees he rescued. "Then take them to prison, or threaten to do so. Tell them the top floor of the prison is reserved for them." The prison only had minimal insulation and was very hot. Staying up there for an extended period of time was horrendous. Not even counting the system prison''s punishment of sucking out life, staying there was akin to staying in an oven. Anyway, it should be an efficient enough threat. Rodney nodded and excused himself, intent on applying this threat. When the door closed, Micheal sighed and looked at Juno, who was standing dutifully nearby. "Is it too harsh?" he asked and Juno shook his head with a gentle smile. "No, milord, you''re doing well." "Really?" Juno nodded, firm and sincere. "I have been to many territories. Your village is definitely doing very well." He wasn''t lying. Two weeks of this heat and¡ªwhile many died due to stroke or in the mouths of beasts¡ªno one died from hunger. This was already much more than what other territories could provide. Not to mention¡­ "This tragedy¡­ is much harder than what we have experienced before." Micheal closed his eyes. For some reason, the faces of his family passed by his mind. "I just hope everyone''s alright." Chapter 898 - 898: State of the Other Allies All over the world, territories had started waging war with others. Whether they were the defenders or the attackers, no one escaped the tragedies of war this time. After all, it had been two weeks since the disaster started. Everyone was parched, famished, and very, very, desperate. The citizens had no choice but to join in these wars. Everyone within the level limit¡ªthat was to say, everyone¡ªwent through the array to attack. Belluga was now undergoing war with their old enemy¡ªKhlack Village. It made sense for this village to attack them during this time. After all, one was for revenge, and the other was because they were the easiest target among the territories associated with Alterra, which had the resources these people wanted. Raine rubbed her temple and looked at her confidantes, Suide and Orlande, who were Kimmy''s other husbands. They were currently wearing the insulation suits they bought from Alterra. They could not afford to equip the other guards with the same suits, so they built wide makeshift roofs that hung on the battlement instead. It was still boiling, but the direct exposure to the sun was limited. Suide sighed, his perennially sleepy eyes looking down at the battlement. His bow and arrows had not rested since the beginning of the war, and he could only fire arrows at whoever. "They never end," he said. His voice was droning but, if one knew him close enough, one could tell there was tension in his tone. The dark-skinned Orland waved his weapon as he took down another set of enemies trying to climb up the walls. He sighed, looking at the enemy''s poor states, feeling the desperation in their attack. "This is probably their last attempt." The war started a few hours in the afternoon with the enemies going full force from the get-go. This was probably in order to capture their territory before night time, where they''d have to deal with the monster mobs as well. This meant that the sun was up when they attacked, and everyone felt like they were being boiled alive. Of course, they chose a time near dusk to minimize this, but the death count of the enemy was not small. "It''s annoying," Suide mumbled with that lazy tone of his, but anyone who knew him would see his annoyance. "Too hot." Naturally, a lot of the attackers didn''t last long even when they weren''t killed by weapons¡ªthe heat would get to them instead. They managed to go for so long because there were so many of them. Specifically, so many slaves. A pity that those bastards who attacked them before¡ªthe people who did that to Kimmy¡ªweren''t even from Khlack, delaying their revenge. Then again, it wasn''t the time yet. They were still so weak after all. In the meantime, the Bellugans, including their new slaves, dropped rock after rock down the wall to deal with those who reached it. It was particularly fulfilling to see their slaves, whom they got from Khlack, helping them out. Of course, the Bellugan citizens didn''t just stand under this dangerous heat unprotected. They had bought a lot of heat-resistant hats and coats, effective sun lotions from Alterra, as well as some cooling packs. The slaves would make do with the shade, which was already much better than their former compatriots under the direct sun. The Bellugans definitely had it much better than their enemies. However, how many items could they buy? Not to mention, these things could get damaged during the fight¡­ Anyway, they were, frankly, running out of sun protection. When more people neared the wall, Suide immediately shot a few more arrows, killing more and more people who seemed stronger than others while leaving the rest for the sun or their own slaves to kill. He realized that the people he had been killing lately weren''t even slaves anymore. The surviving Khlack slaves, who had been extremely weakened from starvation, had already died during the first wave of the attacks. The others probably already died before the war. The ones in the vanguard now were proper citizens desperate for help. They had to admit that, even if Khlack was their enemy, they still felt pity for their fellow humans, especially the normal citizens. This was especially true for the kindhearted Suide, who had to shoot down many people in the past few hours. However, he was not naive enough to hold back on them. The mercy he could show now was to make sure they died in a shot, as painlessly as possible. They could never get used to killing fellow humans, but they really didn''t have a choice did they? Dark hands touched his shoulders and felt his tension. "Cover my back," he said and Suide could only look at him worriedly. "Be careful." The dark-skinned man nodded and their foreheads touched, before he jumped down the three-meter-tall wall, directly taking down people with his sword. His sword was emblazoned with fire and he waved, burning several more. In this weather, another source of heat was particularly torturous! As he swung, he cooperated very well with Suide, who shot people he missed with his bow and arrow. Along with them, there were also hundreds of other guards and citizens fighting. This was in exchange for resources, especially useful as they had recently varied the purchase limits due to the dwindling resources. They also had farms filled with drought-resistant plants, of course, but unlike the others they didn''t have as many agricultural talents, so they still struggled a lot. Eventually, they finally reached the enemies'' final wave, with Khlack''s ''main forces'' finally deciding to go through the array. It was dusk now, so the sun was less gruesome. They sent other people there first to weaken the enemy while they waited for more favorable weather conditions to go out and fight. They were disappointed to see their thousands of slaves and citizens useless though, more than half of them dying even before they could do some damage. At this point in time, there was only about an hour before the sun completely died out. Regardless of the sacrifices they had to make, they had to get this territory! Khlack knew that this territory had farms and a lot of wells. They wanted it! S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Unfortunately for them, the Bellugans were relatively strong and still had enough protection against the heat and the sun¡ªa major advantage against the enemies. The Khlack Villagers could only gape as they were still utterly useless against the enemies. Obviously, their average levels were higher, but because they had become so weak, their attacks had been reduced by a huge lot. There was also the momentum problem. They were suffering from the boiling weather, but they would see the enemies under shade! In the end, they won and gained a few more slaves. Raine had no qualms in making slaves out of the people who attacked them, deciding on using them to assist with the farming and the digging of tunnels. In exchange, they would be given some food for their work, and even more if they were very productive. When the slaves found out about it, they calmed a bit. It didn''t matter to them that they were slaves now, as long as they had food. Chapter 899 - 899: State of Limestone Valley Limestone Valley It had been more than two weeks since the last war, and it wasn''t a surprise that one of the three territories got attacked again. This time, Limestone Valley was targeted. Unlike most, this team attacked during the night, opting to deal with the monsters first. If a territory was confident in its strengths, this was the smarter move. This strategy would first allow them to escape the most debilitating heat¡ªheat that could damage and reduce their numbers even before they could get inside the enemy walls. And then, if they were strong enough, they would defeat the mobs and consume them, eating their meat and drinking their blood, reenergizing themselves for the inevitable war. Inko Village had always been an expert in wars within their tier and they had hardly lost. This was highlighted during the previous win against an interesting village called Juno Village, wherein they barely lost anyone except maybe a few people. Interesting because they earned a lot from that village! They really didn''t expect it. Sometime when they were selling their slaves, someone from the town lord''s side approached them, asking them where they got their slaves. They answered honestly and he also offered to sell the lord token there. He managed to sell it for a whopping 4000 gold from it! Normally, that kind of small village with minimal resources wouldn''t get a fraction of that! The buyer also offered to buy all his remaining slaves from that place. While it was regrettable that they had already sold more than half of the slaves when he was approached, he still got great prices for the rest of them! This was why Inkitt, Inko Village''s lord, went all this way. He naturally left his token to his son back home. But the reason he ventured out himself was because they needed to really win this place. Not only were they dying of hunger, but also because he knew this place had the same type of people Juno had! Who knew how much this one would sell! Definitely several folds more expensive! Anyway, with him¡ªa rare level 20¡ªalong with a few others beyond the level cap clearing the monster mob that came to them with not much losses. Next up: Taking down that village! In their investigation, they found out that Limestone Valley was a cornucopia with great resources¡ªwhether it was food, water, humans, and even goblins! It was the perfect place to attack that they¡ªone of the peak level 3 villages in the region¡ªcould choose. With the current resources¡ªboth human and food¡ªdwindling, they had to choose wisely! In theory, they were right! They waited patiently in a safe area as the village was attacked by mobs. They would wait until they were weakened or, better yet, defeated by the mob, before they would swoop in. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. When it did not seem to fall due to the mobs, they didn''t worry about it too much. They believed those people must''ve been plenty weakened at this time. Their thousands of slaves immediately attacked as soon as the last monster was dealt with, intending to swoop in and take advantage of weakness. If they had done this to most other villages, this could''ve indeed worked¡ªas it always had through the years of various extreme weather changes. However, they were against Limestone Valley. Half a day after they attacked, their previous confidence had plummeted. "Why don''t they run out of weapons?" One asked, looking at the brightening sky. They had been here the entirety of the dark hours and they still hadn''t successfully breached it! Not many slaves had managed to climb up the walls. With their small numbers, there was no doubt they had been dealt with already. "Where do they get these weapons?" One asked their scout. "Didn''t you say they were also limited?" Naturally, they sent spies before attacking, though only one managed to get out alive due to the heat. They investigated their forces and the number of guards. They couldn''t stay too long because of their rush, but there was no report of their endless supply of weapons at all! "How would I know?" the scout said, equally confused. The other spies next to him were also shocked. Indeed, how would they know Alterra had been sending a constant supply of weapons and resources via the warehouse? Since the announcement of wars, the entire guard team had been armed to the teeth. There was no way for the Inko Villagers to know this, and therefore they were gravely blindsided. Inside the walls, Benny watched as the people fell down one by one the 3 meter walls. The guards inside were watching the intruders closely, even those who got inside were dealt with not too far from the walls. Kyle attacked those who managed to get inside. However, he didn''t kill them. Unless they were extremely vehement in hurting others, they would be spared. It was both from his own morals, and also because it was an order. Henry, now holding a crutch, watched all of this. He watched as humans fought against fellow humans, and he also saw how most of these enemies were weak and helpless, having no other choice but to fight for survival. He felt sad for them and angry at the situation they were put in. Whether it was due to their lord''s orders or out of desperation, they needn''t die such hopeless deaths. So¡­ he put out the order not to kill unless necessary. An arguably stupid and risky decision, but he kept by it. Henry actually wasn''t so kind and soft¡ªhe was once a General, after all. It was just that he received news about what had happened in Alterra. Or more specifically, what happened to his grandchild¡­ He wanted to do more good, hoping to get good karma for the unborn child. Not far away, a couple of goblins admired what was happening. "So kind?" A little one asked. They were currently hiding behind buildings, looking out and watching the war. They were worried at first but as time went on everyone relaxed a bit. They were not required to fight, but they also would receive contribution points if they did. While they watched, a sudden voice suddenly sounded behind them. "What are you doing here?" The goblins flinched, bodies curling a bit as if they would get hit. The person was Benny, who had just gone to replenish his supplies. He passed by a shortcut to see the little green critters hiding near the walls and watching what was happening. "Does it look like I''ll hit you?" "Well, I won''t," he said, just taking out his new iron weapon because there was another breach nearby. The person walked away and the goblins continued to watch, particularly as Benny slashed at the enemies but did not kill them. "They''re really just capturing them." "We know they probably wouldn''t be slaves. Not the kind we know of, anyway." Ussu, one of the leading goblins there, saw that more and more enemies had gotten through. They weren''t ready to fight yet, not when they weren''t required, but they were out because they had tasks at hand: Expand the tunnels! "Continue working!" he said, turning away from the show and to their assigned areas. They were asked to work only at night, which they appreciated, how could they waste it by watching? Not once was anyone called to just give their lives. No one was thrown as needless sacrifice. All the deaths were honorable, done fighting for the territory, for what they wanted. Soon, Limestone Valley would win yet another war, and they had never seen such a kind one. Chapter 900 - 900: State of Iron Mountains (Part 1) We temporarily made it to Top 1 so here''s my thanks to everyone who helped! LOVE YOU GUYS!! You make me cry huhu Hopefully, we can maintain this for 2 more hours lolol ... ___ Now that the Limestone Valley War was over, the next war would be at least 14 days away¡ªnot unless one of the three territories decided to be the attacker, which was highly unlikely. As such, all three territories could focus on themselves again, their productions, lifestyles, safety, and the like. One day, Iron Mountain also received visitors, though in a non-aggressive fashion for a change. It was Hoye, from the Asusa Mercenary Team based in Ferrol Town, and Lowell from the Mighty Bears Mercenary Team. They were staring at the well-lit territory at a distance, feeling a bit complicated. After two weeks of the heatwave, a lot of people couldn''t handle the heat and the challenges anymore. A lot of the nobles also demanded the mercenary teams to find solutions for a good price. It so happened that both Hoye and Lowell went to Jonathan at around the same time. They were ordered by different people to check on the lord after hearing that he seemed to be much more comfortable than the rest of them. They then found out about a new material¡ªthe insulating material¡ªas early as the time they entered his home. They were both very high-leveled fighters and the heat wave wouldn''t kill them, but it sure was incredibly hot and irritating. When they entered Jonathan''s home, it felt like they were met with a cool breeze. They had never encountered such a thing before and they understood the rumors were valid. They offered a high price for the information. First of all, they were shocked to find out Guia Village¡ªwhich had been the strongest level 3 village in their region¡ªwas taken over by an unknown territory. Second, something so innovative and important was developed in a village! Anyway, now they were here. As they approached the walls, they noticed the various lights and activity in the territory. It was unlike the other territories they had encountered at this time, especially among weak villages. In every other village, people would be weak at night, either looking for food or fighting against beasts. In either case, people were just trying to survive¡ªand barely doing so. In contrast, this place¡­, except for a little weakness, they were much better off than others. How did they do it? Was it just because of those insulation materials? Anyway, after paying an unusually low entrance fee, the two groups headed towards the administrative buildings, already thinking of how to get the most out of the deal. "Do you think they still have something to sell?" Lowell asked, somewhat cynical. It had been so long, who knew if they still had the product? "This is just a satellite, I heard. If this place is unproductive, we''re heading to meet the steward." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As they traversed the territory, they realized just how much had changed. Both of them had been here only a few months ago and, frankly, they were startled by how different it was. For one, the atmosphere felt¡­ fresher? Which was odd because they were still in the heat wave. There were slightly wider streets than before, and there were a lot more parks. From this, they could tell that the administration was no soft gouji fruit, and they would definitely be up for a challenge if they wanted to maximize their trip. When they arrived though, they did not expect the steward to be someone they knew. "G-Gill?" Hoye exclaimed, blinking as he looked at him. The last time they met was just before Guia''s goblin war. Lowell was even more surprised. After all, he really didn''t put the group in their eyes at all. "You!" he yelled. In Lowell''s case, the last time he saw Gill and his team was after the goblin war, where they had sensed some tension between them and the then-lord Baltimore. He didn''t care about them anymore after that though and hadn''t been updated with the on-goings in this area, even if it was not far away from them. Interestingly, a battle had actually happened and Baltimore actually perished! Who''d have thought! Gill looked at their reaction with a blank expression, as always. He naturally still remembered them as well. The former was Bart''s friend who helped them get information about the fog back then. On the other hand, the latter was one of the mercenaries trapped in Guia back in the Goblin war. Anyway, he simply nodded at them with what he considered to be a polite greeting. Fortunately, there were the more diplomatic members Silvia and her brother Reno with him. Silvia smiled politely, while it was Reno who stepped forward because they knew aborigines intrinsically looked down on women. "Welcome to our territory, Iron Mountain." "I have to say, I''m¡­ a little surprised," Hoye said, looking around the simple but well-decorated room. Lowell was silent and watching everything sharply. They were then offered juice and water, some in glass and some in bottles, and they were surprised at the generosity. They didn''t hold back and took their own glasses, though they didn''t dare gulp everything down at once. "Delicious¡­" the men said, sipping on their respective drinks bit by bit to prolong it. This calmed them down and gave them a good impression of this group. "How may I help our guests?" The beautiful Silvia said with a welcoming smile. Now that they were softened up, she decided to speak. A few members of the opposing teams couldn''t help but look at the beauty, but their sights were blocked by a certain redhead, who didn''t speak much but had a sharp stare. He was a bit lower in level to them, but it didn''t mean he wasn''t intimidating. Hoye ignored his men and looked at the woman. Although he was a little startled that a woman dared speak over the other two men, he could judge by their body language that she was the one to speak with. Hoye was a good mercenary, and he could adjust accordingly. And this would definitely be an added point on his side during the discussions, so he could only thank the heavens for his open-mindedness. Chapter 901 - 901: State of Iron Mountains (Part 2) In contrast, Lowell was much more uncomfortable. However, he had enough tact not to say anything about it. However, he saw how they seemed more receptive to Hoye and knew it would be a factor. Easier said than done though. Lowell himself had two wives back home and a few whores outside of it. "We''re here to buy some insulation materials from you," Hoye said, and Lowell made a grunt in agreement. "Your team in Ferrol and Lord Jonathan recommended we go directly to you." Silvia nodded at them. "Well, they''re not wrong," she said. "In our case, we have them available at our Alterra shop." "Alterra Shop?" Lowell asked. "So it''s a shop that sells these things?" "Correct," she paused, "Among many others." "We hope you can take us to this shop. I also heard you have purchase limits. My request is to waive this for now. Many lives are at stake." Of course, this was an exaggeration. The people buying these things from them were nobles, and they tended to be a bit overacting in their discomfort. Silvia thought for a moment. She and Gill had actually been given enough authority to decide this. In the end, she decided to just show them the shop and see how much they''d order first. After all, the cost to outsiders was not low. Due to the convenience of connected warehouses (via Althea, of course), resources were transferred between the three very quickly. Of course, the mark-up was huge due to the fact that Althea had to transfer them out herself. Alterra also capitalized on the demand of their specialized products, adjusting according to the capabilities of their external buyers¡ªwho were, no doubt, rich people anyway. A person who could go to a satellite village a hundred kilometers away just to buy something would not be weak nor would they be poor. Anyway, the siblings took them to the Alterra Shop, which had just been refilled from orders. Because there were a lot of people in Alterra, a lot of temporary jobs in production, particularly those open at night, had been opened. This meant that the production in Alterra had not halted, and they even had a surplus to help out with the other territories. Of course, the focus was on the production of things that only Alterra could make like the various types of insulation they had developed. The food and drinks were left up to the territories themselves. "So this is the Alterra shop, hmn?" Hoye asked looking around. Lowell''s eyebrows also rose in interest. Because the shop was small, only the two of them were allowed inside while the rest of their team dispersed. Some waited for them, while some went around to know more about the changes before they left again. The Alterra Shop had a counter layout with most of the items secured beyond a delineation. There were two people behind the counter, both of which were actually guards who could defend it during wars. "You are lucky, we just received a delivery of so many items," she said. It was literally not long ago and they did not announce it in order to prevent overwhelming the shopkeepers. For the buyers who had noticed first, they kept mum about it and only told their closest friends. If it had been announced, the store would''ve been flooded by now. "Most of the items sold are related to the Heat Wave," Silvia said and the shopkeeper immediately started to explain the available products. She showed them their hats and the sunscreens. There were also thin sheets of insulation now so it could be folded a lot and therefore could get stored more densely. It was not as effective as the thicker ones, but it was good enough considering everything. They also sold specially designed fans (both in graceful and masculine varieties) as well as saltpeter. In the end, the guests bought as much of everything as they were allowed, with a request to buy all the stocks for the portable insulation spray, foams, and blankets. "We bought several beast carts," Lowell said, indicating they could buy everything they had in stock. Silvia naturally didn''t allow them to buy everything, but she did allow them to purchase 80% of the stock, which was really a lot considering they just refilled. This received a bit of thanks from the two, with them even handing them some money to express their gratitude, and also in hopes of striking good deals in the future. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Silvia and the others refused, primarily because they were not allowed to do so. Even if gifts were really to express gratitude and were not given as bribes, receiving goods from outsiders would cause bias. This took the two aback, but they didn''t push it. They simply called in their people to gather the items, though as quietly as possible so to not make trouble for the shop. They hurried so they could leave while it was still in the middle of the night, with the local leading team showing them out. Lowell looked at Gill with a different light now. Before, they were weak compared to them, and they barely entered his eyes. They had gone so far in the span of a few months and he couldn''t help but feel jealous. "Time for us to go," he said. "Expect us to come here every so often to buy things." And they left, disappearing into the forests soon after. Meanwhile, Hoye''s team remained for a little longer. He asked his people to go ahead and handle the shipment, while he stayed to speak with Gill. This surprised the latter a bit. "What is it?" "The Lord Jonathan told me to pass you some information." "Oh?" He handed the letter to Gill, made with the thin stationery of Alterra. Gill hurriedly opened it up, reading its contents with a beating heart. It started sweet, with Cassandra''s love words and gratitude he had taken for granted already. Gill was smiling a bit until he got to the part of her hoping that he would find a better lover than she was. ''I know it''s selfish, but don''t forget about me. I want you to find your own happiness with others,'' she said. ''But I hope my memory still exists there¡ªThe Me with you, in Alterra, is the happiest.'' Gill''s hand shook, and he pulled his deep eyes away from the letter to stare darkly at Hoye. "What does this mean? "Miss Cassandra is getting married," the aborigine said after a while. "They are just waiting for the Heatwave to end. Gill''s pupils contracted but, otherwise, he didn''t show any other reaction. "I¡­ thank you for this," he said, walking back to his house without another word. He looked stable to others, but anyone who knew him could tell his steps were shaky. Cassandra, he thought, finding it a little harder to breathe. What''s going on!? Chapter 902 - 902: Playing Babies The next morning was the usual slow day in Alterra. The citizens were all indoors again, some productive (i.e. those working in several well-insulated factories as well as a number of shop-houses), while some¡­ not so much. The Gaea Team members were the latter. At this time, they were in the main villa lounging around with the electric fans. A few days ago, electric fans were finally made commercially available! They were the basic of the basic, and not many stocks could actually be made, but it was revolutionary anyway. These appliances had been sold in the Specialty Hall, and many of the better-off households had it now. The Gaea Chamber of Commerce members were living the couch potato life in front of the fans, eating ice cream, popcorn, or¡­ ice cream on popcorn. It was just that there was a certain ''show'' ongoing in their living room, and everyone was gaping at what they were seeing. "What¡­" Ansel mumbled, abruptly sitting up, lifting his head from its comfortable position on Winona''s soft and full thighs. Winona''s eyes, along with the others, were also looking at the same thing, similarly shocked. "So¡­ I finally let them use that aether toy¡­" Althea mumbled as she ate a piece of popcorn dipped in ice cream, creating a wonderful combination of salty and sweet. The other''s eyes twitched, their eyes fixed on the center of the room. "Yes, we can see that¡­" At this time, the babies were indeed playing with the floating ball, though saying it so simply was an understatement. At this time, Little Meatball was holding onto it. It was actually around his size, so when he embraced it with his whole body it really looked like he could roll with it. ¡­except he was floating. What the heck¡­ Ansel continued to gape as he asked his sister. "So¡­ do we finally have the formula?" Althea shook her head. "They seem to really like the toy, but that''s about it." Little Pepper obviously really liked the ball too. She was crawling fast, trying to follow the slow-floating ball around with furrowed eyebrows, her cheeks looking puffed up in her annoyance. "Mnmnmmama!!" She yelled, showing off her little teeth. And the next thing they knew she was already underneath the ball, looking up and trying to reach it. However, it was a bit higher than what a baby sitting down could easily reach. In an attempt to catch up with it, the baby girl shakily leaned forward, using her little hands to push herself up, as if about to stand up¡ª The adults tensed at the sight. Ansel and a few others even had their hands up, palms clenched to fists. Their sights fixed on the girl''s movements, and their faces were incredibly tense and excited. Flop. Unfortunately, the baby was really wobbly and fell down on her bum in the end. "Aww¡­." The adults moaned in disappointment, very much like a crowd sad that a goal was missed. Little Pepper was not one to give up however, with a determined look on her cute face, she continued to purposely crawl, following the ball. The toy was no longer in Meatball''s embrace, but he still held on with his two little hands. While he did so, his little feet were swinging as if he was swimming in the air. For a while, the adults could only watch in awe as the floating baby boy and the teleporting baby girl played their hearts out¡­ This went on for a while until the ball lost power and was in need of recharge from an elementalist. During this null time, the ball slowly descended, with Pepper finally getting a hold of it. "Googgmmm...." Little Meatball mumbled when he realized he didn''t have full control of the toy anymore. In any case, this meant that the ball was now in between two babies, both of whom wanted it for themselves. "Mngmawamaaa..!" Pepper mumbled, pulling it in her direction. Little Meatball''s eyebrows furrowed, attempting to take it back. "Gurgumghmm¡­" Unsurprisingly, the two babies started fighting for the lifeless ball. Both of them had a few little teeth now, and the adults could peek at them when they were arguing. Two babies fighting fiercely when they only had gums for the most part was quite amusing, adorable, and made for a very good show. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Eventually though, the soft-hearted women finally felt pity for the children. Winona pushed Ansel''s head since he happened to be the nearest one anyway. "Come on, have pity on them already." Ansel also developed into a wife slave and nodded without question. He stood up and took the ball, to the annoyance of the two kids. "Mngmawamaaa..!" "Gurgumghmm¡­!!!" "Patience, little buns," Ansel said, putting in some power onto it. With a teasing smile, he walked away from the two kids instead of handing it over to them. He placed it a meter away to the other edge of their play cot. When it floated, the babies flurried towards it, making their uncle laugh out loud. While Althea watched the ''kids'' (babies + Ansel) play around, she was also feeding her husband some popcorn. She was aware that Garan wasn''t particularly big on sweets though, so she just fed him popcorn without the ice cream. It was mostly absent-minded¡ªwith her doing it while laughing at her babies'' silliness¡ªuntil she felt a wet and slimy sensation wrap around her fingers. She looked up to meet a very heated stare from the man who was licking them. She flushed a bit, abruptly taking out her fingers, and giving him a pointed stare. "No," she said, shoving a few more popcorn in his mouth for good measure. Little did she know that several hours later, when they went to bed, Garan would bring a bucket of popcorn into the bedroom, and he would eat them right off her bare skin. That was for later, of course. For now, they brainstormed on how to consistently make the kids'' powers work, or even if they should. Should they keep making them use their powers? They were still too young. Perhaps it could be deferred until they could be reasoned with. Anyway, they were lucky the babies hadn''t shown anything when outside the house, and could only assume it had to do with the familiarity of their home. Anyway, various thoughts passed by the adults'' minds while the kids played their hearts out. Eventually, the aether ball''s energy ran out once more and they watched the kids fight over it with amusement. Dinner time was approaching though, and the time to finish playing had arrived. "Okay, enough playing," Althea finally said. "Can you get the ball for me, Ansel?" However, before Ansel could take the ball, it suddenly turned on again. Everyone was puzzled, especially Ansel, who raised his hands. "It really wasn''t me!" However, they knew of his personality, and they wouldn''t put it past him to prank them. While the others jeered at poor Ansel, Althea decided to use the Eye to look at the toy and the babies'' interactions. She blinked. In her eyes, the ball had thin wisps of gas-like things¡ªwhich was probably aether¡ªfloating around it. It was denser at the bottom, likely because it was floating. She could also see that it had some sort of pulsation, with the most intense movements at the bottom area. This was fine and interesting as it was. However, she realized that some of these wisps¡­ were connected to her babies. Her eyebrows furrowed and she stood up, taking away the ball from them, making them protest with those large teary eyes of theirs. However, she did not succumb this time. She only looked at the ball before putting it back in her space, and it would not see the light of day for a long time until after she figured things out. Sigh. New mysteries just kept getting uncovered before they could get answered. What could she do about all these uncertainties, especially when they were about her children? Chapter 903 - 903: More Refugees from the North (Part 1) Soon, the long-awaited dusk arrived and the activities slowly intensified. The nightlife was once again at its peak with all industries gearing up, and everywhere in the territory there was some sort of activity. The newcomers were shocked to see how the people and the territory literally seemed to gear into motion before their very eyes. There were about a couple of dozen people who had just entered the territory. This was led by Perrot, the engineer from Rows Village who went the other way. When they found out their previous path was hopeless, they immediately headed in the other direction, hoping to get lucky. However, the previous night''s mob caught up to them, immediately killing a few. They could only run to the best of their ability, pushing themselves to sprint for hours on end, with the monsters thinning them out bit by bit. They tuned out the screams, the horrid sound of crushed bones, and spine-chilling echoes of squelched meat behind them. With their pitiful strengths, the single way to live was to focus only on their own survival. Squelch! Crunch! "Shit¡­" "Wu¡­." They ran and ran, just hoping to find a ray of hope somewhere . The only reason any of them were still alive in that situation was because the mob wasn''t that big. Further, they would stop to feast on whoever they caught up with before following the rest of them. Perrot¡ªin a moment of bravery¡ªturned back to see what was happening. It was terrifying and he almost tripped. However, it was because of this that he noticed that some monsters were headed in another direction instead of following them¡ªas if they were more attracted to something elsewhere. This bloody chase went on until they reached the river. People screamed in celebration and most of them just jumped in directly, allowing the flowing water to carry them away. On the other hand, Perrot thought that it''d be more likely to find a territory upstream of the river, primarily because he saw a few monsters head there. However, knowing one thing was very different from making use of it. They were weak and at the end of the rope already. In the end, Perrot could only jump down the river as well, to be carried until he found a rock to hold on to. The others¡­ if they had the energy to keep swimming or floating in this situation¡­ good for them, but he was sure he wouldn''t last long and he''d just end up drowning. Several others stayed on the rock with him, thankful that their scents had been washed off and were therefore ignored by beasts¡ªthough some monster did pass by soon after. Those were incredibly tense moments and some people had to pull others under the water because they were making too much noise. Their dozen or so people survived like this for a few hours until they were certain there were no beasts nearby. They carefully swam perpendicular to the flow, eventually reaching shore. They were gasping for air, their bodies devoid of energy and it took them a while before they could stand up and walk, aiming to find a territory once more. They were carried by the water farther than they thought though, and there was no territory nearby when dawn came. Fortunately, they found some light logs along the shore of the river, presumably used for roofing by other people. It was a relief that they found some roofing, but they were extremely weak and their steps were slow. They also had to stop often to drink water from the river. For much of the day, at their snail''s pace, they simply followed the upstream of the river until they finally found a territory. When they saw how big it was, they were in disbelief. Was there a town nearby them all this time? In that case, it was no wonder those beasts so far away targeted this place. They arrived just before dusk, and therefore before the mobs came. This was incredibly lucky because they were really at the end of their ropes. Another day like that would definitely be their last. [Welcome to Alterra Village (Lv3)! Please pay 5 copper.] S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A village¡­ and 5 copper as entrance fee¡­ "I''m delirious¡­" he heard someone beside him say as they dragged themselves through the gate. "Yes¡­ that must be it." Perrot did not disagree, but he was too weak to open his mouth to answer his companion. He just focused on moving his feet in this heat, to finally find a permanent cover that could shield him. The moment they entered the threshold, they already felt the difference. It was actually cooler inside the walls! Perrot looked around, realizing it was because of the dense foliage, which had higher survivability rates within territory walls. The buildings were also designed to handle the heat, which was amazing, though sadly his brain was too fried to think too deeply about anything else. "HEY!" They looked up to see some guards above eye level, settled coolly inside a sentry. "Read the signs!" They blinked, realizing that there were a lot of boards by the side of the road. While there was sun, there was no one who was outside on the streets. The guards were settled nicely in their shades and wouldn''t want to bother with them either. Fortuantely, there seemed to be signages by the gate that had various information telling them where to go. For instance, where to go to rest, where to go to buy food, and the like. They gulped, using their remaining strength to head to the marketplace. If they had any excess energy and life, they''d also appreciate the path there, but they were really on the verge now. Fortunately, they didn''t actually have to go so far at all. "Hey! Here! Here!" They blinked and turned to the side, realizing that some shophouses were open. This one had a long canopy covering its entrance and they entered the relatively cool insides¡­ with an electric fan!? What in the world¡ª Anyway, pushing that aside they saw the available drinks and snacks and they practically threw money at the shopkeeper, who was very happy to make money off of them. They gobbled up their food and drinks, and they were so happy they could die. They placed order after order. Fortunately, they had savings and the food here was unbelievably affordable! However, just before they finished their nth set of order, a deep bell rang, resounding across the territory. They lifted their heads looking at each other. "What''s that?" Chapter 904 - 904: More Refugees from the North (Part 2) It only did so once, and it was not repeated anymore. Looking out the translucent window (what material was this anyway), Perrot and the others realized that time had passed and night had already descended. And with the night, came the mobs. Their hearts clenched, still traumatized by the horrors of the previous night. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Further, it was unlikely that the bell sounded just to tell people of the time. After all, the noise could attract more beasts than intended, so it could only be an alert of enemies. "Will things be alright? Does that bell indicate that there''re¡­ mobs?" Perrot asked the shopkeeper, feeling tentative. He saw that he was already preparing more and more food. Obviously, he was expecting a lot more customers soon. "It''s indeed an alert that there''re mobs in sight," he said, leisurely adding menus on the tables next to them. "Don''t worry though, since it was only one bell, it means it''s not that urgent." Their eyes twitched. Why did they feel that was an understatement? Then, when people started pouring into the shop, they''d realize that it really wasn''t. "Old man! Give me your best rice crisps!" one said. "I want to snack on it while I shoot down monsters¡­" "Can I have those crispy fries please¡ªsour cream flavor." "I want lemonade with extra sugar please!" another said. "In the hanging cup with a straw please so I can move my weapons while I drink." "Gouji fruit juice¡ª50% sugar, I''m on a diet¡­" And so on. There was a queue now, and they could see it extended all the way outside. Perrot and the others could only gape, taken aback by the sudden explosion of activities. They knew they lost track of time while they were eating¡ªwho wouldn''t¡ªbut this difference was too fast. At some point, the queue paved the way to a handsome strongman in uniform. "Boss Ryo!" the people called and the man nodded politely at them. His eyes softened when he looked at the old shopkeeper though. "Grandpa," he said, handing him a piece of paper bag (did they take that from Terran?). "Your vitamins. You forgot to take it." "Ah, yes, thank you," the old man said, and the guard went out, ready to start the start of working hours. Perrot and the others soon gathered themselves and stood up, also to give space to the next shop patrons. When they went out, they saw that the empty streets during the day were now filled with people, a lot of whom were queuing in different shops, while others were heading towards the gates with their weapons out. The energy was palpable, and the fighting spirit was through the roof. They would even hear bets around, guessing who''d kill more monsters or who''d kill them faster. There were even challenges. For example, how long one could stay outside the walls and how far they could be from sentries. The most baffling part was that people actually accepted the challenge! "Why is it so¡­ different?" they asked themselves and each other, though no one had the answer to it. They perused the place along the sidewalk, observing their surroundings in awe. They knew it''d take a while for them to adjust, but they were certainly not expecting to see some acquaintances! "Miss Faye! Cree!" They yelled, gasping as they ran to approach them. Miss Faye and the others were moving as a group, heading in one direction. It was notable that they were clean and decently dressed. They also had good weapons made of beast bones on hand, which were definitely superior to the wooden weapons they had before. It had only been a few days since they had seen each other! The other party was surprised to see them there as well, though Perrot and the others felt self-conscious when they approached. Not long ago, they had the same appearances, but now... Now that they saw more people, they realized¡­ just how unsightly they probably looked. Their bodies slumped a bit, suddenly conscious of themselves. "Perrot! You guys are here¡­" Foxii said with a smile, looking at them in relief. She was a bit disappointed there were only a few dozen, but she was glad to see old fellowmen regardless. Perrot knew about their former princess'' personality, so he explained what happened to them. He told them how they followed the source of the stream, and how it was actually blocked by others. Faye and the others'' eyes turned red, but they calmed themselves down. It was in the past, and they had a task to do at this time. "What about the others?" "Many of them swam downstream the river as soon as we got there, I''m sure there are still many alive somewhere¡­" "I hope so¡­" Faye said, sighing. "Well, we have to go now. You should go find a dormitory and rest for now. We''ll catch up later; I''ll treat you." "You¡­" Perrot voiced out, looking at her team as well as their weapons. He had an idea what it was about, but he couldn''t help but want to hear it from them directly. "Where are you going, if you don''t mind me asking." "We''re fighting outside." "...why?" Perrot''s eyebrows furrowed, and the others on his side were also puzzled. Why would they fight for a territory they just entered? They didn''t become slaves somehow, right? How could Faye not see what they were thinking? "No, we''re fighting for a better life here. "You''ll see," she said, smiling lightly. "I haven''t been here long, but I could already tell that it''s worth it." After short farewells between the two parties, Faye''s group went past and continued on their way, while Perrot and the others could only stare at their backs in thought. They would soon realize that, in these people''s minds, the mobs here were nothing to fear. They were just a resource: a source of money and contribution points. Those who wanted to earn would go out to fight without the territory forcing them to. Unlike what they had seen too many times in the past few months, the people here were in control of their own situations, and no one was helpless. It felt¡­ refreshing and... hopeful. They would go to the dormitory to get a proper rest, mulling over what they had seen so far. And the very next day, this team¡ªalong with many others¡ªwould join the fights with similar gusto as the others. They would fight not only to earn a living..., but also because they wanted¡ªwith all their hearts¡ªto be a part of this. Chapter 905 - 905: Inko Slaves As promised, because we Topped October 2024''s Golden Rank, we get a total of FIVE chappies today~ .... ___ While the others were handling the mobs, Althea and the other elders were in the Village Center. It was time for another Elder meeting, in which the updates on all three territories were discussed, as well as some future plan of action. For one, Limestone Valley was attacked by a place called Inko Village. Althea, as the lord, also saw the money they received and was very satisfied with it. She promised to use at least half of it to improve Limestone Valley. After all, they deserved it. As for the rest, she''ll take them as payment for those weapons and tools she sent there. They also received a lot of new slaves, and Henry and the others were wondering what to do with them. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In this case, Althea and the others wouldn''t automatically be messengers of justice and ask them to free everyone. After all, they were enemies who would''ve killed or enslaved their people if they were weaker. Even if they could swear allegiance via the Center, there could still be loopholes in place. Even Alterra had ''slaves'' now though they were technically called prisoners of war. These people had the chance to be released after they earned their freedom through manual labor, and each one of them also signed oaths¡ªjust in case. Mathilda looked at the Elders in front of her, wondering what was their opinion regarding the new Inko slaves. "What do you think?" "I don''t think they''d mind being slaves for a while," Ansel said, chewing on something, as everyone else was. "To them, having something to eat and not getting killed by the heat wave is the priority." Mathilda nodded, "Showing them the goodness of our territory would entice loyalty in them. After all, oaths could sometimes be forced, but if we want citizens to be truly sincere and productive to the territory, they would need to fall in love with it." In the end, they decided to give Victor and the others the prerogative of whether to ''free'' the slaves or not. By freeing, it meant that they would be treated as proper human beings who could buy their own freedom after working for the territory. This would likely apply to the Inko slaves, who didn''t attack them of their own free will. On the other hand, they also had the option of using the slaves as Prisoners of War, whose labor would definitely get taken advantage of in exchange for a bit of food and water. This would mostly apply to the citizens of Inko. For the most part, their tasks would be to help the goblins in the mines and to handle the maintenance and cleanliness of the territory. They''d be assigned to jobs that no one else would want. For example, clearing up the septic tanks, handling fertilizers, and the like. There would also be those assigned to clean and handle the carcasses of monsters killed by the sentry towers (and were therefore territory property). The products of these monsters would go to various places. It could go to the territory-owned meat shop, the territory-owned leather shop, and so on. Alterra also sent one of their many weapon makers there to create Class E Bone weapons, which were superior to the Class E wood alternatives created by the System Weaponshop. If there were strong mobs and enemies, they would naturally be ordered to defend the territory as well, but with the guards and citizens. They would not be sent out to die uselessly. They would at least have a weapon. They would also be assigned to Guard teams, making sure their positions were strategic and they were efficient on the battlefield rather than becoming mere canon fodder. Further, in this case, Althea would not be returning the money she obtained from them. Even if they were freed, if they wanted to earn their own freedom, they would still need to work properly. "Now for Iron Mountains," Mathilda said, shifting to the next agenda. Ansel read the letter for them. "They received guests from Ferrol¡­," his eyebrows rose as he looked at Garan and the others. "It seems like they are mercenaries you have met before the protection period ended." Garan nodded, recognizing the names indicated. "This shows how far our products have gone," he said. Althea blinked. So was that why her Prestige spiked again¡­? Anyway, while she pondered this, the meeting moved on to the next topic. "I received a notice from Gill that he and Helios would be leaving for Ferrol when the Heat Wave ends," Garan said. "He assured that the territory is in good condition and in good hands with Rowan and the others." "Did they say why?" "Gill mentioned he''s looking for Cassandra. Helios seems to be looking for someone, too." "How curious," Mathilda said. "Did he say who it was?" "They didn''t specify¡­" Ah, young love. And finally, there was an issue consistently reported among the four: The Regeneration Rates. The regeneration rates really got slower for everyone, but the plants inside the scope of territories didn''t get affected much. The growth of the plants inside was a little slower, but that was due to the heat. Otherwise, it should be the same. At the very least, nothing noteworthy was recorded within her walls, and especially not the Level 2 Farms. She would really need to maintain¡ªand add¡ªmore plants within the walls, just in case. It was very different outside the walls, however. When she had noticed the decrease before, she sent instructions to all territories to watch out and record the growth of their plant life. The events so far confirmed some vague theories she had had in the past. That was: The regeneration rate was slowing down, especially outside the territories. The System worked best within the lines of the territory. It was so powerful and it was understandable that it had its limits. Whatever was happening, the power of the System couldn''t fix it. As for what they learned from Bart¡ªabout this area being ''dead'' before they arrived¡ªthey still needed a bit more information. For now, they had to figure out if the territories far away were witnessing the same phenomenon. Regardless, if the regeneration rate continued to decline, then the resources outside territories would¡ªin time¡ªno longer have the same abundance as they once had. And that would add another layer of challenge to this world. Chapter 906 - 906: Juno Slaves The meeting adjourned and they went separate ways, handling their own scope of work. Althea, Eugene, and Winona went to the Research Center. Their work to improve the lives of their people was never-ending. Garan and the other soldiers headed to the barracks, ensuring Alterra''s main forces were not only kept in shape, but also growing in power, will, discipline, and loyalty. He was also glad to see that the Training Hall at least 90% occupied at all times during the night. Ansel, on the other hand, headed to the bank to discuss the new market with the brothers, Raj and Ramil. New customers were reaching them and their satellites, after all, and they would have to adjust a couple of things with the economy. Speaking of the brothers, they worked even harder now that they found their sister, Aditi, who was one of the rescues back in the then-Fargo Village. They wanted to get more contribution points. They already spent the large contribution points they earned (a lot of which due to the various policies they implemented) in buying their and their sister''s permanent residency. They were now preparing to buy a house, one for each of them. They were all at the peak of their youths, after all. The territory was even encouraging procreation and marriage. Sooner or later, they''d build individual families. Aditi was actually a writer and one of the people they tapped to write the comic strips in the newspaper. The girl''s friend, Penny, was an artist and one of the major proponents of published drawings via lithography. Sheila was stationed in the hospital as always, heading to her own room at the Healers department. Speaking of this, most of the hospital departments had been filled. The efficiency, the logistics, and the hospital processes had been likened to that of Terran, except they made use of the System, the Special Buildings, and the many other conveniences of this continent. This had a lot to do with Dr. Volohov and the others. They hadn''t been here for long nor had the hospital been built for more than a few months, but they managed to make everything¡ªthe different sections, departments, and the like¡ªwork like clockwork. Basically, as long as one had a breath, they would likely survive if they were brought here in time. Lastly, Harold¡ªwhose operational tasks in the restaurant had been passed on to Joana¡ªwas left with the kids today. He was also going to help Maya and Horus with their homework since they weren''t able to finish it during the daytime. Since they were mostly awake during day time though, he would try to get them to sleep early. At least their biological clocks wouldn''t get disrupted like the adults''. He also made them delicious nighttime food before going to bed. Things that evening went on as usual. The industries flourished, the restaurants were filled, and the mobs were soon cleared. The activities only started to die down when dawn approached. Like other people, Althea and Garan also returned home around this time. However, before the couple called it a night (er¡­ day), they received an unexpected visit. It was Turbo, as well as his girlfriend. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This puzzled the couple but the other two had serious expressions on their faces, so they knew it was dire. "Captain, Miss Althea," Turbo began before they even settled on their seats. "To begin, I told Evelyn about the latest war." If the topic was confidential, then it would be said so during the meeting. Otherwise, the attendees were free to tell whoever they trusted. Turbo and the others were briefed by Garan about the latest war, to update them about what happened as well as the fact that they wouldn''t be going to war for at least another two weeks. Because of their two satellites, it had been more than a month since Alterra experienced its war, which was really¡­ convenient. Turbo then went ahead and told his girlfriend, who had a reaction to the name of the enemy village. "She recognized the other village, Inko Village," he said, turning to Evelyn who nodded with a dire expression. "Yes. Inko was the territory that attacked us a month ago," she said. She gave a detailed account as to how they were attacked and how helpless they had been back then¡ªwhich made Limestone Valley''s clean win all the more impressive. When it was done... thousands of citizens became slaves, and they followed the enemies through the array. Althea and Garan''s back straightened in tension. "Are there no Terran among the new slaves?" "No, Miss Althea," Turbo said. "When we realized this, we actually sent a letter to Limestone Valley to make a targeted investigation. "First, there are no Terran among the slaves because they had all been sold to aborigine villages. "What''s worse, after they interrogated some key personnel, it seems that there were territories that showed interest in the people specifically, which was unusual. Althea and Garan looked at each other, eyebrows furrowed and hearts beating in worry. If the prevailing theory was right, every Terran who survived the initial zombie transformation had a predisposition for the elements. Even if they didn''t awaken, the lord would be able to see if the citizens had elements as long as they bothered to check the Lord''s Panel. Other Lords apparently didn''t check on this often, but it was still done, some with more frequency than others. The Inko village Lord simply wasn''t the type of strategist who would monitor the slaves. Because they had low levels, he rarely bothered to look. If he did know what was interesting about the slaves, then it was estimated he would''ve sold the slaves (while keeping a few for himself) for a much higher price. If one won a war against a Terran territory, then they''d get hundreds¡ªor maybe even thousands¡ªof Elementalist slaves. Any lord would go crazy, right? This made them feel a little heavy, one for the sold slaves, and also for what it implied. If this spreads¡­ Then the Terran Territories were sure to receive another¡ªsharper¡ªtarget on their backs. Chapter 907 - 907: Arrival of Lord Shiro More and more territories fell for the next few weeks, whether it was due to wars, beast tides, or just their lords dying of heatstroke or hunger or something equally pitiful. The fortunate thing was that the temperature was finally seeing a decline, only very very slightly. However, to most people, this didn''t make a difference. They were still dying. "Milord¡­" A thin man with pale skin looked at the handsome man, pleading. "Perhaps¡­ it''s time to get assistance?" The Heat Wave lasted a lot longer than they thought, and many of those who would normally survive had perished already. Shiro sighed, holding his knuckles together in thought. When his father died during the last war, he did everything he could to pass on the token to him. Shiro wasn''t about to disappoint him, nor could he fail those who trusted him. Until now, they had fared much better than others in their tier, and this had been a point of pride for a long time. Before they had to leave, their village was among the strongest of their rank in their area. One reason was that they had an abundance of edible plants such as the flute plant and the like. They were also located between hills with some natural tunnels that they took advantage of whenever there were extreme weather changes. Whether it was the Extreme Cold or Extreme Heat, their territory had one of the best survival rates. It was just that they had a town nearby so their mobs weren''t as weak as those around other villages. This was both good and bad. Good because they could keep a lot of their matured forces because they could still upgrade even if they stayed in a village, rather than risk moving to the next Town and settlling there. This was why their average level was 10 or 11, in contrast to 8 or 9 of other level 3 villages. At the same time, this was also bad because they still weren''t towns in the end. They had their limitations, especially with their infrastructure. However, they managed to hold on for a while. But despite his best efforts to keep the territory afloat on his own, the territory still fell to mobs. The mobs that day were too big and too desperate. They couldn''t hold on and they had to escape to keep their lives. They had considered just relocating for a bit and then returning when the mob had passed. However, for some reason, the monsters settled down there and stayed. They had considered relocating to the nearest Town¡ªVoumi Town¡ªbut the fees there were too expensive, everything was too saturated, and there was no place to settle down hundreds or thousands of people that were considered ''weak'' in their standards. Some people opted to stay there, of course, and he did not blame them. And so, he could only do his best to find his people a new home. Maybe someday they could use the old territory again, but they couldn''t see it happening any time soon. In retrospect, the beasts might have followed their instincts and decided to nest in their village, as well as their tunnels. Although they were mindless, they still had survival instincts. They must''ve felt the Extreme Heat was happening soon. These beasts had to be somewhere during the day, right? Of course, at the time, he had no idea about this. And so, he and his people became nomads without a home. They considered settling down in nearby villages, at least some of them did, but the nearest one was a place they often went into war with. The other villages were also under Voumi, so their strengths were not inferior to his. In all cases, they were almost forcefully enslaved and he took the people he could and they ran towards the West, which was the safest direction they could go to. It was where the fog appeared. His father had told him about the ''newcomers'' and the ''foreigners'', especially when the mysterious fog appeared so near them. His father had travelled around in his youth, so he knew a few things normal villagers did not. He knew that the people in their West were newcomers and therefore weaker than the natives. The travel was relatively long and arduous, but the area was filled with villages so the level of monsters was manageable. Some time during their exodus, they met someone. His name was Cain. Shiro knew this was not a good man, but the one good thing he did was to bring them here, in what was called Vismont Village. This home¡­ was really good. It had a lot more resources within the walls, it had nice houses, and had better defence. It was just that they weren''t able to enjoy it for long because of the disaster. Even in a better home, his people were still dying. Every day, they had to bury or burn so many people and it broke his heart. They had long run out of food, and many of his people had been hungry for days. Shiro had been holding out from asking for help, but there was no choice anymore. "Very well," he said, voice weak in defeat. "We will go at dusk." S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A few hours later, his party prepared to go to Alterra, with him bringing a couple of stronger guards. Of course, they left the majority of their remaining forces to protect the territory. This was the first time they were going to the neighbouring territory. He had sent a few spies before the heat wave hit, but they never returned and their names disappeared from his list. Fortunately, they had been a village for decades and the mobs they were used to were stronger than others due to their proximity to a town. So, even when he only took a small part of his forces with him, they should be able to handle the small mobs they encountered. Anyway, the small team left the village, full of reluctance and uncertainties, but at the same time having no choice but to go. He could only hope¡­ that, despite their many conflicts, Alterra would be kind enough to help them. Chapter 908 - 908: Asking Help (Part 1) Dejel will also give 1 month Nitro to the winner~ S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ... ____ Although they were Alterra''s subsidiaries, Alterra was not duty or system-bound to actually help them, especially when the costs were high. Helping out another territory during a disaster they were also going through definitely would not have a low cost. Even if he begged, Alterra might not help them¡ªespecially after the previous altercations. However, what else could they do? His cheap pride would not feed his people. That night, he and his team traveled across the monster-infested forests, with only the two moons as well as a few torches lighting up their way. There were plenty of close calls because they were weakened by hunger, and they ran away whenever they encountered troublesome mobs. Even if they could beat the mobs, they dared not use too much energy at this juncture. They were hungry, thirsty, and incredibly dirty but they could do nothing but trudge through. Fortunately, the small team all survived in the end, arriving at Alterra''s vicinity several hours later, deep into the night. "The mobs are becoming denser, milord," Fos said, with a deep frown, stabbing down at a monster with his whole weight. "It is likely they''re currently fighting with mobs by now." If they asked for favors when the other side had just been through trouble, then coming to a good deal would be even more difficult than it already was. Shiro paused and looked in a direction of thought. The monster mobs they were used to were even stronger than this. While Alterra had somehow managed to beat them when they threatened the village, Shiro and his men were not weak. On the contrary, they could come to assist. They could use this to get better deals. "If the mob is still at its peak, then it is a good thing for us," he said. "If we come to help when they are in a pinch, then we''ll have more leverage." The men looked at him, enlightened. "As expected of the lord¡­" Fos said, and the others agreed. They prepared themselves for an intense battle ahead, feeling thankful that they saved up some energy during their travel there. At the very least, consuming themselves here, when there was a territory nearby, was a better option than losing spirit in the middle of nowhere. However, they did not expect that by the time the walls were visible, the territory was already cleaning up the beast corpses, taking the parts they needed and hauling them on wheeled carts pulled either by humans or by Broats. More than this, they gaped at the tall walls. Because the trees of the forest had dried out, there was no foliage to block the view, so they had an unhindered view of the radiance in this direction. The entire territory was incredibly bright and could be seen hundreds of meters away. It was like a bright utopia amidst the dark and depressing surroundings. After living in their own territory that was dull whether it was morning or night, this vibrancy was really¡­ disorienting. They wondered if they were really heading to a fellow village. When they entered, they were met with a bustle of activity. Every shop was open and there were people going around, some working, and some selling items to whoever passed by. They had never seen such a lively bright night. Their feet moved as they explored the place. Before they could get too far though, they heard voices calling to them. "Oh, newcomers!" someone yelled, "Would you like to buy my juice?" They turned to see there were several stalls lined up near the gates. They paused and took a closer look at the stall, realizing what he was selling. "Water?" "Juice?" There were gallons of each blatantly displayed on his stall. After suffering for weeks in this heat, generally speaking, displays like this would''ve been mobbed by people until there was no container intact. Here, it was just¡­ there. They also looked at the other stalls and saw there were similar displays. "Mine is very good and very cheap!" He said, yelling the price to them. "It''s not even that expensive!" the Shraoans gasped, eyes sparkling as they stared at the drink. The seller looked away guiltily. He actually multiplied the price several times than the usual selling price already, but¡­ oh well. It''s a win-win deal, anyway. The other juice sellers also yelled, and they also heard how much the other guy sold, so they adjusted their own prices accordingly. "Try my fresh cucumber juice!" "My gouji fruit shake is also good!" Fos gaped, gulping. "So many options¡­" he said, voice cracking. The others beside him nodded in agreement. In fact, because of the drought, the plants that could be sold affordably were limited. So, even if Shiro and the others felt dizzy with the selection, this was not even a fraction of what was normally available. While everyone bought juice, a lively old man waved his hand. He was one of the nearest stalls. "Handsome men! Come try my rice crispies!" Rice crispies? What''s that? "It''s good, it''s good, just taste," the old man said, handing them a small bite-sized piece each for taste. "I also have other products. I have a shop near here, my daughter''s there right now¡­" The Shraoans didn''t absorb much anymore as they placed the snack into their mouths, feeling the unique flavor and texture that they hadn''t experienced yet. Immediately, they bought a bit of everything, intending to taste as much as they could. The newcomers swept through the foods and drinks until they were full, even Shiro himself. They had been so hungry and thirsty, it couldn''t be blamed on them. After the initial globbing of food, they finally calmed enough to study their surroundings more. Taking smaller bites of their snacks-of-choice, they looked around them. Everyone was clean, proper, and healthy. No one was hungry nor were they parched, and they were obviously living well enough that people were still having fun even at this time. Shiro and the others couldn''t help but look at each other with wide eyes. Perhaps, things weren''t so hopeless, after all? Chapter 909 - 909: Asking for Help (Part 2) "There are so many trees, and resources." They said. Even in the middle of the road, there''s a line of trees. In most territories, only a few types of trees remained alive, and not all of them could be eaten. Here, not only were there a lot of trees, but some of them looked a bit healthier with more leaves. This area was unlikely to be a system farm, so¡­ how did they do it? How did they keep all these plants so healthy? "The trees outside are dried up, but the ones inside are thriving," one of the salespeople said, just before he proceeded to sell them his product, which was skewered meat with vegetables. "Of course, they still couldn''t be compared to the status of the farms." "..." Each of them bought a few sticks and looked at him. "Can you tell us more?" They couldn''t help but eat what they bought though, and someone almost lost their footing at the deliciousness. The salesperson smiled and explained a few things. Alterra''s farms were never a secret. On the contrary, it was one of the major factors behind its many great deals. They could be seen from the Viewing deck, anyway. And¡­, perhaps more prominently, food was a basic need of human beings. They didn''t want to be too stingy when it came to its supply. It was why many common citizens knew a lot about it, well enough that they could give foreigners some basic information. "Our territory promoted drought-resistant plants, and most of the system farms planted those types," he said, handing a few sticks to another patron. "They''re doing quite well, so the food prices didn''t hike up too much." "Is¡­ is there a way to see?" "Yes. Although it''s a bit dark¡­" he pointed at the mountains. "We have a view deck there. You can see much of the farms in that direction." They followed directions and traversed the territory, not looking as closely around them anymore (for now), just intent on climbing up the trekking path. Food was too necessary. Their tour could wait until later. They arrived at the beautiful view deck a while later and they headed straight to the railings. It was night but the light from the torches and the lighthouse allowed them to see much of the place. Their eyes dilated at the sight. The farms were like a sea of dense plants, and it made their hearts beat. Although the farms were a little monotonous due to the limitation of plants that could thrive in this weather, it was still a gorgeous sight that injected every one of them with excitement. One of the things they knew, especially with comparison to those outside the walls, was that the plants within seemed healthier, more alive. It wasn''t obvious in the previous years because the regeneration rate was still existent even in droughts. They simply couldn''t forage when the sky was up. Now, it dropped significantly through the weeks, and territories only had the sparse forests within the walls as the source of food and water that wouldn''t kill them back. Even the beasts that they could kill, even counting the carcasses they managed to recover, still wouldn''t be enough to feed thousands of people. Hence, in Shrao, a rotation system had been implemented, wherein only certain batches of people every day would get the priority to get fed. Of course, those who actually fought the mobs would have a lot more slots than those who were just weakly laying around. It had been weeks since that had begun and they had gotten used to the hunger. Apparently, that wasn''t a problem in Alterra¡ªit never was. It not only had a lower population than other level 3s, but it also had such a huge percentage of forestry. And now¡­ they found out they had such rich farms. No wonder no one was hungry! ¡­ It took time for them to calm down, going down the path and admiring the place. They just stood there blankly for a while, absorbing the sight and its implications. In fact, if they didn''t have an entire territory straddled at their backs, they''d have stared at it for a few more hours. They walked down, intending on going to the leading party when they were attracted by the attractive scent of flavorful food. They turned to see a queue, and they were heading to one of the most famous restaurants there, the Gaea Restaurant. As if they hadn''t eaten a lot of snacks earlier, their stomachs grumbled. "We should eat," one said. "But¡­ the mission," said another. "If the leading party decided to be petty and kick us out, we might not be able to taste anymore." "..." "..." Afraid of what they''d miss if they get blacklisted, they decided to try their first Alterran restaurant. It was fully booked and there was a short queue on the outside, but service was fast so they didn''t have to wait too long until it was their turn. While they were waiting, they were also given the menu so their orders could be prepared while they were in line. The thick and stiff papyrus was an interesting item, then they saw the uniform text and drawings in each one. The paintings were also well done, and it successfully teased their stomachs until their insides were rolling over just imagining their taste. After some minutes, it was finally their turn and they had to gulp down their excitement, barely managing to retain some class as they walked inside. They entered with high expectations. However, they were met with such unique designs and interiors, partnered with the explosive scent of the food served, and they knew they still underestimated this place. However, as they headed toward their assigned seatings, they saw some familiar faces who were also eating their hearts out. Shiro''s feet halted and so did the others, and they stared at the men in disbelief. These were¡­ the scouts he sent to study Alterra. It seemed that they disappeared from his roster because¡­ they switched residencies. The ravenous men seemed to have felt stares on them and turned their heads, freezing immediately at the sight of them. "..." "..." S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 910 - 910: Another Roadblock They paled and stood up as soon as they gathered themselves, though a few were still chewing. "We''re sorry milor¡ªSir Shiro. It''s just that the disaster happened and we couldn''t get back anymore." "Yes, yes, we don''t have families anymore, so we just accepted our fate." Fos'' and the others'' eyes twitched, while Shiro shook his head. "It''s okay, I don''t blame you." Shiro led the way back to their assigned tables, leaving the ''deserters'' standing there, awkwardly staring at their backs and then at each other. When Shiro and his team had sat down, some of the deserters approached. They really couldn''t risk their new good lives to report too much. However, despite everything, Shiro and the former lord were rare good lords who cared about the citizens. Further, they still had a lot of friends in the other village, they naturally wanted life to be better there now that they had a chance. "Uhm¡­ if there''s any information publicly available you want to know," one said. "We can perhaps help Sir Shiro out." Fos was the one who answered. "Well, yes, our territory is hoping to get Alterra''s assistance." "It so happens that the Elders are having a meeting right now," the scout said. "They are in the Village Center right now, sir." "Okay, thank you." The schedule of Elder meetings hadn''t been kept secret. Oftentimes, they would receive a lot of suggestions and reports just before it. Shiro looked at the scouts. "What do you think will make them want to help us?" "Well, our lord is a beautiful man," one of them said, puzzling the others. "And?" "While most of the Elders are men, two of the most influential ones, Ms. Mathilda and Ms. Althea, are females." "Female elders?" Fos uttered. The others seemed surprised as well. "Yes, sir Shiro. Women here hold significant positions as well." "I see¡­" Of course, no one asked the lord to use his beauty for negotiations. They simply went to the Village Center and patiently waited until the meeting was over. They didn''t have to wait long, and soon the concierge lady approached them, telling them someone would escort them upstairs soon. They were led upstairs by a man named Jun, an elder''s top advisor. Althea didn''t want to approve the entry of people to the second floor each time. Hence, she just set it as certain people could enter whenever they have to and granted them the right to take people with them as needed. As the Shraoans climbed the grand staircase with its intricate railings and meticulous floors, they couldn''t help but compare this Village Center with their own¡ªwhether it was the New or the Old Shrao''s. Everything was customized to become aesthetic yet functional, and pretty much everything was changed. This place¡­ had too much money to be customizing like this. Anyway, they arrived at the second floor a few minutes later, led to a big room with a large oblong table. An eclectic group of people sat around it, each one staring at them, the new arrivals. Shiro''s eyes gravitated to the young woman at the near center of the room, and he couldn''t help but look dazedly at her. She was indeed¡­ very beautiful. She had an ethereal feel to her, beckoning any man to come closer¡ª "If you don''t want to lose your eyes, I suggest you stop staring at my wife." "..." Shiro cleared his throat and gathered himself, acting as if he didn''t feel a literal chill in his body. "Hello, my name is Shiro," he said. "I am the Lord of the New Shrao Village, one of your subsidiaries." No one spoke, everyone waiting for him to finish what he wanted to say. "We request for your help. As your subsidiary, we hope you can give us some resources for us to survive." S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel leaned back on his comfortable swivel chair, looking at the other men. Not too long ago, he was making threats at the other''s turf. "Now¡­ why would we do that?" he asked. Seeing him there made the Shraoans flinch and clench their fists, recalling their various humiliations. They simply couldn''t do much against Alterra and their gangster tactics¡­ Not long ago, they had vowed to take revenge on him, but now they were in the position where they''d have to humble themselves¡ªagain! Ansel obviously enjoyed watching them hold back whatever annoyance they felt for him. Their faces were turning red and they were gritting their teeth so hard he could almost hear it. He couldn''t stop the urge to egg them on even more. "Hey¡­, although subsidiary villages are guaranteed to pay tribute, this ''tribute'' is just a percentage of your income." He looked at them up and down. They looked horrible and dirty, and he could tell they hadn''t had a bath for at least a few weeks. Wearing that smug punchable face of his, he asked them: "Looking at how poor you are, that tribute must be too small to be worth our trouble, right?" Their fists clenched tighter, doing their best not to climb the table and slide in the redhead''s direction to pummel his face. Only Shiro himself didn''t look so red as if he had been holding his breath for a long time. It wasn''t that Shiro was not angry¡ªhe was, very much so¡ªbut he also knew he was the foundation of this deal. His cronies could lose their cool, but he could not. Althea and the others didn''t speak and just watched the exchange. Although Ansel was indeed being an ass, he was not wrong. Back then, she took Vismont as a subsidiary primarily because they were all Terrans. Further, although they weren''t so rich, Vismont still did have some income. Now that the village didn''t have her brethren and was too poor, technically speaking, she really didn''t have any reason to help or even keep them. They also had to consider the fact that these people¡ªeven if it wasn''t them, directly¡ªhad hurt hundreds of Terrans, now living in their territory. Even if Alterra was rich and had ample resources, many of its victims might not agree with goodwill. She looked deeply at the other lord. Now¡­ what would he do? Chapter 911 - 911: One Step Forward Shiro felt their disadvantage, but he was not one to give up. "We may not be much now, but our forces are generally superior to other villages." "We were near a town so the monsters in our old territory were relatively stronger. While most of the strongest guards had transferred to the town, I still retained a good portion. Our average level is 10, and we have many level 11s." That was indeed very good. Ansel looked at them. "We took you down with fair ease though." "You¡ª" the other Shraoans finally snapped at him. "That was only because you caught us off guard, and the territory just happened to be their subsidiary! They''d have made a lot more of a fight otherwise! Ansel shrugged. "So strong right? You don''t need help from us, right?" "YOU¡ª" Shiro sighed and lifted his hand, making his people tone it down a bit. "I also still have the control of Old Shrao Village," he said. "It is near a town. When the Heat Wave is over, perhaps the monsters there will leave." "Which Town?" "Basset Town." They were located directly West of the town. They looked at him in thought. How did a subsidiary work if it was a satellite, anyway? However, looking at things, even if they didn''t get anything from their old territory, the contracted one¡ªVismont¡ªwas still a subsidiary in function. In any case, Shrao was not weak, which meant they could be a good added force for them in the region. However, there were also cons to this. "How do we guarantee you wouldn''t just decide to separate after a few months?" The contract would end in less than a year. What if they grew enough and separated, maybe even causing them trouble because of their proximity? "We can sign an oath of non-betrayal," he said. Their scouts had managed to investigate some useful things, at least. They knew that Alterra was very strict on its oaths. This might seem restricting to others but, on the contrary, they were given much more freedom after taking it. "We will add additional duties as your subsidiaries, just support our survival." "For example?" "We¡­ we will be willing to provide maximum allowable forces during wars, as needed, and you don''t have to do the same to us without a high price." Ansel sneered. "Do we look like we need you?" "Having a lot more natives can still be an advantage," Shiro said, ignoring him. "Regardless, the more power, the better it is for the safety of most." Shiro spoke with the thought of keeping the safety of the territory which, to be fair, improved his impression on the elders¡­ even if by just a bit. "We are also well-travelled in our region," he said, primarily because they were nomads for a bit. "We can give all the information we have to you for free, and until the indefinite future." One of the things he heard from the former scouts was how Alterra placed importance on knowledge and information. Other than using the beauty trick, this was the best leverage they could think of. After all, there was really nothing else they could give to Alterra that they didn''t already have¡ªand better. The Elders looked at each other, and Mathilda stared at Althea. When the younger woman nodded, Mathilda stood up. "We accept. However, as with everyone else, you will still purchase the items," she paused. "However, we can give you the dealers'' price as our subsidiary." This was already enough. After all, if they just bought things on their own, the purchase limit would be too small. Shiro brightened, looking at them, especially the women with a bright smile. He was, indeed, a bit handsome. "Thank you!" Even if it wasn''t big, it was still one step forward. ¡­ The couple headed home after a long day¡­ er, night of work. They took baths after the daylight ended, so they didn''t take a bath before going to bed anymore, not unless they went out to fight monsters. When they got back, the babies were in their play cot with Harold, who just had a blank expression on his face as the babies massacred him. "Mwammmmaaammmm¡­" Pepper mumbled as she continuously tried to bite Harold''s hand with her gums¡­ er, teeth. Harold would just rotate or move his hand to avoid it. "Googmmammmwwwwaaa¡­" Meatball mumbled as he tried to climb up on Harold, pulling his hair with as much power as his little hands could muster. Harold sighed and would just gently pry off his small paws when it got too painful. It seemed like this had been going on for some time. Poor guy. Anyway, he eventually did notice their arrival and life was immediately injected into him. "Finally!" he yelled, standing up and carrying a baby on each arm, practically shoving them at a parent''s arm. "..." "Gosh, they just can''t be satisfied anymore," Harold said, heaving a deep breath. Now, Harold was usually a saint, but apparently taking care of the babies for hours was now too stressful even for him. This was understandable. The babies¡­ they just got more troublesome after she took away the aether toys. Sadly, after experiencing the magical toys, they had lost interest in most of their ''static'' toys, so now Bianca and the others were working on mechanical ones¡­ which, in a way, was also great business. In the meantime, they had to harass living beings. Sometimes it was them, sometimes it was Harold, and sometimes it was the dogs (who always squeaked in pain because they pulled on their furs too much). Harold couldn''t bear to pass the babies to the kids, who were busy with homework. The dogs were out hunting mobs and the other adults were busy at work as well. So¡­ he had to endure the entire night of abuse all by himself. "Thank you," was all they could say before Harold excused himself to get a well-deserved rest. The couple sighed as they took their babies to their cribs. They looked down at the babies in their arms, so cute and soft and could easily melt hearts. It''d be hard to imagine they could be little devils if they wanted to. "Mwammmaahhh!" Pepper mumbled, rubbing her chubby face on her chest. "Googgmmwaaa¡­" Meatball also mumbled, trying to climb up his father this time. The couple smiled, kissing their faces. They giggled and laughed, but started squirming again, no doubt wanting to do some activities. Those aether toys were useful in that aspect, but she didn''t know enough¡ªneither did Oslo or the other aborigines¡ªabout the phenomenon she had witnessed. She had tried to experiment with the toys after she took them. Basically, the kids were able to input aether as well. Normally, this would not have been a cause for concern¡­ except they were babies . The reason why children didn''t attempt to level up too much before reaching the age of 12 was because their developing bodies couldn''t handle the aether yet. Being in the vicinity of the aether toys, or any tool apparently, would entice the children to unconsciously use aether. What could this imply? No one knew, and no one dared to imagine the possible worse consequences. "So¡­ what do we do with them?" she asked, just as she placed Pepper in her crib and set up the mobile toy hanging above the cribs to distract them. It was really complicated. They knew too little to determine which approach was best for the children, so in the end they could only forbid them from getting close to aether tools that needed power to trigger. At the same time, for now, they should probably limit the use of their powers, too, at least until they knew for certain it wouldn''t be bad for them. How though, when they hadn''t even mastered what activated them in the first place? ... _____ [Shameless Plug] The contest game (wherein the price is a recurring character + discord nitro subscription good for 1 month) is the Crossword puzzle game~ The other three just-for-fun games are: Sliding puzzle game - personally I found this hard, but apparently some of you found it easy lolol 2. Match Game - Match the voices to the character images~! 3. Memory Game - well, memory game xD S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The winning Price? It''s bragging rights! Lololol Anyway, they were fun to make and I hope everyone could get to play them~ Chapter 912 - 912: End of the Heat Wave [111 Days after the Migration] Several more days passed by and the end of the Heat Wave finally arrived! They knew this was happening because the temperature had been slowly decreasing during the past few days. Then everyone just woke up one morning without feeling like they were melting from sweat. It was amazing. Although it was obviously just the normal room temperature, it felt like they woke up in a lovely air-conditioned room by comparison! "Is¡­ is this it?!" Some people asked as they sat up with bright eyes. They then went to their housemates¡ªwhether it was in the same room or the other rooms¡ªto check if they were imagining things. A brave soul immediately went to check outside, even staying for more than a minute as a willing sacrifice. The others who were also curious stopped their steps, waiting to see what would happen to the brave soul, whom they admired in their hearts. When the sun''s rays didn''t seem to hurt him, their hearts were lifted. However, the man suddenly sobbed and their hearts dropped again. "AHHH!" He yelled and for a moment the people watching thought he was in pain. However, he quickly cried and cheered, raising his hands to the sky. "THE SUN! SUN DOESN''T BURN ME ANYMORE!" Finally!! His yell was a signal for many others watching to do the same. There was someone who literally laid down on the outside floor with legs and arms sprawled out. "My tan," he said. He did this inside the gates of their villa, of course, so as to not appear too stupid. This was Loki, who was known for his very pale effeminate skin. To appear like a soldier, he had to make sure he got his tan. It wasn''t difficult before because they went on plenty of missions, but staying indoors really made him look like a corpse. It was humiliating! There were also some who symbolically buried their umbrellas. And there were even teams who organized outdoor parties, complete with warm beverages. This was a scene found everywhere, to the amusement of everyone else. "They''re adorable¡­" Bart said as he stepped out, also closing his eyes to feel the comfortable heat of the morning sun. His teammates did the same. It wasn''t their first heat wave, but the happiness this place gave off when it ended was particularly fun. Before, in other territories, the people were just in despair, and the happiness that came from them was utter relief that their suffering was over. It just felt pitiful and heartbreaking. Here, they knew no one died due to the disaster at all, and their relief felt a bit childish as it was amusing. They went out of the luxury villa they leased as a team, and saw how the gardens¡ªbuilt on a level 2 farm¡ªhad fully revitalized overnight. Of course, most of the plants were still alive even during the drought because the plants were inside the territory walls and planted on System Farms. However, their productivity was much lower, their colors were muted, and they dried up a lot. Seeing them vibrant again made people happy. This was an especially welcome sight to those who had gardens right outside their door, like this villa they rented. Apparently, the owner had hired gardeners and ''landscape architects'' to create a wonderful milieu, making it very much worth the high monthly costs. This villa was actually owned by Bianca from Baron''s team. Non-residents couldn''t own houses or land, but residents could rent or lease out what they owned. For Bianca (who lived with her team) and many others'', they had bought their own house¡ªif they could afford it¡ªbut did not necessarily live in them. There was now a more stringent limitation of property ownership per citizen¡ªwhich, after the latest upgrade, had been reduced to one residential and one commercial per permanent resident¡ªso no one could hoard property. However, if a team was rich enough, it wasn''t like they couldn''t get a few properties under other teammates'' names. This was the case with Bianca, as well as a few others like Jesse and Angelo. Bianca was technically the landlord of the villa, while the other two owned apartments in the midrise buildings. The profits would be shared between them and the team, primarily because they could afford their houses due to Baron''s initial investments and support. Family was family, but money issues had to be clear. They would then rent or lease the properties out to rich aborigines who wanted their own spaces. With this business model, their team earned steady amounts of passive income every month. Speaking of Bianca, Bart''s right-hand mand Eloi seemed to be courting her. They met when Bianca welcomed them as the landlord, and Eloi saw her¡ªpretty, smart, and confident¡ªand fell in love at first sight. Basically, for the majority of the Heat Wave, Eloi had been wooing the woman. She hadn''t answered him yet though. Anyway, Bart looked out to see the Golds¡ªtheir neighbors, what an honor, and the primary reason they chose this house¡ªalso come out to see the bustling streets. "Good morning, Master Oslo," he said, then shifting to the younger Gold. "Master Honda." S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The two of them nodded. Bart, ever so opportunistic, naturally could not let this interaction be so short. "Can we invite the sirs for a walk around the village? Our treat!" Oslo smiled. "I''ll take you up on that offer at another time," he said, patting the boy''s head. "I need to take this little guy to school." Honda looked particularly giddy at this. He was thinking of his friends. This was the first time they''d be hanging out again with the sun high up! Oslo or Honda naturally didn''t cancel their citizenship to the City, but he was allowed to go to school for their huge donation. "School?" Bart asked. Due to the heat, there were still plenty of things they hadn''t encountered yet. "It''s like an academy, but not limited to nobles," Oslo kindly explained. "They teach various things like literacy, basic plant and animal knowledge, and self-defense. They could also teach some specializations like basic cooking, sewing, and the like." "It''s for everyone?" they looked at him in disbelief. Some of them even thought Oslo''s noble brain must''ve overidealized things. These were all sources of money. Why would people reveal it to the public? How could Oslo not know what they were thinking? If he hadn''t met the lord himself and had glimpses of her mind, he''d have thought they were foolish as well. "Every citizen can enroll for contribution points and money. The price is much higher for the specialization classes with a higher tuition, but it''s very affordable." At this, Bart and a few of his men looked at him. Many of them had children. Because they weren''t nobles, such a thing was far beyond their reach. Now, Alterra granted it to every citizen? Then¡­ their children¡­ could they attend this ''school'', too? Oslo couldn''t help but feel both amused and melancholic at their reactions, recalling his own. He had asked this once in curiosity. He was drinking with Ansel and Eugene at the time. They had asked him a question back: "If everyone was struggling with the basics, how would new things be discovered?" After a short daze, he smiled at them mysteriously. "All I can say is that Alterra¡­ is a place that could really change the world." Chapter 913 - 913: Back to Normal The citizens had begun to adjust their schedules back to how they were before the disaster. Daily life had returned to normal, with the old habits and routines returning to how it once was. The predominant working hours had returned to daylight, though it was to be implemented the next day, allowing for a bit of an adjustment period for everyone. Basically, the first day after the Heat Wave had become an unofficial holiday before the production and operations geared up again the next day. At the same time, there were also those whose lives had changed during the Heat Wave, and were now adjusting to a whole new normal. For instance, Louie, Ramona''s ex, was going on an afternoon market trip with his new love. "Ready?" he asked, standing patiently near the door of their apartment. The woman appeared soon after, looking proper in her new sundress. Louie''s eyes softened at the sight of her. Objectively, the woman didn''t have any striking features, but Louie loved staring at her face. They had been in a relationship even before the heat wave, and they just got closer while it was happening. It got to the point that they began living together in Louie''s home. His lover was a young woman named Eppa, a Mauin woman in her twenties. She was a new worker under Sassy in the Tanning Workshop, which was quite far from his normal route as a guide. So how did they meet and fall in love? They actually met at the night school. During the Heat Wave, the children were not asked to go to school, but the adult classes were open. The various specialization and skills classes were ongoing even during the night. The tuition was slightly cheaper as well, so the slots were taken up a day after the class enrollment was opened. Eppa actually started as a cleaner in the tanning workshop. It wasn''t a job that everyone wanted, but she¡ªalong with most aborigines¡ªdidn''t mind it at all. She was already very happy, already satisfied with the fact that she had a proper paying job. Now, she could buy her own things. Now, she could buy her own food¡ªwhenever she wanted. And now, she could live well¡ªall using her own hard work, without depending on anyone else. This was already far ahead of what her peers outside could even dream of achieving. She had seen how women had the same jobs as men, and how it wasn''t frowned upon here. Some were even in higher positions! In fact, her ''boss'' was a woman herself! No, she was more than a woman. She could order around the men to do whatever! It was so amazing to see how they all listened to her! She couldn''t help but express this awe once and the woman looked at her with those sharp eyes of hers. Eppa was really intimidated and she thought she was going to get fired! The older woman hadn''t even said anything; Sassy''s stare was just that scary! To her surprise, the woman just asked her. "Do you want to become a tanner?" Eppa gaped at her, not entirely certain what the question was about. Sassy''s eyebrows rose and she crossed her arms. "You''re pretty strong for a woman so such a job should be no problem to you. I would like to have some more meticulous eyes and hands with me. "So¡­ do you want to be one?" Eppa gulped. Was this real? "Y-Yes!" she just uttered what she wanted, regardless of what it implied. Sassy nodded in approval. "You are a resident, yes?" "Yes, Miss Sassy," she said. "Temporary?" "Permanent, Miss Sassy." Sassy nodded. "Even better. You know, if you study Tanning at our Alterra School, I can hire you. You can also have your practicum here." It had to be noted that, at the time, Eppa was still very new to Alterra and their ideologies. She was still absorbing the fact that she could have such a well-paying job as a woman. Now¡­ she was asked to go to school? "I can also help you with paying for the tuition. Salary deduction, of course," Sassy continued, making Eppa just continue gaping at her. "Because you''re a permanent resident, then it should be easy for you to gain a slot." S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Temporary Residents could enroll as well, but they were not the priority when the class had a quota. For example, many temporary residents were on the waitlist for certain popular classes while permanent residents practically had guaranteed slots. Eppa would not be able to afford the permanent residency on her own, of course, not so quickly with her limited skills. However, she was the beneficiary of her cousin Meroun, a former Mauin citizen who died during the Fargo-Alterra war. She had been reluctant to spend anything for a while. She felt uncomfortable with spending her beloved cousin''s hard-earned contribution points¡ªsomething he had died trying to earn. However, after a bit of convincing from the others, she realized that her cousin would''ve wanted her to use it to improve her life, so she did so. It was truly the best decision she had ever made. The benefits of being a permanent resident really couldn''t be compared with anything else, not to mention the most concrete feeling of belonging and stability that came with it. Anyway, Eppa was convinced and took Tanning classes with a nervous heart. The travel to the school, even each step she took inside the campus, was an exhilarating experience. She walked so slowly and shakily that, in retrospect, she must''ve looked like an idiot. However, she later heard that it was a common occurrence so she didn''t look as silly as she thought she was. She arrived to the class with just a minute to spare. There, she found that the teacher was no other than Sassy herself! She felt a bit embarrassed but also relieved. At least she didn''t have to readjust her bearings! Eppa had many milestones in her life after stepping into Alterra, and that was the day she stepped into another one. Chapter 914 - 914: Lively Marketplace Anyway, she met Louie, the love of her life, there, though of course neither knew of this at the time. It was during her first trip to the school canteen, which was a different setup than she was used to and it fascinated her. There, the food was lined up in bulk and they just had to choose what comprised their set meals. They could choose one Main dish, side dish, dessert, and beverage. This was not free, but definitely affordable considering the contents. Anyway, there was a delicious-looking Gugu bird dish coated with delicious reddish-brown sauce¡­ but there was only one serving left. The man in front of her happened to choose it, taking it away from her. "EH¡­" she uttered without thinking. When the man in front of her turned, she realized she was loud and she covered her mouth in embarrassment. She was so timid that she didn''t dare meet his eyes. However, her eyes unconsciously followed his plate as it was served to him, cluing him on what it was about. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Do you like this?" She dared not answer. "We can share main dishes," he said, making her flinch. "I''ve been thinking between this and that sauteed beef dish¡­ can you get that?" After being puzzled at what was going on, she nodded in the end. They shared a table together, and she found out it was a pretty normal thing to do here. The offerings of the canteen were based on the molded plates, which could only fit the aforementioned sets or less. If they wanted another meal, they''d have to line up again, which could be a hassle. Louie was very friendly and talked to her a lot, and he slowly took her out of her shell. He was currently taking an advanced cooking class, though he said that his friends (who only took the basic class) had already graduated so he didn''t have anyone to share with anymore. They ate together ever since, and the rest was history. Anyway, at present, the couple was shopping for a celebratory dinner for both of them. Louie suggested it and Eppa agreed with open arms. He also specified that it should just be the two of them though, though it wasn''t like she was inviting anyone else. They had to buy the ingredients first, of course, and so was their current market run. The Heat Wave was really horrible for everyone. Because the Guide Business was basically non-existent during that period, Louie had to go out every night to face the mobs to make a living. Neither of them was talented in fighting, so every day was tense. Now that period was over and they only had to go out when they had to, which was as much of a relief as the temperature cooling down. The couple filled up their carts together, with Louie leading it. "This is for the soup¡­" he said as he placed flavor cubes into the cart. He would occasionally teach her what he learned in class. "It adds flavor." Eppa sometimes absorbed it, but sometimes she could just look at him admiringly. Before coming to Alterra, such a thing¡ªmen cooking¡ªwas incomprehensible to her. In her mind, according to what she had seen growing up, men were just there to work, fight, and take women. At home, they would just be fed and served and then after that, they would sleep. Seeing her man being so capable but willing to do this for her was, even now, really something hard to believe. She felt like the most blessed person in the world. ¡­ The marketplace, supermarket, and the streets also saw a massive surge of people, some just wanting to walk around. The Crow Trio along with the Yus were among these people. They had met each other outside their homes and decided to peruse the revived territory together. They would buy whatever they felt like buying. It was a well-deserved reward for themselves for a job well done. Dog would buy mostly savory food like barbeque and french fries, gobbling it up like an uncultured pig. Crow would buy refreshing snacks like special taco with yoghurt-cucumber garlic sauce. It was one of the tangy snacks he loved the most. Sunny, on the other hand, preferred sweets like cotton candy, tanghulu, and the like. Another one who bought a lot of sweet things was Koo Yu, who bought candies with his own money. He even bought a few buckets and placed them in the space for hoarding. "Also for my friends," he said, smiling. By friends, he was referring to the children like Mimi, Fiona, Honda, and the like. Koo was essentially a child in an adult''s body. The children of Alterra, who were used to playing with half-orcs, were especially fond of him. Oftentimes, he would spend his free time playing with them, as if he was a kid himself. Further, because he earned a lot of money compared to his ''poor'' friends, he usually took it upon himself to occasionally buy them treats, gaining even more of their favor. During the heat wave, the Yus, who were working in the bathhouse, made a lot of money. This was not just their salaries, which were already decent, but they also earned a lot from the tips. People who could afford the bathhouse during the Extreme Heat price spike were the true rich¡ªwhether they were Terran or Aborigines¡ªand their tips were not small. This meant that the mother-and-son''s combined income was really good and they could indeed buy whatever food they wanted¡ªand for whoever they wanted. Anyway, the trip was peaceful and leisurely for the next couple of minutes of strolling. Eventually, they ended up near a deokboki stall. Unexpectedly, Koo stopped out of nowhere, pointing at it and yelling carelessly. "Mom, mom, look!" he said, eyes bright. "Brother loved that!" The trio flinched, pausing as they looked at him. They then turned to Jane with worried faces, wondering how she''d react. To their relief, the woman''s body simply softened a bit as she smiled, approaching the stall to buy a few cups for all of them. "Hmn. To be honest, I think it''s a bit overrated, but now I love it, too¡­" Jane had more or less recovered now. Her instincts as a mother towards her childish son, along with consistent sessions with the psychologist Juliet, allowed her to recover to some degree of normalcy. Until recently though, anything that reminded her of her oldest son would make her cry out of nowhere. Fortunately, she seemed to be getting better now. They waited patiently as all the cups were prepared by the stall owner. They also chose different flavors and add-ons, which was fun in and of itself. The mother and son chose George''s favorite flavor¡ªwhich was just the ''original'' flavor¡ªand they smiled as they took a bite, slowly relishing the taste and its chewy texture. For Koo, it was a happy memory, while for Jane it felt a bit bittersweet. After all, they were eating George''s favorite snack without him. However, after so long, she also began to understand that he would be happy just to see them both doing well. And, for now, that was enough. Chapter 915 - 915: Lively Gardens Other than the markets and the commercial streets, pretty much everywhere in Alterra was filled with activity. This was the first time they could see the territory again while the sun was up in the sky. The feeling of seeing everything vibrant again was akin to the feeling of them just getting out of prison after a long, depressing, sentence. (Not that most people had experienced it, of course, but they had their imaginations¡­) Some people even gave out tofus to congratulate random passerbys for their newfound ''freedom''. Other places, like the gardens, were filled with people who were either going on dates or having picnics with friends and family. People hunted a lot during the night because there were few things they could do. Plus the time saved because there was always a nicely-sized mob coming by themselves allowed the citizens to meet the fighting requirements early and more. That meant that, outside of the actual working hours if they were employed, they had time to chill and just spend time with loved ones for the next few weeks. One of the couples on a date was Jake and Yiyi. To be more accurate, Yiyi was pulled outside by Jake to get a breath of fresh air. Jake held Yiyi''s hands. In contrast to her possible reaction a month prior, Yiyi did not flinch when Jake grabbed her hand. During the horrible heat wave, Yiyi slowly recovered from her trauma. There were a few people responsible for this, all of whom had been nothing but kind and patient with her during this period. First, there was Ryo''s aunt and grandpa, who lived with her and therefore spent most time. They treated her like their own adoptive daughter¡ªwhich was something completely new to Yiyi, who grew up as an orphan. Then, there was the very kind psychologist Juliet, who had helped out countless girls who had experienced the same. Even when Yiyi was one of the difficult cases, not once had she shown any signs of impatience at all. Finally, there was Jake and his shameless¡ªbut light-hearted¡ªintrusion into her space. Even if she still had nightmares¡ªand even if she still trembled when most men got close to her¡ªjust seeing the concern encouraged her to at least try to recover. Eventually, she did, at least if it was with them. During the day, Jake would come by and add body heat to the small house, which in turn would often receive some half-joking mockeries from grandpa. It was actually why grandpa''s shop opened a little earlier than others, during dusk, because he wanted to get away from the cheesiness with the name of Jake. Jake ignored this and just helped fan the girl. Eventually, Yiyi would take the fan and they would do it alternately. Even if they didn''t speak, just each other''s presence there was comforting. Midway through the Heat Wave, the electric fan was developed. He managed to get his hands on one and it gave him more excuse to hang out in her house. Eventually, Yiyi started joking around with him, and he started pushing a bit more. As soon as the heat wave ended, he practically never left her space, always holding her when he could, and now she could only succumb with a red face. ¡­ Elsewhere in the territory, the half-orcs Gochi and Baku also stood by, watching everything with a smile. They then looked up at the house that they just bought, admiring it with full hearts. Together, they pooled funds to get the downpayment for a single detached villa under Gochi''s name. As for how they could afford it so quickly as former slaves, not only did they manage to get the bank to help, it was thanks to the large amounts of night mobs as well. A good portion of the nightly mobs were taken care of by just the two of them, and this reflected in their spiking contribution points during this period. Still, the house was way over budget and they had to ask a lot of help and some oaths to get the funding, but they needed it because of their large stature. Only single detached houses could take in half-orcs without them feeling like they were trapped in small boxes. Even if the ceiling was still not as high as Baku would''ve wanted¡ªeven Gochi''s head bumped into a lot of places¡ªit was their best option for now. Furthermore, they also wanted to provide a comfortable home for the others when they finally reunited. They both sighed at the thought of their friends, wondering where they were and how they were doing now. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After settling the house, the two headed elsewhere for a prior appointment. The meeting place was in an open-air restaurant near the parks. They liked to eat in such places because there was little chance of bumping their heads on something. Anyway, when they arrived, there were familiar mercenaries already there. It turned out that the appointment was with Bart and the others. The plan was to eat brunch together as they discussed business. This was a habit developed after coming to Alterra, where most meetings seemed to be done with food on the table. They ate in silence though, with the two half-orcs ordering huge servings on their plates, eating directly on ala carte plates. In contrast, the humans were a little intimidated by their sizes, even if their levels were lower. Not to mention, they had some associations with the half-orc race that had been imprinted on their minds since they were young. This was especially true for the younger members Bulgogi and Sipa, who flinched when the larger one stopped eating and turned to look at them. "Follow through with your promise," Baku said. "We will pay you well." Sometime during the previous days, Baku and Bart had come to a deal. For some money, Bart was asked to get more information about their remaining brethren, Maomao and Nana. Alterra didn''t have a post office yet so they couldn''t communicate with their network, but Bart did promise to do so after they left (something they were reluctant to do now, by the way). They finalized the deals that day, even formalizing it in the Village Center. After they were done, Bart and the others prepared to finally leave Alterra. Sipa, Bart''s scout, couldn''t help but look at him. "Are we really going now, boss?" His tone was a little small, obviously very reluctant. Bart rolled his eyes. "We can''t stay here forever," he said. He kind of wanted to, but they couldn''t do that yet. Eloi looked at him, looking in another direction¡ªno doubt where he believed Bianca was. "But we can try and get a base here as well." "It won''t be easy, most of the land here isn''t even for sale," Bart said. He had asked around. Only residential units could be owned and those were villas the largest variation. "However, someday, if we give enough of a deal, maybe they''d allow us to at least lease land." This was something for later, however. For now, they could only reluctantly leave the place, looking back every hundred meters or so, and wondering how much would have changed when they returned. Chapter 916 - 916: A Little Surprise Gaea Team Villa. "The Heat Wave lasted longer than we thought," Ansel said as he chewed, looking at the lush gardens that regained their vitality overnight. "A lot longer." According to the aborigines, the usual duration was no more than 2 weeks. This one lasted more than a month. "Well, there are too many unknowns," Althea said, feeding her babies, who happily made little ''o''s in their mouths. "Our intelligence teams are looking into it, and all we can do is prepare the territory for whatever happens." Everyone nodded, eating away while getting deep into their own thoughts, wondering how to best do their parts to achieve these tasks. They were now having brunch together, relieved that they didn''t have to open all the fans and eat ice cream. Thinking of all the ice cream they ate the past month, Ansel couldn''t help but touch his stomach. It got bigger due to all that sugar¡­ Anyway, it was such a relief that it was over, though now¡ªafter the initial relief¡ªthey inevitably had to think of the aftermath. "A lot of territories must have fallen." "Oh definitely, so much already happened just in our area. I can''t imagine what happened in other parts of the world." "The number of people here must be a lot, considering the number of deaths daily. Although Terrans are in the millions, the natives are probably in billions." Eugene nodded, thinking of his own calculations. "I agree, it is probably in billions. At the very least, there should be several hundred million of humans alone¡ªnot to mention the other races." This was an assumption, as no one had an actual census of the continent. However, considering the area they knew thus far from the aborigines and the average population an area approximately had, they had a rough minimum. "The other races probably fared better, on average," Ansel said. The other races were equipped with skills (goblins) or physiques (orcs) to handle it better without the human tools and technology. "Everyone has to if something like that happens once a year or two." Althea looked at her gardens. To others, she seemed to just be staring, but Althea was actually using the Eye, seeing how¡­ radiant everything was. "On the bright side¡­, the extreme weather change seems to function like a refresh button," she said, making everyone turn to her. "It cleanses and reinvigorates the land," she added, her eyes staring at the denser aura of the wood element in her garden. She''d also check how it was outside, but she reckoned it had also improved. Winona leaned over, very curious. "Does it affect the slower regeneration rate?" sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They had been worried about this. But if the extreme weather changes could actually help with the issue, then wouldn''t that be a good thing long term? Althea shook her head. "It is too early to tell," she said. "But I''ll assign a team to study and monitor these phenomena." Also¡­ wouldn''t the fact that it was longer mean there was really something to ''fix''? Perhaps¡­ the Extreme Weather changes could get even more frequent. However, they needed a bit more data to come up with conclusions. For now, they put the depressing topics aside and opted to go back to the lighthearted discussions. For example, the babies and their new diets. Another change during the past few days was that the babies could now eat more soft food, not just flavored gruel. They watched the babies fondly as they ate the baby food made of various fruits and vegetables. Harold had taken good note of the babies'' nutrition and palette and so far they had been enjoying what they were feeding them. Althea smiled and fondly fed both babies with the crushed food, and they both looked excited at the new taste. Nomnomnom Nomnomnomnom They ''chewed'' on the paste-like sweetness, their chubby cheeks appearing plumper as they did so. "Soo cute¡­" Winona swooned and everyone nodded in agreement. She took out her camera and took more and more pictures. She would also send it to Althea, though there was no internet here so it was via a manual phone-to-phone transfer. Click! Click! Clack! While Winona was fiddling with her phone, her hands weakened, unable to hold on to it. Instead of catching it, her palms found her mouth as she heaved out¡ªas if she was about to vomit. No one cared about the phone. Ansel immediately ran to get a cup of water when he saw Althea was already patting her back. "...thanks," she said as she gulped the cup. It wasn''t enough though. She pursed her lips, thinking of how the nausea felt a bit better when she ate or drank something sour. She looked at her lover, who was looking at her with concern. "Can you get out lime juice? Cool ones please..." "Sure, got it," Ansel said, standing up and heading straight to the kitchen. There was no refrigerator yet¡ªfor now, only the low-wattage appliances could possibly be used¡ªbut they did have ice boxes in the cellar. He returned with a pitcher of fresh icy lime juice, which she drank deliciously. However, she was still pale. "How are you feeling?" Winona sighed, drinking a few more sips of the refreshing juice. "I still feel a bit whoozy." Winona had been nauseous and dizzy since the beginning of the heat wave, but they just assumed it was because she wasn''t used to such a temperature. They really didn''t think much because the blonde was very rich in Terran and she could get a bit queasy at times. Ansel would often tease her about still being a young lady. "It''s odd," she mumbled, rubbing her temple. "Obviously, the weather had improved but I still feel unwell." Ansel looked at her worriedly, gently massaging her other hand. "Had I been too hard?" This earned him a light knuckle on the face. Althea shook her head and looked at Sheila. "This is odd, isn''t it?" Sheila nodded. With their upgraded bodies, it shouldn''t be so sensitive anymore. Especially, Winona was already level 8. Sheila went over to Winona, "May I have your arm?" One of the healer skills Shiela inherited¡ªafter she kept using her skills as a healer¡ªwas the ability to check pulses. She wasn''t entirely sure how it worked but, basically, she could have access to the water in the human body with her element, and use it to have an image of the body''s workings. If she trained it often enough, maybe she''d even be able to detect cells. Sheila held the blonde''s hand and everyone gathered nearby, some more nervous than others. They tensed when they saw Sheila''s eyes widen. This was especially true for Ansel, who entered panic mode. "What is it?" he said, shaking a bit. "What is it?" His breath was heavier than the others and he was pale. He could hear his own heartbeat. Still, his mind refused to think of anything bad happening. He asked in hopes he was overreacting. He took a deep breath, asking again. "Tell us¡­ please." Sheila pursed her lips, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. In the end, she smiled. Looking at the couple straight in the eyes. "Congratulations!" she said. "You''re pregnant." Chapter 917 - 917: A Little Fight "Pregnant?" The couple uttered simultaneously, turning to each other with wide eyes. "PREGNANT!!" Ansel yelled, immediately lifting her high up in glee. The blonde squealed in surprise, wrapping her arms around his head by instinct, making Ansel''s face squeeze on her bountiful chest. However, he was too happy at this time to make any innuendos. Winona was also teary with happiness but she couldn''t help but pull Ansel''s hair. "Idiot, be careful." "Oh, right right right," he said, gently putting her down. He enveloped her into his arms as soon as her feet landed on the ground. He kept hugging her, refusing to let go. Winona blinked and her eyes lined with tears. She wrapped her arms around his torso, feeling his warmth as well. Althea looked at the two with a full heart, smiling. "Well, we should start preparing for that long-awaited wedding." ¡­ S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Winona had begun showing some emotional outbursts the past few days, but now they knew it was due to her pregnancy. This showed very clearly later in the night they found out the news. "You''re pregnant.. you''re pregnant¡­" Ansel chanted, chuckling like an idiot, all the while placing several chaste kisses all over Winona''s face. Winona giggled and enjoyed the attention. It was pretty wholesome at first, with Ansel tickling his lover with his lips, though it soon turned heated when Ansel''s hand began exploring her supple skin again. Winona moaned under his caress, with Ansel''s lips on hers, eating all the delicious sounds that she made. His hands touched her legs as he opened them wide, his warm palms sensually stroking higher until they reached her sensitive inner thighs. His hand squeezed her suppleness, loving the feel of it. "Ahh no wonder your thighs are even plumper and nicer to touch now," he said, voice raspy from lust. He was completely flirtatious when he said this, but he felt her freeze instead. Puzzled, he lifted his head to look at her, shocked to see her sobbing face. "Are you calling me fat and ugly?" Ansel blinked. When did he say that?! Slap! "Jerk!" Ansel didn''t even feel the sting. He could only gape as Winona slid away to the edge of the bed, intent to get away from him. "O-Oi!" She stood up and forcefully let go when he tried to grab her. His heart stopped when she almost hit a table, but fortunately she didn''t. Ansel was afraid that forcefully grabbing would make her retaliate more and hurt herself. In the end, he could only follow her helplessly. He apologized continuously¡ªwhich was saying a lot because he didn''t even know what he did! It was just that he got paler and paler and then completely blue when he saw where she was going! Althea''s room! It happened that, at this time, Althea and Garan were about to do their ''nightly activities''. Winona''s arrival came just in time to give Garan one of his biggest blue balls ever. However, Winona couldn''t sense the coldness that surrounded Garan and just cried, inconsolable, mumbling something like ''men are jerks, would they cheat if I''m fat? Jerks.'' Ansel very much told them the whole story but Althea knew too well about the emotional outbursts that came with pregnancy. Althea had to take her friend in for the night and Garan had no choice but to sleep in a different room. Of course, he didn''t go straight there because he dragged Ansel to the barracks for a ''warm up'' in the middle of the night. BANG! CRASH! "Ouch! Damnit!" the redhead gasped, but he tried to balance himself, lunging forward to retaliate. To no avail, unsurprisingly. When Ansel was thrown down after the nth time, he groaned out in annoyance and his hands lit up with fire. Who cared if Garan wasn''t using his element? This was to balance things out! Now that he thought about it, he hadn''t been able to practice much because he felt the heat would kill him. But now, there was no such thing. Ansel lunged towards his nominal brother, using many of the techniques he knew against him. His hands exploded and he threw punch after punch at the ebony-haired man. He used the fire created to widen his area of effect, extending his reach. Garan though would always catch his attacks, either redirecting it somewhere with a fist, a palm, or an elbow. While Garan didn''t insult him much (obviously, his technique had been polished after all this time), but his throw-downs were as harsh as ever. Ansel screamed when he landed on his back again. He did a backflip and he was standing up the next moment, not pausing at all as he sprinted towards his brother. Ansel upped his attacks, throwing them faster and more intense, truly wanting to place a hit. However, at some point, Garan suddenly shifted to the side and caught his elbow again, but this time he bent it so his fiery fist was heading straight to his body! This was one of his favorite shirts! Fire users could still burn their clothes so he had no choice but to put out the fire. The moment he did so, Garan''s large palms found his face and he was thrown back once again. "Damnit!!" he yelled, pounding on the soil beside him in anger. He was gasping for air, exhausted, and he didn''t feel like standing up anymore just to get another beating. He didn''t even look when he heard Garan''s footsteps going near him. "Fire is strong," he said, that baritone voice of his echoing in the empty sparring field. "But it is a double-edged sword." All elements could affect their users. Even him. If he was less skilled and surrounded his hands with ice without controlling it well, he could still get a frostbite from it. What he did was to create a vapor that would insulate his hands, but creating ice and frozen air or mist at the same time was an extremely delicate technique that not everyone could do. In any case, this was another harsh reality check from Garan to Ansel, and the red head¡ªdespite his aching body and being the target of Garan''s obvious unfair venting¡ªwas enlightened to the next direction of his training. Of course, another was to build fireproof clothing which wasn''t impossible for their team at all. With this, Ansel stood up again and went on another round¡­ which, of course, ended up with Ansel''s demise. Bang! Ansel was thrown a few meters away and it was here that Ansel finally gave up. "Shame to make your woman cry," he said, before preparing to finally head back to the house. Seeing him so judgemental, Ansel felt very wronged. "I didn''t say anything wrong! It''s just her pregnancy! Even Althea wasn''t any less emotional!" This made Garan pause and look at him. "What?" "Althea''s pregnancy wasn''t easy you know! And you just had to be out on a mission at that time!" Ansel yelled, suddenly feeling like ranting. "And then you¡ª" Disappeared. The coldness around Garan changed a bit and his shoulders slumped as he walked towards Ansel, pulling him up with a hand. "Tell me more." Chapter 918 - 918: Another Wedding Preparation Ansel and Winona''s wedding had been planned weeks prior, even before the Heat Wave. They had been planning for a while so¡ªconsidering their productivity¡ªa week was more than enough time to actually execute the event. However, at some point, Winona''s grandmother found out about it and had been trying to insert herself for a while. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She had been camping in the organizer''s office during working hours, critiquing or trying to modify whatever she found unsatisfactory. There were only a few days left before the event itself, and most of the things had already been settled, with them scheduling the venue for decoration the next day! At first, they let her in because she claimed to be the bride''s grandmother. She was so insistent that they did not have the time to tell the bride and groom before she was already inside! The event organizer''s office was on the top floor of a manual commercial building. Unlike system residential units, these commercial areas did not have a blockage and automatic security function, and the old woman took full advantage of that. She pretty much barrelled into the place with an entitled aura about her, and they could only give up and let her be. They were not in the actual event anyway, what could she do if they didn''t like her suggestions? They had no idea she was going to be a monster! "No, this flower is better for her blonde hair!" "This arrangement should be like this¡­ "Add this table closer to the stage. That''s where her true family will be sitting." She even asked the organizer¡ªrepeatedly¡ªwho the groom was! As if it could change midway! "Are we sure we''re not letting Eric be the groom?" Sadly, the System''s blacklisting only worked on a territory-wide basis. They couldn''t request to kick an old woman¡ªno matter how annoying¡ªout of the territory to get eaten by monsters, right!? "The food shouldn''t have too much oil." "No, I want this menu." "What kind of music are you playing?" The lead organizer, Miya, was using all the patience she could muster. She was holding back so much that her usually-well-kept bun showed signs of unraveling. However, she was still a professional to the bones, and it wasn''t like she hadn''t encountered problematic clients in the ten years she was in this field. However, that was in Terran¡ªwhere the biggest problem was people thinking luxury brands were expensive, or getting dumped, or that they were gaining weight! This was Xeno now. Supposedly, surviving this long would humble everyone still alive¡ªbut apparently not. She looked at her assistant, who nodded when he received her look. He had already called on Ansel a few minutes ago and, hopefully, they could take away this annoying¡­ person. Ansel did arrive shortly after that, panting a bit as he rushed. When he saw the old woman ordering everyone as if she were paying for the event, Ansel had to work hard to contain himself. "Please leave," he said, quite politely if he might say so himself. "You will not be welcome in the event if you keep doing this." "How dare you!" The old woman gasped, looking at him. "I''m Winona''s grandmother ." "But this is her wedding, and she would not appreciate you changing anything she had already decided on." The old woman just looked at him like he was a brat who didn''t know anything. She literally dismissed his words as if they had no value. "She knows little about these things!" the old woman said, waving her hand as if to shoo his opinion. "She knows to listen to my advice." His eyes twitched and his fists clenched in annoyance, but¡ªinstead of punching the old woman as he wanted¡ªhe simply combed back his gossamer red hair, though he was very close to pulling it. He should ask his sister to add another rule to send warnings to people harassing others like this. Anyway, seeing as the old woman wouldn''t walk out on her own, he looked to the side and two guards entered the room, intending to drag her out if they had to. "We will have to escort you out if you can''t do it yourself." The old woman saw their posture and was shocked, incredibly offended. "YOUUU!" She had never been treated like this¡ªlike a beggar!! "You think you can still marry my granddaughter like this?!" Ansel was not shaken. "Very much so, yes." "..." The old woman saw they were serious and she could only complain. "I will report you for abuse of power!" she announced, walking out with the dignity she had as a former rich woman. "You''ll see!" ¡­ The old woman, of course, did report. However, unsurprisingly, nothing came out of it. She was naturally unreconciled and made a scene in front of the Guard Station. She would yell things like ''corrupt people!'', ''dirty place!'', ''abusers!'' and the like, which in turn got the guards to approach her again, causing her to leave in humiliation. How could the old woman keep quiet when she was embarrassed like this? She would gossip around, trying to dirty Ansel''s name, as well as the elders'' for letting him go rampant. However, the elders had a good reputation and people had eyes. In the end, she was just ignored and even outcasted for her slander. While the old woman was going around, spending her limited energy in gossip no one was listening to, the event preparation entered its final stages. The venue preparation, as well as the procurement of some ingredients for the food, had already begun. The performers also started mastering their piece. They were very passionate as their performance cells had grown molds during the heatwave. Ansel got his employee, the wedding planner Miya, to handle everything. It was so his stressed-out wife didn''t have much problems anymore. She just needed to make the major decisions and all the cumbersome things were given to others. Anyway, hiring Miya was a multi-level decision. It would also give less leeway for that grandmother of hers to intervene, because Miya was a perfectionist and didn''t really care about being blunt, especially now that they had shown their stance against the woman. Speaking of the old woman, at some point, she found the event place and was once again making a scene at the venue. "Thank you for your opinion," Miya said, looking over the preparations while the old woman was following her around. "Why don''t you change it?" "I didn''t say we''ll use it." "You¡ª" "I''m the bride''s grandmother!" "Yes, but I was instructed to only follow the bride''s wishes. She wishes you don''t have anything to do with it." "You!!" She stubbornly sat down on a chair, refusing to get up. Considering she was a proud high-class old woman a couple of months ago, she was acting a bit like a shrew. Was it because she hung out a lot with that nouveau riche new family of hers, no one knew. Miya knew that this grandmother was not welcome, so she didn''t have scruples anymore. She looked at her assistant. "Call the guards again." "On what grounds!" the old woman spat back. She was no longer in an office, but in a public events place! She was even standing in the gardens right now! Miya didn''t seem to care for her odd logic. "Trespassing and causing chaos," she said calmly, though unsurprisingly the old woman tried fighting for her ''rights''. It stopped when she heard an announcement in her head. Ding! [You have now been warned for harassment. One more and you will be sent to prison.] Chapter 919 - 919: A Few More Bugs The old woman gasped, surprised at the new rule. When did they have this? Still, if she went away now, that was acknowledging that she was indeed doing harassment! She was NOT! She was simply trying to be part of her granddaughter''s wedding! How could that be so wrong? These people were blind. Eric and the others agreed with her¡ªshe had the right to take full control over this! This was injustice! They must''ve been threatened by her influence! "How could this be harassment!?" she yelled, making an even bigger scene. She looked around, and it so happened that there were a few people in that area of the park at the time. "Unfair! Abuse!!" "This isn''t right! These people are stopping me from attending my own granddaughter''s wedding!" While a few did feel a little pity for the old woman, most were still lucid enough to know who was wrong. In the end, the old woman was sentenced to 48 hours in the old prison (the manual one) which was reserved for minor crimes that didn''t warrant losing lifespan. By the time she got out, the wedding would''ve already been completed. And so, the wedding planning had finally removed its biggest bug. ¡­ Later that night, this imprisonment would be the topic of discussion in many households. It was really a pretty big scandal. Although Winona was not an elder, she was pretty high up¡ªnot to mention Ansel was an Elder himself. Those who had been jealous of the ''young'' elders began running their mouths at this time. ''Unfilial and ungrateful'' were the most common adjectives that were heard among these circles. It did not help that Eric and his family were making sure that everyone in the neighborhood¡ªor in their part of the village, at least¡ªknew of the ''injustice''. After all, if they let it be like this, grandma''s power over Winona¡ªand therefore a portion of the leading team¡ªwould be diminished! And they would be affected, too! Maybe Winona would even take back the house somehow! How could they live elsewhere like poor people?! In one park, the women would gasp and cry, feeling ''sad'' about the fate of the old woman. They would wail in despair. Obviously, she simply wanted to be part of the most important event in her granddaughter''s life! So sad, so sad~ And what if the old woman died in prison? Inside a bar, the men would get drunk and ''spill'' some dirty secrets that would put Winona and Ansel to ''shame''. For example, how they''d kiss in public. They even implied that the two were having relations when Eric and Winona were still technically together! Eric would appear in pain, even crying a bit, revealing how he got the love of his life stolen by someone who had money and power. There were other more traditional people who naturally felt uncomfortable, especially those who did not know the whole story. After all, no matter how annoying, a parent was still a parent. Fortunately, the vast majority still believed in the Elder group, and those who did not know much reserved their judgment until they did. Some even knew of the inside story, and when they found out someone was slandering the elders, they went there in groups to defend the honor. An example of this was the group led by Letty, the seamstress aborigine, and Cathia, Cassie''s grandmother. Many of the tailor women were eating together when they heard someone was trying to dirty the names of their precious elders. For the most part, they were puzzled. What kind of idiots would do that? Anyone with eyes could tell that their comfortable lives were due to the Elders and the leading team! Anyway, all their warfreakishness was released when they overheard the drama themselves. "I can''t believe it¡­ Winona is such a shame for a woman and a person," Frida, Eric''s mother, would mumble as she shook her head. It appeared like she was a concerned elder disappointed at a child. "So¡­ whose house are you living in right now?" Cathia asked, continuing before Frida could continue. "It''s Winona''s right? What a way to bite the hand that feeds you!" "She does not feed me!" "Then can you get out of her house?!" Cathia said. "You think someone who owns the house would let a parasite badmouth her without repercussions?" "It''s not just her house anymore!" Frida snapped back with head held high. "It''s her grandmother''s, too!" Translation: She could say whatever the hell she wanted! The group of women rolled their eyes, knowing there was no reasoning with this kind of idiot. "She is basically a parasite!" one said, gasping as if exhausted by just looking at her. "I don''t know where she gets the confidence!" Another tutted, crossing her arms, looking at the family like they were the most disgusting things. "And to think they''re attacking the very person who owned the roof over their heads!" "Delusion is an illness, but I don''t want Miss Juliet to waste time on them¡­" "..." S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Similarly, a few others attacked Eric and the men of his family, calling them out for their lies. For example, Angelo and Jesse, who were hanging out peacefully with friends at another side of the bar. They were planning to chill and relax, but their blood pressure increased instead. "No, Miss Winona chose Master Ansel because he''s 1000x the man you are!" "Yes! Anyone with eyes knows you''re a useless leech!" "He''s not even that handsome!" Eric shot up his seat, eyes red. Obviously the appearance insult hit him the most. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" "Ugly inside, ugly outside," Jesse mumbled, shivering as if he was completely disgusted. And so on¡­ The verbal abuse did not end. Since they went ahead and attacked the elders with personal insults and the like, the Alterran citizens didn''t hold back either. Sometimes they would even talk to each other, but it was so loud everyone in the vicinity could probably hear. "Did you know? I heard Miss Winona caught him having sex with his maid once¡­ and he had the audacity to tell her ''it''s just for fun''!" "Thank goodness she didn''t end up with him! The inferior genes would pull her down so much!" And so on¡­ The family was extremely tempted to attack just to vent their anger and indignance. However, they knew the consequences of retaliating too well, so they had no choice but to hold back. A bit more of this and they''d die from internal injuries! However, even if they didn''t attack, they did not know they were still the guards'' targets. Shortly after everything started, several guards appeared in the places of drama. For a moment, the family thought the guards were there to save them. After all, they were getting ganged up on! "Guards! Help! They''re ganging up on us!" "Yes! Help!" Unexpectedly, the guards went to cuff them instead!! "WHAT!?" "What is the meaning of this!?" The guard, who happened to be Sammy, looked at them with mirth. "Do you not read the announcements? There''s a law against defamation," he said. "The sentence is 5 to 7 days for minor cases." "What!?" "WHATTT!" And so, the entire family was sent to prison for a full 7 days, not to bother anyone for quite some time after that. Remaining Bugs: Squashed Chapter 920 - 920: Change of Plans All these reached the leading party, who were mostly amused and touched. After the initial sadness, Winona didn''t seem to mind whatever happened anymore. Anyway, it was just minor incarceration. The old woman was alone in her small cell, too. Winona also sent food and drinks so she didn''t actually suffer. Not that the old woman¡ªwho only saw the humiliation¡ª was thankful, of course. If she made a scene again, then they''ll throw her back in. They put this to the back of their mind and just listened to the updates about the wedding preparations. The twice-married couple was currently sitting next to each other on the dining table, listening to their discussions. It had to be noted though that Garan was particularly sticky with Althea today. They sat next to each other with a baby on each side, but Garan would often just lean down and kiss her cheek out of nowhere, making everyone blush. She looked at him, noticing his eyebags. "What''s going on?" Did he not sleep at all last night? "Did you also have a hard time during your pregnancy?" Her eyebrows rose and she turned to Ansel, who shrugged to claim innocence. It was enough for her to surmise what likely happened. Her eyes softened as she shifted her gaze back to her husband, whose eyebrows were furrowed in worry and guilt. She kissed his cheek, smiling. "I was fine. I had Nanny, I had Ansel, I had Winona, and I had the babies. "I was in good hands," she said, and he sighed, grasping her soft hand. "I can''t imagine. How it was like for you to think I was dead." She lifted her free hand to touch his cheek."I''m glad you didn''t know about my pregnancy. You might''ve been too distracted to come back to us safe and sound." His shoulder slumped, eyes looking deeply into hers. "Wife¡­" he said, and she stared back, emerald eyes filled with understanding. The two entered their world and the others were just thankful the two didn''t start making out then and there. "Ahem," Harold said, looking at Winona, pointing at the written menu for the wedding. "Have you seen the menu? Is there anything you want changed?" Winona looked and nodded, "This looks really good to me. Thank you." Sheila looked curiously at the list, also nodding in approval. She also thought the menu was well thought-out. Seeing her like this, Harold looked at her, donning a sly smile. "When are you planning to hold your wedding?" Winona looked at Sheila, "Oh, right!" Sheila flushed. "Oh no, I¡­ I''m not¡­" Everyone stared at her and at her face which was as red as a gouji fruit. "But you really want to?" Althea asked. "Get married to Eagle, I mean." Sheila bit her lips, and nodded shyly. Winona stared at them, a thought appearing in her mind. "Then what about we do a mass wedding instead?" This made everyone turn to her. "What?" Sheila asked, looking at the blonde. Seeing her startled, Winona thought she spoke to soon. "Unless you want a solo wedding, of course¡ª" "No, it''s not that. I mean¡­" Sheila interrupted to explain herself. "I would like to get married soon as well." After seeing Victor and Juni like that every day, it kept reminding her that life was so fleeting. She should just do what she wanted. She still believed in her instincts, anyway. She felt she wouldn''t regret it. "That''s settled then!" Winona said, clapping her palms. "Let''s do a mass wedding!" The team looked at her, wondering if this was another one of the pregnancy moods that could change at any time. "Are you sure?" Althea asked, just to be sure. After all, the wedding day was particularly special to a woman. "We''re not short of funds or anything, you know." "I''m sure, don''t worry," she said. "Mass weddings could create a special sense of camaraderie. And¡­ I don''t think I can have an intimate wedding with my grandmother and that family around." They looked at each other. That made sense. Although they were imprisoned, having a solo and solemn wedding really would feel a bit odd without some family members. Winona''s shoulder slumped a bit and she looked at everyone embarrassingly. She naturally knew that changing plans at this juncture was troublesome to everyone. "I¡­ there should also be plenty of lovers who want to get married but did not have the resources to do so yet," she said. "I wanna help them find it¡­" Then, she looked at Ansel. "Only if you agree, of course. It''s your wedding too." Ansel smiled and kissed the side of her head. "Whatever the wife says." With this, they called in Eagle, who was training at the Barracks at this time. He was sweaty but couldn''t wait to come and he appeared as is. When he found out what it was about, his face looked like it received a thousand shocks of happiness. "Are we really getting married?" he asked his fiance, like an excited big dog with one arm. Sheila blushed looking away. "You proposed, so¡­" S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Yes, yes of course!" "It''s a mass wedding though." "No problem, no problem," he said, whispering. "Sheila will get married to me¡­" He thought he was whispering but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Sheila covered her face in embarrassment while the others smiled. Anyone with eyes could tell they''ll be a very happy couple. ... Later that day, after some discussions, another announcement resounded in the territory. [100th day after The Migration had passed and, although it''s late, we still hope to celebrate as a community!] [A Mass Wedding sponsored by the territory will be held in 2 days. Anyone who wishes to join can register in the territory center.] [Wedding Dresses and Suits will be available for rent in the Territory Clothing Stores] [The ceremony is completely free, but the guests of each pair is limited to 10 people.] [Happy (Belated) 100th Day, everyone!] Chapter 921 - 921: Mass Wedding [117 days after The Migration] The day of the mass wedding finally arrived and it was unsurprisingly festive for the whole territory. Only a few people could actually attend the event itself, but it somehow triggered the lovey-dovey atmosphere all over. Everywhere was bustling and the people who hunted went out earlier so they could enjoy the atmosphere more relaxedly. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A lot of shops even held some events as if it was Valentine''s Day. For example, the restaurants gave special discounts to pairs, the bookshop started selling heart-themed stationeries, and there were plenty of stalls selling ''love-themed'' food like strawberry juice with the fruit cut into heart-shaped pieces. There was also a spike in sales of ''shared'' food like ice cream floats with two straws or elongated plates with long pasta. Most stores sold Goujiberry though because the only place that planted strawberries during the heatwave was the greenhouses. Not a lot of people could afford strawberries, and red gouji fruit¡ªwhich was lush and abundant¡ªwas the best alternative. Chocolates were still inaccessible not long after the Heat Wave, so people just took various sweets as gifts. People who owned flower farms also began selling bouquets, profiting off on the capitalist practice. As for the wedding venue, it was still in the large events place in Alterra Gardens, but the accordion walls were opened, expanding the venue well into the gardens outside. It was magnificently designed and decorated, expanded further over the past two days. The couples who registered were also given comfortable and ample space to say their vows, giving enough solemnity and privacy, considering they''d be doing it with others. There were about a dozen couples who chose to participate in this grand occasion. Each couple could invite up to 10 people, and the rest were positioned people in the territory. The brides wore different simplified wedding dresses, all of which had some variances, while the grooms wore suits with some unique designs each. This was an amazing feat, and it could be said that Lenny''s team as well as Andrei''s were sewing monsters to be able to do all these in a short amount of time. Andrei''s company in particular actually grew a lot during the Heat Wave. People were trapped in the day, and needed livelihoods that could be done indoors. Not everyone would go out night by night to fight with mobs, after all. They would go out to meet the requirements, but they naturally preferred to do the safer jobs any other time. Anyway, everywhere in the territory bustled with activity. This included the hospital. Here, in any direction one looked, one could see someone holding a bouquet. They would have smiles on their faces, excited to give the gifts to a special someone. Victor sighed and looked outside the private ward''s window. At this time, he had moved Juni''s bed near it so she could get as much fresh wind and sun as she could. It was for extra comfort, some brightness, and a bit of vitamin D¡ªsprinkled with an illusion that maybe the light would slowly nudge her awake. It was also because of this that he could witness the lively atmosphere. He could even hear some of the events outside the hospital. Victor sighed and sat down at the bedside, patting Juni''s hand. He raised her palm so he could rest his forehead against the back of her hand. He could also feel the weak heartbeat coming from her wrist. "I wish we could participate in that," he told her, voice a bit strained. "What I wouldn''t do to achieve that¡­" He did not expect the hand to flinch after he uttered the words, however. Victor''s eyes widened as he lifted his head to stare at her. He gulped and looked at her hand, and before long it moved again. His dead heart felt like exploding all of a sudden. "Juni?!" ¡­ The wedding started about an hour or so before noon. One reason was so they could go straight to a lunch reception. Another was because it felt a bit empowering to do this at a time when, just a week prior, the open air could melt their skins. There were about ten other pairs getting married other than Winona and Ansel, as well as Sheila and Eagle. The other pairs included Yiyi and Jake, Okuri and Ronny, Eugene and Melissa, Louie and the Mauin Eppa, among many others. Speaking of Louie and Eppa, he actually proposed to her during the celebratory meal they had when the Heat Wave ended. Eppa did not know such practice and immediately cried when she realized what it was. Troy and Brenda wanted to participate as well, but decided to pass this time. This was because Brenda wanted her father there. Hopefully, her friends had told him about Alterra and was on his way to her soon. In Xeno, the presence of the parents in their weddings was extremely important¡ªnot just for the sentiment, but also because it wouldn''t be seen as a blessed wedding otherwise. By now, everyone knew that the higher the level a person had, the more difficult it would be for them to conceive. Conceiving even at a lower level wasn''t easy either, primarily due to people''s dangerous lifestyles. A parent blessing the next generation was therefore much more symbolical than even in Terran weddings. Anyway, the program was starting soon, with the brides and grooms lined up at the back for the grand procession. Althea was there to help out, and she particularly focused on Winona and Sheila, arranging their bouquets and ensuring their dresses were as perfect as they could be. About a couple of minutes before the procession though, an urgent voice yelled beside them. "Wait!" They turned and were surprised to see who it was. It was Victor¡ªwearing a nice formal suit¡ªcarrying the beautiful Juni, who was wearing a simple white dress. She was a little pale, but otherwise still very beautiful. Victor took a deep breath, staring right at Alterra with a bit of plea. "We want to join¡­ please." "Victor? Juni?" Althea and the others blinked, but they were pleasantly surprised to see Juni fine. "...can we?" Victor said, eyes hopeful. Althea smiled, "Of course," she said, taking an extra bouquet from her space and handed it over to Juni. And so, another loving couple would make their vows that day. Chapter 922 - 922: Vows (Part 1) A/N: I''m gonna be honest and say I did NOT expect to hit T1 Golden, especially not so early in the month lololol (at best, I was expecting to crawl to it during the final week of the month kek). You guys are TOO AWESOME T_T. Sadly this (along with my busy sched) means I''m not prepared for a mass release, so I could only churn out 1 extra chap today. I''M SO SORRY and I love you guys for sending so many golden tickets. T_T HOWEVER, for the next Sundays this month (November 2024), if the story is still T1 before the day, I will post 3 extra chaps every Sunday like I did last month~! I will slowly prepare for it! Again, thank you soo much for opening hope that we could get T1 again this month! *HUGS* ... ___ A new couple joined in the procession, albeit Juni was carried by Victor the whole time. This was quite romantic and very inspirational¡ªand just the sight of them lifted quite a few hearts. The two of them were also a handsome couple. Although Victor''s suit and Juni''s dress were markedly simpler than that of others, they carried it well and people wouldn''t think that the couple literally just started to prepare earlier that morning. The guests filed in one by one, sitting on their own seats. They settled mostly with smiles, though some were looking a bit dour. Vanessa looked at the couples lined up for the procession. She was relieved to see that Juni was alive, though she couldn''t say she was happy with the inevitable marriage. However, she knew she did not have a say in this anymore so she could only bite her lips and look away. When she did so, her eyes gravitated to a group not too far away. It was a certain family, and that woman had just returned from helping out the brides. She happily took a seat down next to Garan, taking one of her babies in her arms. They were a happy family and she watched as they carried a child each, smiling at each other, no doubt proud of themselves for what they achieved. It felt like she was drowning in acid. Vanessa bit her lips and then looked around her. Everyone had found their loves and their happiness, and she was so desperate for Garan because she felt he was the man who could make her happy¡ªthe only man who could make her heart beat. Everyone was treating her like she was a cockroach when she was simply trying to make the ideal life for herself. When would she achieve her own happiness? ¡­ In their seats, the couple was keeping their babies'' settled down during the solemn event. The kids had shown a vague propensity to stand up now, and it made them very energetic¡ªtrying to stand up whenever they could. The couple tried to hold them as stably as possible, hoping they didn''t use their abilities and make a scene. When they finally behaved, the couple heaved a deep breath, leaning down to kiss their children as a reward for being obedient. "Mwahmmwaaa¡­" "Googhmaaammm¡­" The couple¡ªand many of the others sitting nearby¡ªgiggled at the children''s cuteness. Several seatmates even started making faces to make the children laugh. It couldn''t be helped: The babies were especially cute with their formal attire. Meatball was wearing a little green suit with bow tie, while Pepper was wearing a cute frilly dress with hints of azure that was the same shade as her eyes. The horsing around temporarily stopped when the music began. Immediately, everyone settled down and turned, staring at the procession of brides and grooms with excited hearts. Soon, the couples entered at a decent distance away from each other. In between the processions were the flower girls, and then ring bearers, a lot of whom were from Mauin as most children there were aborigines. They were also adorable. Little Pepper and Little Meatball giggled, waving at many of their playmates as they passed by. This included Maya and Mimi, who excitedly waved their hands when they passed by. The couples entered in pairs, holding each other''s hands as they headed to their respective altars, as rehearsed the day prior. None of the brides had their fathers there, anyway, so there was no send-off, just the couple being together in the entire ceremony. Eagle and Sheila were among those in the front row and were among the first to settle down. Sheila stood by his good arm, holding it tightly. Eagle was very giddy, turning to smile at the woman, only to realize that Sheila was a little dazed and looking afar. He frowned, wondering if she was regretting it. Was it because he lacked a hand? "What are you thinking about?" Eagle asked his future wife, a little nervous. "I wish I knew where my family is." He heaved a sigh, relieved that she wasn''t regretting the marriage, but also sad for her missing family. He leaned down to kiss her forehead, making her blush. "We''ll find them eventually, I''ll be with you the whole time." She smiled. "Thank you." S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Mathilda stood in front of the crowd as the officiator, looking gentle as the couples took their positions one by one. Fortunately, in contrast to the clumsy rehearsals the previous day, there were no mishaps in the actual event. When she saw that everyone had seated, Mathilda began her short speech, primarily about the importance of the ceremony and the union. "Congratulations on our couples for reaching this part of the journey¡ªthe beginning of a new phase of life," she said. She began to explain the essence of being a married couple¡ªteaching them what it was, why people did it, and why it shouldn''t be taken lightly. "This is not something you do just because you want to. This is a permanent thing," she said, "...until death. "This is not a trivial matter¡ªnot in our home that built itself on the concept of stability. I am here to warn you that divorce would be difficult if there''s no heavy reason to do so. "Marriage is something you work on, not something to be thrown away when you are bored¡­ "It is not something you consider ending simply because you found a little quirk you didn''t like. "People are built differently and there are no exact same individuals, there is bound to be differences even when there is love in between. "However, no matter what, it is our duty to do our best to make the marriage work¡ªit is what we owe to the sanctity of the union, to our partners, and to ourselves." Mathilda stood tall and smiled, asking the couples to face each other as they held hands. "You may now say your vows," she said, and each one looked warmly at the person they were facing. Every couple was allowed to say their vows¡ªshort and concise but extremely heartfelt¡ªand the audience didn''t get bored at all. If anything..., it made the singles want to get married. Some of them were people who had just arrived here during the heat wave, invited because they happened to know one or two of the people getting married. Not long ago, their only focus was keeping their lives and having something to eat every few days. Now... they were even thinking of wooing someone. How quickly priorities changed when people felt safe. And that..., was just how Alterra was. Chapter 923 - 923: Vows (Part 2) First came Ansel and Winona. They felt really shy, but they knew there were other people there so they couldn''t take too long. Ansel, in particular, had prepared a very nice speech that expressed all the emotions he had for Winona in a witty way that showcased his charm. Sadly, he couldn''t remember a word of it. "I know I may not be the smartest man and I annoy you a lot, " was all he could say, beet red from shyness and embarrassment. "But¡­ just know that I''m glad to be hit by you¡ªif it means you''ll do it for the rest of our lives." This earned a few chuckles from the crowd and Winona''s smile as she sniffed. She held his overtly-smooth face. "I know I can be overbearing at times," she told him. "Thank you for putting up with me. I love you." Ansel grinned, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I love you, too." Next to them, Eagle held Sheila''s hand. "I know that you may feel that we are rushing, but life is too unstable to hesitate. "I love you and I want to build a future with you, I don''t want to waste any more time¡ªespecially not when I''m sure it has to be you for me." Sheila smiled, looking back at him. Her cheeks were stained red, but she was surprisingly stable as she uttered her words. "While I had never imagined I''d get married to a man I only knew for a few months, I still believe in my instinct, and I still believe in you¡ªI know in my gut that we will not regret it. "Thank you for taking the step forward." S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They smiled and leaned towards each other, their foreheads touching and their palms entwined. Their vows received quiet claps and cheerful smiles, receiving various well wishes from the crowd. Next to them were Eugene and Melissa, who were already sobbing a bit. "We have lost so much through the disasters, and I have felt hopeless many times. I thank the heavens for bringing you to me," Eugene said, looking at her and at her stomach. "Thank you for being my family." Melissa sobbed, embracing him. She couldn''t speak much anymore and just whispered her ''I love you''s to him. Like them, the audience had also gotten a bit teary at this point. A lot of people knew their story, and¡ªeven if they didn''t¡ªeveryone had experienced tragedy during the past couple of months. Seeing others gain love and happiness was incredibly touching to them. In another spot, Turbo and Evelyn looked at each other''s eyes, bodies warm and soft at the same time. "I''ve known you my whole life, Eve," the man said, "And the first time I laid eyes on you, I knew you''d be special to me." Eve was flushed red and very teary. "You bullied me a lot¡­" she said and this caused a few chuckles amongst the crowd. Apparently, Turbo was one of those brats who pulled their crush''s pigtails for attention. He blushed a bit at the memory, but he quickly gained his footing. He kissed her palm and placed it on his hair. "Well¡­, you can pull my hair any time you want." A few whistles sounded all around, combined with good-natured laughter, only dying down only when it was the next couple''s turn. It was Louie and Eppa who went next. This would be the first intermarriage they had between an Aborigine and a Terran, making it a historical union. They definitely had a rougher preparation period than others though. The past few days, a lot of people had made subtle¡ªand some not-so-subtle¡ªwarnings not to rush into marriage. After all, they were from completely different world views. Friendship was fine, but spending life with someone with a different outlook will cause conflicts. "I know that, although we love each other, we will face challenges," Louie began, "But I believe we will get through them together." Eppa looked at him, feeling shy at being watched, but at the same time happy she could express herself like this at the witness of others. "Thank you for s-seeing me," she said, voice a little shaky as she tried not to cry so soon. "I have a lot of shortcomings, but what I w-will never lack is love and admiration for you." They received claps and cheers, a few hoots, while the Mauin villagers were outright sobbing. Lulu and Bull came after them. This couple looked a bit odd, with Lulu being a petite pretty girl while Bull was a big, stout guy who was not particularly handsome. Some girls who were jealous of Lulu''s life¡ªbeing doted on by not just her fiance, but also her cousin and friends¡ªwould whisper that she was a gold digger. After all, why would she choose someone so ugly compared to her? However, this was far from the truth. Lulu was fully capable of sustaining her own lifestyle. She fell for Bull because he was dedicated and sweet and he made her feel like she was the only girl in his eyes. "I know we hadn''t known each other for long, but I proposed to you knowing full well you are my soul mate," he told her, looking at the sky as if also expressing thanks to all the dieties (there were many) he prayed to. "I thank the heavens that I managed to convince you to believe the same." This made everyone smile and chuckle, with Lulu giving him a peck on the cheek, and he was suddenly high in heaven. Someone from the crowd asked him not to widow his wife so early and the surrounding audience laughed. The other couples also said their heartfelt vows, some sobbing outright. There was also a goblin couple, which was adorable, and it made everyone happy to see them merging well in the territory. Finally, it was the latecomers Victor and Juni''s turn. Juni was still being carried by Victor and she looked warmly at him, holding his chiseled chin. "I love you, Victor, so much," she told him, as stably as she could. "Despite my past, thank you for accepting me." Victor smiled and kissed her palm. "You are perfect," he told her. "Thank you for coming back to me." It felt incredibly warm and everyone felt inspired and happy. The ceremony ended with a few more words from Mathilda, finishing the ceremony with the long-awaited kiss. "I pronounce you, husband and wife." And several married couples were created like this¡­ and a lot of the new generation would also be conceived that day. Chapter 924 - 924: Gill, Helios, and the Goblins Today''s bonus chap is here! Again, thank you for your support guys!! I won''t be high in Golden Ticket rankings without youuu! ... ____ While Alterra was celebrating love and longevity, two men were preparing to find their own respective soul mates. It took them a few days to settle everything in Iron Mountains before they could head out, but they had been preparing everything before it was time to finally leave. Gill and Helios had filled up their spaces with important supplies that could last them weeks, hopefully. For instance, they put in a lot of non-perishable food and sauces. Gill, especially, was aware of the food situation of this place. After being spoiled by Alterra''s cuisines, outside food would''ve been torture. They also brought in other essentials like water bottles, extra equipment, potions, and the like. They bought the ones ''the territory'' (i.e. Althea) sent to sell, at the commercial price used in the Alterra Shop. It so happened that Althea''s pharmacy had also released potions that could serve even Gill''s level, probably having an effect until he reached level 30. From what he knew, sister-in-law had managed to tap into the plants they got from Ferrol back then, including a plant called Goldenroot. They were sent out by friends and family, reluctantly seeing them by the gates. "Be careful," Hugo said as he patted his nephew''s shoulder. "No matter what happens, your life and health come first." Helios chuckled, rubbing his nose in embarrassment. He felt a bit like a teenage boy being sent out by his father. "Of course, uncle." Next to him, Gill was talking with Rowan, Silvia, and Reno. He was also telling them some things to watch out for. "We know that Guia has an actual master. If anyone from a city¡ªor an unfamiliar town, for that matter¡ªenters the territory, alert Alterra immediately." They nodded, taking note of everything. "Did you bring a messenger bird ''port'' with you?" Silvia asked. It was a base that the birds would look for when they were sent out. The territory sent another one so both men had one in their space. They had to let it hang around their clothing for the most part though, otherwise what was their point if they couldn''t get detected? "Sure, but they''re not entirely reliable," Gill couldn''t help but reiterate. Who knew if the birds would get eaten? Of course, if they landed in a territory that had a Post Office, they would use that instead. They would send it to Ferrol, for now, and their team there would send the messenger bird in their stead. The Bird port was just there in case there was an emergency and¡ªalthough unlikely¡ªAlterra had to send a letter to them instead. "Well, it''s better than nothing." Anyway, the duo was sent with more reminders before finally heading out. However, before the two men could turn, a group of small voices caught their attention. "Wait, sirs¡­" They paused and turned, seeing a group of several dozen goblins running towards them. For a moment, they thought they were being sent off by the little ones, too. "We would like to beseech something, good sirs." The two men looked at each other and then to the goblins. "What is it?" They looked quite meek, especially as they asked for favors. Unlike the goblins in Alterra or even in Limestone Valley, the goblins in this place were far more shy. After all, they had grown up here and¡ªwithout a new environment¡ªthey would have the tendency to act as they always had. There was also the fact that the citizens here were mostly aborigines, and therefore looked down on goblins by default. Of course, after a lot of the citizens who bullied goblins were punished, the discrimination had become much more muted. Not to mention, a certain fraction of humans had also become neutral with the goblins after their pivotal roles during the heatwave. However, discrimination was still pretty prevalent in some groups. Even until recently, when a few goblins bravely ventured outside the mines, they encountered hostile citizens who tried to ''put them in place''. Violence was not allowed due to the rules, but they could certainly harass with words. (Of course, they would soon find out that even verbal harassment would receive warnings now¡ªthanks to Winona''s grandmother). At the time though, the rule hadn''t been implemented yet, so the case got very big. The goblins were convinced by Kimura and Linlin to go out and explore with them, though the fun quickly turned sour when they encountered the racists. The aborigine bullies said mean things like ''rats should stay underground'' and the like, naturally leading to an all-out war of words that very nearly turned physical. It was contained quickly thanks to the guards, but it showed how long it''d take for them to contain things completely. They knew it''d take time to integrate, so they didn''t force the little things and just allowed them to settle in the dormitories built near the mines. This was why it was unexpected to see so many out in the open right now. What they didn''t know was the goblins came in such huge groups because going out in small groups would be too scary for them. "What is it?" Gill repeated, a bit in a rush and had minimal patience for reluctant asking. "You see¡­ we would just like to ask, if you ever find goblins, would you take them?" It might be a bit much¡­ but they knew there were thousands of goblins trapped in human territories. This made the humans blink. When they didn''t answer immediately, the goblins felt very sad. But Gill nodded and their eyes widened. "Sure, if it''s within our ability¡ªand without compromising our own team''s safety." The goblins'' shoulders slumped in relief, their large disproportionately big eyes lined with tears. "That is already very good, sirs. Thank you." It''d be too difficult to find the Home Place, but at least there were places in the human territory where they could be treated with decency. "We promise to pay you back somehow." The little things sniffed, looking at them, though still not daring to look directly in the eye. "No problem," Gill said, and Helios nodded, though he couldn''t help but look at the goblins a bit deeply. "Good bye good sirs, please be blessed with success," they said in sync, blessing them with good health and a bit of luck. Before they left though, Helios stepped forward and stood in front of the goblins. They flinched, a bit intimidated, and were shocked when he kneeled down so he was at their eye level. By instinct, they turned, avoiding his eyes. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Helios smiled as he tilted his head so he could be in their peripheral vision. "Look into our eyes sometimes, eh? Otherwise, you''re delaying a very important trip of ours. Do you not see Gill getting angry?" Gill-who-hadn''t-said-anything: "..." Regardless, the goblins did do as they were told. Helios smiled, satisfied when they stared into his eyes, even if only for a second. "And oh, try to lift your head higher when you''re walking around, too." Awkwardly, the goblins tried to do so, their backs straightening up a bit in effect as well. "Better. You''re Alterrans now, after all¡ª" he said, finally standing up. "And us Alterrans are proud." Chapter 925 - 925: Hunt for Love (Part 1) The duo then said their final goodbyes before heading to Ferrol. They knew the women were not there, but it was their only lead to gather more information about them. Gill had heard that Cassandra''s supposed wedding would be held in another week, and he had to find her location very soon. Because of his responsibilities, he had to compartmentalize for a while and it was making him antsy. As for Helios, it was much more of a challenge, as he''d be doing a lot of investigation first before he could even find who she was. They rushed to their destination as they could, using the Beast Repellent to minimize conflict. Of course, the current version had a lot of limitations, especially against stronger monsters so there were plenty of times they were still attacked. In those cases, they killed monsters as quickly as they could. Gill was definitely at the level where he could deal with Town mobs, while Helios had innate skills that worked well with the other. During their time in Iron Mountains, their teamwork had been honed a lot. After all, they had a lot of mobs attacking them too and there were plenty of times Gill himself had to make a move. One of their go-to killer moves against stronger monsters was when Helios'' metal spike successfully stabbed a monster but was unable to finish it off. By then, Gill would heat it up, barbecuing it from within. It was fairly efficient with Gill not having to expend much mana. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. On the other hand, if the mob was too much of a challenge, then they''d just run away. It wasn''t that they believed they would be defeated, it was just that they didn''t have the time to be held back for so long. This happened quite often because Town monsters were really different from those of Villages. There were still weak mobs, of course, but there were also a lot of stronger ones level 10 and above mixed with them. The higher the level, the smaller the population of that monster, so it was more like they mixed in with the lower-leveled mobs, sticking out like sore thumbs with their sizes. From afar, in terms of size, it would look like there were small elephants interspersed with a group of bears and lions. When attacking territories, mobs really did work together, though the smaller ones could become collateral damage when stepped on by bigger ones. This was why the majority of the weaker monsters stayed near villages as an evolutionary instinct. Monsters rarely hunted each other either, except maybe when there was a resource disaster like the heatwave. They asked this question a lot at the start: There were so many of them, why didn''t they just eat each other? The running theory¡ªaccording to the aborigines¡ªwas that the aether of humans was pure and attractive to them. This was why humans had the possibility of becoming Elementalists, while other races did not. In contrast, monsters had violent aether into them, and eating more would simply make them more brainless. It was why there were rare intelligent monsters like the one Alterra encountered before. If they ate enough humans, the ''clean'' aether could slightly calm their violent energy, granting them some degree of intelligence. They were not exactly sentient, but they were certainly more troublesome if encountered head-on. It was another reason why intelligent monsters were so rare. In the absence of humans in the vicinity¡­ they would be the most sought-after meal. As for why the monsters could stoop to hunting each other during disasters, it was because humans lacked many things like a decent meal, making them a little less attractive and less filling that they could start eating their own kind. This was also true in areas with no human territories in the vicinity. In those areas¡ªaccording to mercenaries who traveled far away from human territories¡ªsome cases of beast cannibalism had been seen. Fortunately, they did not encounter mobs they could not run away from. In their rush, a trip that would normally take two days even after running took just a bit over a day. Of course, when they arrived in Ferrol, they were drenched in sweat as if it rained, and the staff in the base there were shocked. "Boss Gill!" The level 21 Kleid yelled, greeting them with a concerned face. Seeing the usual cool Boss Gill look a bit pitiful was concerning. "No, it''s fine," Gill said, waving his hand. "Gather everyone." "I''m going to Jonathan," he said, pointing at Helios. "Listen to him." "A-Ah, yes," he said, and everyone was called in, standing in the same room some fifteen minutes or so later. Helios had already changed shirts, and he looked at the current lineup he could work with. At this time, there were only about 10 people left in the base. Most of them were sent to Alterra to train, then the Heat Wave happened and they were stranded there. This should change soon because the weather had stabilized. It was estimated that a caravan was already on its way here now. After all, the money the merchants got during the last run was no joke, and some stronger people also needed to battle stronger monsters to level up. Their shop, in the absence of caravans, still sold wood items though. This was led by their woodworkers Furong and Semi, who had also activated the professions during their stay in Alterra. During the heat wave, the shop was active from dusk to dawn. In contrast to Villages, Towns had a lot more resources and special building types to allow them to get past the heat wave with relative safety. This was especially true for a rich Level 3 Town like Ferrol. Many people still died¡ªespecially among slaves¡ªbut it definitely was not nearly as bad as what most villages and some smaller towns had experienced. This meant that there was still a market for their products, especially those that were related to dealing with the heat like hand fans, wooden umbrellas, and even manual ceiling fans (the ones pulled with strings). These shops were now self-sufficient and the proceeds could pay for the salaries of everyone. Anyway, none of this mattered to Helios now. He heaved a deep breath and looked at the people he''d be depending on the next few days. "I need your help," he said. "And I''ll pay whatever it takes." He did not have much money yet, but with his skills, he could save up for it! As long as he could talk to her again, he could do whatever he had to. Whoever you are, Helios mused, I will find you! Chapter 926 - 926: Hunt for Love (Part 2) Gill did not need the updates about the team, he needed updates on Cassandra. Anyway, the team here sent regular updates to Alterra via the messenger birds. Even during the heat wave, they were still updated at least once a week, because the birds could travel during the night. The bird was assigned to Esau, who was their leading hospitality servant. He was very tall and had very curly hair. He was also the only literate one. Speaking of this, a lot of the staff in Alterra had taken Xeno literacy classes. Soon, most of their staff would be able to read the basics, at least. The line of thought caused Gill to remember the contents of the letter Cassandra sent to him, and his heart clenched in both sadness and anger, his steps gaining speed along the way. He arrived at Jonathan''s large mansion after a few minutes of brisk walking. He was stopped by the guards and his jaw clenched. "Let me see your lord," he said. "Tell him Gill from the Terran Mercenary Team is here." ¡­ Back in the base, Helios asked the others to investigate the woman, who she was, and where she was now. He tried to describe her the best he could. Appearance was easy¡­ "She is a very beautiful woman," he said, his tanned face slowly morphing to a dreamy expression. "Her hair has the color of sand¡­ soft and muted, but glitters with the sun, framing her delicate face with quiet simplicity and grace. "Her eyes were light blue. They held a certain brightness, you know? It is like the sky after dawn, a clear blue that seemed to have an intensity of its own¡­ "Her body¡­ it''s also beautiful and soft¡ª" Kleid and the others: "..." He cleared his throat. In fact, he almost spilled that she had pretty moles on her left thigh and under her right breast but fortunately, he regained his tact before he blurted it out. The staff members could only take note of the physical descriptions, heading to work as asked. Helios watched them go, heaving a deep breath, allowing himself to take a few seconds of rest. They had been moving intensely for more than a day and his level was not as high as Gill, so he was really exhausted. After a couple of moments, he turned to look at the remaining person there, Esau. While Kleid was leading the defense team and ensuring people were not stagnant (they adapted Alterra''s minimum battle requirements for everyone), Esau was in-charge of handling guests and taking care of the branch''s business aspect. Before going back to Alterra, Jake bought him from the slave market, promising freedom after 3 years of service. In this case, any member of the Mercenary Team could order him around, which was already better than the entire town''s citizen population being able to do so. However, while he was still a slave, he still got a salary, so it didn''t feel like so. He was even assigned tasks that were definitely not at the bottom of the ladder, and the salary was high enough considering they were deducting the ''salary deduction'' fee they took as ''advanced payment'' for his eventual freedom! He was asked to oversee the commercial aspect of the entire branch, which was a massive honor. His family used to own a shop before his territory town lost a war, and he was one of the unlucky ones who became a slave. He suffered for a few years as a slave, primarily working as a cleaner of Beast feces. He was sold recently because his leg was stepped on by one of the beast carts, and people thought he would be useless with such a bad limp. After all, he moved very slowly and there was a lot of feces to be cleaned up. In the end, he was sold off for a small amount, and frankly he didn''t have much expectations about his new master. However, him being bought by this team ended up being the greatest twist in his life after that war. He was even allowed to have 2 weeks vacation every year, so he would be able to visit his family! This alone was enough to warrant his loyalty. "How did Ferrol Fair during the Heat Wave?" he asked and Esau dutifully answered. Unlike Gill, Helios was not a member of the Terran Mercenary Team, so he was not privy to what was happening here. "The team did quite well, thank you for asking." As Alterra''s base here, the team naturally had plenty of insulation and supplies brought in. They obtained their items via Iron Mountains, with some people heading there to get their stocks before the Heat Wave hit. They didn''t publicize their preparation until Lord Jonathan himself noticed their oddities. It happened that they were frugal and used a cellar for all of them, so they didn''t actually have to use a lot of the insulating materials they brought over. Jonathan bought all of these at a very high price. "And the territory itself?" "It is fine. There were plenty of deaths, a little more than usual, but as a big town it was handled fairly well." The difference between a village¡ªeven high level ones¡ªand a town was not only power, prestige, and money. There were also some building types present in towns that villages didn''t have. For example, there was the Pharmacy, which sold medicine and other things very important to a person''s survival. There was also the Mercenary Hall, which a town could tap into if they ever encountered a strong mob, and so on... Helios nodded and thanked him, before heaving a deep breath and standing up. He couldn''t sit still in the end, he had to investigate this himself. ¡­ Lord Villa Inside Jonathan''s study room, the lord himself guided the newcomer to the information he needed. Jonathan handed a map, showing rough location and distance to Jacoba Town, Cassandra''s hometown. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Cassandra''s hometown was located in the flat lands almost 2000 kilometers Southeast of Ferrol, just past Mount Rushless. Traveling by Beast cart would need two to three days without stopovers. "The Southlands are a good place. It is cheaper to develop and has plenty of resources compared to others. There is also a river through there, and the area had the most towns than in any other part of the Human Territory. Generally, Towns were three to five hundred kilometers away from each other at best, some even farther than that. In this area, the average was around 200 kilometers, the closest of which was even 100-kilometer distance from each other. That was just a little more than the distance between Alterra and Limestone Valley. "I''m sure there''s a catch," Gill said and Jonathan nodded. "The monsters there¡­ are much stronger than what you''re used to." After all, the humans there were so many. Naturally, the monsters attracted were dense. The rare level 50+ monsters were also seen in these parts. "I understand," he said, looking at the lord with serious eyes. "Can I borrow a Beast Cart?" "Of course," he said. "But please try not to involve Ferrol into any of this." "Yes, I will be careful," Gill reassured him, raising his arm for a handshake. "I owe you." Jonathan smiled, taking his hand. "Just give me good prices in the deals and we''ll all be fine." Gill nodded and didn''t take another moment before heading back out¡ªnot even bothering to rest before he went on to another adventure. Cassandra, I''m coming for you! Chapter 927 - 927: Escaping From War Juno Village, a few days prior Not long before the heat wave ended, more and more people had reached the end of the rope. Among these people was the beautiful¡ªor at least she was¡ªHana. At this time, she held onto Tim, her new boyfriend, who helped her keep going. Like everyone else, they were pale and thin as skeletons. The pains of hunger and thirst had already made them numb and weak. "If we had known things would be like this, we would''ve escaped the territory as soon as the enemies announced the attack." "We should''ve escaped even before the heat wave," another said. "Like Eve and the others." 1 They said this in regret, hearts filled with ''what-ifs'', but they were too afraid to do much at the time. They were just thankful they didn''t become slaves like the others. They hid in fear and it took a day to realize the enemies had really left them alone and had left the territory. They had no idea what it meant for them, but they could only live life with what they still had. Sadly, they weren''t given much time to feel relieved. The intense heat came and starvation became prevalent as early as a couple of days into the disaster. Juno had a slower regeneration rate even before the heat wave¡ªthough it was mostly due to terrain¡ªhow much worse did things become when the extreme heat actually hit? A few weeks into the Heat Wave, hundreds had perished from the heat, the mob, or human greed. They were attacked again, and they were even more helpless this time than before. At the time, when the war was ongoing, Hana hid deep in the room, hoping never to be found. When they lost again, she actually heaved a sigh of relief, thinking at least it was over. She was lucky enough to avoid becoming a slave, but after the heat wave hit she thought she wouldn''t mind becoming one after all. Stronger territories should''ve been able to handle that heat better, right? Anyway, the war was over and more people were taken away. Fortunately, the mobs there were thinner and weaker in their area. Otherwise, Juno had long been infested by beasts. Still¡­ being eaten by beasts would''ve been less painful than the excruciating hunger and thirst they felt. It was horrible. They lacked food and water and they could barely breathe with the heat. Even the insides of the houses were steaming. One time, she even witnessed people drinking blood! At some point, they found out that there was even a group who started eating people. She was almost kidnapped by them as well. They raided her dorm and took out everyone. Their sense of smell seemed strong and they found her hiding place. It was Tim and another man named Atlas¡ªa brave young man her age¡ªwho protected her. Although the level gaps weren''t high, people didn''t have much energy anymore and they didn''t bother with anyone who required too much energy to kidnap, and thus she was saved. Time passed slowly and torturously, with more and more people dying of different causes. It was fortunate that during this time, a few people reached level 10 and gained elements, so they¡ªa group of a thousand or so¡ª could survive the village-level mobs they encountered, for the most part anyway. Then, they were attacked yet again, this time by a village called Suka Village. When the announcement rang they could only sob in despair. They knew there was no way they would win this one! Their options were limited: Die of hunger or thirst, die by becoming a meal (human or beast), or become slaves! However, unlike others who had lost hope, Atlas shook his head. "There''s a way," he said. Since the last war, he managed to find out more about the war. He did this by pretending to be a corpse near the gates, and he overheard a few things. For instance, there was a teleportation array that connected to their territories during the entire 28 hours. He devised a plan to cover himself with earth¡ªhe was an earth user¡ªand sneak into the enemy array, and then run as fast as he could. However, he had a soft heart and had the sense of justice of a police officer before he had to be dismissed, so he shared the plan to the other survivors, though they were responsible for protecting themselves from the sun and from the monsters. A total of about 30 people went out half an hour before the war started. No one cared. Everyone was just trying to pass the day, who cared about what others did? Some people wanted to escape as well, but the heat was too much and they had begun to consider that it might be better to be a slave. After all, they would have better resources. Even if it was only a little, food and water should still be given to them, right? Probably? What they didn''t know was that the enemy Village this time was not just selling slaves¡ªthey were selling meat and blood. It started as a minority practice in the village, but the need due to the tragedy made most people of that village to adopt the practice. But they didn''t know this yet and these people just stayed put while Atlas, Tim, Hana, and the others went out of the territory in the extreme heat. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Atlas had some survival knowledge and taught them how to camouflage as they waited for the array to open. They didn''t know where it''d appear, but they had to be well-hidden regardless. Otherwise, wouldn''t they just be throwing themselves into the enemy''s swords? Atlas created a sort of shell made from soil, using much of his remaining mana. It wasn''t even that big¡ªhe couldn''t do much else¡ªbut he chose a place with existing rocks and shrubs (albeit dried ones) so they could also help shade them while they waited. It was a tense 30 minutes, and everyone struggled to breathe under the boiling atmosphere. They were also squeezed together, making it even more torturous. Atlas'' jaw clenched as he concentrated on the task at hand, ignoring the mumbles and whispers of complaints behind him. He didn''t care, eyes fixed on the array, making approximates at the enemies they would have to deal with soon. He only stayed in Juno for so long because many people misled him! He realized they lied to him just to keep him in the territory! Many of them had become slaves or were now dead though, so he couldn''t do anything to them. The Heat Wave arrived before he could leave, but this time, he would make sure to get out. No matter what: He will find his brother! Eve = Evelyn. Remember her? She just got married.. Chapter 928 - 928: The Magic Circle has Appeared Many people very easily got antsy and impatient, saying mean things to them for dragging them into this¡ªas if they didn''t beg for Atlas to take them with him. "Shut up or I will stab you," he snapped, looking at the ungrateful people with dark eyes. He didn''t really mean it, but he would certainly do something to keep the bastards quiet. They fortunately shut their mouth in the end, grumbling under their breaths. Eventually, they heard noises in a direction¡ªheavy rustles and the sound of humans¡ªand they immediately ran there. They tried to do it as quietly as they could, though it was harder than they thought after they saw what the array actually looked like. They gasped when they saw the light, and they had to pull in a lot of people who carelessly got too close. Interestingly, some ran in another direction when they saw the number of enemies pouring out. Those people, they let be. They didn''t need any more noisy burdens. Fortunately, the enemies were also rushing away from the array¡ªin hopes of finding shade as soon as possible¡ªthat they did not notice them there. They watched as the circle would light up brightly and every time it did so, a large group of people would appear. If they weren''t so scared, they might''ve found it fascinating. The magic circle was gorgeous in its own right, and the fact that people appeared in a blink of an eye was nothing short of miraculous. However, their awe turned more and more towards fear as they saw the increasing amount of enemies passing through. Their hearts beat loudly as they saw more and more aborigine enemies appear within the bright circle, seemingly endless in number, running in the direction of their old territory. The aborigines'' appearances were not much better than their own. They were also pale, dirty, and unsightly, but their eyes were ravenous¡ªas if they would do anything for a meal. Their hearts clenched. This would have been their enemy if they had stayed. And the people left behind¡­ would stand no chance. ¡­ A meter or two away from Atlas, Hana sobbed a bit. She hugged her boyfriend, feeling complicated in her heart. "Thank goodness we left," she whispered. She felt relieved and sad at the same time. Tim''s heart softened and he patted her back, though they didn''t maintain contact for long because they were too grimy. Still, despite everything, Hana remained a bit prettier and purer than others, and it made men want to shield her from harm. "I''ll protect you," he said, and he meant it. "I''m so glad I''m with you¡­" she said, making him smile. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. From behind them, Tim''s older sister sneered. Her name was Tilda, and she was an effortless bitch. "Yeah, you mean attaching like a parasite." If Althea was here, she would recognize Tilda as the woman who annoyed her in her first salary job. The one she imagined stabbing when she practiced fencing back then. Tim''s eyebrows furrowed and Hana looked down. Atlas sighed, just annoyed by the unnecessary drama. "Shut up Tilda." Tilda pouted, looking away. On the other hand, Hana couldn''t help but sneak shy glances in the direction of Atlas, who was currently watching the array closely. Did he¡­ take her side? Tilda happened to look at Hana to see her reaction and ended up seeing her dazed look at her ''target'', and her eyes turned red in annoyance. Atlas was hers! She had been trying to attach to him even before the Heat Wave!! How could she let this pretty leech get in the way, especially not when she already had her brother! How dare her!! "This slut !" She yelled with gritted teeth, and couldn''t help but pull her hair. Tilda was already quite impulsive in normal circumstances. The heat, hunger, pain, and annoyance just made her explode even faster. "Ow!" Hana squealed and Tim gasped in surprise. His sister wasn''t starting a cat fight now , was she?! "Stop it, sis!" he exclaimed, pulling the woman''s hand off his girlfriend''s hair. Hana cried in pain, while Tilda gasped¡ªrealizing what she had just done. However, she was just so annoyed, and the heat got in her head that she forgot to think. Anyway, although they were not actually yelling loudly, it still caused a bit of commotion that made a few people coming from the array to turn in their direction. "Hussh!" Atlas whispered, pushing everyone down to the ground, shaping the soil shade even lower, forcing the people crouching to outright lay down on all fours. Tilda and the others wanted to ask what was going on, but the former policeman''s eyes were wide as he put a finger over his mouth, signaling them not to make any noise. Soon, they heard rustles of the dry shrubs sound near them. Their hearts fell as they realized it was getting nearer, and those with some sense of presence quickly covered the mouths of their reactive companions. "I''m sure I heard people here¡­" "Yeah, I heard someone squeal just now." Their hearts dropped, knowing that these people would definitely be looking closely at them. Atlas, at least, knew he had to do something. When the enemies got close enough, Atlas immediately jumped up. He used his ability to propel him high in the desired direction, kicking the two aborigines to his companions. "Cover their mouths!" He hissed, and the group huddled at them by instinct. "WHA¡ª" one yelled, but Tim placed whatever he had on hand¡ªa rock¡ªon the man''s mouth to shut him up. Atlas immediately took out his sword and beheaded the two while they were still caught off guard. Hana almost screamed, but she buried her head in Tim''s arms, making the man feel capable and protective. They all turned in the direction of the enemy, their weapons raised in case they attracted more. In contrast, some people crawled far away while they were dealing with the natives, ready to run and leave them at the moment''s notice. Atlas saw this but didn''t mind. He didn''t take it seriously; few people with heroism actually survived this long. He ignored them when they came crawling back, simply telling them to keep quiet. Instead, he focused on the array and whatever was in that direction. "They''re almost done," Atlas whispered after a few moments and immediately everyone tensed up even more. Fewer and fewer people came out of the array, and some were stronger than others¡ªthe main forces. They knew it would be their time to move very soon. Eventually, the circle quieted down, and they took it as their signal. Atlas led the run, running towards the circle as quickly as he could. "GO!" Chapter 929 - 929: Through the Array The group ran towards the array, with Atlas giving them one last advice. "Remember, after we go through, run at the direct opposite of the gate. "Take care of yourselves. To each to his own. At this stage, to survive, we can''t be bothered with other people¡ªat least I won''t." Some people frowned but Atlas had always been frank. The last time, people took advantage of his sense of justice as a former police officer. It held him back, keeping him from venturing out to find his brother. There was also the fact that no one wanted to go out with him, making it a suicide mission to even go too far away from the walls. However, if there weren''t people convincing him, begging him to stay, he really might''ve taken that risky mission on his own. Now¡­ he really couldn''t wait any longer, and he wasn''t going to let anyone hold him back. He looked at them as if he was saying goodbye. If they could follow him, good, and this meant he could travel with them for longer. However, if they could not, then he could only wish them well. "Assume they have people there to guard, at least a few of them," he told them. "Be as quiet as you can, and run as fast as you can." They entered the array and paid the required fees, hearts filled with unknown expectations and all desperation. The circle lit up, making them gasp at the strange sensation. It felt like riding an elevator but the scenery changed. It happened quite quickly, only a second, and it was normal for people to be dazed. Atlas quickly gathered his bearings, not waiting for another moment to move. He tapped the people closest to him, not wanting to make noise, but he immediately darted in the direction without looking back. Sadly, even if they didn''t make noise¡ªwhich was unavoidable with a group of civilians who couldn''t help but let out surprised sounds as they were teleported¡ªthe array lit up when it was used, and it caught the attention of the people on the other side. Fortunately for them, the heat was too intense and no one was really guarding the array closely. No one would in their right mind stay outside for so long. Some shade was created by the gates and only one person saw the flash of light. He didn''t think much at first but then he saw none of them were familiar and he realized they must''ve come from the enemy territory! "HEY!" he yelled, though he immediately felt uncomfortable after moving in this damned heat. "SHOOT THEM DOWN!" The archers by the gate¡ªwho were also covered with shades¡ªimmediately shot at them. Their movements lagged because of their weaknesses, which could only count as a blessing for the trespassers. Whoosh! Whoosh! Atlas and the others ran as fast as they could, and for the first few moments, no one was hit. However, as more and more archers gathered their bearings, more and more arrows rained down on them¡ªfinally hitting a few. "AHHH!" "HELP!" "GAHH!" Atlas gritted his teeth but continued his dash. His heart clenched as he heard the screams, the sounds of falling, and the cries for help. However, he had already done enough for others, and knew stopping now was accepting he might not see his only family member left. Tim was also hit in the arm, but they trudged on. They pushed themselves to the limits of their already weak bodies, running faster and faster despite their whole bodies feeling like it was melting from the heat. Soon, they were out of range and the guards didn''t have enough interest to follow. Anyway, they weren''t going into the territory, so there was no reason to waste anymore important energy and spirit. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They ran and ran and some even fainted on the way. The person got dragged by his friend for a while until he got too tired and had no choice but to let go. "I''m sorry," the person said, apologizing before walking away without him. His friend could only crawl after them, albeit to no avail and to be left behind for dead. Eventually, the group confirmed they were not being followed and stopped. They were lucky that Atlas had some survival knowledge and found a tunnel. It was very small, too small for beasts to use, so they used it to pass the daylight. Everyone there hurried to the shade, though their skins were already stinging so much they really couldn''t feel much anymore. As they settled there, they looked around, realizing that there were only a dozen of them who managed to make it. Their hearts were beating out of their chest, and they felt like fainting from the intense heat, hunger, and tiredness. However, they were alive, and¡ªjust for the fact that they were still breathing¡ªthey couldn''t help but cry. . . They decided to pass the night in that little space, with Atlas finally gathering enough energy to completely enclose them. He left behind tiny breathing holes for them, and they could only hope there was no monster who''d catch them there. They really didn''t have that much energy anymore. They were tired, parched, and starving. No one could lift their hands enough to actually fight with a rabid beast. Of course, Atlas was still prepared for whatever, however he could. He managed his breathing, his weapon was out and ready to be used at a moment''s notice. While most were catatonic, Atlas was sitting upright and managing his breathing. Hana saw it all while she was sitting next to her boyfriend. Hana really found Atlas much more attractive than Tim. Not in a romantic way, however. After all, her heart truly beat for one person¡ªbut that person was not there. However, Atlas felt safer to be with and attach to. Sadly, Tilda had her eyes on him and the moment she gave a hint of friendliness, the woman would open her mouth and send her a barrage of hurtful words. It discouraged her from getting too close, but she didn''t mind too much. Thinking of this, she turned to look at Tim and smiled. At least she had someone who loved her¡ªunlike Tilda, who every good man looked at with disgust¡ªand that was already a fortunate thing. . . The night was tense and everyone had to practically cover their mouths to keep themselves from making any noise (or to breathe properly, for that matter). The entire duration of the night, mobs passed by where they were, causing the ground underneath them to vibrate. There were plenty of times that beasts would find interest in their mound but, fortunately, they were not yet too far from Suki Village, which was definitely more attractive to the beasts. It was another sleepless night for everyone, but the moment light peered through the tiny holes of their little hiding place, Atlas immediately woke everyone up. They were lethargic and in pain, but they knew they couldn''t stay there forever. They mentally prepared themselves for smelling their own burning skins again when they headed out, not entirely registering that the atmosphere was not as hot as it should be. When the expected stinging sensation did not arrive, even when they were under the direct sun, the realization finally dawned on them. "What¡­" Their eyes were wide as they looked at each other. "Is it¡­?" They had been attacked many times by aborigines, so they knew this heat was an Extreme Event that would eventually come to an end¡ªthey just didn''t know when . They didn''t dare let their hopes up too high, however. They stayed still for a few moments, feeling the radiation of the sun, making sure they hadn''t just gotten numb somehow. For the first time in a long while, Atlas finally broke into a smile. "It''s over!" he announced, and everyone''s hearts lifted. The heat wave¡­ was finally over! Chapter 930 - 930: A Sign The group travelled East, simply because West was towards the village that attacked them. They knew this because Atlas could calculate shadows. They traversed the forests, with weapons out in case they encountered mobs. As they traveled, they saw that the plants had begun to gain vitality. If they stayed in a place to rest, they could even see the change with their bare eyes. It was fascinating. When they found Gouji fruits that had started to fruit, they immediately took a few, even if they weren''t ripe yet. Who knew how many more hours or days that''d take! They were starving! They gobbled up whatever food they could. Atlas would advise them not to eat some unfamiliar plants, but fortunately, they weren''t too picky. They could eat leaves now. They even found it luscious because it wasn''t dried up for a change. However, the surroundings were still recovering in the end, but they had to continue traveling. They also had to fight the mobs that had also appeared, so they really couldn''t let down their guard at all. The next few hours were no less perilous than before, and they could only say they were lucky enough to have things to eat otherwise they would be eaten by monsters with fair ease. "Are you okay?" Tim asked, lips parched and his cheek hollow. Hana found it a bit unsightly, but she knew she probably looked the same. Thank goodness there were no mirrors. At the same time, because she couldn''t see herself, she still had the image of her beautiful self. Inevitably, her memory would almost always go back to the peaceful time in Terran. She would even remember Ansel, the love of her life. They unfortunately had to break up when she went back to her country after the exchange program was over, but she still believed he was her soul mate. They remained friends though and occasionally chatted online. She really, really, missed him¡ªand that life¡ªso, so much. In fact, before people become zombies, she was supposed to go back to Eden to do a surprise visit. She had dreamed of a grand reunion then, where Ansel would be touched with her gesture. Maybe they would even do the deed. She was still guarding her virginity, in fact, and not even her new boyfriend had a glimpse of intimacy from her. They had not even kissed. Anyway, Tim, unaware of the comparison, religiously wiped her sweat with his hand. They didn''t have clean cloth left, but he made sure to clean his hands on the few relatively-clean patches of clothing he had on before doing so. Hana smiled¡ªshe admitted she was a little touched¡ªthough internally she would compare his every movement to her handsome first boyfriend. He was such a gentleman¡ªAnsel was. He was so dreamy and treated women with so much charm. Her heart beat in excitement whenever she thought of it. She felt a bit dazed like this, while another woman looked jealously at the care she was getting. "Shame. It''s hard enough to survive on your own, brother, but you had to drag along another burden." Tim sighed, rubbing his forehead. "You''re no different, sis." "You!" The others easily ignored the arguments. It wasn''t the first time. Besides, if they stopped it now, chances were: Tilda would zone in on them as the next target. No one wanted that headache. Atlas heaved a deep breath. "Now, we will keep heading East," he said, and the others nodded. He was still their de facto leader by virtue of skills, strength, and level-headedness. In their group, only he had awakened an element. There were two others who had reached level 9, while the rest hovered around level 6 or 7. This was fine if they were inside the safety of a territory wall, but they were in the wild and they really ought to find a place to stay soon. The previous mob had injured all of them. They were lucky the monsters were just awakening and there weren''t many of them. But what would happen a few hours later? Anyway, they hurriedly traveled East for several more hours, hoping to finally find a territory. As expected, they encountered another mob, this time the monsters were stronger and denser, and Atlas'' group lost a person. They were sad but this was no longer a new thing for them, so they could only suck it up and move on. When night came, they had to find a place to camp, finding a hill of sorts to at least have a cover. With regained energy, Atlas created a small cave for them, and they survived another night like this. "When are we going to find a territory?" Tilda asked her brother, who shook his head. To be honest, the uncertainty was also taxing, and after more than a day of blindly traveling, it was really affecting their momentum. Atlas looked behind him, marking the paths they had been in, just in case. He looked at the sky and used his survival skills (and the system map) to plot a direction. They had been going straight to the East with no sign of territories. He thought hard about what could be a way to find them and he could only think of following the mobs. However, the direction they were heading was all over the place, some were heading toward the mountains slightly north of them, and some were heading East. Before they could decide which direction to go to, they felt a vibration on the ground underneath their feet again. "A mob, Run!" Atlas yelled at his companions and they climbed up a tree each, just in time for the mob to arrive. Their hearts were in their throats as the mob passed them. After so long of fighting, they barely had any spirit left. They couldn''t afford to fight every mob they encountered. After minutes of tension, they realized that the mobs were headed in a direction. He looked another way and saw another small mob heading toward the same place. Considering the angles, the two mobs would be merging soon, creating a large mob that would definitely kill them all in a blink of an eye. At least they knew where a territory was, but would they be able to handle it? What if the territory fell in the end? He asked his teammates what they thought should be done and they unanimously said not to risk it. "Perhaps¡­ since the mobs are concentrated there, we can travel more at ease," Tim suggested. "You mentioned there were mobs heading East, anyway." "Then we will head further east to northeast," Atlas said and the others nodded, thinking it made sense. That was their chance to get to Limestone Valley, and they just missed it. However, after a few more hours of walking, they did find a path. Atlas and the others were extremely puzzled to see something like that in the middle of nowhere, but they were also hopeful at the hint of civilization nearby. They immediately followed it, soon coming across a wooden board with writings. They all blinked, looking at it in puzzlement and in awe. It was a sign. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Literally. Chapter 931 - 931: Following the Signs They looked at the wooden sign with two sets of languages. One was in their lingua franca and another was an unfamiliar one. Atlas narrowed his eyes. "Is this the aborigine language?" he asked. They could speak and understand the language, but they had not encountered the written version yet. His comment made everyone freeze, narrowing their eyes at the sign, extremely suspicious. "Is it a trap?!" S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Atlas shook his head, thinking there wasn''t much point to it. Juno didn''t have aborigines, so he didn''t know much about it at all. At the same time, he wondered why anyone would bother doing this at all? Even if it was a trap¡­ where else would they go? Would they just go in the opposite direction simply because of this suspicion? In the end, they simply studied what they could understand¡ªi.e. The sign itself, and the text in Terran lingua franca. It was cut into the shape of an arrow pointing in a direction. [Path heading this way] it said, leading somewhere deeper into the forest. The unknown had always been unnerving. Obviously, they had been traveling across the forest for a while now, but with a sudden sign of civilization in the middle of nowhere, somehow they felt even more tense. So¡­ to follow or not to follow? "I think we should still take a look," Atlas said after a while. It was better than aimlessly wondering. They had been getting some water from the gouji fruits they encountered and they took meat from some monsters they beat to sate their hunger. However, they could never stay in one place for an extended amount of time, and being on the run for so long was too taxing. Their bodies were about to give way now. In fact, they had lasted so long only because, for some reason, the mobs had¡­ decreased? This got them both relieved and worried. Normally, wouldn''t being somewhere near the settlement make them encounter more beasts? How come there were fewer? However, the arrow was pointing at an area they hadn''t explored yet, and they could only hope they didn''t make the wrong choice. After following the path for some time, some hundred or so meters away, they would find a similar signage, and they would follow that, and so on. Eventually, they encountered a sign on the floor. It was also like the others¡ªarrow-shaped¡ªbut it was no longer attached to a tree, likely bumped down by a mob or something. They paused, staring at it for a while. "It obviously fell down, is it still safe to follow?" Laos, a middle-aged man from their team, mumbled. If it was taken down, what if it was now pointing in the wrong direction? The young lad next to him, Shawn, looked at him. "Which way would we go then?" "..." That was true. They had already reached this far, and it wasn''t like they knew where to go. At the very least, thanks to the System map, they didn''t have to worry about going in circles. They walked and walked and, at some point, they realized it had been a while since they encountered a big mob they had to run away from. It was always in small groups and, thanks to Atlas, they could at least manage to deal with those without losing another person. They¡­ didn''t know what to make of it, really. Should they be happy? Or should they dread it?? After a few hundred meters, Atlas suddenly stopped walking. "Wait¡­" he said, and he looked around. The others were puzzled at first until they realized¡­ they were on a pathway! It was at least 3 meters wide¡­ with flat rocks on the ground. They were arranged in an orderly manner so they knew it was man-made. "What¡­" Their hearts beat fast and they walked ahead with renewed energy, running fast until they found a sturdy post with several signs on it! It was located on a major fork in the road, showing where each path was heading. Pointing towards the West and Southwest¡ªfrom where they were just at¡ªthere were two signs. [Iron Mountains, 88 Kilometers] [Limestone Valley, 20 kilometers] Then pointing towards the North, there were two signs. [Alterra Village, 56 kilometers] [Camping grounds, 35 kilometers] And finally, pointing East, [Bright Village, 10 kilometers] "It''s really specific¡­" Shawn commented though he was mostly impressed. "So we''re likely in aborigine area now, right?" Shawn said. After all, there was no way fellow Terrans could be so connected like this, let alone have resources to create pathways more than a hundred kilometers long in total. "I''m kind of scared." The interactions they had with aborigines... were horrible. They were all marked by suffering. And now... they could be heading in territories filled with them! "But... even if they were aborigines.... would they really bother making such helpful signs?" Tim gulped, eyebrows furrowed, but his heart was beating with hope. "Surely, no one would bother doing this just to set traps for refugees?" They all agreed. At this point, even if it was a trap, they''d be willing to go there! A place that could afford to go through all this trouble was probably a well-off one! Sure, there were plenty of dangers being in an aborigine territory, but at least the territories would be handled better. After all, those people lived here, unlike Terrans who were thrown to a whole new world! So, they followed the sign¡ªopting to go to the nearest territory, Bright¡ª for a few more hours. Unfortunately, everything couldn''t be smooth for too long, at least not for them. At some point, they encountered a slightly bigger mob. Their hearts fell, knowing there was no way they could handle this on their own. "Another mob!" Atlas yelled. "Run this way!" He dashed in the direction of the path, throwing whatever meat he had on stock in his space in an attempt to distract them. The others followed his movements, and it really did save a life or two from getting taken right there and there. They ran to the direction the mobs were going. The territory was heading in that direction, and their chance to survive was to head there before the mobs could! "Run! Use all of your strength if you have to!!" They gasped and ran the best they could and soon they saw a wall around 3 meters high!! "Walls!" "We''re here!!!" someone cried, but it paused when they heard the rumbling behind them getting closer. Their hearts beat fast, fearing they wouldn''t be fast enough to reach the safety of the walls before the mobs caught up to them! They were crying at this point, just praying in their hearts to please please please let them arrive on time! Tilda ran faster than anyone else, and she also had no qualms about pushing another survivor back to give herself more time. Squelch! When they heard the familiar sound of flesh being torn and bones being crushed, they could feel that the mob was really on their tails! Hana couldn''t help but look back a bit and her heart almost stopped when she realized the monsters were just a few meters away from them. Because she turned, her peripheral vision caught sight of movements from their side, and gasped when a monster came out from there! Timmy was holding her hand and was running at the edge of the group, making him the monster''s primary target. "Timmy! Watch out!" Her heart clenched and she tried to use her limited strength to pull him in her direction. However, it was too late, the monster''s jaws were too close. Not just to Timmy, but from its movement, she could see it capturing her into its mouth as well! "Kyaaaaa!!" Tim wrapped his arms around her in a vain attempt to protect her. Whoosh! Squelch! They gasped as an arrow went through the monster''s skull, realizing it was from the sentry! Hana¡ªwho was surprisingly level-headed¡ªcontinued to pull him, and they ran forward to the walls together and holding hands. They looked at the 3-meter wall and the number of sentries they could see from their side, taking down the monsters entering their scope one by one! They all cried, going straight to the gate. Their knees buckled and their entire bodies fell down¡ªsmack to the floor¡ªthe moment they reached the threshold. [Welcome to Bright Territory (Lv3)!] Chapter 932 - 932: Arrived at a Territory [Welcome to Bright Territory (Lv3). Please pay 15 copper to enter.] They just laid there for several moments before they could move their over-exerted limbs again. "15 copper, eh¡­" Tim said as he laid face down on the paved floor. Like the others, he paid for it without much thought. "That''s pretty affordable¡­" another said. They smiled, just feeling relieved that¡ªat least for now¡ªthey were finally safe. Eventually, they started pushing themselves to sit up one by one. For the most part, there were smiles and light-heartedness between them. However, it was quickly broken by conflict that exploded next to them. Slap! Tilda held her face, and looked at the person with wide eyes. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" They turned to them and saw Laos'' face was filled with tears, his expression livid as he raised his hands again. SLAP! "WHAT!!" Tilda yelled. By instinct, she wanted to go and attack, but Laos was a middle-aged man who was much bigger than she was. He raised his hand to slap her again and this time it was strong enough to cause her to fall on the floor. "Oi, Laos, stop it!" Tim said, forcing himself up to get in between them. However, Laos could not be calmed. His eyes were practically red from anger. He easily pushed Tim¡ªwhose legs were still shaky¡ª away. "She killed Shawn!" he yelled. "I saw her push him towards the monster!" The image was still clear in his mind, and it made him even angrier. "I''m going to kill you, Tilda!" Tilda screamed at the top of her lungs when she realized Laos was truly murderous. However, the man was held back by two other companions, using their weights to hold an arm each. It was surprisingly difficult. Laos was not just a big man, but his anger seemed to fuel him quite a bit. Atlas had to step forward and held his shoulder down. "Don''t do it! Didn''t you read the rules and regulations? There can be no fighting outside the sparring arenas!!" If Laos put any more force, it could trigger that rule! He could get blacklisted or go to prison! "I also saw what she did," he said. He was also angry, but he really didn''t have the energy to care or do anything about it¡ªafter all, he wasn''t planning on staying with them regardless. Laos, on the other hand, had befriended the boy. It was natural that the man would be livid. "Would it be worth it to risk your own safety for a woman like her?" he asked. This seemed to calm Laos a bit, but his eyes were still sharp as he looked at Tilda. Atlas sighed and turned, looking at the woman. "If you want to live, get out of our sights." "What?" Atlas looked at her. "Do you really think we''re going to keep someone who could push us to monsters near us? No one''s an idiot here, Tilda." "Or do you want me to drag you out the gates. Look, it''s only a few steps away. Tilda burst into tears. "You¡ª" She looked up to see there were actually two guards watching them from the battlements! "Help me! Please!" The two guards looked at her weirdly. "You know¡­ we saw everything," one said. "If it was me, I''d throw you out too." Tilda''s heart fell and she looked at everyone who were looking at her in disdain. She sobbed and stood up, running deeper into the territory. Tim watched his sister go and felt complicated. What should he do? In the end, his feet moved forward, as if to follow Tilda deeper into the territory. "Tim?" Hana asked, touching his arm. To be honest, she really hoped that woman would get out of their lives. This was the perfect time to cut her off. "She''s my sister after all," he sighed, looking at her apologetically. "My only blood relative left. You''re coming with me¡­ right? I promise I''ll support you." Hana pursed her lips and, after a thought, she nodded in the end. They turned to go to Atlas and the others, and Tim felt intense shame come upon him. His sister was a murderer, technically, but they were family. In this new world, he couldn''t bear to leave behind a blood relative when he still had one, unlike most others. In any case, as a murderer''s brother, he could only apologize in her stead. "Thank you for everything," he told Atlas. He also bowed a bit at Laos. "I''ll... teach her well," he just said, before they turned away. Their pace was leisurely though, not rushing to follow the older woman, obviously reluctant to actually do so in the first place. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Meanwhile, Atlas and the rest of the group looked at each other. They waited for Laos to calm down, which he was thankful for. He needed time to mourn for another lost friend, after all. He and the others shed a few tears for Shawn and the others they lost along the way, but they didn''t take too long to gather their bearings. Since the Migration, they had so many losses, and they got so used to tears they could hold them back quickly enough. At the very least, the mourning could wait until they have settled down. The man heaved deep breaths after a while, temporarily pushing down both the deep sadness as well as the murderous thoughts towards that woman. "I''m not sure we should let that woman be..." Laos said after calming down. Atlas didn''t like Tilda either. "She''ll get herself killed on her own," he said. He had too much on his own plate to become a minister of justice. Unexpectedly, the two watching guards¡ªwho were actually chewing on something¡ªstarted talking to them then. They were aborigine guards¡ªthey could tell by their appearance and the language they used¡ªwhich pretty much confirmed their thoughts that this was a native territory. However, they seemed friendly enough, which was such a relief for them. "People like that can''t be avoided," one of the guards said. "Rather, a lot of them survive for so long because of their selfishness." "I see tons of them, especially in the previous territories I guarded before." "You can''t risk heart attacks every time you see one of them. They''re buggers with a lot of lives." "Buggers who can kill you," his companion corrected, making him roll his eyes. "You know what I meant." Anyway, Atlas and the others thanked them before following the wide path deeper into the territory. They were greeted by dense forests that framed the wide avenue, and it was obvious that the territory chose not to develop this area too much. During the heatwave, such vast internal forests would''ve been such a relief to have. If Juno had this, a lot of people would not have died from starvation. Then they looked back at the walls that were getting farther away from them. It was a Level 3 wall and had sentries built in every 200 meters, at least by the gates. The visitor payment was worth it. Not only was it cheaper than Juno''s, but they were also so much protected. Was it because it was an aborigine territory? Regardless, that didn''t matter¡­ they were finally in a safer place, and they survived after so long¡ªthey ought to live well! Chapter 933 - 933: Actually a Terran Territory! They realized that, although they were in a dense forest area within the wall, there was actually a wide avenue that greeted them. It was around eight or nine meters wide¡ªwhich was really wide¡ªand it looked like a pathway leading to either a fantasy land or somewhere creepy. It also reflected the duality of what they were feeling now. They were now obviously in a safer place, at least compared to the outside, but how¡ªbeing around scary aborigines¡ªwould their lives be after? Somehow they encountered Tim and Hana again, which was¡­ awkward. They just nodded at each other as if they didn''t just say their goodbyes in vague terms and pretended to just be two groups walking along the same path to keep the peace. They continued to walk on with uncertainty in their steps and soon, they encountered their first foragers in the forest. "Excuse us," Atlas called the nearest person, and they looked over before walking towards them. Now that they saw him nearby, they realized that he was miles better than they were. He was thin, but not skin and bones, and their skins were not nearly as dry or flaking as theirs. Was he an aborigine? The ones who attacked them were taller than they were. Perhaps he was a slave? But a slave that was doing better than they were meant this place wasn''t bad. But¡­ what if they become slaves themselves? As people who didn''t know much about this place, they naturally went into a lot of scary assumptions. "What is it?" The person asked, and then looked at them up and down. "Terrans?" They flinched and looked at him. "Are you Terran?" He looked at them weirdly. Wasn''t it obvious? "Oh, sure, we''re all Terrans here." Their eyes widened and looked at each other. The man shook his head and just pointed at the path. "Just walk along this avenue, you''ll be able to reach the village proper soon." He then waved them away as he kneeled back down, filling the basket on his back with twigs and small rocks to sell in the Village Center. Seeing as the person didn''t want to bother with them anymore, Atlas and the others continued their way with unknown expectations. Their pace hastened a bit when they began to hear the distant sound of people, and soon the forest opened up to civilization. They gaped as they looked at the dense buildings and streets bustling with activity that greeted them. It was not only less dense than Juno, but it was also cleaner and refreshing to look at. The dominant buildings were also 2-stories tall and they had a consistent aesthetic which was pleasing to look at. There were even some patches of green in between, framing the entire place and balancing it, and it was truly reminiscent of their peaceful times back in Terran. Most importantly¡ªit was the people themselves who caught their attention. They were Terrans, but they all looked decent even after that disaster. They had bright eyes and wide smiles on their faces, living life as if the world wasn''t trying to kill them every moment it could. Their hearts lightened. However, as they walked along the streets, people started noticing them. When they did, they would stare and frown, immediately looking at them with pity. A lot of pity. The newcomers flinched, feeling conscious. Just¡­ how bad did they look? They couldn''t help but look at each other. They did not have mirrors, but they could at least see each other. Compared to the locals here, they really¡­ looked like beggars. No, even beggars looked better than they did. Before, they couldn''t quite register it because they had been used to the person''s appearance for weeks that it went over their heads. However, next to the ''healthier'' people around them, they came to realize just how unsightly they looked. Hana, who had always paid attention to her appearance, almost cried. At some point, a couple of locals even gave them a couple of copper coins each and they didn''t know what to feel. "There''re cheap food in our marketplace," one of the kindhearted people said. "It''s just around the corner." Some people wanted to say they were not beggars, but then their stomachs rumbled and no voice came out so they couldn''t actually utter the words. In the end, they realized they shouldn''t think too much of pride right now. They simply thanked the kind-hearted folks and followed the instructions, eventually reaching the so-called ''Bright Marketplace''. Micheal stayed a long time in Alterra when he lost his territory. This gave him time to study Alterra more intimately. When he got the token back, he created a version of the marketplace and moved the stall owners there. It was much smaller than any of Alterra''s, but it was still overwhelming for refugees who hadn''t seen good food in months. "Wow¡­" Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This is¡­" They were blinded by the array of choices, and their feet moved on their own to explore the Market at their own pace. They decided to just meet up a couple of minutes later somewhere in one of the corner tables. As they did so, they (at least Atlas did) gathered information as well. He was kind enough to tell them what he gathered as they ate. "They have dormitories," he said, making the others stare at him. "It only costs 5 copper a day." "So affordable!" Atlas nodded. "I''m really surprised." In fact, this was more expensive than Alterra. Bright had too many expenditures and did not have nearly as many income-generating industries as Alterra had. No matter how much he tried, he couldn''t handle giving a 1-copper-coin bedspace rent. Still, 5 copper coins were still very affordable, and definitely much better than what the refugees had experienced since coming to this continent. An hour later, when the refugees entered the rooms, they were extremely amazed. At 5 coppers, they were expecting to sleep on the floor. Instead, they got complete furniture! They immediately took a bath for the first time in over a month, resting their backs on the soft bed with a comfortable cushion. As they stared above them¡ªeither at the ceiling or the underside of the bed above¡ªthey couldn''t help but wonder. How long had it been since they slept on a comfortable bed without their stomachs trying to eat itself? They didn''t know anymore. All they knew was that it would be the most comfortable sleep they''d have after a long, long time. For the first time, their bodies finally let go of the tension that had been killing them from the inside¡­, and they couldn''t help but cry. Chapter 934 - 934: Esias and Cecil Now that the Heat Wave was finally over, things began to restart in various parts of the world. Of course, while some territories slowly revitalized themselves, there were more that had fallen, especially Terran villages who were completely ill-equipped for such a disaster. This was not only in terms of territory capability or preparedness but also physique. Although Terrans improved their physiques as they upgraded, in terms of adaptation to the local climate, they were still inferior. There were plenty of people who fell due to illnesses, heat strokes, and the like. There were more who fell under the beast mobs. And there were also plenty who fell due to the aborigines'' persistent attacks. It was not surprising that soon after the temperature normalized, the surviving territories received hundreds of new refugees. This was most pronounced about a week after the heatwave. In Bright Territory and Limestone Villages, they received plenty of refugees from the territories West, including survivors from the likes of Juno and Diana Villages. Since they lost in their wars, their resources and strength had taken major dives. How could they handle something like the heat wave? There were also new Juno refugees who ran away while they were being attacked by Suka. Some followed Atlas''s technique, while some outright just ran away. The Eastern neighbour Belluga, on the other hand, received refugees from east and northeast territories. This was led by a group of soldiers, most were actually from Eden. One of these was Esias, an aging man with a good build and intimidating aura. Walking beside him was Cecil, a middle-aged woman with dark skin, who was also his partner. If the Witts were here, they''d recognize the officers as the two people who visited their house after their parents'' deaths, informing them about their passing. This time, they were leading a group of hundreds of people¡ªtheir former citizens. When the Migration happened, they were transferred with dozens of other officers along with about a hundred civilians. Among the civilians, there was a person who received the lord token. The person was quite the braggart, announcing what he received and what was needed to have it. However, before he could do anything, a monster mob appeared. Their group was big and had relatively high potential, so this meant that the monster mob near them was proportionally troublesome. They came by too fast and too strongly. The poor braggart wasn''t fast enough to activate the token, and they weren''t able to save him before his head entered the mouths of beasts. Fortunately, Esias, Cecil, and the rest had guns. With these weapons, they managed to save the majority of the people around them. Still, there were too many monsters and they were far stronger than the zombies they had dealt with. Even upgraded zombies could not compare. They knew that their energies, and bullets, would be drained if they didn''t do anything about it. They made a split decision to take the token. The man said that it was supposed to create a safe haven of sorts, and a safe haven was what they desperately needed at the time. The officers covered for Esias as he approached the man''s corpse. He was waving around the token when he died, so Esias didn''t have a hard time finding it. He activated it as soon as he could, and the 1 kilometer area was surrounded by a heavy aura after a blink. The monsters roared, as if in pain, and immediately scurried away from them. Cecil blinked when a plant near her also disappeared. It was quite mysterious. It was only a momentary peace of course. The thing was, money that died with a person stayed with the person. That was to say, no one had a thousand or more gold in them. This alone posed a great challenge to them. What could they do with a territory when they didn''t have enough money to build much? However, with Esias leadership¡ªand the cooperation of his fellow officers¡ªthey managed to solicit enough funds to build a wall with some sentries, as well as some houses. They had to swear oaths in the center of course, and people became shareholders in the territory. While this arrangement was risky, Esias was wise and was able to avoid most mishaps, with the citizens not acting up too much even with their positions. With Esias'' leadership and strength, this heavily disadvantaged territory managed to survive through to the end of the protection period somehow. Another factor was that they were located rather deep into the Protection Area. Because of this, they were given more time to prepare against stronger mobs as well as aborigine attacks compared to others. Unfortunately, while they did very well, two successive wars ultimately forced them out their territory. The first war was just before the heat wave. They managed to defeat the enemy¡ªbarely¡ªbecause they kept their guns when they realized the effect was limited against beasts. It proved to be the wisest decision because the guns were still effective against humans below level 10, saving many lives and ultimately winning that war. Esias and Cecil both awakened their elements during this war, with Esias awakening the earth element while Cecil with water. The second war was a lot more unfortunate, which happened during the Heat Wave. They had no more guns and they were extremely weak because of the heat and hunger. The aborigines were much more adjusted and they had slaves to weaken them even before the main party entered. They were crushed. The lord himself was there, apparently also desperate for resources. This was a village with similar dryness as Juno''s, so apparently their territory¡ª despite its poorness¡ªwas still a good option to attack for them. The lord found him and wanted his token. Esias threatened to destroy the token with his remaining gun, and he managed to strike a deal instead. To save everyone''s lives, he had to give up the token. While not everyone came with him¡ªmost didn''t¡ªthere were still a few hundreds who did. And they had lived like nomads ever since. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 935 - 935: Esias Ability Esias and the others were let go during the night. This meant that they had to be the ones to deal with the mobs, or at least a portion of it. From the get-go, they lost a big portion¡ªmostly because many people backed out in coming with them, while there were also those who died under the claws of monsters. Fortunately, Esias had scouted the area around his territory well¡ªit was a professional habit¡ªthrough the months he had been there. He knew where there the depressions and climbs were, where they could hide, and so on. As such¡ªalthough they did, tragically, lose a handful of people¡ªthere were still more people who survived long enough until daylight arrived¡­ wherein their problem was how to live through the heat for at least an entire day. For most people, this would be a hopeless situation. They did not know where they could go, and they barely had any food or water left in their spaces. They were tired, parched, and hungry¡ªhow would they survive? More than that, they had to deal with the extreme heat in the mornings and they had to deal with monsters at night¡ªall without the protection of even the lowest-level walls. Fortunately, those who came with Esias in the first place¡ªeven after the terror of the outside¡ªwere all people with strong wills. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. No one who was planning to be a leech would voluntarily go with banished people obviously being fed directly into monsters'' mouths. Anyway, with an overall positive atmosphere, they managed to get through the following tribulations mostly intact. They created temporary roofs to cover their heads and they traveled like this for days, surviving with the little water they had and whatever Celia could create. At the same time, Esias and the others would always find places to hide just before night came. Esias was an earth user while Celia was a water user, so they could create mud together to fortify whatever roof or cover they could get. The two of them also had Class A Potentials, so their mana reservoirs as well as the efficiency with which they used their powers were far superior to most. Otherwise, they''d have lost energy a long time ago. Another thing they did was to keep the monster feces they encountered in their spaces. It was disgusting, but when night came, they would put it out around where they were hiding and the monsters would pass by them. It affected their psyche and killed them from the inside, but at least they didn''t get eaten by monsters. Of course, for those who were tasked to keep the feces in their spaces (they got the short straws), the exchange was debatable. "Well, it''s not like you''ve got anything in there anyway," one of the soldiers said when his companion complained about it. "You don''t have anything either, right? Why don''t we change that?" The soldier''s eyes twitched as he walked farther away from the other man, though his arms were still raised as he helped support the flaking ''roof'' above their heads. He sighed when he ended up in a spot with a hole, so the sun''s rays directly landed on his arm, stinging it a bit. "I wonder if we could get skin cancer here¡­" he wondered. "Possibly," Celia said, looking at her very dark skin. "But I think I''m safe." "..." Anyway, this went on for another day or two until Esias suddenly paused his steps. "Esias?" Celia called, causing the man turned to her with bright eyes. He then looked down, using his ability to sense the vibration of the ground below. They were not heading in a direction aimlessly. All this time, they were heading to where Esias surmised water could be. Every couple hundred meters, Esias would use his ability to feel the vibration of the soil underneath him. Very dry soil vibrated differently from soil that was slightly more compact¡ªeven if the difference was minuscule. More compacted soil meant there was some humidity keeping them together, and they had always been heading toward where there was increasing compactness¡ªeven if the difference was almost impossible to detect. He used it so expertly and so often that his awakened skill [Earth Mapping] leveled up to the point that he could feel up to 15 meters below ground. After another hour or so, they actually found a small valley with an underground spring! Immediately, Esias and the other earth users dug a hole, creating a well where they could finally get their fill of water! It looked like a small depressed basin that had dried during the heat wave. However, because of the fact that there was probably a shallow pond there before, it was richer than other places outside territories by comparison. At the same time, because of the underground water source, the trees there were slightly healthier than others. The leaves had some moisture in them and could somewhat fill their empty stomachs already on the verge of imploding on themselves! They cried as this bit of hope finally introduced itself and they drank their fills and ate whatever leaves they could find¡ªmaking sure they weren''t poisonous, of course. However, it was really not a big place¡ªthe group of them could barely fit in. With earth users'' abilities, they rushed to dig a tunnel big enough to hold them. It was very crowded, but it was better than taking on the direct sun or holding up roofs with their arms for an entire day. They could barely lift their arms when dusk came. In any case, in their new camp, they fought off a small mob to take their meat to cook and eat. After a quick dinner, they placed the monster feces a distance away from them, as they always had. The area was wide though so it could not entirely cover them, so they still had to keep their guards up through the night, doing shifts to rest. Of course, even if monsters did find them¡ªespecially if they were coming from the upwind direction¡ªthe numbers shouldn''t be too big. As long as they had enough rest and eaten their fills, Esias and the others believed they should be able to handle them. Most of them were fighters, after all, and it would be a shame if they fell at this juncture! The group also used some of the fallen wood from the fight to extend the mouth of the cave forward. It was still sizzling during the day, but at least they were no longer squeezed in with everybody else''s body heat, making it much more tolerable. The day had become more tolerable now, and at night the small mobs that came their way would be their source of protein. They lived like this for the next few days. No one believed they would settle there, nor were they naive to think they could stay for long. The resources refreshed very slowly during this heat, so they would quickly use up the little bit of edible plants in there. They soon had to start rationing again. They also had to keep some of the meat they got at night in the spaces to stockpile as sustenance. It was, in no way, easy to live like this. However, it was their little paradise and¡ªfor now¡ªit was good enough. Chapter 936 - 936: Sheila’s Family The heat wave ended about a week after they settled in this small place. They were extremely happy at first, with many of them just laying down in the sun for a while. However, the disappearance of the Extreme Heat meant¡­ that there were a lot more monsters all throughout the day. Not to mention, the basin had began to fill with water again, making it even more attractive to monsters. Another challenge was that the poisonous bugs were active again. They would bite people out of nowhere, and if the poison got too bad¡ªand if the victim was too weak¡ªthen even Cecil''s healing ability could no longer fix it. Regardless, they knew they could no longer sustain living so openly. A territory was still necessary in the end and they had no choice but to become nomads once more. They were lucky that the heat wave, at least, was over and all they had to worry about was the mobs and the insects, which wasn''t easy, but they had better chances now because they had the resources to make sure their bodies had the energy to handle their enemies. They headed south, handling whatever the world decided to throw at them, losing a few, but overall keeping strong. Eventually, they found walls and sentries and their hearts lifted. They used the last bit of strength to rush forward, falling down in relief as they passed the threshold. [Welcome to Belluga Village! Please pay 15 Copper] They couldn''t stay on the ground for long though. They realized they were in a public place and they had to drag themselves to the side, admiring the activity that greeted them as soon as they entered. Unexpectedly, people started approaching them with food and drinks, selling the goods for affordable prices!! They naturally bought as much as they could carry, and their eyes teared up a bit as they consumed the most delicious food they had since migrating here! They gobbled up their food with such a heart, not noticing that a group of handsome men had arrived. "Milord! Sir Suide! Sir Orland!" They paused their eating (some were still chewing) and they raised their heads to see a striking trio standing not far from them, just watching them eat like idiots at the side of the road. The one in the middle¡ªthe shortest one¡ªstepped forward with a smile, heading straight to Esias. "Welcome," The androgynous man said. "My name is Raine. I am the lord here. "Would you like to join me for some tea?" ¡­ Like Belluga, Shrao Village also received a lot of the Terran refugees from the North. After all, there were also plenty of Villages North of Shrao Village, all of which were Terran territories. Among the refugees happened to be Sheila''s family or, more specifically, her father and her brother, Albert and Sheldon, respectively. Albert was a fifty-plus-year-old man with a curly beard and hair, made even curlier during the Extreme Heat. He looked like the typical dad, especially so before the heat wave wherein he still had a belly. On the other hand, Sheldon was a meek 13-year-old lad with a thin physique. His body language reeked of an inferiority complex, which really didn''t help when they were facing life-and-death situation. Sheila''s mother, unfortunately, turned into a zombie during the first transformation. She tried to eat her husband, and he accidentally pushed her off their balcony in his shock. He activated the system then, realizing that he had really killed his own wife. However, he could not grieve for too long. After all, he had his children to find. He didn''t find them, unfortunately, until the Migration. He found his son when a Terran village attacked theirs and he¡­ was a meatshield. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His heart dropped whenever he saw the boy near a blade or an arrow, almost seeing his own son killed right in front of him. Albert cried, begging the lord and the guards not to kill him. Fortunately, they won that war and the enemy slaves became their own slaves. He approached the lord to see if he could free his son from slavery. The lord agreed¡ªjust before deciding to milk him for all he was worth. He asked for a full 8 gold from him. He and his wife were hoarders who did not trust digital money. It was why he had gold in the first place. Although it wasn''t much, but those 8 pieces of gold were all he had. He would later find out that the lord could see how much money they had and he purposely demanded to get all of his. However, even if he knew, so what? What could he do? The two father-and-son could only succumb and live like beggars for a while. During the heat wave, their old territory was attacked. It was by aborigines. In their perspective, these aborigines were incredibly strong, and even their strongest guards were no match to any of them! The father-son duo somehow managed to escape with all their limbs intact. They didn''t even look back, not feeling too bad for the lord who was eventually killed by the enemies. They had been traveling for a few days with hundreds of other refugees¡ªa mix from various territories¡ª and, like them, they cried as soon as they finally saw a wall standing strong. Then they entered and saw how¡­ nice the place was, and they couldn''t help but sob even more. When Albert cried, his whole face scrunched. When he tried wiping his tears, it ended up spreading it instead. Sheldon, on the other hand, sniffled a lot, but was otherwise very quiet. "Let''s hope this place is better," Albert said, and the others nodded. "I wonder how sister is¡­" Sheldon mumbled as he looked around the nice place. "I hope she''s alright." Albert nodded, hoping that the girl would survive all this. At the very least, she should be able to handle her own wounds, right? But¡­ he still worried a lot. That girl was too meek. She was definitely being bullied! What he didn''t know was that Sheila was indeed being ''bullied'' but in a very, very, different way by her husband. Chapter 937 - 937: Finding Clues A/N: FIVE CHAPTERS TODAY (11/16/24) everyone! Thank you soo much for your support! Hopefully, we''re T1 until the month ends! T_T ... ___At this, he couldn''t help but worry about the girl and nag her in his mind at the same time. Why did she have to work so far from home, anyway? Look at them now, unable to find each other... He should have put his foot down when she said she wanted to work in the City! Obviously, there were perfectly good clinics in their suburban area! What ''widen her world'', what ''see the city'', and what ''meet new people''? She could barely interact with people without flinching! The City was such a different world from what she was used to. She was so meek and indecisive¡­ wouldn''t she just be pushed around? Now¡­ they were in a world where it would be near-impossible for a personality like that to live well, and he could only hope that she encountered a miracle! At the same time, he couldn''t help but take a peek at his son. He was looking around with awe, though his eyes were still a bit red from sniffling. Den, one of the friends he made along the way, couldn''t help but look at Sheldon and shake his head. "Goodness, after so long, he''s still a crybaby." Albert felt a bit embarrassed, but he didn''t know what to say. "He''s¡­ still adjusting," was all he said. "We''ll get better soon." Den patted his shoulder. "You know, it''s good to do tough love sometimes. Being too soft on the kids might not do them well." This made his feet pause and frown. His eyes couldn''t help but shift to his son, who had always been passive. Because he had such a passive personality, he and his wife often decided things for him. They decided where he should go to school, what extracurriculars he should pursue, how he should behave in front of their friends, and what time he had to be home every day. This was the same with Sheila¡­ They pushed that line of work to her because it was a stable job that wouldn''t replaced easily by technology. Most importantly, it would make sure she could take care of her own body. She could also take care of them, so they could guide her for as long as they could. That was their reasoning, but¡­ was it correct? He bit his lips as a realization¡ªone that he had been pushing down¡ªslowly crept upon him. This thought had been inkling at the back of his head for a while, but he was too busy to survive to do any more introspection. Had they been too¡­ soft? While trying to protect and help their kids, did they hinder their growth instead? If something happened to them¡­ he couldn''t help but feel that he had something to do with it, and it made him feel even more heavy than he already was. He wondered if¡­ he should''ve pushed them more. If he had, would they have been stronger people? Would they have been able to handle the real world better? "Dad?" Sheldon called on to him. He had apparently been left behind by their group without them noticing. He looked at his sniffling son who was now entering his teenage years, and then he looked around him¡ªthere were many people there, some watching their movements. He also saw young children around his son''s age. They were also thin, but their eyes seemed to have flares to them. "A-Ah, nothing," he said, just patting the boy''s head as he guided him forward. The father-and-son looked around and saw the territory was much better than their old one and they were relieved, thinking they might have found a really good place. However, they realized that most of the people here were tall on average, and their features were slightly sharper than theirs. They also spoke using a different language. They could understand it thanks to the system, but they could tell it was not Terran. "What? Is this an Aborigine village?" Sheldon voiced out, making Albert frown. They looked at each other with heavy hearts. Then again, they should''ve known. How could fellow Terrans¡ªwho had arrived the same time as they did¡ªbuild something so good and long-lasting? Still¡­ they really didn''t think too much about it before. After all, they were just focused on finding a wall! Their heaviness was worsened when they looked around, receiving some looks¡ªrealizing that some of them weren''t very friendly. They felt scared, their experiences with aborigines were all bloody. Should they escape? Escape where ? They were all panicking at this time, already trying to find a way to save themselves. However, when some people nearby started talking about them, they couldn''t help but flinch a bit. "Those damned refugees¡­ did you see? They''re probably one of those Terran guys." "They look weak compared to the others, though." "Does it matter? They''re just a hateful bunch." They turned to see it was a man with a straw on his mouth. He was very badass-looking, and he made no effort in hiding how much he disliked Terrans. The men beside him were no different, all looking at them with annoyance. Albert gulped and stepped forward. Sheldon flinched and held his arms, but he shook his head. He was shaking a bit, but he knew they had no choice. He¡­ he also wanted to show his son that¡­ they could play active roles, even in this world where they were weak. Even if he was terrified enough he was on the verge of peeing. "Er¡­ we''re sorry for what others did¡­ but we assure you we are not like them," he paused, trying to keep a straight¡ªbut polite¡ªface. "Can you tell us¡­ if there''s a Terran village nearby?" This caused the aborigines'' frown to deepen and Albert was sure he peed a bit under their stare. At this, some other Terrans also followed his lead. They even handed the aborigine men some silver they had. It was led by none other than his friend Den. "Please tell us more¡ªabout the Terrans you speak of," Den said, similarly nervous. At this point, they were all just hoping they didn''t get killed in the process. The man looked at them for a while and didn''t speak. For a moment, they thought they wasted their silver. Some people behind them had already stepped back, as if ready to run away at a moment''s notice. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fortunately, in the end, the men did tell them information¡ªimportant ones. "Terran Villages, eh? We''re surrounded by them," he said. "This territory is subsidiary to one, in fact." Albert and the others'' eyes widened, and they looked at each other in disbelief. What? Chapter 938 - 938: More Refugees from the South From the South of Alterra and Bright Villages were aborigine villages. While they already received many refugees from the south, it was by no means the majority of them yet. At this time, a group of hundreds of refugees traveled northwards. They were from various villages along the drying river, meeting somewhere along the way. Although it was slowly recovering, it happened too late and too many territories had fallen. They fought monster mobs after monster mobs and the leading teams frowned as they noticed something. "Are the monsters getting weaker?" The de-facto leader, a thirty-year-old Guard by the name of Fossu, said with furrowed eyebrows. He had a large build and dark red hair. He was also a very rare elementalist among villagers. His teammates fought alongside him, some of whom they met just recently, but the bond of life and death experiences was strong. Together, they took down a level 6 monster with relative ease. When he said this, they looked at him oddly. "That is a bad thing?" Fossu heaved a sigh and manifested earth spikes, stabbing two more monsters so they could easily get handled by the civilians. "It''s not exactly a good thing," he corrected, "It means we''re getting farther from a town." As people from fallen villages, they naturally wanted to relocate to towns instead. Going to another village¡­ what if it just falls again?! This made everyone look even more worried. "Do we turn back then?" The people who had been to a town had all unfortunately perished. Since a few days back, they were dependent on what they had heard about the direction of towns. Buying the map from the others was too expensive¡ªthey barely had a few silvers left at the time¡ªbut then they lost these people from monster mobs. "Let''s¡­ check a bit more," another person said. "If they survived after so long, the village might not be too bad." Fossu thought for a moment before nodded. This made sense, and to be honest they really didn''t have much of a choice. Sometime during the day, someone from their group paused their steps, pointing in a direction of a tree. "What is that?" They turned to look at a piece of wood plank with writing embedded in it. Curiously, they stared at it for a few seconds. Without realizing, they felt the urge to just go nearer and take a look. A signage? There were odd symbols, but there were also some familiar ones. Unfortunately, most of them weren''t literate so they couldn''t read it. Fossu walked forward to take a look. He had reached level 10, and therefore awakened, in his mid-20s. Although he didn''t get formal schooling, as the only elementalist in his family, he became the pride of the community. His family pooled in much of their resources to get him to one of those reading schools which only the better-off villagers could afford. They made sure he could get the best resources they could afford. His family didn''t hesitate to give him this, despite having to be stingy with their own food. He saw their sacrifice and appreciated it so much, and he worked much, much, harder than others in order not to disappoint them. Despite being in a village, he gained his level¡ªlevel 14¡ªwhen he was not even 30 yet. His family was so proud of him, and they tried pushing him to explore the bigger world¡ªthat was to say: Towns. However, he decided to stay for a bit longer in the village. One, he wanted to strengten himself more. More importantly, he wanted to make sure his family had enough savings. He gave them all his earnings as the lord''s top guard, hoping it would support them even when he was gone. After all, he didn''t know where he was going to get hired. What if it was far away? He naturally had to settle his family safely first before heading out. Later on though, he realized they saved much of it anyway, so they could give him a much-needed allowance. After all, the cost of living in Towns was much higher than their small village. He sobbed a bit but adamantly refused the money. He simply promised that he would live well when he moved to a Town, and he''d come to visit as often as he could. In fact, before the Heat Wave, he was about to go to a nearby town to get hired in a Chancery. It was fortunate that he wasn''t. He couldn''t imagine what would happen to his family if he hadn''t been there to protect them. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although their territory didn''t survive, he had his family¡ªhis carpenter dad, his mum, and his 10-year-old little brother¡ªand that was already a happy thing that could still make him smile even during the hottest of weathers. "It says ''Alterra Village this way''," he said, impressing the others. His dad laughed, patting his back. "As expected of my son!" he yelled, proud as always. His mother and little brother similarly looked smug at his feat. He scratched his cheek in embarrassment, pushing down a cheeky smile. He cleared his throat and looked around, donning a serious expression. "Should we follow?" "I think so?" "Maybe it''s a trap? Haven''t you heard about ''those'' villages?" A woman with dark skin and very curly hair mumbled, looking at the de facto leader in concern. Fossu looked at Fona, his lover. She looked at him with wide eyes filled with worry and fear, already fearing the worst. Before, it was relatively uncommon for cannibalism to occur, but since the heat wave, the resources became extremely scarce. There were many villages that had turned to harvesting the next resource available: Humans. Fona was from one of these villages. Before, when they heard that some villages like Hasa Village began to eat people, they despised them. However, when the resources had become too scarce and the mobs were becoming too difficult to deal with due to their weaknesses, the hunger and thirst soon got into people''s heads. They became more open with exploring new¡­ avenues to fill their stomachs. Chapter 939 - 939: The Cannibals of Xeno Trigger Warning: Mild Gore. It''s mild, I swear! I almost made it graphic, but I didn''t. You''re welcome. ;) ... ____ The citizens had begun to eat people, eat their meat, and drink their blood. They were disgusted at first, but as the hunger, thirst, and desperation hit, the taste changed and they started to prefer it. Fona only survived because Fossu and the others passed through the village and were targeted to become the next meal. It wasn''t the first time they did so, and Fona felt so disgusted whenever it happened. The only positive was that, because many people started preferring humans, the other resources had become less scarce. She survived the heat wave with that. However, while her body was surviving, her heart was not. It was worse when refugees arrived to their place. What was supposed to be a hopeful event became the start of a tragedy. At first, she would see the relief on their faces when they finally found a territory. The next moment, she would see the looks of despair on their faces as they found out the place was even more dangerous than the outside!! She wanted to warn them so badly, but she was so afraid of becoming the next meal that she ended up being crippled. What was worse? Fona was a decent cook, and that was something she was proud of before. But at the time¡­ it became a curse. After all, she had to cook fellow humans! The number of times she gagged while she cooked could not be counted. If something was in her stomach, she''d definitely puke them out. But what could she vomit at the time? Her own organs? In any case, she knew she couldn''t live like that. So when Fossu and the others arrived, she was intent to warn them. She also felt they were stronger than others, so she decided to make a gamble. They arrived just before dusk, completely red from the heat, but surviving thanks to whatever covers or dried leaves they found to cover their heads. She ran to them, surprising everyone. "Run away!" she told them, going straight to the point. "People here will eat you!" "FONAA!" The citizens screamed, and they all went out of their abodes to surround the newcomers. They didn''t care about the boiling heat at this time, but they didn''t want to lose this amount of meat delivering themselves at their doors! It had to be said: the heat and the delusions had gotten into the minds of the villagers. Did they think these hundred people would just stand still as they tried to slaughter them? Anyway, the villagers didn''t expect the party to be so strong, even having an elementalist. Fona''s fellow villagers naturally got defeated¡ªharshly¡ªand she thickened her face and begged, offering everything just so they take her away from the place. They did take her away, though the leader didn''t seem interested in taking her as his woman. However, a few other men asked if they could have her instead. She didn''t react too strongly¡ªshe did say she was willing to give everything¡ªshe still felt scared and sad. While she knew what she offered, she had at least thought it would be Fossu¡ª someone who she deemed was righteous and genuinely kind. Fossu turned to look at her and then at the men looking lecherously at her. "It''s up to her," was all he said, and she could only look at him in shock. She was technically at their bidding, did she still have a choice? At the time, she was just sad, thinking Fossu simply did not want to deal with her issue. However, time did show that¡­ she really did have a choice. She was soon treated like the other women. They were weak and expected to look after the basics and cook for the men. The ones with lovers were also expected to pleasure their men, but with Fossu there, no one was forced to do anything they didn''t want to. His parents and little brother were also lovely people, and she didn''t remember ever meeting people quite like them. In any case, for the next couple of days after they met, Fossu continued to lead them forward. He would handle the most dangerous enemies while at the same time helping others with their battles, inspiring them to fight for themselves. In time, Fona began to have genuine feelings for the man. She didn''t know why but when she confessed, he accepted her feelings, eventually becoming lovers. She wished her sister Ferra was with her. 1 Unfortunately, she was traded to another village as early as the beginning of the heat wave. They were twins who always seemed to have similar luck. She was fortunate to have met Fossu. Hopefully, she also met her own love and protector. In any case, since she went through so much, she was really worried that her life¡ªwhich had slowly begun stabilizing thanks to these people¡ªwould get compromised. Even if they didn''t have a home and got attacked by mobs every few hours, Fona oddly thought it was much more stable than it was back in her home village. She was naturally scared that things would change once more. What if they were surrounded by that kind of people again? What if they were stronger? People who could make signs like this would be superior to her own weak village! If a fight explodes, how many people would they lose? Fossu saw her worries and patted her shoulder. "With these weak monsters, it should only be a village. Don''t worry, we won''t enter head-on anymore. We''ll study the place thoroughly before doing anything." Fona nodded, albeit not entirely reassured, and the party continued to follow the signs. They soon encountered a path¡ªwhich was amazing in its own way¡ªwhich they followed, eventually ending up in an area with a low makeshift fence surrounding it. Fossu looked at the side and saw another signage. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Camping Grounds," he read out loud, not knowing what it meant. What¡­ is this place? Appeared in Shinho chapter (another set of refugees during heat wave) Chapter 940 - 940: A Weird Place A/N: So I see a lot of people guessing that the next big arc is the Town Upgrade! It''s true, BUT because there''ll be a short time skip, I need to settle a few things before we head there. So... manage your expectations! Getting so far into the story, you probably have an idea how long the next big arc will actually commence lololol ... ____ Fossu stepped forward, using his earth ability to check if there were traps. He found that everything was just typical soil, though he noted that the makeshift fences were really dug deep, so they were relatively durable. "It''s safe for now," he said. "There''s no notification, either. I think¡­ this isn''t a territory¡­" "What?" the others said, going past the threshold. They came in groups though, just in case. Of course, the place wasn''t big, so the hundred or so of them quickly filled up the entire place. After observing a bit, they came to the same conclusion as Fossu. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But¡­ why would a non-territory be in a place like this? "...this is it?" His father asked, looking at the flimsy 1-yard-tall fence that probably only served as a rough delineation. They then turned to look at the sheds, as well as a group of stones arranged in a circular manner with something at the center. "Is this¡­ black metal?" "In the middle of nowhere?" "What a waste¡­" one said, trying to pull it and failing to do so. "Ah, it''s tied¡­" "How strange¡­" Some people studied each element of the place, while most just found themselves a seat somewhere to rest. Soon, someone found the stone box placed near one of the trees and shrubs. "What is this?" he asked. A lot of people nearby turned to him, looking over his shoulder. More and more people gathered to see, with someone nudging it with his feet. "Well, it''s obviously a stone box," he concluded, crossing his arms. "Ah yes, we''re not blind. We can see that." "Open it up." "No, you do it." "You found it." "So, contribute. Open it." After playing a classic game of rock, leaf, and dagger, a loser was determined. The aforementioned loser would be the sacrifice to open the box. Leaning back as far as he could¡ªjust in case¡ªthe sacrifice carefully opened the lid. Flop! The lid landed elsewhere and nothing dangerous came out of it. The people heaved a sigh of relief, immediately converging to explore its contents. They took sticks to move the items around, just to be safe, and were relieved to see that everything appeared safe for now. Some brave souls soon took these items into their hands to see, and soon Fossu and the others also arrived to check what the commotion was about. Inside the box, there were various bottles (very high quality compared to what they had encountered), unfamiliar packages, and what some people recognized as rare parchment. "It''s a little thin though," one of the older ones mumbled, having touched parchment due to working under the lord at the time. "So many writings¡­" Fona mumbled, "I wish I could read¡­" Fossu smiled at her, "I can teach you." At this, a little boy appeared next to them, jumping up with pride. "Brother taught me! I can also read!" The couple chuckled, with Fona patting his small head. "Wow, Fonfon is very good." The little boy grinned, making the adults chuckle. Anyway, they handed the ''parchment'' to the only literate one there¡ªFossu. Like before, there were unfamiliar symbols but there were also text that he could recognize. It was written smaller than what he was used to, so Fossu took a while to read its contents. As soon as he understood all he could, he read it out loud. "Paying forward," he paused. "You can use whatever you need, but use just enough¡ª and try to leave some for others!" Fossu had no idea what it meant, but he felt good about it. After the first set of refugees who went to Alterra after the Heat Wave, a team actually went and improved this place while they were hunting. The next day, another team noticed this and did the same, adding some items into the Communal Chest. The Communal Chest was made larger, more durable, and even waterproof. They added sections that would divide things according to use like sauces, dried meat, noodles, and non-edible stuff like a few sheets of paper for messaging others. They also figured that there would be aborigines who wouldn''t know how to use these so someone actually went ahead to give some instructions and some basic ingredients! "They said we could add this on meat," Fossu mumbled, pointing at some of the sauces. Interestingly, the liquids in the bottles were also tagged and titled in both languages. The others were naturally reluctant to completely let down their guards. "Is it even safe?" "I don''t know¡­" "They also said you can make fire with that," Fossu said, this time pointing at the circular metallic pot in the middle. They were already confused about what the black iron was for. Apparently, it was for communal cooking? They may not use the sauce due to suspicions, but they could at least use the tools to make fire. After much debate, they ended up using them though for a few pieces of meat they got from the mobs before. Fona, an amateur cook, led this after Fossu read the instructions to her. She was desperate to replace the horrible memories from before with good ones, so exploring a new taste seemed to be a good way to do so. Soon, a rich aroma spread around, causing everyone to stop speaking, and just focus on the meat skewers displayed enticingly in front of them. Some level-headed ones were a bit worried for mobs it could attract, but their stomachs still grumbled. When it was done, many ''brave self-sacrificing'' souls volunteered to try it out. Fona could only chuckle, handing them a stick each to sink their teeth to. Without exemption, their eyes all went wide. "This is¡­" "DELICIOUS!" The exclamaitions naturally got more and more people curious to try it out. Eventually, Fossu and his family also took a few pieces, and they were all surprised at the flavor that seemed to shake their souls. Small mobs were naturally attracted by their commotion, but instead of being worried, they became excited. Why? Because the meat they had was gone! Fossu watched as the citizens suddenly became brave and couldn''t help but feel amazed. His eyes shifted back to the box in wonder. How magical ¡­ "Where¡­ did they say these came from?" Fona asked, similarly curious. His parents also looked at him, wondering if he knew. "Is it a town?" His father asked. Was a town nearby? If so, then why were the monsters so manageable? Fossu narrowed his eyes and looked closely at the letters again, recalling the signages they encountered before. More likely than not, these all came from the same place. "Alterra?" he mumbled, recalling what was written in the sign. "It''s likely from a place called Alterra Village." A place that could place signages so far away, create paths, and create little places like this in the middle of nowhere¡­ must be extraordinary. They had never heard of it, but¡­ they were certainly looking forward to seeing it for themselves! Chapter 941 - 941: Mobbed Across the globe, territories handled the disaster in their own way. Some managed to triumph it, while some fell because of it. There were also villages that had survived the heat wave and the mobs better than others¡ªbut not against the territories looking to revitalize themselves by stealing from them. Calming Village was one of these villages. They had just barely-won a war just before the Heat Wave ended, and now they had to deal with another one just a few days later. First of all, none of the Mercenary team soldiers like Ryan or Orz could fight in the wars. They could help during beast mobs, but wars were tricky business due to the level limits. The best they could do was to thin out the enemies, ideally by half at least, outside the territory. They were limited by trapping the enemies and making them lose consciousness in order to avoid the risk of penalties. This had worked well in the past wars. Adding to the many soldiers and stronger citizens, Calming Village had become a force to be reckoned with in the area. However, there was a difference in this war. The enemies had obviously prepared for them. When the war was announced, the strong soldiers settled outside, prepared for whatever sneaked in¡ªthis was something they always did. They were wearing some makeshift camouflage clothing, as usual, hoping to find weaker enemies to deal with. Of course, they were not arrogant to think the five of them could deal with hundreds, if not thousands, of human mobs that''d get out of the array. They usually employed guerrilla tactics instead, in order to safeguard their lives and limbs. For instance, the five of them were now still on their respective tree branches, waiting for people to fall into their many many traps. These traps were dug by Orz using his earth ability, with Sean using his wood abilities to cover them tightly. They also added some wood spikes below to skewer the enemies. Whether or not the enemies would get killed did not matter. Anyway, as long as they didn''t enter the territory, their ''number'' was not counted. The soldiers weren''t doing these traps to kill; they simply did not want to lose the war. Further, these traps were located near the gate so that there would be people who''d fall in them regardless of where the array appeared. Generally, although gates tended to be the most guarded spots, it was the weakest. Even with the risks, most territories would still send teams to attack a gate or two. The soldiers waited somewhere within the seeing distance of the gate, so wherever they might get transported, they would be there. Soon, mobs of people came as expected, and there were several hundreds of them arriving in their section, running past the trees they were perched at. They watched as the slaves went to attack the gates, many of whom fell into their traps. Of course, all of these people were slaves. They watched as these people were trapped, stabbed, and screamed for their lives. "Ah!" "HELP ME PLEASE!" S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "AHHH!" It would be a lie to say they didn''t feel sorry for these slaves who were sent to attack first, receiving the bulk of their attacks. However, to each his own, and they needed to be harsh in order for them and their families to survive and live well. ¡­ Somewhere at the back of the line, some enemy citizens watched as their vanguards and meatshields were handled by the enemy. They were a little annoyed by the waste of resources, but they adopted the attitude of observation. Such a strong enemy needed a lot of sacrifices to be dealt with. They primarily observed traps that were activated, surprised to see that there was much more than what they prepared for. "It''s those traps those guys from Hito Village warned us about!" One cursed. "They''re as troublesome as they said!" Hearing this, the Terran soldiers sent each other looks. Hito Village was the latest territory they defeated. It seemed like they already spilled a lot of info to others to retaliate. Another looked at the continuous screams of their slaves, activating the traps for them. Then they looked at the gate at least a hundred meters away. "Darn! It''s still so far!" One said. How many traps would still get activated? How many slaves would get wasted?! Because of the harsh conditions of the heat wave, a lot of their slaves died. They didn''t have a lot to spare now, and yet so many of them were getting killed even before reaching the walls. The enemy men walked over to the activated traps, seeing the many slaves skewered in sharp spikes. Some of them were still alive and twitching, while some died on impact. The man spit in disgust. "These traps are serious," he said. Those spikes were extremely sharp, and the sheer number of them was impressive. Was it because they had a lot of elementalist? However, that shouldn''t matter as much with the sheer number of people they prepared. Those elementalists were just a handful, and they couldn''t directly attack them. They would take advantage of that. There were hundreds of people behind him coming from the arrays alone, let alone them¡ªpeople beyond the level cap who had arrived on foot. The people from the array were proper citizens. They were thin and wan and definitely greedy for whatever was inside the enemy walls. Although the war was over, their territory suffered excessive losses. By default, most aborigine lords would equate having no resources with having to go to war and get them from others. Orz and the others noticed there were really a lot of things different with this war. For one, there were people obviously beyond the level cap¡ªprobably almost level 20¡ªin the other party, and he was the obvious leader of the attacking party. He was a gruff man with a thick beard named Fang and, by estimate, he should be around level 22 or 23¡ªwhich was more than the soldiers. Other than him, there were at least a handful of people past level 15. They might not be able to enter the territory, but they could definitely become a threat to them, the people camping outside. This was going to get troublesome. Fang narrowed his eyes at the dense forests in front of him. "So many traps near here means that they''re around here somewhere," he said, looking around. "Find them! Spread out!" The soldiers watched as the main forces started separating into smaller groups of at least a dozen people. They looked around at all angles¡ªside, down, up, and the like¡ªintending to find them and deal with them as quickly as possible. Orz and the others looked at each other. Uh-oh. Chapter 942 - 942: Fall of Calming Village (Part 1) In fact, even if it was just the normal citizens looking, they''d still be in a pinch. It wasn''t that these people were strong, but there were hundreds of them. They weren''t immortals! Not to mention the dozens of people beyond the level cap. They didn''t know where these people came from or how a village could have so many, but they knew they couldn''t stay. Immediately, the five fled, jumping from branch to branch the moment they realized it''d be too dangerous to stay there. They didn''t disperse too much but always kept each other within close distance so they could still watch each other''s backs. At some point, a glint appeared in a direction. "Watch out!" Minko yelled, throwing a large water whip there. The next moment, someone fell down from a branch. It was an archer and he was about to fire an arrow towards them. However, unexpectedly, they felt strong attacks coming from several directions¡ªnot necessarily from the mob they had been looking at until this point. Ryan immediately activated his fire shield, shielding them from the attacks. However, the combination of forces from both sides brought the nearby trees to fall down, and they had no choice but to go down. "Finally out of hiding, eh?" Fang said with a smile. "You lot are really troublesome," he said. "Be honored we''re going all out." The soldiers had their weapons out, their vision taking note of their enemies. They were surrounded now and, other than Fang, it seemed like there were a few more level 20s that appeared. They frowned. Before this, there had been no villages that had managed to send anyone beyond the level cap. Now, there was a handful of them. The strongmen immediately lunged at the soldiers, with each of them taking one or two on. Other than the handful of level 20s, there were more people beyond the level cap charging at them. Some of them were new, likely coming from other areas surrounding the territory. It was obvious that these people were there to deal with the five of them. The soldiers'' looked at each other. Even if they were strong, they could not stay here. They nodded in understanding, dashing away from the crowd a second later. "OI!" "Don''t let them go past you!" "Damnit!" Orz used his earth ability to propel himself, avoiding the attacks, while waving his sword at the same time. A spike of earth accompanied it, hitting one or two people in the process. He might be slovenly most of the time, but he looked cool when it counted. Of course, he had to make sure to only kill those beyond the level cap. He would in no way be penalized for these people! Next to him, Minko jumped back to avoid a slash of a sword. As he moved backward, he held out a bow and arrow. "Arrow burst!" he exclaimed, hitting his two enemies, one level 21 and level 17 respectively. It did not kill the level 21, but it seriously injured both of them. Minko did so again with the next batch of people that came after him. Similarly, the others also showed off their elements, making sure to hurt them where they could. All of their attacks were deadly, causing their attackers to hesitate in their approach. This was good enough, and this allowed them to widen the gap as they ran. "Follow them!" Fang yelled as he dashed, intending to block the soldiers'' ways. "They''re outnumbered! Don''t be cowards!" However, how could the five soldiers be taken so easily? Although they were outnumbered, they could avoid most attacks, retaliating with stronger attacks in response. The strongmen were surprised to know how much of a challenge this was though. When they took on this mission, they thought it would be easy. They still had a lot to learn it seemed. Also¡­ this mission seemed to have a lot of bonus rewards! "They weren''t lying when they said this place had a lot of elementalists!" "Then they''d make for good slaves right?" One of the strongmen laughed. "Well, even your two villages combined may not have been able to take them." "That''s why the master town hired you guys, right?!" The soldiers heard some of the conversation, and it doused them with cold water. Two villages joined forces to attack Calming Village¡ªand a mercenary team was even hired to deal with the five of them, specifically. Further, they seemed to have taken advantage of the loophole of not using the array and walking here on foot, so there were probably a lot more people than they initially estimated. From a distance, they saw the sheer number of people trying to break through the walls. They could see how their brethren were struggling to stab and shoot the enemies down, but a lot of enemies were close to getting through! Normally, after settling the traps, the soldiers would go straight back to the walls and assist in their defense. They were not there now. It was only a matter of time before they broke through. With the combined forces of two villages and with them being held back here, Calming Village''s victory was getting farther away. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Was losing inevitable this time? ... Their paths were blocked by several level 20s, and they were surrounded by many others beyond the cap. The mercenaries sent attack after attack at them, not caring whether they hit their own allies. The soldiers could only focus on defending themselves for a while, soon realizing that they were being pushed back farther from the walls. "Shit¡­" Orz cursed, thinking how they could get out of this. Ryan narrowed his eyes at them, his element floating around him to keep the enemies away from him, all while skillfully handling his weapon. This was endless. Even if they were strong and were elementalists, they were still human with finite mana and spirit. Regardless, with this amount of enemies, the best way to go about this was to run away and get their families. After that, they would escape together. There was no way: As much as it broke their hearts¡­, they must abandon the territory. Chapter 943 - 943: The Fall of Calming Village (Part 2) They had been meaning to leave to head East to the captain. Their departure was just a little¡­ premature. This meant there would be a lot left to luck, and they wouldn''t be able to protect everyone¡ªbut what else could they do? The soldiers looked at each other, making subtle hand signals only those with military training could understand. A moment later, Sean raised his spear high, stabbing it to the ground. The nearby roots grew, creating an area that trapped people''s feet. At the same time, Ben hacked his sword, releasing a sharp wave of water along with it. Those who were trapped did not have the time to avoid it. "AHHH!" The blades disappeared as soon as they connected, leaving bloody gashes in their bodies. Some people fell directly, while some screamed in pain. The soldiers darted past the small opening they injured created, heading straight to the territory. Before they completely passed the enemies, Ryan activated his fire shield as insurance, and those who got caught in the wall screamed in pain. "AHHH!" "Take it off!" "Cover me with soil! Cover me! AHHH!" Fire from an elementalist was much more dangerous than normal fire! "Don''t let them get inside, damnit!" Fang screamed. After all, they were beyond the level limit and could therefore not cause damage inside. They had to handle these men while they were outside, or they''d fail the mission! They could not afford a failure at this junction! The men cursed and ran after Ryan and the others, going beyond their limits. All the archers raised their bows, targeting the soldier''s backs. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Many of them were moving as they shot and, while their accuracy was compromised, the sheer number of them actually did land a few hits. "AH!" Ben yelled as he felt an arrow embed on his arm. His curly hair drenched in sweat and he gritted his teeth, but his feet did not stop moving. "Ben!" "I''m fine! Continue running!" He yelled. Except for that time he got hit, his pace unaffected by the pain. Ryan jumped back as he ran. Heaving a deep breath, he took a pause to send a fire ball up, hitting a few more arrows that were about to hit them. Minko also took this chance to hit back, accurately hitting the necks of two archers¡ªone dead and another high-leveled enough to survive¡ªbefore he ran back home again. Their hearts fell when they saw that slaves and thousands of forces from the enemies surrounding the walls, leaving no portion empty. While the guards fought and the sentries managed to defend, many had already climbed up the areas with minimal sentries. There were definitely dozens of people who had already flowed in. There were just so many of them¡ªfar beyond what a normal village would be capable of, especially not so long after the Extreme Weather. Those villages really did not hold back on them. Based on the number of enemies right now, it seemed like they maximized their limits. Being attacked by allies wasn''t a new thing, but it wasn''t common among villages. However, in retrospect, it wasn''t much of a surprise either. Thanks to their presence and other things, Calming village was much more stable than others. The night mobs weren''t a problem and they could also accompany citizens to forage outside (for a fee, of course, the selfless soldiers they used to be were long gone in favor of their lives). As soon as they were a few meters away from the wall, Orz immediately created a temporary stair for them to jump on. He then used much of his mana to propel them inside the territory, going over the attacking mobs. Those who tried to climb after them¡ªtrying to use them to get inside as well¡ªfell smack on their backs. BANG! They landed roughly on one of the roofs, and they rolled down the roof and to the streets below. They didn''t take more than a second of a breather before they ran to the areas with leaks, some of which were nearby. They weren''t allowed to attack, but they could at least reinforce the defense. For instance, Orz used much of his remaining mana to enclose as many trespassers as he could. Another, Ryan would leave a fire wall on a street, effectively blocking the way. If the enemies went through that after its creation, then it was no longer his fault they were injured. They were careful not to do anything that could cause the system to penalize them. They heard from Twinwave town that people who killed low-leveled individuals during wars, and within the walls, could also lose their lives. They would never risk that, not when they still had so many people to protect and to find. They did what they could about the immediate leaks, but they could not stay there forever. The five looked at each other and nodded, no words had to be said. Immediately, they went to find their families and friends, who were likely fighting in this losing war. At this time, Orz'' brother Ouli and his students Tiara and Ton were fighting leaks on another side of the village. Gwen was also very skilled, creating a deadly vacuum around her. Ricky, Ryan''s uncle, was supporting them, waving around his sword as he watched their backs. And next to them were Sean and Ben''s newfound relatives, though they were mostly on the passive side. During the heat wave, Calming Village took in a lot of refugees. These refugees were mostly Terran from the North who had come South in hopes of finding a new home. There, they met Sean''s sister and in-laws who came from a territory northwest. It fell early in the Heatwave and their party of hundreds was reduced to less than half after traveling through the night. In fact, so many of them survived because they found a cave, though some people died from the poison mushrooms there. Ben''s family, his wife and one of his children, were from a Northeast village. They had traveled a bit, going through 3 Terran villages. Their last village lasted half the Heat Wave, which was a pity. If it was the normal duration of the disaster, it''d have survived. Sadly, they were unlucky and experienced a particularly harsh heat wave instead. "Go," Ryan said as their team surrounded them, immobilizing the enemies so their family members could kill them with ease. They also gathered whoever they could, but they simply didn''t have the time to wait for everyone. Orz created a stair upwards to a more isolated part of the wall. This was a part farthest from where the enemies were. The group of them climbed up¡ªthere should be at least a hundred now¡ªwith Ryan and Ben going first so they could guard the other side. The last to climb was Orz, who left the stair behind for others. It should still last another hour or so. He looked back at the chaotic village, feeling heavy at their abandonment. Before jumping to the other side, Orz yelled to the top of his lungs. "EVERYONE! "We''re losing! We''re being mobbed by different villages and a strong mercenary team! "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! We can no longer protect you! "Stay strong, brethren!" he continued to yell, his voice shaky and his eyes lined with tears. "I apologize that we cannot protect you all. We hope to see you all in safety eventually!" They couldn''t protect or take everyone now, and he ran to his team, who were now shooting a few enemies who found them. They ran for at least a few hours straight, not daring to rest. There were few who tried going after them, but after experiencing horrid elementalist attacks, most turned back to the ''easier'' enemies. It was only when they were certain that no one was following, and that there were no more mobs in the immediate vicinity, did they dare take a breather. As they found a clearing, their legs weakened and they sat down directly on the forest floor. They looked at the endless forests around them and their hearts felt heavy at the loss, feeling sorry for those people they had to leave behind. But then they saw their families safe and sound, and could only apologize to the others in their hearts. Someday, they thought, maybe¡ªwhen they were strong enough¡ªthey would come back and save them. With how they were now, sadly, that was all they could promise. Chapter 944 - 944: Growing Too Fast Alterra Village. In the meantime, Alterra had already fully recovered. In fact, its lord was now finalizing the new costs with Mathilda and Ansel. This was because the stats of the territory spiked up too much¡ªand it wasn''t good. It was just that¡­ while they were meeting around her dining table (with lots of snacks in front of them), their meeting was always hindered by milky giggles in the play cot. The play cot was now expanded considering the activity of the babies. Today, they were wearing giraffe and elephant onesies, both following after the aether ball. Little Meatball was soon floating and Little Pepper occasionally flashing here and there, at least wherever she mused the ball would go (though not entirely with 100% accuracy). She was adorable when she guessed wrong. Her rounded eyes would glisten a bit as she pouted, making those chubby cheeks redder and more prominent. Althea would allow them to play with the magic toys once a day for half an hour in order to observe them, but nothing more until she figured things out. The babies looked for it often, too, and they cried a lot as they asked for it. In the end, they figured to just condition them on a particular time of the day when they could have it¡ªand therefore the only times they could use their powers. If they used their powers outside of it, they would lessen their time with the ball, and so on¡­ Her babies were smart so this actually did work to some degree. So far, she found out that the ball really did absorb aether. It was fine for adults, who could control it, but she feared it was not healthy for the babies. It only absorbed when it was empty though (i.e. low battery), so they just made sure that only the adults activated it. If the babies were impatient and activated it themselves, then the ball would go straight back to her space. They would cry loudly, of course, but they had the voice blocker for that. Eventually, the babies learned to behave when they realized they wouldn''t get what they wanted by crying. "Extraordinary," Mathilda said, sighing as she watched the magical sight. "Is this why you''ve been limiting the babysitting duties? Lola and the others have been depressed." Althea nodded. "We wanted to master when they exhibited it¡­" She said, "And what do we do to get them to stop in case they did exhibit their powers outside." "There is progress, however, so we should be able to trust them to others again soon." Other than the conditioning, they were also trying to teach the kids to control their powers when they were already activated. Winona held Little Meatball by his tiny armpits, putting him back on the ground. "Googmamumwa?" His little eyebrows furrowed, chubby cheeks puffed. It was adorable but Winona tried to keep a straight face (ending up with a weird expression) as she gently patted his bum. "Stay," she said, patting the ground of the cot. "When we say "stay", you keep here, okay?" "Googmmwammmwa¡­?" Under the baby''s innocent look, Winona let go of him. Almost immediately, the baby boy went to the ball again, but he was only crawling this time. Meanwhile, Baby Pepper was being lazy as she held on to the aether ball. She was being lazy in the sense that she just held it without crawling anymore, letting it drag her a millimeter at a time. Since the ball was moving especially slowly due to the added weight, Little Meatball caught up with it even when he wasn''t floating. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was very good behavior so Winona rewarded him with a soft sweet snack in the form of sweetened gouji fruit goo. Little Pepper saw it and mumbled, also opening her mouth. Winona''s heart softened and she gave food to the baby girl as well. The other adults smiled at the sight before resuming a more professional air again, shifting their attention back to the topic at hand. Gru was with them now and he was still looking at her in awe. He was the only elder unaware of her Lord status for a long time and it was getting inconvenient. He almost fainted when they told him. Fortunately, he had a strong heart despite his old face. As for why they ended up meeting in her house instead, it was because the meeting was relatively spontaneous. Most of the family were in the house, watching the babies play when Althea decided to look at the Panel. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 50,265,600 square meters Residents: 10985 (3113 permanent, 7872 temporary) Total Population: 14324 Base Resources: Wood: 17300/20000 Stone: 11200/15000 Money: 29731 Gold, 88699 Silver, 1098699 copper Prestige: 885 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv2), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv2), Barracks (Lv2) Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1) Building Slots: 8/9 (+11)] Because she was so busy the entire time after the heat wave, she had neglected to look at the status. Anyway, they didn''t change too much¡ªwhich was why other Lords would only look once in a blue moon¡ªso she didn''t think too much about it. She was so shocked when she saw the numbers and immediately called for a meeting. Althea looked at her status with very very complex emotions. Other lords would be jumping for joy, but Althea and the others looked worried instead. The requirement for becoming a town was 20000 population, 15000 residents, and 1000 prestige. It seemed like they received a lot of things even after the Heat Wave, as if an after-effect of it. The residencies had spiked a lot during this time. For one, they took in a lot of refugees during and after the Heat Wave. Even before the disaster, they had already adjusted the salaries of the people and, of course, the cost of living to balance a bit with the outside. This also meant that the residencies had become much more achievable, causing the residencies to spike. Even contribution points, due to continuous ''easy'' mobs and the high contributions in wars contributed to this. At this rate, they''d only need another month or two before they upgraded. "Too fast, right?" "Didn''t they say Prestige was difficult to achieve? What is this now?" "Our products did help a lot of territories during the Heat Wave¡­" "But still¡ª" They had heard of the harsh conditions outside of Towns. They quite like Alterra Village being in somewhat of a ''comfort zone''! Chapter 945 - 945: Changed Standards By Comfort Zone, it meant surviving in this world without losing a bulk of their people! Of course, they still trained as a habit now, but it didn''t mean they wanted trouble. Ansel and the others cringed at the thought of the changes that''d be brought about if they climbed up as they were now. They had long stopped dreading battles after getting to this stage. At the very least, Alterra was strong enough for them not to worry if they weren''t in the mood to fight and clear mobs. They didn''t want to go back to the time where they couldn''t sleep, fearing they''d get attacked by mobs in the middle of the night! "Can we even control Prestige?" Gru asked as he looked at Althea, who unfortunately shook her head. "We can''t, so we can only control the residencies." S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ansel spoke this time. "Actually my sister and I already set the costs for Towns. Should we just apply it earlier?" "Hm, makes sense." "Applying the initial plans, we will set the entry fee to 20 copper¡ªwhich is still cheap considering most Towns charge at least 1 silver for entry." Seeing how it was now, they would probably increase again after actually upgrading to Town, but definitely not too much. 1 silver a day was really insane, to be honest. It was no wonder the poor remained poor over there, even if they went out to hunt every day. "Then we will charge 50 silver/mo and 2000 Contribution Points to those who want to avail Temporary Residency, and 20 gold plus 10,000 contribution points to those who hope to have permanent residency." The average salary had been raised to 10 silver per day, which was about 3 gold per month. This was the average salary even in aborigine territories. Of course, in Alterra, this money meant quite a whole lot more because it had a lot more purchasing power. Basically, even when they increased some of the costs and taxes, people living frugally could still keep at least half of their daily salaries. This was already much, much, better than those outside who could barely scrape by with their entire salaries. Anyway, by increasing the costs and contribution point requirement, the upgrade to become a resident¡ªeven if it was only temporary¡ªhad become a lot more stringent. This applied much more to the Permanent Residency. To those who were near the requirement but hadn''t upgraded within the day¡­ they could only count themselves unlucky. "With this, we can slow down the progress by a few months," Mathilda said. "Probably." At this, she looked at the others. "Perhaps we should also change the value of contribution points." Ansel and Althea nodded at this. "Actually, we had indeed considered this." During the concept''s inception, the value of the contribution point was a lot easier to determine. The contribution points received by those with ''government'' jobs were slightly arbitrary, but they were proportional to the position. At the time, the points calculation was even more straightforward with regard to fighting monsters. Basically, it was almost the same as the copper received per kill. However¡­ they couldn''t keep using this method after all this time. This world had a balancing act. For one, nothing would be received if the monster was five levels lower. More importantly, even if the gap was not so wide, the rewards were not proportional to the monster''s strength and level. For instance, a Level 4 monster would give 100 EXP and 100 Copper to people until Level 9. Past Level 10, people had to go against stronger monsters. However, a Level 10 monster would give only 400 Copper and Experience. The differences between the strength and the danger level of a level 4 and level 10 were as wide as a gorge¡ªyet the differences in the rewards were a measly 300 copper. Looking at this, if they maintained the contribution points back as it was, a level 5 could earn around as much as a level 15 with a few variances. As such, they decided to formalize the contribution points according to monster levels instead. They also modified the contribution points that could be used as payment by employers, to balance things out. The group finalized a few things, making the assumption that they would be upgrading within a few more months. They could try to delay it a bit more using other methods, but it would be good to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Before they adjourned, Mathilda raised her hand to stop them. She remembered something quite important. "About the inevitable upgrade: We should also send word to the nearby villages." This made everyone pause, realizing the importance of this. Becoming a town would increase their monster level from the doable 6 to 8 average levels, to about twice that. Alterra was so deep into the terrain¡­ that monsters it attracted would pass by their allied villages. When Alterra upgraded, then those places ought to be prepared for that level of enemy¡ªotherwise, a lot of people will die. To think that upgrading their own territories could mean the demise of thousands of people outside¡­ was a bit burdensome. Garan sighed. "We will assist them," he said. "At the very least, they should build themselves enough to be able to handle the mobs." Of course, such stronger mobs would still target Alterra more. It was just that their position meant that the strong mobs would go through the others first if they were in the way. "Well, in the meantime, everyone¡ªevery department¡ªshall be strengthening all aspects of Alterra as much as we can before the upgrade." When they finally adjourned though, their attention was attracted by a loud exclamation nearby. "The babies!!" It was Winona, and everyone stood up to see. They worried that something could''ve happened, only to find that Winona was yelling in excitement because the babies were trying to stand up! The ball was floating a little higher this time and it seemed like the babies wanted to stand up to reach it. They watched as the babies touched the floor with their small hands, trying to push themselves up. Their bums were wiggling as they tried to do so¡ªvery cute¡ªbut the adults'' breaths paused as they waited in excitement. Would they be able to stand up so early? Chapter 946 - 946: Standing Up Wiggle, wiggle Push Wiggle It was a tense minute as they watched the two kids struggle to lift themselves up. Their little hands and legs were unstable though, and their diapered bums wiggled as they made their attempts. Sadly, their tiny legs were too shaky in the end, and they gave out as soon as they lifted their hands. They flopped down on their butts in the end. "Aww¡­" they mumbled, shoulders slumped in disappointment. What they didn''t realize was that the babies were looking at them, and seeing the adults'' ''heartbroken'' faces affected them very much. Their little faces scrunched in sadness and tears pooled in their rounded eyes. Their cheeks turned red, and they soon broke into cries. "Wuuuuuuuuuuu!!" "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" "Oh, no, babies¡­" Althea and the others immediately stood up to comfort them. Althea and Garan took one baby each, cooing them to calm them down. However, when tears flowed, they poured. "Wuuuuuuuuuuu!!" "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" "Oh, dear¡­" Althea mumbled as she rocked the baby back and forth, with Garan following her movements. The other adults also made silly faces and brought out toys in various attempts to make them laugh. Even after a while though, they were still crying in a way that broke their hearts. They felt extremely guilty for showing such faces. Clearly, they were already doing very good at their age! It was the adults'' mistake for making them think otherwise. "Wuuuuuuuuuuu!!" "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Althea leaned down and smooched the babies'' faces repeatedly as they cried. Chuu~ She kissed their foreheads and their chubby cheeks. Slowly, their sobbing calmed until they were just sniffling. Smooch, smooch~ And soon, they started giggling. Their eyes and cheeks were red from crying, but adorable milky laughter came out of their mouths. The adults could even see the babies'' gums and the single teeth they had. Their shoulders slumped in relief, but they didn''t stop making silly faces and bringing out toys, just in case. "Babies are known to be much more sensitive than adults give them credit for," Sheila said with a sigh. "Our disappointed faces must''ve affected the little ones." Althea and the others nodded, smiling at the babies. She gently rubbed their noses. "My babies are so smart and talented." "You''re too young," she added. "Don''t rush, don''t rush." In Terra, the average age of walking was 11 months, with the record of the fastest being 9 months. In contrast, her babies were not even 4 months old. Althea didn''t know how developed their bones were. If they forced themselves to stand now, maybe it''d affect their growth. They could always check, of course. Dr. Cynthia was a pediatrician and ob-gyn doctor, so she would be the perfect expert to see. However, they''d still need some tests to be sure. However, while the x-ray was being developed in the Research Center, could babies as young as hers safely undergo an x-ray¡ªespecially with a machine that was still being perfected? She wouldn''t risk it for sure. "Take your time, my babies," she said, kissing their soft faces again for good measure. "Mom and Dad will love whatever you do, and be proud of whatever you achieve." The babies didn''t quite understand her words, but they felt her emotions. They giggled again, causing everyone''s hearts to melt. ¡­. The babies might have failed to stand up, but someone else managed to succeed. "You''re doing great," Victor said with a smile, holding his wife''s hand as she finished her short rehabilitation journey. They were in the physical rehabilitation area in the hospital, and there were other people there being treated. Along with them, there were also a lot of physical therapists (they gained a few the past couple of weeks) to help them out. Although nothing was really wrong with her legs, it got affected by the operation and as a side effect of Cain''s attack. She would''ve been able to walk again on her own without rehab, but Juni wanted it to happen as soon as possible, so here they were. Victor guided her to the interior gardens of the hospital. The rehab room was boring. It was better to have actual goals in the path to hasten her progress. And so, hand in hand, the newly-wedded couple perused the lovely sight with smiles on their faces. Victor was very gentle and one could tell he''d be a great husband and father. Vanessa, who was visiting the hospital, watched this with a frown. She was there with the customary fruits, though she stopped when she saw the patient and her brother ambling about. To be honest, the sight made her heart itch with discomfort. She remembered when her brother was gentle and spoiled her very much. Now, he barely even talked to her! Even her former admirers barely gave her time of the day now. Juni turned and caught her bad look, which Vanessa immediately wiped off her face. Juni, though, was an actress who had seen a lot of things about human interactions. She didn''t miss it at all. The woman then walked towards them and handed the basket to her brother. After saying her bland greetings, she said her goodbyes. "Brother, I''m gonna go to work now," she said, turning away to head back to work. Juni sighed. Vanessa could be quite extreme sometimes, and it''d won''t do her any good to keep her unchecked. Juni looked at her husband. "Check on your sister more," she said. "It''s not like you didn''t have a hand in spoiling her." Victor''s eyebrows furrowed. "But¡­" To be honest, it just came second nature to them to give her whatever she wanted. Because they were always gone, it was their way to show their affection to her. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He didn''t really question it as much before, and they just handled the consequences, believing that¡ªlike them¡ªVanessa was logical enough to see what she did was wrong, and wouldn''t do it again. Juni looked at him with a serious expression on her face. "She''s an adult and she is responsible for her choices," she said. "However, as her only family, don''t you think you should be working harder to keep her on the right path?" Victor frowned. Before, Vanessa was just his little sister. She could be a brat, but neither he nor their father had thought too much of it. Not to mention¡­ both of them were extremely busy with their careers and the life-threatening missions they were often sent to. How could they¡ªdense straightforward men¡ªknow how to handle the intricacies of raising a good kid, let alone of the complicated female species? Juni saw his cluelessness and patted his arm. She wanted to shake her head at them but, at the same time, she also understood how it could be. She had absentee parents so she knew how bad it could get. She turned out well because she was close to Mathilda back then. She had a good face and had a lot of admirers. If Mathilda hadn''t straightened her up early on, she could''ve been a very different person. Not to mention, the only true romantic relationship she had before was with Gill, who was dense in his own right, so she also had an idea of how men''s brains¡ªparticularly, the military men¡ªworked. "Trust me on this," she just told him. "Or else you risk losing her forever." Chapter 947 - 947: Children of Alterra At this time, school was ongoing and the students were already in the middle of classes. The Elementary tier had various classes, some of which had to be further divided according to the results of diagnostic tests. These were exams that all students had to take at the start of the school year so the educators could have a better grasp of the student''s level. This was, of course, to maximize the kid''s potential. This was also to give time and chance to the children new to the various concepts to adjust accordingly. This was especially applicable to the aborigine kids who comprised the majority of the students. For instance, there was Xeno language literacy and math class which was too alien to the aborigine children and had to be taught in the nursery level. In the meantime, all Terran elementary school students like Maya, Mimi, and Horus were taking the ''proficient class''. This was not to say that everyone''s levels were the same. However, this class was small so the teacher could handle each student more closely and give them specialized practice questions. Speaking of the Terran kids, one of the things that the Educators realized was that Terrans got a little smarter after coming here. The teachers said that their Terran kids learned topics faster than average (at least compared to the levels in Terra), and it was theorized that their upgraded physiques also meant upgraded brains. Which was really awesome by the way. Althea agreed with this, and so did the other Researchers. As people who used their brains a lot, they were far more aware of their cognitive abilities than others. They had realized that they could indeed figure things out a little faster than they would''ve back in Terra. The academic classes like math, science, and languages were tiered according to the students proficiency and was divided quite a bit. In contrast, there were shared classes for everyone of the same tier, because they shouldn''t be too far in strength anyway. Classes like this was the Physical Education classes, the Monster classes, and the Flora and Fauna classes¡ªhenceforth called the Survival Classes. While the academic subjects were the essential for the territory''s economic and cultural growth, the Survival subjects were the most important ones for individual strength and growth. These classes were taken a few times a week with increasing detail, and taught by the experts in the field. The Education Department had also never stopped gathering information about this world, so there was usually something new to teach every so often. Interestingly, they also learned more things from the aborigine children, who said what they knew about the flora and fauna in their areas. They also did ''sharing sessions'' about the local culture, which was actually quite interesting and enlightening to some. While this information was up for confirmation, the teachers still noted them down. The students were also taught about the importance of the territory, making them understand from young how good it was, and how they should protect it when they could. Anyway, the program so far had good results. For one, it gave the students more confidence in handling this world. The downside was that many students were eager to help out with the mobs, forcing the adults to reiterate that they wouldn''t go out to fight until after a certain age. For now, they were just asked to learn as much as they could and grow strong. After all, even if they didn''t fight now¡ªthey''d only be useful to Alterra, if they were alive and well. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ One of the classes today focused on basic math, with aborigines as the students. "Do you understand this, Master Honda?" Maumi asked carefully, his friends right next to him. Even as kids, they had an instinct to respect nobles. Nobles tended to be stronger, and in Xeno the strong was revered. Honda didn''t think much of it, but he didn''t show any distaste with their closeness. "Hmm¡­ a little," he said, pointing at the lines. "Basically you just put them together and get the sum." Maumi and his friends blinked and looked at the illustration again. It was Gururu who nodded first, while the other two needed a bit more explanation. "Hmmm¡­. I think I get it," Maumi mumbled after a while. No, he didn''t understand. Next to them, a lot of kids were also confused, but their teacher showed no signs of impatience. Evelyn was the one in charge of the aborigine math class. She taught nursery-level classes back in Terra and in Xeno, so she really was the best one for this challenging task. Rather, no one else dared take on the subject. She was very patient with each of them. Even if she had to teach them the most basic concept, over and over, she remained kind and helpful to them. She understood that these kids were still learning literacy (still in Xeno language), and so one could imagine how maths would be much more alien to them. Some people argued whether teaching math¡ªespecially to aborigines¡ª was even necessary. However, Evelyn was one of the advocates of this subject (which was another reason why she was the one teaching it). She argued that they had to know at least the basic operations¡ªaddition, subtraction, multiplication, and division¡ªsimply because it was related to their lives and lifestyles. It''d be hard, but it would be worth it in the long run if they wanted people''s lives to improve. Anyway, Evelyn patiently taught them additions and so far they had managed to finish two-digit numbers (as sums) and she reckoned she could soon ease them in adding two digits as well. Anyway, another hour passed in the class¡­ and the children became more and more dazed, some outright fighting to keep their eyes open. They looked adorable though, especially since they were indeed trying very hard to learn and keep awake. Aborigine children were quite precocious since they had to fight and work at a young age. Unlike many spoiled kids, they definitely appreciated the opportunities handed to them¡ªeven if they didn''t fully understand how it could help. Evelyn chuckled as she shook her head. They had a long way to go. Chapter 948 - 948: More Schoolwork! They had a long way to go, but¡ªin the long term, even if things were slow¡ªit''d definitely be worth it. That was what Evelyn firmly believed. Evelyn went around, going from table to table, in order to guide the kids in their assignments. Every table had similar exercises, and therefore similar levels. Some were already doing addition to two-digit numbers, while some were still in the single digits. One of these tables comprised of the newly arrived aborigine kids. That was to say, the children that entered Alterra during and after the Heat Wave. On one table, there was 10-year-old Fonfon and another 10-year-old Shishi. They were also pouring their hearts onto the confusing piece of paper, trying to decipher it. However, their parents were clear: They had to work hard to be as good as others. So they were focused and didn''t dare show any impatience, which Evelyn appreciated. They were the latest aborigine additions to the territory and were still very meek amongst the others. For the basic classes, Alterra did not require the kids to have a residency. So, even if their adults were newcomers and did not have enough contribution points to even have temporary residencies, they could still attend certain classes in school. However, because the manpower for the Education Department was limited, these easy-to-access classes were limited to children 12-years-old and below. This had plenty of advantages to Alterra. One, they''d be raising the kids to their model from young (brainwashing was a strong word; they called it ''opening minds from young''). And second, it''d make the adults want to stay and work harder for Alterra even more. Speaking of, their adults were very shocked about the school and asked a lot of people to confirm. When they did, the families pretty much gave a lot of their wealth (they had a lot of copper from mobs saved up for months) to the school. The dean was honest though and only took the proper fees alone. The little ones were naturally much more antsy. Little chubby Pongo was even lying on the wooden floor now (the elementary classes had low tables and they sat on cushions). "Do we have to learn this, teacher?" They asked her, pouting cutely. She patted their heads. "You don''t have to, but you would be poorer than others. Do you want to be poorer?" "No!" "Why?" they asked. "Why would we be poorer?" "For example¡­," she paused to look at Pongo. "What is your favorite snack?" "Strawberry Tart!" he said, gulping, and even drooling a little. "Hmm, yummy, how much is a Strawberry Tart?" "A palm-sized one with two bite-sized strawberries cost 20 copper!" "What if¡­ you only have 1 silver with you?" The boy blinked, looking at her longingly. "I never held a silver before¡­" "..." "Anyway, what if you become a big boy and get your first silver? You worked very hard for that, and it''s all you have. "Now you want to buy 2 tarts! Yum! How much would you get back from the seller after paying your silver?" Pongo froze and the other children also stared at her before looking around. "The answer''s not on the ceiling, children. "Hint, 1 silver is 100 copper." Two digits made them dizzy, let alone three. Pongo, dizzy, looked at her with teary eyes. Evelyn didn''t seem to feel pity so he had no choice but to guess. "...10 copper?" Evelyn held back her smile and patted the boy''s curly head. "Then you just lost fifty copper." "EH? Why?!" He reacted strongly as if he really lost it. The other kids also looked at her with apt attention. "That''s how Math is important. It keeps you from losing money." "Ohhh¡­" And so, for the last couple of minutes, the little ones started learning seriously again, very much terrified of the thought of losing money needlessly. They were so engrossed that the territory bell rang without them noticing (a miracle!). This bell signaled that it was already 14 o''clock in the afternoon and it meant one thing: It was lunch break! Evelyn smiled and looked at her hardworking class. "That ends our class. After lunch, go to the fields for your PE and Plant classes." "Yes, teacher!!" Evelyn chuckled and walked out of her class, surprised to see someone waiting for her. "Turbo?" Turbo happened to be assigned on patrol duty and he was nearby. Why not spend more time with the wife? "Done with morning classes?" he asked, extending his hand. Evelyn naturally took his hand and their fingers intertwined. They headed towards a nearby restaurant to spend a bit more time during the busy midday. On the other hand, most of the students went to the newly-opened cafeteria. The cafeteria had a set tray system where the children could pick food among choices and add it to their pre-divided trays. It was designed by a nutritionist to keep their diet balanced. Their food was also included in their tuition, so they didn''t have to worry about it. Speaking of which, Orphan children were sponsored by Alterra Orphanage and they would be given allowance for basic needs until they turned 18. Most of them though, wanted a lot more than the basic needs and would often find a part-time job, especially the older kids, who''d be taking cleaning jobs and manual labor jobs after school hours to get some pocket money. The friends sat together and asked about each other''s classes. It was also the time for the aborigines to ask their Terran friends for a bit of guidance in subjects they struggled with. Somehow, some tables were moved together so that more students could eat at the same table. Maumi and the others had also merged until the tables were put together into a massive one. At this time, Maumi''s group was nearest to Fiona so they asked her to help out. "No, no, you got to carry over the first digit¡­" she said, pointing at the area above a number. This made the aborigine kids very confused. "Carry over?" "Err¡­" Fiona then turned to Mimi, the smartest one of them all. Mimi ate a few more bites before turning to the illustrations. She leaned down closer to Maumi and it made little Honda frown a bit. "I am also confused about that," he said and Mimi blinked, guiding them both. The homework Maumi was so confused about was a simple math problem of adding the perimeter of a rectangle, though there was no drawing, only words. While the teacher only used easy words since they were also learning literacy, it was still a challenge. "I see I see," Maumi said, impressed. "Thanks!" he said, happily resuming eating his food (which was delicious by the way). Juna, Maumi''s mother, happened to be sneaking peeks at this time. She was successfully hired as a cleaner there at the school and she scheduled her cleaning sessions near the canteen during lunch time. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She sneaked through the opened window of the canteen, seeing her son enjoying himself and happy with his new friends. To think that not long ago, the world underwent a tragedy that usually killed a good portion of the population. However, beyond expectations, they were all intact and healthy. Now¡­ they were living lives that they could never have expected before. Juna wiped a few tears that escaped, continuing to clean up the floor. Moving to Alterra was the best thing that ever happened to them. So¡­ she had to do her part¡ª ...starting with keeping this place organized and clean for the children. Chapter 949 - 949: Children’s Games After the kids happily ate, they took the remaining break time to play in the gardens. They were told not to run too much after eating though, so they only played mild games. Mimi¡ªthe girl with the high EQ and the little ''officer'' tasked by her dad to make the schooling experience better for everyone¡ªtried her best to include all the kids and to stop the formation of exclusive cliques. One of the ways to do this, according to her father, was to always bond as a group. Even if they couldn''t bring in everyone, at least someone from each group should be spending time with the others. There were plenty of cultural and knowledge dissonances between Terrans and aborigines, and there were also differences within each race. For instance, there would be differences between kids from the Eden country and those outside of it. Another, there would be differences between Mauin kids and kids from the other villages. However¡ªwith Mimi and her friends'' leadership (they treated this as a fun mission called ''make everyone friends'')¡ªthey had managed to create an atmosphere where one group was not against others. The kids naturally had their closest group of friends, with whom they liked spending the most time with. However, fortunately, there were no exclusive cliques that were formed. Of course, this didn''t mean that everyone was playing the same games at all times. It simply meant that the kids could join in from one group to another, without receiving backlash (except maybe if one was escaping an imminent loss). In one corner, the kids playing were Mimi, Honda, Lily, Fiona, and Lina. Along with them were Maumi, the curly¨Chaired Pongo, and the little baldie Gururu. Maya and Horus, as well as a few others, were playing elsewhere. Interestingly, Lina seemed to be trying to position herself next to Honda, the handsome little blonde, though he didn''t seem to take much notice of her. Right now, the children decided to play a game called ''I wanna be a tootoo-bee'' where they just had to make a circle sitting down. It was a fun alertness game from Fiona''s country where they would clap on their thighs with a beat and call on numbers. The ones who ''owned'' the numbers had to react fast and then call out another¡ªotherwise, they were out of the game. Although some didn''t even know what a bee was, that was besides the point. It was a fun game without much movement, but no less thrilling. Giggles abound the small park as the children played the ''high-stakes'' game, and laughter exploded when¡ªone after the other¡ªthe kids would mess up. Very few were sore losers, and those uncomfortable with losing eventually adjusted and loosened up when they saw their Terran counterparts having fun¡ªeven when they were kicked out of the game. The ''losers'' would even make some funny noises to distract those still within the game. In a sense, games like these were also a way to teach children it was okay to lose¡ªit was how you handled them that mattered. The fun couldn''t last forever though, because the bell rang too soon. "Awwww¡­." the children''s shoulders slumped, but they all still stood up to go to their respective classes. "I was just about to win¡­" Maumi even mumbled in bitterness. "No, I was about to win," Gururu retorted. "You were starting to mess up." "That was because Pongo''s being a jerk loser and whispering me the wrong numbers!!" "Pshh, excuses!" "Grrr¡ª" "Grrrr¡ª" Mimi''s side, on the other hand, was much calmer. Maya and the others converged with them, asking around to determine who they''d be walking with to the next class. "You''re doing Plant classes, right?" Mimi asked, roughly remembering her friends'' schedules. "Yeah, you?" "Same! Let''s go together!" Maya said, wrapping her arms around Mimi''s. A few other classmates also followed behind them. "Can I come with you?" Lina asked. They nodded and looked at Lily and Fiona, who also followed closely behind. The others like Horus and Honda, on the other hand, headed to PE class, and they also headed there together. The boys were naturally a lot less chatty though, but there was still a warm feeling in heading to a class with friends¡ªeven if it was just a minute or two of walking. And so began another fun-or-not-fun classroom sessions for the children. ¡­ Evelyn''s elementary morning class had ended and it was now time for the babies'' class. She loved it so much because the babies were so cute! This was her favorite class ever, and she always felt like melting every time. In this tiny class were Theo, Pepper, and Meatball. It was still small for now but, eventually, the new babies would grow up and this would become a larger class. In the babies'' cases, they were just there to socialize in an educational setting. It would not be good to be surrounded by adults all the time. Anyway, they had more or less captured the times they''d be using their powers, so it was fairly safe to have them outside again. Winona brought the children at this time, with their parents busy preparing the territory for the imminent upgrade. Winona also had a lot of projects but she was an emotional pregnant woman, so everyone limited her stress to about four times a week at most. Also, like Evelyn, she loved watching the three babies study together. At this time, Evelyn was teaching Theo about the different shapes. "What shape is this?" she asked, showing him a drawing of a perfect circle. Theo stared for a second before answering. "It''s a cwicul!" S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Yes, very good Theo~ It is, indeed, a circle," Evelyn said, tone extremely gentle. "Do you know what color it has?" Theo didn''t answer immediately and stared at the shape for a while before his rounded eyes widened at the recollection. "Wed!" he said. "Wed cwicul!" "That''s amazing, Theo!" Evelyn couldn''t help but giggle a little, giving him a star. It was made of painted paper. At the back, there was an adhesive with the (still being perfected) double-sided tape, so it could stick to children''s clothes without damaging them. Theo looked very happy when he received his star. He smiled and stood up, and the two women watched the boy''s little feet patter as he headed toward the babies. They were very curious and they followed his every moment. At this time, the two kids were in a play cot with a shape sorting toy made of wood and covered with soft fabric. The two were having fun just placing them through over and over, though there seemed to be a rivalry of sorts between the kids. Anyway, Theo approached the two babies and crouched down next to Little Pepper. He took the star sticker off and then he gently placed it on her cheek, making her giggle. "Mwamhhhwa!!" she mumbled adorably. "Youw wehcome, Baby Peppah," he said with a sweet smile, making the ignored baby boy pout. Winona chuckled, as she took the neglected baby boy in her arms. She gently poked his chubby cheek¡ªnot that he was amused, of course. "Googgmmmammmhhh!!" "Don''t be jealous, baby boy," she said, her voice a bit shaky as she tried not to laugh out loud. "Wait until you get a girlfriend." Then Winona shifted her sights to Theo, who looked like he could give Pepper all the stars he''d receive, and she couldn''t stop her laughter anymore. Garan would definitely age badly! Chapter 950 - 950: Families Formed and Reunions (Part 1) After a few more hours, dismissal time finally came. Some parents came to fetch their kids, while most children were let be since Alterra was safe anyway. More importantly, it was a good way to encourage independence. This was no longer Terra where the children''s problem would be finding a school or getting extracurricular points. This was Xeno where the biggest problem was avoiding deaths by mobs or wars. Those could affect an adult or a child. The earlier they foster independence, the better it would be for the child. Of course, there were also parents and guardians who fetched the kids just because they were too excited to hear more about this school¡ªsomething so unreachable to them before that they wouldn''t even consider even getting near its gates. One of them was Shinho, who had enrolled his sibling with mixed expectations. This was her first day here, and he wanted to see how it was for her¡ªhe wanted to see what this ''academy for all'' was like. He was also already making a lot of plans on what to do so they could afford his family''s residencies so his sister would gain access to more classes. As he waited though, his peripheral vision caught a flash of a dark-skinned woman passing by, making him blink. "Ferra?" He voiced out, a bit confused. He was sure she was applying for a job in various restaurants in another district. Shinho was applying for a guard position, but the exams would be held on different dates. Anyway, she shouldn''t be roaming around in this area at this time. "Ferra!" he yelled. "What are you¡ª" His voice died when she turned to him, realizing that the woman had very very similar features to Ferra, but it wasn''t her. Unexpectedly though, the woman practically ran into him, eyes wide with excitement. "You know my sister?" ¡­ On the other hand, many of the ''free'' kids played for another hour or so before finally going home. Some were heading West, some east, while some were heading straight to the orphanage where they lived. Two of these kids were the adorable Mauin villagers Pongo and Gururu. Pongo and Gururu didn''t have parents. Their parents had long gone, even before their former territory, Mauin Village, fell. For the most part, their parents became slaves during wars except for Gururu''s father, who died directly during a fight. Becoming slaves for that Tome territory was a death sentence, so everyone was certain their parents were gone. They were too young to remember to feel too sad though. The two kids just lived off their own hard work for as far as they could remember. Now that they were supported by the territory until they became adults, they finally had the time to be like true children, and the smiles on their faces had never been brighter. They were particularly bouncy as they went home this time though. They came earlier than usual too, as they usually played with the other kids until dusk. So why did they happily go home earlier today? Because¡­, today was the fifth day of the week and it meant shopping day! Shopping Day was when the orphanage replenished its pantry! The kids were excited because this was the time they got to choose their menu¡ªat least to some degree. "No, we won''t have cotton candy for dinner tomorrow." Well, there were obviously limitations. However, today''s trip was special. As a treat for doing well in school (the school sent reports every week to the guardians), the headmistress¡ªa middle-aged woman named Helen¡ªdecided to be a little more lenient. "We can have gouji fruit pie for dessert, but on the weekend." "Okay, we can do Roast Gugu Bird..." "Okay, we can bake the tart together." And so on¡­ They were also allowed to choose one simple snack for themselves on top of the usual groceries! "Yay!!" They cheered, making several rounds and choosing the treats they had been wanting to buy. Some chose a pack of candies, some chose sugary snacks, and the like. They were so happy they started singing a nursery rhyme taught at school. "Yohohoho~ Yohohohooo~" "Yohohoho~! Yohohohoooooo~" Anyway, it was very cute and put smiles on the other shoppers'' faces. Eventually, the trip was finished with most of the orphanage lining up together even if they shared carts. They just wanted the ''experience''. Apparently, queuing up in the grocery store made them feel a little like an adult. By the time they got to the cashier, the kids got even noisier. "Oh, it''s sister Samantha!" "Sister Samanthaaa~" The pretty young girl behind the counter chuckled at them. She was in her tweens, but she looked quite professional. She was one of the teenagers being supported by the orphanage. "Hello, kids." "Wow, I didn''t know this is where you worked," another kid said. "So COOL!" "Wow, I wanna work here too!" "How''d you get such a nice job?" "My brother''s friends," was all she said, packing up the groceries for them. "Wow¡­ cool brother!" another child said, but then remembered something. "I''m sorry for your loss." This was proper manners taught to them at school, when they thought someone had passed. Samantha gave a wry smile. "He''s alive." "EH? Then¡­ why are you in the orphanage?" The question was completely innocent, but it made Samantha pause. Helen was busy with a few kids that she noticed the interaction a bit too late. "Sorry, Samantha," she said as she arrived next to them. She rubbed Pongo''s curly hair. "Say sorry." Pongo bit his lips, realizing he said something wrong. His eyes glazed. "Sorry Sister Samantha¡­" The girl shook her head and waved her hand. "It doesn''t matter," she said. She wondered about the same question many times. Helen sighed, and just ushered the kids out. "Let''s go kids. Don''t you want to start cooking dinner early?" Everyone of the kids had to do chores at Home. Many of them particularly liked making dinner with the headmistress, and it was one of the things they looked forward to. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "YESSS!" they yelled, their steps going out faster than ever. Helen smiled, shaking her head, before she turned to look at Samantha. "Are you eating dinner at home?" she asked. The girl thought for a while, looking at Pongo who was anxiously waiting for her answer. She wasn''t planning to go back, but she nodded in the end. The little boy would''ve blamed himself if she didn''t eat at home, even when she often did this before. "Okay, we''ll make save you a few servings," Helen said, before they finally left. Samantha kept her smile as she welcomed her next customer. "Welcome!" She said, checking in the items they were purchasing. Her heart was clenching, but she tried her best not to show her turmoil. "Eh? Young lady? Why are you crying?" "I¡­" She rubbed her eyes, but the tears weren''t stopping. She looked to the side for help. Fortunately, one of the staff saw an anomaly and called in the manager. He wanted to nag her but saw how pitiful she was. In the end, he just asked her to take the rest of the day off as he took over the counter. The young girl dropped down to the floor as soon as she entered the locker room. She squatted down, burying her face in her arms. "Why are you in the orphanage?" Yes, why was she? Because her brother left her alone! Samantha¡­ was Gian''s sister. When she found out by accident that her brother was alive, she was so happy¡ªonly to be met with disappointing news, instead! "Useless brother," she mumbled, tears continuously flowing out of her eyes. She was still a minor. How could he leave her like that? Brother, you jerk! Chapter 951 - 951: Families Formed and Reunions (Part 2) "Did I say many things wrong?" Pongo couldn''t help but ask as they walked back Home. Helen smiled and rubbed his head. "The important thing is to learn," she said. "We should just make a delicious dinner for her, no?" Pongo brightened at this, determined to make up for his mistakes. "Hmn!" It was just that when they got back to the orphanage, they were surprised to find a woman waiting in the living room. "Bianca?" Helen uttered, a little surprised she was there at this time. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She looked at the kids, "Go prepare the ingredients and the kitchen," she said, and the kids were very obedient¡ªhappily heading to their large shared kitchen to play, er, get to work. Bianca''s sight couldn''t help but follow the little ones, and her shoulders slumped. Helen saw this and seemed to realize what the other woman could be here for. The two of them got close during the Tea Club, a social club formed by mature women to talk about life. This was founded by Mathilda and Rosalind, who hoped to create a community for like-minded individuals. There, Bianca had mentioned many times that she wanted to have children. Unfortunately, it wasn''t possible for her at this time. Helen mentioned in jest that she could always adopt, and it seemed like the other woman had begun to truly consider it now. "Hmn," Bianca admitted. "I do hope to adopt soon¡ªif possible, I''d like to have two." A while back, there were a pair of friends who got Bianca''s attention. They worked part-time, helping stores clean up their items and even get customers. They were very diligent and she would see them around most days after school. One day she asked them and found they were working to get some cotton candy every day. It was both touching and heartbreaking. She believed that children should be enjoying their childhoods¡ªeven if they were being trained to be independent. She wanted to provide that for them. In fact, Bianca had gotten herself checked in the hospital. She hoped for a miracle that their improved bodies could somehow allow her to have children. She received news that, for now, she couldn''t, but it wasn''t hopeless. She just had to level up a few more times and get checked again. But Bianca really wanted kids too much, and she really wanted to help those kids grow up like the other kids with families. Helen and the other staff members were doing a great job with the orphanage, but there was a limit. There was some type of affection that close-knit families could not provide to these children. Helen looked at her for a while and nodded. "Come with me," she said and Bianca followed the older woman to the kitchen. There, she saw a group of kids preparing food¡ªsome of them were cleaning vegetables, some were chopping them, and the others were preparing the main work area. She felt a hand on her shoulder. Bianca turned to see Helen smiling at her. "Join us." ¡­ Dinner was nice. There was a very long table in the orphanage, so all of them could eat at the same time. Bianca was introduced to them as Helen''s friend. They all welcomed her well, calling her ''auntie bianca'' very cutely. They all cooked together after all, so it could be said that they had already bonded. The entire time, Bianca''s heart was warm and she knew for certain that she truly, truly, wanted a child. When dinner was over, the kids were asked to clean up after themselves, while the two ladies went to the veranda to chat. "So¡­ what do you think?" Helen asked. Bianca looked at her with a determined look on her face. "I''m ready." ¡­ A few minutes later, Gururu and Pongo were called to where Helen was, and they were unsure what to expect. Rather, they vaguely thought they''d be in trouble. They couldn''t help but think of what they could''ve done to get them in trouble. Gururu''s hands were still wet from washing the dishes, and he rubbed that on his pants. However, there should also be a bit of cold sweat mixed in there. "Did you turn off the faucet?" He asked Pongo, who nodded repeatedly. "Of course! We can''t waste water! That''s bad!" the curly-haired little boy said, before looking at the bald kid suspiciously. "You didn''t leave the toilet seat down again, did ya?" Gururu''s feet paused, and he immediately paled. "Do you think it''s because of that?" The two kids looked at each other, with Pongo looking at his friend in pity. The little monk crossed his arms though. "Well, if I''m the only one in trouble, why did you get called, too?" "...moral support?" "..." Anyway, they arrived at the door a few minutes later. Pongo was the brave one to knock (lightly, but twice). When they entered, they saw not only Miss Helen, but also the very fun Miss Bianca too! They all really liked Miss Bianca! She was so gentle and cool. She promised to show them how to make toy swords soon! "Come here, boys," Helen said, asking them to take seat between them. She was not smiling though, while Bianca was covering her mouth with her hand. Immediately, the two boys felt nervous and their movements stiffened. However, they were good kids who still followed adults'' requests anyway¡ªeven if they were scared. They were both 8-year-olds who hadn''t reached a growth spurt yet. They had also been malnourished their whole lives and had only started eating properly when they got to the orphanage. So¡­ even for aborigines, they were quite small. They struggled to climb up the chair a bit, and their feet didn''t touch the ground. The two well-behaved boys sat there, looking guilty for a crime they didn''t know and the two women couldn''t help but chuckle. The kids blinked. Bianca realized that Pongo even had some onion skin stuck on his curly hair. She chuckled, taking it away. She was unsure how she was going to be as a mother, but she wanted to give it a shot. No, she would make it work. Helen said before she called the children in¡ªwith the most serious expression Bianca had ever seen her in. She told her: Once taken, cannot be given back. Children were not inanimate objects that could get refunded, after all. Once adopted, she had the responsibility for them until they became adults. And she had to do so without the thought that they owed her. Parents should not obligate their kids to ''return their care''. Children would give back to their parents because they were loved and raised well¡ªthey would ''return'' the favor from a place of love, not of obligation. Bianca took all of these lessons well, and was determined to become the best guardian she could be. She looked at the two boys, who were so good, and innocent, but also responsible and adult-like. They knew they could not be separated without hurting one, so neither women even considered doing so. It made Bianca the best choice for adoption, because she was well-off with a lively family, so she could give a good foundation to the kids'' proper growth. She smiled, patting both of their little heads. "Boys¡­ do you like Auntie Bianca?" "YES!" They said at the same time, rounded eyes filled with sincerity. Bianca''s heart felt like it would explode in warmth. "Then¡­ would you give me the honor of becoming your mother?" Chapter 952 - 952: Barons Family Alterra Home for Kids "Goodness gracious," Helen said with part exasperation and part amusement. "They''ll still be in the same village and go to the same school¡­" The kids didn''t seem to hear her though, and they just hugged each other¡ª as if they wouldn''t see each other the very next day in school. "Waaa¡­." "Byeee Gururuu¡­" "We''ll miss you Pongoooo¡­" Seeing the kids being cute like this, Bianca couldn''t help but chuckle. She turned to Helen with a mirthful smile. "I feel guilty but also funny at the same time. What to do?" Helen''s eyebrows rose. "It''s your fault, go calm them down." The other woman laughed and walked over to the kids, her hands patting the two boys'' heads. "Well, as a farewell gift from my sons," she said. "Who wants to have some cotton candies?!" The children brightened immediately, as if their tears went back up to their eyes. "YESSS!" ¡­ While the new mother-and-sons went to the market to get some treats with their friends, Baron was elsewhere¡­ being harassed by Thessy. "Why don''t you listen to me! I really like you! But¡­ it''s your family, I¡ª" Thessy paused, looking around with teary eyes, as if afraid they''d be overheard.. Baron looked around. They were in a park, now lit with protected torches. There weren''t many people, but they certainly weren''t the only ones there. "Your cousins, they¡­" she whispered. "They told me to leave you alone! I was scared¡­ can you forgive me?" She was startled when Baron''s expression did not change, however. At some point, Baron realized what his cousins were doing. They were interfering with his love life. When he realized it, he found out that his many near-successes would fail more or less due to the family''s intervention. If it was in Terran he''d have been angry. After all, how dare they interfere with his life?! No one would appreciate it! However¡­ in Xeno, he had seen a lot of dirty things people did to survive. Here, choosing the wrong partner could literally kill you. How many lovers went against each other during this time? Some even directly pushed their partners into monsters'' mouths to escape! Thessy was not satisfied with his reaction and she started alluding that his cousins were stopping him from getting into a relationship to keep his money. However, Baron did not fall for it. He was a shrewd businessman in the end, even if he never managed to handle his love life well. He had grown up with his cousins, and he knew very well they''d guard him the same way even if he was broke. However, he still knew Thessy wouldn''t stop until she found a new target. He heard she got fired from her latest ''easy'' babysitting job with Kimmy gaining some clarity. "Thessy, I''m sorry but I don''t love you anymore," he said, "Besides, I have to pay so much taxes, salaries, and others, how can I afford a woman like you?" "But¡ª" Thessy paled, trying to hold on his arm, but he avoided it so abruptly she almost lost her balance. For a moment, she thought he''d catch her but he made no effort to do so, so she had to keep herself up by instinct. "Goodbye, Thessy," he said, thinking he looked cool and somber, slowly turning away as if he was in a movie. "Move on." And he walked away, just like that. "..." ¡­ After a fun market trip with a dozen kids, Bianca got back home with her two children. "We''re home now," she said with a smile, her hands on each boy''s shoulders as she ushered them past the gate. The two children gaped as they looked at the nice house with beautiful clusters of plants in the front garden. Of course, the orphanage was also very nice, but it felt different to have a ''home'' like this. Bianca let them take in the sights before leading them inside the house, where they saw a couple of people lounging in the living room, playing a board game. "No! Guguing, is not a word!" Angelo said, taking away a few tiles from the board. "Yes, it is!" another mumbled, placing back the precious scrabble tiles. His wrist was held in position by his opponent, of course. "No, it''s not!" The two cousins were definitely about to enter a brawl, and their other relatives just rolled their eyes in exasperation. Bianca''s eyes twitched. She was hoping for the family to get a cool first impression, but alas. She clapped her hands to get everyone''s attention. The family turned to them simultaneously, causing the two kids to flinch. "These are your uncles and aunts," she said. "Greet them." "H-Hello, Uncles, aunties¡­" they said, a bit shy, and Bianca proceeded to introduce them, too. The cousins immediately stood up and surrounded they boys. "Ah, Bianca¡­er, your mother talked a lot about you!" one said with a wide grin on his face. Angelo kneeled down and patted their heads. "Do you remember me?" They nodded. Angelo was one of the people who saved their group back then! The other one, Uncle Jessy, was still in the satellite Limestone Valley at this time. The others introduced themselves and the children were a little overwhelmed, but they felt like laughing anyway. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Now let me show you your rooms," she said, guiding them to their place. The team had two villas, one for the girls and one for the boys. Each one had their own rooms. This was the arrangement so that if they had significant others and didn''t want to move out, they would still have sufficient privacy. It so happened that the girl''s villa still had a few rooms available. Of course, as kids, they''d be sharing. They were used in the orphanage anyway, and even worse in their old village, so they could get uncomfortable having a space to themselves. She''d give them their own rooms when they become teenagers. Before heading to the Orphanage, she had already informed the family of her decision. So, while she was with Bianca and bonding with the kids, the cousins were actually preparing a room for the children. Fortunately, their team was woodworkers and they had a furniture store, and it could really be done within a day. The boys gaped as they looked at the room with two beds. They were comfortable custom beds with storage spaces underneath. They would go up a few steps to get to them, which made it feel like they had their own special nook. There were also study tables, one for each of them, and each had their own storage areas for their books and school supplies! There was even a small climbing area on one of the walls! "This is your room," Bianca said, leaning down a bit as she held a shoulder each. "Do you like it?" The two kids looked at her, eyes a little glazed. "The room is amazing!" Gururu said. "I like it so much!" Pongo cried. They remembered how their friends would thank their parents when they gave them something good¡ªsomething they had been so envious of. They hugged her waist, taking one side each, and they looked up at her with eyes filled with admiration. "Thank you mom!" Chapter 953 - 953: Sheila’s Family is Here In another house rented by a certain aborigine group, the identical twins Ferra and Fona were sobbing their hearts out. "Wuuuu¡ªsister! I never thought I''d see you again! Wuu¡­" "I''m so happy¡­ wuuu¡­" Their village was a village South called Tsho Village. It was located near a stream and by the mountainside. This should''ve been a good place, but a lot of beasts passed by their location, making it difficult for them to leave the territory. This was why, despite the apparent abundance of the resources outside, food was a bit harder to acquire than others. Eventually, a group of people who ate fellow humans appeared, but they were small in number. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The sad part was that these people were strong and they were the territory''s main forces against the beasts so they couldn''t kick them out. Because of this, the people had to live in fear in their own homes¡ªafraid that the human eaters would decide to eat one from within the walls again. They would be lucky if they won a war because there''d be a lot of slaves and they''d be safe for months (since those people didn''t eat humans every day). However, when the heat wave happened, these people convinced people to become like them. Ferra and Fona didn''t have any other families and had survived intact for so long because they could defend themselves somehow. They were also outcasted because of this but they had each other, so it was okay. One day though, they started dealing with another territory that had access to the springs that hadn''t dried out yet. One of them, Ferra, became a sacrifice to get water and a few pinches of salt bought from there. Fona was left behind and escaped when Fossu and the others passed by, rescuing her along the way. While the women caught up and cried, the rest of them gave them some space and just befriended each other. They were fellowmen from the South after all. There weren''t a lot of people like them here. On the other hand, the children Shishi and Fonfon were now playing a puzzle game in the corner, unaware of the drama going on in the adults'' side. They were going to have to bed soon, but they were definitely maximizing their time awake. "Well, it''s good that our groups found each other," Shinho said with a smile, combing back his orange hair. "Especially those two," he said, looking at the sobbing women. His heart felt happy and hopeful that such a happy coincidence could even happen. No, it was fate. "They''re special women," Fossu said with a chuckle, and his parents agreed with a smile. "Drink?" "Sure," Shinho said, and several other men went to follow them for a bit of fun. They were not rich, but the money they risked their lives for could buy a lot of things here. After so long, they deserved a lot of leisure time to make up for all the pain they went through during the first half of their lives. It felt like the wounds piled up one after the other, and it was only when they landed here that they truly had the chance to heal. In any case, the two women would definitely take a while to catch up, so the different groups separated to do their own thing. This was especially true for the men and the younger folks, who were excited to get out of the house at this late hour. They couldn''t help but be obsessed with Alterra''s nightlife. Before, because it was dark in most territories, people were already in bed as soon as the sun slept. There would just be guards and groups of people guarding the walls in case of monster mobs, but otherwise, the territory would be dead. If they get attacked, many would be summoned to help out, with their torches enflamed for visibility, but otherwise, they''d just be staring at the darkness and waiting for the slumber to hit. In Alterra, there was no such thing. It even seemed even more alive during the night. While the men left and the children were tucked to bed by the old people, the two sisters continued to chatter about endless things, giving detailed accounts of their own experiences apart from each other. Even when they found a good place, how could they truly¡ªtruly¡ªbe at peace when the state of their sibling was unknown? That changed today, and how blessed they felt! Soon, they laid down relaxedly as they chattered, not noticing as the tiredness descended upon them. The twins sniffed and cried, soon falling asleep side by side. ¡­ In another house, a similarly soft atmosphere was abound. Eagle bought a simple detached building for his family (i.e. Sheila). Sheila happily decorated it, making it completely their own. There was even a drawn portrait of them in the living room. It was very homey. The couple was spending quiet time together in the living room, with both of them holding books to read while snuggling. Eagle was holding his beautiful wife, who was wearing a lovely night dress and using his shoulder as a headrest, with his other hand¡ªthe fake one¡ªholding a book to eye level. The bright side of such an arm was that it wouldn''t feel sore at all. Anyway, at this time, Eagle was reading a war novel, while Sheila was reading a romance one. Eagle couldn''t help but peek just a bit, so he would get an idea of what romantic gestures she would appreciate. The text was very small and it was angled away from him. She had no idea just how good his eyesight was, though. It happened that the chapter was a little¡­ saucy. He gulped, looking at the woman who was completely unaware her privacy was breached. Did she like those kinds of things? He mused. He could do that¡­ His hand on her soft legs started to move, threatening to touch more intimate places. It took a while for Sheila to realize someone was being naughty. She squealed and squirmed when she felt some sensitive spots getting stimulated, immediately turning to him in aghast. "You¡ª" Eagle immediately took off his hand and raised them up as if in surrender. "I''m sorry¡ª" Sheila looked at him being so obedient, and pursed her lips. Her eyes ended up on the romance book she was reading. To be fair, she thought it was a wholesome romance when she was reading it. How was she supposed to know that the author¡ªher name was Heather¡ªwas actually a smut writer?! She had to admit though¡­ that the book, as well as her husband''s subsequent touching, did heat her up a bit. Eagle was already thinking of how to apologize when he saw his wife getting closer to him. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulder and she placed a tentative kiss on the side of his lips. This was a signal right!? What kind of self-respecting husband could refuse his wife!? She was so pretty in his eyes, especially when her cheeks were so red in embarrassment. He couldn''t help but place his hand on her back so she was flush against him, with him taking her lips into his mouth. However, his hand paused all of a sudden as he flinched. Sheila blinked, looking at him. "What''s wrong?" "The aether letter got a message," he said, sitting up a bit. They were duty-bound to always be ready to receive aether messages so¡ªno matter how hard it was (no pun intended) ¡ªhe had to open it up. Fortunately, it was just a ping. ¡­and it was the one sent whenever one of their relatives appeared in the territory!! Chapter 954 - 954: The Smith’s Reunion "What''s wrong?" Sheila asked, looking at her husband in a daze. She felt like pouting a bit. Obviously, it wasn''t oftentimes she initiated! That took a lot of courage on her part. However, for whatever reason, his eyes brightened as he turned to look at her. "You know how we have a group of people monitoring all the entries in the territory, right?" Sheila nodded. Althea granted a department access to the real-time population list. There were people watching the list for 28 hours of the day. "You know how we got the staff to ping us whenever certain names enter the territory, right?" Sheila blinked and sat up, a possibility dawning on her. Her heart beat faster as her soft palms grabbed his shirt. "Just get to the point, please." Eagle broke into a smile, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "Your father and brother''s names appeared and their ages matched. Do you want to take a look?" ¡­ The Shrao caravan arrived at night time. Earlier in the afternoon, they were unlucky and were attacked by a relatively big monster mob. Some of their strongmen got injured so it took them a while to get there. By the time they arrived in Alterra''s area, most people had been wounded somehow. The aborigines were dead tired, let alone the civilians¡ªsome of whom were Terran. But who were they to complain? They were just tagging along and they were warned they wouldn''t be protected nor provided resources for. Even if they paid quite a bit for each person, it was made clear that they would not be protected. Fortunately, they stayed long enough in this place to know a few edible plants and fruits to sate their hunger and thirst. They had also bought a few of those coarse bread from the Restaurant back in Shrao Village. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The aborigines all had some coarse bread as well, though it was notable how some of them also openly showed dislike for it. They even mentioned Alterra''s food with bits of longing, surprising the Terrans. At the time, Den and Albert looked at each other with curiosity and puzzlement in their eyes. The Caravan was supposed to buy a lot of things from Alterra. They wondered what a Terran village built 3 months ago could have that aborigines didn''t? Did a group of Terrans somehow manage to recreate some recipes or something? Then again, this place was very backward in some things, so perhaps a group was powerful enough to bring in some innovations. At the time, they just thought it''d be something a bit creative like jams or some simple sauces made from local plants. Of course, those were already very impressive. After all, in the past few months, most people were preoccupied with just surviving. Not many people would have the time to really experiment on something unavailable to the locals. But when they saw the walls and sentries, they couldn''t speak anymore. And then they entered and they were speechless. It was like they were suddenly thrown into a barrage of activity and brightness and they could only gape. "This¡­" Albert gasped, looking at the people going about the streets and the shops as if nothing was wrong with the world. Sheldon''s eyes widened, filled with admiration, while the rest immediately went to approach the nearest stalls. "Food!" "Drinks!" "Ohmygoodness!" Suffice to say, they ''lost'' a lot of people a few meters past the threshold. There were also people from the aborigine team who had seen Alterra for the first time. They gaped and gasped, their expression full of disbelief, unsure if this was really a village. They couldn''t believe their eyes, and even the Terrans were also shocked. Fellow Terrans did this? How?! It was around this time that a few people arrived and greeted them with smiles. "Welcome to nighttime in Alterra~! Would you like a guide?" "A¡­ guide?" What in the world¡­ "Yes! For a fee, we can guide you across the territory~ Only the public-accessible areas, of course." The Terrans looked at each other, minds going a little blank, but they nodded in the end. Encountering a tour guide in this place was so ''out there'' for them, but here they were. Anyway, they ought to take advantage. Fortunately, the fee was in groups. Some people still had excess money to hire a guide, and they allowed Albert and his son to tag along. The group immediately went to explore the village. Before going, everyone decided to buy a few things in the stalls! They weren''t rich but they magically could afford to treat themselves like this! The few coppers that could get them nothing outside, could actually buy a few things in Alterra! How happy! They were just simple snacks like a stick of barbeque or french fries¡ªbut it was easily the best meal they had in months! Of course, as they walked along the wide streets¡ªrunning parallel to an avenue with bikes¡ªthey naturally thought to look for their loved ones first. As fascinated as they were, they naturally couldn''t forget looking for them. At this, the poor guide¡ªLouie¡ª was barraged with some names and descriptions. He was guiding a group of a dozen, so he couldn''t absorb them at all. He might have heard of some familiar names, but got distracted fairly quickly when the list went on and on¡­ "Ah, you can send announcements in the Village Center¡ªfor a fee, of course," Louie just said with a smile, holding up his hand to stop them. "A lot of relatives have found each other that way. Don''t worry, it''s part of the tour. We should get there soon." Hearing this, the newcomers forced themselves to calm down¡ªto be patient for a bit longer. Louie could also sense that they were eager to the Village Center so he didn''t make any stopovers in the meantime, and they just went straight to the Center. Den and the others were already budgeting for the announcement, to be able to include as many names as allowable. Albert was thinking of how to borrow money. After buying his son and paying the caravan, he really didn''t have much left except for a couple of coppers. Fortunately, he didn''t need to spend anything at all, because a familiar voice sounded at the side. "Dad! Sheldon!" At first, they thought they were hearing things. When things were too good to be true¡ªthey usually were, after all. However, when they turned to see her smiling¡ªsafe and sound¡ªAlbert and his son couldn''t help but burst into tears. "Sheila!!" Chapter 955 - 955: Pedia and Oby-gn Department The next day, Dr. Cythia''s Pedia and Oby-gyn department was particularly busy. Fortunately, she had her assistant, Nurse Lea, a baby-faced 30-year-old who was also training to do her job for some basic cases. She was a new addition from Shrao nee Vismont Village as one of the slaves bought over by Alterra. She was now working hard in order to gain her freedom. Fortunately, the territory only took a portion of her salary. That, along with the low cost of living in Alterra, allowed her to live a comfortable life that made up for the suffering she went through during the past few months. She was still unable to afford a Resident status, and she was still a slave in name, but she had never been so free since the disasters happened. Anyway, at this time, she eagerly watched as the doctor handled a patient quite well-known in the territory. It was no other than the beautiful researcher Winona and her husband, the "Red Sun" Ansel. "Alright, Winona, how have you been feeling?" Dr. Cyntha asked the blonde, who was holding onto one of her husband''s hands. Ansel''s other arm wrapped around her shoulder as if enveloping her for her comfort, while she would unconsciously rest her head on him whenever she needed to. "It''s okay," Winona said. "Just a bit tired and nauseous sometimes." Dr. Cynthia nodded, noting down the symptoms on her patient record. "Have you been experiencing pain or discomfort?" Winona shook her head. "Just some cramping here and there." At this, Ansel massaged her palm as if by habit¡ªmassaging some pressure points to relieve tension. Dr. Cynthia and Lea couldn''t help but smile. "Alright, let me do a physical exam," she said and Winona stood up to lay down on the comfy bed. She stepped closer to Winona, palpating her abdomen gently with her hand, and feeling for any abnormalities. Winona was a bit tense, but she quickly relaxed when Ansel''s hand took hers, providing warmth and comfort. They might argue a lot, but Ansel still knew how to lessen her anxiety. "Everything seems normal here," she said. "Now, for a pelvic exam." Cynthia looked at the couple. "Did you bring Sheila''s notes?" They nodded, handing her a piece of paper with Sheila''s stamp. Since there was no ultrasound yet, there would be two days a week wherein Sheila was assigned to provide some ''ultrasound'' for them. It wasn''t detailed and Sheila wasn''t a good artist, but they could take what they could get. Of course, the Research Center''s Medical Team also made sure that doing so was safe for the baby. They did this by creating some dummy babies (made as accurately as possible with the synthetic materials they had available). Using Sheila''s skill on it, they determined that no damage had been done. The doctor looked at the stamped paper, reading the findings. It had a little doodle, though it was comprised mostly of notes. Approximately 5 weeks in gestation. The embryo is small but distinct with a developing heartbeat. The gestational sac is visible and the yolk sac is effectively providing the initial nourishment. Heart rate detected is approximately 110 beats per minute. Within normal range for this early age. Uterine Condition: No abnormalities or signs of complications are observed. There was also a note saying the fetus itself was in good condition. She smiled and looked at the couple who seemed particularly worried every time they visited her. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Well, you don''t need to worry," she said. "The child is healthy. You''re doing a great job¡ªboth of you are." ¡­ Speaking of Shiela, she had a long line of patients getting a scan at this time. She was in a very good mood. She found her family after all, and they were settling in quite nicely. Somehow her mood increased her efficiency so she had finished quite a few patients earlier than she thought. Sheila''s place was a doctor''s room where she did a private ''scanning''. The patients ranged from those checking for ailments (mostly according to doctor request, with directions on where to focus to save on mana), to pregnancies. Mostly, pregnancies. So many young lives were forming¡ªand it was obvious that Mathilda''s new policy was already showing effects. Seeing the traces of the fetuses was her favorite thing to do in this assignment. New lives, new hope. Sheila also wanted one, she thought longingly, unconsciously patting her own stomach. She wondered when she could? Because of the level differences between her and Eagle, procreation wasn''t as easy as the others. Of course, she was told they just needed a bit more time, and it was still very much possible for them to have a child. Imagining her own child was already making her happy. Of course, if Eagle heard of this longing, he''d be very very glad to help her out. Success in this case was a number''s game, after all. They just had to do it way more times than before! ¡­ Anyway, Sheila was a professional and did not linger in her daze for too long. She got the next few patients in, and handled them with the greatest care she could give. After another hour, Shiela finished scanning a patient recovering from a bone injury. "The bone is healing nicely," she said, also writing the note down. "But you still can''t put pressure there." "Thanks, Miss Sheila," the young lad said, blushing a bit, though her husband''s scary face flashed in his mind and the thoughts were immediately wiped off. Sheila smiled, taking note of the patient in her logbook. She looked at her stats. She was limited to a certain number of patients which required only a handful of mana cookies in order not to overexert herself. This next one happened to be the last one. She didn''t look at the info yet as she was still finishing some notes on the previous patient. "Next patient please," she said without looking at the door but, when she lifted her head, her eyebrows rose when she saw who it was. "Kimmy?" Chapter 956 - 956: More Pregnant Women In stark contrast to the bubbly chubby woman she met before, this Kimmy was thin and had big eye bags. Sheila felt pity for the woman and what she had to go through. It wasn''t that they didn''t try to reach out, it was just that when they visited her, she was really unresponsive. It was normal to be traumatized after being humiliated like that. Worse was that they didn''t have closure yet. They hadn''t even found the actual perpetrators for that tragedy, so now she had to live like this for months. Sheila, and many others, were understanding and came by her house every few days. However, a lot of things happened since then, with the Heat Wave and the mass weddings (and their newly wedded lives in consequence) as the latest changes. They also found out that Raine had hired a housekeeper and nanny for her, so with their busy schedules they just¡­ forgot. This made her feel very bad. She gave the woman a smile as she asked her to sit down. "What concerns do you have? Do you have a doctor''s request?" She asked, very gently. Kimmy didn''t really answer her. Instead, she gave Sheila the paper with Dr. Cynthia''s stamp. Sheila looked at the contents, and her hands unconsciously gripped on the request. Her eyes widened and she looked at the unsmiling Kimmy. Pregnant? And looking at the timeline¡­ A sense of dread and sadness came over Sheila as she stared at the tragic figure of the other woman. Could it be those¡­ aborigine men? ¡­ Back to Doctor Cynthia''s room, Ansel and Winona finished up their session and went outside, looking at the couple next in line. It was Althea and Garan, with the babies. "Your turn," Ansel said, his claws lightly pinching the babies'' faces, which earned a light slap courtesy of his wife. "Don''t! Their cheeks would mark." He tutted. She used to do it all the time! So biased, he thought. But he didn''t say it out loud, knowing his wife was emotional. Althea chuckled at their interactions before heading inside with her husband. They were greeted by the nurse there, whose eyes sparkled at the sight of them. Nurse Lea had hearts in her eyes whenever she saw the twins. So cute, so cute! Such angels! Lea and the doctor were a bit surprised to see this family here though. A thought hit them like a Broat: What if the kids were ill?! Why else would the babies be in the hospital without a prior appointment!? The smiles on their faces immediately faded, and their expressions turned to that of worry. Their anxiety was so obvious that Althea couldn''t help but explain. "Just a consultation. Nothing serious." The two women heaved a breath of relief. Anyway, now that that was settled, the two women zoned in on the ultra-cute babies. As a pediatrician, Cynthia naturally had a lot of toys in her room (it just felt natural even when there were very few babies compared to before) and she handed a stuffed toy to the babies to keep them busy and distracted. They had plenty of toys, a lot of fancy ones, anything colorful was fascinating to the babies¡ªat least for a bit. "Mwamammggg¡­" "Googmmggg¡­" The adults smiled at their cuteness before chatting with each other. "You see, they''ve been showing signs of standing up, and we''re worried if their bones can handle it." "I see¡­" Cynthia said after a pause, trying to remember how old the babies were. She had heard they were much younger than they looked, but probably not too young, right? "How old are they?" "They''re four months old." "..." The doctor cleared her throat and looked at the babies again. She took note of the information¡ªever the professional¡ªand started talking to herself as she pondered. "Some developmental milestones like crawling and rolling over, especially pulling up to stand, had indeed been achieved. "Technically speaking, they would indeed be ready to stand up soon," she said, before shifting her attention to the parents. "But they''re too young and you''re worried, I understand." The couple nodded. "Sheila had checked the babies'' bone densities and said it seemed around the same as 1 year old children. " Though for comparison, they used Theo, and they were indeed not that different. The doctor noted all of these while nurse Lea''s face changed every time the babies'' did. For example, Little Pepper would babble, and she would unconsciously mirror the movement. For example, Little Meatball''s little hands would wave as he played with his toy and she would wave back. The doctor sighed, gently tapping her to get back her professionalism. "If you don''t learn anything during your apprenticeship, I won''t pass you." The words shot seriousness up the girl''s spine. "Yes, Mam!" She raised her clipboard to take the proper notes, trying very hard not to get distracted by the little ones'' cuteness. "I''ll do a physical exam for them, then," Dr. Cynthia said, asking them to lay the twins on the bed so she could check on their muscle strength and joint flexibility. Lea went to the side in order to distract the babies (a happy assignment, really). Seeing the babies stable, the doctor gently manipulated the legs, bending, and straightening their knees and ankles to evaluate the range of motions. As she did so, she also taught Lea how to do it and what to look for, with the latter noting everything¡ªdespite itching to poke the babies'' chubby tummies, which were very obvious since they wore cute onesies. The doctor had no idea what was going on in her apprentice''s head. She just went to speak to her like the professional she was. "Lea, we''re now checking whether the babies'' legs can hold their own weight even for short periods. Their muscles should be firm and their balance, even if they were wobbling, should be improving." Lea snapped out of her daze from the cutesy attacks and held a baby''s arm pits like the doctor was doing. "Also look for the coordination between their legs." They took bigger toys they could use for support and positioned the babies over it so they could move their legs. "The babies can bear their weight and show some progress in balance," Cynthia noted, and so did Lea. They then did a series of tests that the babies seemed to find amusing. After a couple more exams, the Doctor faced the parents to tell them the results. "They should still take a few more months," she said, "But you can put them in cruisers or activity walkers to aid them." The couple nodded at this, remembering her words. Before ending the session, Dr. Cynthia also told them about a few more things to watch out for. "Go to me as soon as anything abnormal happens." S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Thank you, Doctor," she said, already planning on giving Baron a call to customize the cruisers. The couple went out with a baby each in their arms. They met Winona and Ansel who were waiting for them in the hospital gardens, which were even more beautiful than before. Really, even in Terran, such a nice garden in a hospital was limited to the higher-tier areas. Here, it was accessible to all patients, helping with their psyche and recovery. Winona saw them approach and immediately left her husband to greet them and the children. She leaned down to give the twins a few smooches and then asked how the check-up went. "They''ll be walking in another month or two," Althea said. "We can finally use cruisers though." "Wow so cute~!" she squealed, imagining the babies going around on their own. She gently touched her own tummy, as if she could already see her own child as big as the twins and her heart turned to puddle. "Well, you''ll be born just in time to have playmates!" Chapter 957 - 957: New Arrivals While the family headed back to their villa, a new caravan had arrived. This one came from Bright Village, a consistent partner of Alterra. A lot of the people immediately headed to their target places as soon as they went past the threshold. Whether it was towards the supermarket, the clothing stores, the marketplaces, and the like¡ªhoards of people rushed towards their shops, afraid that the stocks would run out. It wasn''t the first time it happened! In contrast, the new faces were left standing in the middle of the wide sidewalk in awe. This was Hana, Atlas, Tim, and Tilda. It was only them in their group, the rest of them decided to stay in Bright Village, which seemed like a very good place already anyway. There were also those, like Laos, who stayed because they didn''t want to be near Tilda at all. It wasn''t easy for the four of them to join the caravan though. In hopes of increasing his own population, Micheal had added a tax and payment for the non-citizens who came along with the caravan. They would also pay a bond twice that amount, which the territory would keep in case they decided not to come back to Bright and settle in Alterra. This discouraged most of the refugees who were poor and had just enough to survive day to day. However, this was not the case with Hana and the others. It wasn''t that they had plenty of money, but they did have reasons to gamble much of their remaining money to get here. After gathering himself, Atlas took a deep breath and prepared to head out as well. He looked at his former companions. "Well, this is where we part." This made the others flinch, especially Tilda who looked at him with a betrayed expression on her face. "Why? Are you going to leave us?" she asked. Atlas almost rolled his eyes. "You tagged along with me to get to safety. I allowed it. Now we''re safe, do you still hope for me to carry you?" "That''s not what I mean¡ª" "Also, Tilda, don''t forget that no one would want you in their team¡ªespecially not after what you''ve done," he said, looking at Tim, who seemed embarrassed for his sister. "You''re lucky to have a good brother, but even good people have their limits." He walked over to Tim and patted his shoulder. With a low voice, he gave the other man the last advice he''d give to him. "Sometimes, the hardest¡ªbut wisest¡ªthing you can do is to walk away from those who harm you, even if they are related by blood." He walked away then and they could only watch as he disappeared deeper into the territory. Tilda wanted to follow but was held back by her brother. She whipped her head to glare at him, eyes a bit teary. "Why didn''t you stop him?!" Tim shook his head. "Didn''t you see? He has a direction. He probably found his relatives." Back in Bright, they went around after renting a bedspace in the dormitory. They all found something interesting, and most of it had to do with the ''master'' village called Alterra. The siblings just heard of the place''s amazingness and they wanted to see it. On the other hand, Atlas found leads to people he wanted to find. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the time, he was asking around and dropping names, hoping to get some information. With his background as a former police officer, he naturally managed to get a lot of information. For one, Alterra was worth the risk and he was seriously considering going there instead. The fact that the territory imposed a high tax and bond on those leaving for Alterra meant people were likely to stay there when they were given a chance. He was already planning to say goodbye to the ''team'', never really thinking he''d stay with them forever. After all, they¡ªwith a few exemptions¡ªhad just depended on him for guidance and a little protection and he was glad to let go of the burdens. Unexpectedly, a guard approached him at some point. He was apparently called by the lord himself. He was confused at first, and he just thought perhaps the man wanted to hire him. The lord of their former territory wasn''t very secretive so they knew a lot of their capabilities as Lords. For one, they knew lords could see what was in their wallets, what their potential was, as well as their professions and elements. It was extremely intrusive, but what could they do? He went with the guard for formality, though he might consider staying if the offer was good and if he could get information about his loved ones somehow. He arrived the see a striking man with blonde hair, and his instincts told him he had blood in his hands. He was clean and a bit intimidating, and Artie wasn''t sure what to expect. Instead of a hiring notice though, he was asked a question that shook his core: "Do you know of an Artie Cruz?" Atlas flinched, looking around. His eyes brightened a bit at this, and his heart hopeful. "Yes, he''s my brother." Micheal didn''t answer for a while, the pause causing Atlas''s heart to clench. However, his mind refused to go in a bad direction. "Where¡­ is he?" "He''s not here," he said, straight to the point. "He''s no longer here. "I''m sorry for your loss." "W-What?" "For what it''s worth¡­ he died trying to save people," he said, standing up to pat the man''s shoulder. "He also lived honorably even if life was hard. You should be proud." Atlas''s ears rang for a long time, still absorbing the fact that his brother was no longer there. The lord here apologized to him himself, telling him everything that he knew, which should''ve been flattering, but he was still reeling from the news of his brother''s death the whole time. His little brother who followed him to the police academy because he admired him so much¡ª To be honest, it was too much of a shock that he couldn''t even mourn. "His former team is in Alterra, and he gave a lot of importance to them, and they to him," Micheal said. "I''ll waive the caravan fees for you if you want to see them yourself." Atlas didn''t even need to think. He nodded and went away without turning back¡ªdesperate to meet the people who had known his brother before he died. At the very least, he wanted to know how his brother truly lived during the last months of his life! Chapter 958 - 958: Hana’s Hunt A/N: The last of today''s mass release! Again, THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT! May we keep our T1 rank all the way to the end of the month *prays* ... ___ The three of Tim, Tilda, and Hana went together to check the famous marketplace. On their way there though, they couldn''t help but walk around in a daze. It felt like they were in a unique tourist spot of an old well-developed town, improved by the government. The whole place had a quaint feel to it, yet with some of the conveniences of modern times. There were shops abutting the entire street and they ended up window shopping a lot. They didn''t dare buy some ''luxuries'' like new clothing and the like for now¡ªeven if they, especially the women, wanted to. After all, their money was limited and the basics had yet to be covered. Anyway, there were so many things! And when they arrived at the marketplace, they were naturally shocked. The one in Bright¡ªwhich fascinated them already¡ªwas actually too small compared to this! Sadly, they had no extra money. What they had was just enough for shelter and some basic food. Fortunately, the things here were inexpensive compared to their original territory that overcharged, and they could still afford a few things. Tim bought his sister and Hana some bread and then a small serving of jam. Before the heat wave, they lived off that coarse bread and tangy meat, and during the heat wave they would even eat the barks of dried trees. This was already heaven. As they ate together, however, they couldn''t help but get a whiff of the scents from other tables. Their stomachs growled as they looked in longingly at the other people''s lush menus and then looked down on their bread with jam. "Well, at least the three of us are together," Tim said with a smile, swearing he''d be able to afford some better food first. Tilda just rolled her eyes, looking around, and wondering if she could find someone she knew to treat her. Tim looked at Hana and held her hand. "We''ll work hard and afford those good food, too." "Hmmm¡­" Hana said, looking a little disengaged. In fact, she pushed to go to Alterra not just because she was curious about it. She insisted on going here primarily because she found out Ansel was here! Back in Bright, while Tim was settling their accommodations, she had decided to go around on her own. She ended up being lazy in the park while the others went around and hoped to find some relatives or friends. There were a lot of parks (compared to the previous territory, anyway) and she loved it very much. She was relaxing and wondering how to make a life out of this new home when she overheard a few girls picking fruits while fawning at the same time. It felt like she was brought back to before the disaster where this was a common sight. It felt a bit disorienting¡ªlike it was something from a previous life. Anyway, the girls looked like they were simping, squealing amongst themselves. "Master Garan is the best!" she said. "That cool chiseled profile is to die for!" "No, the Golden God is!" another said. "Master Garan is for Miss Althea only!" "Hugo and Helios are really great too! I like tanned men. Those muscles¡­ ughn~" "Fable is still the best for me. With the improved physiques here, he became even more handsome, and have you seen him quadruple flip? Oh my gosh! My panties fell when he landed!" "Master Ansel is so handsome! That flowy red hair¡ªI can just bury my fingers¡ªKyaaa~" "Ansel!?" She exclaimed, her voice higher pitched than usual. The girls flinched at the intrusion and they stared at her weirdly. "You¡­" Hana realized her overreaction and immediately gathered herself. "Ah, I''m sorry," she said, back to her demure self. Her face was flushed in embarrassment. Even during all that suffering, she had never lost herself like this. "Ansel Witt is an old friend of mine¡ªvery handsome, has red hair, and a charming personality. Are we talking about the same person?" "Ah! So you''re Master Ansel''s friend?" One of the girls said, looking at her with interest. "Wow, how nice is he?" "Very nice." "That''s so nice¡­" they said, fawning again. Hana took this chance to make her follow-up inquiries. "Can you tell me where he is? I would love to see him again." The girls blinked and, to her disappointment, shook their heads. "Ah, he''s not here," they told her. "He''s from Alterra." She remembered the name in her heart, determined to go there. So when Atlas announced he was going to Alterra, she supported his decision and even convinced Tim to do the same. They weren''t 100% into it because they had to pay a good amount to join the caravan, but she convinced him of all the good things she heard about Alterra. So here they were. She looked at the smiling Tim with a complicated expression. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. What should she do about Tim? Then, in her guilt, her eyes drifted to Tilda, who was staring at her with narrow eyes. Her heart dropped and she looked down and resumed eating her bread in silence. Anyway, she should find him first before doing anything. So many things happened since then and, knowing him, he probably got a few girlfriends in between. What if he was together with someone now? But what would he think if he saw her with a boyfriend? Would he dislike her? Would he think she was fickle? Or¡­ would he get jealous? Either way, Hana didn''t think too deeply about their current relationships, although her heart did clench a little at the thought of hurting Tim. However, even if she was reluctant to leave Tim, it was Ansel who could make her heart beat so loudly, making her feel alive. Although Ansel had a reputation, he was never bad to them. He was very good, and he made them feel nice and good about themselves. And because he never went beyond kisses, the women also felt he wasn''t in it for sex but for love. And because they didn''t give so much to him, the breakups were rarely messy. Rather, when he made clear that they should part ways, they just understood it was part of his character and that it was nothing personal. Their memories with him remained to be good ones. And her memories of Ansel... were some of Hana''s best. Who could blame her from wanting to get them back? Chapter 959 - 959: A Little Drama At this time, the subject of someone''s wishful thinking was massaging his wife''s feet. The couple was now sitting in the living room, with Winona lounging on the sofa with her feet on Ansel''s thighs. The others were out¡ªwith the Althea and Garan heading to the Woodworkers to customize a cruiser for each of the babies¡ªso Ansel and Winona were the only ones in Villa #1. "That tickles¡­" she giggled, before giving Ansel a look. "You know, my stomach isn''t even big yet," she said. Meaning to say, her feet weren''t sore just yet. "The doctor said this is good, and I listen to the doctor." Then he pressed a sensitive spot that enticed a moan and his eyes darkened. His hand started massaging northwards to her ankles¡­ and then her thighs¡­ Winona gasped, her face turning red. "H-Hey!" "It seems like you need a massage elsewhere," he said, appearing very serious and Winona could only watch as she was carried back to their room¡ªnot to go out again until dusk. ¡­ Eventually, some team members did arrive back in the villa area. For example, Harold and Sheila. Sheila had a conjugal house with Eagle, but earlier that day, the soldier left to do the standard rounds around their region. Eagle was assigned to the Caravan Team heading towards Belluga, so she would be alone for the next few days so the team invited her to have dinner here. The doorbell rang while Harold was cooking, so it was Sheila who checked who the visitor was. She did not expect to find a pretty girl, albeit a little thin and wan, staring at the gate of the Team Villas. "Is there anything I can help you with?" The girl flinched and looked at her. "I¡­ I''m looking for Ansel," she said, though her eyes were a little red. "I''m not sure if he''s inside. May I have your name?" "Hana," she said. "It''s Hana." Sheila nodded. "If you can wait¡­" The girl nodded and watched her open the gates. Before she headed in though, the other girl stopped her. "Wait!" she said, her voice becoming quieter. "Uhm.. is it true?" Sheila looked confused. "Is Ansel really married?" At this point, even the dense Sheila finally recognized what kind of visitor this was. "Yes. Happily so." "I see¡­" the girl said though Sheila wasn''t sure what she was thinking. Especially not when she raised her head and met her eyes. "Please let me talk to him." Sheila nodded, though much more reluctantly this time. She closed the gate and entered the main villa to see Harold already setting up the table. He saw her troubled face and smiled teasingly. "Do you miss your husband already?" Sheila blushed. "HAROLD!" Then she looked around, wanting to change the topic back. "Is Ansel here?" "I think so," Harold said, head pointing at the door. "With his wife." "Oh," Sheila said, heading out. "Where are you going?" S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Ansel has a visitor, but if he''s busy¡ª" It was around here that the door opened, revealing a very nourished couple. The two froze when they realized there were two people staring straight at their door. "..." "..." "W-What is it?" Ansel asked, couldn''t help but feel that they got caught again. But then he remembered they were married now so this was perfectly proper. At the thought, his chest puffed up and he lifted his chin. "What¡­ are you staring at?" he asked, a bit arrogantly, and it earned him a light slap at the back of his head, courtesy of his well-nourished wife. Sheila wondered if she should tell them. Would the nice atmosphere be affected? "Uhm¡­ someone''s looking for you, Ansel," she said. "Her name is Hana." "Hana?" "It''s one of your exes," Winona said with greeted teeth. Ansel blinked and looked at her. Instead of looking guilty though, he grinned. "Have you been following my life even before?" She punched him lightly, though not without a blush on her face. "I remember her because she was with you at that time!" She was referring to the time she was being harassed by her ex. Ansel happened to be there and saved her. He was with his then-girlfriend at the time, a pretty narrow-eyed girl with porcelain skin named Hana. But looking at how reluctant Sheila was, Winona knew this visit wasn''t as platonic as she''d like. However, she was never the type to back down. Rather, she''d rather confront the issue early on so they could all move on. "Invite her in." ¡­ Hana entered the home and looked around, her eyes filled with wonder and envy. The gardens, the pond, the swings, and the lovely home¡­ they were all so beautiful. Ansel lived like this in such a chaotic world. When she was struggling for a bite to eat or get a drop of water to sip¡­ he was living like this. She was envious as she was glad. She was glad he lived well, and was glad that she could also live like this if everything went well. She had heard Ansel was an important Elder here. Not to mention, his sister, Miss Althea, was one of the richest people in the territory. It was no wonder they had a great home. But she heard his wife was a researcher, which was also a highly-regarded profession, even in this place. Meanwhile, she¡­ She shook her head of the insecurities. No, he was so powerful, what could that woman do if he wanted to be with her instead? She was so happy when they were together. He also smiled and laughed a lot¡­ so he must''ve treasured those memories as much as she had, right? In any case, Hana entered the living room with mixed expectations. The house was well-decorated, but she didn''t have the mind to admire the interiors when she saw Ansel¡ªas handsome as ever¡ªsitting closely next to a beautiful curvaceous blonde. Hana had to stop the urge to look down at her own chest to compare. She bit her lips. "Ansel¡­" She said, voice so soft and gentle. It irked Winona very much. It wasn''t helping that she was hormonal. However, she still knew not to overreact lest she appeared insecure. This would not only make the other woman happy, but also think she would have a chance with Ansel. Things like this¡ªmust be nipped in the bud! Chapter 960 - 960: Settling Rivals Ansel felt her tension and he rotated her a bit so he could massage her shoulder. The movements fell into Hana''s eyes and her heart fell. But then his next words made her heart stop completely. "Does this feel stiff, too? I guess pregnancy causes pain all over¡­ or was it due to our exercise earlier?" he asked, looking genuinely concerned. "Was I too hard?" Winona blushed and pinched his thigh, making him flinch. However, rather than being angry, he laughed at her instead. He leaned down and kissed her cheek before turning to their guest whom they seemed to have forgotten for a moment. "Long time no see, old friend," Ansel said with a handsome smile, though his words made Hana want to cry. "How can I help you?" "I¡­ nothing," she said, "I just wanted to see you, for old time''s sake." "Hmn," Ansel said. "I''m glad you''re alright." "The same with you," she said. There was a moment of silence that was so awkward that it was painful to her. Seeing that Ansel wasn''t planning on opening a new topic, Hana pursed her lips. "Ansel? I¡­ I may need your help as well." If he helped her, maybe they''d have more chances to spend time together. Hana thought she just needed some time¡ªtime to remind him of their past. Ansel was still massaging his wife''s shoulder at this time. "What kind of assistance would you need?" "I¡­ may need to borrow some money," she said. It was embarrassing but she really needed it. Besides, which woman would feel comfortable when their husband handed another woman¡ªa woman they had a past with¡ªsome money? She could also use the terms of payment to spend a bit more time with him. For instance, she could pay bit by bit every week wherein she''d have a valid excuse of meeting up with him. Ansel blinked and looked at her apologetically. "If you need help, I can. However, the family money is being controlled by my wife, so we need to go through her first." "What?" Hana asked, turning to look at the beautiful blonde staring back at her. Hana gripped her skirt¡ªwhich was new by the way, bought with her remaining money so she could look presentable in front of Ansel¡ª "Miss Winona? I¡­ can I borrow some of Ansel''s money? I promise to give back when I can." Winona pursed her lips. She never asked this of him, but he learned from the best¡ªGaran¡ªand so he really did give her the money as soon as they got married. Wedding gift, he said. At the memory, her mood brightened again, and her smile became genuine as she looked at the other woman. The sight gritted Hana''s eyes and heart. "How much money do you need?" "I¡­ if you could lend us money for downpayment of a unit. Just a unit will do. There are only three of us. My boyfriend and his sister." She looked at him as she said the last part, but saw no reaction at the mention of her boyfriend. Ansel answered her this time. "In the bank, as long as you make an oath and find a job, you can apply for a loan," he said. "It''s not big at first, but it would give you time to adjust to this new world and eventually save up for residency and downpayment." "But¡­" "The interest rates are completely reasonable, you don''t have to worry," Ansel said, cutting her off. "But¡ª" Her voice and her disagreements died down when she saw Ansel stopped massaging Winona. He stood up and leaned down to kiss her forehead. When he approached her, Hana''s heart beat erratically, not sure what to expect. "Alterra is very supportive of new residents," he said. "You don''t need to lower yourself to make individual loans." Hana couldn''t speak anymore. If he said it like this, if she continued asking for money, what would she look like? "Goodnight Hana, my wife is a bit tired," he said, "I went too wild earlier, you see." "I¡­ see," was all she said, trying to keep her composure. "If you''ll excuse me¡ª" Hana left the house hurriedly, just wanting to be in her own space. She hadn''t even gotten far from the villa areas when her knees buckled, and she burst into tears. ... Hana didn''t come to their dorm until about an hour later. She was still sobbing a bit, but she didn''t want it to be obvious that she had been crying. What would she say? That she went to her ex and was humiliated instead? When she went back though, only Tilda was there. They were recent arrivals and were assigned to a new dormitory and didn''t have roommates yet. Where was Tim though? "He was looking for you. He had been for the past two hours," Tilda said, crossing her arms. "Where did you go?" "I¡­ I went to see old friends." "Just friends?" "Yes." "Don''t lie to me," Tilda said with sharp eyes, looking at her new dress, eyes flaring with jealousy. "Do you think I''m an idiot?" "Do you want me to tell my brother you came home crying like a pitiful little girl? Don''t say you''re crying because you got lost; Even Tim wouldn''t want someone so childish." "I¡­" Hana began to speak, but nothing came out. She could only watch as the tall Tilda walked over, looming over her petite frame. Tilda was in her mid-30s, tall and a bit pretty, but her features were as sharp as her words, making her very intimidating. "Tell me." Hana pursed her lips. Her eyes began to become teary again and it made Tilda want to slap her instead. Fortunately, Hana did talk so that tragedy did not happen. "I¡­ Ansel¡­ an old friend." Tilda''s already-sharp eyes fixed on her and it made her feel she was being stabbed. "You''re blushing. It''s an old flame, isn''t it?" Hana''s eyes changed and Tilda knew she was right. She was about to slap her¡ªhow dare this parasite cheat on her brother after everything he did for her¡ªbut then she paused. The name ''Ansel'' seemed familiar... sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 961 - 961: Plans for the Babies The name ''Ansel'' seemed familiar, Tilda thought. When she started to place the names¡ªshe was gossipy by nature and naturally heard a couple of ''important'' names¡ªher eyes widened and she looked at Hana. "Ansel? The handsome elder?" she asked, leaning over and intruding on the other''s personal space. "He lived in a nice villa?" Hana looked at her in confusion before nodding. At this, Tilda''s eyes sparkled. "Then let me help you." "What?" "Let me help you," Tilda repeated, eyes narrowing. Not only would she rid her brother of this parasite, she could also get connected to such a good family! Maybe she could even find her own target there! Genius! ¡­ Back at the villa, Althea felt a little sad that she missed the drama. Garan somewhat sensed her disappointment and gently squeezed her nose. They were now eating dinner and catching up with each other''s day. The first one that came up was the fact that one of Ansel''s exes arrived¡ªobviously trying to rekindle something¡ªonly to fail miserably. "Enough about me," Ansel said, tutting. He looked at his sister. "How was the trip to the wood factory?" Althea smiled. "Very well, actually," she said, giving an account of their visit to the woodworkers'' factory. Such an important tool naturally had to be designed well, which was something the woodworkers also took priority of. One feature was that the cruiser had to be extremely flexible. Because the babies grew fast, the baby walkers needed to adjust as well. The twins'' had a circular frame with a small fabric seat in the middle where the baby would be placed inside. Their weights would be supported by the raised seat and their little feet would rest on the floor, requiring only a bit of force from them to move forward or spin in place. It was designed so that the adults could leave the babies in a room and not be afraid that they''d fall or hit a surface (because the walker''s frames would hit them first). There were also plenty of toys built in and there was also another one that could be set like a fishing rod in front which the babies could run after. In Little Meatball''s walker, it was a sliced pineapple. In Little Pepper''s, it was strawberries. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There was also a small bell attached that would make a little sound with every movement so people would know where the babies were and where they could be heading. Althea also noted that Bianca also seemed to have adopted two little aborigine boys from Mauin. When they visited, both of them were in the factory¡ªwatching, learning on their own, and asking many intelligent questions. If they did well, Althea mused they could very well trigger occupations after a couple of years. Anyway, soon enough they would be seeing the babies ''walking'' around on their own. The adorableness! This was also the cutesy image that passed by everyone''s heads and they all couldn''t help but smile a bit. Speaking of babies, at some point, Shiela told them about her encounter with Kimmy. Althea frowned, also feeling a bit guilty for ignoring her. But what could they do? There were so many wars plus the heat wave. How could they find the time to comfort an acquaintance? "Pregnant?" She asked. "Is she alright?" "I think her pregnancy was the thing that shook her awake," Sheila said, referring to that period of unnatural daze wherein no one could get Kimmy to respond at all. Althea and the others looked at each other. "Has Dr. Juliet gotten a look at her yet?" Juliet was the psychologist they recruited from the former Fargo Village. She had done a lot for the women who were abused. Sheila shook her head. "There were too many¡­ victims," she said. "And Kimmy had really been unresponsive for a long time¡­" Basically, guardians would take the victims to Juliet, but Kimmy had always been on her own (and not taken by her housekeeper) so she had not talked to Juliet yet. "Send her the instructions to do a house visit," Althea said. "We cannot have Kimmy entering a void where we can''t get her back." ¡­ In another house, Kimmy looked out the window, gently patting her stomach. What happened back in Belluga was an experience that shook her very soul. For a long time, it felt like she couldn''t find herself, as if it was destroyed by that tragedy. For a long time, she felt like she was in a void. She could see what was happening in the world around her, but she felt¡­ detached, like she wasn''t a part of it anymore. For many weeks, she had been like this. She didn''t even care when Thessy acted like she owned her house. At the same time, that woman made it seem that she was sacrificing herself for her. Thessy also used the money Raine sent for herself a lot, only feeding Kimmy with just enough... At the time, Kimmy barely had a sense of taste, so she didn''t particularly care about what Thessy had been doing. Things changed when she suddenly felt ill. She couldn''t even move. Kimmy couldn''t do anything and there was no one in the house. Thessy was probably fooling around elsewhere, because the house was locked and she couldn''t bring her men¡ªwhich were usually newcomers¡ªinside without alerting Raine. At some point, she thought¡­ death had finally arrived. Why had she been holding on for so long anyway? This was perfect¡­ However, an odd thing happened. It felt like a string of consciousness appeared, connecting her to the outside world. She dragged herself to the door and out of the garden somehow¡ªfor some reason¡ªand there she was found by passerbys who took her to the emergency room. It was then that she found out about the life that had been forming inside of her. For the first time since that day, her soul was shocked awake. At first, she felt extreme disgust and pondered abortion. However, just when she was about to ask the question¡­, her heart clenched. She realized she didn''t want to lose it. Even if it was disgusting¡ªshe wanted to keep it. She hated those men with a gusto, but this was probably her only relative left¡­ So how could she hate her own blood in the end? She snapped back to reality then. She immediately fired Thessy and started to feel the real world again, determined to survive this. At the same time, she didn''t want the baby to be associated with those bastards. She didn''t want it to have any connections with those monsters. So¡­ there was only one thing she could do: Get rid of them. Chapter 962 - 962: Another Reason for the Rounds While Alterra was already settling down and heading toward an inevitable level-up, most villages were still trying to recover. However, the villages around Alterra were visibly much faster to do so, already showing great improvements. For example, Belluga Village, with the leadership of the androgynous Raine, restructured what she could, building things up. Fortunately, they gathered a lot of refugees the past week or so¡ªTerran and aborigines alike¡ªand her workforce and economy were revitalized by their presence. She even added more sentries and a few of the custom house modules they got from Alterra. Further, unlike Alterra, Belluga also kept their slaves as slaves. They needed the minimal-cost workforce as well as a strong battle force that they didn''t need to care for so much. Not to mention, these people had been associated with the former humiliation they¡ªand their former lord¡ªhad suffered, so they didn''t think these people deserved freedom at all. This was what Eagle''s team gathered during their stay there, and they didn''t judge. People had to do what they had to do, and Belluga''s approach towards slavery was the most practical one considering what they had and their current status. Anyway, their Prisoners of War were essentially the same¡ªthey simply did not refer to them as slaves. The main difference was that they had a chance of freedom if they contributed long enough, and if they showed remorse and change. However, they did not go here just to study the allied and subsidiary territories. Eagle''s Team¡ªlike all the guard teams who went out a few days ago¡ªhad various purposes for making rounds. One was to protect the standard caravan for citizens who wished to sell their items. It also doubled as a chance to find their relatives. Of course, there were disclaimers that the guards were not obligated to sacrifice their own lives for theirs, so they should still be able to protect themselves well. This was why, on top of the upfront payments, the caravans required everyone joining in to have a minimal level so the guards wouldn''t be too burdened. Speaking of which, some mercenary teams had also appeared, albeit from other territories. In Alterra, Guards was still the ideal job for fighters, but it wouldn''t take long until more mercenary teams¡ªthe official ones¡ªpopped up, especially among those who traveled to Ferrol a lot. After all, mercenary teams had more freedom to do what they wanted. Better-off villages like Belluga had already seen a few forming among their Terran population, though it was still informal as they hadn''t been to Mercenary Halls yet. Bellugan caravans to Alterra had mercenary guards protecting them instead of their guards. This was fine for Raine, as they preferred their guards within and around the territory at all times. Not everyone could be as secure as Alterra, right? Anyway, it so happened that there was a Bellugan caravan in Alterra when Eagle and the others were about to leave, so they all traveled to this place together for maximum safety. A new mercenary team called Corps Mercenary Team was guarding it. It was led by a man named Smithy. They arrived in Alterra several days ago and had actually extended their stay. Interestingly, he was old friends with Esias, a former lord himself. He left for Alterra just as Esias and his team arrived so they missed each other. Thankfully, not for long, and they reunited as soon as Smithy landed back home. They even went to get a drink at the tavern (owned by a citizen)¡ªwhich Esias found so impressive¡ªto catch up. There was talent everywhere with a Terran and¡ªmodeling Alterra''s citizens and its economic explosion¡ªa lot of local people gained the confidence to start their own businesses. They naturally shone in their own light as well. When Esias and the others encountered these shops, they were very shocked and saw the difference in people''s lives. They were struggling to have a sip of water, while other people were starting businesses. For a while, it was hard to digest. Speaking of Esias, he and the team members had been offered very good terms by the lord here. He and Celia were already gifted permanent residencies, while their people''s temporary residences were discounted. Belluga Village was far better off than the territories they had been to for sure, and there was no reason to reject it. It was just that from his friend Smithy, there was an even better one nearby, making him feel reluctant. He didn''t stop his former citizens from settling or going away, but his group¡ªhundreds of people¡ªhad gone through so much, and he showed such sincere leadership that they followed him everywhere. So¡­ whatever Esias decided, then most of his former citizens would follow. Smithy realized the dilemma his old friend was going through and just patted his shoulder. "Oh don''t worry, Belluga is still very very good, and the benefits you got are really great," he said. "Even if you decided to stay, I can tell that you will be among the Terrans living their best lives." "Was it always so good?" "Well, it was always better than others, except maybe Alterra itself," he said, his voice lowering unconsciously. "Especially now that our lord is better." "The lord was another person before?" "Yeah¡­ it''s actually a little sad, but it was all for the best of the territory in the end," Smithy said. He felt guilty for saying this out loud, but it was something most people actually thought about in their own minds. It so happened he was a little drunk and Esias was an old friend of his. "She was an innocent girl, quite kind despite her eccentricities¡ªbut leading a territory was not something she should be doing." Smithy shook the thought off for a bit, trying to forget the horrible sights they saw that day. He gave a weak smile, patting his friend''s shoulder. "Anyway, welcome to a good place!" ¡­ At this time, Eagle was meeting up with the lord. The others had their own assignments so Raine only had an aborigine with him. The aborigine was like a wallflower though and seemed to like blending with the wall. Anyway, it was more or less just the two of them for now. Eagle smiled and handed Raine some wine from their own Taverns. It wasn''t something Miss Althea did herself, but it was also good quality¡ªdefinitely much better than what they had here. "Here''s a little gift," he said. "We expanded our map a lot thanks to your people''s cooperation¡ªparticularly those who came in from the East and Northeast regions." "No problem," Raine said. "I''d appreciate a discount when a complete map of the region becomes available though." Eagle chuckled. "I will forward it." This was the other reason why Eagle and the others were periodically sent out to make rounds. They hoped to expand Alterra''s world map! This was done by buying the maps of refugees¡ªTerrans and aborigines alike. This was inspired when they bought Otto and Obi''s maps in exchange for some premium goods. Otto said he traveled for a few weeks at the longest, but there was still plenty of land to be covered. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It made them realize that the continent was really large, so they upped their efforts to filling up their maps. In time, they''d have a clearer view of their region and maybe¡ªmaybe¡ª Alterra''s library would even have the Map of the World someday. Chapter 963 - 963: Warning Belluga Village Speaking of refugees, Belluga had a lot of aborigines now, primarily from the East, so this meant a huge part of their blind spot of the territories East of Alterra was filled up in this trip. They also got a lot of information from Khlack slaves, wherein some citizens just helped them order the map. They were slaves but they could still receive money that came after they became slaves, as long as it was given willingly. Based on the map they had so far, the place they transferred to was either a circle or an oblong. Bart mentioned it wasn''t that large of an area. It was simply an area with very little Aether. However, when they arrived the place was revitalized as if it didn''t have any difference to the outside world. It was the opposite of the Grave of Villages they had trained in before, about a week or two of travel south of their current location. According to high-level aborigines who had settled nearby¡ªlike Jonathan and his cronies¡ªtheir area seemed to have died a decade before they arrived. Jonathan''s papyrus library had records of it, in fact. It said of a resource depletion in an area, causing the fall of the few villages there. Similarly, the previous transfer (Gaudi''s people) seemed to have had a similar if not the same experience. Gaudi overheard some slave drivers mention something of the sort. The emptiness of aether in these spots was also convenient because no one would settle there and they had the place for themselves¡ªat least until the protection period ended. The previous Transfers were hundreds of years prior and the ones before that were a thousand years before that. Sadly, there was no record of the surviving people anymore, so they could only make do with the information they could gather. With these data, they came to a conclusion: Whenever a Transfer was about to happen, an area would lose aether in preparation for it. However, a lot of these were suppositions and they didn''t spread it out yet. There wasn''t any urgency to know such a thing anyway. What they needed to spread though, was something looming above everyone. Raine served tea and they continued to chat. "I''m honored to have the person heading the Alterra''s Logistics department to personally visit us," she said. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "There''s a reason I personally went on this trip," he told Raine. "This is to inform the associated villages that they had two to three months to prepare before Alterra became a town." "What?" Raine exclaimed, but calmed herself immediately. This should not have been a surprise. "...may I know the requirements to becoming a Town, if you don''t mind me asking." "20000 population, 15000 residents, and 1000 prestige." Raine looked at her pitiful 110 prestige that had barely moved after so long. Although a lot of Terran territories got 100 prestige early on, the increase thereafter had become much slower. It was likely that the initial prestige had to do with the burst of population, but since nothing significant was affected after that, there was no more improvement. Looking at this, the prestige alone would take probably another decade. To be honest, becoming a Town was something not in her plan either. What she could do was to protect her territory against stronger mobs. They were so close to Alterra, after all. Before, it was a blessing, now¡­ it would be turning dangerous. "To prepare for the upcoming mobs, missions outside would definitely maximized. You probably would only have to worry about mobs coming at you from the East or the North, for the most part." That was to say: Guard their side well, and all will be well. Eagle finally left after a few more reminders, and Raine massaged her temple as a new problem arose. She frowned and then looked at the man beside her. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, staring at her new aborigine hire. The man''s name was Quiro. He wasn''t a hire from the Village Center¡ªwhich showed useless hires 99% of the time now¡ªbut rather one of the aborigine refugees from the East. They arrived not long after Esias'' Team did. Quiro was not bad-looking, though he had the masculinity of a fighter that added to his charm. He was tall, and his tanned skin and curly hair added to his appeal. Most importantly: He was a rare fire elementalist, which was why she hired him on the spot (after doing a detailed oath, of course). The man stepped forward as he was called. "I.. I''m not sure what you mean, milord." Raine narrowed her eyes and looked at him. "You were looking at me weirdly. Did it have to do with our visitors?" Raine asked and it made him flinch. Raine noticed that Quiro had been watching the visitors with a frown. The aborigine was not sure how to respond to this. "I¡­" He knew they were allied, but it felt bad to see their lord act humble toward someone else. He remembered when he and his people were feeling homeless, the lord was the one to take them all in. His fire had already lost spark at the time. He was ready to give up¡ªready to die. However, the lord came, waving his spear, and killing the monster that was about to eat him. He lifted his eyes to meet the lord''s and he couldn''t help but feel a little flustered. "I¡­ I am just uncomfortable to see you humbled." Raine''s eyebrows rose as she stared at the man, but she had to admit she was a little touched. Her voice changed from stern to just a little gentle, catching the man off-gaurd. "They are strong and we depend on them a lot," she explained. "Maybe we''d need to call them again to help us out soon." Quiro shook his head. He had sworn to help the lord with whatever they had, as long as it didn''t compromise the safety of his family. "I will guard this territory well. Don''t worry, my Lord," he paused. "We will help the territory become so strong we won''t have to be so dependent on others." Chapter 964 - 964: Quiros Proposal Eagle''s team left just after dusk, and a lot of people saw them off¡ªincluding the lord herself. "We will prepare the best we could," Raine said. "You don''t have to worry too much about us. We''re much more capable than you think." Eagle''s eyebrows rose, though his eyes ended up on the aborigine not far behind Raine. "I didn''t doubt it," he said. "To be honest, I feel a bit smug that all our subsidiaries are strong in their own way." He patted Raine''s shoulder (which amusingly made Quiro flinch a bit). "Good luck," he said. "Let''s create an amazing region together." ¡­ Raine remained outside the gates as she saw Eagle and the rest of them away. They didn''t take anyone from Belluga this time though. As she stared, her mind floated elsewhere. She had to admit that she did feel quite a bit unnerved by what was to come. She had a habit of pinching the web of her palm, the space between the thumb and the index finger. Quiro saw all this and took note, though he didn''t do anything. They only knew each other for a few days, he couldn''t overstep his boundaries. It was around this time that a familiar pair arrived next to them. "They already left?" Suide asked, with a hint of disappointment in his tone. They were clearing up another zone and had entered through another gate. They encountered a bit of a mob when they were heading back though, causing them to take a few detours so they only managed to get back now. The handsome man turned to his dark-skinned lover. "I told you we should''ve gotten back earlier. I wanted to buy a few things¡­" Orland sighed. "We''ll visit Alterra one of these days," he said. Suide sparkled. "You promised!" Raine was used to their interaction and, combined with the bit of pressure on her shoulder, she went straight to the point. "He passed on some important news," she said, turning back to the territory. "Let''s go to the Village Center for a meeting. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We have a lot to discuss." ¡­ A lot of people were watching the interactions. Whether it was Eagle and Raine, as well as Raine and his assistants. The new aborigines were a little surprised at how their lord was and whispered among themselves. However, they didn''t dare ask too many questions, and when they did, the people had the attitude of ''such was the case'' and didn''t think too much. When Quiro got back to the dormitories, he was surrounded by his curious comrades. Speaking of dormitories, Belluga Village also purchased the dormitory from Alterra for a relatively high price. It was lowered a bit after they used the profit-sharing model instead, wherein a portion of the profits would still go to Alterra. This was why the dorms in Belluga were much more expensive than the ones in Alterra, though it was still affordable. In fact, to the aborigines, it was still too affordable! When they met the flushing toilet for the first time, they almost worshipped it. Anyway, back to the topic. "Who were those people?" one asked. "Why would the Lord himself be seeing them off so respectfully?" "Yeah, are they from a Town?" another asked. They weren''t familiar with this region so they weren''t sure which Town was the nearest. Quiro shook his head. "They''re from Alterra Village." "A village?" "That allied territory?" another asked, having heard of the name before. His name was Croat, a perenially grumpy guy with a bulky physique. He was one of the people tasked to study the territory well, and had heard of the name quite a few times. Considering they had only been here for a few days, it was quite abnormal to hear about another territory¡ªa fellow village¡ªso much. "I am also curious." "Maybe we can join a caravan to see soon," another said, and many others nodded in agreement. Quiro looked at them. "But don''t stay out for too long," he said. "Apparently, Alterra is turning to a Town soon." "What?" There was silence in the room, and various memories made everyone shiver. Their previous Village fell because it was near a newly-upgraded Town east of them. The monsters that appeared in the region were far stronger than what they were used to, and they were completely unprepared. They knew the dangers of being near a town too well. However, unlike before, they felt more stable this time because¡­ their lord made it feel stable. Seeing as the others knew what this meant, Quiro looked at them. "This time, we need to be prepared¡ªwe need to be stronger," he said. "If we let this one fall as well, even after our experiences, then don''t you think it''s shameful?" Everyone looked at him, their fears calmed down a bit. This place was so good to them¡ªso much better than their previous home. How could they let it get into trouble? Croat was silent for a bit, before he raised his head and said words that would cause everyone to gasp. "What if we find a way so they don''t upgrade?" Everyone stared at him. Some looked aghast, while some were seriously considering it. In order to inhibit an upgrade of another territory would be very difficult, especially if it was an allied territory. They could only attack non-residents, for one, and they could only do so outside of the scope of territories¡ªregardless of whether it was in Alterra, Beluga, or somewhere else entirely. So how would they do it? There were also others completely against it. Of course, rather than based on conscience¡ªthey did not know Alterra well enough to feel much guilt¡ªthey based on the practicality. "It sounds like a powerful territory," one said. "Do you want it to attack us?" "Yes, it''s stupid to go against an allied territory¡ªespecially a wealthy one!" Croat''s jaw clenched and glared at them. "Then how do you think we can get through this?" he yelled, voice cracking. "What if it happens again¨C" They looked at him. It was understandable that Croat was so sensitive. He lost every one of his family during that mob. He only survived because he was busy fighting monsters off, not realizing many had already breached, unfortunately with his family in the middle of the way. Quiro sighed, shaking his head. "Don''t even bother," he said. "I opened this possibility to the Lord before." Thinking about it now, it really was shameful. His face turned red every time he remembered that scene. At the time, Raine looked at him. "They were kind enough to warn us, to give us some time to prepare. Did the town in your place bother to do the same? "Even if we are weak, we must still have our conscience," she told him. "I have seen so many dark things, Quiro, and it''s not a place I want to be." "Do you not believe we can handle it without resorting to such low tactics?" When Quiro said this to his companions, word for word, everyone had no choice but to shut up. They really weren''t used to territories genuinely helping each other out. In their minds, in their worldviews, it was always one for themselves. Territories next to each other were more likely to go to war than to become allies. However, as time went on, they would soon realize just how different the culture was in this part of the world. Eventually, even if Belluga did take a long time before it was upgraded, it would definitely develop into an impressive Village in its own right. This was also the case with the rest of the associate villages. Unlike other regions where the appearance of a strong territory could either break or make others, it was all positive for the territories near Alterra. And¡ªwithin the next few years¡ªthey would create one of the most solid economic regions the continent had ever seen. Chapter 965 - 965: Jacoba Town The case of Alterra, Belluga, and the other allied territories was, unfortunately, very rare. Most villages were and would remain in chaos for a while. After all, the heat wave this time was particularly harsh and a lot more people than expected had perished. This was in stark contrast to the towns and cities¡ªwhich could take food from subsidiaries, had more special building types available to them, and had plenty of ways to feed themselves. They were also filled with a stronger population with higher physiques and tolerances, so they were naturally much more stable. Basically, only very poor people, especially those who lived in slums¡ªoutside of the system buildings with some insulation properties¡ªperished during the heat wave. They also received a lot of refugees, obtaining a lot more money and taxes. After the disasters, the best course of action for refugees was always to find a town if their strength could allow it. This was especially true among those in the so-called Central Plains area. This was an area with flat lands and great resources. It was also of sufficient distance from rivers and various lakes. It contained the largest collection of territories in the human territory. Here, Villages were dense and had an average distance of a day travel between each other. There were even towns with edges directly touching villages. Among these territories, located at its northern edge, was Jacoba Town. This Town was known for its industry handling Isatis, which was the main raw material to get blue dyes and ink. The original lord found the field and thought it was beautiful, including it in his territory. The lord was intrigued with the plant and after years and years of research and spending on manpower, they discovered that the plant could create pretty blue dyes applicable to fabric and ink. Before blue dyes were discovered, the common colors were only black, green, brown, red, or orange and their derivates. Blue was very rare¡ªthough couldn''t compare to the ongoing rarity of the violet and purple¡ªand it naturally earned them a bit. It was just that the labor and handling cost too much and therefore sold for a very high price that not a lot of people could afford it. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Things spiked upwards when, shortly after, people from Bleuelle came to their area. It was another territory at the edge, specifically the northeast edge, of the central plains. It was not just its ability to make a blue color pigment, but it apparently had an effect on the precious Blu, increasing its success rates! As for its effect to the Special Blu ink, it dyed the excessively light pigment of the Blu with the ideal blue color which they found¡ªafter many years of experimentation¡ªcould absorb and retain the most aether. They entered a deal with the territory and, from then, the growth of Jacoba Village grew until it was just below Town-level after another decade. They managed to keep the partnership because they studied hard and found a technique to keep it growing and to create a better raw material for Bleuelle to purchase. Nearby villages naturally heard about this and decided to get a share of the pie. While the plant itself wasn''t unique to Jacoba¡ªthe techniques of handling it were. Jacoba hid the knowledge for a huge price¡ªtaking two-thirds of the profits without any more work¡ªand it naturally irked many territories. The stories from the older generation told them that it led to a very brutal war where several villages allied themselves against Jacoba, which was helpless against their forces. The former lord and many of his family members perished, and a new lord came to be. Soonafter this, the others immediately went to attach themselves and became a subsidiary. The new lord and his cronies continued their deals with Bleuelle and others, though they naturally had to give up some technology to the territories that helped them win the war. Of course, there were only a few others who received this knowledge, so for a long time, Jacoba still made a lot of money in handling the Isatis plants. Even at this time, the current generation still enjoyed the richness of the past, though not all of them were exactly happy about it. For example, a certain violet-haired woman stared out the window of the lord villa, looking down wistfully at the bustling town. It was particularly active after the depression of the disaster, but sadly she couldn''t bring herself to be happy about it. She turned to look at the blueish wedding dress displayed in her bedroom. It was a special wedding dress fit for the Jacoba Town princess. However, while it was a style she used to find pretty, now she just found it tacky. "Are you sure you wanna go through with this?" Veronica asked her friend. She had her arms crossed, looking at the other worriedly. Cassandra pursed her lips, feeling heavy. When they went back home, they knew it wouldn''t be a happy thing¡ªespecially in Cassandra''s case. However, she was fully planning on presenting the products of Alterra¡ªhoping to impress the nobles of her hometown. She wanted to show what she was capable of. She would then offer to become a liaison to Alterra, hopefully gaining some independence. She simply wanted to create a voice for herself. Maybe¡­ just maybe, she''d have more control over her own life. Maybe¡ªmaybe¡ªshe''d gain more say about her own future. But she thought too much of herself. Veronica looked at her. "I can, you know, find a way to message Gill¡ª" "No! That''d kill him!" Cassandra yelled, with an almost desperate tone. This caught Veronica off-guard, making her hurriedly apologize. Cassandra also noticed she reacted a bit strongly and shook her head, saying her own apologies. "Not only is Jacoba a big town, it also has Bleuelle City and Makita City as its clients¡­" she said, voice strained. "Not only Gill, but the entire Alterra Village could be in danger if they mess with it." It wasn''t that Jacoba itself was so powerful that it''d get Bleuelle or Makita City to move. However, many lords were prideful and they could just easily send instructions to subsidiaries to attack Alterra out of spite. Not only this, her fiance was also not an insignificant person. The Town she was getting married into was called Ester Town, which was also located at the eastern edge of the Central Plains. It was therefore nearer to Bleulle City than most towns. It specialized in planting, raising, and handling the Ester Plant, which was a major raw material for Papyrus. Unlike Jacoba who had to share the technology with others, Ester Town held on to its techniques tightly. The number of people rumored to have died to keep the secret was said to be able to populate a village. Anyway, Jacoba''s wealth had been steadily decreasing for a long time due to mismanagement. They needed Ester''s wealth to continue with their current lifestyles¡ªeven if they had to sell off their daughter to get it. Seeing her giving up on her own happiness, Veronica wanted to cry. She hugged the other girl, who reluctantly returned the embrace. "My heart breaks for you¡­" Veronica said, and Cassandra just remained silent, feeling her friend''s warmth. It could very well be the last she''d ever receive after this wedding. Chapter 966 - 966: Cassandra’s Situation Veronica patted her friend''s back but flinched when she felt some dampness. Cassandra was crying. "You know¡­ sometimes, I wonder if going to Alterra was good for us," Cassandra said. "If we didn''t know about it, would our lives feel this¡­ bad?" Veronica''s eyes lined with tears, grabbing her friend''s shoulders. "No, I don''t believe that," she told her. "At least we have such good memories to hold on to, right?" Even if it was painful, at least there were memories that made them smile. It was far better than just cruising through this life, day after day, without any color. Cassandra sighed and opened her mouth to answer her friend, but her words were pulled back as bile crept up her throat. She took out a wooden container from her space while Veronica soothingly patted her back. Fortunately, nothing happened and Cassandra was fine after a few moments of gagging. Veronica was really not comfortable with letting her out like this. "You''re so ill. Tell them to delay it. What if you end up puking on the groom?" Veronica asked this in concern for her reputation, but Cassandra ended up chuckling instead. Vomiting on that man''s face in public? How nice would that be? She must''ve been so disgusted with the idea that she just felt like throwing up so often lately. "I wish there''s something I can do¡­" Veronica said, feeling bad that she was so powerless even after everything. The purple-haired woman shook her head. "You also have a whole territory that''d suffer if you get targeted," Cassandra said. "Even if we make a scene¡­ nothing will change. We will only make ourselves suffer more¡­" Cassandra felt emotional. Her body felt so bad, and her heart felt so heavy. She just didn''t have much energy to fight anymore. Veronica wanted to cry. Not long ago, Cassandra''s entire aura was completely different. It was hard to imagine that, just before the heat wave, the two of them arrived at Jacoba Town with apprehensive hearts, but they were mostly excited. After all, the potential for the products were really high. If they established themselves as the source of best-selling products, then their positions would change! They showed off the dresses, apparel, make-up sets, and each one was received very well. Of course, Cassandra wasn''t the type to take a loss when she couldn''t help it and they sold all items for a high price. These were nobles after all, how could she not take advantage! She easily sold the items for 20 times the cost. She smiled and, for a while, she thought her wish would come true¡ªthat she could be free by virtue of her capabilities. She was slapped right on the face not long after that. Even when she showed the money and resources she made, her family refused to cancel the engagement and even expedited the marriage instead. Rather, they took her money and forcefully took her remaining items and kept it to themselves. They even pleaded with her to stop shaming them by selling goods as a noblewoman. They appeared so sincere that, if it was the previous her, she might have believed that it was her fault. Don''t follow Olga, they said, she was too strong and weird, no wonder she hadn''t been married after so long even with all that money. She was planning to fight tooth and nail, recalling the life Alterra women lived, but then they threatened to find the source and cut it off in the nub¡ª Blueerrggghh Veronica was fast and had an earthenware bowl ready to catch it. "This really can''t be left alone! "Why don''t you let me call a doctor?" Veronica mumbled. "I''ll make him sign a confidentiality oath." In Xeno, it was rare to get ill due to their physiques. It was common to get injured, yes, but illnesses rarely appeared. However, when they did appear, it usually meant something very serious. Even the seemingly harmless symptoms could actually mean something deadly. Not to mention, all doctors were male. Seeing one in private could cause a few tongues to waggle. However, Cassandra was so ill. What else could they do? "Fine¡­" Cassandra mumbled in defeat, though she was more concerned if she get her friend sick since she was always so close to her. Veronica heaved a sigh of relief and called Vivi, her trusted maid, to discreetly call on a doctor. She asked her to pay a hefty amount, and make him make a confidentiality oath before telling the symptoms so they could better prepare for a visit. "Again: Be discreet," Veronica said, handing several gold pieces to her maid. Vivi obediently nodded before heading out to the most reliable doctors she could find. The doctor arrived some hour or two later with all his tools. He was an old man over a hundred years old named Kero. He and Vivi had worn cloaks, though they were blocked by the lord''s men. They could only say that Cassandra was so ''beside herself'' that she fainted. It was nothing serious, but they decided to call a doctor anyway. They checked the man''s credentials before allowing them to go in, no doubt reporting the encounter to the lord and his family. As for what they''d make of this, they really didn''t care anymore. How much worse could it be? "Hello, Miss Cassandra," Kero said with a gentle tone. He moved a bit slowly due to his age, but he was one of the kinder doctors around so he was the one Vivi found. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Most of the time, doctors and pharmacists were extremely arrogant. They might not even look at Vivi, and they would require the masters to go to them personally. If the client wasn''t a noble, then some would even require them to beg. Kero was a rare exception to this. Probably because of his old age, he had already seen everything. It was said that he was also there when the previous lord was still ruling, though no one dared to ask him about it. Today though, he was about to tell them some very big news. Chapter 967 - 967: Cassandra is Pregnant! Kero was very professional and did all the standard checking. He didn''t seem to have found anything at first, which puzzled him, until he thought of something and flinched. He looked at the young lady with purple hair. She was one of the few among the younger generation whom he actually liked, which was why he agreed on this visit in the first place. Normally, he would not go out of his way to do house visits at his age, let alone one that required so many oaths beforehand. He had a complicated expression on his face. ¡­could it be? His expression wasn''t missed by the two already-hyper-sensitive ladies. "What is it?" Veronica asked, tone a bit more hurried than proper. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Cassandra pursed her lips and stared at him with furrowed eyebrows. Kero seemed to have realized that he made the two girls nervous. "A-Ah¡­ let me try first," he said. Just in case. He was old in age and was old fashioned. He was uncomfortable, and maybe a little disgusted, if his supposition turned out to be true. At the same time, it was his age and experience that stopped him from walking out as soon as the thought came to be. At the very least, even when his impression of the girl had dipped, she was still one of the better ones in this generation. He ought to give her the benefit of the doubt¡ªsomething very, very, few females could get. He took out a small kit about the size of the palm. It seemed like a plank of sorts but with a special gel-like solution in it. "Forgive me, lady," he said, taking a pin to get a drop of her blood. The two women watched nervously as a drop fell on the gel-like substance and watched the solution turn pink in front of their eyes. The old man paled, looking at her. Veronica went over to look at him. "What is it? Is it so serious?" "Ah, well¡­ it is," Kero said, already gesturing to pack up his things. "M-Miss Cassandra is pregnant." Cassandra was pregnant. Both of them almost fainted. Kero excused himself then, evidently a lot more distant than before, but they didn''t worry about him telling his findings because of the detailed oath. They just paid him a bit of extra, giving him some Alterran goods they left for themselves in their spaces, to show their goodwill. When the door closed, leaving the women in the room, their feet almost buckled as they felt the shock and weakness overwhelm them both. This was indeed a very serious thing. Cassandra could be banished (or even hunted down) if it became public knowledge. Women being intimate before marriage was already a shame¡ªwhich would drop the status and value of a woman by several tiers¡ªand getting pregnant out of wedlock was even worse. Cassandra''s father had always loved face, and also wanted to find an excuse to get his illegitimate children in the forefront. How ironic, right? How can she have the possibility of being hunted when the person he was replacing her with was illegitimate? This was how powerful a man¡ªespecially a Lord''s¡ªwords were. Cassandra heaved a deep breath. "This means that I really can''t escape," she said, voice completely devoid of any hope she had been holding on unconsciously. She had to go through with this wedding! To be honest, a part of her had still been thinking of an escape route somehow even before this, it was just that she felt so ill to come up with anything. But now¡­. she really couldn''t do anything. Escaping would get her hunted down by two towns, making it too dangerous for her child. If she let it grow bigger without a wedding, chances were, they''d kill them both. The best way was to marry someone and pass it off as his child. It had been a few weeks since she and Gill did the deed, and this timing of the wedding was not too far so she could still pass it off as a wedding night baby. Veronica bit her lips as she held the other woman''s hand. She wanted to help, she really did, but her family was too tightly connected to Jacoba, dating all the way back to before it was a town. Helping her would be detrimental to her own family. As a woman, Veronica''s family had been very kind to her, considering everything, and she couldn''t risk them like that. Cassandra looked at her and her maids. "I¡­ I want to be alone now, please." "Cassandra¡­" "I''ll be okay, I promise," she said, but her voice cracked a bit and it got Veronica concerned. However, they didn''t dare stress her out too much by arguing and they left the room in the end. Of course, Veronica told the maids to monitor her closely. She left her own maid, Vivi, to watch over her friend and inform her of any changes. On the other side of the door, Cassandra was finally alone in her room. She hugged herself as she sat down on her window sill, looking wistfully outside. She stared at the people who seemed free and in control of their own lives and limbs¡­ unlike her. Gill¡­, she thought, as tears fell down her cheeks. I miss you. ¡­ At this time, the man was looking over the level 6 walls of Jacoba Town, which was impressive for a Level 2 Town. "So this is her home," he said, panting heavily. He was a little dusty and very sweaty, obviously rushing here to the best of his ability. He was about to move forward when his feet paused as he felt an onslaught of discomfort attack him. He gripped his chest, which was suddenly stabbed by an intense pain. It hurt¡ªreally hurt¡ªthough he assumed it was because he rushed here too desperately. Anyway, he didn''t have the leisure to rest right now, and he immediately went to the gates to enter her territory. Wait for me, Cassandra! Chapter 968 - 968: Gill’s Investigations He was stopped by a short queue outside the gates, and he took this time to look at the guards stationed there. He stared at them with dark eyes, as if gauging their strengths¡ªalready preparing for the worst. His sights then shifted to the towers. The sentries here were also relatively dense (at least compared to many towns) at 300 meters apart near the gates and a little less dense outside of it. Level 6 sentries, he heard, had a longer range from what they had, so he supposed this spacing was sufficient for mobs¡­ and for humans who kidnapped their princess. He entered the threshold and was welcomed by the system, as well as by the whooping 150 copper visitor''s fee. More than 1 silver per day¡­ He tutted and paid anyway, immediately looking around to study the place. He saw the relatively tall 4-story buildings, the 10-meter wide carriageway, and the bustling activity on the streets. A good town was a good town, it really couldn''t compare with (aborigine) villages he had been in. He also saw the many guards and the endless collection of strong men his level or above. His jaw hardened and his fist clenched, eyes showing no hint of cowardice¡ªeven if he knew he could get surrounded by these strongmen if he failed to take everything into account. He gritted his teeth, his feet taking him deeper, intent on finding out as much as he could. Gill focused on figuring out where Cassandra was, her schedule, as well as the forces he had to deal with if he wanted to get to her. The whole thing was torture for him though. Everywhere, there was a reminder of Cassandra getting married. Or rather, there was a shop owner everywhere trying to capitalize on her wedding. "The Lady Cassandra would get married to the Ester Town young master~ Let us celebrate together! Buy your blue dress here to join!" There was also someone who was selling rocks claiming it was Cassandra''s lucky charm. "Maybe you can marry yourself into a rich lord''s house, too!" It was well known that Cassandra''s fiance was the other lord''s only son. It was also much richer and had closer ties to the cities because the lord''s wife was a relative to high nobles in Bleuelle. One of the things he noticed though, was that their attitude wasn''t exactly well-wishing to Cassandra. Rather, it was a celebration that their town would be rich again. He determined this based on their wording. ''Miss Cassandra married well for us'' or ''the lord chose well'' when he also heard of the other man''s resounding reputation of being a philanderer. Let alone his burning need to find Cassandra, he also had to hold back his acerbic tongue. The number of times he held back saying shit, bullshit, orcshit, idiot, blind, and many curse words was enough to cause him aneurysm. He almost got into a fight the first time he called someone an idiot. He had to lose several silver to calm him down, even when his own eyes were twitching with annoyance. His jaw clenched. It shouldn''t have been a surprise, but until he encountered it happening to someone he cared about, he didn''t really absorb it so deeply. If most women here were seen as tools by default, then their marriages¡ªsomething that they''d have to endure for the rest of their lives¡ªwere something that was used to claim conveniences for others. It was still hard for him to wrap his head around the idea that women were seen like this, but this was the reality, and he really wanted to take Cassandra away from it. Anyway, it was the most torturous data-gathering he ever had to do. However, after all that torture, he discovered that while Jacoba was indeed a very rich town, it was actually on its decline. First of all, after all these years, various other territories had also learned how to handle the plant. It varied in quality and technique, but all of them sold it for a much lower cost. Second, the lord party was known for their extravagance. The lord himself always bought the most unique thing that was sold to him¡ªas if to show off his wealth¡ªregardless of its actual function. Both wives held expensive parties, trying to one-up the other. They would hold a gathering or a party at least once a month in honor of whatever celebration they decided on¡ªto see which one had more powerful guests. The reason could be as shallow as a grandchild (illegitimate) losing the first teeth. This latest one happened just after the Heat Wave, when many of the poorer citizens suffered from hunger and thirst. As for how he knew so much¡ªafter much trial and error and almost-fights¡ªhe figured out that he ought to focus on the old people of the lower strata, specifically those who served nobles. He figured this out after he almost got into his 17th fight of the day. There was a particularly annoying bastard who spoke of Cassandra as if she was an object to have fun with. "That Ester heir is so lucky! I wish I got a taste¡ªdo you think he''ll send her back after he gets tired of her? Since she''s dirty, maybe she''ll get thrown out the street!! HAHA!" His brain stopped working and he immediately went to attack that bastard. Unexpectedly, the old man arrived and talked to him as if his master was looking for him. The master''s a noble so the bastards had no choice but to let him go, but not without him paying a gold worth of hush fee. The old man helped him because he could tell he was a foreigner¡ªan alien. At the time, Gill didn''t quite know what he meant (his brain was still so heated from both anger and desperation). He simply thanked him and decided to thicken his face to ask some questions, which was how he got to know so much. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Later¡­ he''d find out that this old man had interesting connections with an acquaintance. If he wasn''t in such a rush, he might even think that some things were just¡­ fated. Chapter 969 - 969: Another Novan A/N: We''re behind ~50 Golden tickets for Golden Top 1! If you have extra tickets, do send us some~! That ranking is the only source of exposure this old story could have now T_T ... ____ The thing about older slaves was that they had seen a lot, especially if they had stayed in the same territory for a while, which was the likely case even if they changed masters. They were also humble and therefore much easier to interact with, unlike those arrogant aborigines. Another thing about slaves was that unless specifically told to keep mum, they didn''t have to. This was likely because most slaves still needed to be spoken with and they couldn''t write or read (not that papyrus or pens were readily available for them) so verbal communication was needed. They automatically couldn''t betray the territory or their current masters, of course, but the questions he asked sounded purely out of curiosity from a dashing young lad, so it didn''t trigger anything at all. His master was a noble who gossiped around the house a lot. The lucky thing was that this noble didn''t think these gossips were worth guarding, so it was easy information for him. He also gave them some barbeque he bought, though with added Alterran spices, along the way. He spilled even more when he tasted it. "I heard Miss Cassandra also introduced some special sauce. She made a lot of money!" he said, "My master had bought a bottle for a very high price from the lord''s house. I know this because he ranted a lot, selling it much more expensively than Miss Cassandra did." After ranting about a few things, he heaved a deep breath. "Miss Cassandra is so beautiful and capable. Her fiance is really lucky. He does not deserve her." Gill looked at him deeper and nodded, finally having a good impression of one person in this damned place. Gill looked at the old man closer and realized he was really small for an aborigine. When he took the barbecue he also saw how pudgy his fingers were, and how there was a small web between his fingers. It reminded him of someone. He also thought of the man''s open attitude to him despite him being an ''alien'' but, in retrospect, he could''ve been helpful because of it. An idea came to mind that he couldn''t help but voice out, just throwing it out there. "I''m friends with someone who has similar features like yours," he said. "His name is Gaudi." The man froze and looked at him. But then he chuckled and shook his head, as if finding the thought silly. "Gaudi?" he voiced out, his voice cracking. "Ah no, Gaudi is an uncommon name but there should still be a lot of them." In Gill''s eyes, it was like he was telling this to himself rather than Gill. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The ebony-haired man looked at him closely, taking note of his features. He had more prominent features of that race than Badjau, someone already recognized as a half-Nova. Anyway, it was understandable the man was in denial. He must''ve been disappointed plenty of times in the past. However, Gill had no time to be doing therapy with a stranger. "Who''s your master?" "Sir?" "I would like to purchase you as a slave," he said. He really needed some help, especially one who knew the place. The man almost dropped whatever he was holding. "I¡­ I¡ª" Gill raised his hand to stop him from talking. "You mentioned that your master bought some of the special sauce for a very high price." "Yes¡­" "Then take me to him," he said, "Tell him I have the sauces and at a much more affordable rate than the lord." "A-Ah, y-yes¡­" he said, still absorbing the abrupt changes. Obviously, when leaving the mansion this morning he was just going to buy ingredients, right? When he helped this man out, it was just out of a random urge to be kind, because he recognized him as a non-native. He had heard that there were new Aliens that came decades earlier than expected, and that they looked a lot like the locals with some differences. However, he did not expect to see one so soon¡ªand a free one, at that. Anyway, he felt an instant camaraderie and decided to assist. But not to this degree! They walked towards the mansion together, passing by the lively streets, and the slave really didn''t know what to make of it. He was just letting his body move on its own, basically. It was broken when Gill asked him a question. "What''s your name?" "Ghesso, sir," he said. "And you are from Nova?" Ghesso''s feet stopped and he really dropped his basket this time. He whipped his head to look at Gill with wide eyes, tears lining up. However, he sniffled, stopping it¡ªas if afraid to hope for too much. Gill looked at him. "There''re two people in my village from that place," he said. "They''re free people and both are living very well," he told him, emphasizing their states. "Don''t you want to meet them?" ¡­ The noble''s name was Urkin, a middle-aged man (though he was technically well into his 60s). He had pale skin, long curly hair, and a big belly. At this time, he was munching on meat that was so delicious that he almost moaned. It was the same meat he usually ate, but the experience was wholly different! He couldn''t get enough of it! His family was the same. However, he was afraid they''d sneak around and take his stock, so he sent them to the academy for extra lessons!! It was just so delicious that he and the family ate much of the food in stock. Now, the slaves had gone off to replenish the pantry, but the person buying the actual vegetables and meat had yet to return! He was getting really annoyed, almost as annoyed as he was for losing the chance to buy more sauces from Miss Cassandra! When it was introduced, he only bought a certain amount to try it out, not knowing it''d get sold out within an hour! He couldn''t help but feel worried if they would continue to have access to the goods when she got married. Maybe those bastards from Ester Town would get that right instead? Annoying! Chapter 970 - 970: Deal with the Jacoba Noble Anyway, as depressed as they were to lose the precious thing, they suddenly found out that there was still some stock hidden and taken by the Lord! The nobles who got a taste naturally wanted to buy the rest of them. But¡­ the Lord sold it for a really high amount! There was even a bidding! Sadly, he was not as rich as the other nobles so he lost. Now, he must ration what he had, but he couldn''t bear to stop! What if it spoiled? What if some clumsy slave broke the bottle? Wouldn''t he die of regret then? This was the self-righteous thought ongoing in Urkin''s mind when his personal maids informed him that the meat-buying slave had finally returned¡­ and there was no meat on hand. "WHAT!?" He yelled, slapping the armrest of his wooden chair. "Get him in here right now!!" The maid looked reluctant but continued to speak before heading out. "He also bought someone with him," she said. "The visitor says he¡­ has more sauce." "...huh?" Urkin flinched and looked at her, thinking. Could it be a scammer? It happened often in their circle. Whenever a popular product appeared, there would be cheap knockoffs appearing in the market. A lot of foolish nobles ended up buying them at a high cost! Urkin had always been proud of himself for not being one of those people! Considering the Lord himself claimed that he had all the stocks, then this must be a scam! He should just get the guards to beat them up right now!! He would also sell that damned slave! . S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. . . Still, after a couple of minutes, Gill and Ghesso were led to the main living area, with the aforementioned noble looking at them with suspicion and curiosity. "Who is this?" he asked Ghesso, trying to appear neutral. Despite everything, Urkin wanted to hear them out in the end. Anyway, it was easy to determine if it was fake. He had a good sense of taste and the taste and sensation of those products couldn''t be faked¡ªat least not so quickly. For one, he had no idea what to make of the sauces and he had no idea what the raw materials could be. However, he was confident that everyone else should be the same. "My name is Gill, I have been traveling for a while and heard you are in need of something," Gill said. He was also observing the man at the same time. According to Ghesso, Urkin was actually a restaurant owner¡ªone of the more successful ones in the Town. The term ''Noble'' was relatively arbitrary in this world, except for the Lords. Next to the lords, those considered nobles were those who served the Lords closely, though it usually applied to Towns and above. Nobles could also refer to very rich people. Basically, anyone who could live lavishly could be called a noble, unlike in ancient Terran where bloodline was a major factor, with exemption to those who had been ''knighted''. This had a lot to do with this place''s focus on strength. Living well and lavishly was, in a sense, also considered ''strength'', regardless of how it was gained. Ironically, they still had some unnecessary expectations towards women, even if they were capable¡ªfor instance, Olga and Cassandra. "I''ve come to have a deal with you," he said. "I came here to buy Ghesso." Urkin crossed his arms, looking at him weirdly. "Why do you want him?" "One of my slaves is probably his relative. I found them very hard working." "I also like him. He won''t come cheap." Gill naturally did not expect this to be straightforward at all. Despite his lacking EQ and tact, he did know how to do professional interactions due to his field. "Will this do?" he asked, taking out a bottle of soy sauce and another bottle of hoisin sauce. In terms of value, if he sold them for tens times of its cost, then it''d be more than enough to pay for Ghesso''s slave contract. This was the perfect opportunity to spike the prices. He heard the nobles even held auctions for this. Urkin stared at the familiar containers, gulping. However, he did not dare assume, so he shakily took the bottles to check on them. "You can test it if you want," Gill said. Seeing him so confident, Urkin couldn''t help but feel relieved. Anyway, he did pour a bit on his pinky finger to taste and his eyes widened, looking at Gill in awe. "This¡­ it''s really it," he said, squeaking. His eyes sparkled as he looked at Gill. "If you have more, I''d buy them at twice Miss Cassandra''s costs!" Gill nodded and took out two small jars with salt and sugar from his space. Urkin also tasted them and was amazed. As someone in the restaurant industry, he naturally knew a lot more about ingredients than others. "Such high-quality sugar and salt!" "Did this come from the same place as Miss Cassandra?" "Yes." "Can you tell me more?" If he could get a deal, then his restaurant would definitely reach a new height! Gill hesitated, but shook his head for now. He didn''t know what would happen here, and he didn''t want to drop Alterra''s name just yet. "For now, we cannot supply Jacoba with too much," he said. "I''ll go back and propose to send a caravan." Urkin frowned. Traveling around would take a while. How could he wait for so long? To be honest, adding these seasonings had already changed his palette. It''d take a while for him to readjust his tastebuds! He did not want to! "I can go there! I can send my own caravans! I am willing to buy at a high price!" Gill sighed. "I can only tell you that we are also associated with Bleuelle City¡ªif you investigate, you will know that many nobles had these things," he said. "It will be up to the higher-ups to decide what to do about this." At the mention of a famous city, Urkin''s pushing immediately calmed. "Ah, I see, I see! That makes sense," he said, already thinking of sending people there to get more information. Seeing as this discussion could not go further as he liked, he could only dismiss the man, though naturally with some goodwill. He asked the maid to get some gold to give. "You can have Ghesso, this is a bonus," he said. "If you have more, come to me first." Gill nodded, taking the bag, along with the dazed Novan. "Deal." Chapter 971 - 971: Eshno A/N: Six Hours to go before November Ends! We''re just a little bit short for Top 1! If you have extra Golden Tickets, we would appreciate it sooo much if you send us some~! ehhehe ... _____ With this, Gill had another helper to find out more information as fast as he could. He had already known some basic things about Jacoba from Ghesso. He even knew of the route guards took. Gill needed help to find her location and schedule and they would meet up midway every hour. Unexpectedly, at some point, Ghesso brought him news. "Sir¡­," he paused. "Someone else is doing investigations as well." "What?" "They are also asking around about the wedding, specifically," he said. "They were investigating the bride and the groom''s schedules as well as their current locations¡ªbasically similar to us." Gill narrowed his eyes and stood up. "Where?" ¡­ The fellow investigators were currently in a cheap tavern at the edge of town. They were a small group huddled at a corner, drinking. He and Ghesso ordered some drinks as well, though he wasn''t particularly looking forward to its taste. Although the Town did have the system Tavern, the Lord made it too expensive. The Town was not small so there were a few noblemen who set up some cheaper versions, which targeted the middle class. These nobles, of course, had to get the backing of more powerful nobles from the cities, otherwise, the Lord would definitely find a way to either take them down or steal their shops. Of course, the product sold here were naturally inferior to system Taverns, let alone Alterrans''. Gill hadn''t tasted it yet, but from what he gathered, it was just alcohol diluted several times with water. If the younger members of the team were here, they''d call this ''Almost-Ale'' or ''Spritzy Water''. He wouldn''t admit it, but he did miss them a bit. Anyway, the two of them were positioned relatively nearby and well within earshot. They listened in to what they were discussing, but unfortunately nothing significant could be gathered. It was basically just ranting, especially from the person leading the team. At first, it was just ranting about their own home, or how excessively lavish people were in here. But then, he shifted his tone, and the topic actually became pretty important. "They''re so rich while we rotted in a small village for years!" he said, gritting his teeth, though the way his tone elongated was indicative of his drunkenness. "It was my family who built this place! It was MY grandparents who determined the right methodology!" he yelled, slapping the table. This made Gill''s eyebrows rise in interest. Finally, something juicy. "How many slaves died during the process!? It was not them who shouldered that cost, it was my family!" "Yet they''re living so lavishly¡ªthrowing parties when all we could do was fight for our lives to get just a bit of food and water! "This should''ve all been mine!" the man yelled, throwing his cup in anger. He growled and looked at one of the women accompanying them. He grabbed her head and pushed her down to his crotch. "Make me feel better, bitch," he ordered and, judging from how he groaned shamelessly a minute later, the woman was doing as she was told. It was a woman from that industry though and it came completely natural for everyone. Even if the woman was crying¡ªGill could hear her muted sobs from where he was¡ªno one seemed to care. He could tell she was obviously forced into this kind of life. Gill gripped his cup so hard that it made cracks. However, he didn''t risk getting into trouble at this time. He just knew his Cassandra would live something similar if he married that man! At this point, after seeing all these things, maybe he''d just kidnap her¡ªeven if she didn''t want to! ¡­ About an hour before dusk, a grand entourage of beast carriages arrived at the gates. It was really flashy. Not only were the Beast Carts fast, intimidating some of the ''weaker'' beasts in the streets, but they were also colorful and ornate. The line of carriages traversed the main avenues, as if making sure everyone knew of their arrival. The procession stopped at a large plaza in front of the Lord''s Palace. At this time, many people had already arrived to watch the show, including Gill and Ghesso. From a distance, they also saw those people from before. After the carriages remained unmoving for about a minute, servants appeared outside the largest, most ornate, carriage. They opened the door which had an interior curtain made of silk, which would eventually reveal the person inside. Ester was only a Town, even if it was a Level 2 Town. They were really going deep into the ''royalty'' thing, which said a lot about the vanity of these people. Soon, a man with a big belly went down with his head held up high, as if to show his pride and height (which wasn''t that unusual). He then looked around with interest, his eyes also showing a glint as if he was looking at his own property. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill and Ghesso watched every one of his moves from a distance, with the former using his specs and lip-reading skills to know what the bastard was saying. "Finally here to meet my wife!" he said, with confident eyes assuming he''d get everything he wanted. Gill wanted to magically teleport there and wipe that smirk off his face. The newcomers had no idea of the hostility directed straight at them though. Instead, they were respectfully greeted by a few butlers. Right after him, a line of voluptuous servants and women in skimpy clothing came down from the same carriage, a few going straight into his embrace. From the other carriages, a number of servants went down, along with a few more voluptuous women. Gill had to let go of his scope lest he destroy it in his anger. He could only follow as the party was led to a nice villa assigned to them, not too far from the Lord''s Palace. The group entered the house and Gill lost sight of them, but his anger had not diminished, lingering in his heart and making his entire body uncomfortable. However, he was a special soldier who could compartmentalize¡ªno matter how angry he actually was. After several deep, deep, breaths, he gathered himself. His dark eyes were fixed on the house where that man was¡ª no doubt¡ªphilandering again, all while thinking of humiliating his Cassandra at the same time!! Now¡­, how could he go about this without putting any of them in danger? Chapter 972 - 972: Cassandra’s Plans Thank you for your support, everyone! Special hugs to those who sent Golden tickets! I also saw large bulks of them sent to me! THANK YOUU! Although we didn''t make Top 1, I managed to squeeze in a few bonus chapters to show my appreciation. Love you guys, Enjoy~ ... ____ While Gill pondered on a plan, Eshno was settling in quite nicely. The house was a small villa that was designed specifically for rich people. It was spacious and all the furniture was bespoke by the top craftsmen in the territory. The surfaces ¡ªwhether it was the furniture, the cornices, or some columns¡ªwere carved with intricate patterns. Even if the excessive patterns could overwhelm the eyes, it was desired simply because the more complex the pattern, the more expensive it was. It was also well-decorated with a high-level monster carpet, the large face of the dead monster greeting people as they stepped into the threshold. The seats were also covered with expensive beast pelts, ensuring soft and comfortable seating experience. Eshno nodded, knowing they at least prepared a decent abode, and then turned to the person who welcomed him. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I will settled down for a bit," he said. "I''ll come see them later. Specifically¡­" he paused, licking his lips. "My new bride." "Yes, sir Eshno." The butler left and Eshno turned to look at his women. They were beautiful, yes, but they were too submissive and had dull eyes. Their eyebags were also getting a bit big, their boobs becoming a little too saggy, and their holes becoming too loose. They also had too many bruises that didn''t heal fast enough. It was getting ugly¡­ He recalled his future wife who was much more beautiful and curvaceous than these products and the little brother down below immediately raised its head. He had met Cassandra a few times during festivals held in their territory. She had rare purple hair, sparkling eyes, and¡ªmost importantly¡ªa sexy body. She also had a bright aura about her that made it feel like bedtime with her would be very¡­ spicy. She was a proper wife for a great man like himself, an exciting one. He licked his lips as he imagined her under him. Unable to stop his lust, he immediately pulled a random woman under him to vent. "You will do for now," he said, and it was followed by the sound of tearing clothes and labored moans. ¡­ Meanwhile, while the man was having fun abusing his women, Gill stood outside his abode, staring at the it with dark eyes. He had an idea what that bastard was doing right now¡ªand he dared lust after his Cassandra! Eshno was a forty-year-old man just past level 25 in level. Further, due to his questionable upbringing, he was a little off in the head. He was also the only son, even among the various women of his father, and unsurprisingly got a bit spoiled. He got and did whatever he wanted without repercussions, causing him to believe everything should bend over for them (figuratively and literally). Men like this were the majority among nobles. The only difference was that they had different appearances. Cassandra''s family didn''t even bother looking for a decent-looking one who didn''t have such a resounding reputation. All they cared about was the status and wealth he represented. Ester Town was one of the big towns in the Central Plains, located nearer the edge and near Bleuelle city and was an bigger partner to it. It was estimated that they should also become a city themselves in less than 2 or 3 more decades. Their development was at an upward trend, making them quite arrogant. In Jacoba''s side, while they did make a lot of money, they have long lost their monopoly to territories who could create cheaper alternatives, even if the quality is less. Further, the lowered production of Blu also lowered the need for their products. This was big because this was Jacoba''s only industry. Everything else was subpar compared to other territories. Partnered with bad economic practice of generations of the leading family¡ª including illegitimate children''s¡ªJacoba¡­ was actually really poor. Overall, in their small minds, Eshno was already the better choice. "To be honest, Miss Cassandra could''ve been sold off as a glorified slave to town lords. At least now, she could get the title of wife and the accompanying rights that came with it¡ª" Ghesso stopped talking as he was met with the new boss'' scary eyes. "..." After a few moments, Gill took his eyes away and sighed. "Perhaps, she''d be fine with this arrangement if it was a couple of months ago¡ªbut not anymore. "She would definitely be an unwilling party." First, she already had a perfectly good lover (him). Second, she had already seen the likes of Alterra. She already learned she could get a better life¡ªa life she definitely deserved. And Gill was there to make sure she got it. ¡­ It had to be said that Gill still knew his lover well. Cassandra was indeed unwilling. She had seen the status of women, and how they were on equal grounds with men. She had seen how cheating was extremely frowned upon¡ªeven if it was done by men. She hadn''t been in Alterra for long, but she already felt her standards had changed, and she couldn''t stomach being with such a stallion at all. She told herself she had to go through with this wedding, to go through with marrying this man to protect herself and her child. But now, she realized she really couldn''t do it! Even when she told herself not to involve Gill or Alterra into this, a part of her still wished she had. However, as a woman, she had been raised to put others ahead of her¡ªand she was more than happy to place Gill and that place above her own happiness. They deserved her affection, at least! It was just that she felt physically in pain whenever she thought of giving her body to a man like that. Most importantly, she feared for her child. Even if their bodies were strong, she still feared a miscarriage if he got too rough. Fortunately, even with her muddle headed brain, she (and Veronica) found a way to compromise. Make the bastard sleep through the wedding night! Make him believe they had slept together! With Veronica''s help, they found a pharmacist who could create a very strong sleeping potion. Considering her pregnancy, she asked to give an even stronger dose. It should arrive just before the wedding! Nothing should go wrong¡­ right? Chapter 973 - 973: Cassandra’s Unheard Pleas Soon, the time for the families to meet has arrived and Cassandra felt she would never be ready. This was going to be held in Eshno''s Villa, where she and her parents would come and greet him. Normally, the groom would greet the bride''s family to show respect to them (not the bride, just the family) but Eshno decided that it should be done at his house instead. Jacoba really needed Eshno''s partnership to ensure that demand for their own products, so her father and mother followed his wishes like fools. In any case, the fact that they agreed to do this put the entire family in a humble position. Eshno became even more blatant in consequence. He looked at her with such sticky eyes that it was no different from actually touching her. Her stomach dropped, making her want to vomit again. "So beautiful¡­" he said, stepping forward. Raising his palms as if he wanted to touch her face. She immediately stepped away. "Please stop," she said, as nicely as she could, even when her stomach tumbled at his mere proximity. Tradition allowed a man and a woman to meet before the wedding. However, they were not to touch. This was what calmed her down even if she knew she''d have to meet with him. "Yes, yes, you must be shy," he said, grinning. He didn''t seem to see nor care for her discomfort, extending his oily hands to touch her face again. She stepped back, avoiding his hand again. "Please, it is against tradition." He frowned and looked around. His frown transformed into a sneer when he saw that no one from Jacoba''s side seemed to care about this tradition. Of course, neither did his side. "Who cares about that¡ª" He said, hurriedly grabbing her. When she instinctively avoided, he just gestured to carry her. She screamed, moving by reflex. "How dare you!" She yelled. She immediately slapped him by instinct, creeped out by the feeling of his hands on hers. Although their levels were similar, this guy was incredibly weak. Her slap caused him to fall down, making the people in the room gasp. "SIR!" "CASSANDRA!" Her parents yelled, looking at her as if she had done something heinous. Cassandra paled, her heart dropping. "I¡ª" The humiliation was naturally not something Eshno would let pass. He glared at her, slapping the floor under him. "Tie her up! I want her on my bed, NOW!!" Cassandra''s eyes widened. No! This was not in the plan! She didn''t have her potion yet! She was not ready!! She paled when she saw the guards¡ªnot just his, but also from her family¡ªapproach her, intending to hold her down. She was soon surrounded and her hopes to escape had become nill. It felt like her blood froze, the reality of the situation sinking in. "No! Stop!!" she yelled, stepping back and prepared to shield herself as necessary. She kicked the nearest person on the shin, and she even used the skills she learned from the family to defend herself. "YOU!" her father yelled, eyes red. However, instead of appreciation, he looked humiliated. It was a face that asked: How dare she use the family skill, especially to ruin his plans?! She had become desperate in her struggle, especially when stronger guards surrounded her, holding her arms and her legs. "No¡­ please¡­" she gasped, eyes filled with terror. What was worse was when they tied her up with a magic tool¡ªone that could easily hold a level 40 and below! When even her ability to struggle was taken away from her, tears completely fell down her eyes. No. Nononono¡ª This can''t be happening¡ª Cassandra whipped her head and looked at her family, who were just watching this farce from the side. She didn''t have much hope, but they were her only hope now. "Father! Mother! Please!!" But they just looked at her without changing expressions. Her heart completely turned cold, heartbroken. Most of all, she felt fear. More than for herself, she feared for her child more! If this happened¡­ it would die! Then she might as well follow! She could only get carried upwards, and the mix of fear and heartbreak filled her heart, filling her eyes with tears. As they carried her to the room, one of the servants looked worried, slightly blocking Esho''s way. For a moment, Cassandra had the illogical hope that maybe something can still change. "Sir, the wedding¡ª" "I won''t abuse it," he said and the servant''s shoulder slumped and walked aside, not caring anymore. She was taken to the room and thrown to the bed, her body always leaning towards the door. When it closed, it felt like the last bit of hope in her was finally extinguished. Eshno looked at Cassandra with greedy eyes filled with both lust and vindictiveness. She tried to struggle as much as she could, but she couldn''t do it without care for fear of hurting the baby. She felt so helpless and weak. Her body and heart felt too heavy, and her tears pooled so much she couldn''t stop them anymore. "Stop please!" She sobbed, pleading. She begged and begged even after he tied her ropes to the bed, raising her arms above her head. Her legs though weren''t tied for convenience of the imminent lovemaking. "Aww, don''t cry my love. I''ll make you feel real good¡­." he said, licking her tears away. His grimy hands touched her curves, eventually finding its way under her dress. "No¡ª" she yelled as he ripped her clothing apart, revealing her luscious curves, and causing the man to gulp hungrily at the glorious sight. "WOW. What a beauty!" he yelled, practically drooling on her. "My friends said noble women may not necessarily be as seductive as the whores, but you really proved him wrong!" "Wuu¡­ please¡­ don''t," Cassandra pleaded, closing her legs. However, Eshno''s big hands held her thighs and he forced them open. She bit her lips as he undressed as well, soon looming over her. However, Cassandra saw it as her chance and kicked him as strongly as she could. BANG! The next thing he knew, his naked body was sprawled on the floor in a humiliating way. His eyes turned red. "THIS BITCHHH!!" S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 974 - 974: Murder in Bed "BITCHHH!!" He roared, standing up after a few seconds of struggling. Unsurprisingly, the noise alerted the guards outside and they immediately knocked to check on their master. Unlike Alterra, insulation here wasn''t particularly special, so any loud noise could still be heard outside. "Sir! Are you okay?" they yelled, knocking on the door, no doubt prepared to get inside even if by force as soon as they found out Eshno was in danger. "I''m fine! She''s a fighter!" Eshno yelled back. "I''ll be fine! I''ll teach her a lesson! Don''t bother me!!" And soon he was up and hovering above her again, but this time much less gentle. Cassandra bit her lips, extremely disappointed. She had hoped he would lose consciousness at least. But instead, it just angered him. He forcefully opened her legs as wide as he could, about to enter her. Cassandra struggled hard, the connections of the ropes to the wood creaking a bit. Although she couldn''t do anything to the rope, maybe she could do something about where it was tied to! However, even if it was working, it wasn''t working fast enough. She gasped in terror, feeling the man''s tip about to enter her¡ª Slash! Eshno suddenly stopped moving. Cassandra didn''t stop struggling, not daring to lower her guard. However, when she felt a bit of liquid squirting on her, and her eyes shifted to the man above her. Eshno was now holding his neck as if gasping for breath. She took it as her chance to scoot back and close her legs, but her arms did not stop struggling. She didn''t know what was going on, but she knew better than to watch him gather himself again! This was until she saw Eshno''s head slowly slide to the side, leaving a headless body kneeling on the bed. "Wha¡ª" Her mouth opened as a scream threatened to escape her mouth, but a callused hand covered it, muffling whatever sound she was about to make. "Shh¡­" Gill said, face red in repressed anger, kicking the still-upright body backward and off the bed. "I''m here now¡­," he said, whispering, enveloping her with his arms. He was shaking, and his eyes were lined with tears as he buried his head on her shoulder. Jacoba, in favor of the many fighters that went through them, also didn''t prohibit fighting within the territory. They simply added a lot of tax for damages. Anyway, rules would be null during wars so they didn''t see much point to it¡ªas most territories did. Unfortunately, there would also be plenty of times when it would be working against them. For instance, now, where a very important guest had been beheaded and no alarm was sounded at all. Cassandra gaped at the man who was hugging her. Her eyes were wide and her heart was completely in disbelief. She did not even notice when he untied the rope around her hands. "Y-You¡­?" she mumbled, raising her shaking hands to touch his handsome face. Gill leaned into her palm. "It''s me," he said. "I''m so sorry I''m late." S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Gill! Wuuu¡­" she buried her head on his chest, her cries muffled by his wide shoulder. After a while of crying, she opened her eyes to stare at him again, and then at the place where Eshno was just at. The kill was done so cleanly, that except for the small splash during the beheading, not much blood splashed on the bed. "I was so scared¡­" "I know, I''m sorry," he said, holding her tightly. He gritted teeth when he remembered just how close he was! He had sneaked into the house at the same time they entered. Because there were so many people entering, they lowered the system''s guard. With such tight security, as well as their high positions, they believed no one would dare make trouble! Gill had seen how she was abandoned by her own family. It was just that the upper room was guarded more and he had a hard time sneaking inside. He had to use a wind-up toy he had in space. It was actually little Meatball''s, left when he played in the barracks when his father wanted him to ''familiarize himself with the setting''. Gill took it to bring it back, but things happened and he just forgot about it. He mentally apologized to Meatball as he used it as a distraction so he could use a minor sleeping potion without alerting anyone. After the guards felt groggy, he managed to enter the room so quietly that not even those inside heard him. He arrived with Cassandra tied and naked, with the man just about to enter her. The image flashed by his head, and he wanted to kick that man''s head again, damnit! He wasn''t able to because a loud knock sounded on the door again. "Sir? Are you alright?" His eyes twitched. He didn''t dare use too much potion because if people decided to check on the guards and saw them asleep, then it would get even more dangerous. However, he seemed to have underestimated their physiques. They probably just felt groggy and lost consciousness for a bit, but woke up shortly after that. Cassandra shivered and looked at him, eyes wide in fear. "Go, hide!" She whispered, trying to push him away, but he was unperturbed. He kissed her forehead as he shook his head. Instead, he looked at the door, opening his mouth to speak. "Are you idiots? Did you guys fall asleep or something? I clearly told you not to bother me!" he yelled and Cassandra was shocked to hear that his voice was almost the same as Eshno! He smiled at her cute reaction. As a special soldier, every one of them had a lot of interesting¡­ talents. Voice modulation was among the basics. Anyway, he kissed the side of her face. "Yell," he said, a little breathless. "Well, we can''t have them suspicious at this time, right?" Cassandra blinked and flushed red. Were they doing this now? She wanted to scream in her head. Too much happened today! She couldn''t wrap her mind around it! "Yell¡­" he said, gently biting her ears. "Ahhh! Please stop!" She screamed, doing as she was told, and this seemed to have satisfied the people outside. Unexpectedly, she felt the atmosphere heat up, and she could only feel like melting. "We have to continue the act, Cassandra," he said, meeting her lips as he held her hands up with his own hand. His calloused palms rubbed her wrist as if to make the rope marks disappear. If she didn''t understand where this was going, then she was stupid. However, her awkwardness was forgotten as Gill started to kiss her passionately, eating her moans and whimpers. In contrast to the fear of the act that paralyzed her earlier, each of Gill''s action served to soften her up¡­ make her look forward to it. Soon enough, he slid into her, making her body arch, gasping in pleasure. "Don''t hold back your yells," he said. "It''s for our safety." To be honest, doing it in such tense environment with the man you loved was¡­ exciting. Not to mention she had to yell lewd moans for the servants outside to hear the whole time, and the sound of her voice fuelled Gill''s movement. "Wait¡­" she mewled, gently pushing him away when he started pounding with a bit of strength. "Be gentle¡­" she whispered. "I''m¡­ pregnant." Chapter 975 - 975: Elopement A/N: The last of today''s bonus chapter! Although we didn''t make Top 1 last month, I saw how many of you tried to help me out. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! I can guarantee the mass release on Dec 29 which is my birthday hahha. Please keep supporting the story guys! Don''t let us dieeeee lololol Anyways, back to the story~! ¡­ ___ The lovemaking took a different¡ªyet more sensual¡ªturn. It was mixed with extra sweet emotion and the excitement for a new phase of their lives. However, they had to keep the charade in order not to be found outside. After that first yell, Gill also didn''t mimic Eshmo''s voice anymore. After all, they associated it with that bastard and their mood would get ruined. Gill was really passionate and held back just enough not to be too rough, and soon they finally let go, bodies recombined in the most intimate way possible. Gasping, they put their foreheads together. They couldn''t help but chuckle a bit as the tension was released. It was as if there wasn''t a corpse a meter away from them. "So what do we do now?" Cassandra asked, but Gill just looked down to look at her still-flat stomach. He sat them up, causing her to let out involuntary moans at the movement. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders to balance herself. The position, while no less erotic, let Gill have a better view of his child. Well, in his mind anyway. "Pregnant." There was such genuine happiness and relief in his eyes and it made her smile. But her peripheral view caught sight of the half-naked corpse and her eyes twitched. She patted Gill''s cheek and repeated: "What do we do now?" Gill looked at her and smiled, just glad to have gotten there on time. While it was distracting to think clearly in their position, he had naturally had a plan before deciding to behead the scumbag. He rubbed her cheek. There were still traces of her tears from before. He heard the scream directed at her parents who cold-heartedly ignored her pleas. How helpless she must''ve been. "Do you want to give your family a bit of trouble? Distracted enough so they wouldn''t have time to find out where you are?" She tilted her head and looked at him, eyes filled with curiosity. "What do you mean?" "Is it true that your family wasn''t the original ruling family?" he asked. Cassandra was a little surprised and nodded in the end. Then he proceeded to tell her that, when he got there, he happened to follow someone from the family of the previous lord. He had overheard the man''s bitterness in passing and decided to follow in case he found something useful in his mission. Using his stealth skills, he managed to follow them for a while. Fortunately, after the rants, they talked about their plans even before they entered their abode. This was lucky because he wouldn''t have been able to sneak in due to the system. He took advantage of Cassandra''s (and her family''s) entry to get to Eshno''s, but there was no such thing in the other house. They were careful and still used the voice barrier though (something they belatedly remembered to do), but as one of Alterra''s top soldiers, he had the tool against it. He activated it and he managed to hear much of their plans. They had apparently been monitoring Jacoba for a long time¡ªyears, in fact¡ªand they had known that it was weakening. It was why they had started to mobilize their forces a few months ago. They had slowly tried to get the mercenary teams outside of there. One, they revealed the place''s actual state. It was failing¡ªit was better to leave when they still had their assets! They also facilitated some deals with other towns and the like, so compared to a year prior, a good portion of mercenary teams had already left Jacoba. Next, they allied with another town, something called Uber Town about a week distance away. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Uber Town was supposed to declare war within the next week or so, and they would cause chaos, regaining the token along the way. It was just that the announcement of the wedding came and it took them off-guard. They knew they had to stop the alliance at all cost. This wasn''t just an alliance bounded by the system, but also by marriage. This was like extra insurance for Jacoba and Ester. They didn''t care about Ester, but Jacoba couldn''t regain strength again! They had planned to cause chaos during the wedding, and Gill had planned to take advantage of that. They also proceeded to take in a few female slaves to vent, prior to a tenseful mission the next day. It was also what let Gill disregard the trouble his plan would cause them. Rather than trouble, it could very well get them killed, but who cared? They''re all bastards, anyway. Still, while his plan was to take advantage of the chaos they''d create, his gut told him to start moving as soon as possible. He managed to sneak into Eshno''s house during the meet-up because there were so many guests and the entry was loosened by the lord himself, being the house''s owner. He was the type that''d be too lazy to ''approve'' each entry so he changed the settings instead. Gill was thankful he did so. Had he only started moving the next day¡ª Ah, damnit, he wanted to crush that man''s head! But feeling his woman''s softness against him, he calmed down a bit, continuing with his explanation. "Whatever we did today, we can pin it on them," he told Cassandra, his eyes glinting with slyness. At this point, almost all of the tension in Cassandra''s body had left her, and all she felt was peace. She just wanted to go home now. She just embraced him tighter, feeling his warmth. "Let''s do whatever we have to," she told him. "I trust you." Chapter 976 - 976: Chaotic Aftermath While the couple officially eloped and escaped the town (with Ghesso, of course), the people of Jacoba were blissfully unaware of the storm coming their way¡­ and that the people who caused it had long gotten out of the territory. It was the wedding day, after all. In everyone''s minds, this was a day of celebration! Today was the day Jacoba would be great again, and so would their wallets! The wedding was set to happen in the late afternoon, but the entire territory was lively from an early hour. Some last-minute preparations were being perfected as well. This wedding had to be perfect, after all! However, when afternoon ticked in, the man still hadn''t gotten up! Several servants stood outside the room, wondering what they should do next. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They let him sleep in because they knew the master went hard the previous night. However, this time, they might have no choice but to wake him up. They shivered. Who would do the ''honors''? The slaves, of course. About half of Eshno''s servants were slaves, so it wasn''t difficult to get someone to wake him up. Everyone knew the master could get¡­ violent if woken up prematurely, so no one who had their free will wanted to go inside. Two slaves used the master keys to open the door, shakily entering the room. They never would have thought they would find the Master''s severed head instead!! ¡­ It was absolute chaos, with the lord himself rushing over with no blood on his face. He gaped at the body and then the head¡­ and confirmed that they were definitely not connected anymore. "W-What¡­" He looked at the servants, who were all kneeling down and crying. They were not sad that the man perished¡ªsome of them were even glad¡ªbut the fact that Eshno lost his head was practically a guarantee that they''d lose theirs! "Who¡­ what¡­" At this point, Warron was incoherent. Just an hour ago, he was already finalizing the deal and arrangement with Ester Town! This was going to be handed over to Eshno after their wedding night tomorrow. If Cassandra satisfied him enough, then he could push some more advantages for Jacoba! He would also instruct Cassandra to assist Jacoba well even when she was in another territory¡ªand this was something Warron did not question she would follow at all! This was a woman''s duty¡ªespecially as a noble woman! At the time, he just thought that girl better satisfy Eshno well the next few days, or else he''d hear a lot from him! In fact, he had already estimated earnings he''d have every month. Now¡­ it was all crumbling in front of his eyes and he was powerless to pull them back together. "Who¡­" he gasped, feeling it harder and harder to breathe. Who would do this!? Cassandra? No! She wouldn''t dare. She definitely did not have the capability to bypass all the guards here! In fact, to make things ''easier'' for everyone, Gill left a note on the wall in Eshno''s blood. ''This is what you get for stealing our home! Now, I''ll take your daughter until you give it back!'' it said. However, while the note was not small nor was it hidden, it was written on the perpendicular wall, so the people didn''t see it immediately. At first, all they could see was the carcass of their special guest, which already shook them to the core. How could they mind anything else for a while. While Warren stared in disbelief as the key to his plan was beheaded, his family closely followed behind him. Whether it was the legitimate or the other one, they were all there to witness this farce. Warron''s mind whirled and he stood still for a while, while his wife started looking around with wide eyes. "Where''s my daughter?" She looked at her husband who didn''t seem to be looking for the bride, and was just staring at the groom. "HUSBAND!!" Warron was shaken and finally remembered his daughter. He hurriedly opened the lord panel to see if she was there. "Gone. She''s¡­ not here anymore!" "Could she have eloped?" Cessi, Cassandra''s half-sister, quipped somewhere in the room. She looked at her brother, Casso, who was also trying to push down a cackle. Cessi looked at her purse, which was so pretty and convenient. A pity she''d have to find the source herself. A hassle, but it should be worth it. Their mother, Tiara, tried to pretend to care, going to their father. "Is she still alive?" She asked with that soft high-pitched voice of hers. "I mean, if the son of Ester Lord is dead, then she¡ª" "Who cares about her, the man is dead!" Warron yelled, shutting everyone up. "Do you know what it means? This means the deal is off! Worse¡ªEster Town would be against us!!" This naturally triggered the woman who was looking for her only child. "THAT''S YOUR DAUGHTER!" Ilda yelled, eyes reddening. That was her only child¡ªa child she had raised so painstakingly! Gone! Wasted! And look at Tiara and her family! Tiara looked concerned, but she could feel her laughing inside! And look at her children! They didn''t even bother hiding their mirthful smiles! Who did they think they were fooling? "YOU! YOU PLANNED THIS!" She screamed, immediately lunging at Tiera, grabbing a fist-full of her hair. This woman had been ruining her plans for so long! Cassandra was her only hope of regaining the upper hand! How could she let this bitch get away with it this time!? "YOU!! GIVE MY DAUGHTER BACK!" she screamed, shaking the other woman''s head, as if planning on pulling out all of her hair. "GIVE HER BACK!" Tiara screamed, trying to keep her hair intact. "I don''t¡ª!" She squealed, feeling sharp stinging on her scalp! She could really lose a lot of hair like this! NOO!" "TAKE HER AWAY! TAKE HER AWAY!" She screamed, desperately trying to take away the other woman''s hands on her. It was only with this screech that her two children made a move. Sad for them, they were kicked back by the red-eyed Ilda, and for a bit they could only watch their mother being harassed like this. "Kyaaa!" Tiara screamed. "STOP IIIITTTT! KYAAAAA!" Anyway, chaos ensued, and it would not stop for a long time to come. Chapter 977 - 977: Goodbye, Jacoba! "LET ME GOO! LET ME GOOO, YOU BITCH!!" Tiara yelled, whipping her head to glare at the useless servants. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING THERE!? HOLD HER BACK!! Kyaaaa!" The servants looked at each other. The woman was the daughter of a powerful merchant and thus could not be stopped by them. In general, nobles couldn''t be touched casually by mere servants. If they did this¡ªeven if they didn''t do much but touch without permission¡ª they could easily meet death. So, despite the ensuing chaos, the nearby servants could only watch. "CESSI! CASSO! GET IN HERE!" The siblings stared, but stood up. This was their mother after all. Most importantly, they still depended on her about a lot of things! But who could blame them? They had never encountered such¡­ brutishness before and didn''t quite know how to handle it. Sure, they beat people up among the commoners for no particular reason, but in the noble circle, this was rarely seen. Ilda was usually quite poised as well. Even when their mother and father were flirting right in front of her, she retained her calmness. Everyone was surprised by the sudden explosion. The two of them took each side of Ilda, prepared to pull an arm each. However, Ilda was stronger than Tiara and definitely stronger than the two of them, the spoiled kids. BANG! Not only were the two pushed to the wall again and could only groan in pain, but Ilda also took out a few bits of hair from her rival''s head due to the movements. Tiara gasped at the sight, and she couldn''t stand up immediately from the intense mix of dizziness and pain. When she realized her son and daughter were also hurt, she screamed. "Children!" she yelled, but then she held her hair and felt an empty patch, and she quickly forgot to check on her children. "NO! MY HAIRRRR!" she cried, glaring at the other woman. "How could you do this!!" Ilda didn''t care about anything anymore. Her soft hands grabbed Tiara''s chin. "Then give me back my daughter!" "It wasn''t me!!" S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I don''t believe you!" Ilda yelled back. "I swear¡ªuntil I get her back, I''ll make your lives a living hell!" "You¡ª" At this, Tiara finally snapped and tried to fight back, starting an all-out brawl between two noble ladies. They wouldn''t normally do this under any circumstance, but it seemed like Cassandra''s ''death'' was a trigger to the decades-long bitterness in Ilda''s heart. All this time, she endured because she had her daughter as her hope. Now that it was gone, she turned a little crazy. Chaos reigned for a while, with guards and servants not knowing how to stop it. When their brawl reached Warron, hitting his legs by accident, they finally caught his attention. His mind was still dizzy whenever he thought of the repercussions, and he did not need all this noise!! "Stop it! Or I''ll place you both in the dungeons!!" Warron did not have the mind to bother with his wife and his mistress. He immediately looked at his guard, gesturing to bellow an order. However, his peripheral vision caught sight of the gaping note on a wall and his voice died down. His mouth was still parted, and he looked at the wall in shock. Everyone else saw this and followed his sight. The note was made with blood, with a very ominous message to them. "This is what you get for stealing our home! Now, I''ll take your daughter until you give it back!''?" He gasped, and the others also paled as they saw the meaning of the note. Warron clenched his fist, anger immediately redirected to those bastards! "FIND THEM!" he yelled. "I should''ve known! Find the people who did this! RIGHT NOW!" ¡­ While two parties were set to butt heads in Jacoba Town, the couple (and assistant) had long left the town and were heading north back home¡ªto Alterra. Cassandra was chuckling as she laid in Gill''s hold, who was sprinting back. Despite the toll on his health, he naturally wanted Cassandra to be in the best care possible. Ferrol''s beast cart only dropped him some distance away from Jacoba before and left him there. He didn''t know what would happen but he didn''t want anything to be traced to Ferrol. This was not for the good of his heart but mostly due to practicality. If they traced Ferrol, then they''d study all of its recent connections. The biggest of these connections was Alterra and could be traced back after some search. Not to mention, the lord there was Cassandra''s maternal cousin. They could suspect him immediately just because of this relationship. In any case, they were heading back on foot until they either found a town with beast carts they could rent (or steal) or found a level 2 town with a Mercenary Hall to teleport to Ferrol with. Gill was the deputy leader and had the clearance to take in new members, which he could give to both Ghesso and Cassandra. In the meantime, Gill refused to let go of Cassandra. Ghesso, on the other hand, was in charge of protecting them from the beasts. Town-level beasts were troublesome so, for the most, part, they mostly ran away from them. Like Gaudi, Ghesso was one of the people who had held on for a long time before finally being captured as a slave. He was also a slave in a town where monsters were stronger so he was already level 24 at this time, making him a pretty decent guard. Gill also helped out with his spear and elements¡ªsomething that made the Novan look at him with even brighter admiration. Even in Towns, elementalists weren''t so common. Didn''t he say he was from a village? Anyway, Ghesso took down the monsters bravely, clearing the road for the couple. The travel lasted hours for a few days under the hot sun. It was by no means easy. Despite all the hardships, Cassandra¡ªeven when she lost the home she grew up in¡ªhad never smiled so brightly. She hugged Gill tightly, burying her face in the crook of his neck. "Thank you, Gill," she said. "For taking me home." Cassandra¡ªdespite being on the run¡ª had never felt so relieved her whole life. Chapter 978 - 978: Arrival of the Soldiers from the West A/N: Been trying to use footnote function to mention/explain characters since I have so many and I know you already forgot abt them. But it''s not working, so I can only use the author''s notes at the bottom. ... ____ While Gill was bringing over two citizens-to-be¡ªthree counting his child¡ªseveral acquaintances had also arrived at Alterra. It was none other than the other members of the Terran Mercenary Team! The group was now staring at the wall ahead of them, and they were queuing like everyone else. "This is Alterra? Where the captain is?" Orz asked Juno, the person who the lord himself ordered to guide them to Alterra. The green-haired man looked at them blankly. "I told you this 12 times today." Included in this count were Orz''s questions when they hadn''t gone too far from his home territory, too. "Ah, yes," Orz said, scratching his cheek. They actually landed in Bright Village first. At the time, the lord greeted them himself. He was very hospitable. At first, the soldiers (who knew Lords could see people''s stats) thought he was being kind to them because they had good levels. Surprisingly, he seemed to be a bit more interested in Ryan''s uncle, instead. This was not to say he wasn''t interested in them at all. He also asked them a lot of questions. He also offered them very good jobs as Top Guards. He even offered them free housing and food allowances on top of their base salaries. "We''re actually looking for people," Ryan said, interrupting the very obvious recruitment. "If you can tell us if any of the names we need are here, we would really appreciate it." Micheal had a foreboding feeling about these soldiers and was actually reluctant to ask this question. Their strengths were just too high for them to have arrived at the same time as they did. He just pretended not to have an idea, in hopes of actually keeping them here. However, when they explicitly said they came three months earlier than others and that they had separated from another group of soldiers from Eden¡ªand were now looking for them¡ªthen he knew he could stop fooling himself. "Well, I guess I should''ve known. I suppose I ignored it because I really wanted your force in my territory," he said, heaving a disappointed sigh. "Could you be members of the Terran Mercenary Team?" They all flinched and looked at him. One had to know, that being focused on by people of much higher levels was normally unnerving. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It would be intimidating if Micheal was a normal person, but he wasn''t. Instead, he just looked disappointed and his enthusiasm was toned down by about a hundred points. His shoulders slumped and he looked at Juno. "Escort them to Alterra," he just said, waving his hand as if wanting them to disappear from his sight, as if they reminded him of heartbreak. "..." They were puzzled at first and asked Juno what it was about, and when he said other members were there, they were extremely ecstatic. They also asked the lord for the names of their relatives and some refugees did find some, but there was no such luck for the others. Micheal did mention that Gill had his mother, and Sunny was a familiar name. Later, after asking around, Ryan and his uncle found out that the Sunny in Alterra was their Sunny, and she had made a life for herself in Alterra! However, although they were excited, their families¡ªwho were normal civilians¡ª were incredibly weak from the dangerous and tedious travel. Hence, they made the excruciating decision to rest for a day. Anyway, everyone told them that Alterra was the strongest, and they didn''t have to worry about that place at all. Speaking of them, while Ryan and the others were gathering info, the rest of their group was eating and drinking their hearts out. They were already so happy to find a good place, and it came as a shock when the soldiers told them they''d be going elsewhere the next morning. It startled them at first¡ªafter all, Bright was already so special¡ªbut when they found out that the rest of the team was in the next village, and that village had even better conditions, it was no longer a discussion. Gwen herself was too giddy. If it was just her, she''d run there, but she wasn''t so arrogant that she''d think she would reach it safely on her own with all her limbs intact. She just couldn''t sleep in the end so she snuck into Ryan''s bed so he could put her to sleep. Suffice to say: It was sweet torture for the poor blonde the entire night. They couldn''t sleep well and, even if they were comfortable, they ended up getting up very early. The team got ready hours before dawn and left while it was dark with their families. The target was to be able to reach Alterra by sunlight. As for the other refugees, they didn''t tell them they were leaving. Bright was already good enough, and it''d be impolite to take all the manpower they just added back. Of course, if someone heard of their plans and decided to come with them, they weren''t stopped either. Before they left though, Micheal ''got over'' his heartbreak and asked to send a message. In return for his good deed, Micheal asked them to put a good word to the territory, asking to put a small base in Bright, where one or two soldiers would be designated at a time when Alterra upgraded to Town. Of course, it wouldn''t be for free, with Micheal paying a certain amount of extra protection fee to Alterra on top of the tribute as a subsidiary. Besides, when Alterra became a Town, the hired aborigines would also see massive improvements. As long as they had money, Alterra could hire an army! This was in stark contrast to the adjacent villages who would take many more years to even dream of reaching the prestige requirement! In that case, securing strong forces from Alterra was the best bet. Not to mention, people would be reluctant to become their citizens with such a town nearby. If one thought of it that way, Alterra should compensate by protecting them. Of course, none of them would dare say this out loud¡­ Chapter 979 - 979: Successful Landing Anyway, Juno guided them all the way to Alterra, along with a caravan (because why not), and the party arrived about an hour after sunlight. They were now standing just outside the impressive walls and imposing sentries. Bright''s merchants were not surprised as they had often been here, but the newcomers were certainly shocked. "A village. This is really a village that was built the same time as everyone else?" Mart asked, surprised, and especially so when they entered the village. Mart was a soldier who arrived with the other Terrans. Speaking of him, he had also reached level 10 and awakened the earth element after traveling for so long. With Orz''s guidance over the past few days, he was now a bona fide earth bender. "To be honest, even Towns we''ve been to may not be as good¡­" Ryan said, staring at the lively wide streets filled with activity and smiling people everywhere. The entry fee was also very good! Although it had been increased (according to Juno), it was still low if one considered this was basically a Town already. Orz, who was chewing a meat jerky he bought from Bright, whistled, very impressed. "True, the weaker towns look poor next to this," he said, remembering a few examples. The first months they were in this world, they had gone through a couple of territories before settling in Twinwave Town, so they knew what they were talking about. This¡­ was really impressive. How long has it been? It hasn''t even been 6 months since they arrived, right? Sean looked around with bright eyes, and then he turned to his sister and the in-laws. Salia met his eyes and they let out identical smiles. Her husband, Philip, was holding her shoulder with a similar smile, while his mother¡ªas always¡ªwas already thinking of where in this good place would they be settling. To be honest, Sean didn''t like that woman. She had grown up and lived in a rural area with very strict views on women. She always ordered his sister around, acting like an undefiable matriarch. According to the people in Calma Village, she would always order Salia to gather resources to sell while she herself barely carried her own weight. On the other hand, Philip was a mama''s boy who would request her to soften up but never quite put his foot down. He''d only try to lessen his wife''s load by working more, which just made the mother-in-law dislike Salia more. However, they found out that Salia was a couple of weeks pregnant and the issue finally calmed¡­ to some degree. Sean had heard her mumble ''Been married for 10 years, decided to get pregnant in this hell hole'' under her breath many times. He hadn''t hung around them for so long, but he already wanted to strangle her. He couldn''t imagine how it was for his soft-hearted sister. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Before, he couldn''t mind her too much because they were in constant danger from the outside world. How could a few earfuls be more of an issue than the threat of actual death? However, if they had finally found a peaceful place here in Alterra, then it''d definitely be an issue if the old woman didn''t improve herself. Sean wasn''t a particularly confrontive person though. He wondered if he should send Orz to do it for him. Orz: "..." Speaking of Orz, his brother and his students had long run to the ''moving stalls'' and were now buying everything. These three had never stopped eating since landing in Bright, and their foodie tendencies completely exploded after landing here. Ben, who had been admiring the place, laughed when he saw the stupid look of the trio. However, he pulled his wife Katarina''s hand over to another stall to buy some stuff themselves. He leaned down to carry his son¡ªa cute blonde boy named Kenny¡ªon the way there. The boy flushed red in embarrassment. "Daddy, daddy! I''m nine years old now! Not a baby! Put me down!" "Yes, yes¡­" he smiled, though not putting him down at all. As a soldier, he missed his son''s growth a lot. The times he could carry him around like this weren''t a lot, and he was determined to make up for it now! It would cause his son to glare at him a lot for embarrassing him, though! As they approached the stalls, people couldn''t help but look at the family. Ben had dark hair and skin, which contrasted with the opposite color palette of his almost-albino wife and son. There was no doubt Kenny was Ben''s son though. They had the exact same hair and facial features, making them amusing to look at when their faces were side by side. Minko smiled as he looked at the happy families, shaking his head at his own situation. Hopefully, the wife he left behind with the lord there was living well. When he left, he found out she was a few weeks pregnant. Other than the fact that things could never be the same between them, how could he take her away from the father of her child? Some memories of the good times with that woman passed by his head and he did feel a little tinge in his heart. Reuben, who was standing next to him, patted his shoulder. He had an idea of what''s going on in his head. "Don''t be so sad. Things are finally looking up for everyone," he said. "Who knows¡­ maybe we can build new families here." Reuben''s sister, Rina, was still not found, but with the resources the Captain had, he had a feeling he''d find her soon. Ryan and Ricky, on the other hand, were just glad Sunny seemed to be living well. "It''s good, it''s good." Now all that was left was finally reuniting with her. Ryan looked at his girlfriend, who was holding his hand. She, too, had an excited expression on her face. "I''ll see you later," she said, absolutely giddy and couldn''t wait to run where her brother and mother are! Ricky smiled and patted the cats'' heads. Even if one of them was his battle pet, those two felines didn''t want to be apart for a second. Well, let them stay with their mother. Meow They agreed. He smiled, grasping Gwen''s hands a little tighter before letting go. "It''s time to find our families." The group headed to the Village Center then, with Juno leading them. Although they could go to the Barracks first, making announcements was still the most efficient way to get the attention of anyone pertinent. And, as expected, about half an hour later, several successive announcements shook many people''s days. Chapter 980 - 980: Newcomer Registration Micheal had actually sent a message to Alterra the previous night using the Village Center, as lords of allied and subsidiary villages could do. However, him being him, he just told them a surprise was coming with this caravan. At the time, Ansel sneered. ''That jerk is always trying to appear mysterious,'' he said, and he was right. One of Micheal''s sources of small joys was to keep people guessing. Anyway, the leading party was expecting people coming in and they assumed they were someone''s acquaintance. If her children weren''t with her and asking for attention everywhere, it was estimated that Althea herself would be monitoring the changes. Ansel did go out to greet them when they were notified that the caravan had arrived. At this time, Juno had already led the newcomers to the Village Center. Juno had been here often enough to know the process and he knew that anyone who missed this step would be recorded as suspicious individuals. The green-haired warrior didn''t want to commit that technicality when his lord obviously wanted to make a good impression through this ''delivery''. They registered one by one, also guided by the concierge there. Even this alone was impressive. Who had so many resources to have a welcoming information desk? Orz and the others registered with smiles. Even if the captain and the others weren''t here, they''d definitely settle their families here. Only such a territory would give them enough sense of security if they wanted to continue exploring this dangerous world. "This is where we can register to become residents, right?" Ricky asked, wanting to ask them to take him to where Sunny was. The concierge smiled at them, used to this question. "Yes, but you cannot register as a resident for now." This made everyone flinch and look at her in despair. She felt awkward and cleared her throat. No matter how many times she went through this, it was hard to get used to being stared at with such¡­ passion by a big group of people. "I''m not saying you can''t ever do so, but as newcomers you''d have to settle in as Visitors first," she said, explaining as gently as she could. Before, she had gotten into a conflict with formerly-rich people demanding residencies. Those people, whether in Terran or here, had some money so they didn''t have to worry about living. To them, being ''visitors'' was equivalent to being ''informal settlers'' which was completely below them. They didn''t dare raise hands on her of course¡ªthe rules were strict¡ªbut they definitely said a lot of mean things. She even heard of the quintessential demand "Call your manager!" which she honestly didn''t think she''d hear so often in Xeno. Of course, those people had been taught lessons (in the manual prison, charged for harassment) and were now obedient visitors quietly gathering Contribution Points. There were also more minor cases but, fortunately, those were settled with words. Still, she would be especially tired that day and she''d definitely be hanging around in bars or in the entertainment street the same night to loosen up the stress and pent-up anger. Anyway, her job was not easy. Should she request for a raise? "We now require 50 silver a month and a one-time payment of 2000 Contribution points to become temporary residents," she said, completely memorizing the script. "To become permanent residents, it is even more expensive at a lump sum of 20 gold and 10,000 contribution points. "Contribution points can be used to buy other people''s residencies¡ªotherwise, it is non-transferable." "Contribution Points?" This made a few pout. They were so excited to become residents here! Ben frowned and patted his wife''s soft shoulder. Since they might be exploring the outside a lot, they''d be leaving their family members behind. There would definitely be a lot of protection to residents compared to visitors. For instance, in some rich territories they had been to, residents could not be easily kicked out of the territory. They could get imprisoned, but at least they wouldn''t be exposed to the outside world. How could they be rest assured enough to leave if they didn''t have this protection? "Territories are usually welcoming of new residents, right?" He asked. "Why are they so strict?" The concierge smiled, though her smile seemed a little smug. "Our Elders have determined that we will be upgrading to Town soon, and they didn''t want the town to risk defeat. "In order to defer the upgrade, a lot of measures were implemented¡ªincluding limiting the number of residents and population we''d have," she said. "In fact, your batch of refugees should be among the last batch we would be accepting." Everyone looked at each other, unsure whether they were hearing this correctly. "Excuse me?" Miss Concierge continued with her explanation. "According to the elders, they will only upgrade the village when they are certain we wouldn''t be defeated as a Level 1 Town." S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They didn''t hide this fact at all, because it was a good way for potential attackers to detract. Or, at least, have second thoughts. On paper, this seemed really arrogant. Who would be so sure they''d be undefeated? Especially when they were still in the lower rung? Regardless, it was definitely enough to startle anyone who heard of it. "Seriously?" Orz and his brother asked. The Lady Concierge nodded. "Yes, seriously." The newcomers looked at each other. Was it true? Not only was this territory¡ªbuilt at the same time as theirs¡ªalready on its way to becoming a Town, but they were also confident that they could strengthen themselves to the point that they''d be undefeatable by Towns¡ªall while still being a village! Should they be amazed or should they be worried? This was an awesome territory, leading them to be proud, but what if it caused its fall instead? They gulped, seriously pondering. Of course, the exploration could come later¡ªfamilies first! They also need to find the Captain! Reuben stepped forward, smiling at the woman. "Where can we find a list of citizens? We want to find our relatives," he said. "I heard we can also make announcements here. The woman blushed a bit and nodded. "Would you like to use our announcement service? You can send up to 100 words all around the territory for only 10 silver!" "We also have investigator teams around here," she said. "You can pay them and they could look for information in your stead! They''re not cheap though." Everyone nodded, hearts racing in excitement. Regardless of the price, if it meant finding their relatives, then it''d be worth it!! Chapter 981 - 981: Another Green-tagged Name! While the newcomers scrambled to make announcements (soon barraging everyone''s screens), the twins'' baby walkers finally arrived! It was why only Ansel¡ªwho was now watching people making announcements¡ªwas the only one who actually went to check on Micheal''s ''surprise''. The Baby Walkers were still important. People could just find them in their villa if they knew them. Anyway, the family went to check the new arrivals together with various expectations. Garan and Althea each carried a child in their arms, with Bianca and a few others from the Woodworker team there to explain its mechanics. When they revealed the walking tools, the babies laughed in glee. Anything new and colorful was fun to them at this point. Speaking of the babies, they were now wearing simple unicolor onesies, with Pepper wearing a light blue one and Meatball with a red one. The couple happily showed the babies their new toys. They were lovely intricately carved walkers with differing patterns and colors, making them pop¡ªto make sure the babies were always visible¡ªwhile being pleasing to the eyes at the same time. Interestingly, it was also obvious which walker was whose. For example, Little Pepper''s had more cutesy curvy motifs, while Meatball''s had more straight lines engraved onto it. The couple approached and kneeled down, placing the two kids on the floor so they could look at their toys more intimately. "Look, your new walkers!" The couple let them touch the walkers, and they played with the toys and the attachments. For now, they seemed fascinated. "Mwamhammma¡­" "Gogmammm..." Seeing them so cute as always¡ªand seeming to love their new toys¡ªBianca had hearts in her eyes. However, she remained professional as she explained the functions of the tool to the family. "These," Bianca said, a hand on each tool, eyes staring at the cute babies. "...are custom-made walkers we made just for you." Her voice was soft and higher-pitched as she talked to the children, whose innocent round eyes were fixed on her. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ah, too cute! "It''s designed so you can learn to walk and explore more of this world on your own." Their seats were made of flexible cloth that would bounce along with their movements. There were also a lot of toys and puzzles built-in and would keep them entertained for hours at a time. "In front are compartments where you can keep your favorite toys, see?" She said, opening a compartment at the back with cute wooden toys inside. This seemed to have excited the babies and they jumped in place while their parents held them upright. "Mwamwaaaahhh" "Googhmmaamma!" Milky giggles abounded and the adults placed the babies on their seats to test it out. The children''s feet¡ªnow wearing tiny cloth shoes, by the way¡ªcomfortably touched the ground. At the same time, the adults could see that they were sitting comfortably and not carrying too much of their own weight (for now). "It''s perfect," Althea said with a smile, heart feeling tingly at her babies'' growth. She leaned down to give them both smooches before she stood up and stepped back, wondering what the children would do. "Mwamwaaaahhh" "Googhmmaamma!" Judging by their giggles, the two of them seemed very comfortable. They also started jumping and raising their feet up and down for now, but they''d start moving as soon as they figured out that they could. "Mwamwaaaahhh" "Googhmmaamma!" Swoosh The two jumped around so much that the wheels moved just by an inch, but this little movement made the babies freeze and blink, wondering if something happened just then. They proceeded to play by themselves as well as the toys attached to the walker, and soon enough it started moving more and more and the babies soon figured out what they could do with it. "MWAMAH! MWAMMAAH!!" "GOOGHHHMA!!" The babies'' laughter was contagious and the adults happily watched the babies play around like this for a while. Of course, Althea did not forget to record the moment in her phone. This was a major milestone for them, after all! Minutes passed without them knowing, simply laughing whenever the kids did something silly like bumping into a corner and looking adorably dizzy. Bianca chuckled and stopped Meatball, who just happened to bump into his father''s legs. She kneeled down and held on to the walker, teaching the couple a few other mechanisms. "You can turn this knob here to increase the height if it becomes too small for them. We all know how fast they grow." Bianca definitely placed a lot of thought into this, and Althea''s eyes warmed at the love the other woman was giving her children. "Thank you," she said, handing over the promised payments. "It''s no problem," Bianca said, accepting the money though she could''ve given it for free if they allowed for it. "Rather, I should thank you¡ªfor letting me part of their childhoods." ¡­ A few minutes after Bianca left, the babies started to move again. "Mwamwaaaahhh" "Googhmmaamma!" They''d bump everywhere though, but fortunately the walker was sturdy. The couple smiled and watched them fondly, sitting on the sofa. As the kids explored their new mode of transportation, the couple started to do their own thing. Althea finally had the time to look at the population list, especially now that Micheal''s ''surprise'' was in her territory. She would always rank based on abilities for a quick perusal, and she had to admit she was looking forward to the new additions to her territory. As she did so, her back straightened, eyes fixed on her screen. There were special people this time. Garan, who was holding her in his arms, naturally felt to change. He blinked and leaned down to kiss her face. "What is it, wife?" She turned her head to him. "Well, I know what Micheal meant by great arrivals," she said. "First, I think those old team members of yours are here." This made Garan flinch, his eyes bright. "That''s not all," she said with a smile, emerald eyes fixed on a name. After so long, there was finally another green-tagged person in their midst! A glassmaker! Chapter 982 - 982: Reunion of the Calmas At this time, the territory was still echoing with announcements. The Crow trio was with the engineering team, finalizing the next possible aether buildings to do. Of course, they could only start when they got more materials from Otto. They also drew the manual construction versions of the buildings, which should be the ideal practice so they weren''t too dependent on rare materials. Even if they didn''t have the special effects of Aether buildings, they should still be able to create highly-functional buildings. However, while they were chattering and planning, they were also listening to the frequent dinging in their heads, as well as the subsequent announcements that came after. They weren''t expecting to actually know any of the people making an announcement¡ªthe chances were too low¡ªbut they listened closely every time, just in case. [Orz and Ouli Lopez from Nacha City is looking for friends and family who know him. Please come to the Terran Mercenary Team Base and ask for him.] [Sean Connor from Owlish Town is looking for friends and family who know him. Please come to the Terran Mercenary Team Base and ask for him.] [Tiara and Ton Su from Nacha City are looking for friends and family who knows them. Please come to the Village Center to ask for them.] [Tiara and Ton Su from Nacha City are looking for friends and family who knows them. Please come to the Village Center to ask for them.] A few more passed by, until finally¡ª [Ryan and Ricky Calma are looking for Sunny Calma, wherever you are right now. Please come to the Terran Mercenary Team Base as soon as you can and ask for them.] Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The aforementioned young lady dropped her pen, and everyone turned to look at her with wide eyes. Silence reigned in the room even after it dropped and rolled on the floor. Sunny didn''t even say anything anymore and she darted outside to finally meet her family! ¡­ After the announcements were sent out, the soldiers rented out houses for their families. They planned to settle them down first before heading to the Mercenary Team. Anyway, they already made announcements which doubled as their notification of their arrivals. As for the other refugees who came with them all the way to Alterra¡ªlike the former lord Cassas and a few others¡ªthey would settle in the dormitories for now. They were no longer the soldier''s responsibilty, though they might still be helping them out for old times'' sake. Each soldier with a family member rented a duplex unit for their own families, so they could have their own space. For example, Ben, Sean, and Orz each leased a duplex unit. They rented it for 3 months, which should be enough time for them to gather enough contribution points to buy the units. The gold was especially possible because of the banking system which was vaguely introduced to them. The lady concierge said that as long as they were strong and hard-working, they had a high chance of borrowing enough money to pay down payment for a small house. It was always the contribution point and residency status requirements that were the biggest obstacles to owning a house here. To be honest, even now, it was hard to comprehend how a few-month-old territory in a place like Xeno could have such a thing as a banking system, but here they were, already thinking of loans... In any case, each family marveled at the design and conveniences of their new home. "A bathroom! Like in Bright!" Ouli yelled with a wide grin. His students had similar faces to him. They looked like three idiots who hadn''t seen a toilet in their lives. Tiara opened a knob. "It''s a running shower!" Ton nodded. "Whoa!" "I heard that you have to fill up the tank though." "Nah, there''s a pipe there," Orz said, already asked the pertinent questions to others before. "You just gotta pay some money per cubic meter of water going up." "..." "..." To think they were so happy getting water from wells not long ago¡­ now they got pipes! Ricky was focused on the windows, the translucent Youli panels. He and Ryan hadn''t rented a house yet, wanting to see what would be needed first when they met Sunny. However, it did not stop them from checking out the units so they could choose wisely. Anyway, Ricky entered his own zone and everybody was busy admiring their own part of the house to notice. He would open and close it, touch it, and study its texture. The plebians had no idea how much information was currently working in his mind. They just continued to explore the place, eyes bright with hope and happiness. "This is similar to Bright, but even better." "They said the basic module was from Alterra," Orz said. Alterra just customized the appearances a bit more, making it a unique look despite it selling the modules to other territories. Of course, the utility lines were purely Alterra. They couldn''t comprehend how they could do all these things with so many beasts and wars going on, but they felt it was beyond their minds¡ªso just enjoy it! "The biogas is here too!" Sean said with a smile, opening it. "With more ingredients, we would be able to do more." Ben nodded, then blinked when a thought came to mind. "Since we''re not using the barracks or the mercenary team dorm, I wonder if we could get a little extra as an allowance in exchange¡­" "Wow, didn''t consider that." "Ah, so nice." "It would be great if we can buy our own home." "True." If they pooled funds together, they could actually afford a downpayment. Sadly, they couldn''t be residents easily. Anyway, seeing their families settled down, the soldiers finally gestured to head to the mercenary team, with Ricky coming because that was where they told Sunny to go. They had heard she was busy, possibly out of the territory, which was why they calmed themselves and planned to peacefully wait for her in one spot. Before they could get far though¡ªstill some distance away from the barracks¡ª a feminine yell sounded, making two people turn simultaneously. "Brother! Uncle!!" "Sunny!" They yelled, and they watched as the girl ran to them with outstretched arms. Finally! Chapter 983 - 983: The Glassmaker "Wuuuuuu brotherrrrr wuuu! Uncle! Wuuuuuu!" Sunny gripped and hugged her last two relatives, sobbing hard. She and Ricky sobbed identically, making no one doubt they were related. "Sunny!" he said, patting the girl''s head. Ryan was a lot calmer, but his gentle smile and glistening eyes told everyone he was also emotional. Knowing this reunion would take a while to calm, Orz and the others went ahead to the Terran Mercenary Team. Ryan and Ricky, who already met Sunny, didn''t have to go and went back to borrow Orz''s living room to talk. Ouli and the siblings, after greeting Sunny and congratulating them, also left to explore and to give space to the family. A few minutes after settling in the living room though, Sunny was still sobbing in her brother''s arms, rubbing snot all over him. Ryan did not mind it at all of course, and he patiently waited until she calmed down before they started asking questions. "We heard you''re doing well here." She nodded with a bit of pride. It was just that seeing her red face and the sniffling mess that she was, she just looked silly. "I am a resident and I can buy a property," she said. She just didn''t have money for a villa, but she was very close to being able to pay for a small unit on her own! "I need a couple more gold for the downpayment," she said, pursing her lips. She was not so strong as a fighter, nor was she exemplary as a staff in the construction industry, so she took a while to get residency. At the same time, when she did get it, she lost a lot. After all, the cost of residency was not low and also required a bit of gold, so she needed to save up a bit more for down payment. The two men''s eyebrows rose at this and they smiled. "We can help you with that." ¡­ They pooled their funds together and headed to the Village Center to finally get a downpayment. Because Sunny was the resident, then it was naturally named after her. However, the two men reiterated that even though they''d be the ones paying for the amortization, and even after they received their own residencies, the house would remain under Sunny''s name. "Eh? But that''s not fair¡­" Sunny said, shaking her head. She took them to the Gaea Restaurant for a meal, but she was not expecting this topic to open up. The downpayment was a small percentage of the overall value of the house. There were also interest rates to consider, so they would be paying a lot more than she did for the house. The two laughed at her. "Just think of it as our gift to you," Ricky said. "In Terran, it''s pretty normal for family members to help their younger generation buy a house. Not to mention, it''s your residency status that we''re taking advantage of." "But¡ª" that argument was not valid. They could just gather contribution points on their own and buy their own houses, after all! "Then think of it as an advanced wedding gift!" Ricky said with a teasing smile. "Do you have a boyfriend already?" Sunny blushed a bit but shook her head in the end. Ricky wanted to tease her more, while Ryan was nodding in approval of her current single life. In older-brother-Ryan''s mind, Sunny was still his baby sister and he couldn''t let any stinky men take advantage of her innocence! It was around this time that the food finally arrived! The uncle-nephew duo (and the niece) gulped when the ala carte dishes were served to them. They ordered three main dishes (a gugu bird, a fish dish, and monster beef), a large plate of specially-flavored rice, two vegetable side dishes, and a cool pitcher of sweetened cucumber juice for a refreshing tang. Gulp The trio ate deliciously and patted their stomachs in satisfaction half an hour later. "Ah¡­ what I''d do to eat like this every day¡­" Ricky said, drinking a few more sips of the juice. Gosh, so tasty! The stall food was already amazing, the restaurants took it to a whole new level! The life! This is the life! "Hey, pretty niece," he said, sitting upright as he stared at the girl. "Any tips on how to be rich enough to eat like this every day? Ryan also stared. They hoped she would orient them on how to succeed in Alterra. Sunny was, of course, happy to help. "Basically in Alterra, there are plenty of jobs. Even if you don''t get a conventional job, you can just hunt outside. With the amount of sentries we have, a lot of teams could do so without soldiers guarding them." "The employment jobs could be in the private or public sectors. The best job with the biggest benefits are for the village, but the biggest hirers with the most job openings are in the private sectors, primarily in Miss Althea and Baron''s industries." She told them everything that was on top of her head, looking quite proud to be a part of it. "Alterra is very good. As long as you work hard enough, you''d find a good job and live well." "That''s so interesting," Ricky said. "As long as everyone worked hard, everyone could live much better than the ''rich'' people outside. "I''m curious, how the ''rich'' in Alterra lives." "Well, entrepreneurship is the way, though¡ªlike any other businesses¡ªit had a lot of risks as well as required a pretty hefty capital to start," she said. "There are also the higher-ups of the territory," she said. "They''re the richest in terms of contribution points. "Of course, the best jobs are not easy to get¡ªthose are jobs that require huge amounts of expertise! Our Elder for Diplomacy is none other than Mathilda, a former minister you know!" "Doctor Volohov is a renowned doctor, while the others are also experts in their own fields." "The salaries have also matched with the outside because we have a lot of aborigine tourists now." "What?" Now that she mentioned it¡­ even in Gaea Restaurant, there seemed to be quite a few aborigines there! "Yes, a lot of them go all the way to Alterra to buy goods," she said. "Similarly, the territory also wants us to have purchasing power when we go outside." The two gaped at her as if they were gaping at the territory in general. "That''s amazing¡­" they said, and they were completely sincere. Seriously. That word wasn''t enough to describe it. "Anyway, let''s hope everyone finds a fitting job! My brother should have no problem entering the Guard team. My uncle is not so strong, but at least you are also a scholar. Maybe you can apply to the Research Center¡ªbut they have insane requirements, so it might not be so easy. "Anyway, even if you can''t find jobs, your pretty niece will support you." Ricky: "..." Should he be happy or sad? "Anyway, the competition is hard now, but I''m sure we can get something for you eventually. In the meantime, we can just focus on hunting¡ª uncle? What''s wrong?" They turned to Ricky, who was suddenly gaping in the air. This was because he was looking at a notification only he could see¡­ [You have been offered the position of Chief Glassmaker (Probationary) under the Research Department. Do you accept? Yes | No] Ricky: "!!" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 984 - 984: More Reunions [You have been offered a position as Chief Glassmaker (Probationary) under the Research Department. [Salary: 20 Silver/day (Probationary) [Tasks: 1. Oversee the Glassmaking Operations and Resource Management 2. Drive Innovation and Product Development 3. Lead the design and artistic direction of the department 4. Ensure rigorous quality control and consistency 5. Supervise and mentor apprentices and junior glassmakers] [Do you accept? Yes | No?] Ryan saw the older man in a daze. "Uncle?" he asked, but there was no answer. The siblings looked at each other before turning to him, waving their palms in front of his face. "Hello~" Sunny outright pinched his arm. "A-Ah," Ricky flinched, startled by the sudden closeness of his nephew and niece. "What is it, uncle? You were in a daze." "I¡­ well, I seem to have gotten a job offer?" "A what?" Ricky Calma was a shareholder in a big architectural glass company. The company mostly made glass for facades like window curtains, stained glass for modern churches, and also high-quality glass for precision instruments. He started out as one of the R&D Folks but was promoted to one of the shareholders by virtue of his talents. Rather, he was almost pirated, so the owner decided to give him a share of the company¡ªa huge risk that ultimately paid off. During that time, he also managed to secure some government contracts which further increased his value, also getting him another percentage of shares. Anyway, it could be said that Ricky was a well-deserved expert in the field. His passion for glass started when, as a child, he passed by one of the ancient churches that had become a tourist attraction in the area. It was a surreal experience when he entered that tall church. It made him feel small and humble, and then the colorful lights coming from the stained glass windows washed over him, touching his heart. Oddly, it was not on the building that he became obsessed with, nor did he become religious. Rather, he got obsessed with the translucent materials that allowed light to enter the massive structure, adding levity to its composition. "A job offer?" "Yes." "What is it?" "Head Glassmaker." Ryan: "..." Sunny: "..." Why did she suddenly feel embarrassed? "A Head Glassmaker already? Can you tell us more about the job offer?" Sunny gaped at him when he told her. "That''s a supervisory position!" she said. "Just under the Elders!" "Is it?" Ryan asked. "Can they tell what I used to do? That''s not included in the information lords get automatically, is it?" He was close with the former-lord Cassas, so he knew a couple of things. The thing was, Cassas had no idea what the green-tag meant and neither did aborigines who were not particularly close to the previous lords they served. Not to mention, Lords generally kept quiet about this in order to monopolize the greatest talents that came their way¡ªnot that green-tagged names were common at all, of course. "Anyway, it''s really impressive! People usually have a hard time securing an entry level job¡ªbut you''re a very rare parachute!" Ricky''s lips twitched. He was a bit giddy inside, though not entirely because of the salary. To be honest, when they transferred here, he didn''t think he''d ever see the material ever again. It was clear that this place¡ªaside from the magic¡ªhad medieval technology. It was also too chaotic. There were monsters, wars, and bad men everywhere. Who had the time to innovate? When he saw the windows of the modular houses in Bright and Alterra, his heart raced. It was different from glass, but the function was the same¡ªthat was to say: to protect from the elements but still bring in the light. That concept alone lit up a flicker of hope in him. He knew that the original module was from Alterra, so there was another reason he was so excited to move here. He was planning on finding out who produced those things but, who knew, he received a job offer instead. However, after many disappointments, he still couldn''t help but be grounded. "Do we really have capability to make glass here?" he asked. Sunny grinned, patting herself as if to show how confident she was. "Nothing is impossible in Alterra!" ¡­ While Ryan was bonding with family, Orz and the rest of them were reunited with the team! Well, some of them. Most of the team was outside the territory when they arrived, some of whom were on missions to associate villages and towns, leaving those stationed within the walls behind. However, those who were left behind definitely rushed to the mercenary halls, calling their non-soldier colleagues to take their places. Garan allowed for it, anyway. So¡­ when Orz and the others arrived at the mercenary team base, they received a big welcome from their old teammates. It wasn''t anything fancy, just hugs and greetings, and they could only blame Micheal for trying to be mysterious with them. "Welcome!" Luis and the other yelled, and manly hugs were spread all over. "The others aren''t here, but we called them. Let''s have a party later!" "In the meantime, let us show you our new place!" As such, the newcomers were dragged, er¡­, led inside the hall to see the offices, the training halls, the equipment, and the like. They saw the high-activity sparring areas, where there were people training hard, and the atmosphere around just made their blood boil! The feeling of defending the people they love as well as their lifestyles, while improving their own strengths, was something that eluded them for a long time. It felt both disorienting and nice to finally encounter it again. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Perhaps¡ªmore prominently¡ªthey were struck with the fact that they''d be able to do so with people they respected and could trust their backs with! To people who risked their lives constantly, this was a treasure. Especially, unlike before, they defended desperately¡­ while feeling like thousands of lives just depended on them. They were strong men, but they knew they wouldn''t have been able to keep it up forever. "So¡­ how was it?" Luis asked, a wide and proud grin stuck on his face. Deservedly so. Orz and the others laughed. "It''s perfect." Chapter 985 - 985: Mathilda and Gwen A/N: Did you guys see the character voting event?! Vote now, vote now guys! Althea and Garan are there~ tho Garan''s at the edge, poor guy lololol We get frames and badges for this event too! ... ____ At this time, Mathilda was having breakfast with her team. Elders had a flexible schedule and had a lot more leisure time. Anyway, they had heard of the announcements and were discussing them with mixed emotions. "Those cities and towns they mentioned¡­. aren''t those in far away countries?" Lola asked. Yana sighed. "They are. One was even in another continent," she said. Owlish Town, for one, was a popular tourist destination she went to with her children a long time ago. Too bad they died during a plane accident before the Transfer. She almost died of a stroke that day, but she survived because of her 1-year-old grandson, who they left behind. Sadly, the migration happened, and she didn''t have any news of them anymore. In any case, the fact that those people had reached their area meant that the Terrans in other regions had been suffering a lot. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Imagine being a refugee for days or even weeks, only finding a place like Alterra after so long of suffering. How lucky they were to find it so early on¡­ At their age, if they hadn''t found a good territory within the first few months, they''d definitely have perished. Even if they didn''t get eaten by monsters, they could''ve been killed by bugs or by poisonous plants, or perhaps perish in a war. Anyway, there was a plethora of ways to die in this place. Thinking of the sufferings outside Alterra, Mathilda couldn''t help but feel worried again. "Has Gill returned yet?" she asked and Lola shook her head. That lad¡ªgoing away for so long and only leaving her a message! Sure, she had gotten healthier after leveling up a lot, but she was still an old woman! Did she act too healthy? Should she pretend to have a heart attack? That''d teach him! Mathilda was apparently showing signs of childishness like other old people¡­ She wasn''t able to worry too much, fortunately, because the bell rang. For now, she was distracted. Lola stood up and opened the gate. She wondered who''d be visiting this early, thinking it was probably just someone from Miss Mathilda''s department. However, she saw a beautiful woman with short and wavy black hair akin to seaweed instead. She had a pretty face, gentle smile, and sharp eyes that seemed to see through people''s thoughts. "Y-You¡­" Lola said, before her voice died. She was speechless from shock. Mathilda was a traditional person and she always kept printed photographs of herself and her family. Before the migration, she collected a lot of mementos and photographs. In their living room, there was a large picture of a family of four: Miss Mathilda, her late husband, boss Gill, and¡­ a girl. Because of this, Lola recognized the girl in front of her. She turned and gestured to yell at Mathilda. However, the girl held her arm and placed a finger on her mouth, asking her to keep quiet. Without a word, Lola stepped aside, telling her Mathilda was at the dining table. "...follow me," she said, smiling, and already feeling teary. At this time, Mathilda had no idea who was actually visiting. If there were any visitors during this time of day, it was one of her supervisors, usually Jun or Silvia, though the latter was in another territory at this time. She just continued eating her breakfast, wondering what was taking Lola so long. When she heard hurried footsteps enter the living room though, she couldn''t help but feel a bit puzzled. That was until the voice she had been dreaming of echoed in the room. "Mom!" Mathilda flinched, turning her head slowly, afraid the image would sweep away like an illusion if she turned too quickly. "MOM!" the girl repeated, heading towards her with stretched arms. The old woman gasped and stood abruptly, causing the chair to fall on the floor. "Gwen!! Ohmy baby¡ª" Mathilda''s tears flowed, and Gwen¡ªwho had not cried for years¡ªfinally let go of hers. ¡­ Mathilda filed for leave and asked Jun to take care of the office for the day, telling them that her daughter had arrived. The latter replied with a heartfelt ''congratulations'' and that she could take a week leave and they''d be fine. "Are you telling me to retire?" She jokingly asked. Jun just laughed, saying she should rest now because she''d be working for a hundred more years. The mother-and-daughter were left alone in the house, with them sitting comfortably on the couch with tea and snacks made by Lola and Yana before they left for their respective jobs. Their jobs had to do with Althea''s greenhouses for the most part, though because that didn''t require their entire day, they usually had a part-time job of caring for the twins as well. Anyway, the mother-and-daughter pair entered their own world, chattering endlessly. Mathilda started with how she had it very good, finding Alterra a few days after the Migration. Gwen recounted her adventures with hers and the various territories she had been through. She also told her about her pets. "Cats?" "Yes, they''re lounging in the team''s house. I''ll bring them here later." "Aren''t you living here?" She blushed and cleared her throat. "I''m a grown woman. I want my own space." Mathilda''s eyebrows rose, reaching a dawn of understanding. "Who''s the lucky guy?" Although Gwen dated a lot before, none of them were serious and had gone past one or two coffee dates. Look at this now¡­ The question turned the topic into giggly territory, and the mother and daughter laughed and talked as if they were still carefree in Terran. She told him of his name, and she was relieved to know the man also knew Gill. Speaking of Gill, the increasingly emotional Mathilda couldn''t help but sigh. "It would be great if Gill was here," she said, patting her daughter''s head. However, she didn''t dare show dissatisfaction at all. Instead, she hugged her daughter tightly, feeling incredibly blessed. "How lucky is our family¡­" Chapter 986 - 986: A Crowded Ob-gyn Room It would take a few more days before this wish would come to fruition, but the good day did arrive soon enough. The trio of Gill, Cassandra, and Ghesso finally arrived in the vicinity of Alterra Village after a long time of traveling! It was the weekend when they arrived, so most people didn''t have work. This meant the streets were particularly lively, and it was what greeted their arrival¡ªmaking them feel so relieved to finally be ''home''. "We''re finally here!" Cassandra said, tapping Gill''s shoulder, asking him to put her down. His arms must be so sore by now, she mused. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The only times he rested were the few hours they set up camp, but he got her to use his arm as a headrest when they slept, so it must not have rested well even then. He shook his head and continued to head towards the tall gate. "No, you''re pregnant," he said, looking as if it was non-negotiable. Cassandra blushed, both embarrassed and guilty. "You¡ª" Ghesso, who was walking behind them, stared at the sight in front. "This is really a village?" Ghesso asked, looking at the towering walls and the overtly dense sentries. They soon passed the threshold. Cassandra was the only one who had to pay because Gill was already a permanent resident while Ghesso was a slave. Before heading elsewhere, Gill looked at the stout man next to him. "Can you go to Elder Mathilda''s house and tell her Gill is here? You can ask any guard and they would guide you there. "Tell her we''re going straight to the hospital. It''s nothing too serious and don''t worry, and that we''ll go to her when it''s done." "Specifically tell her we''re in the obygyn," he said with a smile. "Also¡­ make an announcement in the Village Center for your relatives," he said, handing him a few silvers. "I''ll free you after I settle Cassandra." Their deal was for the Novam to help him out in Jacoba and to defend them on the way here. After that, Gill would naturally free him. Ghesso looked at him with teary eyes, shakily taking the money. To be honest, he didn''t expect he''d really be freed after more than a decade of slavery. If it was Gill who was his master, he thought he was already lucky. He didn''t dare hope more. "Thank you¡­" he said, following the instructions. Gill and Cassandra walked along the streets, garnering attention everywhere. Many eyes were bright, but few actually greeted them. It was obvious they were in a bit of a rush, and no one wanted to be the target of Gill''s insults! The couple arrived at the hospital a couple minutes later, with Gill taking her straight to the Ob-gyn and Pediatrics department. They did not expect it to be so¡­ lively. As soon as they entered the halls, they could hear various chatters of adults and the babbling of children alike. When they turned the corner, they realized that there were a lot of people lining up, many of whom were familiar. For instance, there was Winona and Ansel, as well as Althea, Garan, and the twins. The babies were here for their standard check-up while Winona''s was there for hers. The babies, at this time, were on their compact walkers that took half the space as their main ones. This lacked their toys and storage, but it was enough for its purpose. Anyway, if there were a lot of people, the kids rarely got bored. The two kids were now going around everywhere, exploring every corner of the hall and greeting everyone in the queue, making the wait feel much shorter than it was. They walked and walked, and then bumped into an obstacle all of a sudden. Said obstacle was Gill''s legs as he stood in the middle of the hall and they both raised their little heads, glaring at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Mwammmammm~" "Gooogmmmammmmwwaa¡­" It sent cute attacks in the hall. Anyway, the babies'' voices got the crowd''s attention to turn to the newcomers and Cassandra felt even more awkward being held around like this. "P-Put me down already!" Seeing her very serious this time and getting stressed, Gill succumbed. "You''re finally back!" Ansel smiled and stood up, giving the seat to Cassandra. "...thank you," the purple-haired woman said as she sat next to another pregnant woman. They nodded politely at each other, but with shy smiles on their faces. Cassandra and Winona weren''t particularly close yet, but they knew they''d get along well. Cassandra lifted her head to look at the other people lining up like her. Interestingly, there were also two goblin couples in the queue¡­ they looked shy and mostly just talked to each other, but they had begun to respond energetically when a human asked them about their babies. The goblins didn''t have their own spaces before, but some of them managed to save enough to rent out their own units, allowing private spaces for couples. The units were in the no-elevator midrise units with smaller units and had the cheapest rents next to the dormitories. As soon as they got the chance to procreate, it wasn''t difficult for them to succeed in gestating. Goblins had very good fecundity, and it was estimated that the goblins would at least be twins. Speaking of Goblin babies¡­ they could tell they would be unbelievably adorable. They knew because of the adult goblins who, after they started eating well, would fill up, making them look very different from the slightly-scary gaunt looks when they first arrived. Even the aborigines were starting to find them cute. Other than them, a lot of the newly married couples were there. For example, Lulu and her husband, Bull. They were not pregnant, but they wanted to ask what the good ways were in order to do so. And then¡­ at the corner, there was Juni and Victor. The two couples looked at each other and nodded politely. It was a bit awkward considering their histories, but at the same time they were happy the others were well. This way, they could all move forward with smiles on their faces. Chapter 987 - 987: Mixed Emotions Trigger Warning: Kimmy in the first quarter of the chapter. Mentions of abortion. ¡­ ____ While everyone in the queue was catching up with each other, the session inside was quite serious. Currently with the doctor was Kimmy, who was doing her weekly checkups. She was healthy enough, but she didn''t have her bubbly smile anymore. Rather, she exuded the strength of a mother. This time, Kimmy went to the appointment with an unfamiliar middle-aged woman. She was apparently hired by Raine after recommendations from the Alterrans. Cynthia didn''t know why Kimmy had fired Thessy. However, the fact that she was lucid was enough to convince Cynthia that Kimmy''s judgment could be trusted to some degree. "You should be giving birth in 7 more months¡­" Cynthia said, pausing. "Are you¡­ sure you want to keep it? Although there are still some small risks, for the most part, Alterra now has the technology to¡ª" "I will keep it." Cynthia stared for a while, before sighing in defeat. "I will respect your decision," she said. She would just have to trust that Kimmy would be a good mother, regardless of how the child came to be. They would have to monitor her closely though. In Terran, similar cases to Kimmy made for some¡­ unstable situations. "From what we know, the gestation period of Terrans is still around 10 months, and just a bit faster if one or both parties are locals. We don''t have enough data yet if it''s a mix, but we assume it will probably be less than 10 months." In the case of the Holt baby, he was born a few months earlier than average. Similarly, this made Althea''s early birth even more prominent. This was still a mystery but, since the babies were healthy, no one made a big deal out of it. Anyway, Cynthia knew she could only do so much as a doctor and as a woman. She simply gave some prescriptions and vitamins, all of which were now available in the hospital pharmacy. Kimmy thanked her and left, with her nanny opening the door for her. They gave the people outside some polite nods before heading out. Her eyes traced over the two babies and her eyes warmed, but her heart clenched at the same time. Kimmy''s hands held her stomach. "Auntie," she said as they left the hospital. "People seem to think I''m making a mistake¡­" She was determined to keep the baby, to have a family member alive. However, the more people doubted her, the more she doubted herself. Now, even she didn''t fully trust herself about how she''d react when it was born. What if the memories triggered and she did something unthinkable? The woman was Valma, one of the aborigines who came in from Rows Village. She, too, had been in the same situation many years ago. However, in her case, she did give birth to the child because she''d die if she didn''t do so. She, too, hated him at first, and even left him at the door of the person who took advantage of her. However, as time passed, she found herself gravitating towards the child. She would sneak around and look, watching from afar. Sadly, he didn''t grow up well in the end and was bullied a lot because of his situation. However, she was poor and weak and she didn''t dare take him in. At least in that man''s house, he was clothed and fed. However, one day, they just found him dead. "Well, Miss," she said, pushing down the heaviness in her body. "I can only say that the child is never at fault for his or her birth. "And that every and each one of them deserves a chance for a good life." S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ Mathilda and Gwen naturally went straight to the hospital as soon as they heard of the news. Because the message was so vague though, they were still partially worried in the end. At this time, Juni and Victor were already done with their turn and headed out. Gwen happened to see Juni. She gasped, running over. "Juni~!" she yelled, hugging the other woman. Juni was very startled to see her here. "Gwen?" Before she could say anymore though, Gwen felt her stomach and gasped. "You''re really Pregnant?!" she said, grinning. "My brother, really, tsktsk." Mathilda walked slower and couldn''t react in time to correct the misunderstanding. Juni looked awkward, unsure how to open the topic. "It''s¡­" At this, a man arrived next to Juni, wrapping an arm possessively around her shoulder. On his other hand was a paper bag with vitamins, indicating he had just been to the hospital''s pharmacy. He left for five minutes and an unasked-for sister-in-law appeared. "It''s not your brother''s," he said, making the woman blink. "Victor?!" she gasped, then looked at Juni, then to the couple in alteration. "This¡­" When there were gatherings of families, she and her mother joined in. Her path had indeed crossed with the siblings here and there. Speaking of siblings, Vanessa''s face appeared in her head and Gwen immediately felt irate. The silence was broken when Mathilda finally arrived next to Gwen. The old woman cleared her throat. "They''re not together. Your brother''s with an aborigine." "....oh?" Well, anyway, she and Juni were close and she grew up seeing the other as an older sister. Regardless of who the baby''s father was, she''d treat him or her as her nephew or niece. They hugged each other and promised to catch up soon, and the mother and daughter finally headed to the doctor''s. "So¡­ how is the woman?" Gwen couldn''t help asking her mom as they entered the hospital. She rarely bothered to hide her expressions, but she could do so if she had to. For example, what if she didn''t like her brother''s new woman? She wouldn''t want to make her uncomfortable, especially when she''s pregnant, right? Mathilda didn''t answer immediately as he thought of the woman. They hadn''t interacted a lot, but she did hear a lot about her. "She''s very¡­ progressive, considering how bad women has it here," she said. "I think you''ll like her." Gwen giggled. "That''s a relief." Anyway, the mother and daughter pair arrived just in time for the couple''s turn¡ªand it ended up being a very tearful obygyn session. Chapter 988 - 988: A Novan Mercenary Team? A/N: One more chapter later today~ I looked at my stockpile and it seems like I can upload some bonus chaps every Sunday after this! For this December ''24, I can do the +1 bonus chap if we retain Top 2 and I''ll try to do +3 Bonus chaps if we land Top 1 for the week~ (Hopefully, we don''t lose it during the last few hours of the month again like last time lol SOBS) S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Regardless, all support would be loved and appreciated! *HUGS* Your support keeps the story alive! On to the story~ ¡­ _____ Elsewhere, there were plenty of other reunions abound. For example: Ghesso, after making the announcement, only had to wait at the park outside the Village Center. Novas had quite the distinct features¡ªthey looked very different from Terrans or the locals¡ªso they found each other very easily. "Ghesso!" Gaudi yelled from afar, immediately running to his old friend. Ghesso flinched as he stood up. The two burst into tears as they ran towards each other. Any one around them would think they were about to hug, except¡­ they started punching each other instead. POW! BANG! The two punched and punched and wrestled all over the park''s grassy field, leaving the third member of their group (and the passerbys) baffled. Badjao: "..." Was this a traditional greeting from the home planet? No one knew what was happening until the two just laid side by side, staring at the sky with faces full of tears and snot. This, in turn, caused a lot of dirt to stick on their faces¡ªmaking them especially unsightly. Seeing as everything had calmed, the young half-novan cleared his throat and approached them. "So¡­ are we okay now?" Badjao asked, stopping a meter away, just in case. The two older men sat up and turned to him simultaneously. They even helped each other up. "Why aren''t we okay?" they asked, before turning to each other with smiles on their dirty faces. "You got really strong," Gaudi said, Ghesso shrugged. "I was a slave in a Town and was asked to fight a lot." "I was also a slave in a Town," Gaudi said, he was even hired by mercenaries during the latter part of it. Sadly, they were filled with fighters so he mostly just needed to clean up after them, causing him to stagnate. Ghesso, in contrast, was a meatshield before he was bought by Urkin, letting him gain some levels a bit faster than the other. Their chatter was interrupted when the young lad Badjao cleared his throat again. "Er¡­ that fight¡­ was it a greeting?" The two looked at him, taking a moment to absorb his question before shaking their heads. "No. We were rivals growing up," Ghesso said, Gaudi nodded beside him. "It had become our habit to check out the other''s strengths whenever we could." "...oh," Badjau mumbled, relieved. Fortunately, he didn''t have to pounce on someone who looked like him, after all. Anyway, now that things had calmed, Gaudi took Ghesso to a house. Gaudi and Badjao lived together in a rented apartment house. Badjao was new so he didn''t have enough contribution points for even a temporary residency, but Gaudi¡ªas someone who fought in the mobs, wars, and killed a lot of enemies¡ªhad. Contribution points could not be shared to purchase much, but they could be used to buy a friend''s or a relative''s residences. So, for now, the two of them were temporary residents so they could rent out a place. Either way, even if they had much money (they didn''t) they would still live well. As people who had been used to the minimum, they were already living beyond what they dreamed of. Amazingly¡ªlooking at Ghesso¡ªthey knew things could get even better. ¡­ "Wow¡­ this is a really nice place," Ghesso said as he looked around the two-bedroom unit. Both bedrooms had double deck beds so Ghesso did have a place to sleep in immediately. "We''re only renting it until this month though," Gaudi said, "So enjoy it while it''s here." Ghesso''s eyebrows rose as he looked at the other man. He knew there were a lot of things still left unsaid, so he settled down in the living room, ready for a long chat. The three people caught up with everything that had happened to them in the past few decades. The story that interested Ghesso the most¡­ was actually Badjao''s. "So¡­ you mean to say there are a lot of people like your mother up north?" Badjao nodded and Gaudi smiled, looking at him. "Hey, Ghesso, you arrived just in time," he said. "Badjao and I had been planning on going on a trip North someday." "Oh?" Ghesso leaned forward, interested. "Are we going there?" The two nodded. "My mother is there," Badjao said. "And so are hundreds of Novan and half-novan refugees who had integrated with the population there." "Is it close?" "Well, no." Actually, it was very far. In Badjao''s map, the distance between this region, and his ''home'' ¡ªshown as a dark and blurry part of the map¡ªwas a few times farther than Alterra to Bleuelle. Not to mention the dangers, it would easily take them months to travel there on their own. "We''re going to form a mercenary team and take advantage of the Mercenary Halls'' teleportation arrays by taking missions near there," Gaudi said. "Within the next few months, we will go to a nearby town to register as one." Ghesso was both excited and frankly a little cynical. "How''d you get 100 Gold for creating a mercenary team? There''s an annual maintenance fee of 25 Gold as well, right?" "I will borrow from loan sharks¡­" "A what?" "They''re people to borrow money from," he said, learning a few terms after staying in Alterra for a while. Gaudi was only a temporary resident and was fairly new, so even he couldn''t borrow that much money from the bank yet. This was also why he''d be letting go of this unit to move to the dorms to save money. When he could afford it, he immediately rented out the house in his excitement. However, plans change and it started when he got reunited with his nephew! Anyway, with the number of people in Alterra increasing, all sorts of occupations and businesses had popped up. One of them was the lending business, which could really flourish because of the Oath system here. After all, unlike in Terran, the owners didn''t have to invest too much in Collections. They wouldn''t have to worry about people running away from their debts! The system could deduct a certain amount from other people''s wallets, sending it straight to them! It was too convenient to lend money for a good interest! Of course, such a system could also be abused a lot, especially when the borrower was in a desperate situation. Fortunately, Ansel had detected the practice early on and set out regulatory measures. "We''re not doing it now¡ªwe still need a bit more," Gaudi said. "We won''t be careless. However, this long plan would really be hastened with your help. Maybe we wouldn''t have to borrow from loan sharks!" He patted his old rival''s shoulder. "So¡­ what do you say?" Chapter 989 - 989: Gill’s Reports Back in the ob-gyn department, the Ross family''s consultation session was finally nearing its end. This was the first time Cassandra had heard so much about child-bearing and, to be honest, she felt a little terrified. She¡­ did not know what to do. If he messed this up¡ª "The fetus is still very young, but quite healthy so far," Cynthia said, pulling Cassandra back to the present. She handed the prescriptions and other notes to Gill, when she saw that Cassandra was a little bit unstable. "You have to be very very careful at this period¡ªavoid excessive activity and stress. Of course, some minor exercise is recommended." Gill nodded, eyes filled with determination to do this correctly. Interestingly, Gwen had the same look. "Of course we will. It''s been a long time since our family has seen a baby!" Mathilda laughed and turned to Cassandra, who was looking a bit teary. Although they hadn''t caught up yet, she had an idea about the girl''s situation based on what she heard so far. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She also knew how hard it was to be a first time mother, especially in a place where she might feel like she didn''t have ''family''. The older woman held Cassandra''s hand, making her flinch. "Don''t worry, child," Mathilda said. "You have a home right here with us." There were too many what-ifs when a new life was involved but, at the same time, sometimes a parent should just take things as they come. "That child will grow up well," she said, her reassuring voice calming the younger woman. "And we will watch over him or her together." ¡­. After the hospital visit, the family headed back home, procuring a cart so Cassandra didn''t have to walk. There were plenty of stops along the territory and there were also laybys so the carts could pause without interfering with traffic. As a high-traffic area, there were many stops on all streets near the hospital so it wasn''t difficult to procure one. Anyway, while they rode, Gwen was doting on Cassandra and so was Mathilda. They''d make sure she was comfortable, even adding some pillows from their space to whatever seat she was using. They would hand her water and snacks, overall just trying to make her as comfortable as possible. One could tell her life with the in-laws would be very good. Cassandra''s lips pursed and she bit her lips. To be honest, it was a little difficult to believe her luck. "You''re so nice¡­" she mumbled, voice a little shaky, and Gwen chuckled at this. "No, we feel pity that you ended up with my dudderhead of a brother," she said. "We gotta balance things out, you know?" "..." Gill gave his sister a look but sighed in the end. He could never win the battle of words with his sister, so he didn''t even try. Anyway, the family headed to Mathilda''s villa and stayed there. He gently patted Cassandra''s back. "We will stay here while you''re pregnant," he said. Although his own house was good, he was most rest assured if there were other people in the same house. Lola and Yana had part-time jobs, but they were in the house to tend to everything every other time. The captain''s twins were also often here, and they could make for excellent distractions for the pregnant Cassandra¡ªwhose movements would be a lot more constrained than before. The family settled there for a bit, using this time to catch up with each other. Gill and Gwen, in particular, had not seen or talked to each other for almost half a year! The chatter was interrupted when Gill''s aether letter lit up. "Captain and Miss Althea are back in their villa now," he said. Although they met at the hospital, they couldn''t discuss sensitive stuff there, right? "They''re calling for us." At this, both Gill and Mathilda stood up to go to the house next door. Unexpectedly, a soft hand held on Gill''s. "Let me come with you," Cassandra said. "I am constrained by oath against saying some things, but I should be able to provide more context to your reports." Mathilda and Gill agreed to it after a short thought, and they arrived to see the couple already waiting for them at their dining table. The babies weren''t there, but they could hear their laughter. They were likely in the gardens behind the house. Gill went to report everything that had happened and everything he had seen and done during his stay in Jacoba. For now, this allowed the couple to note both Jacoba and Ester Town. Cassandra proceeded to explain the relationships between the two towns and even to Bleuelle City. Basically, it was a strictly business relationship, though the city had began to source from other villages as well. The only complicated part was that the Ester lord''s wife was a cousin to the Trion Patriarch. The Trion family was the family directly next to the Golds in ranking and, unlike them, this family was very¡­ demanding and unnecessarily prideful. If they somehow underestimated the relationship, maybe Bleuelle could get involved. "You did well in diverting the attention away," Garan said. "Even if they figured it out, it''d take a while, and we''d be a name among towns by then as well." "I''m more curious about the Isatis," Althea said. The current dyes were limited. She had seen the blue dye Cassandra showed and she could understand how it was considered a premium color. It really was pretty, and it was apparently the most expensive dye next to the purple. Gill smiled, handing her a few plants he bought. To ''celebrate'' the wedding, a lot of shops held special events. A few also offered Isatis Plant bouquets for a high price. He bought one not to buy for Cassandra¡ªthe plant probably didn''t have good meaning for her¡ªbut for Althea and the research team. This made the couple look at him appreciatively. Of course, Gill was always the pragmatic one and was quick to manage expectations. "I managed to get a few, however, it seems that turning them to legitimately good dyes had a special, well-guarded technique." They turned to Cassandra, who shook her head. "I actually do have an idea, but I am under oath not to tell. I''m sorry." The detailed methodologies would only be passed down to the formal heir (who was a son), but she lived there for so long that she managed to pick up some things. Sadly, women in the family took very strict and detailed oaths as early as they were very young. In the oath, they swore never to bring harm to the family and always prioritize its well-being. This was in the assumption that they''d be ''other people''s properties'' after getting married. So, in the end, she couldn''t say anything about it. "It''s okay, we understand," Althea said. "We''ll figure it out." There was a risk of getting traced because of this. After all, if they made this commercially available, it would only be a matter of time before it was determined they produced the dyes themselves. However, she believed in her territory. By the time those people noticed Alterra¡­, they would only be able to watch in envy. Chapter 990 - 990: Another Opening A few more days passed, Alterra was now celebrating the grand opening of a new construction. The Grand Hotel. It was deferred for a bit due to the other construction projects that were much more urgent. But now that the heatwave was over¡ªand with the injection of new manpower¡ªthe construction went full force. Also, after much study, Althea''s worry about the manual constructions being much more susceptible to attacks versus system buildings was more or less unfounded. This was because the Limestone¡ªor any other construction material¡ªin Xeno was also doused in Aether. It was much stronger than what could be built in Terran! As long as they constructed it well, it would be just as fine as system buildings. It was similar to the strength of residential buildings and the custom houses from the system except theirs was better because of the methodology. Further, they used hydrated lime, which would ensure the concrete they had was self-healing. Basically, they wouldn''t have to worry about the concrete quality even after a hundred years. Of course, the defense of manual buildings could not be compared with those with defense arrays like Walls and Sentries. When she figured out how to create defense arrays like those placed on the walls, then she''d have no problem creating virtually indestructible buildings. Back in Fargo, the bombs she made only damaged the walls and some loose parts of the building. For example the roof, as well as some ledges. If she wanted to destroy buildings here easily, like how bombs from Terran could wreck Terran structures, she''d have to create a bomb that would attack the structure or the molecular bonds of aether itself. But that was a dangerous weapon she was pretty sure she didn''t want to dwell on for now. Speaking of that, she also added several clauses in the oath of her researchers. She couldn''t have a mad scientist deciding to study such a thing without her permission! However, while a valid worry, Althea actually worried too much about this. Aether was still too mysterious. Even to locals who lived for hundreds of years¡ªand even to people who had the resources of books and knowledge of previous generations¡ªthis wasn''t something they could fully grasp, especially not enough that they''d be able to create such a weapon. Even several geniuses working together for years wouldn''t be able to figure it out so easily! Anyway, at this time, a good part of the territory stood in front of the magnificent 7-storey building. It was massive but its design and ornaments allowed it to blend with the surrounding streetscape. There was also a sizeable easement with a beautiful garden in front of it so it didn''t feel too in-your-face for the people coming in from the streets. It also had large windows that were like the classic Youli windows but much more transparent. They were larger now, making it seem like each floor was floating. The structure''s approach was lined by generous gardens and gazebos, the trees'' foliage effectively framing the entire entrance. There was a large fountain in front of the building, making a centerpiece with the entrance canopy right behind it. Considering it was a building with a much taller height than the buildings around it, it did not seem so heavy and overbearing. In fact, it seemed light and airy and comfortable. Speaking of building heights, Althea had decided that even if they became a city, she would limit the building heights to 7 floors, even if they were perfectly capable of going higher. One, it looked better and less suffocating. Although having high-rise buildings was convenient, after a lot of consideration, she realized she didn''t want it if she could help it. In Terran cities, tall buildings blocked the path of winds and the sun. It even created wind tunnels that could be dangerous. She wanted everything to be less cluttered and less suffocating for the people actually using the space. Second, the infrastructure and utilities would require a lot more to build and maintain. Even if she could afford it, if she decided to add the costs over the years, she was sure she''d fall ill. Finally, she heard that Towns and above could attract the stronger flying monsters. Territory walls could only guard against enemies it could physically block. If the monsters flew above 100 meters, then her current sentries wouldn''t reach it. Of course, seven-floor buildings would only be 25 to 40 meters in height in total, which could easily be guarded by sentries. Her goal was for comfortable and clear living spaces for everyone. Seven floors should be enough even if they used much of the space as open spaces and gardens. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They also had tunnels now, which could also provide extra living spaces. They would also carve a few houses along the mountainsides, creating terraced communities with gardens on top. But that was something of the future. For now, everyone was admiring the grand building that was so intricately designed, some people disbelieving that it was done within a few months. "This was really manually done?" Pieto asked, amazed. He had extended his stay because he knew something happened every few days. Look at this now. "Yes, I have been watching its rise when it started construction again," one of his cronies said. When the heat wave happened, the construction stopped, but the progress after that was impressive. There had been very few manual construction in this world due to their impracticality. They cost a lot and took a lot of time. Besides, they used bricks or wood which was not as durable as just buying modular houses. There was simply no point in doing it most of the time. However, after seeing what Alterra had been doing the past few months, it was proven that they were still too narrow-minded. Soon, the guests were invited inside, while the others looked on in envy and enthusiasm as they were led to the large door. The ones invited in the opening weren''t commonfolk. They didn''t want the opening of a high-end place to appear like a market street. The people invited were those with at least 50 gold in their wallets, so everyone who managed to get the system invite suddenly had new bragging rights. This wasn''t encouraging elitism, the Elders said, this was euphemistically called ''balancing the wealth''. With the spending of rich people, what benefited the most was Alterra itself, after all. In any case, the large beautifully-carved double door creaked open, and the guests were greeted by a grand lobby with a high ceiling. There was a large uniquely-designed chandelier above that made people think there was a fairy on top. The lobby was large and stylish, with flooring made of polished stone. When one walked past it, they would feel like they were walking to another world that made them feel both comfort and pride. People stopped in the middle of the grand lobby, staring in front of them. There, the Elders were standing in front of the grand staircase, wearing beautiful semi-formal clothing. They, too, would be patronizing the place. However, as the faces of Alterra, they naturally had to play host for a while. They smiled at their guests, greeting them with warmth fitting for what would be a top hospitality establishment. "Welcome to Alterra''s first Grand Hotel!" Chapter 991 - 991: The Grand Hotel (Part 1) A/N: Special thanks to Lotuslin for sending us a castle! T_T Helped us out sooo muchh ... ____ The audience clapped, with the aborigines (who comprised a good portion of the guests) following along. As always, it was Mathilda who took the front stage. She looked at the crowd with a gentle smile, her mere presence naturally drawing everyone''s attention to her. She wore a beautiful conservative green dress that emphasized her regal quality. Even to the aborigines, she was an undeniable noble lady. "We are happy to open the territory''s first¡ªpossibly of many¡ªhotels," she said. "This is a building type that can be found in Towns, but we will be pushing it forward in Alterra¡­ adding our own twists to the building type." S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. System Hotels were available at Level 2 Towns. According to the aborigines, it functioned just like the inn but with larger rooms, more intricate decor, and better food. It also had the extra function of increasing the recovery rate of Spirit. While their Hotel did not have the latter function on its own, they made up for it by using special beds by woodworkers, which also improved recovery rates by a lot. "This hotel will be more than just a posh alternative to inns where our guests¡ªand maybe even locals wanting to do a staycation¡ªwould rest their heads¡­ "It is a testament to how far Alterra has come¡ªhow good life is here, to the point that we already created luxuries like these." "This building was built in hopes of helping show the beauty and charm of our village, to showcase what makes Alterra¡­ well, Alterra." "For all the guests invited today, you are free to stay for a day, at our cost, along with one other person," she said. "Kindly register your and your guest''s names. You may choose not to avail today, the 1-day promo is valid for a week." "We would like to believe that this will be a great experience for everyone. Of course, if you have any feedback, we would love to hear it." "We hope everyone enjoys your stay." Applause exploded again, thanking them for their generosity. The guests excitedly turned to the long concierge desk at the side, sparing no time to line up. The surface was made of polished stone that looked like marble, and its color fit well with the interior''s aesthetic. There were also bells in front of each concierge personnel, so it was easy to alert them. The concierge desk had three staff. For now, it was two girls and a man. They were quite pleasant to look at with their clean appearances and uniformed attires. They would have three shifts so the concierge was manned at all times¡ªwith each person looking fresh because they got proper rest. There were also bellmen and porters walking around and guiding people. They also explained what their function was, and the aborigines who hadn''t been exposed to Terran high-end hospitality were a little startled. Anyway, the guests queued properly, especially since everyone invited took pride in being invited in the first place. No one would act like a shrew, even for just the occasion. As they waited, many couldn''t help but admire the decorations around. They fit well with Alterra''s theme, though with more high-end flare by using more detailed moldings, added decorations, and more sophisticated materials. It was both soothing and impressive, and it could be said that Alterra''s interior designers really made the most of the available materials. There were also plenty of indoor plants of various types, skilfully arranged to tie in the entire room. They added not only beauty, but also fresh air inside the opulent lobby. The Terrans were focused on one of the main attractions hanging down the ceilings though! "That''s a chandelier! A glass one!" one said, and people stared at it as well. It wasn''t that they didn''t see it¡ªthey simply didn''t recall the implications until someone pointed it out. For the first time since their migration, such a large and complex thing was made with glass! Although Ricky had only been in Alterra for a few days, the Research Center already had preliminary products and only needed technical advice on how to make them completely clear and sturdy. Ricky was a green-tagged man for a reason! They also managed to perfect the tempering process with him! This way, the glass would also be very safe to use even if they were put in high-traffic areas. However, they knew they were no longer in the peaceful times in Terra so further improvements were being made to facade glass before they actually placed them in their buildings. There would be more fights here¡ªparticularly during wars. Would they have to replace the glass every time they get attacked inside? For one, they were now studying combining the durability of the youli stone and the transparency, sleekness, and aesthetic quality of glass. They also wanted to use the ability of glass to make larger panels. Youli stone could only be made to a small dimension without it turning brittle, after all. "It''s gorgeous!" another said, walking underneath the chandelier and studying its different shimmer at every angle. Obviously, the windows still didn''t have this, but it already appeared so more would appear soon. "We finally have glass!" other people said, in a celebratory mood while in the queue. More than aesthetics, there were simply so many uses to the material they were really looking forward to it! Anyway, as time passed, more and more guests were brought to their rooms. They were led to an interior hallway¡­ towards the elevator lobby. There were a lot of newcomers here, and some hadn''t fully explored the territory yet. The system just saw the amount of gold they had and invited them there. This meant that some of them saw the elevator for the first time. These things were only available in some cities after all, so many people from Towns¡ªeven rich people¡ªmight not have been familiar with it at all! They looked at the people in front of them entering a small room before it closed. When it opened again, it was empty. "Where did they go?" someone from a small town asked, the person with him even looked worried. Getting in a small room and then disappearing felt a little¡­ scary. "They''re being brought up," the staff explained. He didn''t know how to explain the mechanics of it so he answered them before they could ask. "Like magic." "..." Chapter 992 - 992: The Grand Hotel (Part 2) The Grand Hotel was the first manual building that had an elevator. After all, the custom and other aether buildings like the hospital just had to be designed with the mechanism''s concept in mind. It''d then be built in exchange for some money and raw materials. This was totally different from having to do it all from scratch. Fortunately, Rocky the mechanical engineer was there along with his new assistants. The math team also helped with the calculations, making it easier for everyone to design a proper elevator using the technology they had access to. They could make an elevator with or without electricity, but they naturally hoped to use an electric-powered one. They could now harvest both wind and hydroelectric power. Using the computers in the Research Center and the expertise of well-studied individuals, a lot of possibilities had risen. For now though, it was still manually powered using the nearby river. Their raw materials and tech still needed some time to supply such a large amount of power to a single building. Besides, when they could make electricity commercially available, they would not use it first on the luxury hotel¡ªthey''d power up homes and streets first! However, even if it was manually operated and they could feel the vibrations and the mechanical sounds of the gears and the pulleys, the experience was still incredible to the aborigines who used it for the first time. In cities, there were some similar things. Some more powerful cities even made use of magic tools and arrays¡ªbut this was a village, for goodness'' sakes! The guests were led to their respective rooms, using the keyhole mechanism to access the inside. Pieto came alone and took a room. No matter what, it was weird to have a dude as a +1. In any case, he focused on maximizing his stay here, and he was intent on remembering all the details. He was a business-minded individual whose instinct was to analyze business models. By default, he''d be studying this place''s ''selling points''. The inns, especially the premier inn, were actually very good already. But the Hotel definitely took it to a different level altogether. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The smallest room was larger than the double room of the inn, the decorations were much more high-end and grand yet relaxing. The bed was bigger, softened, and the fabric felt like it was made of¡­ silk? Silk! How luxurious! Although Pieto didn''t know this, Alterra actually had a small farm of Silk Trees in the territory. It was one of the plants that had been growing in the greenhouses so, even during the Heat Wave, the Silk Trees grew well under the care of Althea and Thorance. They particularly liked it because it was a good alternative to killing thousands of worms for a few threads. However, the amount wasn''t enough to create hundreds of bolts of the fabric, as the hotel would''ve needed if they chose to go that path. The fabric they used now wasn''t pure silk but a combination, but it was still far superior and luxurious than the usual fabrics they used. There were also carpets and rugs that delineated an area to another, and each room had a shower and a tub. There was also a lovely fragrance permeating, and it was a scent that made people feel relaxed. There was also ambient lighting and well-protected scented candles, adding to the overall soothing experience. Pieto heaved a deep breath and took a good bath. He closed his eyes and let the back of his head rest on the rim. "Ah¡­ this is the life." ¡­ In line with the Terran''s view of hotels, it boasted not just of its rooms but also of its amenities. Other than its opulent lobbies and luxurious rooms, it also had a characteristic gourmet restaurant. It was a branch of Cooke''s restaurant, headed by one of his apprentices. This person happened to be one of the refugees from Juno, coming to Alterra at the same time as Evelyn, Turbo''s wife. One of the special things about this restaurant was that it was located on the roof deck floor, giving a view of the village, particularly when one walked to the edge close enough. When the glass was perfected, it would replace the current semi-translucent Youli panels, and by then the patrons would have a panoramic view of the place. It offered local and Terran cuisines¡ªor creative fusions of them. Each plate used only the finest ingredients available to them. Of course, the price was also very beautiful. There were also spas and wellness centers on the lower podium floors. It was similar to what was found in the bathhouse but a bit more posh. There were also facials here (something that would be offered in a different establishment outside). Surrounded by soothing colors and calming scents, guests could unwind and rejuvenate their bodies and mind. There were also exclusive lounges and events spaces near the restaurant. There was one of Alterra''s first grand pianos there, and there would be someone performing every weekend night. The ambiance was intimate and refined, and each date would definitely be one to remember. For the singles or those with friends, there was also a bar offering the premier alcohols. The bar counter was made of superior polished wood with simple but well-designed carvings. The bar stools were comfortable, spaced far enough for those who wanted solitude, but not too far that it''d prevent socialization if one wanted to do so. There were also a few private rooms on the roof deck and penthouse floors, all of which were at least 200 square meters. These large rooms could be rented to hold wedding ceremonies, debutante balls, birthday parties, and the like. Finally, on the lowest floor, there was a yard hidden from the outside walls. It was blocked from view by tall bamboo fences. In the middle was a beautifully designed pool surrounded by comfortable loungers and lush landscaping. There were conservative bathing suits available there, but some more liberated Terrans naturally wore whatever swimsuit they wanted to wear. It might be a bit vulgar to some aborigines, but they just needed to learn to relax and ignore them. Anyway, there were so many things to admire and enjoy in the Grand Hotel, and people could easily stay there for days straight if they had the money and time for it. It was amazing: For the price of a night, the guest could enjoy all these in one place without having to go out at all. Alterra''s Grand Hotel was definitely the first of its kind¡ªand would become one of the major symbols of the good life it offered. Chapter 993 - 993: Surprise The territory didn''t build the luxury hotel in order to promote the difference in social strata. Ansel would tactfully call it ''milking the rich'' to help the common folk. In general, although there were people who were much richer and more powerful than others, those who were not¡ªthe common folk¡ªstill lived very well. Things like this were done not only to reward those skilled people who contributed so much to the territory, it was also to serve as goals for people to aim for. This was how luxury in Alterra functioned. If you worked hard, then you deserve all the luxury you can afford¡ªand everything was arranged so that you can get it. Speaking of this, in order to spread the Grand Hotel''s marketing, a lot of locals also got the benefit of a one-day pass to the hotel. They were there to enjoy the amenities of the hotel for a staycation. The top 10 contributors (outside the Elder table) were given slots, and they also had a lottery of sorts so 10 more people with sufficient contribution points could get it. Of course, the Elders themselves also got a few slots. Every Elder was allowed to stay for free for a night with a plus one. Some reserved this for future use, but Althea and Garan did not. Tonight was complete alone time for the two of them. Harold, Maya, and the others were taking care of the babies, and when Althea suggested to her husband that they tried it out¡ªjust the two of them¡ªGaran couldn''t get ready fast enough. The two walked hand in hand towards the elevator, greeting the other guests along the way. Some other elders were also around. For instance, Ansel and Winona naturally took the slots, happily arguing which amenity they should try out first. Eugene also had to pass because Melissa was still weak. He gave his slot to Sheila and her husband instead. Eagle gladly took it and promised he''d pay back the favor if he managed to plant a nice seed inside his wife''s stomach. This earned him a soft slap of embarrassment from his wife of course, but he just felt it was cute. Rosalind gave her slot to one of her hardest working employee, Evelyn, who was there with her husband, Turbo. Gru was forever alone and it''d be weird to invite his old man friends. Instead, he used his booking as a prize for his best-performing staff for the month. He announced this before the opening, and the productivity spiked like never before. Dennis managed to get this, and he took his new girlfriend with him. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Gill had his own booking as one of the top contributors, though they''d be going within the next few days because Cassandra had not yet fully recovered from the long trip and the tribulations she went through in her hometown. For Mathilda''s slots, she gave it to her daughter and Ryan, though she was naturally reluctant to give them this slot. However, the young man visited her in her office a few days ago, reassuring her that they''d be proper and he wouldn''t do anything until they got married. He also revealed his plans to propose as well, so there was that. Anyway, the respective couples headed to their rooms to see, most of them to try out the amenities first since it was still early. Unlike the bathhouse, there were far fewer people here, giving it a much more exclusive feel. It was also much friendlier to couples as the bathhouse was segregated by sex. Soon, the pool would be filled by sweet couples and the aborigines who didn''t bring their lovers to Alterra could only suffer in silence. The restaurants were also full. After all, unlike the Gastronomic Haven on ground level, this place wasn''t as accessible to others and the queue was much shorter. For those whose reservations would take a while, this was the perfect alternative. The spas were mostly still segregated, but they mentioned the next developments¡ªwhenever that''d be¡ªwould give access to private hotsprings which would also have home-service massages. After hours of relaxing, the couples would turn in for the night, some earlier than others. Althea and Garan went to their rooms after a late lunch at the restaurant. Their room was one of the largest one and Althea couldn''t help but check it with a critical eye. As one of the people involved, it was inevitable. The rooms were naturally far superior to what was available to others, but there were still many things to improve on. She headed to touch the translucent windows, and she looked at it in thought. Currently, the windows were not transparent, just translucent and one had to look closely to see the view outside. Their structural glass production, unfortunately, wasn''t able to make passable face glass yet, but they''d replace the current windows when it did. Garan stared at his wife''s back, but he couldn''t wait long, wrapping his strong arms around her stomach. He combed her hair to the side as he leaned down, placing chaste kisses on her ears and neck. She moaned, but she patted him. "Let me go to the bathroom first," she said, a bit breathless. Her breath hitched when Garan didn''t stop and lapped her skin. "I can take you later," he told her as his tongue crept up her ears. "N-No," she mumbled, managing to escape his grasp and lock the door behind her. Garan was a little startled but smiled. He shook his head, just thinking his shy wife was so cute, still acting shy after so long. At this time, he had no idea that his wife had prepared a surprise for him. ¡­ Althea looked at her current attire, blushing a bit as she looked at herself in front of the mirror¡ªsomething available in all rooms now. She cleared her throat feeling embarrassed but also not planning on backing out at all. It had been four months since they transmigrated to this place. Counting down, it was approximately her husband''s birthday. It was why she injected a bit more funds to the development of the Grand Hotel, so she could give him this gift. She had thought long and hard about what to give him. She had already given him all the tools she had created, and she couldn''t come up with anything new for now. When he asked Winona and Sheila what to do¡­ they recommended this. She was embarrassed, but they guaranteed her that one-hundred-percent Garan would be so incredibly happy and she considered this in the end. So, here she was: wearing a revealing lingerie with a subtle ribbon, indicating she was a gift. She took a deep breath and slowly opened the door, trying not to appear so awkward. Garan at this time was sitting on the bed, patiently waiting for his wife. When she went out, he smiled, but he did not expect to see her like this. He stood up in a daze as soon as his eyes landed on her. She heaved a deep breath and approached him, pushing him to sit back down on the bed. Garan froze in place, which was ironic because he felt like he was being burned. She climbed up and sat on his thighs, wrapping her dainty arms around his broad shoulders. She leaned down to his ears and licked it as he licked hers. She sat down on him and she could feel the large bulge hitting her crotch. "Happy birthday, husband," she whispered to his ears, grinding her body against his. "For the first round, I want to do all the work, okay?" "I want my husband to be very happy tonight." Garan gulped, stopping himself from drooling. A very happy birthday indeed. Chapter 994 - 994: Night at the Grand Hotel Warning: R-18 kek. You may skip if you want~ Smut isn''t my strong suit so it may be cringey. xD Dedicated to Lotuslin and her castle a few days ago LOL. Go check out her story guys! Maybe we can encourage her to finally allow her poor ML to get laid instead of dying over and over. \\o/ ... ____ "I want my husband to be very happy tonight." Garan wanted to say: He already was, and he was definitely ready to jump at her. Of course, he knew that his wife liked them clean when doing the deed so he gently put her aside, kissing her face. "I''ll go take a quick¡ªvery quick¡ªshower," he said, and practically disappeared in front of her. He used his physical ability and super speed to clean himself up well and only within a few minutes. He emerged with only a towel covering him, revealing his well-sculpted body that was still damp from the bath. This time, it was Althea who gulped. The atmosphere around the room was warm and sizzling, and it had nothing to do with the few sconce lights that were lit up to provide them with some light. Garan¡ªclad with nothing but a small towel¡ªapproached his beautiful wife sitting on the bed. She stood up and she pulled him to sit back down, causing the towel to fall down. He was now completely bare, while his beautiful wife stood in front of him. "Husband¡­ can you open your present?" Garan was already put into a daze by her coquettishness, so it took him a couple of moments to realize what she meant. At this, he reluctantly pulled his eyes away from hers to look at the ribbon tied over her chest. It was a large ribbon that hid much of the lingerie. When he pulled the loose end, the entire thing fell down to the floor, slowly and gracefully, revealing the barely-clad Althea in front of him. It was the most enticing one yet. It revealed half her breast¡ªstopping just above her nipples¡ªand he could see the little bump that teased him what was underneath. The underside of the bra had a mesh fabric that was semi-transparent, and it led the eyes to the matching panties underneath. Althea rarely wore lingerie, and he memorized each one of them (especially when they ended up being ripped apart). This was new¡­ She definitely did not get these from Terran, so she probably got this made for him. When she asked for this lingerie, she was thinking of him¡­ His eyes welled a little. She prepared all this for him? "You''re not done unpacking, husband," she said, her velvety voice pulling him back to the present. He gulped and, with stagnated breaths, he lifted his hand to touch the flimsy fabric, taking them off one by one as she stood. It was designed for easy removal, likely so he wouldn''t rip it apart like he usually did, and when he unhooked her bra everything else easily came down with a few pulls. His azure eyes were dark as he groped her breast, molding it with his hand, feeling the cute nipple rub against his palm. His other hand found her slender waist and he wanted to pull her down to him. However, her hands landed on his shoulder to stop him. She rested her arms on his shoulder and put her weight on him as she leaned down to meet his lips. "Don''t do anything, okay?" she said, face red from blushing, but extremely seductive at the same time. Garan nodded without thinking, making her smile. Their mouths connected then, and it never failed to send pleasurable tingles down his spine. She parted his lips with his tongue, taking over the kiss with aggressiveness he hadn''t seen. His large hands found her waist, but he stopped himself from doing anything else according to her request. It was difficult. Very difficult, but he endured. It wasn''t often Althea was the aggressive one and he didn''t want to ruin it by not following instructions. She seemed to appreciate this. Their lips parted, creating a silvery line of saliva between them. Garan thought he could finally do something to ease the extreme itch when she dragged her lips to his cheek, and to his ears, and then down his neck. "Althea¡­" he whispered, his body heating up to what felt like the boiling point as she started playing with his body. It was the sweetest torture. When she kissed down to his chest, he managed to behave¡­ and when she licked and bit lower and lower¡ªkneeling down to the floor¡ªhe felt his psyche crack a bit. When she held his shaft with both her hands and started licking the tip, he went insane. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Sadly, she glared at him the moment he gestured to move. "If you move now, I won''t do this again," she said, her mouth just over his tip. Her hot breath sent tingles down his spine, making his entire body shiver in pleasure. He grabbed the fabric of the bed in a vain attempt to stop himself from moving. She was seriously threatening him, and Garan had no choice but to freeze himself. "Behave," she told him, and her bossiness was so alluring it made his shaft pulse. He gasped when she pumped his throbbing shaft, tentatively at first, but then increased her pace. "Wife¡­" he let out deep, guttural, groans as she pleasured him. He watched her head bob in fascination, watching her take more and more of his sensitive shaft inside her mouth. The image alone could drive him crazy, let alone the barrage of sensations she was making him feel. He shivered with every move that she made, each lick and each suckle bringing him to the edge. Slurp, slurp Suck "A-Althea¡­" he gasped, closing his eyes to hold himself. Lick Slurp It wasn''t long before he felt himself near his climax, and his body arched forward as he burst, his hands unconsciously holding his wife''s head in place. His mouth parted as he let out a masculine growl, releasing his seeds inside her mouth. Squirt!! Althea took as much of it as she could, partly because both his hands were holding her in place. She had to gulp them down if she didn''t want to choke. The suction force from her sucking made him even dizzier in pleasure, making his crotch throb and his stick to start filling up again. His dark eyes watched as she took it in, and he was pulled back to the present when she coughed. He immediately let go of her head. "I''m sorry, wife¡­" he said, guilty, but then he saw how excess semen escaped her lips and dripped down to her neck and to her breasts¡­ he forgot to breathe again. "It''s fine¡­" she said, standing up, and he felt relieved that she wasn''t mad at him. That was what he thought, anyway. She made him lie flat down, and he had to suffer his wife rubbing her lovely slit against his half-hard member, which definitely wasn''t taking long to completely rise its head. She teased him for a long time, rubbing and rubbing, almost entering but not quite, and he knew for certain he was getting punished. Still, he did his best not to succumb. However, when she finally impaled herself on his shaft, he knew it would soon be impossible to control himself. Her breasts bounced as she moved, and her expression morphed to one of lustfulness and ecstasy. His dark eyes watched as his wife moved so seductively above him, as if purposely trying to make him crazy. Fwop¡­, fwop¡­, fwop¡ª Soon, he snapped, and a moment later Althea found herself being turned over. "A-ah~" she whimpered at the sudden movement. She looked up at Garan with a dazed look on her face, startled by his movement. She wanted to nag him for ruining the play, but she met his dark ravenous eyes and her voice died before she could say anything. Sweat drops fell on her body and his body heat suffocated her. Althea knew she could only be eaten from this point forward. Garan had barely moved but he was already sweaty. After all, he suffered through a lot of tension while trying to hold himself back. However, when he started taking over, he definitely didn''t do it halfway. "Your husband already behaved very well," he told her, voice raspy and breath burning. "Now¡­ it''s time for husband to claim his other birthday gifts." He opened her legs even wide and he began to move his hips. It was slow at first, until he went faster and faster, deeper and deeper. Althea grabbed her husband''s shoulder for dear life as he rammed his weight onto her, over and over. She gasped and moaned until her mouth was parted from yelling so much. Garan skewered her so wildly and for so long that it was a miracle the bed was still standing. Good thing that the beds here were the highest quality products. Otherwise, they''d have a lot of embarrassing moments the next day. Chapter 995 - 995: Another Couple in the Hotel A/N: Ok, one more R-18 xD. If the previous one didn''t make you cringe to death, you may read this one. Lololol. This is the last smut chapter in a while, and the next ones will be according to request. xD Otherwise, I''ll just do blackout snu snus after this. According to you guys, this couple shall be called: Winsel! lololol ¡­ ____ While a certain couple was going at it early into the night, others were just signing off after a day of patronizing the amenities. Winona was in her first trimester now and could not do excessively laborious activities, so the bickering husband-and-wife frequented the warm pools, the spas, and the restaurants. They spent the entire day there, and it was only when the pregnant woman announced she was tired that they finally headed back to the room. Ansel carried her to the bath so they could get cleaned together. He would often do this, and he happily served as the good husband. He warmed the water and prepared everything, he helped her undress, and they entered the tub together. It started out fairly innocent, with Ansel helping her clean up without being too naughty. However, how could Ansel miss a chance to take advantage? So¡­ his hands began to explore her more¡­ intimately. After pregnancy, his wife''s mood for sex had dipped and he had to do a lot of seduction to get her in the mood. He didn''t mind. He actually found it fun and an interesting way to change up the dynamics. "A-Ah~" she mewled, her body arching as her back rested against his chest. Her mouth parted with continuous moans as Ansel expertly rubbed her insides with his fingers. While one of his hands was pleasuring her cave, the other one was determined to send tingles everywhere else. "Hnggg~" She was flinching and twitching against him as the barrage of sensations occupied her senses, but Ansel wasn''t one to do things halfway. "Should I go faster, wife?" he asked, leaning down so he could kiss he shoulder while he seductively pumped her with his fingers, though he was met by her golden locks that had been dampened by the bath. Winona''s hair had now grown a bit. During the Guian war, it was cut to just under her ears. Now, it was reaching her shoulder. He used his free hand to brush it away, revealing more of her luscious skin to him. He leaned down to place his hot lips on her shoulder and then to her neck and ears, the same hand crawling down and groping her breasts¡ªwhich were now even bigger due to the pregnancy. He loved touching it. So much. He groped and moulded it in his arms, and he would never tire of it. It was also more sensitive now, and Winona squirmed more in his arms, her buttocks rubbing on his little brother down below. Ansel''s jaw clenched but he focused on his woman''s pleasure. Of course, he would up the intensity of his ministrations, so he could have his fun too. Winona squealed when he pressed her sensitive nipple, and at the same time added pressure to her nub below. He expertly added a bit of warmth in his hands using his elemental abilities, and it was what put her on edge, and she finally let go. White light exploded in her eyes when she released, succumbing to the ecstasy Ansel drowned her in. She huffed, resting her neck on his shoulder, seemingly spent with just his hands. Ansel chuckled, quite proud, but his eyes were extremely dark and hot. His green eyes fixed on his wife''s beautiful face, now flushed red from the pleasure. He leaned down to lick and bite her ears, teasingly rubbing on her clitoris. "Does my wife like that?" he asked, and Winona dazedly nodded at him. This made Ansel laugh in victory. He stood up and carried her to bed, his shaft below very much ready for the next step. Winona''s soft arms wrapped around his shoulder as she was carried, and she felt her whole body warm up a bit, as if she passed by a sauna. He had mastered the art of using his ability to dry things, and this included the two of them. They were still a bit damp, but at least he didn''t have to wait for so long to dry them. Ansel gently placed her on the bed and she felt the soft cushion of the mattress under her, making her feel like she was on a cloud. As expected of their people¡ªthey could really make anything. Her daze did not last long as she felt the bed shift underneath her. She watched as her husband positioned himself below. He opened her legs wide and she felt a little shy, but she was too hot to do anything to stop it. Ansel was kneeling down below her while she laid down, with his hands under her thigh, their bodies perpendicular to each other. This was their usual position, making sure no excess pressure would be put on her stomach regardless of how passionate things got. Winona gulped as she saw his shaft lined up on her slit, very much ready to enter. And she was ready to take him in. Ansel could see this, and he couldn''t help but give her a chaste kiss before doing anything else. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Here I go," he said, and he moved his hips forward, pushing himself in within a few thrusts. "AH~" Winona''s back arched and her breasts bounced in the movement. Ansel bent down to take her mounds with his mouth, slowly moving his hips at the same time. He did not go too fast or too hard, but he was careful and slow. However, it was no less sensual. In a sense, it felt even more intimate because it felt like they could feel all the throbbing¡ªand the entirety of their lover. Fwop¡­ fwop¡­ fwop¡­ "Hngg~ Ansel¡­" she mewled, holding onto his arms that held her legs up and open. Ansel was sweating profusely, gritting his teeth as her cave sucked onto him. "Winona¡­" he said, voice extremely raspy. His pace got a little faster and his angle changed slightly so he could go deeper. And the sounds of her whimpers, his groans, and their slapping skins would echo for hours to come. Chapter 996 - 996: Insecurities of a Pregnant Woman The couple rested together on the bed, Winona comfortably spooned inside his embrace. However, she flinched when his hand ended up on her stomach, rubbing it gently. She turned to look at him and his handsome face and flushed cheeks. He didn''t seem to mind it, but she remembered a few things that made her sad. When they were in the pool, she felt conscious when wearing a bathing suit. It felt like people were looking at her slightly bulging stomach. Winona had a good body and was used to being admired for it. Having a bulging stomach was objectively not pretty in her eyes. And with that¡­ came insecurities. What if this guy found her ugly? What if he got bored of the slow sex? What if he grew tired ofher emotional outbursts? The statistics of men cheating on their wives while they were pregnant were concerningly high. Combined with her hormones, and the fact that a certain ex-girlfriend was like a fly buzzing around, Winona''s insecurities were not unfounded. Speaking of exes Hana somehow managed to secure a job at the bank and was doing quite well there. Raj and Ramil seemed impressed with her and, in time, she could get promoted. This would mean she''d have more interactions with her husband. Ansel did have a certain minimum for his girlfriends. For one, they had to be decent people and smart. While the former seemed to be a little doubtful considering what she obviously wanted, perhaps she wasn''t like that before. People changed, after all, especially after going through so much in this place. However, the latter couldn''t be faked. The fact that they dated meant that there was something about her that attracted Ansel, so Winona felt a little fear regardless of whether she showed it or not. However, with the weird hormonal reactions in her body now, sometimes she just couldn''t control her tears. When he felt something wet on his bare chest, Ansel immediately flinched. This wasn''t the first time it happened so he didn''t panic too much, but it didn''t mean he wasn''t heartbroken. "H-Hey, what''s wrong?" he asked, slightly pushing himself up with an arm so he could look at her closely. He looked at her crying silently, though she couldn''t control her own body which was pitiful in and of itself. He sighed. "I''m sorry," he said, and he looked quite sincere. This made Winona stop and look at him weirdly. "What did you do?" "I don''t know." This just made Winona cry even more. She rolled around, not wanting to see his stupid face. "You idiot¡­ wuuuuu¡­." Ansel sighed and sat up, placing her to sit on her legs. "What did husband do so he can apologize properly." Winona bit her lips, cheeks turning red, seriously pondering what to say. Was she supposed to say that she just felt jealous for no reason? That she didn''t like what her body was becoming? And that she was afraid he''d leave her? Saying it out loud was¡­ embarrassing. "Nothing." Ansel took a deep breath and held her tighter. "I thought we agreed to tell each other everything that bothered us," he said. "I''d assume it was something I said if you don''t tell me, and I''d feel horrible. "I''d be depressed, go on a depressed eating spree, and then get fat. Would you hate me then?" This made Winona frown and she turned to glare at him. "You dare think that way!" "I don''t dare," Ansel admitted. "But if you keep making me guess, it won''t be good for my liver. What if I can''t get it up again?" Winona blinked at him and looked down at his very active shaft. "Well, if it keeps your libido in check¡­" "You don''t want to have sex with me?" "No, it''s not that. I¡ª nothing." Ansel didn''t speak anymore after this. Winona''s eyebrows furrowed, suddenly feeling nervous. She lifted her head to look at Ansel, to see him looking at her with a heartbroken expression, and seemingly on the verge of tears. Her heart clenched. "I¡­" They argued a lot, but when the other showed expressions of pain, everything was forgotten. She took a deep breath and told him. Her head tilted down the more she said, feeling embarrassed she was being so pathetic. "I''m sorry. It''s just¡­ Hana¡­ she''s around you a lot again, isn''t she?" Ansel''s eyes widened, finally realizing what this was about. To be honest¡­ he really couldn''t understand. Hana was a mere friend to him now, there was absolutely no attraction anymore¡ªespecially when he had a wife! Objectively speaking, Winona was 100x more beautiful than Hana and he liked Winona 100000x more. How could she think like this? It''s so confusing. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Wife¡­ why are you so stupid? I guess it''s the pregnancy brain¡­ I understand¡­" Winona''s eyes widened and she glared at him. How could he say this to her now!? When she was so sad?! "You¡ª" she gasped, pinching his cheeks. However, instead of starting a banter, he held her hands. His deep green eyes stared deep into her blue ones. "Look at me in the eyes, Winona." Winona''s claws on his face loosened, and she suddenly felt like squirming away, unused to him being so serious. "Hey! Don''t run!" he said, holding up both her hands. "You are the only woman for me. Even if you turn ugly¡ªwhich I''m sure you won''t¡ªthen I''d turn even uglier." "I''ll make an oath in the village center right now if that''s what it takes¡ª" "No, nono," she said, pulling her hands away from him so she could embrace him. "It''s fine¡­ thank you." Her heart clenched. She was also confused with her own emotions, and it was annoying how she felt like everything was out of control sometimes. Fortunately, Ansel was understanding enough and he wrapped his strong arms around her back, pulling her flush to him. Winona soon felt herself calmer and her breath stabilized, feeling everything was alright with the world again. However, in stark contrast, Ansel''s breath grew stagnant instead. He felt his wife''s softness rub against his body, and it was making the little brother leak a bit. He pursed his lips. This wholesome moment¡­ should he corrupt it again? . . His hand slowly slid south as if searching for the answer to his question. The answer? Yes. Yes, he should. Chapter 997 - 997: Tension at the Grand Hotel Restaurant While other men were going wild, another was keeping the night wholesome. The day actually started outside of the Grand Hotel for Ryan and Gwen. This day was very important, too: It was the day Ryan was set to propose. He thought long and hard and asked many people for advice on how to do it. For one, he had asked his sister for ideas but she gave him ideas that didn''t quite fit with how he knew Gwen was. She asked him if he could rent out an entire restaurant for her, sing for her, and then propose with a lot of flowers. The next option was to propose to her in the Grand Hotel, in one of the private rooms there, and create a sexy atmosphere and then shaboink. What was ''shaboink''? He learned it that day, and he looked at his sister in aghast. Anyway, if someone was to propose to his sister one day, then he''d know what to suggest. Anyway, after some thought, he decided to tap on Gwen''s adventurous spirit instead. She would have fun on a hike, and liked seeing new places. Alterra was big and she hadn''t explored everything yet, especially when she was busy with the guard applications and the like. The Alterran Mountains had a lot of trekking paths and some hidden alcoves. The official landscapers decided to add hidden gardens, smaller fountains (directly connected to streams for continuity), and so on. Gwen also told him how she wanted to explore more, but they didn''t have the time. So¡­ he planned an adventure date of sorts. With the help of his sister and a couple of other guards, helped him plan the entire day, placing small gifts in different places. He told her there were clues all around the trekking paths and she would have a gift at the end of it. He specifically told her that he worked very very hard for it and he hoped she found the prize. According to the spies (friends he got to guard the clues and report), Gwen was smiling when she found these hidden treasure places. They used the newly trained messenger birds for this, and Reddit gladly lent them for their ''exercise'' and training. The final stop was a more hidden part of the view deck. The mountains weren''t smooth after all, and the roads and decks were organically placed. Gwen was a little sweaty already but she was smiling. It was the kind of tiredness that felt good and refreshing, and she was very curious about what Ryan had prepared at the end of the line. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There Ryan stood on his own¡­ with a ribbon on him. It was the ''masculine'' blue ribbon, but¡­ still a ribbon. He was the prize. Ryan could see his sister laughing at him, but when Gwen laughed and hugged him, he knew the embarrassment was worth it. "So you''re the prize eh?" He nodded. "I worked very hard on myself so I can deserve you." She blinked, and flinched when she saw how his face turned serious, and she gasped when he kneeled down in front of her. "Ryan¡­" She unconsciously wiped her sweat and arranged her hair, not wanting to look ''ugly'' for this moment¡ªno matter how shaky she was. Ryan''s lips twitched when he watched her do this. He raised his hand to grab the hand she was trying to arrange herself with. "You''re so beautiful, Gwen¡­" he said. "There''s no need to fix anything." Gwen''s eyes shook and she bit her lips. She was really shaky and arranging herself was her way to deal with the burst of emotions spreading throughout her body. "Gwen¡­ would you do me the honor of accompanying me for the rest of our lives?" Of course, Gwen said ''yes''. Later that day, as newly engaged couple, they went to have fun in the Grand Hotel. They tried every activity couples could do, both smiling widely¡ªstill high from entering the next step of their relationship as a couple. That night, they went to their room to rest. It felt a little awkward, but they knew the lines that were not to be crossed. The two of them simply slept side by side¡ªjust feeling each other''s warmth and presence¡ªand they were perfectly satisfied to do so. ¡­ The next morning, a lot of the couples (understandably) slept in. They had an activity-filled day and night the previous day after all. However, despite this, the hotel restaurant was pretty lively early in the morning. Breakfast was full of activity, and most tables were actually occupied. Some were there early to eat breakfast while they waited for their check in time (which was at noon), while some woke up early because they weren''t with a lover. One of these guests was Vanessa, who had managed to coax a ticket from her brother. Juni was still not in the condition for too much activity so they passed on the opportunity for now. Vanessa came with a female guard and fellow soldier Barbara, who was also part of her brother''s team back in Ferrol. She was assigned to Alterra and was on her way to becoming the captain of her own team. They weren''t actually close, but Vanessa realized she didn''t have anyone to invite. It felt a bit humiliating, but she didn''t want to pass up the opportunity. Barbara, though she didn''t say, was afraid of offending the princess and had no choice but to agree. They would do their activities separately though, and she was basically just there in the restaurant to accompany Vanessa so she didn''t look so lonely. Some sharp-eyed people still saw though. For example, a certain firecracker called Gwen happened to be sitting a table away. They were up early because staying too long in the bedroom outside of actual slumber was... dangerous. Anyway, Vanessa saw that she was dining with the handsome Ryan, and they looked happy together. They had never gotten along well so seeing Gwen happy with a man while she was with a placeholder made Vanessa feel embarrassed in comparison. Gwen also noticed Vanessa but she wasn''t planning on acknowledging her at all. Who wanted to ruin a wonderful morning with that woman''s face? Sadly, Vanessa couldn''t help but greet them intimately, both as old friends. She had traveled with Ryan for three months, and she had undergone battles of life and death with him. Although they weren''t so close as she was with the late Johnny, or even with Leon and Santos, she did call him older brother a lot. Ryan was indeed kind to her, as if treating her as his own sister, who he hadn''t seen for a while back then. "Gwen, Brother Ryan," she greeted, voice soft and nice, though her tone when calling for Ryan''s name seemed a little too velvety. Ryan nodded politely, not noticing the difference at all, while Gwen''s eyebrows rose. She crossed her arms. "Vanessa," she said in greeting, looking behind her to see Barbara, who was pretending not to be a part of this. "It''s good that you''re with girls this time, it''s unhealthy to stick to guys all the time." "..." "..." A crackling electricity passed the two women then, and everyone at the nearby tables felt it. People in the other tables looked complicated. They were pretending to eat their meals, but their ears were twitching. Was a catfight about to happen so early in the morning? Why did they wanna watch it? Chapter 998 - 998: Vanessa versus Gwen Sadly, no such thing happened. After all, the two women were raised well¡ªnot to mention the posh place they were in innately made people want to behave well. Vanessa only smiled at the other woman''s quip. "Still so tactless, I see," she said. "Some things never change." "Only with you," Gwen said. "Subtext sometimes misses your pretty little head, after all." "..." It was at this time that the double door of the restaurant opened, and the waiter immediately went to guide the newcomers to their seats. It was none other than Althea and Garan, so it was not surprising the waiters pretty much ran to the entrance to greet them. They did not notice any of the other guests though, as their eyes were stuck on each other. They did not see the pair of sticky eyes following them either. It was Vanessa''s, of course, and she unconsciously bit her lips. Gwen, who had been looking at her, saw everything. Gwen could see her body tense as she watched the sweet couple. She obviously disliked the sight but her eyes couldn''t be pulled away. Gwen pursed her lips. Was this girl a masochist? Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Busy being a fly, I see. Things never change." "YOU¡ª" This time, Vanessa''s wounds were reopened by the sight of Garan and Althea being all mushy again, so a lot of cracks easily formed in her lady-like facade. Turbo and Evelyn entered shortly after Althea and Garan. Turbo was looking around for a good seat (the waiters were busy with Althea and Garan) when he saw Vanessa and Gwen a meter from each other. His body immediately shrunk back, causing Evelyn to look at him weirdly. "Husband?" "Ah, well, let''s go take that seat allll the way in that corner," he said, pointing at a place far from the two women. He was trying to get his wife pregnant, and she was a peace-loving woman who wouldn''t enjoy women battling each other. No need for her to get exposed to that stress! The tension between Gwen and Vanessa was actually famous in their circle. Gwen had a sharp tongue like her brother but, unlike him, she had plenty of EQ along with it. She was usually friendly and nice, but when a person irked her, then they ought to be prepared to get hurt. Anyway, the couple went far away from the commotion to eat in peace. Meanwhile, the tension near a table was at an all-time high. Gwen had admired Althea since she was young. She also admired her mother, of course, but Althea was closer to her in age and was in the same generation, making her a better role model. Anyway, Gwen had always seen this bitch for what she was and she was also one of the few brave souls to call her out on it. Vanessa really hated her for it. If these two didn''t have a good upbringing, it was estimated they would''ve entered a catfight ages ago, all the way back in Terran. In any case, Vanessa did not know how to respond without appearing awkward. Barbara sighed. She had such a nice relaxing day yesterday, so she was thankful to Vanessa for this chance. For that favor, she decided to help her out this time. "Miss Vanessa," she said. "Your food is going to get cold." "A-Ah," the other woman said and she turned away¡ªwithout smiling pitifully to Ryan of course¡ªand headed back to her table. Gwen rolled her eyes and stared at Ryan, daring him to feel pity. Fortunately, Ryan didn''t seem to care much and was still munching on his food. Tensions for some aside, the rest of the restaurant had a lovely atmosphere. For one, Althea and Garan, remained blissfully unaware of the exchange, and they just happily fed each other and entered their own little world. Another, the locals who managed to experience the Hotel for the first time were saying nothing but praise. Alterra had sent free bookings to the Top 10 people with the highest contributions for the month. They would be continuing to do so for the succeeding months as well as an additional perk for working hard for the territory. This month, majority of the recipients were those who took down a lot of enemies during the Fargo and Guia wars, and those who endlessly grinded and trained outside much more than others. Because all soldiers unsurprisingly got a place, regardless of whether they were in the territory, the Elders decided to divide the reward between guards and normal citizens giving 5 bookings each with a plus one. Other than the soldiers, Mauru was among the guards who received this perk. For the normal citizens, there were a lot of former Mauin villagers on the list. They were among those who worked the hardest during and outside of wars. Troy was actually the only commoner Terran to receive it this month. He gained a lot of contribution points by virtue of his weapons so he went with Brenda, though they were conservatives so he really wasn''t expecting to go all the way. It''d be great if they could just talk side by side on bed, feeling some intimacy and each other''s hearts. The Mauin Villagers, on the other hand, had experienced this for the first time and frankly felt like it was another world. They felt like nobles, and it felt like such an honor and an accomplishment to be able to do so because of their hard work and, of course, the goodness of Alterra. Their comrades would surround them after the experience and they would tell all about its features and its amenities. Suffice to say, the Grand Hotel would be the talk of the town, er, village, for days to come. ¡­ After a few days, more and more people would enjoy the new feature of Alterra. Some would finally use their reward bookings, while some who managed to save a lot of money (because they had a lot of contribution points) also decided to splurge. In those days, particularly during the Ob-gyn visits, the friendship between Cassandra and Juni was resurrected to a degree. They convinced each other to go to the Grand Hotel at the same time, though the latter would have to pay because they gave their bookings away. Gill and Victor looked at each other awkwardly, though when they saw their women smiling, they shrugged in the end. It was just that chatters between men were not much. Except for work, they talked about nothing else. In contrast to the men, the women were chattering non-stop. "How''s Veronica?" Juni asked, missing that innocent girl. Cassandra sighed. She was also worried for that friend of hers. Since they left abruptly, they couldn''t say a proper goodbye to her. After arriving to Alterra, she asked Gill to send a vague letter via Ferrol Town. She used the name ''Gill''s Wife'' instead of her own, which made her lover very happy. She hadn''t received a reply yet, but it had only been a few days, so hopefully they do get news within the next few weeks. She wanted her dear friend to know that everything was great and that¡­ she was finally living well again. In the letter, Cassandra said that she was living with her ''husband'' now. Do not worry, she told her, and I hope to see you soon. What Cassandra did not know¡­ was that Veronica was undergoing her own tribulations at this time. Chapter 999 - 999: Helios’ Investigation A/N: Quarterfinals for Character Voting for Althea is uppp~ (Garan''s is in 3 days lol) If you have extra points, please vote for our girl~ sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ... ____ While Gill had already arrived home with his beloved (and even going to hotels), Helios had just traced his own target. It was not an easy task. However, he fortunately had been trained with some investigative skills and he finally found the woman''s identity. Interestingly, one of the breakthroughs was the men he had taken her away from. They went to him themselves, not knowing it was him who caused them trouble. They actually went to him for a deal about Alterran products and he low-key asked whether they knew of a pretty noble woman he could court. They suggested a few to him, all daughters of rich merchants or low nobles, which in some perspectives was beyond his league. When they suggested this to him, it was with the attitude of doing him great favors. They then ranted about a beautiful woman, who was sent by her father to help out their town. Helios had an inkling that it was her because they described her as a beautiful woman with unique sandy hair and she was taken away just when they were about to have fun with her. He did not like their tone¡ªit made him want to stab them and cut off their tongues¡ªbut, for the sake of getting information, he prodded them more. He leaned over, as if curious. "What kind of woman would escape from your clutches?" "It''s just a woman from a barren town called Dune Town looking to save it," the man said, sneering. "It was quite amusing seeing her go around from noble house to noble house and asking for help¡ªbut also refusing to become the patriarch''s woman!" The man spat on the ground. "It was so¡­ naive! Nobody would send their daughter out like that unless they were looking for a husband!" That was what everyone assumed, and Helios wondered if that was really true. The culture of Xeno was really different, after all. The thought of that woman married to someone else¡ªgetting touched by someone else¡ªirked him so much. More importantly, seeing her suffer broke his heart. The fact that these men almost touched her made him want to skewer them with metal spikes. But, he stopped himself. Between him and his uncle, he was the suave one. "I''m interested," he said. "In this so-called Dune Town," he stood up and went to the pantry, generously getting them a glass of cheap Alterran alcohol. "Tell me more." Their eyes sparkled at the drink, taking a sip, and appreciating its taste. They didn''t know why he''d be interested in such a town, but they spilled info for goodwill. Anyway, there was no harm in telling, especially if it would give them more advantages for the ''imminent deal''. So, with the influence of alcohol, they told him everything they knew. Apparently, Dune Town was one of the very few towns in the Great Desert, a vast desert South, bordering the human territory, and a few others like some clans of orcs and, more prominently, the Undead. When he heard of the undead, he immediately thought of zombies, particularly the type Terran was filled with before it got destroyed. However, there were differences. For one, these things were not entirely brainless. They were not fully sentient and were definitely carnivorous, but they didn''t stupidly fall into traps and so on. According to the information, the monsters were in what seemed like a perenial state of rotting but not completely dead. They moved about as quickly as normal humans though. Imagine semi-rotting not-so-brainless enemies that couldn''t be killed easily, that would still move even if you removed appendages. He shivered at the thought. In terms of strength, they were weaker than humans, probably due to the rotting muscles, but as mentioned they could continue to move even if there were only skeletons left in their bodies. What was terrifying about them was the damage they could do when they scratched or bit someone. Unlike Terran zombies though, they wouldn''t turn into zombies as well. Rather, it seemed like undead blood or saliva had a special component that kept them alive¡­ and killed other people. According to what they knew¡ªthough the story could''ve not been accurate as it had been some time and passed around so often¡ªthey arrived about a hundred years or so after the Elves disappeared. They came in tens of millions and were one of the new species that were transmigrated like they did. It felt offensive to be ranked along with these monsters, but what could they do? As one would expect, millions of zombies appearing wasn''t a minor thing. Fortunately, like what happened to the Terrans, these ''newcomers'' ¡ªwho didn''t really have much humanity¡ªwere also concentrated in a particular area for the first month. This area, luckily, was near the desert and only the fringe towns and villages experienced a zombie apocalypse of sorts. It was a pandemic and several villages fell during this time, and even a town, and so the surrounding territories had no choice but to work together and contain this problem. After a few hundred years of battle that spanned generations, the surviving Undead were finally pushed back somewhere far into the desert behind a tall mountain range. Every few years a few undead would appear and infect a few people, causing problems, but they would be dealt with with great force. Anyway, Dune Town was one of the towns basically had to deal with that. Top that with their resource problem, people were suffering and the economy was at an all-time low. The best course of action was to establish a relationship with a richer town, which was what everyone assumed that woman was doing. His heart broke for her. That amount of pressure¡­ he wouldn''t wish it on his enemies. "What''s her name?" He asked, appearing nonchalant. "That woman." The men looked at him weirdly but answered what they knew. "Sahara or something," one said, though not entirely sure. They weren''t the type to remember mere women''s names. Helios, though, felt it must be accurate. "I see¡­ Lady Sahara of Dune Town¡­" he repeated, as if tasting the name on his tongue. What a beautiful name¡­ Chapter 1000 - 1000: Hiring Mercenary Teams Sahara¡­ What a beautiful name. It really fit the smooth, sand-colored, hair he once ran with his fingers through. His eyes glazed at the memory and it was only when his informants asked for more information about Alterran products¡ªafter calling for him many times¡ªdid he broke out of it. After a bit more small talk, he realized they told him everything they knew and he finally excused himself from the conversation. He didn''t commit to anything, but he still gave them hope of a good deal. They weren''t particularly satisfied, but they didn''t show it. Anyway, they got a free bottle of expensive alcohol from this visit. Of course, how could Helios pass the chance to punish them a bit? He may or may not have added a few things in their drinks to give them some stomach problems. It was a mild laxative, actually, one of the basic medicines in the ''medicine kits'' all guards had in their space. Of course, rather than for things like this, it was used by guards to help them when they had to hold back a lot after missions and the like. He added a few extra doses just to make it more¡­ effective. It would only show after a few days of incubation though, so it was unlikely they''d trace it back to the drink he gave them. Ideally, it''d happen during their travel home, to make things extra inconvenient for them. Best if there were Beast Mobs going after them. This was actually a possible scenario. Although he didn''t add Beast Attracting potions in their items (he knew they''d stay in the Town for a bit longer and it''d just be wasted and dissipate if he did so) if they took dump after dump in forests, it was bound to attract a few beasts. Anyway, after a while more of searching, Helios traced her current location. And it was to none other than Bleulle City itself. As for how he found out about it, it took him a few more days of research and investigation. According to the informants, before the Ferrol Market event had ended, the Dune Town party rushed to get out of the territory, which was unusual because normally people would complete the fair to maximize their trip. He had an idea why they rushed though, and it might have had something to do with what happened between him and the lady. He took note of the direction they apparently headed towards and¡ªwith the map he bought in Alterra¡ªhe narrowed down the next places she could''ve gone towards. There was no Town in the region that could exceed Ferrol in terms of ''deals'' she''d be looking for, so it could only be in more powerful territories. She exited from the Southeast Gate of Ferrol, with their angle biased towards the South. From this, he determined that Sahara was likely going to Bleulle. This was the most practical place to go to even if he wasn''t certain. At the very least, in Bleuelle, the Golds were there and he could ask for favors. With their help, if she was not there, then he''d find out quickly so he wouldn''t waste any more time there. He could move on and go to another place. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He borrowed a carriage from Jonathan for some favor and also asked him what to look out for in Bleulle. Basically, he just said if he could connect with the Golds as soon as possible, then he should be fine. Jonathan didn''t let him borrow so easily, however. "I will only let you go if you hire a mercenary team, at least." "What?" Jonathan looked at him weirdly. "You realize that even going to Towns, you had to be in big groups, right?" he said. "You managed to get here safely because of the Beast Repelling Potion from Alterra, but that''s not going to work on stronger monsters." Unlike Villages and Towns, there was no tiers in Cities. The average monsters there could range from level 20 to level 50, depending on how powerful it was. Level 20 monsters were already past 2 meters in height. How big were those in level 40s? Cringe. Helios scratched his neck, embarrassed. He really didn''t think too much and was a bit rash, especially with the added emotions of seeing the woman. It was always his uncle who did the planning, and he was used to just taking action. There was also the fact that things ran quite smoothly for him and he hadn''t encountered any major setbacks before¡ªcausing him to be arrogant. Other than being abandoned in bed after a one night stand, of course. He was lucky to have been warned like this, otherwise who knew which monster stomach he''d find himself in. After getting a few tips about hiring, Helios went straight to the Mercenary Hall. The Mercenary Hall was a three-story homogenous building that was very much in-your-face. There was an endless stream of people going in and out, too, indicating how much activity it saw daily. He remembered wanting to build a mercenary team with his uncle to go adventuring before, but the territory really grew on them. It still tickled the adventurer in him, seeing this. Speaking of this, because he and his uncles were interested in this, they had naturally asked around. He also knew a bit from Jonathan as well. He knew that the ground floor was the mission center where various missions were posted for mercenaries to take. The upper floors were apparently where the Teleportation arrays were located. The second floor was the hiring arrays for Level E and D Mercenary Teams, while the uppermost was where Class C Mercenary Teams would come from. "HEY! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" a yell came from behind him, and he stepped away by instinct. He saw a group of Level 30s walk past him, heading straight to the hall. Helios shook his head and stepped forward, finally entering. He ended up gaping at the barrage of information being thrown at his face. Whether it was missions or lists of mercenary teams or the chatters of everyone around him. It was a little¡­ overwhelming. So¡­ how to choose? Chapter 1001 - 1001: Choosing a Mercenary Team BONUS CHAP! HAPPY 1000 CHAPS GUYS! *Dances* Also, we landed in Golden T1 for now! I was also showered with lots of golden tickets huhuhu. And I got a gachapon from Lotuslin, too. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT EVERYONE!! ... _____ The level of a Mercenary Hall would determine the level of Mercenary teams that could be hired and created there. According to Jonathan and the other aborigines, the lowest level Mercenary Hall¡ªavailable as a Level 2 Town¡ªcould only hire and transfer up to a Class E Mercenary Team. That was to say, they could only travel via the array to another Level 1 Mercenary Hall up to a thousand away. The Hall would also only be able to receive mercenary teams coming in from a maximum of 1000 kilometers, regardless of their levels. Speaking of this, he also had the option of joining a Mercenary Team and then using the arrays in the Halls to go straight to Bleuelle City. A Class D would''ve been sufficient if one only considered the distance between the City and Ferrol. However, he looked and there were no missions heading there directly. To use the arrays, the trip must be attached to a mission. The Terran Mercenary Team''s slots were full, and he would not be able to create a Class D Mercenary Team on his own in a short time either. He would have to join a new one to go this path. But¡­ would that be worth it? First of all, it would take time to actually join an unknown Mercenary Team in the first place. It''d be risky, too. He''d be bound to them for at least a year¡ªwho knew what they''d make him do? The common practice in Xeno was that during the first year, new members would not be able to choose their missions. What if it''d interfere with his search for the woman? Not to mention, she might not even be in Bleuelle City, and that would mean he bounded himself for naught! So, in the end, he just opted to hire one. Ferrol had a Level 2 Mercenary Hall which could hire Mercenary Teams up to Class C. The Terran Mercenary Team made by Elder Garan was a Class D Mercenary Team. With them as the exemption, Class D mercenaries were generally level 20-25 or so on average, with the usual minimum at level 15 (depending on the Team). They could also choose missions from other towns or cities within a 5000 kilometer radius. This was already very good. The largest country back in Terran had an end-to-end distance of less than that. The mercenary team Helios would need though, was of an unfortunately higher level. Because they wouldn''t be traveling via the array, this meant they would have to deal with the mobs of a City¡ªwhich would have monster sightings of monsters level 40 or so. Generally, like humans, monsters also had a hard time procreating as their level increased. Hence, while there were many strong mobs, the big ones normally didn''t exceed level 25 or 30. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was rare to see strong monsters together because of this. The more common sight would be them appearing with weaker mobs, dwarfing them by comparison. It was like seeing a walking building surrounded by walking houses which were, in turn, also surrounded by big animals. He could imagine that it was a terrifying sight to see¡ªespecially outside of walls. Regardless, he understood that going on his own at his current level was suicidal, so he wasn''t going to even think about that. Anyway, hiring Class C mercenary teams typically cost 100 to 400 gold, which was around 100 times the salary of common workers. Helios naturally had no such money, so he borrowed quite a bit from Jonathan. The man was kind enough to give, though he did add a little interest. The Hiring of mercenary teams was a two-way choice. He would enter the desired floor and send out his hiring conditions as well as the amount he was willing to offer. The posted offer was in a range, and if the team really wanted a mission, they might lower the offer. Just posting the mission cost 1 Gold, by the way. [Hiring! A party to safely escort a few people to Bluelle City and then back to a Village approximately 2500 kilometers away. Offer: 300 Gold] Like with the Village Center, the mercenaries were bound by oath to do their best until their lives were in danger. They could only abandon when that happened but, otherwise, Helios could be rest assured that the mercenaries would do their best to safeguard his and, ideally, Sahara''s life if he found her. The Mercenary Halls would send notifications to the captains of the qualified teams as long as they were within the territory. However, to accept the mission or negotiate the terms, they (or their representatives) would have to go to the Mercenary Hall themselves. The interested mercenary teams would send out their applications and the number of forces they could send in response. This was a one-time negotiation so this was considered to be the ''best offer'' the team could make. Finally, the hiring party would choose among these, and the deal would be finalized. Helios waited about half an hour before he received three applications to choose from. [Apex Mercenary Team (C) : We will send 10 level 25-30s. We are willing to take the mission for 280 Gold.] [Takoda Mercenary Team (C) of Avel City : We will send a five level 35-40 to protect you. We are 1700 kilometers South of Bleuelle, only a few days away and we know the terrain well. We will take the job at 320 Gold.] [Yesno Mercenary Team (D) from Voumi Town: We will send 20 level 25s. We are willing to take the mission for 250 Gold]. He thought for a bit before deciding, at least between the two Class C teams. He didn''t trust a Class D mercenary team to be able to do the job, and that level would not be enough if they encountered a strong mob. In the end, he chose a Class C Mercenary from Avel City some thousand or so kilometers South of Bleulle. It was a bit more expensive than he offered, but he could be more reassured with them. In terms of safety, he shouldn''t be stingy. Of course, it was also a risk and he really hoped Sahara was there. Otherwise, he''d have to borrow money from the Golds, too. He shook his head off of the worries. For now, he just had to do what he must. No matter how big the world is¡­ he''d find her¡ªno matter what! Chapter 1002 - 1002: Takoda Mercenary Team A/N: Round 2 of Character Voting is almost done guys! Hope Althea gets to the semi-final~ ... ____ With a couple of clicks on the platform, the deal was finalized. Almost as soon as he did so, the array lit up and five figures appeared. Generally speaking, people could judge levels according to the aura they instinctively felt. If one was lower level though, there would be a lot of estimating involved. The higher the level gap, the more difficult it would be to guess. From this, Helios could tell that the people who arrived were definitely much higher leveled than he was. They were all quite eclectic in appearance, as well. The person in the middle¡ªthe obvious leader and the one with the highest level¡ªhad combed back hair. He appeared to be a middle age man but, considering how age worked here, then he must be really old to look middle-aged. The man stepped forward. "Hello, my name is Enok, I am the team lead of your escort team," he said, making the standard greeting of the same level, which was just patting their chest twice. Helios followed his lead and also introduced himself. "My name is Helios," he said. "My occupation is a swordsman. I''m heading to Bleuelle to find someone." When they looked at him and his level, they looked a little disappointed, but not too surprised. Helios knew that with his appearance and physique, people would think he should be of higher level. He was confident he''d catch up eventually though! "I am level 39 Spearman from Avel City. These are my teammates, Raz, Senson, Puto, and Shim. Their levels ranged from level 32 to 35." Helios nodded and greeted them all. Raz, the level 35, seemed to be the right hand man. He had curly dark purple hair and a sword on his waist, indicating he was a swordsman. He also assumed he awakened the occupation, too, because one simply could not reach past level 20¡ªand kill monsters of that level¡ªwithout awakening an occupation. Senson was a level 32 brunette with a bob cut. He was thin and tall and frankly looked a bit like a bamboo. Then Helios found out he was an archer, and he couldn''t help but worry if he had enough arm strength to make a killing blow. Then again, it was best not to judge over appearances in this place. Wasn''t the petite and pretty Miss Althea a killing machine herself? Next was Puto, a bald swordsman, though his sword was broader and larger than Raz''s, and could double as a shield. He was a level 33 swordsman, and had a perennial smiling face that made his cheek even more puffy. . Finally, the last member at level 32 was called Shim. Helios looked at him and saw his features, reminding him a lot of Badjao and Gaudi. He had an axe as his main weapon. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Overall, except for the thin guy, everyone else had close-range capabilities. This was no surprise as it was the safest choice especially early on. Basically, those who choose other occupations¡ªwhether it was long-ranged fighters, sheildsman, or life occupations¡ªeither lived in stable areas or had reliable teammates already taking the responsibility for close-ranged combats. Speaking of this, in terms of variety within a team, Alterra and the adjacent territories probably had the most balanced compositions out there. Of course, in terms of level, they still had a lot of catching up to do. Anyway, now that the team was complete, they headed out to the Lord''s villa, which got the mercenaries to look at him. "He''s helping me out," he said, and they borrowed a carriage. Interestingly, the person who was driving his carriage was the same person who drove Gill to Jacoba Town before. His name was Toron, and he was very talkative. Especially more so now because he felt Helios was much more approachable (and had a lower level) than Gill so he chattered with less worry. Helios went along with it. He needed the distraction, otherwise he''d be too anxious. He even learned some more things about driving beast carts from him. Toron was nearly in his 60s and was level 25. He had served Jonathan''s father since he was a child and had been a stableboy then. Becoming a Beast Cart driver was the highest promotion for his line of work. After all, driving them required excellent control and chemistry. Even if they had the whistle made by the Beast Tamers, their control still had a lot to do with the drivers themselves. For one, they at least had to be stronger than the beasts they drive. "It''s pretty risky to be promoted in this line of work," he said. "I had a lot of peers who lost an arm or a leg." Helios looked at him. "In my place, we can travel fast across the territory with bikes or broats." "Oh?" Toron mumbled. "Alterra, right?" This also seemed to interest the mercenaries who were taking turns sitting in the carriage and running alongside it. Speaking of this, they were quite curious how a weak guy like him could afford hiring them in the first place. What was he going to do in a place like Bleuelle City, too? It was estimated that he could get killed just by fighting with a civilian there... "You should visit us sometimes," Helios said with a smile, unaware of the judgmental stares sent to him by the mercenaries. The old man nodded. "Yes, I''ve been meaning to," he said. "I love your instant noodles! I have a few bags in my space right now!" Helios laughed, feeling a little proud. "I''m curious how Broats could be better than Beast Carts though." "They don''t eat people''s hands at least," Helios shot back, making the others chortle. Helios shook his head and smiled, looking out to see the fast-moving trees and shrubs around them. He could also see some monsters actively avoiding them. "Of course, traveling outside the territory is still limited," he said. Beast Carts were better than Broat Cart outside the territories because they could traverse long distances. Weaker mobs would generally avoid them, so they were better at least for Village and Town level. It could also do good in City-level regions, provided that there were strong guards that would deal with the strong monsters. The highest monster that could be tamed was level 20, and the mercenaries soon had to start fighting as they encountered stronger mobs. They traveled for days on end, without much rest, and when they started encountering more and more monsters past level 15, Toron stopped. "As agreed upon, we''re approximately at the region near the city." Helios nodded in understanding, standing up to disembark. Jonathan agreed to lend him the cart with the condition that it wouldn''t be put in danger. Obviously, going past this place was too risky. "Sorry about this¡­" Toron mumbled. Helios shook his head and handed him a handful of silver as tip. This made the old man''s eyes brighten as he waved them goodbye. "You''re a little weak but you know how the world works," he said. "Good luck! May you all reach the City in one piece~" he said and whistled, getting the beast to rush back, leaving the rest of them in the dust. Helios: "..." Chapter 1003 - 1003: Mount Rushless They were dropped on the third day of travel, just outside of Mount Rushless, which meant that they were still about a thousand kilometers away from Bleuelle. Now that they were trekking¡ªon a mountain range, no less¡ªit was estimated they''d take another day or two to get to Bleuelle, maybe more if since they encountered a lot of troublesome mobs on the way. From this trip, Helios ended up learning a lot from veteran Mercenaries. Although he did have a lot of survival training, and learned a lot in the months they had been here, there were still a lot of things to consider when traveling in Xeno wilderness. For example, he learned how to look at the trees and see which areas had recently seen big mobs and big monsters. The big monsters also had deep footprints. Sometimes there would be random depressions with plants growing in them, and later he realized they were monster footprints that had plants growing on them because of the high regeneration rates of the flora here. He also learned that very high-level monsters were big and had a specific sound to them. They were deep and reverberating that it''d send shivers down the spine, and he better run as fast as he could if he heard it. "Level 40 monsters and above¡ªalthough rare¡ªwould require level 50s to deal with it," Raz told him. "Their physique is very different from the level before it, and even dozens of humans of the same level may not stand a chance." "Fortunately, they are extremely rare. If they are sighted, the strongmen tend to be called to deal with it," he said. "They would usually be within 5 levels of the monster though, otherwise even they might not bother." Helios nodded in understanding. It must be hard to level up past 40 if the monsters were so rare. Similarly, why would these strongmen risk their necks going against a strong monster if they couldn''t get any EXP from it anymore? In any case, the next leg of the journey proved to be much more dangerous and the weakest mob they encountered was Level 15. Helios, the customer, really didn''t fight much. He had just passed Level 11. What could he do against level 15 monsters? Level 15 humans were fine, monsters were totally a different league. He didn''t have to, either. For weaker mobs, the mercenaries took care of them with relative ease. Helios was still intrigued by the monsters though so he took a lot of notes and remembered their weaknesses. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the same time, he also watched the mercenaries'' movements, particularly those who were using swords. They had a few skills, though they were mostly using brute force. They also had very different styles. For instance, Raz had a more graceful style, almost like fencing, while Puto used his broadsword as a force in and of itself. Eventually, the mob cleared out and they continued moving forward. They were using Enok''s map this time. Although most of them had been to Bleuelle before, it was only Enok who had been to Mount Rushless. This meant that the paths from their current spot to the City were not a black fog, and they could actually plan their routes properly. "So, you plan on forming a mercenary team soon?" Enok asked as he led the team. They were following the gentle slopes, avoiding the steep and dangerous ones if they went on a straight line. Helios nodded. "When my village turns to a Level 2 Town, yes," he said. The mercenaries looked at him, a little surprised before nodding. Helios didn''t think much about it, though in reality, the mercenaries were wondering why he would wait that long. A village upgrading to a level 2 town would take several years, maybe decades. But then they remembered his level and realized it would make sense to do so. He was too weak to be out of a village so often, anyway. If Helios knew what they were thinking, he''d be quite annoyed. He would tell them that he got to his current level only after a few months! In less than a decade, he could bet: He''d have caught up with them! They traversed the mountain for a few more hours, dealing with a manageable mob every so often. Helios would also take in some loose plants he encountered to bring back. He wasn''t very familiar with plants nor would he know which ones he hadn''t seen before, but every plant sold in the Village Center had some value. If it was a plant that was relatively uncommon in Alterra, then they would not just be paid with money¡ªthey could also be paid with contribution points! When he found his woman, assuming he could take her with him, then he''d need all the contribution points he could get. The first half day was manageable, though it had a lot to do with their current pathway. However, not long before dusk, this streak was broken when they encountered a predominantly level 20 mob. The strongest one was actually a level 29, which was a challenge even to Enok and it would take him a while of his full attention before he could actually get rid of it. Enok took care of the strongest beast while Shim handled the monsters near Helios, virtually serving as his guard. Helios naturally had his weapons out too, prepared to defend himself as needed. He wouldn''t be stupid enough to actually step forward and look for a fight himself, however. At least not yet. Senson, on the other hand, easily jumped up a tree and served as the support to everyone. The dude was really lightweight, which was an advantage to him virtually having no fat at all. Puto was the main force against the mob, swinging his axe around with impressive strength and control. They did get injured a bit, but they were all minor. The monsters were only level 20 and 21 and it would be a shame for them¡ªmercenaries level 30s and above¡ªto get killed at this juncture. Soon, the minor mobs were dealt with, leaving only a handful and¡ªof course¡ªthe battle with the biggest one. After another couple of minutes, Enok finally managed to land a deep shot at the level 29 beast. Rather than weaken though, it went berserk. With a swing of its tusk, Enok was hurled to the side. BANG! ROARRRR! "Watch out!" Enok yelled as he tried to get himself up on time. However, it was too fast and went barrelling to his teammates! Shim and Puto had no choice but to work together to handle it, using much of their strengths to control it. At this point, all the minor mobs had been killed so they could focus on the monster on hand. It was definitely at the last breadth of life, but it was still strong. In the end, it also pushed the two to nearby trees, one of which was where Senson was, causing him to fall down as well. ROAAAAARRR!!! Helios'' eyes widened as the monster went straight to him, and he knew he couldn''t go directly against it. Was he too rash, after all? What happened to love conquers all? Chapter 1004 - 1004: Camping with Monsters A/N: As promised, we''re getting an extra 3 chaps (total of 5) chapters today! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT, EVERYONE! Hopefully, we retain it until the month ends. *prays* Off to the chapter! Enjoyyy~ ... S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. _____ Helios'' eyes widened as the monster went straight to him. The mercenaries saw this and turned cold. "Watch out! Get out of there!" They yelled, and they knew it''d be too late for them to come and rescue. Damnit! If the customer got killed at this point, it could be counted as their oversight. This meant they could get punished and their mercenary team could get penalized with the all-important Mercenary Points!! Causing their Mercenary Team to move even farther from the Class B qualification¡ªwhich was already years away¡ªwould be a shame! Fortunately for them, Helios wasn''t the type to freeze in front of a vehemont. He managed to avoid it in the last minute, and he dashed towards one of the depressions they encountered before. He laid down flat and it was just deep enough to cover him this way, and he immediately created a metal sheet to cover him. ROARRR! The metal sheet reverberated from the loud roar, and soon he could feel its weight. Helios used a good portion of his mana to reinforce it. He increased its thickness and added small posts to support it. Bang! Bang! Clank! He gasped when a portion of the metal sheet dented a little, hitting his lower stomach. "UGH!" he gasped, feeling his lower body slowly getting squished. He couldn''t reinforce it like this either. What if he ended up adding material to stab himself, instead? Shit! For a moment, he thought it''d continue to dent until it finally impaled him. However, after a few intense moments passed by, the pressure suddenly lifted, and he could hear muffles of sounds and yells above the ground. Helios could vaguely hear the fight that happened soon after. It was safe to assume that the mercenaries finally got to his place to deal with the monster. He was breathing heavily as he lay down, taking advantage of this time to repair his sheet. At his pitiful level, he knew he''d only be a burden outside, so he just decided to hide effectively. Helios could finally breathe out as the metal poking him disappeared. He waited patiently for the fight above to end, desperately hoping they didn''t bring the fight to his area because he didn''t have a lot of mana left. When rhythmic knocks sounded against the sheet, followed by someone saying a muffled ''it''s okay now, come out'', Helios finally retracted it and heaved in a deep breath of his much-needed oxygen. He saw that everyone was alive and well, although looking quite haggard. Enok looked at him in interest as he extended his arm to help him up. "You''re an elementalist?" he asked as he pulled Helios up. "Where did you say you were from again?" They naturally introduced each other. However, they saw his level and the fact that he was from a village, so they didn''t find any interest in his background. They just assumed he was a village noble or something with money to burn. They didn''t even think much about the ''broat'' and ''bikes'' he mentioned to the old Beast Carriage driver a few days back, thinking it was probably just one or two contraptions village nobles used to traverse the interior of the territory. Helios'' eyes sparkled, seeing their curiosity. "Alterra Village," he said. "I''ll show you around when we get there." The men didn''t know what would be needed to see in a village but they didn''t say so out loud. Anyway, with the current injuries and mana consumption, the group decided to spend the night there. Enok guided them to a decent camping spot, which was a slightly flatter land slightly above the trekking path. Senson went around and poured some Beast Repelling potions around them, and they assigned two people every few hours to guard the perimeter and alert them of any threats that came nearby. The remaining two mercenaries, then, would set up camp. That was to say: set the fire and take some meat from monsters and barbeque it. A good thing was that they had some stock of the Ferrol Beef Sauce (someone from their mercenary team bought some during a fair) which made the meat much more palatable. After this, they would take turns to sleep. Each one had a good blanket on them to cover their upper body as they slept. Either that or a big blanket, but on the thinner side so it could be folded well. After all, their spaces were only so big. How could they let a big and thick blanket occupy the entire thing? It was something the mercenaries had done countless of times. It was just that there was something a little different this time. They gaped as their employer took out item after item from his space. It wasn''t obvious what it was at first but then he opened it up and it magically expanded to a large cocoon-like blanket. Puto and Raz were the friendliest of the bunch and they scooted over to look closer. "Is it a magic tool?" they asked. Helios smiled and shook his head. "It''s just technology," he said. "By pulling on a valve, air will enter and expand the thin insulating fabric." "Ah, so magic, then." "..." "You must really be a noble." "Me?! Nah, I''m just a normal guard." "What?" "A guard next to the lord, then?" Helios shrugged. "Not really." He didn''t even know who the lord was¡­ "But you''re an elementalist," Puto mumbled, looking at him in confusion. Enok even looked at him like he was purposely messing with them. They thought that although Helios was a little weak compared to them, he should still be a powerhouse in a village. Helios didn''t dare spread they were all elementalists. "I''m nothing special in my Village," was all he said. "Also, everyone who camps a lot has these things in their spaces." He proceeded to take out a few more things. For instance, his sauce set, a small box of instant noodles, and a papra pill which they gurgle after eating to serve as their mouthwash. The mercenaries were very curious about Helios and the things he brought out. Helios smiled and went to the fire, taking a small iron pot from his space. They watched as he cooked something brittle onto the pot and added a few things in the process, and then they gulped at the aroma that emanated from it. When Helios handed them small bowls with crackers, they curiously took a taste, before eating them with gusto. They drank the soup to the last drop, and they felt the flavor stuck in their throats and stomachs, the warmth giving satisfaction to their hearts. Delicious! "This is so good! Do you have more?" Puto asked, looming over Helios. He wasn''t purposely being intimidating, but he was. "There''s a lot more in my home," Helios said, never tiring of seeing aborigines'' reactions to their products. "I''ll treat you to good food¡ªas long as you protect us well." The mercenaries looked at him and didn''t talk for a moment, before they all broke into smiles. "Deal!" Chapter 1005 - 1005: Each Other’s Worldviews After eating, those assigned to guard settled a couple of meters away from the campfire, though they were still within sight and earshot. There were indeed a couple of monsters venturing into their area, but they were mostly manageable. The Beast Repelling Potion they had was something readily available to a Level 3 Pharmacy, which would be made available in Cities. It had a lot more variety than the lower-level Pharmacies and offered Beast Repelling and Beast Attracting Potions against monsters up to Level 20, with diminishing effects as the level increased. The group talked for a bit more things before going to rest. Strongmen didn''t need much sleep, but they would have to get some decent rest if they wanted to recover a decent amount of spirit and mana. They were getting close to Bleuelle and it was inevitable they''d encounter more troublesome beasts along the way. He told them a few more things they could find in Alterra, though it''d be hard for them to imagine unless they were already there. If he managed to secure them as business partners¡ªbetter, as residents¡ªthen he''d get a large amount of contribution points! Starting a family in Alterra would need a large amount of it! He was preparing for it well! At the same time, he also found a bit more about them. He got most information from Puto, who tended to overshare, and Raz who was naturally friendly. The latter was one of the people on guard duty at this time, and he sat several meters away, though that didn''t stop him from joining in the conversation. Puto asked a lot about the noodles (and was fascinated when he found there were dozens of other flavors available), while Raz was more interested in the sleeping bag. Helios enticed them by saying they could buy a lot if they went to Alterra, and he could even get them good deals, which gained him additional favorability to the mercenary team. Helios also asked what their city specialized in, so that he could perhaps broker some deals, and was surprised to know that it didn''t offer much. "Avel City was one of the oldest territories in this world, though it only became a City a few decades ago," Raz explained. In terms of culture or trade, he was much more knowledgeable than Puto (who was now daydreaming about instant noodles). "It is located near a couple of hubs in the human realm," Raz continued, lifting his sword to study its sheen and sharpness. He frowned when he saw that it was a little dull and took out a sharpening stone from his space. "You could say that its specialty is being the trade center in the South." Avel City was apparently closest to Crystal City, which is the source of the very beautiful and clear crystals. Up North it was also fairly near Bleuelle City, and¡ªalthough a bit farther away¡ªit also connected to Holt City in the West. Avel City was also fairly near the Orc mountains, so a lot of Mercenary Teams needing to head there for missions would often pick Avel City as their destination. The Takoda Mercenary Team was actually one of the highest-level mercenary team there and their top 10 members were elementalists. They were very proud about this because other teams had about half of that. Their mercenary team was comprised of several groups, one of which was theirs, led by Enok. They were in the mid to lower levels though, but it was still a decent accomplishment. Anyway, these Mercenary teams were also in a race to upgrade to a Class B Mercenary Team and everyone had been taking missions all over. Being the first to reach Class B in their City was not just a matter of pride, but also of lifestyle. Becoming the strongest Mercenary Team meant that the nobles and the lord would partner with them, and that was not only an honor¡ªit was a great upgrade in terms of money and prestige! S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was also why they couldn''t bear be penalized now. How bad would it be to be the cause of their team''s loss? Speaking of Elementalists¡­ after getting to know Helios more, they actually had the idea of recruiting him, though they didn''t while the contract was still ongoing. It was an unspoken rule in the industry not to have other deals with the client while the current one was ongoing. Something about it possibly interfering with the mission or something of the sort. Puto, after recovering from his noodle-daydream, butted in. "Ah yes, Raz here knows the surrounding area best," he said, grinning. "He has a lover in every surrounding Town, y''know~" Helios looked at the other man¡ªrelatively handsome, but his charm was more on the masculine side. He didn''t seem to particularly care that he was being gossiped about either. Anyway, this topic made him want to go to bed already. "He sharpens his sword everywhere, if you know what I mean," Puto added with a sly grin, elbowing Helios, who was now already opening his sleeping bag to finally go to bed. Seeing him being boring and ready to rest, Puto gave up his teasing and went to his spot and his pitiful blanket that only covered his upper body. He couldn''t help but look at the elementalist and his sleeping bag, realizing he was quite a looker. "You''re a handsome lad, and an elementalist to boot. How many wives do you plan to have?" Helios'' eyebrows rose at the question. "Just one." "Oh?" "Boring," Raz said, continuing to sharpen his sword while he guarded them. "As guy a few years older than you are, I can tell you that there are a lot of tastes in the world you can explore. A mercenary is naturally adventurous¡ªand this goes with lovers, too." Helios sighed and just entered the sleeping bag. These men weren''t bad people, but their upbringing was just different from his. "There''s a difference between keeping your options open and keeping someone''s heart safe," he said. "I''d rather give my all to someone who matters than spread myself for something so¡­ fleeting and unimportant. "Don''t you think it''s much more meaningful to be the source of joy and pride to your loved one, rather than the cause of pain? "That''s just my opinion though," he said. "I''m a hopeless romantic, you see." He closed his eyes and ended that topic. Similarly, Raz didn''t speak anymore after that, and neither did the others. Agree to disagree, they would say, though at the back of their minds, they would ponder about Helios'' words unconsciously, very subtly affecting their own worldviews. Chapter 1006 - 1006: Encounter with a Level 40 Monster! Helios woke up just before dawn the next day. The crisp air greeted him, and he could hear the soft rustle of the wind as well as the movements around him. He stretched his arms to shake away the lethargy and saw that everyone else was already clearing up. The fire was gone, and their items were all in the space. Raz seemed to have just woken up though, having already been replaced by Puto as the nightwatch. Because he was the employer, Helios didn''t have to do this. It felt comfortable and refreshing, and he definitely was maximizing all those gold coins that he would have to pay for eventually. Speaking of that¡­ that was hundreds of golds¡­ he''d have to work a lot to pay that back quickly enough. Although Jonathan didn''t give him a deadline, it wouldn''t do to extend it for more than a year! Hopefully, Sahara was really in Bleuelle. He wouldn''t have the face to declare that ''he''d take care of her'' if he fell deeper into debt! Anyway, the group cleaned up and prepared for another journey. As always, Helios took some relatively unfamiliar plants back to his space to sell to the Village Center or to Miss Althea. His plant knowledge was limited though, so he literally just shoved the plants to the corner of his space, hoping they''d survive somehow. Before heading forward, however, Enok finalized some strict instructions that everyone had to follow. "First off, my words and instructions are law," he said. "If you died because you didn''t follow, that''s no longer on us." He said this while looking at Helios. His team was trained to follow him but, by experience, the employers tended to want to do their own thing. If they were also from the City, then they''d even be arrogant. To those people, Mercenaries were mere guards who''d serve as meatshields if a mob was troublesome. Of course, he knew Helios was different but it was a force of habit. "If we encounter a mob after this point, we will run away," he said. "It doesn''t matter if it''s predominantly level 15 or 20. We will not engage in a fight with them." While there would still be manageable mobs here and there, the chances of encountering troublesome beasts were too high. If they were delayed by a mob¡ªeven a weak one¡ªand were injured by them, what would they do when they had to go up against a stronger one? "A pity though, Boss, weren''t you looking for a good fight to make progress?" Enok gave him a look. "Not during a mission like this¡­" he said, looking at Helios. "With a low-leveled employer." "..." After level 35, even in cities, it was difficult for people to level up. This was because they would only receive experience from monsters until 5 levels below theirs. How often could they find Level 30 monsters? It was in these cases that powerful employers definitely would tend to do their own things. They would like to fight and hunt monsters around their level, and the mercenaries were there to weaken the target. However, in this mission, they could only avoid any fights moving forward. They could not risk the life of their (really) weak employer and the precious Mercenary Points they had been collecting. Helios felt a bit awkward about this and couldn''t say anything that wouldn''t make him look stupid. To be honest, he had never been so underestimated (and rightfully so) since he was a kid. He swore to train even harder. The next time he went to a City, he wouldn''t be looked at so oddly! In any case, the group moved on and traveled for hours. They traversed kilometers of forests, and ran away from whatever mob they encountered along the way. They had to occasionally slice, kick, and dice to defend themselves, but they wouldn''t stay in one place at all. They always focused on their goal: Bleuelle City. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, at some point, Enok stopped moving, and he raised his hand to tell them to keep quiet. He immediately looked around to find them a hiding spot, and he led them to a rock outcrop not far away and settled there. Helios could feel the vibration underneath his feet and so could the others. It was growing more intense, and they knew that another mob¡ªa rather big one¡ªwas coming. The mercenaries showered themselves with Beast Repelling Potion, hoping that they would go unnoticed. For now, they could only stay in place due to the terrain. If they were found, Enok did have a path to run in, but it''d still be very dangerous. They could lose someone. For the next moments, they tensely waited for the mob to pass. They were about 20 to 30 meters away from them, and didn''t seem to be heading closer. As long as the wind was in their favor, they could indeed remain unnoticed. Their hearts were beating loudly and their palms on their weapons were sweaty as heck. Their eyes were fixed on the monsters, and they were prepared to fight and run as soon as they had to. At first, they saw that it was a relatively standard mob, albeit a bit larger, comprised of level 15s and level 20 monsters. In this way, even if a portion of the mob noticed them, they should be fine. However¡ª THUD, THUD, THUD¡­ Their breaths stopped when they saw a large monster walking amongst the mobs. It was a few times larger than most of them, and¡­ it was standing upright. THUD, THUD, THUD¡­ It was about 5 meters tall¡ªno, six meters tall. It had matte dark skin that seemed to absorb all light surrounding it. It had seemingly glowing eyes that was eerily lifeless and had sharp horns on its head, and even sharper claws on its hands. It was all extremely creepy, and Helios found himself turning cold. The world¡­ was still so big¡­ "A level 40 monster¡­" Puto gasped, and Senson immediately covered his mouth. "Hush!" He was pale and shaking¡ªobviously afraid. Even if they all worked together, they definitely did not stand a chance against this one. They held their breaths, even more desperate to be silent. Soon, more and more of the mob passed and the level 40 beast also went past them. But then¡­ it stopped. It turned its head at a creepy angle, its rounded¡ªalmost glowing¡ªeyes stared straight at them, sending shivers down their spines. It saw them. It definitely saw them. SHIIIITTTT!!! Chapter 1007 - 1007: Seeing Bleuelle City! Their hearts froze when they saw it turn to them completely, its large mouth opening as it stared into the sky. ROAAARRR! "RUNNN!" Enok yelled, and the group of them dashed after him, following the narrow path he mapped out for them. He had been through this area a few times in the past and therefore he was familiar with a few pathways they could take. This was his least favorite one, but what could they do? The rest of the paths would open them up for slaughter! "Hurry! Hurry!" The group sprinted as quickly as they could. They were relieved to see Helios keeping up pace with them and, if they weren''t so scared, they''d even be impressed. ROAAAR!!! They gasped when they heard the sound of heavy stamping rush towards them, getting closer and closer. The damned beast was really fast for its size and it would really be able to catch up to them in time!! Slash! S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bang! The sound of slashing and destruction followed behind them, each crash hitting their own hearts, and they couldn''t help but imagine themselves being in the middle of it! Helios looked back to see how close it actually was and what they were dealing with. He regretted it immediately. He almost fell when he saw that it was less than ten meters away from them! It was even more terrifying up close. Its matte black skin made it look like a lurching shadow¡ªone that was aiming to maim them! It also seared its claws as it ran after them, cutting the thick tree trunks¡ªand perhaps a few monsters in the way¡ªlike they were cheese. Some blood and sinew from the smaller mobs even splattered in his direction! "SHIT!" he cursed, whipping his attention back to what was ahead of him and not daring to look back again. He also couldn''t afford to do so. The path they were taking was around the mountains and over the rock outcroppings. It required a lot of balance to traverse, otherwise, they''d fall down and they might as well accept their fates! For a while, they were handling it well, and the odd terrain actually slowed down the beasts following them. Sadly, even the most experienced of men were vulnerable to even the littlest mistakes. Shim, while defending against a weaker monster coming at him, waved his axe with so much force that he wasn''t able to control his own inertia in time. When the ground he stepped on wasn''t leveled, he immediately lost his balance. "AHHH!" he screamed, and the stout guy tried to balance himself while he fell, but he only ended up facing above him because of the terrain. "SHIM!!" Puto yelled, and Raz also paled. However, they were already too far ahead to do anything. "NO!" Senson had his bow and arrow out, but he couldn''t even help his teammate because he, too, was dealing with monsters trying to clobber him. Shim could only watch as the large monster opened its mouth, no doubt about to eat him whole. What he didn''t expect was the sound of a soft whistle slicing through the air next to him. This was followed by someone tugging on his shirt, pulling him up. BOOM! Shim''s eyes widened as he looked at the explosion that came out of nowhere, not even noticing he was being dragged backwards by someone. He watched as the heat and force of the explosion caused the monster to straighten its back in its anger, holding its face in pain. ROAAAR!! "Come on! HURRY UP!" A voice yelled next to him, pushing him forward. It was Helios. He saved his life!! "T-Thank you!" "We''re not safe yet!" The others almost cried at the sight of him, and Enok patted Helios'' shoulders in thanks, but their pace didn''t slow down. They were already gasping for air now, but no one dared take a breather. They heard the monster''s distant roar again, and they knew it was running after them again! Fortunately, they soon entered more difficult terrain. In some parts, it was a narrow cliff, and in some areas it was a tunnel. This was really a path less taken, and it was the only way they had right now. At some point, the tunnel had gotten so narrow that Puto almost didn''t fit in! Fortunately, he had enough awareness to use his axe to cut down on some rocks, allowing him to pass through. They could hear the monster''s roars right behind them as well as its banging on the mountain side. Some small rocks fell down on them, and they genuinely worried that they''d be buried under rubble if this went on. However, the monster eventually stopped pounding, evidently giving up on them. Monsters were like this, and it was fortunate they were brainless. Enok didn''t dare completely let go of his guard and he continued to lead the team forward. After about half an hour, he finally stopped, looking at his team with eyes bright in relief. "We''re safe for now," Enok said. "We''re heading to another section of the mountains, and we should be nearing the exit soon." After confirming it was safe, everyone''s legs buckled. They all took deep breaths to catch up on all the air they lost while trying to survive, and they tried to relax their muscles that had been strained by all the stressful running. Of course, with people calming down, everyone couldn''t help but turn to Helios. "What was that?!" Shim asked, curious. Although he was from the city, there were still things he apparently hadn''t seen yet. "...a magic tool," Helios lied with a straight face. "It''s all I have." Every Captain-level guard was given two or three bombs every month, along with a few more sleeping gases and the like. After traveling by himself to Ferrol¡­ this was really his last one. "Anyway, how far is Bleuelle, still? Are we there when we exit this mountain range?" "Not necessarily," Enok said. "Bleuelle contained a portion of this mountain range, though it looked more like a standalone mountain than a section of it." "Ah, I heard about this," Raz said. He was a sociable guy and a pretty reliable person to assign to information gathering missions. "The Blus, in fact, were mined in that mountain." Helios looked interested in this. "Then doesn''t that mean Blu can be mined in another area in this place?" "You think no one has tried?" Enok asked. "Not counting others, the Bleuelle Nobility had definitely done what they could¡ªafter all, it''s their main industry, and it''s dwindling." Ah, that makes sense. Anyway, they put this topic aside for now, and they continued with the final section of their trek. Although there were indeed mobs, they were manageable and no big monsters were encountered again. They walked and walked and felt the slopes gradually turning flatter. Soon, the sights opened up to a vast, relatively flat, milleau of forests. And then, following the line of the mountain range, they could actually see a territory at a distance! It was still a bit far, but its tall walls and buildings were proof that it was a big territory¡ªa City! Helios'' eyes were bright as he walked forward, practically leading the team to Bleuelle. Sahara, please be there! Chapter 1008 - 1008: Helios Lands in Bleuelle! A City was huge. Since they were coming from the mountain range, they had a higher vantage point and could see more of the city than people on the normal ground level. Basically, it went as far as one could see, even from a certain height. Helios'' eyes were wide as he was introduced to a whole new world with such tall walls and buildings. Alterra also had a few tall buildings, but he had never seen them done to this degree. Back in Terran, he traveled a lot, and he could compare the size to the cities there and he could say that Bleuelle¡ªand likely most cities in this world¡ªwere definitely on the larger side. This was understandable. This world probably had billions and billions of people, too, but it was much more dense due to the dangers of places outside the territories. It was also interesting to see something so completely different architecturally to what Alterra had. Since they were so near quarry mountains, most of the buildings in Bleuelle were predominantly made of stone. However, likely due to the limitations of technology, the upper floors had a lot more wood to reduce the weight. As for why he even noticed these details¡ªalthough he still had ways to go to get to his uncle''s level¡ªHelios'' training was to be greatly observant of their surroundings and he picked up a few things along the way. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, there was a long line of people coming in and out from various directions, indicating the activity of the place. There were two queues: One for people on-foot and another for people in Beast Carts. The Beast Carts were, understandably, lining up at a distance apart to keep them behaved. So even if they were fewer in number than the ones on foot, their queue looked longer. Anyway, Helios had never seen so many Beast Carts lined up before. Then again, it made sense. Even if only a small percentage could afford such a carriage, this was a city with probably a million people or more. By ratio, of course it had a lot of carriages. The group lined up on one side of course, though it seemed like the line was slow because the Beast Carts were the priority entrants. If it misbehaved at the entrance, everyone else had to keep waiting. As they queued, Helios took notice of the people in the line. It was a mix of decently dressed businessmen and also refugees. He thought for a while and decided to chat around in hopes of finding out more information in general. If he managed to report back to Alterra, his absence might even give him contribution points! If all goes well, he''d bring Sahara back. If she asked him to support her family, he would do it too! Helios had long been brewing ideas on how to convince her when they did meet. He knew she was having trouble in her Town. He''d definitely do whatever he could to help her out. Alterra was a hodgepodge of brilliant minds. Maybe they could get help, too! However, for Alterra to help, he¡ªand, ideally, Sahara and her hometown¡ªmust show enough value! It wasn''t much, but being the source of good information was a start! Not to mention, he needed contribution points to make Sahara a permanent resident! Alterra''s requirements had been spiking, and he ought to stabilize her status as soon as possible! He also needed to buy his own house. Although he and his uncle had made a downpayment for their house and were already halfway through amortization, both of them were bound to have their own families¡ªthey''d need their own spaces! Anyway, by being a social butterfly (with a few crackers here and there) he found out that the refugees came from various territories around this place. Some had been greatly affected by the unexpected Heat Wave, particularly those East and Southeast¡ªterritories apparently nearer the desert. There were also refugees from the West, some of whom were attacked by orcs. Although he had heard of orcs from their natives as well as the half-orcs, it felt different to hear about them in this context. In terms of volatility, they were a cross between Baku''s destructive powers (and more) and the irrational bloodlust of beasts. While they had sentience, they were extremely violent. There were also certain types of clans that ate humans. Generally speaking, even if it was different races, Helios considered eating fellow intelligent beings as cannibalism¡­ which was disgusting. There were also visitors from Towns. They were mostly here to buy some Blus or get some items from the marketplace, where various merchants from different territories nearby congregated to sell their things. Some visitors were even from a familiar town¡ªJacoba. They were small-time merchants who couldn''t afford Beast Carts, but were big enough to form small caravans. Blu was too expensive, but other products were good things to buy and sell back in Jacoba¡ªespecially to the lord and their families who could buy anything as long as it made them look regal. He did get news that there seemed to have been some chaos that went on though, and it involved Cassandra. As merchants, they were naturally more informed about current events and knew that a war with Ester Town was brewing. The Jacoba merchants said they''d be staying in Bleuelle for a while, letting that war pass, and they ranted to him a lot about how their savings might get drained in this place. But what could they do? They''d rather not risk becoming slaves. Helios took note of all the information he had and placed them in his notebook. As he settled back to his team, a few of them couldn''t help but sneak peek at his notebook (which was really interesting on its own, by the way) and realized he was writing in a language they couldn''t understand. Scribble, scribble Stare Scribble, scribble Helios sighed and lifted his head, looking at the nosy mercenaries next to him. "What is it?" Puto stared at him. "We also have a lot of information," he said, extending his palms and doing a ''give me'' motion. Helios'' lips twitched and he handed jerkies to them. His mercenary friends happily took the snacks and continued to leak some info to him. It seemed like Alterran products were as good as gold with them, which was great for him. From them, Helios found out that Bleuelle also had a pretty big influence South. However, although the ruling party had been hiding it, the people did eventually learn of the fact that the Blu was dwindling. A few years ago, it even inspired a large-scale movement to find a new mine. In fact, the reason why Enok knew the mountain well was because he took a few jobs¡ªfrom different factions, mind you¡ªto guard the people looking for it. No mines were found though, which actually gave Bleuelle more incentive to increase their prices. However, there was a limit, because many previously-consuming territories began to opt for system buildings instead. Anyway, the selection increased as time passed on, and there was less and less value in creating an aether building¡ªwhich, in their minds¡ªtended to become more and more similar, anyway. They chatted about this topic for a while and, before they knew it, the gate appeared in front of them. The conversation died down as Helios'' attention focused on the gates and what lay behind them. [Welcome to Bleulle City!] "Sahara," he uttered, his tone filled with longing. "Are you here?" Chapter 1009 - 1009: The Current Gold Family [Welcome to Bleulle City! Please pay 5 silvers as the entrance fee.] Helios'' eyes twitched, paying for it with a heavy heart. Goodness, 5 silvers a day was 160 silvers a month. A good portion of the average salary was spent just by staying within the walls? Poor people must have it hard. Anyway, he was met with a barrage of activities as soon as he entered. The buildings were relatively tall and imposing, and there were people going around everywhere. Some of them had weapons on their backs and hips and were ready to go out. Most of them were quite strong, the lowest-level was around level 20. Some seemed to have just returned from a big hunt. They had large handcarts behind them, carrying carcasses of beasts to sell within the territory. There were also those who were just going around the perimeter, gathering resources and the like. He was also greeted with a strong stench of body odor and waste. This place definitely had a big cleaning crew, but because the City was much denser than towns or villages, it still stinked so much that Helios wanted to run out to breathe some air. There were avenues but, otherwise, the streets seemed organic and narrow for its use. There was quite a bit of traffic, especially when two larger-than-usual beasts ended up using a street at the same time. The beast carts had the speed of cars, and they traversed the avenues with relative disregard to the pedestrians. However, the people were used to this and just consciously avoided the streets whenever a Beast Cart approached. Many would also be hit and pushed away by the carriages, but they would just stand back up again and walk away as if nothing happened, regardless of their injuries. Helios was overwhelmed with the clamors of people and rackets of activity everywhere. He was reminded of dense marketplaces back in Terran, except there were the added dangers of beast carts and people who could lift them. Speaking of this, he heard the prices yelled by the hawkers. As expected, prices for cities were really up there. He worried all that gold he had saved up would get drained. He finally understood the territory''s worries when they tried to balance the salaries and costs with that of outside. It was a really big move and affected everyone, especially the businesses that had to shoulder a lot of the initial costs. He understood it in theory, but experiencing it himself was really different. If they kept it as it was, it was estimated a month''s salary wouldn''t last him a few days in here. Anyway, he shook his head, forcing himself to adjust to his new reality. He had to find Sahara! "Where are you going?" "I want to go to the City Center to make an announcement." S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Mercenaries were puzzled as they looked at him. He blinked, and explained exactly what he was planning to do for efficiency. "Cities normally don''t allow it casually," Enok explained. "There are millions of people in a City. Imagine hearing announcements from them?" His heart sank. That made sense¡­ but still¡­ "Also, even if it was allowed, are you planning on announcing a woman''s name randomly?" Raz asked, looking at him oddly. "You do know that she could get in trouble for that, right?" "What?" "Do you even know anything about this woman?" Raz-the-woman-expert asked, tone becoming more and more reprimanding. "If you¡ªan unrelated man¡ªcarelessly looked for her with such fanfare, her reputation would suffer." Raz, despite having a few lovers, actually cared for his women and took a bit more effort to get to know them to some degree. It was part of his charm. It was also why Helios'' earlier words did strike a chord, which would''ve had no effect to other men with multiple lovers. Regardless of Raz''s lovelife, his words put a major damper in Helios'' plan. He looked up at the sentries with flags and emblems, showing off the prestige the place had as a city. Bleulle City had the logo of a papyrus and pen, indicative of its main industry. After staring at it for a moment, he tilted his head back to look at the bustling streets at eye level. After being used to the openness of Alterra''s plan, this felt a little¡­ suffocating, as if it was draining his confidence of ever finding his woman. Obviously¡­ he''s going to need a lot more help. Puto¡ªthe ever-so opportunistic foodie¡ªcouldn''t help but nudge him again. "We can help you investigate if you give us some more." Helios blinked and turned to him, wondering if he was serious. He was. And so were the others. "Really? Ok deal." Wow. Alterra''s products could really replace gold. Anyway, the group huddled in a corner of the bustling plaza as they planned. They ended up separating, though they were worried about leaving Helios alone. He shook his head. "I know some people here," he said, reassuring them that he wouldn''t get randomly killed on the streets (or at least he hoped so), and to do their own tasks. He didn''t want to slow down finding Sahara because they had to babysit him! He had to reassure them a few more times before they all finally separated to do their own tasks. Helios heaved a sigh of relief as he watched their backs. Despite their flaws, they were definitely reliable. After the disappeared from view, Helios stared at the lively streets ahead of him. He took a deep breath (which made him gag a bit), before heading to the City Center anyway. He needed to get to the Golds, after all. ¡­ In the more exclusive neighborhoods, the Golds were having their meal together, catching up with smiles on their faces. They were among the very rare breed of upper-class family who could have sincere and amicable conversations with each other. "Hey! That''s my beef!" "Huh? It''s a communal dish, dumbass." Well, partially amicable conversations. Still¡­ Zaol''s mood was good. His children might be throwing insults at each other¡ªwhich made his wife shake her head in exasperation¡ªbut he was actually smiling a bit. In fact, it hadn''t always been like this in this manor. The culture back then was like most other noble families: toxic. Although his kids fought a lot, he knew they loved each other. Unlike when he was young¡­ and siblings wanted to kill each other. Chapter 1010 - 1010: The Golds in the Past The generation of the current patriarch, Zaol, at least, wasn''t the same as his predecessors. As to how the family created such a culture, it actually had quite a tragic history. His father had a handful of women at his beck and call but, even so, only a few were born due to his high level. Zaol had three other siblings, though mostly from different mothers, and he was actually the second child. Their age gaps were also quite big, sometimes with a decade or two apart from each other. The oldest man¡ªthe former heir¡ªwas older than he was by over a decade. The man was a copy of their father, and acted completely like him. He was borne from a frail woman sold by her family for some blus. Her level was not too high and it took about a decade of marriage before she got pregnant with him. The main wife realized it was a son and caused his mother to have an accident. Fortunately, they both survived, but this caused him to be quite weak as a child. When they determined he wasn''t a good seed from a young age, he had virtually been ignored, which was what ultimately saved his life in the end. The next child was another boy from another woman¡ªa young noble woman, in fact, and was even more beautiful than his previous wives. His third brother was about five years younger than him, but he was definitely far more opportunistic than he was. That lad was always vying for their father''s attention, and trying to one-up their oldest brother. In some cases, he actually succeeded. This was quite a feat. After all, the oldest was almost 2 decades older than he was. Similarly, because the third brother''s mother was young, useful, and beautiful, she quickly became the Lord''s favorite woman, intensifying the rivalry between the two families. While the tensions between the two women and their sons intensified, Zaol and his own mother lived peacefully. Sometimes, their fights were only verbal, some were subtle, but as the sons grew up and got into each others'' necks, their mothers started behaving more aggressive as well. Once, when the other women got into a shrewish fight, the Lord decided to take Zaol''s mother again. She was meek and quiet, and was refreshing to be with when the other women were too much. Like this, his mother was added to his father''s roster and¡ªafter a few years¡ªgave birth to his youngest sibling, Zinnia, who was the only girl in his generation. Sadly, the birth was too much this time, and it took his mother''s life. Zaol never blamed his sister for her death. Rather, he loved her so much because he considered her the only true family he had left. For the next few years, the two of them survived quietly in their own corner. They tried to steer clear from the fights of the other women and their sons, as much as they could. He protected his sister from prying eyes, and she safely grew up into a teenager without being forcefully taken by a noble like he had seen happen to other little girls. However, it was one thing not to feel safe within your home, and it was another when one openly felt hostility inside it. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They were supposed to be a family, and yet they could never trust even their own family member. Every interaction would always end with bitterness¡ªsometimes in outward fights. There were plenty of times one side sabotaged the other whatever chance they got, and vice versa. This was actually a common practice amongst nobilities and Zaol felt that he was the only one wondering why things had to be this way. It went on for years until his sister was married off to a man 50 years older than he was. She was the man''s third wife, and the women before her all died gruesome deaths. His family knew this yet they continued to send the girl to the beast. Zaol had always been soft-hearted¡ªit was called his greatest flaw since as far as he could remember. He adored his little sister¡ªhis only full sibling¡ªwhom he watched grow himself. How could he let her go to the monster''s den? So, for the first time in his life, he rebelled. He hid his sister and helped her escape. He was caught and was put in isolation for a month, to be treated worse than slaves. At the time, he didn''t regret it because at least he saved his sister''s life. Sadly, he was too naive. There were very few people willing to help women here, even if they were nobility, and especially if some reward money was involved. Zinnia was still shipped out to do the family''s bidding in the end. His second brother even visited him in prison with a sly smirk on his face, and he told him how his sister died during her first night with her new husband. Zaol almost died in the prison cell that day. At the same time, the new power and business received from the marriage caused the tensions within the family to exacerbate. The Lord of Bleulle at the time, Bleumrick''s father, also fanned the flames. He promised to give more status to their family and hoped that an heir would be finalized within the year. While Zaol was imprisoned, his brothers started trying to kill each other. One was direct assassination pinned on the other''s enemies, while the other set up various poisons. Their mothers also died in mysterious circumstances as per the other''s plans. To the despair of the lord, both heirs died¡ªleaving Zaol, who was half-dead in the cell¡ªthe only remaining heir. One could imagine the complications. It ended nicely after a few months because Gaia, one of the most viable bachelorettes in the entire City, insisted on marrying him. They had known each other since they were children, though he had no idea why she would insist on marrying him at the time. To him, she was so bright. She could''ve married anyone she wanted. She was a passing acquaintance that he could only admire from afar. When he found out he was going to be married to her, he legitimately believed he must''ve died in prison. In any case, his father died 10 years after their wedding and he gained control of the family¡ªmuch to the assistance of his wife. At the time, he swore never to make the mistakes of the previous generation. The pondering of these deep memories did not show on Zaol''s face at all. On the surface, he was only listening to his children chatter and even argue, though it was more of a teasing nature. He knew in his heart that if any of their siblings were in danger, the others would jump in to defend them. Zaol''s eyes glistened as he looked at his current happy family, heart filled with warmth. He also looked at his wife who supported him and built this good family with him. He held her hand tightly, as if wanting to pass on his heart. "Thank you." Gaia''s eyebrows rose as she looked at him, confused. "What is this for?" Zaol just chuckled. He just leaned down and gave Gaia a sound smooch on the lips¡ªmaking the (40-year-old) kids gape in disgust, of course. "EWWW!" Chapter 1011 - 1011: An Unwelcome Guest Seeing their lovey-dovey parents, the younger generation couldn''t help but gag a little. Well, Obi and Otto did. Olga was shaking her head with a smile, while Orion was eating as if nothing was happening on the table. He was sitting next to his wife, who was smiling lightly but otherwise was quite quiet¡ªas she usually was. Seeing him made Otto remember a question he had been meaning to ask. "When are you leaving for Holt City, big brother?" Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The older Gold answered concisely. "Tomorrow." Gaia looked at her oldest son. "Make sure to bring everything," she said. "Every essential is in my space and space stone, mother," Orion said, and the woman nodded in approval. Holt City was almost 5000 miles away from this place. For various reasons, Orion would not be using the Teleportation Array. This meant that, even by beast car, it would take around half a month just to get there. Otto looked at his brother. "Since you''re there, can you find out more about the Holt City Lord''s grandchild?" This made everyone turn to him, though Olga and the others seemed to have realized what it was about. "Why do you ask?" "Well, we''re just curious," he said with a shrug. "It''s not a secret anyway, right?" "Hmn," Orion said, tone as monotonous as always, before resuming his meal. Gaia shook her head and then looked at the other children. "How''s the business?" she asked and at the mention of his passion, Otto immediately perked up. Otto''s business had a spike¡ªwhich was saying something. His business had always been profitable, but it had been stagnant for a while. This marked its first growth after so long¡ªand such a spike, too. It hadn''t been long since they returned, but the things were already sold out and he made so much money. More so than a few rounds in others. Of course, he knew that as time passed, the margins would decrease because more people would inevitably find their ''source''. But, for now, he would definitely be milking these nobles for what they''re worth. Olga''s business, selling products targeting women, also did well. Olga owned a shop with her sister-in-law, and they used the already established infrastructure to launch the new product lines. There were plenty of wagging tongues but they were buying their products anyway so whatever. "It''s the talk of the City''s noble women," Gaia said with a smile. "While they showed their jealousy by mocking you two," she paused, looking at Olga and Hilda, "The fact that they can''t get enough¡ªand are even fighting over¡ªyour products is enough testament to the truth." "I am happy for you two and I am proud," she said. The two women''s eyes were bright, glistening. They felt so lucky to have this support system. If it was other women selling these things, they would only be mocked while being robbed at the same time. Gaia smiled and then looked at her youngest. "I heard the ranking of the guard teams has been concluded as well." Obi looked smug at this. "Yes, we ranked up, Mother," he said. "Our people trained a lot, but we also gained a lot of points due to the weapons we bought from Alterra." The Lord''s right hand man in charge of military might, Lars, even bought the weapon. Alterra made it clear that, while it was preferred to keep the weapons to themselves, they wouldn''t be blamed if they had to give access to others. Getting a charge of insubordination was obviously not worth it, so he sold it for a good price (he charged 10x the market price). Anyway, even if Lars figured it out¡ªwhich would definitely take a while¡ªAlterra would be receiving some shares as well by virtue of their patents. The discussion headed to the best-selling products and which ones they should focus on buying. "The instant noodles, crackers, and jerkies are especially popular, especially with the mercenaries," Otto said. As people who traveled a lot, these delicious long-shelf-life foods were naturally very popular. The sauces also did amazingly, of course, and¡­ well, everything did. "Wow, that''s a lot." At this, Olga and Otto turned to their parents. "Our own tiny space stones are not enough," they said. "Can we borrow yours?" "..." However, instead of dismissing the request immediately, they actually seriously considered it, which was already very good! Space Stones were not cheap! Although they were less expensive than Aether Stones¡ªwhich could be used by strongmen to increase their levels¡ªthey were much more difficult to find. As the parents, the two of them naturally enjoyed a lot of the products the children brought at no cost. They could understand why they were selling so well. At the same time, the creativity and variety were¡­ fascinating to say the least. They were born and raised in cities. Compared to other people, they were much more enlightened about what this world had to offer. Seeing all those new things at their age made their old souls beat with excitement. "I''m so curious about that place," she said, making everyone perk up. Olga smiled and stood up, dragging a chair next to her mother so she could coax her. "Come with us for a vacation," she said, hugging the older woman''s arm. "You''ll love it there." She smiled. "Well, someday," Gaia said, looking at her husband who was looking warmly at them. She squeezed his hand a little bit more tightly. "We''ll check it out someday." Someday¡­, they''d go on a vacation without the burden of their identities. They would simply be a family having fun. After the meal, they went on to have tea as a family so they could talk more. However, it was interrupted when a servant urgently went to them. "Master, you have a visitor." For a while, they didn''t know who it was, but the fact that the servant was so frantic made them worry a bit. "It''s Lady Octavia." Octavia. The Lord''s only child, the princess of Bleuelle City, and¡ªaccording to many¡ªOrion''s former sweetheart. Chapter 1012 - 1012: The Princess of Bleulle A/N: Althea had successfully passed the quarter finals for this year''s Character voting contest! Thank you to everyone who voted for her~! HUGS! Now, it is Garan''s turn in the quarter finals~! If you have excess points, do send them his way~ (voting can be done either via event page or just by the fandom) Voting ends around Dec 18 24 at 8:00 am GMT+8~ Thank you in advance! \\o/ ((Next year I will get the babies up there for voting lollololol would be so fun haha)) .. ____ Octavia entered shortly after, followed by two maids who stood dutifully by the door as she went in. She was as beautiful as always, red hair flowing down her shoulders and framing her pretty face. She had a gentle smile on her face, but she did have a sharp aura around her, indicative that she was not one to be messed with. "Did I come at the wrong time?" she asked, looking at the people inside. Obi wanted to answer but Olga pinched his arm to stop him. "OW!" Octavia didn''t even see Obi, nor did she care for his exclamation. Her green eyes ended up on Orion¡ªwhose expression was stoic as always¡ª as he wordlessly drank his tea. He was leisurely sitting there with his eyes closed, and he did not even bother to look at her. Her heart clenched but, even so, Octavia''s face did not change. Instead, she shifted her gaze to his wife, who was seated closely next to him. Hilda felt her stare and she unconsciously looked down and, for a few moments, the room was met with an awkward silence. "Octavia, you are back," Gaia broke this silence by standing up and greeting the woman. In this world, they''d have all stood up if the Lord entered the room. However, other people would not get the same treatment. "Auntie¡­" Octavia said, her sharpness softening immediately as she held onto the older woman''s hands. Octavia was a distant niece of Gaia, the daughter of a cousin on the maternal side. They were quite close, especially when the girl was growing up, and stayed with her a lot. The two women together were also quite a sight. Although their hairs were of different shades of red¡ªwith Gaia''s more brownish than Octavia''s striking red¡ªthey certainly popped a lot in a room with predominantly golden hair. Gaia led her to sit with the rest of them, taking careful consideration to sit her near Olga, and as far away from Orion and Hilda as possible. Speaking of Hilda, Gaia looked at her meek daughter-in-law. She was still a little pale and couldn''t meet the other woman in the eye. However, in contrast to how she was before¡ªseeming like a weak and ill gugu bird chick whenever Octavia was around¡ªHilda now had her back straight and appeared a lot more composed. Gaia let out a soft breath, relieved. It seemed that the success of her business gave her some confidence against her husband''s former beau. "When did you get back to Bleuelle?" Gaia asked the younger girl. "How was the visit with the allied city?" Both the lord and his only child, Octavia, had gone to visit an allied city the past month or so. However, from what she remembered, Octavia and the lord had gone to visit Hassen City, which was also more than 5000 miles away from them, though in the Northwest direction. Of course, cities had teleportation arrays so the distance wasn''t actually much of a factor. In any case, they had no news of the lord returning, so she was surprised to see the girl here. "Just today," Octavia said, answering her question. "I missed you, so I went straight here." She said this to Gaia, though her eyes¡ªconsciously or not¡ªslid towards Orion with meaningful light. Gaia cleared her throat, immediately shifting the conversation. "The Lord still hasn''t returned?" The younger redhead shook her head. "He is busy either looking for an heir somewhere, or busy making one." They looked at the young woman in pity. She was the lord''s only heir, but was never considered for the role because she was a woman. The only reason she had not been married off was that she was the only confirmed protege of the Lord. Bleumrick certainly didn''t stop looking for an alternative, however. Some said it was retribution. After all, the current lord brutally killed all his siblings and their children to gain his current position. It was a famous time when the City was bathed in blood, which also established Bleumrick''s power. Anyway, it was no secret that the lord had been actively looking for a male heir, and his harem of dozens was a testament to that. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The scheming that went on inside the lord''s large palace was terrifying. Many of these women died because they were a threat, and some were already pregnant when they perished. Anyway, it was all quite chaotic and, if Octavia was right, then this meant the lord was looking for another wife¡ªideally a young noblewoman¡ªin another City. Speaking of harem members, Olga was nearly selected when she was younger. However, Gaia and the entire family put their foot down. Although Bleumrick did succumb in the end, he definitely lost all favor of them since then. This added with Orion''s decision to marry Hilda instead Octavia, and the two families had been in a state of tension ever since. However, Octavia was a distant relative of hers¡ªthe daughter of a second cousin¡ªand they were relatively close since she was a child. Although Gaia had long felt a bit of darkness in the woman, she was reluctant to cut ties in hopes of keeping the girl on the right path. The deities knew the girl''s own family wouldn''t care. Anyway, after the initial greetings, the rest of the family excused themselves to leave the two redheads alone. Gaia did not stop them, knowing the generation didn''t quite get along with each other. Octavia was also not the Lord, so she could not expect the same reverence. In the end, the only ones left were her and Olga. As for Zaol, he knew they''d be talking about the trip but did not want to hear about it. After all, Hassen City was the place that¡ªto his knowledge¡ªtortured and killed his sister. Olga stayed for the face of it and for her mother. She had maintained a civil relationship with Octavia through the years, though they were never like sisters. Gaia knew this and never pushed them to get closer. In the end, she just patted the younger woman''s hand. After a bit of small talk, Gaia finally went to the point. "What are you here for, Lady Octavia?" Octavia couldn''t speak for a moment. Her shoulders slumped as she pursed her lips¡ªa rare show of weakness on her part. "My proposal is the same, but this time¡­ the timing is urgent." Olga''s eyebrows rose and she looked at her mother, who shook her head. "It is up to Orion, and he rejected it firmly the previous time." Octavia pursed her lips and her fist clenched. "Then¡­ let me talk to him, one on one¡­ "One last time." Chapter 1013 - 1013: Lady Octavia A/N: I know everyone misses Althea and Alterra (I do too~) but yeah, we got a lot of future arcs to set up and the setting can''t be told in Althea''s limited POV while she''s safely in Alterra. xD Wait a little more, my loves~ We''ll finish this mini-arc soon! Probably! ... ____ Octavia went to Orion''s study and saw him writing in his study, surrounded by documents. Her heart clenched again¡ªjust by the sight of him. The current image overlapped with the ones decades ago, when he was much smaller. Orion started doing documents early on and was trained as the heir from as early as he was 15 years old. Because he had the ability and the level-headedness, he was also given more responsibilities early on. Even at that age, he was an admired ''golden boy'' in the city. He had become the ''standard'' of what an heir should be like, and people forgot how weak Zaol was. She admired him so much and was proud that her future husband was so capable and handsome. Although he was never affectionate with her, he never overtly denied their arranged marriage either. Even when the arrangement wasn''t a formal one, everybody assumed it was, so she had been so certain that she''d get married to him. But now¡­ She pursed her lips and walked forward. "Orion¡­" she said, her voice soft, hoping he''d turn to look at her again. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What is it, Octavia?" he asked, without pulling his eyes away from the documents. When she was a teenager, something similar happened. At the time, she was so jealous of the paper she actually hid them... It didn''t take long for Orion to figure out who was the suspect. Instead of being mad though, he simply ignored her for months after that. No matter how many times she visited him, how many gifts she sent, and how many words of apology she uttered¡ªhe didn''t mind them at all. She wished he had yelled at her instead. At least, in that way, he would show emotions. At the time, she felt like she was not even worthy to show his anger to. Those were the worst days of her life, only overtaken by that night when she lost him to another. She heaved a deep breath and walked around the table, her arms holding his shoulder. His eyebrows furrowed and he turned to look at her with a frown. "What are you doing?" he asked, standing up to put distance between them. Instead, she rushed forward, hugging him from behind. "Please¡­ Orion. Please help me." "Have some dignity, Octavia." "Please, take me. You don''t have to leave Hilda," she said. "You just have to take me in, even if it is only in name, please¡­" If her father found an heir, then it was only a matter of time before she got married off. It wasn''t that she had not tried killing her father¡ªit was in her blood, after all. However, that man was a powerhouse level 65. He was the strongest in the entire city next to some hermit elders who didn''t care about anything anymore. He was also deeply mistrusting. He would be able to kill the women next to him without batting an eye if they showed even a hint of being suspicious. He also had special tools and equipment that would make him virtually impenetrable to them, even when he was asleep. However, despite this, he still desperately tried to get sons even if the chances were almost nill¡ªas if it was better than putting her on the throne. Orion took away her hold on him and stepped back. He stared at her for a moment, as if considering, but he shook his head in the end. "You know how my family is, and I agree with our values." "I''m begging you so much. Do you not feel sad for me? I can be married off to a bastard!!" Orion sighed. He knew he was being callous. A woman''s marriage could determine her life and death. However, she had betrayed his trust once¡ªwho was to say she wouldn''t do it again? He could not risk the peace his parents worked so hard for for such a woman. "I am the next patriarch of the family. I will not risk our current dynamic for others." "I''m sorry, Octavia," he said. "I can help you find a good husband¡ª" "STOP IT! I want you!" she yelled. "I can marry no one else." "You cannot have everything you want, Octavia. Not everyone is blessed with such good fortune." Her father was doing everything to avoid putting her as an heir, and this man was doing everything to avoid taking her, when she was throwing herself at him! She had always been proud and revered as a woman, since she was a child. How could things be like this?! "You will regret humiliating me so much!" she said and walked out, slamming the door behind her. .... Orion stood still as she left, not even giving another look. At some point, he heard soft footsteps approach the open door, tentatively entering it. "Husband¡­" Hilda whispered, stopping an arm''s length away from him. "Will this really be alright?" He sighed. It would be a lie to say he never had affection towards Octavia, but it was more like that of siblings. Because they were close, he also knew of how Octavia could be. Octavia¡­ wasn''t too far from how her family was. She was just much more muted thanks to the Golds'' influence, but she did have the tendency to be a little mad. Although she hid it well, Orion had designated himself to be the protector of his family and its peace. So whenever his instincts flared, he would investigate it. For one, he found out what she did to various women, nobles or not. Those who were also discussed as his fiance candidate all met some form of misfortune. No one lost their lives, nor was anyone gravely injured, but they were all traumatized. Even those ladies that his mother showed favors to had become unlucky one way or another. As someone who had watched Octavia grow up to a lady, Orion felt sad seeing this. In fact, if his mother hadn''t been there to be her guide¡ªto show her sincere motherly affection¡ªOrion knew Octavia would have done much graver things. Then, she gave him a love potion, trying to control him to make love to her. That had been the final straw and caused him to adamantly be against being with her. He had known of his parents'' struggles building the family. He was born while the former patriarch was alive. The situation of the Golds was something his parents worked hard for. Adding a person like Octavia¡­ it was bound to ruin it. He didn''t risk taking her in even as a nominal mistress either. Knowing her tendencies, doing so was to put his wife and child at risk. However, for the sake of history, it wasn''t that he didn''t try to find her a way out. The best way was to find her a good husband. However, there was no good man he could pit with such a woman, knowing she could destroy his life. The man that would fit her was unlikely to be a good man, so he didn''t want to get too involved lest he be blamed. His wife waited patiently for his answer and he sighed. "What can we do but simply prepare ourselves?" He asked. In fact, one of the main reasons he was going to Holt without taking the Teleportation Array was to possibly find some ways to secure his family, even if the Bleuelle Lord (and daughter) decided to go against them. "I''m worried¡­" Hilda mumbled, shivering a bit. Octavia was her cousin. She, of all people, knew what she was capable of. She was lucky so far because of Orion''s protection. For their engagement, he even gifted her a mid-grade protection charm, something she still wore close to her chest to this day. Orion looked at his wife. Hilda had plenty of insecurities, but she had a pure heart that was rare among nobilities. She was weak, but he thought he could be the strength for both of them. As long as the family was raised and maintained well, that was all he needed from her. He sighed and patted her shoulder before walking out of the room. "Let''s go down," he said. "We have a lot of things to explain things to the family." Chapter 1014 - 1014: Aether Stones When Octavia left the room, she had already wiped her tears and held her head high. She tried to retain the pride she had left and even managed to say a curt goodbye to Gaia. However, the dark atmosphere around her was indicative of what Orion chose to do. Sure enough, Orion and Hilda soon emerged from the upper floors with dire expressions on their faces. The family couldn''t help but look at each other. Hilda''s eyes fixed on her husband, and she pursed her lips. Otto shook his head. "Will this be alright?" Zaol sighed, though also a bit worried. "Orion''s leaving soon. Time apart would do well for both of them." "What are they doing going so far away?" According to the information, they went to both Holt City and Hassen City, with the Lord staying particularly long in the latter. "Well, Holt City has a lot of aether stones, that could be it." There were very few things that could get a city lord outside for a visit. "As for Hassen, who knows? He has a lot of relatives there, right?" Obi said carelessly, though he was pinched in the stomach by his sister in response. He was confused at first, but then he saw his father and he quickly shut his mouth. Anyway, Otto put the topic back to Bleumrick. "Aether stones¡­ those are quite expensive. Does he need it so much?" Aether stones were basically an amalgamation of massive amounts of aether. They were extremely expensive, the cheapest ones costing hundreds if not thousands of gold. "His lifespan should still be sizeable," Otto said, pondering. At the lord''s level¡ªand his father''s as well, to some degree¡ªthe way to level up was through aether stones, but it had diminishing effects. Not to mention, leveling up that way was a bit like cheating as well. He learned the term ''ballooning'' in Alterra, and it felt apt. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At some point, it was not worth it to spend years'' worth of income when one couldn''t level up properly. "Maybe he''s putting them out as rewards to the noble families," Obi said. Some cities would gift a few aether stones to top families in their territory. It was a way to retain loyalty and increase the overall strength of the place as well. It was one of the reasons why people fought hard to be a top family in cities, because the higher the rank, the more stones they could receive. Of course, this also meant their interests would be tied deeper and deeper to that territory. Bleuelle was not as generous as territories like Holt City but it did follow its example to some degree. Aether stones had many other uses. For instance, they were used by cities to create, power, and maintain things like teleportation arrays and some superior magic tools like magic barriers. In Bleulle, there were three teleportation arrays going to three allied territories¡ªHolt, Hassen, and Cloth City. The cost was extravagant because each trip consumed some energy from the aether stone. It might heal itself through time, but the speed of consumption usually could not match the speed of recovery. This was why all the arrays were in a special building near the palace, and could be used only for at least a thousand golds each trip. Of course, each trip could include a group of people and a lot of luggage so if one had money, it was usually worth it. They also had a Magic Barrier. The barrier was something the first lord and the first patriarch of the Golds managed to obtain from Dwarves back then. After the Elves, the Dwarves¡ªwho were considered the Elves'' closest relatives, in a way¡ªwere the most proficient race that dealt with arrays. However, when the Dwarves disappeared, no new barriers were created, making Bleuelle one of the very few territories to have it. Another limitation was that the barrier couldn''t be too big either. When activated, it only covered the central area. This area could only contain the lord''s, as well as the top 12 noble families. This was one of the reasons why the position of the 12 noble houses was so revered and sought after. One had to know: A magic barrier was 100x more effective than even the highest-level walls. The barriers had only been used a few times in the history of Bleuelle, but it had proven its amazingness. Wars between cities were very rare¡ªbut they were the bloodiest. There were no more limits on wars between cities. They could go against Level 40 enemies, or Level 60. They could go against tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even more. However, even when there were cities that worked together to take them down, Bleulle kept strong¡ªand it was primarily due to this barrier. First of all, the barrier was counted as the territory''s ''top defense''. This meant that, in order to win the war against Bleuelle, the enemies must enter this area first. However, it was practically indestructible with a single stone lasting at least a few hours of maximum usage. If they had more stones (which they always had) then they''d just replace it. Basically, as long as they had enough stones, the war could end without the enemies managing to cross the barrier at all! Of course, the enemies would vent on the people left outside, but that wasn''t much of a concern within the ruling party. "Aether stones are important¡ªI don''t think we should stress out too much if one territory''s trying to collect more." "It is if the amount is abnormal." "I''m sure Bleuelle isn''t the only one doing it." As they discussed this, Otto froze a little at a thought. His caravans were far-reaching, and so was his network. Sometime before, he seemed to have gathered that Hassen was not only gathering a lot of black metal but also of Aether stones. At the time, he didn''t think too much of it. Hassen was so far away from them, after all, and its region barely touched theirs outside of the alliance. Were they connected? Or did their interests align more than before? Olga noticed her twin''s daze. "What is it?" "I remember hearing something about Hassen City." Hassen City had been keeping itself in the background during the past few decades. It made sure not to enter any conflicts, and it hadn''t been in a war for as long as they could remember. However, by pure serendipity, his people realized that its power was far beyond what it showed and that it had a lot more subsidiaries than what was claimed. In retrospect, Guia Village could have been one of these places. What were these Lords planning, exactly? Chapter 1015 - 1015: Helios’ Arrival A/N: Semi-finals for this year''s Character Voting Contest is up~ ... ____ Orion nodded and they looked at him. "I have also gathered similar intelligence." "Is that why you''re heading to Holt City? And without using the Teleportation array," Otto said as if he was finally enlightened. They thought he was just being stingy. Apparently, he didn''t want to alert the lord where he was going. "We don''t know enough to get to any conclusions." "Well, we''ll just keep each other updated," Zaol said. "Don''t send sensitive messages via Post." The Post Office had risks and the Lord had the ability to check on the contents of what was being exchanged, so they had to be careful. "Be subtle. Perhaps we are overthinking." Before everyone could leave and do their own thing, however, the servant once again appeared. He looked a bit embarrassed for bothering the masters so often today. "You have another guest," he said, making the Golds look at each other with confusion. "We''re getting a lot of guests today." Normally, those who wished to speak with them would have the courtesy of sending a letter days in advance. Octavia''s case was understandable, but who was this one? It was probably their neighbors¡ªthat was to say, someone from the other ''top'' nobles. They believed that since they were of the same level, then there was no need to be polite. Just the thought of those people visiting annoyed them quite a bit. Seeing that the masters were silent, the servant felt awkward. "...should I ask him to go?" "Well, I''m really not in the mood for those guys," Obi said, waving his hand, and not planning on interacting with those bastards. Olga though shook her head. "Didn''t they introduce themselves?" What if it was someone important? At this, the servant nodded. "I do not recognize him," he said. "But he claims he''s from a territory called Alterra." "..." ¡­ They naturally let this guest inside the house. To the servant''s surprise, Master Obi, Master Otto, and Miss Olga even stood up to greet him. They didn''t bother doing so with Miss Octavia. They were quite excited to see who it was. Granted, they were disappointed to see it was just Helios. "Oh¡­" Obi muttered, turning around to go back to his seat. Helios: "..." Did I do anything bad? The twins were much less rude. "You''re¡­ an Alterran guard, aren''t you?" Otto asked. They were not close but they found him familiar because he was a looker and was quite strong. He was also a rare metal elementalist, so Otto remembered him. "Yes, sir." Olga, on the other hand, was looking past him. "Are you alone?" "Yes. Miss Olga," Helios said. He finally realized that they were disappointed to see him and not any other big shot from home. "This is my personal mission and has nothing to do with Alterra." "What about your uncle?" "My Uncle?" This made everyone turn to look at her. Olga flinched, unconsciously rubbing the back of her neck. "It''s dangerous for you to be in a City alone," she said. "I quite like Alterra and, by extension, its inhabitants." "Ah¡­ Miss Olga is so kind," Helios said with a smile. "I borrowed money from Lord Jonathan and hired a Mercenary Team to escort me here." "Anyway, I''m the only Alterran here right now." sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I see¡­" Olga inexplicably felt a bit disappointed but let it pass. Gaia''s eyebrows rose as she looked at her daughter, but didn''t ask. Zaol stood up. "I''ll leave you young people here to talk," he said, and Gaia left to go to her husband who would, no doubt, enter a daze on his own. He settled on his study, and he looked out the window pane with a blank expression on his face. Anything that reminded him of his unfortunate sister would silence him for hours after the fact. Gaia actually knew Zinnia¡ªquite well, too. They could be considered friends in a way, even if their interactions were limited. Zinnia''s stories about Zaol''s kindness were one of the major factors why she ended up falling in love with him. Zaol... was really one of a kind. How many men would be so loving, so considerate, and so loyal? Too rare. She''d argue they were rarer than dwarves. He would tell her over and over how lucky he felt she chose him, but it was actually the other way around. Gaia sighed and walked to him, her arms extending to massage his shoulders. "If you want me to stop seeing her, I can," she said. "I can make up excuses¡­" At this point, Octavia could still visit their house in the guise of visiting her. While it was unfair to assume this of the girl she treated like her own daughter, she wouldn''t put it past her either. Obviously, each one of her family was uncomfortable with the fact that she could visit at will, and perhaps it was time to put her foot down. Zaol held her hand and shook his head. "No, your relationship with Octavia is the only emotional anchor we have with the Lord''s family." The Lord had too much control over their business¡ªthis was something set up even from the previous generation. The first lords were very intelligent, making sure no one would grow more powerful, or richer than they were. It was not just them, it was the same with the other nobles. It was just that the Golds had been with the Lords'' family since the territory''s conception, and the interests had become too tied together. In any case, after what happened between their families¡ªparticularly with regard to Hilda and Olga¡ªlosing the last bit of favor could put them in a dangerous position. And those issues with the aether stones. Unlike his children, he was a lot less worried about Bleuelle¡­ but more about Hassen City. He knew that Bleuelle needed stones because it used the arrays a lot, and the Lords'' family always had a good amount stockpiled in case of wars. He knew that Bleumrick''s greatest ambition was to have many sons and continue the bloodline. In contrast, Hassen did not have a barrier, nor did they use their arrays as much. However, they seemed to be more active in collecting these things. Hassen¡­ also had an ambitious lord. He knew it too well. Aether stones were really powerful instruments¡ªthe most powerful in this world. If someone had too many of them, and they could make use of them, then they could become undefeatable. The reason there was no homogenous force in the continent was that it was difficult to gain too much power with the threats of beasts, other races, and the extreme weather. Further, the cities served as a check-and-balance amongst each other. Not to mention, because of the system, most people could escape to other territories as long as they were strong enough. This meant that a territory could not force people to stay in their control. If one territory could gain a vast amount of crystals¡­, this could change the current status quo. Of course, he still hoped he was overthinking. "Hassen City¡­" he just heaved a deep breath. "It cannot be underestimated. "We need to be prepared for the worst." Chapter 1016 - 1016: Finding Sahara Back in the living room, the younger generation talked with their new guest. They were also even friendlier to him now, because he came with gifts¡ªcookies and tarts. Their stock was almost gone, and they didn''t dare eat them carelessly. Now, they could! The Golds looked at the tanned man in curiosity. "I didn''t think I''d see an Alterran here so soon," Otto said, leisurely placing his chin on knuckle. "How can we help you? You mentioned that this was a personal trip?" Helios scratched the back of his neck, feeling a bit awkward. "I¡­ this is a bit presumptuous but I am looking for someone, and you''re the only ones I know here." He did not know he could be such a hopeless romantic, but it is what it is. The Golds looked at each other and then to him. "Who is it?" they asked, very curious. How could he know someone other than them all the way here? "It''s a person from Dune Town. Her name is Sahara," Helios said, direct to the point. "She''s the daughter of the lord there. According to my investigation, it''s likely that she is here." Otto and Obi looked at each other and shook their heads. Before Helios could feel sad though, they heard an exclamation from Olga. "Sahara?" Olga uttered, her back straightened a bit. This made Helios'' eyes sparkle in hopefulness as he looked at her. "You know her?" "Yes, she was my customer," she said. Olga liked her and thought she had a beautiful, clean, image in contrast to the other noble women who were practically painting their faces. She used Sahara as a model for her products and the effect had been great. She also paid the girl some amount. Surprisingly, after the shop closed, she stayed behind and proposed to open up a deal with her territory. Speaking of that¡­ she should come by here within the day¡­ Olga looked at the man curiously. "How''d you meet?" "I¡­ was assigned to Ferrol for a while, and I encountered her there." As he said this, the man was blushing a bit. Fortunately for him, Olga had some tact and didn''t push him to tell her more. Still¡­ Olga couldn''t help but recall the woman''s¡­ bulging stomach. She saw it when she let the other girl fit one of her dresses to model. It was not yet so big, but the fitted dress made the bulge a little obvious. She didn''t think too much of it at the time but, looking at how frantic the man in front of her was, she couldn''t help but come to her own conclusions. And they were juicy. Was this what the Alterrans called an ''interesting tea''? Olga did not say what was going on in her head and just looked at the handsome man. "It so happens that she has been meaning to talk to us. "She sent a letter telling us she should be visiting us today. You can wait for her here if you want," she said. But¡­ how could Helios sit still when she was so close? He shook his head, heart feeling giddy. "Can¡­ can you tell me where she''s staying now?" "I think she''s staying in an inn with a guard and a maid," she said, "It should be a mid-ranged inn along the main avenue. I can ask the name if you w¡ª" "No, thank you very much," he said, standing up ¡ªpractically disappearing soon after. ¡­ At this time, the aforementioned woman was standing not too far from the inner circle, which was visible even a few hundred meters away. It was surrounded by a tall wall with dense sentries. There were also signs of a magic barrier which could be activated as needed. Next to her was her closest maid, a tall dark-skinned woman named Bayna, and one of her guards, the large and pale Glio. They were there to visit the Golds, hoping to get the deal they had been looking for all this time. To be honest, she still couldn''t believe she managed to get connected with the Golds, but she knew there were still so many things that could happen, so she didn''t dare be too happy. "Are¡­ we certain about this, milady?" Bayna asked as she looked at the conditions of the next street. It was in stark contrast with their side of the street, which was filled with commoners. Goodness, even crossing these streets to get to the inner walls was intimidating to them¡­ The place they stood was located just outside of the inner circle, and this was where the more exclusive commercial stores and houses were located. The other street had markedly fewer people, and every one of them was better dressed than the other. Obviously, that was a place that nobles frequented. In front of City nobles, even their lady was small. The ''inner circle'' contained the Lord''s Palace, the Top Nobles'' houses, and the Blu mines¡ªand those alone. The other smaller nobles and rich people had to settle somewhere, right? This was what this place was. The closer the establishments were to this wall, the more expensive the location was. Basically, the commercial establishments the nobles used were all around this place. There were also plenty of beast carts and rickshaws in this area. There were a lot of beast cart parking lots, which were larger than the housing areas for the poor that fit dozens of families in other parts of the city. The nobles here only walked when the establishment was in the same block. Otherwise, they''d either go by rickshaw or by cart. One would not see a noble walking a long distance at all. Furthermore, each beast cart would require a ''pass'' of sorts to be allowed in this place, adding to its exclusivity. So when Sahara¡ªalong with her maid and her guard¡ªwalked toward the gates on foot, they were fairly obvious. They received a lot of odd stares, making them self-conscious, but they learned to ignore them anyway. It was just that¡­ they did not notice a certain group of noble women in a tea house nearby, automatically branding them as eyesores the moment their eyes laid on them. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 1017 - 1017: Lady Sahara Sahara and her servants were only a street away from the inner gates when a group of women blocked their way. They immediately tensed up, especially Sahara who found the women very familiar. At the center of it¡ªas always¡ªwas none other than Estra Trion. She looked gorgeous as always, wearing a pretty blue dress made of silk, her hands and her ears embellished with gold accessories, and put on special makeup to enhance her beauty. Completing her look was her reddish-brown hair tied up in a complex bun that probably took her maids a few hours to perfect and fix. Estra had always cared for her looks, but this was a bit more complex than usual. After all¡­, Otto was in the City now. Who knew when she''d encounter him? She had to be ready at all times! Sadly, it was this that she encountered, instead. "My, if it isn''t Lady Sahara," Estra said with a smile, though her tone was a bit sarcastic. "What brings you to this area? Are you lost?" She looked down at the woman in the ugly coat. She was going in the inner circle looking like that? On foot? With two pitiful servants? The noble ladies seemed to have thought of the same thing and they burst out laughing at the same time. The girls'' laughter was prim, lady-like, and quite cute. To the men around, it actually sounded beautiful, regardless of how mean-spirited it actually was. Sahara kept her composure while the servants next to her flushed in shame, though mostly for the sake of their lady. However, the respect for the strong and nobles had been ingrained in their bodies and they did not even think of defending her against the women. "Now, now, Estra," Lia said, combing back her pinkish hair. She was like a beautiful and gentle flower that could be blown by the wind. "She could be visiting Lady Olga soon." "Oh?" Estra asked with a strained smile. She turned her head back to Sahara and walked forward, appearing curious. "How does it feel? To be associated with a rich woman?" Although noble women¡ªbehind closed doors¡ªmocked Olga for her choices, mocked for her lack of a husband and children at her age, they still wanted to grab on to her for benefits. Not to mention, befriending her meant becoming closer to her brothers¡ª and the Golds were the best bachelors in the city. They were rich, handsome, and noble. But most importantly¡ªthough few would say this out loud¡ªthey were loyal. Their family dynamics were no secret and¡ªopenly or not¡ªquite controversial. The Men mocked Zaol when they were alone with each other, but their wives secretly envied Gaia for getting his heart. Men look down on Zaol for only having one wife, while the women could only dream of such treatment. Similarly, although Oslo and Otto were womanizers, they only went with one woman at one time. The women were famously happy and satisfied, just honored to have ever been with them at all. In the women''s dreams, they would be ''the one'' who''d get married to them in the end. By then, they could expect complete loyalty from them, regardless of their pasts. This was especially true for Orion and Obi, who were like their father in that regard, even if the former did have an arranged marriage with the princess herself. "I''m starting a legitimate deal," Sahara said, keeping composed. This was quite impressive. Most people would be intimidated after being surrounded by half a dozen women with their maids and guards closely behind them. The ''deal'' though sounded different to the women. "The Golds would never look at you!" "I didn''t mean that kind of deals!" Sahara said, voice slightly rising. She can''t have the Golds thinking she was after their sons! "I am making a deal on behalf of my home territory¡ª" "You don''t expect us to believe that you, a woman, was sent here to make innocent deals! We''re not idiots." Sahara''s heart clenched in anger, but she didn''t show it. "I''m not¡ª" "I can''t blame your desperation, though," Estra said, cutting her off. She looked up and down at her appearance, tutting in disgust. "Even my maid lives a better life than you do." S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Then again, what do you expect from someone who sleeps on sand?" The joke made a few more giggles resound in the area. Sahara''s fist clenched, but her face didn''t betray her emotions. "This is my responsibility and¡ªbelieve it or not¡ªthis is completely from a business perspective with no deals involving the flesh. "Unlike all of you, I do not have the time to sit around drinking tea while waiting around for men." Her words abruptly cut off the laughs around her, the bemused eyes morphing to ones of annoyance. How could they let her win? Estra looked at her guards. They nodded in understanding, immediately stepping forward and kicked the two servants next to her. BANG! BANG! It happened so quickly that Sahara was unable to react fast enough. "Glio! Bayna!" she yelled, gesturing to run to the two servants. Her maid had lost consciousness, while the guard groaned and sat up, obviously in pain. The women smiled when they saw that she finally broke her composure. Sahara''s heart was filled with anger, whipping her head to glare at them. "Why did you do that?!" "We needed to show you how small you are," Estra said. "Did you think you''re superior with that mission of yours? Naive!" "Say, does it feel good? Crawling after Olga?" she asked. "You think you''re better than us? You are just dirt underneath our feet. Guards." "You¡ª" Sahara''s heart dropped, immediately guarding her stomach by instinct. Her eyes heated up with tears, fearing for what would happen next. She wasn''t that terrified of what would happen to her, but¡ª Her mind whirled, trying to find a way to get out of this, but nothing was coming to her. She watched helplessly as the guards approached her, definitely intent on ''punishing'' her for offending this woman! Her heart beat loudly, and her blood turned cold as the feeling of desperation occupied her senses. "No¡­" She wanted to ask for help¡­ but she knew no one would come. She could only close her eyes and hug herself, trying to protect her stomach as tightly as she could. Estra and the other women giggled, seeing her like this. They smiled at the fact that they finally put her in place. She dared get under their skins? Then they''d literally get under hers! However, before the guards could touch her, a figure appeared. Along with him were two metal spikes that seemed to appear solely to protect the woman. Sahara was shocked when she realized nothing had happened to her, and she looked up to see a protective figure that appeared in front of her, as if guarding her against all harm the world would throw at her. First, it was a silhouette, but when her eyes adjusted, she couldn''t help but let out a gasp. It was that familiar light-colored hair that glimmered against the sun, and his shoulders were so wide, like it could carry the world. Her eyes pooled with tears. It''s you¡­ Chapter 1018 - 1018: Helios’ Challenge Helios'' level could not compare to any of the guards, but he was brave and confident, and for a moment it made the guards pause¡ªforcing them to second-guess their next step. Sahara''s eyes glistened, but her hope was doused with cold water when she remembered this guy had a lower level than her! She held his arm, and it felt warm but she didn''t give herself time to appreciate it. "Go," she said. "Go away from here!" However, instead of leaving, he turned to face her. Her heart skipped a beat when their eyes met, and she couldn''t say anything for a few moments after that. He smiled, leaning down, and his mouth parted to tell her words that''d touch her heart. "I''ll guard you with my life this time." Her eyes widened. "W-What¡ª" He gently pried her hands away from his arms, standing securely in front of her. Sahara could only watch as he stood firm even as the guards¡ªalmost thrice his level¡ªapproached him. She wanted to hold him, to ask him to go, but she was afraid it''d keep him in place instead. Seeing her being protected by a strange man, Estra''s eyes darkened. "Push him away." The guards dashed forward, their arms extended to grab onto him. Helios was tense, and he summoned metallic spikes to surround them. Helios turned to get Sahara away from there, but the guards kicked down the spikes with little effort, grabbing onto his back. Although elementalists could deal with much stronger enemies, the level gap was a bit too wide this time. One kick and Helios found himself unable to avoid it. Bang! "Ough!" The kick sent him flying, but he maneuvered mid-air and landed on his feet. Metal spikes shot out from his arm and he used them to stab the ground, using it to stop his momentum. He coughed, but jumped forward to the two guards, skilfully swinging his sharp metallic hands in attempts to push them far from his woman. Although the guards were high leveled, they looked down on him and didn''t take him seriously. This was a mistake because Helios was a naturally talented guy who received a bit of training since he was a kid. It also helped that he had awakened an [Observation] Passive skill, which definitely allowed him to survive for so long without his uncle. It was also how he knew to go back to Shim, throwing the bomb just in time before he was eaten. Technically speaking, the guards'' bodies were like armors compared to his. However, as long as he could catch their weak spots¡ªwhich, due to their carelessness, were not difficult to detect¡ªhe believed he could damage them! So after several swift attacks¡ªone after the other¡ªHelios not only pushed them away from Sahara, he actually managed to graze them! "What!" "Orcshit!" The two guards almost retaliated at the same time, but then they remembered their own levels. If they both handled a level 10 or so young man, how embarrassing would it be for them, regardless of whether they won or not? In the end, it was the person nearer to him who made a move, and the two exchanged blows for a few moments. Helios knew he could not beat them in strength and, in a way, speed, but he could at least use his techniques to predict their movements, to minimize the damage on his own body. BANG! PAK! "OUGH!" He yelled as he was punched in the gut, and he was thrown back. However, he managed to step back fast enough that it didn''t destroy his insides and he could still manage to counterattack somehow. He never managed to land a damaging shot after the first one, but it didn''t discourage Helios, and he kept attacking and attacking. He was a bit distracted when he saw the other guard approach Sahara, however. His eyes turned red. "Don''t touch her! Aren''t you ashamed? Bullying a weak woman?" he yelled. "Only weak men do that! Because they can''t beat others!" "You¡ª" The guard he was fighting was really annoyed by him, and his speed increased as each of his shots became deadlier. This was a man more than twice his level, and a serious hit could really kill him. However, the fact that he managed to survive after so many exchanges was already amazing to the onlookers'' eyes. Although the level was low, the potential was explosive, and several nobles already asked to get the person''s information. Maybe he could be recruited for cheap. Hiring elementalists was very expensive, but hiring them while their levels were low was usually a very good investment. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Back to the fight, the two guards were ordered to handle him, and obviously Helios could no longer manage them at all. He was kicked repeatedly, but he kept standing up with unbelievable grit. He drank another healing potion and, regardless of his pain, he made sure to stand between the guards and the light-haired woman on the ground. Such heroism made the women''s hearts fill with envy, jealousy, and anger. "So you seduced another man?" Estra asked, sounding cool but one could hear her teeth gritting. "Beat him up well!" She ordered her guards. Although killing wasn''t allowed in Bleuelle, at least outside of wars, they could beat whoever they wanted. With the number of powerful individuals and beast carts going around, it was not practical to have non-violence rules in such a big city. At the same time, it could allow the inhabitants to have as much ''fun'' as they wanted. Bang! Sahara''s heart squeezed as she saw Helios kicked again. He could barely stand now. She was frozen because things ran too quickly, but she knew she couldn''t sit idly by anymore. "No. Don''t!" she yelled, forcing herself to stand. She wanted to block the guards but then her hand found her stomach and her feet froze. Instead, she ran to Lia and Estra and kneeled down, desperately begging, already forgetting the pride she held onto earlier that day. "Please, please make them stop, I''ll do anything." Lia looked to feel pity but she didn''t say anything, while Estra looked down at her with a dark face. She could recall how well this woman talked with Olga. When Otto visited, Olga introduced this woman and Otto was so kind to her. That image made her so angry! And now, she seduced yet another man?! Estra was overthinking this time. Like Oslo, Otto was nice to most women. Otto was distant to Estra only because she was pushing him to do something he didn''t want. "Get out of this place. Never come back," she said, looking sharply at the woman. Without pausing, Sahara nodded repeatedly, becoming more desperate as she heard the one-sided fight on the side. Estra seemed to enjoy her pain and didn''t say anything, and it made Sahara bow down deeper, her forehead repeatedly banging on the ground. "I''m going within the day. Please!" she pleaded, her heart hurting as she heard more of the punches and kicks behind her. Helios saw this sight and his eyes turned red. He wanted to crawl to her, but his eyesight was becoming blurry. Before he could succumb, fast figures appeared and kicked the guards hurting him. "Enok! Raz!" he yelled, his voice weak and croaky. Raz only heaved a deep breath, while the old man rolled his eyes and glared at him. "We only separated for an hour!" he yelled, pale and very much aghast. "What in the orcshit kind of trouble did you get into?!" Chapter 1019 - 1019: A Bit of Help A/N: Both Althea and Garan had entered the semi-finals for 2024 Character Voting Contest!! It should be ongoing until tomorrow, Dec 22 2024. If you have excess points, do send it our way~ ¡­ ____ "We only separated for an hour!" Enok yelled as he gasped for breath, obviously dashing in this direction as soon as he could. "What in the orcshit kind of trouble did you get into?!" Raz and Shim were also there, and they surrounded the two of them. Their arrival gave time for Sahara to go to Helios, though he didn''t have the energy to move. "...thank you," he just said with his voice cracking. "Glad that you found the girl," Enok said, though with a bit of sarcasm. "You also found quite the formidable enemies." "I went to some people I know, and¡ª" "This is who you mean by you know people?! Damnit!" The arrival of three new people took Estra and the others aback for a bit. They frowned. "Mercenaries?" Estra asked. "You must be from other territories," she said. No local mercenary team would dare interfere with her. "I recommend that you don''t get in our way." Enok and the others obviously didn''t want to be in the way. Sadly¡ª "Sorry, but we got a mission to accomplish." This was technically still within their scope of work. After all, the deal was to get him back to his village. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the same time, because this was beyond their control, their mercenary team might not get punished even if they failed. At worst, they''d have just wasted their time but, since they already got paid half of the fee (with the rest transferred to their treasury after the mission was completed), then it wouldn''t be too much of a loss. The system, or at least in relation to particular system buildings, could take the nuances like these in consideration and not give unfair outcomes to mercenaries. However, regardless of whether or not they''d be penalized, they had their pride as Mercenaries so they ended up helping Helios out anyway. "Well, take it as you''ve failed," Estra said and, with her signal, the guards¡ªas well as her friends'' guards¡ªrushed forward to attack. They immediately surrounded the mercenaries trying to defend Helios and Sahara and, because the mercenaries weren''t weak, there was no need for them to hold back too much. BANG! SMACK! Of course, in order to not cause trouble for their mercenary team, all Enko and the others did was to defend and push back, never to actively hurt people. This easily put them into positions of defense, pushed back until they received more and more injuries on their bodies. Sahara sat by Helios amidst all of this, trying to find a way to get him out of the range but the fighting was too intense to do so. Helios struggled to move, but with gritted teeth, he managed to hold her hand. "Leave¡­ I''ll be fine¡­" he said. Or at least that was what he wanted to say. Fortunately, Sahara could understand him despite his croaking voice. She shook her head. "I''ll be with you," she said, but she was also holding her stomach. "We''ll be with you¡­" No one understood the implications of this and just assumed Sahara meant the other mercenaries when she said ''we''. Regardless, it was a warm moment amidst the intensifying fight surrounding them. Enok''s eyes twitched when he saw the two sources-of-pain having a moment, but he was punched in the gut and he forgot all about it. Fortunately, before the mercenaries could get beaten up too badly, a new set of people appeared. A large firewall shot up between Helios'' side and the guards'', forcing everyone to part. Everyone turned to the newcomers, and each one had varying expressions on their faces. "What are you doing to my guests?" Otto said as he stepped forward, a frown gracing his handsome face. Obi was next to him, and he pushed down the firewall he created with a wave of the hand until it completely dissipated, leaving the entire setting clear for everyone to see. Estra paled, not wanting to encounter him in a situation like this. "Otto! He''s¡ª" Otto ignored her and looked at his guards. "Get a healer right now," he said, and they immediately scurried away. Meanwhile, Olga got her people to put Helios in a stretcher to bring to the house for better care. Olga walked over and went to Sahara, who was frozen, and her eyes fixed on Helios as he was being carried away. "Aren''t you coming?" she asked. Sahara''s eyes widened and she nodded. She rushed to follow Helios'' side, but then she remembered the servants and the mercenaries. Fortunately, Olga was observant and had long sent her servants to deal with them as well. The mercenaries weren''t injured too badly, but they came to see how their employer was (and also, maybe, get connected to the Golds by the way). Similarly, the servants were only hit a few times so they could stand up as well. It was only Helios who was in such a pitiful state, and Sahara knew they owed him a lot. The Golds and their guests left, leaving the bullies and the spectators frozen in place. This was especially true for Estra, whose eyes were following Otto the whole time. Liaroa''s eyes narrowed a bit as she looked at her best friend. "I guess we did guess correctly: that woman is close with them¡­" she said, making Estra turn cold. Liaroa watched her reaction as she held her arm. "There, there," she said, her voice deep and convincing. "I''m sure such poor people wouldn''t get much attention from them. Maybe it is a charity case. "Why would Otto look at anyone else but you?" ¡­ While the Golds took their guests to the rooms, the City''s Array Building had begun to churn with activity. Light force started condensing there, focusing on a teleportation array. Soon, the intricate circular pattern lit up, and silhouettes made of light started to form inside of it. When the flash of light died down, it revealed about two dozen people and a large amount of boxes and items. Leading the team was a tall man with white hair. He stood straight and proud, wearing regal clothing. He also emanated of an aura that was indicative of his high level. If low-leveled people were here, they''d automatically bow by instinct just by virtue of his strength. This was the Bleuelle City Lord, Bleumrick. Along with him was his entourage, the items they bought, as well as new slaves. There were also a lot of women¡ªmost of whom were noble, judging by their appearance¡ªthough many had reddish eyes and deep frowns on their faces. Obviously, a lot of them had been forced here, but they couldn''t do anything against a man with so much power¡ªwhether it was in position or by sheer strength. There were many beautiful women of all shapes and sizes, but there was a particular one that stood out¡ªliterally and figuratively. She was not only tall¡­, but she had two long ears extending vertically above her head, and a fluffy tail behind her. Maomao looked at the new strange environment, her rounded eyes pooling with tears. Her soft hand raised above her chest as she held on to a handmade necklace that hung on her neck. She gripped it tightly, as if feeling each of its crevices and each of its carvings, imagining herself holding to the man who made it. "Gochi¡­" she whispered to herself. Where are you? Chapter 1020 - 1020: Expanding Networks Inside one of the Gold family''s guest rooms, the entire younger generation stood outside as they waited for the healer to handle Helios. Obi sighed. "He just went out for a couple of minutes and he already got into a scuffle," he said, shaking his head. "Is he really a guard?" Olga rolled her eyes. "He was saving a woman," she said, pointing at the girl who was sitting by the bed, never taking her eyes off the man on the bed. Obi did not get her point. "He just landed level 10, what''s he doing fighting against level 30s?" "Don''t mock him," she said. "We never know how you''ll act when you fall in love." Obi made a disgusted face and it made Olga want to punch him. The younger Gold was fairly certain he would never understand such stupidity, and he wouldn''t want to either. Olga faintly felt the need to curse him with a stupid love line, but she was the big sister so she didn''t do so. Anyway, the healer finished about half an hour later, asking them to buy some healing potions as well. "He should be fine," the healer said. "He just needs another day of rest and he''ll be able to stand up as normal." "Thank you," Olga said. She then asked him to treat Sahara''s two servants and the mercenaries. She then paid the treatment fee after everything. A single visit cost several golds for each patient, and even more so for Helios who was seriously injured. The healing fee cost about a dozen gold, which was easily a commoner''s earnings for one or two months. Anyway, the healer happily left and Obi sneered as his eyes followed his tracks. He remembered how Alterra''s hospital was, and how even common people could ask for their help. "Before, I thought the healers charged fairly, but after going to Alterra¡­" Otto shook his head. "Don''t compare everything there. They had an effective system that allowed them to charge so low and still keep a profit. If you keep comparing, you''d just feel annoyed." It was still a skill issue in the end. Even if a healer had a kind heart, they would never be able to charge the same as Alterra in a place like Bleuelle. It''d be too difficult to live here if they did so. Alterra, on the other hand, had a fair economy that would allow anyone to live decently, allowing them to have the capital to be ''kind'' as well. This strength was also one of the root causes of why so many unusual professions could do well in Alterra but would not survive elsewhere. Obi shrugged and they all turned to the patient. He was now in stable condition, so they could finally go away and do their own thing. The boys, in particular, left the girls behind though they were greeted by three mercenaries outside. Enok and the others greeted them and thanked them for their help, offering to pay for their own treatment. The Golds refused and the Mercenaries simply left their name cards to them, so they could be contacted easily via the Post Offices. Name cards were just simple parchments that included a person''s information, including their full name and their residencies. In order to make sure the Post office wouldn''t erroneously send their letters to someone of the same name, more information like age and profession were added as well. For now, there was no established system that would guarantee the letter would be released to the right person if they had someone with similar names and conditions, but the chances were small anyway so it didn''t matter to most. However, Mercenaries had a more sensitive profession so most of them did have Name Cards to avoid confusion and potentially losing clients or important possibly life-altering information. In any case, after a bit of small talk, the mercenaries excused themselves. They knew that they could not extend their stay without losing favor from this big connection, and they simply asked them where Helios could find them after he recovered. Hopefully, he wouldn''t take too long because extending a mercenary mission would also have a cost. Heck, in most cases, they would charge their pain to the client as well. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But¡­ looking at how kindly Bleuelle City''s top family was looking at them, they knew their rescue of Helios was worth it. ¡­ Back in the room, Olga sat next to Sahara, wanting to know more about all this drama. "Thank you for everything," the younger woman said. "I''ll pay back for all of them..." "It''s fine, it''s just a few gold," Olga said, waving her hand. Instead, she was more interested in talking. "So¡­ mind telling me what this is about?" she asked, sitting down on a chair. Olga was a woman who loved to gossip¡ªas most were¡ª particularly when they were harmless. Sahara blushed a bit and couldn''t look at her or at the patient. "I¡­ we met once." "Hmn, he did mention that," Olga said, smiling slyly. "He sure did a lot for someone he met only once." It was here that she realized that the Golds knew this man, as well. Sahara had wondered why they were being so helpful to her, but she was too worried for the man to think too deeply. "You know him?" she asked, back straightening a bit. "Who is he?" "You don''t know him?" Olga retorted, making Sahara look down in embarrassment. "Well, he''s an acquaintance of ours," she said with a teasing smile. "He''s from a village, though." Sahara nodded, unsurprised. At his age, being a level 10 could only mean he was from a village. She wasn''t quite certain how to feel about that. After all, her emotions dwarved in front of her duty and she doubted a low-leveled man from a village would be of any help to her or her town. Sahara would have never imagined that thinking this way would hurt so much, however. Olga looked at her, having an instinct about what she was wondering about. "Actually, if you''re looking for a place that could help your town, it is his." Sahara''s eyebrows rose. "What?" Olga smiled. "Trust me on this," she said, looking at the man on the bed. "This man¡­ would be able to save you more than you think." Chapter 1021 - 1021: Helios and Sahara Olga then left Sahara alone with Helios (though not without a teasing smile). Sahara wanted to just watch him, but suddenly felt awkward when they were really alone. She ended up leaving to check on her servants, though she did end up back next to him, sitting by his bed patiently and without moving. She just watched the man breathe with a complicated expression on her face, and heavy and mixed emotions in her heart. She couldn''t help but remember their meeting. He rescued her from evil men, though she forced him to do something unbecoming for both of them. At first, she convinced herself it was all the love potion''s fault. She couldn''t control her body. However, as more time passed, things became clearer and clearer to her and she didn''t know how to feel about it. Although she had taken a love potion back then, her level was not too low and desert people tended to have a higher tolerance to poison. In fact, she vaguely felt that she had snapped out of it before they completed the deed. Combined with her superior level, if she truly didn''t want to be touched by him, he would not be able to, not to mention she technically forced herself on him before her head cleared completely. Although it had been painful, if she wanted to she could''ve pushed him away and ran to her maid and guards, asking them to buy her some medicine. However¡­ she could not bring herself to do so. The attention and care given to her, the sensual heat he made her feel, made her reasoning¡ªsomething she had been proud of¡ªescape her. Instead of feeling terror and disgust, his warmth was something she liked and even longed for after it was gone. She couldn''t handle the shame of what she had done so she ran away, but there was no day that passed that her mind wouldn''t go to that night. She felt humiliated and she hated herself for it and, by extension, she disliked the man, too. But he arrived in front of her, shielding her, as if shielding her from her own burdens and the shell around her heart cracked embarrassingly easy. And¡­ more importantly¡­ She held her stomach with a small bulge. She pursed her lips and then looked at the man. Should she tell him? Why shouldn''t she? Besides, Olga''s words echoed in her mind. This man¡­ seemed to be the key to her problems? She didn''t know how long she was in a daze. She only shook out of it when she saw him shift in his position. She gasped, sitting beside him on the bed. "Are you awake?" she asked, looking closely at his handsome face. His eyelashes fluttered open and his eyes gravitated to meet hers. For a while, time seemed to stop and all they could hear was their own heartbeats. Unable to handle his heated stare, Sahara stood up and sat back on her chair, appearing her composed self again, except for the twinge of pink on her cheek. Helios stared at her for a while longer, gulping. "Hi¡­" he said, voice a bit raspy and it just made her blush even more. Seeing her unmoving though, Helios immediately gestured to sit up. Sahara flinched. "Don''t move." Helios paused but did not lay back down. His eyes stayed on her, making her feel nervous. Obviously, he was several levels weaker than she was, why was she so intimidated? She frowned when he gestured to move again. "Don''t move! Your injury could get worse." In response, he smiled as he looked at her. "Then come closer." S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She awkwardly followed his wishes. To outsiders, they would see her as stoic, but all Helios saw was her concerned eyes and shy flushing face. When she was close enough, his large calloused hand found hers. She flinched but she did not take away her hand, telling herself it was just because she was afraid he would get injured. "I''m glad you''re okay," he told her, and her eyes inexplicably felt hot. "I''m so relieved¡­" Her heart beat loudly, she could swear other people could hear it. It was embarrassing and uncomfortable, and she was unfamiliar with how to deal with this emotion. "Olga said that you can help me," she blurted out and it made him pause a bit. She felt a bit regretful as soon as she said so. What if he thought she was kind to him because she needed something from him? Normally, she wouldn''t care as long as the goal was reached, but somehow she didn''t want him to think that way. "I¡­" "How can I help you?" he asked, and she could tell he was asking genuinely. Her heart twitched in warmth and guilt. Similarly, this shift in topic let her go back to her own element, and this allowed her to explain what the problem was. She returned to her usual composed self, and she was thankful for it. "Our territory is experiencing a food shortage now, and I have come here to ask for assistance." They had survived somehow with the sparse resources by living pitifully underground for the most part, keeping their population limited and trained. But they felt starkly that it had gotten more and more difficult to just survive as usual. She could not imagine how they handled the Extreme Heat! It was already so horrible in the forests, how much worse was it in the deserts? Many adjacent territories didn''t care for them, so she doubted they could''ve gotten assistance¡­ The thought of her people''s suffering added a jolt of panic in her heart and she turned to him with hopeful eyes. "Miss Olga¡­ she told me your village would be able to help me more than she can, though I don''t know how¡ª" "Miss Olga is right," Helios said, and he said so with such certainty that it took her aback. "But¡­ it''s not my decision to make, but the elders''," Helios calmly added. "What do you have to offer?" Chapter 1022 - 1022: Dune Town Resource A/N: Voting for 2024''s Best Character Semi-final round is about to close~! If you have some extra points, do send a few to our characters! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT EVERYONE! We couldn''t have gone so far with y''all! Oh, and the three bonus chaps today will be posted in a few hours~ thank you for letting me get Golden top 1 so far~ ... ____ She nodded and took out a ceramic bottle from her space. "This is the only resource that we have," she said. "We call it black liquid. It cannot be consumed by humans, but it allows flame to last for a long time. His eyebrows rose as he rubbed the liquid between his fingers. "This is¡­" Oil? Even if Alterra was set to become self-sustaining with regards to electricity and power, it didn''t mean petroleum wouldn''t be useful. Especially since mass production of the solar panel was still far away, their sources were water and wind, which could depend a lot on nature. What about during extreme weather conditions wherein these things could not be tapped? Other than this, oil had a lot of other uses¡­ Sahara didn''t know he could recognize what it was and continued to explain what she knew. "Thanks to this, our fires could last throughout the night. It is cold in the desert at night, and it is our source of warmth." "It''s not much, but¡­ I know cities and rich territories liked their streets and walls lit up at night, I thought it''d be a useful thing to have." It was to assist the forces when fighting with monsters and it would also help refugees find their place, which was the best alternative if they didn''t have the lighthouse. And, perhaps more prominently, it was a way for territories to show off their wealth. Helios nodded. It so happened that he knew a bit about the subject as a mercenary back in Terran. "This is good. While our research center would need to study it further¡ªif this thing is as I thought¡ªthen this can also create a waterproof layer so you can create big bowls to keep sparse rainwater in. It also helps slow or prevent the decay of wood." "What?" Helios blinked, realizing her knowledge about this was not that wide yet. "Did you just discover this?" She nodded. "A few months before I left," she said. "Our people discovered it by accident. Rather, we had known of its existence for a while longer, but only began to explore its use recently." Sahara was puzzled as she looked at him. "You know what this is?" Helios nodded. "Alterra would love to have this. You can definitely use this as leverage." Oil could still be used in various other things. For one, plastics and synthetic materials would need it. Modern Terrans also had the knowledge of how to make plastic sustainable, to a degree. He had no idea how this was done, but he knew the Research Center would figure it out. They could also make asphalt roads which were markedly cheaper than concrete, assuming they managed to get enough oil. Asphalt was also reusable and had better sound absorption than concrete did. If they someday used it to create paths outside the territory, then it''d reduce the monsters attracted by the noise of the road. Hearing this, Sahara felt like much of the burden she had been carrying so far had disappeared. She was the only daughter of Dune Town, but unlike other girls, she was loved and cared for. When powerful people tried to get her as their wife, her parents refused the offers because she didn''t want to get married. It was one of the reasons Dune Town had been so isolated. These Towns refused to trade with them and they also forced their subsidiaries to do the same. They even announced that she was the reason for the punishments and many people tried convincing her. Some even isolated her, trying to make her marry. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, her brother made sure people knew the lie¡ªhe exposed that the other''s resources was just enough for themselves. Marrying their precious princess there would''ve been useless and they should be ashamed to think of sacrificing a little girl for their own gain. Although people could get inherently selfish, her family did have a good reputation and most people did express their apologies for turning against them. For a while, things were a little bit better. However, at some point, her brother was attacked as retaliation by enemy spies. More misfortune hit their family then. Although her brother survived, he was injured and couldn''t fight for a while. The fights against monsters had become more challenging, and there were more and more deaths in their town. They also felt it was even more difficult to gather resources, and the few wells that they had were getting less and less productive. Anyone with a brain could tell the territory would not last much longer in this way, so they had to take a big step and ask for help. Since the territories near them would not help, nor were they capable, they decided to set off farther away in hopes of getting more powerful territories to help out. There were a few teams that headed out in various directions North to Southeast. Sahara, feeling like a lot of the suffering was because of her, volunteered to take a team as well. The journey was perilous and a few guards had lost their lives. However, they continued forward, knowing that failure was not an option. Eventually, they ended up in Ferrol and, now, in Bleuelle. She didn''t think their resource was too valuable, so she didn''t dare hope for a lot of exchanges. They just needed something to survive. "What you need is sustainable resources¡­" Helios said. "As for how Alterra can help you, we have drought-resistant crops. I''m sure we''d be able to get a few and improve them more." The more he said things with confidence, Sahara also felt more and more hopeful. "Besides, do you know? No one in Alterra died during the Heat Wave. We even exported to our satellite territories," he said, feeling a little smug as he said this. "Even Ferrol Town bought stuff from us." "What?" She exclaimed. At this point, she was feeling so hopeful that¡ªeven if her expression was muted¡ªher eyes glimmered brightly. In Helios''s eyes, she was very pretty and adorable. He let out a sly smirk. "However," he paused, making her a little nervous. "I don''t know much about those things¡­" He paused, tightening the hand that held hers. "Come with me to Alterra, okay?" Obviously, this should be the case. After all, she was going to be closing deals with the village. But when this man said it, it felt like it meant something different. And it burned her. Chapter 1023 - 1023: A Little Reveal A/N: Voting for 2024''s Best Character FINALS is now open~! If you have some extra points, do send a few to our characters! ... ____ Regardless of the mysterious emotions involved, there was really no reason for Sahara to refuse the invite. And so, that was settled. They only had to wait until Helios recovered, which would take another day or two even with the healer visiting. Sahara also sent a Post to her family, asking them to prepare the black fluid, and they''d find a way to transfer the goods soon. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, Helios then entered a wonderful few days with the woman of his dreams taking care of him. Perhaps she was nice for the sake of her mission, but he didn''t really mind. He started asking questions about her, and after a day she even started to tell him stories about her place. She would tell him how they would use sand dunes as slides as children. Then some would fall and get hurt because of the heat, but they''d laugh so much after. Rather, it was a necessary tribulation they had to go through. The adults called it ''hardening their skins'', and some children would purposely roll around the sand when they fell off their sleds. The best times in her memory though was when it rained. Everyone would celebrate. They would all go out with not just containers but with their own bodies. They would feel the drop of the rain on their skins, opening their mouths to drink as much as they could. If one had managed to fill their stomachs with the rain water, then they had managed to maximize it and it was a point of pride. Some even refuse to eat right after to prove that they had, indeed, drunk enough blessed water to get them through the night. She would tell him how the noble children would play with the commoners, too. Though there was a gap, it wasn''t anything like what she had seen after traveling. In places like this, if a commoner blocked a noble''s way, then they were likely to get hurt. It was in stark contrast to how it was in her home, where some noble kids would even visit commoner kids in their homes and ask them to play. She longed for that simplicity again. Although life in the desert was harsh, it felt more peaceful. "You must miss your family a lot," Helios'' said, his eyes never leaving her face. His heart felt full seeing her so¡­ at peace with him. They were now sitting together at the Gold''s verandah, with Helios close to getting healed and could now walk on his own. They could roam around as guests in this massive villa, which was a great honor, though Otto and Obi had not lacked the reminder of whatever would come out of the Alterra-Dune deals, they wanted to be in on it. They already planned their departure early the next day, and now they were maximizing the quiet time they had together¡ªthough neither of them worded it out. "Yes, I do¡­ miss my family a lot," she said, answering his question. She pushed down the blush that never failed to appear wherever Helios stared at her. She cleared her throat and looked at him. "Tell me more about Alterra," she said. And although she asked to shift the topic away from her, she did feel a bit of wonder at the thought of the mysterious village. Her facial expression was stoic, but her eyes sparkled with curiosity, and¡ªin Helios'' eyes¡ªit was such a beautiful sight. "It is a beautiful place filled with plants and themed houses. We don''t lack food or drinks and our facilities are plenty and top notch. You would find our conveniences unlike what you''ve seen before. "People could eat, dress, and live well there regardless of whether they''re nobles or not. "Children also played around a lot, and whatever place they were would be filled with laughter. We also have schools there, you know, where every child would have the chance to learn more about the world, to prepare themselves for what was to come." This made her sparkle and awed. He smiled, continuing to speak, very much intending on completely ''converting'' her to staying. "They have playgrounds, toys, and the like. They can live freely and happily, while at the same time growing up ready for adulthood. "Too bad we don''t have many children," he said, looking regretful. "They''re lovely." This made her pause, unconsciously touching her stomach. She looked at him with a complicated expression. Helios had always watched her closely, and he noticed this change. "What''s wrong? Are you hungry?" He asked and sat up. His eyes twitched a bit as the flash of pain passed, but he had recovered enough that an abrupt movement wouldn''t kill him. "You shouldn''t have done that," she said, taking another healing potion from her space. He couldn''t drink it like water, but he was recommended to drink one every few hours. Like a good patient, he drank it without question, but he couldn''t help but look at her in worry. "Tell me if there''s anything wrong¡­" "It''s¡­ not that," she mumbled and stared at him. She was not sure how to tell him this. By her usual behavior, she would tell him facts without emotion. Or¡­ maybe she would not care to tell him at all. But now¡­ she cared for how he''d react¡ªand she cared for it a lot more than she dared to admit. This fact was both uncomfortable and nerve-wracking. She gripped her coat before standing up. Helios blinked and watched as the cloak was taken off revealing a simple dress underneath. "Do you see my stomach?" "It''s sexy." "..." She didn''t know how to react to that and decided to just ignore it. She pushed down her nervousness as she touched her stomach. She felt the bump there and she couldn''t help but look at it with gentleness. She then grabbed his less-injured arm, holding his calloused hand, and guiding it to touch the bump, too. At this point, Helios already had an idea of what she wanted to say, but his brain had already turned to mush before he could fully absorb it. She took a deep breath and stared into his eyes. "I''m pregnant." Chapter 1024 - 1024: Bleumrick’s Party While Helios'' world was shaking, the Lord''s latest party was finally starting. His return naturally caused a grand fanfare, with him announcing a party shall be held in his house a few days after his arrival. And so began a celebration filled with grandeur and luxury that lower territories could not imagine. The food was lavish, prepared by a large team of chefs and their assistants. The menu was vast, offering dishes from all over the world, made with a variety of ingredients¡ªmany of which were exotic. There were also elementalists performing on the stage. Elementalists were incredibly revered in lower territories but, in big cities, the weaker ones could be found performing. It was a way for nobles to widen the perceived gaps between them and others, and it was quite an effective one. The performers this time werethe famous brother-and-sister pair, Faira and Shala. Both of them had dark purple hair¡ªalmost black¡ªthough Faira had it short and spiked up, while Shala''s let it grow, its wavy locks flowing enticingly with her movements. Faira was a fire elementalist who specialized in doing fire dances. He moved with a mix of masculinity and grace that was intense to watch. The fire swayed with the rhythm of his body, his muscles flexing with each graceful step. He was fully clothed, but one could see the shape of his muscles through the fabric. The combination of expertise, strength, and charm made for a fascinating watch. It made the women¡ªand some men¡ªswoon, though they were naturally very muted lest they be judged as indecent. His sister, Shala, was a female water user. In contrast to Faira''s strong moves, hers was soft and graceful. She moved her body seductively as she controlled a smooth water snake around her body. She was also skimpily dressed to the standards of this continent. She was wearing a sleeveless wrap dress with a relatively low neckline that showed a bit of her glorious cleavage, and it cut just above the knee showing half of her beautiful legs. The women naturally gave her disgusted looks but the men enjoyed it, though they didn''t talk about it so vulgarly¡ªat least not out in the open. The way she moved her hips, the way she swayed her body, was so enticing that a lot of the men gaped in fascination. She would even let her water snake crawl down her legs, slowly crawling up and teasingly disappearing under her skirt. It was an incredibly suggestive move that got most men in the vicinity painfully hard. They would then be looking forward to when the party would end, so they could start bidding. After the party a few hours later, the two of them would be open to making private performances, though what went beyond closed doors was something unspoken. Neither of the siblings were slaves, but they opened themselves up like this. While it was frowned upon, the amount of money they collected after each performance was something other commoners wouldn''t be able to make for a year or two. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Bleumrick had also once tried to get Shala to be his wife, many years ago. However, she had convinced him that she would lose her charm once he got her, so she begged him to let her be a special spice he could get occasionally. She was also barren, so she was not fit to be a wife. Amazingly, Bleumrick agreed, and this heightened her value even more. Which twisted noble male wouldn''t want to taste the woman the Lord vied for, but didn''t get? Anyway, this bidding was to be held after the party which was technically only starting. At this time, the Lord hadn''t even arrived yet, and the nobles were still socializing amongst each other, most enjoying the shows prepared for them beforehand. They were all subtly showing off to each other, throwing thinly-veiled brags and insults, passed around amongst each other. The lower nobles were pandering to someone, without exception, hoping to somehow expand their connections and influence. Soon, the music stopped, and they all turned to the interior entrance of the hall. Their strong and regal lord appeared, standing straight and tall despite his age. He was closely followed by his wives, slaves, as well as his daughter. It was a large entourage, and one wouldn''t be able to see the end of the line immediately. "Welcome back, Milord!" They all chanted in unison, and looking at them being so welcoming put a satisfied smile on Bleumrick''s face. "I''m glad to be home." He headed down with his entourage, immediately surrounded by the nobles welcoming him back, hoping to make small talk with him. Some nobles close to him, like the Trions, couldn''t help but observe the new faces behind him. "Ah, I see you found beautiful and¡­ unique¡­ specimens." "These are my new wives," he responded, pointing at two beautiful women dressed in graceful attire. "They''re both noble ladies from Hassen City," he said. "This one''s even a distant relative to our Golds." This made them look at the Golds with varying expressions. When did the Golds get reconnected to the Lord this way? They were surprised. After all, considering what happened to Orion and Olga''s failed marriages into the family, everyone believed that a deepened alliance like this would no longer be possible between them. The noble families¡ªthe top ones in particular¡ªwere threatened and suspicious, not thinking the Golds would make underhanded moves without alerting anyone. The Golds though, were actually quite confused at first. To their knowledge, the only relative they could have in Hassen died relatively early on, so they didn''t think they''d have family there at all. Zaol went pale as soon as he realized something, while his family¡ªwho also ended up with similar conclusions¡ªdid dare react too much, though they also felt cold. The lord laughed heartily, seeing the Golds like this. "Come here, let me introduce you." Zaol looked at his family before he nodded and walked towards the Lord. The first person he saw was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and wavy locks. Zaol shook and his eyes felt warm with tears. His jaw clenched, and he knew he wouldn''t be able to speak without his voice cracking. Bleumrick smiled as he pulled the woman close to him, making sure she was flush against him. "This is Lady Margaery," he said, looking at Zaol. "She''s your niece." "I¡­ see¡­" he said, voice a little weak as he looked at the woman who was a spitting image of his sister. He looked at her arm and saw a bruise there and his heart clenched. She must''ve arrived with Bleumrick days ago, yet he didn''t know. While he was relaxing at home, how had she been living with Bleumrick? "I¡­ didn''t know¡ª" Bleumrick''s eyes didn''t move from Zaol''s face, as if relishing every expression of despair he let out. "I went to visit and I was so surprised about what I found. Can you believe it?" "Your sister, Zinnia, had apparently been alive all this time¡­ the Lord there quite liked her. You should be happy!" Bleumrick laughed but, to the Golds, it was filled with mockery. After all, it was telling Zaol that his sister was alive and had been suffering for decades... ...and he didn''t even know about it. Chapter 1025 - 1025: The Long-eared Half-orc Zaol couldn''t speak, but when he felt his wife''s hand on his arm, he felt like he was injected with renewed strength. He approached and looked at the woman, who was looking at him with a complicated expression on her face. "I¡­ hello, nice to meet you." The girl looked at him with bright eyes, but also with awkwardness, reluctance, and¡­ shame. "Uncle¡­" she said. "My mother talked a lot about you." Zaol''s heart dropped and his eyebrows furrowed. "I¡­ thought that she died. I¡ª" The Gold Patriarch, however, could not finish his words because the Lord¡ªfor no other reason than his own amusement¡ªcut off their conversation by hugging the woman closer to him. He even leaned down to bite her ears, which clearly made the woman uncomfortable. It filled Zaol and his family with indignance, but they couldn''t do anything about it. Every noble in Bleuelle¡ªand anyone who''d have close interactions with the Lord¡ª had signed a detailed oath to never send harm to him, and this included touching him with the thought of force. This was something they had to do since they were young, in fact, and could be said to be part of a rite of passage. If they didn''t take it, they¡ªand their immediate family¡ªwould be kicked out of the City, so who could escape it? "The party is starting, we can''t be spending time just staying here," he said. "Go out and enjoy the food and performances! I''ll let her meet you when I feel like letting her go." This was not a question, and Bleumrick led the entourage elsewhere to watch the various shows and enjoy the food and attention there. As the Lord left, the Golds'' sights followed their backs with various thoughts. The age gap between Bleumrick and his new wife wasn''t small. The Lord was in the two ends of the same generation as Zaol, who was in his late 60s. The Lord was almost 90 years old, though he looked just about half of that. The Lady Margaery, in contrast, seemed to be Olga''s age at 40 years old... Their levels were also far away, and there were no few women who died under Bleumrick after he got¡­ passionate. Of course, it was impossible to find a woman near Bleumrick''s level, which made many noblemen believe the ''sacrifices'' were inevitable. Rather, the deep-rooted awe of the strong was so integral that it was taken for granted¡ªeven a point of pride to some¡ªthat women were killed in bed. It was absolutely disgusting, but it was the current way of the world. After all, leveling up after level 50 was incredibly difficult¡ªalmost impossible, in fact. There seemed to be a large gorge in between 49 and 50. It was a gorge that most people would not be able to cross in a lifetime if one didn''t have a consistent access to aether stones. Further, it was normal to only level up once or twice in a decade after this threshold. This was why Zaol reaching level 55 and the Lord reaching level 68 at their age was a feat and the reason why both families were so revered. Still¡­ it was unlikely for that girl to want this marriage. Did her father sell her off, like how it was with many other girls? Gaia patted her husband''s arm. Zaol was understandably mad, and it was depressing how their hands were tied. "We''ll figure out something to make her life here easy," she said. Gaia didn''t even consider ''rescuing'' the girl from a man like Bleumrick. It was not something they could do, and who was to say it was something they should do as well? "And¡­ your sister¡­" she said, her soothing voice calming him down a bit. "We''ll find a way to contact her." While this was happening, Obi''s eyes couldn''t help but look at the back of the Lord''s entourage. He narrowed his eyes and flinched. Olga saw his anomaly and followed his sights. She, too, gaped at the sight. It couldn''t be helped, the person was tall¡­ and had two long ears above her head. His eyebrows rose. "A half-orc?" ¡­ The party officially began when the music¡ªusing various instruments from all over the world¡ªresumed playing, and the Lord was further surrounded by curious nobles who did not forget to show admiration for whatever he had accomplished. The younger generation of the Golds were far more interested in the half-orc though. Obi and Olga slid to the back of the crowd to get a closer look. The half-orc was dressed like the other slaves, though she had a slightly more revealing dress to show the puff tail behind her. The other slaves saw them and bowed a bit. No one thought too much. Whenever the half-orc was shown, someone would go to take a closer look. She had a pitiful look on her face, and she was holding on to a cheap pendant held by a rope on her neck. As they walked closer, her little nose twitched, and her long ears slightly swiveled. The half-orc turned in a direction and her eyes went wide as she saw Obi. "You!" He flinched, pointing at himself. "You recognize us?" "You have my friend''s scent," she said, eyebrows furrowed. She looked at them guardedly and was immediately hostile the moment she placed the scent. If she wasn''t a slave, it was estimated she''d have attacked by now. "What?" "It is very sticky and intimate," she said, her nose twitching as she smelled him closely. "You rubbed him a lot!" At this, Otto and Olga looked at Obi weirdly. Obi was just confused at first until he realized what his siblings were probably thinking. "It''s nothing like that!" He then turned to the half-orc, too. "It''s nothing like that either!" Obi couldn''t help but sniff himself. Nothing was there. Although he didn''t use those scented soap (too girly), he still took proper baths right? "Us half-orcs have special senses of smell. Orcs and half orcs have scents of different spectrum to what you humans can smell." The rabbit half-orc wasn''t normally aggressive¡ªshe was even cowardly. Outside of this scene, she was looking down and her bunny ears were drooping. However, the moment family was involved she could become quite a beast. Too bad she was a slave and couldn''t do anything yet, however. Instead, she just glared at Obi and the other Golds, shocking the other slaves around her. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What did you do to Gochi?" Chapter 1026 - 1026: Maomao A/N: Althea is in the finals now!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT GUYS! Garan also put up a super good fight that got the other guy really stressed out xDD ¡­ Maomao was never the aggressive one in the group back then. The women had been relatively meek compared to their men¡ªespecially compared to aggressive orcs like Baku or Kuma. However, there was still orc blood in them, so whenever they felt hostile¡ªit showed through their auras and their bodies. In Maomao''s case, it manifested in unusual ways. She thumped her legs to the ground in agitation and, because she had strong feet, it caused a minor vibration on the stone floor. Her teeth were gritting, her back arched, her ears flattened against her head, and her tail was particularly puffed up. This was her body''s show of hostility, but it was an odd juxtaposition to her cute face and soft features. Rather than intimidating them, it made the Golds feel lost... and amused. "What did you do to Gochi?" she asked again, her small voice awkwardly modulated to be of lower timber (and with minimal success). "Where is he?" The interaction caught the attention of more people around them, and the Lords'' staff members were alarmed. They panicked, immediately approaching them. "Sorry about this¡­" they said and bowed, before turning to the half-orc with a bad expression and pushing her back. "HEY! You can''t talk to the Golds like that!" This one had always been meek, so what was going on now? And in the Lord''s precious party, too! How embarrassing! They had always questioned why this one was kept out of the cage! Sure, she was a slave, but she¡ªand her race, in general¡ªwas so dirty they should never interact so closely with humans¡ªespecially with the nobles! It was universally believed that half-orcs had some unknown disease to them. It was like how they called the goblins ''rats'' ¡ªshort for ratus, which were disgusting critters that ate corpses like maggots¡ªor "tunnelscum". It was also similar to how they called Dwarves ''Grubs'' or ''Bearded Grubs'', which was akin to their view of the small race being creatures of soil, also dirty. It was why the Lord and others wouldn''t touch half-orcs like her intimately. However, at the same time, keeping her as a ''pet'' was a major status symbol so they were still sought after. The guards and staff reprimanded Maomao. "Kneel down! Slap yourself!" they ordered. After a pause, the half-orc did indeed do so. She kneeled down and slapped herself, though her face was full of anger. Slap! "Stop it," Olga said, in an authorative tone, and the half-orc did pause. Olga was stronger than the staff members so, as a citizen, Maomao listened to her more by rule. The rabbit orc''s eyebrows furrowed as she looked up to meet Olga''s eyes. "There''s no need to hurt yourself." Otto nodded at the interaction and looked at the servants. "It''s fine. Let us talk." He then walked to the servant and handed a couple of silver from his space. "She made us angry, you see," he said, tone full of meaning. "Can we borrow a room?" ¡­ Maomao was forced to calm down by order and he could only follow the Golds to a private room on the ground floor. Like the servants, she assumed she was being put aside so they could torture her in the private chambers. She had superior hearing so she even heard some servants mutter under their breaths. "The Golds aren''t so special after all," he said. "They''re into those things just like us." sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. So when the Golds appeared casual as they closed the door, with them finding a seat to use or a wall to lean on, she was a little confused. Olga, the female, even patted her head. She froze and paled, making the woman take away her hand. "I''m sorry¡­" Maomao blinked, now more confused than ever. Why would the noble human apologize to her? The brothers looked at the interaction with mild interest. "So you know Gochi?" Otto asked, straight to the point. The mention of her precious friend by noble humans made her feel bad, so she glared at them. Unfortunately, she was already ordered to behave so she could not do anything else. "Yes," she said with gritted teeth. "He is family." So that''s what it was. Obi thought for about the ''scent'' on him for a bit. Was it when he sparred with Gochi? Before leaving Alterra, Obi challenged Gochi to a spar in the Barracks'' sparring ring. While his siblings did business, he bought weapons and sparred with various elementalists and the half-orc. Of course, he leveled his strength to their level, but he felt his technique had improved by miles during the days he stayed there. They lacked the strength, but their minds really worked differently from his, and it could be said to be an enlightening experience. Anyway, it was really amazing and he hoped to do that again. Before leaving, Gochi took all the shamelessness he had to ask him for a favor. He described his friends and begged them to buy them, promising to pay back in some way. "I still have two friends missing," Gochi had said before. "One is Nana. She is a tall half-orc with the capability to fly. She is pregnant, and should''ve given birth by now." "Another one¡­" he paused, his eyes softening a lot more. "...is Maomao. She is very cute. She has long ears that twitched whenever there was a sound and cute puffy tails one would want to touch¡ªdon''t touch it though." "..." At the time, Obi just shrugged and said he''d do what he could, not really thinking of encountering one so soon! He looked at the girl in front of him, matching he features with the ones Gochi described. "Is your name Maomao?" The rabbit''s eyes widened. "You¡ª" Obi smiled, though his looked more smug than anything. He crossed his arms as he looked at the bunny. "He asked me to look for you." Chapter 1027 - 1027: Heading Back! Now that they were in this stage, they naturally had to find a way to get the half-orc back without earning the lord''s ire. They discussed a few things first, just between the three of them siblings. However, they were just talking in the room and Maomao could hear everything. Were humans really trying to help her? Did Gochi really have the ability to ask a noble of such a favor? How? ¡­why? Why would nobles even bother? They never cared about anything unrelated to themselves¡­ She was very confused. This was beyond her realm of understanding and imagination, so she could only push down her curiosity for a while. In the end, the four people headed back out about half an hour later, though Maomao appeared to be weak and had a lot of bruises on her body. Obi and Otto approached the Lord alone, while the two women stayed in a corner, but within their sights. Bleumrick dismissed the pandering nobles surrounding him and looked at Otto. This made the nobles dislike Otto more but they could only begrudgingly walk away. "You seem interested in my half-orc, Obi?" he asked, looking past him and to the long-eared critter not far away. "So much that you punished her without my consent." Someone with such high level naturally felt intimidating. Even Obi had to gather his wits for a moment before he could reply. "She threatened us," he just said, and nothing more. "We saw you were busy so we took it upon ourselves to remind her she''s a slave." Otto butted in, saving the conversation again. "We already punished her enough, however. Can we take her off your hands, milord?" " "Why?" "She''s really cute and my sister wants her so badly." This would make sense because Maomao was cute and fluffy, which were things women naturally lean towards. Bleumrick stared at him for a while. "Half-orcs are rare even in cities. I bought her for hundreds of gold, and that was at a discount by virtue of my position," he said. "They''re very rare and not many Lords had one. What makes you think that she is for sale?" The rabbit shook in fear, looking down. It was as if doing so would make her less obvious despite being at least a head taller than most people. Otto sighed. "I can pay with a bit more." Bleumrick looked at him. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Do I look like I lack gold?" The atmosphere silenced, feeling a bit colder as the Lord became palpably annoyed. Obi''s level was quite a bit weaker and he gritted his teeth, trying not to pull out a weapon just by the looming sense of threat. Fortunately, Otto, even if his heart was pounding loudly, remained to be his suave self. "My brother has upgraded to a Class C Architect," Otto said, seemingly unperturbed. "With some partners, he managed to build very good and growable buildings." His words caused everyone to look at him in disbelief. Oslo? That guy? Really? Otto watched everyone''s beliefs and felt understanding. At the same time, he did ponder whether or not to drop his name at all. After all, there was the possibility of Oslo being hired by the Lord when he didn''t want to have anything to do with him. However, Otto decided to do it in the end. After seeing such good products, Bleumrick would''ve demanded to know him and might perhaps force them to make an oath. Withholding his name now would only cause Bleumrick to distrust them more. "The most useful to you is probably the Hospitals," he said, "It''s a building that is much like the Healing Sanctuary, but much more cost-efficient." "I can sell you a blueprint for a discounted price," he said. "Especially if you let us take her off her hands now." Knowing Alterra, they would not mind this. They would not only make money, but they''d also get a half-orc. "I''m interested," he said, before turning his eyes to the half-orc who shook under his stare. "However, that blueprint better be worth it." ¡­ When Helios and Sahara were doing final preparations for the trip, they did not expect a new critter¡ªa half-orc¡ªto join them! Helios was quite casual about it, though Sahara was a bit startled. She had never seen a half-orc in person before. She did have a little bias as an aborigine, and this manifested in her keeping a distance. It was not much of from a place of disgust however, but from a place of protection for her unborn child. Helios did not mind. He knew pregnant mothers and new mothers would protect their babies even from their own husband''s "germs". Fortunately, it wasn''t hard to soften up with her because Maomao just effortlessly triggered the maternal instincts of many women. It was just that noble women tended to have an image to withhold and being close to the ''dirty'' thing was usually seen as unbecoming. Anyway, the time to depart quickly arrived¡ªjust before dawn the next day¡ªand the Golds sent them to their personal beast cart stables where Sahara''s Beast Carts were parked. She had two. The servants and guards she had (as well as the people from Takoda Mercenary Team) were already there waiting for them. The entire walk there, Helios was holding her waist. She blushed, pushing it away. "It''s embarrassing." "We''re officially lovers now," he said. "I also feel comfortable supporting your back at all times." "You¡ª" "You are bearing my child, because we slept together. Are we not lovers?" Sahara''s cool face was red as a gouji fruit and the Golds couldn''t help but be amused. The servants also smiled, seeing their usually-stoic mistress show such cute expressions. The beast seemed uncomfortable with Maomao though, but the magic of the Beast Tamer whistle was fortunately able to make it behave. Helios led her to the carriage before turning back to the Golds to say a few more goodbyes. The men slapped each others'' arms. "We will send some strong guards to block people trying to follow back," Otto said, and Helios nodded, expressing his gratitude. This was their way to delay getting traced back to Alterra, if not to avoid it entirely. Hopefully, the Lord would be too preoccupied with his own things to bother with a new village. Another reason, of course, was to maintain their business advantage. It wouldn''t do if the customers decided to go directly to the source, right? They ought to make a lot of money from it first! Otto also sent him another 30 sets of blueprint materials. This cost a fortune, but he thought it''d be worth it. According to the deal with Alterra, he was also getting his shares for the blueprints. Other than this, he also handed him very costly small bottle of Limb-regeneration potion. It was the best he could do and it could only regenerate a finger, but he was sure Althea would appreciate it. This particular potion took forever to enter the market, and the alchemist responsible for it was notoriously anti-social. He hadn''t even seen his face for years now, but they were certain he was in his laboratory by virtue of the occasional smoke escaping out his window. Anyway, after a few more words, Helios entered the Beast Car. The mercenary team members divided between the two carts, squeezing in, though there was usually someone with the driver so they could defend as soon as a threat appeared. The whistle sounded and the car lurched forward, reminding Helios a bit of Terran cars. The cars exited the mansion and left the inner area, passing through the somewhat chaotic avenues with fortunately no more drama (they kind of expected someone like Estra to make a scene, though to be fair they did leave at an awkward time). Helios had a feeling the Golds'' strong men were watching over them, and would do so until they were outside the City''s scope. They were so dependable. Helios would make sure to put a lot of good words for them, on top of swearing to pay back their goodness with interest someday. Helios held his lover''s hand, before shifting his eyes away from the forests outside that seemed to move like a blur. His heart raced at the fact that he was finally heading home¡ªwith the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. To Alterra! Chapter 1028 - 1028: The Group Heading Back to Ferrol Alterra. Another day or so passed, and it was time for a large group to go back to Ferrol. For one, the first batch of aborigines from the Mercenary Team like Pipa, Yoyo, and the others had already graduated and were set to go back to their base. They felt very reluctant, but they also knew their jobs and the reasons why they were sent to Alterra in the first place. As much as they loved being there, they were trained so they could make things better for the branches¡ªand that was what they shall do! However, they did promise to come back during their off weeks (they were entitled to 30 days every year) to visit, but¡ªhopefully¡ªwith their families. Starting with these aborigines as well as others who had been to Alterra, it would become a vacation spot they would visit at least once a year. Other than them, a new batch of guards were also going to train. Particularly, there were a few level 9s and 10s who needed to handle stronger monsters to expedite their growth. Hugo was helping this group get ready. He had temporarily returned from Iron Mountains when he heard that his nephew had sent a letter that he was coming back. A few days ago, Helios sent via Post Office to Ferrol. Jonathan''s people then passed the letter to the Terran Mercenary Team Ferrol branch, who sent him word via messenger bird back when he was stationed in Iron Mountains. The younger man was apparently heading back with the woman of his dreams (the letter was half wishy-washy). Of course, even when Hugo was temporarily out of his designated station, he was still assigned to certain jobs for guards while he was temporarily in Alterra. Hugo''s current task was to organize their Ferrol-bound teams to maximize their effectiveness. After all, the monsters in towns were strong, and they would definitely be working as teams, so the composition was pretty key for everyone''s growth and survival. Further, unlike most territories whose fighters were focused on a few archetypes that had higher survivability on their own (like swordsmen), Alterra allowed the chance for other professions to flourish because they could afford to create trustworthy teams. For instance, Sheildsman was an occupation that was on the verge of becoming obsolete outside of the Alterran region. However, they would always have a team in Alterra. That occupation might not have a lot of attacking power, but their defensive skills were really top-notch. In a sense, they could serve as protective amulets on their own, provided the monsters'' levels and quantities weren''t too overwhelming. Other than them, a lot of soldiers were also coming. They couldn''t just use the Training Hall because real fights had a lot more variables than that. They created a Team C for this, which comprised of the newly arrived members from the West like Ryan and Orz. They had been left behind by their peers in terms of levels¡ªwhich was sad considering they had only been apart for a few months¡ªso they were the ones to be sent to Ferrol this time. Other than them, various caravans were also coming with huge amounts of stock that they had been preparing since the trip was announced a few days back. Although the territory already had a deal with Ferrol, the demand was high and the market was enough for everyone! All they had to do was to match Ferrol''s pricing¡ª or at least not to go too low. Anyway, knowing Jonathan and his cronies, matching the prices meant they could get a large markup! The caravans were already setting up and filling up their carts. The carts were not too big but they were designed practically and simplistically. They also had suspension systems on so the people inside would have relatively smooth rides. They were setting up in the small plaza near the gates so it was easy to see how many people were coming to Ferrol. It was a lot. Although the Economics team did have a registration process going on to plan well, it still felt amazing when they saw it in person. Another reason they had to do registrations was because Alterrans didn''t have Beasts. Their carts were pulled by the newly trained Broats which¡ªat least for now¡ªwas fully ''government-controlled''. This would not change until new tamers like Chucky or Reddit awakened and decided to create businesses on their own, instead of getting hired by the territory. Broats were actually quite fast, at least compared to other low-level monsters. While they weren''t built for fighting or slaughtering others, they were at least stronger than oxes, so it was no problem to make them pull a filled-up cart. They had evolved this way to avoid becoming extinct. However, inside territory lines, they barely moved at all and they just grazed lazily. Outside the territory lines, they were quite active and difficult to catch. In the case of the broats they bought, they belatedly found out that there was a plant fed to them to keep them calm, so the fact that they acted differently remained unnoticed during the first purchase of Broats back then. A team found out by accident when they encountered a herd of them while clearing the place. They were quite happy to see them, not noticing they''d disappear the moment they approached. However, they were also very slow-witted creatures. They were easy to slaughter, dead before they could realize they died. This was taken advantage of by Alterrans and aborigines. Although they were fast, they simply had to set up traps and the like, and they were sure to get captured. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the same time, this slow-wittedness also meant that whenever monsters appeared, they were unlikely to panic. They just had to pull on them and they''d run. Although Broats weren''t faster than humans with high levels, they were fast enough to escape middle-level mobs as long as they were pulled in the right direction. To pull, they simply had to put up the food bait in front of them, much like putting carrots in front of Terran horse''s faces. Anyway, the caravans were set to leave in another hour when two beast cars approached the gates. "We''re here!" Helios said, looking out the windows of the carriage. Every aborigine were curious and also looked to see tall walls and dense sentries that a village shouldn''t be able to afford. There were extra and unfamiliar weapons in between the sentries. Not to mention, this village actually had a queue of people coming in! Even the mercenaries were blinking. This was their last stop of this job, and they were initially not planning on staying so long. The mission lasted far longer than they thought already. They were indeed interested in Alterra before and were planning on exploring for a day or so as they rested, but that was before they ended up staying in Bleuelle for far longer than necessary due to Helios'' injuries. But seeing this place now¡­ they might just stay a while, after all. Even from outside, they could already tell Alterra was far more interesting than they thought¡ªand they had a feeling extending their stay would be quite worth it. Chapter 1029 - 1029: First Impressions "Ah, Helios! You''re back!" They were set aside and inspected before entering (no other village would dare do this to a person who could afford a beast car) and the guards were surprised to see one familiar person in the group of aborigines. The guards became a lot less guarded with them from that point forward. "You can just deposit the beast cars in the Inn," the guard said, pointing in a direction inside the walls and to their left. "A lot of aborigines had gone home (with a lot of reluctance, mind you) so we have a lot of openings now." "I see, thanks!" Helios said and he guided the driver to enter the gates, which opened to a lively plaza with small stores, parked bikes, stores, and so on. There was a clear path for them there so the beast cars were unhindered as they entered, though they did make everyone there stare curiously at them, the new arrivals. The group went down the carts as it was deposited there and everyone looked around in interest. Other than the mercenary team, there was also Sahara''s guards. Sahara''s guards¡ªexcept for the level 20 Glio¡ªwas actually composed of upper level 20 guards and even a level 30, though because of the exclusivity of Bleuelle''s inner city most of her guards had to stay at the periphery inns. According to their rules, ''outsiders without positions'' could not be bringing threats with them. The average level of normal citizens in a City was around Level 20-25, and outsiders beyond that (from non-affiliated territories) were considered threats and could not enter the inner circle without a stringent process. When they heard that the princess had encountered such trouble, they felt extremely bad, but at the same time, they knew going against the rules was a guaranteed way to get even worse fates. Anyway, they were greeted by Balzy''s Staff who kindly led the beasts to the beast hotel. While they arranged themselves, gathering a lot of curious stares, the occupants of the first cart went down. It was none other than Helios, Sahara, her servants, and Maomao. Hugo, who was with the caravan, saw this and immediately went over them. "Helios!" "Uncle!" the younger one yelled, hugging his uncle. Hugo''s eyes twitched, unused to the sappiness, but he allowed the young man to do what he wanted anyway. Near them, there was also a small crowd forming. Rather than around Helios or Sahara though, the crowd took particular interest to the tallest one of them all¡ªthe bunny! It couldn''t be helped: She was¡­ so CUTE! "A bunny!" "So cute!" "Ow! Her ears twitched! Did you see? DID YOU SEE?!" Like how Gochi and Baku were, Maomao was understandably very shocked by the reception. Should she be scared? She didn''t feel hostility¡­ but she should feel scared regardless, right? While the adults were chattering with her or about her, Maomao felt some tugging on her skirt. She looked down and saw cute little human cubs staring up at her with rounded eyes filled with curiosity. "What''s your name?" a little girl asked, and the kids around her nodded as if asking the same thing. Her lips twitched. "M-Maomao..." "Are you friends with Gochi too?" Gochi¡­ Unconsciously, her pawed hands held her necklace. She looked around to check if Gochi was there, but was a little disappointed not to see him. She looked so pitiful, her rounded eyes teary and her long ears dropping down a bit. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It broke people''s hearts. Someone immediately turned in a direction. "Oil! Someone tell the Guards to send Gochi and Baku a message!" They turned to look at Maomao''s large teary eyes and suddenly felt the mission was urgent. "DO IT NOW!" This made Maomao flinch, surprised. Baku was like her precious older brother! "Baku is here too?" She uttered, her voice the softest and the fluffiest they heard from an adult critter. Those who heard it felt cute attacks all over. Anyway, Maomao was large but she was really a cute bunny in Terran''s eyes. "Yes, yes," they softly said. "He just arrived before the heat wave, they''re out hunting right now." "We''ll make sure they get here as soon as possible," another said, patting his chest as if reassuring her. Other than him, the other humans were focused on other things. "Can I touch your ears?" "Yes, you must be tired. Do you want carrots?" Without exemption, the people''s voice were soft and gentle. Even the big men with gruff voices talked this way. Maomao was really imbalanced. Why were they talking to her like this?! ... More and more curious onlookers checked out the commotion and many of them had their snacks. The more time passed, even if they were just staying mostly within the territory, the people were made more and more aware of the huge world out there. Some were also feeling dreamy, hoping they would be part of the future caravans (should they have the capital to do so). They also want adventure! Sadly, their levels (the level requirement increased a bit) were not enough yet so they could only work hard within the region of safety Alterra created around it. How many more half-orcs, goblins, and other creatures were there? Just¡­ how big was this continent, exactly? ¡­ In another area, a certain trio was still talking. It was a certain handsome uncle and nephew and a girl with sparkly light-colored hair. "You''re back," Hugo said. "To be honest I''m surprised you actually found her," he said. "And so quickly, too." He greeted Sahara as well, quite kindly. She seemed like a nice lady, and his worry settled down. Similarly, Sahara''s servants¡ªwho were tensely waiting not far away¡ª heaved sighs of relief. Not only was the village they went to impressive so far, but Master Helios'' family seemed to be alright with their lady! Helios grinned as he looked at his uncle, gently pulling a beautiful woman almost flush to him. "Well, the patron goddess of Love smiling upon us," he said. "It''s destiny, uncle." Hugo wanted to rub his forehead. On the contrary, Helios was just giddy that everything was going so well! He''s just on top of the world right now! "Oh and, uncle! I have great news!" Helios said, voice unconsciously loud because he was so happy that everyone in the vicinity could hear. He looked at Sahara with eyes filled with warmth and pride. His eyes then shifted down to her stomach before turning back to look at his uncle with the widest shit-eating grin. "Congratulations," he said. "You''re a grandpa now." Chapter 1030 - 1030: Moving On A/N: The Final round for the character selection ends in a few hours! Do send some points if you can~ the competitor tends to drop huuuge points at the last minute lololol Thanks in advance everyone!! HUGS Now, on to the story~ ... ___ Speaking of babies, the small sound of cruisers scrolled through the pavement. All those who heard would turn and, without exception, they would soften as if they turned to goo. "Mwammmmmmmaaaa!!" "Goooggmmmwaaammaa!!" The babies were currently strolling around in their outdoor cruisers. They were so cute as their little feet stepped on the ground, pushing themselves forward or to the side. They had bright giggly smiles on their faces, and their rounded eyes were wide in wander as they looked at the many people surrounding them. They went around in their own pace, though a flexible rope was connected from the cruiser to a parent each, making sure they didn''t go or roll too far away. The handle was also retractable wherein the parents would just secure in place if they wanted to push the babies instead of letting them roam free. There was also the provision to add fabric below the feet of the kids if they didn''t want them to walk as well. Anyway, their little bodies bounced with every little push of their feet, and the passerbys could see their tiny shoes touching the ground. The babies'' laughter rang out as they cruised around, the melody of pure joy brought happiness to everyone in the vicinity. "So cute, so cuteeee¡­" "Omo¡­ the babies are already on baby walkers!" "Soon enough they''d be running around without them!" "Aren''t they, like, not even 5 months old?" Another asked, trying to remember how old babies should be like this. This earned him a smack at the back of his head. "Don''t question Miss Althea and Sir Garan''s genes!" Anyway, the locals were more or less used to seeing the babies and just admired them openly. Some aborigines around, however, couldn''t help but pause. One, because those babies were too beautiful! And second, because they heard how old the babies were and were surprised at their growth. "Is it like the Holt City child?" One asked. "No, even younger?" "So amazing?" S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Do you think¡­ they''d also be impressive like that one?" The Holt City Lord was very, very, proud of his progenies. Basically, many people were updated on the child''s growth even when they didn''t ask for it. For example, they knew the child had begun walking when he was less than 7 months old. They knew the boy''s first word was at 10 months, and they claimed that the first word was still ''sword'' or something instead of calling either one of his parents. He also started making conversations at 15 months, with sentences ''go fight'' (allegedly) being the most common phrase he used. It would be interesting to see two more kids with the same potential. The babies were with Althea and Garan, who were there to see the caravan off, and also to tell them some reminders and the like. Garan, at this time, was having a final meeting with Team C as well as the Terran Mercenary aborigines. Hugo couldn''t help but look a bit longer at Althea, and then at her children. His heart was filled with mix of emotions, all of which clenched at it with bittersweet feeling. Back when he was in the Iron Mountains, he thought about her a lot. Now, looking at his nephew so happy, he couldn''t help but feel complicated. Logically, he knew he had no chance and his feelings were probably just a burden for her. But, he still wanted to express it. What was the worst that could happen? He was already assigned to Iron Mountains. Maybe a proper rejection would get him to stop longing for her so much, which had been affecting his productivity. And¡ªselfishly¡ªa part of him thought that being a burden was better than being nonexistent in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, he took wide steps to her. He stopped at a respectful distance away from her. "Miss Althea?" He asked, making her turn to him. His eyes flickered a bit as it met with her bright green orbs, and suddenly his throat constricted on himself. Thankfully, he was a man who could handle pressure, so he managed to catch himself before he floundered. "I¡­ Can I talk to you about something? It won''t take long," he said, appearing professional, but only he knew how hard his heart was beating. She stared at him for a moment and he drowned in her emerald eyes, but fortunately he managed to gather himself fast enough. She nodded in the end, handing the babies to Sheila and Harold, and the two of them found a nearby park to talk. At this time, most people available were in the caravan or seeing them off. The rest were in school or at work, so there was basically no one in the park that time. Hugo was thankful for this bit of fortune. "I¡­" he began, but suddenly felt a little cowardly. How long had it been since he was this way? Althea looked at him in concern. Was the problem so big that even the usually-composed Hugo seemed befuddled? "What happened?" she asked. "Is there anything wrong in Iron Mountains?" "No, it''s nothing like that. This¡­ is a personal problem." "What is it?" she asked. "You can tell me." Her voice was so gentle that it both soothed and exacerbated his nervousness. He closed his eyes for a moment to gather himself and when it opened, his eyes fixed on hers as if wanting to connect¡ªas if trying to get a hold of her heart. Hugo was very handsome and tall, his dark skin making him appear even stronger and more charming. If any other women were met with his sincere eyes, they''d have fallen hard. "I am in love with you, Miss Althea," he said, and Althea''s eyes widened a little. Hugo... was really straightforward... She blinked, coughed, and cleared her throat. She was suddenly reminded of the confessions back in high school and college. Rejection was easy at the time because she didn''t have anything to do with those people. She didn''t care what they thought either. Hugo was different. He was a valuable citizen to Alterra, a precious brethren, so she cared a lot more about how to handle this. Her thought process showed a bit on her face though. Hugo gave a wry smile. Seeing her struggle to think of what to say¡ªas if he was a fragile porcelain¡ªwas enough of an answer. "It is fine," he said. "I just want to say it, to kill the bit of curiosity in my heart. "Don''t worry about anything. I''ll do my job with the utmost sincerity," he said, though his voice was a little raspy. He raised his hand for a handshake, which she took, but he raised it so he could place a chaste kiss on the back of her hand. "Thank you for hearing me out." His feelings for her felt like a burden for him too, but it was one he wanted to carry and hold on to. However, he knew that it wouldn''t do anything to her, to him, or to the world. As he walked away, his heavy steps slowly felt a bit lighter, and the tightening in his heart just a little bit less. However, he also knew that it''d take a while for him to completely let go, and he told himself he could take his time. He sighed. One step at a time¡­ Chapter 1031 - 1031: Reunions and Goodbyes A/N: HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! I''m posting 1 hour in advance to ask for everyone''s help for the character finals! I didn''t know before but we can apparently get a character frame if she won!? loool so cooolll T_T Hope we get it \\o/ ... ____ The time of the caravan''s departure had finally arrived. This time, Hugo was coming with them, days in advance of his supposed departure. He asked for permission of course from¡ªawkwardly¡ªGaran, and his request was approved. The tension between the two men was palpable though and the people around them had the illusion that they were either freezing or struggling to breathe. Garan''s cold eyes looked at the other man, who stayed firm and stable¡ªvery much unlike his softer state when he was with his wife earlier on. "I expect the best work from you," he said. "Iron Mountains is a very important resource for us." "Of course, Elder Garan," he said. "I will do my job very well¡ªyou and¡­ the other elders¡­ wouldn''t have to worry about a thing." They were very professional, but at this time there was a clear area around them, as if everyone was ready to run if they had to. The tension was just that scary. Fortunately, nothing drastic actually happened. Hugo bid his farewell to his boss like a proper professional and headed to the caravan to take the lead along with the other strong aborigines from the mercenary team. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ Helios sighed and approached his uncle, embracing him before he went away. Hugo didn''t know what to do with his hand so he only patted the younger man''s shoulder. "I''m sure you''ll find the woman for you, uncle," he said. "You deserve it more than anyone I know." Hugo gave a wry smile, though he frankly couldn''t imagine it happening to him. "Just live well with your love," he said. "Do it for the both of us." ¡­ At this time, two half-orcs and a few dozen citizens were kilometers away from the walls, clearing up the monsters there. The fighters and hunting team in Alterra were quite active, so the stronger people¡ªthose already on the verge of level 10¡ªmight have to travel a little farther to get a satisfying mob to hunt. The two half-orcs rarely were in a team together. It was just that their individual groups ended up merging at some point, so the citizens and guards had the pleasure of seeing two half-orcs strengths at the same time. And they were really impressive. Baku roared as he held up a monster upside down. He threw them every so often in the middle of the Alterran crowd, who would then take advantage of its imbalance. Stab! Slash! Hit! On the other hand, Gochi favored speed and technique rather than brute strength. So he would weaken the monsters and direct them towards his team, who''d be taking the last blow. This went on for a while, and a few people were already on the verge of leveling up. This ended when Gochi felt the aether letter trigger. It so happened that the final few monsters were already being handled so he could read it in peace. "Ah, there''s a message," he said, taking out the letter from his space. He had a serious expression on his face as he did so, mind wondering what it could contain. After all, receiving a notice while they were training rarely happened unless there was something urgent happening. Similarly, everyone looked at him, while some people nearby went closer to see it for themselves. On the other hand, Baku could not read yet. Even when he studied, he just couldn''t learn beyond a couple of words. In the end, everyone accepted that his brain simply wasn''t wired to learn it. He depended on Gochi for translations of written text which was a little embarrassing so he always made sure to overcompensite by showing off his monstrous strength. Speaking of that, he was still holding a monster nearly his size above his head while he was waiting for Gochi to read it out loud. Everyone''s heart dropped when they saw Gochi''s eyes widen, and for a moment they thought something serious like a war was happening. However, the shocked face morphed into one of glee, and the fox orc immediately whipped his head to look at Baku. "Maomao is here!" "What?" Baku dropped the monster he was holding and it immediately growled. Fortunately, the surrounding humans were alert enough to mob and take it down before it could bite anyone. The two half-orcs immediately became antsy and the humans knew they would be in a rush. In the end, the humans¡ªled by Mart¡ªasked them to go ahead. They would run after them, at least as fast as they could go. Mart was also a team-lead-in-training so he had his own aether letter anyway. The two half-orcs rushed back to the territory at record speeds. They moved so fast that they were practically blurred. Baku was glad his little sister¡ªor at least someone he treated as such¡ªwas alive and well and would be together with them! Gochi though felt even more elated, and it was to the point he was sniffling and wiping tears before they even reached the walls. "Maomao, we''ll be there soon!" ¡­ While the two were running back, Maomao was led to wait at the guard station so she could get updated real time via aether letters. She didn''t want to wait comfortably inside¡ªwhich many of the guards and citizens were urging her to do¡ªand preferred to wait outside so she could see them the moment they neared her. She was walking impatiently back and forth and she really wanted to just wait outside the gate. However, the humans told her they could enter in either one of the gates so it was better to just wait in this spot. It was not easy though! She was too excited! From the side, quite a lot of passebys ended up hanging around. Some people who were just passing by slowed down their speed so they could stare longer at the new half-orc. Of course, there were also some who were blatantly staring at her. Some even approached and tried to comfort her, to the expense of holding back from touching her ears or her tail or her glistening white fur. "Don''t worry too much, Maomao," one of the humans said, handing her another carrot which she absent-mindedly took and munched on. "Yes, Maomao, they are rushing over here as we speak¡ªno need for you to feel so stressed out. It''s bad for the fur¡­" Their voices were squeezed and high-pitched, which would return to normal when they talked to each other. It was so odd. Maomao really couldn''t comprehend it. However, her bufuddlement was quickly forgotten when he felt familiar auras and scents rushing over in her direction. Her eyes widened, and her ears went upright and twitched. The people around her gasped when she suddenly hopped and dashed in a direction, causing a slight wind to flow in where she was. Maomao had very, very strong legs, and a single hop actually got her from the plaza to the next street! Gochi and Baku had already entered the territory then, rushing over to her and using the wide avenues. They went past the bikes and broat carts that were using it, skillfully avoiding crashing into any of them while not reducing their speeds at all. They saw each other right at the intersection, and the three half-orcs immediately brightened like the sun. "Maomao!!" "Gochi! Baku!!" The trio ran to each other for a tight embrace with a force that created a small wind at contact. The trio created a heartwarming sight smack in the middle of the intersection¡ªbecoming the most beautiful causes of traffic Alterra had ever seen. Chapter 1032 - 1032: Gifts and an Adventure A/N: ALTHEA WON 2024''S MOST POPULAR FEMALE CHARACTER!! KYAAAAA Thank you for your support everyone!! *HUGS* I wonder what her character frame will look like. ¡­ ____ When the family went home, the children were tasked to sleep with their big sister Maya, and everyone knew what it meant. "Mwamaaaaaa!" "Gooooggmmmaaaammmm!" The babies were naturally not reconciled. They want to sleep with their soft mum!!! The babies cried, their plump cheeks puffier and redder than usual, and their rounded eyes were lined with tears. The adults'' hearts broke, especially Althea''s. Garan''s too, of course, and he pondered whether to pass on his much-awaited private night with his wife. He pitied his brother below, but the children would come first. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fortunately, he got an idea, which might help distract the kids long enough that they''d temporarily forget about sleeping with their mum. He raised both of his hands, with palms upward. Suddenly, energy condensed in them, and everyone gaped when he created two thin metal bases with indentions, one on each hand. Not only the babies, but even the adults were fascinated with the process. From this base, strands of metal formed into the shape of what would eventually become a close-up shot of Althea, showing her beautiful smiling face from the shoulder up. "It''s only temporary, but it should do for a while," he said, handing over the new toys to the babies. They had stopped crying as soon as a strand of metal floated gracefully to create something even more beautiful. Now, their rounded eyes were staring at it with curiosity. Harold, who was holding Meatball, leaned down to take a closer look. "Wow¡­ this is amazing," he said. "I''ve never seen such expert work¡ªespecially not in such a short time." Sheila, who was holding Pepper, nodded in agreement. "I know of other metal users, but I don''t think anyone could make such intricate ones." They didn''t know it yet, but it''d also last far longer than others'' temporary metallic creations. Anyway, Garan definitely showed off his expertise. Of course, it could also be his desperation to get alone time with his wife, so there was that. Anyway, this successfully calmed down the babies, whose little hands were gripping their new toys. The couple could finally excuse themselves after giving each baby a kiss on the cheek, though Garan couldn''t wait and he carried her on his shoulder and straight back to the room. ¡­ Althea was first led to the bathroom, shed off her clothing in record time. She liked taking baths before going to bed, so Garan would ''assist'' her so they could go about with their nightly activities faster. However, while she sat snugly in the bathtub, using her husband''s large body as a backrest, she realized that Garan took special focus on washing her hand¡ªrubbing the back of her hands with his calloused fingers a lot longer than other parts of her body (at least for now). She immediately knew what it was about. She sighed. "Husband¡­" "I know," he said, leaning down to place a kiss on her bare neck, tongue creeping up to lick her ears, and his rough fingers crawling down to her nether regions. "I just felt like taking you hard today." ¡­ A few hours later. Clap! Clap! Clap! That night, the erotic sounds of slapping skins and sensual moans and groans echoed across their room. Whether it was from the bathroom, to the walls, to the sofa, and finally to the bed¡ªit went on practically non-stop. The movements became more and more frantic, until a growl resounded, followed by an intense squelching sound. "Wife¡­" Garan gasped as he rested his head on Althea''s shoulder, releasing for the nth time that day. Althea was in a daze, her face flushed, as if expressing her nourishment. Fortunately, Garan finally took pity on her and pulled out, just hugging her close to him to feel her softness and her warmth. The couple rested, Althea snuggling into her husband''s embrace. He was particularly hard today and she knew it was because she received a confession. She had received plenty of confessions in her lifetime, though he was usually away for most of it so he wasn''t as affected. This was one of the few times he was in the same place, and for some reason he seemed to find Hugo a bit of a threat as well. They didn''t need to talk about it anymore though, both knowing the confession didn''t mean anything except for a passing moment. Garan caressed her waist and kissed her head. "Your birthday is happening soon," he said. "Is there a particular place you want to celebrate?" "Anywhere is fine¡­" she said, shaking her head, tickling Garan a bit and making his breath hitch. "Jonathan sent an invitation. They will be holding the Beast Fair in a week. It was delayed due to the stronger-than-usual heat wave, which gives us time to join if we want to." She blinked and lifted her head to look at him a bit. She was so cute that Garan couldn''t help but smile. "Do you want to come for an advanced celebration? We should be able to get back in time for your birthday." In her excitement, she fully turned over to face him while they laid. "Really?" Would she finally be able to see a bit of the bigger world? She was so busy before and Garan said the monsters there were unsafe for her, so she hadn''t been to a Town yet. How exciting! While Althea was already thinking of where to go, what to do, and what to buy, her husband was getting excited in a different way. Garan''s eyes darkened as he looked at his wife''s breasts squeezed on his abs. His breath turned heavy and a moment later, they were turned over again. Althea blinked as she looked at the large man hovering above her and opening her legs¡­ It seemed like Garan didn''t feel enough ''pity'' for her, after all. Chapter 1033 - 1033: Arrival to Ferrol Town A/N: Special mention to Lotuslin and the holiday castle she sent~ hehehe Thank you!! Guys, if you like mythology and worldbuilding check out her story~ ... ___ A few days later, the couple found themselves outside of Ferrol Town. It was just the two of them this time, without anyone tagging along. Although the way there was relatively dangerous, Garan was not weak and their Beast Repelling Potion also helped quite a bit. Of course, they also took this time to train a bit, with Garan letting Althea handle the monsters that she could. Anyway, her equipment was way beyond her level, so they would be useful for a long time. Still, they couldn''t stay for too long because the event was about to start so she wasn''t able to level up in the end. "So this is a Town, huh?" Althea said, looking around as soon as they entered the gates. This was the first time Althea had gone to another territory outside their area, and it certainly was her first time in a town. Ferrol Town was a really nice place and worthy to be called one of the better Towns in the region. It had tall walls, relatively dense sentries, strong guards, and a bustling economy. Jonathan''s predecessor was really wise to hold all these events year-round, and it made sure Ferrol earned a lot from its visitors. The tourism industry really was one of the best ways to increase territory income, and Ferrol was one of the few examples of a territory that managed to take advantage of it. Anyway, the fair would be starting the next day and they took the day to explore the base and rest well. "This is what I prepared for you back then," he said, showing off the base and its amenities. He also took her to the gardens and the gazebo, making her brighten at the sight of it. "Wow¡­" Althea said as she stepped forward and touched the well-taken-care-of garden. "Husband, this is amazing!" He was a bit proud but also a bit embarrassed. He could remember his thought process when it was being constructed. He thought she''d be in awe of what he made for her, but in reality, she was simultaneously building her own village. "It''s beautiful!" she said as she stood up, running to him for a hug. "My husband is so good." Contrary to Garan''s embarrassment, Althea was so genuinely proud of him. To be able to carve up his own place in this world was not easy. She never thought her own achievements was above her husband''s. On the contrary, she was more impressed with what he had done! After all, she was gifted a Lord Token as soon as she landed! Her husband had no such advantage! He started as a ''weak'' foreigner without any backing at all. In the span of three months, he obtained good land in a good town. Who else could''ve done it? No one! While they perused the place, they were hurriedly greeted by the staff there. Garan did send a letter of their arrival, but he didn''t specify the exact date or time. Combined with the delays they had because they also trained on their way there, the staff was unaware that they had arrived at all! S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Those who hadn''t seen Althea looked in awe. Not only was she super beautiful and charming, but she also made the scary captain look so¡­ soft! Anyway, the two took a walk around the vicinity, and they stopped at a gazebo and relaxed there, feeling the atmosphere of the small garden with just the two of them. It had been a while since they traveled a distance for a date, and it was really quite fun. Of course, after a while, they would still miss their children. "It would be so nice if the babies are here," she said, snuggling on his wide shoulder. The children, like her, would love adventures. Garan''s lips twitched but didn''t answer the affirmative. "Maybe when they can start fighting and defending themselves," he said, caressing his wife''s waist. The atmosphere warmed a bit and he tilted his head down and took her lips. They closed their eyes as their lips rubbed against each other''s, and their tongues played inside each other''s mouths. Garan''s strong arms pushed her flush to him, so he could feel her softness while he tasted her mouth. However, the heated atmosphere was cut off by a new voice coming from the side. "Captain, Miss Althea!" One of the staff, Esau, yelled as he ran to the gazebo. "What is it," he asked without any intonation in his voice. Esau looked at them and gulped, realizing that he must''ve had interrupted something! The legends were true! The Captain was the softest with the Lady, but he could also be the harshest when she was around! Esau genuinely feared for his life! Fortunately, he was a professional. He cleared his throat and managed to utter what he had to anyway. "The Lord is here!" ¡­ "You guys really know how to carve a life wherever you are, huh?" the tall man said as he approached, looking around the small gardens by the way. Jonathan had never been inside the base, and there had never been a need to. He saw that, although it was small, it was well-planned and reminiscent of some parks in Alterra. The two stood up and greeted him, doing the standard salute, and received one in kind. "I came to buy some items," he said. "Then I heard you were here and I thought I''d greet you. "Welcome to Ferrol Town, my proud home," he said. "Rightfully so, Lord Jonathan," she said with a smile. "Ferrol is a well-deserved top-tier town. I''m sure we have a lot to learn by coming here." Jonathan quite liked her attitude and nodded. "I can guide you. I definitely know more about the territory than everyone else." The two looked at him, a bit surprised. Althea looked at him appreciatively. "Will this be alright? I mean, you are the lord after all." "I don''t see what the issue is," he said, shrugging. "Besides, I''ve tweaked a few things in the territory inspired by what I have seen in Alterra." He gave them a sly look. "As Elders who know a lot about it, I''d like to hear some of your opinions on them." It had to be said: The previous Lord educated his heir very well, and he would definitely benefit a lot from it. Chapter 1034 - 1034: Ferrol Town Date Quite the peculiar sight would be talked about for a while. After all, the lord himself seemed to be guiding a couple with a few of his guards following at a distance, just so they wouldn''t bother them. This naturally gathered a lot of surprised stares. Especially when the levels of the couple were really¡­ low! The male was average level for a Town, but the female seemed to be only above level 10? However, they had the aura of nobles so they didn''t think too deeply about it. At the very least, anyone handled with such care by their own lord was definitely not a small entity! They all wondered which town or city they came from to get the lord to show them around like this. Some of the more powerful parties also sent their men to investigate. Very curious! Who were these newcomers? ¡­ Jonathan, probably because of his predisposition, had a very open mind and didn''t think his taking another esteemed person around was humbling him. Instead, he took it as an opportunity to improve his home even more! This attitude was obvious to the couple, which made them like him more. After all, one could be humble when one was in another person''s territory, but how easy could it be¡ªespecially as a native, and a more powerful one at that¡ªto do it on home ground? This said a lot about his character, and it made the couple more certain that he was one of the best partners among the native population. He was also quite smart and efficient, already applying what he saw in Alterra to his own. Jonathan and his leading party really maintained the place well compared to the territories, so they rarely had shit on the ground except for maybe the poorer neighborhoods far from the main avenues. Sadly, Jonathan said he had used up all his building slots so he couldn''t make use of the dormitory design Alterra had. They had plenty of cleaners, though after going to Alterra they had also decided to build their own public toilets. They had seen how practical it was and although there were costs, it was definitely worth it if done decently. The initial ones were located only in the high-end areas for now, but it was a start. It was still under construction and Jonathan asked for some advice. Althea saw that he at least smartly located them in parks, not too close to the built structures so it was far easier to maintain than otherwise. "I suggest building a manhole where people can easily access the tank below," she said. "And also add fragrant flowers and some deodorizing flowers nearby." She thought of her studies and suggested some endemic plants with this capability. Jonathan took note of this very seriously, while also impressed at the same time. It was amazing how a woman¡ªwho had only been here a few months¡ªcould know more about the local plants than the vast majority of the population. Next, he showed them some other features of the town that could not be found in Alterra (which was all he could show for, anyway). For example, he told them about the system buildings that they had. Obviously, the Elders of the village would be interested in the building choices when they became a town, which was inevitable anyway. Like Villages, Towns also received 2 building slots every tier up. Ferrol, which is a Level 3 Town, had a Mercenary Hall, the Post Office, a Pharmacy, an Auction House, an Enchanter''s Guild, and a Spring of Life. There were also Custom Buildings, though they functioned purely as commercial buildings¡ªwhich, at the time, was the necessary building type because they had just started the Ferrol Fair. They made use of the second one, because¡ªlike most villages¡ªthey missed using the first one before the option disappeared because they had more urgent needs to survive. Anyway, Jonathan guided the couple through all these buildings and kindly gave a rough explanation of their functions. The Mercenary Hall¡ªavailable at Town Level 2¡ªwas basically where they could hire mercenaries to, say, guard their territory or something else, like assist in wars or do escorting jobs. The array here functioned similarly to the Village Center Teleportation array in the sense that the people would be teleported one way for a cost. It had a lot of limitations, however. For one, there had to be a ''deal'' made first. That was to say, the mercenary team had to bid for a mission and be the one to win it first before they received the right to use the array¡ªwhich was not cheap in the first place. Another, Mercenary Hall Arrays were one-way. This meant that after a mission, they''d have to travel back manually. If it was too far, they''d have to find a territory with another Mercenary Hall so they could travel back to their home base or to a nearby one, depending on what missions were available. One strategy was that the home base would post a mission back home around the time they estimated the team to be done with the job. However, not only did it cost money to post a mission each day, the rules were strict even in posting. Each successful mission had the accompanying Mercenary Points and, without these rules, they could be abused by sending easy missions to each other. Even if the system didn''t allow anyone to send missions that could be taken by their own members, it was easy to form partnerships with other teams. The way the System prevented this was¡ªas always¡ªby oath. By posting a mission, one already signed a ''bond of honest reckoning'' which stated that they could only post missions on a strictly as-needed basis. The array might also not work if the System judged that there was no need to. Further, if a Mercenary Team found some loopholes and abused them, triggering the System, they might even get blacklisted from using the arrays at all. In Ferrol alone, there had been quite a few cases since the Hall was built. Another difference between Center Arrays was that mercenaries could choose which ''client'' and mission to choose, so they weren''t blindsided to wherever they''d be going¡ªunlike the people hired through the Centers. The Hall''s disadvantage compared to the Center was that the distance and scope they could choose from depended on the mercenary team''s Class, unlike in Centers where people could be transferred anywhere in the human territory. For instance, Garan''s Team was a Class D Mercenary Team, and they could travel up to 5000 kilometers away. In Terran, this was a long distance that even spanned many countries. For instance, the distance between Pariz, Frang and Mosbull, Russio was approximately this distance. However, in Terran, this was only from Alterra¡ªwhenever they''d actually get a Mercenary Hall¡ªto the nearest City to them, which was Bleuelle. Anyway, there were still a large number of rules about mercenaries that Jonathan did not discuss¡ªfor instance, how Mercenary Points worked¡ªand Garan promised to tell her more about it in the future. For now, there were still a lot of places to go to, so they moved on. As they walked away from the Hall though, she couldn''t help but look back a bit. She pursed her lips. She really wanted one¡­ sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 1035 - 1035: More on Town Buildings Garan, who was hyper-aware of everything related to his wife, smiled when he saw this. With his free hand, he patted her head. "You are already part of our Mercenary Team," he said. "If you''d like, we can take on missions together even before we have a Hall in Alterra." They simply had to go to Ferrol and take missions from here. This made Althea sparkle. Although she knew she couldn''t galavant around at this time¡ªshe had a territory and children to care for¡ªshe liked the fact that she had the option ready. Another consideration she needed to take was the fact that Lords would be able to see that she was the ''Lord of Alterra'' as long as they peeked on their panels and looked for her name. It was why during the few times she had gone to other territories¡ªeven during rescues¡ªshe made sure to stay outside the territory lines. At the same time, the fact that she was here, in Ferron Town, meant that they trusted Jonathan who had made an oath with them. Even if he found out¡ªperhaps he already knew¡ªit was unlikely he would be saying anything about it. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn''t be able to. The oath he sighed¡­ had a lot of subtleties and traps that Mathilda placed there. They weren''t obvious, especially when one didn''t know the details and the secrets of the territory. But, even when they did find out anything, they wouldn''t be able to utter it out nor write it down at all! Of course, this was something Jonathan would find out much later¡ªnot that it mattered. By that time, he could only be impressed. The only dangerous exception to her going outside was during the Fargo war, but she entered with the Lord unaware she was there, and even when he was he''d be too busy, distracted, or in pain to look into it. Granted, that was a risky move that could''ve gone wrong on so many levels so she didn''t dare test her luck anymore. In this vein, it wasn''t like she wasn''t doing anything. She dedicated a team (a subgroup in the maths-and-arrays team) to study the anti-slavery token that Oslo lent to her a long time ago. In theory, the way that a person with the token could bypass the system and become an ''exception'' was because their status¡ªor a certain part of it¡ªas temporarily ''hidden'' from it. She had studied its arrays and, though all of them were unfamiliar, she had a feeling that at least one of those arrays was set to ''hide'' status. This was the array she wanted to extract. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, that was a long way to go, so she focused on what she could learn now. The next special building Jonathan took them after the Mercenary Hall was the Post Office, which was a specialty building that would be available as soon they became a Town. The Post Office was the main communication method in Xeno, where one could send a letter to whoever you wanted and they could access the letter from a Post Office. There was no alert sent to the specific recipient, however. The Post Office simply had an aether board-like thing near its counter where the recipients of unclaimed letters were listed. Another thing to note was that the Lord could access the letters if they wanted to. They''d have to go to the Post Office and manually open the letter they wished to see, but the option was there. Jonathan did not specifically say this, but Garan had found out about this during his stay in Twinwave Town. Apparently, there was a conflict that was settled by this breach of privacy. The Pharmacy was self-explanatory¡ªa place where they could buy HP and Mana potions (which she bought a lot of by the way). At its upgraded state (as Ferrol''s currently was), it also provided buff potions like potions to temporarily increase all the stats like Agility Potion, Defense Potion, and the like. Unsurprisingly, Althea also bought a lot of these as well. The Pharmacy functioned a lot like the equipment store wherein it could produce these potions even without someone making them. The raw materials though were different from the usual but fortunately they were endemic to most places, including Alterra. The raw materials for the buff potions varied, however, so the items were a lot more expensive than the typical HP and Mana Potions¡ªat least ten times, in fact. She put in her mental list, however, to buy the seeds for these raw materials so by the time they could upgrade the pharmacy, they could produce these potions without depending on foragers outside. This would mean they''d also be able to mass produce the buff potions at a fraction of the cost. Of course, that''d take time, but it was the likely scenario for them. She also pondered whether to buy a Pharmacy come upgrade at all, and maybe she would if they were unable to crack the formula for these items. Of course, the convenience of a Pharmacy''s automatic production was also very attractive, but everything was still up for consideration¡ªi.e. What other buildings would be available or if they could receive one as a winning during merging. However, she was not so arrogant to believe they would win a pharmacy during a war that hadn''t happened yet. Even if they did win a war against a Town, who was to say she''d even take it as a satellite at all? In that case, she would not receive a new building. Next was the Auction House, which was already explained by Gill to them before. Frankly, it wasn''t anything they could not do on their own so they didn''t even consider it. The Spring of Life¡ªwhich Ferrol bought as a Level 3 Town¡ªwas basically a much larger version of the well. It would never dry out, but it was a bit shallow and took time to refill. Still, during the Extreme Heat, Ferrol had a much lower death rate than others because of this. The Enchanter''s Guild was the one that interested her the most. It was also Jonathan''s most proud purchase and something he, himself, bought as soon as he upgraded decades ago. Here, one could place a weapon or equipment and, for a high price (in Gold and materials) and a low success rate, one would have a chance of enhancing it. For example, a Class D weapon could suddenly take on monsters that it normally wouldn''t be able to. For example, a weapon would suddenly have an elemental affinity which would increase an elementalist''s efficiency by folds. Et cetera. In theory, this was probably the building embedding arrays of sorts, and this meant she''d have unlimited access to different arrays in the future! It was available at Town Level 3 though, so it was still far from her. These buildings made it really tempting to upgrade to Town (she had saved a few building slots), however, she decided to still hold back and delay the upgrade for as long as she could anyway. She still wanted to be overpowered. That was the way to live peacefully in a place where fists ruled. Chapter 1036 - 1036: Level 1 Town Buildings That said, she was the type to want to learn every option she had so she¡ªand the rest of the Elders¡ªcould make educated decisions early on. Building slots were limited and, while they seemed to have more than others in their tier, each one of them mattered. At this, she decided to thicken her face and ask Jonathan, perhaps as they were having their meal. Before she could invite him, Jonathan turned to them. "Have you had lunch yet?" he asked. "I won''t invite you to my home because you make better food¡­ "I think it''s better we eat at your base." "..." Jonathan did not invite them to lunch. Instead, he invited himself to lunch. The couple chuckled, planning on doing so anyway, and they happily went back to the base with the guards, ready for a delicious meal. When they arrived, the food was already prepared and still warm. They set it up in the canteen which had a number of tables. The three of them were naturally in one table, while Jonathan''s guards took another table not far from them. The food was prepared by the cooks trained in Alterra, and they had many firsts on this meal. Most importantly, this was the first time they''d cook for Miss Althea as well as Lord Jonathan!! Fortunately, when the head chef Yoyo saw the Lord visited, he had the foresight to know that he''d be having lunch here! Anyway, the meal this time was a little grander than their daily meals. There was mixed fried rice with mushrooms (harvested from the tunnels of Alterra), as well as three main dishes, a vegetable side dish, and the like. Jonathan and everyone ate deliciously. Miss Althea and Sir Garan were also nodding a bit, the staff tensely watching from the side finally heaved a breath. As long as those two didn''t dislike it, it meant their standards were at least close to Alterran cuisine! "Delicious!" Jonathan said, eating another plate after a few minutes of filling himself up. Although he had managed to stock up on a lot of ingredients, Alterran (or Alterran-trained) cooks were just different. Should he send his own cooks for training? He looked at Althea in thought. "Is it possible to send my chef to you as well?" he said. "I can make him swear not to commercialize what he learned." Althea and Garan looked at him and for a moment Jonathan thought he had mispoken. But then they smiled and nodded and Jonathan felt like he made one of the biggest accomplishments he had yet! He could already imagine it: Eating food like this every day! Ah, he was already in Elvendell just thinking about it. "Great!" Jonathan said, thinking this was the greatest perk in this partnership. By the time dessert arrived, Jonathan and his men were completely satisfied in stomach and in mind. The dessert this time was a simple fruit punch, but it had milk and other things that tied up the whole thing, creating a lovely and refreshing dessert that was both healthy and sweet. "I do have quite a few more things to ask as well," she said, and Jonathan raised his head and nodded. "Ask away." Anything for good food every day! "Can you tell us more about the building options at Town level, if you''re aware of them?" she asked. "The Elders would like to know what we could do with the future slots¡­" Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Jonathan looked at her in interest. They must already be nearing Town level for her to ask this. "My father recorded everything," he said. "So I even know the costs as well when he built those buildings in his time." Though sharing so much was counterintuitive to how people here were raised, having a bit of critical thinking would show that there was no reason to hide it. It would even buy him goodwill from such a high-potential ally. The trio moved to the gazebo with tea and snacks on hand, which made Jonathan willing to share even more information (because the more he said, the longer he had with these snacks). The basic options for towns included bigger housing, grander restaurants, and some commercial areas which did not interest Althea. It was only the Special Buildings that were intriguing to her and were worth the limited building slots. It had to be mentioned that apparently Special Buildings cost at least 10 times typical buildings to build and to maintain (in addition to the fees automatically sent to the ''original'' territories), so a lot of Towns still opted to buy the typical options if they lacked the resources to do otherwise. It was not to say there weren''t interesting buildings amongst the duplicable (non-special) buildings. For instance, there were the Beast Stables, the Inns, and the Guardhouses¡ªall of which Ferrol had in ample amounts. The Beast Inns were relatively big and could fit in 5 beasts at its lowest level. They had the passive of calming down beasts that were deposited in them on top of hastening their HP and Spirit recovery. In Ferrol, there was one Beast Stable every couple of blocks because of the business model they adopted. After all, it would be difficult to invite and keep so many foreigners to participate in their annual events if there wasn''t a place where their sole mode of transport could be safely stored. The Inn was also very useful for a tourism-based territory like Ferrol. Its function was as one would expect: It had the passive effect of faster recovery of HP, Mana, and Spirit. Although Alterra''s Inn did not have this effect, they made up for it with their furniture specially created by woodworkers. The next was the Guard Station which could be occupied by guards to oversee the territory. The Guard Station was much smaller than the one they had in Alterra, and each one just seemed to be able to contain 2 or 3 people at a time. However, it was also duplicable and was connected by the system. All the guards inside the buildings would be alerted which sentry was working at the time, and would therefore be alerted if there was excessive activity in the area. It also functioned like a telephone booth of sorts where each Guard Station could communicate with others real-time, which was also very convenient. She found it interesting because most of these buildings already had an equivalent in Alterra. While theirs could arguably be less effective, they were already good considering their costs and, most importantly, they did not consume a building slot. Still, it could be seen that the previous lords of Ferrol had quite the foresight. From what they could see, Ferrol''s non-special buildings took up only half of their total slots. The rest were¡ªas they had already seen¡ªunder the Special Buildings category. That said, having more than one Special Building was already indicative that the territory was doing well. Whether or not this was true, of course¡ªconsidering some Lords went into debt to buy these buildings¡ªstill depended on the territory. "Tell me more about the Special buildings available," she said, continuing to write down some notes in her notebook. Jonathan nodded with a smile. "You''d definitely find them quite interesting." Chapter 1037 - 1037: Town Special Buildings As a Level 1 Town, the special buildings available were the Chancery of Appointments, the Post Office, the Timekeeper Tower, and the Pharmacy. The Chancery was the building where a person would be paying a lump sum amount on top of a small daily residency fee to get hired into a good territory. Of course, the higher the tier of the territory, the higher the payment was. The advantage of getting hired in the Chancery was that the hiree was protected by the system and could not be abused by whoever hired them. The disadvantage was that they could be hired from anywhere¡ªso they could be taken away from their home and family for years because it was just so far away. The Post Office was already discussed prior. Not including the real-time transfer of letters, it was the capabilities of the level 3 Post Office that interested her the most. Ferrol itself didn''t have a Level 3 Post Office because it was only available in Cities, and understandably so. At Level 3, one could actually send some light items via post! This was teleporting small items to the other side of the world in real-time! How convenient was that?! The Timekeeper Tower was pretty much a Clock Tower. They developed something similar to a sundial. Its special effect was that it could create a vibration sound at certain times, which was arbitrary according to the lord. Finally, there was the pharmacy, which they had already been to before. For Level 2 Towns, the special buildings were the Warrior''s Arenas, Auction House, the Mercenary Hall, the Windmill of Fortune, and Healing Sanctuary. And the duplicable building of interest was the Hotel. The Warrior''s Arena was much like their sparring rings. The special qualities of this was that the arena healed itself, no matter how much damage it received. It could also clean up the corpses and the like, just making it a convenient place to fight. This building profited from entry fees. When entering, people would be asked to pay a certain amount, much like how it was when entering a territory. The lord would get the majority of the share from this, though an amount would be deducted automatically and sent elsewhere. The Windmill of Fortune was basically just a large windmill that provided wind to a large area. This would be good in places with low winds, and in the Heat Wave it''d have been useful as well. If there were disasters like excessive fog, poisonous fog, and the like, this would''ve had a much more massive and lasting effect than a group of wind users. The Healing Sanctuary was like their hospital, though the effect seemed much faster on the surface. However, from what she gathered, it only helped with wounds and other injuries. Complex Illnesses and the like might not be handled well. Another catch was that it cost huge amounts of gold to use, especially when the injury was beyond simple wounds. Many people who had no choice but to use it ended up becoming broke. Jonathan''s father did not choose this because of that. He had a good friend from another town who used it and knew¡ªafter paying some costs, of course¡ªthe disadvantages of getting one. Althea and the others already knew that a share of the profit these buildings obtained would go elsewhere¡ªto whoever developed it¡ªand for the Healing Sanctuary, apparently the lord''s portion would be less than half. Taking citizens'' money until they were poor and the money not circulating within the economy was not the wisest decision, so Ferrol Town passed on this building. For Level 3 Towns, the special buildings added were the Trade Hub, an Observatory, the Spring of Life, and the Enchanters'' Guild. The Trade Hub was another magical building. Every territory that had it would be able to own a ''stall'' inside this place. It was like an online market, but more virtual. They could also access the ''stall'' of any territory listed there. With this, one could buy goods from territories far away and immediately receive it via an in-built teleportation array. Just the thought of it was amazing. "My father said he was also very tempted to buy this, but an Extreme Heat happened and he was forced to buy the Spring instead," Jonathan said with practiced ease. Obviously, he had heard and was told of this story a lot. "It''s what inspired him to make Ferrol into a hub for merchants in this region. As you can see, it worked quite well even if it did have its challenges." "Another thing worth mentioning is that the majority of the unique buildings would appear at Town-level, based on the building types that were known to appear in cities." Towns also had three levels, while Cities would have only 1 tier and therefore only one chance to gain building slots. It was also why the Aether Blueprints were generally only used in cities. This was not only because they were really the only ones who could afford it without killing themselves, but it was also because¡ªafter a certain point¡ªit was the only way to gain new special buildings. "That''s all I know," Jonathan said, finally eating the last piece of cookie. Althea chuckled. She learned a lot. At this, a box came out of her space and she handed it over to Jonathan. He gaped and curiously opened it up, seeing a can-full of differently-shaped cookies! "They''re actually mana cookies prepared for me by our chef," she said. "But they taste just as good as the typical dessert." "This¡­" Jonathan suddenly felt shy. "I want you to have it," she said, insisting. "I still have plenty, don''t worry." Harold was a bit over compulsive and she had about a dozen more cans of this. Jonathan thanked her a lot and did some more small talk before he finally excused himself. He had a little bounce in his steps though and it was obvious he''d be opening this can as soon as he got home. And that, he did. While he was lounging about in his private salon, choosing which cookie to munch on, he couldn''t help but recall his interactions with the couple. Their levels were low, but they really had a special aura about them that made him¡ªsomeone twice or thrice their levels¡ªlook at them in awe. "That said, I wonder what kind of elements she controls¡­" he said, finally choosing one (a circular-shaped cookie with bunny ears), and munching on it. "A woman who can tame Garan shouldn''t be too weak¡­" Curious, Jonathan checked on the panel to take a look at their status. He already knew Garan was a dual elementalist and had quite a bit of money for his level. He had hundreds of thousands of population so it was not easy at all. It took him a while to find her, but he couldn''t help but pause when he saw she was a green-tagged name. He¡­ had only heard of it from his father''s notes. Green-tagged names¡ªthe people considered to be the paragons of their field. Then again, it was not a surprise considering what she had shown so far. Hey, he felt honored to be close to one. Then he looked at the elements and his chewing paused. Earth, Water, Wood... S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Triple element¡­ When he saw the row with her ''Wealth'', his jaw dropped and some of his chewed cookie goo fell down. He had no time to be disgusted with himself though. His eyes quickly shifted to the titles and he almost¡ªalmost¡ªdropped the can of cookies he was holding. Lord of Alterra Village. "!!!!!" Chapter 1038 - 1038: Ferrol Beast Trade Fair A/N: Happy bday to me~ lololol. Posting 5 chapters today! (Scheduled yesterday of course) Also as thanks for letting me get Golden T1 so far. Thank you all for your support! I love youuuu~ ¡­ ____ The couple was wistfully unaware someone''s mind had exploded. They were in their own room, which was located on the interior side of the lot with a view of the gardens outside. Garan''s room was relatively large and untouched, cleaned up every few days by the servants. It was designed with her comfort in mind and she loved it so much. "This is like backpacking with you, except in a nicer place," she said, lying down comfortably on the bed. "Ah, what an interesting trip," she said, looking at the ceiling. "I wonder what we''ll choose¡­" Garan looked darkly at his soft wife just laying casually on the bed, as if unaware a beast was next to the bed. When he was planning on this base, he put a lot of thought on that bed. He wanted to be sure they would be sleeping there very comfortably¡­ especially with nightly activities. He kneeled down next to her, causing her to tilt down in his direction. He hovered above her and rested his arms on the side of her head. "I spent a lot of money on the down and the design of this," he told her, leaning down to sniff her neck, tickling her. "We even found a plant alternative to give it a springy movement." He lifted his head to place a chaste kiss on her lips, though his hand was doing something decidedly not chaste. "Why don''t we test out its strength right now?" ¡­. The next day. Ferrol Town had a large field within its walls where several big annual events were held. This was called the Ferrol Fairgrounds, and it was in use every couple of months, seeing a large influx of people from all over. The fairgrounds were divided into different sections, with the largest area dedicated to the Market Row where merchants and beastmasters from all over displayed their controlled creatures for sale. Here, buyers could peruse a plethora of Beasts to purchase. There was a grand arena erected at the middle of the large field. Its perimeter was lined with thick wooden posts reinforced with iron. Within the arena, there were large cages, each holding different beasts of varying levels. There were wide walkways for people to use and observe these monsters, and Althea and her husband were here, perusing around in interest. The monsters'' eyes were still wild with hunger, but they did not attack like they usually did, which was testament to the power of the Beast Masters. They were not planning on buying a beast at all, but they thought it''d be a good experience to see more things than lesser. They were here primarily as vacation and for a change of pace. They couldn''t go too far from home, but Ferrol was far and different enough to give a sense of adventure and distance from their own norms. Further, Ferrol''s was the only Town lord they could trust with her identity, so¡ª until they found out a way she could bypass the Lord Panel¡ªshe was completely limited to traveling in her region. They paused walking when a person stood in front of some cages and started welcoming people to watch him. Althea was determined to experience as much as she could in this world, so they watched the whole thing. "Behold, a feral wolfbeast! Tamed and ready to serve your commands!" he yelled, showing the large cage with the aforementioned beast. The cage owners next to him did not lose in terms of loudness. "Direbears could carry your carriage for miles without anything attacking!" "Khola Beasts for the fastest and strongest ride you''ll experience!" Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And so on. Althea and Garan were interested in listening to their marketing, but they were not even a bit tempted to buy one. To be honest, the beasts of this world weren''t really the type of useful companions one would think them to be¡ªat least not in the way Terrans imagined. Unlike in stories where they could be used to hunt and accompany in battle, the beasts here were not really sentient. They were practically zombies in beast form without maggots crawling on them. This was why they could only be used for transportation like for beast carriages. Despite the dangers, it had become a social status to have them. For Alterra, which would have modes of transportation much more controllable than beasts, this was not practical to get at all. What she was interested in though, was recruiting a few Beast Masters. They gathered a lot of information about this field from perusing and asking around as if they were clients. Jonathan''s hospitality seemed to have spread as well, so there was a lot of ''better informed'' beast masters who were particularly kind to them. Beast Masters could control beasts by creating instruments to control that particular beast. It varied per beast, even if it was the same species, and each order had a different sound. For example, sometimes one just had to blow, say, the whistle to order it to make it run. Using the same whistle, if they blew harder then the monster would run faster. Sometimes, different whistles would be needed for the same beasts, particularly when they were stronger. The strongest controllable beast here was level 20, and it cost a whopping 200 Gold¡ªeasily a normal person''s salary for 1-2 years¡ªand almost the cost of Gochi. The cheapest ones were also in the three digits as well. This wasn''t including the maintenance of these monsters. Not to mention, the whistles had wear and tear as well. No matter what, it was just impractical to use Beasts. Anyway, from this, she could tell that their powers must have a lot to do with sounds, frequency, and wavelength. She''d need to brainstorm more with the research team, but it should be more or less in that direction. She wondered: If Beast Masters could control frequency, sound wavelength, and the like, what else could they do? Chapter 1039 - 1039: The Outlier At this time, a Beast Master named Taho was handling his team''s shop. He was answering potential customer queries with a smile, and he would also guide them to their temporary stables if they wanted to buy one or a few beasts. For example, now, where he had just led a client towards the stables which still had about 10 of the same beasts. He handed them over to the beast master who held the whistles, and he was about to return to the exhibition areas again. However, he couldn''t help but want to watch the exchange a bit longer with an envious heart. Taho was a 32-year-old bachelor with greenish-brown hair that had a little rat tail at the back of his head. He was sociable, but inside he was dying a little. He had been a system-stamped Beast Tamer for over ten years now, however he remained assigned to duties like this. Why? Because he couldn''t get close to beasts at all! Even when he landed Level 20, he still couldn''t do it properly. At first, he thought it was finally time for him to do something. After all, the beast being tamed was weaker than he was. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, even if the beast was several levels lower than he was, he still couldn''t tame it in the end! It was so humiliating! He could still remember the laughter of his peers. "He couldn''t get close enough for years, now that he could¡ªhe couldn''t hear them properly!" "I''m embarrassed for him." "I guess the system chose incorrectly this time." Their Beastmaster skills required them to be close to beasts, to determine the ''sound'' each one made. The performance of sound varied a lot after a certain distance, so this was unavoidable. At the same time, this was why the whistles had to be blown within a certain radius from the monster¡ªotherwise, it wouldn''t work at all. Therefore, it was prohibited for drivers to be too far away from the beasts at any point in time, except perhaps if they were staying in a Beast Inn¡ªsomething that not all territories had. That said, a species had a lot of similarities in their sounds, so Beast Masters tended to specialize in one to three types of beasts only. Not that that mattered to him, a person who couldn''t tame a single one!! He just wanted this event to end so he could avoid the weird derogatory looks he was getting from other Tamers. They would often come to sneer at him though. "Ten years and no tamed monster yet," they would say. "An embarrassment to Tamers around." It wasn''t that he wasn''t trying! He kicked a random rock in anger, but it ended up being loose. It hit one of the beasts which turned to his direction with a growl. He shivered and he quickly ran to take the whistles which were placed near it. However, he was clumsy and he dropped them instead. He paled. Orchshiiitttt! ROAR! It reared on its hind legs as it roared, the movement pulling the ropes keeping it in place. The post ricocheted in the area, damaging the posts for the other beasts, and even hitting a few people in the process. Anyway, this agitated several monsters in the area¡ªincluding those by other teams¡ªand it was just chaos. It happened too quickly. "Kyaa!" customers nearby gasped and ran, while some brave beast tamers ran over to calm them down. Although ordering them required some instrument they carved themselves, most tamers had skills of temporarily diffusing the monster''s agitation, to fool them into thinking there was no food or threat around them. Taho also did not get this skill. Roarr! He ran to them and decided to just be physical! He was also level 21! The monsters here were only level 14 and 15! However, monsters were much stronger than humans of the same level, let alone people like him who didn''t have much talent in fighting. So he was just thrown around and stopped when he hit a random cage. He could only watch helplessly as a few monsters made a mess. He could push himself up and try to avoid casualties among the humans by pushing them away regardless of the risk to himself. "AHHH!" he yelled when the teeth of a level 13 monster grazed his back. He was pushing away the customer he had brought in. It was deep, and he was only alive because of his level. "STOP IT!" he yelled, trying to pull the monster down with its rope, but even when he was handling one, the rest of them were stomping, biting, or whatever at other tents, posts, carts, and so on. His heart was already wallowing in grief for whatever punishment he would go through after this was over. Fortunately, there were plenty of other beastmasters around and they arrived within a few minutes. They were extremely shocked at the mess that was happening, but they were quick on their feet and handled the beasts in a short amount of time. Their calming skills emanated all over the area, with more and more monsters slowing down, showing some calmness. It was not easy, however, and it definitely took quite a bit of mana from them. There were stronger ones that needed several beastmasters too and even injured a few. They yelled in pain but were otherwise okay. However, their glare directed in Taho''s direction was extremely venomous and he feared for his life. Should he just run away? However, one of the beasts slipped away and was heading towards the main Town square. If it went there many common citizens would definitely get injured or even perish! Without thinking, he ran over there to block the monster''s way. He had no choice but to take out a weapon in his space, ready to fight it as long as it didn''t go past him. Clack! Slash! ROAR! More and more wounds found his body, but he persisted. If someone died because of his clumsiness, he wouldn''t be able to live with himself! However, just as he was about to attack its eye, a familiar resounding voice caught him off guard. "Don''t damage the merchandise!!" The voice made him pause, and it gave the monster time to open its mouth to bite him right at the stomach. "GAHHHHH!!!" Chapter 1040 - 1040: First Beast Master Recruit "AHHH!" he screamed, crying in pain, though fortunately¡ªor unfortunately¡ªstill alive. In addition to the level difference, he was also wearing some defense equipment so it didn''t go deep enough that he''d lose a part of his body¡ªat least at first. He felt its jaws clamp down, its teeth getting deeper and deeper into him. The crushing force was dull and bone-deep, but then he''d feel the sharp teeth puncturing his skin and internal organs. He felt himself being lifted and shaken around, and he could feel the teeth go deeper and deeper, creating wider gashes in his body. He couldn''t even describe the pain he was feeling anymore. It was excruciating but also hopeless¡ªas if it was the last bit of feeling he''d receive before everything just¡­ ended. Fortunately, tamers finally got to them and made the beast stop moving, getting it to let him go. He dropped down on the grass, unable to even lift his arms. When the beast accidentally kicked him a bit, he couldn''t even avoid it. Anyway, the beast soon calmed down and was ushered away, leaving Taho lying on the grass all bloodied up. He was delirious in pain, but when he looked up and saw the tamers above him, he could only feel coldness Beast Taming was his dream job since he was a young kid. A long time ago, he was almost run over by a beast cart of a noble. It was agitated by a stronger monster that used the same roads. He thought that was really it for him. However, a strong beast master arrived and used his skill to calm the monster down, saving his life. His name was Zagu. Now¡­ that same beast master looked at him like he was useless trash, questioning the world why he was still alive. Taho forced himself up, though he could only sit up, feeling that if he stood up, a part of his stomach would fall. He was shivering in pain, though it didn''t seem like it calmed the tamers'' anger at all. The damage that level 15s could do was not small and the vicinity was a great mess. "This is too embarrassing," one of the seniors said, tone full of distaste. "It''s fine if it''s just in our Town, but we''re in a place filled with other Beast Masters! This is humiliating!" "No wonder no other beast master teams want you!" another screamed, still remembering the costs. "You better sign an oath to pay back the damages or we''ll send you to rot in prison!!" Taho shivered, and he was on the verge of crying. "I¡­ I can work for free¡ª" "No, we don''t want you anymore! You have been with our team for a year. You''re getting the salary of a newbie Beast Master but you haven''t done anything but make a mess!" Although Taho agreed on getting the minimum beast master salary, it was still much higher than the commoner salaries, so the tamers didn''t think he deserved that much. Granted, they were being harsh. This was the first time he made a mess. Before this, he was actually extremely diligent and could do the jobs of two or three people a day! Anyway, their anger-filled minds conveniently forgot all these things. They had had enough. "Get out!" "No, please!" One of the senior tamers narrowed his eyes at him. "If you can pay 100 gold for the damages you caused right now, we will consider." If he could lose more blood he would. "100 gold? That''s not¡ª" that was too much. The senior gritted his teeth, and it was exacerbated when he saw tamers from other teams look smugly at them, as if they were the target of jokes. He wanted to beat up this bastard! "Listen here¡ª" he said, gripping the younger man''s head. "You know how much damage you¡ª" "Stop," another, deeper, voice sounded and they looked at Zagu, who was the lead tamer of their team. "Just leave him be," he said, looking up and down at him. "We''re not allowed to kill here." This made the tamers pause and look at Taho, who was bleeding a lot. A few more hours and he''d die of blood loss. Not wanting to have anything to do with him anymore, they turned around, leaving him there to wallow in his own fate. Taho''s shoulders slumped and he looked down, sniffing. He tried to hold back his tears¡ªit was humiliating enough that he was fired in front of everyone like this¡ªbut it was not easy. He could still remember the time when he awakened his profession. He was making all kinds of noise at the time, though it ended up attracting monsters that almost killed him. Still, he was so proud. Getting a profession was the step to a better life, after all, let alone one that he had always wanted. However, although his salary was indeed better, he had to endure endless humiliation, causing his self-worth to go down so bad he might as well bury himself. He dragged his body to the interior woods to hide himself and to sob his heart out. He didn''t even care about his bleeding wounds, or that he was creating a bloody trail¡ªit''d clean itself up eventually. As for why he wasn''t going to get healed, he didn''t have money anymore. The next payday was actually the next day, but Zagu was definitely not sending him money after that. Anyway, Taho went deeper into the interior forest until he was several trees in, finally dropping to the ground. "Wuuu¡­." He cried, yelling out his anger and bitterness with the energy he had left. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He was such a shame. Why did he even activate the profession in the first place? Was it really the blessing he thought it was?! "Sob¡­ wuuu¡ª" His crying stopped when he heard rustles approach him. Was the world not even going to let him cry in peace? He was near death''s door, damn it!! However, instead of shock or mockery¡ªwhich he was expecting¡ªhe heard a gentle feminine voice instead. "Hello there." He turned and gaped at one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Then, he met cold blue eyes, and he unconsciously looked down again. "We have seen what happened," she said, "We''re sorry we came too late. You could''ve received much less damage¡­ "H-Huh? Why are you¡ª" Why was she apologizing? "We heard you are a Beast master. We happen to be hiring Beast Masters right now," she said, handing him a bottle of what he''d realize later as a healing potion. "Would you like to try?" His eyes widened and he looked at her in disbelief. Was she joking with him? Was this a prank? But her eyes were too kind for her to be so cruel¡­ "I¡­ I''m not a real one¡­" "Oh? How so?" "I haven''t tamed a single monster in my life¡­" he said, though the two''s expression didn''t change at all. There was no disgust or even disappointment, and it made him very confused. She smiled, placing the bottle on his hand when he didn''t take it. "We don''t need you to¡ªat least not yet." "We don''t just need any Beast Tamer," she said. "We need you." "So... what do you say?" Chapter 1041 - 1041: Some Improvements The couple were set to head home later that day, along with Alterra''s first Beast Tamer (in name). They bought a lot of things from the pharmacy, the market, and so on. Although the Ferrol Fair was an annual thing, its marketplace was active all year round. There were also stalls dedicated to foreigners who would bid to rent it for a week. From there, they managed to buy quite a bit of seeds, potions, equipment, and so on. Fortunately, Althea''s space was large and could fit in whatever she wanted to buy. Anyway, Althea was very, very happy and this earned Garan several pecks on the lips. It heated him up¡ªas always¡ªbut they were scheduled to head back home so he could only suck it up, thinking he could just have fun with the wife as soon as they got home. Sadly, his wife didn''t feel the same. While they were preparing to get out, she turned to him and said: "I miss the babies¡­ they''re going to sleep with us tonight, okay?" "..." Garan''s shoulders slumped slightly. "Uhn," he said, though very reluctantly. Althea giggled at this. How could she not know what he was thinking about? With Garan, if one were to guess what was going on in his head when they were together, it was probably something perverted. So, she just wrapped her arm around his torso and gave him a kiss on the chin. "We''ll do it the whole day on the weekend," she said, voice warm and soothing¡ªand, to Garan, seductive. "I already booked a room at the hotel." Gulp. Garan was about to lean down to capture her lips when Taho limped over. "Esau said the Beast Cart is ready¡ª" His voice died down when he saw the sweetie position of the couple. He gulped, and he panicked when he met the man''s cold blue eyes. "I-I''m sorry!" Taho yelled and turned back, though the abruptness of his movement caused him to fall down. "AH!" he yelled, falling down. He ended up opening his wound and a bit of blood spread on the floor again. "..." "..." Was he clumsy or just unlucky? Fortunately, Taho was a level 20 person and it wasn''t easy to die with that amount of blood. They just prepared the beast cart they borrowed from Jonathan. After all, they openly bought a lot of things in the market. She couldn''t place all of them in the space¡ªit was getting a little crowded anyway. This was why they borrowed two carts, one for them and the other for the boxes of things Althea bought in the market. When they got out though, they were surprised to see five beast carts instead of the two. "So many?" Althea asked Esau, who awkwardly turned in a direction. "Althea, Garan." It was Jonathan, smiling at them. "I heard you bought a lot of things." He still called them as before, but his demeanor changed a bit. He seemed a bit more tense and respectful. Her eyes twitched. It seemed like he found out about her secret. Still, he was the town lord. She was only a small village lord; he didn''t have to act so nervous around her. "Nothing''s changed," she said. "You''re still the lord of a level 3 town, as well as our friend." Jonathan stared into her eyes and his shoulders relaxed. He smiled. It wasn''t that he didn''t know that he was still, technically, of much higher rank than she was. He¡­ just couldn''t help it. It was like they were meant to be respected¡ªeven by him and other higher-leveled people. "Well, I''m here to see you off," he said, pushing the strange thought aside. "I also took the liberty to make your trip home more comfortable." He pointed at the largest cart there, almost twice as large as the others and had ornamentations onto it. "You can use that. It''s one of mine and is very comfortable." "Thank you," Althea said. "Though we only really need tw¡ª" "Three," Garan said, cutting her off. Althea blinked and shrugged. Although she did not see the point of getting another one, she went along with it. It was only when he assigned Taho to sit on the extra cart¡ª and then started kissing her inside theirs¡ªdid she figure out the reason for this! This pervert!! ¡­ With the Beast Carts, the group comfortably arrived back to Alterra about half a day later, which was around dawn of the following day. The beast carts weren''t allowed to go beyond the first plaza so they only called some bikes to get their items, and also commissioned one for Taho, whom she assigned to someone from the Research Team. The person called in was Yen, who was curvaceous and had a strong personality, which made Taho look even more clumsy and awkward. She didn''t seem to mind though. Yen just sent her greetings to her idols before pulling the new guy to the cart. "Ah¡­" he gasped in pain as he felt the tension on his wound. He was already healing¡ªthanks to Althea''s superior-grade healing potions¡ªso there was no need to go to the hospital, but it didn''t mean that nothing hurts! Still, he knew no one would care about his pain so he sucked it up, just sitting properly on the open-air cart that was pulled¡­ by a broat? Before moving though, he found something in front of him. It was a cookie¡ªsomething offered by Miss Althea before. He gulped. "This¡­" "Yours," Yen said, a little guilty for not noticing his wounds. "It should make the pain go away." It was a normal cookie, but she made it seem like a healing cookie. Well, to her, it was. "T-Thanks¡­" He ate the cookie bit by bit, relishing its taste. He had only tasted this once before, and he couldn''t get it out of his head. How lucky that he got the treat again. Immediately, he thought Yen was an extremely generous woman. She must be blessed. "Wow¡­" Taho couldn''t help but exclaim as the broat cart lurched forward, and the rest of the grand village was revealed to him. It was beautiful¡­ "Welcome to Alterra," Yen said, amused. "The land of creativity and innovation." The woman looked at the unassuming guy who was just gaping at the sight. She couldn''t help but be curious. "So¡­ Miss Althea personally recruited you," Yen said, leaning over a bit and making Taho flush in embarrassment. "What do you know?" Taho blinked and looked down. Now that she mentioned it, when he saw Lord Jonathan so close to Miss Althea, he realized he was talking to an important person. He was already intimidated before, but after finding this out, he was outright terrified. The more he knew about her, the more he felt he was in the wrong place. "I''m¡­ a beast tamer," he said after a while. "But I haven''t tamed a single beast after 10 years¡­" S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Yen blinked and looked at him, realizing what his issue was. She chuckled in the end. "Look around: Do you think we need Beasts here?" Taho was confused at first as looked at the avenue. Its breadth was wide and refreshing and there were dozens (if not hundreds) of vehicles running through it in both directions. They were all very quick and safe-looking¡­ and none of them were pulled by the strong beasts he was used to. "Miss Althea must have a use for you," she said. "So lift your chin up, will ya?" Chapter 1042 - 1042: More Breakthroughs One of the things that did not stop working throughout the various disasters was the Research Center. It helped, of course, that the people hired had a true passion for whatever project they had been doing so even during the heat wave, they would be working (though usually during the night shift). After the disaster was over, they even started doing overtime to make up for the low productivity they had due to the weather! This was why during the next few weeks after Althea got back to her trip, the Research Team would churn out finding after finding, product after product! One of the most impactful changes was the perfection of glass. Before, they only reached the annealing process (based mostly on the data gathered in Althea''s tablet, though with various adjustments due to the current materials). This process allowed glass to be slightly stronger, but it was still not to the quality of modern glass. Then Ricky arrived and led the glass development team to another tier. The progress could''ve been said to be on a steep straight line upwards after he got on board. Very much deserving of the green-tagged name, indeed. With him, better quenching techniques have been developed, and this allowed for the creation of an even stronger type of glass¡ªthe tempered glass. This process gave more tensile strength to the glass and made it more resistant to impact. The laminated glass¡ªthat was: two sheets of glass with a laminate in between¡ªwas also being developed, though the laminates still required some more studying to do. His arrival also improved the casting and rolling techniques, allowing them to create wider glass panels. He also led the development of Ultra-clear glass by teaching the various glass production teams how to refine the raw materials, introducing better fluxes, and showing more details about polishing techniques that could not be taught well through textbooks. The glassblowing technique was also refined. Combined with the help of the chemist, they also made glass similar to borosilicate glass in Terran, which allowed glass to handle very high temperatures. This gave birth to glass strong enough to make precious laboratory equipment! They no longer had to make do with subpar materials. They no longer had to worry about their chemicals reacting with the container and burning their desks, they no longer had to narrow their eyes and struggle to see what was going on inside, and they no longer had to worry about their containers exploding! Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Once this became popular, more findings would definitely explode from the Chemistry department! These were just a few of the breakthroughs during the weeks that followed. With regards to medicine and potions, the Mana Potion had been studied and had been reproduced to some degree using available materials. Although there were some ways to go, it was a good alternative to the Mana cookie which only a few people could make and worked slowly. There were still advantages of course. For example, mana cookies had much more affordable materials, so it was still the food of choice for teams with someone who knew how to make it. There were also cases where the slow-acting mana recovery foods was better (other than the fact that they tasted better). For example, during endurance fights. They were also studying the potions Althea received from the upgraded Pharmacy on top of the limb regenerating potion. Both were still beyond them though. They definitely required certain skillsets to perfect, especially the limb regenerating potion. She knew she''d take a while to figure those out and she seriously considered just handing it over to either Eugene or Eagle, though both of them refused. It was still better to learn how to create one on their own. Anyway, even if they did take it, they''d only grow a negligible part of flesh and therefore they''d only be wasting good samples. On the other hand, Electricity was slowly becoming a village-wide thing now, with several charging stations available every couple of parks. These were connected to the wind or water power generators. As for solar panels, that was still being perfected, but it should be available within the next few months. Similarly, electricity should be brought to each home within a year or so as well. In time, household appliances would also become a commodity people could buy with money and/or contribution points. Several factories had also proposed expansions during this time. With the deals with various aborigine territories, the current factories simply could not handle all the demand. Expansion of the factories would also provide new jobs, allowing even the newcomer refugees to have safe jobs to choose from. The agricultural and horticulturist departments were also not left behind. More and more variants of seeds had been grown and were being developed. Many of these seeds were in preparation to whatever weather they might have to encounter in the future. There was also a team focusing on high-yield crops like potatoes and corn. The goal was: Even if the refresh rates went down to Terran level or worse, their village of thousands wouldn''t be too affected. Finally, there was also a team assigned to study Atmospheric Water Generation¡ªthat was to say: creating water from air. They would be designing one that didn''t need electricity and this would be done by making Dew Ponds and Fog Nets which would passively collect moisture from air. Of course, they would also be selling systems with solar panels attached, but for a much higher price. While this might seem like an overkill for a territory with rivers and streams, this could actually be used soon. After all, Helios'' lover lived in the desert. There was definitely a large market there. If they exchanged these things¡ªamong many others¡ªfor oil, then it would be a win-win situation for everyone! Anyway, these were just a few of the many projects going on in the Research Center, each one amazing the aborigines who were better-informed than others. Some stayed and practically settled there, just to see what else was new. They wondered: What else would Alterra churn out next? Chapter 1043 - 1043: Ansel’s Proposal A couple of months after the Migration, the lives of Alterrans had completely stabilized. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For now, there could be no immediate threat of wars or of beast mobs that they would not be able to handle. If the level of the adversaries remained as it was, then their next mobs or wars might not even have casualties. It even gave Althea time and energy to improve the two satellites. After she got back, she and the architectural team had made plans on how to improve the two villages. They would be adding better roads, parks, amenities, and the like. Some could be done via the system, and these could be implemented immediately. The others would need some time. They would be designed in consideration to improve the lifestyle of the people there, and also to handle the tourism that''d come. They''d be done in phases and the budget would come strictly from the satellite''s earnings alone so it''d take time, but it felt great to have a plan. Speaking of this, Alterra was stable, but the other two¡ªespecially Iron Mountains¡ªstill needed a lot of time, which was why she wanted to improve its infrastructure first. There was still the looming threat of Guia''s former masters. Although she didn''t know why they hadn''t made a move yet, they might be doing so soon enough. Unlike Alterra, most of the population there (for now) were aborigines. They couldn''t force everyone to make oaths of non-betrayal¡ªit was something that went against the common sense here, because people could just leave if they didn''t like it there. Basically, aborigines had the default of being averse to loyalty, which was understandable because this place was really just extremely unstable. If anything endangered their lives, they''d be more likely to bolt than to risk their lives to defend a place. There was also a cost involved and not everyone was willing to shoulder that¡ªespecially when the population came in tens of thousands. The only ones they required oaths from¡ªin all three territories¡ªwere either the slaves they were freeing (at their costs) or those working directly under them. This was already a huge amount of cost, and wasn''t something other territories even thought of doing. What they did in Iron Mountains was to improve the reporting system and add rewards, though more in the form of actual money instead of contribution points. Unlike Terrans, the concept was a bit alien to the locals so many of them still couldn''t understand it well. In their minds, the proper rewards was still hard money. The equivalent in money was naturally much lower to encourage the use of contribution points, of course. Eventually, the advantages would catch up, and those people would realize which was the better option. She was even setting up the Alterrra Shop as a contribution-points only shop, which would eventually force those people to accept it. As for the foreigners going there specifically for the Alterra Shop, then they''d just have to stay a bit longer and contribute. As for Limestone Valley, Henry was doing well already and there were a few things to worry about there. Eventually, it''d run as smoothly as Alterra (at least to some degree) which was already good enough. Of course, she and the others also made sure their people didn''t get complacent. Having the skill and power to have no losses and still having them because of carelessness would be infinitely more painful to the people involved. Fortunately, after so many months, people had already formed the habit of training, at least every couple of days. If they missed their routine, chances were: they''d be uncomfortable¡ªmuch like how a health buff would feel incredibly discomfited when he missed an exercise day. Anyway, one peaceful day like any other, Ansel went to Althea while she was in her office at the Research Center. He looked a bit like a puppydog. Althea had no doubt he was there to ask for a favor. "What is it?" "So¡­ everything in Alterra is already working well, like efficient cogs to a wonderful machine. "You already provided people with the basic needs. Although a lot of the conveniences are still being done, the basics are already there¡ª" "Get to the point," she said. She happened to be reading some interesting findings from the chemistry department at this time. She wanted to get back to it. Ansel cleared his throat. "People will start looking for spiritual needs now." Her eyebrows rose and she stared at him. Did he find a deity to worship or something? "Spiritually as in those that would improve a person''s mental well-being!" he added. "This might not be the case with the natives, but we''re Terrans. We have a lifestyle that we''re used to!" he said. "I¡­ want to improve the entertainment industry!" Ansel''s goal was to be able to provide entertainment unmatched in this world! Not only would Alterra become the Food Capital and the Innovation Capital¡ªit would also be the Entertainment Capital! Ansel had reserved a few commercial units, one in each avenue, and another one along Market Street. He had also started an Entertainment Company with Fable, but he still needed a bit more investment to reach the scale they wanted. For now, all they could do was organize events and make little shows. Although he was rich and he had a rich sister, he wanted the company to be self-sustaining soon. "Don''t you want to invest in your little brother?" He asked, and smiled when she seemed to ponder about it. "There are places I''m interested in and I hope you can allow me to rent them out." He had been eyeing one of the two other buildings next to the supermarket as an entertainment area. He then started hinting at them. "Those are great places with good traffic!" There was the issue of zoning, but still¡ª Without thinking, Althea shook her head. For a moment, Ansel thought he was rejected. "No, we need those buildings for other things," she told him, and his shoulder slumped. He didn''t stay sad for long though¡ª "I''ll make a separate entertainment street for you." Ansel gaped. "...what?" An entertainment¡­ street?! He would have a whole street to develop!? Just like that? This was the feeling of a rich kid being spoiled by filthy rich parents right? Chapter 1044 - 1044: Other Things Brewing As time passed by, Alterra''s name began to spread to more and more territories in the region. The territories close by had begun to send caravans to the four allied territories in an attempt to buy the goods for their own use. Some people even started planning their immigration there. There were also those from farther away, connected via Ferrol. They were planning to purchase various products not just for their own use, but also to make money out of them. A lot of these territories were inspired by Alterra''s new partners who had made deals to various parties when they stayed in Alterra. Even during the Heat Wave, deals were being finalized, which was amazing in its own way. Through them, the products and Alterra''s name flowed from person to person, slowly increasing its influence even when it was barely doing anything. In this region, this was primarily attributed to the teams from Ferrol Town. Pieto''s team from Twinwave also made a lot of good deals, but their location was relatively far and¡ªfor now¡ªthey had a monopoly of Alterra''s products in their area. Anyway, everyone who had arrived with Jonathan back then had already made a killing, and¡ªwhile all of them tried to keep Alterra''s name a secret (to maintain their market advantage)¡ªit was inevitable that some leaks occurred within their ranks. Money spoke, after all¡ªand it spoke loudly. While a few territories were just intrigued¡ªwho wouldn''t¡ªmost of them were either greedy for or livid at Alterra. Maybe both. For instance, in Basset Town, the Lord was having a meeting with the Lords of its subsidiary villages. They came as a group, beseeching his help. "Many citizens had already begun to liquidate their assets!" Unggoy, Lord of Ugoy Village, angrily raged. "My information indicates they''re planning to move to this¡­ Alterra!!" "It''s too close to us!" another person said. "I heard it''s becoming a town within the next few months, so people were rushing to move in before it happened." This made some look at him. "A Town already? That can''t be true¡ªwasn''t it built just a few months ago?" A lot of the others were also cynical. "Perhaps it is a rumor they spread out to intimidate people." "Yes, that is true." However, there were also some who had actually been there¡ªor at least their trusted confidantes had, and therefore had clearer minds. "I have heard nothing but good things," Yassop, the Lord of Yasof village, said. "I agree that some things might have been exaggerated, but I''m certain they had a lot of basis." He, too, had been greatly affected, especially with his proximity to the Alterra Circle. In the past couple of weeks, he had lost about a hundred citizens. When he asked his people to follow them, it was then that they found out they were heading to Alterra. Well, to be accurate, they ended up in one of the associated villages. Apparently, Alterra itself had started limiting visitors without prior appointments. This was something that was incomprehensible to them until now. Anyway, one thing was for certain: People were lining up in spite of this¡ªdesperate to enter. However, according to his men, even those associate villages were very good. They had great facilities and amazing food. They were already better than any of the villages they had been to. Yassop reckoned that if his men weren''t bound to him by oath, they''d have stayed there along with those people. At the same time, they were said to be far inferior to Alterra itself, which heightened the curiosity of Alterra even more. "I can''t say I blame them. That place is too good." Picky, the Lord of Picno Village added. He had seen it himself. He was one of the nearer villages and was affected first. He was already aware of it before they started implementing their new rules, but he kept mum about it because he wanted it for himself. However, while he tried to prepare for war, that damned place just got stronger and stronger. Picno was just a Level 2 Village. Before they knew it, Alterra had already left them behind! So, here he was, just hoping to get a share somehow. "You''ve been there?" "Me, as well," Tangie, Lord of Tanga Village, added. His eyes were glittering with desire. "It''s nothing like a village! I daresay it''s comparable to a town. So I wouldn''t be surprised if they really did upgrade within the next couple of months!" "Those products of theirs are really too attractive. Just one trip made them so much money!" Unggoy said, eyes sparkling with greed. "I took it all of course." This was also why those people¡ªmany of whom were captured and were now imprisoned¡ªtried to escape and immigrate in the first place. Anyway, those who had been in Alterra¡ªor in the associate villages¡ªcouldn''t help but long for the products it offered. The items were creative and useful, while the food-related ones were delicious¡ªthey were nothing they had ever tasted before! Some of them imagined delicious candies that could last weeks or longer. Some imagined the delicious noodles and the various flavors, while some imagined the savory meats and those explosive flavors. The place itself was also so amazing. The streets were wide and clean, and the vegetation was all well-maintained. Even when the sun rested, the village was well-lit, allowing people to work and have fun well into the night! There were also unusual modes of transportation. They were fast and convenient, and wouldn''t eat them by accident! Not only that, their spies also saw those bows and arrows¡ªthey worked far faster and stronger than what they had. They called them crossbows, and they could shoot as quickly as three to five people combined! S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There seemed to be other weapons and technology as well, but they didn''t get much access to them. In particular, there seemed to be a building where so many of the unique products were created. However, their scouts weren''t even able to get close, so they had no choice but to wait for a takeover. Even their Class E weapons had unknown varieties made of Beast Bones, which seemed to be more powerful than the weapons made of wood readily available to them. As villages, the only equipment they could buy were from the system buildings. This was why¡ªfor certain territories who managed to smuggle their people in¡ªone of the things they patronized was Alterra''s weapon store and armory. They all bought as much as their individual purchase limits allowed. They could even buy Class D equipment there, which was rare in villages since they typically had no access to black rocks like these people did! In contrast to most villages, the Alterran guards all had these weapons. Why did they have so many? How!? Of course, this information, those privy to it didn''t share with the others. Eventually, with some assistance from the Master Town, they''d take Alterra and all its goodness! These people could just watch in envy! That was, of course, assuming they made the first move on top of getting Basset Town''s support! At this, many of the village lords looked guardedly at each other. So¡­ who''d be able to take Alterra for themselves? Chapter 1045 - 1045: Gathering in Basset Town A/N: ADVANCED HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I can''t do any more mass release lol, but do receive my heart and greetings. Thank you for your support the past year, Alterrans! The book is now more than 1 year old and still going decently. This is already an accomplishment in and of itself and I wouldn''t have gotten so far without y''all! Hope you remain with me for the coming year~ We''re reaching the halfway mark the story! Hehehe. Love you, and HUGS! ... ____ They were still investigating, but it seemed like Alterra still had a lot of weapons hidden. The greed in their hearts burst as they thought of this, and they looked at each other in understanding. "I will take it first!" Unggoy yelled, already claiming it. "No, I will!" Tout, the Lord of Resso village, responded at around the same time. "I''m closest to it!" Tangie said, dismissing the two of them. "My people have also been there before, and they had gathered enough information the past few weeks. It''s much more than what you have." Logically speaking, he really was the best choice after Picno, which was still a Level 2 Village. However, the others were not reconciled. "I have dealt with their kind before!" Khemel, the lord of Khlack village, yelled back. "They are Foreigners, and I have gone to war with its associate territory, Belluga." This made a couple of other lords sneer at him. "Yeah, by being defeated twice." Khlack was nothing but an empty shell now. Some monsters could even enter the walls. They would just kill it when it entered, but they were no longer able to keep the monsters completely out of the territory. This meant that there was heavy damage every day, and people died even within the territory walls. People dying in Xeno was normal, but what was the point of being in a territory that couldn''t protect them at all? The other villages all received refugees from there, so they knew what was going on. At this, Khemel''s face turned red and he sat back down in humiliation. However, he was desperate to clear his name and regain some status again. He turned to look at the Lord Bentro. "Milord¡­ If you can lend me Patte''s team again," he said. "We can weaken Alterra bit by bit from the outside. I''m sure they''d love targets like that, particularly women from that place. "I heard he even took the enemy lord in front of her subjects," he said. "He will love this mission." Bentro sighed. "My son is probably having fun elsewhere at this time," he said. Because Patte''s level was nothing special in a Town, he¡ªand his cronies¡ªtended to like terrorizing villages. He was a Basset Citizen, but he was rarely here. "Rather than send him to help you though, I''d rather send him to investigate Alterra himself." He then turned to Vara, the leader of the Rongo Mercenary Team. After a close deal between them, the mercenary team agreed to set up their main base in his town. Although it wasn''t that strong considering it was from a City, they were still powerhouses in the tier of Towns. Anyway, the man had been quietly watching them all this time and, knowing him, he must have something to contribute. "What do you think?" "We, too, know a bit about it," Vara said, rubbing his short beard. His sharp eyes turned to his side to reveal another person with a dark disposition. If Garan and the others were here, they''d recognize him as Fargo. Well, perhaps they would, perhaps they wouldn''t. This man, in stark contrast to his previous sleek image, appeared weak and pitiful. His clothing was now that of a commoner who hadn''t bathed in week. He only had one arm and one leg now, and he was held up by stiff stone legs that consumed mana for every movement that he made. Despite his pitiful state, his heart was fiery with hope for revenge. Because of the oath, he couldn''t do it directly but he could assist the people who could do something about them. The oath was strict, of course, but fortunately there was information that technically wasn''t a secret¡ªthe people in this room were simply not aware of them because of the horrible status of communications here. "I know this place very well," he said. "You?" the Lord said, looking up and down at him, not hiding his distaste. He was just a level 10 man. An invalid, too. Normally, any one who had lost a limb was garbage, but it seemed like this one had a longer life span. More importantly, his control of his element was not to be underestimated. "One of its satellites, Limestone Valley, was mine. Me and the branch of the Rongo mercenary team assigned there were defeated by them." This made everyone''s enthusiasm to attack diminish a bit, suddenly making them more guarded. Even if the Rongo Team''s branch was probably in the weaker strata since they settled in villages, it shouldn''t be so weak either. "Their second war," Fargo continued. "They defeated Guia Valley." This made people flinch. Not everyone knew of this information. Rather, it was too unbelievable that many unconsciously missed it. Fargo knew because he had been following news of them as soon as he had the freedom to do so, and he did it by attaching himself to Vara¡­ ¡­though that naturally came with a lot of costs, some of which made him want to skin himself alive. "How they managed to do this is still under investigation, but it shows Alterra is far from weak," Fargo said. "As someone from the same home planet, I can also tell you that their technology is nothing you''ve seen before. "As you are now, any one of you will be crushed." This made the others sneer. They felt uncomfortable being threatened just by the existence of another village! Unggoy hit the table in anger. "It''s a new village right? How can it be so powerful?!" He glared at Fargo, and even at Vara. "You are not exaggerating their strength to feel less embarrassed of your loss, right? "Don''t wanna admit you''re just weak?!" Slash! Unggoy''s eyes widened as the sharp spike of earth appeared by his neck, missing it by an inch. He shook and fell back in shock, almost peeing at himself. His eyes were wide as he whipped his head at the invalid who did it. Fargo sneered. "If I''m weak, what are you?" his eyes were filled with anger and vindictiveness, and it scared Unggoy a bit, despite the bastard being nearly half his level. "YOU¡ª" "ENOUGH!!" Bentro yelled and hit the table in front of him, causing it to crack. This finally brought some peace to the table. After taking a deep breath, he looked at Fargo. "Continue." Fargo''s eyes sharpened, and he said everything he knew and could say. In particular, the fact that they were mostly elementalists. This caused both greed and apprehension to his audience, but mostly the former. There might be a lot of limitations to him now¡ªwhether it was with his current body and situation, or because of that damned oath¡ªbut he would make sure to contribute to Alterra''s downfall!! S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 1046 - 1046: First Terran Business in Iron Valley Iron Valley At this time in Iron Valley, the day passed by as usual. A lot of things changed since the ruling party was replaced. For one, the housing situation had been gradually improved, and so did the state of the food industry. More farms had been created, and the crops available had been diversified. Slowly, more and more plants and products had been grown and harvested, adding to the variety of homegrown foods¡ªa lot of which the locals hadn''t seen. Further, the industries related to the mines were expanded, and more jobs were created in turn. The productivity also skyrocketed. If the goblins hadn''t said that the mine was still large, they''d worry about exhausting it after a couple of years. The increased productivity, of course, meant much larger income for the territory. Althea had made it a point to use most of the profit of that satellite back to the satellite. More and more (and better) houses had been created, with more amenities added in. A few Alterrans had also relocated there for a chance of a good life. Alterra was great, but for people with high ambitions, it was too saturated unless you had something really special to offer. One of these people was Tofu, a kitchen hand back in Terra. He was no great cook compared to the others, but he had the business mind and the ambition that pushed him to make the decision. When he found out a new Caravan was heading to Iron Mountains, he dragged his wife (who couldn''t cook but was so good with money that she could be an accountant) to go with him. Together, they started a business in this brand new territory. He also knew from Hugo that they had built farms here as well. Although much of the sauces had to be bought at higher cost from the Gaea Grocery branch there, the purchasing power of aborigines was also higher. He could definitely charge a lot more for less delicious food (at least compared to what Alterrans were used to)! He knew he had to carve a name for himself early before other people did the same. Among those people, there would be those who knew how to cook better or had family recipes. In terms of taste, he might not be able to match anymore. However, by the time they arrived, he believed he''d have enough capital to start a new venture¡ªwhatever that would be! Most awesomely, because he was the first one to start an Alterran business here, he was also given a lot of preferential treatment! For example, he was given a very low downpayment¡ªand he was allowed to use a shop house along the main avenue! 5% downpayment! The balance had payment terms with 15 years to pay! There was no greater deal than this! He looked at his shop that had just opened, heart filled with excitement. People curiously looked inside after an aggressive marketing campaign on the streets, and more and more people started entering and settling on the table. He giggled to himself before heading to the kitchen, cooking the first orders the restaurant would ever have. And so, that was the birth of ''MediocreFoodsYouLove'' by Tofu, and he would indeed make a lot of money. ¡­ The pretty short-haired Silvia, at this time, was doing her daily rounds around the territory. Walking beside her and matching her pace was the head guard, Rowan. They claimed it was completely professional and they really did do their jobs religiously. However, anyone with eyes could see that this was a half-date. For one, there was no need for two professionals to walk less than a foot away from each other. Another, there was no reason for them to have flushed faces and dilated pupils the whole time. "People''s lifestyle is improving," Rowan said, turning to her. "Have you eaten breakfast yet?" S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Not yet." "Shall we check out the new shop?" Silvia offered. "Miss Althea asked us to report on how the businesses are going." Rowan nodded. "Yes, we should check its status together." "I agree." Their words were relatively platonic, but if one considered the chemistry sparking between them, then one could see it was anything but that. They arrived at the restaurant sometime after brunch. Tofu''s restaurant had just opened but, unsurprisingly, he already had a lot of customers. Even if majority of the people here were aborigines, even the simplest marketing technique (i.e. yelling some catchy slogan outside the door) could attract them. Fortunately, there was no queue for now and it was easy for Silvia and Rowan to find their seats in the corner. Allegedly, it was so they could observe the place from a more holistic point of view. It was just that the fact that they had their own space¡­ made the flirting a little less subtle. No, they were not feeding each other. However, they were often caught watching the other eat, and then shyly look down when the other lifted their heads. It was ridiculously sappy. The ''inspection'' ended wth them agreeing that, while the quality and taste of the food was nothing compared to Alterra, it was definitely unique and far superior to what the local population had been used to. They judged this business to be high-potential and would not need any government assistance at all. The two continued their "non-romantic" walk around the village. They went on a comfortable pace, exchanging a few bits of small talk along the way. However, their non-date was be cut short when they heard some commotion happening in an area. Their feet moved quickly to follow the noise and they realized where it was happening. "There''s a commotion in the Iron Shop," Rowan said with a deep frown, immediately heading to the center of the crowd. The crowd, a little scared, saw them and heaved sighs of relief, immediately clearing the way for them. The shop''s frontage was a bit of a mess. The shop clerks were pale and scared, with a few guards separating them from the hostility. The guards were led by Hugo, who was standing tall and unperturbed, despite being outnumbered. Across them was a small group of tall aborigines¡ªand they were not weak. At the very least, their levels were definitely not something found in Villages. Chapter 1047 - 1047: Unfriendly Visitors A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! May you all have a blessed 2025~ *dances* ¡­ ____ The Iron Shop was a large shop comprised of three modules. It was located by one of the new plazas Alterra built when it took over. After the Alterrans moved in, they not only built the Alterras shop (with a section dedicated to Gaea Grocery items), they also built one shop where people could purchase iron, whether it was in raw ore form or already refined. Other Territories all had Weapon Shops which levelled up after time. However, the level D weapons they could produce were limited because most of them did not have a lot of iron. They had to buy the raw materials from others before the weapon store could produce it. Before, the iron was purchased directly at the mines which were not organized. Of course, there was also the fact that there seemed to be one territory that was receiving the majority of the iron, so there was that. Another effect of this was that there would be less Class D weapons in the surrounding territories, lowering the threats that Guia''s adjacent villages could pose. This was another way Baltimore made sure he remained the indisputable strongest village in the area. In contrast, with the Alterrans at the helm, the purchase limits for others had even slightly increased, though not too much. This was not enough to allow other territories to make too many good weapons, but they also wanted to provide to as many ''baskets'' as possible. They didn''t change the pricing either and even lowered it for territories that were allied with them. They were less greedy and their production line was much, much, more efficient. So, even with the lower price, Alterra was making huge profits¡ªa lot better than what Guia made before. Anyway, during the past few weeks it was opened, the Iron Shop naturally became one of the most popular place for visitors. It was next only to the Alterra Shop, which was only more popular because of its variety and the rarity of its products. That said, there had been a lot of conflicts since its inception. This was not a surprise; this was just how this world was. It couldn''t be all like Alterra, right? Even with the rules and regulations, the majority of the population were still aborigines who were used to talking with their fists. At least the territory made a good chump of money from bails¡­ Anyway, this was not the issue right now. Rowan walked forward, joining the three guards, including Hugo. "What''s going on?" he asked and Hugo looked at him. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "These men are asking us to surrender our Iron. All of it," he said. "They didn''t care about our explanations at all." No wonder there was so much noise¡ªand most of which weren''t even from their own people¡ªwhen there was no one fighting. Many of these people probably went here and queued properly to buy their iron. How could they allow other people to just take them all away? He heaved a deep breath and looked at the aborigines, each one with a higher level than his. "First of all, these are not free," he said. "And second, each buyer had a purchase limit¡ªthis meant no one individual or group could buy everything." He then looked at all the people frowning round them, glaring at the newcomers. "As you can see, they are all waiting in line for their share." All the people in the queue nodded in approval, which made the bullies frown deeper than before. "What are you talking about?" Ashol, the leader of the group, asked. He crossed his arms, growing impatient at all this delay. "You have never caused us trouble before. Where''s your Lord? We need to talk to him! "These things were usually placed in our carts without question! Don''t make me lose my patience," he said, genuinely about to make a move. "Perhaps that''s because the items aren''t yours as you claim," Rowan said with a deadpan expression on his face. However, his body was tense, definitely prepared to take on an attack directed at him. "This has always been our property!" he said, appearing to take this for granted. Rowan narrowed his eyes as he looked at them. "Who are you?" In retrospect, they should''ve asked earlier. It was just that the other party had the attitude that they must be known and recognized¡ªand therefore must be catered to. "We''re from Valov Town," he said. As he said this, he and his teammates lifted their chins up. He was expecting for them to be more obedient. Unexpectedly, they did not flinch at all. Some of the other visitors who had heard about them didn''t seem to care much either. It was only this time that Ashol realized that there were a lot of things that they missed. It had been a while since he personally was sent here so he had forgotten a lot of how it was. Another group was usually assigned to do this, but they had been missing in action for weeks, so his group was sent instead. At most, he just noticed the name change, which had indeed been odd, but he didn''t think too much of it. "You don''t know us?" he asked, the grip on his weapon tightening. "Who are you?" "In case you hadn''t noticed, this is no longer Guia VIllage," Rowan said, taking out his weapon too. Hugo and the others long had their weapons out, and they were prepared to have an all out fight several minutes ago. "Our territory won Guia Village, and we now control the mines." "What?" Ashol and the others looked at each other. It turned out the Lord wasn''t even Baltimore anymore? This was big news! Things happened quickly. One of the men next to Ashol practically disappeared from where he stood, dashing over to the citizens. He gestured to grab someone to interrogate¡ªusing a painful grip as he did so¡ªbut there was a flash of light and he disappeared. Ashol and the others'' eyes widened when they saw this. "HEY! Where is he?" "In prison," Rowan ''kindly'' explained. "Didn''t you listen to the rules and regulations?" "You cannot commit hostile crimes that could hurt other people, or the system would make a move." Rowan''s sharp eyes stared at them. His level might be lower, but his confidence to the system and their rules added a certain height to his words. "You can try and attack us now so you could join him." Chapter 1048 - 1048: Discussions with the Valov People They were at a standstill for a while. Their pride was hurt and they really wanted to hit people. At the same time, if they all went to prison, what would be their next step? In the end, they had to back down. "This is shit," Ashol tutted, gesturing for everyone to step away. They hated to do so, but they had to make a report as soon as possible. "We''ll be back," they just said, gesturing to leave. Afraid of their auras, the crowd gave way to let them leave. Unexpectedly, a certain woman appeared in their path. Rowan''s heart dropped, while the hostile aborigines either frowned (because she, a woman, blocked their way) or leered at her (because she was a beauty). "I''m afraid we can''t do that," Silvia said. "May we head to the office? Perhaps we can come up with a good deal." This surprised Rowan and the others, but Silvia''s face didn''t show anything other than a professional smile. Seeing that she was ''offering'', the aborigines'' minds immediately went in another direction. The woman was beautiful and had a good shape, too, so she must be good at what she does! Their line of thought was obvious with their perverted expressions. It made Rowan want to burn them. He stepped forward and stood in between them, making the aborigines frown. However, since there was a civil reception about to happen, their anger subsided a bit. "Sure," they said, and Silvia guided them to the Village Center for an official-looking meeting. They led them to the meeting room. Before they entered, Rowan pulled Silvia into a corner, looking at her with concern. "Why are we even talking to them?" "We don''t know everyone buying the iron nor do we have formal partnerships with most of them," she said, calmly explaining to him. "It won''t look good to just imprison people randomly, and we might raise some other unnecessary issue by showing force at this juncture." These people were obviously sent by Guia''s master territory. Whether it was that Valov Town or someplace else, they needed more information. Further, they didn''t know if they had allies in the vicinity, or what the information would mean for the others. They had to thread carefully. There was also the off-chance that it wasn''t like that at all. Perhaps¡­ these people were just self-absorbed and entitled. If they openly took these people down, wouldn''t that alert the wrong people they were imprisoning people? "And most importantly," she paused, giving him a teasing glance that calmed down most of Rowan''s anxieties. "Don''t you think this is the perfect time to find out more?" Until now, the ''master territory'' felt a bit like a sword hanging above them, and they had no idea whether it would fall or when. Now that they found a thread of connection, they must do what they could to grasp it. After a moment, Rowan nodded in understanding. Heaving deep breaths, the two of them entered the room. Silvia and Rowan introduced themselves. The aborigines were surprised that she held actual position. However, despite this, their perverted looks did not disappear¡ªit even intensified. In their minds, a woman must just be placed in that position to make her look hotter, and it was working. If Rowan wasn''t seated between them, it was estimated that someone would''ve attempted to touch Silvia. Silvia pretended not to see, and she subtly held Rowan''s hand to calm him down. She then told them a false story about how they even got here, or how they won the territory S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We were just attacked by Guia and we got lucky to receive the entire territory," Silvia said, looking pretty as always. "It''s mostly luck on our part. "We don''t know much about its state before. We were so surprised to find a mine here." "You mean to say you beat Baltimore?" She nodded. "There were strong mercenaries who were on missions and got injured. Our territory helped save them. It so happened Baltimore decided to attack. To repay the favor, they cleared them up." Attacking territories had a lot less protection than the defending population, especially when they didn''t go through the array. There were plenty of questionable details about what she said, but obviously these men were either too blinded by her beauty and their own arrogance, or they were stupid (or maybe both), that they didn''t really think too deeply about it. "We have always been taking the Iron of this place, leaving just enough for their own weapons," Ashol said, eyes fixed on her pretty face. "The Lord expects to receive a certain amount. Ah, they require much higher now because the previous batch did not return on time." "A town needs so much?" "It''s not our town that needs it," he said, and Silvia made sure to note that down in her mind. "It must be a powerful territory to order a town like Valov so much." Ashol nodded. "Of course," he said. "Valov wouldn''t even exist without it." Silvia tried to pry more information and as the minutes ticked by, the information became more and more useless. Combined with their leering stares and increasingly suggestive comments, Silvia decided to stop the meeting before Rowan was unable to stop himself from attacking. "We will talk with the others who had reserved," she said with finality. "Please come with me so that we can convince them better¡ªafter all, we are just a weak village," she said. "We cannot compare to the influence of a Town." The group headed back to the queue and Silvia went in front to speak to the crowd. Ashol and the others held their heads up high, as if returning in triumph. However¡­ instead of Silvia demanding them to return the iron¡ªas they had expected any one with common sense to do¡ªshe told them that they, Valov Town, would be willing to buy the iron for a higher price than what they''ve bought. "This way, your costs of travel and lining up can at least be covered," she said. "It''s a win-win situation, don''t you think so?" Ashol''s eyes sharpened as he looked at her. This bitch! Chapter 1049 - 1049: Disagreements! This bitch! She definitely led them to believe that they''d pander to their request! If Silvia knew his thoughts, she would just smile professionally. Technically speaking, she hadn''t committed anything of the sort. These people simply took her words with the interpretation of their own bias. With that bias being their wants followed without question¡ªespecially by a woman. If they had made an oath, they wouldn''t have been able to force her to do what they thought she promised. Of course, even if she said this though, it would only fuel the man''s fire. He felt Rowan''s stare at him and he forced himself to calm. However, it was evidently not easy, because veins seemed to be popping all over his body, and a little more of this and he''d explode. Ashol took a deep breath. However, if it would expedite the process, they might have no choice but to accept. This wasn''t what had been discussed¡ªat least not what he was led to believe. Ashol''s eyes traced over the woman''s body, his own already heating up at the thought of it naked under him. He''d just punish her later on. For now, he had to do his tasks and he shifted his malicious gaze to the other customers instead. Anyway, these people shouldn''t dare raise the price after hearing they were from Valov Town! Maybe they''d even lower it! He miscalculated this time. Again. While some were indeed intimidated by the power of a Town¡ªthere were plenty of people there who were from towns themselves! These people¡­ vehemently disagreed with the deal. To make matters worse (for Valov) the remaining stocks were even bidded out. "A powerful town like Valov should be able to out-bid the others," Rowan said at the side, making them a little panicked. In the end, the bidding began, and this earned Iron Mountains a lot of extra money. It irked Ashol and the others very much, especially when they lost batch after batch, and they had to see other people smiling as they won a whole pile of black metal¡ªeach one Valov Town was being forced to let go of. They were humiliated, and those smiling faces felt like mockery to them. Someone from their team wanted to fake it and just force them to accept their lack of funds after they won the bid, but Silvia stopped this by saying she''d only accept upfront payment in public. "For fairness of the bidding, all payments had to be done in front of everyone," she said. "We can''t have other people bidding over others but not planning to pay, right? That is what weak territories do." This shut down their nefarious plans. If they were unable to take out the money required, then they¡ªand the territory¡ªwould only be embarrassed. In the end¡ªafter a few more batches¡ªValov didn''t win a single one! The arrogant Valov citizens were not reconciled. "WHAT IS THIS?" he yelled. "This is not fair! REDO IT!" Some other people, particularly those who had won their batches, quickly chimed in. "We won fair and square!" he said. He was one of the people from Ferrol Town and was a frequent customer here since the heat wave. "Your Valov Town can''t be thinking of stealing in broad daylight!? Against our territory?" Ashol pursed his lips and couldn''t speak for a bit. Ferrol Town was a higher level town than Valov. However, it wasn''t like they didn''t have stronger backing! The thought allowed him to straighten his back and glare at them. He looked at Silvia and Rowan, who were now standing together and staring at them¡ªas if waiting for what they''d do next. "I clearly told you that this doesn''t only involve the interests of Valov Town," he said, tone filled with implications. However, it didn''t seem to shake either one of the two. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "We cannot damage the interest of the whole territory for you." Seeing her so arrogant, the misogynistic men decided it was time to put her in place. "I''ve had enough of this!!" Ashol yelled, his large hands extending to get her. Similarly, his cronies gestured to attack everyone else¡ªparticularly, those who had won the bid. However, another flash of light passed by and, this time, every one of them were transferred to the Prison. Things immediately calmed down then, and Silvia¡ªlike a professional as always¡ªsimply apologized to their guests. "I''m sorry for that," she said. "It''s difficult to handle some territories. You understand." "No worries, Silvia," their regulars said with smiles. "Some people are just difficult to talk to." She chuckled and excused herself. Rowan followed closely behind her, staring at her back and making sure she was okay psychologically. He knew that¡ªwhile Silvia didn''t shiver or falter at all during that event¡ªshe was definitely scared. As they walked though, they were as relieved as they felt heavy. "A lot of things happened, I see," a voice sounded and they turned to see it was Reno. "I was gone for half a day¡­" He was part of the clearing team that left early that day, so his armor still had splatters of blood and his weapon had fresh marks of battle. "Brother," Silvia said, heaving out the breath she had been holding. Rowan saw this and wanted to pat her head. He wondered when she''d be able to breathe this easily as long as he was with her. Reno was actually a few levels lower than he was, but in her mind he was still the most reliable. This was understandable, of course. Although Rowan was stronger (for now) in terms of raw power, he still had a lot to learn when it came to other things like managing territories, certain more complex techniques, handling people, and so on. Still, Rowan''s wish was to be skilled enough so the woman could relax as soon as he arrived. He still had much to learn, however. Silvia was also a perfectionist, so Rowan''s evident lack of administrative knowledge and EQ indeed posed many challenges to him. Anyway, Silvia filled her brother out with the events, and each sentence got him more and more tense. He sighed in the end. "Send a letter to Alterra," he said. "We need to know what they''d want us to do with those people." Then¡­ he remembered the bits of information they got so far. "And also tell them what we could be up against in the future." Chapter 1050 - 1050: Althea’s Birthday A few more days passed by and Althea''s 26th birthday finally arrived. Like Garan, she wasn''t into big parties so their celebration was a very intimate dinner with only their closest friends and family eating a more special-than-usual menu on the table. They set up a large dining table at the veranda area and each dish was plated well, and it was obvious the chef took particular care of them. The group ate happily, eating much more than usual, and were extremely satisfied with the experience. Cooke himself made most of the food and it was his best menu yet. They sang the happy birthday song with cake and candles and¡ªwhile it was a traditional practice¡ªit felt special and nostalgic to do in this foreign land. "Happy 26th birthday!" they greeted, each giving their special gifts. Winona and Ansel gave a few sets of dresses and suits she got Andrei to customize. Both of them had impeccable taste, so Althea knew the attire would be really good. Andrei had also awakened the Cloth Maker profession so the beautiful customized suits he made had defensive properties. They could be worn over underwear or clothing, depending on the weather and the occasion. There were even 5 colors and styles she could choose from. She also checked on the dresses'' stats and was pleasantly surprised. It gave a few additional points of defense, and it was miles better than their common clothing¡ªnot to mention how pretty they were. "Thank you¡­ I love it," she said, touching the lovely fabric. Andrei was now using the initial silk products, and he had definitely mastered how to handle them well. One had to know that each fabric had its own idiosyncrasies, and Xenoan silk was very different from Terran silk. To be able to do such intricate designs and add defensive properties to it¡ªjust a few months since entering this world¡ªwas not a small feat. With this skill, he could''ve been a green-tagged cloths maker, but it seemed that he was just below the required threshold for it. Still, with his passion and love for the field, Althea thought he could easily be as good as a green-tagged person. It took more than talent to create something amazing, after all. Next was Harold''s gift. He gave her a few buckets of mana candies, and they were crafted so she could easily take one without making a mess in her space. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This is a new development. I partnered with our candy makers and I mastered the craft, soon able to create an alternative to mana cookies. It not only lasts longer, with the material able to retain most of its properties even after a while, but it also gives a bit more mana!" Althea''s eyebrows rose as she took one colorful candy the size of her pinky and ate it. She blinked. It had a slightly sour flavor that was refreshing to eat. "Thank you¡­ these are really amazing." "He-he¡­" Sheila and Eagle gave her seeds, which they secretly got for her. They partnered with the people from Ferrol branch, and had been asking them to camp in markets there for unusual items. The bag of seeds was sent via messenger birds and arrived just in time after the couple waited nervously for the delivery. It reminded them of how people ordered gifts from Amazone back in Terran and they had to wait anxiously whether it''d arrive in time for the party. The seeds were light and could be carried by the birds, so they were properly safeguarded and the birds weren''t tempted to eat them. "Wow! I''ll definitely watch how they''d grow," she said. "Thank you! I''m sure we''ll find a way to use these." Eugene and Melissa, on the other hand, actually gave her a handheld calculator. The rest blinked and stared, even testing out its accuracy. "What''s 3721 times 23?" Ansel asked, making his wife look at him. "And? Can you tell if it''s wrong?" "..." "I know we have calculators on our phones, but the handheld calculator just feels different since you''re someone who deals with numbers a lot," Eugene said. "Plus, it''s a lot less battery-consuming and allows for more complex operations." "It''s a gift from the Research Team," Melissa added with a smile, making Althea giggle. She vaguely remembered that certain groups seemed to have a lot of unfiled OTs in the Research Lab. At the time, she didn''t think too much of it because¡ªwhile everyone could get profit shares in whatever they were doing¡ªsome were experimenting at their own pace, so they believed it was not fair to charge the time on wages. ¡­to think they were doing this instead. She smiled. "I appreciate this so much," she said, looking at them and the others. "Thank you for all these gifts. I love them." The others felt shy and were grinning ear to ear, happy she liked their gifts. Garan smiled and said he''d give his gift later, and most just assumed it was something perverted. Garan did not correct them. While not entirely correct, it wasn''t like he wasn''t going to serve her well either. Finally, the Kids performed a cute dance performance for Althea. With the twins in their cruisers in the middle. The five kids danced to the rhythm of a popular children''s song back in Terran. The music was played from Ansel''s phone. After the solar charging station was implemented, he got a copy of all music saved in people''s phones, in exchange for a free full charge of their phone for each song. Interestingly, this song was downloaded from Mart''s phone. Mart was one of the soldiers who came with Ryan. He had a sister, who unfortunately perished back in Terran. It was sad, but he was glad to have the songs she loved enjoyed by other kids¡ªas if he could watch her grow through them. The sound was a catchy kid''s song named Baby Skunk, and there were silly steps to it that were super adorable to watch. Horus was red in embarrassment but he played along, hoping to show his appreciation and love through the song despite cringing with his whole soul. "Baby Skunk choo choo choo choo~" he sang, with Maya and the other kids singing with him. "Baby Skunk Choochoochochoochoo" The babies giggled and jumped around, sometimes matching their groove. "Mwammggaa!" "Googmmammmuuhh!" The performance ended with the kids doing cutesy pose, yelling BABY SKUNK! in the end. Anyway, it was all good fun, and Althea was smiling the whole time¡ªand she barely managed to take clear pictures from giggling so much. Chapter 1051 - 1051: Garan’s Gifts "Did you enjoy your day?" Garan asked, placing chaste kisses all over her. Night time was, apparently, the time for service. He bathed her himself and he asked her not to move, which was really sweet torture. He claimed he wanted to give back the gift he got during his birthday. She rolled her eyes, but she enjoyed his service anyway. After they got off the bath, he helped her get in her comfortable night dress and dried her hair. He didn''t do anything else for a bit, which surprised her because she really thought he''d throw her down the bed like he usually did. Garan saw her puzzlement and smiled. He leaned down to kiss her forehead. "So hungry?" This earned him a pinch on the abs, though Althea was unable to grasp much flesh at all. Garan chuckled at her cuteness and sat next to her. "I won''t let my wife go hungry for too long, of course," he said, placing a chaste kiss on the side of her lips. "But before that, let me give you a few gifts," he said, pausing to take a gift from the space. "This is the first one." He wrapped his arm around her so she could rest her neck on his arm, and he leisurely handed the gift to her. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was a shimmery flat stone that was smaller than her palm. It had what seemed like a flattened youli stone in the middle. He didn''t say what it was, but she knew it was a magic tool. She raised her eyebrows and checked it with her ability. [Memory Stone (E): Can record and store a moving image 30 seconds in length for an indefinite amount of time. New recordings will automatically overwrite existing ones.] Her eyes widened and she looked at her husband. He smiled and leaned down to place another kiss on her forehead. He then gently took it off her hand and placed aether into it. It activated immediately, with an image appearing on the youli flat stone. It was semi-transluscent and faded out, but the image was clear enough to Althea that she felt a few tears lining up her eyes. It was an image of Garan and her two kids. They were smiling and staring out from the stone. "Happy birthday, my love, I hope you enjoyed your first birthday in this world," Garan said, with the two babies happily bouncing as they sat on a thigh each. "We shall have decades after decades¡ªno, centuries¡ªmore of adventures here, and I promise that this is the first of countless celebrations to come." "Mwammwwaaahhh!" "Goooghhmmammaaa!!" The babies yelled, wiggling cutely and raising their little arms to reach the tool, though obviously to no avail. Garan held a baby in place with a hand on each stomach, though it didn''t stop them from attempting to jump out. "We love you, Althea." The thirty seconds ended in a flash, but it definitely made an impact. She turned to her husband, wrapping her arms around his wide shoulder. "Thank you! This is really great!" She carefully placed it in her space. Garan smiled and took another gift from his space. "That one''s from the babies," he said, handing her a small box of sort, which was something she had encountered before. "And this is mine." [Token Guard (D) - unused. Has the ability to store a Lord Token outside the body while retaining its ability to be used as well as retain its ownership. Can only be synchronized with one Token.] She gasped and looked at him. It was a magic tool that would allow her to keep the lord token outside her body safely even during wars. It would also ensure that, should anything happen to her, the territory would remain standing. She had first encountered this when she found the Guia Village''s Lord Token. However, even after it had merged with her own token, she could not use that tool because it had already synchronized with the Guia Token, rendering it useless unless she decided to separate control from Iron Mountains. She needed a whole new tool that would work on Alterra''s ''wavelength'', so to speak. She had expressed her sadness and disappointment when she found out about this, and apparently her husband took note of that. To be honest, Garan wasn''t particularly comfortable getting this tool. He didn''t want to consider anything happen to his wife at all. However, there had not been a day where she didn''t worry about it. He had once gotten angry to her about it even, but she hugged him and comforted him. "I wasn''t saying something could happen to me," she said. "It''s all for peace of mind, you know?" She even went on to say analogies so far off that it took him aback. "For example, since my period is usually off by days, I tended to wear napkins early on¡ªjust for a peace of mind." "..." Further, she had always wanted an adventure. Having a Lord Token attached to her was, apparently, something that felt suffocating to her. So, even if he wasn''t entirely happy, he did his best to get it for her. He bought the tools from Jonathan. They were quite expensive, but he would be deducting the amounts to their personal deals with the sauces from before. Garan would''ve been willing to sell a few shares, too, but he knew that if his wife found out, she''d feel pity. Although the value of his sauces had lowered a bit because of Alterra''s plethora of options, his was still a good option primarily because he used purely Xeno ingredients and was much easier to mass produce. It also helped that Jonathan knew about Althea''s position, and this was a lot of favor for them. He smiled, gently getting her to lie down. Soon, his warm mouth was back on her neck, nuzzling it, and his large calloused hands groped her breasts, moulding it to different shapes. She felt her body heat up under his caress, her mouth letting out moans she could not hold back. Garan separated to kneel above her, taking off his shirt and revealing the sculpted figure underneath. "Now," he paused, placing his hand on the hem of her night dress to pull it above her head, "It''s time for the finale." ¡­ Unfortunately, sometime in the middle of the night¡ªjust when Althea was about to doze off after several rounds of ''service'' ¡ªthe familiar ding of the system sounded in her mind. [Yasof Village (Lv3) has declared War against Alterra Village (Lv3). War will commence in 13:59:59.] Chapter 1052 - 1052: Yasof Village Yasof Village. The afternoon of the next day arrived and the array appeared right outside the attacking territory. Hundreds and hundreds of forces had lined up, prepared to enter as soon as the instructions were sent. Ladon, the lead force of this war and the head military advisor of the lord, looked at the forces with a complicated expression. However, he did not show any doubts, knowing it would do nothing to help with the momentum. His eyes turned to the Lord who was watching not too far away. The lord nodded and Ladon took it as the signal to begin the war. "Let''s go, men!" he yelled, and he disappeared into the array, followed by various groups of their forces. Lord Yassop watched on with a blank expression on his face, though his heart was heavy. Uckit, his advisor, couldn''t help but look at him worriedly. "Are we really attacking Alterra?" "We are attacking a strong village, but we have been trusted by the master territory to take it down before it gets any stronger." Uckit pursed his lips, eyebrows furrowed in worry as more and more of their slaves and citizens headed into the array, unknown whether they would be able to get back at all. "We do not have a chance against Guia, let alone the territory that beat it," he said, as quietly as he could, but loud enough for the lord to hear him clearly. He was there during the meeting with the Basset Town lord. Uckit had advised his Lord against this war. At the very least, he must redirect the task to someone else. Obviously, the other village lords were far greedier than his own, and they''d have been happy to get the job. Then again, this was probably one of the reasons why their lord was sent instead of the others. Unlike how it would be with the others, the Basset Town lord was certain Lord Yassop wouldn''t rebel and bite back using the new territory instead. They hadn''t said it during the meeting, but they had also sent people to take a look at Alterra. Those without families and assets in their territory did not return, while those who returned moved out with their families soon after. This was an easy testament to how different that place was. They had managed to get some information as well as what that Fargo person said, and it was clear this was a war meant to be lost. The Lord shook his head. "We''re the strongest among Basset Town''s Level 3 Village subsidiaries. We are also fairly close to Alterra," Yassop said, though he was explaining more to himself than to Uckit. "Objectively speaking, we are the most practical option." "I''m afraid we''re just here to intimately test out Alterra''s strength," Uckit responded, uncomfortable. The Lord sighed. "Perhaps," he said, eyes dark. "But you know what happens when a subsidiary disobeys Basset Town." The standard subsidiary oaths were only valid during the contract period. However, even those with the foresight to add non-betrayal oaths outside of the contract were not entirely exempted from betrayal either. After all, those former subsidiaries could just attach to another rival, and let that rival attack instead. A few cases had happened before, each one successfully serving to stifle the rebellious thoughts amongst subsidiaries. The first one rebelled because Basset Town took too much advantage of their status. They made the citizens'' lives miserable. They also made the lord''s and his family''s lives miserable. His daughters were taken and abused, and he couldn''t do anything about it. He did not renew the contract anymore and attached to Ferrol Town. But Ferrol was too far. What could they do when Basset decided to send his subsidiaries to attack it? Suffice to say, that one fell horribly and that lord died a horrid death. The token was granted to Tout, the very man who tortured him to death. He now took over as the Lord of Resso village. Another one also secretly attached to another Town up north and gathered some strength. It detached as soon as the contract ended as well. That one put up a stronger fight, surviving three successive wars. The Lord was assassinated by someone hired from the Rongo Mercenary Team, but the token couldn''t be found during the war. It was attached to the former lord''s son, who was only 10 at the time. Due to their weakness after going through so many wars, they did not survive a beast mob that appeared soon after. That territory fell and disappeared from the map. The point was, Basset Town did not take to defectors easily. At the same time, Yassop was not the type to die quietly. "I gave Ladon an instruction," Yassop said after a while, making Uckit turn to him. "He shall run and give up as soon as they are certain it''s hopeless. I told him not to make it obvious, of course." One of the things they found about Alterra was that they didn''t keep slaves in the conventional sense. He was planning to take advantage of that. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Also, he not only disliked Basset and most of its subsidiaries, he also really disliked that Fargo person. He felt like being associated with any of them was allowing himself to be a sacrifice. Most importantly¡ªhe couldn''t help but remember his daughter''s poor state. His beautiful little Yelena. She was the sweetest girl and very beautiful, but she unfortunately caught the eyes of Patte, Bentro''s only son. The man was infamous for causing chaos in villages, acting like the overlord there¡ªdedicated to doing whatever he wanted, especially to women. When he saw his name in the Lord Panel, he immediately ordered all the females in his family to hide back in their homes. His Yelena was free and had a cheerful personality. She was adventurous and liked to play around in the forests. Yassop wasn''t able to find her in time, and¡ªwith a cruel twist of fate¡ªPatte met her first. The tragedy of his family started then. His fist clenched tightly, and his eyes showing manicness that was rarely seen in his usual calm image. He wanted his revenge! Uckit looked at the man he chose to follow. He couldn''t help but give a respectful salute before heading out to deal with the inevitable aftermath. "My Lord is wise." Chapter 1053 - 1053: Yassop and Yelena Trigger Warning: Mentions of SA, cuz Patte. Not particularly graphic though! I won''t go down that rabbit hole again dunworry. ¡­ ___ Lord Yassop stood still, not leaving the array at all. Regardless of what happened, he must be there. He wouldn''t be able to rest well, anyway. The time for vengeance was near. How could he stay calm? As he watched group after group enter the array, his mind couldn''t help but go to a distant past¡ªwhen it was him who was leading fights like that. He was the third generation of lords here, and it was his grandfather who had obtained the token by participating in fights to the death. The Tournament of Valor¡ªwhich occurred once every hundred years or so¡ªwas something only Cities, technically, participated in. Arrays would appear outside of every city. By every city, it meant cities from all over the world¡ªincluding other participating races that actually managed to build cities. These arrays would lead to the host city, which varied every time. Some cities seemed to have a way to determine which was the next Host City, though no one could really tell for certain. However, when certain mercenaries or towns were strong enough, they might also join in under the name of their Master City. That was the greatest honor people of their level could gain. One of the many rewards given during this event was a set of Lord Tokens. The total amount released that century varied according to what the system judged was needed by the world. They were not a lot, however. In any case, the Lord Token was the symbol of great power, so many men would do whatever it took to own one. His grandfather was a mercenary of a well-known town East, and they joined under Warrior City. He was a bit of a power-hungry man¡ªas most were¡ªso he fought hard to earn a Lord Token. He lost an eye and an arm, becoming an invalid, but at least he had the token with him. However, he also knew that the mercenary team would want to take it away from him, so he ran as far as he could, though towards their West as the East was already Orc territory. He established Yasof Village then, got married, and had his father. He raised the man to become a strict¡ªalmost brutal¡ªoverlord, which worked to keep the Village alive. Further, even when his grandfather was weakened by the loss of an appendage, he was still a mercenary from a town in the end, so the mobs were not as much of a problem to them as it was to other villages. This caused their village to grow much faster than their neighbors, which was a great point of pride to them. When he was born, he was also raised to be a harsh ruler. Since young, he was taught that only with fear could they hold everyone in line¡ªeven during wars when the rules were null. For a while, he believed in that and thought he''d be the same type of lord as his father. Things changed with the birth of his daughter. She was so pure and kind, and he knew being harsh to people would break her heart. Inexplicably, his style of ruling softened up a bit, and he was happy as well. She was his only child, and probably the only one he''d ever have. It was difficult to procreate in this world, and¡ªalthough his level wasn''t too high yet, only level 21¡ªit was worse for him due to former war injuries he experienced after her birth. He loved her to death. Although fellow lords and nobles mocked him for putting so much importance on a girl, he didn''t mind it at all. Rather, because he knew how women were treated here, he took the extra mile to protect her from that. He just wanted her to be safe and happy, though this caused her to become incredibly naive. His poor daughter¡­ sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She was not prepared for the monster that inexplicable came her way. Yassop wasn''t in the Village at the time, as he was called to Basset Town to celebrate the lord''s birthday there. Similarly, Patte was also heading home, and his village just happened to be in the way. According to the maids¡ªwho were also abused by Patte''s cronies¡ªthey were all taken right then and there in the forest. It was a horrible time, but no one could do anything. Patte and the others were citizens from the Master Territory, and they would get heavy penalties for attacking them. They believed that Patte would not kill the women and, to them, that was already enough. Even when the maids told them their identities in an attempt to make him stop, it only made Patte torture Yelena harder¡ªas if she suddenly became even more attractive. When it was over, he practically destroyed her body. In Patte''s words, his Yelena was just so beautiful he couldn''t hold back. She should be honored. He then remembered his father''s birthday was coming up and left unceremoniously¡ªas if he didn''t just destroy a life. When he returned home and found out about this, he went insane. He almost declared war against a Town¡ªregardless of the consequences. His people begged him to reconsider, and he was forced to cool down. His advisors and his wife told him they were simply committing suicide, and he''d just be killing his daughter who had already experienced a tragic fate¡ªwould he make it even worse? Their lives were long, and it wouldn''t be too late to get revenge later. With time, they might actually be able to cause actual damage to those people. Later, they faked his daughter''s death, claiming she died due to injuries¡ªwhich wasn''t an unfamiliar occurence to Patte''s victims¡ªand Patte no longer looked for her again. Regardless, Yelena was no longer the same after that day¡ªwho would? She no longer had that bright smile, the innocence in her eyes was replaced with cynicism and darkness. She shook in fear and anger at the sight of men¡ªeven with family, even with him. Then¡­ they found out she was pregnant, they only felt despair. Yelena even wanted to stab her stomach. They calmed her down and talked her out of it, though apparently not without taking away another part of her soul. She no longer spoke to them after that, and she lived like an empty shell. Because of Patte''s violence, this would also be the only time she could have children, and she could not be too anxious if she wanted to survive. So they ended up keeping the child, but they were definitely not letting Basset Town know about it. While most subsidiary lords would rejoice, Yassop didn''t want another connection with that accursed town. They had also lied before, which would make their lives¡ªespecially Yelena''s¡ªeven worse if they found out. That was many years ago. The child was five years old now, and he had witnessed his mother try to kill herself many times. Yelena had never tried to harm the child again, but she always looked at him in disgust and fear, causing him to have a quiet and somber personality. To this day, he hadn''t heard him say a word. His heart was pained. For both of them. All this time, he held on for the sake of the rest of his family and his people. But now¡­ a territory might just put Basset in its place again! How could he not take advantage?! Chapter 1054 - 1054: Ladrons Decision Ladron was indeed given the instruction to give up as soon as he confirmed fighting was useless. While a bit offended, he understood it was for their own good. However, it didn''t mean he''d actually do it! Going in, he was still determined to prove his abilities! Although what he heard about Alterra was indeed intimidating, it was still a fellow village in the end! The difference can''t be that drastic! However, this fire was immediately doused with cold water when he went out of the array. First of all, why were there so many mobs right outside the array?! While there were similar cases, it was by coincidence so the mobs weren''t so dense and big. Monsters usually preferred heading toward the walls, where the scent of food was far stronger, so he hadn''t seen them so focused on attacking people specifically around the area of the arrays! They were totally caught off guard and his people were taken down one by one. They were in shock and at a loss for a while until Ladron had to slap himself awake. This was too much to be a coincidence¡ªthis was planned by the enemy. He had no idea how they did this, but this meant that things would only get worse if they didn''t handle things early! He yelled, gathering himself and the others. "GET YOURSELVES TOGETHER!! FIGHT!! They''re just level 6 or 7!" This shook the composure back to his people and they started fighting back instead of just defending. Soon, more and more weaker monsters were taken down, inspiring others to fight harder and harder. They didn''t take long to clear the mob because there were a lot more people than monsters. Not to mention, their levels were higher as well. After a long fight, they finally cleared up the mob, but almost everyone around the array had some degree of injury. It must''ve been in the hundreds already, and many would not be able to handle the sentries, let alone go through the gates. They dragged the alive-but-gravely-injured people back to the array (even the slaves) and the rest headed forward to the wall. A lot of them were unwilling, but this was their job. The slaves had no choice and the guards had sworn an oath to do their best when they were applying to get the job. But... this was too scary! What else did that place plan out to deal with them? What if there were other traps? They were pale as they walked forward, weapons out. Ladron frowned when he saw the momentum was already shaking. "There are still thousands of us! Many are still coming out from the array! Don''t act like we''re losing already!" He yelled, and it worked to some degree, but they desperately needed a win if he wanted to get some momentum back. What to do? Should he find a way to sneak in and assassinate an important person? He personally thought such tactics were low, but did he have a choice!? Sadly... even that would prove to be too difficult at this time. Things happened too quickly and they were ordered to go to war without much preparation. They were unable to plant too many spies inside either, and those they did have in there¡­ they had long lost contact with. They knew that Alterra had a strict reporting system, so they did not dare to tap their connections and former citizens without risking anything. Ladron took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down. Soon, the crowd saw the large wall and they felt even more hopeless. This was really a village? Did it upgrade all of a sudden before they went to war?! "We need to go through that?" one asked, and then another. Some people just outright cried in despair, knowing that they were sacrifices in this war. "Stop!" Ladron yelled, and everyone stopped right outside the sentry scope. "Rest and regroup," he ordered, and everyone had relieved looks on their faces. Ladron knew this was not the spirit they should have if they wanted to even have the chance of dealing with that tall wall and those dense sentries? What to do? How to improve their spirits? S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He wasn''t given time to ponder on a plan, however. After a couple minutes of a standstill, a boom exploded from behind the walls. The next thing they knew, a large rock was barreling towards them! BOOM! "Ahhhh!" "NOooo!" People''s natural response was to avoid the large ball of death, and they ended up pushing each other back, causing some people to fall and get stepped on. Anyway, it was chaotic in the front lines, and Ladron knew he had to organize it quickly if they didn''t want to lose without even entering the sentry''s scopes!! Ladron felt his veins popping. "Calm down!" he yelled. "It didn''t hit us!" "What?!" This made the fighters pause and turn, realizing that it was true! The ball of death really didn''t hit anyone! The projectile landed in the front of the crowd. The force¡ªand the chaos it caused¡ªinjured a few, but there was no direct hit. However, the power was no joke and a small crater was made by the force of impact alone. "The next ones won''t miss!" They heard the enemies yell all the way from the other side. They didn''t know how they could hear it so clearly, which made the voice even more impactful. "If you don''t turn back now, we''ll shoot again! The next shots can definitely reach where you are right now!" Everyone paled, terrified for their lives. Most backed away by instinct, though many caused collisions amongst each other, causing a small stampede in a few areas. At this point, Ladron had lost all the blood on his face. He looked at the chaos that surrounded him. It hadn''t been long since they entered the array¡ªprobably just half an hour! What was this?! The difference in strength was so large? The Lord''s words echoed inside his mind then. "You are a great fighter and leader, Ladron," the Lord had said. "But there are fights that don''t have to be taken." Ladron''s mind whirled and he felt dizzy, his mind trying to make sense and find a way to fix the situation¡­ but nothing was coming up! "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?! I SEE YOU''RE STILL HEEEREEE~~!" The distant resounding voice (which had a teasing lilt on his voice) asked again. "We will attack again in five, four, THREE, TWO¡ª" Ladon gulped and raised both of his hands. "We give up!" he yelled to the top of his lungs. "We surrender!" Chapter 1055 - 1055: Yasof Slaves A/N: Posting an extra chapter today guys! It''s my way of sending thanks to everyone for their support! We already vacillate between T1 and T2 GT Rank during the 1st week of the month, which is a good sign! As always, for the following Sundays, I will post extra chaps (I''ll try three, though it depends on my day job xD) if the book is T1 that day! Again, I can''t guarantee how many I''ll post in the end because... life... but I can guarantee I''ll do my best! ... _____ Althea was very surprised that the war did not even last a few hours. She knew it wouldn''t last long, but¡­ this was too easy, right? At this time, she was in the medicine factory helping out with their stockpile. At some point, someone from the guard team went to fetch her, speaking of the standstill. She was led to the section of the walls where the enemies were visible. Oslo made stairs for her and she gracefully climbed up, joining them in looking over to the enemies a bit more than 100 meters away. Her husband was already there, crossed arms, and she stood next to him. She looked at Oslo and Brenda, with the latter ready to check the performances of the new longbows. These were permanent additions to the battlement, and were placed at equidistant areas to reinforce the sentries. They weren''t able to test them out this time, which seemed to disappoint a few people, judging by how they were pouting. These war freaks¡­ Anyway, there were other people there as well, with some holding a new electric megaphone in their hands. These were the current top-of-the-line products from the research center and could reach more than a hundred meters on a clearing. They must''ve done a bit more amplification now if the sound was clear past 100 meters of forest. Anyway, they probably did a lot of threatening with it for the enemy to give up so quickly. "How does surrendering work, anyway?" she asked. If one was on the defense, she just assumed that the defending territory just wouldn''t guard against the entry of the enemies¡ªeventually leading to their loss. But what of the attacking territory? She thought that they would simply stop attacking and wait for the 28 hours to end, but apparently, there was a way to give up earlier. She didn''t think anyone would do it, either¡ªespecially within an hour of attacking. She hadn''t encountered the situation before so she wasn''t entirely clear on the rules and subtleties involved there. She did not expect to receive the familiar ding before anyone could answer her question though. [Alterra Village (Lv3) has won against Yasof Village (Lv3)] [Gained! 2421 Gold, 13210 Silver, 422219 Copper] [Gained! 11212 New Slaves] "..." S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Not bad? According to the information they gathered so far, a village''s wealth could range from the pitiful 100 Gold at Level 1 to around four to five thousand gold at Level 3, though richer ones could have thousands more. However, those villages tended to have cities backing them, there was definitely no place like Alterra, that could make more than that on its own. On the other hand, the population of higher-tier villages ranged from 10,000 to 30,000, and some older ones that couldn''t upgrade could saturate to even more. Oslo said there were a few villages with 50,000 people, and those villages were like slums all throughout. Anyway, considering these ranges, then Yasof Village was quite above the average village. "Can anyone decide for the territory when to give up?" she asked. This time, it was Brenda who answered. "No, Miss Althea," she said. "It was the Lord who probably went to his Village Center and declared the loss there." Her eyebrows rose at this. Considering the timing, it seemed that people immediately went back through the array to tell the lord that they gave up? And the Lord gave up without asking questions? This quick pacing made them feel like this was¡­ planned. She sighed and shrugged, believing things would be clearer in time. She just looked at the mass of people. "Now¡­ what do we do with all those people?" She narrowed her eyes. "Allow the leader in," she said, making a few people flinch a bit. "They''re technically our people now, you know." The rest of the people there blinked. It was then that they recalled¡ªwhipping their heads at the sea of people not too far away from them: These people were all their slaves now! Before they could get excited though, Althea swiftly poured cold water on them. "Don''t let too many in though¡ªwe don''t want to accidentally trigger an upgrade or something." "..." Ah, right. Unplanned slaves¡­ were actually a burden to them now. ¡­ Ladron and the others waited painfully in the area. Every one of them wanted to go back to the array but slaves were not allowed to enter arrays without a master¡ªor without the order of one. Because they gave up before the rest of the attackers entered the array, everyone on this side became slaves. One could imagine the depressing atmosphere in the forest. They could only count themselves lucky there were no mobs attacking them right now, otherwise they''d be sitting gugu birds. "What do we do now?" one said, receiving the notification that they had become ''slaves''. They really wanted to cry now. All that hard work had really gone down the grain. Thankfully, he left his money with his wife who was unlikely to become a slave. The others outright sobbed, while others just curled on the ground in depression. "When would I see my family again?" "I wonder how they will torture me¡­" another said. "I know good carpentry works. They must make me do a lot of work." A big man shuddered beside them. "I am big, they will turn me into meat shield..." Another one, who was a little handsome, shivered at the thought of becoming a helpless beauty. "I... I hope I get sold to women¡­." For a while, the crowd was filled with sadness and anxiety, wondering what kind of lives as slaves awaited them. The ones who were already slaves didn''t have much expression on their faces, though they were also a little sad. Yasof Village was one of the villages that weren''t too cruel to slaves. How rare was that? It was easy to assume life would only get worse from here. Their wallowing and grief, however, were interrupted when a couple of footsteps approached. They were enemy guards¡ªand they were powerful. They all looked dashing in matching uniforms and good-quality weapons in their hands. Ladron and a few fighters flinched when they realized every weapon the enemy had was made of black iron. Except for Ladron and a few lead fighters, who spent a lot of money to get Class D weapons, the rest looked at their pitiful wood weapons. Granted, they did a bit of investigation in Alterra, but seeing it with their own eyes still felt impactful. "Who is the leader here?" the leading person¡ªa man with one arm¡ªasked. Ladron gulped and stepped forward, unsure of what to expect. "Our Elders said you and only two or three others can enter," he said, looking past him. "The rest of you¡­, head back to the array," he said, looking as if he was disgusted with them. "We don''t really need you at this time." Ladron and the others gaped at him in disbelief. !!! Chapter 1056 - 1056: Ladron Enters Alterra In the end, Ladron and a handful were left behind. The others headed back to the array, but just surrounded it for a while. They looked back, wondering if this was a trap and if they were going to get pulverized if they stepped inside. Eagle rolled his eyes. "Go back home," he said. "Don''t overthink it." It was an order from a master so they had no choice but to just follow. Although¡­ every one of them shut their eyes closed as they stepped in, half-expecting to die then and there. Anyway, the Yasof slaves went back, one by one, until only Ladron and a few others were left behind. For the most part, the people chosen were those with nothing to go back to. They had no family or assets back there, so it wouldn''t have mattered where they ended up. Included here were a few people who had been slaves before. There were two people that Ladron specifically chose to accompany him, however. This was Laki, the semi-bald huge dude who felt he was going to be a meat shield, and Landi, an effeminate guy with light-colored hair. Ladron chose them because they were one of the more skilled fighters he had around him at the time. He didn''t know what would happen going forward, but it just seemed like the wisest choice to surround himself with some skilled people. Anyway, the three of them followed Eagle and the rest of the guards back to the gates. They looked up at the tall wall and at the sentries, shivering a bit as they felt sharp arrows pointed at them. As they got closer those sentries just felt even more menacing. Not only that, there were also more arrows and bows ready to kill at a moment''s notice. They gulped. They probably wouldn''t even get past that right? Had they continued attacking¡­ the losses would''ve been insurmountable. The sacrifices would''ve been unnecessarily large, and they wouldn''t have made a dent on the enemy lines. Some people actually questioned Ladron for giving up so quickly, now even the biggest fires of rebelliousness were doused with cold water. Eventually, they safely arrived at the gate and passed the threshold. They felt dazed that they were still alive and uninjured. Ladron couldn''t help but turn to Eagle. "Are you really going to let us go like this?" "You surrendered early before any damage was done. We already got more than enough gold for the trouble." This was one of the functions of the bank, in fact. The bank would be unaffected by the penalties in losing wars. In the chance that Alterra lost a war, the bank would keep the economy running and would not have to worry about losing half of its assets to another territory. Of course, none of the newcomers knew this nor would they understand. Anyway, they were plenty distracted when they turned to look at the territory they entered. Ladron and the others gaped in awe. It was such a clear and beautiful place! They had never seen streets so wide, and so many trees in the middle of the developed areas. The liveliness wasn''t something you''d expect from a territory that had just been through a war either. Speaking of people, those who were around greeted the guards with smiles. Then¡­ they looked at them, immediately recognizing them as outsiders. "Ohhh? These were from that other village?" "Yes." "So they''re slaves now?" "Uh-huh." The new slaves shivered a little at the interaction. They couldn''t help but look down unconsciously, expecting mockeries and maybe a few punches. It was pretty normal practice from what they''d seen, and it was a way winning territories showed their power over the one that lost. Even in Yasof, while not encouraged, there were still plenty of men who did it. "Ehhh, how curious. Must''ve been hard to go to war in the heat of the afternoon," the locals said and Ladron and the others were a little taken aback. They lifted their heads to see that many people¡ªwhether on street level or in the houses peering out their windows or balconies¡ªwere all looking at them in curiosity. These people knew they were slaves now, yet they didn''t look derisively at them at all. There were also several stalls that were set up in the small plaza they were standing in. There were queues there so they didn''t recognize it immediately, but these were obviously there even during the war. These people were so leisurely! Anyway, the wind changed and they were suddenly downwind from these stalls, and the aroma of the food whiffed up their noses. Their stomachs growled immediately. They gripped their tummies and paled in embarrassment as well as despair. They had no money to buy anything anymore. They became slaves so, naturally, whatever they had in their [wallets] was taken by this very territory that had enslaved them. If they stayed here, would they suffer from this torture every day? These were definitely good food! But it seemed like they might not be tasting them for a while¡ªif ever at all. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Was this the legendary curse of ''so near yet so far''?! Unexpectedly, some walking stalls approached their area. They even handed them small snacks, which puzzled them to death. These were small cookies with dollop of red gel-like substance. They gulped, but they weren''t sure what to do with it so they didn''t dare do anything. The walking stall owner looked at them in puzzlement. "Don''t you want to eat?" "It''s not that¡­ but what is it?" Ladron asked. "It''s food¡ªcookie with a dollop of gouji fruit jelly!" "Do you randomly give people¡ªslaves¡ªfree food?" "Not really," the man said, shrugging. "It''s your reward for being self-aware." New Slaves: "..." Many stall owners apparently agreed with him because they followed his generosity. Soon, many of Yasof slaves had a bite or two to enjoy¡ªeven if it was literally just two pieces of peanuts or a piece of popcorn or a tiny piece of cracker with a dollop of jam. They ended up yearning for more, but they didn''t dare ask for it. They could only gulp and taste whatever after taste remained in their mouths, praying they''d be blessed with those little bits of snacks again someday, particularly if they were well-behaved. In any case, they thought being slaves in this place wasn''t bad at all! Chapter 1057 - 1057: Transfer of Slaves They were led past the ''entry plaza'' where they saw a store with ''Beast Inn'' and there were actually a few beasts lounging in there. Even rich villages rarely saw beast carts, and this place had a parking lot full of them¡­ Then they saw what they''d later learn to be called ''bikes'' as well as broats used as transportation. The newcomers watched in fascination as they entered the main avenue and zoomed through it as quickly as a high-leveled person dashing. Eagle looked at them, used to this reaction from newcomers. "Welcome to Alterra," he said, pointing at the avenue. "The wide avenue is for fast-moving vehicles, while the ones on the side are for foot traffic." "Follow us," he said, and they headed along this wide avenue and they couldn''t help but admire the overall aesthetics. They couldn''t help but look at the stores in curiosity too, though they could not move around like tourists could. They were slaves after all. Surprisingly, some people who forgot this pulled away and ended up in the shops. Ladron''s eyes twitched, pulling a few of them back."Oi!" One of them was even Landi, who flushed in shame. "I¡­" "You forgot we''re slaves?" "I did.. I''m sorry," he said, feeling embarrassed. "You also have no money. What are you going to use to buy anything?" Landi sent him an awkward smile and took out a couple of coppers. "A few people handed me some ''snack money''..." "..." Must be nice to be pretty¡­ Ladron sighed and just turned to Eagle, wondering what he should say to excuse their behavior. They were really being unreasonable for slaves. However, he realized that the guards didn''t seem to mind at all. Each one was even chewing on their own snacks. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In retrospect, it seemed that they¡ªthe slaves¡ªwere not ordered to behave at all? Ladron narrowed his eyes. "I heard that Alterra did not take in a lot of slaves." Eagle nodded. "Technically speaking, only those who had truly wronged Alterra would receive a true slave''s fate," he said. "Otherwise, you should be fine. With a bit of hard work, you''ll be able to free yourselves." They didn''t really absorb this much, and soon they ended up in a much larger plaza with gardens, heading over to a unique-looking Village Center at the center. They had never seen such a beautiful Village Center before¡­ They entered as a group, with Eagle patiently explaining the instructions. "You will not be prisoners of war¡ªat least not yet¡ª but, until you buy your own freedom, you''re still technically slaves. "However, in Alterra, you can get an identity by registering here. With this identity, you can eventually get jobs and such. Note that you''d be signing non-betrayal oaths as well, the cost of which would be added to your debts." He took them to the platforms and asked them to queue properly. "You will be registered here," he said. "Be honest and be as informative as you can. Who knows¡­ maybe it can help you get good jobs with decent money." They lined up obediently, even when they realized they weren''t ordered as slaves. They weren''t entirely certain what was happening, but they instinctively didn''t want to misbehave any more than they already had. The guard said they were not prisoners¡­ yet. They''d rather not test out what was required to become one of those. As they registered on the large stone tablets one by one, they saw an old woman walk down the grand staircase. "Elder Mathilda!" the locals greeted, and the newcomers unconsciously made salutes as well. The old woman had an aura about her that demanded respect. No wonder she was an Elder. Mathilda smiled at the locals, before turning to look at them. "Let the leader come with us," she said and Ladron nodded. This was it. The time for a deal, which the Lord had told him about. Ladron went up with her. He forced himself to keep calm. He was a strongman in Yasof, he reminded himself. He was raised and born a fighter, and he had won all the wars he went to. (Until now, but he refused to think about that for now). He raised his chin and puffed his chest, hoping to retain a bit of prestige under the circumstances. Although he was a slave here, Yasof was still his home with his friends and family. He wanted it to have an advantageous deal¡ªand that was something that could be done if he managed to hold his ground somehow. He was led into a large meeting room filled with people with similarly strong auras as the old woman. Ladron gulped. The room was large and comfortable, but for him he felt intimidated despite the fact that he was of a higher level than most of these people. "My name is Ladron, I am the head guard of Yasof Village," he said. The elders nodded, but their faces remained impassive. It was Mathilda who began the conversation. "Speak. Why did you surrender?" "I was told by the lord to surrender as soon as I felt certain we would lose. I think your show of powerful weapons¡ªones we have not seen¡ªis a good enough indicator." This made the Elders silent and just looked at him, as if trying to see how much of his words were the truth. "I am a slave," he said, "I cannot lie." "We did not order you to," one said. "But I suppose you didn''t know that." He blinked, realizing this was the truth. Ladron gulped and took out a parchment from his space. "This is a letter the Lord asked me to hand over in the event of our loss." He handed it to Mathilda, who read it out loud for the others'' sake. /I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Yassop, the Lord of Yasof Village. If this letter is with you, it means that we have lost the war and my trusted right hand, Ladron, is now your slave. /My contract with Basset Town expires in a few more months, and I plan not to renew it. I would like to ally with Alterra, instead./ The Elders looked at each other with raised eyebrows, before turning to Ladron, who tried to keep his composure as much as he could. He was a bit sweaty though, and it betrayed the nervousness he was feeling. Ansel smirked and laid back, arrogantly crossing his arms and legs. He liked intimidating people when he could, and it was particularly satisfying when the dude had a higher level than he did. "You better be prepared to make good deals," he said. "Our standard for allies is quite high." Chapter 1058 - 1058: Lord Yassop’s Letter Ladron nodded. "I¡­ I understand that Alterra Village is in a league of its own," he said. "But I assure you that our V¡ªYasof Village¡ªwill be more useful as an ally than as anything else." "Shall I continue to read?" Mathilda asked with an eyebrow up, evidently not appreciating the interruption. Ansel smiled awkwardly, symbolically waving the platform back to her. "Yes, Elder Mathilda." Mathilda looked at the room, as if waiting for anyone else to speak again. Everyone sat up properly under her silence. When she saw there was no one who''d be speaking over her, only then did she continue to read the letter. /As for why I did not want to renew my contract, all I can say is that I have suppressed anger with that territory because they caused me to lose my precious daughter. I do not want to be attached to them anymore, but I cannot do this without endangering my whole territory because I did not join another force./ "Yeah, like allying with a village against a town is logical," Ansel sneered though it quickly disappeared when he met Mathilda''s eyes. Mathilda''s pet peeve was being talked over when she was making a speech. Reading a long-ass letter apparently counted. Noted. He cleared his throat, awkwardly pushing himself deeper into his chair in shame. "Sorry." /Even if Alterra is a fellow village, it is very strong, wise, and good. I know I will not be at a disadvantage by allying with you./ "Sounds a little bootlicking," Ansel couldn''t help but whisper at the side. He was more careful but Ladron, who was nearby, gasped at him. "The Lord does not lick boots!" he retorted with a bit of emotion, making everyone look at the two of them awkwardly. Ansel covered his face, feeling like he''s in a classroom and stared at for a blunder. Mathilda shook her head and sighed, just finishing the latter half of the letter with that exasperated-deadpan-but-classy-old-woman look of hers. /With our alliance, I know those subsidiary villages would not be able to handle us./ /I know this proposal is sudden and you have little reason to trust me¡ªespecially after I had just declared war against you¡ªbut I am willing to go there in person to make strict oaths to prove my sincerity./ /As a show of good faith, I will tell you a few things that Basset Town has been planning against you. Further, while I cannot betray Basset Town directly, I can at least inform you who the subsidiaries are./ S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This made Ansel and a few others'' backs to straighten. They leaned forward in interest. Usually, smarter territories would not only make subsidiaries take oaths of loyalty for the duration of the contract but also non-betrayal oaths after. This way, even if a territory was no longer a subsidiary, it wouldn''t turn back and bite its former master. However, there were always loopholes, particularly if the information was easily obtained, not a secret, or information that would not directly damage the master territory. /Basset Town has a number of subsidiaries all around it. The ones you should be worried about are those relatively nearby, and all of them have expressed wanting to take over Alterra./ /Their names are: Khlack Village, Ugoy Village, Resso VIllage, Picno Village, Tangga Village, and ours./ /I am just the first one, and I served as an unwilling sacrifice to test your power. It is unlikely it would remain one-on-one for the next wars. It is more likely that an alliance would form and more than one village would be attacking you soon./ /The Rongo Mercenary also has significant power in the Town, and could be said to be the Lord''s greatest force there. They are from a City, albeit I do not know which one. In any case, even if their average levels were nothing special there, they are proper houses for Town-level territories, let alone villages like ours./ /They would definitely try to attack your people outside eventually, if they hadn''t already started planning for it./ This made Mathilda pause and look at Garan, who nodded. They would be implementing the standard procedures done prior to wars, but they''d probably add a few more soldiers. /The Basset Lord''s son, Patte, will probably come to you soon, as well. He''s infamous for terrorizing villages, please be careful./ The women''s eyebrows rose at this. What happened to Kimmy was extremely gruesome, so they naturally made sure to know the details of that incident. Althea narrowed her eyes. Kimmy and Raine would want to know this information, though she was not sure if a woman entering her second trimester could handle this stress¡­ /Lastly, if you know someone with the name of Fargo, he is there working with them and feeding information. He is hoping to come with a vengeance./ This made everyone look at each other in alarm, especially Garan whose fists clenched. Up until now, he still felt guilty and embarrassed for his allowing him to escape. Even when everyone said it was not his fault¡ªhe was dealing with more than one aborigine of higher levels¡ªGaran naturally couldn''t help but blame himself for it. His wife had done what she could to give him the chance to kill Fargo, but he let him escape in the end. His turbulent mood was softened when delicate hands patted his own. He turned to look at his wife and her smiling eyes, and his anger felt a bit better. /For my own safety, I would like to hide our alliance. However, to show my sincerity, I present you half of my population. I do request your good territory to be humane to them./ At the last part, Ladron couldn''t help but want to cover his face in embarrassment. Obviously, this would''ve been a good show. Even if Alterra would''ve won the slaves regardless, there was a difference in winning them versus them being given. Because Yasof gave up very early, things leaned towards the latter because the ''goods'' were, at least, in ''good condition''. At least, that was the intent. The Elders looked at him teasingly. "As you can see, we have no use for half of your population," Althea said. "So.. you better think of a few more things your village can offer." . . Back in Yasof Town though, Yassop couldn''t help but gape at the thousands of people who had returned in disbelief. ¡­huh? Chapter 1059 - 1059: More Arrivals The following week, Alterra received visits from a few Lords. One was none other than their new (secret) ally, Yassop. He was with Ladron, who went back via the array before it closed to escort him to Alterra. Yassop was beyond the level cap so he was not able to use the array, but they did leave for Alterra the same day he received the notification. He arrived the afternoon of the following day and there, he found out just how truly different Alterra was. At the same time, he lost confidence in even getting an alliance. When Alterra returned the slaves without a proper explanation, he was just confused. Ladron also didn''t know why, and he just passed on what they told him. Anyway, at first, it didn''t make any sense. Even if they were unskilled, they were still hard labor with minimal costs to maintain. In Yasof, at least, he gave slaves wood weapons and allowed them to go out in groups and forage their own food. This way, they could live decently without causing any strain but, at the same time, they were forces that were ready to be used as soon as they were needed. There was, on the surface, no reason to reject so many slaves¡ªespecially those they won fair and square. It puzzled him almost his entire way there. Until he saw the place himself, and he immediately came to a conclusion: Alterra Village was about to upgrade. Alterra was already beyond their league, but once it upgraded then it''d be too far. Since the slaves were returned, what did he have to offer, really? Both he and Ladron were at a loss, wondering if they would really be stuck with Basset Town forever. Their moods didn''t remain excessively down, however, because a man named Jun greeted them with an amicable smile. He even gave them some drinks as they walked towards the Village Center which, by the way, didn''t really look like one. Were those lights from Crystal City? They''re unnecessarily opulent! Anyway, the two of them were then led to the room filled with elders¡ªthree of whom were women¡ªand, although he didn''t show much, he was as nervous as Ladron was. He was so old. Most of these Elders were half his age. It was shameful to lose ground when the deals hadn''t even started. He heaved a deep breath and gained some footing. He let out a gentle smile and did a standard casual greeting. "Good day, I am Lord Yassop of Yasof Village." "I already said everything in my letter and I hope you have considered my proposal favorably," he said, taking out baskets filled with flora from his space. These were some plants endemic in his area. Ladron, when he arrived, advised him to do so (an Elder named Ansel apparently gave hints for a price). "I was told the elders appreciate all plants. I''m not sure which ones are already available here, but I brought what I can." "Thank you for the effort," one of the women¡ªa beautiful young brunette¡ªsaid with a smile, taking the baskets in her space. "While all these species are already known and studied by our team, we appreciate every sample brought to us." This made Ladron and Yassop''s shoulders slump in disappointment. They were at a loss because they had already given anything they had that could potentially interest another territory. After a few tense moments, Althea smiled. With her, the rest of the Elders relaxed as well. "Actually, it''s not that we require our allies to be completely useful to us," she said, making them look at her. "We aim to be completely self-sufficient. We make partners not because we are dependent on them for anything¡ªbut because we simply prefer having more allies than enemies." This made his eyes widen, but also got him quite confused. What was with all these extra steps, then? "I just wanted to see you in person," she explained. "We don''t want to be associated with people whose¡­ methods we don''t agree with, after all." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and resting her chin over her hands. "So¡­ tell us more about you and your family," she said. "You better be honest; Don''t hide anything." ¡­ Yassop told her everything she asked for. Their territory did not have many secrets except for his daughter being alive anyway, and he felt he could say that. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea and the others listened intently, and when they looked aghast and wronged when he told of Patte''s wrongdoings¡ªeven cursing at him, swearing to let him ''see the light'' ¡ªhe felt connected to them. He felt teary and touched, and he wanted to cry¡ªthinking he was allowed to, for the first time. He never felt it before. Many other nobles would advise him to let it go. ''It''s just a daughter'', they would say. ''Just make another one.'' Finally, he felt more that these people could really be on his side. It was just that¡­ after his story, Miss Althea nodded as if she had decided on something. "Okay. We''ll take your daughter and grandson as hostage, then." "Excuse me?!" "They''ll live here in Alterra," she said as if it was already done. Yassop and Ladron gaped at her in disbelief. The contrast of emotions and atmosphere they felt in a day was too much. It felt dizzying¡ª "Stop teasing them now, Althea," Mathilda said, shaking her head with an amused smile. The rest of the elders were also smiling, which just made the two outsiders really confused. Althea shook her head. "I''m not. Technically speaking, they''d still be his citizen¡ªhis family members," she said. "From an outsider''s perspective, they''re really hostages." "This will also give you an excuse for not attacking us well, and refusing to attack again in the future¡ªbecause we somehow got hold of your precious grandson." "They''d pay for everything of course. They''re not guests." She then looked at the two. "You can think of them as our hostage, but really¡ªdo you think they''ll suffer here?" This made the men pause in thought, recalling the things they had seen so far. The place was beautiful, the amenities were amazing, and the people¡ªthey were the brightest they had encountered. Furthermore, the state of women here¡­ was the best they had seen. Three elders were women, and they had seen girls with hunting gears outside. They had only seen a small portion of Alterra, but these things were testament enough on what kind of place this was. Back home, even if Yelena could come out, she would receive derisive and judgemental stares, if not eyes full of pity. In all cases, Yelena would suffer. Here¡­ they had a feeling it would be different. Yassop''s eyebrows furrowed as he pondered, wondering everything that could go wrong, but¡ªoutside of uncontrollable accidents¡ªhe couldn''t see disadvantages at all. After a few moments¡­ the old man finally nodded. "Yes¡­" he said, looking at Althea straight in the eye. "...please take my family hostage." ¡­ Meanwhile, while this important meeting was ongoing, the intelligence team sent out an alert promptly sent to the Guard Station. The Station then forwarded the news to people who''d be interested in the information. For example, Althea, who was listening to Ansel happily bill Yassop for the ''hostage fees''. Ding! She blinked, opening her interface. [A man named Patte has arrived in the territory] Chapter 1060 - 1060: Patte’s Entry A/N: We''re nearing the end of this Volume!! If you think I''m forgetting a plot point I introduced or a character you like, do tell me~ ... ___ [A man named Patte has arrived in the territory] Her eyebrows rose but she didn''t react too strongly. Instead, she simply sent the notification to every Elder, and they all flinched in response at the same time. This naturally caught Yassop and Ladron''s attention. "What is it?" It was Ansel who spoke, giving them a look. "Patte is here." "WHAT?" Yassop exclaimed, and immediately veins around his neck became prominent as his eyes blazed in anger. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He clenched his fist and looked at them. "Be careful of him! He''s done this so many times; he naturally has his own strategies. He''s evil¡ªbut he''s not an idiot," Yassop said. "Further, he''s someone very strong at the Village level¡ªmany of his cronies and guards are actually past level 20!" A level 15 in a village was already considered a powerhouse¡ªlet alone a level 20!! However, instead of being guarded, the Elders looked unaffected. Ansel leisurely looked at them. "You might as well assume they''d be captured soon," he said, standing up along with Garan and Althea. "Want to see him?" ¡­ At this time, Patte and his cronies were staring at the wide avenues and interesting buildings while their hands were filled with food and drinks. Their hearts beat with interest, excitement, and greed. Knowing this was the next target, their hearts fired up. Patte was with his usual group of ten people, three of which were above level 20. Together, they had terrorized dozens of villages¡ªpillaging what they wanted, and taking women as their dicks told them to. The level 20 guards enjoyed being assigned to Patte precisely because of this. They were nothing special back home, but outside they felt like they were the most powerful men. Of course, the group only went around villages without affiliations to towns stronger than Basset. Patte was actually quite smart and chose his targets well. He also made sure to study rules and find their loopholes. He knew how to take advantage without bringing much danger to himself. Otherwise, with the anger he had enticed, he''d have long been dead. "This place¡­ is much more than I expected," Patte said with a grin, eyes dripping with desire. "Even that Belluga cannot compare." His cronies nodded as they ate. "The food is delicious," one added. "This could make huge amounts of money if sold back in town." "Not just the food¡­" the others said, looking at the various products available in this place. Every store they passed by, there was something interesting that would make them a lot of money! The men were especially taken by those bikes that whooshed through the wide avenues. They were convenient, fast, and could be controlled well¡ªthe ideal vehicles! On the other hand, the level 20 guards were studying the local forces. They looked at the sentries¡ªwhich seemed to be consistently dense throughout¡ªas well as a couple of Alterran guards making rounds. "This fight wouldn''t be easy," one said. "If Basset Town directly moves, it might be okay, but this place is still a village." Patte sneered. "Fools. It doesn''t matter if only our subsidiaries make a move. As soon as Basset Town supports it, this place wouldn''t stand a chance." The men thought it made sense, and nodded sincerely at them. "Yes, Master." They continued to walk around, enjoying the sights and filling their spaces up with goods. This stopped when they encountered a group of beautiful girls. They had paper bags on each arm, and they were also shopping around. More importantly, they were wearing ''revealing'' clothes¡ªat least in their standards¡ªbecause the women were wearing knee-length skirts. It was like they were asking to be fucked! The girls, at this time, were unaware of the trouble approaching them. "Becky~! 1Help me choose which dress to wear on my date~!" a brunette smiled as she grabbed onto the blonde next to her. She pointed at one of the stores which displayed beautiful dresses on its frontage. The blonde nodded and smiled. "Sure, but promise to reserve some Wittbeauty products for me~" Jenna1 grinned. "Of course~! Anything to tap into your impeccable fashion sense," she said. "My employee benefits shall also benefit my friends." They then gave Becky a teasing look. "Trying to look even better than Luis1?!" "Lucky man!" Becky shook her head. "I''m the lucky one." The girls giggled, and the lovely sounds sent heat down their crotch. They watched as the girls headed in a direction¡ªwhich happened to pass by them. The men grinned. It must be fate. At this, the men immediately approached them, very much intending to have some fun. "Hey, beautiful ladies~" Ten aborigine men, each one with a much higher level than theirs, surrounded the few girls. It was quite intimidating and made a few people stop their steps, and some immediately went to find a guard. "Want to go have some fun with us? Our treat!" one said. "We will buy you whatever you want!" "Accompany us! You''ll enjoy it!" The men thought they were being charming, but the girls compressed towards each other, looking guardedly at the men. Some were shivering in fear, while some were braver than others. Other than Becky and Jenna, they also had Brianna with them, among a few others. Brianna was one of Alterra''s architects¡ªone bordering a Class D upgrade, in fact. "We''re busy," Brianna said, looking at them as if they were creeps. They were, but Patte and the others didn''t really see themselves that way. In their minds, they were men of impeccable charm¡ªand the women they took definitely didn''t dislike what they did to them. They were just being coquettish, that''s all. Becky nodded, extending her arms a bit to push Jenna back. It took Becky a very long time before she could make friends again. Being Fargo''s woman stuck to her for a long time. Things changed when, while shopping, she encountered two friends¡ªJenna and Brianna¡ªwho were having trouble pairing a few clothes. She had had enough of being cowardly. Anyway, she dealt with this type of men a lot. If they refused strongly, they might think they were just acting coy. Violence was the answer. Well, technically, the rules and regulations were... but in this case, it was the same thing. Her fist clenched. "Come on now," another man said, holding her arm. This was Uttot, one of Patte''s level 20 guards. "I am very strong. I''m sure to make you scream a lot." He said this and he made perverted motions of moving his hips towards her direction. He didn''t touch her, so there was no rules broken, but it was absolutely disgusting regardless. Becky''s hand moved on its own to slap the man. Pak! Because his guard was so low, he wasn''t able to avoid it. Of course, considering the level gap, it felt like a bug hit his face. At the same time, Becky had an idea about what strength would send her to prison, so she naturally didn''t use all her strength. Uttot raised his hand by instinct and a flash of light appeared. It was blinding and the people nearby had to either look away or squint their eyes. When they looked again, the bulky man was gone. Patte cursed, knowing exactly what happened. "Damnit!" Fargo''s former woman and the Crow trio''s classmate back in Terran A Wittbeauty Saleswoman One of Garan''s soldiers Chapter 1061 - 1061: Women’s Fight The aborigines naturally knew what this meant. They all thoroughly listened to the rules. They weren''t particularly smart, but they learned¡ªthrough years of practice¡ªthat they had to be familiar with these things if they wanted to have the chaotic fun they were used to having. The challenge was part of the fun, in a sense, and ''overcoming the rules'' in the literal sense gave them another sense of ''high''. Of course, they were just excited to wage war already so they could erase all that and just do whatever they wanted. In any case, knowing the rules meant they knew that Uttot was sent to prison. They glared at the women, intending to make them suffer without getting into trouble themselves! At the same time, the girls also realized what they could do. If they couldn''t handle them with brute force, then they could verbally harass them back! "They''re so ugly!" Brianna started, looking at Jenna as if she was in aghast. "I don''t know where they get their confidence from." "Did you see those teeth? It''s so yellow¡ªno, orange!" "Gross." "Did you see all those spots on that guy''s face?" another girl said, just blurting out what she had been thinking all this time. "I bet bugs live there, using them as caves." The passerbys watching nearby also threw in their own opinions. "They smell, too! My face couldn''t help but scrunch up when they passed by!" "I know right? It''s so embarrassing that they can sashay through the busy streets looking and smelling like that!" This made the men tense up in anger, their eyes turning red. Their fists clenched and they gritted their teeth, minds whirring with what to do to cause as much damage as they could. It wasn''t easy. After all, even gesturing to attack sent Uttot away! Uttot barely even moved then! Then, it reached a boiling point when Jenna found some trash in her space (an empty bottle of something) to throw. Plack! It hit another one of the men smack on the head. [Littering: You have received a penalty of 100 copper.] "..." "YOU BITCH!!" The man screamed, and his companions weren''t able to stop him anymore and¡ª He disappeared too. Jenna gulped, staring at where the man¡ªwho was very much intent on killing her¡ªwas just standing. Well¡­, that was a hundred copper well spent. ¡­ "Heh, the trash got triggered by trash, eh?" Jenna said, very much trying to maximize the 100 copper she inexplicably lost. Seeing the girls like this empowered the people around them, starting another round of bullying. Every other man wanted to attack badly, to beat everyone up into pulp. They felt physically in pain trying to hold themselves back¡ªbut somehow, they did. They had done this many times before, so they weren''t careless. One of the reasons Belluga couldn''t do anything was because Patte had tested the limits of their rules and regulations. They were even more careful with Alterra, which was obviously much more powerful than Belluga. Naturally, they weren''t going to do anything stupid that''d land them in jail¡ªespecially not some weak women! That was what they wanted to say¡ªbut they already lost two people!! ... Not far away stood a pair of guards called in by a citizen. This was Cassie, as well as her new friend Yllana, an aborigine they rescued and recruited from the then-Guia Village. The two of them rushed as soon as they found out a group of women were surrounded by aborigine men. While they trusted the system, as women they knew firsthand how it felt like to be on the other side of such ''affection''. They didn''t want it even on their enemies! "It''s amazing¡­" Yllana said, looking complicated at how the intruders were being handled. She had been surrounded by men like that for years, especially in Guia. To see them so powerless was something that filled her heart with satisfaction. It was amazing. If those men were anywhere else, they''d have caused a lot of damage. In Alterra¡­ the locals could insult them without fearing for their lives. "Will they be alright?" she couldn''t help but worry. "They''ll be fine," Cassie said. "The territory adds a lot of new rules every time a loophole is revealed." Every week, guards held meetings to update the status of the territory as well as some loopholes that could be taken advantage of. This also included those they found during the previous wars. This would then be reported to Elder Garan, who''d get the Elder circle to add a fitting rule. This amazed Yllana even more. She was the daughter of a former lord, so she knew that each rule cost huge amounts of money. Even the simplest non-aggression rule could cost hundreds of gold¡ªlet alone using just intent (and not results) as the trigger. The more detailed and subtle the rules were, the more money it cost. However, Alterra didn''t seem to care as long as its citizen was protected. It didn''t matter if everything would be null during wars¡ªthe more days people were safe, then any cost would be worth it. Over time, Alterra''s defense would only get better. It was not an exaggeration to say that¡ªas long as they were outside of wars¡ªevery citizen in the territory would be safe from enemy aggression. The physical ones, at least. The verbal ones were too difficult. They wouldn''t want to send people to jail every time there was a spat, after all! Seeing the situation handled a bit, the two women did not approach anymore. "They''re strong," Cassie said after a pause. "I already called for backup. There''s no use going there ourselves¡ªwe''d just add to the people they''d hit on." This did feel a bit cold, and Cassie didn''t feel good saying it. Her eyes fixed on the women surrounded by evil men. The reason why these men treated women like this so easily was because of how they were perceived. Someday, Cassie swore to be part of the reason why that''d change. ¡­ Unlike many idiotic aborigines who had the same motives, this group only went around and enjoyed their tours, and at the same time planning what they''d do when they captured it. After they found loopholes, only then would they start causing havoc. They had never been to a territory as difficult as Alterra and, as much as they wanted to cause chaos, they knew they''d fail this mission as soon as they got into a full-on conflict with the enemies. Before, they wouldn''t care too much. They would even do their best to take down some enemies before going. But Alterra wouldn''t even let them have that satisfaction! They''d go to prison even before they could cause damage! Not to mention, the place itself was too good¡ªthey had never wanted a mission to succeed as much as they did now! So, as reluctant as they were, they could only let the women go¡ªfor now. Still, the arrogant men couldn''t let the girls leave in peace. "Wait a bit, woman," Panghi¡ªanother level 20¡ªgrinned, creeply licking his lips and teeth. "You''ll get to taste some goodness soon." sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I will get you underneath me soon," another said, leaning over to the most beautiful one¡ªwho happened to be Becky. "Ah, so beautiful and spicy¡ªyou must be delicious." He said this in a way that triggered some old memories in Becky''s mind. After Fargo got bored with her, she was gifted to the Rongo Mercenary team where she was played with as a group every day. It was the most horrid thing she had ever experienced. She never said it to anyone, nor did she show her trauma¡ªespecially not to her boyfriend, Luis. Those memories were repressed and buried deep inside of her as she tried to make a new life for herself here. However, the more one tried to bury things, sometimes they ended up revealing themselves even more. "Becky''s the prettiest! So gorgeous, so exciting!" "Yes, Becky! Scream! Scream as loud as you can!" "You''re in pain? You love it, don''t you?" "I''ll make you feel real good¡­" She was slightly shaken when she felt wet, hot, breath next to her ears. "Let''s meet up at the inn, yeah? I''ll make you feel real good." Becky''s mind whirled, remembering the things she went through back in Fargo. Her hand moved to take out a Class D Dagger from her space. It was something she stole from one of the Rongo mercenaries. Using the only inherited skill she had, she stabbed down at the man''s nether regions¡ªwhich was bulging by the way, making it an easier target that didn''t even need thought to hit. Stab! "AHHHHH!!" the man screamed as he grabbed his bleeding crotch, falling down on the paved floor. Because Becky didn''t have hostility when she attacked¡ªonly defense instincts¡ªthe rule wasn''t immediately implemented. However, when the damage was done, it became concrete and unambiguous. This time, with the bright light, it was Becky who disappeared. Chapter 1062 - 1062: Fighting Trash "BECKYY!!" The girls yelled, stepping over the man who was squirming on the floor and gripping his crotch area. "AHHHHH!!!" the man screamed, tears running down his eyes. "DAMN! IT HURTS!" Patte sneered at him, throwing a low-level healing potion he had in his space. "Relax, it''s not like it was cut off." The man hurriedly took and gulped it down. He was reminded that healing potions existed and he downed another one from his own space. Two healing potions was more than enough to heal a small cut, and he could stand up again a couple of moments later. When he recovered, what happened finally dawned on him. "Well, she''s in prison now. HAHAHA!" He laughed out loud, causing the Alterrans around to grit their teeth. He whipped his head to Patte. "But why did she cause damage before getting sent there while we cannot?!" Panghi narrowed his eyes as he looked at the local population. They were surrounding them a bit, looking at them with hostility. Some even had weapons out as if ready to mob them at any time. "It''s probably another subtlety in the rules we didn''t know about," he said. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Leave us alone now!" Bianca yelled, glaring at them and taking out her bone sword. "We''re not afraid to go to prison either!" Well, this wasn''t true. Going to prison will add to their records and it could affect their employment, promotions, loan applications, and so on. Things could be appealed if it happened for a good reason, like this one, but it was a long process because the process was usually automated to streamline things. But these bastards didn''t need to know that. They probably wouldn''t understand it, anyway! In any case, being humiliated like this, Patte and the others could no longer back away! Since a person was sent to prison, they would likely be apprehended as well. Anyway, the men found a loophole again in the end. "KYAA!" "Bianca!!" Led by Patte, they grabbed a woman nearest to them and began to touch them seductively. Patte got hold of Bianca, whose bum he groped shamelessly. It wasn''t physically aggressive so they weren''t affected by the rules. Another loophole. This one would be difficult to amen, however. What if husbands decided to surprise-grope their wives? Anyway, because he was much stronger, he could ignore Bianca''s continuous slaps. Her sword dropped to the ground when he pulled, so she really couldn''t cause him damage anymore. Even if she wanted to send herself to prison to escape him, it''d be difficult to do so. He still used his free hand to hold her hands though, in case she decided to do something like poke his eyes. It had happened before in another ''Terran'' village he toured not long after causing chaos in Belluga. The woman got a Class D weapon as a system reward, it seemed, and the sudden movement caught him off-guard. It went past his eyes and neared his brain. He didn''t have enough healing potion to fix such a damage so he had to stop his fun for a while¡ªmonths, in fact¡ªbecause of it. That woman died a horrible death, of course, and that dagger was now snug in his space. Patte laughed and grabbed her butt, as if molding it to different shapes. "STOP IT!! LET ME GOO!" Bianca yelled, bumping her head on him, but it was obviously a useless attempt to fight back. Seeing him still fine and decidedly out of prison, Patte''s arrogant grin returned. "Just calm down men! Don''t think of harming them. Think of¡­ having fun and pleasuring them, eh?" Patte''s brain wasn''t bad. Too bad he was too drunk on power and lust to use it somewhere more productive. The other women also started to attack them, but they were grabbed by different men, keeping them from harming themselves and sending themselves to prison. The nearby citizens naturally couldn''t stay still and took up their weapons. This happened quickly and simultaneously so, in fact, only a minute had passed since Becky was sent to prison. The brave citizens trying to help were pushed aside¡ªover and over¡ªbut because Patte''s men didn''t aim to hurt (a lot of self-brainwashing had to be done), nothing happened. Some citizens actually attacked, willingly taken to prison, but the Level 20s blocked them from causing significant damage, wasting their efforts. But how long could this last? Patte suddenly flinched when his instincts flared, pushing Bianca off of him by instinct. Similarly, Panghi also took his weapon out, appearing in front of him. BANG! Panghi looked up to see a girl in uniform, whose hair was slightly fluttering as the breeze surrounded her. This was Cassie, and then Yllana appeared right next to her, aiming to stab Panghi while he was distracted. "ORCSHIT!" Panghi yelled, stepping back. Both girls had class D weapons made of black iron. Even if their levels were weaker, they could still cause him damage. "LET GO OF THEM!!" she yelled jumping up, her sword extended above her head. She summoned her wind ability. Using her best skill, she created a sharp slash of wind that targetted the nearest bastard. "AHH!" Panghi yelled as he gained another wound caused by a woman! "BITCHH!" he yelled. It was not that deep, but it was humiliating! He was about to attack but then he remembered¡ªhe could go to prison! Cassie saw he had realized on time, and sent a barrage of attacks to egg him on. "I''m a guard and I can attack you!" she declared. "Now, stay still and get killed obediently!" Patte spat to the side, ignoring the littering penalty he just received. "This territory wasted too much money on its rules!" he yelled. They even assigned validity depending on roles?! Wasteful!! That must''ve cost a few hundred gold!! Anyway, guards were exempted from punishment when they hurt other people, and Cassie was intent on maximizing it. Even when men were sent to grab her, she avoided them with the help of her partner, and they''d cause damage¡ªeven if it was little¡ªas often as they could. In any case, she used much of her abilities and mana to inflict threatening damage. Slash! "Stop it!" Stab! "BITCH! STAY STILL!" Panghi yelled. "I''m going to get you!" Patte narrowed his eyes as he stared at the fight, and then at the surrounding people. "I''m heir to a town," he said. "Aren''t you afraid we''ll target you?" Cassie and Yllana didn''t seem to hear him. They tried to wound as many of the enemies as they could, while the enemies could only avoid or defend. No one died nor were they gravely injured, but that didn''t matter. She knew that the two of them wouldn''t be able to beat these men¡ªat least not yet¡ªbut she needed to show enough power as a deterrent. With her remaining mana, she hacked her sword once more, creating the sharpest air blade she could do at her current level. And this time¡­, even the level 20 Panghi broke some skin and gained a deep wound on his chest. She was sweating profusely, but her eyes were bright at the sight of enemy blood. "Alterra isn''t so weak that trash can threaten it!" Chapter 1063 - 1063: Capturing Trash "BITCH!!" Panghi yelled as he touched his bleeding chest. It definitely wouldn''t kill him, but it hurt¡ªand his ego was especially damaged because it was done by a mere woman! "Panghi, do you want to go to prison on top of your injury?" Patte asked, looking at Cassie and Yllana''s current states. "Don''t you see how they''re panting from exhaustion?" he asked. "They can''t do much anymore." Cassie cursed internally. "We''re not the only guards here!" she said. "They can all attack you and you can''t do anything about it!" "We never initiated an attack on anyone," Patte said, showing off a disgusting but confident smile. "The ones who did attack were unjustly imprisoned for retaliating." "When we leave here, safe and sound¡ªwe will be properly compensated and you will be punished for hurting guests when we didn''t even do anything. Guests¡ªI may add¡ªthat are from a superior territory." Technically speaking, they only struck up conversation. Then they were slapped ''without cause'', causing one of his men to retaliate in ''self-defense''. Cassie and the others frowned, looking at him. This batch of intruders was a little smarter than the usual ones, but they were openly scum. These people must have done a lot of disgusting things outside of Alterra¡ªand have gotten away with it. If their administration team was afraid of his hometown, then this could really backfire on them. Of course, they didn''t doubt their Elders one bit. However, Patte and the others did not know this. They simply took the silence as Cassie and the others being intimidated. It was around this point that a new voice sounded from behind the crowd. "What''s going on here?" he asked, and everyone brightened. "Sir Jun!" The man entered along with a few guards. Patte''s team looked guardedly at the newcomers. There were ten guards who approached them. Except for the leading person, they rest were around level 11 or 12, so Patte and the others¡ªwhose levels averaged at level 18 or 19¡ªdidn''t feel particularly threatened. Of course, this was with the assumption they wouldn''t be stupid enough to attack. In which case, they''d really taste Basset Town''s anger. "We are visiting citizens from Basset Town," he said, placing specific emphasis on their backing. "As you can see, we are being ganged on by your people," Patte said. "We were simply being friendly, but these women decided to attack us¡ªlike rabid beasts." "Sir Jun! That''s not true¡ª" Cassie said, and the other girls and passerbys agreed. They also called Patte various names like: Ugly Perverted Lying Bastard. This naturally added fire in the men''s hearts, but they endured¡ªjust remembering the faces of those who mocked them. They swore to torture them in a way that not even that slut from Belluga Village could compare to. Jun did not show any indication of who he believed. He simply sighed and looked at Cassie and Yllana. "Take the girls away from here," he said. "I''ll speak with you later." Cassie stared for a bit before nodding, turning to look at the poor girls. They were ready to fight, but they were also shaking in fear. "Let''s go," she said, pulling them away from the vile men. The women agreed quickly. They knew those bastards would be handled well. There was no need for them to dirty their eyes with their bad faces and dirty souls any longer. When they were sufficiently far away, Bianca thanked Cassia and Yllana profusely. "Thank you so much¡­" "We''re just doing our jobs," Cassie said, waving her hands. "They were so disgusting¡ªa few seconds more that and I would''ve vomited out my stomach." "We''ll treat you to some sweet later on when things get settled." Cassie blinked, feeling embarrassed. "There''s no need," she said. "I didn''t do anything." Her tone was a little bitter when she said that. She was still too weak. She needed to work harder. "We want to!" Brianna insisted. "It''d be a fun outing between friends," she said, looking at the only aborigine in their group. "Right, Miss Yllana?" The woman blinked. "Me? I''m invited, too?" This made the girls giggle at her silliness. Yllana pursed her lips, feeling a complicated mix of emotions. Growing up, girls her age only saw each other as competition. There was no sincerity in their interactions, just subtle one upmanship or¡ªwith others¡ªeven blatant bullying. Cassie patted her head. "Since you''re not used to girls'' nights out, I''ll commit to our attendance," she said. "You better clear out your schedule when I tell you to!" S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Yllana blinked and nodded, her cheek flushed a bit red. It was quite cute. Anyway, since Cassie and Yllana were still on the clock, they didn''t stay to chat for too long. They sent out some goodbyes before finally heading back to their station. Brianna watched their new friends go before she turned to the others. "Now¡­" she said, heading in the opposite direction. "Let''s get Becky out of prison." ... Back at the scene, Jun approached Patte, who looked down at him. "Excuse me, are you Patte from Basset Town?" Patte was a little startled to be recognized. He smirked proudly¡ªthinking he shouldn''t have been surprised. Next to Ferrol, Basset was the nearest Town to this place. It was perfectly normal for them to have heard of the ''great'' Basset Town as well as him, its heir. "That is us," he said, chest puffed up, thinking the men would become extremely respectful and treat him like a king. Instead of doing this though, they saw the group''s captain¡ªGill¡ªnod at his men, and they encircled Patte and his people. They had their weapons out and had obviously non-friendly dispositions. Patte''s smug face was wiped off, replaced with an annoyed sneer. "What do you mean by this?" "You''ll have to come with us." "What if we don''t come?" he asked, looking around. He was already looking for escape routes and his mind rummaging the rules to see if he could use something. In response to his question though, Gill¡ªwith an unchanging face¡ªlet balls of earth appear around him. Those must''ve come from his space, but then people watched the soil heat up, creating boiling rocks that drooped a bit of viscous fluid to the ground, creating a simmering sound and some smoke. "Then I''ll shove these into your faces." Chapter 1064 - 1064: Patte’s Plans "I have to say that¡ªas a person from a town¡ªhow you''re treating us is seriously concerning," Patte said. His words were diplomatic¡ªhe did receive proper training as a child¡ªbut the way his face was twitching indicated he wanted to rip off someone''s face. It wasn''t obvious considering how Patte let go of all decorum in villages and just did what he wanted but, as a town prince, he did have a ''proper'' side to him¡ªwhich was especially useful when he went to stronger towns with his father. He just didn''t think he''d ever be forced to use that training in a mere village. In any case, he didn''t believe this was because they ''talked'' to a couple of small women, and they weren''t lying when¡ªfor the most part¡ªthey were only defending. "We haven''t broken any rules. On the contrary, we were even wronged," Patte repeated with gritted teeth. He was really using a life''s worth of patience by not talking with fists. These damned rules and regulations must be the most infuriating set to ever exist in this continent. Normally, after doing what they wanted, they''d just punch their way to go outside as a shortcut. Now, they could only slap their way to prison. It''s so annoying! They were not idiots who could be fooled into sending themselves to prison. At least, not anymore. So they could only grit their teeth for now and try to get out of this by talking. More importantly¡ªhe had already said he was from Basset Town, and that he was even the heir. How dare these low lives act arrogantly in front of him? "You are spying on us." This time, it was Jun who spoke up. This made them flinch. How did they find out? "Impossible! We arrived an hour ago!" Panghi yelled at them. They had not yet done anything suspicious! Jun shook his head. He still had that serious and professional expression on his face, but anyone who knew him knew he was really angry. "We also don''t like your faces, and¡ªmost especially¡ªhow you treated our citizens. Regardless of whether you are truly spies, we''d still be taking you in for harassment." "Just go with us quietly if you don''t want to get hurt," Gill said, hovering the small hot rocks above them. His tone was impatient¡ªas it usually was¡ªthough he was a little more irksome now. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Cassandra''s pregnancy symptoms were becoming more prominent and he¡ªwhose shift was usually over by this time¡ªreally didn''t like this overtime work. It didn''t help that they still had bystanders roaming around them, even making useless commentaries. "Gill looks cool! He''s usually so annoying." "He is cool as long as he doesn''t open his mouth." Gill: "..." In any case, Patte and the rest of them knew they''d be taken in regardless of what excuses they had. So¡­ how to escape? Even better, how to cause damage on their way out. They readied to defend themselves. Except for this guy, the others should be easy to deal with. At worst, one of them could just capture a hostage until they could get to the exit. Patte didn''t know the exact extent of what counted as ''hostile movements''¡ªwhich was vaguely mentioned in the rules¡ªbut one of his men could test its limits right now! Then, if it succeeded, they''d dash to the exit and to safety. He didn''t believe that outside of wars, those sentries¡ªwhich were abnormally high-leveled for a village¡ªwould be attacking them. Even if they did, they''d use the hostages to block the shots. And when they get back to Basset, these people will die horrible, horrible, deaths! His eyes darted to Panghi and the others, nodding. The one advantage of this place was that their avenues were straightforward. As long as they played things right, they might just manage to escape. However¡ª "I wouldn''t move if I were you," the droning voice of the enemy captain echoed and the next thing they knew all the guards that surrounded them were using elements¡ªeach one directed straight at them!! Patte''s eyes widened, while the others gasped and gaped. What? "Even if most of their levels are lower than yours, elements can cross several levels above their own," Jun said. "Would you like to test how much damage you''d receive from a rain of elements?" It was here that a dollop of molten rock dropped on Panghi''s shoulder and he screamed. "YOU BASTARD!!" he yelled, lunging towards Gill. Before he could even reach Gill though, a flash of light appeared, and the tall aborigine disappeared. "Panghi!" Patte yelled, and he glared at the guards. "The prison he''s sent to is the System prison¡ªthat is to say, his life gets drained slowly as long as he stays there. "If you wanna go to that prison, go ahead¡ªtry to attack¡ªthough I''m pretty sure you won''t be able to reach a few steps before you''re sent there." "Of course, you can also choose to bathe in various elements. Would you be interested in knowing which one hurt the most?" One of Patte''s men at the farthest decided to make a move then. He had done this many times so, without instruction, he sprinted to the nearest passerby in an attempt to use him as a shield. He rushed to the person, making sure he wasn''t emitting hostility so he could grab the person. However, before he could even grab hold of the person¡ªwho was in a startled daze, popcorn in his mouth falling when he realized that the target was actually him¡ªa barrage of elements poured on him. "AHHHH!" he screamed, feeling himself burning up, exacerbated by other elements he couldn''t have the mind to analyze anymore. He was suffering from different types of pain, and he could only succumb. Going to prison was much better than this! Meanwhile, another person thought that the attention (and elements) were away from them and saw this as his chance to escape. He ran to the other side, but he met a similar fate. He was showered with sharp wind blades from all sides then. He didn''t die, but he could feel his skin opening morbidly on different parts of his body. The sight of their companions'' half-dead states doused the fight in many of Patte''s men. They could only watch as the guards took out sturdy-looking chains made of black metal, obviously about to tie them up. "You! Don''t touch me!" he looked at the guards approaching him. He whipped his head to glare at Jun and Gill. "You sure are brave being arrogant like this to us." Patte then looked at the surrounding citizens. "Look at your guards! Capturing people¡ªfrom stronger territories, no less¡ªwithout cause!" he yelled. "Soon, they''d imprison all of you, too¡ªif they didn''t cause your precious territory to fall due to their arrogance first!" His group had always liked playing with their prey, so they knew a bit about the psychology of people. They had to know this if they wanted to inflict maximum damage¡ªphysical or otherwise. Unfortunately, they hadn''t encountered a territory like Alterra before. The citizens watching (some with snacks) looked at them oddly. "The Guards wouldn''t capture anyone unless you''re extremely suspicious!" they answered back, obviously unaffected by his prodding. "You idiots!" Patte yelled. He didn''t believe people could have such trust in other people! "If they could capture someone powerful like us¡ªwho hasn''t done anything¡ªdo you think they won''t unjustly get to you, the weak commonfolk someday?" He laughed at them, as if he was looking at idiots. However, he was in fact studying who he could grab as hostage. "Don''t you see? They''re fooling you¡ª" His voice died down when he felt a large shadow looming over him. He looked up to see a large critter walking on two legs. Patte gulped. "A half-orc!?" But he wasn''t able to speak anymore because that large hand grabbed his face, and he felt his entire body lifted up. The next thing he knew he was hurled up through the air and was waved around like a soft branch. The world became a blur of motion, and Patte was helplessly carried through it. Then¡ª BANG! His body was pounded to the ground with a strong thud. "U-urrgghhh¡­" Patte felt dizzy from the pain, unable to absorb what just happened. He just felt a shockwave that left him breathless and disoriented. Baku stood above him. He spat on Patte''s twitching body (and therefore didn''t count as littering) and sneered. "So noisy." Chapter 1065 - 1065: Patte in Jail "Well, he jumped right to it," Jun said, sighing. They wanted to minimize the damage by egging the aborigines to send themselves to prison first. It was always a fool-proof way they used to handle troublesome aborigines who could actually injure people. This batch was a little smarter though, so only a few managed to go using that method. All the talking and no action apparently consumed all of Baku''s patience. Anyway, the attack became a signal for an all-out chaos to explode. Each one of Patte''s team trying to escape on their own. The elementalists showered them with attacks in response. Some tried to take hostages or meat shields, but they didn''t realize that every single citizen could at least defend themselves or run away as needed! Some even got to the scope of an internal sentry, and that took care of one of them! The last level 20 was handled by Baku, who pretty much threw him all over the place. "AHHH!" Bang! "GAHHH!" Boom! "NOOooooo!" SLAM! When that person was left half-dead on the ground, Baku shifted his attention to another person. That person flinched and paled in fear, immediately deciding to attack a nearby passerby instead. His heart was filled with hostility, genuinely trying to inflict damage even if he had to be taken down for it! With a flash of light, he disappeared without succeeding in hurting anyone, but he did not mind as much as he thought. When he landed in the stifling system prison, he had never been so relieved! Of course, whether he''d be fine after being beaten up by the people already in prison was another topic altogether. Anyway, back in the streets, the cleanup was about to be finished, with most already handled though they were all half-dead already. Even until now, the passerbys had not left¡ªthey only increased. Of course, they made sure to stand out of the way so they didn''t become hostages or meatshields for the enemies. "Wow, Baku''s showing his fangs," the bystander from before said. This was Baron, and he finished his drink as if he wasn''t targetted just now. Their amusement decreased though, when the enemies started to insult their favorite tiger! "Don''t touch me, vile creature!" the enemy yelled, desperately trying to avoid Baku''s hold. "Hey! Don''t insult Baku!!" the citizens yelled, throwing rocks (or whatever) at him. Because there were so many, some ended up hitting him. "Ugly bastard!" "Disgusting scum!" The aborigine''s eyes twitched in anger. "YOU¡ª" Baku''s lips twitched. To be honest, he was so used to the prior insults that it no longer affected him. Seeing the citizens passionately speaking for him though, made him soften a little. "It''s fine," Baku said with that low, gruff, voice of his. "Go on with your day, people." Baku was the only half-orc in the territory now. Gochi and Maomao were clearing different parts of the region with a relatively large team. Maomao was also a guard now, given exemption without anyone questioning it at all. (It helped that many people saw Maomao kill a low-level monster with a single kick, so there was that.) The popcorn-eating crowd lingered for a bit, but some were quite obedient and went on their way. They didn''t forget to turn back to see if there was more drama though. Fortunately, the gathering of the prisoners was relatively uneventful. No one had the energy remaining to escape, and they could only be dragged off obediently. The guards pulled the chains while Baku and a few others remained at the back to make sure there were no accidents. As they escorted the injured prisoners to their destination, one of the guards¡ªAngelo¡ªcouldn''t help but nudge Baku. "You really didn''t hold back." Baku looked at the chained prisoners in front of them. "They smelled evil," he said, his nose twitching unconsciously, expressing his disgust. "It made me want to kill them." ¡­ While this was happening, Garan and a few others headed to the prisoners'' destination¡ªthe torture chambers. Before heading there though, they made sure that Yassop did a strict oath of non-betrayal towards Alterra as well as non-disclosure agreements. He was led to the torture chambers which had a few people, but no Patte for now. Until, of course, they heard the door open, revealing the newcomers dragged into a separate cells. They all looked horrible with ruffled hair and clothing, some with burns on their bodies, while some had broken faces. Patte''s nose was bent and blood was pouring out of his nose. The rest of his face was swollen, and he was helplessly dragging of feet. Patte happened to go past Yassop and his eyes widened when he recognized him. "YOU!!!" He thought of how they were caught an hour after they entered and his eyes turned red. "YOU TRAITOR!" he yelled, lunging at him. However, he was pulled back by the chains they wrapped him in, held back by Baku. "AHH!" Patte screamed, the sudden movements causing tremors of pain inside his body. Still, his anger made him forget the pain for a few seconds as he tried to go to Yassop, though to no avail. His face looked horrible, and his going berserk made him look scarier. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The guards just pulled them all back and put them in separate cells. The cells in the torture chambers are solitary, but they''re small. Gill went to Garan to make his report. "Captain," he said. "A few of them are in prison at this time. Should we collect all of them here?" Garan shook his head. "They can stay there for a bit, and just bring them all here when it''s time to kill them all." "We can''t kill him¡ªat least not now," Yassop said. "His father has a magic tool that will alert him if Patte dies." They all turned to him, waiting for him to tell them more. "I heard them mention this plenty of times before, because he was rarely in the Town." "What kind of tool is it?" "I am not sure, nor do I know if it could indicate where the person dies, so I suggest keeping him alive until you''re ready to go against Basset Town." Althea narrowed her eyes. Interesting tool. She looked at Gill. "Determine who the witnesses are and make them sign non-disclosures for this event," she said. "Give them contribution points in exchange." "Yes, Miss Althea." "Assuming we block this news, it will probably take a few months before they find out about this," she said. "We hope to extract as much information from him as possible. "Also¡­there is someone who would want to meet him very much¡ªbut she needs a couple of months before she can see him without putting herself in danger." Yassop looked at her curiously. "Have you heard of what he did in our associate village?" she asked. Yassop took a moment to remember the discussions. His eyebrows rose. "The Lord of Belluga Town¡­" Althea nodded. "She relinquished ownership of the token and is now our citizen," she said. "I reckon she''d want to take his life herself." Yassop''s eyes flickered. "You¡­ are very considerate." Althea smiled at him. "We can have your daughter have a stab, if you want." "..." Chapter 1066 - 1066: Terrorizing Villages Patte lost his virginity just as he entered puberty. He lost it to a maid assigned to him, as did plenty of noblemen. It was like a rite of passage, in a sense. He had been addicted to sex since then. Every night, he''d call in a maid or two to serve him. He would never miss a day. If he didn''t have required classes and training during the day, it was estimated he''d never leave his room. After a few months, he would start to experiment a lot. He experienced various positions and various types of women. He especially liked it when women under him were much weaker than he was, making him feel even more powerful. Of course, he could only do this to maids, prostitutes, and slaves. The commonfolk¡ªand especially fellow nobles¡ªcould not be touched so blatantly unless they were hired to do so. After all, it might lower his father''s prestige. Lords had a lot of power in their territory, but they were expected to provide some sort of protection to their citizens. For the most part, it was protection against the harsh realities outside the walls, but a certain standard was held within the walls as well. This was particularly true for Towns and Cities, where the citizens had higher levels and higher standards. The nobles also held a bit more power, and there would be a lot more intricacies in the power play within the walls. A Town was able to upgrade to its level for a reason. It was a combination of various factors, on top of its longer history than villages. Generally speaking, it was impossible for a territory to gain enough prestige with only the Lord and his family in power. There would be nobles who controlled some resources and nobles who could develop and hire specific talents. There could also be nobles who''d create forces that could eventually threaten the lord, and so on. Developing a village to a town was a process that typically lasted decades and generations¡ªit was inevitable for the Lord''s family to lose some of its hold during its development. Even the commoners had a bit more control over their own lives. If they got angry with him or with the territory, they could just relocate to another town¡ªmaybe even a lower-tiered village. Of course, the latter was the worst case scenario for most as it was a heavy hit on people''s pride to settle in a mere village. In contrast, villagers had a lot less choice. It was very difficult for a villager to rise in level and in stature. They might not even be able to get far from the village alive, so Lords were practically omnipotent¡ªas long as it was within their own territory, of course. Patte learned these subtleties in his tutoring. His father hired quite a number of teachers to teach him history, literature, and the like. There was even an etiquette class, so he still knew what was the proper thing to do. During the day, he had to maintain an image that would not shame his father. It was suffocating. His core was dark and lustful in the end¡ªhow could he be comfortable living like this? In response, his night time activities started getting harsher and harsher, and he became more and more greedy. Many women''s bodies were half-destroyed because of him, and they had to be taken out of commission to recover. He didn''t really care, there were always replacement women, anyway. However, his lust after other types of women¡ªthe commoners, the merchants'' daughters and their wives, and even nobles¡ªbecame more and more prominent until it was too difficult to control. For commoners, he''d get people to entice them with money, and it''d succeed more often than not. It was unlikely for women to reject the advances of men¡ªespecially of nobles¡ªand he was ''kind'' enough to offer money, so they had no right to complain. Eventually, though, he started getting greedy for more. The noblewomen¡­ looked very enticing. However, their families had positions and he was forced to tread lightly. Fortunately, as the heir of the Town, he got married to one in the end. His father asked him to choose and he chose the most beautiful one. And damn, she was beautiful! Her name was Yayia, and he made sure to love her hard every night. He would fuck her for hours and hours until she could no longer scream¡ªuntil she fainted. Apparently too hard though, because one day, she just never woke up again. He didn''t remarry again after that, and the other nobles didn''t seem like they wanted their daughters married to him, so he went back to his nobleless diet. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It wasn''t that these people cared for their daughters¡ªthey were just women in the end¡ªbut rather, it was because they were important resources these families invested time and money to. Further, town nobles had a chance of marrying upwards¡ªor so they hoped. In these noble''s minds, Patte¡ªthe sole heir of the Level 1 Basset Town¡ªwas not the highest goal they could achieve. When he realized this, he was extremely angry. He beat up servants, ranting about what the use of being the lord if he couldn''t give his son what he wanted. His father happened to be there, and his rants earned him a beating of his own. "You''re too weak," he said. "Only the strong can demand from the strong." Everyone knew that strength was the most powerful thing in this world, so he aimed to become even stronger than his father. His father hired strongmen to train him, and he did work hard¡ªwith his motivation being to put everyone else underneath his feet. However, after a few years of training, they realized¡­ that his talent was limited. He started falling behind his peers. Pulling commoners down was easy¡ªthose who tried to one-up him might even find themselves mysteriously disabled due to various accidents¡ªbut many of the others were nobles. They had their own guards and servants watching over them, so he could not do much to them. He successfully schemed against some, pitting one against the other, but how far could that go? The level gap was still increasing. He was not much of a talent in terms of strength, and he remained average in a town despite entering his 30s. No one spoke of it to his face, but he knew people were laughing at him. A lot of his father''s advisors were also sending him their daughters instead, asking to make new heirs because the one he had was useless. He hated it, fuelling the anger inside even more. Because of this, he started longing for villages¡ªand the ''freedom'' they represented. And that was what he did in the end. Chapter 1067 - 1067: Imprisoned Pig As the Lord''s son, Patte was familiar with every subsidiary that they had. He was aware of the villages near them, and which territories they attached to. Villages were also poor and generally could not afford complex rules¡ªeven the simple no-killing rules were rare¡ªso it was extremely easy for anyone with enough strength to do what they wanted. Even before he went around, he already knew he''d be able to do a lot of things. Anyway, he gathered several guards with him and, together, they terrorized dozens and dozens of villages, causing countless women and their families unimaginable pain. The first village was a small village South. It wasn''t a subsidiary of anything yet, but they had formed an alliance with one of their subsidiary villages, Ugoy Village. In villages, he could do whatever he wanted. He could kick and beat up people who annoyed him, take whatever resources he liked, and even kidnap a random woman walking around. The latter one was his favorite. It made him feel alive and¡­ invincible. At first, he would pull them in a room or in an alley, but as time passed¡ªas he managed to get away with more and more¡ªhe just got bolder and bolder. Soon, he''d start taking women outside¡ªregardless of where he was. If the woman was attractive enough and made his body react at the sight of her, then she could only blame herself for prancing in front of him. His true self¡ªthe manifestation of his dark, disgusting, and lustful soul¡ªhad been suppressed for far too long. As soon as he had the chance to vent it out¡ªit exploded, and it didn''t care how many people it hurt along the way. It all became a fun game to him: How to ''break'' a territory''s system, how to affect the lives of many people, and even reward himself with the shameless enjoyment he believed he deserved. His favorites to target were the daughters or even the wives of the lords. Noblewomen were just more delicious¡ªexcept these women from villages were weak and could only succumb. Even the Lords could only watch from the side in defeat. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Eventually, he started staying in the town less and less, jumping from village to village, using his brain bypass the troublesome rules. Because his power was so overwhelming to them, they could only succumb to him. The power gap let him feel such ecstasy that it felt like he was having sex for the first time again. This went on for years, and many people had tried to assassinate him. However, Patte was backed by Basset town and surrounded by guards with overwhelming strength at the village level. Instead of hurting Patte, they ended up perishing instead. Further, Patte would get subsidiary villages to gang up on whoever attacked him. In the end, the villages could do nothing but let him do what he wanted¡ªotherwise, they risk not only their lives, but the entire village''s. Excluding the villages that fell because of the assassination attempts, Patte rarely killed people anyway. This went on for more than a decade. In these years, Patte and his cronies did whatever they wanted without consequences. He definitely enjoyed his life at the expense of others'' pain. . . Until now. "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUTTT!" Patte screamed to the top of his lungs, over and over. He tried to squirm his way to somewhere like the worm he was but all that happened was his head bumped continuously against the dirty ground. They were chained to the side and their legs and arms were partially disabled. At least one appendage was crushed useless, so they had no chance of getting out at all! He would only pause when the pain got too much and he gritted his teeth, trying to endure but he could feel himself going crazy. He had never experienced such pain before! He could only curse the world and swear revenge as he yelled out. However, they did nothing to his tongue and for the following hour, he wouldn''t stop yelling. At some point, the guards decided to cover his mouth with random cloth¡ªwhich may or may not be from hygienic sources¡ªso he would shut up. One guard entered the cell and Patte''s eyes widened, realizing he would also lose his voice. "Wait! Let me out! I''m the heir of a Town!" he said. "I''ll make you head guard! Save me!" The guard, who happened to be Helios, rolled his eyes. He just placed a cloth (one of his old dirty socks that lost a pair somewhere during fights) on his mouth. Patte let out muffled yells but Helios pushed the sock deeper so it reached his uvula and he was unable to push it out with his tongue. "I knew it would still be useful," Helios said. "People keep saying I should throw it out and make new ones. Look at this now." He exited the cell and went back to his position, leaving the prisoners to suffer in pain for another day. To keep things somewhat hygienic (for the guards stationed there), the prisoners did have a squat toilet there that opened to a piping system towards this area''s septic tank. The prisoners could use it to defecate and pee. They kept one hand working for each prisoner, tied behind their back, so they could at least shit by themselves. Of course, although they were careful and made sure to weaken the prisoners, the torture area was still manual construction in the end. They did not underestimate the potential of prisoners escaping. In such cases, the toilet system could actually be a weakness, so they added a few traps there in case someone tried to pry off the fixture. Anyway, the prisoners were left to rot for a day, just suffering in pain. The night was filled with cries and groans of agony, yet no one could do anything but endure. They also didn''t have anything to eat or drink. Their levels would allow them to survive even if they did not eat or drink for a long time¡ªdays longer than the limits of a normal human. Alterra definitely took advantage of this fact to torture their prisoners and not waste resources on them. The next day though, a prisoner was taken out and brought to another place. The door was closed tight, but they could hear the screeching screams. "What happened! What are you doing?!" Patte¡ªwho had been temporarily freed from the sock after gagging the entire night¡ªyelled at them. He was shivering, both in pain and apprehension, and all this uncertainty was making him crazy!! Helios shrugged. "All I can say is if you want to suffer less, be cooperative." "What are you¡ª" He was cut off from speaking anymore as the disgusting cloth was shoved back to his mouth (Helios used chopsticks made from metal to hold it). "You''ll find out soon," Helios said. "In the meantime: Shut the fuck up." Chapter 1068 - 1068: Torture Chamber (Part 1) A/N: Trigger warning to those who don''t like torture. It''s just Patte and his people, but yeah. ¡­ ____ Helios kicked Patte smack to the wall and watched him drop down, groaning in pain. His eyes were dark as he looked at the bastard. Everyone was aware of the evil this bastard had done. All those people, especially the women¡­ S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. To he''d think this world was crawling with men like this¡ªand will continue to do so, for generations to come¡ªand he couldn''t help but think of his daughter! (They did not know this for sure, but Helios was adamant it was a girl). The thought of it made him angry and he ended up entering the cell to kick Patte again, over and over, and the man could only helplessly accept the onslaught of anger and pain. Patte''s eyes darkened, the memories of him doing the same to countless others resurfacing. To think he was reduced to the same level as those people! Regardless of the anger and shame bursting in his heart, Patte did not have the energy to move and he could only wait as time passed and more and more of his men were taken in. Hours ticked by and the screams didn''t stop, though there were pauses in between that were filled with murmurs they could no longer hear. The longer the person talked, the lesser the screams, and it was obvious they were succumbing. Those fools¡ªshould he kill them when he got out of here? The screams were from different people, and Patte could recognize their voices. Soon, he even heard the voices from those supposed to be in the system prison, like Panghi and Uttot. Their screams were particularly loud and torturous, but they also gave up rather quickly because the sounds abruptly stopped. Eventually, everyone else''s interrogation ended and it was finally Patte''s turn. His body turned cold, understanding what was to come. He was lifted up by two people dragging him by an arm each. The new position allowed him to finally spit out the dirty cloth, allowing him to yell. "LET ME GO!" he yelled, voice cracking. He saw that neither of the guards this time wasn''t the one from before, and he couldn''t help but try pushing his luck one more time. "I''ll give you the head guard position in Basset Town! Just help me!" The guards didn''t even look at him as they dragged him to the chambers, laying him on a table and tying his appendages well. He also felt a squishy feeling under him and he smelled piss and feces where he laid, which was both disgusting and terrifying. Patte''s jaw clenched and his eyes turned red as he¡ªwith the minimal strength and spirit he had left¡ªtried to struggle out of his hold, but to no avail. He looked up to see the highest-ranking military man¡ªGaran was his name, according to the information they had gathered. With him was a small group of guards¡ªincluding that bastard Helios from before. Garan looked at Helios and handed him a small bottle. The dark-skinned man then stepped forward and shoved its contents in Patte''s mouth, covering his nose and pushing his jaw up so he had no choice but to take it all in and not splatter everywhere. Patte coughed, pale, looking at them. "What did you feed me?" he asked, gasping. "DID YOU POISON ME!?" "Nah, we''re not killing you anytime soon." His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. For some reason, he was not entirely relieved to hear they weren''t killing him yet. "It''s a special potion churned out by the research team. We were asked to test out its effectiveness," Helios said. "It''s supposed to heighten all your tactile senses, making you hyperaware of everything you''re feeling. You''ll find out soon." And, a few seconds later, he did. It hit him so suddenly that it felt like wild Kola beasts crashed into him over and over, stepping on him at unexpected places and spots, while he was being eaten by bugs at the same time. "AHHHHH!" he screamed to the top of his lungs, so loudly he swore his internal organs were about to escape his body. The pain was so intense, that he could feel every pore in his body was burning and pricking him to the bones. It was an indescribable pain he couldn''t have imagined until he experienced it himself. They hadn''t even done anything to him yet! This was just intensifying the pain he was already suffering from!! He wasn''t able to control his bowels and he finally understood what that smell from before was. It felt like it lasted forever until it calmed a little, back to the pain before the heightening of senses¡ªwhich was still horrible¡ªbut at least he''d survive. If he experienced that intensity again, he feared he''d go insane. Seeing him gasping for breath, Helios nodded and turned in a direction. Patte was dizzy and gritting his teeth, but he couldn''t help but turn a bit to see who it was. It was a woman¡ªa beautiful one, though he wasn''t in the mind to appreciate it¡ªand she was scribbling quickly down her notes. She had a frown on her face, as if she wasn''t satisfied with something. "This dose seems to have a more intense effect," she droned. "But it lasted a bit shorter than I expected." She had a bit of a pout and Patte saw Garan step forward and pat her head. "This is already plenty, thank you, wife," he said. "Now go home with the kids¡ªit could get bloody in here." She blinked and looked at him, nodding obediently. Before she left though, she turned to look at Patte. Those emerald eyes were beautiful and pure, but it made Patte''s blood freeze. Looking at her eyes right now made it feel like he was facing imminent death. For some reason, at this point, she terrified him more than her husband did. "It''s still in the experimental phase, and it varies a lot," she said. "To activate the same intensity again, you might want to give him another drop each time. "For maximum effect, I recommend torturing him a bit before placing a drop." "Please monitor if the duration of the heightening reduces each time." She was saying this so coldly, as if she was talking about the boring weather. This time, it was Garan who nodded obediently. "We will not miss a single data, don''t worry." She handed another bottle to Garan and the prisoner on the bed couldn''t help but pee on himself again. In Patte''s eyes¡ªthat bottle was the most terrifying thing. And he couldn''t go through that again! Chapter 1069 - 1069: Torture Chamber (Part 2) A/N: Thank you Alyxatlas for the castle! HUGSSSS! I think we pulled in quite a few new readers! *sobs* I wish I can send extra chaps but the Sunday mass releases already has me spent xD Mentioning Lotuslin and _cardinal''s castle last week too! I wasn''t sure if the thank you note was published (I couldn''t find it, so I realize I might''ve posted on Discord and facebook but forgot to post here) so Imma thank you again here just in case. Thank you again, lovely ladies T_T ... _____ The door closed, leaving the men alone in the room again. Helios whistled, letting go of the breath he had been holding. He coughed a bit at the smell, but adjusted quickly. They had a ventilation system (using natural wind power) that mostly serviced the hallways for the benefit of guards'' sanities. The prison cells and the torture chambers had louvers to the hallway, allowing the smell to get sucked out too, though at slower rates. Anyway, it was the first time he had seen that side of Miss Althea. It seemed like she was in her ''sciencey'' mood, she really had the potential to be a mad scientist. He had seen hints of it back when they went with her outside which ultimately led them to salt mines, but watching several men tortured half-dead without batting an eyelid was a different issue altogether! Even he was flinching in empathy! It was hard to wrap his head around until he saw it himself. After all, she was quite the loving mother and wife. Of course, if he was a little scared, more so was the victim on the table. Patte had, once again, peed on himself (very gross) but he didn''t seem to notice. The arrogance and pride were gone and he was now just a scared bastard who deserved everything that was coming at him. Helios saw his face and laughed. "We''ll be keeping you alive for months," he said. "Do you want to suffer like this for that long? If you tell us everything early then at least you''re just a prisoner." The anger in Patte''s heart had indeed been ironed out, only leaving fear and apprehension. "W-Why are you doing this?!" "You ask as if your place isn''t targeting us." It was around here that Garan approached him with the bottle in hand. It made Patte shiver but he forced himself not to succumb¡ªnot for his territory, but because it was shameful he was reduced to this by villagers. All these years, he had treated villagefolk as people underneath his feet. Look at this now! Remembering his glory days gave him some strength again. Even if he was terrifying, there was no way he''d be reduced to a fumbling mess begging for his life! "Yassop is angry at me and wants revenge! You believe whatever he says that you''re going against a Town?! FOOLS!" Garan''s face did not change. "Tell me everything you can about your territory as well as its allies and subsidiaries," Garan asked. Even if he made some sort of oath, it couldn''t have been too detailed because of his position. "SHIT OFF!" he yelled, spitting blood-filled saliva in his direction. Garan remained stoic as he avoided it. Instead, he threw a small piece of ice he created at his bleeding chest. The biting cold caused him to convulse and adding a drop of the experimental potion made him foam out of his mouth. "GAHHHHHH!" He screamed again for a time, until the ice finally melted off, and the potion wore off again shortly after that. He was gasping for air, the last of his willpower pushed back down again. "Speak," Garan said, and an even bigger piece of ice¡ªa spike¡ªhovered above him. "Don''t think this will kill you. We also have health potions to keep you from dying." Helios nodded as he crossed his arms. "We can do this over and over until you talk, Patte," he said. "Do your body a favor and give up already." They allowed Patte a few moments to breathe and consider. However, really, he didn''t have much of a choice. Besides, only those who had actual things to fight and protect could stay strong under their torture. Obviously, Patte was just an animal with a bit of a brain. A bit of pain and he would blurt out what he could¡ªjust like the rest of his men. Speaking of, the rest of the men didn''t know any useful things about their territory. All they got from them¡­ was the atrocities they did in scores of territories and hundreds of people during the past decade. It took the Alterrans everything they had to not prematurely kill the bastards. However, they did send them straight to the prison labor camp so they could work them to death. Patte didn''t know but¡­ he was the only one left in this prison at this time. "I¡­" he gasped. "Basset Town is¡­ level 1," he said. "We can''t attack you." "Everyone knows that. Say something useful," Helios said, throwing a few needles and burying them on his skin. Patte yelled again, gritting his teeth in a vain attempt to decrease the humiliation. "We make oaths when we enter puberty!" Garan sighed. "There are plenty of information you can tell us even then," he said. "How many level 30s and above do you have?""I¡­ don''t know¡­ a few hundreds?!" "Level 40s?" "I¡­ less than 10, if those old people are still alive." "Including your father?" He nodded. "What are their weaknesses?" "I don''t know!" Patte said, and he wasn''t lying. He hadn''t taken time to get to know other people¡ªhe was too busy going around villages! "What about the people who might want to betray your father?" "What¡ª" "Your oaths should only be directly related to the territory. The noble families aren''t counted." Patte didn''t want to talk. He didn''t care about the families but his spilling information like this was akin to admitting complete defeat. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Looks like you still hadn''t had enough pain," Garan said. Lifting the bottle Althea gave him. Just the sight killed the remaining will Patte had. "I''ll Talk! I''LL TALK!" And so he did. He told them the stronger families in Basset town as well as those who might have a bit of anger towards his father. "They won''t betray father! He is still the strongest in the territory!" This was true. The Lord Bentro was a level 42 man who was the strongest man in the territory. There was also his great-uncle, who was level 45, and he''d definitely protect their family if it came to that. There were others with higher levels, but they were so old, they were probably half-dead already. Naturally, their levels could not reflect their actual strengths. The Alterrans shrugged. "It doesn''t matter if they won''t," Garan said. "We could find a way to cause chaos there, just as you caused it in various villages." Garan then turned, handing over the bottle to Helios. "I''m going home now," he said. "Take care of him." Patte''s eyes widened as he watched the door close, looking up at Helios and a few other guards in the room. "As a reward for your cooperation, you would only experience this once (or a few) a day," Helios said, ''gently'' dropping a few drops into his mouth. "Calculating how many more months we have with you, each shot should correspond to a life you destroyed." "Wha¡ªGAHHHHH!!!" Patte screamed like a pig as he once again felt the intense agony that was destroying him from the inside. For the next few months, he would undergo this torture every day. It was as if all the pain he ever caused was compressed..., and fed to him every single day for the rest of his short life. Chapter 1070 - 1070: Yelena and Yanno A/N: It''s 2nd Sunday of January and we''re in Top 1 so... extra chaps~! Thank you for your support everyone! I checked and somehow things extended so the last pre-timeskip chap is tomorrow, instead of today. xD Sorry sorry ... ____ The following week, Yassop was back with the ''hostages''. That was to say: his daughter and grandchild, Yelena and Yanno. He looked at his daughter sitting stiffly across him from the carriage. He then looked at his meek grandson sitting on the other corner farthest from his mother. The entire time¡ªfrom the announcement of the situation, to their departure, and after days of traveling¡ªneither of them showed much change in their expression. He could remember the time when he told them the news, he was really worried they''d regress and react violently. He was wrong. When he actually told them the news, the reaction was¡­ lackluster to say the least. He almost wanted them to react violently. "Alterra asked for you two as¡­ hostages," he said at the time, quickly adding: "However, you will be living freely and happy there¡ªyou won''t even feel like you''re hostages." The girl nodded, and the boy stared as if it had nothing to do with him. No matter which part of that sentence, the mother and son didn''t seem to feel much. It was as if it was the same regardless of where they were. Yassop only felt sad. He hoped that someday, even if it was in anger, they''d express more emotions. Anyway, the carriage ride was silent since the trip began a couple of hours prior. They only had 1 carriage, though the rest of the servants were in the exterior seating¡ªleaving the three of them inside, surrounded by awkward air. Whenever Yassop tried to open a topic they would respond with a nod, a hum, or a grunt. When he said something good about Alterra¡ªparticularly the amazing unbelievable things in an attempt to excite them¡ªthey would just look at him cynically, as if they didn''t believe him. Eventually, Yassop just gave up talking (for now). He looked out the blurred forests outside, attempting to pass the time, but his mind still ran¡ªtrying to find a topic that they might respond to. Nothing came to mind, however, so he ended up just staring out in a daze even in his old age. Soon, he started seeing a few teams here and there, some were even fighting mobs. "Ah, there are people already, we must be near," he said, though it was more like he was talking to thin air. Sigh. Soon, the tall walls emerged from the dense forest, and he felt like a weight lifted from his shoulder. They all paid for the visitor pass¡ªbecause residency required contribution points¡ªand led the beast carts past the gate and onto the Beast Inn. "We''re here," he said, though the other two didn''t seem to care. That was until¡­ they finally emerged from the carriage. Yassop turned to see the two looking around, their eyes slightly wider than usual. His lips twitched. This was a good sign. "Let''s go," he told them, guiding them to the transportation hub not far away from the Beast Inn. There, various bikes and broats were available for rental. They were lined up in organized rows with their drivers, just waiting for the next customer. Whoever was in front of the line would receive the next customer, so there was no fight between drivers. Apparently, they were paid for by the territory, so they didn''t have to rush to get customers themselves to make ends meet. There were prices in front of the row to indicate the variances for each ride, which was really quite affordable considering how far it was to travel from one end of the avenue to the next. There was also a section where one could rent a bike and drive it themselves but, for now, he did not explore that option. He saw his daughter and grandson''s eyes were fixed on the unique mode of transportation. He couldn''t help but feel a little smug. "You didn''t believe me when I told you they had something better than beast carts," he said, smiling. "Why don''t you choose which one we''ll ride?" The two flinched, looking at him, and he waved in the direction of the rides to confirm that he was, indeed, asking them to choose. "Each of you can choose one each." He was planning on renting three. Other than the three of them, his daughter and grandson also had a servant each to assist them in their daily tasks. The carts could carry two to four passengers, though he was ready to prepare an extra one because he doubted Yelena and Yanno would like to be sitting so close together. Unexpectedly, they both eyed a four-seater one driven by broats. They didn''t expect this, and the boy was ready to backtrack when Yassop ruffled his little head. He smiled. "The three of us will ride this then." The boy''s eyebrows furrowed, looking at him as if he was being unreasonable. No doubt, he was thinking of his mother and how ''disgusted'' she would be. "I''m sure she won''t mind," he reassured him. "It''s open air anyway, so we''re technically outside." That was to say: they were not in the same space, so he didn''t have to worry about anything. Yelena frowned, but just climbed up the cart without a word, though she was staring outside as if she didn''t want to see either of them. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He led the boy up to sit next to him, and the rest of the servants went to ride another one. The carts lurched forward, marking the beginning of their first exploration of Alterra. He didn''t speak anymore after telling the driver where to go, though he was smiling in his heart. He just subtly stared at his family and looked at them staring out, watching the new sights around them. Whether it was the unique architecture, the refreshing avenues, and various other unusual things¡ªthey must all be fascinating to the two of them who hadn''t ever been outside Yasof Village. His eyes didn''t leave them at all. He watched every change in their expression, every little reaction they had¡ªbecause it had been a while. He didn''t remember when he had last seen his grandson''s eyes sparkle with even a bit of inquiry, and it had been many years since he saw his daughter''s lips twitch at something banal like the broat snorting near her face. Little by little, their stances relaxed. Before, they were tense as if they were always being watched by someone hostile, but now they had¡­ let go, bit by bit, until they were simply tourists appreciating the sight. Their expressions weren''t much to others, but they were big in Yassop''s eyes. Anyway, the trip ended quickly¡ªtoo quickly, in Yassop''s opinion¡ªand they arrived at their stop before they knew it. Their destination was not abutting the main avenue, so they had to get off one of the stopovers, which was a layby next to the avenues, making sure the fast traffic was not hindered by unloading passengers. He guided them across a few more blocks and streets, eventually reaching their destination a couple of minutes later. "We''re here," he said, staring at the large two-story building surrounded by greeneries, playgrounds, paths, and the like. On top of the main door, there was a sign. Happy Hearts Home Alterra''s Orphanage. Chapter 1071 - 1071: Happy Hearts Home The Happy Hearts Home was Alterra''s largest orphanage. It had dozens of children and minors under its care. It was being funded directly by the territory, and it boasted of policies and facilities that would allow the children to grow physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy even without their parents. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Many better-off territories and villages actually had a version of this. However, those kids were raised with the expectations that they''d be serving the leading family, or whoever sponsored its creation in the first place. So, in other territories, orphans were generally relegated to becoming maids or guards. They were raised to be servants, fed just enough, clothed just enough, but trained harshly. They were thankful for the care¡ªrightfully so¡ªeven if the patron had a lot of underlying motives for doing it. He investigated how it was for Alterra before bringing the children here. He knew that they were raised by the adults as if they were their own children, given education, and freedom to do what they wanted with their lives. From what he heard, there were no kids from their old place except for a couple of teens about to reach adulthood. Most of their children were actually local, which made the effort and sincerity to give them genuinely better lives¡ªjust for the children''s own sakes¡ªeven more impressive. As for why he was sending his daughter and grandson here¡­ it wasn''t actually his decision. Not exactly. He had wanted to rent a house, but because they weren''t temporary citizens, they could not do so. There were also no more openings for rooms or even leases remaining for them to take. The dormitory was too cluttered for his antisocial children¡ªthey might go berserk before the place could soften them up. Later, during his attempts to secure a comfortable place for his family to live in (even occasionally using his Lordship to increase his ''persuasiveness''), he found out that many of the villas were leased by people from Level 3 Towns and even Cities. He could only be gobsmacked and accept that he was just a small bug in the larger scheme of things. Alterra also refused to add more houses, opting to keep their plentiful parks and remaining forests inside the walls. It was a little counterintuitive at first until he remembered what happened during the Heat Wave. There was also the fact that Alterra was apparently delaying an upgrade¡ªwhich was really beyond his imagination before he met them¡ªand adding more places to stay in could be opposing that idea. Anyway, when he forwarded this concern to the Elders, they called in Miss Juliet and had a discussion about it. He was quite surprised, to be honest. He just thought they''d throw an extra room and rent it to them. He wouldn''t have minded if all four people (including the servants) would get squeezed in one room. It was certainly better than nothing. Instead, they had a serious discussion of what would be best for people in his children''s "situation". There, he met Miss Juliet for the first time, and he knew her specialization was how to help ''victims'' like her daughter. ''Psychologist'', they called her, which was an alien profession to Yassop until that point. However, the more he listened to their conversations, the more enlightened he became. Some things, particularly women''s mysterious minds, suddenly made sense after a couple of minutes of listening to them. In the end, after about a quarter of an hour of discussion, they recommended he send them to the orphanage instead. "I''ll recommend Yelena to work there. There are plenty of jobs she can do so she can have a salary to sustain herself more than what you send her," Juliet said. This part got Yassop confused at first. He was planning to leave them a good allowance that would last them several months as long as they didn''t splurge. "I know you''re not lacking money, but I recommend leaving them just enough for a month or two and then leaving them on their own," Juliet said, seeing his expression. "What she needs is a sense of independence: That she can do things on her own. She does not need you¡ªor any man, for that matter." "This would allow her some sense of control over her own life that doesn''t involve hiding her son from the world." "As for the boy¡­ he could live like other children would," she said. "The orphanage is a place with children who also lived without parents¡ªjust as he did, in a sense. They would be able to connect with him better than any other peer." "In time, I hope, he''d go out of his shell on his own. After all¡ªhe still had his mother, how could he be sadder than those who did not?" "Finally, living there would not pull them apart, but at the same time allow them to live their own lives at some distance from each other." Those were Juliet''s words and it added an immense amount of hope in him. So, now at the present, here they were, standing by the orphanage door. He still felt nervous and didn''t know how to explain anymore to them. Fortunately, the door opened to reveal Helen, the orphanage head. A few days back, before heading back to Yasof to fetch his daughter and grandson, he went to talk with Helen with Juliet. He explained the situation in as much detail as he could. They ended up talking for hours, and even talked about personal things like Helen''s own child, a teenager, who perished before they left for this world. In any case, the more he had talked to her, the more reassured he was that sending them here was the right decision. The two chatted a bit more as they entered, revealing a room with seating used by some children doing their own thing. "The rest are at school, so it''s fairly quiet at this time," Helen said. There was a stair heading directly to the upper floors connected to this foyer, and they headed straight there. "These will be your rooms," Helen said, introducing two rooms with two beds on each corner. Each room also had two study tables set to serve each owner of the bed, as well as their own cabinets. "Yelena and her maid, Peachie, will take on one room, while Yanno and his valet, Paulie, will stay in one." The two servants felt a bit awkward sharing rooms with their masters, but if there were no other rooms they did understand. They just silently swore to be so quiet and still it seemed like they weren''t there. Yassop smiled, satisfied with this arrangement. He looked at the two, and could vaguely sense some interest¡ªand maybe a bit of excitement¡ªin them. They were antisocial at this time and completely giving him their own space might just let them be hermits. At the same time, forcing them in many social situations could get them clam up even further. The orphanage could be a great compromise for both needs. They would have their own rooms and the children were taught to respect people''s boundaries, while at the same time there was still an overall sense of liveliness and community that¡ªhopefully¡ªwould slowly pry the two out of their rooms, and out of their shells. "It''s time for me to go," Yassop said, looking at his last two family members, giving them a month''s worth of allowance. "You''ll be on your own now. "Live well, my children," he said, patting Yelena''s shoulder, and Yanno''s head. "For now, this will be your new home." Chapter 1072 - 1072: The Differences between Mothers A/N: Extra Long chapter for Alyxatlas'' chapter request~! \\o/ Once again, thanks for the castle~ ¡­ ____ The group saw Yassop and his own servants out the door. Yelena and Yanno looked at him and his back, feeling very complicated. Even if they didn''t express it much, they''d miss the old man quite a bit. It was just that they didn''t know how to say it. They were so used to being quiet and, in Yelena''s case, bitter, that they couldn''t bring themselves to say anything out-of-character. Anyway, the group watched Yassop disappear from their view before heading in, with Helen looking at her new family members. "While there aren''t a lot of people, why don''t you join me on a tour of the place?" she asked, tone gentle and kind that not even the grumpiest kid could say no to her. The two nodded. They were curious about the new place anyway. However, there was palpable awkwardness between the mother and son, and the boy didn''t dare walk along or ahead of his mother. Helen saw this but didn''t say anything. Time would heal, she believed, and time was only starting for them now. The house was designed so that those from the upper floor could quickly go down and exit the house without having to go through the rest of the rooms. This was why, before heading up the stairs, all they saw was the ante-room¡ªa more formal living room for guests and the like. The house was a manual construction building, so its arrangement was quite different from the other residential homes. After the ante-room, there was a large living room that could accommodate dozens of people at a time. There were also separate sitting spaces so smaller groups could have places for more intimate conversations. They passed by the other communal areas in the ground floor like a small library with several desks (which was also used by the students to do their homework), a canteen, a small multi-purpose hall, a lounge area for the staff, and so on. The rest were rooms for staff and some smaller kids, so they could easily be taken care of by the adults. There was also another room which was occupied by another guest¡ªlike them¡ªthough Helen did not specify who it was. Anyway, for the most part, the second floor was dedicated to the kids'' dormitories. They also had a small living room on the farthest corner from the stairs, and a lot of them tended to hang around there before going to bed. The building was also a courtyard house, so there was an open space in the middle of a rectangular floor plan, which was another communal area the children and staff could enjoy. On top of improving lighting and ventilation, the courtyard also improved the overall openness of the place. This would also allow each of the bedrooms to have nice windows and views, improving the kids'' well-being. In the courtyard, there were some movable picnic tables, swings, and some seating areas. Whenever they wanted to have a party, they''d just rearrange a few furniture and set up a barbeque somewhere. It would make the inner rooms smell of burnt meat and sauce but no one really minded that¡ªespecially the aborigine kids, who quite liked the smell. They said it allowed them to dream of barbeque even while they slept. Very cute. The tour ended about half an hour later and, unexpectedly, it coincided with the time a few of the kids went home. They were all quite small, no more than 10 or 11 years old, with some in the younger range of about 8 or 9. They politely took off their shoes on placed them on the shoe rack before entering, their eyes bright and sparkling even when they were doing the mundane. They sparkled even more at the sight of their headmistress, however. "Miss Helen~!!!" a few kids yelled, running over to her for a hug. She smiled, hugging them back. She was a bit surprised to see a few faces though. "Why, if it isn''t Pongo and Gururu1~" she smiled. "It''s been a while since you visited us!" Of course, even after they got adopted, she still saw them as family. "We miss you, too! We''re doing homework here with our new friends~!" Helen laughed. "It''s good to help each other," she said, nudging the towards the direction of the library. "You go on now. We don''t want you getting home too late." "Yes, Miss Helen~!" The handful of kids disappeared into the corridor, but more and more kids came home. Suddenly, there was activity everywhere and each room was occupied by a small group of children. Some were reading in a nook, some were chattering in the sofas, and there were also plenty of kids running around, spreading laughter across the halls. There was something about it that made their shoulders slump in relaxation, their eyes softening. They ended up watching everything for the next couple of minutes, with the small group just standing in the corner of the living room. They were also greeted by a lot of kids, and Helen introduced Yanno and Yelena to them as well. They were greeted with so much positive energy that the two couldn''t help but smile a bit when they responded. Bit by bit, the awkward nods and small smiles widened, and Helen thought it was a joy to watch. At some point, they heard a few kids yell at the others. "Miss Kimmy is out of her room~!" "YAY! STORY TIME!" "Story timeeee!" Like this, the kids hanging around the living room bolted towards the corridor, dragging some others with them. One of the people being dragged¡­ was Yanno. Yanno flinched, not knowing what he should do. He wanted to run, but his feet wouldn''t move. The boy pulling him was confused. Yanno was even more confused. It was an odd situation. Helen''s eyes softened. Because of his background, Yelena didn''t want him seen outside. It was as if the boy being seen by people outside of their house was cementing his existence. The boy barely had any social interactions outside of the family. Of course, he didn''t know how to handle the sudden contact. "Go with them," Helen said, making the decision for him. For now, the boy was indecisive¡ªnaturally so, considering everything¡ªso Helen decided to hold his hand until he gained some sense of self. "It will be fun." They followed the small crowd towards the courtyard. There was a pregnant woman sitting on the swing, lovingly holding her stomach with one hand, and another holding a book. In front of her were about a dozen kids sitting on the grass, looking up at him, listening intently to her words. "Today, I will tell the story of a Little Sparrow, its mother, and the wind," she said. "Once upon a time, in a meadow surrounded by tall trees, there lived a mother sparrow and her little chick¡­" Kimmy was quite animated. When she told of the story, her tone changed depending on the character, and she would also make her own sound effects. To the children who grew up without art, this was naturally very fascinating. She told the story about the mother going out to get food, but was unable to get back for many hours which, for a baby chick who was just born, was a very long time. "The baby chick missed its mother very much, but the cool breeze of the wind comforted the chick, even bringing feathery wildflowers that reminded it of its mother''s feathers." "It was comforted and ended up falling asleep embracing the wildflower, and it was also embraced¡ªin turn¡ªby the wind." "Eventually, the mama returned with the food, and the baby bird was very happy. "Mama! Mama!" she said, "I missed you! But also I felt you with me!" "The wind carried your scent and your warmth, and it lifted by wings and hugged me!" "The mother bird smiled, kissing her baby bird. ''That''s because love is like the wind. You can''t always see it, but it''s always there¡ªholding you close'' she said." Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Kimmy smiled, looking at the children. "Every child deserves love," she told them. "Miss Helen, sister Samantha, and the other staff loves you very much." "You might not always see it¡ªespecially when you''re being punished¡ªbut always believe that it''s there. They will unconditionally care for you, and also trying to lift you up so you can be yourself and fly when you''re ready." She smiled, unconsciously patting her own stomach. "That''s what mothers do, after all." Bianca''s (Baron''s cousin) adoptive kids Chapter 1073 - 1073: Learning to Love A/N: I''m sorry, I didn''t intend this to get so long xD. We''ll temporarily move on from Kimmy after next chap. ... ____ "What was your mother like, Miss Kimmy?" This made her pause. She remembered her own childhood, how lonely it actually was, and how¡­ absent her parents were. She grew up to her twenties, but the number of times she had at least one parent on her birthday could be counted on one hand. It was why she was so obsessed with her idols. She saw them as lovers who would send their smiles and affection through the screen, through the posters, or even through the radio. Through their posts and ads, they would always say ''I love you'' or ''I want to see you (in my concert)'' and she would consume that so badly. However, inside, she knew she still felt empty¡ªotherwise, her obsessions wouldn''t go so far. She touched her stomach. She knew how lonely it was, so she would never do the same to her child. It was not a surprise that she didn''t have a good impression of mothers who were only sources of heartbreak and insecurity to her child. Her eyes ended up somewhere at the back of the audience and saw a new face there. Yelena. Miss Juliet mentioned her arrival during her session the previous day. Apparently, there was a new ''hostage'' taken in and it happened to be another one of Patte''s victims. Juliet didn''t actually ask her to do anything. After all, she was also going through her own tribulations. The woman probably didn''t want to put the burden on her. However, since they were both sent here, in the orphanage¡ªfilled with children who had lost all their known relatives¡ªit was inevitable to cross paths. However, at the same time, she couldn''t hate Yelena nor could she blame her for how she reacted. After all, she understood the aborigine''s feelings¡ªshe understood it too well. In fact, when Kimmy found out she was pregnant, her first reaction was to terminate the pregnancy¡ªand then take her own life. At the time, it felt like a monster was growing inside her and she wanted to kill it so badly. However, she remembered what someone important told her back then. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Growing up, even without her parents, Kimmy wasn''t entirely lonely. There was still someone she treated as family: Her Nana. It was her nanny who took care of her since she was a baby, all the way until her death. Kimmy used to cry a lot whenever she missed her parents. She was so confused and bitter¡ªwhy were they never there? Did they not love her? Did they dislike her so much they couldn''t stay in the same space?! The thoughts took a toll on her self-esteem, and it was here that her Nana told her these words. "Every life was born to this world for a reason, and every child¡ªevery innocent soul¡ªdeserves a taste of love. If those who should be giving it are not doing so, then it is them who is wrong¡ªit is only them who miss on good things. The good things should not suffer for their blindness." Kimmy, now, did not want to miss ''good things''. At the time she just went ahead and spent her ample love elsewhere¡ªto ''husbands'' ¡ªbut now that love was being redirected elsewhere. Regardless of its paternity, this child might be the only blood relative she had left. And¡ªconsidering how she shuddered at the touch of men now¡ªthe only one she might ever have. Thinking back¡­ her reason for keeping the child was, ultimately, out of selfishness¡ªand that was okay. A fruit borne from evil was not easy to love, so she struggled a lot. She didn''t want anyone near her either, so she was predominantly alone in the process. At the same time, she didn''t feel as lonely. She was with baby after all¡ªthough for a long time, she was unsure if it was an enemy, a reluctant ally, or a loved one. However, after many weeks of carrying it in her body¡­ she did end up loving it in the end. When did it start? Was it when she first felt intense cramps? It felt uncomfortable and painful, but it felt like her baby was trying to capture her attention, much like her own vain attempts to capture her parents'' back then. Her own longing mirrored to the child and perhaps that was why she fell in love. When she told this to Juliet, she just said not to overthink things and just enjoy the process¡ªeven if it was a bit painful. "Miss Kimmy!" Milky voices sounded around her, pulling her back to the present. Kimmy looked at the simple-minded children in front of her, and her heart softened to mush. "Hmm¡­ the person I consider my mother isn''t the one who gave birth to me¡­" she said, answering the question. "But I did have one¡ªI call her Nana." Nana, her nanny, died about a year before the tragedy. She lived a full life and she treated her like her mother, as she treated her as her child. Her eyes softened, patting the nearest boy''s head. "All children deserve mothers," she said, her eyes gravitating to a certain aborigine. "Even if some mothers don''t deserve their children." This was not just targeted at Yelena and any other neglectful mothers. Kimmy didn''t think she was exempted from it at all. She once thought of killing her own child, so Kimmy believed she also didn''t deserve it. However, she promised to love it with all her heart moving forward instead. As for Yelena, she hoped to change her mind to do the same. Her dark eyes shifted back to the children, immediately lightening up. She smiled at them. "The point of the story is¡­ all of you should be happy and grow well. We will be watching over you¡ªalways¡ªeven if you don''t see us. "So¡ªI hope¡ªat no point will you be lonely," she paused, looking at them. "If you feel sad, or hopeless, know that there is always someone out there looking out for you and praying you receive the greatest fate you could receive. Okay?" At this, the kids sparkled, and yelled their answer¡ª as if afraid she would not hear. "Yes, Miss Kimmy~" Chapter 1074 - 1074: Yelena and Kimmy A/N: *cough* I''m scheduling tomorrow''s chapters right now so I know for sure we''re already done with pre-time skip xDD I get embarrassed too when I miscalculate, okay!? ... ___ Meanwhile, at the back of the audience, three women stood together. It was Helen, Yelena, and a young lady with highlighted brown hair. It was Samantha, Gian''s sister. 1She had reached her 18th birthday the previous week and was no longer under the orphanage. However, she took a full-time job as a staff there, and Helen was happy to have her. She also kept her part-time job at the Supermarket, which she went to when the kids were at school. "It''s so nice to have Miss Kimmy stay with us," she said. "I can never tell decent stories." When she tried, she just droned and even she felt like she was going to fall asleep with her own voice. She was the direct opposite of her gregarious friend Penny1, who¡ªshe heard¡ªhad resigned in her artist job at the newspaper, opting to do auditions for the entertainment company Elder Ansel was setting up instead. It was a little out-of-character to be honest, but then she heard stories about what she probably experienced when she was a slave in Fargo, and Samantha realized that she¡ªdespite being abandoned by her brother¡ªwas still very lucky. "Indeed," Helen said, agreeing with her. "The kids loved her since she moved in here a few days ago." Samantha looked at her. "I thought you were agreeing with me not being a good storyteller." "That, too." "..." She sighed. Well, it wasn''t as offensive if she just accepted it as fact. In the end, she turned her head to the kids and then to Kimmy, who had made great improvements from when she had arrived here more than a month ago. It felt like it wasn''t long ago when Kimmy was the silent doll whom few people could interact with. Of course, Kimmy was still not fully recovered and would spend most of the day brooding inside her room. However, whenever the children were in the orphanage, she would occasionally pop up to bond with them, as if getting used to handling children. Alterra could heal people, that was for certain, and Kimmy¡ªon top of her own strength, of course¡ªwas a testament to that. "Kimmy is a great storyteller and could understand the hearts of children," Samantha added. "I heard she was quite the movie fanatic back then. I guess it''s true." "Kimmy¡­" they heard a whisper from the side. It was from the newcomer, Yelena. She said Kimmy''s name repeatedly, as if trying to recall something. "It''s that Kimmy," Helen said. "I''m sure Lord Yassop told you about her." Yelena''s eyes flickered, fixing on the woman amidst the dozen children. She had indeed heard of this person, her father told her about what happened. First of all, a female lord was something impossible in her mind. Even if her power later crumbled down when Patte ruined everything in the worst way, the fact that it happened was something difficult to wrap her head around. Further, frankly speaking, what happened to Kimmy was worse than what had happened to her. Not only was she abused by more than one person¡ªit was done in public, too. The only reason they were certain it was Patte''s was because he was the only one who ''unloaded'' inside. Just the thought made Yelena shiver. The humiliation and degradation must''ve been unimaginable. Yet¡­ right now, Kimmy was lovingly holding her stomach, as if she adored whatever was in there. Yelena remembered when she was pregnant. The bigger it got, the more disgusted she felt about herself. She wanted to stab it many times. Was she okay? How? Yelena felt complicated. She hadn''t talked much to her son, but this person with similar experiences was so¡­ different from her, and she couldn''t fathom the reason why. Did her father make a mistake? Perhaps Kimmy didn''t ''hate'' it or Patte? S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In theory, even if they were put in the same situation, Yelena should actually be much more accepting than Kimmy was. After all, aborigine women were raised and conditioned by society to be obedient to men. In contrast, Terran women were more independent and prideful. Psychologically, Yelena should''ve adjusted better with the situation, perhaps even ''glad'' that she would marry ''upwards''. She was not the first to have been impregnated. There was another one from a subsidiary village. Perhaps the seeds he was spreading relentlessly bore fruit someplace else as well. In any case, that woman was quick to enter Patte''s harem¡ªor rather, her father was quick to send her to Basset. It was just that Patte got bored of her quickly and did not like staying in the Town at all, so she lived an isolated, lonely, and neglected life. Ironically, Patte''s other women¡ªwho could not get pregnant¡ªschemed to get her into an accident, ultimately killing the woman and her child. However, Yelena and her father were different. They wanted nothing to do with Patte¡ªthey were thoroughly disgusted by him. She just felt the evil in Patte''s heart and she believed the kid she was bringing into the world was the same kind. How could she not dislike him? Didn''t Kimmy have the same concerns? "You know¡­" Helen said. "She would love to talk to you, too." Yelena blinked. "Me?" The older woman looked at her. "Don''t you have questions you want to ask her?" ... "How can you¡­ take it?" was the first thing Yelena asked as soon as she was alone with Kimmy. They were in her room, which was in the layout of a staff member''s room. It was a fraction of the size of the dormitories, but it was private with one bed, a desk, and a closet. Kimmy sat on her bed, while Yelena sat on the chair. "It was not easy," Kimmy said. "I have only started to talk recently." She had long sessions with Juliet, who was now practically her best friend. She must''ve cried a lifetime''s worth of tears at the time. Maybe she could''ve pushed even more, but Juliet reminded her that being to stressed was not good for the child, so she ended up forcing herself to recover. "Just don''t have to think of the child as a monster," was all she said. "They''re different people, Yelena. Patte is one person, the child is another." "But that man¡­" Kimmy turned to the other woman. "It doesn''t matter. Your child is a new person¡ªone who was still so moldable and influenceable. "We have a chance to guide them to become good people. On the contrary, if you left the child alone and let him grow up hating himself, he might turn evil¡ªwho do you think would be to blame, then?" Yelena''s eyes widened and she shuddered. Her hands gripped her skirt and she bit her lips in bitterness. Her eyes welled with tears as he whipped her head up, looking at the other woman who should understand her best. What did she expect going here? Sympathy? Approval? She did not know. "It''s not that I don''t feel bad for what I''m doing. I am not blind!" Yelena said, tone rising. Her voice was cracking in pain. "But¡­ whenever I see that boy, I remember¡ª" Her voice died when she felt arms wrap around her, surrounding her with warmth. "You don''t have to push yourself too much," Kimmy said. "But it helps to just think of the boy as a separate entity. To do this, he has to live his own life, develop his own personality." "However, for him to grow up well, he should feel the proper guidance of adults¡ªespecially his mother." Yelena''s eyes were wide and she wrapped her arms around the other woman. She buried her face in her shoulder and wept. Kimmy sighed, recalling her own state not that long ago, and patted the other girl''s head. "First, accept him for who he is, just make him feel he is not a sin, he is not trash, and he is not unwanted. "I''m not rushing you to love him¡ªthat is not easy," she said. "Not when you no longer love yourself." "Work on yourself first. Get a job, buy things for yourself, see more of this place¡ªwhich I guarantee is a whole new world for you." "Then¡­ when you pick yourself back up, look back and open your heart again¡ªfirst of all, to your own son. "My child would not have a father¡ªand he or she doesn''t need one. In our hearts, that bastard does not exist, and he will be forgotten like the useless dust that he is." "I can raise my baby on my own," she said. "I am his mother, after all¡­" They parted and Kimmy held Yelena''s face as if to make sure she was listening. "Similarly, that boy of yours¡­ also needs his mother. "As the person who gave birth to him, you¡ªat least¡ªmust be the first to acknowledge his existence." Gian is that soldier under Garan who left. Samantha is his sister Penny is that girl in the Fargo cave with Aditi. They were rescued by Chris during the war. Chapter 1075 - 1075: Meeting between Two Lords Other than Yassop, there was another Lord who went to visit Alterra that day. It was none other than Jonathan himself. He arrived early that day, which surprised everyone, though not so much. Villages receiving so many lords so often was definitely unthinkable for others, but not Alterra. Jonathan went straight to Althea''s home, saying he had an urgent deal with her company to avoid suspicion. Of course, he didn''t rush them to get back home and just happily waited on the verandah, with Harold serving delicious tea and snacks. He was quite enjoying becoming Harold''s experimental taste tester. "What did you call this?" he asked, pointing at the small plate with small round circle sweets. It tasted wonderful. The shells were mildly sweet, which balanced the aromatic and tangy filling in between. It went so well with the tea he was having, too. "These are called macarons," he said. "I''m not much of a pastry chef so I had to ask help outside. This is one of the more difficult ones to make." Jonathan nodded. "It tastes great," he said, eating another one with a slightly different color. Oh~ a different flavor. He liked this one even better¡ª "Sir Jonathan." He blinked, looking behind him to see Althea. She didn''t make him wait for long and left the Research Center earlier than usual. Harold saw the boss there and simply refilled Jonathan''s cup with tea, and placed another cup for Althea before excusing himself. "Lord Jonathan," she greeted, doing the standard salute between equals. He stood up and did the same. "Lord Althea¡­" Althea smiled, shaking her head. "Please don''t call me that." Jonathan chuckled. "I know, I was teasing you." To be honest, he was too shocked to open the topic with her before she left Ferrol Town a few days back. The Lord of Alterra Village had established herself as such a mysterious entity that even Jonathan¡ªa man many times stronger than she was¡ªfelt intimidated. Not to mention, they seemed to be in a rush to get back home and he didn''t want to hold them back. As time passed though, he realized that he had a lot of questions to her and he regretted not asking them (not that he knew what to ask while she was there) so here he was, making a personal visit. If others knew, they might tell him he was lowering himself¡ªthat he was being too humble. They''d tell him he should''ve summoned her back to Ferrol, instead. However, Jonathan disagreed. Alterra would reach his level within the next few years¡ªhe could feel it¡ªand there was no point trying to pretend his territory was superior. "I''m still¡­ shocked, really," he said, and then narrowing his eyes at her. "And those oaths of yours are really¡­ prescient." She smiled. The oaths allies and subsidiaries signed were really long, but they were also fair for both parties. However, they¡ªparticularly Mathilda and Jun¡ªhad added a lot of insurance for Alterra. One of them was that the Lord or people who signed under him¡ªunder no circumstance¡ªcould reveal any information about Alterra that was not publicly known. They would not be able to utter, write, express, or otherwise give a clue of what it was at all. The other lords assumed Alterra had a lot of secrets, but how many would actually predict who the lord was? "Well, just to be safe." Jonathan looked at her. "I can''t help but want to express admiration in your¡ªand your people''s foresight, however," he said. "I still have much to learn." The more he thought about the advantages of keeping her identity a secret, the more amazed he was. However, at the same time, he wondered how long she''d be able to hide it? "I''ll try to keep it a secret for as long as I can," she told him. "Besides, all the people in position are already aware of my identity and they had signed strict oaths about it." He nodded. Normally, even if a Village Lord managed to successfully hide his identity for the majority of his run as a village, it''d be difficult to keep as more and more powerful people and factions formed in the territory. Prestige was extremely difficult to increase, and it was impossible for one person or family to carry an entire territory through to becoming a Town. However, the exemption was if the Lord was so foresighted that she was able to assign people in power early on, before they got too big, and grab hold of them¡ªensuring they were all working on the same side: Their Hometown. It was amazing. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It''s why I admire you so much for delegating so early¡ªnot many people can give out their power like that." "I just want to focus more on things I want to do and to focus on my family." In any case, the two lords chatted for hours on end. They chatted about issues at their level¡ªwhich was a rare occurrence for both of them¡ªand was definitely an enlightening experience on both sides. For Althea, there were many things and subtleties she had to learn as a Lord. In particular, the differences in leading a town versus a village. The powerplay in Towns would definitely have variances. Even in Alterra, they were already taking in some outside powers, starting with the Golds and the Rolan Mercenary Team. When they expanded further, they''d have to let a few more powers in. While she would¡ªideally¡ªonly allow groups they trusted, they couldn''t filter every bad apple out. That simply wasn''t how it worked. Wars between Towns were much more sensitive and intricate, especially when things like the Post Office, the Chancery, the Mercenary Hall, and the like were built. If Villages could be considered to be relatively isolated, Towns were the opposite. First of all, if they didn''t have connections to outside forces and territories, then prestige wouldn''t have become high enough for an upgrade in the first place. Because of this, a lot of plants and seeds would''ve been planted even before an upgrade. Whether it''d grow to something troublesome or something that''d help the Town¡ªtime could tell. She narrowed her eyes. It looked like she was going to have to hold another Elder meeting which could, potentially, last for days. Chapter 1076 - 1076: The Strongest Village Althea was learning a lot, and Jonathan was learning even more. Despite growing so old and meeting so many other Lords, this was the first time he had such a fruitful discussion with another Lord. Most Lords were arrogant and overtly confident¡ªespecially Lords of Towns. The Lords of Towns usually inherited their positions too, which was ironic. This was why many Town Lords often lacked the strength and discipline of their predecessors because things were just handed over to them. "I know a good example. In a town Southwest, there was an arrogant Lord who had everything handed to him. The previous Lord had always kept the token in the Token Guard so when he died of mysterious circumstances, the territory remained standing. His son, who knew where it was located, immediately became the Lord." "He was so arrogant with the forces, believing them to be his servants. He would send them to missions for low rates, and even arbitrarily change up some taxes. "Anyway, long story short, those people schemed to replace him¡ªand they did." This made Althea narrow her eyes. "How were they able to do this even with oaths?" Jonathan thought for a while before answering. "As a Town, there''d be more and more outside forces trying to enter and grab a piece," he said. "You know how large the stakes are among wars between towns, which was why they were so rare. "Towns have tens or even hundred times more population and resources than villages do, and their average power levels were also much higher. "The thing is, everyone¡ªwhether they were born in Villages, Towns, and Cities¡ªwould start at a low level. However, because it was dangerous to go out of Towns and Cities as low-leveled people, some ''level up farms'' were created so people could pay to kill captured low-level monsters so they could level up." "Commoners could barely afford such service, but they managed, but the extremely poor people¡ªwho could only afford their day-to-day food and shelter¡ªwould remain weak, no stronger than villages." "Improving the strength of thousands of people was too costly and, in their minds, a bit wasteful because people¡­ die," Jonathan said, shaking his head. "When a trained person died during a war or something else, all those resources spent on them would be wasted." "Some people with foresight do send their younger generation in villages to train, but they were the great minority. Town and Cityfolk simply looked down on villages so much that they cringed at the thought of sending their children there¡ªit was as if it''d corrupt them." "In my opinion, this is a stupid unnecessary mistake, and what the Golds did for their younger generation was the smartest thing I''ve seen in a long time." "Point is, because of this imbalance, Towns and Cities preferred to hire mercenaries who were experts in their fields and had also sworn oaths to do their best to fight for whichever territory they served. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It was expensive to hire from Mercenary Halls every time, but the cost of letting mercenary teams settle or have a base in a territory was just a piece of land they could call their own. This was the common practice." "However, at the same time, the oaths they took weren''t of undying loyalty¡ªthey were always transactional ones. "The mercenaries would always leave leeway for themselves to separate from a territory¡ªand usually not without taking some profit along the way. "Betrayal was not uncommon, especially when the forces found the current Lord unable to do their part of the bargain. "Even in Ferrol, I can only truly trust the Asusa Mercenary team¡ªa team that had signed an oath with my father. You met Hoye and Webb 1before, didn''t you? That''s their team." She nodded. Hoye and Webb were Bart''s friends and, according to her husband, were instrumental in him finding their place so quickly. "Oh, and there''s the Terran mercenary team too," he said, smiling. "Anyway, I have about a dozen other mercenary teams based there that I don''t entirely trust¡ªdefinitely not with my life." She nodded, taking note of everything. She then looked at Jonathan. "Thank you for sharing, but¡­ do you think my citizens would be left behind in terms of level?" she asked. "Do you think we''ll actually ever be dependent on outside forces to defend ourselves?" "..." Jonathan''s eyes flickered. He remembered that even the most common of citizens here trained hard. Even the old people could be seen with the youngsters, stabbing at monsters outside the gates. When asked¡ªwhile the most common answer was ''because I don''t want to grow old so quickly''¡ªone could feel the consistent and strong motivation was there. That, along with the superior defense systems and rules at their level, really made Jonathan rethink the current norms. He sighed, body relaxing into his chair as he took another macaron into his mouth. "Now that we can talk as lord to lord, I feel like I''m learning so much from you¡­" Jonathan said. "I feel both ashamed and amazed." Althea chuckled, sipping her jasmine tea. "I also learn a lot from you." Jonathan shook his head. In their discussion, he was definitely learning more. Instead, he took out a notebook of thick papyrus paper and handed it to her. "Here." Her eyebrows rose. "What is it?" she asked, taking it into her palms. The cover was leather, and its pages were tied together by coated ropes. There were scores of pages binded there but it seemed thicker because each sheet was made of papyrus. It was quite old and Althea immediately became extra careful in handling it. "It''s my father''s journal back when the town was new." "What?" She looked at the copy of Jonathan''s father''s journal which included a lot of information about how he handled towns. There were a lot of things that needed careful reading. She was still new to the language and each generation seemed to have their own style of speaking. It wasn''t as changing as back in the modern Terran that changed so quickly due to social media and the like, but there were a lot of subtle differences which would take her a bit of time to decipher. "This is extremely useful," she said. "Thank you." Jonathan shrugged. "I''ve read it many times already," he said. "But I think you''d get a lot more takeaways from it than I have." "Thank you¡­" she said again, but pausing in the end. She looked at the man with a mysterious smile. "To be honest you''re¡­ being too kind, it''s almost suspicious." Jonathan blinked as he stared at her, before bursting into laughter. However, even while laughing, his eyes were deep. When he calmed down, he couldn''t help but look away with dazed eyes. "This world¡­ it has so many things wrong," he said. "I just thought that if a few more good territories were around, it''d be better for everyone else." An image of a handsome young lad passed through his mind¡ªa good childhood friend of his he had known since he was a little boy. That bright young man perished unjustly a long, long time ago, simply because of who he chose to love: Him. Then he remembered this place, how everyone was free to do what they wanted, to love whoever they chose to do¡­ and suddenly he felt that lad''s memory was no longer so bitter. ¡­ Jonathan soon left and went back to Ferrol after doing a shopping spree. Meanwhile, Althea held a meeting among the elders and this meeting would last for more than a day. A series of announcements, rules, and restrictions echoed throughout the territory¡ªas well as to all the satellites. It shook many people, but it definitely added a sense of urgency in everyone''s hearts. For the months that followed, Alterra would continue to strengthen itself¡ªpreparing for the inevitable. After Yassof, they were attacked a few more times. However, after the war with Guia, the other wars had become too easy. As for the slaves they received during the wars, they sent them to associate villages to assist in their resource management and other things. While they had a feeling that the wars was just a larger organization calibrating their strengths, it also meant that they were stable for a bit longer as long the attackers weren''t suicidal. In the end¡ªat least for a while¡ªAlterra Village had become the undefeatable Top Village. "Sigh, I wish it would always be like this," Ansel said, very dreamily, a night after an easy win. What a nice thought: their home¡ªthe unshakable strongest of its rank. "Enjoy it while it lasts. When we upgrade, it might take a while again," Winona said, voicing out everyone''s fears. When they upgrade, they¡­ will be among the bottom again. "As long as the policies we planned are implemented, we can at most delay our upgrade by a few more months," Althea said, comforting them. "Let''s use this time to strengthen Alterra so that¡ªin time¡ªwe can rise to the top again." We met them all the way back before the protection period ended, if you''d recall. They gave Garan info about the fog Chapter 1077 - 1077: Several Months Later [1 Year After the Migration] [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 3 Village Area: 12,566,400 square meters Residents: 14585 (4913 permanent, 9672 temporary) Total Population: 18524 Base Resources: Wood: 19300/20000 Stone: 14220/15000 Money: 119731 Gold, 289199 Silver, 4198699 copper Prestige: 1982 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv2), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv3), Barracks (Lv3) Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1) Building Slots: 8/9 (+11)] Months passed by and Alterra only grew and grew¡ªwhether it was in reputation, economy, population, and in strength. The most obvious change was Alterra''s appearance. It had been developed to the maximum number of buildings except for the dedicated 30% forest area and open spaces. There were new streets and new buildings, though a lot of the residential buildings were kept unoccupied for now. The Well and the Barracks were also upgraded during this time. The other building types did not, however, apparently already at the maximum level they could be at the Village level. The upgraded Wells simply provided more water and refreshed faster while the Barracks simply expanded and could take on more trainees at a time. The tests also seemed a bit more difficult, which was quite useful. Her husband was now level 29 and lowest-level soldier Luis reached level 22 after a couple of months. This was very impressive, especially since it was much more difficult to level up after Level 20. There were about a hundred or so guards who had also passed the level limit and a few dozen had even reached levels 17 and 18, which was a bit past Althea herself, who had too much in her plate and was unable to dedicate all her time training her strength. Reaching these levels as a Village took up a lot of work¡ªmore than just going out to train. Basically, she had to put away a few rooms in the Training Hall specifically for the guards'' use only. However, because its level was limited, its effectiveness also stopped after a guard reached a certain level. The building was still at level 2 after so long. Since she didn''t receive upgrade requirements, it could only be assumed that it could only upgrade upon reaching Town Level. This was why her husband, the soldiers, and some stronger guards had no choice but to do more in order to keep themselves from getting stagnant. As such, he had to form a team to Ferrol and they camped there for two months, just hunting monsters. It was torturous for both of them, but they knew it was necessary. They would just tell themselves it was just like in Terran when he had to go on missions for a month or more. As for the general population, the average level in Alterra was now level 12, way above average for village levels. The average levels of normal adult citizens in low-level Towns was also not too far from this level. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, fighter types in Towns were still of a far superior level, so the Research Center had been working non-stop to balance the power discrepancies using tools and weapons as well. Not to mention, all level 10 Terrans really did awaken their elements, adding explosive force to the overall might of the territory. Althea herself had now reached the peak of level 17 after training a lot, though with limitations because of the lower level of the mobs she could face. Combined with her various other ventures in the Research Lab and her own experiments, quite a few people¡ªincluding Ansel, Reno, and the like¡ªhad already passed her in level. Anyway, many people including her were now unable to participate in wars. There were also more and more people who were trying to hold their levels at level 15¡ªwhich must''ve been incredibly painful for them¡ªso there were fewer and fewer reasons to remain a village. Speaking of which, Alterra could''ve been upgraded to Town a month or so after the Yasof War. They managed to delay for so long by making new regulations. While the Residencies would remain the same as long as they didn''t shift, they could at least control the Population¡ªthat was to say, the number of people inside the territory walls. For a while, this presented quite a challenge. Alterra was a territory admired throughout the region, and they did receive a lot of visitors every day. At some point, these visitors had to wait in the allied territories, because they had to block the entry to Alterra lest they upgraded prematurely. The slaves were not counted as entities during wars, but they were at least counted in the population. This was how lords could still see their stats, and which was why they sent the new slaves from the latest wars elsewhere. Anyway, the solution the Elders came up with was to rearrange thousands of people at a time. First off, the visitors were controlled, with many of them redirected to any of the associated villages. If they passed by them, smaller communities were built outside the territory in which these visitors would camp. Thousands of Alterrans were also offered to settle in other territories for at least a month. At this time, at least 3000 of the previous population were outside, spread across various other territories. This was a mix of visitors and temporary residents who did not have many assets under their name. As a reward, they would be given contribution points they could use to improve their lives. While the points varied depending on their strengths and position, the smallest amount of points was enough for a person to live well with good food and a roof over their heads for the duration of their stay. Even if they didn''t live in the best place (Alterra), their daily lives were practically subsidized by the territory for these months. If they took on jobs on top of that, this meant the contribution points would go straight to their savings! After a few months, maybe they would have enough to buy permanent residencies! Everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before Alterra turned into a Town. How much would the prices for the residencies spike after that? People didn''t know the answer to that, but they were determined not to die of regret because they didn''t make it on time! Chapter 1078 - 1078: More Changes This ''population transfer'' program started a few months prior and had seen good effects on all the affiliated territories. After all, thousands of Alterrans and foreigners flooded the nearby allied villages. There were thousands of ''slaves'' that were also sent to the satellites. This large injection of population naturally created a boom in development for all the affiliated territories. Thanks to this program, these territories now had a lot more forces against beast tides¡ªto the point that no monster mob posed a threat to them anymore. In fact, with the leadership of Alterrans who had temporarily settled there, the attitude of ''looking forward to mobs'' had also influenced the local population, turning everyone into war-hungry fiends¡­ er, citizens. The population also allowed the economy to spike up, not just for the local shops, but new ones also popped up. Of course, there were a few conflicts in terms of monopoly with a few residents. After all, before the Alterrans moved there, certain parties were the leading suppliers of so-and-so products. The arrival of people from the ''source'' naturally threatened their way of life. However, it was nothing Terrans hadn''t encountered before. Considering they were used to wars and beast mobs, business conflicts were the least of their problems. For the most part, because Alterrans had access to a wider variety of products (displaced citizens also had higher purchase limits), it was the Alterrans who gave way, selling rarer products in the end. Those were much more profitable, anyway. The increased population of elementalist (on top of being associated with Alterra) had also become a deterrent to war declarations, giving the villages the stability needed to grow well on their own. In fact, all the territories¡ªexcept for Iron Mountains¡ªhadn''t been attacked for months. Although getting enough prestige to become a town was still a distant dream to them, they definitely grew to be the strongest villages in the region. Imagine: A group of villages superior to the previous Guia''s were compressed into a single region. Further, all these territories were allied to each other. As a whole, how powerful would they be? The effect was even more pronounced with the satellites, which received a lot more people than the allied territories. Allied territories were allied territories, but satellites were still¡ªtechnically¡ªpart of Alterra. In terms of systems, points, and the like, satellites had mimicked Alterra much better than others. Contribution points of those who were staying in satellites were also quite a bit higher than those in other allied territories! It just so happened that they were relatively far from Alterra so there were still a lot of them who opted to go to the nearby allied territories instead. The people assigned to the satellites were also asked to stay for a longer period of time for more efficiency and lesser turnover. For Iron Mountains, there were about a thousand people sent there¡ªand they were assigned for an entire year. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. First of all, it was too far away to travel to every month and, second, it was full of aborigines, was placed in the middle of aborigine territories, and was more prone to wars. Iron Mountains, in particular, were in dire need of stability. The new policies injected the Terran population into the place, increasing its strength by a notch, and creating a new subculture that would quickly change the world of the locals already living there. Anyway, Althea was certain that they were as ready as they could be for an upgrade. At this point, delaying it for longer wouldn''t be practical anymore¡ªit could even be dangerous if most of their fighters went past the level cap. At this, she called the Elder meeting to discuss this issue. If they all agreed, then they''d call back a few (thousand) people currently staying in the allied territories¡ªeffectively triggering the dreaded upgrade. ¡­ The Elder meeting began about an hour later. They were all a little somber, because they knew what the meeting was about. The last meeting they had where every Elder was called in was when they were discussing the distribution of Alterrans to other territories. So the dreaded day had finally arrived. They were really enjoying the few months of peace they had. Sure, there were small scuffles and quite a bit of spies caught during the past few months, but they really felt that they held the world¡ªso to speak. Or, at least, their part of the world. All that would change as soon as they upgraded. A lot of territories had been eyeing them, after all¡­ The first to arrive, of course, were Althea, Garan, Eugene, Mathilda, and Gru. They just happened to be near the Center so it didn''t take long for them to arrive. Speaking of the Elders, a lot has also changed during the past several months with them and their families. For one, Mathilda and Gru had trained a lot during this time, a bit more than what was required in order not to be left behind. They were now level 10 and their white hair had basically disappeared. They also trained together a lot, allowing them to develop a wholesome friendship between old people. Eugene, on the other hand, was just¡­ happy, and it showed with the impressive progress of his team in the Research Center. Melissa''s pregnancy was also going well now, though there had been a lot of scares during her first trimester. After all, she had a weak body and a low level at the time. They had to get her to kill some low-level monsters to increase her level, and she had been stable since then. Melissa had grown to be quite healthy and was fulfilling her ''wifely duties'' very well despite her pregnancy. Ahem. Althea didn''t change much, though she seemed even more glowing with her level up, let alone Garan, who seemed much more intimidating just sitting there. After the straight months of training (with his wife far away) he developed a sharper ice-cold aura that made low-level folks have difficulty in breathing. Fortunately, his wife was next to him to thaw that. Soon, the remaining Elders arrived, each displaying notable changes of their own. Chapter 1079 - 1079: Prelude to Upgrade (Part 1) There was the new Elder, Volohov, followed by Rosalind, and then by Oslo, Ansel, and Winona. In terms of appearance, the two older generations hadn''t changed much except they looked a little younger due to leveling up a bit. The younger ones seemed to have a slight image change though. Oslo''s hair was even longer than before, from just past his shoulder to now reaching his thigh. His golden hair was still the object of fascination for hairstylists alike, and it had become a great honor to cut his hair. It was just good genes. Even without magnificent hair products, the Golds'' hair had a natural sheen. Now that they were also using Alterran hair products, they became manes of another world. There were salons that framed his golden locks somewhere, claiming their products and services could ''get you the Gold''s tresses''. He did have a nice hairpin that, when he was working, tied his luscious locks into a graceful manbun. It was very handsome. Many girls from the design team took pictures of him with their phones. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was the first time Oslo had encountered it and he was so fascinated by the ''magic tool'' that he allowed the girls to take as many pictures of him as they wanted. Some men did ask why he just didn''t cut it since it seemed like a hassle to tie it up every time. In turn, he asked if it bothered them and the female population eavesdropping were quick to correct him. "NO!" "You''re fine! It''s good to put effort! Don''t be like these slobs!!" Slobs-who-bathed-every-day: "..." Next to him, Ansel also had quite a few changes. In contrast to Oslo''s longer hair, his was shorter. He had to cut off his hair to above the ears because he accidentally singed his hair during a battle. It was his own fire, too, which was really an embarrassment that caused him to be thrown to the barracks again. He also claimed that, quote, it should be fine. His wife pulled on it too much at night so this was better, end quote, which also earned him a slap on the head from the aforementioned wife. Speaking of Winona¡ªwhose hair had grown back to its original length¡ªwas already very obviously pregnant. As one of the first women to conceive in Xeno, she was already in their third trimester. It was only a matter of another month or two before they got the next batch of human newborns. The Hospital was prepared for that and during this time a lot of important machines had been recreated, though only one or two were available because a lot of the materials were limited and extremely precise. Anyway, there weren''t too many pregnant women yet and those few equipment were already enough. Speaking of the next generation, Kimmy had already given birth to a beautiful little girl. She was quite cute and her features had been taken from her mother. According to Juliet, she was a lot more stable after the birth of her child and was now living with Yelena and her son¡ªwho had also shown great improvements. They would open up Patte''s survival if Juliet judged that it would be good for Kimmy or if she''d even want to be reminded of him at this point in time. In the meantime, that bastard was kept in the torture chamber, barely kept alive by healing potions. In the past few months, only Kimmy''s baby was the new newborn among the humans¡ªbut not for other races. The goblins with high fecundity and smaller gestation period, had already given birth. The smallest birth was twins, with an average of triplets. In the past few months, they had dozens of newborn goblin babies which was really bizarre to see but also very cute. The goblins, even adults, when filled up, were really adorable. They became like little green round balls. The humans loved it so much that the green things were fed a lot whenever they lingered around humans. This care was even more heartfelt with the babies. The humans would coo and admire the babies, filling the air with love. The pregnant goblins were treated with as much care as was given to the humans, too. The Goblins had special senses to feel emotions and sincerity, so they knew that they were not acting at all. Alterra''s good treatment¡ªespecially of pregnant goblins and babies¡ªincreased goblins'' loyalties even more. The meeting began with each Elder reporting the states of their scopes, as well as their assessment of whether or not they were ready for an upgrade. They decided to discuss the most light-hearted topics first. First was Rosalind and her Education Department. With the growing population of Alterra¡ªand the boom they were expecting to experience right after the upgrade¡ªRosalind had now completely focused on the overall Educational concerns of the territory and retired as a teacher. She discussed the various programs as well as the new subjects they were going to have per age group. Included in the high school curriculum was Xenoan politics, too, which they''d need at some point. There were now a lot of teachers available¡ªteaching was made into a lucrative (with good salaries and benefits) and a fulfilling job to have. They also got a lot of literate aborigines to teach the written language. With them at the helm, even the subtleties could be taught. After so long, a good portion of the territory could already read some basic text indigenous to this continent. The school also sold books, notebooks, pens, and the like in the school bookstore, which occupied a rather big space in front of the school. The resources were so affordable that some aborigines fainted from shock. As for anything related to war, Rosalind could only say the values lesson was highly loved by the students. Even the younger kids became very ''patriotic''. In those subjects, they were taught about the rules of the territory, ethics, morals¡ªand the many written, spoken, and unspoken rules of humanity. However, these subjects also spoke of the reasons behind them. Values would only be remembered and applied when a student understood why they were important in the first place. They also taught of Alterra''s history and its greatness, which the children admired very much. It might''ve worked too well though, and Rosalind expressed her concern with the kids jumping to war prematurely. The elders sighed. "We''d just have to remind the adults that the children¡­ could get a bit too fired up during wars." Rosalind shook her head at the memory. It was in one of the classes she guessed in. She realized the subjects worked too well and some kids were showing some hardcore "I want to fight for the territory" mantras going on. "I want to fight!" "Me too!" Rosalind shook her head and this made the kids look like they''ve been wronged. "But why Dean Rosalind! I can fight!" "Me too! I fight in wars in my previous village!" "Me, too!" "Wow¡­" the other kids said, looking at the fighter kids as if they were very cool. Rosalind paled a bit. "No." "Why?" "You''re too young. Wars between villages was already one thing¡ªwars between towns was a definite no-go." "Going to fight without proper strength and preparation would only make you burdens," she told them, deciding to get straight to the point. "Get stronger first, and then we''ll talk." She said this with unusual harshness and she could only hope that they listened. Of course, this also created a renewed wave of studious and hardworking students¡ªaiming to be able to fight for their new home as the adults did. Chapter 1080 - 1080: Prelude to the Upgrade (Part 2) Next to report was the newest Elder, Volohov, reporting about the status of their medical facilities. Volohov had been promoted to an Elder a couple of months ago, though he was serving as the effective Elder even before that. He had also reached level 10, with his wife at level 9, awakening the Healer Profession soon after. His wife was also a water elementalist, so it was expected she''d awaken the same profession eventually. Interestingly, because of his specialisation in Internal Medicine, the level of skill he inherited was superior to Sheila''s. He could practically be an MRI by himself! To compare, Sheila''s could roughly see the cells, while Volohov could see the details of the organelles. These green-tagged professionals were really something else! Anyway, the awakening of such a skill inspired Volohov to work harder. He was even more hard-working than the younger generation. Other than Volohov, the hospital also hired and awakened 2 more healers during this time, all of whom were from the people who had migrated along with him. Each department position had been filled and even the nurses were not lacking. Of course, not everyone was a medicinal practitioner in Terran, but many of them were trained. There was even a batch of trainee nurses among the aborigines. Some were actually from Umi''s group, who had lived as prostitutes their whole lives. The opening for trainees was heaven-sent for them. They only needed to have a quick wit, a good head on their shoulders, and a genuine desire to care for others. They¡­ had been raised to care for others, and their sharp minds allowed them to survive in an occupation where saying one wrong thing could get them killed. Although not all of the former prostitutes applied or even ended up passing, the fact that there were a few who did was indicative enough that they could change their lives. From then on, the women had tried various jobs to find what fit them well. While there were a lot of failures¡ªsome were even fired due to various (but valid) reasons¡ªbut after so many months most of them did find decent jobs they could proudly say were their own. Not everyone, but it was already progress. Volohov also encouraged the formation of clinics along every main avenue and street. Although they were not special buildings, the personnel assigned should be skilled enough to do their jobs. These clinics would specialize in first aid, emergencies, traumas, and other simpler ailments. During wars, a couple of minutes delay in treatment could mean life or death, and having ready places to treat the injured was the priority. Garan said that they had hundreds of guards who had landed level 15, and they had been holding back their training to keep from upgrading prematurely. At the same time, they were also looking forward to the upgrade. Many of these Level 15s had been stuck to internal order duty for weeks and they were really itching to fight! The average level of monsters in Towns¡ªin contrast to the Levels 7 to 8 of Villages¡ªwas level 12 to 15, which were good levels for enemies if they wanted to grow. Although it was definitely a bit worrying to increase the level of the mobs outside, their current strength should be able to handle it. For the weaponry, Eugene reported that there were dozen of new cannons that had been built. There were also giant crossbows erected at equidistant spaces around the battlement, adding force not much inferior to sentries''. They had a few long bows before, but this was a much stronger and deterrent force to add to their walls. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The handguns were still in the testing phase at this time, and the progress was slow but steady. They still needed a material that could handle the force created by such a small hand-held explosive weapon, so it would still take a while before the guards could get a hold of it. More sulfur was also found by the goblins after digging deep enough in the nearby mountains. At the time, they were actually digging for the source of hot water from the geothermal activity below for hot springs. In the past few months, the development of the High-end hot spring villas was expedited (preselling and reservations for lease were already booked), so they were in a bit of a rush to finish its development. It was one of the amenities they planned to open as part of the celebration of upgrading to a Town. While digging for hot springs, the goblins found sulfur deposits along the way. This increased the power of their explosives. Of course, the development was not limited to the weapons. With the help of the Research team, Clutch finally developed the plant-reinforced armors! The armors created with this method was superior to the same equipment of the same level. For example, typical Class E equipment, when added with the special plant mixture, was upgraded to E+! They tested its stats and it was 20-30% more effective! The best thing was that Alterra could gather the raw materials themselves and mass-produce the items so the upgrade was extremely inexpensive! All those months of experimentation were too worth it! Next, Ansel reported on the very healthy economic situation of Alterra. Even without so many money making schemes like the Alterra store and the like, the taxes alone could fund the territory. He also told them about the various business loans and some high-potential ones that would definitely contribute to Alterra''s greatness. He also mentioned how many commercial streets they''d need to build, as well as commercial buildings the size of the Supermarket and the Arcade needed to be built. He also proposed, at some point, the creation of a mall. That''d need a bit of land though, so it wasn''t a priority, but Ansel was determined to see it happen before they became a city! For agriculture and horticulture issues, Gru reported the surplus of food they had. Not only were the fertilizers working well, they had also taken advantage of the System farms'' flexibility¡­ a little too well. Under the ground level, they built subterranean farms for plants that''d grow well in those conditions. Not only that, they¡­ also built a few vertical farms, multiplying the food made in a square meter by folds. The productivity of each farm land in Alterra¡­ could be said to be higher than the entire food industry of a small village. A lot of factories had to be built in a rush in order to process the raw materials to avoid them going stale. They also temporarily increased the purchase limits of caravans, though in time they''d need bigger factories with the flood of business that would inevitably knock at their doorstep. As such, they also discussed the possible direction of expansion. According to their Intel, upgrading to a Town would increase their land to more than twice its current area. They also agreed not to occupy the entire area, leaving a couple of meters on all sides as allowance. This way, there was a safe area outside without poisons, as well as some relatively safer areas for visitors to camp in case they couldn''t allow them inside the walls. Anyway, a few more topics later, everyone unanimously agreed¡­ that it was time for an upgrade. They watched as Mathilda took out an aether letter, directed to their Messenger Bird section. /Get at least 2000 people back from the allied territories./ she said. /We are upgrading soon./ Chapter 1081 - 1081: The Allied Villages Before Upgrade (Part 1) The letter was only sent to Bright, Shrao, and Belluga for efficiency. While taking away hundreds of manpower would affect them, they had long been preparing for Alterra''s upgrade. Besides, they also had a lot of foreigners staying long-term in their residential areas. Unlike Alterra, which had become increasingly restrictive to enter, these territories had a lot of foreigner-friendly programs to attract the aborigine strongmen to stay. Of course, they had to make oaths of non-betrayal, but this was in exchange for extremely good terms like their own houses and the like, provided they also fought and protected the territory to an acceptable degree. They were also welcoming of Mercenary Team branches. Their area only allowed for one or two patches of land to be leased out however, so they were still choosy on which team to invite. In any case, to aborigines who wanted to relocate in this region but could not do it directly in Alterra, then these deals were extremely attractive. All territories had reached the peak of Level 3 Villages as well, though their Prestige would definitely take decades to meet the requirements of a Town, especially since they had no unique resources or tech to anchor on. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Being so close to Alterra also slowed down their prestige increase as well, because whatever happened in the region was likely to get associated with it instead. However, thanks to the current system, no one went hungry anymore and the dormitories had also become the prevalent home. All shanty communities had been abandoned and replaced with proper housing and parks. Although they couldn''t charge as low as Alterra for their bed spaces, it was still extremely affordable. Even the invalids¡ªwho had very limited job options¡ªcould afford to have a roof over their heads. This amazed the aborigines very much and those who went to visit and returned to their home passed this on. Because of this, somehow this region¡ªslowly referred to as the Alterran Region¡ªhad become the ''dream'' place to go to, especially for people who were struggling to survive until now. In terms of defense, all villages had kept their level 3 walls, but they could now afford to place sentries at the optimum of 200 meters apart. Like Alterra, mobs and wars had started to lose their threatening nature now, too. With the injection of strong forces in their ranks, those aborigine villages that used to scare them no longer had the chance of putting a dent on them! Bright had also paid back all of its debts to Alterra by now and he felt a huge weight off his shoulders. Of course, he still had to pay monthly tribute (which was not small, especially with the revenue generated by aborigine tourists) but being technically debt-free was still a nice feeling to have. Because of this, he had the time to start tracing where Gingo and his people were. All he got after so long was that they headed West to Southwest, and in that direction¡ªexcluding a few Terran villages like Limestone Valley¡ªwere predominantly aborigine villages. If they thought they''d live better there, heh, naive. Still, so many of his citizens were hurt by that group, so they continued to investigate¡ªas long as the scouts could guarantee their safety, of course. In any case, the three territories were definitely miles ahead of most other Terran villages, and they had Alterra to thank for it. Other than these three, there were also the new allies Yasof Village and Dune Town. As soon as Yasof Village separated from Basset Town, it naturally caused a bit of commotion. However, Alterra helped weather out the wars by sending some good bone weapons as well as some guards. There were also soldiers beyond the level cap there, in case the enemies sent similar people to cause them trouble¡ªand they really did. These people were Basset Town citizens planning to weaken Yasof by killing off people going outside or heading in even before the war could be declared. However, Yassop had long studied Alterra''s methods and as soon as he declared his separation, he limited his people''s movements to around the walls (which had also increased sentry numbers by the way, which was impressive considering he still lost a large amount of money from his war with Alterra back then). However, during wars, the enemy strongmen could still cause trouble by helping the others get into the walls¡ªwhich was the primary requirement to win the wars anyway. It was a pity they couldn''t kill people, but that was that. They could just torture them after the war somehow. However, they did not expect Yasof to have a counter to their attack. Whenever a strongman would appear by the battlement, aiming to push down or pull the defenders there (and let their people kill them as soon as they lost balance), an Alterran strongman would appear, blocking their way. The Basset Town sent were naturally not that special in town-level¡ªbelow or in early level 20s¡ªthough they were still considered strongmen in Village wars. Anyway, they did not expect to encounter such a strong repelling force as soon as the war began! Because people beyond the cap could actually harm each other, the soldiers had no reason to hold back from dealing with them. The soldiers sent were not few either¡ªthere was Luis, Ryan, Mao, Minko, and Sammy. During the previous wars with its subsidiaries, Basset Town had sent some level 20s to assist, though none of that worked in Alterra, whose high-level archers could just target them specifically. Althea herself one-shotted a few with her strong Bellagio bow. (It helped that she had a small mountain of mana cookies and potions in her space, of course). After causing some losses in Basset Town, the wars against its subsidiaries had significantly slowed down until they halted. However, they knew that there was no way they gave up. Things were just brewing and they were preparing for a bigger fight. Anyway, they knew their style so they knew how to deal with them. Basset Town was also very vindictive so he sent quite a number of them. Sammy and the others definitely did their best to weaken their future enemies, so most of the attempts to pull down Yasof citizens ended up in their deaths. A lot of these strongmen died during the war, causing huge losses to the enemy villages and¡ªmost importantly¡ªcaused another small dent on Basset''s forces. Of course, none of this came for free and Yasof had to pay Alterra a lot of money like Bright Territory did back then. Fortunately, their location was not too far from Alterra and they could also send caravans to and fro to get products, managing to profit by selling the items for a very good price for the territories in their area. It was estimated they''d be able to pay Alterra after a couple of months. In any case, winning the war against Basset Town''s subsidiary caused a lot of waves in another region. To the aborigines in the East, this signaled that the Alterra region¡ªa force to be reckoned with, even at Town level¡ªwas increasing in size and influence¡ªand it was slowly reaching in theirs! Chapter 1082 - 1082: The Allied Villages Before Upgrade (Part 2) The alliance with Dune Town had even deeper implications. After all, it was a Town and it was still thousands of kilometers away from them. The deal had been finalized just over a month prior through Helios and his new wife, the beautiful Sahara. The trade deal was for Alterra to give water-making technology and drought-resistant plant seeds in exchange for large amounts of oil. While they were trying to be self-sustaining in terms of electricity and various mechanical productions, there were still plenty of uses for petrol. Plastic and synthetic materials¡ªdespite the trouble it caused them in Terran¡ªhad a lot of great uses which they could not discount because they feared the troubles brought about by its overuse. The material could be used as electrical insulators, casings, packing materials, storage, and so on. It also had too many uses for medical tools like syringes, IV bags, surgical instruments, and the like. They were light-weight, durable, and long-lasting. Eventually, they''d be extremely cost-effective. They were also hygienic, safe, water-resistant, and so on. It could also be used to make bitumen roads which was far more sound absorbent than concrete¡ªwhich would be useful outside the walls¡ªand was recyclable. Of course, learning from their old world, they would not allow plastics and its derivatives to be commercially available until they figured out how to make it more sustainable. In any case, it was a really good deal for both parties, and it was finalized almost as soon as it was proposed. Of course, the actual implementation did pose challenges. Dune Town was a long way from Alterra¡ªmore than 15,000 kilometers away, deep in the desert. Even by Beast Car, the travel was several weeks of nonstop travel. However, this was where the magic of the Mercenary Halls came in. With it, as long as they were proper mercenaries, they could reduce their travel time by a huge amount. A limitation of mercenary hall arrays, other than the fact that only mercenary teams could use it, was that the distances and number of people to be transferred also depended on the Class. For reference, a mercenary could only use the array once a day at most, and each mercenary team had a travel cap of 10% of that class'' maximum number of members. For instance, Class E mercenary teams could have a maximum number of 100 members, and each day only 10 people could travel via the array. As for the distance limit, they could get teleported up to 1000 kilometers, which was already pretty good if one was only going around the region. For instance, Ferrol was well within this distance at only a few hundred kilometers away. In the future, teams could go through and fro via the arrays if they had to. On the other hand, Class D teams could travel more than twice at a distance of 5,000 kilometer radius. Class C Mercenary Teams could travel 10,000 km which covered most of the way. The Sands Mercenary Team, Dune Town''s top Mercenary Team, happened to have landed at Class C a few years back. With this, they could use the Mercenary Hall to teleport to a Level 2 Town, and once again the next day, effectively reducing their travel time by half. They would have to go back on foot, however, considering the items they had to buy from Alterra would not fit in their spaces. The first batch of trade had been completed a month ago and they heard touching news and good reviews. Anyway, another caravan was heading to Alterra, set to arrive that day. The Dune Town caravan passed by Ferrol late the previous night and they didn''t stop to rest, so they were set to arrive before noon of today. Sahara was very excited because apparently her mother was in this caravan, hoping to see her child. Eight to nine months was a perfectly normal gestation period for local women. Sahara had gotten pregnant more than 2 months after they transferred and she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl a few weeks ago. In consideration of the caravan arriving soon, Helios took leave from guard duty to accompany her to wait for her people. The ''alert boy'' knocked at their door about an hour before noon. "They''re here!" he said, holding hand-written sign saying so. This was Percy, Jake''s young cousin. He was still a little spoiled, but Jake did a good job making him understand he had to depend on himself to survive. So now, during his free period, he took on a job which would be able to fund his food trip later that day. He liked this job because it was flexible. He could do it when he felt like it, and there was no consequence if he decided to be lazy. He also had a good eye for clients who''d pay well and tip, so he was actually quite efficient. Helios and Sahara smiled, immediately heading out after paying the teen for his service. They got into Helios'' bike, with Sahara entering the side car with their baby. Production of bikes had greatly improved in the past few months and there was now a specialized bike store where people could buy their own bikes. It was still on the more expensive side however, so most people who had one could afford by paying downpayments and taking smaller loans. Helios did own this bike though. He and Sahara received a lot of contribution points for brokering a good deal with a town! sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, they rushed to the entrance plaza to greet the caravan. They arrived to see them unloading from the beast carts. These beast carts were rented in Ferrol Town. After all, they arrived via Mercenary Team array and therefore could not bring beast carts with them. A middle-aged woman emerged from one of the rear carriages, guided down by two similarly-aged women in uniforms. They were looking around the new place in fascination, unaware there was someone whose sights had fixed on them. It wasn''t that they hadn''t exchanged letters, but there were just so many things that could not be expressed properly in letters. Not to mention, she just¡­ missed her mother''s voice and her warmth. Her feet moved closer to the carriages, some memories passing by her mind. Specifically, she remembered her mother''s last words to her before they parted. They believed that she¡ªforced by circumstance¡ªtook on responsibility for burdens she had no business carrying. That, due to their weaknesses, they had no choice but to let her go. Her parents'' hearts broke for her, thinking she should just be living a carefree life under their care. Unfortunately, fate had other plans, and they had to succumb. "My kind daughter¡­ I wish you didn''t have to do this. I feel so sorry that you are put in a position where you think you have to. "Someday¡ªsomeday, I believe things will change. The heavens will see your kind heart and give you the happiness you deserve." Carrying her daughter in her arms, Sahara''s steps hastened towards the caravan. She burst into tears as soon as they were close enough¡ªknowing there was a lot to tell. Things had changed, indeed, and it was all for the better. Chapter 1083 - 1083: Sienna and Sahara Sienna looked at the village in surprise. Her expectations of this place were not low¡ªafter all, her daughter sent her letters about her experience¡ªbut seeing it for herself was an entirely new experience. However, she was not able to appreciate it further because she heard the voice she longed to hear, and all her attention was pulled towards it. "Mother!!" The voice yelled. Sienna''s eyes went wide and she turned to the direction of the voice. Her eyes lined with tears as she watched her precious child run to her. "My daughter!" she yelled, voice cracking. The two almost embraced, but Sahara stepped back all of a sudden. This confused Sienna a little until Sahara let out a smile. "Ah, mother, the baby¡­" Sienna blinked and looked at the bundle in Sahara''s arms. She shook a bit and leaned forward, gently pulling at the fabric that covered it. As soon as she did so, a beautiful baby girl with beautiful wheat-colored skin entered her sight and clenched her heart. The child seemed to be half-alseep, slowly opening her eyes as she felt the movement. Beautiful blue eyes met Sienna''s, and the old woman immediately burst into sobs. "Oh, little baby¡­" she cried, naturally taking the bundle into her arms, almost forgetting the daughter she was just running towards a few moments earlier. Helios chuckled as he placed his arm around his wife''s shoulder. He leaned down, teasingly rubbing his face on her hair. "Well, don''t be sad, I can give you all the attention in the world." Sahara blushed, gently pinching his abs, not that she managed to get a lot of skin. It was around this time that a handsome and tall man approached them. He had dark skin and dark hair, making him look intimidating. He approached with a serious expression on his face, and Helios couldn''t help but feel a little alarmed. When Sahara flinched and brightened at the sight of the man, Helios felt even more so. "Khalil?" she asked, immediately approaching. "You''re here!" The dark-skinned man''s eyes softened a bit and nodded. "Hmn, I was tasked to lead the protection team for this batch," he said, ebony eyes staying on her face for longer than proper. "It''s been a while. Time looks good on you." Sahara smiled and Helios felt a little annoyed. He immediately stepped forward, grabbing his wife''s soft shoulders again. "Ahem." Sahara blinked and looked at him. She was a bit confused at first until she realized she hadn''t introduced them yet. "This is Khalil," she said. "He''s one of the team captains in the Sands Mercenary Team. He is also an old friend of mine and my brother''s¡ªhe''s also a brother to me." S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Helios looked at his wife''s face and saw she was being completely honest. His shoulders slumped in relief, before turning to the other man with a meaningful expression on his face. "I see¡­ hello, brother." "Hmn." Sahara was blissfully unaware of the tension between the two men. She would remain as such because her mother finally remembered her daughter. She once again moved away from Helios and went to her mother, and they cooed on the baby together. "She looked just like you when you were a baby," Sienna said, still sniffling from joy. Sahara smiled, wiping her face with a clean cloth. "Was the trip difficult?" Sienna shook her head. "We used the arrays," she said, making Sahara relieved. Fortunately, the entire leading family was honorary members of the Sands Mercenary Team, so they could also use the arrays in the Mercenary Hall as needed. They just had to coordinate with Ferrol and another town about putting out missions for them. She would feel very bad if she made her mother go through such a long trip on her own! Anyway, seeing the mother-and-daughter would be busy catching up, Helios led the team to their destination¡ªthe industrial areas. Although Helios and Khalil obviously disliked each other, they knew when to act professionally, so the exchange began without issues. Sahara took her mother to their home, getting a broat-cab to bring them directly to their house. She and Helios, with their shared money and contribution points, managed to get a nice 2-bedroom unit in one of the mid-rise buildings. Sienna was intimidated when she found out they were in the highest floor, and then gaped when they reached the elevator. "Amazing¡­" she said. "Your letters didn''t give this place justice." Sahara smiled. "No words can, Mother." They both agreed. ¡­ They settled in the room a couple of minutes later, with Sienna still refusing to let go of the soft bundle that was her granddaughter. She also admired the house, which was decorated simply but cozily. It was said that a house''s interiors can say a lot about a family, and Sienna could tell her daughter was living a comfortable, happy, life. She couldn''t ask for more. Anyway, the mother-and-daughter chatted for the next few hours, catching up with everything that had happened since they parted, regardless of whether they had mentioned them in letters. Letters could only express so much, after all. "Helia¡­ it''s a beautiful name," Sienna said, gently touching the baby''s soft cheek. Sahara mentioned the baby''s name in her letter, though it was only now that she had some opinions about it. "But isn''t your husband''s name Helios? That''s a bit on-the-nose is it?" Sahara laughed. "Helia is his mother''s name," she said. "It also means Sun in their language. I thought it''s apt¡­ seeing how bright my baby is." Sienna looked down at the baby in her arms, so precious and so cute, melting hearts everywhere. "Yes, fitting indeed." The topics they touched, for now, were all light and breezy. It wasn''t difficult¡ªfor a change, they really had so many good things to discuss. They couldn''t help but remember the last time they talked face to face. Their Town was in dire straits at the time, and they were on the verge of hopelessness. Now, just a couple of months later, they could talk about banal things like what they ate for breakfast without feeling heavy in their hearts. It was those little moments they appreciate the most, because they couldn''t even have those back then. Chapter 1084 - 1084: Dune Towns Past "Speaking of babies. Your brother is recovering well," Sienna said with a smile, making Sahara giggle in response. Her brother, Sinnan, was a big man nearing his 50s. However, he had been her parents'' only child for almost two decades and her mother had treated him as her only baby until she was born. They didn''t expect her to come to the world at all. They called her the ''surprise blessing''. Anyway, this was why her mother always called him baby when at home¡ªto his chagrin, of course. Even after he had created his own family, they would still call him baby. As a little kid, she used to laugh at it a lot. She remembered him ruffling her hair to punish her, and she would glare at him to stop, which ended up making the entire family laugh. Sinnan was also quite strong¡ªa rare metal elementalist¡ªand had carried the defense of the territory for as long as she could remember. Despite her laughing at him, she really thought he was the strongest in the world. With him on the front line, the town managed to defend against beasts, humans, and the undead. They still had a lot of losses, but everyone knew¡ªshe overheard adults talking¡ªthat it''d be much, much, more difficult if he wasn''t there. Her father was also a fighter, but he could not compare to Sinnan in terms of talent. She remembered her father always smiling, saying he could rest assured. However, ten years ago, tragedy struck. At first, she didn''t know the details because she was too young and was hidden in the bunker, but what kid wouldn''t be curious about events that completely turned her family over? Her mother told her the story once after she was old enough¡ªafter asking repeatedly¡ªand she remembered crying for three days straight. At that time, their Town was attacked by a horde of Undead people¡ªnumbering hundreds. It was the biggest they had encountered since those monsters were pushed back to their own region, and it was an attack that almost cost them the territory. They lost a lot of people that day, including her sister-in-law. The monsters entered deep into the territory and managed to bite many people, making them fall into the ground and suffer painful deaths. They almost lost her one-year-old nephew too, but sister-in-law hid him in one of the wooden chests there, fighting off the damned things with all her might. She succumbed to them in the end. Stepping over her corpse, those critters started hunting for the remaining life there. The monsters had a strong instinct of where life was and they surrounded the chest, pounding on it, all while the baby cried. They were not weak, either, and they eventually made dents on the wooden box''s surface. Sinna arrived after securing the gates, finding out too late that his own neighborhood had already been decimated. Sinnan did not have the time to mourn for his wife who lay unmoving on the ground, rushing to where he heard the cries of his son. Unfortunately, while desperately trying to protect the child, Sinnan was bitten by an undead. He was quick to act and cut off his arm immediately, saving his life. Even with bleeding arms, he valiantly took care of the remaining Undead¡ªgoing well beyond his limit. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They later found out that a portion of the tall mountains had slightly eroded due to weathering and an earthquake, allowing more Undead to pass through. Dune Town was not the only place that got attacked, and there were at least 2 villages that fell because of it. This news sent an alarm to the region and all territories sent forces on missions to reseal it. Earth users, some of their own while most were hired via the Mercenary Hall, were deployed to hasten the rebuilding. That mission took a lot of lives, reducing their forces even more. Worse, Sinnan grew ill since then. He had grown incredibly pale, his skin blistering a bit, and had lost a lot of strength. A lot of people feared he''d become an undead at some point. He never did, and it had been a decade since then. Sinnan never recovered his strength either, reduced to a fraction of what it used to be. Including their losses from the previous mob, the territory struggled to keep afloat for years after that. They had always struggled, and the fact that their people were hungry¡ªtoo hungry to deal with the threats¡ªhad caused them to lose more and more people as time went on. Some also abandoned the Town, moving to nearby territories with better resources. They were not too deep into the desert anyway, and there were decent places a few days'' walk away. For years they were stagnant like that, and the life of the territory was definitely draining, no matter how hard they tried to delay it. However, after the deal with Alterra, they found hope. For the first time, they saw their farms so full of life¡ªthey were so lush, and they knew people would be able to set aside extra food for stockpile. They also had thrice the amount of water they used to have. They were still mindful, but because they were used to using so little, the amount they could collect now could drown them by comparison. "You should come by and visit," Sienna said. "It''d be good to see the changes¡ªthe changes you took a huge part in making." Sahara''s face softened and her cheeks flushed a bit. Who wouldn''t be happy to contribute to their home like this? Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a little yawn in the room, and they saw the little baby''s eyes¡ªwhich had been wide with curiosity a couple of moments later¡ªwere now showing signs of lethargy. The two broke into smiles. Sahara stood up. "You should take a rest, mother," she said, going towards one of the doors. "This is your room." They had already arranged her room since they knew she was coming. They had another bedroom which was only used as storage before. Their baby was still so young, after all, so there was no need for it. Now, they could use it as a guest room for their mother. They bought a double-deck bed from Baron, too, so this way at least one of her maids could come in and be with her. What was curious to Sahara though, was that her mother brought two chests worth of items¡ªmostly comprised of her daily necessities. Typically, even if she planned on staying for months, one chest was enough. They were never the type to wear a different dress each day. Back home, even nobles didn''t even wash their dresses every day due to their lack of water! So two chests on top of the items in their space was quite out-of-character for her mother. "What''s in your space, mother?" "My space is full¡­" "What do you have in there?" At this, Sienna couldn''t help but feel a bit awkward. "Actually, I am here for another purpose," she said. "You see¡­ we were attacked again by an Undead horde¡ªa small one¡ªnot long before I left." "What?" "It''s fine, it''s just a few and they were handled even before they reached the walls," she said. "But then we remembered what you said in your letter¡ªhow this place had the collection of the brightest minds, and how it felt like they could figure anything out¡­" Sienna didn''t know how to explain anymore. She just asked Sahara to place the baby back in the room and close the door, before taking out the contents of her space. It was a box that fit snugly in the space. The older woman then opened it up, and Sahara almost vomited. Inside¡­ was the curled body of an Undead. "..." Chapter 1085 - 1085: Undead Corpse "Mother¡­ what is this doing in your space?" She asked. It must''ve been the so-called ''pregnancy brain'' she kept hearing about. Her mind was muddled; she couldn''t think why her gentle-natured mother would have the corpse of a monster in her space! Sienna looked at her in understanding. Even she was surprised when the thought came to mind. "It''s just a thought I got after finding out more about Alterra. "I just saw the amazing things they brought to us¡ªthings that fixed things that had been plaguing us for generations. "Whether it was our food problem or our water problem¡ªwith their products, we can rest assured the next generations would not suffer as we did." She sighed, looking at the dead creature in front of them. She remembered that it was her husband who took this particular undead down. However, it was not an easy fight. He defeated it after a lot of close scrapes¡ªeach one almost making her faint. It was then that she had the inspiration. "I started to wonder¡­ what if¡ªmaybe¡ªthey could fix this problem, too?" This made Sahara pause in thought. In the end, she wondered why she didn''t consider it herself. It seemed like she still had a lot to learn. It was around this time that the door opened, revealing Helios¡ªwho had just been excited to be home to his family after an annoying business trip with a potential rival. However, his feet paused by the threshold and his eyes fixed on the floor of their living area. By instinct, he thought it was something he was not supposed to see, so he closed the door and headed back out again. Let the mother and daughter bond, he mused. It must be a cultural thing. ¡ªA few minutes later¡ª The body was put back in Sienna''s space and so was the man-of-the-house. The smell stayed though and Sahara had to open up the window to freshen up the place again. "So¡­ that was an Undead Corpse," Helios mumbled, looking at the place where the corpse had been. As soon as he left, Sahara went out to get him, explaining the situation to him. Apparently, it wasn''t some Dune Town ritual he didn''t know about¡ªwhich was such a relief. Not that he''d like Sahara less, of course. Rather, he really disliked the smell of rotting corpses. Anyway, he already knew a bit about the Undead even while he was investigating her location. And, thinking about it, it really made sense that they''d come to Alterra for this. "Undead Corpse," he repeated, thinking about the name. "Isn''t that redundant?" He was no language major, but he was pretty sure that wasn''t grammatically correct. Sahara and Sienna thought about it for a while before shaking their heads. "They''re not fully humans but they''re¡ªin a twisted sense¡ªstill alive," Sienna said. "I''ve been in close contact with them many times since I was young. It feels like they still had their heartbeats, their own instincts, and so on. "It was like they were once normal humans, but had become like this at some point." Helios nodded. "We had a similar case back home," he said, making the other two turn to him. "But it''s different. Those are really corpses walking around. Worse: If you get bitten by one, you''d turn to one of them." The two women paled, terrified. "What?" "They''re not here, don''t worry," he said. "Those were, fortunately, left behind in our planet¡ªwhich was probably already destroyed." The women''s shoulders slumped in relief. They couldn''t imagine it¡ªgetting killed by contact was already scary, but becoming one of them and even potentially doing the same to their own loved ones was a different level of terrifying. In any case, they decided to get rid of the corpse and get the task over with that day. Anyway, Sienna said she wouldn''t rest well until she had submitted it. They called one of Sienna''s personal maids to take care of the baby and they headed their way. And so, in Helios'' passenger bike, the trio went straight to the Research Center with unknown expectations. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They arrived some minutes later, with Sienna gaping at the large building and then at the impressive lobby. Sahara, who had been here before while they were finalizing the deals, also felt impressed as if it was her first time there. The building just emitted a sense of wisdom and grandeur¡ªwhich was fitting because whatever happened inside its walls could very much affect the entire region, if not the world. Helios went to the concierge and explained their purpose. They were then led to one of the basement rooms, which were delegated to more¡­ unsavory experiments. Not human or animal experiments, thankfully, but more on research on bombs and fertilizers, so these rooms had their own ventilation systems. The study of corpses should definitely be done here. The scientist leading this team was Medussa, a middle-aged woman with thick glasses and extremely frizzy hair. She was an obsessive woman they "captured" because of the goblins. She was actually a long-time citizen of Alterra, all the way back to before the protection period ended, which was why she survived despite still having a low level. It was just that she used to gather resources as a way of living. When the Research Center opened up hiring notices, she didn''t pass because she couldn''t express herself well and couldn''t even tell what she was good at. She was passed over because of this. This was a pity. She was not a green-tagged professional, but her obsessiveness¡ªwhich they''d see first hand soon enough¡ªcertainly made up for it. They caught up to her because of a report that someone was harassing the goblins. Apparently, there was a human who was following behind them, poking them, trying to check their flexibility and what-not. The harassment rule was only applicable when the ''victim'' reported it or expressed discontent¡ªafter all, implementing it automatically was likely to cause a lot of trouble and misunderstandings. Their prisons were only so big. They couldn''t put every pair of feuding neighbors in there! When the rule was new, they had people getting several yellow cards for the little things. One time, a house owner even got teleported to prison after repeatedly barraging a neighbor with insults for partying too much! And so¡­, reporting was the way to go in the end. However, this was not something that the introverted goblins¡ªwho had been servile their whole lives¡ªcould do by default. The goblins were either scared of humans due to past experiences or were respectful of them, particularly if they were Alterran. For this person, they were both. The goblins were helpless, not knowing what to do, so it was actually others who ended up reporting the ''crime''. The puzzled middle-aged woman was then captured and was about to get hauled to the manual prison. By lovely coincidence, Rosalind happened to be nearby when she was being captured. She was having a field trip with some students, explaining the role of prisons and what to do to never become a prisoner. The moment Rosalind''s eyes landed on her, she saw some signs of a different mental state. She paused the incarceration (Elders had this power) and called Juliet for an assessment. They found out the woman was a high-functioning autistic, but with great disability with regards to her social skills. It was like the part of her brain that had to do with other people didn''t develop past the infantile level. However, in terms of IQ, she was extremely smart¡ªa genius, even. However, it seemed that the other disability discounted this fact, so her name was not tagged green. When she found out about it, Althea got very curious: How many more people did the System miss out on? Chapter 1086 - 1086: More on Undead Anyway, Medussa was then assigned to this department, experimenting to her heart''s content (within ethical standards, of course). A new creature was definitely right up her alley. "Fascinating¡­" she said, gesturing to poke at the corpse. Sienna quickly stopped her. "Be careful," she said, realizing a lot of these people would be working on the corpse for a long time. It didn''t matter before because they would often bury them deep under the sand, but it was different if it was in such an enclosed space. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Even being too near an undead could cause you to get sick," she said, saying of some cases they had before wherein everyone was so weak they didn''t have the time or energy to clean up the corpses. Suffice to say, things got worse. "Place it in your space as much as you can," Sienna said, very concerned. What if people here got sick? Not to mention her guilt, but it could add strain to the territories'' relationship! However, the scientist didn''t seem to mind much. "Oh?" Medussa blinked before grinning widely. "Even more fascinating¡­" "..." Anyway, they could only watch as the woman hovered around the corpse, completely unbothered by its smell. This was much more than what Helios was doing, considering he was already at the farthest corner of the room right now. Althea arrived about half an hour later, with Medussa already making a preliminary report and requests for tests. The frizzy-haired woman left after greeting Althea, though she ignored everyone else. No one took it personally, of course. Besides, the leading scientist being so excited was a good thing for them. Anyway, Sahara and the others walked over to greet Althea respectfully, and she did the same. "Welcome to Alterra," she said with a smile. "And thank you for this new specimen." "No, we should be thanking you for being open to it," she said. "Can you tell me exactly what results you hope to achieve?" The study of a new species was very broad. It''d help to focus on certain aspects if they wanted to see some effects as soon as possible. At this, Sienna''s shoulders slumped, and so did Sahara''s. "My son¡­ was bit by one during a battle. He fortunately cut his arm in time before the poison spread, but it made him sick. "He had been ill since he was bitten," she said. "It''s been 10 years since then and there are no signs of improvement." "He was always pale and vomiting¡ªwhich was incredibly dangerous for a place like ours, where food and water was scarce¡ªand his strength was reduced by a lot," she said. "He is a metal elementalist, but now he could barely produce a single spike a day." "I worry so much because he always went out to fight enemies, regardless of his state," she said. "I worry that someday he''d get killed." Althea looked at them. "So you hope for us to find a cure." They nodded. "If possible." "We will do our best," she said, not promising anything, though she''d definitely get her people to do what they could. "If it''s possible, can you send him here in the next caravan?" Sienna blinked. "Well¡­ I''ll try to convince him," she said. That man had not stepped outside Dune Town since that incident. He was afraid that the moment he stepped out, the enemies would come spiraling down on them. Even if he wasn''t as strong as he used to be, he was still a force¡ªlet alone the fact he was the person usually in the commanding position. Although their fights had been increasingly difficult, they were not yet hopeless. Without Sinnan there¡­ it might as well be. Althea understood her worries. "Well, let him come when the territory''s stable enough," she said. "Otherwise, it''d be difficult for us to do anything about his disease." "I understand." "In the meantime, you let us have this specimen to work on," she said. "It''d definitely take a while, so you can prepare your town before then." With this thought, she walked over to take a closer look at the creature. Although she knew of its existence, she honestly didn''t think she''d encounter one personally¡ªat least not so soon. In terms of appearance, it was quite different from their own zombies. These ''zombies'' were all bald, their skin was mottled and patchy, and they had a slightly burnt smell on top of the disgusting rotting smell. They arrived at least a hundred years ago, yet the corpses were still mostly intact. The zombies in Terran actually smelled even worse. Of course, this one''s stench still caused some headaches. At this, she walked over to the ventilation control system and changed the settings. She also took note of sending an ice coffin here later on. That said, she was really intrigued by what was keeping these creatures together, and perhaps where they came from¡ªwhat caused them to be this way? The Terran zombies weren''t transferred here for a reason. It was not that the system decided to choose humans in particular¡ªrather, they chose ''survivors''. That was to say: Every creature still alive. Didn''t that mean these Undead were, too? "There''s still a lot of creatures we will encounter," she mumbled, mostly to herself. "It''d be better if we could get a live one to study." "..." They were already scared of showing the corpse, but it seemed they wanted a live one? However, Sienna did not mind doing anything as long as it could help her son. "Should we¡ª" Should we get a live one? Althea shook her head. "I''m afraid something will happen during transpo," she said. "After taking a look at the corpse, I''ll ask the research center if they need to go there to study the critters themselves." This made Sienna and Sahara flinch. "Wouldn''t that be dangerous?" Few people were willing to get out of the safety and comfort of a good territory¡ªlet alone if it was for the sake of other people! Looking at their cynicism, Althea smiled. "We''re living a good life here," she said. "Some people find meaning in learning something new. Maybe your home would be the source of that." Chapter 1087 - 1087: Interesting Findings A/N: First of 5 chapters today! Thank you for your support, Alterrans!! *dances* .... ____ The four of them went up to the cafe on the upper podium floor to discuss the details of the agreement. The podium floor had an alfresco dining area on its deck, which gave a nice view of the village. They sat there with their orders (tea and snacks) and enjoyed the nice breeze at that height, listening to the rustles of leaves of the potted plants and the distant sound of activities on the ground level. "Medussa''s already checking the blood and skin samples now," she said, sipping her nice lavender and chamomile tea mix. "I told the testing team to prioritize it so we should get a preliminary analysis within an hour or two." "So quick?" "Yes," she said. "Of course, we can''t say how useful the findings would be." Their massive computers and equipment had advanced in the past couple of months. It was nothing compared to Terran technology a hundred years ago, but it was still miles ahead from what they had here¡ªat least in terms of scientific achievements. There were already two Tori copies in their lab, though their size was as big as a small room. One of the next projects was to create handheld versions like her Tori, but they still lacked the metals and minerals needed to do so. In any case, even if they did find the composition of the body, it was no guarantee they''d be able to do anything about it. According to the information, the Undead were Foreigners like they were, and they could very much have completely different makeup from what they knew. However, Medussa''s arrival an hour later proved otherwise. "Want to go," Medussa said as soon as she returned from her tests. The others were confused but Althea, who had been working with her for the past few months, had an idea what she was talking about. "You mean where those Undead are?" The woman nodded. "What did you find out?" "Radiation," she said, with a very smooth tone. Obviously, the subject was quite close to her heart. "What?" "A lot of radiation," Medussa repeated. "Like¡­ alpha radiation, but denser." This confused the aborigines very much. "What is radiation?" Althea thought for a moment to explain it in layman''s terms. "Think of it as poisonous air¡ªjust being near it could get you poisoned." "What?!" Sienna gasped, feeling cold at what was in her space. While they knew long-term exposure wasn''t good, they didn''t know it was that bad! They were all pale. Did that mean they exposed the baby, too? "I don''t think it travels so far," Althea said. As someone who felt the surrounding elements by habit, she didn''t feel anomalies in the room, only on the corpse. Besides, Medussa said it was similar to Alpha radiation which was the heavier type, and it wasn''t a surprise it didn''t spread out too much. On the contrary, it seemed like it didn''t spread at all. It was like the radiation was stuck on the Undead''s bodies as if it had integrated into them. To compare, it was as if their specific body type had a special gravity to the phenomenon. In which case¡­ the deaths by biting, could be an intense and concentrated case of radiation poisoning. So¡­ Sienna''s son should have it. Fortunately, it seemed to be a minor case considering he was still alive after 10 years. It could also be that his body as an elementalist was fighting the disease, and it could also be that his own improved physique (Sinnan was apparently a powerhouse at Level 39) was holding back its development. There were too many variables and there was no way to know unless they got him personally in the Hospital. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In any case, by this time, his body should''ve been weakened considerably due to something like cancer or whatever equivalent they had here. If he hadn''t shown any signs of improvement at all after so many years¡ªthen it was likely getting worse, and delaying any more wouldn''t serve anyone good. "Please bring your son here as soon as possible." "What?" "We may have a lead on how to treat him, but he has to be here." This caused the two women to stand up in shock, looking at her with wide eyes. "Truly?" "No guarantees, but¡ªthanks to the findings¡ªwe do have a lead," she said. Sienna nodded. "I will immediately send someone back by array," she said. Though there was a limitation of traveling via mercenary array once a day, if someone left Alterra now and reached Ferrol, they''d still need to contact the other towns via the Post Office to set up missions. By the time the mission was set up, the limitation should''ve been reset and ready to be used. They should have her son here within the week¡ª hopefully in the next few days. With this, the family excused themselves to go to work. Their movements were light and swift, excited to finally have hope in what had been such a hopeless case. Althea watched as everyone mobilized, with Medussa patiently standing next to her though her eyes were eagerly as she waited for her decision. At this time, Althea was summarizing what she knew about the creature in her head. They seemed to have arrived as a ''civilization'' of sorts hundreds of years ago. They came in the millions or more, and had once caused chaos in a massive region in the desert and beyond it. Unlike their zombies¡ªwho were completely dead¡ªthis undead still counted as living creatures somehow. It was sad when one thought about it. If there was still some sentience in their heads, then how much suffering were they going through at this time? They must''ve been alive for a long time, too. She could surmise that their old world (and their bodies) must''ve been destroyed by extreme radiation. Whether it was a nuclear war or something related to space, they''d never know. They also had to be wary of diseases that could come with it, so she''d have to set up another isolated lab for that body. The scientists had to be equipped well before handling the corpse again. For now, there should be no dangers¡ªotherwise, Dune Town and the rest of them should''ve been plagued by various diseases by this time. However, it wouldn''t hurt to be safe. Maybe they''d even get some interesting findings they could use elsewhere. It wasn''t the first time it had happened. Anyway, she looked at Medussa, who had been waiting for her verdict. "For now, focus on studying the corpse and its potential dangers," she said. "I''ll allow you to travel once we know more about it." Medussa looked disappointed but nodded obediently in the end. Althea smiled. Although this woman was more than a decade older than she was, she was emotionally still a child. Althea patted the woman''s shoulder. "We need you here more," she said. "You can go adventuring later when we''re sure you''ll be safe." "Besides, don''t you want to meet that guy with radiation poisoning?" she asked. "This could be the first¡ªif not the only¡ªcase of cancer you''d see here." At this, Medussa''s disappointment disappeared and she nodded energetically. "Very interesting, indeed!" Chapter 1088 - 1088: The Satellites Before Upgrade While Alterra was at its final phases of preparation (and even beginning to consider scientific explorations), the other territories were not idle either. The Satellites were doing particularly well, thanks to its close connection to Alterra and the magical warehouses. This was especially true for Limestone Valley. As the satellite with predominantly Terran citizens, its culture, infrastructure, and the like were closest to Alterra. In the past few months, there has been an explosion of shops, development, and so on. For people who couldn''t move to Alterra, most of them ended up settling in Limestone Valley instead. It was also in a great middle ground between aborigine villages and Terran villages. It was the Terran territory that had the most visits from aborigines next to Alterra and Iron Mountains (which was surrounded by aborigine villages). Anyway, the tourism and trade industry was also doing extremely well and the economy was booming. They had their own banking system now, too, which only served the territory. Not to mention, Althea only received the entry fees, resident fees, and taxes (the system sent it to her automatically) while the rest of the profit the territory generated circulated in itself, allowing it to develop the fastest among the associate villages. Using this money, the roads were widened and trees were added on islands. A lot of manual buildings were created, all of which were commercial. The tunnels were also expanded and reinforced to add safety. They also had their own hospital, using another blueprint created by Oslo. The leader assigned here was not Vanessa, but Raffy, the masculine nurse who opted to stay there instead of going with Volohov and the others. There were quite a number of conflicts involved in this, but Henry was steadfast in his decision and so far Raffy was doing a great job considering everything. Their military was also showing great promise. A lot of people had awakened their elements and a lot of them chose to be guards thanks to the various benefits (housing, canteen use) the territory gave to them. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A lot of the current guards had also experienced Fargo''s reign of terror back then too, and were determined to be the direct opposite of the culture he encouraged. Therefore, the guards here were quite nice and understanding, at least compared to the usual arrogant attitude of guards in aborigine territories. Over all, next to Alterra, Limestone Valley was the one developing the most. Henry and Victor were doing a great job in overseeing the place, though the latter was only in the territory half the time because he was always in Alterra to visit his wife, who was very pregnant. Of course, it was not all sunshine and butterflies even in Alterra, let alone Limestone Valley. There were still a lot of conflicts and tensions they had to fix, especially with the arrival of hundreds of aborigine visitors. Henry also received some reports of suspicious aborigines lounging about. Everyone had been warned before and knew to watch out, especially after what they got from Inko Village. Of course, they couldn''t just imprison people because of suspicion, which could get really stressful at times. Limestone Valley was like this, more so was Iron Mountains? Iron Valley, after the war the previous month, had not been attacked again. However, it was still the one with the most tension. After all, it had a predominantly aborigine population and was located smack in the middle of an aborigine region. Fortunately, the injection of more than a thousand Terrans had slowly begun to change the landscape. For one, the widened avenue was now filled with Alterran shops. Tofu, the pioneer, had hired very good cooks among these Terran migrants. He was self-aware and knew there were countless better cooks than him. His skill was more on business, shamelessness, and overall exhibition of his thick face. Anyway, he was still among the richest Alterrans in Iron Valley, so he was able to give good salaries and got great talents. It didn''t matter if new restaurants popped up to compete with him, he had already carved himself a good spot in the market. It had also created a lovely subculture there, too, which slowly leaked to the aborigine neighborhoods. The integration was further improved by various programs and festivals designed to melsh the two races together. Of course, it was never so smooth. After all, many of the aborigines were just bitter and arrogant and were difficult to interact with. However, with time, they soon became the minority and most had no choice but to adapt as well. The Alterrans would befriend more and more local aborigines and eventually those aborigines would be the ones pushing their brethren to interact well. After all, they were really enjoying their current territory! What if it went back to how it was before if they kept pushing these people away?! Overall, every territory associated with Alterra was doing well¡­ and this was also subject to a lot of greedy hearts just waiting for their chance to strike. A number of spies lurked around, some were captured, while some were not. It was safe to assume they''d never get every one of them either and just prepare for whatever could come. The ill-intentioned aborigines were¡ªfortunately¡ªthe minority though. Most of the aborigines there were aiming to get a better life for themselves. They had seen how the Terrans were living, what their standards were, and they wanted that too! If they stayed and served the village well, then they could very much receive it too! It was the same with the migrants from the nearby villages. Guia was always well-known in the area, but when they heard about the changes they couldn''t help but want to take a look, too. They did, and now they didn''t want to leave. Sadly earning contribution points had become much more difficult now. So¡­ they worked harder than the Terrans when it came to clearing out beast mobs! Monster mobs were really not a problem now, and the only threat Iron Mountains had to face was fellow humans (which was kind of sad in a way, too). It was just that they worked so hard that the Terran locals started to complain that they were taking too much of their kills! When the aborigines heard of this, they were flabbergasted. Instead of being thanked and admired for their hard work, were they irking the locals instead?! Chapter 1089 - 1089: Changes in the Gaea Team Of course, some of the biggest changes during the past months were in the family, who was having a massive dinner in the garden this time. The special occasion was Sheila''s birthday, and she was with her family as well. Her father and brother had adjusted well after they moved in. Sheila supported them for about a month or two, giving them a place to live and an allowance to live off of. However, afraid they''d turn to parasites, everyone including Althea warned her to give only the bare minimum. It could be a bit out of line, but they did it for Sheila''s sake. She understood it though. She did have a tendency to be a pushover so it was normal for them to be worried for her. Sheila did help her father find a job and her brother to enroll in school, giving them a good foundation to build their future on, which was already very kind. Her father was actually a good worker and started making good money after a promotion, while her brother was going to high school and was doing well in most subjects. After school, he was also making a bit of extra money gathering resources for the territory. Eventually, after a couple of months, the duo managed to earn enough (with Sheila''s help) to get a downpayment for a small studio unit. They just had to place a double-decker bed there, and it was already more than enough for them. To be honest, Althea had been worried for her family, fearing that they would be leeches like Amos'' family. Fortunately, they were just a bit overbearing but had good hearts. Althea could tell that her father had been a helicopter parent, but was not the kind to use his children as retirement plans. At the very least, he wasn''t like Amos'' family or Winona''s grandmother, who expected the younger generation to unconditionally support them and do whatever they ordered regardless of anything. It also helped, of course, that they once witnessed her axe a monster down while she was training with her husband. Anyway, at this time, they set the party up in the gardens because there were many attendees. They had four very pregnant women in the table, too¡ªSheila, Cassandra, Melissa, and Winona¡ªand they were all sitting together like the best of friends. Cassandra, Melissa, and Winona were already in their last trimester, while Sheila was in her first. They found out about her pregnancy more than a month prior, so they decided to make a grander-than-planned party to serve as a double celebration. The pregnant women had gotten very close in the past few weeks of bonding. They all had different mood swings and quirks, but having someone relate on a deep level was definitely helping them cope with all the stress that came with pregnancy. Anyway, it was all nice to watch them bond over this. Their husbands, especially, were thankful for the support group to deal with issues they could not understand no matter how much they tried. It also helped with their relationships too, because after bonding with the other girls, they''d be bright and happy when they got back home. The husbands would also get some clues from the other women about what their wives wanted and needed, allowing them to serve them well during this period. Sometimes, the women would even reward them by initiating sexy time. Happy wife, happy life indeed. Anyway, the women''s topics shifted from gossiping about the yoga instructor (pregnancy yoga classes appeared in the territory now), couples who broke up (and why), which neighbor challenged which neighbor (to a spar), and¡ªof course¡ªsome of the popular characters in the territory. Being well-known had some perks, but it also came with endless gossip. It just came with the territory. "Did you know?" Cassandra said as she took a bite of her meat. "Some of Oslo and Gochi''s fangirls and fanboys seemed to have formed an alliance of sorts." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh?" "Interesting." Although not common, a few groups of fangirls (and fanboys) could get so passionate that they''d start fan wars. At some point, it felt like an inevitable progression as the entertainment industry began to flourish. For the most part, it was just the formation of cliques and the mass purchase of merchandise (to one-up the other group). However, some war freak people even took it to another level by challenging ''enemies'' in the casinos or even in the sparring rings. It was like whoever won had greater ''love''. It could get really bad (in a funny way), and some people were forced to take one side over the other: Either love Oslo or Gochi, there was no in-between. But¡­ what if they liked both equally? That was how the alliance came about. "There are some boys and girls who decided that Oslo and Gochi occupied the same space in their hearts and could not choose either one. They then declared ''independence'' from their respective fan groups and created one of their own." As for why Cassandra knew so much, it was because it was well-known that Oslo was her ex and that she got into a little conflict with Gill over Gochi (during the Ferrol bidding wars) so she was pulled into the gossip by some aunties she happened to be in the spa with at the time. ¡­then she was asked to join in. As a member. "They called themselves ''Golden Furries''." Cough! This was Eagle, who was eating something while eavesdropping in the gossip. Fortunately, he was able to turn his head to the side before he splattered saliva all over the food. The women rolled their eyes and resumed their chatter, while the rest of the table also ate and gossiped about various things, too. Althea shook her head and smiled, looking to the side at where an outdoor playcot was. Another major change in the past few months was, of course, related to the babies. "Come eat now," she called. "Stop playing for a bit." The two babies sitting on the cot with their outdoor toys simultaneously lifted their heads and turned to her. They had grown quite a few inches (vertically and horizontally) during this time, and they were as cute as ever with those large doe eyes, cute faces, and chubby cheeks people could just smooch the whole day. Anyway, the word ''eat'' was a good word for them and they immediately mobilized to obey. With older baby Theo next to them and guiding their movements, the two babies gestured to stand up. The two leaned over on all fours, diapered bums wobbling, and used their little arms to help lift themselves up. After a few seconds, the two were standing upright¡ªeven if they were a little unstable¡ªand immediately dashed in her direction. "Mammmwa!" Little Meatball yelled, toddling over to her with his shaky little legs. "Mwama!" Little Pepper called, doing the same. They were still so small, probably only a foot high, and their little steps were tiny but they were improving. Little Theo was following closely behind them, like a protective older brother, and it was the sweetest thing. The adults watched with full hearts as they watched the babies approach, showing their independence, and the couple kneeled down with open arms to catch them in their embrace. Both babies waddled towards Althea''s arms though. Garan: "..." Chapter 1090 - 1090: A Little Interruption A/N: Chapters Dedicated to castle-giver _Cardinal~! Request: More Babies Please! Lololol In retrospect, I should''ve done this sooner xDD Thanks for reminding~ ¡­ ____ Garan looked at his children hoarding his wife. Then again, it was natural. He was not soft, while his wife was the softest. It was understandable the kids would prefer to hug her. Thinking of this, his arms wrapped around her waist and caressed it a bit before they stood up and placed the children in their high chairs. Because the kids were so energetic, they couldn''t sit still for a long time, which was why they called on to them while they were already halfway through their meals. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, the babies couldn''t stop themselves from having soft snacks earlier while the adults were preparing so they were definitely not hungry. Rather, their appetite made them grow more horizontally than vertically and she was already starting to wonder if she should start managing their diets. "Mwamaa! Fwood!!" Meatball said with that milky voice of his, looking at her as if he was starved. Pepper was also pouting, her cheeks looking puffier than usual. "..." "Fine¡­" she succumbed, and the couple fed the babies the flavored soft mushy food they loved. As the two children munched and munched on their food as if they had black holes in their throats, Althea couldn''t help but look at her kids again. Other than their size, they had also grown quickly in other ways. Next to ''mama'' and ''papa'', the next words they learned were ''hungwy'' and ''fwood''. Then after a few months, they learned a few others (though most of which still related to food). Terran babies would typically say their first words at 10 to 14 months, while aborigine babies started talking about a month or two earlier than that. Her babies¡­ they started speaking at 6 months¡­ In overall appearance, her children were one year old but they look almost 2. She was very worried. Would this pace continue as they grow? What did that imply about their lifespans? There were just more and more worries. However, during this time, they at least got a hint of how to keep them from using their powers unexpectedly. The answer was simple: Exercise. How they figured this out was quite interesting. Before the cruisers, the kids had increased show of power to about once every few days, usually in congruence with the other. When the cruisers were introduced, this was eventually reduced to about once every week. But when they got used to it and it was no longer challenging, they started exhibiting powers more often again. The ''training'' with the aether ball was useful, but only to a point. It lost effect when the babies started walking and no longer needed their powers to capture it. When that happened, chaos abounded. Sometimes Pepper would suddenly appear outside of her cruiser. She would then cry while crawling because she couldn''t get back in again. Sometimes, they''d see Meatball floating but holding on to his cruiser, as if using it as an anchor of sorts. It was especially scary when this happened while he was outside. At the time it was Garan watching over the kids and his heart dropped when he saw his son floating and almost letting go of the cruiser. He immediately used his ability to create a stair for himself to get the baby, who was confused at first and then giggled when he realized his father got to him. The baby was laughing, but Garan was extremely pale. If he had been left alone, he could''ve floated to the skies! Should they have him on ropes at all times? They considered it before, but¡­ Fortunately, when the babies started running, the manifestations were controlled again. Basically, as long as they were doing something physically challenging for them, they were unlikely to exhibit their powers. As for what would happen after they got used to running¡­ they''d cross that bridge when they got there. Anyway, the dinner party soon approached its end with a birthday song, and a large lemon-flavored cake (the birthday girl''s request) was brought in. It was just that¡ªas if the world didn''t want too much of a happy thing¡ªa familiar ding echoed inside Althea''s head. [Resso Village (Lv3) has declared war on Alterra Village (Lv3). The War begins in 13:59:59.] ... Her eyebrows rose as she sipped on her lemonade. Resso Village? It was one of Basset Town''s stronger subsidiaries. Since they found out about that meeting¡ªespecially after finding out that Fargo was involved¡ªthey had been following their movements closely. There were also a lot of Basset Town spies planted in Alterra, but they managed to get a few of them. It wasn''t difficult, especially with Alterra''s reporting system. Some citizens were even sly enough to take the money and then turn around to report them. As for the capturing of the spies though, they had to be a little careful. In most cases, they just had to throw some insults at them and they''d send themselves to prison. However, for the smarter ones, they had to frame them for other things so it didn''t exacerbate the tension and alert the other side that they were on to them. When they found out a lot of the spies were targeting the Elders and their families though, these spies were set to a long time of slavery in the mines. There were also a lot of plans that had Fargo''s signature on it. For example, some people were assigned to poison wells. Sad for them, after what happened to Bright back then they naturally had a lot of SOPs prepared for such cases. At the same time, Alterra also planted a couple of spies in Basset Town. The spies they sent were non-elemental aborigines so they could blend in, and they had been there for more than two months now. Among these spies were the siblings Tambai and Tanod. They were quite good at their jobs and Alterra had been receiving some interesting news from them. So¡­ they had known for a long time that something was brewing; it was just a matter of time before those people decided they were ''ready'' to attack. Apparently, the time was now. They must''ve gotten wind of the request to recall thousands of people back. The best time to attack was, indeed, before those people returned. They were probably planning on targeting the returning caravans, too. She narrowed her eyes, thinking of the next plan of action. Unexpectedly, while she was thinking, another ding sounded in her head. [You have met the requirements to upgrade to Town (Lv1). Would you like to upgrade now?] Her eyes widened a bit, her eyes sparkling at an idea. "Hey, Ansel," she said, making everyone turn to her. "You know how we''re planning on doing a firework show for tomorrow''s program right?" "Uh¡­ yeah? What is it?" Tomorrow was the exact 1-year mark after their migration. As per their tradition, there naturally had to be a big program involved. However, it couldn''t all go as planned because of the war and Althea thought of a very important thing to modify. "Can we do it earlier?" Chapter 1091 - 1091: Nightlife Street A/N: Last of the bonus chapters today! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR KEEPING THE STORY IN T1 Golden! ... ____ That night, an announcement suddenly resounded across the territory. There, the territory announced that the celebration for their upcoming anniversary would be held in advance! S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Better: All work was suspended for 2 days! A 2-day holiday!! However¡ªfor some odd reason¡ªthe celebrations would be held past midnight, which was about five hours since the announcement was made. They just assumed it was because of the 2-day holiday, so they didn''t mind it at all. Anyway, everyone was asked to rest early and just wake up after a few hours because there would be a lot of ''surprises'' later. They assumed it referred to sales and promos, which excited them so much! Still, they did rest as requested. They had no choice anyway because every stall was ordered to close for a few hours. The streets being dead for all those hours was an odd sight and they were not used to it at all, but Alterra never did anything without reason so everyone played along. Rather, it added a sense of excitement. Now, the long-awaited midnight finally arrived, and the streets suddenly exploded with activity. This was especially true for Ansel''s Nightlife Street¡ªa street created a few months back, located Southeast of the Territory. Nightlife street was a pedestrian-only street, with a bit more lighting and a lot more pizzazz. It was also a bit wider than the market streets because the building modules were much larger than usual¡ªat least twice the typical¡ªand therefore were all manually constructed. That was why it took several months before the zone was completed. The architectural design was also slightly different from the rest of the territory, but it followed the themes so it still fit Alterra''s overall aesthetic but, at the same time, people knew they were in a different place from the others. Ansel made sure to capitalize on this immersion. After all, people tended to have a sense of ''awe'' in a place that differed from what they were usually exposed to¡ªand would therefore want to spend more money there for the experience. And shops to spend money on, they definitely had! The Street was abutted by strictly entertainment-only establishments like bars, small casinos, restaurants with stages, and so on. At the end of the street would be where their largest establishments were and would be located. They kept a place for a cinema, a theatre, and so on. The cinema still couldn''t be made for now, but the theatre had begun operation as soon as the street opened. The first performance was the highly popular puppet show showing Elder Garan and Elder Althea''s reunion. It was very popular not only because the people were popular, but also because their reunion symbolized so many things for the territory. It symbolized the reunion of loved ones, of hope, of the creation of the new generation, as well as the leveling up of the territory that gained a massive force. The theater put out various performances every night since then, with the script changing every month. The script also shifted from the puppet shows (which would get its own little theaters) to actual actors performing live. There was another script that was action-packed showing Alterra''s first upgrade war, which also included the birth of the twins and ended in their birth. Other scripts were also reunion stories, like Turbo''s and Eve''s, Sheila''s and her family''s, Miss Mathilda''s and hers. And then, there were some dramatic stories about the war between Alterra and Fargo, and it included how the evil men were punished. The boos and cheers during those scenes resounded far beyond the street. Of course, top-performing scripts would often find themselves repeated after several months. Interestingly, the first performance was being redone this week and the presale tickets were already sold out. As the theater''s popularity grew, so did the prestige of the actors. Because they were mostly modern Terrans, the treatment for the ''idols'' was starting to get similar to how it was, though with less of the toxicity and more of the pure admiration. After all, people were busy surviving, living their lives, and improving their status in this dangerous world. There was a lot less energy given to stalking celebrities and meddling in their personal lives. Still, with increasing prestige meant increasing earnings too, so the entertainer profession was starting to gain traction again. There were even some merchandise sold in bookstores and other places, and the performers would have royalty shares from that. The best-known one was, unsurprisingly, Fable, who played half of the male lead roles in the plays. Basically, he entered the upper class in a short amount of time thanks to his performances and the passive income generated by his merch. The other smaller actors were also earning livable wages too, with some more than others. While there were no other famous celebrities other than Fable and Juni there, the open and transparent auditions gave way to a lot of aspiring talents. One of them was Penny, one of the women who had been captured in Fargo as a slave in the limestone mines. She finished art studies by profession but she showed talent in this field as well. It helped that she had attractive red hair and a curvaceous body, making her very aesthetic¡ªthough her roles were often the villain or the Green Tea Bitch sort of characters. While the pay for acting jobs wasn''t as exaggerated as it was for top talents, it definitely allowed them to live very comfortably. Acting wasn''t the only field that exploded. During the past few months, various musical instruments had been developed and commercialized. Other than the fact that a lot of citizens could play, the school also added nighttime classes and weekend instrument lessons as an optional class. The talents were enough so there would always be some performances happening here and there every night. A lot of the players did it as a part-time job, too, treating them as gigs while they also had ''more stable'' income elsewhere. Speaking of musicians, the debut of various instruments was timed with the opening of Nightlife Street. At the time, the beautiful cacophony of sound echoed across the streets and beyond it, fascinating the Terran locals¡ªlet alone the aborigines who had never heard such arrangements before. At the time, and even now, certain types of comments were prevalent. "That sounds so good!" "How do they make those sounds?!" "It''s amazing¡­ my soul is touched!" "Did bards arrive?" "No, this is better." "I thought the Elves descended from the sky or something." Then everyone would be immersed and not leave the street for hours on end, experiencing the night of their lives. In any case¡ªno matter who one was asked¡ªthey''d say Ansel''s Nightlife Street was a resounding success! Chapter 1092 - 1092: More on the Nightlife Street Other than these performance-based things, there were also a lot of ''interactive'' establishments. The most popular of which were the casinos, which had actually been a subject of debate among the elders, ultimately getting approval but with increased regulations. The casinos here target very wealthy aborigines and locals. Some were targeted at the super rich, while some to the relatively rich. Of course, as always, there were a lot of control measures, especially for the locals. There was a minimum amount of total wealth required to enter and a maximum amount of spending they could do. Of course, there were creative people everywhere who''d partner with other people to go beyond this limit, but it would be too much to control even that. If they won big through that, then it could just be considered they were too skillful. Anyway, casinos were taxed a lot. There was something called a franchise tax which, in Terran, was imposed on various businesses¡ªparticularly the gaming industry. In Alterra, it functioned and calculated about the same way. Not only was it a great source of revenue for the territory, it was also a way to monitor, control, and regulate the activities. With the increasing number of population, activities, and stakeholders appearing in the territory, there naturally had to be an increase in monitoring as well. The Lord''s system only imposed the usual taxes, including income taxes, sales taxes, and even real estate taxes (or at least their version of it) ¡ªthe Lord only had the ability to change up the percentage and vary what was included in the tax calculations. These taxes were imposed even before they arrived and were integrated with the system. They were automatically collected and went straight to the Lord''s wallet. Interestingly, there was even a small existence tax everyone ¡ªincluding visitors¡ªpaid annually, though they only found out about that after landing a year, because that didn''t go to the Lord''s wallet but somewhere else. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Where? Who knows. Fortunately, it was a flat rate and was negligible to the average Alterran citizen. The only ones who''d probably realize this burden were poor citizens from villages and those people didn''t know what it was. They just assumed the Lord decided to take some money from them as if they were omnipotent beings, and very few dared to question the practice. Even if they did, the Lord didn''t know about it either so what could they do? The new ones were foreign taxes introduced by Terrans and therefore weren''t automatically collected by the system. While she did have an option to add it, she opted not to in the end. It was too troublesome for her to move finances from her own wallet to circulate within the economy. She did not have the energy to monitor everything and sadly there wasn''t an option where she could get someone else to manage her finances. It seemed like, when the system was created, entrusting wealth management to others was unimaginable. So, for things like this, she decided to go manual and get the finance department to handle it. This way, there was a steady stream of income that could be used to handle some day-to-day expenses of the territory that were paid manually. These extra taxes could also be used to force certain businesses to undergo the compliances and regulations by virtue of the various documentation they had to go through to keep in business. Finally, it would allow a certain amount of self-sufficiency for the territory to run smoothly even when she wasn''t there. She wouldn''t want it too attached and dependent on her. What if she got stuck? She wanted to travel someday! After a year in one place, it had become a concrete goal for her to travel the world at least once in her life, and she would not be able to do that worrying about the territory. Anyway, with all these functions, Nightlife Street also became one of the best places to go for romantic trips at night. It definitely gave its name justice and this zone was the brightest and liveliest place in the territory after dusk. Couples go on a lot of dates, and dates in the Nightlife street were definitely a welcome option. For example, at this time, two off-duty guards were going on their first date. Well, they didn''t call it that yet. It was a ''friendly hang-out'', though anyone with eyes could tell it was a date. This was Luis, one of the leading soldiers of the territory, and the aborigine Yllana1, who was a former Guia slave they rescued from Baltimore''s house back then. Thinking about it, that was also the first time the two of them met, with Althea and Luis being the ones to rescue her and the other women while they were trying to find the Lord''s token. Regardless, it was definitely not the greatest of circumstances for first impressions. Still, they were friendly. They had known each other for many months though their relationship had only progressed recently because Luis was dating someone else, while Yllana had believed that she would never find love. In her mind, no man would want such a tainted woman as herself. After becoming a guard, she was fully prepared to never marry¡ªanyway, she could depend on herself now. The long-standing teaching of women depending on men had changed. Yllana had enlisted as a guard back in Iron Valley, but she was moved with another female guard to Alterra, to give them a better chance to grow safely. After all, they were looked down on by aborigine men and had even felt subtle bullying from them. When she arrived in Alterra, she had become free. Nobody cared if she was a woman. As long as she was sincere and hardworking, she would get the acknowledgment she deserved. For Yllana, moving to Alterra was the best thing that had happened. And perhaps¡ªshe couldn''t help but subtly sneak a peek at the man next to her¡ª she could hope for something more. One of the women in Baltimore''s harem Chapter 1093 - 1093: Dates in Nightlife Street Luis was similarly sneaking a peek, and he couldn''t help but rub the back of his neck in awkwardness. Considering that most of the people here were either close friends who were boisterously hanging around, or were lovey-dovey couples holding hands or hugging, the two of them quietly walking a foot away from each other looked a little odd. They were both shy and awkward, which was sad considering the camaraderie they had developed after working many months together. It was just that they started developing other feelings, and that changed up the dynamic between them. Yllana was assigned to Luis'' team a few months ago and their relationship was slow to develop, but it did. They were in the ambiguous phase now, with Yllana still uncomfortable with being too close to men after what happened in Guia, while Luis had also been treading lightly since his failed relationship with Becky. To be honest, when the Crow trio warned him about Becky he had indeed been wary. However, how could a virgin like him looking for love reject the advances of such a beautiful and sexy woman? Contrary to what people assumed though (he had tried to correct them many times), there was no cheating involved in their breakup. Although they had a nice relationship that lasted a month, she broke up with him saying she needed time for herself¡ªto discover herself outside of men. Becky had been hanging around Juni and Melissa a lot (he thought she was pregnant at first, which earned him a pinch) and it seemed a lot of their lessons affected the woman. He was hurt, but in retrospect it had more to do with his pride than anything else. That was a few months ago and Becky had yet to be with anyone else, and Luis had not made a move to get back together with her. On the contrary, he found himself falling for an aborigine woman instead. He didn''t know if he was lucky or not though, while he was walking around with Yllana, they encountered Becky with a few friends. They were all females, and he wondered if she was taking her hands off men completely for a while. Becky''s eyes flickered when she saw Luis and the other girl, but she kept her smile and greeted them casually, before walking away. "She''s still so pretty," Yllana mumbled, and her body language became even more insecure. When Becky and him were dating, Yllana was already on the team. She knew how close they were and how beautiful that woman was. How could she not feel unworthy? Seeing her going back to her shell, Luis quickly pulled himself together. He gently smiled and patted her head before his hand fell and held hers. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This made both of them pause and look at each other, wondering what to do next. Neither one pulled their hand away though. They even wanted to intertwine their hands¡ªso they did. Yllana looked at Luis, whose attention was all on her, and her insecurities calmed. They stopped in front of Romance Resto, one of the more famous places along Nightlife street. It was a high-end restaurant with a grand piano in the middle. There was someone playing a tune there every night, and it was a perfect place to date. Her eyes sparkled as she looked around. She flinched when Luis opened the chair for her, and she awkwardly sat down, unsure how to handle it. Interestingly, another familiar couple was there¡ªChris1 and Aditi,2 one of the Fargo rescues. The two smiled when they saw each other before settling down in their seats. This was a relatively exclusive restaurant and the seats were far apart, there were also a few lattice partitions to separate the space without making things clustered, allowing each couple enough privacy even while in a public place. Admittedly, considering they were still in the ambiguous stage, Luis realized that this place was a bit¡­ too much. Mao recommended it and Luis himself hadn''t been here before, so he had no idea what to expect. That guy just said¡ªno, insisted¡ªthat it''d be a good place to take Yllana to, so he did. However, he saw how fascinated Yllana was with the place, and he thought it wasn''t the wrong choice, after all. ¡­ Chris'' and Aditi''s seats were on the more private second floor, right by the large glass windows. At this time, several buildings, particularly the new high-end ones, were already using sturdy glass panels for their windows. These were even low-E tempered glass which would not allow heat in while letting light in, creating cozy open spaces even during the afternoon. That night, they ate a delicious dinner while enjoying the beautiful nightscape of their territory. These two started dating a couple of months ago. Aditi worked as one of the scriptwriters in Ansel''s Entertainment Company, while Chris was usually assigned to scouting and clearing work for the territory. Their paths crossed in the Training Hall. Guards had a couple of free uses every month which would be a pity if left unused. Chris'' level was too high for it to be useful, but he decided to try it out once or twice for the experience. There, he''d see Aditi again. He heard from the staff that Aditi was there every night after work, desperate to grow stronger. Aditi''s motivation was never to be put in the position she was in back in Fargo. Chris, who was the one to rescue them, naturally knew what she had been through. He offered to help her train, and their time together only increased. Her time in the Training Hall added more meaning to Aditi, making her look forward to that time a lot more. While Chris¡ªwhether or not he noticed¡ªwas slowly starting to use the Training Hall more and more. One had to know that the current maximum level of monsters was only Level 15, so it was practically useless to Chris who could no longer get experience there. Chris didn''t see any anomalies except when he was questioned by his friends, while Aditi was very much aware of her own feelings¡ªand was hoping to maximize her time with him. Aditi had, in fact, long admired Chris. Ever since he rescued them in the cave, her eyes would always follow him¡ªalways look for him somehow. However, she was content with admiring from afar. After all, their meeting place¡­ wasn''t the greatest, and most men would probably find her disgusting. She pursed her lips, looking at the man eating across from her. Who would''ve thought she''d be so lucky¡­? One of Garan''s soldiers. The wind user scout/swordsman One of the rescues back in the limestone caves when they had a war with Fargo Chapter 1094 - 1094: Big Fireworks Show (Part 1) For months, they had maintained a status quo of sorts. She''d train, he''d help her out in his ''free time'', and maybe they''d grab a simple meal afterward. She was satisfied with this and didn''t dare ask for more. She didn''t have the courage to do so. However, she found out that Penny¡ªwho had been trapped with her there and experienced even harsher treatment than she did¡ªwas pursuing him! S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the time, Penny had already started with the acting troupe and was gaining popularity, and it sent alarm in Aditi. She didn''t want things to change. But if they did start going out, then it''d change anyway! So Aditi used up the courage of a lifetime and confessed. Surprisingly, he accepted it, and they became a happy couple since then. They were really a normal couple with normal personalities. Their dates would be just as any other¡ªgoing out for dinner, watching shows, going on walks, and so on. However¡ªlike any other couple¡ªit was not without challenges. First, Aditi''s friendship with Penny strained a bit after her news. They didn''t become enemies or anything, but their interactions had become a little curt. Fortunately, this improved when Penny invited them to her shows and even treated them to meals. Another, Aditi''s two brothers¡ªRamil and Raj1¡ªwere quite protective. They also knew of what Aditi had experienced during this time, and were worried that Chris would mind her ''impurity''. However, Chris easily proved his character and showed his sincerity. After a couple of months, the two were completely steady. Anyone who knew them could tell it wouldn''t take long before Chris proposed. Surprisingly, that date happened to be that day. Aditi was flushed in happiness and eating her carrot cake, not knowing the surprise. "Eat it all," he said, and she nodded, happily doing as she was told. It was her favorite cake, after all, and it was even more delicious than usual. She cleaned up the plate and belatedly noticed there was a note underneath the cake. She blinked, and then she froze. ''Will you marry me?'' Her eyes widened as she whipped her head up to look at him, though at this time he was already kneeling on the floor. She said Yes¡ªof course she did¡ªand she threw herself to him as she sobbed. Unexpectedly, a lot of people¡ªdespite their corner, more private position¡ªwere actually watching them. And when she accepted, they burst to cheers. "Wooooo!" "Congratulations!!" "Ohmygosh finally!" And so added a set of happy news just before a complicated one. ¡­ Other than Nightlife Street, all other places with commercial establishments flourished. Basically, people only slept deep into the night. They actually didn''t need as much sleep anymore with their improved physiques and the longer days here. For people past level 20, they only needed a couple of hours of rest and they''d be completely charged. In Alterra, they were sure to profit on this by keeping the territory awake all 28-hours of the day. Not to mention, the day was pretty much a holiday so everyone had proper rest. Anyway, while a few of their soldiers were going on lovely dates, the couple of the singles decided to have a drink at the tavern. "We''re upgrading to Town soon, and I still haven''t found a girlfriend," Mao1 mumbled, sniffling. He was privy to Chris'' proposal, and he had seen Luis with his girl not too long ago! Then there was also the happily married Captain and Boss Gill, as well as those good-hair-guys Turbo and Jake. When would he find his own happily ever after? The thing was, during the disaster, the majority of the people who died were children, old people, and women. The ratio of the women here was 1 is to 3 or 4, which worsened even more after the Migration due to the various abuse of some men. After so many things, many of the good women simply weren''t looking for love¡ªsome even abhorred it, particularly those who had been abused. They were too busy improving themselves and training. Who had the time to date when you could control an element and needed to train hours a day in order to master it? Anyway, this meant even a few of the stronger guards looking for love, like Mao, might not have a successful dating life. Okay, it was just Mao. Everyone else had either found their pair or was simply not looking for it. As such, Mao dragged Brandon 1(who was focused on his weapons) and Loki 2(who was a major introvert) to drink with him at the bar. Of course, as guards, they were allowed to drink off-working hours but not get plastered (which wasn''t so easy anyway due to their improved physiques) so they drank moderately. "Sigh. Obviously ladies like funny guys, right? I''m funny. Why can''t I find the lady for me?" Loki was sipping like a gentleman while Brandon seemed to be listening to Mao''s rant, but in reality he was already thinking about the next cannon design. Mao couldn''t help but look at Brandon. This guy¡­ he wasn''t looking, but he was still getting so many looks! When stationary became a thing, the number of love letters sent to him was not small! There was also the gorgeous Veronica. Though¡­ in retrospect, he hadn''t seen her for a while. It seemed like it had been a few months, right? "When did you last see Veronica?" He blinked, before thinking about it for a second. "That''s Miss Cassandra''s best friend, right? A while, I suppose." "..." Seeing as there was nowhere going with that topic, he just sighed, wistfully looking at the ceiling of the tavern. "Sigh¡­ should I just go find an aborigine woman? I mean, at least they weren''t outside the territory all the time¡­" he said, in the tone of finding a ''woman who would stay at home''. Loki gave him a look. "Don''t say that in front of women," he said. "They''ll hate you." Mao blinked. "Really?" he asked, and Loki nodded very seriously, though he didn''t bother explaining anymore. Mao''s eyes twitched. Darn introvert! Before he could push the reticent man for details, the familiar ding of an announcement sounded in their heads. [Announcement: Thank you for waking up in the middle of the night! Now... it is a few hours past midnight, and our anniversary celebration will be held as an opening show instead. The fireworks display will begin in an hour. Get to the best locations while you can!] "Oh?" Mao blinked, taking another gulp of his beer. They had been wondering about the odd timings. After all, counting the time, the fireworks would be held at... 3am? Is that a new auspicious time or something? "I wonder why," Mao mumbled, but didn''t think too much. Hey! Maybe he''d find ''The One'' while watching. Maybe she''d still be too sleepy and it would be too dark for her to see him clearly! Bank bros Chubby soldier, earth user Blonde swordsman who likes weapons Wind archer soldie Chapter 1095 - 1095: Big Fireworks Show (Part 2) A/N: So, this is a bit embarrassing but I guess the mass release turned my brain to soup so I mis-edited a few stuff xD I changed up some things during editing that I now realize was messed up. To summarize, the events of the previous chapters happened a few hours after the declaration, not the next day. Lololol. I edited and fixed some continuity stuff (in Nightlife Street chap as well as the previous one), but do tell me if I missed anything! Cough. Back to the story! ¡­ ___ A lot of people wondered what was with 3:00 am and fireworks, but the activities were so explosive and the energy was high that everyone was just happy to see such a surprise. Anyway, even if they were wondering, everyone stopped whatever they were doing and headed to find the best places to view. These were either the view decks or the parks with the least amount of tree canopies to block their sights. At this time, the guard team assigned to keep peace also headed towards various squares. One of the teams was Cassie''s, who was now a captain. She had just been promoted last month after gathering enough contribution points. She divided her team into pairs to go around various spots in the square making sure the peace was there. After all, although there were a lot of rules and regulations, plenty of things still went past it¡ªotherwise, everyone would get yellow cards. So their tasks as internal guards would be to keep the order despite this. Cassie''s partner also ended up with a partner this time, and it was none other than the aborigine Bumi. Bumi had also joined the guard team a few months back and he tried hard to get assigned to Cassie'' team. His hard work bore fruit when Cassie was promoted to captain. New Captains were allowed to choose half of their members among the unassigned rookies. Because he worked very hard and was a very good worker, she chose him. Bumi was so happy he almost jumped for joy. His grandmother, Bona, was also happy he got closer to Cassie. She even made huge sumptuous delicious dinner for him¡ªhalf of which he was asked to send to Cassie and her grandmother to ''show appreciation''. Bumi''s grandmother was a pretty good cook. She took night classes for cooking at school and became one of its best students. Suffice to say, Cassie and her grandmother were genuinely appreciative of the good food. Anyway, currently, they would even be watching the fireworks together! It didn''t matter if it was on the job, bonding time was all that mattered. "Should we get our grandmothers?" She asked. Bumi blinked. "Are they already awake?" After all, the announcement came at a really odd time. They just finished dinner when everyone was asked to rest in preparation for the post-midnight activities. "I think so," Cassie said. "I think we should check. I''m sure they wouldn''t want to miss this either way." Bumi thought for a moment and nodded, and the two went by their houses to get their grandmothers. It so happened that Cassie''s house (which they owned) was near Bumi''s house (which was rented). The two old women hit it off and exercised together every morning with the other old people. Bumi''s grandmother was also hired in the same clothing shop, and they had been BFFs since then. Even after Bona gained cooking skills after a few months of night classes, she didn''t move industries, preferring the peacefulness of the profession more than the high-stress field of restaurants. The old women also used the Training Hall together (though their grandchildren often accompanied them to level up outside when it was their day off). When they got near their neighborhood, they encountered their grandmothers who were well-dressed and already heading out. They seemed disappointed to see the two of them though, with Bona shaking her head as she looked at her grandson in disappointment. Still can''t get a date? Bumi: "..." Anyway, they (along with various other families) headed to the nearest park. They were still doing their jobs though. Fortunately, outside of wars, rounds were relatively easy due to the rules. If it wasn''t for Patte''s chaos back then, they''d have even fewer guards assigned internally. Alterra was too good after all, and it was a fortune to stay there. Only idiots with no self-control endangered their rights by trying to get past the rules. The crowds congregated in certain spots, and a lot of people used ladders to get up their roofs as well. Those who were in taller buildings settled in their balconies, and they were drinking and snacking comfortably at the same time. When the designated time arrived, the lighthouse and other lighting were simultaneously turned off, making everyone flinch. Even the moons were, coincidentally, blocked by thick clouds at that point. For a moment, they felt extremely imbalanced. The unknown was always terrifying¡­, and for that moment¡ªit was utter darkness. However, an instant later a sharp boom sounded in a direction, followed by a wheeze. A high-pitched whistle cut through the air, cutting through the tension in their hearts at the same time. The firework''s ascent left a beautiful trail of shimmering sparks, and at its zenith, it exploded outwards in a brilliant explosion of light. Moments later, another massive explosion of color erupted above their heads. And another, and another. This went on, explosion after explosion, each one more dazzling than the last. The fireworks were loud and grand and colorful, and it made everyone''s heart beat so loudly in joy. "Whoa!" "So amazing!!" Everyone immersed in the sight, just gaping at the wonderful contrast of light against the dark skies, as if they were taken into another dimension entirely. Whether it was Terran or local¡ªhumans, goblins, or half-orcs¡ªeveryone entered an admiring daze. For a moment: Everyone was the same. They were also so immersed that no one noticed¡­ that their entire territory shook a little. They just felt their legs weaken a bit, but they thought it was probably just due to the shock of beauty and brightness above them. Some more sensitive people couldn''t help but look at each other though. "Did you feel something?" Loki asked. Mao blinked at him. "Happiness? Yes. Excitement? Definitely." Loki thought about it and shrugged. Oh, well¡­ They all just continued to admire the few-minute-long fireworks display, drowning in the moment of joy and beauty. When it was over, the lights resumed, and chatters and cheers exploded all around. The topic would be a glorious sight for a while, and everyone believed they would be in a high for hours to come. However, the hype for the fireworks didn''t last for very long because a few minutes later, everyone would receive another very different type of announcement. [The Resso Village has declared war on us. The war will start at approximately 02:00:00. We hope you didn''t ignore our request for resting properly earlier today~] Another announcement was added exclusively for the guards. [For Guards Only: The territory will soon be upgraded to a Town, but don''t tell anyone else. Quietly prepare for a very strong beast tide to arrive within a couple of hours on top of the war. Thank you.] S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this, quite a few barbeque sticks fell to the ground in shock. People were charged a bit for littering, though no one noticed it at all. Their attention was definitely fixed on the announcements before that. !!!! What the heck?! Chapter 1096 - 1096: War Against 5 Villages (Part 1) Resso Village, hours later. [The war between Resso Village (Lv3) and Alterra Village (Lv3) has begun. The Array will close in 27:59:59] The sun was now up, and the time to fight finally arrived! "WHOOOOOH!!" The thousands of forces yelled altogether, raising their arms, and completely motivated. They were so loud they created reverberations everywhere, which just added to their momentum. Tout, the Lord of Resso Village, looked at the luminescent array not far from their gate, lighting his heart with fiery¡ªand blood-thirsty¡ªexcitement. This war was a long time coming¡ªplanned for months, which was already a huge amount of effort on their part. Alterra should be honored! That said, they''d definitely milk it for all its worth for all this trouble! They were waiting for Basset Town''s signal to attack, and they knew it was coming soon. However, they got the news that a lot of people were heading back to Alterra, which signaled a change of plans! They knew that Alterra had blocked entry for months. Apparently, the infrastructure could no longer sustain a bigger population so they blocked them off in favor of comfortable living. The official statement was that Alterra preferred the ''exclusivity'' and openness allowed by a smaller population, claiming that the subsidiaries could provide enough forces and manpower as needed. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was really snobbish, and in their opinion a bit stupid, but they also understood that they might want to attract rich people in their midst. This was supplemented by the fact that they only allowed really rich merchants in to trade, but blocked almost everyone else, keeping the population at a certain threshold. They also spiked up their threshold for residencies, though for some reason they didn''t change the visitor''s fees at all. They found the latter inconsistent, but who had the energy to think too much about that? (They didn''t think of the possibility of Alterra upgrading at all. Alterra had only existed for a year. In their minds, it was unthinkable to upgrade so early!) Anyway, in their interpretation, Alterra suddenly calling on thousands of forces back meant either one of two things: They had changed their minds and wanted to inject population again or¡­ they were preparing to go to a war! Either way was not good! The first one meant that they''d be harder to deal with, and the second risked them losing Alterra to another. So¡ªafter maliciously choosing a time of resting¡ªhe decided to declare war in a rush! Fortunately, Basset¡ªwhile disapproving of the suddenness¡ªhad instructed all territories to always be prepared and it wasn''t too difficult to gather so many forces in just over a day. So, here they were. Tout looked at his forces surrounding the magic circle, ready to enter at his signal. He smirked, looking at the sea of people about to come in. There were more than ten thousand people there¡ªnot including the several thousand more already near the war area¡ªwhich was well beyond Resso Village''s fighting force. It was not just their village fighting this time. Along with Resso, there was Ugoy Village, Tangga Village, Picno Village, Hasa Village, and the Level 2 Pang Village. There were also a few subsidiaries that didn''t join directly but sent hundreds of forces to assist. Including most of their slaves, each one contributed thousands of people to this war. Five villages against one. How could they possibly lose? While everyone knew that calling on allies to assist in wars had a lot of limitations, there was a loophole that many territories knew of, but simply did not publicize. The rules only applied to those who either entered the territory walls or went through the array. That was to say: Other methods of travel were ignored. The System was not entirely all-knowing after all. For the most part, its powers were limited to what it produced: The Lord Token, and the territory attached to it. This meant that they could get a lot more assistance if the reinforcements traveled to Alterra by foot instead. And, because the rules were void during wars¡ªas long as allies didn''t do either of those things¡ªthen it was free play. Even before the declaration of war, all the aforementioned territories sent a good portion of their forces to help take Alterra. Before the set time of war, these forces¡ªafter rushing to the Alterra region¡ªarrived to surround the place. They went in groups of a couple of hundred or less, passing by the surrounding territories. Although the villages were ''nearby'', this was only in a relative sense. They were still separated by tens if not hundreds of kilometers, so it wasn''t difficult to bypass allied territories without alerting Alterra. Anyway, even if they did get alerted, it wouldn''t make a difference anyway. Things would''ve been more perfect if they had managed to attack the oncoming population, but things happened quickly and they really feared that someone else would declare war ahead of them. Of course, such a big war alliance wasn''t typically done even if people did know of this loophole. After all, so many things could happen every kilometer! How many mobs would be encountered on the way there? How many people would they lose en route?! Not to mention, the cost of assistance was huge. In most cases, it was not worth it to call on external forces in this way. However, they were exempt because they had the strong Basset Town as their backer! Alterra had grown so much and had just become too attractive! At this point, even Basset Town could be inferior in terms of connections, economy, and prestige! Too many territories were eyeing it now, and Basset Town was determined to be the one to take it! They had been preparing for this attack for a long time. They had also been trying to weaken it bit by bit, though most of their plans didn''t find success at all. If anything, they just lost valuable spies each time. They also prepared to deal with whatever Alterra could throw at them based on what they knew. They believed they had prepared long enough¡ªthey''d be able to handle whatever Alterra threw at them.They got this war! Alterra would be theirs! Chapter 1097 - 1097: War Against 5 Villages (Part 2) Thot believed that they were fully prepared. After such a long preparation time, he refused to believe they missed out on something! For example, after a lot of investigation (and sacrificed spies), they found out how Guia and Yasof were intimidated before they even got far from the arrays. Mobs! Damned mobs. At first, they didn''t know yet how Alterra could be so quick to figure out where the arrays were. But Fargo explained to them that Alterra likely had large scopes that could see far distances. Rather than be intimidated, this information just added to Alterra''s attractiveness. Fargo went on to say the technology they knew was only a small portion, and he had gained a decent place in the territory for his knowledge. A lot of people still sneered at him though. He was so knowledgeable, why couldn''t he mimic what Alterra had done? In any case, as a response to the potential mobs, several forces¡ªsome of whom were even beyond the level cap, courtesy of Basset¡ªwere sent to camp around Alterra. They were ready to assist if those mobs appeared again. Even better, if they could catch the bastards who were luring the monsters before they succeeded, then it was already a success! There were a lot of elites sent there, several were mercenaries, and they were armed and had pretty good equipment. They had heard that Alterra also had a hidden weapon¡ªa strong projectile that could go through a mid-leveled person. It would also create explosions that would damage dozens at a time, if not more. This type of damage could be done from the safety of hundreds of meters! Imagine trying to run that distance only to be shot down by that thing? This was something that the Lord Bentro and Vara (the head of the Rongo Mercenary Team) asked Fargo to make, though without success so far. Heck, the attempts even killed a precious Class D Weapon maker! Speaking of that guy, he wasn''t even allowed to go in here. He had apparently signed an oath not to harm Alterra¡ªdirectly or indirectly, so naturally he wasn''t allowed to enter the array of war. As for how Fargo bypassed the latter oath, he had no idea. Even if he did create a weapon that''d be used to harm Alterra, they were unsure whether it would be against the oath. At the very least, they had yet to hear of someone who developed weapons and was punished when it was used against a territory he had had an oath with. Anyway, no one really knew because few people with strength would be willing to make extremely strict oaths. No one would publicize mistakes, losses, and the like either. They just knew one thing: Vague oaths had vague consequences. It could be bypassed if done well enough, but failure to do so could also have more serious consequences than other transgressions. Not that it was any of his business, of course. Anyway, even if Fargo hadn''t signed such an oath, he was still indisposed considering he was being punished for the death of a weapon maker. He was ''personally'' punished by Vara and, considering the preferences of the Rongo Mercenary Team leader¡ªheh, Fargo must be suffering. In any case, that guy did mention a strategy, and it involved avoiding the formation of large clusters, ideally under the cover of the forests. This way, Alterra would be wasting a few projectiles since they couldn''t see them well under the canopies of the trees! Besides, so many of them were heading there¡ªtens of thousands¡ªtargetting all parts of the territory! It was doubtful they''d have enough of those weapons to deal with all of them. It was also doubtful they''d be able to guard every inch of the territory since they walled off everything! Speaking of Alterra, when they got news via aether letter that even after a few hours of the declaration, the territory was still partying, they were all very confused. However, after a supposed beautiful light work¡ªa celebration, apparently¡ªthe announcement was made. Their attack was announced only a few hours before the actual war! Did the elders think announcing too early would douse the celebratory mood?! They were very offended when they found out about it. Did they not think they were a threat at all!? Tout and the others gritted their teeth at the thought. "We''ll show them!" "ATTACK!!!" He yelled, and the thousands of forces went through the array, ready for blood! ¡­ Garan, Luis, and the others were lined up along the battlements. The entire perimeter had a person every meter or so, making sure there was someone who could see all angles of the territory. Their backs were ramrod straight, and their hands rested on the sheaths or handles of their weapons¡ªready for battle. It was silent for a few minutes after the set time, and all they could hear was the rustles of the dense forest outside their walls. Eventually though, a low rumbling was felt, followed by the echoing cheers for battle. The forest shook with the sheer number of enemies walking underneath it, and the people in the battlement couldn''t help but gulp. They were surrounded, and the number was even bigger than they thought. Their stomachs dropped a bit. They then looked at the aether letters with live feed coming from the observatory. Although most of the enemies were covered by the forest canopies, the total amount of enemies was in tens of thousands!! Mao squeaked a bit. "Did the village send out their entire population?" "No, we got intelligence of an alliance," Chris said. "We also captured a few people lurking outside a few hours ago. They were under oath, but we could ask whether or not they were from Resso. They were not." "An alliance eh?" "There will always be people who take advantage of loopholes," Sammy said with a sigh before looking at them. He had to admit, the way the forest shook, combined with the loud battle cries from tens of thousands of violent men was a little intimidating. "KILL! KILL! KILL!" S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "ALTERRA WILL BE OURS!" "KILL! KILL! KILL!" Mao''s eyes twitched. "Hey, so many territories are going against us. We should be proud." "..." To say they were not nervous would be a lie. However, they kept cool and trusted in the plans. "Though¡­ don''t you think they should be arriving by now? It''s been hours..." Mao asked, getting a little worried. Sammy shook his head. "Our Math team''s calculations had a large range," he said. "We don''t have enough data to make it completely accurate." They only knew so much and gathered data from what they knew as well as from allied territories. Jonathan''s father''s notebook also included some information about it, which comprised most of their data. However, they knew that there were variables and things did change from territory to territory. At the very least, they knew from past upgrades that Alterra definitely did not follow the standard expectations. "It''s best to assume ''they'' would be a little late," Sammy said, clicking his neck to get rid of the stiffness. Garan, who was silent this whole time, took a deep breath and took out his weapon, his deep azure eyes looking at the vast forests that covered thousands of their enemies. "Get ready," he said. "This is going to be a long battle." Chapter 1098 - 1098: Resso Village Slaves (Part 1) Tout and the others headed towards the enemy lines, their thousands and thousands of slaves heading straight to the walls, ready to create large stairs all around it, allowing them to get inside. It was quite quick, too. While waiting at a distance, their allies had already brought over stairs, lines, and ropes¡ªamong many other methods to enter¡ªalong with them. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The slaves that came through the array were several thousand, which was more than Resso Village''s own slaves. Basset Town was kind enough to give them a few thousand. Anyway, slaves weren''t counted as entities. Even if they doubled this number, it wouldn''t have mattered! Now, they could target several spots along the perimeter. Even if a few were taken down, the Alterrans would not be able to push down every one! How awesome was it to have so many slaves! Better, they also knew Alterra''s sentries apparently didn''t attack slaves (very stupid of them, really). So while the slaves built their stairs, they wouldn''t even get attacked! Soon, in various areas around the territory, stairs and other types of access started getting erected. Of course, it wasn''t so straightforward. Even if the sentries didn''t attack the slaves without hostile intent¡ªat least, not yet¡ªthe humans could. The Alterran archers seemed to choose their targets though, and they varied the attacks from lethal to debilitating using an unknown criteria. For the most part, whatever was being built was just disassembled or kicked down. However, Tout and the others weren''t too worried, because there was access being built in all parts as they stood. Anyway, as thousands of slaves headed forward to clear the way for them, Resso was greeted by some of the group already there. It was none other than Hemeppo, the Lord of Hasa Village¡ªthe Village that eats people. "As per the agreement, we want a few hundred women." "Yes, yes," Tout said, shrugging. Even if the allied villages were ordered by Basset to help out, they naturally had to gain some advantages from Resso. This was Alterra, and how they would divide it up once they took over. The plan was to enter and torture everyone until they found out who the lord was and take the token. The token would be given to Basset Town to become its satellite, but everyone¡ªespecially Resso¡ªwould be greatly rewarded. Some of the allied villages requested manpower, while some requested certain technologies. Resso would receive several thousand golds on top of a few experts in food making. Excluding the slaves, the main forces already triumphed against Alterra in terms of numbers. They also had a lot of level 15s lent by Basset Town with them to help out. More than that, there were about a dozen level 25s and even a level 30 with them. These elites didn''t bother greeting them of course, and Tout would never expect them to. As long as they were there, he was relieved. The tens of thousands of the main forces¡ªdaydreaming about their wins¡ª stood just outside the scope of the sentries, waiting for the slaves to set up enough access so there was less chance of them getting taken down by the sentries on the way up. Unlike the slaves, those dense sentries would definitely target them. They naturally had to plan the fastest path inside. Unexpectedly, before most of the slaves finished, the gates opened instead! They gaped as the slaves along the gates entered group by group, followed by the slaves behind them, and from their sides, and so on. "What¡­" Tout whispered and looked at his cronies. "What did the spies say?" Well, technically speaking, he only had one spy left with an aether letter. Everyone else had been captured already! The man scrambled to take out his aether letter and write down question after question. For example: What the heck is happening, what''s going on inside, are the slaves really there?! Soon, they received a response. "They opened both gates wide, letting the slaves in!" "What?" "What''s going on?" "They''re just letting them in!" That was thousands of slaves! Were they just letting them barge into the territory without challenge? "Are they stupid?!" some asked, while some outright celebrated. "That''s great!" Some yelled, and they immediately went forward in excitement, forgetting that they were entering the scope of the sentries. Swoosh!! They watched as a few people fell from sentry and long-bow attacks and people stepped back abruptly. It was so abrupt a section pushed each other back, causing some falls and minor injuries. Tout gritted his teeth. "Don''t be careless!" He screamed. "This is entirely a good thing for us! We won''t have meat shields anymore!" He looked at the thousands of slaves entering. If they let it be, they''d be completely exposed and without their precious meatshields. "Try to sneak inside with the slaves, too!" Tout yelled, and a lot of people tried to get in along with the slaves. They made sure to run in between. They had heard that this was a common strategy with war against Alterra: Hiding behind the slaves. Unfortunately, the archers and sentries still detected them¡ªthere were more sentries around the gates now¡ªand the attempts were easily stopped, irking the lord. "Tsk," Tout cursed. "Why would they let them in though?" He looked to his side again. "Did he say what''s happening inside?" The other man shook his head, staring at the large slight-shimmering piece of parchment. "He only said they were allowed deep into the territory, filling up the avenues! He said he''d take a closer look but he''s not responding anymore," he said. Tout narrowed his eyes, staring at the tall and sturdy walls that blocked their view. They were not only stupid enough to protect enemy slaves, they even let them inside their walls!! How did they grow so much with such tiny brains? Maybe they grew too quickly that they forgot to think? Well, in any case, all was best for Tout. They didn''t know what kind of stupidity Alterra was doing, but those slaves better cause deep damage from within! With his authority as the lord, he sent a resounding order to his slaves. [Attack!] The slaves would cause so much chaos inside, maybe those people wouldn''t have the time to bother with them outside! Chapter 1099 - 1099: Resso Village Slaves (Part 2) Inside the walls Contrary to what Tout thought, the slaves inside the territory were barely causing any damage at all. Whenever slaves were ordered to attack on sight, they would do so regardless of who it was. By default, slaves didn''t choose their enemies, they just attacked whoever was closer. It didn''t matter if it was an old woman, a child, or even a former lover¡ªthe slave ordered to attack would follow orders. If there was no person nearby, slaves would automatically find openings until they found one. Slaves generally didn''t bother with the property. If a territory''s infrastructure and property got destroyed during wars, it was likely the work of normal guards and citizens. Most of these slaves were given wood weapons (most of which were sponsored by Basset), while some stronger slaves even got bone weapons or something similarly superior. One of these slaves was Cau, a level 15 spearman. He was one of the older slaves, and he had been captured more than 10 years ago even before Basset Town was a town. Through the years, he had been sent to subsidiary villages to help subdue other territories and gain their money. Attacking villages via their subsidiaries was one of Basset Town''s main sources of income. Amidst all that, Cau became one of the best performers. He was even prohibited from killing monsters again so he could maintain his level within the village cap. He was in his 40s when he was captured. His level back then was Level 13. Now, in his early 50''s, he only climbed up two levels¡ªand it was entirely due to experience gained from killing fellow human beings. He was also on the verge of leveling up. If he killed a few more people, then he might go beyond the level cap. In that case, he''d be less used in Village Wars, which¡ªwhile a cold thought¡ªwasn''t entirely bad. Of course, he never enjoyed killing people. How could he? It reminded him of the fall of his own village¡ªthe day he lost his entire family and his friends. After so many years, only a few of them remained. Many perished due to natural disasters, and most due to wars. They attacked without regard for their own bodies, just using all of their beings to follow the orders sent to them. Each time, they were just ordered to terrorize the enemy. [Attack!] echoed in their minds over and over, like a chant and their bodies would follow as if they didn''t know how to do better. When he stabbed innocents¡ªsome were even children¡ªhe felt like dying inside. However, they were slaves. They no longer owned their lives. Coming here, he didn''t expect anything else but the same horror he had been going through for years. However, he was shocked when he saw the large wall and the dense sentries and wondered if they had gone to the wrong territory. But then it was confirmed really was the place, he was both amazed and relieved. Those sentries were dense and strong. Perhaps this would finally end his suffering. He was tired. So tired. However¡­ he got excited too early. Those sentries didn''t attack slaves at all! Why? Were they broken? Were they just displays? But then he saw it attack someone from his side and realized it was working. If so, why didn''t it attack him or the other slaves? Then the gates opened widely, letting them all inside!! His heart clenched, thinking the horrors and murders would happen again soon. Thousands of slaves passed through the territory threshold, emerging into the widest streets they had ever seen. Each street could carry several beast carts, right? And it seemed long and endless, as if it would pass through the entire territory. The avenue was empty, however. There were no signs of life. They could only enter, deeper and deeper, and they could only gape at the themed buildings, parks, and so on. [Attack!] The sound echoed inside their minds again. There was no one there so by default they headed towards the streets to find their targets. Whether it was on other throughfares or even above the houses, they would look for them. Slaves would automatically do this even if they had to climb over on top of each other. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But¡­ Where were the streets? It was here that they realized the streets connecting to the avenues were all closed off by reinforced wooden walls! Cau and the others could only be confused, not realizing that weird smoke began to flood where they stood. He gasped when he felt a dull arrow buried on his legs. It was shallow and a bit painful, but he immediately felt numb all over. Then¡­, everything went black. ¡­ "Let go of me!!" A bloodied man yelled as he was dragged by Gill through the battlement floor. Gill then threw him in front of Garan before kicking him again. He sneered at the man before handing the aether letter to Garan, who skimmed through the messages. "This should be the last of Resso and Basset''s main spies," Gill said. "Though we''re still keeping our eyes open for them." Garan nodded, before turning to look down at the avenue filled with fainted slaves. The avenues were extremely wide and long and thousands of slaves could fit in. From above, the sheer amount of them was intimidating. Dedicated teams sprayed them all with their paralysis smoke, with the gas floating several feet, with the wind users making sure it reached every slave. This particular batch had heavier gases so it didn''t flow outside of where the slaves were. The archers also directly shot the stronger ones who did not fall down with arrows doused with a bit of paralysis potion. It was a massive undertaking, and by no means cheap to others, but doable for Alterra. They actually had large farms¡ªsome were even in vertical farms¡ªfor the raw materials of their sleep and paralysis potions and bombs. It was really no problem to spray a huge crowd like this. "After the war, as always, we will study who to give the right to buy their own freedom¡ª and who would become prisoners of war. For now, contain them in one area." "Yes, boss!" the guards yelled, and Garan watched them leave. Who was to say all slaves were decent people? There could be evil ones among them, too. This was a lot of trouble, and each war consumed a lot of man-hours just checking out the slaves they received. It was just that they didn''t have it in them to kill fellow humans blindly. At least not yet. This war would probably be the final war they''d set the sentries like this. At the Town level, he would ask his wife to take off the sentry prohibition of killing slaves. They''d set the sentries not to attack slaves with elementalist auras, but that would be about it. Slaves in Towns would be stronger and more threatening¡ªnot to mention, Towns'' populations could reach hundreds of thousands. They did not dare be so ''kind'' anymore. So¡ªat least this time¡ªthey wanted to rescue as many as they could before joining in massacres like other territories. With this thought, Garan turned to the other side of the walls. He looked at the enemy crowd, now stagnant beyond the reach of the sentries. This time, with most of their meatshields gone, they could only depend on their equipment and shields to cover for them. They were likely strategizing what to do now that their previous protection plan was messed up. They had no idea¡­ that the sentries would be the least of their problems. Chapter 1100 - 1100: Unusual Vibrations Tout''s jaw was clenched as he glared at the tall wall. It wasn''t that he didn''t have slaves anymore¡ªthere were still a few thousand on his side¡ªbut the ratio was small that only a small fraction of them would be able to use meat shields now. Everyone was fully equipped with at least a Level E weapon and defense equipment, courtesy of Basset Town¡ªdeductable to his share of this place, of course¡ªbut that wouldn''t stop a damned Level 5 sentry, so meat shields were still the best way to protect themselves. Anyway, no one wanted to go ahead with so many sentries and archers targeting them! And so¡­ for the next few minutes, they entered an embarrassing standstill. "What''s going on?" Suddenly, a voice sounded from the side and everyone felt a little intimidated just by their approach. "Masters!" Tout exclaimed and everyone adopted a somewhat more humble stance. "Why are you just standing here?" the man asked, obviously impatient for action. Next to him were a couple of Level 20s, all with similar annoyed expressions. The man''s name was Temp, a level 30 guard from Basset Town. He was sent here to assist their entry if needed¡ªand, obviously, they were very much needed. Although Basset Town was also a new Town¡ªjust a little over a decade¡ªit had quite a few level 30s in its midst. This was the legacy of the previous Lord, who worked hard to add a lot of powerful individuals in their midst before they got eaten up by other towns. This was done by recruiting from cities and giving them various benefits such as their own homes, free food, and so on. This did not include the benefits Mercenary Teams received if they decided to create a base there, too. It was pretty much impossible to recruit someone from a Town to a Village, but a City to a Town was not too far-fetched. Living in extremely dense cities could get very cutthroat, not to mention the chances of encountering huge monsters were not small. Heck, their levels were at that awkward stage of being the meatshields for the Level 40s and 50s hunting for such monsters! S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the very least, Towns were rich enough and had enough prestige to provide decent living conditions. In contrast, Villages were too poor and unstable; one could get destroyed or change owners every so often. The monsters were also too weak and staying there was akin to staying on the same level forever. For anyone with any ambition for power and a long life, remaining stagnant was akin to a death sentence. At least in Towns, the average monster level was 15 to 20¡ªwith the occasional Level 25s¡ªwhich was the perfect mob for them to level up. And finally, in Towns, they''d be proper powerhouses and were extremely revered. It was a worthy exchange for the prestige of being city-bound. Through the years, the number of level 30s in Basset Town had become quite sizeable. However, their number wasn''t big enough to bother sending them to battles between villages. Sending one here¡ªalong with dozens of level 20s and above¡ªwas indicative of just how much Basset Town wanted Alterra. And Temp¡­ he was promised a hefty bonus for winning this war. He was really fascinated by this place''s products and business. Having a part of it was indeed very good. He arrived a bit later than others though, but he was expecting the war to be entering the first wave of battles at this time. According to the plan, he and his team would sweep in to assist the entries so many more people could enter the walls. When he saw that the crowd was not moving at all¡ªidiots¡ªit annoyed him quite a bit. "Well?" Tout gulped, intimidated. "I¡­ the meatshields are mostly gone, so we''re about the head out with our shields," he said. "However, those sentries are level 5. The slaves we have now might not be enough." Temp looked at the walls. It was a Level 5 wall, and this meant even he¡ªa level 30¡ª could still get damaged and even killed if hit at a sensitive spot. "So troublesome," he said, looking at Tout. "Go back to the array and call the rest of you slaves," he said. "You''ll need those shields." Tout flinched, a little reluctant. The thing was, slaves were counted as a separate entity. If they lost the war, it was a given that half of their assets including citizens would become the winner''s. However, slaves¡ªas long as they went through the arrays or passed through the threshold of the defending territory¡ªthey''d automatically be assigned to that territory. Because of this, a loss in war was more than just losing half of one''s assets. Temp narrowed his eyes at the villager. "You think we''ll lose?" "Of course not!" Tout immediately answered, suddenly gaining confidence after thinking about it. It was just standard practice to leave some for oneself, so he didn''t think of doing so from the get-go. He was just being stupid, after all. Anyway, Tout agreed and ordered his men to gather their remaining slaves. It didn''t take long for the slaves, who were completely unprepared for this mission, to arrive. Temp and the other elites took a random slave and led the way. "While they are busy with the slaves they let in, it''s time for us to enter!" he said, looking at the crowd behind him. "Remember what we will get out of this: Power, wealth, and resources! Don''t hesitate! They do not deserve all those good things¡ªbut we do!" he yelled, enticing the people''s spirit (and greed). "Surround the territory! Enter at all cost!" And so, thousands and thousands of forces once again lunged forward with full force, aiming to finally get inside and do what they were best at: Plundering! "YEAHHH!" "KILL! KILL! KILL!" "TAKE ALTERRA DOWN!!!" They were quite passionate again. Having a strong ''general'' was definitely important for momentum. Anyway, the tens of thousands of people continued rushing forward with high passion. The number and strength seemed to have caused major vibrations in the ground, which added to the momentum of the attackers. The movement of the ground led the mob to feel they were so strong after all. It felt like they could just topple over anything¡ªeven that Level 5 Wall! They did not realize that this intensifying vibration¡­ couldn''t have come from them at all! Chapter 1101 - 1101: Attacks from the Rear!! Sad for them, they were too dense and too many that they were temporarily unaware of the impending doom approaching them from the rear. At this time, everyone was just focused on getting to the various access points and entering that damned territory! sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Monsters tended to target the gates¡ªthe weak spots. However, humans had brains so they naturally didn''t focus their attention on the gates, which were usually the best-equipped sections of the walls. Rather, they would focus on random spots where¡ªideally¡ªthere were the least amount of guards. This was easier to find in other territories because most territories couldn''t afford this many sentries. Still, they could make up for it by their sheer numbers! This number alone was a lot more than the total population of Alterra. Not even including the slaves they idiotically let inside, Alterrans were already severely outnumbered! The Resso Villagers and their allies didn''t believe they could be pushed back at all! That place and all its goodness would be in their palms soon! Of course, while most were passionate and excited about their loot, there were others who were just going with the flow. They were brought here because of desperation or they were simply forced to. One such case was a man named Jest. He was a level 15 citizen from Basset Town. He was drafted and joined the war at the request¡ªno, the pressure¡ªof his parents. The reward for citizens during wars was not bad, after all, and he was fairly strong for his age, and it so happened that his father lost everything in gambling¡­ again. Basically, if he didn''t join this war, then the gambling house owner swore to cut off his father''s arms! What choice did he have? Jest abhorred being in wars¡ªit felt like it went against his very being¡ªbut what could he do? Not to mention his father''s hands. Life in a town was so expensive; even fighting outside all day could only feed them for a bit. Of course, Jest was still in the minority. For the most part, the people with him were just greedy for this place. He was among the vanguards this time and he avoided some sentries, and swiped away arrows. Jest looked up to see that Alterra also set up strong bows. They were several times larger than their normal crossbows and were thus not handheld. Rather, they seemed installed right at the battlements! Their force? Could impale a level 10 easily!! Whoosh! He screamed when an arrow grazed his arm. There was a rain of arrows and Jest leaned down to avoid them, flushing himself against the wall. Time seemed to slow, and his breath was heavy. He stared at the Resso villagers and allies mobbing the walls, as they were hit by arrows here and there, but they went on as ordered¡ªespecially the slaves. Then he felt it¡ªthe vibrations. He had been in various wars¡­ and¡ªalthough he had never been part of a force this large¡ªhe still felt that this vibration was too much. He had a foreboding feeling enter his gut. He unconsciously tried to flush himself more against the wall as if he wanted to combine with it. He could not die! His little brother¡ª It was around this time that they finally heard chaos happening at the back of the line. "AHHH!" "GAH!!" ROAAARR!! "There are monsters!!" Tout, who was holding a Class D shield in front of him, frowned. "What?" Everyone knew such a massive gathering of people would attract mobs, but considering their levels and their sheer numbers, they didn''t think that normal village mobs were threats at all. So what were they on about now? He was about to call them idiots when he realized the screams and roars were coming in various directions¡ªand with an intensity that was not associated with a small village mob. "GYAHHHH!" "WHAT!" ROOOOARRR!! It happened too fast. For those who were at the rear, they could only scream as a massive mob of monsters suddenly appeared behind them! It was like a sudden tsunami of water appeared out of nowhere except they wanted to bite their heads off!! ROAAR!! "GAHH!" "NOOOOO!!!" "HELP MEEEE!!!" Most didn''t realize the scale of the mob coming from behind them. Most just went forward¡ªthinking those near the monsters would deal with them instead. They had no idea they would be surrounded a few seconds later. One man pushed an ally behind him, though his tracks stopped a moment later. "What in the¡ª" He gasped as a large monster appeared in front of him. He stepped back by instinct, not realizing he''d end up in the mouth of another monster right behind him. Crunch! With a bite, this monster took half of his body. This happened everywhere in their group, and people''s hearts clenched as they felt the yells and roars come louder and louder, as if signaling their impending doom. The momentum to attack Alterra was doused with fear as more and more people realized that the mob behind them was way bigger than they could''ve imagined! What''s more, the beast tide for Towns was naturally not comparable to Villages. On average, the beast tides coming for towns were monsters around levels 9 to 12. However, Alterra had stronger aether than others, and the monsters coming from them were even stronger. Here... they saw a couple of Level 15s!! "AHHHH!" "NOO!!" This mob averaged at level 12, the strongest of which was level 15. A level 15 human was no match against a level 15 monster, let alone the weaker ones. What the heck is this!? "AHHH!" "STOP IT!" "GYAAA!" Many people in front realized that the way to escape death was to rush to the access! Now, they were dashing towards the walls for a different reason altogether. This was especially true for those already in the stairs and their height gave them a better vantage view of what was happening in the rears. And it was a terrifying sight. It was like their tens of thousands were being drowned from the outside, and it made people''s souls leave their bodies. Using a slave as a shield, many desperately tried to head up. However, just as they reached the top, feet appeared and kicked them down. "AHH!" They yelled, whipping their head up to glare at the person who kicked him. He saw a flabby guy looking down at him. "Go, clear the monsters first." "YOU!!" "We just upgraded, you see..." he said. "Thank you for lightening up our load." This made everyone below the walls curse in both anger and terror. DAMN YOU ALTERRA! Chapter 1102 - 1102: Massacres! The tens of thousands of forces¡ªmost of whom were outside had to deal with strong mobs not found in villages. Suffice to say, it was a massacre. While their levels and numbers weren''t low, they definitely did not expect such powerful monsters to come at this moment! It still caught them off-guard in the end, exacerbating the damage. In some places, some low-level people were eaten outright. There were also those who gathered enough wit to fight, but they were either alone or didn''t work well with the others¡ªeventually succumbing to the monster mob as well. These people weren''t really trained for teamwork among those from the same territory¡ªlet alone teamwork with people from other territories! ROAR! Slash! "AHHH!" Squelch! Clash! "HELP MEEE!!!! PLEA¡ªGah!" Crunch! Some people''s bodies were even shared. For example, the upper torso was taken by one monster, but his legs would be pulled by another one. Tout saw the chaos and¡ªknowing this could not go on¡ªyelled. "DAMNIT! GET OVER YOURSELVES! FIGHT!" If they continued like this, wouldn''t they get defeated before most of them reached the walls?! HECK NO!! He immediately ordered the slaves to attack the Monsters, so the rest of the citizens could handle them while they were distracted. The poor slaves had no choice but to lunge towards the monsters that''d definitely kill them. They could only fight for their lives, slashing their wooden swords, and doing their best to live for a few seconds longer. Their bodies could no longer be controlled and moved for the sole purpose of buying time and chances for those behind them. Even if it meant going straight into monsters'' mouths. Using the temporary distraction the slaves were doing, the others used this chance to attack and mob the monsters to deal with them. After the initial attacks, the thousands of fighting forces finally caught themselves and began to fight against the mobs. "ATTACK!!!" they yelled, shifting their attention from the wall to the monsters next to them. They held out their weapons to fight, some forming some makeshift teams with hit-or-miss cooperation. Sometimes, they''d get lucky and have the sentries hit the monsters. In that case, they''d take advantage and get the final kill and even get the associated experience and copper. Not everyone was lucky with the sentries though. For these people, they could end up in the arrow''s path while they were distracted by the monsters. They''d also receive some arrows from the Alterrans, with varying degrees of lethality. However, even if it was just a graze, it still hurt and a moment of distraction was enough for one or two monsters to take advantage. "GAHHH!" another yelled as his arm was bitten off and he gasped as he felt his arm bone getting pulled out from his shoulders. "AHHH!" Then he no longer felt pain after that, because a smaller monster appeared right behind him, eating him up from above his head. Blood and internal organs splattered all over, and the spectators even saw someone''s spine being pulled out by a monster. Anyway, it was a gruesome sight all over and a few Alterran guards watching the show ended up vomiting. Don''t look at them being here for a year. Alterra protected them well enough without letting them stagnate too much. The gruesome sight of people getting eaten in half was a memory of long ago, back before they found the safety of Alterra''s walls. It was fortunate for the Resso''s Teams that there were so many of them, otherwise this war would''ve been over before they could even reach the walls. Temp and the other level 20s had also ran back to help deal with the mobs¡ªthey had no choice. They were bound to at least do their best, so they had to take down as many monsters as they could. The injection of their force naturally lightened up the massacres in the area. A Level 30 against a Level 12 was definitely not a difficult fight. Of course, mobs of this level were still a challenge, especially if they were outnumbered. It was easy for Temp to kill a level 10 and below, but being surrounded by dozens of them was still dangerous. However, even if he was being drowned, he could just pull someone to be eaten instead of getting bitten. "Orcshit!" Temp yelled as the blood of a slave he threw splattered all over him. He cursed a bit more but had no time to feel disgusted. Then two level 15 monsters appeared next to him and¡ªbecause he was almost injured by their sudden appearances¡ªhe had to use mana and skills in the process. The monsters were dense and at some point he was left alone in the area, with everyone else either running away from the mob (though getting caught in the end) or running desperately towards the walls. Going here, Temp did not expect to get into so much trouble! He was considered strong in Basset Town. This was a war between villages! Alterra, according to their information, also had level 20s and 30s, but not that many nor would they be able to do as much. In the end, they outnumbered them a few to one. What was this now?! At most, he thought he''d be dealing with the sentries, which would have somewhat diminished effect on people his level. Even if they did, he could just grab a slave or a shield to protect himself from harm. Even the Mercenaries hired here were aghast. About another dozen of the level 20s were from mercenary teams. They at least had some teamwork to speak of so no one had died yet despite being surrounded. However, being mobbed like this was not part of the plan! Their task was to make sure those within the level cap would be able to enter the territory and cause chaos inside. They thought that this was a great exchange considering the amount of money and products promised to them after this. But, at this time, their spirits and mana were getting lower at a palpable rate, and all of them had an increasing number of injuries on their bodies. It was getting genuinely dangerous for them. Another hour of this and they''d be seeing deaths. So even if they ran away now, the oaths wouldn''t be broken. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was just that¡ªlooking at the sea of monsters emerging from the forests group by group¡ªthey had a foreboding feeling: There was no escaping this!! Chapter 1103 - 1103: The Fall of Hemeppo Everyone, even the Elites, wanted to run to the walls and forcefully enter there instead. However, it was easier said than done simply because they were completely surrounded. Even if they pushed other people to the mouths of monsters, chances were: There''d be a few more waiting for them up front. Then, even if they neared the walls, Alterran archers would shoot them down! "AH!" Temp yelled when his leg was scratched. Even if the monsters around him were less than level 15 for the most part, monster physiques and strength were far superior to humans and their attacks could still damage them if they weren''t prepared enough. He could only focus on defending himself, not caring for the war anymore. He was, however, slowly stepping back, pulling in a fellowman if he managed to get them. Like this, he and a few of his team members slowly got closer to the wall, hoping to reach it before their energy was exhausted. Even if entering at their level during a war had heavy penalties, it was better than staying outside like this! However, after half an hour of pushing back, all allies next to him had either ran away or were used as meat shields, leaving him alone. In this time frame, he had already consumed a portion of his healing potions. In other areas, the dozens of level 20s had the same problem, though they were lucky to be close to each other and could fight together. They were clearing out the monsters at a good pace, which was not just good for them, but also for the Alterrans watching nearby. Anyway, it was an all-out war between man and monster, with Alterrans watching securely on the battlements¡ªkicking down the enemy ''vanguards'' back to the monsters in the process. "AHH! NOO!" Another Resso Villager yelled as he was kicked down by an Alterran to join in the fight against monsters. The man fell down and crawled back, barely avoiding a monster attack. He was lucky because a sentry targeted the monster, killing it, but there were too many beasts around. In his panic, while avoiding one, he idiotically ended up heading to the mouth of another instead. Standing on the battlement, the aborigines in the guard team looked in awe. To be honest, they had never seen so many enemies at once before so seeing the dark wave of volatile enemies did make them nervous. Among them was Mauru and his team, who were watching with complicated expressions. Every guard had their own scopes now and they could clearly see what was happening. They were so ready for a big fight, would the mobs take care of everything? Of course, the easier the fight the better, but they lived for war and the contribution points that it brought. They also wanted to test things out! A few of their younger members who had reached level 10 in the past few months actually activated the physical type of powers! One person got super strength while another got superspeed! It was unbelievable! As for how it was triggered, it was still up to study, but everyone was positive this wouldn''t have happened if they weren''t in Alterra! After all, everyone had been living together for years, yet no one had awakened such skills at all! They also wanted to add more contribution points, because that meant their lifestyles would improve even more! "Well, the enemy is a lot. They might just take care of the mobs for us." "Well, I can test out my super strength later on." Their stances were a little relaxed but still tense enough to be able to react, should a battle suddenly get to them. Unexpectedly, they saw something interesting amongst the attacking crowd. "Hey, look!" Essan yelled as he looked over his scope. "What is it?" "Look for yourself," he said, handing over the scope to his companions. They didn''t know what to expect peeking through it, but the person who did gasped. This made Mauru and the others very curious. "What is it?" he said, taking the scope to see for himself anyway. His jaw clenched. "It''s Hemeppo!" "What?" Hemeppo was one of the bastards who destroyed their old home and killed their kind-hearted Lord!! So he was part of this alliance? Mauru and the others watched as the enemy lord tried to fight off the monsters, calling his own forces to fight with him. Most of them were too busy securing their own lives though, so except for the unlucky guards who happened to be next to him, Hemeppo was pretty much on his own. Hemeppo was indeed in a pinch. He wasn''t planning on joining the fight at all! He was just here to watch the show and throw in a few slaves to contribute, and receive very good ones as rewards. Sure, the ones he sent were practically useless, but who was counting? Anyway, his plan was to watch from safety near the arrays, and maybe find a way to get more favor from Basset Town along the way. But who''d have expected such a large mob coming from behind?! It was too late for them to get back through the array and they had no choice but to run deeper into the war zone. "HELP!!" the citizens yelled, but Hemeppo was busy hiding behind others, slowly getting near the walls. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Hiding behind people''s corpses and bodies, he eventually reached the scope of the sentries. The person who activated a superspeed ability was a teenager named Mashan. He narrowed his eyes at Hemeppo. He was one of the witnesses of their lord''s death. His uncle was the only family he had left. If Mauru and the others didn''t pull him with them, he''d definitely have lunged towards the enemy to get his revenge even at the cost of his own life! Staying in Alterra had calmed down his bitterness bit by bit, but seeing this bastard still alive definitely ignited his flame. Without thinking, Mashan entered the fray, using his newfound skills to arrive next to him. "What¡ª" Hemeppo (and Mauin and the others from the walls, for that matter) yelled at his sudden appearance there. "For my uncle!" he yelled, jumping up to kick Hemeppo right in the head, causing him to fall smack on the ground, losing all balance. Mashan did not stay anymore¡ªas much as he wanted to¡ªimmediately using much of his mana to get back to the safety of the walls. He managed to get back in time to see Hemeppo''s fate. Hemeppo was still down on the ground and tried to lift himself up, but was stepped on by other people without noticing. Even if they did, no one really cared. The Lord coughed and struggled to lift his head, rolling out of the way of another stampede. However, when he managed to do so, he only saw a smaller monster with red eyes and razor-sharp teeth looking at him. "GAHHH!" he screamed, trying to crawl away from the monster. It jumped towards him, opening its mouth wide and bit Hemeppo''s upper body, thrusting up to pull off meat for consumption. Hemeppo''s shoulder was bitten off and he could see part of his body separating from him. His eyes were wide, mind whirling and unable to absorb the fact that that was really part of his body taken away from him. This pause was enough for a few more monsters to notice him there, taking him apart one by one for their own feasts. And so was the anticlimactic end of an ambitious man. Chapter 1104 - 1104: Insult to Injury The Mauin Villagers watched on as the man responsible for the fall of their old home was ripped apart by monsters. They cheered, and some even cried. They were not sadists, but seeing this felt like another piece of the world was put in the right place. The others in the battlement were curious about what they were cheering about, though they didn''t move from their positions. Regardless of what was happening, they were still in a war. What if, in their distraction, an enemy archer somehow managed to target them? Worse, what if a high-jumping monster suddenly appeared and bit off their heads. Cringe. That was very unlikely, of course, since unlike other villages their walls were above a five-meter tall wall. Still, who''d want to die in some ''freak accident''? Anyway, while all this was ongoing, some sharper aborigines were quiet. They just stared in the direction where Hemeppo died. Mauru narrowed his eyes. "If he''s part of the alliance, then he''d have sent forces. Slaves, at least...." This made everyone near him pause and look at him. Essan shook. "If some of our former fellowmen are still alive and are slaves¡­" Mauru nodded. "...they could be here." The former Mauin citizens flinched at this, and they immediately turned in the direction of the avenues. It had been so long and they didn''t want to get their hopes up. But¡­ what if? ¡­ Like the Mauins, there were also a lot of Aborigine teams that had formed through the months. One was Shinho''s team, who were among the refugees during the Heat Wave. He was allowed to form his own team from the mixed-origin refugee group he made back then. Like the Mauin, they had also strived hard to get contribution points and they had been living very well. They watched with apt attention as many of the enemies fought with monsters, at the same time they also saw a lot running towards the walls. No doubt, they were planning on pushing their luck to get in the territory rather than get mauled by monsters. Several formations were broken and the enemy side was in an embarrassingly chaotic state. Instead of helping each other they either left the others or literally pushed them to monsters'' mouths. The guards looked at the thousands of people running towards the walls. Before, they were attacking out of greed. If they had a way out of this, they would''ve just run away. However, they had no place else to go but the wall. Now, instead of their own hubris, the enemies were now running towards them out of desperation. And desperate people would definitely have bursts of power. Well¡ªwhatever happened¡ªthey''ll be ready! ¡­ The enemies had indeed become desperate. Instead of fighting the mob, it was better to go inside and be protected by the walls! Anyway, those damned bastards steal the last kill anyway!! The number of times they struggled to kill a monster¡ªmaybe even losing a limb or an ally in the process¡ªonly for a random arrow to take its life when the monster was already half-dead was innumerable! They''d rather deal with Alterrans than the monsters! Most of them couldn''t do so before because they were trapped within the large mobs, but some had managed to escape and desperately run for it. However, Alterrans knew this, so how could they do nothing? By the time the enemies had reached the walls, they realized that all of their access had been taken down while they were busy with the monsters! Some just needed to be propped up, while some were outright destroyed during the chaos. "DAMNIT!" "DAMN YOU ALTERRANS!!" Worse¡­ sometimes, smoke bombs would be thrown in some sections of the Resso crowd. They specifically targeted the areas with stronger citizens. For instance, the area where Temp was. What did they spray? sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Beast Attracting Potions!! ROAAARR!! "AHHH!" These people had no choice but to handle the monsters it attracted. Perhaps only Temp didn''t have any major injuries at this time. Most of the Level 20s were also showing signs of exhaustion by now. But what could they do? Those damned beasts were running after them, and they had no choice but to do their best in handling them!! What made it even worse was that they could hear some cheering from the walls. "Go guys! Kill those monsters!" "Thank you!!" "Your sacrifice is not in vain!" DAMN ITT!!! ¡­ In all parts of the battlement, there was someone guarding, making sure that the enemies were not able to enter at all. Those monsters were scary! In terms of average levels, Alterrans were technically not superior to their enemies. In terms of numbers, they were even less! If they had to handle this mob on their own, there would definitely be deaths! Better the enemies than them! Near the Eastern gate, Mao and the others were watching another good portion of the enemy fighting against the monsters. Many of the level 20s were in this area, so they were putting up a good fight, taking down a monster or two every couple of moments. This side had flatter Terran so they had better views. Although they were ready to fight at a moment''s notice, someone couldn''t help but take out the bucket of popcorn he stored in space. It was placed as a hat on his head, so his hands were free to hold weapons while popcorn was being fed to him. This was none other than Mao, because of course it is. "I wonder who we''d end up battling? The humans or the monsters?" He asked, his body was ready to move at any time, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes. Luis lifted his arms and took a handful of popcorn in his free hand. It was cheese flavor, his favorite. "Well, which one would you prefer?" "I''d like the humans to win," Luis said. "At least we can use the survivors as prisoners of war." Strong prisoners of wars¡ªas long as they became system slaves¡ªwere really useful. There was a lot less guilt involved, and even less ''maintenance'' because they require a lot less rest, food, and time to recover from fatigue. "I agree," Mao said, though looking at the strong monsters. They''re fewer in number than the humans, but everyone knew the discrepancy in overall strength was big. As he chewed on his snack, an idea came to mind. Mao turned to Luis. "Wanna bet?" Luis blinked before nodding. "Sure." "Okay, I bet the monsters," Mao said. "I bet 10 gold." Luis thought for a while. "Then I''d go with humans." "Deal." "Deal." And they shook their cheese-filled hands. If the enemies knew this kind of bet was going around, they''d definitely go insane in anger! Chapter 1105 - 1105: The New Underground Bunker A/N: Thank you for your support everyone~!! We are so stable in T1 spot right now I wanna cry. I managed to make 3 bonus chaps for today, though I haven''t edited them yet. There''s a chance one or two chaps would be uploaded later than usual~ Do bear with me! ... ____ Inside the territory, people weren''t relaxing either. A lot of the civilians were inside their homes, but they had a window or two facing the streets open so they could shoot enemies as they arrived. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A lot of traps were also set up in the parks and other open spaces. Of course, they could only do minor traps designed to hold people, lest a citizen accidentally triggered it instead. There were also teams¡ªguards and civilians alike¡ªwho created barricades here and there, directing enemies towards the traps or otherwise just making sure they were more manageable, and there were also teams waiting in certain spots for ambush. As for the protection of the children as well as the other people who would not be able to protect themselves, they created an emergency bunker that was separate from the usual cellars and their tunnels. This was designed specifically for protection against outside enemies and was therefore designed to thoroughly protect whoever was inside. This was located in the Western areas of the territory where the soil was rocky but without their tunnels. It was dug to more than several meters deep by the goblins, was as big as a few warehouses combined, and was lined with reinforced concrete all over. They also made sure that new access or breaches wouldn''t happen either. Even if the enemies employed goblin slaves to dig through it, they wouldn''t be able to do anything. This was another advantage of having goblin allies¡ªthey could prepare them well if their kind were allied or were trapped with the enemies. Similarly, earth users would also have a hard time breaking it open. Even if it was the same ability as Reno, whose earth was adobe, the crystallized and reinforced structure of the bunker would make it incredibly difficult or even impossible to damage by pure force. At the very least, Reno was asked to check it out, and he barely made a dent despite consuming all his mana. One had to know that the walls of this bunker were more than half-a-meter, which was twice a person''s depth. It also had complete facilities for survival. It had a store room with food and water that could support hundreds of people for a week, or a few thousand for a few days. There were also public toilets, and some bunk beds people could use to rest in. Of course, to minimize the risks of spies and people who simply wanted to hide despite having the ability to defend themselves, the criteria for entering were quite strict. Only children 11 years old and below, old people above 60 years old (or older, if their levels were high), and the physically disabled were allowed inside. They¡ªor at least those who could actually talk or write properly¡ªhad to make oaths, too (at their costs). The others were not allowed to enter at all and could even be punished¡ªor even go to prison¡ªif they insisted on doing so. For security, there were at least a dozen guards inside the bunker, not counting the ones outside and the Level 5 sentries guarding the one way to the bunker. Speaking of sentries, there were also level 3 sentries lining the walls and located in certain spots at the center (which was why they designed it to have 3 meter ceiling heights). They were simply customized to appear like they were columns or part of the structure. Every corner and the central areas of the bunker had it and¡ªconsidering the place wasn''t too big¡ªif anyone decided to be violent, then at least two or three sentries would be gunning for him. There were also two guards in guard stations above eye level. They were archers stationed inside a small protected room, and could immediately make a move if there was an emergency the guards on the ground were not able to handle. Because most of the people here were children, there was also a nook of board games there to help them pass the time without causing too much headaches to the adults. In fact, Maya, Horus, and the group were playing jengga in a corner, while Mimi, Honda, and the rest were playing the local version of snakes-and-ladders (kongworms-and-stumps) in another. There was also a corner specifically for babies, and there were quite a few Terrans and goblin babies in there. There were even little wheels and puzzles for their age, hoping to occupy them for the entire day. The newborn babies had the exemption of being with their mothers of course, anyway all of them had pledged a lot of oaths a long time ago. So now there was a circle of mothers with their babies. Many of them wanted to join the war, but they were still breastfeeding and it wasn''t a good idea to do so. Anyway, Althea did everything to make sure her children were protected without belittling her own responsibility to the territory. Anyway, after settling her children, she prepared to leave them behind with the other kids. However, her babies weren''t making things easier for her. "Mammaaa! No gooo!!" Meatball screamed with that milky voice of his. Pepper wasn''t any better, sobbing quietly into the fabric of her pants. "Mamaaaaaaaa¡­ wuuuuu¡­" She tilted her head down to stare at the little dumplings grabbing her pants. They grabbed as much of her calves as they could with their little arms. They were even shorter than her knees, how much could they hold? Lola and Yana, who were just within the age limit, once again were assigned to nanny the two kids. They grabbed a child each and pulled them away from her legs. They were helpless against the adult forces and could only reach out for her with those pitiful faces that made everyone''s hearts hurt. "Wuuu¡­." "Mamma¡­..wuuu¡­." Althea was really reluctant to go, but she knew she couldn''t just stay here and hide for now. They were going against tens of thousands of enemies on top of some town-level beasts. Perhaps someday she could be reassured enough to hide in here with the children, but this was not the time for that right now. She could only sigh and walk over, smooching both of their soft faces. Speaking of which, they usually didn''t give her this much trouble when it was a normal work day. For some reason, they just seemed to have the instinct that she was heading somewhere dangerous. If one thought about it that way, then it was a bit heartbreaking. "Be good, my children," she told them. They didn''t know how to ask ''why'' yet but their eyes definitely exclaimed of it. "Because¡­ Mummy has to help protect our home," she said. "Alterra is also part of our family, you know." She told them. It was created for you, she wanted to say, but she could only express it in her emotions. She once again leaned down to kiss their foreheads. "Mummy will be back¡ªand with a stronger home." Chapter 1106 - 1106: Althea Back in Eastern Gates Yana and Lola distracted the babies by bringing them to the play space. Maya and the other kids also scooted over and played with them, effectively distracting them long enough so she could leave. Althea went up the bunker''s tall stairs and to the bright sky outside. She took a deep breath. She really preferred the open space like this. Next time, she''d add some plants or vertical gardens in the bunker to make it less suffocating. As she emerged from the tunnels though, a furry critter jumped over. "Woof!!" She smiled, lifting her hand to pet the dog. He was large now, almost at her height. His fur was very fluffy and soft to touch, and it was relaxing in its own right. "Woof! Woof!" Fufi barked, rubbing his head deeper into her petting. Obviously, he quite liked it. "I''ll depend on you guys to protect the kids, okay?" she said, and she also looked at the couple of guards behind him. They were all assigned at the entrance of the bunker, prepared to protect it at the cost of their lives. She never asked this of them of course, but she could see it in their eyes that they were willing to do so. As the Lord, how could she not want to spoil them a bit? After the war, she took note of giving a few more bonuses to the guard team. She didn''t say any of this though. Instead, she turned to the side to look at Oslo. "I''d really rather you stay here," she said. Oslo smiled, before shaking his head. "With all due respect, my ability would be far more useful in the main warzone. Oslo was originally assigned to this guard team. However, even if he had limited mobility as a person above the level limit, his ability to trap people was particularly useful. He could also kill beasts directly, which could really save lives. So, she had to agree in the end. Mathilda was also outside, followed by a few personal guards¡ªincluding her daughter, Gwen and her husband Ryan. She naturally couldn''t hide when her main abilities were so useful to keeping peace even during wars. It was a bit risky, but her presence outside had already outed two spies who wanted to attack her. Ryan''s shieldsman profession was really useful, especially the skill called [Automatic Cover] which would activate his ability the moment a threat appeared. Of course, how effective this was still depended on his ability and remaining mana. Mathilda and Althea greeted each other before heading back to their stations. "Let''s go," she said to Oslo, who followed closely behind her. "Time to join in this war." ¡­ They arrived at the Eastern gate a couple of minutes later. The chaos outside was intense and the area right under the walls was filled with humans and beasts trying to get into the walls and kill each other as they did so. Her eyes twitched when she saw Mao and a few guards with marks of cheese on their hands and mouths but she didn''t say anything. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Even if they appeared a bit careless, she knew they had the ability to recover before any damage would be done. She took out her bow and arrow, ready to shoot down any threats that would be climbing up the walls. Of course, other than that she wouldn''t bother wasting mana, especially since the enemies were useful in handling each other. For example, she would attack the monsters who were only targeting the walls, but ignore the ones taking down enemies some meters away. She was only Level 17, after all, and she still could not maximize her Bellagio bow in the sense that she could just take down hundreds of level 14s and level 15s monsters with little to no consequences to her. She should be thankful. Seeing this mob of predominantly level 10s to 15s¡­ she felt a little shiver. It was much stronger than they anticipated. According to the Ferrol notebook, their upgrade mob was predominantly Level 8s to 10s only. Without these people, they''d have taken a lot of losses. She should be thankful to them in a sense. If they survived¡ªassuming they weren''t evil¡ªshe would consider giving them slightly lighter sentences for their ''sacrifice''. At the same time, she also took this chance¡ªwhile the monsters were mostly preoccupied with enemies¡ªto observe them. This would be the normal mob they''d encounter as a Town; it was better to know them well. Of course, because Garan and the others trained near a Town, they naturally knew a lot about many of these beasts, but there were still some new ones she ought to know more of. Not to mention, there might be some observations they missed. ROAAARRR! The most familiar one had to be the Orgoi, which was a common monster near Ferrol Town. When she went there for the Beast Fair, she encountered a small mob of them, too. Orgois ranged from level 13 to 15 and had a similar appearance to the Terran hippopotamus, except it was bigger, black, and not cute at all. Basically, if the level gap wasn''t large, then a bite from this thing could crush a person''s skull. However, a lot were also new, particularly those coming from the East. She saw one that was jumping around and was quickly going from one place to another, a human''s head missing from wherever it was just at. It was a bit furry, around as tall as a human, but it was much swifter and had a terrifying face. Seeing a new beast, she hung her bow on her arms and took out her Beast notebook from the space. She took a rough sketch and took note of its movements. It preferred to skip several meters¡ªas if it was unable to land closeby¡ªand she reckoned it had to do with its springy body structure. That was to say, one of the ways to counter it was to determine where it would not land, and attack from there. Mao and the other''s eyes twitched when they saw her with her notebook out taking notes. Hey, if the enemies knew they were being used to observe beasts like this, would they feel even worse? "As expected from Miss Althea¡­ the paragon of scholarly pursuits¡­" Luis said, coughing. "Well, we will see her notes in books soon." "AH, that''s true." Anyway, while Miss Althea was increasing the territory''s knowledge base, then one of their tasks was to make sure she could do it peacefully! Chapter 1107 - 1107: Defending the Walls Althea decided to observe for a few more minutes before going into defensive mode again. She had limited mana anyway, and it was best to use her overpowered weapons against stronger monsters, particularly those that would still give her experience points. "Anyway, back to positions!" Mao yelled, seeing as more and more monsters were piling up below by a few meters. After the monsters got near, they would prefer to attack the walls, just because the ''aether'' was stronger there. It was why the people desperately tried running towards the wall in hopes of losing the monster''s attention. However, how easy could it be? Except for the first people who managed to flush themselves against the walls¡ªsome even managing to dig a small corner for themselves¡ªthe rest were not so lucky. It was really a gruesome sight. Whether it was monsters or humans, they were trying to go up the unscalable 5-meter-walls¡ªwhich, at this point, could only be done by piling up on one another. There would be humans trying to climb above monsters. Some would succeed, while some would only get swallowed from below. Similarly, there were also monsters stabbed by people trying to use them to go up. They were so desperate they often forgot there were still several layers of obstacles above the walls. "Hey did you start counting?" Luis-the-obstacle asked, holding up his sword after waving a fire whip downwards, causing a lot of beasts to slide down. He couldn''t directly attack people because he was way past the level cap, but he could definitely get beasts to crush the humans in his stead. "I think I''ll win the bet," he said, counting the number of humans still moving. There were a lot¡ªand most of them used their brains very well when it came to hiding, avoiding attacks, and so on. Mao''s eyebrows furrowed. "Huh?" he asked, narrowing his eyes as he looked down. "Obviously there are more monsters right now, right?" Luis shook his head. "Have you forgotten? There are fewer monsters in areas not in the gates. Of course there are more monsters in this place." At this, Mao paled, and he looked down. Piles of earth floated around him, intimidating humans. He couldn''t attack them directly but he could use the stones to push them back¡ªright into the mouths of monsters. "I will protect my 10 Gold!" The battles had gotten near, and a lot of people were well within earshot. Further, because Mao and Luis stood a couple of meters apart and were having their own fights (i.e. obstacles), they tended to yell at each other. So the enemies heard this bet loud and clear. "YOU BAS¡ª" It naturally made them very angry, but also very distracted. One of the men there¡ªa level 18¡ªwanted to throw a sword at them, but he ended up losing balance as he stepped on something. When he fell down, he lost all sight¡ªbecause his head was eaten up by a monster that appeared out of nowhere. "GAHHH!" "One down," Mao said, nodding. Luis then lifted his sword and sent a flame blade and split a level 8 monster in half. "One down, too." Mao sneered and started to target the nearby humans one by one too, and so did Luis. The others just rolled their eyes and focused on the battles at hand. The monsters were starting to jump dangerously close to them now, and it was only a matter of a few moments before their own fights would start. "Ready!" they yelled, and everyone was prepared to attack. Their sights were mostly directly below though, forgetting that there was a beast type that specialized in distant attacks. Suddenly, a shadow appeared right by the battlement, right above Mao''s head. It was a monster akin to a bipedal feline with a terrifying face and large arms¡ªwith paws that could destroy a person''s face with a swipe. "WHOA!" Fortunately, despite his lackadaisical appearance, Mao¡ªand the others¡ª developed very strong instincts. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Before the monster could hit Mao''s head, a line of soil appeared in front of it, taking all of the force. Crash! As the monster''s palms destroyed the rock, an arrow appeared from its side, going through its head. [Killed! Leapard (Lv13)! Gained +470 EXP, +470 Copper!] Althea put down her bow and arrow. Because she was taking note of this monster, she had an idea where it was going to go next. Seeing that the battle was upon them, she immediately hid her notebook and took up weapons again¡ªjust in time to take this kill. Mao and the others wouldn''t receive experience from it anyway, so it was already an accepted norm for her to take the last kill when she was nearby. Still, this attack seemed to serve as a signal for more and more monsters to arrive. Further, it seemed like they were not just stepping over other monsters¡ªthey were also using the nearby trees. The Leapard, in particular, was very good at this. Not to mention, it was also fast enough¡ªand its movements unconventional enough¡ªto avoid some sentries. Althea took note of cutting down (and preventing growth) trees a few meters away from the walls to prevent this in the future. Speaking of that, if they weren''t in a war during this beast mob, then it was estimated that a lot of these monsters would''ve jumped over the walls by now and caused trouble inside the territory. If a few of these managed to enter, then it''d have been quite troublesome. Gulp. Well, fortunately, they also had a lot of ''meatshields'' to distract most of them. ¡­ In any case, the monster mobs had arrived near them and had found the territory more fascinating than the other humans outside. Especially near the gates, monsters started heading toward the wall without care for the sentries. Similarly, the humans were trying to climb up the other areas relentlessly. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The arrows, sentries or not, finally rained down, and the humans in the path could only scream as many of them were hit in the process. Some died like this, suddenly reminded that¡ªafter everything¡ªthe Alterrans hadn''t shown any of their cards yet. So many of them had been killed and destroyed, but¡ªstrictly speaking¡ªAlterra had barely even lifted a hand! What were they thinking attacking such a territory? But it was too late for regrets because they would join the thousands of people who perished due to a few people''s stupid decisions¡ªand a lot of people''s greed. Chapter 1108 - 1108: The Last Attempts A/N: Sorry this one''s late! I had stuff going on and didn''t have much time to edit. Anyway, this is 5 of 5 of today''s chapters! I hope you enjoyed and again: THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!! *hugs* ... ____ Now that Alterra made a move, it felt like a barrage of attacks they could no longer avoid. A lot of the smarter humans though, had managed to find the safe spots of staying against the wall¡ªburied in the angle between the wall and the ground¡ªand keeping themselves as low as possible. This way, they would almost be flush to the wall and the ground and it was unlikely to get hit by the arrows'' projectiles. At the same time, the monsters¡ªwhich were now more attracted by the aether of the walls instead of them¡ªdidn''t see them anymore. One such person was Jest, who was among the first to do this. He was one of the vanguards after the slaves were led inside, and it was a miracle he was still alive (and whole) until now. He also managed to dig a bit of the surrounding soil so that he could enter the shallow depression, lowering his presence as much as he could. He was now lying down to minimize his exposed surface area, but at the same time, he was so exposed to the gore that was happening right in front of his eyes¡ªliterally! Crush! Crunch! Squelch! He wanted to vomit and cry as another person''s innards splashed at his face. His entire body was now covered with them. They were from different people and from beasts, but he had no choice but to just stay still. He¡­ had never expected he''d experience such a horror in such a place. He was used to just helping the subsidiary villagers inside the walls. Unlike the others, he avoided violence, though there were plenty of times he had no choice but to defend himself. Still, compared to others, the blood and gore he was exposed to... definitely did not compare to what he was seeing now! As someone from a town, he had naturally seen similar monsters before. However, in those cases, the people he was hunting with were people from Towns and were not taken aback by the strengths of monsters. Of course, his share of the loot was the bare minimum, but what could he do? His strength wasn''t so special. This was different for the people of Resso Village and the others. They were definitely not equipped to deal with such high-level mobs. Anyway, more and more people realized this and soon the walls were lined up with crawling enemies trying to melsh with the walls. More and more humans dragged themselves to hide within the safety of the walls, though ironically not even inside it. By the time most of the beasts targeted the walls and the gates, the perimeter of the walls in this area was filled with humans trying to bury themselves. Some of the Alterrans who saw this from their angle didn''t mind this for now. They just focused on handling the monsters on-hand. In the end, as long as the human wasn''t evil, they really would prefer sparing their lives when they could. Anyway, considering the number of people who attacked, a lot of them would end up being official ''slaves'' anyway. ROOOARRR! BANG! Now, the beasts were more of a problem to them. Although a good portion had been handled, there were still a lot of them in the end. Not to mention, the majority of the beasts attacked either of the two gates, so it was not a surprise that they were being troublesome here. Of course, even earlier, the guards weren''t just watching while the enemies fought with the beasts (well, most of them weren''t). They did make sure to lighten up the loads later on by targeting the particularly strong ones while they were distracted by the humans. They also preferred it if fights were easier once the mob reached the walls. For example, archers like Loki, Sammy, and the like targetted the level 14 or 15 Orgois, one of the common monsters in the Ferrol area. Since they camped around the area, Garan and a lot of Guards had memorized its weakness like the back of their hands. Even if they didn''t have such powerful weapons as Miss Althea, by virtue of their knowledge (and elements), they did manage to kill the monsters in one shot. [Killed! Orgoi (Lv15)! Gained +520 EXP, +520 Copper!] [Killed! Orgoi (Lv15)! Gained +520 EXP, +520 Copper!] The soldiers like Garan and the others had their own scopes, too, though the rest of them were away from the gates to handle the human enemies that were concentrated elsewhere. One had to know: Alterra had more than ten thousand meters of wall to guard. This was not a small place at all! The number of guards was not enough to fully guard all points of the territory. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, in Alterra, that was not much of a problem. There were plenty of brave citizens in all parts of the wall, and there was no meter that didn''t have someone guarding it. To the aborigines watching this war, this was amazing. Unlike other Villages upgrading to Towns¡ªwhich usually had more than 30 to 40 thousand population by the time they reached the prestige requirements¡ªAlterra only had around 20,000 at the time. And yet somehow, despite the low population, Alterra managed to have guards in all parts of the territory simply because almost everyone wanted to contribute to the Village''s safety. Anyway, the citizens guarded along with the sentries, and the couple of ballista bolts they had helped out. Due to the fact that there were a lot of human enemies, everyone was discouraged from going down the walls, so the archers and the spearmen were the ones with the most kills. Among the citizens were the twins Luke and Leo, who were stationed somewhere Northwest of the territory. It was far from the gate, but it was also a likely spot for enemies to sneak in. They had indeed tried, but before they could finish setting up, Luke would either burn their access or kick them down. The guards and those beyond the level cap would also use their abilities to push the humans to the monsters'' mouths. Although the beasts were far fewer here than in the gates, they were still of a formidable number. The enemy team''s general in these parts was killed by the sudden appearance of monsters, so they didn''t have the strategy to deal with the monsters first before going against Alterra. For the most part, the humans focused on running away from the monsters to head to the walls, as if Alterra''s sentries would only attack the beasts more than it would attack them. This actually had some logic to it¡ªthe sentries definitely did prioritize taking down beasts. However, Alterra''s archers weren''t blind nor were they biased! Of course, despite the enemies'' many blunders, there were still many of them in numbers. A lot of them were also quite strong, so there were still a few breaches in the end. It was just that these people who managed to enter the territory would feel relieved too early. They were just relieved to finally rid of the beasts that had been relentlessly haunting them for an hour! It was to the point that they forgot¡­ that there were still plenty of things that could kill them inside! Chapter 1109 - 1109: A Few Leaks and Bugs (Part 1) With the monsters now targeting the walls again, it gave time for the humans outside to finally enter. This was especially so in areas with the least amount of monsters, farther from the gates. With the sheer amount of enemies and beasts, even if both sides had weakened each other, there were still a couple of elites who managed to enter. For example, there were a few from the Rongo Mercenary Team here. They were filled with injuries all over. None of them were lethal, but they were in definite pain. They had been running along the walls in search for a weak spot. They were left with only a portion of mana and spirit so they no longer tried to fight for their lives; they just focused on escaping. Eventually, somewhere near the territory''s Northwest, they found it. It was an area where their side was closing in on the battlement, so the forces along the walls were concentrated towards the nearby leaks. "There!" one said, "An opening!" He and a handful of level 20s dashed forward. They also grabbed a few people''s heads into their palms, dragging their struggling bodies as if they were rags. They were used either to block sentries and the archers'' arrows, and then thrown into beasts'' mouths for maximum uses. After that, they took out the last of their Class D shields and, after rushing over, they did reach the gates. Using the slaves and allies along the walls as bolsters, they jumped up to the battlements with their lives and all their limbs. Luke and Leo gasped as several level 20s appeared near them. There were many guards there too, but they were all busy with the mobs in their sections. The mercenaries'' eyes reddened as they finally saw a damned Alterran! The vindictiveness in their hearts was more than whatever they had felt before! So, while most of the mercenaries just desperately went past the walls, there were also others who wanted to vent as soon as they saw the opportunity. Unexpectedly, the twins backed up, joining their companions a few meters away. This was obviously to team up with them¡ªbut only if the mercenaries decided to attack. Otherwise, they were free to enter! "Che! That''s all you can do!" he yelled, before jumping back down. After triggering the flares, Luke and Leo just sighed, focusing on the new arrivals who had been trying to ride on the momentum the mercenaries created. Sad for them, they weren''t as strong nor were they as well equipped as those mercenaries so they were easily taken down. The civilians and guards who were weaker than the enemies did not block the enemies with their lives. It was not because they didn''t want to, but because it was the standard operating procedure. If the enemy was overwhelmingly stronger¡ªthat was: more than 5 levels higher, had much better equipment, and very little chance of winning¡ªthey were asked to let them be and just trigger the flares to alert everyone else of leaks. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their captains emphasized one thing before the war: Alterra had no need for them dead. It wasn''t like the interiors were helpless. Rather, the defenses inside¡­ were even more intense in a sense. Trust Alterra, they said. And trust it they did. ¡­ [You have failed to follow the rules of war. -500 gold, -50000 experience, -10% permanent reduction to Spirit and Mana.] The mercenaries landed at the wide easement immediately after the wall, and they only realized how exposed they were when they barely avoided a few arrows straight at them! "AH!" "Damn!!" They were so desperate to just get out of the chaos outside they forgot they were entering enemy territory! Anyway, there was no other way. They just rushed towards the nearest streets. Some went separately, while some went together. They really didn''t have the mind to think too much because there was a heck of a lot of arrows heading their way! Whoosh! They saw a colorful cloud of smoke fly up from nearby, and the next thing they knew, they could hear people''s yells. "Trespassers!" They immediately heard group after group of people heading in their direction. They cursed rushing over random streets. They ended up separating into groups, heading to different streets in hopes that their team would be able to escape. One group¡ªcomprised of three mercenaries ranging from level 19 to level 21¡ªheaded further northwards. According to their information, there was a lot less population in the mountainous areas so they were planning on hiding out there instead. However, they could not even go far as¡ª-at some point in one of the streets they traversed¡ªthey were met with a few shields blocking their way. "What¡ª" They turned when they heard scruffling from behind them, realizing there were now trapped in a wall of Class D shields! Above the shields they could also see some spears pointing up¡ªobviously ready to stab if they decided to go over them. The mercenaries gritted their teeth, feeling the shields closing in. System building walls could not be scaled, and it''d be hard to defend themselves if they went over, so they could only go through the shields¡ªhoping to imbalance it by brute force. At the very least, they still had some defense equipment that could protect their hearts and heads. Furthermore, even if the enemies had class D shields, most of its effectiviness would still depend on the user! They knew for certain that except for a couple of guards¡ªwho were busy in the battlements¡ªmost of the population averaged in the level 10s. Even if they were elementalists, how well could they use their abilities? Maybe they didn''t even know many skills. Such a gift was wasted on such weaklings! Anyway, with these arrogant thoughts, the three started to pound against a section together¡ªtheir swords ready to stab the moment an opening was made. The enemies were obviously of much lower levels than they were so in terms of brute strength they did overwhelm them a little. "Hold steady!" An order came from behind the shields, stabilizing the shields. The tone though, made their eyebrows rise. "A woman?" "Heh¡ª" "I did hear women are captains are¡ªI just didn''t believe it." "Are they idiots!" "It''s no wonder all they could do was hide behind their shields!" A stab appeared from below the knee. "AHHH!" one yelled, almost buckling down. His eyes twitched as he glared at the direction of the attack. "Don''t insult our captain!" they said. "It''s called using the brain¡ªsomething you don''t have!" Then¡­ another order came from the female voice they just insulted. Those were also one of the last words they''d hear alive. "STAB!" she yelled. "They will not leave that spot alive!" Chapter 1110 - 1110: A Few Leaks and Bugs (Part 2) Cassie had been too used to being looked down on, so nothing really bothered her. At the very least, Terran was a place where women could have their own high self-worth, so words from the ignorant didn''t affect her. However, her people¡ªespecially the aborigine men¡ªwere more offended than she was. Understandably so. It was not only for her sake, but also theirs. After all, if she was insulted, they¡ªwho were under her¡ªwere as well. Stab! Stab!! It happened quickly, but it felt like a lot of things happened. The Alterrans stabbed and stabbed until they hit a weakness and destroyed the enemy''s equipment. Not to mention: Equipment¡­ was a little more susceptible to Elementalist''s attacks. Most of the guards were already awakened elementalists by now¡ªsomething the enemy should know, but hadn''t encountered yet so even if they wanted to believe they were prepared¡ªthey actually weren''t. They also underestimated how much knowledge was passed down from person to person here, regardless of their relationship. In such an environment, how could an elementalist not learn at least one skill before joining the war? In some wise man''s quote: "They are akin the babies pulling a tiger''s beard." Blissfully ignorant. So when they were showered by elements and trapped within the shields, their hearts were actually shocked. "AHHHH!" "NOO!" "STOP IT!!!" The men screamed as they were showered not just with physical attacks but also by various elements. They naturally struggled, but what could the three of them do with such a barrage but try to push through? Someone tried to jump over, too, but he was immediately barraged by elements and spears from below. Because he was in-air, he was not able to defend himself at all! He fell down and used much of his remaining strength to join the others. There was strength in numbers in the end, though in their case they ended up using each other as meatshields. While trying to find ways to escape, they pushed the others, and they did the same. It was idiotic and it looked more like they were headless flies. At the same time, what else could they do but delay their deaths? They were actually more unlucky than those outside. At this point, the Alterrans knew that most of the fights would stop outside the walls, so there was no need for them to hold back too much. They could torture these bastards as much as they wanted. A couple of minutes later, the three mercenaries were filled with wounds, holes, and burns, and only their upper chest to head areas¡ªwhich were defended by either Class E or Class D Defense equipment remained intact. Barely. At some point, their equipment gave way and they were now officially half-dead. This was in sharp contrast to the Alterran Guards, who only lost a bit of mana. The Alterrans did not take a second and started attacking. Two of the mercenaries succumbed almost immediately, while one''s eyes turned red and he went berserk. He felt he was going to die¡ªsomething he really didn''t believe would happen when he accepted the mission¡ªbut now that he was, he was determined to take someone with him!! He lunged towards them with his final bit of life. He no longer had weapons¡ªit was destroyed during the barrage¡ªbut he was intent on tackling and pounding at least one to death. It so happened that some people let down their guards when they saw two had already perished. Some parts of the shield wall had visibly slacked, and he took advantage of this to take his last shot. "HYAAAA!" He yelled as he pushed, ramming into one of the guards!! It happened to be the leader too, Cassie. However, Bumi appeared in front of her, taking the hit. BANG! They fell some meters away with Bumi on the ground and the mercenary over him with raised arms. It didn''t matter who it was, he didn''t have the energy to capture another. Using all his remaining strength, he used one of his few skills¡ªone that didn''t require a weapon¡ªto inflict a serious blow smack on his face. [Overdrive Punch] BANG! "Bumi!" The mercenary heard a slight crack but that was it. Other than that, he realized he didn''t cause any damage at all. His eyes went wide but he was stabbed to the neck the next moment, and he died not knowing what had happened. The person who killed the mercenary was Emer, one of the ''weaker'' hires from the Village Center. He had befriended Bumi¡ªthey were practically best friends¡ªand they got even closer when they were assigned to the same team under Cassie. To be honest, he did feel a bit uncomfortable having a woman boss him around, but after the various dangerous situations their team experienced together¡ªa lot of which he was protected by the woman he looked down on¡ªand she quickly earned his heartfelt respect. He was also one of Bumi''s wingmen, though he was also blind to the issues of love so he had been pretty useless until now. Cassie immediately kneeled next to Bumi, who was still facing upward in a daze. She was relieved to see no injuries, but she saw him unmoving and her heart dropped. "Are you alright?" she asked, wondering if there were injuries they didn''t see. Unconsciously, her hand found his chest as if to check for injuries and it sent tingles in every pore of Bumi''s body. He looked electrocuted and he wiggled like a worm, placing a meter distance between him and Cassie. Cassie blinked, confused, while the others shook their heads. They just walked over to the ends of the streets, waiting for new trespassers while giving space to the two at the same time. "I-I''m fine," he said, "It''s the token¡­" "That crack¡­" she whispered. "Did it break?" S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. All guards, in fact, had one protective token in their bodies¡ªat some point. It was just that since Althea was the only one who could create such magic tools, they were given merely as a ''starting gift'' to the guards. This meant that each guard, except for Althea''s closest friends, had only one. So, they didn''t dare be so careless with it, especially since it could only handle a few lethal shots if they were going against much stronger individuals or monsters. The Guard Team did, however, use a guard token as a reward for the best performers every season. So there was that. The guards were also the ones with the most contribution points so, worst come to worst, they could spend huge amounts of their points in the Contribution Store to get another. However, the fact that they were sparse and very expensive meant a lot. After all, in the right circumstances, a token meant a life. "I''ll find a way to replace it¡­" Cassie said, looking guilty. Bumi shook his head. "Yours is also on the verge of breaking now," he said. "You already saved me many times before, let me have this." Cassie thought for a moment as she stared into his eyes, knowing that he really meant it. Rather, insisting on replacing it would be diminishing his good deed. She bit her lips as she looked at him, nodding in the end. Bumi smiled, and for the first time Cassie thought the meek guy was a little handsome. Something had been shifting between the two for a while now, and it took another step forward at this moment. Chapter 1111 - 1111: Cleaning up the Rats Meanwhile, the other group of mercenaries¡ªa bigger group with 6 people, all of whom were past level 20¡ªwere still running, unaware the other team had fallen not long after they had entered. Each area had their own strategies. In this one, it was redirecting the enemies into certain open spaces to be able to deal with them more cleanly. This was especially true when they judged the enemies to be quite strong, and the whole trapping-in-alleys strategy might not work because they''d just get barrelled through. Stronger people could also maximize their equipment, which could pose a bit of danger to them. In any case, the mercenaries were confused when they kept running into dead ends. They did not know some walls weren''t actually part ''system'' buildings but were temporary construction. Even if they did, who would have the time or energy to determine which one they could destroy? However, they didn''t think too much of the arrangement not only because they were in a rush, but also because it was a common arrangement in other places, especially villages that didn''t particularly plan where to build their houses. They knew arrangements like this too well¡ªafter all, they always took advantage of these dark nooks and crannies to do their thing, particularly sating an itch by pulling a random woman inside. They thought that was what they were going to do in this war! This place was filled with elementalist¡ªthough, to their knowledge, still at weak, manageable levels¡ªand rather than intimidated, they lusted for the force. Not to mention, their side knew that impregnating an elementalist had a high chance of resulting in elementalist offsprings! It was one of the things promised to them by the Lord and their boss, which was why the mercenaries sent on this mission were actually a lot more than what was usually sent in other village wars. Each of them had the dream of forming a harem of various elements! Many had actually vacated a house that would serve as the ''breeding ground'' for elementalists! S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, that dream was put on hold for now, and they just focused on getting deeper into the territory and finding a place to hide. So far, the doors were shut tight but there was someone pointing arrows at them from the windows. Considering how quickly the enemies were reacting, trying to go in a conflict with these people¡ªregardless of what their levels were¡ªwould just delay their escape. In their minds, this was probably the plan, because there was no way mere level 7s or 8s would dare expose themselves like this! They ran and ran, looking for a place where they could hide and disappear, at least until the beast mob was cleared. As for whether the territory would lose¡ªand therefore they would become slaves¡ªthey''d handle that later. At worst, they''d succumb and serve, entering an alliance with Alterra in the end. They didn''t believe that with their superior levels, they wouldn''t get good treatment even as slaves! When the time came, then they''d earn their freedom (they heard it was a possibility in Alterra) and they''d handle things from there. The point was: At least they''ll be alive. They could think of revenge later. Eventually, they ended up in a park with a lot of open spaces. They wondered where to go next when their instincts flared, immediately feeling the danger. Woosh! "AHHH!" one yelled as the large arrow finally destroyed his Class D shield. It already had several arrows¡ªsentries and archers alike¡ªand apparently, this last hit was its breaking point! "There''s a sentry!!" "Not just sentries!" One looked out and saw all the houses had arrows and crossbows directed at them. Without further ado, they were once again rained down by arrows. This time though, although some still had shields, those could only block one side! They had arrows from all sides trying to kill them. They could even hear some yells from one of the buildings. "Shoot! Shoot!" "This polybolo of yours is too heavy!" "Just shoot!" A lot of the people this time were civilians. After all, the battlements occupied most of the guards, so the interior depended on the civilians for the most part. At the very least, they were expected to hold out long enough for a couple of guards assigned there to arrive. Anyway, each zone would have a group of guards who could handle upper-level enemies, and therefore would be able to reach them fast enough just by sprinting. The civilians in this area included Troy, Fred, Lulu, and Bull1. They did not live in the area, but according to the plan, the enemies would be lured into open spaces so they didn''t use the buildings as cover and therefore let them waste precious mana, energy, and arrows. Civilians were allowed to choose which open space to camp in, as long as every area had someone. There were also others like Thor and Limbo,1 who were refugees from the Heat Wave and had become friends with them. Thor and Limbo were already relatively seasoned elementalists, so they threw attacks on them too. Thor shot out his electric ''shots'' by mimicking a gun with his hand and shooting small sparks from it. It made the mercenaries shake and cringe. It didn''t do much damage considering the level differences, but it definitely annoyed the heck out of them. "Damnit!!" Limbo was hiding in a shrub nearby and placed his hands on the ground, liquifying the soil underneath the mercenaries'' feet. They sunk until their feet and, considering their strengths, it didn''t trap them for long. They jumped and pushed themselves up after a couple of moments, freeing themselves. However, it was enough for Thor to send them more sparks that actually caused some damage. The mercenaries naturally didn''t stay standing, though they did have trouble figuring out which way to go. Some jumped in Troy''s direction, another to Thor''s, while the others aimed to find open areas to make a run for it again. These people ran away even with a few arrows embedded into them, though they definitely wouldn''t be able to go far. Right when the deserters entered an alley, a splash of water was thrown at them. They only covered themselves just by instinct, and therefore had a delayed reaction when the water transformed into a whip, hitting them smack to the wall. "Wha¡ª" The next thing they knew swordsmen appeared in front of them¡ªfinishing them off after a few moves. Back in the park, a level 22 or 23 mercenaries jumped straight to the civilians'' areas, with Troy and the others immediately prepared to run away. Although these people would get penalized even more for hurting them, they were brainless enough to enter deep into the territory, who knew what other stupid thing they were willing to do to vent? Anyway, they naturally had hiding spots they could use when this happened, and they rushed to do so the moment the mercenary headed in their direction. However, before he could jump onto the balcony, a shield suddenly appeared in front of him while he was mid-air. "Stop right there, jerk," the new voice said. This was Jake, who controlled his shield to block the mercenary''s path. A second later, the mercenary was pushed back quickly and he wasn''t able to catch his balance in time before he landed. The next thing he knew his back was stabbed with an earth spike! "AH!" He gasped, looking down at his chest. His defensive equipment had apparently given way too, and now he was looking at blood-covered earth that went through his punctured chest. He groaned, unable to move, his body increasingly aware of the massive blood loss and the pain. "You people above the level cap sure are arrogant," Jake said. "You forgot we could kill you right?" People beyond the level cap weren''t just penalized, they were also not protected by the rules. Therefore was no problem for Jake and the others¡ªwho were also beyond the level cap¡ªto massacre them as needed. The information released to the public was naturally very downplayed. The average levels these people probably thought they had were off by 5 or more levels (which was already way above average considering the territory had only existed for a year). They also made sure people outside the guards didn''t know exactly what kind of training they were going through, so it was natural for them to be surprised. He then turned to Turbo and some other people from his team who had just arrived after taking care of the deserters. They nodded at each other before disappearing, hunting for the rest of the leaks. "Time to clean up some rats." Some of Alterra''s first citizens Some of refugees-turned-citizens from the Heat Wave Chapter 1112 - 1112: Results of the Bet There were indeed breaches in different areas of the territory, but there were very few¡ªembarrassingly few. For the most part, the enemies were kept outside. This was especially true when the people ''blocking the way'' were Alterra''s elite forces. For example, there was Oslo and his earth walls. Using his earth wall, he''d create small mazes and blockages for the humans, keeping them with the monster mobs for a longer period of time. They would be forced to fight for their lives, but then the last kill would be stolen by a random Alterran archer, making their eventual death feel even more meaningless. (Alterran archers were definitely enjoying their assignments right now) Of course, there were plenty of stronger monsters that their archers were not able to take down. In that case, after the monsters ate a few members of the enemy forces, Oslo would then create spikes that''d take their lives. On another area, there were also the three orcs: Gochi, Baku, and Maomao, which¡ªin addition to a few other stronger aborigines within the level cap¡ªcomprised one of the harshest defense lines they had. This was because they guarded the Northern face, which was a bit mountainous. The enemy had been preparing for this war so there were actually thousands of people who went to attack here instead, including majority of the level 20s and above from the Rongo Mercenary Team sent to assist in the war. While they did panic a bit when they encountered some town-level monsters, they managed to deal with them with their sheer number and strong forces. At the same time, they realized what Alterra had done! They upgraded to a TOWN right after they declared war!! Are they insane!? If they made a slight miscalculation, this could''ve guaranteed their destruction!! Now, they did not know how the other areas were going, but they knew they had to maximize their current situation. By happy coincidence, they also knew the beasts in the area they were assigned to were also the fewest in number, so it was simply the perfect spot to breach. It was just that they had no idea they''d have to deal with dozens of elementalists¡ªlet alone three half-orcs!! Alterra had naturally predicted how the enemies would respond to the tribulation and assigned a lot of its forces concentrated in this area. They also knew there would be a lot more human enemies here so, except for the three half-orcs and a few guards who were beyond the level cap, the rest of the forces here were still within it. The half-orcs blocked the way of the mercenaries, while the weaker ones were too intimidated to mob them, just focusing on getting to the walls. In theory, this had a chance of working. After all, three against dozens of level 20s would be a long fight. In terms of numbers, they outnumbered the Alterrans in the battlement by tens of folds. It was just that, the slightly hopeful situation did not last long. They didn''t know how the enemies did it, but soon a group of monster mobs appeared right behind them. Some were level 13s to 15s, and the people nearby¡ªall of whom were within the level cap¡ªwere crushed or eaten! By that time, their stronger forces were already preoccupied with the half-orcs. They did not have the energy to deal with mobs! Anyway, the people up front realized what was coming at them and became more desperate to get inside. But how easy could that be? Among the elite guards in this area was Plaridel1, who waved around his fire shield, keeping everyone at bay. He would even create damned firewalls, burning people before they could even get near the walls. There was also Minko1, whose shots were sure to kill anyone his level or below. His arrows¡ªwhich seemed to leave a steaming track¡ªcould also kill monsters a few levels below him in one shot. And finally, there was Leon1, whose swords were sharp but more lethal were the vines he created. The impolite guy would make the people in the vanguard fall down. Even if there were not as many beasts in this area, a lot of them were still stopped even before they could reach the walls! In the meantime, the half-orcs battles were ongoing. With impressive cooperation, the three half-orcs rushed towards various enemies. Even if they were outnumbered by humans with higher levels¡ªunlike the supposed ''intelligent race'' ¡ªthey had each others'' backs. They sent continuous explosive attacks to their enemies, using brute force and their natural instincts and accuracy to make up for the level gap. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At first, it was a bit more troublesome because the mercenaries still had working equipment and a lot of potions. However, as time went on, the battle of endurance tilted to the half-orcs side. Not only that, the half-orcs also had their own healing potions that were formulated to fit their physiques! Eventually, the tide completely turned and the mercenaries began to be harvested one by one. If the person didn''t a decent equipment anymore, then they''d die immediately, if not then they''d be disabled and in pain. In war, such injuries were a death sentence. Gochi would swipe his enemies down with his sharp claws. If it was a troublesome elite, then he''d use his ability to paralyze them. Even if it worked just for a second¡ªit was enough for him to inflict serious damage on the person. Baku''s was even harsher. His ability, Roar, would stun everyone near him as long as they were below his level. He could be said to be harvesting heads easily. And then there was the cutie Maomao. Of course, her jumps and kicks were very uncute considering someone would practically be punctured if they didn''t have equipment or the level to defend against it. Of course, the Alterrans were very biased. "WHOA!" "Maomao is still so amazing!" "So explosive! Our cutie!!" The rabbit blushed, and her ears twitched a bit. Her leaps became a bit more energetic though, making Gochi smile. As for the rest of the people trying to go through the walls, they were kept in place by Plaridel and the others. There was also Chris (and Essan), who were using their speed-based skills and equipment to safely run around, attracting monsters to the back of the crowd (whether it was on this side or elsewhere), trapping precious manpower to deal with their upgrade mob. In any case, there were no more leaks other than those mercenaries and a handful of lucky people¡ªwho were all quickly captured as soon as they landed inside the walls. This went on for another hour or so. While there were still a few thousands of people and monsters outside the walls¡ªAlthea eventually did receive the familiar notification in her head. Ding! [Alterra Village has won the war against Resso Village (Lv3)!] [Received! 8261 New Population!] [Received! 522 Gold, 13299 Silver, 1242002 Copper!] Obviously, Resso Village invested a lot of money and manpower into this war, thinking the return would multiply it. In any case, they were way too poor¡­ Althea sighed, looking at the hundreds of monsters still terrorizing their area. While the war with humans was over¡­, it seemed like the one with the monsters was still some ways to go. One of the soldiers who is not handsome but quite suave. A few aborigines developed a crush on him back in the Ferrol Market Fair. One of the soldiers who were initially separated One of the few wood elementalists in the original soldier team Chapter 1113 - 1113: Cleaning up the Mob The 28 hours were not over yet, but the system was aware of their total population. It could therefore calculate whether it was impossible for the enemies to win by virtue of their remaining population. The citizens who died here were already deducted from the ''total population'' of Resso Village. That said, because the ones on this side of the array were now less than half of their total population, then there must be a few thousand ''slaves'' on the other side of the array. She wondered if it was worth it to get them in the first place. First of all, her orders could not work unless she¡ªor any of the residents¡ªwas there, so she would have to send a few people to the enemy Village to pick up the new slaves. Considering there would still be thousands of freemen on the other side, then sending her people there could get them attacked instead. She thought about it and decided to ignore them for now. The upper-level wall she wanted¡ªlevel 7¡ªwas only available at Town Level 2. She wasn''t planning on doing a full expansion upon her upgrade, so she didn''t want her population to explode just yet. Rather, she preferred they didn''t become too dense¡ªwhich was why she was encouraging the growth of the entire region, instead. She wanted Alterra to comfortably be at the center¡ªbustling with activity, but not to the point of being cramped and overwhelming. Anyway, her main source of income was not the entrance fees or the taxes (which were already quite high), but the scale of the trades going around. Anyway, she sent the announcement of the war victory to the guards (earning Luis his 10 Gold winning), though she told them not to celebrate too early because they still had the upgrade mob to deal with. She looked down at the thousands of people struggling for their lives and thought what she''d do with them. She considered letting them in and just letting them stay along the avenues like the fainted slaves. However, the 28 hours of war was still ongoing. Even if they had already won, the rules were still null and they could still be attacked. Knowing that she couldn''t think for too long (because many people would die while she was thinking about it), she made a quick decision which she immediately forwarded to the guards via the system''s [Announcement] function. After a couple of instructions and preparations, several voice amplifiers sounded in different parts of the territory (she should set up an electrical PA system for purposes like these someday). At the Eastern gates, the person who made the announcement was Mao. This was an announcement to their own side as well as the enemies''. "The war is over! We will not be killing any more humans! Thanks for your hard work, everyone!" This made most of the people below look at them in shock. They didn''t really believe it though. After all, these people had been toying with them for what was the worst few hours of their lives. "Any non-Alterran human outside the gate who wishes to survive, kindly bury yourself in the ground. Anyone who could be seen as a threat will be killed immediately. Stay above ground at your own risk." This was repeated in every section of the wall and the people had no choice but to do so¡ªat least for the slaves who had to follow instructions either way. Besides, some were hoping the monsters would also ignore them if they only had their faces exposed. And so there was an odd sight. While the Alterrans were fighting against the mobs, several people were desperately digging, particularly in the areas near the walls. Mao and other earth users were also kind enough to help them out. Of course, a lot of these people were not residents of Resso Village and were therefore not enslaved. They were focused on dealing with the beasts¡ªlike normal people would. "OI! Are they being serious?" one asked. He was already at the end of the rope. He could barely hold his sword stably. These random announcements were making it harder for him to keep his already-dwindling momentum! "Who cares! I won''t stand still for the monsters to kill me! Let''s look for an opening to escape!" The others were busy defending against the beasts, also filled with blood. Anyway, they had no time to be distracted now. They couldn''t wrap their heads around the enemy''s logic, so they just assumed they were playing with them. It was around this time that a monster appeared right behind one of them. "Oi! Behind you!" The others who saw gasped, but they were too busy with their own fights to even consider helping out. In their minds, they were already saying ''rest in peace''. Unexpectedly, another person appeared in front, waving his sword around with exceptional skill and accuracy, precisely hitting the weakened monster''s weak spots. It was an Alterran guard¡ªand that was obvious with their dashing uniform. "Last warning! Those who did not dig and bury themselves might get shot like the monsters," the man¡ªChris¡ªyelled, slashing again to finish off another. Another came rushing to him, as if he was more attractive. He went around earlier with Beast-Attracting potion on his cloak. While that cloak was snug back in his space, a lot of the scent remained stuck to his clothing. Like this, a lot of people were given breathing time and went towards the walls to bury themselves in a corner with everyone else. Of course, not everyone were thankful. This wasn''t surprising. After all, they were trying to kill them just moments prior. However, survival first, so no one was stupid enough to annoy the new masters. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. These people could only be shocked as they watched the Alterrans jump back down to the wall¡ªall fearless, and some were even lower leveled than they were¡ªto fight the mobs head on! There were plenty of civilians too, and they watched each other''s backs¡ªdealing with the stronger monsters in front of them. The more they saw¡­ the less anger they felt. Now that Alterra was making a move with its own power instead of making use of the damned beasts, it was clear that their information was way off mark! They¡­ had no chance at all! Chapter 1114 - 1114: Finally Done! After clearing out the human enemies, more and more people started jumping down within the scope of the sentries to deal with the remaining monster mob. At this time, at least a third of the mob was still around¡­ and it was still growing bit by bit¡ªattracting the nearby mobs. Fortunately, the monsters attracted by the blood and commotion here were only village level, and therefore much more manageable. Now that the major threat were the monsters, they would naturally change formations. The new formation was that fewer soldiers were spread out across the perimeters¡ªthey''ll be there just in case of emergencies¡ªbut most of them would move near the gates to deal with the mobs and rescue as needed. The rest of the citizens also went out to the battlements now that they didn''t have to deal with potential leaks. Their new slaves¡ªthe ones who fainted¡ªas well as the older slaves and prisoners of wars were also assigned along the perimeters to make sure every area of the walls was accounted for. In order to maximize the damage, a lot of them would have to go down the walls. The civilians who went down were those near the level cap or past it, and they were also asked to form tried-and-tested teams to ensure their safety from the beasts (and possible backstabs from their enemies). They must also stay within the sentries scope. Of course, there weren''t many of them. Majority of those who went down were the soldiers and the guards. Speaking of that, because they knew the upgrade was coming, every one of the ''original'' soldiers¡ªthe people who came in advance¡ªwere in Alterra. No one was stationed elsewhere and everyone like those assigned in the Ferrol branch were called back even before the war declaration. Though the war declaration came as a surprise, they were definitely preparing well for the upgrade mob. Unlike the civilians, the soldiers¡ªwho were already well past the level 20s¡ªcould go a bit farther out because they could afford to be surrounded by beasts. They also had stronger guards like Helios, Drake, and so on with them so the EXP points could be maximized. Drake''s electricity had shown great improvement in the past couple of months. More than the sheer power though, which depended on his level, he trained his accuracy to the peak. He could control his spark to a more concentrated form accurately attacking monsters'' weaknesses. As long as the monsters were lower-leveled than he was, then a few sparks could kill it. The aborigine watching gaped. It was a rare element and no one had seen one before (they were villagers who rarely saw elementalists in general), so it was naturally an impressive sight. He also partnered with water users to maximize the damage and Angelo would finish it off with his sword, using his wind ability to keep himself swift and moving and far away from monsters'' jaws. He avoided everything using some wind techniques he had learned in the past couple of months. Many other wind users were the same, and it was obvious they were trained a certain way. There was also Helios and his team, which comprised predominantly of his wife''s and mother-in-law''s guards. During the war, they helped out in the Southwest gate which was also fraught with beasts. They had been fighting against beasts for hours, though the difference this time was that they didn''t have to worry about the humans except for accidentally digging them out and stepping on them. For the most part, the enemies didn''t dare make a move. However, it wasn''t the case for all of them. Some still couldn''t help but take advantage of the enemy showing their backs to them. Sad for them, there were archers monitoring their movements and they were shot straight to the neck, and killed. No one nearby tried to do anything similarly stupid from then on. Garan had a similar experience. He was already on the ground a hundred meters away from the gates, along with Gill and Orz. They were there to weaken the more troublesome monsters so that they''d be easier to deal with past them. If they thought the monster was too strong, they might kill it, otherwise, they were treated as EXP points for the rest of the team. He created ice spears and expertly stabbed monster after monster. Gill would create a delineation of magma that''d burn the monsters'' legs, while Orz would create sharp spikes that had similar effects. With them there, a lot of the people behind them gained a tremendous amount of experience. This lasted a couple of moments until Garan felt an attack swiftly approach him. His eyebrows rose, and his ice sword formed a larger surface to block the attack. It was not weak and Garan''s feet slid back a little. It was the Level 32 Temp, who was now completely filled with blood, absolutely livid and out for blood. "I''ll kill you!" He already lost an arm at this time and his eyes were red from anger and pain. He obviously didn''t believe he would be spared and was bent on taking revenge for them ruining his life! Temp immediately sent a flurry of attacks, ignoring the monsters and not caring about the collateral damage. At this time, Temp was just so angry at Alterra and wanted to hurt it badly! Garan narrowed his eyes. Although their levels weren''t too far apart and the enemy lacked an arm, Temp was obviously a man with a lot of experience. Even with one hand, his anger fueled his berserk state, pushing him beyond his limits. "Focus on your own battles," Garan ordered his team, who nodded and continued dealing with the monsters that surrounded them. Of course, how much damage could a person bleeding to death do? Since he overexerted himself with his barrage of attacks, he bled even faster. Garan only had to immobilize him with his ice, blocking the movements of his sole arm. Garan did not extend the man''s pain and just beheaded him, finally ending the enemy''s strongest force. There were also some level 20s who came with Temp, and they were also in a similar livid state. They also felt their lives leaving them and, with their drained mana and spirit, knew that there was no way they''d be able to survive. While many attempted to run away (only to end up in weaker monsters'' stomachs), most accepted defeat and buried themselves. However, there were still some who wanted to take down as many enemies as they could to satisfy their bloodthirst one more time!! They were used to being overwhelmingly powerful. Now, they were completely helpless. How could they accept it!? Their anger had gotten to their heads, leading them to decisions that would inevitably guarantee their deaths. However, unlike Temp, they were much more cowardly and preferred to beat up the weaker enemies! Fortunately, they thought, Alterrans were stupid enough to send Level 14s down the ground!! Some were even going beyond the sentries'' scopes and that was what they targeted. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They rushed forward as quickly as they could, intent on taking as many heads as possible. However¡ª Whoosh! "Ah!" Whoosh! "Gah!" These people weren''t able to reach their targets at all. Their pitiful lives ended with accurate shots straight through their eyes. After a while, the shimmering arrows disappeared, indicating it was from a self-regenerating weapon. More than a hundred meters away, there was Althea. With her upgraded level, she can use the Bellagio with more strength and could one-shot a level 20 with no problem¡ªeven if they were quite far. She just had to use her [Precise Aim] skill which had only improved in the past couple of months. Anyway, everyone fought bravely, though the people fighting on the ground were asked to head back in the moment their spirits went down to 25%. They would then be replaced by similarly-leveled citizens who may or may not be chewing something as snacks. This movement killed the remaining fire of rebellion to the few enemies who still had it. After all, the new batch would be refreshed with full energy¡ªtrying to attack them in their states was suicide! For the next hour or so, the beast mob slowly reduced to a few handfuls, with the last monster coincidentally taken down by Althea herself. When the leapard fell and breathed its last, the familiar ding echoed in her head, and she immediately disseminated to everyone in the territory¡ªspreading the good news all over. [Congratulations! Alterra Village (Lv3) has officially upgraded to a Town (Lv1)!] She smiled. Finally! Chapter 1115 - 1115: Alterra Town! [Congratulations! Alterra Village (Lv3) has officially upgraded to Alterra Town (Lv1)!] The victory announcement resounded in everyone''s minds, and¡ªafter a moment of silence¡ªthe surroundings exploded into cheers. "WHOOOO!!!" "OHYEAHH!" "TOWN! We''re a Town now!!" Many people even had their hands up, fists clenched, and mouths forming ''os'', as if to express their happiness using their whole bodies. Althea and Garan¡ªcovered in sweat and grime like everyone else¡ªmet each other''s eyes, both breaking into smiles. During the latter part of the mob clearing, they fought closer and closer to where the other was until they were in each other''s sight at all times. When the announcement was made, Garan headed to the wall and jumped on the carcass of some beasts that died there. He effortlessly landed on the battlement next to his wife, who gracefully put away her weapon as she faced him. "Another step forward," he said, taking her hand. She giggled. She was tired and sweaty, but her heart was filled with excitement. There were plenty of unknowns at this stage¡ªsome good and some bad¡ªbut whatever they were, they added a lot of excitement to their days. It kept them on their toes, which wasn''t necessarily a bad thing. They just have to face everything with a positive heart. She wrapped her fingers around his, tightening their grip. "Another step forward." ¡­ As per standard operating procedure, the logistics team immediately came out with their stretchers. They were there to take their injured citizens to the clinics or the hospitals. The gates were opened wide and dozens of carts pulled by Broats emerged. ''Meehhh~'' they sounded, pulling relatively big carts. Each cart could carry about ten to twelve people sitting upright, and about 5 to 6 if they were lying down. They called them ''Broatbulance''. Some would have covers that protected the passengers from the sun, while most were open-air, letting them feel the breeze outside. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The priority was those who had difficulty moving. The broatbulances would also work nonstop until they were ordered. In this case, they would head back in with the patients, delivering them to their destinations inside, and then they would head back out after disembarking. The animals also had cute banners around their heads to signify their differing functions. This banner was blue if the situation wasn''t urgent, so these were heading to clinics for some first aid. If the banner was red, they would go straight to the hospitals, where some surgery might be required. There was also the black banner for corpses. Fortunately, with the ''sacrifice'' of the enemies, there were no deaths on Alterra''s side. Most of the injuries, in fact, were from the stronger prisoners of war they ordered to head out for atonement points. Their survivors would occupy these black carts instead, so the Alterrans knew who they were about to treat. Of course, to ensure the safety of their own people, these injured ''enemies'' were taken to a temporary built-up clinic near the gates and were not allowed deeper inside until they were dealt with. The slaves who hid by the wall and buried themselves were gathered and tied. Those who weren''t System Slaves would all take oaths and become Prisoners of War. If they were too injured to walk, they''d get to ride on the broat as well, though a small fare would be charged to their accounts. For these people, because they weren''t from any associate territories, it''d be too difficult to judge whether they were decent people or not. They could only force them to make a detailed oath, also charged in their accounts and (if it was empty) added to their debts. As for whether they''d keep them in Alterra or ''sell'' them elsewhere, that would depend on the territory''s needs. To make sure no one was just pretending to be a slave, they would also add something to the oath, and it had to be said that the brains of the Lawyers of Alterra were really maximized during these times. As for how these accounts were paid off, it would vary. ''Slaves'' were technically free to live as if they were not slaves. They would have jobs and things like that, and therefore these charges would just add to the debts they''d have to pay for within a year. For the Prisoners of war, after a certain amount of time, they would be able to choose whether to add their contribution points to cancel out some atonement points, or to use them to buy goods. Don''t look at Alterra being so stingy, calculating everything. This was mostly so the system would never be taken advantage of¡ªespecially by criminals¡ªand no one would take the rules and regulations for granted. There was also the Bikebulance, where it was human bike drivers who were manning the vehicle. Broats were faster, cheaper, and required less labor though, so they remained a popular option as a mode of transportation. While helping the injured get onto the Broatbulance or Bikebulance, some people started to celebrate. Even if they were filled with blood and grime, as long as their legs could move, they would likely be seen happily celebrating whether it was inside or outside the territory walls. Garan frowned, and he looked at his soldiers who were pretty much leading the carelessness. "Stand properly!" Instinctively, the soldiers entered a proper stance. Althea giggled. Garan''s expression softened when he heard his wife''s voice, but he kept his solemn expression as he looked at the soldiers. He also narrowed his eyes as he stared at the ambulatory citizens on the ground. "Don''t relax yet! Clean up everything!" Garan yelled, looking at the thousands of monster corpses around. "Are you planning on wasting all this loot?" This made everyone flinch. Oh, right!! Not to mention leaving so many bodies outside would attract more beasts, the bodies themselves were treasure troves to them! Their knowledge of the bodies'' uses only increased in time, with some being more creative than the others! They didn''t know how other territories handled monster carcasses but¡ªin Alterra¡ªit was a very active industry that produced a heck of a lot of jobs! One of the pioneers of collecting whole body parts (of monsters, duh) actually bought his own house already¡ªand this was during the Prohibition1! The house prices in Alterra were no joke during that period! Even people from Towns get intimidated! And so, people muted their celebratory mood and cleaned up. In Terran, there was a saying that one must clear the dust and clutter to invite space for good fortune! Hey, cleaning up was also their way to wish their home well! Period where Alterra blocked most entries Chapter 1116 - 1116: Looting A/N: Belated Happy Lunar New Year everyone! ... ____ First of all, there were hundreds of monsters they were used to and therefore knew a lot. For example, after months of trial and error (and a lot of serendipity), they found unexpected uses for some body parts of common monsters. For example, the ubiquitous gnomos, which were large green rodent-like critters with short tails. They were weak, yes, but their fecundity dwarfed that of the goblins''. First of all, the Gnomos'' tails moved a lot even after death¡ªlike decapitated worms¡ªand they could be used as distractions when they were fighting humans. They were also excellent fishing baits¡­ Then¡­ at some point, someone accidentally found a special fungus in the monster''s skin. After some study, they found that it seemed to have a symbiotic relationship with the gnomos'' body. After a bit more research, these spores were found to enhance the effects of the Beast Attracting potion¡ªparticularly in terms of its effectivity with a wider variety of monsters. Perhaps it had something to do with the gnomos'' presence everywhere. Who knew¡­ As for how the Research Center figured this out, they had no idea¡ªnor did they want to know. Anyway, anything the Research Center would use could sell for a LOT of money and points. If they figured out the special use themselves, then they''d make even more! This fostered an atmosphere of exploration in the population that would amaze the aborigines for years to come. Anyway, starting with the Gnomos, more and more discoveries were made in the months that followed. For instance, the Stormdoer, which was one of the first ''strong'' beasts they encountered. It was a monster as huge as a bear but had the head of a long-nosed lion. It was a weak monster to them now but, when they started, a lot of people were killed by this particular monster. Anyway, let alone its sturdy pelt, their manes made for very sturdy threads, which would create interesting bags, shoes, and so on that (if made properly) would not be easily destroyed by level 10 monsters. There was also the Heather Rabbit, which was an alien and ugly version of the rabbit they knew. This one they found out through Taho, their new Beast master. The heather rabbit apparently had a special bone in its body that Beast masters used for their whistles. Because it was a trade secret (lest the price for the material increased) and was registered and patented in the system, this use was not indicated when experts used their [Assesment Skills]. Next was the Tanto rat, which was similar to the bamboo rat except they were blood-thirsty. It had special stomach acid that created another type of fertilizer that was useful to grass-type plants like bamboo, wheat, and the flute plant. Finally, there was the Juju Toad, which was the common blue frog-like creature as tall as their waists. It had acidic stomach bile which really helped increase the flexibility of hides without reducing its durability. It would eventually be one of the main components for the research assigned to Clutch nearly a year prior¡ªthe effective combination of plants and armors. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, with the new town-level monsters, they were naturally more excited! These were strong monsters, and therefore their meat and their pelts alone were far more valuable than the loot they were used to! Imagine what they could discover after a few more months!! Many people started to rummage the carnage, yelling for more broats and bike carts to come and help them haul things out. However, their carelessness was quickly doused with guardedness when they found a few people hiding underneath, immediately attacking them. The person was immediately killed by a sentry, but not before he stabbed at the Alterran. Fortunately, the victim was a guard with a working protection token so nothing happened, but it certainly alerted everyone to be a bit more careful when they were scouring for loot. Soon, they found more people who were still alive among the enemies. One of them was Tout himself, still miraculously alive. He apparently ordered nearby slaves to cover for him with their own bodies¡ª all while he desperately dug the soil so he could melsh better with the ground. He unsurprisingly got his token on, though no one was really interested in that one except to sell. Althea was wondering how much it would sell for. From what she gathered, a Village Token could sell at a minimum of 1000 gold¡ªand this was the absolute worst type of village that had low chances of surviving a mob without the injection of funds. However, depending on its quality and resources, this price could go up to about 10,000 or even more. If she were to assess Alterra''s Token though¡ªjust for thought¡ªit would definitely be at least several times of that. Garan remained outside with the soldiers to make sure everything was handled well and without accidents, while Althea watched as the corpses of the monsters passed through the threshold, cart by cart, to various industries like meat sellers, tanners, and teams that specialized in butchering monster bodies. Speaking of which, she took a look at her stats. She also took a look at her loot as well as her stats. There had been a lot of notifications, but there were so many enemies that she hadn''t taken note. There wasn''t a ''see history'' feature in the system, which was a pity, but thankfully she had an eidetic memory and she could take this time to absorb her rewards. First, she recalled the rewards from the war against Resso Village, which was a decent amount of gold from the territory and the new slaves. It wasn''t much, considering it was a village, only several hundred gold and tens of thousands of silver. As for population, they received nearly 9 thousand new people from Resso alone, though not everyone was on this side of the territory. By estimate, there should still be a thousand or two unaccounted for and still in Resso Village. The allied territories were also not punished by the system so Alterra didn''t get anything from them. The ones they captured would be manually set as prisoners of war, as mentioned prior, but she honestly wasn''t too excited for them. If she was just a little heartless, she''d have let all of these people die instead. However, she hadn''t gotten into enough danger and felt enough threat to go down that hole quite yet. Fortunately... the reward for turning into a Town was much more satisfying. Chapter 1117 - 1117: Town Status [Received! 15000 Wood, 15000 Stone, 15000 Gold, +2 Building Slots] [You may now upgrade Farm (Lv2).] [You may now upgrade Training Hall (Lv2).] [New Buildings Unlocked!] Well¡­ while the money was not particularly special to her wallet, what really made her excited about the upgrade was the availability of new building slots, upgraded buildings, and the new special buildings. Before doing more though, she went to look at her new stats. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 1 Town Area: 28, 270,000 square meters Residents: 14585 (4913 permanent, 9672 temporary) Total Population: 29824 Base Resources: Wood: 29300/40000 Stone: 24220/30000 Money: 139731 Gold, 439199 Silver, 5298699 copper Prestige: 2110 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv2), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv3), Barracks (Lv3) Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1) Building Slots: 8/11 (+11)] When there was an option in the ''system'', it would remain floating until she answered. This time, there were plenty of questions about whether she wanted to upgrade so-and-so and there was also a notification of whether she wanted to expand. She did not delay the expansion this time, increasing the scope of her territory. She spread out more along the river for more resources, taking over another tributary from the mountains, creating a more regular-and-roughly circular shape. Even so, while she decided to expand this time, she would not be building new walls¡ªat least not one that covered the entire area. Although the area wasn''t restricted to a circle, the areas were calculated approximately in relation to a certain radius. At level 1 Village, with a 1 km radius, the maximum area was 3.14 square kilometers. For level 2 Villages, the approximate radius was 1.5 km. Albeit she didn''t expand back then, the maximum area was around 7 square kilometers. Finally, at Village Level 3, she had a 2 km radius to play with, so her maximum area was more than 12 square kilometers. With her current population and the expected boom, it was still more than enough for a while. Her current area, with an approximately 3 kilometer radius, had expanded to more than twice of that. This was really huge¡ªtoo huge for their current forces, and it wasn''t practical to wall all that land if she wasn''t going to maximize it yet. At most, she''d create an outer secondary wall in certain areas she wanted to use, which would eventually make the entire territory line look like irregular stars in shape. For now, she only expanded so the poisonous plants and bugs would be pushed out beyond the wall, but it would not be guarded by a wall. This way, her people could forage relatively peacefully even far away from the walls. The reason she didn''t do this back when she was a Level 2 Village was that the aether of a bigger territory seemed to also be bigger than their smaller counterparts. Expanding¡­ would''ve made them even more attractive to beast mobs. Their population was so small at the time, and it was better to hunt around at their own pace. Now¡­, they were a Town and they still had some catching up to do to match the average levels of Townspeople, so she decided expansion could be done as soon as possible. There was also the fact that the next level wall she wanted¡ªLevel 7¡ªwas unavailable at this time and would require her to upgrade once more to access it. Anyway, putting that aside for now, she went to take a look at the new building options. Aside from more restaurant and food options, the new residential houses available now had toilets with seatings (made of stone), and some more expensive ones even had tubs. Of course, that wasn''t something that interested her in the slightest. There were also two-storey commercial buildings available now, which was indicative of how Towns were¡ªcommercial hubs. Of course, that didn''t interest her either. She then looked at upgrade requirements for several buildings, which were apparently met a long time ago, except for the fact that Alterra needed to be in a Town to actually upgrade. [The Farmlands (Lv2) are now eligible for Upgrade!] [Plants in Level 3 farms will be granted a 30% increase in productivity and 100% increase in survivability.] This was compared to the Level 2 Farms, so this value was not small. [Would you like to upgrade all existing Farmlands (Lv2) for 10230 gold? Yes |No] S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. How many fields did she have now? She reckoned there were more than a thousand, though they were maximized to go above and below ground. That said, this meant that the cost of upgrade was now around 10 gold per field. She hesitated for a bit. It wasn''t that she wasn''t being too stingy¡ªshe did not lack that gold¡ªbut she had to make sure the farmers and the land renters would be able to pay for the increased rent that''d come with it. So, like before, she would send out the option for individual upgrades instead, wherein the current user of the land would have the prerogative to increase its level. In order to make it fair for both parties, she would have them pay for the entire cost of the upgrade, but they''d be able to use the land rent-free for the next year. For those who owned their farmland, then she''d simply charge them the bare upgrade cost. New farms or farms that would be opened for rental would be directly upgraded to Level 3. In that case, she''d charge 2 gold for a month''s rent. If one calculated this way, most landowners would definitely take the first deal. It would just be an advantage of being an existing renter/landowner. Anyway, if she were to estimate how much improvement it would bring if another Extreme Weather happened, then the drought-resistant plants and many others would survive without having to do extra protective measures. Next¡­ was the Training Hall. She looked at her panel to check for the upgrade requirements. [The Training Hall (Lv2) is now eligible for upgrade!] [Would you like to upgrade the Training Hall (Lv2) to Training Hall (Lv3) for 20000 Wood, 10000 Stone, and 30000 Gold? Yes| No?] Her eyebrows rose. Whoa¡­ Chapter 1118 - 1118: Training Hall Upgrade [The Training Hall (Lv2) is now eligible for upgrade!] [Would you like to upgrade for 20000 Wood, 10000 Stone, and 30000 Gold? Yes| No?] This was not a small amount, and it was much bigger than the previous upgrade¡ªmultiplied by several folds. At the back of her mind, she wondered who would get all that gold. So far there was no indication the building was a city''s ''franchise'' that went through the Sanctum of Constructs, so they had no idea which territory started it. Rather, it seemed to have been there since as far as anyone could remember. Well, that wasn''t her concern now, and she just looked at the cost, feeling a bit pained. Sure, she had the money, but she was distinctly aware of how much that actually was. For context, the average wealth of villages ranged from 100 gold for poor Level 1 Villages. Villages with a few thousand gold were already fairly well-off and were considered to have the potential to become towns after a couple of years or decades. On the other hand, the average wealth of a Level 1 Town (according to the Ferrol Journal) was a few tens of thousands. This meant that upgrading the Training Hall to this level could easily suck up an entire territory''s funds! Fortunately, that was not her problem and just upgraded it. She was kind enough to remember to send an alert this time so no one would get too shocked when they get kicked out of the building while it upgraded. She waited for about ten minutes and just sat at a bench (smiling at the people who greeted her by the way) and only then did she say ''Yes''. [The Upgrade of Training Hall (Lv2) to Training Hall (Lv3) has now commenced.] She then headed towards where the Training Hall was and, unsurprisingly, encountered quite a crowd watching the magic. "Amazing¡­" one said. "As expected of a territory upgrade! We get to see these things again!" "I heard the farmlands are getting upgrades too!" he said. "My team''s already gathering the funds for it!" "Oh yeah, I heard about that!" another responded. "How exciting! Wouldn''t that mean the prices of goods will decrease soon?" "Probably not too much, especially in the first few years¡ªthe cost of upgrade isn''t exactly cheap." "We''re investing in vertical farm equipment," another voice butted in. "Imagine how much our productivity will spike!" "Wow, you''ll be even richer! Send me a great gift for my birthday, yeah?" "What do you want?" "A bike." "Eh¡­" On her other side, she heard similar conversations. "AH, I''ll never get tired of this!" she heard someone say, sighing dreamily. It was nearby so she turned to see who it was. It was an aborigine and next to him was a Terran. "It''s not like we don''t get new buildings every couple of months," the Terran said, acting cool though his eyes were dilated as he stared at the building slowly being built up. "Besides, we just upgraded, it was a given we''d get new stuff and upgrades!" The aborigine shook his head. "You frog in a well. In other territories, the more common construction would just be houses," he said, using Terran idioms with familiarity. "Only Alterra could create and upgrade special buildings at the rate it''s going!" "Oh?" the Terran said, smirking. "Well, obviously that''s the case." He was very smug. Althea smiled and shook her head as she watched along with them. When people saw she was there, she was gently led to a better watching position and chairs magically appeared next to her so she could sit more comfortably. "...thank you," she said, just appreciating their gesture. The people smiled, embarrassed, saying it was nothing and they''d bring her a throne if they had one. "..." Anyway, the crowd grew bigger and bigger and they watched the four-storey building add another floor. It also seemed to have more stable walls somehow. [Training Hall (Lv2) has now been upgraded to Max Training Hall (Lv3)] [Monsters up to Level 30 can now be manifested.] As before, the experience would probably be smaller than the experience gained from actual monsters. Regardless, it was definitely a welcome upgrade. A lot of people must be very curious¡ªwhat it''d be like to fight against such monsters. Although the average of Town monsters was Level 15 or so, monsters past Level 20 and an occasional Level 30¡ªespecially for the peak towns¡ªwere not uncommon either. They had heard a few tales from aborigines (and even Helios when he was adventuring in Bleulle) and they knew it''d be a tough fight if those damned things decided to venture into their area. She also received the customization of price options and priced proportionally, though with obvious premium costs from Level 20 to 30, considering the differences in cost for them. There was a minimum amount, of course, considering some proceeds were going elsewhere. As before, it could be accessed purely by contribution points. For the copper the system automatically took to send to the ''developer'', it just converted the points to money according to its current value. Other than that, there didn''t seem to be a lot of differences. To be honest, considering the costs, she was expecting a bit more. Of course, the prices were usually fair, so she didn''t dare underestimate its actual function when it was used. Anyway, she made another set of announcements to encourage its use¡ªideally, so they could know and discover all of its features as soon as possible. [The Territory Training Hall has been upgraded! Monsters up to Level 30 can now be manifested. All guards will be given priority use for a period of 3 days!] [All permanent residents shall be given a discount of 50% of the usual rates for the first 7 days of usage, 30% for temporary residents.] [Let''s increase the territory''s strength even more! Let''s work hard together!!] This naturally caused the crowd around her to cheer, making Althea both flinch and smile at their energy. "YAY!" "Amazing!!" another said. "I can try stronger monsters now!" "Wow, you haven''t even beat Level 2 Hall." "..." So rude. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 1119 - 1119: Level 3 Training Hall (Part 1) A/N: *squeezes in* Have you left a review yet? lolool. 1 Happy February btw! I was planning on changing the cover to AltheaxGaran, but decided to change covers quarterly so moved that to March keke ¡­ ____ Now that the farms and Training Halls were done, it was time to consider the special buildings they''d build. She would need to discuss with the Elders about which building they''d take. She had her own ideas of course but she wasn''t arrogant to believe she would choose the best choice every time. However, the cleanup and the handling of more than ten thousand prisoners of war (among other cleanup tasks) would take at least a day. People needed to rest, too, so she decided to put that for later. Anyway, a line quickly formed outside the Hall, though they comprised mostly of citizens who were just inside the territory or just by the battlements. Everyone else was, understandably, too tired. Althea stared at the queue, pondering whether she''d join in now or wait until later. She was a bit tired from the war, but her health was still full, with only her mana and spirit consumed¡ªwith the former almost entirely so. Granted, if she decided to fight now, she probably wouldn''t be able to use too many skills due to the lack of mana (even if she was chewing mana cookies at this time), but it felt odd to just come out of such a large war with full health. Was she a masochist? Who knew. "Would you like to see?" A low baritone voice¡ªone that could weaken women''s legs¡ª sounded next to her. She blinked and looked at the side to see her husband there. He was really handsome and had a strong presence. The people around naturally made way for him as if by instinct. She smiled, taking his hand. "Well, I''m thinking about it," she said. "How did the cleanup go?" "On track," he said. "The ''slaves'' and prisoners of war are also lining up for their oaths." At this, some people nearby couldn''t help but ask. "Will some of them be freed?" Many looked concerned about this, and understandably so. Garan thought for a while. "Since they''re all technically war enemies and not rescued, the default status they could get was to be Prisoners of War¡ª regardless of whether they were enslaved by Resso, allied, or its citizens. They would just vary the amount of atonement points they could get. "Mathilda''s team would be the ones to judge how much atonement points would be attached to them, and we''d just have to trust in their assessment." One of the systems the Elder group decided on with regard to the ''slaves'' was a sort of tier system. After they cleared out the atonement points, only then would they be able to earn their own money to buy their own freedom from the system. If they came from prisoner of war status then even if they weren''t slaves to the system¡ªlike thousands of their current new captures¡ªthey''d still pay 5 Gold, though that''d head straight to Alterra''s treasury instead of the System. Anyway, that''d take a long while and it was pointless to think too much about it. For now¡­ they''d check out the training hall. When the people saw they were lining up, the two of them were practically pushed forward so they were among the first to try it out. They didn''t reject their kindness and entered after saying words of thanks. The overall area the Training Hall took was about the same as it was when it was at Level 2. However, it was taller and the structure reflected that and had thicker columns. It was just that¡ªvisually¡ªthe ceiling height was about the same. How would Level 30 monsters properly in 3-meter height rooms? Would humans just have the advantage of being smaller? The hallway though was slightly wider than before. She blinked, eyebrows furrowing a bit. Would the rooms have decreased in size then? However, when they entered one of the team rooms, they quickly realized it was the wrong assumption. The room was much larger than before! Maybe two or three times larger than the previous rooms! The ceiling height was also increased to about 4 or 5 meters! How? Did the place also have space-folding magic? In that case, then that cost was really cheap! Garan also seemed similarly impressed, blankly closing the door behind them. As the door shut closed, they both received similar notifications in their systems. [Welcome to the Training Hall, Team Room! Please choose the level of training you wish to experience! Level 1-5 - Cost: 25 contribution/hour/person Level 6-10 - Cost: 50 contribution/hour/person Level 11-15 - Cost: 100 contribution/hour/person Level 15-20 - Cost: 200 contribution/hour/person Level 21-25 - Cost: 300 contribution/hour/person Level 26-30 - Cost: 500 contribution/hour/person Note: The temporary discount set by the management applies.] Garan''s eyebrows rose as he looked at her. Although these points seemed small compared to how they charged when the Hall was new, it actually wasn''t the case. After all, they had long adjusted the value of a single contribution point. Before, one could get 500 contribution points by fighting a couple of monsters. However, the stronger monsters that were much more difficult to handle didn''t necessarily give the proportional amount of experience¡ªand none at all if the level differences were too wide. The points taken from those also varied now and were no longer 1:1 points-to-copper exchange. Now, a normal citizen fighting the occasional mob and with a low-paying job would get around 3000 to 4000 contribution points every month¡ªwhich would take several months of saving to pay for permanent residencies. So¡­ 500 points for an hour of experience would comparatively feel expensive. Seeing his reaction, Althea smiled awkwardly. "The upgrade was really expensive," she said, and then looked at him. "Should I reduce it a bit?" Garan shook his head, gently patting hers with a smile. "Do what you think is fair." "People who''d need to try out those levels wouldn''t have low amounts of contribution points," he said. "Give them something to spend it on." She giggled, pulling him deeper into the vast empty room. "Now¡­ let''s see if all that spending is worth it." Seriously! Send me what you thoughttt! We spent more than 1000 chapters, darnit! xDDD sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 1120 - 1120: Level 3 Training Hall (Part 2) They paid 1000 points each to take on two monsters for two hours. They decided to try out a Level 15 and Level 26 Monster this time, so both she and Garan could have very good exercise while also considering the current state of their mana and spirit. It was still basically a solo fight with the other watching aside, possibly to send some support if needed. In the end, they just really wanted to train side-by-side despite their level differences. Althea went ahead first, chewing on mana cookies to recover a bit more mana while she waited for the monster to manifest. Familiar dust of light appeared in front of them, slowly forming into shape, starting from its interior. Even while it was forming, she could tell that it was an unfamiliar monster. This meant it must be more prevalent elsewhere, possibly from another side of the world. This was another advantage of using the Training Hall¡ªthey''d get familiarized with monsters that were uncommon in their areas, giving them some exposure before they potentially encountered them in real life. For the soldiers who often traveled around, this experience was invaluable. For her who simply wanted to know more, it was the same. Anyway, back to the monster¡ªwhich, like every other beast¡ªhad an ugly grotesque form that seemed so unnatural. It was like they were all chimaeras in a sense. Anyway, the monster was soon completely manifested. From a collection of light particles, it slowly became more and more solid, its sharp scythe appearing even more menacing. In appearance, her enemy was like a giant furry Mantis with a deformed bat''s face and large scythes for hands. She used her [Assesment Skills] to get its name. [Reaper (Lv15)] Eh, how fitting. Kkkkkkk A creepy sound came from it. It was like an insect, but a ghost. She gulped, turning to look at her husband. "As much as possible, don''t help." He nodded. He was reluctant, but this was always how she wanted it ever since they started training together. He could only watch as she formed a defensive position, ready for battle. [Level 15 Trial: Start] Althea held tightly to her sword, and the beast immediately lunged towards her. Its feet moved with small steps but they were quick, and it swung its scythes around it¡ªseemingly at all angles¡ªas if to ensure there was no escape for its prey. She narrowed her eyes and used [Perfect Aim] so she could see its movements a bit better. Of course, all the skill could do was increase her accuracy, not pinpoint its exact weakness. At best, it''d help her have enough control of her body to actually make the hit. She and the Reaper exchanged blows for a while after that, the sound of blades striking each other echoed the room. Garan''s jaws were clenched, fingers buried on his arms, every time Althea was hit. And she was hit quite often. When Garan realized she wasn''t wearing her protection charm again, his eyes twitched. He understood why she did so¡ªwhat kind of training would it be with such a tool on¡ªbut it didn''t make him any less uncomfortable. Fortunately, she managed to defend herself with her weapon so she didn''t get too injured. Clack! The scythe hit her smack in the stomach and she only minimized the damage by jumping back. She was still hit though, and she gasped in pain. She also saw her spirit got quite a bit of a hit too. She held up her hands to stop her husband from approaching. She was in pain, but her eyes were bright. The reason why she wanted to torture herself after getting out unscathed from the war was because it felt like she was too comfortable. Such a big thing happened, but she didn''t feel like she grew at all! Thus, when she saw the chance to get a little hurt, she took it. She narrowed her eyes and raised her sword, precisely blocking another one of the reaper''s sharp attacks. She heaved a deep breath as she kicked it, taking some water from her (non-potable) water jug to push it back. It imbalanced it a bit. Sadly, her current form made it inconvenient to rush over and attack. The movement sparked a thought in her mind though. What if that water was damaging? Like acid? Of course, she didn''t dwell on that too much at this time. She had to focus her remaining mana to control her elements, all while defending against its attack with her sword. It was great high-stakes multi-tasking. Anyway, the two exchanged hits like this for a while and Althea seemed to be on the defense, though Garan knew she was actually studying the creature. She studied its movements, its preferred attacks, and its behaviors. Sometimes she''d study something even if it meant sacrificing a bit of her own spirit. It was one of her most admirable traits, but also what worried him the most. After several tense minutes, Althea eventually figured out some of the ways to deal with it. For example, its scythe was both its strength and weakness. It was wide and sharp so it would cause very real damage, especially if it was the real monster. However, at the same time, its movement was too huge and¡ªif one timed it well enough¡ªcould create massive openings too. She studied its patterns, making some rough calculations in her mind. She struggled to get the timing at first. The skill [Precise Aim], in terms of actual application, had limited effectivity when the enemy was close-ranged and right in-your-face. She took a deep breath and jumped back. She raised her arms, using much of her mana to compress the water floating above them, making it more dense, and slammed it down on the monster before it could reach her. It didn''t crush the monster, but it forced it to pause at the right time. She used her sword to swipe away its scythe outwards, and she lunged forward to stab it in its flexible areas¡ªwhich should also be its weak spots. Clack!! Stab!! She tried to hit it as quickly as she could. The monster twitched, swinging around its arms in reflex. Kkkkk! Althea had long stepped back. The monster had slowed down now, making it easier for her to swipe its scythes away from her, so she could finally finish it off. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. [Killed! Reaper (Lv15)] Chapter 1121 - 1121: The Gorevyrm Althea sparkled with satisfaction. Although her hair was messy, her shirt was in disarray, and she was filled with sweat, she still looked absolutely gorgeous in her husband''s eyes. Althea was the brightest after a successful challenge. Althea actually thrived on it. Although she did her best to prepare Alterra to be as stable as possible¡ªover-designing here, over-preparing there¡ªit didn''t hide the fact she actually lived for the thrill. At least when she wasn''t affecting others, she would find ways to give herself a hard time. She''d pick the most difficult projects, she''d go deep in areas she had little expertise on, she''d care for plants that had no chance to survive, or she would push ideas that would make her sleepless in thought. Whether it was of discovery or of growth, a good challenge was Althea''s true source of joy outside her family. Thankfully, she was still anchored in them and in Alterra, otherwise, Garan was certain she''d have long flown away to find adventure. "Good job," Garan said, leading her to a collapsible chair he took from his space. He wiped her sweat away as he handed her her favorite unripe mango juice. It was very refreshing. "Sit tight and just study us," he said, patting her face again before he headed to his own battlefield. Next was Garan''s enemy, a Level 26 monster. They watched as the shimmering dust slowly condensed to form a rough shape and, from here, they could see that it''d be more than 3 meters tall. Garan tightened his hold on his weapon. Level 26 and above monsters could be found at town level but they were fairly uncommon. In Ferrol, after reaching a certain level, he had to spend days hunting for monsters that''d give him experience. It was why he was (and would be stuck) in level 29 for a while. Fortunately, the Training Hall could now ease that burden. Soon, the monster formed and they watched as it slowly came to life. There would be a brief moment where it showed the monsters building up from bones, to muscles, and finally the skin. It was another fascinating feature in this place, and she knew some scientists who''d join teams in the Training Hall just so they could see these moments. After all, to the people truly studying the creatures, it was quite useful to have their skinned and de-muscled views. Speaking of which, this monster wasn''t like the mantis which had an exoskeleton, so they saw muscles first. This one seemed to have a hydrostatic skeleton¡ªthat was to say, its body shape was maintained by fluid pressure inside its body. It was large, more than 3 meters tall, and was akin to a giant earthworm except with yellow-brown skin that was not as soft as it looked. They saw how it was ''built'', after all. That skin was not thin at all. Its mouth was circular and had razor-like fangs. It had no eyes, and was just a disgusting sight overall. Fortunately, her husband was the one to deal with it. She simply used her assessment skill to get its name. [Gorevyrm (Lv26)] Surprisingly, the Gorevyrm was not entirely unfamiliar. As a standard, Alterra bought off information from aborigines in exchange for contribution points. In the past few months, Sahara gained quite a bit of points by sharing information about her region. The Gorevyrm was a monster relatively common in the desert. She had told them about this, made a rough sketch using their pencils (she had a talent for it, learning how to draw only after a few weeks of being introduced to it), and even said how to handle them. These beasts thrived in the desert so they weren''t that dependent on water. They could also be weak against salt, but who had that much salt to waste? However, Sahara did mention some weak areas. Like the worms they knew, its underside was a bit softer than other parts to facilitate its movements. Another weakness would be inside its mouth. Not to mention, it was completely out of its element¡ªsand. In the desert, the thing could bury itself and swim around sound using its inbuilt vibrators that liquified the sand surrounding it, but that was not on its plate right now.1 So, although Garan did have a bit of trouble by virtue of its strength, it didn''t take long before he got on his groove. Garan used his ice element to hold it in place, particularly when it was in upright positions, slowly chipping its life away. This went on for a couple of minutes, with the worm being trapped, escaping, attacking, and being trapped again. The war didn''t require much mana from Garan, so he still had quite a bit left at his disposal. When the monster was on the verge of dying though, Althea stood up. "Wait," she said, standing up next to him. "Can I try something?" Garan nodded, though he didn''t move in case the monster suddenly burst movements. Althea raised her hand, feeling its interior, its body using her ability. One of the things she learned the past couple of months was how to feel a body''s interior¡­ eventually awakening a Healer profession, too. She wasn''t going to heal it or anything of course. She just wanted to see something. Surprisingly, she really did feel the blood inside the monster. She thought of the fact that when a monster wasn''t defeated, it''d stay in that room until it was. It wouldn''t disappear, and it was up to the next in line to beat it. Could it be that a real monster was really transferred from elsewhere, instead? It wasn''t that they didn''t consider it, but this place was too magical in many aspects they didn''t know which common sense still worked. The point was, since it had a lot of moisture in its body, she curiously tried to do something. Among the water users, there were plenty of people who wanted to try doing ''blood-bending'' to control a person. The concept was because humans were mostly made of water, perhaps they could control them.1 She didn''t know where they got the inspiration, but many people tried, especially during wars. However, it wasn''t as straightforward as people thought, which was both a disappointment and a relief. For one, although humans were technically composed of a lot of water, it was mixed with a hell lot of things like plasma, iron, and other organic compounds. Healers could feel the water inside a person''s body, but not move it enough it''d manipulate the entire body weight. And¡­ all intelligent beings were, in a sense, protected by the aether¡ªas if holding it together¡ªso they couldn''t be manipulated in this way. (A few of other races may or may not have volunteered as experiments for large amounts of contribution points). In the cases of monsters, the other barrier was that their skin was too thick, and they tended to have a similar or less proportion of water in their bodies. This worm was different. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It basically didn''t have much to cover it, so she wanted to try if she could control it. She was a bit sweaty, using the rest of her mana. It flinched, and made a decently big movement, before she had to give up¡ªexhausted. Her eyes brightened. That was good enough for now. Garan smiled, shaking his head, before walking over the monster to finally end its suffering. Hehe. Dune inspiration, of course xDD Heheh. ATLA throwback xDDD Chapter 1122 - 1122: The New Prisoners of War A/N: We''re getting one extra chap today~! We''re not T1 Golden this week, but I wanna show appreciation for making last month''s T1 so stable! Thank you for your support, everyone! ... ____ The day was ending and most people¡ªincluding those who were in the bunkers¡ªhad either gone home or went to see the trials happening in the Main Plaza. Rather¡­ except for those who were too tired or injured from the war and mobs, most people actually opted to join the latter. They wanted to know what these people did¡ªwhether they could emphathize with them or to be guarded against them. Although prisoners of war were often working in mines, gathering resources, cleaning up, and so on¡ªthere were definitely some crossed paths between them and the citizens. They wanted to know whether they were pity-worthy¡­ or spit-worthy. Because Resso Village was legitimately an enemy territory, it would not be right to just grant them the option to free themselves after gaining some money. Everyone from that side would be ''Prisoners of War'', regardless if they were system slaves or not, and whether they were from Resso or one of the allied territories. The Rosses 1handled the new prisoners. After the war, Mathilda had gone straight to the Center with Jun2 and her children to oversee the newcomers. They had started even while the mobs were ongoing, beginning with the ''slaves'' they allowed to enter early on. This was the last batch of slaves they''d rescue from attacking territories, so she hoped to allocate them impeccably. By the time the mobs were completely annihilated, this batch was not even half done yet, so everyone knew this would take a while. They didn''t want to take breaks either so Mathilda and Jun decided to go on shifts, and same with Gwen and Gill, with the women to check in for the night after a couple more hours. They set up tables in the plaza. Every one of the prisoners would be asked to make an oath (or die) before doing anything else. The oath was also extremely detailed¡ªcrafted by Mathilda and Jun themselves¡ªto ensure they still had some rights, but still ensured Alterra''s safety at all costs. After they made an oath, they would then confess to what they had done in the plaza, being as honest as the oaths forced them to be. From there, they''d judge the length of their state as prisoners of war here. If it was a murderer, then the atonement points would reflect that¡ªneeding years in hard service, if not decades. Some of the minor ones¡ªfor example, those who had been victimized by wars for years¡ªwould have a lot less. Speaking of that, there were many prisoners from previous wars who had shorter sentences. A few of them had already become either ''free slaves'' ¡ªthat was, the ones who could start to keep their money to save up for freedom. In fact, just last month, there was one guy from the Fargo war who had already freed himself. The man''s name was Ghetto1, and it was Silvia 2who judged him after the Fargo-Alterra War. He had been a guard there, but refused to join the evil. Rather, he had volunteered to guard the gates with Victor and the others back then to defend, all while avoiding the disgusting things happening inside. A month ago, he finally gathered enough money¡ªsome were personal loans from the friends he made along the way¡ªto free himself. He immediately applied to be a guard, and was now on probationary status. Anyway, his case was quite an inspirational story among the prisoners of war. This went on and a few hundred more prisoners came through, confessing their crimes¡ªespecially their war crimes¡ªmost of which caused high blood pressure all over the plaza. When the particularly annoying ones were placed on the side (they would be escorted as a group to the prison or in the prisoners'' dormitories), many of the citizens would spit on them, maybe hit them, and they couldn''t do anything about it! They gritted their teeth and the citizens continued to annoy them. When they dared to attack¡ªespecially for non-system slaves¡ªthen they''d go straight to prison, and along with that were increased sentences. At some point, some guards appeared dragging a bloodied man with them. They were guards who were on cleanup duty outside, and this meant they found more people outside the territory. One of them was a little unexpected though. "Miss Mathilda!" Angelo yelled. "The enemy lord is here!" Lords were immune to becoming slaves as long as they held the token, so he had to be dragged there instead of just being ordered around. Anyway, the announcement of his identity made everyone stare badly at him, making Tout want to bury himself in the ground again. Angelo dragged him to the front of the table. The young lad¡ªquite proud¡ªalso took out something from his pocket. "He also has the token," he said, handing the token over to her. Guards were duty-bound to give tokens they found to the leading parties, while citizens could keep the token¡ªassuming they deserved it. This was applicable only to tokens found in Alterra or in any of its satellites. Otherwise, it was a free-for-all. However, the guards could choose to keep it in exchange for paying half the minimum selling price of the token (and they could even take out loans to assist with the purchase). Of course, the condition was that the territory would be subsidiary to Alterra for the next 5 years¡ªthough no one thought that was unfair at all. Now that Alterra was a Town, many villages would be scrambling to become subsidiaries to it! However, Alterra was choosy and might not even look at them at all! It would be an honor to become a subsidiary! On the other hand, if they chose to surrender it, they would receive good pay and contribution points in exchange for it. If they decided to sell it, then the finder could get 10% of the proceeds. Any of the deals would be very good, and it was an incentive for people to hunt down enemy lords as well. Of course, they also wanted to avoid citizens fighting over the tokens or even backstabbing each other for it. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Hence, they added a rule that the reward would be given to whoever found it¡ªnot necessarily the one who delivered it. They just had to take a simple (and cheap) temporary honesty oath as they submitted it. Mathilda''s eyebrows furrowed as she looked at it. They didn''t have any available Token Guards at this time, so they either had to give it back or give it to someone. Althea had given her permission to do most things for the territory, and what to do with tokens from useless territories was one of them. They would definitely not sell it back to the previous Lord, so it could only be the latter. But who''d they sell it to? Mathilda, Gill, and Gwen Lawyer. One of the first refugees and had been Mathilda''s right hand man since the start Showed in Ch 617 as one of the Fargo guards who was left off relatively easily One of Mathilda''s assistants who was now helping handle Iron Mountains with Rowan Chapter 1123 - 1123: Selling the Resso Token "Y-You can have it! Just let me go!" Tout screamed, as if it was a good deal for Alterra¡ªone that he ''willingly lost to'', even. Mathilda ignored him while she thought, and Angelo 1just smacked him on the back of his head. "You can''t possibly think we''ll just let you go, right?" At this, some of the popcorn-eaters at the side commented. "He''s stupid enough to think he''ll win against Alterra! Don''t assume he has a brain!" "..." Tout gritted his teeth, his eyes twitching in annoyance. He just sent everyone his ''deadliest'' glare, before turning to stare at Angelo. "You''re probably going to keep me to know more about Basset Town! Too bad¡ªI''m under oath!!" he said with a vindictive grin, as if that''d cause despair. "Don''t worry, we have our ways," Angelo said¡ªcompletely unaffected¡ªand he looked at Mathilda, who waved them away. Angelo grinned and dragged the bloodied bloke straight to the torture chambers. Only Patte was there now, it was nice to have a new guy. Tout didn''t know where he was being taken, but he was instinctively terrified. "Noooo!" he yelled, trying to struggle, but to no avail. He had been weakened greatly¡ªwhen the war ended, his spirit was dangerously low. Then, when he was pulled up, he was also forced to eat a pellet that made it difficult for him to gather enough energy to even attempt to run away. "Let me go!!!" he yelled, but then¡­ Angelo did, and his face fell smack on the ground. BANG! "You¡ª" "SHUT UP!" Angelo yelled, hitting his head. He coughed, and could only look bitterly at the young man. This wasn''t fair! He gave them his token! (He forgot that Angelo found it instead, but who was counting?) As he was dragged though, he could hear the the old woman ask the crowd. "Who wants to buy a token?" she asked. "We''ll start selling it for¡­ 50 Gold." "!!!" The cheapest token could sell for 1000 gold, okay! The incredibly poor and hopeless ones would still sell for 100!! "First priority are Alterran Residents, does anyone want to buy it?" "Eh¡­" Tout could hear some groans all around him. He turned to see, gaping when he saw their expressions. These people dared look disgusted!! So rude!!! ¡­ No Alterran Resident volunteered in the end. This was understandable. They had worked very hard to become proper residents, who''d want to get a disgusting headache? "No Residents? Then Alterran Citizens," she said, referring to those who were paying the daily fees. Naturally, there was a bit of a pause, with some people genuinely thinking about it. If one just looked at its definition, anyone who wanted a bit of power¡ªand hadn''t invested too much in Alterra yet¡ªwould naturally be tempted! Still, no one moved forward. First of all, there was the issue of money. Unlike Residents, they had a very limited amount they could take out. In general, non-Residents could only loan enough to use for a few month''s survival at best. And¡­ after a bit of thought, they also didn''t want to go out of Alterra. Leading another territory was too troublesome! The infrastructure (or lack thereof) was already there and would be too costly to demolish and upgrade. Who would want to live in such a ''primitive'' place? It would be full of aborigines, too! In the past months, a lot of exchanges between the satellites had happened. From the stories in Iron Mountains, they naturally had an idea about the challenges of taking a predominantly aborigine territory! "Okay, so last chance, Alterrans, I will be selling to the guests." No one answered and Mathilda turned to look beyond the crowd to the curious aborigines. They had been there a while, some being there for as long as the Alterrans. Interestingly, a lot of them had bought some recliners and chairs from Baron''s woodworking shop and they were quite comfortable at the side, being sold various goods by the opportunistic snack sellers. "We only need you to sign a peace oath¡ªthat is, you will simply not be allowed to attack Alterra or any of the associate territories. Other than that, it''s yours." S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "The price will start at 100 Gold," she said. At this, many aborigines raised their hands. To be honest, they were shocked that no Alterran seemed interested, but a token was a token! A small bidding war happened then, and the Resso Village token was granted to one of the merchants from Ferrol Town. It was sold at a price fair for both parties. The merchant got an entire territory¡ªa dream, really¡ªfor a dirt-cheap price of 242 Gold, and Alterra got a bit of change just before the end of 28 hours approached. Win-win, indeed. Well, except for poor Tout who¡ªby the time the deal was finalized and the token merged with the buyer¡ªwas still screaming his heart out. ¡­ While this was being handled, the Mauin villagers also helped out with the Prisoners of War, but in a different way. They had a very clear agenda¡ªto find the Hasa Villagers. Because the oath was one of honesty, they just had to ask them where they came from. During the inquisition in the Plaza, they asked these people where they came from. From there, they could filter out the ones they needed. They found a handful of survivors who¡ªwith permission¡ªthey tortured themselves. All of the Mauin men there could do this, because all of them were guards. In the end, after inflicting a lot of suffering, Mauru and the others obtained the map to Hasa Village¡­ and some information about their old brethren. "S-Some of them are alive!! AHH!!" one yelled, succumbing to the pain and deliriousness that came with it. They naturally tried not to say anything. After all, their captors were incredibly sensitive. Saying the wrong thing about their brethren was equal to their suffering. "We¡­ we liked some of them alive b-better." Immediately, the prisoners were beaten up even more. "What did you do to them?!" Mauru and the others asked, and their attacks got more intense the more they heard. This made the ex-Mauin Villagers feel complicated. Many were still alive¡ªwhich was such good news¡ªyet they also felt horrible for them. They suffered for so many months! Would they still be sane when they found them? They kicked the damned men who¡ªwhen they realized there was no way they were getting out of this alive¡ªdecided to detail everything they''ve done with evil smiles on their bloodied faces. The former Mauin Villagers could no longer hold their strengths and eventually took their lives. Mauru 1heaved a deep breath, cold eyes looking at their prisoners'' lifeless bodies. After a pause, he turned to look at his brethren. At this time, about a dozen men and young men were there to join the inquisition, and each one of them had extreme anger painted on their faces. Mauru, as the leader of their group, forced himself to calm down¡ªto balance things out, even when his heart was also bursting in anger. Too bad the prisoners were already dead and they couldn''t vent anymore. "We¡­ now that we know what happened, I''d like to get as many of our brethren here as we could," he said. "But the path would not be easy, especially now that we have upgraded to Town. "Who''s coming with me?" One of Baron''s cousins who entered the guard team One of the leading people amongst the Mauin Village, one of the villages that fell a long time ago Chapter 1124 - 1124: Another Elders’ Meeting (Part 1) Heading back to the Gaea Villa, the couple were excited to have a nice long bath. In Garan''s case, a bath together would be ideal. It was just that when they entered the house, they were greeted by two little buns running right straight to them. "Mwama!" her daughter yelled, so adorable with her hair bunned at both sides. Her rambunctious son also stopped playing with his toy car, running to her too, but he was much louder and because he was chubbier than Pepper his steps were louder. "Mwamaaaa!" Then they saw their father right behind her and they brightened even more. "Dadaaaa!!!" Althea could only stay still as they once again grabbed her ankles. She was a bit dirty, but they ought to take a bath too before sleeping anyway. She giggled as she lifted them up, smooching their soft faces. Garan smiled and kissed everyone too, feeling incredibly warm in his heart. She realized they were dirtier than expected though. Some dust and a bit of blood were smudged on the babies'' clothes. "Oh, dear¡­" she said, a bit embarrassed. "Let''s take a swim together, ne?" This naturally excited the babies who love swimming. "Swim! Swim!" She laughed, hugging her two babies to the bathroom. They all took a rinsing shower before heading to the tub and¡ªwith her husband''s very strained help¡ªthey all got cleaned together. After half-an-hour of ''swimming'', the parents readied themselves and the babies for bed. Garan fortunately moved on from his plans tonight, knowing the kids would not let go of their mother. His face showed a bit of disappointment though. Althea laughed as she saw this. She whispered something to the two babies and she held them up to his face, and the babies stretched their little arms and wrapped them around his face, giving him baby smooches all over. Garan''s face softened and he held up the babies, taking them to sleep himself. She giggled and joined in, readying to sleep with the babies spooned between them. It didn''t take long, and the four of them fell into a well-deserved slumber. ¡­ After about a day of rest, another meeting among Elders was initiated. This was to give more time for those who dealt with the clean-up, especially Mathilda and Garan (who woke up after three hours of sleeping), to rest properly. A lot of interesting things also happened during this time. First of all, as expected, a lot of the more powerful non-slaves had tried to escape. After all, they were not bound by the system to stay, and the best time to do so was during the trial. The administration was busy with the thousands of other captured enemies at this time, and the rules were still null and¡ª at the time¡ª would end within a few hours. This was why they had to rush to make a move. They looked at each other, making vague visual signals, and¡ªabout an hour before the official end of the 28-hour war¡ªa few dozen people sprinted out to run at the same time. Of course, Althea chose to let them in during this vulnerable period not just because she was soft-hearted. She and Garan naturally prepared for such a case. Those few dozen people didn''t even get far and were not able to hurt anybody¡ªthe half-orcs and Fufi appeared right above them, taking them down. All those above the level cap were killed directly by the half-orcs, while those below had their heads bitten off by Fufi. It was a very bloody sight, and suffice to say no one dared to rebel again after that. Another was that the Mauin Villagers applied for a mass leave so they could rescue their surviving brethren. Although it was doubtful many of them had survived¡ªespecially after the Village had been destroyed¡ªthey still wanted to take a look. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The ones who went out were Mauru, Massan, Ento, as well as the two new physical supernaturalists the 17-year-old Essan (super speed) and the 18-year-old Nattan (super strength). They left a couple of hours after they got the information, filling up their spaces with easy-to-digest food, water, health potions, and so on. During the past couple of months, the hardworking Mauins had gained a lot of friends and supporters, and a lot of the things they brought with them were actually donations from friends. They cried, and promised they''d be careful and return as soon as they could¡ªhopefully, with a few more people to join Alterra, as well. Anyway, the meeting started when the sun was high up, and every one of the Elders was there on time. Before they started, various data and plans were collected in order to streamline the discussions. One data set they received was the census from the administration team. They were the ones who monitored the Village Center and took care of the registrations there, recording everything, and making sure people were easily found according to their expertise. A lot of details and background weren''t reflected in the system. Even if they were, they couldn''t bother her with everything right? Anyway, they had also done oaths that would require them to Althea was impressed that they got everyone as indicated in her system though. She naturally cross-referenced to see their accuracy, and she was relieved. The number of Residents was at the exact number. The population¡ªwhich included the slaves and prisoners of wars¡ªwas still being updated as of now, but it looked to be more or less accurate. This showed how efficient and organized the Administration Department was. Should she reward them with a bigger government office? The average population in a town was several times more than what they had now, it was only a matter of time before their current floors wouldn''t be enough anymore. Mathilda had mentioned the paperwork was starting to feel cluttered. They should get more room for their cabinets, yes. She noted that down. When she built the new walls, she would probably create a government zone so each department could have their own buildings. Hmn, how exciting. Chapter 1125 - 1125: Another Elders’ Meeting (Part 2) Anyway, now that Alterra had upgraded to a Town, they would no longer have to ''block'' visitors from coming en masse. However, the requirements for residencies would definitely increase. This was something they had planned a long time ago in order to control the burst of population inevitably coming in. They didn''t want to get into a situation where they had to block people again just to stop an upgrade. Speaking of population, they got a lot of Prisoners of War this time ¡ªthousands of them, excluding the ones dead and on death row. They did not expand and did not need to build new buildings (for now), but it didn''t mean that such a large new labor force wasn''t needed. They could actually use a lot of new miners because they found a nice resource in Alterra for them to mine. A few months ago, a group of goblins¡ªled by Iko, one of the first goblins they received from Guia¡ªwas tasked to dig the mountains to get to the hot water under the mountains. Alterra did not have volcanoes, but there was a good amount of geothermal activity underneath. This allowed the heating of the underground water reservoir to just the perfect temperature for it to be considered hot springs. This was to be pumped and siphoned out for their upcoming Hot Spring Luxury community set to open in a couple of months. After a large amount of planning and zoning (as well as underground surveying with the tools they had), the geology experts decided on certain areas they''d use and sent the goblins to work on them. A few months ago though, the goblins came across an interesting mine. The walls were lined with soft rocks with unusual color, and the goblins took a few samples and wrapped them up in a blanket¡ªjust in case. Anyway, the goblins found them beautiful and brought them up to share. The rules in Alterra were strict, and people couldn''t take resources outside of what was allowed by the rules. Like how people weren''t allowed to build anything without approval¡ªpreventing the formation of shanties¡ªthe rule for this worked in a similar way. Of course, even if there weren''t such rules, the goblins were honest critters and would''ve definitely reported it regardless. Anyway, the goblins didn''t think much of it. It was only when a Terran saw the stone that the word ''Purple!'' was called. It was a saturated purple mineral. It had a matte finish and was softer to touch than typical minerals. When the Research Center studied it (undergoing various safety checks of course), they found compounds that, when processed, could yield a vibrant purple dye. There might still be other uses, but a different team was assigned to figure those out. From Oslo, they knew that it was a very rare color. He had a girlfriend who had family in Cloth City, so he knew a bit about it. Anyway, they obviously had to inject a bit of manpower if they wanted to mass-produce it. Whether it was the mining work, the processing of the product, and factory work for the various end products¡ªall these things would need some manpower. They could also free up the menial tasks in other factories and give them to the newcomers too, giving more complicated (and better paying) jobs to their current employees. The arrival of the new prisoners was actually quite convenient. Anyway, just before the upgrade, Althea''s last update about this was that the initial version of the dye was being perfected so that it would completely bind with the fabric. It was a finite resource so they couldn''t be careless with the experiments, so a lot of calculation and planning had to be done before every step. For now, the color tended to fade away after a couple of washes, so it''d take a bit more time before it could be sold. The only thing they could guarantee was that the color and saturation itself could be more or less maintained¡ªat least at first. Speaking of color, Oslo had been pulled in as a consultant and he may or may not have hinted that the vibrancy of their purple was far superior than what was in the market. This was great news, and this would definitely guarantee another avenue for Alterra to make money. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In Xeno, purple dye was even more expensive than the blue dye¡ªwhich was already quite costly. Apparently, in cities, a bolt was bought in increments of gold. It didn''t really surprise many of the history-aware Terrans though. Back in their home planet, there was a period when purple dyes were even more valuable than gold! It was why it was synonymous with royalty. It seemed like it was the same here in Xeno. In the end, the item was called amethystite powder, and the fabric should be available in the market within a few more months, though probably for internal or exclusive use only. Speaking of colorful fabric, the research team had also figured out a good way to use Jacoba Town''s Isatis Flower. After holding on to it for months, Alterra could now make rare and beautiful blue fabric, dyes, and ink. Rather, Cassandra¡ªwho knew the products of Jacoba Town¡ªeven vouched that Alterra''s was even higher quality than Jacoba''s and could therefore be sold even higher. As such: Purple and Blue, the rarest dyes, would soon be available in Alterra and create another booming industry from it. As for how Jacoba¡ªor the Cloth Cities, for that matter¡ªwould react to that, they couldn''t be quite sure. Anyway, each one of those cities was very far away from them, even farther than Bleulle City, so they might not really care for them, at least for a while. Even if they did, Alterra would''ve been connected to so many territories by then¡ªwhether they were allied, subsidiaries, or mere business partners¡ªthat anyone would have to be careful in handling them. This was another reason why Ansel and the others made business deals only with those with acceptable morals. Even if they were not particularly rich yet, if they had some integrity, then Ansel would consider their deals over those who had done a lot of questionable things. It would not only be against their conscience to give more power to those bastards, but it was also in the case more enemies came their way. On that front, they''d like to minimize the potential of betrayals. It would be great if they could ally with a City though¡ªthings would be a lot easier for them, just as the alliance with Ferrol definitely helped with their security and the ease of their growth. It was just that¡­ the Lords of Cities they heard about so far were all jackasses¡­ Why couldn''t there be normal people at the top, anyway? Sigh¡­ Chapter 1126 - 1126: Next Steps (Part 1) A/N: Thanks for the castle Lotuslin! *HUGSSS* Your chapter request will come soon hahahaha .. ____ The next part of the agenda was the increase in requirements for residencies. As a Town, the prices and therefore the value of contribution points were also to be changed. Ansel had already prepared a report with Ramil and Raj 1about this, proposing the new prices that would fit their Town and its future growth. In order to ensure that the unfortunate would retain the chance at life, their entrance fees remained way lower than other Towns at 30 copper/day for visitors and tourists. However, the costs of obtaining residencies were high with temporary residents having to pay a one-time fee of 5000 contribution points and a maintenance fee of 1 gold a month. The requirement for permanent residency was even more disproportionally higher. It would now require a one-time payment of 50 gold and 25,000 contribution points. The value of contribution points had also been balanced out further, making it still very useful even if someone had minimum, but also not too easy to obtain so no one could hoard all the good things in Alterra. Basically, if one had to start from scratch, the average person¡ªthat was to say, someone within the average level and at a decent age range¡ªwould be able to achieve at least a temporary residency within a few months or a year, at most. Of course, this was depending on how hard they actually worked for it and how talented they were. Calculating, some people might not aim for residencies anymore and just remain visitors. However, the benefits of being residents still far outweighed its costs. The free gathering of resources had been reduced and had also become limited to Residents only, though taking the fruits and stuff from the territory was still possible for non-citizens for an affordable amount of money. Further, like before, only residents (except for some business partners like the Golds and the Rolan Mercenary Team) could lease a property, and only permanent could own one. The most visitors could do was stay in dormitories, inn, hotels, or bed spaces rented out by residencies, which could be more expensive in the long term. Also, even if it was far more comfortable than those outside, who wouldn''t want to have a place of their own? It was human nature to have their own ''base''. Alterra had also established more benefit systems available only for residents. The most prominent one would be the loan system. Non-residents would have very limited credit, only enough for survival, and this was only given if they had secured a job or gathered enough contribution points to prove they were capable of paying back. For temporary residents, they could get loans to start small businesses, and permanent residents could get even higher. There were already some people who opted to invest everything in a permanent residency, and then take out a loan to buy a house (assuming their jobs were stable of course) which was actually both a brave and smart thing to do. There would be an improved health benefits system. Getting treated in the hospitals and clinics would be affordable to the masses¡ªbut it wouldn''t be free. However, every Resident would have a certain amount of free healthcare, as well as free annual checkups. Treating serious injuries obtained during wars and beast mobs was also subject to a lot of discounts and was affordable even for the poor. (It was no longer completely free though; their numbers had gone up too much and they realized that some people took advantage.) For Residents though, they could be pretty much insured with everything except blatant self-harm. There would be social security as well, wherein a portion of their salaries would be placed in the bank for their future use. After a few years, they could be availed with some interest. Finally, there was also a retirement benefit, which could be availed by those who had been residents for more than thirty years for the young adults and fifteen years for the older people (which was short considering increased lifespans in Xeno). After retirement, they would basically not go hungry even if they didn''t work nor would they worry about the other basic needs. It was a lengthy discussion, making sure that¡ªas much as possible¡ªthey would step into the best direction they could take, not just for themselves, but for the territory and for future generations. Every elder knew who she was by now, and she told them of the new area they could play with. "The current area is now more than twice of what we have," she said. The Elders had interestingly varied expressions. Those who were more concerned about military strength (like most men) flinched, thinking of how difficult it would be to guard such a big area. In contrast, those who were into infrastructure (the woman + Ansel) were already thinking of what they could propose to build in the future. "I didn''t expand the walls because we don''t need to yet, and I''m also hoping to use the Level 7 Walls by then." Level 7 Walls and Sentries¡ªavailable with one more upgrade¡ªhad farther reach and stronger attacks, it also had a much higher defense than Level 6. She might as well save up for that, instead. Anyway, she knew the requirement of upgrading to a Level 2 Town. Because they had been holding back the past months, they were actually not too far away from upgrade and she estimated she only needed another year or less. According to the Ferrol Notes, the requirement for the upgrade was 50,000 population, 30,000 Residents, and 3000 Prestige. Now that they had opened their gates again, it was only a matter of time for Alterra to reach that population level. The supposed most difficult part¡ªthe prestige¡ªwas already past 2000 for Alterra. When new products came out, it would probably increase even more. Anyway, while Level 6 Sentry was what most towns had, it would just give her 150-meter reach (and slightly stronger) attacks, and placing those around a larger scope¡ªeven if she decided to optimize and space at 300 meters apart¡ªwould not be cost-efficient if she decided to guard the new perimeter they had now. Althea shivered whenever she had to spend money on something not cost-efficient. In contrast, the threshold for sentries with farther reach¡ªat a whooping 300-meter scope and twice the shooting rate and power¡ªwas at Level 7. Having such a wide reach, if distanced well, in addition to its strength would be truly secure her territory well. She didn''t know the exact cost yet though. Jonathan''s Father did not upgrade his wall to that level because he said it was too expensive. It was why it was a wall that could only be found in Cities, and he said no Town could afford it without draining much of their treasury. There weren''t exactly City Lords they were close with either. Even if there was, their walls would''ve been built long before they were born, so they might not be privy to that information. So¡­ Althea was saving up a lot. She still felt she was too poor. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. If people knew how much money she had hoarded within a year, they would faint and want to shake her badly. So greedy! Bank bros. Chapter 1127 - 1127: Next Steps (Part 2) Of course, some might say for her to just expand and build a low-level wall around the new area like Fargo did, creating a better-guarded inner wall. This was indeed the ''best'' approach to her situation. Most territories would opt for an inner wall with the highest level while using a lesser wall for the rest of the territory. Other than the fact that this would give exclusivity to a ''higher class'' of the Lord''s choosing, there were plenty of practical reasons for this. First, high-level walls were too expensive to use in the large area of a territory. Second, an inner wall would be far easier to guard during wars because there were fewer areas to guard. To win a war, the majority of the enemy must get into the highest walled areas. Hence, it would be more difficult for enemies to win because the area they had to get into was smaller and more guarded. But Althea and her elders would not do this. They wanted all their citizens well-protected. While having a class strata was unavoidable because some people were simply more skilled, more powerful, or more hardworking than others she didn''t want this distance to be so stark that the lower rungs were unable to live life like proper humans. After some discussion, they agreed that there was no need to fence the current areas¡ªat least for now. She looked at her stats. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 1 Town Area: 28.270,000 square meters Residents: 14785 (4963 permanent, 9822 temporary) Total Population: 31824 Base Resources: Wood: 39300/40000 Stone: 28220/30000 Money: 109731 Gold, 449229 Silver, 5898699 copper Prestige: 2150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv4), Farm (Lv3), Training Hall (Lv3), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv3), Barracks (Lv3) Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1) Building Slots: 8/11 (+11)] Even during the past day, quite a few thousand people had landed in Alterra. It would only increase more and more. With their population, the current area was already more than enough, even with her massive amount of greenery and forestry retained for resources. All the new communities built in the past few months were either dormitories or mid-rise buildings, so her current population still fit well in her current space¡ªwith room for thousands more. In order to fit the rest of the 50,000 population the upgrade needed though¡ªif needed¡ªshe would just sacrifice a few green spaces and parks and build a few more mid-rise dormitories there. She could just make up for her personal greening requirements upon expansion. Anyway, now that the residential concerns had been addressed for now, the next point to discuss was the special buildings they''d be spending their slots on. For everyone to make informed decisions, Althea explained to them what they learned from Jonathan when they went to Ferrol, as well as what his father placed on his notes. As a Level 1 Town, the special buildings available to them was the Chancery of Appointments, the Post Office, Pharmacy, and the Timekeeper Tower. The Repeatable buildings were the Beast Stable, Guard Station, and the Inn. Obviously, the last three were not even considered because they already had them. Of course, they did not discount the advantages of the System''s versions. For instance, the Timekeeper Tower was extremely accurate¡ªbased on mysterious principles of this world¡ªthough they believed it was not unattainable with their math team. For the System''s Beast Stable, it had a passive calming effect on beasts¡ª making them easier to handle. This could also be built multiple times, so as long as a business had money, they could pay the lord to create a Beast Stable for them. This was a very common deal seen in towns and cities, particularly for establishments that catered to nobles. Finally, it had self-cleaning functions, which was extremely convenient. However, Balzy (their own Beast Inn Keeper) would argue that every part of monsters had some uses, and he indeed gained a bit of extra income by gathering beast excrement and selling them to farmers. The Duplicable Guard Stations were also really convenient in terms of passing around information, and with their lessened access to aether letters, they actually seriously considered these. The Inn was self-cleaning and had passive relaxing people and hastening recovery of Mana and Spirit. However, other than that, their own Inns were superior let alone their hotel. They could just make up for the recovery functions with their furniture instead. The Chancery of Appointments was where people could get hired by other territories like how they got their own NPCs. However, would they want their people to go out? Especially, since they''d be under oath not to harm the territory they went to? The reason other towns would build this was because it would allow them to hire beyond the limits of the Village Center, with an additional slot of 10 hires at the lowest level. This was something indicated in the Ferrol notebook, and precisely the reason why the former lord had one. However, for Alterra, this didn''t seem particularly attractive. The Pharmacy was self-explanatory with its ability to produce HP and Mana Potions at the lowest level, and buff potions when upgraded. Their own pharmacy had managed to mimic this to some degree, but it wouldn''t hurt to have one that continuously produced potions as long as they had the necessary raw materials. They already knew the raw materials, and the most used was the Haozen Berry and the Youna plants (both of which among the first plants she encountered. Other than these two, there were other ingredients, but they were fortunately relatively common in forest areas across the continent. As of this date, they had already gathered all these ingredients through various sources, including their seeds. They''d be dedicating a number of farms to raise these plants. Before, Althea had dedicated farms for her own pharmacy, but that would no longer be enough. One of the challenges pharmacies had to go through during peak times (during wars or mobs), was when they would run out of resources¡ªand therefore run out of products¡ªto sell. Imagine being in a war and the pharmacy was ''out of stock''? So, they learned this lesson and had been preparing for the mass production of the necessary raw materials. They had, in fact, already managed to cultivate the seeds in their nurseries (primary credit to Althea and Thorance) and the plants were all growing well. They weren''t actually difficult to plant and grow either. Otherwise, they wouldn''t be such ubiquitous plants at all. The reason why there were only a few people who could actually take advantage of the resources was because no one knew the formulas. Alterra''s pharmacists did figure it out after a bit of study¡ªbut that was because they were various experts who had hundreds of years worth of foundational knowledge taught to them since childhood. Anyway, even if some locals knew, they would not share. And so¡­ Alterra had the honor of pioneering such mass production of raw materials. "The Pharmacy is a must," she said, and no one disagreed. "Now for the next slot¡­" S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 1128 - 1128: New Town Buildings (Part 1) One slot was reserved for the Pharmacy. Althea still had two slots left. After a bit of discussion, they decided on the Post Office, which would used for fast communication. Even if Ferrol Town wasn''t too far away and they could send Messengers from here to there and vice versa, fast communication could literally save lives so they didn''t want to be stingy with that. They''d also have a lot more transactions with other Towns aside from Ferrol. They couldn''t send messenger birds there, right? Not only that, considering the trends, more and more Alterrans were likely to expand their world, form caravans, and go on adventures¡ªespecially once the Mercenary Hall was built. In that case, Post Office wasn''t just convenient¡ªit would be invaluable. A Bonus: At the highest level of the Post Office¡ªunlockable at city-level¡ª they could send items too! There naturally were limitations, such as size and weight limits, but that would be really magical to have. And so, two out of her three slots were decided on. They thought and discussed it for a while, wondering what to use the last slot on¡ªif they should use it at all. Althea told them about the special buildings that would be available in the future, to determine whether they''d save the slot¡­ again. The people who lived with her were naturally aware of what she knew, but most of the other elders didn''t have that privilege. For example, she told them about the Healing Sanctuary¡ªwhich fascinated Volohov¡ªa new building available at Level 2 Town. Other than that, the other buildings at Level two were the Warrior''s Arenas, the Auction House, the Mercenary Hall, the Windmill of Fortune, and the Hotel. She also told them of the pros and cons of each one. "Sadly, the Healing Sanctuary doesn''t seem to be a practical choice especially since we have such an efficient hospital¡ªthanks to you," she told Volohov, who blushed and waved his hand around in embarrassment. The others seemed to agree with her about which option was more attractive than the others. For one, for Level 2, only the Mercenary Hall was actually useful to them at that level¡ªat least considering it would consume something as precious as a building slot. To be honest, she was still amazed that the Training Hall was made available at the Village level. For Level 3, she told them about the Trade Hub (which allowed the purchase and sale of items from/to afar), the Observatory, the Spring of Life, and the Enchanters'' Guild (which could enchant equipment). As expected, they were most curious about the Trade Hub, the Spring of Life, and the Enchanter''s Guild¡ªall of which had magic that was really beyond their current comprehension. An instant-delivery shopping center? Yes! An endless water supply? There was no such thing as too much water! Probably. Magic Weapons Upgrade Building? Of course! Anyway, for all three Town Levels, they were interested in only a couple of buildings. Since they could receive +2 Building Slots with each upgrade, they were not really lacking slots at all. Althea found it kind of interesting. Normally, the Lord of Towns would be struggling about which building they''d choose. The Ferrol Notes indicated how much of a stressful endeavor it was because there were so many buildings they wanted to have¡ªneeded to have¡ªbut could not due to limited slots. Obviously, Alterra¡ªwhich could build plenty of its own buildings¡ªdidn''t have this problem. She looked at the elders. "I will give you all half an hour to think about your preferences and vote," she told them. "If you wish to save up the remaining slot instead, you may also indicate so." ¡­ While the Elders were deciding (possibly debating with each other), a lot of questions also popped up. There was a particularly common one. "If we merge with another Town, then we''d get some of the common ones, right?" Ansel asked, and Althea nodded. After all, they got the Lighthouse and the Armory¡ªamong others¡ªas options because they took Fargo and Guia as satellites. "However, let''s not assume that''s going to happen for now," Althea said. She didn''t want them to be complacent and choose carelessly because they''d assume they could take over another Town to get their special buildings. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Towns are of different levels, and the power of the Lords is much more integrated with the territory," she paused, looking at them. "Besides, even if we could get the token, I might not take over at all." She only had one slot left to merge. For now, she wasn''t planning on letting go of her current satellites. Even if they were just villages, the resources she could get through them and the convenience of having connected warehouses were too convenient. She could think about it when those resources were exhausted, but that was years away from now. Another, they didn''t know the cost of detaching a satellite. From what they knew, it wasn''t cheap. At the very least, it was expensive enough for some Lords to give up merging with good territories. Also, she''d want the territory to be a source of a sustainable resource¡ªwhatever they were. Otherwise, the connected warehouse wouldn''t be maximized¡ªwhich would be such a pity. Ideally, she also wanted it a bit farther away¡ªat least a few thousand kilometers¡ªto allow her to reach more area. After all, she had her own ''teleportation array'' inside warehouses. If she had them all in closeby areas, then how wasteful was she? Ideally¡­ that last slot would get her to faraway places and back¡­ She could have her adventures, all without having to worry about other lords peeking at her status. Of course, she didn''t discount the fact that there would definitely be interesting and tempting Towns around. She''d keep her mind open but, more likely than not, they would probably strike deals with them, instead. Anyway, after a long discussion, they ended up saving a slot. At this point, only the Pharmacy and Post Office were decent choices in their standard. Both structures would help increase the survival rates in the territory, and¡ªfor now¡ªthat was all that mattered. Chapter 1129 - 1129: New Town Buildings (Part 2) "Now¡­ where to build them¡­" There were still quite a few large parks available to be built on. She already decided on which parks she''d build mid-rise dormitories when they finally needed them, leaving a few other places where they could build two new System Buildings. These were places where people could safely gather resources to sell to the territory. However, they also served as community areas so there were also parks with picnic tables, running paths, playgrounds, and camping/picnic areas. Fortunately, she had a lot of these areas, so even if she built on them, the people could just move parks a couple of blocks away. She looked at her map and made a rough layout. Alterra had a lot of forest patches in every zone. Considering she maintained at least 20% greening¡ªnot even including the farms and industrial zones¡ªshe actually had quite a lot of parks. To balance out the forest areas they would lose, she decided to build a Level 2 Farm array on a few patches of forest to increase their regeneration rates and productivity. As for why she didn''t do so before¡ªthere was no need to. Most people opted to gather outside so they could train at the same time, and the only ones who gathered inside the walls were the weaker ones as well as residents who had the right to a couple kilograms of free forages. Most preferred to use these parks as community areas, too. How could children run through them when there were roots all over? Anyway, she chose to build over a park far from the current pharmacy to serve another zone of the population, but could still be accessed easily through the Southwest gates. After some discussion with some elders, they decided to build a new street, connecting to existing streets on both ends. She would have to take down two existing buildings abutting an existing street to do so, however. They''d likely scrap those buildings when the rest of the construction was halfway through, and to give time for the tenants to move out. For now, she just sent them a message and a promise to compensate them well. If they owned it, they would get 30% more than what was the current market value of the place. If they were renting, then they''d receive free rent for 1 year at a superior unit elsewhere. The Elders watched as she moved her hands in the air. It was empty in their eyes, but she moved gracefully so they couldn''t help but watch anyway. A few minutes later the familiar ding resounded inside everyone''s minds. [A new street will appear in the Southwestern Part of the territory! New Territory Buildings will also appear. Watch the magic with us!] There was silence across the territory before a burst of noise and chatter exploded. "Whoa!" "YES! It''s here!" "I''ve been waitttinggg!" "Is that why you haven''t slept yet?" "To be fair, a LOT of the previous upgrades happened in the middle of the night!" "Eh?" "You weren''t here yet then¡ªanyway, we just woke up and boom! Changes!" "Stop talking!" another person yelled, already meters ahead of them. "Let''s go!" More and more people gathered in the western areas of the territory, all looking bright and excited. Many also brought in foldable chairs and tables, and basket-full of snacks. This wasn''t their first rodeo! They knew what to prepare! They arrived to see a crowd already there, but they were stopped at a certain delineation where bricks were slowly built up. They saw that they arrived on time and many people went to find various viewing spots. Some waited at the perimeters, while some positioned on the newly created road (which appeared much faster than the buildings) so they had central viewing. Many had seen this good position and soon the new street was lined up with spectators. A lot of shops were already going around, some even had stalls set up, and obviously the business was great. They waited patiently for another hour, and soon some sharper people could determine some building types being erected. "Wait, shop houses?" "Dozens of them!" "I''ve been waiting for an opening!" Another yelled, running over to the center to buy his first property. (He was in such a rush he had to crawl so he could get through the crowd). This was Den, one of the refugees who came with Albert and Sheldon, Sheila''s family. When he became a permanent resident after months of hard work, how sad he was to find out that every commercial space was occupied?! It was fortunate he managed to get a small unit in a midrise apartment built very recently, but he already took out a loan that was garnering interest! Admittedly, it was stupid of him to maximize his permanent residency loans without checking the availability of shops, but everything felt like a dream¡ªhe worked really, really, hard to get his residency¡ªso the high of happiness probably killed his brain! Anyway, he naturally couldn''t have the money sleep on him or he''d be paying interest for naught. He was just added to the waitlist in case those who were leasing decided not to renew and then he could buy! Sadly, after so long there was no luck, but that stopped now! A few minutes later, a line of people immediately went to the Village Center to either purchase or lease the new shops. The houses would finish first so by the time it was done and could be purchased, they had time to see the new Special buildings! There were not a few people who thought like this. After all, owning a business in Alterra was a guaranteed ticket for monthly gold! Owning their own shophouse¡ªeven if they didn''t use it themself¡ªwas also a gold mine! Who wouldn''t want a piece? S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It¡ªunsurprisingly¡ª became a bit of a scuffle and, if it weren''t for the rules, people would''ve brawled on their way to the center while trying to block others at the same time! Fortunately for that man, his reservation from before counted as him being on the priority list! Although he tripped on the way and was run over by other wannabee-shop owners (gosh, his heart almost died when he fell), he actually managed to get a slot in the end! Heaven has eyes! SOBS! Chapter 1130 - 1130: Another Step Forward Den did not mind the jealous glares directed at him. He was too happy. In total, there were quite a few people who successfully managed to buy or rent a shop house, and they all walked back to the site with metaphorical peacock feathers above their heads. They went to check on the construction of their ''new property'', pride emanating from them so much that many people had the intrusive thought of shoving their faces to the ground. No one dared do so, of course (thanks to the rules), and the people were quickly distracted when Den and the others made an announcement. "So we also found out what else they''re building!''" Immediately, they were surrounded by people who wanted to get the info. No, they were mobbed. Considering hundreds (if not a thousand) were trying to watch the construction of a single street. Of course, they''d be squeezed in. One could only call them stupid for enticing a mob while being in the middle of it. The high of happiness could indeed make people stupid. "LET US BREATHE!" He gasped, while the person next to him screamed. "AHH!" "FUGG YOU, MISSUS LEE! THAT WAS MY TOE!" "Sorry! No need to be so rude!" "I''m gonna die!" Fortunately, they didn''t die in the end. "Ahem!" Den coughed, waving people away to give them space. Fortunately, they did. There were a number of them there and they were separated by the crowd, with some being pulled deeper into it for gossip. Den watched in horror as his companions were ''eaten up'' by the tea-hungry crowd. He stepped back, trying to direct his pull somewhere at the edge. He somehow managed to weave through the crowd to the edge, just before the half-built walls of one of the shops there. He took a deep breath of relief before turning to see people impatiently waiting for him to speak. "..." Den cleared his throat again before speaking. They got the info back in the village, er, Town Center. After they secured their units and signed contracts, someone (not him) asked what else was being built there. After all, that would greatly add to their potential foot traffic! The concierge knew the answer to this quite well. After the elders went down the stairs, they were told about what was going to happen. They were very excited too, but it was their shift so they could only imagine the fun happening on that street. "It''s the Post Office and Pharmacy!" he said and this naturally excited everyone exploded in glee. "Whoa!" "So we won''t have to line up so long to get meds!" "YES! Ugh, I still remember the depression I felt when I was sooo near leveling up but I got injured and ran here to replenish my stocks¡ªbut damn! Was out of stock!" At this, someone next to him gave him a look. "Yeah I remember that! Didn''t you beg me for some? You haven''t paid me for those potions you borrowed!" "..." Ah, he forgot about that. Everyone else was similarly excited. While they had an existing pharmacy here, a new one meant they had a new source to maximize their purchase limits! There was no such thing as having too many Health Potions! After so many wars and strong beast tides, they knew first-hand that, in this case, the more was definitely the merrier! On the other side, it was the other building that was discussed more. "Post Office! Isn''t that like instant letters?" "It feels so magical¡ªit''s like a combination of the snail mail and modern Terran tech!" After so long, people had had enough interaction with aborigines and obtained some knowledge of the outside world even if they themselves haven''t gotten out of Alterra yet. There were also books in the library they could borrow to read some anecdotes of the aborigines'' experiences. Oslo and many others had books here (written in their local language for the writers'' convenience) and they would receive a small number of contribution points every time the book was borrowed by a person (unique views, of course, repeat viewing not counted!). The most popular was Oslo''s. One, because he was just a popular personality in Alterra and anything he did would gather some interest. Other reasons were because the book gave a glimpse of a (Lavish) City life, and had a lot of drama with women involved. Too bad they weren''t allowed to eat in the library, otherwise people would be reading with popcorn. Anyway, almost every one who read the accounts of people with experiences in Towns and Cities became very curious about that side of the world. Sadly, their strengths were not enough for them to go ''travel'' without a good chance of being monster food. They also knew that Ferrol¡ªthe only friendly Town so far¡ªhad one, and some Alterrans had actually been in the Post Office there (just as tourists looking around), so they had told others of their adventures and the magic of it even before. There were hundreds of Terrans that stayed in Ferrol for a few weeks. It gave Ferrol some extra income and injected a lot of good products into their market. Further, there were those who built businesses there like Baron and Bull. To these people, the Post office was heaven-sent! The messenger birds weren''t actually public knowledge nor did anyone else other than the administration team had access to them. Both Bull and Baron¡ªas well as a few other ''big'' businessmen¡ªhad deals with the Terran Mercenary Team to let them rent their shops for a set amount of time. With the post office, the communication between the two areas would practically be as fast as real-time! They could now have real-time updates on the needs of the market there! Before, they could only make smart guesses and then wait until their stocks were consumed (which, to be fair, wasn''t a long time, but still). Further, if an item suddenly sold really fast, they could even send letters to teammates to prepare a new batch immediately! Too awesome! Money will roll! They could already see their business blossoming even more! Anyway, these were all exciting developments and it fired up all those who watched. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Another step forward! Chapter 1131 - 1131: Eppa and Eppot A new system building¡ªeven if it was just residential areas¡ªwould always end up turning into mini-events, let alone if it was Special Buildings being constructed. They would just never get tired of watching such a thing. They were also happening less and less often, especially farther away from an upgrade, so they appreciated them more. When people found out that it was the Post Office and the Pharmacy, more people came in so the surrounding streets were full of people. As for those at the back of the crowd, they were already too far away from the new street to appreciate it, but they were there for the spirit of celebration, anyway. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Some people were used to it, while many were also shocked. "What''s going on?" A man with dried skin and a rough beard asked the woman next to her. The woman had similar facial features, but she was visibly much more healthy and well-off. The man looked curiously at the dense crowd in front of him, and also the people approaching and joining in. He couldn''t even see the end of it at all. The woman smiled a bit. "They''re building something new," she said. "I also like watching it. After all, back in Mauin we rarely saw anything being built." The woman was Eppa, one of the first refugees from the fallen Mauin Village along with Mauru. The man next to her was her brother, Eppot, who was among the ''slaves'' let in early during the war. He didn''t get injured at all, despite expecting to lose a limb or two like so many others, which was already a miracle he didn''t expect to wake up to. Further, because he had a sister who was a resident, even if it was just temporary residency, she had the right to vouch for him and get him exempted from the fate of becoming a Prisoner of War. During the interrogations, a few dozen people from Mauin were found along with him. They were now living with the Mauin Villagers there, turning their houses into denser dormitories. Eppot didn''t expect he''d join them though, thinking he''d be living with his sister¡ªwhich was not the case. His living conditions as a slave were naturally much, much, worse. However, he happened to have seen where his sister lived. It was a small unit and only she and her husband, Louie, lived in. It had complete accessories, had lovely views, and seemed like a place small nobles would live in. She¡ªa daughter¡ªwas living so lavishly while he¡ªthe son¡ªwas stuck with a handful of others in a single room? Despite the conditions being hundreds of times better than how it was as a slave, how can he be reconciled? Today, not only were they shopping for his necessities, he was also hoping to convince her to let him use their unit. At least help rent him a similar one. Her husband was doing well in that guide-whatever-his-job was. They should be able to help him out. "Well, it''s too much for us now," Eppa said, unaware of what was going on in her brother''s head. "Shall we go to the next store?" The man nodded and then looked at the paper bags that filled both their hands. They were filled with various items they bought for him. "Where to next?" The woman looked forward and pointed there. "There is a men''s clothing store in that area," she said. The man looked at her. "Will it use the same fabric as your husband''s clothes?" "No," she said. "We''ll need to buy you a few sets at a time so it can''t be too expensive. They''re very durable though." His eyebrows furrowed. "It''s good fabric," he said, referring to her husband''s clothes. "It''s not inexpensive," she said. "He also needs to appear very presentable as a representative of Alterra who faces various people from distant lands, even stronger territories." Eppot didn''t seem to understand. Growing up, whatever his sister had¡ªwhich wasn''t much¡ªhe had several more of. Husband and wife''s possessions were one, therefore he should also have similar things to Louie''s. "I want it." "But¡­" It was around this time that a feminine voice sounded from their side. "Eppa? Eppot? What''s going on?" They turned to see it was Juna, as Mauru''s wife, was the de-facto lady of their group. She had about a dozen people behind her who were also carrying some shopping bags. Juna and the others pooled funds so they could get some basic clothing and supplies for each of their rescued comrades, so now they were shopping together with full hearts and satisfied stomachs. They all had wide smiles on their faces while they curiously looked around, their hearts wanting to explore the place more. Juna took leave from her school cleaning job to help settle the Mauin slaves they got. When she saw her close friend Eppa, she brightened a bit, but what she heard made her frown. If it was before, she''d take it as it was. However, after so many months here, it felt wrong. They... were raised to follow their fathers, brothers, husbands, and even sons. Growing up, she had seen Eppa give way to her brother every time. Whenever there was not enough food, most of it would go to her brother instead of her. After all, he was bigger and he was the fighter while she was expected to help out with gathering and things like that. As such, he naturally deserved much more to eat. While it was true that fighting was a lot riskier, it wasn''t like handling everything else in the territory was effortless. Anyway, him giving her a literal bite to eat while he got a handful wasn''t exactly fair. Fortunately, most people from their village had a conscience¡ªthanks to the leadership and example of their late Lord¡ªso the women were treated generally much better compared to those of other villages. Still, the differences were there, and Eppa was one of the starker cases in their village. Juna looked at Eppot and suddenly had a bad feeling. Were they too kind, after all? Chapter 1132 - 1132: Spilled Bitterness She narrowed her eyes and looked at Eppot, who was now looking at her with sparkling eyes. Her stomach flipped in disgust. In fact, when she found out Eppot was amongst the survivors, she didn''t feel good at all. Many years ago, before she married Mauru, her parents arranged for her to be with this man. However, she did not like him at all and she rejected his advances often. While she received a lot of frowns, their Lord''s way of ruling had always been fair, so she was never forced. It was just that one day, just after a particularly harsh fight in a war they barely won, the bastard needed to vent. He had long set on her to be his wife, so in his mind, she wouldn''t mind what he was about to do. He pulled her somewhere to do away with her and she, a mere woman, couldn''t fight back. However, unlike other places, this was not a welcome practice in their Mauin village, so Eppot had to pull her someplace secluded. With their diminishing population, it wasn''t difficult to find one. She tried to scream her heart out but he covered her mouth and ripped her clothes, and she thought for sure that she would lose herself. She could only sob and believe she''d jump into the mouth of monsters when she found the chance. Before he could complete the deed, a heroic man appeared and kicked him off, protecting her. It was Maumu, one of the heroes of their village, and admired by many. He was also one of the reasons Eppot wanted to vent. He couldn''t stomach the other man always being the center of attention during wars or mobs, always looked at with such admiration and reliability, while he was basically ignored despite being of the same age and level. In any case, the so-called ''hero'' appeared just in time before he could enter his fiance, effectively ruining his deed and annoying him even more. "What are you doing here? Don''t you see I''m busy?" Eppot yelled, but his voice died when he saw the other man''s facial expression. Gone was his characteristic coolness. This time, he was livid, and the next thing Eppot knew he was beaten up until he lost consciousness. Mauru shook away the blood on his fist and turned to look at her, who was looking at him with wide eyes. He took some excess clothing he had in space. They were ripped and dirty, but it would have to do. He carried her and tried to get her somewhere private and safe, but people had heard of the commotion and they were sadly seen. It was quite a scandal. They couldn''t reveal what Eppot had almost done either, because she would''ve gotten an even worse reputation because two men had seen her. Eppot was also found half-dead and in a coma, and it turned into a fight between families. Fortunately, before it could get any worse, the Lord himself intervened. Because Mauru saw her naked, he was asked if he''d be okay to take her as his wife. She didn''t want to impose on him and wanted to reject. However, to her surprise, Maumu agreed, and they married. He treated her well---so well she could hardly believe it. What had started as an awkward marriage became the envy of their villagefolk. Even when Eppot recovered and tried to ruin things, Mauru was quick to take care of it. She didn''t know what they talked about but, for a while, Eppot avoided her as if his life depended on it. They were both very worried when they saw Eppot there and they didn''t want to free him at all. However, he saw them and begged, and it so happened that Eppa was nearby too. Eppa was raised to always take care of this brother of hers so she vouched for him despite their warnings. She and Mauru could only be relieved they had their own home, hoping to simply not cross paths with the bastard at all. Juna looked at Eppa, and she was now looking down and holding her skirt. She was very embarrassed and definitely was thinking back on their warnings. At the same time, Eppa was extremely conflicted. It went against her very being to not help her brother but, at the same time, she worried that she would be risking what she had built so far. Juna sighed and patted her shoulder, before looking badly at Eppot, who was a bit braver now that her husband was on a long mission elsewhere. This guy¡­ it seemed like instead of being thankful for being given a new life, felt jealous of his sister''s good life and wanted it for himself. "Just accept what she''s willing to give you, Eppot, don''t ask for more," she said. "She''s already being so kind, buying you more than what you need." Eppot''s leer disappeared, obviously disliking her tone. "We almost got married." Translation: In another life, you would''ve answered to me. How dare you talk back to your husband. Juna''s frown deepened. "My parents chose incorrectly, I chose well," she said. "As you can see, I''m living very very well." Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Eppot sneered. "You were just lucky they didn''t get to capture you," he said, referring to the fact that they got here, in Alterra, first. "You shouldn''t be so arrogant." He then turned to look at the small crowd of his fellowmen behind her. "The monsters from Hasa and Tome Villages just happened to go in our direction first! We could''ve been the ones to escape!" He yelled this with confidence, discounting the fact that Mauru and the others fought with extreme bravery and used whatever resources and strategy they had to protect their families¡ªat least long enough for the Golds to come across them at the time. Luck had a lot to do with it but, in life-or-death situations, luck favored the bold, the brave, and the prepared. "Just one detail and we suffered months in that hellhole. Don''t you think it''s just right to make it fairer? Don''t you think we deserve a good life?" He looked at Eppa and Juna, as if they had wronged him. "You people were lucky enough to get here first¡ªshouldn''t you make up to us? If it wasn''t for us, you''d have suffered that hellhole instead!" This caused the other Mauin villagers to frown, many of whom were affected by his words. They murmured amongst themselves with various emotions and thoughts. They were very thankful for being saved, but¡­ many felt Eppot''s words weren''t untrue either. Indeed¡­ the ones who went the ''lucky'' path were now living such comfortable lives. If those monsters focused elsewhere, wouldn''t this be their lives instead? All those months of suffering and loss¡ªwas it so wrong for them to wish for a life like this? it was a given that Eppa and the others would help them out! Rather, they should do more! If Mauru and the others¡ªwho were now risking their lives on a rescue mission¡ªknew what these people were thinking, would they regret helping them out? Would they regret using their hard-earned money and reputation to create oaths and vouch for them, to use their own funds to give them clothing and food? Would they regret giving away the comfort of their space and let them squeeze in? The short answer would be yes, and they would learn that not all brethren deserved their kindness. Chapter 1133 - 1133: Louie’s Home Eppa''s eyes flickered when she saw their faces. She bit her lips, and she wanted to cry, extremely confused with all the internal conflict happening in her mind. Juna was just disappointed in all of them. She looked at Eppot, and also the other people they were helping. "Let me make this clear: We are helping from the kindness of our hearts¡ªit is not our duty to help you. You are not our children nor are you our parents. It is shameful on your part to expect such treatment. "I understand some of you might feel unreconciled to see us live so well when you suffered so badly. It is due to our own efforts that we built such a life. "It is not our fault you suffered, either¡ªthe people responsible are dead. Alterra and its citizens¡ªincluding us¡ªhelped you beat them. If that didn''t happen, then you''ll be either dead or still suffering. "We can easily not have helped you. We could''ve just let you become prisoners of war and work your way to freedom," she said, and this naturally made everyone flinch. "I hope you don''t take our kindness for granted¡ªbecause you won''t be able to receive it again. A few passerbys, particularly Terrans, couldn''t help but look at each other. All that noise naturally gathered them an audience, especially since the area was already crowded. This exchange made them shake their heads. As expected: Not all ''slaves'' rescued and redeemed were good crops. But what could they do? In the same position, they probably wouldn''t be able to leave long-lost brethren alone, especially when they were surrounded by people of different origins. Anyway, Juna was annoyed and didn''t want to look at their rescues anymore. She simply grabbed Eppa''s hand and nudged her away. "We will lend you a few copper coins so you can rent bedspaces in the dormitories. After that, you''re on your own." She didn''t wait to listen to their arguments. She grabbed Eppa and pulled her easily (she was stronger because her husband would guide her in leveling up) and left the others there. When they tried to follow, she threatened to call guards for harassment charges so they had no choice but to stay still and look at each other. "Is¡­ this really alright?" Eppa couldn''t help but ask after they were out-of-sight. She knew that, rationally, this was the right thing to do. At the same time, she felt uncomfortable. Juna sighed. "I understand you''d need a lot of adjustment¡ªbut do you want to lose what you have? Do you want to return to the life you''d have to answer to your useless brother every breathing moment?" S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Eppa shook her head immediately. Juna nodded and patted her shoulder. "We made the right choice, and we will continue to do so. We did more than enough¡ªwe have a clear conscience. "Now it is time to focus on our¡ªand our families'' ¡ªlives," she said, gently looking at the other woman''s stomach. It was still small, but they had been to the hospital a few days ago to get some good news. In fact, Eppa had been thinking of how to tell Louie the surprise. Regardless, Juna knew this was not the time for the other woman to get stressed¡ªsomething pretty much associated with her brother. "You have to be strong for the child. Right?" ¡­ Louie had no idea what had been happening. He was doing his job, guiding some tourists. His customers this time were none other than Nida and Mairia 1from Ferrol Town. "Is Plaridel here?" Nida asked, probably for the 3rd time in the past 10 minutes after they started walking. "According to the other guards, he is currently on a clearing mission," he said. Now that they had become a Town, more of the soldiers joined in clearing missions. After all, they could finally gain some much-needed EXP points in doing so. "I see¡­" the young lady said, disappointed. Even her aunt''s shoulder slumped. Louie internally shook his head. Plaridel was not conventionally handsome, but his charm was really off the charts! While they were walking along the main avenue though, the auntie couldn''t help but point out a direction. "Oh? Why is everyone heading in that direction?" she asked. He followed her line of sight, and knew immediately what she was talking about. "Ah, we just upgraded to Town right?" he asked, they nodded. Their trip (there were scheduled ''tourist trips'' to Alterra from Ferrol) was delayed a few weeks back then. They only found out it was due to an upgrade after it happened. "Well, they''re building a new street and new system buildings so many people want to see it." This intrigued the two women very much. Nida had never seen a system construction before, while it had been many years for her aunt. "Can we join?" "It''ll be crowded." "We don''t mind." Well, the customer was king, as they said. Louie wanted to check out the place anyway. However, before they even reached the main crowd, they encountered some familiar faces. "Louie!" His eyes twitched at the voice, but he kept his polite smile. It was a professional skill he developed as a guide, otherwise his face would''ve cracked at the sight of his brother-in-law. "Yes, brother-in-law?" The address seemed to have eased a bit of anger on the man''s face. "Good brother-in-law," he said. "Can you talk some sense to your wife?" he asked. Immediately, Louis'' polite smile faded. "What happened?" "Tell your wife that I forgive her," he said. "As long as she gives what is due to me." He frowned. "What?" Eppot looked at Louie, adopting somewhat of a proud stance. In his mind, Eppa was helplessly pulled by Juna and would see some sense when they talked again. "Look, she listens to me," he said. "Now that our parents are gone, I am her father figure, and whatever I say goes," he said. "If you want to keep being married, you will rent a place for me to live in," he said. "Get me a good job too. Probably something like you have." There were passerbys there who happened to have witnessed the earlier altercations. They ended up intervening for the sake of their sanity. "Your wife cut off ties with him!" they said. "They started getting greedy and entitled, so Juna and Eppa decided to just support them for a few more days and sent them to the dorms." "Don''t listen to whatever he says, Louie! He''s definitely up to no good!" "Shut up!" Eppo yelled, glaring at the man, who was also the type who was easily triggered and didn''t want to lose. "No, you shut up!" he yelled back, stomping forward. However, his companions were quick and held him back. They could not get into fights now¡ªhe could go to prison! Again! "Oi, Bento1¡ªcalm down, damnit!" one said. "I don''t want to bail you out again!" Louie looked and recognized them. Bento was actually one of their materials engineers, but he had quite a temper that went with his strong sense of justice. Afraid other people would get in trouble for him, Louie simply nodded at them in gratitude. Bento''s group continued their way to the crowd, no longer intervening in other people''s business. "I see¡­" "Don''t listen to them," Eppot said with gritted teeth. He glared at the back of the people butting in his business and then turned to Louie when they disappeared. "I am your brother-in-law, yeah?" That was to say, he''d follow his instructions. He was also older than Eppa, so he felt it was natural his voice had a lot of weight in whatever Louie decided. "So Eppa really doesn''t want to see you anymore," Louie said, as if confirming. "I will follow my wife''s wishes," was all he said and it made Eppot look at him in disbelief. "You''re a man! Why do you even listen to her? It''s why she''s gotten so arrogant!!" He wanted to say more¡ªhe really didn''t understand his attitude¡ªbut when he saw the man''s face was dark, he flinched. Louie had always been the mild-mannered one. It was why Ramona had him so tightly when they were together. However, when he married a similarly soft-hearted woman, he knew he had to step up if he wanted to protect her. He strode forward and grabbed the man''s shirt, staring at him straight in the eye. Eppot was bigger than he was, and had a higher level, but he had a lot more drive to protect¡ªand that made him stronger. "Let me see you near my wife again," he said. "And I will send you to prison myself." Some of the aborigines Plaridel met during the Ferrol Fair. He sold them some accessories He was one of their materials engineers Chapter 1134 - 1134: Pharmacy Queue (Part 1) A few hours later the entire street¡ªthereby named ''Post Street'' ¡ªwas completed! The Pharmacy and the Post Office were placed facing each other at the center of the street, and they were adjacent to dozens of shophouses lined up until the end of the street. There were trees strategically left behind, but there were also transplanted trees there. They were moved at some point by goblins, who seemed to have great uprooting and replanting capabilities. There were also benches placed every couple of meters by Baron''s Woodworking shop (they were very efficient and they did have a couple in stock). In the span of hours, an entire new setting was created! "My goodness," one of the spectator(who had his own stool) said as he stood up, placing his seat back to his space. "To think that just this morning, I was picking my morning gouji fruit here." Gouji fruit happened to be the fruit he liked best after the sweet Terran fruits, primarily because it was cheap and accessible, but also because he had dark red hair similar to Gouji fruit. (It was so similar that he once had a messenger bird nest on his head¡ªto both his, and Reddit''s, chagrin). This was Fred1 who, as the boss, had flexible time and therefore had the fortune of joining whatever event he wanted to join in. He said it was so he could be ''on-call'' if an incident happened. For example, he could take over troublesome or sensitive guests as needed. This happened many times like that time when the Guia folks¡ªmay they not rest in peace¡ªwent for a tour. And then¡­ he turned to the half-orcs sitting next to him. He remembered Baku''s case quite a bit. The big guy felt his stare and turned. Because they were so big, they naturally couldn''t stand like the others. "What is it?" "Nah, I just suddenly remembered the feeling of being lifted up." "Wanna do it again?" "..." "Pff¡ª" Cassie laughed, and they saw that Bumi1 and Emer 2were also smiling. Their two teams were designated here and they naturally took advantage to ''watch the crowd and keep order'' by ''making sure they were seen by the mobs by being in front of the line''. Fred pouted, and Baku''s eyes twitched. He suddenly felt a bit guilty, but it wasn''t his personality to show it. His tail would always seem scary and his ears would never soften. "I''ll help you level up," was all he said again, coolly turning away. This naturally got the red-head to perk up. "Whoa!" "Really!?" He nodded and Fred almost jumped like a kid. Anyone who had trained with the half-orcs knew how efficient they were. Who knew! Maybe he''d leave that jerk-lover-boy Troy and his weapons in the dust this year! "Then I''d definitely have to fill my space with stocks!" he said, looking at the Pharmacy getting completed with the last shingles above the eye level finishing up. It was themed like everything else and was probably designed beautifully inside. Soon, the long-awaited announcement dinged inside everyone''s minds. [The Pharmacy (Lv1) and Post Office (Lv1) is now open! 30% OFF for all purchases done within the next 28 Hours! Standard Purchase Limits apply!] There was a burst of discussion (more than the ongoing murmurs) that exploded and the crowd started moving towards the two new Buildings, lining up to see it for themselves. As people who got nice positions, Fred''s group was among the first to line up. No one dared cut in line because those people¡ªunless they were well-liked like Althea and Mathilda¡ªhistorically did not meet good ends. (Not killed, but they may or may not be ostracised or bullied). Emer looked at the half-orcs in front of him. They were chatting well and were immersed in the territory like everyone else and, until now, he still felt it was a bit surreal. Rather, it made him feel imbalanced when he first saw it, which was different from his usual bouts of clumsiness. Getting rid of his misogynistic views was one thing, but when it came to another race he did need a bit more time. Undoing one''s beliefs for decades was never easy. "Emer?" Gochi asked. "Would you like to line up ahead of us?" Emer shook his head, smiling. The half-orc must''ve felt some complex feeling in him, which made Emer feel both embarrassed and guilty. His Terran girlfriend broke up with him because of these biases, when would he learn? "I''m sorry," he said. Gochi nodded. "I know." ¡­ Not far from them (well about a hundred people behind) were Bayna and Glio,1 Sahara''s servants, as well as Ladron and Landi, 2who were once part of Yassof Village. Aborigines were the minority in Alterra¡ªor, at least, they had the least effect and power, even if they were increasing in numbers. While they did feel very happy here and they loved to interact with the Terrans, they also needed some time to befriend circles with the same experiences as they had. Don''t get them wrong¡ªTerrans were admirable people they would love to emulate, but there was still a certain comfort to being with people who completely understood what they had been through. There were too many cases where Terrans would give advice that were easy to say, but difficult to do for them. How easy was it to just be friendly with races they had looked down on or were taught to be ''dirty''? How easy was it to leave a ''cheater'' who one depended on their whole lives? How easy was it to take on roles they never thought they''d ever hold? How easy was it to let go of the beliefs that made them who they were? It was just human nature. Still, it was also human nature to strive for better conditions, especially since they had seen that there were possibilities and what they were. So, while it was taking some time for a few natives to adjust, they were definitely changing bit by bit. Slowly, but surely, they would transform to become legitimate ''Alterrans'' by heart. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Glorious Hospitality Owner (the tour guide company) One of the Heat Wave rescues One of the recent Village Center hires. Nothing spectacular, but he was one of the decent options after days of no-hire days To jog your memory: They were beat up in Bleulle back then They were part of the self-aware villagers who gave up immediately during a war. Their village was once under Basset Town Chapter 1135 - 1135: Pharmacy Queue (Part 2) For many, it would start out as integrating slowly into the Alterran everyday life. They would have various circles of friends, whether it was from work or elsewhere. All aborigines would have at least a few aborigine friends who they would grow up with, and develop with, as new Alterrans. This way, they would have someone to relate to when difficulties emerged, which was really important for their psyche. Whether the Terrans noticed or not, their pace¡ªwhether it was in their growth or in their innovations¡ªwas very, very, quick. This was something that had only been obvious after a couple of months of integrating the races. The rise of most Terrans was swift and difficult to follow and when a person kept getting left behind¡ªparticularly if they had ambitions¡ªthey could eventually get depressed. At some point, some natives needed a ''support group'' (as Terrans called it) to manage the stress and manage their expectations. They could meet through various places like public parks, arcades, stadiums, and so on. It might also be friends among fellow refugees or people from the same place. Of course, there were also others from completely different places and strata¡ªwhich was interesting to see. For example, Glio and Bayna, who were from a Town, ended up being extremely good friends with Ladron and Landi, who were from a village. Traditionally speaking, this was extremely rare unless the villagers showed extremely high potential (which they did), but in this case the relationship was not transactional at all. After Sahara settled in Alterra, her servants also lived together in the same building. They got a two-bedroom unit and arranged it in a dormitory set-up so all of the servants could fit in. One bedroom was for the maids, and the other for the guards, and so on. Then, Sahara adopted the working schedules of Alterra for them, so they suddenly had free time for themselves. Of course, they had to go on shifts so that there would be people serving Sahara''s family at all times. The cousins Glio and Bayna had the same shift, which was the day shift so they had dusk as the start of their ''free time''. They met Ladron''s group while they were getting addicted to playing games in the arcade. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Ladron was actually a guard but, like them, his shift was during the standard work hours. Glio and Ladron somehow ended up competing on something called ''whack-a-molerat''¡ªwhich was quite an exciting game¡ªand friendship amidst competition was born. Although Glio was only in his early 20s and Ladron was twice his age, they had found similarities in their growing love for arcade games. At the same time, a bit of chemistry was exchanged between Bayna and the Landi. They bonded over having to wait for their companions to get tired of the game before getting pulled out. As a group, they started to train together in their free time, and they would occasionally take ''weaker'' locals with them (to last kill the weaker monsters) for some extra cash. This was a common ''mercenary'' practice here, but it was required to have a few guards with them so it didn''t get abused and avoid any scammy behaviors. It was also for the safety of the trainees. After all, if anyone could just get anyone, what if people suddenly left them behind in the slightest sign of danger? Unlike guards who''d actually do their best before leaving with their lives, the ''hired fighters'' might leave at the slightest sign of trouble. Fortunately, so far, there had been very few cases of stronger aborigines taking advantage of their weaker brethren like this. They were still serving in prison now and they hadn''t had a case in more than a month. Anyway, for the proper unofficial mercenaries like them, it was quite a lucrative side job that funded their arcade addiction. After nearly half-an-hour of lining up, their group finally arrived just outside the Pharmacy door. It was a double door, like usual, but the place was themed, and even the door was carved to emulate Alterra''s aesthetic. "This came just in time," the pretty boy Landi said, looking at the building in front of them. He was eating some chips, though several hands would always take a handful out of whatever he was carrying. When he tried getting a bit and felt it was empty, he frowned. "I needed to replenish my stocks," he said. It was no longer clear whether he was referring to his snacks or his potions. "Do you even need to? A lot of people like protecting you," Ladron said, shaking his head at him. In response, Landi rolled his eyes. "I reject them now," he said, giving the woman in the group a side-look. "I don''t take gifts from random people now." Because of his appearance, a lot of people saw him as a soft man who needed to be protected. Back home, it was subject to a lot of mockery, but in Alterra, it was just ''cute''. It got him a lot of discounts, which he appreciated for a time. One day, while he was on a street food tour, a ''scout'' from Elder Ansel''s Entertainment Company approached and recruited him as an actor. The pay was good so he accepted. He wasn''t particularly strong anyway, and he needed to do a bit more to improve his way of life. Still, Landi was very unnatural at first and he was a pain to watch, and for a while, he was only given roles that were called ''empty vases''. Still, he was ''eye candy'' and the discounts only increased. Despite the good pay and amazing benefits, he was not comfortable with the job at first. Which real man would be? However, the more he watched the true actors and performers take on their roles¡ªbecoming different persons, telling different stories¡ªhe started to wonder what it''d be like to be like that. He wondered what it was like to truly affect people straight to their hearts, not just their eyes. Chapter 1136 - 1136: Inside the Pharmacy He remembered the first play he had actually watched as an audience. When he was recruited, he was really poor and couldn''t afford tickets. Not to mention, the roles given to him were ''extra'' roles in small performances in parks and other smaller venues. They were just asked to market some stuff, like how amazing sleep was in Woodworker''s new ''Strong'' bed, or how amazing the new sauce developed by so-and-so shop was. The pay wasn''t amazing, but it was quite good, especially considering he didn''t have to risk his life for food. When he got his paychecks he would naturally spend it on good food, decent clothing, and some more arcade time. This was why, for the first few weeks, he hadn''t actually seen a proper play yet. It was just that his group of friends eventually got curious after hearing some workmates gush about this show, or cry about that show. By this time, everyone had managed to save up a bit for more leisure activities (as long as they toned down on their arcade addiction), so they eventually managed to see a play together. It was the reunion story of Miss Althea and Sir Garan. He remembered sobbing in his seat, which was embarrassing, but he realized most of the people around him were crying too, and suddenly it felt alright. There were even fellow aborigine men crying there, and he realized he might''ve been overthinking the embarrassment caused by the job. When the sobbing session ended, he realized he had never felt so refreshed in his entire life. It also made him long for a relationship like that, too. Back in Yassof Village, though there were many women who expressed admiration for him, it was just that. The men they want to marry would be strong men who could protect and provide for them¡ªof course they would. But Landi''s talent was simply not in fighting. If he ventured out, it''d be more likely he would fall down and hit his head on a sharp rock while he ran away. But now, in theater, he felt like he was in the right place after all. Now that he had accepted its merit, he recognized that it wasn''t an embarrassment after all. For the first time, he had an ambition to grow so much, and it felt both stressful and exhilarating. This admiration turned into a drive that made him take the job seriously. He showed slight improvements through time, but he knew he could do it faster if he had more experience with life¡­ more than just going through the day. He was even advised to date to experience love, and it happened that he grew quite fond of Bayna too¡ªand she to him¡ªso they started ''going out''. In Alterra, they learned the value of ''dating'', which was a way to get to know a person in a romantic sense without being forced to marry them. Many people were eager to get him into the dating pool, though some were a bit disappointed he chose Bayna. Their discussion was cut when they entered the Pharmacy door. Immediately, they were greeted by a large room with a high ceiling. The first half was just an open space with a rug, stopped by a long wooden counter that extended from one side of the room to the other. There were three luminescent-marble platforms¡ªsimilar to those found in the Center¡ªseemingly embedded into the counter, spaced a meter or so apart. People lined up in front of each one. Behind the counters, there were dense cabinets filled with ceramic bottles. They were stacked on tall cabinets that extended to the ceilings. They were placed close together with barely any space between them. Obviously, it wasn''t designed for a person to pass. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The cabinets didn''t have any side support outside the posts either. The sight alone made a lot of people anxious. Everyone who had gotten potions from a System Pharmacy knew that these bottles were quite thin and easy to break. If one took it out of space, didn''t drink it immediately, and then got a little careless, it would likely break and then you could only cry. Some Terrans called them disposable bottles, some called them Bottle of Tears. It was why, even before they upgraded, those who got bottles from the System Pharmacy¡ªi.e. those who went to Ferrol¡ªstill had bottles of medicine from Miss Althea''s Pharmacy. The more they had, the more reassured they would be. Anyway, for now, there were two types of bottles they could see, placed on sets of cabinets divided along a central path. One side had bottles with light reddish hues, with a sign underneath saying ''Healing Potion''. On the other side, there were bottles with dark blue hues, with a sign saying ''Mana Potion''. There was no one behind the counter and they simply just had to line up until they reached the marble-like platform. When they got there, a screen would appear, asking how much they would buy. [Would you like to purchase a 10x Healing Potion for 100 copper each? Purchase Limit: 0/10] [Would you like to purchase 10x Mana Potion for 100 copper each? Purchase Limit: 0/10] "This is a bit more affordable than the other places," Bayna said, buying up to the maximum amount. Usually those cost two hundred copper¡ªor even more if the Lord was greedy and decided to add some extra margins. "Well, Alterra should have lower costs, especially when it came to raw materials," Glio said, remembering the vast farmlands they had. "And it''s also not greedy like the other places. They smiled, feeling happy that they had found such a nice place, each one buying as much as they could. It made them hyped up for their weekly clearing/training sessions. Led by Ladron, he went out of the Pharmacy with a particular energy in him. He was heading straight to the gates, and the rest of his team followed closely after him. "Now, it''s time for us to deal with some mobs." Chapter 1137 - 1137: The Post Office Queue (Part 1) For the Post Office, it was mostly aborigines who were lining up seriously. The other people¡­ were lining up just for the sake of lining up. After all, they just got here a year ago and most hadn''t even left the Alterra Region yet. How many of them would have penpals in other towns? Like the Pharmacy, the Post Office was also customized to fit the general aesthetic of the Town. Strictly speaking, this was the prettiest Post Office they had ever seen. There was even a lovely waiting area with comfortable benches that could fit scores of waiting people. Even the announcement boards were themed¡­. Anyway, without further ado, the aborigines started sending letters while some Terrans looked over to watch how it was done. Basically, they would simply place their letters on one of the marbled platforms behind the counter (which may or may not be manned) and then they would pay the fee which varied depending on the distance of its location. The Post Office was amazing in a way that it could send in any Post Office in the world¡ªregardless of how far it was¡ªpractically in an instant. The letters would then be sent there and the names of the recipients would be displayed on the large display board. It had to be the real name too, so no one could use fake names to send and receive letters. There was no automatic alert for the recipients either, and they had to take the letter in person. Speaking of this, at level 1, the letters would only be kept for 1 month. If a letter was unclaimed beyond that point, then it would be as good as gone. There would be no alert to the sender, either. That was the purpose of hiring a person there¡ªthey were basically there to inform people that there were letters waiting for them. Many wondered if the territory was hiring¡­ One of the people actually sending letters was Oslo, who sent some letters back home. When he heard a Post Office was being built, he and Honda (who was standing on the platform next to him) already composed his letters to each person in his family. Speaking of this, the content of his letters, by habit, was something that had a ''normal'' tone at all times, and was absent of any sensitive information. They didn''t really know whether the Bleulle Lord would randomly decide to read his letters, after all. All he said was that he¡ªand Honda¡ªwas still relaxing in the village they sent him to, and he asked when they''d come to visit. He had sent a letter before via Ferrol not long ago, though he decided to be clingy this time. He was getting a little worried for their lack of response the past week or so. They would usually send one weekly (and he''d pay the Terran Mercenary Team to use their messenger bird) particularly since Honda was with him. He looked at his side to look at his nephew, who still had to tip-toe a bit to see above the platform. Seeing as he was fine and could send his own letters, Oslo proceeded to send the letter entrusted to him. It was Rowan''s. Rowan usually sent via messenger bird from Iron Mountains to the Ferrol branch, who then sent the post to her grandmother in Voumi Town. This would actually continue primarily because Ferrol was much closer to Iron Mountains than Alterra or Limestone Valley. Oslo simply had a letter entrusted to him some time ago, when it was decided that Alterra was up for upgrade. He was asked to send it as soon as a Post Office was built. Apparently, it was to tell his grandma where he was stationed and send her letters directly in Alterra. The person next to him in line was actually Betty. They gave each other polite nods, before Oslo and Honda went out to continue with their sight-seeing. The streets on the shop definitely weren''t ready yet, but there should be some indications of what would appear there. For example, just as they exited the Post Office (after about half-an-hour of queuing) there were already signages posted in front of the shops. Some were pasted on the frontage, while some set up signages on posts. "Unleash Your Style¡ªMore Clothes Coming soon!" "Sweeten Your Day with Den''s Cotton Candy¡ªComing soon with more options!" "Glamour Starts Here¡ªYour New Salon Coming soon!" "Clean Clothes, Happy Life! Your Favorite Cleaning Service Coming West!" "Pens, Paper, Perfection! Nina''s Stationary Shop Coming soon!" S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And so on. Oslo laughed while Honda was just impressed. "Alterrans really move quickly when it comes to money." "I wanna be rich too, uncle." Oslo chuckled, patting his head. "Then better learn well." ¡­ Back in the Post Office, Betty was finally sending a letter to her family. How many years had it been, she wondered. Betty lived in a small town far West of Alterra¡ªvery far, at least a few months of travel from here. That was fine for her. When she was forcefully sent to the Chancery to help her brother, she admitted she felt bitter. Not to mention, she specifically had to go to a Level 3 Town or a City because those had Level 2 Post Offices at the minimum, which could be used to send money. She was only Level 14 at the time she was sent, not even 20 years old¡ª sent as soon as she awakened the Healer Profession. Sending her to such powerful territories was sending her to beast dens. However, because she was raised to follow orders¡ªto always prioritize her brother¡ªshe accepted and did as she was told anyway. For the next ten years or so, she worked hard in order to pay her ''duties'' to them. At first, while she was still weak, it was naturally dangerous and she was almost taken many¡ªmany¡ªtimes. One day, a visiting nobleman targetted her, and she couldn''t do anything anymore. However, she couldn''t stomach being touched by him at all, and¡ªunlike so many other women¡ªshe actually fought back. She scratched his face and kicked him, trying to run. However, the humiliation made the man livid instead. She remembered him taking out a knife from his space, and she was stabbed repeatedly in retaliation. Somehow, her fellow healers managed to get to her in time, but she was never the same after that. She was a bit scarred still, but they were mostly in her body. However, the light scars on her face were enough to make many men look at her in disgust. Instead of being sad, she became enlightened. From then on, even after she recovered, she didn''t lose her wounds. To avoid being targetted, she would lightly scar herself¡ªher face, specifically¡ª every few days, and then heal herself before they permanently scarred. For more than ten years, this had been what she had to do to protect herself. If one would question her pain tolerance, she would roll her eyes at them. She then looked at the letter in her hand, soft fingers gripping it as she was plagued with complex thoughts. She didn''t think she''d want to talk with them ever again, but here she was. Did she truly want to reconnect with them? Chapter 1138 - 1138: The Post Office Queue (Part 2) The more pain she endured, the harder her heart got when it came to her family. She still sent them money, though she didn''t increase it even if her salary did. Things changed when she finally gathered the courage she built up for years, telling them she wanted to stop and to let her go home. She even told her how difficult life was for her. In response, they went on about her ill brother needing treatment money. If she stopped now, then he would die. However, when she told them she had learned a lot from the City and could perhaps help heal him, they still refused to allow her back. That was when she started to question things and sent a letter to an acquaintance there¡ªshe did not have friends¡ªto ask how her brother was. She made it seem like they had an argument and would prefer if she didn''t say anything, which would be unlikely because that person was also very low-key. In the end, she found out he hadn''t been ill at all, but the three of them had been happily enjoying the fruits of her labor in the city. For the next few years, she worked hard on her skills and on her connections. When she became well-connected enough, she then made deals with her clients to help her level up¡ªat least until Level 20. She sent one last bulk of money to her family, said her goodbye, pretended to take her life, and went to another chancery to get transferred to a Town. The Chancery protected the identity of their applications well enough. Her family would not find out her status at all. Her life took a turn for the better when she chose to get hired in only Level 1 Towns. She still kept some of her scars, but for the most part, she was treated with some respect as a level 20 healer. She jumped from territory to territory. She thought it was aimless at first, but in retrospect she was probably looking for the perfect place for herself. Then she went to Alterra, and she found no need to harm herself again. Even from that, Alterra had become a great place in her heart. It must have been ten years since she last spoke with them and, until recently, she hadn''t really thought about them at all. She touched her stomach. Due to the difficulty of procreation and survival, Filial Piety in this world was particularly important and believed to have heavy ties to karma. She and Tom had been trying to get pregnant since they got married so many months ago, but there were no signs of movement at all. Tom had been training hard to lower their level gap and increase their chances, too. He was so excited to have a child, and so did she. Whenever the children would walk past them, their hearts would turn to mush. While she knew there were so many factors including their level gap, she couldn''t help but feel superstitious. She then got checked with Cynthia and the other experts and she gave them the heavy news. She was barren, her body irreparably damaged from years prior¡ªduring the stabbing. Even if she leveled up many more times, the body could not heal what was no longer there. She entered into a period of depression which was only kept at bay by her kind, kind, husband and friends. Growing up, she believed that a woman''s ability to bear children was their worth. Even Bianca, who had been judged to have fertility issues back then, was slowly healing as she leveled up. In contrast, what did she have? With no hope left, she was left with superstition, which was why she was here. She wondered¡­ did she really not have a choice? ¡­ While Betty was having internal conflicts at the side, many other hired aborigines¡ªsome of whom had been with Alterra since its youth¡ªwere rushing in to send letters to home and their friends. There was Houser,1 the woodworker aborigine, who had just finished his shift and rushed here to experience the new building. He had been planning on getting his wife and children here for a while. It was just that he needed to earn enough money for an escort service to his home village. His small town was not near, and he might have to go to Ferrol to hire mercenaries too. Those folks were not cheap! While he could, technically, afford weaker ones, he would never risk his family''s life because he was being stingy. They were a tiny Town, but they were still within Warrior City''s sphere of influence and there had been sightings of strong monsters heading to the City that passed near them. He was still young at the time, but that large monster''s ugly face was embedded in his mind. Fortunately, the signage business had been very popular and was still popular, so he had actually saved up a sizeable amount. Even if there weren''t as many new shops popping up in Alterra, the demand was still high for other territories! Not far, Gauis and Tronie were sending letters in their own platforms. Gauis the Gardener had a son, in-laws, and a grandchild. However, they were several thousand kilometers Northwest of Alterra. He hoped to visit eventually, but it wouldn''t be any time soon. For now, he just told them he could send letters directly from here so their correspondence would be much faster. Still, how nice would it be if they could see the wonderful gardens in Alterra¡ªthe heavenly places he helped build! They had been worried when they found out he was fired and even had to go to a small Village. How relieved would they be if they saw it themselves! He had a feeling they didn''t believe him when he told them about Alterra! "Now that Alterra''s a Town, maybe they''d believe me!" he said, watching the letter ''consumed'' by luminescent powder, disappearing after a blink. A laugh sounded next to him. It was Tronie, the materials expert. "Well old man, if you didn''t excessively gush about Alterra, maybe they''d have believed you." Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "But everything I said was true!" "Yeah, but who would be able to imagine what you pictured?" he said, looking around at the Post Office which even had a chandelier. "Alterra''s¡­ the type of place that you just gotta see to believe." Gauis blinked, shoulders slumping as he laughed. "That''s true," he said. "To see is to believe indeed." Should he get an artist to make drawings so he could send them? The maker of the ''ad signs'' if you remembe Chapter 1139 - 1139: Still Posting! Next was Tronie''s turn, with Gauis waiting at the side for him to finish. He was a single guy whose parents died when he was young. However, he did have a rather solid group of friends, all of whom went through the Chancery to get hired in different places, except for one. Because most of them jumped around territories and might not stay in one for long, this one person was the target of all their letters regardless of who it was addressed to. All of them made it into a habit to just write something for the other four, and such was what he did. This was the first time he sent them a letter after a year. They were a very low-maintenance group of friends anyway¡ªthe type to not talk for months if not years, but when together, it seemed like they were never apart¡ªand he wanted them to know that he was permanently staying here. To avoid confusion, he didn''t send letters from Ferrol but instead waited for the Alterran Post Office to be created¡ªwhich actually happened sooner than he thought. In their small group of friends, he¡ªa Materials expert¡ªwas among the least accomplished ones. They all had different fields, but he did tell them a lot about Alterra. Unlike Gauis, he had the foresight to commission artwork. It was the scene of the entrance¡ªthe sight that would greet anyone who went past the gate. It was drawn and painted with simple watercolor (he was still amazed by this by the way) which captured the vibrancy and quaintness of Alterra. He invited them to join him if they could, but be sure to bring exotic things¡ªwhether it was seeds, materials, or knowledge¡ªso they could get a jumpstart on their lives here. After all, by the time they got here, competition was undoubtedly harsher. Gauis, who was busy looking around until that moment, zoned in on the wonderful drawing in his hand. "Whoa! Why didn''t you show me before?" "Because I know you''d have begged for it." "..." He wasn''t wrong. Tronie smiled and shook his head, placing everything into one lovely envelope (bought in the Bookstore), and he added a few stickers to seal it. It was an image of cute animals though in his case, because it was a novelty, he thought he was being ''cool and sophisticated'' rather than being cute. He placed the envelope on the platform. The smile on his face widened as he saw it disappear before his eyes. "Dudes," he mumbled, excited to see them again. "Don''t embarrass me." ¡­ By this time, the queue was almost done, and the tea-drinking crowd had dispersed elsewhere, likely getting good seats for the event later. Anyway, they were a village until a few days prior, so it was already a surprise there were so many people sending letters in the first place. Clout, 1one of the people leading a construction team, quietly lined up and waited for his turn. He couldn''t help but look at the large Post Office building as he approached, feeling turbulent in his heart. Back when he was hired by a small village, how could he have thought it''d get to this level so quickly? S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As for him, he was here to send letters to some old friends. They worked in towns and he would love to work with them again. Sir Oslo had given hints on the massive developments in the future and those guys would love to be a part of it. Not far in the queue behind him was the handsome Thorance, who was planning to send a long letter home as well. He had been sending one via Ferrol every month, and he¡ªthanks to his friendship with Reddit¡ªjust had to pay some fees to receive the responses via messenger birds (which would already have letters with it anyway). However, during the previous month, there was no response at all which got him worried. Hopefully, he would receive news soon, and now that there was a Post Office in the territory, he could send letters every few days¡ªeven if it meant he had to cut back on his daily expenses. The cousins Saul and Seal Jo1 were also excited to send letters. Because Ferrol was not nearby, and they did not have direct access to the messenger birds, they could only send letters whenever there were caravans heading to Ferrol. Now, they could send them much more often! Too bad their family was too far from Alterra. There were also hires¡ªwho were elsewhere¡ªbut would''ve loved to see this too. For instance, there was Tambai and Tanod,1 who were sent on a mission and sadly didn''t witness this. They had, however, sent some letters via Ferrol back then and they hoped to receive responses by the time their mission was over. Near the end of the line was Buggy Poo1, the insect finder, who was a bit late to the party. People looked at him weirdly and if he had a clear skin on his body, he''d be flushed in shame. His current appearance was¡­ eye-catching, to say the least. He got a bit careless and was stung all over by bees. Fortunately, the damned critters didn''t die when they did so, but they certainly caused him a lot of pain! That said, his letter was a bit more squiggly than usual because even his fingers were bloated, but he couldn''t wait to send letters to his parents who had looked down on his job so much! Of course, the whole honey thing was under a non-disclosure agreement. He could only be vague with his letters¡ªjust that he was part of a very important project in a Town, and was set to have a share and get rich from it! Finally, at the end of the line was Rona and Mogi.1 They were once aborigines hired by Fargo in the Village Center. They went through a lot of twists and turns, and they did receive some monetary penalties for abandoning Fargo prematurely, but they had long recovered from that and were now living well. Rona was working under Joanna, Jun''s Wife, the head chef of the Gaea Restaurant (Harold was the leader above Joana, but he rarely went to the restaurant now). Rona had just been accepted after taking many night classes in the school and training hard. The next challenge was keeping up with the fast pace of a restaurant kitchen and¡ªwhile it was difficult¡ªshe had learned so much the past month she had been there. Mogi''s case was much more stable. He had been hired as a guard more than half a year ago, and he was now under Mao''s team. While he did have an occasional hard time following their pace, Mogi welcomed the challenge and had indeed found the best version of himself in Alterra. They were both from Villages, but they were subsidiary to Towns. They hoped that their families would get their letters somehow. There was no guarantee¡ªno townsfolk would bother with villagers¡ªbut they had told their families that they would send letters if they could, so perhaps it would reach them somehow. Interestingly, from here, one could see most of the ''NPCs'' Alterra hired at the Village level were actually from Towns or were closely related to them¡ªsent or hired by villages for one reason or another. It was quite fated, and these people felt so fortunate especially now that they could contact their homes more easily. And then there were also those¡­ with no one to send letters to. For example, Lenny Miss, the Professional Clothes Maker and one of Althea''s first hires. She did not line up, but she was in the street with Cathia 1and the other seamstresses, watching the fun. They had snacks in their hands of course, because how could they be gossiping without it. However, while the seamstresses were chattering, Lenny was quiet, just staring into the Post Office building with deep thoughts. Old Cathia turned to look at her like this, patting her shoulder. "Do you want to send letters?" Cathia asked, although rhetorically. "What for? Your family are all here." Lenny blinked, and her eyes turned from dull to clear as she turned to look at the old woman, who smiled at her as if to confirm. "Right?" The other ladies also heard this and turned to stare at her, as if waiting for her answer. Some looked like if she dared to answer the negative, she''d throw the popcorn on Lenny''s nose. In the end, Lenny''s lips twitched upwards, and she slowly nodded her head. "Yes." Clout Stone - Construction Dude. Tall, bulky, and bald middle-aged man. Cousins. Saul Jo - armor maker Class D Seal Jo -armor maker Class E. Siblings born in town, cleaner parents. Insect Guy The deserters from Fargo Cassie''s grandma Chapter 1140 - 1140: Althea in Post Street A/N: We''re only 30 Gold tickets behind for Golden T1! Thank you for your support guys! Love youu~ If you have more excess votes, send them here ne? heheheh. I post extra chaps during Sundays~ +3 chaps if we''re T1! ... ____ Of course, the Elders would not miss the fun either. They went to take a look at the new street with family or friends¡ªat least after the initial burst of traffic. After letting a couple more hours pass by, just in the afternoon, a certain family went out to see the new buildings. This was Althea, Garan, and their babies. Ansel followed along, though he would separate later at some point. After all, he was going out to prepare for the celebratory party delayed by the war-slash-mob (colloquially referred to as the Idiot-massacre) a few days prior. They decided to go on their afternoon stroll (which was something they often did when both parents didn''t have work emergencies that day). The kids were still too small for Althea¡ªlet alone Garan¡ªto hold their hands and walk side by side, so since the babies were too lively they had to be on¡­ leash, er, tethers. By this time, no one judged them. Some Terrans did blink and raise eyebrows at first, but the children were obviously not uncomfortable. They probably even preferred it so they had more freedom of movement without sacrificing safety. For instance, on their own volition, they could go to random aunties at the side! Possibly get snacks! Who could come close when Garan was right next to them? With tethers, that was not a problem! What if there were other kids who wanted to greet them? No problem too! Baby Pepper even gave other girls like Mimi friendly hugs, though the boys did not dare get closer because an ice demon was watching them. Anyway, the family took their time going around. They had until night because they go straight to the deferred celebratory event later on. Ideally, the kids would already be tired and behaved by then. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At some point, after being greeted by adoring aunties, a certain little boy went back to tug his mother''s skirt. The couple looked down on the small chubby bun looking up at his mother with large rounded eyes and puffy cheeks. "Mwamaaa! Mewbow ea fwuff!" the baby said, pointing at a certain cotton candy store. Althea stared. She understood, but she waited patiently for him to finish his request. "Mwama?" Little Meatball''s eyebrows furrowed in her silence. Regardless of the answer, there would usually at least be a response. Then, he remembered her lessons. He looked up again, eyes even more glistening. "Pwease?" She finally smiled, kneeling down, and patted his head. "Okay." The baby boy brightened and hugged his mother''s ankle and Althea couldn''t help but kneel down to place a smooch on his plump cheek. "Mamaaa! Peppa! Peppa!" A little girl ran to her too, her frilly dress and the two buns on her head bouncing as she rushed. The baby girl had just escaped the clutches of another set of aunts from another side, only to turn around and see her brother hogging their mum! Althea laughed, placing a sound kiss on her chubby cheek, too. Garan watched his happy family and he leaned down to take one of the kids into his arms. The cotton candy stall was quite crowded and, for obvious reasons, they couldn''t have the children going wild in there. The couple carried a child each and headed towards the more crowded areas as they neared the Post Street. Fortunately, it had been a couple of hours since the street opened so there was a lot less loitering crowd. The temporary stalls were set along the streets. They allowed this for now. However, after the shops opened, they would naturally ask the stalls to move to the proper rentable spots all over the territory. The Cotton Candy Stall was located right outside a new store. The stall was owned by none other than Den, who was doing a promotion for his soon-to-open shop on Post Street. He did not lack in telling his grand adventures of securing the shop either. "Even if people stepped on me, I persevered. I had a mission¡ªto bring the joy of sweetened clouds to more people!" Anyway, the guy was quite creative. Cotton Candy already existed here even before he started his business, but Den could create various animal shapes that people loved, making him one of the favorite cotton candy shops in Alterra. Further, the large sign behind him saying "Sweeten Your Day with Den''s Cotton Candy¡ªComing soon with more options!" indicated that he even made some innovations. As for what they were, no one knew, just that the kids loved whatever he was offering now. They lined up properly, and it was mostly kids in front of the line at this time. The children felt some strong presence and turned, recognizing them, and Althea did as well. They were the familiar aborigine kids Maumi, Gururu, Pongo1, and their new friend Mamu2¡ªone of the Heat Wave refugees. They were quite lively and some of the most well-adjusted kids among the aborigines. It was cute and impressive. "Miss Althea, Sir Garan!" they said, doing the standard salute given by subordinates to higher-ups. They then turned to the babies in their arms, their eyes brightening even more. "Ah! It''s Baby Pepper and Meatball!" "Please, go ahead!" they said, making a path for them. Being treated like this by children felt both adorable and complicated. "No, it''s okay, we can wait," she said. It was fine if it was just them and adults, but it was weird to do that to kids. Not to mention, they didn''t want their children to grow up so entitled that all queues would clear for them. Seeing as they insisted on not cutting line, the aborigine kids went ahead and happily bought their cotton candies. After the kids said their farewells, they all headed to one of the benches under a sidewalk tree. Althea was curious and her eyes followed their movements, realizing that they were heading towards a big guy¡ªKoo Yu¡ªsitting there. It was cute at first, but she found herself blinking in puzzlement. She realized he was carrying¡­ goblin babies? How did that happen? Mauin Villagers With Shinho, Heat Wave refugees. If you remember the brave kid who threw stones to distract monsters back in his village ,that is him Chapter 1141 - 1141: The New Cleaner "Big brother Koo, have one too!" Mamu said, looking sweetly at the big guy. Koo smiled and, after rearranging the goblin babies hanging on his body, took a pinch. "Thank you," he said, goofy as always. The ten-year-old sparkled, obviously liking the big man''s gratitude. Koo Yu might be a young man, but his mind was still that of a child''s. He got along with the kids very well¡ªexcept at the same time he was a big adult and could do things they could not, making him extra cool. The aborigine kids in particular were close with him because they lived in the same area. They looked at him as both a peer and as an older brother. It was definitely a unique dynamic they really liked. As for how he ended up babysitting triplet goblins, it was kind of a long story. In Goblin culture, babies were taken care of by a group of nurses at the same time in one place while their parents went to work. They were literally placed in one room with comfy cushions on the floor, the green dumplings grouped together¡ªeither in rows or in cots¡ªand laying/playing there for the entire day. If they needed something, they''d make a specific sound, and the nurses would know exactly what the babies needed. From an outsider''s point of view, one would just see a room densely filled with green balls. Of course, although they looked the same to humans, the goblins had no problem determining which one was theirs. Be it by smell, sound, or some other qualities humans didn''t know anymore, there was no case of baby-switching among the goblins in the entirety of their existence. This practice of taking care of babies in bulk did not change in Alterra. They cleared out one of the communal rooms in their dormitories to serve this purpose. If humans were there, they would met at the cute green balls gathered in one room, but sadly no one was there to see that. They could only see the babies when they were taken out individually or with their families. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Today, it happened that a pair of goblins just wanted to take their kids out for a walk¡ªsomething they learned to be very healthy for children. They naturally wanted the best for their children and there was also the fact that minorities tended to emulate the prevalent practices more than others, so many goblin families followed this practice to a tee. Even if the female was heavily pregnant and due to give birth soon... Anyway, Alterrans loved the sight of babies¡ªno matter what race¡ªso it could be said their ''walk'' was very welcome. People would stop by and look at the strollers, they would chat them up, and they would coo the babies and greet them, promising treats when they grew teeth. While it was shocking and intimidating at first, the goblins knew the emotions going around were mostly warmth¡ªexcept for a few aborigines who were still uncomfortable by their freedom¡ªso they adjusted quickly. This was another one of the reasons why the goblins loved taking the children out occasionally. It made their babies feel¡­ loved. Anyway, sometime during the walk, they encountered Koo Yu and the kids hanging out. They exchanged words and the children looked at the goblins curiously, asking questions like ''when do they start to walk?'' or ''how big are their poop?'' These were all genuine inquiries, which the parent goblins answered sincerely (and yes, even the poop question). Note that these were mostly aboriginal children, yet none of them showed a hint of disgust with them at all. Children were much more honest with their emotions, after all, and the fact that there was no discrimination in the younger generation was very telling of the current education system. The bigger kids (like Koo) were allowed to hold the babies. They were already several months old, but goblins at this age could actually already walk so they were already strong enough to be carried around by strangers. Then¡­ the goblin female screamed. Her water broke. Goblins, once they had treated a place as home and its inhabitants as trustworthy, they could get careless and trusting¡ªto a fault. "Please take care of my babies! I will find you later!" The male goblin yelled, carrying his yelling wife and running to the hospital, disappearing before Koo could even answer him. "..." And so was the current scene. Mamu, Koo, and the others adjusted well enough, and it seemed like goblin babies were much more well-behaved than human babies. Whenever they cried (they had really, really, small voices) Koo would just place them back into the strollers and they''d push the stroller back and forth as if giving them a ride. The kids had to do it because Koo was too big to push the small stroller comfortably. Anyway, it almost always worked and the kids started doing it as a game¡ªi.e. who calmed the goblin babies better? In any case, having fun while goblin-sitting was definitely an adventure and challenge for them, but it wasn''t an unwelcome one! Althea smiled and took her eyes away from them, while a certain ''prisoner'' ¡ªwho was in-charge of hauling out trash¡ªwatched them longingly, his heart clenching in pain. This was Jest1, one of the prisoners of war from Basset Town. He was also judged as a low-risk one, so he was allowed to serve near people unlike most of the others. His main job, given to him just this morning, was to clean up the trash along the streets, sweep fallen grass, and so on. Although there were rules against littering, there were often times that people would just lose track of their trash but it was too crowded to take it back, and were therefore just left there. Anyway, they were already penalized so there was little incentive to fight against the crowd to find a candy wrapper they accidentally dropped. Other than his main job, he also had an on-call job. Because Jest was from a Town, his level was decent. Other than cleaning up trash in the territory, another task was to clean those outside. So after beast mobs, he''d help out with the carcasses and also fight against some smaller monsters that found their way there. "Fuf cwouds yummy¡­" he turned to look at milky voices that seemed to go near him. He turned to look at Miss Althea, her husband, and her children happily eating that¡­ colored cloud. He watched as the babies took a bit of the cloud and fed their parents, who naturally opened their mouths to eat them. Jest pursed his lips and gathered all his courage, stepping into their paths. Although he was a prisoner, he was given relative freedom like talking to whom he wanted to. "What is it?" Althea asked, startled, but not particularly impatient. Her daughter was trying to feed her and insisted on doing so, so while talking to him, Miss Althea had a steady stream of little clouds put in her mouth. "If¡­ you have nothing¡ªlater, Pepper, Mummy''s talking¡ª" she munched on the cloud anyway, before looking at Jest. "If you have nothing else to say¡ª" "No, please, it''s important¡ª" They really paused and just stared at him, waiting for him to speak. His heart swelled with hope. To be honest, he never thought it would be a possibility for him to even talk to an elder after the war was lost. However, the more he saw about the territory, the more he felt in his heart that he could¡­ ask. What really touched his heart was how Alterra treated their casinos. Back home, casinos were the main part of how his family fell apart. So when he found out Alterra had a casino, he specifically chose the area to clean first. He spent the morning there, just watching the people come in and go, watching their reactions, and¡ªhe predicted¡ªtheir future suffering. What he wanted to do or what he wanted to see, he didn''t know, but he stayed there anyway. However, while he saw that many people were sad and annoyed, there was no¡­ despair¡ªnot the one he was used to seeing. Back home, people would look like they lost their entire lives¡­ which they probably really did. It was then that he found out about the very humane limitations put up. He would even realize that most of the ''annoyances'' from the customers were because they were kicked out after reaching the spending limit. A territory that could forgo its greed for the sake of its people made him think that maybe¡ªmaybe¡ªhe could have a voice this time. If you forgot already, he made an appearance in the latest war xD He was one of the people sent by Basset Town to help out during the wa Chapter 1142 - 1142: Jest’s Request "I¡­ please help me get my brother¡ªno, even some news will do," he said. "I am willing to increase the atonement points I have to carry out." "I''m not sure you have enough to offer to mobilize our resources," Althea said. Her tone was not dismissive at all, simply stating facts from someone who supposedly was just an ''employee''. "I¡­ I wasn''t a slave in Basset Town," he said. He already said this during the inquisition. "I wasn''t bound by oath¡ªI was born there, there should be information you''d find useful, right?" He was not a slave in either territory and wasn''t required to take oaths there so he could tell as much as needed. Althea looked at him. She hadn''t had the chance to read the reports yet so they hadn''t begun any ''follow up'' interviews and interrogations just yet. This was basically just doing it in advance. Seeing as Althea was ready to listen (while being fed by her daughter), Ansel took out a Voice Blocker and activated it. Althea nodded in approval before turning to Jest. "What do you know?" "While my stature doesn''t allow me to be privy to a lot of things, I can tell more about the every day life and what we found threatening." To most people, this was useless information. They''d dismiss Jest and even blame him for wasting their time. However, Althea and the others knew never to underestimate even the smallest detail. At this, Althea nodded for him to tell them more, and Jest heaved a sigh of relief. First, he told them about the everyday life of the citizens there which was, for the most part, just the typical life in this world. The difference was that there were a lot more merchants from other places there than most. Basset Town could be said to be the less-developed and less-planned Ferrol of the area. That was to say: It did not have any special resources, technology, or mines of its own, but it took advantage of its location between Bleulle City and Warrior City¡ªeven if it was thousands of kilometers away from either of them. He also told them about the most famous families in their Town¡ªthe ones even the most uneducated citizen would hear of. There were also a few gangs and powers he mentioned, though it was limited to whoever was active in the area he lived in. While Jest did not have a complete list of the players in their territory, he did have the main ones. Interestingly, he mentioned a familiar group. This group affected the daily lives of even the poorest of peasants there, and it was obvious that Jest hated them in particular. "The Rongo Mercenary Team is the most powerful and disruptive force there," he said. "They arrived about two decades ago¡­ setting up base there. Immediately, the already-difficult living conditions got worse." "Of course, there was a lot of bullying and suffering even before that¡ªbut they took it to another level," he said, gritting his teeth. "They treated human lives as playthings. "They would pull whatever women¡ªor men¡ªentered their fancy and do their way with them, and no one could say anything about it!" "They would beat up anyone they thought to be eyesores until they were half-dead!" "Even if people were lucky enough not to catch their eye, they affected their living too. The mercenary team made close deals with the Lord so they could add protection fees¡ªon top of the taxes they paid directly to the Lord¡ªto any local who was doing business in the territory." "Then¡­ they built casinos¡ªturning hard-working men to useless people who only knew how to spend money!" They let him finish his soliloquy on his own. He was very passionate. Seeing his face change from his mild¡ªbegging¡ªstance to a passionately angry one, they could tell he must''ve suffered a lot back in Basset. At this time, the babies had already finished eating the cotton candies on their own, staring at the passionate outburst of a random adult in front of them. Eventually, he did calm down, immediately feeling embarrassed at the outburst. "My¡­ my brother''s name is Jord, and we live in the Western slums of the territory," he said. "I just¡­ I just want him safe." "Okay," she said. "I''ll take note of this." For a moment, she did consider just sending him there to help out. But her people there had been camping for a long time. She didn''t want to risk anything at this point. Jest bowed to them before leaving to continue his work. He did not have high expectations, but it was enough that they would try. After Jest went away, the family continued on to the Post Street, arriving at the middle of it. By this time, there were already bikes using the main road, so those on foot were constrained to use the pedestrian lanes. The family looked at the two buildings in alteration, looking at the quality and its fit to the streetscape. Fortunately, it looked good. "So how much did these buildings cost?" Ansel asked. They hadn''t turned off the Voice Blocker yet so they could talk as they wanted. "3000 Wood, 2000 Stone, 2000 Gold. Each. Plus a few hundred for customization." Ansel whistled. "I hoped we can modify some functionality too," Althea said, sighing. Baby Pepper who was snugly carried in her arms, sensed her disappointment and kissed her cheek, making Althea chuckle. She kissed her back of course. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Mwama!" Little Meatball called, extending his little arms to her to ask for kisses too. While she took her jealous son with her free arm, she looked at the Pharmacy again, telling her brother about her Pharmacy Wish List. "I had hoped we could add our own formulas and let it make them automatically as long as we had the raw materials," she said. "I would be willing to pay a few thousand gold for that." Ansel rubbed his nose. Rich people problems, he thought. Though to be fair that really would be awesome. "Well," he said. "I''m sure there would be something like that out there." Althea nodded. "If not, we''ll find a way to make it ourselves." Chapter 1143 - 1143: Sunset Pair Again (Part 1) A/N: Chapter dedicated to Lotuslin, Oslo''s #1 waifu. Loolol. Thanks again for the LNY Red-envelope-castle~ ¡­ ___ "Will it be possible?" Ansel looked at his sister with sparkling eyes, while Garan just nodded, thinking ''as expected''. Garan looked down and saw the two babies in his wife''s arms though. Their hands were now sticky because of the cotton candy and he immediately took out wet wipes from his space to clean up their mouths and hands and their chubby cheeks. His hand was bigger than their faces, and he was very gentle to make sure he didn''t put too much strength into it. Althea smiled at him and held up the two babies so he could reach both their hands. After doing this, Garan simply put their pacifiers on without taking them away from their mother. The babies obviously preferred to be in the arms of their soft and fragrant mother. He did not blame them. Anyway, while Garan did so, Althea turned to her brother to answer his question. "I''m thinking it''s possible. Holt City could make buildings that''d cook by itself, so this meant it is possible for the normal people to create such buildings¡ªat least as Aether Buildings," she said. "I''m sure Oslo would upgrade someday." At this time, Oslo was focused on studying as much as he could about building types and whatever Althea had on arrays. He also asked for some information from his siblings, though to be honest what Miss Althea had was more insightful than the general knowledge nobles had on the subject. Even their toolmakers depended on inheritance and instinct to create their tools, so it was really a problem. They still had a few sets to make possibly one or two new types of aether blueprints (though that may increase depending on his skill and understanding) but so far they were still undecided about what to do with them. Hopefully, by the time Alterra expanded its walls, they''d have new aether blueprints ready. This did not include a copy of what he had already made¡ªwhich they''d do once the Town expanded further¡ªbut the new building types Miss Althea was envisioning! Speaking of Oslo¡­ he was actually still on the street, too. Ansel turned to look somewhere along the road, about ten or so meters away from them. The golden-haired was lining up to get a cool drink from the Cucumber-drink guy1, and he was surrounded by chattering women. As always, he looked completely comfortable surrounded by the feminine kind. "Yo!" he greeted, raising his arms as he walked towards him. Oslo turned and blinked, smiling at him. "Ansel!" They didn''t notice how the group of women formed a path for them and neither did they notice the muffled squeals that surrounded them. "Done with the Post?" he asked, knowing that he was here to send letters. "Aren''t you with your nephew?" "Yeah," Oslo said, turning to side to see Honda playing with the other kids. In Bleulle, it''d be impossible to see him play with village kids, but look at him so happy and carefree. Hey, he was even carrying a baby goblin now¡­ The blonde just shook his head with a smile. He did not ask where it came from and just turned back to chat with Ansel. "You?" he asked. He doubted there''d be anyone the red-head would want to send posts to at this time. "Just looking around with family," Ansel said, pointing somewhere behind him. At this, Oslo turned to look for a certain someone, and his blue orbs quickly warmed up at the sight of her standing a few meters away from them. He had to pull back his meaningful stare when he felt the husband''s icy gaze, of course. "Miss Althea, Sir Garan," he said, striding gracefully as he approached. Then, his blue eyes shifted to look at the precious buns they were carrying. "Good Afternoon, Handsome Meatball, Princess Pepper." The two babies didn''t know what those meant, but it sounded good and they smiled and giggled cutely behind their pacifiers, melting every heart in the vicinity. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea smiled warmly at her babies'' cuteness, putting poor Oslo into an idiotic daze again. Ansel noticed this and wrapped his arm around his shoulder (making women squeal, some taking out their phones to take pictures). "I''m doing final checks for the party later, come help out," he said. It was not even a suggestion. Oslo blinked, stared, and then nodded. "A-Ah, yeah," was all he could say, still puzzled why he was suddenly pulled in as a supervisor of someone else''s job. However, he saw his friend''s wiggling eyebrows and had no choice but to play along. And so, the two very handsome men said their goodbyes and parted from the family¡­ making the women they passed by swoon to death. ¡­ "Damn, man, how bad do you still have it? Didn''t I tell you to date around?" Ansel asked with a very serious look on his face. "You definitely have no trouble flirting." "I couldn''t bear to go steady with anyone who doesn''t make my heart beat anymore," Oslo said. It wasn''t that he hadn''t tried the past month, it was just that he couldn''t handle it in the end. Flirting was one thing, but going out meant different for the women. It would be cruel if he gave false hopes when he had no feelings for them. Before, he didn''t mind. It was just fun for both parties. Now that he knew what it felt like to fall in love, it meant he also felt the pain of not having it. He didn''t wish that on his worst enemy, especially not on innocent women. He didn''t say this out loud, but Ansel could tell. He sniffed, feeling a bit teary. He gripped his shoulder a bit tighter. "I''m proud of you, man." He definitely matured. He was ready for true love now. Oslo smiled, feeling a complex mood of bittersweet relief as well. Anyway, the two men were really close¡ªwith Ansel''s arms still around the blonde''s shoulders¡ªand someone behind them almost fainted. Suffice to say, there would be extra volumes of Sunset Pair Fanfiction going around that day. Just an unnamed side character who always sells cucumber drinks to passerbys Chapter 1144 - 1144: Sunset Pair Again (Part 2) There were various fanfictions about them that sprouted over the past couple of months, especially after the paper became commonplace and accessible to the masses. It was not yet dirt-cheap, not like how it was in Terran, but every working adult could definitely afford to buy a small rim or two every week. Most stories were set in Xeno which was the easiest to write about. It could be about them adventuring together someplace else, which would belong in the fantasy-action genre. They could also be adventuring to a mysteriously comfortable cave that appeared out of nowhere, but that was a different genre altogether. It could be a dramatic romance (possibly a tragedy) where Oslo''s parents from the City were against their love. They even sent assassins to get Ansel. The current bestseller was a book titled "A Sunset We''ll Never Share". It was written by someone named ''Air_Ria''1 . It was a book where Oslo unfortunately died saving Ansel. Many women (and some men) cried when it was released, and Oslo found his house with an abnormally high amount of flowers all of a sudden. There were also plenty of books just focused on their relationship, set in the streets and buildings of Alterra. Fortunately, the books that portrayed Winona, Ansel''s wife, as evil were not popular. In most cases, she was a girlboss who gracefully ''let go'' of her husband to find happiness. In some iterations, she even joined in the fun. It did not help she had blonde locks too, so the three of them together became the ''Sunset Trio'' instead. Winona hadn''t given birth at the time, but when she found out about this, she laughed so hard she almost gave birth. Next in popularity were books set in Terran, wherein it was Oslo who got ''transmigrated'' to another world. The most popular trope was him being hit by a Kola Beast Cart, died, and woke up in the body of another with the same name and face. Those stories ranged from showbiz-type of stories where Oslo had to navigate an entirely new world under the eyes of the public (with Ansel guiding him through it) to Spy stories where he used his elements and natural prowess to excel in that field. The most popular ones were called "Sneaky at Sunset" and "Undercover at Sundown", also by Air_Ria. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Then there was a growing trend of alternate universes (or just ''AUs'' in the fanfiction circle) which were set in completely different worlds that were limited only by the writers'' imaginations. It could range from Ansel being a vampire¡ªloving blood because it reminded him of the color of his hair¡ªor Oslo being a golden werewolf who turns when it was sunny¡­ Anyway, there was a great variety which shook Oslo to the core the first time he found out. Ansel laughed at it at first (Winona was still laughing) but then he realized he was ''the bottom'' 95% of the time¡­ He immediately ran to his sister to tattle. Sadly, there was something called freedom of speech, so they couldn''t just shut everything down willy-nilly. Economy-wise, it wasn''t a bad thing. And there was also the fact that some people would want stories written about them. Althea simply called the Elders, calling for new laws about protecting the interests of personalities who had things like these based on them. They couldn''t control everything though. There were some¡ªparticularly the raunchy ones¡ªthat were circulated in the blackmarket. Some seemed to have found the markets outside Alterra, in which case they didn''t have control over them at all. In any case, this new law allowed them to earn from whatever (declared) media form used their likeness, so it wasn''t completely a loss. Viva Passive Income, right? Right? Anyway, it was really weird at first, but they just learned to ignore them. They just made a point to enjoy the fruits of their likeness. Eventually, they moved past the discussion and headed towards the plaza to supervise the event, to make sure they didn''t miss anything. They had done festivals multiple times so Ansel believed his staff wouldn''t mess anything up, but this had to be perfect! Before they left Post Street though, they saw Baron and the others running into the street, several staff members carrying large tables. Interestingly, Baron 1himself was leading the line. "What''s this?" Ansel asked, turning to them. Baron stopped his movements and happily greeted them. "We''re selling some new items here while we can still make stalls," he said. "Of course, the items will also be available in our actual shops for those still interested." "Like what?" Baron smiled. It so happened that they were settling down nearby and Ansel and Oslo couldn''t help but look curiously as they set up. They saw a small stall get erected in front of their eyes, and then pieces of little wooden pegs and posts lined up on the table. A few staff members assembled them into small connected boxes. They were being showy about it too, making exaggerated movements, naturally gathering a crowd around them. At this, some of the salesmen¡ª including Baron¡ªyelled to the watching crowd. "Modular potion cabinets! Modular Potion Cabinets!" he yelled, gathering more and more people to watch. "For those with adventurous hearts and the drive for growth, come here and see!" He then pointed at his craftsman easily assembling the pieces together. There were no extra tools, just the pieces stuck together by virtue of their shapes. "Created just to fit the system pharmacy bottles, this will allow you to stack your stock safely in space," he said, going over a piece that was almost finished. He took one and pulled something easily, taking out an entire box that fit just right in their hands. There were also indentations so it was easy to hold. "It also comes with bottle guards. With this, the chances of breaking it are much lower!" He was near enough to the pharmacy (most areas were unfortunately already occupied) and a lot of the buyers who could actually use it were passing by. They saw how easy to use and convenient it was, and the Woodworker''s team immediately got sales. Not long after that, they shifted to pre-sale and reservation! Suffice to say, this business idea was quite profitable indeed. Based on one of my RL author friends Air_Ace who inspired the fanfiction angle xDD Owner of Alterra''s biggest Woodworking shop. A.K.A. Golden Goose Chapter 1145 - 1145: Before the Party "You people are really business-minded," Oslo said as they went on their way. Ansel smiled. "Any indicator for growth is something we aspire to. Besides¡­" he paused, smugly nudging him (with each moment of skin contact killing a random female passerby). "More tax for Alterra." The two eventually reached the plaza, which was currently at the height of preparation. They oversaw the creation of the large platform in front of the village, er, town center, as well as the line of stalls and caravan games being built up. Because Alterra seemed to find something to celebrate every couple of months, there were now shops and businesses that specialized in renting out modular pop-up stalls and caravan places. These could also be used for the marketplace stalls, within or outside the walls. It was a very lucrative business because they could reuse the modules over and over again. They had to partner with a few people who owned or rented a warehouse in the Industrial zone, but they were saving up to buy one for themselves for the expansion. According to the information, all zones would expand when the territory expanded its walls again, and that included the industrial zones. Some workers, passersby, lurkers, and loiterers saw Ansel and Oslo and couldn''t help but approach. "Sir Ansel! Sir Oslo!" they greeted, happily but also with some reverence in their town. "Can you hint what the program will be?" Ansel smiled, they naturally didn''t tell much¡ªjust that there''d be an anniversary party. "Well, mostly the usual¡ªspeeches, some music," he said. "Just look forward to it." ¡­ Before the deferred celebratory dinner, a lot of the population made a point to pass by the new street or the plaza being built up, even if it was just literally to pass through them. So¡­ most of the people outside their homes at this time were concentrated within a few streets in and between these two places. This meant that there would be quite a number of encounters. For instance, there was an encounter between Foxii,1 Thor, and Limbo2¡ªall of whom were refugees from heat waves, but from different territories. They were all seen happily eating ice cream after a ''serendipitous'' encounter on the pedestrian lane in front of the store. The two men accompanied their friend through her break, and she treated them with the dessert in response. Foxii was a Captain now¡ªone of the few female captains in the guard team¡ªwhile the other two men had very different jobs. Thor was a freelancer (who''d take random jobs when they were offered), while Limbo was an architect at the Construction and Design Department under Oslo. This came as a shock to many though. Thor was not only athletic¡ªhe was a rare electricity elementalist, like Drake1, so people expected him to join in. Thor was tempted, but he didn''t do it in the end. It was because he knew his personality wasn''t the type that would match with soldiers and their strict guidelines. His goal was to build his own mercenary team, probably when he reached the level requirement. He would name it ''Benatar1'' for no particular reason. He just thought it sounded cool. "Sometimes those hellish first months we had in Xeno feels like a bad dream¡­" he said, combing back his now-short blonde hair. He looked at the pretty Faye, who was just enjoying her desert, with warm eyes. She was still in her guard uniform. Thor knew this time was her break time; he memorized her schedule. He specifically made sure to be around the area at this time, particularly near her favorite ice cream shop, so there they were now. "I heard one of the new stores in Post Street is also a dessert shop," he said. Faye nodded. "Yeah, I heard about that too," she said. "I heard they already secured cocoa deals with Miss Althea¡­" "Hm¡­ I would like to try it." Faye nodded, she did too. "Foxii¡­ would you like to join me?" Faye blinked, lifting her head to look at the blonde staring at her. He was not strikingly handsome, but he had that carefree charm that was very much opposite to her own strictness. Still, Faye nodded in the end, and Thor''s smile brightened and his hair lifted up a bit due to static electricity. Limbo immediately felt like the third wheel. He sighed. When would he get a girlfriend? S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ Across the street, there were the old men Al, Bones, and Cake 1who¡ªoutside their resource gathering gigs¡ªwere living off contribution points for their occasional help in the research center. They simply had to answer some things they knew from back in the day¡ªwhether it was way of life or technology, they just had to write or enumerate what they remembered. Their previous world Terran¡ªas these children had known it¡ªwas too advanced. It had a lot of the technology that was impossible¡ªat least not within the next few years¡ªto replicate here. That was why they were predominantly focused on developing technology considered advanced in Xeno, but probably about a hundred years old for Terran folks. Although the three old men were definitely not that old, they had a lot of knowledge about the tech back then. So now they were helping with various things like the old computers, telecommunications, and so on. Their day would be mostly gathering resources and staying in the Research Center for a couple of hours, leaving most of the day free. Overall, although they would still hire some youngins to help them level up (they wanted to feel young again¡ªfiguratively and literally), they were pretty much in a semi-retired state. Today was no different. After selling some basic resources to the Center, the trio decided to hang around where the fun was. At first, they spent the early afternoon in the Plaza being built up. They went around while munching on snacks, acting like ''supervisors''. Like normal old men, they had the tendency to blurt instructions like they knew how to do everything. "No, no, I don''t think that''s symmetrical. A little to the left, ah, to the right. My right? Ah yesyes. Was it? No¡­" "I think this game should be here instead of there¡­" "That height is too small¡­" "This is just for kids? What about adults?" "Are you sure you want to choose that color? Are you sure?" Suffice to say, they irked a lot of the construction workers and were shooed away. They could only shake their old heads, mumbling ''rude kids'' under their breaths. Of course, after passing another stall and filling their hands and mouth with food, they were carefree old men again. They headed to the Post Street this time, encountering Cathia and Bona¡ª Cassie and Bumi''s grandmothers¡ªthere. Old souls just tended to vibe with each other more, and each party happily greeted the other side, and they made the spontaneous decision to go to the park together and play chess or backgammon there. While the five old folks (some of whom had hunched back due to age) happily chattered on their way there, they passed by some visiting aborigines. Aborigines looked at the group of old people lounging about happily and couldn''t help but feel complicated. In most places, unless the old person was a noble and had managed to gather loyalty¡ªby oath or without¡ªof a lot of people and family members, they were practically left on their own. Power speaks, after all, and it was an unspoken rule that anything that could hinder growth was something to get rid of. If it was family, then you could get rid of them¡ªpeople would understand. This was ironic because filial piety was something seen as spiritually important¡ªbut only if you were a woman. If you were a man with sufficient power, you could decide to ignore your parents if they became burdens. It would not even be too frowned upon. And because women generally had little capability to survive on their own, once the men decided to get rid of them, they would struggle to survive. A lot of beggars in other towns were all old people. In Alterra, there were no beggars at all, and the old people¡ªeven those without family¡ªwere living well with their own strength and capability. They heard that¡ªas long as they served the territory for a certain amount of years¡ªthey could retire and not worry about the basics again. It felt¡­ right, somehow, to do this. But¡­ how come so many other territories fail to achieve this? Aka Faye. One of the refugees from heat wave.. She led her own team. She was the daughter of the Lord, but he died before passing over the token to her. Also refugees from Heat Wave Mathilda''s former guard, and now one of the top guards Get the reference? No. Okay... ORZ Some random old guys introduced a long time ago xDDD Chapter 1146 - 1146: More Encounters There were also particularly interesting encounters. For example, there was the encounters between Virgo¡ªone of the Research Team''s premier mathematicians¡ªand his "ex-wife" Kimmy, who now pushing a stroller with a woman and a little boy next to her. His eyebrows rose, and they nodded at each other in greeting. It was just that Virgo was not much of a conversationalist and most people would see it as snobbery. However, Kimmy, who had technically lived with him for months, naturally knew of his quirks. Still, she was still a bit defensive with men in general, and it would be a lie to say she wasn''t even the least bit bitter towards her ''husbands'' who were too weak to protect her back then. However, after so long, she had learned to let go. Being bitter wouldn''t be a good atmosphere around her baby girl after all. "Virgo," she said in greeting and the man flinched, nodding as well. They had somewhere to go and didn''t stay to chat, and separated immediately afterward. However, Virgo''s eyes followed her until they disappeared into the crowd. Kimmy had never actually touched him outside his face or his chest. For the most part, she just appreciated him visually. It was a bit uncomfortable, but she gave him food, shelter, and let him depend on her for months. So, despite her quirks, Virgo actually liked and respected this "ex-wife" of his. For a while, he couldn''t face her for being so useless after all that happened. It was one of the reasons why he was eager to move to Alterra. Then Kimmy herself moved and it became awkward for a long time. Seeing her happy now made him feel relieved. It wasn''t enough to let bygones be bygones, but at least a portion of the burden was gone. As for how he''d make it up to her¡ªhe''d figure it out eventually. His EQ was too low for him to determine that himself. ... "What is it?" Kimmy asked, feeling Yelena''s eyes on her. The woman blushed a bit, rubbing her arms, which was a sign of her nervousness. "You can talk with them?" Yelena asked. Even until now, she was uncomfortable with strange men. She was quite envious of Kimmy, and a little uncomfortable she seemed to be expanding her circle again. It could even be called¡­ jealousy. "Hmn," Kimmy said. "You''ll get there, no need to pressure yourself. Our lives are long." Yelena looked at her and nodded, looking at the cute baby on the stroller. The baby girl was so cute and lovely. Inexplicably, Yelena''s eyes shifted to her own son. He was a good-looking kid and he must''ve been a cute baby. She¡­ missed that stage of his life, and a wave of regret came over her again¡ªsomething that was happening increasingly often¡ªand she did not know how to deal with it at all. It was still awkward between them after so many months and, to be honest¡ªeven when they did little things together now like walking, eating, and the like¡ªthe conversation was still difficult. No, it seemed like he never talked to her before? She knew that he could talk now. She had overheard him talking a bit with his peers in the orphanage, and she had also heard of his laughter. She felt a strange sense of pain and satisfaction when she realized it was his, and it confused her a lot. In most cases, the boy would just hand her things without saying anything, or would just nod at her request and do it. However¡ª "Mother¡­" a voice sounded next to her, and she was not quite sure if she heard it correctly. "Mother¡­" She blinked, looking down, confirming that the person talking to her was the boy. "May buy some caramelized gouji fruit?" he asked, appearing a bit nervous. Yelena was in a bit of a daze. Were these his first words to her? Her silence made the boy purse his lips. Before he could retract his words though, she hurriedly nodded. "Go ahead." He heaved a sigh of relief, and he ran away before she could give him any money. "..." However, he returned some minutes later (the stall owner had a lot of stock) and he gave everyone¡ªincluding the two women¡ªa stick of the sweet. Yelena blinked. "Where did you get the money?" she asked, and it made the boy flinch. She was just wondering, but her tone was a little sharp, making the boy misunderstand. "She''s just curious," Kimmy said, reassuring the boy. This made Yelena aware of her tone and her shoulders slumped in embarrassment, but she didn''t know how to apologize to the boy quite yet. Fortunately, the boy didn''t retract too much and believed Kimmy. "I help out in the orphanage, Mother." Kimmy looked at Yelena. "They pay him for his work," she said, tone soft, as if guiding her emotions. "Your son is quite independent¡­ you should be proud." There were the normal chores like washing dishes and clothes the children were expected to help out with. They were the ones to use these things and chores helped foster a sense of independence and sense of responsibility in children. However, there were also jobs that would require a bit more strength¡ªlike helping in the garden or in their small farm¡ªin which case the orphanage would pay the kids, allowing them to have some extra cash on their bodies. "I see¡­" Yllana said, then looked at the boy whose body language was starting to close in again. She pursed her lips, shakily raising her palm and patted the boy''s head, making him flinch. "Good job." The boy blinked, pursed his lips, and nodded. It was still awkward and the mother-son pair resumed their silent companionship, though their faces were visibly more relaxed. Kimmy was sincerely happy seeing this progress, as it signified another step forward. In fact, she and Yelena had progressed very slowly in dealing with their trauma. The process wasn''t straightforward at all. Sometimes, things were great and they would pass the day without nightmares or shivering spells. Sometimes, it could be so bad that they couldn''t get out of bed because of self-induced flus. It was two steps forward and one step back but, fortunately, they were moving forward overall. As for that guy¡­ they had an offer to kill him already, but she didn''t want so much brutality when her baby was just born. She just asked them to torture the bastard for a few more months. Let him suffer a bit more. When the time came, she''d take his life herself. It was around this time that a group of small voices chatting and laughing approached. It was the orphanage kids, running around the pedestrian sidewalks. "Don''t go run over the main walkways!" adults would yell to remind them many times. "Yes~" they would answer back, but they''d still hover dangerously on the edge anyway. Kids. Then the kids would see a familiar friend, and they would brighten even more. "Yanno! Yanno! Come join us!" they yelled, "We''re going to the playgrouuunddd. We''re meeting Mimi and the others theereeee~" The boy blinked and looked up at his mother, who was staring at him. She did not wait for him to ask. She gave him a small smile¡ªthe first one directed at him¡ªand nodded. "Meet us in the Plaza later, okay?" The boy went into a daze for a moment before breaking into a wide smile. "Yes, Mother," he said with a soft voice before turning around to go to his friends. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The children waved at him to come, excited at his approach. However, as he got closer, the smiles on their little faces disappeared and they looked at him with increasingly concerned expressions. "Yanno?" they asked. "Why are you crying?" Chapter 1147 - 1147: Celebratory Events Dusk fell on Alterra, and all of the lights were turned on. As usual, Alterra was bright and energetic when the rest of the world was dull. However, tonight, it was much livelier than usual¡ªafter all, a double celebration will commence! Not only would they commemorate the anniversary of their arrival to this world, they also upgraded to a Town (and won a big war) at the same time! Therefore, while they already had a party planned out prior to the war declaration, they had to add a few things to the program so it had been delayed a bit. And so¡­, on the second night after the War, the territory once again burst into another celebration. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The plaza, the main avenues, as well as most of the adjoining streets, exploded with activity at this time. There were a plethora of stalls set up in most open spaces, and all stores were opened¡ªoffering promos and discounts. The two main avenues were closed from the usual bike and broat traffic¡ª restricting all activity to foot traffic¡ª and creating massive festival areas that centered in the plaza. The square itself was decorated with ribbons, flowers, and lanterns all over, setting up the atmosphere as soon as people saw the decoration. The trees along the main avenues were also dressed up. The timbers had beautiful adornments¡ªfurther emphasized by the ambient lighting provided by lanterns¡ªhanging on each one. The ornaments on the trees and shrubs grew denser as they approached the plaza, as if leading people there. There was a massive stage set up at the central plaza. It was a well-built semi-circular stage with arches and themed decorations that fit with Alterra''s aesthetic, while at the same time evoking a sense of extra grandeur the special occasion called for. There were no chairs in consideration to the massiveness of the activity and the number of people expected to join in. However, there were a lot of standing rooms provided. They also made sure to create some pockets for people to go to during emergencies, and there were nurses stationed there just in case. The owners of the buildings within sight of the stage¡ªincluding the territory-owned establishments¡ªworked together to build temporary platforms that''d combine their balconies. They positioned a few steps lower than the existing balconies, so the people who''d use it would be just below eye level of those on the second floor. This added a mezzanine area and another layer of platform for spectators to use without blocking other people''s views. These stores would even get extra customers because of it. As if these extra measures weren''t enough, they built some stairs up to the roofs, too. The walls were not scalable, but they could build stairs to the top of buildings as long as the stairs supported their own weight. It could be said that the Woodworker''s Team had endless work until just before the program started. Anyway, as the time of the program approached, more and more people squeezed in, and the entire place was riddled with people settling down in various elevations. There were guards stationed all over the place, ensuring order in the crowd. There were also a few above roofs, in platforms, and so on, making sure they didn''t miss anything. They would yell for people not to push, to keep some breathing distance, not to fall off the roof, and so on. Mao was even sitting on an elevated chair positioned somewhere around the outer edge of the plaza. His seat was like that tower chair that umpires used while watching over volleyball games. He had a voice amplifier in his hand, and he was watching everything (that he could see) like a hawk and he wasn''t even quiet about it. "Hey! Don''t push!" "Are you willing to push the rules?" "Gasp! Don''t sit on the gutter! Do you want to fall down three stories!" "I don''t care about you, but what about the people you''ll land on? Your fat ass could kill!" "What do you mean I''m fatter¡ªyou bast¡ª" "Yo! Men keep your distance from women! Do you want us to take you in for suspicion of being Creeps?" "No, don''t occupy that space! That''s the emergency bay! What if you faint, do you want us to crowd surf you to the hospital?" Anyway, it was very embarrassing to be pointed out like this so the crowd, despite the density, did behave somehow. As for those who were back of the crowd and weren''t able to get into a platform, they would just have to depend on the preliminary sound amplifier system the Research Center released. Its effectivity was not yet Town-wide, but it was enough to reach the entire event place and a few streets beyond it. There were also large mirrors set up here and there, reflecting the image of the stage, allowing for more people to see what the heck was going on in the plaza. Anyway, the chatter of the dense crowd was very palpable, and so was people''s combined body heat, but fortunately the weather was cool so it didn''t get too hot. Gong! The bell rang once to tell the time, and it also signified the moment the event was starting. Immediately, the noisy crowd entered a hushed silence. The event''s hosts¡ªthe new mother Juni and the fabulous Fable¡ªsoon entered and waved at the crowd, receiving excited applause. They looked at the crowd with wide smiles, before turning to look at each other. "What a big crowd!" Fable said. "Beautiful Juni, are you excited for this program?" "Of course I am!" Juni said, looking at the audience. "I''m sure everyone else is, too! Let''s not delay it with our chatter." "Eh, I thought people would want to hear my monologue¡­" Fable mumbled, faking a heartbreak. The crowd laughed and jokingly booed at him, making him touch his heart and wipe empty tears. Juni shook her head. "Before we start, let us first welcome the people most responsible for this event¡ªthe Elders of Alterra!" she announced, and the two hosts faced a direction behind the stage, clapping their hands as the new figures emerged. Althea and the other elders climbed up the stage in a file. As they smiled at the crowd, the applause became a few folds louder and more passionate. They did not stop even after the Elders took their respective seats at the side. Everyone who stayed in Alterra long enough knew just how much of their current lifestyle was directly because of these people. How could they not show appreciation every time they could? Chapter 1148 - 1148: Hymn! Juni and Fable smiled at the crowd, waiting patiently for the applause to die down¡ªwhich took a good few minutes to happen. "It''s hard to believe that it''s been a year since we landed in this new place¡ª" Fable began. "At the time, I would never have imagined I''d be in a spot where I''d happily call it home." Juni nodded. "While so many of us struggled to call it such¡ªdespite its dangers, I know this land had grown into your hearts." "We gather now to celebrate this change, as well as the new doors that had just opened to us." The two stared at the crowd, in-sync. "We will celebrate us¡ªour victories, our growth, and everything that is yet to come." Applause burst again, but this time the hosts raised their hands to cut it short. "Before we start anything though, let''s start tonight with our new Hymn!" The two smiled at each other as curious murmurs echoed across the crowd. "This new Hymn was composed by our very own Crump and Mirka!" Juni said, and then turned to Fable who was already walking to the front of the stage. "And sang by our very own Fable." Juni clapped as she slowly left the stage, amidst the applause that resounded along with hers. The crowd was very interested in the new Hymn, but they didn''t expect anything too profound. Some assumed it would be a fun party song Fable would dance to. However, as more and more people entered the stage¡ªwith instruments¡ª the crowd realized they might be underestimating this performance. It seemed like they already had a full orchestra?! The orchestra was led by a man in his early 30s. He had a proud stance and was wearing a relatively formal suit, his hair combed to the back of his head, adding classiness around him. He was not conventionally handsome, but at this time he looked very charming. Crump was one of the refugees who appeared during the heatwave. He was one of the earth users who arrived with Tot, and had found his place under Ansel''s wing shortly after. Next to him was a young man with pale skin, Mirka, who was lucky and got to Alterra early on. He even had the honor of performing in Althea and Garan''s renewal of vows back then. While he was mainly a harp player, he was also a gifted composer. This hymn was primarily credited to him. The conductor¡ªCrump¡ªheaded up a podium in the front-center of the stage, right next to Fable. He faced the crowd for now, standing coolly while the orchestra behind him headed to their positions. The crowd realized that they had a complete ensemble now, slowly formed through the months¡ªwith the instruments being perfected bit by bit. This was news to many Terrans as they hadn''t seen many of these instruments yet. It seemed like Elder Ansel and his team decided to unveil these new instruments today, which was quite fitting. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The first orchestra performance¡­ Considering how many people thought orchestras were boring back in Terran, they sure were extremely excited now! Crump took a deep breath and looked at the crowd that extended far into the two avenues. He then looked at the people watching from balconies, and even from the roofs. This was the biggest event Alterra had done so far, and he was standing in front of thousands of people waiting for him to entertain. His heart beat loudly, feeling the pressure. Although the Elders never emphasized how important this was for momentum, it didn''t mean Crump didn''t feel it. However, they practiced weeks for this, knowing full well such a celebration would be held eventually. With renewed determination, Crump took a deep breath as he turned to face his orchestra, who were all similarly tense. Before, the players would just perform in pairs or trios in smaller events or even solo in restaurants. This was their first public performance as a group. They were understandably a bit nervous in their debut. He could only nod at them, masking his nervousness with sternness. He refused to show any weakness. As the leader, he could not be the cause of anxiety, but rather of comfort and confidence. The members were arranged in a small arc. They were all positioned and ready to play, just waiting for the decisive wave of his hand. Crump turned to their lead singer at the side, and the background singers right behind him. Fable nodded, signaling he was ready, and Crump raised both his arms above his head in response. His earth ability exploded as he took a few carved rocks from his space, and let them soar around him. For drama and flare, they decided to let a few pieces of carved rocks hover around him. They were unmoving for now, but they would soon dance along with the rhythm, like floating musical notes designed to fascinate those who listened. With a sweeping gesture, the conductor brought the baton down, and the notes immediately filled the air. The music began slowly, with a low hum of strings seeming to rise from the ground. The carved rocks also followed this movement, giving the audience the illusion that they could see the music. This was followed by the deep resonant sound of drums that touched the heart, as if echoing with people''s heartbeats. The melody swelled with the entry of the horns and the flutes. The uplifting tunes echoed around the Town, carried by the speaker systems they had just introduced. Fable closed his eyes, drowning in the sounds and floating in the rhythm. He trained a lot for this song, as his usual ''pop'' voice didn''t quite fit with the grandiose a hymn was supposed to invoke. As a result, his voice matured¡ªalmost unrecognizable to his fans¡ªbut it definitely struck deeper into people''s hearts. With a breath, he opened his mouth to sing the words. We build our roots in this new home. We rise, we stand, and we build this land. Through the trials we''ve faced, our strength grew and grew. With hearts set as one, we forged something new. People''s faces lit up as they listened, inexplicably recalling the adventures they had gone through and how they built a new life here. Soon, the anthem soared, lifting everyone''s heart with it. All hail, fair Alterra! So bold and so bright! A beacon of hope, our unwavering light. In Unity, we find our might! Steadfast and strong, we claim our right. All hail, our land, where banners fly high! Glorious and free under the endless sky! The listeners'' hearts rose and rose with the chorus, their souls drowning in the music, and the blending of the voices taking them into a daze. The song soon descended into a soft lingering finish, and the floating rocks disintegrated like glitter along with it. The entire square was held in profound silence as the Victory Hymn lingered in their minds and resonated to their hearts. The citizens would definitely memorize this hymn very quickly. Chapter 1149 - 1149: Alterras Emblem A/N: Only 10 GTs Left for Golden Top 1 guys! If you have excess tickets do send them my way~ ... ____ It took a few moments of absorption before the crowd burst into cheers. While the audience was clapping wildly (some people were sniffing, and a few more were sobbing outright), Mathilda slowly entered the stage. She smiled and watched the large crowd, comfortable and patiently waiting for them to calm. When they did, somehow, she began to speak. Her voice was both soothing and powerful, and it immediately captured everyone''s attention. "That will be Alterra''s official hymn, do you like it?" The crowd naturally answered the affirmative, followed by another applause, as if the emotions brought in them by the hymn still weren''t expressed enough by their previous applause. "Some might be puzzled about what such a hymn was used for. In our case, it is to remind everyone of what they have been through, as well as to inspire people''s spirits. It will be played every time the territory lands on a major milestone like an upgrade. "Today, we stand at the dawn of a new era. A year into our travel here, we have carved ourselves a home, and now this home has integrated into this new world¡ªeven affecting it¡­" she paused, looking at the aborigines in the front rows. "Hopefully for the better." The aborigines nodded sincerely and Mathilda smiled, turning to the rest of the crowd. "This is an achievement not of an individual, but by our collective efforts. "Everyone who participated are heroes in their own right; each of you affected and assisted Alterra''s steps to where it is now. "From the fields, to the workshops, to the brave defenders who guarded our walls¡ªeveryone''s hard work and dedication laid the foundation on which our new Town is built. "Congratulations to all of us, and shall we witness the birth of the legacy that will last for endless generations!" Another burst of applause resounded across the territory, and a strong sense of pride emanated from everyone, particularly Alterrans¡ªwhether or not they were Residents. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Now, we all know in our hearts we are one, all working to build and protect this home. We thought it''d be fitting¡­ to have our own symbol¡ª "With great honor and pride, we will now unveil our emblem and our flag!" She exclaimed and everyone cheered. The aborigines were a little startled, but also not surprised in the end. Flags and emblems were¡ªgenerally¡ªfound only in cities because they symbolized an absolute place in this world. In Xeno, if a territory ''arrogantly'' created emblems earlier than this, then it might irk others¡ªespecially those who were of the same level. Worse, they might be hated by cities themselves. They could even get attacked just to be ''put down'' to their place, and this was why very¡ªvery¡ªfew towns dared to have their own symbols. However, there were just places that emitted the aura of stability and strength, even if the territory was young. Obviously, Alterra was just like those places. In any case, everyone looked forward to the grand unveiling. The spotlight shifted from the center of the stage to right behind it, where a pole several meters high stood erect. It was a little dark and few people didn''t think much about it before, but now they understood what it was for. Now that they noticed, it was actually a pole located right by the park next to the Town Center. The orchestra began to play once more, this time a bit of a different tune. The bass fanfare opened the sounds, commanding attention. This was followed by the stirring strings that rose with the banner, creating a solemn and triumphant melody. The music swelled, reaching a crescendo, as the flag was raised high enough to reveal the image. When the flag reached full staff, people looked at it with varying emotions, each no less profound than the other. So this was it: the symbol that would represent their home¡ªrepresent them. The emblem was composed of a few elements. First, there was the overarching circle reminiscent of a sturdy shield. In the center, there was a towering deciduous tree with deep roots, and there were representations of the sun and the two moons seeming to float around it. The main colors were gold, green, and blue, and it made for an overall striking image they''d be proud to wave outside around. Mathilda let them absorb their new symbol before she began to speak. "This is our emblem, our flag, and our symbol. This will be located in all official buildings of the territory, and all of its official carriages, letters, and the like. "The shield is reminiscent of our own shields, our walls, and our defenders. It shall symbolize protection¡ªwhether it is the protection of our lives, our lifestyles, or our pride. "The Broad Tree is to show growth and prosperity, its trees branching out everywhere¡ªreaching out in all directions. This is to signify our influence, unity, and expansion. "The Tree''s roots shall also grow deep underground¡ªstable and strong¡ªto show that no matter what kind of wind attacks Us, it will remain standing. "The sun is to show our bright future, and the two moons to show Alterra''s brightness despite the world''s darkness. "Finally, their rotation will symbolize our longevity¡ªhow we will stand the test of time." "The representation of what we stand for¡ªthe values we hold dear. "Alterra shall be the symbol of strength, prosperity, and pride!" she paused, looking at the crowd, this time with a more serious expression. "At the same time, remember that whatever one of us does, it will also reflect on our symbol, so I hope everyone would strive not to smear this image." A moment of silence as the people remembered this in their hearts and minds. "Let us embrace this moment with joy, and we shall build more memories on this day with the sound of celebration. Our town, our pride, and our legacy." The orchestra ended the play with a triumphant finish, and Mathilda clapped her hands as she smiled at her audience. "That concludes the formal part of our program," she said, her solemn expression turning gentle, reminding people she was also a kind aged woman. "Let the Party, begin!" Chapter 1150 - 1150: The Party Begins A/N: Thank you Foxiidust for the castle!! *Dances* *hugs* *dances again* If you have chapter requests, do tell me~ ... ____ On cue, the energetic sound of the musicians resounded, reaching all parts of the event. This part of the event would last until dawn and would serve more as a background performance people could watch while they played in the stalls, ate their food, and so on. The special performances began as the Elders went down the stage to either watch from the audience or go elsewhere. Similarly, some of the crowd dispersed to go to the stores or the stalls, and many of those far from the stage just headed to the shops along the avenues and the streets, enjoying the performances happening at a distance through the loudspeakers. In any case, making a feast for the entire territory would naturally be unsustainable. They simply opened an option for every food and drink establishment to do a 50% off promo for the entire night. In exchange, the owners of those businesses would gain a few thousand contribution points. No shop owner refused the offer of course. In Alterra, Contribution Points were even more valuable than money! Back in the plaza, there were many special performances that went on. There were singing ones, and dancing ones, and there was also a short stage play that summarized the Alterran life while they were still a Village. It was inspiring and heartwrenching. The use of the orchestra added another layer of emotional depth to the performances. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There was also a short acrobatic performance, one that combined the elements. They had created a circus troupe of sorts, with magnificent performances unseen by both Terrans and aborigines alike. Spikes of earth were created somewhere within the crowd and soon extended vertically. These Earth spires extended to about 12 to 13 meters, and people looked above them in curiosity. A few more appeared, some from behind the stage, and they were soon connected by narrow earth paths reinforced by metal (care of Oslo). On this narrow stage, various acrobatic performances were performed. This was led by Flame, an actual acrobat from Terran. He was one of the newer refugees from the North and the last thing he thought he''d do for a living was to resume this line of work. When he heard the Entertainment Company''s hiring notice, he could barely believe it. Anyway, the inspiration made him burst into flames as he flew down. Suddenly, a rope appeared and he held on to it, the momentum shooting him up high, and¡ªwith several skillful twirls¡ªhe landed accurately on one of the spires. "WHOOA!!" This was just the first of the death-defying stunts of this troupe, and it really fired the audience up quite a lot. "WOW. This is really amazing¡­" the aborigine Sipa said as he clapped his hand, gasping when the performer practically flew and turned many times around the air. The others also expressed the same awe. Although some would feel like performing was below a great elementalists, seeing it used like this couldn''t fail to amaze. Looking at it another way, it seemed that it was good training? Beside him, his teammates Bart and Eloi stood and were also watching the show. They were a lot less showy than Sipa, but their bright eyes showed they were also impressed. After the Town upgraded and the walls were open to all visitors again, the aborigines and even other Terran headed straight to visit, to see what had changed. They were surprised to see that Alterra did not choose to expand its walls for now. However, they heard something similar happened after Alterra''s first upgrade, and a level 5 wall was erected soon after it entered a Level 3 Village. Were the Elders planning the same this time? As mercenaries, they also had several information sources, so they knew what was available per level. It made them wonder¡ªwas Alterra planning on doing a Level 7 Wall and Sentry as soon as it was available? They didn''t know how much that cost exactly, but it would definitely not be cheap. Even their well-off Twinwave Town only had a Level 6 Wall! Goodness Elves¡­ While Bart was already wondering about Alterra''s future plans, some newcomers like Jones from Twinwave Town were still gaping at their surroundings. They had just arrived about an hour ago, and it was their first time in Alterra after hearing so much. However, before they could explore, they ended up watching such a good show. Suddenly, those expensive performances held by nobles for exorbitant prices paled in comparison. They didn''t know what they expected coming, but this was definitely beyond it! They were part of the Swagen Mercenary Team, which was the Rolan Mercenary Team''s direct rival in their town. Their home Twinwave Town was not close in distance to Alterra, but after many months the name had also reached them. Or more accurately, the Roland Mercenary team found another golden Gugu bird and made loads of money, so they were naturally adamant in protecting their advantage. After so many months and investigations, people finally found out about the source, though it was too late to make a big business out of it. After all, distribution rights were already given to the Roland Mercenary team (selfish jerks) so their business with it could be limited. However, it didn''t mean they couldn''t use them themselves! Those jerkies and instant noodles were too useful when traveling!! They also knew that a lot of items with low stocks didn''t reach the market, so they wanted to learn more about those! Not to mention, the distribution rights were limited to per product! If Alterra decided to launch a new thing, they¡ªthe Swagen Mercenary Team¡ªwere ready to capture that deal. So, after enjoying the show, they went straight to exploring. The more they learned, the more excited they felt. Their mood doured when they encountered Bart and their team, each one¡ªlike them¡ªhad arms filled with snacks and drinks. "Bart." "Jones," Bart sneered, chewing on his barbeque. "Aren''t you supposed to be a clerk in a mercenary hall somewhere?" Jones was part of the Swagen Mercenary Team, but it didn''t mean they couldn''t be hired as staff in the Hall. This showed the Lord''s bias towards them though. After all, a Mercenary Hall clerk was privy to a lot of information, some might be crucial to the team he served. Ironically, it wasn''t enough for them to detect the hidden diamonds called Garan and his team, whom they actually met before Bart. "Nah, I had the option of exploring," Jones retorted, sipping on his pineapple juice. "I need some exercise too. Can''t have you hogging all the goods just because you were lucky and ventured to this area first." Bart sneered. "Even if we got here first, it takes a lot of social skills and charm to get such good deals." Jones rolled his eyes. "If we got here before you did, we''d have gotten better deals." "Hah!" Bart laughed at his face, splattering some saliva. "Are you sure about that?" It so happened that a certain family entered the avenue they were in at the time. Bart almost wanted to cheer at his luck. He raised his arm and yelled, "Garan! There you are, my handsome old friend¡­" Garan: "..." Did he miss anything? Chapter 1151 - 1151: Roaming Mercenary Teams A/N: Yay~ We''re Golden T1 again! Banzaiii! I crawled and managed to prepare the 3 extra chaps today~lolol Hope you Enjoy and thanks for your support! Hopefully, we keep the rank until month''s end *Prays* Extra hugs to the lovelies who sent their tickets, and extra extra hugs to the angels who gave them in bulk *sobs* I feel like you give me all your tickets. I love you all! ¡­ ____ Jones, at first, looked at Bart weirdly for acting so buddy-buddy with random people. It was just that when he turned to look who it was, he froze a bit. "You¡­" He remembered him. He led a team of low-level fighters who somehow managed to find their town. Considering they were only at the level of villagers, this was quite a feat. There were still a number of them during that time, though they slowly lost their numbers. Despite their low levels, these guys went to the Mercenary Hall for missions practically every day. Even if they were still recovering from previous injuries, they would fight on. They were relentless. At the time, he could feel they were desperately chasing after something. Later, he overheard them speaking of going back to their home¡ªto their families¡ªand, with Garan, to his wife. The desperation in his eyes back then was a far cry from the relaxed atmosphere around him now. He must''ve found what he was looking for. His daze was cut off when Bart cordially wrapped his arm around the other man''s shoulder and led him straight to Jones. "This is Garan, one of the Elders here," he said, pausing, and then turning to Garan. "This is Jones, a member of the Swagen Mercenary Team. Remember him? He worked in the Mercenary Hall there. "He even tried to scam you quite a bit for some basic information." "..." Garan looked at Jones and nodded. "I do remember." Jones felt very, very, awkward, and for a moment he didn''t know what to say. Business is business? No. Nothing personal? Not that, either. "Who''s this?" a new voice sounded from the side and broke his line of thought. He turned to see the most charming woman he had ever seen. She was holding the most adorable little baby, who was also looking at him curiously. She held Garan''s hand and realized this must be the wife. And look, he even had kids. Jones was overwhelmed with shame. He really didn''t have anything against Garan back then, it was just his habit to take advantage when he could. In this cutthroat world, that was the default attitude. He looked at Garan again and realized he was also carrying a little one, though that one was literally on his head, completely unbothered by the height, and lounging there as if it was the most natural thing. The baby looked down on him though and then looked away, uninterested, and seemed far more interested in pulling his father''s eyebrows. Garan¡ªwith a straight face¡ªwould just raise a finger and flick the baby''s small hand away from his face, and the baby boy would behave for a couple of moments before doing whatever again. "..." "H-Hello," he said, quite meekly. He could feel his teammates'' stares at him. Could they blame him though?! His sight met Bart''s arrogant face and wanted to smother it badly but he schooled his expression as he greeted Garan¡ªthis time their positions had been switched. But then he remembered¡ªhe still had something over Bart. Suddenly a bit of confidence came over him. "Hello there," he said. "My name is Jones and I''m the head clerk in the Twinwave Town Mercenary Hall," he said, as if reintroducing himself¡ªto refresh the slate. "Due to my position, I have gained quite a bit of friendship to people all over the world¡ªfar and wide," he said. "Would you be interested in striking a deal with me?" "Considering our history¡­, I can assure you would get some great advantages." ¡­ While that was ongoing, another mercenary team roamed around the streets of Alterra. These were a couple of members from the Takoda Mercenary Team. This was the team who escorted Helios and Sahara back then, and they also stayed for several days longer than proper after their job was finished, too. By the time they left, they managed to get good deals¡ªwith Helios'' vouching¡ªto distribute in Avel City and its subsidiaries. Of course, considering how popular the items were, the stocks were lacking even if they just sold the items to the City nobles. Their route to Alterra was only a couple of hours (due to the Mercenary Hall arrays), though the route back could easily take several days even by beast cart. This allowed them to keep Alterra a trade secret (and still do, for now) with only the mercenary leader and the Lord privy to it. After all, they had to send letters to Ferrol often to let them create convenient missions for them, so the Lord would be privy either way. Fortunately, the Lord hadn''t told other people yet because he was getting ample amounts of the products himself, and this was something they promised as long as he protected their interests. Anyway, they would travel through the Mercenary Hall of Ferrol Town, and due to the items they carried, they would always travel by foot, renting scores of Beast Cars from Ferrol. From then, they''d be jumping from Town to Town with their products, sometimes having no choice but to sell some to eager merchants along the way. Then, when they got back home, people would rush to buy things for them and even start bidding wars. Even if they brought in scores of carriages worth of goods, it was just never enough. Interestingly, these products also changed a lot of lives. The long-life food saved people, the beauty products saved relationships, and so on. It also slightly impacted the City''s economy in a way, and the Lord would enjoy sizeable taxes whenever Enok would return from a trip. Although prestige increased the most if the name was attached to it, the system still counted anything a territory did to cause a change. Like this, another bulk of prestige was added to Alterra. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 1152 - 1152: Ferrol-Alterra Tours (Part 1) Enok and the others also gained a lot from the deals. After a couple of months, their team was promoted and gained a lot of Points within their mercenary team. Like in Alterra, some of the more powerful mercenary teams employed a point system to its members contributing to its growth. They had mercenary shops where some treasures obtained by the team could be exchanged for a certain amount of points. It could be weapons, equipment, special potions, even small space stones¡ªthough the last one had such big point requirements it was still in the store, unclaimed. Of course, there were also a lot of teams who had planned on stealing deals from them. After all, deals were usually with mercenary teams, not individuals. Sad for them, the deal with Alterra was always with individuals and their teams or territory. Any change in either would be under strict study and they might even lose the deal due to the show of instability. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Helios and Sahara also considered them their good friends, and having Alterrans as allies was definitely something in their favor. That said, right now they were visiting the family and met up with them at a restaurant. Miss Sahara''s Mother was there, holding the baby, while Enok and the others chatted with Helios and Sahara. "Have you joined a Mercenary team yet?" Enok asked, taking a bite of his sauteed Gugu bird and closing his eyes as he felt all the flavors explode in his tongue. "Not yet," Helios said. When they found out that guards could also be in mercenary teams he and his uncle decided to do what they had always planned to do¡ªmake a mercenary team. They had already met the level requirements and they could take loans to get the creation fee, but after months there had been no movements. It felt like his uncle just seemed to have lost the will for adventure, just focusing on defending Iron Mountains. It was probably still due to heartbreak, and Helios didn''t pressure him either. Seeing as he answered the negative, Enok and the others brightened up. "Then¡­ would you like to join us?" Helios blinked, and then looked at Sahara, who just smiled at him, ready to nod at whatever he decided. He held her hand and thought for a few moments. It was a tempting offer. He could have the adventure he had always wanted, and he had to admit that¡ªwhile dangerous¡ªhe did enjoy his time with them back when he was looking for Sahara. The thing was¡­ he had Sahara and Helia now. He was no longer the childless single dude who could go off on random adventures. Besides, he still trusted his uncle would get past things and move on for real. Anyway, it wasn''t like he himself would go out while his daughter was still a baby. Life was so long and his adventure¡ªideally with his wife¡ªcould wait. "Thanks for the offer but I''ll pass," he said, then lifted his head to grin at them. "But we would love to visit your place someday." ¡­ Of course, while there were aborigines from far and wide, there were also People from Ferrol who were their most common tourists. At least¡­ until the pre-upgrade Blockage, in which case the visitors were definitely limited and trimmed down. In any case, before the Blockage, the Ferrol folks had become such a prevalent tourist population in Alterra that a Ferrol-Alterra Tour package was offered. This was spearheaded by Fred''s Hospitality Team, and mimicked by a few other ''travel agencies''. Of course, as the pioneer of the trade in Xeno, the Glorious Hospitality Travel Agency was still the most popular choice. After the Block, they shifted to other places, which also developed well under Alterra''s circle of influence. Fred''s company was also the only accredited Travel Agency to do Alterra Tours during the Blockage, but it was very expensive and for a while, only rich people were able to enter Alterra. They had a representative staying (renting monthly) in the base there, ready to take on tourists from Ferrol. They didn''t know much about the messenger birds because it was still an exclusive thing, but they were able to make use of it to some degree. When they had to coordinate some clients to Alterra, the Ferrol team would ask the Terran Mercenary Team to send their messages for a fee, though they''d have to wait for when there were actual exchanges happening. After all, the messenger birds were important resources for the territory and couldn''t be used casually for private exchanges. However, now that they had a Post Office, their process would definitely be streamlined! Before, they had to limit their exchanges to once a month! Now, they could do it every two or three weeks! No, because the Blockage was lifted, they could even do it more frequently! They''d just have to divide into teams and batches! Similarly, Alterrans could also use their services when they went to Ferrol for a tour, partnering with Alterran Guard team (for a fee) or newly rising Mercenary Teams for protection. It was odd for weak villagers to risk their lives to go to Towns for some ''sightseeing'' but what they paid for was not only protection, but also the right for some kill-shots, helping their experience by the way. The fee was also very beautiful, of course. And when the Alterrans arrived in Ferrol, the Glorious Hospitality Team''s representatives would be there to show them around Ferrol. Their first Ferrol Tour, held months prior, gained quite a bit of attention. Imagine a large group of foreign-looking people several inches shorter than average¡ªand some weaker than average¡ª walking around their streets, looking around with interest, as if the town was a show to watch. They were even led by someone holding a bright colored flag and yelling random trivia at them, whether it was about the buildings, the people, or the culture of the local population. It was quite an odd sight. There had never been such a thing in Xeno¡ªhow could there be? People were focused on survival. Who enjoyed traveling through the dangerous outdoors just to look at other places? Another adjective was stuck on Alterrans then: Weirdoes who had a death wish. Chapter 1153 - 1153: Ferrol-Alterra Tours (Part 2) Of course, it wasn''t quite as smooth or welcome for the locals, and during the first tours, there were a few conflicts. This was understandable. Who''d enjoy feeling like they were ''shows''? At the time, the tour¡ªand some of the guides¡ªwere still a bit immature. "This is the Mercenary Hall! Yes, those mercenaries¡ªnot like the brutes in Terran (maybe) but the adventurers! You have to be at least Level 10 to join but I still recommend waiting a bit longer tbh." "This is the Chancery of Appointments! This is where our lovely Betty, Lenny, and Oslo came from! You have to swear oaths though, so it''s a bit boring. Who wants to get jobs outside of Alterra, anyway?" "Don''t get out of the line! This place has a lot of beast carts! You don''t want to get squashed by accident right? Remember our disclaimers! We are not responsible if you decide to be careless~" "Yes I know it''s smelly¡ªweren''t you a refugee, too? How can you be so squeamish already?" To the Ferrol citizens, it felt odd to have their place shown around like this, and quite a lot of them expressed their discontent. A lot of people were also offended when some guides would compare their place with their home village, and a few hot-headed people even went to threaten the group. It was quite scary. Fortunately, Jonathan was there to shield them, though Fred had to be called in for a meeting wherein he had to offer quite a few discounted tours to calm people down. After learning their lessons, the guides went through a crash course of what to say and their announcements, which ended up having the occasional bootlicking. "The people of Ferrol Town are all strong and welcoming¡ªwhy would it be such a powerful Town in the first place?" "Ferrol Town pioneered a lot of events at this level¡ªisn''t it amazing! Alterra is very blessed to have it as an ally. And so on¡­ Anyway, when there were Alterrans going around Ferrol for tour, they would target places that were not available in Alterra. It hyped up the imminent upgrade of Alterra to a Town, which had been delayed back then. It was why the tours were very popular, they wanted to see what it was like while impatiently waiting for their own upgrade! Fortunately, even if Alterra had now upgraded to a Town, Fred didn''t believe the sales would dip. After all, Ferrol had a lot of events! The next Ferrol Market Fair was happening again within a few months, and the package would definitely explode then! Anyway, the current tour was a group of about 50 people from Ferrol. They came in various shapes and sizes, and they had been waiting for this tour as it had been delayed by a week or so before. Those who had been here were extremely excited, while those who hadn''t found their already high-expectations weren''t high enough! One of their customers at this time was Nida1. It was the young lady the soldiers met during the last Market Fair. Even after so long, she still liked Plaridel, and had been thinking about him for months. Even when he was often in Ferrol, training, she just couldn''t gather the courage! When she did, she found out he had gone back home and he hadn''t returned to Ferrol since. What made it worse was that there seemed to be a limit imposed to the people visiting his home! She was depressed for a while, which was made worse when her parents started introducing a man to her as a potential husband. She was already in love with someone else, how could she marry this one? Not to mention, that man was so arrogant! Not caring for her feelings at all! When she told him she didn''t want to get married to him, he was even offended! He even pushed her to show his dissatisfaction! So¡­ she resolutely joined the caravan to Alterra (she had been in the wait list for a long time) and joined as soon as she caught news of the doors opening again. She left a vague letter at home saying not to look for her because she was looking for a husband. It was just that her aunt found out about it and tagged along. Fortunately, her aunt didn''t bother telling her family about it either. She was the black broat of the family and didn''t care for anything (which was why she was still unmarried). Many people mocked her, but Nida actually admired her deep down. Her aunt also liked Plaridel, though as more of an admirable younger generation sort of thing, so Nida actually traveled to a far away place with ease. In any case, Nida had already taken a big courageous step, and when the one step was taken, it was easier and easier to take the next. She had been looking for him since their arrival earlier that day, and she ended up in the Guard Station quite a few times. Her aunt gave up and went to have fun alone, leaving Nida there on her own. The Guard Station was where most people pointed her to whenever she asked about Plaridel. Sadly, he still hadn''t returned. They asked if she wanted them to message him via the aether letters but she immediately shook her head. What if he was in a dire situation? Wouldn''t a letter just distract him? So now, she just quietly waited there, though she did buy a few snacks and drinks from the stalls nearby so she could have something to munch on while she waited. She also bought a bit for Plaridel, in case he was hungry when he returned¡­ She patiently waited on one of the benches outside the Guard Station. While everyone was enjoying the festival, she was doing this. To be fair, the lively atmosphere itself was fun to watch, so she didn''t really get bored. Rather, her heart tinged more and more¡­ She ran away from home. Could she stay here, instead? "You''re looking for Plaridel?" a voice sounded from the side, revealing a horizontally-blessed man with an intrigued expression on his face. Nida blinked and shyly nodded. "Are you his girlfriend?" S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Nida immediately flushed. "Nonono¡ª" she said, very quickly. "I¡­ I''m an acquaintance." Mao looked at her with amusement, before leaning down a bit. "Want us to help you?" The girl Plaridel met during Ferrol Fair a long time ago Chapter 1154 - 1154: Planida? Niridel? Plaridel had no idea about all of this. He had just crossed the territory''s threshold and finally felt he could let go of the tension. He stretched his arms as far as he could, all while looking at the festivities that surrounded him. He sighed. Obviously, the celebrations were already ongoing and he felt a little sad he missed the main part, but what could they do? They encountered strong mobs just as they were heading back and had to clear those out. A few members were even rushed in Broatbulances, though fortunately none of the injuries were lethal. They could only be sad that they missed out on the anniversary event. Anyway, now that he was here, he decided to just go around aimlessly and enjoy as much of the event as he could to make up for what he missed. He walked along the streets and greeted various people, calling them by their names, and asking them for their day. They would then greet him back with wide smiles on their faces. "Are you alone this time, Pla?" "Yes~" "Want me to join you?" "Nah, go spend time with your family, I like to go at my own pace." "I can introduce you to someone!" "Nah, I like the single life right now." "Come, watch the performance with us!" another said. "There''s still a lot ongoing!" Before he could answer, another group from across the street would yell back. "No, stand here~!" "I''ll treat you!" And so on¡­ Plaridel, although not particularly tall and handsome, had strong charisma. He was well-loved by most people, and was admired by quite a number of girls. Obviously, he did not have a problem getting girlfriends. He wasn''t a playboy though, and during the past several months he had only dated one girl, who was happily dating someone else now. That relationship didn''t work out due to various reasons, one of the main ones was him being too busy training outside. He also camped in the dangerous outskirts of Ferrol back then, so he really didn''t have the time for girlfriends. Now that Alterra upgraded to a Town, he would only get even busier so he didn''t even bother to start dating again. That was just unnecessary stress for him. That was why he refused all the offers for blind dates that came to him in the past few months. For now, he just enjoyed the show with random people¡ªgetting a few drinks in the process¡ªuntil he decided to call it a night. However, on his way home, he was suddenly ambushed by Mao and a few others. They were gasping a bit as if they had been running around in a hurry. "Finally found you!" Mao yelled. "Didn''t you check your aether letter?!" He blinked. He must''ve been so into drinking that he didn''t see the aether letter notifications. "Anyway, there''s no time¡ª" Mao said, approaching him. Plaridel unconsciously stepped back. They had ugly sly grins on their faces and it honestly creeped him out. "What is it?" He asked, but the next thing he knew, both his arms were lifted up by two people. He wanted to struggle a bit, but Mao made a small earth spike threatening his manhood so he had no choice but to get carried away like an unmoving dummy. "Where are you taking me?" he asked, tone a bit slurred. Although they had stronger physiques that didn''t become too inebriated, they could still get a bit whoozy from drunkenness. "You''ll see," Mao said, not answering his question at all. Plaridel''s gritted his teeth. "I''m going to burn you if you don''t answer me." The earth spike slightly poked his crotch area, making his eyes twitch. "Try and see if Little Plapla will like it!" "You made us look for you for way too long!" "So tell me what this is about!" "Shut up!" Plaridel was just extremely confused. Did they start some weird initiation he wasn''t aware about!? But then¡­ he was led to Alterra Park, by the picnic tables. He was let go as if he wasn''t kidnapped at all. Mao patted his back, gently pushing him forward. "Take this chance well. You made it hard for us to find you so we had no choice but to carry you lest the chance went away." "What are you talking about???" Then his questions died in his throat when he heard soft footsteps approach his direction. He blinked, realizing that It was a familiar pretty girl with reddish brown hair. She appeared very anxious as she looked at him. "Plaridel! You might not remember me, but¡­" "Ah, it''s you! Nida, right?" Plaridel said, smiling. The girl found himself in a daze just staring at him. "Y-Yes," she said. "I''m glad you remember me." "Of course I remember you," he said with that charming grin of his, easily making the girl''s eyes sparkle and her heart to explode. In fact, it was just his habit to put all his attention on the person he was speaking with¡ªespecially when it was an anxious young lady¡ªso he quickly put aside his confusion to talk to the girl. Not to mention, one of Plaridel''s drunk quirks was to take things as they were. So, even now, he did not connect Nida with whatever Mao was talking about. "When did you get here? How''d you like our products?" he paused, and looked at her reddish-brown hair actually held up by familiar pin. It was one of the products he sold to her back in Ferrol where they first met. "Ah, you used it¡­" Plaridel was naturally good with faces and with names. His memory when it came to people¡ªwhether it was small details about them or even their quirks¡ªwas very good. It added to his charm, because he inadvertently made people feel special. To Nida, it felt like a sign. No one ever bothered remembering things about her¡­ She looked at him with bright eyes full of love. Unconsciously, she blurted out the thought she had in her heart without filter: "Please be my husband!" ???? ¡­ Ten minutes later, at a nearby bench¡­ "So¡­ let me get this straight," Plaridel said, rubbing his forehead. He also took water from his space to clear his system. "You ran away from home to find me?" "It is also so I won''t get married," she said, face completely red. When she saw his startled reaction to her proposal, she realized how abrupt and unlady-like she was. Would it be too off-putting? Did she kill her chances because she was careless? She had heard of husbands leaving their wives because they were talked back. "That''s admirable," was all Plaridel said for now. "I know women in your position would''ve found it hard to push for what you want." This made Nida look at him with glazed eyes. She nodded slowly. "I¡­ I''m not forcing you to marry me or anything," she said, afraid he''d think she was making him feel bad for her. "It''s just a proposal." Plaridel looked at her. It had been a while since he dated and he hadn''t been interested before. Now¡­ he just thought it wouldn''t be so bad. The girls he dated couldn''t handle that he was always away. Even in Terran, he had failed relationships because they couldn''t keep their legs closed while he was on a mission. It was a lot milder in Xeno, but he could tell neither side could commit too much feelings to each other. Now he looked at the woman who went here for him. Even if she did so to escape, he could tell she was here for him too. He was not heartless to be untouched by the grand gesture. Of course, he had to manage expectations. Unlike his other girlfriends who were liberal Terrans, this one was an aborigine with particular expectations. Especially considering the fact that she proposed marriage to him at their 2nd meeting. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Marriage is too fast but¡­ I suppose we can date." "Date?" "It''s getting to know each other after a while¡ªa courtship phase, if you will," he said. "If one side decided the other is not for them, then they could just break up with a lot less consequences than divorce." "I¡­ see¡­" she mumbled, slowly absorbing the set-up. While she was a little sad he refused her marriage proposal¡ªeven if it was expected¡ªat least he didn''t refuse her altogether. "So¡­ I am your girlfriend now?" she asked, staring at him with wide innocent eyes. Seeing her look at him like this, Plaridel unconsciously scratched the side of his cheek, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. He nodded, and she smiled widely, though neither could speak to each other much after that. Anyway, regardless of their awkward beginning¡ªa new pair was born. Chapter 1155 - 1155: Glaston Caravan A/N: 5/5 Chaps for the day~! Thanks again for all your support! May we keep the rank until month ends! \\o/ ... Stay updated with My Virtual Library Empire ____ Speaking of proposals, there was a particular wedding that had been delayed for a long time, but was finally seeing the light. This was because the person the couple had been waiting for had finally arrived with one of the caravans. One of the many groups that had arrived with the mass influx of foreigners was from Glaston¡ªBrenda''s Hometown. There was Raphten, Brenda''s childhood friend, his partner, and a few of the members of their caravan. Like Bart, Raphten had also secured the distribution of a few products. Glaston was quite far from Alterra, at least a few weeks of travel, so among the partners they were the ones who had returned the least. Further, Raphten''s team wasn''t too wealthy and couldn''t buy too many things, so the stocks were limited, adding to the premium state of whatever they brought back home. The products were just so good and novel that many people had to get more of them. With such a status, businessmen would definitely find a way to get a share of the pie! However, unlike Bart or Enok, Raphten and his partner were simple merchants who couldn''t protect their trade secrets very well. After the second batch, various factions started to get more interested in their source than their products. There were a lot of threatening involved, and a lot of insults were thrown. Even his sexual orientation was attacked. Their relationship was spread around the territory, and there were more than a few times he received a rock to his head. However, Raphten stood strong and allied with those who didn''t threaten them, but were powerful enough to keep the others at bay. Raphten let these parties handle the rest, as well as keeping those people from finding out about this place. They would definitely do their best, after all, their interests were tied now. Anyway, they traveled for a few weeks in their beast carts, looking forward to the loot they''d take home. Imagine how annoyed they were when they got blocked off from entering Alterra! The only comfort was that the associate village they landed on¡ªBright Village¡ªalso had versions of those products. They naturally swept those away and threw money at them. However, there were still items they could not produce, so they resolutely refused to leave without getting to Alterra. The Lord there, Micheal, was fortunately a sensible young man (unlike the Elders of Alterra) and hosted them quite well. A few days back, he also told them that a war was going to happen in Alterra and it was best to relax with them for a few more days. Their stay in Bright Village was akin to a quaint vacation, with good food, decent lodging, and hospitable people. All that gold they spent even before landing in Alterra was worth it. However, when they actually got to Alterra a few hours ago, they realized they still underestimated the place after all! Fortunately, they were rich merchants so all that gold they spent in Bright didn''t put a large dent in their wallets, otherwise, they''d die of regret right now! Anyway, by the time they entered the outer plaza and rode in the bike carts for the first time, all the annoyance they had felt back then was forgotten. They wouldn''t be leaving for a long time after this, going on to have a Quiant Vacation Part 2. Among this group of merchants was a very important person to an Alterran. This was the 65-year-old Birion, Brenda''s father and also a Class C weaponsmith! He was sitting on a six-seater cart pulled by a single man (the driver''s prerogative; apparently this set-up earned the most money), so the speed was admittedly a bit slower than others and they could see broats and bikes go past them one after the other. However, they were in no rush. The sight of the street was beautiful, and they would definitely walk around after settling their things in the hotel. The old man looked out with a soft smile. "It seems like my daughter has been living well as she said." To be honest, he thought she was exaggerating a lot in her letters to reassure him. He was apparently thinking too much. It took him a while to move because the Lord absolutely refused to let him go. There was a lot of begging and promises, and they only agreed when Alterra¡ªwith Althea''s permission¡ªagreed to supply them with a large amount of crossbows (at market price, of course). Birion didn''t know what to expect coming here, but his daughter insisted they moved, and he trusted her. He didn''t tell her he was with the caravan before to surprise her, and it was he who ended up being surprised. He was happy his daughter found such a happy and secure place. The cart eventually slowed down, slowly heading to one side of the road (there was a reflective flag raised on one side, which he''d later find out was to signal the lane changes). They watched as the cart entered a layby on the side of the road, soon screeching to a halt. The driver¡ªwho was a bit sweaty, but otherwise still energetic¡ªlooked back. "This is the street, old man." Birion nodded and said goodbye to his companions. They had been questioning his decision to move a lot, but now they could only envy. Anyway, he walked down, carrying his chest, and placed it on the wheel he could pull. It was his own invention, though he had seen something similar being sold in a shop near the Beast Cart Inn. They called it ''suitcase'', and for those tools wherein they''d just have to put their chests and pull, they called it ''trolley''. Birion pulled his trolley, while his free hand took out the hand-drawn map from his space. Brenda sent this to him by the Ferrol Post Office before. He soon arrived at the lovely house and pulled the bell (there was a note outside) and the door opened immediately, revealing his daughter and a man about a pinky taller than she was. Birion looked a bit disappointed. He didn''t look very strong¡­ Brenda didn''t know what her father was thinking. She was just happy to see him there. "DAD!" Troy paled and scurried over with them. He rubbed his wet palms on the side of his pants, almost extending it for a handshake, then he remembered the old man didn''t know such a greeting and immediately retracted. "Er¡­ hello, dad¡­ er, Mister¡­" Troy awkwardly greeted him, doing the standard semi-casual semi-formal salute of this world. The old man looked at him after greeting his daughter. "So¡­ you''re Troy eh?" he asked, looking at him up and down. Troy immediately straightened his back, breathed his stomach in, and puffed out his chest. Brenda looked at the tense atmosphere between the two men and chuckled. "Yes, dad," she said, wrapping her arm around his. "This is Troy, my fiance." Troy could feel the old man''s disapproval of him and hurried to express his feelings. He took his arm and wrapped it around her shoulder, pulling her to him. "I love your daughter very much. I want to start a family with her." Birion''s eyebrows rose. "Even when she has a scar on her face?" he said. After all, such a mar on her face¡ª of all places¡ª would typically be a deal breaker no matter how amazing a woman was. Troy''s face did not show any hesitation at all. "I think it''s beautiful," he said, tone filled with sincerity. "It shows what kind of woman she is¡ªthe kind I fell in love with." Brenda''s teasing smile faded then, replaced by pursed lips and tearing eyes. Her heart warmed and she held the man''s palm. It was very cold and sweaty, but it showed how much he cared. She rested the side of her face on his shoulder, turning to her father who had been watching the exchange. "We will get married dad," she said. "You don''t have an opinion on that, do you?" Birion looked at his daughter and his future son-in-law. After a moment of pause, he shrugged. "As long as you give me smart little grandchildren." S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Seeing the man was sincere, he genuinely didn''t worry anymore. He was just that type of guy¡ªotherwise, how could Brenda¡ªa girl¡ªeven have a chance to develop into a proper weaponsmith? Rather..., seeing them like this made him understand¡­ that he could finally retire in peace! Chapter 1156 - 1156: Carnivals (Part 1) After the main performances, the carnivals were also in full force. Various groups went to different commercial establishments, while others went on to the carnival games spread across the parks. At this time, Althea''s group was relaxing and playing around in caravans set up in the Alterran Park. Althea and Garan, like everyone else, relaxed today, separating from the mercenaries from earlier to have their own fun. They simply scheduled meetings with the foreign mercenaries in the afternoon of the next day. After all, this was a day of celebration, not a day of work. They also didn''t want their guests to miss such good events. Anyway, their family met up with Ansel and the others to spend a few more hours playing before they all headed to bed. They jumped from game to game, taking turns, igniting their competitive selves. Discover more content at My Virtual Library Empire This was especially true for the couple Ansel and Winona, who just lived to compete with each other. They always ended up in a draw somehow, which annoyed the heck out of the two of them. Things got worse when a random stall owner recognized them and congratulated them on the birth of their child. He then inadvertently asked who the baby took after more. It started a war. It was like it was the most natural thing for the two of them. They decided to settle it by asking the two babies who weren''t theirs (because theirs were sleeping soundly at home with the nanny, Yana, who didn''t like noisy places). Whoever lost would follow a request from the winner. The contest was simple: Whoever attracted a baby to them would get a point each! And whoever receives three points wins. If both babies went to the same person, then that person would receive the extra point. Anyway, the family found a small clearing at the side with smaller crowds (not that it helped, simply because they were all well-known figures in the territory) to do this... odd competition. Althea and Garan obviously found it so stupid, but what could they do? Ansel and Winona were practically their little siblings, so they could only oblige... The competing couple promptly kneeled down, exactly along the same line, ready to win this game. Ansel tried very hard. He not only didn''t want to lose, he could very much use that request!! On the other hand, Winona had an idea about what kind of perverted request he had so she also tried very hard as well. Of course, she was competitive by nature¡ªno matter how small the contest was¡ªso there was that. "Pepper! Here! Come to auntie!" "Baby Pepper likes handsome! Handsome uncle is here!" "Meatball! Does Meatball want candy?" "Meatball! Uncle has cotton candy!" "If Pepper goes to uncle, she will have the prettiest dress in the world!! Little Pepper deserves the best!" "Auntie has pineapple candies, pineapple slushies, and pineapple pies! Yum! Little Meatball will go with auntie, yea?" They were really noisy. Althea heaved a deep breath, feeling embarrassed because many people were looking at them. "No! No one speak," she said, holding her baby by the armpit. "Person who speaks loses." It was only when the two shut up that the babies were ''released''. The two lurched forward and headed to where Ansel and Winona were squatting down, looking intently at the babies as if calling them with their leering eyes. It was a race that was only a few meters in length, but each step was filled with tension. Each step traversed by the twins'' small feet was watched intently by everyone, even by the passerbys. There were ''close calls'', but the two babies both went to Winona in the end¡ªensuring her win with a single round. Ansel sighed. He tried, but who could blame them all for choosing his soft wife? ¡­ A few minutes later, Ansel found himself on the Xeno version of the Dunk Tank Seat game. This was Winona''s request for winning the game. Sad for Ansel, it had nothing to do with their sex life, but whatever. The seat was elevated to about two meters above the ground, with a shallow pool of water right under it. He had a tiny target below his feet, and if people hit it with enough force, then he''d fall down. So, here he was, waiting to be thrown down to the water. Quite a few people watched the fun, no doubt looking forward to seeing him¡ªwho was always well dressed¡ªlook like a drenched Gugu bird. Fortunately, the person who would sit on the dunk seat would get the same price as the person who hit it, which was the only consolation in all of this. Speaking of prizes, each stall had different ones. This one had¡­ vouchers. It was an all-you-can-eat voucher for Gaia Restaurant though, which wasn''t bad. It was also a free-for-all. Regardless of who the ''sitter'' was, anyone who paid some copper could get a shot at him. It wasn''t easy either. There was a maximum level allowed there and even then, it was designed to be very difficult even for a level 15. Anyway, whether it was for the prize, for the spirit of competition, or just to see Ansel fall down the water, the people who were trying to hit the target were all quite passionate. They weren''t the only ones. Althea, with Baby Pepper snug in her arms (with eyelids looking heavier), looked at the other games she could see from where she stood. There were basketball shooting games where the ball and the baskets were markedly smaller. When they missed the last shot they had, it looked like they were electrified in their sadness. There was a small area with minigolf games, except the putt was much more difficult with varying elevations, wilder slopes, and crazy curves. The players and the audience were so passionate and, when it missed just a bit, everyone would scream¡ªsome even pull their hair¡ªin depression. Even aborigines were the same¡ªNo, they were more used to the thrill and reacted even more strongly. There was someone who acted like he was a fish out of water when he missed¡­ The prizes for these were just vouchers. Granted, they were good vouchers, but it surprised her to see how invested they were. Althea watched with a smile and wondered what would happen if¡ªsomeday¡ªthe prizes of these games were magic tools¡­ How crazy would people get? She felt quite curious. Should she make it into an event someday? A vague idea of an event similar to the Olympics¡ªone joined by various territories¡ªcame to mind. However, she shook her head in the end. The premise of that was that they had a surplus of treasures¡ªthis was something they were still far away from. As for the future¡­ who knows? Only time will tell. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 1157 - 1157: Carnivals (Part 2) In Terran, the Olympics were held to promote global unity and peace. It provided a platform where people could come together, put aside differences, and just enjoy the games. It would also spike the economic growth of wherever it would be held in¡­ Althea shook her head, putting the non-existent ''Alterran Olympics'' to the back of her mind. Even if it would come to fruition someday, it would probably take a few years before they could safely implement it without people killing each other for the prizes instead. Anyway, they had been here for a while, but Ansel was still up. At first, he was still laughing, taunting his hitters when they failed. By this point, practically the whole area had tried a shot, with more coming in when they heard the handsome Ansel was the one on the seat. However, after a quarter of an hour, Ansel grew impatient. His bum was starting to get sore, and he did his best not to squirm in his seat like an uncool dude. One had to know that, at their levels, it wasn''t easy to feel this! This chair was too uncomfortable! It was definitely on purpose! One of the rules of the game was that if the target gave up on his own, he''d have to pay 100 copper! Scam! Still, Ansel believed in his grit so he pushed on. But then it was just miss, miss, and another miss, and the sound of the ball not hitting the target irked Ansel to no end. "Someone hit it already! Get this over with!" he yelled. "It is embarrassing that you people are taking so long!" "Do you think we''re not trying?!" The current hitter, Winona, yelled back. "This is much harder than it looks, okay?!" Of course, the carnival games were adjusted according to the higher cap of levels here, prohibiting people above a certain level from joining in. The target was not only tiny¡ªit was as big as a cockroach¡ªthe force required was also not too straightforward. The ball was made of special fabric and stone and wasn''t completely solid. Throwing it required the right control, otherwise, it''d get unruffled while they were throwing it. People had to pay for each shot, too. It was twenty-five copper coins per shot, which was a decent glass of juice already. Some people called it a scam¡ªit kinda was¡ªbut before Ansel, there was Dog who sat there and his team managed to hit his target. Crow¡ªwho was an archer just below the game''s level limit¡ªmanaged to hit it after a couple of tries. His friend Dog swam that day, but he almost gave him a hug (which Crow promptly avoided of course). After all, this was a favor Dog asked of Crow. The price during their turn was a child-sized Teddy Bear. It was made of the best material and down, and was made (and donated) by Lenny. It actually had a special spirit regeneration effect¡ªeven if it was just a bit¡ªso it was actually quite valuable. Sunny had shown interest in it and Dog immediately volunteered to join in (begging Crow to do well). He had slowly been showing his feelings to Sunny, though he did not dare confess yet¡ªespecially not when she had a scary brother and uncle watching his moves like a hawk! Anyway, the fact that a team won after about 10 minutes meant that the game was not a scam. Scammy, probably, but not a "scam". Anyway, back to Ansel''s side, random passerbys paid to give it a shot and were failing. At this time, even Althea was getting impatient, and it wasn''t helping that the babies were stretching their arms to the pool, as if wanting to swim there. "No, no, Pepper..." she said, hugging her closer. "That''s not for you to swim in." "Sweem, Mama!" the baby girl mumbled, turning to her and looking at her with those large blue eyes. Her little hand found Althea''s cheek. "Pwease!" "No." Similarly, Little Meatball was also causing chaos above Garan''s shoulder. He was still lounging there, but he was pulling whatever handful of hair he could grab, making his head look like a bird''s nest. Well, since Garan''s hair was so gossamer, it wasn''t that bad, but Garan''s unruly hair was typically a sight only Althea could see in the morning. Seeing as their children were getting antsy, she knew it was time to get this over with. After a few more people tried and failed, she handed Pepper to her father. "Let me try," she said, taking over a ball. It was basically a long fabric tied in a particular way. She studied its weight and made some calculations. She threw it up first to get a feel of the ball on her palms, her green eyes fixed on the target no bigger than a Terran cockroach. She then gestured to throw, and everyone watched her every move. [Used! Precise Aim] Bang! It hit right at the target, making a lot of people gasp. A creaking sound echoed below Ansel, and a second later all horizontal support he had disappeared. His stomach dropped as he fell, creating small wave that splattered on nearby folk. Splash! S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He coughed out some water that entered his nose. He wiped his face with his palm and combed back his hair as he gathered himself. He actually looked quite sexy, especially when his shirt clung to his body due to the water. Experience new tales on My Virtual Library Empire Sadly, his wife did not appreciate this. She was focused on the fact that he made a fool of himself. She couldn''t help it; it was a habit formed through years of mocking each other. "Hahahhah! You really look like a wet Gugu chick!" she giggled, walking over as if to look closer at him. "I should get my phone¡ª" Ansel''s green eyes sharpened and his arm swiftly moved to grab her arm, pulling her to him. Splash! "Kyaaa!!" It wasn''t too rash because she had just given birth. However, Ansel somehow managed to get her completely drenched too. Winona gasped in shock, staring at her husband in disbelief. "You bast¡ª" She was promptly shut up by a peck on the lips. "Honey, you''re wet," he said, voice raspy. "Let''s go get a shower¡ªwe don''t want you to get a cold, after all." He then stood up and carried her in his arms, and the woman had no choice but to hold on to him to keep her balance. "You¡ª" Ansel gave a sadistic grin. "You asked for this." And so that couple disappeared, soon behind closed doors. Chapter 1158 - 1158: Alterra’s Mascots Althea shook her head and Garan smiled, and the family¡ªjust them and the babies¡ªfinally decided to head back home. She could''ve sworn the babies were sleepy earlier though, but somehow they had regained energy and were now unable to behave. Garan had to take Meatball away from his head, though he would always try to climb up again. Meatball loved heights so they normally let him climb whatever he wanted, as long as it was safe enough. This often meant his father''s head. Anyway, it was better for the baby to prefer this rather than just float away from them. Little Pepper was much more well-behaved, but she did keep squirming in Althea''s arms, taking different positions, until it seemed like she just wanted to walk. It was just that they were entering a densely crowded area, so it was out of the question for them to be running around on their own even with a tether that could tangle with innocent passersby. She gently patted her daughter''s bum. "No, we''re going home soon anyway." The baby pouted. "Mama¡­" Althea sighed. If it was safe, she''d have long given in. Her heart was mush already, but what could she do? Seeing her this, Garan''s lips twitched upwards, all while easily holding the baby boy in position with a single hand. "They inherited your love for adventure," he said. "I remember when you''d disappear in search of plants¡­" Forests weren''t too common to them back in Terran, so when Althea went missing, it could cause a bit of chaos. Well, at least to him who would desperately search for her. This time, it was Althea who pouted. It was very cute. It was at this point that they heard familiar shuffling and barking approach them. They were fast approaching and were big enough that they could even feel some light rumbles in the atmosphere. There was also the fact that there were gasps, calls, and greetings echoing from the direction. "Fufi! Snow! You''re back~" they called, so Althea and her husband knew immediately who was coming. The crowd cleared a path for them, most of whom were watching them pass by. Dum, dum, dum, they jumped and settled in front of Althea and her family. They sat down, tails wagging, except they were not small anymore, making it quite an odd sight for those who hadn''t seen Fufi before. At this time, Fufi was already level 11, and his size was more than 1.5 meter high on all-fours¡ªjust at the eye level of short people. Snow was level 8, and a little smaller at more than 1 meter, but still very big. "Woof!" Fufi barked in greeting, wearing that big smile of his. On the other hand, Snow was quiet as always, but her tail was also wagging, indicating she was also happy to see them. Garan nodded at her and she did to him, understanding each other''s greeting. When a stoic man partnered with a stoic dog, it was quite bemusing to watch. Althea smiled at the canines, using her free hand to pat their heads. "Is your working hours over? Is it play time now?" she asked, earning a happy woof from Fufi, partnered with that stupid smile of his again. Whenever they were not doing their jobs (which was either helping clear mobs or doing rounds within the walls) the two dogs were usually with the children. Now that they were here, this meant their shift with Plaridel''s team was over and they could finally accompany the babies again. "Woof! Woof! ARF! Woof!" We killed many beasts today! Snow is about to level up! "Good job¡­" she said. The babies also giggled at the sight of the dogs. They had grown with them and bonded with them every day. They were practically siblings. "Foofee! Foofee!" "Smow! Smow!" The two babies reached out to the dogs, wanting to ride on them. Their little bodies were all squirmy and their bums squiggling as they tried to escape their parents'' claws to go to their canine siblings. The two had no choice but to compromise and let them ride on the two''s backs. "Keep them stable," Althea said to Fufi, who barked reassuringly at her. "Woof!" Fortunately, the kids had been riding the two dogs'' heads for a while, even before they walked stably (they used the dog for the fastest travel), so Althea could at least be reassured they wouldn''t get dropped by the dogs¡­ unless the kids decided to stand or something. Not to mention, this was probably the first time they did so outside. It was always just within the walls of their villa before. She felt a little scared for this¡ªwhich mother wouldn''t¡ªand she patted the babies'' small heads. "Be careful and hold on tight," she said. "The moment you get into an accident will be the last time you can ride on them." Her sentence was long and the babies didn''t know all the words, but they understood what she meant. Their eyes glazed and they pouted. "Nuuuuu¡­" Baby Pepper said, holding tightly to Snow''s furry head. Similarly, Meatball also crawled and wrapped his arms around Fufi''s snout. "Nuuuu¡­" Fufi blinked, uncomfortable, but didn''t move. A very good boi. "That''s why you should be careful," she said, comforting them. "If you behave there''d be no problem." She then stepped aside and let the dogs move forward, though the couple was definitely ready to act the moment they had to. And so, the view of two large battle pets with babies on top of their heads became a popular attraction in the streets they passed by. The babies were like hats to the dogs, their diapered bums resting snugly on the critters'' heads or neck. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Awwww~" "So cute!" "Cuteness overload!" Some people who had phones took them out, taking photos of the absolutely adorable moment! After so many months, they had developed charging stations powered by water and air. Those who managed to keep their phones on them were extremely thankful. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have been able to take photos of Alterra''s lovely mascots! Mascots were not meant to be useful, just cute and good to look at. Their existence alone could improve people''s moods, which in turn made people happier and more productive. The couple walked closely behind the dogs, occasionally shouting to keep their pace when Althea felt they were going too fast. Fortunately, the dogs were quite smart. When someone didn''t see the babies on their heads and threw some meat by habit, they didn''t make any sudden movements at all, which was really reassuring. As they headed back to the villa though, Althea noticed something after closely watching the dogs. Was Snow a little¡­ lethargic? Chapter 1159 - 1159: Petty Jealousies Meanwhile, Brenda and Troy had decided to tour the dad around. They couldn''t take him to the Weapons Factory yet¡ªshowing those areas required guaranteed loyalty¡ªbut it was easy to pick one aspect of Alterra and people would fall in love with it. Even if it was just the food, just its beauty, just its culture¡ªit was guaranteed to win hearts. At this time, they were taking the dad on a food trip in the Marketplace. They were on a discount so everyone splurged on their meals, their tables filled with varying types of food¡ªsome of which they didn''t buy too often unless there was an occasion. In their case, they also bought a little of everything for the old man to try. Troy and Brenda enjoyed the old man''s varying reactions. Sometimes he would gobble the food up, while other times he would eat particularly slowly as if relishing. In every case, he absolutely loved it though. Their relaxing time would be interrupted when, at some point, someone called on them while they ate. "Brenda? Uncle Birion." They turned to see a tall muscular brunette, followed by two other people. Birion was chewing something so he wasn''t able to react immediately. On the other hand, Brenda''s eyebrows rose. "Ismus?" S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Hearing the name, Troy frowned and he looked at the man guardedly. Ismus was the name of Brenda''s ex-boyfriend! The man who abandoned her after getting scarred! Birion hurriedly got a glass of juice to down whatever he was eating. Looking at the three youngins in alteration, he immediately looked awkward. "Ah, Ismus¡­ he''s the one sent by the lord to handle the crossbow deal." Although they had promised there would be a deal, giving a lot more items than the usual purchase limits, there was still the discussion of future cooperation. Such an important matter naturally needed someone higher up. Still, this made Brenda frown. They knew that she was the most likely point-person when it came to the weapons. Did the lord send him on purpose? Or did they just not think she¡ªa woman¡ªwould actually have a part in the deal at all? Regardless, Ismus just looked at her in appreciation, likely for her new success. He was quite cordial, and it made Troy wanna step in between them. "You look good. It''s been a long time." "Ah, yes, thanks." Thanks to Miss Althea''s beauty products, her scars had shown some slight improvements. It wouldn''t disappear completely, but it was definitely a lot less hideous than before. "We should eat together again sometimes," he said, and this naturally ruffled a certain young man''s feathers. He didn''t even see that the man was a head taller than he was and much bulkier. How dare he ask his girlfriend out in front of him?! Before he could say anything, Brenda held his hand, keeping him in place. She just smiled at the man, but she shook her head in the end. Brenda leaned on the tense Troy''s shoulder as she answered. "My future husband and I are busy." Ismus'' eyebrows rose, crossing his arms. "Oh?" He was the one who left her because she had a scar on her face. It was nothing personal¡ªit was just how it was. Ismus was also the nephew of the Glaston Lord and, during their youth, there was indeed an arrogance about him. However, he was not a bad person at heart, otherwise Brenda wouldn''t have fallen for him at all back then. It was tense for a couple of moments with people wondering if it''d turn into a conflict. However, Ismus'' arms loosened instead, and he shrugged. "I see¡­" was all he said, adopting a slightly more detached tone. "Well, I hope you can get us a good deal." Brenda and the others heaved a sigh of relief, while the eavesdropping people from the next tables mostly pouted for the lack of a good show. Troy''s table had no idea about this of course. Anyway, Brenda only nodded at the other aborigine. "I''m sure you won''t regret partnering with Alterra." ¡­ On another stall, there were the twins Luke and Leo with their friends Cassie and Bumi. Emer wasn''t with them because he had a date. Anyway, the four were playing Dance Dance Revolution (Low-tech edition), and one that worked without electricity. While a lot of places had electricity, arcade games were definitely not a priority for it. So¡­ they had to get a bit creative. The Xenoan Dance Dance Revolution game was created by adding a little mechanism underneath that recorded if the players stepped on the right spot, which would signal the indicator in front if done correctly. It was quite ingenious. Of course, because there was so much going on, it ended up being quite a large game, a single area at least thrice as big as the one in Terran. They made it look cool by painting it with bright colors, and adding some reflective elements to it. The steps were made of durable painted plywood (designed to handle a lot more strength than the one in Terran) and there were non-slip materials like rubber on the surface. On the steps, there were directional arrows drawn, also colored quite creatively. In front was the indicator system that used colored balls that moved in sequence, programmed depending on the song. And finally, the most important part of the game¡ªthe music¡ªwas done by the use of simple recording and replaying methods. They engraved patterns on metallic cylinders made of tin or copper, though this had to have a person operating it well because a person had to switch cylinders based on song choice. The hired person had to be at least level 5 too, because those cylinders¡ªespecially when they would get changed every minute or so¡ªwere not light. A cylinder that could play a two-minute song was around 10 cm in diameter and 20 cm in length, weighing around 3 to 4 kilograms each. Anyway, all that trouble was definitely worth it. The DDR was easily one of the more popular games there and it would never lack an audience¡ªespecially when the players could actually move their limbs very well. For example, the current battle was with the twins Luke and Leo1. This was especially the case with Luke, who was a surprisingly excellent dancer. "Whoa! GO LUKE! Leo, too! You''re also amazing!" "YEAH!" "Luke is so showy, but Leo is getting better scores LOL!" "Either way, they look cool!" "Kyaa! Marry me!" "Don''t worry Leo¡ªyou''d still win the game in the end!" "Who cares about winning a game when you can get girls'' hearts?" Leo rolled his eyes and didn''t really bother with showmanship. On the contrary, the big lad was doing exaggerated movements and obviously enjoyed showing off. Luke was surprisingly a very good dancer. He was practically break-dancing after a while. Bumi was also very fascinated with the beats and the movements, his own body moving to the music. Then he turned to see Cassie, who seemed to be enjoying herself a lot. She looked quite impressed at the other men''s moves. "That''s amazing, Luke! You''re a great break dancer!" she yelled, and the other girls agreed with her. "Go, Leo! Beat him in scores at least!" "Luke! Can you move your hips more please?" another woman yelled, and various commentaries exploded as well. "Do a backflip¡ªKyaaa~" "Dance with Fable sometimes!" "Agree!" "I''ll pay for it, I promise!" an older woman even yelled, making Cassie laugh out loud, but she did not disagree. Bumi honestly felt a little jealous, but he noted this moment. Rather¡­ he swore to learn this so-called ''breakdancing'' as well!! Some of the first side characters we met, all the way when they were in Terran Chapter 1160 - 1160: Leaps (Part 1) There were also many aborigines who were unused to such festivities and felt incredibly overwhelmed¡ª but in a good way. Shinho and the others were like this. This was their first big event in Alterra¡ªever, really. 1 Primarily, they had been busy working, hunting, and gaining contribution points the past months. Among the newcomers, people like them¡ªrefugees from aborigine villages¡ªwere among the least advantaged people. They weren''t strong enough like those people from Towns, and they weren''t smart, innovative, and creative enough like those from Terran villages. Alterra was rising quickly¡ªeveryone felt it¡ªand they had to catch up before it became a Town. As such, they hadn''t been to the activity areas like arcades and stadiums at all. Their leisure time was in parks and treating themselves in some restaurants. So one could imagine how wide their eyes were the entire night. While there was also a minor ''6 month celebration'' back then, it was only a small performance as well as discounts on the stores. This anniversary event made sure every inch of public space in the territory had activity. To be honest, such a big celebration, in their minds, were only seen in Cities, and it was amazing they could experience it now. The twins Ferra and Fona were holding hands as they perused the place with their families. They just watched at first, a bit shy about joining in. They were girls, after all. 1 On the other hand, their families were enjoying things unabashedly, after seeing everyone else. It was as if the atmosphere of Alterra inclined people to do so¡ªand they were carried along with it. Then soon even the twins started joining the games and the next moment they were yelling with everyone else. It was like their whole souls were set free, and they could just express themselves without having to care about proper feminine behavior. They had never had so much fun in their lives. ¡­ Most of the stalls were particularly competitive, but there were some more than others. For instance, in another park, there was a Skee-ball game, wherein the contestants would roll balls up a ramp to score points assigned to different holes. With the hard-mode levels of arcade games here, this required very high coordination and accuracy. The ball was not only a little heavy, the incline was harsher and more varied. The holes were also much narrower than the ones in Terran, and it was incredibly easy to miss. Anyway, a certain chubby soldier was actually losing to a quirky nurse. The current score was 18-19, with Mao on the losing side. It started out relatively innocently, the competitors were just passing acquaintances and hadn''t even exchanged more than 2 words in the past few months. The girl''s name was Lea, the nurse who was apprenticing under Dr. Cynthia in the Ob-gyn and Pediatrics department. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Their games had just happened to be side-by-side with each other. However, when the girl made an impressive shot, Mao ended up missing the same shot, the nurse coughed, covering her mouth to stop a giggle from coming out. She didn''t laugh out loud, but it offended Mao very much. When the girl would miss and he would hit his shot, he''d laugh, shaking his head, and muttering commentaries like ''tsk tsk, should''ve rolled harder'' or ''Tsktsk, should''ve gone to a different angle'' and so on. This irked the girl very much and started being more expressive with her commentaries as well. It went on until the current scene, with increasing anger and annoyance on their faces, and more and more words exchanged until they were no longer veiled¡ªjust direct insults to the other. The friends who were there with them could only cover their faces in embarrassment. They didn''t even remember what the prize was at this point. Flop! "Missed another one? HAHAHHAHA¡ªare you really a soldier? Every one of them are cool, what are you?" Mao''s chubby face whipped to give her a bad look. "You distracted me!" Lea shook her head. She indeed made some comments while he was making a shot, but that was no excuse. "Shame¡­ such a shame¡­" was all she said, not even directly calling him out but it made Mao very embarrassed. Then it was Lea''s turn and Mao placed his hand on his mouth and¡ªjust as Lea was about to make a shot¡ªmade a fart noise with it. Lea missed the shot and she whipped her head to look at Mao. "You''re an idiot!" Then when it was Mao''s turn, Lea made an even louder sound. Mao missed so badly that it made several people laugh. He gritted his teeth and glared at Lea. "You¡ª" Such a petite girl acting like a tomboy! TSK! What a shame! Leia, sensing the sexist thoughts, was very much irked and tapped into her hidden potential. After a couple of minutes, they went hard and she actually won the game in the end, taking the drink-all-you-can voucher price for the tavern! "Heh. A soldier. Shame," she said, just as she dragged her friends out of there. Mao''s eyes widened when he saw her walking away, feeling very much annoyed. Without knowing, he ended up running after her. "GRRR¡ªI demand a rematch!" ¡­ Anyway, while adults were playing like kids, the actual kids naturally were having a blast as well. Except for the really small ones, the children grouped together to go around on their own. They would patronize stall after stall, using their hard-saved allowance to experience as much as they could. There were also good-hearted, very kind, and very awesome adults who would occasionally sponsor a stall for them as well. For instance, there was Bianca, who not only treated her own adoptive sons to some ice cream, but also their friends. Right now, the small group of children happily ate different-colored ice creams with wide smiles on their faces. "THANK YOU AUNTIE BIANCA!" they said as they exited the Ice Cream shop. They looked very cute and some already had ice cream on their cheeks. She giggled, taking out a clean handkerchief to clean their faces. There was also a man next to her who leaned down a bit, acting sad. This was Eloi, one of Bart''s right-hand men. "What about me?" he said and the children shifted to look at him, a big man. They blinked and nodded. He sponsored them popcorn! Of course they were thankful! "THANK YOU UNCLE ELOI!" they said. "May you have a wonderful date with Auntie Bianca~" Bianca blushed a bit and scratched her cheek, while Eloi laughed out loud. Good kids! "Okay, buy cotton candy this time¡ªit''s on me!" "YAYYYY!" Suffice to say, he got many more votes as a suitor that day. Shinho was one of the refugees from the Heat wave. (from the territory that let monsters in to deal with them using the terrain of their village) Both refugees from Heat wave but they arrived with different teams. Ferra is Shinho''s lover, while Fona is Fossu''s lover (an earth user aborigine from another village) Chapter 1161 - 1161: Leaps (Part 2) A few minutes later, the children''s hands were full of snacks they happily munched on. Satisfied with their loot, they finally excused themselves to leave the adults with their own space. Bianca smiled and patted the boys'' heads (Gururu''s head was now semi-bald). "Come back home before midnight." "Yes, mum!" And the little kids scurried away, no doubt intending to explore as many games as they could before their curfew. "Ah, kids," Eloi smiled, placing his hands on his hips. Bianca chuckled and looked at him. "How was the trip? Was it very difficult?" She looked at the bandages he tried to hide, but she saw them anyway. "Took forever," he said. "Wanted to see you as soon as I can." Bianca blushed a bit and punched his arm, making the big man laugh out loud. Then his jovial face morphed to a serious one. It made the woman''s heart skip a beat. "Did you miss me?" Bianca''s eyes flickered and she looked away. The two of them were still in the courtship phase. It had been many months since Eloi professed his feelings, and while there had been some progress, there was little indication Bianca would actually accept his feelings and formalize their relationship. Bianca was just particularly guarded¡ªespecially since Eloi was an aborigine man. A Terran man and an aborigine woman had higher chances of working out primarily because the man was more likely to have more enlightenment about equality, having less chance of taking women as toys. It could even be the ideal situation and dynamic for both parties wherein the women¡ªperhaps for the first time in their lives¡ªwould find a man who could see them. For the men, they would have a partner made to become homemakers¡ªwomen who would take on traditional roles in the house. Strong independent women were very attractive¡ªbut not every man could handle them. Aborigine men were different. Most of them were raised with low views of women. Men like Rowan were very rare, and the vast majority of them would have difficulties accepting women working outside the house, perhaps doing even better than they were. The aborigine men of Alterra were different, but that was mostly after months of being integrated with their own culture. Aborigine men from other territories were not the same. A Terran woman would have to be careful in case they ended up falling for someone they''d regret. This was not to say that all aborigine men outside Alterra were bad and all Terran man inside were good, but the statistics were there and could not be ignored. Polygamy was also a common practice here, especially if the man was strong or had a good status. Infidelity was already horrible back in Terran, one could imagine how it was in a world where it wasn''t even looked down on¡ªeven encouraged. Bianca herself was a victim of infidelity. A few years before the Migration, she caught her fiance with his female best friend. That man was the model of a good man on the outside, and she was completely blindsided by his betrayal. What more of a man from this continent? If Eloi had another family in Twinwave Town, it wouldn''t even be a surprise. However, when she thought about it, Bianca would feel bad and her heart heavy. She would emotionally push him away, which naturally hurt Eloi a lot. Still, even after so long, he was still following after her. It was unfair to the man, especially after he told her he did not have any other woman, but it was difficult to trust blindly in this world when it could literally mean one''s life. However, through time, Eloi showed his grit and sincerity in his own way, considering how few opportunities he had. He would always visit whenever they were there, and at some point, he even asked to be based there. He just had to leave a few weeks back because he needed to escort some goods, returning as soon as he could. About a month ago, Bianca had tried testing him out by telling him what she wanted, how she wanted to keep working even after marriage, to do what she loved. His face did morph into a frown, which made her heart hurt. However¡ª "What if you get pregnant?" he asked. "Woodworking is quite dangerous¡ª" She nearly laughed out loud at him, relieved. "That escalated quickly. I''m not sure if I will ever get pregnant in this life¡ªyou know this." "It doesn''t matter," he said. "We have Gururu and Pongo." "Of course, I know you still want to give birth in this lifetime and I will help you." He said this with a serious face and one would question whether he meant something perverted or not. At the time, she wanted to tease him. "What if you''re not the father?" she asked, and his shoulder slumped in depression. He was sad the whole day after that and she felt guilty, and she finally agreed to go on a date with him for the first time. Now, many months later, Bianca just felt softer and softer with him. Perhaps¡­ it was time to take a leap of faith. They went around the streets again, subtly flirting but nothing too concrete. They felt both giddy and relaxed, neither wanting the night to end. Then, when they reached the plaza, Eloi suddenly stopped in his tracks. His eyes were dazed as he looked in a direction, but before Bianca could ask what was wrong, he suddenly turned to her. He gently pulled her to the side and he asked her seriously. "Do I have a chance?" "You''re asking this all of a sudden?" Discover stories at My Virtual Library Empire "Tell me," he said, tone a bit more serious this time. Her eyes flickered, lifting her head to look him in the eye. "Ready to give up?" S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "No¡­" he said, holding her hand and gently pulling her elsewhere. If it was six months ago, she''d have screamed for someone to help her. After all, many of the aborigine men outside believed they were entitled to just get the women they wanted. With her repeated rejections, it wouldn''t be a surprise if they pulled her in an alley to do whatever. However, she had gotten to know Eloi in the past months and, while he did have a lot of prejudices, his mind was open and his heart was good. He genuinely seemed to admire her work, too, which she appreciated. In the end, they ended up on the other side of the plaza. She blinked, staring at the building in front of her. "This is the Town Center?" "Yeah," he said, pulling her to one of the platforms there. "Where are you¡ª" Her voice died when¡­ he started to make an oath. "Bianca¡­ when I was away this time¡ªI almost died. At the time I thought, how sad my life is to die without even being with the love of my life. "I swear to¡ªas long as Bianca wants me and wishes to be with me¡ªI will remain steadfast and loyal to her for the rest of our lives," he said. Bianca''s eyes widened as uttered the words, her hands finding her mouth as she gaped. Her heart was beating so loudly. She didn''t even notice when he went to her until he spoke again. "Can you accept my feelings now?" Bianca''s eyes pooled with tears and, after a pause, she nodded. He already took a huge leap¡ªhow could she not go with him? Chapter 1162 - 1162: Baron and Cousins Meanwhile, Bianca''s single cousins led by Baron¡ªa.k.a Alterra''s Golden Goose¡ªwere hanging out and drinking together. All of the establishments were all opened and mostly full, with basically the entire population patronizing their services. Knowing how long the event would last, they hired a lot of part-timers with small shifts to give everyone a chance a few hours to enjoy the event. This ensured smooth and efficient service despite the surge of customers, while also allowing a lot of people to spend money on the territory at the same time. Of course, even if there was no contribution point reward, every store would still have participated in the 50% discount promos for the night. Not only because of peer pressure, but also because they wanted to do a bigger part in such a milestone for the territory! Anyway, one of the better-performing shops was the pubs which had a long turnover rate and a lot of orders from a single group of people. At this time, the cousins were in one of the bars that had a counter facing the streets¡ªas if it was built for people watching. They had been bar hopping, taking a few shots for each store''s specialty. This was their final bar, and also the time they saw the most couples lounging about. Whoever had the idea to sit here¡ªwhere they could see the crowd clearly while they drowned in alcohol¡ªthey could only slap his head. "I wonder when my happiness will come¡­" Baron mumbled, and it so happened that another couple¡ªwas that Foxii and Thor?!¡ªpassed by them. Sniff The dude beside him shook his head, remembering the scene they saw not long after settling here. "Even Bianca has a love life now¡­" he said, tone interested. "I missed a lot of things the past months, it seemed!" This was Jesse, the fire archer cousin. He had just been assigned back after months of absence. Limestone Valley wasn''t bad, but Alterra was still different. Anyway, he was determined to get plastered today. "They''re still in that courting stage," Baron added. "Bianca''s naturally guarded. We know what the majority of the men are like in this world." Bianca was no longer young, and she wasn''t the type to just ''follow the butterflies''. Before settling down, a lot of thought would be considered. Even among good men, there were many who would find it difficult to accept if their women were doing the men''s jobs. They might not dislike the woman, but they wouldn''t be comfortable with it. There was such a case with Shannon. She was one of the rescues in Fargo Village back then, and had been quite guarded with men. Somehow though, she fell in love with the Mauin aborigine, Ento. 1 They were really good to each other. After a few months of dating, they even entered the stage of discussing their families. Ento had been living in Alterra for a while and he hadn''t shown indications of misogyny or anything like that. He truly didn''t mind women in the workforce. He would even support his fellow Mauin villagers through school with his relatively high contribution points. However, when it came to his own (potential) wife, he felt uncomfortable. This showed in his reactions and the subtle ways he tried to control Shannon''s decisions. He would ask things like did she really wanted to work, what if they had children, and so on. This naturally caused a strain that they tried to work through. However, how easy was it to completely change one''s worldview? It was a bigger topic if one''s personal life, and immediate future, were already involved. Shannon had always wanted to be part of the administration, and this meant they had a larger requirement to train than other employees next to Guards. He started making comments like he''d prefer if she stayed at home and took care of the children. To be fair, this was not an invalid request¡ªit was the ideal scenario for macho men who just wanted their wives and children safe and sound, so they could focus to do all the providing for the household. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, it wasn''t what Shannon wanted. Eventually, it broke them apart. They were not the first, nor the last, couple to encounter this, so a lot of care had to be taken whenever a cross-marriage was in sight. "Well, at least we know Bianca will still be single for a while," Baron said, as if finding comfort in having family in the same situation as he was. "We still have to investigate whether that bastard is a good seed, anyway." "Being a good person doesn''t mean he''ll be a good husband too!" he said, trying to sound wise though his way of speaking was already slurred. "We''ll just have to support her in the meantime¡ª" It was around this moment that they saw their female cousin again, returning early from their plaza trip. And this time, she was holding hands with her suitor. "..." Sigh "Well, anyway, when will my love life appear?" Baron asked after a moment, turning to his cousins at his side. "Have you been sabotaging me again?" At this, Angelo shook his head. "Nah, we''re not doing that anymore. We figured, you''re getting old¡ªyou should know better," he said. "However, we recommend investing in many other things just in case you end up with a gold digger¡ª" "STOP CURSING ME!" Their noise caught a few people''s attention, including Bianca''s. "You''re getting plastered already?" "Psh, don''t patronize me!" Baron sniffled, face red, very much drunk. "People with a love life can''t talk to me!" Bianca shook her head. "You''ll find her eventually," was all she could say. "We have long lives anyway, and it''s not like being too ''high level to procreate'' will be a problem for you." Baron looked at her in disbelief. "I''m stuck at Level 9 because I choose to!" The cousins shrugged. Meanwhile, Eloi looked at Baron, pondering. Bianca mentioned a lot about this man''s love life. To be honest, he thought that Terran women were too choosy. In an aborigine village or town, a man with Baron''s capability would be a top husband material. Not to mention, he was Terran¡ªand he had seen how most of them treated their women. "My little sister is of age¡­ she might be interested in finding a husband," he said, making everyone turn to him. Baron gaped at him in shock. He knew this bastard was not bad! Both Shannon and Ento had been mentioned before. Shannon was that girl in Fargo who watched/inspired by Cassie and Jona''s fight with the enemies. Ento was a swordsman working with Mauru. Discover more stories at My Virtual Library Empire Chapter 1163 - 1163: A Few More Dates "YES! I mean¡ªyes, please, I''m interested," he said, practically yelling. "Give me her num¡ªI mean, we''ll send letters via Post Office!" "Sure," Eloi said. "I''ll send a letter to introduce you." "You''re awesome!" Baron said, suddenly returning to his usual bubbly self. "I''ll give you a good gift on your wedding day!" The couple chuckled before excusing themselves, continuing with their date with their hands intertwined. Squirming in his bar stool, Baron almost squealed. "YES! This is it." Aborigine women were great choices, too! As for why he hadn''t done so already, it was because the surviving aborigine women in Alterra¡ªwhich also had a small ratio compared to men, by the way¡ªwere already either taken, married, or had been influenced by the feminist movement in Alterra. Many women of this world¡ªif they weren''t connected to a man strong enough to protect her¡ªhad likely been victimized or abused in some form or another. He couldn''t blame them for not entering the dating pool, and he hadn''t tried pushing for them either. Well, that changes today! He finally got a date! "You don''t even know her." Angelo rolled his eyes but the cousins had fun anyway. "Well, I will soon, right? VIVA POST OFFICE!" he yelled. The Post Office was really interesting. It was like a mix of the old school Snail mail (which his grandparents told them all about) and the modern communication devices. It was fascinating. When they upgraded into a City in a couple of years, maybe he could send trinkets too! Then again, how could he let the courtship last so long? If he liked her, he should go get her! At this, he couldn''t help but look at his fake-single cousin. Angelo had his own budding love life. What''s he doing with them? "So did you and the silent girl already start dating?" Angelo blushed and scratched his cheek. "No." Now it was his turn on the hot seat. Should he just run? Before he could do so, his shoulder was held back down, making Angelo want to bury himself into his own arms. "Tell us. It''s been so long since you''ve been ambiguous with her," Baron said, sneering. "Still no movement? You''re being a bit slow right? At least I had the excuse of having no woman to make a move on." S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Well¡­" His relationship with Toktok indeed entered an ambiguous stage¡ªambiguous to him, anyway. The girl was a little dense, and he couldn''t bear to be so straightforward. So they were in a standstill. Jesse, adopted a less teasing stance. He patted Angelo''s head as if he was ten years older. "Don''t falter too much," he said. "Life here is too risky¡­ we have longer lifespans, but that doesn''t mean our time to have fun is endless." Angelo gave him a look. "Wow, you leave the nest and suddenly you''re wise, eh?" "JUST DO IT CUZ!" Angelo shook his head and just downed another bottle. Unlike Baron, their levels were higher so they didn''t appear drunk quite yet, and it''d take a bit more to do so. Angelo didn''t want to deal with that for now anyway, so he let it be, just muting out his cousins'' nagging as he downed a few more glasses. It was just that¡ªluckily or unluckily¡ªwhen they were heading home, they encountered her. The bar they were in was near Southwest avenue, so they would pass by the plaza when they walked home to the farm villa areas. There, they saw Toktok, alone, smiling over the stalls, just watching the fun in contentment. She had always been like this, just happy with her own peace, even without other people. It was why Angelo was so reluctant to pierce the paper wall between them: Toktok was perfectly fine on her own, what if she found him troublesome? She would likely just avoid him¡­ Angelo was in a daze, a little drunk, but mostly because he was staring at the girl. The cousins looked at each other and grinned. Baron and Jesse placed their hands on Angelo''s back, literally pushing him to her. "HEY!" He yelled, stopping just in time before he hit her. Toktok felt the wind he created and turned, eyes widening when she saw his sudden approach. He stopped right in time, but they were only an inch apart and they could feel each other''s body heat. "..." "..." Neither of them moved though¡ªthey were unable to¡ªand her scent and warmth seemed to have clicked something in Angelo''s head, drunkenness definitely being a factor to it. Alcohol tended to blur the mind, telling them not to overthink anymore and just do what they wanted. Right now, all he wanted was to be closer to Toktok. He gulped, looking at her. Their proximity seemed to have finally gotten to the girl. Angelo saw her flush, and she gestured to instinctively turn away from him. His hands moved on their own and he held her cheek, making sure she was looking at him¡ªbecause only then would she really understand his words. "...I like you. Go out with me." He didn''t hear the gasps and squeals around him, his mind was just focused on the girl in front. She stared at him for a while, and Angelo felt his moment freeze. He got dizzy, part from the inebriation and part from what he felt like a rejection. But then she nodded, and his knees buckled. For a moment, people thought he fainted. "Oi!" Jesse yelled as he ran to catch him. Fortunately, Angelo recovered his balance, his hands holding on to the girl''s arms. "I''m sorry I was just a bit drunk¡­" he said, looking down. She looked at him in concern and gasped when he suddenly embraced her into his arms. "Drunk from happiness." Applause sounded from around then, everyone feeling happy (and/or entertained) of seeing a new couple form in front of them. ... "Very cheesy," Thor said, clapping his hands along with a few other bystanders. "I like it." Foxii''s eyebrows rose as she looked at the guy. He seemed to have felt her stare and turned, grinning. "How did you like it?" he asked, looking curious. "Like what?" "Those kinds of confessions," Thor asked. "How much is too much for you?" A pause. "What kind would make you say ''yes''?" Foxii stared at her date. He looked careless and a bit playboyish, but her sharp eyes could see his sweaty hands flinching uneasily at the side. She pursed her lips, trying to hold down a smile. "It doesn''t matter to me, really," she mumbled, shrugging. "As long as I like the person doing it." Thor took a breath and nodded, as if taking note. However, the next thing he knew, his date''s face was already in front of him. Chu! "Like this." Thor''s eyes were wide as saucers, looking at the girl in disbelief. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire She gave him a rare teasing smile, and Thor swore he died from being electrified right then and there. Chapter 1164 - 1164: Grit is Grit The old people also formed their own group, and they were currently shop hopping. This group of old people was small, so it was understandable they were tight-knit. Other than Mathilda, who had been protected by Drake, how many old people could''ve survived the first disaster? Let alone one year later? Anyway, this group was formed gradually. They had made a morning exercise thing, where they''d do poses and other light-activity exercises like tai-chi. Whenever there was a big event and they didn''t want to bother the younger generation, they would meet up and enjoy the events among themselves. For daily routines, they would often hang out in tea houses after work, though they frequented the more affordable ones. In this group, there was Cathia, Cassie''s grandmother, and Bona, Bumi''s grandmother. The old men Al, Bones, and Cake¡ª tapped by the Research Centers for their knowledge on old Terran Technology like the old phone, the old telegraphs, and the like¡ªwere also with them. At this time, they were hanging around a teahouse abutting a park, and they happened to have seen a few confessions during the past couple of hours. They were even there when Eloi made an oath. They smelled the tea from a street away and followed the couple to the Town Center, and¡ªsure enough¡ªsaw a nice show they''d tell others about later on. After that, it was the youngins'' Angelo and Toktok, who were now standing lovey-dovey at the side of the street. The girl held his hand and wrote some things there. It made the lad blush profusely, and they left the area hand-in-hand. "Ah, love is in the air~" Bona couldn''t help but look at her friend, who was just watching the younger generation enjoy the night. She couldn''t help but remember her poor grandchild who was probably doing rounds now¡ªwith his crush¡ªbut was still suffering from singlehood. At this, she leaned towards Cathia a bit. "Don''t say I told you¡­, but my grandson likes your daughter," she said in a very gossipy tone. Cathia gave her a side-eye. "Anyone with eyes can tell." The other old men ate and nodded, listening intently. Bona smiled. "Then¡­ can we hasten their progress? They''ve been teammates for months now!" "Well, he''s not making a move," Cathia said. "If he formally courts her, I might help out a bit, but my granddaughter requires some courage." Indeed, Cassie was such a good woman¡ªshe deserved someone who would not only take care of her, but would be able to carry weight off of her shoulders. She also deserved someone who could gather enough courage to express his heart. Bona nodded, taking note. "I will advise him." Cathia looked at her friend. "I can also tell you some of her favorite things¡­" While the two old women plotted to get great-grandchildren, the old men shook their heads, recalling their own youths. "Ah, young men nowadays are so clumsy," Al said. "Back in the day, we just give flowers and ask for marriage." Bones sighed. "I know, back then, we''d go to their homes and sing songs late at night," he said. "I can still play the guitar well until now." Cake sneered at him. "Because of the number of women you courted?" Bones smirked. "Of course." Cake shook his head. "I was loyal to my late wife. The only woman I ever desired," he said. Bones couldn''t help but add. "Even if I was a bit of a womanizer, all the women I had been with were very happy. I was quite the gentleman, you know¡ª" Anyway, they went on about various ''chivalrous'' things men of their generation did. The old women¡ªparticularly Cathia, who was young around the same time as them¡ªlooked at them oddly. Why didn''t she remember that? ¡­ Love was in the air, indeed¡ªwhether some people liked it or not. Drake, as always, was being hounded by two of his main suitors. He was walking along the street when they found him. They asked him if he had a date, in which he said he didn''t, and somehow it ended up with the two of them walking with him¡ªtagging along wherever he went. "Sigh~ This event is so fun!" Jona said, wrapping her arm around his. "Can you accompany me to the carnival?" Yen naturally was not to be defeated, wrapping her arm around his other arm. "I think a nice restaurant would be something Drake would appreciate more, right? "I''m heading somewhere¡­" he said, meaning to say he had plans. Instead, the two girls¡ªholding him tightly¡ªnodded. "We know, we will accompany you." He sighed. He really did not appreciate the attention. Experience more on My Virtual Library Empire It had been so long. Why hadn''t they stopped? Drake was a major introvert who just preferred to be by himself. He really found being talked to like this exhausting. However, he was too polite to do much about it. Regardless, everyone had to agree the two women''s grits were really something else. Whether it was really deep affection for Drake or just competitiveness towards each other, they didn''t really care. Impressive was impressive! Anyway, Drake was currently headed to where some of the single soldiers were hanging out. It was in an outdoor pub set up as a temporary extension of an existing tavern. It gave the experience of drinking in open air¡ªunder the stars and amongst the torches¡ªwhile also being privy to the programs nearby. There were Santos, Orz, Brandon, Loki, and a couple of others already there. They met up after a long day at work, assigned to different areas and scope of work. There were some who wanted to join but were still on shift. However, they should follow right after so it was expected this meet-up would last several hours to wait for the others as well. When Drake and the two women arrived, there were already plenty of drinks and snacks prepared on the table. "Hey, you!" Santos yelled, raising his hand to greet them. He blinked a bit when he saw the women wrapping themselves in his arms though. Jona''s eyes widened when she saw him and her hold on Drake loosened immediately. Orz though could only laugh at the sight. "You brought women here, eh?" Drake looked awkward. "I¡­ didn''t¡­" They obviously followed him¡­ S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Of course, his friends knew this. However, it didn''t mean they wouldn''t tease him to death!! Chapter 1165 - 1165: Falling Drake knew where it was going and gently escaped the women''s claws. Since they weren''t walking anymore, it was fairly safe to do so. He just walked over without looking back at the women. He sat down next to Brandon and the two women looked at each other, suddenly awkward. This got the two girls to think about whether or not they should still follow him to the table. The men (except for the dense Drake and Brandon) felt sorry for them. "Come, join us if you don''t have any other plans!" Santos said, gesturing at the open spaces around the large table they rented. "Yeah, sit here~" Mao said. He and a few others had already started bar-hopping even before so he was the one who seemed a little drunk already. It so happened that his loss to Lea (and her subsequent ignorance of him) made him want to drink a few more bottles. "We''re good men who won''t take advantage of you~" "That makes you more suspicious," Orz said, rolling his eyes before turning to the girls. "Someone sit next to Santos and Loki over there, and another between Brandon and my brother," he said. "They''re the safest." The two women paused and stared at the spots he pointed at. After a moment, Jona awkwardly sat next to Santos, while Yen took the other spot because it was nearest Drake with just Brandon in between. "You two women are really admirable," Orz said, filling their cups up with fruit-flavored light-alcoholic drinks as soon as they settled down. "Your grit and perseverance is historical¡ªdid you know that you are being used as examples when referring to suitors who gave up too early?" This was true. When, for instance, a suitor gave up early when the girl was just being coy, she would tell him ''What a shame! Even Jona''s more of a man than you'' or ''Yen has bigger balls''. The two women just smiled, a little shy and awkward, unconsciously turning to the said subject of perseverance. It was just that Drake ignored them and had proceeded to hang out with the boys, completely forgetting his two suitors there. At this point, he was already in a conversation with Brandon and Loki about the latest development in weapons (that was public knowledge) and had obviously entered a zone. "..." After an awkward pause passed by, Santos smiled and pushed a plate of snacks toward Jona. "Perseverance is indeed impressive," he said. Jona saw it was Santos and flushed. "I¡­ thank you¡­" She would demurely take a snack and eat like with a small flush on her face, very much unlike her gregarious self a few moments ago. Yen saw this and blinked, narrowing her eyes at the two. Wait a minute, she mused. Something''s going on here¡­ She tried to recall if there were any outward signs that she had missed. As Jona''s rival for nearly a year, Yen believed she knew Jona like the back of her hand! There were only a few times that she had seen them together but, in retrospect, there seemed to really be a spark?? For example, Jona¡ªa member of the guards, albeit she hadn''t been promoted yet¡ªwas once injured on duty. Yen, who was in the hospital for a wound she got from one of the Research Center experiments, saw Santos carrying her to the emergency room. Another, during a beast mob, Yen was there on the battlement as one of the civilian defenders. She saw Jona and Santos'' team on the ground, clearing the dense group of monsters aiming to bite their heads off. At some point, Santos was surrounded and¡ªsuddenly¡ªa monster jumped up from behind him, ready to bite. Yen saw Jona gesture to rush to him as if she would be able to help with anything¡ªwhich she wasn''t. Fortunately, Santos was strong and avoided the attack, killing the surrounding mob with his elements in the process. From these two memories, Yen came to a conclusion: Jona¡­ was actually attracted to Santos! And Vice versa!! Yen smiled, feeling a eureka moment and she decided to take advantage! To be honest, neither of the women knew why they were still bothering Drake when he was obviously not interested in them. Perhaps¡­ they could''ve imprinted on him for saving their lives back then. Technically, he was the first one to do so, and it was hard not to fall for a ''handsome yet unattainable'' hero. It could''ve been because of the force of habit. They had been doing this since they Migrated here¡ªit felt a little unnatural to stop. Did they associate him with their peaceful life here or something? Or.. it could also be a matter of pride¡ªas if letting go now was losing! "Santos¡­ do you have a girlfriend?" Yen asked, almost out of nowhere. She ignored the stares she was receiving, especially Jona''s guarded ones. Very guarded. Yen leaned forward towards the table, her eyes batting cutely. "Do you?" she asked, very flirtatious. Jona frowned, giving her a bad look. "Do you have something in your eye?" "The sight of a cute guy." S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You¡ª" At this, Mao intervened. "He doesn''t have a girlfriend! He once went after Vanessa¡ªbut now he''s completely single! Like me! I''m single!" Then he nodded off, forehead smack on the table. "That darned Nurse. How dare she call me weak when she''s half my level!" Your journey continues with My Virtual Library Empire He then went on a random bumbling tirade people just learned to ignore. Anyway, Yen turned back to Santos, who seemed a little confused at her sudden advance. "I''m looking for a boyfriend." "Hey! What are you doing?" Jona asked, unconsciously leaning forward as if to block Yen''s sight. "What''s it to you?" Yen smiled, narrowing her eyes at her. "Jealous?" "What?" At this, Jona looked like a deer facing a headlight. Santos also looked awkward, looking away while rubbing the back of his neck. "Now that I think about it¡ªYou two look great together," Yen said, sounding casual, meeting the other woman''s eyes. Jona pushed down her own blush and glared at her. "Then¡­ you two look good together too," Jona said, pointing at her and whoever was beside her. Yen was puzzled. "What?" She then turned to look at the person next to her. It happened to be Orz'' brother, Ouli. The poor guy was just about to take another sip of beer when he realized what was happening. The innocent Ouli: "..." He was watching a good show. How come he suddenly got dragged in? Jona was grasping straws and pointed at the two of them. "See? You even hold your cups the same way." Yen''s eyes twitched. "Listen here, you¡ª" Anyway, the two women continued this kind of banter that pulled in two innocent men. One would try to get the other to fall for another man, or admit their affections. A lot of secrets were even exposed, including Jona''s attempt to ''rescue'' Santos from that mob, which made the man look at her in concern. Jona could not look at the man at all and started to invent things about the other ''couple''. Something about zodiac signs matching or something. This went on for a while, and the rest of them just watched a good show. As for whether they succeeded, who knew? One thing was for certain: Drake barely noticed anything. Chapter 1166 - 1166: Ross at Home (Part 1) While a lot of people chose to go to establishments, some decided to spend the rest of the holiday in the privacy of their homes with their families. For instance, in Mathilda''s home, the family of three and their in-laws were having a nice peaceful dinner on the verandah. The other teammates¡ªeven the old women Yana and Lola¡ªwere either in their other villa or outside playing in the carnival. Even the cats were roaming around town, no doubt being fed with who-knew-what by strangers. Anyway, this allowed the closest of kin to have a nice quiet time together, just catching up with one another after their busy schedules. At this time, they were cooing at the latest addition to their family. "Ohh, my baby Claire¡­" Mathilda said, voice gentle, as the adorable purple-haired baby girl looked at her. In front of her was Gwen, similarly turned to mush, holding out a colorful rattle for the baby. Eventually, the baby made what looked like a toothless smile and they turned to mush. "So pretty¡­" Mathilda chuckled. "I''m looking forward to yours, too." Gwen blinked and looked at her mum, before nodding. "We''re trying." This made a certain introverted blonde at the side flush, rubbing his own shoulder as if to soothe the tension there. Gwen and Ryan held a wedding a few months ago. It was held inside one of the halls of the Grand Hotel. It was quite intimate and lovely¡ªwith a lot of the elders pitching in to sponsor certain things¡ªand the food was really incredible. They also held a very heated honeymoon there¡ªone that lasted 3 days. Some staff were quite the gossip, so after being asked, some curious folks found out that the couple practically didn''t leave their room during their stay. Legend also had it that Ryan was the bottom. Of course, if anyone asked¡ªwhich no one dared to do yet¡ªGwen would laugh at their faces. Your next read awaits at My Virtual Library Empire Don''t judge a book by his introverted cover! Anyway, the family spent the night catching up, especially since Ryan was part of the latest batch sent to Ferrol for intense training. They had only been together for a little over a month as a married couple when he was sent out. He had just returned in time for the upgrade. It was unfortunate but, with the upcoming upgrade at the time, all of the soldiers had to greatly increase their training. They were expected to be the main Terran forces for Alterra, after all. Fortunately, Gwen didn''t mind this and simply worked hard as a guard as well. Their level gap was too wide¡ªand increasing. It''d be hard for them to conceive as they were now. "The mobs for Towns also have a lot of low-level monsters," Ryan said. It wasn''t like the mobs at Village level would suddenly avoid Towns or anything. "The difference was that there would be stronger monsters mixed in between. The stronger the monsters are, the lesser they are in number," he told them. It was a balancing act of nature, and pretty logical considering how difficult it was to level up here after a certain point. "I heard there were quite a few smaller mobs that appeared," Gwen said. "Fortunately, we have shifts and never lacked people in the battlements so the alarms didn''t have to be sounded¡ªfor now." Gwen gently poked the baby''s cheek one more time before leaning back to her seat. As she did so, a cute meow sounded below her, rubbing her ankle. It was Lele, one of the kittens. She smiled and leaned down, bringing it up to her arms. "You''re my baby for now¡­" "Meow~" the kitten purred, relaxing into her touch. Very cute. The cats Raffy and Kat were having a date outside (sponsored by random people who encountered them), but they left their kittens to their human nannies (i.e. them). Speaking of that, back in Terran, there was a running joke about how dogs saw their humans as masters to serve while cats saw humans as servants to order around. Now that she had battle pets and could actually understand what they thought by instinct, she could confidently confirm that theory. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The communication between master and battle pets was not exactly in words¡ªthey simply understood what the other was trying to say. Those cats had the gall to ask them to look after the kittens while asking for snacks to tie on their necks! And they said it so matter-of-factly as if she and Ryan were just supposed to do so! Gosh¡ª Anyway, the cute little ones were now either walking around the house and rubbing their feet asking for hugs. "Be a kind kitty, okay?" she told Lele. "Don''t be bossy like your mum and dad." Seeing their sister getting attention, the other kittens also approached, meowing for attention. The other humans found them cute and took at least one each, petting them until they purred. Gwen''s cats had given birth to a small liter of five kittens: Lala, Lele, Lili, Lolo, and Lulu (the children named them, and the adults went along). The kittens were already six months old, but they hadn''t really seen the outside yet. However, they weren''t too lonely. Like the Gaea Team, Mathilda''s was also 2 villas combined together and the two large gardens were meshed together. If the gates to the Gaea Team''s large yard were opened up, their pets¡ªincluding Fufi and Snow¡ªpretty much had four lots to play on. So, in normal days, people would see the cats and kittens roaming around these four lots, usually with the twins. If the kids didn''t have school, they''d join in too. Similarly, after ''work hours'' Fufi and Snow were the same. So, at certain hours of the day, the houses would be filled with children''s laughter and giggles, as well as cute meows or barks from their pets. It was a simple happiness, but Gwen and the others loved watching them. Speaking of pets, they had actually found more Terran mutts and cats during the past few months!! Chapter 1167 - 1167: Ross at Home (Part 2) During the past few months, Alterra had welcomed a couple more Terran Animals. Well, to be more accurate, several months prior Gwen, Winona, and Althea had tea time in the verandah area. The kittens were just a few weeks old and had just begun to walk. At the time, they were watching over the twins as they played with the cats, very much enjoying themselves in the improved playgrounds that spanned the different neighboring lots. When the kittens were born, Mathilda had commissioned Baron''s Woodworkers to create a massive play area for the cats. After about a week of construction, a massive and intricate cat playground that spanned three of the four lots was built. (Althea''s garden was skipped in case they damaged the plants there with their plays). There were towering scratching posts, as well as sturdy rope ladders and bridges suspended at various heights. There were stairs and climbing posts, and there were also toys placed all over the playground. In some areas, there were even multi-level pavilions with cascading platforms and hidden alcoves. Very fun. It was just that while the cats and kids were enjoying themselves, they couldn''t help but wonder about the others still out there. "I wonder how many Terran animals are still out there," Winona mumbled with a heavy sigh, patting her belly¡ªwhich was very big at that time. Gwen and Althea looked at each other then, and they wondered: What if they rescued them, too? So they decided to fund a major movement to locate Terran Animals, particularly while they were still in Village level. When they upgraded to a Town, basically the nearby Terran animals that were still around (if any) would have even lesser chances of survival. And so, they set the reward of quite a bit of gold and contribution points, so even Aborigines started looking out for them. There were almost immediate results. Within the first week, they found three cats in the northeast territories, one of which ended up in Shrao Village, and the other two in Belluga. They didn''t have masters and were also attractive as battle pets more than the contribution points. Before sending them back to Alterra, there were a lot of people who tried to get the cats to bite them. Sadly, none seemed interested at all. There were also a few pairs of cats found in the South, though one ended up staying because Micheal actually managed to tame one. It was a fluffy white cat, which oddly fit Micheal''s image somehow. The white cat seemed to have married a calico cat which, interestingly, bit Juno, Micheal''s closest guards. The first dogs found after Fufi were also very interesting. The Alterran caravan found them settled in the camping grounds. They had actually been there a while, though they would hide somewhere nearby when people arrived so they were largely undetected until recently. They only revealed themselves this time because Fufi came with the caravan. They were a group¡ªa pack¡ªthat formed to help each other survive. Through the past months, they had gained a bit of strength, with the lowest level dog at level 4. This group was comprised of five completely unrelated mutts and one with a breed (a cracker spaniel). When they were found, they were filled with scars and their furs were unevenly cut, but just one look on their eyes and they could see they were survivors. It was adorable and also admirable. Anyway, Fufi and Snow would join a lot of caravans since then, and they found even a lot more of their kind in this way. At some point, the cats Kathy and Gary were also sent out, and that also proved quite fruitful. Stay connected with My Virtual Library Empire As for big animals, so far they found¡­ a family of pandas. Those creatures had a very peculiar way of surviving despite seeming to have no survival skills at all. They were every universe''s favorite animal, it seemed. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was just that, for some reason, other than the pandas, medium or big animals like lions, tigers, and the like were not found, which was really a pity. As animal lovers, how could they not be sad at the loss of innocent creatures? The only hope was that they died without pain, to have died during the first transformations, lost in endless sleep. Their existence would be remembered by Terrans using their stories, books, arts, and things like stuffed toys and so on. Anyway, they created a sanctuary for these animals, transforming one of the parks. If they didn''t have owners or masters, they were free to stay there. They were universally loved and didn''t have to worry about food, though they were still trained for their own survival. Back the the present, Mathilda shifted the conversation to the young couple in front of her¡ªboth playing with their ''furry grandchildren''. "How is the house going?" "The design is lovely, mother," Gwen said, partially lifting her loving eyes away from the Lele. "We submitted our preferred customizations and it should be ready for occupancy in another month." They had bought one of the future houses in the next Villa compound being built. It was pre-selling and was less expensive than it would have been if they had bought the house later on. Not to say it wasn''t expensive though, because it was, especially since it was located in the Hotspring zone. They couldn''t help but sigh at the missed opportunities. When Alterra was a Village, the cost of buying a villa (not including permanent residency costs) was increased several folds now that it was a Town. They heard that when Alterra was a newly-built Level 1 Village (Baron bragged a lot about the ''steals'' back then), a farmvilla cost around 100 Gold. This new Villa area had its most basic unit with a pre-selling cost of 800 Gold, and even bigger after it was built! They didn''t want to get help on this from their family so they took a loan instead, which was easy thanks to their combined contributions. Gill and Cassandra had also done the same, with Gill renting out the current duplex he bought before. Theirs was even more expensive though because it had a hotspring built in. Mathilda smiled, seeing the future of her children bright and stable. Hopefully, more grandchildren would run around soon! Chapter 1168 - 1168: Still Chilling at the House A/N: OK GUYS THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR TOMORROW. xDD I clicked publish by accident I''m so sorry. So anyway let''s just assume today is Sunday and today is the extra chapter xDDD Forgive me forgive me Ahem. So... extra chap to thank you guys for all of your support! Although we didn''t make T1, I saw the lovelies'' efforts T_T Still! If you have excess tickets do send them my way! It would be great if we could get Golden T1 before the month of February ends! If we get this milestone, I''ll do my best to post an extra 3 chaps on the Sunday after that (March 2 2025)! xDD ... ___ Another family was Rasso''s. He stayed at home together with his son Rian and his new wife, Juliet, whom he married a few months back in a simple wedding. Juliet was also pregnant with their first child together. According to Sheila''s ''ultrasound'', it was a baby girl! Anyway, because Juliet was in her first Trimester, Rasso couldn''t bear let her out too late. Juliet also felt tired easily, so the two of them opted to go home after the program instead of joining in the festivities. They had the fortune of owning their home¡ªa two-bedroom condo unit, which they had paid the down payment for before their wedding day. The teenage lad Rian joined them after a bit of time outside with his friends. This was really sweet. Which teenager would choose to hang out with boring adults when they had friends they could spend the holiday with? Their dinner was delivered from one of the nearby Eastern food restaurants. With the commercialization of bikes, delivery services had also revived. However, because of fast communication was still limited (very few people had aether letters and the surviving Terran phones had no signal) the deliveries were done on a set schedule for now. For example, they would go to the restaurant to order and pay a day or so earlier, and they could expect it to arrive at their doorstep at the approximate time they requested. They ate delicious noodles and dim sum, and the family of three spent the rest of the night playing a board game. A few board and card games had been made available for purchase in the Bookstore, which were naturally big hits. There were even board game cafes in the works! Apparently, one of the new stores in Post Street would be doing this model. Anyway, the family''s favorite was the Xeno version of Scrabble. The difference was that its tiles only had Xeno alphabet and therefore only Xeno words were allowed. It was a nerd game, which was Juliet''s style, but she influenced the other two in time, so now they all enjoyed it. About an hour into the game, Juliet smiled as she placed a tile. She clapped as she did so, looking quite proud. "I win." To win in Scrabble, one player either had to use all their tiles or everyone had to pass. Juliet just used up all her tiles. Rasso''s eyes looked at his 5 tiles and then looked at the board, tilting his head. "Is that even a word?" "It is!" Julieta said, handing over the Xeno-Terran dictionary. "Look." "This word means both weak and single," she said. "That says a lot about their culture." "Wait! I still have a word¡­" The young Rian said, catching his parents'' attention. Juliet looked at it and was confused. "I don''t think this word is in the dictionary¡­" "It''s random words my friends say," he said. "It''s a generational thing." "What does it mean?" Rian coughed. "I have no idea." It was much like how kids made up random words and it just stuck, used by more and more people. Xenoans were no exception to this. Juliet¡ªa psychologist¡ªfound this so amusing. Combined with her unpredictable pregnancy hormones, she ended up giggling so much that she fell down. Fortunately, they were sitting on the floor and playing on the coffee table so it wasn''t really much of a fall, but the two men looked pale as they went to her regardless. "You okay?" Rasso gasped, while Rian looked as if it was his fault. Juliet rolled her eyes and waved the boys away. "Oh, hush. I''m not fragile," she said. She then reached out and patted her stepson''s head. "I''m just happy you''re integrating well," she said. Rian had experienced a lot of horrendous things, and there was a risk of him being depressed. Rian blinked, sniffling before giving a small nod. Watching them, Rasso smiled, the crow''s feet at the corner of his eyes deepening as he grinned. How happy. ¡­ There were also those who had finished roaming and were ready to call it a night, like Althea''s family. Althea and her family headed home with the dogs, taking the babies into their arms. She patted Snow''s head as she took over Pepper. She couldn''t help but look at her in worry, though. "What is it?" Garan asked. "I just feel that Snow is being lethargic and all," she said, rubbing the wolf''s chin. Althea smiled when the canine leaned into her touch. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. On the other hand, Garan was one never to dismiss his wife''s worries. So he looked at the dog. "How are you feeling?" he asked. The wolf just made a sound without changing her face and Garan looked at his wife with a similar expression. "Said she is just a bit tired." For now, the couple shrugged it off and just entered their gates to finally call it a night. ¡­ While the humans went up to their room, the dogs headed to their lovely dog house. However, instead of heading there with Fufi, Snow went elsewhere deeper into the gardens. She found a place between the shrubs and one of the decorative rocks and started digging. If one looked closer, it had actually been dug before and was only growing bigger as time went on. It was a relatively hidden spot so it hadn''t been noticed after a while, but it was there. In this hole were a lot of grass and leaves, some dryer than others, and it created a soft bed on the ground. Fufi watched over this, confused as he always was. After all, their dog house was insulated and very comfortable, what was his wife doing? However, instead of questioning, he decided to just join in¡ªas usual¡ªusing his big body to block the opening of the small cave. Snow made a soft sound before settling in, feeling his warmth. Fufi licked her fur for a bit before resting his head next to hers, and soon they both fell deep into slumber. Chapter 1169 - 1169: Family Bath A/N: Thanks for your support guys! As you might remember I erroneously sent the extra chapter yesterday xDD Hope you enjoyed that~ For those who opened the previous chap and hadn''t checked, it has been edited. Don''t miss it! xD ¡­ ___ The couple and their kids headed to their room to clean up. Althea prepared their bathtub while Garan carried them both, one on each arm. They looked adorable just hanging there like stuffed toys, little feet dangling, and rounded eyes looking at her, following her wherever she went. "Mwamwa!" Pepper called, trying to reach out to her. "Mwamwaaa!" Meatball also yelled, though he seemed like he was swimming vertically like a frog while being held by his dad. The two''s milky voices abound, resonating across the bathroom, and it was bound to melt anyone''s heart. She giggled and waved her hand to the bathtub, taking a handful of water and letting it float to the children. The babies'' mouths made cute ''o''s and they raised their little arms to reach the water, seemingly fascinated by how their hands entered the floating mass of liquid. Althea smiled. "Just a bit more¡­" she said, adding the rubber duckies as toys. The kids loved those toys. "Squeekies!" "Owwhhh!!" Althea giggled and walked over, making the ball disappear with a wave of hand. She leaned down and smooched their soft faces. Chup! Chup~! The babies squealed and made kissy faces and she couldn''t help but shower them with some more. It was just that when she lifted her head to look at her husband, she realized he was looking darkly at her. She blinked, and the laughed when she realized what it was about. She tiptoed, kissing him on the cheek as well. Garan''s face softened, but his eyes also heated up even more. Suffice it to say, the next hour would be torture for Garan, who could only look at his wife but not touch. The couple bathed with the babies for efficiency and also because the babies had become increasingly unruly as they grew older, so an adult had to be in the bath with them. Little Meatball, for instance, always kept trying to crawl out of the tub somehow. Splash! Water splashed everywhere, and if they had not joined in, they''d have been drenched anyway. The babies giggled, having fun causing trouble for their parents. Fortunately, Althea was a bit of an expert in basic water skills now, so she could distract and bathe the babies at the same time with it. "Wowwww!" Pepper squealed as a water blob passed by her body to wash away the soap. "Wowww!" Meatball also yelled as a water ball teasingly washed his face and dropping over his head. "Whoosh! Whoosh!" "Wodah! Wodah! Wooooaa" Little Meatball even made hand movements as if following what she did. He was very disappointed when nothing happened though. Anyway, Althea distracted them like this, all while creating small waves for the rubber duckies to follow dynamically. Because of this, the children grew to love taking baths. At some point, they became invested whether the duck would drown under her waves or not. "Sweem! Sweem! Squekie! Sweem!" "Nooo! Gow down squeekie down!" The adults let the babies play as they wanted. Anyway, the water was warm and it would make sure the babies were tired out completely by the time they went to bed. As they played though, Althea couldn''t but stare at her children in thought. Until now, there wasn''t any information about them in the panel. She had asked Jonathan what was the youngest information he could see in the panel and it was apparently 10 to 12 years of age, which was consistent with the age it was safe for children to level up a lot. Why this was, nobody really knew. They assumed that¡ªperhaps¡ªthe system could only truly integrate with a human body when they could handle a certain amount of aether as well. Interestingly though, people here seemed to be born with their spaces. Although they hadn''t confirmed this, they were pretty sure the babies used their spaces a lot by virtue of them always taking out random things that had no way to fit in their pockets. That missing storybook? Yeah, Pepper would suddenly make it appear whenever she wanted someone to read it for her. All those missing donuts placed on the coffee table? Yeah, they''d see Meatball gobbling them up an hour later while he was playing in a random park. Amusingly, the babies, when asked where the items were, would just say ''pocket''. This was because, in their mind, that was what it was. They knew they couldn''t control it completely though. It was also cute when they tried squeezing things into their pockets, believing it''d enter without problem, but then the item would get stuck at the mouth of their pockets and they''d cry to an adult to make it fit. Anyway, the bath ended about half an hour later, with Althea doing most of the washing while Garan watched everyone to make sure no baby went off the rims. He also watched his wife and her movements a lot, putting himself into a sweet-in-pain state, but he knew when not to make a move so he could only stay quiet for the entire time. He was relieved when the children finally got bored, and they all headed out the bathtub together. Althea used her ability to dry them off quickly, impressing the babies, their eyes appearing rounder and making ''o'' shapes with their mouths. It was just that she had to touch them to do this¡ªat least an inch away from the skin¡ªwhich made things hard for Garan who demanded she dried him like this too. To be fair, he could''ve just dried himself with a towel, but he decided to torture himself this way. This suffering was entirely on him and he had no one to blame. The sadder part (for Garan) was that the two babies did not want to part from their mother, wanting to sleep with her even after spending the entire day with her. Garan pouted as the four of them laid down the bed, with the two babies sleeping on their bodies¡ªone for each parent. Of course, if the babies had the choice, they''d rather sleep on their soft mother rather than their dad who was like stone, but sadly they couldn''t both fit with their mum. In the end, Althea had Little Pepper sleeping on her, while Little Meatball had no choice but to lay on his father''s hard chest. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Pepper was well-behaved, with her mother patting her little bum as she was lulled to sleep. Garan did the same, but the baby boy kept squirming over him. "Mmmmwamma¡­ Dada no comfwy," he mumbled, looking adorably miserable. The little milky voice so pitiful, Althea wanted to take him away from Garan. In the end, the two babies were placed between them in the bed, spooned into a parent each. Garan sighed, feeling disappointed for not having his planned alone time with the wife tonight. "Oh, appreciate it while they fit with us," Althea said, holding back her laughter. "Time runs so fast. The next thing we know, they''ll have their own rooms. "Then they''ll become teenagers who want to run away from us," she paused, shifting her hand to touch her husband''s cheek. "So enjoy it while it lasts. "We can''t have babies forever." Garan sighed, no choice but to succumb and just prepare to sleep without doing anything perverted. Still, he thought she worried too much. They could just make new babies anyway. Chapter 1170 - 1170: Half-orc Picnic There were also those who enjoyed the holiday in peace, both by being away from the crowd while being amongst the beauty and liveliness of the outdoors. For example, watching the stars on the view deck were the three half-orcs: Gochi, Baku, and Maomao. Even from their side, they could hear the music and the party going. At this time, the stage was occupied by various singers and DJs. There were even some performances made by the audience. Apparently, people could just climb up the stage (usually drunk) and sing their hearts out. And sing, they definitely did. Whether it was actually good to the ears was debatable, but it was fun. Anyway, the trio could hear much of the music, the hoots, and the cheers drifting to their area, and it made them feel connected to the festivities even when they were in their own space. They sat on the viewing deck, facing away from the town and the lighthouse. With less light spilling from the main Town, this side remained relatively untouched by what the humans called ''light pollution''. Now they had a clear view of the stars¡ªperfect for stargazing. And eating. The three of them were planning to enjoy a grand picnic among themselves. Though it was late, the area was gently illuminated mostly by several permanent lamps¡ªnow powered by what the humans called ''solar panels''. The half-orcs also had good night vision, so it wasn''t dark at all for them. They looked at the sumptuous amount of food in front of them. They had a massive picnic blanket filled with a mountain of snacks. After the main program, the three of them went to their favorite food stores and filled their spaces up with the food. Not only this, they also hired some rickshaws to bring in a bit more as if what they brought in their spaces weren''t enough. Anyway, the trio met up here and they had a mountain to enjoy while bonding and reminiscing. Half-orcs consumed food several times more than humans, especially Baku who could easily eat a group of Gugu birds on his own, and tonight was no exception. Gochi and Maomao also had strong appetites as well. It was just that they didn''t eat nearly as much as Baku so, strictly speaking, this amount of food was too much. However, it was not just ''them'' eating all of this. They turned their attention to the candles that surrounded the blankets. They were nestled securely in what the humans called glass lanterns, which were clear panes that shielded the fire from the wind while also preventing them from causing fires. They had intricately carved metal frames to them too. Gochi and the others really spent a lot on these, because they would come to represent more than just candles. Engraved in the metal frames were names¡ªnames of half-orc friends that had fallen before them. The biggest one was the older brother to them all¡ªKuma¡ªwho died protecting them. There were also about a dozen more others¡ªhalf-orcs they grew up together with¡ªthough sadly most of them didn''t even reach adulthood. The only one they didn''t have there was Nana''s. After all, they believed that she¡ªand hopefully, her and Kuma''s children¡ªwere alive and well in some part of the world. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The trio settled down around the food, making sure the candles were ''sitting'' next to them. "Thank you for the food~" Maomao began, clapping her hands together. The other two did the same. Now, Orcs didn''t have any rituals before eating, and most especially neither did slaves. This was something they got only after moving to Alterra. They were a little bewildered but it was an easy practice to adapt. After all, they were truly thankful for the blessings and they wanted to express whether someone could really hear or not. This prayer was a bit longer today, however. "Thank you that I can eat peacefully and happily with my friends, Gochi and Baku," Mao said, her soft voice lingering in the wind. "Hopefully, someday, we can also meet other friends like us to enjoy this with." They had been building a good life here, and it was their greatest wish to share this blessing with others like them. They also prayed for the continued improvement of their lives. At first, they felt a bit bad and greedy, but after staying in Alterra long enough¡ªthey realized they had the right to want more. At this time, the trio were still renting a nice house. However, this was only because they were saving up for the new one. The new house design had to be manually-made in order for it to be comfortable even for the bigger half-orcs like Baku. Its construction hadn''t started yet because of the absence of lots (and they were also still saving up), but they did manage to reserve a plot of land. When the territory became a town, they expanded outwards, making new land available. It was not walled (yet) but it also allowed for the lease to be much lower. In fact, they were given a choice to build even outside the walls if they wanted to, and after some discussion, they decided to go through with it. As half-orcs, they had little to fear against beasts, so they decided to take a risk and leased a large tract of land. Miss Althea, the Elder-in-charge of the land allocation, gave them a larger land to make up for its temporarily unwalled state. Some mercenary teams also reserved some lots there to lease, though they decided to hold the construction after a wall¡ªeven if it wasn''t the maximum level walls¡ªwas built there. As for the required funds¡ªwhich was huge¡ªthey got it through a combined loan (their ''credit score'' was huge due to their powers and abilities). Their architect was the siblings Briana and Brian. They were really amazing, all they had to say was their preferences, and the two created a plan that they''d appreciate. Anyway, nothing was built yet¡ªbut it didn''t stop them from being extremely excited about what their future held. Chapter 1171 - 1171: The Half-orc Home While eating, the trio continued to discuss their future in Alterra. Their favorite topic was, of course, their future home. They were surprised at the level of detail they could discuss¡ªprimarily because the architects considered pretty much everything. Designing the house wasn''t much of a culture in Xeno at all. After all, there were modules people could just buy and build within a few hours. Who needed to make their house so luxurious when they had survival to worry about, anyway? Only in Alterra did they realize that it was such a complex practice with an array of things to consider. First, the sizes of the rooms were based on their size. They were measured everywhere, even how much space they occupied when lying down or while sitting was noted. The designers even measured their tails, and how far they extended or spread. Even the furniture had a lot of considerations! Briana even sketched what they could look like and they were very impressed by her drawing skills. The furniture they were making was all broad and comfortable. They would be plush and the cushions would be quite flexible so that their tails wouldn''t be squeezed when they sat. They even considered their fur problems! For example, the cushions were designed so their furs wouldn''t stick and were easy to clean. Mostly, it would be made of leather of very strong monsters (from the upgrade beast mob) and they just placed comfortable stuffing inside. Their furniture would also be coated and waxed to make them relatively scratch-proof¡ªwhich was bound to happen considering their claws. The architects asked a lot of questions about their routines and habits as well. It was really a lot like interviews, and some questions they didn''t get the relevance of, but they answered anyway. They were asked what were the first things to do when they woke up. They were asked what they did at home most of the time, and they were asked what they wanted to do more of. Brian also sketched a lot, and he drew the general arrangement of their future home right in front of them. He seemed to specialize in the major spaces or the overall layout of the house. He created rectangles that were connected together, and they watched in awe as more and more details were added. They were also quite amazed by how straight his lines were without having to use rulers. Very talented. The arrangement was a bit like the usual except for the sizes, but he also explained how their routines affected the arrangement of the spaces. It was quite fascinating and surprisingly complex. They also added places for training and grooming, which all looked very comfortable to use. The training area would naturally be located in the garden, but it was right next to the bathroom area. The grooming area seemed to be a very comfortable place facing the gardens, as if they could clean themselves up while looking at the flowers they had yet to plant. As for the overall size, it was big enough to fit a dozen more big half-orcs like Baku. However, there were also a few basic furniture like chairs that could be used by humans should they decide to stop by their home. Looking at all these, it was no wonder the cost was so large. Fortunately, they had all saved a good amount of money and had a pretty nice amount as permanent residents. They also made arrangements with the guard team about assigning the three of them to the area where their house would be built. They would still make rounds in that area, but they also didn''t want to burden others by guarding the workers while they were working on their houses. Miss Althea did approach them to say they were thinking of placing lower-level walls¡ªprobably level 3 walls¡ªaround the area, but they''d still need a bit of planning to determine how big it would be. Regardless of how big the walls would be, they appreciated it. They knew the Elders weren''t planning on expanding at all so soon, so it could be said they adjusted for them. "Sigh~ I''m really looking forward to our new home!" Maomao said as she nibbled on her carrots out of habit. She consumed it quite quickly and she absentmindedly grabbed onto the pile in front of her and ate another one. In fact, this was a new plant and it wasn''t her favorite food at all¡ªshe preferred cotton candy best¡ªthough she did like its crunch and mild sweetness. It was just that the humans really liked giving some to her as a snack for some reason and it had become a habit of hers to be munching on it every so often. "I quite like my room," he said. His room¡ªaccording to the colored sketches presented to them a few days ago¡ª was very cozy. His bed was large and soft, to be placed in the corner. They planned to place a lot of pillows around, which he found to be the best arrangement. Interestingly, Maomao''s was similar, except she wanted a bit more light and a lot more pillows. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Baku''s bedroom was on the ground floor. The ground floor had the highest ceiling level in the three-story house they had planned. The rooms were for those with big statures like Baku. Baku nodded. "I liked that scratch post they added," he said. Brianna and the others proposed a huge post with a special texture to it in his room. They had just sent him a smaller sample and Baku rubbed his back on there for longer than proper. If it was stronger and more permanent, they reckoned Baku would''ve stayed even longer. Other than their rooms, there were provisions for the others too. Other than questions about the three of them, the architects also asked a lot of questions about what other types of half-orcs there were and they told all they had encountered. Brianna and Brian seemed very interested and had a lot of fun with that¡ªand this could be seen with the extra functions and rooms they had. For example, when they heard about ''bird-type'' half-orcs, a good portion of the third floor was reserved for them. They had access from within the house, but they had larger openings heading outside¡ªdesigned so the birds could get in and out of their rooms with ease. "They even added a perch of sorts¡­" Gochi said, recalling the thoughtful design. Then they found out there were also diggers, who preferred to be underground. In their case, a cellar room was created. While a portion of it was for their storage, the rest were divided into a few rooms for such half-orc. Their bed was placed in a sunken portion of the room and had an earth tone. It was also very cozy, and even more so to those who thrived underground. These were just some of the many details that made this house, unlike any abode they had seen before. How the humans knew exactly what they wanted¡ªand what they needed¡ªwas a mystery. But they didn''t question it. All they knew was that this house was built for them in every sense of the word: A true ''home''! Chapter 1172 - 1172: Half-orc Bonding While listening to the loud festivities in the plaza, the three of them chattered while they ate. The food mountain was eventually reduced to a hill, and two-thirds of the trio soon became bloated. "Sigh~ What a satisfying meal¡­" Maomao mumbled, leaning on to Gochi, her ears tickling his cheek. The fox just smiled at her, though he saw that she still had crumbs on her face and he naturally lifted his hand to wipe it off. She giggled and leaned into his touch, used to the gentle care. But then she remembered Gochi was a bit injured from the war. It was a deep gash on his other shoulder and she immediately lifted her head to stare at it. Gochi blinked at the sudden movement and realized what she was looking at. He chuckled, patting his head. "It''s fine." Maomao sniffled, resting her head on his good shoulder. "I''m sorry... it''s my fault..." Baku, on the other hand, was still not done eating. He could eat a few more gugubird legs and that was what he did. The other two waited patiently for him to feel full and sat up when he did. Patting their stomachs, the trio placed the remaining food back in their spaces, clearing the trash on the blanket and collecting them inside the big paper bags to deal with later. Most of the food wrappers in Alterra would usually be absorbed by the soil or melted by the rain, but the main bags were much sturdier, and leaving them would penalize them for littering. The half-orcs placed it all aside, ensuring there was nothing left in the clearing. This included the candles. However, instead of putting them in their spaces, they just carefully placed them on the bench nearby. This was so they could continue to bond for the rest of the night. What was the half-orcs'' favorite bonding activity? Sparring, of course! Because they were all guards, the rules and regulations about fighting exclusively in Sparring rings and the Barracks did not apply to them. The trio took advantage of this to exercise a lot, even within the scope of the territory. Usually, they would do this outside the walls, but they tended to be fond of sparring when their stomachs were full. It helped with digestion¡ªso they could eat more later. The fire of the candles flickered, the protective glass reflecting the faces of the half-orcs just before their battle. It was as if they were audiences that''d watch the fight. As soon as things were settled down, the fight didn''t wait another moment to begin. The smaller half-orcs¡ªas usual¡ªteamed together to deal with their ''older brother''. Baku jumped several meters back away from the candles, and the other two leaped to follow him. Gochi immediately lunged at him, claws all the way out, aiming to swipe at his friend''s stomach. Maomao jumped up and twirled, sending a flurry of spinning kicks in the direction of the tiger. Baku avoided Gochi''s attacks, turning his body just in time before contact. If it got close, he''d use one of his arms to deflect it. Maomao also didn''t see much progress. Her kicks were either avoided or directly blocked by Baku''s other arm. Their hits were not weak, and loud thuds echoed every time there was contact. The two were not discouraged though, they simply upped their attacks and increased their speeds¡ª leveling up the overall pace of the fight. If there were low-level humans here, they wouldn''t be able to follow at all. For the next several minutes, the two smaller half-orcs jumped and lunged, attacking Baku from different angles. They were quick and agile, their hits strong and fast. On the other hand, Baku was very strong and sturdy. Even if they did hit him, the damage was not enough to make him groan. Gochi then tried to attack the back of his knee while Maomao would jump to hit his shoulder. However, the tiger''s strong arms blocked both hits, and¡ªfinally retaliating¡ªhe immediately swung his arms to push them away. The two were thrown a few meters or so. Their bodies twirled in the air to balance themselves. Bang! Gochi stabbed his claws into the soil to stabilize himself, leaving a horizontal trail in his wake. Maomao was thrown to a tree, and she managed to hold on to a branch and twirled so she could land on her two feet. Baku smirked, towering over the other two. He rolled his shoulders, muscles rippling under his partially striped skin. Gochi crouched low, golden eyes sharp as he stared at the big orc. His tail flicked as his stance changed, ready to move again. Maomao stood poised, her feet raised a bit, ready for another jump. The gap between a fighter orc and those who weren''t was very obvious, but the Gochi and Maomao were not ones to give up. The two''s eyes met for a moment, and a second later the two of them appeared right in front of Baku. Another quick flurry of hits was exchanged. It was like hitting a mountain with Baku, but they had the advantage of speed and the knowledge of where his weaknesses were. Maomao leaped up, twirling gracefully, and finally landed a strong kick on his head. At the same time, Gochi sent a barrage at his side. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Baku''s eyes twitched but he didn''t show much weakness. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed Maomao''s feet and swung her towards Gochi. Still on the injured side. The fox was immediately distracted and focused on catching the rabbit instead. Baku took advantage of the confusion and sent a strong spinning kick in their direction. PAK! This attack sent them flying again. This time, they were not able to catch their balance fast enough. Gochi wrapped his arm around Maomao and made sure it was his back that''d hit the tree. BANG! The tree shook and its trunk cracked. The two furry projectiles rolled forward, stopping just below its trunk. Cough! She coughed and lifted her head to check Gochi. Gochi''s back was on the ground, with Maomao safety resting on his body. At this, Maomao turned to glare at the towering tiger, standing arrogantly a few meters away from them. "Hey! No fair!" she yelled. Because fighter orcs had such a wide gap between them, Baku would normally not do any tricks. Baku shrugged. Before, it was fine to do chill spars because they were just a village. They were a town now, and it was time he got a bit stricter with them. "Didn''t I tell you? Always fight as if you''re against a full-blooded fighter orc," he said, crossing his arms. "Do you want to get shredded?" Maomao pouted while Gochi just sat up, looking up at him. Seeing them both up again, Baku pounded his hands together. "If so, then let me get that honor instead." Chapter 1173 - 1173: Gochi and Maomao "You got injured," Baku said, sharp eyes on Gochi, who immediately looked down in shame. A half-orc getting injured because of beasts with similar levels was an embarrassment¡ªeven if they were not fighter orcs! Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "It wasn''t his fault!" Maomao said, pouting. She got a little careless jumping around, kicking monster mobs'' heads, and failed to notice two Leapards right behind her. Gochi was able to swipe them both down, but one was able to injure him. Gochi''s defense equipment had already given way then, and the attack created such a deep gash. It still broke her heart. "It doesn''t matter," Baku said, voice low and gruff. "Those monsters would''ve attacked you regardless¡ªno, they would have attacked even more relentlessly." Beasts were afraid of orcs and intimidated by half-orcs, but their fluids could cause them to run toward them. This was not just piss, it also included blood. An orc and half-orc getting injured inside a mob was not only a shame, it was also particularly dangerous. So¡­ while he did allow the two to enjoy the festivities, sparring with them reminded Baku that he needed to teach them a few lessons. Anyway, Baku lifted his clawed fingers to taunt them. "Come," he said. "Show me you''re no weaklings." Before they could begin another round though, a loud noise came from the town proper. "HEY, ALTERRA! Now that karaoke session is over¡ªwe''re jumping to the next one!" The speakers from a distance resounded with the new announcement, and the trio could hear it well due to their sharp hearing. They could even hear those thuds heard when the mic was being passed around. They blinked, turning in the direction of the square, listening to the host''s words. It seemed like a new portion of the program had begun¡ªsomething about stand-up or something. Maomao immediately lost interest in the spar. She didn''t know what would be so fun about standing up, but it didn''t seem like something they had seen before. "Can we go?" she asked, and the two male orcs looked at each other. They also wanted to see. And so, after hurriedly cleaning up their litter and taking their friends'' candles, the trio sprinted to the other side of the mountain for a better view. Midway there, they could hear a new voice talking to everyone. "HEYYYYOOOOO! IT IS ME! ALTERRA''S FUNNIEST BLOKE!" he said. "So¡­ I''m sorry I''m late, I got a little drunk and got lost." "Ended up in the Gugu bird farm," he said. "They remind me of my own love life, you see¡ªthey take one look at me, and they run." They arrived just in time to see it was just starting. They were a bit far from the stage¡ªwith several neighborhoods in between¡ªbut they could hear the audio loud and clear. Interestingly, from their viewpoint above eye level, they had a pretty good view of the entire plaza. The square was still packed with activity. People flowed in and out to go to the stalls and restaurants outside the square, but there was still a large stagnant crowd just sitting or standing in front of the stage. There were also plenty of people just hanging around on the platforms or even having a picnic on the roofs. Similarly, the trio sat down and took out a couple of snacks to eat while they watched as well. It seemed like the current performance was a comedy skit of sorts, written so locals like them could understand. Like many of the singing performances, the performer was among the masses, also very drunk. Some jokes didn''t really hit because they didn''t get it, but they could hear the distant laughter, hoots, and wheezes all over and they couldn''t help but smile regardless. They also laughed occasionally, and especially when the joke landed. "HAHAHAHA!" Maomao giggled as she heard a silly joke about a Gugu Bird. "Hahaha! Gug¡ªGogo Birds! Hahahhahah!" The "comedian" made a quip about the flighty nature of the birds and did a play of words on it. It was cheesy for some, but it made others laugh out loud. Baku also smiled as he ate. It was just that when he laughed, he let out a low grumbling creepy sound that would make humans run for their lives. Gochi though was focused on Maomao, golden-green eyes looking warmly at her. He was glad she had let herself go so that she could laugh so carelessly again. This was in stark contrast to how careful she was a couple of months prior. He was just staring at her, not really listening to the jokes. He was pulled back when the performer made a joke about marriage life. "I may be single, but I made a lot of observations¡ª" he paused, hiccuping. "You know how the people with the best love advice are the single ones? Yeah, that''s me¡ªhic!" "You know some things I saw? It''s a pattern, really, particularly for married couples living together." He paused, and his voice squeezed as if mimicking a female''s voice. "Before Marriage: Honey! You take my breath away!" "After Marriage: Why are you breathing so loudly!?" Maomao laughed, apparently loving the joke. "I don''t know how they make these up¡­" she said, body shaking from laughter. Then she suddenly turned to look at Gochi, making him flinch. "Good thing you don''t snore loudly¡­." she mumbled, taking a bite off her jerky as she turned back to watch the rest of the performance. Maomao started laughing again at the next joke, while Gochi blinked, staring at her side profile in thought. The host then said another joke about Broats and Maomao laughed again, loudly but still very cute. She ended up choking though and Gochi quickly patted her back and wiped the bits that ended up in the side of her lips. Maomao smiled and embraced him tightly. "So nice¡­ I love it here¡­" she said, rubbing her small face on his wide uninjured shoulder. "I''m so happy, Gochi!" Gochi hugged her back. "Hmn, me too." They stayed like that for a few moments and Maomao ended up just relaxing on him. Gochi gulped, her earlier words still lingering in his mind. "Maomao¡­" "Hmm?" "Should we get married?" Maomao blinked and parted from him, wondering if she heard it right. Baku, who was happily eating his blob of meat, almost dropped it in shock. Almost. He then proceeded to eat it again, but this time his attention was not on the show on the stage hundreds of meters away from them, but the one right next to him. Maomao gaped, while Gochi felt a bit awkward under her stare. Marriages weren''t something found in orc cultures. When they fell in love, they would just be together. Even now, he and Maomao shared the same bed. But seeing so many weddings done in the past couple of months¡ªand being invited to quite a few¡ªhe thought it''d be nice to have a ceremony with her, too. "Hmn¡­," she said, nodding, hugging him again. Gochi let go of the breath he had been holding and smiled, hugging her back. They stayed like that for a while. Baku, on the other hand, angled himself to give the couple some more privacy, though for the most part he just kept enjoying his meal like a turd. The peace lasted even after the program ended. It was just that the three of them decided to stay there for a little while longer. The humans required less sleep, and it was truer with them. To let citizens rest, even the lighthouse was slightly dimmed, so more and more stars became visible to them. Amazingly, there were not just stars this time. "Ah, it''s a shooting star!" Maomao yelled, grinning happily. She turned to Gochi. "You know¡­ I read something from a book in the library." "Oh? What is it?" After many months, Maomao had also learned how to read. She could only read simple children''s book, but she was fascinated with each and every one of them. "It is said that, when a shooting star appears, one should make a wish." Gochi smiled, nodded. As the person who taught her to read, he naturally knew which story she was referring to. "Make a wish then," he said. Mao nodded and separated from him. She faced the shooting star and brought her hands together. "I wish we can find all our friends so we can all live happily together in Alterra," she paused, her ears twitching cutely. "And¡­ I hope to build a big happy family with Gochi." Gochi''s tail stiffened for a moment before it relaxed, swinging back and forth again. At the side, Baku thought deeper as he chewed: Should they reinforce the flooring of their new house? Chapter 1174 - 1174: Hiring at Town Level A/N: Three days left before February ends, guys! Last time I checked, we''re <100 Golden tickets behind. As always, if you have excess tickets, kindly consider sending them my way~ I will appreciate them all!! \\o/ ... ____ Early the next morning, Althea and Garan went up to the Town Center''s highest floor¡ªthey were hiring again! The couple took a secret entrance at the back so that the people wouldn''t know they entered just before new aborigine hires appeared. Anyway, she was looking forward to the new selections they would have. With the Center at Level 3, she could hire 3 out of the 5 options she would have every day. She had never quite maximized this back when they were a village¡ªthere was no need to¡ªnow she looked forward to it. The reason she didn''t hire as soon as they upgraded to a Town was because everyone was resting and/or busy with celebrations. She didn''t want to overwhelm the new hires with the festivities and didn''t want her current hires to be too busy helping others adjust and unable to enjoy the events. Garan looked at her with a smile. "Is there a particular type of aborigine you''re expecting?" "Hmn, I try to manage expectations," she said. "I''d like to have more Elementalists, but they are still rare¡ªOslo and Rowan''s cases were really due to special circumstances." In Towns¡ªregardless of level¡ªthe rate to get an elementalists was quite low, approximately one every few weeks. This was not only because they were rare, but also because the other Lords would jump right to hiring them when they appeared in their options. This was unlike Oslo and Rowan''s case which was a combination of fortuitous events. Had either of them not been sent or punished to go to a village, Alterra wouldn''t have encountered them so early. It was only because other villages could not sustain hiring such strong (and expensive) people so she had her chance. "My ideal would be professionals," she said. "There can''t be too much of them. I''m also looking forward to the future of seeing new professions. "What about you?" She asked, turning to him. "What do you think is the minimum we should get?" The average level of town citizens was around level 15, and those who could apply for guards would be around level 20. On the other hand, those who could proudly call themselves "strong" or "Elite" in Town-level were around level 30 or so. Generally speaking, the people considered ''elites'' would''ve already settled down in a Town and would not be looking for unknown places to hire them. They might have already bought their own properties or had become a mainstay in a force with a large amount of benefit from the Lord themselves. It was naturally quite rare to see anyone beyond level 25 in a Town-level Chancery, especially when said Town was only at level 1. This was why she assumed this new selection would have¡ªon average¡ªlevel 13 or 14 in level. While it wasn''t so special, they would become decent addition to her work force. Speaking of this, they did gather information how much it cost to hire in the Chancery. They more or less matched the average salaries in Alterra to the Chancery''s standard¡ªif not exceed it¡ªto attract more aborigine talent, all while making sure their local population could comfortably afford the higher cost of living when they were traveling abroad. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The smallest fee¡ªregardless of whether the person had a Class E profession or not¡ªwas 10 Gold. As everyone knew, the hires had to give 5 Gold of their monthly salaries to the System, leaving people from this tier with 5 Gold coins. Five Gold was more than enough to spend in Alterra and was approximately the salary of the common worker here. Class D professionals or people with Levels 16 to 20 were counted in the second tier, wherein the monthly salary was 15 Gold. If the person was a rare elementalist, this salary would double at 30 Gold. This was Rowan''s starting salary before, though he was already level 19 now so he should be rising in rank soon¡­ though that didn''t matter anymore because he already resigned from the Chancery. He was now hired directly under Alterra, in which case he managed to keep the 5 Gold commission fee that was being taken away. Lenny, Betty, and most of the other aborigine hires they had had actually done the same. This was not commonly done in other places because the hired workers would rarely feel safe enough in a territory to let go of the Chancery. After all, the Chancery was a system designed to protect those who used its service from harm. In many cases, it was their bond with the Chancery that kept the Lords and their cronies from killing them or forcing them to do things they didn''t want to. However, in Alterra, there was no such dangers anymore. They had also earned enough contribution to become permanent residents months ago, so in terms of stability there really was no reason to stay associated with the building. While they were thankful for the Chancery, why did they have to lose 5 gold every month to pay it? Next was Oslo''s level at Class C or Level 21-30, which had the typical salary of 20 Gold a month. Although he wasn''t a Class C Architect when they hired him, his level allowed him to get salary in this tier. Combined with him being an elementalist, his salary was a whopping 40 Gold a month which was even higher than the Elder''s current salaries (which was already very sizeable). Like the others, Oslo also resigned in the Chancery. Even if¡ªtechnically speaking¡ªhe''d have earned more if he stayed, he just felt more¡­ comfortable if he had been hired directly under Alterra. At this time, he hadn''t become a formal Resident yet¡ªhis parents in the City would die with worry if he did¡ªand this was his way of integrating. However, he was definitely looking forward to using the large amount of contribution points he saved up to finally become a Resident¡ªideally, along with his family! Chapter 1175 - 1175: First Town Hires! At Level 1 Town level, the limitations in hiring via the Center were the same, but the pool they could choose from was until this Class C tier. This was unless they got lucky again like how they got Betty, Oslo, and Rowan¡ªwho really had no way to be in the Village Pool unless there were extenuating circumstances. An example of a lucky break at their current level would be when someone from the City decided to get hired at Level 1 Towns, which was unlikely. First, it was an instinct for this world to grow stronger¡ªand be associated with stronger territories. ''Moving Down'' was generally seen as a stupid move by crazy people. Not to mention¡ªwhile it was easy to grow stagnant after a certain level because of the sheer amount of elite monsters they had to kill¡ªCities had one thing that could help people level up without having to do so: Aether Stones. After all, it was difficult to level up the natural way because, for people past Level 40, this meant hunting for hundreds of monsters five or so levels below them. Monsters past Level 30 were practically giants already. It would be a challenge to kill even one! S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At the same time, not leveling up meant accepting the limitations of their strengths and their lifespans¡ªwho would be reconciled? The only reason someone from a City would downgrade was if they had already given up on life and just wanted to naturally consume the rest of their lifespans. Second, those people who wanted to retire to weaker territories were likely to choose Level 3 Towns because the benefits of staying in Towns were the same, while the lifestyle was closest to that of a City. This was primarily attributed to the defensive amenities and the System Buildings available at that level compared to those in lower tiers. If there was a way for them to send reverse-messages to the Chancery (to say that they had so-and-so amenities), they would have. Sadly, there was no such feature and they had to rely on word-of-mouth to gather high-tier talents they wanted. Speaking of higher-tier talents: The next tier of hires¡ªtypically available at Level 3 Towns and Cities¡ªwere Class B professionals or people at the Level 31-40 range. Their basic salary was 30 gold, which would double if they were elementalists. Finally, Class A or Level 41 and above had a basic salary of 50 gold. These salaries, even in Cities, were extremely well-off. Once they become a City, the Elder salaries would probably match those prices too. Anyway, in hiring this time, she didn''t have to be so stingy because the local salaries were more or less matched with whatever the Chancery asked them to pay. This meant she could just hire regardless of whether or not the job could be filled by local manpower. In that case, they could just send the Aborigine hires to either associate villages or to their citizens looking to hire. Alterra would just gain some commissions for brokering the deal. There had already been an application opened up in the Center where business owners and teams had put out requests for Hired aborigines. They were particularly popular in caravans because aborigine guards were especially useful, not only because they were stronger than the average non-elementalist Terran, but also because they were more familiar with the subtleties and culture of whatever local territory they''d eventually pass by. Now that they were a Town with increasing exposure to fellow towns, they hoped to hire more people with experience at that level. Anyway, putting this aside for now, Althea stood at the beautiful array in front of her, feeling a bit excited. She smiled. Time to welcome new Alterrans again! ¡­ The first option was a Level 14 Fighter around his late 20s. It wasn''t a bad choice, but she passed on it for now. She could only hire 3 out of the 5. What if the 4th or the 5th ones were good? So she made a rule that¡ªunless the first 2 hires had qualities that really excited her or could be useful for Alterra¡ªshe wouldn''t hire them. Anyway, even if the remaining options weren''t that good, she wouldn''t feel too bad because they could have a use elsewhere. The second hire was much better. [Name: Rin Hero Level: C (D-class spearman; Level 24) Abilities: Fighter Wage: 20 gold per month, food twice a day inclusive Confirm? (2/5)] The hiring in Towns was really different! They were just in the second option and she already got a Level 24. As a rule of thumb, if she encountered a level 20 or above, she likely would choose them immediately¡ªespecially a level 24. Generally speaking, level 20s and up were the average Town-level guards already¡ªeven slightly above average for a new town. In many cases, the Level 20s¡ªif they didn''t choose higher level towns¡ªwould opt to get hired directly under Towns instead. Provided the town could guarantee some protection and benefits, it was the more practical choice, considering they could avoid having to pay precious 5 gold to the Chancery every month. This was why the more likely options even at Town level¡ªor at least at the lower tier¡ªwould still be around Level 15s or so. Unlike those people with higher levels, they needed extra protection from the chancery, after all. Anyway, she clicked [Yes] and the array lit up in front of her, revealing a tall man with short dark hair. He had a good face and form, and he also had a valiant stance. More prominently, he wore thin metallic armor and carried a helmet under his arm. If people were here, they would call him very knightly and heroic. He had a serious expression on his face even as he saw the two of them. Chin up, he then walked forward a couple of steps past the array. However¡ª Flop Althea and Garan flinched a bit when his knee bent at a slightly awkward angle, causing him to lose balance. Fortunately, the newcomer managed to stop his body just in time before he fell. He awkwardly stood upright again and stiffly headed in their direction. He kneeled¡ªlike a well-trained Knight, in fact¡ªas soon as he neared them. "Milord, Milady," he greeted, tone very professional, as if nothing happened. "..." Seems like they got a clumsy one. Chapter 1176 - 1176: Hero Rin A/N: Gap with T1 is now down to ~50 tickets! Thank you so much for your support! Special thanks to the several bulk ticket gifters who closed the gap so much! I wish I could reply to ticket giving so I can send my personal thanks, but it''s sadly not a feature. Please know that I take note of all of you! Now I''m just praying the other side doesn''t pull something at the last minute tsktsktsk *PRAYS* Anyway, back to the story~! ... ___ He stayed like this for a while¡ªpractically unmoving¡ªand it made Garan and Althea look at each other. Althea tilted her head as she stared at the aborigine in puzzlement. "I think we''re meant to say he should rise¡­" she mumbled, and then nudged her husband to do it. Garan''s eyebrows rose, but then he remembered how the man addressed them so he followed his wife''s wishes. "Rise," he said, voice low and authoritative, immediately gaining the knight''s respect. The man then pushed his weight on the grounded foot, steadily rising up. His hand remained in that formal and stiff greeting position though. "Milord." "I''m not the Lord," Garan corrected. "She is." Rin blinked as he stared at the beautiful woman. Realizing his mistake, he instinctively kneeled down again to apologize. It was just that the suddenness of movement made him lose balance again, causing him to fall sideways with his knee bent as if he was kneeling parallel to the floor. "..." "Are you alright?" Althea asked worriedly. He seemed to be genuinely in pain. Rin was indeed in pain¡­ from embarrassment. "It''s alright, Milord¡­" he said, sitting up and kneeling again from there. "Please forgive my sins." "Are you from a City?" she asked. He was very low-level if he was from a City, but he was way too formal not to be. Most Cities, after existing for hundreds¡ªif not thousands¡ªof years, naturally evolved into monarchies. With monarchy a complex set of rules, social hierarchies, and strict etiquettes¡ªall serving as displays of power, prestige, and stability. One of the few exceptions was probably Bleulle City, which depended too much on its noble families¡ªlike the Golds¡ªand its sole industry to develop such stark societal contrasts. If one were to compare, it was more like an Oligarchy than a Monarchy. Of course, if Bleulle managed to centralize more of its power, then perhaps it could develop that way, too. At her question, Rin shook his head. "I am not from a City, Milord, but the Town I am from¡ªcalled Hirsuit Town¡ªis a very old Town that only lacked the prestige to become a City." Hirsuit Town had existed for nearly a millennia and had several hundreds of thousands of population. In many senses of the word, it was practically a City. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was said that all it lacked was prestige, but there were also many people who said it was on purpose. Regardless, there was no way of knowing for certain. Anyway, after hundreds of years, it developed to have a royal family like that of many cities, and their guards were trained harshly not just in strength but also in etiquette. It had only been a year since he left his hometown, and he kept forgetting that their culture was generally unusual. He lifted his head to look at Garan and Althea. "I hope to be of help," he said, with a stance that made it obvious that he was formally trained. "We''ll talk later," Althea said, pointing at the lounge. "Relax there and have a snack or drink." Rin blinked and looked at the set of tables and chairs on the side. There were porcelain tea cups and some plates filled with food on top. His eyebrows rose, feeling flattered. "Y-Yes¡­" The man said, accepting the hospitality, and walking toward the table as ordered. Bump! Though not without hitting one of the side tables on his way there. "..." Garan sighed and didn''t want to look at him, while Althea just sighed as she turned her head to look at the array. People his level generally should have physiques with decent coordination, but there were apparently exemptions everywhere. The next ones to appear were Level 15s. While they weren''t particularly special, they would still be great additions to Alterra''s existing forces or to the satellites''. The names of the new hires were Wodan and Elof. The former was a middle-aged swordsman with a perennially depressed face while the latter was a young archer. As always, they gaped in shock when they found out it was her who was the Lord but quickly schooled their expression. They were also quickly calmed down by the snacks and tea, which made them inexplicably happy to be here already. They didn''t know if it was just the welcoming snack or if it was a one-time thing, but they were glad to have tasted it anyway! After orienting the newcomers¡ªreiterating the secret of her identity by the way¡ªshe adjourned the meeting with Garan saying they should go straight to the Barracks after settling down in their assigned homes. "I feel annoyed when they''re all so surprised to find out you are the lord¡­" Garan said as they sat. He leaned down to bury his head on her shoulder. She smiled, caressing his angular chin. "It''s natural, don''t think too much." Garan nodded, though the scent of his wife made him habitually move a little, tilting his head so his lips landed on her neck. Bang! They turned to see that the hired aborigines left the door open, and Rin actually hit the railing of the balcony. If he was a little more careless, he could''ve fallen down to the ground floor. The other two ran to him, pale, but he just waved them away, standing proud by default. It was like he believed that appearing unaffected would make everyone else forget his mistakes, too. "Is that normal?" she asked, seriously concerned. Strictly speaking, people in their mid-level-20s shouldn''t be so clumsy¡ªeven if they wanted to. No, it was physically impossible for them to be this clumsy. Garan looked at the man again. "I''m not sure¡­" At this, Althea turned to the door. "Rin," she called. "Come here." The man visibly flinched and turned to them, walking a bit slower than usual. He looked like he was having cold sweats, anxious. Still, he did his best to appear calm. He bowed slightly as he arrived near Althea. "Yes, Milord." "Go to the Hospital and find a doctor named Volohov," she said. "Tell them I sent you." Chapter 1177 - 1177: More on Hirsuit Town A few hours later, Rin sat in front of Doctor Volohov, who was looking at several pieces of paper. These were apparently his ''test results'' from examinations he had breezed through the past few hours. Because the Lord herself sent him here, he was placed as the priority and passed several queues for the tests. Some of the queuing people looked badly at him, but then he hit a column and suddenly they looked at him pitifully. He had to stop a deep blush from creeping up his face. While he admitted that he was unused to the look of pity rather than mockery, it didn''t make it less embarrassing to be in this state. He wasn''t always like this. Growing up, he took quite good pride in his reflexes, and he had been called dashing since he was young. He was on the rise in his hometown of Hirsuit, and had been counted as one of the most promising youths of their generation. It admittedly made him a bit arrogant and, at some point, he felt his hometown was suffocating. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. His Town had been stagnant for as long as he could remember. According to his grandfather, the last upgrade was before he (grandfather) was born¡ªmore than a hundred years prior. They also had so many rules that discouraged people from coming in, and only very rich merchants and strong mercenaries were allowed inside. If they wanted to settle down, there were a lot of requirements to be done, too. Anyway, even if life in Hirsuit Town was decent¡ªthe human instinct to look for more was still there. He knew there were bigger places out there. He had befriended some foreigners and found out about Cities, and they mentioned how Hirsuit should be able to become one soon, too. However, years passed and no changed happened. It soon became clear it wasn''t in the plan at all. So¡ªin what could only be called youthful arrogance¡ªhe went with some passing mercenaries to head outside for his first adventure. He joined the first Chancery he encountered¡ªhoping to find a City to explore. Along with the Mercenary Hall, Hirsuite Town never built a Chancery in its lands at all. The fact that people could appear from one place to another in an instant was fascinating to him! Unfortunately, there was something the Mercenaries forgot to mention: The Level 2 Chanceries¡ªwhich could send to cities¡ªrequired the person to be Level 25 first. So¡­ even after all this trouble, he was still stuck in Towns in the end. Rin was not even level 20 at the time. To be fair, not everything was known unless one experienced it themselves. Mercenaries already had their groups and had no need for Chanceries, how could they know the details of one? At first, he didn''t seem so affected. He just needed to level up. Then¡­, he realized how superior his hometown was to others. Obviously, they were all towns, why was everyone so weak and poor here? Wasn''t having a Class D weapon a standard for all guards? Wasn''t every one of them supposed to get defense equipment to protect themselves? How were Lords here expecting guards to work best if they didn''t bother giving them the basics? Anyway, during the next few years, he focused on leveling up to reach that requirement. He was well-trained and knew a lot of skills and techniques from back home so, despite his level not being particularly special, he outperformed most people. After a few years, he reached Level 24, and was even promoted to a Captain. In theory, he was rising fast and had everything under control. He had no lack of admirers, though he was mostly busy with leveling up to bother with others. He didn''t even have the time to make friends, building an aloof image in the eyes of everyone. Combined with the fact that he had his eyes on getting hired in a City, and how his hometown was objectively far superior to any of the Towns he passed through¡­ he became even more arrogant. He never bullied other people or anything, but he was definitely proud. He didn''t want to team up with people he didn''t approve of, and his language unconsciously betrayed how he didn''t see them in his eyes. Inevitably, he isolated himself. He isolated himself so much that, during a particularly strong beast mob attack, his team abandoned him as soon as things got a bit dangerous. He almost died and sustained great injuries¡ªmany of which even in his head. Fortunately, he always had a large stock of healing potions in his space. He downed a few bottles and managed to drag himself towards the gate. He even went to the Town Healer and completely recovered. Or so he thought¡­ Since then, he started to lose balance often¡ªtoo often. He¡ªwho had been able to avoid attacks from odd angles¡ªnow bumped into inanimate objects right in front of him. He didn''t absorb the change at first, telling himself they were accidents. But in his stubbornness he put himself in danger quite a few times and barely survived by using everything skill he had. Regardless, he was no longer able to do his job properly and he was getting too expensive for what he was worth. The Town Lord unsurprisingly didn''t renew his contract and he was forced to re-enter the Chancery again. There was no indication of health or any other notes in the Chancery and, while he did feel bad, he also needed to make a living. For the next few months, he''d encounter the same problem over and over. And because he was new, he was quickly dismissed as soon as the one-month contract was over. He even had to pay some damages when he accidentally brought monsters inside the walls, draining some of his servings. What to do? He only knew how to fight, but even that was eluding him. Now¡­ the Lord had sent him to this so-called "hospital", where he now sat before a scrutinizing old man whose piercing eyes seemed to judge his entire being. His eyes flickered, his heart feeling a bit of hopelessness. Was she going to get rid of him too? Chapter 1178 - 1178: Rin’s Hospital Trip The aforementioned judgey-old-man was unaware that his professional appearance was seen as a guillotine about to fall. After a couple of moments more of reading through his results, Volohov finally lifted his eyes and stared at his patient. "Did you get injured in the head?" This made the man flinch, before nodding. "Yes, but I recovered well," he said, assuming that his stay here would depend on his answers today. "I used the best healing potions I had." He appeared quite confident in this. The doctor sighed, rubbing his temple. "You, young man, have a vestibular problem." "Pardon?" "You might not know this but the inner ear is responsible for both hearing and balance." The young man stared at him, definitely very confused. Volohov remained very patient. This was understandable as the Xenoan knowledge about what was going on inside the body was quite finite. Deeper knowledge about the body was probably limited to healers and doctors from bigger territories. The others depended a lot on their inheritances or, if they had been apprentices, whatever knowledge their teachers decided to impart to them¡ªwhich normally wasn''t very much anyway. Fortunately, Alterra had grown their knowledge about this subject in the past few months. Strictly speaking, they probably know more about the Xenoan body than Xenoan themselves. For one, they knew that the functions of Xeno and Terran bodies were very similar except for a few differences like Xenoans didn''t have an appendix and that their brain structures were slightly different. They found that Xenoan brains were slightly smaller, and the parts of the brain dedicated to cognitive reasoning were a little bit inferior. This could explain why¡ªon top of various cultural and societal factors¡ªXenoans were slow to innovate and a bit slower to learn new things. This wasn''t publicized, of course, just kept amongst those in the know. Still, many of them have become much more patient than their Xenoan comrades since then. How did Alterra gain so much data about this, one would ask? Of course, through experiments. They had doctors, coroners, and scientists dissect and study the intact corpses of their enemies. It was disgusting for many, but they had to do many things for knowledge! For science! Anyway, Volohov thought about how to explain this to Rin. It was not even on layman''s terms, but had to be even more simple. "Basically there are¡­ fluids inside our ears that help us find balance. "When you got injured, that part was likely damaged. The healing potions probably didn''t help. Rather, the healing could''ve been a bit aggressive and healed the body incorrectly." "The healing might have also created excess fluids in your ear, leading to swelling and pressure changes." This was one of the dangers of using strong healing potions with serious injuries. If it was just simple stabbing, or bleeding, it could be fine. Even if the bones cracked slightly, that would be fine, too. However, if a body''s system¡ªin this case the vestibular system¡ªwas damaged, then it was a lot more complex because there were many parts that had to be connected properly before they got healed¡ªotherwise, it could stay in that way forever. This was why their pharmacy department was also developing the type of healing potion that would keep this in consideration. Anyway, everything was still up for study. Their new physiques pretty much threw most of their previous beliefs and instinctual judgement about the body and its recovery out the window. "We will need to¡­ do an operation on your head. We have already identified which bones and tissues need to be fixed, so that surgery should be able to fix you. Don''t worry it won''t take long¡­" Rin stared; he had no idea what he was talking about. As mentioned: All he knew was to fight. The other areas were¡­ for improvement. Looking at the other man just staring at him, Volohov couldn''t help but want to comfort him. "Don''t worry, as someone hired directly under the territory, you have a certain amount of medical insurance. You probably wouldn''t have to pay much for this treatment." "???" ¡­ Rin could only enter a daze as he was led into a ward by a male ''nurse''. He was also guided by the arms, making sure he didn''t bump into a wall or something. They then handed him a robe to change into¡ªwearing nothing underneath. This made him extremely self-conscious, but they said it was necessary for hygiene and for the convenience of what they were going to do to him. He felt a bit at a loss because, even if they explained it to him, he really couldn''t absorb it. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He arrived at a small room with four beds. He was led to an empty bed that was surrounded by thin posts with curtains. The nurse pointed at it before he left, saying that it could be pulled out if he needed more privacy. Two of the other three beds were occupied. On one bed, there was a young man a bit younger than him. He seemed alive and well except for some bandages that covered his entire body. One of his arms seemed fine, and he was holding a short-haired woman''s hand. There was nothing unusual about this. However, on the other bed next to them was¡­ a goblin? Rin was just getting more and more confused. Even when he settled down the bed, he just stared at the ceiling, wondering what was happening. While he laid, he could hear the conversation from the other side of the room. He wasn''t eavesdropping; it wasn''t like he could stop his ears from hearing. It was the woman who was speaking to them. "Really, how can the both of you be so careless?" she asked. "We are a Town now¡­ and while we can handle the majority of the mobs, there are still a lot of monsters way above our capability." The man answered her with a weak voice a moment later. "We were near the walls¡­" The goblin nodded, speaking casually to the humans (which alone made this whole thing feel more like a dream to Rin). "The scope of the Town expanded, but the walls remain the same¡­ so monsters are still fewer." "Yeah, but you two got injured regardless, didn''t you?" the woman repeated, voice changing to a more solemn tone. Rin was a little taken aback by a woman being so bossy to a man, especially her lover. What surprised him more was the humble stance the man took. "I''m sorry for making you worry, Barbie." The woman blushed a bit and just glared at him. This was Atlas and Barbara. Atlas was a refugee from Juno Town, while Barbara was one of the soldiers under Victor back then. They met as fellow guards and had become acquainted, slowly falling in love, though Barbara was promoted to captain of a separate team so they weren''t together when the accident happened. It was a standard clearing mission with citizens. This time, some goblins asked to be escorted for a fee. They made sure to stay near the walls, with some guards luring some monsters in. It started out fine¡ªas always. It was just that the infamous Leapard appeared, and they came in a small group, so it got very dangerous very quickly. Fortunately, the guards in the battlement quickly sounded an alarm and a group jumped down to rescue them before it was too late. More fortunate was the fact that Maomao was among these guards so they were quickly handled. It had to be noted that Maomao seemed to hate Leapards in particular though so it got a bit brutal¡­ Rin didn''t speak and just listened to observe. Goblins and humans interact like equals, discussing things. A woman being a captain¡ªa woman being a Lord¡ªand their men listening so intently for their opinions. And then¡­ treating him, a person who literally just stepped into their territory. Although he didn''t understand most of the process, he did understand their intent. They were ''fixing'' him¡ªand that was something he never would have thought would be done for him. After all, it was much cheaper to just let him be and not renew his contract. "Cutting the losses" was a phrase he had heard so many times in the past year. Letting him go through all these treatments must not have been cheap. Why? He had been through too much to think they were helping him for his ''potential''. That man next to the Lord was very strong, and he had also seen a group of level 30s or more while he was heading to the hospital. Were they just being kind? For some reason, Rin found it hard to wrap his head around that. Once again, he just stared at the white ceiling above him. What else would this territory surprise him with? Chapter 1179 - 1179: Next Steps (Part 1) The next few days focused on Alterra''s recovery and adjustment. It also included the handling of the new population that entered the premises. Now that there were no more limits in the entries, the number of visitors definitely spiked, increasing the overall energy in Alterra even more. Thousands of people had entered the past few days, not including those who arrived in time for the anniversary event. Further, thanks to the contribution points granted during the previous war and the upgrade beast tide, a few hundred also gained residencies though most could only afford temporary residency with the new system. While lounging in her home, Althea took another look at her territory''s status. [TERRITORY STATS Status: Level 1 Town Area: 28,270,000 square meters Residents: 14785 (4963 permanent, 9822 temporary) Total Population: 31824 Base Resources: Wood: 39300/40000 Stone: 28220/30000 Money: 95731 Gold, 449229 Silver, 5898699 copper Prestige: 2150 Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv3), Training Hall (Lv3), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1) Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv3), Barracks (Lv3) Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1) Building Slots: 10/11 (+11)] S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As for why her gold decreased so much despite the influx of population and property purchases, it was because she had to pay for the expansion of the Rules and Regulations. This was understandable. After all, expanding the area wherein all those specific rules applied required a lot more energy. It was normal for the System to charge more. It was triggered as soon as the loose sentries outside the walls finished construction. She wanted it so that if the people were fighting outside the walls, they had the extra reinforcement of sentries even when they were hundreds of meters away from the main territory. That said, when the billing was triggered, she was planting in her garden. When she saw how much it was, she almost fell down on her experimental plants. How much did it cost? Just a few tens of thousands of gold! Although she had a lot of gold, it was still painful to watch all that drain away for something that felt concrete. The upgrade of the training hall¡ªand the construction of the Post Office and the Pharmacy¡ªcost a fraction of that! That said, it was optional. This meant that in other places, some rules were applied to certain areas, while it was lawless in others, which explained a lot of things, to be honest. Of course, despite the astronomical cost, she accepted the cost anyway. She would do so when she did expand regardless, and there was no point waiting when she had the resources to do so. How many lives would it save? Not a few. Anyway, fortunately, it didn''t seem like it would bill this much for every single expansion. She reckoned the next one would be at the City Level¡ªbut it would likely consolidate the cost of all three Town-level expansions that came after this. She already shivered at the potential cost, but that was so far away she pushed it aside for now. Putting imminent money drain to the back of her mind, she went to look at her buildings. Until now, they were still deciding what to use the remaining blueprints for. The raw materials were increasingly finite, so they were deciding as if the sets they had would be the last ones. Speaking of aether buildings, she would never stop being amazed by the Training Hall. She couldn''t imagine the intricacies of arrays on the other buildings, but this Hall was on a different level altogether. Nobody knew where the Training Halls¡ªor even the Mercenary Halls¡ªcame from. This was the same with the Centers, which had been there since the beginning of the ''System'' as they knew it. Many of the other buildings, in contrast, were associated with certain Cities. She knew that the Sanctum of Constructs¡ª only available in cities¡ªwas where Lords could ''franchise'' building blueprints and make them available in the System building options. Once applied, other territories could build these blueprints like how they could currently build restaurants, residential areas, and so on at the click of a button. Of course, the blueprints submitted must be Class A, made by a Class A Architect. When approved, the building would be integrated into the construction options available to all the Lords of this world. When another territory purchased it, the submitting City would get not only a fraction of the initial purchase cost, but also a portion of the earnings until the end of time. If the building was classified as a ''Special Building'' ¡ªlike the Pharmacy and the Post Office¡ªthen the profit share was even bigger. Oslo knew this because there was a family record from another Architect in the family¡ªhis great uncle, though he had unfortunately passed away before he was born. Speaking of this, she also found out about the other system buildings and their associated Cities. For example, most of the food-related items like restaurants and juice shops¡ªas well as the Inn and Hotel¡ªcame from Holt City. The first Clothing store was from Makita City, but in the past few months, more Clothing stores from the other two Cloth-making cities popped up. She vaguely felt some competition among them. The Bookstore was Bleulle''s¡ªthe blueprint of which was created by Oslo''s late uncle. According to them, unlike restaurants and pharmacies where Alterra had to provide the raw materials for them to keep working, the Bookstore chose the option of providing the raw materials¡ªthough for premium costs. They just had to submit a stock of raw materials in the Sanctum''s Array and it would send it out according to its need. This was another reason why the papyrus in the Bookstore was so expensive in general. As for the raw materials, Althea found out from Oslo and Cassandra that they came from several subsidiary towns. They were quite secretive of their resource too, which was why Bleulle opted to do it this way. For example, the main component of papyrus was from Ester town¡ªthe place Cassandra was almost married off to. On the other hand, her hometown Jacoba''s main product¡ªthe Isatis¡ªwas a component of ink. The Barracks came from Warrior City, which seemed to be located in the far East, very near the Orc territory. The others, they hadn''t gathered yet but they were likely from well-known cities around the human territory. This was the peak of passive income in this world, and she was really interested in it. Chapter 1180 - 1180: Next Steps (Part 2) A/N: Decided to post an extra chapter today! Although Golden T1 is still some ways away, I see everyone''s efforts T_T. Special hugs to the bulk voters and gifters!! Thanks again~ Will post the extra in a few hours. Anyway, back to the story! ¡­ ____ This was the peak of passive income in this world, and¡ªalthough it would probably take her another decade¡ªshe was really interested in it. Of course, Alterra actually joining this lineup would probably take another decade or two. At the rate they were going, they''d reach level 2 Town within another year or two. The population was definitely not a problem, though the prestige remained to be seen. Her math team had determined some variables in calculating prestige. Basically, the more lives they touched, the higher the prestige. However, it had diminishing value for people in the same territory and for similiar products. So to speak, their prestige increased at an unprecedented rate in the past year because they reached a lot of places with unique innovations. However, the prestige would likely slow down even if they churned out more innovations¡ªunless they were really unique life-changing ones. Similarly, if another territory created the same things, the effect on prestige was much lower than the first time it appeared in this world. Her pondering was interrupted when little patters of footsteps approached her direction, and she could tell it was her babies approaching. "Mamaaa!" "Mwamaaa!" Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Her eyes warmed at the sight of her children. She climbed down the sofa to kneel down on the carpet as they ran to her. It was just that they practically sprinted to her as fast as they could with those little feet, making the adult''s hearts rise up. "Be careful¡­" she said, just as both babies glomped into her arms. Sigh. She patted their heads and leaned down, giving the smooches on their soft faces. "Don''t rush next time¡­," she said. "Okay?" The two babies nodded obediently, looking very cute. As for whether they''d actually be obedient¡ªonly time could tell. All sharp corners in the house were now covered with cushions because the babies really moved a lot after they started walking on their own. It was completely normal for babies to want to explore their surroundings, but her babies were¡­ too energetic, to say the least. Pepper was one thing, but Meatball bumped into surfaces so often that she wondered if his brain shook so much that all he could say was ''food'' most of the time. The baby boy grew into a true foodie who could eat anything, even the bitter vegetables. His size was increasing horizontally and, if it continued, he''d become a literal ball. Pepper was much calmer, but no less adventurous. They would often find her in random nooks they could not access. It was as if she was determined to go to every single corner of the house. The only good news was that they weren''t using their powers, otherwise, things would be much more chaotic. For now¡­ they were just thankful there were no immediate dangers to them except tables'' corners. Her attention was pulled to the present when the babies tried to climb up to her by stepping on her thighs. She blinked at the sight of their their dirty shoes on her dress but sighed in the end. "Mamaaa¡­ chup! Chup!" Little Pepper said as she tried to kiss her again. Althea blinked and leaned down a bit so the baby girl can give her a smooch back. "Meaboww! Meaboww!" the baby boy yelled, also wanting the same. Her eyes twitched when he stepped on her in particular, being especially heavy. Chu! Anyway, the two babies showered her with kisses, making her giggle. "Alright, why are you two so mushy today?" she asked, though not forgetting to return the favor. "Tweachew says!" "Yea! Tweachew!" Her eyebrows rose. "Oh?" The one-year-olds had just gone home from kindergarten class with Theo, who was much more well-behaved and walked right behind them. However, when he saw the twins were already with their mother, he went ahead to the study room, likely to start with his homework. Rosalind actually limited homework for school. After all, survival in this world was more than just book knowledge. However, this was still allowed for nursery and elementary school since they couldn''t go out and fight yet. Theo''s homework was practicing writing some words to master his vocabulary, while the babies told their mother about their day using their limited vocabulary. They were technically just honorary students, but they were also wearing uniforms. The school now had uniforms and each student was required to wear it. The first two sets (plus one for PE) were covered by the tuition fees or by the scholarship fees (if any). Any extra or replacement after that could be bought in the school''s store as needed. Anyway, the uniform had a very cute design with button-down shirts and varying bottoms. Baby Pepper had plaited skirt and little doll shoes while the little boys had shorts of similar color schemes. The color theme was khaki for the top and dark green on the bottom, to signify Alterra''s one-with-nature vision. "Teacher says to kiss parents when you arrive?" This was probably the school''s way of promotion relationship between parent and child. They nodded and she laughed, leaning down to smooch their soft cheeks again. "Well, homework done!" The babies giggled and they buried themselves deeper into her arms. "So how was your day today?" she asked with a gentle voice as she softly patted their backs. "Fwun!" Pepper said. "What did you learn?" "Cwicle!" "Oh shapes? You learned what a circle is?" Pepper nodded and then she pointed at her brother¡ªwho was decidedly quite round indeed. Althea laughed, placing another set of pecks on her small face. She then turned to Meatball. "What about you? What did you learn?" Meatball looked at her in thought, his chubby cheeks puffing even more. After a moment, he answered: "Downut!" Donuts were probably one of the examples the teacher told them. Unsurprisingly, it was what stuck to his foodie mind the most. "Well, that''s a circle too," she said, rewarding him with kissies too. "My babies are all grown up~ next thing I know you know all your shapes and colors~" she said, and then paused. Now that she thought about it: Their first birthday party was in a few days! Chapter 1181 - 1181: Start of Party Prep! A/N: Extra Chap is hereee~ hhehhe Again, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT EVERYONE!!! sobssss ... ______ It was something discussed intermittently during the past couple of weeks, and every one of them did have some plan in mind. However, now that it really was approaching she felt that they weren''t preparing enough! The babies didn''t know this of course. At this time, they were intent on uttering the couple of words they had in their vocabulary. Despite knowing only a few dozen words, they were really talkative. From here, she could tell what they remembered the most from their day. "Fwood! Dwishush," Little Meatball mumbled, drooling a bit at the memory. "Hmm, the canteen food is indeed very good," she said, wiping his saliva. On the other hand, Pepper had settled down and was sitting on her other thigh. "Tweachew pweedie," she said, just before turning to her. "Mama mo pweddie," the baby girl added, blue eyes sparkling as she looked at her mother who giggled at her. "Hmm, Miss Evelyn is indeed pretty," she said. "And thank you." Soon, the rest of the family came in and naturally congregated to where the children were (with Beanie sitting next to Theo to see if he needed help). Pepper was still snugly sitting on her mum, while Meatball was taken by Ansel, lured by cookies. Althea leaned over her husband''s other side, using him as a headrest. Garan smiled and naturally wrapped his strong arms around her, making sure she was as comfortable as possible. While the family lounged around, Althea brought up the children''s birthdays. "Oh my, time runs too fast!" Sheila mumbled, touching Pepper''s soft face. "I remember when you were just born¡­" Sheila felt melancholic and teary, touching her own big stomach. "Time really flies¡­" "I remember when the pregnant Althea ate a poi¡ª" Cough Somehow Sheila found a cookie in her mouth, effectively shutting her up. "..." The rest of them smiled and shook their heads, resuming the discussions about the party. When they got to the food, Harold volunteered. He had become good friends with Cooke and their cooperation was dubbed to be one of the dream teams in the food industry. Speaking of Cooke, he actually found his brother, who was now helping his business. His brother, Cuppin, was a refugee the Belluga caravans found a few months prior. He could not cook well, but he had excellent business sense. They had now expanded to several branches within the territory and opened stores in both satellites as well as in Bright. The brothers made a partnership with the ''territory'' for efficient procurement and sending of materials. It was quite the lucrative business. Interestingly, Cuppin was also a bit of an over-sharer and they found more about his former territory, Supreme Territory. The majority of the people there were from the Yuta country, though sadly their Lord was an idiot so they could only suffer. Anyway, putting that aside, Harold actually had a little surprise. "Ahem! Actually, there''s something I haven''t told you yet," he said, grinning as he looked smugly at his teammates. "The Twin''s Birthday cake¡ªwhich I will help bake¡ªwill be¡­ Alterra''s first chocolate cake!" This made more than a few people (including Althea) whip their heads, looking at him with bright eyes. "Is it finally done!?" "Chocolate?" "What about my coffee?!" He laughed, also very happy. "YES!" he said, as if he just won a war. The news just came today and he was itching to tell them. The two plants¡ªcocoa and coffee¡ªhad actually matured months prior. However, there were many reasons why chocolate and caffeine''s commercial availability had been delayed. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The plants developed a bit differently from how they grew in Terran. For one, they came out either too bitter or even tasteless, so they had to adjust a few things. Some adjustments came from as early as the seedling phase or even before they sprouted. They had very few successes the past few months, at least for Coffee. However, they consumed their stock weeks ago, so quite a few were having withdrawals. Now that that was fixed, the two drinks would finally see the light of day¡ªbringing happiness to many! They no longer had to limit their coffee consumption to once a week or less! At the thought, they already felt giddy as if they already had caffeine. Other than those two, honey was also being developed. Buggy Pooh found and captured bees several months ago and together with experts, they managed to create honey, which would soon be tested for consumption. Buggy was almost always filled with stings the past couple of weeks. After honey was commercialized, he would definitely be awarded a limitless supply of it for his personal consumption. "Ah~ coffee and honey-roasted nuts¡­ gosh¡­" someone mumbled at the side. It was Ansel. His food-related sighs made Meatball look at him, curious. Ansel chuckled, teasingly poking at the baby boy''s bloated stomach. "Wanna be a bigger ball?" Winona, who was carrying their baby, rolled her eyes. "Imagine that weight with his ability¡­" Ansel''s eyes twitched as he looked at the baby boy sitting on his lap, innocently munching on a cookie. The image of the baby using his ability while sitting on him appeared on his mind and suddenly he felt shivers run down his spine. He lifted up the baby by his armpits, passing him over to his dad. Meatball, who was enjoying his cookie, had no idea he literally changed hands. Anyway, each one of them started to fall into a dream of finally tasting some of their favorite snacks. Even Althea. "Chocolate is great¡­" She mumbled, absentmindedly, as she held her baby girl''s little hand. Garan chuckled, and he couldn''t help but pinch her cheek a bit. Beanie, who was helping his son with his homework, also smiled. He also felt nostalgic. Chocolate had been their favorite treat since they were kids. He and Garan would work hard to buy a few little pieces they''d eat during special occasions, though Althea would end up eating most of it. Time flew and things changed, but some things never do. Chapter 1182 - 1182: Playing Children A/N: Happy new month guys!! Sadly weren''t able to catch that top spot (it was so close ugh) but I''m touched by everyone''s efforts. Some angels even gave me tens and tens of GTs *sobs* I will still upload an extra chap tomorrow to express my thank you! Love you guys! TL;DR: This chap is mostly on the kids and some hints of some future dynamics xD. Chapter request ("More babies please") From discord lovelies Dejel and BoneRuler~ ... ____ Planning a party wasn''t a 10-minute thing. Inevitably, the babies would get bored just sitting there. Wiggling their diapered bums, the two babies crept out of their parents'' laps and headed to the table where Theo was doing his homework. Seeing the babies, the bigger kid put down his book and notebook and placed them in the space to do for later. Theo¡ªeven the other kids Maya and Horus (who were now in friends'' houses) ¡ªdid not show any impatience at all even when they were ''harassed'' by the twins, which was sweet and admirable. And so¡­ while the adults planned, the babies were playing around with the older kid. At first, Meatball was with the other two on the play area side of the room. He then saw his AwesomeMan action figure¡ªcomplete with cape¡ªand decided to make him fly around the house. The important part to Meatball was that the cape had to flutter, otherwise, it was a useless cape. And so¡­ Meatball came running all over again, making ''zoom zoom'' sounds he associated with the superhero (as told during Uncle Ansel''s story times). Fortunately, the hallways were wide so he was relatively unimpeded. He was like a hyperactive puppy that zoomed everywhere, just looking to use up that boundless energy. Unexpectedly, he stopped and squatted down, his diapered bum almost touching the floor. The adults'' eyebrows rose, wondering what he saw until he grabbed it with his tiny hands and opened his mouth to eat it. The nearest adult, Ansel, was sitting nearby. In his hurry, he ended up crawling like a lizard, arriving just in time to stop him. "Meatball! What''s that?" he gasped, taking it away. The other adults also stopped what they were doing and looked over. It was a toy ball owned by the neighbor kittens. Since the animals and children played around all four lots, the toys tended to get scattered all over. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "This is a cat toy! Don''t eat it!" Ansel said, reprimanding the kid. But then the baby boy looked up at him with those rounded eyes and Ansel''s tone softened. "It''s dirty¡­" Little Meatball was always trying to eat everything¡ªit was getting alarming. Althea¡ªwho had also run over with the others around the same time as Ansel did¡ª kneeled down to check her son''s mouth. She heaved a deep breath when she saw there was nothing unusual. Then, she looked at the baby with furrowed eyebrows¡ªgenuinely confused. "Why are you like this?" she asked, not noticing the people around her giving a side eye. That said, she just placed a pacifier in his mouth, one that was tied on his neck so it wouldn''t drop to the floor when he spits it out, before letting him go. "Don''t eat random things," she said, then paused in wonder. "Though it won''t be too bad to strengthen the stomach." Everyone: "..." ¡­ On another¡ªdecidedly more peaceful¡ª side, Theo was playing dolls with Pepper. On one side of the ground floor living room, there was a large play area where the kids'' toys were placed. While technically the entire four villas were the children''s play area, it was still nice to have the babies settled snugly in one area, not worrying the adults. This place was also Pepper''s favorite area because it had most of her toys, including a large dollhouse bigger than she was. This was a gift from Bianca for her six-months birthday back then. Came with the dollhouse were various pieces of furniture she could arrange herself, as well as a dozen unisex little dolls she could dress up. At one point, Baby Pepper decided every doll (even the male ones) should be wearing a dress. "Ugwee!" Pepper pouted, pushing away one of the male toys. Theo quickly understood what she wanted and took a random skirt in the ''fashion box'' and placed it on the doll. Baby Pepper seemed to be satisfied with it and giggled. "Pwetee!" "Than you Handsome Thweo!" she said and the little boy let out a cute toothy grin and resumed playing house with the little girl. Some adults at this time¡ªwhile chatting about the party¡ªwere either watching Little Meatball running around or were watching these two. It happened that the people watching the latter were the dads, who saw this adorable interaction. Beanie laughed out loud. "Did you hear that? She called Theo handsome!" he said, very proud. Baby Pepper was famously blunt when it came to these things. Whenever Beanie asked if he was handsome, she would very tactlessly tell him otherwise. "Good thing he didn''t inherit my face!" Ansel looked at him weirdly. "Is that something to be so happy about?" Beanie did not understand his question. He was just beaming with pride right now. "..." The two children continued to play dollhouse, with Little Pepper''s dolls ordering whatever doll Theo was holding up. "Yes, Pwincess Peppah," Theo said, making the doll walk around the dollhouse to do errands Pepper''s doll gave out. Theo took over another cute toy to bring and act silly, and it made Baby Pepper giggle. It was so milky and soft it made people go soft from the cute attacks. Theo was apparently also smitten, and he just stared at her with an adorably warm smile. This was an innocent interaction between children, but some adults couldn''t help but think of more. "They''re so adorable together," Beanie said. "I wonder how it would be like when they become adults." Then a bright idea occurred to him. His face lit up as if he just had a eureka moment. "Hey, wanna arrange a marriage?" he blurted out, looking at the side to see Garan''s cold gaze. Beanie immediately shivered in fear for his life, robotically turning away. "I was joking," he said, immediately backtracking. He only dared take a breath when he felt the literal cold leave his body. Beanie scratched his nose and looked at his son who was practically a knight beside Pepper. To be honest, it reminded him a lot of how Garan and Althea were when they were small. The difference was that Althea did not have a dad who could make metal skewers and freeze anyone to death. At this, he could only shrug. ''Sorry bud, you''ve got a long way to go.'' Chapter 1183 - 1183: Birthday Planning After a while, Maya and Horus¡ªalso in school uniform¡ªarrived and the three babies immediately went to greet them. The bigger kids smiled at the little ones and greeted them back, but instead of playing around, they settled down where the adults were lounging. Seeing this, the three babies also followed behind their big brother and big sister. "So the first birthdays must be grand¡­" Ansel said as he sat on one of the armchairs. He even pulled a small blackboard to his side. "So we''ll be treating it as an actual event!" The redhead always took the role of Main Event Organizer whenever there was an occasion in their team and everyone else was happy the troublesome parts were out of their hands. "I''ll reserve a hall in the hotel and performers¡­ Harold is in-charge of the catering¡­" While Ansel talked out loud, his audience half-listened and half-played with the kids. (It couldn''t be helped; people''s attention spans were limited). At some point¡ªduring Ansel''s soliloquy¡ªthey were all sitting on the carpet floor with the children doing their own thing. Maya was playing with dolls with Pepper on the carpet, while Horus and Theo started to read adventure books¡ªthe bookstores now offered a large variety¡ªand was lounging next to Harold with it. Little Meatball was with his father because he settled down the best with him. He was literally going around him at this time though, crawling everywhere. One time he was on his father''s lap, then he''d climb up his shirt, and maybe even reach his head. "Dada¡­ dada¡­" he mumbled, grabbing his father''s head as he tried to crawl over him. Garan was so used to it that his face didn''t change even when the boy was patting his face and squeezing his nose. He would only pull the boy back if he started eating his hair¡­ At some point, the menu was discussed. The menu had a lot of food the kids loved including spaghetti and fried chicken. They wanted to be awesome and make a coffee bar for the adults and a chocolate fountain for the dessert area, too. "Do you have samples of the coffee and chocolate?" Althea asked, her tone was supposed to be of professional inquiry, but the sparkle in her eyes said otherwise. Harold grinned. He had been waiting for them to ask! As the rest discussed about the venue, Harold¡ªunder the eager eyes of the children and adults alike¡ªwent to the kitchen to prepare the ''samples''. "Since they''re twins, the decors should unisex," one said. "Or a combination of their colors," another added. They looked at the super cute babies doing their own things, unaware they were the current subject of the discussion. "The colors don''t really matter," Althea said with a shrug. "The kids will remember the activities and the programs more." They nodded. That made sense. A couple of minutes later, Harold finally arrived with their drinks. He served hot cocoa and coffee according to their tastes, though the pregnant women were strictly allowed only to drink hot cocoa. The adults gulped, both excited and worried. The initial batches had a few¡­ problems that had to be fixed. The chocolate was too bitter and whoever tasted it spat it out. They remembered being so excited at the time, and feeling betrayed by the taste afterwards. At the same time, adding a mountain of sugar or salt to neutralize it was unhealthy. On the other hand, the caffeine in the initial versions of the coffee got too strong that anyone who drank a cup would be unable to sleep for two days straight. This would''ve been fine, but then they would lose energy all of a sudden afterwards, causing them to be bedridden. After some more tests, they figured the cocoa had too much theobromine while Coffee had too much caffeine. Of course, some energy drinks had been derived from that initial batch of harvest, so it wasn''t entirely a loss. They controlled it though so hopefully the increased theobromine in their chocolate still wasn''t poisonous to their dogs¡ªnot that they tried to do it, of course. Anyway, they all took sips together and their eyes brightened. This was it! They could already see the various products derived from these two and felt giddy with excitement. Althea and the others already felt the gastronomic culture of Alterra entering new heights, while Ansel could already see the gold pouring in! On the other hand, the children could only look curiously at the new drinks. Since it was still new, Althea and the others didn''t dare give it to the kids, especially not to the babies. For now, the kids would get juice in covered cups, with both Horus and Maya choosing orange juice, Theo with apple juice, and the babies choosing their favorite fruits. Today though, Harold made nice combinations to make things more exciting for the kids. The adults were having a ''novel'' drink, so the kids should also have it! For example, Pepper''s strawberry juice had extra basil, which added a refreshing tinge to it. Meanwhile, Meatball''s pineapple juice had a bit of mango that combined the zesty tang of the pineapple with the sweet creaminess of mango. The combination seemed like a success as it made the kids¡ªespecially the babies¡ªsip their drinks with more gusto than usual. The adults continued with their discussions, hearing the squishy sippy sounds the babies made while they drank. It was just that it was over too soon and the two babies ended up calling their mother. "Mama¡­" "Mwama¡­" "Mow joose! Mow joose!" Little Meatball called out, extending his little paws to show off the empty sippy cup. Their vocabulary was now about two or three dozen words. Half of Meatball''s was related to food. "Goodness, Meatball, if you keep this up you''ll really turn into a big ball¡­" she said, poking at his chubby tummy. "Hmmmm¡­" Seeing as his mother wasn''t planning on giving him more juice, his little feet went to Winona instead. "Mow joose antee Nona!" He looked adorable with those puffed cheeks and glazed eyes filled with plea. If eyes could grow hearts, Winona''s would''ve transformed into one. Little Pepper was much more demure, staring at her cup and numming the taste. Her chubby cheeks were red and her eyes were sparkling, obviously liking the new taste. She pushed herself up, her small feet taking her to Harold. "Mow joose pwease ankle Arold¡­" Harold, too, melted. Suffice to say, no one could reject them. They peacefully drank more of the juice, crawling back in the arms of their mother. ¡­ Later, in the middle of the night¡ªjust as everyone settled down and were entering deep sleep¡ªthe silence was cut by Fufi''s howling. It wasn''t noticed immediately due to the rooms'' excellent insulation, but Fufi started desperately scratching the doors. Awwwoooo!!!! He made as much noise as he could, howling in despair. He was especially frantic when waking up in Althea''s room. Fortunately for him, no one was using the voice blocker that night, and the humans were soon alerted by his pleas. The door opened revealing Garan, his ice sword up, ready to slice at a moment''s notice. Although houses made by the system could automatically block trespassers, he wasn''t one to take chances. Althea was right behind him, and she immediately ran out when she saw it was her battle pet. Snow! Snow! She blinked and they immediately followed the frantic dog back to their dog house. At this time, several other people like Ansel and Winona were there too. Inside, Snow was there, barely moving, and her mouth was slightly parted as if having difficulty breathing. Awwwooooo! "Oh, dear¡­" Althea mumbled, kneeling down to check. She looked at the others and then to Fufi. "She didn''t accidentally eat chocolate or anything did she?" Awwwooooo! She patted the dog''s head, comforting him, which just ended up making the big dog cry even more pitifully. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Husband, can you call Sheila please?" She asked, and he nodded, disappearing from view. Soon, the nurse¡ªwho fortunately lived nearby¡ªcame with her husband right next to her. Eagle stood next to Garan, while Shiela quickly kneeled to check on the dog, doing an ultrasound on her. Her eyebrows which had been furrowed in worry quickly loosened up. "This¡­" "What is it?" Awwwooooo¡­. Poor Fufi howled again, very pitiful. Sheila held back her smile and turned to pat the poor boy''s head. "Congratulations, Fufi," she said. "You''re going to be a father." This made everyone flinch and gape. They looked at the two dogs in shock, before breaking into smiles. Snow is pregnant! Interestingly, by the next day, this news would be spread throughout the territory, triggering another set of celebrations here and there. After all¡­ they were finally going to have puppies!! Chapter 1184 - 1184: Towns Subsidiaries (Part 1) A/N: It''s Sunday again and this means an extra chap! *dances* THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT EVERYONE! LOVE YOUUUU Additional Hugs to everyone who sent their votes! I try to take note of each one, and I love them so much~ And Special mention to Feb ''25 TOP 3 Golden Ticket gifters Emilia Kostella, Whitney woolfolk, and Foxiidust & Amara Woods~ Next week, if we''re T1 Golden, I will post +3 chaps that Sunday~ ¡­ ____ Alterra was not the only place making some major adjustments. The nearby territories, specifically its subsidiaries, were the same. Of course, they had it much harder. While Alterra was in awe with the eventual appearance of puppies, the other territories were¡­. still clearing up the mobs they attracted. With a Town so close to them, it naturally increased the average monster level by a lot. There were plenty of times¡ª especially during the upgrade mobs. Even with Alterra''s prior warnings and their preparations, some monsters still got inside their walls and wreaked havoc. They lost quite a bit of property in those times, and a lot of people were injured. Fortunately, they had a large amount of aborigine visitors that had been ''blocked'' from entering Alterra at the time. Their place had become a stopover of sorts to Alterra, and the Lords were smart enough to make deals with them. Micheal had also adopted a similar contribution system¡ªnamed "The Ledger" ¡ªwhich gave incentives to everyone who fought off the monsters, including aborigines. While their points weren''t nearly as valuable as that of Alterra''s, this allowed them to cope with the stronger enemies with minimal losses. These points also gave way for deals the aborigines would never be able to get in Alterra. And so, even after the Alterran doors opened, there were still plenty of aborigines who stayed in Bright Village. In fact, Micheal was currently having a meeting with Enok, one of the members of the Takoda Mercenary Team. He had been part of the celebrations in Alterra, but as a professional, he naturally went straight to work after that. They had been notified that Alterra was not planning on expanding (in the normal sense) any time soon. Although they could wait, they knew setting up base in Alterra wouldn''t be cheap, so they had to consider some alternatives. Contrary to Alterra, the adjacent villages would appreciate their forces stationed there, and the negotiations would definitely be a lot more favorable to them. Besides, Bright was less than half a day trek to Alterra, and an hour or less via Beast Car, so it was a viable¡ªno, it was an even more cost-effective alternative. They met in the Center''s meeting room to finalize their deals, and he had to say that so many people from Helios''s home planet seemed so impressive despite their low levels. Interestingly, the blonde lord was currently holding a fluffy white creature on his lap, absent-mindedly petting it while discussing with them. Next to the Lord Micheal was the green-haired Juno, who also had a small creature nestled on his shoulder. They both had blank expressions on their faces. It was almost identical. Juno was the leader among the aborigine hires, and in the past few months he had established himself as Micheal''s right-hand man. Uran, one of Micheal''s older aborigine guards, was also there though he seemed perfectly happy guarding the door and watching the visitors'' backs. Of course, considering they were twice the local level, the guardedness was understandable. Enok cleared his throat. "I heard Alterra didn''t expand yet," he said. "While we do have an option to wait, we''re open to other offers." He paused to look at the other man. "Will we have any benefits if we made a base here, Lord Micheal?" Micheal''s eyes sparkled, but his expression didn''t change much. For several moments, he just patted Gambino''s smooth and fluffy white fur while deep in thought. Micheal considered what to prioritize in this case. Would he want money from them or did he want protection? Considering the level gap between them¡ªas well as the fact that they could always go to Alterra¡ªit could only be one or the other for him. After a while, he came to a conclusion. His hand stopped moving unconsciously, making the cat turn to him. Meow, it said, and Micheal''s hand moved again as if to follow its wishes. "My hope is simple," Micheal began, teasingly scritching the cat''s forehead (which made it purr in approval). "You must make a vow to allocate a certain amount of force to assist in times of mobs and¡ªif the level permits¡ªin wars." "Of course, I also expect your people to behave well, protect our people as needed, and treat them respectfully despite their low levels. "If you can promise this, and as long as you follow these conditions, I can lease you a parcel of land you can use indefinitely." Enok blinked, a little surprised at the generous offer. Even if it was just a village, protected land was still protected land. It was a portion of its entirety¡ªone that was guarded by the System¡ªand therefore could not be given out casually. This was especially true because of its good location right next to Alterra, which no doubt would be one of the biggest pot of gold in this continent. Micheal smiled, understanding his shock. It wasn''t that he was being too kind and desperate for the other''s forces, but having a Mercenary from a City was definitely advantageous to them! S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. First, the mobs would not be a problem anymore. These people were used to even stronger mobs. Their number wouldn''t be too much that his people would be completely dependent on them, but at least he didn''t have to worry about Level 20 or so monsters getting lost and ending up in their area. Second, just their presence would make any other village think twice before attacking them! If those people were stupid enough to bid wars, then the mercenaries¡ªeven if they were beyond the level cap¡ªcould definitely ensure the battlefield was at least levelled. And finally, just having stronger people in the vicinity would add to the reliability of the territory. This would reassure people that they could make good¡ªand even risky¡ªinvestments on the territory. One of the keys to a successful territory was stable institutions, and having a reliable source of military strength they had some control over¡ªunlike Alterrans, who would need to be paid and would always prioritize their hometown¡ªwas instrumental to that! Of course, the aborigine did not think as deeply as Micheal did. He did, however, have the common sense of fist-ruling-everything, so he still somehow understood his sentiment. Enok smiled, relieved that this meeting ended up being even more productive than he thought. At this, he held out his hand¡ªsomething he learned from various Terrans he had dealt with¡ªto signify his acceptance of the terms. "Deal." Chapter 1185 - 1185: Towns Subsidiaries (Part 2) In Belluga Village, they were lucky to have an ample population of aborigines from the East. Compared to Shrao and Bright¡ªwhich shared refugees from the West¡ªBelluga was the only affiliated Terran territory in these parts. They were also the landing place of many Terran refugees from this region, injecting even more good talent into their population. Belluga had also never been taken over unlike the other subsidiaries, nor did they ever incur massive debts to Alterra either. This was why Belluga actually had the fastest progress among subsidiaries, next only to Alterra''s direct satellites. Interestingly¡ªunder the leadership of the new lord and his assistants¡ª the population had also leveled up quite a bit during the past few months. The most notable improvements were Esias and Cecil, who had reached the peak of the level cap and had shown significant progress in their elements. With the new monsters coming in, their progress would not slow down even if they stayed in their village. Speaking of Esias, they found out that they were the Witt family''s acquaintances. Even if it was not in the best situation¡ªconsidering it was to give news of their parents'' deaths¡ªthe relationship and camaraderie were there. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At first, Raine worried Esias would be pirated away. However, despite all expectations, they stayed¡ªwhich made Raine appreciate them even more. In any case, Belluga managed to settle their mobs much faster than Bright did so now the lord and her cronies were finally taking a rest at their shared home. It had to be noted that the house was not Kimmy''s one-of-a-kind villa¡ªwhich was a combination of three modules¡ªbut a two-module home amongst a community of others. Raine shared it with Kimmy''s remaining ''ex-husbands''. Until now, Kimmy''s old house was empty, maintained by a cleaning crew Raine hired every week. It was prepared in case she ever wanted to return, but also because none of them could face their show of cowardice, weakness, and incompetence that they associated with Kimmy and that home. Perhaps, it would only be occupied once Kimmy forgave them¡ªthough who knew if that would ever happen. Of course, with the many things and responsibilities they had to handle, those depressing thoughts only had time to occupy their minds during null times. It was very difficult during the first few months but they managed to survive. Fortunately, things were getting a bit better, and when they got the news that Kimmy had given birth and was going around town with an occasional smile, it felt like a small part of the weight was lifted off their shoulders. At the very least, they could finally sleep at night again. And thanks to the many refugees they took in and the good housing programs they implemented, the times the three of them had to personally move to fight had been reduced a lot. It gave them more time to handle the administration works, which ultimately helped improve people''s lives as well. Anyway, at this time, they were lounging in the living room. Raine was reading a newly-delivered newspaper from Alterra while Suide rested his head on Orland''s wide shoulder. Suide looked at Raine, who was coolly sipping tea. He looked at her pretty androgynous figure, sighing. "Such a pity," he said, velvety voice echoing in the near-empty living room. Raine''s eyebrows rose as she looked at the man. "What is?" "You''d have been quite a beauty if you dressed up properly." Raine''s fingers paused but chose not to grace him with a response. The way they found out about her gender was a bit embarrassing so she resolutely didn''t want to remember it. It was just a week ago, actually, and she had not had a day where it was not mentioned since then. At the time, she was so busy with everything going on¡ªwith Alterra''s impending upgrade¡ªthat she failed to realize her period had arrived. During a meeting with the other ''husbands'' and some guards, she ended up making an embarrassing mess on the furniture. She tried to pass it off as an injury of sorts, which worked for most men, but Suide was not most men. And what Suide knew, Orland would too¡ªso here they were. Anyway, Suide was more intrigued than shocked and he immediately showered her with questions. Eventually, they found out she had been crossdressing for many years¡ªeven in Terran¡ªand felt heartbroken for her. Suide was particularly vocal about it, moaning every so often how good so-and-so dress would look on her. It was especially prevalent when there was a new fashion item that came out, particularly from Andrei (and brought to Belluga by a caravan). If the light-haired man had the money, he would even buy the dress, hoping Raine would try it out. The latest one was a beautiful red dress made of silky material and for some reason, Suide was convinced it was made just for her. Raine naturally just ignored him, and the man just said he''d be keeping it in the closet in case she changed her mind. Even now, Raine still couldn''t imagine herself wearing such a dress¡ªand in a world like this, too. "That red dress would''ve been really nice¡­" Suide said, repeating the same line for the nth time since he got that dress. "I used to model for him, you know, I mean Andrei," he then said, looking a bit wistful. "He really has an eye for beauty." Then he went on about his experiences there, the fun he had modeling in Malin, or in Prang, or in Old York. He might even slip up about a previous boyfriend or two he met during those trips, which made the atmosphere around Orland a little cold. Suide cleared his throat and patted his partner''s hard pecs. "You were the best one," he said, and the tension on the latter''s face softened considerably. "Love you¡­" he said, hugging the bigger man, whose stern face softened even further, gracing a handsome smile in the end. Raine''s eyes traced over the couple before pulling away, looking out the window in a daze. Love, eh? Before more thoughts about that issue took root in her mind, she pushed it away, shifting to more urgent things. She looked at the current article she was looking at. The newspaper was just sent this morning by the first Alterran caravan to head out after the war. There, they saw the Post Office was built. Communication had always been one of the cornerstones of progress. Alterra¡­ would not be slowing down at all. "Belluga cannot be left too far behind." With Alterra entering a new phase of its growth, Belluga was bound to follow. For one, staying stagnant meant death, and they couldn''t let that happen. "Although our prestige would grow at a snail''s pace, our population should rise as Alterra''s does," she said. "Although Alterra is¡ªand, admittedly, will remain¡ªthe best choice, it is saturated there and the residencies have become very expensive. "At some point, a lot of common folk would opt to just live in a nearby village and visit Alterra every so often instead." She put the paper down and looked at her people. "That will be the niche we will take," she said. "And that will be the niche we will dominate¡ªat least in the East." Chapter 1186 - 1186: Raine’s Deputy In order to do this, they had to be able to offer the basics¡ªdecent food, decent shelter, and a way to sustain a living. She also had to ensure that the territory was safe¡ªand this meant handling stray town-level monsters coming their way. At the top of her mind, one way was to attract mercenary teams to build a base in her territory. That said, she''d have to be on a lookout for the good ones with some integrity. Anyway, this was just the tip of the iceberg and she was already overworked as it was. "I''m planning on promoting Esias as my Deputy," she said, making the two men look at her in surprise. For deputy, it wasn''t that she didn''t consider them. Rather, they asked her to reconsider because they could barely handle their own work¡ªlet alone take in bigger responsibilities. The two of them took on Elder roles in separate concerns. For instance, Suide was more on the economics and entertainment aspect¡ªsimilar to Ansel''s role¡ªwhile Orland handled the organization of their forces. In the end, they jointly determined that Suide and Orland weren''t for that position, leaving the deputy position open for a while. There was no actual ''vice-lord'' to closely assist Raine, which put a lot of toll on her. She had barely slept at all since taking the Lord position, and it was fortunate their physiques required much less rest. That said, that position was very powerful and whoever was placed there had to be trusted. "That seems risky," Orland said. "Esias has a lot of influence, especially with the hundreds of people he brought with him." His cynical mind even considered Esias refusing to go to Alterra because it would be easier for him to puncture Belluga''s existing power system. Of course, after many months of observation, the old man proved himself to be sincere¡ªbut that didn''t guarantee how things would go in the future. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Suide agreed. "What if he gets greedy and decides he wants to be the lord?" Raine shook her head. "Unlike men, I don''t look so highly at such high regard," she said. "As long as I can guarantee my own safety and lifestyle, I can easily let go of it." Probably. When that actually happened though, only time would tell how she''d truly react. That said, there were definitely people who didn''t hold on to power like others. At a thought, she couldn''t help but smile a bit. "It''s why I think the Lord of Alterra is definitely a woman." So early in the game, yet the person already delegated so much power. She must not know the other people well yet at the time, but somehow so many Elders popped up not long after the village was established. This was news to the men. Their eyebrows rose and they looked at her curiously. "Oh? You really think so?" So that was either Madam Mathilda, Madam Rosalind, or Miss Althea. It was¡­ an interesting thought¡ªand, the more they thought about it, it actually seemed likely. Silence passed by a bit as they absorbed the possible implications. Of course, it was mostly just for curiosity. Regardless of who the Lord was, as long as it was a Terran who cared for the people, they didn''t mind it. They''d even protect their identity¡ªbecause Alterra''s Lord in danger was a danger to all of them. "Speaking of Alterra, I may go to visit soon," she said, resting the back of her neck on the seat''s backrest. "Kimmy has given birth," Raine said. "I want to how she is coping with my own eyes, and¡­" she paused, her eyes darkening. "And that man¡­ they''re going to kill him soon." "I want to be there." ¡­ Meanwhile, Shrao Village was facing a very different situation. With Shrao villagers used to dealing with stray town-level mobs¡ªdue to their proximity to one even before¡ªShrao actually cleared them up the fastest. However, a new problem came their way instead. The first case happened just before Alterra became a Town, and they had taken in hundreds of refugees from the North. At the time, they didn''t notice much difference in them. The refugees¡ªall aborigines¡ªlooked pale and unhealthy, but that wasn''t unusual considering their travels here. However, at some point, they started noticing strange occurrences among them. Worse¡ªnot only the refugees, but the Shrao locals also seemed to change. It was not limited to the people with attitude problems getting worse, even those who used to be able to work well found their productivity declining. People started acting strangely as if they were not themselves. Things happened quickly. Soon, people with trembling hands and strange mood swings abound the territory. They realized that it seemed to be a disease, where people were pale as if bloodless and shaking as if they were endlessly antsy. Their minds were clouded, too, and some people became unrecognizable to their families and friends. Soon, the fact that it was a ''disease'' spread out and many ''healthy'' people refused to go out of their houses, causing another wave of damage to their economy, defense, and their morale. After all, what if the disease was contagious? Before they could figure out what it was though, the situation got worse because various deadly fights exploded in the village. They could not afford such detailed rules as Alterra so, for the most part, they only prohibited murder. However, for some reason, so many of these people seemed to have forgotten that basic rule. Shiro and the others could only be confused when small group wars¡ªaiming to kill the other side¡ªexploded all over the territory. There were even some guards among them!! Precious manpower that was supposed to be handling mobs had to handle internal conflicts, causing more and more losses on their side. After investigation, they found that the cause of the fights was the dwindling amount of the ''magic medicine''. To the ''ill'', it was a magic powder that could¡ªquote¡ª ''make all their problems go away'', and they had to get it no matter what the consequences were. For a while, the aborigines were baffled. What could possibly be causing all this? Chapter 1187 - 1187: Addictions (Part 1) At this time, there were a few dozen people in prison, all of whom looked like they were half-dead except for the manicness in their eyes and the way their bodies shivered unnaturally. If they weren''t injured during the efforts to calm them down, it was estimated there would be random brawls happening inside the prison cell too. Shiro and his cronies watched at a distance on the other side of the cell, thinking deeply, trying to figure out how to fix this problem. A lot of these people were valuable human resources and¡ªas much as possible¡ªthey didn''t want to just get rid of them. However, one of the prisoners suddenly bolted to them, stopped only by the sturdy system prison cell. BANG! "POWDER!" the person roared¡ªdesperation and anger mixed in his voice. "GIVE ME THE POWDERR!!!" "How impertinent¡­" Fos mumbled, looking at the man badly. This was a guard, yet he dared order the Lord. Shiro didn''t mind, just staring at the people in the prison cell. "How come even our guards are affected?" Shiro asked. Most of the sick people were refugees, and there were only a few dozen locals there. For some reason, most of the local ones were guards. It was here that some of his investigators walked forward. "It seems that when they found out the powder is magical, they¡­ convinced some of the refugees to share." They even led some of the group wars that exploded in the territory. Idiots. Apparently, since no one produced the powder in the territory, the supply dwindled so much that it was about to disappear. This naturally caused a fight to the death for the remaining bags of it. They were all aborigines who hadn''t seen much of the world, and they had never seen anything like this. They were just afraid the illness would spread even more, causing more problems. For days, Shiro and the others were helpless. Even the refugees¡ªwhose situation worsened the more days they spent away from the ''magic medicine'' ¡ªcouldn''t say intelligible things anymore. In the end, they had no choice but to ask for help, even if it meant having to pay another bulk of money. "It''s time to go to Alterra," Shiro finally said. It probably wouldn''t be free, but Alterra was their best option to deal with their problems. Those people had groups dedicated to studying unusual things after all, so they were Shrao''s best chance of fixing what was wrong with their territory. It was still a wonder how a territory could dedicate so many resources to researching abstract things¡ªsome had even mocked it once upon a time¡ªbut wasn''t it their only hope in the end? Anyway, the cronies agreed to ask Alterra for help. However, they did not expect that the Lord himself was going! They all paled as they saw him preparing for the trip. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Milord¡­ d-do you have to go to Alterra yourself?" Fos asked, voice cracking, trying to block his way. The monsters there have leveled up¡ªit was too dangerous! "You forget we were also close to a Town back then," Shiro retorted, walking past his advisor. While the terrain made it easier for them to defend their previous territory, it was actually more dangerous back then for them. At least the town they were currently attached to actually cared for their surroundings. They did clearing missions every day and sent caravans all over, so it was actually safer to travel now compared to then. Besides¡ª "I need to go," he said. "I should show myself more, to show goodwill." Then he sighed, looking wistfully in the direction of the town. "For better or for worse, we are dependent on Alterra now," he said. "We should start forging a better relationship with them." ¡­ A few more days passed by and life continued on as usual for the world, though it always felt particularly fast-paced in Alterra and its subsidiary villages¡ªmore so with its satellites. Like the subsidiary villages, the satellites did not slow down in their path to self-improvement. Of course, while life was very good compared to other places¡ªthere was no lack of challenges. However, Henry was not an acclaimed General at his peak for nothing. During the past couple of months, Limestone Valley developed into a very comfortable place for Terran and Aborigine alike. If someone wanted to immigrate to Alterra but could not, Limestone Valley was definitely the first choice among alternatives. They had also implemented a very good registration system that was not inferior to Alterra''s. Rather, they had to, because they were in a satellite that had limited access to what Lords could see and control. They thought: Although they had no access to the lord panel¡ªthey didn''t have it in Terran either. Despite this, law and order were still implemented in Terran. What made this place any different? Rather, they had sharper hearing and eyesight here! They also had complete gear like scopes and aether letters and the like, making this doable. They not only maximized the information they were privy to, but they also monitored the suspicious individuals closely. This was especially true with aborigines who might very well be targeting them or Alterra. Henry''s main gripe about all this was that he had to sacrifice a bit of his precious strong alcohol in order to get a few things out of their mouths. He took a mental note to ask for reimbursement. Anyway, they found out that these people had been keeping tabs of their population. They seem to be focused on the number of elementalist more than the products other territories were interested in. After a couple of months of stalking and investigation, they eventually realized that the suspicious people all came from a handful of territories. To be exact, there were three different¡ªseemingly unconnected¡ªvillages that were actually subsidiary to one Town: Voumi Town. From them, they also found that Inko Village¡ªthe territory that attacked them during the Heat Wave¡ªwas another subsidiary village to this place. They knew that Inko Village had defeated at least 1 Terran village before¡ª considering the Terran ''slaves'' they managed to win from them¡ªso the fact that a Town was gathering information, specifically about their elementalists, meant one thing: They now knew that every Terran in Xeno was an elementalist or had the predisposition to become one¡ªand had now begun making deeper moves against them! Chapter 1188 - 1188: Addictions (Part 2) A/N: Did you guys see the latest character images? Added Gochi, Baku, and Maomao~! I''m still trying to get better images, but those will do for now xD. ... ____ One could imagine the excitement and greed triggered by this information! The only reason they probably hadn''t been attacked yet was because they couldn''t yet. Limestone Valley was, after all, integrated with two other territories. Since Alterra just got attacked, this meant they had some leeway. However, that was nearly a week ago. This meant that¡ªin a couple of days¡ªthey would be vulnerable again. Worse, what if several of those subsidiary villages allied to deal with them, like what happened to Alterra back then? Unlike Alterra, they didn''t have the strength of a town as a village! "What do we do next, boss?" Benny asked as he looked worriedly at the data. Henry and Victor looked particularly conflicted. "I''ll send a message to Alterra to report. Hopefully, they will send us a few forces to help us out." In the past few months, after training the local guards, Alterra had slowly removed their forces in Limestone Valley. The goal was to make them self-sustaining, leaving only a few people here and there to assist them occasionally. Other than their local guards, the mysterious lord also somehow hired aborigines for them. These people would either walk down from the no-access floor or literally come knocking at the door. Although they were still village level, every addition to their manpower¡ªespecially those automatically bound by oath to the territory¡ª was appreciated. In total, they had hundreds of guards so far, and many of them had awakened their elements. This was already great under normal circumstances¡ªtheir guards were very well-trained¡ªbut when it came to wars against several villages, they''d need more to minimize the damage and losses. "Continue with training, but start the pre-war protocol," Henry said. His captains nodded, most of them heading out to implement it. The prewar protocol was the rule that prohibited people under a certain level from leaving the premises. It was also the rule requiring everyone outside to cluster in big groups and at least try to defend each other. It was similar to what Alterra had, except they couldn''t afford to have so many Aether Letters to give to every captain, so their groups were even bigger. Anyway, with the stronger monsters lurking around¡ªit''d be too dangerous to get out in small groups regardless. "I should stay a few more days in case a war happens," Victor said with a sigh. He was scheduled to return to Alterra the next day. Supposedly, he would be escorting his family back so they could all live here for good. Henry looked at him, patting his shoulder. "I''m sorry about this. My grandson needs his father." Victor''s eyes softened, heart filled with gratitude. At the same time, he felt embarrassed. Obviously, he was the assigned steward for Limestone Valley, yet much of the responsibility still fell on his father. Vanessa, who was sitting at the side, frowned at this. She didn''t think her brother''s trip would get canceled. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I¡­ I can go to Alterra and escort them in your stead," she said. The father and son looked at her. She might want to appear like she wanted to help out, but she obviously just wanted an excuse to go to Alterra. After so many instances, the two were finally disillusioned about their precious princess. Even they did not know how to handle her effectively, how to keep her in line somehow. However, considering the impending wars, their patience was thin. Victor¡ªwho had not forgiven her for what she did to Juni¡ªended up being a bit too frank. "Have you forgotten that you were banished?" he asked. "Do you want to keep humiliating yourself?" A few months ago, Vanessa did something that got her kicked out of Alterra. Somehow, she managed to buy something from traveling merchants from Towns. She used a good portion of her savings to buy a bottle, in fact. It was a ''love potion'', one available in Towns. In Xeno, this was basically just an aphrodisiac. Taking advantage of being a teammate, she sent Garan a drink spiked with this potion. Because Garan thought it was one of the logistic team members who sent it¡ªwhich was something quite normal¡ªhe consumed it without much thought. Then¡­ she ''happened'' to enter his office soon after that, wearing a particularly fitted uniform. Garan was confused at first until he felt his body heat up. "Captain? Are you okay? You look like you have a fever¡ª" Garan kicked her as soon as she approached him, making her crash to the wall. Because the aphrodisiac was designed to loosen control, his kick ended up being so strong that a few bones were broken. This included her nose which hit the wall with such a loud bang there would''ve been a crack if it was made in Terran. Vanessa could still remember the crippling pain that shook her whole body, how she could only stare at the floor while she was shaking in shock. She would not be able to recover for more than a month after that¡ªphysically and mentally. Anyway, at the time, Garan immediately rushed out and headed to the house. He quickly found and kidnapped his young wife who was happily bonding with her plants. Suffice to say, even the then-level 13 Althea couldn''t get up the next morning. Of course, Garan''s level was not too low even back then, considering it was just a low-level love potion. In fact, even if he didn''t vent, he could''ve handled it on his own albeit with a bit of suffering¡ªnot that his wife needed to know that, of course. Still¡ªregardless of whether or not that was the case¡ªhow could Garan tolerate such disrespect? Garan wanted to punish Vanessa harshly. He wanted to kill her¡ªor at least to banish her from the Alterran circle of territories so she didn''t even have a home in Limestone Valley. However, Althea stopped him from doing so. While everyone disliked Vanessa, it was not a crime worthy of death. In the end, she was tried with a jury. She was just ''banished'' back to her home, never to step on Alterra ever again. She was also kicked out of the Terran Mercenary Team, completely cutting off her access to Garan. Anyway, it was an embarrassing situation and Henry couldn''t tell what to do anymore! However, looking at her now, they knew she still hadn''t learned her lesson. "Vanessa," Victor said, narrowing his eyes at her. He could still remember her state when she woke up in Limestone Valley with a broken nose and broken legs. "Your obsession is seriously becoming a problem." Vanessa looked at him and her father. "When he saved me, I¡ªI knew it had to be him!" she told them, as if it would somehow shift them back to her side. "No, Garan was the only thing you wanted but couldn''t get," Victor said, cutting her off. This was something Juni mentioned to him before. "It is just your pride and obsession¡ªthe selfish desire that you want to shove into everyone else''s mouths." "You''ve been blacklisted¡ªand be thankful it was only that. You can''t enter Alterra anymore and we will never push for otherwise." Vanessa gaped at him in disbelief. She couldn''t control her heart! She just wanted to be happy! Her mother taught her: She deserved all the happiness in the world. Her brother and father also told her this many times growing up! Why were they backtracking now, why was everything her fault?! They were her family! They should''ve supported her like they always did! Victor could tell that his sister did not understand. She was so smart, had such high grades, and was capable in everything else¡ªwhy was she such an idiot when it came to Garan. "Listen here¡ª" Henry raised his hand, stopping his children from arguing even more. He rubbed his temple, trying to calm down a worsening headache. "You''re already in your mid-twenties, Vanessa, no longer a child," Henry said. "I don''t believe you truly could not understand¡ªyou are too smart for that. "You simply cannot accept the truth." "Our actions don''t only affect us," he said. "We are leading a territory with thousands of people depending on us¡ª" Henry then looked at his precious daughter, hoping in his heart that she would come to terms with their new reality. "Do not make us choose." Chapter 1189 - 1189: The Iron Mountain Situation (Part 1) Another Milestone Target Alert! Lolol When we reach 300 legitimate reviews¡ªwhenever that will be, lol¡ªI will post another extra 3 chapters! You can be as honest as you want. If the critique is valid, I will accept 1-star reviews. Please don''t do one sentence reviews tho! I wanna hear more from you! *stares* You got this far! Surely, you have something to say! *Hands on hips* *narrows eyes* #NoPressure Anyway, back to the story! ¡­ ____ The situation in Iron Mountains was slightly different from that of Limestone Valley. It has also become a tourist attraction itself and its population had also spiked so much that Alterra had no choice but to add a few manual mid-rise buildings to handle the population. It was quite a hassle that the custom buildings of Alterra (or even Limestone Valley''s) could not be ''pasted'' here, but what could they do? Fortunately, they had a mountain right next to them had some useful rocks they could use. The raw material for steel (i.e. iron) was also taken directly underneath it. They had long built the processing plants for Iron near the mines, so it wasn''t that difficult to do. Not to mention, they had the Warehouse to transport the raw materials they didn''t have. For example, lime and quicklime, which was taken and processed directly from Limestone Valley. Finally, there was no challenge looking for men willing to do the manual labor. For better or for worse, they had tens of thousands of population, too. Because the technicality required in the work was minimal, there were also a lot of aborigines hired. Rather, their average levels were higher than that of Terrans'' (at least for now) so they were actually more useful in the highly physical jobs¡ªprovided they didn''t have attitude problems, of course. Anyway, with the construction boom came a huge need for manpower ¡ªmeaning a lot more people had daily salaries¡ªwhich in turn added another small spike in the economy. It was the first time most of these people earned money from something like this¡ªwithout having to go out to hunt monsters every day. Considering many of them didn''t have professions¡ªand there were a limited amount of other jobs for the illiterate¡ªhunting outside had been their only source of living for a long time. It was novel and appreciated, despite the challenges that came with it. Hiring aborigines became one of the ways for the new administration to merge better with the local population they adopted, and so far it had worked well. After all, if people''s lives were improved¡ªeven if they had various gripes¡ªthey would soften in time. Word also spread and a lot of citizens from villages even a hundred kilometers from them started to immigrate, skewing the aborigine-Terran ratio even more. This also increased Iron Mountain''s prestige even more¡ªwhich was actually already half-way to a Town when Alterra took over. If Guia did not fall, it would''ve become a town in less than a decade. Alterra taking over expedited that by years. After all, although black metal wasn''t¡ªin reality¡ªan extremely rare resource, it was relatively unusual in this region. There were also the very real challenges of mining it. After all, not many territories got lucky and captured a whole slew of goblins to dig for them. In most cases¡ªeven if a territory was lucky enough to find a mine, they''d more likely die because the soil collapsed on them instead. So, for many years, Guia Village was the sole source of black metal in these parts. Considering many long-lasting territories had weapon stores that produced Class D weapons, this meant the demand for the material was not low. In time, this added quite a bit of prestige to the village, which only increased with the injection of Alterrans and their innovations. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, like Alterra, they also knew they couldn''t handle other towns at this time. To cope, Iron Mountains had also increased their prices similar to Alterra''s before they upgraded to a Town. It was still affordable, but it helped control the citizenship somehow. Interestingly, if they turned to a Town, Ferrol Town promised they''d assist if needed. This was really nice of them considering the distance between them was quite small¡ªjust over hundred kilometers¡ªwhich was the average distance between villages. When Jonathan was asked if he really wasn''t threatened, he just answered with ''if they''re nearby, then life is good and peaceful''. And he was right. ¡­ At this time, Rowan was in the Prison with some old and new prisoners. It was unfortunate they couldn''t become slaves unless they beat their territory in a war, otherwise, these people would''ve been sent to the mines to help out. They were too strong to be let out without a slave prohibition, so they could only stay in prison while they were being interrogated. "OUR TOWN WILL NOT STAND BY FOR THIS!" the man yelled. He was much thinner than he was months ago when he was captured, but he was no less arrogant. Rowan looked at him with a frown. This had been a constant line from this dude. Apparently, their town had a continuous deal with Guia to provide large amounts of iron every half a year. Their Town? A place called Valov Town. Valov Town was, apparently, in charge of another iron mine hundreds of kilometers Northwest of Iron Valley. They knew this because the prisoners bragged about it, thinking it would humble them¡ªnot that it worked, of course. As for the new prisoners, they were a group sent to check what happened to the previous two, as well as to take the black metal¡ªwith huge amounts of interest considering the delays. This was a mystery to Rowan until now. For a while, they had only met one of the two groups, which came after the first one went missing. However, even after a few months, there was still no news of them at all. In the end, they concluded that the group probably met some bad luck on the way to Guia back then, which was just as well. They did not know what this misfortune was, but they were thankful for it. Somewhere hundreds of kilometers away, a certain half-orc sneezed. One had to note that when a half-orc sneezed, it created an explosion of saliva. Worse, he was eating some gugu bird at the time¡ªthey were camping during a clearing mission¡ªand it splattered all over his team. "KYAAA!" "HEY!!!" "Gross! My precious bento!!" someone cried. "My wife made that!" "DAMNIT, BAKU!" "This was a new jacket. How unlucky!" His feline eyes twitched and he apologized, raising his clawed hands. "I just felt someone was thanking me just now." His team gave him a look. "Well, it''s not us!" Baku-the-misfortune: "..." Ah well. Chapter 1190 - 1190: The Iron Mountain Situation (Part 2) Anyway, Rowan stared at the latest prisoners he had¡ªthe ones who were there to investigate what happened to the other two. These people arrived with several beast carts in tow, even more arrogant than the team that came before them. Basically, these people demanded that Iron Mountains had to ''pay'' the black metal balance due the past months¡­ multiplied by two. They expected the extra beast carts to be filled with Iron, basically. Anyway, it got them straight to the prison, and now they were making a scene. The strong prisoners were held in isolation. The Level 1 Prison could easily keep level 20 and below, but stronger ones would be greatly weakened. This was on top of the arguably inhumane punishment of taking away lifespans. Anyway, for now, the prisoners could only run their mouths. They were very annoying, but it was in these times they got most information from them so they let them run their mouths. So the guards would even actively irk them to annoy them. It was, apparently, quite fun to bully but ''for a good cause''. For example¡­ "Where did they say they came from?" Guard 1 would ask. "Falop Town," Guard 2 said. "Wasn''t it Wallop Town?" "VALOV Town!" the prisoners yelled, some even in sync. "Valov Town is a level 2 Town!" "What can a village like you do?!" How could they be so arrogant!!? "Meh, never heard of it," Guard 2 shrugged, looking at Guard 1 who just shook his head, as if thinking they had to most boring job ever. This made the proud men redden in anger and in embarrassment. They could not move much, but they at least wanted to humble these bastards!! "We will get these mines!" "Just you wait¡ªOur Valov''s subsidiaries will crush you all!" Rowan heaved a deep breath as he raised his hand, a flicker of ember appearing on his hand. Then, in a flash, it burst bigger to the size of a head. Guards 1 and 2 then smirked, spraying the men with some excess oil they had in space (these were dirty oil that had been used several times in cooking). "You bastards! AHHH!" "This is disgusting!!" But then they saw the fireball heading in their direction and they could only scream in despair. When Rowan left, the men were half dead. He didn''t kill them yet¡ªit wouldn''t have been straightforward either since many had higher levels than him. However, he did make sure they were as weak as they could be in order to exacerbate the weakening effect of the prison itself. He didn''t dare underestimate these bastards at all. When he went out of the building, he saw Silvia right outside, waiting with a concerned face. Rowan gave a small smile as he walked to her, raising his hand to pat her head. "They can''t beat the prison," he told her, knowing what her concerns were. She didn''t look particularly comforted, however. "Do you think people will question that capture?" she asked. After all, this batch was especially noisy. Everyone saw they were captured. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. While they had a valid reason for doing so, it could be a problem if someone from their hometown arrived and demanded their release. While causing chaos was indeed a crime worthy of imprisonment, becoming tortured until half-dead was not. Still, Rowan had to do what he had to do. "They probably would," was all he said. Soon, people would get a clearer picture of what was happening¡ªof what had been brewing for a while¡ªif they hadn''t already. Regardless, they reported this to Alterra, hoping they could send instructions as soon as possible. ¡­ Located far West of Alterra was the Level 2 Valov Town. It had Level 6 inner walls¡ªwhich was impressive for its level. It also had Level 6 sentries placed at optimal distances, added through the years. The exterior wall was only level 3, but it covered a large area, all filled with buildings, and was bustling with activity. At the center of the inner area was a large house with four floors. Currently sitting on top floor was the lord, his various servants kneeling in front of him. He was an old man around 80 or 90 years of age¡ªthough he looked a few decades younger. His name was Baltazar, a level 45 man with whitish hair and beard. At this time, he had a dark aura around him, making him more intimidating. He was reading a letter from the Master City. "Hassen City has shown discontent with our production lately," he said, gritting his teeth. All of a sudden, he slapped the table in disgruntlement¡ªpulverizing it¡ªterrifying the servants even more. "Why hasn''t the money and black metal from Guia arrived yet! It''s been months!" He had taken the previous delay as something due to the heat wave. There was also the fact that Guia was quite far away from them compared to the other. However, the master city suddenly required a lot of it, so¡ªeven though it had various other sources¡ªthe lack of one source had become obvious. Wazan, his second in command, heaved a deep breath. "The three teams we sent have yet to come back sir." Wazan was a level 37 elementalist, specializing in aggressive fire. "What are their names?" he asked, and Wazan enumerated the names of the people he sent. Baltazar then looked at his population list. "A lot of them has disappeared," he said. "But some of them are alive, somewhere." Or rather, those from the third batch were alive. The ones prior to that were all dead. The first two could have been dismissed as casualties of the various disasters that had been happening, but the third case made it clear¡ªsomething else was going on. Balthazar''s eyes darkened as he looked at Wazan, before turning to a few higher-levelled guards. "Go look at Guia yourself," he said. "And pass Ferrol by the way, find a way to get both territories to pay for our losses." Although Ferrol was also a town, it still had to guard against offending the master city. "Get Ferrol to make a Mercenary Mission for you." Otherwise, traveling to Guia from their place¡ªeven by beast car¡ªwould easily take more than a week. The man narrowed his eyes. That queer was one thing, but that bastard son of his had better have a good excuse for this! Chapter 1191 - 1191: Basset Town’s Movements Trigger Warning: Mentions of MxM sexual abuse. ... ____ While Valov Town was still investigating, another Town was already prepared to move towards the Alterra region. This was, of course, none other than Basset Town. All the power players in the Town were in the Center''s meeting room. This included Fargo, who was pale as a sheet after being played around with by Vara, the leader of the strongest Mercenary Team in town, that morning. He must''ve done it on purpose too¡ªthe old man relished seeing him humiliated. Fargo felt intense hate inside him as he looked at the man, but he was too dependent to do anything about it. At least he was alive and would be able to walk after this. Back when he was weaker, Fargo would be dragged out of the old man''s room half-dead. Every single time felt like he was dying, over and over, and Fargo could only grit his teeth in humiliation¡ªbut what could he do? The man was a powerhouse more than twice his level. He was even wearing a protection charm! When Fargo came here to Basset, planning to ally with the strong man and offered his services, he did not expect it to develop like this! S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Who''d have thought that Vara, the leader of the Rongo Mercenary Team, preferred men¡ªspecifically those who gave him a sense of conquest. As a former Lord who was also an elementalist, Fargo quickly became the favorite. The first few months started out fine, especially when they were developing the crossbow. Although he was weak, he still gathered some respect because he was an elementalist and had specialized knowledge supposedly not inferior to this world''s Weaponsmakers. They managed to create their own versions of improved long-ranged bows and arrows, crossbows, and so on. However, those still didn''t become Class D weapons even if they had black metal components to them. After scouring the region, they managed to get ahold of the improved versions from Alterra and bought them for a very high price. After months of development and his assistance, Fargo guided Basset''s weapon makers to create similar Class D weapons. This allowed his status to rise, and he could even use some mercenaries to help him level up. The success made them greedy and he tried to introduce explosives to them. However, he underestimated aether and its effects on the materials, and the experiments were botched¡ªkilling one of the precious Class D weaponsmiths in the territory. The Lord made Vara responsible for the loss and made him pay huge amounts of gold. Vara paid for it, but how could he let Fargo go? He almost died in the hands of the old man back then. He was not only beaten up to a pulp, but he was also violated in a way he would never have imagined. When the old man penetrated for the first time, Fargo couldn''t believe it was really happening to him. Then he felt his sanity slipping away as the man thrust and vented on him. Partnered with the intense physical pain all over his body, Fargo felt like his soul was being crushed as well. He''d have killed himself then, if he wasn''t so desperate for revenge!! No matter how humiliated, he kept living. He must see Alterra, especially Garan and his wife fall! If it wasn''t for them, he wouldn''t have to go through this at all! He was determined he would take them down with him!! He had already planned so much and he never felt the vague oath of not harming Alterra¡ªeven indirectly¡ªapply to him at all. He felt like he found a loophole and he was planning on taking advantage of that! In any case, even if the initial war before when Alterra was a village failed badly, they were now a Town and therefore could be handled directly with brute force. The level limitation for Town level wars was 40. How many of those did Alterra have? Basset Town had been a Town for years, and its average strength among the fighters was level 20¡ªthat was in the hundreds! How could Alterra compare? More importantly¡ªVara himself and his various Level 30 cronies could move directly. He would make sure of that! In contrast, Alterra didn''t even have Mercenary Halls to help them out, and Ferrol might take a while to be able to provide a force that could handle what he planned to send. Alterra would be helpless! The Basset Town Lord, Bentro, fortunately, had the same idea as he did, so when he and Vara proposed to attack Alterra as soon as possible, he agreed readily. "The two weeks since the previous war is almost up and we can finally attack Alterra," Vara said. "We have to attack them now while they''re still weak from that large mob." Even they felt that upgrade mob from the territory. It was huge, as if Alterra took most of their own mobs. Although the subsidiaries received a crushing defeat, they believed that the mob should have still caused heavy damage and losses. Even if their spies could not be contacted at all now, they believed that the war and the mob sufficiently weakened Alterra! It was impossible not to! At this, Fargo couldn''t help but add: "We must hurry. A lot of forces are interested in that place. If we get preempted, we might lose the chance to get it!" At this, everyone felt antsy. Alterra was ''weak'' and extremely new. Among Towns, it was considered a child, and it was unlikely for it to win its first war as a town. Even if¡ªby some miracle¡ªthey did, it would mean Alterra would be richer and weakened, which would not be too bad¡ªHowever, that''d mean they''d have to wait two more weeks! Anything could happen in that period. Alterra was too good! According to Fargo, a good portion were even elementalists! Imagine! That was thousands of elementalists! Other than those, Alterra also had an array of products¡ªeach one guaranteed to bring them money! They had not encountered such a tempting loot in their lifetimes, and they would regret losing it to other territories. At the same time, they also had alliances with Ferrol and were surrounded by subsidiaries. Alterra should not be given more time to recover and regroup! Fargo looked sharply at the arrogant aborigines. Unlike them, who were arrogant, he still knew never to underestimate that place! They must attack now! And they must go all out! Chapter 1192 - 1192: Basset Town Spies A/N: So in chapter 1184 I mentioned Feb 2025''s TOP 3 GT givers. Starting this month, I''ll also dedicate a chapter to the top 1 for that month~ Like, if you have any requests (as long as it fits the narrative, ofc), I will do it! I''ve been thinking about how to give back to the ones who send out huge amounts of GTs in a month (sometimes, even more than a hundred!), but this is all I can come up with for now xDDD Anyway, back to the story~! ¡­ ___ Fargo did not forget to remind them that this enemy, even if it was a ''baby'', was a force to be reckoned with. "Although their levels are weaker, they could come up with strategies that could balance the gap." "They can use their terrain, their creatures¡ªyou name it," he said. He would not be surprised if they did something similar to handle the tens of thousands of forces they sent a few weeks ago. Sadly, they weren''t able to learn much because they lost contact with their spies during the war. Still, they sent so many. Did Alterra really capture all of them during that time? It was the reason no new spies had been sent. Lord Bentro refused to believe all that manpower was gone, especially when they were still alive according to his Lord Panel. In fact, Alterra did not catch every spy during the war¡ªthough most of them did show tails trying to cause chaos during that period. Despite this, the guards captured the rest of them after the war, specifically when the Post Office was built. The spies did not know they were already monitoring Basset Town, so when they sent the messages home in panic, they were quickly captured by the Alterran guards, never to see the outside world again. "They will also have weapons you cannot imagine." "Like the one you keep failing to create?" one asked, an arrogant smirk on his face as if he made a smart comment. "Much better than what you have done in your pitiful life." "You¡ª" "My point is: Not to hold back," he said, ignoring him and shifting his gaze to look at the Lord. "Please send the majority of your forces. What could happen? At least you will be more rest assured and the war would also end faster. "That way, the token wouldn''t accidentally bind with someone else." "There''s also the chance the satellites would get attacked," he added, reiterating their timing. This was the advantage of taking a weaker territory as a satellite. Even if the level was different, the wars were still considered to have happened to the entire group. According to his investigations, there were a few towns up north who allied and let their poorest subsidiaries attack each other every two weeks, letting them go completely warless for years. This wasn''t a common practice, however, because such a strategy was seen as weak and cowardly. At this, Bentro completely agreed. Several team captains continued to plan what to do next. For instance, how many people would they send, how many weapons to prepare, what they knew Alterra had, and what they could do. "But what about those mercenaries and those caravans visiting? What if Alterra asks them for help?" Everyone knew they had a lot of visitors. That was probably a big variable they had to be careful of. "Not many would interfere. Alterra doesn''t have a master city, unlike us." "Makes sense." While most people were excited¡ªas if Alterra was already within their grasp¡ªsome still felt worried. "Are we really sending so many forces? In case we lose¡ª" Majority of the people who''d turn into slaves were the people already there in the vicinity of the war. If they sent so many people, and if they lost, then they''d lose much of their overall fighting forces. This earned him a dark look from the Lord. "You think we''ll lose?" "No, milord, but¡ª" Bang! In a flash, the man''s head fell down. The aura of a level 42 resonated in the surroundings before it retracted again. Vara chuckled, loving the bloodlust, while everybody else had varying expressions on their faces. This was one of his advisors, and a lot of people had been vying for his place. While most flinched in shock and fear, there were also those who were smirking. "We don''t need idiots here," the Lord said. "The Lord is wise." "Yes, he had always been an idiot." "A waste of space." Bentro nodded arrogantly, shifting his eyes to look at the rest of them. His eyes were focused on Fargo though, who turned out to be the main advisor in this case. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Now, tell everyone the strategy¡ªwhatever tricks they had, you better be prepared!" Fargo''s lips twitched upwards and he looked at Vara, whose eyebrows rose. Alterra was as good as theirs! ¡­ "Get ready for war!" At this time, several groups of guards were going around the territory doing various preparation works¡ªwhether it was collating the resources they would bring, ensuring they had enough weapons, and so on¡ªit seemed like the entire territory had been mobilized. "Get out of my way!" a guard yelled, kicking a beggar out of his path. The groups passed by without care for the beggar¡ªa common sight in these parts¡ªand headed to where they ought to be. When the guards disappeared, the beggar slowly sat up again, shakily walking towards an alley, appearing very weak. The buildings were dense in Basset and there were many blind alleys. The amount of waste and dead bodies found in those spots every few days was disgusting. As soon as he disappeared from sight though, the beggar''s stance became straighter immediately. "Jerks¡­" Tambay muttered under his breath, taking out an aether letter along with his much-preserved jerky. He chose an alley that had just been cleaned by the slave cleaners. He had lived in Alterra for so long, that he had also become a bit squeamish. Tambay chewed on his jerky as he wrote down on the large piece of parchment. This aether letter would be sent to a teammate who rented a house and had a messenger bird on him. ''Tell Alterra, War is coming'' he said in the letter. ''And it looks like they''re not holding back.'' Chapter 1193 - 1193: More Hires At this time, Althea was in the Town Center. According to their information (i.e. the Ferrol Journal), the next level would only be available at Town Level 3, and by that time, they could hire up to 5 per day with 10 options. Today, Althea hired three new aborigines via the Village Center. Although not all aborigines were exemplary choices, she made a point to hire at least 3 every day until she needed to control the population again. The average level was around level 15 after all, which should slowly increase the level average of Alterra. She even got one armor maker and another weapon maker among the new hires the past few days, both having signed contracts and were sent to the appropriate departments. Anyway, she just sent them directly downstairs where the concierge would be waiting to orient them on the territory. The concierge also had an aether letter in there now as well, so they could receive instructions real-time. Considering new people would be coming in every day, she decided to assign someone to orient them formally without bothering the other hires. Speaking of aether letters, she had taken it off the shelves in the contribution store for now. Its supply was very limited, especially now that Otto hadn''t visited in a few months. For the first few months after the deal with the Golds, there were various exchanges that had happened. There, they got a few sets for blueprint making, and also a few dozen pairs of aether letters. However, about a month ago, after they sent the hospital blueprints, they hadn''t heard from them again. More often than not, if they had anything to send, they''d send post to Ferrol Town, who would then give it to their base there. So far, they had not received any message from the Golds, and Oslo and Honda were naturally quite worried. Because of this, Oslo planned to take a day off at the end of the month to check on them. She had also been studying the arrays there. However, while she isolated a few patterns, she still couldn''t figure out how to make it work as a tool. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She also found out that the Visionstone was really good. She could see some basic stats of the territory Resident Alterrans had been to, so she could really see Alterra was far beyond the average of its tier. The limit was the territory had to be of the same rank and below, so she was blind to territories like Ferrol or Bleulle. At least she could see Basset Town''s status. [Basset Town (Lv1) Population 143034, Prestige 1291] Basset Town was a relatively young town, upgrading some 10 years ago. Its prestige seemed to be standard for that level. The closest Towns to Alterra were Ferrol and Basset Town. They had been following both territories, planting sources of information (though this was managed by her husband''s intelligence group), to get more in depth knowledge about them, particularly the latter. They had known Basset Town was hostile, especially considering many of its subsidiaries just attacked them. The other Towns were very far, at least thrice as far as the other two, and they hadn''t heard much about them. Anyway, she went home and saw the family in the living room preparing for the party the next day. Or more accurately, preparing for the performance. At this time, most of the adults were lounging in the living room, amusedly watching Ansel with the kids as they practiced. The coffee table was put aside to give space to the five children¡ªthe babies and the big kids¡ªwhile Ansel was in front of them acting like the leading Kid. "Are you excited for the party?!" "YAAA!" Maya yelled with much gusto. Theo did the same, though much more demurely. Horus nodded reluctantly with a blush on his face, though he did raise his arms when Maya turned to look at him. Lastly, the babies saw the big sister and big brothers'' energies and followed their leads, stretching their little arms as far as they could. "YAAA!" "YAAA!" The babies now had a few baby teeth, and they showed it off in their cheer. The babies had also graduated from their onesies now (though they still wore them as pajamas) and were now wearing tiny versions of Big Kids clothing. Meatball was wearing cute shorts and a mini t-shirt with Baby Skunk image in front. He also had adorable sneakers on. They were smaller than a woman''s palm. Very cute. Little Pepper was wearing a cute little frilly dress with a ribbon. Very early on, they determined her very girlie taste which Winona spoiled to no end. The babies'' bums were more pronounced because of the huge diapers (more compact ones under development!), and it made them look even chubbier than they already were. "Okay kids, practice with me," Ansel chirped, as he turned around, though still standing in front of the five kids. He then started the weird dance, which started with a light jump up, followed by squatting down. He would then wiggle his bum as he stood up. "Tententen! wiggle wiggle wiggle," The adults couldn''t help but gag at this, making Ansel whip his head to glare at them. "SHUT UP! Do you want to be the one teaching here?" "Nono, you''re very handsome," Winona said with a smile, lightly waving her hand to ask him to resume. She was carrying her chubby son on her lap, as if making sure he was watching his father very well. "Of course I am," Ansel said, with a face saying ''good that you know''. He then turned to the children again and¡ªwith a serious expression¡ªsaid "Now, we do it again!" The bigger kids had no problem following (except for Horus, who was red as an apple), while the babies just jumped up or down or wiggle without timing. Theo was particularly patient in teaching the little girl how to do their steps. "Jump wup Peppah, and down¡­ uh-huh¡­ nono¡­ then wiggle¡­" Regardless, they were all very adorable. At some point though, the aether letter in Garan''s space heated up. With a raised eyebrow, he opened it to see the contents. Reading what was inside, he sighed. The others were too busy giggling to notice, but Althea was right next to him. "What is it?" she asked and he handed her the letter instead. She blinked. "So¡­ they''re finally attacking, eh?" Chapter 1194 - 1194: Another War Declaration Althea put the aether letter down and looked at the people around her. She felt bad at bursting their celebratory mood, but¡ª "Basset Town is preparing for an attack." The nearby adults paused and turned, wondering if they heard that right. When they saw the couple''s expression, they confirmed its validity. This news naturally deflated the happy atmosphere in the room, though the little babies seemed to like the steps and kept dancing. "Wigguw wigguw wigguw¡­" they mumbled with those milky voices of theirs, wiggling their diapered bums in good fun. The adults couldn''t help but chuckle, and the tense atmosphere lit up a bit. "So they finally attacked, huh?" Ansel mumbled as he sat down in the nearest seat. "There goes the babies'' first birthdays¡­" "Well, it''s not like we can''t celebrate right after that¡­" Of course, they were worried. They prepared and delayed as much as they could but there were limits villages could not reach, including the people''s levels. The past two weeks, the production and training had never stopped. Everyone only had 3 or 4 hours of sleep every day, and those with higher levels like Garan probably had less. However, even if they made up for defense and weapons, if this war happened now, there would still be unprecedented losses for Alterra. "They attacked as soon as they could¡­" Winona mumbled, quite annoyed. "This was the logical step. They think we have been weakened by the previous war and the stronger monster mobs we are now continuously subjected to." Garan said. "They''re also worried some other town will attack us," he added. "In their minds, we are a prize to be won." Although they performed extraordinarily well for the Village Tier, Towns naturally had their own arrogance. Even if Alterra were strong, in their minds, that could only be in the Village level. A newly-minted town cannot compare to them. In a sense, this wasn''t entirely a bad thing. Alterra could use being underestimated again, rather than the enemy being overtly prepared. He''d rather they get attacked by Towns other than Basset, too. After all, the latter had Fargo who could provide some information about them¡ªparticularly to warn about not underestimating them, and perhaps some strategy of what they could do. He might even introduce some important technology, like bombs, though the material would be a challenge. No one could master the oaths yet, especially the vague ones, so it was best to assume that he could still do some indirect damage to them at this point. Thinking of that guy, he couldn''t help but feel ashamed again. It was his oversight that let him go away. If he had defeated those level 20s faster¡ª He stopped himself from dwelling on this. Instead, he let this shame fuel his desire to become even stronger¡ªso strong that no amount of Fargo''s scheming would be able to touch him. He still had ways to go, but his progress was really not to be underestimated. He reached the edge of level 30 in the span of over a year. Even in Towns, this was many years of progress of fighters. Garan also built a wide and intricate network of knowledge within the territory and beyond. He knew quite a few Towns had been eyeing them. In response, he made sure the forces in Alterra were as strong as they could be, considering all the limitations. The training of the guards had become much harsher in the past couple of months. Their average levels and fighting prowess had only been going in a steep line upwards. Otherwise¡ªeven with the enemies serving as cannon fodders¡ªAlterra wouldn''t have gotten unscathed in the Upgrade Mob. The preparation for their first Town War was naturally not light. The factories were now going overtime to increase their stocks, the gatherers also went around the territory, even the unwalled parts, to make sure they had a lot of resources. Althea also added a few more sentries, placed some distances from each other, but not too far away. Too close was too expensive and would limit how she''d plan the space once she fenced the outer part as well. For now, the monsters were already quite strong and there was no need for people to go too far from the walls and hunt. Rather, the half-orcs'' villa, which was already beginning construction, even served as a camping grounds for those who were grinding to level up. All aspects of the production were going all-out, and Iron Valley also reduced their iron to be sold to outsiders. Alterra used tons and tons of iron, hiring several temporary labor to help out, and they churned out equipment after equipment. During the past few months, steel was slowly finding its way as the main material in weapons. While the output was still counted as a Class D Weapon (for now), other weapons of that tier definitely would not be able to compare. For this, the goal was the equip all guards with such a weapon before the war with Basset started. The automatic production system buildings were also maximized. There would be groups of people to purchase everything, making sure it never stopped working just because it reached its production cap. In the past few months, two simple manual warehouses were built, placed in some open spaces near the gates. These would be where most of these things were stored for easy access come wars. There were guards assigned here and also warehousemen to handle the items. There were various rules to avoid pilferage, implemented especially for wars¡ªwhere there were no rules. These two areas were built on open space, and this was also where emergency infirmaries were placed. Both warehouses and infirmaries were not made of concrete, but of light construction that could be dismantled and moved as needed. When the territory expanded, these areas would be dismantled. As for whether the new warehouses and clinics would be made permanent construction, it would depend on the future needs and plans of the territory. The challenge was to prevent enemy strongmen from causing damage within the territory. Much like how Guia''s Heso and the others managed to cause them headaches. This was one part of the intelligence group''s scope of work. Garan''s Intelligence Group was a newly built subdepartment currently occupying a small building in the Barracks area. When the territory built separate buildings per department though, this group would separate and be its own entity as well. This group specialized in information gathering and stealth, and team leads were also equipped with espionage magic tools they got from Otto. (They managed to get a lot of tools during this time in exchange for aether blueprints of the buildings. Since they were buildings Oslo already knew to do and had mastered to some degree, the success rate was incredibly high as well). There was also Althea''s visionstone, which could see¡ªin real time¡ªthe overall population and prestige of the territories any citizen landed on. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She would feed the updates once a month (or weekly if it was a territory-of-interest like Basset Town), and their data would be one of the most informative bodies of information anyone would have about these territories, only inferior to the territories themselves. This department was led, under Garan, by Loki. Other than some sly high EQ humans, Maomao was assigned to this, as well as a few goblins. They could not require all visitors to make oaths and give their information in the Center (they tried, but it wasn''t honored by the System), so they added an extra level of Visitors called ''Verified Visitors''. These tourists and visitors would make the cheapest honesty oaths¡ªat their own costs¡ªwherein they would declare information about themselves as well as their places of origin, including their purpose of going to Alterra. It was kind of like a Visa, in a way. The reason why some would do this was because they limited all amenities that required contribution points¡ªi.e. The bathhouse, the Training Hall, the Library, and so on¡ªfrom everyone who had not registered. Those who refused to register were also monitored a bit more closely¡ªnot that they knew this, of course. Anyway, for the remaining days before the limit, various departments and groups entered a height of preparation, barely resting for a minute. Everyone was very antsy. While Alterra did very, very, well as a village, a Town-level war was a different monster. With how they were now, there will be deaths¡ªand they could only do their best to minimize it!! However, the next day, while the entire territory was in frantic to become over-prepared..., she received a different war declaration instead. [Inko Village (Lv3) has declared war on Limestone Valley (Lv3)] Chapter 1195 - 1195: Inko Attacks Again [Inko Village (Lv3) has declared war on Limestone Valley (Lv3)] "Oh?" Althea let out an unconscious exclamation and everyone whipped their heads and looked at her with tense faces. "What is it? Is the war declaration sent?" Ansel asked, walking over. The others waited for her response, eyebrows furrowed in nervousness. At this time, they were actually having a meeting in the Town Center. While they believed they were over-prepared enough to at least not lose the war, they were still brainstorming what else they could do to minimize the sacrifices¡ªsomething inevitable against a Town with a lot of level 20s and level 30s. This was why, no matter how well they prepared, they couldn''t help but feel nervous. They didn''t know who, where, or how many would perish, but even if it was just one person, they cared too much to be cool about the upcoming war. Althea had a complicated expression on her face. "Well, yes, but¡­" Luckily or not¡­ It was Limestone Valley that got attacked first. Wars with satellites were still limited to its level cap, so it could only be village against village. However, very few actually attacked satellites unless there was a specific resource to be taken away. Satellite Villages had its wealth tied to the main territory¡ªwhich was basically just Althea''s wallet¡ª so even if they won, they wouldn''t be able to take the monetary wealth or any of the resources directly ''owned'' by the main territory. That was to say: At best, the only thing they could automatically get from winning was half of the population as slaves. This was because, technically speaking, the population was separated because they lived in different areas and territories. Even if they were under the umbrella of Alterra, they had to pay a citizenship fee again if they moved to a satellite to rebind to the land. During the Blockage, a lot of Alterrans moved to the satellites because of the offers to sponsor their citizenship. Many of them couldn''t afford Alterran citizenship, so the deals were very attractive to them. The rule could be summed up to the magic''s effect being the strongest within the territory scope. Money wasn''t a problem because the wallet was integrated with the System, but living humans were a different issue. The enemies could also plunder whatever was left inside. Basically, the Iron Mountains was still being attacked due to its iron and its population, which had a lot of goblins and elementalists. The reason for attacking Limestone Valley was likely the same, but it had been safe for so long because it was so close to Alterra and they could easily send support while the war was ongoing. Speaking of this, Inko was very brave to go for revenge this time. However, if they had the backing of a Town¡ªwhich was likely Voumi Town, according to their intel¡ªthis would explain their confidence to go against them again. Garan patted her hand. "Henry and the others will be able to do well. Each territory had their own cards prepared," he said. "There''s no need to be so nervous." They made sure to keep their strongest weapons under wraps. After so long, most of the aborigine enemies still hadn''t gotten much information about their cannons and their bombs¡ªwhich had been improved many times in the past few months. The only exception was probably Fargo, though what they could create with just him there would be limited. After all, a lot of great minds had to work together to be able to replicate the various technologies with the materials they had on hand. Whether it was anything related to electricity, technology, and most definitely explosives like gunpowder was no excemption. Aether was a major variable in all of that, and he doubted Fargo had found a way to adjust to that. "Inko Village is being backed by Voumi Town, which according to our information has at least 8 villages under it," Garan said. "Damn. It''s safe to assume all of that is attacking." "Possibly." This was a problem. Unlike Alterra back then, they had no town-level mobs arriving to eat up most of the forces. They had considered something like this happening to the satellites, though they concluded it wasn''t likely because mobilizing so many people was too costly for the ''meager'' rewards of attacking a satellite. Fortunately, after hiring a lot of good aborigines after the upgrade, they actually sent most of the ones within the Village level to the two satellites instead. After all, there was little need for that in Alterra¡ªwith wars now expanding to level 40s¡ªbut they could make huge differences in villages where they''d be considered powerhouses. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Another preparation was to equip the guard team with good weapons. Even before they upgraded, Limestone Valley actually had three cannons in their armory. Looks like it was time to add a few more. There was no Lord there to receive the declaration, so Althea immediately sent the message to Limestone Valley of the attack. This was another of the few pros of attacking satellites¡ªthey usually were less prepared because they might not be informed of the attack on time. Unlike subsidiaries that had lords who could receive messages from the Center, satellites had no such thing. Their news could come even slower than subsidiaries. Fortunately, that wasn''t a problem in Alterra (or any territory with a Lord that had some presence of mind). She didn''t even need to use the birds. She just had to teleport to the warehouse and went out, placing the letter in the mailbox there. It was convenient, but wasn''t done often because Althea was a very busy person. At the same time, about a hundred guards within the level cap were also sent to assist. A few soldiers like Mao and Luis were there to guard them against possible ambushes as well. Fortunately, they had been preparing for a town-level war beforehand so they had a lot of excess equipment, medicine, and the like which the guards'' and soldiers'' spaces were filled with. She also sent huge bulks in the Warehouse. She would then head to Limestone Valley and go to the covered shed right outside the warehouse. She made a mental note to get both satellites to just build another structure that covered their warehouses, so she could transfer a lot more stuff from Alterra during events like this. She nodded, looking at the mountains of resources the local citizens could use. "Good luck, Limestone Valley." ... While the territories were preparing as much as they could, a certain town lord was preparing to send his declaration, only to receive a very annoying response. [A satellite of Alterra Town (Lv1) is undergoing war and cannot be attacked for a period of time.] CRASH! "DAMNIT!" Bentro yelled, throwing whatever he was holding to the wall. He was past level 40 and his throw wasn''t weak, creating a little crack on the wall with the item¡ªan earthenware cup¡ªsplattered into hundreds of pieces. He felt his blood rising in annoyance. Everything was ready! He just had to make that declaration! What bastard decided to destroy his plans?! However, he forced himself to calm down. "Well, it doesn''t matter," he said, heaving a deep breath. "What could these people do in two weeks?" Chapter 1196 - 1196: Slaves of Voumi Town Voumi Town It had been several months since the Terran slaves of Voumi Town had been caught. Since then, about a few hundred people perished, a lot of whom died during the Heat Wave. At this time, Gurnam was looking out their quarters. Fortunately, while still inhibiting and disgusting compared to life back in Terran, it was not the pigsty anymore. When the lord realized they were elementalists, he moved the awakened ones to a new place, and also moved the weaker ones to a slightly better dormitory. If this didn''t happen, it was estimated that a lot more of them would''ve died from the heat wave. Gurnam looked in the direction of East in deep thought, feeling extremely worried. He then looked down the windows and saw dozens of guards approaching, no doubt to round them up. Sarah, who now had a healing scar on her face, walked over to him. She also saw what was happening on the lower floors, and couldn''t help but look worried. "What''s wrong? What''s happening?" Gurnam could not even fake a reassuring smile like he usually did; He felt too heavy. "I overheard something earlier." For the servants that were near the masters, they would be ordered to keep their mouths shut for anything discussed. However, Gurnam was not a slave. Unlike them, he could actually talk about what he heard. Earlier that day, during their harsh training sessions, he ended up near the guards who were chatting about an upcoming war. Gurnam heaved a deep breath before answering Sarah. "They''re sending us to assist Inko Village in the war." "What?" Sarah exclaimed. "I thought we wouldn''t be cannon fodders after they found out we''re elementalists!" "Yes, but the enemy is apparently strong, so they''re sending some of us to help out." Since these people found out they were elementalists, they were naturally not wasted on menial work. Rather, they were all pulled aside for harsh training that would end up killing a lot of the low-leveled ones. Now¡­ they would put all that training to use¡ªin a war against their own brethren. His jaw clenched and closed his eyes. "We''re fighting¡­ a Terran territory." He could still hear those bastards mocking him. When he was eavesdropping, it wasn''t like the guards couldn''t see him there at all. Rather, they enjoyed his look of horror. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Slaves would still show their internal thoughts on their faces, which was even more fun to these sadists. To them, seeing someone die inside¡ªbecause they were compelled to do something so intensely against their will¡ªwas probably quite amusing. He remembered their sly smiles as they looked at him with vindictiveness. "Did you hear? We''re targeting a village similar to yours¡ªone with lots of elementalists. "You''re one of those fire users, right? "What would it feel like to burn your former brethren?" they asked, their eyes filled with mirth. "To watch them turn to ashes?" Gurnam had to use all of his self-control not to punch them. "Anyway, be happy, we''re getting more of you here, and you''re going to be a part of that." "Those bastards¡­" Sarah whispered, eyes a bit teary at what they''d soon be facing. She was an archer herself and she had very, very, good accuracy. Would she have to take down fellow Terrans? Worse, what if she actually knew those people? Even if they were asked to keep them alive, they''d just be helping these monsters give other people the horrible life they were living. It felt horrible. Gurnam wrapped his arms around her, patting her back. Poverty and hunger were fine, but having no control over your own body like this was the most taxing thing in this situation. He himself felt his lifespan gets reduced from the stress, he could not imagine what it was like for the actual ''slaves''. "I wish there was something we can d¡ª" Before they could discuss any more, however, orders from the nearest guard resounded. Immediately, Sarah''s mouth shut as she turned, heading towards the stairs. Gurnam gritted his teeth, but followed as if he was also controlled. Slaves were part of the Population list, and so was he, a typical visitor, so the lord didn''t see anomalies in him at all. They had been treating him as a normal slave all this time, but there were too many times he almost slipped when he saw his people being tortured. However, he knew he was no help caught, so he just gritted his teeth and hoped they survived the ordeal. He went down without much emotion on his face, following Sarah''s lead. In a Town, the lighting was sufficient and there were some torches in the dim stairways to prevent accidents. Soon they arrived at the quadrangle of their dormitories, more and more slaves and guards congregating there with various expressions on their faces. Making a rough estimate, there should be a few thousand Terran slaves there already. The person in the middle was Mafo, the Lord of Voumi Town, though it had only been a few decades since he took over the territory. In any case, the man had reached level 40 before reaching 60 years old, which was very impressive for a Town. Next to the Lord was his painful-to-the-eye nephew, Hesso, who served as his (very loud) spokesperson. "Listen up!" he yelled as he looked at the thousands of slaves in front of him, an evil smirk gracing his face. "We will lend about a hundred of you bastards to Inko Village to join in their upcoming war." "We expect good performances! The lucky ones would get monetary rewards for every kill. If you kill hundreds, the lord may even consider giving you a choice to free one slave." This made several slaves brighten a bit, having no idea who they were up against. However, considering how desperate some people were, perhaps nothing would change even if they knew. Gurnam gritted his teeth. Since they were elementalists and not exactly meat shields, the nobles did have some expectations of their strengths. However, by making this promise, they turned this into a game¡ªa game where they''d want to kill their own fellowmen! How evil! Chapter 1197 - 1197: Heading to Inko Village Gurnam clenched his fist, using all his self-control not to punch the smug smirk on these people''s faces. Of course, he didn''t do anything in the end. For one, these people were still town-level. It was foolish to make a scene so publicly. He did wonder: Why was the first order to ''kill'' rather than to ''capture''? Was their own fun more important than getting more elementalist slaves? Or was this new territory impossible to win unless they fought to kill? Either way¡­ it was worrying. "You would be led by Inko guards¡ªand some of ours¡ªback to the territory and use the arrays there," Hesso said, looking at the side where a couple of dozen Inko guards stood. "You will likely arrive in enemy territory in the midst of war at the latest. "By that time, the enemy territory would''ve suffered greatly with our allied forces¡ªa combination of six villages¡ªand make it weak enough for you to enter and damage them at their core." "When that happened, the rest of the fighters from Inko would enter the territory and win the war! By that time¡ªall of you would be rewarded. "I want you to hurt each and every one of them to the best of your ability¡ªno matter who it is!" Hesso grinned. "This is your order!" The man looked beside him, to a beautiful woman with light-colored hair. It was Sasha, looking a bit thin but overall decent. She hadn''t awakened yet, but she had a wind affinity. Either way, she had been switched around the noblemen and was quite the popular toy to them. "Don''t you want to come with them?" he asked. "They''re heading to an elementalist territory. Don''t you wanna meet your former people?" He did not lower his volume at all, making sure the slaves heard him. This made a lot of them flinched, and immediately wore complicated expressions. Hesso and the others particularly enjoyed those with rich expressions on their faces¡ªthose with sadness, with horror, and those with eyes filled with anger and indignance. Sasha was also surprised and her eyes brightened a bit when she learned the 100 elementalists were going to a Terran territory. But she saw Hesso''s sharp eyes and quickly shook her head. The man nodded, satisfied with her answer. Hesso smiled and pulled her in for a deep, disgusting, tongue-y kiss. A lot of the aborigine men grinned and hooted, while Gurnam and the others felt their eyes sting in disgust. "Good choice," he said, licking her lips. "I knew you wouldn''t want to part with me." Sasha smiled awkwardly, she cursed and gagged internally but she dared not to show disgust or dislike. Someone did that before, and she was thrown to satisfy the guards¡ªregardless of whether she was an elementalist or not. Hesso turned to the guards. "Choose 100! Randomly!" Interestingly, the guards chose those whom they saw had the strongest expressions on their faces. They chose those who gritted their teeth until there was blood, those who looked like they were about to faint, and those who were crying outright. Of course, most of the terrans were like this and those with actual bloodlust and interest were not chosen. It was impractical, but where was the fun in that? It was still more fun seeing someone with tears and snot dripping down their faces doing their best to kill someone they didn''t want to kill! Anyway, when the order was sent, the slaves were duty-bound to do their best. Meanwhile, Gurnam and Sarah looked around them, taking note of whoever was getting taken away. Their expressions immediately fell when both of them were chosen, slimy hands landing on their shoulders as they were set aside. They heaved a breath of relief when they saw Milo¡ªwho was smaller than others and was therefore not very visible¡ªwas passed by. He would be far away from the both of them, but they were relieved he''d be far from the war. They could only hope he''d be alright without them here. Another friend on the other side was Misha. She also had a scar on her face to keep her from being targeted, though in the latter''s case, it was mixing some solutions like makeup she managed to hide in her space. Sarah''s eyes fixed on hers and the blonde turned, meeting her gaze. Sarah remembered her friendship with the blonde. She knew it''d be a while before they saw each other again, which was also heart-breaking for her. She remembered the time when Misha saw what happened to her face. "If I had known you''d go so far, we could''ve avoided permanently damaging your pretty face," she had said at the time, being regretful. After all, Sarah had used a dagger to claw her own face, just so she wouldn''t get pulled into a room by those bastards. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Make-up was such a rare and finite resource though, and the fact that Misha was willing to share was already good enough. While they bonded, Misha would tell her about her family, and her precious little brother. He wasn''t as cute as he was when he was a kid, she said, but he was still quite handsome. Misha also suspected he swung the other way, but she loved him anyway. Misha''s eyes were flickering as she saw her being hauled away, and then looked at where Milo was. The blonde gave an awkward, reassuring, smile. Without a voice, the two women spoke. Don''t worry, she said, I will take care of Milo to the best of my ability. Sarah''s tears fell, relieved, and she succumbed to her fate as a force in this war. A couple of minutes later, the hundred elementalists were hauled out on various beast carts sponsored by the Town. Each one also had a town-level guard to make sure the products arrived to the village in one piece instead of being eaten by town-level monsters. Hesso looked at the roofless cart filled with slaves, some of his proud resources. "This is an order! Do your best to win this war¡ªdo whatever it takes," he said. "And hurt as many enemies as you can!" Chapter 1198 - 1198: Another War with Inko Village Limestone Valley. At this time, Limestone Valley was doing the last bits of preparation. They were finalizing the positioning of their forces, making sure their alarms and alerts¡ªlike the flares¡ªwere all working and complete. The new aborigine hires sent by Alterra even before the announcements were also roaming around, familiarizing themselves with the scope assigned to them. Now that the level of the monsters was higher, even Limestone citizens didn''t have to go too far to hunt. However, the average level was still dangerous so relatively powerful aborigines were still needed to safeguard lives. Initially, there were four of them, namely: Wodan, Zeo, Elof, and Sapur, two of whom were some of Alterra''s first hires at this level. Some had occupations, too, making them quite the good hires. The choices for Towns were really different, Althea would muse every time she got a good one. Wodan was a level 15 swordsman, around 30 years of age. He had a very dark complexion and a half-bald hairdo. He hadn''t been here for long, but he had already made quite the impression among the locals with his rather perenially depressed face. He would always assure people¡ªwith the same aforementioned dark face¡ªthat it was simply like that and he was actually an approachable guy. Zeo, on the other hand, was a level 15 Spearman. He had wavy dark blue hair that looked so soft people would want to touch it. It was currently tied into a bun. He was not strikingly handsome, but he had good features that were pleasing to see. Combined with his unusual (for Terrans) hair color, he got himself a few admirers even after only a few days, especially among the T-pop (Terran Pop) fans. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Eloff was a level 15 archer with light-brown hair combed at the middle. He seemed like quite the jolly guy and¡ªdespite the four of them not knowing each other before being hired in Alterra¡ªhe was practically best friends with them all now. Finally, there was Sapur, who was another level 16 swordsman. Sapur was a bald 30-year-old with a very buff body. According to Garan, he focused more on a defensive style, so he functioned more as a Tank than an actual melee fighter. This was also why he was still sent here. Even if he was above the level cap, his style wasn''t inherently aggressive, so he could still be very useful even with the war limitations. When they arrived more than a day prior, they were already assigned their own teams. They didn''t expect to enter a war so soon though, which was fine, especially since it was a village. Eloff and Sapur were just hired in Alterra a few days ago. Like everyone, they couldn''t believe it when they found out the territory was a village just a few days prior. However, they were quick to adjust especially with the welcoming atmosphere there and they were already settling down when they received the reassignment notice. Unlike the other two¡ªwho at least had more than a week to stay¡ªthey had only enjoyed Alterra for a few days. Very sad. They were naturally very reluctant when they found out they would get dispatched to a satellite, but a job was a job. Fortunately, Limestone Valley was also very good¡ªat least far superior to other villages they knew of the same level. The living conditions were great and there was also a rich economy and a variety of shops and stalls to choose from. They also had their own large marketplace in an open space near the mountainous areas. It was apparently so people who came from the mine could quickly access them. In any case, even if they hadn''t been here for long, even the aborigines felt the need to protect it¡ªlet alone the locals who had been here for a year. To think that this place started as a cursed place for many of them. How have things changed! Anyway, the array would be opened within a few hours. They were all very nervous but they were trying to be as prepared as they could be. Still, there were a few things that were not going to plan. "Isn''t Alterra sending a few more forces to assist?" Victor asked, a bit worried. They were currently overseeing the preparations near the gates, and when they asked the people on the battlement if they had seen a group of people approaching, they felt very concerned when they said the negative¡­ again. Henry nodded, also feeling heavy. "They should''ve arrived by now¡­" Fortunately, the two didn''t have to wallow in worry for too long. About half an hour later, news of their arrival had reached the two. It was just that they were not unscathed. Everyone had some degree of injuries and the medics, led by Vanessa (walking ahead of Raffy), rushed over to help them out. "What''s going on?" Victor asked as they were being treated. Henry also approached. There didn''t seem to be serious injuries, but everyone had degrees of it. "Is anyone¡­" At this, Mao cursed. "I''m so annoyed with those jerks!! But, fortunately, we''re all alive," he said, still panting a bit as he drank his healing potion. He then turned to Victor with an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. "Those bastards are definitely going above and beyond in this war." It wasn''t nearly as big as what Alterra had to go through¡ªlikely because Voumi Town was very far and it was too costly to send too many, especially on foot. However, there were definitely allied territories helping out. Inko Village¡ªwhich had already lost before¡ªcould not have this many people, especially not those above the average level for a village. They met enemies on the way here and there were hordes of them. Fortunately, Mao and the others were there to keep the strong enemies at bay, taking a few heads by the way. However, they knew they were outnumbered so they used Improved Beast Attracting Potion (using Baku''s piss) and threw it at the crowd before they rushed away. This was the only reason they didn''t have losses, actually. After these months, Alterran researchers had found out several leads as to why half-orc piss could attract beasts when they themselves could scare them off to some degree. The Research Center made separate, very insulated rooms not only for bombs, but also for research on orc piss (and blood, donated by Gochi, though that was something not discussed at all¡ªat least not in a public setting). Orcs and half-orcs apparently had pheromones that seemed attractive to beasts and were seen as signals for dominance. They also did a lot of experiments to see whether the half-orcs could control the beasts, but they found that¡ªunfortunately¡ªthey could not. However, Baku did mention some orc lore he heard when he was a kid, way before they were ''rescued'' from the orc territory and taken to the humans. Like half-orcs, orcs also had their own special abilities. It was just one skill, but they were quite powerful and barely consumed much mana at all. The main difference was the kind of power it was. Half-orcs'' powers seemed to be milder in strength but more complex in quality, while orcs'' strengths lay in their physicality. For example, Gochi''s was Paralysis, Maomao''s was the ''penetrating kick'', and Baku''s was his Roar Skill. On the other hand, Orcs'' skills would have a little variety and would usually range from making themselves invincible to some type of Berserk skill. However, there were a few times that it wasn''t so aggressive, and one of the most legendary varieties was the ability to call on beasts. The effect was limited, but it was powerful enough. Of course, that was just a stuff of legend. Baku had never actually seen it happen, nor had he heard of their tribe ever having one. Regardless, the Alterrans using the improved versions of the Beast Attracting Potion was really bothersome. They were planning on doing a smaller version of what they did to Resso back then, but that''d require the enemies to be at a certain proximity to the walls to work well. But now look: the war hadn''t even started yet, and they already wasted a precious sample. Tsk. The enemy¡ªeven villages who weren''t even the direct opponent¡ªreally put quite a bit of effort into taking over a satellite. Why would they bother? Did they get the promise of great resources? Would that be worth losing a few hundred of their forces? In fact, Voumi indeed promised these allied villages a portion of the elementalists caught. Besides, none of them believed they would lose too much force. In their minds, Limestone Valley was only a satellite village. The main forces should be in the main territory. No normal village could win over the plunder of six allied villages! They wanted those resources too! Especially more elementalists! Of course¡­, as for whether they would actually gain any elementalist¡ªthat would remain to be seen. Chapter 1199 - 1199: The Start of Another War [03/08/2025] As of the time I went to bed, we''re <40 tickets away from T1 guys! So close! URGH! hahahaha Thank you, everyone, for your support! \\o/ We''re getting an extra chap today~ As always, if we reach T1 next week, I''ll commit +3 bonus chaps that Sunday~ I''ll crawl if I have to! xDDD ... ____ [The war with Inko Village (Lv3) has commenced! The War will end in 27:59:59] By this time, everyone was already in position¡ªwhether it was the Terrans, the aborigines, and even some visitors¡ªthey had specific placements assigned to them. They also had specific places to serve back up to¡ªnothing more, nothing less¡ªso that no area would remain empty in case the enemy decided to be smart and use their own tactics against them. However, in order to prevent enemies from sneaking behind their defenses¡ªwhich was completely possible with all the ''tourists'' they had¡ªevery visitor who wished to participate and earn contribution points had to pay out a bond of 1 gold each. After the war, the contribution points and this gold would be awarded to them. They would also be asked to make an oath for a small cost that would be shouldered by the territory after they paid for their bonds. Of course, this was not foolproof. If the enemy wanted them strongly enough, losing a couple hundred gold was no big deal at all. So Henry and Victor simply created a system where their trusted guards would not have their backs to anyone they didn''t completely trust. They simply assigned the outsiders and suspicious people near the walls¡ªLimestone Valley also had a corridor or easement from the wall to the nearest building¡ªso the sentries could target them the moment they made trouble. They knew how the minds of aborigines worked, and it was unlikely they''d be willing to die to cause a bit of convenience to someone else. Except if they were slaves, of course. Sadly, there was no way to tell who the slaves were among these people. Slaves could still make oaths in the Center after all¡ªotherwise, Alterra wouldn''t dare free so many as long as they paid and took oaths¡ªwhich was a loophole the enemy could very well maximize. Another challenge was the communication problem. Limestone Valley was only given 2 Aether letters, one for Henry and another for Victor. They did not have the convenience of easily telling others what was happening in real time. However, despite these challenges, they weren''t too worried because the enemy also had an even bigger disadvantage of being out of their home grounds. Even if they worked together, Limestone Valley could hold them back! Anyway, since they were in the defense, that was all they needed to do! Everyone stood in position for a few more minutes and, soon, the news they had been waiting for arrived. "The array is in this direction!" a guard yelled. In fact, they had seen some movement minutes prior, but couldn''t immediately sound the alarm. This was because they knew there were plenty of enemies camped out before the war, so it took a bit longer to determine where the array was even with their scopes. They also didn''t discount the possibility of the enemies just making chaos there in order to misdirect their forces. Hence, the scouts had to make sure the array was truly there before making any announcements. A signal flare exploded, and colored smoke bursting upwards. Immediately, those who were assigned to guard the area, as well as those who had flexible assignments headed to be back up. There were also plenty of forces on the gates, though it was naturally much more balanced along the perimeter since they were going against human mobs. Soon, the enemies came to view¡ªthousands and thousands of them. Even the vanguards, who were mostly meatshields, seemed particularly intimidating. This was because¡ªunlike most villages¡ªmost of the meatshields had weapons too, even if it was only the lowest kind. They heard something similar happen with Resso before, and it showed the difference of having a Town as a backing. The Walls, especially level 3 walls and below, were still susceptible to attacks. Even if it was made by Class E weapons, if the attacks were done by thousands of people¡ªover and over¡ªin the span of a few hours, they could really cause damage to the walls. They (or the lord, rather) could repair it via the system, but that was only after the war. After so long, even they knew that System buildings could not be manipulated in any way during the wars. So, in their case, they would have to deal with the slaves. However, like Alterra, they were reluctant to directly deal with slaves who rarely had decent equipment anyway, fearing there were people they knew among them. Instead, when the human mobs arrived close enough, they targeted the farther end where their main forces were likely settled. While there was still the possibility of their own people there, it was less likely, and they would have to take their chances. They''d help out brethren when they could, but there certainly was a limit as to how much they were willing to compromise their own safeties. Victor¡ªnow standing on the battlement directly across the array¡ªlooked back at the cannons located strategically on the easement by the wall. They had dragged them here after determining the location of the arrays. Limestone Valley also cleared a few meters away from the walls to prevent trespassers from finding hiding places so easily after going past the walls. These easements were also where the cannons were placed. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. During their transfer, the cannons were covered well and used good suspension so they didn''t make much noise. This was why even the spies around were unaware that such a weapon was here¡ªlet alone so many¡ª until they were actually set up in place and ready to cause actual damage. Victor looked back at the crowd with his scope, determining where the leaders could be. It took a while, but he knew they''d appear soon enough. He eventually saw more beyond the forest''s dense foliage. Among them, there seemed to be a few people in higher positions. Victor could tell this by their stance as well as the humble body language of the others beside them. Even if they weren''t the leaders in the war¡ª or even if they were not from Inko¡ªthey should at least be the leaders of a sector. That was enough for him. He raised his arm and made specific signals with his hand. This was understood by the trained artillerymen as the direction, angle, and approximate distance of their target. Then, with a wave of a hand¡ª "NOW!" BANG! Chapter 1200 - 1200: Inko-Limestone War Again Meanwhile, standing around the area being targeted, a certain group watched with interest as the attack went on. Interestingly, they were not from Inko Village at all. Rather, they were from the allied Lopi Village. They had been asked by the Master Town to help out with the attack since they were nearby. It was headed by the heir to the Lordship, Parek, who had once led the attack to Diana Village nearly a year prior.1 Even until the last second, the people about to be hit had no idea they were being targeted. Parek and his cronies watched the human mobs nearing the walls, trying to determine the best place to sneak inside. Most territories that got elementalists kept things a secret so they could keep most instead of having to sell to the master territory, unlike Inko. While they did sell some people to avoid suspicion, they still kept much of their elementalist loot during the Diana War. They mixed the slaves they sold with the weakest slaves they knew would be dying anyway. When Voumi realized the loot were elementalists, they would say they sent everyone back then, and that was that. Unlike Inko, they had the ambition to eventually grow stronger than the master someday¡ªwhich had become possible with the injection of elementalists in their population. They had been training them for months, and hundreds had already awakened their elements. This was a top-secret operation known only to the most trusted individuals, because they knew someone would tell Voumi Town on them. If that happened, they were afraid Voumi would find a way to replace the Lord with someone who was a lot less ambitious. Recently, their territory determined the elementalists could be used in a war, and they did so, declaring war on another ''alien'' village about a week ago! With the elementalist slaves'' help, they won in less than half a day! It was a bit difficult, however, because the other side also had elementalists. However, they didn''t have the advantage of teaming up with thousands of aborigines so they lost in the end. Like this, they got thousands of new elementalists! They could already see this number increasing as they trained more and more of these people, their power just growing bigger and bigger! Of course, for this war, they did not bring a single one. After all, they were keeping it a secret, and it would have reached Voumi Town sooner rather than later if they brought well-trained ones. He was literally just here for ''attendance'', bringing the bare minimum required for allies to assist. His mind was still in the future, where Lopi Village would become Lopi Town! He could see it happening in less than a decade now, maybe even less! It was just that his grin faded almost instantly when he saw a black projectile heading their way. Rather, directly at him. He didn''t know what it was, but his instinct was telling him he was screwed. Well, Orcshit. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ BOOM!! The moment it struck, a fiery shockwave rippled amidst the mob, causing the ground to shake and most to lose their balance. A few people were killed directly, and at least a dozen were injured. One of the more gravely injured ones was the son of the lord, heir to the lordship! "MASTER PAREK!!" Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The guards nearby, after shaking away the shock of the explosion, cursed and ran to him. They showered him with their healing potions until the bleeding stopped. However, an entire arm and part of his shoulders was unrecognizable. "DAMNIT!" the lead guard yelled, also looking at the corpses of a few others. The war had barely even started¡ª BOOM! Before they could gather themselves, more and more attacks came their way. They screamed and took cover, but another dozen people nearby were injured, many dead. "Darn! There''s another one!!" "How many more!?" Then, every couple hundred meters, there would be an explosion coming from the walls, followed by pretty large damage in the crowd a few seconds later. Some of the damage wasn''t even in their area, but there was enough happening nearby to tell them they were being targeted. BANG! "AHHH!" another yelled, running in the opposite direction of the wall along with many others. Unlike slaves, the others could run away and therefore the entire group''s morale could be affected. The lead guard, who was the de facto leader after Parek''s fall, cursed about a hundred times as he tried to carry Parek. After some though¡ªfearing another projectile would be shot¡ªhe made the decision. "Let''s go! We already contributed enough to this war!" They already did their part! Good luck, Inko! They mused, running away as fast as they could, You''re on your own! ¡­ At this time, inside the walls, there was a group of ''merchants'' from the West who were staying inside the inn. They happened to have rented one near the clearing and could see the weapon. They couldn''t see the damage it caused exactly, but based on the sound and the force it propelled, the damage on the other side must not be small. If a shot killed a person or two from their side, that''d be enough to shake them. After all, the ''culprit'' was more than a hundred meters away and protected by a wall. Who wanted to die without even seeing the opponent? To some, it would feel like they were being sacrificed, and that''d be enough to affect their momentum. BANG! Another explosion resounded nearby, and it was from the nearest weapon. "Such powerful weapons!" Tanpo yelled, greed occupying his eyes. He was just a merchant, but he knew a good thing when he saw one. He looked at his companions who were also greedy for it. "When are you moving?" "Soon," Daga, one of the ''guards'' said. "We will come out when the meatshields get inside." If Gurnam was here, he''d recognize half of them as minor guards from Voumi Town, though they were certainly acting as if they were big names here. They seemed to have made deals with some merchant group to bring them in as ''guards'', so here they were, ready to help out in this war. While there were other villages with similar people, the ones from this place were just far superior, not to mention the Village itself was attractive! If they were to waste their war slots, they better take the best! Anyway, Voumi Town¡­ really wanted to win this war¡ªand they would make sure it happened! Diana Village - Village where Sarah (Gurnam''s GF) was from Chapter 1201 - 1201: War Continues The defenders kept shooting at their enemies. Whether it was by arrows or by the few ballista bolts they had placed between sentries. This was happening all over the territory. There was no section of the wall that didn''t have at least a few hundred attackers trying to climb over. Still, despite the terrifying sight outside, the arrows rained down in an unseemingly endless supply, causing hopelessness among the vanguards and great annoyance to those behind. That said, if they saw people just ordering at a safe distance, they would make sure to shoot cannons in their direction, regardless of whether they would reach them or not. Even if they did not, the mobs the projectile hit would likely turn back and run, pushing down the people ordering them as they tried to escape¡ªhopefully stepped on by hundreds of people, which was good enough for the Terrans. The logistics worked swiftly and with impressive coordination. They never stopped delivering artillery, resources, and supplies to various parts of the war line. They were also prepared to take the injured back to the clinics, as soon as they appeared. However, even if there were scores upon scores of enemies who perished horribly from the cannons¡ªand even if hundreds more were injured by the explosions and the stampedes that followed it¡ªthere were still thousands of enemies left in the end. Soon, a sizable portion reached the walls. Most of them were slaves who pushed forward even if they had arrows in their bodies, while the others used them as shields. Unlike Alterra, who could afford to be kind to slaves when it was a village, the satellites had no such rule. Their sentries would shoot every enemy they could. The stronger ones had pre-prepared ladders in their spaces that could handle four to five people at a time. They had hooks at the end which could be attached to the edge of the battlement. While the locals could kick down most of these accesses and focus on attacking those trying to climb up, the ladders were plenty, and several access points still appeared. Fortunately, a huge portion of the fighting population was assigned to the battlements, so it was extremely difficult for the enemies to push through. Not to mention, there were big bows attached to the battlements on top of their archers. These bows could one shot anyone on the lower levels, and because they were handled by a local, they could choose which person to target, unlike the sentries which would attack randomly as long as it was an enemy. The logistics team also sent supply after supply to the front lines, and the enemies were in a serious disadvantage if this turned into a war of attrition. The cannons would also come into play, sending bombs of terror in random places, most of which were now near the walls, so a lot of the fighters would step back rather than step forward. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was only when the team leaders threatened their lives (and/or their families back home) that would they bite their cheek and push forward regardless. Anyway, even if Limestone Valley was outnumbered, the enemy forces weren''t organized enough to be overwhelming. This was why even if there were hundreds of them climbing each time, it took several hours for the first leaks to appear. The first leak was a big one. It was located in an area directly opposite to where the array was found. Which was to say, it unlikely had its elite forces nearby. Someone from the inside managed to replace one of the logistics officers. Because everything was happening so quickly, and the exchange of resources passed from person to person, they failed to realize the switch on time. The system to prevent this actually depended a lot on the personnel''s presence of mind. However, after nearly half a day of continuous activity, a few people''s concentration broke and it was taken advantage of by some quick-witted enemies. The person who replaced the logistics officer was actually Daga, the level 15 spy sent by Voumi. He was taking the arrows to the archers, but he pushed them down the walls instead. "WHAT!" "AHHH!" "HELP!!" Daga laughed as he pushed another one, slashing another unsuspecting citizen right on the chest. A level 15 was a powerhouse in this level of war and his appearance there created a major weakness in this spot. The battlements were not wide either, so at most, he only had to deal with two or three people at a time. While more and more people poured in, more enemies from within finally made a move, kicking and slashing the people from behind. "AHHH!" "NO!" These people had vindictive grins on their faces, and they looked liberated. "Orcshit! It took them so long!" one yelled as if he was imprisoned. "I was rotting in wait!" another responded as he kicked a few more people while defending himself. "They were humiliatingly slow!" They vented their pent-up annoyances to the locals that surrounded them. Some managed to defend themselves, while some unfortunately were gravely injured. Fortunately, there were guards trained for such a scenario, rushing towards them as soon as they could. Several immediately appeared to protect the citizens, and the logistics people carried the injured and took them to their hospital. The enemies were immediately surrounded by the locals, squeezed in with the leaks. They were stabbed and hit, showered by various elements. However, these people were in level 14s and 15s from Voumi Town. Not to mention the level discrepancy, they were also well-equipped. They cursed when they were hit by a few shots, but they were quick enough to hide behind the vanguards. The sentries and archers were too busy with the people outside so the wall was practically a safe place for them at this time. Not to mention, Daga was still fighting people on the battlement, pushing down a person every couple of minutes. They were too safe here. Well, at least they thought. While Daga was slashing relentlessly at the battlement guards, he was suddenly forced to jump down when he felt a whip of fire approach him. It was well-controlled and even if it just grazed his hair, it hit a few of their people, making them fall back outside. Daga caught his balance as he landed, immediately jumping back¡ªbarely avoiding a slash of a superior Class D sword. It was Victor, and¡ªdespite the fact that he was a level lower than Daga¡ªhe looked at them as if they were dead! Chapter 1202 - 1202: Victor’s Fight How arrogant!! Victor¡ªalong with many others¡ªhad been guarding the area where the array was nearest to. They had quite a few level 12s and 13s in their midst, so all hands were needed. This was why when he saw an emergency flare, he could not go there immediately. This was a similar case with the other soldiers. They separated themselves equidistantly along the wall in hopes of balancing out the defenses as much as possible¡ªknowing that the slightest openings would be taken advantage of. He hoped that someone would be able to get there on time, but it looked like the enemy was attacking aggressively everywhere that even Mao and the others were preoccupied elsewhere. Of course, there was also the fact that Daga and the others chose this area specifically because it had relatively weaker guards. Victor didn''t have the time to hesitate. He looked at the guards and the citizens there. "Focus on the leaks! I will deal with these bastards!" he said as if the three men weren''t his level or higher, and his hands burst to flames and he launched towards them without fear. He jumped in the middle of the enemy crowd, immediately bursting into flames. The fire immediately surrounded him and hit the enemies head-on. "AHHH!" S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Ouch!!" "Damn!!" Many of the enemies caught fire and tried to run from him, but it gave an opening for the other locals to attack them instead. Victor also didn''t take a break and sent a barrage of attacks to his enemies as well. The stronger ones immediately tried to compose themselves and focused on defending, but a few of them were still injured in the end. Several were stabbed to death, while Daga had no choice but to step back and cover his back against the wall. Even Daga''s Class D defense equipment was a bit singed. He patted the fire down but he smirked at him, though the redness in his eyes betrayed his annoyance. "Heh, not bad," the man said. He had a rat''s face. If a mouse became human, he''d look like this guy. It also meant his smirk was particularly grating. "But are you sure you should be giving so much? You''re already panting." Victor frowned, but he held on to his weapon, ignoring the sweat that was dripping down his face, some even to his eyes, making it sting a bit. The two of them stared at each other with their weapons up, while the rest of the fighters around them stabbed at each other, starting a battle royal with both sides adding forces to take on the other in bulk. More and more enemies would get inside, while the awakened from their side had no choice but to rain down their elements, hoping their mana and their mana potions would last them the rest of the war. It was like chaos was piling up, and eventually so would bodies. "AH!" Victor''s attention was pulled away from Daga as he heard his guards'' screams. He saw that some of the stronger aborigines had pushed against a team, about to behead them. Victor had no choice but to head there and defend, rescuing his guards. Daga¡ªlike a rat¡ªimmediately dashed forward, his blade parallel to the ground, its tip heading straight to his stomach. Before he could reach him though, a small boulder of earth flew in his direction. He cursed as he had to change his direction. However, because the momentum was so strong, he fell out of balance as he did so, falling on his back a few meters away. Bang! Further, while the earth didn''t even graze him, his eyes widened when he looked up and saw the silhouette of a man with flaming feet appear above him. "AHHH!" he screamed as he felt the heavy step on his stomach. His eyes twitched in pain, and he immediately threw one of his weapons from his space above him. He coughed and held his stomach. Fortunately, he was wearing a Class D armor so he didn''t sustain much damage. He took this chance to compose himself and respond to the attacks, and he frowned when he saw the other fire user had dealt with a lot of people with the earth user. At the same time, some of the remaining Level 13s escaped a mob of locals, joining him. At this point, they knew that they could do most damage when they worked together. After all, the enemies obviously excelled in teamwork. It wouldn''t do to be mobbed by a team¡ªregardless of the level discrepancies! They were learning this the hard way! Meanwhile, Victor slashed at another enemy while he drank one of the mana potions in his space. He took a breath of relief when he saw Benny and Ken (who was now dealing with Daga) with him. "Boss! Are you alright?!" Benny yelled, small pebbles floating around him so no one would bother going against him when there were far less troublesome enemies in the area. Ken had no choice but to step back too because Daga now had people with him, and they were even more formidable than before. There were about a handful of people past level 13 here, and it was obvious they were not from Inko. "Voumi Town?" "Oh? So you know?" Daga said, interested. "Well, regardless, it will be your fall¡ª" His words were the signal for the two sides to clash blades again, starting another chaotic battle royal among the elites. Victor and the others did have trouble, but they didn''t falter. Even if they were outnumbered, they were from the special forces after all! Clack! Slash! Clank! Clank! The exchange of blows went on for a good quarter of an hour, and Daga and the others were shocked that they hadn''t taken down the men despite the level and number differences! These bastards had extremely good equipment for a Village! These were superior Class D weapons! Victor even destroyed one of his two Class D weapons at some point! Those were damned expensive!! "You''re going to have to pay for that!" Daga yelled as he took his spare weapon, about to go berserk. What they didn''t know was that Victor and the main people here received good equipment from Alterra, not inferior to the ones Alterra''s own guards had. Victor and Henry, even, were gifted with Protection Charms, so even after so long, Victor was pretty much okay. After a while, both sides had begun to sustain a lot of injuries, but it was obvious Daga''s side was sustaining more. Worse: The entry of their side also slowed down, and they were running out of people to throw forward as shields! If this went on, Daga and the others knew they''d be surrounded! This caused them to be very agitated and someone even started pushing a teammate forward to block Benny''s attack! This destroyed the already-fragile teamwork that they had, shifting the momentum to Victor''s side. Seeing the enemy side weaken, Victor looked at his teammates and made hand signals only they understood. Immediately, they created a triangle, placing the five people within it. Using a lot of their mana, they burst their elements, drowning them in their elements! "AHHHH!" "STOP IT!" Before they could escape the triangle though, the soldiers quickly lifted their weapons, using all their strengths to slash down on their enemies¡ªfinally beheading them. Chapter 1203 - 1203: Battle with the Cannon Meanwhile, a few more leaks opened up. This time, it was an area near the arrays. This was because stronger enemies had appeared again¡ªnewcomers from the array¡ªand immediately the elites'' hands were full. Enemies started pouring into this area, and the guards immediately lit up a flare to tell everyone another major leak had formed. As per training, certain teams would go there to assist, reinforcing the fighters in this area in hopes of containing the chaos there. The locals met the enemies trickling down the walls, and intense melee combat immediately exploded. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The archers waiting from the roofs shot people down, while the shieldsmen would block the access¡ªand their teammates¡ªwith their shields. As a team, they''d push back the trespassers as much as they could. Everyone had limited energies so they would only use their elements¡ªassuming they were awakened¡ªonly when it was absolutely necessary. They stabbed the enemies with their swords and spears, all while keeping them within the easements. Those assigned in this zone blocked the enemies'' path¡ªpreventing them from going deeper in the territory, preventing them from causing more damage, or finding hiding places. They were still within the scope of the sentries too. However, the sentries were designed to prioritize hitting those outside rather than inside. After all, each one still had a cool down. If the sentries started shooting enemies who got in, it would ultimately just make it easier for enemies from outside to enter. The ultimate goal of the war was to keep the adversaries out, not kill those that entered. While the latter would help, that was too many extra steps than just blocking enemies'' way inside. If things got too much though, the teams would then lead the adversaries into certain streets where various traps were set up and where citizens¡ªeven those attacking from their homes¡ªwere waiting to sabotage. Some fell for it, particularly the lower-levelled ones, but many did not. After all, Terrans had been in Xeno for so long, and naturally many strategies had already leaked to the enemies or enemies-to-be. In most cases, the locals simply had to hold up their shields and they''d greatly reduce the injuries they had to sustain while blocking enemy path. This was in contrast to the enemy side, who, while equipped, lacked decent gear compared to the locals. Over time, the locals chipped away at their equipment''s durability¡ªor directly at their health and spirit¡ªtaking them down one by one. However, despite their efforts, the enemies'' number still felt endless, and¡ªunless they blocked that breach¡ªmore and more would just come in and replace the ones they took down. Speaking of leaks, those from the other side could tell where their people opened a path and created a weakness. They naturally aimed to take advantage of this. Outside, one of the team leads held up a slave as a shield¡ªgasping as a sentry arrow passed through the body and hit him¡ªand ordered his people to focus on that spot. "Widen the opening! Attack!!" More and more of their forces focused on those openings, pushing away the guards. A new stair was even added to allow more people in. BANG! Another explosion, this time only a meter away from him. It was enough to blow him a meter and fall down on his face. "Damnit!!" he cursed as he felt his ears ringing, and he cursed even more when people stepped over him without care! Damnit!! "AHHH!" he screamed as he forced himself up, pushing away the bastard stepping on him at the moment. At the same time, he knew he could not stop or he''d be pushed so he moved forward, eyes on the prize. He climbed up the ladder as quickly as he could, moving just in time to avoid another arrow¡ªhe didn''t know where it came from anymore¡ªwhich ultimately killed the person next to him. He gulped, he didn''t care, just focused on getting inside and finding a house to hide in! As soon as he stepped on the battlement, he immediately jumped inside, not caring how he''d land. This was a good thing because several boulders of rock the size of a child floated on that section of the battlement, sweeping away those trying to get in. "AHHH!" "NO!!" He could hear his allies scream as they were pushed back to the outside, falling to their backs and probably stepped on by hundreds. The team lead took deep breaths as he squeezed himself against the wall, going as low as he could to hide from immediate notice. His heart was palpitating so bad from nervousness as he studied the place. There was a large space right below the wall, and it was now filled with several battles, which would make it harder for him to get past and find a hiding spot. And then¡­ he saw it. That damned weapon! It was a large barrel-like thing made of black iron. It was being protected by guards, who also seemed busy defending the artilleryman who was preparing to make another shot. BANG! His eyes turned red. That blasted thing caused him so much trouble!! Then, he had an idea. If he was to get that weapon, he would get rewarded! Better: if he got it for himself! The greed made his heart tremble for a different reason and he watched the artilleryman as he prepared to make another shot. After placing a ball from his space, it seemed like he just had to place fire? He had a small box he just had to rub and a small fire would be made. There was also grey powder which was placed on the table next to him! The team lead took a deep breath before rushing forward, barely avoiding becoming collateral damage to a few battles happening around him. "SLAVES! BACK ME UP!" He ordered all the slaves in the vicinity to cover him, and they immediately rushed to where he was, covering him from the attacks. The scores of people barrelling towards a single area¡ªwhen they were all separated just a few moments before¡ªtook the locals by surprise. The slaves attacked the enemies even if they were stabbed continuously, leaving an opening for the team lead¡ªwho was level 13 by the way¡ªto kick down the artilleryman a few levels weaker than he was. He smiled greedily, changing the barrel''s angle to hit the walls next to their breach to widen it. There were also several locals who compiled there as they tried to push down his side from climbing up. He timed his attack so there was already a black ball inside, and all he had to do was light the fire and maybe place a bit more of that grey powder in. No, a bit more, maybe the explosion would be bigger! "Now! HAHA!" he yelled as he lit it up, looking forward to the damage he''d create!! BANG! He did not have the luxury of seeing this damage because instead of the thing exploding from the front, there was a shot coming from where he placed the fire, hitting him smack on the face. When Mao arrived¡ªhe hurried after sweeping a few more enemies with his floating boulder¡ªhis eyes twitched. Alterra naturally designed their cannons in a way that they would not be used against them by enemies¡ªat least, not easily. For now, the cannons were still large and heavy, and could not fit in the spaces. What they did was to keep the actual cannon balls in the artillerymen''s spaces. On top of that, they also separated the powder into two parts. One was in the artillerymen''s spaces, too, and it had to be placed just before firing. It was kind of like the priming powder, but with several other uses. If there was a lack of this, then it was likely an enemy was firing, and there would be a small defense explosion coming from behind, hoping to debilitate the enemy to some degree. That said, the retaliatory explosion shouldn''t be deadly¡ªwhat if it was just an ally taking over a fallen artilleryman? But who told that bastard to add too much grey powder? Of course, the artillerymen were also trained very strictly so they didn''t accidentally forget to place the powder and trigger this mechanism. Mao''s eyes twitched as he looked at the man with half his face burned off¡ªhalf-dead¡ªbody twitching in pain and shock as if he still hadn''t quite absorbed what had happened to him. Well, this would definitely be a good case study during training. Those guys wouldn''t dare forget to add the powder again! Chapter 1204 - 1204: War Between Elementalists (Part 1) Battles continued within and outside the territory. Mao managed to block off the breaches on his side, though the other spots weren''t quite as efficient. For example, in Victor''s area, another burst of enemies had gotten inside. Their section of battlement had been weakened by the previous battle and hadn''t quite recovered again. A lot had already entered, but they trusted the teams deeper in the territory were handling it. Of course, they would do their part to hopefully stop anymore from entering. There had been no new flares for a while, so it could be assumed the other areas had been handled. The rule was that only one flare per area would be used unless the situation was already greatly disadvantageous for them. After all, the activation of the flare was arbitrary to the team leads who held them. They couldn''t have them activating it every time there was a challenge¡ªnot only would it foster a dependent attitude to some, but it could create openings in other areas when it might not need to. As a rule of thumb: Only activate the second flare when they were certain they''d lose. At this point though, they still had a few shots they could make¡ªtheir handheld bombs. They didn''t have a lot of paralysis and other bombs, so they were saving them up for absolute emergencies. At this, Victor analyzed his surroundings as he fought, heaving deeply and drenched in sweat. More of the main force had entered, and hundreds were already inside. This could count as a good time to use them. Victor¡ªwhile kicking down a few enemies and burning a few others¡ªtook out a whistle from his space. Fweeet! At this, a number of battlement guards¡ªall while battling¡ªtook out marble-sized balls from their spaces. The fighting style of teams was always having someone watching their backs so it was not difficult for them to calculate where to throw. They rubbed the bombs with their fingers, flicking what felt like a switch, and immediately threw them to the dense mobs below them. Specifically, the areas near the breaches. BOOM! BANG! BOOM! They chose to use paralysis or sleep bombs on the areas where it was mostly slaves, but outright explosives to those who weren''t. It was easy to tell because the latter''s equipment was definitely much better than the former. BOOM! BANG! BOOM! This created an explosion of internal organs in some areas and heavy ominous-looking smoke in others. "AHHHH!!" "Damnit!!" The areas near the breaches loosened with the slaves fainting and no one wanting to go through lest they got ''poisoned'' too. The locals took advantage of the chaos to take down as many enemies as they could. For a while, it seemed like their situation had been handled. Various gaps were closed and the people who entered were slowly getting killed or taken down. For a while, it looked like the enemies were finally going to get pushed down completely and all they would have to do was wait for the 28 hours to end. That was until¡ª Whoosh! Whoosh! Some guards from the battlement fell down, dropping to the interiors. "What!" "Oi!" One of the people had a thin arrow lodged in his throat, while another found a weakness in his chest area¡ªsomething possible because, after half a day, much of their defense equipment had already shattered. The former was already gone, while the latter was gasping for air. A teammate immediately ran to him to feed him a potion to keep him alive while he was carried to the clinic. Then they felt sharp wind enter the heavy smoke created by the paralysis bomb. It was as if a sharp wind slashed it from the middle and pushed the dark fog to the side. The guards'' became tense and soon a group of about a hundred people emerged, running towards them. They had different auras than the ones before. They quickly barraged them with arrows, hoping to slow them down. Unexpectedly, plenty of elements erupted. Whether it was an earth wall, a sharp water whip, a small tornado, or a wall of fire, most of their arrows were nullified like this. The sentries had stronger chances, but how many people could a sentry target at a time? They also saw more of the features of the newcomers as they got closer, realizing what they were. "Terrans! Elementalists!!" "Shit!" They lifted their arrows and continued with their barrage. Most of them tried to aim for non-lethal areas, while some knew that their situation was to kill or be killed. At the same time, someone lit up another flare, knowing they wouldn''t be able to handle this many elementalists on their own. The group quickly arrived at the wall. Steps made of earth were created by two earth users, and the rest of them jumped up as these were built. "Damnit!" The guards rained arrows on them, but even the sentry arrows were caught and handled by some people past level 20s. These people were likely from Voumi, though they had to go on foot because they couldn''t go through the arrays. Their task was to make sure the elementalists and¡ªthe rest of the Inko Villagers in the area¡ªcould get inside. Mao¡ªwho rushed as soon as he saw the flare¡ªsaw this and cursed. He had already dealt with a level 20 early in the war¡ªLuis''s team was still handling a few¡ªand it looked like there were still more! That damned Voumi Town! Mao jumped down, creating a shallow crack on the ground he landed on¡ªit was his earth power effect, not his weight, really!¡ªand two boulders half his size burst out from the earth and floated next to him. With firm intentional movements involving his whole body, the two boulders slid to the stairs, hitting one of the level 20s at the back as well as a few steps off the stairs. Mao then clenched his palm and sharp spikes popped up from the boulder. "Spiky Boulder!" he called out his technique, watching as sharp thorns of earth appeared from the rock. "AH!" Unfortunately, level 20-plus from a Town was a level 20-plus from a Town. The spikes were not lethal, but it definitely got his attention. The two from Voumi had no choice but to dash to Mao to block his way, while the Terran ''slaves'' moved forward with the elites from Inko who grabbed an Inko slave to use as sheild against the arrows and the sentries. Soon, water whips flicked, pushing a few people from the battlement, and there were also smaller boulders trying to clear out their way. However, unlike other villages, Limestone also had its own elementalists. They could only be thankful they didn''t use too much mana earlier on so they could at least defend themselves from great injury. However, they were still outnumbered and the barrage of elements¡ªwhether they were water whips, flamethrowers, sharp vines, and so on¡ªwere still pushed down anyway, and the hundred or so newcomers came in droves. Furthermore, they were all equipped well with their own weapons and some basic armor so they needed a few more attacks before their defenses cracked¡ªwhich was not fast enough if they wanted to stop them from entering at all. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Inko people brightened as they landed within the walls, safe and sound, and the leader raised his arm. "ATTACK!" Sarah and the others yelled, immediately lunging to attack. Although they were no soldiers, they were all harshly trained for many months, and their force was not to be underestimated. Victor¡ªwho had just killed some of the enemies that had been surrounding him¡ªrushed to them as soon as he could. He was shocked to see the strong injection of forces on the enemy side, but they weren''t to be bullied either! Gulping down his remaining Mana potion, fire surrounded him once more and he lunged to attack. He targeted one of the women there with a bow and arrow, realizing she had a high lethality. However, before he could take the girl''s life, a dark-skinned man appeared in front of him, blocking his way with his own fire! BANG! Victor''s eyes narrowed. This man was a soldier too! Though the style was different, indicating he was from another country. Like this, Victor and the dark-skinned man exchanged literally explosive punches while the rest of the elementalists were also met with differing elements. Elements exploded around the Terrans, making the aborigines gape. A war between Elementalists¡­ was really amazing! Chapter 1205 - 1205: War Between Elementalists (Part 2) The trip from Voumi to Inko was actually quite troublesome. They encountered a small mob of town-level monsters which took them a bit to handle. They arrived in Inko about half a day later, and they were shocked to see they still needed reinforcements. "As expected, they''re really hard stubble," they heard some Voumi folks say. "I heard a few other villages sent hundreds of people too, one sent more than a thousand." "So much?" "Why didn''t we just attack the other villages? Why this one?" After all, this was a troublesome satellite. It was far easier¡ªand, theoretically, more fruitful¡ªto just take over the weaker villages which also had elementalists. "You mean other than the fact that our Lord is vindictive and wanted his revenge?" This was actually the main reason for the questionable decision to target a strong territory. However, there were also plenty of advantages so the proposal still went through. "This territory''s resources can''t be compared to other villages," one said. "For one, the elementalists in other territories yet required a lot of training, this one had them trained already. While troublesome in wars, if we played our cards right then we will receive thousands of good crop. "I heard they even have goblins!" "That was true!? No way?" "It is," another said, nodding. "It''s unbelievable but it just makes sense to attack them." "Many of the territories joining us are also eyeing a lot of their products¡ªlike the food, the fabric, and some technology that leaked out. Some allies even agreed not to receive elementalists as long as they got huge stocks of the items from there." "AH, yes, those sauces! I heard our people who went there to buy were also taken in¡ªsuspected as spies!" Granted, those people didn''t have innocent motives when they went to Limestone Valley, but still! Interestingly, even the Voumi escorts next to them nodded, apparently having access¡ªat some point¡ªto some of the products of this ''Limestone Valley''. They couldn''t enter the arrays, but they did their best at this job because they had a taste of the products and wanted to get more of it. Sarah and the others felt complicated but they also felt relieved and amazed that there was a territory out there that would require a town and several villages to work together to take them down. They heaved deep breaths as they entered the array, just hoping for the best. A part of them was even praying¡ªhoping¡ªthat they would fail. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Limestone Valley, Present. BANG! SLAM! BOOM! At some point, the Victor-Gurnam battle created a vacuum, clearing a certain area of the easement with just the two of them exchanging fiery blows. They were fairly evenly matched, especially since Victor was tired after fighting non-stop for half a day before this. As the two fire users exchanged blows, the Inko people defended themselves, hid behind their slaves, and ordered them around at the same time. They were not elementalists. They did not want to be accidentally hit by an attack¡ªeveryone knew that attacks from elementalists degrade defense much faster than normal attacks! Not everyone could afford Class D Equipment! "Yes! Kill them! Slaves! Kill them!" some of the aborigines screamed, their pitches annoyingly high in their excitement. This was in stark contrast to the expression of the slaves, who were all apologetic or outright sobbing. In response, many of the local''s had pauses in their attacks which ultimately made openings that would injure them Anyway, the Inko side was taking advantage of the fact that some of the enemies couldn''t bear to make lethal shots to their own slaves! It was especially tragic when an Inko slave went against a local civilian¡ªwho had also been fighting for hours¡ªand had the extra disadvantage of being low-leveled and less trained. The fight''s outcome easily favored the Inko Terrans, and aborigines felt extreme satisfaction when their elementalists beat the enemy''s, particularly when their slave apologized all while slashing down to kill. "KILL! KILL!" they yelled. "Kill them all¡ª" Whoosh! Splack! Whoosh! His voice was cut off when several arrows¡ªfrom different directions¡ªended up on him. In an instant, there was an arrow on his neck, his mouth, and his eyes. He fell down backward without another word and another breath, and the enemies quickly shut their mouths and took cover. They ordered the slaves to make sure to block every attack heading their way¡ªeven at the cost of their lives. They must be protected. After all, they were not the Lord, and they had to keep ordering these slaves to keep them moving. Otherwise, after defeating an enemy, they might stop! Anyway, there were elements exploding all over the easements, with more and more people from the enemy side entering from the outside. It was absolute chaos. Unexpectedly, in the midst of all this, the Victor-Gurnam fight made an odd turn. Gurnam saw that there were already enough people and chaos, and suddenly stopped his fire, simply entering a defense mode. Victor narrowed his eyes, wondering if he had ran out of mana. "I''m going away," Gurnam whispered, but Victor didn''t dare to change his pace, attacking to take him down. He ignored the pain when a burst of fire landed on him. He just gritted his teeth and acted like he didn''t feel pain. "Please don''t kill them," was he could say. "They''re mostly good people." And finally: "Kill the aborigines first." Gurnam then turned and ran away, not explaining anymore. That man was more useful fighting against the aborigines. While he¡­ he must make sure there was as little death as possible! ... Speaking of the Inko Lord, he had been waiting for the elementalists from Voumi and the opening they created. He wanted to make a grand entrance in a safe time¡ªbut who''d have thought they barely breached after half a day!? Anyway, those elementalists were his last shot and he knew they had to work out if he wanted to win this war. He also made sure to run amongst the elementalists for maximum cover. They were not his slaves so he could not order them around, but he could ask the Voumi guards who were with them. Fortunately, Voumi still had a number of guards below the level cap to assist him inside the walls! At the time, his heart was high from the excitement of finally exacting revenge after that humiliating defeat!! Sad for him, just when he was about to climb, the earth stair he stepped on disappeared. He would later realize that it was among those destroyed by Mao''s boulder. He dropped face first and was unable to recover fast enough to order his slaves to help him out. This was followed by hundreds of people trying to get into the walls too, and he was stepped on repeatedly, his face pushed deeper and deeper into the soil. When he pushed himself up, he stood up just in time to witness the deaths of the level 20 Voumi town guards who had camped around the area. "!!!" He knew Voumi sent a few a few days back, but he didn''t think they''d go down so quickly! He was amazed with the Level 15s just a moment ago!! He instinctively turned to run but he was met with a fire wall instead. "About time you got here," the earth user said to a newcomer, heaving deep breaths. "I''m exhausted! I must''ve lost 10 pounds from that fight!" "They sent a lot of people," was all Luis said, looking at the Lord with soil on his face. "You needed exercise anyway." The two elementalists approached him and he felt his body turn cold. He had heard that Limestone Valley''s Master had strongmen, but he didn''t think their own strongmen would be useless against them! He requested for so many and Voumi did send a lot¡ªif he still lost this war after all that, that person would definitely have his head! Despite all the thoughts in his head though, all he could scream was: "Don''t kill me!" The two Terrans looked at each other and then at him, staring at him like he was an idiot. "Why?" "Yeah, why ever would we do that?" "I¡ªI d-d-don''t have the token with me!" he yelled without thinking, but when he realized he actually said something smart, his chest puffed up in confidence, his tone changing slightly despite shaking in fear. "I don''t have the token with me," he said. "It''s in my territory. I can make an oath to send it to you!" He just wouldn''t say when or how he''d send it. After all, by the time would get back home, maybe the war would already be over, merged with his son, and the token could no longer be given away! Those few weeks would buy him time to get revenge again!! He''d convince Voumi to help them again, somehow! Mao rolled his eyes. "Do we look like we care about your poor territory?" They didn''t have the time to deal with idiots¡ªthey had no doubt there were people getting injured inside the walls while they listened to this bastard. So¡­ the next thing this Lord knew, his head was on the ground, looking up at his headless body. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "..." Chapter 1206 - 1206: Near the End Inside the walls were indeed getting a little bloody. However, despite the challenges, most people miraculously managed to take down each other without taking lethal shots. While there were certainly a few deaths, they were definitely not near the degree the Inko and Voumi aborigines would''ve wanted it to be. For instance, a local Terran would stab an enemy''s leg and then just hit their head until they lost consciousness. Another would allow himself to be slashed a bit just so he could grapple the enemy''s neck and suffocate him¡ªjust enough to take him out without killing him. The aborigine hires like Wodan and Zeo¡ªwho had just settled down enemies who got deep into the territory¡ªarrived to see this, and they felt complicated. It was not even exclusively on their side, either. They arrived just in time before an enemy elementalist took down someone from their own side. They immediately kicked the man to the wall. Unexpectedly, the man looked at them with gratitude. "Thank you¡­ thank you¡­" he whispered, just before losing consciousness, not knowing whether he was alive or dead. ¡­ On the other end of the battlefield, several arrows cut through the air, but one was particularly lethal if it hit correctly. Sarah took out her bow and arrow, shooting accurately at people. However, with all the elements floating around, her shots didn''t end up lethal. She was thankful. So thankful. In her own way, she tried to minimize the damage she caused. The order was to do their best to cause damage and hurt the enemies. As a slave, she had no choice but to do so, but she tried her best to find a way for her aim to become less lethal. For example, there would be a fight between wind elementalists. She would be sure to target someone behind that fight, making the arrow fly between that exchange of elements, weakening it considerably. The others were melee fighters and didn''t have such loopholes, and they could only stab and hack as their bodies ordered them to, using their elements to assist in hurting their own brethren. In their minds, they just prayed to be taken down already so they couldn''t move anymore, but how easy was that¡ªespecially now that more of their forces had passed through? It was a really difficult fight. After all, the locals had been fighting for half a day already. Not to mention, except for the soldiers and guards, the rest of the citizens had medium talents and were not as thoroughly trained with their elements. In those cases, the Voumi Elementalist slaves¡ªwho were literally trained to death by a Town¡ªwere superior in skill. "I''m sorry¡­" the slaves would cry, but they would continue attacking relentlessly as if their lives depended on it. Ersat was sobbing as he hit people with his water whip. He was thankful they were not weak either, most of whom were awakened elementalists. He wished someone could hit him already. If he fainted then he wouldn''t have to hurt his own brethren! But the order was to give their lives to the cause, and what could he do?! It broke their heart¡ªhaving to fight like this!! Fortunately, someone did manage to hit him. It was none other than Victor, who had been trying to fight as many slaves as he could without killing them. This was actually more difficult than aiming to kill, however, and he gained quite a lot of wounds while trying to avoid various attacks on him. In other places, some slaves didn''t know it was actually a teammate who fainted them. For example, Gurnam. He was quite subtle about it, too. Whenever someone near him was about to kill an enemy, his fire whip may or may not hit the person instead. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The locals just thought they were lucky. Gurnam heaved a deep breath, before defending himself against the attack of a local. He did his best to defend himself and fight without hurting anyone too much. Anyway, with the enemies continuously pouring in the dozens, and their own forces congregating to help out, the place became extremely chaotic, with the fights extending deeper into the territory. Fortunately, Luis and Mao soon arrived from the outside and they quickly plugged the last breach. Some section now had a new tall (but thin) wall in front of the territory walls, and the other areas were blocked by a fire wall. They jumped back up to the battlement, defending against people trying to climb up, and no more leaks managed to enter after that. Realizing that their numbers were diminishing quickly, the aborigine enemies felt panicked. "ATTACK THEM! ATTACK THEM!" they screamed to the top of their lungs. Victor narrowed his eyes at this but he was too busy defending against an earth and a fire elementalist. It wasn''t that he didn''t know to target the Inko and Voumi bastards first, but they were maximizing the use the Terran slaves as their meatshields¡ªespecially knowing how reluctant Limestone Valley was to kill them. If he dared approach, then he''d get mobbed by the Terran slaves, and he''d be preoccupied for a long time after that. Fortunately, with the breach blocked, openings in the enemy''s defense slowly appeared as more and more of the enemies were taken down. Victor tried to calculate the best time to attack. The earth elementalist then tried to trap him in the soil, while the fire elementalist threw a flamethrower at him. They were both pale and crying, but they were using their remaining mana to deal with him. Victor gritted his teeth as he raised his arms, using much of his mana to fight control over the fire. Victor yelled as he absorbed an enemy''s fire and pushed it back, making his two enemies fly a meter away from him. Sadly, this also meant his energy was almost spent. Victor looked around him, bellowing an order. "Attack the aborigines first! There are openings now!" he yelled. "If the enemies are taken down, no one can order the slaves!" Inko and Voumi guards: ??! This immediately created a shift in targets. The teams changed strategy to simple defense against the Terran slaves or trapping them while the rest mobbed the aborigines getting in. It so happened that Gurnam, who had been doing his own agenda all this time, was left out in all the chaos. The few remaining aborigines saw him free and ran to him, believing he''d protect them well. Oh¡­ how wrong they were. Chapter 1207 - 1207: Gurnam’s Surrender Some were hit in the back and taken down while someone managed to get to him. It was a guard from Voumi. He was someone who beat him up a lot back in Voumi. Since his level was low for a Town level, but a powerhouse to the Terrans, he abused a lot of them. He was a weakling to the aborigine locals, but he got his ego-boost from them, and he definitely maximized that. Ironically, when they awakened and nearly caught up with his strength-level, the bullying got even worse. As slaves, they could only lay down and get beat up while he enjoyed feeling power over elementalists. He was also among those who laughed at his face as he told him about how he''d be massacring brethren soon. "Sheild me! Shield me!" he yelled, pointing at the civilians a few meters away from them, sending a barrage of attacks. "EVERYONE! SHIELD MEE!" As the most powerful Voumi resident left, all the slaves followed his orders, creating a wall around them. Earth elementalists used their remaining mana to create earth shields above, so there were no archers who could assassinate him either. Gurnam looked at the slave driver with sharp eyes. "Escape! Help me escape!" he yelled, pointing at them while trying to hide behind Gurnam. They could see the Limestone residents take down the rest of them¡ªwho were all cursing at the selfish bastard who took away all their shields¡ªwhile their group slowly moved to the wall, protecting just this one person. The locals cursed and tried to find an opening to him, but it wasn''t easy. The scores of Terran slaves completely focused on defense mode¡ªmaking it difficult to breach. And, considering there were still enemies they still had to clean up at this point, it gave the Voumi guard time to actually reach the wall. Unexpectedly, just before someone could create an earth stair, Gurnam suddenly turned around and raised his sword. The man only realized what was going to happen when he saw the darkness in Gurnam''s eyes. "Wha¡ª" The blade quickly stabbed down in his direction. He avoided it by instinct, but it was too late¡ªthe blade was still buried on the junction between his neck and his shoulder. "!!!" Before he could yell out an order, Gurnam''s hand found his face, and¡ªboom¡ªfire exploded smack on his face. It didn''t kill him but it certainly stopped him from speaking. All this happened in less than a second and, the next moment, Gurnam pulled out his sword again, but this time hacked at the right place. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Voumi man''s head dropped to the ground a second later, and the slaves completely stopped moving. Everyone: "..." ¡­ There was a stagnant pause on the vicinity, and Gurnam looked around him. The Terran slaves were unaware of what happened¡ªthey were simply carrying out the last order to them¡ªnot knowing that the person behind them had already died. Those outside the circle were also not entirely clear of what had happened. While many were cleaning up the rest of the enemies, there were also plenty of people trying to get to the last Voumi man. They just knew something must''ve happened for a noisy bastard to go quiet. Gurnam heaved a deep breath, heart turbulent. They were still slaves, but for now¡­ they were free. "The last Voumi Residents are gone! Until one appears again, your will is your own again!" he yelled. "Do whatever you want!" The Voumi Elementalists'' eyes widened, realizing that they could move against the order. They turned to see the corpse of the man, and they immediately turned face. There were still a few Inko citizens alive and they immediately went to attack them! The locals blinked and stepped back, as if watching the show, though in reality, they were still absorbing what was happening. "WHAT!" "AHHHH!" "DIEEE!" "YOU BASTARDS! DIE!" The slaves yelled. Although not every one of them was sold through Inko, they hated these aborigines who targeted Terran territories all the same. They had been wrung for so long, they also needed to vent! Victor watched what was happening with complicated eyes. His sights then shifted to look at Gurnam, who was standing still over the Voumi man''s corpse. He then looked at the rest of the ''slaves'', feeling both relieved and heavy in his heart. Now that they weren''t attacking them, he had the chance to appreciate these people''s strengths. Not only was their average level higher than theirs, but their fighting style betrayed a lot of¡­ desperation. Since they were from a Town, it meant they went against pretty strong monsters too. How much loss and suffering did they have to endure in the past year? Even those who had been injured by these people couldn''t help but feel sad for them, too. Of course, they didn''t put down their guards at all. What if a Voumi Resident appeared and ordered them to attack again? If they were defenseless, it''d have been a lethal mistake. They watched as the remaining enemies were taken down by them, and then it got even more awkward as the two sides stared at each other. Victor walked forward. "Please go to the battlement and help take down those who are still trying to climb up. We will talk about what to do after this." This made the slaves hopeful and they immediately went to the battlements to help out. The earth users created stairs for them and soon they got scores of new elementalists keeping the enemies down. Some of the guards walked next to Victor, looking worried. "Is¡­ this alright?" they asked. It felt¡­ complicated and a bit uncomfortable to be fighting with people who had just been trying to kill them. Victor nodded. "This will keep their remaining mana in check," Victor explained. "This way, if they do decide to turn their backs on us again, they''d be easier to handle." The guards and the nearby citizens nodded in enlightenment, though their eyes never left their new reluctant ''allies''. There was another reason that Victor told the slaves to fight for them. Exposing them like this would help determine if there was still a Voumi Resident around. This was because they''d be able to see the elementalists above the wall and could therefore be ordered again. Gurnam heaved a deep breath and went to Victor. Some of the people around Victor immediately raised their weapons¡ªunderstandably so¡ªwhile Victor seemed quite calm in comparison to them. "He''s not a slave," Victor said, making everyone gape at him. "What?" Gurnam nodded, confirming. "I was only pretending to be a slave." "I can tell you everything I know," he said, turning to look at his companions passionately fighting against their former captors. "But please let every one of us stay here." Chapter 1208 - 1208: The Interior Battles (Part 1) While the peripheries were being handled, the interior was also getting cleaned up. The chaos in the front line was abound, and there was bound to be some chaos inside. The new aborigine hires Elof, Sapur, and their respective teams were assigned in various areas to protect. It was their first war fighting alongside Terrans and they immediately found the differences. One of the main differences was the guards'' sense of loyalty. They were well-trained, disciplined, and were unlikely to desert if things got too dangerous. Because the enemies were numerous, the territory was not small, and their forces were relatively thin so it could indeed get overwhelming sometimes. However, they saw how the guards refused to back down. There was no time when they had the impression that the person wanted to run and abandon. Most of the citizens had been the same. It was enlightening and fascinating at the same time. The attitude certainly added some passion to their work, letting them do more than what they would''ve done in similar situations elsewhere. All-out battles in the wide alleys commenced, with locals and civilians fighting against the leaks. They had experienced a few wars already, so they already knew the drill. They already knew what to do to minimize injuries and what to do if it happened. Another difference was that their teams were delegated to only certain zones and were not to head out to assist elsewhere no matter how many flares they saw. This was to protect the core of the territory, and most of the weaker citizens were now hiding in certain houses so they''d be easier to protect. To the aborigines, this alone was a novel thing. To them, it was puzzling but at the same time, it made sense. After all, most territories would purely prioritize winning the war¡ªand this meant every force was along the battlement walls, minimizing the entries. This was natural and the smart thing to do, of course, but here they made sure that the rest of the citizens were protected, too. And indeed, there were some people who had managed to reach the central areas, running as deep as they could as soon as they entered. Some were slaves ordered to make as much chaos as they could, while others were finding places to hide and maybe take advantage of a few weaklings while they waited for the war to be over. Elof and Sapur''s teams immediately mobilized to clear these areas, ensuring these leaks didn''t cause damage or any more deaths. Another difference was that there were many citizens joining bravely. For instance, while in the protection of their homes and businesses, they would attack the enemies coming their way. For instance, Elof''s team was assigned in the plaza area and were making rounds in this small space when they saw something interesting. STAB!! It was an old man stabbing down from the roof of the Weapons Store. It was part of their scope because the weapons and equipment stores were often the target of leaks. After all, the enemies needed to replenish their weapons, too, and with the rules being null it was the perfect time to steal. If there was a weapons master inside, then they could kidnap him too and bring to their territory after the war. Anyway, the guards did not expect a civilian to be protecting it when they arrived. The old man was stopping some aborigines from getting inside and stealing from the store. He would stab and stab his elongated spear¡ªwhich was made of black iron by the way¡ªirking the enemies to death. When they would try to jump up in an attempt to grab onto him, he''d accurately stab them down. "Wow, Old Basco could be a fisherman, stabbing down on fishes like that," some of the Terran teammates mumbled in amusement before they dashed to the enemies, taking them down easily while they were distracted. BANG!! Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. BANG! The noise attracted the Weaponsmith inside the Weapons Store. When Weaponsmiths made weapons to add to the automatic production of the system building, they would usually be unaware of what was going on outside unless there was some major noise. The system building was designed for maximum efficiency in mind, after all, so the in-built workshop had great insulation. "Sorry, Sir Basil! Continue with your good work! Your dad is a great fisherman." "???" "My dad? Is he alright?" "Very," the guard said, looking up. But the old man was making ''hush'' gestures so they only smiled. "He''s safe and sound and can protect himself well." "That said, we''re assigned to patrol this area, so you can rest assured and do your job." They didn''t explain anymore, but Basil was tasked to make weapons as long as the war was ongoing, so he had to go back inside and do his job. As long as his dad was fine and safe, there was no need to worry. This was the father-and-son pair Basil and Basco, the latter of which was a well-expert Fargo forced to work for him back then. After being overworked his whole life¡ªand also under Fargo after coming here¡ªhe was now living a retired life leeching off his son who had awakened the Weaponsmith Profession a few months ago. Or at least that was what the son had tried to do, but how could an old man who lived his entire life working day in and day out actually rest? In the end, he just gathered resources for a few hours a day, and spent the rest relaxing in the various establishments that popped up in their territory. When the war started, his son asked him to stay in the cellar, but he couldn''t stay still at all. He knew that the plaza area was a core protection area and the Weaponstore was likely protected by guards making rounds, but he still could not be reassured. Although he knew there would be guards around, he felt he''d die of heart attack if he just stayed in hiding. He and his son only had each other since his mother died giving birth to him. He would protect his son no matter what! Chapter 1209 - 1209: The Interior Battles (Part 2) The enemies were eventually weakened and were no longer able to breach. A lot of them even ran back to the arrays, taking their chances of escaping the imminent slavery. Because a lot of people did this¡ªhundreds if not thousands, including those from allied territories¡ªLimestone Valley would have to wait the entire 28 hours before the war was officially won. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In the meantime, the soldiers¡ªwho were all far beyond the level cap of villages and therefore had limited movement within the walls¡ªdid their final rounds, just in case. Mao ran around the battlements, making sure everything was okay while taking down all the access the enemies had left behind. There were still hundreds left on the ground and while their side ignored those who were just lying there waiting for death, they consistently kicked down those who were still trying to climb up. Luis and Ryo were paired up and sprinted around the territory, ensuring there were no unnecessary troubles brewing inside. They knew there were still stronger aborigines within the walls, and they could still do some things especially if they didn''t mind getting punished. At some point, they came across an ongoing argument where two people were pointing fingers at the other, calling them ''evil'' and ''traitors''. The two groups were fighting it out, and there was someone even gravely injured on the ground. He was fortunately being treated by a medic though, and he would be transferred to their hospital as soon as he could be moved. "So what''s going on?" Ryo asked, appearing patient, while Luis crossed his arms and looked at them with narrowed eyes. "He attacked that person! I saw it!" One said, the others looked disgusted and aghast by his claims. "Him! It was him!" he yelled back. "He attacked him!" "No, it was him!" "You bastard! We thought you were our friend!" one said, tears lining in his eyes. The other man looked similarly betrayed. "We trusted you!" "STOP LYING!" "YOU MUST BE FROM INKO, RIGHT!?" "What? You''re the one who just moved here!" the other retorted. "Didn''t you move so you can stab us on our backs?!" "YOU¡ª" "YOU¡ª" Like this, another brawl threatened to erupt. However, neither man dared to start. This was because Luis'' hand had a menacing ember floating on it. It was a silent message that he''d burn whoever made the first move. Before another round of argument began though, a splash of water appeared above their heads¡ªshutting them up. It was Ryo. "Calm down," he said. "Tell me who you are." At this, they introduced themselves¡ªwith a lot of details as if it''d prove their identities. Ryo and Luis found out that both were citizens, though both aborigines. Limestone Valley had hundreds of immigrants the past few months so it was impossible to tell who was a double agent without a thorough interrogation. It was simply not something they could do with every one that entered their territory. Anyway, they had expected something like this to happen eventually¡ªeverywhere, even in Alterra. How it would be handled would depend on a lot of variables though, and they could only hope they''d make the best decision considering what they knew. They also had no time to bring these two to the center to make an oath. Rather, the enemy could be doing this to delay things on purpose. Either way, there could be a lot more chaos going around elsewhere; there could be someplace else they were more needed. "This can be easily figured out," Ryo said. With a blank face, he raised his spear. This puzzled everyone, not knowing what he''d do. They could only gasp as the ominous spear shot down, aiming to stab directly at the victim! Everyone was shocked, not knowing why this was happening! "Wait!" one yelled, running to him, stopping the spear just in time before it buried into the unconscious man''s body. "What are you doing!?" Ryo didn''t answer. He simply raised his head and looked at Luis, who nodded and went to the other man to capture him. "WHAT?" he yelled, trying to struggle out of Luis'' hold. Luis pushed him down, just hard enough that he wouldn''t be punished for it, but also hard enough to keep the bastard down on the ground. The fire-user did not forget to step on him though. "People who truly cared wouldn''t smile when the person is about to die, idiot." ¡­ The Limestone Hospital at this time was busy with a long line of patients. All beds were occupied at this time, and each one would even be moved to an outpatient ward after treatment. Still, the flow of new patients didn''t seem to have an end. The medical personnel were all a bit tired after hours of this, but they were doing their best. In the past couple of months, Limestone Valley had taken in a few refugees with some medical expertise. Without exception, they were recruited to Limestone Valley''s clinic for a good salary. There was also a doctor who could do some general surgery, but more serious ones would''ve been a problem. They did not have specialized surgeons there and anyone who would absolutely need it would have to be transferred to Alterra''s hospital. Fortunately, the paths had been developed a lot with asphalt since then and the travel had been reduced to a few hours by Broat Carriage. Among the medical personnel, the most hardworking one was Raffy, the new head of Limestone Valley''s Medical team, and also one of the only healers in the territory. Raffy was one of the nurses who had been here since the start. He did not come with Volohov to Alterra, and chose to stay for the sake of duty. Then a few months ago, he was assigned to actually lead the place¡ªeven before he had awakened. More than Vanessa, and more than the doctors, he¡ªa bulky nurse¡ªwas chosen to lead. This naturally sparked some murmurs, no doubt stirred up behind the scenes by the only actual healer at the time, Vanessa. She was subtle and no one would be able to tell but he worked with her for months, he naturally knew how she was like. However¡ªdespite the rumors¡ªhe never lost his position, and when he did awaken the skills, the murmurs gradually stopped. Granted, he still had a lot to learn, and his only source of information¡ªVanessa¡ªwas purposely being vague about her teachings all while appearing to have done her best. He looked at the stark contrast between him¡ªwho was sweating profusely¡ªand her, who looked graceful and beautiful as she chose her patients to heal. His eyes flickered, but he shifted his attention back to the patient on hand. None of that mattered right now, he reminded himself. People''s lives are on the line, after all! Chapter 1210 - 1210: Raffy the Nurse However, whenever things like this did happen, the comparison between them is very stark. While he struggled to heal a patient, she''d have already finished two. Granted, she was practically twice his level and had months of experience ahead of him. She also tended to choose the relatively easier cases¡ªand leave him with the most urgent ones¡ªbut the people didn''t see that. Not to mention, even if her cases were indeed easier, it was a fact that she was far more skilled than he was. He could feel people''s judgment sometimes, but he forced himself to focus. There had been many cases where he just wanted to go to Alterra for training, even for just a month, however that''d be difficult since the territory was being targeted. He simply would not afford to leave Limestone at this juncture. He did, however, swear to train there during the two-week null time after this war, and learn as much from it as he could. Raffy moved from bed to bed, using his healing abilities on as many people as he could. He was pale and sweating, but his back was ramrod straight as if he refused to show any more weaknesses. Sadly, there were dozens upon dozens of patients squeezed in the emergency bay, and there naturally wasn''t enough space for all of them. "Let us in! Heal us!" a group yelled, trying to get inside, squeezing out other people from the queue. Some were quite bloody, but they were stopped by the guards at the door. "I''m sorry," one of the nurses said as she headed out in an attempt to calm people down. "We will get to you as soon as we can, please don''t move too much in the meantime." "Hey! Nurse! Please! Heal us!" "Yes, me too! I''m in so much pain!!" One even pulled someone in line. "See how bloody I am compared to him?!" "Is this how you treat the civilians who volunteer to fight for the territory?!" Raffy was very tired and didn''t have the patience to deal with all the noise outside. He had not been a healer for long and, while talented, his skills hadn''t grown as fast as needed because the only one who could teach him was withholding it. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He looked at the nurse, "Tell them to be please be quiet," he said. "We will get to them as soon as we can." Vanessa had just finished a patient who was then moved to the other wards at this time, and she turned around to observe the current state of the bay. More people were sent in, but the noisy ones couldn''t be calmed. "Why did you let him in first? Please! I''m in so much pain!" Raffy looked at the nurse who nodded, about to head out to tell them again. However, Vanessa stepped forward. "No, they should be placed here," she said, her voice soft. She was stubborn, but her head was high, and she acted as if she was the angel of justice, something some people¡ªespecially those she had indeed saved¡ªagreed about. Raffy''s eyebrows furrowed. Putting them forward would make everything disorganized. It wasn''t like the other patients were not in pain! What if they all tried getting ahead? "Don''t." Vanessa looked at him, with that look of a reprimanding senior. "Why are you so heartless?" Something snapped in Raffy, then. His patience was already low, and he didn''t appreciate this woman trying to make things more difficult. "I am the lead here, Vanessa, someone the leader¡ªyour brother¡ªassigned," he said. "Now stop acting like a saint in the wrong place and start treating the people who are in actual need of immediate care." Silence Everyone gaped and looked at each other. Vanessa''s eyes were wide. "You¡ª" Raffy turned around and focused on his own patients. If she still wanted to make a scene, then she better do her job better¡ªonly then would he accept it. Vanessa bit her lips, and she did look pitiful. Some felt wronged for her while some¡ªmostly the nurses¡ªjust rolled their eyes. Vanessa shook her head, drinking a mana potion. "I can heal them quickly¡ªI won''t be slow," she stubbornly said, looking at Raffy, definitely taking a jab at him, before turning to the door. "Let them in." "But¡ª" The nurse saw that Raffy was no longer responsive, just focused on healing his own patient. The nurse heaved a deep breath, succumbing in the end. She didn''t want to follow Vanessa, but she had a way to make life subtly miserable for those she didn''t like. At this, she let some of the noisier people in¡ªabout three big Terran men¡ªand they immediately went to Vanessa. The other people in the queue naturally were not reconciled and the guard assigned to watch over the ward had no choice but to help control the crowd outside. "Please help us, Miss Vanessa!" "Of course¡­" she smiled, gentle as a saint, and used her superior healing power to them. The beautiful light emanated from her and to the patients. It was slow but steady and it took about half an hour to finish all three of them. In the meantime, Raffy had to deal with the patient she ignored, just shaking his head at her. Soon, the three men stood up, good as new and they looked at Vanessa with admiration. "Thank you! Thank you!" She smiled, demurely turning to continue doing her job. With her chin up, she ended up choosing the patient right next to the one Raffy was still healing. The patients were asked to leave and they nodded. "Let us thank the healers first," he said, and the nurses naturally didn''t stop them. Unexpectedly, these same patients she brought in, took out knives from their spaces, and they immediately attacked the two of them. "DIE, HEALERS!" they yelled, raising their knives to stab at the two of them. "Kyaaaaa!" Vanessa yelled, unconsciously pulling Raffy¡ªwho had been concentrating and therefore unable to react on time¡ªin front of her. Stab! Raffy''s eyes were wide as he felt something stab at his back. And then another, and another. And his vision went black. Chapter 1211 - 1211: Vanessa’s Despair Stab!! "RAFFYY!!!" "HEYY!!" "STOP IT!" The nearby patients and nurses ran to them to pull them back, but they were stronger than they looked and the suddenness of everything caught everyone off-guard. Fortunately, the guards appeared a second later and took the three of them down. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. "Is he alright?!" the patients yelled as they saw Raffy bleeding from multiple stab wounds. The nurses hurriedly went to perform some first aid, and then they glared at Vanessa who was just gaping in shock. "Miss Vanessa!!" "A-AH yes¡ª" she mumbled, shakingly kneeling down next to him. She was shivering in a mix of shock, fear, and shame, and it caused her ability to be inefficient. Her remaining mana drained and all she managed to do was slow down the bleeding. "What''s going on?" A booming voice asked and the people made way. It was Henry. He had a few wounds on his body and went to the hospital to get some extra bandages to handle his own wounds, as well as some of his teammates'' with minor wounds. He was not expecting to come to a crime scene, instead. "The 28-hour war isn''t over yet, so they took advantage of that. They were apparently Inko slaves who pretended to be locals," the guard said, a solemn expression on his face. "It was the last order to them before the ''masters'' were taken care of, so they followed it to death." They looked at the Terrans who were taken down. They only figured it out when the men refused to behave after being caught, and only then did they realize they were actually slaves. There were sadly no indicators of it, even in the Lord Panel. They were simply numbers in the population list like everybody else. This was why, although there was no need to use lethal force, when they saw their expression, they chose to kill them. Slaves'' expressions were not controlled so if they were forced to do this, their expressions could''ve given their plans away. They would only be unable to control their bodies, but they could express warning in some other way if they wanted to. But they didn''t, and their expression when caught were not of remorse, but of regret that they did not finish the job. Inko must''ve promised them a lot of things, things they did not care to know, so they just got rid of the pests so they didn''t waste any more air. Henry looked at his daughter, and then at the bleeding man on the ground, sighing. This was his oversight. Although there were so many things they had planned out, some things were still missed it seemed. He had no excuses. "We may have to send him to Alterra¡­" he said, looking at his pale daughter. "But you have to heal him a bit more to ensure his survival during travel." "My mana is gone," Vanessa said, holding back tears. "I n-need to get some more from my room." She ran to her office, not waiting for others to offer to get it for her. As soon as the door closed, her knees gave way. Shaking, she lifted her arms and looked at the literal blood on her hands. Finally, she burst to tears. ¡­ "My, my¡­" a deep voice echoed in the room and it made Vanessa''s heart stop cold, her tears seeming to freeze. She was not expecting someone to be there. She whipped her head up and her eyes constricted. Standing leisurely at the corner was a tall man with a robe and a deformed face¡ªdefinitely not someone she knew. "When did you¡ª" Before she could scream, he appeared right in front of her, forcefully covering her mouth, the suddenness made the back of her head bump into the wall behind her. She felt dizzy, but she was a soldier in the end. Knowing she was in danger, she pushed her shock down and gestured to fight him, but he easily caught her hit. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He held her hands above her head and she couldn''t do anything about it! He was so strong! Way beyond the level cap! "Such a beautiful healer¡­" he said, his voice raspy and it creeped her out so much. "The master would love to have you." She felt her heart stop as deep dread came over her. He gave a disturbing smirk. His breath was horrible and his teeth were disgustingly yellow. He then lifted his hand a little so her lips were freed from his palm, but were squeezed at the same time. This way she could talk, but the moment she decided to call on others he could easily crush her entire jaw. Vanessa''s heart beat fast, terrified of what could happen. She looked helplessly at the man, trying to soften him up a bit at least, no matter how much her stomach tumbled. "Why... what do you want with me?" "Belize, he is an old friend," he said and her eyes widened a bit. 1 "I heard a lot of interesting things had happened. It is not yet time to make a move, but I sure am shocked to find he fell in this little village." He smiled, lifting her up. "For now, I''ll take you as a bonus hostage." Then take that woman! Take Althea!! She was the one who killed him! She wanted to yell that woman''s name. However, nothing came out of her mouth! It was then she remembered: When she was banished from Alterra, she was forced to make an oath prohibiting her from uttering or expressing anything related to Alterra, especially anything about its Elders! She wasn''t even allowed to say its name! Bitch! She was going to get kidnapped for something she had done! Curse her!! It was around here that the doorknob turned, making her flinch, eyes wide as she stared at the unopened door. Knock, Knock "Miss Vanessa? Why is the door locked?" the voice said. Vanessa recognized it as one of the nurses. "Can you please come down now? Someone got a mana potion for you." Help Me! She wanted to yell out, but it was too late. A moment later, she was taken out the window¡ªnever to be seen again. Fargo''s strongest hire Chapter 1212 - 1212: The Last Conflicts A/N: I''m making Theo, Maya, and Horus images next~! Any requests?! ... ____ The people weren''t aware that their top healer had just been taken away. They were just relieved that the much-awaited announcement finally echoed in everyone''s minds! [Limestone Valley (Lv3) has won the war against Inko Village (Lv3)] The screams and cheers resounded in the territory¡ªsome screamed, and some danced, while many of the enslaved just fell down sobbing. Many of the citizens who had been holding themselves up also dropped down but, fortunately, they were just unconscious and tired. The ambulatory citizens proceeded to help their brethren up, or at least move them to houses or shades. However, the new slaves from Inko¡ª especially those from Voumi were all asked to stand aside. Now that they had seen people really pretend to be slaves, they were reminded to be a lot more careful with how they handled their newcomers. Like Alterra, they would definitely make them all do the basic oaths at least. And this was for the Inko slaves. The Voumi slaves were much more complicated because technically, they weren''t Limestone Valley''s, and therefore could not make oaths. Anyway, the injured were gently handled by their logistics personnel. Limestone Valley also had a few broatbulances given to them, and each one was filled up in each round. At some point though, one of the broat drivers went down as the others loaded the patients in. "Sir Victor." "Your father asked me to tell you something," he said, feeling a bit awkward to be the one who was sending this information. But what could he do? All forces were mobilized to do something and he was heading here anyway. He cleared his throat. "The Hospital was attacked¡ªby Terran slaves from Inko¡ªbut they had been taken care of. "Raffy is being treated now, and he seems to be stabilizing because someone kept a pharmacy-level healing potion with them." Victor looked at the man, knowing there was still more. "And?" "The problem is¡­ your sister is missing," he said, making Victor flinch a bit, eyes narrowing. "What?" "T-They¡­ she apparently locked herself in a room, but then they found that she exited through the window for some reason." "Is she just hiding?" "Have you checked the tunnels?" They naturally kept the tunnel houses built during the Heat Wave. They were all still functional as residential units (though mostly for the goblins¡ªwho were all quite brave in this war, by the way¡ªbecause many of them preferred to live underground). These places were also used as emergency hideouts and so on. At this, Victor looked at some of the guards. "Send someone to check the tunnels please," he said. "Vanessa might be there." "Miss Vanessa?" "Don''t ask," he said, just sighing in exasperation. Anyway, the guards nodded and went to do their tasks, leaving the cleanup to their teammates. To be honest, he really disliked having to stretch the limited manpower they had, but he couldn''t help but have a nagging feeling he couldn''t ignore. Hopefully, everything was alright and Vanessa just decided to be a spoiled brat rather than it being in danger. Anyway, after cleaning up and taking the injured locals to the hospital or the clinics, it was finally time to deal with the slaves. He opened his mouth to give an order. "Slaves, go to the Center and make non-betrayal and Honesty oaths," he said. "We will have a team interrogate you and, if innocent, you can live as a normal villager though you''d have to pay for some debts as well as save up to be able to buy yourselves from the system." The Inko slaves flinched and nodded, their eyes watering with tears. They didn''t care that they had to take all the oaths. The possibility of gaining a semblance of freedom back made them extremely emotional. "We will treat your wounds after you make an oath," he said. "I hope you understand." The hospital could not be attacked again, and it seemed like they had to update a lot of their standard operating procedures regarding that. The Inko slaves were used to injuries¡ªsome of which they still carried after weeks or months¡ªso they really didn''t have the sense of entitlement that they had to be treated as soon as possible. The hundreds and hundreds of slaves were ushered in two files, with a guard walking at each side. This way, even if there was someone pretending to be a slave, the oath would be enough to ensure they wouldn''t be a direct problem. This left the remaining Voumi Slaves, who were now down to about 80 or so people, half of whom were severely injured. In their case, the locals just handed some bandages and some first aid kits and let them do first aid amongst themselves. After the rest of the slaves cleared out, it was an awkward silence between the two parties. What now? The locals were wondering what to do, while the slaves were wondering what would happen to them. Their case was¡­ not the Inko Villagers''. If this was a normal aborigine territory, they would likely get imprisoned or even killed. After all¡­ they were slaves from Voumi Town and therefore were not affected by the transfer of slaves. This meant¡­ that if a Voumi Resident arrived and ordered them, they would have to follow. Essentially: They were ticking time bombs. Gurnam was the first to bow his head, and the others'' kneeled down directly, begging for life. "Please give them a chance at life," he said. "Let us all stay here¡ª" It was here that a woman''s shrill voice cut through the air. "NO!!!!" They turned to see a woman with unruly hair and red eyes, her face messy from sobbing. The soil and blood from her own fights smeared and dirtied her face as she cried. "Second chance?! Second chance¡ª" she screamed, tone full of disbelief as she glared at them. If she wasn''t blocked by guards, it was estimated she''d have attacked the ''slaves''. For a moment, it seemed out of place in an area where barely anyone was speaking. "You dare ask for a second chance!!" sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Miss¡ª" "NO!" She screamed. "They killed my husband!!" This made everyone pause, and they watched as she tried to get past the guards, though to no avail. Knowing it was useless, her knees gave way as she sobbed, pointing at the Voumi group of slaves as if they were the vilest creatures. "It was them! He had an arrow lodged in his throat¡ªand it was because of one of them," she screamed at the top of her lungs. "To think I had to force his teammates to tell me what happened to my own husband¡ªwuuu¡ª" "My poor husband..." she cried, pounding her chest as she felt the deep sorrow of losing the love of her life. The Voumi slaves looked down in shame and sadness, accepting all the insults she threw at them. Among them, there was Sarah, who knew for sure it was her arrow who took that woman''s life. Her heart was clenched in pain and she wanted to walk forward, but Gurnam held her hand. He shook his head. This was not the time to say it. Saying it now would exacerbate the situation for all of them, even the woman. The woman continued to scream and cry, trying to make people understand that they could not be taking these murderers inside their walls! "I don''t care if they''re slaves! It was their hands, their weapons, who killed him and many others!" Victor looked at her and then at the Voumi slaves who were similarly sobbing in remorse. However, no matter how guilty they felt, it would not bring back the people they killed. So far, there were probably more than a hundred deaths in this war¡ªmost of which were because of the aborigines they already killed or these people in particular. All of those people had family and friends here, and it was inevitable they''d find out about this sooner or later. Victor took a deep breath. His fight with Gurnam was not easy, and he honestly couldn''t guarantee there would be no damage if they kept them. At the same time, these were his brethren, and they were obviously forced to do what they had done so far. He sighed in the end, succumbing in helplessness. Let Alterra handle this problem. Chapter 1213 - 1213: War Report Arrives Later that day, Alterra received a report of the war. The Elders gathered together to analyze it together, and it was Mathilda who led it as she read the very lengthy letter. "They won¡­, but they lost 109 people¡­" she told them, voice heavy, and everyone else couldn''t speak for a while either. Considering Limestone Valley went against a few villages, this was actually a very small number¡ªat least in the standard of aborigines, who''d have been happy with losses a few times of that. However, the Terrans, who grew up in a time of peace and human rights, naturally held a different standard. "Give their bereaved the promised support," she said. The bereaved would receive a lot of contribution points and whatever property was in the deceased''s name, including whatever they had in the bank. A while back, the Alterran bank expanded to the Limestone Valley. Like in Alterra, the money that wasn''t automatically collected by the system was circulated through the bank. Their Bank was, however, located next to the Warehouse where a few sentries were placed. The vault was also located underground, reinforced by several layers of concrete and reinforcing bars. This was also an improvement placed in Alterra, and they were pretty much as durable as the Bunkers. Iron Mountain, on the other hand, did not have one. There were still predominantly aborigines in Iron Mountains so there was little use for banks. As for the people who relocated there, they had received their loans in Alterra (with signed oaths of course) and they would have to pay it off according to the agreed terms by going personally to Alterra. "What about the damage to property?" "They could be repaired by he territory," she said. Althea did see that she could do so from the Lord Panel. She just needed to pay some money and the required resources and it''d be good as new. System walls never failed to amaze her. Until now, she had only figured out one other array there, which was the non-scalable array. It basically served to use the normal force and push anything scaling back, prohibiting anything to remain in contact with it. She had been ruminating for the uses and while she did have some theories, their effectivity remained to be seen. She also didn''t learn the array well enough to be able to create it on its own, so she couldn''t place it on manual constructions or anything¡ªat least not yet. After letting them absorb the news so far, Mathilda continued to read the letter. Reading the next paragraph, her eyebrows rose. "Vanessa seems to be missing." "Oh?" The first thought that came to everyone''s minds was, frankly, desertion. Although her level was high, she wasn''t invincible. She had been protected a lot and that, in turn, became her weakness. "There''s no news as of yet, but understandably the father and son are distraught." "Do they have clues?" "It was very chaotic at the time, and there''re no CCTVs," "However, considering Vanessa''s level at 19¡­" "If she was kidnapped, it was likely a hidden aborigine level 20 or above," Ansel said. "No, considering how clean it was, then probably a lot higher than that." As long as that person was in the territory when the war started, then he''d have no problem taking Vanessa, especially if the kidnapping was planned. This was assuming she was kidnapped of course, though they wouldn''t put it past her to have just run away and hid. At the same time, she''d probably stay out of sight for a couple of days in order not to appear like a deserter. No one really worried much and they''d know which one happened after a few days. Moving on, Mathilda read the next issues that were raised. "We will be receiving 82 Terrans slaves¡ªwho were all quite well trained, apparently¡ªfrom Voumi Town," she said. "They are Terrans from Juno Village, Diana Village, and a few others. "However, rather than keeping them, they were sold to Voumi Town who then trained them and ''lent'' them to the territories," "According to the survivors, there are at least a thousand surviving ones still in Voumi." "In any case, they had killed a few people there so they could not stay. Furthermore, Victor was not confident they could handle their force with minimal damage if a Voumi citizen appeared." The room was quiet as everyone thought of the implications of this. Terran slaves were no problem, but if they were still owned by another territory then it was a different issue altogether. "That''s a bit risky, isn''t it?" Ansel asked, very concerned. Who''d want trained elementalists behind them? They turned to look at Althea, the Lord. In the end, something like this had to be her decision. In the end, she heaved a deep breath. "We''ll just assign them where they cannot be accessed easily. Perhaps grant them their own section to work and minimize interactions until we figure something out." Residents had to be within a certain distance from slaves to be able to control them. The distance and the ranking would depend on the type of residency as well as the person''s level, though the exact value was still too variable for them to calculate anything. So, unless the Lord of Voumi Town himself came by, then the slaves would not be controlled so easily if they were placed well. In the end, after a long group discussion, they decided to place them in the mines. Although this didn''t seem like a good job, it actually had good living conditions¡ªas long as they weren''t prisoners of war, anyway. Not to mention, their working hours were not different from everybody else. There was also that Gurnam. He was very admirable, though it also brought up how people could pretend to be slaves. Fortunately, Alterra invested in getting everyone to do oaths, which was a happy side effect of them ''freeing'' the slaves even when they were not freed by the system. "That said¡­ I do wonder what we will do about the thousands left in Voumi." Silence The ''slaves'' naturally did not request anything from them¡ªnor were they in the position to. However, it was still a thought that landed in most people''s heads, and it felt like a heavy burden was passed on to them. Would they just ignore them? Could they? This was the downside of having some ability and influence. If one had a conscience, it was not as easy to turn away from things like this. Did they have a hero complex? Perhaps, but what they did know was that less than 1% of their original population survived the Migration. Worse, after a year, that number would''ve been cut by a whole lot. It was natural for them to want to ''preserve'' as many brethren as they could. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Still, the Elders looked at each other at this. They already had one confirmed hostile town, they''d rather not get another. For Voumi Town, the less aggressive the deals were, the better. It was also apparently a Level 1 Town, so there''d be some problems with that. They decided to first send a Post to Voumi Town, asking for the Terrans in his hands, and they were willing to make fair deals for both parties. As for Basset, a war with them was inevitable. With that, they moved on to the next topic, which was led by Garan, focusing on what they''d do in the two weeks they had left. This time, their next moves would not be limited in Alterra. Chapter 1214 - 1214: Where’s Vanessa? Limestone Valley The 28 hours had officially ended and the people of Limestone Valley could finally heave a deep breath of relief. The rules and regulations were finally up and running again, so anyone wanting to implement their bad thoughts would have to think twice lest they wanted to be thrown straight into jail. The territory, at this time, had finished incinerating their dead. Like Alterra, they opted to burn their people with relatives and friends in separate areas to separate their ashes for collection. This time though, almost all of the dead had relatives or friends. There was no ''mass'' burning, only separate mournings. This meant that each corpse had at least one person who was angry with the Voumi slaves. Although it was well known that the majority of the deaths were made by aborigines, most of those people had already been killed, so seeing people even partially responsible¡ªeven if simply by association¡ªalive and well made them targets for hate and dislike. If the rules weren''t already up, a lot of people would''ve attacked. Some were misplaced anger, while some were debatable, but either way¡ªit was understandable. To handle this, Victor just made the slaves stay in the tunnels until it was time for departure. He also took the few surviving enemies and¡ªif it was determined that they had indeed killed someone from Limestone Valley¡ªhe set them up for a public execution. After the execution and the disappearance of the Voumi slaves from their eyes, a lot of people decided to celebrate in their own way. Like Alterra, a lot of stores would implement some discounts. While the profit margin could be lower, a lot of people were in celebratory moods so the overall gain was still positive. Of course, no one celebrated too noisily or grandiose simply because there was still the looming death of their companions. Even if they personally didn''t lose a love one, perhaps a neighbor did, so the celebrations were very muted. Anyway, while most of the territory was finally taking a well-deserved breather, there was a group of people with dark faces. They were now in the Village Center living room, discussing some of the aftermaths. They received a response letter from Alterra, asking to send the Elementalist slaves there instead. This made sense because if the newcomers would become time bombs, then Alterra would be the one to be able to handle it unscathed. Victor would be leading the party there, and he''d be traveling with Mao and the others who were set to return the next day. He was heading to Alterra to get his family, anyway. Now that that was done, there was another issue they had to figure out: Where was Vanessa? Henry was naturally fidgety but, fortunately, his instincts as a former general remained, otherwise he''d be a panicked father all over. "Are there any clues?" "No¡­ she really disappeared after entering the second floor." S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At their level, jumping down a floor was easy as jumping a few steps of stairs. "Did you think she¡­" "Why would she?" Indeed, if the territory really was about to fall, perhaps she''d really desert¡ªas sad of a thought that was¡ªbut Limestone Valley had won, and didn''t show any signs of losing at all. Perhaps, during the elemental war there was a challenge, but there was nothing indicative that they could lose. Vanessa had selfish tendencies and she wouldn''t give up the comfort brought by being in Limestone Valley over anything else. At this, Henry tapped the table, his hands clenching to a fist. He took a deep breath, and sighed. "Someone took her¡ªI know it." ¡­ Vanessa''s eyes opened to see herself in an unfamiliar place. The ground was shaking, she realized, and she felt dizzy as soon as she opened her eyes. Then, she recognized where she was. She shot up, falling again due to the shakiness of the room. "Wha¡ª" She was in a beast car! And it was going fast! She looked up to see the man with a deformed face looking at her with interest. He was really ugly and it made her stomach lurch. Then, a thought came to mind and she immediately touched her clothing, heaving a deep breath when she saw everything was intact. Her dress was commissioned from clothesmakers imported from Alterra. They were designed to be difficult to take off by other people¡ªspecifically for the protection of women. It wasn''t impossible, but she definitely would''ve been woken up if it did happen. The man saw her movements and laughed, his voice creepily rasp. Obviously, whatever injury destroyed his face affected his throat, too. "Hmn, I''m sending you as a gift, so of course I''m not going to touch you¡­ yet." She shivered. Still, she should be thankful he hadn''t done anything¡ªshe knew full well most aborigines here would do if given a chance. However, she couldn''t feel thankful at all. Another bump on the rocky road shook the carriage, reminding her that she was getting farther and farther from home. "Where are you taking me?!" she yelled and tried to get out of her binding. She raised her hand to create water to take down the rope¡ªonly to realize she couldn''t unleash anything. Her eyes widened and she turned to look at her captor. "You''re wearing an anti-aether necklace, not sure if you know that," he said, apparently enjoying her fruitless struggles. Vanessa looked down at her neck and indeed saw a metallic string necklace with a translucent pearl in the middle. If she didn''t know what it did, she''d have found it beautiful, but right now it felt heavy on her neck. She bit her lips and glared at him. "Are you from Inko? Voumi Town!?" she asked, genuinely confused. They just knew Belize came from a higher territory, but they didn''t know where it was exactly. "You even know about Voumi Town eh?" the man said, impressed. "It''s true that you people seem to know and prepare for a lot. "To be honest, we have nothing to do with Voumi Town, I am just here to see the excitement happening in these parts¡ªand also to check where that bastard Belize is. "After all, he stole something very important to us." She looked at him. "Whatever it is, it''s not with me!" she yelled, pleading him to just let her go. She used her most demure and pitiful look which worked on most men, though it only amused the deformed bastard. "Oh, yes, I know¡ª" he said. "He could''ve also sold it elsewhere or maybe even took it to his grave. However, in the minute chance it''s in that territory called Alterra, Basset Town will take care of it for us anyway." He passed by there before heading into these parts. They were preparing to attack a new Town. At the time, he didn''t bother too much with it until he found out who Limestone Valley was connected to. It was very¡­ convenient. "Then why are you¡ª" Why are you taking me? "Now that I have some clues, I can just leave it up to them. As for you¡­ the City Lord''s 120th birthday is coming soon and I''m constrained to give him a good gift." He extended his rough hands and touched her face. "When I saw you, I thought you''d be perfect." She shivered and frowned, feeling bitter that this was even happening to her. But, for the most part, she just felt fear... understanding that the life she had been taking for granted was now getting farther off her reach. With that realization, the tears in Vanessa''s eyes finally fell. Someone¡­ please help me! Chapter 1215 - 1215: Kids’ 1st Birthday! (Part 1) The next day was a very big day for Alterra. After all, it was finally the Kids'' 1st birthday party!! Although not everyone could be invited in the party itself, a lot of people held some on their own, much like how fans celebrated their idols'' birthdays in their own way. For instance, the Munchkins and the Spices had grouped to create a big party to be held in the park. They even had their own trivia games like ''Who knows Meatball better?'' and ''Which dress would Pepper like best?'' When Althea found out about this, she commissioned hundreds of cupcakes with the babies'' colors to send to them. There were a lot of ''All Hail Miss Althea'' in between wishing the kids their happy first birthdays. The main party, on the other hand, was held in the Grand Hall of the hotel. The food was served buffet style and there was a stage in front for a few kids'' shows. The people invited were family and friends, and their families. After so many months, the number of children had increased and a couple of babies had been born. This was a really, really, good sign, and Althea pushed for more programs to encourage it. This way, within the next ten years, they would have lots of children running around all throughout the territory. Ah, what a happy sight. Anyway, the party was scheduled for dinner, and the events planner (hired by Ansel) was flurrying about making sure everything was perfect. This was the first big kids'' party in the territory, after all. If the parents attending liked it, then she''d have more clients! S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Also, she was a bit of a Munchkin-Spice herself! Anyway, while the venue was being prepared, the villa was also lively as the celebrants and the family were getting prepared for it. Sadly, it wasn''t as smooth as they wanted because the kids just kept running everywhere. Since they started walking, the trouble the kids caused naturally wasn''t small. They were eager to explore the surrounding world, eager to get there on their own, eager to reach whatever they could reach. This was especially true for Meatball who just couldn''t stay still at all! It just got worse when they were finally allowed the eat chocolate! They were testing it out before the party and allowed the babies to try out a bite after they looked so pitiful watching the adults moan while eating them. Oh, how they regretted it now! "Oi! Meatball! COME BACK HERE!" Ansel yelled, watching the kid run about the villa with boundless energy. His feet were so tiny¡ªsmaller than his palm¡ªhow could he run so fast!? Little Pepper also liked to explore a lot but fortunately, her pace was much more controlled, particularly because she was the more ''exploratory'' baby. The baby girl would sprint around, but would stop to look at various things. She would stare at it for a while as if studying and assessing it, which was adorable especially when she puffed her chubby cheeks when she was dissatisfied with what she saw. She would as well touch various things, calling them either ''pwetty'' or ''ugwy''. There weren''t a lot of ugwy things in the house, but she was quite frank when outside. Fortunately, she was adorable, so no one got offended even if she was splurting insults all over the place. Rather, when people knew she was exploring that day, some people would even dress up for the occasion. There were even big men wearing those frilly blouses over their shirts. When they shake around, the movement of the blouse usually got the princess giggle. The baby girl really, really, liked her frills. Anyway, after much struggle (i.e. using food as bait) the two kids finally settled down enough so they could get dressed for their party. There were a few adults working together to dress them up quickly (lest they run away again), all while they were munching on their snacks. The trouble was worth it of course, because the two kids were just so cute! Little Meatball looked dashingly adorable with his tiny tailored jacket and kiddy suit. It was made of cotton so it was comfortable and light, ensuring it was not too stiff for the active baby boy (though Ansel argued the opposite could be useful to keep the baby at bay). He wore matching short trousers cut loosely, hem lined with an elastic waistband for comfort. There was also a bowtie with dog patterns clipped on the suit. His shoes were made of brown leather and white socks. They were so tiny that they easily fit on Sheila''s palm. Little Pepper, on the other hand, looked like an angelic baby princess. She was wearing a pastel-colored ruffled toddler dress with a little petticoat underneath to create the princessy volume. The color was pastel, and there were also many laces and ribbons, adding to the angelic effect. When Little Pepper saw the dress, she couldn''t stop pointing at various parts and saying ''pweetie'' while jumping around excitedly. It was too cute. As for her hair, it was tied into two cute buns with bell accessories. She also had a matching bow headpiece that complemented the dress. When they were dressed, the adults couldn''t help but take pictures with their newly-charged phones (few managed to bring hard drives to this world, but fortunately their phones had good memory). Click! "So cute, so cute!" Click! "Smile, babies! No, here! Look here! Kyaaaa!" Click! "Show that teeth, Little Meatball! Yes! SO HANDSOME!" While a mini photoshoot was going, the rest (especially those in charge of Meatball) flopped down in exhaustion. "I''m so tired and the party hasn''t even started yet," Ansel gasped, falling down on the sofa. Winona chuckled and poked him. "You could crumply your suit." He smiled and grabbed her hand to kiss her palm. "Nah, it''ll get crumpled later anyway." He didn''t mention this was one of the anti-crumple fabric by Andrei, so it was still quite good even well after a night. Winona rolled her eyes, and turned to look at the photoshoot going on. She was holding her cute son on her arms at this time (who was super well-behaved by the way), otherwise she''d be one of the people leading the mini-photoshoot. "Hey, imagine if they ended up using their abilities," she said. After all, the energy spike of a small piece of chocolate was no joke. At this, the room paused, and they looked at her in fear. They cringed. Suffice it to say, the babies would not be eating more than a small bar of chocolate a day after that. Chapter 1216 - 1216: Kids’ 1st Birthday! (Part 2) A/N: Bonus chap for y''all this Sunday~! Thank you for your support, everyone, have a happy weekend~ *dance* ¡­ ____ Dusk arrived and the guests started pouring into the venue. Like good hosts, the family greeted the invitees, while the kids had a little play area with a lot of toys to play with other kids while they waited for the party to start. All the children were invited, including the newborn babies like Helia, who was with his mother. Sahara and Helios greeted the hosts, and the team looked at the beautiful baby girl. Ansel couldn''t help but chuckle. "Ah, so this is Hugo''s granddaughter, eh?" he said, cracking himself up. "PFFT¡ª" Althea and the others smiled, shaking their heads, though they¡ªthe mature adults ¡ªnaturally made more adult conversations that didn''t involve teasing the guy who wasn''t there. "Thank you for having us," Sahara said, closely followed by her mother, Sienna, who had obviously been enjoying her stay here so far. She was a frequent patron of the bathhouse and the spas, sponsored by her precious son-in-law, of course. This place was so unique to her. If she didn''t have any loyalty to the hometown, she''d have proposed they move there. However, she still loved her Dune Town, and she was allowed to stay for as long as she wanted anyway. She decided to stay until her son, at least, was ready to head back home. They already received his treatment plan and it seemed to be treatable within a year or two! This was just the right amount of time because the first few years were the most difficult time for newborns, so she could help her daughter out during this time. Anyway, the family headed inside and to their seats, while the rest of the guests poured in. All the elementary school students were there as well, going straight to the venue after finishing their homework at the school. Their parents were mostly not invited unless they were friends with Althea, but the teachers like Evelyn were. There were also little Goblins there. They were really small, and were therefore carried by their parents even if some could already walk. Speaking of that, Goblins could apparently start walking at 6 months, attributed to their light frames and different physical developments. The dogs, Fufi and Snow, also had their own spots at the side. Their dog bowls were empty for now except for water, and they''d be served at the same time as the humans. About ten minutes before the scheduled start, the venue was filled up, and everyone couldn''t help but look around at the scale of the party. Althea and the others really went grand at this party not only because it was the twins'' first birthday party, but it was also the first children''s birthday party in the territory. It wasn''t to set a standard of partying, of course. Few people could afford grand parties, and they wouldn''t want people to be unhappy if they couldn''t afford to do the same. They simply didn''t think splurging like this was bad at first because they could easily afford it, and¡ªmost importantly¡ªit solidified the sense that Alterra would remain stable even after generations. Ansel already made various party packages for his Events Company that parents could choose from. They could plan according to budget, theme, number of guests, and so on. He was even going to place a table and one person with flyers at the back to promote this. He could already see money coming in! (Not that he needed it, of course, but he just liked seeing money) S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. A few minutes later, everyone settled down. The adults had their own places around an open space in front of the main stage, while the toddlers and children had their own small seats in the open area, so they had the best view of the program. On cue, the music started, and the host¡ªFable¡ªclimbed up the stairs while dancing, making everyone cheer. Fable, in fact, volunteered to host this party for free. He was also a fan of the cute children (which psycho wouldn''t be) especially when they were the first he saw when he was brought to the hospital a few months back. He was gravely injured due to a careless mistake while he was training outside, and the kids were doing their ''charity calls'' in the hospital¡ªbringing joy to the patients and hanging out there. His accident was really really stupid, actually. He usually had good coordination, but a monster eerily similar to snakes attacked and he ended up running away, accidentally getting hit by a sentry instead. He was hit straight at one of his leg tendons and the doctors said he would recover and could walk, but he might not be able to dance wildly anymore. The thing was, Fable''s favorite thing was to dance to his heart''s content, and he had entered a depressed state for a while. Then, one day, while he was walking out of his rehabilitation, he saw the babies going around, causing everyone they passed by to smile happily. At the time, they still couldn''t walk on their own yet and were using walkers. The moment they saw him, they quickly ran to him and stopped when they bumped on the bench he was sitting on. Fortunately, their walkers blocked the impact and they just adorably wiggled in place. The kids didn''t seem to have been affected though, they just looked at him excitedly. Looking at their bright rounded eyes and flushed chubby cheeks made him want to melt then and there. "Swing!" Pepper said, wiggling her bum in place while looking at him. "Swing!" Meatball nodded and jumped while on his cruiser, agreeing with his big sister. "Swing!" Sheila¡ªwho was watching over them at the time¡ªchuckled, giving him a look. "They are fans of you," she said. "They particularly liked your swinging dance moves." Fable sniffled. At the time, he knew he had to do whatever it took to recover. Otherwise, who else could swing for the kids? Nobody could swing as well as he could! So now¡ªat present¡ªhe could swing for the first time in months again, just in time for their party~! Chapter 1217 - 1217: Birthday Gifts (Part 1) And ''Swing'', he did. He danced dynamically, moving those hips, but also with steps that the children could absorb and follow safely (if he backflipped, what if a kid followed and got into an accident?) There was a rather large space between the stage and the small chairs of the children so they could come and dance. It was led by the twins who were sitting up front¡ªwhich was so cute someone from the audience almost fainted. Some of the more introverted kids like Horus refused to get up from his small chair, but the others did join in. It was an adorable, funny, and heartwarming sight. "Fwabwe! Fwabwe!" The children giggled, milky voices resounding the halls and mixing with their giggles. "Do Baby Skunk!" Maya yelled after the piece was over, which the babies wholeheartedly agreed on. "Ya, Skun!!" "Skun!" Fable flushed as he looked at the adults who were holding back their laughter. Then he looked at the kids looking at him with those innocent eyes. To them, Baby Skunk was a fun song and he just wanted him to join in. How could Fable refuse? He danced the heck out of Baby Skunk. Baby Skunk Too-too, too-too-tooo~ Baby Skunk Too-too, too-too-tooo~ Complete with the bum step which was embarrassing as heck. However, when he looked at the children''s happy clapping right below him, all that was worth it. Anyway, now that that was over, he combed back his hair and looked at the audience. "Of course, what the guests don''t know is that the birthday celebrants also prepared a performance for you guys!" he said, and he looked at the babies guided up the stage by their big brothers and big sisters. This time, he was part of the audience. The band began to play their piece and the dance, led by the two babies¡ªwith the other kids like Horus, Maya, and Theo at their sides¡ªperformed a funny and cute song that involved a lot of bum movements. Tun tun tun ten tenn "Wigguw wigguw wigguw~" Tun tun tun ten tenn "Wigguw wigguw wigguw~" The short performance¡ªwhich probably lasted about a minute¡ªended with bright smiles from everyone (except Horus, who was red in embarrassment) followed by resounding claps, cheers, and a standing ovation. "Amazing! Amazing!" Fable yelled along with everyone, and they were indeed really impressed just as their hearts melted by their cuteness. The kids were just one year old! Although they were mostly out-of-sync, they seemed to have the (very) rough timing of the movements down pat, which was already very good. Anyway, the twins were obviously used to and loved the attention. They were jumping and giggling and generally appearing to really enjoy their party so far. After the adorable performance, the kids went back to their seats (the children had small tables near the stage) and the rest of the performances began. The food for the kids was also served, while the adults lined up by table on the buffet table as the performances went on. The food was amazing but there was something particularly special today: Chocolates!! They were still tiny pellets but they tasted just as they remembered! (Someone literally fainted from happiness). This alone (the chocolate, not the fainting) would definitely be a topic for the weeks to come, with people wondering when it''d be commercially available! Anyway, the program continued as people ate and chattered. They even added performances like magic tricks and clowns. The clown scared a few little goblins though which made said clown very sad. The rest were minor elemental tricks, designed to inspire the kids as well. It wasn''t too flashy, but it was beautiful. For example, two water elementalists created a water show, forming water horses that seemed to gallop on the stage, jumping off the stage and becoming an eagle, before dropping down and dispersing right above the kids. "WOWW!" "Wow!" "Waa!" There were also similar tricks but made from earth, and there were also balancing tricks using tiny tornadoes¡ªall of which required immense control. The aborigine kids (and adults) were particularly amazed, while the Terrans were inspired to do those tricks someday, too! Anyway, those performances alone¡­ definitely made the party a celebration to remember. ¡­ After a fun night of amazing performances and delicious food, the party ended with a beloved speech from the parents. The babies were also there with them, each carried by a parent. Traditionally, it was the father who''d speak first, so they all stared at Garan, who admittedly wasn''t much of a speaker. He nodded and, with a blank face, looked at the audience. "Thanks for coming." "..." "..." "..." S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Althea''s lips twitched and she couldn''t help but chuckle a bit. When she asked him if he was going to say something, he said yes. Who knew it was only this one line¡­ Anyway, Althea (who was also a bit of an introvert) knew this speech would be on her. She disliked speeches, to be honest, which was why she always pushed Mathilda up front during events. However, she also wanted to express her wishes to their guests at the same time. "Hello everyone," she said with a smile. "First of all¡ªlike what my husband said¡ªthank you for being here to celebrate the twins'' 1st birthday party with us. "It''s hard to believe that it''s been a year since the babies were born. It would never cease to amaze me to think about how much things had changed since then¡ªfor all of us." She looked at the children in their arms. They turned to look up at them, not really knowing what this was about, but they loved their cuddles so they ended up snuggling with the parent carrying them. Althea giggled as she kissed her babies'' foreheads. "Since their birth, we have been met with wondrous days filled with joy, cuddles, and¡ªof course¡ªa sprinkle of chaos," a pause. "Okay, a tsunami of chaos." The crowd chuckled, familiar with some of the kids'' antics¡ªparticularly when they would hear Ansel''s yells of ''Meatball, stop running!'', ''Meatball stop eating that!'' or his pleas like ''Pepper, please stop calling people ugly!'' They hadn''t seen the babies exhibit their powers though, so it could be said that they hadn''t seen anything yet. Althea took a deep breath, her heart feeling the warmth of her babies'' cuddles. "Each day is a beautiful gift of love and adventure¡ªand I wouldn''t trade it for the world." Chapter 1218 - 1218: Birthday Gifts (Part 2) "To my first born, Baby Pepper," she said to the cute baby in her arms. "Even at a young age we can see your go-getter attitude. Your sassy spirit and strong will always keep us on our toes." She couldn''t help but boop the baby''s nose. "I can''t wait to see what you''ll accomplish in the future." She kissed the baby girl and she giggled, her small hands touching her mother''s face, earning her another smooch from her beloved mum. "Mwamwa! Mwamwa!" Meatball yelled, extending his little arms to get to her as well, though sadly him, his father was really really strong and he couldn''t get to her. Unconsciously, his weight increased¡ªeasily to the weight of a teen¡ªbut Garan and his stoic face didn''t show anything. "Dadaaa! Bad dadaaa!" Garan''s eyebrows rose, and Althea went over and gently squeezed his little nose. "Ehh¡­ don''t say that, your dad will be sad." The baby boy pursed his lips, making his chubby cheek plumper. Althea smiled and gave him a kiss as well. "For my baby Meatball," she said. "Your boundless energy lights up every room you enter. "You remind us to embrace life with enthusiasm, and we love to watch every moment of your adventures¡ªalso to make sure you didn''t hit another tabletop, of course." Another burst of chuckles resounded in the room, and the parents took this time to give their children one more sound smooch each before raising their glasses. "Let''s raise a toast," she said, taking the juice on the table prepared for them. "Here''s to Pepper and Meatball: May your lives be filled with laughter, love, and endless adventures you enjoy. "Happy Birthday my babies, I love you so much!" ¡­ The party ended with everyone smiling. The couple held a child each as they saw each guest out the door. "Bwye! Bwye!" the babies said, opening and closing their hands as if to wave goodbye to their guests. If the guests could count how many times their hearts melted today, it must''ve been in the hundreds. Most of them didn''t leave without taking photos with the babies, too, and they couldn''t wait for the day they could develop the photos and have hard copies pinned on their walls. The guests cleared out about half an hour later, with the events staff hauling all the gifts and sent them directly to their villa (led by Ansel, of course). When the rest of the family got home, the small mountain of gifts greeted their entrance. Every child got excited at the sight of gifts. Even Maya, Theo, and the others¡ªeven if they knew it wasn''t from them¡ªsquealed. Of course, the babies, who owned the gifts, were no exceptions. The little ones tried to wiggle out of their parents'' arms, so the two had to place them down the floor. The babies then quickly pattered to where the gifts were, practically diving into them. "Gwifts! Gwifts!" "It''s past your bedtime though." "Gwifts! Gwifts!" Ansel chuckled and grabbed the babies each, tickling them. "So excited?" Their milky giggles made everyone''s hearts melt. Anyway, the big kids¡ªwith some adults¡ªhelped them unwrap the gifts, and everyone else¡ªeven those with their own abodes¡ªstayed for the unboxing. While the babies jumped around excitedly, Althea and Garan sat down on a sofa, with Althea habitually resting her head on her husband''s broad shoulder. "Wife¡­" he said. "Meatball used his powers earlier." She blinked and turned to him. "What?" then she turned at the babies jumping around. Meatball was particularly more energetic, and she wondered whether he''d destroy the floor every time he landed or something. Fortunately, nothing of the sort actually happened. Still, they couldn''t help but feel worried. Were the children exhibiting again? ¡­ Unaware of a certain couple''s worries, the rest of them enjoyed unpacking the gifts. Whenever something came out of a box, people would cheer, hyping up the babies even more. The gifts ranged from blankets, stuffed toys, puzzles, and the like. The most prominent blankets came from Lenny because she seemed to have used all her skills¡ªincluding her inheritances¡ªto create them. The blankets were not only adorable¡ªwith Pepper''s having cute flower patterns and Meatball''s with animal prints¡ªbut they also had special insulating qualities while retaining comfortable textures. The kids had two each to give way for laundry day, so that even when they had to wash the blankets, they would always have a spare. There were also various stuffed toys of various sizes. They were all customized too with the kids'' names embroidered on to them. Adorably, each baby would name them as soon as they received them, and they already chose favorites. For example, Baby Meatball''s favorite was an elephant his size. He''d call him Trunks. Meatball''s vocabulary naturally didn''t have the word yet, but he just had to look at Uncle Ansel for recommendations and the redhead would rarely disappoint. Baby Pepper''s favorite was an adorable fluffy white bird a head larger than she was. It was called a Snow Fairy Bird, an adorable species back in Terran which was basically a cotton ball with wings. 1She called it Cotton, this time upon Auntie Winona''s recommendation. There were also storybooks with bright colors and smooth pages. There were a few stories that could be used in alteration. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Some had varying levels of complexity, too, so Althea wouldn''t run out of storybooks for the next few years. Garan''s gift was a magic tool he bought from Bart. It was a music box of sorts. It''d record Althea''s voice for the kids (and him) to listen to since they loved it so much before going to bed. Hopefully, it could help them become less dependent on her during night time¡­ Lastly, Althea''s was also a magic tool. During the past few months, she had used her toolmaking skills quite often that it did show a lot of improvement. It still wasn''t much¡ªin her opinion¡ªand she still hadn''t learned how to do anything except protection charms, however, the quality definitely took a large leap from her first creation. Now¡­ they were not only much more compact and could be easily worn by babies as bracelets, but they should also be able to handle a lot more damage. She just hoped they would never have to use it. Don''t know which animal this is? Google ''Hokkaido Snow Fairy''. You''re welcome. Chapter 1219 - 1219: A New Illness? As if the upcoming war wasn''t a problem, another one that they honestly hadn''t expected to see in Xeno arrived right at their doorsteps. It happened the night of the kids'' party, when they were about to sleep when they received the news. It seemed that the Lord of Shrao village was visiting, and he brought some questionable patients with him. They actually arrived more than half a day prior, but Volohov and the others handled it first, studying it among themselves, and waited until the couple was free (knowing it was the kids'' birthday) to tell them the news. "The hospital isolation wing is being used and isolated," Sheila reported as the couple were led to the hospital wing. They were all wearing safety masks now, even if Shrao people mentioned people who touched them didn''t seem to be affected. From what they knew, it didn''t seem to be airborne either, but it wouldn''t hurt to be safe. "So far, none of the people who brought the patients had shown any symptoms, but we isolated them, just in case." "Very good," Althea said. "You did well." They arrived at the closed double door of the hospital wing, further separated by a vestibule. It was pressurized to completely isolate the circulating air. Mathilda arrived a minute later and they entered the section together. They showed up to see Volohov and his wife, who were already there. The doctor was writing on a clipboard with a serious expression on his face. "Is it a plague?" Mathilda asked, worried. The others looked at him with similar concern. If they had an illness, just before a big war¡ª Fortunately, Volohov shook his head. "It is not a plague or a virus," he said, though he didn''t look like he was particularly relieved. "Our laboratories have determined that rather than an illness, it is¡­ withdrawals." It made everyone flinch. "Drugs?" "I believe so, yes," Volohov said, handing over the printed data from their labs. In the past few months, the (basic) computers for calculations had been improved and compacted (but still very big). Recently, the team led by Eugene also created the initial version of advanced printing. They produced ink that would not smudge and took inspiration from the printing press and the first printers (found on her tablet database) to create a working prototype. Of course, these were all still very ancient in Terran standards and the whole mechanism took up a room, and took a while to actually finish a page. For books and mass printing, the original Printing Press¡ªwhich occupied its own factory¡ªwas still the best. However, mechanical printing was still useful for extra complicated printouts like test results. Althea took a look and studied the data. She was no doctor nor was she a biochemist, so¡ªwhile she knew the basics of a few things¡ªthere are things she still didn''t understand, let alone the other two. Volohov kindly explained them to them, as simply as he could. "We looked at the markers and didn''t recognize them. Of course, it could just be that this place had different illnesses so naturally the pathogen markers were unfamiliar. "However, there were various anomalies. Take a look at the spectrograph," he said, and Althea turned the page to see. "See these strange peaks? "They don''t align with any virus or bacteria I have ever studied. "I also took a look at our information database," he said, referring to the Research Lab database where copies of the information and references she gathered could be found. "And also found nothing there." "Although this is a different world and people''s physiques varied with Terrans, we''re all humanoid and are basically the same genus." "After all, we can interbreed¡ªsomething I am very curious about by the way¡ªso the variances of these should not be drastically different." That said, some samples from the cross-generation had been taken for testing and sampling. The first interbred children were Gill and Cassandra''s daughter, Claire, and Helios and Sahara''s daughter, Helia. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. With the parents'' permission, they received some blood and did some non-invasive procedures. They agreed easily because it was also this way they could find any complications, should there be some. Putting that aside, Volohov continued with his explanations. "Then, we isolated some compounds in the patients'' blood, and found a few things." "The symptoms turned out to be side effects¡ªa byproduct of something manufactured instead." Althea and the others looked at each other, shoulders slumped. In a sense, this was better news. At the very least, there was a human factor involved¡ªand human factors could be controlled. On the other hand, it was also depressing. Surviving in this place was already difficult enough, what were those people doing making it worse? They couldn''t be rationalizing recreational drugs as helping people become ''happy'' right? After confirming nothing was contagious, they went to the Shrao village Lord and his cronies, all of whom had been kept inside this wing. Although the aborigines didn''t like it, the nurses kindly explained why it was necessary (and there were strong guards right next to her) so they had no choice but to cooperate well. Led by Volohov, Mathilda and the others went to see them. "The good news is that it''s not contagious." "You confirmed that already?" they asked, surprised. "We have a lot of bright minds here," Mathilda said. "Tell us more about this case." Shiro nodded, telling them of what they knew so far. "It was when we received a batch of refugees from the North," he said. "During the first few days, it was not obvious, but we did find a lot of strange behaviors like crazy people." He then looked at Volohov and the other elders. "Can you tell us what it was?" "It''s a drug, like cocaine, only much more potent if it could affect a level 8 like this¡­" "What?" Shiro seemed sincerely unaware and concerned. "It''s something that uselessly clouds a person''s mind and destroys them from within," was all they could say, because there were very few ways to describe its effects. "I will send people to your territory to investigate," Garan said after a while. "Please cooperate." "Of course." Garan would probably send out two or three people as the initial investigators. After all, it wasn''t wise to send out a lot of people when there was an imminent war. As for why they were sending someone out at all¡ªfor better or for worse, it was because they were the most powerful Terran territory. With power came responsibility and they ought to at least know what was going on elsewhere. In the end, they decided to send one or two people from Team C, that way they could also look for their relatives. Mathilda sighed as they walked away. "We will formulate rules and regulations pertaining to this," she said, looking at Althea who nodded in appreciation. "Thank you," she said. "We have to be prepared in case this reaches our walls, too. "I hate that some people use their brains for something like this¡­" she said. She was certain there were other Terran ''geniuses'' around. Sadly, it looked like one of them was using that brilliant mind for purely selfish gains, instead. Sigh. Only a year in this world and things like this were already appearing¡ªwhat else was next? Chapter 1220 - 1220: Another Mass Wedding Anyway, despite all the worries, some predetermined things shall still commence. For example, another mass wedding was scheduled. They had set out to do this every 3 months or so and had seen quite a few successes. Mathilda was not joking when she said she wanted more children running around¡­ There were also plenty of individual weddings, of course, but for now some felt more fun to do it with friends, but they were the minority. After moving to Xeno, some things began to change. For example, the majority of the married couples in Alterra were actually products of the Mass Weddings instead. Mass weddings were mostly sponsored by the territory, and they only had to pay a small administration fee and a few more add-ons, depending on the number of guests they wanted to invite. After registering, all they had to worry about was their attire and who to invite to occupy the 10 free slots for guests the territory allowed. They also need to determine the budget they would need if they wanted to invite more people, because they would have to pay for those¡ªand they wouldn''t be cheap. Most importantly: They would be able to save money to splurge on the honeymoon! It was just too practical. So¡­ it was not a surprise that slots in Mass Wedding were all filled up for the next year. Anyway, one of the pairs to be married in this batch was Troy and Brenda. Troy''s proposal was quite famous. Some time ago, he proposed to her using his polypolo, he fired it in a cleared area. There was a banner hanging on the projectile, asking Brenda if she could be his wife. If things went as planned, Brenda would see a flying banner with the words cut the sky above her. Sadly, Brenda missed it the first time though because she happened to look away at the exact moment. Troy then made an impromptu performance to distract her, and the second attempt flew over his head from the correct angle, making it even more romantic (and sillier) than originally planned. The wedding itself was put on hold. They waited until her dad arrived to move to Alterra, which took a while because there was a lot of convincing to do. Plus, after convincing, they also had a few assets to sell as well. Her father arrived with the exodus of tourists after the upgrade and it was a touching reunion. Admittedly, there seemed to have been some awkwardness between Troy and his prospective father-in-law, but he managed to win him over the same way he won over Brenda: With his passion for weapons. Now... there were times Brenda felt she was the third wheel, instead. In any case, the family dynamic was really enviable, particularly for aborigine women who did not have nearly as much support Brenda did growing up. Brenda''s father was one of the rare open-minded people in this world, otherwise, Brenda¡ªa woman¡ªwould not have had the opportunity to awaken a profession in the first place. She had a good father and a good husband; how many people would even wish for one of those and didn''t get it? Another pair was, interestingly, Tom and Betty. That one caused quite a commotion among Betty''s fanboys, who called themselves the Golden Hearts. The couple started going steady a few months ago. When news spread, there were a lot of challenges sent to Tom every day. Some were more blatant, sending challenges in the sparring rings, while some would be a bit more subtle. For example, challenging him in a basketball game or in squash or whatever. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Oftentimes, they would open up bets like ''lose and you''ll leave Betty'' and so on. Of course, Tom was clear he''d never use Betty as a bet. "She is her own person," he would tell them. "If she wants to leave me for someone more capable, I will accept, but I will sure do my best to make it work¡ªto get her to willingly stay with me no matter what." Betty fell harder for him even more because of this, and some fanboys ended up being ashamed of their archaic thinking. Of course, even after so many months, there were still some persistent jerks though they didn''t use Betty as a bet anymore. In their minds, they just wanted to ''punish'' the excessively lucky bastard! The thing was, Tom was soft-spoken but he was surprisingly impressive in sports. So¡­ he won all those sports-related challenges with flying colors. A lot of people also worried Tom would get sabotaged when he went out hunting. They could already imagine the drama: Someone would lure him someplace dangerous and leave him there, or someone would literally stab him while he was distracted with a beast mob, or someone might push him in the path of sentry arrows! People''s imaginations ran wild with that one. Fortunately, it was mostly harmless so nothing got too dangerous in the end. Anyway, Tom proposed to his then-girlfriend in a quiet environment. This happened a few weeks back and the next thing everyone knew, they were signing up for the next mass wedding. Another unlikely pair was the architect-trainee Nina and the aborigine Madon, who had finally upgraded to a Class D weaponsmith after months straight of hard work and study. The two met in the library where they poured themselves into learning every breathing chance they had outside of work hours. After weeks, they started noticing the other there. They didn''t know when it started but, at some point, if one arrived after the other, the other would choose the nearest available seat. They eventually shared the two ends of a large table until one day, someone asked what the other was reading, and their acquaintance¡ªand eventual dating¡ªstarted from there. He proposed the day he upgraded as a Weaponsmith, because he felt he finally had the courage to say he could deserve the affections of such a great gal. Chris and Aditi, on the other hand, decided to hold a private wedding to be held in a couple of days, probably after the next war. They also considered joining the mass wedding, but her brothers were adamant about doing a traditional wedding for her, though they weren''t much practiced in modern Terran anymore. Bianca and Eloi''s wedding was also in a mass wedding. However, the slot they got was the next one, so Eloi could only bite his handkerchief as they waited. Other than the humans, there were also about a dozen goblin pairs, which had become a common sight in mass weddings now. It was adorable, and they really loved seeing it! There was one pair everyone particularly looked forward to, though. It was none other than Gochi and Maomao! Their first half-orc married couple! So strong! So fluffy! So amazing! Even the rough Baku sniffed a bit as he saw them dressed up for the occasion, and he sniffled when the two made their vows. He couldn''t help but remember their poor states a few years ago, how they had to struggle to live, and how baseless their existence felt. They literally just let their lives pass by, wondering when it was time to finally expire. Now¡­ they were happy and even creating families! They had long treated Alterra as their home, but this was the beginning of them literally planting their roots there. How could he¡ªthe rough aggressive half-orc¡ªnot feel emotional? Chapter 1221 - 1221: Yet Another Wedding Reception TL;DR: I realize that some chapters feel too fillery to some, but it seems to depend on who''s appearing in the chapter xD. This chapter has the visitors from Belluga and Shiro, as well as some updates on other minor characters like Lulu (Troy''s cousin) and Bull (that dude from Royal Village who ultimately helped Ansel find Althea). ¡­ ____ As before, the couples were allowed to bring a handful of guests each, while the venue, program, and the food were covered by the territory. Each Mass Wedding had a few dozen slots for couples, and each one seemed to have a different floral theme which kept things dynamic. The food was also very special, with the menu changing up every so often. The cooks never stopped improving their crafts¡ªmore and more recipes had popped up the past few months¡ªand wedding receptions became the high-end restaurants'' way to test market waters. The people could get to eat new delicious food for free, while Cooke and the others could have an advanced response to the new dishes. It was a win-win deal. It also created a culture of people actively asking couples to invite them to weddings, but not all systems could be perfect. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, every wedding was an emotional event. From the wedding to the reception, many guests couldn''t help but feel like they were being carried in a flurry of emotions and complications¡ªmore so to the people who had been into such a wedding for the first time. For example, other than the couples'' guests, there were also four visitors invited to join in today. Two were from Belluga and the other two were from Shrao Village. This was the first Alterran Wedding they had attended, and to say they were surprised was a heavy understatement. "There''s such a huge difference," Shiro said, "And it''s beyond the appearance of the territory. These people''s minds are also different, don''t you think so, Fos?" For one, holding weddings sponsored by the territory¡ªthe cost of each of these must''ve been massive¡ªwas already incredibly generous. But they were even holding weddings for goblins and half-orcs¡ªat the same time, no less¡ªand that was definitely unprecedented. It was so beyond people''s imaginations, but here the impossible seemed to be something consistently broken. Fos nodded as he gazed around with a dazed expression on his face. Shiro smiled and shook his head, also trying to remember everything as if he could learn something from it. At the next table, there were the representatives from Belluga Village, Raine and Suide, who arrived a few days ago to visit Kimmy. Orland was left to guard their home, while Suide wanted to go chat with his favorite designer, Andrei. "Such a nice place," Suide said, thinking of his own tasks for his home territory. "You know, the entertainment industry is also there to perpetuate culture and people''s worldviews. I also want our own home to have such deep motivation and loyalty to the territory. I want to help with that." Raine smiled at her friend. "You can do that," she said, standing up. "It''s our table''s turn for food." To keep things organized, the buffet area was occupied by a few tables at a time. Theirs were somewhere in the back rows (the couples'' guests naturally had better seats) so they were among the last to get some. Queuing with them were the representatives of Shrao Village. They nodded politely at each other, though it was only when the friendly Suide introduced himself that they found out they weren''t locals either. Through the months, the two groups had been mostly in their territories so their visits rarely intersected. It was the first time the two teams actually had some interaction. They looked at the vast array of food and felt a bit overwhelmed. One batch definitely wouldn''t fit in one plate so it was best to choose well, otherwise they''d have to wait for a long queue again. "I wonder what''s the best combination¡­" Fos said out loud, though he was embarrassed when he realized. Suide chuckled and friendly gave some suggestions, leaving their lords to choose for themselves. The two Lords'' eyes met just for a moment before their sights shifted to the food at the same time. Raine opted to choose more vegetables, while Shiro chose more meat. The scent was amazing, and even the Lords with ''cool'' personas took in food faster than usual. However, while everyone seemed like they were in the promised gastronomic haven, a certain woman felt nauseous instead. Bluergh. Lulu covered her mouth but managed to hold it back. She hurriedly drunk lime juice to push down the discomfort. Her husband was even paler. "Lulu! My Lulu! Are you alright?" he gasped, taking a candy from his space to feed her. She looked weak and pale and it broke Bull''s heart. It so happened that Althea''s table was next to theirs and the very pregnant Sheila stood up¡ª guided by Eagle¡ªto check on her. Bull stood up to give the seat to the nurse, who promptly took his wife''s pulse. "How is it? Is my wife alright? Should I call a broatbulance?!" "Shut up," Eagle said and Bull''s lips zipped shut. The poor man couldn''t stay still though and he ended up walking back and fro, only stopping when Eagle turned to give him a look again. Fortunately, the tension didn''t last long because a few moments later, Sheila smiled instead. "Congratulations," she said. "Lulu is pregnant." "Pregnant?!" he yelled dropping down to the seat next to his wife, embracing her. Lulu finally pregnant! They had been trying for more than half a year! They finally succeeded! "I was really worried my sperms are underperforming! HAHA¡ªoh ouch!" "You dare laugh right now?!" "Sorry, wife¡ª" The crowd chuckled and, after confirming all was well, resumed with the lovely feast. They didn''t notice how a certain cross-dressing Lord''s steps paused on her wait to her seat though. Her eyes flickered a bit with unknown thoughts. Children, eh? Chapter 1222 - 1222: Situationships and Situations TL;DR: Updates on Cassie and Bumi, as well as Mao and Lea. There are also some Cassandra and mentions of Veronica. Next chapter: Updates on the Golds~ ¡­ ____ When she went here to visit Kimmy, she wasn''t really expecting much. She simply wanted to see how she was for herself. After all, the previous nanny she hired for her wasn''t very good, and she blamed herself for that. The only reason she could move on was because Kimmy was doing better. And that child of hers¡ªHope¡ªwas so beautiful and pure. No one would associate her with that bastard still rotting in jail at this time. "Is there anything wrong?" a voice asked next to her, pulling her out of her daze. It was the handsome Lord of Shrao Village, looking at her with curiosity and concern. She looked around and realized she blocked his way to his table. "I apologize," she said, coolly walking out of the way. Unexpectedly, the Shrao Lord stopped in front of her, too. He turned, a bit awkward. "Would you like to join our table?" ... On another table was Cassie with the aborigine Bumi. Each participant was allowed to bring in 5 guests, so that was 10 per couple. These two were¡ªadorably¡ª guests of a goblin couple. Inspired by the atmosphere of gaining strength, goblins also grouped into large mobs and hunted outside. Cassie and Bumi were their favorite hired escorts, because they were very friendly and kind. Through the months, the groups had gotten closer, and it got to the point of inviting the others to their weddings. Speaking of Bumi, he couldn''t help but daydream a bit. In a wedding in the future, would he and Cassie find each other there? He had to confess first, of course, though he could only look at her as she watched the performances. There were wedding performances while they ate. However, other than the band, the audiences were also called often. They were often invited to perform to show the newly wedded couples some blessings. Interestingly, there really were a lot of performances, though they were understandably Terran. The majority of the shows were related to romance. Someone made a poem, and most sang love songs. There was even a pair who did a so-called ''contemporary'' dance. Soon, the shows ended and the stage was left blank while the band continued to play some slow songs. After a while, some couples who had finished eating headed to the center to dance. This was led by some married couples, and were soon joined in by others. A few minutes later, there were about ten couples having fun in the center on top of the newly wedded couples. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This included Toktok and Angelo, who were invited by Troy and Brenda. Toktok was deaf and unsurprisingly didn''t have much of a beat. However, it was just right¡ªbecause Angelo didn''t have it either. They looked silly¡ªlooking like awkward trees dancing to background music without rhythm¡ªbut at least they were having fun together. In time, more and more people joined in, some of whom were just a group of friends, while some others looked on longingly. Bumi gave the person next to him another furtive glance, gulping. He awkwardly played with his fingers as he tried to gather the courage to speak. After taking a deep, deep, breath, he turned to face Cassie. The movement was a bit sudden and it startled Cassie who was just watching the fun in front of them. "What is it?" "Uh¡­" Bumi wanted to say the words he had been meaning to say for months: I like you, can we dance? However, instead of those words, he ended up saying something else. "I¡­ I learned break dancing¡­ wanna see?" "What?" Cassie was very confused. Then she got even more confused when the aborigine stood on the open spot near them and started dancing hip hop to classical music. The steps were reminiscent of Luke''s dance back in the carnivals a few days back, except it was a lot less coordinated, made use of the wrong music, and was just super silly overall. Cassie wanted to cover her face in embarrassment, but she couldn''t help but watch the lad behind her fingers. In the end, she couldn''t help but laugh out loud. Bumi smiled. Ah well, at least he made her laugh. ¡­ While there were some cute couples forming¡­ there was Mao and Lea. "Heh, why is a girl eating so much?" Mao said, looking at Lea''s plate which had a mountain of food. He shook his head as if he was an elder disappointed in the younger generation. It naturally irked the girl¡ªvery much. Lea was indeed a bit chubby, but that she didn''t compare to Mao! "Heh, what about you? When are you planning on toning things down?" She asked, staring blatantly at his stomach. "All that food doesn''t look like it gets digested." "You¡ª" "You¡ª" However, before their exchange of insults could continue, it was abruptly cut off when someone made a comment. "Reminds me of Winona and Ansel back then." "Right?" "I thought so too." The two''s eyes went wide in despair, though it had to be noted that Mao''s cheeks were a bit redder than usual. "WHAT?! NO WAY!" "I want demure women!" "I want handsome dashing men!" Their bickering only got them more teasing chuckles, and it amused everyone around them. Ansel was laughing particularly louder, though it was unknown if it was because he really thought they were just stupid or if he was laughing because it mirrored his own relationship, finding the parallels amusing. It so happened that Bradon was sitting on the next seat, and Ansel was suddenly reminded of someone. At this, looked at Cassandra, who shared the table with them, along with Gill. "Speaking of which, I hadn''t seen that friend of yours in a while," he said. "What happened to Veronica?" He asked this loud enough so the other table could hear. Some of the people there turned, also curious about the answer, and Ansel couldn''t help but send Brandon a teasing look. "Hey, Brandon, don''t you wanna know where Veronica is?" Brandon looked around to see if Ansel was really talking to him. He then looked at the redhead, a little confused. "Why are you asking me?" Everyone: "..." This guy was hopeless. Cassandra could only hope her friend would fixate on a different handsome guy. Anyway, ignoring the hopeless blonde, Cassandra shifted her attention to the redhead. "Well, I am curious too, but the news I had of her was limited. I asked my cousin to send someone to check, but all we got was that Veronica was a bit ill and could not talk to outsiders¡­ "It seems like something''s brewing around Bleulle, but it''s so subtle we can''t tell what was happening. Even my cousin didn''t have an idea." This made everyone''s good mood tone down several notches. They also thought about the Golds, and felt a little worried for them. But they were thrice the level of most of them and lived in a City¡ªthere was simply nothing they could do. They couldn''t casually send Posts either as per the deals because it''d reveal the source of the items to their Lord. There was also a favor Althea asked¡ªsomething she really, really, hoped to materialize soon¡ªthough it seemed to be impossible for the time being. And¡­ most importantly: They were her friends. They hadn''t stayed here for long, but they were rare good aborigines in power, and they didn''t want anything to happen to them. In the end, the Alterrans sighed. Oslo should have left by now, and they hoped to receive good news soon. Chapter 1223 - 1223: Fall of Golds (Part 1) A/N: Thank you _cardinal for the castle!! HUHUHU Love you~ If you have any chapter requests just tell me~! ... ____ While another mass wedding was ongoing in Alterra, something big was brewing a few thousand kilometers away from them. An entire family was imprisoned in Bleulle City''s top-level prison. They were all a bit unkempt, an extreme contrast to their usual well-put selves. They were captured a few days ago, their house ransacked, and their items confiscated. The only wealth they had left was the money in the system and the things in their spaces, which could not be taken by force¡ªat least not yet. Anyway, although their relationship with the Lord wasn''t as close as it was a few generations back, they didn''t think it''d develop in a downward spiral so quickly. However, they had¡ªat one point¡ªthought things were softening up, in particular when they gave a few Blueprints for the Hospital in exchange for the half-orc and some goodwill. They thought all was well. For one, the Lord really liked the hospital. But then he applied for it to be included in the Sanctum of Constructs so it could become a System Building, and therefore he could make even more money out of it. However, since the patent wasn''t on him, it did not work. It was then that he tried bringing Oslo back, pressuring them to do so. However, the Golds blocked this and had been trying to delay his return. Because they didn''t know where Oslo was, exactly, they couldn''t send him direct news, either, which was a good thing. Anyway, Oslo''s return wouldn''t have done anything in terms of the patent because it was not solely his¡ªit was also Alterra''s. Instead, he''d likely just be bound to work for the territory as an Architect, being pushed to create more and more blueprints. He would lose the freedom he loved so much. However, while the Lord didn''t like the delays, he didn''t seem to mind as much as they had feared. They thought it was because they, their deals, and the buildings were bringing in a lot of money, particularly on taxes. The market also witnessed a boost and, at least until three months ago, the trade was active and everyone earned huge amounts of gold. Most importantly, their family''s service since the inception of the territory should have some bearing right? Otto even managed to contact the Great Alchemist¡ªor his guard, at least. The primary goal was to purchase a limb regeneration potion for Miss Althea. She also asked for a favor¡ªto pass on a letter in her stead. Hopefully, he managed to receive it. Grandmaster Hoffen was a rare Class A Alchemist who had been in seclusion for a long time, and he hadn''t been seen by any of them for months. This was completely normal and it''d work against their favor if they bothered him now. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, because of the nice products they brought in, they caught the attention of Master Hoffen''s sole guard and adopted son, Sir Gregory, so they managed to send the letter through him. Alas, they were captured before anything could happen. The reason for the capture was not clear, either. Zaol and Gaia looked at Orion, who sighed. "They claim I''m cooperating with Holt City to take over Bleulle." "Well, are you?" Obi asked. Orion gave him a look and if Obi''s hands weren''t cuffed, he''d have raised his hands in surrender. "Just asking." Gaia and Zaol naturally knew their son well and believed in him. "Didn''t they believe you? Did you ask if you can swear an oath?" "I offered, but they didn''t believe me. They said I could manage to word myself out somehow." "Well, you can¡­" Obi couldn''t help but add. Orion sent him another look, making him flinch. "Sorry." Gaia sighed and ignored the exchange, forcing the discussion back to their supposed ''transgressions''. "What evidence did they show? After all, they incarcerated all of us." Without proper reason, there''d be repercussions, even to the Lord. It wasn''t that Lords couldn''t do something like this¡ªthey could do more or less whatever they wanted in their land. However, for Towns and Cities, there would be repercussions. The Golds were the #1 family next to the Lord. If the entire family was imprisoned, there were bound to be a few doubts¡ªeven amongst the nobilities who had something to gain with their fall. Even if no one asked the Lord himself, there''d be questions in their minds and amongst each other. This would show that no matter how powerful, the Lord could capture them at will! If so, which powerful family would stay in the city? Wouldn''t they all just move out before they become the next ''Gold'' Family? "They brought forth witnesses that I have been having close contact with Holt City for the past few years," Orion said, his baritone voice a little raspy, showing how tired he was. For this to happen to someone like Orion, it was obvious that this weighed heavily on him. The older couple sighed in pity. Zaol''s eyebrows were furrowed as he thought of past events. "That doesn''t prove anything," he said. "This doesn''t make any sense." Orion heaved a deep breath. "They also found about a study Holt city had been doing the past few years," he said, "The past few years, it seems like the regeneration rate of resources had been fast declining¡ªeverywhere, in all parts of the world." This made everyone flinch and look at him, even paler than before. "What?" "They claim that I had known this for a while so that''s why I''ve been decentralizing my capital from Blu extraction¡ªwhich had indeed been declining. The fact that I knew but did not say anything was taken as a sign of my imminent betrayal. "The truth was that I was simply diversifying our investments," Orion said before looking down, unapproachable. He failed his family. He was the heir to the Gold Family, and he had been raised to build it up and protect it. And during his ''time'', it fell instead. For a perfectionist with a deep love for family, the burden could become crushing. Hilda tentatively placed her palm over his hand. However, he did not hold it, but he also didn''t take it away. The tense muscles softened though¡ªeven if just a little¡ªwhich told Hilda her warmth was not unwelcome. Chapter 1224 - 1224: Fall of Golds (Part 2) This time Orion did not mind the show of weakness. "I should''ve seen it coming¡­" "It''s not your fault, son," Zaol said with a deep breath. "They knew our capabilities and they circumvented around that. "They even used one of the Grandmaster''s Superior weakening Potions." Even he, a level 55, was held down. He and Orion were even tied with rare anti-aether tools for good measure. With the number of guards that came at each of them¡ªthey really couldn''t do anything. They did not lack in threatening his entire family either, so they couldn''t fight too strongly either. They succumbed, hoping in their hearts that this ''misunderstanding'' could be talked about. However, even after many days, the Lord had yet to see them. "I''m just relieved Honda isn''t here¡­" Hilda whispered, biting her lips, and everyone nodded in response. Worst comes to worst, at least Honda and Oslo were safe someplace else. That was the little bit of comfort they could get for themselves. Silence passed by and they were once again left to their own thoughts. At some point, Zaol spoke, his sharp eyes looking out their cell. "I should''ve prepared us more. Looking back, this was bound to happen¡ªI''m just too naive to think that our history and contribution could change things. Indeed. How many lords could really let an underling be more influential than they were? In fact, if the Lord''s family hadn''t been taking such a huge bulk of their wealth¡ªwhether it was in shares or in taxes, for decades¡ªthe Golds could''ve really grown enough to rival the Lord''s. After all, the Lord and his family weren''t exactly wise spenders¡­ Another possible cause of change was that the Lord finally got himself a son¡ªsomething he had been vying for for decades. The Lord, a ninety-year-old man, had a child with none other than the 29-year-old daughter of the Trent Family, Elya, who was also Estra''s younger sister. The Trent Family was the #2 family, closely following after the Golds, except their duties to the Lord were far less than theirs. However, there was still some distance, and that family had not kept their wish to overtake them a secret. This meant that the Trent Family could be aiming for their position, particularly with the leverage of having the Lord''s blood. Combined with the Lord''s own greed, they could almost see the two families drinking together and discussing their demise! They weren''t able to discuss anymore though, because Lord Bleumrick and his daughter finally arrived, acting as if they were just there to check on them. The father-daughter pair looked at the formerly-glamorous family appearing so pitiful behind a cell, their faces without emotion or pity. "Are you going to admit it?" the Lord asked. Orion stood his ground. "I did nothing wrong." "If you admit to it, we can punish you in public, but we will keep your lives," he said. "I am already very kind, do not be foolish not to take it." "You know the truth, why are you doing this?" "I''m no fool. How can I let someone with plans to rebel roam free?" "We do not have such thoughts! We can swear oaths!" "It''s too late," he said. "I can no longer trust you." The Golds'' jaws jaws clenched in anger, glaring at the Lord they used to serve. "In light of your years of service, we have decided to let you go. However, we will be confiscating all your wealth," he said. "Think of it as compensation for your betrayal." "What?" "Go to the City center and swear an oath never to return and give all the wealth you have on you." "What makes you think we''ll agree?" It wasn''t that they gave too much importance to their money¡ªat least not over their lives¡ªbut how could they just let things go this way? Who would be comfortable? Did these people do this to them just to get their property? Bleumrick seemed bored just by looking at them. "You better follow my instructions. Remember that I can sell you as slaves," he told them with a straight face. "And I can take away your immunity tokens." Each of them had Immunity Tokens¡ªthat was, the tools that could exempt them from becoming slaves even if their city lost to another city. Similarly, they couldn''t be turned to slaves arbitrarily either¡ªeven if the other party was a Lord. The fastest way to become a System slave was through territory wars. Another was for them to enter the ''batch conversion'' of slaves, where people''s residencies would be stripped from them (should they have it) and they would be left in a village that was set to lose in a war. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was not uncommon, especially for poor families, who sold their (or other people''s) freedoms in exchange for some money. "Are you really going to go against me taking your money?" he asked. "Surely, you''re more greedy for life than money?" He took a deep breath as if exasperated, and he looked at them as if they were foolish. "I have to say I''m losing patience, the weakening potions I have are limited and I ended up using all of them on you," he said. "Aren''t you thankful? I could''ve just killed you." "You want the treasures in our spaces; you won''t kill us." "I can take your servants and kill them one by one in front of you. I can also take a few of you¡ªthe ones with least assets in their spaces¡ªand kill them too," he said, tone cold, but very arrogant. "Do you want us to head in that direction?" The Golds glared at him, but at the same time they felt the hopelessness in their veins. Otto and Obi wanted to fight back, really¡ªespecially when they were ushered out of the prison that controlled their elements. It was just that the last bottle of weakening potion was forced down their throats, ensuring they didn''t have the ability to fight. Considering the amount each one drank, they''d be helpless for the next few hours. The guards even had the audacity to ask them to feel honored. After all, those were some of the best pharmacy-grade potions in the city¡ªyet they were used on them. They had no choice but to succumb in the end, just making all the oaths ordered by the Lord. They made oaths not to cooperate with another City to go against Bleulle, or any of its royalty. They also made oaths to surrender all their properties¡ªincluding what was in their Space and Wallets, as well as their collection of space stones¡ªto the Lord. He did this all in public, too, and they could see all the noble families watching from the side with varying expressions on their faces. Sadly, most of them were smiling¡ªsome even excited as if the fall of the Golds had directly made them money. Anyway, the Golds knew all this ceremony was only to comfort the remaining families¡ªto show them that he was merciful and let them live despite their "transgressions". However, they knew very well that this man¡ªespecially after getting what he wanted¡ªdefinitely would not let them go! Chapter 1225 - 1225: Veronica’s Decision (Part 1) Hubble Town S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I wonder what happened¡­" a certain pink-haired girl buried her face in her arms, trying to comfort herself from the guilt and anxiety. She was now in her room, unable to get out, and it had been a month since then. To be honest, it felt like her life was falling apart right now. It started a few months ago, after she went home from her last trip from Alterra. That day started out fine, though it quickly spiraled downwards before the day ended. That morning, she strutted around town¡ªor in the noble''s community, anyway¡ªin the new dress she bought from Andrei. She received admiring and curious looks from everyone, particularly from the buyers of the old batch. They had already tasted the greatness of the products so naturally they were looking forward to getting more. Anyway, Veronica wore the new design as a ''marketing'' technique she learned there, and it really worked like a charm. It was incredibly lovely¡ªwith its gorgeous fabric and mesmerizing prints¡ªand was a supreme hit amongst the ladies, with several noble ladies trying to buy it off of her. Local dressmakers would later try to mimic it, but she was confident they wouldn''t even get near its amazingness. (That said, she didn''t mind the mimicry. It was a cheaper alternative and it would ultimately add to the territory''s wallet.) Anyway, she borrowed a nice commercial area to sell her items. Because she could only carry a few beast carts full of items, her stocks were naturally very limited¡ªand she could therefore charge quite a bit for it. She never lacked money, but it felt good to get rich with one''s own ability. She felt her back was straighter, her chin lifted higher, and her outlook was brighter than before. It made her want to share the feeling. It so happened that among the people buying her items were low-noble ladies. They were dressed well for the standards of their town. However, even when covered with makeup, their eyes were dull as they looked at her. She recognized them. They were daughters of a mid-level merchant, a man barely considered a noble after reaching the wealth requirement of being one. She also knew them as trained to be proper ladies so they could hook good noblemen¡ªlike her brother for instance. The number of times she was approached by women with insincere intentions was innumerable. She remembered these siblings because¡ªdespite being obviously ordered to befriend her¡ªthey obviously felt guilty and uncomfortable in doing so. "You''re so amazing, Miss Veronica¡­" the younger one said, looking at the vast array of products she had displayed. The pink-haired girl smiled. "You know¡­, women can stand on their own," she told them. "You should try¡ª" "You are very lucky, Miss Veronica, I don''t know parents who treat their daughters as well as they do to you." At this, the older one scoffed. "It''s because they''re rich and powerful. Other people don''t have that luxury," she said, turning to her. "Don''t go walking around and assuming we could just change things!" The younger one flinched at the outburst of her sister. "I''m sorry, she''s engaged to someone who¡ª" The older sister, on the other hand, realized her outburst and her face turned red in embarrassment, especially when she saw Veronica and the spectators'' startled looks. Humiliated, she ran away, followed closely by her little sister. The rest of the day passed by and Veronica sold out that day''s merchandise. However, her mood remained heavy from that interaction. She went home in a sour mood, but¡­ it also made her appreciate her family even more. So that night, she ran to her parents with gifts. She was quite excited. She had been holding back her father''s liquor and her mother''s special pharmacy-grade beauty product for an occasion, but she thought she should give them now and just buy new things for the occasion. Anyway, Alterra never seemed to run out of new novel products to buy! After asking the servants, she found that both her parents were in her father''s study. However, when she approached the room, she realized that they were discussing something serious judging by their somber expressions and body language. She was the gossipy type and was very curious. Even if they had voice blockers, she had the tool against it so she used it. She did feel a little uncomfortable, but not too much. Privacy wasn''t as much of a thing in Xeno as it was in Terran. This was something obvious considering how intrusive the lord panels were. Anyway, she was expecting the discussion to be about her brother''s future wife. The last serious discussion was about this, so she thought she''d get advanced news to tease her older brother with. Who would''ve thought it was something so sinister? She found out that the Lord of Bleulle had involved her family into his sinister plot against the Golds! It was a bit radical, just short of directly massacring them. It was as if the Lord really wanted to get rid of them. It seemed that one day, the Lord just decided it was time for the Golds to go! Rather, It had been so subtle and happening far away, so the Alterrans¡ªand even Jonathan and anyone else¡ªweren''t aware of it. The Bleulle Lord seemed to be forcing her father¡ªas well as a few of his men¡ªto become ''witnesses'' in the Gold''s supposed betrayals. Hubble Town was one of the many places between Holt City and Bleulle City, though much closer to the latter than the former. Holt wasn''t actually near, but Hubble was definitely in Holt a lot, and there were a lot of deals and a few shops there. By coincidence, they also had some intimate connections with them. This was why their words had some weight. Her cousin, Iva, became one of the Bleulle Lord''s harem nearly a decade prior, while her mother was distant relatives with the ruling family in Holt City. According to their discussions, her parents had already agreed and were just perfecting the plan! Not only was it a horrible thing to do on its own, but the Golds actually helped their territory a lot while it was still growing! Back before she was born¡ªwhen her brother was still a young boy¡ªHubble Town faced an economic crisis. It was to the degree that they wouldn''t be able to repair the walls on time if someone attacked them. However, Sir Zaol and Lady Gaia decided to make a production deal with them. It allowed Hubble to pass that tribulation, and it became the stable territory that it was today. And yet¡­ they were directly helping in taking that good family down! How could they do this?! She misjudged them! Betraying them like this was the lowest of the low!! So, Veronica, incredibly self-righteous, decided to escape and run to warn the Golds of the imminent dangers. Sigh At present, she looked at her pitiful self locked in a room, with all her windows and doors sealed tightly. Not even the feasts they sent to her every day was enough to comfort her soul. Once again, she buried her head deeper into her own arms. What could she do now? Chapter 1226 - 1226: Veronica’s Decision (Part 2) She actually got caught fairly easily, which was why she felt so heavy¡ªhad she been a little smarter, maybe she could''ve warned the Golds by now! What would happen to them now? If that plan succeeded, she would not be able to live with herself! At the time, she had to sneak and use the Beast Carts. The fastest way would''ve been the Mercenary Hall but she was an honorary member of her own town''s mercenary team, the Veroughn Mercenary Team. The people there could also easily report her appearance and stop her, so she had no choice but to choose different avenues. Sadly, she was no Beast Tamer nor was she a Beast driver. Even when she managed to steal the whistle, as soon as it encountered another beast cart, she could just lose control. And that was precisely what happened. She was caught by her father''s strongest guards and she was thrown in house arrest since then. After another hour of moping around, the door creaked open. She lifted her head, only to see that it was her maid, Vivi, bringing in some food. She also had a high-level guard behind her to make sure Veronica didn''t escape during this opening. Vivi was holding another tray filled with food for the second meal of the day. She saw the untouched tray from the previous meal and she sighed. "Milady, please eat," she said, gently placing the tray next to the crouching woman. Veronica did not lift her head, staying still and on the floor. "Didn''t I tell you guys? I will not eat until you let me go!" They refused to listen to her, so she had no choice but go on a hunger strike. Finally, her parents couldn''t handle it and went to talk to her. Her mother kneeled next to her, pleading. "Please eat, my daughter. You haven''t eaten anything in days¡­" "The Golds helped us out so much¡­ we can''t do this to them!" "Daughter, it''s more complicated than that¡ª this is more than just our conscience," her father said. "We have tens of thousands of lives depending on us." "Father, Mother! I''m so young and I have a long life to live. I can''t handle living the rest of that in guilt," she told them, tone certain. "I can''t! I will die if I stay in this house!" Her parents looked at her with glazed eyes, but they remained firm. "I can''t let you cause trouble for the entire territory. Please understand." Unexpectedly, Veronica took out a knife and¡ªbefore anyone could react¡ªshe cut her beautiful pink hair. The hair she had been taking care of meticulously for as far as anyone could remember. "What¡ª" "I can dye it, too!" she said, voice cracking, cutting more and more of her hair until it was cut haphazardly just below her ears. "I can make sure nothing traces back to Hubble!" The couple looked at each other with deep-furrowed faces. Similarly, Veronica also looked at them. For the first time in weeks, Veronica looked at her parents and saw the changes in them. It seemed like they aged a decade. This was also weighing down heavily on them. Of course, it did; she knew her parents were rare good people. It was why she loved them so much, and it was also why the shock and disappointment hit her so badly. Thinking of this, her anger calmed a bit, though her decision remained. "Please. I''ll be careful¡­ let me do this." Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The two people looked down in deep thought, but they were showing no signs of budging so far. Veronica''s heart fell. It was around this time that a voice sounded from the stairs, and they could hear the hurried steps upwards. "Veronica!" the man yelled, and they turned to him. It was a handsome young man with darker pink hair. He was pale and a little unkempt, obviously arriving here in a rush. The people in the room had varying levels of surprise on their faces. "Brother!" she yelled, finally standing up. However, she had been sitting down on the floor for so long that her legs died a bit. She fell down, caught just in time by her father and brother, taking an arm each. "Brother¡­ wu¡­" she sobbed, pulling her arms away from her father, and just hugged the newcomer. This was Vaughn, the heir of the lordship of Hobble Town. He was a few years older than she was, and was also one of the main reasons her life was so easy. The Town had such a reliable heir, why would they need to find her an advantageous marriage she might not like? About a week before she was grounded, her parents sent him to ''learn'' in Holt City. He stayed with some distant relatives there from her mother''s side of the family. However, their relatives were barely even considered nobles there¡ªjust merchants. After all, it was ridiculously difficult to gain a noble title in a City like Holt. She had always wondered why they sent him so far away. Now, she knew they simply did not want him involved in this either. He sighed and patted his sister''s head, lifting his chin to look at his parents. "What''s going on?" Philon didn''t answer immediately and stared at his only son. "First of all, what are you doing back home?" They did not want him involved in the betrayal. None of it was his fault and he didn''t need that burden. That sin should''ve ended in their generation, but alas¡ªthe child went home in the end, and now both children had become involved. Vaughn sighed. "A friend of mine mentioned something seemed brewing in these parts. I was worried, so¡­" This friend happened to be none other than Jonathan, who sent him a post about some suspicious circumstances. It turned out to be true, and he was glad he listened to him. He took days of traveling¡ªeven by Mercenary Hall¡ªto get back, and he was glad he wasn''t too late. Or at least he hoped he wasn''t. Anyway, he heard that his sister was sick as soon as he returned. Naturally, he ran to check on her, only to see her threatening their parents! Her kind and sweet little sister¡ªnever in a thousand years would he imagine she''d be capable of something like this!! "So¡­ is anyone going to tell me what the Orgroi is going on?" At this, the couple looked at each other and sighed heavily. At this, they had no choice but to take them to the study and explain the circumstances. "We¡­ also didn''t want to do this¡ªbelieve us," Philon said. "But for the Town''s survival, we had to do so." Apparently, Lord Bleumrick threatened to stop Hubble''s supplies if they refused. Although they had a lot of restaurants, no territory was truly self-sufficient in Xeno when it came to other products¡ªat least not until the Terrans, arrived. Many villages would be fine with a limited variety of resources, but the lifestyle requirements of bigger territories were much higher. It was more than just the need to maintain lifestyles and luxury. Rather, if they couldn''t maintain it, then a lot of strongmen would leave Hubble Town¡ªcausing it to become vulnerable to various wars and beast tides. How could he, a Lord, risk his entire territory for a guilty conscience? Chapter 1227 - 1227: The Golds’ Departure How could he, a Lord, risk his entire territory for a guilty conscience? He will never forget the goodness the Golds had done for them, and he would forever bear the guilt of this betrayal. However, being cut off by the City could literally kill thousands of his people. Hubble was pretty attractive, and it did have its own industries. It was not impossible to be warred frequently as soon as they lost their backer. Most Level 2 or all Level 3 Towns had their own industries. It was simply too difficult to gain the required prestige without it. Hubble Town was a level 2 town with its processing of the Beurch Stone, which was the special stone used in beast whistles as well as the Architect''s Pen, which was a tool that could increase the Architects'' accuracy. It was a must-have for all Architects, and those who aimed to awaken the occupation also bought it. It was something that had just been discovered thanks to the Golds, and it was why the Town flourished and even leveled up to a Level 2 Town after decades of stagnancy. Now¡­ they were betraying their saviors. Who could feel comfortable? If their own children¡ªwho were too young to remember the details of that time¡ªfelt guilty, then it was literally eating the couple inside. However, they were right. Being hungry was one thing, but being consumed from the inside was even worse. "You two are still so young¡­ so idealistic," he said. "I hope someday you understand what we have decided upon." "We do understand¡ªwe simply do not agree to it," Veronica said, and her brother nodded with a somber expression on his face. "I am willing to disguise myself, really, I''m really good." After all this time, her makeup skills had really improved. Alterrans had praised her as super talented in the area! Ah, she missed it there already. Everyone thought for a while as they stared at her. In the end, they knew there was no choice. "Very well," Philon said. "But you will go on our terms." ¡­ About an hour later, the Beast Cars were ready. They got two, while the other one was for the Golds. They prepared well, including adding a lot of medicines, food, and extra clothing in her space and in the carriages. Veronica wore a hood and although her parents told her she didn''t need to destroy her beautiful hair, she still dyed it anyway. It was an Alterran product. It was supposed to not be harmful to the hair (as long as it wasn''t abused), anyway! Her father, her mother, and her brother saw her off, all of whom had very, very, complicated expressions on their faces. No, if Veronica was to describe their expressions, they looked constipated. It was her mother who couldn''t bear to just see her off and ran to her for a long embrace. "Write back as soon as you can," she said. "And please¡ªplease¡ª be safe." Veronica''s heart felt warm. She was really lucky, she knew this. "Of course," she said. "I''ll write it so cryptically they''d have no idea I''m talking about something serious." Then came her brother, who patted her head. "Someday, I''ll go see that place you love so much. She grinned. "You''d love it too¡ªthat, I am certain about," she said, very confidently, before embracing him. She also went to her dad, whose ice face cracked, and he patted her back as she said her final goodbyes before turning away. "Wait," her father said, looking behind him. "Take these three." They turned to the three uniformed guards behind him. They were standing still and had obviously been instructed beforehand. Veronica blinked. "But, dad¡ª" "It''s alright," he said. "I have a few more here. These three are more useful with you. It will, at least, allow me to be able to sleep without dreaming of your death." "..." Wow. Such a¡­ dad. Anyway, she turned to look at her three new guards. There were two people at level 35 and the leader¡ªa man named Ignus¡ªwas a level 40 one. They were some of the strongest guards around her dad. Level 40 in Towns were already powerhouses. Their pay was extremely expensive. At the same time, they weren''t too surprised these people were sent because she was heading to a City, and the monsters there were much stronger than here. In retrospect, her escaping alone and heading to Bleulle on her own was really idiotic. She was not meant to be a fighter or a spy at all. She''d have died within an hour. She ran to give her father another hug. "Thank you, dad!" She asked the guards to remove any emblems or any signs of Hubble Town on them before heading their way. Katha sighed and looked at her husband. "Will it really be alright?" Philon shook his head, just hoping for the best. "It''s good to let her try. If it is too late, then at least she would see it for herself." ¡­ Bleulle City Deep at night, it was finally time for the Golds to leave. Bleumrick''s rationale for kicking them out deep into the night was apparently to lessen their embarrassment. This was because people¡ªsupposedly¡ªwouldn''t be active at this time and the relative darkness would hide their shame. However, the crowd gathering to watch their departure indicated that it wasn''t true. The Golds didn''t care for these people, however, but they did remember the faces of those they helped but were laughing at their predicament. They also saw those who seemed to be genuinely heartbroken. There were also many people who cried when the Golds demanded an oath not to harm their servants, which the Lord did honor. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Anyway, the Golds surrendered the money on their wallets and the items in their spaces, as per their oaths. They even had to give up the space stones¡ªor at least the ''declared'' ones. In the oath, they said that they would give up all assets they had in ''Bleulle City''. The assets were not small anyway¡ªjust a bit smaller than the Lords'' personal assets, considering how many useless things he buys every few weeks. The Lord''s eyes were sparkling from his win, though he fortunately had the tact not to smile too widely. Internally though, he was ecstatic and extremely prideful. After all, he practically doubled his wealth with this takeover! Perhaps, with this, he was now closer to becoming a True City Lord¡ªa proper King. Chapter 1228 - 1228: Gaias Secret He had always been insecure at being one of the few Lords with a decades-old City who still did not have the exalted status as a High Lord¡ªa ''King''. When he went to visit Hassen City, he was reminded of this. The difference in treatment was really stark. In Hassen, the Lord and his immediate family were treated as royalty. People kneeled down when they entered, and whatever they asked for was definitely given. Here, he still had to take note of the nobles. Look at him now¡ªhaving to put on a show to take care of ''feelings''! If it became the Hassen Lord, he''d have just gotten rid of the entire family when he wished! Anyway, his trip to Hassen simply reminded him to expedite his plans to take over what he always believed was his¡ªthe Golds'' property. Speaking of the Golds, Zaol even approached Bleumrick before they left. Some of the two most high-leveled men in this City stood in front of each other, though their status became now heaven and earth. "Can we have the antidote to the weakening potion?" Zaol asked the other man, trying not to betray the burning anger inside of him. The guards had forced all of them to drink Hoffen''s restricting potion before they left the prison. He even got an extra dose due to his level. There should still be a few hours before the potion completely loses its effects. "None of that anymore. It''s not a priority because it would lose efficiency on its own within a couple of hours," he said. "Surely that won''t be a problem?" This made the Golds flinch. "You¡ª" The weakening potion would not reduce the physical strength of a person. Rather, it''d greatly reduce the amount of mana a person could tap for a certain amount of time. This was not too bad if one was within the walls¡ªbut this was a death sentence when outside of it. Everyone knew this, but somehow the Lord managed to maintain his righteous facade. "What if you decide to attack us or our caravans? What if you kidnap any one of our people and threaten some resources?" he asked, causing a burst of murmurs and debates among the crowds. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The Golds gritted their teeth, and Zaol narrowed his eyes at him. "I made an oath¡ª" "An oath can have many loopholes," Bleumrick said, shutting him up. "So, for the sake of my citizen, I can only ask you to go as far away as possible as soon as you can. Translation: Get out now while you''re weak and can barely defend yourselves. "Having to punish you like this¡­ it breaks my heart." The Golds frowned, sending him a bad look. Self-rightous bastard! "However, you were still one of my closest friends," He said, voice cracking. "And as much as I prioritize my people, I still can''t just casually throw you to your deaths. "So, I will gift you this Superior beast repelling potion. It should last long enough until you recover your powers." There were murmurs around about how kind the Lord was, and how forgiving he was. If Lords could see their own prestige in the hearts of the people, Bleumrick''s approval rating definitely increased by a few notches from this. However, the Golds did not feel thankful. Rather, they knew he was definitely up to something. Obi wanted to snap at him¡ªto reveal his thoughts¡ªbut Olga held him back. "There''s nothing we can do at this point," she whispered. "Let''s just get as far away from him as we can." The family turned to leave, but Zaol turned to Bleumrick one last time. "Remember your promise," he said. "You will not harm any of the people who served our family." As he said this, they heard several sniffles and outright sobs in the crowd. He said this in public not for image, but in order to make sure Bleumrick followed after his promise. Like he said: Oaths could have loopholes. Some vague ones wouldn''t even take effect at all. They looked at the side to see several of their former servants crying. Most had been sobbing even before, but they were outright bawling now. Zaol and the others smiled warmly at them. "Thank you for everything," he said, and the others did the same. "Also give those injured proper care," he said, "They will not do harm to Bleulle, and they no longer have anything to do with us." Many of their guards, even Ogro and Oren¡ªOlga''s twin guards¡ªwere injured when they were trying to defend the family during their capture. They were in a very bad shape at the time, they didn''t even know if they were alive. With no further ado, hundreds if not thousands of people lined up along the road, seeing the Golds¡ªonce mainstays and foundations of the City¡ªleave their homes on foot. ... As they went past the gates, the group applied the pungent Beast Repelling Potion to their items and their shoes. To maximize the potion¡ªand also to minimize the chances of Bleumrick''s people coming after them¡ªthey planned to sprint as far as they could. Their figures almost disappeared and many of the low-leveled people watching could only gape in awe. The seven figures moved past the dense forests at impressive speeds, though as time passed, they couldn''t help but feel a heavier sense of dread. "We don''t have any equipment at all," Otto said, a deep frown etched on his face. "The potion should still work for a few hours, and that Beast Repelling potion would lose efficiency faster," he said. "If we encounter level 40 monsters at our state, we''d be in deep trouble." Gaia bit her lips, staring in front of her in thought. About a kilometer or two later, she spoke up. "Wait," she said, tapping her husband''s shoulder. "Let''s take a short detour. It''s not out of way." The children looked at each other, while Zaol nodded. Gaia''s movements along the forests seemed purposeful and they couldn''t help but feel curious. They arrived at the side of the mountains that they''d still pass by, but then they started to separate from the usual path. After about a minute or so, they found Gaia standing in front of a crack just wide enough to fit a person. Everyone else blinked when they saw her go inside without hesitation though they, too, just looked at each other before promptly following. Zaol had to squeeze in a bit and it was a bit of a struggle for the next ten meters or so, however. His unfilial son Obi tutted behind him. "You should really control your diet, dad." "..." Fortunately, even he managed to get through until the end of it. Interestingly, there was a small patch of forest inside, just as big as a small house. They found Gaia kneeling at the corner, using a rock to dig. "Let''s dig this up," she said, and her sons quickly took over the digging task. They missed Oslo and his earth ability, but they were strong enough so the digging was relatively fast. About half a meter underground, they found a small box the size of a palm. "It''s still here," Gaia said, looking relieved. When she opened it, they saw a bracelet¡ªand its main gem was a very familiar stone akin to stars. A space stone!! Chapter 1229 - 1229: The Golds in Trouble (Part 1) A space stone! They gaped as she wore it and she waved her hand around, taking out some equipment for all of them! She then proceeded to hand Class C weapons to each of them. Otto and Orion were given swords, while Obi and Zaol were given spears. Both women also had smaller swords. Hilda was also given a shield. "Sadly, the Class B weapon I commissioned didn''t make it in time." Both Zaol and Orion''s weapons were Class B Weapons. Zaol''s was even the superior kind that cost them several hundred golds. Those were all in Bleumrick''s hand, of course. Regardless, they really didn''t expect to have weapons at all. Class C weapons were definitely enough to deal with Level 30 monsters, which would be the likely stronger mobs they''d encounter. (Of course, if they encountered a Level 40 mob in their current state, they were very likely screwed. Fortunately, they were very rare and were actively hunted down by large groups of stronger mercenaries and nobles who needed a bit of EXP boost.) While the children looked at Gaia with admiration, Zaol looked at her with eyes oozing with love. "A few months ago," Gaia began, lightly pinching her husband''s arm. "There was no proof but my instincts told me to prepare in case of an emergency. "I had hoped it wouldn''t be needed of course." Zaol laughed. "Our assets outside of Bleulle is safe," he said, recalling their oaths. This meant their their assets in other territories¡ªincluding Alterra¡ªand things like these were theirs. Gaia smiled. "Exactly." "Mother''s a genius!" "You can sing me praises later," the woman said waving her hand. "Let''s hurry." They nodded and headed out (with Zaol''s stomach getting poked with a rock again). As they hurried their way back to the main path, they felt reassured by at least having a weapon. However, they couldn''t be happy for too long because unexpectedly, they heard some vibrations approaching them. Their hearts stopped and the Golds immediately took out their weapons. They gaped when they saw it was a beast cart, and with a few familiar faces. Their shoulders slumped in relief. "Masters!" a familiar middle-aged man¡ªnow with a bushy beard¡ªraised his arms as he waved at them. "Thank goodness we found you!" There were also people who peeked out of the carriage. The Golds'' eyes widened in shock, but also in relief. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Olga stepped forward. "Uncle Liu! Cyna! Koro!" Of course, they didn''t waste another minute chattering and the family just entered the beast carts. Uncle Liu immediately blew the whistle and the Kohla beast lunged forward at its fastest speed. "Masters! Miladies!" the old woman exclaimed, looking relieved to see them alright. Gaia instantly approached her and she went in for a hug. On the other hand, a man in his late 50s was outright sobbing. This was Cyna, the head maid and someone who had been serving Gaia even before she got married. The old man was Koro, their head chef. He had dedicated his life to the Golds since he was adopted as a teenager by Zaol. He had no family other than them. On the other hand, Cyna was a widower and was in a similar situation. They were not idiots. They knew the dangers. However, the Golds had helped them so much. They could not¡ªin good conscience¡ªabandon them. In fact, there were many other servants who wished to do the same, but they had homes and families¡ªthey simply had too much to lose. Instead, they gave them good amount of their savings in order to help the Golds start anew elsewhere. While the beast cart moved forward, the Golds couldn''t help but look at their servants in a renewed light. "How did you find us?" "The Lady often went here when we were young," Cyna said. "Whenever we have to train with the young masters of the Wisen Family¡ªwe rest here." Cyna had been Gaia''s maid since she was a teenager, still living with her maternal family. Her heart clenched at the memory of her maternal family, but she really wasn''t in the position to check on them at this time. Rather, being further associated with them now would''ve just put them in more danger. Sensing her sadness, Cyna held on to her hand. "In any case¡ªwe can''t have you suffer outside on your own." Gaia couldn''t help but cry a bit, and everyone felt warm. "Thank you." ¡­ The nearest City to Alterra was Bleulle, which was only a couple of days away by Beast Cart and maybe 2 to 3 weeks by sprinting. Otto tapped on the window to Uncle Liu. "Let''s head further North and take Northwest when you encounter the fork past Mount Rushless," he said. "We should get there in a few days." Uncle Liu smiled, having an idea about where they wanted to go. He was also quite excited! He nodded. "Yes, Master! Just send me the map and you can rela¡ª" BANG! Otto''s eyes widened as he saw Uncle Liu disappear in front of him, hit by some force from the side. The carriage shook and they slid off their seats. Their instincts flared and everyone immediately went out of the carriage, even while it was still running. Right on cue, two large flamethrowers targeted the car, destroying it from behind, with the flames spreading to the entire thing. The beast roared and escaped its tether. ROARRR!! When the beast didn''t have the control of a whistle, it''d just return to its usual bloodthirsty nature. It would attack the nearest person¡ªwho happened to be Obi. Obi gritted his teeth and took out his sword, swinging it expertly to block the beast''s attack. While this fight exploded, the women ran to Uncle Liu, who was lying face down on the ground. On the other hand, the men''s weapons were out¡ªready to defend against their attackers. "Uncle Liu¡­ oh no¡­" Olga cried when she realized the man was barely moving. He was really like a real blood-related uncle to them. They didn''t have such a family figure in the house¡ªwith their blood relatives having killed each other in the previous generation of in-fighting. Now he was covered with blood. He was alive, but he was gravely injured¡ªfrom a single shot. Uncle Liu was well over level 30. This meant whoever did this to him was much stronger than that. Meanwhile, Obi finished up the fight with the beast. As a guard, he was very aware of the beasts in the area and he knew most of its weaknesses. His brothers did not help him precisely because of this. It was more likely they''d slow him down. So, despite not being able to use his element or any of his skills, Obi managed to take it down within a couple of slashes. He took a deep breath and stepped back, keeping his family behind him as he narrowed his eyes at the dense forests and shrubs that surrounded them. "COME OUT, YOU BASTARDS!" he yelled, feeling a little overwhelmed by what he was sensing. "Stop hiding like Gugu birds!" Orion and the others gripped their weapons tighter, trying their best to capture whatever the next attacks would be. However, they also knew that even in the best of cases¡ªthey''d be hurt in this fight. The number of people they were sensing¡­ was not few. "Heh, just as expected of the Golds¡­" a voice sneered, drifting through the air before its owner stepped into view. One by one, more figures followed, emerging from the shadows with smug expressions on their faces. There were scores of enemies appearing. The lowest level among them was Level 30, and it was led by a few people past Level 45. At least a dozen were elementalists... The newcomers grinned, looking at the Golds and their shocked expressions as if they were fools. "Surely..., you expected us?" Chapter 1230 - 1230: The Golds in Trouble (Part 2) "Surely, you expected us?" Zaol and the others looked at the faces of their pursuers. Some they didn''t recognize, but some they did. For one, two of the most powerful ones were older members of two mid-level noble families: Vaza of the Vesto Family and Aswan of the Sephon Family. They were Level 49 and Level 48, respectively. They were in the same generation as the current patriarchs, and not much weaker. They hadn''t been seen outside often, famously focused on trying to extend their limited lifespans by making the younger generation collect aether stones. Of course, even if their levels were primarily products of aether stones, they were still very strong¡ªespecially to the weakened Golds. Further, around them were a mix of level 30s and early level 40s, a few scores in number. The family formed a circle, with them guarding each other''s backs. They surrounded Uncle Liu in the middle, making him cry as soon as he opened his eyes and attempted to force himself up, though to no avail. "Please¡­ leave¡­ masters¡­" Instead, Gaia kneeled down to give him a healing potion. He used all his energy to tilt his head away. "Don''t waste in on me, Madam, we don''t have a lot¡ª" "Quiet!" Gaia snapped, practically forcing it on him. She then stood up and took out her whip from her new space. She was not nearly as strong as her husband or even any of her sons, but she was definitely ready to protect her children no matter what. Among them, Zaol was the strongest at level 55, which was impressive for his age of mid-60s. Gaia, on the other hand, was a level 45 non-elementalist. Orion was a level 45 elementalist, her twins were at level 43 and 37, respectively, while Obi was at level 40. They were up against people several times their number but with similar levels. Obi also recognized a few elementalists among this group. The most obvious disadvantage was, of course, the fact that they were still weakened. Hoffen''s weakening potion was not something that affected their physique. It affected their connection to aether and, therefore, their mana. High-leveled individuals were also strengtened by the integration of aether too so, in a sense, the weakening potion could also reduce their defenses and recovery¡ªeven if just a little. That Bleumrick really wanted them dead. Though¡­ they really shouldn''t be surprised. The two elderly men sneered as they looked at him. "Ah, how tables have turned," Vaza said, looking at Zaol. "It seems like it was only a week ago when I was pleading for your help." Zaol narrowed his eyes at him. The Golds were in-charge of the distribution and handling of the Blus. This man had requested to buy more blus beyond the limits each family could purchase. Apparently, the buyer would exchange some aether crystals for it. In exchange, he offered a good amount of gold to Zaol in turn. However, Zaol was an upright man and refused his request. He also believed it was his task to keep the harvesting of the resource sustainable¡ªto keep the industry alive for as long as he could. Giving way now would hasten this reduction, and when someone else found out, then it''d be even more troublesome. In the end, he just asked them to wait for the scheduled distribution of crystals¡ªsomething that didn''t satisfy the man, likely because he felt he was dying. "Now you cannot keep all those blus for yourself!" Zaol didn''t bother to grace him with a response. Bleumrick probably spread he was stealing Blus, which was why the supply was decreasing. The old man Aswan was also laughing, though his attention was on Orion in particular. "You ruined my business, now watch our family eat yours! HAHA!" S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was a simple commercial competition, though the old man and his kin took it as extreme humiliation and a major challenge. It was estimated that they were among the happiest of their downfall. Anyway, the talk soon got boring. Vaza looked around him. "Well? Aren''t you going to attack? Should I be the one attacking first?!" At this, the men around the patriarch lunged forward, raising their weapons, and all aiming for the kill. The family stood side by side, leaving just enough space for them to be able to make clean hits with their weapons. Clang! Slash! A clash of metallic weapons echoed in this patch of forests, with the Golds completely on the defense, making attacks only when there were openings. However, there were rarely such opportunities because attacking meant they would have an opening¡ªand the number of enemies was too many for them to safely land an attack without sacrificing their own flesh. They did manage to keep some basic defensive equipment¡ªthe expensive clothes on their backs all had some defense properties¡ªbut with the barrage of attacks, the equipment could only handle so much and their durabilities quickly reached its breaking point. Fortunately, because they limited the ''surface'' of which the enemies could attack (by creating a dense circle with their bodies), the enemy''s numbers didn''t become hopelessly advantageous. A lot of them even ended up hitting each other, some of which were planned by the Golds. This way, even when the Golds were obtaining wounds all over their bodies, their enemies were not getting out unscathed, either. Of course, they were still extremely outnumbered and outpowered in the end. Their wounds only increased and deepened. They were even targeting Olga in particular, causing damage to her clothing!! The men''s eyes turned red when they saw their sister being treated like this, but it only created openings which eventually led to their remaining defensive equipment cracking! "Hold on!" Zaol whispered to his sons, the strong wave of his sword keeping a few men at bay. "It shouldn''t take long for us to recover!" The two old men watched at the side, also realizing the same. They were amused at first, but then they saw the Golds successfully defend themselves for so long despite all the disadvantages¡ªand it felt humiliating! Worse: What if someone recovered their powers before they finished all of them off?! How embarrassing would that be? "You''re taking too long!" Vaza yelled, feeling both impatient and a little fearful. "KILL THEM ALREADY!" At this, the elementalists¡ªthe two flame users¡ªstepped forward, their hands filled with fire. They were both elementalists in their level 30s, and damage from them would be no joke! The attackers made an opening for their flamethrowers and the Golds could only focus on defending on what they could¡ªwhich wouldn''t be much, especially against aether elements! Only aether elements would be able to effectively defend against other elements! Their eyes flickered as it reflected the stream of orange and red energy heading straight at them, feeling a little hopeless in their hearts. Just a little more! Just a little more and they would have been able to defend themselves!! Unexpectedly, thick circular earth walls sprung from the ground, shielding them. The ground shook so suddenly that most of them lost their footing, causing them to kneel down. BANG!! The earth walls were then quickly reinforced by metals, and the earth wall grew upwards, forming a dome that completely enveloped their small team. BANG! BANG! They could hear the outside being attacked relentlessly, but the creator just continued to reinforce the walls, over and over, as much as he could. The Golds'' eyes widened as they looked up to see a familiar blonde with fists clenched and raised above his head. Wherever the fist pointed at, more earth or metal would appear there. He was now drenched in sweat and extremely pale, but his eyes were filled with determination to protect. The family almost cried. "OSLO!" Chapter 1231 - 1231: The Golds in Trouble (Part 3) A/N: Chapter dedicated to Castle-giver _Cardinal! Chapter Request: More Oslo please~! Oh, this is also today''s bonus chapter~! Thank y''all for your support! Special hugs to the voters, especially those who sent bulks of golden tickets~! LOVE U~ xoxooxxoox ¡­ ____ "OSLO! You¡ª" "I''m concentrating!" he yelled back, his arm movement increasing pace. It seemed like even the powerhouses had made a move, and they could feel the dome crack in some places. "What''s going on?" he asked, hurriedly gulping down a mana potion. "Why are you all so weak!?" He asked this with particular emphasis on the last word, partnered with a disgusted look on his face. If this was any other day, Obi would no doubt have grabbed him to wrestle. However, this was not any other day, so he was actually civil about it. "They kicked us out¡ª" he explained, gritting his teeth at the memory. "And then they made us all drink Master Hoffen''s Weakening potion." Oslo only needed to hear that to know exactly what happened. "How long until you can use mana?" "Not long!" Otto said. "Just a little more!" Olga nodded. "Hold on for a bit longer, brother!" Oslo rolled his eyes. It wasn''t like he had any choice, right? Anyway, he concentrated on the task at hand. He didn''t even dare think about his anger toward the Lord Bleumrick either. The focus was only one thing: Protecting his family! He also used the concepts he learned in Alterra to create this shell. There, he learned that the dome was the best shape to fight against external forces. Just its shape alone could increase stability and reduce the effort on his part by a large amount. At the same time, he would also create the temporary metal reinforcement¡ªa mesh¡ªrun along its shell. "What about Honda?" Hilda couldn''t help but ask, finally resting the shield. She had used it to guard a small section of their group, and it had already showed signs of cracking. Just like her heart at the thought her son could possibly be here somewhere! "Honda''s not with me¡ªhe is is in good hands," he said/ "Don''t worry about him¡ªhe will live well without us." Then he paused. "Of course, let''s do our best to get back to him, yeah?" ¡­ Outside, Vaza, Aswan, and others barraged the rounded shell. "Use everything!" Vaza yelled, making a mental note in his mind. "They could be recovering soon¡ªdoes anyone of you want to see that?!" At this, everyone started using skills to attack the dome. There were plenty of cracks forming every second, but somehow it would be filled up with new soil again. There were even times when someone was using his fist¡ªusing his inherited skills¡ªand he ended up hitting metal, causing his knuckles to break! Vaza felt uneasy. With a high level came a decent intuition¡ªthough in most cases, many foreboding feelings were ignored by arrogance. However, Vaza¡ªdespite having his own hubris¡ªwas still among the smarter ones. He looked at the side, "Did anyone call for the others?" he asked. Because they didn''t know exactly where the Golds would pass through, they naturally divided into teams. Each team was more than capable of dealing with the Golds at their weakened states¡ªor, at least, that was the assumption. Aswan frowned and sneered. "Do you want us to be laughingstocks?" Vaza frowned. Of course, he knew they would be mocked for this. "No, this is our mistake¡ªwe should''ve gone for the kill as soon as we saw them. But¡ª" It was around here that the dome cracked, and the people around it thought they finally broke through. They celebrated, attacking a few more times as if the next attack would hit their targets. How wrong they were. The dome completely crumbled at this time, and it was Vaza who saw the difference. "Watch out!" Rumble¡ª "GYAAHHHH!!!" It was too late, because then they saw a burst of electricity exploding, surrounding a handful of men who weren''t able to back away in time. "What¡ª" This was followed by several golden-haired men jumping into the crowd, taking advantage of the confusion. Slash! Bang! S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. CLANK! "GAHH!!" "Get them!" "AHHH!" This was Obi and Otto, who immediately made use of their elements to cause as much chaos as they could. Obi, with his fire, burned several of the weaker ones, making them flurry about in escape. The moment they turned away from him, they became easy targets for his spear. Not far away from him, Otto''s wind blew enemies to each other, causing them to tumble in imbalance. Like his brother, Otto took advantage of this to stab with his sword. The enemies weren''t weak of course, and¡ªafter gathering themselves¡ª they immediately lunged to make counterattacks. There were also those who specifically targeted the women and the injured, including the exhausted Oslo who was now lying down on the ground with Uncle Liu. Olga appeared before a group, waving her sword. As if following its orders, a massive whip of water attacked her enemies. Some managed to avoid but many were hit, and she flexibly avoided attacks from those weaker than she was. She waved her sword again, redirecting some attacks, and causing others to fall down. "AHHH!" She parried her sword, and the water snake followed, pushing some enemies back as well. "GAHH!" Many high-leveled elementalists actually didn''t use their weapons as much while they were using their elements. This was because the elements were usually more powerful than weapons. Anything below B-class was practically useless to them. However, there were still many who preferred to use weapons in order to direct their elements better¡ªlike Olga. Olga, Hilda, Gaia, Cyna, and the others continued to defend, and it gave time for Oslo to breathe and sit back up. While sitting down, he started to create small craters or small plateaus underneath people''s feet. Because they came unexpectedly, almost everyone targeted would lose balance. Even if it was just for a second or two¡ªthat was enough. It created a lot of openings for the women to make the killing shots. Vaza and Aswan gaped, jaw clenched. Despite the Gold family being the indisputable #1 family next to the Lord, each one of its members was actually quite low-key when it came to their prowess. With the exception of Obi, a guard, the rest of them were better known for other things. For example, Orion was famous for his reputation and administrative skills, Otto for his business acumen, Oslo for his womanizing ways, and Olga for her¡­ eccentricities as a woman. However, now, they were enlightened of one fact: Each member of the Gold''s younger generation was not to be trifled with! So this was the strength of Bleulle''s Top Family! Chapter 1232 - 1232: The Strength of a Top Family A/N: On a side note, what do you really think about how the ML and FL''s relationship came to be? xD Recently I''ve been receiving comments about how it''s weird they were adopted together. The more I heard it, the more I''m convinced lololol. Sadly I have no time to look through the whole book, but if someone can point me to a ''questionable'' chapter/paragraph or arc, do tell me so I can maybe reword/modify it a bit, I''d be so thankful. T_T ... ___ While Obi and Otto entered the enemy lines to destroy their line-up, Orion studied the entire setting, eyes fixed on the strongmen and the elementalists. Orion''s reddish brown eyes gleamed with calm and intensity, his hands sparked as lightning cracked at his fingertips. "Let''s take down those old men first," Zaol said, his large spear pointing at the enemies. "I will lead the way." He was referring to Aswan and Vaza, who were still¡ªno doubt thinking of who to attack first. Old men like that didn''t want to get hurt. Although their levels were high, they had increasingly brittle bodies that came with age and lifestyle. This applied particularly to people who had always depended on aether stones to level up. It was a fact that it was very dangerous to fight against strong monsters, and very few people actually bothered with them. For people who had access to the alternative¡ªthe aether crystal¡ªrisking one''s life for a bit of experience was usually not even considered anymore. However, for those who had wholly depended on aether stones, their physiques could not keep up with the aether their level required. This created a strain on their bodies, causing them to be¡­ brittle, in a sense. Those people needed to level up to gain more lifespan¡ªusually in a hurry¡ªand that came at a cost. Anyway, this meant that Vaza and Aswan were understandably careful on who to fight with. Even if they had better equipment and conditions, they would not dare fight head-on if they had a choice. They probably came here expecting this mission to be easy. After all, they even brought some of their elementalist guards with them. They likely thought they''d just watch the demise of people they hated¡ªnot to lift a hand themselves. Zaol was pretty certain it had been years since they had done so. Now that their men had their hands full, they would have no choice. However, they would definitely choose someone weak or distracted to attack¡ªto literally stab them at the back. On cue, Otto and Obi¡ªwho were handling three to four people at a time¡ªturned at an angle, inadvertently exposing their backs to the enemy. The two bastards lunged forward to attack them, but how could Zaol let them hurt his children any more than they already had!? Unlike the others, the weakened Zaol did not completely depend on aether crystals. While he had used his share of the resource, he made sure not to have an ''empty'' strength. His position made it too dangerous to be like that. He had, in fact, used a lot of his wealth to hire Class A or Class B mercenaries to protect him when hunting down monsters that could give him experience. Further, he was not an elementalist anyway, and he could fight well without using skills, so he was not in a deep disadvantage at this time. As long as his children could sufficiently create openings, he would take advantage of each one! As soon as his father moved towards their enemies, Orion''s hands sparked with a large electrical current. It elongated into the shape of an eel, and he directed it to the crowd in front of him¡ªexactly at the spot where the enemies were passing through, hitting two birds with one stone. "AHHH!" "GAHH!" Some of the mob yelled, while Vaza and Aswan were forced to jump back. They quickly shifted position a second later as their instincts flared. They barely avoided a sharp edge¡ªAswan even got nibbed at the face¡ªand they gasped when they saw it was Zaol! They quickly shifted their attacks to target the old man¡ªwho was definitely still weakened. If he wasn''t next to Orion before, they would''ve definitely targeted him. Speaking of Orion¡ª Crackle A line of sparks headed their way, hitting Vaza. "AHH!" he yelled. It didn''t cause him much damage, but it was definitely painful. It was enough to distract him, letting Zaol take a stab at him! Fortunately, he was wearing a lot of defensive equipment that had yet to receive a single point of damage¡ªuntil now, anyway¡ªso he didn''t even get injured. Zaol was unaffected by this and he did not pause his barrage of attacks. Defense equipment wasn''t impenetrable, after all, he just had to cause enough damage for it to crack. Of course, without skills or elements, that could take forever. However, although he failed to cause any damage, he did successfully keep the two at bay, letting his children and their servants finish off most of the people left behind. For instance, Orion¡ªall while busy defending against his own attackers¡ªwould throw an occasional electric ball to Vaza or Aswan whenever they were close to hitting his father. At the same time, he watched over everyone, protecting their backs as needed. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For instance, one of the stronger fire users managed to kick Obi down after teaming up with a swordsman and an earth user. Orion quickly put his hands together and when they parted again there was a strong line of voltage passing through. Barely avoiding the stabs of his own enemies, he threw this electric force to the side, targeting the fire user before he could hurt his brother. Sadly, the bastard was quick enough to avoid it¡ªthough not without pushing someone else in front of him. "AHHHHHH!!!" The fire user left Obi to his teammates and immediately lunged at him. Orion let his electric snake create a barrier around him, avoiding the fireballs thrown at him. Vaza saw the fire user¡ªone of his strongest¡ªattempt to fight against Orion on his own. Too arrogant! The rare electric ability was among the strongest for a reason!! Despite the Gold''s weaknesses and prior injuries, he knew that if this lasted any longer, they would only lose¡ªhe could feel it! "YOU!" Vaza yelled, "Don''t attack! CALL THEM!" The fire user stopped and shifted directions in a blink of an eye. He climbed a tree and jumped from branch to branch. Orion wanted to go after him when he heard his wife''s scream and realized that the remaining men had focused on this side instead. His wife, Uncle Liu, Oslo, and his mother were surrounded by enemies and Orion had no choice but to ignore the fire user who ran away. He had to use much of his remaining mana to deal with the spearman and swordsmen he was going against, so that he could run to his endangered family member. While he was on his way there, however¡ª WHOOSHHH! He lifted his head to see a long burst of fire that exploded vertically¡ªno doubt serving as a signal for the others. His stomach tumbled. They could defeat their current enemies if they were given enough time, but having to fight another team on top of that would be impossible with their current states! Damned Bleumrick! Chapter 1233 - 1233: More Enemies Incoming "Orcshit!!" Obi cursed. Their enemies were already on the brink of defeat. These bastards only lasted so long because of their equipment¡ªwhich still had high durability at the start¡ªand the fact that they (the Golds) had been weakened and were injured before the fight. If they just had enough time, they''d have defeated them already and run away by now! However, he knew there was no use being annoyed now. All they could do was defeat the enemies before the new team came in. They''d have to take a risk and use most of their remaining mana to deal with these bastards so they could make a run for it. Obi twisted the spear in his hand. With a quick movement of the wrist, a narrow line of fire appeared in its path. [Used! Fire String] Don''t look at it appearing like a thin string, this was a highly concentrated force that consumed a lot of mana. It seemed to float in the air, appearing like a beam, and when it landed on the enemies that surrounded him, it went through a third of their bodies!! By this time, they had already cracked the enemies'' defense equipment, so each attack could finally inflict serious damage on them. "AHHHHH!" "GAHHHH!" They screamed as they felt the thin but deep slice on their bodies. Obi did not waste anymore time. Taking advantage of his enemies'' crushed defense, he used his spear to parry, stab, or slice them to death!! Otto had a similar strategy. [Used! Concentrated Gust] WHOOSH! Using his wind element, Otto successfully pushed back half a dozen enemies and bent a few trees in the process. However, one of these enemies happened to be an earth user. This person used his ability to stop his momentum on time. While his teammates hit the trees and fell down with them, he immediately lunged forward for a counterattack. The earth user waved his hand and a spire appeared underneath. Otto pushed himself up with his ability to avoid the attack, balancing himself with the wind. While in the air, he used the same momentum to twist his body, sending a large wind slash in the direction of the earth user. [Used! Superior Wind Slash] The earth user cursed. He created a thin wall of earth at the last second, managing to block most of the attack. However, he underestimated Otto''s skill. The strong gust pushed him and his sheild straight to the trees behind him. He slid several meters away and a few trees fell, the large block of earth he created to protect him added to the damage instead. Meanwhile, Obi had already moved on to another team¡ªthe large group targeting his sister and his mother. Orion had already helped take care of a few, but he was also trying to help their father at the same time. Obi was a fire user, though he was superior to his older siblings in a way that he also didn''t need a weapon to properly control his element. His feet burst flames, propelling him upwards, and a large fire fist fell down on an area, gravely injuring a few. Seeing his brother arriving on this side, Orion quickly went to assist his father¡ªaiming to finish the two powerhouses within the next couple of minutes. "Orcshit!" Vaza cursed as he saw his men fall one by one, and all they could do was attack this weakened old man. They had sent him barrage after barrage of attacks the past couple of minutes, but Zaol didn''t seem to care about the injuries they inflicted on him. He was just desperate to block their way, to keep them away from his children! Now, those children had cleared out their people and soon only the two of them would be left behind!! His eyes widened when he saw Orion appearing. Those large spheres of electricity in his hand were definitely meant to be thrown at them. And indeed, they were. "AHH!" They gritted their teeth as they felt the strong voltage pass through their bodies, unable to avoid the quick attack on time. Thanks to their superior defense equipment, the strong attack wasn''t debilitating, but they could feel their equipment taking in a bit of damage. Zaol also took this chance to stab them repeatedly, despite the blood coming out of him from all of his movements. Orion also relentlessly shot them with his ability, over and over, until¡ª Crack!! They paled when they realized their equipment was finally failing! sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. While they defended themselves, they could see the remaining people they had being dealt with. Whether they were alive or dead, they didn''t know anymore¡ªthey didn''t have the chance to care. Soon enough, it would be them who''d be mobbed. By then, they would have no chance to run! Sadly, they had sworn an oath to the Lord to do their best this time¡ªotherwise, they''d have run away by now. How were they supposed to know they would fail? They remembered how arrogant and confident they were when they volunteered for this mission. All they saw were the aether crystals they would get as a reward. However, it gets worse¡­ At some point, Zaol smiled as he lifted his spear. He pivoted on his back foot and swung the spear in a sweeping motion. [Used! Crescent Sweep] Zaol created a wide, arcing slash. This attack had a concentrated amount of aether, completely destroying their equipment! Their eyes constricted. Zaol''s ability was back!! Orion looked coldly at them and sent one final attack. "AHHH!" they screamed, their bodies twitching as they felt painful tingles and burning sensations all over their bodies. The father and son did not bother to come back again to make the kill shots. They just looked at their companions who were all ready to head out. Koro carried Uncle Liu, and they were prepared to run away as fast as they could. Zaol nodded and led the way, rushing to get away from this dangerous spot as soon as possible! For a moment, they thought they would finally be able to leave this place! They were wrong. "AH!" Suddenly, a man appeared right next to Gaia, grabbing her neck. He was lower-leveled than she was, but she was no fighter. The whiplash of the movement also shocked her body¡ªwhich was already weak and injured from the long fights she had been through. The next thing they knew, the matriarch was already a dozen meters away from them, life literally at the hands of someone else. They paled. A speedster! Chapter 1234 - 1234: Help Arrives! Zaol and the others glared at the newcomer who held a knife to Gaia''s throat. It was even a Class C dagger, and even a slight nick broke her skin and welcomed blood. "Bilia!" Zaol yelled with gritted teeth. "Let go of my wife right now!" His aura exploded in his anger but the shake just deepened the dagger on Gaia''s neck. "Whoops~" This forced Zaol to hold back, and the others could only grit their teeth as they tried to look for a way to rescue their mother without risking her life. It would not be easy, especially with how exhausted they were at this time. This man¡­ was also infamous for being a bit¡­unhinged. The Speedster was a Level 39 man in his 50s named Bilia. He was one of the City''s best-known speedsters, and he worked directly under Bleumrick. Although in terms of pure destructive power, he did not compare to an elementalist of the same level, his speed and timing could definitely help change the tide. He stared at the Gold children, all of whom had their elements brandished out, ready to hit him as soon as the opportunity arrived. Of course, he made sure to hold out their mother in a way he could use her as a shield if needed, so they entered a standstill very quickly. Speaking of that, he couldn''t help but look at the elementalists in interest, and then at the woman in his hand. "I''m still amazed about how non-elementalists like you two could give birth to elementalists, without exception. What''s the secret?" Zaol and Gaia didn''t answer him. Even if they wanted to, they didn''t know how to explain it. Rather than a secret, it was just that both family lines had a high percentage of elementalists. Zaol didn''t awaken, which was the main reason he was so unfavored, while Gaia was also one of the few in her generation who weren''t elementalists. It was more accurate to say that Elementalist tended to have much higher social strata than others. They would climb high in life, maybe even become nobles, and the rich and powerful tended to intermingle. The intermarriage between families with elementalist members naturally had higher chances of producing them. Of course, all five children being elementalists was indeed impressive¡ªeven unheard of¡ªbut it was more of them hitting the genetic jackpot through luck. However, people here did not have the concept of genes and the complexities of genetics at this time. Some people could only envy those who seemed blessed by dieties. He gripped her neck a bit more, making her gasp as she gripped on him. "Wife!" "Mother!" "Calm down," Bilia said, looking at the group, making sure they stayed in line. His level was lower than even Gaia, but she was exhausted and barely had any spirit left. He would take advantage of that. For now, he was alone, so he wasn''t planning on starting a fight just yet. He didn''t worry about them starting it, either¡ªat least not while a knife was on Gaia''s neck. Bilia knew this family was very soft. Obviously, it was better to try and attack him as soon as possible¡ªhe definitely didn''t stand a chance¡ªbut they didn''t want to risk any more injury to their mother. This was the Golds'' most evident flaw, and something they had been mocked a lot for behind closed doors. "Stay back, let''s wait for the others, okay? "I''m the first one¡ªit has to do with my speed. Everyone else is just so¡­ slow." Anyway, the others rushed over as soon as they saw the signal and he didn''t have to be alone for so long. More and more people emerged again, and they were a bit fewer than the previous batch, but considering they had been spent, this fight was definitely more dangerous. Still¡­ Orion''s eyes sharpened. Having more people here wasn''t entirely disadvantageous. More people on the enemy side meant there was more chaos. More chaos meant everyone could get distracted¡ªeven that damned speedster! Orion''s eyes met with Otto''s. There was no need to say more. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The next thing people knew, small sparks zapped through the air in random directions. The small bolts weren''t that fast nor were they so strong. Frankly, it seemed like a last ditch attack from Orion. Anyway, the newcomers avoided them all. Although their level would not be killed by a small attack, people generally avoided pain. What they didn''t know was that the locations of the sparks were not random. They were sent in a way that would cause some to either bump into each other or interfere with their movements. One or two ended up getting near Bilia, and another set of small sparks floated about, causing them to bump into him a bit. The movements all around hid some changes, and they didn''t notice how Otto had used his remaining mana to push himself upward with his ability, creating a small tornado from above Bilia, ultimately forcing him to let go of Gaia. "Damnit!" he cursed, gesturing to run grab Gaia again. However, he felt a large rush of force heading straight to their direction, causing him to pause his steps. "HYAHH!" Zaol yelled as he waved around his spear, pushing enemies and creating a path for the rest of his family. Soon, the Golds were all together again, back towards each other, once again surrounded and outnumbered by a new batch of enemies. "Are you alright, wife?" Zaol worriedly asked, and the rest of the children couldn''t help but turn to check as well. "Focus on your own fights!" Gaia yelled, and Obi managed to catch himself before an enemy took advantage of his distraction to injure him. "Bastards!" He yelled, waving his spear and once again using the Fire Thread and took down a few, though he was practically out of mana by the end. Regardless, the speedster cursed at the loss. His mind turned and he headed to Olga instead, appearing next to him a moment later. However, the woman covered herself with water, slowing down his movements¡ªeven for just a second. [Used! Water Wall] Olga instinctively made the water around her denser. Although she didn''t believe it could actually stop the attack, it slowed him down. She felt her mana drained though, and she knew she wouldn''t be able to keep doing this for more than a few seconds. Oslo¡ªwho had created a thin curved wall around his mother and Uncle Liu¡ªlooked at his eldest brother. "Send your attacks over there! Hurry!" Orion didn''t question him and redirected his attack to Bilia. Crackle¡ª "AHHH!" They watched as Biria screamed, as he felt the magnified effect of that small spark with his whole body. It wasn''t enough to kill him, considering his level, but it was enough for Olga to finally find an opening amidst his defense equipment. She stabbed him a few times straight to the neck, successfully going through after a few tries. Squelch!! The man gurgled, bubbles escaped his mouth as he screamed. He tried to struggle outside, but Olga¡ª now covered by Oslo''s reinforced earth wall¡ªdecided to use her remaining mana to keep him there. The man''s blood spread through the water, creating a morbid sight of a man both bleeding and drowning to death. However, the man seemed to still have some energy in him and he used his remaining energy to step back. Because he was a speedster, even Olga and Otto weren''t able to react on time. "ORCSHIT!" Obi yelled. Like hell they''d let him get away! He took a dagger from his space and threw it, luckily hitting the speedster''s back. Stab! They watched him fall down the ground. Sadly, they no longer had the chance to behead him (just in case) because they were too preoccupied with the enemies they currently had. After this, everyone focused on defending against the barrage of attacks that came their way. Oslo was in-charge of the overall defense, creating a small wall for them to take cover and hide in if they got too tired. At the same time, they also tried to pinpoint a spot and time to escape. Just a bit more, they reminded themselves as they tried to catch their breaths. Just a bit more¡ª Unexpectedly, they heard rustles of beast carts coming from the side and their heart dropped. More people?! ROAAAR! The Beast Cart stopped and four people jumped out. The Golds could barely hold their weapons at this point, and they knew there was no running anymore after this. Unexpectedly, the people¡ªthere were even three-level 35s and a level 40 ¡ªattacked the enemy instead. They were advanced in age and apparently experienced guards, though unfamiliar and they didn''t recognize them at all. Well, some of them didn''t. Obi¡ªafter taking down another enemy¡ªturned to look, realizing that he knew some of these people. "You guys!" he yelled, panting, though frankly, he felt a slight sting in his eyes. It was a few of his men¡ªLeez, Tener, and Dejel! Then¡­ another person emerged from the cart and went to them, handing them some potions. "It''s me!" she said. "Veronica!" If the Golds weren''t preoccupied with their fights, they''d have gaped. That flare, it seemed, didn''t just attract enemies to them! Chapter 1235 - 1235: Last Stand "Focus! Fight!" Zaol yelled, waving his spear again. Regardless of whether these were friends, they were sure to take advantage of the distraction they were providing! They did not let go of their guards, but they worked together to take down this batch of enemies. Fortunately¡ªfor some reason¡ªthe speedster seemed to be the only troublesome one in this batch. They had assumed that each team was strong enough to deal with them, but perhaps they put too much credit on Bleumrick. That said, if they had encountered this team first, they would''ve already been in their way by now. Anyway, while the newcomers and most of the siblings finished off the enemies, Veronica ran to Gaia to give another pile of potions. They didn''t have the time to ask her what she did to her hair or what she was doing here. They just chugged down the potions as soon as possible, replenishing some strength. The Gold''s potions¡ªeven those Gaia had managed to smuggle out¡ªhad been consumed already since the first batch of enemies. There was no way: The enemies did not hold back. "Are they your guards?" they asked Veronica, who nodded. "They''re some of my father''s strongest guards," she said. That was all they needed to know to be rest assured¡ªat least for now. Anyway, they did not have the time to chat as the fight had turned completely in their favor and this meant the enemies were either bursting to escape or going berserk in order to keep their lives. The siblings dealt with the last ones along with Veronica''s guards, who were much older¡ªprobably the age of their father. This was not a surprise because that level, in Towns, really would take a lot longer than if they were from a City. Speaking of backup from a City, Obi¡ªwho had chugged down two bottles of mana potion in one gulp¡ªwent to his own men and fought alongside them. They positioned themselves far from the family, keeping at least a dozen enemies at bay. They could probably tell that they weren''t entirely trusted yet and the family might not be able to focus on their fights while guarding their backs at the same time. Obi appreciated this. Anyway, his family might be guarded against his men¡ªafter all they were ultimately Bleulle''s guards¡ªbut Obi could, so he didn''t have any problems exposing his back to them. They had been together for years, and their teamwork was impeccable. In the area they were fighting in, the enemies basically stood no chance. "Why are you here?" Obi asked as he stabbed down with his spear, taking the life of yet another enemy. It was the androgynous Leez who answered him. "We''re coming with you!" he yelled as he kneeled on one of large trees'' branches, shooting as many enemies as he could. Obi almost lost his balance. Almost. "What? Why?" "We owe you our lives, Captain," Dejel said, swiping his sword to cut down an enemy. "We only served the territory because you''re there." Tener nodded, using his broad sword to push an enemy back towards Obi''s firewall. "We can renounce our citizenship and make oaths to you, Captain," he said. "I hope you give us a chance." Obi''s eyes heated up, but he blamed it on his own flames. ¡­ On the side, water surrounded Olga like she was a queen loved by a massive snake. She waved her sword around and the water snake followed her movements to a tee. Half of her space had been occupied by a vat of water, the contents of which she had been using since this fight began. Bilia''s blood was still mixed in, in fact. However, she didn''t dare throw it out despite her disgust. It was simply easier to control already existing water than condensing water from thin air. This was a habit she learned from Alterra, and it was saving her life now. "AH!" the men yelled as they were pushed back against each other. Olga was dripping in sweat and water and blood, but she had never felt so alive. She had never pushed herself like this before. She thought that¡ªas long as her family was safe¡ªthis type of exhaustion in of itself wasn''t a bad feeling. The rest like Orion and Zaol were also finishing things up, and they had already planned their routes of escape. They didn''t forget to take Vaza and Aswan''s lives. They were still breathing, apparently. "N-No¡­" Vaza begged, while Aswan just shook, knowing the inevitable. They didn''t hesitate to take the last shot. This was not out of vindictiveness. However, they had seen too much. For one, there was a reason their family had been keeping a low profile in terms of their fighting prowess. If they had exposed their skills and abilities early on, the people hunting them would definitely be even stronger. Further, what if Veronica and the other helpers wanted to come back to Bleulle? It''d be dangerous for them if they kept these people alive. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They naturally would protect those who protected them. Gaia, Koro, and Cyna were also fighting together. They were not fighters but their levels were at least decent, allowing them to carry their own weight. At the very least, they could protect themselves without the others having to worry for them now that the enemy elites had been taken care of. They also surrounded Uncle Liu who could barely even keep his eyes open. However, after many failed attempts to ask them to leave him behind, he could only cry. He made sure to open his eyes wide, making sure not to miss a moment of this fight, even if his vision had long been darkening. It was Obi''s team who handled the last few people. Many of them had long tried to run. However, like Orion''s point of view, they knew they couldn''t let any of these people live anymore. Summoning their elements or their skills, they took down the remaining survivors. By this time, all of the Golds and their allies were also exhausted. If one were to describe their remaining mana and spirit, the term ''draught'' would be apt. "Finally!" Obi yelled and turned, about to scream for the family to run to the beast cart as soon as possible. However, when he turned, his pupils constricted at the sight of his mother''s bloodied chest. Stab! "What¡ª" Orion and the others also realized what happened, but it was too late. Their hearts tightened and their bodies turned cold. "MOTHEERRR!" Chapter 1236 - 1236: Deaths and Despair They immediately ran to her, to take the sword off. Obi kicked the attacker, getting him as far from his mother as possible. The person flew straight to the tree. Rather, he kicked so hard that the bastard went through a few trees. The attacker dropped down on the floor, body at weird angles. His bones were broken by the hit and he just laid there, gasping for air. While the rest rushed to Gaia, Orion went there to make sure the attacker couldn''t do any more damage. He appeared above the bastard, realizing it was Bilia. Even after being drowned, electrocuted, and stabbed, this bastard apparently still had enough life to make one last damage. Orion felt especially heavy. Not only did his heart clench for his mother, he also felt burdened by the responsibility. He was one of the people in-charge of clearing up any loose ends. This was his oversight. Because they were in such a rush after finishing off Vaza and Aswan¡ªand due to the fact that they didn''t see him¡ªOrion overlooked the fact that the speedster was there, not even considering he could still be alive. Orion''s cold eyes looked down on the bastard. His jaw was broken, so his mouth was open and he was drooling. On top of his current wounds, he gazed particularly horrible, like a deformed monster. Orion didn''t question how he was still alive anymore. He simply raised his blade and stabbed, beheading the bastard. ... Meanwhile, the rest of them tried to feed Gaia with as many healing potions as they could, hoping to stop the bleeding. At the same time, Koro dropped down as he looked at Cyna, who also laid bloodied on the floor. Parts of her were missing¡­ and they didn''t even see exactly how it happened. Things happened so quickly. It was Cyna who was the one defending behind them. To get to the Mistress Gaia, the enemy had to go through Cyna first. And go through Cyna¡­ he did. In the enemy''s rush, he just took out the blade and attacked relentlessly, and it was only the final blade that ended up on Lady Gaia. The person who took up most of the damage¡ªwas Cyna. In retrospect, Koro could remember Cyna several meters away from where she was now. Did she block the way for the Lady? Very likely, but they would not have a chance to thank her at all. The Golds were also heartbroken about Cyna¡ªof course, they were¡ªbut keeping their mother alive, to keep her from joining the underworld, was the priority. However, even when Veronica and the rest of them gave all the potions in their bodies, Gaia''s condition didn''t improve. Even when the bleeding stopped somehow, she still got paler and paler¡ªas if getting closer to death by the second! Olga tore a bit of her mother''s clothing to get a closer look at the wound. Her pupils constricted at the sight. "It''s poisoned¡ª" "AHHHH!" Zaol screamed, "Let''s go back!" No one denied this. Their pride and other things were not even considered. Their mother''s life was on the line. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. However, before they could go, their senses tingled in danger. Zaol and Orion quickly jumped up, blocking it, while the rest entered a defensive position around Gaia''s dying body. BANG! BANG! The two men were kicked away, flying in separate directions. They managed to catch themselves, regaining balance mid-air, but how far they ended up was a testament to the strength of the attacks. In fact, they just blocked these attacks, and Orion''s arm was broken. It was here that two powerful beings emerged from the shadows, not holding back with their aura. The weaker ones like Koro felt their knees buckle. Even Oslo and the rest of them felt weakened. After all, they were already at the end of the rope, this entry was the last straw. "Nu-uh, can''t go back, why not join her in the other world?" "YOU!" These were former patriarchs from 2 noble houses! They were both more than a hundred years old and had retired a long time ago¡ªor so they thought. How could these two even be here? Doing an assassination job, no less?! Generally speaking, level 60s and above could no longer be hired. But apparently, that didn''t apply to the former patriarchs of two noble families. These were the ancestors of the Sephon and the Visto families, who were also where Vaza and Aswan were from. One was level 59 and the other was level 61¡ªeach one of a higher level than Zaol. "I was hoping I wouldn''t have to get my hands dirty. I''m too old for this," one said, then looking at the body of the speedster. "We caught him while trying to escape and even used some expensive healing potions to heal him," he shook his head, as if he was looking at a disgusting failure. "How embarassing that he still failed to take at least a few of you." "Why are you here? This is beneath you, isn''t it?" Zaol asked, holding his bruised arm. It definitely hurt much more than his other wounds, even if they were bleeding. "Well, it is indeed beneath us. It''s just that our dream to finally increase ranks is promised, so here we are," they said. This meant the lord promised higher positions and assets for their families. The most important resource to receive when one ranked up was the increase in the aether crystals their family received. Of course, both families also wanted a place at the inner circle. Who didn''t? "Anyway, there''s no need to try and delay things by asking questions," one of the old men said, looking in the direction of Vaza''s corpse. "Unlike our idiot children, we wouldn''t be so careless." Zaol''s jaw clenched. Internally, he was wondering what he could do. He knew that¡ªunless a miracle happened¡ªthis would be his last day in this world. His only hope now was that his children could stay a lot longer. Chapter 1237 - 1237: Unexpected Rescues The two old monsters looked at them with a mix of pity and amusement. "Such a pitiful end for what was such a bright family," they said, though there were vindictive smiles on their faces. The two lifted their hands and they felt the intense concentration of aether form around them. Zaol gathered his own power¡ªor what remained of it¡ªto defend his family. His sons joined him, weapons out and small specks of their elements floating about. They were all panting¡ªall incredibly weak¡ªand Zaol could tell they probably wouldn''t last a few shots from such powerhouses. These men were also dependent on Aether Crystals, but the power their levels gave was very real. Even if they were relatively ''brittle'' it didn''t mean they stood a chance, especially in their current states. They might not even be able to get close enough to touch the hem of their clothes¡ªwhich, by the way, were definitely defense equipment. Zaol opened his mouth, wanting to tell them to take their mother and run. However, before he could utter anything, the boys all raised their weapons, ready to attack. "We will never run, dad," Oslo said, a handsome grin on his face despite being covered with grime and blood. "You''re stuck with your useless sons on this one. Zaol''s eyes teared up a bit, and he gripped his weapon tighter. "Then¡­ my sons, I''ll ask for your support on this one!" The boys nodded, lifting their strengths and spirits just a bit¡ªwilling their bodies to go beyond their limits, even if it was just this once. "Yes, dad!" ¡­ Zaol led the attack. He yelled, using advanced skills to fight off the two enemies, at least to a degree. [Tremor] He stabbed his spear down the ground and a shockwave shook the surrounding, hoping to imbalance the enemies. At the same time, the siblings lunged together to take advantage of it. The two were a bit startled that they still had so much energy, but ultimately the tremor didn''t do much. Instead, the two of them also performed skills exclusive to their families, aiming to defend or counterattack the siblings as they came after them. BOOM! CRASH! BANG! Unlike the idiots who came before them, they didn''t underestimate the Golds even in their weakened states. They also knew that if they were careless¡ªconsidering their age and their physiques dependent on aether stones¡ªthey might really get hurt as soon as their equipment gave way. Defeated, never, but who wanted to get hurt? If they were injured by people at the end of the rope, it''d just be humiliating. Not to mention, healing potions that could work on their level were insanely expensive. It did not help that one of the few people who could create that level of potion hated them! In any case, Battles at this level were not normal. Shockwave after shockwave abound that area, and no beast dared approach them at all. They were far from the territory, but people with sharper senses could actually feel the pressure and the tremors¡ªnot that they cared, of course. No one dared to go to see, either¡ªno matter how curious¡ªlest it be dangerous for them. Worse, the Lord might think of that as them wanting to help the Golds instead. At this time, the Golds were barely holding on to their current spirits, but they fought on. All they knew to do was to hold on for as long as they could. They knew there was no running from these two, and they didn''t want to die with swords at their backs! BANG! BOOM! "OSLO!" Obi yelled as he saw his little brother get thrown several meters away. His eyes turned red and he went berserk. Only he was allowed to bully his little brother! BANG! He sent a barrage of attacks to the enemies. His spear lit up with his remaining fire and each thrust and pierce were surprisingly strong¡ªconsidering he was barely breathing from exhaustion. Zaol, Orion, and Otto rode the wave and bombarded them with attacks as well, hoping they''d be enough to break the old men''s defenses. The two old men sometimes managed to block, and sometimes they did not. Everything was happening extremely quickly, and anyone below Level 30 was unlikely to be able to see what was going on at all. They''d just see a random clearing created by a collection of forces, a tree falling here and there, and feeling the wind move from one place to another. By the time they finished their barrage, they could barely feel their arms. They eventually heard some cracks, and for a moment they thought it was the enemy equipment. So, despite barely feeling their bodies, they continued to shower them with attacks. Until they no longer had nothing to give. When the smoke cleared, the two were still standing still¡ªseemingly unaffected. "Hehe, do you think we''re not equipped with several defense equipment?" "We have protection charms, as well," the other said. "That said, congratulations on destroying the very expensive charms. You''d have to pay for that." One of the old men disappeared, appearing right behind Obi. He extended his arm, creating a claw-like shape with his fingers. His eyes were fixed on a person''s head¡ªObi''s, and they had no doubt that if it hit, then It''d pierce through Obi''s skull. "Obi! Watch out!" Obi gaped, unable to move anymore. BOOM! Before anything could happen, a sudden explosion of smoke erupted seemingly out of nowhere. "What¡­?" "What''s going on?" S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Everyone in the vicinity¡ªeven the strongest ones¡ª felt their limbs weakening. It wasn''t enough to make them lose their consciousness, but even the two old men seemed affected. The effect on them was only a few seconds, but it was enough. Suddenly a mysterious silhouette appeared right behind them. A blade was raised, shimmering under the moonlight, and it sliced down so quickly that barely anyone saw the movements at all. Flop! Flop! Two bodies fell, just like so. There was an awkward silence that followed, and the Golds¡ªwho had long fallen to the ground¡ªcould only struggle to see what was going on. Amidst their confusion, a voice sounded. "Should I not have done that?" the man asked someone behind him, and another robed figure appeared, though at this time only silhouettes were visible. "I never did like those two bastards¡­" he said, and they swore they heard him spit on the ground in disgust. The wind cleared the remaining smoke, making their helpers visible under the light of the two moons. When they saw who they were, even the Golds couldn''t believe their eyes. An old guy they never expected to see here, let alone rescuing them!! Said old man approached them. With an apathetic face, he looked down on the Golds pitifully laying on the ground. He nodded in approval when he saw they were still blinking. "Well, it''s good you''re still alive. I would feel very annoyed if you died at this juncture." "What¡­" "Hoffen?!" Obi gasped. This was Bleuelle''s Top Alchemist! A rare Class A one!! In fact, he was one of the two Grandmasters left in this field. Then, right next to him was Sir Gregor, a Level 62 Wind user. What... are they doing here?! Chapter 1238 - 1238: Hoffen Astor (Part 1) "Hoffen?!" Obi gasped. This was Bleuelle''s Top Alchemist! A rare Class A one!! What was he doing here? Was this a rescue? Or was it one of his eccentricities? One of the rumors about Hoffen was that he kidnapped people to experiment on them. He had always been obsessed with trying out new things and wouldn''t they¡ªa group of high-levelled elementalists¡ªbe great subjects? At this, their stomachs dropped. They lamented their fates. How many times did they have to be tortured? They knew for sure they had no chance if Hoffen decided to kidnap them. He was even with his guard and adopted son¡ªthe famous Sir Gregor. The man was a level 62 wind user, one of the youngest to pass level 60 at only 80 years old. Without further ado, the old man studied the surroundings and sighed. He handed a few bottles to Gregor, and then headed to Gaia and Uncle Liu''s spot himself. Because the smoke caused everyone to be immobile, he had no choice but to feed the injured himself. The effect was instantaneous, which was especially amazing considering their high levels. A single bottle of this would cost hundreds of gold. "Why¡­" "Hmn, the letter you sent intrigued me," he mumbled. "Imagine how annoyed I was when I found out you were sent to die outside." "???" He frowned, starting to be a little impatient by their lack of mobility (as if he didn''t have anything to do with it. "Anyway, take me there," he said. "To that... Alterra." ¡­ A Few Hours Ago BOOM!! In one of the taller villas in the city, a deafening explosion echoed, sending a thick plume of black smoke that billowed from the windows. "Master Hoffen!!" Gregor yelled as he ran up to check on his master. He was about to use his wind ability when he saw the older man''s silhouette emerge from the smoke. "Cough¡­Ah, orcpiss¡­ cough¡­" Gregor''s tense shoulders softened, relieved, and he finally waved his hand to call on the surrounding wind. He forced the rest of the smoke out the nearest fenestration. When the smoke cleared, Gregor saw the state of the laboratory. The large hall filled with tools and plants was now in utter mess. They were never not in a mess, but now it was chaos with broken ceramics, burnt papyrus, and destroyed wood all over. In a similarly bad state was the old man who stood right in the middle. Gregor was not young. He already had a lot of grey hair thanks to him being in his 80s already. However, compared to the other old man, he was considered to still be quite young. The aforementioned old man was covered in black soot except for his eyes, and his eyes contrasting to the darkness looked a little silly. Fortunately, the old man''s level was high enough and his clothing were all superior defense equipment with full body defense so nothing had been damaged. However, the equipment was old¡ªat least decades old¡ªand had been abused with the old man''s incessant and various experiments. Gregor genuinely wondered what the remaining durability of the equipment was. Gregor couldn''t help but sigh. "I still don''t understand why you can''t rest," he said, genuinely concerned. Hoffen was one of two surviving Class A Alchemists in the world, the other one being an even older person settled in another City. However, the Master hadn''t stopped or rested a single day even when he reached ''the peak''. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He entered his prime at 80 years old and had been stuck in his practice for decades but, honestly, Gregor just thought he could finally relax¡ªhe just refused to do so. At this, he couldn''t help but look at his adoptive father. "Still risking your life at that age. What for?" "Shut up, you brat!" He yelled, grumpy as always. "What do you know?" Then, he paused and looked away¡ªintrospective. "I feel it. There''s something more! I don''t care about my rank; I don''t care if it can''t increase anymore, but I feel that there is still much to learn." Hoffen had lived for more than a hundred years¡ªalready almost a hundred and thirty years old, in fact¡ªand he had contributed to the World Knowledge many times during his lifetime. His specialty and most well-known work was the Limb-regeneration potion, a potion he took 25 years to perfect, and took several months to prepare. Like other professions, Alchemists also tended to have a direction of specialization. People''s time was limited, after all, and choosing a direction was far more efficient than tapping on various differing types and creating something mediocre in all types. Hoffen''s specialty was related to the human body. For example, he created improved scar removal potions. He created the improved hemostatic potion that could close a level 50''s deep gash in a second, and many others. There were also aesthetic ones like those potions that could change hair or eye color, though those were accidental side effects that ended up having a market, particularly among the female population. That was not to say, of course, that they could not branch out. They actually could ¡ªif they were talented enough and had enough time on their hands. They should also have practiced long enough, so the foundations were settled, otherwise, it could get counterproductive instead. Hoffen, at his age and with his talent, had branched out quite a bit in the past decade or so. The man had also explored poison mastery and had been achieving success. He hadn''t sold anything, however. He didn''t like anyone enough to sell him his potions. This old man was hungry for knowledge, as if it was his meaning of existence. After he reached class A Alchemist, he never stopped experimenting. When the then-young Gregor asked him about this, wondering why he couldn''t just enjoy his success, the old man answered him in a way that would be etched in his mind: "If I stop, I might as well die," he said, and the young Gregor¡ªafraid he''d do anything¡ªnever asked the question again. At least until today, anyway. Chapter 1239 - 1239: Hoffen Astor (Part 2) Because¡­ at this rate, the old man might really die. He had been working endlessly for decades. He had seen some success and had discovered new things, but it was never enough for the old man. Because his focus was never on training, the old man was only level 52 even at his age. He also used a few aether crystals, but refused to be dependent on them knowing the disadvantages. This meant that the old man was already at the latter stage of his life. How could Gregor¡ªhis son for nearly 70 years¡ªfeel comfortable with what he was doing? "Well, it is high time for a break anyway," Gregor just said in the end, heading down to order the kitchen to cook lighter food. "A lot of people have been looking for you." Hoffen sneered. "Che," he said, spitting on the floor without care. "Shoo them away. Tell them I''d spit on their faces if I see them." "..." Hoffen was also known for his extremely antisocial nature. He very rarely went outside his lab, let alone outside the house. Even when he was a kid and Hoffen wasn''t as big of a name as he was now, there would be some kindhearted neighbors who would ask if he had an adult in the house. At the time, when he said there had always been an adult inside, they looked at him weirdly and with eyes full of pity. Later, he realized they believed he was imagining things. His words were only proven true when the Grandmaster made an even bigger name for himself, and only then did people realize who was living in their humble house. When the old man reached Class B and eventually Class A of the profession, there had been hundreds of people begging to be his apprentice. They offered massive rewards, and someone even promised to buy him a Village Token. There were also plenty of people who begged for his potions, but he always produced according to his mood, and he would never be pressured to create potions he wasn''t in the mood to create. The old man had very little patience with the living population. How many times people got humiliated in front of his doorsteps, Gregor could not count. If Hoffen wasn''t so talented and wasn''t the only one who could make some of his potions, it was estimated he''d have been hunted down by some noble families due to how hateful he was. The only exemptions were probably the few who were acclaimed talents in the field. For those types, he might listen a bit and test them out, but no one had ever passed his mysterious tests. Some didn''t even feel like tests. For example, how they arranged their materials, how they drank their tea, or how they held their books somehow determined whether they could be apprentices. This went on for years until, eventually, people just gave up for the sake of face. Hoffen only adopted Gregor from a young age because he had some talent for distinguishing plants and was a good errand boy. He was also very very reticent, like a wall that no one noticed, which was just what Hoffen wanted. Sadly he had no talent in alchemy itself. Even when he was revealed to be a rare elementalist, he knew the old man would''ve been happier if he had become an alchemist instead. It was one of the saddest things in Gregor''s life. After all, Hoffen was like his father, whether or not the latter thought the same. Of course, he did not become lax and trained harder than others. With effort and talent, he quickly rose the ranks, and became a force to be reckoned with even before he reached 30 years old. He received various good offers for his talent, but he never left the old man''s side. One had to note that the old man wasn''t so famous back then, and in comparison, the offers he received really were good even by City standards. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. In the end, he chose to live the rest of his life as the old man''s personal guard and assistant instead. The good thing that had changed though, was that the old man would update him on his own, even without asking. He didn''t like people, but he did like to talk. He would talk to himself often, and probably treated Gregor as a tree hole. "I was hoping to create a potion that could save a person whose heart or brain was damaged," he said, making Gregor look at him. Regenerating a limb and regenerating a significant organ was very different. For the past decade or so, it had been his goal to create this variation. Hoffen wasn''t a lover of humanity, but he was very curious in nature. Gregor was still amazed he hadn''t been asked to capture people to experiment on. There were endless rumors about that actually happening, of course, and at some point, they just stopped caring to fix it. Anyway, the two of them headed down to the kitchen to eat the simple meal prepared by their chef. Their chef knew the grand master''s tastes very well and did the same thing. However, it seemed like it wasn''t to the Grandmaster''s liking this time. Gregor wondered if his sense of taste was altered by his experiments until he heard of the old man''s comments. "Always the same," he mumbled, making their chef, Saffron, flinch. Hoffen didn''t waste the food, fortunately, though Saffron was very worried he''d get fired. Hoffen was famously hard to deal with. He had kept this good job after so long because he managed to capture the old man''s taste, but what would happen if the taste had changed? Gregor shook his head. He didn''t know either, but there was no point in worrying. They couldn''t help but assume the worst though. Saffron wanted to change the topic quickly and he looked around. "M-Master, there are new letters for you¡­" he said, pointing at the small hill of letters at the side. He then went over to grab an armful, placing them on the other side of the table. The letters were made of papyrus, parchments, or other alternatives. Some were even colored uniquely to capture people''s attention. However, they all knew it was all in vain. "There have indeed been many letters that came in the past few months¡­" Gregor said. "Would you like to open a few for a change of pace?" Anything to distract the Master from his experiments would be welcome. "Meh," Hoffen said, waving his hand, just finishing off his food for the sake of it. Gregor was disappointed but unsurprised. The old man usually ignored letters in general; it was nothing personal. At this, Gregor and Saffron exchanged looks before they started clearing out the letters on the table. Unexpectedly¡ª "Wait." The old man looked at the pile, extending his frail arms to pull one. One particular envelope seemed to have caught his eye. It was much thinner than the others and had a pretty flower on the seal. His eyebrows rose. Gregor looked at it. "It''s sent by the Golds, if I remember correctly," he said, not that it would matter because even the Lord himself could get ignored. Hoffen just kept staring at it though, which surprised the other people in the room. "I¡­ have never seen this plant before," Hoffen mumbled before turning the letter to see what was written on the back. "From: A fellow curious mind, Althea Witt¡­" Chapter 1240 - 1240: On The Way to Alterra The group soon started to recover enough to stand up, though Gaia and Liu would still need a bit more care. They could only thank Hoffen and Gregor profusely for their rescue. Gregor just nodded with a straight face while Hoffen waved his hand, as if shooing them away. He even seemed annoyed and everyone stopped bothering him, just remembering the gratitude in their hearts. They then turned to Cyna''s corpse¡ªbeing handled by Koro¡ªand knew immediately what had happened. Cyna¡­ definitely tried shielding Gaia with her own body. Things just happened too quickly, their enemy too fast, for anyone to be able to react on time. If she hadn''t been there, then the damage to Gaia¡ªwho no longer had working defensive equipment¡ªwould''ve been far worse. Perhaps¡­ if she didn''t do so, the Lady wouldn''t have been able to hold on long enough for Hoffen''s rescue. The thought of their mother losing her life, too, made her family''s bodies weaken in dread. It was difficult to express how they felt. Gaia hadn''t stopped crying when she realized it. Olga was also sobbing a bit, and she hugged her mother to console her. They treated Cyna as family¡ª like an aunt. She was really no less than a sister to Gaia, who grew up with her. She did her job due to her sense of duty, but Gaia wouldn''t have minded it if she decided to retire and just live with her like a noble. In the end, they could only thank Cyna for everything she had done for the family and gave her the most solemn funeral they could do, considering their circumstances and the time they had. This was led by Zaol, who led the respectful salute¡ªsomething other nobles would''ve found incomprehensible. To them, the death of a servant was simply a matter-of-fact, but to the Golds, they lost a family member. ¡­and they would mourn for her for the rest of their lives. ... After everything was settled, the party placed the injured ones¡ªGaia, Liu, and even Oslo (who had a lot of internal bleeding)¡ªin Hoffen''s carriage. It was driven by his chef, Saffron, who¡ªlike Gregor¡ªseemed to be a multi-talented guy. Obviously, around Hoffen who disliked people, each person who did end up with him would be able to fill different roles. It had special incense that would help with recovery. It was also specially designed by Class A and Class B Woodworkers, so the carriage didn''t shake as much. It wasn''t completely balanced, but it was definitely much better than the typical carriage. It was really very kind of him to lend them the car, and considering his reputation, they would never in a thousand years have imagined it. Anyway, the injured had to occupy a bit more space for recovery so very few people could actually squeeze in his carriage. Hoffen''s car wasn''t big at all because the Woodworkers'' skills could only work on a compact design. Hoffen never really thought he''d share the car with anyone, anyway. Zaol and Olga had to join in to care for the injured, leaving Hoffen out of his own car. "..." Internally, he was already regretting his ''kindness'', but he was also more curious about the future, so he just sneered at them, though sitting down on the other carriage in the end. Fortunately, the cart Veronica brought in was relatively spacious, especially since her guards and Obi''s followers refused to squeeze in with them. They wanted to do their jobs even if the Golds weren''t paying them, which the family truly appreciated. Not to mention, Obi''s followers were quite excited to travel so far off for the first time. They were orphans and therefore did not have family to leave behind. They really liked and admired Obi, and many of them were alive thanks to the kindness of the Golds. They entered the guards under Obi, and the only times they had been out of Bleulle was during the couple of town wars that Bleulle decided to involve itself in. Those were definitely not the times to go sightseeing. Also¡­, they were very curious about where the instant noodles and crackers came from! They ran out long ago, and they had been lusting after it for a while. Anyway, inside Veronica''s carriage, the atmosphere was tense, and some even wondered if Hoffen would suddenly feel impatient and poison all of them. No one talked for a long time. The extroverts all felt awkward, unused to not talking for so long especially when they had so much to discuss. But, at the same time, they were afraid to open their mouths and get poison shot in there. The Master poisoned a lot of people who annoyed him before. Nothing was lethal, but they were all extremely bad. There were even times when he would throw some experimental potions with odd effects to people who wouldn''t stop bothering him. None of them were there to witness the show, but apparently someone turned blue for a few days, while someone''s voice turned to that of a little girl''s. Almost all of the victims were nobles, too (commoners generally wouldn''t dare get close to his house), and through the years, many of them formed groups and tried to punish the old man somehow. However, all attempts failed, either due to Gregory or some other person who owed him their lives. The potions, even the minor ones, weren''t weak either. Level 40s would almost never get indigestion, but many people couldn''t stop shitting on themselves when Master Hoffen took action. Eventually, people just learned to let him be. When Hoffen suddenly moved, they all flinched, only to realize he had just turned to ask them a question. "How long is the trip to Alterra?" They heaved a breath of relief, making the old man''s eyebrows rise in puzzlement. "A few days." "How long exactly?" "About four or five days if we make a stop," Otto said. He was considering that they might make a rest stop around Bassett Town, like they usually did. "Don''t stop," the old man said, and Otto and the others looked at each other. However, as uncomfortable as it was to travel for so long without a break, they could only follow the unpredictable old man lest something bad happened to everyone. "Okay, then, as you wish, Master Hoffen," Otto said, and everyone breathed again. Silence and awkwardness reigned again. Hoffen didn''t seem to care and just entered his own mind, thinking of who-knew-what. Anyway, after making sure that the old man didn''t seem like he wanted to poison them after all, they couldn''t help but look at him. Otto couldn''t help but open a conversation. "Master Hoffen," he said, voice warm and friendly, but also patient. The old man turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "I''ve been wondering how you found out about Alterra¡­ so I assume it was because of that letter? I''m asking so I know where to take you when we arrived. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The others looked at them in alteration, very curious. "A Letter?" Otto nodded. "Miss Althea asked me to send one to him," he said. "I had no idea what it contained, of course." They all looked at the old man¡ªextremely curious. Should they risk getting poisoned to ask?! Chapter 1241 - 1241: Alterra’s Letter This old man was someone that even the damned Lord had to be careful about. The man was an extremely rare Class A Alchemist, and the money the lord made by reselling the man''s potions through the decades was astronomical. Heh, speaking of that, they wondered what those people would think when they realized their prized alchemist was gone?! Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Would he be so angry? Would he die from anger? Too bad they couldn''t be there to see! Thinking of this Obi, they couldn''t help but feel vindictive, partially reducing their fear of the old man. Obi even leaned over a bit, started to act casually around him. "How did Miss Althea convince you to go?" he asked. Obi was known to be stupidly brave at times. The people beside him scooted away from him, just in case. Hoffen fortunately did not throw anything poisonous. He simply patted his beard in thought, recalling the contents of the letter. ¡­ ... ¡­ A few hours ago, Bleulle City Hoffen studied the envelope for a couple of moments. He touched it with his rough fingers, feeling its surface. "Maybe your handwriting will be more eligible if you use this," Gregor said. The meaning was that his writing really was difficult to decipher, but Hoffen was too curious about the letter that that jibe flew over his head. "It''s really smooth and thin, not like the papyrus or the parchments we have," he said, narrowing his eyes. "It is a lot like the writing sheet from Papell Town, yeah?" Gregor agreed. "But this is much thinner and much better quality." Hoffen nodded. "The Papell sheets also yellow and degrade quite quickly, which is why I still use parchments for works I need to last." Papell Town was a very old Town located in the far west. They developed a cheaper alternative to papyrus and parchments, though the fast degradation was a problem. People in this continent generally weren''t literate, and those who were would want their works to last the test of time. This was why this product never really spiked in popularity outside of certain circles and nomadic groups. They wondered if the Alterra place was related to Papell Town or not, though in the end, it captured Hoffen''s attention enough to open the envelope. He then turned back to the unusual dried flower, which was what had caught his attention in the first place. It was a purple flower¡ªa rare color in Xeno¡ªand had unusual leaves. "All my years, I thought I had seen all the plants of this planet..." Xeno''s biodiversity wasn''t that great. If one had enough resources and connections, it wasn''t difficult to gain access to every type of known plant in the Human territory. A lot of the payment he received for his potions was not in gold, but in terms of plants and other materials. His Level 3 Space Stone had cabinets filled with various materials and the information he had on them or what he knew so far. More than a hundred years of practice had made Hoffen confident he had seen most of what he could, so seeing one he had never encountered before was naturally intriguing. He used his assessment skill to study the plant without touching it. For one, so it wouldn''t be damaged. Second, for safety. There had been a few times he received poisonous plants, some mixed in with the ''payments''. Though some weren''t to harm him on purpose, there were some that were, so he had a habit of being careful around strange plants. Of course, he also had an instinct with poison in general, but it wouldn''t hurt to be safe. [Used! Appraisal Skill. Orchid. Alien Plant] His eyebrows rose, not expecting it. He placed his fingers over the plant to get a feel of it. Interestingly, in order to get the flower without damaging it, one had to unravel the letter in the process. Whoever made this letter knew him well enough¡ªor at least knew his type of person¡ªto know how to get him to open the letter and read its contents. Interested, Hoffen succumbed and he finally read the letter, which surprised Gregor and the cook. From: A fellow curious mind, Althea Witt To the Esteemed Grand Master Pharmacist Hoffen Astor, My name is Althea, a fellow pharmacist. I''m sure you don''t have time for small talk, so I''ll go straight to the point. Would you be interested in having an exchange of knowledge with me? Though I have only been one for less than a year, my training from a different world might prove interesting to you. I believe that growth of knowledge should not be too strict, that it can be shared. If not among the trusted, it should at least be done in the context of an equivalent exchange. Due to some circumstances, I cannot leave my home. At the very least, I would like to exchange letters with you. To begin this exchange, I will share some knowledge first. Do you know? All things are made of things that cannot be seen by the naked eye, not even by someone at level 70. It is these little things that interact and change and get manipulated. For example, do you know that extract from the common plant, Amerie¡ª when heated at the same temperature needed to burn a person¡ªwould become poison? We actually have a tool here in my home, which allows us to see these things. It''s quite fascinating, seeing them change at such a small scale that we otherwise would''ve missed. This happens everywhere at all times, yet we do not witness them. Don''t you think that is unfortunate? You can choose to respond by letter, if you wish, but if you decide not to continue I understand. However, if you ever change your mind, my name is Althea Witt and I live in Alterra Village some 3000 kilometers Northwest of Bleulle. You can send a Post to me via the Ferrol Town Post Office, though we will also have our own when we upgrade in another month or two. Sincerely, A Fellow Champion of Knowledge and Higher Learning P.S. I have a lot more plants that you have never seen before. ... Smaller particles present everywhere, but invisible at the same time? Better: A tool that could let us see beyond the limits of the naked eye?! In fact, Hoffen had long thought of this. His level was not low, so his eyesight was also pretty good. Combined with the various skills he awakened, he could see the clumps and depressions in many surfaces that most would deem smooth. His instincts were telling him there was more, but he had reached his physical limitations! Also, more unknown plants!? He shot up and looked at Gregor. "Get me the Golds!" Instead of following his orders, however, Gregor¡ªand Saffron¡ªlooked at him with a complicated expression. He frowned. "What is it?" "That¡­ might not be possible, Master," he said. "They¡­ had just been banished earlier." . . . And so was the current scene. "She didn''t convince me, I came here of my own accord." He said this like a stubborn old man. "Anyway, my lab''s wasted, and I''m too lazy to fix it now. Might as well explore my horizons." The Golds smiled a bit, having an idea about what had happened. It looked like even a Class A Alchemist wasn''t immune to Miss Althea''s charm. Chapter 1242 - 1242: Golds back in Alterra (Part 1) [Welcome to Alterra Town (Lv1)!] The group arrived at Alterra Town after 3 days. Well, at least the two beast carts did. Most of Veronica''s guards and Obi''s friends were on foot, so they eventually had to just follow behind. They were going to make a stop in Basset Town first, so they''d arrive a few days later than them. They were led by Ignus, a level 40, and were given a map by the Golds, so they had nothing to worry about. The group looked out of the window, checking the outside after receiving the alert. Unexpectedly, all they saw were forests. "I thought they''d have expanded by now," Obi said, looking curiously at the place. "Didn''t they upgrade?" He was pretty sure he saw Town instead of Village in the welcome message. "No." It was actually Hoffen who spoke. "There was an abrupt disappearance of poisonous plants," he said. "It''s likely they expanded, but did not wall." "Why, though?" Obi asked. Otto looked outside in thought. "Knowing them, they''re waiting for level 7." This made the others flinch and look at him. Thinking about Alterra and their trends, this was indeed possible. Obi whistled. "Wow." That said, it would just be a matter of time before they upgraded again, right? S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Soon, the wall was finally in sight, and they saw the long line of people waiting to enter. There was a separate line for Beast Cars too, which they naturally took. However, the beast car in front of them was blocked and was politely pointed at another place. They weren''t sure what happened, but they heard the owner mutter annoyed words. "Full? Who cares if their inn inside is full? How could they ask us to park outside?" The guard looked at them, and the beast carts after them. "We can no longer take new Beast Cars inside! Please head to the Temporary Inn at my right and register so we can transfer you once an opening is made~" Gregor and the others were not used to this move. Beast Cars, which were owned by well-off individuals, were generally never stopped. It wasn''t that they were being narcissistic, but that was how it always went. Anyway, they stepped forward while the people in front of the line headed in the direction the guard pointed at. "What do you mean?" Gregor asked, his high level intimidating the guards even without him meaning to. "I''m s-sorry sir, but only a c-certain number of Beast Carts are allowed inside, and they can only stay in the Beast Inn¡ªwhich is now full," he said. "P-Please understand." Even if their legs were shaking, they remained steadfast in implementing the rules, which somewhat impressed the man instead of angering him. "What''s going on?" The Golds asked, asking from inside. They parted the window curtain and peered out, making the guards brighten at the sight of them. Before they could utter anything, however, Oslo emerged from the other cart and went to the guards. He casually grabbed a few soldiers by the shoulders and whispered some stuff. The guards stiffened and nodded, making a little salute. They also explained a few things before Oslo went back to the carriage. Hoffen''s carriage led the way as they headed to the aforementioned temporary holding area. A few gallops later and they arrived at a relatively large clearing with a few stand-alone sentries placed at optimal distances. There seemed to be a construction project going on on the other side of the clearing. They knew this because there were a lot of workers cutting nearby trees, eventually creating this clearing. There were also minor roads heading in that direction too, which was why they knew there''d be a bit more development happening in this area. As for whether Alterra would wall this place before their official expansion, they didn''t quite know. Anyway, when the carriages stopped moving, their attention quickly shifted to their destination. There were two structures near the walls. One was a two-story structure, while the other was a large shed without walls. Both were made of familiar demountable construction that could easily be reconstructed and dismantled as needed. This was a model which Otto had actually taken interest in. The design was in his hand supposedly for sale, but then everything changed, and he just forgot about it. Anyway, they headed to the temporary building with the large ''Temporary Beast Car Parking'' at the top. Before anyone could go down though, Oslo appeared and knocked on their doors. "Don''t get out yet," he said, and they all looked at him. "What did you talk with the guards about?" Otto asked. "Was this a recent change?" After all, Oslo would''ve been aware of it if it wasn''t. "Yes," Oslo said, shrugging. "I was aware of the idea when I left though¡ªI just didn''t think it''d be filled up already." "Well, let me explain first: The carts cannot go in because there were too many Beast Carts inside already. "We had a lot of visitors after upgrading¡ªa lot of whom were well-off people from Ferrol and other places. Alterra was unwilling to expand the Beast Inn inside, so we came up with this compromise." He then looked at the structures behind. "This is a temporary resting space and the guards will go here to inform the drivers once an opening is available." "Got it," Otto said, before taking another look at his brother. "That''s all you said?" Obi looked at him. "Why you stopping us from going down, then?" He really wanted to stretch his limbs, damn it! "This means that there will be quite a few people with some position roaming around," Oslo said, looking exasperated at his stupid brother. Obi felt this, and his eyes twitched, wanting to go down and spar with him. "While information in Xeno is relatively slow, a lot of people have heard of us in this region," he added. "Do you want that bastard to know where we are so easily?" Chapter 1243 - 1243: Golds back in Alterra (Part 2) Oslo made a run to the interior to buy a few things before the Golds could demount. The group was given robes to hide themselves, though Oslo also bought them some hair dyes for later. That said, they should also switch residencies soon. At this time, they were actually ''homeless'' and had denounced their residencies as soon as they recovered from the fight. Bleumrick didn''t remove their residencies despite banishing them for the sole purpose of knowing exactly when they died, so naturally they couldn''t wait so many days before they disappeared from his panel. Fortunately, Oslo (including Otto and Olga, as direct business partners) had hoarded quite a bit of contribution points in the past half year so it wasn''t a problem for them to buy permanent residencies for the entire family. Considering how difficult it was to get a Residency in Alterra now, this was extremely impressive. Anyway, everyone finally went down, the men stretching the stiffness off of their bodies, while the women were a bit more demure. By this time, all the injuries had been healed and everyone had adopted a relaxed attitude and stretched as they wanted. "Ah~ my back~" Crack "Goodness, my bum¡­" Crack Three days of travel and, except for some nature breaks, they were on the road the whole time. But what could they do? The master Alchemist had spoken. Speaking of the Grand Master, Oslo sent an aether letter message to Althea, though she was definitely busy at this time, so he didn''t rush anything. "Good Day, Master Oslo and¡­ guests?" the innkeeper said, looking at the robed individuals and then the very old man with another old man without it. "Please park the beasts this way¡­" The man''s name was Art, an assistant Beast Innkeeper who was assigned to the exterior branch. Oslo and the others watched as the carts were guided to the sheds with open frontage. The beasts were facing the interior and the carriages at the front for easy mounting. At the back, there were feeding stations and easements on that back so the monster''s heads weren''t readily accessible to anyone to prevent accidents. "Can I see?" Oslo asked, curious about the new construction. Otto was, too, so everyone followed their leads. Anyway, the queue of entries on foot was really long, and they really needed a bit of rest. Fortunately, the Grandmaster seemed to still be seeing a lot of curious things that he wasn''t forcing everyone to rush to Miss Althea, who no doubt was very busy at this time of day. "I''d be honored! First, let me guide you to our facilities," Art said, leading them into the modular building. The first room was the largest. It had rows of comfortable wooden chairs, and there was even a table with simple board games there. "This is the driver''s lounge, wherein drivers wait to get their beasts inside," he said. "The benches are free for the designated drivers of the beasts, but the food stalls inside aren''t free." "You also offer food?" "Yes, but the variety is small." "It''s fine. We''re really hungry," Otto said. "I saw the line. It''s long. It''s good to have food ready." Oslo nodded. "The waiting time would be much more tolerable by then," he turned to the newcomers. "Come, I''m sure you''re all hungry." They walked deeper and saw a line of kiosks selling simple food. Their party went to buy a bit of everything, and everyone pretty much forgot about their tiredness. Even though Zaol, Gaia, and the others had tasted the food from Alterra, those were only the non-perishable food due to the limitations of logistics. They hadn''t eaten them fresh and warm, and to be frank, they could stay there the whole day. If they were like this, more so were Hoffen and Gregor, who had never tasted Alterran products before. "This¡­" Hoffen said, looking at the popcorn bucket as if it was a new potion. "Is very addicting, don''t you think so?" he asked Gregor as he took a piece to his mouth, one after another. For someone nearly 130 years old, he really ate a lot. Similarly, the 82-year-old Gregor never quite learned to be expressive, but his speed of consuming the food was telling enough. Koro and Liu were also eating their fill. They were not expecting to have salaries after the fall of their masters, but the food here was so affordable it felt like they could live off their savings for a while. Anyway, the group ate their fill¡ªwith several takeaways¡ªbefore heading back to the gate to queue. The queue was still a few hundred meters long¡­ "Still, this queue is long. People only need to enter, right?" Obi asked as he chewed on his jerky. "There was no need to pile up a queue like this." After all, to enter, one simply needed to pay the visitor''s fee if they weren''t residents (yet). Even if there were hundreds or thousands of people entering a city, the line wouldn''t be this long. They soon realized the reason for the long queue was that each person had to be registered with basic information from the gate. They could also do a more detailed one in the Town Center, and only then would they be counted as a ''verified entry''. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "I think there''ll be a war soon," Zaol said, making a few turn to him. "It''s a new town, isn''t it?" Gaia mumbled, worried. "Should we really register residency?" "Mother... if anyone''s not losing a war, it''s Alterra." "Well, I''ll trust you." That said, the extent Alterra was taking to protect its citizens was really impressive. After all, doing this required a lot of manpower and it also risked alienating paying visitors, as well. Both steps in Registration could be skipped, of course. As people from a City, they already knew that Lords could not ''legally'' deny people entry beyond the standard fees. They could block access to facilities but not beyond the protection of a system wall. (They knew this; they tried to at least keep some of them within the territory but beyond the existing walls.) This meant that the ruling party could not force people to tell everything just to enter the ''protected area'' i.e. a territory. The System''s main function had always been to protect. It was generally advantageous for survival, but it could also be cumbersome for territories that simply wanted to keep the bad gouji fruits away from their walls. That said, if both steps were skipped, then the visitors would be flagged by their guard team. They would be tagged as ''suspicious individuals'' who had to be monitored closely. The Intelligence team was functional the entire day, with teams going in shifts. They were trained to be aware of as many suspicious activities as possible. Combined with the citizen reporting system, few things could get past them. The saying ''there are eyes and ears everywhere'' very much applied in Alterra Town. The refusal to cooperate would also be placed in the visitors'' records, reducing their chances of getting decent deals in Alterra in the first place. This was not kept a secret so, generally, most people were cooperative. The listings were done per group in a relatively covered area, anyway, ensuring some privacy. In any case, their turn soon arrived (just in time for them to finish their snacks). It was led by Veronica, who happened to be in front of the line. "Next," the guard said without looking up from his list. "Veronica Hubble." The name made the guard lift his head so fast he had whiplash, but then he was shocked by the changes in her appearance. "M-Miss Veronica!?" A guard gaped, eyes on her shortened and darkened hair. Fortunately, he quickly realized his gaffe and composed himself. With a pandering grin, he smiled at her. "As beautiful as always." It had to be said, every Alterran could be quite smooth if needed. After registering, the group entered. Oslo led them to the so-called Bike Station, where they could either rent bike(s) or get rides. Most of them couldn''t ride yet, so they took the ones with sidecars. "We leased a home here," Otto said. "You''d love it there." Of course, they might have to hide their identities¡ªjust in case. The cars surged forward, the ground trembling faintly as they entered the wide avenues. They looked at the hundreds of bikes on the road, appearing like an energetic tide that had a life of its own. Those with higher levels could also see the distant intersections, the rotundas, and the buildings. They could get a glimpse of just how big the network of roads was¡ªeach one connecting a small part of the territory to another. It was fascinating. The newcomers'' eyes couldn''t help but sparkle in interest. "So this is Alterra." Chapter 1244 - 1244: Altheas Level A/N: Happy Sunday~! We''re getting an extra chapter later! Thank you sooo much for your help and support! Additional hugs to the bulk golden ticket gifters! *SOBS* P.S. I also really, really, want to shift back to our FL asap. I was planning on doing this during the adventure arc, but I will try to place more weight on her side earlier than that. ... ___ Speaking of a certain Pharmacist, Althea had also been very busy with practicing her various skills, and not just limited to her pharmacy skills. Her wood ability had shown the most progress among her skills. It wasn''t only her, either. During the past few months, a few wood elementalists have been awakened. This included Gru and a few of his farmers. Unlike other places, most of the wood elementalists in Alterra actually chose to prioritize the support aspect of the element. Unlike other places, they could afford to. This was just right. Wood Elementalists were almost as rare as the Metal or Ice elementalists, and their skills and abilities were far more useful for support than direct combat. That said, all the wood support¡ªthat was, those who could manipulate the growth and development of plants like Thorance¡ªwere hired by her. Except for Gru, everyone else who accepted her offers was required to sign working bonds with her for at least 3 years. In exchange, she taught them everything she knew. She also instructed them the skill Thorance taught her¡ªWoodland Camouflage. She even made an exam that forced them to learn the skills, and she chose an orchard with the oddest arrangement of branches, just because. All these grown men and women posed oddly in front of the tree, with varying percentages of success. The exam took more than an hour, and they looked sillier than she did when she was learning the skill. It was oddly satisfying, she was not gonna lie. Other than those, she also taught them how to use the Eye¡ªthough not everyone actually managed to awaken it yet. She also taught them how to manipulate or hasten the plants'' growth¡ªsomething that felt miraculous to them. Anyway, the more they learned, the more they looked at her as if she was a goddess they owed their life to. Maybe they did. On the other hand, her array skills were understandably stagnant, at least in her standard. Oslo had to reassure her with full sincerity that she was already doing very, very, very well¡ªso well that he couldn''t believe it, in fact. Apparently, she knew more about arrays now compared to the majority of the population. The array skills simply had major limitations since there were no inheritances and very, very, few experts to pass on the knowledge. And even if there were masters spread all over the world, they were unlikely to meet up, and even unlikelier to share what they knew. It simply was counter-intuitive for the people here. Althea was not one to be discouraged, though. She had a portion of her math team work on arrays as a side project. If they saw some progress, she might even assign a dedicated team. In the Math Department, there was a copy of her array notebook¡ªthe one where she drew and took note of all her observations and insights. Similarly, the team would study it, analyze the pattern development, and so on. Hopefully, within the next few years, someone or a few among them would develop into tool makers at least. The best case would be to awaken as array masters, but that''d take at least a decade. Anyway, it could be said that she had been very very busy with the specialized skills and fields. This was why a lot of people had passed her in terms of level, but she didn''t mind. She might be the Lord of the territory, but it was the strength of tens of thousands that comprised Alterra''s strengths. In her mind, what her citizens accomplished was also indirectly hers. Her part in all this was to explore avenues most people could not. She''d leave much of the leveling up to them¡ªat least for now. Of course, she also trained a lot but because she didn''t go to a town like the others back when they were a village, it was inevitable for her level to stagnate a bit. Besides, with her husband gone for more than a month, how could she bear to leave both of their children alone in Alterra? Besides, she didn''t think she was being left in the dust. Her progress was still decent, considering everything. At this, she couldn''t help but peek at her status bar. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 26 Level: 17 (11920/80000) Life: 5490/5500 Spirit: 5440/5500 +55 Physical/ATK: 737 +74 Agility: 722 +72 Defense: 705 +134 Mana: 5200/5400 Physical Potential: A Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1), Triple Shot (D), Curved Shot (C ), Earth Mapping (D), Earth Spring (D), Mist Cloud (E), Woodland Camouflage (D), Plant Sense (D), Water Sense (D) Passive: Mana Reduction (C), Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Class D Pharmacist, Class D Archer, Class E Toolmaker Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] [EQUIPMENT: Head: None Ears: None Body: Casual Blouse +5 DEF, Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense (or +10% Defense) , +10 Agility (or +5% Agi), +50 Spirit (or +1% Spirit) Medina Robe (C): +40 Defense Arms: None Legs: Casual Denim +10 DEF Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK (or +10% ATK, +1% Piercing effect) Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (or +5% AGI) +10% weight reduction Other: Protection Token ] Interestingly, her Class A and B equipment shifted to a percentage effect rather than a fixed amount. This was one of the special things about equipment above Class C¡ªthey, too, grow with its user. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It seemed like the moment the equivalent percentage exceeded the fixed value, it''d trigger. According to the Golds, it had something to do with the continuous flow of aether between the user and the weapon¡ªwhich should only grow more sophisticated as the user grew. There also seemed to be some sort of synchronization effect. That said, the creation of such weapons and equipment was quite mysterious and based on very specific inheritances that only a select few would ever receive. Even if they did, it would take decades to understand the concept. It was why there had been no known weapons or armorsmiths who had climbed to Class B below 100 years old. To summarize, if the gap between Class D and Class C was a gorge, then the gap between Class C and Class B were countries. This was the same with all professions, in fact. Rather, for Pharmacists, Toolmakers, and Architects¡ªthe gap between Class C and Class B were continents. Speaking of that, even when she had done thousands of bottles using her pharmacy skills, it seemed like she was still some distance from upgrading to a Class C Pharmacist. Sigh. This was understandable as this process normally took at least a few decades (if ever), but Althea always wanted to learn and know more. After all, the territory was growing so fast¡ªtoo fast. As its Lord and as its main pharmacist¡ªat least in terms of her main tasks and contributions¡ªshe didn''t want to be left behind. Chapter 1245 - 1245: Althea Meets Hoffen Her pharmacy skill was practiced often, and her progress was decent, primarily thanks to the Research Lab. There were so many projects that there would always be one or two teams requesting a certain potion from her, so she was well-practiced. To actually upgrade though, she might need to do a few more things that she had not yet done. What they were¡ªshe didn''t know yet. Fortunately, the pharmacy department wasn''t just on her shoulders. Combined with the free sharing of knowledge within the center¡ªas well as the accessible list of flora and fauna in the library¡ªeach Research Team pharmacist also grew a lot¡­ and a lot of them had triggered the occupation! Half of the original members of the pharmacy team had awakened as Pharmacists the past couple of months. That was a total of 6 people, which made the aborigines gape when they found out about it. It created an era of pharmacists and it was wonderful. Teams created various new products like Improved Beast Repellant, Improved Beast Attractions, improved paralysis bombs, and the like. After all, potions had limited effects the higher the level of the user¡ªwhich included healing potions, by the way¡ªso they had to continuously improve them as long as the population did the same. It added pressure to her, the highest level Pharmacist so far, to catch up because her people¡ªespecially her husband¡ªwere only getting stronger and needed potions that''d match their levels. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this time, she was in the Pharmacy Department and they were making as many helpful potions as they could to prepare for the war. They had been working on stockpiling for a few weeks even before their upgrade, and due to the urgency several other pharmacists had temporarily been reassigned to help out. She did not expect an urgent message via aether letter to distract her, though. It was from Oslo. /Miss Althea! We are here. Can you head over to my Villa, please? As soon as possible./ She blinked, but immediately headed out, wondering what it was about. She remembered her letter, but she didn''t actually expect much. However, since they called her, then maybe that person must''ve sent a reply, no? Hopefully, the letter would have something fruitful¡­ Anyway, Althea went on foot and took on a fair pace. She reached Oslo''s Villa area some minutes later and, interestingly, there were two Golds waiting patiently for their arrival. "Oslo, Otto," she said with a gentle smile, though she noticed they were both a bit pale, probably from the tedious travel. "You should''ve rested a bit." At this, the two looked awkward. Oslo even scratched his neck. "Well, you see, the old man''s a bit scary," Otto said. "He just can''t wait to meet you." Althea tilted her head in wonder. "Old man? Your father?" she asked. She was about to check her Lord Panel when Otto answered her question. "No, the alchemist." Her eyes widened. "What?" "We met you before you see him to warn you. He''s a bit eccentric, as most geniuses seemed to be¡ª" Otto paused and looked at her. "Your eccentricity is lovely, though." Althea: "..." "You see, he''s very bad with people. He''s anti-social and could be a bit hostile when annoyed. He seems fine now, as he seems interested in what your letter contained, but I can''t say I understand his moods yet." Althea''s eyes twitched, feeling a bit nervous. It had been a long time since she had felt this. At this, she nodded and looked at the brothers. "Tell me more about him." Otto said everything that he knew. Althea was well aware of his best-known works even before they went back home. However, at the time, Otto didn''t talk about things related to his personality. After all, there was no need to¡ªhe didn''t know they''d meet at all! "What type of person does he dislike?" "I can''t say exactly what he hates, but I have the impression that he hated the majority of people and tolerated the rest." "..." He proceeded to tell her that the only person close to him was his adoptive son, Gregor, who himself was a very powerful individual. He was level 60+, and he was even an elementalist. Even in cities, that was a proper powerhouse, but he willingly continued serving under the Alchemist. The old man famously never took apprentices, as well. In fact, anyone who attempted and tried to bug him after the initial rejection were met with very, very, bad experiences. For example, they''d find bumps on their skins, lose their hair for a year, and the like. Althea nodded and prepared herself for a bashing. She wondered if he was misogynistic or if he was here to give her a mouthful of bad words. Also, if he was so irksome, wouldn''t he get annoyed that she took too long to get here? Althea was very worried. However, she calmed herself down. She had to believe she had something to offer him, just as she could learn things from him. She reviewed the things she could offer, which was really just the Terran plants and tools, but that should be enough¡­ right? Probably? In any case, they knew they couldn''t stall for so long and they did eventually decide to enter. How prepared could they get? Probably never! The trio arrived to the living area. Olga and Obi stood up to greet her. The others also said polite greetings while they looked at the old man sitting still on the side. There were actually quite a number of bottles next to him, and she recognized them as her pharmacy-level potions released in the market. Gulp Hoffen stood up and went to them. He looked at Althea, as if studying her¡ªall with that grumpy expression on his face. For a long moment, the air felt a little stagnant. "You are Althea? The pharmacist?" "...Yes, Grand master Hoffen." The old man nodded. "It''s not good to make your master wait so long, damned apprentice." Everyone gaped at him, wondering if they had heard that correctly. It took a long minute before they actually absorbed what he said. ??? ?! !! Chapter 1246 - 1246: Apprentice! "Apprentice¡­?" She blinked, totally not expecting this, especially when she just met the man. Were the rumors about him false? Or¡­ She looked worried. What if it was an old man with wild moodswings? What if he decided she was annoying and blame her for the apprenticeship? Her emerald eyes shifted to the old-but-strong-looking guard next to him. He didn''t seem like someone they could mess with. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come and call me master!" "..." Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She looked at the Golds, silently asking if she should. The Xenoan language had a different word to refer to master from an apprentice''s point of view, and the Master and Grandmaster for everyone else. She knew this, and she wondered if she should really call him the former. However, little did she know that if she was taken aback, then the rest of them were flabbergasted. This¡­ was the infamous Grandmaster Pharmacist Hoffen Astor?! However, seeing Althea unsure of whether to take the opportunity, Otto took it upon himself to ease the situation. "This is great news!" he said, voice cracking a bit due to the shock. He then whipped his head and turned to the old man, who was frowning but anyone who had (unfortunately) spent time with him in a carriage for three days could tell his face was soft. At this, Zaol couldn''t help but ask. "But Master Hoffen, when did you decide to make Miss Althea your apprentice? It''s understandable, but I have to say we''re taken aback by the suddenness." Gaia nodded. "It can''t be so casual, either, Master Hoffen." The transmittal of information and knowledge in Xeno was extremely strict. The largest flow of information was between family members and also between master and apprentice. Basically, the beginning of the master-apprentice relationship was a lot more formal than an exchange of words. It was practically an induction into the master''s ''family'' and even had a ceremony. Hoffen blinked when he heard about it. "Is it really?" Then they remembered Hoffen was very lacking in terms of social awareness so it could very well be that he was really unaware of these practices. They could, of course, forgo a ceremony. However, what if this ''unbelievable'' deal spread? Some tongues would definitely waggle and say that Althea was being presumptuous for claiming she was a Grandmaster''s apprentice at her level. For the younger generation who had admired Althea, how could they let this happen? "We should hold a ceremony," Otto said, and the rest of them nodded. "It''s the proper way to do this Master Hoffen, and it would also be good for Miss Althea''s reputation. Zaol and Gaia looked at each other. At first, they were really shocked, but once they calmed, they could only smile. As expected, a woman the kids admired would not be normal. "I can help," Gaia said. She was a noble''s wife and was familiar¡ªor rather, was trained¡ªin various customs of this world. "I can assist you in setting up an apprentice ceremony, if you want." "Can you? Good," Hoffen said, surprisingly amicable. Then he looked at Zaol and patted his shoulder. "Good job, kid." Zaol grinned. "Of course," he said. Of course, his wife is the best. Althea and the others giggled at the interaction, with her walking over to the older woman. "Thank you, Miss Gaia," she said, and the redheaded woman looked kindly at her. "It is my honor," she said. "I''ve heard a lot about you." She said this in a meaningful tone that Oslo next to them couldn''t help but turn a little red. Anyway, the planning for the ceremony began immediately. Althea also told her husband of the big news. He was probably clearing some distance away though, so he wouldn''t receive the aether message until he got nearby. Anyway, Hoffen was excited and wanted to learn more. However, he didn''t jump to demand and ask her questions. As socially inept Hoffen was, his instinct was the same in terms of sharing knowledge. The difference was that this ''deal'' with Althea seemed like it would be more of an equivalent exchange rather than one-sided giving of knowledge from his side. As such, he had no expectations of her sharing anything before they formalized anything. In the same vein, it also made Hoffen insist on beginning preparations as soon as possible. They sat around the comfortable living room with tea and snacks. They were dead tired from the long travel but this development definitely reenergized them. Gaia was at the head table to discuss every detail. "Apprenticeship Ceremonies are often hosted by the Apprentice''s family. They would sponsor the venue and the other costs it implies," she said. Althea nodded. "I am willing." "The typical apprenticeship ceremony begins with the apprentice-to-be swearing an oath of loyalty to the Master, swearing not to betray and especially using the knowledge learned against him." Althea pursed her lips and for a moment they thought she was unwilling to do so. This made everyone pause, feeling a bit puzzled. A moment later, Althea spoke up. "I can do this but¡­ our learning is mutual and there''s much to see here in Alterra." She turned to Hoffen, appearing guarded. She knew this might be taken strongly¡ªand not in a good way. "Is it okay for you to also make an oath? One that promises not to use anything you learned in a way that could harm Alterra in the future?" The Golds looked surprised. Gaia opened her mouth, wanting to discourage her. "That''s¡­" very unconventional. If asked to another master, they''d have been so offended, they would''ve walked out. However, Hoffen was unlike those people. He had a mind for exploration alone and he didn''t care for the social norms or hierarchical issues. If he could learn something in return, he did not mind sharing everything he knew. "I don''t mind," he said with a shrug, surprising the others to no end. Was this the magic of Alterra, they mused, or did some other soul enter the old man''s body? As if that wasn''t enough, the old man looked at her with a serious expression on his face. "Should I call you master, too?" Chapter 1247 - 1247: Apprenticeship Ceremony (Part 1) "Should I call you master, too?" Althea flinched and everyone else gaped. "Er, No, please, no need," she answered almost as soon as he asked. "Besides, what I can share with you is just knowledge passed down amongst my people, further built up by generations of scholars," she told him. "Most of it is not mine." "Okay, then," Hoffen said, looking at her with a brighter light. The question could''ve been a test, and her answer was apparently to his liking. Seeing as that aspect had been settled, Gaia cleared her throat and continued with the orientation. "An apprentice ceremony can be seen as an adoption ceremony, in a sense, albeit much more formal and heavy because it involved inheritances from the World Knowledge," Gaia began, recalling the things she had been taught growing up. "The ceremony itself could vary depending on the profession. "For fighting types, it would have opening speeches from the masters while they were in a small sparring area. They would then do a friendly spar where the apprentice would show off his skills." Obi and Gregor nodded at this. Obi had a master and this was what they did for his ceremony. He was very young at the time¡ª probably fifteen years old¡ªand had that arrogance of a teenager born under nobility. That master of his humbled him during the ceremony, not leaving him with a face at all. It terrified Obi that he''d be dropped from apprenticeship but, fortunately, that wasn''t the case. It was just that the man only taught him for about a year or so before leaving for adventures. Obi was still bitter about that¡ªfor not taking him with him. Gregor also had one, and he was an old friend of Hoffen and was even older than he was. Sadly, the man died about a few decades ago, primarily due to weakness caused by age. "For Apprenticeships between Alchemists, I am not entirely clear," she said. "But I was taught some of the basics, but I think we are free to modify it as we deem fit." No one in their family had entered that field, so she hadn''t been invited into one yet. Most of what she knew was that it had something to do with colorful potions. Anyway, they discussed the program for a while. Following this was a discussion about the schedule and venue. "The venue is no problem," Althea said, "But the schedule may have to wait a bit. We''re going into another war, you see." Bam! They flinched, turning to the grumpy old man. "Nonsense! It will take an hour at most!" Hoffen said, frowning at her. "We do it tomorrow morning!" "..." ¡­ The plans were finalized, and Oslo took the lead with his mother to help set up the area. He asked Ansel for help, and the redhead definitely jumped at the opportunity. Before leaving, Althea couldn''t help but look at Hoffen, who was about to head up his room for rest. The old man paused his movements, looking back at her with a blank facial expression. "You want to ask something?" Althea nodded. She took a few moments to word her question, though what came out of her mouth was a simple "Why me?" instead. He looked at her, before breaking into a small chuckle. "Who knows¡­" ¡­ The next day, the Apprentice Ceremony was held. It was a private affair, and they didn''t announce it. Even the Golds had dyed their hair in order to blend in a bit more. They didn''t do anything too much like wearing masks, but they definitely did not announce their presence in the territory. Of course, even so, Orion and Zaol had formulated a number of plans to defer their detection. It wasn''t that they were terrified of Bleulle now that they had settled down in a protected area¡ªthe various rules of the system limited Cities, too¡ªthey simply wanted to delay the inevitable trouble they could bring. Anyway, the ceremony took place in a small events place in Alterra Gardens. It was adorned with a few chairs and a stage. In the center of the stage was a cauldron emitting a special aura about it. It was fairly simple because there wasn''t much time with the war coming up. Not to mention, the person who should know most about these ceremonies didn''t know of it. This caused the sense of tradition to be a little discounted but, at the same time, it felt even more special. It felt like they created their own event, rather than simply going through of motions. The added themed displays were drawn by their painters as well. This included some symbols typically associated with the Pharmacist Profession like mixed plants and the like, adding some atmosphere to the ceremony. The audience was the Golds, Althea''s family and friends, as well as the entire pharmacy team and those aiming to become one. The Golds were shocked to see so many System Pharmacists in a new town, and they were even more surprised to know there were plenty of others preparing to awaken as well. Hoffen was also very impressed. He found out that his apprentice was behind the growth and awakening of others, and he felt proud already. Anyway, the two headed up separate stairs up the platform. They faced each other as they stood, with Althea adopting a humble body language to show her lower position. Hoffen looked at her and a small smile graced his generally-grumpy face. "I never did have an interest in finding an apprentice, and it was the reason why I didn''t know much about this ceremony," he said. "Now, I feel a bit regretful. "However, I''d like this to still be memorable, and despite our lack of knowledge I hope that someday¡ªwhen you meet other pharmacists¡ªyou would be able to brag about this experience." S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He looked at her. "Yesterday, you asked why I chose you¡­ and the answer is actually quite simple. "It''s because, my child," he paused. "There is no one like you." Chapter 1248 - 1248: Apprenticeship Ceremony (Part 2) "I want everyone to know you are my apprentice, not only for you but also for me. "Your letter struck my passion in ways that had been growing stagnant for so many years. Alchemy is my life, and that is akin to igniting it on fire again. I am thankful for that." He said this with a somber tone that made everyone stare at him, realizing how serious he was. "Then I found out more about you as a person and I thought how interesting it would be to meet your acquaintance," he said. "And then I saw your potential, and I wanted to be there to see when you grow¡ªwhich you inevitably will." There was resounding applause from the audience, while Althea''s heart felt extremely touched. It was customary for the Master to have a short speech, but no one really expected him to say anything beyond a sentence¡ªlet alone so much. "Thank you, Master," she said, bowing respectfully, finally using the term used by apprentices to call on their masters. "I will do my best not to disappoint you." "I doubt you will," he said, hands hovering over the large cauldron. "In any case: I''m glad to finally have someone so bright as my first¡ªand only¡ªapprentice." Together, they added symbolic ingredients to the pot and let them mix. The potion changed colors, adding more luminescence. There was even a slight reflection above, akin to the Terran aurora borealis, fascinating those who saw. Even Althea couldn''t help but stare, and her attention was only pulled back to the present when a scroll appeared in front of her. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She blinked and lifted her head, looking at the Master. By tradition, a Master shall give his new apprentice a guide to a new skill. As for what the skill was and how important it was would be up to the master. On the other hand, whether or not the skill would even be triggered was up to the apprentice. She was quite curious to look at it, but she also knew it was too risky. If it was too common, then she might show her disappointment in front of everyone, but if it was good, then she''d be so immersed and waste everyone''s time. So, instead of opening it, she just gracefully took it with both hands, bowing respectfully at the old man. "Thank you, Master." The ceremony ended with the two of them making the Salute, with Althea bowing 90 degrees. Thus was also the beginning of Althea''s rapid growth in this field¡ªand it was absolutely unprecedented. ¡­ ____ In classic Alterran fashion, there must be food after the ceremony, so in a flash, the organizers arranged the buffet table as well as the dining tables. As expected, the aborigines absolutely loved the offerings, and were especially amazed as they had never had them before. "Delicious!" "This is so lovely." "What is this?!" And so on¡­ Meanwhile, Althea enjoyed her food with her family, also watching the others experience the same. At some point, Oslo approached them with a handsome smile, pulling a chair as he sat next to Althea. Garan gave him a look, though he was currently busy feeding the two babies to glare at him. "How is it, Miss Althea?" he asked, leaning a bit of his weight on the table as he sat next to her. "How does it feel to become the only apprentice of one of the two surviving Class A Alchemists in the World?" Althea chuckled. "Very honored," she said. "I''m looking forward to what I will learn." As she said this, her eyes gravitated to the stage which they didn''t clear up yet. She couldn''t help but remember the process and wondered: "I''ve been wondering this for a while. Don''t professions have Guilds?" she asked, and the others also stared, similarly curious now that she brought it up. In her mind, wouldn''t such a profession-based ceremony be held in guilds? Maybe ceremonies could have been cooler if there were official guild emblems, ceremonial robes, and the like. It had to be said: Althea still liked to experience some things¡­ However, as far as she could remember, there was no such thing there¡ªat least not with the function that she knew. They named some groups and teams as guilds, but it wasn''t in the sense of what it was historically used for. Oslo looked at her curiously. "What are guilds?" This confirmed that, even in cities, there was no such thing. It seemed like the culture here didn''t welcome such a concept. She pouted a bit, thinking those things would be cool, and Garan wanted o pinch her nose. He didn''t though, because Meatball made a mess again. (He forbade Althea from handling the babies while eating precisely because it could ruin her dress as the star of this ceremony). Anyway, Althea just answered his question. "Guilds are organizations of professionals, where people of the same profession would come to learn more from each other, to communicate, make connections, trade, and the like." Guilds in Terrans functioned a bit differently, of course, and those focused more on trade and monopoly. Alterra''s current market condition had no need for that at all. What they did need was the effective handling of professionals to handle various problems too difficult for an individual to handle. "This was a place where professionals can cut a lot of corners in their own growth, and it can also be a regulating body for the entire profession in general. For example, it can ban a person who is threatening the greater good with whatever they created. "For instance, an alchemist who creates harmful poisons that could affect a massive amount of people. Or perhaps a tool maker that would make a weapon that''d cause too much damage. "While Guilds are not the systems who could activate a profession for a person, they can cut off resources as needed¡ªor even blacklist them in certain ways¡ªin order to control them from causing further harm." "The Guilds could also be a way to gather people of the same professions to be able to handle a worldwide problem. For example, the Extreme Weather. What if all alchemists joined forces and created a potion that could help people survive that?" "That sounds like a nice idea," Oslo mumbled after a while. "But it''s a bit counterintuitive for a lot of people." Indeed. If master and apprentice were already rare and people could inherit skills from a ubiquitous World Knowledge, many of the traditional functions of Guilds in Terran were naught. However, in Terran, there was a wider practice of sharing of knowledge in hopes for development and improvement. The Research Center was great, but it couldn''t (and shouldn''t) be accessible to just anyone¡ªthat was too dangerous. This was the same case with the library, which required contribution points. If one wanted to learn among other professionals and have discussions with them, it was too difficult¡ªat least in this continent. "I don''t think it''s a bad concept," Eugene said, naturally one of the people who''d be most excited for the concept. He had yet to encounter another Creator and, to be honest, he really wanted to. "I think we''d be surprised at the effects¡ªand not necessarily in a bad way. "Should we create some here, then?" Oslo asked. He said this very casually, particularly because he hadn''t entirely absorbed the concept yet. "Then Alterra will be a hub of Guilds." "..." "..." Chapter 1249 - 1249: Fruitful Investments A/N: April 2025 is here and may it be a good month~! *prays* Thank you everyone for your support the previous month~! Extra hugs to those who voted, sent golden tickets (many of you even gave bulk *cries*), and gifts. HUGS, everyone! S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Extra mention the March 2025''s Top 3 Golden ticket gifters: Lavenwinkle, Emilia_Kostelia, and Amara Woods~! If you have any chapter requests, do tell me~ ¡­ ___ The ceremony reception continued with the guests eating their fills. They could also stay as they wanted, using the venue to relax as they explored the Alterra gardens later on. Interestingly, Hoffen''s alleged antisocial properties seemed to be nonexistent when he was consuming delicious food. "What is this¡­ it''s so¡­ savory." "What did your cook add in this?" "I really like this place." Gregor was eating silently next to him, but there was a slight tilt on his lips, indicating his amusement. Hoffen turned to look at him. "Does this mean we can get used to this kind of food?" Gregor nodded. "I believe so." "This is becoming a better investment than I thought," Hoffen said, and Gregor could only amusedly shake his head. Next to them, Obi had just found out that Otto had reserved a lease for a villa in the new development. It promised even grander design than the current villa areas, which was saying something! "How did you get the money?" Obi asked. As far as he knew, the money they had after being scammed by Bleumrick was mostly on their mother, who was smart enough to hide a space ring outside the City. Otto grinned. "Before leaving, I may have deposited a few thousand gold in the Alterra Bank." Their oath to Bleumrick was to give him all their assets within Bleulle. Everything else was free game. "How much?" "It''s nothing compared to what we''re used to, but it''s enough for us to live comfortably in Alterra for years." He barely used his gold at all because a lot of his expenditures could be taken from contribution points and his bonuses. Not to mention, the cost of living in Alterra was really low in their standards. Otto deposited a few thousand gold in the bank. Or, to be accurate, he asked Althea to deposit a major portion of his payment for the Blueprint Materials¡ªas well as their other deals¡ªin the bank instead. It would also grow some interest inside. It wasn''t big, but it was better than the money just sitting in his space. According to Ansel, this was called ''letting money grow on its own while you sleep''. With some of that money, he''d use it to buy that house. He also decided to use their terms of payment (i.e. downpayment first) instead of paying for everything in bulk. It wasn''t what he was used to, but he could use that money elsewhere. For example, business and leisure. Another, taxes. Alterra, like any other territory, also had quite a few taxes. For example, for those related to land, there were property tax, transfer tax, Estate tax, and the like. It was still much more affordable than the monthly property tax imposed in other territories, and they were much more willing to pay these because they could see where it was going. Speaking of Alterra Bank, something all Elders were aware of was that the money deposited there was not counted in Althea''s wallet. Since its inception, tens of thousands of gold had entered its vault for circulation. This vault was created with Garan and Oslo''s metals, combined with their latest metallurgy technology, including the use of steel and other improved alloys. Like the Bunkers, there was no way for earth elementalists or goblins to get through this, at least not without taking a long time. As for the access to the bunkers, there were only a few people who could personally access and take money from the vault, and each one went under extremely specific oaths. The Elders were also allowed to withdraw a certain amount of money through them, though this was after the approval of their proposal for its use. For accounts payables, the salaries would also come from here. The payment for staff was always in copper¡ªeven if, on paper, it was in silver or gold¡ªto balance things out and reduce the number of copper in the vault, allowing the bank to store a lot of physical money. The gold and silver, on the other hand, would be used for major improvements like manual constructions, utilities, and the like. While it was a bit risky to separate so much money from her, Althea thought it was still necessary because the territory''s wallet was tied too closely with hers. She didn''t have the time to handle the incoming and outgoing amounts. This method also allowed for a better audit because she really couldn''t monitor all of the spending. And¡­ what if she was away? She was definitely aiming to explore eventually. She just needed to stabilize a few things. On the other hand, the money automatically added to her wallet would be the entrance fees, the residency fees, the trade taxes, and a few other things. However, the other things were slowly being redirected to the bank to allow for its proper circulation. The territory was getting bigger, she simply did not have the energy for it anymore, nor was it her expertise. Anyway, by this time, every sibling had found out about Otto''s latest investments. They dragged Otto aside as they planned how to design their new house. Otto gave them a look. "Bold of you to assume I''ll be sharing." He was a healthy bachelor, for goodness'' sakes! They gasped at his response, as if they did not expect it. Otto rolled his eyes and he wanted to rub his ears at the barrage that came after. "What?" "How selfish!" "Didn''t mother teach you to share?!" Sibling fights aside, the event ended on a good note and good memories for everyone, especially the new aborigines who hadn''t experienced such a thing yet. Not to mention, since they had properly rested already, the Golds decided to tour their family around the new territory. They had become Permanent residents as soon as they settled in, so now they''d be exploring their new home. They also dyed their hair different colors by now. They also spread around trusted sources not to spread they were the Golds from Bleulle City. While it wasn''t foolproof, any delays for the passage of news was welcome. Of course, the men of the family may or may not have sent a few posts here and there to create a few diversions too. Anyway, the children toured their parents to the various parks, the arcades, the stadiums, and other facilities of Alterra, making them fall deeper and deeper in love with it too. By the end of the day, they wondered why they hadn''t migrated earlier on! Of course, the passive-aggressive jabs between siblings were abound. For example, on the way to the view deck, they passed by a blocked road with the sign ''Hot Springs Under Construction''. They all couldn''t help but give Otto a bitter look. "Wow, must be nice, someone''ll live in the new community," Olga said, shaking her head. Obi nodded. "Wow, I heard of outdoor hotsprings. How nice~ I wonder if I''ll experience it." And so on. Otto: "..." Still not sharing, though. Chapter 1250 - 1250: Alchemy Wing On the other hand, when the party ended, Althea and Garan approached Hoffen. "Master¡­" she said. "I can guide you around¡­" "Nono, don''t waste your time on useless things," he said, dismissively shooing her away. "Go study the skill scroll I sent you." Althea held back a chuckle. As expected from an obsessive alchemist. "Ah, yes¡­" However, as his new apprentice, how could she really just let him be when he was on her turf? "Master, what about your accommodation?" She asked. She felt guilty letting him stay with the Golds when, technically, he was her half-parent now. "I can book you in our Grand Hotel for an indefinite stay¡­" "Hmn, I think I did hear a few people mention that," he said. "Go do what you want," he said, but then he paused, looking at her. "Do you have a laboratory at home?" She thought about it and remembered his house was practically a giant lab. Would he want something like that again? "Well, yes¡­" she mumbled after a moment. She wondered if she should get the Master live with her, but she went against it in the end. If they did live together, it was estimated she''d have little time for anything else. The best she could do, for now, was to book him in the hotel and then reserve him a house in the next developments. She reserved a house for him in the new mountain villa development. The houses themselves were still custom buildings (though with very heavy customization), though the one master would get had extra very sturdy and reinforced walls fitting for the Master''s explosive experiments. If he still wanted to use his own lab when he saw Alterra''s of course. Speaking of this¡ª "We have a much bigger laboratory here, as it served the entire territory," she said with a smile. "Would you like to see?" ¡­ Now that both of them had taken their oaths, Althea had few reservations about what areas of the Research Center to show him. She took him straight to the Research Center''s newest building¡ªthe four-storey Alchemy Hall. It was a new building built perpendicular to the existing Research Center. They added a shared plaza in front of them, and there was space for another wing on the other side. It was finished a few months ago, created when the demand for potions and the studies of various items had reached a new peak. Each System Pharmacist was also granted their own rooms and laboratories, and they also needed a place to mass produce certain potions. While there was already a building dedicated to mass producing some potions¡ªfor instance, healing potions, sprite, and so on¡ªthere were also plenty that could not be handled there. For example, potions that had to be created by System Pharmacists. The Original Research Center building, which housed dozens of other teams, simply could not accommodate the creation of hundreds of potions daily. They could also foresee the awakening of more pharmacists, and the migration of others, so naturally they needed a lot more space specific to the profession. Hoffen stared at the building. He wasn''t saying anything, but the fact that he was standing in front of them, eyes sparkling, was telling enough. Althea giggled and led her master inside, and a comfortable and spacious lobby greeted them. There were only a few people and a lot of places to wait and sit. An interesting feature was a few walls, which exhibited alchemical history and some modern applications. There was also a small, quiet, cafe on one side for quiet discussions in a different environment. These were not just for guests who weren''t allowed to enter the upper floors. Even pharmacists would sometimes go out of the lab and discuss here. A different setup could open up the mind, after all. The rest of the ground floor was dedicated to the group workshops and supply rooms where the alchemists could request tools and materials from the alchemy warehouse, also located on the ground floor. The warehouse here was the same for the entire Research Center, just different access as they were in different buildings. The majority of the second and third floors were laboratories that could serve both modern experiments as well as the local ones, though they didn''t know much about it, so only provisions were made. On the uppermost floor, there was a large hall filled with texts related to the field. Even those from other sciences were found here. On the same floor, there were also lecture halls, classrooms, and multipurpose halls. Althea stepped forward and turned to face her Master, who was definitely impressed. She smiled, quite proud, and also happy that he approved. "Welcome to the Alchemy Wing, Master." ¡­ Hoffen was surprised by the building as Althea guided him around. She took him to every space the building could offer. First was the ground floor. He ended up reading the walls and displays, which were written in both Terran and Xeno languages. Of course, the history of the latter was extremely limited. "It''s a work in progress. We''re still learning a few things," she said. "I have books from my master in my space, I''ll lend them to you," he said. Her eyes widened a bit, and she smiled. "That''d be amazing, Master." Then, they passed the cafe to get a few snacks while walking around (the old man couldn''t pass it). After that, they went to the supply room. The warehouseman was separated by glass, and there were only a few holes where they''d pass out the items¡ªafter logging, of course. At this time, two scientists were requesting some raw material, dried leaves, and the like, and after logging, they would take them in small baskets. Hoffen blinked and looked over, realizing some of the materials were things he didn''t recognize! "So these must be some of the things from your old world, then..." he mumbled, making the men shiver at the sudden breath behind them. "Who...?" the asked, puzzled, but flinched when they saw Althea. "M-Miss Althea?" Then they looked at the old man, wondering who he was. Not everyone was invited to her ceremony, after all, and it was natural they couldn''t recognize him. "This is my Master," she said. "He''s just curious. I''ll show him around. You can be excused." "T-Thank you, Miss Althea!" they said, and also gave Hoffen a bow before leaving. They then headed to the various separate laboratories on the ground floor. Some were completely separate rooms, while most were like large rooms with separated working spaces. In these areas, each cubicle was separated by sliding walls, but they were characterized by the communal discussion areas for more cooperative work. Most of the setup was like this. This was so each team member could ask others for their insights and the like. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At this time, a team seemed to be working on something. Some were working in their cubicle while some would go out with pieces of paper. "Help me out here!" he yelled, and those available would look over his shoulders. Sometimes, they''d drag someone peacefully into his cubicle because apparently the subject was their specialty or something. They watched as the person asking was enlightened after a couple of minutes, running back to his cubicle after thanking his companions. Hoffen had worked for more than a hundred years, and he hadn''t quite appreciated cooperative work¡ªat least not until today. His lips twitched, his heart feeling quite alive. "Ah, so¡­ Alchemy Wing, indeed." Chapter 1251 - 1251: Hoffen’s First Microscope Experience "This is only the ground floor," Althea smiled. "Shall we go visit the rest of it?" "Do you have to ask!?" the old man said, guiding her to move forward. "Go, go!" He practically pushed her forward. They went to the upper floors where it was mostly dedicated rooms for each System Pharmacist to work on their own. They were given quite ample working space, too. Each floor would also have communal working spaces if they needed to work as a team and so on. Hoffen''s eyes reflected the various discussions around that hall. Since all these people were Pharmacist (and he had seen them during the ceremony), the level of discussion was naturally different. Each one seemed to be working on something interesting. And then, if they were confused by something, they''d roll their chairs with wheels (how convenient) to a central discussion area and begin a discussion with anyone who was available or whoever could help out. They left the pharmacists alone and headed to the highest floor, taking the main staircase. The main staircase had a comfortable width and had paintings on the landing. They were usually paintings that depicted some old invention back in Terran. The master would often stop and look, and then she''d give a brief story about the painting''s inspiration. While on their way to the highest floor, Althea explained a few more things. "In the Alchemy Wing, many Pharmacists or Alchemist¡ªwhether they''re awakened by the System or not¡ªwork on various experiments that will ultimately help the territory grow even more. "The Territory is not stingy with giving resources to these people," she said. "Including knowledge. One of the rooms in the upper floor, in fact, is an amalgamation of various knowledge we gathered. The Alchemists simply had to go out and check them for referencing." Hoffen looked at her. "That''s incredibly generous of you." "We just have other goals," she said, and stopped in front of a painting just before they reached the highest floor. Hoffen blinked and followed her sights. He tilted his head to the side, unsure what he was looking at. It was the painting of helix structures and other things that weren''t visible in the natural world. Later, he''d find out these were called DNAs, and it was mixed with the images of peas and other abstract objects. They were arranged in visual layers, as if one object was built up over another. "This painting reminds us of the great findings discovered after building up on previous discoveries by other people, possibly of different eras," she told him. "One person could determine a concept today, and then maybe someone¡ªcompletely unrelated¡ªwould be able to find a use for it a hundred years later. And so on." Like how DNA was discovered, building up knowledge from discoveries hundreds of years prior to that. Hoffen''s eyes changed as he looked at the painting. He disliked people and had a natural dislike cooperating. His pride also always stopped him from asking for help. It had rarely affected him before because his talents allowed him to flourish regardless. Through the past hundred years, he had always worked on his own, whether from scratch or from an inheritance he knew he deserved. So¡­ this concept was a bit¡­ alien to him, and he never would''ve thought he''d ever start to feel like it wasn''t a bad idea at all. Althea smiled and finally took him to the upper floor. "This is the library, where many of our studies and findings have been published," she said, and Hoffen''s feet moved on their own as he looked around the library. It was not big¡ªjust the size of a room¡ªbut it felt massive to Hoffen, and it felt like it was inviting him. Interestingly, when it was published form, Hoffen had no qualms about reading it. He then grabbed a random book, one with a colorful cover hard cover. He opened it and was fascinated with the detailed drawings of the plant, but it was in a script he did not understand. Althea looked over. "We have a lot, but most of them are in our language," Terran knowledge was studied for years in school. Naturally the references they would end up creating would be in their language. Another was that Terrans were naturally the priority to learn more. "Where do I learn?" Althea''s heart softened at the old man''s question. Instead of demanding she translate the book, he asked where he could learn her language instead. He might be a grumpy old man, but he was lovable in his own way. (If anyone Hoffen poisoned would hear of this, they''d definitely tell her off.) "We have a school. For now, let me translate a passage for you." The book he chose was about plant biology. He must have known a lot about them, but a lot of his knowledge was limited by the technology he had access to. "The stomata, only visible with microscope, are tiny openings that allow for gas exchange¡ªsomething crucial to its growth." She knew he wouldn''t be able to see this with just words. Instead, she took him to one of the laboratories. She took a newly plucked leaf from one of the potted plants there and placed a leaf under the microscope. "Come here, Master," she said, pointing at the eyepiece. "Look through this with an eye." "With the microscope, we know that plants have tiny cells, like building blocks," she said. Hoffen curiously followed her instructions and peeked. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Close your other eye for clearer view." When he did so, his open eye widened in awe as he looked through the scope. He was introduced to a miniature world with an intricately patterned network of thin veins, much more dense than what the naked eye¡ªeven of his level¡ªcould see. He looked and blinked, and he lifted his head to look underneath. He narrowed his eyes at the leaf, looking at it suspiciously. He tilted his head and looked again, this time, he was moving the leaf around as if the confirm it was really he was looking at it. He even plucked his white hair and placed it underneath, seeing something completely different, too. His heart palpitated as if he was about to have a heart attack. Now, there were still many¡ªmany¡ªthings to learn, but his big brain already scrambled at this new discovery, as if his mind opened to new branches he had not yet explored. The possibilities¡­ were endless! Chapter 1252 - 1252: Hoffen’s Question He gulped and was silent the whole time. Without a word, he returned the leaf to study it further. Looking closer, he could also see clusters of tiny, rectangular things. "Do you see the green rectangular things that seemed soft to touch?" she asked. When he nodded, she continued to explain them to him. "They are filled with green liquid we call chlorophyll. The small structures within these cells, called Chloroplasts, capture the sunlight, which then brings life to the plant!" Hoffen was fascinated. He could watch the so-called ''microscopic'' entities dance within their confines all day. He also saw the tiny openings on the leaf''s surface¡ªwhich was apparently the aforementioned ''stomata''¡ªthat seemed to pulse as they opened and closed. "This is amazing¡­" "Because we know more intricately what each plant was made of, we can better understand its functions and how we can use it." "For example," she said, pointing at a few more samples. "These compounds have been known to alleviate pain. If we extract and isolate these compounds, then we could create a medicine that would have that effect." Hoffen nodded, his brain turning, absorbing the massive amount of knowledge and possibilities that was attacking his mind. How Xeno pharmacists worked on their products had a lot to do with the skills they awakened. For instance, they would gain the ability to combine two or three materials to create a desired effect. Another instance was to gain skills that could extract known functions of a plant and isolate them to create the typical potion. The limitation was that they would only be able to create and isolate what they knew and understood in-depth. For more experimental pharmacists like Hoffen, they had to go through countless experiments to check which materials would fit, which materials would have an effect, and so on. Normally, they would receive the notification of them learning to do a potion, which was their indication that they finally got something right. But¡­ if they could find out more about each material with such detail, then a lot of steps could be skipped! Why didn''t he go here earlier!? ¡­ In the next hour or so, Hoffen demanded to take a look at various other things. Whether it was plants, random items, or a prick of his own blood. She showed how much bacteria there was in a drop of stagnant water. The wiggly things really disgusted him. She showed him how the antibacterial solutions worked, and he looked visibly relieved. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Speaking of bacteria in Xeno, they were actually much more potent than the ones in Terran. It was just that their physique transformed as they leveled up. If they didn''t, it was estimated that a lot of people would''ve already died due to infections ages ago. They also found that these bacteria were the main reasons why perishable food and corpses degenarated faster outside of the territory lines. The difference inside the territory was that it had concentrated amounts of aether, which seemed to have some sort of special effect on everything. She also told him how¡ªusing these tools¡ªthey could forgo several safety concerns and go directly to working products. After all, they could bypass a lot of required testing and assumptions by following set methodologies that had been tried and tested through generations of Terran scientists. She also showed how certain medicines reacted to the blood¡ªhis blood, by the way. He ended up being so passionate that his hand was filled with pricks to see the different effects. "This can really revolutionize the practice as we know it!" he exclaimed, and she could swear the wrinkles on his face was reduced by one or two. Then he smiled as he turned to her. He lifted his wrinkled hand and touched her shoulder. "My apprentice, you seem to have been brought here to make huge changes to the world," he said, with confidence in his eyes. "I''m really excited to witness it all first hand." ¡­ In the end, after much convincing, Hoffen was finally pulled away from the laboratory. She promised to give him his own laboratory, but only if he got a proper rest and saw the town first. She had already contacted Oslo. He and his family were going around the Town, and she hoped they could take the old man with them for some much-needed distraction. They finally headed out the building''s threshold, though she could see the old man turn occasionally as if parting away from his lover. Althea''s lips twitched upward in amusement. Interestingly, Gregor was outside the building, dutifully waiting for the Master. It had been the first time she saw a strong guard really act like one. The Golds had guards, but they were only really working outside the territory. After all, there were so many rules in the Town that there was no need to. Of course, there was also the fact that they were already very strong themselves. In Hoffen''s case, it seemed like Gregor was worried about other things. Althea didn''t find this surprising at all considering the Grandmaster''s propensity for chaos. However, she''d argue the rumors were exaggerated. He was a very well-behaved old man. Those people must''ve spread false rumors to discredit him. (If the noblemen whose skins were turned green or blue by Hoffen heard of this¡ªthey''d have aneurysms). Althea watched the old man approach the ancient man, and she prepared to excuse herself, too. It was just that Gregor looked at her before whispering something to Hoffen, and she realized he must''ve been sent to a task. Althea blinked when Hoffen flinched at whatever Gregor said, and the old Alchemist whipped his head in her direction. It was so fast that she worried his old bones would get broken by the movement. This was the thought in her head as the grandmaster stomped to her with furrowed eyebrows. "I heard we can only become permanent residents if we have enough contribution points? How do we get that?!" Oh¡­ She blinked at this. So... her master sent Gregor to register them for permanent residencies? Already? Before he even saw the alchemy wing? Did her master trust her so much? That said, should she just grant them permanent residencies right now? She knew it wouldn''t be good practice to start making exemptions but¡­ who''d be stupid to gatekeep a Class A pharmacist and a level 62 Wind elementalist? Exemption it shall be! Anyway, if people of their caliber could believe in Alterra enough that they''d forgo their residencies in a City, then she could definitely take that leap, too! Chapter 1253 - 1253: Hoffen’s Scroll With the appearance of contacting the Elders and gaining their approval, both the Grandmaster Hoffen and Gregor were inducted as Alterra''s latest permanent residents! Like this, Alterra now had three people¡ªincluding Zaol Gold¡ªwho were beyond level 50! They also received the rest of the Golds, who were mostly past level 40. Now, all of these people had become permanent residents of Alterra. In such a short time, Alterra''s average level shot up and she felt a bit imbalanced. She¡­ never really expected this. She felt really lucky. Later, when she told this to her husband, he''d only pat her head. "This is a mere effect of all the good things you did and created," he would say. "You deserve everything that is coming your way." They naturally didn''t publicize the fact that Hoffen was here, of course. Even if there was a small chance someone would recognize him, it likely wouldn''t spread so soon because people wouldn''t believe it. As for the Golds, it seemed like they had their own plans. However, she believed that even when Bleumrick found out, what he could do would be limited by the rules of the system as well as the various preventive methods they''d employ. After the registration, the Golds met with them outside of the Center. They decided to have an early dinner together in Cooke''s Premier restaurant. It was also a celebration of everyone''s change of residencies. After that, Hoffen forced Althea to go home and study the scroll. It wasn''t that Althea forgot about it¡ªhow could she? However, seeing him so confident, she knew it would take a lot of her time. She''d definitely be locked up in her lab for a while, so she''d rather prepare a few things before diving in. When she arrived home, they were eating dinner. The two babies were on their high chairs, and they simultaneously turned at the sound of the door. "Mwama! Mwamaaa!" they yelled¡ªtheir pacifiers falling on their trays¡ªand tried to stand up on their chair. Her feet hurried to head to them, kissing both their soft faces so they behaved. "Were you good babies?" she asked. "Ywesss! Peppah vewy gwood!" "Mweatbowl twoo!!" They all giggled, and she sat down with a smile. Although she already ate, she''d accompany them all, anyway. ... Later that night, she said goodnight to everyone and warned them that she''d be going to another ''session'' soon. They knew what it meant and nodded, promising everything would be swell when she went out. "I''ll leave the kids up to you," she said, hugging her husband, who embraced her in return. They heard little footsteps approach, and they looked down to see their babies staring up at them with glistening round eyes. They had apparently gone down their crib (the railings were practically just decoration now) and ran back to them. "Peppaaa, Pepppaa!!" Baby Pepper yelled with her milky voice, extending her little hands upwards as if she could reach them. Her little brother saw this and also did the same. She giggled and carried them both, showering them both with smooches. She placed them back to their respective cribs and patted their bums. "Go to sleep now, children. I thought you wanted to grow tall?" she asked, and they bobbed their little heads in agreement. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Don''t you know? Babies who don''t sleep stop growing." "Nwoooo!" Meatball yelled, eyes teary, while Pepper just pouted adorably with puffed cheeks. Althea smiled. "Then go to sleep and behave. Dream of your favorite food in dreamland," she said, kissing Meatball''s forehead before turning to her baby girl. "And dream of all the most wonderful dresses." "Goodnight, my children," she said, her voice soft and lulling. Unconsciously, she even used her wood element to create a peaceful and cozy atmosphere, causing the babies to fall into a lovely slumber. ¡­ After getting several kisses from her husband, Althea finally headed to her laboratory on the ground floor. She went straight to her comfortable office desk and ergonomic chair, opening the scroll with some expectations. She was very careful as she opened the parchment. It was visibly aged and she made sure her palms didn''t have excess oil as she unrolled it slowly. When she fully unfolded it on a flat, matte, surface, she began to study its contents. It had a lot of dense writing in it and Althea had to take her magnifying glass for ease of reading. It was in Xenoan, of course, though it seemed to be written with the Xenoan equivalent of a Doctor''s writing. She struggled for the first few paragraphs until she memorized his writing and lettering style, so it was easier for her to decipher it. The more she read, the more she leaned down the table, her eyes focused on the paper and her mind absorbing and in awe. The skill was called [Elemental Integration] which was basically the skill of integrating Elements into a potion! Her eyes widened. This was amazing! Of course, the skill description alone was very vague. However, it was obvious that Hoffen had spent years studying it, and she was just there to see what he had come up with so far. Apparently, the skill used the power of the elements to create liquid of certain effects. For example, if she was a fire elementalist (which she wasn''t), she could create a potion that could bring warmth. Or she could make a liquid that functioned similar to oil. As a water and wood elementalist, she could create vitality and healing potions as well, though how different it would be from what they already had still remained to be seen. Earth and wood could also create special types of fertilizers far superior to what they were currently using. It could also create potions that could increase the resistance to a particular element! No, more than that. Althea, after reading Hoffen''s various notes, doodles, and theories, also came up with a few ideas. Perhaps she could use the skill to create a ''concentration'' of the elements in liquid form. This meant that¡ªin theory¡ªshe could draw arrays with the potion as the ink! She gulped, straightening up her back and massaging it. She felt a bit stiff and¡ªconsidering she was already level 17¡ªthis meant that she had been leaning down like that for hours. She took out a few snacks and gulped her favorite juice before cleaning her hands again, eyes barely leaving the old parchment in front of her. This would definitely take a while. Chapter 1254 - 1254: [Elemental Integration] Arrays were lines of controlled and concentrated aether, but most of them would work better if there was a concentration of a particular element. For example, the arrays in the System walls were mostly made of Earth elements. If she were to somehow recreate the array (which she was still far from doing) using the ''unfiltered'' aether all around her, the effect would''ve been less because it was ''impure''. This was something she and the team had theorized after months of staring at her notes. If the theory was correct, then this skill could mean a step forward in that direction. That was something from the far future, of course. She hadn''t even been able to use the skill for its intended purpose yet. No, she hadn''t even learned of it. For now, Althea continued to read on, memorizing everything. Even with her eidetic memory, she was still required to reread things over and over to be able to truly familiarize herself with the content. That said, she did get a few insights and opinions every time she reread. Inheritances of this world were incredibly interesting. When they get triggered, it would let the knowledge appear in people''s minds. The person would study, absorb, and integrate it. However, it was not guaranteed that triggering an inheritance would immediately let the person use it. It was more like an access to deep, intimate knowledge, but it was still up to the person if they could use it at all. It was also admirable how Hoffen managed to write all these things¡­ despite never actually applying the skill. She looked at the parchment, which should be decades old. She also looked at the ink of varying colors and ages. He really studied this intensely, though it had to be noted that there was no data on the actual experiments he had conducted, nor was there any information about how exactly he thought it could be applied. However, she did learn that he tried various things, but nothing had happened. There were also notes of certain materials and elements, as if they were hints. It was reminiscent of what alchemy looked like in movies, actually. She read the contents over and over until she fully memorized and absorbed the theory, and it was only then that she realized she had missed a newer and smaller piece of parchment tucked within the pages of the parchment. In her excitement to open the scroll, it seemed like she didn''t notice that there was another smaller parchment rolled with it. She blinked and unfurled it, realizing it was a recent note from Master Hoffen. And it was directed to her. As she read, her fingers ended up gripping the paper a bit tightly. Most of all: Her heart was warm. Hello, apprentice. It is I, your great Grandmaster. Now that you''re reading this, I''ll assume you''re finally ready to study this skill. It is something I had never awakened, but studied for a good portion of my long life. It''s one of the few inheritances I received. I wasted many years in my youth figuring it out. In the end, I found out you have to be an elementalist yourself to be able to awaken it. Sadly, I am not an elementalist so it wasn''t of any use to me. As for how it even triggered in the first place, I may or may not have been playing around with various materials associated with the elements during my experiments. At some point, after finding out I can never use this skill, I regretted that curiosity of mine. Now¡­ I am glad I pursued it. In any case, I do have some notes on my theories about how it can be used, but I will be withholding most of them, for now. I do not want you to be trapped in that way of thinking. I hope that within the next few months, you will study this well using your own framework and way of thinking. We will study our findings after that. I hope this helps you grow, and may I truly be part of your path to greatness. ¡­ As predicted, Althea locked herself in her lab for the next few days, pausing to rest and eat and see her family, but otherwise every other time was with this experiment. In order to learn a skill outside of inheritances, one had to at least reach the skill''s ''entryway'' on one''s own. That was to say, she had to at least succeed in condensing her elements and binding them into a solution, even if just for a millisecond. She had done something similar a few times with her wood ability, which gave birth to the Eye, which allowed her to see arrays in the first place. However, integrating it with a liquid or a solid was something totally different. For instance, although it wasn''t too easy to create water balls or earth balls, they were at least of the same element. It was comparatively easier to get each element to attach to each other. In contrast, the Skill had to do with combining elements with other fluids or media. At the molecular level, she had to combine them, and she also had to take note of the material, ingredients, and even conditions like its temperature. According to the notes, and also from her own observation, certain materials had one or two elements prevalent to it. For example, a plant called Undeground Lotus was a land-based plant the goblins found on the mountain while hunting for springs. It only grew in the places where there was some steam coming from underground. Other than wood energy, it also had a lot of fire energy. She wasn''t a fire user, but she could make use of its wood affinities to experiment. Thinking of this, she took a pile from the Warehouse, and it appeared in front of her as if it had been in her personal space. She had an extractor in her laboratory. She handled it with varying heat and pressure. The device applied gentle heat to release the volatile compounds but maintained the plant''s integrity at the same time. Soon, she had a test-tube filled with the liquid. She looked at some of the indoor plants she had and raised her hand, attracting wood energy from it, condensing it in front of her. With a few flicks of her hand, she surrounded the test tube with it. It didn''t work in the first try, or the second try, or the tenth. After the 15th try, nothing happened. However, she was never the type to do the same thing over and over and expect the same results. Each time, she''d vary concentration, or speed, or her own control. Even if it was the most subtle of variation, she would do it. Eventually, after about half a day of trying¡ª [Created! Emberwood Essence. Activated by warmth, it provides heat to anyone who consumes it for 12 hours. It also has a slight effect of reinvigoration. Helps recover spirit by 5%.] [Learned! Elemental Integration (B). Ability to integrate one''s elements into inanimate objects. Effects may vary. Mana Consumption: 50 Mana] ¡­ ¡­ S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ¡­ And then, before she could celebrate¡ª [Congratulations! You have now upgraded to Class C Pharmacist!] !!! Chapter 1255 - 1255: Preparing for the First Town War (Part 1) Althea stared at the notification for a long time. She was already ecstatic to finally learn of the skill, but directly upgrading to Class C¡­ was unexpected. Like the Architecture Profession, upgrading from Class D to Class C generally took decades¡ªif it would ever happen at all. Because of her prior knowledge, she knew she''d take a fraction of that time, but it seemed like learning the skill expedited it a bit more. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She soon gathered herself and took a look at her stats. [STATS: Name: Althea Witt Age: 26 Level: 17 (11920/80000) Life: 5290/5500 Spirit: 4240/5500 +55 Physical/ATK: 737 +74 Agility: 722 +72 Defense: 705 +134 Mana: 2200/5400 Physical Potential: A Mental potential: SS+ Skills: Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1), Triple Shot (D), Curved Shot (C ), Earth Mapping (D), Earth Spring (D), Mist Cloud (E) Woodland Camouflage (D), Plant Sense (D), Water Sense (D), Elemental Integration (B) Passive: Mana Reduction (C) Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth Occupation: Class C Pharmacist, Class D Archer, Class E Toolmaker Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies Overall rank: S Current Status: Healthy ] Becoming a Class C of a profession had many perks, one of which was the increased chance of receiving superior inheritances from the World Knowledge. For example, a few months ago, Oslo received an interesting inheritance [Building Improvement] which, upon closer study, was the application of specific arrays on existing buildings! For now, he knew of one improvement: Improved Defense. The catch was that it was only temporary. That was to say, the aether would disperse after time which depended a lot on the architect''s condition during casting. It also took a lot of time and mana, so its effectiviness was still limited for now. For Brenda and Clutch, while Class C in their profession was not as difficult to achieve, it wasn''t easy either. The two of them also received new inheritances the past few months. For Clutch, it was something that ultimately helped him achieve the mission she asked him to do a long time ago: To integrate plant effects on armors. For Brenda, it was a temporary blessing of weapons, to increase their power for a short amount of time. Althea wondered what she''d be getting Looking at her stats again, she couldn''t help but smile. Thank you, Master! ¡­ While Althea was busy inside her laboratory, the rest of the territory was certainly not idle as they prepared for the inevitable first war as a Town. They considered getting a satellite to attack someplace else, but they decided against it for now. The war with Basset Town would happen sooner or later, it was better to do so now while they underestimated Alterra and had limited knowledge of it. The citizens and the guards had been repeatedly warned. The level cap this time was level 40. Although their enemy was only a level 1 Town, and wouldn''t have a lot of level 40s¡ªnor would they be able to hire too many¡ªthey''d definitely have some of them. At the very least, they had to assume that level 30s would come in groups. Even the strongest soldier, Master Garan, had yet to land Level 30! Just thinking of people ''stronger'' than master Garan coming at them in droves was scary! However¡ªto the surprise of many aborigines¡ªno one actually attempted to run away. It was common for new Towns to immediately get attacked by nearby towns. First, it would ensure their own markets would not be affected, and second it was relatively profitable to do so. New Towns were relatively easy targets and were much weaker than more established towns. They were also weakened by the upgrade mob that had just happened prior to their upgrade. Typically, a good portion of the population tended to leave once they found out the territory attacking them was a much more seasoned Town. This was very risky and there was even a chance of encountering enemies along the way, but many would feel their chances of survival would''ve been higher. However, there was none of that in Alterra! Even the newcomers who hadn''t fully integrated yet couldn''t bear to leave this good thing. Even if they weren''t confident Alterra would win, it was better to take their chance. To many new aborigines from villages, even if Alterra lost, there was only a 50% chance they''d become slaves! Of course, when the others heard of this mindset, they''d get beat up for being pessimists, and they''d never think of that again. Speaking of slavery, it was indeed one of the greatest fears in the Terrans'' hearts. While they didn''t think Alterra could lose, it had been pounded on everyone''s minds that they could lose if they didn''t do their best. They had former slaves from the aborigine territories they won over, and they knew how horrid it was. The very real fear of losing everything they had now was very good motivation for hard work. Speaking of former slaves, many of them became Juliet''s patients. There was a lot of counseling that had to be done for many of them to be functional again. Fortunately, there were other psychologists who arrived the past few months, and they managed to lighten up Juliet''s workload. Many of these former slaves would take a while to recover. Although they were treated a bit better after the old masters found out they were elementalists, the trauma of the time before that was scarring. Even after that, they were just seen as more powerful meat. Those who had awakened were trained horribly without much rest to create assassins and warriors. They were also asked to fight amongst themselves and there were times they injured brethren horribly, all for the entertainment of those above them. What made things worse was that, according to the new Terran ''slaves'', some unfortunate women were also sent to men to ''create'' more elementalists. Those women though, were naturally not sent to help in the war and were still suffering in the aborigine territories at this time. In any case, the stories they heard lit up fires inside of them. Whether it was to protect themselves from that fate, or in anger for their brethren, it didn''t matter. They would win this war, no matter what! Chapter 1256 - 1256: Preparing for the First Town War (Part 2) This thought was also strong even among those who were still Voumi slaves. Of course, due to their circumstances, their movements were limited to certain parts of the easements and their assigned areas were far apart from each other. This way, even if there was someone who could order them around, the others would just have to worry about one or two attacking at a time. Although Voumi citizens were unlikely to be here, it wouldn''t hurt to be safe. In any case, each one of them believed they could gain contributions. Even if they were slaves to others, they could still earn their own money and points, and therefore there was a lot to gain. Most importantly: They''d be regaining a sense of self and freedom, regardless of how true it was. They couldn''t help but remember the kind of harsh training wherein they would be pushed to fight from dark to dark. Sometimes, they would be thrown in coralles of monsters around their level and they would fight against them the whole day. It was harsh and, because many Terrans were not meant to fight, many people needlessly died. It was also why Gurnam and Sarah, among a few others, were proficient in their elements despite being enslaved. Speaking of that, Alterra had already sent a letter via their Post Office to Voumi, and so far they had not received a response. Voumi was also a Level 1 Town and they had seriously considered attacking it to rescue the thousands (and increasing) number of slaves there, but dismissed the idea in the end. Voumi was not weak, at least compared to a newly promoted town like Alterra or even Basset Town. Not to mention they''d be the attacking party. The loss would only mean it would be easier for Basset Town, who would definitely attack when they could, to defeat them. Their rule when it came to helping others was that there was minimal risks on the part of their own people, and clearly that wasn''t met yet. They felt bad that the Voumi slaves had to suffer for a long time, but their people were still the priority. Anyway, the entire territory was mobilized. Whether it was the older people or even the kids¡ªevery one was doing their part. Except for the minimum amount of rest their upgraded bodies needed¡ªwhich was really just a handful of hours after level 10¡ªthey all focused on maximizing this time to arm Alterra as best they could. Their upcoming enemy was the strongest had yet to encounter¡ªno one could relax. In the Research Lab, the addition of the old man had hastened a lot of the progress the pharmacists had been stuck on. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. For example, they had been struggling to improve the healing potions, which now had discounted effects for Garan, who was level 30. Unlike other professionals, Hoffen wasn''t so stingy. Rather, he had grown past that stage of life after living almost 130 years. At the same time, the old man also gained new insights which had been incredibly rare the past few decades for him. In his happiness, he would always blurt out pieces of wisdom that may or may not enlighten the pharmacists hovering around him. It was amusing. Hoffen, who used to poison people who entered his space unnounced, could now interact naturally with a group of them. Old man Hoffen also became one of the people taking advantage of the quarters in the Research Center. He practically never went home. Fortunately, the quarters had complete amenities. There was even a small gym there with equipment¡­ Althea had also asked about his famous Limb-regenerating Potion¡ªthe potion he was best known for. Unexpectedly, it wasn''t that easy to obtain it. Apparently, the materials were rare and the preparation could take months so their first patient would take a while to receive it. They had sent a letter to Ferrol to procure the items though¡ªthey were their most trusted and also a good medium considering the fairs¡ªbut that would definitely take time, so the potential patients didn''t expect too much. As for the guards, they were in top shape. They had also hired a few hundreds of new ones the past month or so, so their guards were now in the few thousands. Majority of these people were Terrans, and this meant thousands of elementalist guards, not including the citizens joining in. They had also hired a few more level 20s from the Village Center, which was really a great change of pace. There were also improved Ballista Bolts placed every hundred meters now, adding great force to the sentries. However, not every one was manned and to avoid enemies from sneaking and using it against them instead, the arrows were placed in the guards'' spaces. They also had improved safety features for the cannons. They had seen the effects during the Limestone-Inko Valley wars, and they naturally knew what to tweak. The clinics near the gates had been set up and fully equipped to lighten up the hospital''s workload and improve efficiency. The secondary warehouses had been filled and had proper guard houses to protect them. They also had to prepare to deal with the spies inside, so the important items were done and set as subtly as possible. They would not be able to intercept Aether letters (for now), but they could at least monitor the various movements in the territory. Of course¡­, while the enemies planted people inside Alterra, it wasn''t like they hadn''t done the same thing¡­ ¡­ _____ A/N: What is your opinion about child protagonists? I''m writing a side project and I ended up with an FL who''s a legitimate child for at least 30 chapters xD. Legit child = real toddler with no knowledge of her past life yet lololol. Oh, and¡ªas long as this story can still pay my bills¡ªdon''t worry about that one affecting the uploads for this one! It''s a side project and our upload requirement is, like, 2 chapters per week lolol. It''s a legit side chick. Chapter 1257 - 1257: Side of Basset Town (Part 1) While the Town itself was preparing, they also planted a few Plan Bs and Plan Cs in the enemy territory in hopes of making things easier for them somehow. Of course, the wars in Xeno were not like the wars in Terran, with the system rules and all. Therefore, in Xeno, there was little to do in the attacking territory as people on the defense. During wars, more likely than not, the people who would be attacking had already gone through the array. Not to mention, it''d be too dangerous to attack upfront because they''d be extremely outnumbered and she would never ask that of her people. What they could do from the other side was to either stop reinforcements coming through the array (in one way or another¡ªwithout sacrificing themselves), or take the token. To be honest, Alterra had no interest in Basset Town. Other than the fact that it was a Town, it had few resources that they''d want. Most territories were like this, and Althea doubted she''d merge with another territory again until she found a territory with great natural resources attached to it. However, even if they defeated it, it could still rise someday after a few years or so. Even if they couldn''t get the token (and sell it to someone who would ally with them), they hoped to at least weaken it as much as they could so it wouldn''t cause trouble in the future. How to do this when there were people twice their level? With a bit of scheming, of course. Interestingly, Althea had no talent in that at all. About a week ago, during this particular discussion, she was in a definite backseat. They also called in Mathilda''s team as well as the intelligence team to lead it. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After a lot of discussion, it was decided that Eagle and Chris would be the ones assigned to go to Basset Town, along with a few aborigines like Mauru. Their mission wasn''t to take the token¡ªthat was too dangerous¡ªbut to try and incite a bit of chaos during the war. They left soon after the news was announced, and they arrived a couple of days ago, already meeting with the team there. This included the brothers Tambai and Tanod. Over the past few weeks, these two had integrated well in the Basset population using spying techniques taught to them as a course in the Barracks. Tambai and Tanod were recognized for their talents in this area not long after they were hired, and they¡ªalong with dozens of others¡ªwere trained in the field for months. They were top of their aborigine class, which was why they were the ones sent to Basset in exchange for large amounts of contribution points. Speaking of spying lessons, the subjects ranged from surveillance, counter surveillance, intelligence analysis, and the like. They were even taught ''basic disguise'' lessons and ''how to get information subtly'' lessons, which had all been put to practice in this mission. Through them, they gained an insight on the resources and the powerplay within the territory. According to their spies, the power play in Basset was quite complicated. The current lord was the son of the former lord who died about a decade prior, taken over when he was already 50 years old. However, the noble families there had been entrenched in the territory for decades, some as early as when the Town was just established as a village. There were also nobles who had family in more powerful territories like Cities. Even if those relatives were minor nobles at best, it still felt a good deterrent and point of pride because gaining a foothold in a City¡ªno matter how small this foothold was¡ªwas not easy. There were also some who owned rich caravans, and some families had powerful forces working for them. These were all created across several decades and three generations and it wasn''t easy for the lord to just cut them off if he wanted to. The Lord of a territory in Xeno might be more powerful than rulers from places like Terran¡ªwho had no system implementing rules for them¡ªbut they weren''t omnipotent either. The Lord had the magical power to blacklist people, sure, but what if those people had a major hold in the Town''s economy, military, or any other important facet of its existence? Blacklisting those people would then be equivalent to making a mess of their territory''s infrastructure! This was often the case in Towns as a single family was rarely able to handle all aspects of a successful territory. This also meant the power was no longer concentrated on the ruling family, and this had a lot of downsides for a Lord. Further, very few families were also willing to take deep oaths to the Lord. Some of the few exemptions were the previous generation of the Gold Family, who had made oaths to the Bleulle ruling party nearly two centuries prior, back when it was still a village. In their case, the Lord had the foresight of capturing their hearts and loyalties, ensuring their service for the years to come. To be fair¡­ it seemed that the original Lord of Bleulle was a fair and just man, which was why he gained the undying loyalty of his servants. Sadly, after a few generations, the Lords became entitled and excessively selfish, leading to its current state. Anyway, in Basset Town''s case, there were a few families that held a large part of the territory. According to the information, he had tried to weaken them by imposing rules and taxes, but a lot of them pushed back and the economy suffered. This happened every few years, and some compromises had been made here and there. There had been a few threats of rebellion as well, but those were snapped in the bud before anything could happen. However, to Mathilda and the lot of them, one thing was obvious: They had plenty of holes to exploit, and they were planning on attacking them. Chapter 1258 - 1258: Side of Basset Town (Part 2) The spies were also asked to monitor Fargo''s movements. So far, they knew he was working with the Rongo Mercenary Team, which had attacked Alterra back then. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. They also heard he became the leader''s lover. That alone made them have a small but mean-spirited celebration. He had also tried recreating their weapons and only had minor success with the crossbow, but had major failures when it came to gunpowder. Heh, that''s what he got for being arrogant. Did he think things would still go his way as it always had back in Terran? However, it seemed like he was no longer in the Territory. They surmised he had probably traveled on foot because his oaths probably would not allow him to use a war array. Another thing they had to consider was where the Lord was during wars. Each Lord had a different strategy, but in most cases¡ªthey''d be in hiding. After all, one never knew when they''d get attacked and lose the token. Most citizens wouldn''t mind this. Rather, they also preferred this most of the time. Even if the territory didn''t disintigrate after the Lord''s death during wars, the internal battles for the token afterwards tended to be quite bloody. The Token''s detachment during was not widespread, but it wasn''t exactly a secret either, especially not in places with a Post Office like Towns. For one, there were people who spread it out during wars to cause chaos during wars, as what Baltimore tried to do with Alterra back then. There were only a few Lords like Baltimore who could take such risks, but¡ªafter many years¡ªhow could it not spread among the well-informed? Hence, even before the territory had become a Town, Bentro¡ªthe Lord of Basset Town¡ªwould usually hide in the Warehouse during wars. There were also dozens of loyal and oath-bound guards assigned the warehouse, on top of the guards already assigned there. There were even high-level walls and sentries placed around the warehouse, making it appear like a large building with citadels around it. Although not a requirement, the spies naturally aimed for the best case scenario: To take the token away from the current Lord, one way or another. Destroying the warehouse would be too difficult, so the best way to get the token¡ªor at least get rid of the Lord¡ªwas to stop him from getting inside the warehouse in the first place. Only the sentries received specific instructions. During wars, it would attack anyone, who was not the lord or anyone oath-bound to him, approaching the Warehouse. Bentro was a top level person himself at level 42 when he was only 60 years old. Eagle was only level 27 and Chris was level 26. Not to mention the man''s guards, they simply could not do anything about it. However, they wanted to insist on taking the token¡ªby nook or by crook¡ªbut they''d need some advice from the Elders to do so. These were all things they had reported to Alterra via the messenger birds a few days ago. Today, they received a reply. The two of them headed to their room and opened the voice blockers. They also used Terran language in the small chance of someone spying in the walls and could do lip-reading. "What did the letter say?" Eagle asked Chris, who had just received the letter through various inconspicuous methods. "It''s from Captain," he said, and the two went to read the instructions together. ''The Elders commend you for the diligence and resourcefulness in gathering the information. However, we disagree with the plan you proposed. While taking away the Lord Token and/or killing the Lord would indeed be convenient for Alterra, it is not a requirement for winning the war. To win, Alterra simply has to defend against the forces that comes our way. We have the resources to achieve that without having to sacrifice anyone from your side. What the Elders had decided you can do¡ªprovided that it would not cause any of you harm¡ªis to find a way to entice the nobles to fight for and obtain the token from Bentro. It is preferred that you do not expose yourself, however, and it is ideal you find a way to manipulate or send messages without risking yourselves. Again: This mission, while beneficial to Alterra, is not critical to winning the war. It is a mere preemptive measure, an advantage should the situation demand it. You have already proven your competence and the information you have gathered is helpful and can be used for future endeavors. As long as the tasks becomes too dangerous, you are ordered to abort it. Your main mission shall be to return unharmed.'' They closed the letter and looked at each other, unable to hold back smiles. "As expected of Alterra¡­" they said. ¡­though it made them want to work harder for it, instead. ¡­ "So, what do we do now?" "Well, they hadn''t declared war yet. I''ll send a message to the spies," Eagle said. "They might be able to gather new information, especially with the various changes going on to make way for the preparations." If they found something they could take advantage of, then they would. Speaking of Eagle, his main use here was his space. They also had a secret weapon in his space, but that one was too risky to use, especially when war hadn''t started yet. He was also there to take away enemy stocks in his space stone, if he could. If the war would be prolonged for the entire 28 hours, then the enemies might need to replenish their stocks. Eagle and Chris hoped to attack their supply as well. "I''m pumped up for this mission," Eagle said, raising his fake arm. "It had been a while since we went through something like this. We had been fighting with brute force for a year now. I missed missions like these¡­" Eagle was wearing a prosthetic arm developed by Eugene. Eugene also made legs for himself during this time, and had begun to streamline the process so more people could be helped. It was a prosthetic arm made with pulleys and levers. It mimicked the natural movement of the remaining muscles as much as it could, particularly using the shoulder or upper arm. It still didn''t replace actual appendages, of course, but it was just enough for daily tasks like grabbing items, gripping small objects, and hugging one''s wife. They still hoped to receive Hoffen''s potion though, which would take a long time even after the war. Anyway, there were only the two of them among the soldiers sent here. Having so many elementalists grouped together was simply unlikely in Towns and already a cause of suspicion. Fortunately, their people were not dependent on that. "War should be starting soon," Eagle said, peeking out the window. He observed the movement of the guards and the people presumably joining the war. At the very least, the declaration should come soon. "Time to get to positions," Chris said, standing up to head out. "Be careful," Eagle said. "You''ve got a wedding to get home to, remember?" Chris'' wedding with Aditi was already scheduled¡ªin a few days, in fact¡ªbut his skill set was too useful for this mission so he was assigned there. Anyway, the war would only last a day so there should be enough time for him to prepare. Chris'' eyebrows rose and he smiled a little. "Of course," he said. "How could I miss my own wedding?" Chapter 1259 - 1259: Basset Town’s Declaration The days passed by in a flash and the war cool down finally came to an end. The Lord of Basset Town¡ªpossibly afraid that he''d get preempted again¡ªdeclared war the moment he could. [Basset Town (Lv1) has declared war against Alterra Town (Lv1). The War will commence in 13:59:59] As soon as Althea received this announcement, a barrage of announcements resounded across the territory. This was followed by the first ring of the Bell Tower, indicating the countdown had begun. [Announcement: Basset Town (Lv1) has declared war against Alterra Town (Lv1). The War will commence in 13:59:00] [Announcement: Please refrain from leaving the territory lines from this point forward, even with a team.] [Announcement: Gentle reminder to secure all of your belongings properly. Prepare yourselves and your families well.] [Announcement: Everyone please prepare as much as you can and take a rest. It is assumed that this war will last a full 28 hours.] [Announcement: Anyone who causes inconvenience, suspicion, and danger to the territory will be met with punishment according to the degree of sin or its potential damage. Anyone who reports a valid case will receive a reward upon verification and oath.] [Announcement: All resources will be bought at 120% of their normal price. All weapons, equipment, healing and mana potions, and other essential items will be sold at 50% of their regular price. The purchase limit is retained in quantity, but renewable every 2 hours.] [Announcement: A gentle reminder that all visitors are also entitled to receive Contribution Points. All visitors who wish to join in the war and contribute, please register in the village center and sign an oath valid for 1 day.] These visitors who volunteered to help would be given a returnable colorful token they''d wear during the war. This was to help identify who was an ally or not. It wasn''t foolproof show of alliance, but they couldn''t suspect every single non-citizen fighting for Alterra right? That said, Alterra did not ask any of the subsidiaries and allies for help, though a lot of them would definitely be going on their own to receive precious Contribution Points from Alterra. Alterra''s rationale for not asking Ferrol was that if there was an imbalance in a transactional relationship, there could be quite a few changes and a lot of inconveniences. Alterra would always be on the advantageous side as long as it could help it. Besides, calling on allied forces that might not fully care for Alterra might not be worth the costs. At the same time, calling subsidiaries was actually quite affordable¡ªit was their duty to help out a master territory. However, the Elders didn''t want to call people to this risky war either. Instead, they just gave subsidiaries the same promises of contribution points and it would be up to them to take it. Anyway, the announcement was definitely tempting to the many visitors that Alterra had¡ªespecially now that the Contribution Point requirement for everything had increased after Alterra became a Town! They would not be risking their lives, but it should be safer with a few trusted people helping out together. Anyway, chances are: It''d be worth it. This was especially true for the people within the level cap, which was almost everyone! After all, the points they could get when it was still a village were limited. Now, they could go wild. Many of these people had been waiting for a chance to rake up contribution points¡ªwhether it was just to get access to the library, among others¡ªand it was finally here! How could they not take advantage? ¡­ While the territory had started mobilizing everywhere, a certain dungeon was reeking of blood and depression. Kimmy and Yelena stood outside its gates, led by a guard. This time, it was Luis, who looked at the two women in concern. "I will go with you. I''m instructed to end his life today, and we invited you to come if you wanted to see. "However, if it''d make you uncomfortable¡ª" "No," Kimmy said, right hand gripping Yelena''s. "We are willing." Yelena also held on to her, using her as her support, and the two women entered the dungeons with wildly beating hearts. This wasn''t the first time they were here. In fact, they had watched the kind of torture he went through every day, and they watched it a few times the past couple of months whenever they were reminded of what he had done. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Usually, it was after a nightmare. Even when it happened fewer and fewer times, they still did, and they were still as vivid as it was. When the guards found out about it, whenever they visited, they''d cut off one of the man''s fingers, burning it in front of his eyes as he screamed. It was morbid, but it brought a dark sense of satisfaction that blew away their nightmares for weeks to come. However, until now, neither of the two women had dirtied their hands by torturing him themselves. Yelena was too meek at the sight of blood while Kimmy refused for a while. After all, she couldn''t touch her precious baby after touching blood, right? Especially not as filthy as Patte''s. So, for a time, they were just comforted by the fact that he was suffering every single minute of every day during the past few months. The guards reassured them that they would kill him eventually, though they didn''t risk it before the war lest the enemy Lord would do irrational things in his anger. After all, irrational people were difficult to gauge. So, until the war was official, they kept the bastard alive. Now, it was finally time to clean the world of the bastard. "Can I do it?" Kimmy asked, making the other two stare at her. "Miss Kimmy?" Luis asked while Yelena squeezed her hand, questioning. "Are you sure?" Kimmy nodded. "I already got the nanny to take my baby to the bunker. I will be joining this war, so I''ll have blood on my hands anyway." Her expression became more somber as she turned to the man''s direction. "I want the first one to be that bastard''s." Chapter 1260 - 1260: Patte’s Death "I will be joining the war and will see blood, anyway," Kimmy said. "And I want the first one to be that bastard''s." Kimmy decided to join the war in order to gain more contribution points. She really needed to save up as much as she could for her child. With the exception of children who awakened their system on their own in Terran¡ªlike Maya and Horus¡ªthe status of children between 3 and below 12 years old were with their parents. Below that age was nothing, and they were not listed in the Lord''s panel either. According to Gregor, this was likely because children below that age had a very high mortality rate. The Extreme Weather cases that happened every one or two years, for example, tended to take a lot of infant lives even in Towns¡ªlet alone villages. Considering how most children were born in ''weaker'' families, this depressing percentage was increased a bit more. Kimmy''s child, Hope, was still a visitor, the fees of which were automatically deducted to her wallet. Kimmy herself was only a temporary resident. This meant she also needed to gain contribution points for two in order to get permanent residencies for both of them. The best way to do that was through wars. Her first official war being with Basset Town also felt¡­ poetic. After all, she would help take down the territory that enabled Patte to do all those evil deeds in the first place. Soon, the group arrived outside his cell and saw what had been a man. Now, he looked like a disgusting monster. He was full of wounds and scars all over, some of which were festering and filled with pus. He no longer hand most of his fingers, toes, and teeth, making him completely unrecognizable from the shameless bastard they first knew him as. Patte weakly raised his head and his eyes turned red as he saw them. "BITCHH! I WILL KILL YOU!! BITCHHH!" he screeched with his bloody mouth, cursing at her like he usually did when she was around. However, he was even more desperate this time, as if his life depended on it. "COME HERE! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME!? TO ME?!" Then he paused, looking at her with extreme manicness. "You¡ªyou are just a slut I took in front of other people! You think people will forget how disgusting you were by doing this to me!?" Kimmy flinched and Yelena sobbed. Luis gritted his teeth and stepped forward to punch the bastard right on the face. PAK! It seemed like his jaw was dislocated, because he could barely say anything understandable after all. However, Patte did not give up. His crazy eyes were fixed on Kimmy in particular, yelling at her¡ªspitting saliva¡ªdespite no one understanding his words. Patte was trying to make her mad. Before, she and Yelena would watch as he was tortured without lifting a hand, with Yelena slowly getting used to the violence. It seemed like today, he wanted her to make a move. He definitely wanted to vent, but perhaps he also wanted to anger her to attack. Perhaps, he wanted to take her with him. Knowing him, he probably did. As for what he could do at his state, who knew, but they weren''t taking any risks. Luis stepped forward and drove his feet into the man''s chest, sending him smack to the wall. BANG! Without another breath, he closed the distance again and unleashed a few more kicks. The final blow crushed his leg¡ªjust in case. "AHHHHH!" Patte coughed blood, his body twitching as he struggled to lift his head. His bloodied gaze fixed on Kimmy, who had taken out a blade. Suddenly, he felt cold. Although he had wished for death many times while he was being tortured¡ªand considering how he was trying to anger Kimmy to finally end him¡ªwhen actually faced with death, his body was gripped with fear. "No¡­ d-don''t¡­" he rasped. "D-Don''t kill me!!" All his cowardice showed at this moment, and he started getting desperate in his pleas. "P-Please! Don''t!" In that moment, the image of their roles being reversed all those months ago passed by their heads. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Kimmy''s grip on the blade tightened. She remembered how she begged¡ªhow powerless and humiliated she felt. At this, the confidence in her blade increased, and she knew for sure she was taking his life today. "Don''t worry, the death you''ve been wishing for is finally here," she said. "Your father finally declared war on us¡ªso there is no need to keep you alive anymore." Using her dominant right hand¡ªthe hand she was just holding Yelena''s with¡ªKimmy raised her blade, eyes watching coldly as the man begged for his life. "Watch closely, Yelena," she said. "Watch how this dirty part of our part will finally die in our own hands." Slash! A deep gash opened across Patte''s neck as he lay there, watching his own blood spill out in slow, morbid waves. His mouth hung open as he gasped for air¡ªfor life. Trembling, he tried to make a sound, but his body was giving way, unable to do so. Minutes passed. Choking on the warmth of his own blood, eyes wide with immortalized fear, Patte finally took his last breath¡ªnever to cause pain to anyone else ever again. ¡­ Basset Town Inside his office, Bentro flinched and shot up from his seat. His breath stagnated a bit as he headed to the side where his few magic tools were. One of this was a magic tool called the [Life Candle], which was a special engraved candle that had perennial fire. This fire stayed lit as long as the associated soul¡ªhis son¡ªwas alive. Now, it was gone. Patte was his only surviving child, and¡ªdue to an accident in his youth, on top of his level¡ªPatte would be the last one he would ever have. Patte was his only blood left and now he''s¡­ dead? He gaped, unable to immediate comprehend the implications until he the smoke created a message¡ªone that would indicate where he died. [Alterra Town] Bentro''s eyes turned red as his heart raged with flames of madness. "AHHHH!!" Chapter 1261 - 1261: Just before the War Basset Town S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Hours ticked by and the opening of the array approached. The Basset Town forces went into positions, waiting by the gates. The array would appear outside one of these places, and they just had to wait for which one to use. Eagle, Tambay, and the others were also heading to their predetermined positions. They had done their best and hoped their plans would all work out, even if it was a little unlikely. Quite a few things happened during this period, the most prominent of which was the Lord going berserk. He headed to where the forces were gathering, appearing haggard, eyes red in anger. "INCREASE THE REWARDS FOR EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATES!" he bellowed, looking at each of the forces. "ANYONE WHO KILLS AN ELDER WILL BE PROMOTED AND REWARDED 500 GOLD EACH!" This naturally caused an explosion of excited murmurs. Almost all of the forces within the level cap would be joining the war, and they were all energized with this announcement. He then turned to look at the Rongo Mercenary team¡ªall of whom would be participating in the war, including its Level 39 Leader, Vara. "I WANT AS MUCH DAMAGE AS POSSIBLE," he said. "FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION!!!" If he was within the level cap, it was estimated the Lord would even go himself. But, for now, he''d probably send more people. The Alterrans knew his sudden loss of cool had to do with his only son. The Lord naturally didn''t say this, because others knowing he had no heir would not be a good thing for him. Alterra likely had taken this into consideration so they didn''t worry for it any more than they already were. Instead, they were looking at the positive aspects of this change. This meant that there would be fewer people left behind. While waiting for the others to arrive, Eagle forwarded the plan to the others, assigning them in convenient¡ªbut relatively safe¡ªspots around the warehouses and the like. Eagle looked at his companions, who were seriously taking note. They seemed really somber, and Eagle couldn''t help but reiterate: "Again, no matter what, your safety is priority," he said. "This is Alterra''s Wish." The men''s furrowed eyebrows and tense bodies softened a bit at the reminder. "Before I forget," Eagle said, just before they adjourned. "I received this along with the parcel yesterday," he said, handing each person a protection charm. "The territory gives us one, each." After many months, Reddit had trained slightly bigger birds, which could now carry small items. He received the items some kilometers away from the walls of Basset Town, and saw some interesting things in the parcel. Of course, at this level, the effectiveness was far less than before. If they went against a level 40, for instance, the token would only work twice or even once, depending on the enemy''s skill and strength. Regardless, this was an extra life and Mauru and the others couldn''t help but feel touched. Which other territory prioritizes its peoples'' lives like this¡ªnot caring about the costs and losses? Anyway, the men said their goodbyes to the others as they headed out, leaving Eagle there alone with a few people. Seeing as most of their allies had left, Eagle looked at the remaining token on his hand, finally showing some anxiety on his face. "Where''s Chris?" ¡­ Inside the Lord''s Palace At this time, a certain Wind elementalist was tightly strapped in the chair, bleeding heavily. Chris was shivering, and he could feel his body entering shock soon. A few hours ago Bang! Thud! Chris coughed as he was kicked around. His arms were then lifted by two guards¡ªeach of one at least level 30¡ªand they shoved him back to the chair. These two guards were the primary reason why Chris could only stay still. Not to mention, they were also in a closed room with limited air. How much ability could he use? In any case, Chris raised his head, his strong eyes fixed on the bastard causing him pain. Fargo. He now lacked a leg and an arm, though. Fargo''s eyes reddened when he saw where Chris was looking. He raised his remaining arm and it fell on his face. Smack! Chris grimaced, though the defiance in his eyes remained untouched. Rather, Fargo felt like he was being mocked. And he was. "I guess losing a hand does make the other one weaker." Slap! Fargo''s hand rested at the side, with blood dripping down. He was actually holding a small blade, and each slap was also equivalent to a slice. Sadly, they had a certain level difference between them so although he could wound the other man, it was never as deep as he wanted. "How''d you find me?" Chris asked, and Fargo''s jaws clenched. "Got lucky," was all he said, before proceeding on beating him up again. The Alterran had hidden himself very well, and even did subtle disguises that would''ve been impossible for aborigines to detect. Sadly for him, Fargo¡ªa fallen terrorist lord¡ªhad seen him. It so happened that he was shared by Vara to some close friends with similar interests. During the abuse, he heard that Alterra was planning on banning Basset from gaining its products, except to some exceptional families. It had been causing disgruntlement and a few brains to turn, but in his experienced eyes, he could tell that someone was subtly causing rifts between the families. From there, he could surmise someone was gossiping. With the skills from his old life, Fargo managed to trace Chris after much work and resources. After he told this information to Vara, however, he was pulled down. Fargo''s stomach churned in disgust every time he thought about it. To think that he¡ªa man who grew up in power, feared by millions¡ªwas reduced to becoming¡­ a prostitute! Slap! His slap was strong and it made Chris cough a little blood. He was kept in position by the two guards behind him, and Fargo sent him a barrage of attacks, chipping away his skin and his remaining defense. Eventually, the guards felt bored, staring at Fargo as if he was a child that was taking too long to be satisfied. "We have to leave soon. Hurry up," they said. Their tones were arrogant, and it was obvious that, despite them humoring Fargo''s orders, they looked down on him. Fargo knew this, but what could he do?! He could only glare at the only person he could actually beat up. He raised his sword. "Well, see for yourself how much ''weaker'' you''d get losing an appendage." Slash! . So now, Chris was now lacking a leg. He just woke up after being hit by the guards. He woke up already lost a lot of blood, not knowing how long he had been out. He quickly angled his legs to minimize the bleeding, using his own weight to stop it. However, the pain was overwhelming, and his body was greatly weakened by the loss of blood. He did not dare use his ability, knowing it''d exacerbate things. Chris'' sight blurred, and he felt his consciousness slipping. Despite everything though, the first thought that came to mind was the woman he''d be leaving behind. She was so excited to wear that wedding dress of hers¡­ "I''m sorry¡­ Aditi¡­" Looks like I won''t be able to see you in it. And his vision turned black. Chapter 1262 - 1262: First Town War Alterra Town [The war between Alterra Town (Lv1) and Basset Town (Lv1) has now begun. Remaining Time: 27:59:59] As the war started, the bell rang 14 times. Everyone fighting head-on in the war headed out, fully equipped, while there were also those who were set to fight from the safety of their homes. That said, there would also be guards assigned to guard above roofs, just in case there were spies that couldn''t be shot by interior sentries. There were also guards in every zone on the ground to watch out for those enemies who were inside. They put special attention to the people tagged as ''suspicious individuals'' but had not actually done anything that''d warrant their arrests yet. For these spies, the Alterrans subtly gave them some false information. Some were even allowed to head back to Bassett and report. The information included some fake data about key people, their force values (around a half of what was accurate), their allies in the vicinity (which was ''none''), and the like. However, they weren''t naive enough to think that no one was left behind to cause chaos. The level limit was so much higher now, and the breadth of people who could attack from within had increased by folds. It was inevitable, such was the way of the world here. What they could do was to discourage and minimize the damage. One of the methods Althea used was to add a couple more sentries in certain areas. She did her best to modify it so they still looked pretty, of course. Call her vain and shallow, but she didn''t want her mood affected by random towers popping up and blocking the beautiful view. They also improved the reporting functions. Though the aether letters were finite and couldn''t be given to more guards, Garan and the others at least developed a system wherein smaller flares could get activated to alert the others depending on the level of urgency, suspiciousness, and the like. Nearby ''floating'' guards would see the flare and asses, judging the urgency of the situation with a look without compromising the safety of the zones they were assigned in. Garan even had SOPs in the event that the enemy figured their signalling methods and used it to distract or redirect the forces instead. In such cases, the flare would let out an extra color, indicating it had been compromised. Garan and his people went over various cases, scenarios, and situations. Although the new hires had a lot to learn, the rest should be able to react well. The focus now was the huge number of enemies coming in from the other side. Wars in Towns were rare, supposedly. They were far apart, simply because there was too much to lose. For one, the population of Towns was much larger, and the overall strength stronger by folds. A lot of these people had taken resources from various territories to develop such a level. Towns could have hundreds of thousands of people. A young town like Basset Town might only have a hundred thousand or two, but that was still at least three times their own population. This could be seen with the large amount of people they could see from the walls. From where they were, they could already see tens of thousands of enemies in a single sector, and there was no doubt they were spread out, aiming to find openings in their defense. The Alterrans had known the numbers, but after seeing the large mob firsthand, they felt like there was a heavy air above them. "Focus!" Garan''s voice resounded across the territory, powered by their voice amplification systems. "We have always been outnumbered, but Alterra always came out as victors each time. "Just remember: What are you fighting for!?" This shook most of the fear out of their systems, replaced by their hearts growing stern. Indeed. They were fighting for Alterra and the lives they had in it! "Yes, sir!" Like this, the fighters remained strong, standing around the battlements with no space left unguarded. The guests who were helping out¡ªlike a few mercenaries¡ªsaw this and were impressed. These people were half or less in level and in number of their enemies, but no one had deserted yet. Many of the guests joined in not only for the famous contribution points, but also the assess Alterra''s strength. If it got too much, they''d just desert, but because they helped out, there was still goodwill when Alterra won. It was something completely normal and nothing personal. However, seeing the locals like this¡ªpeople so sincere in their protection¡ªtouched something in their hearts. How would it feel like, they wondered, to be so earnest in protecting a place? ¡­ Soon, they felt and saw the massive wave of enemies approaching the walls. They were coming from all directions, as could be seen by the rusting canopies of the trees. According to their information, Basset Town had nearly 120,000 population, a third of which were slaves. That was easily a few times that of their entire population. The massive line of meatshields appeared, but unlike many territories they had encountered, the Basset Town vanguards did not attack immediately. Unlike villages, the vanguards would not uselessly use their own bodies to consume sentry arrows¡ªat least not unless it was truly advantageous and worth the loss. After all, the resources spent on them were likely a lot more than what were spent on random slaves captured in a village. Every one of the slaves, however, had their weapons out, ready to fight to the death as ordered of them. Unlike Village, Towns could afford to actually equip their slaves with some weapons to increase their usefulness. Even if most of it were just basic weapons, it was miles better than what the slaves from most Villages had. On the other hand, the strongmen stood some distance away from the front line. Fargo, surprisingly, was with these people. He looked at the thousands of level 20s on his side, as well as the dozens of level 30 powerhouses, in satisfaction. Basset Town was only at Level 1 and had been a town only for a decade. Its average guards were level 20s, but they did have quite a few people in their level 30s¡ªespecially with the addition of the Rongo Mercenary team. The lord, as well as a few other Elders, were the only ones in level 40s. The mob stopped just beyond the 100 meter scope of the sentries. A line of people stepped forward¡­ taking out crossbows. Back in the battlement with their scopes, Jake and the others narrowed their eyes. "They really all have crossbows now." They had expected the older models to appear in other territories, but not so soon. Decent crossbows could have more than a hundred-meter range, which was beyond the sentries''. For sentries, the focus had always been more on its power and critical damage, rather than its range. Anyway, this meant that the enemies could rain arrows on the people standing on the battlement while standing safely beyond the sentry scopes. "They probably used a lot of weaponsmiths to do that," another said, sneering. "Quite an investment." "Fargo''s work, definitely," another said, wanting to spit on the ground as he sneered. They saw thousands of archers line up, all pointing in their direction. No one panicked too much, however. Alterra had been continuously innovating; how could that old thing threaten them? Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Chapter 1263 - 1263: Arrow Rain "Arrows are raining down!" a new guy screamed, pointing at the rain of arrows coming straight at them. Instead of panicking with him though, most looked at him oddly. "You weren''t listening during the orientation were you?" "..." For one, they had developed much more advanced crossbows with faster shots and stronger damage. It wasn''t that they couldn''t also rain down arrows on them, they just wanted them closer so the accuracy was higher. For the most part, they wanted to kill only those who were really deserving of it. Some killing of innocents might be unavoidable, but if they were to choose, they''d definitely want to use their projectiles on evil instead of attacking randomly. However, that wasn''t what they were using when a rain of projectiles came down on them. The battlement had railings and it wasn''t only the ballista bolts that had been installed there. There were also some metal alloy shields located in several areas of the walls and people could hide behind them in cases like these. The stronger visitors would just wave the attacks away with their weapons, so they wouldn''t need to squeeze in, while those who could still get affected would conceal behind them. For example, there was Raphten, Brenda''s friend, who was part of the former. He waved to neutralize the arrows heading in his direction, and his partner did the same. The two of them returned here for Brenda''s wedding, but ended up overstaying. Who could blame them? Anyone who stayed long enough in Alterra wouldn''t be able to bear staying outside anymore. They had experienced this the first time they had been here. The adjustment back to ''normal'' was painful, to say the least. They found that it was not entirely due to the material things, as they had thought. Rather than the food, beauty, and convenience¡ªwhich were all amazing¡ªthey also felt a sense of belonging in the spiritual sense of the word. Back in their home, they would never publicize their relationship at all. Most people would just think he and his partner were just good friends. When the rumor started spreading, they even made their lives miserable. Here, they were shocked at how open and welcoming these people were with their¡­ orientation. Rather, they barely took note of it at all. They could hold each other''s hands like normal couples, and no one would care much. There were definitely a lot of people who''d furrow their eyebrows, but they wouldn''t stare too long and just ignore them, not making them comfortable with their own opinions. There were also those who asked curiously about their relationship, completely open about it¡ªeven excited, for some reason. They, too, were tempted to move in, but both of their families had integrated too much into Glaston. It would take a while and perhaps a carriage full of souvenirs to bribe the family to move here. Anyway, regardless of what happened¡ªwhether they''d really move in or not¡ªthe Contribution Points they could get by joining this war would be useful for them. There was the Contribution Store, the library, and the like, and they had always looked at those with longing every time they went there. If they performed well in this war, then they''d be able to patronize those places like many others! While the stronger aborigines and guards neutralized the projectiles in their sectors, those with weaker levels were running to shield themselves. However, because the battlement wasn''t too wide, a few areas became bottlenecks. The people were not limited to Alterrans, but also aborigines, so they were a lot more prone to panicking and blocking the way. "Oi! What are you doing standing there? Go here, go here!" "Hey, don''t push me!" "Here!" "NO, that one behind you is much closer!" And so on. Among the visitors on the weaker side were those from fellow villages. They wanted to get contribution points so they could, eventually, move in. They were already citizens of their own villages, but becoming citizens in Alterra was super difficult! They could only join wars! Sadly, it was Town Wars now, so many of them were overwhelmed! Fortunately, Alterran guards were also oriented about what to do when the guests were still allies but did stupid things. In this case, the stronger ones just had to throw them back into the territory, only allowing them to climb back up when they cooled down. "Ekk!" "Ouch!" "Hey!" These people dropped to the easement on their backs or bums. Fortunately, there were no injuries due to their levels. Anyway, for the rest of them, they hid behind the strong metal sheets (reinforced and held on with their frames), and waited for the arrow rain to stop. Clank! Clank! Clank! The Town''s resources naturally didn''t compare to villages so it took a while for them to run out of items. It lasted for a good half-an-hour, in fact, which was impressive. And also a little careless. Doing a battle of attrition when the other side had walls to hide in was a waste of arrows, but it seemed like the other side had the impression they could affect them eventually. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This was only effective if done as a surprise attack, and many people were exposed. However, the thing was, for those outside the sheets, they could simply slide down the walls if they grew tired, and then they''d just climb up again when things calmed down. Those huddled under the sheet could also feel bored and go down, too, and they''d just wait until the arrows slowed down. Anyway, the arrows only reached the interior easements, and it wasn''t like their side would just stand still in that open space for no reason. Of course, none of them did this yet, simply because that could easily become a careless mistake. And they were right. The enemies weren''t stupid enough to just aimlessly waste arrows on them, because a few moments later, dozens of level 25 powerhouses rushed over in several sectors of the walls, hoping to take advantage of the loosened guards they thought would be there. A hundred-meter distance could be traversed by powerhouses in a flash. Leaving sectors open because they got bored or tired so early would''ve gotten them in a bit of trouble. The people at the battlement immediately entered an attack position, kind-of itchy for a legitimate fight after all that hiding. "They''re here!"